The Big Story

I don't get a chance to share new episodes very often, but I recently ran across a couple of new episodes of The Big Story in the Allan Sloane Collection, digitized and posted in the University of Georgia Special Collections Libraries:
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There's some mislabeling in their archive, so I'll post both episodes below.

First, this is an audition episode for The Big Story. The title of the series was originally Feature Assignment, but the title was changed shortly before the first broadcast.

Feature Assignment 1947 (Audition) The Majczek Case [James McGuire - The Chicago Times]

The script for this audition was then reused for the 5th episode of the series under the title "The Man Without a Name" 4-30-47.

The case this is based on was also the basis of the movie "Call Northside 777" with James Stewart, released in 1948:
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Here's a clipping from the February 19, 1947 Variety noting a title switch for Feature Assignment before the April 2 premiere:

And, second:

The Big Story 1949-10-26 (135) The Corn Cob Killer

Thanks for the shows mjnunes!

Nice Finds !!! Thanks for posting

Thanks!

ONE OF MY FAVORITE SERIES!!! THANKS VERY MUCH!!
If someone wants to post the series and host it, I can send my set to them to start the process
This is also one of the series that OTRdom benefited from the tobacco lawsuits and all of the scripts survived!

You are all very welcome! I'm happy to have found the episodes to share!

Greybelt I can post that shows after I am done with MR DA

We have a volunteer -- bojim1 has asked to post Big Story!

Don't worry kdmarket -- we have lots more to go once we get into organizing and fixing the David Brian stuff, if you have interest in that

Here we go!!! Many thanks to Greybelt, again, for his unsurpassed generosity in sharing his magnificent collections. Up first is "The Thirteenth Key".....

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I have this one to share as well. As I was looking through my collection of The Big Story, I found a version of The Corn Cob Killer on my external hard drive....I have no idea when or where I found this. Some of you may be upset by it...the commercials have been edited. However, I think it has better sound.

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The exact origin of this recording is not known -- it may have been a rebroadcast of this episode with Fusco in the studio or at some much later time. Until the recently acquired audition program, this was the earliest circulating episode of The Big Story. It's interesting that the producers went back more than 15 years for this episode, so the story must have had some notorious aspect to it that was still in the minds of many. These links explain the "Snook-Hix" murder that was the foundation for this episode. A college professor and former Olympic shooter kills the young woman with whom he was having an affair.

Snook [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Lots of details at this Ohio Exploration Society page -- the location of Snook's grave was a mystery for many years [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Photos from the trial [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
The incident was the feature story of the January 1930 issue of True Detective [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
... and concluded in the next issue [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
A more recent perspective [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

For many of The Big Story shows, it's really hard to find the underlying news event because they changed names, locations, and events to fit the 20+ minutes of drama time and to avoid identifying innocent individuals. This episode is a significant exception. The story was also dramatized for The Big Story television series, airing in the first season as episode 19; no recording is available.


Cobalt Club's Believe It... Or Not!

The Big Story program was sponsored by the cigarette brand Pall Mall... but the scripts have "PELL MELL" in capital letters to ensure that the announcer added emphasis to the name... and always pronounced it correctly!

Today we have....The Cornered Cat!

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This episode is a perfect example of how The Big Story obscured the actual facts of cases. This story made Winchell's career and stature rise to great heights as he assisted in the arrest of gangster Louis Lepke in 1939. You'd never know it was about this important crime boss from this episode! It's another example of The Big Story claim to be authentic but not in the sense of documentary.



Wikipedia Lepke [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Wikipedia Murder Inc. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
J-Grit [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
New Historian [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Haaretz [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

In 1960, Winchell narrated a record, Murder, Inc., about the arrest that was a very big seller for Dot Records. I've always found it to be an enjoyable listen.
Part A
Part B

Thanks for this great research and background, Greybelt!

This latest episode was a new one for me!

This is backing up to the audition episode again, but I did a little more background research on that to share on the beginnings of the series.

First, this is the copyright listing dating an audition script to 1946:


Second, I dug through some of the Tobacco Industry Documents, which has other documentation on the program beyond the scripts. Here is a letter of approval for the series about a month before the first broadcast, when the working title was still Feature Assignment:


And finally, here is a memo about changing the series title from Feature Assignment to The Big Story, about a week before the first broadcast:

Thank you mjnunes84 for the early episodes and thanks to greybelt for all his info and to bojim1 for posting

This has always been a favourite show of mine.

Best regards
Art

Love the background information in the letter to the ad agency about the premise of the series. A great find!

The discs for this episode came up in eBay one day in my daily email from them. It was being offered by a UK seller at comparatively inexpensive bid price, especially the way discs of some other series have sold. We bid, and we got it! It was transferred by former Cobaltian StJack, member of the Cobalt Hall of Fame.

Fantastic research on a terrific, intriguing program--thank you so much for sharing!

Today we meet some yeggs counterfeiting coins!!

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Can't really find anything for certain about the underlying news story for today's post...


Here's the cast list for the show, some of NY's best acting talent -- FIVE of the actors are doubling!

Thanks to bojim1 and greybelt

Best regards

Art

A little late to the party but I'd like to second the appreciation for all the sleuthing behind the sharing here. This place is getting interesting again. :-)