 Remember a Hallmark card when you carry it up to send the very best. Hallmark will bring you Hollywood's greatest stars and outstanding stories chosen by one of the world's best known authors. Good evening ladies and gentlemen, this is James Hilton. Tonight on our Hallmark Playhouse we present our dramatization of a delightful novel by Theodore Pratt called The Barefoot Mailman. You know there are old people still living in Florida who can remember the days before the big resorts that has grew up, before the railway and the roads pushed south, and when the mail was delivered along the route between Palm Beach and Miami by mail carriers walking along the beach for 60-yard miles. These men walked barefoot, and the author says that owing to the slanting beach the trick was to be just a little quicker with the right foot going south and with the left foot going north. I think I must try that sometime when I'm walking along a beach. Anyhow, the whole background of this story represents a period as fascinating as any in American history, and to play in our starting role tonight we are happy to have that talented and popular actor John Hodyak. And now a word about Hallmark cards from Frank Goss before we begin the first act of The Barefoot Mailman. May we remind you once again that for every occasion important to your friends and loved ones, there are Hallmark cards to carry your thoughts across the miles, across the years, or merely across the way. A Hallmark card says what you want to say, just the way you want to say it, and that identifying Hallmark on the back says that you cared enough to send the very best. Our star, John Hodyak, is appearing tonight by arrangement with Metro Golden Mayor, producers of the Technicolor Musical, The Toast of the Orleans, starring Catherine Grayson, Mario Lanza, and David Niven. And now Hallmark Playhouse, presenting Theodore Prats, The Barefoot Mailman, starring John Hodyak. I'm sitting in my small house on the island of Hippoluxo. I want to write the whole thing down just as it happened so that those who come after me will know the full story. The winds rustling upon metal walls of the house as I write. Beyond the walls I can hear the hushed whisper of the jungle, the swamps. And that whisper is a background of my story, danger, threat, challenge. A man walking alone from Palm Beach to Miami gets to know that voice well, gets to know where the alligator glides closer to the bank to wait without stretch jaws, gets to know where the snake hums a low warning from the underbrush, where the bear crashes clumsily through the foliage. The jungle and the swamps give warning before they strike. But a man may not. And so I want to put down the story of Sylvainus Hurley and young master Titus. I first met Addy Titus in Palm Beach. Captain Jim and old buddy of mine hailed me as I was on my way to pick up the mail. Hey, Steve! Well, hi there, Captain Jim. I didn't know you were in Port. I'll thank about a half hour ago. Who's your young friend? Well, this is Master Addy Titus. He stood away at St. Augustine. I didn't find him till we was halfway here. He's on their way to his folks in Miami. Says his ma's sick. Running away from school, uh, kid? My ma is sick. I gotta get home to her. All right. Come along. I'm leaving in a few minutes. I'll have my belongings down on the wharf. I'll get them. I won't be by the minute. Strange, boy. Sure is. I tried to draw him out on the voyage, but I couldn't get much out of him. Touchy, too. Got a little seasick on the way, and I tried to get him to take that cap off and lie down. You know, he turned on me like I was trying to rob him. Well, it better not get sick on the way to Miami. I'm not having any punk kid hold up the United States mail. Pretty tough, aren't you, Steve? Tough enough. Yeah. I guess you can handle anything on the Florida coast, except in a woman. Well, with alligator or bear, you know where you are. It's different with a woman. But who wants to marry an alligator? Who wants to marry anyone? All right, all right. Your last trip about the location of the county seat? Well, folks in Miami say it's going to be down there. They say they've got more population than we have. Well, we'll see whether they've got more voters when the elections held. I've got my gear. I'm ready. All right. I'll get the mail sack and we'll be on our way. Oh, I'll take your shoes off. Put them in that bundle. It's easier walking the sand barefoot. Sure. Whatever you say. It was a 66-mile hike from Palm Beach to Miami. We started about dawn. We walked silently along the beach headed towards noon. I decided to stop by my island and get some supplies and give Addy a chance to rest. He was supposed to go on out to the island. But I didn't think much about it. Then I made him go anyhow. And when he saw my house, I was glad that I had. It's like Robinson Crusoe's house. Listen to the wind and the palm trees. Where did you get the house and the furniture? Oh, an old man that everybody called Uncle Charlie built it from a wrecked ship's cabin. He homesteaded the island and I used to come out here as a boy. Left here a few years ago, gave the island to me. Did he give you a paper or anything to prove it? No, but everybody knows that that's all that's necessary. Well, you'd better be careful. All sorts of people are coming to this country. You wouldn't want to lose the island. Someday you'll want to bring your wife here. When you have a wife. Yeah, I suppose if and when I will. If I've been able to talk much about anything like that. If anyone else had something like that, tell me I'd brush him off quick. If you're only a kid, and I guess that's why it don't matter. I thought about what it'd be like to have a wife out here. I thought about it quite a lot. I wondered if there was a woman who'd like to come to an island like this. I think almost any woman would love it here. It's like a garden. A wild, traffic garden. And I thought of how it'd be. I'd carry her up those steps and right through that door. And I'd stand her on her feet and I'd say, this is my kingdom, and now it's yours. And then maybe she'd say, I've waited all my life to find this kingdom. I'd spend days showing her all over the island. Showing her where the morning glories carpet the land in pink and purple. Showing her where the orange trees are hung with gold. Showing her the place on the shore where the flamingos gather. So she can watch them lift up into the universe. Scarlet wings against a bright blue sky. I have a whole island full of beauty. Beauty is a lonely thing, unless it's shared. You're different than you were in Palm Beach. You're different than you were on the trail. I like you better this way. Well, I've been talking a lot of sentimental nonsense. I don't know what got into me. Come on, we better be continuing on our way to Miami. Way south. I felt like a fool for babbling on the way I had. But the kid didn't say anything and gradually I put it out of my mind. The nightfall we built a fire. Then we laid on our backs looking up at the stars. It's a swell night, isn't it? I love the sound of the sea at night. You know, someday the railroad will be down here and you won't have to go back and forth on foot. Someday there'll be houses instead of jungles. Miami and Palm Beach will be as big as New York. Do you think Palm Beach will ever get to be the county seat? I hope it will. There's a lot of rivalry between those two places. Would you marry a Miami girl, Steve? Look, you better get some sleep. Okay. You intend to sleep in that cab? Sure. It's cold. What are you getting up for? Addy, I'd like to see you with that cap off just once. I've got a right to keep my cap on if I want to. Take it off. You can put it back on again. Do you keep away from me? I said to take that cap off. Let go of me. Let go of me. Until you take that cap to bring you off like this. You got me in a fine spot. I'm sorry, but I had to do it. I told you the truth almost. My mother is sick and that is why I left school. I didn't have enough money to travel like a woman. How old are you? Going on 19? I didn't think you'd find out until we got to Miami. I suppose I should have cut my hair. This is to pull my cap off. Well, now this is all my fault. Well, if you'd minded your own business, you wouldn't have found out. Well, what am I going to do with you? It's too far to go back. We can go on just as we were. I won't be in your way. I won't bother you. I'll walk him back if you're sad. Oh, get that cap back on and that red hair out of sight in case any of the beach corn was dropped in on us. And get some sleep so we can get started good and early. I'll sleep over on the other side of the fire. Are you mad at me? Mad at you for two cents. I'll toss you right out in the middle of the ocean. All right, go ahead and be mad. Good night. Good night. The next day and the next night, I spoke as little as possible to her. She had equally little to say to me. I hated her for the tricks she'd played on me and for the fool she'd let me make of myself with all that talk on the island. Most of all, I hated her because I couldn't forget the way her head looked in the firelight and the dreams that stirred inside me at the memory. We arrived in Miami about noon the following day. My house is right up this path. I can find my own way from here. Steve, will you come and see me sometime? I don't know. I don't have much time. Aren't you ever going to forgive me? Well, I don't know. You should have told me. I suppose there's no use expecting any lady to behave like a gentleman. I don't think I like that. Well, add it to the other things you don't like about me. There aren't any say anything about what you said at the island. And I hope you find the kind of wife you want. And Steve, since the lady is not expected to behave like a gentleman, do you mind if I take advantage of the fact just for a moment? Don't mind, Steven. I've wanted to kiss you ever since I first saw you. Goodbye, Steven. Well, you've got a great sense of humor you have. All right, go ahead and laugh. Enjoy yourself. Incidentally, you're going to have a passenger again this trip. A fellow named Sylvainus Hurley. A real slick article, if ever I saw one. I think there's going to be a big real estate boom in Florida, it does. And he wants to buy up all the property. Boy, has he got $5 to pay his way? I certainly have. You the mail carrier? Yep. I'm Sylvainus Hurley. Slick was exactly the right word to describe Sylvainus Hurley. He wore a checkered suit and a gray bowler hat. And he managed a certain dignity and assurance, even in his bare feet, splashing along beside me. He talked almost continuously on the trip down. You'd better plan on moving to Miami, Steve, my boy. Palm Beach will never be the county site. We got a difference of opinion on that point, Hurley. Miami's going to be the American Riviera. I'm going to help it become the American Riviera. You might as well face the fact, Steve, Miami's going to be much bigger than Palm Beach. I'm going to get my hands on all the property I can in Miami. You intend to buy it or steal it? What's it matter, Steve, as long as you get it? I'm going to make money in Miami. Important money. I'm going to set up a real estate business, a ferry boat business. I'm going to get that town moving. And everything's going to move through me. Incidentally, do you know any pretty girls in Miami? No, I don't. Is that a fact? Well, I was going to ask you to introduce me. But in that case, I'll get acquainted and introduce you. We arrived in Miami the next afternoon. As I rode across to the settlement, I saw a girl waiting on the wall. Never cared to me who she was till we landed. Hello, Steven. I thought I'd come down and watch for you to arrive. Hello, Addy. Well, who would have thought there was anyone as fair as this blooming in the wilderness? Hey, Steve. My name's Sylvainus Hurley. Yours is...? Addy Tide. Steve, there's a dance tomorrow night. Would you like to go? Well, Addy, I'm afraid I have to go right back with a male. Oh, isn't that a shame? And may I offer myself as a very poor substitute, bestidus? Well... Well, go with him if you want, Addy. It's your funeral. Now, if you'll both excuse me, I've got to deliver. I knew I'd acted like a fool and that I'd probably lost Addy now forever. And only then did I realize how much I'd been counting on taking her to my island. And so loss came in the hour of discovery. The moment we'll return to the second act of the Barefoot Mailman starring John Hodyak. I'm sure you'll agree there are great many letters and even just notes that you'd like to write but just never get around to writing. It's because it isn't easy to express many of the thoughts we'd like to convey. Cards have made it easy for us to carry out our friendly impulses, easy to say the gracious word to send a kindly message. For they have created personal greetings. They have put into words the thoughts and feelings that are often so difficult to express. For each friend, each loved one, for each occasion, there is a hallmark card to say just what you want to say, the way you want to say it. And the makers of hallmark cards realize that we buy greeting cards only to send to others. So all hallmark cards are created to one standard, only the finest of paper and craftsmanship, only the most beautiful colors, only the perfect words. And people know this. Just ask your friends, as I've asked mine, what name they think of in greeting cards when they want to send the very best. See if they don't answer immediately hallmark cards. They look for that hallmark on the back of every card because they carry enough to send the very best. Now back to James Hilton and the second act of the Barefoot Mailman starring John Hodyak. Hilton sat in his small house on the island of Hippoluxo writing his account of the days of that one year that he walked back and forth from Palm Beach to Miami, 66 miles up and back as a Barefoot Mailman. Sylvain as Hurley didn't lose any time getting himself established in Miami. He began some shady property deals and he organized a company that set out to run the town for his own profit. He charged a fee for anyone crossing the Miami River and he collected it too. As the town began to swell and grow, he became quite an active figure in local politics. It was of great importance to Hodyak to have Miami get the site for the county courthouse and the elections were drawn near. One evening in Miami, I went over to a square dance. Addy was dancing with Sylvainus when I arrived as I got myself a partner and joined the dance and the cry went up from the women. Two dead men down. We want everybody. We want even. Well, yeah. Since the winner doesn't seem to want to collect the prize, may the loser have the kiss as a consolation prize. Get away from her. Sure, I'll plate you. Now is as good a time to settle this as any. All right. Good. We'll take this up later, Steve. Any time you say it's just fine with me. I'm sure you can both do without me. What? Addy? Like this? I'm perfectly able to take care of myself, Steve. Is that why you spend so much time with Hurley? Sylvainus Hurley is at least a gentleman. That depends on your definition of the word. And furthermore, he's asked me to marry him. To marry him? Would you marry a man like that? He's a very attractive man. He is. He came here to bleed this country for everything he could get out of it. He's a land speculator. That phony company he set up is just as crooked as he is. Well, a girl has to marry somebody. And if one person doesn't ask her, she can't just sit around forever waiting for him to wake up. So I'm very married Sylvainus, and if you don't like it, you can just... I'm sorry I lost my temper back there. After all, there's an election coming up and we'll do much better united than divided. What do you mean? We could use you in our company, Steve. We really need a man like you. And believe me, we can pay better wages than any postman ever got or ever will get. Why do you want me? I think you can swing a lot of votes up north towards Miami for the county site. If Miami doesn't win that election, a lot of work I put in down here isn't going to mean very much. Get smart. There's money to be made if the courthouse is here. Contracts to be given out. Builders, workmen will come and the population will grow. I can use your help. You think you can borrow my help to do anything like that? I think every man has his price, Steve. I'm willing to pay your price. What is it? Wait a minute, Steve. I wanted to ask you something else. Do you know anything about an island named Hippoluxo? I understand it's a very desirable piece of property. Hippoluxo's mine. Really? I'd heard that. But I can't seem to find any records that would substantiate your claim. Of course, if you can prove your title to it, that'd settle the argument right there. Perhaps I could even help you prove your title. Look, Hurley, get this straight once and for all. You can't bribe me and you can't scare me. I'm going back to Palm Beach and do everything I can to help win that election. And after we've won it, or whether we win it or not, I'm going to do everything I can to have you and your kind thrown out of this part of the country. And what do you think you can do about it? Not very much alone. But there are a lot of people who believe, as I do, like you. We want people who are going to give something to the country, not take everything out. I think you'll discover that for yourself on Election Day. Election Day, the northeast wind blew, thrashing the trees and shunning the waters. It was far from a good day to hope to get the voters to the polls. But toward afternoon, they began to straggle in, singly and in groups. We sat up late into the night to tabulate the votes. In the next day, the committee arrived from Miami where the record of the votes cast there for the county seat. And they were pretty sure they'd won. What's the results of the election, Steve? What are your figures? What are you doing here, Hurley? I'm interested in the results of the election, Steve, so I came up with the Miami committee. As you pointed out, I have rather a big stake in this election. What's the amount of the votes tabulated here? What's yours? We asked first. Do you trust us, Stephen? No. If it turns out that we have more votes than you, then you'll change yours to a bigger amount. I'll write our figure down and you can write yours down. We'll give them both to Captain Jim, down now. We'll write our figure down. Just a second. Here's our figure, Captain Jim. Votes for the county seat to be located in Miami, 80. Total votes for the county seat to be located at Palm Beach, 112. Hell, it seemed that you'd won on all counts, Steve. This makes all my promotion plans in Miami quite useless. You won't be put to the trouble of throwing me out of this part of the country. There's very little to keep me here now. I'm heading for someplace else where I can make money. I won't be able to make it here now thanks to you and the rest of your honest voltage. I want you to take me to your father. And we'll wake him up. Maybe he won't mind this one time because I have something I've got to get off my chest and I've got to get it off right now. Is something wrong, Steve? No, I just want to tell him I want to marry you. I want to take you with me tonight. Stephen. I've been on the trail ever since we won the election. I haven't stopped to sleep or even to eat. And if you don't say yes, Addy, I may never stop to sleep or eat again. But you're playing havoc with the United States mail. Well, Stephen, since I wouldn't want to interfere with the United States mail, I think the best thing for us to do is get married and the sooner the better. Oh, Addy. Four times a day on this island. Yes, it is. I hope Sylvainus Hurley doesn't find a way to take it from us. He won't, Addy. Sylvainus Hurley has already left Florida in search of other pastures. I'm glad. Men like him could ruin this country. No. No one can ruin this country. It's too big, too young, too strong. And anything any of us prophesies about it isn't the half of what will happen. Suppose Hurley were right about Miami outgrowing Palm Beach someday. What would it matter? As long as decent people make their homes and build up a great state. Sylvainus Hurley and his smart kind won't count in the long run. Because the strength and grit of the real people will always be set against them. Stephen, remember the words you were going to say? Yeah. This is my kingdom. And now it's yours. Oh, Stephen, I have waited all my life to find this kingdom. Addy, I've waited all my life to bring you here. This is the beginning of the world for us. The beginning of the world. The actor James Hilton will return in a moment. Tonight I want to remind you of the delightful new hallmark cards for children that I told you about last week. Rock and play cards they're called because they rock back and forth all by themselves once you get them started. Can you imagine a greeting card that actually moves by itself? And there's a message on the back of each one, in rollicking rhyme the children love to read over and over again. You'll find rock and play cards for every occasion with all the characters that delight children. Cocoa, the circus clown, fluffy kitten, Donald Duck, a white swan, a little puppy, a bear. And let me tell you about the rock and play card I got from my little niece. The rocking chair card that says happy birthday to a sweet little girl. A little girl in a gay red dress sits in a high rocking chair and she really truly rocks her doll. Can't you picture the thrill of a child you love when she sees this rock and play card? How her eyes will sparkle and how busy she'll be rocking the dolly to sleep. Tomorrow see the new patented rock and play cards at the fine store where you buy hallmark cards. You'll be proud to send cards that give so much joy. And that hallmark on the back will tell the child's whole family, you cared enough to send the very best. Here again is James Hilton. Well, you certainly carried the mail in that roll, John Haudiac. Congratulations on a job well done. Thank you, Mr. Hilton. It was a pleasure to portray such a very real plot. But that seems to be characteristic of the stories you choose. They have a, well, you might call it sincerity. You couldn't say anything we'd rather hear, John. And that's what I like about hallmark cards, that same sincerity. They always seem to say what people really feel. Which is also my way of saying, Mr. Hilton, that I hope you keep up the good work. What story have you selected for next week? Next week we shall present Sir Edward Cook's inspiring story of one of the most beloved women in history. Florence Nightingale. And for the title role, our star will be Miss Irene Dunn. Our hallmark playhouse is every Thursday. Our director-producer is Bill Gay. Our music is composed and conducted by Lynn Murray. And our script tonight was adapted by Jean Holloway. Until next Thursday then, this is James Hilton saying, good night. This is Frank Goss saying, good night to you all until next week at the same time when James Hilton returns to present Irene Dunn in Sir Edward Cook's The Life of Florence Nightingale. And the week following, Octavus Roy Cohen's The Final Tribute starring Edmund Gwynne. And a week after that, the novel titled Not Wanted by Jesse Lynch Williams on the hallmark playhouse. This is KMBC, Kansas City, Missouri.