A Post-War Career
There had always been a lingering thought in my mind that I would find teaching much more satisfying than anything else, so there came a day when I proposed a plan to DA, to wit: We would move to Bradford, PA, move in with her parents who had often suggested such an arrangement, and I would go back to school for a teaching certificate, and we’d go on from there. DA agreed as did her folks and we were off and running. Plywood covered with blankets served as a bed for our boys who were very young, and we made the drive safely and without incident.
Things couldn’t have worked better. I enrolled at St. Bonaventure University in Olean, New York, a short distance from Bradford, got a night-time job in a box factory, and within a year had my certificate. I had done my practice-teaching requirement at Bradford High School, and because the man who had been teaching World History there for ages was going to retire, they asked me if I would be interested in filling the position. Since this same gentleman had been the master teacher overseeing my practice sessions, his recommendation closed the deal. I was hired in June to begin teaching in September, but that period was anything but quiet. DA’s father was a builder and said he would design a house for us and help us build it, so we started work on that. I had to familiarize myself with what was expected when school started, and just about then, my thyroid went bananas. Surgery was the only recourse, so it was into the hospital for the complete removal resulting in total loss of my voice. The good surgeon assured me all would be fine by the start of school, and it was. It was in September, 1955, that I started teaching World History to tenth-grade students for the magnificent sum of $3300 per annum.
Teaching was something I loved to do; moonlighting was something I had to do. I worked nights inspecting electronic components, and while it helped financially, it gave me no pleasure. So when the local radio station advertised for someone with a sports background, I jumped at the chance. I had played a little football, and had become excited about basketball because while I was at St. Louis University, the Billikens were fantastic and won the National Invitational Tournament and I had seen every home game. I had learned the lingo so when they asked me to ad-lib a portion of a game, I just pictured myself back in the arena and described the shots and moves I had seen. I got the job and was now a member of WESB, 1490 on the radio dial.
Bradford was an interesting town of about 30,000 with roots back to the glory days of oil. Pumping was still going on along with the manufacturing of equipment for the rigs. Kendall had a refinery there and the famous Zippo lighter called Bradford home. The Bradford Era was the newspaper and I did some proofreading for them in addition to a column in the weekly, the Bradford Journal. But the radio station got most of my attention, not at the expense of but in addition to, my teaching. Being a small station, a crew of about five people handled most everything that went on from sign-on at 6 in the morning until sign-off at midnight . I became, in turn, a sportscaster, a news man, and a disc jockey, while music was still music. I covered football, basketball, and baseball, did newscasts, played music, and even took on the role of Santa one Christmas. In school, I got involved with the Debate Club in addition to regular classroom work. My usual routine was to be in class until about three, go home, pick up my lunch bucket, and head for the radio station where I’d be on the air for a short time with music before compiling and delivering the news, and then be on my own with music and chatter until midnight.
DA was a stay-at-home mom, thank goodness, and she did a marvelous job with our boys. That house I spoke of earlier was now a reality, on Chatham Lane, at the foot of a hill, surrounded by trees which blessed us with a magnificent Technicolor display every autumn. We had all worked on some part of the building process, but most thanks go to DA’s father for the design. It was a beautiful house and again, DA turned it into a warm and charming home with her artistic touches.
Between lecturing in class, doing the news, and filling in with commentary during musical shows, I had developed a style that was to serve me well for years to come. I was about as busy as anyone could be and enjoying all facets of every day, but when I heard of the Penn State Public Broadcast Television Station looking for someone to do a series on World Cultures, I had to respond. I had been doing radio news for about eight years and was in touch with people, places, and happenings throughout the world. In class I was teaching about the world and its inhabitants, who they were and what they were doing. So I convinced myself I had the right stuff, drove down to State College for the audition, and got a call a week or so later saying they’d like to have me do the series. To me, it was like getting the leading role in a hit movie. Just how long that project would take and what would happen at the end of it was up for grabs, so there was but one course of action: I would commute, spending weekdays on campus and weekends with my family. The professor who was most influential in making all this happen helped me find an apartment, introduced me to all the TV people and the heads of departments with whom I would be working, and I was off and running. The idea was to get away from teaching World History as the story of Western Civilization, and to make it a true study of the world and its inhabitants, where they lived, how and why they lived there, their needs, their characteristics, their cultures, their differences, and their problems.
As I researched material for the programs that were to follow, I came across a statement by Chester Bowles, former Ambassador to India, who commented:” Scarcely one American in a hundred has more than a rudimentary knowledge of the countries of Asia, Africa, and South America.” In like fashion, noted historian and author, Vera Micheles Dean, evaluating our failure to approach the study of man from a global standpoint, noted: “At a time in our history when lack of such understanding may spell the difference between life and death for ourselves and our children, this vacuum in our education is more than a matter of polite regret.”
I spent a year researching and gathering material for this television series which was to be used in classrooms as an aid to teachers. The various departments on campus—anthropology, sociology, geography, economics, political science, ecology—were most helpful as were students from all over the world whose appearances lent an air of reality to the programs.
The artistry and ingenuity of the TV staff helped create scenes and conditions that made for scholarly yet entertaining viewing. I say that in all modesty having starred in each program of the series. We usually taped on Fridays, and it was always a rush getting the makeup off and getting to the bus station for the ride home. Sunday nights were sad because I’d be leaving for a week, often carrying jars of sauce and meatballs to sustain me. One time a cracked jar leaked a trail of tomato sauce in the snow as I trudged toward my apartment. That surely would have caused today’s CSI people a bit of consternation.
As the commute became tiresome and it looked as though I could become more involved, we decided to sell our home on Chatham Lane and move to State College.
Once the series was completed, it was my job to visit the high schools and suggest ways in which the teachers could use the programs and get the greatest benefit. It wasn’t easy trying to drag people away from the old ways of conducting the course, but it was vital that it be done. The nation we were when we entered World War II no longer existed, nor did the world. Change was everywhere. There were undreamed of complications that had to be approached if we were to survive. Renowned anthropologist Carleton S. Coon saw it this way:
“This is the story of man
while facing the ultimate challenge…HIMSELF.”
As I look back on that chapter of my life, I can’t help but feel good about successfully completing that series and knowing that it was used in classrooms for many years. I continued on as Associate Director of the Allegheny Broadcast Council, planning other ways in which television could become even more useful in education, and but for an opportunity that couldn’t be ignored, I might still be there.