H.V. Kaltenborn’s round-the-clock reports on the Munich crisis of 1938 established him so firmly in the public mind as the voice of crisis from abroad, it’s recalled by his biographers that many American radio listeners were not fooled by Orson Welles’ panic-inducing “War of the Worlds” broadcast because Kaltenborn was not on it and surely would have been had the crisis been real.
Like many American correspondants who investigated reports of Nazi brutality as Hitler came to power, such as beatings of Americans who wouldn’t give the Nazi salute, Kaltenborn was known to suspect that the reports were exaggerated. Some biographers suggest his mind was changed when his own son suffered such a beating. H.V.K. acknowledged in later writings that he was slow to alter his view that Hitler was too radical and unstable to achieve power or long hold it.
Among the few American journalists to interview Hitler in the early 1930’s, Kaltenborn was the only one to interview Hitler several times. A few photos from Kalenborn’s book “Fifty Fabulous Years,” published in 1950 by G. P. Putnam Sons, and sent along by Bill Diehl, were recently published on this site. Bill has now sent a long a few pages about those Hitler interviews. Here they are.
From Bill Diehl, comments and photos from the memorial service for Rudy Ruderman, March 17 in Larchmont, N.Y.
It was a wonderful farewell to our beloved Rudy and the Larchmont Yacht Club was a beautiful setting. A good crowd was on hand, family, friends, and former broadcasting colleagues.
A few surprise guests included WCBS business editor Ray Hoffman and Bill Stoller who is the webmaster for the ABC Radio News site. Bill had only a brief remembrance of Rudy from the early 1970’s, but it was a delightful one. He told of how Rudy helped him get a part time job as a WNEW reporter that lasted for a few weekends, and later gave him a glowing reference for a correspondents slot at ABC Radio News. Mike Stein (once WNEW News Director) was at ABC as a network manager and said, “if Rudy Ruderman says he’s good, then he’s good for us.” Because of Rudy’s endorsement, Bill didn’t have to audition.
I told the memorial gathering of an incident in 1967 when I was new to WNEW. One night, after my news-casting shift ended, Rudy invited me to go with him to the upper east side to a bar called Malachy’s, where he introduced me to this big, funny, lovable Irishman, Malachy McCourt. When we left after a few beers Rudy said, “there Bill, now you’ve gotten a real taste of New York.”
I read messages from Edward Brown, Mike Eisgrau and Carolyn Tanton-Walden-Giatras, which was a real crowd pleaser. There’s was lots of laughter about how Rudy wired her bra with a hidden microphone and sent her to do a story about shoplifting by actually shop-lifting at Kleins Department Store. She got caught. Rudy had told her not to worry about getting caught because that would make an even better ending than if she got away with it.
Rudy’s sons, Jim and Dan and sister Anita all spoke. Jim began with delightful remembrances of his dad, funny ones, too, including the time Rudy was ‘wounded’ during WWII when he was knocked off a tank. Jim said he hit a tree branch while riding outside the tank. Anita, in her version, said, “What really happened was that he was looking at two pretty girls, and didn’t see the branch. Rudy suffered some head injuries in that incident, not bad enough, however, to send him home.
The memorial rooms were filled with Rudy memorabilia including his WWII dog tag. There were photos of him in uniform, with his beloved late wife, Tully, and on-the-job shots including one with Harry Truman.
photo above appeared December 23, 1960 in the Journal American
Did you know Rudy co-wrote a song? — Gee, But You Gotta’ Come Home –Guy
Mitchell recorded it. The sheet music cover was on display. Lots of
recordings were played of Rudy’s work reporting business news, reviewing a couple of plays, and one that I provided of an October 1968 newscast in which I switched to Rudy in Times Square where he would get public reaction to President Lyndon Johnson’s decision to halt the bombing of North Vietnam.
Rudy had two ten year old cats, a brother and sister, in good health, someone at the memorial adopted them on the spot. There were some emotional moments as brothers Jim and Dan spoke. it even happened to me as I closed my remarks. I thought I’d be fine, but toward the end, it got to me.
The memorial gathering for Rudy yesterday was, by turns, enlightening, funny, and deeply touching. We gained a new appreciation for Rudy by meeting his family, so clearly touched by his unparalleled graciousness. We met his eloquent and witty sons and their beautiful wives; his devoted sister; his handsome and charming grandsons; and his stunning granddaughter Sophia.
No one who spoke was able to avoid twinges of emotion. Rudy’s impact on us all was that profound. Carolyn Giatras’ remembrance about doing a report on shoplifting shook loose a memory of just how persuasive Rudy could be and was. Rudy could get anyone to do anything. As I listened to Bill Diehl read Edward Brown’s testimonial, I was reminded of my days writing Ed’s 6:00 newscast, how Ed wanted the copy clean, and concise, allowing the news to make the impact and not drawing attention to the writing itself. It was a challenge for me, because clever lead sentences were always my forte. Still, when New York University — whose teams were “the Violets” — canceled its basketball program because of financial problems, Rudy somehow managed to convince Ed to lead the story like this:
Budgets are red,
Violets are blue.
That’s all for basketball
At old NYU.
For years, I had been trying to get a mention in the “Leads I Liked” section of the news director’s weekly memo. That one did it, not in the least because of Ed’s impeccable reading of it or of Rudy’s persuasion in getting him to read it.
I told Rudy’s son Dan that his father had always reminded me of one of the heroic characters from an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. Style and class came so naturally to him, more naturally than to anyone else I ever worked with in broadcasting or journalism. Rudy was everywhere in yesterday’s gathering in the Gilded-Age surroundings of the Larchmont Yacht Club. My wife, who never knew either Rudy or my own work at WNEW, had tears in her eyes. I was privileged to be there. I was especially privileged to have known Rudy Ruderman. A.F.
Here are details of the memorial service for Rudy Ruderman, followed by comments from Andy Fisher, Al Wasser,Carolyn Giatris MikeEisgrau and Edward Brown who, with others among us, had the good fortune to know Rudy as colleague and friend. E.B.
There will be a memorial service to celebrate the life of Rudy Ruderman (May 30, 1926 – March 9, 2013) at the Larchmont Yacht Club in Larchmont, NY this Sunday afternoon, March 17th from 1:30 – 3:30.
He was a kind, funny and generous man and we will all miss him. Please consider sharing a story about Rudy – anything that reflects his spirit, or would tickle his spirit. If you can come and share in person, please RSVP. If you wish to send a short story about Rudy or your relationship with him, please do and we will try to read the tales or otherwise share with the celebrants. While we are an informal crowd, the club does have its own dress code for men – please wear a collared shirt, jacket, no jeans.
Please let us know if you can attend by Friday night so we can plan food accordingly.
Email: DanRuderman1@gmail.com, cell at (413) 358-8883
What: Memorial for S.G. “Rudy” Ruderman
When: Sunday, March 17, 2013. 1:30 – 3:30 pm
Where: Larchmont Yacht Club. 1 Woodbine Ave Larchmont, NY 10538
Who: Friends, Family, Colleagues, Admirers
from Andy Fisher — No one person on the WNEW staff was more influential to my career than Rudy Ruderman. He was my first friend when I had no friends; a ready and willing teacher when there was much for me to learn; a patient mentor who encouraged me to help him compile the statistics for his financial reports; a helpful editor when I moved into the ranks of writers; the assistant news director who moved me into his afternoon-editor shift; and even, incredibly, a vacation replacement for me after he left full-time employment with the station.
He had a prodigious, unfailing, ingenious sense of humor that ensured that working a shift with — or for — him would be an enjoyable experience. It was, notably, not a selfish sense of humor; as befits a master editor, he enjoyed other writers’ clever leads as much as his own. And it was never humor at the expense of precision. The facts were never bent just to get a laugh. He was an expert at mediating the fights that frequently broke out in the newsroom about 4:00 in the afternoon. He was merciful when my work would fall short; management never found out about some of my worst mistakes.
Once, I called him, “Sir,” and he quickly reminded me that he, too, had been an enlisted soldier and wouldn’t put up with that kind of approach. He was a great exponent, without actually talking about it, of the equality that exists, or should exist, among journalists in the really great newsrooms. He never let me forget that he was my friend, and I was his, and we often reminisced about the unforgettable people and events of those long-ago days in the newsroom with the high ceiling and the beeper booth and the clattering teletypes and blasting bulletin bells.
He is gone from among us, and we have suffered a great loss. A.F.
from Al Wasser — I met Rudy on Julyt 8, 1958, when he was program director of WHK radio in Cleveland and I was a young, aspiring newsman just out of college and starting my first job. I remember him as a warm and gregarious boss and mentor, generous with tips to help the newbie. A few months later, after he’d returned to New York, he was equally generous in putting in a good word for me with the WNEW brass, giving me an entree to a job at the station I’d grown up listening to. Over our years as colleagues, Rudy was a rock; always cheerful, full of wisdom, oh so funny. And what a terrific newsman he was; who can forget his daily insightful interviews with young stockbrokers who later became Wall Street superstars. Without Rudy, I still might not know that the Dow isn’t the whole market.
Even after we went our separate professional ways, his generosity of spirit was evident in hard times; the lovely memorial for his lovely wife Tully that he organized in Central Park; the cheerfulness he maintained and showed at the “coming-out” party Claudia Dreyfus of the Times gave when his ’80s nightmare came to a close.
I’m eternally grateful that I had the good fortune to know Rudy Ruderman; RIP. A.W.
from Carolyn Giatris (in an e-mail to Bill Diehl) I hadn’t heard. Please be sure to say that Rudy had a big influence on my career. He was my cheerleader and the one that came up with the idea to have me go “shoplift” at Kleins Department Store at Christmas time to do a story on shoplifting. It was in those days something else to get wired up with a secret mike…we laughed as they put the mike in my bra and ran the wire down my back. All the while he kept saying “this is gonna be great….gonna be great.” Well, I don’t know how great it was….because I didn’t get away with it. The in-store security got me. His reaction….”don’t worry, kid……this’ll be better for the ending.”.
I feel lucky to have known him. C.G.
from Mike Eisgrau — I guess of the many good words I can use to describe Rudy—the one which stands out in my mind is “mentor”. I’m a New Yorker—but in 1967, after 5 years in the midwest, at journalism grad school,as a writer at WLS/ABC News in Chicago, and then as a young radio and TV anchorman in Elkhart/South Bend, Indiana—it was still a daunting challenge for me to be brought from small town radio and TV to the finest local radio newsroom in the U.S.
In Indiana I had no one to help me along—I had to learn by myself. But, from almost my first day at WNEW, Rudy was there to help me learn the New York ropes. It was hard for me to believe that I had a true professional actually watching over my copy and my reports from the field. Those first few weeks were quite scary for me—especially since I was thrown into four civil rights riots in two weeks—including Newark. But through those first couple of years—and beyond—Rudy’s was a steady hand on my progress—he was my mentor—something for which I will always be grateful. M.E.
from Edward Brown – Media memory, as a summary judgment of an individual life, often misses events and attributes that do not earn the lasting attention of a headline or attract even the smallest notice, but which can be the fuller part of the measurement of that life.
The comments published on the internet by Al Wasser and Andy Fisher help offer a fuller account of Rudy’s life as a moral and honorable bag’a bones who earned the affection and admiration of those who were close to him personally and collaborated with him professionally. In a profession where colleagues are also competitors, Al and Andy note that Rudy gave generously of his skills, knowledge, experience, good nature and gentle humor to brighten both the spirits and career prospects of those in his charge.
To that view of him, I give loud assent and add my own evidence of Rudy putting his talents selflessly in service to others. I was present, for example, at times when he would rescue a reporter’s failing work, mine included, by providing the right fact or changed perspective, neither receiving, nor seeking recognition. He had a cool head and a kind heart and delighted in the success of others.
Rudy was a devoted family man and professional– a generous, caring man.–a good man. What better can be said of a man? What finer legacy is there?
March 11 – 12:27 am — We learned today from the medical examiner that my father died of a heart attack – quickly and painlessly. We are searching for a suitable place and time for his memorial service and I will post it here at soon as we have it. Thank you for the kind words and remembrances. Dan
We learned this evening from Rudy Ruderman’s sons, Jim and Dan, that Rudy died sometime overnight at his home in Scarsdale. He was 86. Cause of death not immediately determined. Here, below, is the e-mail sent this evening by Jim and Dan to a few of Rudy’s long-time WNEW colleagues who worked alongside him during his years as producer, business reporter and News Director.
Dear friends of Rudy,
We are deeply saddened to tell you that our father, Rudy, died unexpectedly this morning at his house in Scarsdale.
We apologize for not knowing all your names – we harvested your addresses from one of the many and delightful joke and anecdote emails that he routinely forwarded to us — but we wanted you to know.
We will arrange a memorial of some type soon, probably next weekend in Westchester, and will send those details when we have them.
Meanwhile, we hope you will consider sending jokes, stories, anecdotes or remembrances in lieu of donations – he would appreciate that!
Thank you for your long and loyal friendship.
Dan Ruderman Jim Ruderman
Remembrances can be sent to this site. All received will be forwarded to the Ruderman family.
Here’s a photo of Rudy sent in by Bill Diehl, who wrote: “One of my favorite photos of our dear Rudy taken a couple of years ago when a small group of us went to the Yonkers racetrack casino to wish him a happy birthday. ”
A note from long-time colleague Mike Eisgrau: “We had a really fun day. I remember him from two pictures. The one you (Bill Diehl) took that day, and a shot of Rudy, me and Carolyn Tanton in the news room. We were all young and concentrating on news the old fashioned way.”
(Editor’s note: That’s Ray Rice in the background.)
A comment from a Rudy Ruderman colleague, Bob Gibson. — Long before Rudy Giuliani came along as a prosecutor and mayor, New York. had another well-known Rudy…the veteran broadcaster with the last name of Ruderman. Rudy’s two sons say their father died unexpectedly Saturday morning at his Scarsdale home. He was 86. So far there is no reported cause of death. Rudy enjoyed a long career in New York and that included a better than 20-year run at WNEW Radio where he held a variety of positions including producer, reporter, financial editor and ultimately News Director. Rudy left the station in 1974 and later became a business reporter for NBC’s short-lived News and Information Service. He also did business news reporting for Dow Jones and in 1981 was named Broadcast Editor for Business Week Magazine, a position that had him doing business reports on New York’s 1010/WINS. Happily married for many years,
Rudy lost his wife, as I recall, in the late 1990s. Rudy and I had known one another for more than forty years and early on we had discussed the possibility of my joining his news staff at WNEW.
Unfortunately, Rudy was forced to leave the station before he could hire me, (which his successor Dick Stapleton did), but we remained friends for the rest of his life and he was responsible for my becoming the morning anchor & writer at the Wall Street Journal Radio Network for a couple of years in the early 80s.
Rudy and I had our last email exchange about two weeks ago during which he acknowledged the nice story about him on Edward Brown’s WNEW Tribute web site, that he was feeling well and that he was looking forward to celebrating his 87th birthday in May. I told him I’d be in the New York area in late May and we should try to get together. That is not to be, but no one can take away the wonderful memories I have of Rudy and his dedicated work ethic and great sense of humor! B.G.
Rudy Ruderman, during his more than 20 years at WNEW, held quite a few different jobs, sometimes a few of them at the same time. NY Daily News Radio & TV writer Val Adams took note of this in an April 29, 1973 column, (below) prompting from WNEW GM George Duncan, a note to Rudy that years later would surface when R.R. rescued files from some cardboard boxes that had been sent adrift in a basement flood.
Those fuzzy lines cut and pasted from Adams’ column read as follows: “Rudy Ruderman, already financial editor and drama critic for WNEW, received a new appointment as news director. Maybe triple threat Rudy can give lessons to poor George Duncan, whose only title at WNEW is general manager.”
But, what did GM Duncan mean by “Goodbye”? Was Ruderman fired? No, that would come later. Rudy would be fired about eleven months later on April Fools’ Day, 1974. His successor, Dick Stapleton, would be fired a year later on April Fools’ Day, 1975. Now, back to the memo . . .as Rudy explains.
“I think all Duncan (left) meant was a cute response to Val Adams’ ‘triple threat Rudy’ line. Not only did he not imply a threat to me by saying “goodbye,” but a year later, after (new GM Carl) Brazell told me to fire and not replace all the editors, I resigned in protest. Then George, who was Metromedia President by that time, called me to say “Don’t quit, Rudy! Wait a week, and we’ll fire you, so you can get severance pay and qualify for unemployment insurance.”
George Duncan had been promoted to President of Metromedia Radio Division, after about two years as GM of WNEW-AM, following his immensely successful turn as GM of WNEW-FM between 1968 and 1971. He was replaced as the AM GM by Carl Brazell, (right) who was replaced as News Director by Ruderman, which gets us back to the memo one more time. Rudy R. goes on to say he was out of work for four months, then . . .
“. . .then, suddenly, my successor, Dick Stapleton, hired me to replace the vacationing Andy Fisher on the overnight newscaster shift Christmas week, then to do weekend mornings, and Bill Scott gave me weekend overnights at WINS, and Bob Kimmel hired me as a producer at NBC Radio net. From there, as you know, I moved over to NBC’s NIS (News and Information Service) as Business Correspondent when Bob Dallos left. Among my most satisfying memories there was working with you and Cameron Swayze. I also remember getting a heart attack on Ash Wednesday in ’77, a couple of months before the all-news network went kaput.”
“I Love Rudy Ruderman, ” a song composed by WNEW listener Addy Feiger was performed by her on July 14, 1963 at Madison Square Garden before a crowd of 18,000 attending WNEW’s 30th anniversary party. Click on link below.
We asked Rudy Ruderman, a News Editor at the time and Nat Asch, who was then Director of Special Projects, to add a few details of that long, glamorous evening and we’ve strung together their separate e-mail comments into a long-distance conversation.
Rudy Ruderman
RUDY I remember Addy. She was a neighbor in Westchester of Giants coach, Allie Sherman.
NAT Addy had written to the station saying she was “addicted” to the sound of WNEW and so, she wrote the song.
RUDY And when she sang it, everybody cheered, especially me.
Nat Asch
NAT Varner Paulsen, was the PD at the time . . . I used to say of him, “Behold, the pale Norse”. . . anyway, he reluctantly accepted the suggestion that we open the show with Addy at the Garden . .
RUDY . . .the old Garden at 50th and 8th. . . .
NAT. . .that we open with Addy on a dark stage under a single spotlight. . .
RUDY . . . dressed as a maid and holding a feather duster. She suddenly sees the piano on center stage, looks around furtively, then dusts the keys and sits down and starts the song. . .
NAT . . .followed by the Cy Zentner orchestra on the main stage. . .there were three revolving stages . . .playing the WNEW theme as the Garden lit up to the delight of eighteen thousand People.
RUDY . . .Jack Jones and Count Basie were on the program,Vic Damone. . .Bobby Darin . .
NAT . . .Helen Forest, Tommy Dorsey. . .
RUDY . . .Billy Taylor, Della Reese. . .
NAT . . .Dave Brubeck. . .the show went on for five hours . . .we had very little experience putting on a show of such magnitude…every ticket sold included the opportunity to win a new house. . . .
RUDY . . . artiste issues?
NAT . . .only one. Nina Simone and her trio.
RUDY . . .right. . .
NAT . . .she had a rep for being difficult and was most unhappy about being put on one of the smaller stages. She wanted bigger. But her manager, her husband, Ernie, a former detective, calmed her down and she was brilliant. . .sang “I loves You, Porgy,” “My baby Just Cares For Me “. . .as scheduled . . .on the smaller stage. Up until the last moment we expected to get Frank Sinatra to close the show. We didn’t get him. We got Frank Sinatra Junior instead. The night was a complete success . . .except for the fact that Buddy Hackett punched out Freddie Robbins at the post show party at the Americana Hotel.
Editor’s Note: WNEW staged an encore show at the Garden on June 10, 1964, starring all the station’s personalities with (among others) Tony Bennett, Steve Lawrence, Eyde Gorme, Trini Lopez, Buddy Greco, Jerry Vale, and the Smothers Brothers. Proceeds benefited the Greater New York Fund.
There may have been days when one particular New York newsman had to check the mirror, his driver’s license and the flag on his microphone to confirm who he was that day and who would sign his check.
H.V. Kaltenborn’s round-the-clock reports on the Munich crisis of 1938 established him so firmly in the public mind as the voice of crisis from abroad, it’s recalled by his biographers that many American radio listeners were not fooled by Orson Welles’ panic-inducing “War of the Worlds” broadcast because Kaltenborn was not on it and surely would have been had the crisis been real.
