NBC Transmitter (Jan-Nov 1945)

June 1945 7 “HOME AROUND THE WORLD” Notables in Summer Series Covering 13 United Nations Bruno © Underwood & Underwood PARTICIPANTS IN PUBLIC SERVICE SERIES — Top: Sigrid Vndset and Henri Fast. Middle: J. S. Reid. Mme. B. Patanek. Bottom: Helena Kuo, Nicholas G. Lely. Discs of Historic Events Used on WHAM V-E Program ROCHESTER, N. Y.-Station WHAM here presented important speeches of Allied statesmen by transcription on V-E Day. Included were significant newscasts of commentators preceding America’s entry into World War II. The discs were used through the courtesy of George Driscoll, director of war activities at WHAM’s EM station, WHFM, who collects recordings of broadcasts by noted statesmen. The script included a flashback to Prime Minister Chamberlain’s pre-war address to the British Empire in which he announced his intentions to preserve peace. This was followed by his declaration of war on Germany on September 3, 1939. Other discs of wartime events were heard and the program was brought up to the present by interwoven narration. President Truman’s address to the delegates at the San Francisco Security Conference closed the special broadcast. NEW YORK.— Because home influences have done more to mold character than any other single factor of environment, the NB(] Hniversily of the y\ir incorporated into its schedule a Saturday morning program enlitled, “Home Is What ^ On Make It.” This contribution to the building of a better world, begun November l{>, 1914, j)rompted so many com|jlimenlary letters that announcement has been made of an extension of the series, subtitled “Home Around the World.” As with the original series, the three cooperating organizations. The General Federation of Women’s Clubs, The American Home Economics Association, The National Congress of Parents and Teachers, with a combined membership totaling more than 6,()0(),000, are again giving their official support to the new series. Thirteen representative United Nations in Europe and Asia, their history, war influences and hopes for the future in relation to their home life, form the basic pattern of the programs which began June 2. These foreign neighbors have homes that are masses of rubble, whose foundations are heartbreak. Yet somehow, amidst the privations of war, they hope that like the legendary Phoenix bird they can rise above the desolation and ashes of their broken homes. Their problems of re-establishing normal home life with the cultural traditions of their particular land, the feeding and clothing of their children, the rebuilding of their churches, will be dramatized, country by country, for a period of 13 weeks. Jane Tiffany Wagner, NBC director of home econotnics, who has supervised the series since its inception, has said: “Maybe this series will help show American homemakers the way to a better understanding of their foreign counterparts. In war or peace it is women’s business to make homes. Though these homes may differ in many respects, they are all, fundamentally, the sanctuary where families replenish their strength, their ideas, and find most of their happiness.” The series has received the full cooperation of the United Nations’ Information Office, and authentic material has been suj)plied by this office for the set ond volume in the “Home Is What You Make It” handbook series. The roster of contributors for ibis new manual reads like an international “\X lot’s Who.” Among the noted novelists, )toets and essayists are: Sigrid I ndsel, NOrwav; Helena Kuo, (ihina; Jan (ireshoff, Netherlands; Gavin S. Casey, Australia; Winifred Williams, (ireal Britain; (i. II. W. Hasselriis, Denmark; Irena Piotrowska, Poland; and Jessica Smith, Russia. Other noted contributors will be: John S. Reid, first secretary of the New Zealand Legation; Madame Betka Papanek. wife of the Minister Plenijjotentiar) in (iharge of the Czechoslovak Information Service in New York; Henri Fast. Deputy Ciommissioner of Information for Belgium; Nicholas G. Lely, Greek Minister of Information in the L nited Stales; and Madame Eugene Jolas, wife of the director of La Marseillaise Canteen, New Y ork City. One of the most prominent shows of the original series was the broadcast eneitled “The Teen-Agers Take Hold.” This particular program, which dealt with the nationwide problem of juvenile delinquency, evoked more than .500 letters from individual listeners and organizations. With the new series, the original jirogram pattern had to be changed to fit material available about each country, as many of these nations have lost any defined patterns of living since the war. Therefore scripts are being assigned to those writers l>est able to build a dramatic story on material available. Scheduled at the time of this writing were: Erik Barnouw, formerly of the NBC script department, now w ith the Armed Services Radio Service, who is of Dutch ancestry; and Sandra Michael of Danish parentage. Two of radio’s best known writers, Frank and Virginia Wells, and Elsa Russel, one of the script writers for the original series, also are writing for “Home Around the XX^orld” broadcasts. The entire series is directed by Joseph Mansfield, with Don Goddard, popular NBC news commentator, as narrator.