Category Archives: 1940s

A Truman-era Front Page!?

Posted on March 28, 2021 by Bob Stepno

In 1948, ABC radio tried out an updated version of the Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur newsroom classic The Front Page as a 13-week summer-replacement series. Newsroom-background sounds set the opening scene, not unlike the start of the gender-shifted Front … Continue reading →

Posted in 1920s, 1940s, adaptations, detectives, Drama, editors, Hildy Johnson, newspapers, radio | Leave a comment

Liz Lane, not Lois….

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Bob Stepno

“I haven’t got a farm; I haven’t even got a windowbox,” the magazine columnist admits, when she realizes her habit of spinning fables about country living may destroy her career — just in time for the holidays. I wrote this … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, 1950s, adaptations, ethics, magazines, movies, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Columnist, ethics & blackmail

Posted on December 19, 2020 by Bob Stepno

https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Mr_and_Mrs_North_Singles/Mr_and_Mrs_North_52-03-04_ep439_TCOT_Heavenly_Body.mp3 “Mr. & Mrs. North” was a long-running husband and wife detective series in books and radio, reminiscent of the “Thin Man” movie series. The Internet Archive holds about 80 episodes from the 12-year run of the series, but collector … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, columnists, detectives | Leave a comment

Abolitionist editor Jane Grey Swisshelm

Posted on September 15, 2020 by Bob Stepno

The sound of a whip on a silent slave’s back opens Troublesome Jane, an original 1949 Cavalcade of America episode about editor Jane Grey Swisshelm launching an abolitionist newspaper in Minnesota before the Civil War. (“Aren’t there any hacksaws in … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, 19th century, cavalcade, civil rights, historical figures, women | Leave a comment

A Cowtown Newspaper War

Posted on August 25, 2020 by Bob Stepno

https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Frontier_Town_Singles/Frontier_Town_49-xx-xx_ep19_Five_Gun_Final.mp3 “Five-Gun Final,” an episode of “Frontier Town,” finds a wild west lawyer hero and his W.C. Fields sound-alike sidekick investigating a new newspaper that is trying to put the responsible competition out of business through the 19th century equivalent … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, competition, editors, publishers, westerns | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

A brief journalism career preceded his Nobel Peace Prize

Posted on July 27, 2020 by Bob Stepno

https://archive.org/download/DestinationFreedom/DF_49-02-20_ep034-Peace_Mediator.mp3 It’s not every dabbler in journalism who uncovers a murder, reports the crime despite a threat to his life, then goes on to get a doctorate from Harvard and years later win the Nobel Peace Prize, like Ralph Bunche. … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, civil rights, historical figures | Leave a comment

Black Journalists Mattered, 1944

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Bob Stepno

“New World A-Coming” was a New York radio station WMCA series begun during World War II, based on a book by the same name by journalist Roi Ottley, exploring issues of patriotism and racial prejudice in the United States… including … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, civil rights, Drama, historical figures, journalism, Race, racial justice, reporters, stereotypes, true stories, World War II | Leave a comment

Newsman as canary in a coal mine?

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Bob Stepno

A newspaper takes on the dangers of coal mining — and the power of the local mine owner, a banker who threatens a takeover of the newspaper, in this vintage 1940 episode of Big Town, “Deep Death.” (Click the title … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, closing, Drama, editors, newspaper crusades, newspapers | Leave a comment

Maybe the stories were true

Posted on March 25, 2020 by Bob Stepno

https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Lux_Radio_Theater_Singles/Lux_Radio_Theatre_45-12-10_505_Guest_Wife.mp3 “Guest Wife” was a 1945 film and corresponding Lux Radio Theater production, with foreign correspondent Don Ameche returning from India to collect something like a Pulitzer Prize. Unfortunately, as ethical as his reporting from India may have been, he … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adaptations, ethics, foreign correspondents, reporters | Leave a comment

Newspapers, charity and a nose for news

Posted on March 3, 2020 by Bob Stepno

Wealthy owners have long been part of American newspapers, for better or for worse. This Green Hornet episode, Dead Man’s Topcoat, opens with a visitor asking newspaper publisher Britt Reid to write a check for $1,000 because a local charity … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adventure, editors, GreenHornet, reporters, women | Leave a comment