The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
Edited compilation of speeches made by Ronald Reagan during his Presidency. Ronald Reagan talks about his early career in entertainment.
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
September 23, 1986 Ronald Reagan Remarks at a Ronald W. Reagan Scholarship Fundraising Dinner for Eureka College. HE talks about how his extracurricular activities in college like drama and radio and football rubbed off on him, more so than his studies. "Well, there I was with my degree in economics, a graduate with a bachelor of arts degree, and it hadn't occurred to me really what I wanted to do or anything except get a job of some kind or other. It was those kind of times. But he had laid it on me.And I finally went home, and I laid awake half the night. And finally, it dawned on me that some of my extracurricular activities, in addition to football, had rubbed off -- playing Captain Stanhope in ``Journey's End'' in the drama class play of the year, going out with the glee club, and doing comedy routines -- I didn't sing, I talked. [Laughter] But in a little town in Illinois back in the thirties, you didn't go out and say, `I want to be an actor.' Well, anyway, I went to him, and I said, 'I think I can tell you what it is. I would like to be in the world of entertainment.' And then, knowing that radio might be the shortcut to anything else, I said, 'I'd like to get into radio. I think I could be a sports announcer.'"
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
February 20, 1984. Ronald Reagan Interview With Jim Zabel of WHO Radio in Des Moines, Iowa. He talks about his first radio job at WHO in Iowa, and how he got the position. "I had been told that in looking for a job in those depression days -- and I'd hitchhiked all the way around the country quite a bit -- I'd been told that you should ask an employer not for what you wanted to be -- a sports announcer -- just tell him you'd take any job to get in the station and then take your chances on moving up from there. So, I made my usual pitch of that kind after a number of turndowns to Pete. And this time, the turndown was really disappointing because he said, ``Where were you last week? We auditioned 90 people and hired an announcer.'' And on my way out the door, I said, ``How do you ever get to be a sports announcer if you can't get in a station?'', and went on down to the elevator, which, fortunately, wasn't there. And Pete, who was badly handicapped with arthritis and on two canes -- I didn't know until I heard him thumping down the hall yelling at me -- and he asked me what that was I said about sports. And I told him that's what I'd like to be. And he said, ``You know anything about football?'' And I said, ``I played it for 8 years.'' He said, ``Do you think you could tell me about a game and, if I was sitting there listening, I could see the game?'' And I said, ``I think so.'' And he took me in a studio, put me in front of one of these. No, they weren't even this one then -- this was a modern one. This was the old carbon mike." Mr. Zabel, "Right." The President, "And he put me in front of that, and he said, ``When the red light goes on, you start broadcasting an imaginary football game.'' And I did for about 15 minutes. It wasn't really imaginary. I knew I had to have names. So, I picked a game that I'd played in -- in college, the previous fall -- which we'd won in the last 20 seconds by a 65-yard touchdown run -- I did not make the run. So, I chose that game and said, when the light came on, started -- that we were in the 4th quarter. You know, I had everything. I had the long, blue shadows settling over the field... " Mr. Zabel, "The famous long, blue shadows... " [laughter] The President, "Yes -- the chill wind coming in through the end of the stadium -- we didn't have a stadium, we had bleachers. [Laughter] And I did it for about the 15 minutes and made that winning touchdown. One thing I did put in. As a running guard, coming out and around and leading the interference -- on that play, that day, Eureka College, I missed my man, the first man in the secondary. And I don't know how Bud Cole got by and reversed the field, because I missed him. In the broadcast, I nailed him. [Laughter] It was a magnificent block -- [laughter] -- key to the whole success of the play. And he came in and told me to be there on Saturday, that I was broadcasting the Iowa-Minnesota game, and he would give me $5 and bus fare." Mr. Zabel, "The price hasn't changed any."
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
DO NOT USE B&W still of Reagan smiling behind WHO microphone.
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
February 20, 1984. Ronald Reagan Interview With Jim Zabel of WHO Radio in Des Moines, Iowa. Reagan recalls calling a baseball game when the wires went dead and he had to stall for time until the wire was serviced. Mr. Zabel, "Now, the memories that this microphone right here evokes in you -- what are they?" edit The President, "... there was a window here. Curly Waddel was the operator, sat on that side with the headphones, and he would type and slip it under the window to me." edit "in would come the paper, and it would say, ``Out 4 - 3.'' Well, that meant out from second base to first base, that meant it had to be a grounder. So, you'd take it, and you'd say, ``And Dean comes out of the windup, and here comes the pitch, and it's a hard hit ground ball down toward second base. So-and-so going over after the ball, picks it up, flips it over to first, just in time for the out.'' And by this time you're waiting for the next one. Or he would send you ``S - 1 - C.'' And that meant strike one called. So, you'd say, ``He's got the sign, comes out of the windup, here's the pitch, and it's a called strike, breaking over the outside corner just'' -- [laughter] -- ``above the knees.'' And all of that. But the thing that you're talking about was the time that -- it was the ninth inning, the Cards and the Cubs, tied up 0 - 0, and he was typing, and I thought there's a play coming. And he kept shaking his head when I had -- and it was Dean on the mound -- and I had Billy Jurgess at the plate. And I had him getting a sign from the catcher, and finally here comes the slip of paper, and it said, ``The wires have gone dead.'' And I knew in that ninth inning if I suddenly said, ``Well, we'll have a little interlude of music while we get back connected with the ballpark,'' we'd lose every -- they'd all turn on some of those other stations. So, I thought, ``There's only one thing that can get in the -- doesn't get in the score book: foul ball.'' So, I had Jurgess foul one, and then I had him foul another. And then I had him foul one that missed a homerun by a foot. Then I described two kids down back of third base that -- [laughter] -- were in a fight over the ball that had gone into the stands there. And pretty soon I know I'm beginning to set a world record for somebody standing at the plate and hitting successive fouls, if anyone ever kept those figures. And I was beginning to sweat a little, because I knew now that if I told them we'd lost the wire they'd know I hadn't been telling the truth." Mr. Zabel, "Who finally did get the hit in that game?" The President, "Well, just -- pretty soon, Curly started typing. And I had him throw another pitch, and in came the slip, and then I started giggling. I had trouble getting it out, because the slip said Jurgess popped out on the first ball pitched." [Laughter]
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
January 10, 1989: Ronald Reagan Remarks at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library 50th Anniversary Luncheon. He speaks fondly of Franklin D. Roosevelt, calling him a hero; then talks of how he came to Hollywood. "Franklin Roosevelt was the first President I ever voted for, the first to serve in my lifetime that I regarded as a hero, and the first I ever actually saw; that was in 1936, a campaign parade in Des Moines, where I was working as a radio announcer. What a wave of affection and pride swept through that crowd, as he passed by in an open car -- a familiar smile on his lips, jaunty and confident, drawing from us a reservoir of confidence and enthusiasm some of us had forgotten we had in those days, those hard years. He really did convince us that the only thing we had to fear was, as Senator Mitchell has told us, fear itself. And it was that ebullience, that infectious optimism that made one young sportscaster think that maybe he should be more active as a citizen. I assure you, though, he never tied that to one day holding public office and certainly never dreamed that destiny would take him to the same office F.D.R. held." edit "I took a train out to California and ended up with a movie contract at Warner Brothers. I was known as ``Dutch'' Reagan then, my childhood nickname."
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
DO NOT USE Studio publicity shot of Reagan.
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
January 10, 1989: Ronald Reagan Remarks at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library 50th Anniversary Luncheon. "The studio didn't like it, so they called a meeting to discuss what my name should be. And I began to realize how expendable what you might call my identity was in this new business I was in. So, as they were throwing names back and forth, I was just sitting there listening. They acted as if I couldn't hear. [Laughter] And finally, as they kept going on and trying out various names, looking up as if they were looking at a marquee, I timidly suggested one they hadn't thought of, my real name -- [laughter] -- Ronald Reagan. They started tossing it around the table. And I'll never forget the scene. The top man said it over and over to himself: ``Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan.'' He paused for a long moment and then declared, ``I like it.'' [Laughter] So, I became Ronald Reagan." [Laughter]
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
B&W: excerpt from 1950's ad for General Electric (Ronald & NANCY REAGAN at home).
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
DO NOT USE Cut to B&W excerpt from FOR GOD AND COUNTRY (1943) in which Ron plays a chaplain serving in Pacific theater of World War Two.
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
DO NOT USE Color excerpts from THIS IS THE ARMY (1943) in which Ron plays an enlisted man during World War Two.
The Great Communicator Vol 4: The Man
DO NOT USE B&W excerpts from SANTE FE TRAIL (1940) in which Ron plays US cavalry captain George Custer; set in the 1800's; atypical studio glamour and glitz; while at fancy ball, Ron has run-in with President "Abraham Lincoln".