Category Archives: 1940s

Season’s Greetings from Casey, Christmas Photographer

Posted on December 25, 2011 by Bob Stepno

I mentioned these Christmas episodes last year in my other blog before starting JHeroes.com, but ’tis the season… “Casey, Crime Photographer” was the radio version of a pulp fiction and movie character, and went on to have his own comic … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, Casey, crime, photographer | Leave a comment

America Has Room at the Inn — in Big Town

Posted on December 24, 2011 by Bob Stepno

“The power and the freedom of the press is a flaming sword; that it may be a faithful servant of all the people, use it justly. Hold it high. Guard it well!” Writer Jerry McGill, a former newspaperman, and the … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, cold war, editors, ethics, international, newspapers, World War II | Leave a comment

Radio Christmas in Connecticut

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Bob Stepno

It isn’t quite Christmas, and I’m far from Connecticut. (Yes, Santa, I’m in Virginia.) And the Martha Stewart or Gladys Taber style feel-good food-and-home magazine feature writing celebrated in the 1945 film “Christmas in Connecticut” doesn’t really match my “Newspaper … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, ethics, journalism, movies, radio, women | Leave a comment

Perry White and men in white sheets

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Bob Stepno

Clark and Lois get most of the attention at The Daily Planet, but their editor Perry White had his heroic moments too. One was when his editorials against a white-hooded gang of hatemongers resulted in a burning cross on his … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, editors, Perry White, Pulitzer Prize, Superman | Leave a comment

Read Along with Hildy & Walter

Posted on August 27, 2011 by Bob Stepno

Thanks to the Internet Movie Script DataBase, I’ve added a text excerpt of Hildy Johnson’s passionate second thoughts about journalists to my page of links to “His Girl Friday” and “The Front Page” radio incarnations, just in time for my fall … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, Hildy Johnson, movies, radio, reporters, romance, women | Leave a comment

Postmodern radio with Wendy Warren and the News

Posted on August 27, 2011 by Bob Stepno

When I wrote the original version of this page, I’d only heard this one 1949 episode of “Wendy Warren and the News,” but it captured the series’ unique style. Wendy Warren was a fictional noontime newscaster who shared the opening … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, 1950s, journalism, radio, reporters, true stories | 6 Comments

Philadelphia wasn’t really the story, but radio kept telling it

Posted on August 13, 2011 by Bob Stepno

While not exactly a “journalism procedural,” the romantic comedy The Philadelphia Story does feature a reporter and photographer on the trail of a high-society wedding — with the reporter literally getting in over his head. (In the swimming pool, by … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, comedy, journalism, magazines, movies, newspapers, photographer, reporting, romance, sensationalism | Leave a comment

Foreign Correspondent tilts windmills in classic spy drama

Posted on July 10, 2011 by Bob Stepno

The 1940 Alfred Hitchcock film “Foreign Correspondent” was nominated for a half-dozen Academy Awards, which more than qualified it for a radio adaptation on Squibb’s Academy Award Theater radio series in 1946. (Actually winning an Oscar wasn’t required; in fact, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adaptations, foreign correspondents, international, journalism, movies, propaganda, World War II | Leave a comment

Blood on the Sun, on the radio and on screen

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Bob Stepno

Portraying hand-to-hand combat was never one of radio’s strong points, but this mixture of journalism and judo is worth a bow, at least as a vehicle to discuss some of the quirks of radio’s approach to movie adaptations. As a … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, foreign correspondents, historical figures, movies, newspapers, reporting, World War II | Leave a comment

Reporting tips: Lois Lane at work

Posted on April 3, 2011 by Bob Stepno

Here’s Lois Lane’s first on-air interview, in the episode about Stolen Fuel for the Atomic Beam Machine from the 1940 Superman radio serial. (Click the title to download an MP3 if a player icon isn’t visible.) As mentioned here last … Continue reading →

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