The Cavalcade of America.
The Cavalcade of America.
Although it may seem late in the day to wish our listeners a Merry Christmas,
all of the people associated in producing The Cavalcade of America
hope that your Christmas has been full of joy for young and old.
This series presented by DuPont brings you true stories of the traits of character that have built our nation,
and nothing has been more important to the welfare and progress of America
than our growing appreciation of America's children,
as illustrated by this evening's dramatic episode.
And when we repeat DuPont's phrase, better things for better living through chemistry,
may we amplify it by saying that better living in America depends, first of all,
on the care that all of us devote to America's children.
Especially appropriate at Christmas time is Humperdinck's opera Hensel and Gratles.
Its charming music accompanies the adventures of the two children in the enchanted forest.
Our cavalcade orchestra will play some of the melodies from Hensel and Gratles.
The Hensel and Gratles
The Hensel and Gratles
The Hensel and Gratles
The Hensel and Gratles
The Hensel and Gratles
The Hensel and Gratles
No more devoted champions of humanity can be found in the world
than those Americans who have loved and coiled for children.
For children have had slight recognition by the state until fairly recently.
A Roman father might kill his child if he pleased.
An early 19th century father might let his son work 16 hours a day in a mine.
But in America, this situation was to change.
It is 1874 in New York City.
In a small shabby tenement room beside a woman's bed
kneels Mrs. Etta Wheeler, a voluntary missionary.
Isn't there something I can do? No messages to send to relatives?
I have no relatives. Or to friends.
I've been traveling so long they've forgotten me.
But yes, there is one thing. If you can help that unhappy child next door.
That unhappy child. Why do you think it is me?
Now it's the beginning. I think we'll go to her bathroom first. Poor little thing.
I'll listen to it night after night till I think I'll go mad.
But are you sure a child is being hurt? Way to be.
What that poor Mike must go through before she's strong enough to escape.
Oh, good heavens. And now he's flipping us. Listen.
Oh, I can't stand this. Where's the girl in that room?
Across the hall. Oh, thank God you'll go to her.
Let me in. Open the door, you brute. Let me in.
What do you want?
I'm not going to stand what I hear going on in this room. I'm coming in.
Sure, come ahead. Who cares? Look over my little palace and meet the kids.
You mean the...
Ah, I've got an Electro-Omster up a little drake. Bring in some, maybe?
Oh, you poor little bundle of rag. Can't you get up off the floor?
He didn't get it. He didn't get my dolly.
You had a dolly wanted.
A girl lived downstairs. Maybe that rag. My dolly was the only one who loved me.
Why did he want a girl?
He said to give it to him so I'd throw her out the window. Did it kill her?
No, dear. They're probably lying down on the floor. Come now, we'll go down and find her. I'll carry her.
No, don't touch me. I'm hurt.
Oh, my heavens. The welter on your shoulders and your back. Walk with me quietly.
Daddy says I can't leave. I can't ever leave in my whole life, because it's killing me.
Walk very quietly, dear. Open the door.
Well, what's this? Why is it where you're going?
I'm taking your child to find the nearest policeman.
Now, listen. Get out of here, you scrawly old fool.
Don't touch me.
Now, get out or I'll throw you downstairs.
No. Help. Help. Oh, somebody help.
Landon, look. What's the matter? Is Mrs. Wilson dying?
No. I'm running for a policeman.
Well, Officer McGowan is right out of the floor.
Oh, somebody. Can we do something?
Where's the fire, lady?
Help. Help. Police. Oh, officers.
What's the matter, lady? What happened?
Listen. Listen to that poor child.
Oh, that. Sure I know, Mom. It'll bring a man's heart until he's no strength left.
Then why don't you do something?
Why, Mom, there's nothing I can do.
To fix a man and his child is the law of the land, and we must bear it,
and listen to a child scream her life out.
According to law, there was nothing Mrs. Wheeler could do, but she was persistent,
and a few hours later, we find her at the office of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Mr. Gerry, I haven't come about either a dog or a horse, but a child.
A child? But, Madam, we have nothing to do with children here.
Doesn't anyone have help for children?
Mr. Gerry, I have seen it in the day so tragic that I tremble thinking of it.
In an East Side tournament, a child is being beaten every day.
I've been to the police. I've been to a magistrate. They can't save her.
I know how you feel, but we can do nothing.
The law in this country and in any other country won't interfere with families.
Is there no pity in this world for a helpless child?
Pity, but no law, I'm afraid. Now, in the case of Lansing versus Dennis, can we...
Mr. Gerry, you're a human being first and a lawyer afterwards.
I know that because of the wonderful work you've done aiding poor helpless animals.
You've got special humane offers where you can make a rest, haven't you?
Yes, but...
Send them for this child.
Why, I can't do that, Mrs. Wheeler. It's illegal.
She's dying. Not quickly. No sure knife thrust, no kindly pressure on a windpipe.
It's a slow death. By torture. She's being whipped so she's bleeding.
Stop, Mrs. Wheeler. Pritz, Peter.
What is it, Mr. Gerry?
An emergency case. We'll all go together.
A dog or cat, I'll get the cage.
Neither. A child.
A child, Mr. Gerry?
Yes. Don't ask me any questions. You'll be less responsible in court.
It's a good cause.
Mrs. Wheeler, for the first time in my life, I'm leaping into a thing and trying to think of a legal excuse for it afterwards.
A few minutes later, in the tenement apartment of the father and child.
Well, we got him locked in the other room all right, Mr. Gerry.
Peter will handle him there. He'll be ready to leave with the kid.
Good. Did you get the weapon and the scissors?
Yeah, here they are.
Well, there's some evidence anyway. Heaven knows if it'll do us any good if you want to have it up for abduction.
Yes, sir. There'll be plenty of trouble for this day's work.
What'll I ever say to a judge?
That's what we've all got to decide right now.
Oh, Mrs. Wheeler, how is she?
She's in five months. They was called water. Come, dear.
Why, she's a scrap the size of me, son.
What did I tell you?
Sure.
Where is he?
Your daddy, you mean?
He's not my daddy. Daddy's dead.
Oh. Then this man married your mother.
Mommy's dead too. Unadopted. Daddy thinks that's why I'm bad.
Oh, darling, you're not bad.
If only that brute couldn't have adopted her, who would let him?
He came to the orphanage, darling, and adopted me.
Can I go back to the orphanage, darling?
That's a plea we don't often hear. What's your name, child?
Mary Ellen.
Mary Ellen. Even with those tear stains and all the dirt,
you're as pretty and as dainty as a kitten.
As a kitten.
Why, there's our legal case.
What do you mean?
Mary Ellen is a small animal.
Of course, she has a mind and a soul too,
but the state hasn't yet learned to concern itself about that.
So the Supreme Court of the sovereign state of New York
will have to accept her as a small animal.
A small animal?
Yes. Come along now and we'll see about a new doll
in place of the one Mrs. Wheeler told me about.
For I think you're the prettiest small animal
I ever risked my legal standing for.
The case of Mary Ellen decided before the Supreme Court of New York State
sent her foster parents to prison for a year
and focused national attention on the need of mercy for helpless youth.
From it ruled a society for the prevention of cruelty to children,
an enduring monument to the humanitarian feeling of America.
Music
Tchaikovsky's ballet, The Nutcracker Suite,
portrays the story of a little girl who ate too many Christmas goodies.
She dreams on Christmas night that she again sees a tree lighter than all its glory,
and the toys and the dolls are holding a fairy revel,
led by Nutcracker, Prince of Fairyland.
Our DuPont Cavalcade Orchestra plays the waltz of the flowers from The Nutcracker Suite.
Music
Tchaikovsky's ballet, The Nutcracker Suite, plays the waltz of the flowers from The Nutcracker Suite.
Music
Tchaikovsky's ballet, The Nutcracker Suite, plays the waltz of the flowers from The Nutcracker Suite.
Music
Tchaikovsky's ballet, The Nutcracker Suite, plays the waltz of the flowers from The Nutcracker Suite.
Music
Tchaikovsky's ballet, The Nutcracker Suite, plays the waltz of the flowers from The Nutcracker Suite.
Music
The American cavalcade moves onward.
In the present-day records of the juvenile court,
can be found some of the most impressive examples of America's concern for its boys and girls.
In this evening's second episode, the time is the present.
The first scene is a dark city street at midnight.
In front of the doorway of a small grocery store,
five boys, aged from nine to fourteen, huddled together first.
The scene is a dark city street at midnight.
The scene is a dark city street at midnight.
The scene is a dark city street at midnight.
The scene is a dark city street at midnight.
The scene is a dark city street at midnight.
The scene is a dark city street at midnight.
The scene is a dark city street at midnight.
The scene is a dark city street at midnight.
Maybe he's got a reason.
Yeah, he's always got a reason.
Chicky-tongued brat, if he is my son.
You must be feeling worse tonight, ain't you, Pa?
Ain't no worse than usual, Mary.
Oh, there he is.
Oh, you're back, Jimmy.
Ah, too quiet, Jimmy.
Well, I know he's gonna draw me for being late,
but he better not try to pace me anymore.
I'll pace him.
If I had my strength back, I'd...
I was just coming past Vita's Market,
and the front glass is all smashed out.
Must have been some bases in there.
Been it with Johnny.
He's got almost an hour from the cash register.
Oh, how awful.
Where you going, Jimmy?
In the bedroom.
Ain't it all right if I comb my hair?
I'll go in and talk to him.
I know he's sorry already, John,
for the way he talked to you.
Yeah.
Sure is sweet around here, Pa,
since you and Jimmy got to fighting all the time.
Oh, Jimmy!
What's the matter?
Oh, he's got it.
Jimmy's got the money.
It's in there.
I might have known it.
A thief.
Well, what's all the row about?
I'll take it back to old man Ryder.
Yes, you will.
The police will be here any minute.
And after we got you out of the trouble
you was in before, you're ganged, Jimmy.
Buying off the fruit store, man,
so he wouldn't tell the police.
You'll go to jail for this,
and I hope you do.
I hope you do.
Oh, no, John.
Not your own boy.
Yes, I hope he does.
He's been aching for it,
and I hope they pick him up.
Okay.
Well, I hope they do, too.
Come on, John.
Jimmy was raped and arrested.
An apparently hopeless case.
A few days later, in a juvenile courtroom...
The history of James Martin, age 10.
Is that what you want, Dad?
Yes.
We had his complete physical examination.
It's here, with the laboratory test and results.
And the recommendations.
Here's the caseworker's report on his home.
You've already seen that.
Yes.
How did his mental rating come out?
Above normal.
Hm.
Wouldn't think so from this report, Karen.
Well, I may as well start the case.
Throw the mother in.
Yes, Dad.
This is Martin's name.
Oh, Your Honor.
Your Honor, if my husband loses his temper in the courtroom
and asks for the boy to be sent to a farm school,
don't listen to him.
Oh, please, please.
Martin, don't worry.
I've only called you in to ask you not to mind
if Jimmy is held a few days in a detention home.
That's not the farm school.
It's connected only with his court.
We might keep him a few days while we study how to break the gang.
No, that's the gang.
Beyond that, I suppose you might check with me
the accuracy of the support on Jimmy's home life.
I'll read it.
His father, a chronic invalid from rheumatism,
teases and bullies him.
He was kept out of school at one time last year
until he fell behind the grave.
As he is bright, school now bores him.
The root of his problem is his defiance of his father.
Whoever wrote that saw the truth.
What do you think we should do, Mrs. Martin?
I don't know.
Seems like only yesterday he was the prettiest, sweetest baby he ever saw.
And now it's too late.
Well, Mrs. Martin, that's something this court very rarely admits.
And it's too late to help a boy.
It's something I don't ever want to hear a mother admit.
I'm sorry, sir.
That's in this case history about you,
but you despair too easily.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Well, that's all.
I want to talk to your son alone.
Yes, sir.
When does court start?
Why, it has started.
This is court.
Yes, sir.
Where's the big desk and the people?
We don't have any big desks or any people.
This is a children's court.
And we don't care to frighten them.
Oh.
That's all, Mrs. Martin.
Thank you for calling.
Yes, sir.
You can use this other door.
Oh, thank you.
Goodbye, Mrs. Martin.
Goodbye, and God bless you.
Jimmy Martin.
Hello, son.
You gonna send me up?
What?
Am I going to the pen?
Heavens no.
Sit down there.
Make yourself comfortable.
There's no use asking about the sick ups, I've been in,
because I won't tell.
I see.
Well, then we'll just skip all that and start with the press.
Jimmy, you've got quite a gang, haven't you?
Yeah, they're tough guys.
How many are there?
Five?
Seven.
See them are older than me, too.
They call me Chief.
And Chief Martin?
Nah, just Chief.
Last year, Jimmy, when an officer of the Crime Prevention Bureau was in your neighborhood,
he tried to get your gang to join a boys' club down there,
and you wouldn't let them.
Now, why was that?
Ah, we knew what that flat foot was after.
Trying to break that stuff.
I hear he wanted to teach you how to play baseball.
That's what he gave.
Now, wait a minute.
It takes a lot of muscle to play baseball.
Let's feel your muscle.
Hold out your arms.
Hmph.
Faw.
I ain't sure.
Boys' club you wouldn't join.
It turned out a first-class baseball team in one year.
We could beat them without looking at them.
I'd like to see you try that sometime.
What are you trying to get me into, Judge?
You said you could beat them.
Suppose you try it.
We'd have to have a while of getting shade.
You can have a month.
You can stay at one of our boarding homes and sing.
And, Jimmy, if you lose the game, I become head of the gang.
What do you mean, Judge?
If you've been a good chief, the boys will win.
If you've been a bad one, you'll lose.
You can't have a gang unless you know how to run it.
That's all.
You may go.
Yeah, but don't you want to hear about how I opened the cash register?
Can I pick up a rock as big as this and heave it to the window?
No, I'm not interested in that.
Only in how you're going to come out in this baseball game.
When you've played that, son, we'll have another talk.
For a month, Jimmy prepared for the great ball game that was to prove his ability as a leader.
A month later, in the juvenile court, the judge talks to Mr. Martin.
He's a spirited boy, Mr. Martin, with a strong love of adventure in him.
And he didn't have any way to take it out.
Yes, I know.
I didn't help him any.
That side of a boy has to come out engaged.
I have to talk to fathers about that.
A mother can't help.
Now, so many fathers neglect their sons because they have to work too hard.
I know you've got a better excuse.
I guess I let my rheumatism give me too much of a grudge.
Well, the clinic will help your rheumatism.
In the meantime, never too late for a fresh start.
Why, I've got more hope than I've had in months, Judge.
I was so proud of you.
You done your diet when I thought that you'd gone wrong on me so early.
Well, he didn't go wrong.
You've got a great boy.
Good luck, Martin.
Thanks.
You're right.
Jimmy Martin.
Well, how's the manager of the Chicago Cubs feeling today?
Ah, gee.
I can't figure out what happened.
I hear your pitching was pretty wild.
Well, sort of.
But they had all a break.
Jimmy Martin, that's the first thing I've heard you say that I didn't like to hear.
A good ballplayer stands up to a thing.
You were licked, weren't you?
Well, admit it.
All right.
But gosh, Judge, when Darlan went to play second baseman, hit that two-bed with a seven,
there was always lark.
I'm afraid you and your boys wouldn't be much help to Mickey Cochran out of training.
I feel awful about it, Judge.
I don't blame you.
Well, what are you going to do?
What are you going to do?
You and your gang, I mean my gang now,
are going to train every day at the boys' club.
You'll spend a good bit of time with your probation officer, and, oh, yes, you're moving home.
Your father's missing.
He what?
He was over here talking to me about it.
He's awfully fond of you, Jimmy.
He's a good guy.
Your dad doesn't feel so well, you know.
He needs all the help you can give him.
Well, you going to try to go straight for it?
Gee, I don't know.
I decided to do a thing last year, you see.
So I got to make up my mind.
Well, you think it over for a minute.
Well, the only thing I like to be besides a gangster is an airmail pilot.
Well, Jimmy, you ought to know a lot about motors, all kinds, if you're going to fly.
How would you like to go to a class at a good trade school in the early evening?
Why, sure, but if it costs anything...
Oh, no, it won't cost a thing.
You're going into a special class at your own grade school for a while, too,
which you'll catch up with your right class.
How about it, Jimmy?
Sure, I'll do it.
No hard feelings, I hope, about that baseball game.
Hardly, no, Judge. I can take it.
So I think we're still friends.
You bet we are.
Raise hands on it, Judge.
The humanitarian earth, the desire to protect those weaker than themselves,
that is a civilizing and ennobling influence in the hearts of Americans today.
Nowhere has it shown itself more clearly than in the great legal and social protection given to children,
those young citizens of our nation, to whom we must pass the leadership of the cavalcade of America.
America has learned, is still learning, how to care for and appreciate America's children.
And on Christmas Day, which belongs to children more than any other day of the year,
we should devoutly hope that the grownups of America and of the world
will never forget their responsibility to the coming generations.
If the world is to be worth living in tomorrow, today's children must be happy and healthy,
must be allowed to grow mentally and spiritually.
The youngster who is out playing today should in a few years be devoting that energy to engineering,
science, medicine, architecture, chemistry, or some other useful pursuit.
Naturally, we of DuPont like to think of him as a chemist.
Each year from leading universities, fine young fellows come into our research laboratories
or join some other part of our organization.
It is a great pride to us to see them develop into men whose contribution of many products
useful in the daily life of everyone is summed up in DuPont's phrase,
we need to do things for better living through chemistry.
Music
Next week at this same time, DuPont will again present the cavalcade of America.
This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.
Music
WABC, New York