On February 17, 1930, Empire
Builders aired a story called On Time
Hank. The Great Northern Railway claimed to have received a significant
amount of positive feedback on that program, many listeners requesting that the
story be repeated. I don’t know if that was truthful or just puffery, but
either way, the GN elected to use the story once again on the night of May 25,
1931. With only a handful of remaining broadcasts before the series went off
the air for good, it was probably expeditious to use this old story to fill in.
I suppose the pool of available stories was becoming shallow.
For the broadcast of 2/17/1930, I wrote a fairly extensive essay.
In fact, I encourage you to take a couple of minutes and read that one
again first, then come back to this blog entry.
Rather than revisit every point I made in the earlier essay,
I’ll leave it to you to read that one again for some of the details, and will
instead focus this one on some of the notable differences. In summary, though,
here are a few points that I wrote about the first time:
·The script for the story of On Time Hank was originally drafted by the GN’s Harold M. Sims.
·“On Time Hank” was a real person – Henry T.
Mayfield (1862-1937), a veteran locomotive engineer in service to the Great Northern
Railway.
·The first airing of the story of On Time Hank was purported to make
innovative use of flashbacks and sound effects. Sims believed that was a strong
factor in making the story so popular among radio listeners.
·Because the story entailed real railroad
operations on the Great Northern, Sims was careful in writing this story to ensure
accuracy (there were many real railroaders in the listening audience) and to reflect
the railroad in a positive light – the radio show was, after all, an advertising
vehicle for the company, more so than simple entertainment.
As noted in my blog essay of one week ago,
the resurrected story of On Time Hank
was initially advertised to air on May 18th, but was replaced with The Billion Dollar Baby.
The press release issued by Harold Sims of the Great
Northern Railway, announcing On-Time Hank as the story to be broadcast May 18th
, was prepared in late April. Here is the relevant content of that release:
“On Time Hank,” a railway melodrama and one of Empire
Builders most successful radio presentations last season, will be repeated
Monday night, May 18.
Hundreds of requests have been
received for the repetition of this thrilling story of the rails. Its
popularity probably is due to the fact that “On Time Hank” is essentially a
“sound” story, ideally adapted for radio and is packed with thrills from start
to finish.
The radio audience rides with the
Old Timer in the cab of a thundering locomotive on the fast mail; the next
moment it sympathizes with the heroine, the telegraph operator, who is
confronted with the choice between love and duty; and finally the Great
Northern’s Fast Mail roars into the action just in time to frustrate a bank robbery.
While the story is partly fiction,
the characters are real, “On-Time Hank” being a veteran engineer on the Great
Northern’s Kalispell division, and the hero of many a “fast ride.”
A dog, January, shares leading
honors with the heroine telegraph operator, Sally. Sally will be played by
Lucille Husting, while the cast includes such popular radio players as Don
Ameche, John Daly and, last, but not least, Harvey Hays as the Old Timer.
Harold M. Sims, Executive Assistant to the President, Great Northern Railway
Sims wrote “while the story is partly fiction, the characters are real
…” Well, I do know that On-Time Hank (Henry Mayfield) was real, but there is no
indication that anyone else in the story was. This press release is notable in
the fact that Hank, “a veteran engineer on the Great Northern’s Kalispell
division,” was mentioned at all. The press release for the original airing of
this story did not call attention to that fact in any way.
The continuity that I found for this iteration of the Hank story was
located on microfilm at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately,
a few pages were missing. When I am able to access the recording of this
broadcast (which I hope to do in a matter of weeks or months from now), I’ll be
able to transcribe the missing dialog. In the meantime, the continuity from the
original airing of this story is sufficiently similar to use to fill in the
blank spots. Comparing the two continuities, it is interesting to note a few
modifications made to the newer version.
In the original dialog, Sally (the telegrapher’s daughter) explains to
her boyfriend, Jim, why the Fast Mail train is running late. The script
originally had the Fast Mail running down an automobile in St. Paul, complete
with a brief admonition to careless drivers. Sims probably thought this
reflected poorly on railroad safety (and Great Northern train safety in
particular). The revised script replaced the car wreck story with the
following:
SALLY:Everything’s
on time. Twenty-seven – the Fast Mail – hasn’t got onto the division yet.
She’ll be running nearly an hour late. They had to hold her in St. Paul for the
mail from the east, and she left there two hours and a half late. She’ll be
hitting it up through here about 10 o’clock tonight.
Far better, I suppose, to blame the delay on an unnamed competing
railroad who was late handing off the mail “from the east.”
Another noticeable modification to the dialog was during the action in
the cab of the Fast Mail’s locomotive, with On-Time Hank at the throttle,
assisted by his fireman “Irish,” and accompanied by the Old Timer who had
hopped a ride with them.
When the Old Timer remarked at how fast Hank was driving the train,
Irish told the Old Timer “When we’re late, Hank doesn’t slow down for anything
short of a six degree curve.” Sims elected to tone that down a bit. Here’s the
revised dialogue: “Look at the speed indicator – sixty-eight miles an hour.
Hank sure does yank ‘er through!”
In the original telling of the story, the Old Timer responded to Irish
by saying:
PIONEER:Holdin’
onto that window frame doesn’t do much good. Maybe my holdin’ ain’t just right.
That’s the fourth time I’ve slid off this seat box! Well, doggone it this may
not be the smoothest ride I ever had, but I’ll take anybody’s word it’s the
fastest. Your Empire Builder and Oriental Limited take these curves sort of
reasonable, but my gosh!
Actor Harvey Hays - the "Old Timer"
Again, after an apparent reflection on the advertising impact of those
comments, Sims found a different way for the Old Timer to express how impressed
he was with the operation of the train. Here’s what replaced the Old Timer’s
comments as shown above:
PIONEER:Whew,
doggone it, this may not be the most comfortable ride I ever had, but I’ll take
anybody’s word it’s the fastest. Your Empire Builder is mighty easy ridin’ but
up here in the front …
There were a few other minor edits, but they’re not worth commenting
on. Suffice it to say, Sims clearly took the opportunity to review and revise
the original script to ensure the Great Northern Railway was presented in a
positive light, without sacrificing the dramatic nature of the story. After
all, that was a significant part of what he was paid to do.
Modern-day view of the H.M. Sims home in St. Paul.
Until next time, keep those dials tuned to Empire Builders!
This night’s broadcast, and that of the following week
(5/25/1931), comprise what, for the moment at least, is a bit of uncertainty
regarding the exact sequence of Empire Builders
performances. Newspapers of the day advertised that the story to be presented
on this night, May 18th, was a repeat of a story performed the
previous season: “On Time Hank.”
Radio listing from the Christian Science Monitor, dated Monday, May 18th, 1931 (radio stations WBZA, Boston, and WBZ, Springfield)
In the old time radio community, it is well-understood that
old newspaper listings of radio programs can prove to be unreliable sources for
radio logs, especially as other documentation might surface to prove the story
listed for a particular program on a particular night was subject to a
last-minute change. But the newspaper listings are a helpful place to start. Not
only do I have newspaper listings from May 18th, 1931, indicating “On
Time Hank” would be performed on that date, but I also have listings from a
week later showing “Billion Dollar Baby” as the offering for May 25th.
One more piece of the puzzle, and somewhat more compelling than mere newspaper
radio listings, is a copy of the press release prepared by Harold Sims for the
May 18th broadcast. This press release clearly, and at great length,
lays out the intent to air the story of “On Time Hank” on the 18th.
However, the copy of this press release that I located in the GN corporate
files at the Minnesota Historical Society bears a date stamp indicating when it
was filed. The office of the President of the Great Northern Railway received
and filed this press release on April 22. Between that date and May 18, there
was plenty of time to reconsider and switch stories. Why they would do
that is not as clear to me. But why would I believe the stories were switched?
Read on.
I
have significant evidence obtained from the NBC archives at the Library of
Congress. I’ve located the continuities (all but a couple of pages, anyway) of
both programs. Continuities and other documents in this collection were
diligently stored on microfilm reels decades ago. The materials were assembled
in chronological order, representing the content of all the broadcasts that
aired on NBC on the specific dates indicated. For May 18th, 1931,
those NBC archive files included a continuity about the “Billion Dollar Baby.”
The continuity that was documented among materials for May 25th was
a story about “On Time Hank.” Until I learn otherwise, I’m sticking with the
airdates shown here: May 18th, “The Billion Dollar Baby”; for May 25th,
“On Time Hank.” And I have one more resource that I will soon be able to tap. The Great Northern Railway Historical Society has recently acquired a set of reel-to-reel tapes containing almost two dozen broadcasts of Empire Builders. As this blog report is being prepared, those tapes are being processed by a renowned old time radio historian and audio expert. Unfortunately, the tapes for both the 18th and the 25th will be among the last of the tapes to be processed, so it will be at best a matter of weeks yet before I can confirm the actual content of the programs for the 18th and the 25th.
Before digging into the story of “The Billion Dollar Baby,”
I have a very interesting letter to share with you. It was written on May 13,
1931, by the GN’s Harold M. Sims, and was addressed to a Mr. James Darst,
Mid-west Manager of Pathé News (based in Chicago). It was in reply to an
inquiry that came to him via the GN’s supplemental advertising firm, McJunkin
Advertising Company. It seems Pathé News was interested in attending a
performance of Empire Builders to
film the activity and produce a newsreel feature on the craft of providing
sound effects over the radio.
Sims began his letter by restating the request, as he
understood it. He described Pathé’s desire to film “the staging of a radio
dramatic production, sound effects, etc.” Sims acknowledged Darst’s request to
attend the next broadcast of Empire
Builders to size things up – on Monday, May 18th.
I don’t know if Sims felt it necessary to convince Darst to
go through with the proposed filming session, or if perhaps Sims just wanted to
crow a little about the growing notoriety of the radio program, but he
described some of the media attention given to the broadcasts by other entities.
The interest shown
by the large number of requests for admittance to the studios during the
broadcast, and also by the feature articles which “Popular Mechanics,”
Newspaper Enterprise Association, and others have used, have suggested to me
the possibilities of the subject for some sound pictures, either as news or feature
stuff. Our particular program would seem to be ideally adapted for that purpose
on account of the elaborate sound equipment which we have developed and which
is used exclusively on “Empire Builders.”
Sims then invited Darst to join him for dinner on Monday,
prior to the 9:30pm broadcast. The letter goes on to reveal some interesting
details from behind the scenes of the weekly productions.
We always go into a
sort of last-minute “huddle” on our shows just before they go on the air. I
shall have to make the hour somewhat early – say about six o’clock, on account
of the fact that we make a final checkup of sound effects at 7:30, and go
through a full dress rehearsal beginning at 8:30. I think these preliminaries
would be of interest to you also.
At this time, I have no further information about this
correspondence, or any action actually taken by Pathé News to film or even
investigate the plan of filming a broadcast of Empire Builders. It does seem likely, though, that James Darst of
Pathé News was a guest of the Great Northern Railway at the broadcast studio in
Chicago on the night of May 18th.
I’ve looked in vain for evidence that Pathé (or anyone else)
ever filmed any of the Empire Builders
performances. I found something that comes quite close, however. Here is a
brief 1932 film from the archives of British Pathé, titled “What Do You Really
Hear on the Wireless?”
It is possible the film was created during 1931, then edited and released in 1932. No one in the film was, as far as I can tell, directly associated with Empire Builders before the series went off the air in 1931. However, the man featured in the short film clip, wearing wire-rimmed glasses, is Raymond Knight. It’s not clear to me what role if any Knight still had with Empire Builders at this point in time, but for a while at least (when the show was broadcast out of New York during 1929 and early 1930), he was credited as the program’s producer.
Back on January 5, 1931, Empire
Builders broadcast a story called “Prosperity Baby.”
The audio for that broadcast has been floating around the internet for quite
some time. I have reported previously that the name of the story performed in
that broadcast has been erroneously stated as “Bert Pond, Worrier and Baby” and
in some cases “Billion Dollar Baby.” It turns out that the story of this
evening’s broadcast, “The Billion Dollar Baby,” is a completely different
story, not some kind of repeat.
The copy of this broadcast’s continuity that I found at the
Library of Congress is missing the first page. It is also missing the closing
announcement. I’m really looking forward to accessing the recording of this
broadcast so I can fill in those voids. But based on what I do have at the
moment, here goes.
The story begins in a noisy and bustling street scene. Two
friends, Bob and Carl, were saying farewell, possibly just after having lunch together.
Carl complained about working for a newspaper editor who was a stickler for
punctuality, and he was running late getting back to work. Carl saw a taxi
rolling by, and tried to hail it. The cabbie did not seem to hear him, and kept
going. Carl desperately sprinted after the cab and catching up to it, jumped
onto its running board. He then opened the back door and slid inside. A young
woman let out a startled shriek. Carl was embarrassed by this unintended
intrusion, and immediately tried to jump out again – into rapidly moving
traffic surrounding the cab. The young woman shouted at him to stop trying to
kill himself and get back inside.
The young woman – the very attractive young woman, as Carl quickly deduced – admitted that her first impression of Carl was
actually pretty positive. His necktie reminded her of one her father often
wore. The ensuing conversation was intended to give the listener the impression
that these two strangers were each sensing a genuine attraction to one another.
But the cab pulled up to the train station, and the young woman breathlessly
dashed out of the cab and raced off to catch her train.
Carl was left in the back seat of the cab, smiling to
himself about the pretty girl he just met, and then lamenting the fact that he
didn’t even know her name.
The next part of the radio play was captured on page 5 of
the continuity. Sadly, I’m also missing page 5. However, as the story continued
on page 6, it was clear Carl made it back to the newspaper office, and was in
discussion with his editor, a man named MacGuire.
MacGuire had a new assignment for Carl. He asked Carl if he
had ever heard of the “Billion Dollar Baby.”
CARL:The Billion Dollar Baby? You
mean Ann Hastings … the daughter of J. Nelson Hastings, the tinware king?
MACGUIRE:Yeah, that’s the dame. She’s
disappeared.
CARL:Disappeared? You mean she’s
run away?
MACGUIRE:Listen, sap, if we knew that we wouldn’t
have to worry. Nobody knows what’s happened to her, see? Her old man thinks
she’s been kidnapped. The police say she’s eloped with some young squirt. She’s
just disappeared into thin air. Nobody knows where she is … nobody except
me, and I may be wrong.
MacGuire went on to explain what his hunch was based on. A
woman named Helen Hale, the newspaper’s movie editor, was down at Union Station
to get some material on a bunch of movie stars due into town. She saw a baggage
wagon go by, and on it were a couple of very large, very ritzy trunks. Hale
moved in and saw the initials “A.H.” on them. Speculating that they could belong
to the missing Ann Hastings, she snooped a little more and learned the trunks
were checked to Glacier Park.
Carl challenged his boss on the merits of this skimpy lead.
MacGuire offered that he followed up by checking on the Q.T. with a couple of
servants at the Hastings home – they were Ann Hasting’s trunks, all right!
So Carl asked MacGuire, even if this Ann Hastings was out at
Glacier Park, what did the editor expect him to do about it?
MACGUIRE:Why, whattaya think I want you to do? I
want you to get the story of her life. Find out why she left home. Find out why
she went out to Glacier. Find out if she likes spinach. Anything you can find
out about that baby is NEWS! And say … another thing … while you’re out there,
I want you to get a lot of pictures of her … we haven’t got a one.
Carl wasn’t sure how he was supposed to find this gal, shoot
her picture, and interview her – he didn’t even know what she looked like.
MacGuire explained that “old man Hastings” had a peculiar and strong aversion
for letting anyone take photos of his daughter – he “always swore he wasn’t
going to have the face of any daughter of his plastered on the front
page of every newspaper in the country.” But then MacGuire coached Carl to play
the detective and figure it out. He speculated that once Carl found those
eye-catching trunks, things would get easier. Oh, and another thing, MacGuire
said: “this girl has a good voice, see … likes to sing … and she has a weakness
for the music of Victor Herbert. So any time you hear some dame gettin’ off
‘Kiss Me Again’ . . .,” it was a darned good chance it might be the Billion
Dollar Baby.
Carl was unmoved. He still didn’t see how he was supposed to
get her to open up and give him a story. MacGuire had an answer for that, too.
MACGUIRE:Ah, that’s where you get a chance to
exercise your boyish charm, me lad. There’s where you get a chance to look at
the lady with melting eyes and say to her: ‘You know, somehow, you’re different
from other girls … there’s something in your eyes that tells me your life has
been a sad one… tell me…’
A musical transition took the listeners to the next scene in
the story. The dialogue picked up with a conversation between Carl and another
young woman. The script identified this gal as “Betty,” although Carl did not
appear to know her name yet. He was, however, employing the tactic supplied by
his editor, and it seemed to be effective.
CARL:You know, somehow you’re
different from other girls … There’s something in your eyes that makes me think
your life has been a sad one … Tell me about it, won’t you?
BETTY:(giggling)We-ell, I don’t know that it’s been so sad!
Of course, before Pa went into the sausage casing business and made his money,
we didn’t use to travel so much. Now, f’r instance, I wouldn’t have thought of
taking this trip to Glacier Park in those days. But, honest, my life hasn’t
been so sa-ad.(giggles)I don’t know what makes you say that.
Carl pressed on. He tossed his little “Victor Herbert” grenade
to see where Betty would jump. Betty declared she did not care for Herbert’s
music, saying she didn’t like “anything but ja-azz.” She continued to giggle
with nearly every statement she made.
Carl gave up on her and moved on. He spotted the Old Timer, with
whom he was already acquainted, and eagerly traded his dead-end conversation
with the giggler for a more pleasant one with the Old Timer. It seems Carl and
the Old Timer had been talking earlier, most likely on board the Empire Builder
on the journey to Montana. It also became clear that Carl had confided in the
Old Timer that he was on the hunt for the Billion Dollar Baby. The Old Timer
asked Carl how this pursuit was coming along. Carl lamented that he feared his
editor would be mighty disappointed with the results. The Old Timer asked Carl
“ain’t you had any luck?”
CARL:Don’t know the meaning of the
word, Old Timer. Why, I’ve looked meltingly into the eyes of every girl in the
Lake McDonald region and told her how different she is. But it doesn’t mean a
thing. There must be a hundred of them here that answer the description
MacGuire gave me. I thought sure I’d found her when I met that … that giggle
champion back there … but… I’ve been up
here three days now and still not a real clue as to the whereabouts of the
Billion Dollar Baby. If I have to tell another one of these dames she has sad
eyes, I’m going to…
As the Old Timer was trying to console Carl and convince him
not to give up, Carl heard someone approaching, someone softly singing a tune …
Carl recognized Victor Herbert’s song “Kiss Me Again.” When she met up with
Carl, he made a startling discovery. “It’s my lady of the taxi!” he cried out.
Carl tried to introduce her to the Old Timer, but did not know her name. She
volunteered it: “Ann … Ann Kane.”
The Old Timer excused himself and walked off. Carl and Ann
got to chatting about the unusual circumstance in which they found themselves.
Ann explained that she had leapt out of the cab at Union Station because she
was in a rush to catch the Empire Builder out to Glacier Park. Carl wondered
how she could have been out in the park three whole days without his knowing
about it. This was a convenient mechanism for Ann to put on her best Great
Northern Railway advertising department cap and wax poetic for a moment about
all the wonderful things there were to see and do in Glacier National Park. The
impromptu commercial announcement concluded, Carl was able to discover that Ann
just felt a need to get out to the park to get away from everything, such as “social
duties and shopping … ladies aid societies and things like that.” Carl was
quickly figuring out this must be the mysterious Ann Hastings – the Billion
Dollar Baby herself! He once more pressed on with MacGuire’s proven strategy.
Did she admire the music of Victor Herbert? Oh yes, very much so, she asserted.
Carl told Ann “somehow you seem different from other girls … there’s something
in your eyes that makes me think … .”
Another musical bridge informed the radio audience the
conversation between Carl and Ann was over. Carl was now speaking again with
the Old Timer. It seems Carl had finally discovered the true identity of the
Billion Dollar Baby, but he was none too happy about it. The Old Timer
questioned Carl about how this could be a disappointment to him.
CARL:Oh, I guess there isn’t much
doubt about it, Old Timer. She measures right up to the description MacGuire
gave me, and she’s fond of Victor Herbert’s music, and she … oh, I guess she’s
the Billion Dollar Baby all right.
Carl explained to the Old Timer that he got the story
MacGuire sent him for – poor little rich girl, “bird in the gilded cage and all
that sort of thing.” The Old Timer asked Carl, if he got the story he was
searching for, why was he so unhappy about it.
CARL:I’ll tell you what it is, Old
Timer. What is Ann going to think about me, when she finds out all about this?
What would any girl think of a fellow who wormed out the inmost secrets of her
heart and the published them to the whole world? She’s going to be about as
fond of me as she would be of a snake.
A-ha! “So that’s the way the wind blows,” as the Old Timer
put it. Carl was twitter pated. In love. Head over heels. And seriously in
danger of heading for Ann’s thinking he was a heel.
The wise Old Timer suggested that Carl just come clean –
tell her all about what he was up to. She was bound to find out sooner or later
anyway. But just then, another person approached. It was Betty.
CARL:Gosh, Old Timer, that sounds
like that professional giggler again. I’m going to go away from here … she’s
the world’s worst pest … and I’m certainly in no mood to talk to her now. But
wait a minute … I know what I’ll do … I’ll climb this tree. She won’t see me up
here and I’ll come down as soon as she’s passed.(sound of branches cracking) Can you see me from there, Old Timer?
The Old Timer assured Carl he was well hidden, but expressed
his concerns about the branches breaking. Carl confidently stayed put, and
Betty approached.
The annoying giggling got louder, and the Old Timer (and
Carl, too, presumably) realized Ann was with Betty. The giggler asked the Old
Timer if he could help Ann sort out an issue that was bedeviling her. Ann
protested, saying she had confided in Betty. The Old Timer encouraged to girls
to explain what the issue was – he assured them he could offer some useful
advice.
BETTY:She’s been deceiving a nice
young man, and now she’s paying the penalty. She’s afraid he’s going to find
out about it. Oh, I think it’s all so romantic ….(giggles)
ANN:Betty … I haven’t been deceiving
him … that is, not exactly … Anyway, it was all your fault in the beginning. I
don’t see how you can … Oh, I’m so unhappy.
The Old Timer gently encouraged her to go on. She confessed
it was about Carl (who was still secreted away over their heads among the
branches of a tree). Ann explained that upon her arrival at Glacier Park, not
knowing anyone there, she was befriended by Betty, who eventually told her about
Carl and what he was up to.
BETTY:(giggling)I told her how he always told every girl he
met that she had sad eyes and then asked her a lot of questions about her past
life. I thought it was so fu-unny.(giggles)
ANN:Yes, Old Timer … and I – I
thought it was funny too, then. It doesn’t seem funny at all, now. Betty
thought it would be awfully funny to lead him on and she thought up a lot of
funny things for me to say to him …. all about my being a poor little rich girl
… you see Betty suspected he might be a reporter trying to get a story that
he’d think I was the Billion Dollar Baby … you know, the one who ….
With a loud crash, Carl abruptly fell out of the tree and
landed with a thump at the feet of the girls. Ann was momentarily hysterical,
fawning over Carl and making sure he wasn’t hurt.
Carl was fine, but confused. “Does all this that mean you’re
not the Billion Dollar Baby?” Carl asked her.
ANN:Oh, Carl, can you ever
forgive me? I ….
CARL:Forgive you? Boy, I’m the
happiest man alive! Old Timer, isn’t this swell? She’s not the Billion Dollar
Baby … she’s not …
Ann and Carl quickly realized they were quite pleased with
the present situation. There were no more ruses, no more pretenses. They both
accepted their mutual attraction to one another, and there was nothing to get
in the way of their “happily ever after” ending. But the Old Timer did think of
one difficulty that Carl had yet to face.
OLD
TIMER:Well, Carl … I think this is
all fine … I don’t want to put any damper on the proceedings … but how about
your job? How about the story you’ve already sent in … about this here Billion
Dollar Baby … what ya goin’ to do about that?
CARL:Oh, what does it matter? I’ll
get another job …
BETTY:(giggling)Well, maybe you won’t have to get another
job, Carl. Maybe the story’s all right as it is. (giggle)Maybe all you’ll have to do is use my picture
instead of - - -
CARL
AND ANN:What?
BETTY:(giggles)
CARL:Are you the Billion Dollar
Baby?
BETTY:(giggles)
And that’s that. The continuity ends at that point. Again,
I’ll have to wait until I can access the actual recording of this broadcast to
learn what was said at the beginning and ending of the program (not to mention
the material on the missing Page 5). In the meantime, though, you can see why
the GN originally must have preferred to air this story on the 25th
instead of the 18th. The last broadcast, on May 11th, was
the story of a wealthy young woman who seemed to disappear. She traipsed off to
Glacier Park to “get away from it all.” And a newspaper reporter discovered her
secret. And there was the whole romance kerfuffle. And here we are again, one
week later, with a storyline that is almost identical. Whatever the reason for
switching the stories, it must have seemed important.
Until next time, keep those
dials tuned to Empire Builders!
This episode of Empire
Builders is like a bad take-off on Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on First.”
In a printed list of episode titles, this one is missing. Or more correctly, Missing.
But it’s not lost. It’s not completely unaccounted for. It’s just Missing. It
took me quite a long time to chase down confirmation of all the air dates of
this radio series, and to identify the titles of every broadcast that actually
had a specific title associated with it. But as I neared completion of that
effort, one broadcast was Missing. Despite dragging out that lame joke longer
than it deserves, it is also worth noting that I have not yet located a printed
continuity for this broadcast. So far, at least, it is missing.
Okay, I’m over it. Sorry.
What I do have is a copy of the off-the-air recording of
this live broadcast, and a copy of the original press release for the show.
Let’s begin with the presser.
“Missing,” a mystery
drama in which a newspaper reporter solves the baffling disappearance of a
college girl, is the story that the Old Timer will tell on Empire Builders
Monday night, May 11.
Don Ameche, Lucille
Husting and Harvey Hays as the Old Timer have the leading roles.
The story was
written for Empire Builders by Roger Banning, a former newspaperman.
Great Northern Railway radio advertising expense accounts
for the month of February, 1931, document paying Roger Banning for a story
called “Glacier Park.” Having listened to the broadcast, I can assure you that
the ultimate title of “Missing” was more appropriate, although the locale of
the story was in fact Glacier Park. I have not learned much yet about Roger
Banning, but a St. Paul Pioneer Press news item from 1920 reported that Banning
left the newspaper for a position as assistant advertising manager of the
Tri-State Telephone and Telegraph Company. There’s an old adage in the writing
world that, particularly for those just getting started, it is often best to
write about a topic that you are very familiar with. In this case, Banning
seems to have used that advice to load his story with newsmen as some of the
prominent characters.
Before we get to the body of the story, I’ll share with you
my transcription of the opening dialog between announcer Ted Pearson and the
ubiquitous Old Timer.
OLD
TIMER:Well, Ted, you look
comfortable. Say, what’s that you’re readin?
ANNOUNCER:I’m brushing up a bit on geology. Just
listen to this …
OLD
TIMER:All right, go ahead. Go on
and read it, Ted. You know, I don’t get much chance to catch up on my reading.
ANNOUNCER:Well, ‘The superlative beauty of Glacier
National Park is in part explained by the peculiar structure of the country.
The twisted, tilted, and sometimes folded rocky layers of which the mountains are
composed, and which lie from a mile to two miles above the level of the sea,
were once the bed of an ocean.’ Just feature that, Old Timer! Mountain peaks
that were ‘once the bed of an ocean.’
OLD
TIMER:Yup, I’ve seen fossils of
fishes that once lived in the sea way up in these mountains, myself. Go on,
Ted, read me some more.
ANNOUNCER:Alright. ‘This portion of the earth’s crust
was lifted in the course of thousands and thousands of years by some tremendous
pressure from within, and the rising mountains slipped lengthwise along their
crest. Then, during some more thousands of years, the higher strata were eroded
away by glaciers until only the most ancient and colorful shales, limestones
and sandstones remained. Here is the backbone of the continent, and the little
and big beginning of things. Here, huddled close together are tiny streams that
leagues to the north, south and the west, flow as mighty rivers into Hudson’s
Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific Ocean. Here, peak after peak, named
and unnamed, rear their saw-toothed edges to the clouds. Three-score of
glaciers are slowly and silently grinding away at their epochal past.Three hundred lakes in valley and in mountain
pockets give back to the sky its blue, gray or green. Half a thousand waterfalls
cascade from perpetual snow amidst these torrents of milk-white traceries,
while a clear Montana sun does tricks of light and shade on pine and rock.’ Oh,
say Old Timer, I should think Glacier Park would be a regular paradise for our
listeners.
OLD
TIMER:Well, I should say it is.
You know, there’s dozens of artists out there every year, Winold Reiss, Kathryn
Leighton, and a lot of others I might mention with famous names. Say, that
reminds me of a story about a young lady artist. Yeah, and a right good one she
was, too. That happened right out there, in that “Land of Shining Mountains,”
as the Indians used to call that, you know, that country that’s Glacier
National Park now.
ANNOUNCER:A story, Old Timer! Come on, I’m listening.
OLD
TIMER:Well Ted, there was a bunch
of newspaper boys from the city papers that got together for a little vacation
out in Glacier Park. Those boys were just havin’ a great time -forgettin’ all about city editors, and street
editions, and extras. Well, one morning, they’re starting out on a bus trip
from the Many Glacier Hotel, to take a look at old Going-to-the-Sun Mountain.
The big red bus was hurryin’ away, and everybody was in high spirits.
I’ve elected to share the entirety of this opening scene for
a couple of reasons. First of all, it’s kind of fun to be able to get a good
sample of the content of this long-lost radio broadcast. But just as fun (for
me at least) is that they invoked so many icons and touchstones of Glacier
Park, people and things that I can add more background to. Let’s start with the
Old Timer’s comments about artists in Glacier National Park. This particular
topic is worthy of an entire book. In fact, at least one book has in fact been
published
on this subject. It is “The Call of the Mountains: the Artists of Glacier National Park,” by
Larry Len Peterson. I’m also aware of at least one scholarly essay reporting on
the artwork (and their artists) still found in and around the park, such as the
many paintings on display in the several lodging facilities associated with
Glacier Park. To my knowledge, there is no original artwork by Winold Reiss
(1886-1953) in those facilities, but his art is still prominent in the form of
prints. Glacier Park Lodge, for example, has hundreds of poster-sized prints of
portraits of Blackfeet Indians drawn by Reiss. They are framed and hang on the
walls along the hallways of the Annex building, and can be found in nearly
every guest room. Glacier Park Lodge also is the home of an original wood
carving, that of John Two Guns White Calf. Not long after the death of Two
Guns, Winold Reiss’s older brother, Hans Reiss, carved this
larger-than-life-size statue from a single log. The brothers regarded Two Guns
as a special friend. In the existing audio of this broadcast, the Old Timer
clearly mispronounced the name of Winold Reiss.
Granted, Reiss’s first name is
uncommon, even among Germans. But the last name, with a letter combination of
“eis,” is pronounced the same as the first syllable of the name of one of our
presidents, Dwight Eisenhower. The Old Timer pronounced the artist’s name as “Why-nold Reese.” This is a very common
mistake. The correct pronunciation is “Vee-nold
Rice.” I know this to be accurate. No less than Winold’s own son helped me with
that.
Another artist invoked by the Old Timer was Kathryn Leighton
(1875-1952). She was a contemporary of Reiss, and although she, too, became
known for her portraits of Blackfeet Indians, she began her Glacier Park work
doing landscapes. This link will take you to a site that displays quite a few
of her works: http://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Kathryn-Leighton/C865C7010DF34F3B/Artworks
Previous broadcasts of Empire
Builders had their share of advertising copy. A good deal of attention was
routinely drawn to the railroad and the country it served, particularly in the
case of Glacier Park. This broadcast was a little different in that the opening
dialog was chiefly a case of Ted Pearson reading from a travel brochure or
essay on the geology of the park. It’s possible that this part of the script
was written exclusively for this performance, but it really sounds a lot like
it came straight out of a
Great Northern travel brochure or published work on
the geology of Glacier National Park. I have an extensive collection of such
items. I’ve reviewed several likely candidates, hoping to identify a specific
publication that Pearson was reading from. Although I’ve found some mighty similar
prose, I’ve come up empty in the way of any kind of exact match.
After the Old Timer’s chat with Ted Pearson, the radio
performance included the usual musical bridge to indicate a transition into the
evening’s playlet. As the music faded, the sound effects boys provided the
listeners with a scene in Glacier Park, with a Glacier Park Transportation
Company tour bus rumbling along. It was filled with newsmen on holiday. To a
man, they all weighed in on how this was to be a true vacation for them all – no
worries about deadlines, and no competition between them to scoop a story from
the others. Since the conversation consisted of the voices of several different
men, all chiming in as a rapid succession (and because I do not have a printed
copy of the original continuity to go by), I’ll let you listen to that part of
the radio broadcast from 1931.
As the story evolved, it was revealed that a young woman was
in Glacier National Park doing some painting. Meanwhile, a group of news men,
eager to unwind in the park and forget about the daily grind of pounding the
news beat, hired one of Glacier’s iconic red busses for a tour into the heart
of the park. As the bus lumbered along the road, the men spotted (and
immediately began to ogle) the young female artist. One journalist in
particular, Sam Miller, decided she was effectively calling out to him like a
mermaid, and when the bus slowed enough he climbed right out to chat the girl
up. The rest of the boys, and their Jammer, drove off in the red bus and left
Sam Miller to fend for himself.
Sam initiated a little harmless chit-chat with the young
lady, but then quickly challenged her – did she remember him? No, she protested
– never seen him before in her life. But the newsman with the scent of his prey
said he recognized her – Miss Myra Durant, the missing heiress!
She tried in vain to pass herself off as Miss Myra Blackwell, but Miller knew
exactly who she was. She admitted her true identity, but then pleaded with
Miller to keep it to himself and call her Miss Blackwell. She got especially
agitated about the issue as a friend of hers, forest ranger Jed Hutton,
approached.
Miller walked off as Hutton came upon Myra. Jed wanted to
know who that man was – he saw how upset Myra seemed, and he was concerned for
her. Myra said she finally remembered where she had seen Miller. It was two
years ago, she told Hutton. She ran into Miller and some other reporters at a
charity ball. Jed began muttering in confusion, but Myra suddenly asked Jed if
he would promise not to stop loving her, even if it turned out that she had
been deceiving him. Jed was a little flustered about her behavior, but he
steadfastly declared his devotion to her. “Oh, Jed,” she swooned, “you’re one
in a million!”
The next scene was a newsroom back in New York. The city
editor was talking excitedly with some reporters about what stories they had to
work with for the afternoon paper. Just then, a wire arrived from Sam Miller in
Montana. The editor leapt into action while another newsman declared they had
just nine minutes till deadline. The editor shouted “Say boys, hold everything
– something big’s broken! Here – get up a banner head on this quick. ‘Missing
Heiress Found!’” It turns out for the past eighteen months the world had the misconception that Miss Myra
Durant had been missing (perhaps abducted, or dead). The radio listeners
learned she had been hiding out in Glacier Park all that time. The editor
shouted directions putting his whole staff in motion. He directed one of them
to grab a taxi and chase down George Wentworth for a reaction. Wentworth, as it
turns out, had been engaged to marry Myra Durant.
With a highly melodramatic musical bridge, the listening
audience was conveyed back to Glacier Park.
It was the next day, and Jed found Myra finishing up her
landscape painting. Myra launched into a lyrical summary of her new-found
appreciation for nature, and everything, and what-not (she was feeling a bit
emotional), but then Jed announced to her he was going away. He had signed up
to guide a group of tourists into the Bowman Lake district – he wouldn’t be
back until the end of summer. He speculated that by the time he returned, Myra
would be gone. Jed got all morose about how he had let himself believe that
Myra was just a plain, everyday gal, someone like himself. Myra tried to
convince him that in fact she was, but with all the newspaper headlines blaring
the discovery of the missing heiress, there was no convincing Jed that she was
anything but a well-healed society girl. If he was looking for a girl just like the
girl that married dear old dad, well, Myra was not that girl.
Myra wasn’t gaining any ground in changing Jed’s mind, but
just then, a car approached. Myra recognized some of “those awful reporters”
coming to pester her again. But Jed recognized another man with them, one who
stood out from the others. It was the Old Timer.
But the Old Timer wasn’t the only “extra” being delivered by
the paper hawkers. George Wentworth was there, too. A rather awkward, notably
icy introduction was made between George and Jed. The reporters came rushing
up, and George asked them politely to back off a few minutes to give him and
Myra a little time to talk. The journalists retreated, the Old Timer and Jed
right on their heels (to ensure they behaved themselves and kept their distance
from George and Myra).
Unfortunately, the audio quality takes a decidedly
unpleasant plunge at this point. The next few minutes of dialog are extremely
hard to make out, but it seems Myra did her best to let George down lightly.
Then she let the news boys in on the breaking news that she was about to get
married – to Jed Hutton.
As all this unrestrained joyousness continued to carry the
day, one reporter noticed that Myra had signed her painting “Nora West.” Well,
scatter my chipmunks! Nora West! The reporter blurted out, “Why, she’s one of
the most famous landscape painters, known all over the world!”
The news boys fell
all over each other, exclaiming about what a scoop this was, and how one
amazing revelation was piling on top of another. They were all congratulating
one another with their great luck, until one of them pointed out that Sam
Miller had gone flying off to the nearest telegraph office with their bus. Jed
piped up. “Is Sam Miller gonna get away with something?” he asked. The boys
said they were about to fall victim to another Sam Miller news story scoop,
since there was no way they could beat him to the telegraph. Jed had another
notion. He offered them the use of his car, which was just down around the
curve, out of view. The newsmen excitedly ran off to beat Miller to the
telegraph, while Myra and Jed were left in peace to plan their happy future
together.
A musical bridge – and a rather lengthy one at that –
brought the listeners back to announcer Ted Pearson and the Old Timer. Here’s
how they played out the final minutes of the broadcast.
ANNOUNCER:Old Timer –
I wonder if I’ve ever seen any of Nora West’s paintings.
OLD TIMER:Well
maybe you have, Ted, but [chuckles] I don’t think you’d know it. You see I had
to twist the story around a little, and then “Nora West” wasn’t her right name,
either.
ANNOUNCER:Well, it
was a nice story anyway. I’m just waiting to see that country around there.
OLD TIMER:Never
been out in that part of Montana, eh, Ted?
ANNOUNCER:No I
haven’t. I’m sure going to see those mountains you told about tonight, aren’t
I?
OLD TIMER:You
sure are, Ted, when you’re on that vacation with me this summer. Why Many
Glacier Hotel, you know it lies in sort of a big valley – a “cirque,”
geologists call it – right on the shore of Swiftcurrent Lake. And let me tell
ya, Swiftcurrent Lake is one of the prettiest lakes in the park. Well right
across the lake is old Grinnell Mountain, standin’ up there like an old
sentinel. Pine trees comin’ right down to the water’s edge. And up to one side,
Mount Altyn. It just goes straight up from the water like a great big wall,
almost, colored like some big giant had been tryin’ out his paintbrushes on it.
It’s so big, the pine trees look like moss alongside of it. And say – them
pines are all of sixty feet high themselves. Back of the hotel, there’s Apikuni
Mountain, another huge chunk of rock that looks like one of them old castles
you see in France, only it’s about a million times bigger, and older. Say –
I’ve gotta be goin’ up ahead, to see about my dog, January, and see how he’s
getting’ along with the baggage man. And Ted – don’t wear that book out!
ANNOUNCER:Well
thanks, Old Timer. Good-night!
[MUSIC
UP, THEN FADE FOR CLOSING ANNOUNCEMENT]
ANNOUNCER:The Glacier
National Park season opens June 15th, just a little more than a month from
tonight. Plan to spend your vacation this summer in the “Land of Shining
Mountains.” There are a number of splendid all-expense escorted tours ranging
from a short stay in the park, at a surprisingly low cost, to the Old Timer’s
deluxe ten-day, personally escorted vacation trip. There are Great Northern
travel bureaus in most of the cities from which this program is broadcast. Or,
you can write direct to the Great Northern Railway, 113 South Clarke Street,
Chicago, for complete information and illustrated descriptive literature. May
we again call your attention to the low summer tourist fares, which go into
effect westbound next Friday – round-trip fares which are only slightly more
than the regular one-way fare from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest. You can
arrange stop-overs as desired, and you can extend your visit until as late as
October 31st, as your option. Similar low round-trip fares apply eastbound from
the Pacific Northwest cities to the east, beginning May 22nd – one week from
Friday.
[MUSIC UP,
THEN FADE]
ANNOUNCER:Tonight’s
Empire Builders play again featured Harvey Hays as the Old Timer, Lucille
Husting played the part of Myra Durant, Don Ameche was Jed.
Until next time, keep those
dials tuned to Empire Builders!
