Lowell Thomas Part II: A Legendary Career and Life
How one raconteur created the myth of Lawrence of Arabia, invented travelogues and shaped America’s view of the world. Part II
Read Part I of Lowell Thomas here.
Frances and Lowell’s son, Lowell Jr., was born in London in 1923. Thomas traveled and wrote prolifically throughout the 1920s, often with the family in tow. They finally settled down at the end of the 1920s, purchasing a farm in Pawling, New York.
Thomas also formed a lifelong partnership with Prosper Buranelli. The two worked closely together on Thomas’ innumerable projects for 34 years until Buranelli’s death at 68 in 1960.
Buranelli’s obituary in the New York Times noted that Thomas said the two men had spent the night before discussing serious topics of the day with former Governor Thomas E. Dewey, television commentator Edward R. Murrow, and the Rev. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, all neighbors in Pawling.
“[Buranelli] was one of the most amazing men of our time,” Mr. Thomas said. “And I rank him with all the remarkable men I’ve ever met, including prime ministers and kings.”
Buranelli was a reporter and respected ghost writer in his own right, who was credited with popularizing the crossword puzzle in American newspapers.
In 1930, Thomas became a radio broadcaster with a nightly 15-minute news roundup. It wasn’t hard news, exactly, and it wasn’t commentary, either. Thomas saw himself as a broadcaster and entertainer first, but for the next 46 years his voice would be how the average American heard the news of the day.
Shortly after landing the radio gig, Thomas also became the voice of Fox Movietone News. He and Buranelli scrambled to create the popular newsreels. Before the advent of television, newsreels played before movies were the only way to actually see what was happening in the world.
“I never handled the news just as news. It was always the day-to-day adventures of the human race.” — Lowell Thomas
Thomas, an avid skier, helped to promote the sport by doing remote radio broadcasts from various ski lodges. Thomas was all about that pay-for-play lifestyle! He was an influencer before social media was even an idea.
During this era, Thomas set about developing the land around his estate. That’s how Dewey and Murrow became his neighbors. And that was by design. Thomas joined private clubs where men of power and influence met and mingled. He was regularly asked to become president or a member of the board of directors of these various clubs. The influential clubs he belonged to in his lifetime included the Explorers Club, Adventurers Club, Advertising Club, and Dutch Street Club. At the Bohemian Club, Thomas would attend Caveman Camp with his friend of many years, former President Herbert Hoover.
Thomas stayed on the home front for most of WWII. He continued to write, of course. In 1945, he toured the front when reporters were invited to do so, meeting political and military leaders along the way.
In 1949, Thomas was allowed entry into Tibet. He and his son stayed for nearly two weeks, becoming the first people to ever film the Dalai Lama. On their way out of Tibet — they had to travel by burrow and horse to get there and back — Thomas was thrown from his horse and had to be carried out on a makeshift stretcher. He broke his hip in several places, and it would be months before he could walk without crutches.
In the 1950s, Thomas invested in a new widescreen film projection format called Cinerama, and when I tell you I would have given anything to see movies in that format, I’m not joking! Cinerama simulated a 3D effect via the use of a deeply curved screen and three separate synchronized projectors that created a singular moviegoing experience.
The first film, This is Cinerama, was a documentary meant to show what the format could do. It starred Thomas and was directed by Mike Todd, Elizabeth Taylor’s doomed third husband.
Thomas went on to make a handful of films with the Cinerama folks, but the fad ended soon after he left the company. Thomas did manage to travel to Nepal as part of filming the Cinerama movie Search for Paradise.
From that venture, Thomas and his business partner Frank Smith purchased Hudson Valley Broadcasting Company in 1954. Smith became president of the new Capital Cities Broadcasting, which would go on to become American Broadcasting Company, or ABC. ABC would eventually be purchased by The Walt Disney Company in 1996.
Thomas, of course, got into television in the 1950s with a series called High Adventure with Lowell Thomas. He would travel to far flung locations or recap his previous adventures for hour-long travelogues. It lasted three years.
I didn’t watch the entire episode, so I can’t promise the contents are compelling or culturally sensitive.
In 1962 Thomas visited Antarctica on a tour of science stations. He continued to travel and publish books. He had a tv show with BBC called The World of Lowell Thomas.
Throughout the 1960s, Thomas continued to create travelogues and be the voice and the face of international travel and adventure for the American public. He was also guest editor for many View-Master travel packets. It’s unclear to me if he had a real hand in these efforts or if he was simply a face to add credence to the View-Master brand.
Frances Thomas died in 1975, but Lowell Thomas continued to travel and write and embrace life. He wrote a two-part autobiography in the 1970s that you can find on eBay.
Thomas never really slowed down. He continued to travel and even remarried, taking a 50,000-mile honeymoon in 1977! He passed away at the age of 89 in 1981. His funeral was attended by George W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Betty Ford, Alexander Haig and John Glenn. His friend and neighbor, Norman Vincent Peale, gave the eulogy.
Can you believe that Lowell Thomas hasn’t been the subject of a big, splashy, sweeping biopic?
Additional Sources:
https://www.cliohistory.org/thomas-lawrence/thomas/perspectives/hodson2
https://www.historynet.com/lowell-thomas-t-e-lawrence-and-the-creation-of-a-legend/?f
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-lawrence-arabia-180951857/
https://www.cliohistory.org/thomas-lawrence/thomas/perspectives/allen
https://www.historynet.com/lowell-thomas-t-e-lawrence-and-the-creation-of-a-legend/?f
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