It seemed particularly appropriate that a preview screening of Ken Burns` ”Empire of the Air: the Men Who Made Radio” was held Wednesday at the Chicago Cultural Center as part of a benefit for the Museum of Broadcast Communications` Radio Hall of Fame.
There within the shadow of a bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln in the marble and gilded Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Hall, nearly 300 people paid $100 a ticket to see the newest work by Burns, the maker of ”The Civil War.” Burns, co-producer Tom Lewis and radio legend Paul Harvey were on hand for a cocktails and buffet reception that drew many local media heavies.
Before the screening, lines were deep at the buffet tables, as guests sampled salmon, roast beef and pasta.
According to Broadcasting Museum President Bruce DuMont, who wore the look of a proud papa, the benefit raised $25,000.
”What baseball is to Cooperstown and what country music is to Nashville, that`s what we`d like the Museum and Radio Hall of Fame to represent in Chicago,” he said.
The hall became part of the Broadcasting Museum last fall and will move with it from River City to its new home at the Cultural Center in June. Currently nearly 50 members have been inducted into the hall, which was formerly under the auspices of Emerson Radio. The first Chicago induction ceremony will take place in the fall.
General Motors, sponsor of ”Empire of the Air,” which will air Jan. 29 on PBS stations, underwrote the event. Burns` film traces the lives of early radio pioneers Lee de Forest, Edwin Armstrong and David Sarnoff.
Tapestries of Hall of Fame members Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Jack Benny and Harvey were displayed prominently. In the flesh, Harvey was almost as popular a guest as Burns. Harvey said Chicago is the perfect location for the Radio Hall of Fame.
”My goodness, when I was growing up in Tulsa, Okla., Chicago was the place every fledgling broadcaster wanted to be,” he said. ”And one day to be in the Radio Hall of Fame here-it`s all a little too much.”
Also drawing a crowd was a display case featuring vintage radios and radio equipment, including several pieces manufactured by De Forest`s company. ”Boy, look at that! It`s just like the one dad used to have!” said one middle-aged man, perfectly summing up the spirit of the night.
