 The DuPont Company presents the Cavalcade of America. Speaking for the DuPont Company, radio's distinguished commentator, Gabriel Heeter. Good evening, everyone. I suppose one name dominated all conversation at your house today. Old Chris Kringle, Santa Claus. Young and old alike are rich tonight in a spirit which Santa Claus and his reindeer leave behind. But have you ever paused to realize these legends came to us out of an old world? We hadn't until just before Christmas. It was a question from a little girl named Janet that made us realize it. I have listened to your stories every Monday night and like them very much, but they're all true stories. I like true stories, but I like fairy stories too. Father said you couldn't do a fairy story because none of the fairy stories are about America. Aren't there any fairy stories about America? Well, Janet, we won't have to go very far to find just that kind of story. It's the lusty tale of Paul Bunyan, a legend which came down out of our own north woods out of lumber camp. One of our learned professors says, Paul Bunyan is the one genuine folk figure which America has produced of purely native and non-European origin. The legend of Paul Bunyan lives in so many hearts up in our lumbering country. The little city of Bemidji in Minnesota holds a Paul Bunyan carnival every year. And this year it will come on January 19th and continue for four days. And you'll find visitors who come from every part of America. Come to a winter carnival, come to see demonstrations of logging equipment used in Paul Bunyan's time and to join in fine sport and real American fun. And presiding over it all is a huge statue, a model of Paul Bunyan. And nearby, a model of his famous blue ox, babe, 14 feet high. But first, Don Burris and the DuPont Cavalcade Orchestra play us as a holiday overture, the parade of the wooden soldiers. Now, Janet, you'd like to hear a regular American legend, would you? Yes, yes, Mr. Chalmers, I would. Well, this isn't American legend, Janet. And it's uniquely American too. Because you see, Paul Bunyan couldn't have happened anywhere else on earth except right here. Why, Paul was so big that a good-sized pine tree would just brush around his ankles. But where did he live? Wherever the trees were cleared away, Janet, and that was all over America. You see, Paul Bunyan belongs to the lumbermen in the logging camps. The northern border states from Minnesota to Oregon all claim him, Canada too. All lumberjacks agree that he was nursed on pine pitch and the gum of spruce trees. Now, just imagine that. And that his cradle was hung between two giant oak trees on the sides of two high hills and swung over the valley below. My, what a big baby. Big? Why, once he kicked in his sleep and ruined four whole miles of the best timber in the country. Then they tried floating his cradle in the ocean, anchored it off Eastport, Maine. But it was so big it started a tidal wave in the Bay of Fundy that washed away half a dozen Seacoast towns. His poor mother and father didn't know what to do with him. But he had a regular father and mother? Just like all the other men and women who lived in the great forests. But even with all the trouble they'd had, they worried just like any father and mother. For as he grew older, they began to notice Paul was getting restless in the old home. They used to talk about it a lot around the fire of an evening. When Mrs. Bunyan would be standing at the window waiting for Paul to come in from the woods. Nearly six o'clock, Paul. Where can Paul be? Oh, my, Paul's getting to be a big boy now. He can take care of himself. Such a big boy. Sometimes it worries me. Seems like every time I look at him, he's three feet taller. More like six. It was bad enough for me how to use the lumber wagon for a baby carriage. But now, now you got every woman in the village weaving cloths to keep him fresh. Last night, he snored. Neighbors across the valley nearly died of fright. So it was a nice quake. Now, Paul, oh, well, I'm sorry. He's a good boy, I guess. Mighty handy with an axe. Chopped three winters wood for us in one day. Oh, Paul, here comes Paul now. But, Paul, he's got something with him. Last time, it was a bull moose he carried home for a pet. I wonder why. Good grief. Quiet, baby. Are you in here? Oh, Paul, don't lose your temper. Hello, mom. Oh, my boy, my baby boy, where have you been? What in creation is that preacher outside? You mean you've forgotten? Forgotten? Forgotten what? Don't you remember the year I was born? The snow was blue. And the old lady told Ma about the blue ox cat that I was to harness up and go away with. Well, that's him outside. All right, babe, I'll be with you in a minute. Oh, Paul, my baby boy. No longer, Ma. I got work to do. Getting the trees down to the plains where they'll need them to build it. Paul, it seems like just yesterday, I couldn't find buttons for your little baby clothes. And the lady's age society collected the wheels off their husband's wheelbarrows. Oh, now, Ma. Mothers don't like that, Paul. Goodbye, son, and good luck. Goodbye, Paul, and goodbye, mother. Don't worry, please don't. I'm sorry. Goodbye, son. God bless you. Goodbye. Get up, please. Paul Bunyan go actually said goodbye to his mother and father. While he headed toward the big forest with his faithful blue ox babe leading the way. Babe was only a calf then, but he was already 10 times as big as the biggest bull anyone had ever seen. And when babe got tired, Paul Bunyan would just tuck him under his arm and carry him. I think Paul Bunyan must have felt very lonely being so big. He did, Janet. But one day he stopped to rest on the mountain. And looking across at another mountain, spied a man almost as big as he was sitting there. The man was writing figures on a cliff with a tremendous huge lead pencil. Paul Bunyan stood up and shouted across to him. Hey, what's your name? Johnny H. Linger. And how might you be? Paul Bunyan's my name. This is my faithful ox babe. And what are the marks you're making, ass danger? They're figures. I just invented them. They're for keeping track of things. But I haven't anything to keep track of. Then you'd better travel along with me, stranger. I am going to do a lot of work. And I'm going to need someone to keep track of it all. I'm your man, Paul Bunyan. So Paul Bunyan bathed the blue ox, and then you found friend Johnny H. Linger set out together. And after they'd gone over 100 miles or so, they came to a little cabin in the woods. Paul almost stepped on it before he noticed what it was. Two or three frightened little men were peering out of the window. Come outside, meet me and my traveling partner. Come outside, meet me and my traveling partner. Y'all don't be scared. I've got a proposition to make to you. I don't think you'll want to miss it. You better come out. You're too big for these parts. You're ruining our timber. You faddle. You faddle down. A good 40 acres of my apartment. Hey, that's enough of that, big fella. You blown the roof off my cabin. Oh, no, I'm sorry, friend. Really, I am. Now look, I'm only Paul Bunyan. Never farmed anybody in my life. And this is me. Hey, hold on. I gave him a tramp over there. Steady, babe, steady. And this is Johnny H. Linger. He's my bookkeeper. Sir, what's a big clumsy tender foot like you want with a bookkeeper? Now take it easy, friends. Tell me, what do you do here if you earn your sourdough? Hunting and fishing mostly, and minding our own business. Well, that's what I thought. Now, what would you think of doing something else? Like tearing off this timber and getting it down to playing for the needs of it? You could make a lot of money. Sure. Wouldn't we like to do that, partner? Sure. And how are we going to get the logs down there? Maybe this tender foot can tell us. Or maybe the clumsy arcs. I wouldn't be too hasty if I were you, friend. You leave the details to me. You want to get on my payroll or not? How do I know you treat us right? Well, I'll pay good soon as we get started. You see, you'll help cut the trees, and babe and me will blow them down the river. Of course, I'll leave more men than just you. There's plenty of strong men in these parts. Here come some of them now. They must have seen you heading up this way. Well, I'm glad to see your friends gather up. I've just been telling your partners here. I've got a job for any man with a good strong pair of hands. We can build the finest lumber cat in the world right here. If you want to come along with me. What's the point, stranger? We need the timber to keep warm. There is more timber here, more in the waste, than a million like you can use. We'll start this logging industry, and everybody will hear about it. We'll fill the rivers and streams with the logs we cut. Mills will start running, turning down there and wake up people. Why we'll build a hundred of the greatest cities this side of the seven planets? Now, who's with me? I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. All right, you tell us, spread the word. Send for men. Now, they don't need to be as big as me and Johnny, but I was rootin', tootin', lusky, trusty, father to men. Now, let's start the work. Bunyan, keep track of so many men. Well, Johnny Eastlinger helped him, but Paul had trouble finding a good foreman. He tried out some of his straw bosses, Pete Peterson, Sharpe Gunderson, Chris Cross Hall, Lars Larson, Jens Jensen, good men, all of them, but not good enough for such a big job. So, Paul Bunyan sent out words that he needed a good foreman. Then one fine day when Paul was talking to one of his men, they heard a noise that sounded like thunder. A thunder storm comin' up. More like a big fellow walking. Fellow nearly as big as you, boss. Hey, there's a girlin' who we are. And who's they so? Me, Paul Bunyan. Come to see Paul Bunyan. They was early Earths and greatest logger in Sweden. Well, only I'm glad to see her. I've been neat, my sizable man, like you. From a farm all the way to Sweden, the world comes. But I come first to look you over. This your camp? Sure, when do you wanna start? Maybe now, maybe not. Oh, don't I look like a good man to work for? You look all right. Foreman needs strong workers more than strong men. Oh, so that's what worrying is. Come along with me, oldie. I'll show you around the camp. Big Onion River. That's Chris Crawford. Hey, Chris! Look at that. Chris can spin a 70-foot log underfoot so fast that the log slides out of the bar. Now watch. Chris walks the shore on the bubble. That's not that safe. How much business you got? Oh, well, come along over here to Johnny's slinger shack. Johnny, drop that right. Ah! He'd only owe you. And to me, Charlie. Ah! Johnny owns the book for this plant. Takes the bucket for gaze of 30 men to keep the dink well filled. Not bad. Johnny, what am I going to do? Perform one of my dreams and he says, not bad. Well, I think you got an idea. OK, Johnny. Come along, Mr. Olson. We'll show you the cook-hounds. They make big siren in the camp. Look at that, there. Oh! Well, oh, what do you think? You ever see a flat jack griddle as big as that one? You can't even see across it when the steam is thick. That does mean they're doing skating under deep tide all over the assistant folks. They skate around on slacks of bacon to grease the griddles. Now, watch that crane up there. That's what they use for pouring batter. And man, is this camp where we use a four-horse team to deliver the salt and pepper from one of our tables to the other. Takes a dozen men to shovel away the coffee rounds every morning after breakfast. Well, only what do you say? This day, they'd be your firm, man. You see, Janet, with only Olson as foreman, with Johnny Inklinger to keep the books, with 10,000 strong, lusty men to cut the logs, and Babe, his trusty blue ox, to haul them to the rivers, Paul Bunyan began to work in earnest. Down 100 rivers to 10,000 mills, his men urged the logs that were the building materials of America's first cities. And whenever a section was cleared, Paul and his giants moved on, pitching camp in virgin forests. You see, Paul Bunyan was fulfilling the prophecy of the blue snow that had fallen, you remember, when he was born. But Olson had come to Paul to be his foreman, not because of a prophecy, but just because of a nature that was as vain as it was honest and strong. Paul began to worry a lot about Olson, and he'd often talk to Johnny Inklinger about it. When Olay gets stubborn, there's nothing you can do. You might as well try to put Upside Down Mountain back on its base. Upside Down Mountain, see, that has a nice section of white pine roll on it, hasn't it? Too bad, nice wood that we could get at it. Probably is all the trees that are growing Upside Down. Hey, Johnny, you've given me an idea. Hey, Olay, Olay Olson. Yes. Yes, Olay. Our thing's going on section 32. Okay, guess what? Well, I just wondered. I was thinking maybe we should go faster. A can handle section 33. All right, Mr. Bunyan. They don't need no suggestion. Of course not. What I was thinking may be what we all need is a little change. Tomorrow I want you to take the man over to section 93. Start logging off the mountain there. You don't mean that mountain board? Yes, I do. What if Upside Under the trees grow down, no place to stand? It's a tough job, but you seem to think you can handle anything. Hey, thank you. Try play trick on me. Try to make me big fool. You've got your orders, Olay. I want you to start clearing the trees off Upside Down Mountain. Tomorrow morning. Well, Janet, the next morning, Olay Olson and his crew gathered in the clearing. But when Paul gave them their final orders, they didn't shoulder their axes and saw as as usual, but just stood there with arms folded facing Paul Bunyan. Well, man, you've got your orders. What are you waiting for? We're sticking with Olay Olson. Say who's boss around here? Olay Olson or Paul Bunyan? You're a boss here, but Olay Olson's going to start another camp and we're going along with him. Olay Olson, is this the truth? There ain't no way to log Upside Down Mountain. And tell men you go crazy. Crazy? Crazy is it? Why you? Listen, Olay Olson, I think this is something that better be settled between you and me. You men stay here. Olay and I will settle this thing up to the hills. I never saw Mr. Bunyan man before. It's going to be a fight. Can you build shoes up a little sideways? Yeah. It's in my bunk. I'll go and get it. Yeah. Get off the tree so I can see better. All right, but hurry, hurry. What's happening, Bill? Eh, who will I get our focused? I guess Paul's been hit. He's staggering a little. That was Olay's jaw. He came back at Paul and got a poke in the chest. What about that big pine, the one we couldn't chop? He's swinging around his ass weeping. He's gone down. He's started an avalanche on the west side of the mountain. Gosh, there's so much dust. I can't see anything now. I'm coming down. Oh, Paul. Oh, Paul Bunyan. He was a great fella, too. Maybe we shouldn't have sided against him. Listen, what's that? It must be Olay Olson. Dust is so thick you can't see. All the way, you huskies. Make way. Very thank you. I feel better now, Mr. Bunyan. That's fine. You take a little nap now, Olay. Tomorrow I'll show you how to. The reason my Paul Bunyan couldn't have gone on forever doing what he was doing, except for one thing. What the fuck? Well, you see, Janet, the day finally came when he couldn't think where he could start work next. He'd spread his industry clean to the Pacific Coast and back again. So he made a long trip alone to look things over, where he found that there was no place left. Returning to camp, he called his men together to bid them farewell. Sadly, he began to tell them what he'd seen. Yes, I made a long trip, then. In fact, the walks upon my feet began to blister. I waded back for the Colorado River just to cool him off a bit. Well, if I had turned it straight out, I just couldn't find a site for another camp. At least not for the size of camp I was. Yes, yes, that's the truth. Might as well face it. Makes me powerful sad after all the time we've worked together. Paul, you're not going to leave us, Mr. Bunyan. Now that's nice of you to look unhappy only, Olson, but I'm afraid there's no cure for it. But we can't get along without you, Mr. Bunyan. But you men must go back to your old lives. Don't you want to settle down and have holes? Well, what about you, Paul Bunyan? What will the Maschelaga do now? Me, Johnny, my life works done, I guess. You see that winter of the blue snow long ago when I was born? Some strangers in the Northwood made a prophecy. Well, that's been fulfilled. We've freed the trees from the long ages of captivity. We've sent them bouncing down into the world to become a part of the cities. I don't like to say goodbye. My pals and my comrades, we've shared a heat together. Hard work, fall talk, and good and loud laughter, where we've cleared to be farms and cities. Yep, I'm going and take Babe with me, but that's all besides the old eggs and bed and rolls. Yeah, Nick! You've got this, Nick! Oh, please, slow. You see, there's not enough room left anywhere for another camp like ours. Stare yourselves out. Goodbye! Goodbye! We've got to get about our duties, boys, even without him. River's high only. Yeah. Hope she don't freeze before you get your logs down, turning cold. Look, look! Over where Paul Bunyan's walking. What's that? It looks like a snow storm. Headin' this way, too. It is snow, but it's blue. It's snow and blue again. Blue snow when he first came into the world, and blue snow the last time anyone ever saw Paul Bunyan. I wish I had known Paul Bunyan. Do you, Janet? Why, my dear? Because he might have lonely one of his stockings to hang up for Christmas. Gabriel Heter with a holiday message from the DuPont Company. It's my privilege each Monday night to bring you a story I found in a wonder world of chemistry. But tonight I bring holiday greetings from people whose daily work is to create the wonders of chemistry. You see, Christmas means giving. The happiness which comes from sharing and giving. The men who live in a wonder world of chemistry are giving all year long. Giving to every home in America, a gift called better living. The year 1938 has been a year of high achievement in chemical research. Millions of us will know better tomorrow because of what it makes possible. Tonight, linked together by a miracle called radio, some 50,000 DuPont employees and their families spread over 48 states from coast to coast or in their homes, near their radios, listening to me bring you their holiday greetings. They're not all chemists, to be sure. Some are foremen, some are mechanics. Some operators, some office workers. Some are salesmen. They're a typical cross-section of America, even as you and I, for the millions who are a living part of our American cavalcade. But they're all a part of our wonder world of chemistry of which better living is born. This radio program is their way of telling you of their pride in America, their faith in America, their promise to lend willing hands and heart to our country's progress, as expressed in their pledge, better thing for better living through chemistry, for the new year and the years to come. Here's Thomas Thomas with a word about next week's program. Next week, the cavalcade of America will tell you the story of an important but little-known figure of the American Revolution. He was John Honeyman, the man who enabled George Washington to cross the Delaware. So until next week, then, at this same hour, good night and best wishes and departs. This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.