 Ladies and gentlemen, the railroad hour. The show train, tonight the Association of American Railroads presents the world premiere of a new musical play. Our choir is under the direction of Norman Luboff, and the music is prepared and conducted by Carmen Dragon. Yes, tonight another exciting story with music is brought to you by the American Railroads. The same railroads that bring you the food you eat, the clothes you wear, the fuel you burn, and the multitude of other things you use in your daily life. And now, here is our star, Gordon McRae. Thank you, Marvin Miller, and good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Some of the music you are here tonight is familiar, and some has been composed especially for our play by Carmen Dragon. Dorothy Warren's show is Elizabeth, and I am Robert Browning, as we bring you Love Story. I didn't fall in love with her at first sight. It didn't take that long. I happened on to a thin little volume of Poets by Elizabeth Moldenbarad, and immediately fell in love with the author. So there was nothing to do but write her a letter and tell her so. To Miss Elizabeth Barad, 50 Wimpole Street. Yes, Papa? You have just received a letter from some important young man signed RV, and I've opened it, because I do not think you're strong enough to read it yourself. Oh, please, Papa. Let me read it. Well, perhaps for identification purposes, so we can silence him. Here. RV. Why, it's from Robert Browning, the famous poet. Oh. Oh, hear what he says, Papa. I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barad. Your cheeks are flushed, Elizabeth. Lie back, rest. Too much excitement. Oh, Papa, he wants to come and visit me. I forbid it. Your Mr. Browning must never set foot in your sick room, Elizabeth. Oh, Papa. Never. Papa, please, just once. Oh, here in my room, I dream I hear voices. For friends I have yet to meet. Oh, my friend of this letter, so known, so unknown. What I dream include me. Hey, Mr. Browning, I know we shall meet. But it was more than a year before we did meet. Every day our letters spread across London, sometimes twice a day. And finally I convinced her that we must meet. While her father was away on business, I was hustle up the servant's stairway. And stood at last in front of the couch, which held her prisoner. Dear Mr. Browning, I'm so pleased you could come. You're a servant, ma'am. I know this first meeting must be short to spare your health. And therefore you must dispense with formalities. Will it please you to call me Robert? Oh, then you must call me Bob. It's a childish name I know, but somehow it suits me. Bar, we must drink a toast to our meeting. Oh, we do not have strong beverage in this house. Papa forbids it. Well, then we should drink with our eyes, dear Bar. With a lyric fashion. Is it for this moment, my whole rare Ben Johnson? And for all the lovely flowers you've sent me. Bar, you shall have flowers every day. But why do they keep you in this stuffy room? I'll raise the window. Oh, is it wise? Well, it's a warm summer night. There's nothing out there that can hurt you. Bar, you can't stay shut up like this. Your heart is too big. You've got to let life in here. Do I frighten you, dear Bob? A little. What is it the doctor say is wrong with you? There was an injury to my back when I was a child. It's kept me from walking. And I haven't been able to find the strength to make myself get well. Then we'll find that strength together. We shall chop up your coughs for firewood and whisk you into the sunshine. And we can do it. Because we love each other. You do love me, don't you, Bob? Well, Mr. Browning, I like you very much. I admire you. I think I shall write a poem about you. Well, then you must love me. Because nobody can really write poetry without being in love. Miss Barrett. Good morning, Mr. Browning. Oh, good heavens, you must have robbed a florist shop. Three of them. I robbed them blind. I took every pink rose I could find in London. You shouldn't have. Those you sent yesterday are still fresh enough. Why not, since their petals are falling all over your couch. I like them that way, Robert. I like to sleep under a blanket of rose petals. Ah, my dearest, can rose petals keep you warm? Only the ones that are sent to me by Robert Browning. Robert, would you be a critic, dear? I've done a little sonnet. A translation, of course, from the Portuguese. By whom? Oh, some not very well-known Portuguese girl. I just happened on it and translated it. Well, let me see it. My bar, it's a love sonnet. Put those lines and you merely translated them. Robert, I... It's your poem and your sonnet. There is no Portuguese and no translation. You've invented that bar because you were timid and afraid. Robert... No longer. No more fear, Bob. You have a voice that can sing with the greatest poets of this world. And a voice like that shall not be muffled. Bob, I'm going to marry you. I'm not well. I'll make you well. You're going to be married and then sail for Italy, where no one can stay ill for long. I think I shall have something to say about that. Father. I have only recently been informed, Mr. Browning, of your clandestine meetings with my daughter. Otherwise, they should have been stopped sooner. You have forced your presence on her. You have jeopardized her health. I feel that... Mr. Browning, I shall give you two minutes to leave this house. And if you're discovered on the premises again, you shall be disposed of as a common trespasser. Robert, it's... No, you... No, Alba, no tears and no defeats. We're young and we're in love. And we shall find a way. Listen to me, Bob. I have a philosophy which I've made into kind of a song to sing every morning. My philosophy, Bob. I give it to you. Hundreds of railroad officials and other transportation experts from countries throughout the Western Hemisphere are in Washington, D.C. this week attending the 8th Pan-American Railway Congress. These men are putting to work the spirit of friendliness and cooperation that exists between the people of the United States and the other American Republic. Through this Railroad Congress, they are meeting to share knowledge and experience on railroading as another step toward their goal of improving railroad facilities and services throughout the Western Hemisphere. This International Railroad Conference, the first of its kind ever held in the United States, provides a medium for the exchange of technical data and the standardization of railroad equipment among nations and for the reduction of frontier barriers to the movement of rail traffic. Regardless of the country or railroad these men represent, they know well the vital role which railroads play in the defense and daily commerce of their nations. And when they contribute to better railroading, they contribute to better living for all their people. The American railroads are proud of the cooperative work they have been doing with our Pan-American neighbors. And as they have taught lessons, they have also learned them. This is just another way in which the railroads carry on a constant search in order to provide better transportation service for you. Now here's act two of the Lawrence and Lee play with music Love Story, starring Gordon Macrae as Robert Browning and Dorothy Warren-Schold as Elizabeth. Thank you so much, Bah and I. We had a need so great each two years. One night I stole back and found my boss sick and wretched on a couch. Oh, Robert, you should not have come. Bah, I'm taking you away from here. We're getting married and going to Italy. Oh, Robert, I can't travel. I can't even walk. I'll carry you. Would you marry around the corner at St. Mary Le Bon Church? Oh, Bah, we're going to be the happiest pair of poets who ever made love in an iambic pentameter. We were married secretly on the 12th of September in the year of our Lord, 1836. Each time I think of our trip to Italy, I remember a line that followed. The sweet years, the dear and wistful years. Oh, Italy, Florence. I think if you go there now, you can still feel in the air some of the love we poured out. Love for that wonderful city. Love for each other. Robert, breathe that air. Oh, it is really November. The sunshine feels like music. All of Italy is music, dear Bah. Each child here is born with a pitchfright in his mouth. And parents are very disappointed if their children don't grow up to be opera singers. How I would love to walk through this city, feel the cobblestones under my feet, climb to the very top of Joshua's Campanile, and look out over all the red rooftops. You can only walk. You can walk, Bah. If you try, if you believe, if you know that love is all around you. Oh, Robert. Try, Bah. Stand up, my dearest. Steady now. Stand. I will try. I will. Now walk to me. You have love supporting you. You can't fall. Now walk to me. I will. I can. Of course you can. One foot. The other foot. Robert, I took a step. Take another, Bah. Don't stop. Oh, Robert. One more step, and you're in my arms. Oh, Bah, that's wonderful. Oh, you've done it. Robert, it's your love that makes me strong. How can I thank you? How can I tell my husband how much I love him? Once in my younger days, I met a Portuguese maiden named Elizabeth Barrack. Oh, she had a way with words. Oh, Robert. For my beloved. Oh, how you spoil me. I am convinced that history will consider you a man of a third taste. How so? Every day I grow older, and this young man loves me still. Once long ago, Bah, a great Hebrew scholar named Rabbi Vanessa wrote, That youth is a glory. But the greatest joy is growing old with somebody you love, or growing old together. Be that Bah and I only had a day together. And the time since has been a century. That's one of my complaints. But the happy years go like ours, and the sad ones are a decade. Bah and I traveled all over Italy, and then we finally settled in Florence, where she wrote Casa Guidi Windows, and Aurora Lee, and the last poem. Who read my words? If you should travel to Italy, and if by chance you visit Casa Guidi, would you do me a special favor? A little grave, quite a part from me. We'll take a handful of rose petals and toss them over the grass beneath a blanket of rose petals. Our thanks to William Conrad and to our entire company. New music for the Brownings was composed by Carmen Dragon. The libretto and special lyrics were written by Lawrence and Lee. The railroad hour is brought to you each week, at the same time by the American veros. Marvin, you hear a great deal these days about the need for cooperation with other nations to introduce better ways of producing things, to raise living standards around the world. Well, one key to greater production everywhere is better railroad. And to get better railroads, at least throughout the Western Hemisphere, railroad men long ago formed the Pan American Railway Congress Association. This 43-year-old organization is now meeting in Washington, D.C., and from its important sessions will come better understanding among all the Americas and better railroading, too. And anything that makes for better railroads makes for better living. Dorothy, it was a thrill singing with you tonight, as always. You were radiant. Well, I thank you, Gordon. It's wonderful to fall in love with you every week. Well, you haven't seen anything yet? We'll wait until next week. Here's a little hint. When I saw you dancing, I came to realize that next week we fall in love to three-quarter times in an enchanting new musical called New Wine. Well, I'll get on my wall-think slippers and meet you here. Same time, same microphone. That's a date. All aboard! Well, dear friends, it looks as if we're ready to pull out and so until next Monday night and the world premiere of New Wine on behalf of the other members of the cast and of the American Railroad. This is your friend, Gordon McRae, saying goodbye. The Gold Hour was transcribed in Hollywood. Gordon McRae can be seen in Warner Bros. The Desert song in Technicolor. Our choir is under the direction of Norman Luboff and our music is prepared and conducted by Carmen Dragon. This is Marvin Miller saying goodbye until next week for the American Railroad. Now stay tuned for your Monday night of music on NBC. Tonight, The Voice of Firestone features Reza Stevens on NBC.