Author Archives: Bob Stepno

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About Bob Stepno

mild-mannered reporter who found computers & the Web in grad school in the 1980s (Wesleyan) and '90s (UNC); taught journalism, media studies, Web production; retired to write, make music, photograph sunsets & walks in the woods.

Detective as fact-checker versus libel case

Posted on December 12, 2018 by Bob Stepno

Detective Philip Marlowe meets a whole Hollywood trade paper crew in “The Green Flame” from March 1949 … https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Philip_Marlowe_Singles/Philip_Marlowe_49-03-26_ep026_The_Green_Flame.mp3 It’s a colorful tale. We get matches that burn with a green flame, a note in blue wax pencil, and various … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, columnists, detectives, editors, newspapers, publishers | Leave a comment

A case of mistaken identity

Posted on November 19, 2018 by Bob Stepno

https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Philip_Marlowe_Singles/Philip_Marlowe_50-09-29_ep103_The_Big_Book.mp3 In Raymond Chandler’s novels or the 1947-51 radio series they inspired, Philip Marlowe wasn’t the kind of detective who plays for the headlines. “What’s the news in that?” he asks at the end of this 1950 adventure titled “The … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, 1950s, detectives, reporters | Leave a comment

A cemetery scoop

Posted on October 4, 2018 by Bob Stepno

It’s October, and as Halloween approaches, I am reminded that I have not posted many stories from radio’s always popular macabre or thriller series… Might as well start early. “Scoop,” the December 8, 1942, episode of the scare-filled late-night radio … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adventure, Drama, publishers, reporters, suspense | Leave a comment

Before Bond: Moscow correspondent faces Russian with steel teeth

Posted on September 27, 2018 by Bob Stepno

Suspense (1955): https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Suspense_Singles/Suspense_550217_585_The_Man_with_the_Steel_Teeth_-64-44-_11715_24m48s.mp3 This script by John Dehner was timely Cold War radio about an American correspondent attempting to flee his Soviet interrogator, “The Man with Steel Teeth.” It was produced twice, both times by Antony Ellis, for two of … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, cold war, international, reporters, Russia | Leave a comment

Shocking! Presidents do lie to and about reporters

Posted on September 25, 2018 by Bob Stepno

The various radio series that dramatized historical events sometimes sacrificed historical accuracy to tell a story, especially in the common 30-minute format. In this broadcast, at least a newspaper reporter gets a happier ending out of the revisionist history. http://otrrlibrary.org/OTRRLib/Library%20Files/M%20Series/Mr%20President/Mr%20President%2047-07-03%20Grover%20Cleveland.mp3 … Continue reading →

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Fatherly editor faces romantic son, Persian poetry

Posted on August 24, 2018 by Bob Stepno

When Ah, Wilderness, Eugene O’Neill’s comedy-drama about coming of age, was adapted for radio, Walter Huston starred as the newspaper-owner father whose poetry-besotted son is tempted by what passed for the wild side of life in 1906 Connecticut. https://archive.org/download/TheaterGuildontheAir/Tgoa_45-10-07_ep005-Ah_Wilderness.mp3 Theatre … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, 1940s, adaptations, comedy, Drama, editors, ethics, romance | Leave a comment

Reporter finds Lost Angel, maybe more

Posted on July 7, 2018 by Bob Stepno

A national public radio profile today of actress Marsha Hunt at 100 years of age sent me browsing through her career, and I happily stumbled on the movie “Lost Angel.” She played the singer-girlfriend of newspaper reporter Mike Regan, whose … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adaptations, reporters | Leave a comment

A gentleman of the press vs. ungentlemanly gentiles

Posted on June 28, 2018 by Bob Stepno

A Facebook conversation just led me to check back and see if I had ever posted a blog item about the radio adaptations of the movie Gentleman’s Agreement, and it looks like I hadn’t, other than a paragraph in my … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, 1950s, adaptations, civil rights, reporters, stereotypes, undercover | Leave a comment

Getting too close to a source

Posted on June 21, 2018 by Bob Stepno

http://www.archive.org/download/ScreenGuildTheater/Sgt_44-06-19_ep200_No_Time_for_Love.mp3 The 1943 movie “No Time for Love” and this 1944 radio adaptation both starred Claudette Colbert as a society-gal photojournalist and Fred MacMurray as her leading man. I have found no radio history book that reveals whether he kept his … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, movies | Leave a comment

Woman with a Mission, Ida B. Wells

Posted on May 17, 2018 by Bob Stepno

[Ida B. Wells portrait from the collection of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, via Google Arts and Culture] Her New York Times obituary — 87 years after her death — called Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) “one of the nation’s most … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, civil rights, journalism, newspaper crusades, Race, true stories, women | Leave a comment