walter winchell

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	2 Movies; November 15 He could make you or break you. He was a pioneering gossip columnist and a master of the media before his time. Walter Winchell crafted public opinion in the 1930s and ‘40s. He wrote a daily column that ran in 2,000 newspapers and reported for a weekly radio broadcast. In the 1950s he hosted a television series. But Winchell also broke people, ruined careers and in the end, shifted from a supporter of FDR to an apologist for Senator McCarthy and became a namer-of-named during the Communist witch hunt. For Walter Winchell, the sensationalistic and scandalous story came first. Truth was secondary, and he destroyed reputations with reckless reporting. Winchell was the father of our media-obsessed culture. At the height of his power, he was a master manipulator and even appeared in a number of films as himself—like Love and Hisses (1937), Wake Up and Live (1937) and Daisy Kenyon (1947). Turner Classic Movies presents the towering figure of Walter Winchell in a double feature. Blessed Event (1932) was inspired by Winchell’s meteoric rise to fame. Lee Tracy plays the roving reporter, mimicking Winchell’s staccato banter. His gossip columns were written like dispatches off a news wire. Winchell was at the height of his power when this film was made and the character is a heroic, if reckless, American icon. By the late 1950s, Winchell was no longer as influencial as he had been a decade earlier. But when Sweet Smell of Success (1957) was released, Winchell went after the film with both barrels. Sweet Smell of Success told the story of J.J. Hunsucker (Burt Lancaster) a ruthless columnist willing to steamroll friends and enemies alike. Tony Curtis plays Sidney Falco, a power hungry press agent. Their performances are electric; hip dialogue rolls off their tongue as they spar under the neon lights of New York’s late night cocktail lounges. Elmer Bernstein’s jazz score captures the energy and style of the period. It’s a memorable film, the epitome of "cool." And then, Walter Winchell, "the Voice of America" vanished from our cultural radar. In his own time he was larger than life, and we can see his influence on today’s media. The patron saint of yellow journalism and gossip columns, Walter Winchell is the subject of an upcoming biographic film on HBO. Perhaps the biography comes at the right time, Winchell’s life is a lesson in journalistic ethics in a time that needs a reminder. On Turner Classic Movies, we remember Winchell with a double feature. See the hipness of Sweet Smell and the rapid fire repartees of Blessed Event. Whether he was a man on assignment or a self-serving demagogue, he was a memorable character. 15 Sunday 8:00 PM Sweet Smell of Success (1957) A crooked press agent stoops to new depths to help an egotistical columnist break up his sister's romance. Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Martin Milner. D: Alexander Mackendrick. BW 97m. LBX 10:00 PM Blessed Event (1932) An unscrupulous gossip columnist lands himself in hot water. Lee Tracy, Ned Sparks, Dick Powell. D: Roy del Ruth. BW 80m. CC