Radio Nature League (1925 September to December)

Note: According to the dated script, the Radio Nature League met at 6:30 on September 16. This is not reflected in the listing in the Boston Daily Globe, which still has the program ("Radio Nature Story by Thornton W. Burgess") on at 7:32. On October 14, the Globe finally listed the program as "Radio Nature League by Thornton W. Burgess" and on December 16 begins to identify guest speakers. Mrs. Burgess filled in on October 7 (while Mr. B was up in the New Brunswick wilderness) and again on November 18.

September-December 1925

Starting September 2, 1925, the Radio Nature League entered its most productive era. Thornton Burgess announced that the Smithsonian and the Boston Society of Natural History would now serve as experts advisers, helping to answer members' questions and make identifications. (From this point on, Burgess, care of the mailroom of WBZ, would receive hundreds of objects of natural history, some still living.) He also announced the start of a series of guest speakers. These would be:

• November 11: Arthur Loveridge of the Zoological Society of London on "Spitting Snakes."
• November 25: John C. Phillips of the Boston Society of Natural History
• December 16: W. Sprague Brooks, curator of birds at the Boston Society of Natural History, on "Arctic Spring."
• December 23: Dr. Harold L. Babcock, of the Boston Museum of Natural History, on "New England Turtles."

The speakers would be allotted fifteen minutes at the beginning of the program and would speak from a remote hook-up at the Hotel Brunswick in Boston. The normal question/experience format would resume afterwards. Burgess would now call shows without speakers, "experience meetings."

The Radio Nature League's central scientific project began on October 14. On that program, Burgess spoke at length about research being conducted by Dr. Alfred O. Gross at Bowdoin College on the ruffed grouse. The population of the grouse, a favorite New England game bird, had crashed and Gross and his colleagues were looking for samples of grouse intestines to check for parasites. For the rest of the fall (and repeatedly during the grouse's open season throughout the remaining years of the RNL) Burgess would call for grouse intestines (along with instructions on how to pack them for the mail) and also update listeners on research findings. According to TWB's autobiography, the RNL became the best source of specimens for the Gross project, contributing "some two thousand." (He also notes, a tad resentfully, that "wives often proved to be better sports than their husbands, the latter proving too uninterested to co-operate in preserving their favorite sport." (p. 148)) The grouse project received national attention, evidence of the "possibilities of radio as a direct and practical aid to science." (Hartford Courant, January 6, 1926). On December 2, another (successful) request went out to listeners for white weasel specimens, to aid an exhibit at the Boston Museum of Natural History.

The Radio Nature League had also attracted the attention of public officials. On December 9, the program held a special "Connecticut School Nature Party." This was organized with the help of Russell F. Lund, supervisor of the elementary school agriculture and nature study in Connecticut and featured a special message from Conn Governor, John H. Trumbull.

Finally, September, 1925 marked the beginning of a new Burgess Sunday newspaper feature, the "Burgess Radio Nature League." This feature, syndicated throughout the nation, drew directly from RNL radio scripts and offered a different channel into League participation.

Next: Burgess Radio Nature League

Radio Nature League (1925 June-August)

Note: The Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center lacks scripts for meetings held on June 3, July 1, and August 19, 1925. There were no meetings on July 29, August 12 and August 26. The Boston Daily Globe lists the program as "Radio Nature Story by Thornton W. Burgess" at 7:32 (after the baseball scores).

According to Marcel LaFollette's Science on the Air (2008), two things happened during the summer of 1925 that would change the Radio Nature League dramatically. First, the Literary Digest (with circulation over a million), ran a story about the League in its June 6 issue. This would give it national exposure and credibility. Second, Burgess became friends with Austin Clark of the U.S. National Museum (the Smithsonian Institute), who had his own science-related radio program. The Smithsonian connection provided Burgess with a place to send mysterious natural objects for identification.

In June and July new concerns emerge:

• June 10 he rails against automobile drivers who vandalize and litter the countryside.
• He also expresses distress in hearing reports of boys who have been shooting at song birds. (They are not cruel but unthinking).
• June 17, he delivers an impassioned plea for the welfare of trees. [He also announces that a lumber concern (better conservationists than the general public) had just donated $100 to his program.]
• He also reports approvingly of a Springfield firm that will no longer use roadside billboards for advertising (he proposes an honor roll of such firms).
• June 24, in response to a correspondent, he expresses disapproval of the wearing of fur.
• July 8, he reads the copy from a Connecticut Valley Lumber Co. (his unnamed donor?) poster about forest fire prevention, blaming careless smokers in particular.
• July 22, finally, an issue emerges that may sound unimportant but would actually consume hours and hours of Radio Nature League time in the years ahead. Do snakes take their young into their mouths for the purpose of protection? (More on that in a future post!)

Clark and Burgess would work with members of the Boston Society of Natural History to put together a "clearing house" of speakers on natural history, to be shared on each others' radio programs. Clark, himself, would be the very first Radio Nature League guest speaker, on butterflies, August 5. LaFollette (2008) also marks the summer of 1925 as the first time Burgess would use the program for the purposes of science, asking his listeners to report on any instances of white herons they observed. This appeal was apparently made on August 19.

Next: Radio Nature League (1925 September to December).

Radio Nature League (1925 March-May)

Note: By March 4, 1925, Thornton Burgess had been officially allotted at least twenty minutes of time for Radio Nature League "meetings." This is not reflected in the Boston Daily Globe radio listings, which still have him at ten minutes (7:05-7:15) until April 8, when "Nature Study by Thornton W. Burgess" is listed for 25 minutes (7:05-7:30). The Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at BU is missing scripts for March 18 and April 22 (the meetings were definitely held--Burgess referred to them in later episodes). Mrs. Burgess filled in for her husband on March 25. On May 20, the Radio Nature League moved to its definitive time-slot, Wednesday nights at 7:30 (The Boston Daily Globe mistakenly lists him from 6:30 to 8.)

March through May, 1925

The Radio Nature finally reached its target membership figure of 10,000 on March 11, though Burgess (and his wife when she filled in) would still aggressively solicit new members. (There were no broadcasting ratings services at this point--the only way to count audiences was by correspondence). By the end of May, the count would be 16,000 (Burgess thinks it should be "16 million.")

Some perennial Radio Nature League concerns also began during this period:

• On March 11, one could hear Burgess deliver his first plea against the picking and marketing of the trailing arbutus.
• On March 25, Mrs. Burgess made clear one of the main purposes of the league--to prevent the extinction of American wildlife. The fate of the passenger pigeon would be used repeatedly as an example of what can happen, and also as an argument against people who deny the culpability of hunting in such extinctions. On May 27, Burgess would connect the sorry state of the heath hen to the story of the passenger pigeon.
• On April 15, he announces a new membership category: gold stars for people who create bird sanctuaries.
• On April 29, Burgess asks Boy and Girl Scouts to help remove the nests of tent caterpillars that are harming roadside beauty (this would become a full-fledged crusade the following year).
• On May 13, he makes his first remarks against the indiscriminate killing of snakes. The categorization of entire species, even families, of wildlife as "vermin" would be a constant complaint of his.

Concerns about RNL finances begin to crop up. On March 25, Mrs. Burgess mentions an idea to make the club "self-sufficient" by offering membership certificates and other club paraphernalia--enough to hire a staff stenographer to handle the voluminous correspondence. On April 29, Burgess begins to actively solicit donations, not for the Radio Nature League but for a local Springfield "Bird Hospital" run by two school teachers. (He had introduced the League to the work of the hospital (via the mascot of a blind American goldfinch) at the Sixteen Acres School on April 22 (the script is missing).) [Note: Burgess knew Sixteen Acres School well--it was one of the Hornaday medal winners in the People's Home Journal Bird Sanctuary Campaign] He would accept but not actively solicit donations for the RNL itself. There were no membership certificates until the Brewer-sponsored show in 1935.

Burgess would call on League members for other actions as well, including donations to support a warden in Nova Scotia to protect nesting birds, and the clearing of gooseberry bushes by Boy Scout members to protect white pine.

Next: Radio Nature League (1925 June-August)

Radio Nature League ( 1925 January-February)

Note: Initially, if listings in the Boston Daily Globe are accurate (I have my doubts), the Radio Nature League was held during the old "Bedtime Story" period (Wednesday nights from 7:05-7:15 on WBZ). The Globe only occasionally notes TWB's participation sometimes listing it as "Radio Nature Story". There appears to have been some slack in the schedule (or inaccuracy on the Globe's part), however; Burgess sometimes refers to speaking for fifteen and then twenty minutes. (The programs consistently following on WBZ at 7:15 are listed as: "Information Concerning Civil Service Exams" or "At the Theatres.")

January - February 1925

The Radio Nature League was formally established on January 7, 1925 (see earlier post). On January 14, the very first meeting of the Radio Nature after its foundation, Thornton Burgess was absent. Filling in was his wife, Fannie, using a script written especially for her by her husband. ("Mrs. Burgess" would become a regular fill-in for Mr. Burgess when he was away lecturing and would later be a character in various dramatizations.) In the script (prepared by her husband, please remember) Mrs. Burgess relates, in vivid tones, how excited her husband was about the foundation of the league. Much of the program is devoted to reading names of charter members from each state as well as new school members. She continues the aggressive solicitation of new members.

On January 21, the Radio Nature League "meeting" moved to 7:05 (the Sleep Fairy would no longer be part of the program on Wednesday nights). Burgess continues the list of charter members. It would include listeners in Lancashire and Cheshire, England in addition to 29 states, the District of Columbia, five Canadian provinces and Bermuda. The total membership now stood at over 4000, including schools and clubs (one correspondent is a teacher who has invited students without their own radio to her home to listen to the broadcasts). Burgess introduces a new category: "silver star" members, who pledge to feed wild birds.

On January 28, the membership count was "just under 4500." Burgess reinforces the "meeting" framework, formally calling the meeting to order. There were now 400 silver star members. He reports telegrams of support (and enrollment) from William L. Finley, William T. Hornaday, and Harry C. Oberhalsen of the USDA Biological Survey.
(The Boston Daily Globe lists "Radio Nature Story" for WBZ 7:05-7:15, though Burgess promises not to keep his listeners "over 15 minutes.")

On February 4, Burgess sets the target for membership at 10,000. He spends most of the program responding to members' questions, including advice about keeping "Happy Jack" away from bird feeders. He asks the membership to write legislators to extend the protection of the Bob White in Connecticut.
(The Boston Daily Globe lists "Radio Nature Story" for WBZ 7:05-7:15)

By February 11, the program has begun to settle into its format. Burgess will generally spend most of the program relating and responding to experiences and questions sent in by League members. On some evenings he will prepare a longish lecture on a particular animal (e.g., squirrels on February 18). He responds positively to listeners expressing anti-hunting sentiments. By February 25, the membership count stood at "almost 8000," though erroneous news reports (e.g., one in the Syracuse Herald on February 22) would place the number as high as 20,000.

On February 18, Burgess introduced a new category: "red star" members who pledged to build bird houses. The following week he referred them to USDA Farmer's Bulletin #609 for instructions on how to build one. He also, lest listeners think he only cared about birds, drew their attention to people who damage road-side beauty by breaking branches from pussy willow trees.

Of particular interest during this period are personal questions posed to Burgess by readers. On January 7, for example, he assures a correspondent that it actually is he, Thornton Burgess, that is speaking. On the other hand, on February 25, despite his fame as a children's book author, he feels obliged to spell his name for listeners (cards had been coming into WBZ addressed to "Burroughs" and "the bird man"). On the January 14 program hosted by Mrs. Burgess, he has his wife offer a description of what he looks like--not the white bearded old man (John Burroughs) some apparently imagined. This attention to Burgess himself would wane over the course of the first year.

Next: Radio Nature League (1925 March-May)

Bedtime Story Radio Talks (1924)

Some technical stuff first: The Burgess radio script collection at The Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University begins with "Radio Talk" script #2, dated November 26, 1924. It is in poor condition, is missing pages, and the place where the number should be is torn off. (I only know it is script #2 because the script from the following week is numbered #3). Luckily, the condition of scripts improves from that point on. The collection lacks script #1 --my date of November 19 is an assumption that still needs final confirmation. A story in the Syracuse Herald from November 16 (mentioned in an earlier post) suggests that the talks had already begun by that date (with a discussion of myths around wolves). The Bedtime Story period (including the Sleep Fairy's story) was Wednesday night from 7:05-7:15.

Here are the scripts in the collection:

Talk #2 (November 26, 1924). Theme: "Mother Nature's Sleepy Heads"

Talk #3 (December 3, 1924). This is the episode mentioned in a previous post when Farmer Brown's Boy makes an appearance.

Talk #4 (December 10, 1924). Theme: "Billy Mink." Sign on is: "This is Mr. Burgess speaking for Old Mother Nature." As recounted in his autobiography, Burgess is thrilled that the first answer to his "shrews into whale" math problem comes from Manchester, England. Burgess plays a trick on the Sleep Fairy.
(The Boston Daily Globe lists "Nature Story by Thornton W. Burgess" on WBZ from 7:05 to 7:15)

Talk #5 (December 17, 1924). Theme: "Reindeer ." No Sleep Fairy story, instead a live hook-up with Santa Claus from the North Pole.
(The Boston Daily Globe lists "Radio Nature Story by Thornton W. Burgess" on WBZ from 7:05 to 7:15)

There was no Radio Talk on December 24--Burgess read a special Christmas story, "The Joy of the Beautiful Pine." The HGARC lacks the December 31 script in which Farmer Brown's Boy proposed the foundation of the Radio Nature League.

As you can tell, the "Bedtime Story Radio Talk" era was a short, transitional period. Although the shows revolved around a specific theme, Burgess was already encouraging interaction with correspondents (he recruited one girl, e.g., to report when a local woodchuck awoke in the spring). He was also surprisingly loose on the air (judging by the scripts at least), especially in his interaction with the Sleep Fairy. On December 10, for example, the script details a mild joke in which Burgess has the Sleep Fairy whisper on-mic a reminder to finish the program on time and pretends that he doesn't know that the audience could hear her. (He reports correspondence the next week indicating that the joke was a big success).

[UPDATE: Apparently the telegram from England that so thrilled TWB was a source of great confusion to the directors of WBZ. All it said was "Fifty-two and a half million shrews equal whale" without any other context. According to a syndicated news story, the directors thought the message was in code until they remembered Burgess's natural history talk. Also, the fact that there were listeners from England may be a byproduct of an International Radio Test held during the last week in November].

Next: Radio Nature League (1925 January-February)

Thornton Burgess radio scripts, an overview

Marcel LaFollette's recent (2008) book, Science on the Air, provides a good overview of the history of the Radio Nature League. (You can read large portions of it via Google Books.) She draws heavily from correspondence between Burgess and Austin Clark of the Smithsonian. I don't know many radio scripts she had access to; I imagine there were a few copies included in the Burgess-Clark correspondence. I am indebted to her account for any behind-the-scenes context I provide. You can hear a conversation with her about the book on Mark Lynch's Inquiry program on WICN.

The radio scripts in the Thornton Burgess collection at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University can be divided into five periods. (Note: the dates ranges below indicate the scripts available in the collection. These may or may not correspondent to the date ranges of the actual programs).

1. Bedtime Story Radio Talks (WBZ November 26,1924 to December 17,1924) These were weekly ten minute talks on a variety of natural history topics. The "Sleep Fairy" bedtime story directly followed. (Note: Burgess began to appear on WBZ earlier in 1924; the numbered scripts in the HGARC begin November 26, with episode #2. Presumably, the talks began on November 19.)

2. Radio Nature League (WBZ/WBZA January 7, 1925 to August 2, 1930 with periodic breaks). These were weekly ten-minute to thirty-minute programs that featured Burgess recounting experiences and answering questions from RNL members. Some of the programs included guest speakers. This is the largest part of the collection.

3. Burgess Radio Talks (WBZ/WBZA-NBC November 27, 1933-December 29, 1934). These were weekly fifteen minute talks that also featured Burgess recounting experiences and answering questions from correspondents. The "League" framework was absent, however, and Burgess used the forum to promote his books and personal causes (e.g., anti-steel trap regulations). (Note: The HGARC lacks a script for the first show (November 20, 1933) and any scripts from January and early February 1935. It is during this period presumably that the new Brewer-sponsored format was established).

4. Radio Nature League on the Sun Glow Program (WBZ/WBZA-NBC and other New England stations, February 13, 1935-January 7, 1936. These were highly-produced weekly and twice-weekly half-hour programs that featured dramatizations of Burgess's and RNL members' experiences, as well as a rotating cast of visiting characters. The "League" framework was formally re-introduced but only a small amount of time was devoted to member experiences and questions. The program was sponsored by Brewer & Co., a Worcester, MA pharmaceutical firm. "Sun Glow" was a brand of cod liver oil. (Note: February 6--not in the collection--is presumably the date when Burgess announced the return of the Radio Nature League. January 7, 1936 is the last script in the collection from this period. It is unclear whether the program remained on the air after this date.)

5. Good Neighbors Club (WSPR February 7, 1939-July 4, 1939). Burgess briefly returned to the air on a program sponsored by the Women's Auxiliary of the Springfield branch of the SPCA. The format featured correspondents' experiences and questions and included some promotion of the SPCA's causes.

Next: Bedtime Story Radio Talks (1924)

Scripted Radio

I've just finished my month-long review of the radio scripts in the Thornton W. Burgess collection at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University. I'll post about my discoveries over the course of the next two weeks or so. For now, I just wanted to say a little about the state of the collection and the nature of the scripts.

The documents in the collection are scripts, not transcripts. This is an important distinction. There are no audio recordings that I know of, thus we only have a record of what Burgess planned to say on the air, not what was actually said. Nevertheless, I am fairly confident Burgess kept to the scripts. First, he made notations on some scripts indicating omissions or sections "not used," suggesting that everything else was used. Second, he would include jokes and putatively off-hand comments in the scripts as well. (A particularly favorite device was the pretense that his producer was looking at him impatiently, requiring him to end the show). On the other hand, there are shows that undoubtedly did not go according to script--in his autobiography, Burgess relates one show in which he had to leave the microphone for an extended period in order to capture an escaped snake.

The HGARC collection is remarkably complete for the first run of the Radio Nature League (Jan 1925 to August 1930). It is very spotty for later runs, especially the sponsored Brewer "Sun Glow" Radio Nature League in 1935 and 1936. Here the script collection only provides a sample of programs, nothing comprehensive. Some key scripts are also missing, evidently pulled from the collection because of their significance. Unless the scripts show up elsewhere, I don't know what specifically "Farmer Brown's Boy" proposed in the week before the foundation of the League in 1925, or how Burgess explained why his show suddenly had a sponsor in 1935.

The collection is mostly (very fragile) carbon copies, but there are quite a few originals (on more stable paper, thankfully) with notations and last minute revisions. One very common notation, penciled in the margins, is "used on Sunday"--Burgess recycled the Radio Nature League scripts as material for his weekly Sunday newspaper columns (more on that in future posts). He would also pencil in thank yous for donations received after the script had been prepared and last minute schedule changes (there would be quite a few). Other notations indicate where copies or originals had been sent (he sent quite a few copies to KDKA--the chief station in the Westinghouse group at the time) and quite a few originals seem to have been gathered up and sent to the "Radio Institute" in 1936.

The scripts also indicate that Burgess did some of his own sound effects--specifically, bird calls. In later years, Burgess would rely on the advanced bird calling skills of Edward Avis. In the early years, when the script called for the "phebe" song of a chickadee, e.g., the script simply indicates "whistle." Two other calls that Burgess would do were "yellowlegs" (remember his long account of marsh hunting) and "screech owl." The last proves Burgess was a real birder (this is a call used to flush birds from their hiding places).

Next: Thornton Burgess radio scripts, an overview