 Remember a Hallmark card when you carry enough to send the very best. The Hallmark greeting cards bring you Lionel Barrymore in Carl Van Doren's Benjamin Franklin on the Hallmark Playhouse. Hallmark brings you Hollywood's greatest stars in outstanding stories chosen by one of the world's best-known authors. A distinguished novelist, Mr. James Hilton. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is James Hilton. Tonight on our Hallmark Playhouse, we tell you the story of Benjamin Franklin, dramatized from a book which won the Pulitzer Prize, Carl Van Doren's Fine Biography. Perhaps there's no American in history whose interests were so varied and whose character was so intricate as Benjamin Franklin's. Certainly he was the first American who, by his own personal contacts, made Europe aware that here was a great nation destined to be greater. Scientist, diplomat, philosopher, patriot, and world citizen, Franklin's life is a kaleidoscope of changing scenes and vivid happenings. To take the exacting role of such a fascinating, even fabulous personality, we have none other than Lionel Barrymore. And I think you'll agree that the choice is most fortunate. And now a word about Hallmark cards from Frank Goss before we begin the first act of Benjamin Franklin. When you're looking for a way to say something to someone you care for, look for a Hallmark card and you will find the right words. Because Hallmark cards are designed to say what you want to say, the way you want to say it. And in 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. Our star Lionel Barrymore is appearing tonight by arrangement with Metro Golden Mayor, producers of the Technicolor musical The Great Caruso starring Mario Lanza and Anne Blythe. And now Hallmark Playhouse presenting Carl Van Doren's Benjamin Franklin starring Lionel Barrymore. He was resting quietly at the moment. A short time passed he had been in great pain, but that had dimmed and was gone. And peace had rested a cool, quieting hand on his spirit and his weary body. Around his bed his daughter and his grandsons watched him anxiously. He smiled once and they smiled back reassuringly, but he didn't see them. He was smiling at memories that crowded his room. I've lived upon this earth 84 years and three months. It's a long time. For 84 years I've been living, thinking and working. Now I'm worn out with this. Clock can't be rewound against running down. Soon it'll be silent all together. Strange at these oldest moments of my life I should be remembering some of the youngest moments. Yesterday when I was a boy I walked down the streets of Philadelphia for the first time munching on one loaf of bread and carrying two others under my arms, dreaming of the future and the mysteries of the universe. Yesterday I was a young man in love and loved and Deborah was beside me. Deborah and I and the world were young together. I'm Deborah. My father said you're going to board with us. What's your name? I told her that my name was Ben Franklin and that I was an apprentice and that I was going to work in Andrew Bradford's printing shop. And as the days and the months went by I told her of my hopes and sometimes of my dreams. I loved her then with the love of a boy. And when her mother said that we were too young to think of marriage I parted from her with the sadness of a boy. I went to England, worked at the printing trade there and when I returned to Philadelphia I was a man grown and I loved her as a man. I've missed you Ben. Over and over I've asked myself will he return? I was so afraid you never would. I see myself now sitting at her feet telling her of my plans. I'd open the printing shop of my own and I'd write pamphlets and publish them and some day I'd publish my own newspaper, my own almanac. I'd explore literature and science and she'd be beside me. All these things pass through my mind as I waited for her answer. I shall be honored to be your wife Ben. I took her to wife September the 1st 1730 and found joy and satisfaction and great happiness. 84 years and three months lived long time. But yesterday I was young. Deborah what is that husband of yours up to? What do you mean? Why that almanac of his is the talk of Philadelphia. Oh you mean poor Richard. I'm afraid I've married a man who's full of nonsense. And great sense Deborah listen to what he says within these pages. Fish and visitors smell in three days. He does not possess wealth, it possesses him. The rotten apple spoils his companions. The absence are never without fault or the present without excuse. He that takes a wife takes care. Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. In the affairs of this world men are saved not by faith but by the want of it. God helps them that help themselves. Yesterday I was young, savoring life, tasting it, finding it both palatable and unpalatable. Living moments that would remain among the most cherished of my memories. You're very quiet Ben. You've been staring at that baby for almost an hour. What on earth are you thinking about? I don't know what I answered. I do know that no words could express my thoughts at that moment. I held my son within the circle of my arm, Master Francis Franklin. I teach him, guide him, love him. He take my name on into the years beyond me and see things I'd never see. Be a part of the future we were working for. Have children of his own. Here was the living proof of his mother's and my love. Given breath made articulate. My son was a year old, two years old, three years old, four. Filling the house with his bright noisy laughter and I grew four years with him. Writing, working, studying, finding something to occupy me everywhere I turned. Life was rich, full, exciting, gratifying. There was no hint of tears then. And I had no time to pause and think that tears must always come. When sorrow entered our lives, it entered with swift, blinding pain. The baby is ill. I sat by my small son's bed, agony and terror moving inside me. He was four. He walked in my image and likeness. He was my son. Papa, Papa. His hands burned into mine. But my own were chill as I gripped him. Papa, it's dark. It's so dark, Papa. I tried to light the darkness for him while we waited for the doctor. I had him bring more candles. More candles, more candles. It's getting dark, Papa. It's getting dark. I lived for the coming of the doctor and died when he turned from the bed. Smallpox, Mr. Finley. Smallpox. We'll do what we can, of course. My son died on November the 21st, 1736. And grief entered my house and my heart and left a particular loneliness that would never quite be appeased. Left a particular heartache that would never, never quite leave me. Then it's almost morning. You must get some rest. You've sat at that window the whole night. Then... I tried to answer, but the words caught in my throat. I'd been writing. I handed it while I'd written. A false report has been circulated that my child died from being inoculated for smallpox. Inasmuch as some people are by that report deterred from having that operation performed on their children, I do hereby sincerely declare that he... that he was not inoculated. Oh, man. There was young, studying life, arguing about it, philosophizing, exploring it. In 1746, at Boston, I met a doctor, Spence, who showed me some electrical experiments. I bought his apparatus and gave up the entire winter to the study of electricity. Ben, dinner is almost ready. You could wait for a while, Deborah. I think we're going to have a storm. Well, my dear, I guess it will have to. But why are you waiting for a thunderstorm? My dear, I want to fly a kite. Fly a kite? Yes. Dan, I don't know. Stop looking at me like that. I may not be as crazy as I sound. I've made a kite of a large silk handkerchief and two cross sticks. I have some wires connected to the end of it. I'm going to see if I can't pull lightning out of the clouds with it. I'll go to that science or witchcraft, Benjamin. My dear, I don't care what it's called if I can just do it. Excitement of that memory. Of standing in the rain, watching the kite mount the sky, of seeing the electric fire drawn to the wire on the end of it, the string gripped in your hands, and the mysteries of the infinite sparking and cracking at the other end of it. The incredible, breath-stopping excitement of standing alone on the brink of discovery. Well, Ben, now that you've proven your theory about electricity, what do you intend to do with it? Is it of any practical use? Is it of any practical use? Gabbra, this will be the means of protecting houses and ships from being struck by lightning. Well, how can it be? I am going to publish the report in the Almanac. If people will take an iron rod and drive one end three or four feet into the moist ground and leave the other end six or eight feet above the highest part of the building and secure it to their houses and in the manner I tell them, they'll never be struck by lightning. You know, my dear, you're a most extraordinary man. Of course I am. Why else would you have married me? Well, I married you because... Because I was smart, brilliant, well-read, literate. Not on your life. Well, then it must have been because I was bright, dashing and witty and charming. Yes, my dear. Because you were bright and witty and charming. And completely irresistible. And besides, who would have the courage to decline an offer of marriage from Benjamin Franklin, the most distinguished man of his day? Flattery will get you nowhere, madam. No, not one more farthing. I'm very proud of you. It seems to me that everyone in the country turns to you for advice. Everyone, madam. Advice is the easiest thing in the world to give. Good advice is sometimes the hardest thing in the world to get. And yours is always good. Well, by all means only. You're a canny woman and a lovely woman and a confoundedly smart one. I love you very much. My dear, I love you forever. Yesterday I was a young man in love and loved. Deborah was beside me. Deborah and I and the world were young together. The second act of Benjamin Franklin's starring Lionel Barrymore. Perhaps no American has demonstrated the power of words as well as Benjamin Franklin. In his many letters and public writings we can almost trace his success to an ability to express ideas and feelings to others. Yes, Benjamin Franklin certainly knew and respected words and their power over the minds and hearts of people. The makers of hallmark cards know and respect this power also. Though a greeting card is not intended to present history-making ideas, the words on it are certainly important because they express the feelings of one person to another. And it's this quality of making the person-to-person feeling really felt through the use of words that distinguishes hallmark cards. That's why you can always find a hallmark card to say what you want to say, just the way you want to say it to your friends and loved ones. And it explains why, through the years, more and more people have come to prefer hallmark cards. They have found that you can always look to a card with hallmark on the back for a warm, friendly person-to-person greeting. On those occasions, when you want your friends to know, you cared enough to send the very best. Now back to James Hilton and the second act of Benjamin Franklin starring Lionel Barrymore. The old man lay staring out the window. The curtains moved softly in the breeches. He watched them and thought of other nights. It seems impossible that I've lived 84 years, that the days and weeks and months of those years have been lived and are gone. Here, here, then yet I'm tired. When sleep comes, I'll welcome it. It'll be good to sleep, knowing that when I wake, Deborah will awaken me. Deborah, I think I've memorized every expression of her face. I see her now as she looked the day I told her I must go to England. Why must it be you? Well, someone must present our case to Parliament. Taxation without representation is unbearable. You know that, Deborah. Is there no one else to go? You and I are growing old then. We have little enough time left to... Well, come with me. How can I? We have a new house half built. There's a family to take care of. You're affairs to watch over too. I'm needed here. Oh, I'm needed there. Then you must go. And I will pray to God that he'll watch over you and keep you and bring you back to me. Leaving the wife that I cherished, the country that I loved, I'll try to explain to Parliament the attitudes and thoughts of my countrymen. Will you tell the Parliament for the record your name and place of abode? Franklin, Philadelphia. Do the Americans pay any considerable taxes among themselves? Oh, certainly many. And very heavy taxes. Are you not concerned in the management of the post office in America? Yes, I'm Deputy Postmaster General of North America. Are not the colonies, from their circumstances, very able to pay the stamp duty? In my opinion, there is not gold and silver enough in the colonies to pay the stamp duty for one year. Do you not think the people of America would submit to pay the stamp duty if it was moderated? No, never. Unless compelled by force of arms. Have you not heard of the resolutions of this house and of the House of Lords asserting the right of Parliament relating to America, including a power to tax the people there? Yes, I've heard of such resolution. Then what will be the opinion of the Americans on those resolutions? They will think them unconstitutional and unjust. The right to lay internal taxes was never supposed to be in Parliament as we are not represented there. They'll oppose it to the last. Tell me, Mr. Franklin, what used to be the pride of the Americans? To indulge in the fashions and manufacturers of Great Britain. What is now their pride? To wear their old clothes over again till they can make new ones? Well, you've won the day, Mr. Franklin. The stamp act has been repealed. Mr. Franklin, do you hear what I'm saying? Yes, I hear you. Is something wrong? I've just received word from home. My wife is dead. I've been largely in the service of my country. I'd won the day, but not the battle. Other taxes were levied. War came with all its hardships and heartbreak. But when it passed, we were a free people and liberty was ours. Then our problem became what should we do with it? How should we handle it? How could we ensure it for those who come after us? Mr. Franklin, it is a great pleasure to be a guest in your house again. General Washington, my house is always honored by your presence. I'm happy to know that you are to attend the Constitutional Convention, sir. You are in the opinion of all of your countrymen, the greatest man of your age. Oh, you're far too generous, sir. But I realize the affection that prompts your words, General, and I thank you. You will have a great deal to contribute to the convention. No, no, no, no, no. The great contributions will be made by younger men than I. I'm 82 now, General. I can dream of the future, but I can really speak only of the past. My presence at the convention will be only a brief triumph over my years. I think you are the wisest of us all, and you have all the garnered wisdom of the years behind you on which to draw. Oh, I'm a spectator now, General. This is my leave taking from a life of action. Younger men will have to carry out the plans that are made, and I have great faith in those young men. They know the value of liberty. They fought with a sword to obtain it, and they'll fight now with words to keep it safe forever. The fires of freedom that were kindled at Valley Forge will never be allowed to go out. They'll be fan brighter and brighter with the passing years until this country will stand proud and indomitable, a citadel of free men, a hope for enslaved men everywhere. In three months lived, and now the sands are running out. Clocks running down, the last friends have been greeted. Almost the last word said, surely it's time now to remember the words that I wrote yesterday when I was very young. To be put by for these moments, when I was very, very old indeed. Thank heavens for whatever wit and knowledge possessed me at 22 to write my epitaph, the words with which I'd say farewell at 84. The body of B. Franklin printer, like the cover of an old book, its contents torn out and stripped of its lettering and gilding lies here. Food for worms. But the work shall not be lost, for it will appear once more in a new and more elegant edition, revised and corrected by the author. James Hilton will return in a moment. Soon you'll be wanting to send your congratulations and best wishes to the young graduates you know. For graduation day is one of those memorable occasions made more memorable by the thoughtfulness of friends and loved ones. It's one of those occasions when the Hallmark card is particularly appropriate, a card that will express your thoughts and your thoughtfulness perfectly, saying just what you want to say the way you want to say it. So just as you look for Hallmark cards on those other occasions when congratulations are in order, birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, remember to look for Hallmark graduation cards. You'll find the words of congratulations seem warmer, more personal, more what you'd like to say. And remember, in addition to the words inside the card, that familiar Hallmark on the back is recognized everywhere as meaning you cared enough to send the very best. Here again is James Hilton. Lionel Barrymore, it's always a great occasion when you visit the Hallmark Playhouse. For besides giving us magnificent entertainment, you're one of our favorite people. It's good to see you again. Well, thank you, Jimmy. Thank you. You mean I wasn't invited to pay Benjamin Frankenstein, but because I happened to have been born in Philadelphia. You were? Yeah. I didn't know that. Who? Well, you were invited because you have the sharp wit and good humor we associate with the name Benjamin Franklin. In addition to your acting ability, of course. Now, there's a diplomatic statement if I ever heard one. But speaking of my birthplace reminds me that I had a birthday a couple of weeks ago. And that's something I don't speak of very often. And I must say it was a pleasure to receive so many beautiful birthday cards. You will be interested to know that you may notice that most of them are Hallmark cards. Well, that's good to hear, Larry. And I'm sure I speak for the makers of Hallmark cards and for all of us when I say we hope you'll be enjoying Hallmark cards for many, many more birthdays. Thank you, Jimmy. Thank you. What are you having on the Hallmark Playhouse next week? Next week, our story will be George H. Chamberlain's Scudder Who, Scudder Hey. The story of a boy who, by learning love and patience with animals, grows up to apply the same lessons in his context with the world. And to play the part of the boy we're happy indeed to welcome Don McAllister. Our Hallmark Playhouse is every Thursday. Our director-producer is Bill Gay. And our music tonight, taking from the music of the period was conducted by Bernard Herman. And our script was adapted by Gene Holloway. Until next Thursday then, this is James Shulton saying, Good night. Collector to give you expert and friendly service. Remember a Hallmark card when you carry it out to send the very best. The role of Deborah tonight was played by Lorraine Tuttle. Barbara Jean Wong was the child. Ted Osborne, Washington. And then write the Englishman. This is Frank Goss saying, Good night to you all until next week at this same time. When Hallmark Playhouse returns to present Lon McAllister in George H. Chamberlain's Scudder Who, Scudder Hey. And a week after that, the story of Johnny Appleseed adapted from Bright Newell Hillis' The Quest of John Chapman starring Lou Ares on the Hallmark Playhouse. This is KMBC, Kansas City, Missouri.