Subject: [removed] Digest V2007 #257
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 9/6/2007 10:07 PM
To: [removed]@[removed]
Reply-to:
[removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2007 : Issue 257
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  9-6 births/deaths                     [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
  Early cooking shows                   [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
  A Note to Michael Biel                [ Ken Greenwald <kgradio@[removed]; ]
  My Second Favorite Sleigh Rider       [ jameshburns@[removed] (Jim Burns) ]
  Those infernal PSAs                   [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
  "R - E - S - P - E - C - T"           [ Wich2@[removed] ]
  getting in touch                      [ "Bob C" <rmc44@[removed]; ]
  BBC Radio                             [ Graeme Stevenson <graemeotr@[removed] ]
  BBC Radio 4 Archive Hour              [ Graeme Stevenson <graemeotr@[removed] ]
  9-7 births/deaths                     [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]

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

Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2007 22:47:32 -0400
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  9-6 births/deaths

September 6th births

09-06-1881 - Charlie Dale - NYC - d. 11-16-1971
comedian: (Smith and Dale) "Al Jolson"; "Kate Smith"
09-06-1885 - Otto Kruger - Toledo, OH - d. 9-6-1974
actor: "Nobody's Children"
09-06-1888 - Joseph P. Kennedy - East Boston, MA - d. 11-18-1969
ambassador to Great Britain: "Ambassador Joseph Kennedy"
09-06-1889 - John Charles Thomas - Meyersdale, PA - d. 12-13-1960
singer: "John Charles Thomas Program"; "Westinghouse Program"
09-06-1889 - Louis Silvers - NYC - d. 3-26-1954
music director: "Lux Radio Theatre"
09-06-1894 - Billy Mills - Flint, MI - d. 10-20-1971
conductor: "Fibber McGee and Molly"; "Great Gildersleeve"; "Amos 'n'
Andy"
09-06-1899 - Billy Rose - NYC - d. 2-10-1966
creator-stager: "Jumbo Fire Chief Program"
09-06-1900 - Charles Kemper - Oklahoma Territory - d. 5-12-1950
actor: "Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy Show"
09-06-1902 - Morgan Beatty - Little Rock, AR - d. 7-4-1975
newscaster: "News of the World"
09-06-1904 - Maxie Rosenbloom - NYC - d. 3-6-1976
light heavyweight boxing champion, actor: "Slapsie Maxie Show"
09-06-1904 - Mildred Baker - Atlanta, GA - d. unknown
actor: "Roses and Drums"; "Cavalcade of America"; "By Kathleen Norris"
09-06-1908 - Paul Lavalle - Beacon, NY - d. 6-24-1997
conductor: "Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street"; "Dinah
Shore Show"
09-06-1909 - Michael Gordon - Baltimore, MD - d. 4-29-1993
film director: "Screen Director's Playhouse"
09-06-1911 - Eleazar Lipsky - d. 2-14-1993
district attorney, writer: "Indictment"
09-06-1915 - Kleve Kirby - d. 3-5-1949
actor: John Murray "Today's Children"
09-06-1916 - Marie Green - Antrim, NH
vocalist: "Everything Goes"; "Hobby Lobby"; "Alec Templeton Time"
09-06-1918 - Jay Stewart - Summitville, IN - d. 9-17-1989
announcer: "Great Gildersleeve"; "Hollywood Barn Dance"; "Spotlight
on Music"
09-06-1925 - Jimmy Reed - Dunleith, MS - d. 8-29-1976
blues singer, guitarist, harmonica playere: "One Night Stand"
09-06-1930 - Bernard Jaffe - d. 8-2-1993
science writer: "Information, Please"

September 6th deaths

01-22-1914 - Dick Willard - d. 9-6-2000
announcer, emcee: "The Strange Dr. Weird"; "Take it Easy Time"
02-09-1914 - Ernest Tubb - Crisp, TX - d. 9-6-1984
singer: (The Texas Troubador) "Grand Ole Opry"
02-15-1910 - Vladimir Selinsky - Kiev, Russia - d. 9-6-1984
music: "The Doctor Fights"; "The FBI in Peace and War"; "The Electric
Theatre"
03-05-1881 - Toby Gremmer - Bainbridge, GA - d. 9-6-1981
actor: Hermit "The Hermit's Cave"
03-23-1910 - Akira Kurosawa, Tokyo, Japan - d. 9-6-1998
film director: NHK Tokyo, Japan
06-27-1911 - Dr. Jay Morton - Hollywood, CA - d. 9-6-2003
Best know for the catchphrase "Look; up in the sky, etc." on "Superman"
07-04-1900 - Gertrude Lawrence - London, England - d. 9-6-1952
singer, actor: "Royal Gelatin Hour"; "Campbell Playhouse"; "Radio
Reader's Digest"
07-11-1914 - Tommy Bartlett - Milwaukee, WI  - d. 9-6-1998
emcee: "Welcome Travlers"
07-18-1918 - Jane Frazee - Duluth, MN - d. 9-6-1985
vaudeville act with sister
09-06-1885 - Otto Kruger - Toledo, OH - d. 9-6-1974
actor: "Nobody's Children"
09-07-1908 - Max Kaminsky - Brockton, MA - d. 9-6-1994
jazz musician: :This Is Jazz"
09-26-1875 - Edmund Gwenn - Glamorgan, Wales - d. 9-6-1959
actor: Ebenezer Scrooge "Christmas Carol"; "Lux Radio Theatre
10-02-1909 - Alexander Raymond - New Rochelle - d. 9-6-1956
cartoonist: Created Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim
11-14-1920 - Johnny Desmond - Detroit, MI - d. 9-6-1985
singer: "I Sustain the Wings"; "Philip Morris Frolics"; "Songs for Sale"

Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 14:10:55 -0400
From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Early cooking shows

Ginger asks if there are old cooking shows in circulation.  I hadn't thought
there would be any interest in this program for its content as a cooking
show, but I have the original discs of what is probably the earliest cooking
show recording in existence, a Mary Hale Martin cooking program from early
1931 sponsored by Libby McNeil and Libby on NBC out of Chicago.  I'm not
sure if anybody has put my dub of the whole program into circulation yet,
but the closing is circulating because it contains a five-chime version of
the earliest NBC chimes followed by an ID for WBZ/WBZA/W1XAZ
Boston/Springfield, Mass.

Actually there is one earlier recording that includes part of a fake cooking
show.  It is a 1924 comedy record by Billy Jones and Ernie Hare, the
Happiness Boys.  It is called "Listnin' In On Ruby Norton" (Cameo 504,
matrix 835-D, recorded circa Feb 11) and is based on radio stations fading
in and out while interfering with the song Ruby is singing.  One of these
stations fades in for about ten seconds while Ernie is heard saying "Today's
cooking lesson for housewives: take the white of an egg and beat it black
and blue and then you . . . "

The Library of Congress has the collection of Mary Margaret McBride, but I
am not sure if this includes any recordings of her earliest programs where
she portrayed "Martha Deane" and included some cooking tips.  I think there
are some mid-1930s recordings of Alfred and Dora McCann which includes some
health food recipes.  I've only hard tiny excerpts.

Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 14:11:54 -0400
From: Ken Greenwald <kgradio@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  A Note to Michael Biel

Michael Biel wrote:

I disagree with Ken Greenwald when he says that airchecks rarely have
response beyond 5k because AM tuners and radios were rarely made with
response beyond 5k because "To build a radio or tuner that would pick up the
full range of sound transmitted by the network would mean buying a radio
would be far too expensive for the average person." While it is true that
most people would not have been able to afford wide-range radios like those
made by [removed] Scott, professional recording studios could -- and did.
Considering how expensive high quality studio recorders were in those days,
a high quality wide-range tuner was a minor cost-of-doing-business purchase.

What I have found indicates that most am tuners and radios were manufactured
with the lowest common denominator. Meaning that radio manufacturers didn't
bother to have small radios with 4 inch speaks go above 5,000 cycles of
sound. Michael is correct in saying that there were tuners that were full
fidelity. But I have found those tuners were usually bought and used by the
networks or major radio stations that wanted to record from different sources
than their own. Electrovox, one of the major independent recording studios in
Hollywood recorded a vast number of ETs for varios people, including cutting
most of Jack Benny's personal ETs. Benny had Electrovox record his show
because it was convenient for him and it was much cheaper than having a copy
off air done by the network he was broadcasting on. But there was one
problem. Electrovox used a cheap AM tuner. I dubbed some 200 of Benny's
personal ETs that were done by Electrovox (for preservation purposes). I
found the fidelity rarely went above 5,000 cycles of sound. Why Mr. Gotschalk
(don't remember his first name) decided to use an inferior AM tuner in his
lucrative and professional recording studio, I will never understand. So,
even though Michael is correct about there being AM tuners that had greater
fidelity, it has been my experience that most independent recording studios
didn't bother to use an expensive AM tuner to cut a high fidelity ET off the
air. Incidently, it was this same Mr. Gotschalk who, as I understand it,
invented the laquer/acetate coating that covered the aluminum discs. He
invented it back in 1934 and it became a standard for ETs ever since.
My best to you all.
Ken Greenwald
Explore the seven wonders of the world

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

Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 14:14:02 -0400
From: jameshburns@[removed] (Jim Burns)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  My Second Favorite Sleigh Rider

Hey,I'm surprised no one mentioned the full length animated feature film
within the last bunch of years, [removed]

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

Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 14:14:31 -0400
From: <otrbuff@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Those infernal PSAs

Wayne Johnson observed:

I have noticed that Dragnet episodes seem to have a lot of PSAs in them
and I suspect that this is due to the nature/format of the program and the
audience that is attracted.  I can easily remember announcements concerning
polio, drunk driving, hunger, and forrest fires.  Does anyone remember
others from 50-plus years ago that are still of concern in 2007?

None of this was limited to Dragnet, of course.  As sponsors fled,
networks -- I recall CBS doing so especially -- filled the time with often
meaningless drivel, in addition to the incessant "be sure to tune in Monday
night for this important feature" stuff.  To wit, these graphs from an
upcoming tome by me:

As radio sponsors abandoned the hand that fed them-turning to the more
stimulating prospects of video-mass communications' initial form of
amusement and information was defenseless.  Radio thereafter had to limp
along without the big budgets of the advertisers, now focused on the tube.
TV rapidly siphoned off audio's top talent, programs and audiences as well
as its revenues, all of its lifelines to a profitable existence.   It was
too much.  "In radio's last days," obsessed one wag, "some of its favorite
shows suddenly found themselves sponsorless, padded with pallid
public-service announcements that rubbed salt in an open wound."
A well-known media critic languished:  "Unwilling to allow a half-hour drama
to unfold uninterrupted, CBS insisted on at least one interruption in shows
like Gunsmoke, Suspense, and Have Gun, Will Travel, then twiddled away the
time with silly and often sanctimonious public service announcements:  Mail
early in the day for better postal service, Don't lose your head behind the
wheel of a car, etc.  It was almost enough to make a listener nostalgic for
'real' commercials!"

That last quote, incidentally, was from none other than revered media critic
Leonard Maltin, who may have experienced detachment from the process as
chain radio lay dying.  He may have been one of an enormous troupe.

Jim Cox

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

Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 14:15:25 -0400
From: Wich2@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  "R - E - S - P - E - C - T"

Dear Martin

From: Martin Fass <watchstop@[removed];

...it seems to  me that writers who adapt material from
another medium often make arbitrary  choices in changing things, be it a
name or an item of detail in the  dialogue

Ain't it - sadly - the truth?

As a sometime adapter/dramatizer of other material myself, that never  ceases
to amaze me!
Prime example: in the iconic 1931 film of FRANKENSTEIN, Mary Shelly's
original names for the Hero and The Best Friend are switched.

For what possible point? Considering what he accomplishes, Mr.  Frankenstein
was rightly called "Victor" - why make him "Henry"? Yes, when  changing media,
compressing,etc, alterations are sometimes necessary - but why  something
like this?

Maybe they want to demonstrate they are working hard and earning their  fee

More than that, I think it's misplaced ego: "I am making this piece MINE."
Baloney - it takes more ability, and is more laudable, to achieve a really
successful, FAITHFULL adaptation.

Best,
-Craig Wichman
Quicksilver Radio Theater

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

Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 14:15:51 -0400
From: "Bob C" <rmc44@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  getting in touch

I just enjoyed a repeat on the TCM channel Thursday morning of
Robert Osborne's group interview with child stars Darryl Hickman,
Jane Withers, Margaret O'Brien and Dickie Moore. (There were
brief mentions of appearances on the Lux Radio Theatre.)

Can any list members (particularly, you authors) tell me how to
get in touch with any of these people (or other radio
performers)? I tried Googling a couple of their names, but only
came up with IMDB listings or some for-pay company supposedly
with celebrity addresses that may or may not be legit.

Bob Cockrum

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

Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 14:16:48 -0400
From: Graeme Stevenson <graemeotr@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  BBC Radio
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

Readers of the OTR Digest in the UK might be interested to know about a new
book due to be published on 27th September :
  ' Life on Air - A History of Radio 4 '  written by David Hendy. Price
(lb)25 hardback. Published by Oxford University Press.  Full details can be
found on the OUP website.
  September 2007 is the 40th Anniversary of Radio 4, following the closure of
the BBC Home Service.

  Graeme Stevenson   Editor: Tune into Yesterday  ORCA / UK

  *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
  ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 14:16:45 -0400
From: Graeme Stevenson <graemeotr@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  BBC Radio 4 Archive Hour
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The ' Archive Hour ' on BBC Radio 4, Saturday 22nd September, at 8pm UK time
is about the American, German and Czech radio coverage of the 1938 - 39
Czechoslovak Crisis.
  Might be worth US listeners logging on to the BBC website to download this
programme.

  Graeme Stevenson  ORCA / UK

  *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
  ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 23:53:54 -0400
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  9-7 births/deaths

September 7th births

09-07-1888 - Alec Harford - London, England - d. 3-31-1955
actor: "Escape"; "NBC University Theatre"; "Romance"
09-07-1891 - Roscoe Karns - San Bernadino, CA - d. 2-6-1970
actor: "Hollywood Hotel"
09-07-1900 - Emerson Treacy - Philadelphia, PA - d. 1-10-1967
actor: Fred Thompson "One Man's Family"
09-07-1903 - Margaret Landon - Somers, WI - d. 12-4-1993
author: "Lux Radio Theatre"
09-07-1905 - Ivy Maude Baker Priest - Kimberly, UT - d. 6-23-1975
treasurer of the united states: "Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy Show"
09-07-1907 - Johnny McAfee - d. 10-xx-1982
vocalist: (Harry James Band) "Chesterfield Time"
09-07-1908 - Max Kaminsky - Brockton, MA - d. 9-6-1994
jazz musician: :This Is Jazz"
09-07-1909 - Elia Kazan - Constantinople, Turkey - d. 9-28-2003
film director, actor: "Free Company"; "Philip Morris Playhouse"
09-07-1910 - Don Ried - d. 9-16-1996
vocalist: "The Jack Kirkwood Show"
09-07-1913 - Anthony Quayle - Ainsdale, England - d. 10-20-1989
actor:  Guest Panelist "[removed]"
09-07-1920 - Mende Brown - d. 2-2-2002
director: "The Affairs of Peter Salem"
09-07-1921 - Art Ferrante - NYC
pianist: (Ferrante and Teicher) "The Zero Hour"
09-07-1923 - Peter Lawford - London, England - d. 12-24-1984
actor: "Radio Reader's Digest"; "Suspense"
09-07-1927 - Don Messick - Buffalo, NY - d. 10-24-1997
actor: "Let George Do It"; "Horizons West"; "NBC University Theatre"
09-07-1930 - Sonny Rollins - Harlem, NY
jazz saxophonist: "White House Jazz Festival"
09-07-1936 - Buddy Holly - Lubbock, TX - d. 2-3-1959
singer: "Sunday Party"; "Buddy and Bob Show"

September 7th deaths

05-18-1912 - John Campbell Crosby - Milwaukee, WI - d. 9-7-1991
radio critic: New York Herald Tribune
05-20-1934 - Ken Boyer - Liberty, MO - d. 9-7-1982
baseball player: "Tops in Sports"
05-29-1911 - Vivi Janiss - Nebraska - d. 9-7-1988
actor: (Married to John Larch) Kit Calvert "Aunt Mary"
06-06-1917 - Maria Montez - Barahona, Dominican Republic - d. 9-7-1951
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
06-20-1924 - Billie Lou Watt - St. Louis, MO - d. 9-7-2001
actor: "Land of the Free"; "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"
07-29-1892 - Horace Braham - London, England - d. 9-7-1955
actor: Charles Lang "Wendy Warren and the News"; Ernest Benning "Big
Sister"
09-14-1918 - Mike Stokey - Shreveport, LA - d. 9-7-2003
announcer: "One Night Stand"
09-24-1900 - Ham Fisher - Wilkes-Barre, PA - d. 9-7-1955
cartoonist: (Creator of Joe Palooka) "Raleigh Room"; "Philco Radio Time"
09-26-1889 - Frank Crumit - Jackson, OH - d. 9-7-1943
singer, emcee: "Blackstone Plantation"; "Battle of the Sexes";
"Singing Sweethearts"
10-13-1900 - Georgia Backus - Columbus, OH - d. 9-7-1983
actor: Peg Riley "Life of Riley"; Portia Brent "Brenthouse"; Doris
Foster "A Date with Judy"
10-17-1893 - Spring Byington - Colorado Springs, CO - d. 9-7-1971
actor: Lily Ruskin "December Bride"
11-07-1906 - Red Ingle - Toledo, OH - d. 9-7-1965
vocalist: (Spike Jones and his City Slickers) "The Spike Jones Show"
11-27-1890 - Gladys Rice - Philadelphia, PA - d. 9-7-1983
singer: "Roxy's Gang"; "Lucky Strike Dance Orchestra"; "Voice of
Firestone"
12-20-1920 - Dennis Morgan - Prentice, WI - d. 9-7-1994
actor, singer: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "[removed] Steel Hour"; "Screen Guild
Theatre"

Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2007 Issue #257
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