One World Flight

In 1946, Norman Corwin, a landmark individual in the history of old-time radio, was named the first recipient of the "One World Flight" Award. The award included a prize of a four month, around-the-world trip patterned after the historic diplomatic flight of Statesman Wendell Willkie. During the trip, Mr. Corwin recorded the voices of people of all walks of life, capturing their reactions to the end of World War II and their thoughts of the world of the future. Besides these conversations, he recorded the sounds of the world as he passed through it, capturing local ceremonies and rituals and sounds of cities, towns and villages along his route. These recordings were the basis for the 13-part documentary, One World Flight. The half-hour shows aired from January 14, 1947 through April 4, 1947 over CBS stations. On August 13, 1999, NPR's All Things Considered offered "Lost and Found Sound: One World Flight", replaying pieces of the original shows. Norman Corwin was there to provide comments on the series.