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HOWARD CLANEY — NBC Announcer
TJOWARD CLANEY, member of the NBC announcerial staff, had some revolutionary theatrical ideas when only a student in a Pittsburgh, Pa., high school. Though his ideas were scoffed at then, he produced a Broadway play years later. Curiously enough, while Claney’s revolutionary ideas dealt with a potential production of “Macbeth,” it was Walter ffampden, the great Shakespearian actor, who backed him in producing Du Maurier’s “Peter Ibbetson” in 1927. Claney was born in Pittsburgh, April 17, 1898, and received his grammar and high school education there. In Pittsburgh he also attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology. In the World War he was a member of the institute’s R. 0. T. C. unit and was under orders to embark for France at the time of tbe signing of the Armistice. While studying at Carnegie Institute of Technology during the World War, many of the artistic courses were eliminated from the curricula and Claney, in desperation, selected engineering as his major. Then, when the full curricula was restored, he studied architecture, sculpture, painting and drama. Claney later studied drawing and painting at the Art Institute of Chicago and served a short apprenticeship under a recognized sculptor. His interest in these subjects was probably inherited from his parents. His mother, the late Mary J. Claney, did some painting, and his father, William J. Claney, is a successful building contractor. But it was a whim of fate which gave him his initial chance on Broadway. One day, visiting in New York, he accompanied a friend, the latter an actor, to a Broadway booking agent’s office. While Claney was seated in an outer office alone the booking agent approached. “Do you want to see me?” the agent asked. Claney was a bit surprised but answered “Yes.” And subsequently, by reason of that chance meeting, Claney secured a part in “A Man of the People,” by Thomas Dixon. In years to follow he played in numerous produc¬ tions. Claney owes his present position in the broadcasting world to the late Gerald Stopp. It was Stopp who first recognized his talents in the broadcasting studios. It was not until 1930, after Claney had severed his connection with the NBC dramatic staff, that he took an announcerial audition.
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