- The March of Time
-
- For the unfinished MGM musical, see The March of Time (film).
The March of Time is a radio series, and companion newsreel series, that was broadcast on CBS from 1931 to 1945 and shown in movie theaters from 1935 to 1951. It was created by Time, Inc. executive Roy Edward Larsen, and was produced and written by Louis de Rochemont and his brother Richard de Rochemont for most of its 16-year run on film. The newsreel feature was based on the network radio series of the same name which had premiered four years earlier.
History
The March of Time began as a weekly radio series airing on the CBS network beginning on March 6 of 1931, sponsored by Time magazine to promote the weekly news magazine. For most of its run it was a dramatized presentation of the week's major stories, mixing actual clips of newsmakers' voices (when available) with the sound of actors re-creating events through imitation of the actual newsmakers when authentic voice cuts were unavailable.
It was the first network presentation of a dramatized "news" format which had previously been tried experimentally by some local radio stations. One example of this programming genre was "The Day's News Dramatized", produced by the Buffalo Evening News newspaper and presented on its radio station WBEN, a CBS affiliate, starting on its first day of broadcasting, September 8 of 1930. It's not known to what degree, if at all, these regional productions influenced the national March of Time when it premiered six months later, or if The March of Time's creators were aware of local dramatized news program pioneers that had anticipated it.
The companion newsreel series to the March of Time radio broadcast was launched on February 1, 1935 in over 500 theaters. Each entry in the series was either a two- or three-reel film (20 or 30 minutes). Westbrook Van Voorhis, who hosted the radio program, served as narrator of the film series. The series, which finally totalled close to 200 segments, was an immediate success with audiences. However, because of its high production costs—estimated at $50,000 per episode, released at the rate of about one episode per month—the series was a money loser. However, it remained in production for six years beyond the cancellation of the radio show on which it was based.
The series ultimately ended when the widespread adoption of television and daily TV news shows made the newsreel format obsolete. Other newsreel series such as Pathé News (1910–1956), Paramount News (1927–1957), Fox Movietone News (1928–1963), Hearst Metrotone News/News of the Day (1914–1967), and Universal Newsreel (1929–1967) continued for a while longer.
Like its radio namesake, The March of Time included reporting, on-location shots, and dramatic reenactments.
The series was satirized in Orson Welles' film Citizen Kane (1941) with the News on the March segment showing the life and funeral of the fictional Charles Foster Kane.
See also
- The World in Action
External links
Categories:- Newsreels
- Films awarded an Academy Honorary Award
- National Radio Hall of Fame inductees
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
