310601 - The Belled Bridge

 

Recording status:  Recorded, not in circulation

It is now June. On June 22, 1931, the Empire Builders series aired for the last time. With so few remaining broadcasts to write about, let’s start with the press release issued for this show. Here are the key elements of the presser, as issued by the GN’s Harold M. Sims:

               “The Belled Bridge” is the title of an exciting story the Old Timer will tell on Empire Builders Monday night, June 1.

               Swinging perilously across Roaring Canyon out in the Rockies, a frail footbridge is guarded against railway surveyors by an old hermit who is warned of the approach of intruders by the ringing of the bell.

               A thrilling climax is reached when a child attempts to cross at night.

In addition to Harvey Hays as the Old Timer, the cast includes Don Ameche as the railway surveyor, Lucille Husting as his wife, and Betty White, the child.

               The story depends largely upon sound for its dramatic effect, making it ideally adapted for radio presentation.

               June 22 will mark the conclusion of the Great Northern’s Empire Builders series. The remaining plays are: June 8, “Room 20,” a mystery comedy-drama; June 15, “The Silk Special,” a railway melodrama; and June 22, “The Seal of the Great Spirit,” a story of the early west.

If you have been reading this blog with any regularity, or if you have even just perused a random selection of my brief essays on this radio advertising series, you must know by now that one of the featured actresses of the final season of this radio show was a woman named Betty White. At the risk of annoying those of you who already have this issue straight, I will write about Betty White once more, just to drill home the point that there are some who would erroneously conclude, apparently without the slightest effort to research the facts, that the Betty White known to millions of TV viewers is the same Betty White heard on the Empire Builders radio programs. I assure you, these are two different people.

Certain old time radio sites recognize that one of the featured performers on Empire Builders was “Betty White,” but they have incorrectly asserted that it was an eight- or nine-year-old Betty Marion White (she of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Golden Girls, Hot in Cleveland, etc.).

 Betty Marion White DID NOT appear on Empire Builders. EVER.

The actress heard on Empire Builders by the name of Betty White was Betty Reynolds White, born Elizabeth Myrtle Reynolds in 1904. A petite 4 feet 11 inches tall, Betty White was 27-years-old, married, had two infant sons at the time of this broadcast. She specialized in children’s voices. Betty was married to Robert “Bob” Grubb White, Jr., both of whom appeared multiple times on Empire Builders during its final season of 1930-31. They both remained very active in commercial radio for many years. I have interviewed two of their three sons (the third, Bradley, passed away in 1988, just a couple of months after the death of their mother, Betty Reynolds White). The White brothers explained to me their mother had a very difficult time with their father, who was, according to them, an alcoholic and quite abusive to their mother. So unpleasant was this situation that neither brother could confirm for me the dates of birth or death of their own father. But they did provide me with additional biographical information about their mother.

Born Elizabeth Myrtle Reynolds in Grinnell, Iowa, Betty was the third eldest of four sisters whose parents both died when their girls were young. Betty’s mother died in 1911, and her father passed away in 1918. After their father’s death, Betty’s oldest sister Odessa (nicknamed “Dessa”) looked after her younger siblings as the de facto head of household. With the kindly assistance of Dr. Evan Evans and his wife, who lived nearby, Dessa helped raise her sisters as best she and the girls could collectively manage. Betty Reynolds left home after high school, and attended Grinnell College. She became a school teacher for a couple of years.

 

From the December, 1930, press release attached to this photograph:

The contraption which W. O. Cooper, assistant production manager of the “Empire Builders “, is showing to pretty Betty Reynolds, who plays child parts on the same program, is the device that produces the noise of the Great Northern’s railway trains.

 

Betty has risen to radio fame through her clever playing of child parts, and on December 22, she will make her debut in the leading role of “Attar of Roses,” an original Christmas story which the producers of Empire Builders are confident will go down in radio annals as one of the classics of the air.

Let’s get something straight here. Elizabeth Myrtle Reynolds, later known as Betty Reynolds White, was an actress on Empire Builders for multiple broadcasts between September, 1930, and June, 1931. The woman known to many Americans as Sue Ann Nivens on the Mary Tyler Moore Show; Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls; and Elka Ostrovsky on Hot in Cleveland – the woman named Betty Marion White, who was born January 17, 1922, near Chicago but moved with her parents to California when she was only 2 years old – THAT Betty White NEVER appeared on Empire Builders. Ever.

Now, on with our show!

The continuity that I have for this broadcast is missing a couple of pages, which includes the opening announcement. However, the over-the-air sound check recording has surfaced, and I have access to a copy. Even so, that recording seems to be missing as many as six minutes, and clips off the first portion of the opening of the show. It picks up with announcer Ted Pearson commenting on railroad safety in general, and specifically the safety record of the Great Northern Railway. It’s interesting to see how they couched that achievement, and how they tried to draw positive attention to “only” one fatality on the railroad in the past ten years:

ANNOUNCER:    … (prior audio missing). In a period of more than thirteen years, carrying millions of passengers annually, it has lost but one passenger – and the one fatality resulted from causes beyond the control of human hands. Thirteen years of carrying passengers, with but one fatality to a passenger! Safety always first.

After a brief musical bridge, the radio listeners heard some passengers on the Empire Builder exclaiming about a remarkably deep canyon over which the train had just passed. They all wanted to know the name of the canyon, so they called over the Old Timer and asked if he knew the name. “Bust my buttons,” replied the Old Timer, “that’s an easy one – that’s old Roarin’ Canyon.” Before you knew it, the Old Timer was regaling his train-mates with a story of Roaring Canyon from just a few years before.

OLD TIMER:        A couple of years ago, the Great Northern was a-straightening out their right-of-way along here, taking out several miles of curves. And I was up here. Well, never mind why, but there weren’t any bridge across here, that is, there wasn’t anything but a little flimsy sort of swingin’ plank bridge – right about where that trestle is now. Well, it was along about this time of the afternoon, I and a young fella named Ralph Gray, who was workin’ for the Great Northern. We was walkin’ down the rim rock toward the foot bridge.

With another musical bridge, the story flashed back to a scene from years ago. I’m pretty sure this is where the audio dropped a couple minutes of the radio play (Rose Mary Woods, is this how you got started erasing audio tapes??). The continuity contains dialog between Ralph and the Old Timer in which it is revealed that Ralph and his wife had eloped a few years earlier, and this had angered his father-in-law – old man Clark. It seems Clark was something of a hermit who lived near the canyon and jealously guarded his privacy. He wouldn’t let anyone cross the rickety bridge, and had rigged it with a string of bells to warn him if anyone tried to cross.

RALPH:                 He hasn’t given us a chance to talk with him since – he won’t even talk with Mary across the canyon – walks into his cabin and slams the door.

OLD TIMER:        How about your little Betty, his granddaughter. Has he ever seen her?

RALPH:                 Yeah, from across the canyon! But it’s no use, Old Timer. We’ve tried everything. And the Great Northern’s depending on me to get this survey completed so construction work can go right ahead. I’ll tell you, Old Timer, it means a lot to me!

Ahhhh…. little Betty… three guesses who portrayed “little Betty” – you know the drill; the first two don’t count. Ralph continued to explain to the Old Timer what the Great Northern Railway had been accomplishing with their capital improvements.

RALPH:                 We’re offering him a big price for a right of way too – the railway can afford it because they’ll save three miles and cut out a lot of curves by throwing a bridge across this gorge. You know, the Great Northern’s spent millions of dollars the last few years eliminating curves and grades, and this bridge we’re going to put across here’ll be one of the finest places of line straightening we’ve ever tackled.

OLD TIMER:        I’ve often wondered, riding past here on the railway, why they didn’t run it straight across this gorge instead of winding along the river.

RALPH:                 Well, you see, Old Timer, at the time the Great Northern was built, a big bridge across here was probably considered too expensive a job. But during the last ten years nothing’s seemed like too big a job for the Great Northern to tackle – nothing that gives ‘em a better railroad – like that big eight-mile tunnel they built through the Cascade mountains …

Ralph explained about the warning bells on the bridge, and added that old man Clark was kinda nearsighted, too. He was liable to start shooting anytime the bell rang.

The Old Timer wasn’t buying it. He figured Clark was just grumpy, that he wouldn’t actually try to hurt anyone. He was convinced he could talk to Clark, one old timer to another, and get him to simmer down some.

The Old Timer slowly began to work his way across the rickety footbridge, rotted planks and all, and sure enough the warning bell began to clang. Ralph shouted in vain for the Old Timer to come back – he was sure to be killed. But the Old Timer kept working his way further across the swaying bridge.

Clark heard the bell, and was immediately in defense mode.

Old man Clark bellowed at the Old Timer to turn back, but the Old Timer proceeded stubbornly on across the bridge. He responded to Clark – both of them shouting to be heard over the howling wind incessantly roaring through the canyon – that he was just coming over for a social chat. Clark wasn’t having any of it. He fired his rifle. A whizz of a bullet zinged past the Old Timer, and he beseeched Clark not to fire again, but Clark once more warned the Old Timer not to take another step.

The Old Timer called his bluff and, after another shot was fired, rushed Clark and grappled with him over his rifle. Ralph rushed across the bridge to help.

RALPH:                 (CALLING – OFF)  Hold him, Old Timer – hold him, I’m coming - - - -  I’ll try to help you!

    (BELL RINGING RAPIDLY – UP – AS RALPH IS RUNNING ON BRIDGE)

OLD TIMER:        Come on, Ralph, I got him!  (CLARK CEASES STRUGGLES)

    (BELL CONTINUES RAPIDLY – UP – THEN A SCREAM FROM RALPH – OFF – AND BELL STOPS)

RALPH:                 (CALLS – OFF)  Help! …….  Help! ……………

OLD TIMER:        My God, he’s fallen!

     (WIND UP SHARPLY; BELL RINGS RAPIDLY AS OLD TIMER RUSHES TOWARD RALPH CLINGING TO BRIDGE. EXCITEMENT MUSIC WHICH GRADUALLY SEGUES INTO QUIET, HOMEY THEME)

The radio play switched scenes to the cozy home of Ralph, Mary, and their little girl Betty. Mary and Betty busied themselves in preparation for dinner. Ralph was a good thirty minutes late, and little Betty was pressing her luck, trying to snag a treat from the cookie jar. Mary got Betty’s mind off her hunger by tasking her with setting out the flatware for dinner. Betty asked her mother when they were going to see her grandfather again.

MARY:                  Sometime, dear, when Daddy gets a great big bridge over to where Grandpa lives.

BETTY:                 But my grandpa’s got a bridge, Mother. I want to go over Grandpa’s bridge.

MARY:                  Betty, don’t you ever go near that bridge.

BETTY:                 But I like grandpa’s bridge!

MARY:                  Betty – now how many times have I told you – I don’t want you to ever go near that bridge.

BETTY:                 Why, Mother?

MARY:                  It isn’t safe dear – you might get hurt. When Daddy’s new bridge is built, then we’ll see grandpa.

Mary told Betty to set an extra place for dinner – the Old Timer was coming home with Daddy to join them for their meal.

It wasn’t long before Ralph and the Old Timer did arrive for dinner – and Mary could tell something was amiss. Ralph assured her it wasn’t serious. It was, however, a gunshot wound to the shoulder. Ralph was bleeding, and the Old Timer had him lie down on the couch and asked Mary to fetch some hot water. Naturally, Mary demanded details.

RALPH:                 (PAINFULLY)  I’ll tell you, Mary. We were at the belled bridge … and …

BETTY:                 Oh, did you see Grandpa, Daddy?

MARY:                  Take some cookies, darling, and go in the other room and play with your dollies.

BETTY:                 I want-a see Grandpa, too, Mother.

MARY:                  Betty! Do as I say. Go play in the other room.

                              There now, we’ll clean this wound.

Mary and the Old Timer tended to Ralph’s wound. Mary pressed the Old Timer to explain what happened.

OLD TIMER:        Well-l … me and your Dad were sort of tusselin’ when I heard your husband call for help … an when I saw him hanging to the bridge … well, I just naturally forgot all about your Dad. You know, I feel kind-a sorry about that, Mary. I figured in just a few more minutes your Dad and I would have got real well acquainted and everythin’ would have come out all peaceful and congenial-like.

MARY:                  Old Timer, I’m afraid it never will. Poor father … he’s … he’s …

OLD TIMER:        Let’s not talk about it, Mary. I think your husband here should get some sleep. That’s one of the best doctors I know of. How about it, Ralph?

Ralph agreed to the Old Timer’s suggestion. He said goodnight to Mary, and then asked where Betty was. Mary said she was playing in the other room. Mary went to bring Betty in to say goodnight to her father – but Betty wasn’t there. Mary surmised Betty had run over to her friend Sally’s house to play, but mentioned she had told Betty before not to go out after dark like that.

With Ralph all tended to and drifting off to sleep, Mary stepped outside to call out to Betty. There was no response, but their little home was near enough to the belled bridge that she could hear an occasional tinkle of a bell, even over the roar of the canyon wind. Mary quickly pieced things together. She lapsed into panic as she realized Betty must be trying to cross the rickety old bridge.

Sure enough, shots began to ring out. Mary’s running turned to a mother’s single-minded sprint to protect her little girl. She began to curse her own father for shooting at her baby.

     (TWO SHOTS, CLOSE TOGETHER AND NEARER UP – TWO TINKLES AFTER SECOND SHOT)

MARY:                  (FRANTIC, STILL RUNNING – SCREAMS)  STOP!  Stop! Oh, damn you, I’ll kill you! Oh, God, Oh my baby, my baby – oh, my baby – Betty – Betty

      (CANYON ROAR UP FULL BY NOW; MOTHER RUNS OUT ON BRIDGE, PANTING AND SOBBING, BELL RINGING OUT ABOVE CANYON ROAR RELATED TO MOTHER’S RUNNING AND COMING CLOSER)

For his part, Clark kept up his usual verbal assault of “stop, or I’ll shoot!” And shoot he did. The bell stopped ringing. Mary surmised the worst, and became virtually apoplectic with anger, grief, and despair. Clark suddenly understood who he had been shooting at. He, too, was stunned at the turn of events. But alas, this was a family show, for the most part. Little Betty was just fine.

BETTY:  Oh, Mother, I’se found gramp-pa!

MARY:   Betty!  Oh, my baby, my baby, my baby. Oh thank God.  (SOBBING)  Oh darling baby, Betty, Betty.

CLARK:  (SOBBING)  Mary, Mary, can you ever forgive me!

MARY:   (CONTINUES SOBBING OVER BABY)

CLARK:  Oh, Mary, I’ve been an awful fool … Oh, God, to think tonight I almost …. Oh, Mary, Mary – forgive me, forgive me!

MARY:   Oh, Dad!

BETTY:  Mother, I’se hungry again.

MARY:   You darling!

BETTY:  Ain’t we going to have no supper?

This brush with tragedy brought a veritable paradigm shift upon crusty old Clark. Between sobs of atonement, he questioned Mary if she really meant it when she asked him to come back to the house with her and Betty to have dinner with them.

The continuity comes to a close here, indicating that the only remaining material was the closing announcement.

GN Standard Sign drawing
showing example of arrow
signs used near Glacier Park.
From GNRHS Reference Sheet #187

However, rather than having the music fade for the closing announcement, the audio of this broadcast includes another brief conversation between the Old Timer and the folks on the Empire Builder. One woman suddenly commented on a series of large wooden arrows not far from the tracks. The Old Timer explained they were placed there by the Great Northern Railway so people riding the rails could know which of the Glacier Park Rocky Mountain peaks they were looking at.

Someone mentioned that Glacier Park was set to open for the summer season on June 15^th. The Old Timer piped in with a reminder that he, himself, would be there for a tour of the park beginning on July 1^st, along with a group of his “radio friends.” One of the travelers revealed that the group had been holding out on the Old Timer – it turns out they all had reservations to join the Old Timer on his Glacier Park tour (or so they claimed).

They all prattled on about the attractions of Glacier Park – in particular, the fly-fishing. The Old Timer pointed out that visitors to Glacier Park (at least back in 1931) were not required to have a license to fish, and the daily limit was 10 fish of 7 inches or more. Fishing gear was readily available to be rented from any of the hotels or chalets.

Someone then set the Old Timer to talking about the Blackfeet Indians who live just east of the park, and many of whom could be seen as greeters at the Glacier Park Station and Glacier Park Hotel. As he continued his monologue about Glacier Park, the Old Timer’s voice faded away and was replaced by that of Ted Pearson, Empire Builders announcer. Pearson took a turn himself at giving a verbal version of a Great Northern travel brochure description of the park and all its wonders. He also reminded listeners of the Old Timer’s 10-day tour of the park, and pointed out the GN’s low round-trip summer fares were going into effect. Pearson also encouraged listeners to write to the Great Northern for “profusely-illustrated brochures and maps” to help them plan their vacations for the coming summer.

Pearson finally closed out the broadcast with a review of the principal players.

ANNOUNCER:    Tonight’s Empire Builders playlet again featured Harvey Hays as the Old Timer; Lucille Husting played Mary; Ralph was Don Ameche; Betty the baby was Betty White; and the grandfather was John Daly. Empire Builders comes to you from the NBC studios in Chicago.

Until next time, keep those dials tuned to Empire Builders!

301222 - Attar of Roses

 

Recording status:  recorded; in circulation

This is one of the few episodes of Empire Builders that the Great Northern Railway paid to record and which is still in circulation. It is, however, one of the broadcasts that is badly misrepresented nearly everywhere it can be found. This broadcast was not called “Columbia River,” despite the numerous sites that refer to the program as such. Many sites also note that one of the featured performers was “Betty White,” but they have concluded erroneously that it was an eight or nine year old Betty Marion White (she of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Golden Girls, etc.).

 Betty Marion White DID NOT appear on Empire Builders. EVER.

The actress heard on Empire Builders by the name of Betty White was Betty Reynolds White, born Elizabeth Myrtle Reynolds in 1904. A petite 4 feet 11 inches tall, Betty White was 26-years-old, married, had one infant son already and another well on the way, and she specialized in children’s voices.

“Attar of Roses,” the correct title of this broadcast of Empire Builders, refers to a fragrant oil made from roses. The story does indeed have the Columbia River as a prominent feature of its locale, but using the name of the river as the title of the broadcast must have been someone’s innocent attempt to apply a name to the show based solely on listening to the only circulating copy of it. Great Northern Railway corporate records, and newspaper articles of the day, consistently name this program “Attar of Roses.”

This photo shows script writer W.O. Cooper and Betty Reynolds White inspecting the large track machine contraption used for making sound effects for trains. The image appeared in the February, 1931, issue of "What's On the Air." The accompanying caption contained two glaring mistakes. They used Betty White's maiden name, and they misstated the name of the 12/22/30 broadcast. Here's what was said: "Betty Reynolds, child actress of the Empire Builders, is fascinated by the device used in the studio to reproduce the sound of Great Northern trains. We don't believe any listener has forgotten Betty's work as the invalid child in the Empire Builders' Christmas story, "Altar of Roses." We certainly hope that story will be repeated next Christmas season." Sadly, the Empire Builders series did not last that long.

A press release for this program was used to craft a notice in the Seattle Times newspaper the day of the broadcast. Here is how the information appeared in the paper, complete with the writer's unsentimental and rather snarky take on the story:

The press release for tonight’s “Empire Builders” program on KOMO at 7:30 o'clock, says it will be all about a sharp-tongued millionaire who had chilblains of the heart and never knew it until he met little crippled Annie. Old Sharp Tongue and Annie are both inmates in a hospital in Portland, it goes on to say. Moreover, there will be twists at the heart strings. But withal, the press notice declares, a happy air will pervade the thing. Clap hands.

 
The story opened with the Old Timer chatting with a woman onboard the Empire Builder train – a common plot vehicle to set the stage for the venerable pioneer to launch into a tale of yesteryear and to weave some not-so-subtle advertising copy into the show on behalf of our sponsor. In the radio play, it was revealed that the train was passing a location where a serpentine roadway could be seen. The lady observed that it looked like a harrowing road to try to negotiate. The Old Timer agreed, and mentioned he knew of one time when a driver nearly died on that curve. He hinted at a happy ending however, and thus launched into his tale.

The recorded radio broadcast clearly departs somewhat from the copy of the program’s continuity that I’ve located. I suspect it was common to edit the script right up to the last minute, and I’m sure there were times the actors momentarily lost their places and ad libbed, although I think a good many of them also made an effort to memorize their parts. Most of them were veteran stage actors, so it would seem they would be accustomed to preparing themselves to carry out the performance, with or without a written copy of the continuity.

The Old Timer lit up his pipe before starting to tell his story, although his dialog about it in the continuity is slightly different than the recording. Among other differences, the woman he talks to identified herself in the script as “Marian Monahan, escaped from New York.” In the audio, she is instead “Virginia Monahan, escaped from New York.” I suppose that could have been a nod to Empire Builders alumna Virginia Gardiner, but more likely they just preferred the sound of it.

This is from the continuity:

OLD TIMER:  I’d better begin at the right place.

LADY:            Oh, tell me about it, Old Timer ---- if I may call you that?

OLD TIMER:  Sure --- everybody does. I like it. Well, this is about Stephen Burroughs --- a man who’s known throughout the state of Oregon. He was a bachelor, a sort of fidgety cuss, an’ he’s got more money than you could shake a stick at … just a minute …  (STRIKES MATCH;  LIGHTS PIPE)

LADY:            Must you stop now, Old Timer --- Oh. I see. I didn’t notice you were lighting your pipe.

OLD TIMER:  There’s two things I can’t get along without, Miss --- my pipe and my dog January.

LADY:            (LAUGHING)  I’m sorry.

OLD TIMER:  (PUFFING)  Well, it was late at night, and Stephen Burroughs was driving his car around that same curve, tearing along like --- like a wild Indian, when all of a sudden ……

(FADE IN MUSIC.  IT FADES OUT TO ROAR OF SPEEDING AUTO APPROACHING … COMES UP, PASSES, FADES …. REPEAT …. ON THIRD FADE-IN, SHRIEK OF BRAKES … BIG CRASH … SEVERAL MINOR CRASHES WITH SOUND OF BREAKING GLASS, AS THOUGH CAR WERE ROLLING DOWN EMBANKMENT …. BRIEF SILENCE, THEN MUSIC)

Apparently it wasn’t enough for the sound effects crew to simply bust some glass and slam some boards and chunks of metal together to simulate the car crash. No, they got their hands on an entire car chassis and hauled it up to the roof of the 20-story Merchandise Mart, where a couple of sound effects men proceeded to beat the snot out of it when it came time for the crash. Perhaps the questionable quality of the recording is at least partly to blame, but to my ear, the sound of the car crash is underwhelming, and fails to convey what the continuity was calling for. This may also be something to chalk up to the vagaries of practicing in advance with pleasing results and then attempting to replicate an earlier success while on the air live. Any number of variances might have spoiled the intended effect.

 

 

Two sound effects technicians of the Empire Builders radio program, posing for the photographer. This is undoubtedly a recreation of the action taken to produce the sound effect of a crashing car for this night's broadcast of the show.
Photo from the Library of Congress collection
(identified as "Underwood & Underwood", but most likely a Theatrical Chicago photo)

 

After the sound effects of the big crash, the radio story shifted location to a hospital in Portland where the hapless driver, Stephen Burroughs (abbreviated as “BURR” in the script), was just coming to. Burroughs was presented as a wealthy and rather self-important businessman. After a big kerfuffle about his needing to get to a meeting and wanting to get his secretary on the phone, Burroughs passed out again. Then with a short musical bridge to indicate the passage of time, the radio audience found Burroughs had been wheeled to the appropriately named Sun Room for a respite. Burroughs decided the Sun Room was not for him, and he promptly demanded (quite rudely) that the nurse return him to his room immediately. She responded by tagging his arm with a sedative. It wasn’t long before Burroughs was nodding off again.

The next time he came around, he drowsily caught the sound of someone moaning, but shrugged it off in his half-awake stupor as something he had been dreaming. But there it was again … louder and more insistent. No mistaking it this time, there was a little girl across the room in great pain and discomfort.

(ANOTHER MOAN)

BURR:            I wasn’t dreaming that time! Must have been that kid over there … no one else here.

ANNE:            Oh!  Oh!

BURR:            What’s the matter?   (gruffly)   Where’s somebody?   (impatiently)

(ANOTHER MOAN)

BURR:            (Sound of wheel chair)   Now, now --- What’s the matter?

ANNE:            Hold my hand --- tight!   Oh!  Oh!

BURR:            It’s hell to suffer like that! Where’s a nurse? Where’s somebody?  (shouts Hey!)  Here’s a nurse --- (relieved)

MISS GREY:  Here, Anne, take this --- She’ll be better in a minute. Let go of the man’s hand, Anne.

BURR:            Oh, that’s all right.   (Gruffly)

MISS GREY:  You see, if she can grip someone’s hand – she seems to be able to stand it better – the pain.

BURR:            Is she like this often?

MISS GREY:  No – not so often any more, but it’s bad while it lasts. There – she’s better now. Come, Anne!

ANNE:            (In faint voice)  Thank you, Mister.

 

 

 

 

This is Betty White. Betty Reynolds White.
Not Betty Marion White.
Two different women, born more than 15 years apart. Just sayin'.

This is the earliest recording I know of that captured the voice of Betty Reynolds White. She did indeed possess a great talent for portraying a child. Her performance was quite convincing. Here’s an audio sample:

 

 

The character of little Anne Hyland mentioned that her parents died when she was only two years old. In real life, Betty White endured a similar burden. Her mother died when she was about seven; her father when she was about 14.

The broadcast concluded with the revelation that Burroughs had purchased a house up on a hill, visible from the hospital, and that he was going to adopt little Anne and get her settled in to that new home. Even Nurse Grey was enlisted to work at the home to take care of Anne as she continued to recover. And of course, they all lived happily ever after.

Up on the roof and going nowhere
Harvey Hays (the Old Timer) attempts to assist Lucille Husting (Virginia Monahan) and Bernardine Flynn (Nurse Grey)
into the derelict car chassis that was smashed up further for the night's big car crash scene.
Press photo (likely by Theatrical Chicago). Author's collection

Stephen Burroughs was played by Betty White’s husband in real life, Bob White. Other performers identified for this broadcast are: Harvey Hays as the ubiquitous Old Timer; Lucille Husting as Virginia Monahan; and Bernardine Flynn as Nurse Grey. Josef Koester again led the on-air orchestra. Ted Pearson, the announcer, made no mention of Don Ameche. Perhaps he just wasn't needed on this broadcast.

 

 

Until next time, keep those dials tuned to Empire Builders!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

301201 - The Williamson Survey (aka "Carmencita")

Recording status:  not recorded

In the mid-1850’s, the U.S. Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis (yep, that one – eventually President of the Confederacy during the Civil War) oversaw the Pacific Railroad Surveys. This project was launched to locate favorable railroad routes across the United States. Five railroad surveys were conducted, the fifth and final of these led by Lieutenant Robert Williamson, starting in California and heading north into Washington Territory. Robert S. Williamson (1825-1882), ultimately a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, served as Chief Topographical Engineer of the Department of the Pacific. Oregon’s Williamson River, which flows through south-central Oregon, is named for the Lieutenant Colonel. This night's broadcast was a dramatization of Williamson's survey trek up through central Oregon.

Lt. Robert S. Williamson. Library of Congress collection

Long after the 1893 completion of the transcontinental main line of the GN, the railroad created a new and significant branch through central Oregon to offer shippers access to California on their trains. The work of the Williamson survey party three quarters of a century earlier laid out a feasible direction for the railroad to build the new line. Construction on the final section of this route [also known as the “Inside Gateway”] was started in 1927, running about 68 miles from Bend to Chemult, Oregon. The GN operated into Klamath Falls via trackage rights over the Southern Pacific, and from there the line was extended about 92 miles, into California, to meet up with the Western Pacific at Bieber. The line was completed in November of 1931. A year prior to the completion of the line, the Great Northern saw this topic as good material for a story on Empire Builders.

 

According to the material I’ve located to date, this broadcast of Empire Builders was not recorded by the Great Northern Railway. Nor have I yet located a copy of the continuity for this program, other than what may be a partial  copy published in the Great Northern Goat magazine in 1931. Adding to the incomplete nature of my knowledge of this particular radio play is that the title of it is likewise uncertain. Some resources present this broadcast as “The Williamson Survey.” In another source, it appears to be called “Carmencita.” When I first encountered this alternate title, I thought perhaps there was a confusion with an earlier broadcast called “Carmelita” (301006). However, I now understand these are two distinct names for two distinct broadcasts. The confusion was simply my own.

Photograph with caption, as it appeared in the January, 1931, Great Northern Goat magazine.
Author's collection

Uncropped version of same image as above, showing cast of "Carmencita."
This is a roughly 8 by 10 press photo.
Author's collection

The Great Northern Goat was a small format magazine published by the railroad for the primary purpose of keeping the company’s ticket agents apprised of news about railroad business, personnel, and changes in traffic rates or services. The Goat first appeared in 1925. It was published on a mostly monthly basis throughout its existence, which ended with the March, 1970, merger that created the Burlington Northern railroad. In addition to posting brief synopses of upcoming Empire Builders broadcasts, the Goat was twice published as a special edition to showcase the radio advertising campaign. The first such edition was issued for April, 1930, and had the cover title “Special Empire Builders Edition.” The January, 1931, edition of the Goat was titled the “Radio Number.”  My pal Lindsay Korst acquired a spare copy of this issue of the Goat magazine from me a few years ago. He then scanned the entire issue and posted it, page by page, to his web site devoted to all things GN:  http://www.gngoat.org/1931_goat.htm

 

This issue of the Goat contains a replication of an Empire Builders radio continuity – at least it appears to. It appears the material in the Goat magazine provided readers with a glimpse of what a radio continuity looked like. The article began by providing some of the dialog intended for the Williamson Survey (or Carmencita) broadcast, but then it broke into a lengthy review of the performers and production crew of the show (all in continuity, or script, format, as though it might have actually been broadcast that way). I don’t believe the folks behind the mike actually talked about themselves to the radio audience. I think it’s more likely the interviewing of principals of the radio series was provided only in the Goat magazine.

The Empire Builders broadcast of December 1, 1930, was announced as a story of the extension of the Great Northern Railway through central Oregon into the state of California. Here’s how a press release for the program was offered in the November 30, 1930, San Antonio (TX) Express newspaper:

EMPIRE BUILDERS WILL TELL STORY OF ROMANTIC WEST

Delving into the romantic story of California's past, a tale of adventure and exploration full of action, romance and breathless suspense will be told in the "Empire Builders" radio drama for Monday evening, Dec. 1, when the program goes on the air from the Chicago studios of the National Broadcasting Company between the hours of 9:30 and 10 o'clock Central Standard Time, and broadcast locally by WOAI.

The drama will tell of the surveying and laying out of the route followed today by the California extension of the Great Northern Railway. The love story of a beautiful Spanish senorita and a Westerner provides the main theme of the story, the dramatic interest of which is heightened by a succession of obstacles overcome only by hard fighting and heroic action.

The Empire Builders triumvirate of Harvey Hays as the "Old Timer," Bernardine Flynn as the Spanish senorita, and Don Ameche as the dashing young hero, will be featured again in the leading roles, supported by a large cast of actors. Elaborate sound effects have been planned to give the radio presentation an atmosphere of unusual realism.

The material presented in the Goat magazine began with content and format clearly reminiscent of one of the many actual continuities for the show that I’ve retrieved. Here’s how the representation of this show began, in the magazine at least:

Empire Builders

9:30 to 10:00 PM  CST                                                                                   Monday Nights

ANNOUNCER:         The Great Northern Railway presents EMPIRE BUILDERS!

(Orchestral music which fades to speeding train effect indicating the arrival of the Great Northern Railway’s crack train – The Empire Builder.)

ANNOUNCER:         Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, we are going to take you to the Chicago studios of the National Broadcasting Company, which occupy the entire 19^th and 20^th floors of the world’s largest building – the new Merchandise Mart. Here for the next half hour we will mingle with the cast of Empire Builders, listen to the music of Josef Koestner’s orchestra and peek into odd corners to see how this nationally broadcast radio program is produced.

I see that the members of the cast are now grouped before the “mikes” ready to go on the air. Suppose we listen to them for a brief time.

(The scene is laid near the Oregon-California boundary where construction crews are busily pushing steel southward on the Great Northern’s new extension into California. There is a background of steam shovel effects, tooting of steam shovel whistles, clang of rails, etc.)

I’m not quite sure what to make of that last bit, in the parentheses. I’m speculating that it was written, as shown above, as pure narrative for the sake of the magazine article.

The radio playlet opened with a conversation between the Old Timer and a fellow named Craig, who was involved in building the new railroad line into California. The Old Timer painted a glowing picture of the rich timber and farming land in the region of the new line.

CRAIG:          Yeah … Well, this part of Oregon and California’s waited a long time for this railroad.

OLD TIMER: (Chuckles) Seventy-five years about!

CRAIG:          Seventy-five years? Why, say, there wasn’t any railroads west of the Mississippi seventy-five years ago, were there?

OLD TIMER: No, there weren’t. but there were explorin’ parties right along here – and for that matter, all over the west, as early as 1855.

CRAIG:          Well, that’s sure news to me.

OLD TIMER: Yes, sir, and the remarkable thing is that nearly all the western railways were built pretty nearly along the routes discovered in those explorations before the Civil War – routes that were declared practicable by fine Army men like Gunnison and Stevens and Beckwith and Williamson.

CRAIG:          And this route between Oregon and California was one of them?

OLD TIMER: The very first railroad route ever explored up and down the coast! Yes, sir! The strange thing is though that the first railroad built didn’t follow it. (Chuckles) Why, Craig, I reckon if you’d been standin’ on this very spot back in August of 1855, you’d of seen a party of soldiers led by a young lieutenant named Williamson, a-comin’ over the ridge there – just about where you’re makin’ the big cut …

After the history lesson, the Old Timer was just on the verge of busting loose with another of his riveting stories.

CRAIG:          Well, I’ll be darned.

OLD TIMER: And it must’ve been right around here that the Indians had Terry an’ Hobbs an’ Suzanne cornered. Dog my cats, there’s a story for you sometime.

CRAIG:          (Laughing) Sometime! You know, there’s no time like the present, Old Timer.

OLD TIMER: Well, it was like this Craig. Lieutenant Williamson and his soldiers started out from Benicia – that’s down by San Francisco – and they was a-heading north. Why, I can just close my eyes and see ‘em all – Lieutenant Williamson … the soldiers … an’ a girl ‘bout as plucky as they come … Suzanne was her name.

(The orchestra comes in here playing a military number popular about 1850, indicating the transition to the scene of the story)

The acting troupe of the Empire Builders took their turns at the microphone to dramatize a brief scene in which the Lieutenant chats with Suzanne, Terry, and Carmencita. The Lieutenant and his men were about to embark on their surveying journey from Benicia (near the San Francisco Bay) to the Columbia River (which comprises a healthy section of the dividing line between Oregon and Washington). One of Williamson’s men, Joe Hobbs, also joined the conversation, which was pretty much limited to everyone exchanging farewells, and commiserating over the fact they would all miss one another. We also learned from this exchange that Hobbs had a pronounced stutter. Once the Williamson party mounted up and set out, Ted Pearson came to the microphone, and the entire continuity – at least as it appeared in the Goat magazine – took on an entirely different course.

ANNOUNCER:         And now, ladies and gentlemen, we will have to leave the actors for a while, as there are many things we must do in this half hour. However, for those who must know how the story ends, I will say that Terry receives news that there is Indian trouble to the north and rides forth to notify Lieutenant Williamson. He meets Hobbs and the two of them are cornered by Indians, who are henchmen of a Spanish renegade named Romero, but are rescued through the courage of Suzanne.

            The program closes with Romero getting his just deserts. Before continuing our explorations perhaps I had better introduce myself first.

Pearson then proceeded to invite one person after another to the mike to be interviewed. Regarding this night’s radio play, we learn through this process some of the cast assignments.

Old Timer:                   Harvey Hays

Lt. Williamson:           unnamed

Craig:                          unnamed

Suzanne:                      Lucille Husting

Carmencita:                 Bernardine Flynn

Terry:                           Don Ameche

Joe Hobbs:                  Bob White

(L-R) Lucille Husting; Don Ameche; Bernardine Flynn; Ted Doucet (unconfirmed). Press photo.
Author's collection

 

When it came time to introduce Bob White’s wife, Betty, the material in the Goat magazine planted the seed of a perplexing mystery. I may be getting redundant on this point, but I’ll make it again: a young woman (but an adult woman) named Betty White – Betty Reynolds White – was a member of the cast of Empire Builders in its final season. This was not a youthful Betty Marion White, she of the game show and sitcom fame of more recent years. Bob and Betty (Reynolds) White had three sons: Robert, Jr.; Bradley; and Evan. Bradley passed away in the late 1980s, not long after their mother passed. Robert is the eldest of the three brothers, having been born in 1928, prior to his parents joining the cast of Empire Builders. So although Betty Reynolds White was great with child in early December (Bradley was born in March of 1931), they had at that time, by all reliable accounts, only one child: Robert. The “other” Betty White – Betty Marion White – was born in Oak Park, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago) in 1922. At the time of this broadcast, Betty Marion White was almost nine years old, but she has stated publicly that she and her parents had relocated to California by that time. So all the available, reliable data indicates Betty Marion White never had anything to do with Empire Builders. But here’s where it all starts to get a little odd.
 

Betty Reynolds White, who appeared on Empire Builders.
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Betty Reynolds White, at a petite 4’11” tall, specialized in child’s voices. In fact, many fans of Empire Builders wrote to the railroad to ask the identity of the adorable little girl they heard on the radio, only to learn the “little girl” was in her mid-20s. And very pregnant. From the January, 1931, Goat magazine, here’s what Ted Pearson supposedly said about Betty Reynolds White:

After the Thanksgiving program we received a number of letters congratulating us on the excellent child actress we had obtained for that program. Of course I may be giving away a state secret but that “child actress” wasn’t quite as young as she seemed, as she has a daughter old enough to fill the part visually that she took vocally. This was Mrs. Betty White.

I have spoken by phone with both Robert and Evan White. They are both adamant that they did not have a sister – at least not one that they ever knew of.

I have located corroborating alternate sources to validate virtually all factual detail pertaining to the several individuals mentioned in this Goat magazine article, with the glaring exception of the comment about Betty White having a daughter old enough to have played a young girl. Was this a complete fabrication? Was it willfully deliberate? Or was there some hidden truth to it? And even if Bob and Betty White had a daughter, one who vanished from their lives and was never mentioned to their sons in later years, what became of her? Could a fanciful tale be concocted to tie Betty Marion White’s life into this odd story? That just seems beyond outlandish. It is well documented that the parents of Betty Marion White were Christine Tess (née Cachikis) and Horace Logan White. If one were to conjure up a story of how Bob and Betty White had a daughter, named her Betty like her mother, and then found some circumstance to put her up for adoption, what are the odds the adopting parents would also be named White? It’s all pretty preposterous, and has not a shred of valid evidence to support it. But if Bob and Betty White did have a daughter, and it was not Betty Marion White, then who was she and what became of her? Frankly, it seems like the most rational answer to this puzzle is that the author of the Goat magazine article invented the daughter assertion to underscore the age of Betty Reynolds White, without actually stating her age in years. Even that explanation seems pretty strange, but at least it provides an angle that allows for all the other known facts to reside in harmony.

(L-R): Bernardine Flynn; Harvey Hays; January the hound dog; Bob White; Lucille Husting; Don Ameche.
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One of the principals of the radio series mentioned in the Goat magazine was Harold M. Sims, the executive assistant to the GN’s president, Ralph Budd. Ted Pearson duly noted the contributions Sims was making to identifying and inventing crucial sound effects, and also his couple of script submissions. One of the many duties that former newspaperman Sims had with Empire Builders was to write the weekly (and additional periodic) press releases about the broadcasts. When Sims was “brought to the microphone” (in reality, or only in print), he commented on the recently concluded radio script writing contest. He summed up the details thoroughly:

This year it was decided to give our listeners, particularly those living in the Northwest, an opportunity to get their favorite story produced in this series of programs. So, with the cooperation of five of the N.B.C. stations, we announced a series of radio story contests with prizes of $250, $150 and $100 offered for the three best stories in each contest. Conditions similar to those I have already mentioned, were made and judges were appointed by the various stations.

The returns from this source were far more than we expected and the judges had considerable difficulty in picking the best continuities. However, decisions were reached in all the contests and following is a list of the winning stories and their authors:

In the KSTP, St. Paul, Minn., contest Mr. Edward Staadt of the University of Minnesota won first prize. In the KGO, San Francisco, Calif., contest “La Mariposa,” written by Emilia Clapham of Berkeley, was declared the winner. Miss Ida M. Jones of Spokane, Wash., won the contest conducted by KHQ of that city with a story on Colonel Steptoe. Miss Vera S. Cockrane of Bremerton, Wash., was winner of the KOMO, Seattle contest. Her story was called the “Ascent of Mt. Rainier” and Mrs. E. W. Ryan of Vancouver, Wash., won the KGW, Portland, Ore., contest with a story entitled “The Marriage Tree.”

A contest was also sponsored among the members of the Great Northern Railway and the winning story was by Mr. Mark Haywood.

As the stories submitted by these contest winners come up in the rotation, I will comment about them in the corresponding future blog entries.

 

Until next week, keep those dials tuned to Empire Builders!