The Cavalcade of America presented by DuPont. Music In our chronicle of the passing theme which we call the Cavalcade of America, you have heard stories of pioneers in government, in industry, in art, and in science. The kaleidoscope of events has pictured the role of the covered wagon, the advent of the railroad, the steamship, and the airplane. And woven into this ever-changing picture of American life, you have heard America's songs. Just as the songs of a country truly reflect the manners of their times, so the work of the scientist typifies the progress and advancement of a nation. The writers of our songs try to bring pleasure into the lives of the people. So also are research chemists such as those who work in DuPont laboratories, striving to provide more comforts and conveniences, hoping to make the world a happier place in which to live. Their goal is the objective expressed in the DuPont pledge, better things for better living, through chemistry. The singers you will hear on this evening's program are Gladys Rice, Mary Hopple, Alden Edkins, Charles Harrison, Wallace McGill, and Everett Clark, with Don Voorhees and the DuPont Cavalcade Orchestra. This evening we present songs of that colorful period in American history, the Gay Nineties. The songs of no other decade picture so vividly the tempo of their time. And because these songs were first heard in the theaters, music, and concert halls of New York, we invite you to turn back the clock with us and join a group of young people, a city pair and a country couple, as they're making their way to Broadway. Not the Broadway of today, but the Broadway of the Gay Nineties centered around 14th Street. The conventional way to reach the theater section is by Hanson cab, but a new marvel of transportation, the Third Avenue Elevated Railroad, is the talk of the town. And now we find our young friends standing on a downtown platform, waiting for the steam train, the predecessor of the electric train that runs on the aisle of today. Oh, oh, Charlie, I'm so excited. This is my first ride on the Muel. Isn't that the cutest engine? Well, just wait till we get on it and start whizzing past folks' upstairs windows. Say, Kate, you better put blinkers on Johnny. You country folks aren't used to such sight. Hey, you talk as if we don't have upstairs windows in the country. Johnny and I may come from the country, but we're not Haitians. Go on, let's get aboard. Be careful of your petticoat, Kate. Don't get caught on the steps. There are some seats over there. Come on, hurry up. Head stop 14th Street. Head stop 14th Street. Golly, we're moving. Sit down, Johnny. Don't look out. Where are we going first, Charlie? Kate and I want to see everything. Well, you're not going to be able to see much of anything if you really want to see something of everything. Well, that can't be helped. I've got to go home tomorrow. I said I was going to see New York in one day, and I'm going to see it if it kills a boy. It'll probably kill all of us. That's a good one. Well, I've already seen the Brooklyn Bridge and the Sack to Liberty, Central Park. Oh, Johnny, look at those electric lights over there. Oh, yeah. Say, Charlie, do you believe what they say that they'll have them all over New York in a few years? Yes, they're getting to be pretty popular. Oh, say, speaking of lights, have you heard that new song? Oh, Charlie, you mean the one about the new electric light? Oh, yeah. Kate wrote a copy of it yesterday. Let's see. It goes, um, all our ballroom beauties who look so nice at night will not seem half so charming by the new electric light. That's it? There are some of us we'll welcome, and there's some of us we'll hate to cite. Of this latest greatest wonder, that's the new electric light. Show us how our sweet hearts keep their curls so long and bright. What makes them blush is we can see by the new electric light. Four teams, three. Four teams. All right, come on, come on, folks, come on. All right, take it easy now. First, we'll take in Tony Pastor's musical. But we'll have to hurry if we're going to be there in time to catch Lottie Gilson. Yes, the little magnet. She made Annie Rooney famous, remember? Oh, yes, and they say she's singing, You're Not the Only Pebble on the Beach. That's right, that's right. Egg, zombie, egg, zombie. Come on, folks. All right, now, careful going down these elevated steps. They're very slippery. All right, here, take my hand. I hear that Lottie Gilson's a-pippin'. Oh, she's a beach, all right, Johnny, she's a beach. Yes, but I'd rather hear Minnie Schulte any day. My goodness, this is a long side of step. Well, it's shorter going down than coming up. Oh, here we are. Which way? Right over this way. That's it. All right, take care now. Oh, look, Kate, there goes Lillian Russell in that Victoria. Oh, she isn't she beautiful. Look at those clothes. Say, do you suppose those diamonds are real? Oh, sure they're real. But come on now, let's hurry up. Help, look out for those bicycles. Oh, I tell you, there ought to be a law against those scorches. They almost ran over me. Gee, I'm sorry, Kate. Are you all right? I think so. Oh, good. Well, here we are. Get out your quarters, Johnny. Tony Paster doesn't put on a free show, you know. You're a con, Charlie. You ought to be in a show yourself. Oh, go on. Four tickets, please. Up and sides and find your seats, ladies and gentlemen. The show's already started. Come on, Johnny, you can see the pictures on the way out. Let's get in there to see the show. Permit, sir. Oh, we've just missed the comedian. Yes. Oh, but look, we're just in time to hear my favorite song. A sweet tuxedo girl, you see, Queen of pearl society, Just as fun as fun can be, When he songs that's quick cutie. Here we go. Terrarabundi, terrarabundi, terrarabundi, terrarabundi. I'm not too young, I'm not too old, Not too timid, not too bold, Just the kind you'd like to hold, Just the kind of sport I'm told. I'm a blessing god of innocence, Papa says at big expense, Old maids say I have no sense, But the boys declare I'm just immense. Terrarabundi, terrarabundi, terrarabundi, terrarabundi. Before my song I do conclude I want it strictly understood, Though fond of fun I'm never rude, Though not too bad, I'm not too good. Terrarabundi, terrarabundi, terrarabundi, terrarabundi. Oh, my lord. How'd you like it, Johnny? Oh, that was awful. Was that good? I thought you'd like it. Well, folks, where to next, huh? Charlie, Charlie, let's go to Coster and Beale. Coster and Beale it is. But Anna, Anna, isn't that a sort of a naughty place? Naughty but nice. Charlie. Well, perhaps Kate would prefer the Eden Museum with the waxworks. But we'd better take a handsome. Cap, sir, cap, that's a lady. Right here. Now get in, everybody. And, all right. Kate, take it easy there. All right, Johnny, after you. All right, Cabby, to Coster and Beale. Right, John, to Coster and Beale. Get up. Whoa, well, here we are, folks. Coster and Beale. All right, everybody out here. Everybody out. Take a bow. All right. Here you are, Cabby. Here you are. All right, let me help you there. There you are. All right, now let's go in and add a few more champagne corks to the cork room, eh? What in the world is Charlie talking about, Anna? Well, they take the corks out of the champagne bottles and pin them on the walls. They have one whole room just lined with corks. And most of them are autographs. Oh, golly, won't that be something to tell the folks about when we get home, huh, Kate? Johnny, if you tell anybody about our head of the house, anybody about our having even touched champagne, I'll never forgive you why it'd be the scandal of the town. Say, come on, you two. The night's no longer young, and we've got plenty of places to go if you want to make the rounds. Come on. Oh, yeah. No longer young, that's good. Oh, look at the cute little girl coming out to sing. Little girl's nothing, eh, Johnny? That's one of the famous sister acts. Come on, let's find a table. Table, please. Yes, for four, please, four. Anna, you know, this is the most gorgeous place I've ever seen in all my life. I want to watch them sing. The kings of red, Needles from varmintide, On each pretty head. When school was over, Secrets they'd tell, Whispering arm in arm, Down by the well. One day a quarrel came, A tear was shed, You can't play in our yard, But the other says, I don't want to play in your yard, I don't like you anymore. You'll be sorry when you see me, Sliding down our cellar door, And you can holler down our rainbowl, And you can climb our apple tree, I don't want to play in your yard, If you won't be good to me. You like it? You can't holler down our rainbowl, And you can climb our apple tree, I don't want to play in your yard, If you won't be good to me. Every amusement place in town had its singers who introduced the songs the whole nation sang. Lottie Gilson brought tears to the eyes of thousands with her rendition of the famous Little Lost Child, and Mother Was a Lady, and other favorites of the day. Minnie Schult was her rival for popular acclaim, as was Imogene Comer. But no trip around the town was complete without a visit to Proctor's famous Pleasure Palace. So let's join our friends as they continue their round of Old New York in the Gay Nineties. Well, come on, let's get you in here. New York? Listen, we're just in time for the big number. Daisy Bell, oh, I love it. Oh, that's the bicycle song, isn't it? Yeah, that's right. Everybody's singing it. Johnny, Johnny, don't you dare lose all my programs. I'm saving them to show the folks back home. Come on, let's find out who's who. Sometimes it's hard to tell, Yes, I am longing to share the lot Of your people's Daisy Bell Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer soon I'm half crazy all for the love of you It won't be a stylish marriage I can't afford a carriage But you'll see upon the scene Of a bicycle built for two Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer soon I'm half crazy all for the love of you It won't be a stylish marriage I can't afford a carriage But you'll see upon the scene Of a bicycle built for two The period we call the Gay Nineties was the golden age of vaudeville. Dozens of music halls and variety theaters flourished along Broadway. But perhaps the greatest of these was the one that bore the name of a famous comedy team. Oh, what a joy that was. Well, you're getting tired, folks? Oh, no, sirree. What's next? Well, you just haven't seen New York unless you've been to Webber and Field. That's right, Anna, and here we are. Let's see what we get in the bag this time. Oh, that's right, let's see that bag. My head is full of tunes. I'll be humming from now until Christmas time. Four tickets, please. Three dollars each. Three dollars? Three dollars? Jiminy. You'll be missing about half the show, sir. Oh, that's all right. We're just hitting the high spot. Yeah, yeah, the high spot. Three dollars a seat. Johnny, you'll be sure to get a program here. Open his pockets of bozing with programs now. Tickets, please. Here you are. Second aisle to the left. Thank you very much. Come on, come on, hurry up. Dog gone it, Charlie. I'll bet we missed the best part. Not much. We're just in time to hear Lily and Russell sing Come Down My Evening Star. When from out the gates of night Come the stars that shine and bright I spy the one I do love I recognize my true love Amid the tiny walls of night Begs the sky for me to wear She's the brightest hand of a bear But she's so horrible to me I know she cannot love me Till I long for her more than all the rest My evening star I wonder who you are Set out to hell Like a diamond in the sky No matter what I do I can't go up to you So come down from there My evening star Come down Come down Come down from there My evening star Applause Wow! Wow! Wow! But Vaudeville and Variety Halls were not the only cradle of the songs of the 90s. The earlier presentation of the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas had brought on a wave of musical comedy. The Wolf Hopper, Digby Bell, Frances Wilson, Jefferson D'Angelo were the stars of the day. Victor Herbert was beginning to give America the nearest thing it had had to classic light opera. One of the best remembered operettas was Reginald De Kovan's Robin Hood. Let's join our friends as they take their seats at the old Standard Theater. All right, come on now. Quiet, am I? Quiet, please. The performance is on. This is the third time this show has come back to New York, Kate. That's William McDonnell as Little John. And soon Henry Clay Barnaby will come on as the Sheriff of Nottingham. Who are those others? Those are Robin Hood men. And he's singing about Brown October Ale just like the rest of the world. Well, those are Robin Hood men. He's singing about Brown October Ale, Johnny. I wouldn't mind a glass of that Brown October Ale myself, I'd say. I want to hear them. Oh, sorry. Oh, hear the tremble, everyone His doubt your body moan Oh, laugh, laugh and waf-lat We'll make you sound and hail Through all my days I'll sing the praise of Brown October Ale Yes, laugh, laugh and waf-lat We'll make you sound and hail Ah, through all my days I'll sing the praise of Brown October Ale Of Brown October Ale Oh, that was a dim damning. That was a big applause there. There we go. Oh, look, here comes Jesse Bartlett Davis. She's wonderful. Oh, doesn't she make a cute boy? Oh, I've heard that. It's O Promise Me, isn't it? Yes. Do you know, they tell me that O Promise Me wasn't in the opera originally. Quiet, quiet. They put it in because Miss Davis wanted the solo in the second act. Good thing they did. It's the most popular song in the show. It certainly is. Where she can be alone and face renewed And find the hollows where those flowers grow Those first sweet violets of early spring Which come in whispers, friar's boat and sing Of love unseekable that isn't me O Promise Me, O Promise Me O Promise Me that you will take my hand The most unworthy in this lonely land And let me sit beside you in your eyes Seeing the vision of a paradise Hearing God's message as the organ rules His mighty music, your verse is true No loveless person can alike with thee O Promise Me, O Promise Me Now folks, we just have time to run over to D'Almonico's And have a hot bird and a cold bottle At night, dear heart, for you I find in all my dreams Your fair face The gay nineties, a colorful era. The day is when the gay blades of old New York Race their sleighs through Central Park over the first snow To win a magnum of champagne at McCombs Tavern When the sayings of Mr. Dooley were the talk of the country When the Gibson girl was the ideal for the girls of the day to copy When the stage glittered with such names as Maud Adams, Mrs. Fisk, Augustus Thomas, William Gillette When beautiful Lillian Russell and gay Fay Templeton were the talk of the town It was the mold decade, the Gaslight era And its like will not be seen again But it was a colorful and important period In the onward march of the cavalcade of America You've got my heart, we've got the life The gay nineties, then as now one very important item in my ladies wardrobe was her perfume And there's a legend about perfumes that goes like this In the course of a walk along a beach a woman sat down on a large rock to rest When she got up she noticed that the rock stuck to her dress It later developed that the rock was a huge chunk of a substance called amber grease Worth its weight in gold to the makers of perfumes And of course she made her fortune Whether that story is true or not, the fact remains that amber grease which comes from the sperm whale Was essential to perfumers for centuries, it is what is known as a fixative And a fixative does what its name implies Fixes a perfume so that its fragrance will be uniform and will last longer Perfumers used to depend on three sources for their fixative Amber grease from the whale, musk from the musk deer of the high Himalaya mountains in Asia And a fatty substance derived from the snarling civet cat of northern Africa But whales, deer and cats are to say the least somewhat uncertain sources for substances Essential to a large important industry It was logical therefore for the research chemists to enter the picture and go to work Various substitutes were found But after years of study and experiments Dupont chemists developed a true synthetic musk Containing the essential ingredient of natural musk This product is now distributed by Dupont under the trademark astrotone Even though it sells for $200 per pound Astrotone costs so much less than natural musk And so little is required that it enables you to enjoy fine perfumes at a much lower cost The development of synthetic musk is probably chemistry's most important contribution to the perfumer But it is only one of many Before science entered perfumery it took 25 tons of violets to make one ounce of natural violet oil Lilac and lily of the valley perfumes couldn't be produced at all Or crushing these delicate flowers destroys their odor Not only has chemistry found a way of creating these odors from such raw materials as coal tar But it has developed many entirely new ones And where 200 fragrances existed before in the form of natural products Over a thousand are now available So you see the research chemist produces new and longer lasting fragrances for my ladies perfumes and cosmetics For silts and sprays and dozens of other household articles that we use every day Here again the Dupont chemist has helped make life a bit more pleasant And in laboratories all over the country he is continuing his efforts to provide as Dupont expresses it Better things for better living through chemistry Music The Golden Touch, a story of John A. Sutter and the discovery of gold in California Will be the subject of our broadcast when next week at this same time Dupont again presents The Cavalcade of America Music This is the Columbia Broadcasting System Music
