------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2008 : Issue 90
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
4-8 births/deaths [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
Cincy dealers' room [ Dan Hughes <danhughes@[removed]; ]
WLW [ etorch@[removed] ]
defenestration [ Robert Angus <rangus02@[removed]; ]
Wikipedia sucks [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
Cincinnati Dealers [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
Re: Nonsense and Melody [ "R. R. King" <kingrr@[removed]; ]
Re: Joe Palooka & comic strips on ra [ FabFicBks@[removed] ]
Radio's I Love Lucy [ jeffrey wolfe <jeffreylwolfe@yahoo. ]
War of what World? [ Wich2@[removed] ]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2008 09:30:48 -0400
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 4-8 births/deaths
April 8th births
04-08-1881 - Arthur B. Allen - Gowanda, NY - d. 8-25-1947
actor: "Snow Village Sketches"; "Kate Smith Show"; Stebbens Boys"
04-08-1882 - Lulu McConnell - Kansas City, MO - d. 10-9-1962
comedienne: "It Pays to Be Ignorant"
04-08-1887 - Walter Connolly - Cincinnati, OH - d. 5-28-1940
actor: Charlie Chan "Charlie Chan"
04-08-1888 - Thornton Fisher - Cincinnati, OH - d. 8-xx-1975
sports reporter: "The Briggs Sports Review"
04-08-1889 - Adrian Boult - Chester, England - d. 2-23-1983
writer: "Advs. of Ellery Queen"; "Casebook of Gregory Hood";
"Sherlock Holmes"
04-08-1896 - Yip Harburg - NYC - d. 3-5-1981
lyricist: "Columbia Presents Corwin"
04-08-1900 - Bert "Mad Russian" Gordon - NYC - d. 11-30-1974
comedian: "Eddie Cantor Show"; Yasha "Duffy's Tavern"
04-08-1905 - Ilka Chase - NYC - d. 2-15-1978
panelist, hostess, actor: "Leave It to the Girls"; "Luncheon at the
Waldorf"
04-08-1906 - Max Afford - Parkside, Australia - d. 11-2-1954
writer: "Murder's Not for Middle Age"
04-08-1908 - Tito Guizar - Guadalajara, Mexico - d. 12-25-1999
vocalist: (Isham Jones Band) "Duffy's Tavern"; "Hollywood Showcase"
04-08-1912 - Sonja Henie - Kristiania, Norway - d. 10-12-1969
skater, actor: "Hollywood Hotel"; "Bill Ster's Colgate Sports
Newsreel"; "Shell Show"
04-08-1915 - Carlyle Austin - d. 10-30-1985
sportscaster: KEVR Seattle, Washington
04-08-1915 - Fred Flowerday - d. 4-6-1989
director: "The Lone Ranger"; "The Green Hornet"; "Challenge of the
Yukon"
04-08-1915 - R. Norwood Smith - San Francisco, CA - d. 8-24-1999
singer: "Norwood Smith Sings"
04-08-1916 - Carl Cotner - Indiana - d. 11-14-1986
steel guitar: "Gene Aurty's Melody Ranch"
04-08-1919 - Virginia O'Brien - Los Angles, CA - d. 1-23-2001
actor: "Blue Ribbon Town"
04-08-1921 - Franco Corelli - Ancona, Italy - d. 10-29-2003
operatic tenor: "Gala Performance"
04-08-1922 - Carmen McRae - NYC - d. 11-10-1994
jazz singer: "Woolworth Hour"; "Newport Jazz Festival"
04-08-1923 - Jimmie Osborne - Winchester, KY - d. 12-26-1958
singer: "WLS Barn Dance"; "WLW Midwestern Hayride"
04-08-1928 - Eric Porter - London, England - d. 5-15-1995
actor: "Landscape"
04-08-1930 - Dorothy Tutin - London, England - d. 8-6-2001
actor: "Before the Party"
04-08-1931 - John Bartholomew Tucker
host (communicator) "Monitor"
04-08-1937 - Bernelda Wheeler - Saskatchewan, Canada - d. 9-11-2005
worked as a disc jockey in Churchill, Manitoba
04-08-1941 - Peggy Lennon - Los Angeles, CA
singer: (The Lennon Sisters) "Music on Deck"; "Voices of Vista";
"Guest Star"
April 8th deaths
01-02-1920 - Charles Douglass - Mexico - d. 4-8-2003
radio engineer for the CBS radio network
01-21-1914 - George A. Putnam - Middletown, NY - d. 4-8-1975
announcer: "Can You Top This?"; "Vic and Sade"; "Portia Faces Life"
01-28-1914 - Nelson Olmstead - Minnesota - d. 4-8-1992
actor: Joe Huston "Bachelor's Children"
02-12-1893 - Omar Bradley - Clark, MO - d. 4-8-1981
general of the army: "What Are We Fighting For?"; "[removed] Campaign"
02-27-1897 - Marian Anderson - South Philadelphia, PA - d. 4-8-1993
singer: "Ford Evening Sunday Hour"; "Telephone Hour"; "New World A'
Coming"
03-08-1909 - Claire Trevor - NYC - d. 4-8-2000
actor: Lorelei Kilbourne " Big Town", Theresa Travers "Results, Inc."
03-24-1906 - Julian Funt - d. 4-8-1980
writer: "Young Doctor Malone"
03-25-1926 - Paul Leder - Springfield, MA - d. 4-8-1996
singer: "Molly Goldberg Show"
05-03-1874 - Louis Dean - Wilmington, DE - d. 4-8-1933
announcer: "Stoopnagle and Budd"
05-04-1924 - Gene Klaven - Baltimore, MD - d. 4-8-2004
new york morning personalty: "Klaven and Finch"; "Klaven in the Morning"
06-13-1920 - Ben Johnson - Pawnee, OK - d. 4-8-1996
actor: "Francis Burke for Attorney General"
08-30-1879 - Fritzi Scheff - Vienna, Austria - d. 4-8-1954
prima donna: "Lavender and Old Lace"; "The Philco Hour"
12-19-1894 - Ford Frick - Wawaka, IN - d. 4-8-1978
baseball comissioner: "Baseball: An Action History"; "Play Ball";
"Tribute to Babe Ruth"
12-20-1928 - Donald Adams - Bristol, England - d. 4-8-1996
opera singer: BBC Repertory Company
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2008 09:31:37 -0400
From: Dan Hughes <danhughes@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Cincy dealers' room
Jack French says,
I have no idea as to what's going on in Cincinnati
now. Last convention I attended there was about 8 years ago and the
dealers' room was bigger than my high school auditorium.
Jack, the convention switched to a different motel maybe five years ago,
and the new one doesn't have nearly as much room as the old one did.
I don't think there are as many dealers as there used to be. Most of the
reel and cassette dealers are gone - some went to CDs, but some evidently
quit the business.
Rodney, is the off-site dealer one who has been there before? He'd have
to have some pretty impressive stuff to pull people away from the
convention.
---Dan - See you guys Friday!
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2008 09:31:47 -0400
From: etorch@[removed]
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: WLW
An old patient of mine was telling me that WLW's famous 100kw experiment in
the 1930's was probably heard over a larger distance than any other station
in history in terms of states. This leaves the question of what the most
listened to broadcast in history might have been.
This brings up an interesting point however, as many clear channel stations
were directional at night, even at 50,000 watts. A few, like WSB and KNX are
and were multidirectional, whereas WABC (formally WEAF) were north-south
oriented.
I would guess, then, that somewhere, sometime a program on the most stations
with omni directional 50kw signals, maybe simulcast on all 3 networks was the
most listened to program ever. Several VE or VJ day broadcasts may have fit
this description.
Evan Torch, MD
Atlanta
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2008 09:31:59 -0400
From: Robert Angus <rangus02@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: defenestration
Here in the Czech Republic, defenestration is pretty serious stuff.,
dating back to medieval times when the loser of a power struggle was
tossed out of an upper window in his own castle by the winner and his
supporters. In the 20th century, it;'s what happened to Edward Benes, a
wartime resistance leader and president of the Republic when the
communists took over in 1948. Czechs still debate whether he fell or
was pushed out of a window in Prague Castle onto the rocks below.
Either way, he ended up dead,.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2008 09:34:10 -0400
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Wikipedia sucks
I was shocked how many people quoted Wikipedia as a source for information,
in a recent issue of the OTR Digest. Thankfully, someone just made a posting
regarding how the web-site should not be considered a reliable source for
information.
I know a large number of repected authors, Jim Cox, Jack French, and so on,
have stated in the past that Wikipedia is NOT a reliable source for
information, mainly because a six-year-old can add or revise information, and
way too many people take the black and white print as the gospel. Heck, I
found four entries for old-time radio shows that give the wrong broadcast
date for the premiere episode! I can name them, but I suspect someone on the
Digest here is responsible for "maintaining" the old-time radio pages on
Wikipedia and will be upset knowing there are errors - and for me
re-enstating that Wikipedia should not be consulted for reference - but their
efforts are appreciated considering the alternative.
As an example, I went on to THE LONE RANGER entry on Wikipedia and changed
the Lone Ranger's orgin to the following:
The hero is a Texas Ranger named Reid, who, as the series begins, was living
it high on Al Jolson's farm, helping grow buckwheat for the Government. When
the criminal Butch Cavendish and his gang started burning down the fields,
Jolson was shot to death and Reid took up the cause for farmers everywhere.
(gasp!) I know, I know. I'm going to hear about it from someone for doing
that. Please don't think I'm being mischief. I did this for a good reason - I
merely want to reveal an example of why Wikipedia should not be used for
reference, and why printed material such as books penned by the greats (David
Siegel, Jim Cox, Jim Harmon, Jack French, and others) are worth the
investment.
So PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, consult a web-site devoted to a subject or a
reprint of a journalistic periodical (such as TIME, NY TIMES) before
Wikipedia. I know this subject has come up before, but it apparently needed
clarification. Remember this posting isn't meant to anger anyone, it was
meant to respectably clarify what is becoming an increasing problem.
Martin
(As for the do-gooders out there who's impulse is to go on the Wikipedia
entry and make the correction, PLEASE leave it as it is. Not everybody reads
the Digest every day and if you make the correction, people who read this
posting two or three days from now will not see the example for myself (but
they can take my word for it). Correcting what I did defeats the purpose of
this posting. I promise I will personally make the correction as it should be
Saturday evening, so set the entry straight.)
[ADMINISTRIVIA: While Martin is a [removed] about this, he's of cource
correct that Wikipedia should _never_ be used as primary reference material.
--cfs3]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2008 09:49:53 -0400
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Cincinnati Dealers
For a number of people who may have read recent postings and are wondering
what the heck it's all about, I'll clarify so they don't get the idea that
there is something REALLY bad going on at Cincinnati this year. Last thing we
need is giving the wrong impression. It's really a minor affair, and so small
it generated more postings than expected, and is probably giving people the
wrong ideas.
In short, someone living in Cincinnati has publicized that they are offering
their wares (as a vendor) at their house, and encouraging people to come to
his house instead of the convention, thus competing against the event. This
is the equivalent of me living in Newark, New Jersey and promoting people
come to my place and check out my inventory for sale, rather than pay for a
table at the convention and support the event. It's just plain wrong.
Since I am not a gossip person at all (my wife will swear to that), I really
don't understand why certain people do not want to attend the convention, but
rather choose to stay at home or stay out in the parking lot. I personally
have no beef with them, and would love to see them at the event, shake hands,
find out how they've been the past week, and talk about OTR a bit. Unless
someone is angry at another, this remains a mystery and frankly, as Charlie
Summers once put it, this is a hobby, not a religion. Rodney posted his
comments with good taste - and respect - avoiding mentioning anyone by name,
to avoid embarrassment to any party. So in short, Rodney's posting is no
different than Jay Hickerson's request in writing every year that vendors not
sell to people who are not wearing a badge (those who attempt to sneak in to
the convention without paying). It's respect to the people who front four and
five-digit figures to put on the event with radio stars, hotel costs,
promotion and such. Those who prefer to stay distant and avoid supporting the
convention do not need the support.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2008 15:26:14 -0400
From: "R. R. King" <kingrr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Nonsense and Melody
First off, does anyone have info about a mid-1930s syndicated show
called "Nonsense and Melody"? ... Were they still syndicating this
thing
in the 40s?
1. Here's an item from the 5 Oct 1934 Los Angeles Times radio column:
***
[Frank] Gill [Jr.] and [Bill] Doemling, ex-KHJ comics, began work the
other day on a series of transcriptions for Transco entitled,
"Nonsense and Melody."
***
And another from the following day:
***
Gill and Doemling are making a series of seventy-eight electrical
transcriptions at the Freeman Lang studios.
***
2. Here's the text of an advertisement from the 20 May 1935 El Paso
(TX) Herald-Post:
***
Beginning Tuesday, May 21, we present a new Evening Feature over KTSM,
8:15 p. m.
Be sure to listen in on KTSM at 8:15 p. m. tomorrow, Tuesday, for the
first of
a series of outstanding radio programs-NONSENSE AND MELODY-starring
Gill and Doemling. Both of these comedians are real artists, having
been starred for the past year on the National Broadcasting Company
programs on the west coast. Gill and Doemling have also been featured
in Movie Shorts and at present are appearing regularly on the larger
Pacific Coast stations. In addition to Gill and Doemling, several
other comedians will be heard, including Tom and Charlie Lung, Tom
Cleary and several star vocalists, assisted by a very fine 22 piece
orchestra. You are sure to enjoy Nonsense and Melody, our new quarter
hour program which will be heard at 8:15 p. m. on Tuesdays and
Thursdays . . . and at 9:15 a. m. on Wednesdays and Fridays of each
week.
***
3. "Were they still syndicating this thing in the 40s?" I didn't look
very hard but a fifteen minute show titled "Nonsense and Melody" was
scheduled to air on KLUF, according to November 1941 Galveston (TX)
Daily News radio listings. November 1943 issues of the Sheboygan (WI)
Journal and the Chicago Tribune list a fifteen minute show with that
title. A show of the same length and title seems to have run on WCAW
from circa September 1949 to at least August 1950, according to the
Charleston (WV) Daily Mail and the Charleston Gazette. But I don't
know if any of these scheduled broadcasts are of the original series
or other shows with the same title.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2008 18:06:42 -0400
From: FabFicBks@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Joe Palooka & comic strips on radio
Jack French made some comments concerning Joe Palooka and my remarks about a
lack of comic book or comic strip heroes on radio during its heyday. Some
of the problems with adapting comic books to radio are obvious---you are
attempting to adapt an action-packed visual format to a strictly audio medium.
Another problem so far as comic books goes, is that for much of the listening
audience the source material would be completely unfamiliar.
That said, I've given those whole subject a lot of thought over the past
few decades without arriving at any definite conclusions. It seems to me,
naive comic collector that I am, that any exposure on the radio of any comic
book character selling over half a million copies an issue would be a good
thing for both the radio network, the sponsors and for the comic book publisher
as well. Licensing fees might have been a problem, but in reality many
publishers of comics and pulps were very happy to work with other medium, movies
especially, and either settle for a very small fee, or no fee at all. The
Captain America serial from Republic, for example, was made partly because the
owner of Timely Comics gave Republic full permission to make the serial
without paying his company a penny in fees or royalities.
I've discussed the issue with many of the original comic book creators
and publishing executives and never got any good answers to my questions.
Some comic book characters did very well on radio, despite what might seem like
major problems with the medium. Superman comes to mind immediately. It's
easy to see how an aviation strip like Hop Harrigan could make it as a radio
series, but it took a lot of ingenuity to turn a major super powered, double
identity character like Superman into a successful radio series.
My personal opinion at this point is that the comic book creators, the
people who wrote/drew/edited/published comic books were so focused on their
own particular niche that they were reluctant to look too far beyond their own
field for additional exposure, unless some creative team familiar with the
other medium (movies/radio/television) whom they trusted stepped forward, and
few ever did. The other problem is finding a sponsor. Sponsors of children's
programing tended to rely on established ad agencies to come up with their
radio series, and those series also had to be acceptable not just to
youngsters, but also to their parents, who certainly listened in with their kids every
now and then to make sure nothing too outrageous was coming out of the
either into their homes.
Comic books in the forties and fifties were very popular with children,
teens and some young adults, but they were not considered generally
acceptable to adults who tended to regard comics are worthless trash that their kids
would soon outgrow with exposure to quality literature. This is the same
logic that has pretty much affected any kind of activity young people
enjoy---from dime novels, pulp magazines, comic books, right up to arcade games and
internet video games today. If young people like it, adults have an instinctive
deep and abiding suspicion of it.
To me the question of much more complex when it comes to comic strips.
Comics strips in the daily and Sunday newspapers were read by all the family,
and comic strips come equipped with a syndicate who distributes the strip
and who is hungry to have that strip exploited in any way possible. Very few
motion picture serials were made from comic book heroes, but lots of serials
were made from comic strip heroes. Why then, weren't there more successful
radio programs adapted from comic strips? For every Little Orphan Annie or
Buck Rogers or Terry & the Pirates that made it on radio, there was a dozen
others that only made an audition show or two, or only lasted a few months, like
Gasoline Alley or Joe Palooka or Flyin' Jack.
Getting back to my original comment, it seems to me that Joe Palooka
would have been very easy to adapt to radio. It was a strip that merged
together adventure, humor, characterization and interesting interplay from a widely
varied background of events and situations which changed constantly. It
could have been run as either a children's adventure serial or an adult series.
The strip was extremely popular in the newspapers, the characters would have
been readily recognized on the airwaves, and Joe was the ultimate good sports
role model for young and old alike. Yet after that one summer series in
1932 it never hit the air again. It doesn't make sense, at least not to me.
So far as the 1932 series goes, I'm aware there are supposed to be two
or three shows out there, but I have never encountered them in any dealer
catalog before. If these are available on the internet somewhere, or in a dealer
catalog, I would muchly appreciate if someone would point me in the right
direction.
---Bob Jennings
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2008 20:29:49 -0400
From: jeffrey wolfe <jeffreylwolfe@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Radio's I Love Lucy
The Radiola LP wasn't a recreation. They actually did
13 episodes on radio as a test for CBS before it went
to television. It is called "The Lease Breakers" and
they did do it on the television series. But this is
an actual radio broadcast not a re-dubbed audio
soundtrack.
The $64,000 Question is - Where are the other 12
episodes?
Rusty
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2008 20:31:20 -0400
From: Wich2@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: War of what World?
From: Rentingnow@[removed]
One of the key questions that was posed on Radio Lab was "What were they
thinking?" I would suggest that they just wanted to entertain and they did
not truly understand the power of the of the illusion of reality
I helped lister Christian Blees (who is working on a 70th Anniv. radio docu
as we speak) interview one of the very few surviving members of the
broadcast, Bill Herz (who FOTRers may recall as the ersatz-Orson in our
quasi-Mercury
CAESAR.)
As far as he was able to tell then or state now, the apocryphal theory that
Welles & Houseman secretly concoted it all as a briliant publicuty stunt is
total balderdash. He recalls the show itself as being looked down on as silly
in pre-production, and the participants as TOTALLY blindsided by the public
reaction.
In fact, he says it didn't even hit them with the odd happenings at the
studio as the show ended. In fact, they went out and Times Square casually
[removed]
...but when they got to the Mercury Theater for a planned stage rehearsal
and found the place swarming with reporters - THEN it all sank in!
Best,
-Craig Wichman
Quicksilver Radio Theater
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2008 Issue #90
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