------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2005 : Issue 143
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Re: least favorite/worst [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
This week in radio history 8-14 May [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
Re: Worst Shows [ ARago17320@[removed] ]
radio's stinkers [ "bcockrum" <rmc44@[removed]; ]
Least Favorite Radio Program (Again) [ "Penne Yingling" <bp_ying@[removed] ]
Lum and Abner [ Andrew Steinberg <otrdig1@[removed] ]
the best [ Michael Berger <intercom1@attglobal ]
least favorite shows [ Rutledge Mann <cliff_marsland@yahoo ]
failing memories [ "bcockrum" <rmc44@[removed]; ]
5-8 births/deaths [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
worst shows ever? [ Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed]; ]
Michael Biel's LOC post [ "Doug Leary" <doug@[removed]; ]
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 7 May 2005 19:22:42 -0400
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: least favorite/worst
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain
I honestly can't think of a least favorite OTR show. I know a few that just
aren't my taste, and some with sub-standard production values that were still
interesting to listen to ("The Witch's Tale," and a radio adaption I once
heard of the "Joe Palooka" comic strip). The ones first mentioned ("Lum and
Abner," "Amos 'n' Andy," and especially "Vic 'n' Sade") are among my all time
favorites.
The only one I *ever* heard that I found painfully bad was "The Jack Webb
Show," a bizarre attempt at comedy. Even that was fascinating in its own way,
like a train wreck.
Dixon
*** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
*** as the sender intended. ***
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 7 May 2005 22:21:15 -0400
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: This week in radio history 8-14 May
From Those Were The Days --
5/8
1959 - The final broadcast of One Man's Family was heard on NBC after
being on the air 27 years. The show had completed 3,256 episodes since
its beginning in 1932.
5/9
1936 - Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy started their own radio show on
NBC -- only months after they had debuted on Rudy Vallee's program. [removed]
Fields, Don Ameche and Dorothy Lamour were a few of the stars that
helped Bergen and the little blockhead, McCarthy, jump to the top of
radio's hit parade.
5/10
1927 - The Hotel Statler in Boston, MA. became the first hotel to
install radio headsets in each of its 1,300 rooms.
5/11
1946 - Jack Barry hosted Juvenile Jury on WOR in New York City. The show
was such a hit after five weeks on the air that it debuted on the Mutual
Broadcasting System coast to coast.
5/12
1922-- the magazine "Radio Broadcast" commented, "The rate of increase
in the number who spend at least part of an evening listening to radio
is almost incomprehensible."
5/14
1945 - Tennessee Jed made his debut on ABC. Johnny Thomas played the
part of Tennessee Jed Sloan.
Joe
--
Visit my homepage:
[removed]~[removed] No trees
were killed in the sending of this message. However a large number
of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 7 May 2005 22:21:50 -0400
From: ARago17320@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Worst Shows
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain
This whole area of discussion is a major waste of time for the following
reasons.
Some of us are old enough to have heard these shows as children. Some have
been born after OTR died and are coming to OTR as adults or teenagers. This
means that when listening to the shows it is impossible (yes, I really think
it is impossible) to judge them by the standards of the times they were
broadcast. We hear them with all the modern thought patterns we now deal
with.
We have been taught to be "Politically Correct" so our reactions to racial or
ethnic humor are very different than they were 50-70 years ago. The same is
true of women's issues and how their role is so vastly different today. All
the changes in our world and society play into how we hear things now. These
are the reasons I feel you cannot listen and judge these shows fairly. You
cannot compare era's in sports and you cannot judge entertainment with the
eyes and ears of the original hearing. The opinions are base on data that
renders them useless IMHO.
If people wish to give their opinions, well this is a free country.
However, these opinions are really, honestly folks, worthless.
No intent to offend anyone is intended in the above.
Al Ragonnet
*** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
*** as the sender intended. ***
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 7 May 2005 22:23:03 -0400
From: "bcockrum" <rmc44@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: radio's stinkers
In my usual penny-pinching way, I bought Radio Spirit's "Old-Time Radio's
Greatest Westerns" on cassette when the album was recently offered by
Bargain Books for about $15. I know all sorts of things are considered when
putting together a collection, but why, oh, why, it was decided that
Hopalong Cassidy, The Cisco Kid and Red Ryder deserved two cassettes (two
hours) each, I'll never understand.
It could be argued that I don't like them because, after all, they were
kiddie shows. Well, I wasn't too crazy about The Cisco Kid when I was a
kiddie. I think I heard Hopalong and Red Ryder a few times, but fewer than
Cisco. And the Ryder shows from 1942 ... why did they choose Reed Hadley
(based on Dunning) for the part? I've never heard a Westerner refer to
robbers as "robbuhs" or a beaver as a "beavuh" (as in Little Beavuh).
As long as they were doing the kiddie stuff, they certainly could have
thrown in Sgt. Preston, Wild Bill Hickock, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. A
better choice might have been to use the adaptations of Western movies from
Lux or Screen Guild.
They gave the Lone Ranger two hours as well; a deserved recognition, because
of its pioneering and enduring stature ... but why were they all from
November of 1942 ... why not one with Earle Graser and at least one from the
late '40s with Fred Foy as the announcer?
I can't argue with the other sections; two hours each of: Gunsmoke, Have Gun
Will Travel, Tales of the Texas Rangers, The Six Shooter, Ft. Laaramie and
Frontier Gentleman. My only caution, as I've mentioned before, don't listen
to them all at once. Despite the excellent acting and sound effects, there
is a sameness about them (the voices, the plots, etc.) that can wear you
down and make you think, gee, they weren't as good as I remember. Of course,
they are ... spaced a week apart.
Bob Cockrum
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 7 May 2005 22:23:55 -0400
From: "Penne Yingling" <bp_ying@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Least Favorite Radio Program (Again)
Seems like we just went through this subject in the recent past. I do
believe Ron Sayles is joking, as one lister states. As I recall, it was
stated that the majority of the population of the US stopped doing what they
were doing (as I recall) to listen to Amos n' Andy. I believe the stores
also closed during the period they were on radio. Then, again, if 3/4
listened, there were, I assume, 1/4 that may have agreed with Ron. As
stated before, we all have different tastes. As for my vote, I like all the
old radio shows. They sure beat anything that's on today ('cept some of the
"old" music, of course). This from old nostalgic Penne. Good Listenin'!
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 7 May 2005 22:24:27 -0400
From: Andrew Steinberg <otrdig1@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Lum and Abner
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain
Lum and Abner no story? No way. It is all story, but the stories cover weeks
or [removed] Diogenes Smith storyline went from February 1942 to May 1942,
advancing humorously for about 10 minutes a show, four shows per week. The
key is to listen to many of the shows in a storyline. One show by itself may
not make sense without the larger context.
No sound effects? Agreed, but who needs sound effects when the writing and
acting is so perfect. I love this show, especially the period of 1940 to
1948.
If I had only one program I could listen to while I drove across the
country, this would be it.
*** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
*** as the sender intended. ***
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 8 May 2005 07:54:04 -0400
From: Michael Berger <intercom1@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: the best
I know we've done this before, but the variety of OTR
is so rich that we should create a menu of categories
in which to rate our 'best 5' [or worst, if we must].
Here are some suggestions [ in no particular order,
and with suggested examples of shows, again in no
particular order of rank or personal preference ]:
Theatre & Screen [ Campbell Playhouse, Theater Guild,
Lux Theater, Academy Award Theater, Stars Over
Hollywood ]
Ensemble comedy [Jack Benny, Fred Allen, Henry Morgan,
Al Pearce, Bob Hope, Burns&Allen, Duffy's Tavern, Red
Skelton, Bergen/McCarthy, etc]
Family comedy/drama [ Our Miss Brooks, Life of Riley,
One Man's Family, Gildy, etc ]
Characters & Couples [ Mayor of the Town, Mel Blanc,
Harris/Faye, My Friend Irma, Easy Aces, Halls of Ivy,
Fibber&Molly, Amos 'n Andy, Lum 'n Abner, Vic & Sade,
etc ]
Detective [ Sam Spade, Pat Novak, Mr. Keen, Philo
Vance, Richard Diamond, Philip Marlowe, Boston
Blackie, Bulldog Drummond, YTJD, Sherlock Holmes, Mr &
Mrs North, Box 13, Fat Man, Nick Carter, etc]
Mystery-drama [ Suspense, Gangbusters, Shadow, Escape,
Lights Out, Whistler, Black Museum, Molle Mystery
Theatre, True Detective Mysteries, Counterspy,
Mysterious Traveler, Lineup, Dragnet, Broadway is my
Beat, Inner Sanctum, House of Mystery, etc]
Variety [ Command Performance, Royal Gelatin Hour,
Kraft Music Hall, The Big Show, Birdseye Open House,
etc]
American History [ Mr. President, Cavalcade of
America, Leatherstocking Tales, etc]
Adventure [ Jungle Jim, Superman, Capt. Midnight, Sky
King, Terry & Pirates, Adventures by Morse, Jack
Armstrong, etc ]
...and a couple that don't seem to need further
explanation:
Quiz
Western
Sure that others can improve on this menu but the main
idea is to provide some categories so that a broader
spectrum of good shows have a chance to be rated.
Cheers
Michael Berger
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 8 May 2005 07:54:12 -0400
From: Rutledge Mann <cliff_marsland@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: least favorite shows
I'd like to nominate:
-Detectives Black & Blue
-The Easy Aces
-Pepper Young's Family
-anything written by the Hummerts
-One Man's Family - I love ILAM but this really was
BAD.
-I Love Adventure
-the 1947-8 Ellery Queens where it became a social
crusade instead of solving mysteries.
-the serial Amos and Andy
- an NTR thrown in, the Louis L'Amour Theater- really
bad production values!
-Milton Berle show
-Popeye
-and throw in 90% of early 1930s syndicated shows.
*Note, I make the distinction of least favorite and
bad, some of the shows listed here are plain bad, but
some I just don't care for because of personal taste.
While Blackstone the Magic Detective is pretty bad
(why is it dated 1948 in logs? the show seems to show
pretty clearly that iw was made during WWII), I rather
like it.
By the way, I've really been digging Rocky Fortune,
but it doesnt seem to be a very popular show in OTR
circles.
[removed] on some of the late Shadows that are hacked up by
Charles Michaelson syndication, are there any network
copies floating around? The Shadow is really hard to
find in lo-gen past about 1942.
TC
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 8 May 2005 08:07:00 -0400
From: "bcockrum" <rmc44@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: failing memories
To underscore w. gary w.'s observation that those involved in shows (even
their own shows) don't remember the details quite as well as one would
think, you need only listen to the "Golden Age of Radio" interview playing
now ([removed]) with Raymond Edward Johnson,
first host of "Inner Sanctum Mysteries" Not once but twice, aided by the
host, he recalls the program having started in 1938 rather than when it did,
1941.
Bob
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 8 May 2005 12:52:40 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 5-8 births/deaths
May 8th births
05-08-1884 - Harry S Truman - Lamar, MO - d. 12-26-1972
[removed] president: "Milestones on the Road to Peace"; "World Food Crisis"
05-08-1895 - Bishop Fulton J. Sheen - El Paso, IL - d. 12-10-1979
preacher: "Catholic Hour"
05-08-1899 - Arthur Q. Bryan - Brooklyn, NY - d. 11-30-1959
actor: George 'Doc' Gamble "Fibber McGee and Molly"; Floyd Munson "Great
Gildersleeve"
05-08-1901 - Katherine Raht - Chattanooga, TN - d. 12-2-1983
actress: Alice Aldrich "Aldrich Family"; Margaret Allen "Against the Storm"
05-08-1908 - Ted Corday - 7-xx-1966
director: "A Brighter Tomorrow"; "The Brighter Day"
05-08-1910 - Mary Lou Williams - Atlanta, GA - d. 5-28-1981
jazz pianist, composer: "Mildred Bailey Show"; "Andy Kirk and His Clouds of
Joy"
05-08-1913 - Sid James - Newcastle, Natal, South Africa - d. 4-26-1976
comedian: "Hancock's Half Hour"
05-08-1915 - John Archer (Ralph Bowman) - Lincoln, NE - d. 12-5-1999
actor: Lamont Cranston/Shadow "The Shadow"; "Gateway to Hollywood"
05-08-1919 - Lex Barker - Rye, NY - d. 5-11-1973
actor: "MGM Theatre of the Air"
05-08-1926 - Don Rickles - NYC
announcer: "NBC University Theatre of the Air"
05-08-1928 - John Bennett - London, England - d. 4-11-2005
actor: "John Bennett Programme"
05-08-1940 - Ricky Nelson - Teaneck, NJ - d. 12-31-1985
actor: "Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet"
05-08-1946 - Candice Bergen - Beverly Hills, CA
actress: (Daughter of Edgar Bergen) "Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy Show"
May 8th deaths
03-24-1928 - Sue Bennett - Indianapolis, IN - d. 5-8-2001
vocalist: "Your Hit Parade"
03-28-1903 - Rudolf Serkin - Eger, Bohemia - d. 5-8-1991
pianist: "Concert Hall"; "New York Philharmonic"
06-15-1918 - Richard Derr - Norristown, PA - d. 5-8-1992
actor: "Crime Does Not Pay"
07-06-1915 - Laverne Andrews - Minneapolis, MN - d. 5-8-1967
singer: (The Andrews Sisters) "Glenn Miller Orchestra"; "Andrews Sisters Revue:
07-07-1907 - Robert Heinlein - Butler, MO - d. 5-8-1988
science fiction writer: "Beyond Tomorrow"; "Dimension X"; "X Minus One"
09-19-1910 - Margaret Lindsay - Dubuque, IA - d. 5-8-1981
actress: "Screen Guild Theatre"; "Silver Theatre"
10-01-1926 - George Peppard - Detroit, MI - d. 5-8-1994
actor: "MGM Air View"
10-09-1918 - Skip Farrell - IL - d. 5-8-1962
actor, singer: "National Barn Dance"
11-16-1927 - Barbara Payton - Cloquet, MN - d. 5-8-1967
actress: "Pepsodent Show starring Bob Hope"
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 8 May 2005 13:54:43 -0400
From: Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: worst shows ever?
I have to admire Ron Sayles' bravery for setting himself up as a
whipping boy, even though I disagree with most of his selections. (He
forgot to mention Bob and Ray -- just two guys talking -- Ron must find
this even more boring than Vic and Sade, which at least had three.)
I have to say that a lot of shows that turned me off when I first heard
them proved eventually to be more palatable when listened to in a
different context. For example, I've discovered that shows which would
put me to sleep while driving often turn out to be just perfect for
listening to at 3 am while trying to get the baby back to sleep. (Over
the past 7 months I've gained great appreciation for a lot of "slow,
talky" shows like One Man's Family, Couple Next Door, Lum & Abner, and
even Superman, which previously sounded very boring and juvenile.) And
shows that bore me to tears through headphones--like The Green
Hornet--can be perfect for the car, when I want a little distraction
but not too much.
I think the only show I've ever heard that met Ron's criterion of
something I'd like to purge from my collection is The Blue Beetle.
Possibly to ultimate combination of wooden acting and wooden
dialog--even the presence of Frank Lovejoy couldn't same this one.
However, in six years this might turn out to be my son's favorite show,
who knows? I've been saving a lot of juvenile series in recent years,
knowing that the kid is unlikely to leap straight into full-blown
sophisticated humor and plots, but might enjoy shows that would drive
me nuts. As several people have commented, there's no accounting for
taste.
Kermyt
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 8 May 2005 15:15:04 -0400
From: "Doug Leary" <doug@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Michael Biel's LOC post
Thanks to Michael Biel for his informative post. I knew the latest copyright
extensions went far into the future, but I had no idea they treated sound
recordings differently from printed material. One thought struck me
immediately upon reading this passage:
"ALL PRE-1972 SOUND RECORDINGS WILL REMAIN IN COPYRIGHT IN THE [removed] FOR
NINETY FIVE YEARS FROM 1972. For example, cylinders recorded by Columbia in
1890, and discs recorded by Berliner in 1890, both now claimed by Sony, will
not go into the public domain in the [removed] until the year 2067 -- a total of
ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY SEVEN YEARS."
What struck me is that if the same copyright terms had applied to literature
when Walt Disney was a young man, the Disney empire as we know it would not
exist today. Mickey Mouse notwithstanding, the foundation of Walt's fortune
was public domain material from the likes of Mark Twain, Hans Christian
Anderson and the Brothers Grimm, all of which would have been under
copyright in the 1930s. Even the earliest edition of Grimms' fairy tales,
published in 1814, would have been protected until 1991. Nowadays Disney has
the money to negotiate rights to just about anything they want, but that
wealth exists because Walt had the freedom to build upon the legacy of the
past -- a freedom Americans no longer have.
Doug Leary
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2005 Issue #143
*********************************************
Copyright [removed] Communications, York, PA; All Rights Reserved,
including republication in any form.
If you enjoy this list, please consider financially supporting it:
[removed]
For Help: [removed]@[removed]
To Unsubscribe: [removed]@[removed]
To Subscribe: [removed]@[removed]
or see [removed]
For Help with the Archive Server, send the command ARCHIVE HELP
in the SUBJECT of a message to [removed]@[removed]
To contact the listmaster, mail to listmaster@[removed]
To Send Mail to the list, simply send to [removed]@[removed]