Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #343
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 9/2/2002 3:03 PM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2002 : Issue 343
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Re: Brand names that have become gen  [ John Mayer <mayer@[removed]; ]
  Re: John & Marsha and another Novelt  [ John Mayer <mayer@[removed]; ]
  Advertising Brand Names               [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
  Re: John & Marsha                     [ hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed]; ]
  Arthur Godfrey, etc.                  [ "Tom van der Voort" <evan@[removed] ]
  Searching for Jack Benny Programs     [ Kubelski@[removed] ]
  RE: I Love Adventure                  [ Jim Mayor <jmayor@[removed]; ]
  John & Martha                         [ "Arte" <arte@[removed]; ]
  Today in radio history                [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
  OTR Digest Contributor - Ken Piletic  [ fkorb@[removed] ]
  Wonder Woman on radio?                [ Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@erols ]
  John, Marsha and Martha               [ PFornatar@[removed] ]

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

Date: Sun, 1 Sep 2002 16:48:22 -0400
From: John Mayer <mayer@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Brand names that have become generic nouns

And, of course, there's coke as a reference to any soft drink, or to
cola drinks in particular. Though this is a common usage of the brand
name in our language, to do so in print is likely to get you a firm
reminder from the Coke company. They aren't going to sue you, but they
have to "vigorously defend" their trademark lest they lose exclusive
rights to it. This is also true of many of the others mentioned such as
xerox and frigidaire; though they have become common terms for classes
of products, they are still protected. Other such terms - I can't seem
to think of any at the moment - have been lost to their former holders
who failed to defend them.

A sort of opposite case is the use of the trademark "Windows" (Windoze
to Mac users). In this case MicroSoft trademarked a term that was long
since in common parlance in reference to computer graphical interfaces;
there is some movement in legal circles to strip MicroSoft of its
trademark protection of that word. Couldn't happen to nicer guys.

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

Date: Sun, 1 Sep 2002 16:48:14 -0400
From: John Mayer <mayer@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: John & Marsha and another Novelty Record
 query

Jason Loviglio <loviglio@[removed]; asked:
A friend of mine asked me if I had ever heard of a radio program the
consisted entirely of a
woman saying the name "John" and a man responding with the name "Martha" in
varying tones and moods.

The woman was Marsha, actually, and she was not really a woman at all, just
one of Stan Freberg's voices. It was on a segment of an album and may also
have existed as a single side of a "novelty record" (remember those?). Much
of the humor was provided by the syrupy background music, a classical violin
piece that I can never hear without thinking of that skit, but the name of
which I can't recall. It's one of the rare cases of a successful bit of humor
that's funny BECAUSE it goes on and on, a form of humor that Saturday Night
Live assays almost exclusively, without ever getting the hang of it. It is
somewhat similar to a much rarer piece, "The Last Blast of the Blasted
Bugler," a single that began with a short reference to Gunga Din, despite the
danger, raising his bugle to his lips to sound the alarm knowing the enemy
will attempt to silence him. His bugle call is cut short repeatedly by
increasingly fierce volleys of gunfire, and increasingly distorted bugle
playing. Though it was rather black humor for that day, it seemed hilarious
to me when I was in high school. Anybody know anything about THAT record?

--
Science is organized common sense where many a beautiful theory was killed by
an ugly fact. --Thomas Huxley

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

Date: Sun, 1 Sep 2002 16:48:52 -0400
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Advertising Brand Names

A point on the subject:  because some brand names teeter on the brink of
becoming generic terms, some companies have a legal department section
dedicated to preserving their trademarks.  Ask for a "coke" in many
restaurants that don't carry Coca-Cola, and you will hear, "We only have
Pepsi," in response.  There was a close call for a certain huge camera
company in nearly losing the Kodak trademark.

With generic equivalent over-the-counter medications, the current
practice is to name a product as close to the original as one can get
away with.  For instance, the Walgreens equivalent of the Robitussin
cough medicine is "Wal-Tussin."

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Sun, 1 Sep 2002 16:49:10 -0400
From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: John & Marsha

Jason Loviglio asked

I am writing with a query.  A friend of mine asked me if I had ever heard of
a radio program the consisted entirely of a woman saying the name "John"
and a
man responding with the name "Martha" in varying tones and moods.

Actually, Jason, the title of the comedy bit was "John & Marsha".

Although not a radio program as such, It was a comedy record that was played
quite heavily on the air by disc jockeys many years ago. And it undoubtedly
was intended to spoof soap operas. I can't say for certain who performed the
bit, but it sounds like something Stan Freeberg might have done.

It's a comedy classic for sure. but just between you and me (and the rest of
the digest subscribers) I couldn't think of a better illustration of the
talent that radio actors had. They could convey so many different emotions
and/or meanings with the vocal inflection of a single word. (Or in this
case, a name). Anger, fright, coyness, questioning, delight, surprise,
admonishment, sensuality,  [removed] oh well, you get the idea.

Hal(Harlan)Stone
Jughead

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

Date: Sun, 1 Sep 2002 16:49:29 -0400
From: "Tom van der Voort" <evan@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Arthur Godfrey, etc.
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

     Lee Munsick asked for names of guest hosts on the Arthur Godfrey program.
I know of at least a dozen Godfrey shows hosted by Sam Levinson. I don't have
dates but my impression is that they are from a summer in the '60's.  Guests
included Hedda Hopper, Eddie Albert, Tom Poston, Charlton Heston, Bob & Ray,
and the Old Street Singer, Arthur Tracy.
     Henry Brugach asks about the availability of Adventures in Research
programming.  SPERDVAC recently placed twelve 15 minute shows in their general
library.  If you want a great source for thousands of OTR programs, I can't
recommend a better place to start.
Tom v d V

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

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

Date: Sun, 1 Sep 2002 16:49:49 -0400
From: Kubelski@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Searching for Jack Benny Programs

It's time to put the collective collecting power of the list to the test.
I'm down to the 35 circulating episodes of The Jack Benny Program not now in
my collection.

If anyone has any the following programs available for trade, please e-mail
me privately.  As for the rest, if they are in circulation per Hickerson,
I've should have them availabe for return trade.

Thanks in advance,

Sean Dougherty
Kubelski@[removed]

4/2/39
1/7/40
1/14/40
4/7/40
4/14/40
4/21/40
10/20/40
11/10/40
4/2/44
4/30/44
5/14/44
10/29/44
11/12/44
12/17/44
4/15/45
10/21/45
4/21/46
5/12/46
12/28/47
3/11/51
11/25/51
9/14/52
11/2/52
11/9/52
11/16/52
11/23/52
12/7/52
1/4/53
3/1/53
4/19/53
12/20/53
3/14/54
5/30/54
6/6/54

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

Date: Sun, 1 Sep 2002 16:50:35 -0400
From: Jim Mayor <jmayor@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  RE: I Love Adventure

 > ... I Love Adventure is a real treat to this I Love a Mystery fan!   My
 > scalp still tingles whenever I hear that familiar theme!!

Hi, Jim,

Yes, I still love those old shows, too.  Adventures by Morse were also
great.  Well, heck, all of Carlton's stuff was great!!!!  ILAM always has
had a good following (pity there aren't more original shows available),
but, personally, I also liked his others as well.  I guess they didn't have
the following because they were so short-lived or rather, not nearly as
many people "grew up" with them.  In actuality I remember only two ILAM
shows, but I can remember faithfully rushing home after school to catch the
next episode.  I never heard any of the ILA or ABM shows.  Some fans these
days, it seems, only appreciate those they remember.  I have never been
bothered by that limitation.

Anyway, keep enjoying Carlton's stuff.  I am sure he now has a fantastic PC
with a word processor and is busily writing away on a ton of new stuff,
just waiting for us to get up there and enjoy.  Of course, now he doesn't
need a world globe by his elbow, he has the real thing!

Peace.

Jim Mayor

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

Date: Sun, 1 Sep 2002 16:51:47 -0400
From: "Arte" <arte@[removed];
To: "OldRadio Mailing List" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  John & Martha

Jason asked about "John & Martha."
It was actually "John & Marsha."  It was a skit done, I
believe, by Gary Owens and his crew on his old radio
program. I don't remember who the voices belong to, but it
is very interesting how they tell a story using only voice
inflections.  A "Must Listen" for any aspiring radio actor.

I think I have a copy of it with my Gary Owens shtick.
Contact me off-list if you would like one.
Arte
[removed]

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

Date: Sun, 1 Sep 2002 16:51:57 -0400
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Today in radio history

  Still having connection problems, but will catch up as I'm able.

 From Those Were The Days --

 8/30

1951 - "Screen Directors’ Playhouse" was heard for the final time on
NBC. The radio program had featured some of the biggest stars in
Hollywood.

  Birthday:

1898 - Shirley Booth (Thelma Booth Ford) d. Oct 16, 1992

 8/31

1941 - "The Great Gildersleeve", a spin-off of "Fibber McGee and Molly",
started on NBC radio.

1946 - "Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!"
Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound ... the caped crusader
returned to radio on the Mutual Broadcasting System. "Superman" had been
dropped from the program schedule earlier in the year, but the outrage
of youngsters brought the show back to the airwaves. Wow! The amazing
power of Kryptonite in the hands of kids! Bud Collyer, later of TV’s
"Beat the Clock", played Clark Kent aka Superman on the radio series.
His identity had been well guarded for years. Most people didn’t have a
clue as to the identity of Superman until a "TIME" magazine article
about Collyer appeared in 1946.

Birthday

1903 - Arthur (Morton) Godfrey (ukulele playing, TV/radio entertainer:
Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts, Arthur Godfrey and Friends; Lipton Tea
commercials; d. Mar 16, 1983)

 9/1

1922 - The first daily news program on radio was The Radio Digest, on
WBAY. The program, hosted by George F. Thompson, the program's editor,
originated from New York City.

Birthday --

1900 - Don Wilson announcer, actor: The Jack Benny Show; d. Apr 25, 1982

--
Visit my home page:
[removed]~[removed]

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

Date: Sun, 1 Sep 2002 16:52:44 -0400
From: fkorb@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  OTR Digest Contributor - Ken Piletic

Dear All Readers,

I have been informed that Ken Piletic, a frequent
contributor to this list and attendee of many OTR
conventions has undergone quadruple bypass surgery as of
last Friday, August 30th. He is in Sherman hospital in
Elgin, Illinois for about the next week. I am sure you all
will want to wish him well, even though he cannot read the
digest at this time, he eventually will, when he returns
home.

If you would like to call him, the phone number is
847-742-9800.
Call and the hospital can tell you if he is accepting calls
or not. As of today, Sunday, September 1st, he was still in
intensive cardiac care, but should be able to take calls in
a day or so.

Thanks in advance to all his friends who read this digest
and has met at many of the conventions,

Fred Korb - Secretary ORCATS
Oldtime Radio Collectors And Traders Society

We all wish him the best of recovery!

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

Date: Sun, 1 Sep 2002 16:53:59 -0400
From: Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@[removed];
To: OTRBB <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Wonder Woman on radio?

Probably many of us, through our  daughters and grand-daughters, are
familiar with the American Girls Doll collection, which  specializes in
factually accurate dolls, who represent an exact period of American
history. This includes the doll, the hair, the clothing, accessories and
a host of related gear, plus a Craft Book for each, so the little girls
can practice arts and crafts from a particular period of time. The
company that produces all these materials has a staff to insure
scrupulous factual accuracy in all detail, including text and photos.

Reading the Craft Book for Molly, the 1944 doll, I was astounded by the
following sentences, which describe a rainy afternoon with Molly and her
two girl-friends and their radio: " Linda and Sue liked to listen  to
'The Lone Ranger', but Molly liked 'Wonder Woman' best. Wonder Woman had
a magic golden lasso, an invisible airplane, and, best of all, she was
the only woman superhero on the radio!"

I have been researching female crime-fighters on radio for over 15
years, and have never discovered any OTR citation regarding Wonder Woman
on radio.

Anyone have any information to the contrary?

Jack French
Editor: RADIO RECALL

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

Date: Sun, 1 Sep 2002 17:17:00 -0400
From: PFornatar@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  John, Marsha and Martha

Hi,

   The only Martha character I can remember is the Martha on Milton Berle. (I
know there were several other Martha characters but none as funny.) Her whole
role consisted of one word, if I remember correctly, "Yes"  Of course it was
John and Marsha by Freberg and recording of genius in days that needed it.
        Paul Fornatar

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #343
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