Lux Radio Theatre - Berkeley Square

Summary

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Lux Radio Theatre – Berkeley Square

Podcast: Harold's Old Time Radio
Date: July 5, 2026
Main Cast: Ronald Colman (Peter Standish), Maureen O'Sullivan (Helen Pettigrew)
Producer: Cecil B. DeMille
Timeframe: 1939 & 1784, London

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Episode Overview

This episode features a dramatized radio adaptation of Berkeley Square, based on the play inspired by Henry James' novel "The Sense of the Past." The story intertwines themes of time travel, love transcending centuries, and the deep longing to inhabit a more romantic, distant past. The protagonist, Peter Standish, is a modern man who finds himself crossing the boundary into 18th-century London, becoming enmeshed in the lives and fortunes of his own ancestors and falling in love in another age. The episode explores the tension between past and present, fate and self-determination, and the bitter-sweet nature of impossible love.

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Key Discussion Points & Plot Breakdown

1. Introduction and Framing (01:04)

• Cecil B. DeMille introduces the play, referencing Henry James' original source and setting the stage for a romantic, time-traveling drama between two centuries.
• "The idea behind tonight's play, Berkeley Square, in which a young man, through his love of the past, breaks through the barrier of time and finds the girl he loves in the 18th century." (DeMille, 01:17)
• Touches on the enduring allure of traveling back in time and the elegance of 18th-century England.

2. The Present: Peter Standish’s Longing and Discovery (04:03)

• Peter Standish, preparing to leave England for military duty in France, reflects on his sense of alienation from his own time, and his obsession with the past.
• He shares with Marjorie, his fiancée, the odd pull that his ancestral home in Berkeley Square exerts over him ("It's the most natural thing in the world, my dear. After all, it was a Standish ancestor of mine who built the place." — Peter, 06:48).
• Discovery of the diary and artifacts triggers Peter’s immersion in the house’s—and his own ancestor's—history.

3. The Time Shift: From 1939 to 1784 (15:03)

• As the anniversary of his ancestor's arrival coincides with his own presence, lines between past and present blur.
• Peter's experience of walking seamlessly (and unnoticed) into the past; the modern man is physically present among his ancestors.
  • "I, Peter Standish, had in the year 1939, swept time away and walked into another century." (Peter, 25:31)
• Initial culture shock and suspicion arise—Peter's knowledge and oddities unsettle the 18th-century household.

4. Navigating Another Century (21:10)

• Peter must retrace his ancestor's steps exactly, as recorded in the diary: he cannot disrupt historical events.
• Themes of predestination and free will surface.
  • “Naturally, I’d have to do everything he did. I mean, I couldn’t change anything in the 18th century that had really happened.” (Peter, 13:27)
• Encounters with prominent historical figures: Sir Joshua Reynolds, Duchess of Devonshire, and subtle commentary on American independence and values.

5. The Love Story: Peter and Helen Pettigrew (33:41)

• Peter’s connection with Helen deepens; she is intuitive and empathetic, hinting at a kind of second sight.
• Their shared intimacy transcends time, but Peter struggles with the consequences of his presence: "Helen, you are not like the others. You... you're real. Real. And I want to take—" (Peter, 33:05).
• The classic triangle: Peter is expected to marry Kate, Helen’s sister, but his heart belongs to Helen.

6. The Tragedy of Foreknowledge (41:19)

• Peter shares "visions" of the future with Helen—technological, social, and wartime horrors and wonders:
  • "The veil is thin for you... great birds, bigger than a hundred eagles... Machines with men in them... a city across the sea... Men who fly like birds." (43:00)
  • "Curving streams of fire pumped out of hoses to shrivel men like insects. 1917. And it will happen again in another generation." (Peter, 43:50)
• This foreknowledge is both intoxicating and horrifying for Helen—she yearns for beauty, hope, and love but recoils from war and destruction.

7. The Impossible Choice (52:19)

• The household begins to suspect Peter is something supernatural—a ghost, a devil, or at least a dangerous intruder.
• Peter’s modern language and ideas betray him; his desperate love for Helen means breaking with the past, but to stay is to condemn them both to misery.
  • "Because you love me, you condemn us both to death. No. No. Leave me while our love is still beautiful. I ask it for my sake." (Helen, 53:27)
• A symbol of their connection, the Ansata cross, passes from her to him—a symbol of eternity and hope across centuries.

8. Return to the Present, and Aftermath (55:17)

• Peter is back in 1939, forever changed by his experiences.
• He visits Helen’s grave, noting her early death and the deep inscription she asked for so he would someday find her.
• The closing reflects on the eternal nature of love and loss: "We shall be together always, Peter. Not in my time or in yours, but in God's." (Helen, 57:56)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On time and fate:
  "What is past and present and future to the man in the boat are all one to the man in the plane." (Peter, 11:40)

• On the longing for the past:
  "How many of us have longed to escape from the narrow limits of reality into the romance and excitement of another time and another century?" (DeMille, 01:27)

• On the pain of foreknowledge:
  "Curving streams of fire pumped out of hoses to shrivel men like insects. 1917. And it will happen again in another generation." (Peter, 43:50)

• The tragic love confession:
  "I loved you before I ever saw you, in my first dream of you coming from somewhere far away to leave me..." (Helen, 44:37)

• On lasting connection:
  "Not in my time or in yours, but in God's." (Helen, 57:56)

• On being out of place in history:
  "I've seen your civilization, your fine city. And I tell you what's needed here is a new fire of London, a new plague. Dirt, disease, cruelty. Smells. Lord, how the 18th century stinks." (Peter, 50:34)

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Important Segments (Timestamps)

• [01:04] Introduction by Cecil B. DeMille – context and story concept.
• [04:03] Peter’s existential reflections in 1939 and discovery of the past.
• [15:03] Transition: Peter crosses into 1784.
• [25:31] Peter realizes his immersion in the past is real.
• [33:05–33:41] Confessions of love, emotional turning point between Peter and Helen.
• [41:19–44:00] Visionary sequence: Peter and Helen witness the tragic and hopeful future.
• [50:34–52:04] Showdown: family’s confrontation, accusations of witchcraft/devilry.
• [55:17–56:43] Peter’s return, the graveside revelation, and closure with Marjorie.
• [57:56] Final statement on love and eternity.

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Tone and Language

• The episode blends formal, emotionally heightened 20th-century English with witty, mannered 18th-century dialogue.
• Moments of sincerity and heartache are juxtaposed with playful, period-specific banter.
• The language evokes a sense of romantic longing, loss, and fate ("You gave us a fascinating play to do, Mr. DeMille." – Kate, 59:23).

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Conclusion

Berkeley Square is both a poignant love story and a meditation on the enduring connection between past and present. Its powerful performances and evocative dialogue capture the bittersweet nature of time, the pain of love impossible within the strict boundaries of fate, and the ever-present yearning to recapture lost worlds.

For listeners captivated by romantic fantasy, historical drama, and thoughtful explorations of fate and identity, this classic radio adaptation is a rich and rewarding journey.

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Transcript

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[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

Lux presents Hollywood. Deluxe Radio Theater brings you Berkeley Square starring Ronald Coleman and Marino Sullivan. Ladies and gentlemen, your producer, Mr. Cecil D. DeMill.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

Greetings from Hollywood, ladies and gentlemen. If any of you are thinking of writing a novel, I commend to your attention a little known volume by one of America's best known novelists, Henry James. It's called the Sense of the Past. It contains not only this novel but also the author's notes which he jotted down while working. And it contains one of the most fascinating ideas ever put on paper. The idea behind tonight's play, Berkeley Square, in which a young man, through his love of the past, breaks through the barrier of time and finds the girl he loves in the 18th century. Before reaching the screen. The play suggested by Henry James novel was one of the great successes of our generation. It was filmed by 20th Century Fox and it comes to you tonight on the Lux Radio Theater with two favorite stars, Ronald Coleman and Maureen o'. Sullivan. I suppose all of us have at some time toyed with the idea of visiting the past and reliving some romantic period that appeals to us. And certainly 18th century England is one of the most picturesque with its colorful, elaborate costumes. You can imagine how helpful Lux Flakes would have been in taking care of those voluminous, expensive garments. In fact, Lord Chesterfield, the arbiter of fashion of that era, prescribed that not only should one's clothes be well made and one's wig well powdered, but one's linen should at all times be extremely clean. If Lord Chesterfield could pierce the barrier of time like the hero in tonight's play and visit the 20th century in America, I'm sure he would add a hearty recommendation for Lux Flake. Now the clock points to curtain time. And here's the first act of Berkeley Square, starring Ronald Coleman as Peter Standish and Maureen o' Sullivan as Helen Pettigrew. How many of us have longed to escape from the narrow limits of reality into the romance and excitement of another time and another century. But if we could journey back into the Mystery of the past. What would we find? Contentment or unhappiness? This is the narrative of a man who made such a journey. A man who went from today into yesterday. London, 1939. A week ago, a member of the staff of the American Embassy resigned his post to assume a commission as military observer with the British Expeditionary Force. His name is Peter Standish. This is his last night in England. And now in a large and venerable home in Berkeley Square, he sits alone, writing feverishly.

[Peter Standish]

I am leaving England tomorrow. My orders read that I am going to France. A lot of bother and expense to the War Department for I do not think I shall return. My hand is steady as I write, my mind clearer than it has been all my life, and I am happy. But I can't help wondering what purpose I serve by writing down the events I have experienced since coming to Berkeley Square two months ago. Perhaps it is with a faint hope that poor Marjorie someday shall find this and reading it will understand. Or perhaps in writing I can live it all again. It began with the day I found the cracks and satyr. It also was on that day that Marjorie came to see me. Marjorie.

[Marjorie]

Hello, you. Aren't you going to kiss me?

[Peter Standish]

Again and again, If I may.

[Marjorie]

Well, that's better. Peter, do you realize you haven't seen me, not even called me for two days? Is anything wrong?

[Peter Standish]

Oh, no, no, of course not.

[Marjorie]

Well, then finish up whatever it is you're doing and we'll. Why, Peter, I believe you've forgotten all about it.

[Peter Standish]

Forgotten what?

[Marjorie]

Well, darling, tea, of course. Four o' clock with Mr. Littles in the embassy.

[Peter Standish]

Oh, my dear. Well, I can be ready in a moment.

[Marjorie]

A week time. Oh, Peter, what's that there on your desk?

[Peter Standish]

I just found it in the attic. It's the Cruxan SATA.

[Marjorie]

Cruxan SATA.

[Peter Standish]

I was looking at it when you came in. The Ansata cross. Yes, I'm sure that's what it is. A symbol of eternal life. And that's not all I found.

[Marjorie]

Look, a diary.

[Peter Standish]

Yes, Peter Standish's diary. It says here his trip from New York to England took 27 days. Revolutionary War was just over. He fought under Washington. Look, look, look here. He says here that Sir Joshua Reynolds refused to finish his portrait. But he did finish it. There it is on the wall.

[Tom Pettigrew]

Look.

[Peter Standish]

It's obviously all Reynolds work.

[Marjorie]

Peter, that portrait. You know, I've always said you might have sat for it yourself. And his name was Peter Sanders, too. It's very odd.

[Peter Standish]

Yes, he married Kate Pettigrew, the Elder sister, they lived right here in this house. Then there was a younger sister, Helen. And look here. Here in the diary. Here. Here's something about a shawl, a cashmere shawl, that Helen's aunt, just before Peter's arrival here. You see? Look. Minute details.

[Marjorie]

Peter, I don't understand it.

[Peter Standish]

You don't understand what, dear?

[Marjorie]

Well, this place, it's like a museum. Why would they leave things here for 155 years old?

[Peter Standish]

The house has always been in the Pettigrew family. And for some wonderful reason, each new generation kept things just as they found them, just as they found them through all these years.

[Marjorie]

But this fascination it holds for you, it isn't. It's not natural.

[Peter Standish]

Oh, it's the most natural thing in the world, my dear. After all, it was a Standish ancestor of mine who built the place.

[Marjorie]

Well, I still don't understand why old Mr. Pettigrew left it to you and his will.

[Peter Standish]

Because he knew I'd take care of it.

[Helen Pettigrew]

What?

[Peter Standish]

Well, old Pettigrew is rather fond of me, I suppose. And after all, we were distantly related. But I've told you all this before, my dear.

[Marjorie]

Yes, I know.

[Peter Standish]

Look, Marjorie.

[Marjorie]

Look.

[Peter Standish]

Just look at these letters. Dozens of letters from Peter Standish to Kate Pettigrew, courting her from across the Atlantic Ocean. And this one, the very letter he wrote Kate's mother the day he arrived in England. Read it.

[Marjorie]

The Blue Boar inn, Jermyn Street, September 3, 1784. Lady Anne Pettigrew. Honored, madam, having arrived within the hour, I shall do myself the honor to wait upon you at house Paul Past five o' clock in Berkeley Square. Peter Stanley, half past five, September 3rd. Well, that's today, September 3rd.

[Peter Standish]

The paper's yellow, the ink all but faded. But I imagine Lady Anne is reading that letter now. 155 years ago today, half past five, September 3rd, 1784. He walked through that very doll.

[Marjorie]

Peter.

[Peter Standish]

Hmm?

[Helen Pettigrew]

It's.

[Marjorie]

It's not very flattering, you know, playing second fiddle to a house.

[Peter Standish]

Oh, Marjorie, my dear, how can I?

[Marjorie]

You know, I. I'm almost glad we decided not to be married until Christmas.

[Peter Standish]

Oh, darling, I'm sorry.

[Marjorie]

I'm afraid my feelings have been hurt. Peter.

[Peter Standish]

I'm. I'm ashamed of myself, Marjorie. But I can't see you for the next week or two. I mean, I. I must have two weeks to myself here alone. Oh, please, trust me.

[Marjorie]

Oh, I will trust you. I will if you only tell me what this is all about.

[Peter Standish]

No, I. I can't. Please.

[Marjorie]

What's that what?

[Peter Standish]

Sounded like a coach. A coach? Rattling over the cobblestones. You seem to stop here. No, no, it's nothing.

[Marjorie]

But, Peter, a coach. Cobblestone.

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

Yes.

[Peter Standish]

Silly, wasn't it? Well, should we go and pick up Johnny Little?

[Marjorie]

Oh, yes, and let's walk. A little fresh air will do you good.

[Peter Standish]

But I have to be back here at 5:30.

[Marjorie]

Someone coming?

[Peter Standish]

No, but I must be here.

[Marjorie]

Mystery upon mystery. Very well, darling. You shall be here.

[Peter Standish]

I'm behaving very badly, Marjorie. I know it.

[Marjorie]

I know it too.

[Peter Standish]

Why do you put up with me?

[Marjorie]

Possibly because I love you.

[Peter Standish]

Thank you, Marjorie.

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

But what in the world happened to Marjorie? I thought the three of us were

[Mr. Throstle]

going to have tea.

[Peter Standish]

Yes, so did I. We started out to meet you, Johnny, and then she. Well, then she said she better run on home. I'm afraid I've hurt her badly.

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

Yes, you have, Peter. She telephoned me after she left you. She thought perhaps if I spoke with you alone.

[Peter Standish]

But what about? Peter, I've known you for a long time.

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

There's something wrong with you.

[Peter Standish]

I'd like to know what it is if I can.

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

I want to help you.

[Tom Pettigrew]

Help?

[Peter Standish]

Do I look as if I need help? Where have you been keeping yourself?

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

I haven't seen you in a month.

[Peter Standish]

Oh, it's the house. Been taking up most of my time.

[Mr. Throstle]

The house?

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

People can get morbid and must be shutting themselves up in old houses.

[Peter Standish]

Marjorie is really quite disturbed about you. Yes, I wish she weren't.

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

Look here, why don't you get away for a while?

[Peter Standish]

Yes, it would be great to get away, wouldn't it, really away. There's still our adventures, John. Inconceivable adventures.

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

Adventures? What adventures?

[Peter Standish]

Why shouldn't I tell you, John? I believe that when I go back to my house in Berkeley Square, I shall walk straight into the 18th century and meet the people living there. All right, I told you. Now I'll go and call up a psychiatrist.

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

Oh, there's time for that, I think. Well, I never met anyone before who believed in ghosts.

[Peter Standish]

Who said anything about ghosts? I believe they're alive, John. That Peter Standish, my ancestor, is alive. And just as I'm living here, he's living there, back in his own time. Own time? The 18th century.

[Mr. Throstle]

Yes.

[Peter Standish]

Now, hold on. Oh, I know what you're thinking, but maybe this will tell you what I mean. Suppose you're in a boat, John. A boat that's sailing down a winding stream. You watch the banks as you pass by. A few minutes ago, backstream, you passed a Grove of maple trees. You can't see them now, can you? You saw them in the past.

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

Of course.

[Peter Standish]

Good. Now. Now you're watching something else before your eyes. Now is a field of clover. Now in the present. And you don't know yet what's waiting for you when you round that bend in the river just ahead. There may be wonderful things there, but you can't see them till you pass that bend. It's in the future, isn't it really, Peter?

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

Isn't it?

[Peter Standish]

Yes, it's in the future. All right. Now remember, you're in the boat. But supposing I'm in a plane high above you. I'm looking down and in one glance I can see it all. What is past and present and future to the man in the boat are all one to the man in the plane. Proving what? Well, don't you see? Proving that all time, time, real time, is nothing but an idea in the mind of God.

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[Peter Standish]

John, how would you like to walk down the quiet streets of London? Breathe the clean fresh air instead of gasoline fumes, Ride in sedan chairs, Meet Samuel Johnson and John Adams, our ambassador.

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

And how far would you get? You'd make mistakes.

[Peter Standish]

They'd find you out.

[Kate Pettigrew]

No.

[Peter Standish]

No, John. No. I have a passport.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

Passport?

[Peter Standish]

It is a diary. The diary of a man who came to London from America. I know everything he did from the moment he arrived. Naturally, I'd have to do everything he did. I mean, I couldn't change anything in the 18th century that had really happened in the 18th century. Peter, for heaven's sake. It's five o', clock, John. Thanks for tea, Peter. And I'll call you. I'LL call you in a few days perhaps.

[Mr. Throstle]

Berkeley Square, you said, sir. Which house?

[Peter Standish]

Just a little further on. No, no, never mind. I'll get out here.

[Mr. Throstle]

But it's pouring, sir.

[Peter Standish]

Well, that's all right. Here.

[Mr. Throstle]

Thank you.

[Peter Standish]

By the way, what time is it?

[Marjorie]

Time?

[Mr. Throstle]

About 25 minutes after five.

[Peter Standish]

25 minutes after five. Thank you, dummy. Honest, madam, having arrived within the hour, I shall do myself the honor to wait upon you at halfast five o' clock in Barkley Square. Half past five. Barkley Square. Five more minutes. Five more minutes.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Luke and Pete.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

A letter from our cousin, Peter Standish.

[Kate Pettigrew]

He's a writer in law. A letter?

[Tom Pettigrew]

When did he dispatch it?

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

From where it came, but now from the Blue Boar in Jermyn street by messenger.

[Tom Pettigrew]

Here wait upon you at half past five. Why, same arm is almost set. Now, storm or no storm, our Yankee wastes no time.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

Kate, you will welcome him downstairs.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Oh, mother not alone, surely you'll present him to me.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

You will do as I tell you.

[Tom Pettigrew]

Odds, blood, the girl grows timid. Now look at Kate. Book this Yankee standard and there need be no more talk of poverty in this family.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Money.

[Helen Pettigrew]

I know what you've in mind for him, dear brother.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Drinking cards, a companion who will pay for your entertainment and your losses.

[Tom Pettigrew]

No future husband will find you sharp of tongue, my lad.

[Peter Standish]

Odds of life. If ever he'll take you, we shall receive him.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

Mary Throstle, that disgusting little man.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Hush.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

You well know Mr. Throstle is to enter our family too.

[Kate Pettigrew]

And what is my poor sister's feelings?

[Tom Pettigrew]

Mum, what's wrong with Throstle teeth? None to good perhaps, but fifteen hundred pounds a year.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

How much?

[Mr. Throstle]

Mr. Throssell?

[Kate Pettigrew]

My lady.

[Mr. Throstle]

Lady Anne, Miss Petticoat and sir your servant.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

Come in, Mr. Throssell.

[Kate Pettigrew]

We have great news.

[Mr. Throstle]

I am aware of it. I met but now Major Clinton. He journeyed from America with your cousin, milady.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

America? Thomas, remember, you are not to say colonial.

[Tom Pettigrew]

Yankee puppy then, milady.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

Miss Helen, you will sign Miss Helen in the music room.

[Helen Pettigrew]

Dear Miss.

[Mr. Throstle]

Oh, yes, Lovely, Miss Helen, lovely.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Thank you.

[Mr. Throstle]

Miss Helen, you are aware that I have your mother's permission to pay my respect?

[Kate Pettigrew]

Surely you know my feelings, Mr. Thricer.

[Mr. Throstle]

At least if your affections are not disposed elsewhere, I may continue to hope

[Kate Pettigrew]

I shall never marry. Yes. Kate. Helen. Our cousin Peter Standish is in London

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

and is about to present himself. And Mr. Throssell, Mr. Standish has written that he would buy a townhouse, a country estate and a wife. Thomas.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Mother, I hear a coach.

[Helen Pettigrew]

A coach?

[Kate Pettigrew]

Quickly, take down the Stairs.

[Tom Pettigrew]

Good luck with your service, Kate.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

Come, dear. Mr. Foster.

[Duchess of Devonshire]

Helen.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Helen. Why must mother do this to me? Only be yourself, Kate dear. Our cousin will not eat you.

[Tom Pettigrew]

Where is he? What happened to him?

[Kate Pettigrew]

I don't know, but he must be here.

[Tom Pettigrew]

We saw the coachman upstairs.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Well, I thought he must have let himself in. Mary said she heard no knock on the door.

[Tom Pettigrew]

She didn't hear it for the rain. Go and let the Yankee in.

[Kate Pettigrew]

No, he's not there. I just looked.

[Tom Pettigrew]

Well, someone must have let him in. Of course. He's gone to the servants quarters. He knows his place. I've got bring him back, sir.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Yes, I'll wait.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

Who.

[Peter Standish]

Who are you?

[Kate Pettigrew]

Oh, you are your servant, sir. Take beg of you.

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

We'll bring you Act 2 of Barclay Square in moment.

[Helen Pettigrew]

Meanwhile, here's Libby with a bedtime story that sounds interesting for ladies only. Once upon a time, there were three pairs of rayon stockings. 1, 2, 3. They were really lovely, but alas, they were bought by a very careless girl. Virtue wore pair number one. And that night she washed them. But oh, what she did. She used hot water and rubbed them with a cake of soap. And in just a few days they were gone. So then she wore pair number two and washed them. The next morning when she went to put them on, they weren't quite dry. But the careless girl put them on anyway. And that was the end of number two. She was furious. She was so mad. She went right down to the store where she bought the stockings to tell them about it. But the salesgirl said, what a shame. But these are lovely stockings. With the right care they'll really wear. Did you use lux and dry them thoroughly?

[Marjorie]

At least 24 hours.

[Helen Pettigrew]

So that night when the careless girl took off pair number three, she did just what the girl in the store said. She made lukewarm suds with mild luxe flakes and squeezed them gently through the stockings. Then she rinsed them and hung them to dry all that night and all the next day too. And the last we heard, she was still wearing pair number three. Which lived happily thereafter.

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

Using lux is the way to make you live happily with your stockings. There are all sorts of scientific tests that show stockings washed with lux last twice as long as those washed with a strong soap or rubbed with a cake of soap. Yes, Actual strain tests, hundreds of them prove this. So better stick to luxe flakes for stockings. Now Mr. DeMille returns to the microphone.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

Act two of Berkeley Square, starring Ronald Coleman as Peter Standish and Maureen o' Sullivan as Helen Pettigrew. Berkeley Square, September 1939. And at his desk, Peter Standish continues to write of the bewildering events which have carried him out of the present and into the year 1784 to 3 September 1784, when at 05:30 o' clock on a rain swept evening, the door of this very room should flung open and Peter Standish stood before Miss Kate Pettigrew.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Have you had a tiring journey, cousin?

[Peter Standish]

I just come over from America.

[Helen Pettigrew]

Indeed?

[Kate Pettigrew]

We had not thought you came from Poland, sir.

[Peter Standish]

In the General Wolf. We had not thought it took 27 dreary days.

[Kate Pettigrew]

A ship you did not swim across?

[Peter Standish]

No, cousin, I'm being a boar. Inexcusable for one who has just met his betrothed.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Betrothed?

[Peter Standish]

Oh, come, Kate. It was all arranged in our letters. Or don't. Don't you want me to kiss you?

[Kate Pettigrew]

Oh. LAUGHTER I vow you are the audacious fellow I've told Helen we must expect.

[Peter Standish]

Helen? Oh, yes, your sister, of course. If you want a formal declaration of my sentiments, I. I know exactly how it was done.

[Helen Pettigrew]

Yeah?

[Peter Standish]

How it is done. Miss Pettigrew, fair cousin, will you be my wife?

[Kate Pettigrew]

Oh, you go much too fast, sir. Oh, tell me, Mr. Standish, in America do visitors just walk into houses?

[Peter Standish]

Walk in? But I press the bell.

[Kate Pettigrew]

The bell?

[Peter Standish]

The buzzer.

[Kate Pettigrew]

The buzzer.

[Peter Standish]

I. I knocked. Knocked?

[Kate Pettigrew]

But who let you in?

[Peter Standish]

The door was ajar. I walked in. Raining cats and dogs. You know, that's your clothes.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Your shoes, they're dry.

[Tom Pettigrew]

Shoes Disappeared. Blood. The Yankees.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Oh, my brother Tom.

[Tom Pettigrew]

Mr. Peter Sanders servant, sir, ma', am, is here. In here?

[Helen Pettigrew]

In there.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Ma', am, I present our cousin, Mr. Peter Standish.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

10,000 welcomes. Dear, dear cousin. And allow me, sir, our dear friend, Mr. Throssell. And my other daughter, Helen.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Mr. Standish.

[Peter Standish]

Ms. Pettigrew.

[Tom Pettigrew]

Now then, sir, I'm ready to show you the town.

[Peter Standish]

Yes, by all means, of course, I

[Tom Pettigrew]

shall put you up in Brookes Club. You'll meet every gentleman in London at Brook's Club.

[Mr. Throstle]

And when you wish, sir, I shall be glad to present you to the president of the Royal Academy.

[Peter Standish]

Sir Joshua Reynolds. Sir Joshua Reynolds, the painter? Whom else, sir, do you think he paint my portrait?

[Tom Pettigrew]

Ay, at a hundred guineas.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

A monstrous plum, cousin. But he's the fashion.

[Tom Pettigrew]

Our prospective brother in law, Mr. Throstle, may persuade him to paint you for less.

[Peter Standish]

Brother in law?

[Kate Pettigrew]

Ah, Tom, please. Helen, dear, what good fortune. Our cousin is here for your birthday reception.

[Peter Standish]

Your birthday, Miss Helen?

[Kate Pettigrew]

Yes, why of course.

[Peter Standish]

Your aunt's Gift is for your birthday. The cashmere shawl.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Oh, is it a shawl? She sent a parcel for my birthday. But I wasn't too open until then. I'll go and open it now.

[Peter Standish]

Oh, strike me.

[Tom Pettigrew]

How do you know about Helen's present?

[Peter Standish]

I really don't know. This is just a hunch. A shot in the dark hunch, sir.

[Tom Pettigrew]

Shot in the dark.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Look, an American jest. Look. It is a jaw.

[Peter Standish]

Is it, sir?

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

How did you know?

[Tom Pettigrew]

Well, here's a rival for you, Helen. Looky, cousin. Can you read thoughts like my sister?

[Peter Standish]

Helen? Helen reads thoughts.

[Kate Pettigrew]

At times I seem to see things that others do not.

[Peter Standish]

What things?

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

Why, I believe you're trying to Change the subject, Mr. Standish.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Ma', am, I. I fear our cousin is not well.

[Peter Standish]

It's just a headache. A rather tiresome headache.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

Then you must rest till dinner.

[Tom Pettigrew]

Tom comes up, you to your room and I to the blue ball for your boxes.

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[Peter Standish]

It was rather stupid of me to have mentioned that show. And strange that Helen should be so quick to sense my confusion. Helen. The diary mentioned so little of her and nothing at all of her second sight. Tom left me alone in the room. And suddenly, before a mirror, I saw an incredible sight myself. Faultlessly groomed in knee britches and silver buckles, a wig on my head and lace at my neck. I went to a window and flung it open. Yes, it was all true. I saw other men in the square, men dressed as I was dressed, and coaches and sedan chairs and a watchman bawling the hour of the day. I, Peter Standish, had in the year 1939, swept time away and walked into another century. I was alive in 1784 in Berkeley Square. And then. And then I heard music. A spinet. I followed the sound. And in a moment, I stood again before Helen.

[Helen Pettigrew]

Ke.

[Peter Standish]

You play very well, Helen.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Oh.

[Peter Standish]

Oh, no, please. Please don't stop.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Your headache is cured already, cousin.

[Peter Standish]

Completely.

[Kate Pettigrew]

You really did not have a headache?

[Peter Standish]

No.

[Kate Pettigrew]

How did you know about my sh.

[Peter Standish]

Please, no more questions. Helen. I feel you're the only one here I can talk to. You'll help me, won't you?

[Kate Pettigrew]

How can I help you, Cotton?

[Peter Standish]

Well, it's. It's all so strange. All this. This London, Berkeley Square, and I didn't think it would be. It makes me uncomfortable. You can see that, can't you?

[Kate Pettigrew]

Kate will soon put you at your ease.

[Peter Standish]

And you, Helen, Are you really engaged to Mr. Thrustle?

[Kate Pettigrew]

Tom had no right to say that. Mother would like me to be.

[Peter Standish]

I thought so. Look, we'll make a bargain. You help me out, and I'll back you up.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Will you?

[Peter Standish]

I want. Oh, I keep forgetting I can't interfere with things that really did happen. I mean, you see, my position here, so awkward.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Awkward, sir? You are reported to have £10,000 a year. With that, you may do anything you wish.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

Perhaps.

[Peter Standish]

Perhaps you do marry Strassel after all.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Never.

[Peter Standish]

Helen, look at me. Is there anything strange about me?

[Kate Pettigrew]

Strange?

[Peter Standish]

Well, I'm an American, you know, and just come into this. This new world. That's why I may seem nervous.

[Kate Pettigrew]

The family's inside. Perhaps we better join them.

[Peter Standish]

No. No, please don't go.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Kate is waiting for you, Peter. Oh, yes, and my brother. He and Mr. Throssell spoke of taking you to Brooks Club.

[Peter Standish]

Brooks Club? Yes. Yes, I think I shall like that.

[Tom Pettigrew]

Would you look at him, Major? Just look at him.

[Mr. Throstle]

Perhaps he's never before viewed a gentleman's gaming club.

[Tom Pettigrew]

That scant excuse to ogle like a country lout.

[Mr. Throstle]

When we came here an hour ago. He turns his back on the Prince of Wales.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

And why so, Mr. Throstle?

[Mr. Throstle]

Because his Highness blew his nose with his fingers. Oh, come now, Come. I sailed across the Atlantic with him. That doesn't sound like my Yankee at all. Hi, Standish.

[Peter Standish]

Have I had the honor, sir?

[Tom Pettigrew]

Well, Standish, you haven't forgotten Clinton.

[Peter Standish]

Major Clinton? Why, of course. But dressed like a peacock. Why, your own mother wouldn't know you. You don't seem the same man ashore.

[Mr. Throstle]

Nor you, sir. Not the same man at all.

[Peter Standish]

Well, we must push off now, mustn't we, Mr. Throttle?

[Mr. Throstle]

Push off?

[Peter Standish]

Well, you.

[Marjorie]

You.

[Peter Standish]

You offered to take me to Sir Joshua he's going to do my portrait. Clinton.

[Mr. Throstle]

But you haven't met him yet.

[Peter Standish]

He'll do it. He's got to. Well, throttle. Let's get a taxi. And I mean, let's be on our way, shall we? Good day, gentlemen. A few minutes later, I was talking with the greatest portrait painter England has ever known. Sir Joshua Reynolds. In the days that followed, I made frequent visits to his studio. And one morning, Helen and Kate came with me.

[Mr. Throstle]

Please, Mr. Standby.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

The pose, the prose.

[Peter Standish]

Oh, hi. I'm sorry.

[Tom Pettigrew]

Send me, sir.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

Now that you've broken away from England,

[Peter Standish]

you're determined to do great things in the colony, in the United States, are you not? Oh, I suppose we shall. You see, Sir Joshua, our forefathers, that is, we. We have brought forth upon that continent a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

[Kate Pettigrew]

All men created equal?

[Mr. Throstle]

But, sir, that proposition is absurd.

[Peter Standish]

Absurd? Well, yes, dear, I. I suppose it does seem a little cockeyed.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Cockeyed?

[Peter Standish]

An American term. Kate, We've. We've invented a new language over there.

[Mr. Throstle]

Step down, Mr. Standish.

[Peter Standish]

I. I can paint no more today, Sir Joshua.

[Kate Pettigrew]

What's wrong?

[Mr. Throstle]

His face. Something in his face. It completely eludes me.

[Peter Standish]

A very ordinary face, Sir Joshua.

[Mr. Throstle]

It is anything but that, Mr. Standish. It holds something I've never encountered before.

[Peter Standish]

Oh, now, what expression in any face could elude an artist? Who could? Painted Mrs. Siddons, the mistress of all expressions, as the tragic muse.

[Marjorie]

What?

[Mr. Throstle]

What did you say?

[Peter Standish]

The tragic muse, sir.

[Mr. Throstle]

You make sport of me. You have talked with Mrs. Siddons.

[Helen Pettigrew]

Peter.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Peter, you haven't met Mrs. Siddons.

[Peter Standish]

I only say what everyone else knows.

[Mr. Throstle]

Surely.

[Peter Standish]

Surely the tragic news is painted.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

Come here. Look. Behind the drape.

[Mr. Throstle]

You see, the canvas has scarcely been started. One sitting, Mr. Standish. That is all. Not even Mrs. Siddons knows the name I have in mind for this.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

The tragic muse.

[Peter Standish]

I'm sorry I mentioned it before it happened, Sir Joshua. When may I come again?

[Mr. Throstle]

If you wish, next Wednesday.

[Peter Standish]

By then, I shall know if I

[Mr. Throstle]

can continue your portrait armor.

[Peter Standish]

Thank you. Thank you. Helen's birthday was the next day. Late in the afternoon. I saw her alone in the garden. I had to talk with her. As I passed the drawing room on my way out, I overheard Kate and Lady Ann.

[Kate Pettigrew]

But I tell you, Mom, I scarcely

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

ever see him, but that he's with Helen. Kate, this is unlike you.

[Kate Pettigrew]

You think me jealous, is that it? Jealous?

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

You're a girl, my dear, and he. He is handsome and rich.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Jealous but no, I am not Father. When I am with him, I'm. I'm afraid.

[Helen Pettigrew]

Afraid?

[Kate Pettigrew]

Afraid of what? I do not know. But I love my sister. And when she is with him, I

[Helen Pettigrew]

am afraid for her. Rubbish, child.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

Now to your room and get dressed. Have you forgotten the birthday boy?

[Peter Standish]

May I. May I sit with you? Helen.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Oh, my, what a sight. Sober face, Peter.

[Peter Standish]

Helen. Are you afraid of me?

[Kate Pettigrew]

How could I be afraid of one for whom I feel sorry? You're unhappy with us. You feel strange among us.

[Peter Standish]

Yes. Everything's so different. They all liked me at first. But now I can see it in their eyes.

[Mr. Throstle]

Fear.

[Kate Pettigrew]

That's because you look through us, Peter. You seem to know what we think. Even what we're going to do next. I wish I could help you.

[Peter Standish]

Oh, but you do. Just by your sympathy. Even though you can't possibly know how much I need it. All the days are all right. I go about your old London. That's the most marvelous experience that ever came to a living man. But at night, as I lay awake, it all seems like a nightmare until I remember you. Heaven, Helen, you are not like the others. You. You're real. Real. And I want to take.

[Kate Pettigrew]

I'm Helen, Peter. And my sister is Kate, whom you're going to marry.

[Peter Standish]

Helen. Helen, where are you going?

[Kate Pettigrew]

I'm going to dress for the party. Our guests will be arriving soon.

[Tom Pettigrew]

There he is. Clinton.

[Kate Pettigrew]

See?

[Tom Pettigrew]

My Gad. You think there was no other man in London?

[Mr. Throstle]

A most amazing rebel gentleman.

[Tom Pettigrew]

Why, every morning the servants must fetch buckets of hot water so Master Colonial may wash himself.

[Mr. Throstle]

Wash himself?

[Tom Pettigrew]

All over every morning, Mr. Throstle.

[Mr. Throstle]

All over every morning. Well, we shall see about that. Standish.

[Peter Standish]

Yes, Major?

[Mr. Throstle]

What's this talk of baths? You took but one bath aboard ship and you talked about that for a week.

[Peter Standish]

I. Well, I. I cannot stand salt water, sir.

[Mr. Throstle]

But all over, Mr. Standy.

[Peter Standish]

You admire the Romans, Mr. Throttle.

[Mr. Throstle]

The Romans bathe excessively so in their degeneration. But the virile powers of the Roman

[Peter Standish]

republic were doubtlessly as dirty as you. Yes, Francois, I suppose you're right.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

Pray forgive me, gentlemen.

[Peter Standish]

Ah, Lady Anne.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Peter, she's here.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

She's asking for you.

[Kate Pettigrew]

She?

[Peter Standish]

M. Lady the Duchess Peter.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

Oh, the Duchess of Devonshire.

[Mr. Throstle]

You'll find her enchanting, Standish. Providing you do not keep her waiting.

[Kate Pettigrew]

The music room, Peter. The music room.

[Duchess of Devonshire]

And after all, Mr. Standish, we would have yielded the tea tax. Why did you Americans insist on rebellion?

[Peter Standish]

Why, I suppose, Duchess, to. To make the world safe. For democracy.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Democracy, sir?

[Peter Standish]

But surely you don't begrudge us our poor stretches of wilderness. You, upon whose empire the sun never sets?

[Duchess of Devonshire]

The sun never sets, sir. England has seldom received so magnificent a compliment.

[Peter Standish]

Yes, it is rather a good phrase, isn't it?

[Duchess of Devonshire]

Now, about Ms. Pettigrew. She will make you a devoted wife. And I'm sure, Mr. Standish, you are her very first love.

[Peter Standish]

Men always want to be a woman's first love, Duchess. Women have a more subtle instinct about things. What they like is to be a man's last romance.

[Duchess of Devonshire]

Oh, now, I swear there's no nimbler tongue than this in all London. And are you certain as I am, that Ms. Pettigrew is all you would want?

[Peter Standish]

All I want? Ah. I have found there are in this world only two tragedies. One is not getting what you want, and the other is getting it.

[Duchess of Devonshire]

Oh, a charming aphorism, Mr. Standish.

[Peter Standish]

Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire.

[Duchess of Devonshire]

Now, what makes you mention my name?

[Peter Standish]

Well, I didn't mean to. The honor. I'm over.

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[Peter Standish]

Come.

[Duchess of Devonshire]

You roll it out as if you were announcing me at course.

[Peter Standish]

All the grace of the period seems to center in that name. In English history. It is the finest flower of an age of elegance. We know your face from. Gaines Gainsborough has painted you, hasn't he?

[Duchess of Devonshire]

Yes.

[Peter Standish]

All the legend and beauty of this time cling about you. What can the 18th century offer that can even compare with.

[Duchess of Devonshire]

Wait. You speak of me so strangely. I find your compliments becoming a little too disturbing.

[Peter Standish]

Disturbing?

[Duchess of Devonshire]

You were talking of me as one might talk of the late Mr. Voltaire. In the past tense.

[Peter Standish]

I made no use of past tenses, Duchess.

[Duchess of Devonshire]

You were thinking of me in the past tense.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Yes.

[Duchess of Devonshire]

You've spoken of me as though.

[Kate Pettigrew]

As though I were already dead.

[Peter Standish]

I tried so hard to make an impression, Sir.

[Duchess of Devonshire]

You have made an indescribable impression. You may leave me now, Mr. Standish.

[Peter Standish]

Yes, Duchess.

[Mr. Throstle]

Ah, Mr. Standish. Perhaps now Miss Kate will dance with you.

[Peter Standish]

Dance with me?

[Mr. Throstle]

Yes. It's been observed that Miss Kate has danced not once with you all evening. Can it be, sir, that she is almost of a mind to break with you?

[Tom Pettigrew]

Kate.

[Peter Standish]

Break with me? Now, listen, Throttle. We're going to be married and have three children. One of them dies at the age of seven of smallpox and is buried in St. Mark's Churchyard. Now, that's absurd, isn't it? But you believe it, don't you?

[Mr. Throstle]

Well, since you can read Kate's future, perhaps you'll inform me also of Helen's.

[Peter Standish]

Helen's future? No, no, I don't know that. I don't know. After the guests have departed. Lady Anne, truthfully, I have never attended such a ball in all my life.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

Oh, but it was horrible.

[Peter Standish]

Horrible, Horrible. Why, Helen, the duchess.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Peter, she repeated the things you said. Things that don't sound like you at all.

[Peter Standish]

Oh, I just dazzled her with a couple of epigrams borrowed from a fellow named Oscar Wilde.

[Kate Pettigrew]

A friend of yours, Peter?

[Peter Standish]

No, he won't be around for a couple of gener. Well, never mind. This is just a little bit complicated.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Complicated? Oh, dear, dear. The duchess is afraid of you, Peter.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

And Helen. You are not even commonly civil to poor Mr. Thracle. Oh, I'm distracted, Helen.

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

Yes.

[Tom Pettigrew]

We've been speaking with Sir Joshua, Kate and I, before he left. He would destroy your portrait, sir.

[Peter Standish]

Ah, he would. But he won't. He'll complete it.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Painters have good eyes, cousin. That is it that Sir Joshua sees

[Helen Pettigrew]

and we do not.

[Kate Pettigrew]

How did you ever get into this house?

[Helen Pettigrew]

You walked in here, but no one saw you.

[Kate Pettigrew]

You remember the rain, Tom.

[Helen Pettigrew]

His shoes were dry.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

Stop it at once.

[Peter Standish]

Madam, if I could have a moment alone with Kate.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

Indeed, yes. Come, Helen.

[Duchess of Devonshire]

Tom.

[Peter Standish]

Kate, you mustn't talk like this. We're going to be married.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Never. I fear you as I fear the devil. I'm leaving her in the morning for Budley.

[Peter Standish]

We are going to be married, Kate. And have children and live here. That. That happens.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Look at me. Look at me and tell me that you love me.

[Peter Standish]

Oh, I. I can't. I can't say that.

[Mr. Throstle]

Kate.

[Helen Pettigrew]

Wait.

[Peter Standish]

Wait. Go to Budley. But you'll return. And when you see me again, I may be changed. I may not be the same man. I may feel differently then about. About Helen and Thrustle. And if I do, promise me that you'll stand by Helen. She'll be alone. She'll need your. Why, Helen. I thought you'd all gone to bed long ago.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Please tell me. Peter, try to forgive her.

[Peter Standish]

She simply discovered that I don't love her.

[Kate Pettigrew]

But you wanted her. To marry you.

[Peter Standish]

I had to play a part. That was all.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Peter, how can you know of things that haven't happened yet? At first, it was my shawl. Oh. Since so many things.

[Peter Standish]

Tomorrow seems as real to me as yesterday.

[Kate Pettigrew]

I want to see ahead, too. I want to know all the wonderful things that are coming after we are. Dead.

[Peter Standish]

Yes. You're in love with the future, just as I was in love with the. Why? Why do you want to know?

[Kate Pettigrew]

So that I can make Kate understand and be happy with you. And because I love the world. And being alive, I want to see ahead because I love it.

[Peter Standish]

Kate would never understand. Helen.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Peter, please. The things you have seen.

[Peter Standish]

The things I've seen?

[Kate Pettigrew]

Yes.

[Peter Standish]

Where shall I begin? That candle there, Helen. Long after us, this room, Berkeley Square, all of London, will be flooded with light. Brilliant beyond any candle. All by the movement of one man's hand.

[Kate Pettigrew]

By magic. But what will he be like?

[Peter Standish]

Tinger it. It's no use. There aren't words to tell you.

[Kate Pettigrew]

I could see them, Peter, through your eyes.

[Peter Standish]

But that isn't possible.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Peter.

[Peter Standish]

Helen. Helen. Your eyes, they. They burn this room.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Yes. It blazes with your magic light. And there, on the wall. Your portrait. It's finished. Sir Joshua finished it, as you said he would.

[Peter Standish]

The veil is thin for you.

[Kate Pettigrew]

A man and a girl. I can see them, too. Oh, they're dressed so queerly. The man, he's like you. Peter.

[Peter Standish]

Don't, Helen.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Yes, I will. I will see. And outside in the sky, great birds, bigger than a hundred eagles.

[Peter Standish]

Machines with men in them.

[Kate Pettigrew]

And water. There's water. The ocean. That great floating mountain. There, a ship. No sails, no masts. And beyond, a great cluster of towers reaching into the clouds.

[Peter Standish]

Only a city across the sea.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Oh, a fairy city. Men who fly like birds. They cross the ocean. Their houses pierce the sky. They'll conquer evil. Oh, Peter. They'll be like angels, not men.

[Peter Standish]

Close your eyes, Helen. I will see.

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

Close your eyes.

[Kate Pettigrew]

I will see. Devils. There are demons.

[Peter Standish]

Close them.

[Kate Pettigrew]

With masks on their faces. A yellow mist is around them. They fall. They twist in the mud. Lights flare everywhere in a great flame. It opens like a flower.

[Peter Standish]

A flower that blows 50 men to bits.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Curving streams of fire pumped out of

[Peter Standish]

hoses to shrivel men like insects. 1917. And it will happen again in another generation. You want to see more of the future?

[Kate Pettigrew]

It isn't true. God would never have put us here to suffer for a race of fiends like that. There must be beauty there, too. And love. There must be.

[Mr. Throstle]

Yes.

[Peter Standish]

Yes, there is. Helen, try and understand. And if you can't understand, then believe what I tell you now. I have come to you from that other world. A world you must forget, just as you must forget me.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Forget you? You know I can't do that, Peter.

[Peter Standish]

I love you, Helen. God help us both.

[Marjorie]

I love you.

[Kate Pettigrew]

I loved you before I ever saw you in my first dream of you coming from somewhere far away to leave me.

[Peter Standish]

Oh, this is no part I'm playing now. I am myself. Myself.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Take me with you, Peter.

[Peter Standish]

No, I can't. I can't. That is impossible. It isn't my life or yours. It isn't my world or yours.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Don't leave me. Don't go and leave me.

[Peter Standish]

No, I'll never leave you, Helen. Never.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Peter,

[Peter Standish]

there's never been a kiss like this since the world began.

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

We pause now for station identification. This is cbs, the Columbia Broadcasting System. We'll return with Act 3 of Barclay Square in a moment. Meanwhile, over at the Allens house, they're doing their Christmas wrapping early. There's bright paper and Christmas ribbon all over the living room floor.

[Helen Pettigrew]

Oh, honestly, the ribbon slipped again. Honey, come put your finger on this knot, will you?

[Cecil B. DeMille]

I never knew a woman yet who

[Peter Standish]

could tie a square knot by herself.

[Helen Pettigrew]

No remarks. This is your present to dad. I'm doing now. Just hold your finger still a minute.

[Kate Pettigrew]

There.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

Pretty paper.

[Peter Standish]

Where'd you get it?

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

Looks nice.

[Peter Standish]

Gosh, her hands are practically as red as the paper. Must be the housework and the dishwashing. I hate to see them like that.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Isn't it cute?

[Helen Pettigrew]

Someone gave it to us on a package last year, so I saved it and ironed it smooth.

[Peter Standish]

Oh, what a thrifty wife you turned out to be. But you don't have to pinch the pennies that hard, honey.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

As a matter of fact, I was

[Peter Standish]

just thinking maybe we ought to get someone to help you with the housework and the dishes and things.

[Helen Pettigrew]

Oh, Bill, you darling. As if there was such a thing as a maid these days. Now, whatever made you think of that?

[Marjorie]

Oh, dear, you've noticed how awful my hands look. I simply must do something about them.

[Helen Pettigrew]

Oh, say, before you sit down, turn on the radio.

[Mr. Throstle]

Sure.

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

Thrifty, too. Lux does up to twice as many dishes, ounce for ounce, as any of 10 other leading soaps tested. So, if strong soaps have left your hands rough and red, change to gentle, thrifty, luxe flakes. Remember, you can change dishpan hands, the soft, smooth Lux hands for less than a penny a day.

[Marjorie]

Why, maybe that's what's Wrong with my hands. That strong soap I've been using for the dishes. I'll have to get some Lux tomorrow and see.

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

Now Mr. DeMille returns to the microphone.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

Three of Barclay Square starring Ronald Coleman as Peter Standish and Marino Sullivan as Helen.

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[Cecil B. DeMille]

Once again it's the present time in Berkeley Square. The rain beats against the black windows. The clock ticks on. And Peter Standish continues the account of his incredible journey into the world of yesterday.

[Peter Standish]

I had gone back to live for as long as it pleased me. The life of another man. The life of the Peter Standish who was my ancestor. But I could play the part no longer. The man in love with Helen Pettigrew was not my ancestor, but myself. And now I knew I never could leave her. Never. My attentions to Helen became obvious to the household. They talked about it constantly. Then suddenly Kate returned from the country.

[Kate Pettigrew]

He'll marry neither me nor Helen. I've come back from Budley to save my sister.

[Helen Pettigrew]

And save her I shall.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

You'll return to Budley this very day.

[Tom Pettigrew]

First she throws away 10,000 for herself and now she'd keep Helen from bringing it to the family. If Throstle here understands these altered circumstances. Surely you can and will I understand

[Mr. Throstle]

the difference between his £10,000 and my £1500. My affections still rest with Ms. Helen.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

If Ms. Helen loves Mr. Standish, sir, they must marry at once. Are they not seen together constantly? Where are they now but riding in the countryside again?

[Mr. Throstle]

Milady, Mr. Standish is no fit mate for any mortal woman.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Then you know. You know?

[Helen Pettigrew]

Yes.

[Kate Pettigrew]

He cast his spell on me. But God took pity. He saved me. We must pray that he save Helen too.

[Peter Standish]

Quietly every time.

[Tom Pettigrew]

A cousin.

[Peter Standish]

Yes.

[Tom Pettigrew]

We'd have a word with you, sir.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

You've a moment, Mr. Standish?

[Peter Standish]

Oh, century, madam, if you wish it.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Where is my sister?

[Peter Standish]

Gone to her room, I believe.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Mr. Standish. Before I came home, I stopped at the American Legation.

[Lady Anne Pettigrew]

You did what?

[Kate Pettigrew]

Yes. I had made a list of 10 of his phrases. Expressions of speech. Should not The American ambassador, Mr. Adams, know what words are used in New York?

[Peter Standish]

He's a Massachusetts man.

[Kate Pettigrew]

He had heard not even one of them. These words are not used in America,

[Helen Pettigrew]

nor in this world.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Peter Standish came from New York on the General Wolfe. His body stands there, but what have

[Helen Pettigrew]

you done with his soul?

[Peter Standish]

His soul goes marching on. Now listen, all of you. In your silly way, you're trying to help Helen, and I love you for that. But I've seen your civilization, your fine city. And I tell you what's needed here is a new fire of London, a new plague. Dirt, disease, cruelty. Smells. Lord, how the 18th century stinks. Madam, Madam. I've seen you in Sheridan's place. Read you in Jane Norson's novel. Plowing straight ahead over everything. Like a tank lumbering through the mud. You hear that, Kate? Like a tank. There's your 11th strange word from the lexicon of Beelzebub. Peter Standish came from New York aboard the General Wolfe.

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

Did he?

[Peter Standish]

Well, Peter Standish came from New York in five days aboard the Queen Mary. Shall I make a few more blunders? Shall I drive you back to Budley Kate at 50 miles an hour? No, not in a broomstick. In an automobile. Ah, you're all over and done with. You're dead in your grave.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Ghost, stand aside from the door. Stand aside.

[Marjorie]

Stop her.

[Tom Pettigrew]

She'll tell Hela.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

Clear out.

[Peter Standish]

Get back to your grave.

[Helen Pettigrew]

Ghost.

[Mr. Throstle]

Grave.

[Peter Standish]

Mr. Throstle. You're a dead and buried little pipsqueak.

[Mr. Throstle]

Let me alone.

[Kate Pettigrew]

No.

[Marjorie]

No.

[Peter Standish]

Exorcism thrustle casts out the devil. Burned by bell, book and candle. Did you smell the brimstone throttle? Shall I show you my cloven hoof? Am I to vanish in a clap of thunder? I'll set ten little devils on you.

[Kate Pettigrew]

No.

[Marjorie]

No.

[Peter Standish]

Imprisonment. Imprisonment for life. For life? In this filthy little pigsty of a.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Peter. Yes, they've told me, Peter. Told me how you feel as one alive among the very dead.

[Peter Standish]

Helen, we'll leave here, you and I. We'll go to America.

[Kate Pettigrew]

People would hate and fear you anywhere.

[Peter Standish]

Ah, I can face them all. For you belong to me, Helen, not to them.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Each night I've said he must go back. But each morning when we'd be together again, I'd think so. Oh, only let me have one more day.

[Peter Standish]

Helen. I couldn't live my own life without you.

[Kate Pettigrew]

What life is this for you? Be brave, Peter. We two alone have been chosen for this wonder. Out of the millions of lovers since time began, our love is more real than if you'd been born in my world. Or I in yours. Because it is a miracle that we've

[Peter Standish]

come together at all to. Doesn't that prove we weren't meant to lose each other?

[Kate Pettigrew]

And we shall be together always, Peter. Not in my time or in yours, but in God's.

[Peter Standish]

Helen, you love me. You can't want me to go back. You love me.

[Kate Pettigrew]

With all my soul.

[Peter Standish]

Then I stay here.

[Kate Pettigrew]

My world's a nightmare to you, Peter. A living death. Because you love me, you condemn us both to death. No. No. Leave me while our love is still beautiful. I ask it for my sake. Ah, Helen, you have your own life to live out in the future. Don't be too sad there about a girl who's been dead so long. As I grow old, your youth will seem to me eternal youth. For you will come, won't you, young as I see you now, to my grave in St. Mark's Churchyard. To you that will be tomorrow. And yet it will be generations after I am dead. I'll ask for a stone, but the letters cut deep so they won't wear away before you come to me.

[Peter Standish]

Helen, I love you. Only now and in my own time and in whatever time may come.

[Kate Pettigrew]

And I believe if only you could take back with you just one thing. That was mine. Wait. There is something. This? Father found it in Egypt when the fleet was there. In some strange way, it meant so much to me.

[Peter Standish]

The Ansata cross. Symbol of life, of eternity. Helen, that was mine.

[Kate Pettigrew]

This little thing has across the great darkness between us, mine while I lived, and yours in a world that I shall never see. Go, Peter. Go now.

[Peter Standish]

Please, Helen.

[Kate Pettigrew]

No. No. This was our parting. Please.

[Peter Standish]

This was our parting.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

Helen.

[Kate Pettigrew]

No more. No more. Dear shadows.

[Peter Standish]

I had made my journey across the bridge of time, connecting today and yesterday. And I had returned. Behind me remained the Peter standish of the 18th century, the man who sailed from America on the General Wolf, who did marry Kate Pettigrew, whose portrait Sir Joshua Reynolds did finish. In his diary, he mentions a sudden happy change in their attitude toward him. He couldn't understand it. He must have had a fever, they said, but they didn't question him. A man with £10,000 a year could afford to be eccentric. The calendar on my desk says September 1939. Next to it is a simple wooden carving, the Ansata Cross. I shall take it with me when I leave for France tomorrow. Earlier tonight, Marjorie was here.

[Marjorie]

Peter. They just told me you're leaving for France.

[Peter Standish]

Yes, tomorrow.

[Marjorie]

But you'll come back. And perhaps when the war is over and things are different.

[Peter Standish]

Oh, I know, Marjorie. I know. We were going to be married. It seems so long ago, Peter.

[Marjorie]

That portrait on the wall. Surely you don't think any longer that you are he?

[Peter Standish]

No. But something has happened. Something which you could never believe. So well, now it's goodbye, Marjorie.

[Marjorie]

Never mind, Peter. I can't break an old habit. I shall go on looking after you, even if it's from a long way off.

[Peter Standish]

Forgive me, Marjorie.

[Marjorie]

You're fine and honest as always. Peter. It's all right.

[Peter Standish]

There's very little more to write about. This morning I went to St. Mark's Churchyard. There I found a tombstone with these words cut deep. Here lies in confident hope of the blessed resurrection and life eternal, Helen Pettigrew, beloved younger daughter of Sir William Pettigrew, KB Vice Admiral of the Blue. And the Lady Anne Pettigrew, who departed this life December 10, 1784, aged 21 years.

[Kate Pettigrew]

We shall be together always, Peter. Not in my time or in yours, but in God's.

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

Our stars will be back for their curtain calls in just a moment. Did you ever think of three as a very important number? Clays usually have three acts. A yard of material is three times as long as a foot. Or if you're baking a cake, a tablespoon of shortening is three times as much as a teaspoonful. Here's another three rule when it comes to washing pretty under things. Lux care keeps them lovely three times longer. Strong soap, hot water and rough handling leave delicate lingerie faded and old looking in no time. And seams often pull. Shoulder straps fray, lace gets holes in it exactly the same kinds of slits washed the gentle luxe way come out lovely looking time after time. In actual tests, the luxe slips looked nicer after 30 washings. Than the wash day ones did after only 10. So if you want to keep those pretty undies of yours dainty and new looking longer, stick to gentle lux care. They'll stay pretty extra long. Three times longer. Now back to Mr. DeMille and our stars.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

And now our thanks to Ronald Coleman and Marino Sullivan. For their very able and sincere performances in Barkley Square.

[Kate Pettigrew]

You gave us a fascinating play to do, Mr. DeMille.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

Did you read, Maureen, where one columnist report that Berkeley Square is going to be made into a musical at 18th Century Fox?

[Peter Standish]

18th Century Fox.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

I mean 20th Century Fox. I've been rather moved by tonight's play.

[Peter Standish]

You certainly were moved about two centuries.

[Kate Pettigrew]

I should think Berkeley Square might make an excellent music on Mr. DeMille.

[Peter Standish]

Yeah. Think of the chances for song titles this is a lovely way to spend an ian.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Or snap. Gets in your eyes.

[Peter Standish]

As for costumes, think what you could do with bustles.

[Kate Pettigrew]

And think what you could do without Maureen. Well, for a musical, we'd have to have a smash finale.

[Peter Standish]

That ought to take place in the 22nd century.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

But how do you know what the 22nd century will be like, Ronald?

[Peter Standish]

Well, I look into my crystal ball and I see. Well, that's funny.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

My, what do you say?

[Peter Standish]

This thing must be inside out. I'm looking back to 15th century Paris and there's Francois Villon.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

Oh, you're seeing this stage.

[Peter Standish]

Next Monday night, Lux Radio Theater.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Christmas.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

Yes, we've chosen for Christmas that delightful and staring operetta, the Vagabond King. With Dennis Morgan, Katherine Grayson and J. Carol Nash. It's a story of a lovable romantic rogue, a poet who ruled for a day and who loved for a lifetime. And with it goes the enchanting music of Rudolph Frimmel and the singing of two of the screen's most lovely voices.

[Peter Standish]

That sounds like a very happy Christmas, Phoebe. Good night.

[Kate Pettigrew]

Good night.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

Good night.

[Marjorie]

Good night.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

I'm glad we met on Berkeley Square. Our sponsors, the makers of Lux Flakes, join me in inviting you to be with us again next Monday night when the Lux Radio Theater presents Dennis Morgan, Katherine Grayson and J. Carol Nash in the Vagabond King. This is the B. DeMille saying good night to you from Hollywood.

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

Now, an important reminder to housewives. There is still a critical shortage of waste fats and greases needed to help win this war more quickly. Save every drop of waste fat from your kitchen, strain them into a clean can and rush them to your butcher. He'll give you four cents and two red ration points for each pound. Ronald Coleman may currently be seen in the Metro Goldwyn Mayor Technicolor picture Kismet. Heard in tonight's play were Dorothy Lovett, Charles Seal, Gloria Gordon, Leslie Dennison, Claire Verdera, Jacqueline DeWitt, Colin Campbell, Eric Snowden, Norman Field, Gwen Delano. Our music was directed by Louis Silvers. This program is broadcast to our fighting forces overseas through cooperation with the Armed Forces Radio Service. And this is your announcer, John M. Kennedy, reminding you to tune in again next Monday night to hear the Vagabond King with Dennis Morgan, Katherine Grayson and J. Carol Nash. Jingle Bells For Christmas cake, try Kate Smith and Aunt Jenny's holly wreath nut cake made with new easy make spry. It's super delicious with the flavor of orange and almond and nuts.

[Peter Standish]

Stays fresh so long you can enjoy

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

it all through the Yuletide.

[Peter Standish]

Look for the recipe.

[Lux Radio Theater Announcer]

See the spry ad in newspapers and December women's magazine. Be sure to listen in next Monday night to the Lux Radio Theater presentation of the Vagabond King with Dennis Morgan, Katherine Grayson and J. Carol Nash. This is cbs, the Columbia Broadcasting System.

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