Told the World

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 937, 2 April 1930, Page 10

Told the World

RUSSELL OWEN, WRITER FOR BYRD EXPEDITION, VISITS AUCKLAND 1 FAMOUS, BUT MODEST ' There’s nothing pretentious about Russell Owen. To have seen the world-famous New York journalist step from the Limited on to the Auckland station, no one would, have thought him the international ly-known chronicler of Rear-Admiral Bryd's Antarctic expedition. Y'es, it was he. He had a black j travelling bag in one hand and a sign of identification, a typewriter with the word "Owen" in sprawling white, letters, in the other. Quietly spoken and completely unassuming, but Russell Owen shared with Byrd much of the personality o. the expedition. Did he not give to a waiting world the accounts of South Pole ventures, of dtr-cvcries ’-- ice-ridden mountain ranges, of the little tragedies and the humours of the Little America Camp, even a sto- - of the inquisitive whale which noser ! its way to the great ice barrier, under ‘ the gaze of the explores? He absorbed the profound atmos- j phere of the Antarctic, necessarily, but j he found time, even under the suspence of hours of waiting for news of | the fate of flyers attempting bold I flights over bleak, uncharted wastes j to give lighter happenings. All manner of inch’ - • he penned for j dispatch by wm-’-ss and by cable, i His words were avidly read, whethei they told of a minor disaster in the j camp kitchen, or of some discovery of I geological significance. CROWDED CAREER I'he expedition has been Russell Owen’s crowning distinction in a j crowded career of journalism: millions, whether in the United States, | in the United Kingdom, or in the Brit- j ish Dominions, can recall those few , lines above the messages from Little ! America—" Copyright by the ’New , York Times’ and the ‘St. Louis Post- j Dispatch,’ by Russell Owen.” Mr. j Owen told The Sun briefly of the more ; prominent stories he has “covered” j in years in New York newspaper life. These are a few:—, The sensational Scopes trial at Dayton, Tennessee, where the teaching of evolution was an issue of world ! importance. Mr. Owen thinks the | trial was probably his most fascinatI ing assignment. A journey’ to lone Spitsbergen, on the verge of the Arctic, to describe the flight to Alaska by Roald Amundj sen and the American, Lincoln Elsworth. I At Spitzbergen, during the Amundj sen-Elsworth preparations, Byrd arrived to make his flight to the North j j Pole and, back. This was Mr. Owen’s i j first meeting with the man he was to I j accompany on the Antarctic venture, j j Mr. Owen was associated with another { ! journalist in describing Byrd’s flight } from Spitzbergen. \ The Schneider Cup air speed con- I I tests in 1926 | Several transatlantic flights. Lieu- j j tenant Noel Davis, who was killed, Byrd, Chamberlain and Colonel Lindberg—all these airmen were met by I Mr. Owen. TWO-YEAR ASSIGNMENT

And those are Mr. Owen’s outstanding assignments, now overshadowed by the Byrd expedition. He has been writing on the exploration project since March, 1928. Mr. Owen began in journalism in 1906. For more than 13 years, he wrote for the “New York Sun,” and, for six or seven years, he has been special writer and reporter on the “New York Times." In between times, he has been engaged on publicity work. He began as a stenographer at 15; once, he was a linotype operator. The “Times,” which has a Sunday circulation of nearly 1,000,000, and a' daily issue of 500,000, selected him specially for the Byrd project, in which the newspaper was financially concerned. “New Zealand is a charming country and the people are the most hospitable I have met,” Mr. Owen said. “They have the likeable characteristics of'the English. I find the British colonial friendliness similar to the American. “I may write a book on the Byrd expedition. Journalism is the only game I know.” The restraint of New Zealand newspapers impressed him. The single line and not very communicative headlines of most of the papers were strange to him, too. Most of the news was extremely well written. He wanted to return to New Zealand to observe more of the country. 72 BELOW The Antarctic was actually healthy and invigorating for physically fit men and the majority of the 42 members of Byrd’s community benefited from the experience, even with the temperature at 72 degrees below zero. Flying hazards were many, but aviation near Little America in fine weather was surprisingly safe. Utter dependence on the meteorologist’s reports was essential, as fair conditions could change into obscure vision within five minutes. It was all a test for the magnificent aviation of Byrd, Bernt Balchen, Dean Smith—who, in the United States, regularly conducts the New York •• Cleveland night mail service over dangerous country— Harold June, and Captain Alten Parker. Down in Little America, Mr. Owen was librarian in an excellently appointed library. There he wrote fits messages for the world on a makeshift desk built by none other than Dr. Gould, the geologist. Not without anticipation will Mr. Owen return to America on the Corinthic on April 9. He joins the City of New York at Panama, to return to his high position on a staff of more than 70 writers. That is Russell Owen.