 Anne Revere and Ted Donaldson in circus day on the Cavalcade of America sponsored by the DuPont Company, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. The first here is Gain Whitman. Before we begin our play tonight, here is helpful information about DuPont Z-Land durable repellent finish. Z-Land is the water repellent that is different because it is durable. Rainwear, sportswear and children's clothes treated with Z-Land do not need reprocessing because unlike ordinary water repellents, Z-Land protection will not come out at the laundry or dry cleaners. Z-Land treated garments will continue to give you rain protection after many washings or cleanings. DuPont Z-Land, it's one of the DuPont Company's better things for better living through chemistry. The DuPont Company presents circus day starring Anne Revere as Mrs. Hopkins and Ted Donaldson as her son Jeff on the Cavalcade of America. Here's folks, it's the Bolton and Leopold Yellow Circus, one of the dozens of circus companies that have crisscrossed America for many a decade. Circus day has been and still is a time when the heart beats faster and carnival fever run through towns like an epidemic. This is the story of the long-awaited day in the little town of Fairfield, Iowa. It is 4.30 in the morning and the Bolton and Leopold Yellow Circus is unloading from the railroad siding. The circus has come to town. Here she goes. How easy is he like? That's the last wagon off. Get a move on, Lance. Okay. Get her off the siding there. The cat cages off first and settle them down. Fine morning. Fine morning. Yes, sir. Well, I'll get along out of your way. See you at the lot. Well, where'd you come from, engine? Engine? What engine? What? What are you doing here at this hour, son? Well, I come to see you on-loat. Oh, mighty early for a shaver to be out his bed. Yes, sir. Well, see all you wanted to see? Oh, but the elephant. Where are they, sir? What's your name, son? Jeff. Jeff Hopkins. Uh-huh. Mine's Charlie. No, it's Cheyenne Charlie. Cheyenne Charlie? Mm-hmm. Cheapest. Holy smoke and foglet. Feel the wild west ride-off. Sure am, Jeff. But let you and me get something straight. Yes, Mr. Cheyenne. Ain't there no school today? Oh, sure. But it's too early. School don't take up until late at Clarkton. Huh? You got a mom? Sure thing. Swell one, huh? You bet. Dad's a great fella, too, huh? He's dead. Oh. Well, let me tell you what, Jeff. You better get on back home before that swell mom gets to fretting over you. Hey, how'd you know she didn't know I was here? Jeff, I got a great goatee and mustache, but I didn't always have them. I was about your age and size once, too. And my swell mom didn't know where I was half the time, either. Let's see. Town's over two miles from here, ain't it? That's right. Maybe a little more. But I don't mind. Uh-huh. Let's see. It's now 455. Figuring on the way a kid walks and counting in, picking up stones and sticks, chucking rocks at trees, chasing down a squirrel or two, that two miles should take you just about, well, right up to the time your mom gets you out of bed. Gee, Mr. Cheyenne, how'd you know I do all them things? I ain't never grown up, Jeff. I do them myself. Oh, you're swell. Maybe you'll come see us, huh? Well, now might be. But right now, I got to think about my laundry. Know anybody that'd turn out about two ton of shirts and underwear in a day? Oh, my mom. Gee, my mom would do it. She'd do it for you, Mr. Cheyenne. OK. You write down the address, and I'll be there. Time to get up now. Jeff, where are you? Here I am, Mom. I'm up already. And dressed? What's come over you? Nothing. You feeling all right? Sure. Jeff. What? What on your shoes? Did you go down to the railway station? Yes, Mom. Oh, now, Jeff, what did I tell you last night? Oh, you told me not to get up early this morning and go watch the circus come off the train. Then why did you? Oh, but gosh, Mom. Oh, Jeff, why did you have to do it? Oh, but, Mom, on account of Dad was in the circus, maybe I can't help it. Maybe it's kind of boring. Jeff, don't say that. Please. Was Dad killed in the circus? Did something go wrong? How did you know? Well, I found a clipping in the desk. Jeff, only I couldn't understand it. Jeff, I've always meant to tell you, but after it happened, I wanted to shut the circus out of our lives. I wanted to settle down here, anywhere, and make sure that you live a normal life and go to school and learn something. I just wanted never to hear the word circus again. Oh, it must have been awful, Mom. What happened? No, I don't want to talk about it, Jeff. Even now, after all these years, I still get cold thinking about it. Was Dad wonderful? The most wonderful man in the whole circus. Gosh. Now, come on and have your breakfast, Jeff. The porridge is ready. All right, Mom. I don't want you to be late to school again. Did you finish your homework last night? Almost. Your arithmetic? Almost. No, Jeff. Oh, gosh, Mom, this stuff is so silly. A paper hanger has the paper room and the walls are nine feet high and so on and so on. How many rows of paper does he need? Now what's wrong with that? Well, I'm not going to be a paper man. What do I care about it? Well, all about such dumb things. Now, look, Jeff, all that you learn now is going to help you later. You never know how, but it will. So you do those problems, Jeff. Oh, I try to. All right. Now mind you do your best. I will. Hey, what's that? Oh, gee. It's the bed that's passing by. Gee, isn't it wonderful? Yes. It is wonderful. Come on now, Jeff. Eat your breakfast. Oh, boy. Mom, there's a wild west rider. This Cheyenne Charlie. Mr. Cheyenne Cheyenne Charlie. Mom, he answered me. Who on earth is Cheyenne Charlie? Well, one of the greatest riders in the world, that's all. I talked to him this morning. What about? I asked him to come to our house while he's here. I gave him my address. You think he'll come? Well, let's not worry about that now, Jeff. I guess he's about the greatest man in the circus. Come on now. Stop your dreaming. Go eat your breakfast off the school. Okay, Mom. But watch out for Cheyenne Charlie. It'll be nice for him when he comes. Don't worry. I don't think there's much chance of he's coming here. Yes, ma'am. If a bridge can stand a weight of three tons and a truck weighing one ton is going across it and another truck on top, he'd think. All right, Jeff. What's the answer? How many trucks can go across without phones? Well, you're supposed to have worked on this last night. Oh, it's so silly. What did you say? Well, I'm not going to be a truck driver, so why should I have it? Go and stand in the corner, and you will stay off the school. Oh, but it's circus day. Stand in the corner? Yes. Is this the home of Mrs. Hopkins? I'm Mrs. Hopkins. Well, ma'am, I'm Cheyenne Charlie from the Bolton Leopold Yeller Circus. Oh. You were young and told me this morning that you washed clothes, so I brought my sack of Sunday baths. Is that what Jeff told you, that I take in washing? He sure did, ma'am, right in early this morning. Oh, I'm sorry. I don't do any outside washing, as all I can do to keep up with our own. Oh, gee. I reckon the boy told a windy. Well, I guess he was just trying to get you to come to the house. Well, no harm done. I guess I've been most along now, and... What's the matter? Excuse me, ma'am, but where have I seen you before? Well, I don't know. I just noticed that picture on the wall. Ain't that sure it is Hopkins the Magnificent. Ain't it, ma'am? Yes. That's Hopkins the Magnificent. Of the high trapeze and, say, wait a minute, why, you're the girl who used to ride around on the elephant. Yes. Sure enough. Oh, I guess you wouldn't remember me, ma'am. I just joined up as one of the riders when you left to have your baby. Say, the youngin. What about him? Is he the son of Hopkins the Magnificent? Yes. Well, no wonder he likes circuses. No wonder he come around and don't... No, no, please, don't talk like that. For heaven's sakes, please. Oh, well, what have I said, ma'am? Oh, I'm sorry. It's just that, always, since the accident, I've been afraid that Sunday Jeff would want to join a circus and go through what we went through. It was an awful thing, ma'am. I remember it like it was today. I never saw if it's an aerial artist. He never slipped. No, ma'am. Even on that day, it wasn't really a slip. One of the ropes snarled. Just that time, the net had to fail. The only time I ever saw one do it. And that's the reason why, well, when Jeff gets so excited about the circus, my heart stands still. Oh, he's just a kid, ma'am. I reckon it's just a kid's excitement. I know, but how can I be sure? Maybe if you treated it more natural, like, he wouldn't feel like it was some special fever that was in his blood. Maybe if you took him to the circus yourself, ma'am, just like other kids, ma'am. I know. I know I've told myself that, but I'm scared. Oh, please, if he comes around here again and starts talking, dreaming ideas about a circus, don't let him. I want him to go up, go to school, and learn something. I know powerful well how you feel, ma'am. Someday he'll grow up and he'll decide for himself what he wants to be, but when that time comes, I want him to have a choice. I want him to have enough education so that he can be what he wants to be. I know what you mean, ma'am. I sure enough do. If he comes to you, will you talk to him? I sure will, ma'am. For the son of Hopkins the Magnificent, there ain't nothing I wouldn't do. Thanks. If you want to leave those clothes with me, maybe I can find time to do them. I was just thinking. Dreaming again? No, just thinking, ma'am. About... about what? Well, I was thinking about... No. Now, don't tell me. Tell me those clothes pins. Sure. Gee, it would swell of you to do those clothes for Mr. Cheyenne. Why on earth did you tell him that I'd do it, Jeff? Well, he's a swell guy. Good thing you don't mean many swell guys. Well, you ain't mad, are you, ma'am? Mad. No. Come here, Jeff. Don't get mad at you, darling. Not really. Just... just a little impatient. Oh, well, that ain't the same thing, is it? I suppose not. But, Jeff, I wish you'd pay more attention to your schoolwork and do your lessons. Lessons? Oh, Cheyenne, I might do. But those arithmetic problems are so dumb. Dumb? What do you mean? Oh, like, well, if Pharma Jones had three acres and gave one third to his son and kept one fourth for himself, oh, gosh, what kind of a farm would keep the Weidner's land up all the time? Cheyenne, Charlie wouldn't do a dumb thing like that. Cheyenne, Charlie doesn't have anything to do with it. Now, Jeff, why can't you keep your mind on other things besides the circus? Oh, gee, Mom, today's circus day. But, honest, after I see the show tonight, I promise I'll forget all about circuses and do my arithmetic. Jeff, look at me. Yeah? Jeff, you'll keep that promise, won't you? Did I break one? Did I, Mom? Well, only tiny little ones. Oh, I'd go on and swim in when I said I wouldn't. Yes, that's a tiny promise, Jeff, and you shouldn't break it. But there's something in boys big and little that makes them break promises like that. But there are other kinds of promises, Jeff, ones that you have to keep. Sure, I know. They're the ones that'll affect somebody else if you break them. That's the kind you must keep. I always keep the big ones. I know. I'm going to the circus tonight. What, you going too? Yep, I'm going with you, Jeff. Oh, gee, holy smoke and frog legs. But I thought she didn't like you. I changed my mind. Now, come on, hand me those clothes, Jeff. Well, Mr. Cheyenne Charlie's going to have to ride out like Lady Godiva. You are listening to Anne Revere as Mrs. Hopkins and Ted Donaldson as if Jeff her son in circus day on the Cavalcade of America sponsored by the DuPont Company, better things for better living through chemistry. As our second act opens, Mrs. Hopkins is not only assured her son, Jeff, that he may attend the circus, but has promised to go with him. And now as they are entering the circus grounds, Jeff walks around wide-eyed in breathless awe of the snake charmer, fat lady, cotton candy, popcorn, balloons, flags, penance, and other fascinations of the great midway. You got it. Oh, boy. Look, the animals are right over there Yes, I know, Jeff. And there's a big top, Mom. Mom, you are going in with me, ain't you? Jeff, are you sure you wouldn't rather go in with the other kids? Oh, gee, Mom, you said you would. And that's a big promise. Like one of those who told me nobody should ever break. Sure, Jeff, it's a big promise to you. I'm breaking one I made to myself though a long time ago. Oh, come on, here we go. Oh, boy, first can we look at the animals, huh? All right, Jeff, the animals first. Why, for that sweet child, why, here you are, son, and it's only 10 cents. That's too much. All right, then give me back the balloon. Johnny, give the balloon back to the man. Yeah, see, he won't give it back. Oh, you stuck it in his hand. You did it on purpose. Madam, pay me or else give me back my balloon. Johnny, give it back. Thank you, ma'am, thank you. Balloons, balloons, a free balloon, whatever. A dollar for grown-ups and 50 cents for children. Children in arms of... Please, one time. Here you are, lady. Two tickets, go right in. See the greatest... Oh, but, ma'am... What's happening now, Jeff? He's getting pulled way up to the top. He's hanging on by only one hand. Does Dad do that, ma'am? Yes. He did that, son. One hand. Hey, he's almost done. He is. I know, Jeff, without looking. I know every movement. Every motion of the trapeze. Like a pendulum of a clock. Back and forth. Back and forth. Higher. Higher. I can tell, Jeff. I can tell by the time that's passed. There's the last back swing. The last arch of his body. He's a joy! Yes, I know, Jeff. I'm looking. You sick? No, I'm all right. Well, you better let me take you home. Come on, we'll go right home. No, Jeff. But, ma'am, you... No, Jeff, we'll stay. We'll stay and see the show, Jeff. All the way through. Hold up this tailgate. Hey, what's this? Ow! Huh? A foot. Come on out, you. I'm coming, Mr. Cheyenne. Well, what are you doing here, Jeff? Well, I've been thinking about it, Mr. Cheyenne. Well, I want to get into a circus. Oh. What about your mother and your school? Oh, they're always making me do homework. What kind of homework? Oh, problems. Well, you think you can be in the circus and be an ignoramus? Oh, I suppose not, but... Jeff, did your mother tell you about your father and how he died? She told me tonight. She said he was one of the most wonderful trapeze men she ever saw. He sure enough was. He died in the same kind of fall Pietro had tonight. Only for your father, the net somehow crumpled up that night. So was it careless, sir? No, no, Jeff. Folks were never careless in circuses. It was just that they didn't know then what we know now. You see, today we got a man in this circus that figures out things. And he says, if a body weighs 150 pounds and falls 120 feet, how strong does a net have to be at just this point to make sure that... You mean, you mean like a problem? Sure, sure. Like a problem in arithmetic. Gee, I never thought of that. You see, Jeff, your own father's life might have been saved if we had somebody back then that knew how to figure things out. So if you want to grow up and maybe be useful someday to a circus or something else, maybe, well, you go and work on them problems. All right. Stop rolling. Stop rolling. Stop rolling. So long, Jeff. Go back to your maw and your schooling and forget the circus for a while. I will. So long, Cheyenne Charlie. I didn't know you were up, Mom. Oh, yes, I'm up. You sneaked out, didn't you? Uh-huh. Why? Well, I... Why, Jeff? I thought I kind of joined the circus. Well, but you came back. Uh-huh. I came back. Good boy. What, you ain't mad? No, Jeff, I'm not. Not at all. Did you come back, son? Oh, holy smoke and fog laid. Who wants to be up to be an igna... an ig... Who wants to be dumb? What do you mean, son? Oh, look, Mom, those problems we have to do in school, they mean something. You see, supposing a fellow wants to build a bridge or a big building or a circus net, how do you know how to do it if you don't know how? Exactly. It's impossible. Sure is. So I'm going to learn how. Problems are important. Very important. Yes, they are. Now you better get ready for bed, Jeff. Uh-huh. And get up when I call you the first time. You don't want to be late for school. School? I thought it was Saturday. Well, it's not. Saturday's the day after. Oh, okay. Good night, Mom. Jeff. Yeah, Mom? Next year there'll be another circus day. We'll go again, son. You and I. And Rabeer and Ted Donaldson will return to our cavalcade microphone in a moment. Now here is Gain Whitman. Two men were fighting, one of them for his life. In the struggle, they crashed into a hanging lamp. It careened wildly back and forth, and the fight went on to its end under flickering light and shadow. As a moviegoer, you may remember the scene in the picture of Dorian Gray. Technically, it was one of the most unusual ever photographed for the screen. This film recently won the award of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the best black-and-white photography of the year. Another picture, the bells of St. Mary's, won the award for the best sound recording. These awards have something in common. For outstanding photography and sound, both depend in great measure upon the quality of the film used. So at the DuPont Company, we are proud that the picture of Dorian Gray was photographed in the DuPont Superior II film. And the bells of St. Mary's was recorded on DuPont 226 Fine Grain Sound Recording Film. This is not the first time DuPont film has won recognition in Hollywood. In 1943, the DuPont Company received the Academy Award of Merit for outstanding achievement in the development of Fine Grain Motion Picture Films. We've been making film for movies for many years, as well as for the professional and commercial photographer. For the amateur camera fan, the DuPont Company manufacturers defend their photo product. After you click the shutter of your camera, developing and printing the picture is, in addition to technical skill, a matter of chemistry. Chemical reactions take place on the film. Other chemical reactions take place later on on the sensitized paper. The quality of the image on the film, the contrast of light and dark on the print, the depth and richness of tone all depend in large degree upon chemical know-how. The skill and experience which DuPont chemists have gained in fundamental and applied research in many fields applied here to photography. DuPont films and defender photographic film, paper and chemicals represent two allied examples of the DuPont Company's better things or better living through chemistry. Oh, wait a minute, Ted. What was that for? Well, Mr. Whitman, it's just about that time of the year, isn't it? Yes, it is. But I was curious for a different reason. Well, what do you mean, Mr. Whitman? I think, Ted, that Jane is leading up to something about the show for next week. Is everybody around here striking? No, but baseball's in the air. You're so right, Mr. Riviere, and next Monday night, it'll be on the air. Oh, gee, how? Cavalcade is going to do the story of one of baseball's greatest men, known from the big diamonds down to the smallest sandlot. I'll be psychic again, Jane, and make a guess. Okay, go right ahead. John J. McGraw. Gee, John McGraw, the New York Giant? That's it, Ted, and Fat O'Brien is going to star in the role. Say, that's a cavalcade we won't want to miss. Oh, I'll be listening. Find me a seat in the bleachers. I'll be there, too. You're both there, and while you're still here, we'd like to thank both of you and a hand out a pair of orchids for your performances tonight. Thanks a lot. Good night. Good night. Henry Riviere may soon be seen in the Columbia Century Fox production Dragon Wake, and Ted Donaldson may soon be seen in the Columbia production Return of Rusty. The music for tonight's coupon cavalcade was composed and conducted by Robert Ambruster. In our cast tonight were Griff Barnett as Cheyenne Charlie, Francis X Bushman, Dick Ryan, Tommy Bernard, Rosemary Kelly, Margaret Brayton, Jack Carrington, and Jerry Hausner. Our cavalcade play was written by Sigmund Miller. This is Tom Collins inviting you to listen next week to the great McGraw starring Pat O'Brien on The Cavalcade of America, brought to you by the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware. This is NBC, the national broadcasting company.