In this 1990 interview, Michael Herr (pronounced “hair”) talks with Don about his biography of Walter Winchell, in a book that carries the name of Herr’s subject as the title. Herr covered 50 year’s of Winchell’s professional life from vaudville to journalism and read 30 years of his columns.

Winchell was an American newspaper and radio commentator who invented the gossip column at the New York Evening Graphic. Herr began reading his columns when he was only 6 years old. Winchell broke the journalistic taboo against exposing the private lives of public figures, permanently altering the shape of journalism and celebrity.

They discuss Walter’s writing style, his start in journalism and the story of “Table 50.” (Winchell often plugged a club called The Star Club in his column and was frequently seen at table 50.)

Herr is also the author of Dispatches, did voice-overs for the movie Apocalypse Now and co-wrote the screenplay for Full Metal Jacket with Stanley Kubrick.

Click on the link below to find out more details about this important figure in the history of American journalism.

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For over a decade, many of the best writers of the English language found their way onto Don Swaim's daily two-minute CBS Radio show, Book Beat. His New York-based program was derived from longer interviews, sometimes 40-minutes in length. Found exclusively here, Wired for Books proudly webcasts these conversations in their entirety using RealAudio.