Sunday, January 28, 2024

Radio Recap: Words at War

Words at War was an NBC dramatic program that aired from June 1943 to June of 1945. There are plenty of dramatic programs that adapted popular movies, famous plays, well-known short stories and works in the public domain. Words at War is unique in that it was concerned with recently-published works - the majority of them non-fiction! All that a work needed to appear on Words at War was that it in some way concern itself with the war itself. The series only occasionally adapted a work of fiction.

Words at War was produced by the Council on Books in Wartime and sponsored by Johnson Wax, serving for a time as a replacement series for Fibber McGee and Molly. When I first heard the Council's name mentioned on the series, I assumed they were some sort of government body; actually, they were a non-profit comprised mainly of book publishers. Among other things, they produced the "armed service editions" of books distributed to servicemen, which remain very collectable to this day.

The popularity of Words at War apparently caught NBC by surprise - it was originally supposed to run for 13 episodes, yet managed two full years in the end! A number of the authors of works heard on Words at War appeared in-person to help support the adaptations. There was also a span of about 2 months where the program was hosted and narrated by Clifton Fadiman (New Yorker, Information Please). Otherwise, the series primarily drew from the usual voices heard on NBC programming and they did a fine job. The authors may not be well-remembered today; probably most of the works are forgotten except by scholars of World War II. The best-remembered author represented on the show is almost certainly Ernie Pyle, whose books Here Is Your War and Brave Men were both adapted (the latter a few days after Pyle's tragic death).

I only discovered Words at War late in 2022. When I listened through the entire series I found that at times it could feel a little repetitive. Many of the episodes are drawn from accounts written by journalists and tend to feel a bit familiar. Early in the series there are many dramas concerned with the events that caused the war and criticized the USA's late-entry to the conflict - that gets tiresome fast. Late in the run, as it became clear that the Allies were soon going to win, there are multiple episodes anticipating post-war issues, several insisting on strong measures against Germany, others about economic issues. They have a very polemic streak to them that might have been fine for audiences at the time but I don't find they resonate today.

So how does this series resonate? Well, it helps that there are outliers, entirely unlike their fellows. "Love at First Flight" (August 14, 1943) is a funny account of a man joining the Air Force. There's a biography of George Washington Carver (February 8, 1944) that has nothing to do with the war other than to present a positive portrayal of a black man. Words at War was frequently concerned with social matters, especially anti-bigotry programs, one of the best being their December 26, 1944 series that examined historical bigotry against Jews and Catholics.

What else is good? I enjoyed "The Last Days of Sevastopol" (July 17, 1943); "One Damn Thing After Another" (November 17, 1944); "The Guys on the Ground" (December 6, 1944) and "The Bid Was Four Hearts" (February 27, 1945).

Although Words at War was a popular program it seems as though NBC was less inclined to its provocative, intellectual nature as the end of the war loomed - which is probably why the series ended before the war did. The April 17, 1945 program opened with a disclaimer from NBC:

Many of the books dramatized on this program deal with issues which have stimulated considerable controversy. It is not the purpose of Words at War or the National Broadcasting Company to take sides on these issues but merely to bring you the most representative books to come out of this great world conflict.

My guess is that the network got a lot of hate mail from the April 3rd adaptation of "Full Employment in a Free Society," which advocated strongly for a government-planned economy. A few weeks after the disclaimer they adapted "The Road to Serfdom" on May 15th which argued against a government-planned economy, probably an attempt at mollifying their critics - but since they were cancelled just a few weeks later it must not have worked.

Almost all of Words at War still exists and you can listen to the Old Time Radio Researchers Group's collection on the Internet Archive.

Below you'll find a list of all the books featured on Words at War with links to booksellers at AbeBooks who have copies for sale - just in case any of the episodes of this series should make you want to seek out the original material!

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