 NBC Kansas City, Missouri. It's community chess time. Enjoy full benefits of your Kansas City Public Service nickel pass. Besides trips to and from work, use it for shopping, attending church, luncheon, the movies, and visiting friends and relatives. The time is nine o'clock. Remember a hallmark card when you carry enough to send the very best. Ladies and gentlemen, this is James Hilton. Tonight on our hallmark playhouse we present a dramatization of a much loved classic, Charles Dickens's Great Expectations. Written in the year 1860 when the great novelist was 48 years old, it is one of his last novels and also by many critics has been considered one of his best. It tells the story of a boy's early dreams and struggles against that background of the Kentish countryside which Dickens had always loved and where he wrote the story we tell tonight. Great Expectations is a great story on a great theme. The great expectations of life so keenly held in youth and so well remembered in age. And for our star we are fortunate to have a very fine English actor who has come specially from England to pay us his second visit tonight, Richard Todd. And now a word about hallmark cards from Frank Oz before we begin the first act of Great Expectations. At Christmas as on every memorable occasion you'll take special pride in sending hallmark cards because just as for hundreds of years the word hallmark has been the distinguishing symbol of quality. So today the hallmark on the back of your greeting cards is your assurance of finest quality and perfect taste. It's a symbol of quality all who receive your cards will quickly recognize and realize you cared enough to send the very best. And now hallmark playhouse presenting Charles Dickens Great Expectations starring Richard Todd. My father's family name being Pirip and my Christian name Philip. My infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So I called myself Pip and came to be called Pip. Of the things in my childhood there are three people that stand out with extraordinary clearness. One was a convict that I met in the marshes. Keep still you little emperor I'll cut your throat. Now you listen to me I want you to steal a file somewhere and bring it down here and I want you to get me some witness. They're out on it for me with their dogs and their guns tonight and I've got to lie low. So you bring me what I've asked for or I'll come and find you and roast you and eat you. I remember the cold wind blowing across the marshes and the cold chill of fear settling in my bones. I remember running like the devil himself was behind me and then lying on the wet ground spent and gasping for breath watching the convict vote his food. Yes of the things in my childhood three people stand out with extraordinary clearness. The second was the strange woman I was taken to see one day. An old lady who sat in an ancient yellowed wedding gown in a candlelit room in a strange dark castle shut up with the crumbling remains of a wedding that never took place. Miss Havisham. Look at me boy I was told you were a fine handsome lad. I asked you to be brought here so I could beat you. You aren't afraid are you? Come closer. Let me put my hand on your shoulder for a moment. You are young. Your heart is young and steady now. But someday someone will break it. Someone will break it as my heart was broken and I shall have my revenge. A curse on all men and all who will one day grow to manhood. A curse. Most important Miss Havisham's adopted daughter Estella. Miss Havisham called her in to meet me that first day I was at the house and her light came along the dark passage like a star. You're a common little boy. A common laboring boy. Your boots are thick and your hands of course and your clothes are dirty. Now why don't you cry? You want to cry? Why don't you cry? Those three people formed the triangle of all that I look back on now. Through them I learned love and hate and grief. Through them I possessed much and lost much and grew to manhood with great expectations. That phrase great expectations meant much to me but it was used quite liberally by a lawyer from London who came to see my brother-in-law and me when I was half grown. Mr. Jaggers. I am instructed to communicate to you Master Pip that you have great expectations. You will come into a handsome property and it is the desire of the present owner of that property that you'll be immediately removed from your present sphere of life and from this place and brought up as a gentleman. The name of your benefactor Pip is to remain a profound secret until the person chooses to reveal it. I have been given a sum of money amply sufficient for your suitable education and maintenance. I am to be your guardian and I will make all the necessary arrangements for your lodgings and education. If it's agreeable you can return to London with me tonight. And so I left the home of my sister and her husband who were raising me. I left with joyousness in my heart and glory in my veins. I'd be a gentleman. The whole world would be mine and she who'd mock me would one day curse me to me. In London under careful tutors chosen by Mr. Jaggers I learned how a gentleman speaks and the clothes that a gentleman wears and the manners that a gentleman uses. And as I grew I forgot many things but never the words that Estella had spoken to me. I hated her and yet I knew at the same time that I did not want to live without her. I was a man grown before I saw her or Miss Habersham again. My brother-in-law Joe Gargery came to London to tell me that Estella was home from school and that Miss Habersham wanted me to come down and see them. So I went. Well Pip, you've improved since you were a boy. I'll say that for you. Wouldn't you say it improved? Estella, very much. You've learned how to talk and how to look at a woman. I'll warrant you're a heartbreaker, Master Pip. Do you find Estella beautiful, graceful, well-grown? Do you admire her? Everyone must who sees her, Miss Habersham. Then love her. Love her. If she favors you, love her. If she wounds you, love her. If she tells your heart to pieces, still love her. Don't talk like that. Please, hear me, Pip. I adopted her to be loved. I bred her, educated her to be loved. And do you know what real love is? It is blind devotion, unquestioning self-humiliation, giving up your whole heart and soul, as I did to the one who will strike you down. Love her. Love her. Come. Let us walk in the garden. I'm sure Miss Habersham wants to rest. Yes, of course. She's a strange woman. I remember that even as a boy when I came here, I couldn't tell whether she loved me or hated me. She hates all men. But why? Because once she waited in a wedding gown for a man who never came. Because once she stood young and beautiful, surrounded by friends, waiting, waiting, waiting. And finally, when she realized, she ran to that room. She shut herself in. And year after year, she sat there, hating. I wondered about her. When I was sent to London to become a gentleman, I wondered if she was responsible. I knew of no one else that could be. If she was responsible, I know of no reason for it. Stella, it was here in these gardens that you told me I was beneath you. Do you remember? Pip, I have no heart. And consequently, I have no memory. Oh, I can't believe that. I've loved you since I was a boy. I love you even more now. For I love you with the memories of a boy and the hopes of a man. Pip, I have been very carefully raised by a woman who wanted me to learn only one thing. How to hurt. So that she could avenge herself against all men for the sin committed against her by one man. I am what she has made me. I have nothing but contempt for all men, including you. Go back to London and forget me. That is the kindest thing that I will ever say to you. I made a Stella's image in my heart. Somehow, I felt confident that Miss Havisham was my unknown benefactor and that, regardless of what Stella had told me, Miss Havisham eventually meant for us to be together. But a few weeks later, I learned that those hopeful expectations of mine added up to exactly nothing. It was raining and I was alone in my room, sweetie. And when I opened it, a man of about six days took there. A muscular man with iron gray hair, browned and hardened by exposure to the weather. I want to come in, Master Pip. My name is Prumis. Oh, well, of course. Come in. What can I do for you? Ah, it's a disappointing welcome after having come so far. But you're not to blame for that. There's no nearer, sir. Why do you ask a question like that? You're a stranger. What are you up to? You're a game one. I'm glad you've grown up a game one. But then, even as a boy, I still have the file in my pocket. I've kept it all these years. You're the convict, the man I met on the marches. Yes, you acted nobly, my boy. And I've never forgot it. I've been in Australia. I've been a sheep farmer, stock breeder, other trades. I've worked at almost all of them. May I make so bold as to ask how you have done so well since you and me was out in them lone, shivering marches? How? Yes, how? Well, I came into some property. Might have me have armed me to ask what property? No. Might have me have armed me to ask whose property? Don't know that either. You were a guardian, I believe. There had to be a guardian while you were a minor. Would his name be Jaggers? You don't mean that you... Yes, big boy. I've made a gentleman of you. I swore that time you helped me, that sure as ever I earned a guinea, that guinea should go to you. I lived rough, that you should live smooth. I worked hard, that you should build both work. Why, why? You're my son. When I needed help, you gave it to me. That made you my son. I've never forgotten. Didn't you never think once it might be me? No, no, never. It wasn't easy for me to come back here. I was safe in Australia. But I had to see you. However caution will be necessary. What do you mean? It's death for any exiled convict to come back to England. If they find me, they'll hang me for sure. But it's worth the risk to see you. You don't know what a satisfaction you were to me when I was labouring. The quality would pass me and I'd think, I'm making a better gentleman than you'll ever be, I'd say to myself. If I ain't a gentleman nor yet got no learning, I'm the owner of such. You're what I've made of you, Pip. Yes. What you've made of me. Come on, I'll show you to your room. I know that you're tired. She doesn't slowly went out. Ms. Havisham was not my benefactor. She did not intend me for a stellar. And a stellar was as Ms. Havisham had created her. Cold and heartless, unwilling to take love, unwilling to give it. And I, when I was what a convict had created, a labouring boy wearing the clothes and manners of a gentleman. I sat there all the night and most of the next day, staring at the ashes of my great expectations. Turn to the second act of great expectations, starring Richard Todd. When you choose the Christmas cards on which you have your name imprinted, you make a very important choice. For that one card will represent you to all your friends. You can be certain of finding a card that you'll be proud to send by visiting the fine store where you buy Hallmark cards and asking to see the Hallmark albums. This year there are three complete Hallmark albums, each with a distinctive quality all its own. There is the Hallmark Gallery Artist Album. Among its pages are superb reproductions of paintings by Mr. Winston Churchill, the world's most famous amateur artist. Colorful paintings by Norman Rockwell, quaint winter scenes by Grandma Moses. In fact, open it at any page and what a treasure of fine art lies before you. Then there is the Hallmark Blue Book. Here you'll find cards expressing all the charm and delight of Christmas as you know it and love it. Winter scenes, lovable cherubs, whimsical Santas, exquisite tapestry designs woven on silk. And there's a new Hallmark album especially tailored for men, an appealing collection of sports and hunting scenes. Yes, in one of the three Hallmark albums you're certain to find a Hallmark card you'll be proud to have imprinted with your name. And you'll have the comfortable knowledge that your cards will have the Hallmark on the back. The Hallmark that says you cared enough to send the very best. Now back to James Hilton and the second act of Great Expectations, starring Richard Todd. Gradually Pip became acquainted with his strange benefactor and as their friendship grew and flourished he knew that he must get the convict out of England. He refused to take any further money from him and a new stature and dignity came to the boy. In her business house, this did not please my self-appointed father, Provost, but I explained to him that a gentleman could work and still remain a gentleman. Since this was a knowledge that I'd only recently required myself, I took a good deal of pleasure in it. But I could not sleep at nights for dreaming about a stellar. And finally I went back to see her. She was with Miss Havisham. What wind blows you here Pip? Miss Havisham, I have something to say to a stellar and I intend to say it before you. It'll not surprise you, it'll not displease you. I'm every bit as unhappy as you can ever have met me to be. Oh surely never expected kindness from me. Who am I? Who am I in the name of heaven that I should be kind? Say what you've come to say and get it over with. Stella, you know that I love you. You know that I've loved you long and dearly. I know that I have very little hope of winning you. Then why do you persist in talking of it? I must talk about it. However little hope there is. It seems that there are sentiments or fancies. I don't even know quite what name to give them. That I am not able to comprehend. When you say you love me, I know what you mean as a form of address. But nothing more. I've tried to warn you of this, have I not? Yes, yes you have, Stella. But you would not be warned because you refuse to believe that I meant it. Well let's say that I hoped that you didn't not mean it. Put me out of your thoughts. You can do it in a wake if you try. You can do it in an instant. But you are of my thoughts. Stella, you're part of my existence, part of myself. You're the poetry I've read, the stars I've longed for, the music that has touched my heart. Whatever I've glimpsed of beauty has been in itself a recollection of your face. The stones of which the strongest London buildings are made are not more real or more impossible to be displaced by your hands than your presence and influence has been to me. Stella, to the last hour of my life, you cannot choose but remain part of my character, part of the good in me and part of the evil. Each morning I've thought perhaps a day she'll find some echo of my longing in her heart. Each night I've thought perhaps tomorrow. I can listen to no more of this. Good night, paper. To these empties and to see the expression on your face. See the expression on your face was to see myself in a mirror. Forgive me, forgive me. There's nothing to forgive. I would have loved her under any circumstances and perhaps she would not have loved me under any. Please, please, leave me. I have grown accustomed to facing sorrow alone. I can stand it better alone. Good evening, Miss Havillie. Go, find love in someone else's image. Don't live as I've lived in a self-centered vanity of sorrow hiding beneath a cloak of someone else's failure. You didn't fail, Stella. She failed you. Find someone else. I beg you, find someone else. Good night. Miss Havisham walked unsteadily towards the fireplace. A small defeated figure in the tattered remnants of a wedding dress. I turned towards the door to leave and as I turned her dress was in flames. I ran to her and threw my cloak around her to smother out the fire. In the second the flames were out but she was unconscious. I shouted for Stella to go for the doctor. Miss Havisham spoke only once. Forgive me. Forgive me. And then spoke no more. After Miss Havisham's death, my benefactor, and by then my close friend, Provis, was captured. He was injured in the fight that resulted and I went to see him in the prison hospital. You shouldn't have come here. It's best as a gentleman should not be known to belong to me now. I'll be here every day that they'll let me. If only you hadn't come back to England to see me, you'd still be free. I'm content. I've seen my boy. I'm content. I've never thanked you. I've searched for the words many times but somehow I've never been able to find the right words. What you've done for me calls for gratitude beyond expression. I failed you at the end though. I wanted you to have such great expectations and now there's nothing I can do to help you realize that. But I have realized them. I realize them now. But they've come to not. No. I've much greater expectations now than I ever had before because I've found a set of values. I've learned from you that one of the first requisites of a gentleman is true humility. You learned that from me. Yes, and from you I learned too what loyalty means and devotion and not being ashamed of honest labor. I think it's well I learned these things from you. You said to me that when I helped you that made me your son. So I say to you in answer that I'm grateful for the things I've learned from you and no real son would love a father more. My boy, my boy. And Provost, you're far more of a gentleman than I. And I wept as a man weeps when his father is gone. And when the last sad duties were done for him I sold all I had and put aside as much as I could for my creditors. And then I went home. I went back to Miss Havisham's house in search of Estella. I found her in the garden. She was waiting for a coach with her boxes all around her. Her eyes were sad and for the first time the hand that she reached out to me seemed a friendly hand. Pip, Pip, I'm glad you came before I left. I'm going abroad this very night. I've been thinking of you. You've been thinking of me? Yes, almost constantly. Oh Pip, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for so many things. I'm glad you came so I could tell you this. I said I had no heart, but I was wrong. For the loneliness and anguish I felt inside me could only come from the heart. Estella. And the thoughts I've had of you could only come from the heart too. Now that we are parting forever, be as considerate and kind as you've been before and tell me that we are friends. We are friends. And we'll continue friends. Though we're apart. Though we're apart. I took a hand in mine and we went out into the garden. As the morning mists had risen long ago when I first left the village so the evening mists were raising now. And in all the broad expanse of tranquil light they showed me I saw no shadow of another parting from there. And so at last were my hopes, my dreams, my great expectations realized. And I'd like to tell you about the beautiful Hallmark Christmas card you can buy in box collections this year at prices that hardly seem possible in this expensive 1950. You can buy a box of 12 Christmas cards featuring the paintings of the right Honorable Winston Churchill for only $1. When you see Mr. Churchill's paintings somehow you'll feel the same magic quality of greatness that has made him belong to the world in all he undertakes. Or you may choose a box of 12 assorted cards by Norman Rockwell all painted with the kindly understanding for which he is famous. And this year there are two different box collections of Grandma Moses cards showing quaint winter scenes which capture childhood memories. These are but a few of the many Hallmark box assortments to choose from. And just because they are Hallmark cards doesn't mean they need to be expensive. Some boxes have as many as 25 assorted cards for as little as $1. I hope you'll stop at the fine store where you buy Hallmark cards tomorrow so you'll be sure to have the complete selection to choose from. Look for the Hallmark on the cover of the box you select to be sure the card you send will have that Hallmark on the back. For at Christmas time as always you want that Hallmark to say you cared enough to send the very best. Here again is James Hilton. You gave us a very fine performance Richard Todd on your return visit to Hallmark Playhouse. We're delighted you could come over to join us. Thank you Mr. Hilton. It's not only one of my favorite stories but it also reminded me of home. You know Frank Goss also reminded me of England when he told me about Mr. Churchill's Hallmark Christmas cards. Oh by the way I hear you have a really wonderful treatment store for us next week Mr. Hilton. Yes we have Richard and remember also we start on our new time next week. A half hour earlier. I'll make a note of that for I surely want to hear Joan Pontain. She's another of my favorites you know. One of ours too. And she'll appear in Elizabeth Enchanted April. A story as charming as its title. Our Hallmark Playhouse is every Thursday. Our director producer is Bill Gay. Our music is composed and conducted by Lynn Murray and our script tonight was adapted by Jean Holloway. Until next Thursday then this is James Hilton saying good night. Remember Hallmark cards when you carry enough to send the very best. Richard Todd appears for the courtesy of Warner Brothers and associated British Pictures Corporation and may soon be seen in the Warner Brothers picture Lightning Strikes Twice. Remember starting next week November 16th you'll hear Hallmark Playhouse one half hour earlier every Thursday night. This is Frank Goss saying good night to you all until next week when James Hilton returns to present Joan Pontain in Elizabeth Enchanted April and the week following Aileen Hamilton's home to Thanksgiving starring Jane Wyman. And the week after that Urban Anthony's Decatur on the Hallmark Playhouse. This is CBS The Columbia Broadcasting System. This is TMBC Kansas City, Missouri. Earl Smith and the news...