291021 - Topic: Montana cattle drives

With no audio recordings known to exist for these early radio broadcasts, it’s all we can do to speculate about the content of the shows. At least with copies of the continuities available, such as is the case with this episode of Empire Builders, we do have a pretty solid idea of the story line and characters, with the understanding that many times the continuities might be changed at the last minute, or the actors might (and probably did) ad lib their lines some. With the 10/21/1929 episode of Empire Builders, I located a copy of the continuity that is clearly marked in the margin of the cover page with a hand-written note to Ralph Budd, president of the Great Northern Railway. It was written by his executive assistant, Harold M. Sims. The note reads “Mr. Budd – this is the second revision. Further revisions however are being made.” Unless another copy of the continuity turns up, this may be the best we’ll ever have to go on. On the upside, though, it seems to be complete. This story is another example of the work of continuity writer Edward Hale Bierstadt, employed by NBC.

The continuity indicated that the program began in typical fashion with a musical piece, fading out so the announcer could be heard:

Orchestra in with cowboy or western airs. This should be orchestrated so that it includes either two banjos or a banjo and accordion. Fade down orchestra so that the instrumental duo holds the air alone. Fade out.

The announcer then stated: “You are listening to EMPIRE BUILDERS, a program sponsored by the Great Northern Railway.” This was followed by a musical interlude: “The instrumental duo in again, this time as an accompaniment to a male quartette, singing an old (1870-80) cowboy or western song. Conclude.”

This music was intended to help set the scene on a Montana cattle ranch, the Lazy Seven. The opening dialog was between the Old Timer and a young man named Billy. They just listened to the quartette mentioned above.

PIONEER:          (Chuckles)  Dog my cats, Billy, I’m glad you asked me out here! This cattle business may have changed some out here in Montana, this last generation or so, but the boys that run it haven’t changed a mite. Same lot of singin’ fools they was back in my day.

BILLY:                Guess they haven’t changed much … Say, I’m sure glad to get you out here to the ranch. Soon as I heard you were over in Glacier Park I wired you. Why, doggone it, sir, I don’t believe you’ve been here since father died.

PIONEER:          Billy, I don’t believe I have. When you get as old as me, you get tied up in all sorts of fool things that keep a-holdin’ you down … I tell you though, this up-to-date ranchin’ you boys are doin’ is sure different from the old days. How many head you reckon to ship yearly?

BILLY:                 About five thousand.

PIONEER:          Think of that now! Five thousand! An’ no distance at all to drive.

BILLY:                No, the drive don’t amount to much. The Great Northern runs right through the cattle country, and we ship direct east on their trains.

PIONEER:          Yes, it’s mighty different – the old trail drives, the old round-ups, an’ the old type of brandin’ iron have all gone into the discard. An’ not much loss either. If I was in the cattle business today I wouldn’t miss any of ‘em any more than I would the old fashioned two-gun men.

BILLY:                You’d think to read some of those fool books by easterners that the old west didn’t have much but bad men in it.

PIONEER:          Shucks, son, they jest don’t know any better. An’ then too sometimes a man would get a name fer bein’ bad when he was jest as harmless – well, as I am fer instance. (CHUCKLES)  Did I ever tell you the story of the day I first came out to this ranch? Some time before you was born, it was.

BILLY:                No, you haven’t. Come on, let’s sit up here on the fence, and have the story now.

PIONEER:         All right. I’m with you. Jest about now when the sun is settin’ an’ the plains are turnin’ purple in the dusk, is a pretty good time fer a story … Well,  ‘twas round-up time when this story happened, an’ some of the boys from this here ranch was out on the range with their ropes an’ brandin’ irons.

In order to transition into the story alluded to by the Old Timer, the continuity called for the following sound effects:

LAUGHTER. A SNATCH OF COWBOY SONG. EXCLAMATIONS. WORK INTO GENERAL CONFUSION OF ROUND UP, WITH BELLOW OF CATTLE, CLATTER OF HOOFS AND ORDERS AS THE MEN THROW AND BRAND THE CATTLE.

Cowboys named Shorty, Thorpe, and Jim, were busy branding some cattle when the local sheriff arrived and chatted them up. One of the boys teased the sheriff with what sounds like an old-time crack equivalent to donut shop allusions:  “What are you doin’ so far away from the front stoop of the post office?” After engaging in a few minutes of good-natured ribbing, the sheriff finally shared the main reason for being there:

Well, news come in that we can expect a little stranger in our midst most any time. He’s a two-gun, hard shootin’ bad man, an’ he’s wanted fer stickin’ up a train, an’ a whole string of other things as long as your arm – includin’ cattle rustlin’. If you see him, an’ want to call him anythin’, he answers to the name of Texas Jack.

It turns out that Texas Jack was an ornery, two-gun bad man. With the boys warned to be on the lookout for Texas Jack, the sheriff rode back to Dead Timber Corners. Then one of the cow hands, Thorpe, heads back to the ranch house to alert the ranch owner, Bill Sawyer, about the sheriff’s visit and news of Texas Jack.

About this time, the Pioneer (“the YOUNG Timer,” presumably), rode up to where the branding was going on and chatted up Shorty, one of the hands. Shorty asked the Pioneer where he’s from, and learns he’s from Texas. Shorty got just a little concerned until the Pioneer assured him his name was not Jack. The Pioneer asked for nothing more than “makin’s” for a hand-rolled cigarette, and some bacon. Shorty told him he could get some bacon up at the ranch house, and asked the Pioneer if he had ever heard of Texas Jack. When Shorty explained that he intended to go out and look around for Texas Jack, the Pioneer warned him “better be careful, puncher. They tell me that Texas Jack is – bad!”

In the meantime, the ranch owner’s younger sister, Dorothy, had decided to ride into town. As the Pioneer and Shorty were talking, they suddenly realized the prairie grass near the cattle herd was ablaze. As they tried to rally the other ranch hands to fetch hand tools to stem the fire, Shorty and the Pioneer noticed Dorothy riding in the vicinity of the herd, and realized the cattle were beginning to stampede. Seeing the danger Dorothy was in, the Pioneer and Shorty had this exchange:

PIONEER:         They’ve already gone loco, puncher. The herd’s stampedin’! We’ve got to ride ‘em off!

SHORTY:           Can’t do nothin’ yet, jest us two! Let ‘em run ‘emselves tired.

PIONEER:          Say! Them cattle are headed straight for that girl on the horse!

SHORTY:           Law-dy! Miss Dorothy! She can’t outride them cattle on that colt of her’s! They’ll trample her sure!

PIONEER:          Look at that girl ride! She’ll get through all right if she can ride like that!

SHORTY:           She’s down! She’s off the horse! He stumbled in a gopher hole! Now they’ll trample her sure!

PIONEER:         Not if I can help it, they won’t!

                                 (THUNDER OF HOOFS FADING OUT)

SHORTY:           Well, of all the guts! Lookit him ride off them cattle! Lookit that baby lion ride! He may get her yet!

This passage of dialog is a fairly blatant but instructive example of how the author, Edward Hale Bierstadt, used the conversation of Shorty and the Pioneer to descriptively move the scene along for the radio audience. In some sense, the two men might be confused for play-by-play commentators for a sporting event. There is unseen action taking place, but the characters in the story describe the action with sufficient detail to allow the listener to visualize the scene. Naturally, this kind of dialog would be inappropriate for a stage play or motion picture, so it’s probably fair to say this early generation of radio script writers were still in the rudimentary stage of honing their craft.

As one might expect, the Pioneer succeeded in rescuing the fair maiden. She tried to thank him, and to encourage him to come up to the ranch house and meet her brother, but he declined and said he must be getting along:

DOROTHY:       I can’t – very well thank you. It’s more than I can thank you for.

PIONEER:         Don’t try. I’m just glad I was there.

DOROTHY:       But you must come back to the ranch house, and let me tell my brother …

PIONEER:          No, I reckon not. I’ll just be ridin’ along, thank you just the same.

DOROTHY:       You must stay – please!

PIONEER:         I’ll just be ridin’ on. Mabbe we’ll meet again, Miss – Miss Dorothy.

DOROTHY:      We will meet again! What is your name?

PIONEER:        (CHUCKLES)  Well, you might call me – Texas.

The Pioneer, seeing that Dorothy was safe and sound, left her with Shorty and rode off. Dorothy Sawyer and ranch hand Shorty had a brief discussion about whether they had in fact just met Texas Jack. With a musical bridge as a segue, the scene shifted ahead again to the conversation between the Old Timer and Billy, on the Lazy Seven Ranch.

PIONEER:         Well, Billy, that’s the way I first came to this ranch – a long time ago.

BILLY:               And were you – were you Texas Jack?

PIONEER:        (CHUCKLES)  Bless you no, son! Not every well built man from Texas who had dark hair and eyes was a train robber, even in those days! Shorty an’ that Dorothy girl jest took a mite too much for granted. That’s all.

BILLY:               It certainly is a corking good story.  (DISTANT TRAIN WHISTLE)  Listen! There’s the evening train on the Great Northern. That’s the Empire Builder, their new, crack passenger outfit.

Promotional pinback button distributed by the Great Northern Railway, circa 1909 (Author's collection).

After a few minutes of unabashed commentary about the virtues of Montana cattle country, the thinly-veiled advertisement for the show’s sponsor wraps around again to a close:

BILLY:                Oh yes, we’ve got it all and, coming back to where we started, the Great Northern serves it all … By the way, you didn’t tell all of that story of yours. Come on now! Just how did it end?

PIONEER:         (CHUCKLES)  Well now, Billy, if you want to hear the rest of that story, I reckon you’d better wait till the next time you come out to visit on the west coast – an’ then you can ask your Aunt Dorothy!

Announcer John S. Young then brought the broadcast to its conclusion:

ANNOUNCER:   You have been listening to Empire Builders, a program sponsored by the Great Northern Railway. Next Monday evening at the same hour, you will be given another romance of the West.

                                   (FAR OFF TRAIN WHISTLE)

Even if that was not the final draft, it wasn’t too bad. I wish we could all have listened to the show over the radio, but I guess this will have to do. Adios till next time …