Category Archives: 1940s

Reporters as ‘practically policemen’

Posted on February 11, 2020 by

https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Casey_Crime_Photographer_Singles/Casey47-02-20173TheTwentyMinuteAlibi.mp3 This “Twenty-minute Alibi” episode from “Crime Photographer,” February 1947, almost makes me wonder whether the script was originally an idea for “Your Truly, Johnny Dollar,” the hit series about an insurance investigator. I even checked Radio GoldinDex’s credit list … Continue reading →

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

Cagney, Dickens and ketchup save a newspaper

Posted on January 31, 2020 by

https://archive.org/download/ScreenGuildTheater/Sgt_48-02-09_ep374_Johnny_Come_Lately.mp3 Local newspapers have been fighting for survival since the horse-and-buggy days when this story takes place. The 1943 film Johnny Come Lately starred James Cagney as an  out-of-work “tramp reporter” who both rescues and is rescued by an elderly … Continue reading →

Posted in 1900s, 1940s, adaptations, closing, editors, local news, newspaper crusades, newspapers, political corruption, reporters | Leave a comment

From fashion column to war reporting with Gusto

Posted on January 18, 2020 by

https://archive.org/download/Lux_Radio_Theatre_Digitally_Restored_Collection/42-06-08AriseMyLovelorettaYoung–rayMilland.mp3 The 1940 film Arise My Love was set at the start of World War II, with a woman reporter rescuing an American flier from a firing squad as the Spanish Civil War ended, just before the larger war began. … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, movies, reporters, romance, women, World War II | Leave a comment

A Daily Planet contest saves the world

Posted on November 7, 2019 by

Less than a year after the United States dropped the first atomic bombs on Japan, young listeners to “The Adventures of Superman” radio serial heard of another dictatorship’s threat to destroy American cities with 100 planes loaded with atom bombs. … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adventure, Clark Kent, detectives, Lois Lane, newspaper crusades, newspaper readers, newspapers, Perry White, reporters, reporting, Superman | Leave a comment

The Case of Exploding Dolls

Posted on October 3, 2019 by

The opening episode of this six-part Superman story from 1940 shows reporters Kent and Lane on assignment, tracking down a fatal industrial explosion at an unlikely place — a doll factory. Hans Honin’s Doll Factory, episode one Hans Honin’s Doll … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adventure, Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Perry White, reporters, reporting, Superman, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

30 Years of NBC Radio plus Balloo in a Balloon, and me

Posted on September 10, 2019 by

https://archive.org/download/BiographiesInSound560515RecollectionsAtThirty/Biographies%20in%20Sound%2056-05-15%20Recollections%20at%20Thirty.mp3 In 1956, NBC radio’s “Biographies in Sound” featured veteran radio news commentator H.V. Kaltenborn and radio satirists Bob & Ray in the episode above, paying tribute to the first 30 years of commercial radio — news, music, drama and … Continue reading →

Posted in 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, Drama, historical figures, Korea, media history, radio, World War II | Leave a comment

From news to folklore, talking to and for ‘the plain people’

Posted on September 6, 2019 by

https://archive.org/download/COA_OTRR_Cert_CD1/Calv410623232JoelChandlerHarris.mp3 In addition to providing an oldtime radio dramatization of the life of newspaperman turned reteller of folktales Joel Chandler Harris, the Internet Archive has his works and biography, including the volume shown above. His red hair is mentioned several … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, 19th century, Brotherhood, columnists, editors, folklore, playwrights, Race | Leave a comment