Starring Raymond Massey in A Tooth for Paul Revere,
Steven Vincent Benet for The Cavalcade of America.
You may think this isn't a true story, but if you do,
never mention it over Massachusetts way,
because the
people around Concord in Lexington and Boston know that it did happen.
There are monuments and placards to commemorate it.
Monuments to the minutemen who fired the shot heard round the world.
The shot that told the nation that America had taken her stand for liberty.
But, uh, confidentially, it all began with Lige Butterwick.
Lige lived on a farm about eight miles out of Lexington, Massachusetts,
and he was a peaceable man.
But one morning, he was caught in a
bad toothache.
Ouch!
Now, Lige, you just hold still and keep that bag of salt on your cheek.
I got it real nice.
You'll need it.
Don't worry.
You'll be fine.
You'll be fine.
Oh, and don't forget that you're not the only one who's not going to be in the
hospital.
I'm sure you'll be fine.
I'll be fine.
I'll be fine.
You'll be fine.
Now, Lige, you just hold still and keep that bag of salt on your cheek.
I got it real nice and hot again.
Thanks, Hannah.
Yeah, you certainly got it hot.
Is it any?
I said, does it ease it any?
Not one darn concern, ding-busted Mike.
Lige Butterwick.
I'm sorry, Hannah.
I'm not a profane man, mostly, but this tooth...Hannah, take that cat right outside, Hannah.
She's meowing and stamping around here like a herd of elephants.
Will you take that cat outside of...
Oh, no.
Hannah.
Now, Lige Butterwick, you listen to me and it's getting so you're not a bit company
for a Christian woman.
Guess you're right, Hannah, but when it jumps like that...
Well, it isn't going to jump like that.
I'm going to saddle up the horse and ride into Lexington and have it out this morning.
And while you're away, perhaps I can get some work done without hearing your darn concerns
every living moment.
Aim to plow the South Field today.
Lige Butterwick.
Cost money to get your tooth pulled.
Cheap at the price.
Oh.
All right, Hannah, a tooth's a tooth.
Guess it better.
Now, you go right down to Barbara Joe's and when it's out, don't you stay too long with
those Liberty boys at the tavern.
They're a wild lot.
And if you...
Morning, Lige.
Morning, Eben.
Going to Lexington?
Might be.
Law business?
Ahem.
Ah.
Ah, looks kind of painful.
Is.
Well, Barbara Joe can fix it for you, I guess.
Say, Lige.
Huh?
Decided yet about joining the Minutemen?
Not yet.
Like to have you, Lige.
Appreciate it.
Ain't decided yet.
The way I figure it is, trouble's coming.
We can't let other folks tramp on us.
The way I figure it is, nobody's going to tramp on me, but I'm still making up my mind.
Ah.
Well, man's got a right to do that.
Morning, Eben.
Got to be getting on to Barbara Joe's.
Morning, Lige.
Now.
Well, lucky to catch me, Lige.
Got to go to Parson Clerg song for an important customer.
You sit right down in this chair, I'll be with ya.
Now...
Open wide.
Ah.
Well, certainly it is a tooth.
The concern that I know it's a tooth...
Thing is, can you pull her or can't you?
That's all I want to know.
I can pull her, Lige.
She's a block and tackle if I have to.
She's got long roots and strong roots.
She's gonna leave an awful gap.
Now, what you really need, though it's taking away my business,
is one of these here artificial teeth to go in that gap.
Artificial teeth?
That's flying in the face of nature.
No, it ain't, Lige.
Artificial teeth is all the go these days.
Do me good to see you with an artificial tooth?
I might do you good, but supposing I did want one.
How in Tunkett could I get one here in Lexington?
You just leave that to me.
You have to go to Boston for it, but I know just the man.
His name's Revere.
They say he's a boss workman.
Just take a look at this here prospectus.
Whereas many persons are so unfortunate as to lose their four teeth,
that's you, Lige, to their great detriment not only in looks but in speaking,
this is to inform all such that they may have them replaced by artificial ones.
See?
I look as well as the natural teeth.
He's got his name here, Paul Revere Silversmith,
here the head of Dr. Clark's Wharf, Boston, Mass.
Silversmith.
Never heard of him.
What's a silversmith got to do with teeth?
Oh, you don't know Paul Revere.
He's a regular wizard, a regular wizard with his tools.
Well, I don't hold with wizard, and I never heard of this Revere.
But I guess I'll take your advice, Joe, and thank you.
You'll never regret it, Lige.
Good morning, Paul.
Oh!
Oh!
I'm sorry, Lige.
I didn't mean to bump into you.
That's all right, youngster, but next time you bump into a man with a toothache,
just bump a little easier, will you?
What's all the commotion about?
Commotion, mister?
I said commotion.
This used to be a town that tended to its own business.
Now it's all stirred up.
Why, why haven't you heard the great news, mister?
It's a secret, of course, but...
Come here, son.
Excuse me, sir, but I've often told the boy not to talk to strangers.
Hard to tell whose friend or enemy these days.
I don't remember seeing you in Lexington before.
Name's Lige Butterwick.
Don't get into town very often.
Butterwick, yeah?
Well, Mr. Butterwick, my advice to you is to go right back where you came from.
Very choosy about strangers right now in Lexington.
Now, mister, I am a peaceful man, and I don't want any quarrels,
but nobody's gonna tell me what to do and where to go.
If I didn't have a toothache and wasn't going to Boston to get Paul Revere to fix it...
Paul Revere!
Please, Mr. Butterwick, speak just a little lower.
If I'd known you were one of our men, I'd never have spoken as I did.
But I've just come from Mr. Hancock and Mr. Adams.
They're staying at Parson Clocks.
And I didn't see you there.
Guess I wasn't there to see.
That's right.
Don't give anything away.
Well, what in tank it?
Just because a man wants to get his tooth pulled by a fellow named Revere?
That stupid expression of yours, Mr. Butterwick, must be worth a fortune to you as a secret
agent.
Huh?
I don't want to hear you any longer.
I know you want to be off.
I just tell Mr. Revere that we all want to see that tooth pulled.
Every true son of liberty in Lexington.
Well, that's real neighborly of you, but...
No more words.
Hey, William, hold Mr. Butterwick's horse.
Godspeed, Mr. Butterwick.
Thank you.
Huh?
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
Beep, beep.
You are listening to A Tooth for Paul Revere, an original play by Steven Vincent Benet, starring
Raymond Massey on the cavalcade of America, sponsored by the DuPont Company, makers of
better things for better living through chemistry.
And now as we return to our story, we find Lodge Butterwick in Boston, stopping at a tavern
for a bite and a sup before he goes on to see Paul Revere.
Find a veil, please, and some bread and cheese.
Find ale, please.
Heard you the first time.
There.
Thank you.
Well, here's to Boston.
Been in Boston long, stranger?
First time in four years.
Looks kind of changed, if you ask me.
Maybe you tell us just how Boston's changed, stranger.
Well, that's hard for me to say, but of course there's all these soldiers in the streets.
And there's the ships in the harbor with their guns pointed right at the city.
Never seen that before.
What's all about?
Ship called Somerset, seer from the road.
Guns pointed right at the city.
Better change your conversation, stranger.
That'll be a shilling.
You got it?
Oh, sure, sure.
Well, beautiful weather we're having.
Bitter weather for Boston.
May be for Boston, but out in the country we'd call it good planting weather.
Oh, yes, I was mistaken in you.
It is good planting weather for some kinds of trees.
And what kinds of trees were you thinking of, neighbor?
You needn't poke me in the ribs like that, friend.
I was thinking of...
There's trees and trees, you know.
Well, I know that.
You needn't poke me neither.
You in the blue coat.
As I was saying...
The Liberty Tree.
May it soon be watered with the blood of Tyrant.
The Royal Oak.
And God save King George.
Royal Oak!
You leave me alone!
Take your hands off me!
Well, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
There's half my Sunday coat gone galley west.
And all over planting trees.
Are all the folks in Boston crazy?
Yeah, friend.
Let me help you up.
I'm glad to help any man against these Boston rebels.
Well, I don't know about rebels, but I come here to get my toothpicks.
I wonder if you could help me.
You see, I come to see a fella named Paul Revere.
Paul Revere?
I'll be glad to tell you how to find him.
You see those soldiers of the king over there?
Yeah.
Well, you go right over to one of them and say, hey, lobsterback.
Oh, why do I call him that?
From their red coats.
And the minute the soldier hears it, he'll know just the sort of man you are.
He'll see you get to Paul Revere or wherever else you ought to be.
Lobsterback.
Lobsterback.
Yeah.
Well, much obliged, dear friend.
Out where I live, we don't know all these fancy Boston names for soldiers.
You just try this one.
Try it and see.
Lobsterback.
Lobsterback.
Hey, excuse me, Mr. Lobsterback.
Sergeant, he called me a lobsterback.
Just as bold as brass.
What, Mr. Lobsterback?
I'm an American citizen.
You let go of my coat.
Here, put your hands up.
This Clark's wharf?
What's the matter?
Can't you read the sign?
Why, sure.
Sure.
Number 27.
Must be Paul Revere.
Afternoon, Mr. Revere.
What a fine shop you got here.
But you look kind of young to be...
Oh, Master Revere's over there, sir.
Behind the counter.
Excuse me, my business.
Brooknotely.
Oh, Mr. Revere.
Yes, Mr. Beckett?
Powder.
300.
Wait for the Sons of Liberty.
I'll attend to it.
Mr. Revere.
Mr. Revere.
Master Revere, where is he?
I must see him at once.
Can't you just hold your horses one minute, lady?
I was here before.
Stand out of my way, my good man.
Now, Master Revere, I am so disappointed in you.
Oh, I'm sorry for that, madam.
But why?
That silver service you made me, I wanted the best.
I certainly paid for the best.
And what have you given me?
My best work, madam.
It was in my hands for six months.
Six months, indeed.
Why, it looks like something made for the lower classes.
I wanted something I could show the governor.
But this, this is as plain as dirt and as simple as a picket fence.
Simple and plain.
Well, you pay me high compliments, madam.
Compliments?
I'm sending it back tomorrow.
But there isn't as much as a coat of arms on the cream jug.
I told you I wanted a sugar bowl covered with silver grapes.
The service goes back.
I'll send to Italy instead.
Send away, madam.
We are making new things in this country.
Silver is clean and plain as the New England hills.
And we may make a new nation, too.
But as for you, with your coats of arms and your grapes and your lower classes, I chase
you out of my shop.
I've never been so insulted in my life.
Out of my shop.
Oh, I'm sorry.
That's a relief.
All right, you can put up the shutters, Peter.
We'll shut for the day.
Yes, Mr. Revere.
Peter, no word yet from Dr. Warren?
Good for you, Mr. Revere.
What's that?
I said good for you.
The way you stuck up to that lady about things and things.
Well, thank you, my friend.
And who in the world are you?
Well, that's kind of a long story, Mr. Revere.
It is Mr. Revere, isn't it?
Mm-hmm.
But closing or not, you'll have to listen to me.
The barber told me so.
Barber?
What barber?
Barbara Jo.
Oh, eh, eh, eh, eh.
You're what?
My tooth.
Went into Lexington this morning with a spitting toothache.
Lexington?
Quick, man.
You were there this morning?
That's just what I'm telling you.
When I went into Barbara Jo's, I said to him, Jo, I said...
Man, man, don't waste your words.
There's a revolution boiling in this country.
Were Hancock and Adams still a Parson Clarks?
Would you mind just saying those names again?
Good heavens, is there a man in the American colonies who doesn't know John Hancock and
Sam Adams?
Well, there seems to be me.
What?
No, come to think of it, yeah, there was two strangers staying at the Parsonage.
Hancock and Adams still there.
The British ready to march, they must be warned.
Did you see many soldiers as you came to my shop, Mr. Butterwick?
See them?
They chased me into a tire barrel.
There was a whole passel of them up by the common.
Looked as if they meant business.
They do mean business.
Mr. Butterwick, you may not know it, but you have done the colonies an invaluable service.
Hancock and Adams shall be warned.
Well, that's very nice, Mr. Revere, but what about my tooth?
Oh, well, you're a stubborn man, Mr. Butterwick, but all the better.
I like stubborn men.
We're going to need them in America.
And as you've helped me, I'll do my best to help you.
Now, I've made artificial teeth, but pulling them is hardly my trade.
Still, just open wide for a moment.
All right.
Oh.
Mr. Butterwick, it seems to be a compound, a glutinated infraction of an upper molar.
Afraid I can't do very much about it tonight, but here's a little medicine that may make
you more comfortable.
Smells like sherry wine.
It's got a queer, sleepy taste to it.
Yeah, that's right.
I put up my own prescriptions, too.
Now I look for some liniment for you.
Mr. Revere.
Yes, I'll find it in a moment.
It ain't that.
It's a queer kind of shop you got here, Mr. Revere.
A minute ago, I could have sworn I saw something move in that cupboard, something with legs.
And say, what's in that little bottle there, Mr. Revere?
What, that?
Oh, that's just a little experiment of mine.
I call it Essence of Boston.
There's a good deal of East Wind in it, though.
Essence of Boston.
Well, they did say you was a wizard, and I'll believe it.
It's genuine magic, I suppose.
Genuine magic, of course.
And here's the box for the liniment.
Much obliged.
But what's this other little box, the silver one?
Pick it up.
Mighty pretty work.
Yeah, it's my own design.
See those stars around the edge?
Thirteen of them.
And the eagle?
But what's in it?
What's all around us, Mr. Butterwick?
Gunpowder and war, the making of a new nation.
But the time isn't quite ripe yet.
Not quite ripe.
You mean, you mean this here revolution folks keep talking about?
You got it shut up in this box?
Why, I could let...
Master, master, a message from Dr. Warren.
Give it to me, boy.
Peter, get my riding boots.
Hurry.
I'm sorry, Mr. Butterwick, but I just received a very important message.
Peter, my boots.
Get my boots.
I may have to ride all night.
But Mr. Revere, what about my tooth?
It hurts.
Sadly?
Mr. Butterwick, it's often like that.
Something hurts and you don't know why.
Something stirs and you don't know why.
It may be a tooth or a country, but when it hurts, you know.
You're a farmer, Mr. Butterwick?
Yes, sir.
Farmed all my life.
Aimed to be a peaceful man.
Uh-huh.
And there are so many of you, so many who wanted to be peaceable.
And yet, it isn't till you waken that a country wakens.
You understand me, Mr. Butterwick?
Takes me a little time, but I'm starting to.
Yeah, I'm starting to.
All right, then you take this box, Mr. Butterwick.
Here, hold it in your hand.
Now I'll have to leave you, but you can stay here till you feel that you have to go.
Bring the box to me when you feel like it.
I'm trusting it to you, to your sanity and common sense in the way you feel about your
neighbors.
My boots, Peter.
My riding boots.
Must have gone to sleep.
But where am I?
Seems like a dream.
He told me I could stay here till I felt I had to go.
And he put the box in my hand.
But good glory, it's the box with the revolution inside it.
Now what am I going to do?
Gunpowder and war and the making of a new nation.
It's a mighty, dreadful responsibility, Lodge Butterwick.
Of course, maybe he was fooling me.
No, there's something inside it all right.
Ain't got a keyhole, but maybe if I put my ear to it and listen, there's musket fire
or I'm a Dutchman.
And that's people cheering.
Hold your fire, men.
Don't fire unless you're fired upon.
But if they want a war, let it begin here.
Great glory, oh, my.
It's true.
But what can I do about it?
Wish Mr. Revere was here because, oh, what can I do?
Dwarf, dwarf, the enemy are coming.
Dwarf.
So that's it.
So that's why he called for his riding boots.
But he's not me.
He's another sort of man.
Well, there's plenty of us around Lexington and we got guns.
But I never aim to fight and die.
I just aim to farm.
What was it that fellow Revere said?
He said he couldn't do it all.
Said it wasn't till folks like me wake up that a country wakens.
Yeah, that's what he said.
Doesn't it mean something?
I'm a peaceable man, but to chase me into a tar barrel, shouldn't do things like that
to a man.
Why, I?
I'm not a British or even a colonist.
I'm a New Englander.
And maybe there's something beyond that, something that Hancock and Adams knows about.
And if it has to come with a revolution, well, I guess it has to come.
We got to start being American sometime in this country.
To build a new country and build it clean and plain.
Where's Paul Revere?
I got to find Paul Revere.
But you got to let me have a boat, lady.
No, you don't get any boats for me.
There was a crazy man along here an hour ago and he wanted a boat across the river and my
husband was crazy enough to take him.
And they tore up my best bare petticoat to muffle the office.
Was his name Revere, Paul Revere?
I don't care what his right name was.
My best bare petticoat.
Keep your head down.
That's in the British fleet.
If I hadn't seen the color of your money, I'd turn back.
I don't think it's private, friend.
What's that light over there?
Night in the Old North Church.
I wonder why they got it light tonight.
I don't like it.
You keep quiet or we'll never get to shore.
Miss Charleston.
What do you expect it to be?
New Orleans?
That's your horse that's hitched there?
Sure, it's my horse.
I'm taking it.
Why, say, what do you think you're doing?
What do you expect it to be?
It's the American Revolution and we're taking your horse.
Come on, get out.
Come on.
Boy, hey there.
You in the window.
Has Paul Revere been by here?
What, sir?
Has a man been by here?
A man and a horse named Paul Revere.
Well, there was some crazy galook come through here on a horse about an hour ago, yelling
and waking folks up.
But I'm so deep I didn't hear a word he said.
Old, old did I say.
Ever jumped horses?
Hedges horse?
Well, nearer I, but here goes.
Old, right far.
Boy, well, dawn's up anyhow.
Tony, where are we?
Hey, Miss.
Did you hear me yesterday?
How far am I out of Lexington?
Just about a mile by the side road.
But don't you want to stop at the house?
Your horse looks tired to death and there's blood on your coat.
Got no time to stop.
Got the American Revolution with me.
Mr. Revere, Mr. Revere.
Good heavens, it's my friend with a toothache.
What brings you here, Mr. Butterwick?
Gets us the same errand you had.
Did you get to Hancock and Adams?
Yeah, they're warned.
And you've done your country a great service, Mr. Butterwick.
The British caught me near Concord and let me go again.
But if it hadn't been for you,
I'd never have gotten to Lexington on time.
Well, you better take this horse of mine.
He's blown, but there's work left in him.
By the way, Mr. Revere, I got a little boxy horse.
You know what's in it?
Yes, I know now.
And I know what's over there in Lexington Green.
There's soldiers over there, Mr. Revere.
Regular soldiers.
And there's neighbors of mine that I know.
Do you see him standing up to those regulars, Mr. Revere?
And do you hear what they're saying?
Disperse, you rebels.
Hold your fire, men.
Yeah, I hear and I see.
Then here goes with a little box.
You know what you've done?
You've let out the American Revolution.
Well, I guess it was about time.
And I guess I'll go along to the green.
I can borrow a gun over there, and I guess I'll need it.
But your tooth, Mr. Butterwick, after all...
Oh, a tooth's a tooth, but a country's a country.
And we're going to make this one right
and make it here and now.
In a few moments, we will hear again from our star, Raymond Massey.
In the meantime, a brief story of how DuPont Photographic Microfilm is safeguarding today's
vitally important plans and records.
Before a bombing plane can be built, draftsmen must make 60,000 mechanical drawings.
30 tons of blueprints must be made before the building of a battleship is completed.
In the Library of Congress are copies of nearly 10 million books.
In the public and private archives of the nation is stored the recorded knowledge on
which the cultural and industrial life of the nation is based.
If enemy bombs should destroy these priceless records, how would we duplicate them?
A bombed building can be built up again, but ideas, designs, patents, formulae, masterpieces
of architecture may be lost to us forever.
Today, invaluable records of this sort are photographed on microfilm.
An entire drawing, even a whole page of a newspaper may be copied on a tiny piece of
film no larger than a postage stamp.
A plant manufacturing machine tools found itself with 400,000 charts that took up 1,500
square feet of floor space.
Reduced to microfilm, the whole lot could be stored away in two drawers of a letter
file.
Telephone companies, water companies, gas and electric corporations today are microfilming
their records.
If a city is bombed, repair crews will know just where to go to repair breaks, even if
original engineering plans and records are damaged or lost.
Records which must be added to or changed are re-photographed periodically and kept
up to date.
Some utility companies are doing this every six months.
The DuPont Company also has microfilmed under strictest surveillance all of its engineering
drawings.
Banks photograph checks for a permanent record that can be filed away without taking up room.
Letters written by soldiers abroad are microfilmed so that a single airplane bound for home can
carry the equivalent of tons of mail.
The Army and Navy are making other uses of the film that can't be told until the war
is over.
Newspapers from 37 countries are now available through Harvard's microfilm service.
The secret of microfilm is an ultra-fine grain emulsion with what photographers call high-resolving
power and inherent contrast.
That is, it can record extremely fine detail, so fine that in reducing a drawing to the
size of a pinhead, one-nineth-hundredth of the original area, and then enlarging it,
all of the essential detail is preserved.
Furthermore, this film has a tough surface that reduces the possibility of scratches
and lengthens its life.
Made by DuPont, it is called DuPont Safety Microcopy.
Microcopy film is a DuPont contribution to better things for better living through chemistry.
Ladies and gentlemen, here is our star, Raymond Massey.
Thank you, Mr. Collier.
I found it a great pleasure to play Lige Butterwick on the cavalcade tonight.
I even like playing his toothache.
For men like Lige are the salt of the earth, free men, slow to anger and strong of purpose.
They made this country what it is, and men like them will keep it that way.
I'd also like to thank the cavalcade players for their generous help.
Thank you, Mr. Massey.
And now, news about next Monday's program.
Our star will be Claudette Colbert.
Our play, Remember the Day, a play full of tenderness and meaning about a school teacher
who helped mold the life of a great American.
It is adapted from 20th Century Fox's motion picture of the same name.
Don't forget next Monday on the cavalcade of America, the lovely star Claudette Colbert
in Remember the Day.
The orchestra and original score on tonight's program were under the direction of Don Voorhees.
DuPont is happy to announce that Raymond Massey is now to be seen in Cecil B. DeMille's production,
Reap the Wild Wind.
On the cavalcade of America, your announcer is Clayton Collier, sending best wishes from
DuPont.
This program came to you from New York.
This is the National Broadcasting Company.