Evening star., 1939-10-22


Island and pointed north.
Haley felt uneasy. Not because of
the work which lay ahead; he'd done
that almost too often for nervousness.
Yet four short hours ago he had no
notion that he'd ever be forced to
return to Galway - and. of course,
Ruth Emerson. He'd been curt with
her on the phone. Shed think success
had gone to his head during those
three whirlwind years since they
worked together before the micro
phone for the Voice of Galway"
He'd been chief announcer at that lit
tie hundred-watter. Ruth conducted
the daily woman's hour In fact it had
been Ruth who launched Haley in the
radio field. She insisted upon his
auditioning for an announcer's job,
while they'd been in high school to-
gether.
Women have no place on the air"
he used to tell her. Their voices are
always artificial Women are too self
conscious to make good announcers.'
Now Ruth was doing special features
and even had the nerve to offer them
to the Liberty network.
The pilot leaned over and put his
mouth close to Haley's ear. That's
Portland over there" he yelled above
the roar of the motors. Sixty minutes
later the speeding plane dropped in a
whistling glide toward shore, thun-
dered once above the low roof-tops,
banked sharply across the harbor and
then set down on the shallow inlet
with shower of spray. 1t was almost
dusk. and a crowd had gathered to
watch the amphibian taxi to shore.
Haley had half an hour before the
first broadcast. His engineers lifted
their equipment into waiting truck
and ratified off toward the police sta
ton, where the wire Examinations had
been installed. Search parties had
brought back no news of the Volkyrie.
A Universal crew from Boston had
already arrived at the police station
and were setting up. Bradford
Mitchell. Universars special-events
man. greeted Haley. friendly but sus-
picious. "When's your first show" he
asked. I'VE can't clear network time
till eight o clock"
Haley smiled; it meant first blood
for Liberty. We're taking it at 7:3O,"
he said. This was merely a fortune of
war which they both knew only too
we'll. Previous commercial commit
ments can sidetrack many an i'm
portant special-feature broadcast.
At 7:15. Haley called through to
New York on the "PL" private
through wire paralleling the broadcast
line and used for communication. The
show appeared all set up; the entire
network from coast to coast had been
cleared for Haley's words.
The clock crept on and he made
few hasty notes. Then:
GOOD evening, ladies and gentle
men. This is Haley Mackerson, of the
Liberty network, special-features divi-
sion, speaking to you from the little
town of Galway in northeastern
Maine. scene, this afternoon, of the
mysterious disappearance of two in
trepid round-the-world flyers who had
almost circumnavigated the globe
without once setting their wheels to
the ground. But on the home stretch,
back over their native soil, Lady Luck
withdrew her golden support and 49,. :"
There was little he could say, for no
trace of the flyers had yet been found.
Still. the army of listeners heard in his
sentences a wealth of color and sus-
pense. Briefly he interviewed leaders
of the searching party, outlined plans
which would take shape at dawn,
and then, with a dramatic close, re-
turned the air to the New York
studios.
When he finished, Haley turned
around. Ruth Emerson was standing