Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #311
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 8/14/2003 2:37 PM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2003 : Issue 311
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Re: The Shadow OTR opening theme      [ SanctumOTR@[removed] ]
  The (Four) Stooges                    [ Wich2@[removed] ]
  Jolson Event in Long Island This Wee  [ Sean Dougherty <seandd@[removed] ]
  records                               [ "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed]; ]
  AM Treasures                          [ joliver@[removed] ]
  ROMA AND LUCY                         [ PURKASZ@[removed] ]
  Today in radio history                [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
  Shadow theme                          [ "Jim Nixon" <ranger6000@[removed] ]
  Where are the female Spike Jones fan  [ "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed]; ]
  Roma and Patri wines                  [ james h arva <wilditralian@[removed] ]
  Twilight Zone music                   [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
  My Favorite Husband cast              [ Allen Wilcox <aawjca@[removed]; ]
  Re: March Music on Suspense           [ "Jan Bach" <[removed]@[removed] ]
  Smoke Rings?                          [ otrbuff@[removed] ]
  Golden Age of Broadcasting class nee  [ Osborneam@[removed] ]
  Smoke Rings again                     [ otrbuff@[removed] ]

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

Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2003 09:11:50 -0400
From: SanctumOTR@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: The Shadow OTR opening theme

In a message dated 8/12/03 10:15:48 AM, Bill Miles asks:

Hi!  I just heard a classical music selection this afternoon which had a
section that sure sounded like the theme music under the Shadow's
opening remarks ("What evil lurks, etc." I didn't catch the selection
intro. Can anybody  give me the selection title?  Danke!

***THE SHADOW's opening theme comes from the middle section of Saint-Saens'
"Le Rouet d'Omphale," Opus 31 ([removed] "Omphale's Spinning Wheel").  As
composed, it actually represents one the 12 tasks of the Greek/Roman demigod
Heracles/Hercules.  On radio, the opening was performed by the George Earle
Orchestra
(and also conducted during the five week Perfect-O-Lyte run by Eugene Ormandy)
in the CBS Frank Readick signatures that open all the Orson Welles broadcasts,
and later by organists Elsie Thompson, Rosa Rio and Charles Paul. --Anthony
Tollin***

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

Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2003 09:11:59 -0400
From: Wich2@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  The (Four) Stooges

Folks-
Just about positive that the two Lucille Ball/Three Stooges shorts
(college/football) recently referenced are one in the [removed]
Best,
Craig W.

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

Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2003 09:12:35 -0400
From: Sean Dougherty <seandd@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Jolson Event in Long Island This Weekend /
 New Glenn Miller Recordings

The New York Daily News' David Hinckley, radio maven of New York newspapers,
had two articles today of relevance to the list.  The first was a promo for
the Al Jolson Society of Long Island event this weekend.  I spoke with the
organizer of the Jolson event this afternoon and he said his phone was
ringing off the hook - 10 calls and counting by 11:00 [removed]

Seems there is still some interest in entertainment of that era after all.
[removed]
The second concerned a recent release of Glenn Miller Chesterfield radio
broadcasts from the late 30s.

[removed]

On a semi-related note, the Wall Street Journal today included an article on
the comeback of commercials embedded in the entertainment pegged to Home
Depot's sponsorship of a show on HGTV.  Somehow, it missed comparisons to
the Golden Age of Radio, when the commercials were almost as much fun as the
shows.  Wonder where Madison Avenue went wrong?

Enjoy,

Sean Dougherty
SeanDD@[removed]

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

Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2003 09:12:58 -0400
From: "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  records

Hi Everybody,

a request was mention in the last digest where to find records of radio
shows.  I would check to stores in the USA.

1.  is [removed] Records finder in Los Angeles., I been there a few times and
they carried the radio shows in that format.  At one time they charge $10
per [removed]  This is a large where house with allot of stuff on [removed]

2.  I would check with Record rama in PA.  They are on the web.  They are
one of the five biggest stores in the USA that carries [removed]

Both of them do mail order.  Take care,

Walden Hughes

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

Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2003 09:15:15 -0400
From: joliver@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  AM Treasures

Hi all,

I am one of the many that have been hiding in the shadows for a while.  I got
started collecting shows on reel-to-reel back in the 70's and I have aways
wondered what happend to the company and the person that ran it.  The Company
name was AM Treasures (Can't remeber who ran it at this time).  Any help would
be appreciated.

Thanks all
Jess

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

Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2003 09:14:54 -0400
From: PURKASZ@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  ROMA AND LUCY
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In a message dated 8/13/2003 5:16:06 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[removed]@[removed] writes:

alanladdsr@[removed]

     A series of very stimulating letters from readers about Lucille Ball and
Roma Wines made me dizzy!
     I had to sit back and recall an afternoon in the mid 70s at Universal
Studios when I was called to wardrobe and make-up for a show that I no longer
remember.
     What I DO remember is that the afternoon started with me pulling into
the Universal gate on Lankershim in North Hollywood, seeing Scotty, the guard,
in his little house and being told to park anywhere by the wardrobe building
as
it was a slow day and it saved me a walk from the usual area.
     I saw the parking spot just by the wardrobe building and next to the
House of Westmore, the make-up family's edifice and one filled with memories
of
Jack Pierce and Bud Westmore for me.
     Reeling with wonder, sun still in my eyes, I exited my 1968 Cadillac
convertible and was about to stride into the door that led downstairs to the
most
delightful wardrobe room in Hollywood, short of Western Costume on Melrose
which is, alas, no longer with us, when I heard what I thought was a seal
barking.
     The sun made me stupid and when I heard the it again I thought it was a
guard or a walking cartoon. It was a voice.
     The voice said,
     "You can do what you want but you can't park here buddy."
     I turned into the sun and was blinded. I saw a figure standing at the
door of what was a dressing room.
     Since there were no other cars nearby and since I wasn't blocking
anyone, I though it might be a friend playing a joke on me so I responded,
well,
let's just say, rather rudely.
     The voice replied,
     "F---K you and move that [removed] car or I'll call some f-----g cops and
have your a--- off the lot. And I mean NOW."
     I moved to shady side of the car and realized it was a woman talking to
me.
     Not only A woman, but, as I got closer, I saw it [removed]
     Lucille Ball.
     Now aside from the fact that parking on that part of the lot was and is
a case of take a spot if you see it. Not reserved. And aside from the fact
that I KNEW that, the very power of this voice made me get in that Caddie and
move it baby, and fast!
     I show you the power of the voice in human interaction.
     I was kinda glad actually cuz if she had not made me five minutes late
for my appointment with wardrobe, I would have missed having coffee and
chatting with John Carradine.
     Sigh.
     Oh ya, Roma wine.
     Always a fan of Suspense and those commercials, I was in Wilmington
Delaware visiting friends last summer and went to a junk store where I bought
a
few things for my kitchen. One thing I was looking for was a handsome bottle
to
hold my olive oil.
     I found it. Very nice shape I thought. Cost me 75 cents.
     I got it home, bought a speed pourer for it, the kind they use in bars,
and was very happy.
     I had to clean it out last month.
     I looked at the bottom. Something I had not done when I bought it.
     It said:
     ROMA WINE!!!
     I almost dropped it cuz I had a Suspense show on when I was washing it.
     The stuff of life.
     When are we gonna get the last half of the Sydney Greenstreet Suspense
show, "The Hangman Won't Wait?"
     Help.
                    Michael C. Gwynne

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

Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2003 09:15:23 -0400
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Today in radio history

 From Those Were The Days --

1933 - WLW in Cincinnati, OH premiered Ma Perkins. Just four months
later, Ma moved to WMAQ in Chicago and was heard over the entire NBC
network. Virginia Payne was 23 years old when she started in the title
role. Ma Perkins operated a lumberyard in Rushville Center. Her children
were Evey, Fay and John (who was killed in the war). One of the other
characters in the show was Shuffle Shober. Virginia Payne played Ma
Perkins for 27 years -- and 7,065 episodes.

1942 - Garry Moore hosted a new program on NBC. The Show Without a Name
was an effort to crack the morning show dominance of Arthur Godfrey
(CBS) and Don McNeil's Breakfast Club (ABC). A prize of $500 was offered
to name the show and Someone came up with the title, Everything Goes.

1945 - CBS began the series, Columbia Presents Corwin. Orson Welles did
a special reading about the fall of Japan, titled, Fourteen August.

Joe

--
Visit my homepage:  [removed]~[removed]

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

Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2003 09:15:32 -0400
From: "Jim Nixon" <ranger6000@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Shadow theme

Bill Miles asked about the opening theme used in "The Shadow".  Just in case
Anthony Tollin is out of the country, it's Saint-Saens' "Le Rouet
D'Omphale", or "Omphale's Spinning Wheel".  It's a great little musical
picture.

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

Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2003 09:30:35 -0400
From: "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Where are the female Spike Jones fans?
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Hi again, gang:

      I actually enjoyed the on-going dialogue in recent Digests about my
favourite "third" Stooge, Shemp Howard, and I'd like to further comment about
why he's my fave, but I'm sure, by this point, Listmaster Charlie is at the
end of his tether about this subject. I would, however, like to spin this all
in to a new tangent.
      While continuing the "Curly vs. Shemp" thread off-list with my pal Ivan
Shreve, I mentioned the (sometimes erroneous) universal theory that only guys
like the Three Stooges.  In my travels, I've only met a handful of women who
actually dug them. But I  then mentioned how I feel that Spike Jones and His
City Slickers are the musical equivalent of the Stooges. I don't mean
content-wise but appreciation-wise.
       Is there any truth that it's mostly men who like Spike and comprise
his fan-base? Do women just  not  get it? Are they too sophisticated to
appreciate the intense volume and the seemingly obnoxious sound effects?
       Would the lady Jonesians who read this list make their presence known?

Clink! Clink!

Derek Tague

[removed]: The shirts reading "LEGALIZE SHEMP"...I finally get it. It took me a
while. At first I thought it was an effort by disaffected Shemp fans to gain
him some Curly-calibre respectability. But now I can see it's a play on Woody
Harrelson's pet cause to "legalize hemp!" I feel like fellow Brit Harry
MacNaughton  whenever he finally got the joke ten minutes after the fact on
"It Pays to Be Ignorant." [Hello, James Altenberg!]

[removed]: All [removed]'m actually a first-generation British-American.

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Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2003 09:32:06 -0400
From: james h arva <wilditralian@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Roma and Patri wines

14 AUG 03

Ryan Osentowski write:

"This is also incorrect.  I know that in the late 1930's, Holmes was
sponsored by Bromo Quinine Tablets and by Clifford Craft Clothing in the
late 1940's."

This was a comment regarding a letter that had talked about Petri Wines
sonsoring "The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" back in the 30's.  Ryan
is much closer to the mark.  There was a short-lived series in the middle
30's called "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", but it was not sponsored
by Petri Wine.  The very first Sherlock Holmes series on the radio was
sponsored by G. Washington Coffee, who's president was a Sherlockian and
was persuaded by Edith Meyser -- that great lady of American Sherlockiana
-- to sponsor a revolutionary experiment -- Sherlock Holmes set in
contemporary times.

Several series started and failed, but the only one that really "took"
was "The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", which began in 1939
congruent with the first Basil Rathbone / Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes
movie.  The movie series ended in 1946 when Basil Rathbone decided he was
becoming type cast and left the radio show and stopped doing movies.
That was when Harry Bartell left the show, also.  The movies could not
continue because there would be a lack of visual continuity were Mr.
Rathbone's face to be replaced with another.  The radio show *did*
continute, however, with the faceless voice of Tom Conway.  Tom, oddly
enough, had taken over the "Falcon" movie series from his real-life
brother, George Sanders, because *George* thought he was becoming
type-cast.

Anyway ... sponsorship-wise ... the sponsorship of "The *New* Adventures
of Sherlock Holmes" started with the manufacturers of Grove's
Bromo-Quinine Cold Tablets.   In the early 40's -- I'd roughly estimate
1942 -- Petri Wines took over sponsorship.  They dropped their money out
of it when Mr. Rathbone quit the show, and when it started up again in
the fall with Nigel Bruce still as Watson and now Tom Conway as Holmes,
Kreml Hair Tonic was their sponsor.  That later changed to Clippercraft
Clothes (not Clifford Craft).  Toward the end of the run of that program
in the very late 40's, Petri Wine had come back in for about a year of
final sponsorship.

Best regards,

Jim Arva
Past Gasogene (#24) of The Six Napoleons of Baltimore
(Abbreviated: Past Gas.)

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

Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2003 12:42:36 -0400
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Twilight Zone music

Kurt Yount asked:

I am listening to Mirror Image on Twilight Zone.  I notice that some of
the music used was the same as that used on CBS radio Mystery Theater
with [removed] Marshall.  I thought it was kind of strange but his background
music made up some of the music for this show.  These shows are quite
listenable and some of the scrips seem definitely new to me.  I went to
the web site, but didn't see anything there about a free CD as in the
commercial.  Anyway, an interesting show with lots of commercials.
Thought I would write and mention the music.  Thank you.  Kurt

Actually, all of the music featured on the CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATER was
taken from the CBS music library.  During the 1950s, CBS (as well as other
broadcasting stations) began the practice of storing and preserving a
library of stock music for their programs.  Producers found this to be very
beneficial for budgetary purposes - after all, why pay a musician to score a
TV episode when they can simply have an editor loop the stock music from the
CBS library into the sound track?  Although I do recall reading a lot of
correspondence at a special collections that musicians were VERY upset
because this practice was costing them jobs.  Eventually the musicians'
union and other organizations stepped in and after deliberation, negotiation
and (if I recall accurately) a couple court hearings till the matter was
resolved.  The solution was that a certain number of episodes per season (13
I think) were required to be scored by musicians, the rest could be stock.
This if a season of TWILIGHT ZONE or ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS had 36 or 39
episodes filmed per season, at least 13 episodes for each season were
original scores - the rest were stock.

During the 1970s, Himan Brown had full use of the fascilities of the CBS
music library and he used almost every music in the library.  (The music
featured in the library, incidentally, is copyrighted and owned by CBS, not
the musicians so featuring the music was not infringement.)  This is why
anyone with a keen ear and quick memory can listen to a broadcast of CBS
RADIO MYSTERY THEATER and hear the theme song to DARK SHADOWS, pieces by
Bernard Herrmann from various TV programs, and even the sound tracks to the
TWILIGHT ZONE.  Since the TWILIGHT ZONE is a CBS property and the radio
shows are licensed accordingly, I am not surprised that Kurt recognized the
same music from both radio programs.
Martin

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

Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2003 13:28:52 -0400
From: Allen Wilcox <aawjca@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  My Favorite Husband cast
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We all know what happened to three of the main cast members after My Favorite
Husband went off the air (ie,Lucy, Gale and Bea) but what ever happened to
Richard Denning? Did CBS ever go though with thier plans to make the radio
series a television sitcom besides I Love Lucy? If it did happened I'm sure
that they had a differant cast.

Allen

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Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2003 13:33:46 -0400
From: "Jan Bach" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: March Music on Suspense

Hello, again --
Perhaps I can shed some light on Chris Holm's concert that, on Suspense,

In the 40's they use
the same (opening theme) music at the end of the show as well.  However,
sometime in the
early 50's (I think), the changed the end of show music to a rousing
march,
which I find more than a little disconcerting.

In the early fifties many radio programs were still being relayed somehow
(short wave?) to our occupying/fighting forces overseas, and all
advertisements were removed from the programs. The gaps created by removing
these commercials were long enough that something had to be found to take
their place, and this was usually "Armed Forces Phil" as Chuck Schaden calls
the process (there's a great phone interview between John Dunning and
Elliott Lewis in which Lewis details the difficulties of editing glass disks
with Howard Duff  this way during WWII). Marches were often used, and for
some reason Shostakovich's first symphony (whose Russian copyright was
probably not recognized in this country) was another favorite choice. Chris,
that is probably why you heard music so out of keeping with Bernard
Herrmann's original Suspense music.

As a musician, I also can't resist mentioning how effectively Suspense used
music not only as bridges between scenes but also as a means of moving some
dramas forward. "Overture in Two Keys," "The Thirteenth Sound," "Dream
Song," "Aria for Murder" and, for comic relief, "Murder in G-flat" with Jack
Benny in the starring role as a piano tuner, all used sounds as clues to
mysterious happenings. The Benny appearance was unintentionally funny when,
at the beginning of the program, Jack plays a G-flat on a piano he is tuning
and calls it "C-flat." Probably a typo in the script!

Jan Bach

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

Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2003 14:43:39 -0400
From: otrbuff@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Smoke Rings?

All my life I've sung the catchy little Chesterfield commercial to the
words "Smoke dreams, smoke, smoke dreams, while a Chesterfield burns . .
. ."  I could swear that Jan Davis and the Mariners sing it that way on
tape from the opening of the Godfrey morning shows.  Now, flipping
through Dunning I discovered the Chesterfield Supper Club's theme was
"Smoke Rings."  Have I been inadvertently singing the wrong words all
these years?  Let me down easy if so.

Jim Cox

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

Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2003 15:40:18 -0400
From: Osborneam@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Golden Age of Broadcasting class needs sound
 bytes

A friend of a friend is teaching a college class this fall
in Connecticut on the Golden Age of Broadcasting and he asked where he can
get some sound bytes.  I don't have what he's
looking for.

I offered to post a query on the OTR digest along with his email address.
He's a blind OTR fan from California and his name is Jim.  His e-mail address
is:

misterhistory@[removed]

If anyone can help him, please contact him at the above
email address.  Don't reply to me.  Thanks

Arlene Osborne

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

Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2003 15:40:20 -0400
From: otrbuff@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Smoke Rings again

Gerald Nachman says the Chesterfield theme was "Smoke Dreams," not "Smoke
Rings."  If he's wrong, two of us have been singing off key.

Jim Cox

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #311
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