ANNOUNCER:

From Hollywood, it's time now for--

SOUND:

PHONE RINGS, RECEIVER UP

JOHNNY:

Johnny Dollar.

HARDY:

(FILTER) Er, my name is Hardy, Mr. Dollar.

JOHNNY:

Yes?

HARDY:

(FILTER) I'm returning the call you made to Mr. Ellis Rasmussen. If you will state your business, I shall be glad to transmit it to him.

JOHNNY:

You tell Mr. Rasmussen I'm an insurance investigator from Hartford and the matter involves a member of his own family.

HARDY:

(FILTER) Oh. Young Mr. Rasmussen?

JOHNNY:

Yes.

HARDY:

(FILTER) Er, oh. Uh, could you hold on a moment, sir?

JOHNNY:

(MILDLY ANNOYED) I could.

HARDY:

(FILTER, BEAT) Er, Mr. Rasmussen will send a car for you at six o'clock.

JOHNNY:

Look, I can take a cab. It--

SOUND:

PHONE DISCONNECTS (CALLER'S PERSPECTIVE)

JOHNNY:

(PHILOSOPHICAL) Oh, well.

SOUND:

RECEIVER DOWN

MUSIC:

THEME ... THEN BEHIND ANNOUNCER--

ANNOUNCER:

Bob Bailey, in the exciting adventures of the man with the action-packed expense account -- America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator--

JOHNNY:

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.

MUSIC:

THEME ... BRIEF TRANSITION ... THEN BEHIND JOHNNY--

JOHNNY:

Expense account, submitted by special investigator Johnny Dollar. To the Universal Adjustment Bureau, Hartford, Connecticut. The following is an account of expenses incurred during my investigation of the Rasmussen Matter.

MUSIC:

UP, FOR ACCENT ... THEN BEHIND JOHNNY--

JOHNNY:

Expense account, item one, two hundred and four dollars and thirty-five cents, airfare from Hartford to San Francisco to Los Angeles, trying to compile the details of the Rasmussen case. I'd been on it three days when I was stonewalled in Los Angeles with a Holmby Hills address and the phone number of Ellis Rasmussen. At six o'clock, a liveried chauffeur, in immaculate uniform, stepped up to me at the desk.

SOUND:

STAUFFER'S STEPS APPROACH

STAUFFER:

Mr. Dollar?

JOHNNY:

Yes?

STAUFFER:

My name is Stauffer, sir. I have Mr. Rasmussen's car outside.

JOHNNY:

(IMPRESSED BY THE UNIFORM) Well, gee whiz, Stauffer.

STAUFFER:

(CHUCKLES WARMLY) Ain't it the truth, sir?

MUSIC:

TRANSITION ... THEN IN BG--

JOHNNY:

A few minutes later when we turned into the lush green Holmby Hills section, I had a suspicion I was about to deal with a bona fide millionaire. When we parked in front of the big, two-story colonial home and a man with graying hair and swallow-tailed coat stepped out of the door-- Well, I knew I was gonna meet the real article.

HARDY:

I am Hardy, sir.

JOHNNY:

Hello, Hardy.

HARDY:

Mr. Rasmussen is waiting for you. This way, please.

MUSIC:

UP, FOR A VERY BRIEF TRANSITION ... THEN BEHIND JOHNNY--

JOHNNY:

We stopped in front of a huge paneled door. Hardy tapped on it once, then pulled on the knob. As we entered, a tall man with a shock of pure white hair rose from his chair and turned toward us.

HARDY:

This is Mr. Dollar, Mr. Rasmussen.

RASMUSSEN:

(TO HARDY) I want about four fingers of sour mash. (TO JOHNNY) What do you want?

JOHNNY:

(CHUCKLES GOOD-NATUREDLY) Why, you took the words right out of my mouth, Mr. Rasmussen.

HARDY:

Very good, sir.

SOUND:

DOOR CLOSES, OFF, AS HARDY EXITS

JOHNNY:

He's a pretty nice fella.

RASMUSSEN:

We're all pretty nice fellows around here, Mr. Dollar. Sit down.

SOUND:

THE TWO MEN EXHALE AS THEY SIT

JOHNNY:

Thanks.

RASMUSSEN:

Would you hand me that lighter?

JOHNNY:

Oh, sure. Here.

RASMUSSEN:

(CIGARETTE IN MOUTH) Thank you.

SOUND:

LIGHTER OPENED AND IGNITED

RASMUSSEN:

(PUFFS, EXHALES) What are you doing in Los Angeles?

JOHNNY:

Why, Federal Underwriters of Hartford wrote a blanket policy for all Imperial Rubber Company employees. Your son was an executive with Imperial when he was killed in Malaya last spring. Federal owes his widow twenty-five thousand dollars.

RASMUSSEN:

(UNHAPPY) I don't know where she is, Mr. Dollar.

JOHNNY:

(BEAT, DISAPPOINTED) I see.

RASMUSSEN:

I doubt if you do. Let me put it this way. I never met the young lady. Fred married her one night in Elko, Nevada. [X] Two days later, they were on their way to Malaya. Six months there and - the development station was raided by guerillas one night. And I suddenly no longer have a son.

SOUND:

DOOR OPENS OFF AT [X] ABOVE AS HARDY ENTERS WITH DRINKS AND PLACES THEM BEFORE JOHNNY AND RASMUSSEN

RASMUSSEN:

Have you eaten your dinner, Mr. Dollar?

JOHNNY:

Oh, I wouldn't want to trouble you--

RASMUSSEN:

Hardy, set a place for Mr. Dollar.

HARDY:

Very good, sir.

SOUND:

HARDY'S STEPS AWAY ... DOOR CLOSES OFF

JOHNNY:

(BEAT) Well?

RASMUSSEN:

(DISHEARTENED) Well, I thought she might phone me when she got back to the States. She never did. Never a letter; nothing. I'm old and sick, but I still want to see the girl my son married. It's not an easy thing to lose a son, Mr. Dollar. And I lost a good one. I lost the best son a man ever had.

JOHNNY:

(MOVED) I'm sure you did, sir. (BEAT, A TOAST) To your son.

RASMUSSEN:

To Fred.

MUSIC:

NOSTALGIC ... IN AND BEHIND JOHNNY--

JOHNNY:

During dinner and afterward over coffee and liqueurs, I listened to the story of Ellis Rasmussen's life. It came from the lips of an old man who was dying, but in whose eyes I could see reflected the memories of a brawling, bustling life that started in an Oklahoma oil field and moved to Alaska and Arabia and Africa. More and more during the talk I began to know his lost son -- for in everything the old man had to say about himself, I could sense an unmistakable reflection of his son. Finally, I thanked him and left.

SOUND:

STEPS TO FRONT DOOR, WHICH OPENS

HARDY:

If I may say so, I do hope you'll call soon again, sir. Mr. Rasmussen enjoyed your visit very much. I haven't seen him so much like his old self since we received the terrible news of young Mr. Rasmussen's death.

JOHNNY:

He must have been quite a man, Hardy, young Fred Rasmussen.

HARDY:

He was, sir. All of us miss him dreadfully. None of us ever met Mrs. Rasmussen, and we were most anxious to receive her -- especially after young Mr. Fred's death.

JOHNNY:

I imagine so.

STAUFFER:

(APPROACHES) The car's all ready, Mr. Dollar.

HARDY:

Good night, sir.

JOHNNY:

Good night, Hardy.

SOUND:

FRONT DOOR CLOSES AS STAUFFER AND JOHNNY WALK TO CAR

STAUFFER:

Fine night, Mr. Dollar.

JOHNNY:

Yeah.

SOUND:

CAR ENGINE IDLES QUIETLY

JOHNNY:

Stauffer?

STAUFFER:

Yes, sir?

JOHNNY:

I didn't want to press the point with Mr. Rasmussen, but-- Well, maybe you can straighten me out. Did he approve of his son's marriage?

STAUFFER:

Mmm, let's put it this way, Mr. Dollar. Mr. Rasmussen approved of Mr. Fred. And if Mr. Fred got himself married, then Mr. Rasmussen approved of the girl. Between them two, they had that kind of understanding. (ADMIRINGLY) Real people.

MUSIC:

ACCENT ... THEN BEHIND JOHNNY--

JOHNNY:

Expense account, item two, one dollar, ninety-eight cents -- telegram to Personnel Division, Imperial Rubber Company, requesting a copy of all information they might have on Laura Olsen Rasmussen. Item three, six dollars, one long distance phone call to the Universal agent working the case in San Francisco.

AGENT:

(FILTER) Mrs. Rasmussen left the Malaya Peninsula by boat from a town called Khocheti three days after the news of her husband's death. A week later, she booked plane passage in Hong Kong with Trans-Pacific Airlines. She changed planes in Honolulu. She cleared the Port Authority in San Francisco. From there on, we lost her.

JOHNNY:

Get a list of all the passengers who were on that plane.

AGENT:

(FILTER) Okay.

JOHNNY:

Get someone checking the hotels in the Bay Area. She might have checked into one when she hit Frisco.

AGENT:

(FILTER) Okay.

JOHNNY:

Now, listen, we're looking for a woman whose husband was brutally murdered about two weeks before she got back to the States. If she's anything like I think, she was probably about at the end of the rope. Now, start asking questions in places where people like that go.

AGENT:

(FILTER) Right.

SOUND:

RECEIVER DOWN

MUSIC:

ACCENT ... THEN BEHIND JOHNNY--

JOHNNY:

On Wednesday morning, I rented a car -- that's item four, twenty-five dollars -- and made the rounds. First stop, Los Angeles Board of Education. By four o'clock in the afternoon I had found thirty-five Laura Olsens who had attended public school in Los Angeles and were more or less in the proper age bracket. The next day, the folder arrived from Imperial Rubber Company. Among other things, it contained a passport picture and a complete description of Laura Olsen Rasmussen. She was a blonde girl with a pouting sultry kind of mouth, and wide dark eyes.

SOUND:

BUSY CITY BACKGROUND ... STREETCARS AND TRUCKS RUMBLE, CLANG, AND BANG NOISILY IN AND OUT ... JOHNNY'S STEPS TO APARTMENT DOOR, ON WHICH HE KNOCKS

FRANCES:

(FROM WINDOW, DRUNKEN) You! You, down there!

JOHNNY:

Yes?

FRANCES:

(FROM WINDOW) What do you want?

JOHNNY:

I'm looking for Mrs. Frances Olsen. Are you Mrs. Olsen?

FRANCES:

(FROM WINDOW) I don't want to buy nothing.

JOHNNY:

Do you have a daughter named Laura Olsen?

SOUND:

FRANCES' STEPS DOWN STAIRS AND APARTMENT DOOR OPENS BEHIND--

FRANCES:

Are you a policemen?

JOHNNY:

No, I'm an insurance investigator. I'm trying to locate Laura Olsen Rasmussen.

FRANCES:

How'd you get this address? What's that?

JOHNNY:

A picture of her.

FRANCES:

Let's see.

SOUND:

SNATCHES PHOTO

FRANCES:

(COLDLY) That's my Laura. What about her?

JOHNNY:

I've been trying to locate her for some time. Is she here?

FRANCES:

Naw. Naw, she ain't here. She ain't been here for five years.

JOHNNY:

Do you have any idea where I can find her? Friends maybe? Other relatives?

FRANCES:

(LAUGHS) You say her name's Rasmussen now?

JOHNNY:

Yes. She married a man named Fred Rasmussen.

FRANCES:

Married? Well, ain't that just something?

JOHNNY:

You didn't know your daughter had been married, Mrs. Olsen?

FRANCES:

(WITH CONTEMPT) How would I know? How would I know anything about her?

MUSIC:

ACCENT ... THEN BEHIND JOHNNY--

JOHNNY:

Saturday at noon a registered letter arrived from the agent in San Francisco containing the list of pasengers who'd been on the plane with her. Three of the names were in the Los Angeles area, including a Mr. Oberlin who lived in Pasadena.

OBERLIN:

Well, sure I remember her. Real pretty. We sat together all the way from Honolulu. (CHUCKLES) What's up?

JOHNNY:

We're trying to locate her, Mr. Oberlin. Did she happen to mention her plans when she returned to the States?

OBERLIN:

Plans?

JOHNNY:

You know, what hotel she might be staying at in San Francisco, or if she was going on to another city.

OBERLIN:

(NO) Uh uh. (LAUGHS) Naw, naw, naw, not her.

JOHNNY:

(PUZZLED) You say that very emphatically.

OBERLIN:

Yeah, I guess I do. Ya didn't have to show me her picture. You know, a guy always prays he'll meet someone like her on a plane; ya know what I mean? (CHUCKLES) Yeah, live it up. Yesterday's gone, she said, tomorrow ain't here, and the only thing we got is today. (POINTEDLY) Yeah, we had a swell time.

JOHNNY:

(GRIM) You're sure about this?

OBERLIN:

(CONFIDENTIALLY) We were pretty chummy, pal, if you want the truth of it.

JOHNNY:

Mr. Oberlin, did she mention anything about being in Malaya before she boarded that plane?

OBERLIN:

(NO) Uh uh.

JOHNNY:

Then she didn't tell you that her husband had been killed a week before?

OBERLIN:

(BEAT, QUIETLY) Killed? How?

JOHNNY:

He was murdered by guerillas in Malaya.

OBERLIN:

(BEAT, STUNNED) No. She didn't mention that. She didn't mention that at all, Mr. Dollar.

MUSIC:

SOBER TRANSITION

SOUND:

PHONE RINGS, RECEIVER UP

JOHNNY:

Johnny Dollar.

HARDY:

(FILTER) This is Hardy, Mr. Dollar.

JOHNNY:

How are ya, Hardy? How's Mr. Rasmussen?

HARDY:

(FILTER) He's not so well, sir. That's why I called. Could you possibly find time to visit him?

JOHNNY:

Tonight?

HARDY:

(FILTER) May I send a car right away?

JOHNNY:

Is it serious?

HARDY:

(FILTER) He's - dying, sir.

MUSIC:

MOURNFUL ACCENT ... THEN BEHIND JOHNNY--

JOHNNY:

I knew why he wanted to see me. "Have you located my daughter-in-law yet?" "No, I haven't located her, Mr. Rasmussen. But I know something about her. I know she drank whiskey and flirted with a fat salesman on an airplane all the way from Honolulu to San Francisco. I know her mother's a drunk. I know she didn't think enough of you or your son to contact you or anybody else when she got back. Mr. Rasmussen, it looks to me like your daughter-in-law is a first class bum."

MUSIC:

UP, FOR FIRST ACT CURTAIN

ANNOUNCER:

Act Two of YOURS TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR in just a moment.

Our daily lives are sharply affected by world news and for a complete roundup of the news every single weekday evening just keep your dial on CBS Radio for the news broadcasts of our famous CBS newsmen, Edward R. Murrow and Lowell Thomas. Hear up-to-the-minute news with Edward R. Murrow and Lowell Thomas on CBS Radio.

Now Act Two of YOURS TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR and "The Rasmussen Matter."

MUSIC:

THEME FOR SECOND ACT OVERTURE ... THEN IN BG, GENTLY OUT AT [X]

JOHNNY:

There was a black coupe with "M. D." on the license parked in the driveway of the Rasmussen house when we pulled up. In the bedroom, a silvery haired man in a black suit was sitting beside the bed that held Ellis Rasmussen. He was introduced as Dr. Butler. Then I shook the hand of Mr. Rasmussen. Someone suggested that Dr. Butler might like to use the library for his calls.

SOUND:

BEDROOM DOOR CLOSES

JOHNNY:

And I was alone with the old man.

RASMUSSEN:

If you want some whiskey, I keep it in the sideboard over there.

JOHNNY:

Ah, not now, thanks. (HESITANT) I, er-- I wish I had some news for you Mr. Rasmussen. [X] We're finding out things, but we haven't found her yet.

RASMUSSEN:

What things?

JOHNNY:

(RELUCTANT) Oh, things. Nothing important.

RASMUSSEN:

Dollar, if I judge you right, you know your business. And if you haven't found my daughter-in-law by now, you've certainly found out what kind of person she is. So tell me.

JOHNNY:

I haven't met her; I don't know.

RASMUSSEN:

You're being evasive.

JOHNNY:

(TESTILY) I don't work for you, Mr. Rasmussen. I'm an insurance investigator trying to locate a woman and pay off a claim. If I don't find her, the case'll just have to sit -- unless you or someone else concerned makes a report to Missing Persons. (WITH A SHRUG) Then the cops can take over, and maybe they should right now.

RASMUSSEN:

(BEAT, DELIBERATELY) My son was a fine man. I can look back on all the years I had with him and be proud of every year and every day. He married a girl named Laura Olsen. I don't know where she came from or who she was, but I know my son wouldn't have married her unless he loved her, unless she loved him in return, and was worthy of his love.

JOHNNY:

(QUIETLY IRONIC) You know a lot, Mr. Rasmussen.

RASMUSSEN:

(EXHALES) Perhaps I should go to the police.

JOHNNY:

No. No, don't do that. We'll find her, Mr. Rasmussen. We're getting it narrowed down. (BEAT) Well, I'd better leave now.

RASMUSSEN:

As you say.

SOUND:

JOHNNY'S STEPS TO BEDROOM DOOR

RASMUSSEN:

(OFF) Mr. Dollar?

JOHNNY:

Yes, sir?

SOUND:

BEDROOM DOOR OPENS

RASMUSSEN:

(OFF, FLATLY) I want to see her.

JOHNNY:

(RESIGNED) Yes, sir. (BEAT) I'm - sorry I talked to you the way I did.

SOUND:

BEDROOM DOOR CLOSES ... JOHNNY'S SLOW STEPS TO HARDY

HARDY:

Phone call for you, Mr. Dollar. Would you like to take it in there?

JOHNNY:

(ABSENTLY) Oh, yeah, sure. (CONCERNED) Keep an eye on him, Hardy.

HARDY:

Trust me, sir.

SOUND:

JOHNNY'S STEPS TO DOOR, WHICH OPENS ... PHONE RECEIVER UP

JOHNNY:

Johnny Dollar.

DALY:

(FILTER) This is Officer Daly, Los Angeles police.

JOHNNY:

Oh, yeah?

DALY:

(FILTER) You the insurance guy looking for a Laura Olsen Rasmussen?

JOHNNY:

Yeah, have you got anything?

DALY:

(FILTER) We got her.

JOHNNY:

Huh?

DALY:

(FILTER) She's here with the rest of the girls in the drunk tank.

MUSIC:

TRANSITION

SOUND:

BACKGROUND OF MURMURING DRUNK TANK GIRLS ... MUCH ECHO ... METAL DOOR OPENS

JOHNNY:

A drunk tank will always smell of disinfectant. This one was no different. There are no bunks, no chairs, no blankets, no nothing. So you stand or sit on a concrete floor and wait for something to happen. The legal period is twenty-four hours. You get rebooked or you get released; it all depends.

SOUND:

DALY AND DOLLAR'S STEPS TO TANK DOOR, IN BG

DALY:

What's the story on her, Dollar?

JOHNNY:

I've got a check for twenty-five thousand dollars for her.

DALY:

(IMPRESSED) Gee! Insurance money?

JOHNNY:

Yeah.

SOUND:

TANK DOOR OPENED ... GIRLS YELL AND WHISTLE LOUDLY

DALY:

(LOUD, TO GIRLS) Quiet! Quiet in there! All right, quiet down! You girls better learn to get along!

SOUND:

RESUME STEADY BACKGROUND OF MURMURING DRUNK TANK GIRLS

JOHNNY:

(LOW, TO DALY) Which one?

DALY:

Back there. Sittin' on the floor.

JOHNNY:

(DISMAYED, UNDER HIS BREATH) Oh, brother. (TO DALY) What's her situation?

DALY:

(WITH DISGUST) If somebody comes up with bail, they can have her.

MUSIC:

ACCENT ... THEN BEHIND JOHNNY--

JOHNNY:

Expense account, item seven, one hundred dollars, bail. While I was waiting around, Officer Daly broke open a file on her. A dozen aliases, a dozen charges, and one conviction for shoplifting. A career of petty thievery that began at the age of sixteen and ran up into her twenty-second year. Expense account, item eight, thirty-five dollars, telegrams. I sent wires to all parties concerned -- all parties except Ellis Rasmussen -- ordering a stop on their activities since Laura Olsen Rasmussen had been found.

SOUND:

OFFICE DOOR CLOSES

DALY:

(OFF) Over there.

SOUND:

LAURA'S SLOW STEPS TO JOHNNY

LAURA:

(DRUNK) Who are you?

JOHNNY:

My name's Johnny Dollar.

LAURA:

Thanks for getting me out. Why?

JOHNNY:

(COOL) I did it for a friend.

LAURA:

Friend? I didn't know I had any.

MUSIC:

SAD ... IN AND BEHIND JOHNNY--

JOHNNY:

Expense account, item nine, twenty cents, two cups of coffee. We had it in a diner across from the women's section of the main jail. (UNHAPPY, WITH A TRACE OF DISTASTE) I looked at Laura Olsen Rasmussen while she drank the coffee. Looked at the blonde hair and the wide eyes and the pouting mouth. Looked at the woman who had once been the wife of Fred Rasmussen.

MUSIC:

CHANGES TO SOME INNOCUOUS JAZZ ON THE DINER JUKEBOX

SOUND:

CLINK OF COFFEE CUPS

LAURA:

(STILL DRUNK) What's the catch, mister?

JOHNNY:

(UNFRIENDLY THROUGHOUT) No catch.

LAURA:

You put up a hundred dollars for me. I don't know you from a load of coal.

JOHNNY:

No, you don't. Where do you live?

LAURA:

I've been staying at the Piedmont Hotel. You know where it is?

JOHNNY:

No.

LAURA:

Well, not many people do. Especially people with clean shirts.

JOHNNY:

What have you been doing since you got back from Malaya?

LAURA:

(CASUALLY) I've been getting along. I-- (BEAT, GUARDED) You got somethin' to do with Fred? You know about Malaya.

JOHNNY:

I know about a lot of things. I've been looking for you for a month.

LAURA:

So what?

JOHNNY:

Why didn't ya contact your father-in-law when you got back?

LAURA:

Why should I? Why would he care about me? He never met me. What do I mean to him?

JOHNNY:

Right now, since he no longer has a son, you mean everything to him.

LAURA:

(BEAT) You're kiddin' me, mister.

JOHNNY:

I wish I was kidding you. I wish to Heaven I was kidding you.

LAURA:

(EXHALES, UNCARING) Well, what now?

JOHNNY:

(GIVES UP) Oh-- (EXHALES) I want you to come over to my hotel with me--

LAURA:

(NO WAY) Oh, now, look--

JOHNNY:

To sign some papers. I have a check for twenty-five thousand dollars for you.

LAURA:

(DISBELIEF) What was that?

JOHNNY:

Your husband was insured. You're his beneficiary. All you have to do is fill out an application; I'll give ya the check.

LAURA:

(DELIBERATELY) I don't believe it.

JOHNNY:

(WANTS TO SIGH) It's true. Come on.

MUSIC:

BRIEF TRANSITION ... THEN BEHIND JOHNNY--

JOHNNY:

Expense account, item ten, two dollars, cab fare, to my hotel. I took her upstairs with me, stood over her while she filled out the necessary papers. Outside of that, we didn't say a word.

SOUND:

SCRIBBLE OF PEN ON PAPER ... PHONE RINGS, RECEIVER UP

JOHNNY:

(INTO PHONE) Johnny Dollar.

STAUFFER:

(FILTER) This is Stauffer, Mr. Dollar. Hardy asked me to phone you to see if there's any word.

JOHNNY:

(UNHAPPY, RELUCTANT) Oh, yes.

STAUFFER:

(FILTER, BEAT) Well, uh--? What'll I tell him, Mr. Dollar?

JOHNNY:

Tell him - no luck yet, Stauffer. (CHANGES SUBJECT) How is--? How's the old man?

STAUFFER:

(FILTER) 'Bout the same, sir. Counting on you, I think.

JOHNNY:

I'll talk to you later.

STAUFFER:

(FILTER) Yes, sir.

SOUND:

RECEIVER DOWN ... RUSTLE OF PAPERS, IN AGREEMENT WITH FOLLOWING--

LAURA:

(A LITTLE LESS DRUNK) Here ya are.

JOHNNY:

(SLOWLY) Okay. Thanks. Here's your check.

LAURA:

Anything else?

JOHNNY:

Nope. That's it.

LAURA:

Okay.

SOUND:

LAURA'S STEPS TO HOTEL ROOM DOOR, WHICH OPENS

LAURA:

(OFF) See ya around sometime.

JOHNNY:

Sure.

SOUND:

LAURA TAKES A STEP, THEN STOPS

LAURA:

(OFF) Fred told me about a man named Stauffer who worked for his old man for years. Was that him on the phone just now?

JOHNNY:

Yeah.

LAURA:

(BEAT, UNCARING) Yeah.

SOUND:

DOOR CLOSES AS LAURA EXITS

MUSIC:

SAD ... IN AND BEHIND JOHNNY--

JOHNNY:

I didn't know what I was gonna say to the old man, but I did know I was hoping that if Rasmussen had to die, that he'd die before anybody told him the kind of daughter-in-law I'd turned up. I didn't want to be in on that. Expense account, item eleven, eighty-three dollars, hotel bill. I checked out at five-thirty, picked up my airline tickets at the desk -- that's item twelve -- then sat around the lobby for five minutes. Item thirteen, two drinks for myself.

SOUND:

BUSY HOTEL BAR BACKGROUND ... CLINK OF ICE IN GLASS ... LAURA'S STEPS APPROACH

LAURA:

(VERY SOBER) Mr. Dollar?

JOHNNY:

Yeah? (SURPRISED TO SEE HER) Oh.

LAURA:

I read in the paper that Ellis Rasmussen is dying; is that true?

JOHNNY:

That's true.

LAURA:

Mind if I sit down?

JOHNNY:

Suit yourself. What are you drinking?

LAURA:

Nothing. (BEAT) I know why you didn't tell him you found me and I don't blame you. If Fred's dad is anything like Fred was, then I know how you felt; finding me the way you did.

JOHNNY:

Let's forget it, Mrs. Rasmussen, shall we?

LAURA:

I'd like to meet Fred's father.

JOHNNY:

(ANNOYED) So you want to meet him, huh? The human thing would have been to see him when you came back. But not a line, not a word. That old man in that house knows his son was really a man, and on that basis he believes, without seeing you, that his son married a real woman. He had love and sympathy and help and devotion and all the the things you don't seem to have any use for waiting for ya in that house. He-- (BEAT, GIVES UP, DISMISSIVE) Oh, never mind.

SOUND:

HOTEL LOBBY BACKGROUND FADES OUT BEHIND LAURA'S MONOLOGUE

MUSIC:

SNEAKS IN GENTLY BEHIND--

LAURA:

(BEAT, SLOWLY) I loved Fred. Loved him from the first minute I saw him. Know what I was doing when I saw him? Was serving cocktails in a place like this. He didn't ask me what kind of a family I came from, whether I was good or bad. (AMUSED) He just put one of those big arms around me one night and said, "You're mine." (ASTONISHED) He said that to me. He said it because he loved me. No one ever loved me. No one. (SNIFFLES, TEARFUL) But he did. I told him who I was and where I came from and all he said was, "You're with me now." (PAUSE, MORE COMPOSED, SLOWLY) We - we went to Malaya together and I never knew in all my life what I knew then -- how it was to be wanted by someone who was decent and kind. And then he was killed. They told me one afternoon when I was in Khocheti. I took a boat and then I took a plane back here.

JOHNNY:

(MOVED) Go on.

MUSIC:

GENTLY OUT BEHIND--

LAURA:

I went to see Fred's father. I took a car to the house, and I saw what kind of a house and what kind of people his family were. Didn't go in. Couldn't you see me -- cheap, rotten, dirty little me -- Couldn't you see me walking in there and saying, "I'm me"? Couldn't you see that mother of mine moving in? What would that have done to the old man? It would have crushed out his whole memory of Fred. (INHALES, BEAT) But don't think, Mr. Dollar, I haven't got my memory, too. I didn't drink that away. I was-- I was loved by a man. And I loved him back. I've still got that.

JOHNNY:

(BEAT, FRIENDLY) I'm going out there pretty soon. Would you like to meet him?

LAURA:

(BEAT, UNCONVINCED) Do you think I can?

JOHNNY:

I think so. I think so very much.

SOUND:

HOTEL LOBBY BACKGROUND FADES IN ... STAUFFER'S STEPS APPROACH

STAUFFER:

Oh, Mr. Dollar? I've been waitin' in the lobby. I thought you might be here. (POLITE, TO LAURA) Uh, how do, miss?

JOHNNY:

Stauffer? I'd like you to meet Mrs. Rasmussen.

STAUFFER:

(DELIGHTED) Well! My, my! I'm mighty pleased to meetcha. The boss'll be mighty happy.

MUSIC:

HOPEFUL ... THEN IN BG--

JOHNNY:

She dried her eyes in the car. I didn't say much. She didn't say much. But in the half hour it took to get out to Holmby Hills, something happened to her again -- the something that must have happened when the big arm went around her shoulders the first time.

SOUND:

FRONT DOOR OPENS

LAURA:

(BRAVELY, TO HARDY) Good evening.

JOHNNY:

(TO HARDY, AN INTRODUCTION) Mrs. Rasmussen, Hardy.

HARDY:

How do you do, Mrs. Rasmussen?

SOUND:

JOHNNY AND LAURA'S STEPS IN ... FRONT DOOR CLOSES

MUSIC:

GENTLY OUT

HARDY:

We're very happy to see you.

LAURA:

Thank you, Hardy. Fred spoke of you often.

HARDY:

That was kind of Fred. Er, this way, please.

SOUND:

THEIR STEPS TO BEDROOM DOOR ... KNOCK ON DOOR

RASMUSSEN:

(FROM BEHIND DOOR) Come in, come in.

HARDY:

(LOW) I think you can introduce Mrs. Rasmussen, Mr. Dollar. (MOVING OFF) Ring if you need me, sir.

SOUND:

HARDY'S STEPS AWAY

LAURA:

(EXHALES, LOW, TO JOHNNY) I'm scared.

JOHNNY:

Laura, if there ever was a man for ya not to be scared of, it's that man in there.

LAURA:

(TEARFUL) How - how can I tell him about myself? I've been in jail. I can't--

JOHNNY:

Watch.

SOUND:

BEDROOM DOOR OPENS

RASMUSSEN:

(OFF) Well, Mr. Dollar, come in. I-- (STOPS SHORT AS HE SEES LAURA)

JOHNNY:

I've brought someone for you to meet, Mr. Rasmussen.

RASMUSSEN:

(LOW, FLAT, TO LAURA) Come here.

LAURA:

(BREATHES NERVOUSLY)

SOUND:

LAURA'S STEPS TO RASMUSSEN

RASMUSSEN:

(CLOSER) You'd be my son's Laura. (BEAT) Yes, you're Laura.

LAURA:

(TEARFUL) Hello.

RASMUSSEN:

(WARMLY) Yes.

LAURA:

(WEEPS)

RASMUSSEN:

(REASSURING) Oh, now, there, there. Here - here. Now, look, look. Us Rasmussens mustn't meet like this, with tears.

LAURA:

There's so much I have to tell you.

RASMUSSEN:

No. There's nothing you have to tell me.

LAURA:

What?

RASMUSSEN:

(QUIETLY) Let me put my arm around you. (BEAT, UP) There. Now. Feel it? Mm hm. You're my daughter. You understand that?

LAURA:

(OVERCOME, WHISPER) Yes. (UP) Oh, yes.

RASMUSSEN:

Then that's all the explanations we need between us. Yes. (CALLS) Hardy? Hardy?!

SOUND:

BEDROOM DOOR OPENS

HARDY:

Er, yes, Mr. Rasmussen?

RASMUSSEN:

Bring - bring Mrs. Rasmussen some brandy, I think. And I'll have some sour mash. (TO JOHNNY, ABOUT THE DRINK) Mr. Dollar?

JOHNNY:

(AMUSED) Sure. Make mine sour mash, too, Hardy.

HARDY:

(BEAMING) Very good, sir.

MUSIC:

WARM ... THEN BEHIND JOHNNY, OUT GENTLY AT [X]--

JOHNNY:

(CRISPLY) Expense account, item fourteen, forty bucks, miscellaneous. Item fifteen, thirty-five dollars, stenography. Expense account total, one thousand, nine hundred and sixty-five dollars. Remarks-- (CONVERSATIONAL) The old man's got a few weeks more. Laura's moving into the house with him to take care of him. She won't be telling him a lot of things about herself. She doesn't have to. [X] You should have stood there like I did and seen that big arm go around her shoulder when he said, "You're my daughter." (BEAT) Yeah. (CRISP AGAIN) Yours truly, Johnny Dollar.

MUSIC:

A WARM CURTAIN

ANNOUNCER:

Our star will return in just a moment.

Folks abroad want to know more about us Americans -- how we live, how we eat, what we do in our leisure time. You know something? You can help promote international goodwill by corresponding with someone abroad. For the name of a correspondent, write to Letters Abroad, Forty-Five East Sixty-Fifth Street, New York. That's Letters Abroad, Forty-Five East Sixty-Fifth Street, New York.

Stay tuned for five minutes of CBS News to be followed over most of these same stations by "The F.B.I. in Peace and War."

Now here is our star to tell you about next week's story.

JOHNNY:

Next week, one cute tiny little mouse -- that's right; mouse -- almost scares a big insurance company out of business. Join us, won't you? Yours truly, Johnny Dollar.

MUSIC:

THEME ... THEN UNDER

ANNOUNCER:

YOURS TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR, starring Bob Bailey originates in Hollywood. Written by John Dawson, it is produced and directed by Jack Johnstone. Heard in tonight's cast were: Virginia Gregg, Jean Tatum, Eric Snowden, Roy Glenn, Will Wright, Frank Nelson, and Jack Kruschen. Musical supervision is by Amerigo Marino. Be sure to join us next week, same time and station, for another exciting story of YOURS TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR. Dan Cubberly speaking.

MUSIC:

UP TO FILL