 a hallmark card when you carry enough to send the very best. The hallmark cards bring you another and their exciting new series of broadcasts. On the Hallmark Hall of Fame, Hallmark will bring you true-to-life stories of actual persons who in their own way have contributed to a better world for all of us to live in. Presented on the Hallmark Hall of Fame by our distinguished host, Mr. Lionel Barrymore. And yet are too little known or too slightly remembered that we of Hallmark dedicate this program. Such a man was Otmar Merenthala. From this man's brain sprang an invention which has helped to shape the lives of every living American. And indeed the lives of most of the peoples of the world. This is the exciting and fascinating true story which we bring you tonight. The story of Otmar Merenthala. And now here is Frank Goss from the makers of a hallmark card. When you're looking for a way to say something to someone you care for, look for a hallmark card and you'll find the card you want to send. Because hallmark cards are designed to say what you want to say, just the way you want to say it. With the good taste you demand of anything that bears your signature. That's why hallmark on the back of a greeting card has come to mean you cared enough to send the very best. Lionel Barrymore appears by arrangement with Metro Golden Mayor, producers of the Technicolor Picture, Lille, starring Leslie Carone, Mel Ferrer and Jean-Pierre Amont. And now here is Lionel Barrymore with the first act of your Hallmark Hall of Fame. In the place, the harbor of the city of New York, the transatlantic steamer from Bremen warps slowly up to the pier. On deck, the lowest deck for the poorest passengers, a young immigrant lad stares for the first time at the shores of America. A gangling lad ready to be looking in his homemade suit. The gang planks lowered. Young Utman, Megan Thuller presses anxiously through the milling crowd. Then suddenly he sees by a pair of arms. He asks his nephew to his new home in Baltimore, Maryland. He sees you, my boy, since last John Catty saw you, you've almost a baby. But now, now we just have time. I take you to see my shop, man. Yeah, only now, Utman, it will be ours. Uncle August, I, I hope you understand. In the old country, I learned about only certain machines. I make watches. Sure, you have steady hands, good eyes, that is enough. The rest I teach you. To make optical instruments is perhaps more difficult. Yeah, but you have a fine brain, you will learn. I hope so. I know how you feel, my boy. Everything is here so new, and you are perhaps home, sickness boy. Yeah, a little. Of course. But this will pass. You, Catty, and I will take you to the Germania Singing Society. There you meet our young people. And perhaps even some nice girl. Don't look up, I am. Come, our shop, I promise to show you. In the months that follow, Uncle August's predictions come true. The young immigrant lad shows a gift for machinery. There are friends to sing with, musicals to plan, and Sunday picnics in the country. And then one evening, Otmar Magenthaler goes alone to one of the folk festivals. There, he's not alone for long. Oh, such energy. Oh, you are an American. But you can be too, Otmar. You can apply for citizenship. I can't. Tell me how. Where from? Oh, you have not lived in Europe, Emma. You do not understand. I remember when my Uncle August first wrote to me. He said, come to America, Otmar. For here, there is no prince, no emperor. Here, every man makes for himself, and so becomes his own prince, his own emperor. And now I know my uncle was right. Everywhere I look, I see faces that are happy. Everywhere people are smiling. And nowhere, nowhere do I see a soldier. It is a good land. Here, I want to be a citizen. And then more, I want to do something, something fine, something important for my new country. Otmar. You smile, Emma. You think I dream for too much. No, Otmar, no. Everything must begin with a dream. And for you, especially for you, I think it will become more. Much more. Otmar, Megan, Thola, and Emma Lachemere realize they're falling in love. There's much to be done before the immigrant boy can think of marriage, first he must work and save. Time passes, and Uncle August's business expands to include the making of general machinery. And then one day a stranger comes to the shop. A stranger who introduces himself as James O. Crafay. It's an idea I've been touring with for some time, gentlemen. An idea for an invention. What I'm looking for is someone to build me a machine that will make me an excuse, Miss Barton, or we are very busy. But I haven't been doing this. I am sorry, inventions, they are not that busy. But wait, if I told you that my idea would make a fortune, that it would benefit millions, I know, they all say that. Come, Otmar, they have a... In just a minute, Uncle. Mr. Clefain, you say it will benefit millions? Look, have you ever watched the printing of a newspaper? No, sir. All right, this is how it's done. The manuscript for every word which is to appear in the newspaper goes first to a man called a typesetter. It is his job to compose the newspaper into metal type for printing. Yeah, I understand that part. But how does he do it? Every word, every syllable, every letter he must set by hand. He takes a letter from the type case and places it into a printing form. Then he picks up another letter and inserts it. Letter by letter, word by word, line by line, paragraph by paragraph. Slow, tedious and expensive. Otmar! Otmar! One moment, Uncle. What would happen if all this could be done by a machine? Exactly. A machine. Something like these new typewriting machines for the writing of letters. A machine which would operate by the touch of a lever. It would imprint the proper letter into a soft paper mold. A soft paper mold. And then afterwards, a cast could be made and when it hardens, there would be a line of type ready for printing. Think what this would mean, sir. For 400 years there has been no real improvement in the art of printing. Your countryman, Gutenberg, invented movable type in the 15th century. And since then, nothing. Otmar, perhaps you'll forget behavior. Uncle, I want you to listen to this gentleman's idea. I have heard. I now have to tell you it is foolishness. It is an impossibility. What is it? Otmar! A critical thing. I would like to make some drawings of how the machine might work. Then we talk again. Thank you, sir. It's to work. First at the drafting cable and then at the engine lap. Finally, the machine is completed and the day for its trial arrives. When it's over, Otmar Megan Thullis slopes down by his work table alone and ejected. Stop by to hear about the machine. Oh, I'm so sorry, my dear. And Uncle August told you? Yes, that came in. I'm sure it made him very happy. He'll hear you. I don't care. I'm going to keep on. I'm going to build another machine. Yeah, and if that one does not work, then another, and another, until it does work. Oh, and perhaps you will tell me, Otmar, who will pay for this? Mr. Calfane is going to raise the money. He wants to form a company. Ah, there are perhaps fools who will throw away their money. But you, Otmar, you will throw away everything. We have customers who beg me to fill the orders and I cannot. Because you are too busy with Mr. Calfane. Uncle August, if... I tell you something, Otmar. You are not the first man who seems to be a type-setting machine. There have been many others with money spent on millions upon millions. Believe me, my boy, you must forget this man. I'm sorry, Uncle. I've given my word to Mr. Calfane. Then I remind you, Otmar, that you are using my shop, my machines, my tools. You have here a good home, the giant catty and me. And zone enough money to marry Emma. You must make your choice. But, Uncle August, make your choice, Otmar. Is there no more? Do you believe in this machine? Do you want to make printing easier and faster to make books cheap enough so even the poorest may buy to help build the libraries and spread education? You know you don't have to ask me that, Otmar. And yet, everything I have, like, oh, to Uncle August, might come into America, even in meeting you and... you and I, my dear, we've waited so long. I cannot ask you to go on... But it's unwilling, too, darling. Still, it's wrong. It's wrong. It's so hard to choose. Otmar. Otmar, do you remember the first night we met at Nightingale Garden? You told me of what America meant to you. It is a good land, you say. Here, I want to live and be a citizen. And then, more. Here, I want to do something. Something fine. Something important for my new country. Yeah, I remember. Thank you, my dear, for helping me. Now I know what my choice must be. We will return to the second act of our story of Otmar Merganthaler. A elderly couple like my next door neighbor is Mr. and Mrs. Turner. They're both well over 80, and yet they still take pride in joining the Easter parade. Each Easter Sunday morning, as they stroll to church, Mr. Turner smiles proudly at his wife and says, Martha, my dear, you look just like a queen. Well, it's a touching little scene, and it's typical of the thoughtfulness we all feel toward our loved ones at Easter time. And you know, even though you can't be with all your friends and relatives this Easter, there's one wonderful way to greet them. I mean, by lifting their spirits you can choose hallmark Easter cards. You'll find the fresh, beautiful hallmark collection at a fine store near you. There are heartwarming styles for your family and friends and for your pastor or favorite little folks. And you can choose hallmark Easter cards to send to those who are ill or to those who have a birthday on April the 5th. Yes, it's fun to select and a joy to receive the Easter cards with the hallmark and crown on the back. The familiar symbol that means you carry enough to send the very best. And now here is Lionel Barrymore. Comfort and security to endure ridicule and a thousand defeats. These are the trials which lie ahead of open-armored men. Trials which are to be shared by another is bride, Emma. The months go by. Then the years. And still, mage and trellis, labors doggedly to build a workable typesetting machine. Designing and building and testing. Only to reject everything and start all over again. And then one night, long after Emma and Maggie and Trellis gone to sleep, a husband burst into the bedroom. Emma! Darling, I've found it. I've found the answer. I've been wrong. All these years I've thought the type mold should be a paper. But no. No, it must be metal. The molten lead must flow into metal molds. Don't you see, Emma? No, I can't know. But if you say so. I do. I promise it, darling. Now my machine will work. It had been found. But it brings with it new problems, new difficulties to be mastered. There's fresh work to be done, another year to pass. Then two years. And then three. Then four. Then five. And now the machine's almost ready. The news spread throughout the printing and publishing world of mage and trellis almost miraculous invention. It becomes a surprise. And danger. Ottmar, since nine years already when you left my house and my business, I say to myself, Ottmar, Mergen, Trellis, no king of mine, and you do not care what he does. I say it, yes, but I do not feel it. Now, Ottmar, you will close up your shop and you and Emma come back to on Cathy and me. Close my shop, but... Why? Please, Ottmar, I'll ask you too. Emma, what is this? When you waste time, forget your invention. You must leave this place today, now. Emma, what's happened? Tell me. This morning a letter came for me. When I read it, I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to upset you, so I took it to Uncle August. But who is it from? We do not know. It was unkind. He abraded Ottmar. If you love your husband, tell him to destroy his invention. Otherwise, we will act to save ourselves. I warned you, Ottmar, that that invention was madness. Now you'll see. Please, darling, leave here before something happens. But, Emma, my dear, this is only the work of some poor printer who's afraid my machine will take his job. He or perhaps they don't understand that this invention will mean more work for all of them. Please, Ottmar, don't argue. But it's true. My machine will make it possible for newspapers to double and triple in size. For publishers to print books and magazines so cheaply that the demand will mean more jobs for everyone. Darling, I beg you. For my sake. I'm sorry, Emma. My machine is almost ready. In just a few more months. A few more months, yeah, if you live. My boy, for a machine, a box of metal and tears and levers, you are willing to risk your life? Yes. The young inventor comes to know the meaning in the fury of hatred born of fear and misunderstanding. In June 1886, Ottmar Mergenthaler transports his ungainly invention to New York City. The first public demonstration of the machine is scheduled for the afternoon of July the 3rd in the offices of the New York Tribune. Inside the building, James Clefane and White Law Reed, publisher of the Tribune, wait uneasily for Mergenthaler's arrival. Outside the building, others wait. Angry and threatening. There's a group of frock-coated businessmen. They hover curiously about a strange, ungainly thing of iron. James Clefane comes forward and puts his arm around his friend's shoulder. Gentlemen, this is the inventor, Ottmar Mergenthaler. This is Mr. Reed, publisher of the Tribune. Mr. Smith, representing the English newspapers. My pleasure, sir. Mr. Howell, Mr. Bruce, and Mr. Kendall. It is an honor, gentlemen. And now, if you are ready. We are, sir. Mergenthaler sits down before the giant keyboard. He presses the first lever. As I press each key, a letter is selected from a magazine. Each letter is a mold which follows down its tube to join other letters until a word is formed and then a whole line of words. Molten lead then pours to make a metal cast, and finally... It is unbelievable. And yet, here it is. Mr. Mergenthaler, I want you to build 12 of these machines for me as rapidly as you can. And double that number for us. We need them for every newspaper plan from London to Hong Kong, from Montreal to Cape Town. Oh, gentlemen, please. There are still improvements to be made. I want the perfect machine. No, no, we can't wait. We'll take every machine you can turn out. Think of it, it is cheap and fast and better. The greatest gift of publishing in 400 years. Yes? And to education, to schools and libraries, to every man, woman and child who reads. Or we'll learn to read. I do, Mr. Ead. I have known. I have worked for all of those things with one idea. It is written here in these eight words which I have cast into type. In humble gratitude to the America I love. In 1886, down to this very day, almost every American, yes, practically every civilized person on this globe, has reaped the benefit of Otmar Mergenthaler's genius. His line of type machine multiplied the circulation of American newspapers by over 10 times. New books by the scores of thousands have spread knowledge to every American hamlet and farm and pushed down our illiteracy rate by over 50%. At this very moment, to the farthest ends of the earth, Otmar Mergenthaler's machines are at work, forming ideas into tiny images of metal in almost a thousand languages and dialects. And the company which he founded continues to add improvements to Mergenthaler's type-setting machine. The very latest version, the comet, operates almost twice as fast as its predecessor. Well, now, next week, we're going to tell you another remarkable story of a very interesting man. I'll tell you a little about him in just a moment, but first, here's our friend, Frank Goss, doing a little analyzing on his own. Have you ever analyzed the word's good taste? It's a complementary term all of us use often, and yet it has nothing to do with cost or rarity or social prestige. You might say that good taste simply means suitability, doing or saying or wearing the right thing at the right time. That's why so many thoughtful people turn to hallmark cards when they want a special greeting that's correct for the occasion, correct down to the last detail. You'll find that hallmark cards always capture a mood, whether it's the fun of a birthday or the promise of graduation or the joy of Mother's Day. And here's something else you like to know, even though the quality of hallmark cards improves year after year, their prices remain the same. So next time you want to send happiness in an envelope, go to a fine store where hallmark cards are sold. You can count on it. The hallmark on the back of every card you mail will tell your friends you'll carry enough to send the very best. Here again is Lionel Barrymore. Well, Frank, you know, your definition of good taste is meaning suitability, doing the right thing at the right time. Well, that is echoed in a famous saying, Birx. He said it's for the most part in our skill in manners and in the observances of time and place and decency in general that what is called good taste consists which is in reality no other than a more refined judgment. And speaking of taste makes me want to get on my soapbox and speak out against one of my pet peeves. And that's the attitude of some folks who say, oh, you've got to talk down to the published taste of, oh, you know, the average audience has a 12-year-old mentality. Well, now that is pure rubbish. Why, I read a report just the other evening that said the taste of the American public has reached a new high. To prove that, just look around you and notice how tastefully our women folk dress. Now, tastefully, American homes are decorated and look at the great new interest that has been in all forms of art and music and well say, I better get down off my soapbox or I won't have time to tell you about next week's program. Next Sunday we are going to tell you the exciting true story of a great American, Nathaniel Pitt Langford, and how he struggled to establish the great Yellowstone country as our first national park. Our hallmark hall of fame is every Sunday. Our producer-directors, William Gay, our music was arranged by Earl Towner and our script tonight was written by Lenards and Clare. Until next Sunday then, this is Lionel Barry Moore saying, Good night. 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 are carrying out to send the very best. The part of Artmore Merrigan-Taller was played by Whitfield Conner with Ted DeCorsi as August Hall, Lerene Tuttle as Emma, and Polly Bear as Pothane. Others in our cast, Bill Johnstone and Peter Leeds. Every Sunday, hallmark cards presents two great programs for the whole family's enjoyment. The Hallmark Hall of Fame on radio with host Lionel Barrymore on television with Miss Sarah Churchill. 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 we present another true-to-life story of actual persons who in their own way have contributed to a better world for all of us to live in. Next Sunday, we honor Nathaniel Pitt Langford on the Hallmark Hall of Fame. This is the CBS Radio Network. This is KMBC, Kansas City, Missouri.