------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2004 : Issue 308
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Information Please answer [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
The RealOTR Old Time Radio Archive [ Roger Lorette <roger@[removed]; ]
re: Six Shooter Episode [ "Mark E. Higgins" <paul_frees_fan@a ]
Re: Rosalie Allen [ Udmacon@[removed] ]
NBC chimes & peacock values [ damyankeeinva <damyankeeinva@earthl ]
Stan Freberg box set. [ Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed]; ]
Edward Noble [ "evantorch" <etorch@[removed]; ]
NBC chimes red/blue [ chris chandler <chrischandler84@yah ]
Re: Am I Blue? [ hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed]; ]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 02:36:58 -0400
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Information Please answer
David asked:
I was listening to a 'Information Please' from the early 1940s and I
encountered this ad "The best tunes of all move to carnegie hall "
repeated over and over. Anyone know to what event this refers?
Beginning with the broadcast of November 6, 1942, Basil Ruysdael, the
pitchman for Lucky Strike on Information, Please, was instructed to pitch
the product at any opportunity fate allowed. Whenever there was a brief
pause in the conversation between Clifton Fadiman and the panelists, the
phrase was presented over the microphone, with no regard for traditional
commercial breaks. Golenpaul, on one account, accosted Hill and shouted,
"You're lousing up my program and I won't stand for it!" Hill informed
Golenpaul that contract or no contract, the American Tobacco Company was
paying the bills, and therefore could do what it pleased. Golenpaul filed
suit, and the story spilled onto the front pages of every major newspaper in
the country.
Crusaders of the free press had a field day. One critic years later even
commented that the dispute between Golenpaul and Lucky Strike was the basic
theme of the motion picture, The Hucksters (1947) starring Clark Gable,
Deborah Kerr and Sidney Greenstreet, a film about the advertising and radio
industries, with Gable battling for integrity among yes-men. The press
coverage of this dispute was very wide. There was reference to the
litigation in Advertising Age (November 16, 1942 and November 23, 1942). An
article which appeared in Printers Ink publicly claimed that the "Lucky
Strike Green Has Gone to War" slogan was not a war priority at all.
The case was ultimately dismissed, but the stormy program/sponsor
relationship would come to a merciful end, with Golenpaul a national hero.
*
* In a 1943 poll conducted by Woman's Day magazine, "Lucky Strike Green Has
Gone to War" was voted one of the most disliked radio commercials by the
listeners who participated. It just so happened World War II was in
progress - and the "sacrifice" of the green dye made the American Tobacco
Company look good with the public.
"From the first broadcast of Information, Please, May 17, 1938, I always
insisted upon and obtained control of the entertainment portion of the
program and the manner of its presentation," stated Golenpaul. "My contract
with the American Tobacco Company cleverly provides for this control.
However, there is more than a matter of contract rights involved. It
involves the maintenance of the high standards of Information, Please which
the public demands, has the right to expect and which we make every effort
to provide. When these standards were interfered with several weeks ago by
the sponsors with their 'Lucky Strike Green Has Gone to War' campaign, which
incidentally was abandoned without explanation before the original plan for
it was completed, I requested and obtained a release from my contract with
the American Tobacco Company."
With only three air weeks remaining on its contract with the American
Tobacco Company, following a spirited conflict over the recent air slogan
"Lucky Strike Green Has Gone to War!", Dan Golenpaul made an attempt to
restrain Lucky Strike from further damaging Information, Please's dignity
with a new slogan. [removed] Hill made a second attempt, this time with a new
slogan.
Shortly before the Information, Please program began over the NBC network on
the evening of January 22, 1943, the two announcers were served notice to
appear in court on January 26 to determine whether repetition of a "teaser
slogan" in their radio script was "annoying listeners." The notices were
personally served by Golenpaul himself on Milton Cross and Basil Ruysdael.
Dan Golenpaul disclosed that earlier that afternoon, he had obtained a court
order from Justice Carroll G. Walter of the New York Supreme Court.
The teaser slogan heralded a new American Tobacco Company Lucky Strike
program and was: "The best tunes of all move to Carnegie Hall. Yes, the
best tunes of all move to Carnegie Hall." These very two sentences were
repeated a total of twelve times during the broadcast of January 22 and with
their court orders in their pockets, Cross and Ruysdael stuck to the slogan
as scripted, while Fadiman, Kieran, Adams and Levant winced noticeably on
stage.
The cryptic slogan was never explained to the audience and it was Lucky
Strike's intention to officially explain the slogan on the two remaining
Information, Please programs, meaning that the sponsor would replace
Information, Please with a weekly all-time Hit Parade program from Carnegie
Hall beginning Friday night, February 12.
"It is my firm belief that the repetitive use of this slogan on Information,
Please would annoy listeners and mar the entertainment value of the
program," Golenpaul said in a statement. "I always insisted upon and
obtained control of the entertainment portion of the program and manner of
its presentation. My contract with the American Tobacco Company clearly
provides for this control. However, there is more than a matter of contract
rights involved. It involves the maintenance of the high standards of
Information, Please which the public demands, has the right to expect and
which we make every effort to provide."
"I took no action until four and a half hours before the scheduled time of
the broadcast of Information, Please, still hoping we would come to an
understanding on a more reasonable use of the slogan," Golenpaul continued.
"At 4 o'clock my attorneys, Damman, Roche and Goldeberg, 22 East 40 Street,
New York City, asked for and obtained a court order from Judge Carroll G.
Walter of the New York County Supreme Court. With respect to the present
situation after every effort to come to a reasonable understanding had
failed, the only course left was the legal action which I have taken."
The newspapers had a field day with the news. The New York Times headlined
"Information Please Fights for Its Honor." The January 1943 issue of
Bridgeport Life featured an article mentioning:
"One of the most interesting and certainly one of the best programs
on the
air is Information, Please, Last week on its hour the ears of the listeners
were assailed something like twenty times by iterations of a meaningless
jingle which from the tone of Mr. Fadiman's remarks was as irksome to him as
it was to those who heard it. It seems the sponsors of this hour are having
a new program opening in February and this inane method of attracting public
attention to it was selected as good advertising. It is becoming more and
more apparent those in charge of preparing commercial announcements are
going on the premise the nation is composed of a bunch of morons. Nothing
else could account for the drivel that is embodied in them and which are so
senseless they cause one's sensibilities to crawl.
"However it is pleasing to know that one producer has the nerve to protest
and Daniel Golenpaul Associates have sought an injunction to prevent its
sponsor, the American Tobacco Company, from using on the show the jingle,
'the best tunes of all move to Carnegie Hall.' Now is that not a nifty?
One wondered what mastermind thought up this elegant bit of advertising
tripe. In the argument against use of the jingle it was characterized as
'meaningless' and 'irritating' and it was stated it was used some twenty
times in the thirty minute program.
"The advertising portion of radio in too many instances is hitting a new
high for bad taste. Not a few complaints flooded in to Information, Please
over the inane jingle which repetition made worse. The moronic chant of the
tobacco auctioneer is quite bad enough in all conscience but this latest
idea caps all previous efforts. It is an insult to the persons who appear
on the program, all of whom are of exceptionally high standing and an insult
to the public intelligence as well. There is a great deal of room for some
really clever advertising but those who have it in charge now are not only
lacking in good taste but in brains as well."
Golenpaul explained in court that he has asked the sponsors to limit the
slogan to usage twice during the half-hour broadcast. Golenpaul even took a
clipping of the Bridgeport Life article (among others) as witness to public
opinion. The announcers Cross and Ruysdael testified that guests and
audience members were disgusted over the slogan.
On January 27, 1943, Judge J. Shientag gave his verdict. "The contract
entered into between the producers of Information, Please and its present
sponsorship, defines the rights and obligations of the parties. The
producers reserve to themselves the fight 'to determine all matters and
things pertaining to the entertainment portion of the program, the artistic
material to be broadcast and the manner in which the program shall be
presented.' Defendant was granted the right 'to prepare any and all
commercials to be used on such program and producer undertakes to use the
same in such manner as sponsor and producer undertakes to use the same in
such manner as sponsor may require.' The American Tobacco Company has used
a 'jingle' in its broadcast evidently designed to advise radio listeners
that it would no longer continue to sponsor Information, Please but would
present a different program in Carnegie Hall."
"The attorney for the plaintiffs stated in open court that he did not charge
the present sponsor with any conscious or malicious intent to injure the
Information, Please program," Judge Shientag concluded. "It would
undoubtedly have been in much better taste and more in conformity with the
general character of the Information, Please program and the standing of
those who participate in it if the sponsor had acceded to the request of the
producers and cut down the number of times the 'jingle' complained of was
used. Whatever bad taste may have been displayed in this connection does
not, however, warrant a court of equity in granting a preliminary injunction
before trial. The motion is accordingly denied."
The day after Judge Shientag delivered his ruling, Dan Golenpaul addressed
the press with a formal statement: "The court felt that the irritation of
the radio audience would be directed primarily against the American Tobacco
Company. That may be true but why irritate an audience at all and interfere
with their enjoyment of entertainment? Irrespective of the American Tobacco
Company's standards of taste, or its respect for the judge's suggestion, I
can assure the public that the new sponsor, [removed] Heinz Company, will not
employ commercials that are apt to be irritating and annoying to the
listeners."
The situation was not without merit. The letters written in support of Dan
Golenpaul, venting their frustration in the Lucky Strike teaser slogan
arrived in large volumes. Golenpaul had a courtesy letter composed in reply
to everyone who wrote in regarding the listener's sympathy to Golenpaul's
point of view. The composition dated February 10, 1943, was sent out to an
estimated 1,000+ letter writers. Apparently the radio listeners were glad
to know that Lucky Strike's tactics would be applied to a different program
other than Information, Please.
Support for Golenpaul was evident during the broadcast of February 5, 1943 -
the final broadcast sponsored by Lucky Strike. The announcer spoke up for
the entire Information, Please panel and master of ceremonies during the
broadcast, thanking Lucky Strike for their many hours of enjoyment. With
sympathy for Golenpaul's stance on everyone's mind, when Fadiman asked "Why
couldn't Narcissa keep Ulysses?" Oscar Levant immediately remarked, "He got
a new sponsor." The audience attending the broadcast laughed and clapped in
recognition.
Info reprinted from the book, INFORMATION PLEASE by Martin Grams, Jr.,
available from Bear Manor Media at [removed]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 02:37:04 -0400
From: Roger Lorette <roger@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: The RealOTR Old Time Radio Archive
I would just like to inform all Old Time Radio fans that the [removed] Old
Time Radio Archive is now back [removed] a little rough around the
edges. This new archive is a replacement for the "former" [removed]
archive which is now history and all of it's content will eventually be
transfered to the new archive.
The new RealOTR archive is a huge improvement as it uses databases to access
OTR shows allowing for quicker searches by genre, by alphabetical listing or
you can call up any shows from a specific date and then listen to the shows.
The new archive currently contains about 5,000 shows. In setting up the new
archive I've been able to automate much of the process of adding new content
so it should be able to grow pretty [removed] hope. Please feel free to visit.
One major difference with the new archive over the Cyber49er archive is that
[removed] requires a login username and password. It is a simple matter to
set up an account to receive access and for the next few days the site is
totally open after which accounts will have to be validated for full access.
If you just want a quick visit and look around then use "guest" as the
username and "guest" as the password. Using the "guest" account will permit
to do anything accept listen to the OTR shows.
I welcome any comments or feedback.
[removed]
Enjoy
Roger Lorette
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 02:37:31 -0400
From: "Mark E. Higgins" <paul_frees_fan@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: re: Six Shooter Episode
On the 15th, Norm Schickedanz had a question about Six Shooter
episodes. I haven't seen a response yet, so I will give it a shot.
The episode with Britt being conned into being a judge at the County
Fair is "Battle at Tower Rock", originally broadcast 2/21/54. The
episode based on Cinderella is "When the Shoe Doesn't Fit" from 6/17/54.
If you are interested in more information regarding the Six Shooter
series, you should check out Jerry Haendiges" radio logs ([removed]).
It gives dates, titles, and a short synopsis of each episode. The
episodes themselves are avaiable at various sites.
Mark
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 02:37:47 -0400
From: Udmacon@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Rosalie Allen
06-27-1924 - Rosalie Allen - Old Forge, PA - d. 9-23-2003
yodeling cowgirl: "Grand Ole Opry"
If Rosalie Allen was ever on the Grand Ole Opry she was there as a guest.
However, she was a PIONEER hillbilly (now "country") deejay, doing "Prairie
Stars" every weeknight over WOV, New York (now WADO) in the 40s and 50s.
--
BILL KNOWLTON: "Bluegrass Ramble," WCNY-FM ([removed]) Syracuse, WUNY ([removed])
Utica; WJNY ([removed]) Watertown NY. On the web: [removed]. Sundays: 9 pm to
midnight EST (since 1973)
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 02:38:38 -0400
From: damyankeeinva <damyankeeinva@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: NBC chimes & peacock values
The letter from some NBC executive asking if the separated Blue Network
should be charged for the use of the chimes rang a bell with me.
When negotiations were going on years after the ABC "spinoff" for NBC (or
really GE) to sell off what had been NBC radio, the NBC representatives
figured that the new owners would speak to retaining the use of the famous
identifying chimes as an audible logo trademark. They were understandably
disinclined to allow that, and had prepared an entire strategy to prevent it.
They were stunned when the new owners indicated that they could care less
about the NBC Radio chimes. Instead, they wanted to be able to use the NBC
peacock and the stylized NBC lettering. This made no sense, as these are
both visual trademarks for television, which was not remotely involved in the
negotiations.
Somehow, the buyers prevailed, and have been allowed to use the NBC lettering
and colorful peacock, developed by NBC to identify their color telecasts.
Then, when one saw someone speaking into a microphone affixed to a podium or
held up by a reporter, which bears the letters and peacock, one could have
been watching something being thus recorded not for NBC television as one
would surmise, but rather for the "successor" NBC Radio. If there are two
such mikes seen in such a situation, they could each feed two entirely
separate, unrelated organizations.
Sort of like Philip Morris deciding to manufacture cigarettes with the
Chesterfield name on them. Oh, I forgot, they do exactly that.
GE and NBC, of course, were connected variously with RCA. When fledgling RCA
purchased the Victor Talking Machine Company, RCA czar David Sarnoff ordered
his marketing people to dump the familiar "His Master's Voice" trademark,
with Little Nipper staring down the horn of the "trademark" talking machine.
Fortunately, the marketers reminded the General-to-be that their surveys
showed that he would be losing the single most famous trademark known and
respected around the world. Sarnoff was no dope, and he changed his mind
quickly. So for record labels, they simply made up a two-circle trademark
similar to the current Master Card (except that they don't overlap) which
enclosed the HMV logo in one circle, and the RCA with the jagged lightning
design in its partner. Not to be outdone, when CBS (originally an outgrowth
of Columbia Records) bought back their erstwhile parent, they came up with
their own east-west hemispheres, combining the CBS letters with the recording
firm's Masterwork Notes logo. Come to think fo it, maybe that trend was where
Master Charge got their idea!
Years later, David Sarnoff's son Robert ascended to the throne, and came up
with the same objection to "The Dog", ordering that it be euthanized.
Initially expunged from all RCA marketing, for a while it came and went, but
then so did David, when he was ignominiously ousted from his seat and
literally marched out of the RCA Building.
Wiser heads in marketing eventually prevailed, and now Little Nipper has a
scionpup appearing in RCA advertising. The irony is that it isn't Nipper who
has disappeared, but RCA itself, now nothing but a brand name for GE/Thomson
products.
History repeats itself - one can't help wondering what will be the next
famous names to disappear. Undoubtedly some that you and I will think would
be the last to ever suffer such a fate. Hold on tight!
Lee Munsick
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 02:39:04 -0400
From: Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Stan Freberg box set.
Dr. Biel,
Vol. 1 of the Stan Freberg box set did come with a
very small booklet (it's basically one long sheet
folded accordian style). Is it possible the booklet is
still in the box and you've simply overlooked it?
Rick
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 02:38:54 -0400
From: "evantorch" <etorch@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Edward Noble
I realize that this column rarely deals with television, but Edward Noble
later made a disasterous mistake, apparently based on wrong information ,
that the FCC would license frequencies beginning with Channel 7. As we now
know, in almost every big city for over 40 years, all CBS and NBC O&O's got
the huge advantage of grabbing channels 2-6; almost all ABC O&O's were
channel 7!
etorch@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 11:24:03 -0400
From: chris chandler <chrischandler84@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: NBC chimes red/blue
Mike Shashoni talks about the NBC chimes during the
GreatRed/Blue [removed]
Mullen references a proposal from the Louisville, KY
affiliate WAVE to cahnge the NBC Chimes to make them
sound like Morse Code for the letter "V", dismisses
?>the idea as "plain silly",
That's VERY interesting, because NBC not shortly
afterward *did* begin using the morse code 'V'--as its
program-interrupt signal for war news bulletins. So
this idea actually was put into practice, despite Mr.
Mullen's initial grumpy dismissal of it! It wasn't a
chime, more of a [removed] it was
used on a sliding scale, by importance, one V meant
"here comes some news", four meant "HEY THIS IS
IMPORTANT!!!!!!", as when Allied HQ was about to
confirm the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944.
chris
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 11:24:34 -0400
From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Am I Blue?
There has been much discussion by many learned OTR Hobbiests about NBC's Red
and Blue Network. I can only add one additional bit of trivia to that
discourse.
Michael Shoshani wrote;
Here's a little bit of trivia for you as well. RCA/NBC sold Blue to
Edward Noble in 1943, but it was spun off before that - in 1940 or 41,
I believe - into a separate holding company called The Blue Network
Company, Inc., that had no official connection or affiliation with
NBC, although they were apparently still using the NBC Chimes as a
system cue.
Ah! But NBC Red and NBC Blue used the same studio complexes at 30
Rockefeller Plaza. I guess the Red charged the Blue rent. I'm sure there was
some internal bookkeeping. Hmmmm. I wonder if the Staff Directors were
interchangeable. I am too old to remember, and back then, too young to care
one way or 'tuther.
As a matter of fact, I think (don't hold me to this) that "Archie" first
started life as a "Blue" show, but shortly changed over to "Red". I dredged
that up from the few remaining 1943 brain cells in my noggin.
We actors didn't [removed] or Blue. Just show us the "Green". :)
Hal(Harlan)Stone
Jughead
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #308
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