 Remember a hallmark card when you carry enough to send the very best. The hallmark cards bring you Fred McMurray in the Hallmark Playhouse. Each hallmark brings you Hollywood's greatest stars and outstanding stories and presents as your host one of the most distinguished actors of the American Theater, Mr. Lionel Barrymore. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Lionel Barrymore. You know, whenever we on the Hallmark Playhouse turn to the books of Bellamy Partridge, we are sure to find a story that both warms the heart and brings a smile of remembrance. And this is, as it should be, Mr. Partridge writes of the things he knows best, of the American small town at the turn of the century, of his father, the country lawyer, and of his family. Tonight's story is about that family and is titled, appropriately enough, Big Family. And to play the role of the father, we are very happy to welcome back one of our favorite stars, Fred McMurray. And now, here is Frank Goss from the makers of Hallmark Card. When you want to remember your friends, there's one way to make sure the card you send receives an extra welcome. Look for that identifying hallmark on the back when you select it. For words to express your feelings and designs to express your good taste. Let the hallmark on the back be your guide. For that hallmark tells your friends, you cared enough to send the very best. Lionel Barrymore appears by arrangement with Metro Golden Mayor, producers of The Clown starring Red Skelton, Jane Greer and Tim Considine. And now, here's the first act of Big Family starring Fred McMurray. The story of an American family. The story of a big family in a little town of half a century ago. It's a story which brings a wistful smile into the eyes of Samuel Selden Partridge, where it's the story of his life and his family. When Francis and I moved here to Phelps, New York, there weren't any paved roads, because the automobile had just been invented. Yes, and it would still be a few years before they put up the telephone poles along East Main Street. Come to think of it, there wasn't much of anything on Main Street, but a huge three-storied house with a mansard roof and a forest of chimneys. The day we got into town and before Francis and I unpacked our bags at the Woodpecker Inn, old Dr. Hobson drove me out in his carriage to see that house. Look at it this way, Mr. Partridge. You're brand new in our town. You want to get off to a good start in the law business if you want to attract clients? You've got to do something that'll make Phelps sit up and take notice of you. You want to fire their imaginations? Sure, me got ambition. You buy this here house and that'll do it. It sure will. You may be right, Doctor, but there's only Francis and myself. How will we ever fill 16 rooms? That's where the ambition comes in, young fella. Take my advice and buy this house. Well, I took the doctor's advice and made a down payment of $1,000, and Francis and I moved in. It wasn't long after that when Dr. Hobson paid us his first professional call, and every year or so he was back again. First there was Thad, then Louise, Elsie, Cecilia, Herb, Bellamy, Stan, and Leslie. All right, Sam, you can go in now. She's all right, huh? Francis, she's doing fine. By the way, what are you going to name the new son? Leslie, I think. Leslie pronounced, lastly. Don't be too sure, Sam. Francis? Have you seen the baby, Sam? Yes, dear, I've seen him. Is he good-looking? What a question they ask, my dear. He's your son. Oh, flatterer. Not at all, dear. Because of their mother, I've got three of the prettiest girls in town and five of the best-looking boys. And someday, someday every one of those girls of ours... I know, I know. Is going to marry a rising young attorney and the boys? They're going to have their names right under mine on the office door. Samuel S. Partridge and son's attorneys at law. Francis and I never regretted a big family. For eight children, I've just eight times as much fun as one. There were some years, of course, when I worried how I'd take care of eight ravenous appetites on a country lawyer's income. I remember one winter that problem was solved very nicely. It was the end of the day, and as I drove the rig up to the house, Louise and Bellamy leaned over the porch railing and stared open miles. Mother! Mother! Come see what daddy is it, Sam? Just what it looks like, a side of beef. Sam, can we afford it? No, no. But you remember I said I was going to handle Alex Slocum's divorce case? Well, this is my retainer fee. Courtesy of Slocum's meat market. What's the matter, Francis? Well, I just feel a little humiliated, as if we were being fed by the neighbors, eating on charities. My dear, times are very hard right now. My clients can't pay cash. Most of them can't pay at all. But the only man in town with any ready cash is Finneas Dodd. Yes, and a lot of good debt does this when Mr. Dodd takes his law work to an attorney in Rochester. I know, my dear, but let's not complain. This winter, at least, we're eating like millionaires. Sam, come help me carry this beef to the storeroom. Francis and I thought surely that meat would last until spring, but then came an early January fall. Sam, have you looked at the thermometer? It's going higher. I know, and I just smelled the beef. It's higher still. Now we can't let my legal fee go rancid. We had beef for breakfast, beef for lunch, beef for dinner. When the children were hungry between meals, there was more beef. When Herb got a black eye, he wore a beef steak. When the lady's sewing circle called, instead of tea and cakes, they had tea and steaks. Francis, Francis, guess who I brought home to dinner? Finneas Dodd. He's in the parlor. Finneas Dodd? Oh, Sam. Well, it's important that we make a good impression on him, my dear. Now, if we can handle him right, I think I can get Mr. Dodd to be my client. Oh, but Sam, our dinner... Don't worry about that. Just serve porterhouse steaks for everyone. Nothing impresses Mr. Dodd like success and when he sees all eight of our kids eating steak... Sam, we used up the last of our meat this morning. The last? Yes. Tonight's dinner is pork sausage. We raced to the nearest neighbor and followed three chickens, but even that didn't save the day with Mr. Dodd. Although I doubt you'll have need to remember it, Mr. Partridge. I'm a vegetarian. I didn't get Finneas Dodd's business, but we still managed and managed happily. Francis saw to that. When she wasn't cooking and cleaning and preserving, she was making over her dresses to fit the girls or cutting down my suits for the boys. There are those suits. By the time a pair of my trousers had been handed down to Thad and then to Herb and then Bellamy and then Stan and finally to Little Leslie, about all I could recognize of the original would be my hip pockets. But the boys didn't care. The important thing to them was ice skating on Frisbee's palm and swimming and fishing and building the Fourth of July bonfires. I remember one Fourth of July that got a little out of hand. The whole town had turned out that evening for the big bonfire in front of Phelps Dry Good Store. People were lighting Roman candles in the youngsters. Hours included were setting off canning practices. The window of the Dry Good Store was still pile high with unsold fireworks. Sam, the store window. Hey, look out, somebody threw a canning cracker through the glass. There's plenty of noise, but not too much damage. Then suddenly Francis and I realized that one of our children was missing. Bellamy researched everywhere and when we found him, it was at home in his own bedroom. I just got kind of tired, Daddy. I see, Bellamy. I wasn't feeling too good. And maybe a little scared too? Bellamy, you can tell me. Son, did you throw that canning cracker? I didn't know. We'll go through the window. Then you didn't mean to do it. Oh, no, sir. And then I wrenched and nobody knew I did it. But I know you did it, Bellamy. And what's more important, you know. But, Daddy... Son, a wrong that nobody knows about is just as bad as a wrong that everybody knows. Can't you see that? There can't be public honesty without private honesty first. What can I do, Daddy? Well, we'll take care of this together, Bellamy. Tomorrow morning. I didn't look forward to it any more than Bellamy did because the owner of the Phelps Dry Good Store as well as a good many other business in town was Phineas Dodd. We found him going over the damaged good with his store manager. So, this is the rascal that caused all this, eh? Yes. But it was an accident, Mr. Dodd. And naturally, I expect to pay for the damage. Oh, I don't think that'll be necessary. You said it was an accident. What? But you still have a loss and I want to take care of it. I'm not doing nothing at all. I see. Mr. Dodd, do you mind if I look over your merchandise? Mr. Potridge, if you'll come back some other time. Mr. Potridge. It looks to me as if the only goods damaged is some stuff that's been around here for years and years. Mr. Potridge customers are coming into the store and we're very busy. Your whole stock is insured, I suppose. It is. But now look here. You know, Mr. Dodd, someone scrupulous merchants try to collect more than they should from the insurance companies. If I paid for this damage, it might be only a tenth as much as you might get if you... Mr. Potridge. I'm sorry, Mr. Dodd. But I brought my boy down here today to give him a lesson in honesty. I don't like him to see this. Or do I like an insurance company cheated? I'll be blamed if you aren't the contriious human being I ever met. And the honestest. All right, then how much oil you serve? Sam, have a cigar. I beg your pardon. And calculate a man like me needs the honestest attorney he can find. Here, have two cigars. Are you sure you want Mr. Dodd's business? Oh, he isn't as bad as he thinks he is, Francis. Old Phineas just loves a sharp deal. And the town will be a lot better off if there's somebody to lead him out of temptation. I suppose so. Lastly? Yes, Mother. Family? Follow me? Bedtime for the eight o'clock? It's taken a long time to get established in this town, my dear, but we've finally done it. Now I think our worries are just about over. Oh, a more piano tonight, please. How on Francis would be able to take things easier? We need to have more time to spend with each other. Children! It's all right, Mother. Her just let down the banister. Oh, I'm sorry, Sam. What were you saying? Well, I didn't, but I'm going to say it right now. It's been a long time, too long a time, since I've told you how much I love you. Oh, darling. Mother! Mother, will you tell Elsie she can't wear my bustle to the party? Oh, good heavens, there's family. Every moment there's something. Well, naturally, my dear. Yet I wouldn't change it for the world. Sam, sometimes I think you're the most patient man. No, no, my dear. Just the luckiest. An act of big family is starring Fred McMurray. For the calendar shows that a very happy day is coming up soon. A day that sort of breaks up the long winter months between Christmas and Easter holidays. Of course, that day is St. Valentine's Day. Now, everyone from your kid's sister or older brother to your grandparents likes to be remembered on Valentine's Day. So better plan to drop in soon at a store that features Hallmark cards. You'll find a wonderful variety of Hallmark Valentine's to choose from. There are Hallmark make-your-own Valentine kits that the children can assemble themselves without paste or scissors and send their school chums. And teenagers especially will get a big chuckle out of the Hallmark humorous Valentine's with their hilarious designs and verses. And of course, you'll find a beautiful, personal Hallmark Valentine for that one extra special person. A Valentine that says what you want to say, just the way you want to say it to your sweetheart or husband or wife. There are lots of delightful Hallmark Valentine's too for you to send good friends and relatives. Remember, whatever Hallmark Valentine's you send, the Hallmark in the back shows you cared enough to send the very best. Now back to Lionel Barrymore and the second act of Big Family, starring Fred McMurray. For some man, happiness comes only in some spectacular achievement. Samuel Partridge's happiness was of the simplest sort. It was bound up with his friends. Through his work as a country lawyer and with his wife Frances and their eight children. I never was one for reckoning time by the calendar. I'm sure I couldn't give you the year and the month in which Elsie first joined the church choir, but I remember it clearly. And the winter when Stan broke through the ice on Frisbee's pond and almost drowned. And the summer when Louise decided she was no longer a child. One Sunday afternoon, Frances and I were having iced tea on the front porch. Oh, Louise, would you like some iced tea, dear? No, thank you. Well, here, Louise, take this chair. I'll pull up another. Oh, please don't bother. Rather really. Are you going somewhere? No. There's no place to go. Oh? Well, dear, you could run across the street and see Sally Hoffman. That isn't what I mean, mother. Leslie and his piano were making the power absolutely unbearable, always. Leslie? Leslie, will you be quiet, please? There you are, Louise. That really doesn't help. If it isn't Leslie, it's someone else. There isn't a room in the house where I can get away from the children. The children? Well, dear, there's no one in the kitchen right now. Mother, how can I think in the kitchen? Oh, so that's it. We've got 16 rooms in this barracks, but somehow we forgot to provide a thinking room. Do you think I ought to build a special one for you, Louise? Well, it doesn't have to be anything that expensive, Father. Just some place where I can be alone. Do you have any specific idea? Yes, Father. A tennis court. A tennis court? Of course, my dear. What could be a more logical place for deep father? All alone with one's racket wrapped up in one's mood and the tennis net. Well, I might find one or two others to share it with. Oh, of course. Tom Osterfield plays tennis, doesn't he? Does he? Oh, uh, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go back and finish reading my novel. Oh, Sam. Yes, I recognize the symptoms. Our first daughter has fallen in love. That's going to cost me a tennis court. Tom Osterfield, huh? He's, uh, studying to be an engineer. Now, Stan, the girls don't have to marry attorneys. No, I suppose not. It, uh, would look rather odd if my office door read Samuel Partridge and Sons-in-law. No, I guess my boys will be enough. This court was a great success for a while, but then Louise went away to school and fell in love with another boy, the boy she was to marry. But the first wedding in the Partridge family was Thads. During one of his college vacations, he took a trip out west, and one day we got a letter. Frances had just finished reading it to me. Well, she, um, she sounds like a fine girl, doesn't she? Yes, yes, she does. But I'm just sorry Thad isn't coming back to finish college. He would have made a fine attorney. I know how you must feel, Sam, but you do want Thad to be happy. Oh, of course, my dear. And I suppose her will be just as good as Sam. Perhaps I should have mentioned this before, but Herbert said something to me a few days ago. Um, he didn't want to hurt your feelings. About what, my dear? Well, Herbert doesn't think he should be an attorney. I see. He's not too good a student for no. No. Well, I guess it's really my fault. I just assumed that all of my boys would want to, you know, come to think of it, my dear, with a father and five boys all practicing law, there wouldn't be enough clients to go around. Anyway, in this house, we'd have to sue each other to keep busy, I guess. Oh, oh, oh, oh. And perhaps it should just be Samuel Cottage and son. Yes, my dear. That means Bellamy. The summer before Bellamy was to go to college, we had a quiet talk in the library. I know how much the law means to you, Dad, but somehow, it just doesn't interest me. Well, look at it this way, son. I spent most of my life building up a business here. And it's a good business. But in a few years, I'll want to start taking it easier. Well, it would help me out if you were my partner. And then someday, the business would all be yours. I understand all that, Dad. But I want to do something that's, something that's important. Oh, I see. This is not important. I think a writer is important. That's what I think I'd like to be, to write books and things. That's the course I want to take in college. All right, Bellamy. Whatever you want. You do understand, Dad. I think so, son. I think so. Later that summer, I was clumsy enough to fall and break my leg. And for two months, I was laid up at home. Someone had to carry messages to and from the office and take notes at my bedside. When that duty fell to Bellamy. Dad, Mr. Dodd is downstairs. He says it's important. Well, then don't keep Phineas waiting, son. Bring him up. It's about putting telephones into this town, Sam. We want to get a company started. We need your help with the bonds and stocks and state regulations. All right, Phineas. I'll do what I can. Bellamy, I'll give you a list of the books and papers I'll need. I just thought I'd drop by, Sam. See how my patient's doing. No, I'm good enough, Doctor. Just blame Tyre to wearing this plaster union suit. Yes, I've spent all day with Laura Osborne. I'm on the way back to see her now. Poor woman, I don't think she'll last the night. Oh, I'm sorry. Wait a minute, Doctor. She said something to me about drawing her will a while back and then she never did anything about it. Yes, I know. She tried to tell me about it today, but I couldn't help a much. Bellamy. Yes, Dad? Pitch up the rig and then get me into it somehow. We're going out to Laura Osborne's. She'll transfer as a property, fly on stopping by for advice. And then finally I was on my feet again and it was the day for Bellamy to go away to college. For Francis, the train leaves in 45 minutes. I know, dear. I've got Bellamy's bags almost back. Mother, where's my mandala? Oh, look in Stanley's room, dear. Now then, I think I have everything. Stockings, shirts, ties, underwear, underwear, comb, and rug. No, no, Francis. I know. You think I get used to the children going away, but each time it's just as hard. Something happens to them when they're at college and when they come back, they're different somehow. Yes. Yes, they're men and women, my dear, but that doesn't change their love for us or ours for them. It's sure funny, but I can't find my mandala at any place. Well, the last time I saw it, Bellamy, it was on the piano. Oh, that's too easy, Dad. But I'll look anyway. Oh, uh, Dad. Yes, son? I've been thinking. Do you suppose an attorney could be a right or two? Well, I imagine that's possible. Yes, but you don't seem to think an attorney is important. You're important, Dad. When your leg was broken, I saw how much people needed you. How much you mean to them? I guess it doesn't matter so much about being famous. It's more important to help people, to be of service. I've always felt that way, Bellamy. Then if you still want me in your office, Dad... Son, your desk will be waiting for you. Thanks, Dad. Dug on that mandala and better be on the piano. Oh, I'm so glad. Everything's worked out just fine. Yes, my dear. Everything's worked out just fine. Well, I never doubted it for a minute, darling. I guess I shouldn't have doubted it either. Because everything will always work out fine for us. It always has. It can't be otherwise when two people are in love and that love is multiplied eight times. Learning how to be a friend is a very important part of a child's education. And that, I believe, is one reason why so many schools encourage the youngsters to exchange valentines with each other. Sending a valentine to a school chum is both friendly and fun. And it's even more fun when the youngsters can make their own valentines. Well, at the fine stores that feature hallmark cards, you'll find hallmark make-your-own-valentine kits that are just perfect for children. They're easy to assemble without paste or scissors. And some have movable parts like the cowboy riding a pony and the lady in a rocking chair that really rocks. You'll find these hallmark valentine kits from 29 cents to 79 cents. One kit, for instance, has 20 cutouts with envelopes. There are also lots of hallmark valentines all ready to mail for both children and grown-ups. Humorous valentines, friendly valentines for friends and relatives, and of course, beautiful personal valentines for that one special person. Remember the hallmark on the back of the valentines you send shows you carrying up to send the very best. Here again is Lionel Barrymore. Thank you, Fred McMurray, for another fine performance. You know Bellamy Partridge's story of big families as American as ham and eggs, and you as the family man, well, you were perfect for the plot. Well, thanks, Mr. Barrymore. As a matter of fact, I enjoy doing this type of story because I think the real American family is one of the great sources of our country's strength. I don't think we can ever have too many stories of this kind. I certainly agree with you, Fred. I was interested, too, in those hallmark make-your-own-valentines that Frank Goss was just talking about. I think they're a great idea because the kids get a big kick out of making things for themselves. Well, you know how much mom and dad like to do a little supervising now and then lend a hand. First thing you know, the whole family's having a wonderful time together. That's right, Fred. By the way, you remember when you were with us on hallmark playhouse earlier this season? You told me that a hallmark card had selected one of your paintings and reproduced it on a hallmark Christmas card. Yes, I remember that. Well, I just want you to know that I sent quite a few of them to my friends at Christmas time. It was a beautiful painting. Well, that's nice to hear. Thanks very much, Mr. Barrymore. You know, I've always enjoyed painting, and it was a particular pleasure for me to be here on hallmark card. Now, tell me, what's your story going to be next week on hallmark playhouse, Mr. Barrymore? Well, next week we'll present an exciting story of adventure and romance set against the background of the Revolutionary War. It's called Trenton 76 by Elizabeth Burbridge and Robert Lee Johnson. Our hallmark playhouse is every Sunday. Our producer-director is William Gay. Our music was composed and conducted by David Rose, and our script tonight was written by Lyndon Sinclair. Until next Sunday then, this is Lionel Barrymore saying, Good night. Four hallmark cards that are sold only in stores that have been carefully selected to give you expert and friendly service. Remember a hallmark card when you carry enough to send the very best. Redmond Murray will soon be seen as the star of the forthcoming Republic picture, Fair Wind of Java. The role of Francis was played by Lorraine Tuttle and others in the cast were Anne Whitfield, Polly Bear, Ted DeCorsia, Sammy Aug, and Joel Davis. Every Sunday, hallmark cards present two great programs for the whole family's enjoyment. On radio, the hallmark playhouse with host Lionel Barrymore. And on television, Sarah Churchill brings you outstanding dramatic entertainment on Hallmark Hall of Fame. Consult your paper for time and station. 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 print in 76 on the Hallmark Playhouse. This is the CBS Radio Network.