291202 - Hawaiian Story

Harold M. Sims was a busy man. Among his other duties as Executive Assistant to the President of the Great Northern Railway, Sims oversaw all of the arrangements for the railroad’s weekly radio series. He negotiated all manner of details with NBC, coordinated the selection of performers through the McJunkin advertising agency, and assisted with the creation and improvement of many of the series’ innovative sound effects techniques – particularly those used to replicate the sounds of trains. Sims also wrote some of the radio continuities, and many of the press releases for the broadcasts and its performers.

The topics for the Empire Builders broadcasts were determined weeks – even months – in advance. Continuities were also drafted well in advance of their airing. The Empire Builders radio series was itself an advertising campaign for the railroad, so little time and effort were spent on “advertising the advertising,” so to speak. Information about the radio programs was communicated internally through bulletins to ticket agents and various department heads. A small flyer detailing future Empire Builders programs was printed and distributed routinely with nearly all out-going mail concerning company business. Short articles including the nature of upcoming broadcasts were published in the GN’s house organ, the Great Northern Goat. Between the in-house publicity of the broadcasts and weekly press releases sent to various news agencies across the country, there really wasn’t much else done to advertise Empire Builders. Therefore, the accuracy and success of these limited forms of communication played an important role in alerting prospective listeners. In at least one instance, it appears a press release for one of the broadcasts was disseminated prematurely, which caused confusion.

The Empire Builders broadcast of November 25, 1929 – as described in my previous blog post – related a story of two newlyweds experiencing Glacier National Park in the dead of winter. The young bride was a budding novelist, and she was excited to hear an old Indian legend of the Blackfeet nation as related to her by Two Guns White Calf. The following week, on December 2, 1929, the program aired on Empire Builders featured a legend of old Hawaii. Somehow, the press release for the Hawaii program of December 2 was distributed too soon. The Seattle Times reported being in possession of both press releases prior to the broadcast of November 25th. Here’s the snarky tale they told in their newspaper, expressing their confusion and mild amusement about the mix-up:

 

Source:  The Seattle Times, November 25, 1929

… here is a press blurb from Minnesota about the Empire Builders’ program through KOMO at 7 o'clock [sic] tonight, and another from a San Francisco publicity office, both about this evening’s broadcast.

            The Minnesota one says the broadcast will be about “the soft whisper of the palms, the swish of the sea surging over the sandy beaches, hula maidens, and ukuleles.” The one from San Francisco proclaims somethings [sic] about Chief Two Guns White Calf, whose likeness appears on the Buffalo nickels, and a group of people who get themselves snowbound during a blizzard in Glacier National Park.

            Now, it’s most confusing. One doesn’t know quite what to do. It’s the sort of thing that makes one feel hot and cold all over.

            The two advance notices about the same program, however, are clear on a couple of points. Andy Sannella and his orchestra, either in Hawaii or in the park, will play. Bob MacGinsky [sic], burning up on the hot beach or well-nigh frozen in the blizzard, will whistle. That much and the fact that the Empire Builders will be on KOMO at 7:30, is quite plain. In exactly which empire the builders will be is not – quite.

 

The correct press release for the December 2^nd program contained this description of the show:

 

The soft whisper of the palms, the swish of the sea surging over wide sandy beaches, hula maidens and the strumming of ukuleles combine to lend an exotic background for a beautiful Hawaiian legend in the Great Northern Empire Builders program of Monday, December 2^nd.

It is a story of romantic old Hawaii and in its dramatization for radio purposes it has involved the use of many novel and difficult sound effects, particularly in the climax of the story when the rumbles and detonations of an erupting volcano are reproduced.

Robert MacGimsey, the three-part harmony whistler whose musical novelties have created so much favorable comment, will again appear in this program, while Andy Sannella’s recording orchestra will provide the musical background.

Andy Sannella, Musical Director for Empire Builders, posing with an assortment of the many instruments he played expertly.

A common vehicle (no pun intended) for setting the stage for story-telling on the Empire Builders was for the Old Timer to be travelling onboard one of the Great Northern Railway’s crack trains – either the Oriental Limited or the Empire Builder – and to be cajoled into spinning a yarn for someone he bumped into. This broadcast began with a small child pestering her mother about the remainder of the trip they were taking, which apparently included taking a steamship from the west coast to Hawaii (then still merely a territory of the U.S.). The Old Timer gave the harried mother a spell by answering a barrage of continued questioning from the precocious child. Finally he managed to slow her down a little by offering to tell a tale of old Hawaii. Even the mother perked up at this, and the Old Timer began the yarn-spinning in earnest.

An ancient story from Hawaiian mythology was the Old Timer’s tale. It told of Pele, goddess of fire and volcanoes. Pele sent her youngest sister, Hi’iaka, to fetch her betrothed, Prince Lohiau, from the distant island of Kauai. Hi’iaka was given 40 days to return with Prince Lohiau. Jealousy caused Pele to admonish Hi’iaka to not fall in love with or even kiss Prince Lohiau. Hi’iaka promised to honor this directive from Pele, but in return she asked Pele to use her powers to protect both Hi’iaka’s groves of lehua trees and also her dear friend Hopoe. Pele conceded to this request, and off Hi’iaka went to fetch Prince Lohiau.

Arriving on the island of Kauai, Hi’iaka discovered that Prince Lohiau was dead. She used some of Pele’s powers that her older sister had bestowed upon her to aid her quest, and the prince was revived. But the effort to bring the prince back to life delayed the journey. Pele took Hi’iaka’s failure to return as a deliberate rejection of fealty to her. When Hi’iaka and Lohiau finally returned to the big island and Pele’s home of Kilauea volcano, they found that Pele had destroyed Hi’iaka’s lehua groves and killed her friend Hopoe. Hi’iaka retaliated by taking Loiau (who had become enamored of Hi’iaka anyway) up to the rim of the volcano and, in plain sight of Pele, embraced him and kissed him.

As you might imagine, Pele pretty much just blew her top at this point. Here’s how her story drew to a close:

PELE: . . . My fire-lake shall boil, lift in its cauldron, my island quake, the rocks melt away in my flame! …

                        (VOLCANO IN ACTION)

            My vengeance of fire closes in upon faithless Lohiau … !

(VOLCANO UP AND FADE INTO BRIEF MUSIC. MUSIC OUT AND TRAIN EFFECT IN.)

The broadcast segued back to the train interior, and the little girl expressed her delight in the Old Timer’s story. This dialog then summed things up with another thinly-veiled advertisement for passenger service on the incomparable Great Northern Railway trains:

MOTHER:      We’ll be out there soon, where we can see the volcanoes, and all the rest of it. You’ll like that, won’t you, dear?

CHILD:           What is a volcano?

PIONEER:      Look out, ma’am, she’s started! Now, if you’ll take my advice, you’ll stop off a spell on the way an’ see somethin’ of this west coast country where the roses bloom right through the year.

MOTHER:      I always supposed that was a myth.

PIONEER:      No, ma’am, it ain’t! Once we’re over the ranges an’ into the Puget Sound country you can have roses on your table for Christmas, picked in your own front yard!

CHILD:           I don’t want to get off the train!

MOTHER:      Hush, dear! We have a long way to go on the train still.

PIONEER:      I don’t blame her fer that! These Great Northern trains sure make travelin’ a pleasure. Just as comfortable as it’s possible for anythin’ to be, and as dependable as the sun!

 And now, a few (more) words from our sponsor:

ANNOUNCER:

            You have been listening to Empire Builders, a program sponsored by the Great Northern Railway. Next week, at the same hour you will be presented with another romance of the west.

            Should you contemplate going either to California or to Hawaii this winter, please bear in mind that the Empire Builder and the Oriental Limited, two magnificent fleets of trains, operated by the Great Northern Railway, are at your disposal. You will find that they are all that you will ask both in comfort and in reliability. Information regarding these trains, as well as all Great Northern service, can be obtained from Great Northern travel offices in many principal cities or by writing directly to the road itself, at St. Paul, Minnesota.

            Empire Builders has come to you from the New York studios of the National Broadcasting Company.

            This is John S. Young announcing.