 Ladies and gentlemen, the railroad hour. And here comes our star-studded show train. Tonight, the Association of American Railroads presents the Swedish Nightingale, a new musical play about Jenny Lin by Lawrence and Lee, starring Gordon MacRae and his charming guest Dorothy Warren-Show. Our choir is under the direction of Norman Luboff, and our music is prepared and conducted by Carmen Dragon. Yes, tonight another musical premiere 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. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Tonight we're going to tell you about one of the world's strangest love affairs between a nation and a nightingale. Dorothy Warren-Show will be the immortal Jenny Lin, and I'll be America's first and greatest advertising man, Phineas Taylor Barnum. Well, here's the document proving she was nurse-made to George Washington, the father of our country. That Barnum's wonderful American museum. Tickets, only 25 cents, one-fourth part of a dollar. Seven wonders you can steal with a ticket to this museum. Tee-hee Barnum. Tee-hee Tee Barnum. Good. Phineas, how the money rolls in. Well, I'm not interested, LeGrand. Not interested. Phineas, the cash box at the American Museum has more quarters than the United States Mint. But I'm tired of being a faker. Do you know what they're calling me in the public press? Barnum, the Prince of Humboldt. You love it. I'm surrounded by freaks. Thank you. Oh, no. Not you, LeGrand, but I'm restless. I wish I could give the public something really magnificent, something they couldn't scoff at. Why don't you put an angel in the contract, charge folks 25 cents to touch the feathers of a wing? My friend, there is an angel in this world walking the earth at this very moment. A woman so lovely and talented, so pure that kings kneel at her feet, and crowds pressed by the thousands, the tens of thousands, merely for a distant look at her. Who is this Paragon? Haven't you read the dispatches from Europe, LeGrand? About the Nightingale? The Swedish Nightingale. Tell me how much would it cost to bring Jenny Lind to the United States? She's an opera singer Phineas, not a midget or a freak. You think she won't come? Jenny Lind is at the peak of her career. She wouldn't come here if she had an invitation from the President of the United States. But LeGrand, I am not merely the President of the United States. I am Barnum. Yes, Jenny? We must pack our trunks. We're going to America. That's a land of Indians and wild animals. Nonsense, Josephine. America is a land where everyone is rich and cultured. And the most rich and cultured person of all is Mr. P. T. Barnum. How do you know? Why, Mr. Barnum says so. In this letter. Hmm. Does he say anything about money? Oh, I thought $150,000 would be a nice amount of money. $150,000 plus expenses, of course. Oh, but Jenny, you know nothing about this, Mr. Barnum. He may be a tyrant, a slave driver. Oh, I'm sure he is a very nice man. Oh, he has such pretty stationery. $150,000. $187,000, LeGrand, including her expenses and her conductor. You won't pay it. I shall have to mortgage the museum, my house and bridge port. And you will own me some money, my friend. This will ruin you. I have made up my mind. When you wanted to buy a dozen elephants from Ceylon, did I stop you? Well, you tried. The Fiji mermaid. I was not opposed to that venture. Oh, no, not when you saw the money roll in. Phineas, who knows Jenny Lind? You and I and a handful of people who read the London and Paris papers. My hatter thinks Jenny Lind is a dancer. We shall educate your hatter, LeGrand. We shall tell the entire United States that an angel has descended the stairs from heaven to sing for them. At 25 cents a seat? That's the trick, LeGrand. We shall auction off the tickets to the highest bidder. All for you, Miss Lind. Your people in America, they are wonderful. They are crazy, but they are wonderful. Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Jenny Lind will accompany herself at the piano as she sings the echo song. You will hear her perform a perfect imitation of an echo, rebounding from mountain cliffs of her native Sweden as the herdsman calls to his flock. Miss Lind. Look at this report from the box office. Almost $18,000 for one concert. Will you be quiet? My hatter bid $225 for one ticket. Ah, we've educated him. Good. And the advanced sales finish. You talk of money when an angel is about to sing. Love with her. It's remarkable, my friend, that Barnum should fall in love with an angel. Just a moment, we'll return with act two of the Swedish Nightingale. Do you know one big reason why you and all of us here in America are able to live better and produce more than any other people on earth? It's because we have railroads, which can and do haul more than a million tons of freight a mile every minute. A million tons of freight a mile every minute. That sounds mighty impressive. But what's it got to do with the way I live? Well, it's this way. It takes that much rail transportation every minute of the day to produce and distribute the things that you and all the rest of us use. Take your refrigerator, for example. To manufacture refrigerators, steel is needed. So is copper, porcelain, and, oh, a thousand and one different materials. Those materials come from mines, mills, and factories in every part of the country. And the only form of transportation big enough and flexible enough to bring them together where they are needed is the railroads. You mean no railroads, no refrigerator for me? That's true. Or at least not anything like as good a refrigerator as you have at the price you paid for it. And the same goes for the food on your table, the clothes your youngsters wear, the house you live in. You couldn't enjoy these things in plenty and at economical prices if it were not for the tremendous job of low-cost transportation which the railroads do. You know, I never appreciated that fact before. But I guess the railroads are essential to my way of life. They are indeed. And the better you live, the more railroad transportation you need. That's true of the nation, too. Our defense effort would come to a standstill without adequate railroad transportation. Well, can we count on the railroads to keep on meeting our needs? The railroads have spent more than six billion dollars since the end of World War II, an average of over a billion dollars a year on improving their highways of steel in order to give you the kind and quantity of transportation you need. And the railroads will keep on expanding and improving their service right up to the limit of available money and materials, a service that is absolutely essential to your way of life and to the health and strength of America. Two of the new Lawrence and Lee play with music, the Swedish Nightingale, starring Gordon MacRae as P.T. Barnum and Dorothy Warren-Scholl as the immortal Jenny Lin. 3,000 firemen with flaming torches gathered outside her hotel suite in the Irvinghouse to sing a tribute to the Swedish Nightingale. Her concerts were filled to the rafters. In Boston, a man paid $625 for a ticket to hear Jenny sing. Longfellow, Emerson, Webster, Whitman, even President Thilmore himself all cheered and applauded Jenny Lin. I cheered her with my eyes from the wings and my heart sang with her in every melody that poured from her precious throat. Jenny, I have something important to say to you. And I have something important to say to you, Mr. Barnum. Why, Jenny? When I came here, I expected that you would present me as an opera singer. The foremost in the world. Then why have you sold me to your American public as a monstrosity? People come to gawk at me, not to hear me sing. A cigar is named after me. And a sausage. And look at this. By the water and tea kettle, it sings like Jenny Lin. I have no control. Mr. Barnum, how much will it cost me to be released from this contract with you? You are dissatisfied with the contract? Yes. Give it to me. Mr. Barnum. You have no contract with P.T. Barnum. You are free to do as you please. You tore up the contract? She was unhappy with it, and I am a man of honor. She cost you a quarter of a million dollars. I'll make it back ten times over. Without a contract? How many years, Phineas, have you and I pleasantly defrauded the public? But how the Prince of Humbuck has been had by the Queen of Humbucks? The grand stop. Your Swedish nightingale is a bird of prey. Nobody. Why do people pay their life savings to hear Jenny Lin? Because she's the greatest woman alive. Barnum has made her the greatest woman alive with advertising, publicity. She's a genius. You are the genius Barnum. Can't you see that? There are a dozen little birds and petty goats who can out sing and out charm your Jenny Lin. Get out of my office, LeGrand. Our association has ended. All right, Phineas. But I tell you, you're ruined unless you get rid of this devil in a hoop skirt. Miss Lin. Jenny. Mr. Smith. Mr. Barnum. I was just leaving. Oh, pray do not let me detain you. Jenny. I abhor eavesdropping. However, when voices are raised, one cannot help overhearing. Now, let me explain, Jenny. You see- May a woman speak first. I would like to use your piano. Oh, please. Please do. Mr. Barnum. When I was a very young girl, first singing in the National Opera at Stockholm, an old friend of my father's took me to the poorest section of the city to sing for a group of orphan children. For they listened politely to the grand opera and the great composers. But what they loved best was an old hymn. And they joined with me in singing it. So often children, Mr. Barnum, I cried. And I promised that I would share the Lord's goodness with those little ones who have been less favored with His blessings. Dear Jenny, why do you tell me all this? The money you gave me, the exorbitant price I charged you for this concert tour, I spent it all. What? It is building a beautiful home for the underprivileged children in my native Stockholm. Jenny. I do keep my promises, Mr. Barnum. And I will not break my promise to you. You will complete the tour? Under whatever terms you say. You know, of course, that I am in love with you. Oh, you're not. I am. You're in love with the picture in front of a music hall. You're laughing at me. But what do we have in common? I am in love with notes of music. And you, Mr. Barnum, are in love with the notes which the presidents have the president's pictures on them. Jenny. I shall take you on a triumphal tour of the capitals of Europe. The entire world will bow down before the Swedish nightingale. This is my farewell tour. No. When I leave your management, I shall never sing again. But why, Jenny? You're a young woman at the very peak of your voice and your powers. Can you think of a better time to leave the stage? You're an angel. You are kind enough to the mortals who adore you never to break the spell. Well, perhaps you're right, Jenny. Never to spoil the brilliant memories. With a voice that would be only an echo of my youth. Jenny, what will you do when you retire? Oh, I think I shall go back to Europe and live near trees and water and a cathedral. I shall come with you. Oh, please no. The quiet would kill you. And besides, dear Mr. Barnum, the earthquakes and the volcanoes would be so lonely without you. But I shall think of you often. And fondly. And I shall always remember you, Jenny Lin. Our show will be back in just a moment. Meanwhile, our thanks to Norma Varden, Ted DeCorsia and to our entire company. The Swedish Nightingale was a new musical play written especially for the railroad hour by Lawrence and Lee. The railroad hour is brought to you each week at this time by the American Railroads. Marvin? The better you live, the more railroad transportation you need. For only the railroads can successfully bring together the far-flung ingredients of our productive power and make possible your enjoyment of them. And today, as the transportation demands of national defense continue to grow, the railroads will be called on to provide more and more transportation capacity. They are busy doing just that as they continue to spend at the rate of over a billion dollars a year for expansion and improvements so that neither your family nor our fighting forces will lack for adequate transportation. Thank you, Marvin. Well, Dorothy, you were a delightful Jenny Lin. Why, thank you, Gordon. I thought you were pretty good as a three-ring job as PT Barnum yourself. What was that again? I really mixed that one up, didn't I? Tell me, are we going to have another circus next week? Well, we're going to have a little better than a circus, Dorothy. We're involving the Army and the Navy in a brand new musical called Right Dress. Are you going to be the soldier or the sailor, Gordon? Well, both. Because this is the on that asks the question, well, what happens when a GI and a gob trade uniforms? And the dream girl of both the Army and the Navy is none other than you, Miss Dorothy Warren. I wouldn't miss that for anything, Gordon. See you next week. Good night, Dorothy. And, by the way, don't you retire like Jenny Lin. We need you next Monday. All aboard! Well, dear friends, it looks as though we're ready to pull out. And so until next Monday night, and the premiere performance of our new musical, Right Dress, this is Gordon McRae saying goodbye. Gordon McRae can be seen starring in Warner Brothers About Face. 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 Railroad. Now, stay tuned for your Monday night of music on NBC. The preceding program was transcribed. Follow the campaign of the next president on NBC by tuning to this station for the latest political developments. And now, stay tuned for the telephone hour on NBC, the national broadcasting company.