Music Starring John Hodiac and Janet Blair in Chillin' of Old Man River on the Cavalcade of America, sponsored by the DuPont Company, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. But first, here's Gain Whitman. These days our clothing is getting a lot of hard wear. But we can all make our clothes last longer and look better by giving them frequent dry cleaning. If you choose a dry cleaner who uses DuPont fluids, per clean and tri clean, you will benefit from cleaning fluids which have been specially designed just for that purpose. Your clothes will be cleaner because DuPont fluids are thorough. They'll be more pleasant to wear because DuPont fluids leave no odor. And they will stay clean longer because DuPont fluids leave no oily film to catch dust and dirt. Make sure that your cleaning is done with DuPont cleaning fluids. They're examples of DuPont's better things for better living through chemistry. Music The DuPont Company presents Children of Old Man River, based on the autobiography by Billy Gregg and Bryant. And starring John Hodiac as showboatman Billy Bryant, and Janet Blair as Josephine Costello on the Cavalcade of America. Music What a great family we've assembled on one river. In case you're a stranger here, my name's Billy Bryant. Music What? You offer drink to my sister, you cad? Curse you, I have come in time to save her from a life worse than death. Music Yes sir, that's life on the showboat folks. You have to get them in, and when they're in you have to entertain them. I'm Billy Bryant, the worst hand that ever trod the board. I started my life on the river like the mussel, right on the bottom. But it wasn't always showboat. Once it was the Four Bryant's, the Vaudeville Act, mother, dad, my sister Florence and I. And I was the youngest member, twelve years old, and all ham even men. Things were tough in those days. Maybe it was because the Four Bryant's was such a bad Vaudeville Act. So bad in fact that we could open and close the same night. Well Mel, that wasn't a long engagement. No, and any act should be able to stay more than one night at Bonnie's bill. I bet if you let me do my dance with you. Billy, the act is bad enough without that. Well Pop, what we need is new material. That'll pick up the act. Billy, we can't afford it. Besides it would take a steam shovel to pick up this act. Now I'd better go back to the patent medicine wagon, or my medicine act or magic act. You can't go back to the magic act, Pop. We ate the ducks. Oh, you're only a bird in the gilded cage. Oh, for goodness sake, Sam, you're not putting that back in the act. No, I guess not. Where'd you say Billy was? Now, Sam, I don't want you to get mad, but Billy went out to get some new material. Huh? Where did that little shiver pick up new stuff? He went to George M. Cohen. George M. Cohen? Now we can't afford anything like that. Well Billy dear, what's the matter? Oh, I'm mad, awful mad. What's the matter, son? I went to see George M. Cohen, and then... Well what happened, Billy? I couldn't even get to see him. He's a busy man, son. I bet he thinks the four cohands are too good for the four bryants. He's a stuck-up guy. Now, Billy... Son, the longer you're in this business, the more you'll realize that whatever you do, you'll have to do for yourself. Maybe so, Pop, but someday I'm going to be bigger and better than George M. Cohen. You just wait and see. Sure, son, sure. Now, we'd better think about getting some work. Uh, I answered an ad this morning. Oh, Sam, another one? Oh, this is different, my dear. It's still in show business. It was for boat-bill people to do turns on a showboat. A boat? Now, Sam, you know that me and my son are... Now we've been all over the land trying to get bookings. The water's our last chance. That was it. We joined the showboat The Water Queen in Augusta, Kentucky. It was spring. Now, never forget my first glimpse of the big blue river with the willow trees turning apple green along the banks. And The Water Queen, all white and gold with a green trim. Christine Calliope was playing with me that afternoon. Everybody doubles in brass, folks. You've got to dance, sing, play instruments. I play the guitar. Well, that's good, Mr. Byron. How about you, Sammy? Me? I'm going to be the George M. Cohen of the river. Well, you can start by playing the bass drum. And you, Mr. Byron, do your magic act. A little ballerina with a green show. We played at noon. The show goes on at 8.30. Well, one season on The Water Queen, playing everything from Uncle Tom's cabin to East Lynn, and we were part of the river. The people liked us, and we loved them. The years passed, and we got our own showboat, The Princess. I was about 20 then, and the dude of the river. I wore yellow box-toed button shoes, loud boat ties, and carried a brass-headed cane I claimed was pure gold. But I never forgot the day I was turned down by George M. Cohen, and I was determined to never let him forget it. So I practiced dancing, and getting pretty good, I thought. I was never deflated except by my sister, Flo. Oh, Billy, you're scaring away the fish. Well, if I don't practice, how do you expect me to live up to my name and reputation, the George M. Cohen of the river? Oh, well, all are conceited. You are the biggest show-off I've ever seen. All lay off, will you? Hey, what's that? Bottle. I fished it out of the river. It's got a note in it. Well, open it. Can't. I haven't got a knife. Oh, here, give it to me. You caught yourself. I didn't, did I? Just lucky. Well, I'll be doggone. Listen to this, Flo. Into the waters of the Wabash Blue, I cast this note as a message to you. It comes from a lonesome girl in her teens who has been cast aside by the man of her dreams. Of all the silly things. Wait a minute, there's more. If it should drift unobserved from here to the sea, what difference would it make to you and me? Hmph. Probably some old maid about a hundred with a face like a scared mud cat. Jealous again, huh? Is that so? Well, if anyone's jealous, it's you, Mr. George M. Cohen. You know, I think I'll answer this note. There's an address at the bottom. Well, you go ahead. I hope you get mixed up with something just awful that serves you right. You're so conceited. Well, let me see. Roses are red, violets are pink. Uh, no. Uh, I am the pirate that discovered your note at the head of Dog Island, and this is no joke. Well, I answered the note and quite a correspondence sprang up between me and the girl who signed her note lonesome. Just about the time it got interesting, show season came back and I kind of forgot about lonesome. Then one evening, Dad came in waving a teller. Hell, Billy Florence, I've got an answer to it rather than the billboard. Hot dog, we're going to have somebody to play the piano. I was doing all right. Well, the audience gets tired of one-piece flowing with just one finger. Billy, that's no way to talk to your sister. And that's no way to play the piano. Mom, make him stop. What's the piano player's name, Sam? Joe Costello. And Italian. They're wonderful musicians. Yeah, if he can play our new steam calypso, Dad, he'll be just what we need. And we can work up a couple of new routines for me. A couple of songs, new dances. Billy, you'll have to run down to the depot and meet him. Sure, I'll go right away. And be sure to carry that brass cane and flash that hundred dollar bill. Pop, he carries a hundred dollar bill and pretends he's looking for change. You just mind your own business. Yeah, George M. Callahan, George M. T. Hatt. Oh, shut up, Billy. I hate to break up this pleasant conversation, but the train gets in in 15 minutes. All right, Pop, all right. Hey, uh, conductor. Yes, son? My name is Brian. Billy Brian. What do you do? I'm in show business. Only show business. Well, ain't that nice? Well, I work for a little railroad. Uh, you got an Italian fellow on board. Uh, a piano player? Uh-huh, can I tell him Italian piano? Well, are there any passengers for this stop? Just one. Well, that's him. Where is he? He don't know him. Uh-huh. Oh, you sure you haven't got a, uh... Conductor, is all my luggage off? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Uh, conductor. Uh, what now, son? Uh, can you, uh, change a hundred dollar bill? Sure can. Just kept right over here. Oh. Oh, well, uh, never mind. I've got some other change. I thought so. Oh, uh, excuse me, miss. Can I be of any assistance? Hmm? Oh, uh, no, I don't think so. Thank you. My name is Brian. Billy Brian. I'm in show business. How do you do? May I buy you a cup of coffee? I'm afraid you wouldn't have, uh, change. Oh. Uh, well, uh, I, uh... Excuse me, it's, uh, been so nice meeting you, Mr., uh... Brian. Billy Brian. I'm in show business. Oh, yes, yes. Well, goodbye. Now, there's the gal. Oh, meet him once and never see him again. Well, that's show business for you. Mom, who's that playing the calypso on our boat? Isn't he wonderful, Billy? He's just beautiful. Well, sure, but it can't be the Italian fellow. He wasn't on the train. Billy, come here. Meet our new piano player in calypso art. Oh, hi, Dad. Billy, I want you to meet... Oh, holy smokes. You? Huh? Billy, close your mouth. But, uh, Joe Costello, the Italian fellow. Oh, uh, I'm Joe Costello, but, uh, I happen to be Irish. Uh, I'm really Josephine Costello, Mr. Brian. I'm in show business. Joe, Joe, you belong in the river. Do I, Billy? Sure. Just like the willows and the flowers along the banks. What are you laughing at? Oh, Billy, you had that feature prepared, didn't you? Honest, I didn't. I made it up just then. No, you didn't. Well, maybe I did think about it a little before tonight. I thought so. Oh, Joe, can't you forget that day at the station? That was a long time ago. Things have changed. Well, you haven't changed any, Billy. Why should I change? Well, you could grow up. Why? You've never grown up, Billy, beyond twelve years. What do you mean? Look, you're still calling yourself the George M. Cohen of the river, aren't you? What's that got to do with us, and why shouldn't I call myself that? Because George M. Cohen is one person, and you're another. Isn't it about time you learned to be just Billy Bryant? Who told you about... About George M. Cohen? Yeah. Hello. But really, Billy, she didn't mean to make fun of you. Well, look, Joe, when I was a little kid, George M. Cohen turned me down when I wanted him to write an act for the Four Brides. And ever since that day, you've tried to imitate him. You've tried to be an actor, a dancer, a singer. Look, Joe, I'm crazy about you. You know that. No, you're supposed to be steering the boat with two hands. Ah, this boat will steer itself. Billy, be careful. Ever since the day I saw you in the station. Don't you dare try to kill me. Joe, Joe, please. I warned you. Hey, hey, you're sounding the distress signal. What's the both hands? That's not the signal. Joe, please. Joe, for Christ's sake, Papa, please. What on earth is the matter up here? Who's blowing that whistle? Hey, what's the matter? Oh, uh, Dad, I... I know the distress signal. I know what it is, and you can ask the George M. Cohen of the river why. Goodbye, Mr. Cohen. Oh, Joe. Joe, please, wait a minute. Please, Joe. Nobody drag that wheel. Billy, look out that rock. Billy! Ah! Ah! Hey, Joe, how do I... The George M. Cohen of the river is in the river. You're listening to John Hodiac as Billy Bryant and Janet Blair as Joe in Children of Old Man River on the Cabalcade of America, sponsored by the DuPont Company, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. As the second part of our story opens, the showboat princess is tied up opposite the sugar plantation in the deep south. Billy and Joe are seated on the after deck, listening to the workers singing. Joe, Joe, I wrote a letter that I want to tell you about. A letter? To whom, Billy? To George M. Cohen. Well, what about the letter? Well, I told him that he didn't know me, but that I knew him from seeing him, and... Yes? Go on, what else? Well, well, Joe, I owned up to being jealous all these years because he wouldn't write that act when I was just a fresh kid. I apologize to him for feeling the way I did. Oh, Billy, did you really? Uh-huh. I figured it wasn't right for a person to hold a grudge like that over something that happens to them. Uh-huh. Say, Billy, I'm going to tell you something. You... hey, you're not in love with somebody else, are you? Are you? Me? Oh, you can't face Joe. How can you ask that? Well, I, uh, I thought maybe you might have a secret. I thought maybe you might have a secret correspondence with someone that maybe you haven't told me about. Secret cor... Oh, honest, there was nothing in it, nothing at all. Are you sure? Sure, I'm sure. Well, that was some silly little girl who was probably ugly as a mud cat. Am I ugly, silly? You? Oh, Joe, you're beautiful. Why don't you say that? Into the waters of the Wabash Blue, I cast this note as a message to you. It comes from a lonesome girl in his dreams. Oh, no, no, Joe, honest. Was that you? Yes, Billy, it was. And you knew all along that I was the one who... you, Joe? Are you angry, Billy? Angry? Hey, hey, Mom! Dad! Billy, no! That's not Billy! Oh, Billy, not again! Oh, Billy, not again! Oh, Billy, not again! Well, Joe and I were married to make it to five brides. A few seasons later, the Depression hit. Things were bad, and showboat business wasn't better than any other. We were docked in Cincinnati one week when a man who owned a large river yard nearby came aboard. Are you Mr. Bryant? That's right. I'm having your party tonight, and I understand that you have a show here. Well, the way things have been going lately, we don't know what we've got. Would you care to put on your show tonight for my party? I'll pay you whatever you say. Uh, 25 bucks? That's all right with me. Say about 8 o'clock. Mr., come as early as you like. For 25 bucks, we'll put on ten nights at a bar room and follow it up with strange interlude. No, no, do not say that. Drink has cursed me. Demon rum has spilled my soul and glotted my mind. Ten nights have I spent in this bar room. Aha, then, Morgan, here you are. I have come to collect the mortgage. Now go and get the money. No, no, he is my husband, though Demon Rum has claimed him, yet I love him still. I go when I return later. And you, my beauty, you have one way to avoid my taking the mortgage. How do you like that? They're laughing in the wrong places. They're making fun of our act. The villains are having a wonderful time. You hear that? For two cents, I've given back their 25 bucks and tossed them off the boat. Oh, no, Billy, they're enjoying that. And they gave you a wonderful reception when you made your curtain speech. But they're making fun of Dad and Flo. We did this act before nobody will laugh. Who do those people think they are? Billy, please, time for your turn. I won't go on again. I'm through being laughed at. Oh, Billy, please, you've got to make your curtain speech. I will not. I'm an actor, not a clown. They can find their way off the boat, and I don't care if I ever see them again. All right, get ready to cast off there. Wonder where Joe is. Well, she'll be along, Dad. She went uptown to get some things. Oh, look, there she comes now, running down the landing. Billy, Billy. Honey, what's the matter? What happened? Oh, Billy, look, the Cincinnati Times star. Oh, what about it? The theatrical section. I... Oh, here, you read it, Dad, right there. Ten nights in the bar room, the funniest thing I have ever seen. Funny. I'll read the rest of it, Dad. It's by the editor, Moses Strath. The editor himself, Billy. Well, go ahead, Dad. What... Billy Bryant's portrayal of the hero is ham, but ham so well done that it becomes savory. Ham? For Cinsinadiens, the Billy Bryant showboat is the place to go. Go and be laughed out of your troubles. Well, how do you like that? They set us up as a bunch of clowns. Oh, Billy, you're wrong. How do you say I'm wrong? Oh, look, Billy, they weren't making fun of us. We made them laugh, not at us, but with us. The troubles, depression, and all the unpleasant things that people want to forget. Oh, Billy, can't you see if we can make them do that? Then we're really in show business. Well, how do you know that this isn't just a freak? Well, let's see if it is. Let's stay and see if they keep on liking us. What do you say, Dad? I think Joe's right. How about you, Mel? I don't mind being laughed at. Well, I don't either. Please, Billy, just for a little while. All right. It's going to take all the self-control I've got to keep him. Billy, that boat, look out! Not this time, Joe. Look at all the cold water I wanted last night. Well, that's how it was. We stayed on in Cincinnati and hung out the SRO sign every night. Then Chicago, and finally Broadway. We didn't change a thing in the show, and it went over big. And one night after the performance, somebody knocked on our dressing room door. Holy mackerel! George M. Cohan! Yeah, I've been wanting to meet you, Billy. This is my wife, Mr. Cohan. How do you do, Mrs. Byron? Mr. Cohan. Billy, you wrote me a letter a long time ago, didn't you? Yes, I did. You know, that letter came at a time when I was pretty far down in the dumps. I was discouraged, lonely. Oh, we read about your wife's death. We were really very sorry. Well, thank you. Billy, you wrote me that I turned you down when you wanted me to write an act for you. Oh, please forget that. I was just a fresh kid. I should have known better. Well, I'm sorry about it, Billy. Oh, no, Mr. Cohan. Billy realizes how silly it was. Oh, I don't think it was. Anyhow, you don't envy me anymore, do you, Billy? Well, no, I guess not. Now the shoe's on the other foot. I envy you. What do you mean? I envy your life on the river, Billy. And you know, someday I'd like to dig out one of my old plays and bring it to your showboat. We'll make a sum of it all the way from Pittsburgh to New Orleans. What do you think? Uh, George, anytime you feel the urge, the floating palace of wonder will be honored to have you aboard. Play or no play. Well, thank you, Billy, Mrs. Bryant. And thanks for seeing me. I'll probably catch the show again tomorrow. Well, good night. Oh, Billy, I think I'm going to cry. That wonderful man. I didn't think that was a man I'd been jealous of for all those years. Oh, Billy. Honey, what's the matter? Billy, it's spring, and the dogwood's coming out along the river. Yeah, the willows will be turning apple green again. Mm-hmm. Say, Billy, can you hear a calliope? I guess we both hear one. Oh, I miss the river people, Billy. Our people. Dad doing his magic act. Mom and her guitar. Yeah, Flo and her dance. Those warm spring nights. The Negroes singing on the levees. Oh, Billy. Billy, I miss the river. Joe, we're not going to miss it anymore. We've hit Broadway. Now let's go back to our own. That's our life, Joe. Oh, darling, I've wanted you to say that ever since I saw the first robin. Then it's back to the river, honey. Our river. Willows on the banks. Dogwood showing pink and white through the greens. People running down the landing to our boat. The smell of river mist in the morning. Catfish just begging to be caught. That's for us, Joe. That's for us. We're on the stereo, coming back to carry me home. John, Hody Heck, and Janet Blair will return to our cable-cable microphone in a moment. Now here is James Whitman. In the romantic adventure stories about pirates that youngsters love so well, there are always treasure chests crammed with Spanish doubloons. We have what might be called a chemical treasure chest at the DuPont Company, full of things that mean far more to the health, wealth, and happiness of mankind than any pirate chest of Spanish gold. It's a room, a room about the size of an ordinary living room, lined from floor to ceiling with shelves. On the shelves are bottles and jars. Some of the jars look as if they have jelly in them. Others are filled with powders, blue, red, yellow, all the colors of the rainbow. Each jar is labeled with a name or formula number. Our treasure chest is just as glamorous as the chests in the pirate stories. We know what the materials in the bottles are. We made them, and we can make them again. But we don't know everything they will do. No one knows. But we're trying to find out as fast as we can. Will this white powder be a new agricultural chemical? Will that gray powder become the basis of a useful drug for which medical science has long been searching? Only time will provide the answers. Doctors and other scientific investigators come to us for compounds they can't buy or can't make. They may ask for a sample of a quaternary ammonium salt, or we may get a letter with a long chemical name in it saying, can you supply 50 grams of 2-amino-8-napsol or 3,6-disulfonic acid? And quite often we can supply men engaged in research with otherwise unattainable materials which they need in their studies. When the Department of Agriculture was working on phenothiazine, now regarded as an outstanding medicine for farm livestock, DuPont furnished government scientists with the sample they needed. When an American physician returned from London with the first report of the marvelous sulfur drugs, it was our research laboratories that were able to supply the laboratory of the Johns Hopkins Hospital with their first sample of sulfonylamide. New and valuable uses often come after years of research efforts. It was about 70 years after DDT had first been made that its usefulness as an insecticide was discovered. DuPont is trying its level best to open new possibilities as rapidly as it can for the things in its chemical treasure chest, and there's no telling what continued research may bring forth in the way of DuPont better things for better living through chemistry. Oh, wait a minute, James. Yes, John? That was nice going and very interesting, but you've never been on a showboat, have you? Well, no, I haven't. Why? Well, there was something, I don't know how to explain it. It needed a touch, the Billy Bryant touch. For example? Well, let me see what else you've got there. Here you are, John. Thanks. Oh, now listen. Yes, sir, ladies and gentlemen, this is Billy Bryant Hodiac, reminding you that next week the Cavalcade of America will present the one and only Walter Pigeon. See what I mean, James? Punch, show him. Uh-huh, well, go on. Okay. Next week, Walter Pigeon starring in Remembered Day, a story about Abraham Lincoln. See, that's good. Yes, sir, yes, sir, Miss Janet Blair appears through the courtesy of Columbia Pictures and can presently be seen starring in the Columbia musical Tars and Spars. So why don't you speak for yourself, John? Well, what do you mean, I mean Janet? Well, you listen to this. Yes, sir, yes, sir, this is Mrs. Billy Bryant Blair reminding you that Don Hodiac may currently be seen in the Metro-Golden-Mayer technical or musical the Harvey Girls, the one and only... Will you excuse me? Yes, sir. This is Cavalcade of America Whitman reminding you that we have to get off the air sometime. And thanking you, John Hodiac and Janet Blair, for being with us tonight. The music for tonight's default Cavalcade was composed and conducted by Robert Armbruster. The Cavalcade play was written by Walter Hank Richards and was based on the book Children of Old Man River by Billy Bryant. In the cast of Mr. Hodiac and Miss Blair were Francis X. Bushman, Carl Witherspoon, Louise Erickson, Herbert Rawlinson, Tommy Bernard, Richard Ryan, Horace Murphy, Don Brody, and Bill Duvall. This is Tom Collins inviting you to listen next week to World of Pigeons in Remembered Day or Abe Lincoln's Answer on the Cavalcade of America brought to you by the DuPont Company of Wormington, Delaware. This is NBC, the National Broadcasting Company.
