310518 - The Billion Dollar Baby

 

Recording status:  Recorded, not in circulation

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 18^th, 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 18^th, 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 25^th. 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 18^th broadcast. This press release clearly, and at great length, lays out the intent to air the story of “On Time Hank” on the 18^th. 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 18^th, 1931, those NBC archive files included a continuity about the “Billion Dollar Baby.” The continuity that was documented among materials for May 25^th was a story about “On Time Hank.” Until I learn otherwise, I’m sticking with the airdates shown here: May 18^th, “The Billion Dollar Baby”; for May 25^th, “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 18^th and the 25^th 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 18^th and the 25^th.

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 18^th.

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 18^th.

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 25^th instead of the 18^th. The last broadcast, on May 11^th, 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!