Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #418
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 11/20/2003 8:49 AM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2003 : Issue 418
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  AFRS then and now                     [ Al Girard <24agirard24@[removed] ]
  Radio's Greatest Year                 [ <welsa@[removed]; ]
  Re: "Golden Age of TV"                [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
  "The Answer Man"                      [ "Jim Erskine, Homeway Press" <homew ]
  Re: Allen Sherman                     [ danhughes@[removed] ]
  Stay Tuned for Terror Info            [ <rlcollins1@[removed]; ]
  another Hermit's episode/ Two on a C  [ "Tim Hughes" <rekokut@[removed]; ]
  More Inside The Hermit's Cave         [ "Mike Kerezman" <philipmarlowe@cfai ]
  The GOLD index                        [ "Mike Kerezman" <philipmarlowe@cfai ]
  Script Recycling on Pat Novak - Pete  [ "Mike Kerezman" <philipmarlowe@cfai ]
  Today in radio history                [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
  Re: Kinescopes                        [ hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed]; ]
  Re: show on mp3 or tape               [ passage@[removed] ]

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

Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 22:04:05 -0500
From: Al Girard <24agirard24@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  AFRS then and now

I'm assuming that amongst the subscribers to this digest there are some
members of the armed forces.

I was thinking today about the AFRS during the heyday of OTR.  That
organization rebroadcast many commercial series and created many
series of their own, most notably Command Performance, [removed] Journal,
Mail Call, [removed] Jive with [removed] Jill and Jubilee.  Anyone with a short-wave
radio was able to listen in to the broadcasts whether they were members
of the armed forces or not, and later AFRS broadcasts switched their
distribution to C band satellites.  Anyone with a C band satellite receiver
was able to receive both the AFRTS radio and television broadcasts,
but for several years now those signals have been encrypted, making
it impossible for non authorized people to listen in on the radio or to view
the TV programs.

I'm curious though, especially about the current AFRS radio programming.
What kind of programs do they carry?  Do they carry NPR shows? Do they have
any series much like the entertainment shows that they broadcast during
World War Two?

I can't imagine what a current version of Command Performance would even
be like.  There are no big bands now.  I guess most of the music would be
rock or
country.  Who'd host it?  Seinfeld?  Letterman? Drew Carey?  The mind boggles.

Al Girard

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

Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 10:30:19 -0500
From: <welsa@[removed];
To: "OTR Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Radio's Greatest Year

In my opinion, it was 1938.

By the mid-30's, radio was a popular medium, but it still needed a watershed
event to "put it over the top," so to speak.  What it got in 1938 was not
one, but two such events.

Up to that time, radio news consisted mostly of a reader in the studio.
They might have had some recorded reports, but it was mostly pretty dull
listening.

In March, 1938, Ed Murrow and his crew changed broadcast news forever with
the "live" shortwave report of Hitler's march into Vienna.  It put radio
news on the map--and just in time.  With war obviously looming on the
horizon, that one 30-minute broadcast showed the American public the power
radio had to inform.

Six months or so later, Orson Welles "War of the Worlds" was broadcast.  It
was controversial but highly entertaining.  By the time the dust settled on
that program, it was clear that radio had the power to greatly affect people
throughout entertainment.

Again--this happened just in time.  When World War Two began, radio was well
adept at informing and affecting people through  news, public affairs,
entertainment and information shows.

My opinion, anyway.

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

Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 10:30:40 -0500
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: "Golden Age of TV"
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In a message dated 11/19/03 1:43:33 PM Central Standard Time,
[removed]@[removed] writes:

And then for the next
hour and a half he shows and analyzes some great stuff that even you
anti-TV OTR buffs would love.

I remember seeing this Kuralt special when it aired, but I have never seen it
since.  It was quite  a love letter to 1950s television; no ironic "look how
silly they were" attitudes, the special respected every show it depicted, from
"Tom Corbet, Space Cadet" and "Mr. I. Magination" to the "Ford 50th
Anniversary Special."  I would love to get this now on tape, or better yet,
DVD.

Dixon

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Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 10:31:42 -0500
From: "Jim Erskine, Homeway Press" <homeway@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  "The Answer Man"

The family and I just heard a great Thanksgiving themed episode of "The
Answer Man" from 1944. I think we learned more about Thanksgiving in 12
minutes than we ever thought possible. "[removed] He's interesting, but
weird", was my 14 yr old's sage evaluation.

Do any more "Answer Man" shows exist? Any leads on where to acquire them?

kylistener

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

Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 10:31:27 -0500
From: danhughes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re:  Allen Sherman

Derek asks about Allen Sherman:

His autobiography is called A GIFT OF LAUGHTER and is well worth seeking
out.

Little-known facts:  Sherman created and produced the TV show I've Got a
Secret, later produced The Tonight Show when Steve Allen was host.

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

Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 10:34:51 -0500
From: <rlcollins1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Stay Tuned for Terror Info

Several times during the past few years I've noticed a few posts mentioning
an obscure, seemingly lost syndicated series called "Stay Tuned for Terror."
This series was written by famed horror author Robert Bloch and produced in
1944. Recently, I came across an article about the series in an obscure,
twice-yearly published fanzine from 1974 called "Gothism." I am NOT a fan of
this type literature at all, western and religious otr are two of my favorite
genres, but the article was fascinating and very informative. The author was
written by --Mr. Bloch-- himself. Others may be aware of the article and the
information within, but I thought digesters might be interested in a few
items concerning the show and Mr. Bloch, since prior posts indicated almost
nothing was known about the series. If this is repetitive to otr insiders,
please forgive.

1. Bloch's first otr writing job was as a ghostwriter in 1939 for a series
attempting to raise funds for a Catholic charity, the St. Charles Home for
the Boys. These were fifteen-minute dramas of boys rescued by the home. He
was paid $[removed] per script by a Milwaukee advertising firm.
2. He had one or two previously published tales dramatized by others on the
radio early; one was "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper," on the Kate Smith
Variety Show, starring Laird Cregar. "Almost Human" was performed on the
Molle Mystery Theater.
3. He states James Doolittle, a former Milwaukee radio announcer, came to him
with the idea of auditioning a new Bloch horror script to Lights
Out-Doolittle wanted to break into acting and Bloch big-time script writing.
4. Lights Out went off the air, but Doolittle and Bloch teamed with John
Neblett and Berle Adams to produce Stay Tuned for Terror in 39 syndicated
episodes. Neblett, and Adams were from Chicago. Neblett would handle actual
production and selling of the series, Doolittle would narrate and act under
the name Craig Dennis, and Adams would actually finance the series. The
production company was called Craig Dennis Radio Productions.
5. Each show was to be fifteen minutes and recorded on transcription to be
sold around the country. Many episodes were adapted by Bloch from stories he
published in Weird Tales magazine.
6. Bloch received $[removed] per episode to write the 39 scripts. He opted for
the "sure thing" instead of taking a "piece of the action"-10% of the
profits.
7. Bloch wrote the scripts in the fall of 1944. Production began in early
winter 1945 at CBS studios in the Wrigley building in Chicago.
8. Howard Keegan was hired as director of the series by Neblett. Bloch
respected his talents and work previously from Lights Out.
9. Bloch states most scripts were adapted from Weird Tales, but a few were
original. He remebered thirty years later that "Satan's Phonograph" was
original and "Grandfather's Clock" and "Horror Show" also. The latter two
were never published as best he remembered; the first was published after the
radio version aired.
10. Bloch couldn't remember the organist's name, but the music had to be
"weird" and the organist did a "fine" job.
11. The theme song to the show was "The Number One Scene" from Tschaikowsky's
Swan Lake. (Bloch's tribute to old Universal horror films)
12. The cast: Craig Dennis (Jimmy Doolittle) as stated earlier; Angeline Orr,
young and experienced Chicago leading lady; Donald Doolittle, Jim's younger
brother, who played youthful parts or odd characters; and Wilms Herbert,
versatile radio veteran.
13. Bloch was present for each recording, making suggestions throughout the
session.
14. Three episodes were usually cut each session.
15. In spring, 1945, the show was aired. WMAQ-Chicago, large stations in the
South and West, then the Canadian Broadcasting Network per Bloch carried the
show. Even a station in Hawaii aired the show.

More details are given about why the show never did a second season-cash flow
problems, Adams' other clients demanding more attention, Neblett
concentrating on big-money sportscasting assignments and --marrying-- leading
lady Angeline Orr. One thing Bloch makes clear in the final paragraph: he
states he NEVER owned copies of the 39 transcriptions of the show: "Never
have owned them, undoubtedly never will." Like Bloch, one assumes they are
out there somewhere, distributed all over the [removed] in 1945. Maybe some of
this info will hasten their discovery. Randy Collins

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

Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 10:35:18 -0500
From: "Tim Hughes" <rekokut@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  another Hermit's episode/ Two on a Clue

Hi Again!

Unless I missed it on the list, there's another Hermit episode, "Castle By
the Sea".  I'm a Hermit fan, and I remember getting this from Radio
Yesteryear.  I wish I remember what happened to the cassette it was on.  I
remember it was an RY Custom cassette, and it was Hermit's Cave number
400-something.  Plot; this couple comes upon this dying old woman, who
recounts the ghostly story of the rockpile of a castle she lives in.  I know
I still have a lot of the old Radio Yesteryear "Reasearch Reports".  I'll
try to dig it up.

Also, I remember in 1998 or 1999 there was a REALLY detailed info post about
the Hermit's Cave, the exact dates that it came on and off, I think.  It
might have been posted by Michael Ogden, I think.  If you still have that,
Mr. Ogden, please repost it!

[removed]  Does anyone have "Two on a Clue"?  I've seen that a couple episodes
exist, and always wanted it, but can never find it.  Ditto for "Secret
City".

Thanks again,
Tim.

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

Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 10:42:38 -0500
From: "Mike Kerezman" <philipmarlowe@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  More Inside The Hermit's Cave

Mike Ogden answered my question regard the Hermit's Cave. I've also recently
come across listings for two additional Hermit's Cave shows online. These
are

Castle From the Sea
The Gypsy's Curse

Anyone know anything regarding these.

Mike Kerezman
Macomb, Oklahoma

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

Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 10:43:18 -0500
From: "Mike Kerezman" <philipmarlowe@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  The GOLD index
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Someone on list made reference to the Gold index whose holdings were sold to
[removed] This made me wonder if there are recordings that no one (No
collectors or LOC)  would have that would be in the SOLE possession of
[removed] In otherwords, would there be recordings that MEdiabay archives
have exclusive possession of ? When comes to really rare shows similar to the
likes of  say "LATITUDE ZERO", I don't see them ever seeing the light of day
if they are exclusively property of such a large concern. I merely use
Latitude Zero as an example althought it is commonly available over internet.
Would there be similarly rare shows in the exclusive possession of Mediabay
which are unlikely to be commerically viable to being released? This question
is not meant open the whole Copyright issues again.

Sincerely,

Mike Kerezman
Macomb, Oklahoma

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

Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 10:43:08 -0500
From: "Mike Kerezman" <philipmarlowe@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Script Recycling on Pat Novak - Pete Kelly's
 Blues

I recently listend to "Little Jake" on Pete Kelly's Blues. For some time I
had avoided listening to it since I had assumed it was a a mistake in Old
Time Radio catologs and mp3 listenings. It is virtually identical to the Pat
Novak show of the same name (Pat Novak "Little Jake" 6-25-49). It concerns
an Altar boy who get murder by mistake when Pete (or Patsy) comes to Church.
In the Pete Kelly's Blues version there is even a "Jocko Madigan" character
played by same Tudor Owen who played Jocko in Pat Novak. The altar boy also
sounds similar to actor who the part on the Pat Novak show. The one
noteworthy difference was it sounded like Raymond Burr (The Cop Hellman on
Pat Novak) playing the Parish Priest on the Pete Kelly version. It also
seems to be an incredibly atypical Pete Kelly's show of which I believe is
the result of borrowing a script from the earlier Jack Webb show. This is
just my opinion but there seems to be less of integrated music than earlier
Pete Kelly shows. Thats my two cents worth.

Mike Kerezman
Macomb, Oklahoma

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

Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 10:43:28 -0500
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Today in radio history

 From Those Were The Days --

1929 - The first broadcast of The Rise of the Goldbergs, with Gertrude
Berg as Molly, was heard on the NBC Blue network. Later, the title would
be shortened to The Goldbergs. Mrs. Berg, incidentally, wrote the first
scripts for the 15-minute program and starred in the show -- for $75 a
week. The program continued until 1945 (it returned for one season in
1949-1950). Gertrude Berg entertained audiences with New York style,
motherly phrases like, "Button up your neck. It's cold outside."

Joe

--
Visit my homepage:  [removed]~[removed]

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

Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 10:44:39 -0500
From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Kinescopes

Ever since I first subscribed to the Digest, my postings were almost
exclusively related to OTR and my experiences during Radio's Golden Age.

But all these recent posting about recording live TV shows on film,
(kinescopes), primarily for distribution for delayed broadcast, etc.,
prompted this semi-technical response.  I guess I should finally show my
true colors. I was working as a Director in TV during those lousy quality
kine years, and thankfully, was party to the evolution of Videotape.

If the truth be known, I am more proud of my 25 years in TV production than
my earlier days in Radio. However, those radio years prepared me for my role
as a TV director, and imbued in me very important professional work ethics
and standards.

For those who are interested in technical stuff, read on. Those who couldn't
give a rats potato about TV production values, and quality, I respectfully
suggest you skip down to the next posting.

Dr. Biel's recent posting about the quality equipment used to make a
kinescope was very accurate. But a little known fact. Kinescope recordings
stayed around for many, many years after Videotape was invented. (we called
them by the less onerous name "Film Transfers"), since the early kinescope
identity had such a bad rap.

Here's the straight scoop. And a brief history of the video/film marriage.

Engineers were desperately trying to design and develop a means of recording
the electronic signals from a TV Camera, much like the design of the audio
tape recorder that had become standard in the profession. It almost
laughable now, but the early prototype Video tape machines were HUMONGOUS.
and the reels holding the magnetic tape stock were as big as wagon wheels.

That's because they tried to capture all the information, (picture and
sound) on horizontal tracks just like an audio tape machine. Then some
genius at AMPEX came up with the solution. The made the tape wider (2
inches), and designed a disc that had 4 recording heads, (That's why the
tape machines were called "Quad"). This rapidly spinning disk  was placed
vertically in the machine, along with a horizontal audio recording head.
When the 2 inch tape stock passed by the recording heads, the video signal
would be recorded "Vertically" as each of the 4 heads came in contact with
the tape stock, allowing much more information to be stored in a much more
compact manner, thus reducing the size of the recording machine, and more
importantly, the size of the raw stock and take up reels.

Unless you have seen one of these early Tape recorders, you have no idea
what technological marvels have been created over the past few years. Those
little hand held Hi-8, or Digital cameras in use today blow my mind. Our
early Tape machines were about 5 feet high, 5 feet wide, and about 2 feet
deep. The 2 inch tape reels were almost 2 feet wide. And the Cost???? would
you believe about $120,[removed] per if equipped with all the bells and
whistles. And if one wanted to do some simple electronic editing, you needed
a minimum of three of them. (I needed 5)

Now, here's why Kinescopes (film Transfers) continued to be used long after
the Networks equipped themselves with those monster machines. There is more
to TV than the programming. As in OTR, the life blood of the medium was TV
Commercials. They were usually done "live" or were supplied on film. BUT!!!!
Some clever people thought that they could also be recorded on videotape,
and eliminate the goofs and boo-boo's that could happen when they were done
Live.

However, not all Commercials are broadcast by the networks. Many are "Spot"
commercials sent to regional markets, independent TV stations, Etc, and are
used during station breaks, syndicated programs, etc, and the individual
local market TV stations had to use their own equipment to air them.

Due the the high ticket price of those early Videotape machines, it was a
tough sell to those local stations. They simply couldn't justify the
expense, and it was many years before quad videotape became a necessity  at
the smaller local stations.

As a Director, once I saw the potential of Videotape recording, (Speed,
efficiency, and cost savings) I decided to specialize in that medium, and
more specifically, producing Commercials in that format. But the problem was
that initially, only the major markets in the Country had the means to play
back the commercials when they were shipped to them on 2 inch tape.
Consequently, we often had to make a 16MM film copy of the videotape
commercial to send to those stations. But to avoid the lousy kinescope
quality, we sent a duplicate of the videotape master to Technicolor in Los
Angeles, who, seeing the need, developed a high quality color tape to color
film transfer method, which produced excellent 16MM copies from the original
Videotape. My production company then had the option of supplying TV
stations with either format. In those early days, I would not have survived
as a Videotape TV Commercial Production company had we only been limited to
distributing copies on tape.

There was only one horror story about that period in my life. I was shooting
a spot for Ebonite, the bowling ball company. I hired a Videotape facility
to provide me with remote equipment so I could shoot on location at a
bowling alley. I recorded all the footage using their Sync generator. (I
don't want to get too technical, but a sync Generator is needed to stabilize
and lock in the video signal during the recording process). However, they
failed to set the sync generator to normal broadcast standards. When I
brought the videotape footage back to my studio to edit it, we couldn't get
the footage to playback on our system. To make a long story short, we had to
get the remote companies sync generator, hook it up to all our equipment, so
I could at least edit the commercial and finish the project. However, the
completed edited master of the commercial was recorded using a faulty sync
generator. It could only be played back using that same damned sync
generator. And we had tons of duplicate tape orders to ship out, and also
needed lots of 16mm film copies to send to the station.

I wound up having to fly from NY to LA, holding that damn sync generator on
my lap, then rushed over to Technicolor, where they had to shut down their
entire operation while they hooked up the faulty generator I brought, so
they could get the tape to play back and make the color film transfer
negative.

The Remote tape company that I had hired for the location shoot had to pay
for all this additional expense due to their negligence. But I think they
figured out it was a lot less costly than my suing them for a lot more.

Boy, am I ever glad I'm happily retired. Talk about a stressful occupation.

Hal(Harlan)Stone
Jughead

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

Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 10:45:12 -0500
From: passage@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: show on mp3 or tape

Deric (vigor16@[removed]) asked:

October is my 16th birthday in OTR collecting. I'd like to find a
show I had a badly recorded copy of years ago.  Do anybody have
any info about it.  I figure a bad copy came from somewhere,
could be another bad copy, but then I will know.  It is a show, I
believe was called, "The day they gave babies away".  The tape I
have lists it as a Christmas show of the CBS radio workshop, but
no logs, I've found to date show that title. The other side "All
is bright" was listed.

"The Day They Gave Babies Away" is a Columbia Workshop show from
December 21, 1946.  "All Is Bright" is a CBS Radio Workshop show
from December 23, 1956.  I got both on cassette from Steve Kelez'
Radio Showcase ([removed]), although there's
certainly a lot of other OTR vendors that probably carry them.
Both are great Christmas shows.

Gee, is it too early to start a "good shows for the holidays"
thread? <grin>  Was O. Henry's "Gift of the Maji" ever done on
radio?

Frank

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #418
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