Archives On The Air

Investigative journalist Toni Stabile began looking into the cosmetics industry in the 1950s. She researched and wrote about issues in the cosmetics industry throughout her career.

In 1961, fans of horror met Sardonicus in a short story in Playboy by Ray Russell. A movie version called Mr. Sardonicus came out soon after. Russell wrote the screenplay. It was directed by William Castle.

In the early 1900s, the west had many small mining towns. One of these towns was Gebo, Wyoming. Gebo was well documented by former resident Mileva Maravic.

Maravic grew up in Gebo. She collected photos and memories from the town.

In the 1940s and ‘50s the House Committee on Un-American Activities questioned 10 men from the film industry. They were accused of being communists. All 10 refused to testify and were jailed.

Dan Rowan was a fighter pilot during World War II. When the war ended he went to Hollywood.

Rowan was working at a car dealership when he met comedy writer Dick Martin. The two became the comedy team Rowan & Martin. They toured night clubs and late night talk shows.

From 1978 to 1980 Bolivia was in crisis. There was a series of military governments and coups. U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States Gale McGee was in the middle of one of these coups in 1979.

In 1937 Denis J. Mulligan was chief investigator of the U.S. Bureau of Air Commerce. Also in 1937, the German-built Hindenburg caught fire and crashed over Manhattan. 36 people were killed. Mulligan was the lead American investigator. 

Joseph "Yellow Kid" Weil was one of the most notorious con men of the 20 th Century. He reportedly swindled 8 million dollars from his victims. 

In 1946, Dr. A. C. Ivy wrote a code of ethics on human experimentation as part of the Nuremburg trials.

But, Ivy went on to violate ethics rules in his own work with the alleged cancer treatment Krebiozen. 

Al Christie created one of the first permanent film studios in Hollywood in 1911. His partner wanted their studio in Florida, but Al won a coin toss and they went to Hollywood.

In 1879 the Central Colorado Company built a rail line between Cheyenne and Fort Collins. Cheyenne became Poudre Valley's trading hub. 

Today we think of shopping malls as the epitome of capitalism. But the man who invented malls was a socialist. Austrian architect and mall-inventor Victor Gruen believed malls were a way to re-centralize suburban sprawl and create public spaces. 

At the end of World War I the U.S. government had a surplus of small planes. They sold them for low prices. Many former fighter pilots bought the planes and became barnstormers.

Cartoon writer Michael Maltese began his career with the Max Fleischer Cartoon Studio, but he is best known for his work with Warner Brothers in the 1940s and 50s. Maltese designed iconic Looney Tunes characters like Pepe Le Pew, Wiley Coyote and Yosemite Sam. 

The Mission Impossible film series has dazzled audiences since 1996. But the franchise has a history before Tom Cruise.

When Japanese Americans were interned at Heart Mountain in 1942, adults tried to maintain a sense of normalcy for the children. Internees quickly organized girl scout and boy scout troops. 

In 1906, the Crow tribe adopted a man with a camera into their ranks. His name was Richard Throssel.

Throssel had a mixed background of Scottish, English, and Cree. His adoption gave him unique access to the Crow tribe. 

The 1960s Batman TV show was campy. Many fans of the Batman comic thought it was cheesy. Executive producer William Dozier received this letter in 1966: 

In 1981 Peggy Simson Curry was named Wyoming's first poet laureate by Governor Ed Herschler. Curry was an author and a passionate educator. She led a program called Poetry-in-the-Schools and taught her students that "writing is love." 

Mountaineer Luther Jerstad was part of the 1963 Mount Everest expedition. It was the first successful American Everest climb. Jerstad was passionate about mountain climbing and recalled crying when he reached the peak of Everest. 

Eric Taylor was a screenwriter in the 1930s and 40s. He wrote 1945's Dick Tracy movie and six Universal monster movies, including Son of Dracula.

Before Hollywood Taylor wrote pulp fiction detective stories. Once he had two stories published in the same magazine. One story was published under the pen name Mark Layton. 

Cheyenne still looks very much like it did in a pamphlet from 1910.

Cheyenne officially became a city in 1867. It had a reputation as an agricultural and railroad community. 

To help build the social-scape of the city, the Cheyenne Industrial Club published a pamphlet called "The Cheyenne of To-Day" in 1910. 

Wilma Soss liked to say she wasn't born like other people. She erupted in a San Francisco earthquake.

Soss fought for women's rights as stockholders. 

Tim McCoy dropped out of college to pursue adventure.

He moved to Lander, Wyoming in the early 1900s. McCoy became an expert roper and horseman. He also developed an interest in Native-American life - and learned to speak Arapahoe and Shoshone. 

Joanne Forman decided to become a composer at sixteen. She had an illustrious career ever since that moment.

Forman helped create a number of theater programs in the U.S. She became a specialist in puppetry in multicultural and bilingual education. 

H.C. Ingraham wrote western short stories. He also wrote "The Circus Review," a Circus industry newspaper. 

In 1871, cousins Philip Arnold and John Slack claimed to have found diamonds on the border between Colorado and Wyoming. Several wealthy investors like Charles Tiffany were interested. 

Arnold and Slack sold the fields for $660,000, today worth over $15 million. 

In the 1930s Selden Rodman founded "Common Sense." It was a leftwing magazine that was supportive of democratic socialism. "Common Sense" pushed for adoption of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.

Author Upton Sinclair was a contributing author. Sinclair ran for California governor in 1934. 

Journalist Russell Brines was working for the Associated Press in Manila when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Shortly after, Japan invaded the Philippines.

Brines, his wife and daughter were held at an internment camp in Manila. While there, Brines started a newsletter called Internee News. 

Jean "Babe" London was a silent film comedienne. She acted with Charlie Chaplin, W.C. Fields, and Laurel and Hardy.