Historical Note - Page 3

A most unfortunate accident befell Lowell Thomas as he and his son made their way out of Tibet. The long journey to and from Tibet had to be taken over rough, narrow roads that would not allow for the passage of automobiles. The main means of transportation were the burro and horse. When Thomas attempted to remount his horse along the way out of Tibet, the horse reared and he was thrown onto rocks. Isolated and faced with many days of travel before Thomas could get medical attention, Lowell, Jr. created a makeshift stretcher for his father. The baggage bearers who accompanied them on their journey were enlisted to carry Thomas the rest of the way. When finally attended to, doctors discovered that Thomas had broken his hip in several places. It was many months before Thomas could walk without the aid of crutches.

The 1950s saw Thomas put his entrepreneurial skills to use. He saw the possibilities offered by a new cinematic form of entertainment called Cinerama. A movie filmed and presented in Cinerama simulated a three dimensional effect for patrons who had the feeling of being enveloped by the large, wide, curved projection screen. The specially designed screen was louvered in such a way as to allow for three separate movie projectors to operate at once, each projecting on a third of the screen. The sound system designed by Hazard Reeves further enhanced the three dimensional effect of Cinerama. Thomas's first film, "This is Cinerama" was a huge success despite the fact that existing movie theaters had to be reconfigured with an expensive new projection screen and projectors to implement the new technology. Other successful Cinerama films produced by Lowell Thomas were "Seven Wonders of the World" and "Search for Paradise." While filming "Search for Paradise" in Southeast Asia, Thomas went to Nepal in 1956 as one of the official representatives of the United States government at the coronation of King Mahendra. Cinerama did not continue to flourish after Thomas left the company, mostly, Thomas believed, because of inept leadership. Into the 1970s Thomas believed that Cinerama could make a comeback.

A longer lasting venture for Thomas was Capital Cities Communications, which became a communications giant. Thomas and his business partner, Frank Smith, started Cap Cities, as it came to be called, with the purchase of a television station at Albany, New York. Not long after Thomas's death, Cap Cities merged with the American Broadcasting Company to become a several billion dollar conglomerate.

While the beginning of the 1950s saw Thomas focusing on the very big screen, the end of the 1950s saw him turn to a much smaller medium, television. Similar to his early travelogue days, Thomas traveled to exotic places in the world and created entertaining and informative one hour long television shows about where he had been. The television series, "High Adventure with Lowell Thomas," brought faraway places into America's living rooms. The first show was about New Guinea, a place that held particular fascination for Thomas and to which he returned several times. Morocco, the Australian Outback, Congo, the North Pole and India were a few of the places highlighted by the television series, which lasted three years.

Thomas turned 70 years old in the early 1960s, but he conceded little to aging. He continued to ski and play golf with great enthusiasm. In 1962 he was one of several dignitaries who traveled to Antarctica on a tour of scientific stations. One year later he accompanied Rear Admiral James Reedy and other military personnel on an historic flight from Cape Town, South Africa to McMurdo, Antarctica. In the intervening year, Thomas continued to travel widely, returning once again to New Guinea. But in November of 1963, following a speaking engagement, Thomas was admitted to Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. Doctors initially suspected he had a heart attack, but upon further examination concluded that he was suffering from exhaustion. Thomas attributed the cause to jet travel that upset his metabolic clock ("jet lag" was a term that had not yet come into wide use). Whatever the cause, he recovered completely.

Thomas published three books in the 1960s, "Sir Hubert Wilkins: His World of Adventure," "Lowell Thomas' Book of the High Mountains" and "Famous First Flights That Changed History: Sixteen Dramatic Adventures," which he wrote with his son. In 1965 Thomas began a new television series, "The World of Lowell Thomas," which aired on the British Broadcasting Corporation network. The end of the decade saw Thomas begin to gather information for an autobiography that he hoped one day to write. The end of the decade also saw Frances's health begin to fail.

Thomas led a full and active life into his eighties. Despite the death of Frances in 1975 and the end of his regular news broadcast in 1976, Thomas continued writing drafts of his autobiography with the help of his editor, Lawrence Elliott. Eventually, Thomas wrote a two-part autobiography: "Good Evening Everybody: From Cripple Creek to Samarkand," published in 1976 and "So Long until Tomorrow: From Quaker Hill to Kathmandu," published in 1977. Thomas did not retire when he ended his daily news broadcast. He was featured on the television series "Lowell Thomas Remembers" and went on to broadcast hundreds of short radio spots called "The Best Years" about the lives of notable people who accomplished much in their older years. In 1977 Thomas married Marianna Munn. In characteristic style, a 50,000 mile honeymoon to the Arctic, the South Seas and the Himalayas followed their wedding. On 29 August 1981 Lowell Thomas, age 89, died.

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