------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2008 : Issue 91
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
4-9 births/deaths [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
Lucy on Radio [ "Sammy Jones" <sjones69@[removed] ]
defenestration [ Robert Angus <rangus02@[removed]; ]
#OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Nig [ charlie@[removed] ]
New Material on CD [ Fred Berney <fsberney@[removed]; ]
Re: Nonsense and Melody [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
The Mike Wallace Interview [ David Fx <df789@[removed]; ]
Gary Owens/Jean Shepherd [ "Tom" <evander800@[removed]; ]
Re: Radio's I Love Lucy [ Gregg Oppenheimer <gopp@[removed]; ]
Radio days, the Korean movie [ Stephen Davies <SDavies@[removed]; ]
Cincy Convention [ Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed] ]
Rudy Vallee [ JayHick@[removed] ]
Re: Radio's I Love Lucy [ Randy Watts <rew1014@[removed]; ]
REPS Meetings and the June Conventio [ BryanH362@[removed] ]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2008 23:45:14 -0400
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 4-9 births/deaths
April 9th births
04-09-1883 - Frank King - Cashton, WI - d. 6-24-1969
cartoonist: Created Gasoline Alley comic strip
04-09-1889 - Efrem Zimbalist, Sr. - Rostov-on-Don, Russia - d. 2-22-1985
violinist: "The Magic Key"
04-09-1892 - Mary Pickford - Toronto, Canada - d. 5-29-1979
actor: "Mary Pickford Dramas"; "Parties at Pickfair"
04-09-1895 - Frank H. Anderson, Jr. - Minneapolis, MN - d. 1-4-1952
pianist/singer: had his own program for 8 years
04-09-1897 - John B. Gambling - Norwich, England - d. 11-21-1974
host: "Your Personal Program"; "John B. Gambling Club"; "Rambling
with Gambling"
04-09-1898 - Paul Robeson - Princeton, NJ - d. 1-23-1976
singer: "Pursuit of Happiness"
04-09-1900 - Allen Jenkins - NYC - d. 7-20-1974
actor: "Harold Lloyd Comedy Theatre"; "Hollywood Hotel"; "Lux Radio
Theatre"
04-09-1903 - Ward Bond - Denver, CO - d. 11-5-1960
actor: "Screen Director's Playhouse"
04-09-1904 - Joseph "Sharkey" Bonamo - Milneburg, LA - d. 3-27-1972
conductor: (Sharkey Bonamo and His Sharks of Rhythm) "Saturday Night
Swing Club"
04-09-1904 - Mickey Alpert - d. 9-22-1965
orchestra leader: "Amalgamated Broadcasting System Inaugural Program"
04-09-1905 - Brewster Morgan - d. 12-26-1960
director: "Columbia Workshop"; "Men Against Death"; "Report to the
Nation"
04-09-1905 - James Fulbright - Summer, MO - d. 2-9-1995
[removed] senator: "Information Please"
04-09-1906 - Antal Dorati - Budapest, Austria-Hungary - d. 11-13-1988
conductor"; "CBS Symphony Orchestra"
04-09-1910 - Alan Melville - Berwick-upon-Tweed, England - d. 12-24-1983
scriptwriter: "BBC Radio Newsreel"; "London Column"
04-09-1911 - Jim Bannon - Kansas City, MO - d. 7-28-1984
announcer, narrator: "Joe Penner Show"; "Eddie Bracken Show"
04-09-1913 - Fay Helm - Bakersfield, CA - d. 9-27-2003
actor: "Shell Chateau"; "Cavalcade of America"
04-09-1913 - George Lowther - NYC - d. 4-28-1975
narrator, writer: "Advs. of Superman"; "Terry and the Pirates"
04-09-1914 - Frank Bingham - Athens, OH - d. 8-21-1988
announcer: "Straight Arrow"; "Phantom Pilot"
04-09-1916 - Ann Morrison - Sioux City, IA - d. 4-18-1978
actor: "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar"; "Escape"
04-09-1916 - Bill Leonard - NYC - d. 10-23-1994
interviewer: "This Is New York"; "In Town Today"
04-09-1920 - Art Van Damme - Norway, MI
jazz accordionist: (Art Van Damme Quintet) Dave Garroway Show
04-09-1921 - Frankie Thomas, Jr. - NYC - d. 5-11-2006
actor: Tom Corbett "Tom Corbett, Space Cadet"
04-09-xxxx - Louise Larabee - Bremerton, WA - d. 3-30-1988
actor: "Calvacade of America"; "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"
April 9th deaths
01-02-1917 - Vera Zorina - Berlin, Germany - d. 4-9-2003
ballet dancer: "Duffy's Tavern"; "I'm An American"
02-11-1907 - Art Millet - Chicago, IL - d. 4-9-1943
announcer: "American Album of Familiar Music"; "Popeye"
02-17-1908 - Staats Cotsworth - Oak Park, IL - d. 4-9-1979
actor: David Farrell "Front Page Farrell"; Mark Trail "Mark Trail"
02-19-1922 - Sandy Becker - NYC - d. 4-9-1996
actor, announcer: Jerry Malone "Young Dr. Malone"; "Backstage Wife"
03-31-1907 - James L. Saphier - d. 4-9-1974
producer: "The Saint"; "Somebody Knows"
04-17-1927 - Graziella Sciutti - Turin, Italy - d. 4-9-2001
operatic soprano: "Meetropolitan Opera"
04-30-1916 - George Salverson - St. Catherines, Canada - d. 4-9-2005
script writer for the CBC
05-16-1908 - Ed Prough - d. 4-9-1993
announcer: WXYZ Detroit
05-28-1902 - "Little" Jack Little - London, England - d. 4-9-1956
singer: (Cheerful Little Earful) "Little Jack Little Show"
06-08-1867 - Frank Lloyd Wright - Richland Center, WI - d. 4-9-1959
architect: "Bob Elson on Board the Century"
06-22-1915 - Robert Soderberg - Ohio - d. 4-9-1996
writer: "Junior Miss"
06-30-1896 - Wilfred Pelletier - Montreal, Canada - d. 4-9-1982
conductor: "Roses and Drums"; "Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air"
07-01-1914 - Michael Wilson - McAlester, OK - d. 4-9-1978
blacklisted screen writer: "Lux Radio Theatre"
08-21-1913 - John Faulk - Austin, TX - d. 4-9-1990
humorist, writer: "Forecast"; "Says Who?"; "Hootenanny"
10-07-1931 - Gordon Terry - Dacatur, AL - d. 4-9-2006
fiddler: "Country Music Time"; "Country Style [removed]"
10-16-1886 - Will Harridge - Chicago, IL - d. 4-9-1971
american league president: "Memorial Program for Colonel Jocob Rupert"
11-03-1913 - Harry Babbitt - St. Louis, MO - d. 4-9-2004
singer: "Kay Kyser's Surprise Party"; "Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical
Knowledge"
11-12-1911 - Clay Bryant - Madison Heights, VA - d. 4-9-1999
baseball analyst: "Baseball with Clay Bryant"
xx-xx-1904 - Grace Albert - d. 4-9-2003
singer: (Wife of Eddie Albert) "Time Out"; "Cavalcade of America"
xx-xx-1909 - Earle Graser - Kitchener, Canada - d. 4-9-1941
actor: Lone Ranger "Lone Ranger"
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 00:57:05 -0400
From: "Sammy Jones" <sjones69@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Lucy on Radio
The Radiola LP wasn't a recreation. They actually did
13 episodes on radio as a test for CBS before it went to television.
It is called "The Lease Breakers" and they did do it on the
television series. But this is an actual radio broadcast not a
re-dubbed audio soundtrack.
The $64,000 Question is - Where are the other 12 episodes?
They don't exist, Rusty. I Love Lucy as a radio series never got beyond
that single audition episode, which is merely the soundtrack of Episode 13
of the television series, "Breaking the Lease."
You may be thinking of My Favorite Husband, which was the Lucille Ball radio
show that predated I Love Lucy. The premises of the shows are similar, and
I Love Lucy even reused many of the Favorite Husband scripts (adapted for
television and the new cast) during the first couple of seasons.
Check out Bart Andrews' excellent I Love Lucy book called The I Love Lucy
Book (no kidding!), also Jess Oppenheimer's memoirs, Laughs, Luck, and Lucy,
and finally Desilu, by Coyne S. Sanders and Tom Gilbert.
Sammy
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 01:07:06 -0400
From: Robert Angus <rangus02@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: defenestration
Right subject, wrong defenestree---I should, of course, have identified
Jan Masaryk as the unlucky Czech patriot who met his death on the rocks
below Prague Castle. He was the prime minister at the time the
communists took over the government of the Czech Republic in 1948.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 02:12:01 -0400
From: charlie@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Night!
A weekly [removed]
For the best in OTR Chat, join IRC (Internet Relay Chat), StarLink-IRC
Network, the channel name is #OldRadio. We meet Thursdays at 8 PM Eastern
and go on, and on! The oldest OTR Chat Channel, it has been in existence
over nine years, same time, same channel! Started by Lois Culver, widow
of actor Howard Culver, this is the place to be on Thursday night for
real-time OTR talk!
Our "regulars" include OTR actors, soundmen, collectors, listeners, and
others interested in enjoying OTR from points all over the world. Discussions
range from favorite shows to almost anything else under the sun (sometimes
it's hard for us to stay on-topic)...but even if it isn't always focused,
it's always a good time!
For more info, contact charlie@[removed]. We hope to see you there, this
week and every week!
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 09:16:29 -0400
From: Fred Berney <fsberney@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: New Material on CD
Recently someone posted that they'd like to see some new OTR shows
appear on dealer's tables. Well, I'll try and take up the challenge.
I'm going back to my original reel to reel tapes from the 1950's to
see what I might have.
It just so happens that back in 1959, Charlton Heston spoke at the
University of Miami. I got permission to record his talk and even put
together an interview that was broadcast over our local station. I
found the tape and have just finished transferring it to CD. It is a
50 minute talk he gave to the students about his film career. Granted
this is not OTR, but it is rare.
Next, I am finding that I happened to record Monitor. I've got some
nice selections of this show with I think Dave Garraway, Bob Hope,
and Nicholes and May. I'm trying to put together enough to build a 60
or 80 minute CD.
I also have hundreds of TV soundtracks. Audio I recorded from
television, such as the Jack Paar Show. I'm trying to get some of
those read for Cincinnati. Again, not OTR, but back in the early days
of television, a lot of radio starts had their own TV show and even
without the picture you can enjoy the program. Many of these shows
were before the days of video tape and my not exist anywhere.
Since I owned a tape recorder back in 1952, I'm search my early tapes
to see if I managed to record anything that may not be currently in
circulation. I use to listen to the Shadow, it would be so nice if I
could find some of those programs. I just don't remember if I ever
recorded any of them, but I'm finding that I didn't always log
everything that I recorded on a tape, so I'm just playing the tapes
all the way through in the hopes of finding something I didn't know that I had.
See you in a few days in Cincinnati.
Fred
Fred
Check us out for old time radio & TV shows & Movie Serials
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 09:17:02 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Nonsense and Melody
On 4/8/08 11:45 PM [removed]@[removed] wrote:
But I don't
know if any of these scheduled broadcasts are of the original series
or other shows with the same title.
It's quite possible that they were. Around 1940, after Transco went out
of business, its back catalog of recordings was sold to a company called
Bruce Eells and Associates, which proceeded to package and re-package the
material well into the fifties, often by simply pasting their own labels
over original Transco disc pressings. Generally these reissues were
bought by small, low-budget stations which didn't worry too much about
giving their listeners twenty-year-old programming. This also explains
why Transco series are so much easier to find than many other
thirties-vintage canned programs.
Elizabeth
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 14:25:36 -0400
From: David Fx <df789@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: The Mike Wallace Interview
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Episodes of "The Mike Wallace Interview" can be viewed here:
[removed]
Mary Margaret McBride and George Jessel are among the subjects.
As a trivial note in the interview with Major Donald E. Keyhoe the Orson
Welles WOW broadcast is very briefly touched upon.
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------------------------------
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 14:26:26 -0400
From: "Tom" <evander800@[removed];
To: "old_time_radio" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Gary Owens/Jean Shepherd
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On April 6 Alan Bell mentioned a Gary Owens 'insult thy neighbor' routine
that involved putting the radio near the window and turning up the volume.
In the mid-fifties I 'discovered' Jean Shepherd while DXing way down in
Asheville, NC. One hot August night in a hushed whisper he invited listeners
to turn up the volume on their radios and put them out on their fire escapes,
at which point he would yell at the top of his lungs, thus allowing his fans
to get back at neighbors who kept them awake.
In another broadcast he told his audience that he was going to give them
one minute of dead air. The silence was interrupted when, supposedly, a
desperate listener called and blurted out: "For God's sake say something. I
can't breath".
A very inventive guy was Jean.
Tom van der Voort
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------------------------------
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 14:28:33 -0400
From: Gregg Oppenheimer <gopp@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Radio's I Love Lucy
On Apr 8, 2008, at 8:45 PM, [removed]@[removed] wrote:
The Radiola LP wasn't a recreation. They actually did
13 episodes on radio as a test for CBS before it went
to television. It is called "The Lease Breakers" and
they did do it on the television series. But this is
an actual radio broadcast not a re-dubbed audio
soundtrack.
The $64,000 Question is - Where are the other 12
episodes?
For me, the $64,000 Question is - from where are you getting your
information?
Here's the real story:
As early as 1949 CBS wanted to move Lucille Ball's radio sitcom,
"My Favorite Husband," to TV, lock, stock and barrel, but Lucy
balked, insisting that her Cuban bandleader husband, Desi Arnaz, be
her TV costar. But CBS didn't love Desi. Finally, in December, 1950,
the network relented, agreeing to finance a TV pilot starring
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Lucy and Desi turned to my father, Jess
Oppenheimer, producer-director-head writer of the radio sitcom, for a
premise for the new TV series. Dad came up with the winning notion of
a show about "a middle class working stiff who works very hard at his
job as a bandleader, and likes nothing better than to come home at
night and relax withhis wife, who doesn't like staying home and is
dying to get into show business herself." The pilot episode of "I
Love Lucy" was shot in Studio A of CBS Columbia Square in Hollywood
on March 2, 1951. It was written by my father and his radio co-
writers, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. Lucy bid adieu to her
radio audience on March 31, 1951, bound for television and super-
stardom. "I Love Lucy" premiered on October 15, 1951, on CBS-TV, and
quickly became a major hit.
There were no radio "test episodes" of "I Love Lucy" produced before
the show premiered on television. Perhaps this myth got its start
when the Radiola Company released the "I Love Lucy" radio show with
the incorrect "airdate" of "February, 1951" (which pre-dates the "I
Love Lucy" TV pilot). The idea to make a radio show out of the "I
Love Lucy" soundtrack was born quite accidentally in February, 1952.
By that time, "I Love Lucy" was the number 2 show on television,
trailing only Arthur Godfrey's "Talent Scouts." CBS executive Hal
Hudson was sitting at home with his wife watching an episode of "I
Love Lucy" entitled "Breaking the Lease" when his picture tube went
out. So he and his wife "watched" the entire half hour with sound
only. Hal had seen the picture in a projection room and was able to
fill his wife in on the visual aspects of the story, but they both
nevertheless agreed that the soundtrack alone was pretty
entertaining. Hudson phoned my father the next day and they decided
that having the soundtrack serve "double duty" (both TV and radio)
was a possibility.
Within a few weeks, a "radio test" version of "I Love Lucy: Breaking
the Lease" was produced, using the TV soundtrack, complete with
commercials and additional narration by Desi Arnaz. It was never
broadcast. By April, my father decided that producing a weekly radio
show in this manner just wasn't worth the extra effort that such a
project would entail. He was also concerned that he and the other
"Lucy" writers might find themselves straining to make the TV scripts
fit both TV and radio and that the series might suffer as a result.
The test episode, "Breaking the Lease", was the eighteenth episode of
"I Love Lucy". Recorded (and filmed) in front of a live audience at
Hollywood's General Service Studios on January 5, 1952.
By the way, "I Love Lucy" quickly became the No. 1 show on TV, and
retained that title for several years, until it was knocked out of
the #1 spot by -- wouldn't you know it -- "The $64,000 Question."
- Gregg Oppenheimer
co-author, "Laughs, [removed] Lucy: How I Came to Create the Most
Popular Sitcom of All Time" by Jess Oppenheimer with Gregg Oppenheimer
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 14:29:31 -0400
From: Stephen Davies <SDavies@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Radio days, the Korean movie
I'm a fan of Asian movies, as long as I can find subtitles in good English.
Korea makes really good dramas and very silly comedies. The new "Radio
days" (2008) is one of the latter. I saw the trailer on YouTube by
accident when I looked for the Woody Allen spoof of Bill Stern mentioned
earlier. (It was, and it shouldn't be, on YouTube.)
The plot for the new movie sounds more like "Tune in tomorrow" (1980) with
Falk & Reeves. During the Japanese occupation of the 1930's, a group of
inexperienced amateurs present a radio soap opera which becomes wildly
popular.
See & read about it, here: [removed]
and here: [removed]
a negative review here:
[removed]
and some behind-the-scenes flippancy: [removed]
Stephen D, Calgary
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 15:57:07 -0400
From: Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Cincy Convention
Folks;
If anyone attending the Cincinnati Convention is taking along a laptop
with audio capabilities and a softphone or headset, and is willing to "call
in" using Express Talk, Gizmo, or even the propriatary (yuck) Skype, drop me
a note. I'd love to have audio reports from the convention posted to the
podcast at [removed] assuming the new management actually
has the WiFi in the place [removed]
Charlie
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 17:25:27 -0400
From: JayHick@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Rudy Vallee
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>From Bear Manor Media for $[removed]; BearManor Media, P O Box 71426, Albany, GA
31708; Phone: 229-436-4265; books@[removed]
Rudy Vallee - A Pictorial Biography
>From the 1920's as a romantic idol and singing sensation, through the
following decades of radio, movies and stage successes, Rudy Vallee led a
colorful
life. There was enough excitement and controversy to inspire dozens of
biographies. Amazingly, however, this is the first to be written.
The hundreds of carefully selected photos, many published here for the first
time, encompass both his personal and professional life, helping to highlight
the Vallee story.
This book is a treat for readers who are not acquainted with Rudy. For those
who believe they already know him, there are more than a few surprises in
store . . .
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------------------------------
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 18:22:19 -0400
From: Randy Watts <rew1014@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Radio's I Love Lucy
The Radiola LP wasn't a recreation. They actually did 13 episodes on
radio as a test for CBS before it went to television. It is called
"The Lease Breakers" and they did do it on the television series. But
this is an actual radio broadcast not a re-dubbed audio soundtrack.
With all due respect, none of this information is correct. I LOVE LUCY as a
radio show existed only in the form of the 1952 audition disc. No LUCY radio
series ever aired, either before or after the television show began. Lucille
Ball did do a radio series prior to beginning I LOVE LUCY, the 1948-51
situation comedy MY FAVORITE HUSBAND, and while HUSBAND evolved into
television's I LOVE LUCY, and was sometimes mined for gags and plotlines for
the TV show, MY FAVORITE HUSBAND was a different series.
Randy
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 22:10:41 -0400
From: BryanH362@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: REPS Meetings and the June Convention
To those interested, The Radio Enthusiasts of Puget Sound (REPS) have posted
an audio of the most recent membership meeting online at the REPS web site.
[removed]. The intent is to have an audio of the most recent REPS
meeting posted online. You will find that the REPS monthly meetings are a
laid back causal affair with an emphasis on having a fun time. For the last
meeting on April 5th, A few of the members recreated an episode of Sam Spade
and we had a visit (by telephone) with Martin Grams, author of the book "The
Radio Adventures of Sam Spade".
In just a few weeks our friends at Sperdvac are holding a very special
affair with their Old Time Radio Convention. It will certainly be a fabulous
event you will not want to miss. The only bad part about a great old time
radio
convention is realizing that it's over. If you are not quite ready to let
the frivolity end, REPS would like to invite you to Seattle, to continue the
festivities with the Grand Salute to the Golden Age of Radio held at the
Bellevue Coast Hotel June 27th and 28th. Further information is posted at
the
REPS web site. Have fun in Hollywood- at the Sperdvac convention - and look
for additional announcements from REPS in May. See you on the Convention
trail!
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2008 Issue #91
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