In 1951, Bobby Thomson was 28 years old, the Ambassador Hotel was 30 years old, George Plimpton and Vin Scully were 24 years old. Plimpton was still years away from writing his classic books Out of My League and Paper Lion. Scully was the third man on the Brooklyn Dodgers broadcasting team that included Red Barber and Connie Desmond. He was years a…

So much of 1951 is gone, but not forgotten, including publications, ballparks, and other buildings. Gone or not, the work of many writers and architects in 1951 impacted the future. Welton Becket, 49-year-old architect, Robert E. Petersen, 25-year-old publisher, and John Steinbeck, 49-year-old writer, were all doing work that would impact people fo…

This installment of Where Have You Gone looks at Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard ‘Round the World”. It put the New York Giants into the 1951 World Series against Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and the New York Yankees. Ever since October 3, 1951, the date and Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” have been linked. Since then, Thomson’s name has b…

One of the champions of radio in 1951 was Gordon McLendon, creator of the Liberty Broadcasting System. Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee were part of the creation of the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS). Lawrence and Lee became one of America’s great writing duos. Their work stands the test of time. If Gordon McLendon’s work has not lasted in the …

The New York Giants had 17 wins and 19 losses when Willie Mays made his Major League Baseball debut on May 25, 1951. By the end of September, he was a fixture in the Giants’ lineup and helped put his team in a pennant race for the ages with the Brooklyn Dodgers. It was a high point in the history of Major League Baseball. In 1951, the Lux Radio The…

On September 20, 1951, Ford Frick was elected Commissioner of Baseball. The next day, A Place in the Sun opened at the Loew’s State in downtown Cleveland. Also on the 20th, screenwriter Michael Wilson “appeared before the House Committee on Un-American Activities as an ‘un-friendly’ witness” and took the fifth. In the fall of 1951, Saturdays were s…

We look at the 25th birthday of Route 66 and some of baseball’s all-time great broadcasters at the middle of the 20th century. Route 66 turned 25 years old in 1951. In his book 1939 book The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck called it “The Mother Road” and the moniker stuck. It ran through baseball cities large and small. It was immortalized in the s…

In his extraordinary career, Oscar-winning writer-director Eric Simonson has bridged a unique cross-section of American drama from Norman Corwin to Mark Harris. His documentary, A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin, won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Documentary, Short Subjects.By whygpodcast

We take yet another look at the legendary poet laureate of radio, Norman Corwin, and the husband-wife acting team of Paul Douglas and Jan Sterling. On September 2, 1951 Norman Corwin “intermittently watched [the] Giants-Dodgers game” in New York City. He was in New York for a trade screening of The Blue Veil on September 5. The film careers of Paul…

Another great playwright, Paddy Chayefsky, supporting players like actors Joe Mantell and Art Gilmore, and many of the Dodgers and Giants on October 3, 1951 are featured. In 1951, Chayefsky turned 28 years old, and Mantell was 36 years old. By 1955, Mantell and Chayefsky were both Oscar nominees for the film Marty. Mantell was nominated for the Osc…

We feature a look at two more legends, college baseball coach Rod Dedeaux and filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. On June 16, 1951, the 37-year-old Dedeaux and the University of Southern California Trojans baseball team was in Omaha, Nebraska playing the Tennessee Volunteers in the College World Series. It was USC’s first trip to Omaha for the College Worl…

Opening day of the 1951 Major League Baseball season turns our attention to Jackie Robinson, the literature of Jackie Robinson, his childhood hometown of Pasadena, California, Pasadena’s legendary Vroman’s Book Store, and another literary legend, Ray Bradbury. There are also stories about the Central Library in downtown Los Angeles, Langston Hughes…

Lucille Ball, John Wayne, Rod Serling, and General Douglas MacArthur take center stage as our look at 1951 continues. On March 31, 1951, five days after Mickey Mantle’s big day at Bovard Field, the last broadcast of “My Favorite Husband” starring 39-year-old Lucille Ball, aired on the CBS radio network. Lucy’s transition from radio to television an…

One of the seminal moments in American history took place on October 3, 1951, when Bobby Thomson hit what has become known as “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World”. Earlier in 1951, Mickey Mantle burst onto the scene as a rookie for the New York Yankees. These seemed like two good bookends for a story about 1951 as a turning point in American history. …

Our new season begins with a special episode, an interview with Dr. Rock Positano. Dr. Positano is the author, with his brother John, of Dinner With DiMaggio, an intimate look at Rock’s friendship with the legendary Yankee Clipper.By whygpodcast

Our road trip continues in the Motor City, Detroit, Michigan, with stops at the Henry Ford, Historic Hamtramck Stadium, Comerica Park, and John K. King Used & Rare Books. It is the final stop on our trip and the final episode of the second season of Where Have You Gone?By whygpodcast

Marshall, MI is home to the American Museum of Magic. It also features the largest National Historic Landmark District (small urban category) in the United States. It is the next stop on our trip through Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan.By whygpodcast

Colon, Michigan, is the Magic Capital of the World. For decades, it has been a destination for many of the greatest magicians in the world. It has been the final stop for some of them. Find the magic when Where Have You Gone? visits Colon, Michigan.By whygpodcast

The second day of our road trip covers Marion, Ohio and Fort Wayne, Indiana. There is travel on the Lincoln Highway, a bookstore, and a ballgame. There are other historic landmarks along the way, all the things that make for good heritage travel.By whygpodcast

Virtual travel is fine, but real travel is usually better. Come along for our recent visit to Columbus, OH, the first stop on a road trip through Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. The Columbus sites include important locations in the lives of James Thurber, Harold Cooper, Dave Thomas, and Howard Thurston. Discover places that have, and have not, survive…

Asheville, North Carolina's historic Riverside Cemetery was founded in 1885. Learn more about the cemetery and its two literary legends, Thomas Wolfe and William Sydney Porter (better known as O. Henry).By whygpodcast

Our virtual road trip to the ballparks Larry Ritter wrote about in Lost Ballparks continues. Part two picks up in Kansas City, moves on east and north into Canada, before final stops in Buffalo and Pittsburgh.By whygpodcast

Lawrence Ritter is famous for his 1966 book The Glory of Their Times, but his 1992 book Lost Ballparks is another wonderful look back at America's past. It is a celebration of baseball's legendary fields. Join us for a virtual trip back to these bygone shrines.By whygpodcast

In 1974, Himan Brown's valiant attempt to resurrect radio drama on network radio began with the premiere of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater. Enter through the creaking door and join us for a look at Brown, the series, and how it can still be enjoyed today.By whygpodcast

In the spirit of “not forgotten,” join us for a look back at the first season of the Where Have You Gone? podcast. Our Season One Review has all new material and some updates about our first 13 subjects. They all deserve to be remembered.By whygpodcast

We take a dive into the feedback we've received on our first season. And if we run out, we're going to call YOU for feedback!By whygpodcast

Changes are in store for the second season of Where Have You Gone? We will still focus on the stories and storytellers of people, places, and things gone but not forgotten or forgotten but not gone. We will still look for connections to literature and the mid-20th century. But the episodes will be shorter and with more emphasis on travel and places…

As an interviewer, lecturer, newswoman, author, and commentator, Dorothy Fuldheim carved out a groundbreaking career on radio and television. She has been called "The First First Lady of Television News". It has been said she "ruled Cleveland TV with her tart-tongued news commentaries, no-nonsense interviews, and her own brand of performance journa…

From the 1950s to 1990s, Walter Matthau created a treasure of film performances both comedic and dramatic. His Oscar-winning role as Whiplash Willie Gingrich in The Fortune Cookie and iconic turn as Oscar Madison in Neil Simon's The Odd Couple elevated him from character actor to leading man. Much of his early work on stage, TV, and film ranks with…

Blake Edwards is probably best known for the Pink Panther films starring Peter Sellers, but they are just part of a varied filmography as writer and director stretching from the 1950s to the 1990s. Whether comedy or drama, western or mystery, Edwards returned to common themes, including the splurch, gender bending, and topping the topper, throughou…

In 1980, Howard Rodman was honored with the prestigious Laurel Award for TV Writing Achievement by the Writer’s Guild of America. Writing for radio, television, and film, Rodman spanned the late days of the Golden Age of Radio, through the infancy of television, to the early age of the TV showrunners. His fine writing impacted shows from Naked City…

Even if you don't know of Jack Webb, you will likely recognize the iconic four notes (dum, da dum dum) that begin the theme of his most famous creation, Dragnet. From its radio premiere in 1949 to television to film, Dragnet has been with us and remains with us today. But there is much more to Jack Webb than Dragnet and his character, Sgt. Joe Frid…

During the second half of the 20th century, Jack Warden evolved into an award-winning actor and made his mark on stage, television, and film. An Emmy Award winner and twice nominated for an Academy Award, Warden worked with great writers and directors, in particular Rod Serling and Sidney Lumet. In portrayals from Juror #7 in 12 Angry Men to Luke a…

The five-tool player is usually applied to a baseball player who can hit, hit for power, run, field, and throw, but National Public Radio has applied the term to the legendary entertainer Nat King Cole. Mary McCann wrote that Cole was originator of the guitar/bass/piano trio format, an influential pianist, a barrier-breaker between jazz and popular…

From June 30, 1909 to June 28, 1970, Forbes Field was home to the Pittsburgh Pirates, but it was much more than a baseball place. There was football, boxing, and religion. It was the key location for President Dwight D. Eisenhower's favorite film. Today, decades after the park was demolished, it remains a popular destination and historic on the Uni…

The series of novels written by Mark Harris, featuring Henry Wiggen, has been called "the greatest achievement in the canon of baseball fiction." His masterpiece, Bang the Drum Slowly, has been adapted for television, film, stage, and audio theater. The baseball writings of Mark Harris are but one aspect of a varied career as a decidedly liberal, l…

In 1956, Simon & Schuster published The Fireside Book of Baseball, edited by Charles Einstein. With subsequent volumes published in 1958 and 1968, the "Fireside" books became among the most indispensable of any baseball library, long before the fourth volume was published in 1987. Between the third and fourth volumes, Einstein wrote Willie's Time, …

Rod Serling is gone, but not forgotten by anyone who watches The Twilight Zone on television, DVD, or streaming media. But The Twilight Zone is just one aspect of his brilliant career. Less well known is Serling's work in the Golden Age of Television and his notable work after The Twilight Zone. Learn about these aspects of Serling's career and how…

Featuring Paul Bonesteel, writer and director of The Day Carl Sandburg Died When Carl Sandburg died in 1967, Norman Corwin said Sandburg had as much chance of being forgotten as Lincoln. In fact, his legacy suffered and he has been far too much forgotten. But, Sandburg and his words are still used in the 21st Century, from the World Series to the W…

Norman Corwin was the poet-laureate of radio. He has been called the singular radio dramatist of his era, a national treasure, and one of the most important, yet understudied, media authors of all time. Learn about this American legend on the first episode of Where Have You Gone? Featuring Neil Verma, author of Theater of the Mind: Imagination, Aes…

Where Have You Gone Premieres on May 4, 2021! Subscribe now and hear a bit of what is in store for our first season.By whygpodcast

Morris Eckhouse, host of the new podcast, Where Have You Gone?, reviews how he is moving from a career looking at baseball from the inside-out to the outside-in. After decades in the sports industry, including his time as Executive Director of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), he is shifting his focus to the Mid-Twentieth Century a…

Take a listen to the genesis of Where Have You Gone?, with host Morris Eckhouse.By whygpodcast