-A-

"THE TOWN THAT REFUSED TO DIE"
ACT ONE

OPENING

SWAYZE:

Ladies and gentlemen, a good evening to you. John Cameron Swayze speaking...

Latest figures from industry and business show that, even in this period of national prosperity, new advances in technology and automation cause sudden shifts in employment. Towns that only recently were geared to full production are sometimes victims of economic change. Nowhere is this more true than in our New England area, where the business of textiles has undergone sharp and extreme shifts.

But New England is also the birthplace of that brand of American democracy we call independence. Tonight's story, of one New England town facing a crisis, is an actual story. It really happened ... In just a few minutes ... THE TOWN THAT REFUSED TO DIE on THE ARMSTRONG CIRCLE THEATRE.

FIRST COMMERCIAL

### FADE IN:

(F. LS OF SANFORD, MAINE)

SWAYZE: (VO)

Sanford, Maine... a town of fifteen thousand. Well-cared for. Pleasant. A New England town..

(CUT TO:)

(F. TOWN SCENES: SCHOOL, LIBRARY, NEWSPAPER, ETC.)

proud of its homes - of its good schools and libraries. Proud of its weekly newspaper, the SANFORD TRIBUNE, and of its churches.

(CUT TO:)

(F. LS OF SANFORD MILLS)

These are the Sanford Textile Mills. In 1953 they had been in operation for almost ninety years..

(CUT TO:)

(F. STOCK SHOTS. WORKERS GOING IN PLANT GATES)

Outwardly the mills were busy, prosperous.

Sanford Textile employed almost..

(CUT TO:)

(F. STOCK SHOTS OF TEXTILE MACHINES IN OPERATION)

(MORE)

-2-

SWAYZE: (V.O.) (Cont'd)

four thousand workers - most of
them highly skilled. The looms
and the calenders - the kier
boilers. The Sanforizers, at
discovered here in Sanford -- all
in operation. Busy...

But in 1953 the sickness that was
affecting the textile business in
New England began to touch Sanford.

CUT TO:

(CU OF GEORGE JESSUP WORKING A FIN-
ISHING MACHINE, MOST OF WHICH IS OS.
HE STANDS CLOSE TO A WALL WHICH ANGLES
OFF AROUND A CORNER. THERE'S A SWITCH
ON THE WALL. THE BACKGROUND NOISE IS
OFF A BUSY MILL)

SWAYZE: (V.O.) (Cent'd)

Late in October, a few machines
were running at minimum. A few
of the workers were laid off.

(THE PAYMASTER, HOLDING A BATCH OF
PAY ENVELOPES, COMES UP BEHIND GEORGE)

PAYMASTER:

Jessup!

(GEORGE DOESN'T HEAR HIM AND HE HAS
TO TAP HIS BACK. GEORGE TURNS, REACHES
FOR HIS ENVELOPE. THE PAYMASTER KEEPS

-4-

PAYMASTER: (Cont'd)

well, everybody on this operation.

GEORGE:

The finishing operation? The
whole crew?

PAYMASTER:

That's not so many, George. Less
than a hundred and fifty - that's
not many out of four thousand.

(GO IN FOR ECU ON GEORGE)

GEORGE:

It is when you're one of them.

(CUT TO:)

(F. STOCK SHOT, MEN GOING THRU GATES)

SWAYZE: (VO)

Only a hundred and fifty. It
hardly made a dent in the take-
home pay.

(CUT TO:

(F. STOCK SHOTS: EXTERIOR SMALL TOWN
SHOPPING DISTRICT AROUND CHRISTMAS
TIME. THERE IS SNOW AND CROWDS)

SWAYZE: (VO) (Cont'd)

When the Christmas Season came
on, the stores and shops were
as busy as ever...A hundred and
fifty out of four thousand. Every-
one was sure it was temporary.

-5-

**CUT TO:**

(F. A SHOT OF EXTERIOR, THE BROGGI HOUSE)

SWAYZE: (V.O.)

This is number eight Bodwell Street
in Sanford - the home of Carl Broggi,
then a state senator.

**DISSOLVE TO:**

(THE BROGGI HOME, THE DINING ROOM
IS IN THE FOREGROUND, WITH A WIDE
OPENING INTO THE LIVING ROOM TO THE
LEFT. BEHIND THE DINING ROOM, SHOOT-
ING FROM THE REAR OF THE HOUSE, IS
THE FRONT HALL, WITH AN OLD-FASHIONED
GLASS DOOR, CURTAINED, THROUGH WHICH
CAN BE SEEN A WREATH HANGING ON THE
OUTSIDE. NONE OF THE ROOMS IS LARGE;
ALL ARE OLD-FASHIONED, WITH OVERSTUFFED
FURNITURE IN THE LIVING ROOM AND
OLD-FASHIONED FURNISHINGS THROUGHOUT)

(MARGARET BROGGI, A PLEASANT WOMAN
IN HER LATE THIRTIES, ATTRACTIVE, IS
ON THE PHONE IN THE ANGLE BETWEEN THE
DINING ROOM AND THE LIVING ROOM)

SWAYZE: (V.O.)

A week before Christmas his wife,
Margaret, was waiting for him to
return home from the state capitol,
Augusta.

-7-

MARGARET:

Judy's upstairs. And Joan wrote
and said --

(CARL STOPS)

CARL:

She's coming home for Christmas,
isn't she?

MARGARET:

Oh, yes. She'll be down from
college tomorrow.

(SHE REMEMBERS ABOUT GELDER, BUT
DOESN'T HAVE THE CHANCE TO TELL HIM)

CARL:

Fine. The whole family. We'll
wrap Christmas presents. We'll
have open house Christmas Eve
same as usual and I'll see every-
one in town.

MARGARET:

Carl.

CARL: (SIGHS)

You know I'm tired? A lot of work
being a senator. From the way Fred
Gelder talked I've still got a lot
to learn.

MARGARET:

He just called.

CARL:

What? Fred Gelder?

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MARGARET: (NODS)

Three times. He sounded awfully
upset.

CARL: (PUZZLED)

But I just saw him in Augusta.

MARGARET:

Carl, what is it? He's the state
committeeman, he's important. He
didn't say much, but I almost got
the feeling you weren't going to
run next year.

CARL:

Not run next year? Sure I am!

(HIS FACE CLEARS AND HE LAUGHS)

I know what it is. We had an
argument.

(MARGARET LOOKS AT HIM)

Eyeha, just before I left Augusta.
Over some bill that's coming up
in the spring session. Wasn't
very important,

MARGARET:

He didn't sound that way.

CARL:

Well, it wasn't the bill itself.
It was more my attitude. Fred
says I have to stop thinking only
about Sanford and York County.

(MORE)

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CARL: (Cont'd)

He wants me to look at it from
a broader viewpoint. I have to
consider things in terms of the
whole state.

MARGARET:

Carl, you do. That's what being
a State Senator means.

CARL:

I've got to try harder, accord-
ing to Fred. (HE GRINS) I guess
he's right, at that. You know
my trouble, Margaret? At heart
I'm a smalltown boy.

MARGARET:

Oh!

CARL:

No, there's a lot of truth in it.
I can't forget I was born here. I
can't forget my grandfather came
over from Italy, hardly even able
to speak a word of English. All
that Sanford did for him, and my
father. And me.

(HE LOOKS AROUND, DRAWING SECURITY
FROM THE HOUSE)

Every once in a while up in Augusta,