301215 - A Montana Christmas

Recording Status:   recorded; not located.

Virginia Gardiner, actress and author, Empire Builders.
Studio portrait.               Author's collection

This blog entry will be less a review of the December 15, 1930, episode of Empire Builders and more a tribute to actress Virginia Gardiner (1906-1968). Great Northern Railway accounting records indicate this broadcast was recorded, but no copy of the recording has surfaced. To date I have not located a continuity for the program. I don’t even have a complete press release. But here’s what I do know . . .

Virginia Gardiner was paid $100 for her manuscript titled “Long George.” This was the story that became the December 15^th radio play, “A Montana Christmas.” This is substantiated by accounting records of the Great Northern Railway’s Advertising and Publicity Department.  

Virginia Gardiner at Glacier National Park, August, 1930.
Image from collection of the Minnesota Historical Society

I’ve located just a few brief snippets of press write-ups about the episode (courtesy of radio historian R.R. King – thanks again, Bob!). Here’s how the show was announced in newspapers of the day:

 

Los Angeles Times

... KECA at 7:30 p.m. Empire Builders with the old-timer. "A Montana Christmas," how a colorful western character gave his life to bring Christmas cheer to children in a remote Montana schoolhouse. Veteran actors. Koestner's orchestra. ...

 

Christian Science Monitor

... Story written by Virginia Gardiner who played leads in the "Empire Builders" series last year...

 

Dallas Morning News

"A Montana Christmas," written by Virginia Gardiner, radio's stellar actress, will be presented ... Miss Gardiner will enact a leading role. ...

 

I’ve reported previously that Virginia Gardiner was an actress on Empire Builders, taking the lead female role on the majority of the broadcasts through the first two seasons. I’ve also reported that although she was dropped from the radio program’s cast when the production moved from New York City to Chicago, Gardiner traveled out to Glacier National Park in the summer of 1930 for the express purpose of gathering material with which to write stories for future Empire Builders continuities. Gardiner wrote this night’s story, “A Montana Christmas,” after being suitably inspired on that summer sojourn.

 

"Long George" Francis, cattleman, horse wrangler, rodeo performer and organizer.
And likely inspiration for this night's broadcast.
National Cowboy Hall of Fame, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Long George Francis (1874-1920)

Making assumptions is, at best, risky business. In this situation, the facts at hand are these:

·       Virginia Gardiner was contracted to travel to Montana (specifically Glacier National Park, at least for a portion of if not the entirety of her trip) in the summer of 1930 to gather ideas and material for writing plays to be used on Empire Builders.

·       Gardiner was paid for a manuscript which was developed into a radio play and it was performed as the Empire Builders broadcast of December 15, 1930.

·       She titled her story “Long George.”

·       The radio broadcast was advertised in the newspapers of the day as “A Montana Christmas.”

It turns out that there really was a man in Montana history – a rather colorful man at that – who went by the nickname “Long George.” He died somewhat mysteriously on Christmas Eve in 1920. I believe Virginia Gardiner’s radio play which aired on this date in 1930 was a story based on the real life story of George Mortimer “Long George” Francis.

Long George was a man who stood out in virtually every crowd. He had a slender frame and topped out at 6 feet 6 inches tall in his bare feet. Wearing his typical cowboy boots and a high Stetson hat, he must have cut a mighty imposing figure. Long George made a living working with livestock. His dealings in cattle and horses was reputed to have strayed outside the law at times. He was active in rodeos, credited with being involved in organizing such events as Havre’s Great Northern Stampede. He competed in rodeos as well, including the notable Pendleton Roundup in northeast Oregon. At the conclusion of a steer roping competition, his horse was trained to set one hoof on the steer’s ribs and take a bow. Long George was charged, tried, and found guilty of horse stealing, but was a no-show at his own sentencing. He hid out in the Bear Paw Mountains instead.

His demise occurred in a cloud of questions. It was Christmas Eve, 1920, and the temperature was an unforgiving 22 below. It was said he was on his way to spend Christmas with his fiancée, a school teacher who lived in a rural area several miles outside Havre.  His car careened off an icy road and into the Milk River. He survived the initial wreck, but he suffered head wounds, and his leg was badly injured with a compound fracture. He fashioned a splint and then tried to drag himself to the nearest farmhouse, about a mile away. But the blood loss from his wounds was too great. It was said that he took his own life by stabbing himself in the jugular vein, rather than be found alive, but defenseless, by coyotes or wolves. There are some who say his death came at the hand of another, but it seems the story ends there, either way.

I hope to locate a continuity for this broadcast someday, but in the meantime, it seems likely that Virginia Gardiner learned the story of Long George Francis, and then crafted a work of fiction based on certain facts of his life, and wrapped his story up with a bow of selfless heroism.

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Although very limited, the few newspaper snippets we have regarding this story shed an interesting light on the subject. First, it sounds like this was a story that truly tugged at the heart-strings, in that it apparently told the tale of how a “colorful western character” (a cowboy, perhaps) gave his life to brighten the lives of school kids in a remote part of Montana (which doesn’t do much to narrow down the locale – a lot of Montana was and still is “remote”).

Another intriguing newspaper comment was the Dallas Morning News stating that Virginia Gardiner “will enact a leading role.” Gardiner effectively parted ways with Empire Builders – at least in the role of actress – when the radio program’s production moved from New York City to Chicago over the summer hiatus of 1930. It would be fascinating to find out if she did indeed come back on air for a guest appearance in Chicago, if that is even what the newspaper meant by “enact.”

Woman of many talents

Great Northern Railway press release depicting Virginia Gardiner in the arms of "the Old Timer," Harvey Hays.
Minnesota Historical Society collection

Virginia Gardiner was a singularly successful radio actress in those early days of the medium. Unlike most radio performers of the day, she did not cut her teeth on stage acting. In fact, her formal training prior to appearing on radio was as a singer. She studied voice with Marcella Sembrich (1858-1935), at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Despite developing her talent as a dramatic soprano, Gardiner elected to pursue opportunities in radio. She did offer at her first auditions that she could sing, but she quickly found her niche as an actress. Empire Builders did not feature singing on the first two seasons, including song only as a transitional filler or for atmosphere. Still, Gardiner discovered her acting chops early in the process. In an issue of “Radio Review” magazine from January, 1930 (while she was still performing on Empire Builders), Virginia Gardiner was singled out as one of the stellar talents in radio:

… there are only a few really outstanding air personalities, who can be numbered almost on anyone's two hands. There are only a few who have really succeeded in carving their names in the ether, so to speak. Harvey Hays, Pedro de Cordoba, Frank Moulan, Charles "Webster, Arthur Allen, Alfred Shirley, Loren Raker, Helene Handin, Marcella Shields, Florence Malone and Virginia Gardiner head the list.

It’s kind of ironic that this same article went on to extol the virtue of the stage acting résumés of these performers as justification for their radio success. Gardiner had virtually no acting experience prior to performing on radio.

I’m reluctant to list the Empire Builders scripts that are attributed to Virginia Gardiner for fear that I might omit something. Nevertheless, here are two that I feel sure she was involved with writing:

·       301215   A Montana Christmas

·       310420   Scenes of Montana Campfires (featuring Jack Brown, Glacier Guide)

Illustration of Virginia Gardiner by artist Clayton Braun (clearly using the studio portrait shown above in this blog as a guide). It was reported shortly after this image appeared in the newspapers that Braun presented Gardiner with the drawing.

Just as Empire Builders was wrapping up its second season on the air, a radio enthusiasts’ magazine called “What’s On the Air” published its June, 1930, issue in which it highlighted Virginia Gardiner (whose tenure as an actress with Empire Builders was just ending). They said that in addition to Empire Builders, Gardiner could be heard on “‘Mystery House,’ ‘Station KUKU’ and ‘The Moxie Hostess’ programs, and at frequent intervals in other NBC dramatic programs.” Just as Empire Builders was coming back on the air from the Chicago NBC studios in September, 1930, Virginia Gardiner began appearing on a new radio program called “Death Valley Days.” In 1965, Gardiner published a book titled “Monty of Montego.”

The Matter of the Collier’s Hour Broadcasts (Sponsored by Collier’s Magazine)

In the aforementioned 1930 magazine article, there is no mention of Collier’s Hour in the list of programs in which Gardiner appeared. I have other sources that indicate Gardiner was in fact featured on Collier’s Hour later on in 1931 or so, but I don’t know for sure when she first began to appear on that program. In any event, Ralph Budd apparently tuned in Collier’s Hour one Sunday evening in the spring of 1929 and heard what he felt was a familiar voice. On May 17, 1929, Budd wrote to his vice-president, William Kenney, advising that he had noticed “a female voice on our radio programs which sounds precisely like the voice of the actress who takes the principal female part in Collier’s Hour.” Budd explained his concern that the voice on Empire Builders was typically portraying a role concerning a historical vignette, whereas the Collier’s Hour dramas typically featured contemporary fiction. It troubled him that listeners would easily recognize the voice of the actress, and it detracted from the effect of the historical stories enacted on Empire Builders.

Less than a week later, Kenney replied by letter to Budd that he had taken the matter up with NBC’s Nile Trammell, and was advised that “the actress would be changed.”

This is a bit of a mystery to me. Was the actress changed on Collier’s Hour, on Empire Builders, or on both? Are they talking about Virginia Gardiner? Probably not, since Gardiner remained on Empire Builders through the second season of the program (Fall, 1929 – Spring, 1930). And although the record clearly indicates Gardiner performed on Collier’s Hour, it seems she was not on that show until after leaving Empire Builders. Unless she was bumped from Collier’s in 1929, only to return after she left Empire Builders. I know that Lucille Husting appeared on Collier’s Hour, but this was probably just briefly, and occurred prior to the move to Chicago and Husting’s joining the Empire Builders regular cast. So if it wasn’t Gardiner, and it wasn’t Husting, who the heck was it?? If you have any insights or documented proof to clear this up, please let me know.

 

Press photo of Gardiner and Hays.
Author's collection

 

The day Virginia Gardiner’s son disappeared

Virginia Gardiner Durstine and her husband Roy in a composite wire photo released in connection with the story of  their missing son.
Author's collection

Virginia Gardiner married advertising executive and author Roy Sarles Durstine (1886-1962) on August 30, 1932. Roy had two daughters from a previous marriage. Virginia and Roy had a son whom they named Roy, Jr. In 1952, in his freshman year at Harvard, junior seems to have had a tough time. One day he left notes with a few friends that hinted at what might be his demise, and he up and disappeared. It made the news. His father raced to Boston to try to locate his son. A few days later, the young man surfaced. He had succumbed to a bout of depression and (apparently) the pressures of transitioning into the life of a college student, and went off to lay low with some friends outside the city. Despite the serious concern that he might do himself in, things seem to have been sorted out for the best.
  

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