 Ladies and gentlemen, the railroad out. And here comes our star-studded show train. Tonight, the Association of American Railroads presents the memorable musical hit, Shari, starring Gordon McRae, and his guest, lovely Vivian Della-Kiezer. Our choir is under the direction of Norman Luboff, and our music is arranged and conducted by Carmen Dragon. Yes, tonight another great musical success is brought to you by the American Railroads, the same railroads that bring you most of the food you eat, the clothes you wear, the fuel you burn, and all the other things you use in your daily life. And now, here is our star, Gordon McRae. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Well, tonight we're going to sing of gypsy violins and the famous Stradivarius. I should be a fellow named Irini who likes to fiddle, and lovely Vivian Della-Kiezer will be the charming Shari. Often in the cool of evening, I have closed my eyes and seem to see the girl. An ordinary violin without a soul. I have imagined that it is one of the great violins of the world, a Stradivarius. A little gypsy village of Lawrence, Valver, in Central Europe. Flirting with the girls again, I suppose. Certainly not. Just letting them have a look at one of the world's geniuses. Oh, Papa, you're all out of style. People don't like to hear wild gypsy tunes these days. The true violinist, my child, does not play from notes, but from the heart. Oh, Papa, the world has passed you by. Oh, don't talk to me about being passed by. What about you? You are young and lovely. It's time you had a husband. Oh, Papa, not again. My child, I think I shall go in and tune up my beautiful, beautiful Stradivarius. Why? You never play it anymore. Ah, but I must take care of it. For one day, a king or a prince may ask me to play, and I must be ready. Oh, Papa, you're such a funny old dreamer. And you try to be so practical. Oh, you don't fool me, Shari. You're my daughter, and you inherit my dreaminess. And to my violin and to what? Yes, little neighbor. Give me your lap, Shari, and sing me a song. All right, once upon a time. Somehow it doesn't seem so once upon a time. This is an old, old legend that seems to be happening all over again. I'm waiting. Oh, you want another one? I want an explanation. I am a wanderer. I happen to hear you sing, and I couldn't help but sneak up behind you and kiss you on the cheek. Run along, little neighbor. This seems like a dangerous man. Gee, I think he's pretty brave. Nor could I help hearing you sing. Your father is forcing you to marry, but I want you to know I'm on your side. You keep on your side. Oh, you're lovely. You know, of course, I took an awful chance sneaking up behind you like that. You might have had a glass eye, false teeth, or a husband. You have very impertinent young man. Please leave. Oh, don't make me go. You know that I've wandered all over Europe? Everywhere the sky was dark. The air was heavy. The hills were black. Then I came into this garden, and it was like a dog. I found the girl I've been looking for. Now if I can only find the violin. What violin? Well, they told me an old gypsy fiddler somewhere in this neighborhood had a beautiful violin, the Stratovarius. And if I could only get that old cout to let me use it, what? That old cout happens to be my father. What's going on out here? Oh, this is my father, Polly Ratz. Polly Ratz, the famous gypsy violinist. Oh, I've heard of you and your wonderful music since I was a small boy. Now here, Shari is a young man with taste. Shari, you'd have a beautiful name like that. And who are you? My name is Arini. I'm a poor fiddler who has a chance to play before the king at a special command performance in Paris. But all I have is a creaky instrument that fights me. Where do you play, my boy, that silly stardust off from notes? Or do you play the songs with the people from the heart? From the notes, of course. Oh, you have not yet learned the secret. Tell me, sir, would you consider selling or lending your famous fiddle? Don't you dare call it that. A fiddle is a fiddle. A Stratovarius is a violin. As for selling it or lending it, I would just as soon sell my heart or part with my right arm. Then I have a better idea. Why don't you come to Paris and play for the king? Paris? Oh, that makes me think of the days and the nights of my youth. Especially the nights. Papa, you said you were waiting for a king to command you to play again. But I can't go to Paris. Though I am still young, the girls of my youth there are now grandmother's. It would all right. No. Come to Paris and meet their granddaughters. The granddaughters. I forgot about them. I will. No, I won't either. There are two other reasons. The gout and shari. We'll all go to Paris together. You take care of your gout and I'll take care of shari. Yes, yes. We'll do it. Good. So accustomed are we to think of Abraham Lincoln as the great president who labored for a united country, that we are inclined to overlook his other contributions to American thought and life. Such, for example, as his part in the development of the railroads, which have done so much to keep this nation one and indivisible. Back in 1832, when there were but 100 miles of railroad in all the United States, Abraham Lincoln, then only 23 years of age said, and I quote, No other improvement that reason will justify us in hoping for can equal in utility the railroad. End of quotation. It was 20 years later that the real development of railroads began in the Midwest, a development in which Lincoln served as lawyer for two of the earliest and most important railroad companies in that territory. The future president was thus part of that tremendous upsurge of railroad building, which in a few years saw the beginnings of more than half a dozen of the large Western systems, which have recently celebrated their centennials or soon will do so. Meanwhile, in those same years, lines from the east were reaching out to the west, and other lines were lacing the Atlantic seaboard states with rails of iron. Still, other roads, which have attained the century mark, were underway in the south, while in New England, the first international rail connection was being made with Canada. Thus, a century ago, when Abraham Lincoln represented the railroads so ably as their lawyer, he was helping to forge those bands of iron which already were at their destined work of binding together the nation, binding it so firmly that even the great convulsion of the War of the 60s did not break the bond. And the same railroads which for more than a century have done so much to create and preserve the unity of this nation are today just as important to its welfare, its safety, and its defense. Now, here is Act 2 of Shari, starring Gordon MacRae as Irini and Vivienne Della Chiesa as Shari. And so we went to Paris, Polly Ratz, his lovely daughter, Shari, and I. How nervous we all were, for the famous gypsy violinist was to appear for the first time in ten years to play his famous Stradivarius. I was a mere fiddle player delighted to take a backseat. That is, if Shari were in the backseat with me. We shouldn't have come to Paris. I'm afraid something will go wrong. What can go wrong, Shari? Well, Papa isn't young anymore, and I? Well, for the first time in my life, I feel too young. Listen. Listen to the sounds in the air. Listen to what Paris is saying to us. Young love is everywhere. Take it while you can. I hear it. Now, we must get ready for the command performance before the king of the sale. I shall put on my Sunday best. The lampshade? Imagine anybody appearing at the royal performance wearing their terrible colored tablecloth. In Paris, the city of fashion, how can anybody wear those rags? Please. In my tiny village, these are the bright colors we wear. But I see that Paris has no place for girls in the country. Those celebrated violinists of our day. He has come here to play his famous Stradivarius, the man whose melodies we have heard about for so many years. And now, we shall hear them with our own ears. Ali, Russ. Majesty, I... Father, are you all right? Your Majesty, I have not played my beautiful violin in ten years. I have just kept it to look at, remembering in my head the lovely melodies of my youth. So, you see, this Stradivarius is no good to me. I might as well smash it into a million pieces. No, no, wait a minute. Could I have it for just a moment? Take it, Herini. I give it to you. Tell me, Polly, was it this melody? Chipsy melody! How did you know it? That melody was never written down, only in my heart. It's the Strad, Polly. It's this violin. It's a magic violin. Stradivarius belongs to you now, Herini. It was just a memory. But you have made it live again. Thank you, Your Majesty. All my life, I wanted to play on a magic violin, and to hold in my arms a girl as lovely as Shari. No, Herini. You will be the toast of Paris now. But I am just a village chipsy, and everyone laughs at me. My children, they will not laugh again. For I hereby bestow on you the title of the Count and Countess of Stradivarius. Now go. Play! Dance! And the whole world will be young again. And to Ted Van Elst, stuffy singer, in the book and lyrics by Julius Wilhelm, Max Grunbaum, CCS Cushing and E.P. Heath, and music by Emerish Kalman, was dramatized for the railroad hour by Lawrence and Lee. The railroad hour is brought to you each week at this time by the American Railroads. You know, friends, like so many of you, I was thinking today on Lincoln's birthday about how he worked to keep this a united country. His task could hardly have been done without the help of the railroads. A century ago, at the time when Lincoln was serving as an attorney for two of the little new western railroads, which were to grow into great systems, the railroads already were beginning to bind the sections of the United States together. And today, the railroads help keep America united and strong. Now here again is lovely Vivian Delaquiesa. Thank you, Gordon. I certainly enjoyed playing Shari. And what can I say, dear, after I say I'm Shari? It was a wonderful delight having you aboard the show train with us. And please, will you? This is again real soon. Oh, I'd love to, Gordon. What's your show next week? Well, it's our special railroad hour production of the song of Norway. Erepetina will be our guest star, and Dorothy Colder and Gil Russell once again will be her...