The Story of Kansas City

As mayor of Kansas City, it was my pleasure to declare this broadcast of the Hallmark Playhouse, the Kansas City Radio Hour. And I am most delighted to welcome you and your distinguished company for this event. Thank you, Mayor Kemp. It's a great pleasure for us all to be here.

A Hallmark card when you carry enough to send the very best. Tonight, from Kansas City, the The makers of Hallmark Reading Cards bring you Jane Wyman and Robert Young in the story of Penza City on the Hallmark Playhouse.

Each week Hallmark brings you Hollywood greatest stars and outstanding stories chosen by one of the world's best known authors, the distinguished novelist Mr. Jane Tilson. Good evening ladies and gentlemen, this is Jane Tilson. I expect you all heard stories about Kansas City, but the one we tell tonight is another one and a better one.

A story that began about a hundred years ago when Senator Tom Benson was way down in Missouri by steamboat. Reaching a bend where there was already a small village perched on the high bluffs, he couldn't help but explain to his companions, gentle men, another generation will see a great city on these hills.

Tonight, a century later, we celebrate the truth of this prophecy, the dream that came true, the story of Kansas City, the story of the city that is at the crossroads of America. such a story asked to be told in every form of telling.

Hennessy Haskell, Jr. and Richard B. Fowler have told it well in their recent book called The City of the Sister, and tonight we dramatize it in the spirit of pride which makes the Kansas City centennial a great occasion for not only the city but for the country.