Anthracite Films present “The Poet Laureate of Radio: an interview with Norman Corwin” from filmmaker Michael James Kacey
I love to learn new things, but sometimes I am embarrassed at the things I didn’t know. For example, I’ve been the radio business over 30 years, and I have a minor in theater, but I had never heard of Norman Corwin until this new DVD. And that’s why I owe Michael James Kacey a debt of gratitude.
It turns out that Norman Corwin is one of the greatest writer-producer-directors the golden Age of Radio ever produced. He wrote some of the most amazing radio plays ever heard, such as “The plot to Steal Christmas”, “They Fly Through the Air”, and “On a Note of Triumph”, written for V-E Day. His series include “Norman Corwin’s Words Without Music”, “Columbia Presents Corwin” and “One World Flight”. These are available from several online sources. I’ve ordered a CD of his most well-known radio plays, and I’m going to play some of them for the Radio & TV History class I teach at Troy University, because people need to remember them.
Norman Corwin started his radio career as a reader of poetry, but his talent and passion carried him to produce important network programs, which featured his original plays and adaptations of stage plays that premiered while he was on the radio.
Two things Mr. Corwin said that stayed with me after I watched this DVD with my class. “An artist has a responsibility to make the world a better place”.
‘There’s really one language in the world, ‘responsible conscience’, and there is a worldwide instinct for freedom.”
Corwin speaks of being granted “visitation rights to the pulpit” when referring to his opportunity to be on the radio, and reflected on the influence of radio in the 1930s and 1940s. Two politicians became world leaders who affected tens of millions: FDR and Adolph Hitler. Radio is a powerful tool, which can be used for truth or for propaganda, for good and for evil. This, we cannot and must not forget.
Look for this fascinating look at a living legend of radio, “The Poet Laureate of Radio: an interview with Norman Corwin”, at www.anthracitefilms.com
I’m Doc Kirby and that’s a Book Bit.
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