Biography in Sound was written and produced for NBC by Don Cameron and supervised by James L. Holton for NBC News. This episode aired on April 10, 1958, from 9:05-10 p.m. and was hosted by Walter O’Keefe, who was called a guide. It was a true biography of Rickenbacker, beginning with his pre-World War I exploits as a race car driver and following him right up to 1958. Many people who knew him were interviewed for the program, including: Arthur Godfrey, Tommy Milton, Reed Chambers, Douglas Campbell, LeRoy Prinz, Colonel Fred Ordway, Alfred P. Sloan, Hugh Nelton, Laurence Rockefeller, Jim Kilgallen, Ralph McGill, Adolphe Menjou and James Reynolds.
Most of the newspaper previews concentrated on Rickenbacker himself and didn’t mention many of the guests. This one is from the Oakland Tribune, Oakland, CA.
Another, from the New York Times, does mention a very few of those participating in the show.
Jimmy Stewart doesn’t appear until the very end of the show. He is introduced by O’Keefe and then poses a question to Rickenbacker. Here is that introduction, Stewart’s question and Eddie’s answer.
If you are up to listening to the entire show, here it is in three parts.
