HOST:
Just returned from England to start work on his New York production of "Hamlet," Mr. Leslie Howard. You will hear Mr. Howard tonight in "The Miraculous Visitor," a one-act fantasy by Phillip Johnson. He'll be assisted by Francesca Bruni and by Lillian Brennard Tonge. For his first appearance of the new season, Mr. Leslie Howard.
SOUND:
APPLAUSE
MUSIC:
FOR AN INTRODUCTION ... THEN BEHIND HOST--
HOST:
A strange, fantastic story this -- and a charming one -- about a young girl on her marriage eve, and the miraculous visitor who came to her in a moment of despair. Scene, a little cottage somewhere in the English countryside. The girl to be married on the morrow -- to her true love -- sits watching the golden sunset. To her comes a middle-aged neighbor, fleeing the wrath of a worthless, drunken husband. They talk of the all-important wedding day.
WOMAN:
And so you're going to live in the little white cottage by the pool there? Oh, such a pretty place.
GIRL:
Yes, pretty. The meadow in front of it goes right down to the edge of the pool. And on one side of the house there's a damson tree, and on the other a cherry tree.
WOMAN:
Fancy.
GIRL:
I went there this morning very early to look at it.
WOMAN:
Did you now?
GIRL:
The sun was barely risen and there was a mist all about it. It looked kind of-- Not real, like a dream.
WOMAN:
I hope it don't turn out to be damp.
GIRL:
Would - would you mind if I asked you a question, Mrs. Blake?
WOMAN:
'Course not. Go on.
GIRL:
Why did you marry your husband? Did you really love him?
WOMAN:
Love him? Aye, I reckon I did.
GIRL:
You and him? Like me and - and Jim?
WOMAN:
Pretty much the same, I reckon. Oh, I were a proud girl when we walked under the elms and through the lane, me and him.
GIRL:
I reckon you felt as if you were living in a kind of a glory. A glory that made the world and everything seem beautiful.
WOMAN:
That's what it were. A kind of a glory.
GIRL:
Because you were in love with one another?
WOMAN:
Aye.
GIRL:
And now?
WOMAN:
(SAVAGELY) Now, did you say? Hot hell on earth, that's what it is now! Cats and dogs, and no two ways about it, neither. Blast him, he beats me. And look at that!
GIRL:
(SHOCKED) Oh!
WOMAN:
See that bruise here, and that 'un, and look here, and look!
GIRL:
(HORRIFIED) Oh, don't!
WOMAN:
(MORE CALM) I just wanted to show you what he did to me a fortnight since.
GIRL:
Oh, I don't want to see it! (BEAT, REALIZES WITH HORROR) And you walked with him under the elms, and - and thought the world was beautiful. It's terrible -- terrible! -- all that beauty to fade and wither into ugliness.
WOMAN:
It don't seem right, eh?
GIRL:
How did it happen?
WOMAN:
I don't know. It seems as if we kind of drifted into it, gradual like.
GIRL:
From loving one another to hating one another. But how? How could you?
WOMAN:
It isn't easy to explain. When folks is in love, it's like as if they can't see things in their ordinary, everyday life. They go about as if it's living in a sort of hazy dream. Of course, that's all right while it lasts. Only it don't last.
GIRL:
Oh, if it could only always be as it had been this spring. All the days of my life, I'll remember the spring of this year. (RESIGNED) But there's the summer to come, and then the autumn, and then-- Then the winter.
WOMAN:
Aye, the winter.
GIRL:
Ice on the pool -- and the branches of the cherry tree, and the damson tree, all black and bare.
WOMAN:
Oh, you're cold, dearie.
GIRL:
Yes, cold.
WOMAN:
Well, you come and sit by the bit o' fire that's in the hearth, while I go and have a word with your mother. (REASSURING) Now don't you be thinking much about the winter yet a while. You've still got your spring, and you make the most of it while you can. (MOVING OFF) Well, I'll be going now.
SOUND:
GIRL POKES THE COALS IN THE FIRE
MUSIC:
FOR A GENTLE, OTHERWORLDY BRIDGE
SOUND:
LIGHT KNOCKING AT THE DOOR FRAME
VISITOR:
(OFF) May I come in?
GIRL:
(STARTLED) Oh, I--!
VISITOR:
(OFF) If you'd rather I didn't, I'll go away if you like.
GIRL:
Oh, no. No, please step inside.
VISITOR:
(OFF) Thank you. (BEAT, APPROACHES) I'm afraid I frightened you just now.
GIRL:
Oh, no. At least I--
VISITOR:
(INTERRUPTS) I'm sure I did. I'm very sorry.
GIRL:
Just for a moment, I - I thought you were someone else. You're very like someone I know. What do you want?
VISITOR:
Want? Oh, I - I don't want anything. I, er, just happened to be passing this way and I chanced to glance through your open doorway and saw you sitting here, so I - I came in. Do you mind?
GIRL:
(LIGHTLY) Well, some people might call it poking and prying.
VISITOR:
(CHUCKLES) I dare say. But that needn't bother us. Think of all the time we have in front of us. All the years. You and me.
GIRL:
All the years? You and me?
VISITOR:
(YES) Mm. All the beautiful, beautiful years together. Sitting by the pool or under the cherry tree.
GIRL:
Under the cherry tree?
VISITOR:
Or the damson tree, whichever we like best. The cherry tree will be the easiest to climb.
GIRL:
(PUZZLED) Oh, I--
VISITOR:
That's why-- That's why you'll always be finding me in the branches of the damson tree. You'll be frightened and call to me to come down at once. Of course, I shan't; I shall crawl farther out along the branch. Just to tease you, you know.
GIRL:
But what do you know about cherry trees and damson trees?
VISITOR:
(CHUCKLES) Well, almost nothing, except that they look pretty. One on each side of the house. A little white house.
GIRL:
Who are you?
VISITOR:
(BEAT) Don't you know?
GIRL:
Tell me who you are.
VISITOR:
(BEAT, DELIBERATELY) Someone who is very like someone you love.
GIRL:
Yes, you are like him. You are like him!
VISITOR:
And you're very beautiful.
GIRL:
Tell me who you are.
VISITOR:
You're as beautiful as the water lilies on the pool by the little white house. But you mustn't ask me who I am. Not yet.
GIRL:
Not yet?
VISITOR:
Sit down here where you were when I first saw you. And I shall sit at your feet. (BEAT, AS HE SITS) Now, we're all nice and comfortable. Let's - let's talk, shall we?
GIRL:
Well, I'm afraid I can't. There are things I have to see to.
VISITOR:
(RISES, EAGERLY) Oh, please. Only a few minutes.
GIRL:
(AMUSED) You say that just like a little boy who doesn't want to go to bed.
VISITOR:
(SEIZES ON THIS IDEA) Well, let's - let's pretend that's what I am. And you're the tender-hearted mother who loves her little son and says, "Well, just another five minutes, and then off you go."
GIRL:
Very well, then, but not a second longer, mind.
VISITOR:
All right. Let's sit down. (BEAT, AS THEY SIT) Now, tell me a story.
GIRL:
A story?
VISITOR:
Yes, you know, a fairy tale. All mothers tell their little boys fairy tales just before they pack 'em off to bed.
GIRL:
But you're too old.
VISITOR:
Nice people are never too old to listen to fairy tales.
GIRL:
And I don't know any.
VISITOR:
Yes, you do.
GIRL:
No, really, I-- I've forgotten all the old ones.
VISITOR:
Well, then tell me a new one. Make it up as you go along. Go on, do try.
GIRL:
Well-- Oh, let me see.
VISITOR:
Shall I begin it for you? Just to give you a start?
GIRL:
Yes, perhaps it would help.
VISITOR:
Well, here goes. Once upon a time... (BEAT) There you are.
GIRL:
(AMUSED CHUCKLE) Once upon a time, there--
VISITOR:
(BEAT, HELPFULLY) There lived.
GIRL:
There lived a princess.
VISITOR:
Hm.
GIRL:
Oh, no. Let's have her just an ordinary girl, shall we?
VISITOR:
Right. Go on.
GIRL:
And she was engaged to marry a--
VISITOR:
(INTERRUPTS) You always say "betrothed" in fairy tales.
GIRL:
I wish you wouldn't keep interrupting.
VISITOR:
(CHUCKLES)
GIRL:
She was betrothed to a--
VISITOR:
To a prince?
GIRL:
Oh, no, not a prince.
VISITOR:
I see. Just an ordinary girl, betrothed to an ordinary man.
GIRL:
Yes, and she was very, very happy.
VISITOR:
Good.
GIRL:
She used to listen to the singing of the birds and--
VISITOR:
(INTERRUPTS) Well, what sort of birds were they?
GIRL:
Oh, any sort.
VISITOR:
I mean, linnets and bullfinches? Nightingales?
GIRL:
I dare say.
VISITOR:
Uh huh.
GIRL:
Anyhow, she listened to them in the garden and thought she must be the happiest girl in the world.
VISITOR:
Oh, she had a garden?
GIRL:
Yes. Lovely, lovely garden, full of the most beautiful flowers.
VISITOR:
Hm, red, yellow, blue, purple, pink, heliotrope, white?
GIRL:
And many other colors.
VISITOR:
Had she anything else besides the garden?
GIRL:
Let's see. Yes! She had a beautiful dress -- white and all covered with glittering diamonds.
VISITOR:
And she was happy?
GIRL:
Yes. (BEAT, TROUBLED) Until--
VISITOR:
(WORRIED) Oh. Something happens?
GIRL:
Yes. The night before her wedding day.
VISITOR:
Tell me.
GIRL:
(DISTRESSED) No, I can't, I can't!
VISITOR:
Oh, please, please.
GIRL:
Oh, it was cruel, cruel.
VISITOR:
Please, tell me what happened to her.
GIRL:
(EMOTIONAL) She found she'd been living under a spell, a magic spell that made all the world seem wonderful and beautiful to her, so that she was happy, always happy, walking in her garden, listening to the birds and - and dreaming of a future that was to be happier still.
VISITOR:
And then the spell was broken?
GIRL:
Yes, broken. And where once she had seen beauty, she saw ugliness, ruin, despair, and pain. The cruel weeds sprang up in the garden, choking and strangling the innocent flowers. The birds sang no more.
VISITOR:
(BEAT) And what, er, happened to her?
GIRL:
Happened?
VISITOR:
(BEAT) To the girl; the ordinary girl.
GIRL:
I don't know.
VISITOR:
Oh, but you must. You can't leave off like that. All fairy tales end with, "And they lived happily ever after."
GIRL:
Well, that's what I used to think, but-- But now, I--
VISITOR:
(BEAT) Come nearer to me. (BEAT) Nearer still. (BEAT) You're not afraid of me, are you?
GIRL:
No, I'm not afraid of you. No. (WARMLY) Why, even when you first came into this room, I felt as if-- As if--
VISITOR:
Yes?
GIRL:
As if you were someone I'd known a very long time.
VISITOR:
You - felt that?
GIRL:
It's so hard to explain, but I seem to remember the very first day I came to know you.
VISITOR:
Tell me about it.
GIRL:
It was one Christmas morning -- oh, a very long time ago -- when I was a little girl. My father and mother came to my bed and wakened me from sleep and placed a doll in my arms. I remember how excited I was. How I laughed and hugged and kissed it while they stood by smiling to see me so happy. And then--
VISITOR:
Yes?
GIRL:
They went out of the room and left me alone. All the laughing and the excitement had tired me so, that I lay back in my pillow very quiet and still. There was no sound in the room. No sound anywhere. Outside the snow was falling. I closed my eyes and clasped the doll to my breast. And at that moment, there came to me the most wonderful feeling of peace and contentment. As if-- As if--
VISITOR:
(DELIBERATELY) As if the greatest miracle that could ever happen had happened to you.
GIRL:
Yes, the greatest miracle.
VISITOR:
And tonight, when you were sitting in that chair and I was kneeling by your side, it seemed as though the miracle happened to you again.
GIRL:
More than that. It seemed as though you were the miracle.
MUSIC:
OTHERWORLDLY ... ENTERS GENTLY AT "YOU" ABOVE ... THEN IN BG--
VISITOR:
But I'm not.
GIRL:
What do you mean?
VISITOR:
I'm only the promise of a miracle.
GIRL:
Only the promise?
VISITOR:
For the real miracle, the glorious fulfillment, you must wait until-- (BEAT) Put on your pretty white dress and walk once more in your garden. No weeds grow there now. Only the flowers and the birds singing. Go there once more and wait.
GIRL:
Wait?
VISITOR:
Not for very long. Only a little while and then-- Then ... a miracle.
MUSIC:
UP FOR A BRIEF ACCENT ... AS IF GENTLY CALLING THE VISITOR AWAY ... THEN IN BG--
VISITOR:
I must go.
GIRL:
You're leaving me?
VISITOR:
I must. But remember, not for very long. Only a little while and then--
GIRL:
And then?
VISITOR:
(BEAT, SLOWLY) Until then, good night, Mother.
GIRL:
(THE SAME) Good night, my son.
MUSIC:
FILLS A GENTLE LINGERING PAUSE ... THEN UP FOR CURTAIN AND OUT BEHIND--
SOUND:
APPLAUSE
MUSIC:
NBC CHIMES ...