------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2004 : Issue 106
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Re: Gunsmoke [ Christopher Werner <werner1@globalc ]
3-21 births/deaths [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
Re: Last Place in USA to Get Televis [ Art Chimes <achimes@[removed]; ]
Cassette repair [ danhughes@[removed] ]
Jim Harmon's Books [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
Re: Tarzan [ Fred Berney <fsberney@[removed]; ]
The fad that won't go away [ Al Girard <24agirard24@[removed] ]
Re: cassette repair kits [ Fred Berney <fsberney@[removed]; ]
Gunsmoke Book [ Al Girard <24agirard24@[removed] ]
Re: Berle's Collapse [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
Welles works on radio [ Allen Wilcox <aawjca@[removed]; ]
Newspaper Story on Radio Sound Effec [ "George Tirebiter" <tirebiter2@hotm ]
Re: Berle ratings collapse? [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
Lone Ranger question [ otrdig1@[removed] ]
Bishop Sheen [ Udmacon@[removed] ]
Exploding Myths [ Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed] ]
Re: Milton Berle [ BH <radiobill@[removed]; ]
50's stars [ Michael Berger <intercom1@attglobal ]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2004 10:29:10 -0500
From: Christopher Werner <werner1@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Gunsmoke
I'm sure thousands of others will chime in here, but Bob and Carol Taylor
asked a couple of questions about Gunsmoke:
>Who is John?
This is a reference to John Dehner who was usually playing one of the
villain parts on the show. It was a running gag for Bill Conrad to address
him by his real name whenever they had dialog between characters. Few
programs could get away with such ad libbing (kind of like slipping in a
"Hi Mom" in a news interview), but they were very popular.
> Was he a bum?
I won't touch that one with a 10 foot poll.
>Is there a book available on the history of the show?
The definitive tome on the subject is a book by SueAnne and Gabor Barabas
published by McFarland and entitled "Gunsmoke". about 1-1/2 inches thick it
includes plot synopsis for all the radio and TV programs as well as
thorough discussion of the major characters. It is about $75 but worth
every penny. Most of their research was from personal interviews with the
cast/writers/producers and the scripts of the show.
John Peel also has a much thinner paperback log out from Pioneer Press
called "Gunsmoke Years" that reflects some changes in the TV broadcast
dates. I personally haven't researched the discrepencies well enough to
render a definitive opinion as to which is more correct.
Almost all of the OTR episodes are available, several sources have the
whole set. The only decent source for the TV version is Columbia House with
about 30 VHS tapes. eBay is probably the cheapest source for them.
There is also a 5 tape radio 'history' of the program available, mostly
interviews with John Meston, Parley Baer, and Wilbert Hatch.
BTW, I began watching a new DVD set of the first season of the Flintstones
and the fourth episode has Fred sick in bed and WIlma calling for a doctor.
In comes a doctor (actually a vet) voiced by Howard McNear!
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2004 10:29:18 -0500
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 3-21 births/deaths
March 21st births
03-21-1869 - Florenz Zeigfeld - Chicago, IL - d. 7-22-1932
showman: "Ed Sullivan Show"; "Zeigfeld Follies of the Air"
03-21-1903 - Edgar Buchanan - Humansville, MO - d. 4-4-1979
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
03-21-1908 - Vincent Pelletier - Minneapolis, MN - d. 2-25-1994
actor: Victor Powell "This is Life"; Robin "Calling All Detectives"
03-21-1918 - Cliff Norton - Chicago, IL - d. 1-25-2003
actor: Connie the coolie "Terry and the Pirates"; "American Novels"
03-21-1919 - Lois Collier - Salley, NC - d. 10-27-1999
actress: Carol Chandler "Dear John"
March 21st deaths
01-30-1914 - John Ireland - Vancouver, Canada - d. 3-21-1992
actor: "MGM Theatre of the Air"; "[removed] Steel Hour"
03-15-1913 - Macdonald Carey - Sioux City, IA - d. 3-21-1994
actor: Jonathan Hillary "Just Plain Bill "; Lee Markham "Woman in White"
03-20-1908 - Sir Michael Redgrave - Bristol, England - d. 3-21-1985
actor: Horatio Hornblower "Horatio Hornblower"
05-22-1903 - Ward Wilson -Trenton, NJ - d. 3-21-1966
actor, announcer: Mr. DeHaven "Aldrich Family"; Beetle "Phil Baker Show"
05-27-1904 - Marlin Hurt - Du Quoin, IL - d. 3-21-1946
actor: Beulah "Fibber McGee and Molly"; Bill Jackson "Beulah"
06-08-1918 - Robert Preston - Newton Highlands, MA - d. 3-21-1987
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Eternal Light"; "Medicine USA"; "Silver Theatre"
07-18-1891 - Gene Lockhart - Ontario, Canada - d. 3-21-1957
actor: "Nebbs"; "Doctor Fights"; "Abroad with the Lockharts"
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2004 10:59:03 -0500
From: Art Chimes <achimes@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Last Place in USA to Get Television
George Tirebiter wondered about the possibility of broadcasting from an
airplane.
The Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction (MPATI) provided
instructional programming in the early 1960s broadcast from circling DC-6
aircraft, using technology patented by Westinghouse under the trade name,
Stratovision.
See [removed] for more details, and
Google for further resources.
The same technology has been used more recently in the Mideast and Balkans
bring television and radio broadcasts to conflict zones.
I don't know about this technology being used to provide TV service to an
isolated location as late as the 1970s. While technically feasible, it
seems economically unlikely.
Shoes for Industry,
Art
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2004 11:20:54 -0500
From: danhughes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Cassette repair
Joseph, forget the cassette repair kits--go to a thrift shop or a yard
sale and buy used cassettes--just be sure they have screw cases--and
you're in business. Just yesterday I found a set of 8 self-help
cassettes in a big plastic case for $[removed] That's eight repair kits for
less than twenty cents each, plus a free cassette case that can hold
eight tapes. (The cassette labels are a problem, but I seldom need to
replace shells--just the innards, so the labels don't matter. But you
can buy labels for your computer printer at office supply stores that
look great). And usually the case has an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper slid
in under plastic as a label, which is easily replaced by a sheet you
print yourself (like "Suspense--September-December 1947", for example).
---Dan
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2004 14:25:13 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Jim Harmon's Books
Larry Albert, seconding the welcome to Jim Harmon, wrote,
He is directly responsible for my initial interest in OTR. Back in 1968
I was stationed in Germany attached with the 123rd signal Battalion. In
the day room I found a copy of a fairly new book called "The Great radio
Heroes". I found myself devouring it.
I bought a copy of that book when it first came out, not to discover OTR,
but to revisit it. I also bought a copy of the revised addition. I've
enjoyed both thoroughly.
But I would put even above that book another Harmon opus, Jim Harmon's
Nostalgia Catalog. This was the first book I ever did a double-take on
its display in a bookstore. I picked up a copy and purchased it in a
trice.
To someone who lived through the OTR, this modest book was like a cool
drink in a desert. The author did a small subtlety: many of the premiums
were photographically enlarged so that to an adult, it looked the same
"size" as most of us remembered them being from our childhood. The book
not only evoked memories of premiums I recalled owning, but also provided
me with details of other premiums that I was too young at the time to
have sent for. More important, the accompanying text was very good, even
if the author did confuse "Gemini" for Joyce Ryan's "Gee-manee." :-)
Of course, the Nostalgia Catalog covered more than OTR, but the OTR
sections of it were pleasantly nostalgic. I've delved into its pages
over the years since I bought it, and it's always good reading.
Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2004 14:25:28 -0500
From: Fred Berney <fsberney@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Tarzan
Back in the last 1950's, I use to record the Tarzan radio shows. I think it
was on Wednesday night, but that was almost 50 years ago, so I could be
wrong. Anyway, I remember coming home late once and just hearing the end of
the show. I think I recorded that little bit. The show had something to do
about either a flying saucer or men from outer space or something like
that. I just remember the end.
Does anyone have the entire shows or even know what the show was about?
Another show that I only have part of was "The Demon of Raugue". My
spelling is probably not correct. It is about a young boy that lives in the
wild. The tribesmen think that he is a demon, but Tarzan tracks him down
and discovers he is a lost boy. He takes him in as his son and then one day
a woman shows up to claim the boy. I think I started recording the show
after the first 5 or 10 minutes, but I don't think I have the beginning. If
anyone has that show I'd be interested in obtaining a copy.
Fred
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2004 14:26:00 -0500
From: Al Girard <24agirard24@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: The fad that won't go away
The faddishness which had surrounded A&A during 1930-31 cooled off
considerably during 1932 -- in part because every fad runs its course,
I'd like to believe that's true, but that darned
fad of wearing baseball caps backwards
just won't go away. It's one of my pet peeves.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2004 14:26:23 -0500
From: Fred Berney <fsberney@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: cassette repair kits
At 10:37 AM 3/21/2004, you wrote:
Does anyone out there know where I can get "cassette repair kits"? These
are replacement
housings and hubs for audiocassettes. Radio Shack used to carry them, but
they don't any
more.
We through out a lot of cassettes that break. But the parts are just fine.
Send me your address and I'll send you a few cassettes if that would help.
You can also buy C-0s. These are cassettes without any tape, just the hubs
with leader tape.
Polyline use to sell cassettes splicers and splicing tape. You can find
them on line or I can post their information if anyone needs it. I've got
it in my office. They have an 800 number so you can always find them the
old fashion way. 1-800-555-1212.
Fred
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2004 14:26:41 -0500
From: Al Girard <24agirard24@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Gunsmoke Book
I recently bought a copy of "Gunsmoke A Complete
History and Analysis of the Legendary
Broadcast Series" by SuzAnne Barabas and Gabor
Barabas,
published by McFarland ISBN 0-89950-418-3. I'm
currently reading it and have enjoyed the book
thus far. It's pricey, going for more than $100,
but it is a large book: 836 pages, and there are
lots of
fabulous photos.
Al Girard
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2004 14:28:51 -0500
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Berle's Collapse
On 3/21/04 10:37 AM [removed]@[removed] wrote:
(His ratings
seemed to have completely collapsed, and rather
suddenly, in the 1955-56 [removed] know why?)
This was the culmination of a trend which had begun during the last year
of Berle's Texaco series -- faced with slumping ratings even then, there
was an effort to "modernize" the show. The original Texaco Star Theatre
was primarily a televised vaudeville show, with Berle's skits mixed in
among standard variety show fare -- dancers, singers, acrobats, animal
acts, and assorted novelty performers, with Berle doing the same sort of
abrasive-master-of-ceremonies schtick that he had been known for on stage
and in nightclubs since the late 1920s. Attempts to tone down Berle's
persona and restructure the chaotic format during the final season of the
Texaco program failed to reverse the ratings decline, and Texaco dropped
the series at the end of the 1952-53 season.
Berle returned in the fall in a new series for Buick, which completely
abandoned the vaudeville format, and tried instead to present Berle as a
Jack Benny-like character in a show-within-a-show semi-sitcom style. No
less a talent than Goodman Ace was brought on board to supervise the
writing, and there were high hopes for this "New Berle" characterization,
but it didn't work. The idea was to take the "brash loudmouth wiseguy"
persona that Berle had been known for thruout his career and turn it into
a Bennyesque figure that actually satirized its own abrasiveness -- but
the problem was that Berle simply wasn't good enough of an *actor* to
pull this off. Ace's ideas on comedy structure were the very antithesis
of Berle's own comic instincts, and it became obvious early on that the
partership was trying to build on a very shaky foundation. And given that
limitation, there was no way to build the sort of layers of
characterization necessary to make such a character believable or likable
in spite of his flaws in the way that Benny's character always was. The
new series gradually fell apart, and was cancelled after two seasons.
That paved the way for 1955-56, in which NBC tried to revive "Berle
Classic" on a participating-sponsor basis -- the show moved from New York
to Hollywood, and returned to a Berle-as-MC-of-a-vaudeville-show policy.
But by now, Berle's persona had been so distorted by creative tinkering
and modifications that audiences had no idea what to expect -- and they
essentially lost patience with him. Audiences who tuned in to enjoy the
guest stars (Elvis was one of them) found Berle obnoxious, and Berle fans
found the guest stars intrusive and Berle's routines increasingly old-hat.
And that was pretty much the end of that. There were attempts as late as
the mid-sixties to revive Berle as a viable weekly star, and he continued
to do movies and occasional specials and guest shots -- but in all
honesty, he was finished as an important figure in television by the
summer of 1956.
Elizabet
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2004 14:29:06 -0500
From: Allen Wilcox <aawjca@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Welles works on radio
I know of Orson Wells work of [removed] Welles War of the
Worlds on Murcury Theater on the Air. But I was
wondering if any of Welles other works were dramatized
on radio.
Allen
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2004 16:27:43 -0500
From: "George Tirebiter" <tirebiter2@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Newspaper Story on Radio Sound Effects Person
Hello All,
There is a story about a woman who did radio sound effects in the OTR era
in today's Albany ([removed]) Times-Union, available online at:
[removed];category=ARTS&BCCode=ENTERTAINMENT&newsdate=3/21/2004
George
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2004 16:28:16 -0500
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Berle ratings collapse?
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain
In a message dated 3/21/04 9:37:26 AM Central Standard Time,
[removed]@[removed] writes:
(His ratings seemed to have completely collapsed, and rather
suddenly, in the 1955-56 [removed] know why?)
Could it have something to do with his competitor in 1955 being Phil Silvers?
There may have been other factors like Berle's act just getting stale. But
losing his longtime time slot that he "owned" for so long, then losing to a
younger, upstart comedian, I am sure would be a one-two punch.
Dixon
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*** as the sender intended. ***
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2004 17:15:04 -0500
From: otrdig1@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Lone Ranger question
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain
It is my understanding that starting on 9-6-54, Lone Ranger shows were
re-broadcast. For example, The Horse Thieves originally broadcast on 12-29-52
was re-broadcast on 9-6-54. I noticed that the re-broadcast shows often start
off with the language "By Special [removed]"
My question is, if the "By Special Recording" language was deleted from a
broadcast, is there any way to determine if an episode was from the original
run, or from the re-broadcast run?
Andrew
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*** as the sender intended. ***
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2004 18:00:38 -0500
From: Udmacon@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Bishop Sheen
I believe that the Bishop Sheen DuMont telecasts came later in Uncle Miltie's
run on NBC. And I attended one of his telecasts, held in a Broadway theater.
The Bishop kept going for another 10 or 15 minutes after he was off the air.
What a magnificient personality!
Radio content: he was "Monsignor(sp)Sheen" on the "Catholic Hour"
... and he's buried between 485 Madison and 30 Rock in St. Patrick's
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2004 21:04:10 -0500
From: Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Exploding Myths
As Craig pointed out yesterday, the Digest is a place to seek the truth
behind commonly held, but erroneous beliefs, regarding old-time radio.
Since my time here, we have properly debunked the following myths:
1. That Uncle Don spoke an obscene expletive after completing one of his
programs.
2. That a mass tuneout of the "Charlie McCarthy" show was caused by a
singer, which enhanced the listening audience for Orson Welles' famous "War
of the Worlds" broadcast.
3. That radio actors customarily dropped their script pages to the floor
during a broadcast.
4. That the "Lone Ranger's" first name was John.
5. That John Daly actually broke into a symphony performance to broadcast
the first announcement of the Pearl Harbor disaster.
6. That Julius LaRosa's career was ended "on the air" by Arthur Godfrey.
I am sure Digesters can cite others. But the commonly held belief that
Milton Berle was "Mr. Television" is not among the myths. It is
substantiated by none other than Arthur Frank Wertheim, whose book RADIO
COMEDY was cited by Elizabeth McCloud as an authoritative source in her
recent post about the "alleged" exaggeration concerning Berle's influence.
Wertheim states otherwise.
I quote him. "Known to millions of fans as 'Uncle Miltie' and 'Mr.
Television,' Berle achieved the success there he had never received on
radio. The Tuesday night eight o'clock program drew 75 per cent of the
television audience in 1949. Thousands bought sets just to watch Berle's
antics. When the series ended in 1954 twenty-six million homes had
television receivers. His immensely popular program affected business in
restaurants, nightclubs, and movie theaters. Apparently viewers even held
off going to the bathroom to watch Berle. Water usage in Detroit increased
dramatically as soon as the program went off the air. The phenomenal
success of Berle's vaudeville-style show signaled the demise of radio
comedy." [RADIO COMEDY; Oxford University Press, 1979], [removed]
Wertheim supports his opinion by citing Los Angeles Times columnist,
Charles Champlin, who certainly wasn't known for hyperbole.
Dennis Crow
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 00:57:42 -0500
From: BH <radiobill@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Milton Berle
Hal Stone posing as Dorothy Stone <dualxtwo@[removed]; wrote:
I betcha that was happening all over the country once word got out about his
zany antics. Consequently, it motivated people to buy their own TV set so
they wouldn't have to jockey for position to get close to the small screen.
:)
Where I grew up, in the early days of television you had to put up a
ninety foot antenna to get signals from Dallas/Ft Worth, TX and even
then the picture was snowy most of the time. About all you heard from
the TV folks was how great the Milton Berle show was. When TV came to
our town in 1952, we like many others, purchased our first set and we
were one of the first in our rural area to have one. No one missed
watching Milton Berle and often others who did not yet have a set would
just happen to drop by when Berle was on. We often had a living room
full of folks there to watch his show.
It's been said that Berle did more to sell TV sets that anyone else, and I
don't doubt it for a second. He was definitely "watched" and "seen" by many
many more than a small percentage of Americans. Okay, Elizabeth?
Even Berle admitted that his show was responsible for a boost in the
sale of television set, he commented, "my neighbor sold his, and his
neighbor sold his, and their neighbors sold theirs, ect."
Bill H.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 00:58:01 -0500
From: Michael Berger <intercom1@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: 50's stars
Like many previous posters, our family didn't have a TV until 1952; before
then I made a pest of myself watching shows on the neighbors' set. As for
the stars of that era, Toast of the Town, as mentioned [later the Ed
Sullivan show] was a big Sunday night hit, as was a panel game called
What's My Line?
Jackie Gleason became a hit with Dumont and switched to CBS and Your Show
of Shows was another very popular show [Sid Caeser, Imogene Coca, Carl
Reiner, Howard Morris]; but most of the big stars were still in the early
transition stage from radio to TV; Jack Benny did only one TV show a month
at first.
The major breakthroughs in those early days were the drama shows [Studio
One] and the wonderful Omnibus program on Sunday afternoons, with Alistaire
Cooke.
Michael Berger
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #106
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