Audiobook DJ

Father Time:     Now what was it you wanted, little man?

Runyon:            Well, sir, could you tell me how I could get to Curgatory, because my dog Pootzy…

Father Time:     Oh, yes, was he a delinquent dog?

Runyon:             No, sir, a mongrel.

            -- The Odyssey of Runyon Jones, 1938

Writer, director, journalist and teacher, Norman Corwin, will be 100 years old in less than a month, May 3^rd.  His generation most likely has seen more changes and transformations in art, technology and culture than any other group of humans in the history of human beings.  And Corwin was part of the process—he was there.  He was riding the waves, the radio waves.  He’s had a huge influence on the style of how America communicates, on how America sounds to itself. 

During the Golden Age of Radio (1938 to 1950) Norman Corwin created some of the most impassioned, literary, and entertaining programming of the era.  With the use of poetic heightened language for his narratives, film-like jump cuts and transitions, and original music scores Corwin found he could talk about any subject and go any place, including outer space, on the radio, in audio, in just sound.

There are a couple of reasons why Corwin approached radio from a different angle than other radio personalities of the times.  One is that like Orson Welles Corwin was so young.  He was just 27 years old when started producing and writing original pieces for CBS.  These “youngsters” didn’t come out of the Vaudevillian traditions that Fred Allen or the Marx Brothers hailed from.  They sensed that although radio broadcast to millions of listeners, it was a very intimate and personal medium.  One could whisper to the listener rather than shout from the stage.

The second reason is that Corwin saw radio as a very American innovation.  Like jazz and the automobile he saw radio crossing boundaries and bringing people closer together.  Like his heroes, Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman, Corwin was constantly examining and celebrating the idea of America. 

The subject of America holds center stage in some of his most famous creations:  We Hold These Truths (1941) celebrated the 150^th anniversary of the United States Bill of Rights just a week after Pearl Harbor was attacked.  On A Note of Triumph was broadcast just as Allied victory in Europe was announced on May 8, 1945. 

Corwin’s influence spans the last 70 years.  You can hear his rhythms and observations reflected in the work of some of his most ardent fans:  Ray Bradbury, Rod Serling, Gene Roddenberry and Norman Lear.  

 I’ve heard Corwin speak and I’ve never heard anyone make being an American, being a patriot sound so relaxed and so apolitical.  Loving his country and talking about it was just natural for Corwin.  Like George Gershwin or Babe Ruth Corwin was and remains a true American original.

Happy Birthday, Norman.

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Brian Price
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