The Cavalcade of America, sponsored by the DuPont Company, makers of better things for better living through chemistry. In tonight's DuPont play, we present two outstanding Hollywood stars, Claude Rains and Agnes Moorhead. Miss Moorhead will appear as Elizabeth DePyster and Mr. Rains, well, here to open our DuPont play is Claude Rains. I am really Charles Wilson Peel, a painter, scientist, inventor, and according to certain ill-informed contemporaries, more than a little eccentric. On this particular day, shortly after the close of the Revolutionary War, I am about to call upon Miss Elizabeth DePyster, Spinster of Philadelphia, and pop a rather important question. Madam, will you do me the honor to be my wife? Why, Mr. Peel, I hardly know how to answer you. This is, as you know, only our second meeting. Perhaps if you would be good enough to reply to some questions. Questions? Do you infer, madam, that there are doubts in your mind as to my character? Pray, Mr. Peel, do not excite yourself. It is merely that there are certain rumors abroad in Philadelphia. Rumors concerning what, may I ask? Well, Mr. Peel, your recklessness, your being so headstrong and unpredictable. Why, headstrong and unpredictable, ridiculous, more presay, cum-drum, normal individual than myself never existed. Whatever the answer. Nevertheless, nothing. No. Madam, I will give you exactly twenty minutes until four-thirty to make up your mind. And if you do not accept me, I shall leave this house and propose marriage to the first female of however repellent aspect I encounter upon the street. Headstrong and unpredictable indeed. It is now exactly four-thirty, Mr. Picer. Your answer, please. Mr. Peel, before making up my mind, I find I must ask certain questions. Do I have your permission? Madam, if it is a testimonial you require, may I refer you to His Excellency Thomas Jefferson, or perhaps Mr. Robert Morris, or Dr. John Morgan? That will hardly be necessary, sir. Now the first question is, are you neat? Am I what? Neat. Well let us say, madam, I am somewhat neat. Oh. Second question, you are a widower, I understand. I am. You have children. I have. How many? Six, I believe. Is it seven? Now let me see, there's Raphael Rembrandt, Titian, Rubens. Oh, all named after painters. I understand that you too, Mr. Peel, are a painter. I am. Also an inventor. Well, yes, I have invented- And a watchmaker? Yes, I have from time to time repaired- And a dentist? Oh, certainly. What is it, madam? Do you wish a set of new teeth? Oh, no. No, Mr. Peel, I do not. My teeth are in excellent condition, thank you. All I wish to know is this, with the help of which of these professions do you intend to support me? Which? Or of them, of course. Well then, sir, I'm afraid I must decline your kind proposal. Why? Because, sir, a man with so many professions can be master of none. But I am interested in all these professions, madam. Nevertheless, I would wish you to concentrate only on your painting. Yeah, but- But- On that condition, it would give me great pleasure to announce our forthcoming marriage. Oh, but, Mr. Peister- Would you care for more tea? What is your Christian name, Mr. Peel? Oh, Charles, but Mr. Peister- You can call me Elizabeth. Elizabeth, but don't you see- No, Charles, I do not. I've been considering this matter, and it seems to me that a very handsome living could be achieved by a talented painter who has so many famous friends. Robert Morris, Mr. Jefferson, who was the other gentleman you mentioned, sir? Dr. John Morgan, one of the city's most eminent physicians and scientists, madam? Well, don't you think that- No, Elizabeth, I do not think. I cannot go to these people and ask them if they'd like to have their pictures painted. Why, it's absurd. I refuse to consider it. I refuse. You hear? If you were, if you would be so good, Dr. Morgan, as to turn your head about one inch to the left. Certainly. And the right hand. Just keep it still, please. I thought you were painting my head. I am. But when you move your hand, your head wiggles. Yes. There, now you may relax, Doctor. Thank you. By the way, Charles, it has come to my ears that you have remarried. Is your wife young or inclined toward ripeness? Well, sir, in certain ways, one might consider her somewhat over-ripe. Goodness me. Oh, Elizabeth is an excellent mother to my children, Doctor, but she has, unfortunately, a tendency to be domineering as far as I am concerned. She has? Of course, this is easily understood since I am at heart a gentle soul. Oh, of course. She has made me forswear all active pursuits, save that of painting at which, unfortunately, I cannot make a living. Including your art gallery, Charles. No, that is a toy I have been permitted to keep for being a good boy and doing what I'm told, no doubt. Charles, have you ever thought of turning it into a museum? The gallery? But it is a museum, Doctor. I mean a museum of natural history, containing the great natural wonders with which our country abounds. A natural history museum? What would I put in it, Doctor? The flora and fauna of America, geological specimens, animal life. But I am no taxidermist, sir. Oh, you would learn. And think of the service you would be doing. You would be bringing to the American people for study and observation the great natural wonders of their country. Yes, it is an interesting thought, Doctor. Believe me, there's real need for such a museum in America. Why it would even help with our international affairs. It would, sir. How? Well, Charles, as you know, I've spent many years abroad. Yes, I know, sir. And I have observed a tendency on the part of most European nations to condescend to us, to regard us as it were as though we were an upstart nation, devoid of culture and the humanities. Oh, but Doctor, as long as we know better... It is not enough, Charles. We live in a world where no nation is self-sufficient, where trade, friendship, and the goodwill of other people is as necessary as the air we breathe. But friendship and goodwill are predicated upon understanding and similarity of purpose. Let us not forget that. Would you think the establishment of this museum would... It would help. It would enhance our prestige as a nation of culture and scientific attainment. Well, Charles, what do you say? Doctor, where do you suppose I'd be able to find a volume about taxidermy? Charles, have you seen anything... Oh, there it is, my best paring knife on your work table. What were you doing with it? Dissecting an owl. Dissecting a... What on earth for? See how it's made. But why should anyone want to know that? So he'll know how to stuff the next one he catches. Oh, Charles, Wilson, Peel, I would like you to know I have no intention of having this house cluttered up with dirty old owls, stuffed or otherwise. And I, madam, have no intention of leaving them here at the tender mercy of your insatiable broomstick. I shall take them when I am finished to the Museum of Natural History. Oh, very well. Well, as long as you want to... What museum did you say? The one that I was talking about. The one that I was talking about. The one that I was talking about. The one that I was talking about. The one that I was talking about. The one that I was talking about. The one that I was talking about. The one that I was talking about. The one that I was talking about. The one that I was talking about. The one that I was talking about. The one that I was talking about. The one that I was talking about. The one that I was talking about. The one that I was talking about. The one that I was talking about. The one that I was talking about. The one that I was talking about. The one that I was talking about. The one that I was talking about. The one that I was talking about. The one that I was talking about. to Philadelphia in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania? Your museum, sir. I came to see what it was like. And did you like what you came to see? No, Mr. Peel, I did not. And judging by the absence of visitors, I take it the good people of Philadelphia share my opinion. Do they, sir? They do. Now take the Columbian Museum in Boston, of which I happen to be the proprietor. Oh. Why, up there, I have a thousand visitors in a single week. What do you do? Re-enact the Battle of Bunker Hill and shoot live redcoats? No, sir, I do not. I show them clocks. Clocks? Exactly. Imported direct from Switzerland at incalculable expense. Naturally. And one of these, for instance, when the hour strikes, a tableau appears. A tableau? A tableau, portraying Mary, Queen of Scots, bidding an affectionate farewell on her way to the executioner's block. Very moving, Mr. Peel. Persons of the female sex have been known to faint at the pathos of it. Really? Well, Mr. Bane, I thank you, sir, for all this information. But I shall run this museum, as I have always intended, as a repository for the natural wonders of our American nation. To show off stuffed birds and the skeletons of dead animals? You'll never get people to come to it, sir. Not even if you were to show them the bones of that mammoth they had just dug up in New York. A mammoth? Yes. You mean, sir, a prehistoric animal? Something like that. A fly bone, among others, measuring, they say, 18 inches in circumference. A fly bone measuring 18 inches in circumference? Tell me, Mr. Bane, where did they find these bones? Near Newburgh in New York, I believe. A farmer digging in a mall pit. Mr. Peel. Mr. Peel, where are you going? To Newburgh, Mr. Bane. If the first complete mammoth in the history of the world has been uncovered in America, Peel's Museum of Natural Science will place it on exhibition or die in the attempt. Goodbye, Mr. Bane. ["The New York Times Show Theme"] You're listening to the DuPont Cavalcade of America, starring Claude Rains and Agnes Moorhead. Sponsored by the DuPont Company, makers of better things for better living through chemistry. Among the DuPont Company's better things for better living through chemistry is DuPont Rug Anchor sponge rubber underlay. Perhaps you saw a recent announcement by the National Safety Council that deaths due to accidents in the home in 1949 were 3% less than in 1948. Well, one of the ways in which you can help prevent accidents in your home is to use DuPont Rug Anchor under small rugs, especially rugs at the head or foot of stairs. Rug Anchor is waterproof and moth-proof and can be trimmed to fit your rugs. Besides helping to prevent rugs from slipping, DuPont Rug Anchor also keeps dirt from working up into the underside of the rug. Made by DuPont and sold by thousands of rug and department stores, Rug Anchor is another of the DuPont Company's better things for better living through chemistry. Now we continue our DuPont play. It's a few days later at a farm near Newburgh, New York. Seated on the floor of the granary examining the fossils of a huge animal is Charles Wilson Peale. Bending over watching him anxiously is the farmer on whose property they were found. Well, Mr. Maston, I congratulate you. These are indeed the bones of a prehistoric animal. Yeah, that's what I thought. Unfortunately, there are many pieces missing. Where did you say you found these? In the mall pit, Mr. Peale, over past the South Field. It's flooded now. Mr. Maston, I would like to purchase these bones from you to exhibit at my museum in Philadelphia. Now what would you say to $100? Why I'd say that was a good sum of money, Mr. Peale. With another hundred thrown in for the privilege of digging further into your pit, what would you say to that, sir? Handsome, Mr. Peale, handsome. Good, good. Then we can consider the transaction closed, eh? Well, no, no, I wouldn't exactly say that. No, why not? Well, you see, sir, I don't want to sell them. I don't want to sell them at all. But Mr. Maston, I assure you nobody in America would have any use for these bones or would even approach my offer. I agree, I agree. And that's why they ain't for sale. Mr. Peale, let me ask you a question, sir. What would you do with these bones if I did sell them to you? Well, I exhibit them at my museum, of course. And charge admission, eh? And actually, my museum is not endowed by anyone, sir, it is self-supporting. Well, I ain't endowed either, Mr. Peale. And so am I self-supporting. And I'm going to support myself by having my son take these bones on a tour from town to town and exhibit them and charge admission. Take them on a tour? Yeah. But sir, suppose something happened to them. They got lost or broken. Think of the lost to science. Science never did anything for me, Mr. Peale, and I ain't doing anything for it. I see. Well, Mr. Maston, how old is your son? My son just turned 18. Why? Mr. Maston, do you have any idea of the kind of life that young man would lead traveling from town to town like a gypsy? Removing himself from the beneficent influence of home and half and father and mother? His mother, she's passed on, Mr. Peale. Oh. Or the more recent, sir. You and you alone hold this boy's hope of heaven in the hollow of your hand. Consider for a moment, sir, what a life like that would do to the spirit of one so young, the constantly changing faces, the evil companions, the carousing, the immorality of such an existence. You really think so, sir? Why, he'd be no better than an actor. My gracious. Yes, sir, you're right, Mr. Peale. Yes. I was thinking only of myself. Greed, greed, the curse of mankind. Then you'll sell me the bones and privilege of digging for $200, Mr. Maston? I'll sell you the bones and the privilege of digging for $300, Mr. Peale. What? Take it or leave it. I'll take it. But first, I must return to Philadelphia to raise this large sum of money. I shall see you again in two weeks, sir. So, Charles, it is your intention to borrow the sum of $300 for this, this fossil, eh? Yes, Elizabeth, it is. And from whom do you intend to borrow it, pray? My friends. And a pity you didn't think of them last month when I inquired for a small sum with which to buy a new dillety for myself. Oh, but no. No, I can go about in rags. As long as you've got money for old bones. Elizabeth, my dear, even you would not approve my writing to the President of the United States for a few dollars to buy my wife a new dillety. The President of the... You mean you wrote, Mr. Jefferson? I did. Would you like to hear his reply? Well, I... My dear Mr. Peale, no person on earth can entertain a higher idea than I do of the value of your museum collection, nor give you more credit for the unwearied perseverance and skill with which you have prosecuted it. The President wrote that? He did, indeed. Well, is there more? Yes. Unfortunately, I am unable to assist you to resources for this new enterprise. Well, at least he answered you. Now, where will you get the money? I have already got it, Elizabeth, from the American Philosophical Society right here in Philadelphia. Goodbye, my dear, sweet, understanding wife. Take care of the children while I'm out digging up old bones. Well, well, Peter, Peter, Peter, how's the digging today? I'm sorry, not a thing, sir. Say, how about those others we found yesterday? Are they any good, sir? Peter, there is no doubt in my mind that they are the bones of a mammoth, a true prehistoric animal that existed here in America millions of years ago. The only trouble is there are some missing. Oh, I see. Which ones? The toe bones, for instance, and the lower jaw bone. The lower jaw bone? Well, well, there's no more bones left in this pit. I'll take my oath on that, Mr. Peel. Well, I suppose there's nothing else to do but pack up these things and go back to Philadelphia. Yes, sir, I guess you're right, sir, unless you were to take a look around the adjoining countryside. What good would that do, my boy? Well, sir, you see, I don't know much about these things, but the way I figure it, where there was one of these monstrous creatures despoting itself a million years ago, there was probably another. Yes, you have a point there. Matter of fact, sir, I don't know if you'd be interested, but I dug up a couple of them there bones right in my own farm. What? You mean you dug... Where is your farm, Peter? It's two miles west of here, Mr. Peel. Let us go there, my boy. At once, you hear, we'll move all the machinery and what it's standing there for. Get to work, sir. Get to work. This is another piece, sir. Let me see it. Yeah, looks like it might come from a foot. It does, Peter, it's a toe bone. Peter, you've got a mammoth of your own here and judging by these samples, it's a far bigger one than the other. Congratulations, my boy. And now let's get back to work. Come on, dig, dig. So you're back home again, are you? You've dug up an animal that's been dead over a million years. Now what are you going to do with it? Exhibit it at the museum, of course. And do you think the public will pay their good money to see it? I cannot say, my dear. All I know is if they should want to see it, it's there. Charles, when I married you, I made you promise to give up everything for your painting. Do you remember? I do, madam. Do you know why? Yes, madam. That I might accumulate wealth and support you in the manner to which you would like to become accustomed. No, Charles, it wasn't that. It wasn't? No. I wanted you to believe that because it was the way, the only way to get you to do the great work for which you were intended. You have it in you to be truly famous, Charles. One moment, madam. Do I understand you to mean that all you were concerned with was my fame, my recognition by the world that nothing less would satisfy you? Yes, Charles. Madam, you should be in a positive ecstasy of satisfaction. Observe, observe these letters. They bear the signatures of presidents and kings and men of science the world over. And they are addressed to me, my dear, informing me what a great contribution to science America has made by my bringing to light these old bones, as you call them. You mean those letters are actually from... They are? And now if you will excuse me, my dear, I do not wish to be late, but... Where are you going? To the museum, Elizabeth. The Museum of Natural History to attend the formal dedication to posterity of those old bones. Good night, my dear. And don't wait up for me. Gentlemen and colleagues, it gives me great pleasure to present to you one of the foremost figures of our time, inventor, scientist, and painter of General Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and many of our most distinguished citizens, gentlemen, Charles Wilson Peel. Welcome gentlemen, and welcome to the first American Museum of Natural History. This skeleton, which you are now observing as it towers above us, is not a replica, but the true bones of the monster that terrified our ancestors a million years ago. The knowledge of its existence has furthered the world's interest in science, and science, as you well know, gentlemen, breeds knowledge. And knowledge conquers man's greatest enemy, fear. Gentlemen, I ask you to raise your glasses in a toast. The American people, with their ingenuity and resourcefulness, with their enterprise and faith in the future, may they be as preeminent among the nations of the earth as the skeleton of this mammoth under which we sit surpasses the fabric of the mouse. Thank you, Claude Raines, Agnes Moorhead, and the Cavalcade players. Now here's Bill Hamilton speaking for the DuPont Company. In the magazines this spring, you'll see colored pictures of the very smartest dresses, the frilliest underthings, the most glamorous evening gowns, all in rayon. For rayon these days is a glamour fabric used in clothes in all price ranges. Yes, you're right, so right in rayon. In Bermuda, in Florida, in California, at smart resorts everywhere, rayon is a must with women who know their styles as well as their values. Now a woman buys a dress because it's smart, but let's walk around behind that word smart for a moment and see what we find. A dress is smart because a talented fashion designer had the taste, the originality to design it that way. But the designer was able to make it that way only because the fabric maker provided him with a material of just the right texture, just the right drape. And you can go back still further than that, right back to the yarn. For 30 years now, American rayon manufacturers, including the DuPont Company, have been steadily improving rayon yarn, changing its characteristics to give you better drapes and more beauty. That's why rayon in 1950 is every bit as glamorous as it is practical. Within our lifetime, a whole industry has grown up around this fiber from the Kenes test tube. Thousands of men and women have jobs today because of rayon. Thousands of stores enjoy better business. Millions of women proudly wear rayon. Yes, and men too. Rayon pajamas and robes for men are light, trimly tailored, and long wearing. Rayon shirts, trunks, and slacks have bright long lasting color because rayon takes dyes so clearly and so richly. It's true just as the fashion news says, that you're right, so right in rayon. Fashion right rayon is a typical example of the DuPont Company's better things for better living through chemistry. Star Douglas Fairbanks in Crazy Judah, the story of a man, a dream, and a remarkable achievement. Be sure to listen. Tonight's original DuPont play was written by Arthur Arendt and was based on a chapter, The Ingenious Mr. Peel, in the book America's Old Masters by James Thomas Flexner. Claude Rains will soon be seen in the forthcoming RKO production, The White Tower. Agnes Moorhead will soon appear in the Warner Brothers picture, Caged. Music was composed by Arden Cornwell and conducted by Donald Voorhees. The program was directed by John Zoller. Ladies and gentlemen, during this annual Red Cross drive, we are asked to support an organization in which the nation takes great pride. By helping the Red Cross, we are helping humanity. The DuPont Cavalcade of America comes to you from the stage of the Belasco Theater in New York and is sponsored by the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware, makers of better things for better living through chemistry. Next here, Daddy's Little Problem Child, Baby Snooks on NBC.
