Wynn returned from Hollywood to investigate reports that the network was faltering. Prior to its launch, a confident Wynn had said, "We may get knocked down a couple of times but we'll get up smiling and go right ahead toward our objective, building slowly but firmly so that each time we take a set-back — if we must take set-backs — it will be only for a short distance. Then we will build back up from there." However, he was shocked to find the situation unsalvageable, and resigned as ABS president on October 25. A series of unsuccessful attempts were made by Gygi to save the network, but Amalgamated ceased operations at midnight November 1, 1933, only five weeks after its start. Within a few days creditors had forced the network into involuntary bankruptcy and liquidation, with the $10,000 pipe organ sold for $1,000, and the studios acquired for use by a Newark, New Jersey, station, WNEW. Ed Wynn felt ashamed and personally responsible for the ABS fiasco. He vowed to repay the investors, whose losses were estimated to be as much as in excess of $300,000. The resulting pressure, plus the end of "The Fire Chief Program" and his marital trouble two years later, helped drive the comedian toward a nervous breakdown by the end of the 1930s.