------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2005 : Issue 112
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Walden Hughes Weekend Show [ BryanH362@[removed] ]
Papal Coverage [ "Joe" <jpostove@[removed]; ]
Ivan Snell [ "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed]; ]
4-9 births/deaths [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
A new soap question [ Lee Munsick <damyankeeinva@earthlin ]
Reel tape [removed] [ "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed] ]
The Panic Broadcast Rides Again! [ Wich2@[removed] ]
"On location" dramas 1932 / 1996 [ "R. R. King" <kingrr@[removed]; ]
Smothers Brothers and Benny and Burn [ JackBenny@[removed] ]
National Registry Accepts Lots of OT [ seandd@[removed] ]
Re: "I swan" [ George Guffey <grguffey@[removed]; ]
Two Gildersleeve Movies on TCM Tomor [ George Guffey <grguffey@[removed]; ]
Ivan Snell [ Ken Stockinger <bambino032004-otr@y ]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 08:17:33 -0400
From: BryanH362@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Walden Hughes Weekend Show
Heard live via the internet at [removed].
Friday , Saturday 7:30 PM PDT
Sunday 9PM PDT . Note the special late rstart time on Sunday.
Friday 4-8-05
A. Frank Bresee and Walden Hughes have a live guest Tommy Cook who will talk
about his
memories of Grace Kelly and her husband.
B. Classic Interview: Frank interviews Walter Winchell.
C. 01-21-45, 3-25-45 Jack Benny broadcasts.
Saturday 4-9-05
A. Martin Grams monthly spot to talk about Alfred Hichcock. Lux Radio
Theater from December 1951 will be heard with Frank Lovejoy.
B. Ray Kort. Owner operator of Hollywood Collectors Show.
C. Philco Radio Time with Bing Crosby
C. Classic Interview: John Dunning interview with Alice Frost.
D. OTR like One Man Family Information Please, Quiz Kids, and Fred Allen
Sunday 4-10-05
A. Walden will start late at 9 PM with Mike Biel.
B. No Laura Leff this week
C. OTR
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 08:17:55 -0400
From: "Joe" <jpostove@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Papal Coverage
Coverage of the Papal events:
While watching, how with great ease, today's electronic journalists' cover
the death of Pope John Paul II and the run-up to the election of a new Pope,
it got me thinking about past coverage of the same events.
I remember well the 1978 reporting of two papal deaths (Paul VI and John
Paul I) and the subsequent election of their successors. By then satellite
reporting had become rather commonplace and live wall to wall coverage of
the events in Rome did not seem all that remarkable. Compared to today,
perhaps it did seem rather extraordinary, but we were well into the space
age by then, and my memory and clips I've watched on MSNBC's "Time And
Again" program from 1978 make me think that news agencies were quite
comfortable with satellite technology by then. It seemed that we were
watching a magnificent spectacle quite easily. And were used to reporters
filing stories live from parts of the world far and wide.
I remember far less the coverage, in 1963, of the death of Pope John XXIII
and the succession of Pope Paul VI to the Holy See. I was six years old and
have memories of seeing, in black and white, a strange event, a sad one,
happening somewhere, about someone, with however great interest by those
older than me.
Does anyone on the list have a more vivid memory of the 1963 events? I know
that satellites were in use by then (Telstar?) but news organizations used
it rarely, still flying in film from stories from all over the world. For
example, I don't remember the satellite being used in Vietnam much, but
rather film flown back to New York for network broadcasts.
The few clips I have seen of the 1963 papal events look like video, not
film. But if someone knows more about this, or can direct me to where there
is info on it, I would be very interested.
And what about 1958?
And radio, of course.
Joe Postove
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 08:18:02 -0400
From: "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Ivan Snell
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Hi Gang:
It's with deep regret that I read about the passing of OTR dealer Ivan Snell.
He sold a lot of pulps in addition to single cassettes that came in white
non-descript boxes whose numbering went to extremes, [removed], "The Green
[removed] 84."
In recent years, I rarely bought from Ivan feeling that his business fell
victim to a certain degree of "inventory fatigue," meaning he seemed to sell
the same stuff year after year. However, I'm going to miss both him and
his best buddy Barry Hill whenever I attend the OTR conventions in Newark
and Cincinnati.
Yours in the ether,
Derek Tague
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------------------------------
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 08:18:09 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 4-9 births/deaths
April 9th births
04-09-1883 - Frank King - Cashon, WI - d. 6-24-1969
cartoonist: Created Gasoline Alley comic strip
04-09-1889 - Efrem Zimbalist, Sr. - Rostov-on-Don, Russia - d.
2-22-1985
violinist: "The Magic Key"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
04-09-1892 - Mary Pickford - Toronto, Canada - d. 5-29-1979
actress: "Mary Pickford Dramas"; "Parties at Pickfair"
04-09-1897 - John B. Gambling - Norwich, England - d. 11-21-1974
host: "Your Personal Program"; "John B. Gambling Club"; "Rambling with
Gambling"
04-09-1898 - Paul Robeson - Princeton, NJ - d. 1-23-1976
singer: "Pursuit of Happiness"
04-09-1900 - Allen Jenkins - NYC - d. 7-20-1974
actor: "Harold Lloyd Comedy Theatre"; "Hollywood Hotel"; "Lux Radio
Theatre"
04-09-1903 - Ward Bond - Denver, CO - d. 11-5-1960
actor: "Screen Director's Playhouse"
04-09-1906 - Antal Dorati - Budapest, Austria-Hungary - d. 11-13-1988
conductor"; "CBS Symphony Orchestra"
04-09-1911 - Jim Bannon - Kansas City, MO - d. 7-28-1984
announcer, narrator: "Joe Penner Show"; "Eddie Bracken Show"
04-09-1920 - Art Van Damme - Norway, MI (Raised: Chicago, IL)
jazz accordionist: (Art Van Damme Quintet) Dave Garroway Show
04-09-1921 - Frankie Thomas - NYC
actor: Tom Corbett "Tom Corbett, Space Cadet"
April 9th deaths
02-17-1908 - Staats Cotsworth - Oak Park, IL - d. 4-9-1979
actor: David Farrell "Front Page Farrell"; Mark Trail "Mark Trail"
02-19-1922 - Sandy Becker - NYC - d. 4-9-1996
actor, announcer: Jerry Malone "Young Dr. Malone"; "Backstage Wife";
"The Shadow"
05-28-1902 - "Little" Jack Little - London, England - d. 4-9-1956
singer: (Cheerful Little Earful) "Little Jack Little Show"
06-30-1896 - Wilfred Pelletier - Montreal, Canada - d. 4-9-1982
conductor: "Roses and Drums"; "Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the
Air"
07-01-1914 - Michael Wilson - McAlester, OK - d. 4-9-1978
blacklisted screen writer: "Lux Radio Theatre"
08-21-1913 - John Faulk - Austin, TX - d. 4-9-1990
humorist, writer: "Forecast"; "Says Who?"; "Hootenanny"
10-16-1886 - Will Harridge - Chicago, IL - d. 4-9-1971
american league president: "Memorial Program for Colonel Jocob Rupert"
11-03-1913 - Harry Babbitt - St. Louis, MO - d. 4-9-2004
singer: "Kay Kyser's Surprise Party"; "Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical
Knowledge"
11-12-1911 - Clay Bryant - Madison Heights, VA - d. 4-9-1999
baseball analyst: "Baseball with Clay Bryant"
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 14:10:22 -0400
From: Lee Munsick <damyankeeinva@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: A new soap question
Sherman Billingsley was the owner and host of The Stork Club, the famous New
York restaurant/nitery. Some of us older folk will recall the TV program
which came not from The Stork Club, but from a studio duplicate created for
the purpose. It was fantastic publicity for the real club, and many tourists
to New York made The Stork Club a must-see. The show was from 1950 into
1955, first on CBS and then ABC. During the run it varied as 15-, 30-, and
45-minute shows. Besides Billingsley, program hosts included local New York
personality Johnny Johnston, and Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healy, who had
their own programs and often substituted for Arthur Godfrey on his shows.
Following Billingsley's lead, the host would wander around to meet and chat
with the various dignitaries and personalities seated at various tables,
usually concentrating on one particular "star".
A frequent visitor who had his own table in the "real" club was Walter
Winchell. He was a close friend of writer Damon Runyon. When Runyon was
diagnosed with cancer and succumbed, Winchell established the Damon Runyon
Memorial Cancer Fund. It still exists today, as a special fund within the
American Cancer Society. Winchell brought along his pals, broadcaster Arthur
Godfrey and singer Morton Downey, among others on the Fund's governing board.
When Winchell left as President of the Fund, Mr. Godfrey succeeded him.
Billingsley, Godfrey and Downey set up a perfume company which sold
Sortilege, which was sold at and constantly on view inside The Stork Club.
The word sortilege means "sorcery" or "witchcraft" and comes from Latin
meaning roughly "to read". It also has come to mean for some, the telling of
one's future.
In addition to Sortilege perfume, special boxed sets were sold which
contained three handsome bars of soap. They were molded on one side with the
visages of the three owners: Billingsley, Godfrey and Downey. Remarkably
good images they were, too. I suspect a number of people bought these sets,
but very few actually washed with them, as they were unique keepsakes. I am
always on the lookout for them, as well as other Godfrey-related memorabilia.
Another Stork Club trademark was its large menu, the cover of which was
produced from a painting showing numerous personalities at various club
tables. Including, of course, the Stork Club big three, Winchell, etc.
I am hoping that some reader here may be related to the soap industry, or
knows someone who was. It has occurred to me that the soap was actually
manufactured by a specialty house. That concern just might still be in
business, and the molds may be sitting on some dust-laden shelf somewhere.
Or perhaps they were retained by The Stork Club, and remain in the possession
of next-of-kin. Would anyone have an idea as to where I should start in my
search to locate them? I will appreciate any assistance. Please contact me
off-list at: damyankeeinva@[removed]
Many thanks. Havahappy! Lee Munsick
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 14:10:36 -0400
From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed];
To: "Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Reel tape [removed]
When I need reel tape, I have had excellent service from a company in Las
Vegas. Here is the address:
Audio Tapes
Box 80425
Las Vegas, NV 89180
Phone: 702-562-7899
Email: Ampex641@[removed]
The prices are reasonable and he can supply reels, cassettes, and other tape
supplies. My catalog is dated January 30, 2004, but I think he is still in
business.
I got his name from someone on this Digest, and have no other connection
with this vendor.
Ted Kneebone / 1528 S. Grant St. / Aberdeen, SD 57401
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 14:11:10 -0400
From: Wich2@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: The Panic Broadcast Rides Again!
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Dear Folks-
I'm sorry that this qualifies as "beyond late" notice, but I wasn't sure
that my CHANGELING shooting schedule would allow this, until the last
[removed]
Courtesy of Jim Knusch, aka "Professor Kinema," I've been impaneled (read:
"asked to gas on") again at this year's I-Con:
[removed]
If you're in the L. I. neighborhood tomorrow, [removed], drop by for:
11 am- "Independent Filmmaking" (rest assured, THE CHANGELING and THE DEVIL
YOU KNOW will be much in evidence [removed])
12 pm- "Guilty Pleasure Films"
3 pm- "Literature to Radio to Film (including THE WAR OF THE WORLDS)"
All the best,
-Craig Wichman
Quicksilver Radio Theater
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------------------------------
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 14:13:21 -0400
From: "R. R. King" <kingrr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: "On location" dramas 1932 / 1996
Ted had asked:
Now, a question for the group: are there any examples of location
production from the Golden Age? I'm talking about drama or comedy
(not news!) produced with the actors outside the studio, with mics
picking up the actual sounds of the place and the players.
Here's an item from the New York Times' 17 July 1932 radio column,
"The Microphone Will Present":
... 10:30 P. M. - WABC - A drama, "Transient," will be broadcast "on
location" in a New York hotel, and this is made possible by the small
lapel microphones, which proved their worth at the national political
conventions. The broadcasters say this is the forerunner of more
realism in radio drama. They envision "on location" programs featuring
real sounds instead of those created by studio gatherings and
noise-making machines.
In the pioneer effort tonight "lapel" microphones will be "pinned" on
a cast of actors and [author Don Clark will] direct them in their
lines while Broadway's curious look on. The actors will move freely
from the curb, through the lobby to the room clerk's desk and
downstairs to the grill room, where an orchestra and dinner dancers
will lend atmosphere to the imaginary action. ...
- -------------
And from the same day's Washington Post radio column, "Radio Dial
Flashes":
... Using the new lapel microphones, Columbia will move radio drama
from the studio to the street (WMAL, 9:30 p. m.) when it will present
a playlet actually enacted under the marquee, in the lobby and at the
grillroom of a Broadway hotel.
The sketch, "Transient," comprises three scenes and was written by Don
Clark, Columbia continuity chief. A cast of stage players, accustomed
to visible audiences, will move about the hotel with the "button
mikes" as Clark directs the action from the floor. An engineer will be
seated at controls in the mezzanine overlooking the lobby.
Sidewalk crowds, lobby loiterers and diners dancing to George Hall's
music in the grill, will furnish the atmosphere and background. No
artificial sound effects will be used in the experiment to determine
the practicability of "on location" settings and to compare the merits
of actual sounds with studio substitutes. ...
- -------------
"Transient" was part of a weekly half hour series of experimental
dramas, sort of a 1932 version of "The Columbia Workshop," written or
directed by Don Clark and usually entitled "Columbia Dramatic
Laboratory" or some variant. It debuted on June 12 with Clark's
adaptation of Frank Stockton's "The Lady or the Tiger?" and ran on
Sunday evenings at various times through the summer. Some of the other
episodes include: a modernized "Romeo and Juliet"; "1986 A. D.";
"Death Says It Isn't So" (described as "a fantasy by Heywood Broun");
"The Inanimate Percy and Susie"; "The Biography of a Book"; and
"Metro" which is described as "a series of six modernistic vignettes,
depicting flashes of life in the big city ... set in six different
strata of society" and written by Clark and six members of his
continuity staff.
Norman Corwin told me he used this method once, for a single
sequence in one of his programs. In "El Capitan And The Corporal,"
the principals are in a train station, trying to catch their train,
and don't know what platform it's on. They are heard running up and
down stairways in the station, and Norman said that he used a
stairway outside the studio, placing a mic at the top and another
at the bottom, and had the actors run up and down while delivering
their lines. The footsteps, the acoustic sound of the stairwell,
the effort, and the breathlessness in their lines were all completely
natural.
Speaking of radio characters on location "trying to catch their
train," check out this excerpt from "International Radio Drama" by Tim
Crooks:
... ["The Leaving(s) Project," broadcast on the night of January 26,
1996 was] 'a journey piece' from different locations of the New York
metropolitan area. There were six different groups of characters
leaving New York for various reasons who were forced to deal with
personal crises on their way to an Amtrak train at New York's Penn
Station. Their interweaving storylines highlighted current social,
political, spiritual and artistic issues. All the disparate journeys
were acted out live to moving microphones on location and culminated
in a dramatic finale at Penn station. The realistic acoustic and
geographical context of the event is indicated by the fact that the
fictional characters intended to board the [removed] am 'Amtrak red-eye'
service leaving New York which was actually waiting to leave one of
the platforms at the end of the broadcast. There is no evidence that
any other broadcaster in the world has attempted such a wide-ranging
experiment in traditional and futuristic live audio drama production.
The event which began at 10 pm on the Friday night continued until
[removed] the following morning. It could be heard in stereo on WBAI [removed]
FM, was distributed by satellite to 360 community radio stations and
could be heard nationally and internationally on the World Wide Web.
The rest of this article is at: [removed]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 16:31:40 -0400
From: JackBenny@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Smothers Brothers and Benny and Burns
Sean Dougherty writes:
In an interview with the paper there, they identify Jack Benny and George
Burns as among their all-time favorite TV show guests.
And in our video library, we have the show where Jack and George appear on
the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. They start by doing a parody of the
Smothers (Jack is Tom, George is Dickie) which is priceless. It's great.
--Laura Leff
President, IJBFC
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 18:35:32 -0400
From: seandd@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: National Registry Accepts Lots of OTR Programs
This blog post notes that the Library of Congress has announced the third
annual addition of 50 sound recordings to the National Recording Registry.
Included are "We Hold These Truths," an episode of Jack Benny and a bunch of
other stuff we would find cool.
I think someone else may have posted on this, but so be it.
Sean Dougherty
SeanDD@[removed]
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 22:36:52 -0400
From: George Guffey <grguffey@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: "I swan"
The phrase "I swan," which means "I swear" or "I vow,"
predates OTR by hundreds of years. Compare the
following American Heritage Dictionary (2000) entries
for "swan" (and "vum").
Entry for "swan" [meaning 2]:
"PRONUNCIATION: swon
INTRANSITIVE VERB: Chiefly Southern [removed] To declare;
swear. Used in the phrase 'I swan' as an interjection.
See Regional Note at 'vum.'
ETYMOLOGY: Probably alteration of dialectal '(I) s'
warrant,' (I) shall warrant."
<[removed];
For "vum ["vow," meaning 2]:
"PRONUNCIATION: vum
INTERJECTION: NEW ENGLAND Used to express surprise.
ETYMOLOGY: Alteration of 'vow2.'
REGIONAL NOTE: New Englanders sometimes express
surprise by saying, 'Well, I vum!' This odd-sounding
word is in fact an alteration of the verb vow' that
goes back to the days of the American Revolution. It
is also heard simply as 'Vum!' or as a sort of past
participle: 'I'll be vummed!' A Southern equivalent is
'swan' or 'swanny,' also meaning 'swear': 'Now, I
swanny!' According to the OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY,
the word 'swanny' derives from the dialect of the
north of England: 'I s' wan ye,' 'I shall warrant
ye.'"
<[removed];
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 22:37:07 -0400
From: George Guffey <grguffey@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Two Gildersleeve Movies on TCM Tomorrow
Morning
I just a few minutes ago discovered that two
Gildersleeve movies will be shown on Turner Classic
Movies (TCM) early tomorrow (April 9) morning:
"Gildersleeve's Bad Day" (1943), at 3:30 [removed] Eastern
Time
"Gildersleeve's Ghost" (1944), at 4:45 [removed] Eastern
Time
More information is available on the following Web
page:
<[removed],,,[removed];
If someone else has already alerted list members to
these showings in a message I have overlooked, please
pardon this hasty note.
George
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 22:37:45 -0400
From: Ken Stockinger <bambino032004-otr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Ivan Snell
It was with great sadness that I learned this
morning of Ivan's passing. While I didn't know him as
well as some of you did, I always looked forward to
seeing Ivan at FOTR every October. In fact, Ivan would
always be one of the first persons I'd see at the
convention each year. It got to be a tradition with me
to go over to see Ivan, Barry Hill,and the Grams the
night before the convention started. We'd sit up till
all hours drinking soda, talking , and seeing who
could tell the funniest [removed] usually won. :)
The dealer's room that he and Barry shared seemed
so empty last year. We talked at length that first day
about Barry and how strange it was without him there.
The very last thing I said to Ivan at the end of last
year's convention was "See you next year".
Well, I'll still see Ivan ( and Barry ) every time
I walk by that dealer's room. And I'll smile as I
remember fun times with a really good person. Here's
hoping the two of them have a dealer's room together
somewhere up [removed]
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2005 Issue #112
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