Years of the Electric Ear

Norman Corwin is a Bostonian who at 17 started on a course which led him ultimately into almost all of the media. For ten years a newspaperman, he then moved into radio and served as a writer-director-producer for CBS in the heyday of that network's glory with such memorable series as 26 by Corbin, Columbia Presents Corwin, and such milestones in broadcasting as the four-network We Hold These Truths, and On a Note of Triumph> Corwin has written and directed stage plays, radio dramas and three cantatas, one of which was performed in the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations. He wrote the screenplay for Lust for Life, which won him a Golden Globes Award and Academy nomination, and brought Anthony Quinn an Oscar for his performance as Gauguin. Corwin's oral history, Years of the Electric Ear, conducted by Douglas Bell for the Director's Guild of America and a foreword by Charles Champlin, is especially notable for its unique critical and historical perspective on the rise of radio drama as an entertainment art form. Also of value to researchers are the appendixes listing Corwin's extensive body of work by date and medium. Corwin has received 24 major awards in media and the humanities, and in 1993 was enrolled in the Radio Hall of Fame. Author of 19 published books, five produced stage plays, and numerous movie and TV works, his professional and academic credits include lectureships at five major universities. He was a member of the Board of Governors and First Vice-President of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences.