Word: grauer
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...When Ben Grauer was a cub announcer at NBC, back in 1930, he competed with ten other announcers for a program sponsored by Gobel's bologna. The other ten sounded very highbrow, but Ben got the job. "That's the man," the sponsor cried, "that's what I sell-baloney...
Last week, 263 sponsors and some 27,000 commercials later, Ben Grauer had come a long way for a baloney salesman. On NBC's big new documentary series, Living-1948 (Sun., 4:35 p.m., NBC), he was the narrator and star. In his nine other regular radio and television jobs, he ran the gamut between straight man and U.N. analyst. The New York Herald Tribune's John Crosby has said with some amazement that Grauer "does everything but sweep out the studio...
Learning to be at ease with such varied assignments as presidential inaugurations, Olympic ski jumps, an eclipse over Brazil, and Edna Wallace Hopper has converted Grauer into something of a quick-change artist. Last week, for example, he was a solemn reader of blank verse (Living-1948), a slightly sardonic moderator (Author Meets the Critics), a whimsical telecast quizmaster (Americana Hall), a rather bubbly announcer (Chesterfield Supper Club). On the NBC Symphony, he had to hurry ("Toscanini won't wait a second," he confided, "I really have to rush before the downbeat...
...Grauer is a tired, pleasant, chainsmoking little (5 ft. 6 in.) man who looks something like George Jessel with hair. He is a bachelor, a bow-tie fancier, a tea-drinker and a raconteur...
Radiomen regard Grauer as one of the glibbest ad-libbers on the air. But like all announcers, he has had his share of slips. His favorite printable one was a spoonerism. After guiding the late Carrie Chapman Catt through a difficult broadcast, Grauer turned to her in relief and said, all too clearly, "Thank you, Mrs. Catt, we are deepful grately...