 Remember a hallmark card when you carry enough to send the very best. Here's the Orpheus Bonnet, starring Anne Blythe, chosen by one of the world's best known authors. They distinguish novelists. James Hilton, tonight on our hallmark playhouse we find ourselves on the threshold of Easter, one of the great seasons of the year, symbolical of springtime, of hope, and of rebirth. In these days especially, it's good to remember that tradition of ours which gives us each year a message of encouragement and inspiration. And tonight we tell a story called the Arbutus Bonnet by Margaret E. Sangster, an Easter story with an Easter message. And we're especially privileged to welcome one of Hollywood's most charming and youthful stars, an actress whose own winsomeness is in tune with the season of the year, Miss Anne Blythe. And now a word about hallmark cards from Frank Goss before we begin the first act of the Arbutus Bonnet. At Easter, as on every important event in the lives of your friends and loved ones, there is a hallmark card to say just what you want to say, the way you want to say it. And the hallmark on the back will carry an extra meaning for Easter Day, for it says you cared enough to send the very best. Now hallmark playhouse presenting Margaret E. Sangster's The Arbutus Bonnet, starring Miss Anne Blythe. It's in 1903. I can see that the story of my Arbutus Bonnet is the story of the springtime that every girl waits for. The spring that comes riding over the hilltops with banners flying. The spring that somehow heralds the coming of Prince Charming. I've been by that window daydreaming for almost two hours. Eleanor. Sorry, Father, what did you say? I said, never mind. It wasn't of any particular importance. As a matter of fact, all day I've been thinking of the day I met your mother. Oh, was it spring? Yes, it was spring. Although it was snowing and the paper said it was the coldest day of the winter. But when I looked into her eyes, it was spring. Oh, everyone's love story should be just like yours and mother's. Almost everyone's is, Eleanor. You know, I think I have a very romantic little girl. Oh, it's four o'clock. I have to deliver a basket of eggs. Did I tell you I had a new customer? No. A woman stopped by this morning and said she was the housekeeper in the Grant House up on the hill. She gave me a weekly order for eggs. The Grant House? Why, the Grants haven't been in the village for at least ten years. Mr. Grant is a big financier. Well, I'd better get up there or I'll never get back by dinnertime. You know, my dear, you're more like your mother every day. I wish she could see you. Don't you think she does, Father? Right with youth and color. And all of life was just around the corner. I ran as hard as I could to the most exciting moment of my life. Spring beat loudly in my enchanted threshold. The days that followed were like music, heard but once. But remember, it's her. That's the church where my father preaches. Over there's the drug store and, oh, the dry-good store. Oh, and that's the post office. I've never been in a really small town before. I've never been in a city. Someday I'll show you the city. Turnabout is only fair play, you know. It's funny. When my father told me they were going to have me come down here to recoup from that bout with pneumonia, I had a fit. I wonder how wonderful the town could be. Come on. I want to show you the high town. Who fried the chicken? I did. I'm glad you thought of coming up here on top of the hill for the picnic. It's a wonderful spot. Oh, yes. I've always loved it. What are those flowers over there? Our beauties. My mother wore them in her hair when she was married. I always thought I'd have a cap made of them when I got married. And our beauties bonnet. Of course, bonnets aren't very fashionable right now, but maybe by the time I get married they will be, and then... When I get married, I... I hope I get to marry a girl wearing an our beauties bonnet. Oh, I hope you do. The end of summer, doesn't it seem like yesterday to you that you knocked at the front door? It was spring. Now it's autumn. We'd better start walking toward the deports. Almost nine. Don't want to miss your train. Well, will you write to me at college? Of course I will. Eleanor, I... I hope you'll come back. Eleanor, did... Bob wrote that he was going abroad with his family for the summer. I put my hair up that summer and taught a Sunday school class. Father was right. A great deal happened. Not tonight. I'm preparing the Sunday school lesson for my class. Eleanor, I've spoken to your father and... Well, I don't intend to be put off any longer. I've prepared a speech and I'd very much appreciate it if you'd hear me out. My farm's doing well. I could make you a good living, Eleanor. And I've always... James, I'm not in love with you. You're surely not still thinking about that grandfather. He's been gone... How long? Almost three years. Well... His parents took him to Europe. He's studying there. You don't think he'll come back to a town like this? Whether or not Bob Grant returns is not the issue. The issue is whether I'm in love with you. And I'm sorry, James, but I'm not. You indignant young men, may they? I don't know why it is that suddenly everyone wants to get married. Eleanor, I don't want you to be so under the spell of something that happened in the past. Suppose he never comes back. He said he'd come back. And there you have amazing faith. I'm your daughter. Down to the library. Oh, I'll see if your books came on the evening train. I mean, why didn't you tell me you were back from your... Came right down here. Oh, I've got a lot to tell you. Oh, I can't believe you're really here. Eleanor, do you know what I'm going to do? No. No, I've... I'm going to Panama to help build the Panama Canal. My father is pretty close to Teddy Roosevelt. He fixed it for me. I leave next week. Wonderful, Bob. I'm sure I wish you every success. I don't know how long we're going to be there, but that can't be too long. And when I come back, I ought to have made some sort of name for myself as an engineer. Of course you will. And I'll wait forever. It's necessary to wait that long. Eleanor, I'm recognizing you at once. It's pretty dark out here, and my glasses seem to be getting older. Reverend, I want to ask you for your daughter's hand in marriage. Well, don't pretend you ought to come inside and put down those bags and then ask me. I'd like to tell you my plans right away, Reverend. You see, I have to leave on the train tomorrow night. Tomorrow? Well, come in and tell me all... There were so many things I wanted to tell you that I was in love with you before I ever met you. And how I've been in love with you ever since. I wanted to tell you that if you hadn't come back, there wouldn't have been anyone. Here is my promise to love you and to cherish you. I had his ring on my finger, and his name we would have together. Master of our native tongue, Kim, who said, Give me the right word and I will move the world. Or it can move the world. Can double our joys, cement our friendship, solidify our love. And no one appreciates the importance of the right word so well as the makers of hallmark cards. With rare discernment, they know there is no magic like the magic of words to reach the hearts of others. So you'll always find a hallmark card that truly expresses your own feelings whatever the occasion. And every hallmark card will speak also of your own good taste by its perfection in every detail of color and design. That's why if you ask any group of friends what name they think of in greeting cards when they want to send the very best, they quickly answer hallmark cards. Easter is one of the important occasions when we want to remember friends and loved ones. And for every friend, all those you care for, you will find hallmark Easter cards that say what you want to say, the way you want to say it. Cards with flowers bright as spring. Cards that express the deep spirit who will joy a beaster. Clever cards to enchant the children and cards for them to send. All have the hallmark on the back that says you cared enough to send the very best. And now back to James Hilton and the second act of the Arbutus Bonnet, starring Anne Blythe. The manner prescribed for young ladies in those early days of the 20th century. She would remember those days of waiting as long as she lived. I kept house for my father. Taught my Sunday school classes. Acted as a bridesmaid now and then. And read Bob's letters over. The jungle is on all sides of us now. But I turn my eyes from the jungle to the walls of our cottage. And there I see the sketches of what is to come. A great highway of water cutting through the jungle to survey excavation conditions. I will never be able to tell you how I miss you. I was just going down to see if the mail had come in. Sit down, Eleanor. Eleanor, I've had it through. What are you trying to tell me? He went in and out searching parties. They weren't even able to find a trace of them. Well, my child... He's all right, Father. If something had happened to him, I'd know it. I'd know it, I'd tell you, I'd know it. He's brought on by small wounds, an empty letterbox, an empty depot, an empty road. Hope... One shed tears as time passes and the endless empty days stretch on ahead endlessly. But at last it dies and all hope ends. You must get some sleep. I can't sleep. What's happened to you? What's wrong? He isn't coming back. You know that, don't you? You've always known that he's never coming back. We try to teach our children faith so that they will have a staff upon which to lean when sorrow and travail comes. We aren't put on this earth solely for our own happiness. We're put here to serve God's purpose and it's not for us to question them. I'm sorry, Father. But those are only words to me now. And words won't fill a heart or fill a life or give it meaning. He's dead and there's nothing left in the world. There's nothing. I'm sure if you would... No, Father, I have a great deal to do. I thought I might straighten things up in the attic. They're in an awful mess up there. On Easter Sunday. Why not? It's just like any other day when you come right down to it. Very well. This letter doing in with these old blouses. Reverend John Cartley Chaplain. It looks like Mother's handwriting. My dearest John. It is Mother's handwriting. My dearest John. The hour is late and I am alone. But I feel almost as though a miracle happened to me today and I wanted to write you. These are troubled times. You are far from me a chaplain on the battlefield in another part of the world. Often of late, I have wakened in the night cold with terror. Thinking I heard the sound of battle. Wondering if I heard them because they were close to you. And then fear would pull me down. Down into such an abyss of loneliness and despair that I began to think that something had happened and you were lost to me. But today we were getting ready for the Easter services at the church and I was looking for the proper lesson for my Sunday school class when I found some ancient and beloved words that healed my spirit and brought me peace. These words which you know so well. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Sometimes, my darling, in these black and troubled hours, we need to hear those words again to reassure and sustain ourselves. I feel as though my own spirit has been resurrected because for a while faith deserted me and I walked as one dead among the living. I called on Dr. Alexander on my way home and he told me I was going to have a child. And then I knew more clearly than ever how hope follows hopelessness and resurrection follows despair. You must destroy this letter after you have read it for it would never do for anyone to think of a minister's wife losing her faith, even momentarily. I do not know what God has planned for us but I am content now to leave it in his hands and know that whatever comes from the hand of God must be good. Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall... From the house grabbing a hat as I left, I ran as fast as I could to the top of the hill and I gathered the obvius to make an obvius bonnet. I pinned them to the hat as I ran back down the hill toward the church bells, toward my father, toward my faith in life and love. And God, my father was just finishing his sermon as I entered the church. Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believers thou this... I was looking for a drill in an art-beauty's bonnet. Bob. Somehow I was sure this was where I would find her on Easter Sunday. Oh, Bob. I just got off the train here. I came straight to the church. Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Darling, I waited so long without word from you. We came down with yellow fever. Some natives found us and took us to their village. I was completely out of commission for months. I was afraid you were never coming back. I told you I'd be back. Eleanor, what brought you to the church? Did you know Bob would be here? No. No, I found a letter that Mother had written you. A letter? Your Mother had written me? Yes. It was a letter she wrote you while you were away. She told you she had almost lost faith. That was the letter she wrote telling me that you were coming. Yes. She asked me to destroy the letter. Yes, I saw that. Eleanor, I did destroy that letter. Destroy it. Just as she asked me to. I never brought it back from the battle field. You destroyed it. She wrote whosoever liveth and believeth in me. Shall never die. Once more it was the spring that somehow heralds the coming of Prince Charming. And the story of my obvius bonnet ended as we had dreamed it would. In the old village church with my father saying the beloved ancient words. And there is nothing more to tell for. Just as we dreamed we would. We lived happily ever after. Next Sunday is Easter. I hope you've already made your selections of Hallmark Easter cards. But if not, there is still time to find a card that will be just right for everyone you want to remember. There are cards for those dear to you that convey thoughts often felt but too seldom expressed. There are cards that will bring a warm glow to all your friends near or far. I recall that one of the most pleasant experiences we had last year was receiving an Easter card from a couple we hadn't seen in years and whose address we had lost. The card brought back many fond memories. It made me appreciate more than ever what a perfect occasion Easter is for remembering others. So if you haven't already shopped for your Easter cards, I hope you'll make a list now and select them tomorrow at the fine store where you buy your Hallmark cards. And as always, you'll want to look for the Hallmark on the back of each card to say you cared enough to send the very best. Here again is James Hilton. We're here for a very moving performance. We were delighted to have you with us again on the Hallmark Playhouse. And I was delighted to be here, Mr. Hilton. But it's always a pleasure to appear on Hallmark Playhouse. Your stories are always about such wonderful people. You sound like one of our admirers. I certainly am. And I'm enthusiastic about Hallmark cards too. And you know, I've already thought of several more people I want to buy Hallmark Easter cards for tomorrow. And now, Mr. Hilton, I understand that next week you will have one of your own stories on the Hallmark Playhouse. Yes, it's called a passionata. And I must admit I'm a little bit partial to it because it's based on a theme of music. But it's also a romantic story. Who really? Who then is your star? Charles Boyer. And we're very happy indeed about it. Oh, I certainly won't miss it. Good. Our Hallmark Playhouse is every Thursday. Our director producer is Bill Gay. Our music is composed and conducted by Lynn Murray, and our script tonight was adapted by Jean Holloway. Until next Thursday then, this is James Hilton saying, goodnight. We've been selected to give you expert and friendly service. Remember Hallmark cards when you carry enough to send the very best. Anne Blythe appeared through the courtesy of Universal International Pictures, who will soon release Ma and Paul Kettle Go to Town, starring Marjorie Mayne and Percy Kilbride. This is Frank Goss saying goodnight to you all until next week, at the same time when Hallmark Playhouse returns to present James Hilton's a passionata, starring Charles Boyer. And the week following, Rosalind Russell and my sister Eileen. And the week after that, Alice McKay as they came to a river on the Hallmark Playhouse. This is CES, the Gloomy Broadcasting.