 We're going Richard Warsh in DDT on the capitalgate of America sponsored by the DuPont Company. Maker of better things for better living through chemistry. Because of the skilled, careful work of automobile painters and mechanics, 87% of the passenger cars America had in 1941 and 96% of the trucks we have then are still running. DuPont's Ducro is still in there too, helping to make your car last. It's your car that the DuPont authorized refinisher nearest you and have him go over any damaged areas of the finish. The next best thing to a shiny new car is a car refinished with DuPont Ducro. The DuPont capitalgate presents DDT. Our star is Richard Warsh, one of Hollywood's talented actors and director of the forthcoming Metro Golden Mayor picture, John & Mary, starring Robert Walker and June Allison. In tonight's capitalgate story, Mr. Warsh plays the role of Captain Daniel Squires of the United States Army Medical Corps. From the beginning of civilization, disease has been the solid partner of war. And the most destructive of all disease is typhus. Typhus waits until starvation and poverty have done their work, then it forces go to work. Disease bearing lights and rats come from their hiding places and typhus, the conqueror, strikes. Naples, Italy has been through many typhus epidemics. There was one in 1528 when the French fought the Germans and Spaniards. Thousands of Neapolitan's died. Then Naples was safe again until the Seven Years War in 1764. Are you feeling better, war? No, Ben. My head is hurt very much. I feel so bad. You must try to rest, Maria. They don't know how to rest, Nicole. Ring. The dead can't. Ring. And if people are dying, Nicole, soon it's going to be me. Ring of your death. The disease was still a mystery. It spread from army camps to the city, from family to family, from house to house. And this is the victory chant of typhus, the conqueror. Ring of your death. It was the same during the French Revolution, the First World War, and in this one. Ring of your death. In World War I, three million people, soldiers and civilians, had died of typhus. Would it be the same in World War II? We didn't have long to wait. In October 1943, typhus struck. Again, at Naples. And Naples now crowded with American soldiers as well as Italian civilians. The United States Army Medical Corps was challenged to do battle with the ancient enemy, typhus. It is late in December 1943. An American plane heads toward Naples, carrying medical personnel and supplies. In the plane, Captain Squires is talking to his assistant, Lieutenant Jacobson. Well, there it is, Lieutenant. Naples. Yeah. Looks pretty from up here. Yeah, it's very pretty. One million Italian civilians, just right for a typhus epidemic. Two hundred cases last week. Are we going to forget vaccine and rely on that new DDT powder alone? Yeah, that's right. But it's still untested. Not entirely. There was that little incident in Africa last year. Oh yes, it worked in a few isolated cases, but you wouldn't call that scientific proof. I know that, Jacobson. I'm a research man myself. I'd love to spend a few more years testing this DDT powder, but the Conqueror doesn't wait. Who? The Conqueror. Typhus. I think we can nail him down with this new powder, eh? Well, that's what the Army sent us here to find out. If we're successful, you'll be able to tell your grandchildren are you put DDT on the map? Yes, and if we lose, we'll be no more honored than the dead they bury alongside us in the Naples Cemetery. Say, gentlemen, we have quite an epidemic on our hands. I've been looking over these charts. Major McDougal, you don't mind if I ask a few questions? Oh, far away, Captain. You're the doctor. Let's see. The American Army took Naples in September 1943, right? That's right, Squires. And the Typhus record blossoms out suddenly about October. Correct. Well then, there must have been plenty of Typhus when we first took over. Well, there was. We got after it as best we could without much success. You see, conditions here were ideal for an epidemic to get underway. Bombed out buildings, continual stream of refugees, the almost complete lack of facilities for sanitation, and, I suppose, health authorities who were completely inefficient. Oh, no, Lieutenant. No, as a matter of fact, the health authorities weren't. One in particular, Dr. de Giorgio. He could help make our campaign efficient if he wanted to. Not only is he a doctor, but a doctor in whom the people here have great respect and faith. Oh, he's waiting outside. I thought you might like to talk to him before. Sergeant, send in Dr. de Giorgio. You said he could make our campaign more efficient if he wanted to. Yes. The F seems to leave much to be hoped for. Up till now, Dr. de Giorgio has shown little disposition to cooperate with us. Well, maybe we can make him see the light by talking to him as one doctor to another. That's what I'd hope. Oh, please come in, Dr. de Giorgio. How do you do, Major? Ah, these are the American doctors, eh? Yes, Captain Squire and Lieutenant Jacobson. How do you do, Doctor? How do you do? You have come to evacuate the American troops from our city, eh? On the contrary, we have come to evacuate typos. Evacuate typos? And just how do you think you can do this? We'll get to that in a minute, Doctor. I've been looking over these civilian medical reports. Who wrote them? I did. I'm a member of the Napoli Department of Health. You were before you proved unreliable. Major, reliability is a relative term. It is an opinion colored by personal likes and dislikes. And by records, Doctor. These records, they indicate quite clearly that you and your staff failed to do all you might have done to clean up the centers of infection. Opinion, Doctor. That's all. Just opinion. From my point of view, considering the knowledge I have of my own people, I did the best possible things. Had I done otherwise, had I put on a campaign to sweep clean, you would say the centers of infection, I would have frightened my people. So instead, you let them expose themselves to typos. You weren't hoping, of course, that the epidemic would spread to the American army? Very well. Put me in jail. Put me in jail because some of my very townspeople are sick, and I followed my bestie George. We don't usually jail doctors in America. We encourage them to help the sick. Dr. DiGiorgio, let's put aside personal antagonism. Become doctors in the full sense of the word. We'd like to have your help in wiping out this epidemic. We need your help. Very touching. Now, you will find that the Italian poor are also, in many cases, afraid. They will not allow you to vaccinate them. We don't intend to try. We have another method. A new American miracle? Like a radar, perhaps? No, doctor. It's just an insecticide. Insecticide? Yes. It's dichloro-dicenol-trychloroethane. I don't understand. Dichloro-dicenol-trychloroethane. It's a white powder. We dust on people's clothes or hair. If a typhus carrying louse touches the powder or eats it, it dies. And what about the people? Is it safe for them? Yes, it is. At least, how do you call it? Well, we call it DDT. How is it I never heard of it before? Well, it hasn't been tried on a large scale yet. But we've had a good many American scientists working on it for years. Very interesting. This will be our first real test. You could be a tremendous help if you'd join us. I understand you have great influence with your people. Very flattering, Captain. Now, I must reject this great privilege. And I will leave you American idealists to your experiment while I retire to my home in the mountains. You're on your vacation, but Naples is isolated. I wish to leave Naples. I insist. You will stay here with the Italian poor and the American idealists. Think of my wife and my daughter. I'm thinking of all the wives and daughters in Naples. We hope we're able to save them. Never. Never with these powers. I will not let you use my family for your ridiculous experiment. Let me go now, Doctor, and thanks for your cooperation. You will never succeed. You understand. My people will only... We've been to you long enough. What a help he turned out to be. No, if the army can be any help, Captain. Major, how many technicians can we muster? Only about a thousand. We declared Naples out of bounds for the army, as you advised. Who would you like the technicians, Captain? Today, Jacobson. At the same time, get all the civilian volunteers you can. Yes, sir. Oh, you'll find many civilians were more cooperative than Dr. Giorgio, Captain. One man particularly. A nice, sunk chap named Banomi. Educated in the United States. Good. Locate this Banomi lieutenant. Tell him, the others, the leaders of each squad, military to report here this afternoon. There'll be a demonstration of the proper method of using DDT. We'll have notices in the public squares, on the building, in the Naples newspapers. It's our job to get the one million people of Naples dusted with this powder as quickly as possible. I must tell you that this is a difficult job. We're fighting a dangerous enemy. One that may destroy Naples, and perhaps all of Italy, if we cannot control it. Senior Capitano. Yes, senior Banomi. We are not the thirties like the Giorgio, but we will help for the sake of our people. Only shows what to do. You bet. That's what the meeting's for. Now that you've volunteered in technicians, you're operating groups of six. One group to each of the fifty-four stations. You will use these dusted. You insert the powder in the bulb and squeeze. Like this. You dust the powder on people's clothes, their hair, the skin, any place where the lice may be. Lice carrying typist germs. If we kill the lice, we stop the disease from spreading. Understand? That's C, Capitano. C. How you call this powder? DDT. It's a lousicide. Eh? I did not learn that word, I'm afraid. Lousicide. It means louskiller. When the insect touches or eats this DDT, he dies within twenty minutes. Look, we are fighting a disease no one has ever been able to conquer up till now. But I think maybe we can. I think... No, I... I hope. I hope that with the help of this new powder, we will win. Alright now, stand back. Form a single line. C.C. Glory. Alright, little girl, you're next. Viva l'americano. Yeah, I see. Alright, youngster, stand still. Hold your breath. Like that, see? C.C. No, I'm afraid you don't, C.C. What's your name? Wait a minute, Sarge. Let me try, will you? Yeah. Dragacina. Call me Ticami. Angelina. Hey, Corporal. Where'd you learn Italian? On Bridgeport, Connecticut, Sarge. Yeah? Okay, Angelina. Keep your eyes closed. Okay. Cued. Cued. That's it. Now we're going to make you real pretty with this nice, white powder. First, your clothes. Then your hair. And now your face. Cus' la barca. Cus' la barca. Cus' la barca. Cus' la barca. Cus' la barca. Cus' la barca. Cus' la barca. Cus' la barca. Cus' la barca. Cus' la barca. Cus' la barca. Cus' la barca. Cus' la barca. Sgt.் Why it's a loss of size. No capice. What do you see. Piper, on an epidemic is the same as war. There are only two sides, the good side and the losses side. Not bad... Capice Pietro.... Let it go. Alright, now bend your head. a cop. Now close your eyes cute. All right, Pietro. Who's next? Angelina. Come on, Angelina. You had yours. I wish everybody was as willing as this Angelina. Yeah, especially those people in the underground shelters. Well, if they don't want to be dusted with this DDT, it's their funeral. And I do mean funeral. Yeah, but if we don't figure a way to get at them, it may be our funeral too. You're listening to Richard Worf as Captain Squires in the story of DDT on the cavalcade of America sponsored by the DuPont Company, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. Now with the second part of our story, Captain Squires and his assistant, Lieutenant Jacobson, carry on their battle against Typhus in Naples with the powder DDT. Hello, Jacobson. You got the report? There it is, Squires. 114 new cases, 27 deaths. Well, this is certainly great news. We've been sent here to take care of a Typhus epidemic and the popularity of the disease is breaking our records. Look, Captain, you had better get some sleep. Oh, for Pete's sake, Jacobson, how can I? For years our men have been experimenting with DDT. You should read the nice and encouraging stuff about how DDT will stop Typhus and kill the mosquitoes that carry malaria. Maybe after the war, DDT will destroy the parasites that ruin the crops. A nice picture, isn't it? Darn nice, I'd say. Sure, on paper. Now we had our first big chance and it's hooked as though we're licked. Our general record hasn't been bad for January? No. Here. Take a look at this chart. Area five. Which one is that? An underground shelter. A lovely test tube of infection. Our lovely other area in Naples shows only a respectable rise. The incident here has risen 100% in one week. Excuse me, sir, Captain. It's all right, Bonomi, come in. What's the latest news down in that test tube? That's very bad, the gentlemen. 20,000 Napolitani in those air-raid shelters. The place is fielded with the sickness and death. We've tried to get them to come to the medical stations for treatment, but they won't budge. Why is that, Bonomi? Well, they're used to it because of the air-raid. And then... Yes? I do not wish to alarm the capitano. Let me worry about that. Please go on. Dr. DiGiorgio tells them we'd go wrong with this DDT. Oh. So that's it. Jacobson, we're going down there with the stuff. Take all the DDT that you can get. But they'll allow the starter. Why else? I'm a doctor. Where there are sick people, I belong. You remember what Mohammed did when the mountain wouldn't come to him? Yes, sir. Well, that's what I'm going to do. You can stay here if you want to. No, sir. I'd much rather be with Mohammed when he goes to the mountain. Good. Frankly, Mohammed will feel much better having you along. Careful, gentlemen. These rocks are slippery. You say this underground cave is the largest of all? It's a sea capitano. It's a mile long, 50 feet high and 15 feet wide. Throw the light more this way, sergeant. Yes, sir. What's that? They see our light. They're angry that we came. They must be right around that bend. Boy, this place is rough on a man's nostrils. What a smell. Yes, that's a very old one. Death and despair. The main body of people will be found just around this corner. Look sharp, gentlemen. We're approaching the conqueror's private quarry. Silencio. Silencio. The Americans have come here. Yes, sir. He says we carry the disease in here. They want us to go out. Listen, you people. Listen. Listen. One of me, tell them the way they are. Silencio. Silencio, listen. The American doctors are your friends. No, the Americans are bad. They bring disease. Who said that? I said that. Come, come into the light. I come. I'm not afraid. There's nothing to be afraid of. What's your name? My name is Rizzo. Giuseppe Rizzo. Look Giuseppe, I'm called Squire. Harold Squire. Yes, yes, American captain. Yes, but I don't come here as a soldier. I come as a doctor. Doctor, I'm your friend. Understand? Understand. You're trying new medicine on the Italians. We died on here. You don't care. Don't ever do nothing. Who told you that? Who said that we don't care about you? Well, Giuseppe answered me. You're the authority of George. Oh, so that's it? Yeah. George is a wise man. He doesn't let you use strange medicine on his family. The American medicine is poisoned, the doctor tells us. Now, look, Giuseppe. Look, look at our uniforms. You see this white powder on our clothes and our hair? See, see, American power. That's right. We keep giving it to your people, and it gets on our clothes, on our skin, all over. You think we'd let this happen if it was poisoned? Ah, but you, American, are smart. You'll give us farther. But do you take medicine? Wait a minute, wait a minute. We take medicine. What sort of medicine? The kind you put in the armor with the needle. Vaccine. Is that what you want? Vaccine? We don't want nothing. We only want you to leave us. Now, look at this place. Look at that woman over there holding that baby. The baby's sick with typos. It's full of germs. Why don't you come up in the sunshine and not just take care of yourself? We go some time to see our friends. Sure. You walk around Naples spreading typos. How do you think we'll ever cure you? Don't you care what happens to you? No. The Americans don't care. The Americans don't care. In order to do that, there is your answer. They say American no good. Medicine is bad. I'll get the MPs, Captain. We'll shove this down their throat. That's it. Take it about 50 MPs and we'll beat their brains out. That'll make them listen. No, that's just the trouble. They're used to being handled that way. You can't beat 20,000 people over their heads. Wait a minute. What's that? Somebody's coming here. It's your show. Now we're fixed but good. Let me give him a welcome party. I'll fix him. Keep cool, Sergeant. He's coming over. Captain Squires. Quite a surprise to find you here. I've just been hearing about you, doctor, from these people. Seriously. You mind if I talk to my town's men? Don't you think you've done enough? What do you want now? I just want to speak to my town's people. Is that forbidden? Do not trust him, sir. Don't trust him. Don't trust him. Don't trust him. Don't trust him. Don't trust him. Don't trust him. Don't trust him. Don't trust him, sir. What difference does it make? We don't have anything to lose. All right, the joys will go ahead, but make it short. Thank you, Captain. In Britain, may I? In the house where you live? What is that? And the people of the house in this house get the deed. But stay with my family. Except this family. This mother. My beloved wife. And the dead. This wife. She has a shame. She has a shame. She has a shame. Thank you, my friend. He has all the people to think it's a shame. The doctor is coming here now. Captain Squires. Yes? Captain Squires, last week my daughter, Angelina, came home with the American powder. I was very angry. I scrubbed her for hours. Some powder stayed with her. Did your daughter get titers? You can see for yourself. Angelina. Yes, Papa? Why, she looks perfectly healthy. Oh, yeah. I remember this kid, Captain. Oh, no, sir, gentle, lousy side. Well, doctor, you've seen for yourself. What do you think of this powder? Is it still a crazy experiment? No. No. It saved my daughter's life. All right, then. You people of Naples, are you going to stay down here dying like rats? Or are you going to come up and let us help you? You said that it's all due to what you say, don't worry. And what about the rest of you? Well, Captain, you're going to die. Well, Captain? I guess that's it, Jacobson. An 80% drop in three weeks. Captain, the powder works. We've won. Shoot this wire to the old man. Naples, March 1st, 1944. We have met the conqueror, and he is ours. Signed, Mohammed. Not a single member of our army died in the Naples epidemic. Army doctors had scored one of the greatest triumphs in all the long, courageous history of medical science. Another science chemistry played a part in that triumph. DuPont was one of the first chemical companies to produce DDT for the armed forces. Some of the DDT used in Naples was made by DuPont. And while DDT still promises many things for all of us, for the time being, it's still at work for the armed forces and must remain at work for them. So the typhus and other diseases cannot conquer the men and women at the fighting fronts. Our thanks to you, Richard Worf, and to all members of tonight's DuPont cavalcade cast. I will return in just a moment. Now, here is Jane Whitman. You know how you would feel if you saw a little boy or girl run out into the street and you heard this sound. Every ounce of your interest, your sympathy, your concern would be centered on that child. We all respond at once to an injured person or even a hurt animal. And when it's an accident, we resolve to make sure there isn't an accident the next time. That is education in accident prevention, but it's getting education the hard way after someone is hurt. The reason there are fewer accidents in industry than there are in the home is that industry has learned to think about accidents before they happen. This week, Mr. Walter S. Carpenter, Jr., president of the DuPont company, has received a telegram from Mr. Ned H. Dearborn, president of the National Safety Council, which said in part for the third consecutive war year, the National Safety Council's highest wartime tribute for distinguished service to safety award, has been awarded to the DuPont company by the committees of judges. It must be especially gratifying to you that as a part of your company's outstanding safety record during 1944, 58 plants operated the entire year without a single lost time injury. And the 27 of these plants worked throughout 1943 also without a reportable injury. Remarkable safety record of the entire DuPont organization is a splendid example of achievement that can be attained by sincere and skillful efforts to prevent accidents. The DuPont company's experience, which goes back nearly a century and a half, has proved that injuries to industrial workers can be prevented. One DuPont laboratory and it's a laboratory that tests smokeless powder in shotguns and rifles did not have a serious injury in 23 years. A nylon plant at Seaford, Delaware holds the world record for safety. Nearly 19 million accident-free man hours. Other plant safety records of three, five, seven, and even 10 million man hours are not unusual as a result of the DuPont company's safety program. At one time or another, nearly a quarter of a million men and women have worked for DuPont during this most terrible of all wars. And just about the first thing every one of them was told was to be careful, work safely. Don't take chances. DuPont men and women are taught to work safely. The fact that DuPont has won the National Safety Council's award three times in this war period is proof that the men and women of DuPont cooperate to the fullest extent. And that is proof of something more important. It is proof that all of us can be safer. But so-called accidents, the chair used as a step ladder, the slippery rug, the flammable liquids used for cleaning that kill and maim tens of thousands of Americans each year can be controlled. We can make our lives safer. That is the lesson demonstrated by the safety record of the men and women who manufactured DuPont's better things for better living through chemistry. Now here is the star tonight, DuPont Cavalten, Richard Wall. Ladies and gentlemen, these days we all share one dream. It's the dream of the world after the war, a dream of peace and of prosperity. But I'm sure all of us, when we're thinking those happy thoughts, feel that little tug at our memory, hear that little voice that says for the thousands of men who fought on Saipan and Iwo Jima and Okinawa, this dream will never be. We all hear that same voice reminding us of the thousands more that will die in the hard bloody months ahead. The voice of our conscience tells us too that there is one way we can help save some of those lives and one way we can help to bring that dream of peace. It involves only buying bonds. Let all of us buy more than we ever bought before. Help bring victory, help bring peace, help bring prosperity. Let's meet our full responsibility and do it now. The DuPont Cavalte of America rings down the curtain and takes a brief summer vacation. We have cavalcade looked back on this last season with gratification. One of the reasons is that the DuPont Cavalte won the Peabody Award for Outstanding Dramatic Entertainment. For our return to the air, beginning Monday, August 27, we're preparing a series of unusual and exciting plays to start the brightest names of Hollywood and Broadway. We hope that August 27 will find you once again in our audience. The music for tonight's DuPont Cavalte was composed and conducted by Robert Ambruster. Our cavalcade play was written by Charles Robiner. This is Frank Graham thanking you for your friendly interest and inviting you to be with us again when we come back on the air Monday, August 27. Goodbye until then. From the cavalcade of America brought to you by the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware, maker of better things for better living through chemistry.