 Ladies and gentlemen, the Railroad Hour. And here comes our star-studded show train! The Association of American Railroads presents two hearts in three-quarter times, starring Gordon MacRae and his guest lovely Marion Bell. The operetta is by Robert Stoltz, Daley Parksman, William A. Drake, Walter Reich and Fran Schultz. Our choir is under the direction of Norman Luboff, and our music is prepared and conducted by Carmen Dragon. Yes, tonight, another memorable musical is brought to you by the American Railroad, the same railroad that bring you most of the food you eat, the clothes you wear, the fuel you burn and all the other things you use in your daily life. And now, here is our star, Gordon MacRae! Thank you, thank you and good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Well, sir, we have a festival of waltzes for you tonight as we visit the city where the waltz was born. The city where the Danube flows blue and bright beneath the arches, and music in three-quarter time flows from a thousand violins. The city of the great names of Franz Josef and Count Metternit, of the Strausses and Mozart, of Leihar and Liszt. The city where music is king. The dinner can be a delight for a successful composer. Tonight, I used to be Tony Hovler, if not the waltz king, at least crowned prince in Vienna's musical royalty. For the melodies of my operettas are sung throughout Europe. Marion Bell is petty, the charming young daughter of my producer, but as our story begins, I haven't the slightest idea that old Blouse-Bingle has such an effective blossom on his family tree. Heady, dear, heady, welcome home. Oh, Father, it is good to be home from school. Now you may do anything you like. I put the city of Vienna at your disposal. Father, there's just one thing I want you to do for me. Name it, heady. I want to meet Tony Hovler. Tony Hovler? Why do you want to meet him? I think I'm in love with him. Oh, Father. Nonsense. I'm sure I'm in love with his music. No one else can write waltz as he does. At school, his melodies keep running through my head all day and all night. A different girl every night. He sounds most attractive. Heady, I warn you, forget this schoolgirl crush on Tony Hovler. Will you barberry and waking a man at four o'clock? It's four o'clock in the afternoon, Tony. Yes, the time when all civilized people should be in bed. Now go away, blouse-singles. Come back after the sun goes down. In your life, Tony, all of the hours are upside down. Look how I help her if daylight makes me nervous. Now get out of bed. Have you completed the score for the new operetta? I have a new love song for you, if that's what you're screaming about. Oh, good. Let me hear it. Very well. Not easy to be romantic before breakfast, but... I want an only dream of love. It won't do. Won't do? Why not? What's wrong with it? We need a waltz, Tony. Vienna wants his love songs in three-quarter time. Blouse-single, a man can only write waltzes when he's in love truly and hopelessly in love. Fine. Fall in love. But be quick about it. We open in two weeks. Blouse-single, you're a commercial clot. I'll give you 48 hours to come up with a waltz. And if you fail, Tony, you are Theroux. I'm not a father. Oh, I'm worried about Tony Hofer. He's having trouble with a waltz for the new operetta. Says he can't write one until he falls in love. Oh, you're his producer? Why don't you produce a romance story? Mmm. A splendid idea, Eddie. I'll engage an attractive young girl to pursue him. That'll be a novelty. And I know just the girls. Yes. Mitzi Reitmeier. Oh. She's a splendid actress and she'll have Tony head over heels in love with her. Now, what's her number? Mitzi Reitmeier, Leopold Scott. For all women. Mitzi Reitmeier. And this is Mr. Blouse-single's secretary column. We engage tonight with Mr. Tony Hofer. Well, you won't have to go. Someone else is going in your place. Thank you, Ms. Reitmeier. Goodbye. You can do that. Huh? It's very hard on the piano. Now, wait a minute. Who are you? Don't you usually say good evening to your guests? Oh, yes. Good evening. But I wasn't aware that I was expecting a guest tonight. At least no one as lovely as you are. Oh. You talk exactly the way you write music. Are you a liar or some dream preacher out of fairyland? I'm an angel. Oh. Angels are very important in the theater, I'm told. Yes. But they usually have bald heads and mutton chop whiskers. I know why you plan the piano just now. You do. You're having trouble with your waltz. Now, how the deuce did you know? You can't ride a waltz with your head. It has to come from your heart. Yes, and my heart's been as empty as ashes. That is, until you came into the room. Why don't you try it? A phrase like, oh, a heart. Finders, he's inspired my best waltz, and I don't even know her name. Can see quarter time in just a moment. In considering the ability of a form of transportation to meet the nation's needs, both from a viewpoint of national defense and our daily commerce, many things are important, such things as efficiency, economy, dependability. But in view of the thousands of young men and women of our armed forces that must be transported, the thousands of other people who travel for business and pleasure, and are more than a million and a quarter railroad employees, nothing is more important than safety. That's why it is such good news to learn that the railroads last year set a new all-time record in the safety of their operation. It was the safest year for passenger travel in the entire history of the railroads, and it was also the safest year for railroad employees and the users of highway grade crossing. In the first 11 months of 1952, there was but one fatality for each 2 billion, 200 million miles of passenger travel, the equivalent of 88,000 trips around the world. And preliminary figures for the last month of the year indicate that the safety mark for the full year will be as good or perhaps better than this remarkable record. Such a safety record is more than 40% better than the railroad's own previous best record and far exceeds that set by any other form of transportation. Now, here is the second act of the Lawrence and Lee version of two harks in three-quarter time, starring Gordon MacRae as Tony and Marion Bell as Eddie, with Hanley Stafford as Flaustingle. Once in a lifetime, if you're lucky, you meet a girl who is a vision of lovin' us. If you're a poet, she inspires an immortal sonnet. If you're a painter, she becomes a masterpiece on your canvas. Or if you're a maker of waltzes, as I am, she gives you a melody that all the world will sing. But if you're unlucky, as I am, the girl slips away from you and the song becomes only an empty echo of your love. But although the girl had vanished into the night, her face in the center of the perfume, the warmth of the presence lingered in my memory. What does my heart keep saying? Is it the wine betrayed? I must take care and before you... At least I had the waltz for Flaustingle's new operator. And so I set out for his house to play it for him. Eddie, go to your room. Oh, yes, Father. I've got to go over a new song with Tony Hofer, and I forbid you to have any schoolgirl infatuations with fly-by-night composers. I wouldn't dream of disobeying you. You can dream of it, but don't do it. Good morning, here, Flaustingle. Good afternoon, Tony. Come in, come in. I have your waltz for you. Oh, good. Did you fall in love to get it? You know, the strangest thing happened. A girl came to my studio last night. I'm not sure now if she was real or a dream. And as I looked at it, the words and music flowed into my mind like the waters of the Danube. Oh, a girl, you say. How curious. Well, there's the piano, my boy. Thank you. I consider this my best work. So? I'm anxious to hear it. I call it two hearts beat in three-quarter time. The animal like that. It goes... Well... Two hearts. Oh, it's wrong. Lost it. I can't remember how it goes. You didn't write it down? I never, I never write things down. In the hills. It's the greatest song you ever wrote, and I'll never hear it. You won't even hear it. I've lost the girl, and now I've lost the song, too. The girl? Oh, did Mitzi hear it? Is that her name? Mitzi? Do you know her? Of course I know her. Who do you think sent her? A operator. Get me Leopold Scott 4177 and hurry. You sent her? My angel? Angel nothing. She's actress. I hired her to put you in a romantic mood. I'll stingle you poor. Mitzi has a voice like a six-barrel, but maybe she can remember the two. Why, she sings like a lark. Oh, hello, Mitzi. Blau Stingle. You have no taste. Mitzi, sing me that song. Blau Stingle, you're a commercial class. What song? Tony Hofer's New Wall. With a bank ball for a soul. Oh, shut up, Tony. I can't hear her singing it. You're not singing it. You don't know what I'm talking about. My secretary did nothing of the kind. I'll fire my secretary. Oh, I can't do that. I fired it two weeks ago. I haven't got it, secretary. Well, you fail me, Mitzi, and I'll see to it that you never speak a line under the end of stage again. Well, now what do we do? Tony Hofer, you're fired. I think I'll fire me, too. Listen. That's my words. Fine, but how does my daughter know it? Your daughter? Come down here, Eddie. She was for me to meet the terrible Mr. Tony Hofer. Angel. Oh, heart's beat. With a joy come peace. Oh, what a night for you and for me. Oh, heart's beat. Joe, greatest walls, tell me. I never could have written it without your daughter, sir. And without her, I never would have found it again. Eddie, didn't I forbid you to get a crush on a songwriter? This isn't a crush party. Oh, no, no. We're in love. But a son-in-law who has never seen sunshine. I'll be a completely new man if Eddie will marry me. I'll never look at another girl. I may even get up as early as noon. Oh, sir, I'll live my life all over again. In fact, I'll even write a song about it. If we all could live... In just one moment, thanks to Hanley Stafford, who played Blauchtinger into our entire company. The musical score of two hearts in three-quarter time is by Robert Stoltz with lyrics by Daley Passman. The libretto for the opera was written by William A. Drake from the motion picture of the same name by Walter Reich and Franz Schultz and was dramatized for the railroad hour by Lawrence and Lee. The railroad hour is brought to you each week at this time by the American Railroad. Marvin? Last year, the railroad set an all-time record in the safety of their operations. In fact, so safe was railroad passenger travel that the railroad's own previous best record set in 1949, which in itself was far better than the record of any other form of transportation before or since, was exceeded in 1952 by more than 40%. Considering the safety of all persons, not only passengers, but also employees, users of highway grade crossings, and even press passes. The railroad safety record last year was more than twice as good as it was in 1939, the best pre-war year. Thank you, Marvin. And now, folks, here again as our charming guest, Marion Bell. Marion, what have you got to say for yourself? Thank you, Gordon. I had a wonderful time in three-quarter time. That was very cute. So did we, Marion, really. What's on the show train next week, Gordon? Well, you just listen. Make a night of that? It's a little make-believe. That's right. The show train meets the show boat, and Dorothy Kirsten will be our guest star for this world-famous musical. Yes. It's one of my favorites, Gordon. We'll all be listening. Good night. Good night, Marion. You were wonderful. All aboard! Well, dear friends, it looks as though we're ready to pull out, and so on till next week when Dorothy Kirsten joins us for a show boat, this is Gordon McRae saying goodbye. Gordon McRae can be seen starring in the Technicolor production The Desert Song. Our choir is under the direction of Norman Luboff, and our music is prepared and conducted by Carmen Drague. A portion of the preceding show was transcribed. Now goodbye until next week for the American Railroad. Now keep tuned for your Monday Night of Music on NBC. Tonight, the Voice of Firestone features Eugene Connolly on NBC.