300303 - St. Paul

This is another of the relatively small portion of Empire Builders episodes for which I do not yet have a continuity. I’m still hopeful that I can locate the missing ones on another study trip to the Library of Congress or some similar resource. It’s just not possible for me to go to those places very often – certainly not as often as I’d like! Anyhow, even in the absence of a copy of the continuity, we do have a couple of resources that shed at least some light on the content of the night’s broadcast.

Early comments about Empire Builders episodes for the month of January indicated an intention to air the program about St. Paul on the 27^th of that month, which ended up being the night of the delayed story of Major Ralph Royce and his Arctic Patrol. Comments about the St. Paul story published in the January issue of the Great Northern Goat magazine stated “Here was the terminus of the early day steamboat on the Mississippi, here the Red River ox cart started on its long trek into the Northwest and here the first ten miles of the present Great Northern Railway were built.” The March, 1930, issue of the Goat seems to have caught up with the rescheduled programming, and says the St. Paul broadcast would describe the story “of a street that has an obscure beginning and then becomes successively the trade artery to the Northwest and Canada, the scene of James J. Hill’s early career, then after a lapse into comparative obscurity is rejuvenated into a great civic monument, the Kellogg Peace Mall.” I don’t have much info about the Kellogg Mall, but it’s my understanding the rejuvenation mentioned in the presser occurred in the 1920’s, so it was still a fairly timely topic concerning a recent development.

James J. Hill (The "Empire Builder") poses with a group of old timers in front of the first locomotive of the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Great Northern predecessor), the William Crooks, in 1908. Mr. Hill is near the center of the group (fifth from the right).

Radio historian R.R. King has assembled a considerable number of news snippets about the Empire Builders programs (which I am very grateful to have learned from), and from this collection is the following synopsis of the March 3 broadcast:

“William Crooks, the first steam engine seen in St. Paul, which arrived on a barge towed by a Mississippi steam boat and made its first run from St. Paul to St. Anthony, a distance of about 10 miles, will be dramatized when the Empire Builders' program is heard over the WJZ network …”  [Marion (Ohio) Star]

April, 1930, issue of the Great Northern Goat magazine. Virginia Gardiner and Harvey Hays grace the cover. Author's collection.

The April, 1930, issue of the Great Northern Railway’s Goat magazine contained an intriguing write-up about the St. Paul broadcast. That episode of Empire Builders was used as a means of demonstrating the goings-on at the radio studio. The following is a substantial excerpt from the Goat magazine, which I have in my collection, and which Mr. King also quoted in his extensive press compilation about the Empire Builders series:

When St. Paul was chosen as the locale for the program of March 3rd, the many phases of its industrial activities, its scenic setting and its interesting history were checked over before the new Kellogg Peace Mall was finally selected as the immediate locale of the program. This street, being at the same time the oldest and youngest thoroughfare in the Northwest, gave an opportunity to bring out both the modern developments and the early history of this city. Then the scenario, or continuity as it is called in radio parlance, was roughed out. Here, into the modern and historical details of the Kellogg Mall a modern plot was woven and a principal part allotted to the Old Pioneer.

In this particular program the plot was built around the competition for an appropriate design or plan for the new mall and the Old Pioneer proved of invaluable assistance to the young architect who was the hero of the program.

Upon completion of the rough draft it was sent to Mr. Bierstadt who wrote the continuity. It was then returned to St. Paul to be whipped into final form.

In the New York studios the music and sound effects, by which the changes of scene are made apparent to the listener, were developed and the musical background for the whole program was outlined. There, too, the time necessary to produce the program was carefully checked, for on the air the thirty-minute period is inexorable, no program can run under or over the time allotted to it.

With these changes and additions the program was again thoroughly checked over for accuracy in detail both in its modern and historical phases even to the music and sound effects that mark the transition from one scene to another. With the final OK the program was ready for casting and rehearsal. The wide variety, both in locale and style of play, and the demand for authenticity in every detail in the Empire Builder programs has made it impossible for one person to prepare all of the continuities, in fact, no one program has been the work of a single writer.

The topic for next week’s installment of this blog is an excellent story written by Walter Dickson of Seattle, titled “The Drawn Bow.” Until then, keep your dial tuned to Empire Builders!