Old Radio

Daughter of working class parents in Stockholm, Sweden, graduate of the Royal Dramatic Theater, Ms. Garbo is also an enigmatic but cherished American film star.  She began in silent films, worked on her English skills, and made the transition into talkies. Garbo got her start in film in Europe and quickly came to America at the tender age of 19.  She set the tone for her reputation as a private and introverted starlet by telling reporters that her biographical details didn't matter. But her style won her great and enduring fame as a screen actress.  She can be heard on a few rare and valuable radio broadcasts.  We salute Ms. Garbo's birth on this day in 1905.

July 9, 1878 was the entrance of Hans von Kaltenborn , or better known as HV Kaltenborn . This American radio commentator had the intellectual mind and the voice for diction. He was destined to be a top choice for radio news reporting. Growing up in Wisconsin, Kaltenborn planned on a career in news reporting starting out as a newspaper reporter. His ability to retain information and keen understanding for world affairs would profit him greatly in the years to come. CBS radio was keen to bring kaltenborn aboard as a radio reporter covering Europe and the Far East. Besides reporting the news, he would offer commentary and analysis to the situations; making him one of the first in his field. One radio historian said this of Kaltenborn, “Kaltenborn was known as a commentator who never read from a script. His "talks" were extemporaneous created from notes he had previously written.” In 1940, he moved over to NBC and in 1948 had one of his first gaffes in reporting. Kaltenb...