HE HAS BEGUN SOMETHING

New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 327, 28 September 1945, Page 11

HE HAS BEGUN SOMETHING

Norman Corwin and "Radio Literature"

T one time it was thought that Providence had singled out Orson Welles to revolutionise radio drama and radio presentations in general, Not improbably Welles himself thought ‘so, -but that was before the call came.to him to go to Hollywood. In quitting radio he left the field clear for another peedigyNorman Corwin, : Although there is a. solid ome for comparison between these -two,. they are: poles apart as personalities. But each in his own line is an innovator. About Orson Welles’ real significance to* the films there is debate;'some call’ him a mountebank and some say that he is a genius. There is no such division of opinion over Corwin’s role in radio. It is unquestionable that, as a writer, still more as a pioneer in new techniques, Corwin has made.an astonish‘ing contribution to broadcasting. He has opened up new vistas. In American radio his imagination and audacity have been allowed a full fling, with the result that radio literature as a distinct branch of letters is coming into its own, gradually. All His Own Work Actually, Corwin is a serious writer with something to say. It just happens to be radio’s luck that he had an. urge in its direction rather than an urge to

write novels or try his hand at formal drama. The commercial stations have presented three of his programmes in New Zealand: "We Hold These Truths," "This is War," and "You Can’t Do Business with Hitler." The first two, scripts as well as production, were wholly his own work. Some listeners will still, probably, remember "We Hold These Truths," which was an example of history according to the text-books and yet made alive and arresting. For New Zea-

too exuberant, but it was a revelation of the possibilities of radio when it is in the hands of writers and producers who have the understanding and ability to get the best out of it. Global Writer To say that Corwin is the greatest single force in radio at the present time is perhaps a slight exaggeration. But it is only just’ an exaggeration to say, as a reviewer did say in a notice about one of his books, that he "writes for the world." His work is known in Russia, in South America, and throughout the British Empire. In 1942 he accepted an invitation from the BBC to go to England and produce several shows. During the war he has ‘been a pioneer in the field of international radio, and such programmes: as "An American in Russia," and "Transatlantic Call" were a decided contribution to international understanding. Norman Corwin holds an award from the Institute of Education as the writer who has "demonstrated the cultural, artistic, and socially important uses of radio." There is a limit to what one man can do, but Corwin’s chief value lies in his influence on other writers. He has shown what can be done and thus has made an important beginning. j land tastes the programme was possibly | |