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00:00The Makers of Campbell's Soups presents the Campbell Playhouse. Orson Welles, producer.
00:30Good evening, this is Orson Welles. Tonight we're going to present a typical chapter
00:48in the life of a special type of theatrical manager, the man who wears the mantle of the
00:53impresario. He's sometimes a genius, always a visionary, and is usually dressed in a haze
00:59of glory, especially if he's just created a success. But it's his particular ability to
01:05wear his aura whether he deserves it or not. He exists on the momentum of the past and the
01:11anticipation of the future. He's divorced from reality and lives in his own frantic world of
01:16the glorious impractical dreams which keep bursting on the bubbling surplus of his mind.
01:22And lest I seem to convince you that he is a type entirely removed from the usual producer,
01:28let me hasten to assure you that we are all a little guilty of the same dreams and the same
01:33aspirations. The play is 20th Century, our version of 20th Century, which was written by those
01:40inimitables Ben Hecht and Charlie MacArthur from the play by Charles Bruce Milholland. And tonight
01:47our leading lady is Elisa Landy, who's appeared notably on Broadway and in a large number of
01:51successful films in the past few seasons. Mr. Sam Levine plays Owen O'Malley, and you've met him
01:57before on this program. And we also have here in the studio the model for Owen O'Malley, one of
02:02the characters in the play. Not the producer, but one of the most remarkable characters on
02:06Broadway. Richard Maney, press agent without peer and interpreter to the world for a number of the
02:12great dreamers of the theater. He will speak in his own defense at the end of the program. And
02:17now before we begin our story, a word from Ernest Chappell. Tonight I want to talk to you about
02:26Campbell's vegetable soup. And if there's any one soup by which to judge the fine home-like way
02:31that all Campbell's soups are made, this is it. Because vegetable soup has always been a family
02:37standby, and the soup most often made at home. If you still make your own vegetable soup now and
02:43again, won't you please do this? Serve Campbell's vegetable soup next time so that you and your
02:48family can compare it with your own. See if it's appetizing look, it's good flavor, and it's
02:53satisfying substance. Don't fully measure up to the best you ever ladled from your own home
02:57soup kettle. I want you to do this because Campbell's chefs make vegetable soup the good
03:02home way, just as you would do. They simmer selected beef until they have a rich invigorating
03:08stock. But what perhaps you wouldn't do is use 15, yes, 15 different garden vegetables. Campbell's
03:15do. And you can tell by looking at it how substantial and hearty and nourishing a 15
03:20vegetable soup can be. Every delicious spoonful proves it over and over again. So I urge you to
03:26set a plate of Campbell's vegetable soup before hungry children or grown-ups for lunch or supper
03:31tomorrow. That's the real test of how good it is. And now 20th Century starring Orson Welles
03:37with Alissa Landy and Sam Levine.
03:51Ladies and gentlemen, this here is a love story. This here is the inside story of that great
03:57romance you all know about of course, which transpired between that gorgeous feminine star
04:02Lily Garland of stage and screen and the great Oscar Jaffe, who is a famous producer and is
04:08crazy. Now I hate to tell you about it because it cost me plenty, but here it is. One of the
04:14great romances of the ages and against romance nobody, not the smartest man in the business,
04:19not even me, Max Jacobs can do a thing. Max Jacobs, that's my name. I'm a Broadway producer
04:24and I do very nice. Four hits the last two years, smash hit, not cheap turkeys either. Good,
04:30clean, lively entertainment. I got companies playing all over the country. The money's
04:34pouring in. I got no complaint about that. But do people call me the genius of the American
04:39theater? No. Do I get my picture on the cover of the Time magazine? No. Am I invited to speak
04:45before the Culture Committee of the City Club? No. Now take this last thing. What happened to me
04:51with Lily Garland shouldn't happen to a dog. Only yesterday up to 8, 10 p.m. I was sitting pretty. A
04:57great script in one pocket and a contract in the other and Lily Garland waiting for me on a train
05:02at Toledo. Lily Garland, the name anywhere today is worth a fortune. That's show business for you.
05:08Now I remember when Lily Garland wasn't even anybody's name. I can remember the first time
05:13she walked into Oscar Jaffe's office. That was nine years ago and I was his office boy.
05:19Here you are, miss. Third floor. Where's Mr. Jaffe's office? Right down the hall, miss. Turn to the right,
05:31please. There's a lot of people waiting for him, miss. I don't think you'll get to see him. Well,
05:35try. Thanks. Okay. I've been here three hours now. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
05:46Mr. Jaffe would see me first. I've got a letter all the way from Syracuse to see Mr. Jaffe. I have this letter. One at a time, please. One at a time. Don't you see I can't talk for more than one at a time. I know. Hey, sister, come back from that door. What do you think you're going? That's Mr. Jaffe's private office. I'm looking for a job. So is a lot of other people.
06:05You got an appointment? No. Well, you can't come in here without an appointment. Not a chance. Well, how do you get one? You write a letter. Well, what do you say in it? Hey, ain't you never been in a theater office before? Come over here. I'll take your name for the file. I've been waiting here for three years. All right. All right. All right. When he's ready to see you, he'll see you. All right. Now, one at a time. I have to get to that door. All right, let me have your name. Hey, you, you, sugar. What's your name? Mildred Plotkin. Mildred Plotkin. Address?
06:342083 A. Prospect Avenue, the Bronx. Experience? I want to be an actress. I said experience. Look, Mr. Jacobs, I'm not going to stand for this any longer. I came all the way from Syracuse to see Mr. Jaffe. All right. All right. All right. Hold your hats, will you? I'll go in and see what I can do.
06:55Quiet, quiet, quiet. I'm on the phone. Yes, Mr. O'Malley. Why, you inaccurate Muscovite. Yes, yes, I'm Mr. Jaffe's press representative. It's Vermilow with the Times. He's driving me crazy. Listen, you unfortunate Armenian. Oscar Jaffe's next production will surpass anything ever seen in this country or any other country in this generation or any other generation. Right. I'll hold him for a while.
07:25Hey, Mr. O'Malley, where's the chief? How should I know? I'm only the press agent around here. He's in the 13th century room meditating. Meditating? I've got 85 actors standing outside and every one of them with a card to be here at 11 o'clock to see Mr. Jaffe personally. Well, you better clear the arena, Webb. When the chief starts meditating, it's liable to go on for days. Oh, well, here goes. Come on, Jacob. Mr. Jaffe's here to see you. All right. All right. All right. Here. This is Mr. Oliver Webb.
07:52Oh, hello, Oliver. Mr. Webb is Oscar Jaffe's business manager. Oh, well, Mr. Webb... Quiet, please. Quiet. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm very sorry, but Mr. Jaffe will be unable to see anybody today. He has been trying to see Mr. Jaffe for two weeks now. Mr. Jaffe told me to come back today at 11 o'clock. I know. I know. Mr. Jaffe changed his mind. Come back tomorrow.
08:18Webb. Webb, will you never learn? How long will this organization continue behind my back to trample upon the sensibilities of actors, of artists? It's very discouraging. But, chief, I... How many times have I told you that I always see everyone... But, chief, you said only yesterday that you... Webb, you have insulted these people. I would speak to them myself. I will apologize for you. Ladies and gentlemen, for 18 years...
08:45Mr. Jaffe, I played Rosencrantz with Mr. Mantel and he said... Please. Ladies and gentlemen, for 18 years I have devoted myself to the theater, brain, soul, heart, spirit. I have given them all unstintingly in the service of that beautiful, devouring mistress of us all, the theater. With the toil of my hands, the anguish of my spirit, I have built this beautiful theater in which you stand today.
09:14Who have I built it for? The public? Philistines? Bootleggers? No. The playwrights? Hacks? Plagiarists? No. This beautiful theater that I have built with the toil of my hands, the anguish of my spirit, I have built it for you. And you alone. You, the sinews and the soul of the theater. You, the true artists. Or you, the actors.
09:36Mr. Jaffe, these people are waiting to see you about casting. Casting? Oh, no, no, not today. Not today. Come again, my friends. Come again whenever you wish. Remember, the doors of this beautiful theater are always open to you. Goodbye, my friends. Goodbye. And remember, no matter what, I love you all.
09:55All right, folks. All right. That's all for today. That's all.
10:07Yes, Mr. O'Malley?
10:09The boss says it's a girl with bangs. The fourth one on the right. Green dress and eyes like amethyst. Send her up. He wants to see her right away.
10:16All right, Mr. O'Malley. I get it. Hey, you, sugar.
10:29Here she is, sire.
10:30Come in, my dear. Come in. Don't be nervous, my dear. What's your name?
10:36Mildred Plotkin.
10:38Plotkin. Good heavens. Now, stand up and let me look at you, my dear. Now, walk across the room. Now, just walk. Slowly, slowly. Head up.
10:51We'll have to begin at the very beginning, O'Malley. At the very beginning. Now, my dear, let me hear you speak. The timbre of your voice.
10:59What shall I say?
11:01Say, say, I love you.
11:03I love you.
11:05O'Malley, when did you say her name was?
11:07Mildred Plotkin.
11:09From now on, O'Malley, she is Lily Garland.
11:13Oh, that's beautiful.
11:15Yes, dear.
11:17Can I try it again? I love you.
11:19My dear, have you ever been in love?
11:21No, sir. That is, not really. There's a boy who lives on the concourse.
11:23Please, please, please, try again. I love you.
11:28I love you.
11:30Yes, again, with feeling, please.
11:32I love you.
11:34Yes, and the spark is there. The spark is there. See, you want to be an actress.
11:37Yes, sir.
11:39Do you know what it means to be an actress?
11:41Well, sir, I...
11:43Drudgery, my dear. Disappointment, my dear. Failure, which take the toil of your youth. Your strength. Your beauty. For you are beautiful, Lily Garland.
11:53Oh, thank you.
11:55And you'll have to learn to live. To live. You'll have to learn to experience love.
12:01The deep, shattering passions that will unloose the hidden wellsprings of your being.
12:07Uh, O'Malley.
12:10Yes, sire.
12:12O'Malley.
12:14Oh, yes, sire.
12:16O'Malley.
12:18Okay, sire.
12:20Now, then, my dear, you can be quite at your ease. Let's try it again.
12:27I love you.
12:29I love you.
12:31Now, once more, my dear, pear-shaped orange. I love you.
12:36I love you.
12:38I love you.
12:41I love you.
12:43I love you.
12:45I love you.
12:49I love you.
12:51I love you.
12:53So that's how this here romance came about.
12:56It's almost nine years now since the names of Oscar Jaffe and Lily Garland was first linked in the columns.
13:02The most terrific romance of the modern theater history.
13:05And business? Ladies and gentlemen, Oscar Jaffe and Lily Garland was big money in this town.
13:10Seven in a row. Smash hits.
13:13Remember the title? The Heart of North Carolina. Undaunted.
13:16The Heart of South Carolina. Besmirched.
13:19The Sin of Ivory Dupree.
13:21And finally, the postcard.
13:23It looked like they couldn't miss those two.
13:26You know, it was too bad in a way that them two split up.
13:29Nobody on Broadway could figure what really happened there.
13:32Maybe that's always the way with great love.
13:34Two years ago, that was.
13:36Garland picks up and goes to Hollywood.
13:38And now she's the hottest thing in pictures.
13:40And what happens to Jaffe?
13:42Well, he splits with Garland.
13:43That was for him the beginning of the toboggan.
13:46Flop, flop, flop.
13:48Yes, sir, things is looking pretty bad for Jaffe.
13:51He closes his show in Chicago after five nights.
13:54Joanne of Arc.
13:56It cost him 75 grand.
13:58Imagine it.
14:00A lot of men in tin suits in a revolving stage.
14:02I don't know how he gets out of town, but he does.
14:05He gets out yesterday at 2.40 on the 20th Century.
14:08And that's when this here great love story starts in again.
14:11On the 20th Century.
14:1320th Century.
14:25Hey, Webb, where's the chief? He's gonna miss the train.
14:27Search me. He ought to be here by now.
14:29You don't suppose the sheriff nabbed him, do you?
14:31There's no sheriff in Chicago fast enough to catch up with the chief when he's dodging them.
14:34I tell you, I had a hard time getting out of that theater myself this morning.
14:37Four writs and two attachments.
14:39This is our worst flop yet.
14:41There was no excuse for this one either.
14:4316 angels and 92 extras in full suits of armor with crossbows.
14:47There were more people on the stage than in the audience.
14:49You'd think he'd learn, wouldn't you?
14:51Not Oscar Jaffe. Once he gets an idea to...
14:53Boys! Boys!
14:55Hey, hey there, you Tasmanian ticker-taker. Hold it.
14:58What?
15:00Mr. Jaffe isn't on board yet.
15:02I can't help that. This train starts on time, Mr. Jaffe.
15:04No, Mr. Jaffe.
15:06You start this train over my dead body.
15:08Hey, you immediate Algonquin.
15:10You better hurry. She's moving.
15:11Hey, hey, where's the emergency door?
15:13What are you doing?
15:15Do you know it's a personal offense to pull that thing?
15:17All right, tell it to the judge.
15:19Now you've done it.
15:21Wait until the train detective gets here, he'll have you in handcuffs.
15:23Wait until Oscar Jaffe catches up with you, he'll fry you in lard.
15:26Jaffe, you're no Jaffe.
15:29O'Malley.
15:31Webb.
15:33Has everyone deserted me?
15:35Sorry, chief. I didn't know you were on board.
15:37Of course I'm on board. I got on the observation car and walked through.
15:39It's okay, conductor. Sorry for the little accident.
15:41Go ahead now and start your kitty car.
15:43Is that drawing room A?
15:45Here it is, chief.
15:47Well, we almost busted a lung getting it for you, chief.
15:49Very good, very good.
15:51Joy to the flowers.
15:53What flowers?
15:55I distinctly gave instructions to have drawing room B banked with gardenias.
15:57Gardenias, the flowers of love.
15:59I sent word to the box office.
16:01Would you want me hanging around a box office with 16 process servers lying in there waiting for me?
16:05You have to stop drinking, O'Malley.
16:07You're no good to me this way.
16:09It's very discouraging.
16:11Telegraph Maurice, the florist in Toledo,
16:13to send all the gardenias he has to drawing room B.
16:15This car.
16:17Okay, chief. What's her name?
16:19I want those gardenias to contain a message.
16:21Let me think now.
16:23To the little lady of the snows.
16:25No, not this time.
16:27I've got it.
16:29From the grave of someone you loved yesterday.
16:32How's that?
16:34Fine. I live on a sad side, ain't I?
16:36It's perfect. Why can't I get playwrights to write like that?
16:38Webb, take my coat, will you?
16:39Don't let me brood, boys, will you?
16:41O'Malley, go order lunch.
16:43See, they're putting by myself the big table.
16:45How am I going to do that? The diner is packed.
16:47Tell them it's for me. Now go on, give the man $5.
16:49You want privacy? Why don't you travel in a balloon?
16:51And besides, we haven't got $5.
16:53Chief, if you've got a minute, I'd like to talk to you.
16:55Yes, what is it? Speak up.
16:57Chief, do you know what our bank balance is after Joan of Arc?
16:59Don't bother me with trivialities.
17:02Do you know what I was thinking on my way to the train?
17:05Nothing morbid, I hope.
17:06Well, I was thinking, Webb, that of all my 68 productions,
17:10the most beautiful was Joan of Arc.
17:13I saw the play five times and cried like a baby every time.
17:16That revolving stage was pure genius.
17:19Well, revolving stage and all, we did exactly $942 on those five performances.
17:2375,000 bucks in the hole.
17:25That makes three flops right in a row.
17:27Ah, but what a magnificent failure.
17:30If I am a genius, Webb, it is because of my failures.
17:34Always remember that.
17:36Okay, and now will you tell me what you're going to do
17:38about that note for $250,000 the banks are holding?
17:41Webb, don't annoy me about money matters now.
17:44Do you mind, Webb?
17:46It's time they're going to take your theater away from you.
17:48My theater? Webb, they wouldn't dare.
17:50You got the writ last Thursday.
17:52Unless you've got the money tomorrow, they're going to spring it.
17:54Who's back of that?
17:56I know I can guess.
17:58Max Jacobs, that cheap, crooked little chiseler
18:01that I picked out of the gutter.
18:03A man I kicked out of my theater for stealing.
18:06A man on whom I closed the iron door.
18:09No, Chief, it's not Max Jacobs.
18:11It's the banks, all three banks.
18:13They got together last week.
18:15Oh, they did, huh? A conspiracy.
18:17Well, I want to tell you something, Webb.
18:19It takes more than a handful of banks to keep me down.
18:22Webb, I'll tell you a secret.
18:24A friend of ours is coming on board this train.
18:27Who?
18:29Lily Garland.
18:31Lily Garland?
18:33Chief, you mean that you and Chief...
18:34You're on her, Webb.
18:36You know that.
18:38This morning, I found out she was returning from Hollywood
18:40and by miraculous coincidence, we're occupying adjoining drawing rooms.
18:42You mean the gardenias, the flowers of love?
18:44Yes, Webb.
18:46Well, that's something. Like it, Chief.
18:48With Lily Garland's name on a contract,
18:50we can walk into the bank tomorrow and write our own ticket.
18:52Precisely.
18:54Well, you had me worried, Chief.
18:56Thought we were all through for good this time.
18:58That's when I'm at my best, Webb,
19:00with my back against the wall, disaster staring me in the face.
19:02Henry VIII, the bride of Baghdad,
19:04my theater, everything I have gone.
19:06Everything but the name of Jaffe.
19:08Listen, Chief, let me get this straight.
19:10Have you got Lily under contract?
19:12Oh, don't be sordid, Webb.
19:14Between me and Lily,
19:16a bond more lasting than paper, thicker than ink.
19:19Look, Chief, she's going to be pretty snooty
19:21after the hit she's just made.
19:23In the movies.
19:25Lily Garland will never be any good in the movies.
19:27What are you talking about?
19:29She won the gold statue last year.
19:31What gold statue?
19:32The gold statue for the best performance.
19:34Who does that?
19:36Some academy.
19:38That's impossible.
19:40She can't be any good in the movies.
19:42Her face is all wrong.
19:44It took me four years to make her look like a human being.
19:46Well, Chief, so long as Lily Garland is indefinite,
19:48I've got something constructive to suggest.
19:50I got a telegram this morning from Max Jacobs.
19:52Communicating with Max Jacobs!
19:54Treachery, huh?
19:56You listen, I'll tell you what he says.
19:58I forbid you ever to mention the name of Max Jacobs to me again.
20:00That's final.
20:02I dismissed him for stealing.
20:04Chief, we've got to face the fact.
20:06You fired him because he said Henry VIII
20:08was going to be a flop, and it was.
20:10What does he know about the theater?
20:12That buttonhole maker.
20:14He knows enough to produce three smash hits in a row
20:16while you've been laying one bad egg after another.
20:18That's fact.
20:20Webb, I've had enough of your treachery.
20:22Get out.
20:24It's in your interest to listen to this wire.
20:26You've shown your true colors.
20:28Webb, you're fired.
20:30I've had just about enough.
20:32Harriet, get out.
20:34Come in.
20:36I'm going, I'm going, Chief.
20:38Mr. Jaffe has fired me for the last time.
20:40Get out, Oliver Webb.
20:42I close the iron door.
20:44All right, go ahead.
20:46Close it.
20:48Abandoned.
20:50Deserted.
20:52Betrayed.
20:54No loyalty, no gratitude.
20:56Is it true Lily Garland's on this train?
20:58She is.
21:00Getting on at Englewood.
21:02So it is.
21:04Pull down the shade, O'Malley.
21:06She'll probably be on the platform.
21:08I don't want her to see me through the window.
21:10Shock might unnerve her.
21:12Okay, Chief.
21:14All right.
21:16Now raise the shade, that's it.
21:18Just a crack.
21:20Now look out.
21:22Don't let Lily see you.
21:24Okay, Chief.
21:26You see her, O'Malley?
21:28Not yet.
21:30Now do you see her, O'Malley?
21:32She's as beautiful as ever.
21:34Oh, I must see her, O'Malley.
21:36I must see her.
21:38Oh!
21:40Oh, good heavens!
21:42She's blind!
21:44Blind!
21:46Those amethyst eyes.
21:48Dulled forever.
21:50Now hold your horses, Chief.
21:52She's wearing sunglasses.
21:54All those Hollywood girls wear them.
21:56Sunglasses, eh?
21:58Vulgar buffoonery.
22:00Open the door, just a crack.
22:02Now what's the idea of kicking those bags around?
22:04There's some perfume in there that costs $18 an ounce.
22:07Her voice, O'Malley.
22:09That's Lily, all right.
22:11Lily is coming back to us, O'Malley.
22:13On the level, Chief.
22:15In her heart of hearts, she knew she belonged to me and to the theater.
22:17I shall hold open the door of reconciliation by offering her a great legitimate role.
22:22You got a play for her, Chief?
22:24I repeat, I shall offer her a great role.
22:26The greatest character ever put on the stage.
22:27Half devil, half woman.
22:29Who makes a great sacrifice for love.
22:31Yeah, sure, I know, Chief.
22:33But have you got a play, you know, something tangible.
22:35Something she can see herself walking around the stage in.
22:37In my trunk, O'Malley, there are a hundred plays.
22:39Each one a masterpiece.
22:41Oh, that collection of moth-eaten scripts.
22:43Now for the love of Pete, Chief,
22:45you ought to know you can't pull plays out of a hat.
22:47Not real plays.
22:49I don't want to argue with you, O'Malley.
22:51Find Webb and tell him to draw up a contract in legal form.
22:53Webb, Webb says you fired him.
22:55I fired him.
22:57How much of that is he?
22:59You tell Webb I've forgiven him.
23:01Tell Webb if he... Wait a minute, who's there?
23:03I'll see.
23:05Maestro!
23:07Chief, it's the first and second base of the House of David Baseball Team.
23:11Maestro, Maestro, we must talk with you.
23:14It is a matter of...
23:16Listen, boys, beat it.
23:18Mr. Jeff, he's very busy.
23:20O'Malley, please.
23:22Don't you know I always see people?
23:24Maestro, Maestro,
23:25this is a great, great privilege.
23:28Please leave me alone, August. I speak better.
23:30No, no, he understands me.
23:32Well, if you're going to talk, spit it out.
23:34Well, my friends don't speak English so good.
23:38Maestro, I wish to see...
23:40Just a minute, August.
23:42Maybe the Maestro has seen us sometimes.
23:46Of course, of course. I seldom forget to say this.
23:49Just look and forward.
23:51No, no, we are actors from the Miracle Play,
23:53from Oberammergau.
23:55Of course.
23:57Of course, I should have recognized you.
23:59Stand up, O'Malley.
24:01These gentlemen represent the purest branch of the theater.
24:04Hello, boys.
24:06O'Malley, take off your hat.
24:08These are the only pure actors we have left.
24:10How do you like the United States, men?
24:12We don't like it so good.
24:14We got lots of trouble.
24:16Maestro, we got nothing to eat.
24:18Oh, so you want to borrow some money.
24:19Danke, danke, danke.
24:21We say to ourselves, the great Maestro.
24:24So rich, so generous.
24:26He will take pity on us poor players.
24:28Pity, yes.
24:30Gentlemen, you are engaged.
24:32O'Malley, tell Webb to drop contracts right away.
24:34Two hundred a week.
24:36The hundred and fifty.
24:38A run of the play. Give them an advance.
24:40Thank you, thank you very much.
24:42Oh, America, that is a land of miracles.
24:44Listen, chief, for the love of my...
24:46No argument, no argument, O'Malley.
24:47Okay, sire.
24:49All right, boys, beat it, beat it.
24:51See you later.
24:53Maestro, we can never thank you enough.
24:55All right, goodbye.
24:57Goodbye, fellas, goodbye.
24:59Now listen, chief.
25:01Are you clean off your nut?
25:03Do you know what it will cost to transport
25:05that bunch of itinerant whiskers across the country?
25:07It's an inspiration, O'Malley.
25:09You don't understand these things.
25:11Just when my back was against the wall,
25:13I am going to produce the miracle play.
25:15The what?
25:17The miracle play.
25:19Now listen, chief, now listen.
25:21I've stood for all our phony ideas,
25:23but I'm not going to let you get mixed up
25:25in any of that high art like that.
25:27You forget yourself, O'Malley.
25:29The miracle is the most exalted drama
25:31in human history.
25:33It will be colossal, sublime, my ultimate achievement.
25:35Well, anyway, it'll help us forget Lily Garland.
25:37On the contrary, O'Malley, I'm doing it for her.
25:39For Lily Garland, the miracle play.
25:41The role of the Salome.
25:43It's perfect casting.
25:45Wait till I tell her.
25:47Wait, wait until she hears about it.
25:49It's Webb, chief.
25:51Webb, you may come in.
25:53Mr. Webb, I have decided for the sake
25:55of your wife and child to take you back.
25:57The innocent shall not suffer with the guilty.
25:59Oh, thanks, chief.
26:01Listen, I've just been talking to Lily.
26:03Lily Garland?
26:05You've been talking to Lily.
26:07That's right.
26:09And between you and me, chief,
26:11it's not going to be so easy.
26:13What do you mean?
26:15She's my wife, eh?
26:17Good.
26:19That shows the battery isn't dead.
26:21She said she never wanted to see you again.
26:23She said she wished she never had seen you.
26:25She said that, didn't she?
26:27I, who taught her everything she knows.
26:29I made a great actress out of her
26:31with all Broadway at her feet.
26:33She worshipped me, Lily and I.
26:35Webb, Lily and I.
26:37Ours was the great romance of the theater
26:39beside a deucer and a nuncio of pale fires.
26:41What did you say to her, Webb?
26:43Well, I sort of passed the time of day, you know.
26:45I didn't think about her being necessary to me.
26:47Who'd that have been?
26:49All right, gentlemen, the time has come.
26:51I'm going in to talk with her now.
26:53Let me tell you, Webb,
26:55the destinies of Lily Garland and Oscar Jaffe
26:57are bound together by hoops of steel.
26:59Open the door, O'Malley, into a drawing room,
27:01into my past.
27:03I'm going to reclaim a soul from Hollywood.
27:15Lily Garland.
27:17Oscar Jaffe.
27:19Lily.
27:21Oscar, oh, Oscar.
27:24Lily.
27:26Poor Lily.
27:28And what do you mean by that, Oscar?
27:30You know what I mean, Lily, I saw it.
27:32Saw what?
27:34What on earth are you talking about?
27:36That movie, that last movie.
27:38When I saw that last movie of yours,
27:40I blamed myself, only myself, Lily.
27:42Oh, you saw it?
27:43Yes, Lily.
27:45There were moments when you were marvelous,
27:47the real you coming through,
27:49but that cheap story, Lily,
27:51that unimaginative director.
27:53You're right there, Oscar.
27:55The director was an idiot.
27:57Did I have to fight to get my own ideas across?
27:59You were like a magnificent ruby
28:01set in a pail of lard.
28:03You put yourself back 10 years, Lily, 10 years.
28:05You just have to fight them all the time, Oscar.
28:07I can understand, Lily.
28:09You're a great artist, a great woman.
28:11I never appreciated you until I lost you.
28:13You didn't.
28:15You haven't had a hit since.
28:17All your grand illusions that you were Shakespeare,
28:19Napoleon, and the Grand Llama of Tibet
28:21all rolled into one.
28:23You're absolutely right, Lily.
28:25What?
28:27I realize now that in the largest sense
28:29it was not Oscar Jaffe who made Lily Garland,
28:31it was Lily Garland who made Oscar Jaffe.
28:33Oh, I'm glad you've come to acknowledge that.
28:35I have paid for my mistake a thousand times.
28:37Listen, Oscar,
28:39if all this is a preliminary to a contract,
28:41you can save your breath.
28:43Don't kid me.
28:45You'd do anything to get my name on a contract.
28:47Oh, no, Lily, no.
28:49I came here with a dream we both had long ago,
28:51the thing we planned as the climax to your career,
28:54the last step in the golden stair.
28:57For the love of Mike,
28:59will you stop being mysterious?
29:01Now, what is it you're trying to pull out of a bag?
29:03Lily.
29:05Another part where I'm not worthy of the lieutenant's love
29:07and make a great sacrifice?
29:09No, Lily, no.
29:11What is it, Montezuma again,
29:13this just happens to be the greatest woman of all time.
29:15Just her memory, Lily,
29:17has kept the world in tears for centuries.
29:19Salome.
29:21Salome, Lily.
29:23Listen to me, Lily Garland.
29:25I'm going to put the miracle play on in New York
29:28with Lily Garland as Salome.
29:30I've had it in my sleep all this time
29:32waiting for the right moment.
29:34You play the wickedest woman of her age,
29:36sensual, heartless, beautiful,
29:38corrupting everything she touches,
29:40running the gamut from gutter to glory.
29:43Can't you see her, Lily?
29:45I'm going to have Alexander the Great
29:47strangle himself with her hair.
29:49I can see the whole thing.
29:51Salome.
29:53Salome, in the beginning as a young girl,
29:55innocent, childlike,
29:57and then after having been heartbroken by some man
29:59she loved madly and trusted,
30:01she went down, down, down, down,
30:03to the depths,
30:05hating and despising all men,
30:07laughing at times,
30:09laughing at them so cruel, so terrible.
30:11It'll be the greatest production I've ever made, Lily.
30:13Yes, Reinhardt.
30:15Cost me my shirt, but I wanted them.
30:17Two of them are geniuses.
30:19It'll run five years and have every dollar it makes.
30:21All I want is to stagger New York,
30:23a desert scene with a hundred camels
30:25and real sand,
30:27brought over from Arabia.
30:29I'm going to have a Babylonian banquet,
30:31the second act, you're dancing
30:33with all your slaves around you,
30:35you're covered with emeralds
30:37in that scene from head to foot,
30:39but that's nothing to the finish
30:41where you stand in rags
30:43and it's pouring down on you,
30:45transfigured by love and sacrifice.
30:48Nero cringes at the last we see of you
30:52with a little figure
30:54selling olives in the marketplace.
30:57Ha, ha, ha!
30:59What is it?
31:01You're crazy.
31:03What do you mean?
31:05Oscar, you're a pure case of leaping paranoia.
31:07Now don't be cheap, Lily.
31:09Coming in here with camels and sand from Arabia,
31:11you're a scream.
31:13I can raise a million, two million.
31:15Yes, and I know how you intend to raise it.
31:17Get my name on a contract and go out peddling it.
31:19Shake down some new angel
31:21on the strength of my reputation.
31:23No, thank you.
31:25I'm through being your meal ticket, Oscar Jaffe.
31:27You're at liberty to call up any one of my banks
31:29in the morning.
31:31Your banks?
31:33You mean the ones that are taking your theater away from you?
31:35That's a lie.
31:37You've been listening to my enemies.
31:39I've been listening to Mr. Webb,
31:41your so-called business manager.
31:43It'd be a blessing to everybody concerned, you scorpion.
31:45Mr. Webb is no longer with me.
31:47I fired him for stealing.
31:49Oh, shut up. I've had enough of your lies.
31:51Lily Garland, I've offered you a last chance
31:53to become immortal.
31:55Thank you, but I've decided to stay immortal
31:57with a responsible management.
31:59Who?
32:01Max Jacobs.
32:03Can't believe it.
32:05No? Well, read the papers tomorrow then.
32:07He's meeting the train at Toledo
32:09and I'm going to sign with him.
32:11Max Jacobs!
32:13I'm sure of it. He can hardly write his name.
32:15Oh, he writes it all right on checks.
32:17Great big checks, too.
32:19Oh, it's the money. The money.
32:21That's all you want. Money, money, money.
32:23If I jingled a miserable 10 or 15 thousand at you,
32:25your mouth would begin to water.
32:27You'd start drooling and squealing.
32:29That's right, Oscar.
32:31Now get out before I have the poor to throw you
32:33off the train, you fake. You swindler.
32:35Not that, you cheap little shop girl.
32:37Get out before I call the conductor.
32:39Go on, ring that bell.
32:41I'll tell the world who's a fake you are.
32:43They're your talent.
32:45They're mine. I gave them to you.
32:47I gave up everything to breathe them into you,
32:49even your name.
32:51Lily Garland, I gave you that.
32:53Well, if there's a justice in heaven,
32:55Mildred Plotkin,
32:57you'll end up where you belong.
32:59In the burlap counters.
33:11You are listening to the Campbell Playhouse
33:13by Mrs. Hecht, MacArthur, and Milholland
33:16and starring Orson Welles
33:18with Elissa Landby and Sam Levine.
33:20This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.
33:43This is Ernest Chappell, ladies and gentlemen,
33:45welcoming you back to the Campbell Playhouse.
33:47In a moment or two, we will resume our story,
33:4920th century, starring Orson Welles
33:51with Elissa Landby and Sam Levine.
33:53The train on which our story takes place
33:55is one of the modern streamliners
33:57that typify the great progress made in railroad travel.
33:59You can see this same progress
34:01reflected all around you,
34:03in radio, in home building,
34:05and in many other activities.
34:07Take, for example, the modern efficiency
34:09and ease of meal planning.
34:11Today you can serve the finest of soups
34:13foodly and economically for any meal.
34:15Good, hearty, homey vegetable soup
34:17is yours in a few minutes.
34:19Full-flavored chicken soup can be had
34:21for lunch or dinner any day.
34:23Many a soup that used to be considered
34:25expensive or difficult to make
34:27is served now as simply as saying ABC.
34:29These soups come in red and white
34:31labeled cans marked Campbell.
34:33Their convenience in serving
34:35is as modern as streamlining.
34:37But I do want to impress upon you one thing.
34:39Underneath the label,
34:40Campbell soups are the good old-fashioned kind.
34:42There's nothing newfangled
34:44about their carefully hand-picked ingredients,
34:46their tried-and-true recipes,
34:48or their old home soup kettle flavor.
34:50Home cooks have discovered
34:52that there's genuine home-cooked pleasure
34:54in every plateful,
34:56every spoonful of Campbell soup.
34:58It's this old-fashioned good eating
35:00that has made Campbell soup so popular,
35:02so heartily approved in many thousands of homes.
35:04Now we resume our story,
35:0620th century,
35:08starting Orson Welles
35:10and Sam Levine.
35:22Webb!
35:24O'Malley.
35:26I'm here, Chief.
35:28Well, how'd you make out with Lily Garland?
35:30O'Malley, where's that scoundrel Webb?
35:32Oh, he's around, Chief.
35:34I saw him a few moments ago in a club car
35:36talking to a little bozo with gray hair.
35:38More treachery!
35:40Now, wait a minute, Chief.
35:42Maybe you've got him wrong.
35:44Wrong? I'm never wrong.
35:46I'm going to kill him with my bare hands.
35:48I'll strangle him, so help me,
35:50even if I have to go to the chair for it to the chair.
35:52Who is it?
35:54Come in, Webb, you gray rat,
35:56and shut the door.
35:58Listen, Chief, I've been...
36:00Scoundrel!
36:02Look, Chief.
36:04What do you mean by telling Lily Garland that...
36:06Look, Chief, I've been talking with a man.
36:08Don't try to change the subject, you.
36:10I met him in the club car.
36:12I talked him into putting up the money for the whole thing.
36:14You did what?
36:16Webb, is this another of your coarse attempts to be funny?
36:18Funny? Take a look at this check. Is that funny?
36:20Check?
36:22$200,000, that's all.
36:24Webb, who is this man? What do you know about him?
36:26He's Matthew C. Clarke of the Patent Medicine Millions.
36:28Holy mat...
36:30And he's crazy about the Miracle Place.
36:32You see, O'Malley, what did I tell you?
36:34There is a justice in heaven, Webb. I apologize.
36:36You've done well, you've done nobly.
36:38I always said you were a man of imagination and iron will.
36:40And then take that contract you drew up and go in and see Lily.
36:42Show her the check, you know, play her along.
36:44I get you, Chief. Leave it to me.
36:46Mr. Max Jacobs gets on the train at Toledo.
36:48He's going to get a little surprise, O'Malley.
36:50Now, take a telegram.
36:52John Ringling of the Ringling Brothers Circus.
36:54Dear John, I am in the market for 25 camels,
36:5620 sheep, a few elephants, and an ibis.
37:00A what?
37:02An ibis. That's the royal bird of Egypt, O'Malley.
37:04You wouldn't know. Why, I mean rock-bottom price, Oscar Jaffe.
37:06What about lions?
37:08They'll have to cable London Zoo for them.
37:10Where are we going to house all these monsters?
37:12I'll construct a little zoo off the green room.
37:14I'm going to rebuild the whole theater to make it look like a grotto.
37:16A grotto?
37:18A grotto, grotto.
37:20Do you by any chance remember the name of the Sultan of Turkey?
37:22Well, I don't. Why, are you going to use him in the show, too?
37:24No, but I'll need about a dozen of his dervishes, the whirling ones.
37:26Never mind, we'll take it up with the Turkish and Arabian consuls.
37:28How many sheep did I order?
37:30Twenty.
37:32Change that to read 50. We don't want a stint. Come in.
37:34Chief, this is Mr. Clark.
37:36Mr. Clark, I want you to meet Mr. Jaffe.
37:38How do you do, Mr. Clark?
37:40Mr. O'Malley, my press agent.
37:42How strange.
37:44I am delighted, Mr. Clark, with what Mr. Webb has told me.
37:48It would be a great privilege to be associated with you, I assure you, sir.
37:52It would be a great privilege for me, Mr. Jaffe, a great privilege.
37:55You'll just sit over here by the window, Mr. Clark.
37:58Nice and comfy.
38:00Webb, what about Lily?
38:02I spoke to her, Chief. She said she'd be in right away.
38:05Now then, Mr. Clark, it seems to me that since we are to be associated,
38:08we should become better acquainted, don't you think, sir?
38:10Indeed, yes, Mr. Jaffe.
38:12I am really quite thrilled by the whole thing.
38:14Your venture is one of the very worthiest efforts that this country has ever seen.
38:19I agree with you, Mr. Clark. I agree with you.
38:21I agree. There's nothing like the living theatre, Mr. Clark,
38:24for delivering a great message.
38:26Oh, indeed. That is true, sir.
38:28Night after night, Mr. Clark, when those enormous audiences
38:31are sitting in the hushed theatres,
38:33spellbound before the genius of Lily Garland.
38:36Lily, Lily, Lily Garland.
38:38The greatest actress in the world, Lily Garland.
38:40A professional actress.
38:42Of course, of course.
38:44Oh, I don't think that will do, Mr. Jaffe.
38:46I shouldn't like to have this play contaminated by any woman of the stage.
38:51Yes, I see your point, Miss Clark.
38:53The spiritual flavour must come over in a bath of glory.
38:56And it shall, Miss Clark. You can count on that, Miss Clark.
38:58It shall. It so happens, of course, that the character, Salome...
39:02Oh, are we going to have a Salome in the play?
39:05Yes, certainly.
39:07She's not one of my favourite characters.
39:10I've always preferred...
39:12That's right, Miss Garland.
39:14Lily, come in.
39:16Just in time.
39:18We were discussing the character, Salome.
39:21Now, wait a minute, Oscar. I haven't made up my mind.
39:24There's still a whole lot of questions I want to ask.
39:26Of course, Miss Garland. As many as you like.
39:28But in the meantime, I want you to meet our new associate,
39:31the actress of Mr. Clark, great Lily Garland.
39:34Oh, Mr. Clark, how do you do?
39:36Yes, of course, as I said.
39:39Well, well, Mr. Clark, Mr. Webb told me all about you.
39:42Are you really joining the theatre?
39:44Well, not exactly.
39:46But I feel that if by my contribution, financial help,
39:50I can bring people closer to the spirit of spiritual things...
39:54That's just what I told Mr. Jaffey.
39:56If it was just an ordinary show, I wouldn't be interested,
39:59seeing as I'm cleaning up in the movies anyway.
40:01But when Mr. Jaffey told me that it was a miracle play...
40:03Well, well, I didn't realize that an actress...
40:06Well, most people have a wrong idea about actresses, Mr. Clark.
40:09That's true, Miss Garland.
40:11Now take me. I've gone to church practically every Sunday of my life,
40:14and most of the time I've had a class in Sunday school.
40:17And, well, there you have it, if you guess what I mean.
40:20Oh, you don't need to say anything further, Miss Garland.
40:22I'm sure you'll be a splendid addition to our cast.
40:25You're a swell looker, too, don't you think, Mr. Clark?
40:27Oh, Mallet.
40:29Oh, Mallet, here it is.
40:32Excuse us, please.
40:34Ah, the House of David.
40:36Maestro, maestro.
40:38Gentlemen, just in time.
40:40We found the miracle play.
40:42Ah, good.
40:44The manuscript. We were afraid it was lost.
40:46Yeah, yeah, we found it in the lunchbox.
40:48That's fortunate.
40:50The lunchbox is always empty, so nobody look in there.
40:52Very fortunate. Miss Garland, Mr. Clark,
40:54I want you to meet those two remarkable artists.
40:56I've engaged them for our production.
40:58How do you do?
40:59Members of the original Oberammergau miracle play.
41:01Ja, ja, maestro.
41:03Oberammergau und also Unterammergau.
41:06Ja, Unterammergau is much older.
41:08Ja, much older.
41:10July 1618.
41:121618?
41:14Yes.
41:16Oh, say, here, Oscar, I thought this was an original play.
41:18You know perfectly well you can't make a nickel on a revival.
41:20Every time you fight it, it's been a flop.
41:22I'm sorry.
41:24I won't pipe down.
41:26Is this lady going to act in our company?
41:27Miss Garland, gentleman, is a famous actress.
41:29I'm engaging her for the role of Salome.
41:31Salome?
41:33Ach nein, the Salome part is always played
41:35by my little cousin Tina.
41:37Ja, she's in Milwaukee.
41:39Indeed.
41:41Oh, I've always had a fondness for Milwaukee.
41:43Toledo!
41:45Looks like we're pulling into Toledo, chief.
41:47Yes, now, Lily, suppose you and I go into your drawing room,
41:49settle the details of our contracts,
41:51and find out who that is, O'Malley.
41:53Yes?
41:55Yes, congratulations.
41:57Thank you, conductor, I've come quietly.
41:59Really, I really...
42:01You're getting off at Toledo, you know, Mr. Clark?
42:03You remember the telegram you got from your brother?
42:05Oh, yes, I remember the telegram.
42:07Oh, dear, I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen,
42:09but I shall have to leave now.
42:11Oh, now, Mr. Clark...
42:13You'll have to hurry, Mr. Clark.
42:15We'll be in Toledo any minute now.
42:17I'm coming, conductor, I'm coming quite quietly.
42:19Clark, this is rather unexpected.
42:21Yes, yes, but it can't be helped, I'm afraid.
42:23You see, I didn't mean any harm.
42:25Well, come right along, Mr. Clark.
42:27You come right along.
42:29The porter will take care of your bag.
42:31Goodbye, everybody, goodbye.
42:33Goodbye.
42:35Hey, conductor, just a minute.
42:37Come here, what's the idea?
42:39It's quite all right, sir, he's quite harmless.
42:41What do you mean harmless?
42:43Well, they've been hunting him for two weeks.
42:45He escaped from a lunatic asylum.
42:47A lunatic? Holy smoke!
42:49His brother's leading him to take him off the train at Toledo.
42:51You mean he's a nut?
42:53Delusion's a grandeur, madam, that's all.
42:55I understand he has a habit of writing out
42:57what he wants to say.
42:59Lily.
43:01Don't you talk to me, Oscar Jaffe.
43:03Lily, I swear...
43:05Of all the cheap, deliberate, low-dollar attempts
43:07to squander me...
43:09Lily, as heaven is my judge, I knew nothing about it.
43:11I give you my word.
43:13Lily, I was... I was stooped.
43:15Let me out of here.
43:17You've insulted me like no man ever dared.
43:19Lily, I was bamboozled.
43:21Get away from that door.
43:23Lily, stay.
43:25Think of our great love.
43:27Oh, Salome.
43:29O'Malley, Webb.
43:31I'm dizzy.
43:33Everything's going around.
43:38Look!
43:40What is it, Keefe?
43:42Look, he's come.
43:44Keefe, what on earth?
43:46He's come out there on the platform.
43:48It's him.
43:50He's come for the buttonhole maker, Max Jacobs.
43:52This is the end, Webb.
43:54O'Malley, this is the end.
43:55It's a road that has no turning.
43:57O'Malley?
43:59Webb?
44:01Before I go, there are a few words I'd like to say.
44:03Now, listen, Keefe.
44:05We're in no mood for fuzzy lamentations.
44:07I won't keep you long.
44:09Just a few words, a few last words.
44:11Skip him, Keefe.
44:13We've had enough.
44:15When you get through with that whiskey, O'Malley,
44:17I'd like to borrow it.
44:19He's made a difficult maniac of me.
44:21It's typical of my career that in the great crisis of my life
44:23I should be flanked by two alcoholics.
44:25Keefe, put down that gun.
44:27I know it isn't loaded, but all the same,
44:29it gives me the jitters.
44:31Not loaded?
44:33Did you say not loaded?
44:35You'll regret those words, Oliver Webb.
44:37When I pass into the great beyond...
44:39Keefe, Keefe, Keefe.
44:41Listen to me, Webb.
44:43On this pistol, I...
44:45Peace, peace.
44:47Oh, I know you'll feel badly for a while, boys.
44:49Believe me, it's better this way.
44:53Yesterday, Oscar Jaffe,
44:55Broadway, tomorrow,
44:57a foolish old pest
45:00haunting the theater lobbies
45:02on other managers' first nights.
45:05Boys, you wouldn't want to see me that way.
45:09Boys,
45:11you'll remember me when you hear
45:13that wild sound in the night.
45:17Goodbye, boys.
45:19Ah, this is nuts.
45:21He's probably faking that we can't take any chances.
45:23Get that gun, O'Malley.
45:25Do it, boys.
45:27Give me that gun, Keefe.
45:29You blithering idiots.
45:31You shot me.
45:37Well, that's how it stood with this here romance
45:40at 8 p.m. when the 20th century
45:42pulled into Toledo.
45:44For a while there, it looked to me
45:46like I'm going to do all right.
45:48In one pocket, I got a script,
45:50a new play by Somerset Morgan,
45:52and the other pocket is a contract for Garland.
45:53I'm the train.
45:55Me, little Max Jason.
45:57I used to work as an office boy
45:59for the great Oscar Jackson.
46:01And ladies and gentlemen,
46:03she never looked so good in her life.
46:05Oscar! Oscar, what happened?
46:07I'll take him in easy down here.
46:09Is it hurting you, Keefe?
46:11Oh, it doesn't matter.
46:13This is the end. Nothing matters now.
46:15Maybe it ain't the best.
46:17Oh, yes, it is.
46:19I can feel my lifeblood seeping away.
46:21You hear those banshees?
46:23Oscar! Oscar!
46:25Wait a minute, Keefe.
46:27What?
46:29Keefe, you're crazy.
46:31It's just a flesh wound in the shoulder.
46:33The bullet only scratched you.
46:35Is he dead?
46:37Oscar! Oscar, what happened?
46:39Are you sure, Webb?
46:41Well, look at it, O'Malley.
46:43You mean I'm not dying?
46:45No, not this time, Keefe.
46:47Oscar, what happened? Let me in.
46:49What are we doing here, Keefe?
46:51Lily!
46:53Come in, Lily.
46:55Oscar, are you hurt?
46:57Oscar!
46:59Lily?
47:01Lily?
47:03Is that you, Lily?
47:05Yes, Oscar.
47:07It's me.
47:09Forgive me, Lily. Forgive me.
47:11No, Oscar.
47:13It's the only way out.
47:15No. No, Oscar. No.
47:17It's the only way to atone for all my failures.
47:19My failures, my work, my failure with you, Lily.
47:21My failure.
47:23You mustn't die.
47:25Oh, you mustn't die.
47:27Can't you get a doctor for me?
47:29He won't let us.
47:31No, doctor, no. It's too late.
47:33I feel my lifeblood seeping away.
47:35All I want, Lily, is to hold your hand while my life ends.
47:39Oscar! Oscar!
47:41Before I go, Lily,
47:43I want you to know
47:45I've always loved you, Lily.
47:48Always.
47:50I know, Oscar.
47:51You're always the only one with me.
47:54The only one I love.
47:56You make me so happy, Lily.
48:00So happy.
48:02Why did you do this terrible thing, Oscar?
48:05All for the best, Lily.
48:07Nothing left.
48:09Oscar.
48:11Forgive me, Oscar.
48:13Too late, Lily.
48:15Oh, Oscar, it's not too late.
48:17It's never too late.
48:19A love like ours.
48:21It's getting dark.
48:23Soon it'll be over.
48:25Don't cry, Lily.
48:27Don't cry, dear, lovely Lily.
48:30Oscar, darling.
48:32There's only one last request I'd like to make, Lily.
48:37Anything, Oscar, anything.
48:39The contract, Lily.
48:41That last contract we made.
48:43I want it buried with me.
48:45Oscar.
48:47I want it with me, down below the ground, against my body.
48:49And Lily, will you write your name on it somewhere
48:52so that I may have something of you to keep me through the night?
48:55Better do it, Lily, it'll make it easier.
48:57It's his last wish, Lily.
48:59My last wish.
49:01It's getting dark.
49:03Better do it, Lily.
49:05You'll never forgive yourself.
49:07It's going, it's going fast, Lily.
49:09Give it to me, quick.
49:11Where do I start?
49:13Lily, darling.
49:15Thank you, Lily.
49:16Well, I hate this.
49:18I can still see it before my eyesight is burned.
49:20Lily, where are you?
49:22Who's that calling for you, Lily?
49:24Open this door.
49:26What happened in there?
49:28All right, boys, open up.
49:30I've got the contract.
49:32Open it up.
49:34Lily Garland has signed with Oscar Jaffe.
49:36You're too late, Max Mendelbaum.
49:40And that, ladies and gentlemen,
49:42concludes my little story of a great romance.
49:45By the time the 20th century gets into Grand Central,
49:48it looks like the Jaffe-Garland merger will be solid.
49:51And it looks like Lily is going to do very good
49:53in Oscar's new play.
49:55And as to the great man himself,
49:57he's making a quick recovery next door,
50:00in drawing room A.
50:03I love you, my dear.
50:05I love you.
50:07I love you.
50:09I love only you.
50:11Stop, stop, Lily.
50:13That's terrible, horrible.
50:15No poetry, no feeling, no depth.
50:17Now, listen here, Oscar Jaffe.
50:19Empty, flat, colorless, colorless.
50:21If you think you can't help me and bully me...
50:23Try it again, my dear, try it again.
50:25I love you.
50:27That's better.
50:29Now, once more, pear-shaped, pear-shaped.
50:31I love you.
50:33That's better.
50:35I love you.
50:37I love you.
50:39I love you.
50:41I love...
50:55This concludes the Campbell Playhouse
50:57presentation of Twentieth Century
50:59by Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur,
51:01and Charles Bruce Milholland,
51:03starring Orson Wells
51:05with Alisa Landy and Sam Levine.
51:07In just a moment,
51:09the evening. In the meantime, here is Ernest Chappell.
51:12A few minutes ago, I spoke of vegetable soup as a great family standby. That's true not
51:17only today, but as far back as the cookbooks go. It's true wherever you go. Whatever community
51:22you might visit, you'd find vegetable soup a familiar, well-liked family dish. For a
51:27long time, a great many women felt that vegetable soup, to be at its best, must be homemade.
51:33But one by one, they've discovered Campbell's vegetable soup, so that with millions of families,
51:38Campbell's has replaced the vegetable soup formerly made at home. The reason you'll find
51:42in the soup, because here's a soup that's hearty and delicious in a homey, old-fashioned
51:47way, and yet convenient and economical to serve anytime. If you'll try Campbell's vegetable
51:53soup tomorrow, you'll discover for yourself why it has become such a universal favorite.
51:57You'll see why in its tempting appearance. You'll taste why in its grand, home-like flavor.
52:03You'll enjoy the good eating in its nourishing blend of 15 delicious garden vegetables and
52:07rich beef stock. I'm sure you'll say it's so substantial, it's almost a meal in itself.
52:13But do try it this weekend and learn firsthand how convenient it is in the kitchen, how delicious
52:18it is at the table. Remember to ask your grocer in the morning for Campbell's vegetable soup.
52:24And now, here is Orson Welles.
52:26Ladies and gentlemen, may I present our guest of the evening, Miss Elisa Landy, whom you've
52:31just heard as the temperamental Lily Garland, Miss Sam Levine, who was our Owen O'Malley,
52:37and Richard Maney, who is a little like Owen O'Malley, or Owen O'Maney, or Maney, the most
52:42active and successful of the current Broadway press agents. Miss Landy, Mr. Levine, Mr. Maney,
52:46ladies and gentlemen. Miss Landy, have you ever encountered Mr. Maney in his professional
52:50capacity? I've known of him, of course, as we all do in the theater, but he never acted
52:54as press champion for one of my plays. I'm very pleased to meet you, sir. How do you
52:59do? Now, ladies and gentlemen, before we began the play tonight, I promised you we would
53:02have with us a Broadway personality who served as a model for one of the characters. He is
53:06Richard Maney, press agent par excellence, a man of voodoo personality and alluring vices
53:12of speech who was transplanted out of life onto the stage by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur
53:17to make the Owen O'Malley you've been listening to. Now, just to make everything sound secure,
53:22he was also engaged by the producers of 20th Century to act as a press agent for the show
53:26in which he was being duplicated. He is an unrelenting Times Square realist, a cheerfully
53:32belligerent barroom scholar who can turn an argument into a shambles with such phrases
53:38as you dithering Igorots, you foul Corsican and other weird word associations you heard
53:44tonight, most of them faithful transcriptions of Maney in action. It is his private brand
53:49of diction, a sort of conversational rubber hose which stuns without cutting and while
53:54tremendously effective, leaves no marks for the coroner to determine how the victim in
53:58the debate was killed. Mr. Maney, you stand accused of being a notorious Broadway character.
54:04You plead guilty or not guilty? Well, Orson, my inquisitorial friend, mine is an ancient
54:09trait which I won't deny has assorted aspects, but that'll be prey to a widow, an orphan
54:14or an editor. Tell us, Mr. Maney, what does a press agent do while the boss is, as you
54:19say, meditating? I've got four bosses meditating right now in their respective drama emporiums
54:25and I'm probably suspected by all of them. But I'll tell you, the first duty of the theatrical
54:30drum beater is to hold the boss's head. After the premiere and while shoveling in the aspirin,
54:35convince him that critics are not banded together in a foul plot to destroy him bodily. I see,
54:39Mr. Maney. Who's your favorite impresario? Say, you're trying to get me fired? I love
54:44them all. I have no favorites unless it's Billy Rose. He pays off every week and he
54:48produced Jumbo. Tell us about Jumbo, Mr. Maney. Wasn't that supposed to be the biggest show
54:53of all time? That elephant ballet? Billy Rose conceived it one night while in a trance.
54:58He hailed me in and told me to plaster his name over the Palisades cliff in a hundred
55:02foot letters as the only fitting expression of his gargantuan idea. He didn't get the
55:07billboard rights to the Palisades, but he did take over the old Hippodrome and completely
55:10rebuild it. The show was rehearsed longer than it played and postponed so many times.
55:16It was over before it opened in most Broadway successes. Since then, the midget mice ghost
55:20stays at the Fort Worth Fair, offered to buy Hollywood and turning part otters, flooded
55:25part of Cleveland and set a hundred diving girls in a tank. She is currently involved
55:29in diverting Long Island Sound into the World's Fair for the same sort of show. Thank you,
55:33Mr. Maney, for the dissertation on the lighter side of press agenting. And you, Miss Landy,
55:37and you, Mr. Levine, on behalf of my sponsors, the makers of Campbell Soups and my colleagues,
55:41Campbell Playhouse, as well as myself, thank you very, very much for being with us this evening.
55:50In tonight's Campbell Playhouse production of 20th Century, Orson Welles was heard in
55:56the role of Jaffee, Elisa Landy played the part of Lily, Sam Levine out of O'Malley,
56:01Webb was played by Ray Collins, the two players by Everett Sloan and Teddy Bergman,
56:06and Clark by Edgar Kent. Gus Schilling was Jacobs, and Howard Teichman was the train
56:11dispatcher. Music for the Playhouse is arranged and conducted by Bernard Herrmann. And now,
56:16Orson Welles, will you tell us, please, about next week's story?
56:21Next week, next week's story, next week we're proud to bring you a modern American classic,
56:26a story of life in a more colorful and leisurely age than ours. Of the strolling players whose
56:32theater floated yearly down the longest river in the world, the Mississippi. Miss Edna Ferber's
56:37great novel, Showboat. If Margaret Sullivan, unforgettable star of our own dramatization
56:43of Rebecca, returns to us as Magnolia. If Helen Morgan plays Julie, the part that in the minds
56:48of the American public is almost synonymous with her name. And our distinguished author
56:53of herself, Miss Edna Ferber, is paying us the compliment of making her very first
56:57appearance as an actress in the role of Patti Ann Hawkes. So until next week, until Showboat,
57:04my sponsors, the makers of Campbell's Hoops, and all of us in the Campbell Playhouse remain obediently yours.
57:18The makers of Campbell's Hoops join Orson Welles in inviting you to be with us at the
57:41Campbell Playhouse again next Friday evening when Margaret Sullivan, Helen Morgan, and the
57:46distinguished authoress Edna Ferber herself will appear with him in Showboat. Meanwhile,
57:51if you have enjoyed tonight's Campbell Playhouse presentation, won't you tell your groceries so
57:55tomorrow when you order Campbell's vegetable soup? This is Ernest Chappell saying thank you and good night.

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