Your Coca-Cola Bottler presents Claudia, based on the famous play and novels by Rose Franken. Brought to you transcribed Monday through Friday by your friendly neighbor who bottles Coca-Cola. Relax, and while you're listening, refresh yourself. Have a Coke. And now, Claudia. Eastbrook 413. I hope the doctor's home, Mother. It should be. But if he isn't, it doesn't matter much. I know he has office hours from three to five. Look, David, I had birthed a child once. I know something about them. Your son will be all right. I guess I'm acting like a fool, huh? Of course. You should. It's Bobby's first cold and fever, isn't it? Dr. Barry speaking. Oh, hello, Dr. Barry. This is David Norton. Oh, yes. What's the trouble? I guess you can sense when it's trouble calling, can't you, Doctor? Well, I've gotten so that when my telephone rings, I know whether it's trouble or just nothing. Well, I don't think this is very serious trouble. It's the baby, Doctor. He doesn't seem to be quite himself. Fever? 101. Well, that's not much for a baby. They run high temperatures easily. So my mother-in-law tells me, but still, we think... I know. He's awfully small to be sick. Well, he's rather flushed and very restless. He's been fretful and crying most of the afternoon. At first, we thought he was just hot, but it's been a scorcher today, you know. But he sneezed a few times. Any coughing? No. He's taking his food all right. It's mostly that he's fretful and feverish. Sounds like a slight cold. I don't think it's anything serious. Well, Mrs. Brown doesn't think so either. Grandmothers usually know. Well, I'll be over in a little while, say in a half hour or so. Maybe sooner. That'll be fine. We'll certainly appreciate it. Now, don't worry about it. How old is the boy now? Just a couple of days over two months. Time certainly flies. Well, I'll be over in a little bit. Well, I feel better just talking to you, Doctor. Good boy. Goodbye, Doctor. Well, what did he say? Well, there's not much we can do, Mother. The Doctor will be over just as soon as he can. And stop worrying. Never thought I'd be this kind of a father. I'd hate you if you weren't. I'd certainly be glad you were here. So am I. Look, David, so the baby has a hundred and one temperature. Claudia had that much more many times. So he sneezed, too. That doesn't mean anything with babies either. You'll learn. Yeah, I'm learning fast. Now, Claudia will be home any moment. Maybe I'm panicking not so much for the baby, but for her. She'll survive, too. But it would have to happen today. She has two performances at the theater, matinee and tonight another performance. Never rains but it pours, does it? I just hate to think of the poor kid coming home to find Bobby sick and having to go back to the theater to play another show. You are in a worrying mood, aren't you? Yes, I guess I am. You know, perhaps we could make it easier for you. Why should you have to know about Bobby? You ever tried to keep Claudia from finding out her secret? She has a second sight. I can't have a headache or a worry or a box of chocolates in private. Still, I'd like to keep her from knowing this if I possibly could. I admire your ambition. Then maybe by the time she gets home from the theater tonight, Bobby will be all right. At least he'll be by tomorrow morning if it is only a cold. And it is only a cold. Of course. Grandma, I think you know everything. Having you here in the house is sort of like having a doctor, an oracle and an insurance policy all rolled up into one. Stop your blabbing. Let's see. The thing to do is to try to get Claudia to take a nap and then hope that Dr. Barry will come while she's asleep. One thing at a time. Now, let's go up and see. Hey, doesn't anybody say hello to me? No, hello. When'd you get home? Hello, just this minute. The door is open. Oh, are you expecting somebody? No. A certain girl I married. Hello, Mama. Hello, daughter. Hello, darling. How's everything? How's the baby? Don't you ask how I am. Well, I can see how you are. The lot of a husband, David. Did he take his orange juice? Yes, I took my orange juice. The baby. The baby, the baby, the baby. Always the baby. You're a second fiddle, David. Hi, diddle diddle. No, darling, you're not second fiddle. Don't you believe your mother-in-law? I'm still very hurt, aren't you, mother-in-law? Very. I'm even going upstairs, son-in-law. No, no. Mother, stay down here with us. Oh, that's all right. I'm going upstairs, too. And leave me alone? All alone? Bereft and solitary? Oh, you poor bereft. You can come up with us, too. No, I'm perfectly comfortable down here. I'm just about to light my pipe. I'll carry the matches for you, even if you're so lazy. Come on, I want to say hello to my offspring. Your offspring can wait. He can, but I can't. Well, try and exercise a little self-control, Mrs. Nott. Self-control isn't any fun, is it? It has its advantages at times. What are you two looking so serious about? Are we looking serious? Around the edges, like Toad. Well, I'm looking serious because I'm very offended. And I'm very offended, too. Tears are about to well up in my eyes. Echo. Oh, so sad, so sad. Now what are you two moaning low about? To think that you'd rather go upstairs and plant a kiss on a mere 11 pounds of sleeping protoplasm... Protoplasm? ...who doesn't even know you exist. To sit here and chat with us, well... You know full well you exist. Are you insulting my son? You have insulted us. Now, sit down. Sit down and apologize. Tell us, how did the matinee go? Did you forget any of your lines? Who was the big audience? You any good? How many curtain calls did you get? Oh, so many questions. To think you're so interested in poor little me. I had no idea. This is so sudden. Well, how about mustering up a few answers? We had a full house, mostly old ladies and their nieces, you know, matinees. Not being an old lady or a niece, I don't know matinees. But they're a very sweet audience. We had five curtain calls and I didn't forget one single line. Congratulations. Amazing. Now can I go upstairs, please? You can, but you may not. Oh, her English, David, to think she's a mother. And an actress. She still doesn't know the difference between can and may. You two are certainly in a good humor this afternoon. We are? I suppose it's because I've been out of the household afternoon. That's a very reason. You're going to come to the theater tonight? Not I. I didn't expect you would, mommy. You wouldn't go from here to the corner from me. Much more I wouldn't even come back from the corner for you. What about you, David? You said you'd come tonight. Did I say that? In a moment of weakness, you did. Tonight? Well, David, you want to come, don't you? Well, I... Have you anything better to do? I don't know. Have I? Good, then it's all settled. Now I'm going upstairs. And if you don't want to come with me, David, it's just too bad for you. Claudia... My son and I have plenty to say to each other in private. Oh, I miss him so much. Claudia, come back here. I'm not finished with you. Where do we go from here, David? Oh, you have a message for the baby? I have a message for you, young woman. Make it quick. I think before you waste any more time, I think you should go take a nap. Me? Take a nap? I never heard of such a thing. Your son's napping, and if it's good enough for him, it certainly should be good enough for you. He's years younger than I am. But just as bright. And all great actresses take naps between their matinee and evening performance. Who says I'm a great actress? I do, and all the old ladies and their nieces at today's matinee. They say so, too. Well, isn't that sweet? That's the first time you've told me, darling. Well, since it's almost the end of your run, I figure you might as well know. Great actress or not, and I don't want to commit myself to an opinion. After all, I am just an amateur. But great actress or not, I think you ought to take a nap. But I am not sleepy. It doesn't matter whether you're sleepy. You have an evening's work ahead of you. You must be at your best. Now, skadoodle up to bed, and I'll come up and tuck you in. I don't want to be tucked in. What you care little matters. Your obligation to your audience comes first. Oh, what a bore. Here I come home after slaving all afternoon over a hot stage, and I want a few moments with my son, a few moments with my husband, a few moments with my mother, a few moments with Fritz and Bertha, a few moments with Bluff and Shakespeare and the Rooster, a few little moments with my dinner. And instead, all I get is skadoodle off to bed. Skadoodle to bed. I wish I were 21, and I'd give you a piece of my mind. Come on, I'll lead you by the hand, and I'll promise to wake you before dinner. I give up. I am outnumbered. You're both bigger than I am. All right, I'll go to bed. But first, I'm going to visit my son, and that is final. You are such a stubborn little mule. Bobby is sleeping. I just this minute got him to sleep. All afternoon, he was wide awake and fretting, and now that I finally... David. He's all right, isn't he? I told you. Don't you trust Mama and me? I trust you, but sometimes I trust me more. Now, that's the last insult I'm going to expose myself to. Just for that ingratitude, we'll have to wait until after your nap for you to kiss your son. Darling, leave him alone. Let him sleep. Don't make Mama and me worry about you. Take it easy. Sometimes you are, sweet. All right. Kiss me good night. Wait me up for dinner. It's a promise. Don't you want to take a little nap? I do not, and that's final. Good night, good night, good night. Partying is such sweet sorrow. Phew. Why lats that? Oh, the telephone! I'll answer it. I'll get it. It's a reprieve for me. Maybe it's the doctor, David. Claudia, Claudia, I'll get it. I've got it. And why shouldn't I answer the telephone? It's probably Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer asking you to star in their next picture. Hello? Claudia, is that you? Hello, Dr. Barry. I recognized your voice. She always has to answer the phone. I just called to tell you that I'll be delayed a few minutes. An emergency case just came in, but I'll be over in about half an hour. Well, it's awfully sweet of you to come, but if you're busy, there's nothing to come... How's the little fellow? Any change? The little... What did you say? I told your husband there was nothing to worry about, so don't be upset, my dear. I'll see you in half an hour or so. Dr. Barry, Dr... David, it's Bobby, isn't it? Oh, it's nothing even worth talking about, darling. What is it? Tell me. Oh, Mama and Bertha think he might have caught a little cold. Nothing more than that. I just felt it. What's his temperature? Is it very high? For a baby, it's almost no temperature at all. I'm going up to see him. I'm sorry you had to find out, darling. You were trying to keep me from knowing, weren't you, David? Well, I didn't see any point in possibly upsetting you since you had to go back to the theater, didn't I? David, darling, it's my son, our son. I had a right to know. Plenty of time when you came home, and he might have been perfectly all right by then. You know how it is with babies. Yes, he might have been perfectly all right. I'm sure he will be. But I think if I was old enough to have Bobby, I'm old enough to share anything that could happen to him. Do we have to share everything? Everything. The bad and the good. I'm sorry I spoiled your plan. I'm the one who owes you an apology, darling. I didn't give you the credit for being a big enough person to take the bad with the good in your stride. I wanted to rob you of the dignity of being your own master. I'll strike you a bargain, David. After Dr. Barry comes and says everything's all right, I will take a nap. And I'll probably sleep. Mrs. Naughton, Mrs. David Naughton, I love you very much. Come on, let's go and see Bobby. How often during shopping or after the movies or at a sports event, you look around for that familiar red cooler so that you can enjoy ice-cold Coca-Cola? Maybe it doesn't occur to you that there's a white cooler in your home. Keep Coke in the refrigerator and you'll have ice-cold bottles ready at any time for your own refreshment while working, for the young folks' pleasure, for easygoing hospitality whenever friends drop in. I got over just as soon as I could. How's the baby, Mr. King? Just about the same, but speaking with a great deal of experience of my own, I agree with Mrs. Brown. I'm sure it's nothing but a slight cold. Well, I'll go in and have a look at him. David sounded pretty upset. He was. You see, he was worrying about Claudia as well as the baby. That's true. Mrs. Naughton is playing down at the Eastbrook Theatre, isn't she? You'd better get down to see her. I don't think I can make it tonight. And you'd better make it tomorrow night because it's closing after tomorrow night's performance. I'll make a point of it. I suppose Claudia will be sorry when it's all over. Come see you, Consci. We'll see you tomorrow. So long, Mr. King. Goodbye. Every day, Monday through Friday, Claudia comes to you transcribed with the best wishes of your friendly neighbor who bottles Coca-Cola. So listen again tomorrow at the same time. And now this is Joe King saying au revoir. And remember, whoever you are, whatever you do, wherever you may be, when you think of refreshment, think of Coca-Cola. For Coca-Cola makes any pause the pause that refreshes. And ice-cold Coca-Cola is everywhere. This broadcast of Claudia was supervised and directed by William Brown Maloney. And now here's a word from your friendly neighbor who bottles Coca-Cola.