Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

one with the other, is that we don't understand our common back- ground," JIacLeish has said. "From Alaska to the tip of South America, every stage of life was the same. The Pilgrims landed in Massachu- setts, with the sea behind them and the wilderness in front. But the same thing happened in Olinda, in Brazil. Each community felt out the shoreline, and infiltrated slowly into the wilderness. Each had wars with the Indians, and each estab- lished frontier after frontier. All the settlements went through the colonial stage in which the govern- ment was foreign and the people already American. Each felt the urge toward free development and each became free through revolu- tion. "This is the common American Story," he concludes. Comments Are Favorable Favorable comments from news- paper editors, educators, produc- ers, and a number of men of letters have already been forthcoming. The Neiv York Tivies, after the initial broadcast, said: "A prodi- gious task, clearly. . . . There was something immediately attractive about the beginning of it; some- thing which, for want of a better word, you may call simplicity. . . . The result—as Mr. MacLeish, with a poet's sensitivity, surely calcu- lated—was "the sense of the won- der long ago." One of America's most distin- guished poets, MacLeish is also author of a number of challenging poetic dramas for radio. MacLeish was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 for his "Conquistador." He was appointed Librarian of Con- gress by President Roosevelt in 1939, a position he has filled with distinction. As Sterling Fisher, director of the NBC University of the Air has explained, all of the University's permanent series, of which "Amer- ican Story" is the third, are de- signed to attract and instruct the casual listener who may tune in to only one of the broadcasts. And the regular listener who listens week after week will gather the benefits of the comprehensive col- lege course. MISS MARY FRETCH, ORIGINATOR OF TIME-SAVING IDEAS, RECEIVES WPB CERTIFICATE FROM DONALD M. NELSON AT LUNCH IN HER HONOR. MARY FRETCH IS HONORED Worker At Harrison Plant 0/ RCA Victor Diuision Awarded Title 0/ "Best Woman Suqqester" To Speed \f/at Production At \f/as\V\nqton Ceremonq THE Nation has honored an- other RCA Victor war worker for outstanding production sugges- tions which help speed equipment to the armed forces of the United States and its allies. Miss Mary Fretch, employed at the Harrison plant for 14 years, was singled out by the War Produc- tion Board for special honors in ceremonies held in Washington, D. C, March 3, and heard herself de- scribed as the nation's best woman suggester. RCA Victor's "Arsenal of Ideas" was the only woman among eight war workers summoned to Wash- ington from all parts of the coun- try to receive special certificates from the WPB. She likewise was the only representative of the radio industry. During the last year. Miss Fretch, a quality control inspector, has won awards of approximately $800 for three suggestions which are credited with saving 35,000 man-hours annually in the output of tubes at the Harrison plant. One of her valuable time-saving ideas was portrayed in the nation's capital at the National Labor-Man- agement Production Exposition in the Department of Commerce audi- torium. The RCA exhibit, prom- inently placed at the auditorium entrance, was highlighted by a huge portrait of Miss Fretch. She was at the exhibit explaining her pro- duction suggestions to visitors. Miss Fretch received her WPB certificate from Donald M. Nelson at a luncheon attended by Paul V. McNutt, chairman of the War Man- power Commission, and Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor. Her Washington trip included visits to the Pentagon, Arlington Cemetery, Jefferson Memorial, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, National Art Gallery, the House office building and Congres- sional press galleries. [RADIO AGE 13]