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The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2005 : Issue 164
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Myrt and Marge [ Andrew Steinberg <otrdig1@[removed] ]
The Jingle of the Silver Sours [ Jmeals@[removed] ]
Re: Radio Minimalism -- Late to the [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
5-26 births/deaths [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
Gunsmoke actor trivia [ Pete <pappleyard_ca@[removed]; ]
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Date: Wed, 25 May 2005 19:07:04 -0400
From: Andrew Steinberg <otrdig1@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Myrt and Marge
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There is a recording of the soap Myrt and Marge that is circulating with a
given date of Nov 2, 1931. The show is the labeled episode #1, and does seem
to be a first show. However, because the show was syndicated there could have
been more than one first episode.
For example, there is a Myrt and Marge series from 1946 where Myrt and Marge
which begins again with episode #1 on Apr. 1 1946.
Elizabeth McLeod has a list of radio shows surviving from 1931
[removed] and Myrt and Marge is not on it.
I suspect that someone incorrectly backdated the show based on the
information that the series originally began in 1931.
Can anyone say more definitively that the Myrt and Marge #1 episode in
circulation is not from 1931?
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Date: Wed, 25 May 2005 19:07:19 -0400
From: Jmeals@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: The Jingle of the Silver Sours
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I would like to recommend Bernard Drew's fine book, The Jingle of the Silver
Spurs to fans of OTR and westerns. Mr. Drew gives us a history of the
Hopalong Cassidy radio program which, after a rocky start, became a hit
after the
Hoppy movies became one of the hottest items on TV.
The book includes a look at the Mutual Radio Publicity kit which was
distributed to Mutual affiliates in 1949 to promote the Hopalong Cassidy
program. I
believe that I caught two minor errors which Mr. Drew made in this otherwise
well documented book. But I hesitate to mention them here. Bernard Drew is a
man who does his homework and I could be wrong.
All the usual disclaimers apply. The Jingle of the Silver Spurs is published
by Bear Manor.
Jim Meals
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Date: Wed, 25 May 2005 23:25:36 -0400
From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Radio Minimalism -- Late to the party,
[removed]
From: Elizabeth McLeod
No story, no sound effects, just two people talking.
From: Wich2@[removed]
BUT-
What a mistake would it have been, to produce such pieces as
THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, or THREE SKELETON KEY thus!
(Though, amazingly, producers did it then- and do it to this day, at
times.)
You apparently don't listen to "War of the Worlds" after the station break.
The final third of the program -- a full twenty minutes -- is mostly a
monologue with one section having a second character in a dialogue. No
sound effects at all. No music except for the short intro and ending, both
of which are done without being under the voice, and could be removed
without harming the drama.
I personally feel that this section of the program is FAR more effective
than the first part.
Since Vincent Price starred in the repeat of Three Skeleton Key, I'll bring
up his many recorded readings of horror stories. I don't know if he did a
reading of the original version of the story, but I bet if he did it would
possibly be as good as the drama version he did. (Remember that there is
an enormous amount of narration in the Escape version of Three Skeleton
Key.) His Poe readings are outstanding. I also commend to you the horror
readings that Ken Nordine did for the WMAQ/WMBQ "Faces In The Window"
series in the early 50s in his pre-"Word Jazz" days.
A piece that DEMANDS detail of space, place, & time, to work,
is effectively killed by sparse production. To use a film analogy,
it would be like producing GONE WITH THE WIND with actors
dressed in black coveralls, in front of gray flats.
Good grief, man. Haven't you EVER seen a performance of "Our Town"?????
MUCH better drama than GWTW, And OT is not, as you put it, "small-cast
'chamber drama.'"
Welles, by the way, occasionally did theatrical productions with plain
settings, but there are many who felt that the minimalist version of
Blitzstein's "The Cradle Will Rock" was better than the over-blown version
that Welles had produced prior to the lock-out that necessitated the actors
doing their parts from their seats in the audience.
Such audio drama is not only aesthetically off, it is lazy - and
profoundly disrespectful of a richly capable medium. By all
means, chose the jewels of beautiful writing & acting; but don't
just lay those gems on a plank - put them in a flattering setting.
-Craig Wichman Quicksilver Radio Theater
The Cradle Will Rock is PRECISELY the example that proves your position
wrong. It would have drowned in Welles' production (which certainly was a
"flattering setting") but it gleams and shines when the unnecessary
distractions are stripped away and we focus in on the message and irony of
this jewel of the labor movement. (By the way, for those of you who don't
know what I am talking about here, I don't recommend that you learn about
this by viewing the recent movie. Find one of the first two of the three
recorded versions of the play, and read about it in John Houseman's
autobiography and/or in Miles Kreuger's liner notes to the reissue of the
1938 cast recording.)
Michael Biel mbiel@[removed]
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Date: Thu, 26 May 2005 08:27:44 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 5-26 births/deaths
May 26th births
05-26-1884 - Charles Winninger - Athens, WI - d. 1-19-1969
actor: Captain Henry "Show Boat"; Uncle Charlie "Uncle Charlie's Tent Show"
05-26-1886 - Al Jolson - Srednick, Lithuania, Russia - d. 10-23-1950
singer: (The Jazz Singer) "Shell Chateau"; "Kraft Music Hall"
05-26-1887 - Paul Lukas - Budapest, Austria-Hungary - d. 8-15-1971
actor: Albert Einstein "Quick and the Dead"
05-26-1893 - Edward MacHugh - Dundee, Scotland - d. 2-3-1957
singer: "Gospel Singer"
05-26-1893 - Eugene Goosens - London, England - d. 6-13-1962
conductor: New York Philharmonic
05-26-1895 - Norma Talmadge - Jersey City, NJ - d. 12-24-1957
actress: "Thirty Minutes in Hollywood"
05-26-1904 - George Formby - Lancashire, England - d. 3-6-1961
singer, actor: "Manitoba Flood Relief Show"
05-26-1905 - Fred MacKaye - Hackettstown, NJ - d. 9-10-1980
actor, director: Monk Rice "Point Sublime"; "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Romance"
05-26-1907 - John Wayne - Winterset, IA - d. 6-11-1979
actor: Dan O'Brien "Three Sheets to the Wind"
05-26-1908 - Robert Morley - Semley, England - d. 6-3-1992
actor: "[removed] Steel Hour"
05-26-1909 - Richard Maibaum - NYC - d. 1-4-1991
screen writer: "Lux Radio Theatre"
05-26-1911 - Ben Alexander - Goldfield, NV - d. 7-5-1969
actor: Frank Smith "Dragnet"; Bashful Ben "Great Gildersleeve"
05-26-1914 - Ziggy Elman - Philadelphia, PA - d. 6-25-1968
trumpet: "Benny Goodman Orchestra", "The Tommy Dorsey Show"
05-26-1915 - Martin Stone - d. 6-7-1998
producer: "Howdy Doody"; "Author Meets the Critic"
05-26-1915 - Sam Edwards - Macon, GA - d. 7-28-2004
actor: Tracy Baker "One Man's Family"; Franklin Dexter "Meet Corliss Archer"
05-26-1918 - John Dall - NYC - d. 1-15-1971
actor: "Cavalcade of America"; "Voice of the Army"
05-26-1920 - Peggy Lee - Jamestown, ND - d. 1-21-2002
singer: "Jimmy Durante Show"; "Chesterfield Supper Club"; "Peggy Lee Show"
05-26-1923 - Roy Dotrice - Island of Guernsey, Channel Islands
actor: Sir Gregory Pitkin "Men from the Ministry"
05-26-1931 - Chet Norris - Manhattan Beach, NY
actor: "Tomnorrow Calling"; "Cisco Kid"; "ABC Radio Workshop"
May 26th deaths
02-28-1914 - Jim Boles - Lubbock, TX - d. 5-26-1977
actor: Doc Long "I Love A Mystery"; Fulmer Green "King's Row"
03-15-1904 - George Brent - Dublin, Ireland - d. 5-26-1979
actor, moderator: "Doctor Fights"; "Leave It to the Girls"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
05-31-1901 - Joe Kelly - Crawfordsville, IN - d. 5-26-1959
emcee, quizmaster: "National Barn Dance"; "Quiz Kids"
06-13-1912 - Sam Taylor - Chicago, IL - d. 5-26-2000
writer: "Tales ofWillie Piper"
08-15-1888 - Albert Spalding - Chicago, IL - d. 5-26-1952
violinist: "Forecast"; "Pause That Refreshes . . . On the Air"
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 26 May 2005 17:18:12 -0400
From: Pete <pappleyard_ca@[removed];
To: submit item <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Gunsmoke actor trivia
I was listening to a Denny Farrell broadcast last
Sunday night when Denny played a song that was played
by the Shepp Fields Band. Very nice I thought but then
the [removed] vocalist was Chester from
Gunsmoke, Ken Curtis. It knocked my socks off, I had
no idea the Ken was a singer when the Big Bands were
at their high.
By the way, he did not have that accent back in those days.
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End of [removed] Digest V2005 Issue #164
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