 The Cavalcade of America, starring Lionel Barrymore. Tonight, the DuPont Company brings you The Man with Green Fingers, starring Lionel Barrymore on The Cavalcade of America. But first, here is Game Whitman. Good evening. Chemistry helps lighten the housework in many ways. DuPont Paint Cleaner, for example, literally floats grime and dirt away quickly, easily, and saves time and work. DuPont Paint Cleaner can be used on all painted surfaces, inside and out. It comes in a handy powder form and mixes with water to produce an efficient cleaning solution that costs you less than a penny a gallon. It's a must for everyone who wants a good cleaning job done with a minimum of time and labor. DuPont brings you this paint cleaner from the wonder world of chemistry. Another of DuPont's better things for better living, through chemistry. Now The Man with Green Fingers, starring Lionel Barrymore as Luther Burbank on The Cavalcade of America. Huh? Oh, hello there. Where'd you come from? Down there. Well now, down there is a long way off. Just where in particular? House. I see. But why don't you come in? Can I smell the flowers if I do? You sure can. Come on, there's no fence here. No, there was no fence around that wonderful garden up in the Santa Rosa Valley in California. No fence to hide the beauty and loveliness grown by the genius of a man who made more bountiful the country he loved. This man loved flowers and children. He was never too busy to take care of either one. And, wonderingly, the small boy who went into the garden that day in 1893 said... You got pretty flowers. Thank you. What's your name? Tad. Tad Wallace. Well, mine's Luther. Luther Burbank. I'm kind of flowers, Dad. Which one, Tad? The yellow one. Choreopsis. A what? Well, let's call it a fancy daisy and let it go with that. After all, big names for flowers is like... well, it's silly, isn't it? Sure. I like you. Well, I'm glad that I like you. How'd you like to walk around and see the flowers? I'd like it, Mr. Burbank. No, no, wait a minute. If you and I are going to be friends, there's one thing you'll have to remember. First name stuff, you know? You've got to call me Luther. All right, Luther. Good. Now, you know what a cactus is? Sure. Cactus aren't good. They're too sticky. Well, I don't think there's anything on Earth that isn't some good, Tad. For example, you take this cactus. Why'd you break that off? Well, look close, Tad. You see the meat inside? Juicy? Rich? Succulent? What sucker? What's that? It means good to eat. Nobody eats cactus. Cows might if they didn't stick their tongues on the needles. Then cactus aren't good. Maybe not now. But someday, Tad, I'll grow a cactus with no spines, no needles. Now we walk over here and I'll show you the biggest blackberries you ever saw. Mr. Burbank alone. I'm sorry, Mr. Burbanky. All right. Well, every day now for three weeks, he's keeping you from your work. Please, I'd like to have him around. He asks questions, Mrs. Brenner, and the more he asks, the more I ask. Well, he's sure he's not bothering. Not at least. He's a big help to me. All right. But if he starts to pester you, Mr. Burbank, send him right home. I will, I will. Goodbye, Mrs. Brenner. Goodbye. Sure. Now, where were we? You told me about the new cataclysm. Oh, the cataclysm. Cataclysm. That's right. Now, you see, Ted, I don't want to keep all these things for myself. I want to give them to America. Why? Well, now look out of this way, Ted. A man's born, he lives, and he dies. But between living and dying, he should work to help his country. Now, my new catalogue will advertise what I've done with plants. Other men can do the same. Slips and seeds, and they can raise these fine berries and flowers. Yes? Good evening, Mrs. Brenner. Oh, it's you. I just dropped by to see what's the matter with Ted. Nothing, Mr. Burbank. Ted's fine. Oh, well, I was expecting him to come over this evening when he didn't show up. Mr. Burbank, you needn't expect Ted to come to see you anymore. Ever. What? But, but... That's all. Well, Mrs. Brenner. Mrs. Brenner, what's the matter? What's happened, Mrs. Brenner? Luther, I thought I'd find you here. George, it's something wrong with Ted. Mrs. Brenner won't let me in. There's nothing wrong with Ted. Luther, looks like you stirred up a hornet's nest. I don't know what you're talking about. It's your new catalogue. My catalogue? What's that got to do with all this? Come on home, I'll tell you there. Come on, Luther. No, not through the town. We'll go around the other way. It's better not to let anybody see you right now. But that can't be it, George. It just can't be it. It is, though. Look, Luther, it'd been all right if you just hadn't used the word creations in your new catalogue. But that's exactly what my plans are. I took them, crossed them, and bodied them, and helped them. Ah, George, this is foolish. Maybe so, but there it is. I expected skepticism from scientists and botanists, but that's healthy. I can prove my theories to them. Yes, I know. But the people here say you've denied God. I denied God. I denied God. Now, listen, Luther, you know how these things are. No, I don't. I did create new plans. But I did it with the help of nature. I took what God put on Earth and used my own God-given mind to improve. Don't you see? That's just it. You were tampering with something that's better left alone. Better left alone. Oh, by the same token, Galileo should have left the laws of mechanics undiscovered. And by the same standard, the judgment of Newton and Harvey and all the rest should have turned their faces from science, should have allowed knowledge to remain stagnant. Don't tell it to me. I'm your brother, Luther. I believe in you. But when people think somebody's taken away even a little bit of their faith, they get mad. They blame you for that, Luther. What's that? Huh? Who is it? Who are you at this hour and in your night shirt? I wanted to see you. Oh, well, come on. Give me your hand. There you are. What's the matter now? I had to see you. And he wouldn't let me out of the house, so I snuck over. Oh, yes, he. Well, sit down, Ted. Now, what do you want to see me about? It ain't true, is it, Luther? Is what true? That you're a bad man, evil and wicked. Is that what they told you? I heard them. They were talking and... Ted, did you hear him say I was an atheist? I heard them, but what's that? A person who doesn't believe in a God. You mean you... you don't? You remember the day we planted that seeded tree in my front yard? Yes, Luther. Now, I suppose I left the little seedling out in the hot sun with no water. What would have happened to it? It would have died. But we planted it. We used the earth and we watered the roots and we tended it and it grew, didn't it? Mm-hmm. Yeah, well, I merely started it. God did the rest. God did the richness of the soil and the minerals in the earth and the rain. I didn't create that. I helped. I did the same with the other things I created. I helped. Oh. Now, you don't see, do you? No, Luther. Well, someday you will. Someday you will. But they said they're gonna run you out. They ain't gonna let you stay here anymore. They said that, huh? Yes, Luther. Uh-huh. Don't let them run you away. I like you, Luther. I like you an awful lot. I like you, Tad. An awful lot. What? What are you gonna do? I don't know, Tad. A thing like this is hard to fight. But maybe I'll think of something. I'll encourage you something from a catalog put out by Luther Burbank. These new creations are not foundlings, but exemplifications of the knowledge that life forces of plants may be combined and guided to produce results not imagined by horticultures. I want to call your attention to that word creation. It is not right for any man on God's earth to set himself up equal to the Creator and anybody that does that is denying his maker. Yes. In what way, Mr. Williams? Perfect. What have you got coming in here? Right of every American to defend himself, Mr. Williams? Do you mind? We want no blasphemer in this town. First you gotta prove that I am one. You deny you said you created something? I admit it. I'm proud of it. That's what you came here to say, huh? No, no, no. I haven't finished. I wanted to hear the charge against me. Atheism, Burbank. Why? Because you said in this here catalog that you created new plants. Burbank, there ain't any man that can say that. It's God's province to create, to put things on earth. Has any one of you ever before seen one of the plants I described in my catalog? Huh? No. Because they are new creations. That ain't got a thing to do with it. You said created. Any man that says he creates is trying to take God's place. He's denying God. And you're denying the fact that these are new plants. Now, you get out of here, Burbank. There's nothing you can say that'll change things. We know what you are, a godless man. I demand the right to speak. To be heard. Get out of here before you get thrown out. Just a moment, folks. Just a moment. Judge Morton, you want to say something? Yes. Well, go right ahead, judge. The floor's yours. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, whether the charge against Luther Burbank is true or not is beside the point at the moment. How about, Judge Morton, you know that. The point now is will you condemn a man without hearing him first? He already condemned himself. In your mind, yes. I say, if you condemn him without hearing, then you violate your heritage as free men in a free country. If you want that charge against you, then send Luther Burbank from this room now. Go ahead, Mr. Burbank. Thank you, Judge Morton. I have nothing much to say. I can't defend myself against such a charge because it isn't invincible. What kind of an answer is that? What kind of an answer would you like, Mr. Williams? You can say what you believe in, if at all. All right, all right. I cannot say I believe in your God. Your God, Mr. Williams. Your personal self-conceived God who jealously guards his secret from man. Now, my God is one of kindness and justice. A God who gives and points the way to greater and more wonderful things for mankind. I believe in the immortality of influence. It's in our own keeping and possession. It's God given to us the greatest and most potent gift of all our benefits and possibilities. Your influence is your birthright and your epitaph. It can make you ephemeral, inconsequential, or it can sing through the years. You are listening to Lionel Barrymore as Luther Burbank in The Man with Green Fingers on the Cavalcade of America sponsored by the DuPont Company, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. Luther Burbank accused of atheism because in a catalog of new plants he used the word creations has tried to defend himself at a town meeting. It is now the next day at the railroad station. Luther, Luther, what are you doing here? You're in a way, George. Now, listen, Luther, you can still work here. You don't have to pay any attention to what people say. They hate me. I saw that yesterday at the meeting. What I said, they didn't do any good. They don't hate you. It's just that, well, they can't understand. That's worse. If they understood what they hated, I could stay. I could fight that. You're letting them drive you away. George, I want people to love you. George, I want people to like me as I like them. I couldn't work among them knowing how they felt. Think it over some more, Luther. No. But, Luther, you... Look, George, look, look. Here they are coming to see that I take the train. And you think I could stay? I'll take care of them. No, no, no, no, no. Don't say anything to them, Luther. Let me handle them. Why? It's me they want, not you. Well, I thought we'd catch up with you here, Luther. So did I, Mr. William. Nice of you to see me. Look, Luther, I'd like to talk to you. I think we said everything at the meeting, didn't we? No, not everything. I... Well, I guess you kind of took the breath out us with that catalog, but... Oh, doggone it, we want you to stay. Why, folks all up and down the valley are starting to grow the things you created. I'm not asking you for myself, but for them. Ah, you should have thought of that sooner. Help me with my bags, George. Oh, no, sir. Goodbye, Mr. Williams. You're really going, Luther. Yes, George, I am. I've worked hard here. I've tried to give people better fruits and fairer flowers. Doing that would have satisfied me. But in trying to do it, I ran up against the worst enemy progress ever had. Ignorance and misunderstanding. All right, let them have those things. Luther, Luther, wait a minute. They said you were going away, Luther, but you're not. You're not. Are you? I am, Dad. But you can't. I can't tin the garden myself. They'll all die. Those flowers we put out will die. I... I... You just can't leave, Luther. What about the garden? The tree we planted. They won't grow without you. Dad... Well, all right. Oh, come on, Luther. I'll give you a lift back in my ring. No thanks, no. Just take my bags. Dad and I will walk it. You go ahead, George. All right, Luther. We'll see you later. Yeah, sure. Thank you, Dad. You're welcome, Luther. Well, I'll tell you someday, Dad. But right now we've got a lot of work to catch up with. You and I? I'm sure. Right down the road. You can't miss it. No flowers in the world like the ones in his garden. Why, those are Burbank peaches. Richest, biggest, juiciest peaches ever grown. Luther Burbank has given the world the richness of his genius. He deserves the greatest of acclaim from every scientist and botanist in the world. Mr. Burbank? Mr. Luther Burbank, the plant wizard? Well, not a wizard, young man. Just helping nature. What can I do for you? Oh, I'd just like to see your gardens. People told me I mustn't leave the Santa Rosa Valley without seeing your flowers. Good, good, good. But, uh, you're busy. I can come back later. I sure say not. Come on in. There's no fence here. Never has been. Huh? Uh, what's that flower there? Choreopsis. Oh. What? A what? Choreo... Ted! Ted Wallace! Hello, Luther. Ted, where did you come from? Oh, every place, every place. I knew you'd come back to see me. Let me look at you. Same fine-looking boy. Oh, 41 now. 41? That's impossible. Why, that'd make me an old man of 77. And I'm not that old. No, no, you're not, Luther. Yes, sit down. Say, remember this tree? This isn't the same cedar we planted. 33 years ago. 33 years. Yep. Well, I've heard all about you, Ted. Big lawyer must be fine to be famous. Oh, you're talking about me being famous. I've been a lot of places, Luther. And there's hardly a place in the world that people don't know about you and what you've done. Ah, let's just talk. I just put around till something happens. Like that spineless cactus? It took me a little while, but I finally convinced nature she was making a mistake. She was nice about it, though. Let me fool around till I got there. Luther, remember the day you were going to leave here? Yeah. Well, you thanked me that day. I didn't understand why, and you said you'd tell me someday. Yeah, I think you know now, Ted. Don't you? I'd rather hear it from you. Well, Ted, you reminded me of the garden that would die if I left it. Then I knew that it wasn't what people thought or said that mattered so much, Ted. It was what they left behind them. And if I can leave the world just a little more beautiful than I entered it, well, that's all I want. Luther! Luther! Good morning, Mr. Wallace. Oh, morning, Luther Ron. He's waiting for you under the cedar. Oh, thanks. You tell him it's almost time for lunch. I will, I will. Luther! Luther! Come on there, wake up. It's almost noon and... Luther. It's all right, Mr. Wallace. You can wake him up. He forgot to... Luther. He's facing his flowers. He always loved them best. Luther. No, no, don't cry. He wouldn't want it. He said if he could make the world a more beautiful place, he'd be contented. He's done that, hasn't he? Leave him here for a little while, Mrs. Maryland. Facing his flowers. The immortality of influence. It's in our own keeping and possession. Your influence is your birthright and your appetite. It can make you ephemeral, inconsequential, or it can sing through the years. And if I can give the world better fruits and fairer flowers, I'll be contented. If the gentle spirit of Luther Burbank returns now and then to visit the earth, you can be sure it would be at this time of year when the national flower shows are opening to bring a preview of spring to New York, to Philadelphia, and other cities and towns. As for mortals, like you and me, every home gardener who visits the flower shows envies the gorgeous perfection of the blooms shown by professional growers. How do they do it, he asks himself. They do it by approaching the problem of growing flowers, vegetables, or anything else for that matter, as a science. One of the things nearly all professional growers do is to make sure that seeds they plant have been treated to protect them against disease. Seed treatment is preventive medicine for plants. Scientists who have studied plant disease prevention have discovered a number of chemical compounds which are highly effective against many of the seed-borne soil-borne diseases which often harm and sometimes even destroy plants as they grow. One of the best of these chemical compounds for general use on home garden seeds is an organic mercury compound made by the DuPont company under the trademark SEMISAN. SEMISAN is a safeguard against disease carried on the seeds themselves and it keeps them from rotting in the ground. With the first hint of spring color, we're watching the willows along the brook. These are wonderful evenings to open the seed catalogs and garden magazines and look at the brightly colored pictures of zinnias as big as your head. They look that big anyhow. Hollyhocks and marigolds, nestertians and petunias. Looking at the pictures in the books, choosing the flowers you want and buying the packages of seed is fun. But if you want the bright promise of the colorful pictures to come true, make sure this year that you buy treated seeds. Ask your dealer for them or buy a small package of SEMISAN and treat the seeds yourself. When you treat your seeds, you protect them while they are underground and while your plants are growing, protect them from insects and diseases with DuPont's general purpose garden dust for use on flowers, vegetables, fruit trees and ornamentals. Both SEMISAN and garden dust are examples of the DuPont company's better things for better living through chemistry. Mr. Barrymore, may we all thank you for your performance tonight. Thank you, John. Thank you. I knew Luther Burbank personally and I admired him. I hope I did him justice. Well, you certainly did, Mr. Barrymore. I only wish I could do as much for his memory with my garden. But I guess I don't have green fingers. Well, some of the DuPont SEMISAN and garden dust will go a long way toward helping you. Why not try it? I will. I will, John. I will. Every time I hear that phrase, better things for better living through chemistry, I realize more than ever that in America, men are working to add to the knowledge that Luther Burbank and other great men bequeath them. In Burbank's field, these men are passing on their discoveries to you and me until today America is producing some of the finest horticultural products the world's ever seen. It's really a very wonderful thing. That it is, Mr. Barrymore. And so is your portrayal of Luther Burbank this evening. We hope you'll be with us again in the near future. Yeah. I hope so. And speaking of portrayals, what are you going to do? Next week on Cavalcade? Well, if you don't mind, before we get around to that, what's with you in the movies? Oh, I make one now and then. I'd like to mention one I'm not in. As a matter of fact, Metro Golden Man is the sea of grass. I was lucky enough to catch the preview. Well, we don't have any Cavalcade previews, but if you want to treat next Monday night, listen to The Man Who Stepped Aside, the story of William Henry Seward, Lincoln's secretary of state, starring Thomas Mitchell. Oh-ho. It's a fine story about a man who realized he had to step aside for greatness in another. Oh, good. I'll be listening. Thank you, Lionel Barrymore. In the last couple of weeks, have you heard the phrase the Red Cross carries on? I hope you have, because even though the war is over, the activities of the Red Cross are more extensive than ever. Just one phase of Red Cross activity is their service to veterans. 1,100,000 veterans were aided last year. To a veteran, the Red Cross is truly a necessity. So when you think of the veteran, think of the Red Cross, and make your contribution as generous as possible. The music for the Dupont Cavalcade is composed and conducted by Robert Armbruster. Tonight's Cavalcade was written by Russell S. Hughes. Featured in the cast with Lionel Barrymore tonight was Henry Blair as young Ted Wallace. This is John Easton inviting you to listen next week to Thomas Mitchell in The Man Who Stepped Aside, and in the coming weeks to Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews and other Hollywood stars on the Cavalcade of America brought to you by the Dupont Company of Wilmington, Delaware. Cavalcade of America, Dana Andrews from Hollywood. This is NBC, the National Broadcasting Company.