 Ladies and gentlemen, the Railroad Hour. Here comes our star-studded show train. The Association of American Railroads presents the Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein II musical play, Very Warm for May, starring Gordon MacRae and his charming guest, Annemarie Dickey. Our choir is under the direction of Norman Luboff and our music is prepared and conducted by Carmen Dragon. Yes, tonight another great musical success 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. Tonight's story, I'm Johnny Graham, a Broadway triple-threat man, writer, actor, producer, and Annemarie Dickey is a gal named May, who, well, I think she's wonderful. When I first met Johnny Graham, he was walking down the street and he wasn't looking where he was going, and he bumped right into me. Hey, hey, wait a minute. I didn't bump into you. You bumped into me. You were wearing that big floppy hat and you couldn't see through it or out of it or something. I wasn't wearing a hat at all. You were, too. You were wearing a great big, silly carton. Now, Johnny, I don't intend to get trapped into that argument again. I was not wearing a hat, and that's all there is to it. Okay, you were not wearing a hat. Were you wearing your head? Oh, yes, Johnny, I was wearing my head all right, but I lost it the moment I saw you. What did you think the first time you saw me? Well, I thought you were kind of scrawny, but you had possibilities. You did? Sure. What did you think? Scrawny, huh? If that's what you thought, why did you ask me to have dinner with you? I just told you. You had possibilities. Well, anyhow, we had dinner, and we seemed to click, didn't we? We sure did. That dinner stretched into an entire evening, and we danced the night away. I remember exactly what you said. Do you? I certainly do. As soon as I got through with the theater, I was knocking at the door. And no matter when it was, I was waiting. It seemed like the idea... Until I found out she wanted to go on the stage. And until I found out, he didn't want me to go on the stage. What do you mean you're going into summer stock? What do you mean, what do I mean I'm going into summer stock? I am. Barn theaters, playgrounds for Audi amateurs to try out screwy ideas. Well, some very good things come out of summer stock? Yes, well, you're not going to be one of them. I want to come home at night to a wife, not an actress. Were you thinking of marrying me by any chance? You know, Don, well, I was thinking of marrying you. Well, there's some things a girl likes to be told. And one of the things she likes to be told is how the man she's in love with feels about her. All right, darling. This is the way I feel about you. So will you please give up all this nonsense about summer stock and marry me? Johnny, try to understand. I love the theater. I know I can do something and I'm leaving for Connecticut tomorrow. Okay, go ahead. If a nowhere job means more to you than I do, there's no point in me staying here. Well, then why are you staying here? I'm not. I'll see you around, kid. Mrs. Ogden Quiller, our director. Mr. Quiller, Mr. Graham. How do you do? Charmed. How nice of you to drop by and see us. Oh, I didn't drop by to see you. I'm on my way through to Boston. Oh. Mr. Graham evidently doesn't have time to waste on amateur productions. No, as a matter of fact, I don't. People have to get started someplace, you know. Ogden, didn't you say something about lunch a moment ago? Charmed. Well, let's go. There's no use taking up the time of such important Broadway people. See you around, Johnny. I stood there alone in that empty stage and I didn't know what to do. All I knew was that I loved me, in spite of her silly ideas, and well, then I had to do something about it. Yes, yes, she is. Better watch out, Quiller, because it's going to be very warm for me. Most of us take railroads pretty much for granted. We rarely stop to think about them as the vital link which connects mine, forest, farm, and factory with the stores where we buy all as a matter of course the things we need every day. But in time of national rearmament under threat of war, we begin to think more about our railroads, the highways of steel on which trains of cars and locomotives turn out the great bulk of all intercity freight transportation service. For the fact is that this nation and its people and its armed forces can have no more of anything than can be hauled. And that's why the railroads, as the country's basic carriers, are a fundamental defense industry, an essential part indeed of the whole process of production. It follows that if the needs of our armed forces and the requirements of our essential civilian economy are to be met, then the needs of the railroads in time of emergency must also be met. Since the end of World War II, the railroads have spent one and one-half billion dollars for new cars, nearly as much on new locomotives, and more than two billion dollars on better tracks, shops, signals, and other improvements to add to their capacity and efficiency. Since the beginning of the invasion of Korea, the railroads have ordered almost another billion dollars worth of freight cars and more locomotive power to match in order to expand railroad-carrying capacity to meet national needs. And there is no way in which steel and other scarce materials can be used to better advantage in the increase of transportation capacity than by building these cars and locomotives, which the nation needs. Here is the second act of very warm for May, starring Gordon MacRae and his guest star Anna-Marie Dickey. And he started showing up for rehearsals. I didn't say anything. I stayed in the back of the theater. I mean the barn. You said plenty to me every time you got a chance. I just said that that bum quiller was a very lucky fellow. You were very sarcastic. I was not. I was worried. And you made some very nasty cracks to me. That's right. I did it that. I said, Your sweethearts, how do you rate them? I discovered a long time ago that there's no point in arguing with you. The end of the story, if Mr. Quiller hadn't done me a great favor, he walked down on the show a few days before opening night. I was asked to take over and, well, the theater is my racket. And why should you miss a golden chance like that to take me over the coals? Well, May, that wasn't the idea at all. Well, that's what happened. You started right in on my first song. You were awful on your first song. Yeah, that's what you told me, remember? Now, May, when you did that song tonight, I noticed a few things. You don't mind a little criticism, do you? No, Johnny, I want all the help you can. Oh, good. Now, first of all, it's got to be done simply. You're singing it to just one man. Okay? Let's try it, please. Now, wait a minute. Stop, stop. What did you do that for? What? The thing you did with your hand. What was that? Oh, I don't know. It was just a gesture. I've seen lots of singers do that. Mm-hmm. So was everybody else? Well, what do you want me to do? Stand here like a lamppost? All I want you to do is figure out what the words mean and then sing them that way. Now, look at me and try it again. I am on the town with you. Man, you're supposed to be singing it, too. Just a fa- You're not with it, May. Look, look, you love me, don't you? You mean in the play? Course in the play. What do you think I meant? Now, look, we're working now, and I'm going to make you put this song over if it's the last thing I do. Oh, all right. You love me, but you're trying to laugh it off. I'll sing it that way. Just a fa- Sing your heart out. Pretend that... No matter how much a girl loved you, you'd never... Even if you stand there until you drop, you're going to stand there until you can sell that song. Yes, Johnny, I sang it, and it was a hit, thanks to you. And then I decided that that wasn't what I really wanted. All of a sudden, I knew it was going to be enough for me to be Mrs. Johnny Graham. That's a full-time job in itself. Are you sorry, honey? You still got a secret hankering for the footlights? Sorry? How could I be sorry? You know how I feel about you, Johnny. You've certainly told me enough times. Of evening, the trambles on the brink of alarm. The musical play, very warm for me, by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II was adapted for the railroad hour by Gene Holloway. The railroad hour is brought to you each week at this time by the American Railroads. America's abundant production and its vast rearmament program are dependent on many things. The will of the people, adequate raw materials, ingenuity, energy. But beyond these things, it takes efficient and economical railroad transportation to move raw materials to factories for fabrication and then deliver them to our armed forces and to stores and homes all over the nation. Because the railroads do a mass transportation job that no other form of transportation can do, it's important that they receive the steel and other materials they need to build freight cars and locomotives to still further expand their carrying capacity. And here again is lovely Anna-Marie Dickey. Well, Anna-Marie, I never thought I'd be telling a gal like you how to sing, but I certainly enjoyed it. I did too, Gordon. The men I studied Grand Opera with had much longer hair. Who are you giving lessons to next week? Well, the show is the Gypsy Princess and our guest star is Yarmulah Navatna. Bye, Golly Gordon, if you aren't careful, you're going to have every operatic soprano in the country singing love songs to you as if they meant them. Is that bad? Well, I'll certainly listen. Well, Anna-Marie, it's always wonderful to have you with us and come back again real soon. All aboard! Well, sir, it looks as though we're ready to pull out and so until next week, this is Gordon Mackray saying goodbye. Mackray appeared through the courtesy of Warner Brothers. Our choir is out of 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, keep tuned for your Monday Night of Music on NBC.