 Ladies and gentlemen, the Railroad Hour! And here comes our star-studded show train! Tonight, the Association of American Railroads presents the Fritz Chrysler Victor Jacoby Operetta, Apple Blossoms, starring Gordon MacRae and his two guests, Dorothy Kirsten and Francis X. Bushman. Our choir is under the direction of Norman Luboff, and the music is prepared and conducted by Carmen Dragon. Yes, tonight, another big musical hit 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 MacRae! Ladies and gentlemen, well, sir, tonight, the lovely Metropolitan Operers of Frano and Dorothy Kirsten and Francis X. Bushman join me in the romantic operetta, Apple Blossoms. As the curtain rises, you are the invited guests at a wedding just about to take place on a large, long island estate. Your wedding? Do you expect me to look happy when you're forcing me to marry someone I don't love? But this is a wonderful match! Two charming young people, your steel mills, Philip's coal mines, what could be more ideal? It's a real love match. But, Uncle George... I have your bouquet downstairs made of Apple Blossoms, just as you have. Well, I wonder if you wanted Apple Blossoms. I never know, but you wanted them and you've got them. Oh, I don't really care whether I carry Apple Blossoms or not now. I wanted Apple Blossoms when I thought I was going to marry Dickie. He told me they were supposed to be very lucky. Yeah, they are. You're lucky to get Phil instead of Dickie. I'll get down and see if the car is ready and you come right down. We've got to hurry! Hurry! Julie, have you ever been in love? Hundreds of times! How do you know? How can you be sure? Oh, Miss Nancy, it would never do to be late for your wedding. No, it would never do to be late for my wedding. You're so right, Uncle George. You signed me to a lifetime sentence. How does it feel to be a married man? Well, it's a little early to tell, isn't it? But as far as I'm concerned, it isn't going to make too much difference. Just what do you mean by that? Well, you see, Uncle George, it's like this. Oh, all of his life to his wife from his wedding day. Why should he try when he can't forget with a son? Ask any man for the truth and he will say, Looks at me with a smile. I know it's girls that make life worth the while. He will be very happy. Oh, now, Uncle, you think you can be happy when you're married to one girl and in love with another? Well, I think I'll go in the other room, see what all those charming young people are up to myself. Certainly was a lovely wedding. I suppose we should join the others too. After all, it's our wedding party and we ought to try to enjoy it. Nancy, why did you marry me? Uncle George said it was my duty. I know he gave me a lot of reasons. Why did you marry me? Well, most of the same reasons. Except Uncle George had an extra gimmick where I was concerned. He's my guardian. He threatened to have me disinherited. Isn't it awful to be rich? Poor people can marry the people they're in love with. Were you in love with someone too? Well, frankly, yes. A boy named Dickie Stewart. We were engaged. Were you in love too? Very charming young widow named Ann Merton. Didn't you marry her? Uncle George says she wasn't eligible. Didn't have any steel mills. Dickie Stewart didn't have any coal mines. I know what you mean. Is he attractive? Oh, very. How about her? Beauty. Real beauty. Well, I certainly wouldn't want to come between you. Oh, no, no, no. I don't want to come between you and Stewart either. Of course, it won't make any difference to me if you want to go on seeing her. It won't? No. Well, I'll say that's dog on broad-minded of you. You go ahead and see him if you want to. After all, I don't want you to feel that you're being trapped or anything. You're perfectly free to do as you please. Well, thanks. And so are you. Shall we join them? What you do see every time you watch a freight train go by. For railroad transportation is an essential part of all defense industry. Yes, freight cars are just as necessary as the raw materials they gather from the far corners of the country and carry to our defense plants. Locomotives are necessary to move tanks and planes from factory to depot, training camp and embarkation point. For America cannot produce or use more of anything than can be hauled. That means if our needed for our national defense, railroad carrying capacity must increase right along with it. Since the end of World War II, the railroads have spent a billion dollars a year on their own preparedness program. They have bought hundreds of thousands of new freight cars and locomotives. Tracks, terminals, signals and shops have been modernized or expanded by this billion dollar a year program. The railroads have increased their efficiency and build up their strength all along the line. And they are continuing to do so. For example, the railroads now have on order more than 154,000 new freight cars enough to keep the car builders at full capacity for the next 15 months. The railroads vast improvement and expansion program is an essential part of America's rearmament effort. For there is no way in which the nation's transportation capacity can be expanded so quickly and with such economy of manpower and materials as by adding to the locomotives and freight car fleet of the railroads. Yes, the railroads are truly defense plants on wheels and in order that they may serve our rearmament and commerce most effectively it is vital that they have access to the materials they need and a chance to earn adequate revenues for the service they perform. And now here is the second act of Apple Blossoms starring Gordon MacRae and his guest star Miss Dorothy Kirsten. Thank goodness you're here. Have you forgotten about the masquerade ball we're giving tonight? People will be arriving any minute. Well, I don't have anything but to put on a mask. I'd say that's quite a dress you're wearing. Thank you. Were you with her all afternoon? Yes, I was with her all afternoon. Is she coming tonight? Mm-hmm. She'll be here. How about him? Yes, he's coming. I'll have to be quite a party. Are you two ready yet? Oh, hello, Uncle George. Hey, your guests are beginning to arrive. We're coming. Well, Nancy, my conscience has been bothering me. I don't want to make you too young people unhappy. I'm going to rage for you to get a divorce, Nancy. A divorce? Yes. Then you can marry Dickie and Phil can marry Anne. Well, we don't want to rush in anything like a divorce. No, no, no. That would take a lot of thought, Uncle George. I don't approve of divorce. Well, it may be the best thing in this instance. Come on now. We'd better join the get. Very well. You know, Uncle George, you seem to think that Dickie's the great love in my life. Well, that's what you gave me to understand a few weeks ago. Well, I was a child then. You mean Dickie's becoming like a brother to you? Good heavens, no. I haven't used that one since I was in boarding school. Boarding school? What went on in that boarding school? Well, whenever a boy came to visit us, we had to pretend he was our brother. How many brothers we had in boarding school? Did you go on and play? You kissed her? Uncle George, something terrible's happened. What? I've fallen in love with my husband. Where? In love with me. Huh? He's in love with that hideously attractive widow that he's following around there. See? Through that glass. There he is. Now, with all those young men in masks, I can't tell one to the other. Oh, Uncle George, remember when you gave the masquerade ball a few years ago? I went as a Spanish senorita and Phil was a toreadore. We danced together all that evening. I just saw him take off his mask and be mistaken about that and to stay married to Phil. I will tell him. It's the only fair and honest thing to do. Now good luck, my dear. There's something I've got to tell you. I can't go on any longer like this. I thought I was in love with you, but I'm not. I'm in love with my husband. This is goodbye, Dickie. And I do hope I haven't hurt you too much. Nancy. Well, now, Dickie, I think you've been given your walking papers. So walk. I'm not Dickie. I'm Phil. Well, now what do you know about that, Nancy? Nancy thought I was Dickie. And she told me she wanted to break it off with me, that she was in love with her husband. Uncle George, she's in love with her husband. She's in love with me. She spoke. Here's Nancy now. Take off your mask, Dickie. Darling. Oh, Phil. Was it you I just spoke to? Why didn't you say so? You never gave me a chance. And I was very glad you didn't. And I heard you say you were in love with your husband. Because by a very strange coincidence, I haven't been madly in love with my wife. Oh, Phil. Well, if you two will excuse me, and I'm sure that you will, I'll go see how Dickie and Anne are making out. Because just between you and me in the lamp post, they've been dancing together all evening. Phil. Oh, Phil. The Apple Blossoms turned out to be lucky after all, didn't they? Lucky? Lucky for both of us. Apple Blossoms with book and lyrics by William Lee Barron. And music by Fritz Kreisler and Victor Jacobi was adapted for radio by Gene Holloway. The railroad hour is brought to you each week at this time by the American Railroads. Today, as America's rearmament program gains momentum, the need for railroad transportation increases. To meet that demand, the railroads are energetically working to improve and expand every part of their operation. Again this year, just as they have for the past five years, the railroads are spending another billion dollars of their own money toward the end that there will be no limit or delay in the movement of the men and material required for our national defense. Now here again is lovely Dorothy Kirsten. Dorothy, thanks for a wonderful performance in Apple Blossoms. You know, there's no one we'd rather have around here in the springtime as a matter of fact, any time. Thank you, Gordon. But you know, I did this show with you last spring too and I've been wondering whether those apple trees don't ever bear fruit. Oh, sure. A couple of years later, Phil and Nancy have a son and they name him Jonathan and they live in a rainy climate. So they all wear Macintoshes. Oh, spies, tell me that next week on the railroad hour you're doing the fortune teller with Nadine Connors, your guest. Think of an answer for that, you big apple-pollisher. Dorothy, you've got me there. You're right about the fortune teller and we hope all our friends will be listening. And the only other thing that I can say is that you were delicious tonight. Well, dear friends, it looks as though we're ready to pull out and so until next week, this is Gordon Macrae saying goodbye. Apple Blossoms was presented by special arrangement with Tams Whitmark Music Library. Gordon Macrae can currently be seen starring in Warner Brothers' West Point Story. Our choir is under the direction of Norman Luboff and our music is prepared and conducted by Carmen Dragon. I'm Marvin Miller saying goodbye until next week for the American Railroads. Now stay tuned for your Monday Night of Music on NBC.