Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Old Time Radio snack Wagon is on its summer break.
We're tuning up the snack Wagon, ordering our ingredients and
preparing to serve you up a new match of old
time radio snacks in our fifth season. In the meantime,
enjoy this second helping of some of our best season
one episodes and we'll be back with our new season
(00:23):
on Monday, September eighth.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hey are you Adam Graham?
Speaker 1 (00:27):
The very same and this is my old Time Radio
snack Wagon.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Welcome to the Old Time Radio snack Wagon, where we
serve up a bite sized portion of old time radio.
And now here's your snack wagon host, Adam Graham.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Welcome to the Old Time Radio snack Wagon. You know
what the news is. In a moment, you're going to
hear the rest of the story. With those words, legendary
radio broadcaster Paul Harvey began his rest of the Story segments,
where he would share obscure, little known, and unusual real
(01:11):
life stories that often had a twist ending. When it
comes to Paul Harvey, the rest of the story is
that while he was the last of the great radio storytellers,
he was not the only one. During the golden age
of radio. Many storytellers, both locally and nationally, filled the airwaves.
The quality varied, but there were some very talented ones
(01:34):
whose work may remind you of Paul Harvey. The greatest
of these was Canadian born writer and narrator John Nesbit.
Nesbit's journey began with the death of his father, who
left him a trunk containing news clippings of unusual stories
from around the world. These clippings sparked Nesbit's interest and
(01:55):
would lead to him ending his first radio series when
he was twenty four, with Headlines from the Past, which
premiered in nineteen thirty five. In nineteen thirty six, he
would begin The Passing Parade, which would be the name
that would stick for the rest of his radio career.
The Passing Parade would continue to air until nineteen fifty
(02:19):
one in a variety of forms, self contained fifteen minute episodes,
at some points aired daily, as others weekly. Sometimes the
Passing Parade would be a segment on a larger program.
I've also read that there was a half hour version
of The Passing Parade, though I've never heard an episode
(02:40):
of that. In addition, The Passing Parade became a series
of short films, with more than seventy being made on
a wide variety of different topics. Has Bet told all
sorts of stories, the strange, unusual, heartbreaking, inspiring, and thought.
(03:00):
One of his best stories was told in Wartime. This
was part of the Johnson Wax Summer program, which featured
not only Nesbet's stories, but the music of Meredith Wilson.
The original air edate is July the twenty first, nineteen
forty two. Let's go ahead and listen, and here is.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
One of the amazing tales on which John Nesbitt's reputation
as a leading storyteller of radio and screen has been based.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Night. It is the story of a tiny newspaper.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Yes, a tiny newspaper, small enough to fit into a
loaf of bread, or be tucked into a peasants wooden shoe,
or to be seen with a copy of it meant prison,
and to have anything.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
To do with the publishing of it meant's death.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Yet the name of the newspaper means life Lalibra Belji
pre Belgium, Live Belgium, Tonight. This newspaper is twenty seven years,
five months.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
And three weeks old, which means that.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
It was first published on February first, nineteen hundred and fifteen,
nineteen fifteen, Belgium conquered by the Germans. Hostages shot against walls,
newspaper editors hanging from public gallows. Belgium lust crushed, destroyed,
the German army's victorious, unbeatable triumphant. Then as now, no
(04:37):
one breathed in Belgium. But what a German spy looked on.
Whenever three men talked together, one.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Of them was a spy.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Yet on the morning of February first, a pretty Belgian
girl appeared at the office of the German governor left
him a.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Perfumed pink envelope.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Quite flattered and fancying that it might be a love letter,
the Governor General opened it.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
It wasn't a love letter.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Inside was a little newspaper, Volume one, number one, La
Libre Belgique, Free Belgium, Live Belgium, a newspaper that cried
out complete loathing for the Germans, blistering contempt for them,
gave the facts about their military reverses, gave the news
of America's growing sympathy, cried out in every sentence that
(05:25):
Germany would one day be destroyed, that Belgium would one
day live again. Who was writing the newspaper? Where was
it being printed? To the German secret police.
Speaker 5 (05:37):
This became a nightmare, for every single.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Week a copy would be delivered to the Governor General himself.
He would find it under his desk, flutter stuck into
his overcoat pocket, lying on the seat of his car,
and week after week, month after month, it went out
to two hundred thousand Belgian people. Every wind began to
distribute it, and wherever it found.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
The reader amid Man took up pole.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
In nineteen sixteen, the Germans employed a celebrated detective from
Berlin to discover the hidden press. He analyzed the paper
of a copy of L Libre belgiqu under the microscope,
found fragments of coal dust on it, followed the trail
to a cellar far below the streets of Brussels, captured
the editor and staff, took them up into the sunlight
(06:26):
and shot them. Then carefully smashed the press to fragments,
melted down every morsel of type.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
The German governor wired Berlin of his triumph.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
He called a banquet of officers to celebrate, and at
the table he received an official envelope from Berlin, a
message of imperial congratulations, but the envelope had been tampered
with a little and folded around the message was a newspaper,
the next edition of L Libre Belge. It had not
(06:55):
missed an issue. Week by week, month by month it
went on nineteen sixteen, passed twelve times. The Germans caught
the printers and editors twelve times. The shots rang out
that ended their lives, twelve times, the newspapers sprang up again.
The Governor General actually had a nervous breakdown, was sent
back to Germany as a completely defeated man, and by
(07:17):
nineteen seventeen every man and woman in Belgium had read
La Libre Beljeque.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
The paper was now being printed in a funeral parlor.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Its press was hidden behind the pile of empty coffins.
The paper and machinery were smuggled to the editor inside
of caskets that were delivered during fake funerals. The sound
of the press was drowned out by volunteers who would
gather to sing melancholy hymns in the funeral chapel. The
twenty third editor was Victor Jordain. He was an old man,
(07:46):
but he could smile for La Libre Belgeque was now
being published in the best hiding place it ever had
yet For the.
Speaker 5 (07:52):
First time a traitor appeared in the Belgian ranks.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
The Germans were given a tip. They raided the funeral
parlor and leveled.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
To the ground.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
In a few hours, Victor Jordain was dead, and so
was L Libre Belgique. That morning, its regular issue did
not appear, and its last editor lay dead. That night,
the new military governor went to the opera. Lying on
his seat in the royal box was a picture of
the Belgian flag. The picture was printed on the front
(08:21):
page of a newspaper, lalbre Belji, issue number one hundred
and forty three, still wept from the press.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
It was also on the first page an editorial and to.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
The undying mortification of the German governor. It was signed
by the name of Victor Jordain, the man who at
this moment was dead.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Who printed the paper now.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
The Germans would never know until they were driven back
in defeats, But it was the wife of Victor Jordaens,
who had secretly received the copy from her husband as
he laid bye, who had taken it to the last
hidden printing press of the underground newspaper there set it
up and printed the entire edition.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
With her own hand.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
That editorial is one of the bravest pieces of newspaper
writing ever printed.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
And it raiss.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
You came and took our lands, and laid waste our
homes and called yourselves our masters.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
But the time will come when we will drive you
out again.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
We will never stop fighting you so long as a
single invader remains on our soil. Two weeks after the
Nazi conquerors rode into Belgium in the year nineteen forty,
they discovered that an underground newspaper was rousing Belgium to
its lost faith, a paper called La Libre Belgi. It
(09:55):
goes on tonight. Despite all the Nazi Gestapo officers in
the land fight. The new punishment of torture before death
is bite princely rewards offered by the helpless conquerors.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
One hundred of these.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Secret newspapers are published over Europe. Now one hundred secret
broadcasts weekly.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
To back them up.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
The Axis conquerors are so nervous over how they receive
the news that even this program, innocent as it is,
and the words I am speaking at this moment are
being carefully taken down somewhere by axis translators and examined
to see if this story hides a secret code. But
(10:35):
there is no secret year. The news is that America
now labors for you, men of Belgium, editors of La
Libre Belge, wherever you are.
Speaker 5 (10:47):
Editors of all the other hidden papers.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Wherever you are. America works day and night.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
The armies are growing, the sacrifices are just beginning, that
the hour will come on. The flags of every three
people will fly over their own soil again. Live Rebelgie,
Free Belgium, Live Belgium, Live, Men of courage everywhere.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Welcome back. I've heard this story several times before, and
each time it moves me. It's such an incredible and
powerful story of courage and the quest for freedom. This
story was told at a time when America had a
long war ahead of it. Remember, Pearl Harbor would certainly
(11:50):
be on the minds of many Americans, but this would
be a long slog and would require fresh inspiration for
that initial passion to endure. And there were many who
tried to offer that inspiration. Some overdid it and over
focused on the war, particularly in nineteen forty two. Yet
(12:11):
as a result of this, there was a steady supply
of stories of courage and bravery over the air, and
not only talking about the current fight, but the ongoing
fight for freedom and human dignity throughout history. It's worth
noting that Nesbit had actually narrated a short film about
La Libre Belgeque that was released in nineteen forty one,
(12:35):
and it was called Out of Darkness. I wasn't able
to find a copy to compare to this radio story.
It doubtless had many similarities, though likely the ending was different,
as the US hadn't entered the war at the time
the film was released. Nesbitt told great war stories, but
many other great stories as well. He spent his life
(12:55):
telling forgotten stories that connected with so many listeners. A
he's a bit of a forgotten figure, but we hope
to hear more of his work on the Old Time
Radio Snackwagon. And remember the part he played in the
Great Passing Parade. It's time for me to close up
the Old Snackwagon, but don't worry, we'll be back with
(13:17):
another serving of old time radio goodness before you know it.
If you want to enjoy some of our longer form podcast.
You can feast away at my website at Great Detectives
dot net. Your emails are also welcome at Adam at
snackwagon dot net.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
The Old Time Radio Snackwagon comes to you from Boise, Idaho.
Your host is Adam Graham. Sound production is by Ryn's
Media LLC. You can listen to past episodes of the
Old Time Radio Snackwagon as well as connect on social
media at our website at snackwagon dot net. Email suggestions
(13:54):
for episodes to Adam at snackwagon dot net. This has
been the Old Time Radio snack Wagon.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Until next time. Goodbye,