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. Good heavens. What am I doing here? What are you doing where, Roger? At this breakfast table. I should be on my way to New York. What's the matter with this breakfast table? Nothing, except that it's your breakfast table. Oh, that's a nice thing for a woman's husband's partner to say to a woman. And your breakfast table happens to be in Eastbrook, Connecticut. That is what is so charming about it. We just happen to like ours in Eastbrook. Which is far and wide the best place to have it. Yes, I know, but that's... David, you know, I don't think that Roger is being very polite. Do you? No, no, definitely not. Being polite, why... I'm surprised too. Usually he's the politest man. Maybe he woke up on the wrong side of the bed. We gave him the best bed in the house. No, for some people nothing is good enough. First the breakfast table is in the wrong place, and then the bed was uncomfortable. I am amazed, truly amazed. And it's proved you don't know a person until you have him under your own roof. I guess so. Are you two having a good time? Fine. Excellent. I'm glad. Now pass me the cream for my coffee. David, pass him the cream for his coffee. One cream. Coming up, the cream. Thank you. Do you think any explanation he could ever give would ever be good enough, David? When my hospitality is thrown back into my face, no explanation is enough. My sentiments, precisely. Are you two like this every morning, or is it only for my benefit? Because you're company. Then spare me, and treat me like family. He doesn't like us, David. Another insult. Roger, don't look so confused. We know what you meant. Do we, darling? He meant, what am I doing here in Eastbrook, in this charming, charming house, at this charming, delightful table with these delightful people, when under normal circumstances I'd be having coffee at my hotel in New York, right? On the nose. Brilliant, my spouse. Is she not? Is. But here I am, nevertheless, and I still hardly know how it happened. It was the most natural thing in the world, like falling in love. Every now and then, Claudia sounds like a popular lyric. Well, that's at my best. At my worst, I sound like an unpopular one. Anyway, there we were, burning leaves until it was dark. The night was clear, the scent of autumn in the air. You sound like a bad lyric of a popular song. No, you disrupt all my flights of poetry. Well, you haven't gotten off of the floor on this one. Roger, you're not sorry you stayed overnight, are you? Sorry? Can a man be sorry for the first taste of strawberries in the spring, for the caress of a breeze on a hot day, for the glint in a beautiful lady's eyes? Um, how was that? Ooh, that was terrible. Terrible. Terrible, wasn't it? Claudia's catching. Pass me the marmalade. You don't deserve it, making fun of beautiful sentiments. He's jealous. The Earthbound are always jealous of eagles. And nightingales. Crows and sparrows, you mean. Never mind. You and I, Claudia, we understand each other. How about another piece of toast, Roger? Oh, you're as bad as your husband. Here I am making beautiful compliments to you, and you plague me to have another piece of toast. You sounded hungry. That is the end. No, we have some more right over here. Besides, it was compliment enough that you spent the night with it. I'll have the toast. Well, don't try to talk with your mouth full of it. Thank you, David. You know, I love this old house. It was the house you stayed for, David, not for us. Certainly not you, but for these original beams and hand-hewn floors that handsome brass were on the doors. They're worth spending a night with. Well, any time, Roger, any time you like. We wouldn't have them except for you. I don't like to be banal. I should be on my way back to town, or Lottie will scold. Oh, no need to rush off. It's only, let's see, quarter to nine. Only? Mm-hmm. Fine for you to say only. You're staying home to fritter your time away with nature, but I have to drive all the way into town. Now, now, now, don't you wish that you, Roger, were like me and that you had a concussion and a mending collarbone, hmm? Yes, I can see its advantages, but back to the city for me. No excuses for poor old Killian. Have another cup of coffee first. Come on. Anything to delay my departure a moment. I accept the coffee. Good. Roger, remember the day that you told me about this place? I remember well. The last thing I wanted to do was buy a farm. We just got settled in our apartment. Milk at the door, the laundry right in the house, the mail delivered, no hot water, heating to worry about. It was awful, only I didn't know enough to know it. I didn't know enough to know it at your age either. But I knew it when I spoke to David that morning. The minute I saw this farm, the brook, the tall elms, the hill beyond the barn, this house, small, intact, waiting in the bend of the road, as soon as I saw it, I recognized all the things my life had never had. We have those things, David and I. I know, and I'm glad for you. Hang on to them with your lives. Oh, good heavens, I'm still here. You certainly are. And still talking. You certainly are. What a dreadful old man I'm getting to be. Well, I guess there's no way to delay it any longer. I must be on my horse and back to New York. We hate to see you go, Roger. I hate to go. But I must. Frankly, I'm terrified. Lotte will scold if I get to the office too late. You talk about that secretary of yours, if she were a watchdog at a time clock all in one. With a serpent's tongue thrown in for good measure. Still, I wouldn't trade her in for a different model, would you, Roger? Not on days when my liver is good. Enough talk. Goodbye. Call me if anything comes up. I will. That air. Take some of it with you. Nice day. It'll be warmer at noon. A real autumn sky. So blue. Yeah, that's ours. He's always a little off schedule. Like the rest of us. Too late or too early. Well, I came without luggage, so I leave without luggage. Your birds haven't flown south, have they? Not yet. I'm going to try and talk them into staying. Let me know how it turns out. Well, you've really done wonders in this place. No, you don't have to go. Why don't you stay? Where? Here, of course. Here? Yes. But I have to go to New York. Do you? Haven't I just been telling you? No. What do you mean, no? All you've been telling me is how much you'd like to stay out here and spend the day and maybe a few more. But I must go to New York. Why? To run my business. Our business. Sheer conceit. Have you any appointments today? A lunch appointment. Social? Business. Social. Combined. Uh-huh. Nothing. You know that the best deals are made across a plate of guinea hen under glass. Tomorrow is another day, Roger, and there'll be another old lady chicken to make a deal across. This is sheer madness. I am going to New York. I have been going for ten minutes. Then good-bye. Yes, have a nice trip down. I will. Is that all you have to say? That's all. That's all. Oh. Just who are you trying to fool? What do you mean? This is rushing off to the city. Practice what you preach. Relax. Follow your impulses. Pamper yourself. Life is short. Spend the day with us. It's going to be a honey-over-one. I could never look at myself in the mirror again. I came up here to say hello yesterday. Here it is today. I'm still here. I'm another man who came to dinner. No, no, I couldn't. I just couldn't. You're afraid of indulging yourself, aren't you? Frankly, yes. You men, all the same. So if that's what's bothering you, the reason that I want you to stay is to discuss the schoolhouse plans with you. Up here we can do it uninterruptedly. Now you're just saying that to appease my conscience, David. Well, maybe I am. Maybe I'm not. What's the difference? It's something we have to do, so let's let it appease your conscience, too. What will lucky say? Call her and see. Oh, you call her? Good, coward. Well, I guess one has to pay for one's pleasures. Give me the phone. Oh, brave one. Thank you, my dear. Yeah, sure, right, David. I want to discuss that schoolhouse deal with you. And the sooner the... Hello, operator? Give me New York. Plaza 9-4-3-2-1. We'll get started right after you talk to Lottie. We'll work all morning. Fine. No monkeying around. Great, Zeus, we have no time to monkey around. You know that. Exactly. I would have gone to New York, you know, if it worked for that schoolhouse business. Of course you would have. I had no intention of staying, no intention at all. Absolutely none. That's right. Is this rehearsal for Lottie's sake, by any chance? After all, it is a Wednesday, and I don't have to go... Officer Killion and Norton, architects. Good morning, Lottie. This is Mr. Killion speaking. Oh, good morning, Mr. Killion. How are you? Oh, I'm fine. That's good. Bad enough for one half of the partnership to be absent, isn't it? You can't afford to be not feeling so good, can you? No, I can't. Can I? You sure you're not sick? And you sound queer. That's because I'm out of town. Really? Funny, I talked to California once and it sounded like the next room. Go on, Roger, tell her you're snowed in, speaker. I'm in Eastbrook, Connecticut, Lottie. At the Norton's, are you? Oh, poor you. What did you say? Oh, the Norton's are okay, but the country. How can you stand it on a nice day like this? Gosh, this is perfect weather for New York. The sun shining and everything. You don't like the country? I should say I don't. All that air and so many trees. I get claustrophobia. Or is that from dogs? Anyway, I don't like it. When are you coming back? Well, you see, I... Don't tell me you're stuck out there. Well, in a way, yes. I agree with everything you've said, Lottie, but duty calls. Mr. Norton and I have some work. We're going to buckle down together. And since he can't come into town, the mountain has come to Mahamud. Roger, you're doing it beautifully. Something's fishy. You still sound queer. I can't help how I sound. Mr. Norton and I are going to have to work on a new commission. Work through the whole day. So, you have to break my lunch date and hold the fort. Oh, heck, I can run the business all right for you, but it's breaking my heart. What is? You haven't to miss such a nice day in the city just to work. Say, how's Mr. Norton? He's fine. He'll be coming back to town any day now. Tell him I miss him, if you please. And don't worry about nothing, Mr. Killian. Everything is under Lottie's thumb, so it's okay. Thank you, Lottie. Thank you very much. Oh, and thank your thumb for me, too. You're a card, Mr. Killian. Well, take it easy, and don't work too hard, and don't pay. You're so right. Goodbye, Lottie. Goodbye, Mr. Killian. My regards to all. Well? The watchdog has given me her blessing. Congratulations. And her advice. Leave us share Lottie's wisdom. The little woman of the enlarged Adenorage recommends that although I felt I had to suffer a day in the country, I should not work too hard. It. Don't. Pay. She's right. It. Don't. In that case, Roger, take off your hat. Forget all about the schoolhouse. Forget your conscience. And let's go out and visit our new pig. My dear David, that's exactly what I meant to do in the first place. A day in the country. What am I doing here? It's wonderful. One worker tells another the advantages of Coca-Cola on the job. One housewife tells another that it's a good idea to work refreshed at home. For a good idea, catches hold fast. Keep your refrigerator well supplied, and let ice-cold Coke help you work refreshed. Well, Mr. King, would you believe it? I'm still here. Indeed I do believe it. I'm not the least surprised. Frankly, neither am I. Yes, this is the place to live for men, women, and children. I think especially for the children. Little Bobby Norton will grow up to appreciate it. Yes, and David can't wait for that day. In the meantime, he's sort of taken a course in fatherhood from little Jimmy. Oh, that's the lad with whom he went fishing, David told me. Well, tomorrow it's not fishing. It's hunting. Perhaps I'll still be around to hear about it myself. Now, off to the barn. See you, Mr. King. Yes, sir. See you, Mr. Kiddin, and have a good time with that pig. As I was about to say, 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.
