MUSIC:

ROMANTIC FANFARE

HOST:

Colgate Tooth Powder presents THE THEATRE OF ROMANCE!

MUSIC:

STING!

HOST:

Tonight, Colgate Tooth Powder brings you Lloyd Nolan in "The Valiant."

SOUND:

APPLAUSE

MUSIC:

THEME ... MELODY OF HIT 1930 SONG "ROMANCE" ... OUT BEHIND--

HOST:

Tonight, and every Tuesday night, Colgate Tooth Powder brings you THE THEATRE OF ROMANCE with your favorite players in your favorite stories and plays.

MUSIC:

FOR JINGLE

SINGERS:

Use Colgate Tooth Powder.
Keep smiling just right.
Use it each morning
And use it at night.

MUSIC:

ABRUPTLY OUT

HOST:

And now tonight's presentation, "The Valiant," starring Lloyd Nolan.

MUSIC:

BRIEF ROMANTIC INTRODUCTION ... THEN OUT BEHIND--

SOUND:

AUTO ENGINE SPEEDING DOWN ROAD

SUE:

You're very quiet tonight, Jimmy.

DYKE:

Yeah, I guess I am.

SOUND:

AUTO ENGINE SLOWS TO A STOP BEHIND--

DYKE:

Hey, Sue. There's somethin' I've gotta tell you.

SUE:

(HOPEFUL) Does it have to do with a house in Connecticut?

DYKE:

Yeah, but not in the way you mean. There isn't gonna be any house, kid. The best thing you can do is - forget you ever knew me. I'm sorry it had to turn out this way, but there's nothin' I can do about it.

SUE:

Jim -- what's wrong inside you? Something's terribly wrong and I've got to ask. I want to help you if I can.

DYKE:

You can't help me, Sue. No one can.

SUE:

Where's your home, Jimmy? Where's your family?

DYKE:

I have no home. I have no family. You've been steppin' out with a derelict, baby; a wanderer. Few months in one city, a few in the next, and then hit the road; that's me. And you've been grand company, kid. But I'm movin' on now.

SUE:

(NEAR TEARS) I - I wish I knew what to say. I wish I knew how to keep you.

DYKE:

Sue, don't you--? Don't you understand what I'm tryin' to say to ya? I'm no good for you or any other woman. My days are marked now. I don't have so many left. I've got a lot to do in them.

SUE:

What do you mean you - you don't have so many left? Are you ill?

DYKE:

(SARDONIC) Yeah. (CHUCKLES) Yeah, you bet I'm ill. I'm sick. Only there's no medicine that can get at what's gnawin' at my insides. No doctor can reach it.

MUSIC:

SNEAKS IN ... SORROWFUL ... FADES OUT AT [X]

SUE:

(TEARFUL) Oh, Jimmy, I wish you'd let me help you. I love you so much, I wish you'd let me help you.

DYKE:

(SLOWLY, GENTLY) Look, Sue. If there ever was gonna be a house in Connecticut for me, I wouldn't allow any other woman inside that door but you.

SUE:

Let's get married, Jimmy. Let's have that house.

DYKE:

No. Nope. I'm takin' you home. [X] And I'm sayin' good night. And goodbye. And that's it.

SUE:

And - then where're you going, Jimmy?

DYKE:

Well, then -- Sue honey ----- I'm gonna kill a man.

MUSIC:

BRIDGE ... THEN BEHIND--

NEWSIE:

Extry! Extry! Read all about the big murder! Extry! Extry!

MUSIC:

UP, FOR BRIDGE ... THEN OUT

CLAIRE:

I hope you don't mind my bothering you like this, Miss Rogers. My name is Claire Paris. I've come to see you because I - I think you might be able to help me find my brother.

SUE:

I - don't think I understand.

CLAIRE:

Well, um, my brother ran away from home over ten years ago. We've never heard from him since. My mother saw the pictures of James Dyke in the papers. She's sure he's Joe. She says the resemblance is very striking. I'm not sure myself because I was only nine when Joe left and I don't remember him too well.

SUE:

Jimmy can't be your brother. He has no family.

CLAIRE:

I know. That's what he said in court. But Mother thinks he might just be covering up -- so as not to disgrace us. Then when we saw your picture and read that you and he had been engaged, we thought you might be able to help.

SUE:

But he can't be your brother. He always said he never had a home or a family.

CLAIRE:

I can't go home without at least seeing him.

SUE:

You can't possibly see him. You see, my dear, he's being executed tonight.

CLAIRE:

(STUNNED) Tonight? But I've got to see him. You see, there's another reason. The man James Dyke killed was the man who ruined my father in business. He was responsible for my father's death.

SUE:

The man who ruined your father in business? You're sure?

CLAIRE:

I'm positive.

SUE:

Then come on. We've got to see the governor right away.

MUSIC:

BRIDGE

WARDEN:

Sit down, Dyke.

DYKE:

Thanks, Warden.

WARDEN:

Dyke, you've been here in my care for a good many weeks. I want to tell you that from the first to the last you've behaved yourself like a gentleman.

DYKE:

(VAGUELY CYNICAL) Well, why should I make you any trouble?

WARDEN:

Well, you haven't made me any trouble. That's why I've tried to make you every bit as comfortable as the law would let me. You're going to stay here in my office until-- Well, you're not going back to your cell.

DYKE:

(INDIFFERENT) All right. One place is no different from another now.

WARDEN:

Would you rather wait in your cell?

DYKE:

I'd just as soon. Oh, uh, got a spare cigarette?

WARDEN:

Certainly. Here. Help yourself.

DYKE:

Ah, thanks. You're a good host.

WARDEN:

(QUIETLY) Dyke, this is the last chance I have to ask and the last chance you have to answer. Who are you?

DYKE:

(WITH FINALITY) I am James Dyke, murderer.

WARDEN:

(SNAPS) That isn't your real name and we know it!

DYKE:

You're not gonna execute a name -- you're gonna execute a man. What difference does it make whether you call me Dyke or somethin' else?

WARDEN:

Here, look at this pile of letters. There are over a hundred just in this afternoon's mail. In that closet, there are four thousand more. And do you know what every one of those letters say? What four thousand different people are writing to me about?

DYKE:

I can't imagine.

WARDEN:

They want to know, "Who are you?" Are you the missing son -- or brother -- or husband -- or sweetheart?

DYKE:

Have you answered 'em?

WARDEN:

No, I couldn't. But I want you to.

DYKE:

How?

WARDEN:

(PERSUASIVE) Dyke, listen to me a minute. Suppose you should tell me your real name, and I publish it. It'll bring a lot of sorrow, let's say, to one family, one home -- and that's your own. But, at the same time, you'd be bringing an immense amount of relief and comfort to four thousand others.

DYKE:

You can answer those letters whenever you want to, Warden. Just say I haven't any family -- no mother, sister, wife, father -- nothin'.

WARDEN:

(DISAPPOINTED) All right, Dyke. One more thing. Here's the twenty-five hundred dollars the newspaper sent you for that phony story of your life you gave them. What shall I do with the money?

DYKE:

Well, I don't know. I'll - I'll think about it.

WARDEN:

You're a completely new animal to me, Dyke. We've never had a man here before that no one could find out anything about. Even that girl you were engaged to didn't know who you were.

DYKE:

I told you who I am. If you don't believe it, that's your tough luck.

WARDEN:

Do you want to make any statement?

DYKE:

No. I guess I've said everything. I killed a man and I'm not sorry for it. That is, I'm not sorry I killed that particular person. He wasn't fit to live. It was my duty to kill him and I did it. I'd never struck a man in anger in all my life. But I knew a long time ago that if I ever found that man, I'd kill him. And I did it -- deliberately, intentionally and very carefully. I knew what I was doing and I haven't any excuse. That is, I haven't any excuse that satisfies the law. I wouldn't even try and give them one. I learned pretty early in life that whatever you do in this world, you have to pay for, in one way or another. And if you kill a man, the price you have to pay is this. All right, I'm gonna pay it.

WARDEN:

That's no way for a man to die, Dyke. That's no way to face the hereafter.

DYKE:

Why not? If there is a hereafter, if there is a judgment -- I'm willing to take my chances along with the other guy. And if there isn't, I'm still not sorry, and I'm not afraid, because I'm quits with the other fella, the law's quits with me, and it's all balanced in the books.

WARDEN:

All right, I've said my say. Dyke, there's a young woman outside in the anteroom. She's just come to see you. Do you want to see her?

DYKE:

Not particularly. What does she want?

WARDEN:

She thinks maybe she's your sister. She's come a thousand miles to find out.

DYKE:

(TO HIMSELF, THOUGHTFUL) Thousand miles? Huh. (TO WARDEN) Thousand miles, huh?

WARDEN:

Yes. She's got special permission from the governor to talk to you. That is, with my approval.

DYKE:

(AMUSED) Eh. Year ago, nobody'd cross the street to look at me. Now they come a thousand miles.

WARDEN:

You don't have to see her. It's up to you.

DYKE:

Well, where do I talk to her? In here?

WARDEN:

Yes. I'm gonna let you talk with her in here -- alone. Now it's the sort of thing that's never been done before. But if I put you on your honor--?

DYKE:

My honor? (CHUCKLES) Thank you so much.

WARDEN:

I want to speak to the young woman a few minutes first, then I'll send her in here.

DYKE:

Well, okay, Warden. However you want to do it, but --- I have no sister.

MUSIC:

CURTAIN

SOUND:

APPLAUSE

HOST:

In just a moment, Colgate Tooth Powder will bring you Act Two of "The Valiant." But now a word from Colgate Tooth Powder.

It happens every day -- boy meets girl, boy loves girl, and girl loves boy. Then, just when the happy ending comes in view, a little breath of trouble comes along and romance goes on the rocks. Now, don't let that little breath of trouble -- I mean, unpleasing breath -- ruin your romance.

If I were you, I'd do this. Brush your teeth, night and morning and before every date, with Colgate Tooth Powder. For Colgate Tooth Powder cleans your breath as it cleans your teeth. Yes, night and morning and before every date -- because scientific tests have definitely proved that in seven cases out of ten, Colgate Tooth Powder instantly stops unpleasing breath that originates in the mouth.

As for cleaning, no dentifrice at any price will clean your teeth more quickly and thoroughly than Colgate Tooth Powder. Remember the name -- Colgate Tooth Powder, with the accent on "powder"!

MUSIC:

THEME ... THEN BEHIND--

HOST:

Now, Colgate Tooth Powder brings you the second act of "The Valiant," starring Lloyd Nolan.

MUSIC:

OUT

WARDEN:

Miss Paris, I'll be very frank with you. I don't think you'll have much success with the prisoner Dyke, but he is willing to talk to you.

CLAIRE:

Thank you, Warden. I'm very grateful.

WARDEN:

Now, would you mind telling me how you think you're going to recognize your brother.

CLAIRE:

I'm just gonna talk to him. Ask him questions about things he and I used to do together. I'll watch his face. And if he's my brother, I'm sure I can tell.

WARDEN:

What did you and your brother used to do that would help you out now?

CLAIRE:

Well, he used to tell me stories when I was a little girl. That's what I'm counting on mostly -- the stories.

WARDEN:

Well, I'm afraid--

CLAIRE:

Especially the Shakespeare stories.

WARDEN:

(SURPRISED) Shakespeare?

CLAIRE:

He used to learn all the speeches by heart. He wanted to be an actor. And every night, before I'd go to sleep, he'd sit beside my bed, and there were two speeches we'd always say to each other. Two speeches out of "Romeo and Juliet." And then I'd go to sleep.

WARDEN:

I'm afraid you've come on a wild goose chase, Miss Paris. This boy never heard of Shakespeare. But I'll let you see for yourself. However, if he isn't your brother, you'll oblige me by cutting your visit as short as you can.

CLAIRE:

Yes, I will, and thank you very much. You see, I've got to tell Mother something definite. She's worried so long about him.

WARDEN:

I'll take you to him now. You can see him alone, but Father Daly and I will be in the next room so you needn't be afraid.

CLAIRE:

No, I won't be afraid.

WARDEN:

Good for you. Come on.

MUSIC:

BRIDGE

DYKE:

Well?

CLAIRE:

(NERVOUS, UNCERTAIN) My mother wanted me to talk to you.

DYKE:

(BEAT) Well?

CLAIRE:

You see, we hadn't seen or heard of my brother Joe for such a long time. Mother thought-- After what we read in the papers--

DYKE:

You thought I might be your brother Joe, huh?

CLAIRE:

(RELIEVED) Yes.

DYKE:

Well, you can easily see I'm not your brother, can't you?

CLAIRE:

Is your name really James Dyke?

DYKE:

Yeah, that's my name. Miss, you don't think I'd lie at this stage of the game, do ya?

CLAIRE:

No, I don't think you would. (SUDDENLY) Where do you come from? I mean, where were you born?

DYKE:

In Canada. But I've lived all over.

CLAIRE:

But didn't you ever live in Ohio?

DYKE:

No. Never.

CLAIRE:

What kind of work did you do? What was your business?

DYKE:

Oh, I've been about everything a man could be -- except a success.

CLAIRE:

Do you like books?

DYKE:

Mm, no, not every much.

CLAIRE:

(DISAPPOINTED) Oh. How 'bout Shakespeare?

DYKE:

Shakespeare? Are you kiddin'?

CLAIRE:

No. My brother liked Shakespeare.

DYKE:

Huh.

CLAIRE:

Did you ever want to be an actor?

DYKE: Me? Nah.

CLAIRE:

I hope you don't mind my asking so many questions.

DYKE:

No, I don't mind. I've gotten used to questions.

CLAIRE:

(HELPLESSLY) Do you know any poetry?

DYKE:

Very little.

CLAIRE:

Do you know this? (SOFTLY, INTENSE) "Thou knowest the mask of night is on my face, Else would a maiden blush be paint my cheek, For that which-- (STOPS ... THEN DEFLATED) You don't know it?

DYKE:

No. Tell ya the truth, it sounds a little silly, doesn't it?

CLAIRE:

(INTENSE AGAIN) "Good night, good night, parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow." (BEAT, PLEADS) What comes next?

DYKE:

(PUZZLED AMUSEMENT) I don't know. What does?

CLAIRE:

(PAUSE, FORLORN) I'm sorry. You're not Joe, are you?

DYKE:

(NO) Uh uh.

CLAIRE:

I'm sorry I bothered you, but I - I had to come and find out. Thank you for seeing me. Goodbye.

DYKE:

Hey, uh-- Wait a minute. Don't go yet. (CAREFULLY) You know, uh, I'm surprised your mother sent you on such an errand, instead of comin' herself.

CLAIRE:

Well, she's very ill.

DYKE:

Oh.

CLAIRE:

It's all from worrying about Joe.

DYKE:

Well, when you tell her her son isn't a murderer -- at least, that he isn't this one -- that'll make her feel better, won't it?

CLAIRE:

No, I - I don't think Mother will ever be really well again, till she finds out for certain where Joe is and what's become of him.

DYKE:

Yeah. Yeah, I can understand that. Say, uh, what's your name?

CLAIRE:

Claire Paris.

DYKE:

(THOUGHTFUL) Claire Paris, huh?

CLAIRE:

(YES) Mm hm.

DYKE:

That's a pretty name. Sort of unusual, isn't it? Paris. Say, I - I've heard it somewhere, too.

CLAIRE:

Oh, well, it's just like the name of the city in France.

DYKE:

Yeah. (THINKING) And your brother's name was Joe?

CLAIRE:

(YES) Mm hm.

DYKE:

Joe--? Joseph? Joseph Paris?

CLAIRE:

What's the matter?

DYKE:

Hey, I know that name. Wait a minute. What--? What was that boy's name? (SUDDENLY) Wait-- Wait a minute -- I've got it. (TRIUMPHANTLY) Joseph Anthony Paris.

CLAIRE:

(AMAZED) That's it. That's his name! How did you know?

DYKE:

Well, wait. Wait. (STAMMERS, TO HIMSELF) Gee, I'm all excited. (FAST, URGENT, TO CLAIRE) Listen carefully to what I say -- and don't interrupt me, because we've only got a minute--

CLAIRE:

(AGREES) Uh huh.

DYKE:

--and I want you to get this all straight, see, so you can tell your mother. Now, you see, when the war came along, I enlisted and I went overseas with the Canadians.

CLAIRE:

You knew Joe?

DYKE:

Wait. Wait, now. Early one morning we staged a big trench raid and there was an officer who'd been wounded comin' back from the raid, and he was lyin' out there in a shell-hole, under fire. Well, all of a sudden, some young guy dashed out of the trench not far from where I was and went for the officer. And he got the officer in his arms all right, and started back, but-- Well, he'd only gone a few yards when a five-point-nine landed right on top of the two of them.

CLAIRE:

(GROANS IN HORROR)

DYKE:

Yeah. Afterward, we got what was left. But the identification tag was still there -- and that was his name. Joseph Anthony Paris.

CLAIRE:

(OVERCOME) Oh!

DYKE:

So, if that was your brother's name, then - you can tell your mother that he died like a brave man and a soldier in France.

CLAIRE:

(STUNNED) And you were there? You saw it?

DYKE:

(YES) Mm hm, mm hm, yeah. I was there, I saw it. Well, if you don't believe what I said, you just write up to Ottawa, get the official report. Of course, records are sometimes mixed up, you know, but-- I've told you the truth. (GENTLY) And it certainly ought to make your mother happy when she knows her boy died as a soldier and not as a criminal.

CLAIRE: (TRANSFIGURED) Oh, yes. Yes, of course it will.

DYKE: And it - makes you happy, too, don't it?

CLAIRE:

Yes, very happy.

DYKE:

Ah, that's good. I'm glad I was able to tell you before it-- Say, I'm, uh-- I'm gonna give you somethin' to take your mother. Here. You take this envelope to your mother from me -- and tell her it's from a man who was in France and saw your brother die. So it's a sort of a memorial for him, huh?

CLAIRE:

Oh, no, no. We can't take this--

DYKE:

(INSISTENT) I want you to have it. I've nothin' to do with it myself. (SUDDENLY) Oh, you might-- You might do one thing for me. There's a girl named Sue Rogers--

CLAIRE:

Yes, I - I saw her before I came here. As a matter of fact, she helped me.

DYKE:

Oh. Well, uh, pick out some little thing for her, will ya? You know, a bracelet or a pin or somethin', just somethin' to remember me by, huh?

CLAIRE:

You love her, don't you?

DYKE:

Yeah.

CLAIRE:

How - how could you feel like that about her and --- kill someone?

DYKE:

Well, Miss Paris, there are some things that have to be done no matter what the cost. Maybe what I did was wrong, maybe not. But, from where I sat, it looked like the right thing. And it still does.

CLAIRE:

He was a bad man; I know that. He once stole everything we had. Mother told me that.

DYKE:

He stole from a lot of people. (MUSIC: SNEAKS IN FAINTLY) Well, I guess you better go. Gee, I'm glad you came, though.

CLAIRE:

Mr. Dyke? Could I--? (PAUSE, AS SHE KISSES HIM)

DYKE:

(YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO DO THAT) Ohhh.

CLAIRE:

Thank you so much.

DYKE:

Oh, it-- Thanks. Thanks for my last kiss.

CLAIRE:

(VOICE BREAKS) Goodbye.

DYKE:

Hey, uh-- What's wrong?

MUSIC:

IN BG, GENTLY CHANGES TO TCHAIKOVSKY'S "ROMEO AND JULIET" LOVE THEME

CLAIRE:

I was thinking-- I was thinking what I used to say to my brother for good night. I wish I could have said it to him just once more -- for goodbye.

DYKE:

Well, why don't you say it for me?

CLAIRE:

I told you. You said it was silly.

DYKE:

Oh, go on. Say it again, hm?

MUSIC:

FADES GENTLY OUT BEHIND--

CLAIRE:

(SHAKILY) "Good night, good night, parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow." (MOVING OFF) Goodbye. Thank you.

SOUND:

HER HURRIED FOOTSTEPS AWAY ... DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES, OFF

DYKE:

(AFTER A PAUSE ... A WHISPER) Goodbye. "Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast; Would I were sleep and peace, so sweet to rest." "Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, It seems to me most strange that men should fear; Seeing that death, a necessary end, Will come when it will come." "Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once. The valiant never taste of death but once."

SOUND:

DOOR OPENS

FATHER:

(QUIETLY) Come, my son.

MUSIC:

FOR A SLOW WALK TO AN EXECUTION

DYKE:

(UP, HIS OLD SELF AGAIN) All right, Father. (LOW, TO HIMSELF) "The valiant never taste of death but once."

FATHER:

The hour's at hand, my son.

DYKE:

All right, Father.

SOUND:

DOOR CLOSES ... ECHOING FOOTSTEPS AS THE TWO MEN WALK SLOWLY AWAY

BIZ:

VOICES OVERLAP SLIGHTLY DURING FOLLOWING--

FATHER:

(ECHO) I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills...

DYKE:

"The valiant never taste of death but once."

FATHER:

(ECHO) From whence cometh my help...

DYKE:

"The valiant never taste of death but once."

FATHER:

(ECHO) My help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth...

DYKE:

"The valiant never taste of death but once."

MUSIC:

UP, FOR CURTAIN

SOUND:

APPLAUSE

HOST:

Lloyd Nolan, who starred as James Dyke in tonight's play, is currently appearing in the Twentieth Century-Fox production "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" and will soon be seen in "Captain Eddie." Ann Shepherd played Claire and Claire Niesen and Edward Begley appeared as Sue Rogers and the Warden. Joseph Boland played Father Daly.

"The Valiant," by Robert Middlemass, was adapted especially for this program by Jean Holloway. The music was composed and conducted by Charles Paul and the entire production was directed by Marx Loeb.

MUSIC:

FOR JINGLE

SINGERS:

Use Colgate Tooth Powder.
Keep smiling just right.
Use it each morning
And use it at night.

To help you rate
With every date
Use Colgate Tooth Powder.

MUSIC:

ABRUPTLY OUT

HOST:

Now, a word from Colgate Tooth Powder.

You'll notice it quickly enough in others, yet you may never suspect it in yourself. That's the insidious thing about a little breath of trouble -- meaning unpleasing breath. You may be an innocent victim of this love thief. So don't take a chance with your romance. Follow this wise plan. Brush your teeth, night and morning and before every date, with Colgate Tooth Powder. For Colgate Tooth Powder cleans your breath as it cleans your teeth. Scientific tests prove that Colgate Tooth Powder, in seven cases out of ten, instantly stops unpleasing breath that originates in the mouth.

Money can't buy a dentifrice that will clean your teeth better than Colgate Tooth Powder. Remember the name -- Colgate Tooth Powder, with the accent on "powder"!

MUSIC:

THEME ... THEN BEHIND--

HOST:

Next week, your COLGATE TOOTH POWDER THEATRE OF ROMANCE brings you one of the jauntiest comedies of recent years, "Love Is News," the story of a reporter on whom a lovely heiress turns the tables, with the young stars of radio and screen, Dane Clark and Faye Emerson. Join us next Tuesday night, won't you?

MUSIC:

FOR JINGLE

SINGERS:

Halo, everybody, Halo!
Halo is the shampoo that glorifies your hair!
So Halo, everybody, Halo!

MUSIC:

ABRUPTLY OUT

HOST:

Yes, use Halo Shampoo if you want naturally bright and beautiful hair -- for Halo contains no soap; therefore leaves no dulling film. The first time you use Halo, see how your hair sparkles and gleams with natural brilliance; how the deep natural color looks brighter, glossier. Even in hardest water, Halo makes oceans of rich fragrant lather. Halo quickly carries away loose dandruff and dirt; needs no lemon or vinegar rinse. Say hello to Halo and goodbye to dulling soap film. Get Halo Shampoo at any cosmetic counter.

MUSIC:

FOR JINGLE

SINGERS:

So Halo, everybody, Halo!
Halo Shampoo, Halo!

MUSIC:

ABRUPTLY OUT ... THEN THEME ... OUT BEHIND--

HOST:

Until next Tuesday night, when your COLGATE TOOTH POWDER THEATRE OF ROMANCE brings you Dane Clark and Faye Emerson in "Love Is News," this is your host saying good night -- and wishing you love, happiness, and romance.

This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.