Subject: [removed] Digest V01 #80
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 3/10/2001 1:19 PM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                      The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                         Volume 01 : Issue 80
                   A Part of the [removed]!
                           ISSN: 1533-9289


                           Today's Topics:

 Re: atomic bomb documentary          [Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];       ]
 Re: Radio Budgets                    [SanctumOTR@[removed]                 ]
 Re:  Progress Marches On --          [Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];       ]
 Re: Nick Lucas                       [Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];       ]
 Re: a child's view                   [MoondanceFF@[removed]                ]
 Re: visuals vs. audio?               [MoondanceFF@[removed]                ]
 Re:2 Elizabeths!                     [MoondanceFF@[removed]                ]
 TVG Audio as Radio                   ["Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@]
 Various costs in Radio Drama         ["Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@]
 Re: Re: TV *as* Radio                ["David Phaneuf" <dphaneuf@[removed]]
 re: Re: Radio, TV, and Literalism    ["David Phaneuf" <dphaneuf@[removed]]
 R2R tape recorder parts              [Alan Bell <bella@[removed];]
 Suspense episode "Yellow Wallpaper"  [Alan Bell <bella@[removed];]
 New Book                             [otrbuff@[removed]                   ]

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

Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2001 23:19:56 -0500
From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: atomic bomb documentary

From: StevenL751@[removed]
The show is probably THE QUICK AND THE DEAD, a series of four
30-minute shows telling the story of atomic energy.  Bob Hope was
the host and Helen Hayes and Paul Lukas also appeared in the cast.
Part 1 is called "The Origins of Atomic Energy", part 2 is "The
Use of the Atomic Bomb", part 3 is "The Development of the Hydrogen
Bomb" and part 4 is "The Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy".  I don't
recall what my source of the show was but I've had it in my
collection for years.

If the openings and closings are not on your wire, Shiffy, it is quite
possible it is merely a dubbing of the RCA Victor Red Seal releases of
the programs which didn't include the announcements. The LPs were LM
1129 and 1130.  I know they were also issued on 78 sets because I've
seen them, and this means they were also issued on 45s.  I can't lay my
hands on my 1952 RCA Victor catalog to cite those catalog numbers.  The
entire series would be close to two hours long, so you might not have
all of it anyway.

It will come as a surprise to most of you to learn that this NBC program
was written and directed by Fred Friendly, and the announcer your wire
(and the commercial releases) are perhaps missing was Robert Trout.
Both had been separately lured over to NBC from CBS, but both made their
ways back rather quickly!  Bill Lawrence was the reporter who assisted
Bob Hope in learning about the discoveries and use of atomic power.  The
engineer and tape editor of the program was a pioneering recording
engineer who Shiffy might have known, William Schwartau.

It aired weekly on NBC between 7/27/50 and 8/17/50, and apparently
was later repeated.   Steve Lewis

The dates I have for the programs differ slightly--perhaps Steve's are
of the repeats.  We had ETs of the the series at the Northwesten
University collection from NBC Chicago, and actually there were five
programs.  The first is a closed-circut airing for the affiliates dated
July 3, 1950.  It is a slightly longer version of the first episode
which aired two days later on July 5, 1950.  The other three programs
were dated July 13, 20, and 27.  Did they perhaps re-air the series
starting right after the airing of the 4th public program???   I have
first generation tapes off of the discs of all five programs.  I also
have the LPs but they are not in great shape but are good enough to see
if any of the body of the broadcasts were edited off.  They were deleted
from the catalog by 1953.

Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2001 23:39:25 -0500
From: SanctumOTR@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Radio Budgets

In a message dated 3/9/01 10:11:10 PM, [removed]@[removed]
writes:

When the CBS Mystery Theater debuted in the 1970's, Hyman Brown, the
Producer was interviewed in Variety about the show and possible risk in
launching such a project.  The conversation got around to the cost
(economics) of the project4ct.  He gave a very (maybe tongue in cheek)
comparison.  He said the TV series Dallas probably cost in the neighborhood
of a half-million dollars per episode to produce. He said if you gave him
the same story to produce for radio, all he would need would be the cast who
would stand around the mike, a  man,and pre-recorded music, and he could
bring it in for less than $1500 per episode (1970 prices, that is).
According to the interview the people who did the CBS Radio Mystery Theater
agreed to work for scale., so that may be the reason Hyman Brown made that
statement.

***And just to demonstrate how inexpensive that was:  CBS Radio Mystery
Theater was an hour long show.  The half-hour SHADOW broadcasts of the 1940s
reportedly had a budget of $2000 (with $250 going to Bret Morrison, $85 to
Grace Matthews and $500 for the script).  And that was technically a daytime
show.  Lon Clark at his peak earned $500 per NICK CARTER, MASTER DETECTIVE
while Jay Josten reportedly received $1000 per episode of MR. DISTRICT
ATTORNEY.  Again, those were all only half-hour shows, so one needs to factor
in a quarter-century of inflation to understand just how inexpensively CBSRMT
was produced.  Of course, most of the major name stars who do radio dramas
these days (like Ed Asner, Ed Begley Jr., and stars like Richard Dreyfuss and
Robin Williams on NPR's Harlan Ellison-hosted 2000X) are doing it for the
love of a lost medium and not as their principal career as radio actors did
during the Golden [removed] TOLLIN***

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

Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 09:15:41 -0500
From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re:  Progress Marches On --

Recording a performance in any medium is a way to extend its
availability for an indefinite time in the future.  Having been
recorded, it's likely to be preserved by someone: true of any medium.
Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

Oh, sigh.  If only it were true.  It is amazing how many
things--including those that were specifically recorded for
posterity--do not exist.  The turnover of personnel at all types of
organizations often leaves them without the corporate memory that
certain things were expected to be preserved.  Private collections
disappear.  Recording media self-destructs.

As an example of things that are lost, I'll lay one little shocker on
you.  The author of "1984" and "Animal Farm", George Orwell, was a
prolific broadcaster for the BBC over many years, yet after many, many
years of searching in archives all over the world THERE IS NOT ONE KNOWN
RECORDING OF GEORGE ORWELL'S VOICE.  If you have one, I will give you
the email addresses of some potentially very happy archivists in
England.

The advent of videotape has resulted in the surfacing of some
films that some folk were dead and buried.  Discovery of OTR
disks has resulted in making programs available for posterity.

What is scary is that some people are relying on non-archival media such
as videotape to be the medium of preservation.  The archivists and their
organizations such as ARSC, IASA, FIAT, FIAF have all discovered there
are finite lifetimes to most AV media, and that the basic fact of
archival life is the eternal race to migrate the recordings to new media
before the old one self-destructs.  It is true that the popularity of
videocassettes, LaserDiscs, and now DVD; and the LP then the CD has led
to a resurgence of vault searching and re-issues and re-releases.  But
much had been lost before the search.  And even though the sale of
thousands of new copies might lead to the thought that they couldn't All
disappear, it CAN happen!  It HAS happened.  And unfortunately it will
still continue to happen in the future.  Yes it is amazing what HAS
turned up, but it is equally amazing at what seemingly common things
have disappeared.

Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 09:15:48 -0500
From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Nick Lucas

There was a Nick Lucas record in my father's 78s which I found in the
attic when I was about 10, and I was enchanted by it. ("Underneath the
Stars" and "Rosy Cheeks" Brunswick 3518.) Those records started me off
on my hobby and my career.  A couple of years later I was home from
school with a cold and was watching and listening to both the TV and
radio versions of Art Linkletter's House Party when he announced that a
guest on tommorrow's program would be Nick Lucas!!!!  That night I had a
"serious relapse" of my cold and HAD to stay home another day.  And sure
enough, there was "The Crooning Troubador" singing and strumming his
guitar.  Apparently he didn't mention the Decca LP he had just recorded
("Painting the Clouds" DL 8653) because I didn't discover it until many
years later.  Art probably allowed people to come on the program when
they had something to publicize, but didn't let them mention it
directly!  (Anybody know if that is true?)  This was 1958.  A year or so
later I was interviewed for a youth page in a local newspaper and I
discussed the records I had by such people as Caruso and Nick Lucas.
"He's making a comeback now," I mentioned of Lucas.  (Caruso was beyond
such an event!)

It wasn't an extremely successful comeback, but I understand he did
continue to do some performing here and there.  But then ten years later
he was in the spotlight when he appeared on what was then the highest
rated TV program in history, the wedding of Tiny Tim and Miss Vickie on
"The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson."  Mr. Tim's rendition of "Tip Toe
Thru The Tulips" had created a sensation on "Rowan and Martin's
Laugh-In" and became a big hit.  He was a devoted record collector who
repeatedly discussed the pioneer recording artists who had originated
many of the songs he sang, and he requested that Nick Lucas be invited
to sing the song as a wedding song to the couple.  It had been Lucas who
had originally introduced and recorded the song.  This possibly led to
his work on "The Great Gatsby."  I don't remember if we see him in the
film in a party scene, but he is there on the soundtrack and on the
album.  It is his voice singing "When You and I Were Seventeen" at the
end of the film when Gatsby's body is floating in the pool.  The OTR
link is that this song is contained on the first disc a friend of mine
found of the January 1, 1926 trans-Atlantic relay from 2LO London via
5XX on WJZ.  It is barely audible from the dance band at Ciro's Club,
but the recording of the song from the film certainly helps us pick out
the melody on the broadcast.

Lucas had a light and gentle voice, and as I mentioned, he was billed as
"The Crooning Troubador."  This appears on his record labels in the
1920s several years before Bing Crosby, Rudy Vallee, or Russ Columbo
became famous.  So along with Gene Austin and Whispering Jack Smith,
Nick Lucas can also be credited with using the microphone in developing
the crooning style of singing in 1925.

he is also credited as the first guitar player to have
instrumental solos on record, "Picking the Guitar"/"Teasing the
Frets", issued in 1922.  (It was strictly pop music; that same
year, a black country guitarist named Sylvester Weaver issued
"Guitar Rag", still a standard, and I don't know which of those came first.)

Lucas's first record of his solos was Pathe 020794/Perfect 10392
recorded around July 1922.  I'm not sure when Weaver's record (OKeh
8109) was recorded.  I recently found a copy of Lucas's mid-1923
re-recording of these solos on Brunswick 2536 and was rather surprised
by it and very impressed because I didn't know what to expect.  I have
it right here.  "Pickin' the Guitar" is a traditional ragtime number in
AABBACCDAA style (the letters stand for each playing of each different
melody.)  "Teasing the Frets" is in yet another style with a lot of
blues elements in it although it is obviously a vaudville showpiece.
Both of these are not at all like the crooning recordings he would start
making in 1925 when he started singing.

1930s re-recordings of "Picking" and "Teasing" are available on
a Yazoo CD entitled "Pioneers of the Jazz Guitar."
That would probably be Brunswick 6508 recorded December 6, 1932.  It
would be interesting to compare these with his recordings made ten years
earlier when they were revolutionary.

I have no solid info as to available radio appearances by Lucas,
but there's a newly-issued CD by him, "Nick Lucas - the Crooning
Troubador" which I found via a quick search on Amazon.  No info
as to the age or source of the recordings, but it appears to have
been released only this past January.   John Henley

This is ASV Living Era AJA 5329.  The label's web site states that the
recordings were made between 1924 and 1939.  There are a number of songs
he didn't record during his main recording career which ended in 1934,
and one of the songs "Over the Rainbow" is from 1939.  Many of these are
not from the Decca LP, but I think there are a couple of other LPs he
made that I do not have the track listing for right here.  But there is
also possibility that there might be some radio material on this CD, at
least in the form of music library transcriptions.

Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 09:16:02 -0500
From: MoondanceFF@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: a child's view

In reference to little people in the radio thread here, my 3 year-old son
accompanied me to an afternoon live concert at a small bar (no booze on a
Sunday afternoon) in NY, many years ago. He sat & watched Papa John Creach
play his violin for a while, then needed to go to the bathroom, as kids will.
I walked with him past the stage & he looked back in alarm. "Mom!" he
shouted, "I can see the BACKS of those people! It's almost like they're
REAL!" I realized then that the kid had thought he was watching TV. I thought
to myself, "we gotta get out more!".

This is the same kid who, at 2 years old, looked up to the sky one day &
cringed back, fearfully. I asked what was wrong, and he asked me, "What's all
that BLUE stuff up there?" The poor kid had never seen blue skies before.
That's when I knew we had to get out of Long island!

Cheers!--Elizabeth
Boulder, CO
(360 days a year of sunshine & blue skies)

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

Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 09:16:18 -0500
From: MoondanceFF@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: visuals vs. audio?

In a message dated 3/9/01 9:10:39 PM, George writes:

<< "Let's view the picture," he said, "until we both agree that we've lost
the plot."
    This took less than 30 seconds. >>

[removed] I preview/judge films for Moondance, I mute the sound for the
first viewing. If I can't follow the plot or enjoy the visual images without
the dialog, I know the film is probably a loser.

--Elizabeth

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

Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 09:16:20 -0500
From: MoondanceFF@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re:2 Elizabeths!

Since we have the same name, and apparently are the only 2 women on OTR, I'll
start signing my posts as Elizabeth E., to avoid confusion. If there are
other women tuned in, please speak up! ;o)

Cheers!--Elizabeth E.

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

Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 09:53:56 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  TVG Audio as Radio

Several have commented on this.  John Francis MacEachern  quotes,

Linda Ellerbee, the TV newswoman, in her autobiography wrote something
to the effect:  "Turn on your TV, go into the next room, if you can still
understand the entire broadcast, then
throw out your TV and buy a better radio.  Good TV should compel you to
watch."<<

What an interesting comment from a TV journalist.  Of all the areas of
TV, newscasts are often those that can be "listened to" and get a high
information content.  Only panel shows and the like are always at that
high a level.  IMHO, there's very little TV film, or the like that would
rivit one to one's seat; otherwise, for some theatrical films, the
concession stands would go broke.  The point is that her ideal situation
might be a Platonic archetype, but it would rarely manifest itself in
real life.

Now a point about our makeup: biologically, sight is our primary sense.
Further, we're drawn naturally to moving light.  That is why in homes
with fireplaces, or in camps with campfires, especially at night, we find
ourselves staring into the flames.  TV and motion pictures are responses
to that sense; OTR -- or any audio recording or broadcast, for that
matter -- isn't.

This isn't to knock OTR, but to point out a couple of things.  Audio-only
programs free our primary sense to do other things; and often we did.  As
I've recounted before, while listening to programs, I used to play, or do
school homework, or the like.  No conflict, and I still followed the
program.  It's harder to do that with TV, since at least some of the
significant information being broadcast is purely visual.  (In the recent
film Gladiator, when Commodus embraces Maximus "as a brother," if a
member of the audience doesn't happen to be looking at that moment, he or
she would have to strain hard to figure out exactly what happened.  An
OTR version of that event would have made it clear.)

George Wagner relates a story of Isaac Asimov on visual-versus-audio on
television,

Dr. A. tuned into a television drama. He turned the sound all the way
down.
    "Let's view the picture," he said, "until we both agree that we've
lost the plot."
    This took less than 30 seconds.
    Next the sound was turned up and the picture down. Isaac and his
friend then followed the plot until the end of the hour!<<

That shows the limitations of the writers of that show.  TV, film, and
radio _are_ different media.  You can get the basic story of a book by
skimming it, but in doing so, rich details might be lost.  "Listen" to a
classic crime-caper film like Rififi, and you may get the story line, but
boy, will you miss a lot!

OTR, and any OSR, was tailored for audio entertainment, period.  It's
good, and sometimes great.  But I think that comparing it to differing
media sidesteps an important point.  It's complete within its own
specialty.  Try producing a movie or TV show where radio dialogue is
used, and it will seem very strange: it might not turn a viewer
completely off, but there would be something a little strange with it.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 09:53:59 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Various costs in Radio Drama

Owens Pomeroy, noting what Hyman Brown, producer of CBS Mystery Theater
had to say about relative costs, relates,

He said the TV series Dallas probably cost in the neighborhood of a
half-million dollars per episode to produce. He said if you gave him the
same story to produce for radio, all he would need would be the cast who
would stand around the mike, a  man,and pre-recorded music, and he could
bring it in for less than $1500 per episode (1970 prices, that is).<<

Yeah, but whether or not he got the actors on the cheap ([removed], scale),
Hyman Brown didn't really understand some aspects of OTR -- namely, the
time compression factor.  His shows were twice the length they should
have been for best results.  Anyone listening to War of the Worlds
critically would quickly note that  time was compressed, such as getting
a remote to Grovers Mills in minutes: from a standing start, a real
studio would have taken the better part of an hour to get to the rural
farm, but the listening audience just accepted it and other similar
anomalies as a real chain of events.

Also, even in 1970 -- which is most cost-effective -- a cast standing
around a mike an effects guy, and prerecorded music, or a disk jockey
with a pile of records and a turntable?  To make OSR work, it has to have
more of a draw than pure nostalgia, much as I hate to admit it.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 09:54:49 -0500
From: "David Phaneuf" <dphaneuf@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Re: TV *as* Radio

John Francis MacEachern wrote:

I too grew up like Elizabeth watching the boob tube;  I
agree with her wholeheartedly, most TV doesn't require
pictures.

Linda Ellerbee, the TV newswoman, in her autobiography wrote
something to the effect:  "Turn on your TV, go into the next
room, if you can still understand the entire broadcast, then
throw out your TV and buy a better radio.  Good TV should
compel you to watch."

Our local CBS affiliate here in Columbus, OH, broadcasts their TV
programming on FM radio.  Most of the shows are followable (is that a word?)
and we have often enjoyed TV radio-style while traveling during my kid's
favorite show times.  The old Ruth Lions/50-50 Club out of WLW in Cincinnati
was broadcast on TV and radio, and many folks in this area depended on the
radio to keep up on Ruth and later Bob Braun.  As a kid who managed to talk
Mom and Dad into putting the old TV in his bedroom for his very own personal
entertainment, I often tape recorded on my old 3" reel-to-reel, and later
cassette recorders TV shows.  I remember taping an old sci-fi B movie and
Sonny & Cher.  Years later, I could mentally "re-watch" those shows

But there are obvious points at which the medium is dependent on the visual.
Most visual-less TV shows will eventually break down.  Some scene is
dependent on what is seen not just heard. That was true at times of OTR too,
especially in the live audience shows, like Archie Andrews (compare running
dialogues with Hal Stone "Jughead" in the OldRadio Digest, sister digest to
this one).  At times the audience is roaring with laughter and there is
absolutely nothing in dialogue or sfx to warrant the [removed] the actors
have done something, "mugging" as Hal Stone puts it, exaggerating or
pantomiming actions, and the audience is responding to what is seen.

Along these lines, I have some recordings of Abbott & Costello (I think
produced by Radio Spirits -- they come in a little plastic radio-shaped
container/four cassettes per container) that are supposed to be OTR, but
which I am convinced come from their TV show era (I imagine they shared both
media at the time).  The transitions between scenes can only have made sense
if there were visual cues, and there is almost no narrative explanation of
what is happening.  Compared to radio-only A&C, in which narrative dialogue
described the action clearly and precisely, sufficiently aiding the mind's
eye in its own visualization, these later shows leave too much unsaid and
things are very unclear.

BTW, this reminds me of listening to some Jack Armstrong adventures.  Jack
and Billy almost talk things to death to aid the mind's eye in what is going
on.  There are times, hiding from the bad guys, they are talking so much
describing what is happening that one wants to put a gag in their mouths to
keep them from being discovered.  "Jack!  Billy!  Shut up! They'll hear
you," I find myself thinking as I'm listening along.  But then of course,
that wouldn't work.  There's no TV picture to let you know what's happening.

Dave Phaneuf

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

Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 09:55:48 -0500
From: "David Phaneuf" <dphaneuf@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  re: Re: Radio, TV, and Literalism

In Issue #79, Elizabeth wrote:

the "relevance" movement of the early 1970s - the era in which it wasn't
enough just to entertain, a show also had to present a message. This isn't a
flaw in the medium, it's the result of a specific cultural trend that
affected movies, music, comics, and just about every other form of popular
entertainment.

Good observation. I remember remarking to my wife when our children were
little in the 80's, "Can't they make toys and books that don't  teach
something?  Can't they just make some toys and books that are just fun to
play with, without having to be moralized?"

the veiled social messages in "The Beverly Hillbillies,"

Did you know that there is now a Bible Study trend to bring out the moral
lessons of this and the Andy Griffith Show (Mayberry version)? I say trend,
because that's the way things seem to go in our society.  It began with a
study on the AGS.  Now someone has done it on TBH.  I suspect Leave It to
Beaver or Father Knows Best or Donna Reed Show will be next.  To get this
back to OTR, I'd personally like to see Bible Studies (I'm a pastor) on the
Shadow "Who Knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?... designed to teach
to young and old alike that crime does not pay" -- Father Knows Best (OTR
style),  Amos & Andy (if we could get past politically correct issues), Vic
& Sade, and of course those good ol' boys from Pine Ridge, Lum & Abner
(whose good-heartedness, endless scheming and materializing, and interchange
with the other characters holds a wealth of "teachability").  And I'm sure
there are plenty of others.  There is a Christmas episode of Duffy's Tavern
that is marvelous for its teachability - Duffy laments Christmas until a
mysterious visitor opens his eyes to the real meaning of Christmas.

Hey, you know, this gives me an idea for a new trend.  [removed]

Dave Phaneuf

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

Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 09:56:24 -0500
From: Alan Bell <bella@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  R2R tape recorder parts

A bit off-topic, so perhaps an off-list response would be in order?

I've acquired an Akai GX-4000D reel to reel tape recorder, but it's
missing the capstan adapter that changes speed, so for now, it only
runs at 3 3/4. I know references have been made here about places
that sell or service old R2Rs, but like a dope, I didn't copy them
down at the time. Now I need one. Any help?

Alan
--
Alan Bell
Grandville, MI
bella@[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 09:56:25 -0500
From: Alan Bell <bella@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Suspense episode "Yellow Wallpaper"

On another note, I just listened to an episode of Suspense, "The
Yellow Wallpaper," (7-29-48) with Anges Morehead (sp?). It _was_
truly suspensful, even mesmerizing, and yet the ending completely
eluded me. If someone on this list is familiar with this episode, I'd
appreciate it if you'd enlighten me, because I'm afraid this one
sailed at a rather lofty altitude right over my head.

Alan
--
Alan Bell
Grandville, MI
bella@[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 14:46:41 -0500
From: otrbuff@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  New Book

About a week ago someone on this list asked how Jim Harmon's revised "The
Great Radio Heroes" has been improved over its earlier edition.  I never
read an answer to that question.  I didn't think I overlooked it though I
may have.  If so, I apologize for retracing steps.  Would someone who has
purchased the new edition please give us a comparison with the old one?
Does the new one, for instance, have an Index?  This is a major flaw in
the first one even though it's an enjoyable read.  I believe the new one
has photos, unlike its predecessor -- if so, what are they like?  I think
someone said the new one retails for $35 which could deter some readers
from ordering it sight unseen without more information.  I'm sure many of
us could benefit from your review if you've bought the new copy.  Thanks.

Jim Cox

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V01 Issue #80
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