Nature and Animal Lovers in Old Time Radio

Love is probably the highest of human emotions. The love between a mother and her baby, or even a husband and wife, seem like things which occur on an instinctive level. These forms of love are very important for the survival of the species, but the condition is more sophisticated than mere instinct.

One of the most interesting things about human love is that it generally benefits the lover even more than it does the loved. A popular definition of love is that it is a condition where one's own happiness is based on making another happy, so it would seem to follow that the one being loved would gain greater benefit from the arrangement. However, the act of loving itself brings huge benefits.

However, it is also true that love does its greatest good when it is reciprocated. This is what makes loving an animal or other non-human entity so confusing to some people. They feel that mankind was given dominion over the world, and animals are lower beings who are incapable of understanding or reciprocating love. Animals were placed on the planet to serve people, whether through their capacity to do work or their value as a protein source, so it is foolish to love them.

These somewhat heartless persons tend to forget that love benefits the lover more than the loved. They would be surprised, even baffled to realize that "dumb animals", indeed, even inanimate objects can feel and reciprocate the love directed towards them. An example is the love between sailors and their ships. In the coldest analysis, a ship is little more than wood, metal, cordage, and the skill of the builder to bring them all together. She only comes to life when a crew boards her and takes her to sea. If the crew simply does their jobs, the ship will carry them to their destination with little fuss. However, the sea is a wild and dangerous place, and sooner or later things will go wrong to an extent where the destruction of the vessel and her crew seem inevitable. However, if the crew learns to care for and even love their ship, she will weather the harshest storm and carry them home every time.

• Columbia Workshop, June 21, 1940, CBS, "The Canvas Kisser". A boxing manager has the greatest boxing kangaroo in the world, but the kangaroo died (he got sick trying to make weight for a featherweight bout). To honor his deceased friend, the manager puts on a fursuit and takes the kangaroo's place. The problem is that it is not too easy to get the suit off, so he lives in it most of the time. He gets a promoter and begins winning fights until he is introduced (without his suit) to a lady boxer. Soon, a match is set up between the lady boxer and the kangaroo, but by now the man in the kangaroo suit has fallen in love with the girl.
• Crime Does Not Pay, March 7, 1950, MGM Syndication, "The Lady Loves Kittens". A lady arsonist has a "Sure Fire" scheme, she holds a kitten without food for several days, then lets the kitten loose in a building which her partner has taken a lease on under a false name and paid for a sizable insurance policy. The partner has also set a plate of milk on an oil lamp next to some highly flammable celluloid. Almost inevitably, arson eventually turns into murder.
• The Hallmark Playhouse, November 4, 1948, CBS, "My Friend Flicka". A wool-gathering youngster is given a colt by his horse ranching father in hopes that training the animal will give him focus. The horse he chooses is a beauty but strong-willed to the point of being called "loco". She cuts herself while trying to jump a high barbed-wire fence, and the wounds fester. When the horse faints in a stream, the boy spends the night standing in the water, holding her head above water. The horse recovers and thrives, but the boy has contracted pneumonia from the ordeal and nears death.
• The Lux Radio Theatre, April 3, 1944, CBS, "Destroyer", based on the 1943 Columbia Pictures film starring Edward G. Robinson and Glenn Ford. It is far from uncommon for sailors to fall in love with their ship. After pouring his heart into building the USS John Paul Jones, the old chief bosun's mate reenlists to serve aboard her. Of course, his "old Navy" ways don't always fit in the modern fighting service.
• NBC Presents Short Story, April 25, 1951. Two stories from Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, "I Want to Know Why" and "I'm a Fool". The stories follow the coming of age of George Willard, a boy who is madly in love with thoroughbred horses.
• Challenge of the Yukon, May 23, 1946, WXYZ Detroit, The Michigan Radio Network, "Chap". Young Jim's mother is sick and needs to go to warmer California to recover. It has been a lean winter, so Jim and his dad need to stay behind to work the claim, and the only way they can afford to send mother on the long trip is to sell Jim's beloved dog, Chap. Before the deal is finalized, Chap is stolen, by a pair of bank robbers! Because he is such a good dog, Chap escapes his captors and Sergeant Preston and King follow the dog's tracks to find the robbers.
• Fort Laramie, June 3, 1956, CBS, AFRTS, "Don't Kick My Horse". For most troopers, their mount is just a tool they need for their job, but Pvt Jobie feels differently about Bell, the 11-year-old mare whom he has been with for his entire time in the cavalry. Bell comes up lame on patrol, forcing the troop to bivouac. When a band of warrior pins the troop down, Bell is caught in the crossfire. How will Jobie react?
• The Cavalcade of America, March 8, 1948, NBC, "No Greater Love". Army nurse Clara Maass had volunteered around the world, working in Savannah, Georgia, Jacksonville, Florida, Cuba, and the Philippines. During her career, she saw few battle wounds but saw the ravages of communicable disease, especially yellow fever, where ever she served. When she hears that Major Walter Reed thinks that mosquito bites could spread the infection she volunteers to be bitten.