 Ladies and gentlemen, the railroad out. And here comes our star-studded show train. Tonight, the Association of American Railroads presents the delightful Rogers and Hart Owen Davis musical, Spring is Here, starring Gordon MacRae and his guest, Anna-Marie Dickey. A 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 Railroads, the same railroads 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, Barbara Miller, and good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Well, sir, we have some wonderful music to sing tonight, for my guest, our Anna-Marie Dickey, and I are officially proclaiming that Spring is Here. I suppose there's a song in everybody's heart when it's Spring. Except, well, my name's Terry Clayton, and my whole trouble is that the girl I'm in love with doesn't love me. Her name's Betty Brailey, and she lives in a highly improbable place for a musical comedy, Long Island. Oh, Betty. At the sound of your war, can I help but rejoice that a song such as ours came to be? Well, whom did you expect? Nobody. Well, I'm here so you won't be disappointed. Terry, I've told you a million times, it's no use hanging around here. You're just never going to amount to anything. Well, look, Betty, there's something I've been wanting to say to you for a long time. Well, why don't you say it then? Well, if it was as easy as that, I would have done it a long time ago, but I can't. So, well, Betty, I wrote it to you in a letter. In a letter? Mm-hmm. Here, read it. Oh, I don't want to. Well, then I guess I'll have to read it to you. There is one I write what I'm afraid to speak. I'm weak when our tears of love are causing all the ink to blot. So hold them, sir, though I don't know where to end and to begin. You'll ma- Wait, I'd like to use it. To send it back to me? Well, not exactly, Terry. All handsome men at the dance last night with the curly hair and the broad shoulders. Stacey Hayden? You mean the guy everybody calls a mysterious stranger? Yes. What about him? Oh, I want to send him this letter. You want to send my letter to another guy? Oh, Betty, you can't do this to me. You don't realize how I feel about you. Well, how do you feel, Terry? Well, every time I see you, I hear music. What kind of music? Violins. A grand piano playing a magnificent concerto. Bass fiddle like my heart pounding. Trumpets calling me to battle. Like an angel choir. What you mean is that I really don't stand a chance with you. Oh, Terry. Well, would it help if I monitor something? What would you like me to be? You name it. Well, I don't care, Terry. We have other things to do. Sure. Hello, hello, Mary Jane. How's half point today? What's the matter? That sister of mine giving you a bad time? No, that's not it. Oh, I know better. Say, why don't you ask me? I'd marry you in a minute. Oh, you're a good kid. What would you like to have happen, Terry? Paint the picture for me. All right. A garden like this with maybe a touch of moonlight. And Betty standing there with a halo of moon beams around her head. Say, seems as if I'm seeing her for the first time. You know that? Though I know that we meet every night and have changed since the last time. To my joy and delight, it's a new kind of love at first sight. Beatingly sweet, so whenever we happen, long at the star moon is a hymn. Hey, Jane, it's a wonderful dream, but it'll never happen. Well, what can I do? Swipe her off her feet. Tomorrow night, there ought to be a full moon. It's spring. Plan a surprise elopement. I'll help. Collie, I don't think I even know how to elope. Just leave it to me. And before tomorrow night is over, I'll bet Betty will be singing love songs back to you. Say, you know what? And for the second act of spring is here in just a moment. Can you guess what one ingredient automobiles and asparagus, coal and clothing have in common? Just this. It takes railroad transportation to produce and get them to you. Or as one of the youngsters in my neighborhood found out when he started asking his daddy questions, most everything you use moves by railroad. Don't work tonight. I'm supposed to tell where everything in the kitchen stole came from. You know, tell all about the raw materials and how they got to be the finished stove in our kitchen. Well, that's quite an order, son. Let's see now. There'd be iron ore first. That would come from far away mine. Well, I know another daddy. There'd have to be coal, wouldn't there? That's right. And limestone, too, to make the steel. And then there'd be copper and chromium and different kinds of sand and a lot of other things. Gee, daddy, how do they get all those things together in the place where they make the stove? Ah, that's a job for the railroads. Now, all those things we've been talking about had to be hauled many times and many miles as they moved to different places and through different forms until they were cast into that familiar shape of the stove in our kitchen. And only the railroads are big enough and efficient enough to do that kind of a job. I never thought of the railroads as having anything much to do with the things we use. Well, son, I suppose that's because the railroad doesn't run right up to our front door. But when you stop to think, you realize that railroad transportation is just as much a part of this house we live in as the lumber and bricks and cement and furnace and furnishings and just about anything we can name. When you take a good look at any one of those things, like we did the kitchen stove, you can see the tremendous amount of railroad transportation that goes into everything we buy and use. Yes, it is hard to realize how much transportation service the railroads produce for each one of us each day. In fact, it amounts on the average to moving more than 10 tons of freight a mile every day in the year for every man, woman, and child in the United States. And that's moving more tons of freight more miles than all other forms of transportation put together. Now, here is Act 2 of the Lawrence and Lee version of Spring is Here starring Gordon MacRae as Terry and Anna-Marie Dickey as Betty. Dear Terry Clayton, you're a fool. You're a nincompoop. You're in love and you're not doing anything about it. I hate you. You're sincerely Terry Clayton. Who's that? Oh, Terry. Betty. Writing another love letter? No, no, this is a hate letter. Who's it addressed to? To me. Why do you hate yourself, Terry? Well, simply because I like you. I like you, how I like you. I mean to say I like you. I think I get your trend. In fact, I comprehend. You char me, how you char me. I mean to say you're my girl. In accents of despair, I say please take the air. There's not much I can do. Why the beautiful features? And why the beautiful dress? Best upholstitive creatures? You never say yes. I'm all ready to go, ma'am. But you remain more or less. The original no, ma'am. You never say yes. You're so discreet. But I'll bet your kiss is nice. Sweet, just like so much water eyes. Every time I endeavor to steal a little dress. Though you love it, you never say yes. East high powered of hemen, I never say yes. Who's their ambition? I never say... I guess it's hopeless. Bye, Betty. Goodbye, Terry. Why don't you look out of the window? It's such a beautiful spring night, moonlight. It is a lovely night. Makes me feel romantic. That's the idea. Oh, nothing. Don't you feel just like rushing off and getting married? Oh, if the right man came along. Oh, Mary Jane, I do feel awfully alone tonight. And I guess I am ready for romance. Good. I'll bet romance is ready for you. I got your letter. Betty, I've come to take you for a ride. Maybe a long ride. Oh, that would be wonderful. Yeah, peachy keen. It's such a romantic night. How about a loping with me? Oh, Carly, I'll be right down. Oh, I better hop to the telephone and alert the local team. Mary Jane, what happened? I just didn't have the nerve. Well, she just eloped. By herself? With Stacey Hayden. The mysterious stranger? Yep. Oh, Mary Jane, what'll I do? Go after them. What'll I do if I catch him? Yank him out of the car by the coat lapels and punch him in the face. But he's such a big guy, all those shoulders and everything. He only has two. Yeah. That's the same number I got. Boy, golly, I will be tough. I'll be tough like Humphrey Bogart. All right, Hayden. Drop that goya. Like Jimmy Cagney. All right, now listen, sweetheart. She's mine, sweetie. She's mine. I won't have any mysterious things unless I'm with my girl, sweetie. Well, maybe, maybe like Charles Boye. Hey, Mochiri. Mochiri, come with me to the gauze bar. Now, I'll personate Terry Clayton in the role of a he-man. Well, that's a tough part. Let's get tough about it. Women like their men rugged and masculine. Rugged? Yeah. Make a muscle, Buster. I often used to get A's in physical education. That's a spirit? Let me at him. Mary Jane. Mary Jane, I couldn't find them. Maybe it's because I came back. Well, Betty, I never expected to find you here. What happened? Well, I found out he's no mysterious stranger. He's just a plain ordinary millionaire. Did he kiss you? Yeah, and nothing happened. No music. Woman? Huh? Come here. Kiss me, baby. Kiss me. Did you hear anything? Heartbeats? Drum's beating, cymbals crashing. Back with us in just a moment. And meanwhile, our thanks to Barbara Whiting, who was married Jane, and to John Shea, and to our entire company. Spring is here with book by Owen Davis, music by Richard Rogers, and lyrics by Lorenz Hart, was dramatized for the railroad hour by Lawrence and Glee. The railroad hour is brought to you each week at the same time by the American railroads. Folks, today America's most distinguished career women wear the uniforms of our armed services. Partners in service with the young men of America, co-equal with them in pay, benefits, and opportunities for training and promotion, these women play an essential part in our national life. Thousands of careers are still open to women over 18 who are high school graduates in good health. Women with college degrees, registered nurses, and qualified medical specialists are urged to qualify for officers' commissions. And now here again is our charming guest, Miss Anna-Mary Dickey. Thank you, Gordon. I had a hunch spring was here, but tonight you convinced me. Well, I'm sure glad I got over being milk toast, McRae, by the end of the script. I was afraid my kitties wouldn't even speak to me when I got home tonight. What's showing on the show train next Monday night, Gordon? Well, Anna-Mary, you know, maytime is waltz time, so we're presenting the story of the master waltz maker of all time, Johann Strauss. It's the delightful Great Waltz, and lovely Lucille Norman will be here to help us get into the three-quarter tempo. We'll all be listening. Good night, Gordon. Good night, Anna-Mary. You were wonderful, and come back real soon. All aboard! Well, friends, it looks as though we're ready to pull out. So until the next Monday night in the Great Waltz, this is Gordon McRae saying good night to all of you and especially to my dear mother. Gordon McRae can currently be seen starring in Warner Brothers about face. Our choir is under the direction of Norman Luboff, and our music is prepared and conducted by Carmen Dragon. This is Marvin Miller saying goodbye until next week for the American Railroads. Now stay tuned for your Monday night of music on NBC.