------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2003 : Issue 27
A Part of the [removed]!
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Censorship on OTR [ Kenneth Clarke <kclarke5@[removed]; ]
Richard Crenna: An Actor's POV [ Jordan Young <jyoung@[removed]; ]
Bob Hope Bloopers On Radio [ "James Faulkner" <tsunami100@[removed] ]
Re: Radio Fax service [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
Gene Roddenberry [ "Ryan Hall" <rhall2@[removed]; ]
Richard Crenna [ "welsa" <welsa@[removed]; ]
facsimile [ "Nemesis@[removed]" <nemesis@[removed] ]
"Radio Music Box" [ "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyro ]
Brace Beemer [ "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyro ]
Gale Gordon-Mel Blanc feud? [ Mike Thompson <mthomp86@[removed]; ]
Richard Crenna [ "Harry Machin, Jr." <harbev5@earthl ]
Re: B. Rathbone "Christmas Carol" [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
Highway Patrol [ otrbuff@[removed] ]
Today in radio history [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
Richard Crenna [ "e ginsburg" <edginsburg@[removed] ]
Re: Typing [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
More "props" to First Generation Rad [ "Ivan G. Shreve, Jr." <iscreve@comc ]
Hylo Brown Passes Away [ "Bob & Carol Taylor" <qth4@[removed] ]
Comedy That's Still Funny in the 21s [ John Mayer <mayer@[removed]; ]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 22:11:52 -0500
From: Kenneth Clarke <kclarke5@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Censorship on OTR
I've read about there being censors on the radio during
it's heyday. What sort of standard did they use to censor programs?
What type of things were objectionable? Were there some
particular performers who were more prone to be censored?
Was there a censorship board, committee, or did each station
have their own censorship department?
I've been told the penalties imposed by the censors could be
quite stiff. The one example which jumps immediately to mind is
the infamous "Adam and Eve" incident. From all accounts, Mae
West was banned from ever appearing on radio for 26 years and
no radio performer could even speak her name on the air without
suffering the consequences imposed by censors. (Is this true or
just an exaggeration of what actually happened?) It seems
unfair to punish other actors/actresses for something one performer
did on their own. I've listened to this skit and can't understand what
censors found so objectionable about it.
Kenneth Clarke
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 22:12:36 -0500
From: Jordan Young <jyoung@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Richard Crenna: An Actor's POV
Veteran radio-TV-stage-film actor Elliott Reid, who needs no intro to
most of you on the list, would like it to be known that his pal Dick
Crenna was "one of the most beloved actors--beloved by his fellow
actors--in the business." Reid told me he had just had a long
conversation with Crenna at Parley Baer's memorial service, so he was
quite shocked and saddened--crying on my shoulder as it were--when he
called me Saturday afternoon with the news.
I met Crenna perhaps three times but was struck by how down to earth
and personable he was, especially when he dropped by a SPERDVAC
rehearsal a few years ago, despite a busy schedule, just to visit for
a few minutes with old co-star Janet Waldo. And it was very clear at
a PPB luncheon honoring Crenna, not too many years ago, how much
esteem his fellow actors and co-workers had for him. Among them was
Mort Sahl, a boyhood actor pal from the days of "Boy Scout Jamboree."
Jordan R. Young
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 22:13:15 -0500
From: "James Faulkner" <tsunami100@[removed];
To: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Bob Hope Bloopers On Radio
Following the current thread of censored words and some not-so censored, I'd
like to offer this which came directly from a Bob Hope broadcast. Bob Hope
and Jerry Calona were doing a western sketch on his show. His guest that
evening was Jane Russell and which, obviously, it was to plug his movie,
Paleface, in which he co-starred with Jane. The incident got by the censors
and it went like this:
CALONA: Hey,Bob! Here comes Jane Now, and she's packin' a pair of 38's!
HOPE: Yeah, [removed] she's got guns, too!
On another show, one of Hope's USO broadcasts, he was doing some patter with
dancer Mitzi McCall, who was part of his troupe. THAT little incident went
like this:
HOPE: Hey Mitzi! Look! That sure is some moon!
MITZI: Yes, Bob, some moon!
HOPE: Look Mitzi! Some Park!
MITZI: Yes, Bob, some park!
HOPE: And Look there, some bench!
MITZI: Yes, Bob, some bench!
BOB: Well, Mitzi, some do!
MITZI: I DON'T!
Only on the Bob Hope Show could this suggestive material hit the airwaves
with inpunity. James Faulkner
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 22:13:46 -0500
From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Radio Fax service
Lee Munsick mentions seeing a sort of mail slot in a WOR executive's office
monitor and being told "'years ago' the station used a sub-carrier on its
710 kc signal to send facsimile letters, messages and the like to
subscribers to the service." Judging from the description, this probably
was in the 40s but it most likely was a late-night service that had the
strange sounds replacing the programming for a few minutes, not a silent
sub-carrier. But WOR had tried the same thing MUCH earlier. In the Fall
of 1927 thru the Spring of 1928 they had nightly facsimile pictures in the
late evening hours using the Cooley Ray-Foto System developed by Austin
Cooley. Those interested could build their own receiver using an old disc
phonograph turntable and additional parts made by the Presto Machine
Products Co. This system was written about in several issues of Radio
Broadcast magazine by editor Edgar H. Felix.
When the Cooley facsimile pictures would be broadcast, the listener was
told what was going to happen and to switch the output of his radio from
his speaker to the input of the facsimile recorder. The phonograph
turntable would drive a cylinder with sensitized paper, and a special
device would scan across the paper as it turned. It was very much like the
wirephoto machines used by the press services and newspapers. The
listeners without the device could standby and wait till the picture was
finished in a minute or two. Felix had the idea that he could record the
transmission on a wax cylinder dictating machine and play it back later to
make more pictures, and in one of the issues there is a picture of Cooley
and Felix with a facsimile receiver and a dictating machine. Unfortunately
Felix had kept no materials at all from his career other than bound volumes
of the magazine. And yes, this Presto is the same company which developed
the lacquer recording disc several years later.
Michael Biel mbiel@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 22:14:01 -0500
From: "Ryan Hall" <rhall2@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Gene Roddenberry
I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on this. I was listening to
an episode of Have Gun Will Travel just now. (I love that radio show, but I
know there are some who don't care for it.) The show aired on 12-21-58 and
was entitled Matt Beecher. It had an interesting religious Christmas twist
to it, which did not surprise me really until I heard the Gene Roddenberry,
who was never really religious in the traditional sense, had written the
screenplay. I assume this is the same Roddenberry of Star Trek fame. The
point of this is: How many radio scripts did Gene Roddenberry write? I never
knew that he had written any. Anyone with the OTR bible (so to speak) have
any insight into this? [removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 23:07:48 -0500
From: "welsa" <welsa@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Richard Crenna
The news I was reading on line about Dick Crenna had an interesting thing
which I was not aware of before. Crenna appeared in the Sylvester Stallone
RAMBO movies. He played the officer (I've forgotten the rank) who supported
and backed Rambo in his exploits. The character's name was Denton Walters.
A tribute to the role of Walter Denton he created on Our Miss Brooks.
I agree--he was one of the great radio performers. How he managed to
continue to play a 16-year old all those years is beyond me.
Ted
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 23:45:07 -0500
From: "Nemesis@[removed]" <nemesis@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: facsimile
I have a question about the facsimile process that's been described here.
According to several books, the Black Dahlia's fingerprints were somehow
"wired" back east by the Herald Examiner for identification. Is this the
same process?
Linda Thuringer, former girl photog at the HerEx
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 08:43:48 -0500
From: "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: "Radio Music Box"
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 2003 23:12:49 -0500
From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
The first radio receiving set in this country was made in 1916. it was
called the "Radio Musix Box" and was the brain child of David Saroff.
Sarnoff just wrote a memo, and did not actually make the receiver.
But it doesn't say that he made the receiver. It says the receiver was his "brain child."
Sarnoff wrote a memo, describing an idea that he had. Unless someone else got the idea
and he was stealing it, it sounds to me as though the "adio Music Box" was his brain child.
--
A. Joseph Ross, [removed] [removed]
15 Court Square, Suite 210
lawyer@[removed]
Boston, MA 02108-2503
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 08:43:45 -0500
From: "A. Joseph Ross"
<lawyer@[removed];
To:
[removed]@[removed]
Subject: Brace Beemer
Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2003 12:40:46 -0500
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
When Brace Beemer died in 1941 in the auto accident, a very sick and
wounded Lone Ranger was played by some obscure radio actor uttering words
in pain so the children wouldn't recognize the voice difference.
That was Earle W. Graser, not Brace Beemer. Beemer replaced Graser as the Lone Ranger
until the show went off around 1955. He died in 1965.
However, on the subject of radio personalities being ill, when Buffalo Bob Smith had his heart
attack in September 1954, he also had a daily morning radio show on NBC (at 10 AM in the
East). His friend Bob Nicholson, who was probably a regular on the show anyway, hosted
the show until it ended in December. Nicholson also played Clarabell and J. Corneleus
Cobb, and occasionally other characters on the Howdy Doody Show.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 08:44:24 -0500
From: Mike Thompson <mthomp86@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Gale Gordon-Mel Blanc feud?
I'm a big Lucille Ball fan, and this one book I have,
"The Lucy Book," has a short biographical sketch of
Gale Gordon included in it. The author mentioned
Gordon's illustrious career in radio, and wrote that
he was loved by nearly every radio performer he
performed with, "except for a strange antipathy he had
towards Mel Blanc. Perhaps it was because they were
often competitors for the same types of acting jobs,
but the two men just did not get along."
That's the first I've ever heard of any sort of rift
between Gordon and Blanc. Does anyone know anything
more about this?
Mike
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 08:44:52 -0500
From: "Harry Machin, Jr." <harbev5@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Richard Crenna
When I attended the Date With Judy radio broadcast back in
1951, I looked at Crenna and thought "he's my age, I wonder
why he didn't get caught up in the Korean War like I did?" Now
I've learned one reason why not. He was three years older than
me. He would not have been drafted at the age of 24-25. I can
still "see" that tall, gangley, young-looking man standing at his
own microphone. But I will miss him the most because he will
no longer appear on the TV show "Judging Amy." He had a
light-weight role, but my wife insists that I watch that show
with her every week. There was no mention of Crenna's OTR
work in the newpaper I read. Surprise, surprise.
Harry Machin, Jr.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 08:45:04 -0500
From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: B. Rathbone "Christmas Carol"
Adding to the information yesterday about the Basil Rathbone Columbia
record set of "A Christmas Carol", this recording was made in Hollywood on
July 26, 1942. It was also available as an LP as Columbia ML-4081 and on
45s as A-521. Columbia reissued it on CD in 2001.
Michael Biel mbiel@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 08:45:48 -0500
From: otrbuff@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Highway Patrol
Bob Taylor wonders if Highway Patrol was ever on radio. Yes. It's
included in my latest book "Radio Crime Fighters" (McFarland, 2002,
800-253-2187). It ran weekdays over MBS in 1943 and starred Michael
Fitzmaurice and John McGovern.
He also inquires if Broderick Crawford (of the TV series) ever did any
radio. Other than rare guest appearances I'm unaware of anything
permanent. His professional concentration appeared to be in film and TV.
On another subject Bob asks about Hawkshaw Hawkins radio shows. I'm not
aware of any beyond the traditional fare at WSM which might or might not
have been recorded. I used to watch him perform there on Friday and
Saturday nights in the final years before his death in 1963 (in an
airplane crash that also killed Patsy Cline and others). He was a
legendary country singer in the Hank Williams style, though never as well
known. Up close he often looked inebriated though he gave a good
performance every time out. He was married to the Opry's Jeanne Shepherd
who, I believe, has never remarried but continues an active role as one
of the program's most influential women.
Jim Cox
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 08:45:57 -0500
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Today in radio history
>From Those Were The Days --
1954 - The National Negro Network was formed on this date. Some 40 radio
stations were charter members of the network.
Birthdays:
1896 - Nathan Birnbaum (aka George Burns) in New York City, died on
March 9, 1996.
Joe
--
Visit my home page:
[removed]~[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 08:46:23 -0500
From: "e ginsburg" <edginsburg@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Richard Crenna
how I am going to miss that fantastic actor!
His act was truly timeless
He was one of the great highlights of our miss brooks
His Walter Denton, Luke Mccoy (how did they explain 'Sugarbabe's absence the
last few years after athleen Nolan left the show?) and many other characters
now belong to the ages
Thank goodness he will be remembered on tape/cd/mp3
etc
He was so tremendous up to the end
I will even miss him on the tv show Judging Amy
ed
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 08:46:53 -0500
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Typing
On 1/19/03 10:29 PM OldRadio Mailing Lists wrote:
Perhaps the writers did type the original, perhaps they didn't. But I think
it is safe to say that nearly always the networks bank of typists re-did
them in the right format for broadcast.
One example of writers-who-typed-their-own-scripts was Correll and Gosden
-- every single page of the 4,091 episodes of the Amos 'n' Andy serial
was typed by Charles Correll, who had worked as a stenographer just after
graduating from Peoria High School in 1907, and never lost the knack.
Correll typed along as Freeman Gosden dictated the dialogue, and there
are many instances in the scripts where you can see thoughts changing in
mid-sentence and lines being revised in mid-phrase as Gosden
free-associated. The typing is filled with slips and strikeovers and
sometimes entire sections are scratched out by hand and new dialogue
typed in. Examining the scripts is a fascinating window into the actual
creative process, even though they can be a bit messy to look at.
The A&A scripts were typed out phonetically -- specifying the precise
shading of dialect (or lack of dialect) to be spoken by each character --
and this had a long-term effect on Correll's typing ability. For many
years he found it nearly impossible to type a simple letter without
instinctively lapsing into dialect.
For most of the run, there were only three copies of each A&A script: an
original for Gosden, a carbon for Correll, and a second carbon for Bill
Hay. C&G each kept their copies, and Hay's scripts were bundled up and
sent to the Library of Congress in batches as part of the copyright
registration process. But around 1940, the performers decided to have
another set of scripts made up for insurance purposes -- and this job
kept the CBS typing pool busy for several months manually copying out
twelve years' worth of daily scripts.
Gosden liked to tell a story about Louise Summa -- their secretary for 30
years -- very early in the series' run ordering a supply of onionskin
paper for typing the scripts. She got some sort of a discount deal on a
huge quantity of paper, and the performers were a bit puzzled when this
supply of paper was delivered to their office -- their comment was "Do
you really think we'll be on the air that long?" Gosden claimed that they
were *still using* that paper nearly thirty years later.
Elizabeth
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 08:58:05 -0500
From: "Ivan G. Shreve, Jr." <iscreve@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: More "props" to First Generation Radio
Archives
steven kostelecky, with great wisdom, typed:
Speaking of which, I have to plug the First Generation Radio Archives. I
have recently become a member and can think of nothing I've done in the last
year that made me feel like I am really doing something to keep this hobby
going (besides financially supporting this Digest that is). I urge everyone
to do the same if they can at all do so
I would like to second this emotion. I joined up in November of last year
and haven't regretted it for a second. The sampler CD that was included in
my registration kit contained a Jimmy Durante program that had, without a
doubt, the BEST audio I have heard in a long time. It sounded as though I
were sitting in the control room as the broadcast commenced.
I also picked up a nice 10 CD-set of Lum 'n Abner programs that I have
currently been listening to and enjoying the heck out of the same. The
price for these CDs was but a mere pittance--and the shows sound simply
fantastic. I would also urge non-members to check out what the Archives
have to offer. You won't be disappointed.
Ivan G. Shreve, Jr.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 09:22:00 -0500
From: "Bob & Carol Taylor" <qth4@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Hylo Brown Passes Away
Bluegrass Pioneer Hylo Brown passed away on Friday January 17 in Springfield
Ohio.
Frank Brown, the Grand Ole Opry member nicknamed Hylo because of his vocal
range, died Friday morning, January 17th. He was 80.
Brown, a former Springfield resident who made Mechanicsburg his home in
recent years, died just after 4 [removed] in Mercy Medical Center, said his
daughter,
Sheila Brown. Hylo Brown had been in declining health because of cancer, she
said.
Hylo was on Capitol records in the fifties. He received his nickname from a
[removed] who marveled at the way he sang the prisoner's song, The prisoner's
song
is an old tune done in the 20's by Vernon Delhart.
Hylo left the label after a few years. He said in an interview that the
major labels were spending more money on country music and not doing much
with
bluegrass.
I remember hearing some old programs from PikeVille Ky, They were and might
still be available on County records and cd's.
Brown is survived by four daughters and a son.
Visitation is set for 4 to 8 [removed] Monday in the Richards, Raff and Dunbar
Memorial Home. Services will be held there at 10 [removed] Tuesday.
Bob Taylor
[removed] If anyone wants more info on Hylo or any other artist's I will be glad
to help.
[ADMINISTRUIVIA: AN over-long URL to the story in The Springfield News Sun is:
[removed]
--cfs3]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 09:22:03 -0500
From: John Mayer <mayer@[removed];
To: OldRadio Mailing Lists <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Comedy That's Still Funny in the 21st Century
Dixon Hayes offered:
"The Jack Benny Show" and "The Great Gildersleeve" are two high-profile
shows that definitely live up to their reputations. They still hold up
surprisingly well.
I think comedy ages more poorly than drama; check out some of the tv
comedies of the 60's on _Nick at Night_ for proof. Comedy styles
change and vaudeville routines based on puns and malapropisms, for
example, just don't work any more. It's hard to say if comedy has
actually gotten funnier or if it's purely a matter of our frame of
reference changing. But even if the former, humor has also gotten, in
my experience, far more mean-spirited, and that's unfortunate.
I personally don't find either _The Great Gildersleeve_, or _Fibber
McGee and Molly_ very funny, though I find them pleasant, much as I
do _Andy of Mayberry_. A couple of shows that still make me laugh
decades after they were broadcast, though, are _Baby Snooks_ and
_Duffy's Tavern_. And, recalling the earlier thread about the present
day equivalent of OTR's forbidden words, I have often found the _The
Bickersons_, with their frequent references to Don Ameche's heavy
drinking, quite amusing, a source of humor that would almost
certainly be offlimits today.
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #27
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