The DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware, makers of better things for better living through chemistry, presents the cavalcade of America. Tonight's star, Barry Sullivan, will soon be seen in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Technicolor production, Mr. Imperium, starring Lana Turner and Ezio Finza. Now on the DuPont cavalcade, here is Barry Sullivan as Uncle John Brashear in Path to the Stars, the story of a man from the steel mills in Pittsburgh who sought after and found the one thing in the world he alone was meant to do. In a sense that's not quite correct. This is not my story, not mine alone. For always from the very beginning, Phoebe, my wife, worked constantly at my side. Together we dreamed of a house on a hill and together we built it. And the disappointment of that March morning of 1872, yes, she shared that also. How do you do? Can I help you? Yes, my wife and I are interested in that telescope you have in the window. Oh yes, that's a fine instrument, one of the very finest on the market. How much is it? I can understand that this is a precision instrument, exquisitely designed. Is it expensive? Not at all, ma'am, considering the workmanship. I can let you have it for $175. $175? Thank you very much. Come along, Phoebe, we've got to get home. Don't be too disappointed, John. No, I'm really not disappointed. I knew it would be too much. Maybe next year we'll be able to afford a telescope. Not much chance of that. $175 is a lot of money, Phoebe, as much as I make in two months at the mill. Well, you'll be making more soon. I hope so. You're the best millwright in Pittsburgh. Everybody knows. The steel mill, the steel mill, Phoebe, is in the valley, deep down. How can I climb out of the valley? You do it every night? I come home. Home is where the stars shine. And brightly too. John, I wonder. What? If we can't afford to buy a telescope, why can't you build one? No, no, I couldn't do that. Why not? Well, you can't just build a telescope. It's not like building a house, Phoebe, where all you need is lumber and nails. Grinding a lens for a telescope is an art. It takes years of training. I still think you could do it. Why don't you try? No, no. But even if I were to try, where would I find the time to do it? After work. After work. Why, I don't get home until after seven. Eight before supper is finished. If I started then why, I'd have to work clear through the night. Why not? That's when the stars shine. At night. That's all John needed. That little show. We lived in a house high on a hill, just across the Monongahela, from the steel mill where John worked. One afternoon when I was alone in our house. Is this here the Brashare house? Yes. I've got a package here. You're all out of breath. Why don't you sit down on the porch for a moment? Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am. Ladies, this ain't no fitting place for human beings. Only mountain goats ought to live up this high. Excuse me, lady, but what's in the share box? A glass. What for? A telescope. For what? To see the stars. Lady, up this high, you don't need no glass to see the stars. Well, you got to pack and push them out of the way to get into the house. Mmm, that pie. Another slice, John? Oh no, no, I couldn't do it. No room. Well, let's get at the dishes. What do I do tonight? Wash or wipe? Neither. Right now, you walk. We're going to take a walk? Mm-hmm. But the dishes... Later. Come along. Where? To the workshed. Come along. Oh, it's lovely out there. If we only had a glass on a night like this... What would you do? All right, steal the rings off of Saturn and make a bracelet for my girl. Thank you, darling. Well, here's the workshed. Go in. The door's unlatched. Look. The glass I ordered. It came today. And it's uncrated. Mrs. Steiner helped me. We'll start on it tonight. You'll start on it now. Yeah, but the dishes... I'll look after the dishes. You look after the stars. And at night, every night, I worked on my lens. I read from a book and worked on my lens. When Phoebe was finished with the dishes, she'd come out and help me. Long into the night, we worked together. There. How does that look, John? Do you think the emery sludge is too thick? No, I think it's just about right. Yes, it is a little gritty. Let me have the water. You know something, Phoebe? I know that if you don't take your hand from around my waist, I won't be able to do my work. No, I'm serious. You're wonderful. Thank you, darling. In the book I took out of the library, it says that the working of the dampened emery over a glass surface requires a rare feeling, almost a genius. But you, you've picked it up in no time. Flattering me isn't going to finish off the surface of this glass one second sooner. I'll go on about your work. Now, don't you be giving me orders, young lady. Uncle John! Uncle John! Oh, that's Chickie. We're in the works yet, Chickie. Uncle John, you're going to tell us a story again tonight? Well, Chickie, I have a lot of... Mr. and Mrs. Malikowicz are here, and Jenny Laughlin, she's got it new fella, and Mom and Pop, and... oh, please, Uncle John. You got your admission ticket? Uh-huh. All right, plant it right here on my cheek, and then the show will go on. Mmm, that's a sticky one. Bet you had jelly donuts for dinner. We love these little interruptions. And even though it took precious time from our telescope, both John and I never disappointed our neighbors. When the night was clear and the haze of smoke had lifted, men from the steel mills, their wives, the youngsters, would sit on our porch and look up at the sky and listen as John took them along the pathway to the stars. So Galileo stared through his telescope, and the meaning of it all came to him, the full great meaning. These were moons whirling around Jupiter, and if Jupiter had moons, other planets would have moons. Yes, but how could that be? Wasn't the Earth the center of the universe? All planets, all heavenly bodies were supposed to circle around the Earth? Galileo then knew the answer. The Earth was not the center of the universe. The sun must be the center of our universe. Yes, and let me tell you something else. What was true for Galileo is just as true for each of us. Somewhere beneath the stars, there is something that you alone were meant to do. Never rest until you have found out what it is. We worked on our first five inch lens for two whole years, and finally we reached the time when we thought we had it finished. Oh, it looks perfect. Oh, sure it is. I'll loosen the vice. You lift it out for me. All right. Is it heavy? Two years of work is bound to be heavy. Let me have it. Oh, look out! John! Oh, John, it's smashed. I want to get out of here. John, I... Clear, isn't it? Yes. You hardly need a telescope on a night like this. You don't need one at all. We'll start another lens right away. Oh, Phoebe, no, two years. We know how to do it now. We just start all over. Every breathing day a person starts all over. John, think of it this way. The only thing that's smashed was a piece of glass. The stars are still there. Yeah. Yeah, and so are you. All right, Phoebe, we'll order another glass. And so we began our second attempt at making a five-inch telescope lens. Luckily it went a lot faster than the first. Phoebe was right about that. It was midsummer of 1875 that we finally fitted our glass into a nine-foot tube and turned its eye toward Saturn. Oh, it's beautiful, John. I've never seen anything more beautiful. Do you see the rings? As clear as if they were right across the valley. I promised you those rings for bracelets, remember? Well, they're yours. Oh, it's wonderful, darling. Just the two of us together sharing a planet. Uncle John! I think we'll have to cut the portions a little thinner. More shareholders coming in. We're upstairs, Chickie. Come on up. With everybody? Yeah, sure, everybody. Bring them all up. This is a fine place to be entertaining. Is it finished, Uncle John, the telescope? Sure, Chickie, all finished. Can I look, please? I certainly, everybody can look. Gee, it looks like it had a halo. Like it was an angel. Come on now, Chickie, don't hog it all to yourself. Let Mr. Schultz have his turn. You can come back later, my Nara. Our house makes you skulk. I, I look in here? Right in the eyepiece. Oh. Oh. Is it clear? God in heaven. What's wrong, Carl? John, once in Hamburg, when I was a boy, I looked through one of these. Yeah? Will you believe it, John? Here in this country, we got the same kind of stars they got in Germany. Across the valley of the Monongahela, high up on a summit known as Coal Hill, stood the round granite dome of the Allegheny Observatory. I'd never been there, although in my heart it represented my ultimate dream. Working there I knew was a great man of science, Samuel Pierpont Langley. Well, finally one day I screwed up my courage in carefully wrapping my lens in a pair of red flannels, with the buttons removed, of course. I made my way across the river and up the hill. You made this lens yourself? All by yourself? No, no, not by myself. Phoebe did as much as I did. Phoebe? My wife. Oh, I see. Well, I haven't seen so fine a surface on many a glass produced by the foremost lens makers of England and Germany. Certainly none made in this country. But it needs correction. Yes, yes, that's true. But I have a suggestion. Yes, sir? Instead of trying to correct this little lens, why don't you go to work on a reflecting telescope? A reflecting telescope? Such an instrument requires only one glass surface to correct, and you don't have to use expensive optical glass. But sir, that would mean using a silvered mirror. That's right. But it's a silver a mirror. I don't know how. I'll give you a book you can use. Read it, Brashear. And then I have a suggestion. Yes, sir? Put the book aside and develop your own ideas. Books are a record of what's been done. And that's important, but what needs doing and how to do it, you can't find that in books. Only one place to find them, Brashear, in your mind. Our DuPont Cavalcade continues, starring Barry Sullivan as Uncle John Brashear, with Clarenice Mason as Phoebe in Path to the Stars. I took Professor Langley's advice. I read the book and then I put it aside and developed my own method of silvering glass. It worked well. And soon our new 12-inch reflecting telescope was bringing new crowds and new friends to our little house on the top of the hill. One night after John had told his usual story of the stars, I noticed one stranger who couldn't seem to pull himself away from the telescope. Finally he looked up at John and introduced himself. Mr. Brashear, may I introduce myself? My name is Thor. Thor? William Thor? That's right, William Thor. I hear the man who gave a hundred thousand dollars toward the building of the Allegheny Observatory. It's a great pleasure to know you, sir. Thank you. I'll make some coffee. A little later, please. Right now I want to talk with you both. Let's sit down for a minute. Oh, Mr. Thor, you sit here, right here in the comfortable chair. Thank you. Brashear, you've got to have a better and larger workshop, better machinery, better equipment. I want you to present me with a detailed plan of what you need and exactly how much it'll cost. What I need? I have everything I need. Oh, you haven't anything near what you should have. I'm sorry, Mr. Thor, but all my life I've avoided going into debt. I'm not starting now. You don't have to go into debt. Building, expanding my work shed, putting in new machinery, well, that may cost thousands. I want to do it for you and not on the basis of a personal gift or loan or anything like that. On what basis then? On the basis of my desire and ability to do what I can in the interest of science. I'd consider that a great privilege, Mr. Brashear. But the money should be paid back. Oh, nonsense. If and when you find yourself embarrassed by riches, then I suggest you take a like sum of money and pass it on to some other deserving scientist. So it won't be a loan, merely a trust fund that you hold for the future. Well, what do you think, Phoebe? I think you should say yes, John. I think you must. All right, Mr. Thor, the answer is yes. And so we said yes. I still kept on at the mill. I had to. But after my day's work, when I stood at the bottom of the hill and looked far up to where the lights were shining from the windows of our house on Hull Street, I always smiled and fairly leaped upwards. For the winding road and the long flight of stairs was now truly my pathway to the stars. Hello, darling. Something good is cooking. Noised to stew. Ah, lead me to it. Just sit down and catch your breath. All right, all right. You know, Phoebe, I guess I'm getting old. Oh, nonsense. Oh, there's a letter here from Professor Langley. I didn't know. Professor Langley? Oh, yes, here it is. Let's see. American Association, Advancement of Science. Speak. Oh, no. There's something wrong, John. I can't do it. Do what? Phoebe, Professor Langley wants me to address the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. I can't do a thing like that, Phoebe. Well, why not? I just couldn't do it. Why, only the top scientists of the country, the world, will be at that meeting. How can I get up and talk to them? Easily. Just talk. Oh, you've learned a lot from your books, John. You have a good vocabulary. But you can do it. Oh, John, it's a great honor. Yes, of course it is, Phoebe, but... And no one has ever earned it better than you have. Phoebe... John, you must make the talk. And I'm going to be there to hear you make it. Mr. Chairman, gentlemen. It is the purpose of this paper to describe briefly a new method of producing accurate optical surfaces, both plane and curved. The hand and machine methods of past and present workers in this line of research shouldn't be forgotten, especially Foucault's method of focal corrections. John had on a high-stiff collar that I'd made him buy for the occasion. In the beginning, it seemed to be choking him. He kept running his fingers along its edge. He pulled at it, kept shifting his tie. But slowly, he lost his nervousness. And as he began to describe his own new methods for polishing telescope lenses, his voice became firm and sure. When he ended, I knew he was convincing. And I was very proud. Congratulations, John. Thank you, Mr. Thor. Your paper was excellent, John. It's nice of you to say that, Professor Langley. Well, come on, we're going to celebrate. The party's on me tonight. Oh, Mr. Thor, I'm afraid we'll have to turn you down. See, Phoebe and I have just enough time to catch the late train to Pittsburgh. I have to be back at the mill tomorrow morning. You're not going back to the mill. Not tonight, tomorrow, ever. We were going to hold off telling you until all the details were settled. Details of what? But you might as well know now. You're going to have a shop of your own, Brashear, a place large enough and good enough to make scientific glass for laboratories around the world, and a house right next to it for you and Phoebe. Oh, John. Right next to the observatory on a beautiful spot overlooking the Ohio. I'm sure you'll like it there, Phoebe. You and John, you like it because it's right smack on top of a hill. So we moved across the valley and high up another hill, and it was a new world, fantastically wonderful. A shop began turning out scientific instruments for observatories and laboratories around the world. Our glass became known from Cape Town to California. And then if ever, John should have known complete contentment. But somehow something was missing. I wondered about it and finally I found the answer. So hot today, I never thought it would cool off. Always pleasant here on the porch though. You're not going to the observatory tonight? Oh, no, no, not tonight. Phoebe, I'm just not in the mood. You haven't been in the mood for the last month. I know, something I can't understand. Somehow something is gone, Phoebe. What it is and why it is, I just don't know. You miss the old neighborhood, don't you? Yes, yes, I guess I do. I always mean to go back for a visit, see all our old friends, but I never can find time. I feel just the same way. Yes, it was wonderful there. All those years we had such...Phoebe, Phoebe, someone's coming. Yes. I look at all those carriages. Who is it? Well, if we couldn't get to Hold Street, I thought it would be nice to have Hold Street visit us. All our old friends, our old neighbors. I asked them to come. Phoebe. Hello, John. Uncle John. Uncle John. Tiki. Oh, jeez, good to see you, Uncle John. You too, you too. Mr. Shul Smitty. Everybody, hello, welcome. It's so good to see you all. And that night I told the story of the stars. One they had probably heard before and would hear again. And yet they sat quietly looking toward the heavens listening. And at the end of my little talk I remember, I remember I took Phoebe's hand in mine, turned toward all my friends and said, somewhere beneath the stars there is something that you alone were meant to do. Never rest until you've found out what it is. And thanks to Barry Sullivan, Claire Neeson, and the Cavalcade players for tonight's DuPont play, Path to the Stars. On Saturday, June 16th, the city of Newcastle, Delaware will celebrate the 300th anniversary of its founding. The history of this attractive city on the Delaware River is rich and varied. As was the case with so many of our communities in their early days, people of different nationalities came to live and work together in peace and harmony in Newcastle, notably Swedish and Dutch colonists. It was at Newcastle that William Penn landed in America in 1682. Today it's a progressive, typically American city with the traditions and charm of the past. The DuPont Company salutes a good neighbor, Newcastle, Delaware, on its 300th birthday. Tonight's DuPont Cavalcade, Path to the Stars, was written by Irv Tunick. It was composed by Arden Cornwell, conducted by Donald Borey. The program was directed by John Zoller. This is Cy Harris speaking. The DuPont Cavalcade of America comes to you from the Velasco Theater in New York and is sponsored by the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware, makers of better things for better living through chemistry. Hear the new Starlight concert with Carmen Dragon on NBC.
