------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 01 : Issue 33
A Part of the [removed]!
Today's Topics:
Nichols & May on radio [Ronnie Wise <rwise@[removed]; ]
Ages, Intros and OTR [Ivan Watson <watsoni@[removed]; ]
film compared to [removed] ["Art Shifrin" <goldens2@[removed]]
The Land is Bright [Weisberg Mitchell D DLVA <WeisbergM]
AM Antenna Tuner [danhughes@[removed] ]
Playing radio and Groucho [Joe Mackey <wmackey@[removed]]
The Lives of Harry Lime/Third Man ["J. Randolph Cox" <cox@[removed]]
Our Ages [DLSharp500@[removed] ]
War Bonds ["Richard B. and Barbara B. Odlin" <]
Groucho Marx question ["Jim Lewis" <jimlew2@[removed];]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2001 01:53:43 -0500
From: Ronnie Wise <rwise@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Nichols & May on radio
Hi, radio fans,
I'm looking for recordings of the late 50's-early 60's comedy team of
Nichols and May. From what I have read, Mike Nichols and Elaine May
performed skits on NBC radio's Monitor, and they might have appeared on
other radio shows of that era. Does anyone out there have any of this
team's radio work? If so, please contact me. Thanks, Ron Wise
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2001 09:14:20 -0500
From: Ivan Watson <watsoni@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Ages, Intros and OTR
My name is Ivan and at 20 years old I suppose that I
am one of the younger members of this mailing list. I
have been lurking on and off for several years and
have always enjoyed reading the submissions of people
truly knowledgeable in OTR history. My first
experience with OTR was when I was about 12 years old.
It was Halloween night and I accidentally turned into
a broadcast of "Around the World in 80 Days" (btw does
anyone know where I might find that programme?) The
funny thing was that at that time I had no idea that
there was this wonderful OTR world out there. The next
night I turned into the same station and there were no
more shows. The next Halloween I tuned in again by
accident and listened to about 2 hours of programming
including Suspense, the Shadow, Big Town, etc. That
time I was hooked and was directed to the local
library where luckliy they had a big collection of
shows. One of my favorite parts of OTR are those
wonderful opening sequences, such as from Escape
"tired of the everyday [removed]" or Suspense, "show
well [removed]" I am a member of a local
Toastmasters group and I did a speech doing imitations
of some of those openings and it got a tremendous
response. Right now I'm in the process of possibly
creating a "big band jazz" show for a local radio
station and would appreciate anyone's input as to
where I might be able to find some live broadcasts of
the swing eras. (dance/jazz/big band remotes, or
whatever else one might call them :)! Any
suggestions?
Thanks, Ivan
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2001 09:14:22 -0500
From: "Art Shifrin" <goldens2@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: film compared to [removed]
I was surprised yesterday to realize that I'd never seen this film. I was
reminded of it because it twice ran on one of the cable networks yesterday.
I was particularly interested because just about thirty years ago, (when I
had access to Rudy Vallee and his precious collection of ET's and 78s) I
made a transfer of a very nice set of 16" plastic World ET's of the CBS
broadcast from August, 1938 of the wonderful promotional program. For those
of you who are not familiar with it, it starred and featured members of the
film cast (Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Ethel Merman) and others associated
with Irving Berlin's music (Berlin, Al, Jolson, Sophie Tucker,, Eddie
Cantor, John Steele, Connee Boswell, Rudy Vallee (which is why he had a set
of the disks), Connee Boswell, Paul Whiteman, Guy Lombardo's Orch., Tommy
Dorsey's Orch. et. al.
>From a perspective of 62 years after the fact, the broadcast (live from NY,
Chicago & LA) is much more entertaining than the film.
This in turn reminds me of the lackluster film verison of "Sorry Wrong
Number" (starring Barbara Stanwyck) as compared to Agnes Moorehead's
performances of it on Suspense.
Kudos to the medium of radio when used artistically, tastefully, and
creatively!
Shiffy
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2001 09:14:24 -0500
From: Weisberg Mitchell D DLVA <WeisbergMD@[removed];
To: "'Old-Time Radio Newsletter'" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: The Land is Bright
Someone told me he was on a radio show called "The Land is Bright" on CBS in
1944.
I can't find any references for this show. Can anyone help?
Mitch Weisberg
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2001 09:14:26 -0500
From: danhughes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: AM Antenna Tuner
Someone was having problems with AM radio reception. I have plans on my
website to build an antenna that sits next to your radio--no connection
at all--and improves AM reception dramatically. Make it from wire, a
yardstick, and an AM tuning capacitor (used to cost about $[removed] at Radio
Shack; don't know if they still have them or not). Anyway, the site is:
[removed]~dan
Near the bottom of that page you'll see the "AM antenna tuner" link.
---Dan
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2001 12:51:56 -0500
From: Joe Mackey <wmackey@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Playing radio and Groucho
In the early '70s I used a 8mm movie camera and hidden tape recorder
to record a "talkie" home movie. A friend of mine, who was a big
Groucho fan, and I sat at a table with the mic hidden in a flower
arrangement with he playing Chico and I was Groucho, we did the "why a
duck?" routine from Coconuts. His wife was the camera operator. It was
a fun experiment but when the silent film was started the one working
the tape player had to be quick to get the picture and sound in synch.
:)
Joe
--
Visit my home page:
[removed]~[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2001 13:14:20 -0500
From: "J. Randolph Cox" <cox@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: The Lives of Harry Lime/Third Man
I agree with Martin Grams, Jr. that "The Lives of Harry Lime" is the
correct title of the series so often referred to as "The Third Man," but the
error is understandable. On the tapes I've heard of it -- the announcer
introduces it with the words "Presenting Orson Welles as The Third Man"
before saying that this is "The Lives of Harry Lime" and refers to Harry
Lime as "the third man." (I'm going by the tapes I recently acquired from
Crabapple Sound.)
Unfortunately, John Dunning enters the show in his book under "The Third
Man" with "The Lives of Harry Lime" as a sub-title and with no cross
reference from "The Lives of Harry Lime" to "The Third Man." I darned near
missed it when I was looking it up the other week. Hickerson also lists it
as"The Third Man," but has cross-references from TLOHL and just HL
On a little reflection, anyone who has seen the movie should realize
that Harry Lime is referred to only as "the third man" in the context of
that story and that to call Harry Lime "the third man" in this series of
"prequels" to the film is ridiculous. It is understandable, of course,
because the title of the film is probably what most people remember over the
name of the character.
I believe "Ticket to Tangier" (the fourth episode)is called the first
episode in error on the dvd of the film -- I understand this episode appears
on the dvd.
As a side note, anyone who remembers the television series -- which
really *is* called "The Third Man" -- with Michael Rennie knows that the
character of Harry Lime in that series is quite different from that in
either the film or the radio series. The significance of calling Harry Lime
"the third man" is covered by a reference to him being a "neutral" in all
things diplomatic. I'm not certain that really makes sense, but it may have
made sense to the script writer and the production company.
Randy Cox
cox@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2001 15:32:47 -0500
From: DLSharp500@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Our Ages
I haven't posted at here in the digest for about a year, but I couldn't
resist the subject of our ages and how we came to OTR.
At 51 I'm a child of the early TV years. I was born in 1949 when the
era of radio programs was beginning to wind down. When I was 14
my uncle gave me a 1940's Halicrafters shortwave radio he had sitting
around. It was a huge metal box with an equally huge and seperate
speaker. I ran a long antenna from my house to the phone pole in the
neighbors yard. I had this radio stored at the house I grew up in until
1996 when my father passed away and my mother sold the house.
It was about that time (1963) that a local radio station (KCBS in San
Francisco) started broadcasting old episodes of The Shadow and
The Green Hornet on Sunday nights at 5:30 and 6:00. I remember us
eating dinner at 5:30 so we could listen to the The Shadow and then
my rushing to my room so I could set up my 3" reel-to-reel Sony tape
recorder to tape The Green Hornet.
In the mid-70's I began to collect the few Shadow albums put out by
Radiola. The in the 80's I found a great source for Shadow stories on
record through Murray Hill. I now have collected almost all (if not all)
of the existing Shadow episodes (some 200+). Many of them are in MP3
format and someday I'll get together the equipment to put them on tape.
I've also collected a number of Green Hornet episodes and Lone Ranger
episodes over the years.
Even though I haven't been much of a contributor to the digest in recent
times, I find it to be an never ending treasure trove of information about
OTR.
Thanks to everyone who have and continue to share their incredible
wealth of knowledge and memories with us all
David Sharp
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2001 16:00:24 -0500
From: "Richard B. and Barbara B. Odlin" <bbo@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: War Bonds
This is in response to the following questions:
This is not technically an OTR subject, but during the war years most every
radio (and movie) star around was promoting War Bonds. I have often
wondered just how these worked. I know the money went to help finance the
war. But there must have been some incentive to buy them, other than
patriotic duty.
Were these interest-bearing? If so, at what rate? How long for them to
mature? Was this considered a successful program? I know they sold bonds
during WWI and WWII, but I don't remember them during Korea or Vietnam.
Why? What changed that the government didn't need to sell them in those
later years?
Were these similar to the US Savings Bonds they still offer today?
Yes, I recall Savings Stamps and War Bonds well. I was fortunate enough to
have filled three books of 10 cent stamps during those War years. My
brother started a book of 25 cent stamps, but I don't think he ever got very
far with it. I still have some of the stamps around, being a bit of a
philatelist as well as an OTR fan.
They sold the stamps every week at school, and if you did not go up when
your name was called to buy one or more, you were deemed somewhat
unpatriotic by the other kids, not willing to do your part in winning the
War [!!] Anyway, once you got 187 stamps in a book, you took it and a nickel
to the bank and they gave you a very pretty, parchment-paper-engraved War
Bond with your name and address on it which had a cost of $[removed] and would
be worth $[removed] in ten years. This was quite a piece of paper, with a big
engraving of George Washington on it, and all engraved lettering, and
signature of the Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau, on it, etc.
The paper was the same as was used for $Million Dollar Bonds and Notes.
With a maturity of ten years, it came out to interest at the rate of [removed]
per year, and it accumulated the interest, so there was no income tax until
you cashed it in.
It was an enormously successful program. My father had the honor of being
named by the Treasury Dept. as the head of Washington State's War Bond
efforts, and we kids got to accompany him to some of the various
publicly held kickoff gatherings for War Bond Drives [There were seven of
them during the years, as I recall] and meet Hollywood stars that would be
sent up to help build the crowd. I recall specifically Adolphe Menjou being
here in Tacoma for one of these. There were also pretty starlets, but at my
age then, I wasn't too interested in them!! [Girls -- Humphh!:)]
After the War was over, the name changed to Savings Bonds and these were
heavily promoted, initially as an inflation fighter, through payroll savings
plans, etc. The existence of this program was probably why they were not
mentioned in the Korea and Vietnam era programming, as well as the fact that
these were labeled "U. N. Police Actions", rather than what they really
were!
The Savings Bonds program survives to this day, and only the maturities
changed to change the interest rate from time to time. And the bonds are
poorly lithographed on a plain old stiff IBM card nowadays!
Richard B. Odlin
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2001 22:43:47 -0500
From: "Jim Lewis" <jimlew2@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Groucho Marx question
Just a slightly different question on this Groucho [removed] was one of
the brothers(think it was Harpo) who never spoke but always responded with
sound effects or [removed] this brother really speech impaired or was
this just his [removed] have seen documentaries on them but this was never
[removed] am what you would call a leading edge baby boomer born in 1947
so I guess that makes me [removed] can just barely remember listening to Johnny
Dollar and Gunsmoke as a preteen type but of course was far more interested
in TV.
I just started listening to OTR on a local radio station again about 7 years
ago and at first the nostalgia aspect of it appealed to [removed] that station
started playing back the 5-part YTJD shows but only one per Sunday night so
it took 5 weeks to play the whole serial back and the wait would really
frustrate me,but I really enjoyed those shows so much that I "discovered"
OTR again after a 40 year [removed] I really enjoy the [removed] have also
found a lot of enjoyment in the old BW film-noirs and all those tough guys
of the 1945 to 52 [removed] enjoy this forum and the wide range of inputs and
[removed] carry [removed]
.
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V01 Issue #33
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