Subject: [removed] Digest V2005 #304
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 10/4/2005 4:21 PM
To: [removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2005 : Issue 304
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Another find                          [ "Jim Cox" <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
  PICK THE WINNER                       [ RBackus22@[removed] ]
  WFLA Indeed                           [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr" <skallisjr@j ]
  Orchestra vs. organ                   [ Richard Carpenter <newsduck@[removed] ]
  Amos 'n' Andy                         [ JayHick@[removed] ]
  Mystery Song                          [ "alanladdsr" <alanladdsr@sunflower. ]
  WFLA (correction)                     [ Art Chimes <[removed]@[removed] ]
  Agnes and Harriet                     [ Conrad Binyon <conradab@[removed] ]
  Re: radio stations re-transmitted     [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
  Paul Evans on RealAudio-similar ques  [ Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed] ]
  Bill Robson FBI file                  [ "HOWARD BLUE" <khovard@[removed]; ]
  World War II OTR dramatic script      [ "HOWARD BLUE" <khovard@[removed]; ]
  10-4 births/deaths                    [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  RE: Recording shows off the internet  [ "D. FISHER" <dfisher052@[removed] ]
  Marching To The Music                 [ Bob Slate <moxnix1961@[removed]; ]
  Re: Al "Jazzbo" Collins               [ Jordan Young <jyoung@[removed]; ]
  New Discoveries on Cowboy Kid         [ Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@erols ]
  Backseat driver                       [ Ed Kindred <kindred@[removed]; ]
  Indexes and appendices                [ "Jim Cox" <otrbuff@[removed]; ]

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

Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2005 22:36:25 -0400
From: "Jim Cox" <otrbuff@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Another find

A couple of weeks ago I volunteered my services for a couple of days at a
yard sale hosted by my church for charity.  Among the many artifacts and
items on display, one caught my eye and I  purchased it -- a Crosley AM
clock table model radio (with sleep timer!) that really works with glowing
tubes.  It's always fascinating to me to run across these relics that have
great sound and for which you have to patiently await their "warming up"
time.  Reminds me of thousands of times I excitedly anticipated a program in
"those days" and tried to remember to turn the radio on a few seconds before
the show began so I wouldn't miss any of it.

This latest curiosity has something many collectors are accustomed to, I'm
sure, but in my limited supply of vintage radios, I didn't have before.
There is a receptacle on one side for something else to be plugged in.  On
the back it reads:  "Timed Outlet for Appliances Not Rated Over 100W at 115
[removed]"

There is also, separately, a button on the back that can be moved from RADIO
to PHONO.

I'm not sure what the full range is that this treasure offers but figure
somebodies on the digest know quite well.  Someone may know the history of
these radios, when made, etc.  Any elucidation from the experts would be
gratefully received, directly to me or for all to read.  Thanks.

Jim Cox
otrbuff@[removed]

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

Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2005 23:16:02 -0400
From: RBackus22@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  PICK THE WINNER
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I was listening to some old Gunsmoke episodes from the fall of 1952, and
noticed that CBS was touting a series called "Pick the Winner" to be
broadcast
on Sundays until the November 1952 elections. It was to feature a notable
person  from each party debating the issues of the day.
   Can anyone tell me any more about it? Do any recordings exist?  I would
like to compare the political rhetoric of that day with today.
   Thanks as always,
       Dick Backus

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

Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2005 23:16:29 -0400
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr" <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  WFLA Indeed

Art Chimes, speaking of multiple WFLAs in Florida notes,

As noted by Jed Dolnick, the *real* WFLA is in Tampa at AM 570

Actually, the *real* WFLA is at 970 (it has a website, [removed] ).
 I live in Tampa, and have been interviewed on the station a few times.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2005 23:16:50 -0400
From: Richard Carpenter <newsduck@[removed];
To: Old Radio <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Orchestra vs. organ

  You'll be relieved to know that this posting has
nothing to do with Kerouac, Dylan or Iraq. Rather it's
about the music played on dramas and comedies to
heighten the mood, provide a transition, etc. Lately
I've been dropping off to sleep listening to "The
Great Gildersleeve" on my Dell Digital Jukebox (an
iPod equivalent)and I've been struck by the quality
and appropriateness of the music. In fact, at the end
of one show, it was announced that the arrangements
won an award. My question: How big were the
orchestras/bands in the studios? Did they have a few
members or lots? Gildy's orchestra certainly gives the
impression of being full indeed. Part II of my
question: Why did some shows use only organ music? My
first thought is that it was to save money, but
certainly successful shows like "The Shadow" could
have afforded more than an organ, no?

   One other comment: My Gildy shows, of course, are
on MP3s and they sound just fine to me.

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

Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2005 23:17:01 -0400
From: JayHick@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Amos 'n' Andy

We will have 35 copies of Elizabeth McLeod's book about Amos 'n' Andy for
sale at reduced rates at the FOTR convention.  Jay

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

Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2005 23:17:52 -0400
From: "alanladdsr" <alanladdsr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Mystery Song

Gildy's "Mystery Song" was "Tug-O-My Heart."
Don Frey

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

Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005 07:54:24 -0400
From: Art Chimes <[removed]@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  WFLA (correction)

In digest 303 I wrote:

As noted by Jed Dolnick, the *real* WFLA is in Tampa at AM 570.

As Stephen Kallis pointed out in an email to me, "Actually, the *real* WFLA is
at 970 (it has a website, [removed])."

This is getting surreal. ;-)

The error is mine, not Jed's. Sorry for the typo.

-Art-

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

Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005 07:53:42 -0400
From: Conrad Binyon <conradab@[removed];
To: Old Time Radio Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Agnes and Harriet

Sean Dougherty  SeanDD@[removed] writes:

This is pretty off-topic, but it should be noted that
at least one
political website has decided that Supreme Court
nominee Harriet Miers looks like
Agnes Morehead.

Perhaps not as bad as Agnes' Velma Cruther character
in Hush, hush, "Sweet Charlotte,"
But as good as Harriet Miers looks:

[removed]

she should look as good as Agnes does here:

 [removed]

Conrad Binyon

---
conradab@[removed] (Conrad A. Binyon)
Encino, CA
Home of the Stars who loved Ranches and Farms

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

Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005 07:53:14 -0400
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: radio stations re-transmitted
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In a message dated 10/3/05 1:47:56 PM Central Daylight Time,
[removed]@[removed] writes:

 From what I understand, the make-believe WFLA's use
those call letters as slogans, and get away with it by obscurely giving
their true call letters every hour. They do a good job of hiding their true
call letters even on their web pages.

I've heard this is a trend in radio these days, one station being transmitted
over two others.  I previously worked for what could be the first TV station
re-transmitted that way: WBMA-TV in Birmingham, Alabama, which is transmitted
over WJSU-TV, Channel 40 in Anniston and WCFT-TV, Channel 33 in Tuscaloosa and
is known to its viewers as "ABC 33/40."  Channels 33 and 40 were once CBS
stations in their own right, with their own newscasts serving their own
respective cities as opposed to one newscast coming out of Birmingham.

Dixon

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

Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005 07:52:51 -0400
From: Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Paul Evans on RealAudio-similar question

Paul Evans wrote

I have a technical question.  While the RealPlayer is
playing the clip, what
do I click on so I can save it in my music library?  (I have an HP Pavilion
a1118x.)  I eventually want to burn it to a compact disk, but I'm doing
something wrong.  I have to link to the Website whenever I want to play this
clip.

I can save OTR programs to disk at home, then burn them to CDs. When I try
to play them on my computer at work, however, I can't - because I don't
have internet access there, and the RealAudio program I have on the CD
won't play without accessing the RealAudio website(s). I've tried using
various early versions of Real Radio, etc., but they insist on the same access.
Any suggestions as to how I can listen to RealAudio files at work without
internet access?
Thanks.

[ADMINISTRIVIA: We are beginning to drift away from Old-Time Radio into
computer support; and that's fine, so far as it goes, but many of these
software support questions should be addressed directly to the publishers of
the software, or could be answered through simple Google queries. I am _not_
at this time cutting off the discussion, but rather suggesting that in most
cases the OTR Digest is not the best, nor the fastest, way of finding the
answers to computer software support questions.  --cfs3]

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

Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005 09:36:22 -0400
From: "HOWARD BLUE" <khovard@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Bill Robson FBI file

My wife and I are selling our house and moving into an apartment. Thus I
need to downscale my files (and even my OTR book collection). Many of my
files are from my years of research for my book, Words at War -- One thing
that popped out as I opened up one drawer this morning is the lengthy file
that the FBI kept on Bill Robson -- if anybody has a special interest in it,
please contact me off line

Howard Blue
Khovard@[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005 09:36:36 -0400
From: "HOWARD BLUE" <khovard@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  World War II OTR dramatic script

As I just indicated in another posting, we're in the process of moving and I
need to downscale my files many of which contain scripts that I obtained
from the National Archives and other repositories.

If anybody would like scripts from the following series, please contact me
off line

Howard Blue

This Is Our Enemy
Blue Playhouse
Assignment Home
Service to the Front
American Women
Words at War

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

Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005 09:36:44 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  10-4 births/deaths

October 4th births

10-04-1878 - Arthur Hopkins - Cleveland, OH - d. 3-22-1950
producer: "Arthur Hopkins Presents"
10-04-1884 - Damon Runyon - Manhattan, KS - d. 12-10-1946
short story writer: "Good News of 1940"; "Damon Runyon Theatre"
10-04-1892 - Kathryn Card - Butte, MT - d. 3-1-1964
actress: Grandmother Barton "The Bartons"; Mrs. Wiggins "Uncle Walter's Dog
House"
10-04-1893 - Reverend Walter A. Maier - Boston, MA - d. 1-11-1950
preacher: "Lutheran Hour"
10-04-1894 - Cliff Hall - Brooklyn, NY - d. 10-6-1972
comedian: Sharlie "Baron and the Bee, Jack Pearl Show"
10-04-1895 - Buster Keaton - Piqua, KS - d. 2-1-1966
comediann: "Shell Chateau"; "Voices from the Hollywood Past"
10-04-1895 - Lea Penman - Red Cloud, MN - d. 10-12-1962
actress: Alice Aldrich "The Aldrich Family"
10-04-1897 - Frederick Chase Taylor - Buffalo, NY - d. 5-29-1950
comedian: Lemuel Q. Stoopnagel "Duffy's Tavern, Quixie Doodles, Stoopnagel
and Budd"
10-04-1900 - Robert Shayne - Yonkers, NY - d. 11-29-1992
actor: Walter Manning "Portia Faces Life"
10-04-1909 - James Webb - Denver, CA (that is right, CA) - d. 9-27-1974
screenwriter: "Lux Radio Theatre"
10-04-1910 - Stanley Farrar - d. 4-5-1974
actor: (Brother of Danny Thomas) Melvyn Foster "A Date with Judy"
10-04-1914 - John Larch - Salem, MA
actor: (Married to Vivi Janiss) Rocky Starr "Starr ofSpace"
10-04-1916 - George Sidney - Long Island City, NY - d. 5-5-2002
film musical director: "Shell Chateau"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
10-04-1916 - Lenore Kingston - Los Angeles, CA - d. 5-5-1993
actress: Mercedes Colby "Don Winslow of the Navy"; Jane Daley "Affairs of
Anthony"
10-04-1917 - Jan Murray - The Bronx, NY
emcee: "Songs for Sale"; "Meet Your Match"
10-04-1924 - Charlton Heston - Evanston, IL
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Kaleidoscope"
10-04-1929 - Scotty Beckett - California - d. 5-10-1968
actor: Chester A. Riley, Jr. "Life of Riley"

October 4th deaths

01-08-1902 - Alexander Gray - Wrightvilles, PA - d. 10-4-1975
baritone: "Chesterfield Quarter Hour"
01-12-1911 - Lon Clark - Frost, MN - d. 10-4-1998
actor: Nick Carter "Nick Carter, Master Detective"; Keith Richards "Bright
Horizon"
04-02-1913 - Fran Carlon - Indianapolis, IN - d. 10-4-1993
actress: Lorelei Kilbourne "Big Town"; Bunny Mitchell "Story of Mary Marlin"
05-22-1891 - Parks Johnson - Sheffield, AL - d. 10-4-1970
emcee, interviewer: "Vox Pox"
05-31-1893 - Albert Mitchell - Elsberry, MO - d. 10-4-1954
host: "Answer Man"
06-13-1894 - Tay Garnett - Los Angeles, CA - d. 10-4-1977
film director: "Three Sheets to the Wind"; "Screen Director's Playhouse"
11-30-1900 - Geoffrey Household - Briston, England - d. 10-4-1988
writer: "NBC Presents: Short Story"
xx-xx-1920 - Claire Niesen - Phoenix, AZ - d. 10-4-1963
actress: "Mary Noble "Backstage Wife"; Peggy O'Neill "The O'Neills"
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005 11:18:05 -0400
From: "D. FISHER" <dfisher052@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  RE: Recording shows off the internet

Get Total Recorder (check Google).

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

Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005 13:47:27 -0400
From: Bob Slate <moxnix1961@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Marching To The Music
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

That sounds like it might be "No School Today" with Big Jon & Sparky,
broadcast from Cincinatti in the early to late 1950'[removed] my memory serves me
right, it seems that I remember Big Jon,or Sparky, asking us to march untill
he told us to [removed] for the grown-ups it was "Don McNeil'S Breakfast
Club'' from the 1930's to possibly, the early 1960's where they marched
around the breakfast table.

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

Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005 14:05:47 -0400
From: Jordan Young <jyoung@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re:  Al "Jazzbo" Collins

I had the privilege of appearing with "Jazzbo" (or "Jazzbeaux") on
his San Francisco radio show in 1984. It was a wild night in
celebration of Spike Jones. My book on Spike had just come out and
Dr. Horatio Q. Birdbath, who did the bird imitations on many of
Spike's records, appointed himself my PR man and contacted several SF
radio hosts he knew. Collins was a huge fan, so he put us on the air
for about three and a half hours, talking about Spike and playing
records and radio excerpts, from 11:30 or so when the ballgame ended
until 3 [removed]

I regret to say I was not familiar with Collins' recordings at the
time, and unlike Birdbath (aka Purv Pullen) he was a very modest guy
who gave little indication of his own illustrious background. What
did come across was the professionalism--talk about smooth old pros.
Then there was that wonderful voice--you wouldn't mistake him for Mel
Torme, but "the Velvet Fog" could just as easily describe Collins.

Jordan R. Young
"Spike Jones Off the Record"

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

Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005 14:06:10 -0400
From: Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@[removed];
To: OTRBB <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  New Discoveries on Cowboy Kid

As most fans of juvenile westerns know, "Bobby Benson" was a popular
radio show on both CBS and Mutual. The CBS version, which originated in
Buffalo, NY for its first season 1932-33, was moved by CBS to Manhattan
in the fall of 1933. Here the show was recast, with Billy Hallop (later
of Dead End Kids fame) starring as Bobby. It ran until 1936 as H-Bar-O
Rangers. No surviving audio copies of the more than 700 episodes have
ever been found although two scripts have. Peter Dixon was the writer
for this CBS series.

Mutual brought the Cowboy Kid (With the B-Bar-B Riders) back to network
radio in 1949, and it was produced out of WOR. The radio version ran
until 1955, spawned two local TV series, and a comic book series. Most
of the scripts still exist (in the file cabinets of writer Jim Shean,
now retired in LA) and in circulation are nineteen of the 30 minute
version, five of the 5 minute "Songs of the B-Bar-B shows, and the 30
minute audition with an Australian cast.

I've been researching the series for over 15 years. interviewed most of
the surviving cast and crew (or their relatives) and while there were
some tiny gaps in our collective knowledge of this show, I was not
prepared for any "Significant Discoveries" in the near future.

Enter ace researcher Jim Jones of Utah, who a few days ago discovered
the long-lost identity of "Phyl Coe" as being Peggy Allenby (see OTR
Digest V2005 #302.)  Ian Grieve, our DownUnder Digester, challenged Jim
to find out something about Bobby Benson that I did not already know.

It took Jim, clicking his way through ProQuest, an internet archival
venue, less than 24 hours to come up with factual data on the series
unknown to me or most of the OTR community.

First, Jim discovered a Dec 27, 1961 Times Herald interview with Bert
Parks, who claimed to have been on the 1933 series playing Bobby's best
friend, "Little Luke Leadbetter."  While it seems doubtful that an 18
year old kid who was 6 feet tall, and was a junior announcer and singer
at CBS, would be cast in this role, especially since his voice had long
since changed, one is inclined to accept Bert's memories.

More importantly, Jim uncovered a Oct 7, 1933 clipping from the LA
Times which related to local casting changes in the Bobby Benson show,
being aired there in conjunction with Don Lee Network. Peter Dixon, the
NYC writer, had come to LA to oversee this casting as CBS was unhappy
with some of the local choices. While dual casts in different cities
was not unknown in that era (Little Orphan Annie was doing it) this is
the first time anyone has confirmed that Bobby Benson was being aired
on both coasts at the same time.

Congratulations, JIm!

Jack French
Editor: RADIO RECALL

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

Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005 14:36:03 -0400
From: Ed Kindred <kindred@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Backseat driver

LA sparse? Yep!  The City of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels had a
population of [removed] Million in 1940. There was
large separation (miles and miles of open space with oil wells pumping)
between Long Beach and LA.   Riverside
and San Bernadino were quite separated from the Los Angeles area. You saw
evidence of why Orange County
had its name as main highways were two lanes with over arching tree limbs.
Electric Trains would carry you from
downtown out to the very rural Canoga Park where my singing cowboy uncle
Bob Baker had his spread. I say spread,
 I was only six at the time. I only remember a barn, being out in the
sticks and seeing mostly rural scenery from the train
while riding out into the Valley.

In the late mid 50's driving from San Jose to Phoenix I would agonizingly
drive through the Valley on Lankershim Blvd until
I could get to the Ventura to head for the Civic Center and then East to
Phoenix. By late 50's traffic could be heavy as
 far as Redlands and Banning. You still had to drive through downtown
Indio and Blythe and the main highway US 60 was a
narrow two lane road out of Indio which faithfully followed the contours
of the terrain. That meant have plenty of coolant in
the system. One of the nice aspects of the trip east of LA was listening
to big band music on KBIG out of Avalon, Catalina
Island
Ed Kindred

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

Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005 18:18:04 -0400
From: "Jim Cox" <otrbuff@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Indexes and appendices

We read a treatise on a publisher with which I am familiar in a recent post
by, I'm certain, a well-intended contributor that -- from my perspective --
seemed to leave the publisher smelling like anything but a rose.  I
certainly can't speak with any authority on dealings with other authors but
I can definitely share my own experience.  The fact that an intended lengthy
section could not be included within a book set for release was specifically
cited.  That's regrettable but perhaps such a long addition would have made
it an unwieldy commodity, adding to the cost so much that it put the retail
price out of reach of too many potential buyers.  That's one possible
explanation, a matter that usually isn't considered the purview of authors
(who don't set prices).  There may be many other reasons that the business
side of the publishing industry would know about and we would not.

In my own case, I've been encouraged from day one to supply an index (this
is a part of my written contracts) and been given the verbal assurance:  "We
love indexes.  We love big indexes.  The bigger the index, the better."  My
newest book, "Music Radio," has over 9,000 page number entries according to
the professional indexer I use.

Furthermore, most of the appendices I have supplied for my books have been
published in full.  My text on the Hummerts, for example, includes five
appendices.  These always appear to be welcome additions to this publisher.

Again, I can only testify about my own experiences.  Having worked on nine
volumes with this outfit, I have had nothing but encouragement and positive
feedback in this area.  Furthermore, as a final word, I would almost
invariably suggest to anyone thinking of writing a non-fiction book -- if
you omit an index, your readers' satisfaction will be significantly
diminished, particularly if they are into research even in its mildest
forms.  And that applies to almost all of us at one time or other.

Jim Cox

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2005 Issue #304
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