FROM S. CHARLES EINFELD [director of publicity and advertising]
Mr. J. L. Warner [on vacation]
4537 Collins Avenue
Miami Beach, Florida
March 20, 1939
Dear Jack:
We're going ahead full steam with plans for [the premiere and
promotional festivities of Dodge City in] Dodge City and I think I can
safely say this is going to be one of the biggest things that has ever been
put on in the history of show business.
The train schedules have been definitely set. The contingent from
Chicago will be in Syracuse, Kansas at 5:30 A.M. Saturday morning.
The two Eastern cars will then be hooked on the Hollywood train and
the complete train will arrive in Dodge City at 10:00 A.M. on
Saturday, April 1st. [Representatives will be coming] from Texas to join
the representatives from New York, Chicago, Hollywood and the mid-
west. ...
You may already know about the N.B.C. [radio] coast to coast
hookup for Saturday night, April 1st. ...
We are going to have a parade and already there are 400 horses
entered and approximately 45 bands. Add to this, stage coaches,
buckboards, Indians, etc., and you'll get some idea of what a spectacle
it will be. Secretary Dunkley of the Chamber of Commerce estimates
that it will be about 4 miles long and take two to three hours to pass.
The hotels in Dodge City have been sold out for 10 days and
every resident has already booked several out-of-town guests for the
weekend. I figure there will be 100,000 people to witness the event.
Sheriff Dowdy okayed deputizing everyone in our delegations and
we have ordered appropriate badges. ...
We've rented the largest room at the hotel which will be
converted into a barroom with Santa Fe porters as bartenders. Besides
the newspaper people in our parties, there will be correspondents of
every description and rank from all over Kansas and Colorado
clamoring for interviews. ...
Our entrance into Dodge City is going to be sensational. Fifty
miles from the town a convoy of 50 decorated planes will sweep down
from the clouds and accompany the train to the depot. Five miles from
town 50 masked horsemen will sweep out from the prairie shooting
guns and pacing the train.
The Governors of two, or possibly three states, together with the
Mayor, Chief of Police, etc., will be in the greeting committee.
We're going to have a beauty contest which should be good for
nation-wide art breaks.
Another terrific attraction will be a rodeo. That is expected to bring out
a minimum of 10,000 customers for the stadium which seats 7000 tops.
The town is adding several hundred additional policemen and
deputies to keep the crowds under control. ...
All the citizens of Dodge City are growing beards. ...
[Record breaking runner] Glenn Cunningham will definitely race
the train into Dodge City. All the guests will stay over night in the
train cars.
All of the party and the citizens of Dodge will wear frontier
costumes.
We definitely expect the Secretary of War, Woodring, and the
Secretary of Agriculture, Wallace, and the President of the U. S.
Chamber of Commerce, Charles E. Baker, to attend. We are taking 7
special policemen with us to take care of the crowds for fear of moral
turpitude. We are also carrying a doctor and nurse-just in case. ...
Hope you're having a nice vacation.
S. Charles Einfeld
P. S. I could have gone on for 15 or 20 pages but I think you get the idea.
from Rudy Behlmer, ed., Inside Warner Bros. (1935-1951) (New York: Viking Penguin, 1985), pp. 80-81.