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Anybody catch When Radio Was-- Bill Stern/The Kaiser story?
Posted:
Thu May 14, 2009 3:51 pmby scottp
KSL plays several "When Radio Was" episodes "ahead of time" early Sunday mornings. There was a 1948 Bill Stern show (Rex Harrison guest) which claimed football coach Luke Lee NOT ONLY pulled WWI soldier/poet Joyce Kilmer ("Trees") out of No Man's Land after he was mortally wounded, but ALSO came close to kidnapping Kaiser Wilhelm in Holland after the war. He had an accomplice in the kidnap plot, and NATURALLY (this being a Bill Stern story) the accomplice was, or would become, a renowned celebrity. But I can't remember who. I don't believe it... but I wanted to remember it.
I could have heard the show free on the WRW site Wednesday, but I forgot to listen...
Posted:
Thu May 14, 2009 5:47 pmby Maxwell
The celebrity was Larry MacPhail who later ran the Cincinnati Reds and Brooklyn Dodgers. Apparently the MacPhail story is true. He and some friends got tanked up (which I'm sure Stern didn't mention) and decided to kidnap the Kaiser. Apparently they did take some souvenirs, though.
Posted:
Thu May 14, 2009 9:20 pmby scottp
Wow, sure enough... there it is on Wikipedia even!
I see the spelling is of the coach is Luke Lea.
Also in that show is the story of Dwight Eisenhower having an infected leg at the age of 13, and his brother Edgar barring the doctor, who was hell-bent on amputating the leg, until Ike made a miraculous recovery. Further research shows that the story-- in similar melodramatic form-- had appeared in a biography published in 1947. But at that point, the doctor said he had never suggested amputation.
Posted:
Fri May 15, 2009 4:52 amby Yhtapmys
scottp wrote:Wow, sure enough... there it is on Wikipedia even!
I see the spelling is of the coach is Luke Lea.
Bill Stern and Wikipedia. Now there are two reliable sources!
Yhtapmys
Posted:
Fri May 15, 2009 2:13 pmby Maxwell
In this case Wikipedia is right regarding the MacPhail story, at least if MacPhail told the truth every time he related the incident.
Posted:
Wed Jun 24, 2009 1:14 amby scottp
I heard a show from late '44 or '45, which started with "Portrait of a Soccer Player" and I thought, Let me guess... he turns out to actually be... DWIGHT EISENHOWER?
Well no, the story took place in New Zealand, in the year 1890.
But at the end of the show, something about a football league in the midwest that had a player listed as "Wilson"... but his name wasn't really Wilson, it was DWIGHT EISENHOWER!
I got the right answer, just ten minutes too early.