Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #12
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 1/10/2004 9:42 AM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2004 : Issue 12
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  1-10 births/deaths                    [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  One Square Inch of the Yukon          [ danhughes@[removed] ]
  Re: Sgt Preston of the Yukon          [ John Olsen <jrolsen@[removed]; ]
  Green Valley Line                     [ "Tommy Barber" <trbarber@earthling. ]
  Captain Midnight Skelly Oil Map       [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
  Hotel at 55th & Seventh Ave.          [ dougdouglass@[removed] (doug dougla ]
  Re: Big Inch Klondike Deed            [ Shenbarger@[removed] ]
  Call of the Yukon                     [ eloyer@[removed] ]
  Re: Jack Benny reference              [ Alan/Linda Bell <alanlinda43@yahoo. ]
  Re: Glidersleeve without an audience  [ Alan/Linda Bell <alanlinda43@yahoo. ]
  Herbert Marshall, incurable romantic  [ "Jan Willis" <jlwillis@[removed]; ]
  Muffits                               [ "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyro ]
  A Square Inch in the Yukon            [ "James Nixon" <ranger6000@[removed] ]
  square inch of the Yukon              [ Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed] ]
  Gasoline                              [ Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed] ]
  Re: Andy Devine                       [ hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed]; ]

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

Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 01:35:45 -0500
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  1-10 births/deaths

January 10th births

01-10-1883 - Francis X. Bushman - Norfolk, VA - d. 8-23-1966
actor: John Fairchild "Step Mother"; Peter Standish "Betty and Bob"
01-10-1904 - Ray Bolger - Dorchester, MA - d. 1-15-1987
singer, dancer: "Ray Bolger Show"
01-10-1908 - Paul Henreid - Trieste - d. 3-29-1992
actor: "Suspense"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
01-10-1916 - Don Gardiner - d. 3-27-1977
newscaster, announcer: "Monday Morning Headlines"; "Gangbusters"; "Counterspy"
01-10-1927 - Gisele Mackenzie - Winnipeg, Canada - d. 9-5-2003
singer: "[removed] Woolworth Hour"; "Mario Lanza Show"; "Club 15"; "Meet Giesele"

January 10th deaths

02-22-1907 - Sheldon Leonard - NYC - d. 1-10-1997
comedian: Tout "Jack Benny Program"; Joe Crunchmiller "Judy Canova Show"
03-10-1919 - Marion Hutton - Battle Creek, MI - d. 1-10-1987
singer: (Sister of Betty), (Glenn Miller Orchestra) "Moonlight Serenade"
04-17-1905 - Arthur Lake - Corbin, KY - d. 1-10-1987
actor: Dagwood Bumstead "Blondie"
05-27-1894 - Dashiell Hammett - St. Mary"s County, MD - d. 1-10-1961
author: "Fat Man"; "Adventures of Sam Spade"
06-18-1917 - Richard Boone - Los Angeles, CA - d. 1-10-1981
actor: "Dragnet"
07-26-1903 - Donald Voorhees - Allentown, PA - d. 1-10-1989
conductor: "Show Boat"; "Cavalcade of America"; "Telephone Hour"
08-05-1890 - Al Goodman - Nikopol, Russia - d. 1-10-1972
orchestra leader: "Fred Allen Show"; "Al Goodman"s Musical Album"; "Your Hit
Parade"
08-12-1893 - Howard Smith - Attleboro, MA - d. 1-10-1968
actor: "Studio One"; "Mercury Theatre on the Air"; "Arthur Hopkins Presents"
11-11-1904 - Joe Penner - Magybecskereck, Hungary - d. 1-10-1941
comedian: "Joe Penner Program"; "Penners of Park Avenue"
11-23-1917 - John Newland - Cincinnati, OH - d. 1-10-2000
actor: "Cavalcade of America"; "NBC University Theatre of the Air"

Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 01:39:40 -0500
From: danhughes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  One Square Inch of the Yukon

Mark, here's the story:

[removed]~jrolsen/[removed]

---Dan

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

Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 01:39:45 -0500
From: John Olsen <jrolsen@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Sgt Preston of the Yukon

"Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];wrote

Anyone recall the square inch of the Yukon that you could get from, I think,
Quaker Oats?

The Portland Oregonian did some research on this in 1993.  For the
article, go to:

   [removed]~jrolsen/[removed]

John

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

Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 01:39:50 -0500
From: "Tommy Barber" <trbarber@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Green Valley Line

Hello everyone,

I found 26 episodes of this program about a small railroad line.  Episode 26
mentioned Episode 27.  Are there any more episodes available?  Can anyone tell
me where to find them?  I am also interested in other railroad programs that
may be available.

Thanks in advance,
Tom

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

Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 01:46:38 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Captain Midnight Skelly Oil Map

Chris Holm, in his discussion of gasoline commercials, observed as an
appended to his sign off,

if he had the choice - would be buying his gasoline from his Skelley
(sp?) man, so he could get the Captain Midnight map showing all the planes
and routes of the nation's airlines.  Man, that thing sounds cool.

Well, I had one of these maps, and actually, the airplanes were mostly
DC-3 variants, described in such a way that they appeared as if they were
different aircraft types.  Don't forget, the map came out in 1940, when
most airlines were pretty embryonic.

Skelly Oil owned Spartan Aircraft and the Spartan School of Aeronautics
(where the Mexican boy, Pebbles, said he aspired to go in some of the
"Pareda Treasure" episodes).  Some of its graduates became airline
captains, and the show occasionally featured them in guest commercials.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 01:48:12 -0500
From: dougdouglass@[removed] (doug douglass)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Hotel at 55th & Seventh Ave.

The Park Central Hotel built in the '20s  has a radio connnection. WPCH
from 1926-1933.  The station's tower stood atop the hotel until 1995.

In the '50s it became the Park Sheraton, home to Jackie Gleason's
production company. Convenient to the Adelphi Theatre on 54th between
Sixth and Seventh Avenues, where "The Honeymooners" was filmed.

When current owners have reverted to the hotel's original name.

I don't recall this location being the Park Plaza.

Doug Douglass

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

Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 01:48:42 -0500
From: Shenbarger@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Big Inch Klondike Deed
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

In a message dated 1/9/2004 Mark Kinsler wrote:

Anyone recall the square inch of the Yukon that you could get from, I think,
Quaker Oats?  Gene Shalit, the movie critic, wrote into this list a few
years back asking for details about it for a show he was writing.  I never
heard anything more about it, though I don't watch television.

I have my "deed" somewhere. It was "issued" by the Klondike Big Inch Land 
Company. It included a parcel number and claims to be a deed for one square inch 
of the Yukon. It was a Quaker promotion and was included in their Puffed Wheat 
and Puffed Rice cereals. Apparently none of the deeds were ever recorded and 
the Canadian government took over the land for nonpayment of taxes. Several 
official looking sites on the Internet agree that the original tract of land was 
some [removed] acres and that 21 million numbered deeds were printed.

Don Shenbarger

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

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

Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 01:48:53 -0500
From: eloyer@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Call of the Yukon

I am looking at my Deed of Land which reads in part:
"This indenture made this 4th day of January in the year of Our Lord One
Thousand Nine Hundred and Fifty-five. Between: KLONDIKE BIG INCH LAND [removed],
a body corporate duly registered for the purposes of carrying on business of
the Yukon Territory having its head office for the said Territory in the City
of Whitehorse, hereinafter called the 'Grantor' OF THE FIRST PART, AND: (fill
in your name) hereinafter called the 'Grantee'. OF THE SECOND PART."
It then goes on for two pages after specifying a particular tract - mine being
numbered X376333. It is a VERY official looking document signed by John E Baker
Jr. It was accompanied by a Sgt. Preston map of the Yukon, sealed in a
cellophane wrapper and buried deeply in a Quaker product. I've always wanted to
do a site visit and if anyone out there has tract X376334, we might think of a
development project.

Ed Loyer

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

Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 01:50:18 -0500
From: Alan/Linda Bell <alanlinda43@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Jack Benny reference

Laura Leff responded to my question:

It was a reference to a department store in downtown Los Angeles. It must
have been from a radio jingle advertising the store.

Can I assume then that listeners across the country didn't really get
it either, though the [removed] audience was cracking up?

Alan

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

Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 01:50:45 -0500
From: Alan/Linda Bell <alanlinda43@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Glidersleeve without an audience

I'm a bit behind on reading the Digest. Back on Jan 6, "Rich Weil"
asked about a couple of Gildersleeve episodes:

Does anyone know why these episodes (and maybe others?) would not be
in front of an audience?

Just a guess, but I'd be willing to wager a small amount that what
you're hearing are recordings of rehearsals and that the on-air
episodes have been lost or you just don't happen to have them.

Alan

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

Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 01:52:44 -0500
From: "Jan Willis" <jlwillis@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Herbert Marshall, incurable romantic

Mark Lavonier had a Herbert Marshall question
regarding his marriages:

  ...there is no listing of the names of Herbert's
wives [outside of] actress Edna Best.
   I'm trying to get in contact with someone who
was relatively close to Herbert during his life,
to briefly speak with them about their perception
of him during his acting days.

  Mark indicated replies could be sent off-list,
but list members might also find this of interest.
  Mark -
  According to Brad Richards' "Herbert Marshall -  Gentleman," which
appeared in the Spring, 2002
issue of _Films of the Golden Age_ (issue 28),
pages 32-57, Herbert Marshall's 5 wives were:

Mollie Maitland
Edna Best
Lee Russell
Boots Mallory
Dee Ann Kahmann

  The article (given the magazine's emphasis on
films) only briefly touches on Marshall's radio
work  - in one long paragraph on  _The Man Called
X_ and examples of some of his appearances elsewhere.

About the wives:
(1) actress Mollie Maitland
     Richards writes that Marshall (born in 1890)
met Maitland (real name: Hilda Lloyd Bosley)
around 1913 when he made his stage debut in a
London production of _Brewster's Millions_.
     They were married in London in August, 1915.

(2) actress Edna Best
   Marshall became romantically involved with Best
around 1924 (while still married to Maitland), after
Marshall and Best had appeared in two plays together.
   Given that both were already married (and to
spouses not inclined to grant a divorce), Marshall
and Best were not married until November 26, 1928,
in Jersey City, NJ, while touring in a play.
   Although they would not be divorced until a
February 7, 1940 Nevada decree obtained by Best,
Richards writes that their marriage effectively
hit the rocks five years later in 1933.
    That was when a Marshall-Gloria Swanson
relationship became public enough to rupture
the marriage,
especially as the romance coincided with a
pregnant Edna Best being in England to give
birth to their daughter, Sarah Lynn.

  Three weeks after Best received the 1940
divorce, Marshall married -
(3) Lee Russell, who had been married to NY
songwriter Eddy Brandt (who had sued Marshall
in the late 30s for $250,000 for alienation
of affections)
  Edna Best, by the way, married agent Nat Wolff
on the same day of her divorce from Marshall.
  (Wolff had been the agent of Marshall and other
British actors such as Ronald Colman).
   Marshall and Lee Russell were divorced in
Mexico in 1947.

(4) New Orleans' Patricia "Boots" Mallory,
the dancer/actress, co-star of two of my
idols, Harry Carey, Sr., and Rin-Tin-Tin, Jr.,
(and Lux Radio performer),
with whom Marshall had become acquainted at a Santa
Barbara party.
   They were married in Santa Barbara on Aug. 3, 1947,
with Nigel Bruce as best man, and lived in
Beverly Hills.
      Mallory died on Dec. 1, 1958 at age 45,
of a chronic throat ailment from which she had
been suffering for the final 16 months of her life.
      Richards cites this as having been a very
happy marriage for Marshall.

(5) A month before his 70th birthday, Marshall married
for the fifth and final time, on April 30, 1960.
    Dee Ann Kahmann.  She was a buyer for a Beverly
Hills department store.  They remained married until
his death in 1966.
  Now, Mark, Richards doesn't cite specific sources
for the information above, but notes he did research
at the Lincoln Center Library for the
Performing Arts.
  If you'd like to order an original back issue copy,
go to:
[removed]
  Wait:  I see that their back issue information
has not been kept up to date.  I'd suggest that you
e-mail Bob King, who also edits _Classic Images_, at -
classimages@[removed]

Jan Willis, once a reference librarian,
always a reference librarian.

   "And remembering her face across the distance
of that kitchen table, I have sometimes wondered
if, over the years, that moment ever returns to her
in its full reality.  For then the vision of
freedom and fulfillment in love seemed not a
promise, but a thing already accomplished."
  -Robert Penn Warren, A PLACE TO COME TO (1977)

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

Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 02:40:20 -0500
From: "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Muffits

Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2004 23:57:56 -0500
From: Fred Berney <berney@[removed];

Oh, yes, cereals. Speaking of Shreaded Wheat, does anyone remember
Muffits? Whatever happened to them. The box use to say, the round
"shreaded wheat". Maybe they were a regional thing. I've mentioned them to
some people and they never heard of them.
 
I remember Muffits.  They were a Quaker product.  In the 1950s it was common for cereal 
companies to put out an assortment of small packages of their cereals.  Quaker's was called 
the "Quaker Pack O'Ten" and included Puffed Wheat, Puffed Rice, and Muffits.  Possibly 
some other products that I don't remember.  When we didn't need a big box of something for 
a boxtop to send away, my mother used to get those assortments, since we could have a 
variety, instead of the same cereal day after day.

-- A. Joseph Ross, [removed] [removed] 15 Court Square, Suite 210 lawyer@[removed] Boston, MA 02108-2503 [removed] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 03:44:00 -0500 From: "James Nixon" <ranger6000@[removed]; To: [removed]@[removed] Subject: A Square Inch in the Yukon Mark Kinsler brought up this very interesting promotion that Quaker Oats offered to listeners of "Challenge of the Yukon", or "Sergeant Preston". I have a couple early 1955 programs that contain commercials featuring this offer. For a proof-of-purchase and something like 25 cents, you could get a deed to an actual square inch of land somewhere in the Yukon Territory. Later, there was some controversy surrounding this promotion when deed holders actually tried to claim their land, but my memory is unreliable on the details. It remains one of the most unusual radio premium offers ever. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 11:29:52 -0500 From: Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed]; To: [removed]@[removed] Subject: square inch of the Yukon Mark Kinsler asked:
Anyone recall the square inch of the Yukon that you could get from, I think,
Quaker Oats?

I remember some of it:
They were genuine deeds that came in boxes of cereal, but I'm not sure it
was Quaker Oars.
I read the whole story somewhere on the Web within the last two years, but
I don't remember the site. Try using Google; I'm pretty sure it can point
you in the right direction.
That reminds me of another paper premium: Confederate Currency.
I remember, as a kid, getting reproductions of "Confederated States of
America", in some cereal or another, years ago.
The bills' "engravings" were high-quality in my estimation.
One thing I could never figure out was that the bills said that they were
redeemable for silver/gold (I don't remember which) "six months after the
signing of peace between the Confederate States and the United States of
America" (or some such). Since I knew there had never been such a treaty,
how could people use the stuff as "real" money? After all, the currency
that I was familiar with said "payable on demand" in silver.
Anyhow, does anybody remember this promotion, and what product it came
with? We must have consumed a lot of it, because I had a lot of those fake
Confederate bills.

Herb Harrison

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

Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 11:31:20 -0500
From: Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Gasoline

[removed] asks:

I wonder what is the cause in this difference in commercials.  Is it just a
result of tightened truth-in-advertising laws/enforcement?  Was there
significant differences in gasoline quality in the OTR era?  Some combination
of factors?

I can't recall the claims that various brands made for their gasoline
blends, but I do remember a TV commercial series that changed advertising
for the product:
One of the big oil companies began touting their gasoline blend which
contained an additive named "Platformate", promising superior performance
for cars running on their brand of gas versus other brands. To illustrate
this, their commercials showed two cars racing down a test track. The
"other" car came to a stop partway, out of fuel, while the "Platformate"
car raced ahead and burst through a (paper) banner farther down the
[removed] showing the superiority of the brand of gas formulated with
"Platformate".
An FTC investigation found that the additive called "Platformate" was not
exclusive to that brand of gasoline, but was, under its chemical name, a
common ingredient of all gasoline brands, and that the poor performance of
the test car running on the "other" gasoline was due to the fact that its
fuel had been deliberated weakened: the "Platformate" chemical had been
removed from the refining process.
Also, some years ago I saw and read news reports of Congressional hearings
that included testimony from gasoline tanker truck drivers, etc., that all
brands of gasoline were basically the same, within their
"regular/premium/super" classes. Drivers frequently drove from station to
station, whatever the brand, and filled the underground tanks as needed.
The lawmakers were shocked to hear of this chicanery.
Last year in California lawmakers held hearings to investigate the reasons
for high gasoline prices. As part of the process, they interviewed gas
station owners who were trying to get the right to buy gasoline supplies on
the open market, where it was cheaper, rather than exclusively from their
"branded" refinery owners. They contended that drivers frequently drove
from independent station to independent station, whatever the brand, and
filled the underground tanks as needed, but the station owners had to pay
the refiners a higher price to buy the same gasoline with their "brand"
label on the truck.
The lawmakers were shocked to hear of this chicanery.
So, in OTR terms:
The "Go farther" gasoline probably didn't, and "Blue Coal" probably was
just as efficient heating your house as any "generic" anthracite coal.

Herb Harrison

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

Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 11:32:07 -0500
From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Andy Devine

Herb Harrison recently noted;

We especially liked Andy Devine as the fat sidekick "Jingles", who often
managed to help "Wild Bill" capture the bad guys.
Sidebar: Mrs. Mitchell, our neighbor, once told me that Andy Devine's
squeaky voice came from the time when he was a child and ran with a sucker
(lollipop) in his mouth; he fell down, and the sucker stick stuck in his
throat. I believed her then, but now I think she was inventing a cautionary
tale.

Your neighbor Mrs. Mitchell was close, but not totally accurate as to what
caused Andy's squeaky-raspy voice. The object that penetrated his throat
(when he fell while running) was a curtain rod. (At least that's the
information I was given in my adult years) I suspect it was one of those
thin round ones used to hang flimsy kitchen curtains. I remember playing
with discarded ones and using them as play swords.

To this day, I will never even hang a dangerous curtain rod, much less run
with one. :)

I can't help but think of Andy Devine (and the accident) at least 12 or more
times a year. Whenever we travel from our home in Northern Arizona to the LA
area or Vegas, we usually take I-40, which runs right through Kingman,
Arizona. That's where Andy was raised as a child, and where the accident
occurred. He is Kingman's most famous citizen, and they have named one of
the main thoroughfares after him.

It never fails. As I approach Kingman, or see the highway sign alerting
travelers to the "Andy Devine Drive" exit, I automatically picture him in my
minds eye, and shudder at the thought of a curtain rod puncturing my throat.

Hal(Harlan)Stone
Jughead

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #12
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