He was a director and producer of original radio plays for CBS during the golden age of radio in the 1930s and '40s when he was revered as the "poet of the airwaves." Norman Corwin has died at the age of 101. Corwin's programs, which CBS aired without sponsors, are considered classics of the era when radio was the primary news and entertainment venue for Americans. Corwin's most celebrated programs were two specials that aired at the beginning and near the end of World War II.
"We Hold These Truths," a government-sponsored drama he was asked to write in 1941 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Bill of Rights, examined the origin of the first 10 amendments to the Constitution and how they affected Americans down through history. The drama featured a star-studded cast led by James Stewart, Orson Welles, Lionel Barrymore, Walter Brennan, Edward G. Robinson, Walter Huston, Marjorie Main and Rudy Vallee. Broadcast live from the CBS studio in Hollywood and featuring music composed and conducted by CBS' Bernard Herrmann, the program ended with a live, eight-minute speech by President Franklin Roosevelt at the White House, then switched to New York, where the NBC Symphony Orchestra played the national anthem under the direction of Leopold Stokowski.
The program was scheduled to air simultaneously on all four national networks on Dec. 15, 1941. And when it did air, only eight days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, 60 million Americans tuned in.
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