Ever in My Heart (Warner Bros.) (1933)

Special Radio Sketch The parts in this sketch should be aone by local people. They will in all probability be willing to go on the air for the publicity involved. The fact that home town foks are taking the roles will be good for news stories. If possible get some favorite home town ‘mas FOUR CHARACTERS HUGO: “Du, du, liegst mir im STRONG DRAMA OF “EVER IN MY HEART” CAUGHT IN TEN-MINUTE PROGRAM in each other, and, as the years ter of ceremonies’ to act as narrator. The song “Du, du, liegst mir im Herzen” is sung in German. A soprano and a baritone are needed, who also speak lines —and two other speaking parts. This sketch is box office. Plant it. JEFF: (genially) The family| You go today to Archervale, before Herzen, pass, in the love of their little son,| mills, you know, Hugo. The mills} you are sick on my hands. I’ll come Du, du, liegst mir im|Teddy. Then—rumors of war be-|that keep us all going—You’ll bej next week.— re Herzen come realities. The Lusitania is| promoted in two or three months. MARY ARCHER: High bred ir viel|sunk. Ameri enters the war. MARY: You'll really—come—? N Eneland girl, who marDu, du, machst mir viel} sunk. ca MARY: Wow’ + oH crs nek f “ c Spee, chen ee EI TE APE, san ch conde J wills hommes ries 3 Oe — eter wet Weiss nicht wie gut ich| mies, he loses his position at the) HUGO: Of course I will! ly—in ees De hte who returns to fight for his dir bin. college, and Teddy sickens and dies.| gpanpMa: (quickly) Then own people during the World Ja, ja, ja, ja— Winter settles down over New Eng-|41.0435 settled! (harshly) Now,| GRANDMA: (sharply) Well, well, Weiss nicht wie gut ich dir bin (he stops) War and becomes a spy for the Germans. (Soprano). HUGO WILBRANDT: German educated in Oxford, who marries an American, becomes a citizen, but during World War goes back as a spy for his Fatherland. (Baritone). JEFF ARCHER: Distant cousin of Mary Archer, Oxford classmate of Hugo, who is jilted by Mary for Hugo. GRANDMA _ ARCHER: Sharp-tongued, domineering and well-to-do grandmother of Mary Archer, whom she scolds but adores. MARY: (softly) Play it again, Hugo. HUGO: (slight German accent) You like it? MARY: (pause) It’s like something I’ve been waiting to hear— all my life! HUGO: You understand—what it says? MARY: It’s just the words—I don’t understand. —did—y ou— HUGO: No, HUGO: I want you to understand the words, Mary. MARY: (in a low voice) Then— tell me. HUGO: Come! (sounds a few notes)—Sing with me. (plays softly and sings) away—they—— Regular Station Announcement followed by ANNOUNCER: We are pleased to present for your entertainment a brief playlet made up from Miss Barbara Stanwyck’s most emotional picture, “Ever In My Heart,” the ‘Du. du, liegst mir im Herzen” ! : yards— (plays first line again) MARY: (sings tenderly but unsurely) “Du, du, liegst mir im Herzen—.” bad— Warner Bros. production which Gomes: t0=-thES sa cccrcecreers ore Theatre HUGO: (plays on and sings) “Du, oe See next. du, liegst mir im Sinn—” (repeats the music). MARY: (sings) “Du, du, liegst mir im Sinn—” Miss Stanwyck is supported in “Ever In My Heart” by Otto Kruger, Ralph Bellamy, Ruth Donnelly, Frank Albertson, George Cooper, Wallis Clark, Nella Walker, Florence Roberts, Laura Hope Crews, Clara Blandick, Ronnie Crosby, Frank Reichner, Harry Beresford and Virginia Howell. Archie Mayo directed—Mr. (name of theatre manager or his representative, may be local master of ceremonies) will now give you a brief summary of events leading up to the opening of the sketch. NARRATOR: Thank you (name of announcer). LHarly scenes of “Ever in My Heart” are laid in the ancient New England village of Archervale, named for the patriotic family of Archer, whose sons have served valiantly in all the wars of the United States, from the Revolution down. MARY: No. HUGO: (stops playing to translate) “You are ever in my heart— You are ever in my _ thought” (pauses) Say it. MARY: (repeating after him, with feeling) You are ever in my heart. You are ever in my (eatch in her voice) thought. each other. HUGO: Mary—geliebte—see, yonder in the garden—all is silver with the moonlight—trees—flowers — Let us go there— MARY: J-—— HUGO: (softly, half accusation, half question) Are you afraid, Mary? Are you afraid to let me— say it all? MARY: (poignant, wistful) Afraid! HUGO: “You will never know— how much—I love you.” MARY: I knew. I have always known. HUGO: (with tender reverence) Say it. MARY: (dreamily) You are ever in my heart—You are ever in my thought HUGO: Dearest of all loves. MARY: (whispering) You will never know how much—how much SS fe HUGO:. Your hands, my dear— your lips— day like this! In the stately colonial mansion of er the family, lives Mary Archer, a radiant modern girl, who has promised to marry her distant cousin Jeff, when he returns from Oxford University. When Jeff does come back he brings with him a German classmate, Hugo Wilbrandt. Mary and Hugo fall in love with each other on sight. We see them now in the drawing room of the old mansion. It is dimly lighted by candles and the door is open to the moonlit garden. (Accompaniment of “Du, du, liegst mir im Herzen” begins softly, the narrator’s words sounding through the music). Hugo is at the grand piano, Mary leaning against it, watching him and listening with rapt eyes, her lips parted. He touches the keys lightly, singing: cher! GRANDMA: here! you, Jeff. Hugo! (Orchestra takes up strains of : “Du, du, liegst mir im Herzen” and as it fades out the narrator continues). NARRATOR: Hugo Wilbrandt becomes an American citizen, secures a professorship in the local college, earns the respect of everyone, and in due time marries Mary Archer. They are supremely happy mother, I can’t. Page Ten land, white, hard, unrelenting. Poverty overtakes Hugo and Mary. She is sitting in the bare kitchen, a sweater drawn over her dress when the door opens and Hugo enters in mackinaw and arctics. He tries to speak courageously: HUGO: Hello dear one. MARY: I’m so glad you’re back There is no work for— MARY: I was going to say did you get very cold— HUGO: Not too cold! It is the eold hearts, Mary—the cold words! I ask here—I ask there—people that were my friends—they turn MARY: I know, dear. HUGO: (brightening) But at that there’s a bare chance I may get work tomorrow in the MARY: Maybe it won’t be so HUGO: Of course it won’t be bad—if I get it—Oh, Mary, dearest one, why do you stick to me like this? Sometimes I think I should write to Jeff—and let him know how things really are with us. HUGO: It’s Jeff you should have married, liebchen, not—not me! (Wind rises and falls eerily) MARY: Such foolish talk, Hugo. We'll get through somehow. It’ll all come right—so long as we have HUGO: Liebes Herzchen—(pause, sleighbells in distance). MARY: Who’d venture out on a HUGO: I'll see. MARY: Who is it? HUGO: Your grandmother Archer —in her furs—and— MARY: Surely not! HUGO: Your grandmother and your—and Jeff! (jingling now quite near, stops) MARY: Open the door, dear. (opening door heard, wind swirls HUGO: Ah— MARY: Why, grandmother Ar (bluntly) How do you do, Mary!—Like a barn in JEFF: (buffly) Hello, Mary! MARY: Oh, I’m so glad to see JEFF: (heartily) How goes it, HUGO: Well, Jeff—we—that is, GRANDMA: (interrupting) Mary, we’ve come to take you home! MARY: Oh, I—I can’t go, grandYou see, there are only the two of us now—and— GRANDMA: You may bring your husband with you, if you wish. We’ll make an opening for him in the mills, somehow. what’s keeping Jeff, I’d like to know? there’s just one thing we’re asking you to do for us! HUGO: (dry and _ suspicious) What is it? GRANDMA: We want you to change your name. HUGO: (incredulously) To change, my name! GRANDMA: Wilbur, for instance, is not so different from (with disgust in her voice) Wilbrandt! And Wilbur is a real good American name—Hugh Wilbur! HUGO: (with quietly tense passion) I will not change my name. It was my father’s, and his father’s before him—further back even, than your Pilgrim Rock! MARY: (faintly appealing) But, Hugo— HUGO: (grimly) I will not change my name for anybody. I am not ashamed of the blood that is in me. GRANDMA: (her ‘dander’ up) Suit yourself, of course!—If you can’t see your way to— HUGO: (interrupting with finality) I won’t bargain with you. Understand? I take nothing of you. Once—I would have taken. (pentup bitterness surges in him) Last summer—if you had sent for Mary and the boy—if you had the decent goodness to take them out of the heat here—he might have been alive! MARY: (anguished) Hugo! HUGO: (not heeding) I take nothing of you. I want nothing of you. JEFF: (sharp alarm) MARY! GRANDMA: (excited) Mercy! She’s fainted! This is what you've done! Get some brandy! (softly) Mary—Mary—child! HUGO: (savagely) And some beef tea—and an eggnog and a good hot cup of coffee. Where do you think you'll find them in this house! (eagetly) Mary! It’s Hugo! GRANDMA: (preemptorily) Get that whisky from the sleigh, Jeff! JEFF: Yes. (door heard opening and slamming, wind louder). GRANDMA: I suppose I can seare up some hot water. HUGO: Yes. They haven’t turned off the gas yet. GRANDMA: I suppose when youve killed her with your obstinacy, you'll be satisfied! MARY: (as if in a dream) Lieber Mann—~ HUGO: My dear—ah, good—you are yourself again— MARY: (lightly) What fool thing have I been doing now? HUGO: You—you just folded up on us—that’s all. | MARY: How Victorian! Now, let me get up! HUGO: Lie still a little! Listen, dear. You want very much to go back with them where you were a child, and be happy. MARY: Without you? Yon don’t think I’m going back without you, do you? HUGO: Do you think the things in this house will pack themselves! (door heard to open and shut) JEFF: Here it is—I couldn’t find it—I— GRANDMA: I’ve got the water steaming! Here! Pour it in!— Don’t be stingy with it! Pour! HUGO: Yes, make it good and strong. She’s got a long journey before her—a long cold journey. She’s going back with you to Archervale. MARY: He’s coming—later. HUGO: Sure.—I’m going now to pack her suitcase. GRANDMA: Hurry then! We want to get there before dark! why ask—? (Winds sound and the orchestra softly plays the air of “Du, du, liegst mir im Herzen” through which the voices of Hugo and Mary are heard, after some moments of music only). MARY: Hugo—you will come— in a week? GRANDMA: (off, impatiently) Mary! Do please hurry! MARY: Yes. Grandma! (to Hugo, softly) You’ll come to me before Christmas—won’t you?—Yes? Cross your heart and hope to die if you don’t? HUGO: (not meaning it) In a week. GRANDMA: (off, tartly) You know it isn’t as if you were saying goodbye forever! MARY: (her heart in her voice) Auf Wiedersehen, lieber Mann. HUGO: Auf Wiedersehen, my Mary! (bells tinkle softly, wind loud). GRANDMA: Sit right in here between us! That’s the girl! HUGO: Look out for her, will you, Jeff? JEFF: (bluffly) Sure, old man. (sleigh starts, bells jingling merrily) HUGO: (calling through the wind) Auf Wiedersehen. MARY: (her voice like an echo) Auf Wiedersehen! (Sound of the bells fades into the air of “Du, du, liegst mir im Herzen” played by orchestra. The music is fading as the narrator concludes) : NARRATOR: But he never comes back. Instead he returned to Germany and enlisted in the forces of his Fatherland during the World War. Jeff is somewhere in France as an officer of the A.E.F.—Mary is in charge of an army canteen— We are not going to tell you more of the great story of “Ever In My Heart”—except that it is one of the most powerful melodramatic romances ever filmed! Barbara Stanwyck has won high acclaim for earlier roles—but her portrayal of the emotional heroine of “Ever In My Heart” presents a new Barbara Stanwyck! Courageous — feminine —constant in her love—and incredibly moving! “Ever In My Heart” will open it’s local engagement at the Strand Theatre...................... next. Thank you for listening and GOOD LUCK! freight THE END