Radio and television mirror (Jan-June 1941)

tt$1/£/U ■ Boake Carter, stormy petrel of radio, returns to the air and tells the editor about his new philosophy of broadcasting AFTER two years of almost incessant J\ travel and lecturing, a short, stocky / \ man with reddish eyebrows that shoot upwards at the ends in startled disbelief is back on the air, broadcasting the news. Back of him lies a stormy radio career climaxed when he became the center of a bitter controversy between organized labor and his sponsors — so bitter that he eventually discontinued his radio work and went on a lecture tour. Now Boake Carter is back, his clipped, British manner of speaking softened and Americanized. Nor is his manner of broadcasting quite the same. He has, he explained to me, given up his previous method of direct attack on governments, institutions and men whose policies meet with his angry disapproval. Rather, now that he has returned to an active radio role, he analyzes the news and leaves the listener to form his own conclu sions. "Before when I lit into people on the air, it was peace time. Now it is a time of war and it is better not to utter inflammatory opinions." We were talking across a luncheon table at New York's new municipal airport, LaGuardia Field. Through the wide, uncurtained windows we could watch the arrivals of regularly scheduled nights from every part of the country. And once, during the luncheon, with a penetrating sharp roar of its huge motors, the European Clipper taxied out into the bay and took off across the glittering blue water, rose majestically into the air and disappeared toward the Azores, twenty hours away over the Atlantic Ocean. We lunched at the airport because Boake is sponsored by United Airlines and it was a gentle reminder to mention the fact that an airlines company was re ■ Boake's clipped, British accent is softened and Americanized now. sponsible for bringing him back to the air. I'm glad Boake Carter is broadcasting again. His brusque manner of talking, I think, makes people stop and consider what the day's news actually means. It is so easy to listen to most news broadcasts without bothering to interpret their true significance— unless the talker forces you into weighing the facts and arriving at some conclusions. But I don't quite believe him when Boake Carter says he no longer voices his opinions. Listening to his first broadcasts of this new series on the Mutual network, I detected what to me was an obvious point of view in nearly all his news presentations. And, because it was partly submerged and hidden from listeners who weren't expecting Mr. Carter to inject his own viewpoint, I would prefer to have him state his opinion as he formerly did — openly and frankly. The fact remains, Boake Carter is back on the air and that is news worth reporting. Next month's issue will be adorned with a natural color portrait of Carol Bruce, a rather beautiful young lady. Carol is the girl who became ■ Broadway's sensation when the musical comedy, "Louisiana Purchase," opened late last spring. She started life some twenty years ago by being born in Brooklyn. At fourteen she went to work in a department store, her urge to sing buried down deep within her, stifled there by a sense of futility long hours of clerking had given her. How she found herself and how she survived two flaming romances to reach her present vantage point, she tells in her own frank words in the February issue. Which are two out of two dozen reasons why I'll expect to have you with us again when the next issue of Radio Mirror reaches the newsstands. FRED R. SAMMIS