Subject: [removed] Digest V2008 #135
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 5/28/2008 8:06 AM
To: [removed]@[removed]
Reply-to:
[removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2008 : Issue 135
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Re: Harlow Wilcox                     [ "Jan Bach" <janbach@[removed]; ]
  Harlow Wilcox                         [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
  Re: radio writers                     [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
  With a grain of [removed]               [ Wich2@[removed] ]
  Irwin Shaw (Re: Writers in the Airwa  [ jameshburns@[removed] (Jim Burns) ]
  Re: Asbury Park Press OTR Quiz        [ Alan Bell <alanlinda43@[removed]; ]
  OTR mp3 discs - one time offering of  [ Andrew Steinberg <otrdig2@[removed] ]
  Calling for Merwin Gerard             [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
  #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Nig  [ charlie@[removed] ]
  5-28 births/deaths                    [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]

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

Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 09:31:36 -0400
From: "Jan Bach" <janbach@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Harlow Wilcox

Hello again --

In answer to Bruce Toews' question about information re Harlow Wilcox, this
is the entry in "Heavenly Days" by Charles Stumpf and Tom Price (The World
of Yesterday, Route 3, Box 263-H, Waynesville NC 28786, 1987), which I
highly recommend -- if you can find a copy -- for information about the
Fibber McGee and Molly show.

Harlow Wilcox was born in Omaha, Nebraska on March 12, 1900. His father
played cornet in the Ringling Brothers Circus band, and his sister, Hazel,
was a concert violinist. Wilcox studied voice for three years and left home
in his late teens to try for a career on the stage. To support his
theatrical goals, he sometimes worked as a salesman of electrical equipment.
His first radio work was at station WGES in Chicago in 1930. In March of
1932 the young announcer got a once-in-a-lifetime chance to do some great
on-the-spot news coverage. Late one night while he was on the air, he
received a bulletin over the network's monitor wire service, and promptly
cut in on a remote dance band broadcast to announce the story of the
kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby. In January 1934 Wilcox was signed by NBC
as a staff announcer. He announced for shows such as: "Old Gold Don Ameche
Show," "Maxwell House Coffee Time," "Myrt and Marge," "Amos 'N Andy,"
"Attorney-at-law," "Blondie," "Truth or Consequences," and "Suspense." He
delivered the commercials for Johnson Wax on the "Fibber McGee" program for
seventeen years, 1935 through 1952. In 1948 Wilcox headed the television
department of Rocket Pictures, Inc. He passed away at the age of sixty on
September 24, 1960.

I might add that he appeared briefly in the 1941 Fib and Moll movie "Look
Who's Laughing" as Mr. Collins of the Wistful Vista Chamber of Commerce.

Later,
Jan Bach

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

Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 09:32:10 -0400
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Harlow Wilcox

A lot of reliable publications offer a brief biogaphy of Harlow Wilcox's
career. I find that Jim Cox gives the best summary of Harlow Wilcox's life in
his book, "RADIO SPEAKERS: Narrators, news Junkies, Sports Jockeys,
Tattletales, Tipsters, Toastmasters and Coffee Klatch Couples Who Verbalized
the Jargon of the Aural Ether from the 1920s to the 1980s - A Biographical
Dictionary" published by MacFarland 2007.

(I'm backed up with work today, so I will not be going back to look over the
entry below, so advance apologies for typing errors.)

Harlow Wilson hailed from a show business clan.  His mom and dad were
instumentalists with Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus. His father, a
cornet player, eventually became a bandleader. Young Harlow studied voice and
acted and directed amateur theatricals. During his teenage years he left his
family to perform on stage, touring Chautauqua circuits. Following college
training, Wilcox became a travelling salesman for an electrical equipment
manufacturer.  A biographer recalled: "That experience taught him to put a
product over to listeners. A top commercial spokesman, he had loyal clients
who invariably renewed his contract for what formed long and mutally
rewarding associations." After five years on the road he was elevated to his
firm's sales manager post.

Wilcox was introduced to radio in a 1929 appearance over WGES, a small
Chicago station. He joinned WBBM the following year and by 1933 was at CBS in
New York. A year afterward (1934) he was back in Chicago, having aligned
himself with NBC. In the Windy City he formed a lasting friendship with Jim
and Marian Jordan, a couple of radio pioneers who were soon to lend their
voices to one of the medium's most infamous husband-wife teams, Fibber McGee
and Molly. When the Jordans departed Chicago for the West Coast, Wilcox
didn't hesitate about following them and rejoined the humorous duo in
Hollywood.

Just after midnight on March 1, 1932, Wilcox - who wasn't usually deemed a
network journalist - broke into a remote dance band program aired on CBS via
WBBM.  On that occasion he read a news bulletin noting the Lindbergh infant
kidnapping in New Jersey, scouring a coup d'etat in dispatching the story
first. A pundit observed that the circumstance he reported subsequently
evolved into "radio's greatest effort of on-the-spot news coverage up to that
time."

In the 1941 feature-length Fibber McGee & Molly movie LOOK WHO'S LAUGHING,
Wilcox portrayed Mr. Collins. He was a radio announcer in the 1945 film
SCREEN SNAPSHOTS: NUMBER 2, SERIES 25: RADIO SHOWS. In addition, in 1953,
Wilcox turned up as a reporter in a number of television broadcasts of YOU
ARE THERE on CBS-TV.

There is more to Wilcox, but these excerpts from Jim Cox's book should
suffice. Though I never suspected it at the time I got the book, in recent
months I find myself turning to this particular book as often as Jat
Hickerson's ULTIMATE GUIDE and other publications that I usually hail as the
best must-have books for researchers.
Martin Grams

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

Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 10:53:14 -0400
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: radio writers
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In a message dated 5/27/2008 8:20:38 [removed] Central Daylight Time,  
[removed]@[removed] writes:

What I'd  like to know is if there are any more examples of
other OTR programme which  gave the entertainment world a host of
later-to-be-famous writers? Is there  an OTR equivalent of "Your Show of 
Shows" that launched an extraordinary  amount of scribes?

I read just the other day that when Henry Morgan made it to network prime  
time and finally had to break down and hire writers, he chose, among others,  
Aaron Ruben ("The Phil Silvers Show," "The Andy Griffith Show") and Joe Stein  
("Fiddler on the Roof").
 
Then of course there's Joe Connelly, Bob Mosher and Bob Ross, the "Amos 'n'  
Andy" writers who also gave us "The Munsters" and "Leave It to  Beaver".
 
Dixon 

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

Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 11:03:38 -0400
From: Wich2@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  With a grain of [removed]

From: Penny Yingling _bandpy@[removed]_

I use the imdb  as a good source of info

Dear Penny-

"Source," yes; "good," not [removed]

I go there a lot, but it needs to be remembered that the info there, as at
Wikipedia, is often from weak sources, or poorly researched. And rarely
vetted
by staff - which makes some of it, plain chaff.

Best,
-Craig W.

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

Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 16:03:42 -0400
From: jameshburns@[removed] (Jim Burns)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Irwin Shaw  (Re: Writers in the Airwaves)

Not quite what Derek was looking for, but Irwin Shaw, one of the GREAT
American writers (whose literary merits may have been unfairly obscured
by his vast success), cut his teeth as a teen, with many radio scripts.
(I think the DICK TRACY show may have been one of the programs Shaw
wrote for.)

Shaw even wrote a short story, about a young man dealing with an
overwhelming radio work [removed]

Jim Burns

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

Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 16:03:56 -0400
From: Alan Bell <alanlinda43@[removed];
To: Old Time Radio <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Asbury Park Press OTR Quiz

One of the answers given for the quiz states that Mel
Blanc supplied the voice for Wallace Wimple on FM&M.
Say [removed] Does that mean he did the voice at some
time, even though he wasn't the usual voice actor
(whose name escapes me at the moment)?

Alan

_________________
Alan/Linda Bell
Grand Rapids, MI

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

Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 20:10:22 -0400
From: Andrew Steinberg <otrdig2@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  OTR mp3 discs - one time offering of a mixed bag
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Hi all,
&nbsp;
When I update my OTR mp3 CDs, I save my old discs in case I need them. I now
have about 170 - 200 extra OTR mp3 CDs with some DVDS too. They are all sorts
of OTR and in no order. My wife has ordered me to get rid of them and so I am
offering the whole&nbsp;lot&nbsp;for sale to the highest bidder. I&nbsp;don't
want to throw them out since I&nbsp;believe they&nbsp;are of some value to
[removed];nbsp;
&nbsp;
Andrew

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[ADMINISTRIVIA: Let's see if we can avoid the OTR Digest becoming a
classified ad repository, shall we?  --cfs3]

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

Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 20:55:55 -0400
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Calling for Merwin Gerard

A woman working for the NFL is looking for a son or daughter of two radio
script writers, Merwin Gerard and Joel Murcott, so they can secure
permissions for featuring brief scenes of a TV episode of THE CAVALCADE OF
AMERICA for a future documentary.  While the copyright expired for the film,
the authorship still needs to be cleared, hence the reason why they are
looking for a family relative.  Since both men wrote for radio as well
(NIGHTBEAT and TALES OF THE TEXAS RANGERS) I am hoping someone here might
have a lead.  Can anyone help?
Martin
mmargrajr@[removed]

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

Date: Wed, 28 May 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, 28 May 2008 10:02:52 -0400
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  5-28 births/deaths

May 28th births

05-28-1888 - Jim Thorpe - Prague, Indian Territory - d. 3-28-1953
all around athelete: "Shell Chateau"; "Bill Stern Colgate Sports
Newsreel"
05-28-1898 - Andy Kirk - Newport, KY - d. 12-11-1992
bandleader: (Clouds of Joy) "Andy Kirk and His Orchestra"
05-28-1899 - Richard Lane - Rice Lake, WI - d. 9-5-1982
actor: Inspector Faraday "Boston Blackie"
05-28-1902 - "Little" Jack Little - London, England - d. 4-9-1956
singer: (Cheerful Little Earful) "Little Jack Little Show"
05-28-1906 - Phil Regan - Brooklyn, NY - d. 2-11-1996
singer: (The Singing Cop) "George Burns and Gracie Allen Show"
05-28-1907 - Don Becker - d. 10-xx-1991
script writer: "Life Can Be Beautiful"
05-28-1910 - Rachel Kempson - Dartmouth, Devon, England - d. 5-24-2003
actor: "The Archers"; "Tom's Midnight Garden"
05-28-1911 - Lynn Biggler - d. 10-7-2003
newscaster: KWFT Witchita Falls, Texas
05-28-1912 - Dave Barbour - Flushing, NY - d. 12-11-1965
orchestra leader, composer, actor: "Electric Hour"; "Chesterfield
Supper Club"
05-28-1912 - Tom Scott - d. 8-12-1961
folk singer, writer: "American School of the Air"; "Golden Gate
Quartet Sings"
05-28-1912 - Violet Dunn - d. 11-14-1982
actor: Peggy O'Neill "The O'Neill's"
05-28-1918 - Elizabeth Harrower - Alameda, CA - d. 12-10-2003
actor: "NBC University Theatre"
05-28-1918 - Johnny Wayne - Toronto, Canada - d. 7-18-1990
comedian: (Wayne and Shuster) "Army Show"; "March of Time"
05-28-1919 - Frank Middlemass - Stockton-on-Tees, England - d. 9-8-2006
actor: "Too the Manor Born"
05-28-1919 - Ola Masters - Pambula, Australia - d. 9-27-1986
writer: "The Penny Ha'penny Stamp"
05-28-1920 - Gene Levitt - NYC - d. 11-15-1999
writer: "Advs. of Philip Marlowe"
05-28-1922 - Scott McKay - Pleasantville, IA - d. 3-16-1987
actor: John Nelson "Barry Cameron"
05-28-1928 - Billy Roy - Detroit , MI - d. 9-2-2003
actor: "Smilin' Ed's Buster Brown Gang"
05-28-1928 - Maynard Ferguson - Montreal, Canada - d. 8-23-2006
trumpeter: "Bud's Bandwagon"

May 28th deaths

01-11-1886 - George Zucco - Manchester, England - d. 5-28-1960
actor: "Encore Theatre"
01-20-1914 - Roy Plomley - Kingston-upon-Thames, England - d. 5-28-1985
announcer: Desert Island Discs"; "We Beg to Differ"; "One Minute Please"
04-08-1887 - Walter Connolly - Cincinnati, OH - d. 5-28-1940
actor: Charlie Chan "Charlie Chan"
04-14-1889 - Dick Richards - Detroit, MI - d. 5-28-1951
Owned radio stations WJR (Detroit), WGAR (Cleveland), KMPC (Los Angeles)
05-08-1910 - Mary Lou Williams - Atlanta, GA - d. 5-28-1981
jazz pianist, composer: "Mildred Bailey Show"; "Andy Kirk and His
Clouds of Joy"
05-14-1926 - Eric Morecambe - Lancashire, England - d. 5-28-1984
comedian: "The Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise Radio Show"
05-21-1920 - James Plunkett - Dublin, Ireland - d. 5-28-2003
writer: "Dublin Fusilier"
06-01-1911 - Erik Rolf - Chicago, IL - d. 5-28-1957
actor: Hans Simon "Joyce Jordan, [removed]"; Thor Nielsen "Prairie Folks"
06-20-1924 - Audie Murphy - Kingston, TX - d. 5-28-1971
world war II hero, actor: "Cavalcade of America"
06-23-1894 - King Edward VIII - Richmond Park, England - d. 5-28-1972
king, ex-king, duke: Abdication Speech for the "woman" he loved
07-04-1919 - Shirley Eder - NYC - d. 5-28-2005
entertainment reporter: "Monitor"; "Composite"
07-16-1908 - Frank Singiser - Montevideo, MN - d. 5-28-1982
newscaster: "Mutual News"
07-17-1916 - Irene Manning - Cincinnati, OH - d. 5-28-2004
singer: Night Club Singer "Mr. Broadway"; "Wehmacht Hour"; "Railroad
Hour"
07-28-1912 - Herbert Finn - Boston, MA - d. 5-28-2002
comedy writer: "Duffy'sTavern"; "Amos 'n' Andy"
08-29-1907 - Lurene Tuttle - Pleasant Lake, IN - d. 5-28-1986
actor: Effie Perrine "Advs. of Sam Spade"; Ellie Connors "Lum and Abner"
09-01-1899 - Richard Arlen - Charlottesville, VA - d. 5-28-1976
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
09-05-1907 - Sybil Chism Bock - Carrolton, IL - d. 5-28-1980
organist: "One Man's Family"; "Lum and Abner"
09-21-1901 - Lloyd Shaffer - Ridgeway, PA - d. 5-28-1999
orchestra leader: "Chesterfield Supper Club"; "Time to Shine"
09-22-1914 - Martha Scott - Jamesport, MO - d. 5-28-2003
actor: Alice Blair "Career of Alice Blair"; "Somerset Maugham Theatre"
09-26-1896 - Vaughn DeLeath - Mount Pulaski, IL - d. 5-28-1943
singer: (The Original Radio Girl) "Voice of Firestone"
11-15-1923 - Robert Barron - NYC - d. 5-28-2002
actor: Flint Blackbeard "Jack Armstrong"
11-24-1906 - Don McLaughlin - Webster, IA - d. 5-28-1986
actor: David Harding "Counterspy"; "Jim Brent "Road of Life";
Chaplain Jim "Chaplain Jim"
12-06-1895 - Lou Little - Boston, MA - d. 5-28-1979
football coach: "Football Forecasts"; "Friday Night Quarterback"

Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2008 Issue #135
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