The Winchell: A Short Story

Winchell nervously looks at the clock on the wall, which is directly in front of him, peers through the glass panel at his left into the engineer´s booth, and then glances around the room.
It is thirty seconds to nine. A studio visitor, seated in one of the four chairs alongside the wall, coughs, and Winchell looks up anxiously, He reaches for the water pitcher, fills a paper cup, and takes a quick swallow. The buzzer sounds on the keyboard in front of the announcer as the engineer signals fifteen seconds. Winchell opens up his collar wider.
The announcer raises his finger and says ´Quiet, please.´ Winchell bounces up and down in his double-cushioned chair to find out if it squeaks. The light above the clock turns red, indicating that the microphones are alive.
It´s time America, for Walter Winchell, the announcer says. Fifteen seconds later, the commentator begins his rapid-fire delivery. two minutes have passed. He changes to the foreign buzzer and will soon be finished with the last minute news flashes. The opening portion of his broadcast is coming to an end. A long pause, then, ¨Attention, Mr. and Mrs. America..¨

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He would gather information on the latest gossip, breakups, and whatnot by going to the Ronks´ nightclub. On the Thursday night of the 27th of June 1940 however, he was in his writing room, listening to the Republican convention that was taking place. Ever since Hitler had gained power in Europe in the 1930ies, Winchell had taken up the cause of politics. He was no longer only a gossip columnist that clawed his way to the top by taking other people down, he now also was in a fight against the fascists and anti-Semites in the world and reporting on the atrocities that Hitler was committing across the Atlantic sea. With a Jewish mother and a .. father Winchell was every bit the .. This cause that had taken over