 The Cavalcade of America, sponsored by the DuPont Company, makers of better things for better living through chemistry. In tonight's DuPont play, we present two outstanding Hollywood stars. Claude Reigns and Agnes Moorhead. Miss Moorhead will appear as Elizabeth De Feister and Mr. Reigns. Well, here to open our DuPont play is Claude Reigns. I am really Charles Wilson Peele. A painter, scientist, inventor, and according to certain ill-informed contemporaries, more than a little eccentric. On this particular day, shortly after the close of the Revolutionary War, I am about to call upon Miss Elizabeth De Feister, Spinster of Philadelphia, and pop a rather important question. Madam, will you do me the honor to be my wife? Why, Mr. Peele, I hardly know how to answer you. This is, as you know, only our second meeting. Perhaps if you would be good enough to reply to some questions. Questions? Do you infer, madam, that there are doubts in your mind as to my character? Pray, Mr. Peele, do not excite yourself. It is merely that there are certain rumors abroad in Philadelphia. Rumors concerning what may I ask? Well, Mr. Peele, your recklessness, your being so headstrong and unpredictable. I, headstrong and unpredictable, ridiculous, more per se, come drum-normal individual than myself, never existed. But nevertheless, nothing. Madam, I will give you exactly twenty minutes until 4.30 to make up your mind. And if you do not accept me, I shall leave this house and propose marriage to the first female of however repellent aspect I encounter upon the street. Headstrong and unpredictable indeed. It is now exactly 4.30, Mr. Picer. Your answer, please? Mr. Peele, before making up my mind, I find I must ask certain questions. Do I have your permission? Madam, if it is a testimonial you require, may I refer you to His Excellency Thomas Jefferson or perhaps Mr. Robert Morris or Dr. John Morgan? That will hardly be necessary, sir. Now, the first question is, are you neat? Am I what? Neat. Well, let us say, Madam, I am somewhat neat. Oh. Second question, you are a widower, I understand. I am. You have children. I have. How many? Six, I believe. Or is it seven? Now, let me see. There's a, there's a Raphael Rembrandt, a Titian, Rubens. No, all named after painters. I understand that you too are, Mr. Peele, are a painter. I am. Also an inventor. Well, yes, I have invented a- And a watchmaker? Yes, I have from time to time repaired- And a dentist? Oh, certainly. And what is it, Madam? Do you wish a set of new teeth? Oh, no. No, Mr. Peele, I do not. My teeth are in excellent condition, thank you. All I wish to know is this. With the help of which of these professions do you intend to support me? Which? Or of them, of course. Well then, sir, I'm afraid I must decline your kind proposal. Why? Because, sir, a man with so many professions can be master of none. But I am interested in all these professions, Madam. Nevertheless, I would wish you to concentrate only on your paintings. Yeah, but- On that condition, it would give me great pleasure to announce our forthcoming marriage. Oh, but- Would you care for more tea? What is your Christian name, Mr. Peele? Charles, but Mr. Pice, sir. You can call me Elizabeth. Elizabeth, but don't you see- No, Charles, I do not. I've been considering this matter, and it seems to me that a very handsome living could be achieved by a talented painter who has so many famous friends. Robert Morris, Mr. Jefferson, who was the other gentleman you mentioned, sir? Dr. John Morgan, one of the city's most eminent physicians and scientists, Madam? Yes. Well, don't you think that- No, Elizabeth, I do not think. I cannot go to these people and ask them if they'd like to have their pictures painted. Why, it's absurd. I refuse to consider it. I refuse! You hear? If you were- If you will be so good, Dr. Morgan, as to turn your head about one inch to the left- Certainly. And the right hand. Just keep it still, please. I thought you were painting my head. I am. When you move your hand, your head wiggles. There, now, you may relax, Doctor. Thank you. By the way, Charles, it has come to my ears that you have remarried. Is your wife young or inclined toward ripeness? Well, sir, in certain ways, one might consider her somewhat overripe. Goodness me. Oh, Elizabeth is an excellent mother to my children, Doctor, but she has unfortunately a tendency to be, uh, domineering as far as I am concerned. She has. Of course, this is easily understood since I am at heart a gentle soul. Oh, of course. She has made me, for square all, active pursuit save that of painting at which, unfortunately, I cannot make a living. Including your art gallery, Charles. No, that is a toy I have been permitted to keep for being a good boy and doing what I'm told, no doubt. Hmm. Charles, have you ever thought of turning it into a museum? The gallery? But it is a museum, Doctor. I mean a museum of natural history containing the great natural wonders with which our country abounds. A natural history museum? What would I put in it, Doctor? The flora and fauna of America. Geological specimens, animal life. But I am no taxidermist, sir. Oh, you would learn. And think of the service you'd be doing. You would be bringing to the American people for study and observation the great natural wonders of their country. Hmm, yes, it is an interesting thought, Doctor. Believe me, there's real need for such a museum in America. Why, it would even help with our international affair. It would, sir. How? Well, Charles, as you know, I've spent many years abroad. Yes, I know, sir. And I have observed a tendency in the part of most European nations to condescend to us. To regard us as it were as though we were an upstart nation devoid of culture and the humanities. Oh, but, Doctor, as long as we know better... It is not enough, Charles. We live in a world where no nation is self-sufficient. Where trade, friendship, and the goodwill of other people is as necessary as the air we breathe. But friendship and goodwill are predicated upon understanding and similarity of purpose. Let us not forget that. And you think the establishment of this museum would help? It would help. It would enhance our prestige as a nation of culture and scientific attainment. Well, Charles, what do you say? Doctor, where do you suppose I'd be able to find a volume about taxidermy? There it is, my best-pairing knife on your work table. What were you doing with it? A dissecting an owl. Dissecting what on earth for? See how it's made. But why should anyone want to know that? So he'll know how to stop the next one, he catches. Oh, Charles, Wilson Peele, I would like you to know I have no intention of having this house cluttered up with dirty old owls, stuffed or otherwise. And I, madam, have no intention of leaving them here at the tender mercy of your insatiable broomstick. I shall take them when I am finished to the Museum of Natural History. Oh, very long. Well, as long as you want to take... What museum did you say? The Museum of Natural History. It's a new thing. Just, um, opening its door. Oh, that sounds ridiculous. What manner of man would be foolish enough to risk his money on a scatterbrained enterprise like that? I have heard him described as a very intelligent man, a gentleman, a scholar, a brilliant thinker. Who? Who could that be? Me. Charles Wilson Peele, you gave me your word when we were married that you would give up all this nonsense. Quiet woman, how dare you refer to the great natural wonders of America as nonsense. Have you no thirst for knowledge? No curiosity? No, I haven't. And furthermore, where is your patriotism? Would you have it said of your own country that it is the sole nation and the face of the earth that has no repository for the flora and fauna that enrich its landscape? That doesn't interest me in the least. What? You dare say that? What does interest me is if you ruin my paring knife, you'll have to give me two shillings for another. Trees, and that's what it is. Elizabeth, have a care. Remember Benedict Arnold. Charles? So this is what I fought on bread for at Morristown, Princeton and Valley Forge to harbor into my bosom a traitorous wed... Oh, now, Charles, listen to me. You listen to me, Elizabeth. Please, tomorrow, tomorrow, the first museum of natural history opens its doors. You, madam, shall be seated in a small booth at the entrance where you shall dispense tickets, make change, and ring a small bell to attract prospective customers thusly. And now, if you will kindly give me that paring knife, I have a small lizard I wish to disembowel. Thank you. Would you please? The wonders of natural science displayed for the first time on this hemisphere. See the beaver and the owl and the raccoon all in a state of lifelike preservation. Observe the miracles wrought by the art of taxidermy. The deer, the muskrat, the porcupine with each and every quilt reserved in tax. This way, ladies and gentlemen... I beg your pardon, madam. Oh, yes, sir. One ticket, quarter of a dollar, please. No, madam, I do not wish a ticket. I've already seen the exhibition. Could you tell me where I might find the proprietor, Mr. Peel? We'll just open that door on the right and step inside. You'll find him. I trust he's not engaged in private business at the moment. Well, you might call it that. He's stuffing a walrus. Oh, thank you. Ladies and gentlemen... Mr. Peel? Yes? Mr. Peel, my name is Abernathy Bain. I am a resident of the town of Boston, sir, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Greetings, sir. And what brings you to Philadelphia in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania? Your museum, sir. I came to see what it was like. And did you like what you came to see? No, Mr. Peel, I did not. And judging by the absence of visitors, I take it the good people of Philadelphia bear my opinion. Do they, sir? They do. Now take the Columbian Museum in Boston, of which I happen to be the proprietor. Oh. Why up there, I have a thousand visitors in a single week. What do you do? Re-enact the Battle of Bunker Hill and shoot live redcoats? No, sir, I do not. I show them clocks. Clocks? Exactly. Imported direct from Switzerland at incalculable expense. Naturally. And one of these, for instance, when the hour strikes, a tableau appears. A tableau? A tableau portraying Mary Queen of Scots, bidding an affectionate farewell on her way to the executioner's block. Very moving, Mr. Peel. Persons of the female sex have been known to faint at the pace us of it. Really? Well, Mr. Bain, I thank you, sir, for all this information, but I shall run this museum as I have always intended, as a repository for the natural wonders of our American nation. To show off stuffed birds and the skeletons of dead animals? You'll never get people to come to it, sir. Not even if you were to show them the bones of that mammoth they'd just dug up in New York. A mammoth? Yes. You mean, sir, a prehistoric animal? Something like that, a thigh bone, among others. Measuring, they say, 18 inches in circumference. A thigh bone? Measuring 18 inches? Tell me, Mr. Bain, where did they find these bones? Newberg in New York, I believe, a farmer digging in a mile pit. Mr. Peel. Mr. Peel, where are you going? Newberg, Mr. Bain. In the first complete mammoth in the history of the world has been uncovered in America. Peel's Museum of Natural Science will place it on exhibition or die in the attempt. Good-bye, Mr. Bain. You are listening to the DuPont Cavalcade of America starring Claude Reigns and Agnes Morehead, sponsored by the DuPont Company, makers of better things for better living through chemistry. Among the DuPont Company's better things for better living through chemistry is DuPont rug anchor, sponge rubber underlay. Perhaps you saw a recent announcement by the National Safety Council that deaths due to accidents in the home in 1949 were 3% less than in 1948. Well, one of the ways in which you can help prevent accidents in your home is to use DuPont rug anchor under small rugs, especially rugs at the head or foot of stairs. Rug anchor is waterproof and moth-proof and can be trimmed to fit your rugs. Besides helping to prevent rugs from slipping, DuPont rug anchor also keeps dirt from working up into the underside of the rug. Made by DuPont and sold by thousands of rug and department stores, rug anchor is another of the DuPont Company's better things for better living through... Now we continue our DuPont play. It's a few days later at a farm near Newburgh, New York. Seated on the floor of the granary, examining the fossils of a huge animal is Charles Wilson Peel. Bending over, watching him anxiously, is the farmer on whose property they were found. Well, Mr. Maston, I congratulate you. These are indeed the bones of a prehistoric animal. Yeah, that's what I thought. Unfortunately, there are many pieces missing. Where did you say you found these? In the Marl pit, Mr. Peel. Over past the South Field. It's flooded now. Mr. Maston, I would like to purchase these bones from you to exhibit at my museum in Philadelphia. Now, what would you say to $100? Why, I'd say that was a good sum of money, Mr. Peel. With another hundred thrown in for the privilege of digging further into your pit, what would you say to that, sir? Handsome, Mr. Peel. Handsome. Good. Then we can consider the transaction closed, eh? Well, no. No, I wouldn't exactly say that. No? Why not? Well, you see, sir, I don't want to sell them. I don't want to sell them at all. But Mr. Maston, I assure you nobody in America would have any use for these bones or would even approach my offer. I agree. I agree. And that's why they ain't for sale. Mr. Peel, let me ask you a question, sir. What would you do with these bones if I did sell them to you? Well, I exhibit them at my museum, of course. And charge admission, eh? Naturally. My museum is not endowed by anyone, sir. It is self-supporting. Well, I ain't endowed either, Mr. Peel. And so am I self-supporting. And I'm going to support myself for having my son take these bones on a tour from town to town and exhibit them and charge admission. Take them on a tour? Yeah. But, sir, suppose something happened to them. They got lost or broken. Think of the lost to science. Science never did anything for me, Mr. Peel, and I ain't doing anything for it. I see. Well, Mr. Maston, how old is your son? My son just turned 18. Why? Mr. Maston, do you have any idea of the kind of life that young man would lead traveling from town to town like a gypsy? Removing himself from the beneficent influence of home and half and father and mother? His mother, she's passed on, Mr. Peel. Oh. Uh, all the more reason, sir. You and you alone hold this boy's hope of heaven in the hollow of your hand. Consider for a moment, sir, what a life like that would do to the spirit of one so young, the constantly changing faces, the evil companions, the carousing, the immorality of such an existence. Yeah. You really think so, sir? Why, he'd be no better than an actor. My gracious. Yes, sir, you're right, Mr. Peel. Yes, I was thinking only of myself. Greed, greed, the curse of mankind. Then you'll sell me the bones and privilege of digging for $200, Mr. Maston? I'll sell you the bones and the privilege you're digging for $300, Mr. Peel. What? Take it or leave it. I'll take it. But first, I must return to Philadelphia to raise this large sum of money. I shall see you again in two weeks, sir. Oh, Charles, it is your intention to borrow the sum of $300 for this, this fossil, eh? Yes, Elizabeth, it is. And from whom do you intend to borrow it, Prey? My friends. In a pity you didn't think of them last month when I inquired for a small sum with which to buy a new dignity for myself. Oh, but no. No, I can go about in rags as long as you've got money for old bones. Elizabeth, my dear, even you would not approve my writing to the President of the United States for a few dollars to buy my wife a new... The President of the... You mean you wrote Mr. Jefferson? I did. Would you like to hear it reply? Well, I... My dear Mr. Peel, no person on earth can entertain a higher idea than I do of the value of your museum collection nor give you more credit for the unwearied perseverance and skill with which you have prosecuted it. The President wrote that? He did indeed. Is there more? Yes. Unfortunately, I am unable to assist you to resources for this new enterprise. Well, at least he answered you. Now, where will you get the money? I have already got it, Elizabeth, from the American Philosophical Society right here in Philadelphia. Goodbye, my dear sweet understanding wife. Take care of the children while I am off digging up old bones. Well, Peter, Peter, Peter. How's the digging today? I'm sorry, not a thing, sir. But, say, how about those others we found yesterday? Are they any good, sir? Peter, there is no doubt in my mind that they are the bones of a mammoth, a true prehistoric animal that existed here in America millions of years ago. The only trouble is there are some missing. Oh, I see. Which ones? The toe bones, for instance. The lower jaw bone. The lower jaw bone? Well, there's no more bones left in this pit. I'll take both on that, Mr. Peel. Well, I suppose there's nothing I have to do, but pack up these things and go back to Philadelphia. Yes, sir. I guess you're right, sir. Unless you were to take a look around the joint and countryside. What good would that do, my boy? Well, sir, you see, I don't know much about these things, but the way I figured where there was one of these monstrous creatures disporting itself a million years ago, there was probably another. Well, yes, you have a point there. Yes, sir. Matter of fact, sir, I don't know if you'd be interested, but I dug up a couple of them. They're bones right in my own farm. What? You mean you just... Where is your farm, Peter? Two miles west of here, Mr. Peel. Let us go there, my boy. At once, you hear? We'll move all the machinery and what are you standing there for? Get to work, sir! Get to work! Here's another piece, sir. Let me see it. Looks like it might come from a foot. It does, Peter. It's a tow bone. Peter, you've got a mammoth of your own here. And judging by these samples, it's a far bigger one than the other. Congratulations, my boy. And now let's get back to work. Come on, dig! Dig! Come again, are you? And you've dug up an animal that's been dead over a million years. Now, what are you going to do with it? Exhibit it at the museum, of course. And do you think the public will say they're good money to see it? I cannot say, my dear. All I know is if they should want to see it, it's there. Charles, when I married you, I made you promise to give up everything for your painting. Do you remember? I do, madam. Do you know why? Yes, madam. That I might accumulate wealth and support you in the manner to which you would like to become accustomed. No, Charles. It wasn't that. It wasn't? No. I wanted you to believe that, because it was the way, the only way to get you to do the great work for which you were intended. You have it in you to be truly famous, Charles. One moment, madam. Do I understand you to mean that all you were concerned with was my fame, my recognition by the world that nothing less would satisfy you? Yes, Charles. Then, madam, you should be in a positive ecstasy of satisfaction. Observe! Observe these letters! They bear the signatures of presidents and kings and men of science the world over. And they are addressed to me, my dear. Informing me what a great contribution to science America has made by my bringing to light these old bones, as you call them. You mean those letters are actual? They are. And now, if you'll excuse me, my dear, I do not wish to be late. Where are you going? To the museum, Elizabeth. The Museum of Natural History to attend the formal dedication to posterity of those old bones. Good night, my dear. And don't wait up for me. Gentlemen and colleagues, it gives me great pleasure to present to you one of the foremost figures of our time. Inventor, scientist, and painter of General Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and many of our most distinguished citizens, gentlemen Charles Wilson Peele. Welcome, gentlemen. Welcome to the first American museum of natural history. This skeleton, which you are now observing as it towers above us, is not a replica, but the true bones of the monster that terrified our ancestors a million years ago. The knowledge of its existence has furthered the world's interest in science as you well know, gentlemen, breeds knowledge and knowledge conquers man's greatest enemy, fear. Gentlemen, I ask you to raise your glasses in a toast to the American people with their ingenuity and resourcefulness, with their enterprise and faith in the future. May they be as preeminent among the nations of the earth and the skeleton of this mammoth under which we sit surpasses the fabric of the mouse. Thank you, Claude Rains, Agnes Morehead, and the cavalcade players. Now, here's Bill Hamilton speaking for the Defant Company. In the magazines this spring, you'll see colored pictures of the very smartest dresses, the frilliest underthings, the most glamorous evening gowns, all in rayon. This is a leather fabric used in clothes in all price ranges. Yes, you're right. So right in rayon. In Bermuda, in Florida and California, at smart resorts everywhere, rayon is a must with women who know their styles as well as their values. Now, a woman buys a dress because it's smart. But let's walk around behind that word smart for a moment and see what we find. A dress is smart because a talented fashion designer had the taste, the originality to design it that way. But the designer was able to make it that way only because the fabric maker provided him with the material of just the right texture, just the right drape. And you can go back still further than that, right back to the yarn. For 30 years now, American rayon manufacturers, including the Defant Company, have been steadily improving rayon yarn, changing its characteristics to give you better drape and more beauty. That's why rayon in 1950 is every bit as glamorous as it is practical. Within our lifetime, a whole industry has grown up around this fiber from the Kennis test tube. Thousands of men and women have jobs today because of rayon. Thousands of stores enjoy better business. Millions of women proudly wear rayon. Yes, and men too. Rayon pajamas and robes for men are light, trimly tailored and long wearing. Rayon shirts, trunks and slacks have bright long lasting color because rayon takes dyes so clearly and so richly. It's true just as the fashion news says that you're right, so right in rayon. Fashion Right Rayon is a typical example of the Defant Company's better things for better living through chemistry. Star Douglas Fairbanks in Crazy Judah the story of a man, a dream and a remarkable achievement. Be sure to listen. Tonight's original Defant Play was written by Arthur Arendt and was based on a chapter The Ingenious Mr. Peel in the book America's Old Masters by James Thomas Flexner. Claude Reigns will soon be seen in the forthcoming RKO production The White Tower. Agnes Morehead will soon appear in the father's picture caged. Music was composed by Arden Cornwell and conducted by Donald Voorhees. The program was directed by John Zoller. Ladies and gentlemen during this annual Red Cross drive we are asked to support an organization in which the nation takes great pride. By helping the Red Cross we are helping humanity. The Defant Cable Cade of America comes to you from the stage of the Red Cross in New York and is sponsored by the Defant Company of Wilmington, Delaware. Makers of better things for better living through chemistry. Next here Daddy's Little Problem Child Baby Snooks on NBC.