December 6, 1943: Poets, Phrases, and Panel Sparks with Lewis Browne and Sinclair Lewis

In this December 6, 1943, episode of Information Please, Clifton Fadiman presides over a lively panel featuring Franklin P. Adams, John Kieran, and special guests Lewis Browne and Nobel Prize–winning novelist Sinclair Lewis. Wit flies as the “friendly enemies” trade barbs and brainpower across literature, language, and legend. Highlights include melodrama in verse from “The Highwayman” to “The Shooting of Dan McGrew,” the origins of everyday words like “goodbye,” “amen,” and “vamoose,” and first names hiding in plain sight (Wilfred Ivanhoe and Dr. John Watson). The panel matches poets to melodies (“Excelsior,” “The Two Grenadiers,” and “Sweet and Low”), unpacks why groups like Rotary, Phi Beta Kappa, and the Masons are so named, and recalls famous figures’ dramatic arrivals in great cities—Lenin’s sealed train to Petrograd, Joseph’s sale into Egypt, and Shakespeare’s footsore London beginnings. Blending quick quips, cultural trivia, and spirited debate, this sparkling half hour delivers classic Information Please charm.