> A footnote, one of the more vivid memories of my childhood. There was a news
> commentator back in the early '40s, a former minister, by the name of Gabriel
> Heater. He would begin his newscast each evening with a deep voiced "There's
> ______ news tonight folks," the blank being either "good" or "bad." I remember
> his opening of his newscast on the eve of the Battle of El Alamein (July 1942)
> -- perhaps the western allies' most important contribution to the war effort.
> The victory at Stalingrad was months away, and had Rommel broken through at El
> Alamein Russia might have faced German armies coming in through Iran. Anyhow,
> what I remember is Heater's "There's bad news tonight folks," followed by 15
> minutes of almost uninterrupted gloom. I don't know whether recordings of any of
> those newscasts of WW2 were preserved or not. That one would be a jewel if it is
> preserved. Heater had a most obnoxiously/gloriously fruity voice.
Gabriel Heater played himself in the sci-fi flick _The Day the Earth Stood Still_. You can skip the trip to your local video rental shop and instead find a modicum of instant satisfaction with the Heater sound clips from the movie here:
http://www.dreamerwww.com/tdtess/sounds.htm
I have yet to come across a single LP featuring Gabriel Heater broadcasts amongst the 300,000+ vintage records in the basement of my friend's music store, but curiosity led me to the cassette on the following site - albeit not a July 1942 broadcast:
http://www.oldradioprograms.com/speeches/0023302.htm
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/ dave /