Subject: [removed] Digest V2008 #38
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 2/10/2008 9:03 PM
To: [removed]@[removed]
Reply-to:
[removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2008 : Issue 38
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Radio -- Tool of the Devil            [ BryanH362@[removed] ]
  OLDE TYME RADIO NETWORK               [ Jerry Haendiges <jerryhaendiges@cha ]
  Car Static                            [ skallisjr@[removed] ]
  Re: Gildersleeve                      [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
  Frend Allen's Ubangi Joke             [ John Mayer <mayer@[removed]; ]
  mp3s and jogging                      [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
  Re: Identity Crisis                   [ Anthony Tollin <sanctumotr@earthlin ]
  Magic Island                          [ crow8164@[removed] (Dennis Crow) ]
  Auto-Lite Resistor Spark Plugs        [ KENPILETIC@[removed] ]
  Jack Griffin strikes again!           [ Wich2@[removed] ]
  The Devil's Radio                     [ George Tirebiter <tirebiter2@hotmai ]

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

Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 14:56:39 -0500
From: BryanH362@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Radio -- Tool of  the Devil
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

In the earliest days of radio, religious  fundamentalists were
appalled at the appearance of radio.  They  declared it a 'tool of the
devil.'  Then someone realized that they  could make money with [removed]

It is probably the case that those people who felt that way about radio,  
always felt that way about radio.
There were Christian organizations using radio from the very earliest days  
at the very time others believed it was a tool of the devil.   Just as there 
are still people in the church who DO NOT  like  rock music. Within churches 
lately there has been somewhat of a conflict  over rock music (particularly heavy 
metal and even rap music).  Some  ministries believe that they can use those 
styles of music to reach  young people  as long as the message in the music is 
positive. Others  find  the music style itself to be completely godless. 
People  within Christian organizations have various opinions on all matters and  
always have. It is also true that as things are around for awhile  people can 
become less averse to them. The referenced statement  (above) would leave  the 
impression that a certain groups religious  principles were easily put aside 
because their love for the all mighty  dollar was stronger. I am certain that 
among the many digest subscribers,  many would think of themselves as 
fundamentalists and this sort of statement is  somewhat offensive.  And we do know for 
certain that all  fundamentalists were not appalled at the appearance of 
radio. For  me these types of posts do not even make for interesting reading. In  
the end they come off as nothing more than the authors political point of  
view.  What is far more interesting and more appropriate for the digest is  a post 
that is far less ambiguous.   Rather than putting everyone in  one little box 
( [removed] those fundamentalists ) to make a general overall  sweeping 
statement , talk about specific people and instances. There have  been many good posts 
on this digest regarding the radio work of Father Coughlin,  Billy Sunday and 
Amie Semple McPherson.  It is very interesting to read  about how these 
individuals used radio and how the radio audience reacted to  them.  It would be 
very disingenuous to write about Father Coughlin and  then tell the readers that 
 this is how the average Catholic of the time  period  thought.  We all know 
that within the Catholic Church , Father  Coughlin was a very controversial 
individual.  He had supporters but he  also had just as many detractors in his 
own church.  The referenced  statement at the top of this post  regarding 
religious fundamentalists is  overly simplistic and simplicity never makes for an 
accurate historical account. 
 
Bryan 

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  ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:46:45 -0500
From: Jerry Haendiges <jerryhaendiges@[removed];
To: Old Time Radio Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  OLDE TYME RADIO NETWORK

Hi Friends,

Here is this week's schedule for my Olde Tyme Radio Network. Here you
may listen to high-quality broadcasts with Tom Heathwood's "Heritage
Radio Theatre," Big John Matthews and Steve "Archive" Urbaniak's "The
Glowing Dial" and my own "Same Time, Same Station."  Streamed in
high-quality audio, on demand, 24/7 at [removed]
Check out our High-Quality mp3 catalog at:
[removed]
=======================================

SAME TIME, SAME STATION

Valentine's Day Show

THE GREAT GILDERSLEEVE
Episode 483   2-11-53   "Two Dates for the Mayor's Valentine Party
Stars: Willard Waterman

THE DANNY KAYE SHOW
Episode 6    2-10-45    "A Valentine for Jack Benny"
Stars Danny Kaye, Lionel Stander and Eve Arden

AMOS AND ANDY
Episode 59    2-16-45    "Kingfish takes Funny Valentine Seriously"
Stars Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll

THE PHIL HARRIS - ALICE FAYE SHOW
Episode 20    2-13-49   "Secret Admirer Sends Flowers to Alice"
Stars: Phil Harris, Alice Faye and Elliott Lewis
==================================

HERITAGE RADIO THEATER

THE ADV. OF OZZIE & HARRIET
(NBC)   2/13/49
"Valentine Card" Time is running out!

FAVORITE STORY
(NBC)    10/04/47   Ronald Colman introduces Bennett Cerf's favorite
story, "Wuthering Heights" with William Conrad and Janet Waldo.

NICK HARRIS DETECTIVE SHOW
7/22/38
Radio Rarity - we need a detective to identify what Los Angeles radio
station broadcast these "true stories" every week. "Drops of Blood"
====================================

THE GLOWING DIAL

Quiet Please - "Beezer's Cellar"
originally aired October 10, 1948 on ABC
Starring: Ernest Chappell as the man who spoke to you,
Lotte Staviski, Warren Stevens, Charles Egelston.
Written and Directed by: Wyllis Cooper
Sustained.

Quiet Please - "Shadow Of The Wings"
originally aired April 17, 1949 on ABC
Starring: Ernest Chappell as the man who spoke to you.
Written and Directed by: Wyllis Cooper
Sustained.

Quiet Please - "The Oldest Man In The World"
originally aired May 21, 1949 on ABC
Starring: Ernest Chappell as the man who spoke to you,
Don Briggs, Nancy Sheridan.
Written and Directed by: Wyllis Cooper
Sustained.

Quiet Please - "And Jeannie Dreams Of Me"
originally aired October 17, 1948 on ABC
Starring: Ernest Chappell as the man who spoke to you,
Murray Forbes, Ruth Last, Arthur Cole.
Written and Directed by: Wyllis Cooper
Sustained.

Quiet Please - "Good Ghost"
originally aired October 24, 1948 on ABC
Starring: Ernest Chappell as the man who spoke to you,
Anna Maude Morath, Sarah Fussell, Claudia Morgan (Mrs. Ernest Chappell).
Written and Directed by: Wyllis Cooper
Sustained.
==================================

If you have any questions or request, please feel free to contact me.

      Jerry Haendiges

      Jerry@[removed]  562-696-4387
      The Vintage Radio Place   [removed]
      Largest source of Old Time Radio Logs, Articles and programs on
the Net

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

Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:47:39 -0500
From: skallisjr@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Car Static

Ted Kneebone noted,

Richard Carpenter mentioned that some
car starters introduced static while
listening to the radio or watching television.
...
They must have fixed that since the static is gone.

Static was less from starting a car than from operating them.  The
ignition wires of contemporaneous autos were excellent resonators,
producing a lot of electrical noise, particularly in the TV and FM bands.
 I learned this the hard way when I installed an FM tuner into the
Chevrolet I then owned (early to mid 1960s).  I quickly learned that
adding resistors in series with the wires would clean up the static.
(Every time I had my car serviced, the garage people would invariably
remove my ignition wires and replace them with new, resistorless, ones.
They were good mechanics, but knew jack about suppressing what the ham
radio operators call QRM.  So I'd have to start all over again.)

Later on, I understand that the necessary resistance was built into the
wires, so the problem went away.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:48:24 -0500
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Gildersleeve

   With the recent discussion on Gildersleeve, this last week the local
public access cable channel, in its weekly retro tv show, had a Blondie
program with Hal Peary as Herb Woodley, who did a semi-Gildersleeve
laugh, which was sort of a titter.
   Joe

--
Visit my homepage: [removed]~[removed]

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

Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:50:39 -0500
From: John Mayer <mayer@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Frend Allen's Ubangi Joke
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from text/html

   [Charlie, Sorry about the earlier Rich Text send; I'm switching to a
   new email client and it didn't ask my preference right before "Send"
   as Eudora does. JM]

   "Bob Cockrum" <rmc44@[removed]; wrote:

I don't think this was racist in the way some people (most people?)
might take it today. Allen's reference wasn't to black people having
large lips, it was to the Africans who enlarged their lips to the
point of having the bills of a duck ... hence the shade.

Let's not try to rewrite history and intentions like PBS' "History
Detectives."

   I don't think there's much doubt that all popular culture was at least
   passively racist in treating black people as rather child-like; the
   only exceptions I can recall were a few shows of Amos and Andy where
   some incidental black professionals had no apparent stereotypical
   characteristics. I wonder if some of the stereotyping was simply radio
   trying to make clear by voice alone which characters were black and
   doing it rather clumsily. Often "foreigners" came off little better
   when they spoke with radio's generic, usually high-pitched, pigeon
   English "foreign accent."
   I'll take this opportunity to point out that this was a national, not
   a southern, phenomenon, and that,during the KKK's resurgence in the
   20's, most of its members were from the north. Also, there is a big
   difference between this kind of racism born of simple ignorance and,
   basically, a lack of familiarity with black people and their culture,
   and the pure, venomous hatred that is born of both ignorance and, I
   think, a desperate need to feel superior to SOMEbody. A few months ago
   I attended a counter-protest at a KKK, neonazi and skinhead rally in
   Knoxville, occasioned by the murder of a white couple by some black
   thugs, and that was quite a different animal altogether. Some of the
   skinheads were making signs a police officer later told me were death
   threats, and I take them seriously. (Unfortunately, I'm pretty easy to
   recognize, due to an eyepatch.) The former type of racism can be
   overcome, I think, by simply getting to know some black people; the
   latter type is, to my way of thinking, a form of mental illness and
   far more difficult to address. I would recommend shock treatments
   (ECT's). After my studies in psychiatric disorders and their
   treatments, I don't think ECT's do anybody any good, but I'd recommend
   them, anyhow, for racists.

   A few years ago when I was doing undocumented radio, btw, I played the
   Superman vs. the KKK shows and many listeners, mostly young folks,
   were amazed that racism was being discussed so directly so long ago.
   As to the Fred Allen use of the Ubangi joke, I vaguely recall hearing
   this show, and as Mr. Cockrum says, it was rather shocking to modern
   sensibilities, but not as racist as it sounds out of context. I recall
   it was in the context of a carnival freak show. Touring freak shows
   sometimes included people who were, or pretended to be, from lands and
   cultures little known to heartland America, such as the Wild Man of
   Borneo. Anisa Janine Wardi, writing in African American Review, in an
   article titled "Freak shows, spectacles, and carnivals: reading
   Jonathan Demme's beloved," writes "He was 57 years old now, a freak
   traveling with Braddock's Circus. He took consolation from the thought
   that he was not a real freak. Zippo, the black- skinned boy with his
   tiny doll-sized head, and Ajax the Legless Wonder. Magli and her
   troupe of midgets, some less than three feet tall; the Ubangi girls
   with lips two feet in diameter. Nanette, the bear girl. They were real
   freaks. He was nothing like that at all." PT Barnum is reported to
   have had Ubangi's and other black natives in his museum of oddities in
   New York, and to have treated them very badly. There is an interesting
   travelogue from the 1930's about a safari into Darkest Africa
   at [removed] ; it
   shows the mixture of contempt and admiration for Africans that was the
   norm of the day. Apparently, only the Ubangi women enlarged their
   lips, to enhance their attractiveness to men; today, in our more
   civilized society, women do that with colloid injections.

   It's unreasonable to expect Fred Allen or other entertainers to rise
   above the common attitudes of the day. No doubt there were those few
   enlightened souls that did, but they did not yet have much of a voice;
   suggestions that black people were much like whites were insinuated
   very gradually into popular entertainment, beginning, perhaps, with
   the presentation, for all its faults, of Amos and Andy and company
   into American homes. No doubt some day people will look back with
   disdain on customs we today take for granted. Perhaps, for example,
   our descendants will look back with disgust and horror on our practice
   of eating the flesh of animals; who knows?
   Interestingly, the whole concept of freak shows is, it seems, a thing
   of the past. The "Ten-in-One" that appears with our local county fair
   no longer includes freaks. I used to make a point of visiting them
   when I was a boy, much to the disgust of some of my dates at the fair.
   "I can't believe you're going to go gawk at unfortunate victims of
   fate," they'd say, to which I'd reply, "Is it better to let them
   starve? This is how they make their living." In fact, I felt a certain
   kinship to them. But, looking back, I'm sure freak shows helped to
   objectify people with disabilities and contributed to a lack of
   empathy and compassion in our society. Had Mr. Allen, instead, said,
   "The only place you could find shade was under the fat lady's belly,"
   that, too, would be considered insensitive and offensive by many
   today.

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  ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:53:18 -0500
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  mp3s and jogging

David Rogers asked me how I use my laptop to play MP3s while jogging . . .

Answer is that have my wife hold the laptop and force her to keep up with me
. . .

Martin

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

Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:54:02 -0500
From: Anthony Tollin <sanctumotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Identity Crisis

Joe Mackey reports from Those Were The Days,

1940 - Mutual presented the first broadcast of Superman. The identity
of the man from planet Krypton was unknown to listeners for six years.
The secret eventually leaked out that Superman's voice was actually that
of Bud Collyer.

***Actually, the reports of secrecy surrounding Bud Collyer's radio role are
a bit exaggerated, much like CBS PR claims that Frank Readick performed
masked as The Shadow and that cast members didn't know his true identity.
Even during the first SUPERMAN transcribed serial (1940-42), there were
occasional mentions of Bud's portrayal of Superman in trade publications
like VARIETY and BILLBOARD, and an occasional photo of Bud performing in
SUPERMAN broadcasts in New York newspapers and radio magazines. However,
neither Bud nor DC Comics was really promoting his involvement until the
"Unity House" storyline attracted national attention and Collyer did some
major interviews on the subject.  --Anthony Tollin***

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

Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:54:51 -0500
From: crow8164@[removed] (Dennis Crow)
To: [removed]@[removed] (Old Time Radio Digest)
Subject:  Magic Island

Kermyt Anderson asks about cast members for the serial "Magic Island", which
was syndicated one year before  TRANSCO syndicated "The Cinnamon Bear."

Several years ago, the Gassman brothers of SPERDVAC fame identified the
actress who voiced Queen Melissa on CB.  She was Rosa Barcello.  Barcello was
discovered by listening to voices from "Magic Island." She had played the
second incarnation of Joan Gregory.

Dennis Crow

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

Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:55:32 -0500
From: KENPILETIC@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Auto-Lite Resistor Spark Plugs

Hi Gang
In issue 36, Richard Carpenter inquired about Harlow Wilcox's touting
Auto-Lite Resistor Spark Plugs
on "Suspense" thus:

... Harlow Wilcox was busy selling Auto-Lite spark plugs ... a new  spark
plug that wouldn't cause radio and TV interference. Was that a problem  back
then? ...

It was a problem and can still be a problem.  Any electrical spark  generates
an RF signal that is transmitted
through the air and can be picked up by radios and TV sets.  This  "noise"
can be slight to severe in nature.
Early Spark plugs were designed to produce maximum spark so that cars would
run efficiently.
The Spark Plug Wires acted like little ANTENNAS that caused the noise to
radiate, sometimes to great
distances.  These early wires were literally that, ie, WIRE.

The Auto-Lite spark plugs had "resistors" built into the plug.  These
resistors actually reduced the noise
before the wires attached.  Newer cars (and most of today's cars) use  a
special carbon compound in the
spark plug "wires".  They are, in fact, not wires at all - they are
resistors.  This is to reduce the radiated
noise, so it is not necessary to use Resistor Spark Plugs in modern
automobiles.
The disadvantage, of course, is that the spark is not as hot.   However,
advances in engine design make
it unnecessary to have the hottest possible spark these days.

Some "hot rodders" actually replace the original spark plug wires with real
wire wires in order to make
their engines as efficient as possible, and these do indeed create RF noise
that bothers radios (particularly
the radio in that same car), and TV sets connected to outside  antennas.
There is little that can be done
on the receiving end of the spark plug noise.  The spark must be  treated at
the source.

Yes, Harlow Wilcox was right.  These Auto-Lite Resistor Spark Plugs  really
worked.
(note:  The term "RF" is an abbreviation for "Radio Frequency" and  refers to
radio signals in the ether)

Happy Taping  --  Ken Piletic - Streamwood, Illinois and Alma,  Arkansas

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

Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:56:43 -0500
From: Wich2@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Jack Griffin strikes again!

Dear Frank-

From: fmazzar771@[removed]

I became his link to the OTR world

What a wonderful story - and how kind of you.
 
recently I stumbled upon a cache of tapes
he left behind. on one of  them there was an OTR version of HG Wells Invisible
Man. From what show it  came i cannot tell because my friend cut out the
intro's and announced the  show in his own voice

I have never heard of one - maybe British?
 
OR - there was a children's lp production done in the '60's - maybe this  was
it, and he added the credits because the original had none?
 
Best,
-Craig W.
 
 
 
 

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

Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:57:49 -0500
From: George Tirebiter <tirebiter2@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  The Devil's Radio

While there may have been some smaller evangelical/fundamentalist sects that
banned radio listening ,I don't think that the members of these denominations
constituted a significant portion of the population, or even a significant
portion of the conservative Protestant population.  I know a woman whose
family belonged to some tiny sect that didn't permit television (not sure
about radio) in the 1950s. In 1962, when this woman was 13, her parents
finally exchanged this sect ( which they had been born into) for a less
extreme one and bought their first TV set.  I have to admit that the idea
that 1950s shows like LEAVE IT TO BEAVER were a moral menace strikes me as
funny.  And, of course, even today the Amish are not permitted to own radios
or TV sets (or wire their houses for electricity).  Incidentially, I've read
that while the Amish are forbidden to OWN television sets, they are not
forbidden to WATCH television and that some Amish who live in small towns in
Pennsylvania with non-Amish neighbors  are constantly seeking invitations to
come over and watch TV at their non-Amish neighbors' houses.  Sort of like a
perpetual 1948, where if you have a TV set everyone on your block who doesn't
have one wants to come over and see it.

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2008 Issue #38
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