Editing Mel Allen (section)

==Early life and career==
Allen was born Melvin Allen Israel was born in [[Birmingham, Alabama]]. He attended the [[University of Alabama]], where he was a member of the [[Kappa Nu]] fraternity as an undergraduate.<ref name="Smith2007">{{cite book|author=Curt Smith|title=The Voice: Mel Allen's Untold Story|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=77MSvgAACAAJ|year=2007|publisher=Globe Pequot Press|isbn=978-1-59921-094-0|pages=114–}}</ref>

During his time at Alabama, Israel served as the [[public address]] announcer for [[Alabama Crimson Tide football]] games. In 1933, when the station manager or sports director of Birmingham's radio station [[WERC (AM)|WBRC]] asked Alabama coach [[Frank Thomas (football coach)|Frank Thomas]] to recommend a new play-by-play announcer, he suggested Allen. His first broadcast was Alabama's home opener that year, against the [[Tulane Green Wave football|Tulane Green Wave]].<ref name="Ph.D.2013">{{cite book|author=Aubrey J. Sher, Ph.D.|title=Those Great Old-Time Radio Years|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NX56AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA42|date=August 15, 2013|publisher=Xlibris Corporation|isbn=978-1-4836-7909-9|pages=42–}}</ref>{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=January 2018}}<ref name=halloffame>{{cite web|title=Mel Allen|url=http://www.radiohof.org/mel_allen.htm|publisher=National Radio Hall Of Fame}}</ref>

Allen graduated from the [[University of Alabama School of Law]] in 1937. Shortly after graduating, Allen took a train to New York City for a week's vacation. While on that vacation, he auditioned for a staff announcer's position at the [[CBS Radio Network]].  CBS executives already knew of Allen; the network's top sportscaster, [[Ted Husing]], had heard many of his Crimson Tide broadcasts. He was hired at $45 ({{Inflation|US|45|1937|fmt=eq}}) a week.<ref name="SABRbio">{{cite web |url=http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm?a=v&v=l&bid=760&pid=16892 |title=Society for American Baseball Research bio of Mel Allen |access-date=2007-05-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514082926/http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm?a=v&v=l&bid=760&pid=16892 |archive-date=2011-05-14 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  He often did non-sports announcing such as for [[big band]] remotes, or "emceeing" [[game show]]s such as ''[[Truth or Consequences]]'', serving as an understudy for both sportscaster Husing and newscaster [[Robert Trout|Bob Trout]].<ref name="Ph.D.2013"/><ref name=halloffame/><ref name="Nachman2012">{{cite book|author=Gerald Nachman|author-link=Gerald Nachman (journalist)|title=Raised on Radio|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RkCiJ4KvzPYC&pg=PT439|date=October 17, 2012|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-307-82894-1|pages=439–}}</ref>

In his first year at CBS, Allen announced [[Hindenburg disaster|the crash]] of the ''[[LZ 129 Hindenburg|Hindenburg]]'' when the station cut away from singer [[Kate Smith]]'s show. He first became a national celebrity when he [[ad lib]]bed for a half-hour during the rain-delayed [[Vanderbilt Cup]] from an airplane.<ref name="Voices">{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Curt |author-link=Curt Smith (author) |title=Voices of Summer |year=2005 |publisher=Carroll & Graf |location=New York City |isbn=0-7867-1446-8}}</ref> In 1939, he was the announcer for the Warner Brothers & Vitaphone film musical short-subject, ''On the Air'', with [[Leith Stevens]] and the Saturday Night Swing Club.<ref name="Dupuis2005">{{cite book|author=Robert Dupuis|title=Bunny Berigan: Elusive Legend of Jazz|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wnY1Y1bMlEMC&pg=PA129|year=2005|publisher=LSU Press|isbn=978-0-8071-3068-1|pages=129–}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=On The Air (1939)|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/894348/on-the-air|publisher=Turner Classic Movies}}</ref>

Stephen Borelli, in his biography ''How About That?!'' (a favorite expression of Allen's after an outstanding play by the home team), states that it was at CBS's suggestion in 1937, the year Melvin Israel joined the network, that he go by a different last name on the air. He chose Allen, his father's middle name as well as his own, and legally changed his name to Melvin Allen in 1943.<ref name=halloffame/>