GE 1995 Season 2 Episode 8: The Vault
Note: this is not a transcript, but a working draft of the script, so there may be differences in the aired version.
THE VAULT - 8
PAUL: Here I am making my way down through
the dusty cobwebs, the piles of
cigarette butts on the floor ...
there's the giant wreath the BCN
hangs from the building every
Christmas. Down down, to BCN's own
catacombs, down ... to the Vault,
where Ish Lundrigan awaits with some
gem from the corporation's storied
past. What audio treasure have you
unearthed this week, Ish?
ISH: Seeing as this is the last week The
Great Eastern is being carried by
the CBC ...
PAUL: Too bad, hey?
ISH: I'm not sure it was their kind of
show, Paul. Anyway, as this is your
last week in Canadian airspace, I
thought it might be the right time
to play tape of the only other BCN
program ever to be broadcast up
along, "BOIL UP" with Ron Gellately.
PAUL: Ron hosted "BOIL UP" in addition to
the Great Eastern ?
ISH: People worked harder, longer hours
in those days Paul. We've grown
soft.
PAUL: I hear Ron would leave the studio
right after the Great Eastern and
catch the train ...
ISH: Yes. The CN would actually hold the
Bullet for him.
PAUL: Service, eh ?
ISH: By the afternoon, he'd be at his
cabin near Famish Gut, where he
recorded the show himself. So here,
from 1959, here's Ron Gellately.
SFX: TAPE STARTS UP. THEME MUSIC
FOLLOWED BY RON
RON: Come on everybody, come on up in the
country, come on up to the cabin for
... a BOIL UP!
SFX: THEME.
RON: Well, friends, what with a bracing
gale coming off the frigid waters of
Placentia Bay and across the
desolate flat barren, it's a bit
"nippy" up at the old cabin today.
So why don't we just stoke up the
old Franklin, put on the kettle and
get out a deck of cards. Herb
Crocker'll be over presently, we'll
talk about his operation. And I saw
the brother-in-law, Jim Whelan,
wetting the line down to the secret
gullies, so he'll be along with his
accordion, and maybe a few trout for
my breakfast, eh ? Watch your
bobber, Jim ! And if I'm not
mistaken, coming through the door
right now, with a big pot of moose
soup, is the ... "unstoppable",
Olive Halliday.
PAUL: So, he would spend Saturday up at
the cabin, with ... "friends" and
relatives and then ...
ISH: ... he would rush in Sundays and
edit the tapes as best he could in
time for the Sunday Evening
Broadcast on the CBC.
PAUL: And the show was popular, Ish ?
ISH: There was something for everybody in
Boil Up, Paul. But by far, the most
popular feature was "Thirty For
Sixty." Ron would have special
guests - entertainers, politicians,
important figures of the day - over
to the cabin for a game of 120's.
PAUL: That's not a bad idea.
SFX: TAPE
RON: (first effects of the booze)... very
lucky indeed to have Latvians of
such standing as yourself, Mr.
Valdmanis, helping us modernize this
island's economy. Thanks for
telling us about your Baltic
homeland. Well, well, well, who's
that coming through the door now but
Ghislain Dagort, our old friend, and
prefect of St. Pierre. For me,
Ghislain ?
SFX: BOTTLE FULL O' BOO
Here's a half cord of good comfort
from the cold.
PAUL: Must have been a gruelling
production schedule for Ron.
ISH: Yes, eventually the strain took it's
toll.
PAUL: How so?
ISH: He often ... became ... tired.
Tired and emotional. Well here,
later in the program ...
SFX: TAPE RUNNING
RON: (NOT QUITE CONCEALING HIS
DRUNKENNESS ... STILL KEEPING THE
JOLLINESS, THE SMILE) Give and give
and give! I'm sick of it. Day
after day, week after week, making a
public spectacle of myself, it's me
now and Wilbur the monkey. Not
once, not once have I heard "Thanks
Dad", or "Thanks Honey, you are a
saint, a living saint, a martyr, a
martyr to my cause for putting up
with my insufferable sister for
seven long years." Merciful lord,
that woman must be over 300 pounds!
JIM: Sure ... sure you're making the best
kind of money, Ron, and who's paying
for it ... the likes of me, the tax
payer of Newfoundland, and ...
RON: Shut-up, Jim, for the love of god,
just shut-up.
JIM: I won't, I will not shut-up Ron,
because this is something you need
to hear ...
SFX: PUNCHES THROWN, ACCORDION NOISES,
TAPE OFF
PAUL: And so ... cancelled.
ISH: No, no. It was a summer replacement
program, after all, and it's eight
weeks were up.
PAUL: Too bad.
ISH: Programming is a strange and
mysterious science, Paul, I don't
think I could explain it to you in
the time we have available here.
PAUL: Oh, look at that, we have run out of
time, haven't we?
ISH: It flies, Paul. It flies.
PAUL: But we always manage to catch a
little of it, down here with Ish
Lundrigan ...
ISH: In The Vault.