The Wilmington morning star., 1940-05-22
Man bout
Manhattan
By George Tucker

NEW YORK, May 21.-"What
about Kaltenborn" asks J.R.M.
of Moultrie, Ga. His voice sounds
German, though I get the impress
ion he wants to be friendly to the
Allies. I listen to his broadcasts
all the time"
Well, H. V. Kaltenborn is a mild
and friendly though energetic man
with iron gray hair and blue eyes.
He is just an inch under six feet,
and he weighs about 1870 pounds.
He is 81 years old. Such an age
may seem advanced when consid-
cred in cold print, but when you
take into account his tennis activi-
ties you seldom think of him as
elderly. Kaltenborn is champion of
the West Side Tennis Club in For
est Hills, New York, and he has
never been defeated.
Sometimes on his broadcasts you
get the idea that he has visited a
good many places and talked with
a good many important people. 1t
is seldom that a city or a country
figures in the new with which he
is not intimately acquainted. He
is one of the very few foreigners
who has ever been permitted to
broadcast from a radio station in
Moscow. He has broadcast inter-
views with Hitler, Mussolini, Ma
hatma Gandhi, and Chang Kali
shek. Once he was captured by
Chinese bandits and held for ran
SOM. He was the first man in his
tory to cover a battle-the attack
upon Irun, Spain-with a micro
phone.
So you can see that when Hans
Kaltenborn-that's his name, Hans
sits down in his broadcasting
booth to analyze the news for you,
he has at least a speaking acquain-
lance with most of the leading
principals to start with. He has
travelled through foreign countries
ard probed through European cap
itals SO long that now he is one of
the best informed men on Euro
pear affairs in this country.
There is German blood in his
veins, though he is American as
you or your brother. He hates wal
and he abhors t~otalitarian aggres-
sion. He was born in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, and he began his ree
as a partner of his father in the
building materials business.
But that didn't last very long
for the reason that the Spanish
American war came along and he
enlisted. He came out of the war
a top sergeant and at once got on
a cattle boat bound for Europe.
This was the beginning of his
''international' restlessness and
probably was the first of scores
of journeys to all parts of the
world. Once, for a while, he saw
life as a travelling salesman in
France. Before that he Was a re-
porter. Eventually he went to
Berlin as secretary of the Harvard
Professional exchange. Kaltenborn
is a Harvard man, and he gradual
ed cum laude. He also wears a
Phi Beta Kappa key.
His office at NBC is just a plain,
everyday desk in the news room.
l happened to have been up their
yesterday and noticed on his desk
a typewriter list of foreign cities,
with their correct pronunciations
listed after them. They were, I
suppose, to facilitate him in hand
ling those tongue-twisters on his
brcadcasts. He spends two or three
hours daily up there, sorting out
his material and arranging it in
the order he desires. After that he
steps into a room off to one side
anc makes his broadcasts. Then
he goes home to a nice hot dinner,
at No. 9 Garden Place, Brooklyn,
which Mrs. Kaltenborn always has
ready for him.
EE. E