300609 - Topic: First anniversary of Empire Builder train

With only two broadcasts remaining in the waning days of the second season of Empire Builders, the Great Northern Railway elected to call attention once more to the “varnish,” or premier passenger rail service, offered by the GN to travelers between Chicago and the Pacific Northwest. It was only a year before, on June 10^th, 1929, that the GN inaugurated this flagship train service, so it was natural that the railroad wanted to use the Empire Builders radio show to again promote the train.

Curiously, the actual date of the Empire Builder train’s commencement of service has become a bit muddled. In the present, rail historians and GN enthusiasts seem to have settled on June 11 as the date the Empire Builder first operated. As I explained in great detail a year ago, this is simply not accurate, if one is to ascribe the date of the event to the time and date tied to the location where the event occurred. The misapplication of June 11 as the date when the service began is akin to stating the historic Allied Forces invasion of Normandy occurred on June 5^th, since in fact it was still the evening of the 5^th on the west coast of the U.S. when that happened. I don’t think anyone in their right mind would suggest the history books be rewritten to say D-Day happened on June 5^th. The event itself was on the northern coast of Normandy, and it was at the break of day on June 6^th. Anyhow, I just find it interesting that even on this evening’s broadcast, which took place on the night of June 9, 1930, the continuity stated the first run of the Empire Builder was “just a year ago this very night.” Off by one day. Oops.

I do not have a press release for this broadcast, but a short snippet placed in a GN flyer about Empire Builders (and also in the GN Goat) said this:

June 9. A romance built around the initial journey of the Empire Builder a year ago will be the theme of this Monday's program. The Old Timer, who was a passenger on this inaugural journey, tells the story of this trip. It was written by George Redmond and W. O. Cooper.

Another interesting news tidbit published just two days after this program, in Variety magazine, identified one of the otherwise nameless actors on the Empire Builders cast. The June 11 Variety article stated that Pete Dixon, of the NBC publicity staff, was engaged as “the new villain in the ‘Empire Builders’ program.”

 

The night’s broadcast opened as a young woman busied herself at an office switchboard. We quickly learned that her name was Bess Morgan [remember that name] and that she answered to a Mr. Sullivan. The story does not make it entirely clear, but it appeared that Mr. Sullivan and Miss Morgan worked in the offices of the Chicago Chamber of Commerce. Sullivan announced to Miss Morgan that he had an errand for her to run.

MR. S.:                 The Chicago Chamber of Commerce wants to send letters of greeting to the Northwest cities on that first train and the president has asked me to send the girl we use in our publicity pictures.

Miss Morgan was a bit taken by surprise, and responded by expressing her disbelief about her boss’s sincerity. Sullivan assured her he was in earnest.

MR. S.:                 But I mean it, Miss Morgan. Tomorrow night the Great Northern’s new train, the Empire Builder –

BESS:                    Oh, I’ve seen pictures of it in the papers –

MR. S.:                 Well – it’s leaving Chicago on its first trip tomorrow night, going to clip five hours off the time it takes to go from Chicago to Seattle or Portland. That’s going to bring the Pacific coast five hours nearer Chicago. The Chicago Chamber of Commerce wants to send letters of greeting to the Northwest cities on that first train and the president has asked me to send the girl we use in our publicity pictures.

BESS:                    Oh, gorgeous! Why, Mr. Sullivan, you can’t really mean it?

MR. S.:                 Well, you’ve been appointed Miss Chicago Commerce.

With the strains of transitional music from the NBC/Empire Builders orchestra, the scene shifted to Chicago’s Union Station. There, the Old Timer was waiting to catch a train again (the Empire Builder, one would assume, although the continuity did not actually say so). The dialog picked up with the Old Timer relaying events of one year before to a young lady he evidently met at the train station.

PIONEER:            Well, that’s how that got started. Yes, it was just a year ago this very night – right here in this Chicago Union Station. There was an awful jam in here too – a big military band on a platform right over there – and out there at the end of the track where the Empire Builder was a-waiting they had a big glass broadcasting booth so that people could see Graham McNamee a-telling the world about it. Now, as I was saying, this Miss Chicago Commerce …

GIRL:                    But, Old Timer, you’re skipping part of the story. You were talking over the radio yourself. – I heard you.

PIONEER:            Well, they did sort of rope me in on that. But I was only sorta incidental – just western atmosphere for the occasion, along with Chief Two Guns White Calf and some other Blackfeet injuns. Now about Bess and Jim . . .

GIRL:                    And about the Old Timer, too. Don’t you dare hold out on me!

 

Miss Chicago Commerce (Bess Mullen) poses with Yellow Head of the Blackfeet Nation, and two unidentified train crew (the conductor is on the left) of the brand-spanking new Empire Builder train, 6/10/29, Chicago.
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The Old Timer warned the girl that his train would depart in only twenty minutes, so he would have to keep his story short (short enough to fit into the 30-minute time slot of the radio show). He told her the orchestra in New York was playing and their song (“Dream Train”) was going out over the airwaves, when the Empire Builders announcer, John S. Young, came to the microphone with some opening comments.

JOHN YOUNG:    An unusual event is taking place tonight at the Union Station, Chicago. It is the realization of a dream – the dream of James J. Hill, the Empire Builder. We will now turn you over to your old friend, the Old Timer, at the new Union Station in Chicago, who will act as Master of Ceremonies tonight.

With some sound effects to suggest crowd noise and a band playing in the rotunda of Chicago Union Station, the Old Timer’s first comments on the 1929 broadcast were reenacted as well.

PIONEER:            Good evenin’, folks. It sure is wonderful how I do skip around this here country, and I’m mighty glad to be out here in Chicago tonight when all this excitement is a-comin’ off. I’clare to goodness, when I look at this big, wonderful new train, the Empire Builder, a-settin’ right in front of me here on the track, I can’t help but think of the old days when I first came out into these here westernparts. ‘An that reminds me, old Dad Pickard has some real old railroad songs that I’m going to ask him to sing to you. Come on over here, Dad.

I have to pause here in the telling of the June 9, 1930, broadcast story to make an observation about something the Old Timer said in this piece of the monologue. Actor Harvey Hays said to the radio audience “It sure is wonderful how I do skip around this here country… .” In 1929, with the departure from Chicago of the first run of the Empire Builder train, Hays did in fact board that train and rode it out to the west coast on a publicity tour. On June 9, 1930, actor Harvey Hays was still in mourning for his own brother, who had died quite suddenly and tragically only 7 days before.

 

When Harvey Hays was still just a lad, he travelled off to the country of India to live with his sister and brother-in-law, a missionary. I suspect Harvey’s parents had passed away. His departure to India was also probably the last time he saw his older brother, J. H. Hays, who eventually moved to Texas. There were sixteen years in age separating the brothers. It was reported they last saw each other when Harvey was just 14 years old.

 

J.H. decided to travel to New York from his home in Brownsville, Texas, to visit Harvey. Just one week prior to this night’s broadcast, the older brother was travelling through the city of Indianapolis, Indiana, when the car he and his travelling companion, Charles Kunch, were driving was struck by an interurban car. Both men were killed.

 

Harvey Hays was robbed of his chance to see his brother for the first time in 30 years. With the demands of his broadcast performance schedule, I wonder if he was even able to attend his brother's funeral. If so, he truly would have been skipping around the country.

 

In the one-year anniversary reenactment of the 1929 show, Hays waxed poetic about not just the fabulous new train, but about all the men who had a hand in operating the train, maintaining the track, and “men who get out in the cold on a winter night and walk the track through the mountains, the fellows who stick at the telegraph keys all night long, the men who overhaul the cars and locomotives – and a lot more – .” The story segued back to the present, and the Old Timer reviewed the names of many prominent individuals who spoke over the radio on the grand occasion twelve months earlier. He described how the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Colonel Robert P. Lamont, pushed a key in Washington, D.C., which caused a gong to ring out in Chicago as a signal to start the new train on its way West. He added, “Miss Chicago Commerce and me was a-sittin’ in the train hearing the whole doings over the radio right there in the observation car … .”

Actor Harvey Hays and Bess Mullen pose for the camera in Chicago on June 10, 1929.
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With the appropriate musical bridge and associated sound effects, the story bounced right back to the Empire Builder on its inaugural run, and found the Old Timer in the midst of conversation with Miss Chicago Commerce, Bess Morgan.

So here’s where you were supposed to remember the name of the young lady in the story who was bestowed the title of Miss Chicago Commerce. In the radio play, she was named Bess Morgan. In real life, the Miss Chicago Commerce who really did ride the inaugural Empire Builder train was named Bess Mullen. I find it interesting that for the 1930 reenactment of the 1929 inaugural run of the Empire Builder train, they elected to retain the real young woman’s first name, but changed her last name. Maybe they just couldn’t remember what it was. But I doubt it. I think, for whatever reason, they decided they would change her last name so they could keep the names the same, but different. If that makes any sense.

 

 

The radio character Bess Morgan jumped back off the train before it departed the Chicago station so she could call her mother and share her excitement about the train trip. This nearly caused her to miss her ride on the new train completely. A stranger in the crowd (who later identified himself as Jim Laramie) quickly sized up her predicament, scooped her up, and helped her aboard the train just in the proverbial nick. Naturally, it was the Old Timer who put out a hand from the steps of the vestibule to help them both aboard the observation car. With the exchange of a couple of comments about what they had all just been through, the Old Timer shooshed them all so they could listen to something he was drawing their attention to on the radio. Bess asked him what it was, and the Old Timer said “It’s the train – our train – coming in over the radio – there’s a microphone up the track ahead of us, and they’re broadcasting the sound of the train.”

Unlike the way this played out the year before, with the real sound of the Empire Builder train coming over the radio as it passed the appointed spot in a rail yard outside Chicago, this time the sound was all fabricated by the sound effects crew.

(QUIET FOR A FEW SECONDS – DISTANT WHISTLE, GETTING CLOSER. TRAIN COMES UP, PASSES AND FADES INTO DISTANCE)

On the second day into the trip, the dialog picked back up with Jim Laramie and Bess, the Chamber of Commerce beauty. A porter approached Laramie and delivered to him a telegram. Bess expressed her hope that it was not bad news. Jim replied,

JIM:       Oh, no. This is good news. It’s from my mother. She lives in Everett, Washington, and she’s going to be down to the depot … We stop there for a minute – oh, there’s a chap I know – he’s on a Seattle newspaper that’s fighting me for re-election.

The newspaperman’s name was Peter Snodgrass. He went on his way again after exchanging a few minutes of unpleasant conversation with Jim. Bess came to understand that Laramie was an elected official of some sort, and that Snodgrass was dead-set against his re-election. Snodgrass intimated that he was not above taking cheap shots at Laramie to get his way. Jim explained to Bess that he was responsible for seeing to it that some of Snodgrass’s supporters were jailed for their behavior.

The Old Timer came upon Bess and Jim, and soon had an opportunity to chat with Bess alone. He had noticed the two of them spending a good deal of time together the past couple days, and he advised her to take things slow and easy until she knew more about him. She dismissively protested the Old Timer’s call for caution. He tried to get her to sit down a spell and talk to him over a cold glass of lemonade. Instead, she got a bit puffed up and stormed off to see Jim and see what there was about him she should be concerned about.

PIONEER:            Now, Bess, come back here. Everything’s going to be all right.

BESS:                    (OFF)  I’m going to find out what all this means.

PIONEER:            Well, scatter my chipmunks, I guess I got both feet in something.

(MUSIC – TRANSITIONAL – VERY BRIEF – FADE TO INTERIOR TRAIN EFFECTS)

Bess stumbled upon Jim conversing with a disreputable looking moll, perhaps something of a soiled dove. This gal was playing up to Jim as though she thought herself his girlfriend. Naturally, Bess completely misread the situation, and her growing affections for Jim took a sudden and decidedly crushing blow. She headed back to the Old Timer, quite defeated.

PIONEER:            There now, Bess, don’t cry.

BESS:                    I understand now. I – understand –

PIONEER:            Dog my cats, I’m not entirely sure that you do at that. We’ll see.

Oh, that Old Timer – he’s a cagey one: always a step or two ahead of the situation. The next morning, Bess and the Old Timer bumped into one another again on the train. The Old Timer asked Bess if she and Jim had spoken, and if Jim had explained everything. Bess said they had not spoken, and declared she would not allow Jim to speak to her at this point. She had effectively thrown in the towel. The Old Timer tried once more to convince her to cool her jets and give Jim a chance. She deduced Jim had been talking to the Old Timer about things.

PIONEER:            Yes, you guessed it – and I’ve even met the girl, Mabel.

BESS:                    What? How you talk!

PIONEER:            Oh, not socially, so to speak. Just to return her purse. She left it on her seat when she went into the diner last night. I thought it was kinda careless.

BESS:                    Humph! You’re extremely gallant.

PIONEER:            Gallant?  (CHUCKLES)  Well maybe so! … What’s this, Everett? Look at the crowd down to meet the Empire Builder.

Time for another little “sidebar.” So, this is only a dramatization of events that took place about 364 days earlier (on June 10-13, 1929). You got that, right? Thus we all collectively wonder (you were wondering, weren’t you?) – “what actually happened when the inaugural run of the first Empire Builder train, with actor Harvey Hays and Miss Chicago Commerce on board, pulled into the city of Everett, Washington?” You’re in luck. I found out for you. First of all, the train did not arrive in Everett until the morning of Thursday, June 13, 1929. The day before this, on June 12, the Everett Daily Herald ran an advertisement (right), placed by the Great Northern Railway.

 

The Everett city fathers did a great deal to honor the train and its VIP passengers. Word got out that local folks could come down to the depot and actually see the actor who played the Old Timer on Empire Builders. They could check out Miss Chicago Commerce for themselves.

 

As the train pulled to a stop at Everett’s Bond Street GN depot, well-wishers gathered on the platform could hear the Great Northern Quartette singing them a musical greeting. W.A Wilson, the GN’s assistant general passenger agent, made a brief address and introduced the crowd to Miss Chicago Commerce. Harvey Hays spoke to the crowd, and then the president of Everett’s Chamber of Commerce presented GN’s Wilson and Bess Mullins with a “tablet of welcome” from the city of Everett. Although it was not reported what was written on the tablet, the newspaper did state that the tablet was to be displayed in the “main offices of the Great Northern railroad in Chicago.” They could have been referring to the GN’s ticket office in Chicago, but the GN’s headquarters, as frequently noted in these blog pages, was in St. Paul, Minnesota.

 

Naturally, the Everett Daily Herald trumpeted the claim that Everett’s reception of the new train was the largest and most grand offered along the entire line. It was said over 2,000 people turned out. When the train progressed that morning to Seattle, and far fewer supporters appeared, Harvey Hays was quoted as saying “Everett was a lot different than this. Gee, but the way those Everett folks greeted us made me choke up with emotion.” Puffery? Hyperbole? Hard to say. Unfortunately, the Herald did not run any photos of the event. I suppose we’ll never really know.

In the radio drama, things heated up quickly during the fictionalized festivities at the Everett train station. It turns out Snodgrass was attempting to either blackmail Laramie into withdrawing from the race, or to publicly shame him enough to secure Laramie’s defeat. He conspired with the “loose woman,” Mabel, who kept pouring on her fake affections for Jim Laramie. It was at this tinder-dry moment that the sparks of passion finally seared the skies (or something).

JIM:       Snodgrass – let me tell you – you couple my name with that woman and I’ll take your skin and wrap it around your neck. Now git – both of you.

SNODGRASS:  Threatenin’ eh? That’ll look nice in print too. Now be sensible, Laramie – you let me wire in your withdrawal from the race and we’ll kill this story – otherwise we shoot the whole works this afternoon – pictures and all – your engagement to this chorus girl.

BESS:     And I’ll say it’s a lie because he’s engaged to me. And don’t you quit, Jim.

JIM:       Bess! Old Timer, take her away – don’t let her get mixed up in this.

SNODGRASS:  Oh, yeah? Lots of breaks today. This is going to be a real story now – swell headline – “Candidate Jilts Fiancé for Chorus Girl.” Hot stuff!

BESS:     Oh, Jim – what have I done!  Oh --- !

The Old Timer decided it was time to weigh in on all the shenanigans.

PIONEER:            What’s up anyway, Jim. We didn’t mean to interrupt. Why you look like my houn’ dog, January, did when he discovered the cat he was playing with was a skunk.

JIM:                      Well, it’s just that, Old Timer – oh, there’s my mother.

MOTHER:            (COMING UP)  Jim – oh, Jim!

JIM:                      Mother! I was just going to look for you.

SNODGRASS:     Oh, you’re Mr. Laramie’s mother. Well! I’m a newspaper-man. Your son has just told me about his engagement.

MOTHER:            Oh, my land, Jim! You never told me. Who is she?

JIM:                      It’s a – it’s a –

PIONEER:            A young lady he met on the train, ma’am.

So, Mrs. Laramie’s son has been on a train all of two and half days, and he’s engaged to be married to a young lady he just met, and therefore could not have known a week. Love at first sight? Perhaps the Old Timer has just a bit more wisdom to dispense on this topic . . .

MOTHER:            Oh, Jim, tell me about it. Is she here?

MABEL:                Is she – I’ll say so!

SNODGRASS:     You tell her, Mabel.

PIONEER:            Oh, just a minute – er – er – Mabel. That’s your name isn’t it? Mabel – Mabel – I don’t believe I quite got your last name?

MABEL:                LaVerne.

PIONEER:            Well, now that’s strange. This letter I thought musta got out of your purse somehow when you left it in the seat last night – must not be yours after all –

MABEL:                Gimme it!

PIONEER:            Oh, wait just a minute – this is addressed to Mrs. Peter Snodgrass –

A-HA! The jig is up! No more dancing around the truth with a blackmail scheme for Mr. and Mrs. Snodgrass! But wait – there’s more!

SNODGRASS:     Gimme that.

MABEL:                Don’t you dare! … You – you – Pete, don’t you dare read that!

SNODGRASS:     Yeah? …. Just as I thought …. Playin’ around with that guy in Chicago agin, are yuh?

This photo was likely taken in Chicago on June 10, 1929, when the train made its inaugural departure later in the evening. The billy goat was no doubt someone's lame idea of tying in the GN's iconic trademark image, which is a Mountain Goat - and is not actually a goat at all. Still, it makes for a suitable allusion to the goat in the story, Peter Snodgrass. 
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The conductor shouted out a hearty series of “All Aboards” and the Old Timer and his pals hot-footed it back onto the train – without the quarreling Snodgrasses.

PIONEER:            (CHUCKLES)  Huh, it looks as though the Snodgrasses aren’t coming. They seem to be havin’ an argument back there – now that’s too bad!

BESS:                    Oh, Old Timer, you’re just a dear – and so gallant!

PIONEER:            Gallant, did you say.  (CHUCKLES)  Well, I guess that depends sometimes on the point of view!

And that is how the program came to an end, with the Empire Builder train easing out of the Everett depot and on to Seattle via the iconic Everett-to-Seattle seawall on the shore of Puget Sound. The only thing left was for the announcer, John S. Young, to provide the final words from the boys in the GN Publicity office.

CLOSING ANNOUNCEMENT:

You have been listening to Empire Builders, a presentation of the Great Northern Railway. Tonight’s story probably has recalled to many of our listeners the colorful broadcast, just one year ago tonight, which inaugurated the Great Northern Railway’s new fast train – the Empire Builder, and the new fast schedule which clipped five hours off the running time between Chicago and the Pacific Northwest cities – Spokane, Seattle, Tacoma and Portland. Unparalleled as was this drastic speeding up of transcontinental service, the time of this new fast train has been still further reduced – four times since that maiden trip of a year ago – so that the Empire Builder today is running seven hours faster than any passenger schedule to the Northwest one year ago. Your attention is again called to the low round trip summer fares from all points in the United States to the Pacific Northwest, now in effect via the Great Northern Railway. These afford unlimited stopover privileges and a return limit that extends until late next fall. The Great Northern’s travel offices, located in many of the cities from which this program is broadcast, will be glad to assist you in planning your next trip.

The Empire Builders program has come to you from the New York Studios of the National Broadcasting Company.

So until next week, keep those dials tuned to Empire Builders!