Today we arrive at the final broadcast of our mini-series on La Cadena de las Américas, an amalgam of short wave and long wave radio which provided both news and entertainment for listeners over a range of Alaska to Tierra del Fuego at the tip of Argentina.
La Cadena played a vital role in the ultimate defeat of Nazism in World War II. When William Paley, the head of broadcasting at CBS, and Edmund Chester, the broadcaster chosen to head La Cadena, designed the network's scheduling, the eight and a half hours of daily broadcasts were divided between news and entertainment. It was also determined that the entertainment programming would be in both Spanish and English, with a dash of Portuguese when called for. The music of Cole Porter, such as "Begin the Beguine," might be played by the Viva American Orchestra, conducted by Alfredo Antonini. Another English-speaking artist who sang on special broadcasts was born in Weatherford, Texas. She was Mary Martin.
The stars and producers of Viva America programming would often convene at the Carlton Hotel, where you might find Mary Martin, Edie Gourmet, and Maria Grever bumping elbows. It was one such gathering that provided the setting for this amusing story from Edmund Chester's daughter Carolyn... it's a bit of a look inside the Chester family.
Carolyn Chester Lamb: "All my life, I heard the story from my oldest sister Pat and my mother... they had a chauffeur. His name was Raúl or something like that. But anyway, hearing the story about how they were at a party at the Waldorf Astoria, and my sister, who was probably about eight or nine at the time, put on my mother's fur, her high heels, put on lipstick and makeup, and demanded that the chauffeur, and I believe it that they would do it, took her to the Waldorf and the Waldorf Astoria, and she showed up there at the party, and it was just a big roar of laughter, but and that's kind of how she was growing up. It's like I was the country pumpkin, being born in Florida, and she was the New Yorker."
Broadcast performances were live, originating from a number of different venues.
Carloyn Chester Lamb: "The audience that packed the W.O.R. radio theater week after week reflected exactly the hemispheric community Edmund had spent years building: North Americans and Latin Americans side by side, united by the music."
Most of the artists who made the music on La Cadena had moved from their homes throughout Latin America to reside in New York City. The Cuban composer and band leader Ernesto Lecuona enjoyed not only the limelight of performing for an audience of tens of thousands and more, but he was also invited to the Chesters' home, along with Maria Grever and something of a who's who of the 1940s, for an evening now and then of socializing.
On September 30, 1948, La Cadena made their last broadcast, the song "Adios Muchachos" sums up what must have been a very emotional evening. The song might also underscore this final story from Carolyn Chester Lamb, as her mother, preceded in death by her husband, related her final dream:
"I had the strangest dream... Your father came to me in a dream. It was so vivid, Carolina. He said he was going to be taking me to paradise, and it was. I felt like he was there."
Thank you, Carolina, for allowing us to know of your extraordinary father and La Cadena de las Américas.
