1941: Michigan’s The Detroit Evening Times published a syndicated
column
[right] by Walter Winchell*
[left]
that included a strange mix of truth and misinformation about A.A. [ellipses in original]:
*Winchell (born Winchel, 1897–1972) was a U.S. gossip columnist and radio news commentator who held considerable influence in the United States during the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s. His opinionated, often inconsistent reporting garnered both admirers and detractors. Biographer Neal Gabler noted that Winchell’s popularity and influence “turned journalism into a form of entertainment.” In 1936, Winchell hired Herman Klurfeld as a ghostwriter. Klurfeld wrote four newspaper columns per week for Winchell that year and continued working for him for 29 years.
1971: The New York Times—on page 1 [below left]—and The Evening Star of Washington, D.C. [below right], both published obituaries for Bill W., who had died two days earlier.
[left]
that included a strange mix of truth and misinformation about A.A. [ellipses in original]:THERE IS A GROUP called “Alcoholics Anonymous” in New York, the moving spirit being a well-known transatlantic flier… The group’s aim is to “straighten out any fellow who will even admit he drinks too much”… They meet at an illustrators place and have big “rallies.” These “rallies” are attended sometimes by hundreds of lushes, many of whom have been in institutions for alcoholics, etc… They’ve succeeded where doctors and psychiatrists have failed, working on the theory that only a drunk knows how to talk to a drunk.
*Winchell (born Winchel, 1897–1972) was a U.S. gossip columnist and radio news commentator who held considerable influence in the United States during the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s. His opinionated, often inconsistent reporting garnered both admirers and detractors. Biographer Neal Gabler noted that Winchell’s popularity and influence “turned journalism into a form of entertainment.” In 1936, Winchell hired Herman Klurfeld as a ghostwriter. Klurfeld wrote four newspaper columns per week for Winchell that year and continued working for him for 29 years.
1971: The New York Times—on page 1 [below left]—and The Evening Star of Washington, D.C. [below right], both published obituaries for Bill W., who had died two days earlier.
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