 a hallmark card when you carry enough to send the very best. Tonight from Hollywood, the makers of hallmark cards bring you another and their exciting new series of broadcasts on the Hallmark Hall of Fame. This week Hallmark will bring you true to life stories of actual persons who in their own way have contributed to a better world for all of us to live in. Presented on the Hallmark Hall of Fame by our distinguished host, Mr. Lionel Barrymore. Ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Hallmark Hall of Fame. I'm sure that most of us know the heroes of bronze and marble and monument and song, but too many heroes, men and women alike, have earned fame without receiving it. To those people who service, sacrifice and devotion achieve great things, now too little known to us, Hallmark respectfully dedicates this Hall of Fame. And tonight Hallmark pays tribute to Ida Lewis. I suppose most of us can recall a lot of exciting stories of men against the sea, but how many of you know any such stories concerning women? Well, tonight we're going to bring you the true and dramatic story of a brave woman against the sea, the story of Ida Lewis. And now here's Frank Goss from the makers of Hallmark Cards. When you're looking for a way to say something to someone you care for, look for a Hallmark card and you'll find the card you want to send. Because Hallmark cards are designed to say what you want to say, just the way you want to say it, with the good taste you demand of anything that bears your signature. That's why Hallmark on the back of a greeting card has come to mean you cared enough to send the very best. Lionel Barrymore appears by arrangement with Metro Golden Mayor, producers of Battle Circus starring Humphrey Bogart and June Allison with Keenan Nguyen and Robert Keith. And now here is Lionel Barrymore with your Hallmark Hall of Fame. Tractless arena of his war, the inspiration of poets and painters, so majestic in its calm and so terrible in its wrath. Now this is a story of the sea, a true story of a woman who dared its wrath. It seems through the blackness with the voices of a thousand demons. It lashes the sea into moving mountains of destruction and hurls it with the deafening thunder against the reef, pounding and tearing and grinding away at that which only hours ago was the proud clipper ship out of Boston Hall. Long shore, a shore but a few hundred yards away, a handful of men struggle to launch a long boat into the boiling sand. One of the men is the president of the Massachusetts Humane Society. Don't give up! The sea pounded sullenly at the Massachusetts coast, the farther south runs in long, heavy swells across Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay, the bay which Ida Lewis knows so well that she watches from the windows of the lighthouse on Lyme Rock Island, an insignificant shelf of rock and Newport Harbor, barely large enough with a great stone tower and the caretakers cut it. This is the world of young Ida Lewis and of her father, Captain Jose Lewis, keeper of the life. I was hoping you were asleep. Sleep? How could a man sleep knowing that he's failed? First hurricane of the winter, I can't even get out of bed to tend my own life. Now please, Father, you've got to be quiet. You know what the doctor said. Oh, blast the doctor. Did you trim the burner? Yes, Father. And the mirrors? I'll polish them after I fix your breakfast. I don't want any breakfast. I want to get out of this bed. I'm sorry, my dear. I just hate to be a quitter, that's all. And yet that's what it's come to. There's nothing left except to quit. Oh, now you know you don't mean that. Why, this is our island. This is our light. Girl, there's no point in fooling ourselves. I'm through. Well then, then I'll tend the lighthouse for you. Ida. Yes, yes, why not? Didn't I do it last night? I can do it every night. I know everything there is to do. How to keep the light, how to signal to shore, make out reports, row about, swim everything. There's one thing you forget, the lighthouse services for men. I don't care. My dear, you're going on 17. It's time that you live the shore, and time soon to think of marriage. This is where I want to be, Father. To be part of the sea, smell the salt air, to hear the cry of Gove, to watch ships down for California and the China coast, to know that in darkness and storm and fog, that our lights guiding them to safety. Hi, child. This is our place, Father. Well, even if we could stay, my dear, the day is coming and maybe not far off, and I won't be here. You'll be all alone. Even then, Father, this is my place. Ida Lewis is indeed alone. On one fast spring day, the Lime Rock lighthouse is untended for the space of a few daylight hours. Ida's ashore at her father's funeral. Then she returns aboard the tiny supply boat which calls weekly at Lime Rock Island. Master of the boat, young William Wilson accompanies Ida to the door of the caretaker's cottage. You've got your trunks packed, Miss Lewis. I'll carry him down the land. Thank you, Mr. Wilson, but I haven't packed anything. If you have time, no, I would like your help in another way. Anything I can do. Then come in, please. I want to write a letter to the lighthouse board in Washington, and then if you'd be good enough to mail it for me. Of course, but maybe I don't understand. Yes? Well, from the way you talk, it sounds like you aren't leaving the island. I don't intend to. I'm asking the authorities in Washington to appoint me the official lighthouse keeper of Lime Rock Island. You find it amusing? Yes, keeper. I suppose you think a woman can't do it. It certainly is, and Washington will tell you so. I wouldn't be too sure of that, Mr. Wilson. Until a substitute is sent out here, somebody has to tend the light, and I'm going to do it. That's my answer to you, Mr. Wilson, and to Washington. The weeks pass slowly, Fried and Lewis. Once every seven days, she goes down to the landing to wait for the coming of the supply boat, and the weather. Yes, this is the last time I'll be bringing supplies out to you, Ida. You know exactly what's in the letter, I suppose. I've got a pretty good idea. Information, Mr. Wilson. This is official notification that by special act of Congress, Ida Lewis is hereby appointed keeper of the Lime Rock Lighthouse. Of all the simple-minded fools. Well, there's no other name for them. A hand over the safety of our harbor and our ships to a woman. Trusting the lives of our seamen in the hands of a 17-year-old girl. Mr. Wilson, I value the lives of our seamen just as highly as any man does. All right, I'm not quarreling with you. Just... Mr. Wilson. That sounded like an explosion. We can and it poured atoms. Something's wrong, it's a signal. Wait, wait, out there in the lead channel. Yes, it's a robot, it's capsized. Wait, Ida, help me cast off. No, no, it would never get there in time. You know there's no wind in the lead channel? I'll use the robot. In a moment we will return to the second act of our story of Ida Lewis. How do you feel when the mailman brings you an unexpected letter or a card from a friend you haven't seen in a long time? Isn't there a special brightness to the day even if the snow is falling or the sun is overcast? Somehow your job seems a little easier and your joy is a little happier, just by that one kind remembrance. Well, most of us haven't the time to write a letter to our dear ones as often as we think of them, but we can show our thoughtfulness in a special way, a way that takes so little time and costs so little money. I mean by sending hallmark cards. You'll find there's a hallmark card that expresses your warmth and wishes perfectly, a card to say congratulations to a new mother, or happy birthday to a relative, or just a cheery hello I'm thinking of you. Yes, sending a hallmark card is always the gracious thing to do, and you'll find you'll be paid many times over in friendship that can't be measured by cost. Why don't you remember someone today who has a card that has a hallmark on the back? The familiar hallmark that means you carry enough to send the very best. And out here again is Lionel Barrymore. ...and then grasped wildly at a pair of arms reaching down to them over the stern of another rowboat, arms slender and graceful, the arms of a 17-year-old girl. And when it's over, it goes quietly back to a lighthouse and to a duties. Then, a few weeks later, young William Wilson ties up his supply boat at the island landing. This time there's another man with him, a man who goes alone up the path to the caretaker's cottage. Miss Lewis, the Massachusetts Humane Society, which I represent, has received a report of your rescue of the two soldiers from Fort Adams. The other report was sent by the commandant of the fort to the War Department in Washington. Oh, dear, I didn't expect such a fuss to be made. An act of such remarkable courage deserves to be acknowledged, Miss Lewis. And it's my hope to bring it before the public at large. Mr. Niffle. Wait, I have a reason. For half a century, the Massachusetts Humane Society has fought to lower the needless loss of life by shipwreck along the Atlantic coast. The society has built its own life-saving stations wherever and whenever funds would allow. But there's need for much more, more lifeboats and equipment, more crews to man the stations. And what prevents this? Simply public apathy. Sir, if there's any way in which I can help... There is. As a woman who's already saved two lives, you can write and speak and influence other women. And through them, the men. Then you have my word. Thank you, Miss Lewis. Lewis is soon to help in a way still more dramatic. The hours near sunset, the skies gray and lowering. The driving wind lashes across Newport Harbor and sends steam dashing over the boat landing at Rock Island. Where Ida waits for the approaching supply blower. Sider, get the rigging off me. If I can lift the foam. It's broken. Here, take my arm. I'll get you up to the top. Ida's the boat, she's settling by the bar. Darkness broken only by the narrow finger light eye over the cottage on Lime Rock Island. Can you hold the end of the bandage? Sure. I'll try not to hurt too much Will. I said I'll try and... You called me Will. For the first time, I'm not Mr. Wilson. Oh. Well, I... I didn't realize... No, don't apologize. I like it. Oh, I'm sorry. Now you've got to get to a doctor. As soon as I finish this, I'll get the lantern and signal Fort Adams. You think a boat would put out on a night like this? Listen to it. Will. That didn't sound like thunder. I remember the last time we heard that. Pass the fragile ruleboat like a child's toy. Dash down upon it like a water reacting like a giant finger. There's no more, ma'am. If it were five of us in the long boat the rest of us are still on ship. No, no, there's still a chance. Help me with it. Three times she struggles to the shattered ship and three times she returns. Officers and crew were safe to the last man. Storms but a faded memory. Seagulls wheeled peacefully over the sparkling bay. The new and bigger supply boat ties up to the lighthouse landing. Oh, Will. Well, you've named her after me. He certainly is. Is she easy to handle? Well, frankly, no, any other way. And she wouldn't have any other skipper. And now it's time the skipper got those supplies up to the house. Aye, aye, ma'am. I'll be coming out for you in the morning. The presentation at the port is set for known sharp. Oh, I wish they wouldn't make such a commotion. It frightens me. It frightens you? What could ever frighten you, my dear? Ceremonies. Ceremonies terrify me. All of them? Even the ceremony we're going to have? No, not that one, Will. You'll be by my side. At the appointed day, at the appointed hour, to a halt on the parade ground, the commandant of the fort, officers armed, and Ida Lewis walked shyly past the troops, lined up in dress parade. Then she curses before an old friend. Miss Lewis, in tribute to your brave and selfless acts of courage, in recognition of your repeated acts of valor in the saving of 22 lives from the sea, the Massachusetts Humane Society is honored to present you this silver medal of achievement. Thank you, Mr. Nichols. No, one woman more. As a further acknowledgement, as a signaled tribute from the nation at large, I hereby present to you, Ida Lewis, by special award of the Congress of the United States, this gold medal. The first gold medal ever to be awarded by Congress to an American woman. I... I'm humbly grateful, sir. My dear, it's my place to be grateful. I once asked you to write and speak in the cause of life-saving, but your acts have spoken so much better for you. Now the people and the government understand. The life-saving service is no longer a dream. It is a reality. It was later renamed the Ida Lewis Lighthouse as a permanent tribute to her memory. And the Massachusetts Humane Society was able to prevail upon the government to establish the official United States life-saving service, which we know today as the United States Coast Guard. The saving of lives is a tradition of the United States Coast Guard, which down through the years has served so faithfully and so well. Yes, any young man today can be proud of being a part of this fine organization. Today there's a Coast Guard reserve, too. It's opened to young men between 17 and 18 and a half years of age. You can find out all about it by writing to the United States Coast Guard Reserve, Washington, D.C. And now for news of the next week's story on the Hall of Fame. For a moment, though, Frank Goss has a few words to say about good taste. Have you ever analyzed the words good taste? It's a complimentary term all of us use often, and yet it has nothing to do with cost or rarity or social prestige. You might say that good taste simply means suitability, doing or saying or wearing the right thing at the right time. That's why so many thoughtful people turn to hallmark cards when they want a special greeting that's correct for the occasion, correct down to the last detail. You'll find that hallmark cards always capture a mood, whether it's the fun of a birthday or the promise of graduation or the joy of Mother's Day. And here's something else you'd like to know, even though the quality of hallmark cards improves year after year, their prices remain the same. The next time you ought to send happiness in an envelope, go to a fine store where hallmark cards are sold. You can count on it. The hallmark on the back of every card you mail will tell your friends you carry enough to send the very best. And now here again is Mr. Barrymore. Well, Frank, it's good to hear that good taste in choosing hallmark cards don't cost any more because all of us like to feel that we're men and women of good taste. I think it was a Frenchman named Poincelot who once said, good taste is the flower of good sense. And an Englishman, Fielding, the author, put it this way, a truly elegant taste is generally accompanied with an excellency of heart. Well, I think our story next week on the Hallmark Radio Hall of Fame will be to your taste too. It's about another remarkable woman, this time the story of a young Indian girl who guided the famous expedition through a hostile wilderness opening the great northwest to a growing America. The girl's name was Sarkarjawea. And I hope you'll all be listening to this stirring true story of courage and adventure on the Hallmark Hall of Fame. A Hallmark Hall of Fame is every Sunday our producer, directors, William Gay, our music was composed and conducted by David Rose and our script tonight was written by Lennon Sinclair. Until next Sunday then, this is Lionel Barry Moore saying good night. For Hallmark cards that are sold only in stores that have been carefully selected to give you expert and friendly service, remember a Hallmark card when you will carry them to send the very best. Ida Lewis was played by Barbara Eiler with Whitfield Conner as William, Evanus Hosea Lewis, Ted DeCorsias Mr. Nichols and Peter Leeds as Gilman. Every Sunday Hallmark cards presents two great programs for the whole family's enjoyment. The Hallmark Hall of Fame on radio with host Lionel Barry Moore and on television with Ms. Sarah Churchill. Consult your paper for time and station. This is Frank Goss saying good night to you all until next week at the same time when we present another true to life story of actual persons who in their own way have contributed to a better world for all of us to live in. Sakaya Juiya on the Hallmark Hall of Fame. This is KMBC, Kansas City.