Remember a Hallmark card when you carry enough to send the very best. In the Mississippi bubble on the Hallmark Playhouse, greatest stars in outstanding stories chosen by one of the world's best known authors. The distinguished novelist, Mr. James Hilton. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is James Hilton. Tonight on our Hallmark Playhouse, we take you to the world of the 18th century and to the story of a remarkable Scotsman about whom opinion is divided even today. Some say that he had the right ideas if only they'd been given a fair chance. Others think his schemes were questionable from the outset. All, however, are agreed that he was a genius in high finance. And of high finance, it has been well said that the higher it goes, the fewer are the people who really understand it. Anyhow, his life story was dramatic and the havoc he created was of historical importance. As a basis for our dramatization tonight, we have used Emerson Huff's fictional biography entitled The Mississippi Bubble. And to play the part of John Law, we are happy to have with us that fine actor and Academy Award winner, Raimi Land. And now here is Frank Goss from the makers of Hallmark cards. One of the particular joys of Christmas is sending and receiving Christmas cards. While the pleasure Christmas cards bring can ever be measured, isn't it good to know that Hallmark cards are priced the same this year as they were last year and the year before and the year before that? And that the quality of Hallmark cards has constantly improved throughout the years. Yes, today, just as for many Christmas seasons, that Hallmark on the back of your card is looked for and welcomed. It tells your friends you cared enough to send the very best. And now Hallmark Playhouse presenting Emerson Huff's The Mississippi Bubble, starring Raimi Land. John Law was a hero while he was climbing and while others were climbing with him. But when he fell, he was immediately a naïve in the eyes of those who had followed him blindly and greedily. We see him now in Paris in the year 1720, besieged in his own house with a mob shouting outside. God, Monsieur Law, they shall have it if it pleases them. Perhaps if you talk to them, if you explain that it is not your fault that the bank has failed, that the Mississippi bubble is going to burst. Talk to them. There's not a voice in France that they would listen to now. Perhaps we could still escape through the passage under the house. I'll not run from them.  Monsieur, do you want to die? It matters very little to me one way or the other. It's so strange to hear you talk like that. Monsieur, I have walked the streets. I have heard men say with great longing, oh, if I were only John Law. It's dangerous to be envy of men, my friend. For those that men envy, they must inevitably destroy. So bitter, so bitter. What man would not be bitter? Listening to those voices. Yesterday they shouted Crown John Law, King of France.  One sentence is as empty as the other to my ears. You have any plans at all? Yes. Yes, I have a plan. I'm going to write a letter. Then I'm going to open my front doors and walk out among those people. And if I reach my carriage, I shall leave France. If I do not reach it, it's ill of me. Very well, Monsieur. Write your letter. I'll be back at that. Well, I shall write my letter and have done with this. Catherine, my dear, these words may never reach you. For as I write, the angry voice of Paris is clamoring outside my windows for my life. Yet I shall put down what is in my mind and heart, and hopeless letter may find its way to you. As I sit here thinking of you, the room fades away. And once more I stand on an open country road, and your carriage spins jondling through an English morning towards me. Once more I hail that carriage and look in your eyes for the first time. And your smile reaches out and takes possession of me. Are you in distress, sir? I seek conveyance to London, ma'am. I'm on my way from Scotland. And last night I was way-laid by high women. My carriage was taken and my money. May I ask your name, ma'am? Lord Lariston Scotland, madam, at your service. I am... You are Lady Catherine Knowles. Are you not? You know my name. Madam, I should be Delavie if I did not see the Knowles' arms on the carriage. Or even Delavie if I did not recognize it once. Beauty that has become celebrated even in Scotland. No, Mr. Lar, I have not realized the Scots were still forward. Forgive me, I had no wish to offend. But that was a charming compliment, Mr. Lar. Come, join my friend and me in the carriage. We will convey you to London with us. Thank you. Mary, may I present Mr. Lar? Mr. Lar, Lady Mary Cunning. Good morning, Lady Cunning. Good morning, Mr. Lar. You must out the carriage, Charles. And how do you enjoy our English countryside, Mr. John Lar? You know my name? Sir, I should be Delavie if I did not recognize the name Lar, Scotland. And if I did not recognize it once, a man who has become so celebrated, especially an Indian. You are John Lar. The man they've all been talking about. He's courteous. He's been invited to give his advice on re-establishing our currency. It's a great honor to meet you, Mr. Lar. Oh, yes. And since you have come so kindly to aid England, it is a pleasure to be able, in so small a way, to aid you. It was April morning towards London. We spoke of currency, of banks, of the problems of the day. And yet my thoughts were not of the problems that brought me to England. You had smiled. And a blinding, dazzling future had opened before me. How swiftly the heart recognizes its own. How swiftly I had recognized you. You remember the weeks that followed? I was at your door constantly demanding admittance. Admittance to your house, admittance to your heart. You must not call, Sir Waffin. I know. In England, a suitor must follow the accepted pattern. The correct number of calls must be made. No more, no less. The correct number of months must go by and the correct amount of proper, impersonal words must be spoken. Well, surely they have manners, even in Scotland. Manners be hanged. I am in love with you. And I must court you in my own way. And we'll ask your uncle tonight for your hand in marriage. You'll think you're insane. We've known me less than a moment. I knew I loved you and I'd known you less than an hour. Do you expect people to understand that? I expect you to understand it. Do you, Catherine? Do you? Suppose I must. I understand how I feel. Catherine. I will talk to my uncle with you. Perhaps together we can make him understand. My cat did not talk to you until that night. I didn't see him. And you did not stand beside me. One night came I was in Newgate prison charged with murder. You know the story all too well by now. A suitor of yours, Edward Wilson, had challenged me to a duel when he and I had first encountered one another. I tried to avoid the whole matter, but when I left your house that afternoon I found that my brother was that very day engaging in the duel in my behalf. I went to the appointed place at once and took my place opposite Edward Wilson. I didn't want the duel. I didn't desire Wilson's death, but there was nothing I could do about it. I wrote you the next day from the prison, asking you to come to me so we could talk. My brother Will took the message. But when he returned, instead of you, Mary Conning was with him. I come from the Lady Catherine, but I do not bring the message you hope to hear. Lady Catherine said she was shocked and angry that you should be involved in such an incident. She said she did not doubt that the law would punish you, nor did she doubt that the law was just. I don't believe you. Why should I lie? I can't believe that one who is betrothed could send such a message, and certainly not Catherine. One who is betrothed? Catherine? Yes. It is understood between us. Then what manner of woman is she? What kind of woman would forsake her love at the first sign of trouble? Well, if I loved a man and he needed me, I'd bet his side no matter what I had to do to get there. Would you really do as much as that Mary Conning? Am I not here? Yes, you are here. Catherine, forgive me. I believe what she said to me. Why should I doubt her? She was there. She knew the contents of my letter to you. She was lonely and in despair. I never heard from you. I had no way of knowing that Mary paid the jailer to intercept the letter that you wrote to me, or that you, too, had worked out a plan for my escape. But Mary knew. And let me think that the plan was all her doing. And so, when I walked out of the prison that dark midnight, she was beside me. Beside me as we walked through the gates mysteriously left unlocked and unguarded. Beside me as I stepped out into the free air in face to face with you. Catherine, what are you doing here? John, there is a carriage. The jailer said we must hurry. The gates have to be locked again once. Hurry! John, hurry! Catherine, I must talk you. May I come to you? Goodbye, John. And from me into the darkness. I could hear voices and footsteps coming toward me from the prison. Someone had been aroused. I ran blindly for the carriage and Mary and I got in it. There seemed nothing else to do.  So in that manner did I regain my life and liberty and lose everything that made it worth regaining in the dark shadows outside Newgate prison. To the second act of the Mississippi Bubble, starring Ray Mulan. Many of the friends on your Christmas card list have you seen in the past two months. The past year. Some perhaps you haven't seen in five years. And this once a year Christmas greeting is your only contact with them. Yet these seldom seen friends are often the dearest ones on our entire list. And help make Christmas the wonderful season it is. And doesn't it seem only the gracious thing to do to make sure that the Christmas card you send truly represents you, you at your best. Expressing your Christmas wishes in a beautiful manner, reflecting your good taste in a way all can appreciate. That's what you can do if you make sure the card you select is a Hallmark card. Whether you choose from the Hallmark album and have your name imprinted, whether you select from the many Hallmark boxed collections, or whether you prefer individual cards from the Hallmark display counters, you can be sure your card will be received with the added pleasure reserved for things we value. Because like sterling on silver, that Hallmark on the back of a card is a sign of quality.  Now back to James Hilton and the best of the Mississippi bubble, starring Ray Mullan. He'll yell its insults at John Law, the architect of their fortunes and misfortunes. He was down, he was defeated, but he was still, even amidst ruin, a legend. Catherine, my dearest, how can I tell you what it meant to me to see you turn and run away? There are no words to define either the wonder of love found or the anguish of love lost. I tried to see you, but your gates were barred to me. I dared not stay in England, for if I was found I'd be returned to Newgate Castle for execution. And so I took refuge in other countries, in America, in European capitals. I was in Amsterdam when the region ruler of France asked me to come to Paris to see if I could help evolve a plan to stabilize the Bank of France. I was on my way to the King when my carriage halted and I stepped out of mind to come face to face with you. What are you doing here? I am visiting friends in Paris. My carriage is broken down. I shall be most happy to take you into Paris in my carriage. Oh, thank you, but I think I would prefer to wait for another offer of help. Lady Catherine, it's almost dusk and it's easy to see that this road is not much traveled. If you insist on waiting, then I must insist on waiting with you. This is the offer of a ride to Paris. I'll ask my coachman to ride on the box, besides yours. And so, once again, we rode together in the springtime. When we reached our destination, I tried to tell you what you meant to me, but you wouldn't listen. Mr. Law, there's nothing you can say that would be of any interest to me now. Catherine, for years I've thought of nothing but you. Oh, come now, Mr. Law. You can hardly expect me to believe that you had nothing on his mind but a woman. Catherine, if you'd let me explain, if you'd just listen to me. I listened to you once, Mr. Law. I listened to you with my heart, not with my mind. Then listen to me again like that. I no longer have a heart to listen. Good night, Mr. Law. Catherine! Goodbye, Mr. Law. And so, once again, I found you and lost you. My carriage continued on its way to a great council chamber where I barred before his grace, Philippe du Cavallion's, Regent of France, in effect, ruler of France. Mr. Law, I will be frank with you. France is on the verge of bankruptcy.  Now, in order to govern those given us by providence to govern, it is necessary that the governed should produce the funds by which they may be governed. Your grace, there is money in France, more money than in all the rest of Europe. If you establish a substantial bank, you can get that money. But it must be a bank in which all the people of France can have complete confidence. Can you establish such a bank? I can, your grace. Given the bank which holds the confidence of the people, you shall see money at work. Money beginning money and that beginning trade, and in turn producing comfort for the people and money in their own pockets to pay the king's taxes. By heaven, that is a good sound to it. But one thing I must beg you to observe most carefully. And I must have your word on that before we enter our agreement. The shares of this bank must have a fixed value in regard to the coin of the realm. There must be no altering the value of our coin. I want your promise that the coin will not fluctuate in value. And I will give you mine that my banknotes will soon be found better than gold or silver in the eyes of France. Is your law? You have my word. It will be done as you wish. And so, the general bank of laws and company was founded. In August, we also founded the Louisiana Company. And for a period, the bank, the company in France flourished. We invested in the future of the new world, the vast and wealthy territory of the Mississippi. People bought shares and became rich on the promise of the rewards to be had in that great land. Rewards they would have won if they had not become greedy. The government, too, might have prospered had the region not broken his promise to me. Have you come from the bank? Yes, Monsieur. What was the last quotation? Monsieur, there are no quotations. One sells as one can at whatever price is offered. Twice the region has changed the value of the notes. Paris is on the verge of complete ruin Your grace, you should have made an appointment a few days in advance. And France needs to make an appointment to see a servant?  I am not your servant. I am your master. You insufferable dog, you'll die for that. I shall die anyhow. As a matter of fact, I shall only be your master a moment longer. Your grace was once so good as to make me head of certain financial matters. I made you rich, your grace.  And I gave you more millions to pay the debts of France. You may well call any man master who can accomplish these things. But now you've decided to be your own master again. You've broken your word to me and changed the value of the coinage. There cannot be too in control of a concern like this. Moment has elapsed. I am once more your humble servant. What will become of me? What will become of France? By tomorrow, people will realize that the bubble, the big Mississippi bubble is burst in their faces. But they are no longer rich. The streets of Paris will ring with voices screaming for your blood and mine. Tell me what to do. Save me, save us both. It is too late, your grace. Much too late now. And who became rich for an instant in their lifetimes now shout outside my window for my mind. I'll close this letter now and deliver myself into their hands. I'll leave no words behind me except to you. I have no regrets except for days I never was able to live with you. Words I was never able to say and dreams I was never able to realize. And so my beloved good one for you and one for me. You're determined to come with me, Pierre? Nothing could possibly shake my purpose, Michel. Then let us go. I will leave this letter on the desk and perhaps it will reach her. Let me open the door. As he fainted from the emotional strain of the past months I do not know when he has eaten when he has slept. It is little one. Had it not been for the king's guard. I know. But Philippe knew he could not have managed this crisis in France without John Law. You may go in to see him, Lady Catherine. Thank you, Pierre. How did you get here? And why did you come? All I got here does not matter. I came because when I heard the news that the Paris crowds were at the gates of John Law I knew suddenly that I did not want to live in a world that he had left. Catherine. I found the letter you wrote me on your desk. We both wasted too many years, John. We must not waste any more. There's another world before us. Then in the hour of my greatest fear we must not waste any more. Then in the hour of my greatest failure in the hour of my greatest unhappiness successes come to me. You have not failed. You will be recognized in future times. If not now. As long as I've won your love I cannot now what men think of me. Let them say I failed. Let them say I lost the world when the Bank of France crashed. They'll never know what I've gained. They'll never know. James Hilton will return in a moment. Designed to express your Christmas wishes in a beautiful manner and yet priced to fit even the most limited budget. That's how you'll describe the many different hallmark Christmas cards you can buy in convenient box collections. Many of these hallmark boxes are priced at only $1. So you see, it isn't necessary to buy expensive cards in order to be sure your cards have that hallmark on the back denoting quality. In fact, some boxes at $1 have 22 and 25 hallmark Christmas cards in them. Then there are other box collections with designs by Norman Rockwell, Winston Churchill, Grandma Moses, Herb Olson and other outstanding hallmark gallery artists. All are beautifully made in the hallmark tradition of craftsmen who for years have designed cards with but one thought in mind. To give you a card you'll be proud to send and one that will be received with pleasure. So remember, look for hallmark on the cover of the box. If you want your friends to see that hallmark on the back of the card you send. The hallmark that tells them you cared enough to send the very best. Here again is James Hilton. Whenever you see the name Ray Miland heading a cast you can always be sure of an outstanding and memorable performance. I think we proved that tonight. Thank you Ray for being with us on the hallmark playhouse. I enjoyed being here Jimmy. I'm proud to make a person feel good with all those kind words. As good as you feel when you get a hallmark card. Well, we're glad to hear you say that Ray for as you know, in addition to our tradition of friendliness, there's also our long standing reputation for sincerity. So you can be perfectly sure we mean all our words of praise. Thank you very much. Now, what are you planning for the hallmark playhouse next week Jimmy? That's Thanksgiving you know and I remember you always have too. It's Fanny Kilburn's The Widened Heart. A story as warm and nourishing as the day it celebrates. And as our star we are happy to welcome that gracious and popular Hollywood actress Anne Harding. Our hallmark playhouse is every Thursday our producer director is Bill Gay. Our music is composed and conducted by David Rose and our story was adapted by Gene Holloway. Until next Thursday then this is James Hilton saying good night. To send the very best. It will currently be seen in the Paramount picture Rubar. The role of Catherine tonight was played by Lorraine Tuttle, Betty Lugerson was Mary, Ted D'Corsi was Pierre and Ted Osburn Philip. Others in our cast were Paul Dubov and Gerald Moore. This is Frank Goss saying good night to you all until next week at this time. When hallmark playhouse returns to present Anne Harding in our Thanksgiving day story Fanny Kilburn's The Widened Heart and the week following Bellamy and Helen Portridge's Salad Days with Donald Reagan on the hallmark playhouse. Now stay tuned for what we feel is a very important message. This is Arthur Godfrey. Some of you may have heard a few hours ago on Ed Murrow's program a young staff sergeant who had just been hospitalized from Korea. He was wounded four times and each time blood and blood plasma pulled him through and kept him alive. And he said so. Now I'm sure you'll agree with me that when fellas like that are ready to do the kind of job they're doing, the least you and I can do is to back him up. And the best way I know is for all of us to pledge a pint of our blood right now. Calling the number you're going to hear in just a few seconds from your local station announcer.  But make your pledge tonight right now. Will you please? Will you call? Here's the information for your area. Help build a lifeline to our fighting forces. Call your local Red Cross chapter right now. In Kansas City, call Defense Blood Center Harrison 2341 Harrison 2341 This Columbia Network program reached you from KMBC, Kansas City, Missouri.