 Remember a Hallmark card when you carry enough to send the very best. Hollywood, the makers of Hallmark cards bring you an unusual true story on the Hallmark Hall of Fame. Our distinguished host, Mr. Lionel Barrymore. Tonight we bring you another true story of an inspiring moment in the life of a famous person on the Hallmark Hall of Fame. Not so long ago, we were blessed with a young composer. A young composer who looked neither to other lands nor to other ages for inspiration. He said and said it proudly, my people are American, my time is today. His name was George Gershwin. He used to be a neighbor of mine. Well, I'll tell you about that after the show. Tonight we're going to tell you a remarkable true story of how he opened a brilliant new chapter of our native musical history. Here now is Frank Gershwin, the makers of Hallmark cards. Whenever you want to remember a special person in a special way, let a Hallmark card speak for you. They're the symbols of friendship, and they can carry your thoughts right next door or half a world away. And here's something nice to remember. Even though the quality of Hallmark cards improves through the years, their prices remain the same. So look for the hallmark and crown on the back of each greeting you choose. It always means you carry enough to send the very best. Lionel Barrymore appears by arrangement with Metro Golden Mayor. Soon to release Dory Sherry's production, take the high ground, starring Richard Whitmark, Carl Maldon, and Elaine Stewart. And now, Mr. Barrymore brings you tonight's exciting story on the Hallmark Hall of Fame. It's January 1924, the jazz age of soaring skyscrapers, the favorite time of skyrocketing production and wonderful nonsense. The streets of New York, the big city, reflected all, and high above them, in their penthouse overlooking Hudson River. A 24-year-old composer, Broadway musical comedies and hit songs, is exercising in their home gymnasium. Well, listen to this. I was just punching the bag, and here, listen to this. You like that before? You like it? Yeah, it's nice. Now, you listen to this. I have a theme that blends in right with it. Good. I want to read something to you. Let me make a note before I forget it. All right. Now, go ahead and read. Oh, a theater section of today's times. You've seen it yet? Oh, I just got out of bed. I haven't even had breakfast yet. What does it say? Those fortunate enough to have heard the scintillating score he has composed for his latest musical, now in rehearsal, are referring to him as his Majesty George Gershwin. King George I of Jazz. How's that for in those games? King George. What gave him that idea? Oh, he was here at the party last night at what's-his-name-whites-the-colony. Heard you played the songs? Thought they were great. Well, I'm glad he liked them. Everybody does. Don't you? Well, they're all right. I guess I don't know. I'm beginning to feel restless with what I'm doing in a rut. In a rut? On a throne? Oh, I don't know. When I wrote the score of my first Broadway musical, I thought, Now, I don't seem to be advancing musically. George. See, that was a nice party last night, wasn't it? You mean, isn't it still going on? There's still people downstairs. I don't know. They drift in and out like the lobby of the estate. Well, can we work over at your place? No, no. The overflow from your party seeped across the hall to my apartment. I guess they figure George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, their brothers. One writes music, the other writes lyrics. What's the difference? Well, how about I walk along the drive then? Maybe they'll be gone when we get back. All right, just let me finish dressing. What else is in the paper? Well, Marilyn Miller got rave reviews. Glock and McCullough have been signed for... Signed for what? No, no, no. Not that a different item here. Walt Whiteman has set the date for his long-promised jazz concert. A concert presenting the finest in American music will feature compositions by Victor Herbert and George Gershwin, especially commissioned by Mr. Whiteman. And the concert is set for February 12th. That must be a misprint. No, no. Here's an ad for it up here in the corner. February 12th. But that's only three weeks away. Hello, Central. Get me Franklin 8-7-2-4. Paul knows I can't turn out a concert piece in three weeks. I need at least six months. Hello, this is George Gershwin. Is Paul Whiteman there? Oh, rehearsing. Will you give him a message for me, please? Tell him I'm on my way down to see him and ask him not to leave until I get there. It's very important. Thank you. I'll reform for a cab. Will you want an address? Paul Whiteman and his orchestra are polishing a new arrangement of one of George's tunes. Paul Whiteman had already established himself as America's outstanding arranger and conductor of popular music. He and his band had just returned from the successful tour of England and the continent. They waited quietly until the number was finished. Good. That does it for now. Take a short break, boys. Sounded fine, Paul. Ah, George. You've been here long? Just a few minutes. Paul, this is about February 12th. It's the date of the concert. Oh, I had to set it for an early date, George. You know how many years I've dreamed about it and talked about it and planned for it? Well, yesterday I learned that if I don't do it and do it fast, somebody else is going to beat me to the punch. And, George, I've got my heart set on being the first to present such a concert. I know, but February 12th, it's impossible. No, don't say that. Well, I simply can't do it in such a short time, George. George, let me tell you something. The boys and I just got back from Europe. We did pretty well there. We gave them an earful of American music and they loved it. They sang it, they helmed it, they danced to it. I know, it was a big success. Except for one thing. They didn't take it seriously. They didn't respect it. Gutter Music, some of them called it. And when I told them we were developing something new, something really vital and important here in America, they smiled pityingly at me as though I were an idiot boy. George, I've had symphonic training. I know. I'm a serious musician, just like you. I'm not in this just for money. I like it. I think it's good music. I take pride in it. So do I. To conduct a concert of our music, a real concert. That's the most important thing in my life right now. That's why I booked Aeolian Hall where the big symphony orchestras play. I... That's why I'm going to play Irving Berlin's music with Tom Kearns and Victor Herbert. George, three weeks or not, to make it completely right, I've just got to have something of yours. Like we've talked about, something important, something big. I couldn't be more flattered, Paul. I know three weeks is a very short notice, but you can do it. I know you can't. But I have a new show I'm writing. We open with it in Boston next week. Now you know what that means. Paul rehearsals, cutting, doctoring, and I... I... Oh, Ira, tell him. No, no, no, don't tell me. Look, this is a great opportunity. You could make a great contribution to music, George. Don't say no to me. Now think about it first. If you want to take your time, I'll take all the time you want, like maybe 30 minutes. Will you do that? All right, Paul, but I... I don't think I'll change my mind. I've got to get back to work now. Ira, Ira, talk him into it. Be a sweetheart. George, thanks for coming. So long, Paul. I'll phone you one way or the other. Okay. All right, boys. Number 17. Let's go. Keep the rehearsal, Paul. All plans for work gone for that afternoon. Silent and thoughtful, ain't work all the way. Fine, exciting project, Paul has. You'll carry it off, too. Why do you hesitate? Oh, it's not just a number he wants. He's asking for a serious piece of music. Real composition. Yeah. Well, a thing like that calls for time and concentration. Even then, it's a chance he matters. Now, what time have I? Till next month. As for concentration, well... Oh. Buy it, George. No, look, look. Here we are on Broadway. These last few years have become somebody on this street. That means every time I come to bat, there are people wondering, will he strike out? Will he get a hit? I'm not modest. I know my songs are good. I'm good within limits. Now, why go beyond those limits and take a chance of falling on my face? You wouldn't fall on your face. When have you fallen on your face? Oh, George, look, you're well-grounded in theory. There's nobody comes up with more fresh ideas. And you're filled from head to toe with the one and only thing Paul wants from you. What's that? Music. Try it, George. Only three weeks, Ira. Three weeks? Some compositions have taken three years to write, and they're still only good, because the composers had nothing to say. You've got a lot of fresh new things to say. Won't take you three weeks to find a way to say them? Hmm. Well, George, it's a drug store right over there with telephones, and here's a nickel. Collated. Three weeks. All right, I'll try it. Second act of the Hallmark Hall of Fame. How do you feel when the mailman brings you an unexpected letter or a card from a friend you haven't seen in a long time? Isn't there a special brightness to the day even if the snow is falling or the sun is overcast? Somehow your job seems a little easier and your joy is a little happier just by that one kind remembrance. Well, most of us haven't the time to write a letter to our dear ones as often as we think of them, but we can show our thoughtfulness in a special way, a way that takes so little time and costs so little money. I mean by sending Hallmark cards. You'll find there's a Hallmark card that expresses your warmth and wishes perfectly, a card to say congratulations to a new mother or happy birthday to a relative, or just to cheer you, hello, I'm thinking of you. Yes, sending a Hallmark card is always the gracious thing to do, and the thoughtfulness it shows is remembered long afterward. So why don't you delight someone today with a card that has a Hallmark on the back, the familiar Hallmark that means you carry enough to send the very best. And now Lionel Barrymore brings you the second act of our true story of George Gershwin. We had agreed to write an original piece of music for the jazz concert at Aeolian Hall was in the papers that evening and added fresh excitement to the project. It was also commented upon in circles devoted to serious music. Oh, ridiculous, the whole thing is perfectly absurd. Who is this Gershwin, after all? Someone told me he's a song plugger from Tin Pan Alice. When he was, when he was 15. But why hold out against him? He's written some remarkably sophisticated tunes. Ah, yes, tunes. Yes, ragtime jazz. It's hardly a sound foundation for an effort to trumpet it as marking America's coming of age musically. Well, nevertheless, I've already arranged to be there. Oh, so have I. Promises to be the fiasco of all time. I wouldn't miss it for worlds. Orders for tickets poured into the Aeolian Hall box office and a week later, white man paid a visit to the Gershwin penthouse. How's it going, George? Oh, we're in the devil of a rush. Ira and I are doing Boston tonight. My new show opens there next Monday. I won't take up your time. I just want to know how we're doing. The piece you're writing. Oh, just fine. It opens with a clarinet cadenza. How are you doing? Great. Well, you see the program we worked out. The printing alone cost $1,000. Oh, sounds lush. Uh-huh. So you open with a clarinet cadenza? Uh-huh. Tell me more. Well, that's all there is so far. All there is. George, the concert's only a couple of weeks away. I know, I know. George, I have $11,000 of my own money in this. Bertie Groffet is standing by waiting to make the arrangement. I can't just hand him a clarinet cadenza. Well, you know how it is when there's a show in rehearsal. We'll be late for the train. If we don't leave right now. Oh, hello, Paul. Hello, and good-bye. Uh, did you know who's going to be there? Damroge. Hyphens. Chrysler. Padaripsky. Rachmaninov. Trust me, Paul. There'll be more than a cadenza. See you as soon as we get back. George, John McCormick will be there. Leap. Seconds after they reached their drawing room, the train to Boston got underway. With a train with a clickety-clack of its wheels and the noise of its passengers, there'd be the last place in the world conducive to the creation of music. But what's noise to some has at its very heart music for others. In a drawing room on the train to Boston. Rehearsals. A new second-neck opening. Press interviews. That's quite a schedule you're going to have in Boston. Oh, uh, what about the music for the concert? Yeah, I've been thinking about it. Well... Well, first I thought I'd make it a regulation blues, but there's so much talk about the limitations of blues and of jazz that it has to be in strict time, for example, or it must stick to dance rhythms. Well, I want to put an end to that talk once and for all. Well, so far so good. Go on. Well, in the music, I'd like to get... hold of the feel of this country. It's pep and vitality. The craziness of the nightlife on the farm, and also the melancholy, the loneliness. All those things. Yeah. I'd like to tell about our music just beginning to find its own identity. Independent. Asking nobody's pardon. Ready to be taken seriously and respected. Not the gutter music they call it in Europe. Hear that, Aaron? Yeah. I'll shut the door. Oh, no, no, wait, wait. Music is newly born. It's lusty. It's got a pair of lungs big enough to make it hurt. It doesn't know where it's going, but it's on its way. Maybe we got a pencil? Sure, sure, here. May I get you something else? Coffee? Sandwich? Oh, no, no. Talk Avenue. The concert's only 10 days away. I must talk to George. You can't. He's upstairs. He locked himself in the minute we got back, and nobody's seen him in days. We have to leave food on a tray in the hall. But I must see him. I can't go on counting on him for opening cadenza. I haven't even heard a note of it yet. Come into my room. We've got so much riding on it. I was nervous myself until this morning. What happened this morning? When I woke up, I found this on the night table next to me. It's the first 10 pages of George's manuscript. Give me. Oh, what an opening. I'm sure that's going to be the most original thing George has ever written. These piano passages are tricky. George has decided to play those himself. Great, great. Can I take it with me? I want to start having it scored. By the way, what does he call it? First one wrote the entire composition within two weeks, an incredible effort of creation. Frédéric Guffray scored it as it came from the composer page by page, and Paul Whiteman rehearsed it with his orchestra. And on the afternoon of February the 12th, the doors of the Orient Hall were opened for the concert, and the audience began to stream in. What are you doing, Paul? Counting the house? Hello, George. Hello, Aaron. Look, look, there are people out there. Oh, you're down right there. You know they're fighting for tickets to the box office? The speculate is a cleaning up. I just can't believe it. We're really about to begin. Nervous? I've never been so nervous. You know who's sitting out there? I just saw Rachmaninoff walking. Don't worry, you're going to be great. I suddenly feel I'd like to call the whole thing off. Boy, you really are nervous. The darndest audience I've ever seen. I don't know how they're going to react. Loud, opera stars, symphony conductors, flappers, cake eaters, pluggers from Tin Pan Alley, vaudeville performers, newspapers. Paul, I feel it's going to be a success. But whether it's a success or a failure, there's one thing you can be sure of. Folks are going to know they've heard something. Excuse me, Mr. Whiteman. I don't think we dare hold the curtain any longer. They're getting feverish out there. Every seat's filled and we have standees packed in like sardines. You can raise the curtain in 30 seconds. 30 seconds, Mr. Whiteman. You ready, George? Ready. Good luck to both of you. Thanks. To the electrified attention to a brilliant performance. To the magnificent arrangement by Ferdi Gruffet, the sparkling performance of the great Whiteman Orchestra and to the making of musical history at the premiere performance of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. The first performance of the Rhapsody in Blue, a musical era was born. And today George Gershwin stands as a symbol of American music for all the world. I'll be back in a moment with a little footnote to a night story that I'm sure will surprise you. But first, Frank Glass is going to tell you how you can always be sure of making a good first impression. The other day, my wife came home from a shopping trip with a birthday gift and all the pretty wrappings to go with it. You know, Frank, she said these days it's as much fun to pick out the gift wraps as it is the gift. There's such a variety to choose from and I think the paper and ribbon you use make a nice gift even nicer. I had to agree for it occurred to me that the way a box looks on the outside is the first impression to greet the eye. A beautifully wrapped package can show your care and thoughtfulness from the moment it's given. That's why I think you'll appreciate the wonderful collection of hallmark gift wraps at a fine store where hallmark cards are sold. You'll find there are dozens of designs to delight everyone you know in colors as fresh as a flower garden. Yes, and hallmark gift wraps range from tiny patterns for small boxes to big dramatic prints for the largest gifts of all. Just be sure you select the gift wrap items with the hallmark and crown on the label. Get your assurance of quality at its finest, and it means always you'll carry enough to send the very best. And now here again is Lionel Barrymore. Well, thank you, Frank. Thank you very much. Well, they certainly do have some beautiful designs on those new hallmark gift wraps, don't they? Those fine hallmark artists really know their colors. Well, as I told you, I used to live close by, George. What a wonderful fellow he was. And how many, many melodies he had in his head. Why, do you know he was such a prolific writer he often composed a song in and out. As a matter of fact, I once knew George Grishwin to jot down four ideas for songs in one single afternoon. Let's just think of that. They were all good, too. Why, he saved every melody a little theme he ever wrote. And what a heritage of wonderful American music he left us. Why, besides the rhapsody in blue that we heard just now, let's see, there was an American in Paris and a concerto in F and that magnificent porgy in Bess Corviz. Oh, well, you could go on for hours. Yes, I remember George Grishwin well. And the whole world will remember his music. Well, Frank, what about giving our friends a preview of next week's hallmark, hall flame? Next week, we're going to honor Marcus Whitman and tell you the dramatic true story of how this frontier doctor helped save the newly opened Oregon Territory. You'll accompany him on a thrilling horseback ride across the continent from Oregon to Washington, D.C. He made this daring ride in a raging blizzard through hostile Indian country. It sounds exciting, Frank. Hope you'll all be with us next Sunday to hear Frontier Doctor, the true story of Marcus Whitman. And I'd like to invite you, too, on behalf of Hallmark Cards to the Hallmark Hall Frame on Television, which returns next Sunday starring Miss Sarah Churchill in the new hour-long dramatic series. Well, until next week then, this is Lionel Barrymore saying goodnight. Scores that have been carefully selected will give you expert and friendly service. Remember a Hallmark card to send the very best. Our producer director is William Gay. Our script tonight was written by Walter Brown Newman. George Gershwin was played by Whitfield Conner. Featured in our cast tonight were Raymond Burr, Lawrence Dubkin, Peter Leeds and Jerry Hausman. This is Frank Goss saying goodnight to you all until next week at this same time. When we present another true-to-life story of actual persons who, in their own way, have contributed to a better world than all of us who live in. Next week we honor Marcus Whitman on the Hallmark Hall of Fame. This is the CBS Radio Network. This is KMBC, Kansas City, Missouri.