------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2007 : Issue 42
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
11-30-42 [ "Walden Hughes" <walden1@yesterdayu ]
Donald Ferrell [ "Walden Hughes" <walden1@yesterdayu ]
Barney & Bobby [ jack and cathy french <otrpiano@ver ]
Having fun in a good sort of way [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
Re: Duffy's first name [ illoman@[removed] ]
Eve Arden [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
Barry Gray and Red Channels et al [ <verotas@[removed]; ]
Passing of Roberta Semple Salter [ Vince Long <vlongbsh@[removed]; ]
Radio Stations [ "dad4@[removed]" <dad4@[removed] ]
Red Menace and the Blacklist [ "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@attorneyross. ]
RED STAR OVER HOLLYWOOD [ PURKASZ@[removed] ]
Making the connection [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
Red Menace Redux [ <vzeo0hfk@[removed]; ]
One Man's Profession [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr" <skallisjr@j ]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 19:11:33 -0500
From: "Walden Hughes" <walden1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 11-30-42
Hi Everybody,
we receive a request to find the Calvacade of America broadcast of 11-30-42.
Does any one know if this recording is available? Take care,
Walden Hughes
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 21:13:01 -0500
From: "Walden Hughes" <walden1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Donald Ferrell
Hi Everybody,
we receive a request from a listener saying a friend of his said that a
relative name Donald Ferrell wich is his real name was a cowboy star. Does
any one know who could this be? Take care,
Walden Hughes
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 21:14:23 -0500
From: jack and cathy french <otrpiano@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Barney & Bobby
On Monday, February 5, 2007, at 07:13 PM, Bob Slate wrote:
And I think Barney Beck also did "Bobby Benson And His B-Bar-B Riders"
over WOR in New York.
Well, yes, [removed]
Barney told me that in the early 50s he was not the senior sound
effects man at WOR. As such, he caught more of the late evening shows
since the senior man would take all the 9-to-5 shows for himself. That
way the senior man could be home enjoying dinner while Barney was
setting up the sound effects table for the 8 PM Mutual show.
But Barney did get to do the Bobby Benson show occasionally, usually
when the effects required more than one man. He got a kick out of doing
the show because the original Bobby Benson CBS series of the 30s was
one of his favorite shows as a kid. Barney said he listened to it on a
1929 Echlophone cathedral style radio his parents kept on the living
room table.
He never met Billy Halop, (who was the 30s Bobby Benson) but he did
work with Billy's sister, Florence, several times at WOR.
Jack French
Editor: RADIO RECALL
<[removed]>
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 21:14:56 -0500
From: <otrbuff@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Having fun in a good sort of way
My good friend Stuart Lubin observed:
When
Portia Faces Life announcer, George Putnam, came to Los Angeles
to do television news, after radio died, he had to change his
name because there was, and still is, a radio and television
personality by the same name. So, he changed it to George
Arthur. If I am wrong about the first name, Jim Cox can help
because we have had this discussion quite awhile ago, but not on
the Digest.
Stuart is correct. There's an incredibly fascinating tale that goes along
with the Putnams (both with given name of George) which I was able to track
down for the new volume "Radio Speakers" ([removed],
800-253-2187). Both men -- George Arthur Putnam (1914-1975) and George
Frederick Putnam (1914-present) -- wound up in broadcasting. Utter
confusion has reigned among historiographers ever since about the two.
Multiple published documentaries transposed some of the details of one's
life, mistakenly linking them with the other individual; various sources
certify, for instance, that both men were Minnesota natives when actually
only one was. Gasoline was poured on the flames by the fact they were both
born months apart, then both ultimately migrated to the New York and Los
Angeles broadcasting markets. Both arrived at NBC within months of one
another, too. With that many commonalities, it's easy to see how so many
mix-ups occurred, particularly when one writer copied another without
investigating thoroughly.
The two are separated, at last, in my book of 600 biographies plus a
compendium identifying 600 lesser-known announcers, newscasters and
sportscasters in radio. I'm indebted, incidentally, to several people for
straightening out the Putnam mess that had languished for decades. As I
recall, besides my cohorts Claire Connelly, Derek Tague and Jim Widner, for
that one I leaned on Stuart Lubin and particularly Irene Heinstein to
separate truth from fiction.
The two Putnams, incidentally, receive lengthy dicourses, a healthy 29
column inches in newspaper parlance, which I believe solves one of the
longstanding dilemmas in OTR personality history.
There's an equally absorbing controversy, for me at least, surrounding the
infamous Fleming brothers. In fact, that dilemma was even more compelling
to yours truly. Was there one or two of them? I understand you can't have
it both ways, but the annals of radio history did. Some respected
authorities alluded to one while others hinted there was more than one. I
can credit Irene Heinstein exclusively for sorting this one out, as I recall
it.
There really were two of them -- silblings James F. Fleming (1915-1996) and
Edward J. Fleming (1918-present). Both ventured into radio while in college
at the University of Wisconsin, and both later moved to CBS in New York.
Following their wartime engagements, Jim went to the Marshall Plan in
radio-TV, then in 1949 to NBC. Ed returned to his CBS haunts and became a
pretty well recognized voice there. Their fascinating adventures are
detailed in my book, including some extenuating trips into separate TV
tracks. I spoke with Ed via telephone about a year ago, now retired just
outside San Francisco. He is an affable, delightful man who recited for me
without missing a word or a beat the repetitious line he spoke every day for
years and years and years in the voice I remembered so well:
"Once again, we present Our Gal Sunday, the story of an orphan girl named
Sunday from the little mining town of Silver Creek, Colorado, who in young
womanhood married England's richest, most handsome lord, Lord Henry
Brithrope. The story that asks the question: Can this girl from the little
mining town in the West find happiness as the wife of a wealthy and titled
Englishman?"
I believe he may be the surviving member of that daily serial's troupe now.
It's good to know he's still with us, and apparently in decent health,
physically and mentally.
There are some spellbinding revelations in "Radio Speakers." I had a lot of
fun pursuing them ... sorting out the Putnams and Flemings was just two (or
four) of the challenges. It's good to finally have them properly
delineated.
Jim Cox
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 21:14:15 -0500
From: illoman@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Duffy's first name
Duffy's Tavern - served bad food Never seemed to have any customers,
but tavern did business for yeas and the owner, who had no first name,
was never there. Archie had no last name. How did it stay open?
Actually, Duffy's Tavern is my favorite comedy old time radio show. Duffy's
first name is Patrick J. As far as I know, Archie never did have a last name
on the show.
How it stayed open, probably due to the low wages Duffy paid his employees!!
Mike
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 21:38:29 -0500
From: <otrbuff@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Eve Arden
Here's another adopted name for your consideration: Eve Arden.
She got it when Ziegfeld Follies told her that her birth name simply wasn't
suitable for the marquee. When glancing at a jar of Elizabeth Arden
cosmetics (so one story goes), viola!
"Eunice Quedens" (for all intents and purposes) died on the spot.
Jim Cox
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 22:03:54 -0500
From: <verotas@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Barry Gray and Red Channels et al
I am "one of those" who saw the Communist Conspiracy as just that - real and
very dangerous. I also saw Senator Joseph McCarthy as an arrogant blowhard
who probably did more to harm this nation's fight against Communist
infiltration than any other single person, by completely trashing the
personal and Constitutional rights of many, many decent Americans, and by
turning himself and his cause into a laughing stock, thus diminishing the
real seriousness of the Red threat.
It is recorded history that Dwight Eisenhower said after he left the
Presidency that probably the one thing he regretted the most of his time in
the White House was that he did not do what he could to squelch McCarthy.
The atmosphere of fear which McCarthy and his ilk created was that strong and
reached that high.
Anyone really reading historical material released in Russia and elsewhere
since the demise of the USSR, about Communist activities, Josef Stalin, the
KGB et al, knows it was very real.
Although I considered myself well to his right, I enjoyed listening to Barry
Gray, a very early New York talk-show personality who at various time was on
WMCA, WOR, WMGM and then finally back on WMCA for nearly 40 years. I knew he
felt as upset and as serious about the violation of Constitutional and
personal rights as a Liberal, as I was as a Conservative. I respected him
for that but disagreed with him on much else.
One night he had a guest on who was, if I recall, either the publisher or an
apologist for such as "Red Channels" and black-listing. The topic was the
guest's insistence that any red-blooded patriotic American should have no
hesitation to sign a Loyalty Oath to our nation. This of course was patently
silly as well as insulting, because any real subversive or spy would have no
qualms at all to take such an oath, lie in any other way, and take advantage
of our Constitution to destroy it.
Gray tried to convince his guest of this and was not succeeding, trying to
show that real loyal Americans would be indignant and insulted should someone
demand they take such an oath.
Finally Gray asked his guest something like, "Will you take an oath if I ask
you?" The guest insisted he certainly would, and proud to do so - he saw no
reason why anyone could possibly be insulted by being given such a request,
such as to swear that one was not now or ever had been a member of the
Communist Party.
Barry Gray said, "Okay, repeat after me, 'I - (your name) - (pause for the
gent to repeat that, which he did) - solemnly swear that I am not now nor
have I ever been - (another pause to repeat) - a practicing homosexual."
WHAT! the gentleman screamed, how dare you? How dare you call me a
homosexual, he screeched!
Gray simply countered very quietly and calmly, "There - now do you understand?"
They were horrible times, and I thought Gray pinned this guy down just fine.
Barry Gray - a great American radio icon - died in 1996 at the age of 80.
Lee Munsick
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 23:06:53 -0500
From: Vince Long <vlongbsh@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Passing of Roberta Semple Salter
Roberta Semple Salter, daughter of Aimee Semple McPherson, radio's first
tele-evangelist has died at 96. Roberta worked in radio with her
husband Harry Salter who created "Name That Tune."
[removed],1,[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 01:19:30 -0500
From: "dad4@[removed]" <dad4@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Radio Stations
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I would like to know if old time radio is still on any stations in the Minn
area?
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 01:20:47 -0500
From: "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Red Menace and the Blacklist
Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2007 17:44:37 -0500
From: Brian Johnson <chyronop@[removed];
There were A LOT of active Communists in Hollywood in those days
and their allegiance lay with Joseph Stalin. They were NOT just
"political progressives." The war against Communism, though it may
not have been waged fairly on every level, was still a necessity.
Was it? Granted there were people in Hollywood who were active
Communists and Communist sympathizers, but were they really that much
of a threat? Weren't there others who were more conservative? Would
the United States have fallen if someone had made a pro-Communist
movie? Or would it simply have prompted someone else to make an anti-
Communist movie? The suppression of Communist actors and screen
writers apparently was based on a lack of confidence that our system
could compete with theirs in the "marketplace of ideas."
So to prevent a few Communist ideas from being heard, not only was
anyone whose grandmother supported Roosevelt victimized with the
threat of loss of a job, but it became a veritable protection racket,
where the publishers of "Red Channels" would threaten to list
someone, but "for a fee" they could be cleared.
She remained a Stalin apologist to her dying day, choosing to
ignore the Moscow show trials and the Gulags. For this she was
lionized in Jane Fonda's 1977 film "Julia."
There are people like that to this day. As a liberal, I've always
found them frustrating to deal with. But there are all sorts of
delusional people in this country, and they aren't really all that
dangerous.
Also at this meeting was actor Ronald Reagan, who would soon be
elected President of the Screen Actors Guild with the backing of
such people as deHavilland, George Murphy and Gene Kelly. (It was
Kelly who placed Reagan's name in nomination.)
And years later, President Reagan invaded Granada because of "left-
wing thugs," while supporting governments headed by right-wing thugs.
I never could understand why so few people could see that thugs is
thugs, but people on both right and left seem to be blind to their
own side's thugs.
Reagan fought the blacklists as SAG president. The future US
President would complain that Sen. Joseph McCarthy was "using a
shotgun when he should have been using a [removed]
For all his oratory, McCarthy never named or unearthed a single
Communist. As opposed to Nixon, who trapped Alger Hiss. Nixon
himself remarked in his book "Six Crises" that he thought one reason
he succeeded where others failed was that he respected all of Hiss's
procedural rights and gave him every chance to exonerate himself.
And that, too, came down to ideology rather than facts. Anyone on
the right was certain that Hiss was a Communist spy, anyone on the
left was certain that he was innocent, and nobody really wanted to
look at the facts (I give Nixon credit for being skeptical of
Chambers' charges against Hiss at the outset and following the
evidence wherever it led). Soviet documents released since the fall
of the Soviet Union seem to verify that Hiss really was a spy.
We do ourselves a disfavor when we rewrite history or ignore real
threats to make cheap political points.
Agreed. But it gets done on both sides.
--
A. Joseph Ross, [removed] [removed]
15 Court Square, Suite 210 Fax [removed]
Boston, MA 02108-2503 [removed]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 01:21:43 -0500
From: PURKASZ@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: RED STAR OVER HOLLYWOOD
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I am very impressed by the level of civility so far on this very heady
topic. Hal Stone and I should sit down and have a drink next time we meet in
Newark as his sentiments gave a rush to my breathing and a beat to my
heart's love
for good discussion.
I was very young when the tumult was afoot. The one we call the "Witch
Hunt."
I read all the books over the years about the Rosenbergs and the Martin
Sobell Atomic Spy cases. The radio shows. The bad movies. All touting the Red
Menace and all the people in radio and movies who lost work. We all know McCa
rthy was a loose cannon and an ambitious reckless drunk who hurt with libel
and calumny. What we don't seem to know is why all the fuss.
Seems to have been a one-sided litany.
The recent release of classified info in the Venona Files as well as
other revelations have added some balance.
In fact there never were witches but there sure were Communists intent
on the overthrow of this country so the analogy is inaccurate at best.
The Stalinists and their endless apologias over here were the stuff of
American dreams as well as nightmares.
Now it seems we have to take another look.
I have not read the above mentioned book but would never known of its
existence had I not read the exchanges that began here on this great site.
Seems the OTR crowd is very alert to the feelings of another era over
and above its mere radio productions.
Thanks Hal for getting this thing to fly after Brian Johnson responded
to something written by Howard Blue. I have not found that article yet but
the
blood is up and the intrigues are once again the stuff of true American
discourse.
OTR Digest has just grown a little taller.
Michael C. Gwynne
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 01:42:07 -0500
From: <otrbuff@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Making the connection
I'm in need of a little help. I'm trying to link firms that advertised
during the golden age and/or their shows with their specific advertising
agencies. Mind you, NOT who sponsored what (that I already know), but who
was/were the agency(ies) behind the specifics. With dates, even better,
although I'll work with it without dates. Anybody able to point me to a
source, online or off? I'd be appreciative. Contact me directly and fast,
please.
Jim Cox
otrbuff@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 09:19:28 -0500
From: <vzeo0hfk@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Red Menace Redux
Whoops - I goofed in identifying the key chapter in my own book, WORDS AT WAR
which deals with the blacklisting era - its chapter 19, not 17.
Howard Blue
The following information is taken from chapter 19. The quotations are all
copyrighted.
Among other heroes in the struggle for democracy and against Communism in the
broadcasting industry were:
a. Rep. John Rankin, a member of the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Besides pursuing Commies in Congressional hearings, Rankin is known for
saying "Slavery was the greatest blessing the Negros peple ever had."
b. CA. State Sen. Jack Tenney who headed his own committee to weed out
Communists. In a report on evidence that actor Fredric March fraternized with
Communists, he noted that March attended a UN dinner in New York. There were
100s of people at that dinner - and apparently among them were some
Communists.
c. Actor Ward Bond who actively supported the blacklist. Of Norman Corwin,
Bond stated, "We know Corwin was not a Communist, never was a Communist. But
he'll do until one comes along.
d. Red baiter in chief, Vincent Hartnett, publisher of Red Channels which
listed 151 "known supporters of Communism" was not only a defender of
democracy, but also a clever little devil who figured out how to make money
in the process. He charged people whom he listed in the booklet to try to
clear their names.
e. The publishers of a booklet which the US Chamber of Commerce put out:
"Communist Infiltration in the United States" identified the New Deal as
"preparing the way for communist ideology."
f. CBS [removed] O'Shea, charged with enforcing the blacklist at the
network, told blacklisted Bill Robson, "We have information that you
presented a known Communist over a radio station in Pittsburg." In fact, it
was Robson's father who as secretary of the city's mayor, who arranged for a
Soviet representative, a guest of the mayor, to take part in a discussion
g. The same O'Shea talking to Ed Murrow about Robson, said, "He cannot
un-accuse himself. He's been accused." Hmmmm!
h. The FBI file on radio writer Peter Lyon included info provided by an
unnamed defender of democracy that Lyon had spoken favorably about a CBS
program put on by Bill Robson that attacked racism!
i. A heroic defender of democracy at NBC put out word that he was firing
actor Norman Rose because Rose was listed in Red Channels. In fact Rose's
name was not listed. Norman Rosten's was.
j. On the day Red Channels was published, actor Bud Collyer, leader of a
pro-blacklisting group (and another great defender of democracy) told actor
Ken Roberts who had just learned that Roberts' name was included in the
publication, "Kenny, Kenny, you weren't supposed to be included in the book."
How did Collyer know whose name was supposed to be included. Hmmm again.
k. When Frank Reel, AFTRA's former national executive secretary ran into
Collyer and they spoke about "Red Channels," Reel said, "But Bud, the
protection of the innocent is one of the most important things in the Bill or
Rights. Defender Collyer replied, "Yes I know. [but] Whatever happened
couldn't be helped.
Finally, Ken Roberts told me in Newark some years ago, that after Roberts was
named in Red Channels, Dwight Wiest, a close friend of Collyer in the
blacklisting process, went to Roberts' employer to try to get the job he
presumed was vacated. The problem? Roberts had not been fired!
Support the Bill of Rights. That's what makes America great!
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 09:19:44 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr" <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: One Man's Profession
Frank McGurn asks, among other things,
Ozzie & Harriet - 2 boy, nice home,
no job & no money problems. Where
did their money come from?
Ozzie Nelson wrote an autobiography, Ozzie, where he explained that. He
didn't want any identification of his radio, and later TV, character with
any trade or profession. So he made certain that such was never even
hinted on the shows.
Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2007 Issue #42
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