Category Archives: 1940s

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

Spring training and the Green Hornet

Posted on April 30, 2018 by Bob Stepno

The Hornet Bats for a Pitcher Here’s a Green Hornet episode I haven’t written about yet: The 1948 tale’ s title “The Hornet Bats for a Pitcher” sums it up… Listed as June 01, 1948, episode 861 in a log … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adventure, GreenHornet, sports | Leave a comment

Press, police & femme fatale

Posted on April 15, 2018 by Bob Stepno

http://otrrlibrary.org/OTRRLib/Library%20Files/G%20Series/Green%20Hornet,%20The/Green%20Hornet%2044-01-15%20(0636)%20Lowrey's%20Big%20Moment.mp3 It has been a while since I have written about old-time radio’s portrayal of the relationship between newspaper reporters and police officers. This 1944 Green Hornet episode goes beyond the series’ usual scenes of camaraderie between the cops and … Continue reading →

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Ghostwriting for equal rights

Posted on March 19, 2018 by Bob Stepno

https://archive.org/download/DestinationFreedom/DF_49-06-19_ep050-Ghost_Editor.mp3 “Ghost Editor” is a well-dramatized biography of Roscoe Dunjee, who founded the Black Dispatch, the first African American newspaper in 1915 Oklahoma City. Actor Fred Pinkard narrates the series as Dunjee in this episode of the “Destination Freedom” African … Continue reading →

Posted in 1900s, 1940s, 1950s, civil rights, editors, historical figures, newspaper crusades, newspapers, racial justice, reporting, undercover | Leave a comment

A Gentleman and Lady of the Press

Posted on March 16, 2018 by Bob Stepno

http://otrrlibrary.org/OTRRLib/Library%20Files/F%20Series/Forecast/Forecast%2040-07-16%20(02)%20The%20American%20Theater%20-%20The%20Gentleman%20From%20Indiana%20(Actually%20400715).mp3 The 1940 CBS radio series “Forecast” was a summer showcase for ideas for new series… what television later called “pilots,” and a drama about an Indiana newspaperman was part of the series’ first edition. However the newspaperman story wasn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adaptations, editors, newspaper crusades, novels, romance, women | Leave a comment

Her guy Friday? What a Woman!

Posted on February 20, 2018 by Bob Stepno

Rosalind Russell, ace fast-talking newshound of “His Girl Friday,” was back in a journalism-related movie a few years later in “What a Woman!” — but this time she was the one under the reportorial magnifying glass. “I’m not a cub … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, magazines, reporters, women | Leave a comment