Norman Corwin : His Early Life and Radio Career, 1910-1950

Called "The Poet Laureate of Radio" by critics, Norman Corwin was the top writer at CBS when CBS reigned supreme in radio, and when radio itself dominated public attention. This biography tells the story of Norman's unlikely rise from a triple-decker tenement on Bremen Street in East Boston to the top rung of radio writers during the Golden Age of Radio. A self-taught writer who never graduated from high school, he learned what audiences craved, and he gave it to them. His nuanced "theater of the mind" dramas, tender love stories, and witty comedies were hits talked about long after they were broadcast, and, when his scripts were published, became bestsellers. The week after Pearl Harbor, Norman's show "We Hold These Truths" was broadcast to the largest radio audience ever. His V-E Day broadcast on May 8, 1945, "On a Note of Triumph," made a similarly enduring mark and still constitutes the gold standard for wartime drama. Dedication 6 Epigraph 7 Table of Contents 8 Preface and Acknowledgments 10 Author’s Note 16 Norman’s December Surprise: “We Hold These Truths” 18 Part One: Norman to Nineteen (1910–1929) 24 A “Tough Kid” in Eastie 24 Three Arts and a Boy 26 His Father’s Business 31 His Mother’s Boy 36 Norman’s First War Story 40 Norman Types and Discovers Radio 43 No Bar Mitzvah for Norman 47 Winthrop 50 Restart in High School 56 The “Lost Year” and Greenfield 65 Greenfield and Its Paper 70 Meeting Heywood Broun 75 See Him When in New York? 76 1928, After Broun 77 Springfield 80 Norman Proposes to His Coauthor 84 Enter “Jumbo” 87 Part Two: Norman in His Twenties (1930–1939) 94 Taking a Reading in 1930 94 The Tragedy and Norman’s Resolution 96 Innocents Abroad, 1931 98 The “Interruption” 101 Hits and Misses 104 He’s Back 107 Trouble in Paradise 114 Norman’s Roller Coaster 116 Poetic License 122 CBS 125 Norman Corwin’s Words Without Music 129 A Book for Mr. McKenzie 137 “Seems Radio Is Here to Stay” 139 Curley and Pursuit of Happiness 141 “Ballad for Americans” 145 Hollywood 147 “To Tim at Twenty” 149 Part Three: Norman to Age Forty (1940–1950) 152 Requiem for Alfred Eisner 152 26 by Corwin 157 Washington 161 This Is War! 164 England 171 “The Long Name That None Could Spell” 173 Columbia Presents Corwin 176 “On a Note of Triumph” 178 Kate 184 Postwar to 1950 193 Epilogue 200 Chapter Notes 210 Bibliography 230 Index 232 "Called "Mr. Radio" and "The Poet Laureate of Radio" by critics, Norman Corwin was the top writer at CBS when CBS reigned supreme in radio, and when radio itself dominated public attention. This biography tells the story of Norman's unlikely rise from a triple-decker tenement on Bremen Street in East Boston to the top rung of radio writers during the Golden Age of Radio. A self-taught writer, he learned what audiences craved, and he gave it to them. His nuanced "theater of the mind" dramas, tender love stories, and witty comedies were hits talked about long after they were broadcast, and, when his scripts were published, became bestsellers. The week after Pearl Harbor, Norman's show "We Hold These Truths" was broadcast to the largest radio audience ever recorded. His V-E Day broadcast on May 8, 1945, "On a Note of Triumph," made a similarly enduring mark and still constitutes the gold standard for wartime drama"-- Provided by publisher