Spoor of a Gofer
The Big Tobacco Era, Radio's Golden Age, and TV Through Its Teens
by
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Fate, luck, coincidence, Murphy's Law! What role do these intangibles play in the shaping of the lifetime of any mortal? As I embark on my odyssey from my Ithaca in upstate New York, in search of my personal golden fleece, a career in broadcasting, you be the judge. I had the good fortune to be brought into the world at just the right time to become, during the 1940's, a minor catalyst in broadcast programming during the heyday of network radio and the infancy of television, the media monster sired by static out of snow – the bastard son of radio. Those were late depression days when rapidly expanding radio networks were hungry for business and advertisers had their way in programming. Days when the newspaper publishers, fearing this upstart's competition for ad dollars, printed scarcely a word – good or bad – about this newest form of communications and entertainment. Many even refused to carry program listings. These were days when the motion picture industry, already badly burned at the box office during the height of popularity of Amos and Andy, installed speakers in theaters to carry the program, delaying the feature film until after signoff. Therefore, little was written about this revolution in entertainment. And yet, mostly by word of mouth, the radio industry prospered. In fact, radio seemed to be the perfect advertising vehicle for a multitude of consumer products. Radio was flexible, inexpensive and effective. Mama could listen while doing the dishes. The family could do a jigsaw puzzle together and still follow a story line, comedy sketch or absorb a commercial message. Radio made a person think – to visualize for himself what Jack Benny's Maxwell looked like or what Fibber McGee could conceivably have stored in that famous closet. Those with distinctive voices, i.e., Edgar Bergen, Bing Crosby and Will Rogers became the kings and queens of radio. Good writing and clever sound effects heightened the illusion, creating mental pictures, which listeners fleshed out so that the voices they loved became flesh and blood people – beautiful people because they saw them as they wished them to be. I had dabbled in campus radio at Cornell and developed an itch to be a broadcaster. Persistence and more than a little luck finally paid off, so that by late 1939, I found a job in a New York advertising agency's one-man radio department as a broadcast gofer.
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About the Book
Has Frank Sinatra ever saved you from catastrophe by volunteering to perform for free? Can you imagine going to the party of an office gopher only to discover that your "Googie" lived in a mansion and was a member of the Gugenheim family? How about an impromptu invitation to lunch with a friend who’s dining with Salvadore Dali? Would you risk getting Betty Grable in trouble by asking her to attend a baseball game you are sponsoring? Have you ever accidentally barged in on Dinah Shore as she sunbathes in her backyard or dragged James Arness out of a nightclub so he could catch his airline flight? These are only some of the real life situations that Larry Bruff recounts in his exciting and amusingly written autobiography, Spoor of a Gofer. Larry Bruff’s clever, suspenseful, and entertaining tale of professional and personal achievement encapsulates a golden age of American life from the 1930’s through the 1960’s, when radio and television celebrities were idolized, cigarettes were glamorous, ant tobacco companies were kings. As a career marketing executive in the tobacco industry, Mr. Bruff became friends with numerous celebrities and experienced many historic moments in both radio and television during his tenure as a writer, director, producer, and announcer of many original and memorable productions such as the "The Glenn Miller Show." His light-hearted sense of humor in recalling a lifetime of personal recollections and experiences makes for widely entertaining story! Mr. Bruff was involved in making decisions regarding radio and television programming and tobacco promotion as he climbed to the position of Vice President of Marketing for Liggett and Myers one of the largest tobacco companies in the nation at that time. He played a major role in the marketing strategies of the tobacco industry through his creation of radio and television programming and the production of tremendously popular programs showcasing the celebrities of the time. Underscoring the exhilaration and the nostalgia is Larry Bruff’s continuing struggle to separate fact from fiction regarding the then as yet unproven health hazards of smoking. It was a different time in our history and both readers who hold fond memories of the period and those who want to create memories of an era before their time will find the Spoor of a Gofer recreates those days in an exciting and thought proving manner. Larry Bruff was a humorous talented and an insightful man with an unbelievable story to tell! Don’t miss being there!
About the Author
Larry Bruff was born October 4, 1919 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He spent much of his life in New York. Larry attended Cornell University. He led a colorful and exciting life as a 23 year old traveling across the country with Glenn Miller, directing and announcing the radio shows of that time. He worked for Newell-Emmett Company as the agency producer of various radio and TV shows for the Liggett & Myers Chesterfield account. Larry loved his job and was creative, direct, and persistent. He spent his later years in Virginia Beach, Virginia and died on May 19, 1995. He is also the author of the book, Glenn Miller "What Simon Didn’t Say"