 Remember, a Hallmark card when you will carry enough to send the very best. The card will bring you Hollywood's greatest stars. An outstanding story is chosen by one of the world's... Gentlemen, this is James Hilton. Tonight on our Hallmark Playhouse, we present our dramatization of a rather charming story called The Big Build Up by a very interesting American writer, Michael Foster. He has also written some excellent novels. But I confess that one of the reasons I enjoyed The Big Build Up is because it has a background familiar to me that of the Hollywood Picture Studios. This, which is really a world of its own and a strange world of that, is the scene of Michael Foster's story. And he not only handles it with skill, but has given a new twist to a familiar theme. He even makes a romantic hero of a press agent. And why not, in a world in which so many strange things can happen? Well, anyhow, for the starting role tonight, we've certainly chosen one of Hollywood's finest and most deservedly popular actors, Dana Andrews. And now a word about Hallmark cards from Frank Goss, before we begin the first act of The Big Build Up. There are Hallmark cards for every memorable occasion on your calendar, for every occasion that calls for remembrance, for a friendly greeting, a word of good cheer, and expression of sympathy. There is a Hallmark card that says just what you want to say, the way you want to say it. And that identifying Hallmark on the back. Well, that says you cared enough to send the very best. Now, Hallmark Playhouse presenting Michael Foster's The Big Build Up, starring Dana Andrews. Remember that it came straight to the point. Mark, the studio wants the works for this girl. They're bringing her in from New York for a featured role in Night of the City. She's a complete unknown. But by the time the picture's released, they want her name to be a household word. In other words, she's to get The Big Build Up. Here's a picture. He handed me a photograph, and there she was, smiling back at me from a glossy print. I had loved her briefly, then hated her much longer than I'd loved her. And an old sorrow that I had thought long vanished, moved restlessly, disturbingly inside me. And for a moment, all reality was gone, and there was music and perfume. And Claire's eyes looking up at me in the old, remembered manner. What do you think of her? Yeah, she looks all right. No better than that? Depends on what type you go for. Well, the boss is completely sold on her. She gets in from New York this morning. You'll meet her this afternoon. Well, look, can't someone else handle this assignment? But what reason? I don't know. She does nothing to me. I don't think I'm right for her. Look, all we're asking you to do is handle a publicity when not asking you to marry her. The boss asks for you particularly. Okay, that's the way you want it. That's the way we want it. Be on the boss' office at two. I'll be there. I'd like you to meet Mr. O'Neill. How do you do, Mr. O'Neill? Nice to meet you, Miss Conroy. Mr. O'Neill is the best publicity man on the line. Really? Mark, I want you to forget every publicity trick you've ever used before. This is a fresh new personality, and I want a fresh new approach for her. Sell dignity, sell charm, sell wholesomeness, and a bobble. A bobble, sell. That's right, my boy. I want Claire Conroy to be a star before she's ever seen on the screen. Miss Conroy, you go along with Mr. O'Neill now and give him the basic details of your life so he can get right to work. Yes, Mr. Sittman. Thank you very much. Good afternoon. I'd like to look over the coffee when you have it ready, Mark. I'll send it in. Send in my next appointment, Miss Morrison. I'm familiar with them. Why, out of all the publicity men in Hollywood, it'd have to be you. Honey, I was just thinking the same thing. Are you going to spoil things for me now? If you knew how hard I've worked the last three years to get here... Why don't we go down to the music stage? I think this would sound better to a background of hearts and flowers. Oh, you're absolutely inhuman. I wasn't once, if you'll think back a little. Well, you've got a wonderful opportunity right now to avenge yourself for anything you think I did to you. What are you going to do about it? I'm going to do exactly what I've been ordered to do, my girl. I'm going to give you the big build-up. Late in my office that night, I sat there staring at a blank sheet of paper in a silent typewriter, trying to figure out how to sell clear Conroy to the movie-going public. And at last, I decided that one of the ways to do it was to tell them how a man might feel about her. Saw her, she was laughing. I was walking down Fifth Avenue on a bright March day holding onto my own hat when all of a sudden a big floppy hat was blown right smack into my kisser. I heard her laughing before I ever saw her. I'm awfully sorry, but I'm afraid that's my hat to wear. Well, just let me get untangled up these ribbons, so I'll give a hug. Do you want me to hear a cab for you? There isn't one in sight. Well, come on, let's get in the shelter that's building. All right. That storm certainly came from nowhere. You probably won't last long. We're silly to come out without a coat, but it looks so beautiful out this morning. You must be freezing to death. There's a restaurant inside. Why don't we go in and have some lunch? Well, I don't know. After all, we've never met. Well, that is, we've never been introduced. And your mother brought you up never to talk to strangers. Well, so did mine. But if you'll take a chance, I will. How about it? It doesn't seem to be anything else due to. My name is Claire Conroy. Mine's Mark O'Neill. Hello, Claire. Hello, Mark. It should be. One girl has a smile you remember. Another has a way of walking. You're like some of them because they have brains and some of them because they haven't. And then you meet one girl and something in her eyes touches off a spark and everything. You're as excited every time you see her as you were when you were a kid. Christmas Eve came. Talking in central parts. This is talking a mile a minute. The producer's office. And he looked at me and he said, I'm afraid you are not the type we're looking for just now, Miss Conroy. And I said, oh. And he said, but you are a very interesting type. So keep in touch with us and maybe something will come up later in the season. But I did get into the producer's office, Mark. I was right in the inner sanctum. Isn't that exciting? Hmm? I said, isn't it exciting? Isn't what exciting? Oh, Mark. You haven't heard a word I said. Oh, sure I have. You said, isn't that exciting? Claire, how long have we known each other? Oh, about three months. Why? You know, I decided a long time ago to remain a bachelor. Years ago, I decided that marriage was not for me. Well, every man has a right to his own opinion. Well, after all, a man's freedom means a lot to him. Of course it does. And a man likes to be his own boss to come and go as he pleases, to live the way he wants to live. Very understandable. Marriage means that he's got to give up his independence and he's got to come home every night on a time clock. Marriage is a terrible problem for a bachelor to be up against. Yes. Yes, I can see that it is, Mark. Claire, stop agreeing with me. Now stop it. But I do agree with you. I don't want you to agree with me. I want you to marry me. You don't want me to marry you. But you were saying... I was saying that was the way I felt before. I met you. But when I met you, everything changed. Now when I come home, I think, wouldn't it be wonderful if she was here waiting? Why? Will you marry me, Claire? Will you please marry me? Oh, Mark, we'll have to do a lot of thinking about that. We'll have to do a lot of thinking. How does a man feel about a girl like her? A man looks at her and thinks, now at last I've found the answer to my seeking. Now at last are all women one woman, all dreams one dream. Now loneliness is forever gone from me. I will be if she'll have me. I tried to tell her that, but there's one thing to know things in the heart, and there's quite another to bring them to the tongue. Mark, you realize you've been staring into the fire for almost an hour without saying a word? Fair enough. I'm sorry. What are you thinking about? I was thinking about you. I was thinking about me. I was thinking about the future. You still haven't given me an answer, Claire. Mark... I'm not sure it would be fair to marry you. Look, ever since I was a little girl, I've wanted one thing. I wanted to be an actress. I never are good. It's still the thing I want to do more than anything else in the world. I've got to be honest about that. I'm not going to stop you from being an actress if that's what you want. Oh, Mark, I'm afraid I'm all mixed up. I want to marry you and I want to prove I can act. Well, you could do both. Could I? Maybe I'm a cynic. Maybe I believe that if you ask for too much, you don't get anything. Let's make a try for it, baby. Let's take our hats and throw them at the moon and start climbing after them. Take your life out in advance. Let's just start living it. If you'll take a chance, I will. How about it? Darling, that's exactly what you said to me the first day I met you. Claire, you do love me, don't you? Please, say you love me. Looking back into mirrors that I hadn't looked into for a long time, at last I began to write down in words what a man might feel about a girl like Claire. I kept it all pretty objective. I sat there, the door opened, and my young assistant, Kathy Martin, came. If you were going to work, I would have been happy to take your dictation. I couldn't impose on you at this hour, Kathy. What are you doing around here so late anyhow? I left a book that I wanted. Why don't you dictate the rest of that to me? It's finished. It's plenty long for the first story. May I read it? Why do you say it like that? Is something wrong with it? You're in love with her, aren't you? In love with her? You're crazy. Am I? Anything about her. And I get that through your head right now. I don't like anything about her. I didn't say you did. I said you were in love with her. Now, I must say, it certainly happened fast. What time did you meet her? Two o'clock? No, why don't you mind your own business? Thanks, I will. Good night, Mark. No, no, I didn't mean that. I'm sorry, Kathy. It's all right, Mark. I was nosy. I have no right to question you. Look, I'm going to say this once so you'll understand. I'd appreciate it if you kept it to yourself. Maybe it'll clear things up in your mind. I was married to Claire Conroy. Married? Yes, I would declare Conroy. And I still am. We'll return to the second act of the big build-up starring Dana Andrews. Let me tell you about an experience I had today while walking along a busy street. Every store I passed seemed crowded with shoppers, intent on buying new fall clothes or something for their houses, perhaps. And then as I stopped at one store, suddenly this thought struck me. Here, people were doing a different kind of shopping. Different in that each was buying something not for himself, but for someone else. A greeting card to remember a friend or loved one. You know, you buy cards only to send to others. That's why hallmark craftsmen use such painstaking care in interpreting your thoughts with just the right words for each special someone, each occasion you ought to remember, with words as friendly as your warm-hand clasp, as gay as your smile, or as comforting as your visit to a sick room. That's why if you ask your friends what name they think of in greeting cards when they want to send the very best, invariably they'll answer hallmark cards. So it's easy to remember it would be difficult to forget. To look on the back of the card you choose for the hallmark, to say you cared enough to send the very best. Now back to James Hilton and the second act of the big build-up, starring Dana Andrews. We continue Michael Foster's story about a Hollywood publicity man and the strange, ironic trick fate played on him. The order had sounded so simple when it was first given. It was a complete unknown. But by the time the pictures released, they want her name to be a household word. In other words, she used to get the big build-up. About how she looked on a picnic and how she looked sitting by a fire. I wrote about her love of books, her love of music and her love of children. And never once wrote of Claire as I had known her coming in night after night for that hot, sticky little apartment looking white and unhappy. Anybody home? Another day I've had. They sent me clear over to Brooklyn for a story and when I got over there... I know, I know. I've been pounding the pavements all day too. I'm beat. Oh, I'm really beat. I don't know why you keep going around and it's heat. Well, it's the casting season. This is the time you have to go. Why don't you quit knocking yourself out, Claire? You've been going like this for over a year now. Nothing ever happened. In the name of heaven, don't start that again. I can't take it today. I'm worn out. Well, I'm worn out too and I'm getting good and sick I don't have to come home at all, you know. No, Mark, no. I didn't mean that. I'm sorry. Mark, what's happening to it? I'm sorry, baby. I know how you feel. It's just that I can't bear to see you coming home like this. Disappointed and applied. If just one person would say, I know you can do it. I'll give you a chance. One person believed in me. Right. I guess that's just a break, kid. Come on. Let's go out and get some dinner. I was young and we were both selfish. We were both wrong. And so we let love slip through our fingers. I came home late one night and there was the note popped up against the lamp on the table. You must know as I know that it isn't any good anymore. Please don't try to see me because we've said all we have to say to each other too many times already. I'll get in touch with you later when I'm more financially stable about a divorce. Believe me, I wish you every possible success and happiness. Clear. I quit my job and I hit it for Hollywood. That was the last time I heard of it. For Frama, I wrote about her day and night and thought about her endlessly. We'll be happy to do a feature story on Miss Conroy. We'll use her picture on the cover of the magazine. And I'd like to use your own copy on her as the basis of the article. It's really great stuff. It's one of the most famous North Stein pictures that's had a better build. Miss Conroy, may I present Hollywood's most celebrated columnist, Miss Glockler. How do you do, Miss Glockler? All my it's to talk about. It's a much, my dear. I'm very happy to meet you at last, Miss Glockler. I've read your column for years. Oh, sweet. Oh, she's a sweet child, Mark. Sweet. Yes, sensory pictures think so too, Miss Glockler. Won't you sit down? Is there someone outside of Hollywood, a boy back home? Miss Conroy's whole attention has always been centered in her career, Miss Glockler. That isn't true. I was married at one time. Married? Oh, dear me, is that a fact? Yes. He was a young newspaper man. We were both... very young. What happened? Nothing. That was the whole trouble. Absolutely nothing. Miss Glockler, I'm sure you understand it. This conversation must be off the record. I haven't told her studio she was ever married. It might do her quite a bit of harm if it were to come out now. Oh, all right. We'll forget that it was ever mentioned. Tell me about your childhood, Miss Conroy. Did you always want to be an actress? Yes, always. And now you have what you wanted. Yes. I couldn't figure why Claire suddenly started talking about her marriage unless she was doing it just to get back at me. I began wondering about the kind of work she was doing and if she did have something. And I called up and asked them to run off the day's rushes for me. I sat alone in the dark, watching her. I made them run the rushes over and at last I went back to my office. Well, how was she? She was reading some of your copy while you were gone. I like this. Highlighted in the world's most glamorous profession. She is still the kind of girl a man would like to meet after the weariness of a day's work. Look, I wrote it. I don't have to listen to it too, do I? Why don't you admit you're in love with her? Listen, I hate everything she stands for. Everything she is, I hate her for everything I can't believe in. No, you don't. You don't hate her for anything. Kind of funny when you stop to think about it. Your job has been to sell her to the whole world. You've done it. You've sold her to the whole world, including yourself. Why don't you wake up your big dumb daughter and do something about it? I thought... I thought if I stuck around long enough, maybe someday you'd look at me like... I could really saw me. But I've read every word of copy you've written. And I know the end of the picture. No, Kathy, I'm sorry, kid. It doesn't matter about me. All that matters is that you wake up. Wake up before you lose each other again. Good night, Mom. I sat there for a long time after Kathy ran out. I sat there staring in a blank wall. And I knew that I'd done a lot of things wrong, and I could never undo them. I should have helped Claire when she needed help. And I should have gone after her when she left me. And suddenly I felt more tired than I'd ever felt in my life. Worn out. Because I knew that it needn't have ended if we'd only shown a little more understanding toward one another, a little more kindness. And then the door opened and I looked up. And there she stood staring again. It was rainy. And I didn't have a coat or an umbrella. Raining? You big oaf, don't you remember? Why did you come here? That girl from publicity came over to my apartment, Kathy. She brought me all the press releases you'd written. She told me where you were. Nothing when I read what you'd written about me. I'll be that girl. I swear I'll be that girl if you'll just give me the chance. I was such a jerk. I never stopped to realize that you had to give something to a marriage. You had to fulfill the needs of what I mean. Yes, I do. I know what I mean, but I just can't say it. I know what you mean to. And, Mark, I've been thinking the same things for the past few weeks. Maybe down underneath I always thought them. Maybe that's why I never got a divorce. What was the finish of that routine we had? My mother never let me talk to strangers. But if you'll take a chance, I will. That's it, darling. And then I said, my name is Claire Mark O'Neill. And the world settled back to the way the world should be. Samuel Taylor Collaridge, the great English poet, said what comes from the heart goes to the heart. And, you know, when you send a hallmark card, whatever the occasion, you can be sure your message will speak directly to the heart of that friend or dear one you've remembered. You see, the makers of hallmark cards understand the importance of words in a greeting card. They know that there are times when the things you feel in your heart are difficult to say to others. That's why those who make hallmark cards take special care in choosing words to express your warm congratulations on happy occasions, such as birthdays and anniversaries, or a heart-to-heart message of encouragement in time of illness or grief. Yes, to say what you want to say the way you want to say it, you'll always find hallmark cards that mirror your own good taste. And remember that identifying hallmark on the back says you cared enough to send the very best. Here again is James Hilton. That was a fine performance, Dana Andrews, and we're glad you could be with us again on Hallmark Playhouse. Thank you, Mr. Hilton. Your invitation is always an honor. And always a pleasure to us, Dana, because of distinguished talents like yours. And we have news tonight with most distinguished talent on hallmark cards. Frank Goss, I think our listeners would like to know about that editorial feature on Winston Churchill, the one you were telling me about just before the program. Thanks, Mr. Hilton. I was just waiting for a chance to bring that up. In Collier's Magazine this week are reproduced in full color some of the paintings by Mr. Winston Churchill that will appear on Hallmark Christmas cards this season. Oh, excuse me. Are you talking about THE Winston Churchill? Yes, I mean THE Winston Churchill, England's great statesman, who is also the most famous amateur painter in the world. And you'll understand why when you see the Collier's article. Well, that will be something. Christmas cards by Winston Churchill. I'm anxious to see them. And I'm sure you'll be anxious to hear our story next week, Dana, for we are presenting Gladys Hastie Carroll's fine love story, West of the Hill. And for our star, we will have that charming young Hollywood actress, Ms. Elizabeth Taylor. Our Hallmark Playhouse is every Thursday. Our director producer is Bill Gay. Our music is composed and conducted by Lynn Murray. Our script tonight was adapted by Jean Holloway. And the part of Clare was played by Joan Banks. Until next Thursday then, this is James Hilton saying, Good night. The March cards when you carry enough to send the scene in the Golden Production Edge of Doom. This is Frank Gosling. Good night to you all until next week at the same time when James Hilton returns to present Elizabeth Taylor in Gladys Hastie Carroll's West of the Hill. And the week following, Theodore prats the barefoot mailman. We've invited John Hodeac to star. And the week after that, Sir Edward cooks the life of Florence Nightingale on the Hallmark Playhouse. And may I remind you to look for the full-color reproductions of Winston Churchill's paintings, which are displayed in Collier's Magazine on sale tomorrow. This is KMBC, Kansas City, Missouri.