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The Papers of Roger Bower
Processed by: Deborah TomarasMarch 2000
2 lin. ft
Roger Bower was born on January 8, 1903, in New York City. He attended the City Collge of New York and New York University. But he was more interested in entertainment than education and aspired to be an actor, performing in vaudeville, minstrel and road shows.
Bower joined radio station WOR in New York in 1928, and worked there for 24 years; during that time, he also produced and directed programs for other stations, including CBS and NBC. At WOR Bower produced, directed, acted, and created sound effects. During his years at WOR, Bower directed several thousand radio and television programs, including: You Can't Take It With You, The Treasure Hour of Song, Famous First Facts, Name Your Poison, Say It With Words, Mystery Sketches, Music Pastels, and Court of Literary Justice.
Bower's range of programs was practically unlimited. He did sports casting, including the Army-Navy games and the Rose Bowl; through this, he met Knute Rockne, and sports announcer Ted Husing. He directed quiz shows, both comedic and straight, including Twenty Questions. Mystery/detective programs were also among his credits, including The Crime Club. Bower directed The Witch's Tale, first heard in 1928, one of the earliest radio horror programs; he also provided sound effects and the "voice" of Satan, the black cat. His Bamberger Symphony was one of the first symphony programs on the radio. He also directed operas and popular music programs, working with Rudy Vallee, the Dorsey brothers, and Benny Goodman, among others.
Bower's most famous credit was the comedy panel program Can You Top This?, with "Senator" Ed Ford, Joe Laurie, Jr., Harry Hershfield and Peter Donald, first heard in 1940. Bower directed and produced this program, and also served as moderator and scorekeeper for five years. Listeners submitted jokes to the show, and the best ones were read to the panel by Donald. The panelists then tried to "top" the joke, with one of their own on the same subject. A "laugh meter" hooked to a microphone gauged audience response to the jokes, determining the winners.
In the early 1930s, Bower announced the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which he continued to describe for many years. He gave the first (closed circuit) television demonstration of station WOR in 1933, in a Macy's department store window. He also directed the musical entertainment feature during President Franklin D. Roosevelt's birthday celebrations at the Waldorf-Astoria from 1941 to 1944.
In 1960, the State Department sent Bower to the United Arab Republic for a year, to set up television stations in Cairo, Egypt, and Damascus, Syria. Shortly after his return from this mission in 1961, NBC International asked him to assist in the development of Nigerian television and radio. Bower agreed, and he and his wife stayed in Lagos, Nigeria for six years. Bower served as Managing Director of the Nigerian Television Service from 1962 until he left the country in 1967. Immediately after the end of this assignment in 1967, NBC International sent Bower to Saigon, Vietnam, where he stayed for two years, working with the television and radio services.
During his career, Bower received many accolades. New York radio columnists voted him Best Announcer for two years (1930-1932). He was made an honorary member of Rho Tau Sigma, a professional fraternity, for his work in collegiate broadcasting. He was a member of the Lamb's Club, one of the oldest theatrical clubs in the world, and contributor to their newsletter, The Lamb's Script. Bower was also the first president of the American Guild of Radio Announcers and Producers, and a past director of the Radio and Television Director's Guild.
Roger Bower died on May 17, 1979, in Sharon, Connecticut.
The Papers of Roger Bower contain materials from 1927 through 1979. The bulk dates of the materials are from the 1940s and 1960s. The collection consists of correspondence, newspaper and magazine clippings, programs and invitations, photographs, books, audio recordings, scrapbooks, promotional material, a musical script and score and a certificate in Vietnamese.
Materials in this collection are particularly strong in material pertaining to Station WOR. The clippings reveal the wide number and variety of programs Bower was involved with. Can You Top This?
is especially well documented, with clippings of cast interviews, photographs, audio recordings, and even a cartoon. The collection also documents Bower's overseas work, containing many of his Variety articles, and photographs and newspaper clippings from Nigeria.
The collection consists of five series:
Series I: Correspondence
Series II: Written Matter
Series III: Miscellaneous Items
Series IV: Photographs
Series V: Audio
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Series I: Correspondence, 1941-1979, n.d.
This series consists of letters and cards, including one fan letter with poem and illustrations. The egalitarian breadth of Bower's work and associations can be seen in correspondence from both the Catholic Charities Office and the American Jewish Committee. Well-known correspondents include Mary Margaret McBride, Variety editor Abel Green, Joe Laurie, Jr., Cal Tinney and Jane Cowl. The documents are arranged in chronological order.
Series II: Written Matter, 1927-1979, n.d.
The bulk of this series is newspaper and magazine clippings of articles by and about Bower. These are particularly strong in the 1940s WOR period, and Bower's 1960s Variety correspondence. It also contains scrapbooks, and programs and invitations to events with which Bower was involved. The series is arranged in chronological order.
Series III: Miscellaneous Items, 1938-1968, n.d.
This series contains a script and score for a high school musical with annotations by Bower, a scrapbook of photographs and news clippings, cards and invitations, promotional material, a certificate for Bower in Vietnamese, a resume, and a possibly unrelated magazine clipping. The items are arranged in chronological order.
Series IV: Photographs
The series contains 46 black-and-white photographs. These include 36-8x10", 4-7x9" and 6-6x8". Most document Bower's time with station WOR-his programs and colleagues. There are also several pictures from his stay in Nigeria, and some miscellaneous photographs. The photographs document Bower's association with such well-known personalities as Milton Berle, Richard Wright, W.C. Handy, Paul Robeson, Canada Lee, Bill Robinson and Erskine Butterfield. This series is arranged in topical order, and is housed with the Library of American Broadcasting's Photograph Collection.
Series V: Audio
This series contains eight audio reels and cassettes. It consists mainly of oral history interviews with Bower and other figures, including Col. Jacob Ruppert (owner of the New York Yankees), and John Bagwell, a colleague of Bower's in Saigon. It also features a documentary on the history of the Nigerian Television Service, and excerpts from some of Bower's WOR programs, especially Can You Top This? This series is housed with the Library of American Broadcasting's general audio collection. Researchers can find out more information about the more than 90 reels of Can You Top This? through our search engine.
A complete guide in Adobe Acrobat (*.pdf) format can be downloaded here.
For further information, contact the Library of American Broadcasting.
labcast@umd.edu
Library of American Broadcasting
University of Maryland, College Park
