 The Cavalcade of America presented by DuPont, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. I'd like to tell you tonight about a man named Davy Crockett, part history and part legend. He and men like him gave their lives to build this nation where once the winds were lonely and the earth silent. Some gave it a spirit. Once in a while they themselves became legends. The Cavalcade players bring you the story of one of them, Davy Crockett, in a radio play written by Peter Lyon and starring John McIntyre. Our orchestra and the original musical score are under the direction of Don Buries. DuPont, maker of better things for better living through chemistry, presents John McIntyre as Davy Crockett on the Cavalcade of America. In a pleasant corner of space, away where time has no meaning, there's a part of the Promised Land reserved for Americans, where all comers are allowed to wander anywhere they want, anywhere that is except on one cloud. On just this one cloud there's a sign which says, reserved, and another, keep off this cloud. And still another saying, only legends allowed here. That's the cloud where John Henry lives, and Paul Bunyan and Huckleberry Finn and Pecos Bill and Daniel Boone. Just recently, Davy Crockett climbed aboard that cloud. He had a hard job, though. Why shouldn't I be allowed on this cloud? I am as much a legend as most of the folks around here. Marn sounds. Listen, if you go to legend as you are, John Henry. What? You put yourself up against John Henry, the natural man? Boy, you ever been sought up for firewood? I has. I'm John Henry, the natural man. And when I laugh, the ocean stops slapping on the shore, and the winds all say to the little waves, hush your moth waves, because John Henry is laughing his big laugh all the way across the world. Well, I'm as much a legend as Daniel Boone. Mark? Are you, Johnny, I can see. Hey, Pa. What is it, Huckleberry? If you want to stay, just have us all done. So start in talking. Proof is what we want. And you don't say Davy Crockett is a sure enough all-woolish. He taught me to find my way. Ain't you feeling well? You speak so little this evening. Well, Miss Paulie, trouble is whenever I think of anything to say to you, my heart begins to flutter like a duck in a puddle. Oh, Anne? Why, why, that's funny, Mr. Crockett. And then when I outdo my heart and speak, it gets right. It smacks up my throat and chokes me like a cold potato. You seem to be talking clear like now. Well, Paulie, Miss Paulie, my ma was telling me that what I should say is that you're the darling object of my soul and body, and that I must have your else. I shall pine down to nothing and just die away. Oh, Davy. Davy, I had no idea you felt like that. Oh, if only my... Your ma promised you to somebody else, did she, Paulie? Well, there was some talk of it. But you prefer me, Paulie? Oh, yes, David. Listen, Paulie, I'll ride by next Thursday and bring a horse and bider and saddle for you. You be ready to go. We'll be married despite your ma. After you, Mr. Finley. Afternoon, Davy. You appear to be all in a libel. Paulie, are you ready? I come first. Oh, you have no idea. Now, wait a minute. I don't have my girl married any good no matter what you say. We're part men, but Paulie and I talked it over and we agreed. I don't intend to even dismount here. I'm just here to get Paulie. Paulie, are you ready? The boat is not going far, just to the justice of the peace. After you, go, Paulie. Goodbye, Davy, and good luck. Greek engines in 23. Skip it. Paulie. My Paulie was too sick to die. I was left with three children, two sons and the youngest, the daughter and just the baby. After about a year, I come to the conclusion I'd have to have another wife. There was a widow lady living in the neighborhood. I'd begun to pay my respects to her in earnest. But I was as sly about it as a fox when he's robbing ahead. Buddy couldn't ask for better weather. No, I reckon I'll move along over your way. Oh, pretty good. All things considered. Mm-hmm. Must be quite a chore, an old woman like you, raising two children all by yourself and all. Oh, I manage all right. Not proving too much for you. No. You do the farming and all by yourself. Yeah? Good little farm too, don't you think? Yeah. Well, not bad. Heard you had your trouble. Sorry about your wife, Colonel. Yeah. Find yourself lonely, do you? I know. Not at all. Oh? Well, little, maybe. A thought, maybe. Matter of fact, Mrs. Patton, I'm thinking about getting married again, maybe. Do tell. Well, say you must invite me to the door and swear an ass in there. Oh, I meant to. I... Well, what I was thinking of was... Listen, Mrs. Patton, we've always been good friends, ain't we? Huh? Yeah, that's all I thought. Well, you're a grown widow and me a widower, so... This proposal, Colonel? That's what I had on my mind, yeah. Well... Well, seems like a lucky idea to me. Good for you, ma'am. I'll ride for the justice right away. In the in-settlement where we were, we went shoal creek about 80 miles west. For many bad characters begun to frock in on us, we had set up some sort of government. They made me one of the magistrates. All went very well. The government made this part of Giles County. And we had to get more formal. Had to write out our warrants. Now, if you've been appointed magistrate by the assembly, there's a law you've got to draw up the warrants in writing. Sign them, you know, to make it proper. Warrants on a piece of paper? That's what I was told, David. You're supposed to keep a book, write down all the court proceedings in it. But listen, Jim, you know I can't write my own name. That's why I might worry, David. Fellows in the assembly might want to see your book. Well, if that ain't a huckleberry over my persimmon, I ain't never had a decision to mind reverse yet. Why should I have to write it down? You know, that's the law, David. Jim, can you write any? I can write some, David. Could you write my name, maybe? Or teach me the way? I reckon I could teach you. Well, I'll tell you what. If there's any trouble, don't you bother looking me up to sign any warrants. You just make one hour and go ahead and sign it. Well, if there's any mistakes, I could fix them up during the trial. But, David, can you read? How will you know if I make mistakes? Huh? Well, we'll cost that bridge when we come to it, Jim. I've never read a page in a law book in all my life. Any case from being magistrate, they got to talking about my being in the state's legislature. After I'd served a couple of terms there, they began booming me for the Senate of the United States. So you think being in Congress makes you a legend, huh? Huck Finn, you listen to how I got there. You ever hear a voice like this? You listen to how them hands got me elected. Yeah? I run against two other powers. They thought my being a candidate was a mere matter of sport. Didn't think for a moment that they was in any danger from a backwood to a buyer hunter. I recollect a political meeting. My first, Colonel Alexander spoke. In the state of Tennessee, I'm not paused to take up your time for more than a reference to my only true competitor, General Arnold, our state's attorney general. No other man, for all intents and purposes, can consider himself a candidate of any importance. Good soldier, voters of this fair state field, it'd be more advisable to keep him as a lawyer. Thank you, my fellow citizens of the great state of Tennessee. And I wish to thank my esteemed rival for Congress, Colonel Alexander. I may say my only rival, for there can be no doubt, there can be no doubt in your... What the juice is that in funnel, no? Like you don't know, I mean that understood the language you found. You didn't have the politeness to mention my name and your speech, my little friends. The guinea-hens all started cocking, cocking. Like the fella beating on an empty barrel, a barrel of cider. 232 votes. Fit you better, Davey. Understand you lost the election. Ganged up on the sari. They were winning with them kind of tactics, why then they did very well. You let them know, Davey. I told them, I told the senators what I thought of them while I was there, anyway. Got right up on my feet. I said, Mr. Speaker, I just got a few words. They're in Washington City now, Davey. Only livin' the things around here that has the time to listen to your speech and find those chickens over yonder. You want to tell anybody what you told the senators? Go over and just tell them chickens. Don't bother me. And don't frighten the youngers. On December 1835, went right up to the... Davey, Colonel Jim Bowie. Colonel, we've had news. They're marching on us from Monterey with 5,000 men. We're only 150. We'll be the good stout mission for a fort. The red flag in front. Sure, they didn't intend to give any quarter. You want in command here? Quick, we don't like your kind around here. My general has instructed me to demand complete and unconditional surrender. And to say that if you refuse, every man will be put to the sword. He demands your immediate answer. Gunner. Yes, sir? Fire your cannon. Yes. And get fast. This Alamo church here is as good a place as any. To tell you that in a few days, perhaps within a few hours, we must be in eternity. But I ask you to do all in your power to withstand the assault of the enemy. I ask you to fight for liberty. We shall fight them when they storm the fort. Fight them when they scale those walls out there. Fight them until our arms are powerless to lift our swords and defense of ourselves, our comrades in our country. Men, I draw this line across the floor with my sword. Those of you who want to escape, better take your chance now. Those who want to remain and fight that fight, step across this line to my side. Out of my way, boys. I'm going over. Where with you, Davey? Come on. Last one across loads the muskets tonight. You're a brave man, all of you. Colonel Crockett, I ask you to take charge of these men. Take them back to their posts. The enemy will attack at daylight. Come, let them come. There are only a couple of muskets, Ben. Yes, sir. Hey, Colonel, don't you think they're getting or we might too close? It makes easier, eh? Watch. There are two shots and two days. Ah, it's just a fire average. When you say it, tell me, Lee, you see a crowd lining up over there? Ah, it's a band they're bringing up from the left. For the victory march, I guess. Victory march? What do you mean? That's boys for you. Why don't these men shoot them off? Colonel Crockett, sir. Well? Colonel Bowie and his men are all dead, sir. You and five of us are all that's still alive in the Alamo. Ben, load me some gun. Yes, sir. Oh, they're bringing up a band, sir. I think it's all over. What tune do you suppose they're serenaded with? Well, we can guess, Colonel. Probably de Guilio. It means no mercy. Well, boys, that's just what they'll get from the six of us, eh? No mercy. Might as well give them a little tune myself. Come make your iron rod and slavery flank her gallant chase in garden freedom's right. Colonel Crockett, sir. You've got to be conducted with respect for pride. You've got to become a legend. You're a minor, Hock. You've got no vote. I'll make the motion, Colonel Boone. I'll be seconded, Donald. I'll be seconded. Davey Crockett will be allowed to become a legend. All in favor? Aye. They voted him in, and rightfully he belongs to the immortals. But there's another part of him, something in Davey Crockett's gallant spirit that has never left America. That's why we know he also belongs to us. Cavalcade players, our thanks for their performance of the story of Davey Crockett on the Cavalcade of America. And now DuPont brings you news of chemistry at work in our world. Potters and glass makers used to hand down their secrets from father to son. It was a spirit that produced beautiful pieces now and then, but it discouraged new ventures and held back general knowledge. And out of many pieces that went into the kiln, only a few came out with real beauty of form and color, because so little was known of the science of heat control and still less was known of chemistry. Today, exact chemical science gives us beautiful vanadium yellows, uranium oranges, and molybdenum whites that were unknown to potters and glass makers yesterday. The ceramic color plant of the DuPont company at Furth Amboy can match thousands of colors. You may have wondered how color is put on a glass water tumbler. Glass colors have two things in them. Pigment to give the color, and flux to give the finish. The flux is clear glass. It's melted in a high temperature furnace and dropped hissing into cold water, where it shatters into the proverbial million pieces. These pieces are dried and put into a mill, in which thousands of small porcelain balls tumble around and around. They grind the flux to a fine powder, and at the same time, pound the pigment color into it. It takes from eight hours to three days to grind it fine enough. What comes out is an enamel, you might say, made with fine ground glass. Suppose a factory wants to make a glass water tumbler with a purple stripe around it. The stripe is painted on by hand or machine, and when the tumbler is fired in a kiln, the stripe actually melts into it and becomes part of it. It's a delicate operation. A few degrees too much heat and the tumbler will melt. Or if the purple stripe contracts more rapidly than the tumbler, it'll tighten like an iron band around an egg and crack it. With the new ceramic colors made by Dupont, beauty is not a matter of price. On the one hand, we have craftsmen of 20, 30, and 40 years' experience turning out the finest American china, as fine as any made in the world. And on the other hand, we turn out pottery under mass production in America so cheaply that you can step into a store near your home and buy a cup and saucer for a dime. Yet both the finest china and the most inexpensive pottery make use of Dupont ceramic colors. There aren't any grade A or grade B colors. They're simply the best ones chemistry knows how to make. Another good thing about scientifically made ceramic colors is that they don't vary. When you bought open stock dinnerware a few years ago, you could never be sure of matching the color when you replaced a broken cup. Nowadays, a red is always the same red. A green is always the same green. Colorful glass, china, and pottery within everyone's reach are something else we owe largely to the chemist, bringing us, in the words of the Dupont pledge, better things for better living through chemistry. And now the star of next week's program, Carl Swenson of the Cavalcade Players. Most people know Johns Hopkins as the name of a great medical center and university, but very few know about the man who founded it. Behind the life of Johns Hopkins was a deep and secret sorrow, and it made him wise, compassionate, and generous. One of the great humanitarians who served America medical science in the world. And we hope that you listen to his story on next week's Cavalcade of America. On the Cavalcade of America, your announcer is Clayton Collier, sending best wishes from Dupont. This is the National Broadcasting Company.