Category Archives: 1940s

Clark Kent, meet John Carter!

Posted on April 14, 2012 by Bob Stepno

Journalists aren’t the only people who were sometimes stereotyped in old-time radio dramas or other popular culture forms of the 1930s and 1940s. In these closing episodes of a 15-part Superman adventure from September 1941, we find ourselves in Central … Continue reading →

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Mike Wallace on radio, from Information Please to the Green Hornet

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Bob Stepno

While this blog usually deals with fictional journalists and the  dramatized lives of historic journalists, today’s news is worth an exception. Legendary television newsman Mike Wallace, who died Saturday at 93, got his broadcasting start in radio, and this may be … Continue reading →

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Kent’s approach isn’t super; Lois Lane steps in

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Bob Stepno

Smart, clever or super-powered, newspaper reporters are still fallible and can be fooled, according to the adventures of Lois Lane and Clark Kent in 1940s Superman radio episodes. In this September 1941 sequence, Lois Lane tries to get through to … Continue reading →

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Clark Kent, super burglar or stupid bungler?

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Bob Stepno

Being on the side of truth and justice appears to have justified some “might means right” tactics in Clark Kent’s early reporting repertoire, including burglary, threats, assault and kidnapping. For example, in this sequence from the second year of the … Continue reading →

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Former police chief becomes investigative reporter

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Bob Stepno

“Here’s the dope, Bob…” — former Chief Henderson. A few episodes ago Betty and Bob Drake convinced their corrupt city’s former police chief to become an investigative reporter on their paper, The Trumpet. In this episode, he lets them know … Continue reading →

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Clark Kent, unethical sports reporter?

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Bob Stepno

“You’re a reporter, not a detective,” Perry White to Clark Kent. The month of March madness seems an odd season to be writing about football, but here goes — with a tale that demonstrates that there were sometimes shades of … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, Clark Kent, ethics, Lois Lane, Perry White, sports, Superman | 2 Comments

Something Green for St. Patrick’s Day

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Bob Stepno

  The band played an Irish jig  whenever derby-wearing Michael Axford entered the scene in The Green Hornet Strikes Again, the 1941 movie serial closely based on the Green Hornet radio program. Cop-turned-reporter Axford, played by Wade Boteler in the … Continue reading →

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Teamwork at The Daily Planet

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Bob Stepno

For this weekend, four episodes concluding “Professor Thorpe’s Bathysphere,” transported from the fall of 1940 for your March 2012 entertainment. 9: Sept. 13, 1940 10: Sept. 16, 1940 11: Sept. 18, 1940 12: Sept. 20, 1940 At this point in … Continue reading →

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Radio celebrated women journalists in fact and fiction

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Bob Stepno

Happy International Women’s Day… First, here’s a dramatized version of a real woman reporter covering a real crime story — with a young woman criminal for good measure. Farther down the page, you will find links to other radio programs … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, 1940s, 19th century, cavalcade, Hearst, Hildy Johnson, historical figures, Lois Lane, women | Leave a comment

What’s a ‘batch-i-naylian orgy’? Ask Abby

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Bob Stepno

About half-way through this Cavalcade of America radio profile, a libelous attack on suffragist newspaper publisher Abigail Scott Duniway sends her off to the dictionary to find out more about the lies a competing newspaper has been telling about her. … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, 19th century, cavalcade, editors, historical figures, true stories, women | Leave a comment