RIP Norman Corwin

Who knew how to write and how to ask sharp questions.

From the Washington Post:

Norman Corwin, American radio’s ‘poet laureate,’ dies at 101

Norman Corwin, who wrote, produced and directed scores of award-winning radio dramas for CBS in the 1930s and 1940s and came to be known as the “poet laureate of radio,” died Oct. 18 at his Los Angeles home. He was 101.

The death was confirmed by his nephew, William Corwin. No cause of death was given.
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Often called the “poet laureate of radio,” Mr. Corwin wrote euphonious prose that stoked the imaginations of more than 60 million Americans with his inspirational wartime productions “We Hold These Truths” (1941) and “On a Note of Triumph” (1945).

His most enduring radio drama, “On a Note of Triumph,” debuted coast to coast on May 8, 1945, the day the Allies declared victory in Europe after the surrender of the Germans. Poet Carl Sandburg called the program one of the all-time great American poems.

“So they’ve given up,” the program began. “They’re finally done in, and the rat is dead in an alley back of the Wilhelmstrasse. Take a bow, GI. Take a bow, little guy. The superman of tomorrow lies at the feet of you common men of this afternoon.”
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