Gabriel Heatter (September 17, 1890 – March 30, 1972) was an American radio commentator whose World War II-era sign-on, "There's good news tonight," became both his catchphrase and his caricature.
[1] The son of immigrants from Austria, Heatter was born in New York's Lower East Side and raised in Brooklyn.
Heatter covered the trial of Bruno Hauptmann, the man accused of kidnapping the infant son of aviator Charles Lindbergh.
His professionalism under pressure and his ability to keep the audience informed without resorting to sensationalism earned him critical praise.
[3] In December 1948 Heatter signed a five-year contract, effective January 1, 1949, with Mutual for radio and television services.
Reflecting that reputation, the critic and sometime rival Alexander Woollcott composed the doggerel couplet: "Disaster has no cheerier greeter/than gleeful, gloating Gabriel Heatter."
Heatter is referred to in the recited portion of Yogi Yorgesson's 1949 comedy song "I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas."
Jean Arthur's character in the 1948 film A Foreign Affair says, "I will [go to the General], and to the War Department, and to the President.
Also in 1948, the title of the second Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoon was "There's Good Boos To-Night", a play on the sign-on catchphrase.