 Presenting Bob Hope with Francis Langford and Jerry Cologne in Report from the Pacific on the Cavalcade of America sponsored by E.I. DuPont, Dinne Mours and company of Wilmington, Delaware, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. Before we begin our play tonight, we want to tell you about DuPont's speedy wall finish. The new wall paint that you use right over wallpaper. Although speedy is an oil paint, you just thin it with water then apply with a large brush or roller. In less than an hour, your walls are dry. For less than three dollars, you can refinish the average room. So for your fall home decoration, get speed easy. It's speedy, it's easy and it's made by DuPont. Tonight DuPont presents Report from the Pacific starring Bob Hope, Francis Langford and Jerry Cologne, the fifth in Cavalcade's new fall series of great stars in great radio plays. And now to raise the curtain on this evening's play, here is your Cavalcade commentator, Walter Houston. What do you mean? You know, I have a very personal interest in tonight's show, but it concerns the profession of which I've been a member for many years. The profession which in these long years of war has become to our fighting men as important as medicine, as comforting as news from home. Tonight the scene is somewhere in the South Pacific. A hundred or a thousand men sit before an improvised stage. Their faces show the strain of fatigue and exhaustion, the nerve-wracking effects of war. There's anticipation in the air, then a figure appears. He walks casually to the front of the makeshift stage. He greets the man, he cracks a joke, then another, and another, and soon he notices the men no longer look tired. Their eyes light up. Their bodies tense for days become relaxed. That's the picture which Bob Hope saw time and time again on his tour of the South Pacific, when he, Francis Langford and Jerry Cologne, and the rest of his troop entertained the servicemen on their 30,000 mile jump this summer. He found out what they thought, what they felt, what they would like the folks back home to know. In tonight's cavalcade, which makes me proud of the never to be a member of the theatrical profession, Bob Hope makes this report of his tour to us, to every father, mother, brother, sister, wife, and sweetheart of the men overseas. Listen now to Bob Hope with Francis Langford and Jerry Cologne, and report from the Pacific on the cavalcade of America. Hamilton Field, California, July 10th, 02300. Tony Romano, your passport please. Thank you. Francis Langford. Here's mine. Jerry Cologne. Do you have any means of identification? Barney Dean. This is me. Harry Thomas. Yes, sir. Bob Hope. Is this your passport? That's right. You haven't traveled for a long time, have you? Stick around, gang. We'll run into a straight man yet. A few minutes before the takeoff, planes everywhere, men with sealed orders, it'll take them to all parts of the earth. Little groups of pilots and co-pilots, gathering in little clusters of friendship. The last cigarettes, the final handshakes, the parting remarks. I hope I draw a chung king. Second Louis, there owes me 40 bucks. Hope I draw a new deli. Hope I draw the island. It's just my luck to draw Bob Hope. I love that boy. Bob, the ground crew's ready to close up. Watch it, Mr. Hope. We've got to close the door now. I'm in, fellas. I'm in. But your nose is still outside, Mr. Hope. Gee, Frannie, we're leaving the USA. This is goodbye. And how proud you must be. Look out there, the Bob Hope fan club. Bob, you've got to lean out and thank your fan club. Yeah, gee, thanks for coming down so long. Swallow Crosby to see me off. Pearl Harbor, not one of us had ever been to Pearl Harbor before in our lives. I was here at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. I was on Alabama. Hey, you're Slim Foster. Yeah, I'm Dallas, Texas. Of course, you wouldn't know it on a kind of lost maxim. I've been in dry dock ever since December 7th on a kind of picked up some Jeff Souvenir in my back. We had a great week in the islands, didn't we, Slim? Yeah, Bob. We sure enjoyed that show. You played the quarter of a million, that's guys. Bob, them ovations. Yeah, them ovations. Weren't they something? Loud and a bull calf, bone for his mother. I'll say it. Yes, sir. Everywhere Bob Hope went, the cheering is absolutely deafening. We want Langford. We want Langford. We want Langford. Next time I'll wear a sarong. Next time we'll bring Bernard Cabina. Folks, I want you to get a load of a place called Christmas Island. It's north of the equator about four or five degrees. It's a Turkish bath with mosquitoes and all over hot foot. One of the lousiest pieces of real estate on earth. Would you really like to know how bad this place is? Listen, General Cologne is out there now talking to the new men. Men, I'll tell you about this island. We wear the poisoned snakes, scorpions, tarantulas, cockroaches and blisterbugs. We wear the butterflies. Even their butter is poisoned. But above all, men above all do not go swimming or waiting. There are man-eating crabs here. Man-eating crabs? That's right. These crabs love nothing better than a good dish of man louis. Oh, General. Yes, Louie. Can I be assigned to Hollywood? I don't think I'm going to like it so well here. You have to be rock happy to like Christmas Island. Rock happy is when they catch you talking to the goonie birds. But when the goonie birds start talking back, you're a goner. Completely pineapple. Those boys were plenty lonesome for somebody from home. That same day before the show, the gang organized a ball game. Bob, we kind of thought Francis ought to pitch for one side and Patty Thomas for the other. You know, they ought to get a little exercise after that long plane trip. Yeah, I know what you mean, Jack. You mean you want the girls to be up close? Well, yeah, that's it. Well, where do you want me to play? Well, Bob, we thought maybe you'd be good in deep center field. No kidding. Francis and Patty had more drawing power than the cards and the browns. I played seven innings before I realized that I was the only one that cared who won. Playing ball with guys who've been specializing in throwing hand grenades and seeing that back home again look come into their eyes. Well, you don't forget a ball game like that. And something happened on Espirito Santos that we're never forgetting. I'm Captain Anders in New York and Medicare in Espirito Sanders. Look at this one. See that kid getting plasma transfusion? Kid, nothing. Look at him. He's 24. Right here, you can be older, 24. Right now, Bob, Francis, Jerry, and Tony are standing around his bed. His name's Maury. He's from Brooklyn. Hiya, Maury. Hiya, Bob. Hey, what's that tube doing in your arm? Doc giving you the raspberry, huh? Yeah, feels good, too. You remember Jerry Colonie, Maury? Sure. Professor Colonie. Big mustache. What's going, Professor? Well, Maury, we're having a wonderful trip. We need lots of swell dimes. Francis Langford's here, too. Hello, Maury. Can I hold your hand? It feels better in plasma. You've been singing, I bet, Franny. I'll say, Maury, we just gave a show here. I must have sung, I'll be seeing you 100 times. I'll be seeing you all the old familiar places. 100 times, huh? Well, Maury, I meant to say 101. Tony? I'll be seeing you in all your places. That this heart of mine embraces all day through. After the show, we were all sitting around taking it easy. Hey, Doc. Come on in, Doc. All right, next week's 20-10. Yeah, we're a little numb about now. Say, Bob, remember that kid you saw getting plasma? Yeah, what was his name again? Maury? Yeah, that's it, Maury. Yeah, he died a few minutes ago. This is Lieutenant Ben Reyes of San Francisco. The hope outfit picked me up at Guadalcanal, and I made the rest of the trip with them as an army representative, photographer, and public relations man. Benny Reyes, what a guy, folks. Lay off, Robert. Being a photographer, let me focus on a scene on Guadalcanal. An important decision is being made. Well, Hope, this is it. Kelona, what's wrong? I hate to say this, Hope, but we must have it out. Oh, but, Jerry, we've been together for years. Nevertheless, we must have it out now or never. Have what out? Wisdom tooth, it's killing me. Bob takes Kelona to an army dentist in the jungle. Who else but a jungle dentist could get through the foliage in that upper lip? Here's the professor in the chair, mouth open. The dentist pokes his hand inside and presses on the tooth. Does it hurt when I do this, Mr. Kelona? It is infected. First a shot of novocaine, then the pliers. I got a good firm grip on it. Now, here goes. I'm Lieutenant Frank Ferguson of North Hollywood. Yeah, Fergie, I had to come to the South Pacific to find out that you live three blocks from me at home. Mom runs the El Rancho School, not far from your house, Bob. And here we are together in Australia. Say, look down there, Fergie. Those pine trees remind me of Oregon. How far out of Sydney are we, Fergie? About five hours, Bob. We're pretty far inland for a flying boat, aren't we? So what? Well, I like to be over water when I'm in the flying boat. It's the sissy in me, I guess. That motor noise, what is it? Ain't my contract, I can tell you that. What is it, Fergie? Busted gasoline line, Bob. Gotta shut off that one motor. One motor left? We're losing altitude already, Fergie. Go back and throw everything overboard. Throw everything overboard, Fergie. You don't mean... Not the people, everything that weighs anything. Well, this is more serious than I thought. Okay, Fergie. Okay, boy. Hey, everybody. Stop throwing stuff out and put on your Maywest. Barney, wake up. What's happened, Bob? One motor conked out. It's a forced landing. Strap yourselves in. Be right back. Bob, what does Fergie think we'll make to the coast? We're losing altitude pretty fast, Bob. You think we'll make it to water okay? Hope it's deep water. Fergie, there's the coastline. Sure, hope it's deep water. Go and pour it, Bob. Go back and strap yourself in. What do you think I'll be going? Okay, Fergie. Good luck, boy. He's going to make that patch of water. I'd give anything to know how deep it is. I'd give anything to be back in vaudeville. You know what, Hope? What, Barney? I've had about enough of this trip. Strapped in tight franny. Yeah. About that raise, Hope. Forget it. You scared, Jerry? Frankly, no. You? I'm a liar, too. Hold tight, gang. This is it. Let me down. How's that? That's something to down, Fergie. Anybody got any plasma? They may take newsreels. You're listening to Bob Hope, Francis Langford and Jerry Cologne in Report from the Pacific on the Cavalcade of America sponsored by E.I. DuPont, Dean Nemours and Company of Wilmington, Delaware, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. I'm P.F.C. Robert Bluewater from the Pew, Oklahoma, the Uchi Indian tribe. I'm picking up this story, our story. The story of men who'd give six months pay for one hour of laughs and songs from folks like Bob and Francis and Jerry and dancing like Patty Thomas gave us. Come with me to Noom4 Island, folks. Bob's announcing Patty right now. Now, this girl brings out the father and me, fellas, Patty Thomas. Well, Patty, how do you like it here on lovely Noom4 Island? Anyway, Patty, they like lovely you on lovely Noom4 Island. But fellas, here's Patty Thomas with her own version of Arthur Murray meeting Fred Astaire at the Hollywood Playdium. As well as interested in tap dancing. I thought that a girl, that if this is what we're fighting for, get me a gun, boy. Get me a gun. P.F. Thomas and fellas, isn't it wonderful that Francis Langford and Patty can make the trip? I understand. I understand that the first girl's ever to land on Noom4 Island. Boy, won't Eleanor be mad, huh? It's great to be here with you, fellas. Hey, hey, what was that? I'd have sworn I heard a gunshot. Say, listen, if any of you guys want to make trouble, you know I'm not scared. Fred Pushin, you want the whole fox, hold yourself. That's only 1,200 yards from the state. They shot a jab, 1,200 yards from the state. Taxi, taxi! Who's nervous? Let's get on with the show. Professor Clona, what are you doing here? Fred Hope, I'm a union organizer for the Plumbers Union. But I'm not doing so good. What's wrong? No plumbers? Where's some that? No plumbing. How are you getting along here, Francis? Oh, wonderful, Bob. It's so thrilling after two years on your radio show to see men again. Francis, about my laundry, you know that stuff I've been living in the last couple of weeks. I know you've got a lot of influence for the boys. You take care of my laundry. Yes, Bob, I did exactly as you said. I gave your laundry to a marine and said, this is Bob Hope's laundry. Please have it back immediately. What happened? The marine opened it up, took one look at it, and said, I'm sorry, the difficult we do immediately, the impossible may take a little longer. It's our impression of a famous singing aggregation. Read the small type. Go ahead. Get a big pile of potatoes about as tall as the Empire State Building. Get me a piece of glass, throw it to my sergeant, and say, Brother Unpeel'em. Remove those jackets instantaneously. If I only had my way. But here I am a private in the army. I enlisted as a private. What the heck is private about it? And I can't sleep in the jungles. I dream all the time. Last night, I dreamed I was eating lifesavers all night. This morning, when I woke up, all the buttons on my pajamas were gone. Charlotte Mayfield, a Red Cross girl from Minneapolis. A lull comes in the music, and soldiers and entertainers both, leading the hard Pacific life. Sit around in little groups and talk. Just talk. Hey, you sang White Christmas well tonight, Francis. Thanks, Bill. Is that one of your favorites? Yeah. Hey, you should have been with us this last Christmas, Randy. What a laugh. Oh, come on. We were sweating our heads off. It's summer here at Christmas time. It's a white Christmas, all right. The sand was white, and the sun was white hot. Did you happen to get a Christmas dinner? Yeah. We had spam with trimming. We even had a special bowl of spam marked New England plum pudding. And over in the corner of the barracks is Professor Kelana with a few of the boys. Tell me, Jerry, is that a real mustache? Oh, no, no. This is the real one. The one I keep in my pocket. Well, how long you had that mustache, Jerry? Well, I'm rather unusual, guys. I was born with it. Well, my old man's got a mustache, too. Only his is blonde. Dad's a great guy. He plays a ho down fiddle. She got a coaxing. Boy, he loves that coaxing. Saturday night was our big night at home. My house baked a chocolate cake. We call the devil's food cake. I made the ice cream. Smashed the ice in a gunny sack, you know? Yeah, then you put the rock salt around the ice, don't you, Gus? Yeah, and I'd turn that darn freezer until my arm was like the falloff. You know, Jerry, right before the cream freezes solid, that's when it's toughest. But you got to keep going. Yeah, you got to keep going. I wonder if I'll ever see Grand Forks again. Oh, quit kidding, Gus. You get back. Stop worrying. Down the muddy road, it's 10 o' late. But the boy with the tilted nose is going strong. Hey, and what makes you think nobody's got the Pacific War on their minds? Oh, read the papers. What about this V.E. stuff, the big celebrations in junk? But, Wally, plenty of towns are planning and closing all the bars for the day, holding church services, and the factories are staying on the job. Naturally, people are going to feel like blowing their top on V.E. Day, but maybe it's a deeper feeling than we think, Wally. I sure hope so, Bob. Wally, don't worry. Half the American people will still have kids fighting over there. You know, Bob, I was just going to say that it's sure something to have you folks over here. Oh, skip it, Mike. I had to. Things were getting pretty hot for me at Paramount. Well, honestly, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw little Patty Thomas in that dancing costume. And Francis, looking like she just came out of the beauty parlor. Now, what's so hard for us guys to figure out is, uh, well, you folks didn't have to come. But you did. Somewhere else, I heard another kid make that remark. That sure must be rough, Bob, finding all kinds of weather. Say, what's with you guys? You've dodged ac-ac over a bowel and been bombed and rained down and you've caught malaria and eaten the same food month after month? You can't ring for orange juice in the morning paper down here in the jungle, you know. Sure, we're tired of flying, but we'll be home in a few weeks. You guys will still be here. Don't ever forget that. And say, we won't forget it either. Now that we're home, people keep saying, what was the one experience that topped everything else? What was the biggest thrill of all? It isn't a good question. Because the greatest experience in the world is to be with those kids of yours, to live with them, to laugh with them, to have chow with them, to cry inside when you see. Instead of hearing secondhand, what tremendous American citizens they really are. But we can name one moment that burned deeper into our memory than all the other moments, and here it is. This twilight on a certain beach in the island of Tarawa. Imagine this, being here on Tarawa, and what a cute little outdoor theater this is. I wonder what the picture will be. Well, I'll look at anything but a road picture. I've heard Crosby's voice so often on the Army radio out here that I'll never look at a cheese sandwich again. After all, sometimes I get moody and feel like Sinatra. Hey, kids, here's the picture. The battle of Tarawa. Holy smokes, the battle of Tarawa, and we're on Tarawa. Look, the invasion boats. Well, look at that. Nearly all the first wave. We approach the island. Heavy machine gun and mortar fire take a heavy toll, boats and men. Still they come. That LST was caught just as it opened. Look at that boy trying to get up. All the firepower we have, mortars, flamethrowers. And how about those flamethrowers? How about those tanks? You see them take steel in return, but you don't feel the awful concussion inside. The picture went on like that for 20 minutes. To the men, it must have seemed like 20 years. It's flying for the first time over Tarawa. We get a lump in our throat. We're mighty proud. We're on this beach all quiet now and seeing it when it was a great big chunk of hell. Well, it's almost too much for a woman to bear. You can include us men in that too, Franny. Look over there to the right in this graveyard once the battlefield in the picture. See the white crosses? How about that, huh? There lie the actors in the Battle of Tarawa. That was the last picture they made, and, brother, it was their best. Thank you, Bob. Frances, Jerry, Barney and Patty for the good work we've been doing and for the report you've just given us. Now, before I return to tell you of next week's Cavalcade Star and Play, here's Gain Whitman speaking for the DuPont Company with news about two DuPont dye processes that will mean more and better color fabrics for you after the war. Ever since the last war, when Americans realized with a shock that we had no dyes to speak of in this country and were dependent on Germany, DuPont has been in the forefront of the American dye industry. The DuPont Company has developed thousands of dyes, new and better methods of using them, and even when necessary, machines to make the new processes practical. This week at the annual meeting of the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists, DuPont announced two new processes which promise you better colored fabrics after the war. The new DuPont processes make it practical to use vat dyes, or fast dyes, as they are generally known, or many materials on which they could not be used successfully before. Vat dyeing is almost as old as civilization. The Tyrion Purple of ancient Tyre, for instance, was a vat dye. It was so poor, no one would use it today, but in those days it cost the equivalent of $350 a pound. That's where the expression born to the purple comes in. You had to have a lot of money then to afford vat dyed fabrics. From that day to this, vat dyeing has been generally accepted as best. It's best because vat dyed colors are fast colors. They go right into the fibers and are locked there chemically. Come rain or shine for the life of the garment. But vat dyeing has been difficult for technical reasons on woolen goods and fabrics made of mixed fibers. Most vat dyed fabrics have been cotton. The army's cotton uniforms are vat dyed. That's why they stand rough treatment. These two new DuPont developments extend vat dyeing to other materials. One is simpler, more versatile, and more economical, doing in seconds what used to take minutes, and in some cases hours. The other process minimizes the pulling and stretching that made it difficult to use vat dyeing on delicate fabrics. Both of these improvements are being made available to the textile industry without cost, as part of the DuPont company's technical service. For you after the war, they foreshadow brilliant, beautiful, lasting colors over a wide range of fabrics. Not only cottons, but many other fabrics. Colors that offer another example of DuPont's better things for better living through chemistry. Now, here is Cavalteade's commentator, Walter Houston. Who was the girl Abe Lincoln loved? Was she the prettiest girl in town, the most talented, the most intelligent, or was she just an ordinary girl who in her simple wisdom saw the greatness of the man she worshipped? Many plays have been written about Anne Rutledge. Many stories have been told about this girl whose untimely death left a scar upon Lincoln's soul. That never healed. But Norman Corwin, one of Radio's most gifted writers, looked beyond the cloak of legend and saw Anne Rutledge as a warm human creature, no different from the rest, no wiser than most. But a girl who became immortal because she loved the man who was destined to immortality. I invite you to hear this story next week. The girl Lincoln loved, but the charming and talented Joan Fontaine has Anne Rutledge. May I repeat, Walter Houston's invitation to join us next Monday when DuPont presents Joan Fontaine as Anne Rutledge in Norman Corwin's poignant story, The Girl Lincoln Loved. In following weeks, Cavalteade will bring you Clark Gable, Loretta Young, Charles Lawton, and many other great stars. Tonight's Cavalteade story was written by Glenn Wheaton. The musical score was composed and conducted by Robert Ombrester. Bob Hope appeared tonight through the courtesy of PepsiDent. This is Gain Whitman speaking for the Cavalteade of America, sponsored by E.I. DuPont in Amores and Company of Wilmington, Delaware. And inviting you to be with us again next week. This is the National Broadcasting Company.