Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #494
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 12/19/2002 12:03 PM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2002 : Issue 494
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Young members                         [ "Holm, Chris " <[removed]@delphiau ]
  Re: Young members                     [ "Kirby, Tom" <Kirby@[removed]; ]
  Re: Young Members                     [ Wboenig@[removed] ]
  Juniper Junction                      [ EdHowell@[removed] ]
  Harry Bartell on Fort Laramie         [ "Ryan Osentowski" <rosentowski@neb. ]
  I Love a Mystery                      [ Brian Betsworth <brianbetsworth@cas ]
  Re: Young People                      [ Richard Sumpter <rlsumpt@[removed]; ]
  Re: Young OTR Fans                    [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
  Re: Young Members                     [ mobrien@[removed] ]
  Harry Bartell                         [ "mike ray" <mikeray42@[removed]; ]
  Re: Young People                      [ Don Strong <donsplace@[removed] ]
  Christmas shows                       [ Art Chimes <achimes@[removed]; ]
  Re: Young People                      [ "J. Pope" <jpope101@[removed] ]
  young people                          [ JIMWMQT@[removed] ]
  Seeking Minnesotan OTR fan, preferab  [ Howard Blue <khovard@[removed]; ]

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 10:40:47 -0500
From: "Holm, Chris " <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Young members

In #492, Ron Sayles asked:

My question is to those young people
who did not grow up with radio as us
"old-timers" did. How did you first
get interested, what happened to make
you love, or at least like Old Time Radio?

At 28 years old, I'm certainly not the youngest member of the digest.
However, it's still not young enough to have any experience with OTR the
first time around.  However, my experience is similar to many of the older
members of the list - I grew up listening to old time radio.

I grew up in the DC area, and as long as I can remember, my family listened
to the Big Broadcast every Sunday from WAMU.  It was the perfect end of the
week.  It was the time when we prepared for the new week ahead, and then
settled down till it was time for bed.

Even now, living in Michigan, I still listen to the Big Broadcast every
Sunday, via the internet.  I bought a pair of wireless speakers, plugged the
transmitter into one of the audio out jacks on the sound card, and placed the
speakers around my apartment.  So now, while I spend Sunday evening getting
ready for the week ahead, I'm still surrounded by old time radio.

So for me, I don't remember a time when old time radio wasn't on the radio
(at least once a week), and that's how I fell in love in with OTR.

-Chris Holm
Who is also a contributing member of WAMU, and his local NPR station as well.

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 10:41:04 -0500
From: "Kirby, Tom" <Kirby@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Young members

Ron Sayles asks:

How did you first get interested, what happened to make you
love, or at least like Old Time Radio?

At the age of 45, I don't think I qualify as "young" anymore,
but the old-time radio ended within 5 years of my being born,
so I have no recollections of listening to anything but music
and DJs on the radio. Like most kids my age, I was a TV addict.

The first thing that got me interested in OTR was hearing about
the "War of the Worlds" panic, overblown as it may be, when I
was in high school. Shortly thereafter, I saw a magazine add
selling cassette tapes of OTR shows, which I ordered. My entry
in the hobby almost ended there, as the tapes never showed, and
I had to scramble around looking for alternate Christmas gifts.
I was still interested, but this unpleasant incident moved my
interest to the back burner, to be rekindled many years later
when I got a Radio Spirits catalogue in the mail.

I started by getting the War of the Worlds broadcast in a
Smithsonian collection, along with some other sci-fi shows, along
with some comedy collections. These were nice, lacking only the
commercials that were originally present. I'm still a Radio
Spirits customer, and I like to listen mainly to comedy and
sci-fi, but occasionally, I enjoy a good police/detective story.

Now, I can also listen to channel 164 on my XM radio.

I've also bought a few books on the subject (I have the order
form for Jughead's book filled out, but I just haven't dropped
it in the mail yet, out of laziness because I have the money).

This is probably more information than Ron wanted, but here it
is anyway.

-- Tom Kirby

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 10:41:33 -0500
From: Wboenig@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Young Members

Ron Sayles writes:

I know that there are several young people on this list who did not grow up
with Old Time Radio. I grew up with it and a little bit of me died when when
radio died. What came after did not replace that little bit that died. It
made
me miss radio all the more.

My question is to those young people who did not grow up with radio as us
"old-timers" did. How did you first get interested, what
happened to make you
love, or at least like Old Time Radio?

Ron, without intending it, you actually mention two groups of people, of
which I belong to only one.  By even the most liberal of definitions, I
missed the OTR era (by a few months), but at age 40 I hardly consider myself
a "young person"!   ;-)   Nevertheless, I will give you some input as to how
I got interested in the hobby.

As a youngster in the 60's, I developed a fondness for old B&W comedy movies,
such as those made by Laurel & Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, Abbott & Costello, The
Marx Brothers, [removed] Fields, etc.  Silent ot talkie, it didn't matter.  Then
one pre-Christmas around 1975 or 1976 I came across a Radiola LP of [removed]
Fields radio broadcasts, whcih I decided to buy as a gift for my father, who
also enjoyed a good laugh.  Anyway, this record may as well have been a gift
to me, because I played it over and over.  The banter between Fields and
Charlie McCarthy was the funniest routines that I had ever heard!  (Too bad
my friends had no idea what I was doing when I recited both parts of those
dialogues to them.)

Move ahead to 1980 -- I'm on vacation in upstate New York (Lake George area),
and we visited a wax museum that sold OTR cassettes from AIC in the gift
shop.  I bought one (more [removed] Fields material that was not on the
aforementioned album), and I also used the form on the inside of the label to
send for a free catalog from AIC.  My first order was for six tapes,
including some Fibber McGee and Molly, Jack Benny, and Suspense.  That's all
it took to get me hooked.

Wayne Boenig

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 10:58:34 -0500
From: EdHowell@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Juniper Junction
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Would like to hear from anyone who knows where I might find episode(s) of
Juniper Junction.  Merry Christmas to all!

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Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 11:18:59 -0500
From: "Ryan Osentowski" <rosentowski@[removed];
To: "old time radio" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Harry Bartell on Fort Laramie

Hello all:
Harry, if we're going to discuss various stars and shows, I'd sure love to
hear about your work with Raymond Burr on Fort Laramie.  Looking at it from
a historical perspective, you worked with him just before he achieved great
national fame as television's Perry Mason.  You may not remember your
regular role as Lt. Seiberts, but I sure enjoy it.  Fort Laramie was one of
the most under-rated, superior programs I've heard and its one of the few
period pieces to do justice to the Native-American, in my opinion.
RyanO

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 11:51:13 -0500
From: Brian Betsworth <brianbetsworth@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  I Love a Mystery
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I have all four complete episodes of  "I Love a Mystery" available for
sharing.  Does anyone have other scripts for any ILAM shows that our
"Rochester Radio Theatre Guild" [removed] can recreate for fans?

Brian Betsworth
brianbetsworth@[removed]

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 12:30:29 -0500
From: Richard Sumpter <rlsumpt@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Young People

Mornin'

Well, I have been lurking on this list for a couple of years now, and
as a "young" listener, I thought I would chime in with my two cents. I
first discovered OTR at the ripe old age of 10, back in 1986. We had
moved into a new house and in the basement I found on a promotional ad
for "The Shadow" magazine plastered on the wall. After I asked my
father about it, he dug out an old notebook from 1938, when he was
around the same age. Inside was his home made radio time guide. Later
that same year, I was able to find cassette versions of "War of the
Worlds" and the Shadow episode, "Death from the Deep". I still have
that very well-worn cassette, and can recite almost the entire script
from memory. After that I spent every waking hour attempting to
purchase every radio episode I could find.

Now, I have converted all of my tape collection onto home-burned audio
CDs, storing the well-worn masters away and archiving them into digital
format to play on my mp3 player. I still spend many hours listening to
classic radio, and now look for MP3 of new series to see if they are to
my liking. The funny thing is a couple of years ago I found my father's
old notebook again and discovered we listened to the exact same shows.

I guess I'll return to my lurking, thanks for a great list. :-)

Richard Sumpter
MultiMedia Resource Center
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 12:35:45 -0500
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Young OTR Fans

One of the reasons I enjoy this group is that it still considers me a
"young person," helping to make turning forty a little less [removed]

While I didn't grow up in the OTR era, I *did* grow up with radio as a
stimulus to my imagnination: my grandmother and I used to listen together
to baseball games, and it was thru this that I came to understand and
appreciate radio's power to create a mental image in the mind of a
listener. I also caught Jean Shepherd occasionally in his last few years
on WOR, Larry Glick on WBZ, and other 1970s era talk-show personalities
who understood what radio was all about.

My interest in the OTR era itself also stems from my grandparents -- who
were scarred for the rest of their lives by their experiences during the
Depression. For example, they obsessively saved anything they got their
hands on, "because you never know when we might need it." When a bedsheet
wore out, rather than throwing it away, my grandmother would cut it in
half lengthwise, turn the worn middle to the outside and then resew it so
that the unworn edges were now the center. Or if it was too far gone,
she'd cut it up and make pillowcases. Clothes would be patched, socks
would be darned, collars would be turned, toothpaste tubes would be cut
open and the last little bit scraped out, brown bags would be carefully
folded and stored under the sink,  cigarette butts would be torn apart so
that my grandfather could smoke the remnants in his pipe -- there was no
end to it. It was asking them why they did these things when there was no
obvious need for doing so -- "Can't you just go to the store??" --  that
got them to talking about their Depression experiences, and this got me
interested in the era itself.

When I was 13, I read "The Glory and the Dream," William Manchester's
two-volume narrative history of the generation that came of age in the
1930s, and this inspired me to start doing research of my own. An
interest in OTR soon followed -- helped by the fact that several stations
were airing syndicated OTR reruns in my area. That was twenty-seven years
ago, and I've been at it ever since.

Elizabeth

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 13:05:40 -0500
From: mobrien@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Young Members

Wow! At 32, I'm young! Now _there's_ a reason to get into a [removed]
<g>

I'm not really as 'into' OTR as most of the people around here, I'm
afraid. I do remember listening to CBS Mystery Theater when I was a
really little kid, with that wonderful creaking door giving me the
shivers. My parents listened to it all the time in their bedroom, but
you couldn't really hear it from my bedroom and it was past my bedtime.
So listening to it required some powerful little kid negotiation to
get into my parents' [removed] since that was kind of a creepy
show, so claiming a nightmare was obviously not a good plan! <g>

I've read a few books I've found along the years, though, including a
really good autobiography of *mumble-actorwhosenameIcan'tremember* that
we bought at a library sale when I was a kid. It opened a whole new
world to me. I'm still a bit indignant that the whole expanse of radio
drama is left out of the reading books and even English lit courses. I
never really had the money to really get into listening, though, until
the net and mp3s made the logistics easier.

I'm mostly interested in mysteries, pulp shows like The Shadow, and
science fiction shows (those being my favorite reading materials). I've
learned to like the comedy shows pretty well when I hear them, though.

Oh, and I did actually help write a radio comedy! <g> My friends and I
were at the Pennsic War, a very large (10,000+) camping/sporting/socializing
event held out in Pennsylvania every August by the Society for Creative
Anachronism (the big medieval recreation club). Some friends and I were
joking about how the characters on the show King of the Hill would fit
into Pennsic, and it turned into a big extended conversation about how
you could write a fanfiction about such a thing. The next morning I woke
up early and started scribbling down some of the dialogue we'd thought
up in a more coherent form. I got through a couple scenes and then took
them to my friends' camp after breakfast. Everybody got excited, and for
the rest of the afternoon, we wrote and finished "King of Horde Hill".

We cast it (based on who could do the voices), did it a couple times for
people in camp (who thought it was funny), and then got offered time on
the Horde's pirate radio station, Radio Free Mongolia. (Yes, this is what
happens when medieval reenactment meets technogeeks.) So we recorded the
show outside the yurt with the recording studio (no, I am _not_ joking)
and played it on the radio that night. For those so unfortunate as to miss
the broadcast, you can download it from Mark Peters' website.
[removed]~[removed]

We did _try_ not to do the "Now I'm looking at the wall" kind of
dialogue. I think we did a pretty good job except where the jokes
flagged. (Well, and my voice acting left a lot to be [removed],
well.)

My friends and I obviously were modeling our work on that of the
cartoon's voice actors. There are a _lot_ of cartoons, and a decent
amount of good voice actors out there (especially in Vancouver). I
think if I were making a real modern audio drama, that's where I'd
look to cast people. Presumably the actors wouldn't be so terrified
by the idea of acting only with their voices, since that's what they
do. In fact, they'd have more artistic freedom, since they wouldn't
have to worry so much about matching animated mouth and body movements,
and could pay more attention to their fellow actors.

Maureen

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 13:20:18 -0500
From: "mike ray" <mikeray42@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Harry Bartell

My sincere thanks to Harry Bartell for being so gracious and patient with me
over this issue of his reflections regarding Bob Bailey. My time of pestering
him over this issue should now be laid to rest. The comments that Harry did
make about Bob in response to my posting are sufficient and greatly
appreciated. Now regarding the Kennedy center honors, I would be delighted to
provide you with the Tux you would need, and I'm sure that all of us who love
you and appreciate you would consider it an honor to chip in and provide
first class accommodations to the event. Harry, one last thing; you made the
statement, "The wonderful people in this group have elevated me to a status
that isn't really true-- in large part I think, because I am still here."
Goodness, I hate to debate anything with you Harry, but on this point I think
the logic is upside down. Orson Welles, late in life, told director Peter
Bogdonovich "they will love me when I'm gone." True enough; during his life
he was a vagabond, hustling to raise money constantly to fund his "next"
project. After his death, several of his projects were taken up by others,
and Mr. Welles' fame has risen to legendary levels. I use the Welles example
for this point. Harry, many glowing testimonials are spoken about the "great
men" after they have gone. The world takes time to reflect, and then come to
the conclusion, "hey, he was a great man." On the other hand it is "very"
rare indeed when a man is honored in his lifetime. Yes, Harry we love your
work. Yes, you have given us enormous pleasure and enjoyment. You are a
consummate actor. You are what Chekhov, and O'Neil dreamed of in an actor.
You are what McDonnell, Johnstone, & Webb depended on. You are what the
American listening public relied on. You are apart of that great tradition of
craftsman like actors, Fredric March, Dick Powell, Gerald Mohr, John Dehner,
Frank Lovejoy, and many others of that temperament who put their craft ahead
of whatever star status they might receive. You see Harry, some the most
significant moments in our lives pass us by before we realize it. You "are"
however one of the most significant people in our lives. We have been greatly
blessed by your talent. You are an American treasure whose work has stood the
test of time. Let the Kennedy honors begin!
Warmest regards,
Mike Ray

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 13:21:27 -0500
From: Don Strong <donsplace@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Young People

My Sunday School kids keep telling me that I'm "older than germs", but
since I was born in 1959, I guess I qualify as young by OTR [removed]

I was introduced to OTR by my 6th grade teacher; he used to bring RTR
recordings of various shows to class to either illustrate a subject, or
just for the fun of it - I later found out that OTR for "reading class"
was just an excuse to get us kids to settle down a little, and maybe
learn something by mistake. It worked!

While in high school, John Monroe of KGMI in Bellingham started playing
OTR nightly in the evening, which was perfect for me because the TV
shows my parents liked were quite boring. Only an hour, but I rarely
missed a show. After a few months, John was only able to play OTR on
Saturday nights, but they gave him 3 hours. By my senior year in high
school, OTR was no longer available on KGMI. I found out shortly before
John retired that the OTR collection he was using belonged to one of
the engineers, and when that gentleman retired, John suddenly had no
source material! He had enjoyed airing the shows, but his main hobby
was (and still is) amateur radio; he never got around to getting any
recordings himself.

At about the same time, I discovered Jack Cullen on CKNW. At that time,
he was airing 2-3 hours of OTR weekdays, plus what seemed like almost
all night on weekends. That man caused me to loose a lot of sleep :)
Unfortunatly, there isn't any OTR on CKNW anymore. I suspect that Mr.
Cullen is no longer with us.

I didn't discover that there was such a thing as OTR tapes you could
actually purchase and play any time you want until I met a vendor at a
science fiction convention I was working at while in college. Now I
have quite a collection on RTR, cassette, CD, and mp3 - all because of
a grade school teacher who believed that learning should be fun.

BTW - Mr. Greenough introduced me to comic books in 5th grade, too!

"Prevent truth decay - study the Bible daily"
      ---- [removed]

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 13:21:48 -0500
From: Art Chimes <achimes@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Christmas shows

It's that time of year again.

Broadcasters who air OTR have been dusting off the usual seasonal
suspects for their annual airing.

Do you have a favorite radio Christmas show?

Yes, they're all too sappy, which is why one of my favorites is a
Suspense episode featuring Raymond Burr as felon who gets "Out
for Christmas."

Just about any Jack Benny episode that involves shopping for
Christmas gifts also makes my list.

(Benny, born Benjamin Kubelsky, was of course Jewish, which
didn't keep him from celebrating Christmas on his show. Can
anyone recall observance of Chanukkah or any other Jewish holiday
on a mainstream network radio show? I can't.)

My personal holiday favorite, though, is Frank Morgan's 1945 tour
de force on Cavalcade of America: "Names on the Land," a
make-believe train journey across America with stories of how
various places got their names. (It's based on the wonderful book
of the same name by George R. Stewart.)

Regards,
Art

--
Art Chimes
Arlington, VA
achimes@[removed]

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 13:22:04 -0500
From: "J. Pope" <jpope101@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Young People

    Growing up in the '80s and '90s, my only exposure to OTR was hearing
about the famous "War of the Worlds" broadcast.  I did like classic
t********n shows, though, and when I gained cable access in college, I
discovered the 1960s version of 'Dragnet.' I joined an on-line discussion
list and soon learned of the radio series.  It was all downhill from there
;)

Jennifer

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 13:46:11 -0500
From: JIMWMQT@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  young people

I actually discovered OTR two ways.  When I was a kid in the 70's, a local
radio station would play 5 minutes of an episode of "The Shadow" every
morning when I was getting ready for [removed] up an old show into a
5-day story.  Never having heard of anything like that, I thought it was neat.

Later, in college, while doing research for a project, I discovered that the
final episodes of "Suspense" and "Johnny Dollar" went off the air September
30th, [removed] day i was born.

Guess I was kinda hooked from there!

Jim Koski

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 13:46:50 -0500
From: Howard Blue <khovard@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Seeking Minnesotan OTR fan, preferably one
 from St. Paul

I have a question for a Minnesotan OTR fan, preferably from St. Paul.
Please contact me off-line

Howard Blue

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #494
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