Subject: [removed] Digest V2005 #263
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 8/31/2005 1:12 PM
To: [removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2005 : Issue 263
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Unshackled                            [ seandd@[removed] ]
  Willis Bouchey                        [ Bob Slate <moxnix1961@[removed]; ]
  Re: Searching for a song              [ "Brian L Bedsworth" <az2pa@[removed]; ]
  Willis vs. Bill Bouchey               [ OTRadiofan@[removed] (Stuart Lubin) ]
  Who WAS That Man?                     [ OTRadiofan@[removed] (Stuart Lubin) ]
  Hollywood Barn Dance                  [ "Jim Hilliker" <jimhilliker@sbcglob ]
  OTR CLASSICAL THEMES                  [ Sandy Singer <sinatradj@[removed]; ]
  Classical Music Themes                [ "Druian, Raymond B SPL" <[removed] ]
  More on OTR references                [ elizabeth@[removed] ]
  Re: classical music used as opening   [ Alan/Linda Bell <alanlinda43@yahoo. ]
  Re: classical music used as opening   [ Alan/Linda Bell <alanlinda43@yahoo. ]
  OTR catchphrases                      [ "Mike Hobart" <zines50@[removed]; ]
  Frankie Thomas                        [ "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@attorneyross. ]
  #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Nig  [ charlie@[removed] ]
  'Lone Ranger' "catch phrase"          [ Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed] ]
  8-31 births/deaths                    [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Living the Life of Riley              [ Lee Munsick <damyankeeinva@earthlin ]
  Names                                 [ "Jim Harmon" <jimharmonotr@charter. ]

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

Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 18:34:23 -0400
From: seandd@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Unshackled

More on religious radio drama - this time it's a profile of Unshackled from a
small paper out in Washington State.

Sean Dougherty
SeanDD@[removed]

[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 18:42:03 -0400
From: Bob Slate <moxnix1961@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Willis Bouchey
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

Willis Bouchey who played "Captain Midnight" on radio in the 1940's, is one
and the same actor who was one of several judges on the "Perry Mason" show on
television in the late 1950's and possibly the early 1960's.

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

Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 18:53:18 -0400
From: "Brian L Bedsworth" <az2pa@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Searching for a song

There is a song I am trying to [removed] believe Dennis Day may have sung 
it on the Jack Benny program.

As is generally the case, Google is your very best friend in the digital 
realm. Searching for the first line you quoted (in quotes) and the word 
"lyric" yields this page:

[removed];hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=%22When+the+one+that+you+love+is+in+love+with+you%22+lyric

(for a shortened and possibly clickable version thereof, give 
[removed] a try)

Three sites match those criteria. The first listed takes you to a lyrics db:

[removed]

This page gives the song's title, a very brief bit of info (composers' 
names, artists with whom the song is most closely identified) and its 
lyrics. 

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

Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 19:26:32 -0400
From: OTRadiofan@[removed] (Stuart Lubin)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Willis vs. Bill Bouchey

B. Ray asked:

Does anyone know, was this the same guy who was billed as
"Willis Bouchey" on many TV Perry Mason shows, where he played the judge
at the trial?

I do not know for sure, but I have my good old reliable ears that I used
in the early days of TV to determine if it they were the same actors
whom I had known from radio. The voices of Bill and Willis were the
same. Billed as "Bill", no pun intended, Bouchey played the title role
in one of the few soap operas that actually came from Los Angeles:
"[removed]".

There were so many former radio actors who had an occasional role, or
many roles, on the early Perry Mason, including Charles Irving (another
judge), Harold Peary, Joan Tompkins, Karl Swenson, Frank Behrens,
Cathleen Cordell (I lost a bet once when I insisted that Kathleen
Cornell was on the show.), Ned Weaver, and Bartlett Robinson.  Even John
Larkin, who played Perry Mason on the daytime Perry Mason show, more
like a serial soap, was on the PM tv [removed] are all my memory can
come up with now, but if anyone can think of any more, I will start
watching to show again, in hopes of seeing more favorites.

Stuart Lubin

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

Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 19:43:47 -0400
From: OTRadiofan@[removed] (Stuart Lubin)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Who WAS That Man?

Interesting story, Phillip Chavin, of the guest on Bergen-McCarthy,
getting a shoe shine.  But we are all dying to know:  Who WAS that man?

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

Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 19:44:11 -0400
From: "Jim Hilliker" <jimhilliker@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Hollywood Barn Dance

I've noticed some discussion here about the Grand Ole Opry over WSM in
Nashville and the WLS Barn Dance in Chicago.

Can anyone tell me about the Hollywood Barn Dance that was broadcast over
KNX radio in Hollywood, CA in the 1940s?  How did it start, how long was it
on the air, who were the main stars/performers, [removed]  Was it only on KNX or
on the CBS network too?

Jim Hilliker
Monterey, CA

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

Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 21:35:42 -0400
From: Sandy Singer <sinatradj@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  OTR CLASSICAL THEMES

FBI In Peace And War is one.

Re Axel Storhdal -- He reunited with Sinatra for the last album Frank cut
for Capitol, an album Sinatra didn't want to do, but his contract called
for one more -- at the time he was recording for his own label, Reprise.

The session was tragic -- no big reunion.  When Frank was in a bad mood
he became a horror -- hardly spoke a word to Axel.  Very sad!

[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 21:36:15 -0400
From: "Druian, Raymond B SPL" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Classical Music Themes

The only ones I recall are "William Tell" for The Lone Ranger; "Flight Of The
Bumblebee" for The Green Hornet; "Omphales Spinning Wheel" for The Shadow and
"Donna Diana Overture" for Challenge Of The Yukon. Does anyone know of more
classical music used as themes for those programs we all love?

I believe there should be at least 6 or 7 more.

- ---------------------------
I don't remember the particular soap opera, but one of them adapted the main
theme from the last movement of Sibelius' 2nd symphony, and I think I
remember the 2nd movement of the Brahms double concerto used as a theme.

 B. Ray

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

Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 21:39:17 -0400
From: elizabeth@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  More on OTR references

I agree that several OTR references have managed to make it into our
modern day slang.  Sometimes the actual names of the programs have been
used as well.  I may be dating myself a bit, but I've heard people say
that they're living "The Life Of Riley".

The way that words and phrases spread can be interesting and complicated.
 The phrase "the life of Riley" predates the radio and television program
by many years, and the actual origin is a matter of some dispute.  See this
link from World Wide Words:
[removed]

The title of the program used this familiar phrase intentionally. But I
would certainly agree that most of us only know this expression from the
radio or television program, or from parents or others who may have picked
it up from the program.  So OTR may not have been the source here, but it
certainly had a role in keeping the phrase alive.

There have been many times that I've heard married
couples who argue referred to as "The Bickersons".

Here's something that bothers me-- when something gets copied, and then
the copy becomes more well-known than the original.  For example, people
who know the catchphrase "That's a joke, son!" and say it in perfect imitation
of Foghorn Leghorn, but who miss the joke that the rooster is a take-off
on Senator Claghorn!

Elizabeth Thomsen
The Great Gildersleeve: [removed]

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

Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 22:24:07 -0400
From: Alan/Linda Bell <alanlinda43@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: classical music used as opening themes

Henry R. Hinkel mentioned a few opening themes and figured there must
be more. One that springs to mind is the theme to The FBI in Peace
and War, which was Prokofiev's March from the Love for Three Oranges.
I've always thought that was ironic, using music for a program about
the FBI from a Russian composer living under communism.
AB
--
Alan/Linda Bell
Grand Rapids, MI

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

Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 22:24:23 -0400
From: Alan/Linda Bell <alanlinda43@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: classical music used as opening themes

Oh! Oh! Then there's Night on Bald Mountain by Mussorgsky which was
the theme to Escape.
--
Alan/Linda Bell
Grand Rapids, MI

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

Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 22:24:37 -0400
From: "Mike Hobart" <zines50@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  OTR catchphrases

How about "That's a joke, son!" delivered in a pompous southern accent?

That one survives because of the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons.

And my sister once had two roosters that she named Oscar and Levant.   It
was interesting to see some of the older visitors do a double-take when they
heard this!

Regards from Australia.

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

Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 00:55:50 -0400
From: "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Frankie Thomas

Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 16:37:12 -0400
From: Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed];

He forgot to mention another actor in this film scheduled to attend
the 30th Annual Friends of Old-Time Radio Convention - Tommy the
stock boy is played by none other than "Tom Corbett" himself,
Frankie Thomas.

I believe Frankie Thomas is also slated to be a guest at next year's World
Science Fiction
Convention in Los Angeles, over Labor Day Weekend 2006.

--
A. Joseph Ross, [removed]                           [removed]
 15 Court Square, Suite 210                 Fax [removed]
Boston, MA 02108-2503           	         [removed]

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

Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 02:12:00 -0400
From: charlie@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Night!

A weekly [removed]

For the best in OTR Chat, join IRC (Internet Relay Chat), StarLink-IRC
Network, the channel name is #OldRadio.  We meet Thursdays at 8 PM Eastern
and go on, and on! The oldest OTR Chat Channel, it has been in existence
over nine years, same time, same channel! Started by Lois Culver, widow
of actor Howard Culver, this is the place to be on Thursday night for
real-time OTR talk!

Our "regulars" include OTR actors, soundmen, collectors, listeners, and
others interested in enjoying OTR from points all over the world. Discussions
range from favorite shows to almost anything else under the sun (sometimes
it's hard for us to stay on-topic)...but even if it isn't always focused,
it's always a good time!

For more info, contact charlie@[removed]. We hope to see you there, this
week and every week!

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

Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 07:55:20 -0400
From: Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  'Lone Ranger' "catch phrase"

John Mayer <mayer@[removed]; says, in reference to "Who was that masked
man?":

Actually, I have heard that phrase used without a direct reference to
the Lone Ranger, as a whimsical reference to someone who interjects
himself into a conversation or situation and then leaves, though,
certainly, the phrase isn't heard all that often. Many people seem to
have only the vaguest notion of its origin, if any.

That brought to mind the punchline to an old joke. Sometimes I hear
somebody say the line itself in various situations, without the joke, and
everybody chuckles - even if they've never seen or heard the Lone Ranger shows:

"What you mean WE, white man?"

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

Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 08:06:21 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  8-31 births/deaths

August 31st births

08-31-1897 - Fredric March - Racine, WI - d. 4-14-1975
actor: "Suspense"; "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Campbell Playhouse"
08-31-1900 - Cedric Foster - Hartford, CT - d. 3-12-1975
commentator: "News and Commentary"
08-31-1903 - Arthur Godfrey - New York City, NY - d. 3-16-1983
emcee: (The Old Redhead) "Arthur Godfrey Time"; "Arthur Godfrey's Talent
Scouts"
08-31-1905 - Dory Schary - Newark, NJ - d. 7-7-1980
writer: "America Calling"; "The Eternal Light"; "Hallmark Hall of Fame"
08-31-1905 - Larry Elliott - Washington, [removed] - d. 7-27-1957
announcer: "Texaco Star Theatre"; "American Melody Hour"; "Barry Cameron"
08-31-1906 - Ruth Weston - Boston, MA - d. 11-5-1955
actress: Maude Kellogg "Life Can Be Beautiful"
08-31-1907 - Winifred Cecil - Staten Island, NY - d. 9-13-1985
singer: "Show Boat"
08-31-1908 - William Saroyan - Fresno, CA - d. 5-18-1981
writer: "Columbia Workshop"; "The Free Company"; "Biography in Sound"
08-31-1914 - Richard Basehart - Zanesville, OH - d. 9-17-1984
actor: "Document A/777"; "Hollywood Star Preview"
08-31-1917 - Burleigh Robbins Downey, Jr. - d. 3-1-2000
news director: "You are the Jury"
08-31-1918 - Alan Jay Lerner - New York City, NY - d. 6-14-1986
writer: "Victor Borge"; "Raleigh Room"; "Philco Hall of Fame"

August 31st deaths

02-01-1895 - John Ford - Cape Elizabeth, ME - d. 8-31-1973
director: "Screen Director's Playhouse"
03-19-1890 - Gayne Whitman - Chicago, IL - d. 8-31-1958
actor, announcer: Frank Chandler "Chandu the Magician"; "Cavalcade of America"
03-28-1913 - Lucille Fletcher - New York City, NY - d. 8-31-2000
dramatist: "Columbia Workshop"; "Suspense"; "Screen Guild Theatre"; "Inner
Sanctum"
03-29-1908 - Dennis O'Keefe - Fort Madison, IA - d. 8-31-1968
actor: Treasure Agent Larsen "T-Man"
04-20-1908 - Lionel Hampton - Louisville, KY - d. 8-31-2002
vibraphone artist: "Jubilee"; "One Night Stand"; "Lionel Hampton and His
Orchestra"
04-28-1908 - Michael Fitzmaurice - Chicago, IL - d. 8-31-1967
actor: Clark Kent/Superman "Advs. of Superman"; Dick Grosvenor "Stella Dallas"
xx-xx-1893 - Oscar Bradley - London, England - d. 8-31-1948
orchestra leader: "The Phil Baker Show"; "Gulf Screen Guild Theatre"
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 10:55:13 -0400
From: Lee Munsick <damyankeeinva@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Living the Life of Riley

In discussions about where idiomatic expressions arise - or even specific
words - often it can be dangerous in assuming which came first, the
expression or its cause.

A perfect example is "Living The Life of Riley".  The exact source is not
known, but it most certainly is not William Bendix, sad to say (this from a
confirmed fan of the program).  The name of the show and his character came
from the expression, not the other way around.

There were a couple of vaudeville (nee burlesque) acts featuring the idea and
the general language.  Several songs came from the Gilded Age of the 1890s,
perhaps earlier.  This pertains both to the [removed], and to "That little island"
across the pond, where the Brits claim their Riley (or Reilly) expressions
precede the American ones.

The idea of Rileys under whatever name living a life of ease has many, many
variations.  For some reason they seem to hover over the Irish, although not
exclusively.

My friend Arthur Godfrey had many such stories, often from his Irish mother
Kathryn Morton Godfrey, often some where the story and the source he would
never have revealed to her!  His full name, by the way, was Arthur Morton
Godfrey, in honor of both his parents.

Here's one he could repeat in a perfect Irish brogue on the air, and often
did, especially on Saint Patrick's Day:   "Do you know what 'Lace Curtain
Irish' means?"  Answer:  "Lace Curtain Irish are those that have fresh fruit
on the dining table, even when they're NOT expecting company!"  Godfrey would
tell one or two Irish stories - or have a brief conversation with his
Hibernian colleen, singer Carmel Quinn.  As a result he'd get stuck in the
Irish lilt for the rest of the program, or at the least that 15-minute
segment.  His Irish song recordings - both with Ms. Quinn and on his own -
sold very well, as did his many, many others.

BTW, if you want to read a marvelous book about "The luck of the Irish" -
much of it bad for this particular family, although they rose above it - I
recommend "Genius in the Family" by Arthur Godfrey's two sisters Kathy and
Dorothy Jean.

Published in 1962 by Putnam, it was a big hit (except, perhaps with their
mother's son Arthur himself, who said it embarrassed him).  Excerpts appeared
in numerous publications, mostly women's magazines, sometime quite lengthy
parts.  Various book clubs picked up the book.  It went through numerous
editions and sizes.  It shows up frequently on eBay for not a lot of money.
It's a marvelous salute to mother Kathryn Godfrey, whom all the kids adored,
and who somehow held the family together after father Arthur Hanbury Godfrey
fell on hard employment times in the early 19th Century and then died in
1924, when the younger Arthur left home to help support his mom and four
siblings.

The elder Mrs. Godfrey was a hard-working, talented lady.  She took in
sewing, played piano at the local silent movie house, wrote music (like her
sons Arthur and Bob she was an ASCAP member), and did anything she could to
bring in some hard-earned support.

In later years when in her eldest son was at the top of the heap and the most
well-known face and voice in America, she was in her 70s and tremendously
enjoyed the interest in her that came with her son's fame.  When Mrs. Godfrey
was asked if she was related to the famous Arthur Godfrey, she would react
with what Arthur called "a divilish twinkle in her eye", and blurt out,  "I'm
his Producer!".

Happy early Saint Paddy's!       Lee Munsick

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

Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 13:18:07 -0400
From: "Jim Harmon" <jimharmonotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Names
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

Thanks to Phil Stallings, fellow Mt. Carmel, Ill. citizen, for confirming the
full legal name of Brace Bell Beemer.  My mother always told me he called
himself "Marcus" when they were in high school together.  Teen-agers develop
certain fancies, and perhaps Brace was just intrigued by ancient Rome in those
days, and tried a name connected with the great empire.
    Through no family connection, from a general knowledge of radio and the
movies, I can state that the Bill Bouchey who played Captain Midnight for
Skelly Gasoline was the same as Willis Bouchey who played a judge on TV's
"Perry Mason" and many character parts in films like a football coach or an
army officer -- perhaps even a captain.
    I've told it before but for those who haven't heard it:  Ed Prentiss, the
longest running Captain Midnight, once told at a meeting of the Chicago radio
actors club, The Bridge is Up (an excuse for being late at a broadcast in the
Windy City) of how he lost the role to Bouchey for one season.
In 1938 he won the title role in the series which began as a new show.  That
summer, it took a hiatus as did many radio shows because listenership was down
in the hot months.  Then Ed saw an announcement that there were auditions for
the new season of Captain Midnight.  He was Midnight, so he assumed that they
were just auditioning for some supporting roles.  He was wrong. Ed did not
participate and Bill Bouchey won the role, and played it from the fall of 1939
to the Spring of 1940 (as fate would have it, the majority of existing of
Captain Midnight shows -- discs that yours truly first bought from a retired
Skelly executive and made available to collectors).   Bouchey was a fine
actor, but somehow Prentiss was just a little bit better in that role.  When
auditions were announced again, Prentiss showed up and got the part back,
beginning in the Fall of 1940 -- now as a Mutual network program for Ovaltine,
nationwide, not just a regional show for Skelly.
Prentiss played it through until the Spring of 1949, the last of the 15 min.
shows.  Probably because Ovaltine would not give him a long term contract,
Prentiss moved over to another Chicago show,
Jack Armstrong, and became its narrator.  There were only a half season of
half-hour shows of Captain Midnight on Tues. and Thurs. from the Fall of 1949
until around Christmas of that year, with Paul Barnes in the title role.   I
loved Barnes on "Calling All Detectives" where he played all the parts with
multiple voices, but as Midnight he sounded so stalwart he was almost
humorous.  (Only one Barnes show has shown up so far.)
    All those wonderful voices are stilled, as is that of my close friend,
Jack Lester, once Sky King, and of course my "adoptive father", Curley
Bradley, Tom Mix.  Just about the only living link we have to those Great
Radio Heroes (catchy phrase -- might make a book title) is the great Fred Foy,
announcer for the Lone Ranger and at various times for Sgt. Preston of the
Yukon, and the Green Hornet.  Fred Foy also played the Lone Ranger countless
times as understudy for Beemer in rehearsals and at least once on the air.
He also played Preston once for Beemer.
At the Friends of Old Time Radio, he finally did the lead in the Green Hornet,
terrific as always, in another of the unsurpassed re-creations of Anthony
Tollin.
    -- JIM HARMON

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