HOST:
From Hollywood --
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FANFARE
HOST:
Lurene Tuttle in --
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THEME ACCENT AND OUT
HOST:
(ECHO) The Unexpected.
TUTTLE:
(ECHO) The Unexpected.
HOST:
(ECHO) The Unexpected!
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THEME ACCENT ... THEN BEHIND HOST, WITH A STING AT [X]
HOST:
Life is filled with the unexpected -- romantic, tragic, and mysterious endings to our most ordinary actions. Dreams come true, but dreams are shattered by sudden twists of fate in -- [X] -- THE UNEXPECTED!
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UP FOR TAG
HOST:
But first, a word from your announcer.
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MINUTE-LONG FILL ... FOR COMMERCIAL
HOST:
And now -- Lurene Tuttle, outstanding radio and screen star, in - "Sweet Sixteen," a drama of - (ECHO) THE UNEXPECTED!
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THEME ACCENT ... FOR BRIEF TRANSITION ... THEN BEHIND JANIE--
JANIE:
(NARRATES) I hate them. And I hope they suffer forever and forever. I don't care if Mother locks me up here in this attic without supper, I'll still say it -- I hate them! And I always will hate them for what they did to me.
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STING! ... THEN BEHIND JANIE--
JANIE:
(NARRATES) It's Mother's fault, too. She could have married Ted Stanton; he has lots of money. "I don't love you, Ted," that's what she said. I sneaked down the stairs and heard her say it. Love? I'd marry a man I couldn't stand if it would mean getting away from this awful house and my awful family! But not Mother; she has her "pride." So why should I feel sorry for her?
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STING! ... THEN OUT BEHIND JANIE--
JANIE:
(NARRATES) And the only reason she sent me to live with the Corbins was because she wanted to get rid of me. 'Course, she pretended it was for my own good.
MOTHER:
The Corbins have a lovely home, Janie, and I'm sure you'll be very happy there.
JANIE:
(SAVAGE) And I'm sure that you'll be very happy to be rid of me for a month, too!
MOTHER:
Oh, Janie, you shouldn't say things like that.
JANIE:
Well, it's true, anyway! You just want to get me out of your hair for a month. That's why you planned this whole visit to Maine, isn't it?!
MOTHER:
No, of course not. I'll miss you very much. But things haven't been too easy for me, Janie, and--
JANIE:
(INTERRUPTS, MOCKING) And you have seven kids, and you have to work to support them, and you can't afford to send me to summer camp like the rest of the girls in my class! So I have to go and stay with your stuffy old friends in Maine!
MOTHER:
Helen Corbin is not old. In fact, she's quite a bit younger than I am.
JANIE:
Well?
MOTHER:
Janie, sometimes I wonder--
JANIE:
(TEARFUL OUTBURST) You just don't love me! You don't love me any more!
MOTHER:
(SAD) Ohhh--
JANIE:
I'll bet you aren't even my real mother, the way you act to me!
MOTHER:
All right, Janie, let's forget about the whole thing. You don't have to stay with the Corbins if you don't want to.
JANIE:
(EXCITED) Then I can go to summer camp? Can I, Mother, huh?
MOTHER:
I didn't say that. You know very well I can't possibly spend that kind of money when your sister needs new clothes.
JANIE:
You could do it if you wanted to. Evelyn can wear my old dresses.
MOTHER:
Well, we'll see. (SIGHS) Of course, the Corbins are very wealthy, and know a lot of interesting people. Mr. Corbin produces plays, and - and since you always wanted to be an actress when you grow up-- Well, I - I thought you might enjoy yourself. But under the circumstances--
JANIE:
(SUDDENLY SWEET AND GENTLE) Oh, never mind, Mother. I'll go. I'll go to the Corbins', all right. You can stop worrying. (BITTER, TO HERSELF) Can't be any worse than spending the summer in this dump. Nothing could be worse than this dump.
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TRANSITION ... THEN IN BG UNTIL HELEN SPEAKS--
JANIE:
(NARRATES, UNENCHANTED) The Corbins had a nice house, all right. It wasn't very big, but it sat all by itself on a little spit of land sticking out into the bay. It had a high-peaked roof, and it looked clean, and pretty. There were lots of flowers around.
SOUND:
CRASH! OF DISTANT SURF ... THEN IN BG--
JANIE:
(NARRATES) I could hear the waves beating against the rocks below as I walked up the path and knocked on the weather-beaten door.
SOUND:
KNOCKING ON DOOR, WHICH OPENS
JANIE:
(NARRATES) Mrs. Corbin answered the door. (DISAPPOINTED) No butler, no maid. She came herself. Right then I began to get suspicious. She looked pretty enough -- for an elderly woman. She must have been thirty-six or thirty-seven, but she was well-preserved, and her voice sounded almost young.
HELEN:
Yes?
JANIE:
(POLITE, FAUX SWEETNESS) I'm Janie Singer.
HELEN:
(VERY WARM) Oh, hello, Janie. Why didn't you let us know you were coming today? I'd have met you at the station.
JANIE:
I didn't expect to be met. I can find my way around.
HELEN:
Well, come inside, dear, and I'll show you to your room.
SOUND:
JANIE'S STEPS IN ... DOOR CLOSES, SHUTTING OUT THE SURF ... THEIR STEPS THROUGH HOUSE IN AGREEMENT WITH FOLLOWING--
HELEN:
Here, let me help you with your suitcase.
JANIE:
I'll bring it.
HELEN:
Oh, all right. Walter, my husband, is out on the lake, sailing. He'll be in for dinner, though, and you'll meet him then.
JANIE:
I see.
HELEN:
And that's it, Janie, just the three of us. We closed our house in town, and I didn't bring up any of the servants. I thought it would be more fun to do our own cooking and take care of things ourselves. Sort of like camping out!
JANIE:
I wouldn't know. I've never been on a camping trip.
HELEN:
Well, that's too bad. But maybe we can make up for that this summer.
JANIE:
Maybe, Mrs. Corbin. Maybe.
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ACCENT ... THEN BEHIND JANIE--
JANIE:
(NARRATES, BITTER) Just like camping out! "We didn't bring any servants." No, they didn't need to. They had me to do all the work. That was what they wanted me to visit them for -- so I'd be a free maid. Why, the first night, after dinner, when Mrs. Corbin -- or Aunt Helen, as she wanted to be called -- was washing the dishes, she shoved a damp towel at me and said--
HELEN:
(FRIENDLY) Here, Janie. Suppose you dry, and then we'll get done faster.
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ACCENT ... THEN OUT BEHIND JANIE--
JANIE:
(NARRATES) And the next day, when "Uncle Walter" was driving into town, he remarked -- just casually, of course--
WALTER:
(PLEASANT) What say you come on in with me, Janie? And you can buy the groceries for Mrs. Corbin, and we could have lunch in a little place down by the wharf. Make a lark out of it. What do you say?
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ACCENT ... THEN BEHIND JANIE--
JANIE:
(NARRATES, BITTER) Yeah, just a lark. So I could do their shopping for them. Be a servant for them. I hated him, and I hated her. And most of all, I hated the way they lived. If the Corbins had had kids, they'd go to camps, and to Europe, and to nice finishing schools. But me, I'd never be anything but dirt under their feet. Somebody from a dingy house who they could get to work up in the country for nothing -- just because they called it a "vacation." I hated them for weeks. (SLY) And then I decided to get even. If I could never be happy -- if I could never have the things that they did -- I'd see that they didn't enjoy them either. I'd fix them.
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OMINOUS STING ... THEN OUT BEHIND JANIE--
JANIE:
(NARRATES) So one evening when Aunt Helen went to bed early, I sat and watched Uncle Walter doing a crossword puzzle.
WALTER:
Hmm, about time for you to be asleep, isn't it, Janie?
JANIE:
(FAUX SWEETNESS) No, not yet, Uncle Walter. I'm not tired.
WALTER:
(CHUCKLES) Well, all right. I guess a few minutes more won't make any difference.
JANIE:
Gee, you're swell. Thanks.
WALTER:
(CHUCKLES) Thank you, Janie. I'm glad you like being with us.
JANIE:
Oh, I like you, Uncle Walter.
WALTER:
Hm? And Helen? You like her, don't you?
JANIE:
Well, she's different from you, Uncle Walter. Whenever you're not here, she hardly pays any attention to me at all.
WALTER:
Oh?
JANIE:
I guess she's nice enough in her way, but - she has other things to talk about.
WALTER:
Eh--? Other things?
JANIE:
Oh, sure. All the letters she writes, and the long distance phone calls to New York. (BEAT, INNOCENTLY) Who's Tony, Uncle Walter?
WALTER:
Tony Abbott; an old friend of ours.
JANIE:
I see.
WALTER:
He called yesterday afternoon. Helen told me.
JANIE:
What sort of a person is he?
WALTER:
Actor. Nice chap. Why?
JANIE:
Oh, I just wondered. Aunt Helen sent me outside while she talked to him. (FAUX INNOCENCE) Why did she do that, Uncle Walter?
WALTER:
(PUZZLED, UNHAPPY) Er-- I, er, haven't any idea.
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BRIEF TRANSITION ... THEN BEHIND JANIE UNTIL PHONE RINGS--
JANIE:
(NARRATES) Uncle Walter pretended that he didn't know what I was talking about. But he did, really. And I kept pounding away at him for the next two days. (SINGSONG) To-ny Abbott! To-ny Abbott! To-ny Abbott! (BEAT) He began to look worried and tired. (SOUND: PHONE RINGS ... RECEIVER UP) And when the phone rang several nights later, he grabbed it and told the person on the other end that Mrs. Corbin wasn't home -- even though she was standing right beside him.
WALTER:
(OVERLAPS WITH ABOVE AFTER "RECEIVER UP", OFF-MIKE) Hello? ... (ANGRY) No. Helen's not here!
SOUND:
RECEIVER SLAMMED DOWN ... IN BACKGROUND, WALTER AND HELEN AD LIB A NASTY ARGUMENT, WHICH CONTINUES IN BG ("Who was that?" "You know very well who it was! It was Tony Abbott!" "Oh, Tony Abbott--" "Don't make light of it!" ... ET CETERA)
JANIE:
(GIGGLES, NARRATES) They had a fight. It was the first time they'd quarreled since I'd been with them. And the argument went on after I'd gone to bed. (GLEEFUL) I could hear the shouting in their bedroom until three in the morning!
SOUND:
WALTER AND HELEN'S ARGUMENT FADES OUT
JANIE:
(NARRATES, QUIETLY PLEASED) They didn't speak to each other at breakfast except about how the eggs should be fixed. And when Uncle Walter left for the village, Aunt Helen didn't kiss him goodbye. (SLY) So - I decided that the time had come for me to have a heart-to-heart talk with her, too. (TO HELEN) Aunt Helen?
HELEN:
Yes, dear?
JANIE:
I couldn't help hearing you and Uncle Walter last night.
HELEN:
Oh, I'm sorry we disturbed you.
JANIE:
Oh, I didn't mind that. I just hoped you weren't quarreling about me.
HELEN:
About you?
JANIE:
Yes, I - I thought maybe you found out--
HELEN:
(BEAT) Well?
JANIE:
Oh, nothing. Nothing, Aunt Helen. Just forget it.
HELEN:
What might I have found out about?
JANIE:
Well, I don't think it really meant anything. I'm sorry I mentioned it.
HELEN:
Go ahead, Janie.
JANIE:
Well, I suppose you ought to know. Maybe I should have told you before, when it happened. (FAUX SADNESS) But I just couldn't. I was too ashamed.
HELEN:
Ashamed?
JANIE:
Yes. Remember last week, the night you went to bed early?
HELEN:
Yes?
JANIE:
I stayed downstairs with Uncle Walter, and - I was feeling a little homesick. And I thought he was just being nice and fatherly, but--
HELEN:
(QUIETLY HORRIFIED) Oh, Janie, no!
JANIE:
He kissed me.
HELEN:
(QUIET GASP)
JANIE:
And-- Well, it wasn't a fatherly kiss. I had to slap him, and push him away. And I felt all sick inside, and I wanted to leave you both, but he made me promise not to, and said he'd never touch me again -- and he hasn't, Aunt Helen; he's kept his word. So you'll forgive him, won't you?
HELEN:
(HARD, TEARFUL) No, Janie. I won't forgive him. Not ever!
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BIG ACCENT ... THEN BEHIND JANIE--
JANIE:
(NARRATES) That same afternoon, Aunt Helen packed her suitcase and left for Reno. When Uncle Walter read her note, he called Mother to come up and take me home. And then he got drunk. Very drunk. Served 'em right, both of 'em. That's what they got for treating me like a servant. And they're not going to be happy any more, and all their money won't make them happy. They're going to get a divorce. And I'm glad. I'm so very glad.
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CURTAIN
HOST:
You think the story is over, don't you? But wait! Fate takes a hand. Wait - for THE UNEXPECTED!
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THEME ACCENT ... FOR BRIEF TRANSITION ... THEN MINUTE-LONG FILL FOR COMMERCIAL
HOST:
And now for the surprising conclusion of "Sweet Sixteen," starring Lurene Tuttle, a Hamilton-Whitney Production written by Robert Libott and Frank Burt, and directed by Frank K. Danzig.
MUSIC:
THEME ACCENT ... FOR BRIEF TRANSITION
JANIE:
(NARRATES) So that's what happened to the Corbins. And it's their fault. [...] Mother's. She could have said something. Mother didn't need to wait until supper tonight before she explained.
MOTHER:
Well, Janie, it's too bad about Helen and Walter.
JANIE:
Is it?
MOTHER:
Oh, at least from your point of view.
JANIE:
How do you mean?
MOTHER:
Didn't they tell you?
JANIE:
Tell me what?
MOTHER:
Well, that they'd been thinking about a divorce, and Helen thought maybe it was because they didn't have any children. So she arranged for you to spend the summer with them. If it had worked out, they'd have taken you to live with them permanently. And you'd have had servants, and trips abroad, and college -- everything a girl could hope for.
JANIE:
(STUNNED) You mean they were planning to keep me as their own daughter?
MOTHER:
Of course! (BEAT) Didn't they ever tell you, Janie?
MUSIC:
CURTAIN
HOST:
"Sweet Sixteen" starred Lurene Tuttle. Listen soon for another of your favorite motion picture stars in a drama of -- (MUSIC: STING) -- THE UNEXPECTED!
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THEME ACCENT ... THEN UNDER UNTIL END
HOST:
This program was transcribed in Hollywood.