 Remember a Hallmark card when you carry enough to send the very best. Lily White on the Hallmark Playhouse. Greatest stars in outstanding stories, chosen by one of the world's best known authors. The distinguished novelist, Mr. James Hilton. Ladies and gentlemen, this is James Hilton. Tonight on our Hallmark Playhouse, we dramatize a recent novel by a very clever and entertaining writer, Marjorie Sharp. The title is Lisa Lily White. A name not idly chosen, one would guess. For Lisa is a young girl who encountered life with no qualifications, but a clear brain and an innocent heart. And good qualifications too, I'd call them. Anyhow, her adventures made delightful reading in Miss Sharp's novel. And we've tried to capture some of its spirit. Gay, witty, and for these days astonishing Miss Irine. I think you'll like Lisa as much as everyone did who met her. She was certainly one of last year's most enchanting heroines of fiction. And to play her part tonight, we have chosen that very charming actress, Angela Lansbury. And now here is Frank Goss from The Makers of Hallmark Cards. 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 right words. Because Hallmark cards are designed to say what you want to say, the way you want to say it. And in the good taste, you demand of anything that bears your personal signature. That's why Hallmark on the back of a greeting card has come to mean, you cared enough to send the very best. And now Hallmark Playhouse presenting Marjorie Sharp's Lisa Lilliewight, starting Angela Lansbury. What happens in spring to the heart of a girl? Lisa Lilliewight, her name is, she's just 18. And 18 is the magic age when a girl is still a child and the child is almost a woman. My name is Martin Lilliewight, a distant cousin of Lisa. I was the confirmed bachelor of the Lilliewight clan until I met Lisa. To me, she was a grave, sweet child to be protected, guided, cherished. Without flattering myself unduly, I think I can say that I am considered something of a catch among mothers of marriageable daughters. To me, Lisa was mystery, enchantment, eternal woman at her most glorious. School master by trade? I am not a confirmed bachelor, or anyone likely to be considered a catch by mothers or their daughters. To me, Lisa was romance, beauty, the girl I had waited all my life to meet. So there was Lisa Lilliewight as the three men who loved her saw her. Now meet her for yourself and draw your own conclusions about her. I was 18 the spring that my grandfather and my aunt Emilia brought me to England. I'd been raised in France and it was exciting to return to the homeland of my father. Grandfather rented a flat in modest, pleasant section of London. And after we were settled, aunt Emilia called me into her room one night for a serious talk. Now, Lisa, I think it's time for us to have a conversation about certain matters. If your poor mother were alive, she would talk to you about this. If your father were alive, he would certainly do it. But in their absence, the duty falls to me. Yes, aunt Emilia, you are 18. And it's time we put our minds to finding a husband for you. A husband? Please do not interrupt. Now we must survey our assets. You are quite pretty, in a quiet, well-bred way. Your figure is good. You speak French and English equally well. We should be able to do excellently. But I'm not sure that I'm ready to get married. You're 18. You are ready. But who would I marry? The only man I know in England is grandfather. We will find young men for you. Now, we want a young man from a good family, preferably with a title. He must have money and he must have breeding. One is quite useless without the other. But where will I find someone like that? I will find him. Where? First of all, I shall contact your cousins, the Luke Lily whites. They live in the country near London and they are quite well thought of. I've already checked into them. We shall bend our efforts toward procuring an invitation to visit the Luke Lily whites. And so it was that Aunt Amelia and I left grandfather in London and went to visit the Luke Lily whites. It was there that I met Martin Lily White, Luke's brother. Martin came down from London for weekends. He seemed quite old. He was in his 30s and rather attractive in an elderly sort of way. Sometimes in the evening at Aunt Amelia's insistence, Martin and I would walk in the garden. You know you haven't spoken a word in at least 15 minutes. I'm sorry. I was thinking, I guess. What were you thinking? Oh, I was thinking that the world is very beautiful and very big and very frightening. Yes, the world is all of those things, but why it should look big or frightening to you, I can't imagine. I suppose it's because I have to enter it. Martin, why have you never married? Oh, because I never met anyone I wanted to marry. And no one ever told you you must marry, did they? Not much they didn't. Everyone in my family has tried at one stage or another to marry me off. Well, what did you do? I ignored them. Yes. Yes, I suppose a man can. It's different for a girl though. You were lucky, Martin. You were able to escape. I am not sure that I want to escape any longer. I never thought of love. A marriage is being planned. I thought only in terms of love, of turning a corner and seeing someone, suddenly, unexpectedly, and knowing in a blinding instant. I thought of taking someone's hand and running to meet life with music pounding inside you and all the beauty of the world opening up before you. But it isn't like that, is it? Only in stories. Only in dreams is it like that. One doesn't marry on a crescendo of longing. One marries because one is 18. And it is time. You hold out for love, Lisa. I've held out for it. But you're a bachelor, Martin. Now that I've met you, I'm glad I waited. Does that mean that you're asking me to marry you, Martin? No. Not yet, Lisa. Not quite yet. Not until you turn a corner and look at me and say, I know. Are you... can't say that now, can you? No. I can't, Martin. Perhaps, someday. Lisa! Lisa, come in the drawing room. There's a young man I want you to meet. Lord Mull. Mull was an unhappy boy, about 20, who boarded with the vicar and was receiving special schooling from him, because he was behind the other young men of his age. It was because of Lord Mull that Aunt Amelia's and my visit to the country came to a quick unexpected finish. My cousin Kate sent me into the library one evening just before dinner, and the vicar was there. Lisa, my charge Lord Mull has disappeared. Yes, I know. He's been talking of it for some time. Do you know where he is? Yes, I do know. But I can't tell you. I wouldn't have guessed him. Look, sir, Lord Mull is not capable of taking care of himself. He's never made any sort of journey alone. He's making one now. Lisa, if you insist on being stubborn like this, I shall have to speak to your cousin. Amelia, please, stop crying. The shame of it all. To be picked up and shipped off like this, and all on a kind of your stubbornness. Why wouldn't you tell the vicar where Lord Mull had gone? Because it meant so much to him to get there. He's gone to an island of fishermen. A place where it wouldn't matter if he isn't as sharp and as quick as everyone else. He was happy there as a child. He'll be happy there again. I helped him go. I'm glad I helped him go. You might have married him if you'd had your wits about you. Oh, Aunt Amelia, how can you suggest such a thing? He's a Lord, isn't he? I didn't say anything when you looked down your nose at Martin Lillewight. Good match, though he was. But when you look down your nose at a Lord, that's really going too far. A young girl has got to take advantage of her opportunities while she has her face and her figure. You can be so particular. You'll end up an old maid, you know. Well, here you are. Kate told me you were taking this train. I'm on my way back to London, too. Hello, Martin. Hello. Hey, cousin Lisa and Aunt Amelia, Lord Mull wired the vicar. He arrived safely on his island. I was sure he would. Kate, sorry about you leaving now. Well, it's time we were getting home anyway. Don't stand, Martin. Would you care to join us? Well, I am with a friend in the next car. Can't Stanislaus? Can't Stanislaus? Yes. Oh, well, perhaps you both would like to join us. Lisa and I were just speaking of the loneliness of the ride back home. Well, I'll ask him. I'm sure he'd be delighted. Sit up, Lisa. Straighten your dress. Your hair could do with a little sneering. You look a little pale. How do you feel? Excited. Just as though I were about to turn another corner. At first glance seemed all that a young girl might desire. He was handsome, and he was young, and he was gay, and he liked me. He liked me well enough to bring me gardenias and now on glasses. And he liked me well enough to take me to the ballet and to the theater. He liked me well enough to take Aunt Amelia along with us, which as I look back now seems proof that he liked me quite a lot. I shall remember, can't Stanislaus, always, because it was he who was beside me when I turned the unexpected corner and knew my love in one blinding instant. We were at the theater. There were several little boys in back of us who were having a difficult time seeing the performance. I was worried about them, and as soon as the curtain went down on the first act, I turned to the count. What is it, Lisa? Those little boys, they're having such a hard time seeing. Don't you think we might change seats with them? Change seats? Nonsense! Can't Stanislaus have paid money for our good seats? Why should we give them up? Well, the boys are so small. If they are too small to see, they're too small to come. Whatever you say, Miss Amelia. Do care to walk around the lobby during the intermission. Oh, you do young people go. I'm going to stay right where I am. And so, Count Stanislaus and I went out into the crowded lobby. We'd no sooner entered it than a young man approached us. I beg your pardon. I'm sitting behind you. I couldn't help hearing your extraordinarily kind remark about the boys. I'm their schoolmaster, Colin Duff. I looked at him, and I turned the corner. Don't remember what he said, or what I answered, but I knew, I knew. We must get back to our seats, Miss Lillibike. It is time for the curtain. Quick blinding meeting and then separation. I didn't know anything about him, but I knew I'd find him again, or he would find me. Starring Angela Lansbury. In the springtime, most of us smile more often and more gaily, perhaps as a welcome to this loveliest of seasons. And like all happiness shared, our own enjoyment increases when it includes our friends and loved ones, when we can tell them our thoughts and feelings. You can, you know, with a hallmark Easter card, because hallmark cards are designed to say what you want to say, the way you want to say it. You can find one that expresses all the joys you feel at this time, the wishes you'd like to make for each and every friend on Easter Day. You'll find hallmark Easter cards for mother and dad, for all the family, for friends you haven't seen all year, and friends you see every day. There are ones to send two children and ones for the children to send to others. And when you sign your name on the card in the mailbox, there's that wonderful feeling of knowing that it will be well-received, because it's from you, because the message expresses your thoughts, and because that hallmark on the back tells the person who receives it that you cared enough to send the very best. Now back to James Hilton and the second act of Lisa Lily White, starring Angela Lansbury. Even so, she knew far more of him than he did of her. Mr. Duff knew Lisa's surname only. They were like two needles looking for each other in a haystack. And there is no haystack like London. I found 90 duffs in the phone book, but no Colin. Finally, I decided on a plan. I wrote to 23 boys' schools, representing myself as the mother of two boys and asking for a prospectus. I signed the letter Mrs. L. L. Lily White. I addressed each letter to Mr. Colin Duff and hoped that the schools where he was unknown would ignore the letter. I tried to get to the mail each morning before Aunt Amelia, but I was not always successful. Well, there are three more letters from boys' schools this morning. Can't understand why we're getting all this mail. Never mind, we must be on some sort of list. Lisa, we haven't heard from Count Stanislaus lately, have we? No, Aunt Amelia. Has something happened? I'm afraid I... refused him. You mean he asked? Yes, Aunt Amelia. And you refused? Yes, Aunt Amelia. May I ask why? Because I don't love him. Lisa, he has money, title, family, good looks. You can learn to love him. No, I can't. Lisa, you're going to bring on one of my attacks. You want to bring on one of my attacks? No, no, but I don't want to marry. Count Stanislaus, either. I'm not going to marry him. I'm going to marry for love or not at all. Lisa, it's important to make a good marriage. Don't talk to me of love. I'm old. I know that love is nothing. I'm young. I know that love is everything. At last the letter came. Fortunately, I was able to get to the mail first that morning. It was addressed to Mrs. L. Lillifright. A brochure of the school was enclosed and the letter said that Mr. Duff would be delighted to show Mrs. Lillifright and Miss Lillifright the school personally. Three small words and Miss Lillifright. But they showed me the heart of Colin Duff. He remembered me. He wanted to see me. Now I had to find a way to accomplish that and make it seem like an accident. I looked up the location of his school. I saw that it was near Wimbledon Common and so on Saturday afternoon I persuaded my cousin Martin to take me there. Of course, there was only the slimmest chance that he might be there and yet I think I knew from the way my heart was pounding that he would be. We met him. Coming down one of the paths with a group of small boys in town. I say I say what luck. How are you? It's Mr. Duff, isn't it? I'm nice to see you again. Mr. Duff, may I present my cousin Martin Lillifright? How do you know? I say this is a pleasure. Oh, delighted, sir. Absolutely delighted. Miss Lillifright, you've no idea how I've tried to locate you. There are 12 Lillifrights in the book. I called every one of them. Oh, we're not in the book. I hope we're not being rude, sir, but you see, this is a kind of reunion. Is it April after the performance of Macbeth, sir? I have not yet reached the age where it's necessary to refer to me as sir. Oh, quite, sir, quite. Miss Lillifright, you have no idea how I tried to find you. I looked up all the Duff's in the book. There wasn't one Colin Duff. Did you? Did you really? Um, Lisa, we're hurling up the children. Mr. Duff is on duty. Yes, that's right. I have a nature study class this afternoon. I say, may I come to see you? I'm sure my aunt and my grandfather will be very happy to see you. Perhaps some Sunday afternoon. And, Mr. Duff, some of your charges are climbing trees. Pull them down, will you like? A good teller. May I come any Sunday? May I come tomorrow? Yeah, it's up to you to pull them down. You're their schoolmaster. Tomorrow will be fine, about four. Tomorrow, at four. Oh, I say, I don't know where you live. 17 String Street, Paddington. Yeah, boys, get out of those trees. 17 String Street, Paddington. Tomorrow, at four. Encounter the young man so entirely without interest, intelligence, or even that commonest social accomplishment as Colin Duff. He sat all through tea, gaping at you, hardly opened his mouth. And when he did open his mouth, nothing came out. Your grandfather went to sleep and I hope you'll notice that. Aunt Emilia, please don't say anything. It may be difficult for us to forget. For whom to forget? For all of us. In case, Mr. Duff, and I should marry. Perhaps you'd better repeat that to me again. I'm old, I'm deaf. Perhaps I did not hear right. I said, in case we should marry, we are in love, Aunt Emilia. Love? Marry? Of course he hasn't asked me, yet he hasn't had the opportunity. But he will ask me. And when he does, I shall accept him. I won't let you throw yourself away on a schoolmaster. Grandfather was a schoolmaster? Yes. And who can give you better warning than I? Am I not a schoolmaster's daughter? What life have I had? Accepting you. Aunt Emilia, grandfather will hear you. Let him hear. You are young, young. You have many opportunities. I only want Colin. All the years I've cared for you. Taught you. Sacrificed for you. Was it for nothing? Does it really mean so much to you? You are my life, Lisa. You have the lovely face I never had. You have the opportunities that never came my way. You can make the marriage I could never make. If I give him up, I will never marry. Is that what you want? It's better to remain single than to throw yourself away. Besides, that feeling won't last. You'll change. You'll marry when the right man comes. If I give him up, then the right man will have come and gone. I know you've sacrificed for me. I owe you much for that. But is it really your wish that I not see Colin Duff again? Lisa, you'll give me your promise. Your promise. No. She'll not give you her promise, Amelia. Lisa, I forbid you to make any such promise. Grandfather. Father, don't interfere. Amelia, I must remind you that I am still head of this family. Now, there's been quite enough said about this affair. I'm sure they've heard you all over the neighborhood, Amelia. Oh, Lisa, you have found love. You have found the best. No matter what your Aunt Amelia thinks or what I think or anyone else. If you've found love, you take it and thank God for it. It doesn't come often. And it doesn't come to everyone. Oh, now what? Colin. Did I leave my cap here? I can't seem to find it. Colin, it's in your pocket. Oh, so it is. I used to come back. I'm glad you came back, young man. We must get better acquainted. I, too, was a schoolmaster. I'm going to my room. I feel quite fit. Well, now, we're quite alone. Would you play chess, Mr. Dove? Yes, sir. Ah, good. I have a lot of respect for a man who plays chess. You know, I found it quite useful over the years when I had something to think out. You might as well know at the start I'm in love with your granddaughter. I have been for a long time. Colin. For you. I admire your taste, my boy. It's all right, sir. Well, that's what Lisa to say. Lisa, I'm not half good enough. I have a little money saved and I was thinking of investing that in a small school somewhere. Do you think you could possibly be happy as a schoolmaster's wife? I'm quite sure I can be happy as your wife. Well, now we've got that settled. And to the complete satisfaction of the three of us. Oh, don't you worry about Amelia, Lisa. She'll come round. She learned to make the best of things long ago. Lisa. Oh, my darling. It was all as I dreamed it would be. The taking of someone's hand and running to meet life with music pounding and all the beauty of the world opening up before us. Ours was a true love story and a very happy one. Usbury and James Hilton will return in a moment that makes Easter such a perfect time to send cards is that it comes at a season of the year when we have more time to enjoy the cards we receive and the friends they remind us of. But today as I was shopping in a store that had a display of Hallmark Easter cards, I decided it was all another reason. It's because the Hallmark Easter cards are so doggone cute, really. You just can't resist reaching for those cards that have bunnies with floppy ears and laughing eyes. You can almost see their noses twitching. Or the ones where baby chicks or ducklings are loaded down with Easter wishes. And when you stop to think that the design is only one part of the charm of Hallmark cards that the message inside is always something special too. Then you begin to realize why when they're sending Easter cards many people make it a point to go to the fine stores where Hallmark cards are sold. They want to enjoy selecting their Easter cards, want their friends to enjoy receiving them. And they know that to everyone, everywhere that Hallmark on the back of a card means you cared enough to send the very best. Here again is James Hilton. We're very happy to have you with us on the Hallmark Playhouse tonight, Angela Lansbury. Thank you for a fine performance. I'm so glad you liked it, Jimmy. As you know, this is my first appearance on Hallmark Playhouse and I was looking forward to being here. And now it's our turn to look forward to the next time you're here. Why, thank you. You certainly make one feel at home. Such a friendly spirit here on Hallmark Playhouse. Just what I've come to expect from Hallmark cards. Well, that's our tradition, you know, and we're very proud of it. And now, what story have you selected for next week, Jimmy? Next week we shall present a story most timely for Easter, the ever-memorable Ben Hur by Lewis Wallace. And as our guest, we're happy to welcome one of Hollywood's most talented young actors, Jeff Chandler. Our Hallmark Playhouse is every Thursday. Our producer-director is Bill Gay. Our music is composed and conducted by David Rose. And our script tonight was adapted by Gene Holloway. Until next Thursday then, Mrs. James Hilton saying, good night. Only in stores that have been carefully selected to give you expert and friendly service. Remember a Hallmark card when you carry enough to send the very best. Angela Lansbury may currently be seen in the Technicolor picture mutiny, a King Brothers production. The role of Amelia tonight was played by Jeanette Nolan and Whitfield Conner was Colin Duff. Others in our cast would then write Joseph Kearns and Ted Osborne. Every Sunday afternoon on television, Hallmark cards present Sarah Churchill who brings you the story of interesting people on the Hallmark Hall of Fame. Consult your local newspaper for time and station. This is Frank Goss saying good night to you all until next week at the same time. When Hallmark Playhouse returns to present Jeff Chandler in New Wallace's Ben Hur and the week following George Garland's Doubtful Ballet starring Richard Widmark and the week after that, Charlotte Bronte is the professor on the Hallmark Playhouse. This is KMVC, Kansas City, Missouri.