Ora Nichols

[8] Arthur focused on designing machinery to create sound effects, while Ora served as supervisor of the department,[9] the first woman to fill such a role.

[3][10] According to sound effects expert Robert L. Mott,[11] Ora Nichols quickly came to be one of the most influential women in radio content and style, ranking with Kate Smith, Amelia Earhart, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

[13] Leonard Maltin quotes the article as saying: "I investigated and discovered that Ora Nichols is the most important of any one on that list... She is head of Columbia's sound department.

[15] In 1935, Ora Nichols decided that she no longer wanted the administrative responsibilities of running the department, so CBS hired Walter Pierson to take over from her, and she returned to full-time work creating sound effects.

[10][16] Al Van Brackel, Max Uhlig, Vic Rubei, Ray Kremer, and Jim Rogan were hired as additional assistants.

[3][19] With airtime rapidly approaching for the live broadcast, Welles quickly apologized, and subsequently wrote Nichols a note saying: "Dearest Ora: Thanks for the best job anybody could ever do for anybody.

"[20][21] Among the techniques that Ora Nichols invented are the use of an egg beater next to the microphone to mimic a lawnmower, chopping a cabbage into a wicker basket to sound like decapitation, and twisting a cast iron pan lid to evoke the door of an alien spaceship opening.

Black-and-white photograph, view from above, of a woman facing forward, but with her face turned to our left, and a man facing left behind her. They are in a room with sound equipment carrying a CBS label, with three turntables in front of the woman, and some scripts on lecterns at the left.
Nichols with assistant George O'Donnell on the set of The March of Time in January 1935
The CBS sound effects team in 1931 (from left): Ora Nichols, Henry Gauthiere, George O'Donnell, and Arthur Nichols
Black-and-white photograph of a man's face. He has a serious expression, and is looking slightly downward and to the left. He is clean-shaven and has dark hair brushed back.
Ora Nichols collaborated – and sometimes clashed – with Orson Welles .