Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #99
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 3/3/2003 7:44 PM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2003 : Issue 99
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Vintage Radios                        [ BH <radioguy@[removed]; ]
  Boston Blackie graphic novel          [ Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed]; ]
  KDKA Party Line                       [ jsexton <jsexton@[removed]; ]
  Re: Horizons West                     [ Jean-Henri Duteau <jeand@telusplane ]
  Party Line & Beverage                 [ Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed] ]
  Re: Shirer as Reporter                [ Jerry Shnay <jshnay1@[removed]; ]
  March 3rd Birthdays                   [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Who owns the Lone Ranger now?         [ "Thomas Mason" <batz34@[removed] ]
  Talk Radio in the 1950's              [ KENPILETIC@[removed] ]
  OTR pronunciations.                   [ "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed] ]
  OTR by modern [removed]           [ "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed] ]
  harry bartell and the adventures wit  [ CHET <voxpop@[removed]; ]
  Re: Gays on Radio                     [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
  CBS shows in 70's                     [ ddunfee@[removed] ]
  CAPACITORS                            [ "Ian Grieve" <austotr@[removed]. ]
  SPERDVAC Guest announced              [ "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@hotmail. ]
  Gay Floorwalker                       [ "Brian Johnson" <CHYRONOP@worldnet. ]
  Lahs-ANN-Jel-us                       [ "Lois Culver" <lois@[removed]; ]

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

Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 12:58:13 -0500
From: BH <radioguy@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Vintage Radios

William L Murtough <k2mfi@[removed]; writes:

I have been reading with interest regarding the restoration of vintage
radios and the condenser problems, bringing back memories.

Now you're are really showing your age Bill, when you call them
condensors.

Bill H.

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

Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 12:58:48 -0500
From: Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Boston Blackie graphic novel

A while back, I wrote about a review I'd read of a 48
page Boston Blackie graphic novel, based on the
original, pre-radio version of the character.

Well, I've now read it myself. I liked it. Farraday is
in it as well, though he's only a beat cop, not an
inspector. Also Blackie is married to a woman named
Mary (presumably Mary Wesley).

The story was published by Moonstone books under the
imprint Moonstone Noir. Other series listed on the
back cover are Bulldog Drummond, Johnny Dollar, and
The Mysterious Traveler. I've not actually seen any of
those other books, but The Mysterious Traveler was
supposedly published in February. I don't have a date
for the others.

Moonstone's website is [removed].  There
I learned that they also have published (or will be
publishing) graphic novels about the Cisco Kid,
Sherlock Holmes, Pat Novak for Hire, and Mr. Keen,
Tracer of Lost Persons.

Non OTR related graphic novels include Kolchak the
Night Stalker, Lee Falk's The Phantom; Mr. Moto, and
Frankenstein.

"That's Fraun-ken-steen"

Whatever.

At any rate, I'll definitely keep my eye out for the
other OTR related stories Moonstone is publishing.

Rick

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

Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 12:59:05 -0500
From: jsexton <jsexton@[removed];
To: OldRadio <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  KDKA Party Line

Right you [removed] was Ed and Wendy [removed] had some great Halloween
shows,[removed] was a palette of scary sounds and a feature called "What
Frightens You?" I used to love to hear them back in the 70'[removed],they were
there during the early 70's anyway.
   They would offer a party Pretzel  if you got one of their questions right!
Key chain,pencils,pens etc. They were [removed],John Sexton
(jsexton@[removed])

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

Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 13:00:08 -0500
From: Jean-Henri Duteau <jeand@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Horizons West

The part was originally assigned to a young movie actor whose name I cannot
recall. I had been  called to play another part in the first episode. After
the first table run-through, the producer   had discovered that while  his
Merriwether  Lewis was handsome as all get-out, he couldn't read his own
name. So here is a recording studio all rented, a cast assembled, time
marching on and no star. There was a conference in the booth, I became
Merriwether Lewis and the other parts including the one I was originally
assigned were redistributed. And my  one day job turned into thirteen weeks.

The show sounds very interesting.  Being a Canadian and having just been to
Yellowstone Park this summer and followed the Lewis-Clark trail to get
there, I'm very interested in finding out more about them.

And how best to do that than an OTR show about them!  But I don't have any
mention of this show in the catalogs that I have.  I don't have very many
catalogs though.  Can someone let me know who has this series of shows
available?

Thanks in advance,

Jean Duteau

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

Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 13:44:19 -0500
From: Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Party Line & Beverage

Albert J. Kopec wrote, in part:

I'm not sure anymore if this was for real or not, but I recall one
of their commercials was for "Old Frankenslosch, the Stale, Pale Ale with
the Foam on the Bottom.

When Al mentions this beverage, I think he is thinking of a popular morning
show on KDKA radio called "Cordic & Company". It starred Regis Cordic and a
cast of "second bananas". One of their most popular "bits" was a series of
commercials for a fictitious brew called "Old Frothingshloss, the Pale
Stale Ale with the Foam on the Bottom."
At the end of one contract period, Cordic announced that he was leaving the
Pittsburgh radio scene in order to pursue a career in Hollywood. This was a
blow to his long-time loyal listeners, and especially to his radio
supporting cast (I think their on-air "starring" careers ended shortly
thereafter). In later years I saw "Rege" in various supporting or bit roles
in network television shows, and I always remembered my uncle's comment:
"That [removed] left Pittsburgh radio so he could be a star in *that ----?!!"

Herb Harrison

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

Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 13:45:13 -0500
From: Jerry Shnay <jshnay1@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Shirer as Reporter
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

To get a true picture of what Shirer was doing, listen to his reports from
Berlin and the Eastern Front in the days following the start of World War II,
along with a realization that Shirer was being closely monitored by Nazi
authorities. In one instance he described the forced labor for Jews in
Poland. It was an eye-opener, if anyone was awake back home.

In 1940, Shirer scored a real journalistic coup with his description of
details of the French surrender.

His "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" is essential to an understanding of
the era. But so is his "Berlin Diary" and his three-volume set of memoirs.

Someone got it right. He was about content, not entertainment.

Near the end of his life he was honored by his old newspaper The Chicago
Tribune, whose owner, Col. McCormick, fired him in the mid-30s. The Tribune
presented him with a check for $21 for "unpaid overtime" due him at the time
and Shirer related his sotry about the Colonel's obession for collecting
stones, rocks, or bricks from historic sites. These would be placed at
eye-level areas in the paper's building, the Tribune Tower. Shirer was told
to get a stone from the famed Rouen Cathedral. Shirer enocuntered toruble, he
recalled. At the time, the mayor of Rouen controlled the local press, which
headlined stories about the capitalists trying to steal the cathedral.

Well, said Shirer, he finally sent the Colonel a stone. But whether is was
from the cathedral was questionable. A stone is only a stone, he added.

  *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
  ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 13:45:23 -0500
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  March 3rd Birthdays

If you born on March 3rd, you share your birthday with:

1902 - Ruby Dandridge - Memphis, Tennessee
1906 - Donald Novis - Hastings, England
1922 - Jean Harlow - Kansas City, Missouri
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Make your day, listen to an Olde Tyme Radio Program

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

Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 13:45:33 -0500
From: "Thomas Mason" <batz34@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Who owns the Lone Ranger now?

It may be a bit off center for OTR, but a group of us were sitting around
discussing the Lone Ranger and we wondered who owns the franchise now.  It
has changed hands so many times that it is hard to keep up.  I know that
Golden Books owned it for a time, but I heard that they too have sold it.
Anyone with the real info out there?
Tom Mason

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

Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 13:46:19 -0500
From: KENPILETIC@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Talk Radio in the 1950's

Hi Gang -

Regarding Talk Radio in the 1950's, I'd like to make a few comments.

In a recent digest, a poster (paraphrasing a magazine article) wrote:

... it was said that putting a caller on the air really sounded horrible--
there was just
no easy way to make it sound as if the person were right there in the studio
...

This is not true.  Phonepatches had been used for many years by commercial,
military, and amateur radio services.  The main problem with putting a caller
on the
air "live" was that you could not be assured what the caller would say.  The
seven-
second delay was not perfected until reliable use of magnetic tape delay
became
available.  Later, of course, it was done electronically.  The idea was to be
able to
cut the caller off-the-air before certain words were broadcast.

Even after the delay circuitry became available, an annoying  "beep" was
required by
law to indicate to the caller that a recording was being made.   This whole
process
was complicated and time-consuming.  It was easier to simply not put the
caller's
voice on the air.

Regarding KDKA's "Party Line" program:  KDKA put a good signal into North
Central
Illinois (LaSalle) all the way from Pennsylvania.  It still comes in very
well at night.
I occassionally listened to "Party Line", and I actually recorded a few
broadcasts in
the mid 1950's.  At that time their theme song was "Moritat", also known as,
"The
Theme from Three-Penny Opera" (the slow version of "Mack the Knife").  I
might have
some of these old tapes somewhere in my Dusty Archives, but I'm not about to
crawl
around in there.

About two years ago I had an occassion to telephone KDKA, and I spoke to
someone
named "Wendy".  It is possible that there might be more than one Wendy at the
station, but I wondered at the time if she might be Wendy King.  I didn't
ask.

One last thing -  Nobody has yet mentioned Jack Eigen in this current thread.

Happy Taping -- Ken Piletic, Streamwood, Illinois
kenpiletic@[removed]

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

Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 13:46:44 -0500
From: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  OTR pronunciations.

All of this discussion of how to pronounce Los Angeles reminded me of
something.  I believe it was the "Life of Riley" that was sponsored by the
American Meat Council for a while.  During the commercials, the announcer
would talk about meat being the best of all protein foods.  He would always
pronounce protein as pro-TEE-un, while today I never hear any pronunciation
other than PRO-teen.

So my question is, was pro-TEEN-un the accepted pronunciation back then, or
was it an affectation of the announcer?  If it was the typical pronunciation,
when did it change?

-Chris Holm

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

Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 15:17:30 -0500
From: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  OTR by modern [removed]

In #98, Stephen A. Kallis, Jr. wonders:

What might be an interesting exercise would be
to consider how some of the better OTR shows might
change if they had the freedom of 2000s
broadcasting.

	This is an interesting question.  One show that I don't think would
change much would be Gunsmoke.  Gunsmoke was pretty violent, Kitty's position
in the salon was ambiguous, Doc - though he had considerable integrity - had
dubious morality, and Matt, though he hated killing, almost never failed to
leave a trail of bodies everywhere he went.  Perhaps we might hear a few more
profanities, and the death scenes might be a little more graphic, but I don't
think the show would be significantly different.  The power of the show can
from the moral conflicts within each person - these were real people, not
just horse-opera archetypes.

	We tend to think of broadcasting standards in terms of sex, violence,
or language.  There was more to it than that.  I recently finished reading
Howard Blue's Words at War, and was surprised by all of the radio shows
dealing with race relations that were censored for political reasons,
especially the belief that promoting racial harmony somehow advanced the
communist cause.

	Broadcasting standards have been loosened over time.  And though some
might be upset because that means more bad words, it also means we can
examine subjects that were forbidden before.  We, as a culture, can explore
ideas through popular entertainment that would have never been broadcast just
a decade or two before.  This can be good or bad, depending on your
preferences - if you only want your dramas to be insipid stories about true
love and your comedies to be nothing but tired jokes about women drivers,
then the new standards certainly aren't for you.  If you want your
entertainment to be a little more challenging, than they're great.

	I have always believed that in some ways, science and art are
different sides to the same thing.  Science is a way of understanding the
world and the universe we live in, while art is a way of understanding
ourselves.  Sure, their methods are different.  Science tries to increase
understanding by answering questions, art tries to increase understanding by
asking them.  Popular broadcast entertainment (radio and TV) is one facet of
art (along with music, theatre, visual art, dance, literature, etc. etc.),
and so it should ask us questions and make us think.  It should challenge us,
and sometimes it should make us very uncomfortable.

	I'm not some snob who says that every radio/TV show should be
high-concept art, chock full of sex, language, and violence intended to
shock.  I love pure escapist entertainment just as much as everyone else.
But some things should be high-concept, some should be shocking, some should
be only for adults.  After all, we as consumers always have the freedom to
change the channel.

-Chris Holm
Sorry Stephen, you give me an opening inch, and I rant a mile.

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

Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 15:18:01 -0500
From: CHET <voxpop@[removed];
To: OTR <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  harry bartell and the adventures with the
 bad actor

After the first table
run-through, the producer had discovered that while his Merriwether Lewis
was handsome as all get-out, he couldn't read his own name.

my question would be how did the director/producer get rid of him once he was
there at the table???
chet norris

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

Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 15:28:25 -0500
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Gays on Radio

Probably the most sustained attempt at presenting a character on radio
who was clearly intended to be gay was the inclusion of costume designer
Clarence Tiffingtuffer in the cast of "Myrt and Marge." Clarence was a
regular supporting character in this series thruout its run, and, indeed,
anyone who had actually worked in the theatre -- as Myrtle Vail had --
knew full well that any attempt at depicting that world without
acknowledging the existence of its gay element would simply have been
unrealistic.

The "swishy designer/choreographer" stereotype was probably the safest
way for gay characters to be incorporated in popular entertainment during
the OTR era -- and while Clarence seems to have been alone in radio, such
characterizations were *extremely* common in the movies prior to the
establishment of the Breen Office in 1934. Watch any "backstage musical"
from 1929-30, and you'll find such a character ("The Broadway Melody"
[1929] contains probably the best example -- one of the chorines points
out that the designer in question is "just one of the girls." This gives
a good idea of how Myrtle Vail probably visualized Clarence.)

While Clarence was a stereotype, and functioned primarily as comedy
relief, he was also presented as sympathetically as the era permitted --
and often played a key role in Myrt and Marge's adventures.

Of the major OTR comedians, Fred Allen probably used gay
characterizations most often -- going all the way back to "The Linit Bath
Club Revue." One of the surviving Linit shows from January 1933 features
a courtroom sketch in which "Judge Allen" is confronted by "Filbert
Lavender," a wildly-swishing gay character played by Jack Smart in his
most mincing, lisping voice (he greets Allen with a coy "[removed]").
Filbert is eventually remanded to the custody of "Lillian Lowheel,"
played by Eileen Douglas -- a character clearly intended to convey the
image of a very butch lesbian. This was extremely edgy material for radio
in 1933, and it's a wonder that the censors allowed Allen to get away
with it. The scene, and others like it, were probably responsible for
certain critics around this time condemning Allen for his "men's-room
humor."

Allen continued to use characters like this, although toned down a bit,
thruout the "Town Hall Tonight" era. Jack Smart continued to do swish
characters as long as he was on the program, and after he left, both Alan
Reed and Charlie Cantor offered their own variations -- Reed did mincing
lispers, while Cantor specialized in flustery flibbertigibbets a la
Franklin Pangborn.

Correll and Gosden presented a character during a 1935 "Amos 'n' Andy"
storyline whose sexuality was a bit ambiguous at first -- Elizabeth
Sanders, a hard-nosed bank auditor who habitually dressed in men's
clothes -- including a starched collar and tie -- and sternly rebuffed
any man who dared to confront her. However, as the storyline unfolded
during the winter of 1935 it became evident that this characterization
was a typical bit of intentional misdirection -- it turned out that Miss
Sanders ended up falling hopelessly in love with Amos, who was
understandably a bit bewildered by this sudden turn of events.

Elizabeth

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

Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 15:28:43 -0500
From: ddunfee@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  CBS shows in 70's

I recall listening to the CBS mystery shows in the 70's.  Do I recall
correctly that the attempt to reintroduce OTR type shows was first a
version which had each evening a different genre?  One a mistry, another a
western, etc. for each of the 5 weekdays?  After a while they had only
mysteries, presumably because of listener response?  Do those early shows
survive and where might they be found?

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

Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 17:24:53 -0500
From: "Ian Grieve" <austotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  CAPACITORS

Reading the discussion on replacing capacitors, I have to think that nothing
really changes.  Capacitors in Computer Motherboards, TVs, Videos etc have
been leaking at an alarming rate over the last couple of years.

Computer assemblers like myself have been complaining about the issue for
several years and particular manufacturers have ignored the problem.

This is an interesting link that tells the story of Commercial espionage
that led to a worldwide Capacitor problem.

[removed]

So when you change to the new Capacitors, make sure they are going to last.

Ian Grieve

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

Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 17:49:01 -0500
From: "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  SPERDVAC Guest announced

SPERDVAC will hold their next meeting on March 8 beginning at noon at the
Calvary Lutheran Church, 8800 Woodman Avenue in Arleta, California.  The
guest will be Jay Meyer, tenor with the famous Sportsmen Quartet, singers on
the Jack Benny Program and others and of course, recording artists of 40s,
50s & 60s.

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

Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 18:20:01 -0500
From: "Brian Johnson" <CHYRONOP@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Gay Floorwalker

I don't know that Frank Nelson's character was overtly gay or not but I do
remember an exchange in the early 1950s that went something along these
lines:

Jack Benny: "Floorwalker! Oh, Floorwalker!"

Frank Nelson: "Actually I'm a talking horse!"

JB: "You're not a horse!"

FN: "Not now, but there's a veterinarian in Sweden who works WONDERS!"

If pressed I might be able to fix an airdate with the complete and correct
[removed]

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

Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 20:32:50 -0500
From: "Lois Culver" <lois@[removed];
To: "OTR Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Lahs-ANN-Jel-us

This from Jim Hilliker, who has lived in the area since he was young:

it's likely the way we say Los Angeles now,  came about in the 1940s and
'[removed] all, I would guess a lot of people around the nation from 1949
onward knew how to say it, by the way Jack Webb always said it on Dragnet:
"This is the city, Lahs-ANN--Jel-us, [removed]"

Lois Culver
KWLK Radio (Mutual) Longview, WA 1941-44
KFI Radio (NBC) Los Angeles CA 1945-47, 50-53
Widow of Howard Culver, actor

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #99
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