The Stolen General

N.p.: Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn, 1940. Paperback. 4to. Staple at upper left, as issued. 32pp (rectos only). Very good. Front cover a bit age toned and lightly soiled. Probable sole printing -- and likely a quite small one at that -- of this typed (double spaced) and mimeographed script made for radio's "Cavalcade of America" show sponsored by Du Pont and based on a short story by James. Front cover boasts John Garfield as the star; other cast members from second sheet ("Cast") include Agnes Moorehead and Jeanette Nolan. Dr. Frank Monoghan is listed as historian and Basil Ruysdael as narrator, and though note cited the producer and director was Homer Fickett. This half-hour drama aired on Tuesday, March 5th, 1940 from 9:00pm to 9:30pm. It tells the tale of the daring Colonel William Barton (Garfield), who celebrated America's first Fourth of July in Rhode Island by traveling to Newport with a group of soldiers and capturing the British general Richard Prescott in order to boost the flagging morale of the American troops. Prescott was shortly after exchanged for a Continental Army general being held by the British. Very uncommon example of one of Garfield's few-and-far-between radio appearances.