------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2002 : Issue 304
A Part of the [removed]!
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
"Magic Castle piano" and random thou [ leemunsick@[removed] ]
Listening/Sleep to OTR thermostat [ Bill Harris <radioguy@[removed] ]
Re: OTR Baseball Re-creations [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
Talking Piano's [ George Aust <austhaus1@[removed] ]
Song of the South [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
speaking of mp3 players [ bloodbleeds@[removed] ]
The Cavalcade of America [ N&B Brickman <nbb@[removed]; ]
Bob Hope on radio [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
Classical Music [ Chris & Carla White <cncwhite@ricon ]
Sleep sensor? [ "Arte" <arte@[removed]; ]
Les Paul and Mary Ford/Paul McCartne [ RPATO2@[removed] ]
Otr night night [ "steven kostelecky" <skostelecky@ho ]
Today in radio history [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
Another Jughead? [ Derek Tague <derek@[removed]; ]
otr baseball announcers [ Jer51473@[removed] ]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 4 Aug 2002 14:26:25 -0400
From: leemunsick@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: "Magic Castle piano" and random [removed]
For Moira Shepard, who provided details about the "Magic Castle" in LA --
thanks for filling in my memory gap. Moira also wrote some very nice
things about me. To her, I say, "Thanks for your thanks!" I'm glad you
enjoy my meanderings. I hope others do as well.
I often wonder,
A) if anyone is interested or bothers to read (this is from years behind
the mike asking the same about [removed] never really knows, do
one?), and
B) of those who read or heard, if they just think I'm a blow-hard, absorbed
in name-dropping.
I consider that for an ordinary guy I've just been very lucky, fortunate
enough to meet and often get to know many interesting people. Not that by
any means am I alone in this good fortune, as readers of OTR Digest know
from the wealth of information and reminiscences so delightfully shared
here by numerous others more knowledgeable than I, week after week.
And very special thanks to Charlie Summers, without whom none of this would
be happening!
Not all those of whom I write are or were famous, but for OTR/D I write
about those whom I feel other OTR enthusiasts would know. In most cases,
my remarks are prompted by someone else's question or comments.
It's like today's radio call-in talk shows, where the host relies on a
listener to raise a subject, and then chats about his relationship or
observations about it. Except that I strive not to be nasty as are most
of them, to the listeners who often waited an hour or more on hold, kind
enough to raise the subjects to start with!
Like my idol Arthur Godfrey, I delight in learning and understanding
things, and enjoy sharing those experiences with others who will
listen. And like Mr. Godfrey, I figure if they don't want to listen, they
can turn it off - or in this instance, scroll on past. In a way, this
Digest is very much like the Godfrey programs, especially the morning radio
shows. Relaxed, fun, informative; just without the singers! Let's hope it
stays that way. I really don't want us to start streaming Professor Biel
singing "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini"!
After more than 2/3 of a century, I also hope I've learned and absorbed
some things. If we can pass such learnings on, perhaps they will do
someone else some good, regardless of how small or unimportant in the giant
scheme of things. Isn't this what OTR Digest (and others in which I
participate) is all about?
I'm always pleased to read a comment here, from a newcomer to OTR, and feel
the joy he or she experiences, which I recall from my own "salad days" and
hope I retain to some extent.
I encourage you "lurkers" out there to join in. If someone slaps you down
for stating the obvious or repeating an untruth, shame on them! They've
forgotten there was a time when they too didn't know anything, or what they
did was in error. No matter how educated one is, there are still oceans of
things he does not know, and never will! We learn from our mistakes, and
hope we won't make them again. Or at least we should try!
Thanks to my involvement in the Old Time Radio hobby, I love to listen to
or read Bill Murtough, for instance, and I look forward to the book on
which he is at work, with my encouragement every chance I get! What a
marvelous life he has led and is still leading! And Peg Lynch, Parley
Baer, Will Jordan, Mike Biel, and others. Or those who have left us: Lon
Clark, Willard Waterman, Lee Erwin, outrageously funny Frank Nelson and his
equally humorous and charming wife Veola Vonn, and Orson Welles' assistant
and then Hollywood director Richard Wilson (absolute delights, all of
them). Or any of the dozens of other fantastic characters I got to know
and love from my OTR interest. So if I'm name-dropping, I'm glad to be
able to do so! I hope to continue for years to come. My wife Charlotte
says "another 60 years, and then shut up!"
In addition to those I mention above, my learning experiences now include
people like Hal Stone and Elizabeth McLeod, whom I know only from the OTR
Digest, and off-list correspondence prompted by their incredible
participation in this ongoing journal. Well, obviously I knew OF Hal
Stone, but have not met him [removed]! I look forward to that. I
think.
Just kidding, Hal, which raises the point of the wonderful humor displayed
in these pages. I love it!
So Moira and others, just keep reading on and jumping in when the urge
[removed] thanks again!
Lee Munsick
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 4 Aug 2002 14:26:35 -0400
From: Bill Harris <radioguy@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Listening/Sleep to OTR thermostat
Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed]; comments about mercury switch
and safety precautions, teflon sheets, haz-mat teams, ect.
On second thought, maybe sleeping pills would be cheaper.
Bill H.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 4 Aug 2002 16:06:45 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: OTR Baseball Re-creations
On 8/4/02 2:46 PM OldRadio Mailing Lists wrote:
Anyway, when I tuned in the day promoted, they played the entire
Dodgers-Giants game from 1951, concluding with Russ Hodges' hysteria.
Incidentally, Hodges was still the Giants' announcer at that time,
too. I didn't listen to the whole thing, but now I wonder.
It was most likely a studio recreation, since Hodges was still working
for the Giants at the time (he remained active thru the 1970 season, I
believe). It wouldn't have been difficult for him to reconstruct what he
had said in the actual broadcast, since he had the recording of that
final inning as a template, and probably had his original scoresheets to
work from for the rest of the game. I don't believe the McLendon
broadcast was known to exist until the late 1980s.
Recreations have often been done by old-time announcers for games for
which no recordings were known to exist, and aired as part of special
tribute or nostalgia programs, and they can be very confusing if you
don't recognize them right off, especially when modern documentary types
try to pass them off as the genuine article Off the top of my head, I
know that there are similar recreations extant of longtime Philadelphia
broadcaster Byrum Saam calling the 1950 Phillies pennant clincher -- a
game he didn't actually broadcast, since he was exclusively the Athletics
broadcaster that season, and of Bob Prince and Jim Woods of the Pirates
calling the seventh game of the 1960 World Series -- a game Prince
actually called on television for NBC with Mel Allen. I was also
interested to note that in many of the recent tributes to Ted Williams
aired over New England television stations, they used what appeared to be
a recreation of Curt Gowdy's 1960 call of Williams' final homer. While no
acknowledgement of the source was given by anyone using the excerpt, I'm
near-certain this clip actually came from a studio recreation done by
Gowdy for WBZ's "Big Broadcast" in 1975. I listened to that recreation
when it first aired, and remember being very annoyed that the broadcast
ended with the home run -- they didn't bother to recreate the last
half-inning of the game.
Speaking of baseball broadcasts, I just learned of a discovery that's
quite exciting -- a complete color video tape has been unearthed in
Boston of the entire WHDH-TV broadcast of the next to the last game of
the 1967 season, a crucial matchup between the Red Sox and the Minnesota
Twins, as called by Ken Coleman, Ned Martin, and Mel Parnell. This tape
was shown publicly for the first time in nearly 35 years at a summer
conference of the Society for American Baseball Research, and now stands
as the oldest surviving complete color telecast of a major league
baseball game -- and the oldest surviving complete telecast of *any*
regular season baseball game. The tape is in the possession of the New
England Sports Museum in Boston, and hopefully Major League Baseball will
eventually arrange to license it for commercial release.
Elizabeth
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 4 Aug 2002 16:06:56 -0400
From: George Aust <austhaus1@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Talking Piano's
Lee Munsick mentioned the House of Magic in the LA area and while I'm
not familiar with that place there is San Sylmar. Located in the San
Fernando Valley it is owned by Nethercutt (can't remember his 1st name)
who owns Merle Norman Cosmetics. San Sylmar is a museum that features
his two great loves, classic cars and mechanical musical reproducing
devices of all sorts. This place is mammoth, and frustrating for
several reasons. 1st, it's not easy to get in. You have to make
reservations in advance and secondly because there's not enough time to
really see all the cars or hear all of the music reproducers. The cars
are magnificent and are mostly very high end luxury autos of the past.
There are "many" Duesenbergs" among all the others. They reside in the
grand salon which is a huge two story room with marble floors and marble
columns reminiscent of the showrooms of the past. In the basement it is
all Rolls Royces of all vintages. All the cars are licensed and driven
at least once a year by employees to the annual company picnic. Upstairs
however is the music. They have reproducing pianos and also a
magnificent pipe organ all of which are used for occasional concerts.
They digitally record these concerts which are given by well known
artists and then have the pianos and the pipe organ reproduce them
exactly, "live" for you when you visit. This is in addition to all the
other various machines that have been been introduced thru the years.
They have just recently opened a new museum across the street that
feature the classic cars that they have no room for in the main
building. This new building is also huge and you cand spend hours there
perusing all the rare and ancient autos on display. In back of the
building they are building a railroad station to house an entire train
with steam locomotive engine. This may be complete by now. I haven't
been there in about 18 mos. although I have been to San Sylmar four or
five times and each time it is a different exprience because they bring
in new displays all the time.
My apologies for getting off subject, but this is an outstanding and
little known attraction for visitors to Southern California.
George Aust
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 4 Aug 2002 17:13:52 -0400
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Song of the South
I was digging and browsing the web for info about Joel Chandler Harris, the
man who created the Brer characters such as Brer Bear and Brer Rabbit, and
came across this site that might be of interest to some on the digest. (I
figured since it was a discussion of the past, it won't hurt venturing away
from OTR a sec.)
[removed]
Besides some tidbits about the disney movie, there is also a place where you
can put your name on a petition, so the creator of the web-site can grow new
names - a petition to ask Disney to release the film commercially in the US.
(I have a conversion the film, by the way - it's not bad - the animated
cartoons are the best part - the live action segments are not as thrilling
or enjoyable as those from Mary Poppins so those who have not yet seen it -
don't quit your day job just to watch this movie.)
There is a lack of reference regarding the OTR versions of Song of the South
(of which there were a handful), or the Cavcalcade of America biography
about Joel Chandler Harris. Maybe someone could e-mail the web-site owner
and suggest an article?
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 4 Aug 2002 17:43:07 -0400
From: bloodbleeds@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: speaking of mp3 players
Can anyone suggest an mp3 player that has an indefinite pause, like most regular cd
players? I mean, when you push pause, it will Stay paused until you want it to start again.
THIS I need. I have a Rio Volt PSX 100, which is great but inCredibly annoying when I have
to leave the room for more than a minute. It will stop after 30 seconds or a minute, then I
have to start it up again just to get back to where I was. I always have it plugged it, really,
never use batteries to take it places. Yet would rather have a portable so it doesn't take up
much room. I'm now trying to download the update for it, but was told it'll only keep a pause
for 5 minutes, the update. That helps, but I still don't want to be timed to get back in the
room. :)
Ben
The Bickersons Scripts book
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 4 Aug 2002 18:45:25 -0400
From: N&B Brickman <nbb@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: The Cavalcade of America
I have been collecting episodes of The Cavalcade of America and
archiving them in mp3 format. The 21 episodes that I am missing are
itemized below. If you have one or more of these episodes that you
would be willing to share, I would very much appreciate it. Please
email me direct. Thank you.
Norman Brickman
#48 Modern American Orchestral Music 9/9/36, #57 The Story Of
Rubber 11/18/36
#61 The Man Who Had Two Careers 12/16/36, #95 The Cavalcade Of Music
- Jerome Kern's Music 8/11/37
#115 Ernestine Schumann-Heink 12/29/37, #119 The Pathfinder 1/26/38
#265 Abraham Lincoln: The War Years 2/9/42, #268 Accent On Youth
3/2/42
#269 Wait For The Morning 3/9/42, #270 Dear Brutus 3/16/42
#272 The Silent Heart 3/30/42, #276 This Side Of Hades 4/27/42
#281 Clara Barton 6/1/42, #285 Hymn From The Night 6/29/42
#287 Man Of Iron 7/13/42, #292 Theodore Roosevelt, Man Of Action
8/17/42
#308 The Road To Victory 12/7/42, #385 Sing A War Song 5/29/44
#601 Pink Lace 2/28/49, #604 Letter From Europe 3/21/49
#655 Never Marry A Ranger 5/9/50
Norman Brickman
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 4 Aug 2002 18:47:07 -0400
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Bob Hope on radio
Elizabeth commented:
Once that happens it'll be interesting to see how well Hope's radio work
has aged. Unlike his
movie work, which depended largely on his "fast-talking coward"
characterization for laughs, he
tended on radio to simply be a mouthpiece for rapid-fire jokes.
I just recently listened to one of the Round Robins from First Generation
Archives which contains several rehearsals from a single Bob Hope radio
show plus a monologue rehearsal. One thing that struck me was the very
thing that Elizabeth mentions. His monologue was *very* dependent upon the
period and at one point he seems to get upset with someone who made a
comment about the rehearsal with a reply of something like "don't forget
whose in charge here." And later sounding upset because the orchestra
missed a cue in a routine he and Doris Day were doing.
Perhaps it was the lack of visual clues and maybe he was just being
flippant Bob Hope, but it was hard to tell on these recordings.
Jim Widner
jwidner@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 4 Aug 2002 19:07:13 -0400
From: Chris & Carla White <cncwhite@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Classical Music
Hi,
Bravo John for your good point regarding classical music. I think that
above all music, classical music is the only music that should actually be
considered an art form. Unfortunately, many young people especially write
off classical music as being "old" and "boring". Being a 13 year old myself
I see this alot among my friends. But what about the great scores written
to many classic movies? I consider many of these scores to be a form of
classical music. Can any of you imagine "Star Wars" set to hip-hop or heavy
metal music? Just think about this awhile. Just my two cents.
Thanks For Reading,
Bryant White
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 4 Aug 2002 20:10:40 -0400
From: "Arte" <arte@[removed];
To: "OldRadio Mailing List" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Sleep sensor?
As for more recent players, like TVs, CD players, etc., I
don't know of
any that "sense" when you're asleep, then shut [removed] they
all have to be
manually time-set.
I suppose you could fashion something akin to the "dead-man
switch" they use on Chicago's EL trains.
You would hold it in your hand, and when you fall asleep
your grip would relax, thus shutting off the power to your
player. Although the idea of a "dead-man switch" might be
overkill. (pun intended)
Arte
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 4 Aug 2002 23:25:50 -0400
From: RPATO2@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Les Paul and Mary Ford/Paul McCartney
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain
Enjoyed your post on these folks - I was a big fan as a teenager - my
favorite Les Paul sound was Perfidia - were you aware that Paul McCartney was
awarded a Les Paul guitar for his accomplishments? !
Bobb
*** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
*** as the sender intended. ***
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Aug 2002 09:43:42 -0400
From: "steven kostelecky" <skostelecky@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Otr night night
Had to weigh in here on the sleeping to otr. My wife and I have been
listening to otr on a bedside cassette player/alarm clock for at least 15 or
so years. One of my daughters has picked up the habit and she has been
listening since she was a small child with her Fisher Price cassette and now
with her cd/boombox even after graduating high school. I have to say we
usually listen to detective shows--even missing the endings we found that
comedy was too distracting with active laughing for good sleeping. Just to
break the rule, we have been listening to comedy lately because of other
stresses. I cannot comment on whether or not otr has had an effect on our
romantic lives--that would only be appropriate for another Digest.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Aug 2002 09:43:54 -0400
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Today in radio history
From Those Were The Days --
1921 - KDKA radio in Pittsburgh, PA did the first play-by-play broadcast
of a baseball game. Harold Arlin described the action as the Pirates
beat Philadelphia 8-5.
1924 - The comic strip Little Orphan Annie debuted in the New York Daily
News. Annie and her little dog, Sandy, were creations of cartoonist
Harold Gray. (I tossed this in since she later appeared on radio).
1935 - The radio drama Backstage Wife was first aired -- on the Mutual
Broadcasting System. The show was heard until 1959.
Joe
--
Visit my home page:
[removed]~[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Aug 2002 09:44:40 -0400
From: Derek Tague <derek@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Another Jughead?
Greetings, true believers!
Last week Jay Hickerson sent a notice out that TV comedian Howard Morris
has been added to the bill at this autumn's Friends of Old-Time Radio in
[removed]
It just occurred to me that Mr. Morris provided the speaking voice of
Jughead in the Filmation series "The Archie Show" in the late 60s.
Sorry, Hal, for even bringing this up. To me, you are the ONE & ONLY
Forsythe Pendleton "Jughead" Jones.
It has always been my guess that the the voice actors who provided the TV
voices for the core group of Archie & his gang [among them,
Dallas McKennon, Jane Webb, John Ervin (also the voice of Morris, the 9-Lives
Cat), & the aforementioned Howard Morris] must have studied the voice
characterizations from the 1940s OTR series. McKennon's squeaky Archie voice
harkens back to Bob Hastings; Morris's Jughead is not un-similar to Hal
Stone's; Veronica is portrayed as a Southern belle to the nth degree in both
versions.
Two Jugheads at the same venue? I'm there! But, then again, I'm al-ways at
the Newark [removed] helps immeasurably when you live two towns away.
Yours in the ether,
Derek Tague
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 5 Aug 2002 09:50:23 -0400
From: Jer51473@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: otr baseball announcers
Theres a 30 minute series of shows (im pretty sure its a series) currently
being shown on the YES betwork about the otr announcers. I watched the first
one last night and it was about Ernie Harwell, Mel Allen, Harry Carey, and
Red Barber i think (i missed the first part of it). Anyway, i found it very
interesting and never realized how many diierent teams these guys worked for
over their careers. Good program and i have seen others very similar, but one
announcer is always missing who was, during the fifties, considered at the
very top of the best along with another of my favorites, mel allen. This was
al helfer and in my opinion, there was no one better. He did the Mutual Game
of the Day. Does anyone know of his history and whatever happen to him? He
and allen were considered to be at the very top in the fifties and sixties
and were selected to do the world series together a couple of times. Back to
the YES program, it seems that many, if not most of the great announcers were
from the south ala allen, barber, harwell, and i assume many more. Does
anyone know if this is true and where were some of the other greats from? I
do remember this, during the thirties, forties, and fifties, an astounding
percentage of the major league ballplayers were from the south and by
astounding i mean the majority, with north carolina usually having the most
players(im from va). Can anyone confirm this or correct my memories, and if
correct offer a reason as to why? BTW allan, the giants didnt win the pennant
in 1961 they won in 1962 and once again fell to mel allens yankees.
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #304
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