 Remember a Hallmark card when you carry enough to send the very best. Bring your Douglas Fairbanks in Booth Tarkington's Meshirbo Care on the Hallmark Playhouse. Chosen by one of the world's best known authors. Ladies and gentlemen, this is James Hilton. Tonight on our Hallmark Playhouse we present a dramatization of a very popular story by a very popular American author, Booth Tarkington. But the story isn't American. On the contrary, Mr. Tarkington takes us to the romantic world of wigs and duels of fascinating ladies and spirited gentlemen whose capital was Paris two centuries ago. Mr. Tarkington shows himself thoroughly at home in this world and has given millions of readers some pleasant diversion. Meshirbo Care is the story we tell tonight. And to star in the title role, we have chosen most appropriately that fine actor whose very name conjures up the world of romance and adventure, Douglas Fairbanks. And now a word about Hallmark cards from Frank Goss before we begin the first act of Booth Tarkington's Meshirbo Care. For every occasion important to your friends and loved ones, there are Hallmark cards to carry your thoughts across the miles, across the years, often merely across the way. That's important in these fast-moving days when families and friends are separated on short notice. When a word of thoughtfulness can mean so much. On special days and every day, a Hallmark card says what you want to say, the way you want to say it. And that identifying Hallmark on the back, as always, says just what you want to say, the way you want to say it. Now Hallmark Playhouse presenting Booth Tarkington's Meshirbo Care starring Douglas Fairbanks. I just feel you were born in the wrong century. Do you think you'd have preferred to live in a different age, in the era of elegance perhaps, when gentlemen in powdered wigs dance beneath glittering chandeliers with ladies in gowns of gold? Would you like to have lived in a world of marble palaces, of kings and colonists, where ladies panned themselves and fainted, where men fought duels at the drop of a glove? Then listen. Listen to a letter written 200 years ago. A letter to the children of the earth. A letter to be opened on this day 200 years hence. This is the first day of March in the year of His Grace, 1751. Our king is Louis XV. I wonder what king will sit on the throne of France in your day. Until an ancient dream come true at last. Will each man be... But I prefer to walk the streets of Paris, not as a clattering assortment of titles, but as a man. So I call myself M. Bocage. This did not please my cousin, his royal. Put the best-looking young buck of our court go poking, which might belong to a baker or a barber. Or shall I stop up my eyes and ears, Your Majesty, and pretend the whole world consists of pink marble villas and silver smuff boxes? I shall close my mouth, along with my ears and my eyes. If you were not one of the favorites of our court, my boy, I would exile you for important. Instead, we offer you an attraction. Does that not please you? Who are the king and you have spoken? This should make you forget this masquerade as M. Bocage. Perhaps Your Majesty. Or perhaps not. We'll be solemnized on the second Sunday in May. Had I been merely a monsieur and Henriette merely a mademoiselle, I would have tried gracious and lovely. We walked in the palace gardens one day with the fountains played, and the whole world seemed to be made. You're disturbed, my cousin. Won't you tell me what troubles you? No, it's nothing, Henriette. Sometimes when you stare into the distance, it seems almost as if you were trying to look farther than the horizon. Oh, Henriette. Sweet cousin. Any man should be proud to have you as his bride. But not you. Now, it's only that I wish to choose for myself as you should choose for yourself. No king should tell our hearts what to do. Long ago, when I was still a child, I gave my heart away. You were in love, cousin? Completely. Then how can I obey the king's command and still call myself a gentleman? A prince might force himself upon a noble woman who loved someone else, but... Monsieur Bocaille, never. I said I was in love. I did not say with whom. Cousin, what are you staring at so far away? Sometimes I seem to bring myself ahead in history. Is it good, cousin, the thing you see? Not all good. But it is a world of many wonders where men travel amid the stars, where men breathe free. I wish we could live in that world. Perhaps we were born too soon into this winter of kings. The springtime is not yet upon the earth. Tell me, cousin, if I were a lackey, a baker, a barber, and I came to you unadorned, untitled, could you marry me then? Often I wish I were a maid in a cottage who would never seen the inside of a palace. Then you know why I must disobey the king, why I must leave this court in search. For what? For adventure? Or perhaps a star? A square of free earth to stand on. Oh, Ariette, what will history write about us? Will they dwell only upon the court and the king and the gaudy elegance? Or will the historians look down the dark streets as I have to see the beggars and the starving children? Will they hear the thunder which hangs in the air? Oh, cousin, you see too much. Ariette, you tremble like a child afraid of the dark. Have I frightened you? Go. Go quickly. To the horizon and farther. As far as your dream will carry you. Will you miss me? My good thoughts will all be with you. Goodbye, sweet cousin. The gods were at my heels. I have no appetite for the Bastille. But you can't stay here, my boy. After all, I am the king's ambassador and his majesty is displeased with you. You go to England shortly. Take me with you, Mirepoix. We go tonight. But let me go with you. It's impossible, my boy. I'm lost, I'm lost. Oh, Monsieur Le Maquis. Yes. Lucien, your barber has been taken with a fever. He will be unable to make the trip to England, sir. Now why must everything go wrong at the last moment? The barber. Of course, let me go with you to England as your barber. But that is ridiculous. It would be very simple. I'll put on a black wig. I'll take off his fancy clothes. I shall be the lackiest of lackies. Well, monsieur. I like you, my boy. Perhaps those of us who are older see and knew something that we've all lost. The spirit of daring. A heart that refuses to grow old. You'll do it then. You'll take me when you... We'll chance it. There's only one condition. Yes? Swear that you will never try to give me either a shave or a haircut. Monsieur Bouquet, barber to the ambassador. The Maquis moved in the most fashionable circles. And I was suddenly sad that my circles were so far beneath his. Why? Because I've found... Isn't it strange how one face can change your life? I saw her one day, golden hair, an angel of heaven. Her name? The Lady Mary Carlisle. As distant and cool and lovely. In society I was merely a barber. A lackey. I had to find a way to meet her. To be with her. To be in the same room with her. In the same world with her. And so in a back room I began to play cards with the dandies of the town. I played and looked always for an opening. I have played my cards honestly. But you see, I pluck a card from your sleeve. You have cheated me at a simple, sociable game of cards. You devil, how dare you speak to me like that? I speak only the truth, Monsieur Le Duc. Here is the card. There is your sleeve. They did not walk toward each other. What do you intend to do about it? Would it not be a disgrace to your social position if not about the Duke of Winters had had a card up his sleeve? What manifestation would believe a barber? Who would believe you? I have a reputation for honesty, Monsieur. You are suspect. Whispers have been going around that you play cards with me only because no one else will trust you. But if I should also call you a cheat... Dog, devil, gutter snide. How do you do? My name is Monsieur Bocair. You can't do a thing. I have the ear of my master, the Marquis de Miroir. I need only whisper to him, and all of Britain will soon know of this incident. What do you want? Money? No. I want to be your guest tonight at the court ball. And you are going to introduce me to the Lady Mary Carlisle. You must be out of your mind, sir. Lady Mary Carlisle of all women and I would prefer the devil to a man of no birth, and everyone knows Bocair is a barber. Then I shall change. See? I remove this wig. So, and I shall shave off my moustache like a good barber. And I shall go as... What shall it be, Monsieur Le Duc? Shall I go as a vicante, a marquis? What? Out of a compliment to you, I shall be a duke. Le duke de château rien. That'll do fine. It can only come to disaster. Perhaps longings go beyond mere longings. In France, one may adore a woman. Alas, one must worship the Lady of England. Our ladies are flowers. But yours are stars. I shall meet you shortly at your lodgings. But we shall go, arm in arm, to dukes, to the ball. You have trapped me into this. Shall do you no good, barber? We shall see. Go now. You wish to be a lackey. And now I am a lackey who wishes to be a nobleman. Conduct of Monsieur Bocair starring Douglas Fairbanks. No one knows who said it first, but there's an old saying, words spoken from the heart find a heart listening. Though the person who first put the thought into these words has long since been forgotten, the words live on. Probably because they explain the fine quality of sincerity so simply and so beautifully. That's the quality we all feel instinctively when we see or hear or say the words we really mean. And that's the quality the writers of Hallmark Cards strive for in every message on a Hallmark card. Sincerely. They recognize and respect the power of words and use the warm, simple words of the heart. You can find Hallmark cards with words that bring genuine comfort to a friend in sorrow. Words with just the right amount of gaiety to carry cheer into a hospital room. Words so well chosen for every occasion, they will make friends and keep friends and bring loved ones closer together. So 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. You'll find a Hallmark card that says just what you want to say, the way you want to say it. And in addition, that Hallmark on the back will carry its own special message. It will say, you cared enough to send the very best. Now back to James Hilton and the second actor, Monsieur Bouquet, starring Douglas Fairbanks. earned in a ballroom chandelier. The ladies of the court were paracons of loveliness and it seemed the most graceful of eras. But men like Voltaire and Rousseau knew it was only a shallow elegance. They dreamed of the day when each man would be a king, his own master, the charter of his own destiny. The man who called himself Monsieur Bouquet had such a dream too. So he writes to us in this letter 200 years old. We'll live in your day. The search for the unattainable will men in all centuries wish to be what they are not. This is madness, my boy. Surely the ambassador can spare an elegant coat and britches. The barber wishes to masquerade as a duke. The coat, Monsieur, please. I must take it to a tailor to be altered. Why not masquerade as a tailor and alter it yourself? What logic is there in such behavior? None whatsoever. It is an affair of the heart. Of the heart? Of the heart. Ah, we are both Frenchmen. How can I refuse? Many britches in the barber was a nobleman again. How easy the transformation from Monsieur Bouquet to Le Duc de Châtillon. I wager you'll regret that you entered this ballroom, Barbara. Stop rumbling, sir, and give me my introduction. Very well. Good evening, Lady Mary. Good evening. May I present a friend from France, the Duc de Châtillon. I am honoured, Monsieur Le Duc. And I, my dear lady, and but a poor Frenchman whom emperors would envy at this moment. What a lovely thing to say, Monsieur Le Duc. Would you honour me with this dance? I should be delighted. Your greatest of winter sets. I am your servant, sir. Come, Lady. You must not say that, Monsieur. I've always heard that the tongue of a Frenchman is notoriously deceitful. In France the tongue and the heart have secret connections. We cannot help but spill out all that our heart wishes to say. And what does it wish to say, Monsieur Le Duc? It wishes a favour. The rose you carry, nearly the rose. Well, certainly not, Monsieur. It's a small favour. I merely wish the rose which your hand has touched. Never, Monsieur, never. The dance is over. The rose? All night of red, red roses. Farewell. The rose lasts only until morning, Monsieur Bocair. Oh, do you think so, winter set? And the rose is an unlucky colour, I think. Does it not remind you of the colour in the veins of a Frenchman? You've cut enough throats, Barbara, to know the colour of blood. I saw more and more of Lady Carlyle. She had begun by giving me a rose. Now she was almost ready to give me her heart. We rode one night in a carriage after an evening of dancing. The moon was radiant over the misty fields. The air was mild and fragrant. And the distances were white and full of mystery. Tell me, Monsieur Lidue, do you not miss France? Sometimes, mademoiselle, I hear a melody, I see a turn in the road which seems like a familiar spot of my childhood, and I feel like a wanderer. My dreams, however, are not of France, but of a dearer country, a country of gold and snow and the blue sky. Your dreams carry you to strange lands, Monsieur Lidue. I look for that land in a lady's eyes. Appoedic, you Frenchman. I only wish the snow were not so cold for me. Any coldness was gone long ago, Monsieur. My dear Lady Mary. Halt the carriage! The highwayman! Be calm, dear lady, I have my sword. Part of that carriage, Monsieur Bouquet. We will show you how we treat upstarts who dare to ride in the same carriage with a lady of high society. I'll come out with my sword drawn, you devils. How about there are six of them? I shall fight them all. You cannot fight six against one, they'll kill you. This sword is disposed of such ruffians before. It's quite a good sherd, don't you think? Winters, let's help him. We've been set upon by these highwaymen. Help him, certainly not. Those are my servants who fight this puppy. What? They disposed of the violet quickly and upstarting a Monsieur Bouquet who dared to step in nine o'clock. I assure you he will not appear. However, if he is impertinent enough to carry out his promise, we shall not merely wound him this time. Every gentleman here will see that he dies. The main doors of the ball will open so slowly. In excellency, the French ambassador For a moment it was the other Frenchman. My friends, as ambassador from the court you will permit me to present to you, Steve Knight, my friend Monsieur Bouquet. Ladies, gentlemen, how kind of you to invite me to your party. One moment, Monsieur l'Ambassadère. We respect you, sir, as a diplomat and a gentleman. But may we remind you that it is not the captain in England to present our butt. My friends, you would do me the greatest honour of all if you would call me merely Monsieur Bouquet. For a man, my friends, is not his father nor his ancestors, but himself. And now, my friend Monsieur de Marquis, I believe our business is finished here. I have kept my appointment. Oh, one moment, my boy. I have not had the opportunity to tell you a message I have just received from France. His Majesty has heard the entire charming tale of your masquerade and I am told that his laughter shook the chandeliers. Though he wants you to come home. Under what conditions? You may do as you like. He no longer orders you to marry the princess Henriette. Ah, then I shall return to France. And if she will have me of her own choice, I shall marry Henriette. Orphania, can you forgive me? I made a grievous mistake. There's nothing to forgive, Lady Mary. But I wish you less of the English winter in your heart. As for you, my dear Duke of Wintersetter, may you cheat at cards, but be very careful how you play the game of life. And for what stakes? I'm home, cousin. I hoped I'd find you here in the garden. Oh, cousin, sweet cousin. I've looked toward the farthest horizons, but I never really looked into your eyes. What do you see there? Blue skies and tiny flecks of gold. Henriette, you told me once that you'd given your heart away. Completely, cousin. Who is the man so fortunate? You know him well. He's a barber named Bocair. Oh, Henriette. My darling. I thought we were born too soon. But each of us must live in our own time. We must do what we can. We must love our fellow men, be they barons or barbers, kings or stable boys. Then one day, the dream will come true. Write this letter to you 200 years ahead in time. Have you found the dream? Has the miracle happened? Today, as I write this, it hangs on the wind, as hope in the hearts of men for freedom. Have you found it yet, you men of the future? If you have, preserve it. If not, keep searching. Find new avenues to the stars, chart new courses in the dignity of man, so that he can go his own way, unafraid. Then every woman of the world will be a princess, and each man will be a king. I had a rough winter in your part of the country. This year, up when March arrives, there's always hope we've left the worst behind. And this year, March brings us Easter, Easter with its eternal promise of spring. But if you want more than a promise of spring and feel you'd like to get a sneak preview of that young lovely right now, may I suggest a walk down the display aisles of the store where you buy hallmark cards? Here you'll see the greens and pinks and whites, all the tender colors of spring. You'll find cards as gay as Irish laughter, for you'll not be forgotten March 17th now, will you? Cards as fresh with prettiness as an Easter bonnet and much less expensive. And of course you'll find cards of beauty and simplicity and good taste for every occasion. Yes, just seeing these hallmark cards will put spring in your mind. And remember, sending them puts the hope of spring into the hearts of your friends and loved ones. When the card you send has that familiar hallmark on the back, it takes on even more value. For that means you cared enough to send the very best. Now back to James Hilton. Thanks, Doug Fairbanks, for appearing on the hallmark playhouse tonight. Not only are you a fine actor, but you must be one of the busiest of men for you've just released a picture called the Great Man Hunt. You've also wide interests in the world of affairs and diplomacy. I believe you've just been appointed National Chairman of the American Relief for Career. That's so Jimmy, but after a buildup like that, you'll find I'm about speechless. I guess I'll just have to take a cue from your hallmark cards and say the simple, sincere thing. Thank you. And since this seems to be a night for telling tales about people, I understand your new book, Morning Journey, has been chosen as the March Selection of the Literary Guild. Congratulations, Jimmy. Well, thanks, Doug. That's very nice of you. And with you selecting the stories and hallmark making such a worthwhile and interesting product, no wonder listening to the hallmark playhouses is the favorite Thursday night event at our house. What have you planned for next week, Jimmy? Next week we have selected Blanche Henry Perrin's Deepwood for our dramatization. For our star, we are happy to welcome that delightful Hollywood actress Rosalyn Russell. Our hallmark playhouses every Thursday, our director-producer is Bill Gay, our music is composed and conducted by Lynn Murray, and our story tonight was dramatized by Lawrence and Lee. Until next Thursday, then, this is James Hilton saying good night. Four hallmark cards that are sold only in stores that have been carefully selected to give you expert and friendly service. Remember hallmark cards when you will carry enough to send the very best. Our cast tonight included Barbara Eiler, Betty Lou Gerson, Hans Conrad, then Wright, Ted Osburn and Edgar Barrier. This is Frank Goss saying good night to you all until next week at the same time. When hallmark playhouse returns to present Rosalyn Russell in Blanche Henry Perrin's Deepwood, and the week following Laura Ingo's Wilders the Long Winter, starring Edward Arnold on the hallmark playhouse. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System. This is KMBC, Kansas City, Missouri.