 A Hallmark card when you carry enough to send the very best. Hallmark will bring you Hollywood's greatest stars in outstanding stories chosen by one of the world's best known authors. They distinguish novelists... Ladies and gentlemen, this is James Hilton. Tonight on our Hallmark Playhouse, we dramatize a story by Gladys Hastie Carroll called West of the Hill, which could truly be described as a love story. Now, love stories have always been popular, and their virtue has often been a simplicity that brings into focus the beauty and adventurousness of youth. I think West of the Hill has something of this. At any rate, its background of the New England sea coast is fresh and picturesque. To star in this story tonight, we are especially privileged to have with us an actress who herself personifies those same attributes of charm, freshness, and youth, Elizabeth Taylor. And now a word about Hallmark cards from Frank Goss before we begin the first act of West of the Hill. Hallmark cards have a magic carpet quality about them. They take you visiting however great the distance to help celebrate a birthday, an anniversary, or just any day when you're thinking of someone. There is a quality about Hallmark cards that whispers good taste, and you'll send them with pride for that identifying Hallmark on the back adds meaning. It says you cared enough to send the very best. Our star, Elizabeth Taylor, is appearing tonight by arrangement with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, producers of A Life of Her Own, starring Lana Turner, Ray Maland, and Barry Sullivan. And now Hallmark Playhouse, presenting Gladys Hasty-Carrolls, West of the Hill, starring Elizabeth Taylor. Most of us are dreamers, but not all our dreams have a focal point, a direction, a signpost that says, here lies the way to all you've longed for. But for Molly, there was a signpost, and that signpost pointed West of the Hill. When I look back now, I realize that I began to discover the world. The day I first met Brad Hartwell, I was very young, still in my teens. I lived with my aunt and uncle and there are several children in fishing, Shandy, close to the ocean. I thought the world was a cold place, empty of mean, and empty even of its explanation of its lack of meaning. I came across the cliffs one day, carrying my uncle's lunch. There was Brad, standing by the sea. Hello there! I remember the clean, crisp smell of the water, and the dazzling brightness of the day. And I remember his voice, reaching to me like an outstretched hand and drawing me close. Haven't you got a tongue? I said hello? Yes, yes, I've got a tongue. Well then use it girl, use it! What's your name? Molly. You know the song? In Dublin's fair city, the girls are so pretty. It was there that I first met sweet Molly Malone. You've never heard that song? No. Well, I'll teach it to you if you'd like to learn it. You don't talk very much, do you? What are you carrying? Donuts and coffee for my uncle. Who's your uncle? One of the fishermen? Mm-hmm, Gus Dennis. Is that right? I just bought fish from him, 300 pounds, mostly halibut. I've got to find him. He isn't here. None of the fishermen are. It'd be a shame to waste that coffee and the donuts. Why don't we sit down and eat them? Well, I... All right. We can sit up against this log. Don't you ever smile, Molly? I don't know. I don't think so. You don't know? You don't think so? You're a strange little creature, aren't you? What? I don't think so. Coffee's good. Here, have a drink from the other side of the pail. That's a bad bruise on your arm. It's where my aunt beat me. Your aunt beat you? Why? Because she hates me. So that's why you have such a frightened way about you? I've always been afraid. Why? Why should your aunt hate you? Well, I don't know. Maybe because there isn't enough food. Maybe because the house is too small for all of us. Maybe because I'm ugly. Because you're ugly. You're not ugly. She says I am. She says I've got an ugly look. Girl, look at me. Have you ever looked in the mirror? No. We have none. Then let me be your mirror. Your eyes are the color of the sea. Your hair is the color of the sky above the sea at midnight. Your skin is fair. If there is beauty, girl, and water, sky and midnight, then you are beautiful. Who are you? What's your name? Where do you come from? Who am I? No one. West of that hill. I fished a petal. Every Friday I stood in the same place waiting for him, down along the shore behind the dunes where my uncle couldn't see him. We talked for a few moments, only a few. And for those moments there was color where there'd been only drabness, light where there'd been darkness, music where there'd been silence, and then he'd leap back up on his wagon and wave to me, silence and darkness, and there was only coldness and terror in the voice of my uncle. Why else you're doing your work? Why are you standing there idling by the window? I was looking at the hill. The hill. Sometimes I think you're half-deafed about that hill. Rebecca, you're scrubbing before I give you a coat that you'll remember. Winter. Winter. It rumbled to me. Though the storms beat it and flayed it, it stood unconquerable. Beyond the hill was Brad, and spring would come when he returned across the hill Friday, long before dawn I was waiting, and at last he came. I wondered if you'd be here. And then I decided that you wouldn't. It was too cold and warm. I'm not cold. Oh, Winter, I haven't thought of a thing but last summer in the hill. Brad, will you take me over there with you? Will I? You said you had a house of your own, Brad. I'll do anything you say if you'll take me. I'll scrub the floors. I'll keep your clothes clean. I'll cook. I'll dig the rocks out of your field. I'll chop wood up. Don't you believe me? Oh, please believe me, Brad. I'm a good worker. I'll show you. Molly, Molly, thank you. Love me. I don't know. Oh, I don't know. I want to get away. I want to get to the other side of the hill. Take me, Brad. Please, please, please me now. He's stronger than she is. You'd have to marry me, Molly. Are you willing to do that? Don't let me now, but maybe you can learn to in time. If I'm good enough to you. But please don't be afraid, Molly. Get across the hill. I sat beside him with my hand in his. Oh, there was a lot I wanted to say to him. I wanted to say, love is only a word to me. I'm not even sure what it means. But yours is the hearth fire I'd keep burning. Yours are the footsteps I'd run to meet. Yours are the arms that can shut out the world. The nightmares that lurk in the shadows of the world. I wanted to say, because you've turned to be in my desperate need, I'll kneel at your feet and worship you forever. But I could say none of this. In all the years I'd lived, there'd been no one who cared what I was thinking or feeling before. What I felt I had no way of saying. So we rode along silently. Up and then down into a lovely afternoon that last brad stopped the wagon. There's the house, Molly. There's your new home. He picked me up in his arms and carried me across the threshold into the future, Mrs. Hartwell. Oh, Brad, this house is like a castle. Small castle, I'm afraid. It's my grandmother's. She left it to me when she died. I've never stayed in it before. I've always stayed up the road with the family. But it's so clean. My mother's come down every few days and gone over it. No good housewife can stand the thought of dust gathering in a New England farmhouse. People must have been happy in this house. You can feel it the moment you enter. You're smiling. Molly, I've never seen you smile before. Oh, Brad, I... I feel as though I had a million lamps lit inside of me. Molly Hartwell. Meet his mother. His mother and the girl he didn't marry. My dear, we're very happy to meet Brad's wife. You're just as pretty as he told us you were. Oh, thank you, Mrs. Hartwell. This is Min Stacey. Min's my niece, but I've raised him and couldn't love him or show my own daughter. I'm very pleased to meet you, Min. How do you do? I'm starved. How about some lunch? It's almost ready, Brad. Come on out and help me bring in some milk. All right. Mmm, that stew smells good. I imagine it'll take you quite a spell to learn to cook for him. Brad likes stew. He's fussy about his food. Would you help me learn, Min? I'd be ever so grateful. I don't know. Sorry. I realize it's asking a lot. What's Brad going to do for a living now? Why, what he's always done is going to pedal fish and keep the farm. Where's he going to get the fish? What? Where he's always gotten it? Do you think your uncle will sell fish to him now? Answer me, Molly. Do you think your uncle will sell fish to him now? And if he won't, how are you going to live? You're going to polish the top clean off that table. You've been at it all morning. Look like you're carrying the weight of the world on your back. I just want everything to be clean and shining in our home, Brad. I didn't bring you here to be a housekeeper. I brought you to be my wife. Oh, I know. And I'm so grateful. I don't want your gratitude, Molly. If just once, you'd say... Say what, Brad? Just tell me what's the matter. Why are you looking so unhappy? Brad, when are you going for a load of fish? Next Friday. My customers will all be expecting me next Friday. Have you thought that maybe... maybe my uncle won't sell fish to you? If he won't sell it to me, why are the fishermen who will? They won't if he tells them not to. Oh, Brad, if I should ever do anything to hurt you... Molly, stop worrying about hurting me. Stop worrying about being grateful in the name of heaven. Stop worrying. Relax a little. Be happy. If he won't sell to you, then... then it'll be because of me. Oh, Brad, don't you see? I may have ruined your whole life when I asked you to bring me west to the hill. Just Dennis will sell me all the fish I want. I'm not sure he will, Brad. I'm not sure he will. This is the second act of west to the hill, starring Elizabeth Taylor. If ever there lived a master of words who fully understood and made use of their dramatic power, it was George Chapman, the Elizabethan poet who translated the epic poems of Homer. It was George Chapman who said, how strong an influence works in words. And you know that thought strikes home when you choose the message of a Hallmark greeting card. For the makers of Hallmark cards know, as you do, that words you send to those you care for are just their entire outlook. They must be the right words, as you would like to say them, to a friend who's ill or who's celebrating a birthday or anniversary. Yes, whatever the occasion, there's a Hallmark card that says just what you want to say, just the way you want to say it. And what is true of the magic of words in a Hallmark card is equally true of everything else about its design and craftsmanship. That is why, when you ask any group of friends what name they think of in greeting cards, when they want to send the very best, the Hallmark cards. You choose Hallmark cards with the pleasant knowledge that they are correct. Their social preference has become a tradition through the years. That's why it's so easy to remember it would be difficult to forget, to look for the Hallmark on the back. It says you cared enough to send the very best. Now back to James Hilton and the second act of West of the Hill, starring Elizabeth Taylor. The days passed, Molly began to meet her neighbors and make friends with them. On the Friday, when Brad would have to cross the hill, was glowing in her and mounted with each passing hour. On Sunday, Brad took her to church. She walked in slowly, looking about her, thinking to herself, can it be that I'm really here, West of the Hill? Feeling the peace and well-being lifted inside. Married, Brad, and me stood in the pulpit. We love it. Let us love. Everyone that loves knows God. The words rested like a gentle hand upon my heart. I sat there listening to the elder and as I sat there, I began to learn about love. The love of a man for one woman. The love of parents for their children. The love of the things that came from God. Wooded hillsides and meadows, sun, sky, earth, water, fire, bread. I had come close to many truths of the elder finished sermon. Perfect love cast its outfield. We all rose together as the elder finished his sermon. May the Lord watch between me and thee while we are at the church. Holding the whole wide world close stood beside the window of our house, fighting back an unreasonable, ungovernable terror as I watched Bradley for the shore. It was an enemy world beyond the hill. A world of shadows where no sun rose in the sky, no hope in the heart. No shadows Gus Dennis waited for my husband. He did motionless while the hours crawled up into the heavens. At last I saw Min Stacey coming down the road. Hello, Molly. Oh, come in, men. I'm glad to see you. I saw Brad down the road apiece. The only fish he was able to get was Pollock. Oh, men, you were right. My uncle must have kept all the fishermen from selling him anything good. Menace knows people won't buy Pollock. Then Gus Dennis is wrong because folks were buying Pollock when I started down the road. They were buying it. Folks have a way of sticking by their own, Molly. These are Brad's people. And they're yours now, too. You're one of us. Oh, men. This is it. Whether you stay right where you are, I'll take care of Gus Dennis. Here's where you are, young grateful little whelp. Don't talk to me like that, Gus Dennis. I'm Brad Hardwell's wife. There's nothing you can do to me now. I'm not afraid of you any longer. Afraid of you any longer. It seems like your tongue's got power for limber, Miss. Well, we'll see how fancy you talk when your highfalutin' husband finds out he's not getting any fish from us but Pollock. If the people over on this side of the hill want anything else, they'd buy it from me. Then I don't reckon the folks on this side of the hill will be eating much fish. You hear that, Gus? They're over here. And there's no use if you're trying to work your way in. So I'd advise you to turn that horse around and get back where you belong. Okay, you said your piece. Now listen to me. I won't listen to you. You'll do as I say. Get away from her. No, this is between Gus and me. It won't do you any good to strike me, Gus. I told you I wasn't afraid. Before I get a gun and shoot you off. All right, I'm going. But you'll pay for this. No, no, I won't pay for anything. Any debts I owe you, Gus Dennis. I've long since paid. Now get off of this property. Great for young and give him feed and shelter. And this is Ollie. Molly, look. Gus is turning his wagon around. He's going back to his own side of the hill. You've won, Molly. You've won. Oh, Brad, you're back. Whose wagon is that, Molly? Gus Dennis' wagon. And he's going back to his own side of the hill. I'm going after that scurvy swine and give him the looking of his life. No, Brad, no. I've taken care of Gus Dennis. He won't be bothering us again. Molly, changes come over you. You're a different woman. Yes, Brad. I have changed. I'm not afraid anymore. I'm not afraid of anything. You've changed me, Brad. Well, how could I possibly have brought about this miracle? Don't you know what the elder told us, Brad? Perfect love casts a thought fear. That's the answer, darling. That's the whole answer. And the mighty truth about the world before the year was out. Well, Brad, we need every man we can get. There's a fire spreading up the glade on the other side of the hill. On the other side. Good evening, Brad. Good evening, Elder. Good evening, Elder. They're waiting in front for you. I'll sit with Molly while you're gone. Thank you, Elder. See you later, darling. How did it start? Well, the first we noticed was more... They're going to the other side of the hill. The other side, Elder. Well, of course. You let the hill become taller. We're all neighbors and we all must live together. We look at the same sky. We're warm by the same sun. We're nourished by the same rainfalls and chilled by the same snows. North of the hill, south of the hill, east of the hill, west of the hill are all one in the mind of God. And they must be one to us. We were all to live together. You're right. And my child, there's something else you must learn. You must learn to share your feelings. You must learn to put into words the thoughts that are inside of you. You must share of yourself with those who love you. I just want to sit here for a while, Brad, and think about what the Elder said. West of the hill, I'd found love. I'd found peace, and certainly, I'd found friends. And above all, I'd found faith, religion. And I'd learned the mighty truth that these things were not long, where I'd found them, but everywhere. I had found the world and all the beauty and hope and promise of the world. I had come west of the hill. I found the most delightful new hallmark cards for children today that I think I've ever seen. Rock-and-play cards, they're called because they rock back and forth all by themselves once you get them started. Can you imagine a greeting card that actually moves by itself? And there's a message in the back of each one in rollicking rhyme that children love to read over and over again. You'll find rock-and-play cards for every occasion and with all the characters that delight children. A cocoa-the-circus clown, fluffy kitten, Donald Duck, a white swan. But my favorite is a rocking horse that says happy birthday to a fine big boy. A laughing young cowboy in bright colors rides the horse, really rides. The little cowboy actually leans forward as the horse rocks back. Can't you picture the thrill of that little boy you love when he sees this rock-and-play card, how big his eyes will grow, and how busy he'll be rocking the horse and watching the cowboy ride. Tomorrow, see the new rock-and-play cards at the fine store where you buy your Hallmark cards. You'll be proud to send cards that give so much pleasure. And that Hallmark on the back will tell the child's whole family you cared enough to send the very best. Here again is James Hilton. Thank you, Elizabeth Taylor, for a very wonderful performance tonight. Your portrayal of Molly was just as I thought of her when I read the book. Thank you, Mr. Hilton. It's always a wonderful experience to play so human and sympathetic of partners with tonight's heroine. You know this is my second appearance on Hallmark Playhouse. I feel rather as if I were an old friend. I'm glad to hear you say that because, you know, we like to think that friendliness is a Hallmark Playhouse tradition. Well, it certainly is a tradition with Hallmark cards, Mr. Hilton. They really have a gift for making friends and helping to keep them, too. Well, we certainly agree with you, Elizabeth Taylor, and I hope you'll be listening to us next week when we shall present a delightful story set against the colorful background of the Florida Keys at the turn of the century. It's based on a novel by Theodore Pratt about mailmen, and for our star, we will have John Hodyak. Before I leave, may I remind you that care packages are a person-to-person expression of international goodwill. Millions of people still need your support. Please help them through care. Be your own ambassador of American goodwill by sending a care package now. Our Hallmark Playhouse is every Thursday. Our director-producer is Bill Gay. Our music is composed and conducted by Lynn Murray. Our script tonight was adapted by Jean Holloway, and the part of Brad was played by Lamont Johnson. Until next Thursday then, this is James Hilton saying good night. This is Frank Goss saying good night to you all until next week at the same time when James Hilton returns to present John Hodyak in Theodore Pratt's The Barefoot Mailman and the week following Sir Edward Cook's The Life of Florence Nightingale starring Irene Dunn. And the week after that, Octavius Roy Cohen's The Final Tribute on the Hallmark Playhouse. This is KMBC, Kansas City, Missouri.