The Cavalcade of America: Angels on Horseback

New York: Batten, Barton, Durstine and Osborn, 1942. Draft script for the 1942 radio show episode, originally broadcast on March 23, 1942. With a few annotations in manuscript pencil and ink on the front wrapper.

The anthology series was part of a campaign by the DuPont chemical corporation to rehabilitate its image following the public exposure of its arms race profiteering during World War I. In lieu of traditional advertising, creative director Roy Durstine proposed that DuPont sponsor "Cavalcade," which integrated the company's slogan ("Better Things For Better Living Through Chemistry") and agenda into its stories of American achievement and inspiration. The show was an early experiment in propagandistic corporate brand-building, virtually unprecedented for a company that had no commercially available products to market to the public. To further promote their clean, humanitarian ideals, DuPont shied away from using attention-grabbing tactics, such as the sound of gunfire, that were popular on other radio programs at the time—a choice that attracted pacifist writers such as Norman Rosten and Arthur Miller to the show.

This episode dramatizes the narratives of "frontier nurses," women who traveled through isolated mountain towns bringing medicine and education, with actor Myrna Loy voicing a society girl who finds love and self-purpose in becoming a Kentucky nurse.

White titled self wrappers, dated 3-23-42, with credit for actor Myrna Loy. Title page integral with the front wrapper, as issued. 38 leaves, with last page of text numbered 35. Mimeograph duplication, rectos only, with undated revision pages printed on white stock. Pages Very Good plus, wrapper Very Good plus, with tearing at the front wrapper, unbound.

[Book #146005]