 The House of Squibb, manufacturing chemist of the medical profession since 1858, brings you Academy Award. The pictures, the players, the techniques and skills which have won or been nominated for, the coveted awards granted each year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to each in his field for outstanding achievement. The House of Squibb, makers of the great family of Squibb medicinal products, today brings you John Garfield in Pride of the Marines with Rosemary de Camp. Pride of the Marines is the dramatic picture which was nominated for the 1945 Academy Award as the best written screenplay of the year. Our star, Mr. Garfield, was nominated as the best supporting actor of the year for the 1938 Academy Award. This is the story of an heroic marine. In its way, it's the story of other heroic American fighting men too, whose qualities in battle, whose qualities in the even grimmer struggle for rehabilitation, made these American soldiers the pride of the free world. This is the story of a boy who's the pride of the Marines, Hal Schmidt, United States Marine Corps. The story of Hal Schmidt begins on an island where the scourge of the Japanese advance was first checked, Waddle Canal. They're coming against Schmidt. Keep down, they'll be coming any minute now. They won't come from where they're shooting. I think they're gonna cross the river. Okay, Diamond, how about cutting this gun in? Wait, wait, wait. Now, now, fire! Watch those hand grenades, let them have it. They got Johnny! They got Johnny! Oh, you yellow belly, dirty, stinking, slimy pigs! The best guy in the world. Watch it, coming in again. Where you hit? Where you hit? Get me out of your way. I'll stick with it, stick. Don't let him screw. Please, don't kick off. We gotta help soon. I don't want to be alone, Lee, dirty skippies. Try and sneak one up on me, huh? Ain't coming so fast anymore. Don't like what you're getting, do you? Come on, suckers. There's nobody in your way. Just a couple of Marines. Hello, guys! I can't see. I can't see, Lee. I can't see. Al, don't do it. We'll get help soon. Put down that 45. Don't shoot yourself. Shoot myself. Just tell me where they are, Lee. Tell me where they're coming from, Lee. Tell me where they are. A Marine sweetheart gets a letter from a sailor aboard a hospital ship. A girl back in Philadelphia hears about Al Schmidt. Al asked me to write this letter on a con of he can't do any writing now. I am a sailor and am taking care of his legs. An infection. But that's clearing up. I will tell you honestly and truly, though, that he is a hero. And I do mean hero. Al says he will be coming home one of these days and hopes to see you real soon. Lots of love. Al Schmidt. You see, folks, he says Al's all right. Then why couldn't Al write himself? And, uh, as for the Red Cross workers here in San Diego Base Hospital, why, uh, why, uh, they're okay. Even the blonde one who brings me a letter. But it's for me. Well, I'll take a girl named Ruth every time. Oh, come on, pal. This is the first letter you've written yourself. Give her a little big. Think how she wants to come to you. Well, what'll I say? Oh, you want to tell her about your gang? Oh, sure. Sure. Yeah. Uh, we got a great gang of gyreans here, Ruthie. A lot of them from the canal. Lee Diamond, who was with me, Cababian. Hey, uh, where's that ashtray, Blondie? On the desk, right by your hand. Your right hand, Al. Oh, thanks. Well, how about the rest of the letter? Oh, that's enough. Isn't there anything else you want to tell her, Al? Like what? About your eyes. No. Well, she'll have to know sometime. Look, after I have my operation, after I can see again, well, then I'll tell her, then it'll be a big laugh for the both of us. Understand? You know, there's an operation scheduled for you tomorrow morning. Well, sure. They told me. Bet you thought I'd be scared or something. Well, this is what I've been waiting for. This is going to fix me up. Al, the doctor doesn't promise you'll be able to see after this operation. Maybe you'll... It doesn't have to promise. I know them doctors. Like the one on the ship who was always saying I might lose a leg from blood poisoning. Didn't, did I? Here, add something to that letter. Will you, Ruthie? Uh, here to Ruthie. Ruthie, I've been holding out the best news to the end. You keep asking me why I don't write to you myself. Well, the reason is my hands. I, uh, I caught some shrapnel and a little like a dumb bunny. But, uh, any day now you'll be getting a letter every day written by yours truly himself. Al, this isn't any good. You're just storing up trouble for yourself, for both of you. Don't be a killjoy, Blondie. Here I am on top of the world. And take this for me, will you? And it, uh, it won't be long before I come walking up the steps of your house, Ruthie. And don't you worry about my hands, baby. When I get them on you, I'll... Well, you'll know they're all right. Gosh, sweetheart, I can, I can hardly wait to see you. I... I'll say it, Al. Just make believe I'm a typewriter. Don't be embarrassed. I, I can hardly wait to kiss you for the first time, honey. I never told you what I feel like when you're in my arms. Looking up at me with your eyes like, with that kind of funny, wonderful light in your eyes, like you did on that grill road platform when I went away. Say it, Al. Lots of love, you're a brown-eyed devil. She used to call me that once. It's a kind of joke between us, see? Yeah. Blondie, look at this picture. Ain't that a nice face, though? Ain't it here? Can I take a look? Ah, no, Smitty. I just lugged at it a little bit ago. Oh, don't rib me. I only showed it to you once. Yeah, it's a very nice face, Al. A guy could lean on a girl like that. A marine don't lean on anybody. If there's any leaning to be done, the female sex of the weaker, ain't it? Well, most people lean a little on somebody. Nobody stands alone. Well, you just let me have that operation, Blondie. I'll stand alone. You just watch me. Thanks, nurse. Well, I guess we're ready for you now, Smitty. Not too soon for me, Doc. I'm busting at the seams. It's been the longest three weeks of my life. Now, look, Smitty, don't expect to see the minute the bandage is off, huh? I've docked in the room, so it's not... Okay. You told me that, Doc. Just get it off, will you? Just get it off, will you? Now, I'm not making any promises either. The healing process is... Okay, okay, but let's try it, please. Bandage is off now. No. No. No! Not a darn thing, but I didn't expect to see with the blinds down. You said it was dark in here. How about the flashlight? You promised... I will, I will. But now take it easy. Turn it on, Doc. Even if it's only a two-bit flashlight, I'm gonna see stars and angels and roofs. Come on, Doc. Let me see the light. Bring it closer. See anything? Yeah, yeah. Like a locomotive headlight, way off in the fog. Bring it closer. Closer, Doc! I'm sorry, Al. The light was full on your face. Close. Doc, I can't be blind. Not for my whole life. Look, Al, I... Doc, please. All you medicine fellows, you're smart, you're educated. You've got ways of fixing guys up. I did my best, I fought. I'm not asking for so much. Al, this examination isn't final. I told you yesterday it wouldn't be. Oh, when can we try again? Tomorrow, next week? Well, you're still suffering from the effects of eye concussion. There are still pieces of shrapnel that have to work themselves out. And you'll probably have to have another operation after a while. When? When? Well, we'll have to wait six months, a year. Even then, there's no assurance you'll see. Six months? Well, what are my chances? Give it to me straight. I, uh... I have a book here I want you to take with you. And we have people right here. We'll teach you to... No! It's one of them books for the blind. I don't want any of that stuff. I want to stand on my own. I don't want any of that stuff. Al! Al, right now I'm thinking of someone, a doctor, a friend of mine. We went to school together. He was blind. From the time he was 10 years old. That didn't stop him. He's married, got two kids. He's a fine psychiatrist and a happy man. Are you listening to me, Al? I'm not saying it'll be easy for you. One of these first months aren't the toughest. But people get the wrong idea about blindness. A blind man is not helpless. He just has to do things in a little different way from the rest of us. Are you listening to me, Al? Why don't God strike me dead? In just a moment, you will hear the second part of Academy Award. Back in the days of the Civil War, the House of Squibb was founded to do what had never been done before. To produce with scientific care, drugs of tested purity and efficacy. Since then, through four other wars and all the years of peace, the list of Squibb products has grown to include not only life-saving drugs, but everyday items for your medicine cabinet produced to similar standards of perfection. Squibb dental cream, for example, has to pass more than a hundred separate tests to ensure its high quality. And you can taste, feel, and see the refreshing difference when you use Squibb dental cream. You like its cool, minty flavor, its brisk, mouth-refreshing action, the way it reveals all the natural sparkle of your smile. For the special polishing agent in pure Squibb dental cream is one of the safest, softest, yet most effective known to dental science. No wonder so many prefer the dentifrice that's three ways refreshing. Taste, feel, and see the refreshing difference. Try it yourself. Ask for Squibb dental cream. Before continuing with the second part of Pride of the Marines, we want to thank Warner Brothers for making this story available. We also wish to congratulate Warner Brothers Studio, which on August 6th will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Sound Pictures. Now for part two of Academy Awards, starring John Garfield as Al Schmidt in Pride of the Marines with Rosemary de Camp as Virginia. Nurse, come here. I want to get this over with quick. Listen, Al. Got your pencil? Yes. Dear Ruth. What harm will it do to think it over for another week? What good will it do? I made up my mind last night. Your mind's made up. Well, how about giving Ruth a chance to decide for herself? To decide what? How to ruin her life? Look, she's worked hard all her life. Me, the big shot. I was going to give her all the things she never had. She wasn't going to have to work anymore. What can I give her now? But, Al, you— I won't have her being a seeing-eye dog for me. Oh, how do you know she'll feel that way about it? At least tell her the truth, Al. Find out what she wants. She's not going to stop loving you, riding to you. Then send her letters back. I suppose I do give her a few bad days. She's pretty. She'll meet another guy. She'll fall in love. You're going to write the letter for me? Or do I have to ask Lee Diamond? All right. Go ahead. Dear Ruth, I guess this letter's going to be a kind of surprise, but I might as well give it to you straight. I'm not coming back to Philly. Not now, not ever. And as for getting married, I've decided it will just ain't up my alley. I hope you'll be happy. I hope you get yourself another boyfriend real soon. Yours, Al Schmidt. There you are. There's a long-distance call for you, Al. Here, I'll take you. Oh, from where? It's from Ruth, from Philadelphia. I ain't here. She must have received your letter. Why don't you— Don't you understand? I can't talk to her. Tell her to leave me alone. All right, Al. Hello. May I accept the call, please? This is Virginia Pfeiffer of the Red Cross. Just a minute, please. Hello? A friend of Private Schmidt's asks if she can accept the call. Miss Virginia Pfeiffer of the Red Cross. Oh, yes. She's been writing. Go ahead, San Diego. Is this Ruth? Yes, Miss Pfeiffer. I got Al's last letter. He's not breaking off with you because he doesn't love you, Ruth. Believe me, he does. Well, then why? Get set for a very bad shock, Ruth. What is it? Al has completely lost the sight of one eye and may never regain sight in the other. That's why he broke with you. He's afraid of becoming a burden. Do you understand now? Hello? Ruth? There's one thing I'd better find out, Ruth, and you can think it over if you want to. It'll make a difference in helping, Al. Do you still love him? Do you want him? I mean, as a husband. Oh, yes. Yes, I do. Remember, he may be totally blind for the rest of his life. Well, what does that matter? You don't want to think it over? Think well with his eyes, not the color of his hair because something has happened to his eyes. Captain Burrow says to go in, Smitty. Oh, good morning, Schmidt. Morning, Miss Pfeiffer. Morning, sir. Good morning, sir. Hi, Al. Oh, sounds like Lee. That's it. Sit down, everybody. Schmidt, I've got great news for you. You're getting the Navy Cross. Congratulations. Al, it's wonderful. Say, that is something. Corporal Diamond's getting one too, although the ceremonies won't be held at the same place. That's great, Lee. Give me a wallop. The Navy has decided that you'll get your award at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Corporal Diamond's going to go on furlough, too, and he'll be on the train with you. And you'll leave tomorrow and be home in time for Christmas. I, uh... I gotta go back there. Sorry, Schmidt. You're under orders. You're going back. Tomorrow? Tomorrow. Goodbye. And good luck. Thank you, sir. Where are we, Lee? Ah, still crossing Ohio, I guess, Al. Lee, I, uh... I've been thinking it over. I don't want to see Ruth. We're finished. There's no point in having her wake over the corpse. I don't want to see her at all, see? You send the telegram for me. Tell Ruth not to come to the station. Oh, Schmidt, that's not fair. If you probably plan a Christmas celebration, you're gonna see her. Lee, you send that wire. Okay. I'll send it. First, I got something on my chest. Al, back there in the canal, I, I thought something about you. I never told you. It was after you got that grenade in your face. Toward the morning it was when we got them jabs who were coming in on us. You remember what you did, Al? You pulled your .45 and I thought you meant to kill yourself. You kept yelling, tell me when they come in, Lee. I can't see, but you tell me where they are and I'll shoot them. Al, I, I was scared at that then laying on the ground waiting for a japper in it. I couldn't help thinking something. I thought that kid, Smitty, is more guts than any man alive. I was wrong, Al. I think you're only hopped up by excitement like you're taking a shot or something. I don't think you got guts, Al. I think you're kind of yellow. You haven't got that guts to see Ruth. Shut up, shut up. You're a stinking liar. You're talking because you know I can't crack you in your lion face. Okay, okay. Just ask yourself a question. Would you do it over again if you knew you were gonna be blind, Al? Would you join up? Would you ask for combat instead of short duty? Would you do it over again? Al, listen to me. Sure, you're in a tough spot, but it's not peaches and cream for everybody else. What problems have you got? You're in one piece, ain't you? Your wife don't have to turn over on her insides when she sees you. When you go for a job, there ain't nobody gonna say we got no use for ex-heroes like you. That's what you think. Sure, there'll be some guys who own high, even when they know you can handle a job, but... Al, there's some who won't hire me because my name is Diamond instead of Jones. Because I celebrate Passover instead of Easter. Al, don't you see what I'm talking about? You and me, we need the same kind of a world. We need a country to live in where nobody gets booted around for any reason. Um, I'm all mixed up. Mixed up and scared. Dragging at the hills in yellow. No, Al, no. I wasn't telling the truth before. You're not yellow. You're a swell guy, a wonderful guy. You're a pure sort of guy, if ever I saw one. But Al, don't leave all your guts behind on Guadalcanal. Okay, Lee, but now we send that wire. Al, didn't what I say mean anything to you. Yeah, but I'll still send that wire. I know you from Al Snapshot. I'm Lee Diamond. Didn't, didn't you get his telegram? Yes, I did, but I decided to come down to the station anyway. Oh, Lee helped me. I've got to get him back where he lived amongst his friends. He's got to know. He's pretty set on not going. Where are you taking him now? The Navy hospital. He's got to come home first, even for just an hour. Look, he won't go with you, he won't. I have Al's car here. Couldn't you tell him it's a Navy car, maybe? I'll take him to the house and then, then tonight I'll drive him to the hospital. Oh, I don't know, Ruth, I... I want one chance, Lee. Won't you give it to me, please? It's this whole life I'm fighting for. Yeah, and yours, I know. Okay, I'll see how good a liar I am, Ruth. Hang on. Boy, sounds like Philly all right. Good old Philly. Say, Lieutenant, where are we? I, uh, I can't see so good yet. Uh, can't you hear me, Lieutenant? I've orders against talking while driving. Okay, okay. You don't mind if I talk to you though, do you? I'm kind of hopped up about coming home. I've got to talk to somebody. Okay. I, uh, I guess that must be your perfume I'm smelling now. It's, uh, nice. If you don't mind my saying so, it's the first time a Lieutenant smelled nice to me. Kind of, kind of reminds me of a perfume I once gave to... Say, you know, I'm bugs. Everything reminds me of something today. Will you take this car? I know there was something bothering me about it. You hear that, you hear that little motor knock when you give it a gas? I had a jalopy once that did exactly the same thing. I got a little eye trouble, though. That's why I come here to get it fixed up. Say, uh, are we here at the hospital? Yes. Uh, would you take this out for me, Lieutenant? It's not heavy. Yes, yes, this way. Thanks. I'll take the bag now. You just leave the way. Some steps now. Wooden steps. Say, this hospital must be an old dump. That's all. Something holding us up, Lieutenant? Ow! Ruth! I... I thought there was something familiar. Elle, I had to do this. What's the use? It's no good. Elle, it's Christmas Eve. Come on, Elle, you've got to come in. You're home. Stop following me around. I'm blind, Ruth. I'm helpless. I'd be a drag on you all your life. Why don't you let me decide that? Because I'm nobody's laptop. That's why I got too much pride. Pride, you don't have any pride. You want to feel sorry for yourself. You want to feel lonely. You haven't got the pride to accept being blind like a man. I'm going right now. You get in that car and drive. I won't do it. You're going to stay right here and you're going to listen to me. I won't drive you. That's fine. That ties it all up. I could beat your ears off for saying that. But there's one card you missed. I may be blind, but I know where the phone is in this house. I'm calling a cab. You wait a minute, dear. Elle, don't you understand? If you go out of this room now, you'll leave me to stumble all through my life. What is it, a pity about a brave man? I suppose I never was a war, darling. What if we were married and one day I got hit by an automobile and was left to cripple? Would you walk out on me? You know you wouldn't. Oh, darling, my heart has been falling over things all year because you've been gone. I need you, Elle. Sure, you'll need me too, but what's wrong with that? Why shouldn't two people need each other? I don't know what I'll do if you leave me. I need you too, my darling. Lucy, Lucy, don't. I don't want to make you cry. I need you. I don't want to make you cry. It's just that, well, I was only an ordinary guy before and I wasn't worth your then. And now I'm less than an ordinary guy. I can't see. Less than ordinary? You? Oh, sweetheart, don't you realize that every single man who's fought is no longer ordinary? Don't you realize that millions and millions of people were looking to Guadalcanal every day while you were fighting there? They were millions of them. Every civilized person in the world, I guess. And it wasn't any ordinary guy who kept the Japs back that night. It was one of the most extraordinary guys in the world. You, Elle Schmidt. Now, where are you going? I am. I guess I'd better unpack that kit, Luffy. Well, looks like I'm home for keeps, baby. Today in army and Navy hospitals throughout our land, thousands of men are being helped toward the happy endings they so rightly deserve. Doctors, nurses, and the full resources of medical science are working tirelessly to give the second wounded their chance to live full, useful lives. Many of the medical miracles that are being performed upon these men are possible only with the aid of the remarkably effective new drugs, such as penicillin and the various sulfur compounds made available in the past few years. In the development of these new drugs, in their constant refinement, their wider distribution, their ever-increasing application, the House of Squib has played an important role, and this work goes on. For as long as there is suffering, the House of Squib is dedicated to the search for new drugs and the perfection of those already known. That's why, wherever it appears in a veteran's hospital, in your doctor's office, in your own home, Squib is a name you can trust. Next week, another great picture. The House of Squib will present Academy Awards starring Pat O'Brien and Adolf Manjou in front page. Pride of the Marines was written for radio by Frank Wilson with an original musical score composed and conducted by Lee Stevens. Our producer director is D. Engelbaum. John Garfield, whose performance you enjoy today as Al Schmidt, is soon to be seen in Warner Brothers' new production Humoresse. Rosemary de Camp, who played Virginia, may currently be seen in Warner Brothers' production Two Guys from Milwaukee. This is Hugh Brundage bidding you goodnight until next week at the same time when you're invited to listen again to Academy Award, presented by the House of Squib, a name you can trust. This is CBS, The Columbia Broadcasting System.