Nils Thor Granlund: Show Business Entrepreneur and America’s First Radio Star

Nils T. Granlund (1882-1957) created the first movie preview, filmed the first commercial, was the first to broadcast a live sports event, and, as a popular radio personality, introduced the Jazz Age to America via his broadcasts from Harlem’s Cotton Club. He is also acknowledged as the creator of the modern nightclub, introducing the high-kicking chorus line to the stages of Las Vegas. But though he was among the highest-grossing entertainers of the World War II era--famous enough to star as ＂himself＂ in several Hollywood films--he died virtually penniless, and today is all but forgotten.

This work is a comprehensive biography of the man known as NTG, from his herding reindeer in Sweden to shepherding the most beautiful chorus girls on Broadway.

Larry J. Hoefling is a former newspaper reporter who has received journalism awards from Columbia University and the Scripps-Howard Journalism Foundation. He lives in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.