The ‘other Murrow’ on the air in London during WWII
To celebrate the contributions of Edward R. Murrow’s family to the National Press Club, former CBS News correspondent and Club member Sam Litzinger produced an audio broadcast highlighting the ‘other Murrow’ in London during the World War II Blitz.
Janet Murrow, Edward R. Murrow’s wife, filed radio broadcasts herself for CBS and the BBC, and volunteered to organize relief for beleaguered London families.
In the four-minute audio presentation, air raid sirens blare as Edward R. Murrow reports from a rooftop as bombs fell. And one can also hear the distinct voice of Janet Murrow as she broadcasts a story on the role British wives played in resisting the German offensive.
The audio can be heard here:
“Her background as a teacher and an actor helped her in her roles as a reporter and organizer,” Litzinger recounts. “She also helped her husband with scripts, editing them, sometimes writing them.”
He tells the story of the night Janet wanted to see for herself what was happening. As she got out onto a rooftop while bombs were falling, the door automatically locked behind her. Finally, her screams attracted the attention of a man who came to her rescue.
“She decided it would be improper to invite him to the flat for a thank you drink, even though she was very, very grateful,” Litzinger reports. “Her husband thought it was one of the funniest things he ever heard.”
In a letter to her parents, Janet said her husband wasn’t keen on her becoming a full-time correspondent. “I think he doesn’t want me to give him competition!” she wrote, perhaps only half-jokingly.
Instead, she was active in Bundles for Britain, which encouraged Americans to donate food, clothing and other supplies to Britons bombed out in the attacks.
The audio report is just one way that the Club is highlighting the contributions the Murrow family has made from its archives to the Club that are now part of the décor of the 13th floor conference rooms, one of which is named for Edward R. Murrow.
For nearly a year, the microphone Murrow used to broadcast his stories from London – what some call the “Holy Grail of broadcast journalism” -- has been on loan to the Club and displayed in a recessed case outside the Murrow room.
During an event honoring his family, Casey Murrow, Edward and Janet’s son, talked about his parents and how his father was instrumental in inventing broadcast news.