Tonight, the DuPont Company brings you That They May Live, starring Robert Young on the cavalcade of America. But first, here is Gain Whitman. Would you like to have a home to match that up-and-doing feeling that comes with these crisp fall days? Try painting drab dingy walls with DuPont Speed Easy and see how your home sparkles with new life. You can choose from white and eleven zestful colors, and Speed Easy is so easy to use. Thin it with water and apply over interior wall surfaces, right over wallpaper if you like, with a large brush or roller. It dries in an hour. It's economical, too. Less than three dollars for one color for an average sized room. Give your home a lift with Speed Easy, the really easy to use wall paint that is one of DuPont's better things for better living through chemistry. America the Pony Express. The Jet Propelled Plane. America the World Series. America means skyscrapers and haylofts, the crack of a pioneer's glint lock and the sound of the riveter's machine, the glow of a fireside and the outline of a church steeple against the midnight sky. America is your story. America is you and everyone you know. Tonight we present Robert Young in That They May Live, a true life story of Dr. Chevalier Jackson on the DuPont Cavalcade of America. Isn't there any hope for my child, Dr. Lansing? The safety pin he swallowed. Was it open or closed? Open. We have a baby. I was changing it while Arthur was playing behind me. I put the pin down for a second and when I reached for it, it was gone. And then I thought, Arthur's big. I see, Mrs. Harmon. Dr. Lansing, you're the best doctor in town. Can't you get the pin out? Mrs. Harmon, even if I could see the pin, there's no way to reach it. And even if there were some miraculous way of reaching it, still the child would die. Because no doctor on earth can draw an open safety pin from a bronchial tube. However, if you want to take a blind chance, you might try Dr. Esquart. I'm sorry, Mrs. Harmon. That pin is lodged in his right main bronchus. I can't remove it. No one can. The only remote possibility is an external operation. Perhaps Dr. Lerve can help your boy. Dr. Lerve, there must be something you can do. Mrs. Harmon, an operation would mean cutting through the ribs to get at the root of the lung. Who can't you do that? It would mean death on the table. I... I can't do it. But I'll take your son to the finest surgeon we have, Dr. DeCosta. You're the last hope we have. I'm not even that. When such operations end in a 98 percent failure, there is no hope. Then my child is going to die because you, Dr., are ignorant. Mrs. Harmon, everyday children swallow things. If they can't cough them up, we have to stand by and watch them die. The country waits for someone with the solution. The children wait for him. About this time, back in the 1880s, living with his parents on the fringe of Pittsburgh, was the 21-year-old Dr. Chevalier Jackson. Mother, mother, come here. I've got news. I've made a decision. Well, that's fine, dear. I'm getting supper now and we'll have it with the omelet. But it's a real decision, a big decision. Cheve, if you want to help me while you're waiting, look. This bottle has the cork pushed in and your father says... Mother. You can get it out, can't you? Mother, I'm going to London. It's such a pretty bottle. I wanted to use it. Where did you say you were going? London. London, England. London, England? Yes, mother, to study. Oh. Watch out, you dropped the bottle. Here, give it to me. You mean you're going when you're older, when you've made some money. No, I'm going now. I've got the money. Cheve Jackson, how can you say that when all you do is tramp from one house to the next, giving your services? I had a windfall today. Even with the money you've made from painting those nice pictures on glass in China and the little amount your father's been able to give you, what does it add up to? Seventy-five dollars. Seventy-six. Look, dear, try and get the cork out, will you? Father said it couldn't be done. But I thought if you'd just wiggle this wire about... How can you go to London and study on seventy-six dollars? I can't. But I had a windfall today. I got fifty dollars. Not from a patient. You know that funny old bachelor I've been treating for bad larynx? Well, I had a long talk with him today. Did father try to get the cork out with a wire? He tried for half an hour until he began to say things. Well, he didn't bend it right. Well, the old bachelor said to me today, he got so mad at his old larynx, and he said he'd give me fifty dollars if I'd treat him for life. So seventy-six dollars and fifty dollars makes one hundred and twenty-six. And that makes London. At least for six weeks. But Cheve, you've only been practicing a year. Don't you think it would be wiser to keep on until... Mother, there's a doctor in London, Sir Morrell McKenzie. I've read every book he's ever written, and he's the only man in the world that really knows anything about what I want to know everything about. Laryngology and how to extract foreign bodies from the larynx. Well, dear, if you're determined on going to London... There! Cheve, you got the cork out. Here's your bottle, Mother. I'll keep the foreign body, the cork, for luck. So this is goodbye, Dr. Jackson, eh? Yes, Dr. McKenzie. Taking the four o'clock boat train. Well, I should have liked to have had you with us longer. Thank you, Sir. But the six weeks are up, and I've just enough money to get me back to Pittsburgh. That'll be good to see the States again. Anxious to get on with your work, eh? Yes, Sir. I feel like a fiddler who's been long and far from his fiddle. I understand. You know, Jackson, much as this field needs a young man like you with a commanding and invigorating interest, still I feel I should ask you if you think such complete specialization is wise. I mean, in the terms of your career. Well, I don't know whether it's wise or not. Tell me, how do other doctors over there feel about it? Well, the same as they do here, I suppose. They just don't approve of splitting medical practices all up into specialties. Some of them come right out and say it's nothing but quackery. Exactly. That's why I wonder if it's wise for you. Doctor, the only work I've done has been in the slums of Pittsburgh. There I've seen too many children choke to death for me to turn back now. I'm going to keep on with this if I never make a cent. Good. I just wanted to make sure that you knew that what's ahead of you is not going to be easy. Hot speed. Thank you, sir. You've been a great inspiration. When Chevalier Jackson left for London, he had $126. When he came back to Pittsburgh, he had $126. He took up his work again with the poor. The poor and the poor children were still waiting. Is that you, Sheriff? Yes, Mother. What is it? Mr. Scott was just here. He missed you by ten minutes. Oh, that's too bad. Did he bring the instruments? I put them on your desk. Thank you, Mother. I'll stop by on my way to the hospital and pay him. Will you eat something now? In a half hour or so. All right? Sheriff, this is your life and your work. And you know, I don't like to interfere. What are you trying to say, Mother? This money you're paying Mr. Scott to make instruments and you stinting yourself on things you need so badly. And now I need nothing so badly as these instruments. But so many. The new ones every week. I know, Mother, but it's the only way. The methods for working in the throat and the windpiper still new. I learned a lot in London, but the most important thing Mackenzie taught me was his lack. His what? His lack. There he was, a brilliant man. With all his knowledge about the larynx, he couldn't do enough because he lacked the instruments. That's what I decided coming home on the boat. That for every particular problem, I'd have to design and make a particular instrument. You mean if a child swallows a coin, that takes a certain kind of instrument? And if he swallows a pin, it takes another? That's right. Well, Sheriff, in that case, you can never stop because think of all the things children can swallow. No, Mother, I can never stop. I don't have time to do all the work by myself. The most I can do these days is to make a rough model for Scott to work from. Yes, I suppose that's how it has to be. But it doesn't seem right. You should have to pay for it all out of your own thin pocket. Well, the parents of the children can't pay, so what can I do? Stand by and see children suffer and die for the lack of an instrument that I might use to save them? You understand, Mother, don't you? Yes, I understand. And of course, there's pay in their gratitude. Hey, you nurse! Yes? Come here! Can I help you, sir? I want my kid. Where's my kid? What's the child's name? Jim Tolan, that's what. Same as me. Well, if you'll excuse me, I'll find out about him. What do you mean, find out about him? I know he's here. The old lady brought him in here, didn't she? What happened to your boy? Not much yet, lady, but plenty's going to happen when I lay my hands on him again. He swallowed a quarter, my money, and it's stuck in his throat. I beat him up good, I tell you, but it wouldn't come out. Now, what are you standing, popping at me for? Go fetch him. Is there anything wrong, nurse? Oh, I'm glad you're here, Dr. Jackson. This is the father of that Tolan boy that was brought in this morning. That's me, all right. Now, where's the lad? Hand him over, I'll go find him myself. You hear? Now, where is he? Dr. Schleck, no, you may go. I'll handle this. I'm glad you came, Mr. Tolan. I wondered what kind of a man you were. He didn't blab to you, did he? He was too frightened to say a word. The black and blue marks are all over his body, said enough. Mind your own business, see? That boy is my business. He almost choked to death. You almost lost him. You understand that? Well, I don't think that I'm ungrateful, doctor. It's just that I'm a poor, hardworking man. My mind's full of troubles. Now, where's the lad? I just sent him home, one of our men here took him back. You're a good man, doctor, that you are. If you'll excuse me, I'll be getting back to my... Doctor. Yes? That quarter the lad swallowed, will you send that back too? No, we have it here. But that quarter's mine, doctor, and I'm a poor man. We kept the coin because we have a collection here of all things we removed from the wind pipe or bronchial tube. Buttons, coins, nails, and safety pins, we keep them so other doctors can study and learn to remove them. This is part of our medical school. It'd be a great kindness if you'd give that quarter back to me. Hmm. So that's why you really came. Oh, now, doctor, you misjudged me. And suppose I don't give you the quarter? It'd be very troublesome, doctor. Being upset that way, I might take it out on the lad. I wouldn't want to do it, you understand, but my troubles might blind me. All right, here's a quarter out of my own pocket. It'll get you as much drink as the other. And wouldn't any man need a nip after such a terrible shock? Thank you, sir. I'll drink to your very good health, doctor. Oh, forgive me for disturbing you, Mr. Scott. Oh, it's you, Dr. Jackson. Come in, please. I know it's very late, but I've just finished at the hospital. I had to see you tonight. Oh, please sit down, doctor. I'll turn up the lamp. There, that's better. Now, what can I do for you? Here's a model of a new instrument that I've been working on for the past few months. I think it's practical now. I'd like you to make an instrument from this model. May I look it over? Oh, certainly. Here you are. Hmm. Hmm. It'll require very careful handling. It'll take a long time. Of course. Please start on it first thing in the morning. Scott, the child died today on the operating table. Oh, I'm very sorry to hear that, doctor. One of your cases? No, but I might have one like it next week or next month. The child, a two-year-old boy, had swallowed an open safety pin. Heaven preserve us and keep us. Oh, Scott, I wonder when parents will realize that a child's life is in danger when he plays with anything smaller than his fist. The pin finally came to rest in the bronchial tube, the center of the lung. Couldn't they get at it with their instruments, doctor? No, the instruments were too crude for that extremely delicate work. With such crude instruments, about 30 percent of the cases that require working in the bronchial tubes result in death. That bad? Yes, that bad. Now you'll see why I've got to have this instrument as quickly as possible. It may save precious human lives. You are listening to Robert Young as Dr. Chevalier Jackson in That They May Live on the cavalcade of America sponsored by the DuPont Company, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. Ever since the 1880s, Dr. Chevalier Jackson has been working to design a tiny and delicate instrument called the bronchoscope. With this instrument, he hopes to remove all sorts of objects small children swallow. As the second part of our story opens, Dr. Jackson is in the office of Dr. English at the hospital. In Dr. English's hands is the now completed instrument, the bronchoscope. And this bronchoscope, Dr. Jackson, if you use it through the mouth, will it cut down the 30 percent failure we have now? I think so, Dr. English. And I can also show it's harmless, that it can be passed safely through the mouth into the bronchial tubes. But these are merely fundamentals. Our real problem now is a mechanical one. Mechanical? I'm afraid I don't quite follow. Well, mechanical in the sense that we have to know how to manipulate these swallowed objects so we can get them out of the bronchial tubes without injury to the tissues. And for this, the fingers of the operator must learn the feeling of the instruments against the living, moving bronchi. That's the problem. I should say it is. But I think we have the answer. We want your permission to start working on dogs. They won't be hurt. We'll give them anesthetic. Oh, I see. Well, that's good. It'll mean months of practice until our fingers acquire the necessary skill and delicacy. Then, when a child comes to us, a child that's swallowed an open safety pin, we hope we'll be able to do what's never yet been done. Dr. Jackson, I'm Mrs. Watson. Yes? It's come to my attention that for months now, you've been catching poor little dogs and subjecting them to the cruelest torture. As for the dogs, yes, but as for the torturers... No, of course I know how callous doctors become. A group of us were discussing this, and we decided there was no use to take the matter into court because, unfortunately, there aren't any laws to punish this type of brutality to animals. And so we voted to appeal to your higher instincts. Mrs. Watson, all my life... And if that doesn't work, doctor, then we're going to campaign in the newspapers until... All my life. Mrs. Watson, I have loved animals. The terrors of my childhood were concerned with cruelty to animals and children and my helplessness to stop it. Well, I must say you've certainly changed. One day, coming home from school, I heard a shot. The moment later, I saw a rabbit coming hobbling toward me. He fell over, quivering and twitching. Then he became limp and still. I picked him up and spoke to him, stroked his fur in a childish effort to bring him back to life. He died in my hands. I learned my first lesson. Death is an irreversible process. Ever since then, all my professional life, I've been working against time, working in constant dread lest some child should die in my hands because I wasn't sufficiently skilled to help him. Dr. Jackson, I am not to be distracted by stories. Just how many animals have you killed in the hospital? This is not vivisection, Mrs. Watson. Not a single animal has been killed or even injured. Well, perhaps so, but death might be preferable to the torture that you put them through. Would you care to see some of these tortured creatures? Oh, how could you? Are you entirely without feelings? I merely want you to see for yourself how healthy and well fed these dogs are. Whenever we use them, they're under anesthetic. We handle them as carefully as we would a newborn baby. Mrs. Watson, would you allow me to ask you a question? What is it? Suppose your baby had a safety pin in his bronchus. Suppose there were available only two physicians equal in every way with this one exception. One had never looked through a bronchoscope. The other had taken a course in bronchoscopy, including many safety pin removals from the living moving bronchi of a dog. You needn't go on, doctor. All I want to know is... Mrs. Watson, you'll have to excuse me. I'm still working against time. Against the time when the next child comes in and I attempt my first removal of an open safety pin. But wait a minute, doctor. What answer shall I take back? If I succeed in removing the safety pin, then that, I think, will be answer enough. If I fail, then the answer is that I must keep on working with dogs as I have been. Good day, Mrs. Watson. Good morning, nurse. Is Dr. Jackson in the operating room? Good morning, Dr. Patterson. He's waiting for you in the office. Thank you. I came as soon as I got your message, doctor. Well, thank you, Dr. Patterson. I need you. What's the case, doctor? We have a child that swallowed some household lye and burned her throat. Oh dear, another one of those awful lye cases. That happened five days ago. She was found lying on the floor of a coal miner's shanty. Her mother was dying of pneumonia. And the father? Nowhere. The girl's ragged dress was soaking wet. She was crying for water and her three-year-old brother was trying to feed it to her out of a tin cup. The water kept running out of her mouth and soaking her clothes because she couldn't swallow it. Well, perhaps the scars of the burn have completely closed the passage. No, actually the stricture is not closed. I wouldn't have called you for that. There's something else here. You can see it on the x-ray. An open safety pin with a point up, wedged in the stricture. Oh. Come on, let's go in and see her, Dr. Patterson. Doctor. The poor child's afraid. She's trying to say something, doctor. No, Susan, lie still. Don't try to speak, child. Doctor. Please, dear, don't try to speak. Now just nod your head if the answer is yes. Can you write? Good. Dr. Patterson, the patent pencil, please. Here you are, doctor. Thank you. Here, Susan, write what you want to tell me. Take your time, Susan. I don't spell good. No, you write and spell very well for a girl your age. Now write what you want her to say. She's finished, doctor. Doctor, I am not afraid. Thank you, Susan. Dr. Patterson, please prepare Susan for the operation. Dr. Jackson, the miracle has happened at last. The pen's out, and look at Susan. Her first sip of water. She swallowed it and it stayed down. Good, that's fine. Let her have another. Yes, doctor. Why is she pushing away the glass? Is there anything wrong? No, doctor. Don't you see? She's reaching for your hand. She wants to hold it. There was greatness in this man. As the years passed, Dr. Jackson became a prophet without a purse, but not without honor. Through the medical channels flowed the news of his work. Children sent home to die after the failure of other methods were brought to him and cured by the new technique. Back in the 1880s, 98% of the cases failed. Now 98% of the cases were successful. Physicians came from all over the world to observe the new methods, and Dr. Jackson followed the path the world had beaten to his door. He followed the paths to Philadelphia, to New York, to Paris, Berlin, and London, to the hundred hospitals and clinics and medical schools, to the saving of a thousand lives a year, to imparting to the young doctors of the world his life-defending skill and knowledge. And the late years of his life grew crowded with honors. Thank you, gentlemen. I am 70 years old. Not willing, I may still have 10 years of more or less active life. But whatever it is, I want to teach prevention. I want to teach every parent always to close every safety pin, never to let any child play with an object smaller than his fist. In the 50 years I have practiced medicine, there's been one single driving thought behind it all, that human life, particularly the lives of our children, is our nation's most precious possession. The children are America's future. In a moment, our star, Robert Young, will return. But first, here is Game Whitman speaking for DuPont. How would you like it if every time you left your car overnight with a thermometer around freezing, you had to drain every drop of water out of the radiator and motor block? That's just what you would have to do if it weren't for antifreeze chemicals. The productivity and ingenuity of the American businessman and technologist, which brought us the automobile, half the world's automobiles are right here in the United States, you know, also provide the antifreeze solutions, which enable us to use our cars the year round. Thanks to chemical science, you now just go to your neighborhood dealer and for a couple of dollars, more or less, buy protection, not only against freezing, but against rust and corrosion in the cooling system. Speaking of your dealer, now is the time to have your service station or garage get your car ready for the cold months. There won't be time when the antifreeze rush starts. It will save you trouble and expense later on if you have the dealer clean rust and scum out of the radiator and cylinder block, look for leaks, check all hose connections and water pump, and tighten the fan belt if it needs it. The DuPont company manufactures several familiar, trustworthy products to help your dealer do a good job. These are DuPont cooling system cleanser and the three DuPont antifreeze mixtures. In the low price field, there are DuPont Xeron and DuPont 5 Star. For those who want an antifreeze that's non-evaporating, there is DuPont Xerex at $2.65 a gallon. All three DuPont antifreeze solutions, 5 Star, Xeron, and Xerex, are so prepared chemically that they help keep rust from forming in the cooling system of your car. Providing convenience and comfort at low cost, they are notable examples of the DuPont company's better things for better living through chemistry. Now here is our star, Robert Young, and I think he's very anxious to say a few words about something in tonight's play. Thank you John. I'd like to say that it was a pleasure and real honor to play the part of Chevalier Jackson. I think I was particularly moved by the story. You see, being a father myself, I thought of all the worries and trials we'd gone through with our girls when they were quite small. How wonderful to know of a man who dedicated his whole career to saving the lives of children. Was also thrilling to learn that America gave Dr. Jackson the opportunity to perfect and put his new instrument into use. For Dr. Jackson knows, as all of us do, that the lives of our children are America's most precious possession, and that by safeguarding them, we are ensuring our country's future. Thank you, Robert Young. Next week, the DuPont cavalcade brings you Agnes Morehead in the Hickory Tree. Taking place during the early days of the Revolutionary War, it's the inspiring story of a courageous mother who stood ready to sacrifice her sons for her country. Everyone is familiar with Andrew Jackson, hero of New Orleans and 12th President of the United States, but here is the story of his mother, Elizabeth Jackson, whose courage and humanity set a high example for her famous son. Welcome Monday to another true story of America, the Hickory Tree, starring Agnes Morehead. Robert Young will soon be seen in the RKO picture, Lady Luck. The music for tonight's DuPont cavalcade was composed and conducted by Robert Armbruster. Our cavalcade play was written by Milton Wayne and based on the autobiography of Chevalier Jackson. We wish to express our gratitude to Dr. Chevalier Jackson for his great help in preparing tonight's cavalcade. Featured in the cast with Robert Young tonight were Jane Morgan as the mother, Ken Christie as Jim Toland, Rosemary Kelly as Mrs. Harmon, Anne O'Neill as Mrs. Watkins, and Maybel Prendeville as Dr. Ellen Patterson. This is John Easton inviting you to listen next week to Agnes Morehead in the Hickory Tree on the cavalcade of America, brought to you by the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware. This is NBC, the national broadcasting company.
