 I'm now nine o'clock Remember a hallmark card when you carry enough to send the very best Good evening ladies and gentlemen. This is James Hilton tonight on our hallmark playhouse I shall share with you the pleasure of hearing again some of the wisest and wittiest words that have been spoken in our lifetime a Great American spoke to him. His name was will Rogers and here with us tonight is his son will Rogers Will your father's remarks are a part of American literature and I can't tell you how honored we all feel to have you here tonight Thank You mr. Hilton You know my father always said that he hoped no man would write his biography But in looking over his material we discovered he'd actually written his own and I'm glad you're going to tell it here tonight on The hallmark playhouse so we will and to help us tell it We're fortunate to have with us one of Hollywood's most distinguished actors and one who knew will Rogers very well indeed Edward Arnold and now a word about hallmark cards from Frank got before we begin the first act of the autobiography of will Rogers Hallmark is the name to remember when you want to remember your friends for birthdays weddings Anniversary's holidays 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 Now hallmark playhouse presenting the autobiography of will Rogers starring Edward Arnold Listen to the legend of a man who loved to laugh ancestors didn't exactly come over in the Mayflower, but They met the boat about to hear some words that America once loved They were spoken by a long lanky cowboy who ambled out of the West one day Not so good-looking as some better looking than others Pretty average looking on the whole He rode out of the West twirling a rope with a wad of gum and his jaw and a grin on his face He was laughing the first time anyone got a good look at him, and he was laughing the last time anyone saw him He laughed at everything and everybody and he taught America to laugh at herself The national budget is a mythical bean bag The Congress votes mythical beans into it and then tries to reach in and pull real bills out Democrat would rather make a speech than make a dollar Politics is the best show in America, but I always remember this that as bad as we sometimes think our government is run It's the best run I ever saw in the last frontiers. It was passing out of existence At his very doorstep a miracle was taking form and semblance Out of sweat and steel and horse flesh and men's dreams and men's angers a continent was being conquered and a nation built In no time at all as time has reckoned in the lives of nations He watched it grow and grew with it In his veins the blood of the white man mingled with the blood of the Cherokee in his heart The dreams and loves of the white man mingled with the dreams of the loves of the Cherokee His was an eager spirit mentally and physically on the move and yet his feet were always planted Firmry in the soil from which he came He was born on a ranch in the heart of Oklahoma's Indian territory. He had this to say about it There's nothing of which are more proud than my Cherokee blood Almost as soon as will could hold a rope. He was learning to do tricks with it During the hot lazy Oklahoma afternoons when he was supposed to be in the school room He was out in some shady spot lassoing every human and animal that was luckless enough to pass by In desperation his father finally decided to send him to military school in Missouri We'll arrive there in 1897 Dressed in a 10 gallon hat With the tops of his trousers tucked in his high heel red top boots his luggage Consisted mainly of carefully coiled ropes He was in trouble almost as soon as he got there Mr. Rogers Very much regret that I am forced to write you that you will have to make immediate plans to remove your son William Rogers To another school we have tried very hard to make a military man of it But we have been unable to convince him that the soldier carries a gun and not a larry yet Last night he lassoed our stature of Diana the goddess of the hunt off the top of the water fountain and demolished it completely The bill is in closed this morning. He lassoed his history instructor. The instructor was not seriously injured So we are not enclosing a bill However, please contact the school immediately with regard to what arrangement you wish to make Well, it wasn't long after this that will and school education gave each other up by mutual agreement Then will got some traveling in under his belt. He spent time in Argentina as a cowboy He joined the circus in South Africa and became known as the Cherokee kid He took in New Zealand in Australia and at a racing meet in Australia He tried out a trick that met with great favor while his horse was streaking across the field He leaned back over the horse's rump and picked up free handkerchiefs from the ground We'll never forgot the way the applause sounded that day in Australia Moments after he performed the stunt a man came up to him That's me I'm from the governor general party mr. Rogers the governor general admired that last trick you did He requested me to pay you his compliments and asked you if you would be kind enough to do the trick again You will favor the governor general of course Favoring for $150 one hundred and fifty dollars You want one hundred and fifty dollars Do you think the governor general of think a hundred and fifty dollars is too much? Yes I most certainly do think the governor general will think a hundred and fifty dollars is too much All right, you tell the governor general if he'll do it cheaper all on him my horse an anxious Answer taken will Rogers into the show business and when he arrived home from abroad He started touring America with the so-called Wild West shows on November 25th 1908 he married Betty Blake of Rogers, Arkansas. This is what will had to say about that Narrow turn that was the start performance of my life Will Rogers went to work before and sick feeding Every night he would come out twirling his rope when start coughing He would stand up there on that stage grinning across the footlights at America and America would sit in the Orchestra and the balcony and the boxes and grin right back at him. It was love at first sight He was as real as a mule wiggling its ears on a hot summer day Will was the first performer in theatrical history to base his humor on the fair the affairs of the day He always said he couldn't run out of jokes that all he had to do to get laughs was to watch Congress and report the facts I I read in the papers that we have two holidays of equal importance in the same week Halloween and the Congressional elections And of the two Election provides us the most fun On Halloween they put the pumpkins on their heads and on election. They don't have to it was also in 1915 that will played for president Wilson He was the least known member of the entire cast and his act consisted of kidding some of the president's policies There was no way of knowing how the president would react to that and will was frank to admit that he was scared to death to go on Yes Five minutes is that all yep you die in five more minutes for kidding your country How's the show going great so far the theater is full of plain clothesman though. You better watch what you say Wouldn't want any of them to take a shot at you. Well, they wouldn't shoot an actor on the stage Would that well you never can tell? No, I suppose not You know what I wish I wish I was back in Clamor, Oklahoma. Yeah Well, you may be we walked into the wings in this state of nerves He imagined that the other performers watched him pass with great pity He walked out on the stage like a man taking the last steps of the last mile I'm kind of nervous here tonight. I See where they've captured a potential via Mexico. Yeah, they they got him in the morning editions And the afternoon ones let him get away We chased him over the line five miles tape and had to come back There was a pause The man on the stage in the entire audience looked anxiously up at the presidential box and then from the box came a comforting wonderful reassuring sound The president of the United States was laughing and then the entire audience and the man on the stage burst into gales of But the man on the stage heard only the laughter of the man in the box and The laughter of that man in the box reached across the theater to the man on the stage Like a hand-clasp The same sly humor that had been his past key to the heart of America had been will Rogers past key to the heart of America's president In just a moment we'll return to the second act of the autobiography of will Rogers starring Edward Arnold Has this ever occurred to you about the greeting card you buy? They are more than material articles more than fine paper and expert craftsmanship color and design Even more important. They carry thoughts and feelings from one person to another You buy greeting cards only to send to others never for yourself That is why you want the finest and I think you'll find there's agreement about which cards are the finest if you Ask this question just ask any group of friends What name they think of in greeting cards when they want to send the very best See if they don't answer immediately as my friends did Hallmark cards That's because they have learned from experience that hallmark cards have a magic way of using words to reach the hearts of others Words carefully chosen to carry an extra measure of warmth and friendliness and sincerity They found there's always a hallmark card to say just what you want to say the way you want to say it and So it is easy to remember it would be difficult to forget to look for that hallmark on the back of every card You choose when you carry enough to send the very best Here again is James Hilton You know will some of those remarks of your father's are amazingly timely today Yes, I've often thought of that Jimmy. You know that back in 1933. He said you can't say civilization Don't advance for in every war they kill you in a new way He also said it's great to be friendly with a foreign nation, but it's terribly expensive My father liked to kid everyone everywhere Yes, and we shall hear more about that in the second act of the story of will Rogers starting Edward Arnold Listen to the legend of a man who loved to laugh It's spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save Yes, you are listening to words that America once loved They were spoken on the stage printed on the newspapers bird encoded on the radio As the years passed will Rogers became the number one entertainer newspaper columnist after dinner speaker and lecturer in the United States And what was even more important? He became also without a doubt first of all of these in the hearts of his countrymen He made his first movie laughing Bill Hyde in 1918 and in 1919. He received his first fan letter a Movie fan sent him 25 cents and stamps to pay for a photograph Will was astounded My dear sir, I thank you for the use of your money. I haven't got a picture of myself If I did have it wouldn't be worth two beds In fact, if I had one I'd give you two bits to keep it yours will Rogers 24 Publicanism Road High Saturday evening post print of the gospel General Pershing was retired on half Bay water Johnson zoomed his first ball over a lot of the newspapers were screaming heatedly He pulled with Coolidge stocks were rising like toy balloons Woodrow Wilson died he stood for and died for Will be strived after for years World has lost a friend Theater has lost its greatest supporter I have lost the most distinguished person who ever laughed at my little non-sensical jokes. I Looked forward to it every year Now I've only to look back on it as my greatest memory It's great to be great But it's greater to be human When down Newspapers went to press and on the first pages of many of the leading papers Appeared a box with Will Rogers comments on the day's headlines Time and tide brought their daily changes and his comments on those changes the market Some of the rich became poor and some of the poor became rich Presidents and congresses came and went and willed watch what was going on nudged America in the ribs and said Hey, did you ever stop to think about this? Got there 90% don't care, but he was pretty wise when he did See to it that they all do agree on one thing That is the better lives you live The better you pinch the nation never looked like it was facing a worse winner birds geese Democrats and all perishable animals are already huddling up in three or four states down south We're at peace with the world because the world is waiting to get another gun and get it loaded We're the speech that were what that Franklin Roosevelt made That just about threw him in the ring as the next Democratic candidate the Democratic Party And some of the finest men as candidates did we have in this country? It's a shame that they are to be eternally handicapped by being Right, but never press Congratulations on your election Don't worry too much a smile in the white house again will look like a meal to us Rogers loved the earth He loved to look across it on horseback with the wind in his face and the rhythm of his pony's feet in tune With the rhythm of his heart He loved the musical leathery size of a good saddle and the thin cry of a rope whistling through the air He loved campfires sitting around them and silent communication with good friends Watching the flames leap higher and higher into the dark and then finally burn themselves down to embers He loved the tall trees that look down on man and up to God He loved desert soil a naked river an untamed mountain as the Cherokee had loved them For they were his blood that bone and sinion and he loved the city The melodious jangle of horns and street cars and sirens the shining Accomplishment the bridge and building and skyscraper in theater decked in neon He loved the cities with the deep native pride of the white man Yes, will Rogers loved the earth and next to the earth He loved the sky Yes, will Rogers loved the sky His ancestors had set set out for frontiers on horseback and covered wagons But the only frontier left for him was the sky On march 10th of 1935 he wrote I've never been out of that Alaska While it post went up there this last summer and went hunting in the plain but I never did get further north than a block north of main street in Seattle That was it It was written there in the papers for everyone to see Will was beginning to hunger after horizons again Every time a plane went over he was out in his backyard staring at the sky Wonder where that plane's going Betty. Well, I think you'd better get on one will you are getting sort of nervous again I'd like to take a vacation in Alaska almost midnight Will Rogers Wiley post I took off on little sightseeing trip with Wiley post This Alaska's a beautiful country Focus seven Well, it was some trip a thousand mile half from seattle to june This new farm carly here in Alaska is having a little trouble It's a great deal easier a pioneering for gold than pioneering for spinach august nine Bad weather and so a man lived and laughed and had a bit of fun at everyone's expense And mostly it is on And suddenly and swiftly stopped laughing Shocking the air with sudden silence So it was that the last joke was told The last words found a way The chapter completed Some who had never known him But counted him their friend wept for him Other stood in quiet disbelief staring at the sky Will Rogers dead Why will couldn't die His words had come like a folk song fresh from the hearts of the people His longings were their own longings made articulate His people were the granite fibers out of which democracy had been built And when he spoke he had spoken for them Will Rogers dead in an airplane crash in Alaska? Oh nonsense he couldn't be Will Rogers is riding his pony out in the desert He come riding in one of these days still twinkling under that stetson Still laughing Who was he? What did he do? What did he say? What was he that people loved him so? I met a lot of people But I never met a man I didn't like That's it That's the whole thing That's will Rogers whole lifetime in one sentence He threw out those words like a lasso and he caught America by the heart He is legend. He is ageless He is immortal A legend never dies as long as the people will it to live on I met a lot of people But I never met a man I didn't like Colton has some news for us I have an announcement tonight that gives me a great deal of pleasure And I'm sure it will give equal pleasure to all friends of the hallmark playhouse My news is that arrangements have been completed in london with mr. Winston Churchill for the use of his paintings on hallmark cards We know mr. Churchill as a great statesman the wartime leader of britain a figure who will stand out in the history of the world More recently we have known mr. Churchill as perhaps the world's most famous amateur painter His paintings are the kind i'm sure you'll enjoy seeing on your hallmark cards Though an amateur painter several of his works submitted under an assumed name have been exhibited by the royal academy of london So it's a rare honor and a great privilege for the makers of hallmark cards To bring you the paintings of mr. Winston Churchill where they can be so widely seen and appreciated Mr. Hilton that's wonderful news speaking for myself. I'm very anxious to see mr. Churchill's paintings on hallmark cards It must make all of you with hallmark very proud Indeed it does edward anold and thank you for your splendid telling of the story of a truly great american Thank you too will rogers for joining us tonight It was a genuine pleasure for me mr. hilton And i'd like to thank mr. Ted decorcia for his excellent portrayal of my father and to you Mr. Edward arnold for telling the story so beautifully. Well, it was a privilege I assure you will you know, I knew your father and was one of his great admirers One of his wonderful gifts was his ability to make his fellow americans interested in the issues of the day As we said in our story tonight He watched what was going on and nudged american the ribs and while he was doing it He made us all want to be better citizens and today perhaps more than ever We should know and respect our american heritage because today more than ever Freedom is everybody's job Now tell me mr. Hilton. What have you selected for next week next week? We shall have a story by jack rubin bearing the intriguing title the indestructible julia A story of an attractive woman who combines the care of her young sisters and brother with the achievement of her heart's desire We're looking forward to having with us that fine academy award-winning actress katina paxano Our hallmark playhouses every thursday our director producer is bill gay Our music is composed and conducted by lin marie and our script tonight was adapted by gene holloway until next thursday Then this is james hilton saying good night Only in stores that have been carefully selected to give you expert and friendly service Remember hallmark cards when you carry enough to send the very best Edward arnold may currently be seen in the paramount picture dear wife with william holden and jone colfield This is frank goss saying good night to you all until next week at the same time when james hilton returns to present patina paxano in the indestructible julia and the week following alphanillan clabs home to the hermitage Starring burgess meredith and the week after that richard todd in charles o'neill's Three wishes of jemmie mcruin on the hallmark playhouse This is k and dc kansas city missouri state young proj