Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #117
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 3/17/2003 8:57 AM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

------------------------------


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2003 : Issue 117
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  OLDE TYME RADIO NETWORK SCHEDULE for  [ HERITAGE4@[removed] ]
  Re: A&A Answers                       [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
  Re: Amos and Andy                     [ Shakehip@[removed] ]
  St. Patrick's Day Birthdays           [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Jack Benny and Shrimp Boats           [ Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed]; ]
  talk radio                            [ Kurt E Yount <blsmass@[removed]; ]
  Hal's book                            [ "Lois Culver" <lois@[removed]; ]
  Recording Media                       [ Grbmd@[removed] ]
  Shrimp Boats                          [ "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed] ]
  Ms. Houlihan on the Durante show      [ "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed] ]
  I've Got a Secret and Brace Beemer    [ "Jim Nixon" <ranger6000@[removed] ]
  Sports Programs                       [ Jean-Henri Duteau <jeand@telusplane ]

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 10:29:46 -0500
From: HERITAGE4@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  OLDE TYME RADIO NETWORK SCHEDULE for week
 of: 03/16/03

Here's  the programs for this week in streaming audio at:
[removed]  - Listen in anytime!

SAME TIME, SAME STATION with Jerry Haendiges
1. LITTLE OLD HOLLYWOOD   03/11/40    Host: Ben Alexander with
guests: Priscilla Lane and Al Levy.  Gordon Jenkins & his Orch.
2. THE QUIZ KIDS    3/11/51   NBC  Quizmaster is  Joe Kelly.
"St. Patrick's Day Diamond"
[removed] LUX RADIO THEATRE   CBS   3/17/52   "Top O' The Morning"
stars:  Barry Fitzgerald, Anne Blyth and Dennis Day.

HERITAGE RADIO THEATRE  with Tom Heathwood
1. CREEPS BY NIGHT  BLUE/ABC   1944   "The Strange Burial of Alexander
Jordan"  with Edmund Gwenn.
2. X MINUS ONE    NBC   2/8/56    "C-Chute"  by Isaac Asimov.
3. THE COLGATE SPORTS NEWSREEL with BILL STERN   NBC
Pgm. #572 - 10/20/50  - The Twelth Anniversary of the show with a montage of
past guests:  J. Benny, Babe Ruth,  Herbert Hoover,  and
many others who had appeared on the show over the years.

Happpy St. Patrick's Day to you!!        Tom & Jerry

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 12:20:17 -0500
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: A&A Answers

On 3/16/03 10:45 AM OldRadio Mailing Lists wrote:

This is a valuable site. I listened to an A&A show from 1928. I had never
heard any of the radio shows; I only remember the TV series, and little of
that.

You still haven't heard a 1928 A&A episode, unfortunately -- the
recording listed as such in this site is an unattributed dub of a
commercially-released Victor phonograph record. These records were made
to be self-contained dialogue routines, and had nothing to do with the
actual broadcasts, which depended for their appeal on a continuing serial
storyline. The characterizations of Amos and Andy as heard on the Victor
records are often inconsistent with the characterizations presented in
the actual broadcasts. Many academics and OTR writers have drawn
erroneous conclusions about the program as a result of these records,
since they're often circulated in the OTR world with no documentation of
their origin.

You *will* find a number of authentic 1929 episodes on this site, however
-- the downloads listed as numbers 1 thru 28 in the 1929 section are
genuine episode recordings made for "chainless chain" syndication. The
episodes from May thru July are especially notable in that the storyline
they're taken from was the most complex attempted by the performers up to
that time. (A complete day-to-day summary of the entire sequence can be
found at [removed]~[removed])

The recordings from 29 thru 33 in the 1929 section and the one listed
from 1930 are also from Victor records, and are not genuine broadcasts.

A question:
I've heard and read that, in their heyday, A&A's program was so popular on
radio that movie theaters would "pipe in" the broadcasts on their sound
systems so that their audiences would have no excuse to stay home and
listen to the radio. Is this true?

Yes. The practice began in Washington DC in January 1930, in the midst of
the "Great Home Bank" storyline, and began a trend that swept thru the
East during February and March of that year. (The phenomenon was
concentrated in the East because A&A was heard in the 7pm time slot only
in the Eastern time zone.) The practice was widely advertised on theatre
marquees and in print ads -- you'll find a typical example of such an ad
at [removed]~[removed])

Was the program as popular with black audiences as
it was with whites (or was there even a polling method at the time that
took into account the "race" of the audience?

There is ample anecdotal evidence from the early 1930s that the program
had a large and loyal African-American audience, even though as of 1930
less than 8 per cent of black families had access to radios. There are
accounts in the African-American press of listeners in Harlem gathering
in radio stores, poolrooms, restaurants, and hotel lobbies during the
early months of 1930 to listen to the program, and the program received
favorable mention in several of the leading black newspapers of the day,
including the Chicago Defender, the Philadelphia Tribune, the Amsterdam
News, the Baltimore Afro-American, and the Northwest Enterprise.

The Pittsburg Courier, on the other hand, mounted a petition drive
against the program in early 1931 -- only to abandon the effort after six
months failed to generate sufficient support to sustain the campaign.
Contrary to Dunning and other authors, the NAACP did not endorse this or
any other anti-A&A campaign during the OTR era. Indeed, then-assistant
secretary Roy Wilkins wrote a glowing endorsement of the program during
1930, and was on good terms with Correll and Gosden during their radio
run.  Many black papers publicly repudiated the Courier's drive.

In 1939, Correll and Gosden commissioned a special Crossley survey of
radio listeners in African-American sections of several major cities, and
found that on a percentage basis, black radio homes were more likely to
tune in "Amos 'n' Andy" than white. (Gosden shared this document with Roy
Wilkins during a meeting in Hollywood that same year.)

All this, of course, applies solely to the original nightly serial
version of the program. When the program became a weekly sitcom, and its
characterizations became more broad, the series drew occasional criticism
from black leaders, especially in the postwar era. But there was never
any sort organized campaign against the radio program -- which explains,
in part, why Correll and Gosden and CBS were taken by surprise when the
NAACP denounced the TV series in 1951.

Elizabeth

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 17:38:19 -0500
From: Shakehip@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Amos and Andy

Herb,

I just finished reading an incredible book called "The Adventures of Amos 'n'
Andy : A Social History of an American Phenonmenon" by Melvin Patrick Ely.
The book walks a fine line on the impact of A&A on American culture and the
big debate.  - - On one hand, it was the first show of its type to present
people of color in a humane and likable way, on the other hand, it ascended
from the black cork minstral tradition.  Eventually it fell due in part to
pressure from the NAACP, however, the debate that brought it down was faught
even among blacks for almost 30 years.
I have to say as a Jazz musician who's played predominantly black clubs, I've
met older people who definitely remind me of some of the folks on that show
(*though I've never heard any say "I'ze regusted !".)    In fact, many blacks
argued that the problem wasn't so much that they inaccurately portrayed
blacks, but rather they only represented the black underclass.   The counter
arguement was that Amos and Andy also presented characters who were doctors,
lawyers and other professionals.  In my opinion, when you consider the
alternative stereotypes of black, and the fact that these two characters were
likeable as human beings (Amos & Andy was more of a soap opera in its early
years), I think at the height of Jim Crow it probably did more good than
harm.   Whatever, for around $[removed] you can get almost every known existing
episode on CD-ROM.  It is amazing to hear the evolution of the characters
over the years.

Ed

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 17:38:54 -0500
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  St. Patrick's Day Birthdays

If you born on St. Patrick's Day, you share your birthday with:

1888 - Frank Buck - Gainesville, Texas
1892 - Ferde Grofe - New York City
1901 - Alfred Newman - Newe Haven, Connecticut
1916 - Karl Weber - Columbus Junction, Iowa
1918 - Mercedes McCambridge - Joliet, Illinois
1919 - Nat "King" Cole - Montgomery, Alabama

Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Make your day, listen to an Olde Tyme Radio Program

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 17:39:12 -0500
From: Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Jack Benny and Shrimp Boats

I'm not familiar with the song "Shrimp Boats
A'comin"--I was born twenty years too late. (Anybody
know where I can find a copy?) Last night I listened
to two episodes of Jack Benny from 1952. I presume
this is when the song was at the peak of its
popularity, because each show contains references to
the tune.

02/17/52 New York Symphony Plays Jack's Song - In His
Dreams
--when informed that Mary has a letter from her
mother, Jack asks "What does the captain of the shrimp
boat have to say?"

03/02/52 George Burns, Groucho Marx, Danny Kaye &
Frank Sinatra Sing Jack's Song
--Dennis announces that he's going to sing "Date Boat
A'comin'". Jack says "Shouldn't that be Shrimp Boats,"
and Dennis replies "This is Palm Springs."

Incidentally, these two episodes are ones that I've
had on tape for about 18 years, since I went through
my first OTR phase as a young teenager. I must've
heard them dozens of times--but listening to them last
night, as a result of this Shrimp Boat thread, I got
jokes that had eluded me for almost two decades!

Kermyt

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 17:47:12 -0500
From: Kurt E Yount <blsmass@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  talk radio

I was glad to read about KSL.  As for the song, it has been about 25
years since I heard it so how much can you fault my memory?  I was glad
to hear about the web site.  I will check it out.  Kurt

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 18:59:47 -0500
From: "Lois Culver" <lois@[removed];
To: "OTR Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Hal's book

Subject:  Hal's book

I agree that Hal's book is a very fast read -- maybe not THAT fast! - in
fact my only complaint about it is that it was all over too fast .  I told
Hal he had to learn write faster, as he left me ready for the next one altho
I did not work in TV - only radio.
Thanks, Hal, for the enjoyment!
Lois Culver
KWLK Radio (Mutual) Longview, WA 1941-44
KFI Radio (NBC) Los Angeles CA 1945-47, 50-53
Widow of Howard Culver, actor

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 20:32:09 -0500
From: Grbmd@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Recording Media

Recent contributions to the forum have got me thinking about other media for
recording either OTR or other messages.

Some messages have mentioned cylinders.  Back in the late Thirties, when I
was just a kid, my dad would bring me into his Brooklyn, [removed], office at his
insurance company, where he used a Dictaphone machine that recorded on
cylinders.  While he was busy with other things, I played with the machine,
recording my voice as I reported traffic patterns while looking out the
window.  (How come I didn't go into radio announcing?)

After I managed to record a lot of trivia over his cylinders, he would show
me how they shaved the cylinders, readying them for the next recordings.

Later, in the Forties, when I was a teenager during WW2, I recall how the
78-rpm records were all of a plastic composition except for Columbia disks,
which had a cardboard base on which the plastic had been fused.  I recall
that because certain recycling shops would accept all old 78's for a fee
except the Columbia records.  They didn't want them because of the cardboard
contamination.

Still later, in the Fifties and Sixties, when I was an engineer at
Westinghouse, I subscribed to a number of freebie electronics magazines that
would occasionally have bound into them a flexible plastic recording
promoting one cause or another.  They were, I think, likely 45 rpm, although
some may have been 33's.

If anyone knows of a freebie mag that encloses interesting CD's, I'd be
interested.

Spence

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 20:32:21 -0500
From: "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Shrimp Boats

   "Shrimp Boats" was heard on radio's 'Your Hit Parade' for some ten weeks
starting in early January 1952. Jo Stafford and Dolores Grey (as Don Frey
mentioned) had hit records of the song.  (A parody of the song, "Herring
Boats", was recorded at the time by Mickey Katz (& orch.) and was a minor
hit.)

   You can read the lyrics (they look accurate -- or pretty accurate --to
me) and listen to the melody at:
[removed]

  -- Phil C.

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 20:32:38 -0500
From: "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Ms. Houlihan on the Durante show

   If one listens to a recording of a broadcast of the Jimmy Durante Show
from about 1948-1950 on which the character Ms. ('Miss' in those days, of
course) Houlihan appears, one hears that the character's first name is
"Hotbreath" (or "Hot Breath") Houlihan.

   In John Dunning's OTR reference book "Tune in Yesterday" he correctly
named the character "Hotbreath".  But in his more recent book "On the Air"
he incorrectly named her "Hotlips".

  -- Phil C.

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 20:33:21 -0500
From: "Jim Nixon" <ranger6000@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  I've Got a Secret and Brace Beemer

OTR Digest Readers-
    Is it possible that anyone has a videotape of Brace Beemer's appearance
on Garry Moore's "I've Got a Secret?"  The program was telecast sometime in
the early 1960's, before Beemer's death in 1965, when Garry was the emcee
and Henry Morgan was a panelist.  Brace's secret obviously was that he had
played "The Lone Ranger" on the radio.  But Henry Morgan, observantly taking
notice of the monogrammed "B" on Brace's shirt, disqualified himself because
he believed the mystery guest to be Francis X. Bushman, who actually did
play the character once in the early '30's when a challenge was issued by
station WGN in Chicago to Detroit station WXYZ over who could better produce
a Ranger script.  WGN selected a young Francis Bushman to portray the masked
rider, while Earle Graser and the WXYZ sound staff carried the load from
Detroit.  Needless to say, the WXYZ production won hands down.
    Whether Henry actually knew this, or mistook Beemer's deep, resonant
voice for that of the aging matinee idol, was never clear.  His
embarrassment was however when Beemer stumped the panel.
    I've been looking for this program for a long time.  Perhaps someone out
there has a lead.

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 09:51:37 -0500
From: Jean-Henri Duteau <jeand@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Sports Programs

Hi all,

Being an oldtime baseball and football fanatic, I'm very interested in
listening to radio broadcasts of games of old.  I've seen a few baseball
games and one football game and am wondering if anyone has a list of the
available games.  I'm not that interested in college football games, but if
it's old enough, I'll listen to it!

Right now, I've acquired Games 3, 4, and 5 of the 1949 World Series between
the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers.  I'd be very interested in
finding Games 1 and 2 of the series.

Any information sources that anyone could point me to would be greatly
appreciated.

Thank you,

Jean Duteau

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #117
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