301027 - Wenatchee Apple Story

National Apple Week began in this country back in 1904. By 1930, it was virtually a holiday in the state of Washington, where the apple industry has long been among the top apple producing regions of the nation. Since 1962, the winner of the annual cross-state collegiate football rivalry between the University of Washington and Washington State University takes home the Apple Cup. Apples and Washington go hand-in-hand, and Wenatchee is arguably at the epicenter of apple production in the state. It was also a key Great Northern town. As the theme of an Empire Builders broadcast, National Apple Week was a natural. The National Apple Week program of October 28, 1929, was so popular, the railroad was swamped with requests for copies of an apple booklet mentioned on the broadcast. So one year later, the writers were hard pressed to come up with a better story than the one they concocted the first time around. On October 27, 1930, Empire Builders simply aired the same story they presented the year before.

Great Northern Railway placard promoting National Apple Week, circa 1930.
Minnesota Historical Society collection

About every two sentences or so the 1930 continuity had a little wordsmithing, compared to the 1929 story. Otherwise, the content was virtually identical. As a quick recap, the story began in New York, where Morton Leath the British playwright was discussing apples with the Old Timer. A street vendor’s apple box indicated his apples were from Wenatchee, and soon Morton and the Old Timer were on their way west to visit the Old Timer’s pal, Joe Trent, in the apple capital of the world. The musical transition at this point of the 1929 continuity specifically called for the studio orchestra to play “Dream Train,” a popular tune from 1928. The continuity for the 1930 broadcast dropped the reference to this song (perhaps “Dream Train” was becoming passé). Here’s a comparison of the directions from each of the two continuities:

_______1929_____

PLAYING “DREAM TRAIN,” WITH EXTERIOR TRAIN EFFECTS, DISTANT, RUNNING THROUGH IT. TRAIN SOUNDS ALWAYS AS BACKGROUND AND EVENLY SUSTAINED – CHOO-CHOO OF ENGINE, FAINTLY RINGING BELL, DISTANT WHISTLE, TWO VERY LONG WHISTLES FOLLOWED BY TWO SHORT, AT INTERVALS OF 20 SECONDS OR LONGER. FADE OUT. MUSIC IN AGAIN, DIFFERENT INSTRUMENTATION. COMEDY MOTIF. FEW BARS ONLY, THEN FADE QUICKLY FOR DIALOGUE, CONTINUING FEW BARS THEN OUT COMPLETELY.)

 _____1930_____

(MUSIC: ORCHESTRA UP FULL --- MUSIC SEGUES INTO SPEEDING TRAIN EFFECT WITH WHISTLE AND BACK AGAIN INTO FULL ORCHESTRA.  REPEAT AND CONCLUDE.  ESTABLISH BRIEF PASTORAL MUSIC, AND FADE)

One of the first conversations presented to us at the new locale of Wenatchee was that taking place between Joe Trent’s daughter, Shirley, and her erstwhile suitor, Bill Barth (a hand on her father’s apple tree farm). Shirley announced they had special company coming to the house for dinner, and she challenged Barth to guess who it was. In the 1929 program, Barth’s first guess was Lindbergh. This was a good contemporary name to drop – Lucky Lindy, who had not long before flown solo across the Atlantic. The next guess was “Mr. Addison Sims of Seattle.” That was a new one on me, so I looked him up. It turns out there was a sales pitch that made the rounds as early as 1913 for a marvelous self-improvement scheme called the “Roth Memory Program.”

Illustration from a typical Roth Memory Program advertisement.

Full-page newspaper ads showed up frequently in those days, demonstrating the power of this wonderful skill by having a fellow at a meeting or convention or some such impress the bejesus out of a man by saying with great confidence, “of course I know you – you’re Mr. Addison Sims of Seattle!” It was such a catchy tagline that it wended its way into the public consciousness, and was still fresh enough in 1929 to be familiar to a broad audience. The fellow to whom the Addison Sims line was attributed, Hartley Davis, was an adman who passed away in 1938. It was said the name was inspired by U.S. Navy Admiral William S. Sims. I have no reason to believe Admiral Sims was related to Harold M. Sims of the Empire Builders program, but it may have been something of an inside joke to invoke the Sims name.

Don Bernard of

Empire Builders

In the 1930 continuity, Addison Sims was replaced by the Prince of Wales for Barth’s second guess (and therein lay a subtle connection to the GN’s Prince of Wales Hotel). In both continuities, Shirley reveals the mystery guest is to be playwright Morton Leath – author of “The Ghost of Don Bernard.” Now, that one had to be an inside joke for the 1930 continuity, but it was also used in 1929 – prior to Bernard’s (direct) association with Empire Builders. But remember, it was John Elwood who hired Bernard to the NBC staff in 1926, and perhaps even the 1929 continuity’s reference to Bernard was meant as a little joke.

Watch your feet… they're dropping more names on the show. Bill Barth asked Shirley Trent what this Morton Leath looked like. Shirley told Bill she’d seen his picture in a magazine, and described him as a combination of several notable people.

The hair of John Gilbert (left), the eyes of Buddy Rogers (right).

In the 1929 edition of this story, Leath was said to have John Gilbert’s hair and Buddy Rogers’ eyes. The 1930 continuity had Shirley comparing Leath’s hair to Ronald Coleman’s, and his eyes to Conrad Nagel. In both stories, Leath was said to dress like Rudy Vallee.

The hair of Ronald Coleman (left), the eyes of Conrad Nagel (right).

At this point, Bill spotted a car approaching. In the 1929 version, Shirley said “there’s our Pioneer friend in the back seat with Father …,” but in the revised version she said “there’s the Old Timer in the back seat with Father …” I see this as another subtle example of the move away from calling the Hays character “the Pioneer” and sticking with “the Old Timer.” The dialog prompts in the 1929 continuity consistently called the Hays character the “Pioneer,” while the 1930 continuity changed all those prompts to “Old Timer.” Many successful radio performers found it necessary to take roles on multiple radio programs to make ends meet and/or further their careers. In the fall of 1930, Harvey Hays was also appearing on a new (and increasingly popular) radio program, “Death Valley Days.” His character on that show was “the Old Prospector.” I would imagine the Great Northern was making an effort to solidify their claim to the “Old Timer” character. They did protest to NBC about the similarity, and although they did not push the issue to the point of conflict, they stated their case that they were first in line with Harvey Hays as the “old-whatever,” and that the Death Valley Days folks had better watch their step with the obvious similarities.

In both continuities, the writers found a way to draw attention once again to the Great Northern and its facilities. Shirley asked her father why they weren’t in the Trent’s car.

SHIRLEY:              Father, what happened? I thought you were going to meet the Empire Builder in our car?

TRENT:                 She burnt out a bearin’, Shirley. Lucky fer us, Marie was just drivin’ past th’ Great Northern Depot, an’ so we all piled in with her. Well, I reckon we’re just in time for supper, folks.

This exchange did nothing at all to further the story (other than provide a mechanism for the Marie character to enter the scene), but it did insinuate the Empire Builder train and the local Great Northern passenger depot into the conversation.

GN depot, Wenatchee, circa 1920s.
Collection of Washington State Railroads Historical Society.

The next transition in the continuity demonstrated another noticeable difference between the 1929 and 1930 versions of the program. In 1929, the continuity clearly gave the impression that the broadcast would incorporate sounds meant to be coming from a radio playing in the background. Here is the direction provided in the continuity for the earlier season:

(MUSIC:  “BIG CITY BLUES”)

               (At close of selection, announcer’s voice is heard saying “You have heard ANDY SANELLA and his orchestra play the “Big City Blues.” This is Empire Builders, a program sponsored by the Great Northern Railway. The next selection is ‘ ___________________’. Music continues, fades quickly for following line.)

The direction used for this transition in 1930 was:

(ORCHESTRAL TRANSITION IN GAY, PASTORAL MOOD. FADE OUT TO SEVERAL MALE VOICES IN NEAR DISTANCE SINGING “WHEN THE AUTUMN MOON IS SHININ’” WITH BANJO AND GUITAR. LAUGHTER AND AD. LIB. AT CONCLUSION)

I have not located any sort of notes that suggest an effort was made to find improvements on any of the specific broadcasts, but it sure seems like the preparation for the 1930 airing of this story must have involved considerable thought about how to improve on the earlier version. The use of a radio in the background at that point of the story probably seemed a bit too awkward and unnecessary. For the new version of the story, the singing was described as coming from some of the apple pickers working in the orchard. Then the little group on the porch broke into a chorus of “We Must Have Our Apples.”

The next departure from the original version of the broadcast occurred as the men continued their after-dinner conversation on the porch. Here’s how it went in the first version:

TRENT:                 You oughta be here in apple blossom time, Mr. Leath.

MORTON:           It must be wonderful! Really, I never knew there were so many apple trees in the world as I’ve seen this afternoon.

TRENT:                 Yep. There’s five million apple trees in these parts.

MORTON:           Five million trees!

TRENT:                 An’ that means fifty thousand carloads of apples a year.

MORTON:           Fancy that! Where to they all go?

TRENT:                 All over th’ United States an’ Europe. You can get Wenatchee apples from almost any fruit dealer in this country. I reckon your home town, London, is ‘bout our best foreign market. You’ll find fresh Wenatchee apples ten thousand miles from here.

(SOUND:)             (DISTANT TRAIN WHISTLE – 2 long, 2 short)  You see, that’s where fast transportation comes in. Th’ Great Northern takes ‘em by th’ trainload an’ rushes ‘em pell-mell to th’ big cities.

PIONEER:            Yes, an’ when th’ Great Northern takes ‘em in tow, they’re pretty apt to go through on time.

TRENT:                 Yes sir! Ya know, Mr. Leath, that railroad’s got th’ longest tunnel in America through those mountains over yonder – goes eight miles right through th’ backbone of th’ Cascade range. An’ their whole line through th’ Cascades is electrified. Take their trains runnin’ ‘tween Seattle an’ Chicago – they chopped hours off th’ runnin’ time when they got that job finished.

MORTON:           The speed – the size of it all. It’s amazing!

(SOUND)              (DISTANT TRAIN WHISTLE)  Y’know, it’s my personal opinion that everyone likes apples, and that they’d eat even more if something were done to make them – what would you Americans call it? – apple-conscious.

TRENT:                 That’s just what we’re a doin’, Mr. Leath. National Apple Week begins October 31 – that’s next Thursday – an’ we’ve got up a slick little booklet that th’ Great Northern is gonna give away to everybody who writes for one. An’ I reckon a lotta people’ll want one, too.

__________________________________________________

And here is how the dialog went with the changes for 1930:

MORTON:           It must be wonderful! All these apples – were they here all the time?

TRENT:                 No, not always.

OLD TIMER:        There’s five million trees in these parts now – but up till ’48 there wasn’t nary a one. Th’ story of Wenatchee apples reads like a page from a fairy tale. In ’48 Okanogan Smith planted th’ first apple trees in th’ district.

TRENT:                 It was him they named the Okanogan Valley after – over that way.

OLD TIMER:        Smith traveled three hundred miles on horseback to get those trees. Brought ‘em back tied to his saddle … an’ there’s one of ‘em still bearin’ fruit.

MORTON:           Imagine!

OLD TIMER:        It was dry here in those days … barren as a desert. Then irrigation came an’ – almost like magic – th’ whole district was transformed into a great orchard, producing more’n half the apples grown in the State of Washington, an’ Washington supplies about a third of all th’ commercial apples in th’ United States. Th’ soil an’ climate are jest ideal. Last year they shipped nearly twenty thousand carloads outa here.

MORTON:           Fancy that? And where did they all go?

TRENT:                 All over th’ United States an’ Europe. You can get Wenatchee apples from almost any fruit dealer in this country. I reckon your home town, London, is ‘bout our best foreign market. You’ll find fresh Wenatchee apples ten thousand miles from here.

MORTON:           The magnitude of it all – it’s amazing! Y’know, it’s my personal opinion that everyone likes apples, and that they would eat even more if something were done to make them – what would you Americans call it? – apple-conscious.

TRENT:                 That’s just what they’re doing, Mr. Leath. National Apple Week starts October 31 – that’s next Friday – an’ I reckon ‘tween then an’ November 6th, most everybody in the country’ll hear ‘bout Wenatchee apples.

One of the most obvious differences between the two variations of dialog is the commentary in 1929 about a little booklet being distributed by the Great Northern Railway. The GN did in fact put out a certain amount of material over the years to promote National Apple Week and the apple industry of the Wenatchee Valley, but I’m almost certain the booklet mentioned on the 1929 broadcast was produced by a local apple commission. I have not yet located a copy of such a booklet, but I’m on the lookout for it. I will be very grateful to anyone who can point me to a copy of it to either view or add to my collection. Please contact me at the “gnradio” email address on the “Contact Me” page of this blog. Although National Apple Week was highlighted in both broadcasts, the 1930 program did not make any mention at all of a booklet about apples being available from the GN, or anyone else for that matter.

This is NOT the apple booklet I seek, but this one was distributed by the GN,
circa 1930, and it is pretty cool.             Author's collection

The next section of the continuity advanced the suggested romance of Mort Leath and Shirley Trent, or Bill and Shirley, or Mort and Marie, or Bill and Marie, or … these tribulations of the heart can get a mite convoluted. After so many verbal substitutes for the classic note-passing among tittering pre-teens, the Old Timer talked about how it was time to hit the road. He and Mort had been soaking up atmosphere in Wenatchee for nearly a month. The Old Timer said he had some business to attend to, and after all, Mort needed to get back “… on account of that play of his they’re goin’ to produce”. The first time around, Mort had to return to New York. In the 1930 continuity, it was Chicago, and an interesting wrinkle was shared regarding Mort’s writing:

SHIRLEY:              This new play of Morton’s – what’s it about?

OLD TIMER:        Why, it’s a story he wrote up from a yarn I was tellin’ him ‘bout th’ Northwestern Mounted Police. Sure is a thriller. Empire Builders are goin’ to broadcast it from Chicago next Monday night.

SHIRLEY:              Oh, then I’ll get to hear it! … My!  Isn’t the moon beautiful tonight.

In each version of the Wenatchee Apple Story, Mort Leath and Shirley Trent wind up engaged, but the interchange is handled a little differently between them. In both cases, however, Shirley is pleasantly surprised by Mort’s proposal, as she had convinced herself it was that pesky Marie for whom Mort had fallen. And in each story, Bill Barth came along at the last and Marie was sent off with him as a consolation prize for all her unwanted efforts.

This night’s playlet suggested that the following week’s broadcast of Empire Builders would be a story involving the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It’s quite possible that it did. Some of my notes suggest the program for November 3^rd of 1930 was about Glacier National Park, but a news article from the day reported the story had to do with a group in Canada known as the Doukhobors. But we’ll get to all that in due time.

Until next week, keep those dials tuned to Empire Builders!