Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #50
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 2/6/2004 4:18 PM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2004 : Issue 50
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  78 RPM record database?               [ GREGORY M PRZYWARA <gmprzywara@stud ]
  Introduction and questions            [ Bryandell@[removed] ]
  Best Tunes of All . . .               [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
  Time number                           [ JackBenny@[removed] ]
  Fwd: Jean Ellington                   [ Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed] ]
  Carnegie Hall                         [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
  Cincinnati Convention                 [ "Bob Burchett" <haradio@[removed] ]
  1930s & '40s use of radio as a propa  [ howard blue <khovard@[removed]; ]
  best tunes of all                     [ RickEditor@[removed] ]
  Regarding: John B. Gamblings          [ Donaldeprice@[removed] ]
  Nobody heard the ending of a Suspens  [ "Matthew Bullis" <matthewbullis@run ]
  "Slumber Song"                        [ Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed] ]
  Propoganda on [removed]                [ "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed] ]
  Radio Politics/Propaganda, Digest #4  [ "Bill Orr" <billorr6@[removed]; ]
  Radio Soaps                           [ Michael Edwards <medwards_47@yahoo. ]
  2-7 births/deaths                     [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]

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

Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 18:44:49 -0500
From: GREGORY M PRZYWARA <gmprzywara@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  78 RPM record database?

Hi
I was wondering if someone could point me to a fairly comprehensive online
database for 78 rpm records that would give me dates. I have so many of these
and i would really like to get dates for as many as possible.
thanks in advance
Greg Przywara

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

Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 19:06:28 -0500
From: Bryandell@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Introduction and questions
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I started collecting old time radio shows after hearing a program on the
radio about 12 years ago.  Because of work, I don't get to read all of the
digests
that come out, so forgive me if these questions have been asked.  I promise
to read the answers.

Q1.  Both my father and father-in-law told about a run of Jack Benny programs
where the punch line was about Cimmeron Rolls.  What were the dates these
programs aired.
Q2.  What was meant when a program was transcribed.  Did that mean it was
recorded on a record?

That's all the questions I have for now.  I really enjoy this hobby and the
people who likewise have an interest in it.  If you would rather contact me
directly I've included my email address.

Your friend in OTR,
-Bryan Jensen
bryandell@[removed]

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Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 19:19:48 -0500
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Best Tunes of All . . .

Michael Berger asked:

Every once in a while, I come across a show from the mid-1940s that
includes the following: "the best tunes of all move to Carnegie [removed],
the best tunes of all move to Carnegie [removed]" and on and on, just like
the irritating repetitiveness of a Lucky Strike commercial. That should tell
me that the mystery phrase could refer to the switch of Lucky Strike's Hit
Parade program from a studio to Carnegie Hall.  Am I correct, or does this
phrase have another meaning?

Here's the story about that:
Following a spirited conflict over the recent air slogan "Lucky Strike Green
Has Gone to War!", Dan Golenpaul (creator of the radio program INFORMATION
PLEASE) made an attempt to restrain Lucky Strike from further damaging
Information, Please's dignity while [removed] Hill made a second attempt, this
time with a new slogan.

Shortly before the Information, Please program began over the NBC network on
the evening of January 22, 1943, the two announcers were served notice to
appear in court on January 26 to determine whether repetition of a "teaser
slogan" in their radio script was "annoying listeners."  The notices were
personally served by Golenpaul himself on Milton Cross and Basil Ruysdael.
Dan Golenpaul disclosed that earlier that afternoon, he had obtained a court
order from Justice Carroll G. Walter of the New York Supreme Court.

The teaser slogan heralded a new American Tobacco Company Lucky Strike
program and was: "The best tunes of all move to Carnegie Hall.  Yes, the
best tunes of all move to Carnegie Hall."  These very two sentences were
repeated a total of twelve times during the broadcast of January 22 and with
their court orders in their pockets, Cross and Ruysdael stuck to the slogan
as scripted, while Fadiman, Kieran, Adams and Levant winced noticeably on
stage.

The cryptic slogan was never explained to the audience and it was Lucky
Strike's intention to officially explain the slogan on the two remaining
Information, Please programs, meaning that the sponsor would replace
Information, Please with a weekly all-time Hit Parade program from Carnegie
Hall beginning Friday night, February 12.  (Thus answers Michael's
[removed])

"It is my firm belief that the repetitive use of this slogan on Information,
Please would annoy listeners and mar the entertainment value of the
program," Golenpaul said in a statement.  "I always insisted upon and
obtained control of the entertainment portion of the program and manner of
its presentation.  My contract with the American Tobacco Company clearly
provides for this control.  However, there is more than a matter of contract
rights involved.  It involves the maintenance of the high standards of
Information, Please which the public demands, has the right to expect and
which we make every effort to provide."

"I took no action until four and a half hours before the scheduled time of
the broadcast of Information, Please, still hoping we would come to an
understanding on a more reasonable use of the slogan," Golenpaul continued.
"At 4 o'clock my attorneys, Damman, Roche and Goldeberg, 22 East 40 Street,
New York City, asked for and obtained a court order from Judge Carroll G.
Walter of the New York County Supreme Court.  With respect to the present
situation after every effort to come to a reasonable understanding had
failed, the only course left was the legal action which I have taken."

The newspapers had a field day with the news.  The New York Times headlined
"Information Please Fights for Its Honor."  The January 1943 issue of
Bridgeport Life featured an article mentioning:

	"One of the most interesting and certainly one of the best programs
on the
air is Information, Please,  Last week on its hour the ears of the listeners
were assailed something like twenty times by iterations of a meaningless
jingle which from the tone of Mr. Fadiman's remarks was as irksome to him as
it was to those who heard it.  It seems the sponsors of this hour are having
a new program opening in February and this inane method of attracting public
attention to it was selected as good advertising.  It is becoming more and
more apparent those in charge of preparing commercial announcements are
going on the premise the nation is composed of a bunch of morons.  Nothing
else could account for the drivel that is embodied in them and which are so
senseless they cause one's sensibilities to crawl.
"However it is pleasing to know that one producer has the nerve to protest
and Daniel Golenpaul Associates have sought an injunction to prevent its
sponsor, the American Tobacco Company, from using on the show the jingle,
'the best tunes of all move to Carnegie Hall.'  Now is that not a nifty?
One wondered what mastermind thought up this elegant bit of advertising
tripe.  In the argument against use of the jingle it was characterized as
'meaningless' and 'irritating' and it was stated it was used some twenty
times in the thirty minute program.
"The advertising portion of radio in too many instances is hitting a new
high for bad taste."

Golenpaul explained in court that he has asked the sponsors to limit the
slogan to usage twice during the half-hour broadcast.  Golenpaul even took a
clipping of the Bridgeport Life article (among others) as witness to public
opinion.  The announcers Cross and Ruysdael testified that guests and
audience members were disgusted over the slogan.

On January 27, 1943, Judge J. Shientag gave his verdict.  "The contract
entered into between the producers of Information, Please and its present
sponsorship, defines the rights and obligations of the parties.  The
producers reserve to themselves the fight 'to determine all matters and
things pertaining to the entertainment portion of the program, the artistic
material to be broadcast and the manner in which the program shall be
presented.'  Defendant was granted the right 'to prepare any and all
commercials to be used on such program and producer undertakes to use the
same in such manner as sponsor and producer undertakes to use the same in
such manner as sponsor may require.'  The American Tobacco Company has used
a 'jingle' in its broadcast evidently designed to advise radio listeners
that it would no longer continue to sponsor Information, Please but would
present a different program in Carnegie Hall."

"The attorney for the plaintiffs stated in open court that he did not charge
the present sponsor with any conscious or malicious intent to injure the
Information, Please program," Judge Shientag concluded.  "It would
undoubtedly have been in much better taste and more in conformity with the
general character of the Information, Please program and the standing of
those who participate in it if the sponsor had acceded to the request of the
producers and cut down the number of times the 'jingle' complained of was
used.  Whatever bad taste may have been displayed in this connection does
not, however, warrant a court of equity in granting a preliminary injunction
before trial.  The motion is accordingly denied."

The day after Judge Shientag delivered his ruling, Dan Golenpaul addressed
the press with a formal statement: "The court felt that the irritation of
the radio audience would be directed primarily against the American Tobacco
Company.  That may be true but why irritate an audience at all and interfere
with their enjoyment of entertainment?  Irrespective of the American Tobacco
Company's standards of taste, or its respect for the judge's suggestion, I
can assure the public that the new sponsor, [removed] Heinz Company, will not
employ commercials that are apt to be irritating and annoying to the
listeners."

The situation was not without merit.  The letters written in support of Dan
Golenpaul, venting their frustration in the Lucky Strike teaser slogan
arrived in large volumes.  Golenpaul had a courtesy letter composed in reply
to everyone who wrote in regarding the listener's sympathy to Golenpaul's
point of view.  The composition dated February 10, 1943, was sent out to an
estimated 1,000+ letter writers.  Apparently the radio listeners were glad
to know that Lucky Strike's tactics would be applied to a different program
other than Information, Please.

Support for Golenpaul was evident during the broadcast of February 5, 1943 -
the final broadcast sponsored by Lucky Strike.  The announcer spoke up for
the entire Information, Please panel and master of ceremonies during the
broadcast, thanking Lucky Strike for their many hours of enjoyment.  With
sympathy for Golenpaul's stance on everyone's mind, when Fadiman asked "Why
couldn't Narcissa keep Ulysses?"  Oscar Levant immediately remarked, "He got
a new sponsor."  The audience attending the broadcast laughed and clapped in
recognition.

Incidentally, I just watched an old Columbia animated short from 1944
spoofing the Basil Rathbone/Sherlock Holmes character and the villain (a
daffy Professor Moriarty) kept displaying signs and cryin out annoyingly
"The best Bones of all move to  . . ." Well, you get the idea.  Apparently
Warner Bros. wasn't the only animation studio making fun of radio
[removed]
Martin Grams, Jr.

Copyrighted info above was reprinted ith permission, courtesy of Bear Manor
Media from the book, INFORMATION PLEASE.

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

Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 19:21:21 -0500
From: JackBenny@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Time number
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Here's a question to which you'll know the [removed]

There's a number that was commonly dialed for time, at least in the Los
Angeles area.  It is something like "Ulrich 8-900" or "Orrick 8-900".  Can
anyone
say exactly what that exchange was?

--Laura Leff
President, IJBFC
[removed]

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Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 19:52:10 -0500
From: Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Fwd: Jean Ellington

   Received this in the ol' website [removed], someone here can help.

         Charlie

--- begin forwarded text

From: "David Pelletier" <dkci@[removed];
Subject: Jean Ellington

I am researching my Great Aunt, Jean Ellington.  She was a blues and jazz
singer during the 30's and 40's.  My Dad remembers her on the "Light up and
Listen" program as well as the "Monday Night Jamboree."  She was born Ruth
Garrison, the youngest of eight children born to Joseph and Talitha (Esery)
Garrison.  She married but I think she always went by her stage name.  She
died in California and was brought to a family plot on Camano Island
Washington to be burried.

I am searching for any photos and/or recordings of her to surprise my Dad who
remebers her fondly.

Thank you for any help you can give me on this.

Karen Pelletier
dkci@[removed]

--- end forwarded text

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

Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 20:09:46 -0500
From: <otrbuff@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Carnegie Hall

Michael Berger inquires about the meaning of the repetitious plug "the best
tunes of all have moved to Carnegie Hall."

Beyond the fact the concept of featuring current top songs from the charts
on the air originated with Your Hit Parade, there were a couple of spin-off
series also spawned here.  On one of them, from February 12, 1943 to
September 24, 1944, NBC aired Your All-Time Hit Parade live from Carnegie
Hall, also sponsored by Lucky Strike.  (The Friday night series was a Sunday
night summer replacement for The Jack Benny Program in 1944.)  The show
mixed current hits (like "I'll Be Seeing You") with those of an earlier era
(like "Wagon Wheels").  Said one reviewer:  "This no doubt would have been
just another music show but for one factor-American Tobacco and its feisty
president, George Washington Hill."   He promoted it surreptitiously on his
other radio series with a relentless rhyme:  The best tunes of all have
moved to Carnegie Hall!  Mark Warnow directed the orchestra.  Vocalists
Marie Green, Ethel Smith, Martha Stewart, Bea Wain, Jerry Wayne and the Lyn
Murray Chorus were regulars.

Jim Cox

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

Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 20:51:23 -0500
From: "Bob Burchett" <haradio@[removed];
To: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Cincinnati Convention
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April 16,17, 2004. Bob Hastings, Rosemary Rice, Hal Stone, and our
new guest, Will Hutchins (Sugarfoot, Blonde). Esther Geddes is so
coming. She has had a tough time after losing Tyler. John Rayburn,
The Boogie Woogie Girls, Ed Clute, and the Blue Cole Trio will return.
Looks like another great weekend of Old Time Radio & nostalgia.
If you didn't make it last year you will like the Best Western Hotel.
[removed] Make your reservations early. The hotel was
completely full last year at convention time.
Anyone who wants one of our mailers, send your mailing address.
Bob Burchett [removed]

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Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 21:49:57 -0500
From: howard blue <khovard@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  1930s & '40s use of radio as a propaganda
 tool

Scott Palmer asked about books concerning the use of radio in the 1930s
and 40s  as a political "weapon" and its use as a propaganda tool in WW2.

My book: WORDS AT WAR (Scarecrow Press) deals exactly with that topic.
For further information see [removed]

Howard

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

Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 00:16:43 -0500
From: RickEditor@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  best tunes of all

Michael Berger wrote:

Every once in a while, I come across a show from  the mid-1940s that
includes the following: "the best tunes of all move to  Carnegie [removed],
the best tunes of all move to Carnegie [removed]"
<snip>
That should tell me that the mystery  phrase could refer to the switch of
Lucky Strike's Hit Parade program from a  studio to Carnegie Hall.  Am I
correct, or does this phrase have another  meaning?

Michael,
I learned the  answer while reading Martin Grams Jr.'s wonderful book on
"Information Please."  It's such a good story that I won't ruin it for you.
I'm
sure others know the  tale. the book is "out of print" at Amazon but there are
used copies available  there. Someone in the group (Martin?) also must have a
few extra copies.
rick  selvin

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

Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 00:19:01 -0500
From: Donaldeprice@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Regarding: John B. Gamblings
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Regarding John B. Gamblings, in "Rambling With Gambling" on WOR radio:    Was
his theme song:  " Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile,
smile, smile.  What's the use of worrying, it never was much fun, so pack up
your
troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile ! "  . That is all I can
recall - and I don't know the song title or writer.  Any further help would be
appreciated.  Thank you.    Don

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Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 01:38:09 -0500
From: "Matthew Bullis" <matthewbullis@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Nobody heard the ending of a Suspense show?

Hello, I was listening to a Suspense show called The Shot with Van Heflin,
and at the beginning of the broadcast, the announcer said that the last
week's broadcast (which according to online logs should be Action with
Herbert Marshall) was not heard by many people. Therefore, they were sending
mimeographed copies of the last five minutes of the show to those who had
written in. My questions then are: How did people write to their favorite
shows when I never heard an address given out: and does nobody have that
last week's broadcast in its entirety? Was it a network failure, and we have
the original show somewhere?
Thanks a lot.
Matthew

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

Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 11:00:58 -0500
From: Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  "Slumber Song"

I did some searches, and my best guess is that the lady is remembering
"Slumber Song" by Schumann.
This site has a reproduction of the sheet music. Maybe the words to the
song will help jog some memories.
[removed]

Hope this helps,
Herb Harrison

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

Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 11:01:20 -0500
From: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Propoganda on [removed]

In #49, Scott Palmer wrote:

... Political "weapon" and its use as a propaganda tool in WW2.
Any books or Periodical suggestions would be greatly
appreciated.

	I whole-heartedly recommend Howard Blue's _Words_at_War_.  An
excellent book and a fun read too.

-chris holm

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

Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 11:01:50 -0500
From: "Bill Orr" <billorr6@[removed];
To: "OTR List" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Radio Politics/Propaganda, Digest #49

"Secret Missions" by Capt. Ellis M. Zacharias (Naval Institute Press)
describes his role in Naval Intelligence in the 1920's through the 1940's
and specifically how he made 14 radio broadcasts to the Japanese people
between V-E and V-J days assuring them that unconditional surrender would
not lead to extermination or enslavement.  He spoke in impeccable Japanese
which he learned in the 1920's while a Naval Attache' in Japan where he
collected secrets and codes as well as psychological profiles of political
and military figures.  Capt. Zacharias retired as a Rear Admiral after the
war.

The book cited above should not be confused with the OTR series of the same
name which, btw, I am interested in obtaining copies of on *any* media at
*any* reasonable price.  This is very timely as I told Capt. Zacharias' son
just last week that I would try to find copies of his dad's OTR programs.
Hope someone can help.

Regards,

Bill Orr
billorr6@[removed]

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

Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 14:02:29 -0500
From: Michael Edwards <medwards_47@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Radio Soaps

Hello all.  I have a couple of questions concerning
radio soaps that I am seeking answers to, and would
appreciate any help the knowledgable people on this
list could give me:

1) In the long run of "Guiding Light" episodes
available on casette, there is no organ music heard in
the programs.  Why is this?

2) There are long runs of many soaps available such as
"Perry Mason" and "Backstage Wife" which have no music
or commericals or anything other than the plot of that
day's episode.  Why is this?

I've heard many theories, but I'd like a definitive
episode.  Any help the members can provide is greatly
appreciated.

Michael Edwards

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

Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 15:34:19 -0500
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  2-7 births/deaths

February 7th births

02-07-1812 - Charles Dickens - Portsmouth, England - d. 6-9-1870
author: "A Christmas Carol"
02-07-1883 - Eubie Blake - Baltimore, MD - d. 2-12-1983
jazz pianist: "Ragtime"; "White House Jazz Festival"
02-07-1895 - Irving Aaronson - NYC - d. 5-10-1963
orchestra leader: Big Band Remotes
02-07-1908 - Bill Johnstone - Paisley, Scotland - d. early 1997
actor: Lamont Cranston "The Shadow"; Sam Young "Pepper Young's Family"
02-07-1920 - Eddie Bracken - Astoria, NY - d. 11-14-2002
comedian: "Eddie Bracken Show"; Dizzy Stevens "Aldrich Family"
02-07-1923 - Keefe Brasselle - Elyria, OH - d. 7-7-1981
actor: "Stars in the Air"

February 7th deaths

06-30-1918 - Stewart Foster - Binghamton, NY - d. 2-7-1968
singer: "Stewart Foster Show"; "Galen Drake"; "On a Sunday Afternoon"
10-31-1912 - Dale Evans - Uvalde, TX - d. 2-7-2001
actress, singer: (Queen of the Cowgirls) "Saturday Night Roundup"; "Roy
Rogers Show"

Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #50
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