Talk:Lowell Thomas

Valpo

Thomas's memoir Good Evening, Everybody (New York: Morrow, 1976) says, page 64, that "officially it was the University of Northern Indiana at Valparaiso." PedanticallySpeaking 17:54, Nov 9, 2004 (UTC)

I've looked really, really hard - everything short of actually contacting the archives at Valparaiso - and I can't find any reference to it, except for a handful (< 5) as "Northern Indiana University" for some people who seem to have graduated from what was officially "Northern Indiana Normal and Business School", which is now Valparaiso. With such a paucity of references, I have to suspect the guy was confused. Diderot 21:24, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

While we're on the subject, Thomas seems to have set a record for academic attainment. According to the entry he graduated from high school in 1910; he earned two degrees from Valparaiso University the following year; the year after that, the University of Denver awarded him two further degrees, one of them a postgraduate distinction. That's four degrees with two years' study. Is this all correct? AuntFlo (talk) 07:52, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

"show"?

Constant reference to his pro-Lawrence film as a "show" makes it sound like a stage production or a TV series. ALSO: A book I'm editing for someone says Thomas was a professor at Columbia University when he took on the film project. I find no other reference to this, anywhere. Anybody know if this is true, or an error? --Michael K. Smith 14:24, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Cinerama

Because of both the cost and technical issues in synchronizing the projectors, Cinerama never caught on, but a quarter-century later, Thomas was still raving about it in his memoirs and wondering why someone wasn't trying to revive it.

I can't help feeling that the above passage does both Thomas and Cinerama a disservice. It makes Thomas sound like a raving loon wanting to preserve some crackpot Heath Robinson/Rube Goldberg technology that was seen by almost no-one. Firstly, Cinerama certainly caught the public's imagination, even though its success was relatively short-lived. Secondly, Thomas was (and is) far from alone in wanting to see Cinerama brought back; despite the cost and technical problems, the quality of the viewing experience was superb (as can be seen in any of the three venues still equipped for Cinerama). Even today, only IMAX surpasses it. 217.155.20.163 22:16, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

"near fatal fart attack" anecdote

Someone should consider at some point checking and sourcing the "near fatal fart attack" anecdote. My recollection of being there in person when my parents heard this incident take place (listening to WJR-AM) was that it was about Dolly Dimples (see http://en.wiki.x.io/wiki/Celesta_Geyer ), whose autobiography was published in 1968. The wording my parents recounted (from memory? paraphrase? fictional elaboration?) was that Lowell said her doctor had told her "Diet or Die, Dolly," which started Lowell's not uncommon tendency to the giggles, and the subsequent "near fatal fart attack" mis(?)-read then took him over the edge into laughter. I would not have understood or recalled a Lowell Thomas broadcast from the early 1960s (as the current article says); I was under 5 then. It's worth checking to see if 1968 might have been the actual airdate. Preceding comment added by Occasionallyhelping (talk • contribs) 03:32, 18 January 2011 (UTC)

Reference to Lowell Thomas, Jr.

>>>Today, Lowell Thomas Jr. remains an active bush pilot and environmental activist in Alaska.

Does this need to be changed/updated? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that there's an age limit for being licensed as a pilot in the United States, and that someone who is 87 would have exceeded that years ago.RadioKAOS (talk) 00:19, 26 February 2011 (UTC)

More on Thomas and Alaska

Alerting SamBlob to this discussion due to the interest in this subject expressed on that user's page. The long-defunct Alaska Mutual Savings Bank (acquired by National Bank of Alaska in the wake of the failure of most of Alaska's financial institutions during the late 1980s real estate crash) commissioned a 160 feet (49 m) long bas-relief mural entitled A Parade of Alaska History. It was conceived in 1972 and completed in 1976 to mark not only the bank's 15th anniversary, but also its move to a skyscraper at 601 West Fifth Avenue in downtown Anchorage, then dubbed "The Financial Plaza" (currently home to the Anchorage headquarters of KeyBank). I would assume the mural's still there, but it's been too many years since I've been to Anchorage. Anyway, one of the twenty panels depicts four scenes from the 1910s, one of which is of Thomas and Bobby Sheldon with Sheldon's Model T. The publication describing this project may still be under copyright, so I'll excerpt the accompanying text instead of reproducing it in whole:

LOWELL THOMAS AND BOBBY SHELDON. In 1914, when youthful journalist Lowell Thomas was making a swing through the Territory, the only way to get from Fairbanks to Valdez was over the Richardson Trail. (description of travel times via various modes omitted) In Fairbanks, Lowell met debonair young Bobby Sheldon (ed. note: actually nine years older than Thomas, if that matters any) who owned a Model T Ford — one of only five automobiles in the whole Interior. "When Bobby bragged his Model T could cut the time to Valdez in half, I saw the chance for a good story". (description of trip details omitted, except mention of the two having to winch themselves across numerous mid-sized streams and rivers with block and tackle) (Upon arriving in Valdez 3–4 days after leaving Fairbanks)...Lowell put it, "I never believed I would pay anyone $150 for the privilege of pushing an automobile 371 miles across Alaska".

It further mentions, though not explicitly, that the publicity allowed Sheldon to go into business; he would pioneer the auto stage business not only on the Richardson, but later at Mount McKinley National Park, the latter of which has been written about in numerous places. RadioKAOS / Talk to me, Billy / Transmissions 03:00, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

Re: Later career "Thomas was a magazine editor"

https://www.amazon.com/Commentator-Magazine-February-1937-Vol/dp/B002ITV21W lists the first issue of this magazine, dated Feb 1937 and edited by Lowell Thomas. It lists the publisher was Payson Publishing. The magazine lasted until Nov 1939, when it was merged with Scribner's and the result was named Scribner's Commentator. Thomas continued as associate editor until mid-1940. (The Conservative Press in Twentieth-Century America, by Ronald Lora, William Henry Longton, page 273) Hope this helps! Darci (talk) 04:17, 10 December 2016 (UTC)

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