Himan Brown Clips, Speeches, and Press....
"I never dreamed when I was winding copper wire around a Quaker Oats box to create my first crystal set, that I would spend seventy wonderful years as a radio producer." Those were the first comments of Himan Brown upon learning of his American Broadcast Pioneer Award. Hi Brown is, in every sense, "Mr. Radio Drama." In the 1930's through the 1950's, millions upon millions of listeners heard his productions, which included such long running hits as Inner Sanctum Mysteries, The Thin Man, Grand Central Station, Bulldog Drummond, Nero Wolfe, Dick Tracy, and Joyce Jordan, M.D.
Himan Brown was born, raised and educated in New York City. He became interested in radio drama while still in his teens. Even as he was earning his B.A. at Brooklyn College and his L.L.B. at Brooklyn Law School. Brown was acting in radio, and in 1929 packaged The Rise of the Goldbergs, which he partnered with Gertrude Berg and sold to NBC. Because of his love of radio drama and fast start in the business, he never practiced law.
Himan's career was exclusively radio until the late 1940's when he began to do television dramas. He was responsible for Lights Out, the filmed series of Inner Sanctum Mysteries, and the Chevy Mystery Show. Realizing that to remain an independent producer he would need facilities, Brown built Production Center on East 26th Street in New York. The center's two sound stages soon became the busiest in New York and today are owned and operated by All Mobile Video, and are called Chelsea Studios.
The CBS Radio Mystery Theater was a continuation of Inner Sanctum Mysteries with the legendary creaking door. It ran on the CBS Radio Network, with 350 affiliates, from 1974 until 1984, seven nights a week. Brown Produced, Directed and cast every production. In addition to his love for radio and the spoken word, Hi is an ardent collector of impressionist art. Brown has received dozens of awards including a Peabody. He is deeply involved in community affairs in his beloved New York City.
-1999 American Broadcast Awards program.
