Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #36
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 1/26/2004 7:57 AM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2004 : Issue 36
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Pennysaver TV                         [ "BrianLBedsworth" <BrianLBedsworth@ ]
  1-26 births/deaths                    [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Billy May                             [ Sam Levene <sam6@[removed]; ]
  Radio warm-up                         [ Al Girard <24agirard24@[removed] ]
  Beulah: Hurt not Hunt                 [ Art Chimes <achimes@[removed]; ]
  re: geeks                             [ benohmart@[removed] ]
  Geeks?                                [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
  Re: Shamus                            [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
  Origin of shamus                      [ Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@erols ]
  Truth in Humor                        [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
  Private Eyes                          [ "Donald & Kathleen Dean" <dxk@ezlin ]
  A Ham, & [removed]                       [ Wich2@[removed] ]
  RE: radio warm-up                     [ BH <radioguy@[removed]; ]
  Re: Shamus                            [ Shenbarger@[removed] ]
  Replicas                              [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
  Warming Up                            [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
  Did they ever do radio?               [ "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@hotmail. ]
  Jerry H.                              [ "Austotr" <austotr@[removed]; ]
  Transit of Earth                      [ Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed] ]
  It's all 'geek" to me                 [ "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed]; ]

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

Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 14:55:10 -0500
From: "BrianLBedsworth" <BrianLBedsworth@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Pennysaver TV

Sean Dougherty asked:

Can anyone figure out what this Pennysaver TV is?
Looks like a group that is trying to bring back a lot
of radio-related properties to broadcast tv.

Aye, that it is. It's presently a [removed] cable channel that plays
OTTV (including many of the big names that moved over from OTR) in a
Bloomberg-style multi-window screen, combining the original uncut programs
with advertising for local firms. You can see the effect here:

[removed]

and, for a more OTR-related case, here:

[removed]

And by "original uncut", I mean exactly that. Check the last paragraph of the
firm's mission statement:

[removed]

"Advertelevision is committed to reviving, restoring and creating new music
for classic films not seen in decades by artists like Charlie Chaplin, [removed]
Fields, and Buster Keaton.

"Advertelevision celebrates the golden age of television with our classic
comedies like The Jack Benny Show, Burns & Allen, Amos & Andy and many more.

"Advertelevision honors classic musicians, singers & performers with
Soundies, the forerunner of MTV featuring Nat King Cole, Bessie Smith, Cab
Calloway & Fats Waller.

"Advertelevision shines a light on our culture with classic commercials from
the past. Desi and Lucy selling cigarettes. The Three Stooges hawking car
polish. Andy & Barney for Grape Nuts. Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck for Tang."

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

Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 14:55:20 -0500
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  1-26 births/deaths

Australia Day (Australia)

January 26th births

01-26-1899 - Wyllis Cooper - Pekin, IL - d. 6-22-1955
producer, writer, director: "Lights Out"; "Quiet Please
01-26-1905 - Charles Lane - San Francisco, CA
writer: "Dramatizations from Red Book Magazine"
01-26-1907 - Eddie Ballentine - Chicago, IL - d. 11-14-1995
orchestra leader: "Don McNeill's Breakfast Club"
01-26-1913 - William Prince - Nichols, NY - d. 10-8-1996
actor: "Crime Does Not Pay"; "Philco Radio Playhouse"; "Somerset Maugham
Theatre"
01-26-1925 - Joan Leslie - Detroit, MI
actress: "Screen Guild Theatre"
01-26-1935 - Bob Uecker - Milwaukee, WI
baseball announcer: "for that annual last place team the Milwaukee Brewers"

January 26th deaths

01-08-1909 - Jose Ferrer - Santurce, PR - d. 1-26-1992
actor: Philo Vance "Advs. of Philo Vance"; Minister "We Love and Learn"
02-14-1897 - Victor Lindlahr - d. 1-26-1969
commentator: "Talks on Diet"
04-02-1917 - Gertrude Warner - Hartford, CT - d. 1-26-1986
actress: Margo Lane "The Shadow"; Christy Allen "Against the Storm"
08-09-1905 - Leo Genn - London, England - d. 1-26-1978
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
11-06-1892 - Ole Olsen - Wabash, IN - d. 1-26-1963
comedian: (Olsen and Johnson); "Rudy Vallee Show"; "Breakfast Club"
12-05-1901 - Grace Moore - Jellico, TN - d. 1-26-1947
opera singer: "General Motors Concerts"; "Speed Show"; "Vicks Open House"
12-12-1893 - Edward G. Robinson - Bucharest, Romania - d. 1-26-1973
actor: Steve Wilson "Big Town"
12-15-1915 - Margaret Hayes - Baltimore, MD - d. 1-26-1977
actress: "Silver Theatre"

Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 14:55:33 -0500
From: Sam Levene <sam6@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Billy May

There was an excellent and thorough profile of Billy May in the June 1997
issue of Gene Lees' Jazzletter, Vol. 16, No. 6. An articulate man, he had
some interesting comments to make about Glenn Miller.

Sam Levene

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

Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 15:31:29 -0500
From: Al Girard <24agirard24@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Radio warm-up

My mother used to tell a story about an incident
that happened one day
when I was a three or four year-old.  Apparantly I
went to the radio and
turned it on.  Of course, nothing happened while
the filaments warmed up.
"Be careful you don't break it!" my mother said.
The first thing that came out of the now-warmed-up
radio:
A man's voice saying "Yes, and I'm not going to
fix it for you either!"

Al Girard

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

Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 16:07:06 -0500
From: Art Chimes <achimes@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Beulah: Hurt not Hunt

Joe Mackey's This Week in Radio History (Digest [removed] [removed])
incorrectly identifies the actor who portrayed Beulah. He was Marlin
Hurt, not Hunt.

Regards,
Art

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

Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 16:07:43 -0500
From: benohmart@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  re: geeks

We are probably geeks in the same way that Star Trek fanatics are, or Rocky Horror 
Picture Show devotees, and etc. Sometimes the audience is large, like Lord of the 
Rings (I just saw the current one, and I'm sorry, but I found it dull - certain scenes 
excepted of course! - and without having read the books or seen the 1st 2, it was  
impossible to understand it all). But I would liken hobbies to religions. There are many, 
and sometimes you find them, and sometimes they find you. Geek used to mean 
someone technically-oriented (I think); don't know what it means now. It can also be a 
derogatory term, and that don't wash at all. OTR folks is the nicest folks!

Ben

The Paul Frees book
[removed]

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

Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 16:57:00 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Geeks?
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David Rogers asks,

"Are we geeks?"

Well, I suppose it depends on how you define "geek."   Anyone
specializing in an area of knowledge with greater depth than the average
is often considered a geek, but is that bad?

Are we geeks for liking otr?  How do people outside of otr lovers view
us?

I suspect most people outside OTR lovers don't even know that there *are*
OTR lovers.

Do we care?

*Should* we?   Speaking only for myself, I have several areas of
specialization that might bore most of the Digest members to tears, but
*I* enjoy them.   I don't really care what anyone thinks as long as it
interests me.

However, for many of us, revisiting (rather than "reliving") items of our
youth is both pleasant and harmless.  For any devotee of OTR, listening
is neither illegal or immoral.  The answer for "How can you listen to
that stuff?" is "For the same reason some people collect stamps, fish for
sport, or hang-glide."  One needn't ever have to justify a hobby or
interest, as long as it doesn't injure anyone else.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 17:52:23 -0500
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Shamus

   David Phaneuf wrote --

but I can't help wondering, with being knocked out in every single
episode (is it Marlowe, or Diamond, or both?), how he does not become
brain-damaged is beyond me.

   I don't recall the show but one of the two is knocked out and when he
comes to someone is in his office and asks "How often does this happen?"
to which he replies, "Oh, about once a week".  LOL
   Joe

--
Visit my slightly updated (1/1/04) homepage:
[removed]~[removed]

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

Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 18:56:24 -0500
From: Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@[removed];
To: OTRBB <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Origin of shamus

  David Phaneuf asks how shamus became an alternate term for PI.

General consensus is that the term is a blend of Yiddish word,"Shamas"
(early British sexton or candle-bearer) and the Irish version of
"James" or "Seamus", which was used as a nickname for constable or
policeman.

Since a detective "finds things" (like a sexton with a light) and he
thwarts crime like a constable, "Shamus" gradually came to mean an
investigator.

Jack French
Editor: RADIO RECALL
[removed]

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

Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 18:56:49 -0500
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Truth in Humor

David Rogers remarked:
I would like to stress again that this is in no way a posting about or
against Martin Grams Jr (who as I said seems to be quite a nice and
knowledeable chap).  I hope that I have not offended him in anyway.  It is
just a thought inspired by his T-shirt.

I am a geek, but a loveable geek.  (I have ex-girlfriends who have other
names for me . . .)
No offense.  I wore the shirt out of humor and have always believed that
there is always truth in humor.  If a joke (clean, dirty or racist) didn't
have some form of truth to it, it wouldn't be funny.

The shirt, incidentally, read "CHICKS DIG PALE SCRAWNY GUYS" and I believe
it can be found on Shawn Wells' MP3 web-site if I recall accurately.
Martin

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

Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 20:22:18 -0500
From: "Donald & Kathleen Dean" <dxk@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Private Eyes

Hello Gang:

It's been a while since I posted anything in the Digest,
however I certainly enjoy reading it every day. The recent
posting of my good friend David Phaneuf about the OTR
Private Eyes reminded me of an article in a book I have called
Actual Factuals. This may have been mentioned on the Digest
in the past but for all you newcomers here's what the article said:

WHY ARE DETECTIVES CALLED PRIVATE EYES?

Allan Pinkerton made spying his business. The first case he
cracked involved a counterfeiting ring. At the time he wasn't even
a detective, but he decided he could make a living at it. In 1850 he
started the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. He taught America
to call detectives "private investigators" or "private i's" for short.

To go along with the term "private i", Pinkerton used a wide open
eye as the logo for his company, along with the slogan, "We Never
Sleep."  After a while detectives became known as "private eyes."
Pinkerton went on to become President Lincoln's bodyguard and to
serve as head of the Secret Service during the Civil War.

And as Paul Harvey would "now you know the rest of the story".
Dave, we're looking forward to seeing you again in Cincy for the
OTR Convention.

Don Dean  -  N8IOJ

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

Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 21:36:00 -0500
From: Wich2@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  A Ham, & [removed]

From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];

Hmmmm! Is this friend you're bringing along male or female?

 (Steady on there, Big Hal - leave us not forgive The Lovely Dorothy!)

he shouldn't be too disappointed that we don't look like the Comic Book
characters

 Depends on which Comic Books you're taking about - I think you'd make a
great "Perry White"!

Hastings broke me up. He was so funny, tears were streaming down my face, I
was laughing so hard.

(Seems to me, I recall tears from both of you character's interactions- w/o
the laughter!)

That will be "cool", as the kids say.

Dare I say, even "neato"?
Seriously, Bob & Hal are two of the better raconteurs on the circuit. Not to
mention, a rare pair of actors who go beyond the "just having a good time up
here" performance level in their recreation work.
All the best,
Craig Wichman

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

Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 21:37:28 -0500
From: BH <radioguy@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  RE: radio warm-up

That ten-second warm-up period seemed like an eternity.  Some tubes were
marketed as 'quick warm-up' types.

Most sets powered by batteries were almost instant on, as the tubes,
which were designed for low current drain, used a directly heated
cathode. This is where the filament (the part that lights up) and the
cathode (the thing that emits electrons) are one in the same. The
filament is coated with the cathode material, so that as soon as the
filament heats up, which can be in as little as a half second or less,
the tube is ready to operate. With the indirectly heated cathode types,
the cathode is a cylindrical element coated with the emitting material
that surrounds the filament in very close proximity, so it heats rather
slowly.

Bill H.

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

Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 22:18:13 -0500
From: Shenbarger@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Shamus
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In a message dated 1/25/2004 David Phaneuf wrote:

I've been trying to find out the origin of this name
as it applies: Was this a general nickname given to
private eyes? Does it refer to an actual part of the
character's name? Or is there some other explanation
for it's usage?  After some research, it seems to be a
slang term for Private Eyes, though how it became so
still eludes me.

I know Marlowe refers to himself as a shamus in both film versions of "The
Big Sleep". I don't have that Raymond Chandler story in print form, but
presume
he used the word.

The "New Dictionary of American Slang" (which is not new) says:

shamus (SHAH mos, SHAY-) (also shammus or shamus or shonunus) 1 n A police
officer, private detective, security guard, etc; =COP: a British-accented
burlesque of the tough American shamus-New York Times/ scores of hoodlums,
gunsels,
informers, shyster lawyers, and crooked shamuses-SJ Perelman 2 n A police
informer; =STOOL PIGEON [fr Yiddish, "sexton of a synagogue," fr Hebrew
shamash
"servant"; probably influenced by the Celtic name Seamus "James," as a typical
name of an Irish police officer]

One web site says the word appeared in a 1925 issue of Flynn's Magazine
"Dictionary of the Underworld" (meaning) "a detective: cop". So it must be at
least
that old.

It's the kind of word I would think Dashiell Hammett would use also. I like
it and I like the fact that it has not been ruined by overuse.

I too like the Marlowe radio series.

Don Shenbarger

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

Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 22:18:59 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Replicas

Scott D. Livingston, speaking of replica radios, noted,

I have several of the replica radios scattered around my house and office.
They remind me of my youth. Some have CD capability, one has a CD and
turntable and a couple are just FM-AM. None, alas, have the delay of the old
days while warming up. My favorite though, a replica AM-FM 1944 Crosley
does glow in the dark from its old style tuning face.

I wrote one of the suppliers and asked whether they had one with am MP3
player incorporated (they did feature a CD drive).  They said,
approximately, "No, but it sounds like a good idea."  So who knows? 
Eventually we may have something that will play many OTR shows, or ones
like that "A Day In the Life" 24-hour disk.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 22:19:28 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Warming Up

Bill H, commenting upon my thoughts about warming up in tube radios,
noted,

If there were a warmup lag, the current generation would think it was
defective.

Oddly, I had a Zenith portable radio in 1947 that, when I played it on
its batteries, had almost no warmup delay.  The fast play feature always
weirded me out.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 09:52:23 -0500
From: "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Did they ever do radio?

A friend of mine asked me if Lyle Talbot or Kent Taylor ever did radio. I
said I knew who would know if they did---this list!

Please help!

Thanks,
Barbara

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

Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 09:52:57 -0500
From: "Austotr" <austotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Jerry H.

Just want to throw my 2 cents in as well. I would just say Amen to what
Fibbermac said regarding Jerry H. Overall, I would give Jerry and his
efforts a big thumbs up!

Scott (Fibber) Livingston

I didn't say anything when there were some postings regarding Jerry H.  I
expected a huge flood of letters for the defence piling in.  But when we
just had two letters for the defence and both from fibbers, I thought I had
better say something :)

I have had a couple of dealings with Jerry H which have never quite come off
due to emails going astray etc.  I have also pointed out some errors on his
listings in relation to Australian series that have never been altered.  But
I have to say that Jerry has gone way out of his way to make logs available,
even to help me identify episodes, by him sending me some cassettes at his
expense.  I have enjoyed corresponding with him and even though he knows my
interest in [removed] series is via mp3, he has not held that against me, but
still wanted to help.  I have seen his postings here about a radio show he
does and I wish I could work out when it is on in my time zone so I can
listen (other OTR radio programs as well).  I can understand why Jerry H
doesn't race out and change his logs on the say so of someone he doesn't
really know, I can also understand why he gets behind in correspondence,
this guy has to have a huge workload and probably hates to say no to anyone.
He sends cassettes to people without payment just like anyone else who is in
it just for the money :)  I think Jerry H has helped so many people come
into this hobby just through his website, let alone everything else he does.
I don't know how he does all he does, but I understand why he can't do
everything everyone wants him to do.

Ian (not fibber) Grieve

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

Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 09:53:32 -0500
From: Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Transit of Earth

I'm running way behind, so please forgive me if my responses are [removed]
John Meyer asked about a sci-fi story.
Check this site: [removed] for this
entry:
The Arthur C. Clarke Audio Collection : 2001 : A Space Odyssey, Transit of
Earth, Fountains of Paradise, Childhood's End; Arthur C. Clarke; Audio
Cassette; $[removed]

Herb Harrison

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

Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 09:54:19 -0500
From: "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  It's all 'geek" to me
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Hi again, gang:

David Rogers posted:

I would like to ask people on this list:

"Are we geeks?

	    To outsiders, we may appear to be. Of course, the OTR hobby
doesn't have the notoriety of, say, science-fiction or comic books. If it
did, "the Simpsons" & "SNL" would be doing jokes and sketches about it. Of
course, I've never heard two OTR fans arguing over which OTR detective was
tougher: "Sam Spade" or "Richard Diamond?"  As far as I know, the FOTR
convention never had to hire extra security to keep overeager fans at
bay--probably because the age demographic and the well-behaved following that
attends OTR conventions never justified it.
	    Years ago, I had a brief flirtation with the world of
cruciverbalism going so far as to have a crossword puzzle published in the
Sunday New York Times in late November 1997.  All I  really did was come up
with a great theme idea and pass it along to a cruciverbalist friend of
mine--Talking Book narrator Christopher Hurt. Chris was kind enough to give
me co-credit even though he did all the construction.
	     At the time, we were comparing notes about our respective
hobbyist conventions. I told Chris about some of the wild after-hours hotel
room  parties I had attended in connection with OTR. Mr. Hurt, in turn, told
me about the even wilder parties he and his crossword buddies had staged at
their conventions. This prompted me to surmise, "I guess the 'nerdier' the
hobby, the wilder the parties."
	      Before anybody takes me to task for this, please be advised
that I was being facetious and that I meant "nerdy" in a good, positive way.
Hey! The word "facetious" has all five vowels in it in consecutive order!
[Now  knowing that is nerdy!].

	Controversially yours in the ether!

	Derek Tague

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--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #36
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