------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2005 : Issue 320
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Re: Our Miss Brooks [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
JOE PYNE [ Sandy Singer <sinatradj@[removed]; ]
ANY THING WORTH DOING [ Sandy Singer <sinatradj@[removed]; ]
Our Miss Brooks [ "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@attorneyross. ]
Good Night and Good Luck [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
Airing Opposite Milton Berle [ Christopher Snowden <unkvid@earthli ]
10-18 births/deaths [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
Stephin Fetchit [ seandd@[removed] ]
Re: Shades of Grey [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
Some thoughts on history and today. [ "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed] ]
The Doyeene of Dish [ seandd@[removed] ]
Fred Foy on WOCM Radio Maryland [ seandd@[removed] ]
The Friends of Old-Time Radio Conven [ Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed] ]
WSM-James Melton debut [ [removed]@[removed] (Marj ]
Angela Lansbury [ Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed] ]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 01:01:00 -0400
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Our Miss Brooks
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In a message dated 10/17/05 11:19:41 PM Central Daylight Time,
[removed]@[removed] writes:
All the listers here who assisted will get the 184 episode set. All shows
identified and dated thanks to a script collection so no more undated
titles.
Question: did you ever find any from that last season, 1957 or so? I read
somewhere none from that season were known to exist since it was apparently
done
live at that late date on both coasts.
Dixon
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 01:01:14 -0400
From: Sandy Singer <sinatradj@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: JOE PYNE
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He was way ahead of his time!
Sandy
Once upon a time, in the fifties, there was a cure for insomniacs. It was
called "Joe Pyne." It was verbal banner between WVUE-TV, Channel 12's
late night talk host, Joe Pyne and viewers. There was no area code and
phone numbers had words in them. The number to call and deluge Joe Pyne
with complaints, questions and opinions was Locust 8-4260. The topics
ranged from the Middle East (in crisis then just as it is now) to nudism.
Joe once described himself to Philadelphia area journalists as an "overly
compensating introvert." He overcame a speech impediment and got into
broadcasting. Pyne said, "it occurred to me that this might be a rather
pleasant way to make a living." He was the son of a Chester, Pennsylvania
bricklayer. Born in 1925, his career run the gamut from a nightclub emcee
to broadcasting tobacco auctions in Lumberton, North Carolina. As far as
his nightclub gig, Pyne said: "" got my material from a joke making
factory for $10 a routine." Joe got his first broadcasting job when Jim
Tisdale put WVCH in Joe's hometown of Chester on the air in 1948.
Joe started his controversial talk career right here in the Delaware
Valley in radio. He was a DJ at WMID in Atlantic City and later moved to
WILM in Wilmington, Delaware in 1949. It was there he started his first
talk show, "It's Your Nickel." He took phone calls but at that time, you
didn't hear the caller. You listened to just the host when would repeat
what the telephone caller said. It was at WILM that he started attacking
local officials and disputing racial discrimination. In July of 1954, Joe
had a TV show (The Joe Pyne Show) on WDEL-TV, Channel 12 in Wilmington, a
commercial station at the time. It was for an hour on Sundays at 6:30 pm.
In 1957, he sold off everything he had and moved westward to Hollywood.
There he went with a local Riverside, California radio station. Within a
month, he exposed a narcotics scandal at the local high school. This
brought Joe Pyne into the limelight of Los Angeles. He found himself
looking into the KTLA cameras and it was there that he started his famous
nightly TV insult show. It was there that Joe first said: "I could make a
monkey out of you, but why should I take the credit."
He looked a lot like J. Edgar Hoover (who was riding high in the fifties)
and was considered for Hoover's part in the Warner Brothers motion
picture, "The FBI Story."
Joe Pyne returned to the Delaware Valley and independent TV station,
WVUE-TV, owned by Storer Broadcasting at that time. (Storer owned WIBG in
Philadelphia, the number one station in the market at that time). Joe
increased that station's rating 30 fold. Amazing, even in the fifties. On
Friday, September 5, 1958, a TV listing shows JOE PYNE - Discussion on
WVUE-TV from 11 pm to 12 midnight.
In the usual Pyne way, he had said: "I would give it up tomorrow, if I
found something better to do." Pyne's shows were always unrehearsed.
That's the way Pyne wanted it and that's the way it was. By the way Joe
always said that he kept a gun in his desk drawer.
After leaving the Delaware Valley for good, he took his TV talk show
elsewhere and syndicated it (via Metromedia) all across the United States
to 240 stations including WKBS-TV, Channel 48, right here in
Philadelphia. He ended his of those shows with the phrase "Straight
Ahead." He also hosted a game show on NBC-TV called Showdown. It was
short-lived.
Joe had a wooden leg, a replacement for the one he lost while serving his
country in the military. He was 44 when he died of Lung Cancer on March
23, 1970. He was a chain smoker.
>From the official archives of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 01:01:30 -0400
From: Sandy Singer <sinatradj@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: ANY THING WORTH DOING
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On live radio, you had to do it right--THE FIRST TIME!
[removed]
Sandy
[removed]
[removed]
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 07:36:58 -0400
From: "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Our Miss Brooks
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2005 01:14:28 -0400
From: <cooldown3@[removed];
If they have enough of the episodes they can run it for approximately
3 years.
True, but this is a student-run station, and the person who has that time
slot now (and
decides what to play) may not have it next semester.
--
A. Joseph Ross, [removed] [removed]
15 Court Square, Suite 210 Fax [removed]
Boston, MA 02108-2503 [removed]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 07:39:24 -0400
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Good Night and Good Luck
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A list member named chris wrote, regarding remarks about the George Clooney
film "Good Night and Good Luck":
Why can't people leave politics out of discussions of
what is, at bottom, a piece of entertainment?
Because rightly or wrongly, this particular movie is political in nature.
Why, after all these years, can't others acknowledge that critics of
Murrow might have had a point?
Well, Jack Shafer had one or two good points, but his piece you quoted was so
over-the-top vitriolic it was kind of hard for me to take him seriously
overall. (That snide remark about people who "worship" him like Jesus, for
instance. Sounds like he took that remark about Murrow being the "patron
saint" a
bit too literally.) Neal Gabler did a much better job but his argument was
far
more complex than you indicated. He didn't just say that Murrow spawned the
O'Reillys, Limbaughs, etc. but that the Anderson Coopers covering Katrina was
also part of it as well. (I know his point was more about the Limbaughs but
[removed])
"Quiz Show" didn't inspire this type of almost vicious back
and forth--why does this?
What makes you think it wouldn't have if weblogs were such a way of life when
"Quiz Show" came out 11 years ago? I remember seeing that and having some
very fierce--and very fascinating--arguments over the morality of whether a
rigged TV quiz show was really all that wrong if it succeeded in keeping its
unknowing public entertained. (My answer: heck yeah, but that's for another
day.)
I saw "Good Night and Good Luck" today, had to drive two hours from where I
live in Alabama, to Atlanta to see it. Aside from the crazy man on the next
row who screamed at me (literally, not figuratively) for whispering to my
girlfriend, there were a few other problems I had with the otherwise
well-done film.
One was a problem Shafer himself found, the portrayal of the visit from the
Air Force reps. I always heard it the way Shafer did but I always understood
it was still an intimidation tactic. I thought Clooney and company gave the
commentary versus journalism argument short shrift but it was addressed, and
the movie doesn't pretend Murrow single-handedly brought down McCarthy or was
the first to attack him.
A piece like Murrow's can still be a tough call: how do you address a
politician who so obviously says day is night and wrong is right without
sounding
political yourself, or without just passing along his words without
challenge?
I'd like to have seen more on that subject in this movie. The film only runs
93 minutes so it's not like they had to chop it out for time reasons.
I still think highly of Edward R. Murrow, flaws and all, no matter what
anyone else wants me to think. I don't think he's Jesus or a saint but I
don't
think he's the compulsively lying idiot as Shafer portrayed him, either.
Dixon
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 07:39:34 -0400
From: Christopher Snowden <unkvid@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Airing Opposite Milton Berle
Milton Berle's huge success in the earliest days of television is
legendary. I was just [removed] which radio programs aired in the same
timeslot as Berle's show? Were those programs able to draw a healthy audience
anyway, or did they go under?
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 07:39:58 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 10-18 births/deaths
October 18th births
10-18-1892 - Leo G. Carroll - Weedon Northants, England - d. 10-16-1972
actor: Lux Radio Theatre
10-18-1902 - Barbara Brown - d. 7-7-1975
actress: "Land of the Free"
10-18-1902 - Miriam Hopkins - Bainbridge, GA - d. 10-9-1972
actress: "Exploring the Unknown"; "Hollywood Hotel"; "Lux Radio Theatre";
"These Are Our Men"
10-18-1906 - Adele Ronson - d. 10-18-2000
actress: Wilma Deering "Buck Rogers"; Sally Gibson "Gibson Family"
10-18-1908 - Rene Garriguenc - d. 6-22-1998
composer: "Rogers of the Gazette"; "Advs. of Sam Spade, Detective"
10-18-1910 - Addy Richton - d. 3-31-1995
writer: "Valiant Lady"; "Hilltop House"; "This Life is Mine"
10-18-1910 - Annette Hanshaw - New York, NY - d. 3-13-1985
singer: "Show Boat"; "Camel Caravan"
10-18-1911 - Helen Claire - Union Springs, AL - d. 1-12-1974
actress: Virginia Lansing "Backstage Wife"; Joyce Jordan "Joyce Jordan,[removed]"
10-18-1912 - Gerta Rozan - Vienna, Austria-Hungary
actress: Eleta "Terry and the Pirates"
10-18-1913 - Evelyn Venable - Cincinnati, OH - d. 11-15-1993
actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Stars of Tomorrow 1934"
10-18-1913 - Martin Blaine - Illinois - d. 1-19-1989
actor: Adam Sheppard "FBI in Peace and War"; Scott 'Tubby' Truman "Valiant
Lady"
10-18-1914 - Louise Fitch - d. 9-11-1996
actress: Debby Spencer "Two On a Clue"; Betty Adams "Woman in White"
10-18-1914 - Louise Fitch - Iowa - d. 9-11-1996
actress: Dale Locke "Manhattan Mother"; Carol Evans Martin Brent "Road of Life"
10-18-1918 - Bobby Troup - Harrisburg, PA - d. 2-7-1999
singer, actor: "Navy Swings"; "Bobby Troup Program"; "Bobby Troup Trio"
October 18th deaths
01-13-1925 - Gwen Verdon - Culver City, Los Angeles, CA - d. 10-18-2000
actress, singer, dancer: "Stagestruck"; "WOR Diamond Jubilee"
01-27-1927 - Nancy Dickerson - Wauwatosa, WI - d. 10-18-1997
newswoman: "784 Days That Changed America (Watergate Scandal)
01-29-1902 - Florence Rinard - d. 10-18-1984
panelist: "Twenty Questions"
02-02-1909 - Purv Pullen - Philadelphia, PA - d. 10-18-1992
bird and animal imitator: Horatio G. Birdbath "The Spike Jones Show"
04-04-1898 - Lee Tracy - Atlanta, GA - d. 10-18-1968
actor: Martin Kane "Martin Kane, Private Detective"
05-10-1894 - Frank Knight - St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada - d. 10-18-1973
actor, announcer: Dr. Billbert "Arabesque"; "Literary Digest"
08-22-1910 - David Victor - d. 10-18-1989
writer: "Joan Davis Time"; "Let George Do It"; "The Mel Blanc Show"
09-26-1926 - Julie London - Santa Rosa, CA - d. 10-18-2000
torch singer: "Guest Star"; "Here's to Veterans"
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 09:07:20 -0400
From: seandd@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Stephin Fetchit
This is mildly off-topic, but there is an interesting story about movie
pioneer Stepin Fetchit in today's New York Daily News.
Sean Dougherty
SeanDD@[removed]
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 09:07:48 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Shades of Grey
On 10/18/05 12:18 AM [removed]@[removed] wrote:
Why,
after all these years, can't others acknowledge that
critics of Murrow might have had a point? "Quiz
Show" didn't inspire this type of almost vicious back
and forth--
why does this?
Well, for what it's worth, I think it's precisely because politics *are*
involved -- which really wasn't the case with "Quiz Show." And we live in
a culture that's so socially and politically polarized that any sort of
neutral observation has essentially been eliminated from the discourse.
Thus, you must be either a Murrowite or a McCarthyite. There is no middle
ground -- criticism of Murrow in the public media implies endorsement of
McCarthy. You are either We or you are They.
In other words, we haven't come as far as we like to think we have. As a
culture we're just as incapable of comprehending shades of grey as we
were in 1954, regardless of which end of the political spectrum we stand
on. And, ironically, that's precisely the flaw in the American character
that allowed McCarthy to rise in the first place. As Murrow himself said,
quoting Shakespeare, the fault "is not in our stars -- but in ourselves."
Elizabeth
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 09:08:27 -0400
From: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Some thoughts on history and today.
In #319, chris chandler wrote:
So what's the deal?? Why the so-passionate
reaction? Why can't people leave politics out
of discussions of what is, at bottom, a piece
of entertainment? Why can't movie reviewers
stick to what they know, and resist
pontificating (usually ludicrously) upon the
glory days of the golden years, versus the
supposedly-sorry current state of broadcasting?
At risk of going wildly off topic, I'd like to take a shot at this. I think
that in the case Chris cites, arguing over Murrow allows us to fight a proxy
war over issues that are not yet settled in our society. What defines
patriotism? How free are we to hold the political beliefs we want? Can an
ideology really be a threat? We, as a society, haven't answered these
questions yet. So we see Murrow/McCarthy through the lens of our current
politics, and drop in on the side that is most sympathetic to our own
personal belief structure.
I think this accounts for the very similar reaction that we, as a society,
have to Amos and Andy. Elizabeth has shown that one can have an intelligent
discussion and analysis of Amos and Andy and how the show influenced race
relations, what impact it had on culture, and how the public felt about the
show. But many want to use Amos and Andy as a proxy for fighting current
issues of race relations, which leads to heated and often uninformed
arguments that are ostensibly about the radio show, but are really about
current problems that we, as a society, have not yet solved.
I would wager that much of what you read about Murrow/McCarthy and this
movie, or Amos and Andy for that matter, isn't really about history. It's
about today.
-chris holm
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 10:21:45 -0400
From: seandd@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: The Doyeene of Dish
The Wall Street Journal publishes a review of "the first Lady Hollywood" by
Smantha Barbas in today's edition.
The writer is OTR fan and blogger Cathy Seipp ("Cathy's World"), who
incidentially plugged last year's old time radio convention on her blog.
She notes approvingly of Parson's drive and success - but not so much of her
journalism skills.
The article is only available online to subscribers but is on page D10 of
today's paper.
Sean Dougherty
SeanDD@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 10:38:23 -0400
From: seandd@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Fred Foy on WOCM Radio Maryland
Legendary Lone Ranger announcer and 2005 FOTR guest Fred Foy will be
interviewed on WOCM Radio [removed] FM in Ocean City Maryland tomorrow, Wednesday
October 19, beginning at 9:30 [removed] on the "Bulldog and the Rude Awakening"
show.
The show can heard on the Internet here: [removed]
On the same site there are Podcasts of previous shows, so you may be able to
download the interview even after it has taken place - but I haven't tried it
so I'm not sure.
Sean Dougherty
SeanDD@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 10:40:57 -0400
From: Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: The Friends of Old-Time Radio Convention!
Folks;
This is [removed] just a few hours, the 30th Annual Froends of Old-Time
Radio Convention will begin! I'll be there, of course (assuming my car makes
it to the hotel parking lot without throwing a transmission or something),
and for those of you not able to attend, will be posting notes, photos, and
updates to the Nostalgic Rumblings blog at [removed] - so be
sure to check fgrequently, or add the blog's RSS feed to your aggrigator or
to FireFox's Live Bookmarks!
For those of you [removed] find me and say Howdee! I'm pretty
easy to [removed]'m the rotund guy hanging out around the coffee urn all
morning. I'm going to have a couple of new fundraising discs along with me;
one a DVD of an Old-Time Radio-Themed Saturday Matinee complete with cartoon
("Superman"), serial chapter (Dick Tracy, Chapter 1), and our feature, "It's
a Joke, Son!" starring Kenny Delmar as Senator Claghorn, and the other a
collection of OTR shows in MP3 I've been listening to [removed]'t had
the time to put together a printed list yet, but hopefully I'll get it done
by tomorrow and have it posted at the main literature table. If you happen to
have a spare $10, pick one of 'em up. If not (and I know coming up with an
extra sawbuck is tough with all the great dealers at this convention!), say
hello anyway! (When else do you get the chance to gripe to me about problems
with the list in person? ;)
Charlie
[removed] For those not attending, I'll have the discs available on
[removed] once I get back and get settled in.
Me
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 12:19:36 -0400
From: [removed]@[removed] (Marjorie M. Nutt)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: WSM-James Melton debut
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from text/enriched
All this talk about WSM's 80th birthday reminds me that in April 1926 my
father, tenor James Melton, made his radio debut on WSM in Nashville,
the first time in the station's history that a single artist was
featured on an hour-long program. (This according to press clippings I
have from that time.)
He was just twenty-two years old, an alumnus of Vanderbilt, and a
student of Geatano deLuca. In addition to recitals and concerts, he was
singing with the Francis Craig Orchestra. Even at this early stage of
his career, critics were commenting with awe about the versatility of
his voice--his ability to handle operatic arias and well-beloved ballads
with equal ease.
Margo Melton Nutt
([removed]@[removed])
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 13:25:55 -0400
From: Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Angela Lansbury
Two connections to the fabled show, "The Cinnamon Bear," occurred in
yesterday's Digest. First Ron Sayles mentioned the passing of Ed Max on
October 17, 1980. Busy character actor Ed Max played Blotto the Executioner
and one of the muddlers on CB. Then Dixon Hayes alluded to Angela
Lansbury's appearance on "Suspense." Indeed, Miss Lansbury was on that
show once, and in a drama adapted from a story by Elizabeth Heisch--"A
Thing of Beauty" (aired on May 29, 1947). Heisch wrote the words to "The
Singing Tree" on CB, and was married to Glanville Heisch, who created and
wrote "The Cinnamon Bear."
For the 68th consecutive year, a station in Portland, Oregon, will be
airing CB, which will be sponsored this time by Portland Spirit (a cruise
line). F-103 FM will broadcast the first segment on Thanksgiving Day. The
Portland Spirit will also sponsor cruises throughout December in honor of
Paddy O'Cinnamon. You can read all about it in the October issue of RADIO
RECALL, edited by the incomparable Jack French, and published by the Metro
Washington Old Time Radio Club.
Dennis Crow
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2005 Issue #320
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