Cavalcade of America

[first lines]

Inspector Ed McCook:
[narrating] This is the fire alarm office located on the sixth floor of City Hall, Chicago. This is the nerve center of fire safety of four million people. Last year, 75,000 calls were handled right here. A call is received, the company nearest is notified and help is on the way - and fast. By the time the alarm box is pulled and the trucks are on the street, only an average of fourteen seconds have elapsed

Inspector Ed McCook:
[narrating] Our story actually began about a month ago. There'd been seventeen fires in this area. The report had been the same on all of them - origin had been suspicious, undetermined or incendiary. And when the reports read that way, that's when I come in. My name is Ed McCook - fire investigation.

Fire Alarm Office Man:
How do you stop a firebug?

Inspector Ed McCook:
There only one way.

Fire Alarm Office Man:
How?

Inspector Ed McCook:
Find him.

Inspector Ed McCook:
[narrating] When you're assigned to the fire attorney's office, you learn ot expect anything because it always involves people. There they were - the lookers. Why do people go to fires? Do they just happen to be down the block? Some people like to watch baseball, others go to the neighborhood movie, others like wrestling or reading the newspaper. At a fire, you'll find all types. Why not - it's free entertainment. To some it's a sickness, to others a hobby - to me, it's a job.

Fire Attorney:
Have you taken up a hobby on my time?

Inspector Ed McCook:
No no, not a hobby. That film was just taken an hour ago at that fire at 713 Averly. I thought it was time we had a look at the lookers.

Inspector Ed McCook:
What are you running for?

Mickey Hubbard:
I was only watchin'. I wasn't doin' nothin'.

Inspector Ed McCook:
I know - that's why you were running.

Inspector Ed McCook:
How much did he pay you?

Mickey Hubbard:
Fifty, sometimes a hundred... the last time twenty. I didn't mean to hurt anybody. Honest, I didn't!

Inspector Ed McCook:
Would you like something to eat?

Mickey Hubbard:
I guess.

Inspector Ed McCook:
After you clean up, how 'bout a shave?

Mickey Hubbard:
I don't shave yet.

[last lines]

Inspector Ed McCook:
The fireman is a dedicated man. When the call comes in he doesn't know whether he'll have to get a cat out of a tree or give up his life to save yours. We've come a long way since Mrs. O'Leary's cow. We had three hundred thousand people then, now we have four million - some good, some bad, but I'm optimistic - the good always out-number the bad.

[first lines]

Himself - Host:
Good evening. I'm Thomas Mitchell. I suppose you're wondering what I'm doing in these surroundings at Christmas time... this unbaked courtyard in a Latin American village. No falling snow to give us the traditional white Christmas; no jingle bells or holly wreathes, no mistletoe or evergreens - but the Christmas spirit is here, just as much as it is in your hometown, because Christmas is more than festive trappings and familiar symbols. Its realm is the human heart. It's a spirit that's confined to just one place; it belongs everywhere. So, we'd like to tell you a unique story of Christmas spirit that took place not in our own land but in a Latin American village like this. It's a warm story about a custom that happens every year to people like these. Our story, "Three Young Kings," begins here with this little girl...

Senor Alvarez:
They are thieves! They are embezzlers! Therefore, I demand that...

Senor Perez:
...they be hung by the neck until dead.

Senor Alvarez:
This is no joking matter, Perez.

[last lines]

Father Miguel:
"Behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem." This is your answer, my friends - the little babes from the street of All Saints reminded our boys of another babe swaddled in coarse cloth who slept on the straw in a manger, and with this in mind, we have to realize that these three boys were *not* good boys... not just ordinary good boys... they were Melchior, Gaspar and Balthazar, my friends. Indeed, in the generosity of their hearts and the sweetness of their spirits and the courage of their resolve to do right, they are indeed three young kings!