NAEB Newsletter (Sept 1940)

NAEB NEWS LETTER....SEPT 15p 1940....Page 7 have mad© tests to determine listeners reactions to the sincerity o.f air voices....sincerity has to start back farther than that....it has to start with the writer in his very first opening sentence» The Radio Council, primarily because of its elementary school audience, has gone rather heavily towards dramatic writing as a form of presenting information. I think, personally, a good talk, has just asmuch oomph, and just as much sustaining of interest power as most dramas....or should I say* most dramatic writing. It's a peculiar thing...my background is a kind cf jumble of theatre and newspaper experience... some writers who have had dramatic training will insist that the dramatic is the only way to present material....the newspaper trained writer is inclined to think that the talk, the interview, the narration is the bettor way. I doubt if there is any best. The material to be presented should dictate the form in which it is to be presented. There are times, when in science series, I’d like to throw out the dramatic form we ordinarily use and substitute for a time or two an interview or a talk. I see no reason that this cannot be done, and most times profitably. «7© are inclined to think of radio as a dynamic medium*..•.and yet, once we have established a set form for a program, everyone in the organization thinks the entire system of radio broadcasting would collapse if that form be changed. I don’t think it would* Too many educational script writers, and it’s not altogether our fault, ar© pouring new wine into old bottles....either we must break those bottles, or they’ll be broken for us. In thinking of presenting informational material on the air, consider the medium. Is the talk the best way to present it^ Will drama or dramatic incidents enhance the value of the material.....if you decide on the latter....the dramatic..... then it is the business of the writer to be dramatic.... to build a scene, presenting the Inform¬ ation according to the rules of dramatic writing...oh, yes, there are rules...Build to your climax from a statement cf the opposing forces.... but be sure there are opposing forces before you begin to write ’drama’. I suppose I should say a word about adaptations....this is one of the most popular of so-called educational scripts...I remember the writer who came into my office just over-joyed. She had an adaptation of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, which on the stage runs almost four hours, even if you leave but Anrita’s dance...it was a fifteen minute adaptation. You see how little the untrained writer... the individual who thinks that radio writing is a royal road to romance and riches (which it isn’t)*•.knows about the medium. I’m also reminded of the writer who remarked that she was collaborating with her husband ... she was doing the writing and he was doing the collaborating! First of all, you must know your medium......you must know what can be done and what can’t......George Baker, the famous teacher of playwrighting used to remark that it wasn’t the writers business to worry about what could be done...it was his business to \7rite the words.. .another producer. Max Reinhardt used to say, "Never mind the stage sets...give me the words!” I’ll grant you that the words are all-important In radio, but words to the complete exclusion of the microphone or radio medium, as far as most producers are concerned can stay on the paper...let me read you a synopsis of a radio drama.. it’s the easiest way to explain what I mean........ This is called (and it actually came across my desk) "The VVhitfords go th the Movies"* Joe and Jane have just finished dressing to go to the movies*