 The Cavalcade of America sponsored by DuPont, maker of Better Things for Better Living through Chemistry, presents three of America's favorite actors. Preston Foster, Gene Lockhart, and Otto Kruger in The Doctor Shoots a Canon. The first here is Gain Whitman. Many of DuPont's Better Things for Better Living are required 100% in the war effort. However, some products are still available for use on the home front. One of these DuPont Better Things is speedy, easy wall finish that is saving homeowners time and money. Speedy easy saves time because it covers wallpaper quickly and easily in one coat and dries in an hour. It saves money. The average room costs less than three dollars. When you're painting a room this year, try DuPont speedy easy. And so with Preston Foster in the role of storyteller, Gene Lockhart is Dr. Andrew C. Ivy and Otto Kruger is Dr. Gordon Fawley. DuPont brings you The Doctor Shoots a Canon by Paul Peters and Robert Tallman on The Cavalcade of America. This is Preston Foster. Tonight I'm going to tell you a story. It's a true story and it's called The Doctor Shoots a Canon. It's not about any doctor in particular. Or rather, there are two doctors who actually do shoot a small cannon farther along in the story. But there's more to it than that. A lot of us think of doctors only as men who treat people who are already sick. But doctors are also fighters. Men who fight sickness itself. The fighters in our story wear the uniform of the United States Navy. They fight in the gleaming insulated laboratories of the Naval Medical Research Institute in a quiet sort of place called Bethesda, Maryland. But it's no snug harbor. This theater of operations is as big as the world. And the battle they fight without rest and without ceasing is perhaps the most important battle of all. Time the present. The border U.S. destroyer off the coast of Norway on a battle-rack route to Murmansk. All right, Nick, hold up that can of gook. Yeah, I don't like that stuff. Well, just rub it on. Just rub it on. Don't take it. That's a heck of a note when you have to go with the battles smeared up like a clown. That flash burn ain't nothing a monkey would. I saw a chaplain get it one standing down, but I don't want to pass it to him. No way. Man, that was a close one. Who said them Nazis can't shoot? Yeah. Look out. No, I don't think so. But, man, did you feel that blast go by like lightning? What's so funny? You ought to see your face. I got a pocket mirror here. What's the matter? Here, have a look. Brother, you've got two of the prettiest roses in those cheeks of yours I ever seen. Don't see what's so funny about that flash burn. Could have been very serious. I thought you didn't like to put that stuff on your face. Say that's some stuff, though it didn't hit me anywhere, but those two little spots are missed. I wonder who invented it. Battle jackets and anti-flash burn cream. A routine order. The men joke about it a little, but they know. It doesn't look like much of anything. You smear it on your face and hands, let it dry, and wash it off when the shooting's over. But the men in the Navy know. Maybe they don't know what it's made of or who invented it, but they know that it works. And there was a time, listen. I was in the bunk room shaving when the bomb hit us, sir. Jenkins was poached on the bunk right behind me, and he didn't feel anything. But me, say it was like somebody snapped a whip over my hands and face. It went up my legs and arms like scalding water, sir. Only dried. Hot and dry. When I heard the alarm bill go, I grabbed for my life jacket and started down the passageway. I didn't hear the explosion. It was like something came rushing at me. Choked off my breath. No, I wasn't hot in there. I didn't see any flash. It just hit me. I didn't think it could be a burn. That's how it was. It was a burn, all right. Flashburn. The doctors had known about it for a long time. A heat wave generated by an exploding bomb or shell capable of traveling down open hatches through corridors and even around corners, striking as far as 200 yards from the actual scene of the explosion. It was a problem in physics. Scientists had an explanation for it. But in the battles of Midway and the Carl's sea, between 25 and 30 percent of all casualties were due to flashburn. That voice you hear is coming over a loud speaker in the library of the Navy's Medical Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. At the summons from the speaker, two of the doctors rise, cross to the shelves and replace the books they are reading, then walk out. Dr. Ivy doesn't seem to be about. Oh yes, here he comes now. He seems to be bussing along in a great hurry. Dr. Ivy. I'll talk to you later, Dr. Folly. There's something I've absolutely got to do. They were just calling you to report to Captain Harkinsen. I thought you might like to know. Thank you. I've been over at the hospital looking at some burn cases. See, did you read this latest report on flashburn casualties? Yes, and it's terrible. Absolutely terrible. 25 to 30 percent. Now that doesn't seem possible. Doctor, I've been thinking. You've read those native bulletins about blood plasma and making a medicated ointment with one of the sulfur drugs, for instance. No, wait a minute, Dr. Ivy. Wait a minute. Well, why not? Any fool can explain these things. You see, I know. I'm not getting roped in any more experiments with you, Dr. Ivy. I'm leaving for New York in exactly two hours. I'll bother New York. I've got some important work to do in New York, and besides, I want to see my wife. My dear Dr. Folly, do you still calling him? Well, I hope Dr. Harkinsen hasn't another of those lifeboat ration problems for me. Look here, Dr. Folly. Why don't you take it over there and leave me free to do the work on this ointment of mine? No, sorry. I'm going to New York, and that's final. Dr. Ivy, Dr. Folly. So that's final, is it? Well, it looks to me as if you and I are going to study that lifeboat ration problem together. Come along, Dr. Folly. They're calling you. They're calling you, Dr. Folly. Are you really going to take that trip? Your commanding officer probably won't insist that you stay. And what about you, Dr. Ivy? That new treatment for burns sounds like a good idea, but there are other men working on it. Good men, too. Well, let's wait and see what he has to say. Here's his office. Open the door and go in. Good morning. Sit down, gentlemen. You know, Dr. Corey, Dr. Greaves? Yes, good morning, gentlemen. Of course, you've read the casual reports on Midway in the Coral Sea. I certainly have, Dr. Harkinson. Well, the problem here is not basically one of medication. Improved medication will help matters, of course. We should have that protected very shortly. But the Navy has asked us not for a medication, but a preventive for a flash burn. What is your suggestion, Dr. Corey? Well, I was interested in the fact that only the faces and hands and the legs up to a little above the knees seem to be affected in case of the flash burn. In other words, the snug fitting parts of a regulation uniform seem to deflect it. Dr. Greaves and I were thinking in terms of battle dress. Yes, sir. Lined with K-pop, maybe, to act as a life preserver as well. I see. Dr. Folly, how does that strike you? Well, might be worked out. Mask for the face, though. It doesn't seem very practical, does it? No. And what about the length of time it would take to get into it? It would be awfully clumsy. Well, Dr. Ivey, that's why I called you and Dr. Folly in here. It occurred to me that you four men working together... Dr. Harkinson, now you're not forgetting that I was to leave for New York tonight, are you? Work with Dr. Blair on his experiment. All right, that's the first important. Oh, yes. And you, Dr. Ivey? Well, frankly, sir, I don't believe it's my cup of tea. It may not be an engineering problem, but I agree with Dr. Folly that it emphatically is not a medical problem. What about conversion of saltwater to drinking water? Would you have said that wasn't a medical problem? Well, sir, that at least was a problem in chemistry, but designing a battle dress. All right. It seems to me, sir, that that's a problem for a tailor. Think again, doctor. What about William Gorgas scrubbing the streets of Panama City, haggling with housewives over water containers, cutting down brush and draining swamps to hound the malaria mosquito out of his hiding places? Was that the way to tackle a medical problem? It stopped malaria, doctor. There's your answer. That clothing? Clothing is not the answer to Flashburn. I'm positive it's not. There must be some answer. In science, there's always an answer. Of course, there is an answer. Hang it all up. Our job is to relieve the suffering of those boys, to give them quicker, better treatments. Well, doctor, you seem to be in that box that every scientist gets into sooner or later. The old business of choosing between the relief of immediate suffering or taking a flyer on a long-range plan to remove the cause of the suffering. But that kind of research takes years. The war may be over by the time we get results. How do you end a war, doctor? By sniping at the enemy with a rifle or by blasting his lines with a cannon? Dr. Farley. Oh, hello, doctor. What are you doing up here? I thought you were doing research on that ointment over at the hospital. Well, they're doing very well over there without me. And by the way, what are you doing here? I thought you were in New York. Well, I was decided to postpone the trip. When I drop around, see Dr. Coring, Dr. Greed, are getting along with that battle suit over there. Oh, that's funny. I was going to do the same thing. Did you read about the Macaulay? Yeah. A transport. That means most of the casualties were non-combatants. Flashburn? Of course. We don't have complete reports here. No, no, no, of course not. Say, look, Dr. Ivy, I was thinking, why not an ointment? Or, you know, a heavy grease like the channel swimmers used to put on themselves. Now, if it keeps out the cold, it ought to keep out the heat. Yes, but grease melts. Try again. Well, there's a zinc oxide, of course. How do we know? It might crack. Think of the intense heat of flashburn. That's right. If there were only some way to experiment. There is. Shoot a cannon. Shoot a cannon. Come on, I'll show you. Now you're talking, Doctor. Let's have a look at that cannon. Well, Doctor, this is it. What do you think of it? Looks like a piece of junk to me. Who made that? I did. Uh-oh. Does it work? Of course it works. It's a very efficient principle, spark coil and generator. Early flipper period, yes. Of course, this is just temporary. Doctor, I'll tell you what we could do. We could set up a shop in the basement where the noise of the firing of the cannon wouldn't bother people. But there's just one bug in it. You know what's that? I need something to restrict the area of the flash of the explosion. Well, what about that piece of asbestos board over there? Oh, excellent idea. Look here. They've even got a hole in it about the size of a silver dollar. Here, here, Doctor Folly. Take some of this zinc oxide and put it on your arm. Hey, do I have to be the first guinea pig? Zinc oxide was your idea. Here, let's pop it up. Now, you stand behind it. There. All right. What do you want me to do? You want me to hold my arm up against the hole? That's right. Now, ready? Well, shoot. Hey, that burnt like the devil. Good. What do you mean? Good. I went on our way to the solution of our problem. We know now that zinc oxide won't work. Oh, yeah. You mean to say that we have to try every possible substance by the process of trial and error? Do you know any other way? Well, no, but, oh, listen, this will take years. Yeah, I know. And that's what worries me. Well, there's only one thing to do. Go and see Dr. Huckinson. Ask him if he'll approve of this. All right. How do you say? Oh, Doctor Folly, Dr. Ivey. Did you see this? What is it, Dr. Grease? Oh, tonight's paper? The Chicago. The Chicago has been sunk. Probably means another big battle. More flash burn cases. Oh, we can't let this experiment take years, Dr. Ivey. We can't. You are listening to the Doctor Shoot the Cannon featuring Preston Foster as the storyteller, Gene Lockhart as Dr. Andrew C. Ivey, and Otto Kruger as Dr. Gordon Folly on the Cavalcade of America sponsored by DuPont, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. As our play continues, Dr. Ivey and Dr. Folly of the Naval Medical Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland have begun experiments to find a solution to a centuries-old problem, the pain and injuries resulting from flash burn. Just when they seemed to be on the track, they encountered their first great barrier, the apparent need of years to experiment. This is the dark moment, Dr. Folly. This is the moment when Pierre and Marie Curie looked at a mountain of pitch blend and wondered if any human being could find the tiny bit of radioactive substance in it in one lifetime. But they found a way. Systems, shortcuts, and it took just one lifetime after all. Now, what is the situation here? What does your commanding officer say? Well, gentlemen, Dr. Corrie and Dr. Greaves have exhausted all the possibilities of battle dress. Fortunately, the number of fabrics and designs for garments is limited, so we found out fairly quickly that they don't hold the solution to our problem. The answer's got to be in some preparation that can be rubbed on the skin, that can withstand heat without melting or cracking, and at the same time, not irritate the skin or infect wounds. Have you any idea how to go about finding such a substance? Well, trial and error, sir. That's the only way we know. Won't that be too slow? Probably, sir, but there is no other way. Well, good luck, gentlemen. Oh, by the way, I'll send you Michaels. He's volunteered to act as a guinea pig for Dr. Greaves and Dr. Corrie. He's a pharmacist's mate. Had a little medical training, I believe. Good. We'll need a girl to volunteer also, Dr. Harkinson, preferably a redhead. Well, we'll ask among the waves, but aren't you being rather specific, Dr. Harvey? Sensitive skin. You know, sir, that women have more sensitive skin than men, and redheads are especially sensitive. Well, I understand Dr. Corrie and Dr. Greaves have willed you to us, Michaels. I guess that's about it, sir, but I wanted to go on with the experiment and got interested in it. Seaman Holland reporting for duty, sir. Well, glad to see you, Holland. This is Michaels. This is the other subject of the experiment. Very pleased to meet you, Holland. Thank you. When do we begin the experiment, Doctor? Right now. Dr. Ivey's ready. All set, Dr. Fully. All right, then. Now, Holland, you and Michael stand on the opposite side of that asbestos shield there, will you? And press your arms against these round apertures. Right here? Now, that blast will strike your skin in that restricted area, and that'll enable us to study the intensity of the burn. And, you know, you want to add anything to that, Dr. Ivey? No, Doctor. That's about it, except that we've prepared four different ointments, which we will put on four different spots on your arm. Well, then you're going to shoot four times? No, 16, Holland. Four times four is 16. Isn't it, or have you youngsters changed there? Oh, are you going to shoot yourselves, too? Well, good scientist always starts with himself. You see? Michael knows. He's had six months in medical school. A year, sir. A year? New Jersey? Pennsylvania. All right, now, if this ointment works, there won't be any erythema. That means redness, Holland. I see. It was a year, Doctor. And if it doesn't, you'll report at the end of 24, 48, and 72 hours for observation and treatment. All right, you're the first victim, Dr. Ivey. You ready? Just a minute. Let me check. Formula A2, B1, C4, D8. All right, Dr. Folly, let it go. Burn. And freeze. Oh. That's scary, Miss Holland? No. You'll get used to it. Go ahead, sir. Ready again, Dr. Ivey? Ready. Oh. Hurt? Not much. Next. How's that, Michael? Better. Shoot. I think D8 does it. No burn at all. Yeah, let me make a note of that. All right, you ready, Miss Holland? Yes, sir. Shoot. And Miss Holland, if this is hurting you too much... Michael's was right, sir. One gets used to it. Why can't you do hers on my left arm? She's got a very nasty burn there, sir. Are you trying to suggest I want to back out? Oh, no, but I... Well, get this straight. Whatever a sailor can do, a wave can. That's what you think. Dr. Folly. Michael, say, be quiet. Get these ointments on your arms. A2 at the bottom and D8 at the top. Well, I'm ready now. Let her rip. Well, let's see. Here's the score for D8. Non-irritating 10 points. Ease of application seven. Adherence. Don't tell me I've still got it all over my shirt. And drying time two. Insulation 10. Well, that's good. Removal ease three. Comfort when worn two. Cost five. And availability of materials eight. Yeah. Well, in other words, it's easy to put on and good for burn. Yes, but it's too tacky. It's too sticky and too slippery. And it picks up dirt. It sticks to our clothes. And it won't come off. And that means that all ointments are out. They're all too sticky. Doctor. How about glove films? Glove films. Yes. Non-oily creams. Oh, you mean one of those blondes or aluminum preparations? Surely. They dry quickly and they don't smear. All right. Now, supposing a man is shot and some of that metal gets into a surgical wound. Well, there must be other glove films. Non-metallic ones. No, doctor. Now, listen, we're kidding ourselves. Instead of being nearer the solution, we're farther away than when we started. Perhaps you're right, doctor. There's always a great time lag in science between theory and application. Leonardo da Vinci's airplane was made to fly four centuries later by two brothers on the sand dunes in Kitty Hawk. Someone, some industrial chemist, perhaps, will discover the formula you're looking for years hence. There'll be another case of a lucky accident or a spilling rubber on the stove. Or something that just escaped your attention, like sulfur drugs, discovered three decades before the miraculous healing powers were known. That is involved no world-shaking principle. We're looking for a simple, quick drying paste that will insulate the faces of hands of fighting men against flash burns. It ought to be easy. Just a matter of trial and error. Trial and error? That's how early he found his formula 606, wasn't it? It might just as easily have been number 10 or number 10,000, but it was 606. We have time for 605 failures. We have time. Pick up that newspaper on the desk in front of you, Dr. Fawley. Another destroyer reported missing. More engagements with the enemy. The boys who went down with those ships have plenty of time. They can wait. Listen, Dr. Hear that? That was a jab bomb landing on the deck of the air and wards. You'd better get going, Dr. You'd better hurry. Formula H24. Ouch! That burns. Go it out. No insulation. Formula J17. What? That didn't hurt at all. Yes, but it won't stay on. Adherence, zero. Formula L39. Come on, Michael Stoker. Hello. All right, I just... But I can't get it off. All right, use alcohol. Now for the film glove M. Formula M42. Fine. I'd say that's pretty close. It won't do. Correct. Let's try a model key. Formula M70. Well, what do you know? I never felt a thing. This... This looks like something. It has all the properties. It dries in a minute. Sticks like paint. It comes off with soap and water. This is it. This is it. Formula M70. It sounds very important, sir, doesn't it? Like a scientific discovery that's really big. Michael, I don't think this is exactly small. Well, that's the story of Formula M70. I don't suppose there was any doubt in your mind as the heart would turn out. Maybe the cannon kept you guessing for a while. You know, two stories are never as ingenious as they might be. And when your heroes are two men who pride themselves on being fighters in the ranks, rather than shining examples, you more or less have to let the story tell itself. The conquest of flesh burn is no more important than dozens of other jobs being done at this moment in the Navy's Medical Research Institute at Bethesda. We chose it because we rather like Dr. Fawley and Dr. Ivy, and because they were able to perform in weeks an exploration of unknown scientific territory, such as men in the past took years or even decades to accomplish. Maybe they did it because they were on the spot and simply had to. Maybe they were just lucky. I leave it to you. Our thanks to Preston Foster, to Gene Lockhart, and to Otto Krueger, our stars on this evening's cavalcade. As an enterprise long dedicated to a policy of chemical research, DuPont is proud to salute the scientists who, by their skill and devotion, have again inched forward the frontiers of human knowledge, and thus been the means of saving countless human lives. Mr. Foster will return a little later to speak for himself and his fellow players. And now here is Gane Whitman to tell you about a product of chemistry used in the anti-flash burn cream you've heard about tonight. One of the ingredients used in the anti-flash burn cream is titanium dioxide. Titanium dioxide is one of the most versatile of the more than 4,000 chemical compounds manufactured by DuPont. If you visited a stock room filled with samples of these 4,000 or more compounds, or even a few hundred of them, you'd find it difficult to tell them apart. Yet a single one of these compounds may have scores of uses in industry which no other can accomplish. Titanium dioxide is a white powder so fine that it would take 16 million individual particles of it side by side to make one inch. It's used by the armed forces in the protective creams that safeguard a man's skin against painful flash burns inside gun turrets, and in other creams that offer protection against sunburn and insects in the tropics. And this same titanium dioxide coated on a welding rod keeps the electric arc steady and ensures smoother and stronger wells. It is titanium dioxide that gives present-day white paints their extraordinary whiteness and covering power, and the lighter colors their clarity and resistance to fading. That's why practically all the compound DuPont manufacturers for paints is now going to the armed services for protective paint coatings and camouflage. Many peacetime products such as white rubber and the best white leather depend for their whiteness on titanium dioxide because the particles are so fine that they go all the way through. Vanolium and felt-based floor coverings owe not only their colors but much of their resiliency and long wear to this compound. It reaches you in coated fabrics even in soap. And titanium dioxide is handling a job in the field of paper manufacture that affects all of us at the present time. As you know wartime needs for paper are so great that the government asks you to turn in your waste paper as a salvage. Books and magazines are printed on thinner paper. Even the writing paper you buy today is thinner. A few years ago it would have been difficult or impossible to use such thin paper because the print or writing would have shown through from the back. But titanium dioxide added to paper keeps this from happening and so conserves paper makes it go further. All of these things and many more are accomplished by a single chemical compound that represents only one of DuPont's many better things for better living through chemistry. And now here is Plustin Foster speaking for himself Mr. Kruger and Mr. Lockhart. There's a world of hope and comfort and assurance in tonight's play or it again demonstrates the concern of the chiefs of the army and navy for the safety and protection of the men who bear the brunt of battle. They are better outfitted, better armed, better fed. Never has an armed force enjoyed such superb medical care. Now all this costs money. Remember this when you subscribe to the Fourth War Loan. It is your investment in bonds that provides the extra protection and medical care saves the lives of American boys at the front and at sea. Thank you. Next week Cavalcade will present two of Hollywood's popular stars Dick Powell and Ona Munson in The Sailor Takes a Wife, a drama based on the adventures of a newspaper editor who joins the merchant marine. The play concerns itself with jilted love and Irish temper and patriotic duty. It tells also of a girl reporter who gets her biggest story when her ex-boss makes his first convoy cruise in the merchant marine. DuPont invites you to listen to Cavalcade again next Monday evening when it presents Dick Powell and Ona Munson in The Sailor Takes a Wife, a page one drama of a newspaper man in the merchant marine. America's new lifeline across the seven seas. Tonight's music was composed and conducted by Robert Armistor. Cavalcade is pleased to remind its listeners that Preston Foster may soon be seen in the 20th century Fox picture Bermuda Mystery. Otto Kruger may soon be seen in the RKO production Cover Girl and Gene Lockhart in the Warner Brothers musical desert song. This is James Spannon sending best wishes from Cavalcade sponsor the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware. This is the National Broadcasting Company.