Subject: [removed] Digest V2001 #251
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 8/4/2001 8:19 AM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2001 : Issue 251
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Nick Danger                           [ [removed]@[removed] ]
  kaddish (prayer for the dead) for WE  [ "Art Shifrin" <goldens2@[removed] ]
  WEVD                                  [ mkarp@[removed] ]
  Re: Encyclopedia of American Radio    [ "Stewart Wright" <stewwright@worldn ]
  Sies book                             [ otrbuff@[removed] ]
  Shadow and Detectives                 [ "Strauss, Jerry" <[removed]@SSA ]
  Blondie!!!!!                          [ AandG4jc@[removed] ]
  Memorable "Shadow" Episodes           [ DLSharp500@[removed] ]
  Re: Shows That Made You Cry           [ Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed]; ]
  Subject: OTR PARODYS: AN ALBUM AND O  [ Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed]; ]
  Firesign Theatre                      [ "George Tirebiter" <tirebiter2@hotm ]
  Format changes                        [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]
  Changing call letters                 [ George Aust <austhaus1@[removed] ]
  Five Minute Mysteries                 [ "Poindexter" <poindexter@[removed]; ]
  Re: Shows That Made You Cry           [ Alan Bell <bella@[removed]; ]
  Shows That Made You Cry               [ "Frosty R. Povick" <Frosty@prodigy. ]
  Bob Hope and Fred Allen on TV Sunday  [ Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed]; ]
  kenny baker                           [ "Ed Carr" <edcarr@[removed]; ]
  friendly help                         [ "Ed Carr" <edcarr@[removed]; ]
  "Remember the Golden Days of Radio"   [ "Edwin H. Humphrey" <beepa3@hotmail ]

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

Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 12:07:59 -0400
From: [removed]@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Nick Danger

I am so surprised (and glad) to see The Firesign Theatre
being discussed.  Been a fan of theirs for years.

As for the 5-part Nick Danger - It was 'The Case Of The Missing
Shoe'.  Very funny serial.

8'>

I do have that available to send to anyone via email if they
would like a copy.  Just email me at froggieville@[removed].

Elizabeth

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

Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 12:32:41 -0400
From: "Art Shifrin" <goldens2@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  kaddish (prayer for the dead) for WEVD

This is terrible news.

Their programming wasn't just Yiddish and left wing.  My neighbor's parents
( a terrific coincidence) had a Polish language series on WEVD for almost 50
years.  Her Dad was an accomplished, highly educated dentist who lacked the
lingual skills to get a license here in NY.  He was a very gregarious chap,
and wound up at the station doing writing and was on-air talent.  He met his
future wife at the station: she was hired as an assistant.  Natasha has a
TON of ET's, tapes, sample disks (sent to the station by record companies)
et. al. that the family stored safely.  She's not yet ready to deal with
them, because her mother's death was a few years ago.  But, I have her
solemn promise that she'll do nothing with the materials without first
consulting me.  My wife and I are good friends with her and her husband.  We
have keys to ech others' homes, take care of each others' dogs, etc.

Here in NYC, especially in this borough of Queens we have substantial ethnic
diversity.  The largest greek speaking population in the world (excepting
Greece) is right here, in the Astoria section.  Flushing (different
neighborhoods of Queens are still known by their original names that
preceded the City's incorporation in 1998) has become a veritable far east,
with a rich mixture of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai et. al.).  What WEVD
did for years is now accomplished via UHF and cable channels.

Best,
Shiffy

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

Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 12:50:18 -0400
From: mkarp@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  WEVD

I too remember WEVD. My parents used to listen to yiddish programs on
Sun. mornings, and later I used to listen to Bernard Meltzer,who came
over from WOR, and to Bill Mazur who came from wnbc, after it became
WFAN. In later years it was a sad station mostly shilling for paid
program of the get rich quick or cure what ails you type. However I
dislike that so many areas have nothing but the same programing on. No
one seems to have any imagination.
mike karp

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

Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 16:30:00 -0400
From: "Stewart Wright" <stewwright@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Encyclopedia of American Radio

Encyclopedia of American Radio 1920--1960

        Comprising nearly 29,000 entries in over 900 very large pages, this
massive volume covers the performers and programming on American radio from
its inception to near the end of its Golden Age. The OTR hobbyist will find
lots of information about series and major performers and crew.

        The Encyclopedia also includes thousands of short entries (one to
three lines) for local announcers, orchestras, musicians, vocalists,
comedians, vocal groups, readers, ministers, sports commentators, reviewers,
celebrities, and other personnel broadcasting over American radio from the
1920s to the 1960s.

        Additional entries cover listings of commercial radio stations and
such topics as :  Black Radio, Border Radio, Charlatans - Demagogues -
Politicians, Comedy and Humor, Opera on Radio, Religious Broadcasting,
Sports Broadcasting, Daytime Dramatic Serials, and other topics.

        There are also three separate indices:  Stations, Programs, and
Names.  The indices alone encompass about 200 pages.

        A very useful reference tool.  It has a lot of information that you
will not find in Dunning's books.  It is a good complement to the major OTR
reference book.  As with any OTR book you will find some errors. but is
generally very well-researched.  I find that is one of the more useful
reference available on OTR and consult it on a regular basis.

        As to whether it is worth the hefty price - $[removed], I will leave
that up to you.  I got my copy during a McFarland promotion for half price.

        You may be able to find the Encyclopedia of American Radio
1920--1960 at a local public or university library and make your own,
hands-on evaluation.


Signing off for now

Stewart Wright

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

Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 16:30:01 -0400
From: otrbuff@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Sies book

Tom Kleinschmidt inquires about Luther F. Sies' huge volume,
"Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920-1960."   I have a copy and it has
been discussed on the OTR forum, though perhaps not since it was first
issued (I received mine 4-11-00).  It is a giant work, the largest OTR
volume I own, with 28,884 entries spread across 904 pages.  (The
dimensions alone are formidable, 8-5/8"x11-3/8" and over 2" thick.)
Naturally, Sies doesn't begin to give the depth and attention to most
series that Dunning and others of that ilk do.  But a redeeming factor is
that so many more shows are included, possibly more than in any other
single volume.

I can testify from my own research that there is a wealth of information
to be gained in what Sies provides, although -- like the others one could
name -- some errors have inadvertently crept in.  The casual reader might
find it disappointing that the bulk of those myriad entries deal with
little known performers at obscure low-watt stations in the hinterlands
who maybe played the piano or sang or announced briefly in the 1920s or
1930s and never left a significant impact on the industry.

>From a researcher's stand, I felt it was worth the price; to simply own
it as one more OTR treasure I doubt would be worth the cost (about $135
as I recall) for the bulk of hobbyists.  You might look it up in local
public or college libraries and check it out to be sure before ordering.
There are no pictures included but notwithstanding, Sies has made a
valuable contribution to honest research into vintage radio.

Jim Cox

Jim Cox

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

Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 16:31:12 -0400
From: "Strauss, Jerry" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Shadow and Detectives

The merits of The Shadow has been recently discussed here.  I am in the I
don't get The Shadow group.  I've never liked the show and I have listened
to what I consider a representative sample.  I've always thought of The
Shadow as belonging to a group of juvenile shows, those in which the
villains are fairly stupid and speak with deese and dohs, yiz and youze.
Now, I realize that this is not true of all of The Shadows.  Still, radio
made giant leaps in the next two decades with much better shows that
appealed to more adult audiences.  Although, there is the relationship
between Lamont and Margo to consider, but that's another story.

On another note, in considering all of the detectives appearing on the
airwaves, the Agatha Christie folks, Poirot, Marple, et al, are
conspicuously absent from radio.  Does anyone know why?

Jerry Strauss

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

Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 16:31:22 -0400
From: AandG4jc@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Blondie!!!!!

    Does anyone know if Penny Singleton is still alive? I am a very big fan
of the Blondie films and the radio series. I am trying to start up a web
page, about Blondie, dedicated to the films and radio series. I know Arthur
Lake passed on some time ago but I have never heard anything on Miss
Singleton. Any Blondie information would help.
Allen

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

Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 17:00:27 -0400
From: DLSharp500@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Memorable "Shadow" Episodes

Many here have been mentioning some of their favorite episodes
of The Shadow. Among them are also some of my favorites,
particularly - "The Gibbering Things", "The Shadow Challenged" and
"The Temple Bells of Neban".

But, my favorite all time episode is one that no one has mentioned.
That would be "Death to The Shadow" from the 1943-44 season.
In this episode the villain has a TV device that allows him to look
into any room, anywhere, at any time. Now, The Shadow can make
himself invisible to human eyes, but not to a TV camera. Very
suspenseful show. The villain knows who The Shadow is!!! Will he
reveal it to the world? Will his ability to see The Shadow allow him to
kill our hero? If you haven't heard this show, it's great.

David Sharp

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

Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 17:35:42 -0400
From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Shows That Made You Cry

From: ArtsMilitaria@[removed] (Arthur Funk)

It's the final episode in a story line involving a foundling
infant that Gildy was caring for and was planning to adopt.
In a very tender finale to the story, the father appears and,
after wrestling with his conscience, Gildy decides the right
thing to do is to set aside his own feelings and return the
child to its father.  Art Funk

It probably is not a coincidence that this is just about the exact plot
used again several times in TV.  I recall both an episode of Jackie
Gleason's "The Honeymooners" as well as Carrol O'Connors's "All In The
Family." Both were very moving.

Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 22:26:46 -0400
From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Subject:  OTR PARODYS: AN ALBUM AND ON TV SHOWS

From: "Owens Pomeroy" <opomeroy@[removed];
I am surprised no one mentioned Vaughn Meader and his Album that
does a fantastic parody of the Kennedy Family back in the 1960's
and especially his radio press conference cut. A real gem!

I'm not surprised.  It probably wasn't mentioned because the Kennedy
press conferences were more of a TV phenonemon than radio.  They were
staged and scheduled specifically for television.  All three TV networks
usually aired them live, which meant that there was practically nothing
else on, whereas on radio there were always plenty of alternatives even
when stations did air them.  Meader's Kennedy press conference
impression was very much a TV thing, too.  For five months before the
album was made, almost every TV appearance he made--including the first
one on CBS's "Celebrity Talent Scouts--was in the press conference
genre.

I notice someone has the album for sale on ebay and the
top bid now is $100.    Owens Pomeroy

Are you SURE about this??  My ebay search turned up eight copies priced
from $[removed] to $[removed] without any bids on any of them.  There is even a
copy of the scarcer Vol. 2 at $[removed] without any bids.  "The First
Family" album is one of the most commonly found records around--there's
scarcely a flea market in the country where a copy cannot be found!
(There are, however, 6 bids currently on a VHS videotape of "The First
Family of Satanism"--but even this is nowhere close to $100!)

Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 22:27:01 -0400
From: "George Tirebiter" <tirebiter2@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Firesign Theatre

Hello All,

Dave Walter wrote:

Around 1981, Rhino Records issued a Firesign Theater album of an all new
Nick Danger story in a five-piece sequence, furthering the bit's obvious
inspiration from "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar."

This was NICK DANGER: THE CASE OF THE MISSING SHOE was it not?

George

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

Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 22:28:19 -0400
From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Format changes

For those of you familiar with New York radio there's sad news-WEVD 1050 
will disappear at the end of the month and emerge as WESPN(?) sports radio.
Someone can correct me but WEVD has been around for decades, long a voice
of for the left and for Yiddish broacasting.

The call letters honor Eugene V Debs.

Cleveland's WRMR, (formerly the WJW of my childhood) broadcast old music up 
to a short time ago.  It's just become a sports-talk station.

M Kinsler

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

Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 22:28:17 -0400
From: George Aust <austhaus1@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Changing call letters

It may not be of much importance to this list, but Ed Ellers writing
about changing call letters wrote "About the same time (the 1950's) NBC
changed their call letters in Los Angeles  from  KNBC to KRCA."
Now I am going strictly by memory but I don't think so. NBC  TV in LA
was KNBH from the very beginig in the late 40's. San Francisco radio had
the KNBC call letters at the time. It was (again from memory here)
probably in the 1970's when they switched  the KNBC call letters to Los
Angeles. Of course just a few years ago they dropped the " K"
altogether. It's Just NBC 4 LA now. I was gone overseas in the Army for
a couple of years in the 50's but I never heard of any changes at all.

George Aust

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

Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 22:28:15 -0400
From: "Poindexter" <poindexter@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Five Minute Mysteries

Simple question about about Lt. Fletcher in Five Minute Mysteries.

Is it Lovejoy or is it Maxwell?

I thought it was Frank Lovejoy, but now I'm not so sure. Anyone know?

Thanks.

Poindexter

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

Date: Sat, 4 Aug 2001 01:17:59 -0400
From: Alan Bell <bella@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Shows That Made You Cry

Try this one. The Gunsmoke episode titled (for some reason), "I Don't
Know." Date 12/6/52.

A family is looking for their father out in the wilderness and Matt
and Chester join in. Without relating the plot, suffice it to say
that the picture of the young boy who watches as Dad is taken away is
absolutely heartbreaking. I played that for a class once and had to
leave the room so I wouldn't embarrass myself.

Incidentally, as an aside, I found it oddly coincidental that I read
the message asking for information about the Jack Benny Longines
Symphonette records just as I was copying them to my computer hard
drive in order to burn a CD. Weird. Too bad I can't offer any further
information about dates. Seems like I acquired them in the early
'70s, but I suspect they date from the mid to late '60s. I remember
that it used to irritate me no end that records did not have
copyright dates.

AB
--
Alan Bell
Grandville, MI
bella@[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 4 Aug 2001 01:17:56 -0400
From: "Frosty R. Povick" <Frosty@[removed];
To: OTR Rountable <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Shows That Made You Cry

To:ArtsMilitaria@[removed] (Arthur Funk)

The one that gets me is also a Gildersleeve show: Why The
Chimes Rang.  It's my favorite Christmas radio show also.

frosty

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

Date: Sat, 4 Aug 2001 01:17:52 -0400
From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Bob Hope and Fred Allen on TV Sunday

This Sunday, August 5, at 9:30 [removed] and 1:30 [removed] Eastern Daylight
Time,  Game Show Network is airing a "What's My Line" where Allen is on
the panel with Arlene Francis, Dorothy Kilgallen, and Bennett Cerf.
John Charles Daly is the host, of course, and Hope is the mystery guest.

Leah Biel (Michael's daughter)    mbiel@[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 4 Aug 2001 01:17:50 -0400
From: "Ed Carr" <edcarr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  kenny baker

to
kennyfan
he was in the railroad hour's version of
the mikado, just came across it while
recording the shows
ed

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

Date: Sat, 4 Aug 2001 01:17:49 -0400
From: "Ed Carr" <edcarr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  friendly help

hi
i want to thank mark reesor for finding me a site
to obtain a schematic, why can't i find these things
thanks, ed

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

Date: Sat, 4 Aug 2001 10:18:17 -0400
From: "Edwin H. Humphrey" <beepa3@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  "Remember the Golden Days of Radio"

I have a five LP version of that Longines presentation that I purchased
sometime in the late '60's.  So the one mentioned probably came out after
that.  I have heard it somewhere and it contains some of the same material.
The edition I have was my first OTR purchase and has been well-used and much
liked.  ED HUMPHREY

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2001 Issue #251
*********************************************

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]

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]