“SETH PARKER”

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18632, 16 February 1935, Page 8

“SETH PARKER”

A EADIO ROMANCE “TANGLE OF GOSSIP AND FICTION’’ LORD’S STRANGE STORY Onn of 1)10 strangest ocean dramas of recent years has just been enacted by the schooner Seth Parker anil FLM.A.B. Australia. Phillips .Lord and his ship have been the subject of much discussion and criticism in the United States, -but. at least one paper—Radioland—defends him, arid claims to have dug the kernel of truth from the bewildering tangle of gossip and 'fiction concerning him and the cruise of his ship. The good ship 'Seth Parker, slates Radioland, nearly foundered on the rocks of vicious rumour and distorted fact which have lain in the wake of its trip around the world. These rumors have attacked Phillips Lord’s character, have given groundless reasons for the withdrawal of his sponsor, and have declared that a break impended between Lord and the'National'Broadcasting -Company of New York. -Phillips Lord - was the creator of Seth Parker, a lovable old American, who delighted millions of radio listeners. lie set out on his romantic-round-the-world cruise in an endeavour to win back the adulation of 4,000,000 radio fans. -Hundreds of letters have come to the National Broadcasting Company pathetically demanding to know if old Set It Parker was not what ho pretended to lie. The reports had it that as soon ns Lord emerged from the character of (lie 72-year-old Sell) Parker he'became his .12-year-old self. Drinking parties aboard the ship trouble with the crew, and clashes with authorities were a, few of (he things alleged against him. 1 NCUIMPLE 'ROMAN'T IXTST. The present cruise started after Lord hade made his first million dollars from radio. Old Seth Parker suddenly doffed his ancient cutaway, shoved oft his whiskers, donned a natty uniform, and sailed away, leaving his radio followers in silence. Perhaps this was what his 4,000,000 fans first objected to. They were hurt. Then came tlu breath of scandal, which confused them arid sent protests pouring into New York. They were unprepared when young Phillips Lord stepped out ol his old fashioned Yankee charactei and became himself, a normal, gregarious, young modern with tastes of his Own and a life of his own which had little to do with Seth Parker.

'‘‘lt’s the old ..story,” sighed one N.8.-C. executive, “of the artist’s private life, and that side which he shows to the public.” In this ease howeyer, the story has more drama, color, human striving, and mistakes than is usual in such conflicts.

Lord’s -background may have had a good deal to do with it. He was born the son of a pooi Congregational minister in Connecticut, and after graduating in 1025 he tried business, school teaching, and writing, but failed in all of them Meanwhile, he had married and become the father of two children. In ordei to keep his family from going hungry he went to work in a confectioner’s shop, and it was while here that hi heard a radio broadcast of a sketch that was a “take-off” on New England life. lIIc wrote a protest to the station concerned, and was told that if he could do apy better he should go ahead, die did. 'He recalled the Sunday hymn meetings in the home of his father, and lie wrote a radio sketch of his boyhood memories in Connecticut and Maine. He was put. on the air and proved popular from the start. Later the ISLB.C. took him over, ami lie started on the way to his first mil lion dollars. Lord was and is an incurable romanticist, and has young ideas as to what the world contains. In 1923 he started talking of hj.s plan to get a ship, sail around the world, and check up on all the tales he had believed as a boy. Tie wanted to find the East Indian tree that, kills .a maiden once a year by- crushing her in its crotch, the buried ruby that means death to anyone who tries to get, it pirate gold in the Caribbean, sea serpents in the South Seas, Mandalay, Bali, Tahiti, Callao. HOLY 'RUMORS. Lord purchased n four-masted schooner of ancient-construction, reehristened it the Seth -Parker, and laid plans for a two-year voyage around the world. Because of the Seth Parker reputation and wide publicity given to the trip, supply and equipment firms tumbled over one another for the privilege of stocking young Lord’s romantic schooner. It is reported that ho received £20,000 in supplies and equipment, gratis for the publicity the firms concerned would receive in return. Also, the N.B.C. installed a £2400 1kilowatt short-wave broadcasting set. ©ad luck anil ugly rumour dogged' Lord from the start. The iSetli Parker had hardly cleared Portland when shore whispers told of an alleged gay fare\yell party given on the last night during which .a bibulous State legislator tried to “belay the microphone with a bottle of rum.”

The ship sailed down tho Atlantic coast to Florida, where Lord broadcast special programmes for a well-known firm. The character of (he broadcast was to he salty, the programmes to emphasise the romanticism of the hardy sea trip. On the. heels of the Portland rumour came charges that the crew ■was “inadequate,” tho boat, “uninsured,” and the engines “faulty.” Furthermore, Captain Lord was accused of not sharing the homely life of the sailors but of putting up at de luxe hotels when the boat reached port and spending his time revelling. 'There was also criticism that Lord’s programmes were not broadcast, as advertised. At Norfolk, for instance, he broadcast a marriage between the ship’s engineer and a Manhattan girl, instead of the scheduled one betvtcon two Norfolk negroes. Criticism was also levelled at him because he brought a quartet of trained negro singers from New York and is alleged to have tried to “palm them off” as natives of the southern ports ho touched. By the time he reached Jamaica, the “'Seth Parker Disaster” was ripe to became the talk of radioland. Storms ■broke over and before him. Some of the stories were sensational. There are many versions of what happened lifter the Seth Parker said farewell to the United States at Miami and headed seaward towards the Great Adventure. A cloak of mystery seems to have enshrouded the whole affair. Carl

Pryor, a motion picture operator in the West. Indies and an aide to Lord, brought back one story. He admits his ombit torment towards Lord. “After we left Miami,” said Pryor, “we took on supplies at Bimini and dropped off two of llie three young women singers aboard, the third remaining ms a stewardess. Then our engines started acting up and we drifted for two weeks in the Caribbean, finally reaching the tiny island of Jnaqua in the Bahamas. At first they would not let us land in our speed boat because it was British territory. Then Lord encountered trouble with a pilot over fees for bringing the se.hooner in. After that the natives were insulted because, during a broadcast, lie described them ,ps “wild and primitive. ” Our next stop was off the north coast of Haiti. Here there was real trouble. When we pulled anchor we also pulled up a South Atlantic communications cable, doing damage estimated at 75,000 dollars. La Pori an Prince, while we were making movies, a. night flare exploded, seriously burning two of the ship’s crew and two native girls. Then the cook became exasperated with general conditions and in the middle of the meal jumped overboard and started swimming for the shore. Then the crew mutinied. ” About this time. Pryor said, he got tired of it nil and left the expedition In Jamaica it was announced that the N.P..C. would stand loyally behind its artist. An official said that it Lord erred ii was m judgment, lie was young and full of ideas and inexperience. He plobably got a lit lie too cockv with British officials and the American consular authorities in the West Indies. He could Hike it, however, and would learn his lesson. Tn conclusion, Radioland states that, the N.B.C.’s attitude is one of “Come home, all is forgiven.”