------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2003 : Issue 367
A Part of the [removed]!
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Re: Short Wave Radio Wanted [ passage@[removed] ]
Early Radio and Networks [ "RBB" <oldradio@[removed]; ]
Short Wave Radio [ "RBB" <oldradio@[removed]; ]
Daws on NPR [ benohmart@[removed] ]
Radio Drama and the BBC [ "Don Belden" <[removed]@[removed]; ]
Re: A&A Rehearsals [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
today show recorded [ "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed]; ]
On the Air [ "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed]; ]
Errors in Dunning [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
Elliott Roosevelt [ Allen J Hubin <ajhubin@[removed]; ]
Father Coughlin in a Elliot Roosevel [ "[removed]" <ddunfee@[removed]; ]
10-11 births/deaths [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
Re: Speaking of Radio [ OTRGURU@[removed] ]
Re: Kent Allard, [removed] The Shadow [ SanctumOTR@[removed] ]
Radio drama dead? [ lawrence albert <albertlarry@yahoo. ]
Thanks to All [ "mike kerezman" <philipmarlowe@cfai ]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2003 17:55:21 -0400
From: passage@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Short Wave Radio Wanted
Mike Kerezman wrote:
I'm wanting to find a good but relatively inexpensive radio that can
pickup short wave broadcasts here in the United States. Any help
would be appreciated.
Check out Universal Radio's site at [removed].
Go to the "Receivers: Shortwave Portable" section. There's a lot of
decent radios there, but I'd recommend any of the Sangean ones. The
ones in the price range starting at about $80 are decent performers.
Radio Shack carries a lot of them (the Sangeans) under their name
and can be a good value if you find them on sale.
Some of the Grundigs and Sonys listed there are also nice radios.
A lot depends on how inexpensive you want to go.
There's a lot others scattered around the Internet. Try searching
for "shortwave receiver". Use Universal's prices as a guide.
Frank
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2003 17:56:06 -0400
From: "RBB" <oldradio@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Early Radio and Networks
<<George Aust asked about early radio stations and networks>>
This is not exactly what you're looking for, George, but here's
a listing of AM stations with network affilliations in 1949.
Listed as well is the year that the stations went on the air, so you could,
perhaps, interpert their network affiliations for earlier years:
[removed]
Also, [removed] for radio
stations on the 550 to 1500 AM dial in 1934, and
[removed] for radio
stations on the 550 to 1600 AM dial in 1942.
Russ Butler oldradio@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2003 19:19:01 -0400
From: "RBB" <oldradio@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Short Wave Radio
<<Mike Kerezman was looking for an inexpensive, shortwave radio>>>
In my Sunday, USA Today magazine, there is an ad for a Bell and Howell "Nine
Band World Radio" for just $[removed] ([removed] shipping) with AM-FM and 7
Shortwave bands and bonus TV audio channels, (but that would make it 10
bands, yes?) battery powered and it's a handy size, 5X3X1 inches. The name
is reputable and the price seems low enough to take a chance. Available
from:
Value Express, PO Box 1127, Des Moines, IA 50340-1227
Online, another vendor offers it for $[removed] + $[removed] S&H at
[removed] and eBay has them at auction/sale for
less than either vendor. A Google search for "Bell and Howell" gives you
yet more purchase options. You said "inexpensive" and that would be $[removed]
or less.
(I'm no way connected with any of these, just passing along the
information.)
Russ Butler oldradio@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2003 20:17:15 -0400
From: benohmart@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Daws on NPR
Happily, there's a short piece on NPR, broadcast just today, on Daws Butler
I'm sure
you'll all be interested in hearing. You can listen online at:
[removed]
Enjoy!
Ben
The Great Gildersleeve book
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2003 20:17:23 -0400
From: "Don Belden" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Radio Drama and the BBC
I thought some of you might like proof that radio drama is not dead. At least
it is not in the UK. Check this site.
[removed]
Don in Denver
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2003 23:07:46 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: A&A Rehearsals
On 10/9/03 4:45 PM [removed]@[removed] wrote:
How did the Amos & Andy rehearsals that survive come into circulation among
collectors? Is there a story behind this? Are there others that do not
circulate?
That's a good question, and I don't have a positive answer abotu how
these particular recordings -- most of which seem to be from 1950-51 --
found their way into circulation. But I *can* tell you that rehearsals
were routinely recorded during A&A's sitcom era, going back as early as
1944, and at least one additional rehearsal recording exists at the
Library of Congress.
Most of the 1950-51 rehearsal recordings seem to be of runthrus, rather
than dress rehearsals -- the music bridges are absent, and you'll notice
that the actors seem to be making a deliberate effort to save their
voices for the actual broadcast. This is especially true of Freeman
Gosden, who can be heard trying to avoid straining his voice by rarely
raising it into the proper register to do Amos's lines (it had, by this
time, become quite uncomfortable for him to do Amos's voice, perhaps as a
consequence of age.)
During the early years of their sitcom run, A&A did what they called a
'preview' of each week's broadcast. Two days before the airdate, a full
dress rehearsal was put on before a live audience, and was recorded --
and these recordings were carefully analyzed to properly time the lines
for laughs and to determine where weak spots existed in the dialogue.
This rather mechanical technique was a far cry from the serial era, when
Correll and Gosden absolutely refused to rehearse -- making a point of
hitting the microphone cold each night to ensure that their dialogue came
across as genuine and spontaneous instead of slick and rehearsed.
Elizabeth
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 00:20:00 -0400
From: "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: today show recorded
Hi Everybody,
in the last digest a post talk about how are radio stations recording there
shows. KABC the famous talk radio station in [removed] told me that they keep
their shows for 30 days, then they toss them out. I contacted Michael
Jackson "the talk show host," and he told me he kept copies of his
celebrities interview on tape, and if he could get back on air he will use
them. I just produce an interview with
Ray Briem hosted by Frank Bresee. We are going to feature allot of
recordings that Ray brought over for the interview. Ray was on national for
7 years on ABC radio network, and interview many old time radio
personalities. Thus I think the best way to find recordings today or since
1962 is to contact the host of the show rather than the radio station.
Talking about interviews the estate of Bobby troop is going to sell Bobby
archive of interviews. Bobby interview over 200 personalities of Jazz, and
I am being sent a highlight package of them. Take care,
Walden Hughes
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 01:37:47 -0400
From: "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: On the Air
Hi Everybody,
in the last digest a post talk about if their any mistake in John Dunning
book. I recall a interview that John gave to the gassman when the book came
out that he was getting letters pointing out mistake. John had to fight
hard for keeping the size of the book. In fact he wanted to add more
detail, but ran out of pages. Two example of that I notice is the piece on
Bob Hope. There very little mention about Bob cast in the late 1940s. In
fact I don,t think Doris Day is mention, and Bill Farrell. The Horn and
Hardit Children hour is another example. The piece on the show should be
devoted more on it days in Philadelphia. The show started there in 1927,
and Kitty Kallen was the main star of the show for many hours and she was
not mention. The show rotated the children from week to week except for
Kitty who stayed on every week for the show. Ezra Stone got his start in
Philadelphia there, and later in the run Eddie Fisher. I know it was also
in New York but with a different cast and I be the show had it own stars.
Kitty Kallen is not mention in other shows she work on too. This is not
John fault but he just was not able to have that information. Take care,
Walden Hughes
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 09:48:20 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Errors in Dunning
On 10/9/03 4:45 PM [removed]@[removed] wrote:
I love "On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio" by John Dunning. It
is favorite reference source for old time radio. Has anyone ever found any
mistakes in it?
I don't like to criticize other people's work -- especially a work as
monumental as Dunning's -- but yes, the book *does* contain errors, which
seem to be a function of the quality of source materials used.
Speaking only for my own area of expertise, "Amos 'n' Andy," Dunning's
entry on that series contains over two dozen errors, ranging from minor
to significant -- and most of them are traceable directly to the primary
source he used for the entry, a 1972 "New York Times Magazine" feature
article by Thomas Meehan, which was a casual nostalgia piece and not a
work of scholarship. Much of Dunning's entry on A&A is taken nearly
word-for-word from the Meehan article, and repeats many of its factual
errors. In addition, Dunning's A&A cast listing duplicates a number of
the errors found in Buxton/Owen, and adds at least one of his own.
I'm sure experts on other series could document similar errors, usually
traceable to the use of secondary sources. I do find Dunning a very handy
ready-reference when I need to get the quick gist of a series, but there
are points where "lore" and "fact" often get confused, and one needs to
keep this in mind when using the work. As I've said before, as long as
there's research to be done and primary sources to be uncovered, *no*
reference source is truly definitive.
Elizabeth
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 09:48:32 -0400
From: Allen J Hubin <ajhubin@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Elliott Roosevelt
For Kenneth Clarke: it was William Harrington,
not Michael Harrington, who was the (primary)
ghost for Elliott Roosevelt.
Al Hubin
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 09:49:01 -0400
From: "[removed]" <ddunfee@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Father Coughlin in a Elliot Roosevelt mystery
Mention was made a few days ago about the subject. Do any of his
broadcasts exist? I don't particularly want to hear one but would be
interested to hear about his brodcasts from one who has. All I know is
from mention of what others have written about him but not with regard to
specific broadcast content. I brought up the Elliot Roosevelt mysteries.
In the one just finished the subject was seen in a bar with a woman and
reference to his broadcasts was made. These little sidebars make the books
interesting and one gets the feeling that they are based at least in part
on information not generally known to the public.
xv
ic|xc
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 09:49:12 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 10-11 births/deaths
October 11th births
10-11-1884 - Albert Stoessel - St. Louis, MO - d. 5-12-1943
conductor: Oratorio Society of New York, Chautauqua Symphony
10-11-1884 - Eleanor Roosevelt - NYC - d. 11-7-1962
commentator: "Eleanor Roosevelt Chats/It"s a Woman"s World/Talks by Eleanor
Roosevelt"
10-11-1926 - Earle Hyman - Rocky Mount, NC
actor: "Story of Ruby Valentine"
October 11th deaths
02-02-1923 - Bonita Granville - Chicago, IL - d. 10-11-1988
actress: "Continental Celebrity Club"; "Stars Over Hollywood"
03-22-1891 - Chico Marx - NYC - d. 10-11-1961
comedian: Emmanuel Revelli "Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel"
08-08-1895 - Nat Pendelton - Davenport, IA - d. 10-11-1967
actor: "Dr. Kildare"
11-07-1890 - Phil Spitalny - Odessa, Russia - d. 10-11-1970
conductor: "Nestles Chocolateers"; "Blue Coal Revue"; "Hour of Charm"
12-03-1907 - Connee Boswell - New Orleans, LA - d. 10-11-1976
singer: "Kraft Music Hall"; "Chesterfield Supper Club"; "You Said It"
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 13:01:05 -0400
From: OTRGURU@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Speaking of Radio
Here's a shameless plug for my new book which is now out and which I will
have with me at the FOTR in Newark THIS MONTH and at SPERDVAC in LA next
month.
Nine Radio Hall of Famers are among the 46 stars of the Golden Age of Radio
who talk about their careers in the new book, "Speaking of Radio" by
broadcaster/historian Chuck Schaden.
Painting a word picture of the golden age of radio and who gave me one-on-one
interviews offering personal, behind-the-scenes recollections of their work
on the air are Don Ameche, Eve Arden, Jack Benny, Edgar Bergen, Norman Corwin,
Ralph Edwards, Jim Jordan, Kate Smith and Les Tremayne (who also wrote the
foreword for the book).
For example, Jim Jordan told me "In those days, you didn't speak of it as a
radio job, because radio didn't pay anybody any money. All you did was go in
and perform. You could walk in off the street, into any radio station, and
they were glad to have you. If you had a ukulele under your arm, you could
go to
work. For nothing."
Other stars who recall their radio days in the book are Bret Morrison, Rudy
Vallee, Dennis Day, Don Wilson, Ken Carpenter, Howard Duff, Ezra Stone, Agnes
Moorehead and Mercedes McCambridge. Plus Howard Koch, Carlton E. Morse, Tony
Randall, Harold Peary, Willard Waterman, Lillian Randolph, Mary Lee Robb,
Harry
Von Zell, Bill Baldwin and others.
Ken Carpenter told me, "I remember the introduction for Eddy Duchin, 'the
inimitable piano fingers of Eddy Duchin.' Now, you wanted to say that one
real
fast, and as the announcer, I did it for some time. You would just stand
there
and blood would pour down your face. In an up-voice, too! That was a brute."
The 425-page book sells for $27 plus S&H and tax if applicable. For more
information, or to order the book, please visit our secure website
[removed]
Thanks,
Chuck Schaden
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 13:06:33 -0400
From: SanctumOTR@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Kent Allard, [removed] The Shadow
In a message dated 10/9/03 3:44:10 PM, Kenneth Clarke writes:
BTW, who is this Kent Allard (?) person I've
heard about and what connection does he have with
"The Shadow"? I think someone is pulling my leg
when they suggested he was the Shadow. (Wasn't
that Lamont Cranston?) If, indeed this person existed,
could he have been one of the many agents working
for the Shadow? Was this person ever mentioned in
either the OTR series or in any of the Street and Smith
pulp magazines? If so, which ones?
***Walter Gibson introduced the character of Lamont Cranston in his second
SHADOW NOVEL, "Eyes of The Shadow," published in 1931 in the second issue of THE
SHADOW MAGAZINE. However, in his third novel, "The Shadow Laughs," Walt
established that Cranston was only one of many identities assumed by The Shadow
(and not the master crimefighter's true identity). In a chapter titled,
"Lamont Cranston Talks to Himself," the globe-trotting millionaire is awakened by
a strange visitor who identifies himself as The Shadow: "That is but one
identity. I have other personalities that I assume as easily as I don my cloak
and hat. One of my personalities is Lamont Cranston. In the past, I have used
it while you were away." The Shadow encourages/coerces the real Cranston to
again take off for foreign lands so that he can again utilize the identity.
Later on, The Shadow would occasionally team up with the real Cranston, who
sometimes operated as a quasi-agent.
Walt desired to keep The Shadow a true man of mystery, and believed that
revealing his true identity would make him, well, less shadowy, which is why he
early established that Cranston was not the Dark Avenger's true identity. For
years, he dropped tantalizing hints concerning The Shadow's mysterious
background as an aviator and former spy. However, by 1937, Walt and SHADOW
MAGAZINE-editor John Nanovic decided that the Cranston identity had been utilized so
often that readers thought of The Shadow as Cranston, and decided to reveal The
Shadow's true identity as a way of reestablishing that Cranston was only a
mask/disquise. In the August 1, 1937 issue, Gibson finally revealed The Shadow's
origins and true identity in "The Shadow Unmasks." When the real Lamont
Cranston is injured in a well-publicized plane crash overseas, the Dark Avenger is
forced to resume his true identity as the famous aviator Kent Allard,
"supposedly lost amidst a tribe of Xinca Indians in the Yucatan Peninsula at the very
time an amazing personage known as The Shadow had first begun to harass
America's unwanted gangland." That Kent Allard was The Shadow's true identity is
simply another example of Walter Gibson's misdirection and literary sleight of
hand. Walt loved layers of mystery.
During the next year and a half (culminating in "The Silver Skull, January 1,
1939), Kent Allard was featured in about half of Gibson's SHADOW novels.
However, the increasing popularity of the radio series led Cranston to be firmly
established as The Shadow's alter ego, and an editorial decision was made to
focus on Cranston in the pulp magazines, and to introduce Margo Lane into the
pulps. (When Gibson was instructed to introduce the radio character of Margo
into his novels, he established that Margo had met the real Lamont Cranston on
an ocean cruise, and mistakenly attached herself to his impersonator upon her
return to New York.) Allard appeared in only three novels in 1940 and four in
1941, then was not mentioned again until 1946. Allard (and the real Lamont
Cranston) faded into the shadows as the Cranston identity increasingly took
center stage. In fact, Bruce Elliott took over writing the novels in 1946 and
featured only Cranston, not The Shadow, in four of his 15 SHADOW DIGEST
stories.
--ANTHONY TOLLIN
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 14:48:58 -0400
From: lawrence albert <albertlarry@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Radio drama dead?
Art Chimes Wrote:
"Despite the efforts of many fine theater groups and radio
stations that do work to keep the art form alive, I don't
see it as anything other than a niche product that may
continue to thrive (artistically, and with a tiny fan base),
but one destined never again to take center stage in the home
entertainment experience of the vast majority of Americans.
I'm afraid I have to agree with Art that the fan
base for radio drama is small, however, I firmly
believe it is growing. Imagination Theatre has been on
the air now for over 7 years, every week, 52 weeks a
year. The listeners we have cross over all lines of
age, based on the mail we recieve, and with the new
technology of satillite radio we are reaching new
audiences every day. Of course we're not alone out
there. VOA, The Twilight Zone, Adventures in Odessey
and and all of the dedicated radio theater groups are
working hard to keep this form of entertainment alive.
Art is quite right when he says the robust days
of radio drama are over but in the "niche" market in
which it finds itself today, radio drama in America is
far from dead nor is it moribund. Our (Imagination
Theatre) rateing numbers alone convince me of this.
Current producers, for the most part, must and
have have adapted to the times and thru the internet,
XM & Serius satellite systems, NPR and commercial
radio they will continue to reach and enthrall the
growing numbers of individuals who are falling onto
our niche.
Hi Brown didn't go to the funeral because their
wasn't a corpse to be buried only an old girl trying
on some new clothes.
Larry Albert
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 15:19:34 -0400
From: "mike kerezman" <philipmarlowe@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Thanks to All
Thanks all those who sent me information on shortwave radios. It was a big
help.
Sincerely,
Mike Kerezman
Macomb, Oklahoma
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #367
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