 Remember a hallmark card when you carry enough to send the very best. Chosen by one of the world's best known authors, they distinguish novelists, Mr. James Hilton. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is James Hilton. Tonight on our hallmark playhouse, we dramatize the early life of one of America's greatest presidents and one of the great men of all time, Abraham Lincoln. And to help us, we have used Irving Batchelor's fine book, A Man for the Ages. The lives of very great men become legends long before the historian can tell them, and so it was with Lincoln. The people he had met and known remembered so many things he said, even in his youth. Almost as if they sensed the destiny that lay ahead. Some of these stories we tell tonight. Stories that add up to the total picture of a man who was, if ever the term, deserved to be used at truly human being. To play the exacting role of Abraham Lincoln, we have chosen that fine actor, Joseph Cotton. And now a word about hallmark cards from Frank Goss. Before we begin the first act of Irving Batchelor's A Man for the Ages. For every occasion important to your friends and loved ones, there are hallmark cards to carry your thoughts across the miles, across the years, often merely across the way. That's important in these fast-moving days when families and friends are separated on short notice. When a word of thoughtfulness can mean so much. On special days and every day, a hallmark card says what you want to say, the way you want to say it. And identifying hallmark on the back as always says you cared enough to send the very best. Now hallmark playhouse presenting Irving Batchelor's A Man for the Ages, starring Joseph Cotton. Lincoln's birthday so close, we would like to remember him in his early years when he was a country storekeeper, a small town postmaster, a youth in love. We shall put that story together from the lips of his friends, the people who knew him and lived with him and loved him. We shall hark back more than a century ago and try to catch their voices. The name is Josiah Taylor. We come with a new sailor miller knowing a wagon. And it was Abe who helped us build a cabin. It was Abe who taught me he can talk loud and whisper. Oh, he was an understanding man. What are you looking so unhappy about, Joe? It's McGurl, Abe. She's run off and married another fellow. And it feels as if the world's coming to an end. Come here, Joe. I want to tell you about something that happened to me once on the Illinois River. Our boat got caught in the rapids and the captain had to keep her headed just so we'd have gone on the rocks. Suddenly a little boy dropped his apple overboard and began to holler. He wanted to have the boat stop. For a minute, that boy thought his apple was the biggest thing in the world. What's that got to do with me, Abe? We're all a good deal like that boy. We keep dropping our apples and calling for the boat to stop. Soon we find out that there are many apples in the world as good as that one. The important thing is to keep going ahead. But why? What's the point of it? Got a feeling, Joe, that the world has something big in it for every one of us if we can only find it. I pray God every day that He will help me to find my work, the thing I can do better than anything else. I expect it'll be a hard and dangerous search and more than likely I'll drop some apples along the way, but I'm not going to lose sight of the main purpose. Thanks, Abe. I feel better now. I feel a whole lot better. He was like my son and he was like my father. For homeliness, I'd match him against the world. I never saw anybody so long between joints. Don't hardly see how he could tell when his feet got cold. Our name is Rutledge. We run the cabin in New Salem. And Abe used to come call on our daughter. Is Mrs. Anne at home, Mrs. Rutledge? I'm afraid not, Abe. She's out walking with Mr. McNeil. Oh, Abe, I want you to know that I'm on your side. I've told Anne I wish I had you for a son-in-law. That's very generous of you, ma'am, but you've got to be careful. A son-in-law is a curious kind of property. You know, if you have a horse that's tricky and dangerous and worth less than nothing, you can give him away or kill him. But if you have a son-in-law that's worthless, nobody else will have him and it's against the Lord to kill him. Well, your mind is well known right off. Anne's decided to marry John McNeil. Oh, now I've hurt you about telling you. No, no, ma'am. I guess I just dropped a map over in the floodwaters. How's that, Abe? Now I'm yelling for the boat to stop. In New Salem, I think he had the most difficult job any postmaster ever had. You see, John McNeil went east promising to come back and Mary Anne had to come to Miss Rutledge with empty hands. Abe, Abe, is there anything for me today? I'm afraid not, Anne. There'll be one next mail if I have to write it myself. You're much too beautiful to dim up your eyes that way. I'm sorry, Anne, that I have to help out making you so miserable. Seems like I'm the head of the hammer that keeps hitting you so hard, but the handle is in the other hand. You haven't had any word from him at all? No, not for months and months. Oh, Abe, I've got to tell you something. Before he left, he told me his name wasn't really McNeil, but McNamar. And when I told my pa and ma, they said nobody but a criminal would live with a false name. They say he probably has a wife in the east. We mustn't condemn him without a knowledge of all the facts. I don't think you'll come back, Abe, but I'm not going to cry anymore. I don't think I have any tears left. I'm going to give him up. Oh, Anne, maybe the times come for me to say a sort of speech. One I would have said to you a long time ago, but I couldn't make myself believe I was good enough for you. I love you so much that if you can only be happy with John McNamar, I'll pray to God that he may turn out to be a good and faithful man and come back and keep his promise. Oh, Abe, I made up my mind that all men were bad, but my father, I was wrong. I'd forgotten about you. Men are mostly good, but it's very easy to misunderstand them. And if you'd give me a chance, I'd do my best to bring back the joy of the old days. Sometimes I think I can see my way far ahead, and those years look good. Because you, Anne, are always walking beside me. You can hear the air shake with the whir of their wings. Going south is a sign of bad weather. Best go inside. Wind's coming up. Yes, Anne. Anne, did you hear any of the things I said? Do you think you can put up with me? If you want me to, I'll marry you, Abe. I can't say that I truly love you, but I want to love you. I wish I could tell you how I feel. Maybe I can show you someday, but I'll never be able to tell you. Words are good enough for politics and even for religion, but not for the feeling I have about you. Only in my life will I try to express it. My name's Kelso. I saw Abe every day, with Shakespeare or Luke or Blackstone. I remember going into the store and I'd say to him, Abe, when you don't have a customer, why don't you take a little time off? Well, I'll tell you, Kelso, it's just too blame, much work doing nothing. What do you have? Sack of sugar and a two-cent stamp. What's this you're reading? Kirkham, rhetoric, grammar. Got to learn to talk and write simple until the point. I've got a feeling that it's like playing. You have anything to say or write, head straight across the field and keep your eye on the pharaoh. Then comes the sewing. It's a handsome sight watching the saw stride across the field in his blue jeans. Put him in an alpaca coat and a frill shirt front and you couldn't think of anything more ridiculous. Well, I guess it's the same way with talk and writing. You put on frills and you just sound plain silly. You know, years later, I stood on a patch of earth in Gettysburg and I listened to Abe Lincoln make a speech. As the words came out, I knew my old friend was going straight across the field with his eyes on the pharaoh. I could see the bucket hanging on his elbow and the good seed flying far and wide. He was strong. When I first met him, I put out my hand and I said, I'm Samson Trailer, heading west. I'm pleased to know you. And when his big hand got older mine, I kind of felt his temper. I said to myself, here's a man that it'd be hard to tip over in a rattle. He was the strongest man I ever knew and the most gentle. We got mighty friendly, especially when we fought together in the war against the Black Hawk Indians. I often think of going back home with Abe, back to New Salem. Abe going back to Ann Rutledge the way he talked to me. Watching the stars always makes me think, Sam. What about Abe? About home. It ever occurred to you, Sam, that every living creature has its home. Most of them turn toward it when the day wanes. Call of home is the one voice heard and respected all the way down the line of life. I never lie down in the darkness without thinking of home. Where is home to you, Abe? Kentucky where he was born, New Salem? Where Ann is. That's home. I reckon there must be another home somewhere to go after we've broke the last camp here. The kind of birds compass to help us find it. Maybe it's up there among the stars. I call you a great man. Oh, Sam. You call a tail a leg. How many legs has a dog, five? No. No, I'll call Abe. Abe, you could be anything president of the United States. I met a little boy once he said he wanted to be president and I told him that was fine. Now all he needed was a consent of the United States. Sam, what if I tried for something like... well, like standing down for the state legislature? I think it would be fine. Ann would like it. Make Ann proud of me. Do it, Mr. Lincoln. What do you call me that for? Since when am I mister to you, Sam? What did I ever do to deserve such a lack of respect? I don't know, Abe. Suddenly I had a feeling like I should call you, Mr. Lincoln. If I'm elected, I want you fellas to promise not to throw me over with a mister. I'm on the same level that you are and I intend to stay there. The wise man keeps his feet on the ground and lifts his mind as high as possible and there high he lifts it. The more respect you'll have for the common folk. I reckon your common always will be. You know something, Sam. I think God must love the common people. He made so many of them. Just a moment, we'll return to the second act of a man for the ages, starring Joseph Cotton. February is sometimes called the month of hearts and birthdays. Even though the heart is traditionally the sign of Valentine's Day, it could well be used in symbolizing any of the great men born in this month. Lincoln, Washington, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Frederick Chopin, Thomas Edison, and many others. For when you think about it, there was one quality they all had in common. That was an underlying love of their fellow men and the ability to express it in great and good deeds. While special abilities are gifts to only a few of us, we all have an inherent capacity for kindness and love. And this quality can be nourished and increased with marked benefits to the whole world. The makers of hallmark cards are proud that their product can only be used in nourishing and increasing this quality. And that, in their way, the greeting cards you send are really an expression of man's kindness to man. Now back to James Hilton and the second act of a man for the ages, starring Joseph Cotton. We're about Abe Lincoln's young years in New Salem, Illinois, from the lips of the people who lived and worked with him. The whole spirit of America seemed to be in this young storekeeper and reader of books. And these were the years when that life was flowing toward manhood. Listen to their voices, the people whose hearts he touched, who shook his hand, who felt the warmth of his wisdom. I knew Abe. My name is Eli Friedenberg. In the old days, I carried a pack on my back, selling my goods from house to house, from farm to farm. But when I met Abe walking along the road, my pack felt lighter on my back, just from talking to him. I guess Abe did that all his life with anyone who carried a burden on his back. And when finally I opened my own store, he was one of my first customers. And it was his first store's food. Well, that feels fine, Eli. For a man who's going to represent the people at the legislature, it has to be the best, the very best. And I'm afraid the trousers are well just a little short. And it's fair to blame the trousers, Eli. My legs are so blame-long that next time I'll have them made to measure with a 10-foot pole instead of a yard stand. It's not what I would call an elegant suit. The fact is, Eli elegance and I wouldn't get along well together. Abe, go. Go, Abe. Stand up in the assembly hall and say beautiful words. Like a prophet from the Bible. It's a powerful lot of work to do, Eli. I hear they want to put through a bill to endorse slavery. That would be like putting a stamp of approval on Nero or Judas or Caligula. It's like I said, from the Bible. Forty years they wandered in the desert to the Promised Land, away from the land of bondage. It's not right, is it, Abe? But some men should be masters and some should be slaves. I often think, Eli, that if God intended some men to do all the work in no easy, He would have made some men with all hands and no mouth. Him on the day of his deepest sorrow. I'm Dr. Allen. It was I who called him home. Home to New Salem. Home where Anne was, Dr. Allen. Must give me some hope. I'm sorry, Abe. It's some kind of fever in the brain, and we don't know enough to do anything about it. Can I see her? I think seeing you will be better than any medicine I can give her. Go in, Abe. Is that you, Abe? Yes, there. Oh, I'm glad, because I want you to make me a promise. I don't want you to grieve for me, Abe. I want you to go on and do great, beautiful kind things. Don't talk that way, Anne. You're going to get well. I'll never do anything, not anything, if you're not with me. I'm going to be with you, Abe. Always and always. Abe, I'm so warm, so very warm. Think of coolness, Anne. Remember our walks down by the Sangramon, the breeze coming off the river and the sparrows dipping their wings. I remember you taught me grammar there on the river bank. That ragged old book, almost ready to give up. There's one thing I don't understand. How can one adverb modify? And you gave me a lovely example. One adverb modifies another as in, I love you very dearly. So, Anne, you mustn't leave me. I'm no good at all without you. You're going to go on reading your books, making your wonderful soft jokes, and doing the work that God intended you to do. And if he's willing, I'll be there walking beside you. Oh, listen, Abe, the birds. I hear the rush of their wings. It's such a lovely sound. You told me once it meant bad weather, but... Anne, you mustn't talk anymore. Abraham Lincoln? And he belonged... To Lillum was surely troubled. He wandered out in the woods and up in the prairies along. Many of us were feared he'd lose his reason. But at last, he came back. And all of us were there to meet him. I'm finally concerned, Sam, but you shouldn't have worried about me. Where have you been, Anne? Maybe I'm like a deer that's been hurt. I wanted to be alone and look at the stars. I had a lot of thinking to do, a job of work that every man must do for himself. I got the brush cleared away at last so I can see through. We're glad you've come home. Thank you, ma'am. I'm not sure exactly where home is now, but I'll find it one day. Right now I'm... Where are you going? Go back to the legislature. Anything important happening there, Abe? Far as I know Kelso, only piddling little bills up to now. As you know, I'm not much of a hand at hunting squirrels, but wait till I see a bear. But when the session's over, Abe, you aren't coming back to New Salem. Oh, Sam, I'm forgetting to move on. Maybe to Springfield, maybe further. Springfield's growing up, they tell me. Maybe I'll study the law and see if I can't wrestle with a few injustices. We'll miss you, Abraham Lincoln. I'll miss you, all of you. But I made a kind of promise to move ahead and do the work I was able to do. I figured democracy has much ground to win. For my part, I believe that the Declaration of Independence is a practical document. My ambition is to see its truth accepted everywhere. Its principles are second only to the law of Moses. Well, well, I better stop. Speechmaking's a bad habit to get into. They say Chicago up by the lake is, pardon that, going to be a big city. Going to be a big country. There's no time for anybody to sit on his hands and feel sorry for himself. We've got to keep going ahead. That's important. Goodbye, my friends. Goodbye, Mr. Lincoln. God love you. Thank you, ma'am. God love you all. There are good many miles ahead and sometimes you can't always see what lies just beyond the turn of the road. God's help in your prayers. Perhaps we'll find the way together. Joseph Cotton and James Hilton will return in a moment. They're telling the story of the young man who came up to a salesperson and said, haven't you any other valentines? I don't want to propose. I just want to say hello. I don't know where the young man looked, but just today in a store that features hallmark cards, I remarked on the variety of hallmark valentines displayed. Of course, there are some for sweethearts, as delicate and lovely as an old-fashioned waltz. But there are lots of others, too. Valentines for friends near and far, just to let them know you're thinking of them. Valentines for all the family. Like an extra hug for a mother or a compliment for dad, they bring a special glow to the heart and tell the folks you're proud of them. Then there are those wonderfully gay hallmark valentines for children. There's a big selection to send to children, and the hallmark make your own valentine kits for children to make and send to their friends. You might say there's a hallmark valentine for every person who answers this description. Those who are in love with life and those who are young in heart. And of course, sending a valentine with that familiar hallmark on the back not only shows your good taste, but tells the receiver that with valentines and other cards, you'll carry enough to send the very best. Here again is James Hilton. That was an excellent performance, Joseph Cotton. You were an inspiring Lincoln. I feel I should thank the makers of hallmark cards. Jimmy, I've always wanted to play Lincoln. Trying to interpret his great spirit is certainly a challenge to any actor. And I'd say you met the challenge admirably, Joe. While I'm here, I'd like to thank you. Thank you, folks, for reminding us all of the importance of writing to the boys in service. That's a challenge we can all meet. Now, what have you planned for the hallmark playhouse next week, Jimmy? Next week we shall present a modern version of one of the most delightful stories ever told, Cinderella. And as our guest, one of Hollywood's best-loved actresses, Judy Gallow. That sounds like a most happy combination. Judy's a fine performer, not only as a singer, but as an actress. And she'll be doing both for you on the hallmark playhouse next week, Joe. And then it will be Jimmy. Good night. Good night, Joseph Cotton, and thanks again. Our hallmark playhouse is every Thursday. Our director-producer is Bill Gay. Our music is composed and conducted by Lynn Murray. And our story tonight was dramatized by Lawrence and Lee. 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. Joseph Cotton can currently be seen in the Hal Wallace production for Paramount. September Affair. The part of Anne Rutledge tonight was played by Barbara Eiler. Ted DeCorsi was Samson Trailer. And Jane Avello, Eli. This is Frank Ross saying good night to you all until next week at the same time when hallmark playhouse returns to present Judy Garland in Cinderella. And the week following, on Washington's birthday, Maxwell Anderson's Valley Ports. And the week after that, Washington's Mature Bowl Care. Starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. On the Hallmark Playhouse. KMV3, Kansas City, Missouri.