Thursday, October 05, 2006

This is War

In February, 1942, a Saturday evening radio show was simulcast to the four major radio networks at the time. Think of yourself lounging in front of the fire in your living room. Or perhaps driving home from work or the store. This is what you hear:

What we say tonight has to do with blood and with bone and with anger, and also with a big job in the making. Laughter can wait. Soft music can have the evening off. No one is invited to sit down and take it easy. . . .

This is how the first of thirteen radio shows began in the series This is War! as described in Time Magazine, Feb. 13, 1942. More:

...But the script sang with the defiant tunes of people and machines, and the narrator, Navy's Lieut. Robert Montgomery, handled well the address at the end to the people of the United Nations:

"Take heart! Resist much! Fight how you can! We are building for you, we are on the move. . . ."

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