Evening star., 1936-02-23
February 23. 1886

entertainment rather than views and i'm
provement. He is factual commentator and
proud of it. He won't take sides in any issue;
and he nurses no Napoleonc complex in his
bosom Behind his talk is a lifetime of expe-
rience as a journalist and lecturer, and a
strong and simple personality.
Sir Jagads Bose, the famous Indian scien-
tst once made profound observation on
life, when he said to me: "All great things are
simple" At the time did not see the wisdom
of this remark, but now that have met many
great men (Mussolini at the beginning of
Fascism; Venizelos when he held Greece in
his hands; scientists, tinanciers, politicians,
even one saint have discovered that they
are all simple. The near great are complex.
So are crooks.
Lowell Thomas personality comes SO
clearly and 50 brilliantly over the ether be-
cause of his simplicity. He has no ulterior
object, nothing to hide, no purpose but to
tell us the days news as vividly as he can.
(How arrestingly he docs it is very evident to
Londoner like myself. who is condemned to
listen at home to the jaded voices of our
heavily censored announcers).
Tommy" has an infectious enthusiasm for
the passing scene, and he knows too much OF
the world to want to change it or uplift it:
rather he presents it to us as a show. His
voice is friendly, virile, typically American,
yet without trace of local accent: he speaks for
all the United States, and is heard from
Canada to the Caribbean.
No doubt his early years provided back
ground for his success. His boyhood was
passed in Colorado gold-mining camp,
10000 feet above sea level dare say his
lung power may derive from a childhood
spent at these high attitudes; but l remember
also that he once told me that his father, who
is doctor, trained him from infancy in
elocution. He worked his way through various
colleges as janitor, salesman, night-c he
punched cows pitched alfalfa, was cub
reporter in Chicago and law-student at
Princeton He knows the life of the people
from A to T. The Great War found him with
staff of cameramen on the Western Front.
One afternoon in early 1918, when he was
strolling across the Square of San Marco in
up on sandbag: it announced that General
Allenby was about to drive the Turks from
the Holy Land. Here was romance beside
which the Bride of the Adriatic grew pale.
Within an hour he had left Italy for Palestine.
Soon he was camping on the Mount of
Olives with the Cockneys who were to take
Jerusalem. Those were great days, when a
thousand years of prophecy found their full
flment. He saw the occupation of Bethlehem
and Jericho, battles at Jaffa and the Sea of
Galilee, the taking of Tyre, Australian horse
men riding through Nazareth.
In the Holy City he met Colonel T. E.
Lawrence, smooth -shaven, blue-eyed. dressed
as Prince of Mecca. Lawrence was then at
the height of his extraordinary career
Thomas made friends with him at once - as
he does with all who share with him the love
for high adventure and left no film untaken
that could record the remarkable exploits of
this young hero.
When the war ended, he delighted London
with the story of the shy student who had
turned soldier and had led his Arabs first to
Jeddah and then on to the final triumph at
Damascus. with Lawrence in Arabia" played
to full houses in Covent Garden and even in
the enormous Albert Hall: it was the talk of
Great Britain. We English are modest race,
but we were enchanted to hear, from the lips
of an American, how one of us had helped to
u;p tho Great War A million y,eoDla Saw that