The DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware, makers of better things for better living through chemistry, presents the Cavalcade of America, starring John Lund. Tonight's DuPont Cavalcade is called Mr. Statler's Story and stars John Lund as Ellsworth Statler. Our story opens on a summer's day in Wheeling, West Virginia. Down this elm shaded street and on the veranda of that old home there, sits an elderly man in a rocker. He seems to be asleep but snaps to attention as a stranger rounds the corner and starts up the walk. You looking for someone, young fellow? Yes, you're Mr. Sam Harrison? Yep, that's me, son. My name's George Pope. Oh, you're from New York. That's right. Newspaper reporter. How'd you get? Sixty years in the hotel business. I'll also wait here. You come to ask me about Ellsworth Statler. Yes, I've been assigned to do a feature article on him. Well, just draw up chairs, hon. I'll do what I can. Thank you, sir. I suppose I might as well start at the beginning. Now, let me see. Must have been all of 50 years ago. I was working as day clerk and manager at the old McClure house here in Wheeling. I'd noticed this young shaver hanging around the lobby but I didn't pay him any mind to get him to the door. Run! Run! Where in tarnation is that boy? Oh, here I am, sir. Take this gentleman's grips up to room 203. Oh, yes, sir. This way, sir. Hey, wait a minute. Yes, sir? Come back here. Oh, something wrong, sir? Yeah, you aren't my bellboy. What are you trying to pull here? Why, nothing, sir. Excuse me, Mr. Ramsey. There seems to be some mystery here. I'm in no hurry, Sam. What's your name, son? Stadler. Ah, well, you look husky. You want this job? That's what I came here for. All right, the job's yours. Four dollars a week and half your tips. I'll take three dollars if I can keep all my tips. Well, suit yourself. But I better warn you, that loafer I'm firing didn't earn the difference in tips. Maybe that's why you're firing him, sir. He's got a point there. All right, son, the job is yours on your terms. Back to work. Here you are, sir, room 203. Thank you. Here, let me turn on the light. Yeah, see, they put in electric lights since I was here last. Big improvement over gas. Where do you want your luggage, sir? Put the big one on the bed. I want to get my shaving things out. Yes, sir. I often wonder, why don't they put some kind of luggage rack in these rooms? That's a good idea. It wouldn't cost much and it'd be a big help. I'll speak to Mr. Harrison about it. Son, if you don't mind a word of advice, there's one thing you can't tell Sam Harrison and that's how to run a hotel. And another thing I noticed, Mr. Harrison, you don't have any system for balancing your reservations against your checkouts. What do you mean by that? Well, supposing all your rooms are full, but 15 people say they're checking out tomorrow. Well, then I'd accept 15 reservations. But some of the people might change their minds about checking out. And some of the people don't show up for reservations. But the percentages aren't the same. How do you know? I figured them out. They're also different for different days of the week. Now, look here, Sadler, I've been in hotel work for over 10 years. Yes, Mr. Ramsey. How late does the railroad ticket office stay open, Sam? Why, it closes at 6 o'clock. Well, I'd better get over there fast. Got to catch the early morning train for Freeport. I can send you the railroad ticket, sir. Thanks, son, but they gouged me enough right at the ticket office. Four cents a mile on short trips. My price is two and a half cents a mile. What? How can you do that? Well, the thousand mile tickets are only two cents a mile. So I buy them that way and sell the short trip coupon. The hotel guests save money and I make a little... Well, I call that real smart. All right, you made a sale, boy. Let's see. Two dollars and five cents. All right, here you are. Just leave the tickets in my box. Thank you, sir. Uh, Stanley. Yes, Mr. Harrison? This business of selling railroad tickets to the guests... Why, is it against the house rules, sir? Oh, no. I just thought we might set up a booth here in the lobby. That way you could sell more and the hotel could make a little too. Well, I should have known then that Sattler wasn't any ordinary young man. But it wasn't his enterprise that struck me so much as his way of doing things. It struck the guests in the hotel the same way, especially the difficult ones. Come in. You rang for ice water, ma'am? Yes. You were long enough getting here with it, I must say. Yes, ma'am. Shall I put it here on the table? No. Put it on the window sill. And you needn't stand around waiting for a tip. Ice water is supposed to be a free service. That's right, ma'am. And please tell the manager I want a room closer to the bath. Well, I'm sure he'll be glad to move you as soon as another room is available. Was there anything else, ma'am? Yes. You may also tell your manager that his hotel is abominable and I am not at all pleased with the service. Yes, ma'am. Have you any suggestions for improvements? You might try burning the whole place to the ground and building a new one. I know exactly how you feel, ma'am. I often feel the same way myself. Why did you tell that old crow I'd give her another room? Well, the way I figure it, Mr. Harrison, the guest is always right. What? I never heard of such nonsense. I mean it. It's the hotel's fault. There ought to be a private bath for every room. Yeah? And how would you pay for all that plumbing? Hmm? Oh, well, I haven't quite figured that out yet. Yeah, I thought not. Oh, Mr. Harrison. Here she comes again. Mr. Harrison, on second thought, I think I'll keep the room I have now. It has quite a charming room. It does? Yes, and this hotel has greatly improved since the last time I stopped here. So many extra services. Having the morning paper delivered to my door without even asking for it now, that was most helpful. Well, thank you, ma'am. We strive to please. Yes, well, I must fly or I'll be late for my matinee. Well, bye. Bye. Settler. Yes, sir? What's this about morning papers? Well, it only cost two cents and it seemed like a good investment. Biggest return on two cents I ever heard of. Yeah? Oh, right away, sir. Ice water for room 309, Settler. Ice water. That's another improvement I'm going to make. Circulating ice water in every room. Well, it was a joker, so I thought, but you could never be sure it was Settler. Even his family didn't know quite how to take him. Like the day he come home with a great billiard room notion. Told it to his mother and his younger brother, Ossy. So I got to thinking, why did the guests go down the street and pay 10 cents a queue to pay pool when there's a billiard room right in the hotel they could use for nothing? Yeah, but who wants to shoot pool in a dreary old hotel lobby? Exactly, but they might want to if you fixed it up and put in new equipment. Oh, Ellsworth, stop talking so much and eat your dinner. Oh, but mama, how can I eat when I'm so excited? What's so exciting about fixing up that old hotel billiard room? Nothing at all, stupid. Except with that and with my other idea, I figure I'm clearing about $10,000 a year, that's all. Oh, you and your big talk. The other day it was circulating ice water. All right, all right. I was thinking of giving you a job. But if you aren't interested. Well, now I will not allow Ossy to work in a pool room, Ellsworth. He spends enough time in those places as it is. Yeah, that's why I figure he might as well be paid for it. Wait a minute. You mean all I have to do is shoot pool? Sure, you know how it is. When business is slow, the pool sharks like to have an expert around to shoot a game with. You nearly won the championship last summer. Well, I never thought I'd live to see the day when a son of mine would run a common pool room. Now, come on, eat some more potato. Well, it's only temporary, mama, till I get enough capital to open my bowling alley. Bowling alley? Sure. I got an option on the old Musée Theater. It'll be the biggest bowling alley in the state. And I thought I'd open a pie house next door. A what? A pie house. That's where you come in, mama. I'll pay you 20 cents a piece for all the pies you can make right here at home. Oh, Ellsworth. Well, 25 cents then. How about it? Well, now you know you don't have to pay me anything, Ellsworth. It isn't that. It's you I'm thinking about. You're just a boy. But, mama, I've got to get an early start. It's going to take millions to build my hotel. Millions? Hotel? Well, what in the world are you talking about? I thought I told you, mama. I'm going to build the biggest hotel in the world. That was the first time anybody heard of Sattler's hotel idea, and the last for a while. By the time he was 30 years old, Ellsworth was one of the most successful businessmen in Wheeling. And that's when he took his first vacation, after I practically pushed him on the train. Pardon me, miss. Is this seat taken? No. No, it isn't. Do you mind if I sit beside you? It's a free country, isn't it? Yeah, thanks. Ah, nice scenery in this part of this free country, isn't it? Yes, it is. I'm on my way to Canada. Oh? Ever been to Canada? No, but I've been to Buffalo. That's right next door. That's where I'm going now, Buffalo. They say Buffalo is developing into quite a city. Oh, yes. They put up a big skyscraper in Ellicott Square. That's what I'm going to do. Put up a skyscraper? Well, I'm a hotel man. Oh, I don't own any hotels at the moment, but I plan on building the biggest hotel in the world with circulating ice water in every room. Well, that's going to take an awful lot of ice water. Yeah. Say, I think I'll stop off at Buffalo and have a look at that building. Oh, by the way, my name is Statler, Ellsworth Statler. I'm Mary Mandaback. How do you do? Say, maybe you could show me around the city while I'm there if you're not too busy. This Buffalo sounds like an up-and-coming place. Maybe I'll build my hotel there. The biggest hotel in the world? In Buffalo? Why not? Well, you seem very confident of yourself, Mrs. Statler. I guess you think I'm just conceited, don't you? Frankly, I do. Well, it's a fact. I am. At least you're truthful about it. Well, I don't really figure I'm successful yet. Oh, I don't mean I've done badly. I'm sure you haven't. I've got a restaurant business in Wheeling that's doing all right. Say, can you bake a pie? Well, would that be a funny question to ask a total stranger? But you're not a total stranger. You know, my mother bakes the best pies you ever tasted. Sometimes I think that's why I never married. Is that all you want in a wife? Someone who can bake a good pie? Oh, no, no. It's not just a pie. It's like this. Ever since I started working when I was a kid, my mother would be waiting for me when I got home late and tired, and she'd cut me a piece of pie, and we'd sit there in the kitchen talking while I ate it. I'd tell her all my ideas. You did? Yes, and she disapproved. Oh, disapprove? Yes, she's very old fashioned. She doesn't see any reason for building the biggest hotel in the world. What do you think? Well, somebody could build a decent, comfortable hotel that average people could afford. I think it would be worth doing. But why does it have to be the biggest hotel in the world? Because there are so many average people, more average people than anybody. Well, oh, oh, excuse me. I think we're pulling into Buffalo now. Oh, good, good. I left my grips in the smoking car. I better go and get them. Well, it's been a pleasure talking to you, Mr. Statler. Goodbye. What do you mean goodbye? You're going to show me the sights of Buffalo, aren't you? No, no, really, I couldn't. But why not? Well, I, I hardly know you. Didn't you listen to anything I said? Of course I did. Well, then how can you say you hardly know me? What? Well, then come on. I have a feeling we're going to see a lot of each other. Or DuPont Cavalcade continues starring John Lund as Ellsworth Statler. Charles Dingle in the role of Sam Harrison is telling Mr. Statler's story. Well, I don't know whether it was the girl or the prospect of seeing the biggest office building in the world that attracted Ellsworth the most. Anyway, he got off the train in Buffalo and that was the end of his vacation. Oh, oh, there, oh, oh, there you are, folks. The Ellicott Square Building. Oh, thank you, driver. Well, thank you, sir. Allow me, ma'am. Thank you. Well, so this is it. I thought it'd be bigger somehow. How much did you tip that hack, driver? Fifteen cents. Why? A nickel would have been plenty. Miss Mandelbach, I think you've got the money. I'm going to get it. Hey. What is it? That sign, basement floor to let. Let's peek in the window and see what it's like. Hey, say that's all right. Plenty of light, entrance on the street and another inside. In bad weather, the office workers could go to lunch without leaving the building. Lunch? Yes. I was thinking of opening a restaurant here. Oh, here comes someone. I think he saw us looking in. Excuse me. You folks interested in renting part of that basement space? Not part of it. All of it. That's a lot of space. What did you have in mind? A restaurant. Oh, you must be new in Buffalo. I am. Just arrived. Well, then save your money. No restaurant ever paid in Buffalo. Mine will. What's the rent on this space? Eighty five hundred dollars a year. Hey, that's pretty steep. Well, think it over. My office is on the third floor. I'll be in all afternoon. Thanks. Well, Miss Mandabach, what do you think? This place is so big. How will you ever fill it? Oh, I'm not worried about that. But wait a minute. You never told me. Can you bake a pie? Well, I used to have pretty good luck with the recipe of my mother's ice cream pie. Ice cream pie. That sounds good. We'll feature it. So Ellsworth was married and they featured the ice cream pie in their new restaurant. Of course, it was the biggest eating place in Buffalo and none of us doubted that Ellsworth would make it even bigger. But it didn't turn out that way. In six months, he was bankrupt and a meeting of his creditors was called. Yes, indeed. All right, gentlemen. Mr. Stadler, we're sorry for what's happened. You did a fine job here and it deserved to succeed. But remember, I warned you, no restaurant in Buffalo is ever paid. Mr. Scatchard, gentlemen, just a minute, please. I might say to you that I could pay 30 or 40 cents on the dollar and you'd probably be satisfied, but I don't want to do that. If you'll give me a few months, I'll guarantee to pay all of you in full. That sounded like bluff and it was, but strangely enough, it worked. He gave away free meals. He advertised all anybody could eat for 25 cents. If an experiment didn't work one day, he'd try another one the next. Well, we all began to feel kind of sorry for Ellsworth, looked like his big idea had got too big for him and swallowed him up. Then in 1901, I got a letter from him. Dear Sam, I guess you've read the newspaper stories about the Pan-American exposition that's being planned here in Buffalo. For us, it's a pleasant prospect in more ways than one because this year for the first time since I opened the restaurant, I'm free of debt and my credit is good. Now hold your breath, Sam, but the crazy notion I always used to talk about when I was a kid working in the McClure House is about to come true. I'm actually going to build the biggest hotel in the world. And he did. It looked more like a tremendous temporary barracks than it did like a hotel. It accommodated 5,000 people and everybody was comfortable and it was just outside the fairground. Well, everything looked rosy that fine summer day when President McKinley arrived to dedicate America's first World's Fair. And then after his speech, when the president was shaking hands with the people. Stand back, please. Don't frown. This way, madam. I never dreamed I'd ever shake hands with the president of the United States. And I never dreamed I'd have the pleasure of shaking hands with you, madam. Mr. President, Mr. President, I once shook hands with Abraham Lincoln and I'm mighty proud to shake yours too. Thank you. This way, please. Keep moving. Mr. President. How do you do? Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't notice your right hand is bandaged. May I offer you this one? No, Mr. President. Let me offer you this one. Three bullets fired by a young anarchist killed our 25th president. After the assassination, all the life seemed to die out of the fair. It had become an unpleasant reminder of a national tragedy. And the fair and Sattler's First Hotel closed on a note of gloom. Well, Mary, so much for my dream of the biggest hotel in the world. My life's dream come true and we barely broke even. This time I've really failed. Not you that failed, Ellsworth. There'll be another chance. There'll be other expositions. No, Mary. It was just a kid's dream. Then a lot of other kids have had the same dream, Ellsworth. Look. Look here in the evening paper. St. Louis is planning another World Fair bigger than ours. St. Louis? They're expecting over a million visitors. Here, let's see there. Opens next year. Yes. It doesn't give us much time. No. It'll have to be even bigger than our hotel at the Pan American Exposition. Of course. The dining room should have at least 2,700 tables. What? Well, how can one kitchen serve that many tables, Ellsworth, and 5,000 rooms? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. What do you mean 5,000 rooms? This one's going to have 7,500 rooms, and circulating ice water in every room. Yes. Well, there have been quite a few World Fairs since the famous St. Louis one of 1904. But nobody who saw that will ever be quite so thrilled with another, no matter how marvelous it may be. The wonders of science that are taken for granted now were really wonders in those days. There had never been anything like the tremendous hotel that Stattler built to serve the visitors to the fair. How proudly he showed me through it. Proudest of all when he came to that kitchen. A kitchen like the which nothing had ever been dreamed of before. Well, what do you think of it all, Sam? Son, there's just nothing I can say. It's all like something I'd dreamed about, but so long ago and so crazily, I can hardly remember it. Oh, Mr. Stattler! Mr. Stattler! Yes, yes, what is it? They already let the first people in, but something's gone wrong with one of the coffee machines. I'm afraid we won't have enough coffee to go wrong. Now don't get excited. Don't worry about it. I'll look after it myself. Excuse me, Sam. I'll join you in a moment. For some reason, I stood for a moment watching him as he strode confidently across the vast room to the steaming coffee machine. And started tinkering with the bells. Then, all of a sudden, it happened. The second time, tragedy had come between Ellsworth Stattler and the realization of his great dream. This time, a personal tragedy. For when they removed his injured body from the wreckage left by the exploding coffee urn, it seemed doubtful if he'd live out the day. But slowly, painfully, he began to recover and finally... How is he today, Mary? The doctor will tell me almost nothing. He's much better, Mrs. Stattler. I guess I shouldn't tell you this, but I will. You know he's getting skin grafts for those burns, of course. Yes. Well, what you may not know is that he's refusing to take any anesthetic. Why? You'd better ask him. This way. Hello, Mary. Ellsworth. I don't like the way you're looking at me. Darling, they told me. Why are you being so foolish? About what? The anesthetic. Why? Oh, that. Well, I just don't want to be all doped up. I can't work and plan. I'm perfectly all right, except that they keep skinning me like a catfish. Oh, what poor sweet. Poor, indeed. Look at these balance sheets. The hotel at the fair is a success. Honey, we're in. Now we'll really build the biggest hotel in the world. And this time, it's for Keats. So, it was a fairy tale ending after all. Sattler built his first permanent hotel in Buffalo, the city that gave him his first opportunity. It became the first link in a mighty chain to run on a new principle of hotel management and service. Great hotels that could bring comfort and dignity to the average man at a price he could afford to pay. A dream of a bellhop who built the biggest hotel in the world. That's Mr. Sattler's story. Our thanks to John Lund and the Cavalcade players for tonight's story. Mr. Lund will return in a moment. Once again, here's our star, John Lund. America's defense program has placed on the Red Cross great responsibilities, and it needs the help of everybody. So, mobilize for defense, for your family, your community, the nation. Give to the Red Cross. Next week, the DuPont Cavalcade stars Donald Crisp and Robert Preston in The King of Nantucket. This is a stirring drama of the first battle against dictatorship in the New World and the fight to the finish. Be sure to listen. Tonight's DuPont Cavalcade was written by Robert Tallman. Music was composed by Arden Cornwell and conducted by Donald Borey. Sam Harrison was played by Charles Dingle. Mary was Judy Parrish. The program was directed by John Zoller. This is Cy Harris speaking. Don't forget next week, Robert Preston and Donald Crisp in The King of Nantucket. The DuPont Cavalcade of America comes to you from the Velasco Theater in New York and is sponsored by the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware, makers of better things for better living through chemistry.
