Saw this program at the 1963 original airing - and have never seen it since. It remains with me now, over 50 years later.
The story is this: A couple buys a chest at an antique auction, and when they get it home, find that it contains A LOT of cash - I seem to recall the figure $50,000 (equal to half a million 2000s dollars.) Efforts to contact the original owners are not fruitful, and so the money finally becomes theirs. They can pay off their house, etc. But there is a dark side: the husband's employer thinks he embezzled the money and he is fired. Friends and family demand money. Then there's the IRS who thinks he stole the money.
The upshot is that the money was nothing but a curse. After much agony, they finally resolve their problems - until they take off the back of the chest to finish the restoration they had started - AND FIND MUCH, MUCH, MUCH MORE CASH - I seem to recall that it was over ten times the original amount. After the misery that the original money had brought, they can do the only sane thing - THEY BURN THE NEW MONEY in their fireplace - "Here's a home in Europe"; "Here's the kids' college bills"; etc.
At a young age, I saw how wealth can be a curse as well as a blessing. This was one of the most useful lessons I have ever learned from media, which should be obvious from the fact that I still recall the program after over 50 years.
The story is this: A couple buys a chest at an antique auction, and when they get it home, find that it contains A LOT of cash - I seem to recall the figure $50,000 (equal to half a million 2000s dollars.) Efforts to contact the original owners are not fruitful, and so the money finally becomes theirs. They can pay off their house, etc. But there is a dark side: the husband's employer thinks he embezzled the money and he is fired. Friends and family demand money. Then there's the IRS who thinks he stole the money.
The upshot is that the money was nothing but a curse. After much agony, they finally resolve their problems - until they take off the back of the chest to finish the restoration they had started - AND FIND MUCH, MUCH, MUCH MORE CASH - I seem to recall that it was over ten times the original amount. After the misery that the original money had brought, they can do the only sane thing - THEY BURN THE NEW MONEY in their fireplace - "Here's a home in Europe"; "Here's the kids' college bills"; etc.
At a young age, I saw how wealth can be a curse as well as a blessing. This was one of the most useful lessons I have ever learned from media, which should be obvious from the fact that I still recall the program after over 50 years.
