------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2003 : Issue 343
A Part of the [removed]!
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Birth/death web page [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
Faster than a speeding bullet [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
Radio City Playhouse [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
zero hour answer [ "Kurt E. Yount" <blsmass@[removed]; ]
my fascination with radio [ "Kurt E. Yount" <blsmass@[removed]; ]
9-15 birth/death dates [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
The Family Philco [ "RBB" <oldradio@[removed]; ]
Radios we grew up with [ Richard Carpenter <sinatra@ragingbu ]
who invented modern electronic telev [ "ellsworth o johnson" <eojohnsonww2 ]
Re: Supermen of Toons and TV [ "Michael Hayde" <mmeajv@[removed]; ]
OTR and the family cat [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
OTR and the Family [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
Shlepperman and Kitzel [ JackBenny@[removed] ]
List of Radio Shows [ "katperrr" <katperrr@[removed]; ]
Today in radio history [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 00:13:17 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Birth/death web page
Many have asked if I have my birth/death dates in a web site. Kinda. I have
them in a web page. I am not sophisticated enough to have a web site.
Translation, I am stupid. Be that as it may, for those of you who are
interested the address of my web page is:
[removed]
Please bear in mind that this list will never reach culmination and that I am
constantly updating. As people pass on and as I find errors there is hardly a
day goes by when I don't do some update to the list. I try very hard to keep
it as current as possible and as accurate as possible. Several times I have
found two, sometimes three different birth dates. I always take the oldest
date assuming that the person involved wanted to be younger than he or she was.
Anyway, this is a labour of love for me and I hope that you enjoy it.
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Hometown of [removed] Kaltenborn and Jay Jostyn
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 00:13:31 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Faster than a speeding bullet
Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap
tall buildings in a single bound. Look up in the sky, its a bird, its a plane,
nooooooo, its Superman. The person who penned those immortal words passed away
on September 7th. Jay Morton, a renaissance man, having been a child actor, a
screen writer, a script writer for radio, inventor of the pop top and much
more was 92 years old.
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Hometown of [removed] Kaltenborn and Jay Jostyn
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 00:16:01 -0400
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Radio City Playhouse
Kury Yount asked:
Is 61 the largest number of Radio City Playhouse that anybody knows of?
No, actually there was a total of 80 broadcasts.
72 were broadcast from July 3, 1948 to January 1, 1950.
There was also a short-run series of special braodcasts entitled "Eight by
Request" in which the producers featured eight weekly broadcasts of repeat
performances from June 30, 1949 to August 18, 1949. (During this time, the
series was heard twice a week - once during the usual time and later the
same week for the "Eight by Request" broadcasts.)
RADIO CITY PLAYHOUSE, incidentally, featured some of the best original
dramas ever presented on the network and thankfully many exist in recorded
form. Half-way through the series, the producer, Harry W. Junkin, decided
to try a few experimental techniques with adaptations of already published
novels and short stories but after those received little attention compared
to the original dramas, he commissioned staff writers and opened to new
ideas from writers within the studio. There were two stories by Ray
Bradbury dramatized, "The Wind" on October 30, 1949 and "The Lake" on
October 16, 1949. I am not sure if the October 16, 1949 broadcast exists
without looking it up in Hickerson's GUIDE, but I do recommend seeking out
the short story at your local library. One of Bradbury's best.
Trivia: Many of the scripts used on RADIO CITY PLAYHOUSE were also done on
ESCAPE, SUSPENSE, and other programs (especially during SUSPENSE's later
years when the producers were accepting scripts from anyone who submitted
them). "How Love Came to Professor Guilea," "Murder is a Matter of
Opinion," "Elementals," "The Hands of Mr. Ottermole" and "Motive for Murder"
need no exception.
Martin Grams, Jr.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 01:10:00 -0400
From: "Kurt E. Yount" <blsmass@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: zero hour answer
Yes, Desperate Witness does take place partly in a high-rise building.
As I said, it was called The Big Clock, and then it was called No Way Out
a few years ago as a movie. Face of the Foe was the one that involved a
serial killer of women which used a song and guitar music that was used
with no further explanation in later shows. Kurt
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 02:04:36 -0400
From: "Kurt E. Yount" <blsmass@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: my fascination with radio
Two things. I got my mouth washed out with Pinesall once for saying
radio after my brother got one. I once went out and opened my parents
car door to turn on and play the radio. I got in real trouble for that,
not to mention the fact that I was caught in two minutes. Oh, the perils
of being a blind kid fascinated with radio or radios themselves. Kurt
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 22:06:25 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 9-15 birth/death dates
September 15th births
09-15-1889 - Robert Benchley - Worcester, MA - d. 11-21-1945
comedian: "Buick Program"; "Melody and Madness"
09-15-1890 - Agatha Christie - Torquay, England - d. 1-12-1976
author: Creator of "Hercule Poirot"
09-15-1903 - Roy Acuff - Maynardsville, TN - d. 11-23-1992
singer: (The King of Country Music) "Grand Ole Opry"
09-15-1904 - Tom Conway - St. Petersburg, Russia - d. 4-22-1967
actor: Sherlock Holmes "Sherlock Holmes"; Simon Templar "The Saint"
09-15-1906 - Kathryn Murray - Jersey City, NJ - d. 8-6-1999
hostess: "Advs. of Ellery Queen"
09-15-1907 - Jack Bailey - Hampton, IA - d. 2-1-1980
emcee: "Queen for a Day"; "Truth or Consequences"
09-15-1908 - Penny Singleton - Phildelphia, PA
actress: Blondie Bumstead "Blondie" Penny Williamson "Penny Singleton Show"
09-15-1915 - John Conte - Palmer, MA (R. Los Angeles, CA)
emcee: "Screen Guild Theatre"; "Maxwell House Coffee Time"; "John Conte Show"
09-15-1921 - Jackie Cooper - Los Angeles, CA
actor: "Campbell Playhouse"; "George Jessel Show"; "Voice of the Army"
September 15th deaths
01-20-1896 - Rolfe Sedan - NYC - d. 9-15-1982
actor: "Escape"; "Suspense"; "Mystery in the Air"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
03-06-1916 - Virginia Gregg - Harrisburg, IL - d. 9-15-1986
actress: Helen Asher "Richard Diamond, Private Detective"
08-20-1906 - Andre Baruch - Paris, France - d. 9-15-1991
announcer, disc jockey: "Your Hit Parade"; "Kate Smith Program"; "Myrt and
Marge"
10-05-1904 - John Hoyt - Bronxville, NY - d. 9-15-1991
actor: "Escape"; "Suspense"
12-13-1915 - Mark Stevens - Cleveland, OH (R: Montreal Canada) - d. 9-15-1994
actor: "This Is Hollywood"; "Cavalcade of America"; "Suspense"
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Hometown of [removed] Kaltenborn and Jay Jostyn
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 22:06:36 -0400
From: "RBB" <oldradio@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: The Family Philco
All of these posts with radio listening recollections, prompts me to
contribute mine. In Boston, we had the family Philco to sit around in the
living room and create those vivid images in the theater of the mind. I'd
be on the living room rug drawing pictures on my Dad's shirt cardboard
(remember? they came inside the laundry's folded, starched shirt - which was
done just down the street in Jamaica Plain by a local, Chinese family who
lived in the back of the store - and still do!) Mom is mending under the
floor lamp, Dad is reading the Boston Herald-Traveler in his favorite chair.
Ours was a table model, a cathedral-shaped Philco which had an orange-ish
dial light circle in the middle with a little white, vertical light that
indicated the station's dial spot. It had shortwave bands and a band switch
lever that jumped the white, vertical light to the middle or to the top
band.
That was the most fascinating thing about the Philco radio! In addition to
US cities on standard broadcast, the shortwave dial had the "printed words"
like Police, London; Istanbul, Turkey; Madagascar; Rome; Lisbon, Spain and
so many exotic places worldwide to potentially tune in.
More anticipation for the imagination!
Once in awhile, I'd snap the dial band lever to see if I could hear "Paris,
France" just once, picturing The Eiffel Tower sending out radio signals. I
did hear "London Calling" and Big Ben chime from the BBC, but otherwise, I'd
only get static. Boston Police calls were only intermittent, many distant
AM (only AM then) stations from Hartford, Albany, New York City and Chicago
"came in" at night. I then bought White's Radio Log faithfully every month
beginning in the late-1930's and memorized every station call, by city and
frequency. Then I'd check the next month's issue (10-cents a copy) to see
what new stations were on the air. Maybe I could tune them in. That
introduced me to the fascination of radio and a long career in it.
(Apologies for the long post!) =Russ Butler oldradio@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 22:06:49 -0400
From: Richard Carpenter <sinatra@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Radios we grew up with
I certainly remember the radio I listened to in the
late 1940s and early 1950s. It was a Philco with AM,
short wave, and police bands. But not only that, it
had six push buttons, programmed at the factory for
six Boston area stations, since the call letters were
professionally printed on each button. We seldom
listened to the police and short wave bands, but we
certainly tuned into AM a lot ... until TV came along
and my parents turned their backs on radio shows in
favor of television. My brother and I would continue
to listen to radio and also watch TV until gradually
television won. As the years went by and FM came
along, my father -- always a new-technology buff and a
music fan -- bought a Grundig, and I imagine that was
the end of the old Philco.
The reason I remember the Philco so clearly is
because I found the exact model on eBay several months
ago and bought it. The cabinet is in excellent
condition, and although the AM still plays, the hum is
so loud that no one would want to listen to it. And
although I bought the radio from someone in Colorado,
the push buttons are factory-programmed to Boston
stations. For that reason, I like to think it is the
exact same radio I grew up with. I know ... that would
be too much of a coincidence, but what's the harm in
thinking so?
[removed]
[removed] I also have a replica of the Grundig my father
used to listen to his FM music on. Someone might think
I'm trying to freeze time or something.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 22:07:22 -0400
From: "ellsworth o johnson" <eojohnsonww2@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: who invented modern electronic television
Folks the inventor of modern electronic television was Philo T Farnsworth.
He obtained the patents and they were upheld a longtime ago in court
actions. He was a farm boy from Idaho. He demonstated a working prototype in
San Francisco in 1927.
I have a biography book written by his wife Elma G [removed] 15
years of researching the contents of this book
The title is DISTANT VISION--Published IN 1990-- ISBN 0-9623276-0-3
This little clip is from the back inside of the dustcover--" The couple was
hastily married in 1926 after the aspiring young inventor obtained financing
to develop an idea he had for sending " pictures through the air " without
the aid of any mechanical parts . On the night of their wedding , the young
bride learned of her husbands dedication to the task at hand when he told
her " there is another woman in my life, and her name is television ."
Philo T Farnsworth died in 1971 He spent most of his resources and life
after obtaining the patents fighting David Sarnoff and RCA in the courts. VZ
did not invent television and the highest courts agreed
Here is some more from the front of the dustcover--
SOMETIME AGO A UTAH BORN IDAHO FARMBOY WAS DAYDREAMING WHOLE DISC HARROWING
A POTATO FIELD WITH A TWO HORSE TEAM . THE YEARS WAS 1921 .
THE BOY WAS 14 , AND THE SUBSTANCE OF HIS DREAM WAS SO FAR REACHING AS TO
ALTER THE SHAPE OF CIVILIZATION . THE IDEA OF MODERN TELEVISION REALLY BEGAN
THAT DAY.
Ellsworth Johnson
Spokane, Wa
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 22:08:36 -0400
From: "Michael Hayde" <mmeajv@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Supermen of Toons and TV
Of the late Jay Morton, Russ Butler wrote:
He was once a script writer and artist for the Fleischer Studios in Miami.
In 1938, Morton first descibed Superman for the animated movie shorts as:
"Faster than a roaring hurricane," and "more powerful than a pounding
surf."
A few scripts later, he finally nailed it: "Faster than a speeding bullet,
more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single
bound" which was the radio program's signature.
Actually, that's not quite accurate. The very first Fleischer "Superman"
cartoon from late 1941 opens with the immortal "Faster than a speeding
[removed]" quote. Perhaps someone here knows if that opening pre-dates the
cartoon, since the "Superman" radio series began in 1940.
At some point during the 1942-43 release season, the "Superman" cartoons -
now produced in NYC by Famous Studios after Paramount foreclosed on the
Fleischers - opened with a new set of "super"latives: "Faster than a
supersonic jet! More powerful than the pounding surf! Mightier than a
roaring hurricane!" I've not come across an explanation for this change,
but it died with the series itself, when Paramount discontinued the
expensive, realistically-animated "Superman" cartoons in 1943.
Craig Wichman commented on Hal Stone's assertion that "Milton Berle's
program did more to HASTEN Radio's demise than any other TV offering" with
the following:
I've heard anecdotal evidence that
Milton shares that honor with George Reeves.
I've often referred to Reeves as an "Uncle", because like most of my
generation, I spent time with him everyday - and he was a charming role
model.
I'll yield to no one for admiration of George Reeves. He was one of my two
childhood heroes - I lost the other one this past Friday (no, it wasn't John
Ritter). Like Craig, I spent every day with Reeves' Superman, through
childhood into parenthood. I've spent years researching the series and its
star's life and death, my first professional sale as a writer was a Reeves
bio for Remember magazine, and I stuck my neck out on "Unsolved Mysteries"
asserting - erroneously, as it turned out - that he did NOT shoot himself.
With that in mind, I'd love to hear some of Craig's anecdotal evidence.
Writer Gary Grossman, in his book "Superman: From Serial to Cereal," opined
that the debut of the TV version "probably" resulted in a sharp increase of
set sales, declaring "We all wanted to see what our childhood hero looked
like."
A nice thought - only trouble is, there's no contemporary evidence to back
it up. "Superman" never got anything near the publicity or press that Uncle
Miltie, The Ol' Redhead, Joe Friday, Lucy and Ricky, Dean and Jerry, or even
the Lone Ranger received in video's babyhood. It wasn't even the most
popular syndicated program during the fifties, although it was usually among
the top ten. No matter: fifty years later, Reeves' Superman is still
indestructible. Although it just left TV LAND's schedule, it's currently
airing on a cable network called GOODLIFE, which caters to baby boomers.
Michael
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 22:08:51 -0400
From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: OTR and the family cat
Mark Kinsler described a six panel ad showing families thru the ages
gathering together in the evening. This sounds like one of the pavilion
shows at the 1964 New York World's Fair. Perhaps Traveller's Insurance?
If so, they also did ads like this and provided a 7-inch record of the
ride's soundtrack.
The final scene around the TV set Mark described brings to mind the story
that ended Thursday's ABC Evening News. Peter Jennings mentioned that over
the years people had sent him pictures of their cat watching him on TV.
The story he then introduced explained that because a cat's eye was
developed to see fast moving prey, a cat with a good fast eye would not be
able to see the image on the TV screen, but that a cat with an
underdeveloped slow eye might be able to see the image like we humans with
slow eyes and persistence of vision. (I is believed we see fast moving
prey--and TV images--because our eye supposedly allows the fleeting image
to be retained a little longer.)
The moral of the news story was that it was the smart cats that couldn't
see TV pictures, but it was the slow cats that could see Peter Jennings on
the screen. He refrained from commenting, but is suppose that this will be
music to the ears of our anti-TV OTRers.
Which brings up the question of whether our cats can hear OTR.
Michael Biel mbiel@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 22:09:04 -0400
From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: OTR and the Family
Leaving aside the family cat, let me mention my first distinct memory of
our family listening to the radio during the OTR era. It is a Sunday
evening, about a minute before 7 PM, and I am in the back seat of our
family's Chrysler and I can see the lights of the George Washington Bridge
ahead on our right along with the New Jersey Palisades. Now, I don't
remember whether we would have turned onto the GEORGE Washington bridge to
go to New Jersey where we lived after 1951, or whether we would have gone
across to the East side of Manhattan to the Washington bridge to go to the
Bronx were we lived until then, but I do remember that my father loudly
announced: "Who wants to listen to Jack Benny" to which both my sister and
I answered "Yea!!!"
I do remember that we were still in the Bronx when I used to listen to The
Comic Weekly Man on Sunday mornings--but I could NEVER get my father to get
the [removed] Journal American so I could read along. (I know now that it was
because it was a Hurst paper.) I recall listening to it on the white
plastic radio on top of the refrigerator, not on the round console
radio-phono in the living room next to the couch opposite the DuMont TV.
During breakfast I remember the family listening to the news, but what I
remember are the Metropolitan Life Insurance Commercials that urged us to
write away for booklets to the announcer "Bob Hite at Metropolitan Life
Insurance, New York 20, New York."
Of course I also remember watching TV in that apartment, Howdy Doody, Uncle
Fred's Junior Frolics, Kukla Fran and Ollie and their summer replacement
one year, Ernie Kovacs. And also Foodini and Pinhead--from the program
"Lucky Pup." My daughter just attended a screening today of "Lucky Pup"
excerpts from 1948 at the Museum of Modern Art. Also included in the show
were mechanical animated commercials from the late 50s including the Burt
and Harry Piel ads voiced by Bob and Ray.
Michael Biel (who happens to be the son of Bert (Bertha) and Harry Biel!!)
mbiel@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 22:09:14 -0400
From: JackBenny@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Shlepperman and Kitzel
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain
Matthew Bullis wrote:
Hello, I'm listening to the early run of the Jack Benny programs, and the
character of Schlepperman is identified in one of the New York broadcasts as
Sam Hern. I thought that someone named Art somebody played Kitzel. I can't
think of his last name right now. He sounds the same. By the way, when does
Schlepperman change and we get Kitzel? Can someone give me a program date
where we first hear Kitzel? Since their voices are similar, didn't the
audience think it was still Schlepperman and not Mr. Kitzel?
I'm catching up on issues, so this may already have been answered. But just
in [removed]
Sam Hearn played Shlepperman. Artie Auerbach played Mr. Kitzel. Kitzel
first appeared on the 1-6-46 show as a hot dog vendor (peekle in the meedle
mit de
mustard on top). This was quite a few years after the Shlepperman character
had disappeared, and the way the character was introduced, there probably
wasn't a lot of chance of confusion. In fact, Hearn wanted to come back on
the
show, but they didn't need two Yiddish dialect characters. So instead, he
changed to playing the "Rube" ("Hiya, Rube!") with the beautiful wife in
Calabasas.
--Laura Leff
President, IJBFC
[removed]
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------------------------------
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 22:09:22 -0400
From: "katperrr" <katperrr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: List of Radio Shows
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain
Where could I find a list of all the old radio programs?
I've started purchasing shows on cds; some of the more
common ones that I have heard on the internet, but I'm
sure there are others I would enjoy that I've never
heard of.
Thanks
Katherine
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------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 12:00:23 -0400
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Today in radio history
From Those Were The Days --
1934 - NBC presented The Gibson Family to American audiences. The
program was the first musical-comedy-drama to be broadcast. Ernest
Whitman and Eddie Green were featured members of the cast and were
billed as "network radio's only colored comedians." The show originated
from the studios of WEAF in New York City.
Joe
--
Visit my homepage: [removed]~[removed]
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #343
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