Herbert Morrison (journalist)

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Herbert Morrison
A 1930s close-up portrait of Morrison smiling, looking slightly away from the camera
Morrison in 1937
Born(1905-05-12)May 12, 1905
Scottdale, Pennsylvania, US
DiedJanuary 10, 1989(1989-01-10) (aged 83)
Morgantown, West Virginia, US
OccupationRadio and television journalist
SpouseMary Jane Kelly

Herbert Morrison (May 12, 1905 – January 10, 1989) was an American journalist who reported on the Hindenburg disaster. His dramatic reaction to the airship's fiery collapse, later broadcast on NBC, has since become a lasting symbol of the tragedy. The writer Craig M. Allen describes him as "an early pioneer of both radio and television news".[1]

Hailing from Pennsylvania, Morrison joined the WLS radio station around the 1930s. When the airship Hindenburg was set to conclude its maiden US trip of 1937 in Lakehurst, New Jersey, he was sent there to report on its planned landing. He brought with him new, unusual recording equipment. As the airship neared the landing ground, it burst into flames, and Morrison's report turned emotional. He hyperventilated and wept, crying, "Oh, the humanity" out of grief for the lives lost, a phrase that has since been assimilated into popular culture.

Morrison's report aired on WLS the following day, and parts of it featured on NBC. NBC had never broadcast a recording before but made an exception for Morrison's firsthand account. Millions around the world eventually heard it. The broadcast is partially credited with increasing awareness of the Hindenburg disaster to an extent not attained by other contemporary calamities. An early example of emergency, as-it-happened reporting, it altered how the relationship between the radio and news is understood.

Morrison's work as a journalist continued for several decades. His broadcast influenced the production of Orson Welles' radio drama "The War of the Worlds" and was featured in the 1975 film The Hindenburg.

Early life

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Herbert Morrison, known as "Herb",[2] was born on May 12, 1905,[a] in Scottdale, Pennsylvania.[4] He graduated from high school in 1923.[5] Seven years after,[6] his career in radio began at WMMN in Fairmont, West Virginia,[7] and he later became a reporter for Pittsburgh stations.[5] As of 1936, was a regular of the variety KQV program Palace Credit Revue.[8]

Hindenburg disaster

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Further information: Hindenburg disaster

Background

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In May 1937, the airship Hindenburg was set to fly from Frankfurt to Lakehurst, New Jersey.[9] Commissioned the year prior in Nazi Germany, it was the largest aircraft ever built at the time of completion.[10] The Lakehurst flight—its 63rd one[11]—would mark the commencement its 1937 season in the United States as well as the one-year anniversary of the transatlantic service's opening,[12] hence why outlets deemed it newsworthy.[13]

Morrison was then a 31-year-old reporter for Chicago's WLS station,[14] an NBC affiliate.[15] Following a request from American Airlines,[16] which thought a broadcast would produce good publicity,[12] he flew to Lakehurst to report on the Hindenburg landing.[16] He had petitioned WLS for permission to bring novel recording apparatus to test during the report: a Presto Direct Disc transcription recorder[17] along with an amplifier and a heavy-duty lathe.[18][b] Recording was an unorthodox media practice at the time, but WLS gave their assent.[21] As notes the media writer Tim Crook, radio journalists were being hired more and more in the late 1930s.[22] Morrison was the only broadcaster present at Lakehurst to cover the Hindenburg's landing;[23] the WLS sound engineer Charles Nehlsen accompanied him.[24] Upon arriving, the two settled in a shack on the edge of the landing field.[25]

Morrison's commentary

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On May 6, the Hindenburg was nearing Lakehurst,[26] and Morrison began recording around 6:30 pm EST.[12] His plan was to comment on the landing, then edit the broadcast and play it back on a Saturday WLS radio program.[27] While on its way to Lakehurst, poor weather conditions delayed the airship's arrival by several hours.[28] Morrison's report began professionally:[29]

It's starting to rain again—the rain had slacked up a little bit. The back motors of the ship are just holding it just enough to keep it from...[30]

At 7:21 pm EST, it started preparing to land. Four minutes later, the Hindenburg caught fire, and it sank to the landing ground engulfed in flames.[31] It disintegrated within less than a minute.[32] 35 of the 97 people aboard and one person on the ground died.[33] As he witnessed the disaster unfold, Morrison's tone immediately changed:[29]

An image of the Hindenburg going down in flames and its frame melting
The Hindenburg went down in flames on May 6, 1937.

It burst into flames![c] Get this Charlie![d] Get this Charlie! It's burning and it's crashing! It's crashing terrible! Oh my, get out of the way, please! It's burning and bursting into flames and it's—and it's falling on the mooring mast, and all the folks agree that this is terrible, this is one of the worst catastrophes in the world! And oh, it's... the flames, climbing, oh, four or five hundred feet into the sky, and… It's a terrific crash, ladies and gentlemen. The smoke and it's flames now, and the frame is crashing to the ground, not quite to the mooring mast. Oh, the humanity and all the passengers screaming around here. I told you. It's—I can't even talk to people whose friends were on there. It—It's... ah! I—I can't talk, ladies and gentlemen. Honest, it's just laying there, a mass of smoking wreckage, Ah! And everybody can't hardly breathe and talk, and the screaming… Lady, I—I—I'm sorry. Honestly, I—I can hardly breathe. I—I'm gonna step inside where I cannot see it… Charlie, that's terrible. I—I can't... I, listen folks, I—I'm gonna have to stop for a minute because I've lost my voice, this is the worst thing I've ever witnessed.[30]

Morrison lost his composure;[5] he hyperventilated,[35] broke into tears,[36] and briefly lost his voice[35] as his professional commentary gave way to an emotional outpour.[37] However, he quickly recovered and went on to report on the disaster for 37 minutes over the next two hours.[18] He interviewed witnesses and survivors of the Hindenburg's collapse,[38] identifying some of them by name,[18] and partook in rescue efforts.[39]

Dan Grossman of Airships.net remarks that "while early news reports of air crashes are infamous for their inaccuracy even today, Morrison accurately described the facts that were known".[18] He notes that Morrison deduced the explosion to static electricity owing to the stormy weather that day,[18] which scholars now recognize as the likeliest cause of the disaster,[38] although it is still not fully understood.[40][e] The media historians Christopher H. Sterling and Cary O'Dell offer a kindred opinion: "Listening to the entire set of recordings reveals that [Morrison] was generally calm. Despite very difficult operating conditions, his reporting was mostly clear and accurate."[7] After the disaster, popular airship travel died out.[33][f]

Morrison's full report was recorded on four 16-inch disks.[44] When he and Nehlsen finished their work, Nazi officials started following them[45] in hopes of retrieving the disks to prevent the report from airing, fearing that it would tarnish the regime's image.[13] They managed to flee and return to Chicago safely.[46] News of the Hindenburg disintegrating first broke either on New York's WHN station eight minutes after the event, with CBS and NBC covering it within half an hour,[39] or on NBC Red and NBC Blue at around 7:45 pm EST.[47] The next day, May 7, Morrison's commentary aired on WLS, and an excerpt was broadcast on the Red and Blue Networks;[48] it was never heard live.[49]

This was the first time a recording was broadcast on NBC.[48] At the time, events were mostly either covered live or by telephone,[21] and NBC had prohibited airing recordings in favor of live reports,[18] which were considered more genuine and reliable.[17] However, they made an exception for Morrison's because, as the writer Michael McCarthy explains, the Hindenburg report was an "exclusive, red-hot eyewitness account of the calamity" like no other.[17][g] Just before NBC Blue aired parts of the report, an announcer stated, "[We] present now one of the most unique broadcasts we have ever presented."[47] Still, their practice was upheld until World War II.[48] The day after the broadcast, NBC interviewed Morrison on national television[51] to discuss the disaster as he saw it unfold.[52]

Aftermath and legacy

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A 1941 portrait of Orson Welles dressed in a suit, speaking into a CBS microphone
Orson Welles' radio drama "The War of the Worlds" took inspiration from Morrison's broadcast.

Morrison's report was eventually distributed worldwide[53] and heard by millions.[54] His dramatic, emotional reaction to the Hindenburg's collapse[55]—his sorrow manifest[49]—garnered the most attention[18] and struck a chord with listeners.[56] In McCarthy's words, "The public had never heard such a raw, shocking account of an eyewitness plunged in a blink of an eye into an unfolding catastrophe. It was spellbinding."[57] He suggests that Morrison's reaction is the first viral audio.[58] Moreover, "oh, the humanity", a phrase Morrison uttered out of sorrow for the disaster's victims,[29] is now deemed a cultural and popular symbol,[59] so much so that it has become a generic expression of horror.[51] He later recalled having exclaimed those words under the assumption that everyone aboard the Hindenburg had died,[29] when in fact 62 people survived.[9] Grossman describes Morrison's report as "the public's most enduring memory of the crash",[18] and journalists such as Burt A. Folkart of the Los Angeles Times remark that it is synonymous with the calamity.[60] The WLS president recognized Morrison and Charles Nehlsen's efforts in covering the event.[45]

Morrison's recording left a mark on Orson Welles' radio drama "The War of the Worlds", which aired the year after the Hindenburg disaster.[61] He sought to style the drama as a contemporary radio broadcast.[52] Frank Readick, who played the reporter witnessing a Martian invasion,[62] listened to Morrison's report repeatedly, heeding his voice and outpouring of emotions to craft an effective hysterical reaction.[63][h]

Scholarly analysis

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Morrison's report on the Hindenburg disaster was later combined with footage of the airship's collapse and disintegration.[65]

The scholar Luther F. Sies highlights Morrison's broadcast as a notable event in the history of special, as-it-happened broadcasting.[66] In fact, as notes the historian Carl Jablonski, the Hindenburg disaster was one of the first to be documented just as it happened,[67][i] with cameras and recording appartus present onsite to capture it in real time.[69] This was not the case with many previous disasters,[70] such as the deadlier crash of the USS Akron.[9] While these calamities, of which no footage or recording exist, remained largely unwitnessed,[70] the Hindenburg's became a "global media phenomenon"[70] and "one of the biggest news stories of the 20th century",[49] in the words of the writer S. C. Gwynne and the radio personality R. Scott Childers, respectively. The National Archives and Records Administration considers Morrison's report one of the most famous in radio history.[29]

Some historians have considered the report's significance to the medium of broadcasting. In Tim Crook's view, it "demonstrated radio's power to convey the emotional impact of the events that make news."[52] The historian Anna Accettola observes that, as an early example of breaking news, it "showed that broadcasting styles would need to change in order to maintain a high standard of sharing information during a crisis".[51] Similarly, Christopher H. Sterling and Cary O'Dell cite Morrison's broadcast as an example that proved the radio's role in emergency broadcasting, alongside coverage of the 1937 Ohio River flood.[71]

Morrison's voice is also a subject of note to commentators. Experts such as Grossman argue that the recording disks ran too slow, causing the broadcast to run abnormally quickly when played back[72]—according to the audio historian Michael Biel, by a minimum factor of three percent.[73] Thus, his voice is made to sound high-pitched, when it was actually deep and mellow.[74]

Later life

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A 1955 portrait of Herbert Morrison sporting a suit, smiling for the camera
Morrison in 1955

Morrison's career continued for several decades.[3] While at WLS, he was a cast member of the Sunday morning program Everybody's Hour.[75] He left WLS in 1939 to join Mutual,[45] proceeding to work for New York stations and later in Pittsburgh.[7] He gradually grew more interested in television.[1] Years after his Hindenburg report, Morrison became the first news director at the television station WTAE-TV, based in Pittsburgh,[14] which the writer Craig M. Allen suggests "helped bring TV news to western Pennsylvania."[76] He later worked freelance.[3] After developing a radio and television section at West Virginia University in the 1960s,[7] he retired from his trade.[77]

A pilot and aviation enthusiast,[18] Morrison served in the Army Air Corps during World War II.[4] He also ran for Congress thrice in the 1950s from Pennsylvania as a Republican.[21] In 1975, Universal Studios sent him across the US to promote the film Hindenburg,[5] which featured an excerpt of his broadcast.[13]

Morrison was married to the West Virginian Mary Jane Kelly; they had no children.[51] In old age, he lived with Mary Jane in Morgantown, West Virginia.[3] A chronic illness eventually led him to be admitted to a Morgantown nursing home.[5] He died there on January 10, 1989, at age 83.[78]

References

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Notes

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  1. ^ A New York Times article published on Sunday, May 5, 1985, noted that Morrison would celebrate his 80th birthday "next Sunday": May 12, 1985. From this information, it can be concluded that he was born on May 12, 1905.[3]
  2. ^ The media historians Christopher H. Sterling and Cary O'Dell suggest that he conducted the recording "for archival purposes."[19] Additionally, the radio historian John Dunning writes that capturing the noises of an airship mooring was thought to benefit WLS' sound effects section.[20]
  3. ^ At this moment, a click is heard: the needle of the recorder was knocked off. Nehlsen quickly replaced it, and the recording continued.[34]
  4. ^ "Charlie" refers to Charles Nehlsen, Morrison's sound engineer. The source writes "Charlie" as "Charley". For consistency's sake, all instances of "Charley" have been substituted for "Charlie".
  5. ^ Other leading theories concern the airship's sharp turn just before landing, which may have caused a rupture near one of the hydrogen tanks or torn a steering cable,[41] and the apparently flammable coating of its outer components and bladders.[42] The scientist Addison Bain "theorized that the Hindenburg's much higher than normal landing descent on May 6 — coupled with the highly electrical sensitivity and flammability of its outer cover — led to the airship's demise."[43] However, Grossman retorts, "One thing is clear: the disaster had nothing to do with the zeppelin's fabric covering being 'highly flammable' for one simple reason: it wasn't."[9]
  6. ^ According to some experts, popular airship travel was already headed toward extinction by the time the Hindenburg crashed. The "Hindenburg was obsolete before it ever flew," notes Grossman.[9]
  7. ^ Two other networks broadcast Morrison's commentary, likewise breaking their policy against broadcasting recordings in doing so.[50]
  8. ^ According to Tim Crook, Welles directed Readick to study the report.[64]
  9. ^ John Dunning calls it "radio's first on-the-scene disaster."[68]

Citations

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  1. ^ a b Allen 1998, p. 263
  2. ^ Sies 2000, p. 846
  3. ^ a b c d Haitch 1985
  4. ^ a b Allen 1998, p. 263; Associated Press 1989; Emery 2017
  5. ^ a b c d e Folkart 1989
  6. ^ Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 1955, p. 31
  7. ^ a b c d Sterling & O'Dell 2010, p. 351
  8. ^ Sies 2000, p. 429
  9. ^ a b c d e Grossman (c)
  10. ^ Mooney 1972, p. 13
  11. ^ Grossman (a)
  12. ^ a b c Sterling & O'Dell 2010, p. 349
  13. ^ a b c Chicago Tribune 1989
  14. ^ a b Associated Press 1989; Emery 2017
  15. ^ Emery 2017
  16. ^ a b Grossman (b); Mooney 1972, p. 132
  17. ^ a b c McCarthy 2023, p. 2
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h i Grossman (b)
  19. ^ Sterling & O'Dell 2010, p. 519
  20. ^ Dunning 1998, p. 487
  21. ^ a b c Chicago Tribune 1989; Emery 2017
  22. ^ Crook 1998, p. 93
  23. ^ Childers 2008, p. 40; Emery 2017; Haitch 1985
  24. ^ Mooney 1972, p. 132; National Archives
  25. ^ Mooney 1972, p. 132
  26. ^ Grossman (c); Mooney 1972, p. 220
  27. ^ Mooney 1972, p. 133
  28. ^ Emery 2017; Grossman (c)
  29. ^ a b c d e National Archives
  30. ^ a b American Rhetoric 2024
  31. ^ Grossman (c); Gwynne 2023, pp. 221–222
  32. ^ Grossman (c); Gwynne 2023, p. 222; Webster 2017
  33. ^ a b Accettola 2021; Grossman (c); Webster 2017
  34. ^ Sterling & O'Dell 2010, pp. 349–350
  35. ^ a b McCarthy 2023, p. 1
  36. ^ Dunning 1998, p. 452
  37. ^ Folkart 1989; National Archives
  38. ^ a b Folkart 1989; Grossman (b)
  39. ^ a b Sterling & Kittross 1990, p. 177
  40. ^ Accettola 2021; Gwynne 2023, p. 223; Webster 2017
  41. ^ Emery 2017; Webster 2017
  42. ^ American Physical Society; Webster 2017
  43. ^ Frassinelli 2012
  44. ^ Grossman (b); Sterling & O'Dell 2010, p. 350
  45. ^ a b c Childers 2008, p. 41
  46. ^ Childers 2008, p. 41; Emery 2017
  47. ^ a b Sterling & O'Dell 2010, p. 350
  48. ^ a b c Biel 1997; Grossman (b)
  49. ^ a b c Childers 2008, p. 40
  50. ^ Sies 2000, p. 407; Sterling & Kittross 1990, p. 177
  51. ^ a b c d Accettola 2021
  52. ^ a b c Crook 1998, p. 95
  53. ^ Wagener 2017
  54. ^ Associated Press 1989; Gwynne 2023, p. 222
  55. ^ Accettola 2021; Associated Press 1989; McCarthy 2023
  56. ^ ABC 2012; Accettola 2021
  57. ^ McCarthy 2023, pp. 2–3
  58. ^ McCarthy 2023, p. 3
  59. ^ Accettola 2021; Emery 2017; Frassinelli 2012
  60. ^ Emery 2017; Folkart 1989
  61. ^ Crook 1998, p. 95; McCarthy 2023, p. 2; Schwartz 2015
  62. ^ Schwartz 2015
  63. ^ Dunning 1998, p. 452; McCarthy 2023, p. 2; Schwartz 2015
  64. ^ Crook 1998, pp. 95–96
  65. ^ Grossman (b); Gwynne 2023, p. 222
  66. ^ Sies 2000, p. 407
  67. ^ ABC 2012
  68. ^ Dunning 1998, p. 487
  69. ^ Webster 2017
  70. ^ a b c Gwynne 2023, p. 222
  71. ^ Sterling & O'Dell 2010, p. 262
  72. ^ Grossman (b); Sterling & O'Dell 2010, p. 351
  73. ^ Biel 1997
  74. ^ Emery 2017; Grossman (b); McCarthy 2023
  75. ^ Sies 2000, p. 191
  76. ^ Allen 1998, p. 264
  77. ^ Chicago Tribune 1989; Folkart 1989
  78. ^ Chicago Tribune 1989; Emery 2017; Folkart 1989

Bibliography

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Books

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  • Allen, Craig M. (1998). "Morrison, Herbert". In Godfrey, Donald G.; Leigh, Frederic A. (eds.). Historical Dictionary of American Radio (PDF). Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 263–264. ISBN 0-313-29636-7.
  • Childers, R. Scott (2008). Chicago's WLS Radio. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-6194-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Crook, Tim (1998). International Radio Journalism: History, Theory and Practice. London, England: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-09672-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Dunning, John (1998). The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (PDF). New York City, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-507678-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Gwynne, S. C. (2023). His Majesty's Airship : The Life and Tragic Death of the World's Largest Flying Machine (EPUB version). New York City, New York: Scribner. ISBN 978-1982168278.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Mooney, Michael Macdonald (1972). The Hindenburg. New York City, New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0369065025.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Sies, Luther F. (2000). Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920–1960 (PDF). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-0452-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Sterling, Christopher H.; Kittross, John M. (1990). Stay Tuned: A Concise History of American Broadcasting (PDF) (2 ed.). Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company. ISBN 0-534-11904-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Sterling, Christopher H.; O'Dell, Cary, eds. (2010). The Concise Encyclopedia of American Radio. New York City, New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-99533-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)

Web articles and blogs

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News articles

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