S IS FOR SIGHTLESS

[1949ca S IS FOR SIGHTLESS ORIGINAL RADIO SCRIPT ANNOTATED / BLINDNESS UNESCO UN / LOUIS BRAILLE] S IS FOR SIGHTLESS, original ribbon typescript 34 pages, 8-1/2" x 11", note at bottom of last page "(1) UNESCO/MCT/9 World Braille" dating the script at Sept.1949 (see Notes below), mostly English, but parts in French, heavily edited in pencil by two individuals (see below), passages crossed out, and slips of paper for changes and additions stapled to pages in respective places, two different handwritings are evident by the darkness and heaviness of one presumed to be Gerald Kean (see Notes below) for nearly all the annotations and a second which is light and thin presumed to be the unnamed narrator at the beginning of the script who is an official with Unesco House on Avenue Kleber in Paris, excerpts, "[L]ast year John wrote his doctorate…entirely in Braille…Your son overcoming all his handicaps, so brilliantly…I enlisted the aid of Jacques, the chief engineer of the UNESCO Braille studio…Briefly, [Louis] Braille was born, January the 4th, 1809, became blind at the age of 3…[Braille's remains are moved by the French government from his birthplace in Coupvray to the Pantheon in Paris]…Gaston Litaize [famed blind French organist]"…likely one-of-a-kind-script (no record at WorldCat/OCLC or online as of 7/14/22) written and edited in 1949 as a program for the recently-founded United Nations, but which was apparently never aired…then later included as an episode in the award-winning (1958 Peabody Award) ABC Series (shown on American Broadcasting Company), with 2 34-page typescript copies of the script, one original and one carbon copy…item authenticated as described by seller with lifetime guarantee (see Notes and Provenance); NOTES: Note/coding at the end of the script is the same as for the "Report on the World Braille Situation, UNESCO/MCT/9, Paris, 20 September 1949", and this script on blindness and braille presumably was related to this report; GERALD KEAN: 1915-2002, following WWII working with military and government communications and writing, editing, producing, and directing radio plays for the Office of War Information (OWI)…in the post-War period, held leading positions with the UN radio, publicity, and communications departments, handwritten editing of "S Is For Sightless" is attributed to Kean by comparison to much other handwriting of Kean's on other documents acquired by the seller; PROVENANCE: item acquired at a Gerald Kean estate sale in Fairfield County, CT; CONDITION: edited script shows handling as heavily annotated working script, the other two scripts are very good-plus with light wear.