Lux presents Hollywood. The Lux Radio Theatre brings you John Garfield, Jeffrey Lin, and Priscilla Rosemary, Lola, and Leota Lane in Four Daughters. Ladies and gentlemen, your producer, Mr. Cecil B. DeMille. Greetings from Hollywood, ladies and gentlemen. Tonight in our play Four Daughters, we take you into an American home. One where the overwhelming problem of bringing up a daughter is multiplied four times. Add the fact that all four daughters are of marriageable age, and we get to say the least very busy telephone. It's popularly supposed that in such a household, the first girl up is the best girl dressed. But thanks to our product, Lux Flakes, one budget can cover four wardrobes quite gracefully. In fact, it's little feminine miracles like this that Lux Flakes thrives on. Our family tonight could be your own family if you have the necessary number of daughters. Because it's the gaiety courage and affairs of the heart of four daughters that are vital to this drama. On the screen, the Warner Brothers production enjoyed such popularity that a sequel called Four Wives will soon be released. Tonight in our adaptation of Four Daughters, we have John Garfield, Jeffrey Lin, and Priscilla Rosemary and Lola Lane from the original cast. And we have an unexpected lane as the fourth daughter. You've seen Priscilla Rosemary and Lola in many motion pictures. The outer lane has appeared in New York musical comedies and recently has been studying for Grand Opera. When we heard that she was visiting her mother and sisters here in Hollywood, we leapt at the opportunity to cast four sisters as four daughters. Besides having four members of one family, we have another unusual statistic tonight. Five of our stars are newcomers to the Lux Radio Theater. John Garfield makes his first appearance at our microphone in the role which gained him screen stardom. You'll hear him as Mickey Borden, the embittered composer who somehow contrives to make cynicism a lovable quality. Jeffrey Lin, another young man whose career received powerful impetus from four daughters, will play Felix, his original role. Mr. Lin is the only one of our stars tonight who knew exactly where to find our stage door. And let me add, no grass is at a chance to grow in front of that door this week, with so many stars beating a path to our microphone. Now we raise the curtain on act one of four daughters. Starring John Garfield as Mickey, Jeffrey Lin as Felix, Priscilla Lane as Ann, Rosemary Lane as Emma, Lola Lane as Fear and Leota Lane as Kay. In the living room of a comfortable home on Long Island, Adam Kemp, teacher of music and the proud father of four grown daughters, listens with a critical ear to their rendition of Schubert's serenade. At the harp is Emma, oldest of the four sisters, and by far the most serious. At the cello, Fear lends grace and charm to the ensemble. The voice you hear is Kay. Kay is the really talented member of the family and the most ambitious. But the liveliest, prettiest and youngest of the four is Ann. No, no, no, stop, stop! What's the matter, Dad?  It's horrible. It has no soul. How can four such beautiful girls make four such horrible sounds? Well, anyhow, Dad, you admit we're beautiful. Beauty isn't enough to justify itself, Ann, unless you do something to go with it. Oh, how I wish I had a lot of money so I could cut all four of you off without a cent. We're safe. No dean of a music school ever got rich. Say, Dad, why don't you go in for more sweepstake tickets? My typical fear. Something for nothing. That's what you want, isn't it? Darling, you can't be mad just because we didn't turn out to be four little genii. You seem to forget that there is one genius in the family. If you're referring to Kay's voice, Ann, it's just an ordinary voice that needs years of hard work and training. Dad, when you applied at the foundation for the scholarship, you said my voice was thrilling. The greatest this side of tepid senior, huh? Well, I couldn't spell mediocre. Any way they expect a father to exaggerate. Oh, Dad. Yes, Emma? Didn't you say you had a class at three o'clock? Oh, Lord, where's my hat? Here it is. Goodbye, darling. Will you be home for dinner? Yes, and I should like to hear Schubert play this if it meant something. Not like a swing band with this call. Goodbye, Dad. You know, I never knew anyone who could get so much fun out of being angry. Yes, Adetta. That young florist fellow's here again. Ernest? I guess that's his name.  Clean up the room. Let him in, Adetta. All right. Well, when Ernest the florist shows up, it means more free posies for Emma. What is this power you have over florist, Emma? Oh, the eye wish you'd stop harping on that. You know, very well, Ernest is just a friend of the family. He doesn't come here to see me.  All righty, and Ernest. Thank you. Hello, everybody. Well, hello, Ernest. Hello, Ernest. Oh, hello. What is it today, Ernest? More flowers? Yes, it's, uh, they're orchids. Orchids? Orchids. Emma, did you hear that? Why, Ernest, you shouldn't do that. Well, I didn't.  They're for Thea. For me? Uh, yes, I'm just delivering them. So, well, there's a card inside that... Thea, who are they from? Here's the card. Mr. Benjamin Crawley. Oh, there's something on the back. Listen, I hope you'll wear these tonight. Thea, who is he? How did you meet him? What's he like, Thea? Wait, I met him last week. He's the handsomest. The handsomest? Well, make it the most distinguished. Is he young? Young enough. I think I'll just... Rich? Strictly surtaxed. What's his name again? Benjamin Crawley. No middle name? Well, he can't be so very rich. He asked me to the country club last night, and I accepted. Oh, you didn't! I did, but he's coming here for dinner first. For dinner? Oh! Well, I guess I'd better be getting on. That is if... Oh, Ernest, are you leaving? Well, I thought seeing I've delivered the flowers, and... Well, so long, Emma. I'll drop in again sometime, maybe one... So long. Come on. Oh, poor Ernest. Emma, you really ought to pay some attention to him. If ever someday he finishes a sentence, I'll marry him. Oh, dear. We're trying to wish a bow on Emma. Now, Thea has a real one. Everything has been so beautiful. I want things to go on just the way they are, always. I don't want anything to change it at all, ever. Oh, don't be silly.  Oh, say, if I'm going out tonight, I'll have to borrow your wrap, Ann. Do you mind? All right. And, Kay, do you have a pair of stockings? I've got one good stocking. I've got another. That'll make a pair. Oh, thanks. Isn't it wonderful? Every time a limp beauty goes out, the rest of the household automatically becomes a nudist colony. Say, is Mr. Ben Crowley worthy of all this fuss? Sure he is. He's got money, and I want money, lots of it. Well, nobody's said a word about love yet, Thea. Old loves overrated, old fashioned, last generation. Don't tell me that you... Why, Emma? Yep. I want love, storybook style, with all the trimmings. A knight in shining armor on a white horse. Fantastic. Of course it is. Where you're going to find a white horse these days. Oh, Ann, tell him I'm right. About love, I mean. Well, I don't think you are. I wouldn't mind mothering someone, a kitten, or a puppy, or a baby. But I want fun, lots of laughs. And the married people I've seen, well, they seem a little short on laughter. Well, I don't care. I'll take a chance. And Ann, you're going to like them. I doubt it. Ann. Well, I don't want to like him. He's got no right to come courting you. I don't want to see this family broken up. Oh, why me trouble halfway, Ann? He hasn't proposed to Thea yet. Is everything going all right, Annetta? No, don't worry, Thea. It'll be a dinner you'll be proud of. All this fuss for Ben Crowley. Never mind, Ann. You just take care of cooking the ducks. That's your department. How's it coming? Well, the last time I looked, they were okay. But if you don't stop getting excited, you're going to look as if you really did cook this dinner. Oh, that reminds me.  Well, listen to this. Oh, Mr. Crowley, I just can't get over it. Thea cooked the whole dinner every inch of it herself. And just look at her. She's as fresh and beautiful as she just stepped out of a band box. Oh, that's fine, Ann. Well, I've been rehearsing it for an hour. Oh, there he is. Ann, go out and introduce everybody. Well, I don't even know him. Well, introduce yourself. Tell him I'm busy in the kitchen. I'll be right there. All right, all right. Take it easy. Annetta, I'm scared.  I tell you, everything is going to be fine. Do I look all right? I think you look wonderful. Now, go on. It's late enough for you to make an entrance. All right. I owe you. Thank you. Thank you. Hello, Ben. Oh, hello, Thea. You've met everybody, I see. I certainly have.  Oh, Mr. Crowley. Oh, I mean it. Well, I imagine dinner's ready. Let's sit down, shall we? All right. All right there, Mr. Crowley. Oh, thanks. Certainly it was nice to sit down to a home-cooked dinner. Oh, Ann. Yes, Thea? Ann, you were going to, well, I thought... Oh, yes. Oh, Mr. Crowley, I just can't get over it. Thea cooked the whole dinner every inch of it herself. And just look at her. She's as fresh and beautiful as if she just stepped out of a band box. Yeah, she is. And beautiful. Well, let's start. Girls. Girls. Is dinner ready, Annetta? We might as well face the situation, girls, and forgot to light the oven under the duck. What? Oh, you mean, Thea, don't you? What I wanted to say is... Yes, Ben? Well, Thea, the fellows at the Boosters Club think I'm a pretty good future in this town. Of course, Ben. Go on. And if I'm going to have a future, well, a man ought to look ahead into the future, so to speak. Oh, yes, Ben? Well, Thea, what I meant is, I'd like to share that future with you. With me? Yes. Oh, Ben. Thea really loves Ben. Well, she's going to marry him, isn't she? I mean, do you think she loves him as much as she loves us? Well, it's a different kind of love, Ann. I should think it is. You certainly can't compare what you feel for someone you hardly know and what you feel for your own family that you were born into and have lived with all your life. Well, sometimes it's more. You mean to say a stranger could come in here and mean more to me than father or Annetta? My own sister's more than you? Well, you're certainly not very worldly-wise. Well, Emma, don't let's get married ever. Let the and Kay if they want to, but not us. We'll grow old together, beautifully and gracefully. Wait and see. We'll both look just like Whistler's mother. Yes, but if we don't get married, how are we going to look like anybody's mother? You'll feel differently one day, Ann.  A couple of years. What's that? Emma, there isn't anyone.  Of course not.  Oh, does Ernest look like a knight in shining armor? No. As long as he's the only man on the horizon, I guess I'm headed for the shelf. The Limp family is going to have one old maid, too. And we'll have a cat, a tortoise-shelled one.  Hey, hey, hey. Wait a minute. Don't make her too beautiful.  Ann, did you hear that, Annetta? What did you say, Ann? That's squeak. It's driving me crazy. Must be your violin. Your father says you're not very good. It isn't my violin. Listen, there it is. Seems to be outdoors. Why, it's someone swinging on our gate. Swinging on our gate? It's a man. Well, for heaven's sake, go out and tell him to stop. Well, you can bet I will. Get off that gate, will you? Oh, hello. Is this your gate? I have an interest in it, yes. It isn't much good for swinging. You know that, don't you? I've swung on it for 18 years. It's done all right by me. Evidently, my standards are much higher.  With me? Sure. No leverage. That's your trouble. Mind if I show you? Well, after all, it's your gate. Now, watch. You see? A little pressure on the ball of the foot. Wait evenly distributed. And there you are. Say, that's pretty good. Mind if I swing with you? It's okay with me, but stay on your own side. Thanks.  You're new around here, aren't you? Yes. My name's Felix. Felix Dietz, D-E-I-T-Z. I'm an old friend of the Lamp family. What? An old friend? Oh, slight exaggeration. My father was a very good friend of old Mr. Lamp's. I'm his daughter, and he's not so very old. Well, Miss, uh... Anne, Anne the gate-swinger. Well, Anne, in this pocket, I have a letter to your father. In fact, he's quite young-looking. Granted, but what's that? Right now, he's at the Music Foundation. He works there. He's the dean of the faculty. One of the youngest-looking deans I've ever had. Good. In this other pocket, I have another letter to the president of the foundation. Could you possibly direct me? Why, certainly.  Four blocks on Cliff Street and turn. Straight ahead, three blocks, and then... And then I turn. Thanks. I'll find it, I'm sure. Well, goodbye. Goodbye. Oh, uh, by the way, one more question. What are you having for dinner tonight? Lamb chops. Lamb chops? Hmm, that'll do very nicely. Didn't nobody invite you to dinner? Your father will. I'll see to that. Au revoir. So long. I'll see you at dinner. Some nerve. Take my advice, Anne. Don't set that extra place. He won't be here. I've seen him. He'll be here, Emma. He can swing on a gate. He's got letters to dad and the dean, and he tolerates lamb chops. Well, that doesn't mean he'll be invited to dinner, Anne. He'll not only be here for dinner, but he'll tell us where to sit. He'll say, Grace, do the carving, make all the conversation, and help himself to a second portion of dessert. That's my impression of Mr. Dease. My impression of your impression is that he sells vacuum cleaners or something or other. Well, whatever he's selling, you'll buy it. Come in, young fellow. Nice place, Mr. Lef. Who's that? That girl's is Mr. Dease, D-E-I-T-Z. Yeah, this way, young man. Well, well, well, quite a crowd of daughters. Hello, Dease. Hello, Lef. And the dad, won't you introduce us? Oh, certainly. Girls, this is Felix Dease. He's a blasted young pup who prefers jazz to the classics. He's arrogant, disrespectful, argumentative, conceited, and I like it.  You've been telling me that all the way home. Oh, they can tell that by just looking at you. Well, I'm fear, and you look talented to me, whatever you do. Thank you. I compose. I'm Kay. What do you compose? Trash. Modern tone poems, I call them, Miss Kay. How nice. I'm Emma, positively the last sister. Go ahead. Produce more. I'm not the least bit tired. Well, come on. Come on. Dinner's ready. Well, I thought you said there weren't any more sisters. Who's this? This is Felix Dease, the son of my old friend. Oh, this is Aunt Hatter. I'm so glad you're here. Thank you. You know, I'm going to sit right next to you at dinner, and we're going to hold hands under the table. Strange how I cotton to you. You know, girls, he's the nicest thing that's come into this house since the electric percolator. I imagine we'll be seeing him often. You know the president of the foundation, don't you? Hard boiled, isn't he? Pure granite. Well, it took this man just seven minutes to talk him into giving him a job at the foundation. Uh, ten minutes. I timed it. Well, that means you're going to live in Briarcliff, doesn't it, Mr. Dease? That's right. Hooray! Oh, Mr. Dease, we want you to feel free to come and swing on our gate any time you like. Emotion chokes me. Oh, by the way, where are you going to live? Oh, I haven't thought about that yet. Well, there's a small hotel in town. Small and mangy. Couple of nice rooming houses, though. With gates. Say, I've got it. Why don't you stay here? Uh, here? Oh, Mr. Lamford, hopefully nice of you, but, well, moving in on your family, well, would tomorrow be too soon? Well, girls, what did I tell you? I thought, really, girls, I can't get over it. A few hours ago, we never heard of a young man named Felix Dease, and now he's practically a fixture in this house. I thought I'd choke when Dad asked him to stay with us. Did you see Anna's face light up, though? She's fallen for him completely. Why, she's downstairs now, rearranging the living room furniture to suit Felix's taste. Well, if you ask me, life and laughter has finally come to the limits. I think Dad asked him to stay because he wants someone around to argue music with. Well, okay. Maybe Dad figured we could use a room and board money. Did you ever stop to think of that? You know, Felix may not be such a nuisance after all. What do you say, Anne? I say that if Felix Dease demanded a hundred a month to live here, you girls would move heaven and earth to scrape it together. What? And furthermore, at the very thought of his being in this house, your collective heart pumping is causing enough vibration to crumble the walls of Jericho. Nuisance indeed. You're falling in love with him, all of you. Oh, Anne. What about you, Anne? I suppose you're immune to the Dease charm. I can laugh at all of you. Remember me? Annie? The sister who never got her man or wanted him? Oh, okay. During this brief intermission, before Mr. DeMille brings us act two of Four Daughters with our all-star cast, let's go on our magic carpet to cross country to Tennessee to the pleasant home of Mrs. S.C. Silver in Nashville. She has a 13-year-old grandson, Frank. And here he comes now. Oh, Frank, look at your feet.  Well, gee, Granny, I sort of slipped in a puddle.  You'd never know they were ever white. Just look how muddy they are. And good heavens, they're all stained from your shoes. Aw, shucks. You can get them clean all right, can't you? Well, they're so awfully dirty. I'm afraid not. Oh, gee, Granny, please. You got it. It's important. We're having something special in the gym tomorrow. Well, I'll see what can be done. Well, you know, I got out the luxe flakes and made some extra rich suds and washed the socks thoroughly in them. And you should have seen the water. It was filthy. But when I finished, the socks were quite as snowed. And next morning, when I gave them to Frankie, said, Gee, Granny, they're slick. They look like you bought me a new pair. Just like a boy. Well, that scene, ladies and gentlemen, was based on a letter Mrs. Silver wrote us. Those socks were a tough problem, but luxe scored again. Luxe flakes not only do the difficult and unusual tasks well, they do your everyday tasks, like stockings and underthings, house dresses and sweaters, and all washables, thoroughly and safely too. That's what Mrs. Silver found and that's what you'll find too. Luxe suds are so rich and active, they simply float out the dirt and leave your things bright and fresh looking. There's no harmful alkali, no cake soap rubbing, to fade or streak washable colors or hurt sensitive fibers. Use luxe for all your woollens, everything safe in water alone. And of course, for your pretty house dresses and printed silks, stockings and underthings. Be sure to buy the thrifty large size box of luxe flakes. The fine sheer flakes are so pure, a little luxe goes a long way. Now our producer, Mr. DeMille. The curtain goes up on act two of Four Daughters, starring John Garfield as Mickey, Jeffrey Lin as Felix, Priscilla Lane as Ann, Rosemary Lane as Emma, Lola Lane as Thea, and Leota Lane as Kay. A few weeks have gone by since Felix made his entrance into the Lemp household. In the room shared by Ann and Emma, there's silence, broken only by the scratch of two pens, as the girls write busily in their diaries. It's bedtime, Ann frowns deeply as she begins a new sentence. Quiet evening at home. That's because Felix has gone to New York for a few days. But he'll be back soon to take up his position as president, king, and prime minister of the household. I'll tell you a secret diary. I like him very much. On the other side of the room, Emma smiles quietly as she reads over what she has written. He's been here only a few weeks, and everything seems different somehow. Isn't it strange that a knight in shining armor should be called Felix?  Quiet, Mr. Lamb, this is my own composition. You wrote that thing? Why? Ever hear of the Manhattan Academy of Music? They've announced a competition for native-born composers. That's me. And first prize is $1,000. We'll use it to buy you a new piano. Oh, so you're going to win first prize, are you? With that collection of cat calls? Oh, come on, come on, you've got a class to teach you free. There's still half an hour. I'm waiting for Mickey Borden. Who's he?  He's going to help me orchestrate my composition. It's criminal wasting another person's time. Oh, it isn't exactly a waste of time. Mickey's out of a job right now. Well, you tell him for me that orchestrating this thing is one step lower than being out of work. Will he be here soon? He's an hour late now, but he might not get here at all. He might not get here by next week, or... Well, it was my impression that only trombone players drank. Oh, Mickey doesn't drink. He's just a little, well, unpredictable. I'm glad to hear that. No completely sane person could do a good job on that stuff. Well, I'll see you at the foundation. Now, don't be too late now. Okay. I'll see who it is, Aunt Etta. Hi. Hello, Mickey. Come on in. Right in that way, Mickey. I've just been working on the Rhapsody. Hmm, a rug on the floor, a piano, and the smell of cooking from the kitchen. It's homes like these that are the backbone of the nation. Where's the spinning wheel?  Did you miss the train? I ignored the train. Thumbed my way up. Why? I gave you more than enough for the fare. Well, I bet the five dollars on a horse I could have bought for seven. He had a lovely name, Felix, that I can't for the life of me, remember? This time of day, there's plenty of traffic from town. You shouldn't have been this late. Oh, I had lots of offers from small fry trucks and station wagons, but I held out for a town car. Poor man's privilege. Look, Mickey, I've got to run over to the foundation. Suppose you take a room in this town for a few weeks till we're through. Save you a lot of traveling. It's all right with me. I was evicted this morning. I'm going to miss those cobwebs. Now, here's the first movement. Look it over, will you? I'll be back in an hour and we'll get you a room. Okay. Just so it's on the other side of the railroad tracks, I can't breathe this clean air. Oh, uh, there's a woman in the kitchen. Introduce herself to her. Name's Aunt Etta. I know the type. Okay. See you later, Mickey. Uh-huh. I kind of thought it didn't sound like Felix explained. Who are you, young man? Is that important? Well, for all I know, you may be a burglar with designs on the piano. According to Felix, I'm supposed to introduce myself. Mickey Borden. I guess your aunt, uh, something or other. Etta. Etta. Yep. Name fits right in. What type aunt are you? A gruff voice hiding the soft heart.  Felix should have prepared me for you. How about a cup of tea? Sure. Can I throw in a couple of cakes? How'd you know I hadn't eaten since yesterday morning? I'm the near sighted, but you can't hide a thing from me type of aunt. I see. Well, you needn't look so noble about it. Tea is only a little hot water. Well, I'll get the kettle going. I'll tell you what I think of you later. Hello. Oh, Ann. Home early, aren't you? Uh-huh. Who's Ann? Oh, this is Mickey... Borden. Borden. He's a friend of Felix, I think. Oh, how do you do? We just know each other. I'm orchestrating his rhapsody. I'm making some tea for Mr. Borden. Just a little hot water. You want some, Ann? Well, please, Ann, Ann. Get set, Ann. You're in for something. What do you mean? Your say. Got a cigarette? Sure. Cork tip no less. Here you are. Light it for me, will you? What? Oh, all right. Here, Mr. Borden. Okay. Is that part of Felix's composition? No. This is something of my own. Why, it's beautiful. It stinks. Oh, well, you're probably right. Just making conversation. All the same, I hope you're not entering that in the competition. Around these parts, we want Felix to win. Can't enter it if I wanted to. It's only got a middle. Only got a... You mean you only wrote a middle? No beginning? No end? Just the middle. Well, do you think it's right to leave a song dangling in midair with no face or feet? Why not? Well, for one thing, a full-bodied composition might easily win first prize. I wouldn't win first prize if I were the only entry in the contest. Well, it seems to me that mathematically you'd stand to find chance. Do you think they'd let me win those guys up there? Up where? Who? They. The fates. The destinies. Whoever they are that decide what we do or don't get. Oh. They've been at me now for 28 years. No let-up. First they said, let him do without parents. He'll get along. Then they decided he doesn't need no education. That's for sissies. And right at the beginning, they tossed a coin. Heads he's poor, tails he's rich. So they tossed a coin with two heads. Then for the finale, they got together on talent. Sure, they said, let him have talent. Not enough, of course, to let him do anything on his own, anything good or great. Just enough to let him help other people. It's all he deserves. Well, you put all this together and you got Michael Bolgar. Bolgar? That's the name I was born with. I thought if I change it, I throw him off the trail. Didn't work. Well, of course, you know you're very silly. Who asked you to listen? Well, you're insulting a person who believes that a man decides his own destiny. That is, if a man has enough ambition and enough courage. Well, I guess I deserve that. Still, I know enough about music to tell you that if you finished your composition, you'd...  They're sitting up there working overtime against me. What some people will do for time and a half. We won't talk about it anymore. I can see it's a painful subject to you. Oh, it's my favorite subject. Talking about my tough luck is the only fun I get. Add, add, add a help! Wait a minute. Were you smiling just now? I think so, yeah. I wish you'd do something for me. Why?  Why? No reason, just laugh. Uh-huh, just as I thought. You don't know the first thing about laughter. I see the sort I'm up against, the gay young thing type. Unimportant species. Well, it isn't the quality of your laughter I'm complaining about. It's your attitude. Attitude? When I ask you to laugh, you want her to know why you should, as if a person has to have a reason to laugh. They might have a reason not to.  Oh, my goodness. Oh, good morning. You look very domestic. Baking a cake, it'll probably fall. That's fate, destiny. Say, I thought you were supposed to be working on Felix's composition. I am. I'm just taking off a little time to practice my laughing. Well, come to think of it, you've improved a lot for just one week. Thanks. Say, were you sneaking around my room yesterday when I was out? How'd you guess? Tried not to leave fingerprints. The minute my backs turn, you put curtains up on me. And that is no. The next time you're out, I'm going to slip a couple of flower pots on your cell. You just try it.  And when I get through with your room, I'm going to work on you. Look at your cell. What's wrong with me? Your hair's always reaching for the ceiling. Your tides are half-mashed. Your... And there's something about the state of New York that I think you ought to know. Huh? What? In the state of New York, a crease in the pants is strictly constitutional. What do you say, Mickey? Uh, I'll think about it. As well. And now, just one more thing. Yeah? In between times, when you're not practicing how to giggle, what about doing a little work on your own composition?  Well, think what a kick in the pants it would be to those destinies of yours if you ran off at the first prize. What if I do win? Oh, here it comes again. My picture in the magazines, a new suit hullabaloo. Then one morning I'm walking down the street when a bolt of lightning with my number on it and nothing else to do follows me around the corner and bop. Oh, Mickey. Yup. That's the way I'm leaving this world. Lightning. I'll lay odds. Somewhere, Mickey, there's a street jacket with your number on it. Just waitin'. Oh, what time is it? It's early. I promised to meet Felix at the train. Aunt Addo, will you finish this cake? I knew it. All right. Thanks. I've got to rush, Mickey. I promised I'd walk Felix home from the station. Why, the excitement, he's only been away a day. But I promised. That's important. I made a promise, too. To myself. What? Come here, Ann. Mickey. Mickey, please. I don't want you to think that that kiss was a spur of the moment stuff. I planned it for a week. It's pretty mild for a week's thought. Just a friendly kiss. We're going to be great friends, aren't we? Yeah. I'll work at it. In fact, we're going to be such great friends that we won't have to give each other anything for Christmas. How's that? Yeah, that's great. I like that. I'm sorry, Mickey. Well, I've got to go now. Goodbye for a while. So long. Home again. Ah, it's great to be home. The old town hasn't changed a bit. Say, listen. When I promised to walk home with you, I didn't think it was going to develop into a foot race. Slow down. Oh, sorry, Ann. Well, that's better. Do you know, Ann, that your eyes are very beautiful? Well, I miss the deeds. They are. Know something else? I love you. What? What? I said I love you. Excuse me, I didn't... What did you say, Felix? I said I love you. I won't say it again. Oh, well, thanks. Since when? Since the moment I first saw you. You can't be original when you're in love. Oh. Well? Well, what? That was in the nature of a proposal. I expect something in the nature of an answer. Of course, I adore you, Felix. That's a good start. Couldn't we go on just this way? You know, lots of laughs. We could be married and still go on laughing. There have been cases. I love you, Ann. I can't swing on a gate and I don't know much about anything else. But I'll try to make you happy.  And the insane world before this and the mad world to come. Oh, Felix. What? Let's hurry, shall we, darling? Hurry? I... I want to tell the family right away. You want to... You mean... Well, come on. Ben, help me, will you? It's your thing. Oh, see, aren't you excited? Excited? You think it was my wedding day instead of Ann? Weren't you excited at our wedding, Thea? Of course, darling. I did it all over. Emma! Where's Emma? Here. Emma, did you arrange about the wedding cake? Yes, it's on its way over. I'd better speak to Ann about it. Kay, what's the matter with Emma? I don't know. Oh, I guess she's got the weave. I've kind of got them myself. Emma. Emma, don't, darling. I hear you. I can't help it, Ann. I know it's wrong, but I love Felix. Now he's... Oh, Ann. Hush, now. Shh. Someone else will come along. No, no. Of course he will. In about six months. That's the usual time. Don't contradict me, Emma. I know all the ways of men being a spinster. Etta, where's Ann, have you seen her? Yes, I did. And don't get so excited. Well, where is she? She went out for a walk with Mickey. A walk on her wedding day? Well, why not?  Walk her probably to her court.  Listen to me, please. Why must you look so beautiful? Oh, Mickey. You're getting married in an hour. Another dream shot. That isn't tough enough. You've got to look like a convention of angels. Listen to me, Mickey. You always said it was my fault. I never put up a battle. All right. I'm full of fight now. I love you, Ann. Nobody else can have you. I love you. Mickey, come to your senses. You see, Ann? Your theory is all cock-eyed. There's no use fighting. I accept the verdict. What's more, I'll attempt it. What's more, I'll attend the wedding. I'll stand in the corner and my smile will be just as brave as Emma's. Emma? Why should Emma? Why should Emma? You mean to say you don't know Emma's insane about Felix? Emma? Felix? Mickey, you're out of your mind. Well, I guess when you're used to standing on the outside looking in, you can see things others can't. I don't know what you're talking about. Poor Emma. That night when you told everybody I was watching, she went wide as a sheet, ran out of the room. No. Her eyes were red from crying. That made me feel very close to Emma. But it wasn't that. It couldn't have been. It was because of me. Because I was getting married. Oh, don't you see, we've always been so close. No, I don't believe it, Mickey. You're only saying it to frighten me. All right. Go home. Get married. But it isn't true. You were lying, weren't you? Yes. That's as good a name for it as any. No. You weren't lying. You weren't. Oh, Mickey, what can I do? Yes, Felix? Emma, will you do me a favor? Will you tie this tie for me? Of course. Better stand still. I can't do a thing with it. I'm a nervous wreck, I tell you. My fingers have turned a jelly. Feel. They're cold. So yours. What are you nervous about? I'm not nervous. Hey, it's a quarter after three. I'm ready. Emma, is I in no room? Why, I don't know. Well, I'm sure I don't. I'll go look, Dad. Who was that at the door and at it? Here. It's a telegram. Telegram, Felix. No, it's not for Felix. It's for you, Emma. For me? Excuse me. Well, I thought only brides got wires on wedding days. Who's it from, Emma? Oh. Oh, no. What's wrong? Emma, what's happened? It's for a man. She's married Mickey Bourne. Married? Emma, what does it say? Here, read it. You must break the news to Felix. Make him understand that this is for the best. I found out just in time to avoid making a dreadful mistake. Mickey and I will be married by the time this reaches you. Felix will understand and forgive. Oh, Felix? No. Don't. Don't say anything, please. In just a moment, Mr. DeMille brings you Act 3 of Four Daughters with John Garfield, Jeffrey Lynn, and the Four Lane Sisters. Every now and then, don't you ask yourself what you want most in life? And I think pretty often your answer is happiness. Well, that's really what we all want, Mr. Rueck. Happiness for ourselves and for those we love. Yes, Sally. And it makes me think of something Mrs. Rueck was telling me this morning. She was telling me about a friend of hers, a young bride who wanted happiness but felt it slipping away from her. You know, Helen, I want Jack to be proud of me more than anything else in the world. Of course. And he is, Jane. I don't know. You see, Helen, he used to be so proud of me, of my appearance. And everywhere we went, he sort of, well, you know, sort of showed me off and everything. And now, well, I just have the feeling that he isn't quite so proud of me. I have a feeling he thinks I've let him down. Oh, Janey, you can't mean that. Well, I'm a little self-conscious these days for one thing. Just look at my hands. They used to be so nice. And now they get so rough and red from housework and especially from dishwashing. I'm ashamed of them. I sort of try to hide them and it spoils everything for me. And I do so want to help Jack. Poor dear. I know exactly how you feel, but there's really no need for it. Well, what can I do? The thing that hurts most is that I know it hurts Jack every time he looks at my hands. He feels I'm working too hard. And I'm not. Really? Oh, now, Jane, stop your worrying. I know the very thing for you. And Helen, being a woman of action, had Jane stop at the corner grocery store on her way home to get some luxe flakes because luxe will help hands stay soft and smooth in spite of dishwashing. That's a mighty good way to help Jane. Luxe is so kind to your hands. But it means so much more than that, don't you think? It means more love and admiration and social success. Every husband wants to be proud of his wife's appearance and that will make both of them happier. Sally, it's amazing, but true, how a simple thing can have such far-reaching effect. Well, pretty hands are mighty important, Mr. Ruit. And here's the fact that I think is worth repeating. Beauty experts advise luxe flakes for washing dishes because it's so mild. And it's inexpensive, too. You'll find luxe is so pure, a little goes a long way. Luxe is thrifty. We pause now for station identification. This is the Columbia Broadcasting System. We continue with four daughters. Anne and Mickey were married in September. Now it's just a week before Christmas. And in their tiny New York apartment, Anne sits alone in the shabby living room. She looks tired and drawn, but she's smiling as she reads over a letter from home. I suppose you read in the papers that Felix' composition won the first prize and a contract with a Seattle symphony. He will be leaving soon, and I don't know when we will see him again. And now, here's our big news. Emma is going to be married to Ernest, the florist. We were all terribly surprised, but she seems quite happy. She would tell you all about it herself. Anne, you can't imagine how we've missed you these months. But now Christmas is a week away and your father is so looking forward to a family reunion. Please, Anne, please get back for Christmas. Your loving aunt, Etta.  No, I kind of like it. Oh, for my sake. Hate it, please. Why? I've just discovered something about myself. I can't make vegetable soup. Well, could you salvage something from the vegetables, a stew or an omelet or something? Well, I must have done something wrong. Those vegetables in the pot, they disappeared. Well, anyway, we can look forward to the Christmas dinner your dad's going to give us. I just read Aunt Etta's letter again. It gets better with each reading. In the meantime, we can run down to Joe's red room. We've got just enough left for two of his death-defying dinners and a pair of tickets to Briar Cliff. After that, yeah. After that, Social Security will take care of us. Well, I feel old enough to be eligible. Anne, I can't make any money orchestrating. If only there was something else I could do. Nonsense. A little grade at the temples and you'd make a wonderful bank president. Yeah. I bet you'd be glad to get out of this dungeon for a couple of days. Oh, it's not so bad. Only, did you ask the landlord for hot water? I did, but he counted by asking for the rent. Well, you ask him first. Anne, after all these months, you still love me? It's only four months. Sure I do. You really do? Get a notary. I'll sign an affidavit. You still love me? You must be crazy.   Yeah, maybe. Do you want to go home for Christmas? Why? Yes, Mickey. Don't you? Okay, okay. I just wanted to make sure. Why, Mickey? I met a fellow there who was trying to set up a combination for South America. You mean a band? Yeah, yeah. He wants me at the piano. It would only take $300 to get us there. I could raise it someplace. But we'd have to leave right away. Oh, Mickey. Yeah? Now it's my turn to ask you a question. These past four months, have you been happy? I've been closer to it than I've ever been before. Then why do you suddenly want to traipse to South America? Perhaps to give it's lightning a chance at me. Only fair. If you weren't married, if you didn't have me, you'd get there somehow, wouldn't you? I guess so. I'm holding you back. That's right, that's right. That's what I told this guy. I said I can't go. I got a wife around my neck who wants to go home for Christmas. And I think more of her than I do of your job. Thanks, John. Hey, that was pretty swell. Nice work for you. And you're wonderful. Isn't she wonderful, Adam? Oh, fair, fair. They need to practice together. Personally, I thought it was great. You ought to get home more often, Anne. Thanks, Felix. Well, who will have what's left of the turkey, Ernest? Well, yes, I wouldn't mind if... I guess nobody'd mind. Come on, Emma. All right. Wait, Anne, Ida. Don't fix anything for me, will you? I've got to leave, you know. Oh, really? Oh, Felix. Sorry, trains don't wait. I'll get your bag, Felix. I'm the youngest. I'll go get his hat and coat. Better get the car out, I guess. Oh, Felix, I do hate to see you go. Please, Mr. Train.  We'll expect a letter every week now. Full report. I'll send press clippings. Make sure your father reads them. Ah, ah. Was somebody getting my coat? Here, Felix. Oh, thanks, Anne. It was swell seeing you. It was swell being here.  Shakespeare probably said it. He said everything. Yes. Well, goodbye, Lamp. So long, Deeks. Wait a second, will you? Oh, so long, Mickey. Not yet. I'm going to drive you to the station. OK, thanks. Well, bye, everybody. Bye. So long. All right. Well, there he goes.  I'll help out. All right. Anne. Yes, Emma? Isn't it grand for all of us to be together again? Seems almost like a dream. So much has happened. Felix a success? Three of us married? Well, I almost am. Ernest wants to make it soon. Emma, I've got to know. You and Felix, I thought you were in love with him. I was. I guess we all were. Looking back, the day you were going to marry Felix, I thought if the world should end now, it would only be an anticlimax. I know better now. And I really owe it all to you, Anne. To me, you see, if you'd married Felix, I suppose I'd have gone on all my life thinking I'd miss my prince charming on this white horse. But when your telegram came, well, everyone just went to pieces. That is, everyone but Ernest. But he was so quiet and so capable and so dignified. That started it. It's funny how long you can be around people and not know how much they really mean to you. And I'll take you and Mickey. Emma, stop. Anne, what's the matter? Nothing. Well, have I said anything that... Anne, you're happy with Mickey. You are, aren't you? Mickey does everything he can to make me happy. He tried very hard. Felix, yes? I asked Ben to let me drive the car because this is my last chance to tell you that... I'm sorry I busted things up for you. Oh, ancient history, Mickey. Forget it. Messing things up, that's where I shine. There's one saving grace, though. I usually end up at the bottom of the pile. How have things been going with you, Mickey? No complaints. Been working. After my fashion. Everything all right, then? Head above water. That's good. Do me a favor, Mickey. How much do you need? Oh, no. I've been lucky lately. Let me lend you a little something to tide you over.  It would bore me stiff. No, thanks, Felix. I can't take it. Why not? I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm a new man. The old Mickey would have taken it.  Well, there's the train. You have much time to lose. You got your ticket? Yes, everything. Oh, Mickey. Here? Here. Take this, will you? What is it? I told you I didn't need any... Please. It's for Anne. Use it any way you think. That'll make her happy. So long, Mickey. So long. Good luck. What a chance. A man decides his own destiny. Someday I'm going to teach you how to land. Bolt a lightning with my number on it. That's the way I'm leaving this world. I'll lay odds on it. A lightning. That's the way. A man decides his own destiny. A man can make his own lightning. His own destiny. His own lightning. His own lightning. Tell me, is he very bad? I'm afraid so. It was a bad accident. There's no chance for him. No chance at all. Oh, Mickey. You'd better go in now. He only has a few minutes. Mickey. Anne. More of their work. Wouldn't even... Wouldn't even let me go out in style. Don't try to talk, Mickey. You'll be all right. Only lightning can get you. I have your word for it. Sure. But... Lightning can... be manufactured. You know? A man... a man... can make his own... I'm sorry, my dear. There was nothing we could do for him. He's... he's gone, my dear. Oh, Mickey. Mickey, oh, Mickey. Oh, stop, stop. Terrible, terrible. How you girls, with all the training I've given you, could look so sweet and play so solid. The girls who haven't played together for over a year, I think they're doing very well, despite your training. That's enough. That's enough. Now we'll try it again. Ready, Anne? Stop squeaking. I didn't do that. You certainly did. I heard you. Listen, it's our gate. There's a man swinging on our gate. It's feeling. He wants to see you. Oh, yes, I... Excuse me, dear. Hello, Amber. Hello, Deeds. I haven't done right by my gate. Listen to that squeak. I wouldn't swing on a gate that didn't squeak. Why do women hate to use an oil can? Why do men love to smoke smelly pipes? Isn't the pipe, it's the tobacco.   I came back for you. For me? You know I would someday. Oh, I hoped you would. But if you came back for me, then... then what are you doing on that side of the gate? Oh, Anne. In just a moment, our stars return for their curtain calls. But first, I'd like to make a timely suggestion. And, of course, that means a Christmas suggestion. Last year we received quite a lot of nice letters praising our recipe for luck's snow as a Christmas tree decoration. In fact, I'd like to have you hear one. It's from Mrs. L. H. Hubrexie of Brilliant Wisconsin. She says... I tried the whipped-up luck suds you mentioned on the Luxe Radio Theatre for my Christmas tree. And I was simply delighted with the result. Now listen closely to this, because this is a brand new idea. She goes on to say... I also took branches from a bridal wreath bush and covered them with a luxe mixture. Then I sprinkled shiny artificial Christmas snow over the luxe, placed the twigs in a glass frog also covered with luxe snow, and set it on a mirror flanked by silver candlestick. I used this on my New Year's holiday dining table. And the result was beautiful, and my guests complimented me on my originality. Now, there's an idea for you. There's lots of ways you can use luxe to make your Christmas more beautiful. For your tree, of course, and as table decorations. Now here's the way you make the snow. Get a large box of luxe flakes. Pour it into a bowl. Add two scant cups of lukewarm water, and beat with an egg beater to the consistency of thick-whipped cream. Then take handfuls of the snow, and spread with your fingers along the branches of your tree. When you're finished, your tree looks as if it had been out in a snowstorm. It's really beautiful. For extra sparkle, sprinkle shiny artificial Christmas snow over the tree while the suds are still moist. Now, did you get that recipe? You take two scant cups of lukewarm water to a large-sized box of luxe flakes, and beat to the consistency of thick-whipped cream. Be sure to buy the large-sized box of luxe flakes. Here is Mr. DeMille with our stars. The traffic problem at our microphone, being what it is tonight, I think I'd better make sure that our stars are all here for their curtain call. Garfield? Here. Lynn? Here. Lane sisters, Leota? Here. Rosemary? Present teacher. Lola? Yes, sir. Priscilla? I'll say kid. Oh, don't mind Priscilla. Don't mind her, Mr. DeMille. That was the first thing she ever had to say on the stage, and she's very proud of it. Well, she should be. It's a good line. This seems a good time to find out how Mrs. Lane's four daughters got into the business of entertaining the public. Well, I guess it's because we learned to sing when we were all young. We learned to sing when we were all young, and everybody naturally thought about music. Then Lola and Leota got a job on the stage in New York. Mother was worried about them going to the Wicked City alone, but it turned out all right. Two weeks later, we got a telegram that said, assign leads in Greenwich Village Follies. Please send fudge cake. Did you send it? I'll say kid. Two down and two to go. How about you, Rosemary? When were you and Priscilla called to the footlight? Well, Priscilla and I went to New York to visit Leota and sing with his orchestra. And so here we are, four daughters. No, Rosemary, you mean four wives. Our family's growing so fast, we have to consult Warner Brothers ourselves before we know exactly where we are. At least I know where I am, and four wives. I'm only the ghost of Mickey Borden. A very spirited performance according to the critics. Well, nobody will miss me with four husbands and four children that go with four daughters now. Oh, we could never forget Mickey Borden. Yeah, what happens between you and Jeffrey Lynn and four wives? You can't expect her to be an old maid. The grapevine says the next picture is four mothers. How'd you like to have first call on four grandmothers saying about 50 years, Mr. DeMille? I wish I had parts for four daughters right now and a certain picture called Northwest Mounted Police. Well, the four daughters always get their man. Look at me. By the way, what are you having here next week, Mr. DeMille? Next Monday night, we celebrate Christmas with one of the most unusual presentations of the entire year. The new Walt Disney production, Pinocchio. Early in the year, Pinocchio will receive its nationwide motion picture release. But next Monday night, you'll have your first opportunity to hear this successor to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Pinocchio is a lad with a great capacity for getting into trouble, and his classic story has charm grown-ups and children alike in every country in the world. So next Monday night, the Walt Disney feature, Pinocchio, will have its premiere at this microphone as our Christmas present to you. Well, that's going to be a swell show, Mr. DeMille. Good night. Good night, Mr. DeMille. Good night. Don't all try to get through the stage door at once. Our sponsors, the makers of Lux Flakes, join me in inviting you to be with us again next Monday night when the Lux Radio Theatre presents Walt Disney's Pinocchio. This is Cecil B. DeMille saying good night to you from Hollywood. Heard in tonight's play were Wallace Clarke as father, Clara Blandic as aunt Etta, Hal K. Dawson as Ben, Lou Merrill as Ernest, and Harry Humphries as doctor. Our music was directed by Louis Silvers. Our Lux Radio Theatre production of Four Daughters has come to you with the good wishes of the makers of Lux Flakes, the tissue-thin soap flakes used by smart housewives everywhere, and by the Great Picture Studios here in Hollywood with the million-dollar wardrobes you see on the screen. Your announcer has been Melville Roy. This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.


I'm picking up leads and possible deals every cost. I couldn't imagine if I was calling for three hours a day. For me, I wanted to get through that whole prospecting storm and build my business to where I didn't have to prospect anymore as quickly as possible. You're going to pick the one that seems most confident. Not arrogant, right? Not to the level of arrogance, but whoever they feel like is just connects with them the best and it's the most confidence. They do it for 30 days and they look down and they're like, why have 30 videos? One of these has to be good enough to post. Do you feel that the agents who are focused on the money are going to make worse calls and make worse relationships because they don't really care. They're just trying to get to the money. Some of them we're going to get it now. Some of them we're going to get it later. Someone never get it. If it wasn't my fault and the fact that you don't realize that tells me I probably need to go spend my energy on somebody that does understand how this game really works. How can I become friends with every single person in my market? You know, and then build that great reputation. This is episode 18 of the Art of Agency, a Launchpad for Realtors. I'm Jonathan Green with Mallory Pastor and our guest, Ricky Karuth. Ricky is the founder of the Karuth team at EXP Realty Golf Shores, as well as the founder of Zero to Diamond, a social media platform and free coaching program for real estate agents. You've probably seen them around social media. Ricky, welcome to the show. What's up guys? Hey. Yeah, great. Great to have you. I'm going to start off with one that I know you're going to have some answers to. What is wrong with real estate agents in today's market? Yeah, so honestly, they're kind of slowing down with the market, right? The market is slower. There's less transactions, of course. We see that there's less pending deals. And we're seeing more agents drop off really. I mean, we saw the first drop off year over year since the great recession. Yeah. And what's happening is that agents were so accustomed to inbound leads, right? Just things falling in their lap for a while. And it was just really easy.  But it was easy to get the lead. The leads were coming in. Yeah. It was easy to get there and then working the leads from there. And now all that's kind of dried up. There's not really a lot of inbound leads, right? So like a lot of repeats and referral business isn't really coming through. There's a lot of people sitting on the sidelines. Buyers are sitting on sidelines because of mortgage rates. Sellers are sitting on the sidelines because of mortgage rates. Yeah, definitely. So there's a lot of sidelines sitting happening. There's more pent up demand than we've ever seen in history from the buyer and seller side. So many sellers want to move, but they feel trapped with their mortgage rate. And so many buyers, more than we've ever seen, want to buy. There's more 33-year-olds than we've seen since the baby boomer generation. 98% of them want to be homeowners. 33 is the first, the beginning age of the average first time home buyer. And we've got a decade and a half of this, more than we've ever seen. So when mortgage rates do ease down, once we get all the, you know, the debt-silling thing figured out and all that, and inflation eases a little, we're going to see better mortgage rates, which is really going to unleash the largest wave, I think, that we've probably seen in a long, long time of buyers. But in terms of agents, they've just grown accustomed to things falling in their lap and the prospecting side. And now they're sitting around, nothing's really coming in.  And even if you'll just go get on the phone, you know, like I've been making live call sessions again.  But I'm picking up leads and possible deals every cost. I couldn't imagine if I was calling for three hours a day, you know, even three days a week. Yeah. Do you feel like with the, as technology and like texting and all these other DMs and those ways have become more popular that agents have forgotten how to use the phone? Yeah. Yeah. They're trying to get around that part of it. When in fact, you know, when they do make contact with someone, they still got to get on the phone with them, you know, so they're just prolonging the inevitable and if they would just take some initiative and be a little bit more, you know, offensive, be on the offense rather than, you know, defense and get to those conversations, just go ahead and let's get to the conversations. It's kind of like a Buffalo. You've heard the Buffalo thing, right? They run towards the storm, right? It's the same thing, you know, like most agents or cows, they, they're running away from the storm. So the storm kind of chases them, it catches up to them and then they're still running, trying to run away while they stay in the storm longer versus the Buffalo. When they see the storm, they just go run straight to it because they just run right through it really fast and they get to the other side. For me, I wanted to get through that whole prospecting storm and build my business to where I didn't have to prospect anymore as quickly as possible. And so the only way to do that is to just hit it head on and just go have as many conversations as you can and build that business and build your database up to the point where you've got so many repeats and referrals coming in that you don't have to prospect anymore. And it can happen really quickly, like within a matter of a couple of years, if you just be the Buffalo versus most agents are just trying to avoid it, which just prolongs that whole process and a lot of them get to a place where they never get into the situation where their business is such where they don't have to prospect anymore, they have to prospect for the rest of their life. Yeah, and I guess if, go ahead, Ma. When they get to that spot, they really don't have the tenacity to prospect. Well, anyway, they're kind of just doing it like a robot. So they're doing bad prospecting even at that point because they don't really want to do it. Well, that was kind of going to be my question. Like, do you think that lack of action, right, is from a lack of confidence? Or do you think they're just lazy and used to things falling in their lap? Or do you think it's a combination of both? Combination of both and getting worse every day. People are just naturally human nature is that we're, you know, scared of rejection and, you know, don't want to talk to people who don't know and stuff like that.   So it all comes back to talking to them anyway. Why am I going to do any of that when I can just get their information for a penny and just call them right now for the exact person I want to do business with? Yeah. So yeah, it's a combination. They're scared of rejection. They're not confident in their self. It's tough, you know, it's tough. So I don't know. That's why the failure rate is so high because honestly, it's just confidence. How do you think agents can build that up? You know, is it just like, I'm very action oriented. So I'm like, I'll just do it, right? But not everybody is that way. So what are some ways you think agents can kind of psych themselves up and build up that confidence to make those calls? Well, you know, confidence is what every client wants. There's so many agents to choose from. Who are they going to pick? They're going to pick the one that seems most confident, not arrogant, right? Not to the level of arrogance, but whoever they feel like is just connects with them the best and it's the most confident. So how do you build that?  I'm a high D. So I'm just kind of one of these guys that just doesn't care. I'm just going to go wing it. I'm going to go, you know, make it happen. And, you know, I'll make it work kind of thing. Not everybody's like that. A lot of people are scared to make videos. And one thing I've been saying is, is go in your phone and pull up the video, you know, app there. And just make a video a day, right?  And don't post them. Just make them and have them in your phone and just don't post them. And make one a day, you know, have it, make it a commitment that every day you're going to make one video a day. Whether you post it or not, you're just going to make it. And what happens over time is you end up getting a little better after like a couple of days or maybe a week or two. And you actually create a video. You're like, it's so good. I have to post it, right? And then you kind of start to break through that fear of, you know, whatever the fear was behind making the video. Same thing with calls. I think if you're really, really scared of calls, warm up your call session by calling a couple of sphere of influence people. Yeah, definitely. I know you.  I used to do that whenever I was calling. Yeah. You know, I would, I would spend the first four calls like following up with past clients or following up with people that I'm, I'm working with right now that might want to buy or sell just to kind of get in the groove and making the call, being on the phone and going through the conversation. And then I was kind of warmed up and ready to roll for my cold calls. Yeah. So I think just kind of easing into it, whether it's video or calls, have something in place that kind of allows you to make the excuse to do it rather than make the excuse not to do it. Yeah. And those are just reps. I feel like you're saying like, I read that video post and I love it because I really think it's just giving them the reps. And then at some point you're right. They're just going to be like, well, actually, this is like my best one. Why wouldn't I post this? Or they do it for 30 days and they look down and they're like, why have 30 videos? One of these has to be good enough to post. Yeah.  And even if not, they've at least had 30 days of creating something. I really like the idea of not posting it. I think that people are going to get much more comfort, same with the phone. One thing that I've noticed about your coaching over time is that it's something that both Mallory and I agree with. It's real estate's about relationships. Do you feel that the agents who are focused on the money are going to make worse calls and make worse, you know, relationships because they don't really care. They're just trying to get to the money. But how do you train a new agent who does need the money to focus on the person? That's what we're always trying to do. Well, sometimes they have to go through what it feels like to chase the money and how devastating that is to their business before they realize, before it clicks. Sometimes it's not what we tell them or it's not really up to us to try to make that switch. It's up to them of actually going through it and learning it on their own. And then what will happen is we're screaming it, hey, focus on the person, not the property.  I'm going to go after this listing and stuff like that.  But at the end of the day, when you look back at that whole moment, let's just say it's a year or two that they were prospecting and getting listings and they did pretty well, sales-wise and everything. But if you really sit there and count up every single prospect that they talk to and how many of those prospects are in their database now and love them and want to do business with them for the rest of their life and stuff like that, and you realize how much business was actually left on the table of people because you were so focused on the deal that you were so blinded by the appointment or the deal that you were so focused on trying to get that, you weren't even open to the fact that, hey, this person might want to buy something over here or maybe this person doesn't want to do anything right now, but maybe they will in three years. And if I can understand that and then collect their data and market to them until they do, then I could be their agent for life. If you look at it from that standpoint, that was like what we first talked about. If you operate like this, you get to a place where you don't have to prospect anymore. This is part of it, is working those numbers up of people who love you and your market that want to do business with you when they get ready. If you're always just focused on the deal, even if you're doing the weekly email and building the brand for the future, you're going to lose a lot of people that you were talking to anyway, that you could have collected that would have done 10 to 20 deals with you over the next 15 years. So it could be us just screaming it and then them going out and learning that on their own and then making that adjustment in the next 14 months. Or maybe they hear what I'm saying right now and they're like, you know what? Doing it that way. I could actually close all the business I would have closed now anyway because people like me and if they're going to do deals now, they're going to do a deal with me. And I'm going to get all this business in the future as well. And so I'm building my short-term and long-term business at the same time. Maybe they realize that in this one show and they go start implementing that and the way they're communicating with their prospects now. So everybody's going to be different. Some of them we're going to get it now. Some of them we're going to get it later. And someone never get it. Right? And those that never get it will just be salespeople for the rest of their life. They're all only good as their last sale. Every closing, they're going to have to work hard to go do another closing, another closing, another closing. And hopefully they've saved up some money and bought some rental properties so they can walk away from this thing at some point. But you know, they may or may not ever have like a residual business to the level that they want where they can walk away from prospecting, still close 50 to 100 deals every year in their sleep. Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, I think those same agents are the ones who they get the closing and then they forget about the client because they're worried about getting their next closing and they're like, well, those, they're seven years away. But what about all the referrals? You know, if you do a great job and you only say you have a new agent and you do five closings and you don't have any inbound leads because it's a little dry, like we said at the beginning, but you just focus on those five people making sure they have everything that they need. Referrals are going to start to come. Do you find that agents are really failing in that area as well as that follow-up nurture for the clients that you already helped? Well, you just do a weekly email to your entire database on the same day of the week forever, make it a custom email. But so that makes everything really easy. But what they really fail to understand is that the person that you think isn't going to do anything for seven years decides in six months, they don't like where they are. Yeah. And they want to sell it. Because they get a job transfer, yeah.  Or you never know. That person could be the one person that referred you to a $3 million commercial deal in the next four months.   Yeah. Like, you have an auto dialer here. It's only going to take you an extra 15 minutes to call the people you took off the list. Those people may want to buy rental properties or commercial. Or maybe they want to sell this property over there. Or maybe they need a referral to sell their beach condo and Myrtle Beach. Or you don't know what's going to happen. Why are you just saying, oh, well, these aren't worth calling. Like any human being in your market is worth calling. Yeah. And I think people over complicate it sometimes. Like I had a deal that closed in March and like I texted her Happy Mother's Day and she thought it was like the most amazing thing in the whole world. The fact that your expectations are that low but she was like, thank you so much. Like my old realtor never did that. Like it sounds really silly but people over complicate to your point, Jonathan, of staying in touch with those people, right? Like just because you closed three weeks ago doesn't mean you can't reach out and check in and do things like that. So we've heard so multiple stories from people we've had on the show who clients will just say thank you for answering the phone and you're like, what? You're like, what? Thank you for responding. That's what we're up against. And I mean the podcast is to make real estate agents better so clients get better service. And this can be a trickle down effect that will eventually get to the clients because they need better service. There's just a lot of bad realtors out there. You know, hopefully they'll listen. One thing that you always say also is that real estate is a win-win, something that I agree with. How do you get people to understand that the win-win is involved in the buyer, the seller, the agents, the attorneys, and keeping everybody on the same page and not making it like a competition? Well, give me an example of what an agent would call a loss. Of what an agent would call a loss? I mean, yeah. They're likely to lose in this business. What's the... Well, this will go to one other thing that you said which is when losing deals gives your future time back. Like when a deal fails, agents are like, oh, they start to cry into their bowl of Cheerios, not realizing probably that deal should have failed. It's a good job that the deal failed. It wasn't a good deal. How do you get them to get back on track? Because they feel that's a loss. The deal fails in inspection, say, how do they get that back on the track? Well, I mean, number one, not all deals are going to close.  That's the first thing you have to really understand is that when you get the listing, it's either going to sell or it isn't. You could price it exactly right and it just sit there forever. I've overpriced stuff that's sold on a day. There's so many scenarios. First thing you have to realize is that you don't control any of this and that nothing's really promised. Something could fall through the day of... You could be at the closing table and the seller just say, I'm not going to sign it and boom, right? I mean, it's even happened, right? Buyers and buyers like ghost. I've had a couple of deals where the buyers just disappear. They got completely ghost and they never reappear, right? I've had that happen a couple of times. So it's just really out of your control. What we do as agents is we do the best we can do to make the deals happen. But at the end of the day, again, let's just take it back to what we just said and that is we're focused on the person, not the property. So if a deal falls through, that's the property. But what about the person? Do we still have a relationship with them? Are we still pursuing a deal? It's like, okay, do we represent the seller? Okay, we represent the seller and the deal fell through. Great, we still have the listing. We're going to go out and resell it to somebody. They still want to sell it. It wasn't your fault it fell through. You handled it beautifully and they want to proceed with you. You're good. Let's say it was your buyer. Fell out, you said because of inspection. Well, it's not because they got denied on their loan. They could still afford the house. They just didn't like the inspection. Let's go find you a house that you do like that does pass the inspection. It's the relationship. Let's say a deal falls totally apart and the person isn't going to do the deal anymore. Let's say the seller of the listing cancels the listing. He says, hey, I don't like the way you handled the way that this deal went. It's your fault that we lost the deal. And I'm going to go listen to somebody else. Great. I do not want to deal. I don't want to deal with you, because it wasn't my fault. And the fact that you don't realize that tells me I probably need to go spend my energy on somebody that does understand how this game really works. I don't know.  And I just spend it in a really optimistic way in every little situation that you're just not losing. You got to take the money part out of it. What you're talking about is they lost the money. Right. Right. And they didn't even lose the money. They just lost the money on the day it was supposed to close. They're still got the money. They're still going to be a deal somewhere. And also the lifetime of deals through the client. It's just, you just can't lose. If you're talking about one deal, yeah, you can lose. But the one deal, if you're going to have a career and do a thousand deals over the course of your career, you're going to lose probably more than a thousand deals to close the thousand deals, number one. Number two, that one deal, even if it closes, it's so insignificant in the whole scheme of a thousand deal career that it's not like to make or break you anyway, right? I don't know. I could go on and on and on about it. But there's just no way to lose, right? If the market crashes and goes down 50% price-wise, how easy is it going to be to sell properties? Yeah. I mean, if a house right now that's worth 300, right, that I'm buying four of right this second, if those go down to 150, how easy is it going to be to sell $300,000 homes for $150,000? Yeah. Let's say it goes down to 220 or 250. It'd be like crazy easy to sell those properties. And I know this from experience. I was in the market in 2008. Things were down 50%. And I was selling them like hotcakes in 2008, right? You can't lose. It's just a win-win no matter how you chop it up. The catalyst of it, though, is to work every day. It's to work every day and stay busy and do the things that matter. Yeah. Absolutely. I know we're good at six more minutes with you. I want to get your take on this because it's obviously one of the hottest takes. Should a new real estate agent join a real estate team? And what factors do you think they should look at? I mean, it's such an overriding topic in the business right now. What are your thoughts on that? I think it doesn't matter because wherever real estate agent starts, they're not going to finish. Statistically, I don't think anybody is at the company they started with at the end of their career. Most agents, regardless of how... If they could join the best company in the world and they're their first company and they just don't know what they don't know. So they'll hear from another company and they'll think, is the grass greener? They're going to have this grass is greener moment even if they become a success. Now, 90% of agents aren't going to make it at all. That's just statistics. So 90% of them aren't going to make it. And then the 10% that do, if they come in and start selling some properties and find some success, they're going to start looking around and say, okay, where else can I go that's a better deal or going to give me something better or going to give me higher producers to be around or whatever they're looking for in terms of growth. So I don't think it really matters. You come in, if you join a team, I think the advice I would give is, don't sign a piece of paper saying, I'm going to stay here for a certain amount of time. Don't take any signing bonuses and you're going to be here for two years. Don't sign any team agreements that you got to, I mean, something for a year, I guess, is okay for a team agreement. You know, I'm going to stick it out here for a year. But even that's not that great because if you get in the situation and two months in, you realize, man, they're treating me bad and this isn't fair. And they're not even teaching me how to write contracts and you want the ability to walk away from that.  Get in there, learn what you can, get your feet wet. And then if you feel like you're at a good place, stay. And if you don't, move somewhere else. I've been with seven companies and every time I move, it's because I outgrew the company. I learned all that they had to offer. I was plateaued out on what I could learn and how much I could produce based on my knowledge. And it had to go somewhere where there were higher producers to learn from. Every single time it was, I need more. I need somewhere else where I can learn something new. So I think when you're new, you don't know anything. You can start anywhere, learn whatever that company has to offer and then decide if you want to stay or move or whatever. But again, the whole team versus this, that or the other, it's just personal preference. You're not going to end up where you start.  Like that's what I tell people. If you switch to four brokerages in your first year, that's okay. People are going to do business with you because you're you, not because you're with one of the people. People don't care what brokerage you're with. I agree. I don't think they have any, especially buyers have no clue because there's no sign. They have no idea. When I left Remax, I had to do listing change addendums for 30 listings I had. And two of them were like that I called them. I was like, Hey, I'm switching companies and all this. And I sent it to them. I'm like, cool. I didn't even know you're with Remax. So the signs there, they literally said that. Well, no, like these are condos. There's no signs. Like they literally told me they didn't even know. And I was with Remax for 10 years. They literally said, I don't know. NAR did a study. And the number one reason why people choose an agent is because they have a friend in the business with a great reputation. And brokerage, all the other reasons, that was like a 30 something percent response. Everything else was 1% or less, including what brokers they're at or online or this, that or the other. It was all 1%. And then the outlier was this 33% or some odd number of people who said, because they had a friend in the business with a great reputation. So that needs to be the objective for every single agent. How can I become friends with every single person in my market and then build that great reputation? Awesome. Well, we're going to stick to our 30 minutes. Ricky, I really appreciate you making the time for us. The best place for people, if they're interested in your coaching program, is zero to diamond.com. Yeah, zero to diamond.com. And you can follow me on Instagram, Ricky Careuth and YouTube, all that good stuff. Yeah, Ricky has 238,000 followers on Instagram, so you can just hop into that.  We both appreciate it. We're always watching your videos. So it's a pleasure to have you on. Thanks for making the time. My pleasure. Pleasure's all mine. Thank you guys. Thanks. Have a good day. That was episode 18 of The Art of Agency, a launch pad for realtors with our guest, Ricky Careuth. We'll see you next week.