 Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States and Mrs. Reagan. It was pleasant that I could imagine. I'd like to invite to this stage a longtime friend and America's first lady, Mrs. Nancy Reagan. Last year, you very kindly gave me an award, which I really didn't think I deserved because you gave it to me for something that I enjoyed doing for eight years. So this year, I'd like to give one to someone who really deserves it. You know, Grace Kelly in the movie The Country Girl said, there's nothing quite so mysterious and silent as a dark theater. And I would add, and nothing quite so sad, you'll notice that this theater is far from dark tonight. For more than 20 years, the light in this theater has been Frankie Hewitt. In the forest behind Ford's Theater for over two decades, even before the doors reopened to the public, Frankie was instrumental in convincing Congress to turn this historic site into a living tribute to Abraham Lincoln and his love of the performing arts. And ever since the theater's restoration, Frankie has been at the helm. Today, Ford's Theater is well known for the creativity and quality of its productions. Over the past eight years, my husband and I have spent many wonderful evenings in those two seats there in the front row, and we've enjoyed every performance. And so tonight, I'm very proud to present the Ford's Theater Lincoln Medal to one of this theater's own, to the person who makes the lights go on and the curtains go up, Frankie Hewitt. I'm used to being on the giving end. Mrs. Reagan, working at Ford's has given me an opportunity to become acquainted with some of the most fascinating people of our time. And it has given me a view of the open, you and President Reagan exemplify the very best qualities of the Ford's Theater family. You have been generous with your time and your hospitality. You have encouraged us when we were discouraged. But most importantly, you have been our most appreciative audience. And that, after all, is what theater is all about. So I thank you for this honor. And I thank all of you for making these 20 years so vibrant, so alive, and so gratifying for me. The regular attendance of these gallows by the President and Mrs. Reagan and for all of us who have appeared in these gallows and for all those theater doors, we thank you both and we invite you both up on the stage. Special thanks to Jimmy Stewart, who was so gracious in introducing my roommate. Nancy. There's no denying it. The Stewart's and the Reagan's go back a long way. In fact, when my old boss, Jack Warner, first heard that I was running for governor of California, he thought for a moment and then said, no, Jimmy Stewart for governor, Reagan for best friend. Even that was an improvement over what Jack Warner's brother, Harry, said way back in the very old days, somebody told him about that new technique that would make it possible to add soundtracks to motion pictures. Up until then, of course, there'd been nothing but silent movies. And Harry said, who that wants to hear actors talk? We're here tonight not to celebrate the movies, but the theater, Ford's theater. This has been quite an evening. And on behalf of everyone here tonight, I want to express my gratitude to all those who've made it possible. Thanks go to the general chairman, Betty Wright and Carol Laxall, to the chairman of this evening's gala, Mary Jane Wick, and to the executive producer of this evening's performance, Frankie Hewitt, to our hosts, Jane Seymour and Harry Hamlin, and yes, to this entire cast. It was 125 years ago this year that Ford's theater first opened, as we've been told, and Washington in those days was for the most part a village, modest frame houses, dirt roads, chickens, and livestock everywhere, that theatrical manager John T. Ford came here from Baltimore because he realized that Washington had a large, natural audience, the thousands of union troops quartered here with little to do. But Ford's theater did much more than give the troops a way to fight off their boredom. It brought pleasure and refreshment into the heart of a city struggling with the Civil War. Think how uplifting it must have been to the people who crowded this theater in those dark days to be able to laugh, to be able to participate in an evening that lifted them out of themselves. His biographers tell us that Mr. Lincoln loved the theater and nothing could have pleased him more than the performances that he saw here. Today, the village of Washington has become a great international city, even a center of culture in the arts. But the work of this splendid little theater remains unchanged, to refresh, to uplift, to give joy. And so in supporting Ford's theater, we're both helping to preserve a piece of our own history and to provide theater the highest standards for the audiences of today. May Ford's first 125 years be followed by 125 to come. I can't resist seeing all these splendid people up here entertaining us as they have tonight, giving away the only thing they have to sell. Some years back, some entertainer in show business did something that affronted the public morals and the press took off on that individual and then on all of show business and said that show people were just childish in their ways, in their thinking, the things that they did and complete children in their attitude. And it remained for a columnist named Irving S. Cobb to respond. And he said, if this be true, and if it be true when the final curtain falls, all must approach the gates bearing in their arms that which they have given in life. The people of show business will march in the procession, carrying in their arms the pure pearl of tears, the gold of laughter, and the diamonds of stardust they spread on what might otherwise have been a rather dreary world. And when it last all reached the final stage door, the keeper will say, open, let my children in. Thank you. God bless you. Remain in your seats until the president has left. Please remain in your seats.