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What was everyone reading in the early 1930s?

Even today, news reports about missing children capture our attention and imagination like no other stories. The nation's fascination with this type of event started long ago--as soon as it became possible for ordinary citizens to follow a news event as it happened. In the early 1920s, shortly after moving pictures (movies) were invented, news companies began creating newsreels, collections of news stories on film that were released to the public twice a week at the local movie theater. 

The first newsreels lacked sound, just as the earliest movies did, but by 1932, most newsreel companies had added a narrator who read a script explaining the story. As you will see in the examples on this page, those scripts often did more than simply describe a sequence of events. While it might not state a main idea directly, the script used language that urged listeners and viewers to "read" the story in a certain way. 

In the following slideshow, you can read two examples of actual newsreel scripts from the Lindbergh kidnapping case. The first script tells the story of the kidnapping, and the second script talks about the kidnapper and his trial. What is each script trying to say about the kidnapping of famous aviator Charles Lindbergh's baby? What words in each of the scripts give that away?

Script 1: Lindbergh Baby Kidnapped!

A Ladder to Lindbergh's Nursery

"Cruelest and most shocking crime of the century! Reporters working day and night reveal how it was done. A ladder planted against the Lindbergh home. The kidnappers climb up and into the nursery. They seize the tiny infant."

Script 1: Lindbergh Baby Kidnapped!

Lindbergh Jr's on His First Birthday

"Poor, innocent little fellow, he was sick and asleep at the time. But that didn’t stop the fiends—they carried him off! State troopers and police stage the greatest manhunt in history, prayers of the world following them."

Script 1: Lindbergh Baby Kidnapped!

Scene Where the Baby's Body was Found

"T’was here the child was found—dead. And the hunt for the killers goes on. Once more a shocking message is sent out over the wires. The final solution of a hideous crime, ending one of the greatest manhunts in the history of criminology."

Script 1: Lindbergh Baby Kidnapped!

Portrait of Baby Lindbergh

"Four miles from Hopewell, they found him. The pitiful little form unrecognizable except for its clothes. 73 days after he disappeared, stolen from his distinguished parents by the vilest creatures that walk."

Script 2: The Trail of Bruno Hauptmann

Hauptmann Behind Bars

"Stern drama is being enacted today at the Hunterdon County courthouse at Flemington, New Jersey. Supreme Court judge Trencher has charged a grand jury to take up, with the help of Attorney General Wilentz, the case of Bruno Hauptmann."

Script 2: The Trail of Bruno Hauptmann

Lindbergh Testifies at Hauptmann's Trial

"Colonel Schwarzkopf, head of the New Jersey state police, and Colonel Charles A Lindbergh are the principal witnesses. Lindy, it is understood, positively identified Hauptmann by his voice as the man who got the ransom money."

Script 2: The Trail of Bruno Hauptmann

Bruno Hauptmann in Custody

"Also, Millard Whited, a carpenter, says he saw Hauptmann nearby just before the kidnapping. As a result of the testimony, a grand jury, which included three women, has just handed an indictment charging Hauptmann with the murder of the Lindbergh baby."

Question

What words in Script 1 tell viewers how they should feel about the story?

cruelest and most shocking crime of the century
the fiends
hideous crime
pitiful little form
vilest creatures that walk

Question

How does the language used in Script 2 differ from the language in Script 1?

The language is much more straightforward. The script focuses on the facts known in the case, rather than how awful the crime was.

Question

Why do you think Script 2 uses less "loaded" language?

Bruno Hauptmann is charged with the baby's murder, but no one knows for sure if he did it. The script is careful not to suggest that Hauptmann is guilty before the trial occurs.