Good Evening Mr and Mrs America
. . .and all the ships at sea. Throughout the 1930's and '40's, that phrase greeted millions of radio listeneres every Sunday night as the original ranter took to the airwaves to tell people about the latest New York gossip, political juice down in Washington DC or headlines from around the world. Walter Winchell invented the idea of the political/social/international commentary all in one. While Louella Parsons established herself as the social maven of Hollywood and others followed the success of Winchell's newspaper and radio columns by having their own columns, no one had as much influence on the America and the way we view news today as Walter Winchell. But, there are no real memorials to the man who invented the term "scram" and "bellylaughs".
The great industry of tabloids and gossip rags owe their very existance to Mr. Winchell's 200 word per minute radio addresses. He gave the headline and a small discription of the story, enough to entice and moved on to the next story. Sound familiar to any readers out there? Just enough to whet the appetite of the masses who listened and then on to the next issue before it could all sink in and have an effect on people. At his most popular, he reached 55 million people, which anyone trying to reach an audience would kill for. In his day, that was almost half the country (1930 population was 123 million). One man commenting on politics, social issues, international affairs, who was whose mistress and what dirt could be gotten on whom.
It wasn't all spoouting sweetness and light from the radio microphone. Accuracy and decorum were not his strongest attributes. He often made statements based on very little substantiation other than wht he thought was the way it was. While he often had great sources, such as FDR and Joe McCarthy themselves, he just as often repeated things he heard while holding court at the Stork Club in New York City. He never really cared if he got attacked anyway, since he had a clause in his contract that said the radio station and newsppaer had to pay off any damages he was charged with while on their payroll. And yes, this was about 50 years before Howard Stern took to the airwaves. Winchell was the voice America listened to about all matters social, political and otherwise.
For over forty years, he reigned supreme over all media, again long before Howard Stern was an itch in his daddy's pants. He coined the phase "pushover" when talking about gangster Dutch shultz's penchant for blonde girls. After being one of the first voices against Hitler and American fascism, after voicing the idea that we should take Russia as a friend (since Hitler and Napoleon had failed to take them by force) he voiciferously joined Senator McCarthy and Roy Cohn's crusade against communists and suspected communists in Washington, Hollywood and all over America. He got so caught up with McCarthy, that when he went down, Winchell's career never recovered. He died in 70s in obscurity with a funeral attended only by his own daughter.
Walter Winchell spoke fast, feverishly and fiercely about whatever he felt. He supported FDR and he supported McCarthy. He supported the New Deal as a way for the government to get rid of the very wealthy and the very poor in America and give the common man a chance to succeed. He started out as a left of center ranter who got caught up in the lights of his own fame. He was, in so many ways, the very first blogger. Bloggers, this included, do not have all the strictures placed on them that professional journalists do. There are no punishments for bloggers who commit libel. Bloggers, this definately included, don't necessarily have to base any kind of fact. We spout off about all kinds of subjects, ranging from gossip, to politics to whatever crosses our little minds. We keep going at 100 words a minute and hope it never really ctahces up with us.
Then people might think and all this might become important.
So it is written, so do I see it.
The great industry of tabloids and gossip rags owe their very existance to Mr. Winchell's 200 word per minute radio addresses. He gave the headline and a small discription of the story, enough to entice and moved on to the next story. Sound familiar to any readers out there? Just enough to whet the appetite of the masses who listened and then on to the next issue before it could all sink in and have an effect on people. At his most popular, he reached 55 million people, which anyone trying to reach an audience would kill for. In his day, that was almost half the country (1930 population was 123 million). One man commenting on politics, social issues, international affairs, who was whose mistress and what dirt could be gotten on whom.
It wasn't all spoouting sweetness and light from the radio microphone. Accuracy and decorum were not his strongest attributes. He often made statements based on very little substantiation other than wht he thought was the way it was. While he often had great sources, such as FDR and Joe McCarthy themselves, he just as often repeated things he heard while holding court at the Stork Club in New York City. He never really cared if he got attacked anyway, since he had a clause in his contract that said the radio station and newsppaer had to pay off any damages he was charged with while on their payroll. And yes, this was about 50 years before Howard Stern took to the airwaves. Winchell was the voice America listened to about all matters social, political and otherwise.
For over forty years, he reigned supreme over all media, again long before Howard Stern was an itch in his daddy's pants. He coined the phase "pushover" when talking about gangster Dutch shultz's penchant for blonde girls. After being one of the first voices against Hitler and American fascism, after voicing the idea that we should take Russia as a friend (since Hitler and Napoleon had failed to take them by force) he voiciferously joined Senator McCarthy and Roy Cohn's crusade against communists and suspected communists in Washington, Hollywood and all over America. He got so caught up with McCarthy, that when he went down, Winchell's career never recovered. He died in 70s in obscurity with a funeral attended only by his own daughter.
Walter Winchell spoke fast, feverishly and fiercely about whatever he felt. He supported FDR and he supported McCarthy. He supported the New Deal as a way for the government to get rid of the very wealthy and the very poor in America and give the common man a chance to succeed. He started out as a left of center ranter who got caught up in the lights of his own fame. He was, in so many ways, the very first blogger. Bloggers, this included, do not have all the strictures placed on them that professional journalists do. There are no punishments for bloggers who commit libel. Bloggers, this definately included, don't necessarily have to base any kind of fact. We spout off about all kinds of subjects, ranging from gossip, to politics to whatever crosses our little minds. We keep going at 100 words a minute and hope it never really ctahces up with us.
Then people might think and all this might become important.
So it is written, so do I see it.