Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #386
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 10/25/2003 11:38 AM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2003 : Issue 386
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Re: Your Money or Your Life Redux     [ "Brian L Bedsworth" <az2pa@[removed]; ]
  Se Si Sue                             [ "ASTON" <aston@[removed]; ]
  Zero!                                 [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
  War of The Worlds in Latin America    [ "Fábio" <fape2@[removed]; ]
  Short Wave reception                  [ BH <radioguy@[removed]; ]
  violent Archie comix???               [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]
  the benny line                        [ Michael Berger <intercom1@attglobal ]
  Today in radio history                [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
  Hugh Studebaker                       [ Allen J Hubin <ajhubin@[removed]; ]
  Johnny Zero                           [ "RBB" <oldradio@[removed]; ]
  Zeros, Navies, Admirals and Codes     [ "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed] ]
  Pics are up (finally!!!)              [ Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed] ]
  The Company He [removed]               [ Wich2@[removed] ]
  Remote disk jockeys                   [ Michael Mewborn <mmewborn@designgro ]
  The Legend of Sleepy Hollow           [ "Bill Scherer" <bspro@[removed]; ]
  Jack Benny Laugh Times                [ otrdude@[removed] ]
  10-25 births/deaths                   [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Are Miss Brooks                       [ "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed]; ]
  RE: Johnny ZERO                       [ "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed] ]
  10-26 births/deaths                   [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]

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

Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 13:41:02 +0000
From: "Brian L Bedsworth" <az2pa@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Your Money or Your Life Redux

chris chandler <chrischandler84@[removed]; called me out thusly:

 > NOOOOOOOOOOO it doesn't!!!  The laugh for "I'm
 > thinking it over" on March 28, 1948 lasts for exactly
 > and precisely six seconds; that would be 54-seconds
 > short of "a full minute".

And, of course, he's right; I pulled out my copy of that show for the first 
time in years and, not only does the famous reply get a mere six seconds' 
worth of response (although Benny Rubin does step on the tail of that laugh 
a bit awkwardly, as if the show's producer [Hilliard Marks by this time?) 
gave him a bit of a speed-up cue; it could also just have been 
less-than-perfect timing on Rubin's part], the recital of the -straight- 
line gets =seven= seconds!

(Oh, well, just shows one shouldn't rely on memory without disclosing [removed])

Some comedians just have that knack, the ability to so build up a persona 
over time that audiences will laugh -in anticipation- of a gag line. Benny 
(obviously) had it; Johnny Carson would later; Groucho Marx was so gifted 
in this area that he actually complained about it on his quiz program when 
a completely innocent (but double-entendrable) remark by a guest elicited a 
huge -- and very dirty -- laugh from the audience.

I'm wondering how many other examples there are of shows or talent that 
regularly got this sort of response from an ostensibly non-funny remark or 
situation -- or even nothing happening at all. I can think of times, for 
instance, when the McGees' closet door opened to utter silence, or on The 
Big Show, the knowing chuckles every Fred Allen mention of quiz programs 
would receive from prematurely media-savvy audiences on both coasts.

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

Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 13:41:13 +0000
From: "ASTON" <aston@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Se Si Sue

Okay everybody, I need a bit a help.  The $.50 to a Bum -- Your Money or
your life has been answered nicely   I need to know the date of the Jack
Benny Show where he an Mel Blnac first did the Se, Si, Sue routine.  I could
search and eventually locate the show, but maybe by asking here  the task
would be a lot easier and quicker.  Any help would be much appreciated.

Don Aston
avpro@[removed]

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

Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 13:41:21 +0000
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Zero!

Chris Holm, speaking of the Japanese aircraft, A6M, Zero-Sen, noted,

 > The Zero was light and maneuverable, and made an excellent dogfighter
 > early
 > in the war.  It was more than a match for the P40 Tomahawk, and special
 > hit
 > and run tactics were developed to fight the zero.

Well, the Zero, with a good light design and lack of such things as
self-sealing fuel tanks was indeed quite maneuverable.  But the P-40 held
its own in the Pearl Harbor attack.  Lieutenants Taylor and Welch engaged
several Zeroes and shot down seven aircraft, flying P-40s.  A Zero was
captured nearly intact in 1942, and a number of [removed] pilots flew it and
became familiar with its flight characteristics.  This aided in
determining tactics for engagements.

To put an OTR spin on this, the basic aircraft shown on the 1942,
1946-1948 manuals that accompanied those years' Code-O-Graph were all
P-40 variants.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 13:41:30 +0000
From: "Fábio" <fape2@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  War of The Worlds in Latin America

Hi Joe,

I saw your message and I think I can tell you something
about some adaptations of The War of The Worlds in Latin
America.

I am a Brazilian PhD candidate writing a thesis on it and
since you mentioned its adaptation in Latin America and
couldn't remember where it was done, you might be surprised
to learn that only in Brazil there were at least two
different versions of it in Portuguese (one made at the
university where I study and another one in the Northeast
of Brazil).

I also heard about, but cannot tell with certainty that
other adaptations might have taken place in Chile,
Venezuela and Mexico. Should anyone have any information on
adaptations made there or in other countries, I would like
very much to learn about.

So far as I know, none of the adaptations caused any panic
after Orson Welles' experience in 1938.

Best regards from

Fábio L. S. Pietraroia

=====
Fábio Lacerda Soares Pietraroia
Alameda Jaú, 150. Ap. 13-A
01420-000  São Paulo-SP
Brazil

fones: (11)3262-3435
      e (11)9443-7144

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

Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 13:41:39 +0000
From: BH <radioguy@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Short Wave reception

Pete writes:

 > Try running a single strand of wire 30 feet in length
 > verticle. Isolate it with insulators from where it is
 > attached and you will be amazed at what you will hear
 > and the cost is not really that much. One further bit
 > of advice is that if you can ground your radio that
 > will also help a lot.

You might have less noise pickup if you run your antenna horizontal. Noise 
from sources such as power lines, motors, and other man-made devices is 
mostly vertically polarized and a vertical antenna tends to pick up these 
noise sources whereas a horizontal antenna will not be as sensitive to 
them. It is kind of a crap shoot, try it both ways.

Bill H.

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

Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 13:41:47 +0000
From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  violent Archie comix???

Re: Archie comics:

 >> Actually, they weren't above a little ride on the Violence bandwagon: under
 >> their "Red Circle" imprint, they tried to squeeze a bit of blood out of the
 >> Marvel-inspired '70's Horror Comics mini-revival. Nothing as gory as the
 >> '50's stuff, and the run didn't last very long - but they DID try to go
 >> beyond Riverdale!
 >
 > Really? Archie and Veronica and them? Huh???
 > Can you explain this a bit more?

I don't recall anything resembling gore in an Archie comic since the time 
when Archie concealed his arm beneath a sweater and taped on a mannequin 
arm (I believe Jughead had found one) in its place. Archie then added a 
ripe tomato in the shoulder of the mannequin arm, and went off to confront 
Moose. True to form, Moose grabbed Archie's 'arm,' only to tear it off. The 
tomato provided the requisite blood, sending Moose into shock.

M Kinsler

who always wondered why Midge put up with Moose. [removed]

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

Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 13:41:58 +0000
From: Michael Berger <intercom1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  the benny line
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

Is it possible that the mistaken memories of the big buildup laughter of 
the "money or your life" Benny line was based not on any radio broadcast, 
but a TV version of the line, in which Jack is seen closeup in a driving 
rainstorm, the water dribbling off his face, as he ponders the answer. That 
buildup was, as I recall, 10-15 seconds, but it's equally possible that the 
"laughter" was canned.

Michael Berger

Please reply to: intercom1@[removed]

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

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

Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 13:42:24 +0000
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Today in radio history

 From Those Were The Days --

10/24

1929 - The Rudy Vallee Show was broadcast for the first time on NBC. 
Actually, the Rudy Vallee show had several different titles over the years, 
all of which were referred to by the public as The Rudy Vallee Show. 
Megaphone-totin' Rudy and his Connecticut Yankees band were mainstays on 
radio into the late 1940s.

10/25

1937 - Stella Dallas made her debut on the NBC Red network. Stella hung out 
on NBC until 1955 with Anne Elstner in the title role for the entire run. 
Stella Dallas was "A continuation on the air of the true-life story of 
mother love and sacrifice, in which Stella saw her own beloved daughter, 
Laurel, marry into wealth and society, and realizing the difference in 
their tastes and worlds, went out of Laurel's life."

10/26

1935 - A talented twelve-year-old sang on Wallace Beery's NBC show. Judy 
Garland delighted the appreciative audience. The young girl would soon be 
in pictures and at the top of stardom. It would be only four years before 
Ms. Garland (George Jessel gave her the name, thinking it would be better 
than her own, Frances Gumm) captured the hearts of moviegoers everywhere 
with her performance as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.

Joe

-- Visit my homepage: [removed]~[removed] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 13:42:41 +0000 From: Allen J Hubin <ajhubin@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Hugh Studebaker Laurie Platt asks about Hugh Studebaker. This is what Luther Sies (in Encyclopedia of American Radio 1920- 1960) has to say: "Actor, singer and organist Studebaker was born May 31, 1900. He made his first radio appearance on a Council Bluffs, Iowa station performing a song and piano act in 1928. Shortly thereafter, he played the organ on Ted Malone's program (WLW, Cincinatti, OH). His later career was mostly devoted to roles on numerous daytime dramatic serials." According to the Social Security Death Benefits records, he died in May 1978 in Encino, California. Al Hubin ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 13:42:54 +0000 From: "RBB" <oldradio@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Johnny Zero <Regarding the recent posts about the Japanese "Zero" airplane and the [removed]; The radio connection for this list? There was a popular WWII song called "Johnny Zero" on the radio about real USAAF enlisted man, John Foley, a clerk-typist from Chicago, who was eager for combat. Some rumored that he forged his orders assigning him to the South Pacific. Although he had no gunnery training, he volunteered as a gunner and was assigned to the crew of a Martin B-26 bomber. The song, (written by David and Lawnhurst) had lyrics "Johnny got a zero, today" when he shot down a Zero fighter on his first mission, albeit without direct orders to fire his machine gun at that time. Members of the 19th Bomb Squadron confirmed his victory and a war correspondent nicknamed him "Johnny Zero." The song was recorded by Ozzie Nelson's Orchestra with vocalist, Harriet Hilliard (yet another OTR connection for this list!) Russ Butler oldradio@[removed] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2003 12:48:48 +0000 From: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Zeros, Navies, Admirals and Codes In 384, Mark Kinsler wrote: > It was designed to operate from aircraft carriers and, > along with the superb seamanship of the Japanese navy > in general, was able to beat the stuffing out of Allied > forces in the first few years of World War II. Yamamoto, who had a significant role in the early sucess of the Japanese navy, is sort of a minor hero in cryptography circles - mainly as an example of what happens when you have bad crypto. The Allied code breaking efforts had pretty much broken most Japanese codes, and Allied naval victories were often the direct result of the codebreakers knowing the position of the Japanese fleet. Even Yamamoto's death (his plane was shot down) was because the Navy knew where his plane would be. Perhaps he needed a Captain Midnight code-o-graph. -chris holm ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2003 12:50:47 +0000 From: Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed]; To: [removed]@[removed] Subject: Pics are up (finally!!!) Folks; Sorry it took so long, but what can I [removed]'s a whole lot to do here, and not much time to do it in! Anyway, some pics are up at: [removed] ...the photo pages take a while to load on a dialup (trust [removed] I know ;) Charlie ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2003 12:50:58 +0000 From: Wich2@[removed] To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: The Company He [removed] > From: Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed]; ...had dinner last evening with Hal Stone and his lovely wife Dorothy (she's the smart one). < Charlie's lovely wife Annie was there as well (...should I reiterate the paranthetical part, [removed]) > Also at our table were Joyce Randolph, Lynne Rogers, Teri Keane, Ruth Last, and the Digest's own Craig Wichman, so eat your heart out. < Nice ladies, all. But (don't tell The Wife!), either because she sat next to me at din-din, or because she was so dang good when we shared at mic in MAITLAND AT LARGE, I think I've got a crush on Ms. [removed] And lemme tell ya - (Hal, maybe you'll see this in a few days?): if some producer doesn't corral "Hastings & Stone" into a revival tour of THE SUNSHINE BOYS, they're missing a bet! (Of course, they'd have to wear POUNDS of aging [removed]). Seriously, if you're within striking distance, come out. The Big Guns are Good Eggs. (Miss you, Barbara W.!) Best, Craig "Eugene Fiske" Wichman ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2003 12:51:24 +0000 From: Michael Mewborn <mmewborn@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Remote disk jockeys This is marginally OTR related. I remember as a teen (and after television became the mainstay occupier of the evening hours) that various of the teen hangouts had remote radio disk jockeys who played songs with dedications submitted by customers. I remember driving to Doug Broome's Drive-In to make a request, then racing back to Seawell's Drive-In to watch the surprised looks on the faces of those to whom the dedications were made. My questions are: Where did this start? When? Who paid for it (radio station or restaurant)? The disk jockey frequently occupied a glass booth that was high above the restaurant and offered a good view of him (usually) and whatever he was doing. People would drive by and blow their horns and he would acknowledge them, sometimes with disparaging comments about the car or its occupants. See, this has a radio connection. Thanks, Michael ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2003 12:51:38 +0000 From: "Bill Scherer" <bspro@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Hi all, As Halloween approaches and I grab all my favorite OTR Halloween type stuff to share with my Sons it occured to me that I don't have an OTR version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I'm assuming that it must have been done at some point. If it was done more than once, what would be considered the the best version? Would someone be interested in a trade of some kind so I could get it? Thanks Bill PS. One of the favorites is the Archie Andrews episode where Archie throws a Halloween party. Thanks Jughead. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2003 12:51:47 +0000 From: otrdude@[removed] To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Jack Benny Laugh Times X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain In the public interest, I listened to the previously mentioned Jack Benny episodes and measured the laugh times. Here is what I found: 3-2-48 I'm thinking it over - 6 seconds 4-14-46 Hello, Louella - 12 seconds 4-25-48 Oh, shut up - 23 seconds 1-8-50 Dreer Pooson - 26 seconds Andrew Steinberg otrdude@[removed] *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear *** *** as the sender intended. *** ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2003 12:52:05 +0000 From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: 10-25 births/deaths October 25th births 10-25-1882 - Richard Gordon - Bridgeport, CT - d. 12-1967 actor: Sherlock Holmes, "Advs. of Sherlock Holmes"; Jim Barrett, "Valiant Lady" 10-25-1891 - Father Charles Coughlin - Hamilton, Canada - d. 10-27-1979 commentator, preacher: (The Radio Priest) 10-25-1901 - Daniel Landt - Scranton, PA - d. 2-24-1961 singer: Landt Trio, "Doc Pearson"s Drug Store"; "Bob Hawk Show" 10-25-1901 - Walter T. Butterworth - Wallingford, PA - d. 3-10-1962 emcee: "Molle Merry Minstrels"; "Vox Pox"; "Take a Card" 10-25-1909 - True Boardman - Seattle, WA - d. 8-4-2003 writer, narrator: "Silver Theatre"; "Favorite Story" 10-25-1912 - Minnie Pearl - Centerville, TN - d. 3-4-1996 comedienne: (Queen of Country Comedy) "Grand Ole Opry" 10-25-1914 - John Reed King - Atlantic City, NJ - d. 7-8-1979 announcer, actor:"Columbia Workshop"; Schuyler 'Sky" King " "Sky King" 10-25-1924 - Billy Barty - Millsboro, PA - d. 12-23-2000 comedian: "Spike Jones Band" 10-25-1927 - Barbara Cook - Atlanta, GA actress: Julie Boyd "Great Merlini" 10-25-1928 - Marion Ross - Albert Lea, MN actress: Lux Radio Theatre October 25th deaths 02-12-1919 - Forrest Tucker - Plainfield, IN - d. 10-25-1986 actor: "Lux Radio Theatre" 05-27-1911 - Vincent Price - St. Louis, MO - d. 10-25-1993 actor: Simon Templar "The Saint"; "Lux Radio Theatre" 06-19-1908 - Mildred Natwick - Baltimore, MD - d. 10-25-1994 actress: "Starring Boris Karloff"; "Best Plays"; "Campbell Playhouse" 09-14-1907 - Cecil Brown - New Brighton, PA - d. 10-25-1987 newscaster: "CBS European News"; "Sizing Up the News" 11-14-1901 - Morton Downey - Wallingford, CT - d. 10-25-1985 singer: (The Irish Thrush), "Morton Downey Show"; "Songs by Morton Downey" Ron Sayles Milwaukee, Wisconsin ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2003 12:52:22 +0000 From: "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Are Miss Brooks Hi Everybody, in the last digest a request was ask about the Are Miss Brooks Christmas show. In fact three people are still with us from that show. Bob Le mond, who I just talk to on Tuesday to discuss a telephone interview on Yesterday USA, Gloria McMillian is still around. She and he husband ran an acting school in California. Frank Bresee played the little boy part. He did not get credit for the only time he worked the show, but I will ask him on tonight broadcast. Take care, Walden Hughes ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2003 12:52:30 +0000 From: "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: RE: Johnny ZERO Russ B. recently posted about the WWII song called "Johnny Zero", heard on the radio in 1943 (for example, on "Your Hit Parade" and on "The Victory Parade Of Spotlight Bands"). On a broadcast of the latter-named show, Harriet Hilliard sang the song, which plays with the word "zero": Johnny used to be a poor student getting lowly "zero" scores on school tests. But he becomes a pilot and gets "zeros" again but this time it refers to shooting down Japanese "Zero" fighter planes. You can see the lyrics on the web page below, but they got the song's composers' names wrong - should be, as Russ said, David and Lawnhurst. But they got the lyrics right (or at least mostly right). [removed]~rickheit/dtrad/[removed] -- Phil C. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2003 12:52:42 +0000 From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: 10-26 births/deaths October 26th births 10-26-1876 - [removed] Warner - London, England . d. 12-21-1958 actor: "Hollywood Hotel"; "Lux Radio Theatre" 10-26-1911 - Mahalia Jackson - New Orleans, LA - d. 1-27-1972 gospel singer: (The Angel of Peace) 10-26-1914 - Jackie Coogan - Los Angeles, CA - d. 3-1-1984 actor: Ernest Botch "Forever Ernest" October 26th deaths 03-08-1902 - Louise Beavers - Cincinnati, OH - d. 10-26-1962 actress: Beulah "Beulah"; "Screen Guild Theatre" 06-10-1895 - Hattie McDaniel - Wichita, KS - d. 10-26-1952 actress: Beulah "Beulah"; Mammy "Maxwell House Showboat" Ron Sayles Milwaukee, Wisconsin -------------------------------- End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #386 ********************************************* Copyright [removed] Communications, York, PA; All Rights Reserved, including republication in any form. If you enjoy this list, please consider financially supporting it: [removed] For Help: [removed]@[removed] To Unsubscribe: [removed]@[removed] To Subscribe: [removed]@[removed] or see [removed] For Help with the Archive Server, send the command ARCHIVE HELP in the SUBJECT of a message to [removed]@[removed] To contact the listmaster, mail to listmaster@[removed] To Send Mail to the list, simply send to [removed]@[removed]