 Remember a Hallmark card when you carry enough to send the very best. Tonight from Hollywood, the makers of Hallmark Reading Cards bring you David Niven in Lorna Doome on the Hallmark Playhouse. This week Hallmark brings you Hollywood's greatest stars in outstanding stories chosen by one of the world's best known authors. They distinguish novelist Mr. James Hilton. Ladies and gentlemen, this is James Hilton. Tonight on our Hallmark Playhouse we dramatize the great novel Lorna Doome by the English writer Richard Blackmore. Lorna Doome was written over 80 years ago and was an immediate success, not only establishing its author's reputation, but beginning a popularity which has lasted to this day. It isn't hard to see why this story proved so attractive. It's full of open air freshness and the spirit of adventure. Indeed its hero and heroine have proved so memorable that nowadays the places where they lived in fiction are linked with their names for countless visiting tourists. Lorna Doome is certainly one of the romantic. The Doome Valley, or Exmoor as you will find it written on the English maps, is one of the loveliest spots on earth. To stars our hero and Lorna's hero, we are fortunate indeed to have with us that fine actor David Niven. And now here is Frank Goss from the makers of Hallmark cards. When you're looking for a way to say something to someone you care for, look for a Hallmark card and you'll find the card you want to send. Because Hallmark cards are designed to say what you want to say, the way you want to say it, with the good taste you demand of anything that bears your personal signature. That's why Hallmark on the back of a greeting card has come to mean you cared enough to send the very best. And now here is the first act of Richard Blackmore's Lorna Doome, starring David Niven. Picture a strange valley, dark in the deaf and twilight, Glen Doome it's called, and legend tells how the Doome family, a band of outlaws, in revenge for wrongs done by the government, lived by plundering the countryside, always retreating afterwards to the valley where no outsider dare venture. It is John Rid who tells our story. John Rid, who fell in love with the mysterious, the lovely Lorna Doome. How can I tell you about Lorna? Except to say that I've loved her all the days of my life. Since time began it seems. Perhaps my story rightfully begins when I was 12, and I was suddenly called home from school. How I look forward to seeing my father. But when I arrived home, I was greeted only by my mother's tears. Oh John, oh my poor boy, your father is dead. Oh no, killed by those cabbages, killed by the Doome. I am my father's only son. It is my duty to avenge you. No, the Doomes will kill you too. Perhaps when you are a man. But not now, my son. Not now. The old feels more like a man than many a 30-year-old. So I headed for the valley no man of our community had ever visited, Glen Doome. I knew only one entrance, behind the whirlpool and waterfall of bag-worthy stream, through the blackness of bag-worthy wood, where each tree seemed to loom like a giant in the eyes of a 12-year-old. Painfully, I climbed the rocky steps of the waterfall, the ragged edges tore at my bare feet, and when at last I reached the top, I sank down exhausted. Please don't be dead. I'll open your eyes. Now try to be better, won't you? Who are you? I bow your feet of bleeding. Here, I'll tie them up for you with pieces of my dress. Thank you. I've never seen anybody like you before. My name is John Redd. What's yours? Lorna. What is your last name, Lorna? Doome. Do you hate me because of that? No, Lorna Doome. How could I hate you? Go. Go quickly. They would kill you if they found you here. Please go. And take very good care of your feet, please. John Redd. When I was 22, I never visited Glendoon again. But a boy's heart heard the wind whisper her name from the depths of that strange valley. Though she belonged to the family of my enemies, I must see her again. Great rocky slide of bag-worthy falls was still dark and difficult to climb. The water, which long ago touched my knees, now was satisfied with my ankles. When I reached the top, she was standing there, almost as if she had been waiting for me. Hello. Well, you don't remember me, but I remember you, Lorna Doome. As if I'd seen you every day of these long years. Of course. The boy who cut his feet so on the rocks. How are your feet, Master John? Your smile and your kindness and the tears in your eyes cured them in an instant. I remember. But you do not seem to remember, sir, how dangerous it is for you to be here. Tell me. Please tell me, Mrs. Doome, why there is such terror in your eyes when you glance back towards Glendoon. I'm afraid because I am a Doome. And there is no one to teach me what is right. Have you no mother or father, Lorna Doome? I have no remembrance of mother or father. Although they say my father was the eldest son of Sir Ensa Doome, who rules this tribe of Robbers. I have heard of Sir Ensa Doome. Is he not an old man? A very old man. And when he dies, they say I shall be queen of this valley of violence. Let me take you away. Oh, Master John, read how bravely you speak. I must go quickly. No. Never come back. Or I'm too married to Carva Doome. To Carva Doome? You have heard of him too, Master John. For he has a reputation as the fiercest of all the Dooms. Oh, I beg you, someone is coming. Return to your sunny, outside world. And forget you ever heard the name of Lorna Doome. I scrambled down the rocky defile, back to the outside world. But I carried with me the look in her eyes. I carried with me the feel of the air between us. I brought back from Glen Doome the knowledge that I was in love. And the whole valley beneath me echoed like a great bell. Doome! Doome! Lorne Doome! These times we met, in starlight and sunlight, in the cool, watery silence behind bag where he falls. Each time Lorna begged me never to return again. She might just as well have asked me not to return to light, to air, to life. But then, one day she led me by the hand in the direction of Glen Doome. Where are we going? To see my grandfather. Sir Ensa Doome? He's dying. He wishes to speak to you. I had his promise. No one will harm him. Why does he want to see me? Because I've told him I could never marry Carva. Because I'm a love of Master John Rift. Oh, Lorna! Lorna led me past a dozen silent men, standing as motionless as great trees and into a low hut. The room was cold and dark with only two sputtering candles. Then I saw him, the oldest man I have ever seen, stern and silent, with death in his face. He sat upright in a chair with a loose red cloak thrown over him. On this his white hair fell and his pallid fingers seemed like yellowed marble. Only in his great black eyes fixed on me so solemnly did I see the life of his soul burning. Do you know what you have been doing, John Ridd? Do you have sense enough to realize? I know I've set my eyes far above my rank. Oh, she is a doom! Sir, the Ridds have been honest men twice as long as the doers have been roped. We have taken only what has been taken from us. Such as my father's life. You are a fool! I am too old to shout, too old. I wish to die. Let me die knowing how a princess will not toss her life away, marrying a fool. Grandfather! I forbid you ever to see this child again. Sir, I will not listen to you. Then you will promise, Lorna, child. Swear, swear, for I am so weary. The words are as knives in my mouth. Sir, we will not swear. Lorna will not, and I will not. Must I tell you? Will you force me to tell you? Tell us what, Grandfather? It was your father who killed John Ridd's father, Lorna. Oh, no! It was his father who killed yours at the same instant. Do you wish a double curse always over your heads? And as if in a terrible dream, we knew. Sir Ensa Dune was dead, and the head of this tribe of robbers was now my beloved, my Lorna Dune. We'll return to the second act of Lorna Dune, starring David Niven. You know, thoughtfulness and kindness are acquired habits. If you've ever been around when a child first starts learning how to share with a playmate, you'll know what I mean. Even after we're grown, most of us appreciate having special days to remind us to be thoughtful. That's why so many parents and educators have expressed appreciation of the new Hallmark Maybaskets. They offer a wonderful opportunity to teach children thoughtfulness. When the classes are having a Maybasket project, the children make and distribute Maybaskets filled with flowers or bits of candy to veterans hospitals, children's hospitals, or adult shut-ins. And they're thoroughly enjoying this because the Hallmark Maybaskets are so beautiful, they serve as inspiration for all forms of generosity. When you see how the children enjoy making and giving Hallmark Maybaskets, you'll want several packages for your own children. With only 50 cents for a package of five different designs, you can easily do so. Stop in tomorrow and ask to see the new Hallmark Maybaskets. And say, fathers, can you think of a nicer suggestion than for the children to make and give a Maybasket to mother on Mother's Day? Now back to James Hilton and the second act of Lorna Dune, starring David Niven. I'm the black whirlpool of Bagworthy Stream. In a wilderness of rocks and crags lies Glen Dune. The outside world is Devon. The fairest county in England. A world of woodland and green grass and orchards full of content. But those rocks and crags are the portals of the unknown. And it is there that Lorna Dune beckons us. A symbol, perhaps, of the unattainable in all of our lives. The lovely Lorna Dune. Summer faded into fall and then winter was upon us. This was the winter my greatest sorrow, for I did not see my Lorna. Perhaps you have read of that winter. The snows higher than a man's eye, the streams frozen, the trees cracked from the great frost. Nature conspired it seemed to carry out the old man's dying wish that we be apart. My son, it does no good to stare out of the window. Go to her. Though you risk your life, go to her. You know? You know about Lorna? Mothers are not so unaware of what goes on in their children's heart. Oh, Mother, what shall I do? You must stop tossing and turning at night and shouting her name as if some great guilt hung on your heart. But, Mother, oh, how can I tell you? It was her father who killed my father. Old Ensa Dune told us this just before he died. Would you not hate Lorna for this? All the days of her life? And you not hate me for loving her? Our family Bible says, love your enemy. Bring her here to our farm. All the dunes will follow. Carva Dune is a savage. Our lives will be in danger. Come here. Take my hands. Do you see fear in my eyes? No, Mother. I believe that miracles happen to people who are in love. So I set off across the ice-grip moors toward my love. I dug my way through drifts. I scaled the frozen heights of bag-worthy falls, hacking stairs from the silent solid stream of ice. Then I stood again, a speck of black against the white emptiness of Glen Dune. I searched through the empty streets of their village like a man in a dream, walking through a land of the dead. At last I came to the house I knew was Lorna's. Lorna? Lorna is John. John Redd. Lorna! Lorna! What have they done to you? Run off to the caves in the hills and left me here to starve. Oh, my darling. Because I said I would not be the leader of their tribe, as long as they robbed and killed. And they tried to force me to... To marry Caradou? I wished to die, John, for I thought that you had forgotten about me. I've come to take you home. Home? Home. Don't think I've ever known what it means. You shall, my darling. You shall see what it means. I still speak of how I kidnapped the most beautiful of the dunes and brought her to my mother's house. Down the icy stairs of bag-weather falls I carried her in my arms. In our home before the roaring fire, we gave her food and warmth and love. But then a shadow fell across the snow. A giant black shadow against the winter whiteness. The guns of the dunes are pointed at every corner of your house. Carver? Oh, John, it's Carver, dude. At the wink of an eye, we can set your farm blazing. Let him shout himself out. Before the rain. Oh, John, I must go back to Glendon. No, Lorna, you will not go back. There's one way they can never take you away from me. At dawn tomorrow we shall not be here, but standing side by side before passing Bowden in the parish church. The company here assembled, I pronounce you, man and wife. She turned to me. And from the depths of her eyes she said, I love you. Such soft eyes, such loving eyes, smiling yet with a touch of happy tears. And then the gunshot rang through the church and those eyes were filled with death. I remember the things that happened to them in great moments of crisis. I recall it only as a hazy and terrible dream. I cannot tell you what I did or felt or thought when I saw Lorna lying at my feet. They are something ridiculous like what day it was, what month of the year. Then I placed my wife in my mother's arms and went forth to my revenge. Headed across the windswept fields towards a giant figure. Carvedoom. Up on his earth another hour together. I sprang forward knowing that this man had killed everything in the world I loved. My strength was a minute I had him helpless on the ground. He'll kill me. Why shouldn't I? Before you, why have you done this thing? Princess, from the day we kidnapped her as a child, she was our princess. Kidnapped her? Then she's not a dude. What difference does it make? She's not really a dude. Tell me! The did not kill my man. For this news I'll let you go, Carvedoom. Go. And thank God I'm not as vicious as you. Go now! You poor fool! He was looking back, taunting me, and he did not see the edge of the cliff. He lost his footing and plunged headlong into the empty valley below. Thought of Lorna's death, like a heavy knell in my brain. I could hardly see my mother's face as she met me at the door. It belongs to me, even though and I shall pray to die so I can be with her. She's not dead, John. She's going to get well. Oh, Mother! She's going to live to be your wife, your home, your happiness. Lorna! Oh, Lorna! Hello, Carvedoom. Year by year, her beauty grows with the growth of goodness, kindness, true happiness, and above all, with loving. And to this day, each sunbeam that touches the fair county of Devon speaks her name, and the valleys of Devon echo with the thought of her loveliness. Inselton will return in a moment. There's no gift you could give your mother that would mean as much to her as your love, expressed in both words and actions. Now, of course, only you can express your love in action, but you can find a hallmark card to help you express it in words. And sometimes the right words inspire action, you know. So during this week before Mother's Day, resolve to stop in and see the beautiful collection of Mother's Day cards at the fine stores where you buy all your hallmark cards. Choose one that says what you want to say to your mother, the one above all others that seems as if it's written for the two of you. You can find such a one, you know. You can find a hallmark card to say what you want to say, just the way you want to say it. Including that hallmark on the back which says you carried enough to send the very best. Here again is James Hilton. Whenever you see the name David Devon heading a cast, you can always count on something fine and exciting. And tonight gave us just that. Thank you for being with us on the hallmark playhouse tonight, David. I enjoyed being here, Jimmy. You hallmark folks certainly know how to make a person feel good with all those kind words. You must take your inspiration from the hallmark cards. And we could too, for as you know besides the traditional friendliness, there's also that longstanding reputation for sincerity. So you can be sure that any words of praise you hear from me are deserved. Thank you very much. What are you planning for the hallmark playhouse next week? Next week we shall have our special story for Mother's Day when we dramatize the story of that very famous mother who was Whistler's mother. Our story will be based on the book by Elizabeth Mumford and our guest for the occasion will be the charming Jane Wyman. Sounds great. I'll be listening. Good night, Jimmy. Good night, David. Our hallmark playhouse is every Thursday. Our producer director is Bill Gay. Our music is composed and conducted by David Rose and our story tonight was dramatized by Lawrence and Lee. Until next Thursday then, this is James Hilton saying good night. Carefully selected to give you expert and friendly service. Remember a hallmark card when you will carry it up to send the very best. David Niven will soon be seen in the Universal International Release appointment with Venus. The role of Lorna Dune tonight was played by Lorine Tuttle and Sarah Rid was Virginia Gregg. Others in our cast were Raymond Burr, Norman Field and Whitfield and Dick Beals. You are invited to the Hallmark Hall of Fame every Sunday afternoon on television, consult your paper for time and station. A nursing career offers girl graduates a professional education, an interesting career in many fields and the rewarding satisfaction of being of service to others. More nurses are needed. Encourage the girl graduates you know to unroll as a student nurse. This is Frank Goss saying good night to you all until next week at the same time. When Hallmark Playhouse returns to present Jane Wyman in Elizabeth Mumford's Quistler's Mother and the week following P.C. Headleys, the Marquis de Lafayette starring Jean-Pierre Armand after that Virginia Tapnell Peacock's Marcia Burns on the Hallmark Playhouse to City, Missouri.