The Cavalcade of America, presented by DuPont. The story of John Fitch, starring the distinguished American actor, Thomas Mitchell. The DuPont Company, makers of better things for better living through chemistry, presents the Cavalcade of America, dedicated to those men and women in every walk of life who have shaped the destiny of America in the past, and to the youth of today who will shape the destiny of America in the future. Tonight we salute an American whose name is John Fitch, and whose role in tonight's Cavalcade will be played by Thomas Mitchell. Thomas Mitchell has achieved great distinction as one of the outstanding actors of the theater, and for his work in such films as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Gone with the Wind. Tonight, in his first radio appearance since winning an award from the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences, for his performance in Stagecoach, he comes to the Cavalcade of America in the title role of an original radio drama, The Story of John Fitch. 1786, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the sign of the buck on North Second Street, the tavern keeper, Nancy Craft, who works up as a disheveled, eager-eyed man, enters. Johnny! Johnny Fitch, what have you got in that bundle? It's finished, Nancy. It's done at last. Nancy, I've got it right here with me. You have what? A model for my steamboat. And it's a prize. It took Harry Voight and me a long time to make it, but now we've got it and it's a beauty. Come on, Nancy, give us a dramacog. This calls for a celebration. Oh, all right. Oh, come now, Nancy. What's wrong? There you are. Well, now lift up that mouth and give me a smile. I'll give you a piece of my mind. That's what I'll do. Maybe you haven't heard the way people are talking about you ever since you got the wild idea you could make a boat go by steam. Now, what do I care what people say about me? Wait till they see my steamboat. They'll change their tune. Why don't you go get a job like any honest man? You're little enough as it is. If you don't give up this invention of yours, you'll have nothing left in the world but a little toy boat. All right, all right, Nancy. Crap. We'll see. Toy boat, eh? You know where I'm going now? I'm going to show this model to Dr. Benjamin Franklin, and when he sees it, everything's going to be all right. Well, what is it? May I come in, Dr. Franklin? I'm exceedingly busy. It's been a long day and I'm a little tired. I can't seem to do the work I used to. Well, that won't take up much of your time, sir, but this is very important. Well, all right. Come in and sit down. Thank you, sir. Now, to begin with, what's your name? Fitch. John Fitch. Well, Mr. Fitch, what is it you want to see me about? Dr. Franklin, I have here a model for a steamboat. A boat propelled by steam. In fact, I've thought of a similar idea many times. Very interesting. Here you are, sir. There's a model for the first steamboat in America. Well, I must admit that I've never seen anything like it before. Let me explain it to you, sir. The steam from this engine generates the power. That in turn pulls these chains. They're attached to two sets of paddles, and as the chains move, the paddles dip into the water like Indians in a canoe. The paddles alternate. First one set, then the other. Yes, I see. Well, that's quite a process. But remember this, my friend. It's been wisely and justly said that nothing can be invented and perfected at the same time. Dr. Franklin, of all the things in my life, even above life itself, I believe in the success of this steamboat. My partner and I... Oh, so you have a partner, Mr. Fitch? Yes. Harry Voight, the clockmaker. He has a shop here in Fulton. Yes, to be sure, yes. I know it well. Well, pray, go on, Mr. Fitch. Well, sir, I see the steamboat as a means of increasing the commerce on all the rivers of our country, developing all that great territory out west. Well, you know, don't you, that today men of influence and wealth are opposed to the development of the west. You need their support. You know that, of course. Well, I came here, sir, for yours. Mr. Fitch, I'm an old man, and I'm tired. I have more to do now than I can take care of. You know that when I returned from Europe, I had hoped to retire, but the people of Pennsylvania called me once again to their service. Then you won't give me your assistance? I'm sorry, Mr. Fitch. I can't. I'd hope for your support, Dr. Franklin. Well, I'm sorry. Mr. Fitch, when you're my age, you'll find you can't do too many things at once. I've seen many changes in my time, and I've had my share in making some of them. But you young men can't expect us to go on forever. That's probably the greatest tragedy of old age. There are things to do, and you can't do them. No, Mr. Fitch, I can't help you. I've worked hard, sir, and I needed your support. But, Dr. Franklin, there's only one thing I know. I've got something. I'll make people realize that. I'll build that steamboat by borrowing money from my friends, penny by penny, pound by pound. And someday, sir, you'll see I'm right. I hope so, Mr. Fitch. I hope so. Goodbye, my friend, and good luck. I'm sorry, Mr. Fitch, but my wife's again my invest in any money in your steamboat. All right, Mr. Lowell, I understand. Wait, wait, wait a second. I got four pounds she don't know nothing about. If I give you that, will you take me for a ride on the steamboat after it's built? Say, I'll teach you how to run it. Thanks, neighbor. Thanks very much. Look, John, my whole tavern business depends on the trade I get from the boatmen. And if your steamboat is a success, there won't be no more sailing. Where'll that leave me? But, Mr. Israel, don't you realize that the steamboat will increase river traffic? You'll get more business than you can take care of. Believe me, Will. Well, all right, I'll give you three pounds. And do me a favor. Go across the street to Joe Budd, the hatter. But don't tell him I sent you. Don't worry, I won't. Thanks. Thanks very much. Mr. Fitch, you're asking me to invest in a dream. But it's not a dream. Someday Mr. Budd's steamboats will bring more people down the river than you've ever seen in your life. They'll be coming into this town and maybe they'll buy a hat or two. Now, will five pounds be too much to see if I'm right? It certainly would, Mr. Fitch. You realize how many hats that would buy for my shop? Let me tell you. A steamboat? Mr. Fitch, you're out of your mind. I don't see why you have to have steam blowing against the sails when there's plenty of good free wind that don't cost nobody nothing. Madam, you don't understand. There are no sails on a steamboat. Well, how's it ever going to get anyplace then? You're crazy, Mr. Fitch. Good day. Gentlemen, the steamboat is packed to go and with a little money I can prove it. Well, doctor say? I think you've got a good idea. Put me down for 14 pounds. That's all I can spare. And you, Mr. Wells? Yes, I'd like to see it work out. Here's 20 pounds, Mr. Fitch. Thank you, gentlemen. You won't be disappointed. Good day. John, you've been gone all day. Did you have any luck? Oh, we've got it, Harry. We've got the money. Are you sure, John? Mr. Toren, the grocer, just left. He gave us eight pounds, but that isn't enough. We've got to have more, John. No, no, no. Not now. I've got 34 pounds. Add that to the other contributions and we have a total of 150. Come on, come on, Harry. Let's get to work. What's that sign you're posting up on the shed? I don't know. I can't read. Can anybody read this here lettering? Maybe I can make it out for you, Mr. Yeah, well, go on, lady. It might be something important. It says, the steamboat. Oh, that's the thing John Fitch and Harry Voight have been building. Listen, everybody. They're going to set out at 10 o'clock for Bristol, Burlington, Bordentown, and Trenton this morning and return tomorrow. Well, let's go down and have a look. Sure, sure. I'd like to see that, but tell me, can any one of you tell me how you can come back from a place you'll never get to? Hey, Fitch, how far do you think you'll get? Don't forget the oars. Uh, pools. Pack of praying jackasses. Everything ready, Harry? Yeah. You take the rudder, John. I mind the firebox. Good. We can get on the way, I guess. Say the word, John. I went through the rebel ocean, but I wouldn't risk my neck on that monster. You'll blow up on you, Fitch. Wait and see. One side, please. One side. Let us through. Mr. Fitch. Mr. Fitch. Hold her a minute, Harry. Coming aboard, Mr. Wells? Yes. Wait for it. I wouldn't miss it. Hurry, Dr. Faye. Well, there we are. Well, Mr. Fitch, are we all ready? Just in time, gentlemen. Make yourselves comfortable. All right, Harry. Here we go. Give her the steve. Here she is, John. Well, Mr. Fitch, now wait till sea. Aye, sir. You will laugh. Standing still. What's the matter? More steam, Harry. Give her more pressure. She can't take any more. She's got to. We're backing up with the current. Hurry. All right. There she is, gentlemen. There she is. Now we're moving. Look at the bank go by. And the current. We're cutting the current like a knife. Good work, Mr. Fitch. Great. I wouldn't believe it if I weren't seeing it with my own eyes. How fast are we going? Gentlemen, well, gentlemen, you won't believe it, but we're actually going five miles an hour. Think of it. Five miles an hour by steam. Five miles an hour. Now, you better be careful, Mr. Fitch. We don't want to lose our breath. They say you can at that speed, you know. We'll be careful. We'll slow down after a while. Look out! Look out! Harry! Harry! Are you hurt? No, no, I'm not. But, John, I told you the boiler couldn't stand that much pressure. Look, John, we're drifting. I guess it's all over. I'm afraid it's the way most people think, Mr. Fitch. That thing will never be practical. Listen to me. We haven't failed. What was an old worn-out boiler to do with an invention? It was a boiler that failed. Not the idea of the steamboat. Well, all I know, Fitch, is that it didn't work. But the boat moved, didn't it? We were on it. You saw it. Well, I'm sorry, Fitch. It's just not practical. Maybe he's right, John. We worked so hard, and it all goes wrong. Maybe it's no use trying anymore. I didn't think you'd give up, Harry. I tell you, gentlemen, I'll make it work. Johnny! Good evening, Nancy. It's cold out. Thought I'd drop by. Come over here and sit down. Oh, Johnny, you look so wretched. Now tell me, how long has it been since you've had anything to eat? Oh, I don't know. Yesterday, maybe. Got some tea here and gruel. Just a thing on a cold night like this. Thanks, Nancy. You know, you've always been good to me, Nancy. It'll warm your bones. Heaven knows you look as though a little fire and you would do some good. I need something to cheer you up, Johnny. Nancy, I've been wandering around for days. Haven't been able to sleep or talk to anyone. Everything's dark and cold, and it's frightening, Nancy. What in this world is there to be happy about? There's a tear in the world's eye, Johnny. But when it drops on its cheek and tickles, then the world's ready to laugh. Maybe, maybe that's why there's happiness, Johnny. Maybe it's all a laugh. A man gives his heart everything he has or ever will have to make something good and real and all that there is a laugh. Nothing funny about it, Nancy. And they all realize that too late. I know, Johnny. You're having any money, you're having a job, your clothes are falling off and everybody thinks you're crazy. I know, they tell me. No, I don't care what the world thinks. All because you think you can make a boat run by steam. Give it up, Johnny, you're wrong. All it'll ever bring is hard luck. Give it up. But I'm right. I'm right, Nancy. Everybody else is asleep or dead or crazy, but I'm right. The steamboat's the greatest idea in the world today. Give up. Look, I'll see Mr. Wells again and I'll get some more money. I said I was going to build a perfect steamboat, and I will. You'll see I'm right. Mr. Wells, I need more money to finish building the Perseverance. I salvaged the other boat and got the boiler fixed, but I still have to have more money. Now you're the chief stockholder. If I can convince you, the others will help. I'm sorry, Mr. Fitch, but none of us are in a position to risk any more money. You can waste your time, but we can't waste our money. But I wouldn't come to you at all. Only I've raised all I can myself. I'd like to help you, Mr. Fitch, but people simply aren't ready for your invention. But they will be when they watch the Perseverance go up the river. Mr. Wells, this time I'm certain the steamboat will go as fast as seven miles an hour. I agree. That's an extraordinary speed. But you're not considering the cost, Mr. Fitch. I only see that my steamboat will increase our commerce all over the world. I'm a businessman, Mr. Fitch. I see that your ship will cost more than it can possibly make from passengers and cargo. Well, then won't you at least come down to the waterfront and have a look at my steamboat, Mr. Wells? Well, there can surely be no harm in that. All right. Come on. Wait till you see it, sir. Hey, what's all the excitement? What's everybody doing? Why are you not at the waterfront? Boat's burning. You don't want to miss it? A boat? It's the Perseverance. Come on, Mr. Wells. We must do something. Save the machinery at least. You're too late, Mr. Fitch. The wind will finish her. No, no, no. The steam engine. Harry, come on. We've got to save that. Hurry. We have much time. Come back, John. Come back. Look out. Look out, John. Here she goes. Well, now, Mr. Fitch, all your work has been for nothing. What... what will we do now, John? I don't know. I don't know, Harry. Well, it's gone. I'd better see the other stockholders, Mr. Fitch. Sure. Sure, Mr. Wells. Go ahead. They'll have to know, and I know what they'll think. I'm sorry about this, Mr. Fitch. I'll be on my way. Good day. Maybe I should go too, John. Back to my clocks and watches. All right, Harry. I don't blame you. You see, John, I have a business. Every day I'm losing customers. Pretty soon I have no business. Go on back to your shop, Harry. And thanks for doing what you could anyway. Goodbye, John. John. Yes? You come with me. Maybe we have supper. No, no, Harry. I want to stay here by myself. Goodbye, Harry. Goodbye, John. John. Hmm? Oh, Nancy. Johnny, I'm sorry. What I said about the steamboat. That's all right, Nancy. No steamboat anymore. I know. Everybody's heard about the fire. What are you going to do now, Johnny? Hmm? Build another steamboat. That'll take money. I know. Where will you get it? Not here. Nobody will give you any money here. Maybe I can't get it here, but maybe I can in Europe. I'll go to France, Nancy. I can work my way over as a seaman. And then I'll come back and build my steamboat. And this time I'll succeed. The American Consul will see you now, Mr. Pitch. Thank you. Come in, John. Come in. Morning, Mr. Bale. Any news for me today? I'm glad to see you, John. How are you? Very impatient, sir. Not with you, of course, but with the French. Will you sit down? I'd rather stand, thank you, as you wish. Mr. Bale, what's going to be done? Pretty soon winter will set in and it'll be too late. I'm afraid it's already too late, John. But aren't we going to be able to go ahead and build a steamboat? Now, with the revolution going on, the terror in Paris... Revolutions, revolutions. The steamboat boat will outlast any revolution. Mr. Bale, isn't there anything we can do? John, I believe in your steamboat. But there's nothing you can do in a country that's fighting against itself. Why don't you return to America? You know, it's funny. It took a revolution to stop me this time. Well, maybe when men are thinking about liberty, they can't think about anything else. John, if you need any money... No, no, thank you, sir. I don't need any money for myself. No, I work my way over and I can work my way back. Thanks for what you've tried to do for me. Bye, Mr. Bale. I tell you, Fitch, every time I ship on one of these tubs, it's the same thing. I say it'll be the last. Take-in sail, pile-on sail. That's all we've been doing for the past four days. Is this weather never going to let up? It isn't the weather, my friend. Well, whatever it is, I don't like it. Look at my hands. Leaping frozen canvas has shredded them almost to the bones. They do look bad. Better let me wrap them up a bit. Well, I'd certainly be much obliged. I can't do much myself. Hold out your hand. You know, I know about a fellow in the United States who made a boat that didn't need sails. Didn't need sails? Yep. That fellow had a great idea. It was a boat that ran by steam. The trouble was he couldn't get enough people to believe in it. He was convinced that the steamboat would replace sailing vessels. Yes, sir. It was a great idea. Do you mean to tell me he thought a boat run only by steam could cross the ocean in weather like this? He did. Then I say he was crazy. Probably also said something about crossing the ocean without using the water. The steamboat. Yeah, he was what you might call strange. Most everybody he talked to thought he was crazy. Funny how a man can spend his whole life knowing he's right about something when everybody tells him he's wrong. Well, how do we know? Maybe he's right. And someday, when steamboats are moving across all the great rivers and the seas, then maybe people will admit that he was right. Maybe they'll understand finally what he was trying to do. Music In the little town of Bardstown, Kentucky, where he died, stands a stone monument erected by the unanimous vote of the Congress of the United States in 1925 and inscribed to the memory of John Fitch as the inventor of the world's first steamboat. And tonight, John Fitch, the American pioneer of moving a boat by steam, takes an honored place in the cavalcade of America. Music Ladies and gentlemen, Thomas Mitchell. Applause Thank you. I'd like to express my thanks for the opportunity of playing the part of John Fitch on the cavalcade of America. He had courage at John Fitch and the conviction that his idea was right. I think that's the typical characteristic that belongs to Americans. And that's, as I gather, what this cavalcade of America is all about. And really, I'm very happy to be honored. Thank you, Thomas Mitchell. We're proud to have you as our guest tonight. Applause And now, before we hear from Dr. Monahan about next week's program, we have a story from the wonder world of chemistry, a story about color. Some time or other, you've probably used the expression, as white as snow. Well, you may be surprised to hear that snow isn't white at all. It's just a trick of Mother Nature. Snow crystals have no color, but they reflect most of the light that strikes them, and the reflection makes the snow look white. At any rate, people who like white houses continue to want their houses to look as white as snow. Chemical research has made their wish come true through the use of a new kind of pigment for white paint, titanium oxide. It's a peculiar fact that this pigment, which is a brilliant white, is made from a raw material that is an almost black sand. For the past ten years, DuPont chemists have done a lot of research for the purpose of improving house paints. This study has shown the remarkable advantages of titanium pigments. One great feature is the fact that these pigments keep themselves clean, or you might say they wash their own faces. These new paints continually accumulate a fine chalky powder on their surface. This is washed away by rain and wind, carrying with it the dust and dirt, which are always collecting from the air. Everyone knows how quickly a house painted with ordinary paint gets streaked with sooty dirt, and soon loses its bright, fresh color. Not even now, because the new DuPont paint rids itself of the dirt and stays clean. Old-style paints, as they wear, produce a rough surface, unsuitable for repainting unless considerable surface preparation is undertaken. On the other hand, through chalking, this paint, made with titanium dioxide, retains a smooth, even surface for repainting. The DuPont research that revealed these facts included studies of hundreds of houses over a ten-year period. In addition, thousands of painted panels were exposed to all kinds of climate and weather on DuPont paint farms, where testing is done. The most recent DuPont development is a range of colored house paints with this same self-cleaning pigment. Paint is a mighty essential product. It helps protect the bank account of every homeowner in the nation. This new paint will improve the looks of your house and save you money. We have just published a booklet entitled, Styling Your Home with Color. We'd be glad to send a copy to anyone who writes DuPont, Wilmington, Delaware. This improvement in paint is an important example of the DuPont pledge, better things for better living, through chemistry. And now the Cavalcade of America's historian, Dr. Frank Monahan of Yale University. Like John Sitch, the subject of next week's Cavalcade of America was also a man of vision. He was not an inventor, but one of the most brilliant military leaders of the American Revolution. He too found himself frustrated. But being a man of action, he defied the fates, so that posterity knows him as the greatest traitor in American history. I think that even now posterity does not fully understand Benedict Arnold. Many important old manuscripts concerning him have recently been acquired by the William L. Clements Library of the University of Michigan. These new documents, never before exploited by historians, have been used in the preparation of our Cavalcade script on Benedict Arnold. This tragic figure twice performed invaluable services in saving the American nation, and then once betrayed it. But he learned bitterly that there is one allegiance that cannot be betrayed, no matter what the provocation. Allegiance to one's native land. For where can a man without a country lay down his head in peace? Next week, when the Cavalcade of America brings you the story of Benedict Arnold, in the title role, we will present a distinguished star of stage, screen, and radio, Claude Rains. You will remember Claude Rains for his performances in the stage play, They Shall Not Die. And in the motion picture, Four Daughters, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and Juarez. The original music and the orchestra on the Cavalcade of America are under the direction of Don Burys. This is Basil Rysdale saying good night and best wishes from DuPont. This is the National Broadcasting Company.
