Misplaced Pages

#276723

64-420: The CBS Radio Workshop was an experimental dramatic radio anthology series that aired on CBS from January 27, 1956, until September 22, 1957. Subtitled “radio’s distinguished series to man’s imagination,” it was a revival of the earlier Columbia Experimental Laboratory (1931), Columbia Experimental Dramatic Laboratory (1932) and Columbia Workshop broadcasts by CBS from 1936 to 1943. The CBS Radio Workshop

128-476: A concert (November 7, 1936) which demonstrated the possibilities of idiomatic music composition for radio by playing orchestrations of three works by staff arranger Amadeo de Fillipi. Among the most significant musical contributions Reis made was appointing Bernard Herrmann music director of the Workshop . Herrmann had previously worked on CBS primarily as a conductor. He had composed his first radio drama for

192-503: A fascination with the possibilities of the relatively new medium. His idea was to use experimental modes of narrative to enhance the way a narrative was conveyed over the radio. Reis had isolated attempts to experiment on the radio: Before the Columbia Workshop' s debut, he had directed at least a few radio dramas. For Reis, the Columbia Workshop was a platform for developing new techniques for presentation on radio as noted in

256-496: A half-hour drama. Among the technical demonstrations were sound effects, the use of various kinds of microphones to achieve various aural effects and voice impersonators (including sound effects produced by voice). Reis called upon others to try their hand in writing new or adapting existing material for the experimental nature of the Workshop. Orson Welles did a two-part adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet (mentioned along with

320-552: A library is, in itself, an assertion. [...] It asserts that [...] all these different and dissimilar reports, these bits and pieces of experience, manuscripts in bottles, messages from long before, from deep within, from miles beyond, belonged together and might, if understood together, spell out the meaning which the mystery implies. [...] The library, almost alone of the great monuments of civilization, stands taller now than it ever did before. The city [...] decays. The nation loses its grandeur [...]. The university

384-461: A microphone circuit could be shunted. The box had dials on its surface. Its inner mechanism could remove upper or lower tones or a combination of them to give an incomplete reproduction, as given by a telephone. The dials allowed the engineer to vary the effect, creating varieties of incompleteness. It became common for radio personnel to play around with the filters to find new sounds, and then having radio shows based upon their discoveries. Many of

448-411: A rocket traveling through outer space, someone remembered the duct and put a microphone in the bend. Whenever Buck Rogers was on the move, the microphone was opened, producing the sound of a spaceship. This was the first development in sound filters. Filters developed upon the need for radio directors to find a way to portray a voice over the telephone. The filters were generally small boxes through which

512-689: A story concerning the relationship of man and technology. Both Irwin Shaw and Archibald MacLeish were invited back to write and direct shows as they had done under Reis's leadership. The Workshop extended its experimental mode by preceding the new MacLeish play, Air Raid with a broadcast of its rehearsal. Stephen Vincent Benèt continued to write for the Workshop , and author Wilbur Daniel Steele made his own adaptations of his previously written short stories. Arch Oboler , known for Lights Out! series, contributed one script, as did Thornton Wilder and budding writer Arthur Laurents . At times, Robson reached beyond

576-578: A two-part presentation of Alice in Wonderland in which music took the place of all sound effects, and Marc Blitzstein 's half-hour musical I've Got the Tune , which similarly tried to convey sound effects and long-distance travel through purely musical means. On the broadcast of December 23, 1937 (the first of a two-part dramatization of Lewis Carroll's Alice Through the Looking-Glass ), it

640-532: A writer and editor for Henry Luce's Fortune , during which he also became increasingly politically active, especially with antifascist causes. By the 1930s, he considered capitalism to be "symbolically dead" and wrote the verse play Panic (1935) in response. While in Paris, Harry Crosby , publisher of the Black Sun Press , offered to publish MacLeish's poetry. Both MacLeish and Crosby had overturned

704-510: Is a report of one kind or another and the sum of all of them together is our little knowledge of our world and of ourselves. Call a book Das Kapital or The Voyage of the Beagle or Theory of Relativity or Alice in Wonderland or Moby Dick , it is still [...] a "report" upon the "mystery of things." But if this is what a book is [...], then a library [...] is an extraordinary thing. [...] The existence of

SECTION 10

#1732791101277

768-751: Is not always certain what it is. But the library remains: a silent and enduring affirmation that the great Reports still speak, and not alone but somehow all together [...] Two collections of MacLeish's papers are held at the Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library . These are the Archibald MacLeish Collection and the Archibald MacLeish Collection Addition. Additionally, more than 13,500 items from his papers and his personal library are held in

832-421: Is not entirely clear who led the Columbia Workshop during 1942, but interest in the program was clearly waning. There were a few significant programs (historically the most interesting of them is probably the airing of John Cage 's and Kenneth Patchen 's The City Wears a Slouch Hat ). There are only a few references to shows in 1943. The show had a revival in the 1946–47 season. When it was revived in 1956, it

896-602: The Office of Strategic Services , the precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency . "These operations were overseen by the distinguished Harvard University historian William L. Langer , who, with the assistance of the American Council of Learned Societies and Librarian of Congress Archibald MacLeish, set out immediately to recruit a professional staff drawn from across the social sciences. Over

960-704: The Farm Security Administration and other agencies. The book influenced Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath . American Libraries has called MacLeish "one of the 100 most influential figures in librarianship during the 20th century" in the United States. MacLeish's career in libraries and public service began, not with an internal desire, but from a combination of the urging of a close friend, Felix Frankfurter , and as MacLeish put it, "The President decided I wanted to be Librarian of Congress." Franklin D. Roosevelt 's nomination of MacLeish

1024-509: The First World War and lived in Paris in the 1920s. On returning to the United States, he contributed to Henry Luce 's magazine Fortune from 1929 to 1938. For five years, MacLeish was the ninth Librarian of Congress , a post he accepted at the urging of President Franklin D. Roosevelt . From 1949 to 1962, he was Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory at Harvard . He was awarded three Pulitzer Prizes for his work. MacLeish

1088-610: The United States Senate , victory in a roll call vote with 63 senators voting in favor of MacLeish's appointment was achieved. MacLeish was sworn in as Librarian of Congress on July 10, 1939, by the local postmaster at Conway, Massachusetts . MacLeish became privy to Roosevelt's views on the library during a private meeting with the President. According to Roosevelt, the pay levels were too low and many people would need to be removed. Soon afterward, MacLeish joined

1152-585: The War Department's Office of Facts and Figures , and as the assistant director of the Office of War Information . These jobs were heavily involved with propaganda, which was well-suited to MacLeish's talents; he had written quite a bit of politically motivated work in the previous decade. He spent a year as the Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and a further year representing

1216-462: The Workshop on January 16, 1935 was based on an actual incident. To achieve a sense of realism, the dramatization was a combination news report or documentary. Unlike most radio dramas, there was no narrator involved. This was later rebroadcast as part of the Workshop on September 10, 1936. Under Robson's aegis, the Workshop was able to broadcast a number of notable shows. Known more as a film director, Pare Lorentz wrote and directed Ecce Homo ,

1280-499: The Workshop , but it was only after his second program, Rhythm of the Jute Mill (broadcast December 12, 1936) that the appointment was made. Thereafter Herrmann composed many radio shows himself, also conducting the music of others and even proposing a show entirely devoted to music composed for the Workshop . Other significant musical contributions during Reis's directorship include Paul Sterrett's and Leith Stevens 's score for

1344-797: The 1940s and 1950s, including J. Edgar Hoover and Joseph McCarthy . Much of this was due to his involvement with left-wing organizations such as the League of American Writers , and to his friendships with prominent left-wing writers. Time magazine's Whittaker Chambers cited him as a fellow traveler in a 1941 article: "By 1938, U. S. Communists could count among their allies such names as Granville Hicks , Newton Arvin , Waldo Frank , Lewis Mumford , Matthew Josephson , Kyle Crichton (Robert Forsythe), Malcolm Cowley , Donald Ogden Stewart , Erskine Caldwell , Dorothy Parker , Archibald MacLeish, Lillian Hellman , Dashiell Hammett , John Steinbeck , George Soule , many another." In 1949, MacLeish became

SECTION 20

#1732791101277

1408-507: The Archibald MacLeish Collection at Greenfield Community College in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Smith College's MacLeish Field Station is named after MacLeish and his wife Ada, who were close friends of former Smith president Jill Ker Conway and introduced her to the natural environment around Northampton, Massachusetts . In 1916, he married Ada Hitchcock, a musician. MacLeish had three children: Kenneth, Mary Hillard, and William,

1472-567: The Beast and Blennerhasset , were among those heard. Robson apparently stepped down sometime in mid-1939, after which the Workshop was somewhat adrift. Brewster Morgan and Earle McGill are credited as being those responsible for continuing the series. Norman Corwin had been a rising star at CBS for a few years, and had even some of his work aired on the Workshop as early as 1938, when his adaptation of Stephen Crane 's The Red Badge of Courage aired. But his sense of social justice again changed

1536-700: The Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory at Harvard University. He held this position until his retirement in 1962. In 1959, his play J.B. won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama . From 1963 to 1967, he was the John Woodruff Simpson Lecturer at Amherst College . In 1969, MacLeish met Bob Dylan , and asked him to contribute songs to Scratch , a musical MacLeish was writing, based on the story " The Devil and Daniel Webster " by Stephen Vincent Benét . The collaboration

1600-577: The Man," were remakes of scripts by Richard Durham for the anthology series Destination Freedom (1948-1950). William N. Robson , who had directed on Columbia Workshop , worked on CBS Radio Workshop as well, and the Archibald MacLeish radio play "Air Raid" (which premiered on Columbia Workshop ) was remade. Columbia Workshop The series began as the idea of Irving Reis . Reis had begun his radio career as an engineer and developed

1664-740: The Moon.'" MacLeish worked to promote the arts, culture, and libraries. Among other impacts, MacLeish was the first Librarian of Congress to begin the process of naming what would become the United States Poet Laureate . The Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress came from a donation in 1937 from Archer M. Huntington , a wealthy ship builder. Like many donations, it came with strings attached. In this case, Huntington wanted poet Joseph Auslander to be named to

1728-403: The U.S. at the creation of UNESCO , where he contributed to the preamble of its 1945 Constitution ("Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed." ). After this, he retired from public service and returned to academia . Despite a long history of debate over the merits of Marxism , MacLeish came under fire from anticommunists in

1792-420: The Workshop in the fictitious film Me and Orson Welles ), as well as a 30-minute condensation of Macbeth . Irwin Shaw contributed one show, and Stephen Vincent Benét adapted several of his short stories. Reis also experimented with readings and dramatizations of poetry, including works by Samuel Taylor Coleridge , John Masefield and Edgar Allan Poe . One of the most notable presentations of Reis's tenure

1856-464: The community of literary expatriates that included such members as Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway . They also became part of the famed coterie of Riviera hosts Gerald and Sarah Murphy , which included Hemingway, Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald , John Dos Passos , Fernand Léger , Jean Cocteau , Pablo Picasso , John O'Hara , Cole Porter , Dorothy Parker , and Robert Benchley . He returned to America in 1928. From 1930 to 1938, he worked as

1920-593: The debut broadcast: As a sustaining program , the Workshop served as a symbol to prove to the public (and the Federal Communications Commission ) that CBS was concerned with educating and serving the public. Early shows on the Workshop exemplified Reis's penchant for experimentation through narrative and technical means. The second program, Broadway Evening followed a couple as they meandered down Broadway during an evening. A subsequent show had at least 30 characters functioning within

1984-400: The direction of the Workshop into one frequently addressing current issues. By the fall 1940, Corwin was leading the Workshop , and in 1941, the series was giving the subtitle 26 by Corwin , attesting to the author's seemingly indefatigable energy. Given Corwin's strong interest in issues of the day, it is ironic he left the Workshop just one month prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It

CBS Radio Workshop - Misplaced Pages Continue

2048-556: The front page of Time would need when the men landed was a poem. What the poet wrote would count most, but we also wanted to say to our readers, look, this paper does not know how to express how it feels this day and perhaps you don't either, so here is a fellow, a poet, who will try for all of us. We called one poet who just did not think much of moons or us, and then decided to reach higher for somebody with more zest in his soul – for Archibald MacLeish, winner of three Pulitzer Prizes . He turned in his poem on time and entitled it 'Voyage to

2112-409: The largest one-year increase to date. Much of the increase went toward improved pay levels, increased acquisitions in underserved subject areas, and new positions. MacLeish resigned as Librarian of Congress on December 19, 1944, to take up the post of Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs . Archibald MacLeish also assisted with the development of the new " Research and Analysis Branch " of

2176-403: The library to "report on the mystery of things." Last, but not least, MacLeish promoted the Library of Congress through various forms of public advocacy . Perhaps his greatest display of public advocacy was requesting a budget increase of over a million dollars in his March 1940 budget proposal to Congress. While the library did not receive the full increase, it received an increase of $ 367,591,

2240-411: The library's collection had not yet been cataloged. MacLeish solved the problem of acquisitions and cataloging through establishing another committee instructed to seek advice from specialists outside of the Library of Congress. The committee found many subject areas of the library to be adequate and many other areas to be, surprisingly, inadequately provided for. A set of general principles on acquisitions

2304-444: The library's functions into three departments: administration, processing, and reference. All existing divisions were then assigned as appropriate. By including library scientists from inside and outside the Library of Congress, MacLeish was able to gain faith from the library community that he was on the right track. Within a year, MacLeish had completely restructured the Library of Congress, making it work more efficiently and aligning

2368-507: The library, rather "...one problem or another demanded action, and each problem solved led on to another that needed attention." MacLeish's chief accomplishments had their start in instituting daily staff meetings with division chiefs, the chief assistant librarian, and other administrators. He then set about setting up various committees on various projects, including acquisitions policy, fiscal operations, cataloging, and outreach. The committees alerted MacLeish to various problems throughout

2432-531: The library. Putnam was conspicuously not invited to attend these meetings, resulting in the librarian emeritus' feelings being "mortally hurt", but according to MacLeish, it was necessary to exclude Putnam; otherwise, "he would have been sitting there listening to talk about himself which he would take personally." First and foremost, under Putnam, the library was acquiring more books than it could catalog . A report in December 1939, found that over one-quarter of

2496-513: The most immediate concern to the peoples of the United States. Secondly, MacLeish set about reorganizing the operational structure. Leading scholars in library science were assigned a committee to analyze the library's managerial structure. The committee issued a report a mere two months after it was formed, in April 1940, stating that a major restructuring was necessary. This was no surprise to MacLeish, who had 35 divisions under him. He divided

2560-469: The next 12 months, academic specialists from fields ranging from geography to classical philology descended upon Washington, bringing with them their most promising graduate students, and set up shop in the headquarters of the Research and Analysis (R&A) Branch at Twenty-third and E Streets, and in the new annex to the Library of Congress." During World War II , MacLeish also served as director of

2624-522: The normal expectations of society, rejecting conventional careers in the legal and banking fields. Crosby published MacLeish's long poem "Einstein" in a deluxe edition of 150 copies that sold quickly. MacLeish was paid $ 200 for his work. In 1932, MacLeish published his long poem "Conquistador", which presents Cortés's conquest of the Aztecs as symbolic of the American experience. In 1933, "Conquistador"

CBS Radio Workshop - Misplaced Pages Continue

2688-536: The position. Bogan, who had long been a hostile critic of MacLeish's own writing, asked MacLeish why he appointed her to the position; MacLeish replied that she was the best person for the job. For MacLeish, promoting the Library of Congress and the arts was vitally more important than petty personal conflicts. In the June 5, 1972, issue of The American Scholar , MacLeish laid out in an essay his philosophy on libraries and librarianship, further shaping modern thought on

2752-497: The position. MacLeish found little value in Auslander's writing. However, MacLeish was happy that having Auslander in the post attracted many other poets, such as Robinson Jeffers and Robert Frost , to hold readings at the library. He set about establishing the consultantship as a revolving post rather than a lifetime position. In 1943, MacLeish displayed his love of poetry and the Library of Congress by naming Louise Bogan to

2816-456: The retiring Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam for a luncheon in New York. At the meeting, Putnam relayed his intention to continue working at the library, that he would be given the title of librarian emeritus, and that his office would be down the hall from MacLeish's. The meeting further crystallized for MacLeish that as Librarian of Congress, he would be "an unpopular newcomer, disturbing

2880-474: The series was composed by Bernard Herrmann , Jerry Goldsmith , Amerigo Moreno, Ray Noble and Leith Stevens . Writers whose work was adapted for the series included John Cheever , Robert A. Heinlein , Sinclair Lewis , H. L. Mencken , Edgar Allan Poe , Christopher Isherwood , Frederik Pohl , James Thurber , Mark Twain and Thomas Wolfe . Two episodes, "Sweet Cherries in Charleston" and "Heart of

2944-508: The staff who worked on the Columbia Workshop would continue with CBS and work for television. The Columbia Workshop received a 1946 Peabody Award for Outstanding Entertainment in Drama. This is a list of all the Columbia Workshop programs, giving known information about authors, adaptors, directors/producers, composers. Occasional remarks have been included. Gaps in dates usually refer to programs that were pre-empted. Information for

3008-477: The status quo." A question from MacLeish's daughter, Mimi, led him to realize, "Nothing is more difficult for the beginning librarian than to discover [in] what profession he was engaged." Mimi, his daughter, had inquired about what her daddy was to do all day, "...hand out books?" MacLeish created his own job description and set out to learn about how the library was currently organized. In October 1944, MacLeish described that he did not set out to reorganize

3072-417: The subject: No true book [...] was ever anything else than a report. [...] A true book is a report upon the mystery of existence [...] it speaks of the world, of our life in the world. Everything we have in the books on which our libraries are founded— Euclid 's figures, Leonardo 's notes, Newton 's explanations, Cervantes ' myth, Sappho 's broken songs, the vast surge of Homer —everything

3136-474: The typical crop of radio authors, selecting at least one script (Anita Fairgrieve's Andrea del Sarto ), from his class in radio writing at New York University as well as soliciting scripts on the air from the listening audience. With Bernard Herrmann continuing as music director, Robson (probably at Herrmann's insistence) included a few extended musical works and opera on the Workshop. Frederick Delius 's Hassan , and two operas by Vittorio Giannini , Beauty and

3200-503: The war. He graduated from law school in 1919, taught law for a semester for the government department at Harvard, then worked briefly as an editor for The New Republic . He next spent three years practicing law with the Boston firm Choate, Hall & Stewart . MacLeish expressed his disillusion with war in his poem Memorial Rain , published in 1926. In 1923, MacLeish left his law firm and moved with his wife to Paris, where they joined

3264-492: The years 1942–43 is difficult to come by. production: George Zachary "The Creation" was a dramatization of a paraphrase of James Weldon Johnson's book of "Negro poems and verse" "God's Trombones" Archibald MacLeish Archibald MacLeish (May 7, 1892 – April 20, 1982) was an American poet and writer, who was associated with the modernist school of poetry. MacLeish studied English at Yale University and law at Harvard University . He enlisted in and saw action during

SECTION 50

#1732791101277

3328-580: Was Archibald MacLeish 's original radio play, The Fall of the City . With a cast that included Burgess Meredith , Orson Welles and 300 students, the play was notable for its portrayal of the collapse of a city under an unnamed dictator, a commentary on fascism in Germany and Italy. Reis recognized music as an important part of radio presentation. As part of CBS's commissioning of five classical composers to write original works for radio, Deems Taylor narrated

3392-695: Was a controversial and highly political maneuver fraught with several challenges. MacLeish sought support from expected places such as the president of Harvard, MacLeish's current place of work, but found none. Support from unexpected places, such as M. Llewellyn Raney of the University of Chicago libraries, alleviated the ALA letter-writing campaign against MacLeish's nomination." The main Republican argument against MacLeish's nomination from within Congress

3456-470: Was a failure and Scratch opened without any music; Dylan describes their collaboration in the third chapter of his autobiography Chronicles, Vol. 1 . MacLeish greatly admired T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound , and his work shows quite a bit of their influence. He was the literary figure who played the most important role in freeing Ezra Pound from St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C., where he

3520-512: Was announced that William N. Robson had succeeded Irving Reis as director of the Columbia Workshop . Reis moved to Hollywood and continued his career in the film industry. Though the Workshop continued some experimentation, Robson placed greater emphasis on good dramatic adaptations, rather than didactic explanations of radio techniques. Robson was not averse to experimentation. His San Quentin Prison Break , originally broadcast prior to

3584-582: Was awarded a Pulitzer Prize, the first of three awarded to MacLeish. In 1934, he wrote a libretto for Union Pacific , a ballet by Nicolas Nabokov and Léonide Massine ( Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo ); it premiered in Philadelphia with great success. In 1938, MacLeish published as a book a long poem "Land of the Free", built around a series of 88 photographs of the rural depression by Dorothea Lange , Walker Evans , Arthur Rothstein , Ben Shahn , and

3648-717: Was born in Glencoe, Illinois . His father, Scottish-born Andrew MacLeish , worked as a dry-goods merchant and was a founder of the Chicago department store Carson Pirie Scott . His mother, Martha (née Hillard), was a college professor and had served as president of Rockford College . He grew up on an estate bordering Lake Michigan . He attended the Hotchkiss School from 1907 to 1911. For his college education, MacLeish went to Yale University, where he majored in English,

3712-727: Was elected to Phi Beta Kappa , and was selected for the Skull and Bones society. He then enrolled in Harvard Law School , where he served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review . His studies were interrupted by World War I , in which he served first as an ambulance driver and later as an artillery officer. He fought at the Second Battle of the Marne. His brother, Kenneth MacLeish , was killed in action during

3776-623: Was greatly involved in public life and came to believe that this was not only an appropriate, but also an inevitable role for a poet. In 1969, MacLeish was commissioned by the New York Times to write a poem to celebrate the Apollo 11 Moon landing , which he entitled "Voyage to the Moon." The poem appeared on the front page of the July 21, 1969 edition of Time magazine . A. M. Rosenthal , then-editor of Time , later recounted: "We decided what

3840-409: Was incarcerated for high treason between 1946 and 1958. MacLeish's early work was very traditionally modernist and accepted the contemporary modernist position holding that a poet was isolated from society. His most well-known poem, " Ars Poetica ," contains a classic statement of the modernist aesthetic: "A poem should not mean / But be." He later broke with modernism's pure aesthetic. MacLeish himself

3904-418: Was one of American network radio's last attempts to hold on to, and perhaps recapture, some of the demographics they had lost to television in the post-World War II era. The premiere broadcast was a two-part adaptation of Aldous Huxley 's Brave New World , introduced and narrated by Huxley. It took a unique approach to sound effects, as described in a Time (February 6, 1956) review that week: Music for

SECTION 60

#1732791101277

3968-510: Was retitled the CBS Radio Workshop . The Columbia Workshop gave authors, directors, sound engineers and composers many opportunities to experiment with the use of sound as a device for enhancing narrative. Buck Rogers was broadcast from a 21st-floor studio that had been troubled with air conditioning noises. At a bend in a duct the air gave a whoosh that had been difficult to dampen. Later, when it became necessary to suggest

4032-506: Was that he was a poet and was a " fellow traveler " or sympathetic to communist causes. Calling to mind differences with the party he had over the years, MacLeish avowed, "no one would be more shocked to learn I am a Communist than the Communists themselves." In Congress, MacLeish's main advocate was Senate Majority Leader Alben Barkley , Democrat from Kentucky. With President Roosevelt's support and Senator Barkley's skillful defense in

4096-439: Was then developed to ensure that, though it was impossible to collect everything, the Library of Congress would acquire the bare minimum of canons to meet its mission. These principles included acquiring all materials necessary to members of Congress and government officers, all materials expressing and recording the life and achievements of the people of the United States, and materials of other societies past and present that are of

#276723