310406 - Shoes of Eloquence

 

Recording Status:  Recorded, not circulating

In my efforts to document the story of the Empire Builders radio series, I’ve encountered many challenges. Among these are my sometimes frustrated attempts to learn the names and roles of performers, and in many cases, to ascribe the correct story name or title to the broadcasts. Quite often the broadcasts were prepared and performed with no formal name, nor even a topic reference. In the Great Northern corporate records (voluminous) and NBC records (sparse) that I’ve viewed, many broadcasts were referenced by no more than the expected air date. And of course, as I’ve reported in earlier blog posts, airdates were not immune to last-minute changes.

In the case of this night’s program, I am pleased to be able to report, with complete confidence, the specific title to the story: “Shoes of Eloquence.” I’ll admit, that title sounds mighty odd to me (how, exactly, can footwear be “eloquent”?), but there is no doubt whatsoever that this story had that name.

Joseph Blethen, age 42 (circa 1912)

The author was a man named Alden Joseph Blethen, Jr. – although he seems to have settled for simply “Joseph” Blethen. He was born on April 16, 1870, and at the time of this radio broadcast was reported to be a resident of San Francisco. My limited research into the life story of Mr. Blethen indicates this was the son of Alden J. Blethen (1845-1915), who took over the fledgling Seattle Press-Times newspaper in 1896, renaming it the Seattle Daily Times, and later, the Seattle Times.

Alden Joseph Blethen, Sr. (circa 1900)

To this day, there are fourth- and fifth-generation Blethens running that venerated paper. For many years, residents of the Seattle metropolitan area had two major newspapers available to them: the morning Seattle Post-Intelligencer (or simply, Seattle P-I), and the afternoon Times. For a variety of reasons (notably the evolution of the availability of news content on the internet, and assertions that a news writer’s strike created significant financial losses), the Seattle P-I closed the doors on its printed newspaper several years ago (2009), living on now primarily as an internet-only news source. I don’t mean to pass this off as a study of either the history or the current state of affairs of the print news business, but suffice it to say, it’s a notable achievement to have successfully operated a newspaper in a major West Coast metropolitan market for over 120 years.

It’s also worth noting – and relevant to this night’s fiction –  that the Blethen family tree stretched back to the earliest days of European inhabitation of what became this country. Blethens figured prominently in the Quaker population of early Massachusetts, notably in the Salem area. And prior to that, there was apparently some impressive lineage back to England – including significant titled wealth and social prominence. As you read on about this night’s play, you will see how the author’s story may well have drawn on the history of his own family for its inspiration.

Joseph Blethen was no stranger to writing fiction, having published a number of stories in such magazines as the Saturday Evening Post, McClure’s, and several others. Like several other authors of stories for the Empire Builders radio series, it is not clear what the arrangements were that caused his story to come to the attention of Harold Sims or others at the railroad. His story was not, however, one of the submissions for the radio story contest conducted by the GN the previous summer.

So… enough about newspapers and Blethens. I have not yet been able to access the recording of this broadcast, but it does live on as one of almost two dozen Empire Builders broadcasts to have surfaced on old (and not very high quality) reel-to-reel tapes, apparently transferred about thirty years ago from the original aluminum disc air check recordings. There is currently an effort underway to preserve these rare recordings digitally. In the meantime, I do have a copy of the continuity for this program, as well as a copy of the original press release. Here is the principal content of the press release:

“Shoes of Eloquence,” replete with the atmosphere of San Francisco’s Chinatown, is the story which the Old Timer tells on the Empire Builders dramatic half hour Monday night.

Incidentally, the Old Timer’s tale helps Ann Temple, an Eastern society girl with seafaring ancestors, to decide between Henry Van Dyke, wealthy aristocrat, and Joe Cortez, a poor but go-getting native son of California.

The cast, besides Harvey Hays, as the Old Timer, will include Miss Lucille Husting as Ann Temple and Don Ameche as Joe Cortez. The musical setting which will include a Chinese orchestra was arranged by Josef Koestner, musical director of the Empire Builders productions. Joseph Blethen of San Francisco is the author.

The program’s continuity opens with the usual announcement of the show, followed by the efforts of the sound effects team and the studio orchestra as the Empire Builder train went speeding along. Here’s how that looked in the continuity:

ANNOUNCER:    The Great Northern Railway presents EMPIRE BUILDERS!

MUSIC UP A AND B. SEGUE TO SPEEDING TRAIN EFFECTS UP AND OUT. MUSIC UP AND FADE FOR CREDIT.

I wish I knew what was meant by “MUSIC UP A AND B.” I’ve encountered that phrase a number of times in other continuities. As for the “credit,” this was the opening announcement by Ted Pearson, and one of two opportunities utilized each week during the broadcast to promote the railroad. The radio broadcast was thus bookended with the opening and closing credits. Here is what Ted Pearson announced to the listening audience as the opening credit:

ANNOUNCER:

               Steadily the gleaming new rails of the Great Northern march on to California and the hills of San Francisco. Before another year passes, the Empire Builder will roar triumphantly down from the North to its terminus in the city the padres dedicated to Saint Francis. San Francisco! A golden name, and a romantic one in the storied padres of the West! From the water-front with its ships from far-off lands to the heights of Telegraph Hill … from Mount Tamalpais and the Golden Gate across the bay to Oakland and Berkeley’s campanile … its name is Romance! It is the living virile West and the mystic changeless East that meet in these modern streets! Tonight we bring you a story of San Francisco’s Chinatown – that strange city within a city, where “A golden dragon swallows up the darkness, and the night is crimson-scented with the languor of Cathay … Where deep-tongued gongs boom a dread message from a strange god … Where aged scholars dream over books that were old when the first man set his face toward the west … a little island of the Orient set in a bustling modern city … Come with us, then, and meet the Old Timer and his friends, as the Empire Builder speeds on through the night.

MUSIC UP AND FADE TO INTERIOR TRAIN EFFECTS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The first major scene of the radio play consisted of a conversation onboard the Empire Builder train between Henry Van Dyke of Manhattan, New York, thank-you-very-much, and his intended fiancée, Ann Temple (of a well-pedigreed family of Long Island). Before they were (inevitably) joined in conversation by the Old Timer, it was revealed to the listening audience that Van Dyke was quite snobbish, whereas Ann was far more liberal in her thinking on matters of social interaction, and other issues. Van Dyke chastised Ann for her liberal approach to California and the remainder of the West, a part of the country that he felt was unwashed and lacking prestige. He decried Ann’s attitude, telling her “that’s not any too becoming in a member of one of Long Island’s best families!” Ann shot back in her defense – and that of the West.

ANN:                    No? Listen to me a moment, Henry. You have asked me to marry you. To become Mrs. Henry Van Dyke, of the Van Dykes, Manhattan. A great honor, and I respect it. But that isn’t the point. You ask me – Ann Temple, granddaughter of an adventurous Yankee sea captain – to forget all that’s new in life and bury myself in the Van Dyke tradition!

VAN DYKE:          A thing isn’t always worthwhile just because it’s new.

ANN:                    (WITH SPIRIT)  But think of the fun one has discovering whether it is or not! Of facing West, West, always West!

Ann continued with an explanation that her journeys to the west coast to attend conventions in the past couple of years had opened her eyes to the beauties of the land, and had awakened in her an appreciation for its people. As she put it, she had discovered that “California is really a part of American life.” Van Dyke was both unimpressed, and clearly bigoted.

VAN DYKE:          And it will be more American when it drops a lot of those Spanish names. (SARCASTICALLY)  San Francisco! San Ho-zay. La Hoy-ya! Los Ang-he-layz! Santa Barbara! Everything’s a San or a Ho!

ANN:                    (LAUGHING MISCHIEVOUSLY)  Delightful!

VAN DYKE:          Oh, undoubtedly! Anything Spanish pleases you. Take your new friend whom you met in San Francisco a year or so ago, for instance. Mr. Joe Cortez! Rightly pronounced, his name is Ho-zay, I’ll bet a hat!

ANN:                    Rightly pronounced, his name is Mister Joe Go-getter Cortez! He is on his way, that boy!

VAN DYKE:          A native Son, of course!

ANN:                    Oh, naturally! That’s another good thing about California. You only have to be born there once to be a Native Son. Back on dear old Long Island it’s different. Unless you are a Van, or something, with at least ten generations behind you, you’re an interloper!

As I explained earlier, the Great Northern Railway was not shy about injecting comments at the beginning and ending of the radio broadcasts as a form of advertising for their trains. Nor did they hesitate to inject comments of a marketing nature in the dialog itself. And who better to provide this manner of thinly-veiled promotion than the Old Timer himself. It was about this point in the story that he happened to enter the car in which Ann and Henry were conversing. Ann made an off-handed remark about what a pleasant surprise it was to see him.

OLD TIMER:        Nothin’ surprising about my being on the Empire Builder, Miss Temple. I’m always travelin’ round this part of the country – and there just ain’t no better way to travel, you know.

Ann commented on the beauty and brightness of the moonlight on Puget Sound. The Old Timer eagerly agreed with her.

OLD TIMER:        Indeed I have! I’ve been watchin’ it for the last half-hour. This ride along Puget Sound is one o’ the finest parts o’ the whole Great Northern. Just look at them islands out there. And all them busy lumber-mills along here, with ships waitin’ to go out across the ocean to Japan an’ China, an’ -----.

With the sound of authentic train whistle, located up on the roof of the Merchandise Mart and its sound piped into the broadcast through a remote microphone, the Old Timer declared they all ought to take one last good look at the salt water of Puget Sound, and the eastbound Empire Builder they were on was approaching the depot at Everett, Washington. The Old Timer mentioned that he was expecting to meet a friend of his transferring from another train coming in from Vancouver, B.C. It was a young San Francisco chap: “He’s an advertisin’ man I know – and he’s a real go-getter!”

 

This vintage postcard has a postmark of 1912, so the scene is many years earlier than our story. Still, it provides a useful view of the GN depot at Everett, Washington, and the two-tiered track arrangement, close to the Everett waterfront.
Author's collection

What do you suppose the odds are that it’s Joe Cortez? The Empire Builder pulled to a stop at the Everett depot. The Old Timer’s friend jumped aboard and greeted him.

OLD TIMER:        Oh, here you are, Joseph, my boy! Glad you made it.

JOE CORTEZ:       Hello, Old Timer! You bet I made it! Made something else too! I got that big furniture manufacturing account I told you about! This furniture business is getting to be one of the coast’s biggest industries.

OLD TIMER:        Say, that’s fine! Sort of justifying your hurried trip North, eh?

JOE CORTEZ:       In one way, yes. But as you know very well there’s something besides advertising accounts on my mind.  (CONFIDENTIALLY)  Tell me, Old Timer: Did a certain party make this train?

OLD TIMER:        Per schedule, my son.

Well, well, well… Looks like there’s a certain young lady in the crosshairs of more than just the one suitor, then. And it was clear the Old Timer was playing favorites in this contest. He tipped Cortez to the news that he was not without a rival in this quest, and that rival was in fact onboard this very train too.

OLD TIMER:        But wait a minute. I’ve something to tell you. That’s why I come up front!

JOE CORTEZ:       (CONCERNED)  What’s the matter? Nothing wrong, I hope?

OLD TIMER:        Depends on how you look at it. That famous big game hunter, Mr. Henry Van Dyke, of the Van Dykes of New Amsterdam, old Amsterdam and a few other dams, is aboard, too.

JOE CORTEZ:       (SURPRISED)  What! Henry Van Dyke! Here! Why, I thought he was hunting bear way up on Kodiak Island!

OLD TIMER:        (LAUGHING)  Maybe the bears failed to recognize him. Anyhow, he’s here.

Joe suggested they ought to head to the observation car straight away. This is how the continuity laid out the directions to the sound effects boys and Mr. Koestner’s orchestra:

(TRAIN SOUNDS UP AND DOWN ALTERNATELY AS THEY PASS THROUGH THE CARS. SPOT VESTIBULE SOUNDS AND DOORS? IF POSSIBLE. FADE TO LONG TRANSITION MUSIC, WHICH FADES TO INTERIOR TRAIN SOUNDS.)

Joe and the Old Timer met back up with Ann and Henry. The Old Timer talked about how he had introduced Joe and Ann in San Francisco’s Chinatown only a year ago. Henry received this detail coldly. It wasn’t long before the Old Timer offered up another of his ubiquitous stories.

OLD TIMER:        I wonder how you folks would like to hear a Chinese yarn right now, while we’re speedin’ along toward that 8-mile tunnel o’ the Great Northern’s under these Cascade Mountains?

With another sly plug for the good ‘ol GN, the Old Timer laid the groundwork for his tale. He explained that it was a true story, and that it involved a fellow the men knew by the name of Bentley Marbold – “of the Marbold Bank people.” Ooh-la-la. Even the snooty Henry Van Dyke was listening now.

OLD TIMER:        You see, this story concerns Bentley Marbold and the old Chinese house man, Moy Sam, that Bentley sort o’ inherited from his father, along with the Marbold fortune.

VAN DYKE:          Funny name.

OLD TIMER:        I s’pose Sam’d thought Van Dyke was a kinda funny name. Well – this story concerns two other important characters. I’ll call them little Two Shoes.

JOE CORTEZ:       Chinese shoes, Old Timer?

OLD TIMER:        Nope they were American. And real shoes. The first pair that Bentley Marbold ever wore.

The Old Timer described Bentley Marbold’s father as “Boss-man,” the term by which Moy Sam the “Chinese house man” referred to him. There were also comments about how loyal and dedicated Moy Sam was to the Marbold family, and how he continued to refer to the late Colonel Marbold as Boss-man even after he passed on. It seems the family estate was located on the peninsula south of San Francisco. Young Bentley left the estate to live at his club in the city. Moy Sam was left in charge of the big empty house. He became lonely there. It was Sam’s hope that Bentley would find a wife, they’d have a family, and the estate would once more be filled with happy voices and children playing in the poppy fields – just as Bentley had done in the days when Sam was still new to his employment there. Bentley became a very successful business man in San Francisco, and old Moy Sam was losing hope of Bentley’s prospects for marriage. Then one day Bentley met a young woman named Julia who was visiting the city. After she went back east, Bentley wrote to her and proposed – but she never replied to him.

The Old Timer went on to explain how Bentley Marbold’s baby shoes, stowed away all those years by Moy Sam, played a part in this story.

OLD TIMER:        So there was Moy Sam, an old man now, alone in the big house. Alone with all those memories, and only two tiny white baby shoes to talk to. And then gradually those two little white shoes began to talk to Moy Sam.

ANN:                    (SOFTLY)  And a dear old Chinaman was just the one to understand. Shoes of Eloquence!

OLD TIMER:        Shoes of Eloquence! That’s right pretty, Miss Ann, and it’s just what they were. Well, one Christmas Eve old Moy Sam, he couldn’t stand it any longer. The shoes was in a silver casket, lined with soft green silk. He wrapped the casket and all in a silk scarf and set out for town – heading for his Joss House.

Don’t know about you, but I had to look it up. The term Joss House was commonly used to refer to a Chinese temple, and was frequently applied to such places of worship attended by Chinese immigrants in ethnic communities such as San Francisco’s Chinatown. Upon hearing of Moy Sam’s trip to the Joss House, Ann interjected, speculating the Chinaman was going there to pray “that the Boss-man’s son should marry.”

OLD TIMER:        No. The old Chinaman was all tired out with praying. He had some kind o’ idea about givin’ the shoes a chance. He intended to show the shoes to his cousin, the scholar, Moy Wong the keeper of the Temple, and beg the Honorable Wong to scroll a prayer for them an’ then burn the prayer-papers on the grating beneath the huge Idol in the Joss House. So to Moy Wong’s study Moy Sam (GOING AWAY FROM THE MIKE)  took the little shoes.

(MUSIC UP IN CHINESE MOTIF, WITH CYMBALS. FADE TO KNOCKING (3 TIMES, SLOWLY) ON DOOR. DOOR OPENS SOFTLY.)

Now the scene switched to the temple, where Moy Sam called upon his cousin, Moy Wong. Sam was politely invited into Moy Wong’s humble abode, and it was soon clear that something was troubling Sam. Moy Wong made him tea to help settle his nerves and calm his spirit, then asked him to share his burdens.

MOY SAM:           He in whose unhappy employment I drag out my days is an unworthy Son. Boss-man Marbold has but a troubled sleep in his grave.

MOY WONG:      These Foreign Devils are a puzzle to serene persons, my cousin. Their Great One said to them “do unto others as you would they would do unto you”. Yet sons forget their fathers.

MOY SAM:           (PROTESTINGLY)  The Great House remains empty! No woman warms it with her smile! No children’s laughter rouses the sleeping echoes of the long corridors! All is emptiness! Emptiness!

MOY WONG:      (GENTLY)  The Son has not yet seen his own eyes look back at him from a child’s face. Blind is he then to his destiny.

MOY SAM:           (VOICE BREAKS)  And Boss-man weeps in his grave!

MOY WONG:      Desolation – indeed! Your Boss-man was a Foreign Devil, but he was a father!

MOY SAM:           I weep! And only these two silent witnesses hear me. Behold!

Moy Sam gently unveiled the two tiny shoes, and explained what they meant to him.

MOY SAM:           These were the Son’s first pair. I have kept them to remind me of my duty.

MOY WONG:      A worthy trust, Most Worthy Cousin. Permit me to stroke their honorable helplessness. Hum! A touching eloquence lies in their very silence. Yea! An eloquence to make strong men think, and to cause gentle women to dream dreams.

MOY SAM:           (EAGERLY)  Then do you scroll a prayer, on vermillion paper. Learned One, that I may burn it before the Joss. And let the prayer be the prayer of these, (VOICE BREAKS) my Two Shoes!

MOY WONG:      (REVERENTLY)  No prayer of my lame scrolling could equal the eloquence of this emptiness! Instead you should hold them high, in reverence before the Idol’s all seeing eyes. Come! I myself will strike on the great gong!

(THREE HEAVY AND VERY DELIBERATE BLOWS ON A HUGE GONG. THREE MORE BLOWS FADING TO BACKGROUND. THREE MORE, FADING TILL THE LAST BLOW IS VERY DIM. SILENCE FOR A FEW SECONDS.)

The radio performance switched back to the Old Timer at that moment, and he described the alarming events that next transpired.

OLD TIMER:        Well, right then things began to happen. That Chinese Joss waked up all right. Waked up, and began to shoot red fire from its big, staring eyes! And at that very minute, right in down-town San Francisco, a real fire broke out.

JOE CORTEZ:       (IN SURPRISE)  A real fire!

OLD TIMER:        Surest thing! And now explain this if you can: The fire was in Bentley Marbold’s own Club! Right in the building where he lived!

The sound effects boys worked up a cacophony of fire sirens and crowd noise. A distraught Bentley Marbold tried in vain to enter the burning building, but a stalwart policeman held him back. Marbold protested vigorously, insisting that he be allowed in – he had a strongbox full of vital papers in his apartment. The desperate Marbold pulled the oldest trick in the book on the surprisingly dense officer – with a shout of “Look! Over there!” Marbold duped the officer into looking away long enough to dash past him – into the burning building!

The next scene of the story found an injured Bentley Marbold being tended to faithfully by Moy Sam. It was revealed that Marbold’s hands were fine, but his face was burned. Moy Sam then tentatively asked Marbold what the strongbox held, to be worth risking his life to save it.

 Marbold found the key and opened the box. At first he seemed satisfied that the papers he knew were in the box were still intact, but then – there were envelopes, unopened, and bearing Marbold’s name in unmistakable feminine script! “It is – it is Julia’s handwriting!” cried Marbold. He tore open the oldest of them: “Dearest Bentley, of course …” Marbold flipped. He went scrambling for a telephone (okay – this part of the story is pretty shaky to me too… these letters were in the box all along, but he didn’t know they were there? And he couldn’t have called Julia on the phone in the first place, to accomplish something as important as propose marriage??). Music and train sounds provided a transition back to the quartet of travelers aboard the Empire Builder.

OLD TIMER:        And so the misunderstanding was cleared up. Julia’s letter had been piled in the box, unopened, with a lot of other papers, and

ANN:                    And so they were married!

OLD TIMER:        (CHUCKLE)  Yes, that’s what happened, Ann.

ANN:                    (SOFTLY)  Beautiful!

VAN DYKE:          Bosh! Merely a co-incidence!

OLD TIMER:        But wait! In due time there came a happy event in the Marbold family. A son and heir appeared to gladden the big house down there on the Peninsula. And right then Moy Sam dressed himself in his best silks, and paraded straight up to the little mother and presented her with the little silver casket with the shoes. And then later he told Bentley the story of the prayer that day in Joss House.

VAN DYKE:          (SNEERINGLY)  And the hard headed banker was duly impressed.

OLD TIMER:        (QUIETLY)  Well, if he wasn’t how do you account for this: Every Christmas Day Bentley Marbold goes to that same Joss House and burns a beautiful Christmas Greeting to Old Moy Sam, long since gone to his ancestors.

Ann was quite moved by the story – moved to tears, even. She thanked the Old Timer profusely for showing her the light. She declared that she would soon be traveling to San Francisco, where she would detrain and stay. Van Dyke carelessly sniffed at her emotional trifles – to his own detriment. She announced that she intended to marry a “Native Son” of California, then asked Joe Cortez to escort her back to her state room. The Old Timer ended up with the last word.

VAN DYKE:          (IN DISGUST)  That shows what too much wandering about will do to a woman.

OLD TIMER:        (QUIETLY)  Wouldn’t wonder if you were right, Van Dyke. Especially if she wanders in persuasive places. And learns things about real folks. For instance, about Shoes of Eloquence, if you get what I mean.  (LAUGHS QUIETLY AND HAPPILY)

The continuity called for the music to come up and then fade for the closing “credit.” Ted Pearson came to the microphone and declared he had lost his script. Seems like a rather awkward device, since every cast member in the studio had a copy of the same script. Anyhow, the Old Timer suggested to Ted that they just wing it – which inevitably opened the door to another discussion of the upcoming vacation the Old Timer was planning to Glacier National Park.

ANNOUNCER:    All right. (BRIGHTLY) Well, what’s the latest news about your vacation trips in Glacier Park this summer, Old Timer?

OLD TIMER:        (SOTTO)  That’s fine, Ted.  (UP)  Why, I tell you, Ted, there’s just lots and lots o’ people wantin’ to go with me. Singe my whiskers if we don’t have a great time out there in the Park!

ANNOUNCER:    Just what are you going to do out there, Old Timer? I bet there’s a lot of people would like to know more about the trips.

OLD TIMER:        (SOTTO)  You’re doin’ fine, Ted. (UP)  Well, we’re a-goin to visit, just about every interestin’ place in the park. We’re a-goin’ to start out from the Glacier Park Hotel – that’s just inside the park entrance, near the Great Northern station – and we’ll take our first trip by ‘bus down to Two Medicine Lake – see Trick Falls an’ Twin Falls, an’ take a launch-ride on Two Medicine Lake. Then we’ll have an Injun pow-wow at the hotel that night, an’ early next mornin’ we’ll start by ‘bus up to Many Glacier Hotel – that’s fifty-five miles away. There’ll be horseback trips an’ trail trips up there – to Josephine Lake an’ Grinnell Glacier an’ all over!

ANNOUNCER:    Everybody going to ride horses?

OLD TIMER:        You bet! Why, everybody rides out there!

ANNOUNCER:    Everybody, Old Timer?

OLD TIMER:        Everybody! Yes, sir, as George Noffsinger says (he’s the president o’ the Park Saddle Horse Company) everybody from seven to seventy rides a horse in Glacier Park – an’ some o’ the best riders is them that’s at each end o’ the scale!

ANNOUNCER:    How long did you say these trips are going to last, Old Timer?

OLD TIMER:        Ten days apiece. I’ve just told you about the first couple of days. We’re goin’ to cover that park like a tent, I tell you, Ted. We’re goin’ places –

ANNOUNCER:    And see things!

OLD TIMER:        You just bet your boots we are!

ANNOUNCER:    Say, our time’s getting short. Better finish. Ladies and gentlemen: The Old Timer’s first personally-conducted, all-expense vacation trip in Glacier Park starts about July first. There will be other trips during the latter part of the season, also personally conducted by the Old Timer. Write to him for information – address the Old Timer, care Great Northern Railway, 113 South Clark Street, Chicago, Illinois. He’ll be glad to send you detailed information, pictures, booklets, itineraries – everything you want to know about Glacier Park and his personally conducted vacation trips out there this summer.

Ted Pearson closed out the evening’s festivities by stating Harvey Hays was the Old Timer, Lucille Husting played Ann, and Don Ameche was Joe Cortez.

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