310615 - The Silk Special

 

Recording status:  Recorded, not in circulation

 

I'm not certain, but I think this night's story was originally intended to air a year earlier than it did. The story dramatized on this broadcast of Empire Builders – on June 15, 1931 – included the Great Northern Railway’s “Silk Special” in the plot. But according to press releases of the day, so did the broadcast of May 19th, 1930. For that earlier date, here is the comment about the show that was printed in the GN’s own publication, The Goat: “The record-breaking run of the Great Northern’s silk special will provide the dramatic background for [the] program [to be aired on] May 19.” As it turns out, however, no such story aired. Instead, it was a dramatic story about a circus train and a couple of lions that got loose.

So fast-forward to June 15^th, 1931. At this time, the press was telling radio listeners once again they would hear about the Great Northern’s famous silk trains. The Christian Science Monitor said the program would tell “... how a transcontinental railroad handles valuable shipments of raw silk from the Orient. ...” The Dallas Morning News fleshed out the details a bit more: “A story of the rails, ‘The Silk Special,’ will be related by the Old Timer for the Empire Builders' dramatization from the NBC Chicago studios. Packed with action, thrills, roaring trains and romance, the melodrama will reach a breath-taking climax when gangsters attempt to hold up a train believed to be carrying a secret gold shipment, by stalling their automobile on the track.”  Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. This turned out to be a pretty accurate synopsis of the story – it matches nicely with the continuity I’ve located. In fact, I found the same continuity for this date in the archives of both the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul, and the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

Although this broadcast was recorded by the Great Northern Railway, and a rough copy of the recording has surfaced, I do not yet have access to it. Once I do – hopefully in the near future – I may be able to add a few details and insights to this report. Until then, I do have a copy of the press release issued by the railroad, as well as a nearly-complete copy of the continuity.

Some of the press release was included in the synopsis provided by the Dallas Morning News, as quoted above. For the sake of completeness, here is the entire press release (except for the list of times and stations over which to hear the program):

“The Silk Special,” a story of the rails, will be told by the Old Timer on Empire Builders Monday night, June 15.

            It is a melodrama, packed with action, thrills, roaring trains, romance and suspense. The story reaches a breath-taking climax when gangsters attempt to hold up the train, believed to be carrying a secret gold shipment, by stalling their automobile on the track.

            Jane, the carnival girl who is the heroine of the story, is played by Lucille Husting; Ted, the locomotive fireman, by Don Ameche. The Old Timer is Harvey Hays.

            The story was written especially for Empire Builders by Mark Haywood.

            The Great Northern’s series of dramatic presentations will be concluded a week later with a beautiful story of the early west, “The Seal of the Great Spirit,” at the conclusion of which the Old Timer, who has won the affection of millions of listeners during the last three years, will bid his radio friends farewell.

Mark C. Haywood (1904-1961), attributed as the author of this story, was a Great Northern Railway employee working out of the company’s headquarters in St. Paul. He worked in the office of the Auditor of Freight Receipts. Haywood had the winning entry among railroad employees when the GN ran their script writing contest the previous summer. That story was called “Nine Spot,” and was aired on March 2, 1931.

My copy of the continuity for this show is missing the first page, and therefore, is also missing the opening credits for the broadcast. With a brief musical bridge, the action emerged onboard the Empire Builder train, and the listeners were pulled into a conversation between the Old Timer and a young female passenger. The girl asked the Old Timer where they were. He explained the train was presently rolling through Hillyard, a rail yard complex just east of Spokane. It was also home to a few of the GN’s large shops, where some of the railroad’s locomotives were built and serviced.

The girl spotted some brightly colored railcars and speculated that the circus was in town. The Old Timer told her she was close: they were actually part of a carnival outfit called “‘Honest John’ Dolin’s Consolidated Shows.”

The girl coaxed a story about carnivals and circuses out of the Old Timer. Sure enough, he had one ready. He told her the story had played out about two years earlier, when the same carnival was in the community of Hillyard for a couple of weeks.

The Old Timer’s story began with a scene at the Hillyard rail yard, where a young woman named Jane was speaking with a fellow who was a roustabout with the carnival. The roustabout told Jane that Mr. Dolin was looking for her brother, Bob – who apparently had a history of “quitting the carnival” and otherwise being somewhat unreliable. A railroader named Ted showed up and joined the conversation. When Jane announced she was going to set off across the rail yard to find her brother, Ted tried to warn her about the foolhardiness of her plan.

TED:               Pretty dangerous, Miss! Better take the sidewalk!

JANE:             (OFF)  Who asked you for advice, big boy? I’m over seven and no cripple.

TED:               No? Well, you’ve picked out a mighty good place to become one!

(FAST TRAIN APPROACHING)

That fast train was the Empire Builder rolling through the yard on a mainline track. Just after the Empire Builder passed the trio, Jane charged off down that same main track. Ted was dumbfounded: “Look’t that fool girl going right down the main track there an’ the fast mail due along any minute now!” The roustabout weighed in with his own observation that Jane would be short on options if the Fast Mail appeared, what with a train sitting idle on the next track over to one side, and a string of box cars parked on the tracks on the other side.

Now… envision that setting for a moment. What do you suppose happened next? Wait for it …

(WHISTLE OF APPROACHING FAST MAIL)

TED:               My God!

The next few minutes were all about Ted and the roustabout hoofing it toward Jane to try to help her. Ted called out for Jane to dive under one of the parked freight cars. The roustabout hollered that Jane had fallen.

(TRAIN APPROACHING.  SUCCESSION OF SHORT BLASTS OF WHISTLE)

TED:               (OFF)  My God! Her foot’s caught in the switch!

Jane, Jane, Jane! Whatever are we going to do about you? The sound effects boys kept pouring on the drama.

(RUNNING CONTINUES)

(SHORT SUCCESSION OF WHISTLES FROM RAPIDLY APPROACHING TRAIN)

(TRAIN UP AND PAST AND BEGINS TO FADE)

(RUNNING FOOTSTEPS:  1 MAN)

As Jane began admitting how dumb she had been, it was revealed that the roustabout had dived under a rail car himself, but that fleet-footed Ted managed to reach Jane just in the nick of time (wouldn’t you know it?) and pulled Jane out of harm’s way. (hmmm… could that be the sound of wedding bells I hear? Hey, this is Empire Builders, where all it takes to become betrothed is to smile at a pretty girl.)

The roustabout, having confirmed he still had all his fingers and all his toes, announced he was through dodging trains for the day and took off to find safer duties. In the meantime, gallant Ted offered to give Jane a ride in his “flivver.”

JANE:             And really I’m awfully ashamed ----

TED:               Listen, girlie, that’s all over. You’re here and I’m here – that’s that!

JANE:             Okay, big boy. But I’ll just make a note of three little words!

TED:               (PUZZLED)  Yeh?

JANE:             Stop!  Look!  Listen!

TED:               (LAUGHS)  Better make it two – SAFETY FIRST!

JANE:             Okay, two she is – SAFETY FIRST!

Even back in 1931, the Great Northern Railway was so altruistic they were making public service announcements before the concept was even popular. Although in reality, such mild admonitions were quite self-serving, too. Railroaders certainly did not need trespassers wandering around in their busy and dangerous rail yards.

 

Lucille Husting and Don Ameche, who appeared in this radio play as Jane Conway and Ted O'Brien.
Author's collection

 

Once in the car, Jane and Ted got to know each other just a little better. So did the radio audience. Turns out these two were Ted O’Brien, thirty-year-old railroad fireman, and Jane Conway, 23-year-old blond-haired stunt rider with the carnival.

Ted told Jane he had seen her performing, and marveled at how dangerous her riding was. She suggested his job was much more dangerous, to which he snorted:

TED:               Pshaw! That’s just a day’s work – no danger to it at all when you’ve got the equipment the Great Northern has and every man knowing his job. Heavy steel rail; steel and concrete bridges; block signals; and the finest locomotives ever built. Now your job’s different ---

Ted pulled up to a stop to drop Jane off at the carnival. She invited him to get out and take a little tour, but he told her he had to get back to the roundhouse – they were taking out a silk special that evening, carrying a high value and perishable train full of silk from the Orient. Ted drove off, and Jane went to see Mr. Dolin.

(CAR STARTS OFF)

JANE:             (FADING)  Oh, Mr. Dolin!  Mr. Dolin!

(CARNIVAL EFFECTS FADE UP FULL – CROWD; BARKERS; MUSIC; ETC.)

(DURING ABOVE EFFECT, START TRACK MACHINE AND ORCHESTRA FOR RADIO BACKGROUND EFFECT AND FADE NOISE OF CARNIVAL DIRECT TO INTERIOR OF TRAIN)

OLD TIMER:  Well, Jane’s brother had been in trouble before, so I guess she wasn’t much surprised when Mr. Dolin told her Bob hadn’t shown up an’ that some of the carnival’s money hadn’t shown up either.

GIRL:              Oh!

OLD TIMER:  Dolin, though, was willing to give Bob another chance, if Jane could get him to cut loose from a gang of hoodlums that had been following the carnival. 

It’s starting to look like Jane and Bob’s parents had been dipping into the shallow end of the gene pool: seems like both of the parents' progeny were falling short on common sense and good decision-making. The Old Timer added to his story by telling the girl that Dolin believed the gang Bob had fallen in with was lying low in a saloon called the Silver Slipper. That’s where the radio play segued to next.

(ROADHOUSE EFFECTS UP:  FADE TO BACKGROUND FOR DIALOGUE)

SHORTY:       You said it!  It’s a job – a sure thing – with big money!

JAKE:             You goin’ to spill it with this kid here.

RED:               The kid’s all right, Jake.

BOB:               Sure, I’m okay. No more of this penny ante carnival stuff for me!

SLIM:             An’ see that you keep your trap shut.

BUTCH:          Come on, Shorty, give us the low down – we’re on!

What a group of characters. Sounds like a casting call for the Bowery Boys. Shorty told this ragtag bunch of miscreants he had it on good authority the silk special going through Hillyard that night was more special than usual – it would be carrying a secret cargo of gold bullion. The crooks all started salivating over the perceived riches to be had, and began to chuckle over the guns and explosives they’d be using. There were no misconceptions about the possibility that lives would be lost that night.

This was the point where Jane came walking up. The lowlifes in the saloon took turns weighing in on how unwelcome she was to their conversation, but Bob revealed that Jane was his sister. Jane got Bob to come outside for a minute where she could talk to him alone. She warned him about hanging out with those bums, and demanded an explanation for what was going on. Bob tried to brush her off with a simple “I can’t tell you, Jane – I can’t!” This did not sit well with sis.

JANE:             You’d better! You’re on parole. You took some of Mr. Dolin’s money. I can turn you in!

BOB:               Oh, let me alone, Sis. I’ll have enough money after this and I’ll quit for good. I promise you, Jane, this’ll be my last job.

JANE:             Oh, so it’s a job, eh?

BOB:               Oh, God, Jane – I’ve got to go through with it.

JANE:             What is it?

BOB:               They’re sticking up a silk train tonight – it’s got a shipment of gold!

JANE:             A silk train!  Oh -----

BOB:               Oh, honest, Jane – I didn’t know I was getting into anything like this. Oh, God, it may mean – murder!  (SOBS)

Now it looked like Bob had his own foot stuck in a track switch, and it was up to Jane to pull his foot loose and drag him under a freight car for protection – metaphorically-speaking, of course.

Bob refused to leave the bums he was with, so Jane declared that she would spill the beans on this planned train ambush. Bob protested this too, claiming the crooks he was with would know how the word got out, and he’d be doomed.

BOB:               You mustn’t! You can’t! They’ll know I told!

JANE:             No they won’t! I’ll find some way out! Buck up, Bob! Whatever happens, oh, be careful.  (OFF)  Goodbye, Bob!

Back on the Empire Builder, the Old Timer explained that Jane hot-footed it over to the GN roundhouse at Hillyard. Ted was there, with “Dad,” an old engineer – the men were preparing to take out the fast silk train that evening. Jane told them she’d heard some talk on the carnival grounds about a plot to hold up a silk train. But in the meantime, the gangsters had become suspicious, and instead of all of them heading out to the site of the ambush, two of them went back into town to kidnap Jane until the hold-up was all over.

Out at the ambush site, a car pulled up with captive Jane in tow. Shorty tried to interrogate her about what she knew of their plans, and what she had squealed about. Jane insisted she didn’t know a thing. Bob chimed in, “I told you I didn’t tell her anything!” Then Shorty displayed the cowardly and vile depths to which he could sink.

SHORTY:       We’ll soon find out! If she hasn’t squealed, that engineer’ll stop! If she has, she’ll get what’s coming to her ---- Quick – take that rope. Tie her up so she can’t get loose – put her in that auto, and drive it onto the tracks ---

The scene shifted to the locomotive of the Silk Special, with “Dad” at the throttle and fireman Ted across the cab. In the midst of a little chit-chat, one of the gangsters made his way down off the tender and got the drop on Dad and Ted. Ted began to resist the gangster, but was immediately rebuffed:

GANGSTER:  Shut up and listen to me … I’ve got a gun on each of you … Now, you hog-head, just keep this boiler rollin’ till I tell you to stop! An’ if you make one pass at that whistle or air-brake, you’re done, see? An’ don’t you guys think you can slip anything over on me, ‘cause I know something about these oil-burning hogs myself.

Feisty old “Dad” began to growl at the crook, but Ted warned him not to antagonize the gunman. Ted turned to the man and demanded an explanation.

GANGSTER:  Just this – you’re goin’ to make a stop that isn’t on your schedule – see? It’ll be just this side of the big Canyon river bridge. I want the nose of this old hog stopped right square on the highway at the end of the cut. You’re not to get out on the bridge and you’re not to stop one inch this side of the highway – see?

DAD:              And supposin’ I don’t do anything of the sort.

GANGSTER:  Well, that’d be just too bad, ‘cause tomorrow there’d be pictures in the papers showing where the brave Casey Jones and his handsome young fireman retired from service – permanently!

The bad man went on to explain there would be an automobile sitting across the tracks as the train came out of the cut, and he warned Dad and Ted not to put so much as a little dent in that car. Dad yanked the train whistle cord for a couple of sharp blasts, and this caused the gunman to blast poor old Dad with his pistol. Ted rushed the bum and clobbered him (repeatedly) with a big wrench.

It turns out the bullet only grazed Dad’s head, but he was in rough shape all the same, and he told Ted to take over and bring the train to a stop as the grade crossing and the stalled car came into view. Despite the presence of a contingent of armed guards aboard the train, Ted quickly surmised the railroad cut was a lousy place to stop the train – the crooks would be able to ambush them from all sides. He had another idea: “I’m going to take the chance – I’m going through that auto like a streak out of hell --- ,” and at this he opened up the throttle. Ted did not realize that Jane was bound up and trapped in the car.

From their vantage point not far from the grade crossing, Shorty and Jake stood with Bob and saw that the train was not going to stop, let alone slow down, before plowing into the car. Bob yelled at his felonious companions, punched Shorty, and the dashed off to try to save his sister. Shorty shouted at Jake to plug him, and shots were fired.

SHORTY:       (CRIES OUT)  Plug him Jake – plug him!

BOB:               (OFF)  Jane – Jane – Jane  (TWO SHOTS)  Jane – Jane –

SHORTY:       You missed him – I’ll get the dirty little rat!

JAKE:             Keep your shirt on Shorty, you won’t have to. That train’ll get ‘em both –

(TRAIN ROARING DOWN ON CROSSING)

SHORTY:       Run, you little double-crosser, run!  (LAUGHS)  There’s one train you don’t want to miss! That’s it, get your sister out if you can!  (LAUGHS)  Come on train – do your stuff!  (LAUGHS)

The next sound to come through the radio was that of the Silk Special slamming into the car – a might harrowing scene for a 1931 radio program.

When the train came to a stop, Ted backed it up far enough for the guards to leap out and get the drop on the gang of murderous crooks. When that commotion settled, the train crew took stock of the smashed car… and more.

CONDUCTOR:     Here comes the fireman now …….  (CALLS)  Say, Ted, was this auto trying to beat the train?

TED:                     (APPROACHING)  No – they stalled it on the track – figured we’d have to stop!

CONDUCTOR:     Hmmmmm.  That’s funny.  There was a boy in it, Ted …. He’s over there!

TED:                     I was afraid we got him …. saw him run out and climb in the car just before we hit it.

3rd VOICE:           Must-a thought he could get it started and off the track, when he saw you weren’t going to stop.

TED:                     I dunno!

CONDUCTOR:     Well, he got his … Pretty young kid to be traipsing around with a gang like that.

As the trainmen inspected the wreckage of the smashed car, someone heard a voice calling out from near the grade crossing. It was Jane.

CONDUCTOR:     What was that?

TED:                     Sounded like a girl, didn’t it?

JANE:                   (OFF)  Help!  Oh, help!

TED:                     Someone up there by the highway!

(RUNNING FOOTSTEPS CONTINUE)

JANE:                   (LOUDER)  Help!

(BREATHLESSLY)

TED:                     Here she is – down here!

(SCRAMBLING DOWN GRAVEL EMBANKMENT)

The railroaders found Jane to be only a little banged up. As they got her untied, she asked about her brother. She explained that Bob got to her in the car and yanked her out and clear of the tracks just before the train slammed into it.

Ted gave Jane the sad news – Bob was dead.

The radio play eventually came to a close, as everyone agreed there had been no way to avoid the tragic ending. Ted lamented that he had to get moving and take the Silk Special on to Whitefish, but Jane announced she was done with carnivals, and agreed to wait at Hillyard for Ted’s return. In all fairness, the story said nothing about wedding bells. I’m not sure how they resisted.

The broadcast closed with some form of final credits, no doubt supplied by announcer Ted Pearson. I suspect he alerted listeners to the fact that only one more weekly broadcast remained for the two and a half year run of Empire Builders, and he might have plugged the Old Timer’s ten-day Glacier Park tour one more time. For now, I just don’t know, but I expect to be able to access the recently-discovered air check recording of this broadcast before too long.

 

For additional reading about the Great Northern Railway’s famous Silk Trains, see this thorough article, "Silk Trains of the Great Northern Railway," written by Gordon L. Iseminger and published in the Spring, 1994 issue of Minnesota History Magazine (from the Minnesota Historical Society). [Warning – this link will download a 2.65MB PDF]:  SILK TRAIN article - Minnesota History Magazine

 

On June 22^nd, the Empire Builders weekly radio program went on the air for the last time, and as usual, I will write about that broadcast on its 85^th anniversary.

 

So until then, keep those dials tuned to Empire Builders!