Subject: [removed] Digest V2008 #205
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 8/25/2008 10:13 PM
To: [removed]@[removed]
Reply-to:
[removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2008 : Issue 205
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Interview on FOTR                     [ seandd@[removed] ]
  8-24 births/deaths                    [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
  Recent Listening                      [ "jazmaan@[removed]" <dmf273@yahoo ]
  Re: Lone Ranger important question    [ "Phil Stallings" <redryder@[removed] ]
  8-25 births/deaths                    [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
  We were plugging along before WEAF    [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
  LONE RANGER DISGUISES                 [ Jim Harmon <jimharmonotr@[removed] ]
  Lone ranger's disguises               [ "Jim Nixon" <ranger6000@[removed] ]
  The Lone Ranger's disguises           [ "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@attorneyross. ]

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

Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:49:14 -0400
From: seandd@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Interview on FOTR

This interview  with me by a public relations blogger covers my volunteer work on behalf of The Friends of Old Time Radio and mentions Max Schmid and WBAI.

[removed]

Sean Dougherty
SeanDD@[removed]

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

Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:49:19 -0400
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  8-24 births/deaths

August 24th births

08-24-1875 - Frank Craven - Boston, MA - d. 9-1-1945
actor: "Arthur Hopkins Presents"; "Cavalcade of America"
08-24-1884 - Earl Der Biggers - Warren, OH - d. 4-5-1933
author: Charlie Chan books
08-24-1896 - Cyril Armbrister - d. 9-18-1966
producer, director: "Chandu the Magician"; "Strange As It Seems";
"Terry and the Pirates"
08-24-1898 - Malcolm Cowley - Belsano, PA - d. 3-28-1989
speaker: "NBC University Theatre"
08-24-1900 - Jimmy Fidler - St. Louis, MO - d. 8-9-1988
commentator: "Jimmy Fidler"
08-24-1900 - Preston Foster - Ocean City, NJ - d. 7-14-1970
actor: "NBC University Theatre"
08-24-1900 - Ralph Kirbery - Patterson, NJ - d. 8-14-1993
singer: (The Dream Singer) "Mohawk Treasure Chest"; "Musical Moments
Revue"
08-24-1903 - Claude Hopkins - Alexandria, VA - d. 2-18-1984
bandleader: "Jubilee"; "Let's Go Nightclubbing"
08-24-1905 - Charles C. Alsup - d. 9-21-1987
sportscaster: KICS Clovis, New Mexico
08-24-1905 - Don Douglas - Kinleyside, Scotland - d. 12-31-1945
actor: "Good News of 1939"; "Cavalcade of America"; "Did Justice
Triumph?"
08-24-1909 - Ridley Bell - d. 6-22-1989
newscaster: WGBA Columbus, Ohio
08-24-1912 - Durward Kirby - Covingnton, KY - d. 3-15-2000
announcer, emcee: "Club Matinee"; "Honeymoon in New York"
08-24-1913 - Howard Duff - Bremerton, WA - d. 7-8-1990
actor: Sam Spade "Advs. of Sam Spade"; Mike McCoy "McCoy"; Josh
Chandler "Dear John"
08-24-1916 - Hal Smith - Petosky, MI - d. 1-28-1994
singer, piccolo: "California Melodies"
08-24-1917 - Dennis James - Jersey City, NJ - d. 6-3-1997
host, announcer: "Lawyer Q"; "Major Bows Original Amateur Hour"
08-24-1923 - Helena Carter - NYC - d. 1-11-2000
actor: "Anacin Hollwood Star Theatre"
08-24-1924 - Lou Teicher - Wilkes Barre, PA - d. 08-03-2008
pianist: (Ferrante and Teicher) "The Zero Hour"; "Hollywood Radio
Theatre"
08-24-1924 - Patricia Maloney - Chisholm MN
newswriter: KSTP St. Paul
08-24-1933 - Bobby Ellis - Chicago, IL - d. 11-23-1973
actor: Henry Aldrich "Aldrich Family"; Chester A. Riley, Jr. "Life of
Riley"
08-24-1957 - Stephen Fry - London, England
actor: Guest Panelist "One Minute Please"

August 24th deaths

01-06-1897 - Billy M. Greene - NYC - d. 8-24-1973
actor: Sheriff McGrath "His Honor, The Barber"
02-15-1916 - Mary Jane Croft - Muncie, IN - d. 8-24-1999
actor: Sandra Martin "Story of Sandra Martin"; Alice Henderson "Beulah"
02-17-1919 - Kathleen Freeman - Chicago, IL - d. 8-24-2001
actor: California Artists Radio Theatre"
02-27-1902 - Joe Tarto - d. 8-24-1976
musician: "The Ipana Troubadors"
04-08-1915 - R. Norwood Smith - San Francisco, CA - d. 8-24-1999
singer: "Norwood Smith Sings"
04-16-1909 - Dick Wynn - d. 8-24-1996
announcer: "Count of Monte  Cristo"; "The Lone Wolf"
06-27-1933 - Gary Crosby - Los Angeles, CA - d. 8-24-1995
singer: "Gary Crosby Show"; "Bing Crosby Show"
08-07-1921 - Warren Covington - Philadelphia, PA - d. 8-24-1999
orchestra leader: "Warren Covington and His Orchestra"
08-28-1900 - Rudy Schrager - Czernowitz, Austria-Hungary - d. 8-24-1983
musical director: "Box 13"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
09-02-1896 - Amanda Randolph - Louisville, KY - d. 8-24-1967
actor: Mama "Amos 'n' Andy"; Oriole "Beulah"
09-04-1903 - Leonard Lee - d. 8-24-1964
writer: "Sherlock Holmes"
09-09-1924 - Jane Greer - Washington, [removed] - d. 8-24-2001
singer, actor: "Rudy Vallee Show"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
09-24-1908 - John Winters - Williamsport, PA - d. 8-24-1990
organist: "Frank Merriwell"; "When a Girl Marries"; "Young Dr. Malone"
09-28-1926 - Jerry Clower - Amite County, MS - d. 8-24-1998
comedian: "The Grand Ole Opry"
10-10-1906 - Paul Creston - NYC - d. 8-24-1985
composer: "Radio Hall of Fame"; "Creeps By Night"
11-18-1885 - James Brennan - Boston, MA - d. 8-24-1956
composer, pianist: "The Sachs Program"
11-19-1940 - Roger Hume - London, England - d. 8-24-1996
actor: Bert Fry "The Archers"
11-20-1912 - Harold Ensley - d. 8-24-2005
produced over 5,000 radio shows
12-07-1912 - Louis Prima - New Orleans,LA - d. 8-24-1978
jazz trumpeter: "You Can't Have Everything"; "Songs by Sinatra"; "The
Navy Swings"
12-07-1939 - Nomi Mitty - NYC - d. 8-24-1994
actor: "The Goldbergs"

Ron Sayles
Real men have Macs

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

Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:49:45 -0400
From: "jazmaan@[removed]" <dmf273@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Recent Listening

I've been listening to quite a few new (to me) shows this week.

The BBC's "A Canticle for Leibowitz" is very well done and in stereo.  It's
like an audiobook with mostly read passages but also with some passages acted
out and with excellent sound effects (like when the protagonist falls into a
hole and you can hear the soil caving in around him.)

I wasn't that impressed with "A Date for Judy".  Kind of corny and typical
sitcom stuff.

I've been very impressed with "Destination Freedom".  African-American
history dramatizations.  So far I've listened to biographical episodes about
Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington.  Both were excellent.

"One Night Stand with Charlie Ventura" was also excellent.  Unlike most of
the "One Night Stand" episodes I've heard, this one actually had Charlie
Ventura in the studio commenting on his own classic recordings including his
two sides with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker!

"The Les Paul Show" episode about "The Les Paulverizer" was very cute with
Mary Ford creating an almost "Sonny and Cher" like atmosphere with her subtle
wisecracks.

I would appreciate hearing any recommendations from this list that will point
me towards specific episodes of any series which you think are outstanding.
As you can see, I like comedy, jazz and sci-fi.

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

Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:51:30 -0400
From: "Phil Stallings" <redryder@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Lone Ranger important question

Frank McGurn asked about The Lone Ranger's disguise.  I'm not sure the
details of his disguise are ever mentioned.  But, that's the beauty of radio
... it could look like what ever YOU wanted it to look like ... "the theatre
of the mind" ... ~Phil Stallings - Webmaster - [removed]

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

Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:51:36 -0400
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  8-25 births/deaths

August 25th births

08-25-1885 - Chick Sale - Huron, SD - d. 11-7-1936
humorist: "General Motors Family Party"; "RCA Victor Hour"
08-25-1896 - Dick Ryan - Connecticut - d. 8-12-1969
actor: "The Nebbs"
08-25-1901 - Ken Christie - Binghamton, NY - d. 4-xx-1967
choral director: "The Ford Summer Hour"; "Telephone Hour"
08-25-1903 - Michael Bartlett - North Oxford, MA - d. 2-1-1978
singer: "The Jack Benny Show"
08-25-1904 - Alice White - Paterson, NJ - d. 2-19-1983
actor: Blondie Bumstead "Blondie"
08-25-1908 - Walter Burke - Brooklyn, NY - d. 8-4-1984
actor: Mark Saber's Assistant "Inspector Mark Saber"
08-25-1909 - Michael Rennie - Bradford, Yorkshire, England - d.
6-10-1971
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
08-25-1910 - Ruby Keeler - Halifax, Nova Scotia - d. 2-28-1993
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
08-25-1911 - Herbert (Edwin) Harris - London, England - d. 4-xx-1995
author: "The Detective's Wife"
08-25-1912 - John Rarig - Washington - d. 1-2-1991
singer: (Member Sportsmen Quartet) "Jack Benny Program"
08-25-1912 - Zinn Arthur - d. 3-11-2003
orchestra leader: WFIL Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
08-25-1913 - Bob Crosby - Spokane, WA - d. 3-9-1993
bandleader, singer: "Camel Caravan"; "Bob Crosby Show"; "Jack Benny
Program"
08-25-1914 - Dolores O'Neill - d. 12-12-2006
singer: The Bob Chester Orchestra
08-25-1916 - Van Johnson - Newport, RI
actor: "Request Performance"; "Romance"; "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Suspense"
08-25-1917 - Mel Ferrer - Elberon, NJ - d. 6-2-2008
actor: "Eternal Light"; "Cloak and Dagger"; "MGM Theatre of the Air"
08-25-1918 - Leonard Bernstein - Lawrence, MA - d. 10-14-1990
conductor: "Metropolitan Opera"
08-25-1918 - Richard Greene - Plymouth, England - d. 6-1-1985
actor: "Somerset Maugham Theatre"; "This Is Hollywood"; "Cavalcade of
America"
08-25-1921 - Monty Hall - Winnipeg, Canada
host (communicator) "Monitor"
08-25-1924 - Karl A. Mackey - Cleveland, OH - d. 10-13-2002
actor: "Hodge Podge Lodge"; "Wizard of Music"
08-25-1931 - Hal Fishman - Brooklyn, NY - d. 8-7-2007
television news anchor: Got start on campus radio at Cornell
08-25-1931 - Regis Philbin - NYC
newscaster: KOGO San Diego

August 25th deaths

01-19-1919 - Ray Eberle - Hoosick Falls, NY - d. 8-25-1979
singer: "Glenn Miller and His Orchestra"; "Glenn Miller's Moonlight
Serenade"
01-22-1920 - William Warfield - West Helena, AR - d. 8-25-2002
bass-baritone singer: "Edgar Bergen Show"; "Beyond Victory"
02-12-1912 - Stan Kenton - Wichita, KS - d. 8-25-1979
bandleader: "Bob Hope Show"; "Stan Kenton Concerts"
02-14-1900 - Eddie Marr - New Jersey - d. 8-25-1987
actor: Press Agent "Jack Carson Show"; "Jack Benny Program"; "I Fly
Anything"
03-06-1934 - Art Blaske - d. 8-25-1997
disk jockey: KFAM St. Cloud, Minnesota
03-28-1896 - Abram E. Borodkin - Russia - d. 8-25-1978
cellist: NBC and CBS networks
04-08-1881 - Arthur B. Allen - Gowanda, NY - d. 8-25-1947
actor: "Snow Village Sketches"; "Kate Smith Show"; Stebbens Boys"
04-10-1927 - Sidney Appleman - Chicago, IL - d. 8-25-1994
string bassist: Clyde McCoy's Band
04-25-1915 - Cliff Bruner - Houston, TX - d. 8-25-2000
fiddle: "The Musical Brownies"
04-25-1916 - Irving Gaynor Neiman - d. 8-25-1996
began career by writing scripts for NBC
04-27-1882 - Herman Bundesen - d. 8-25-1960
health official: "Adventures in Health"
05-21-1923 - Dorothy Hewett - Perth, Western Australia - d. 8-25-2002
writer: "Frost at Midnight"
06-06-1891 - Ted Lewis - Circleville, OH - d. 8-25-1971
singer: "Texaco Star Theatre"; "Radio Hall of Fame"
06-18-1914 - [removed] Marshall - Owatonna, MN - d. 8-25-1998
narrator: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"
06-22-1919 - Gower Champion - Geneva, IL - d. 8-25-1980
choreographer: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Guest Star"
07-23-1908 - Irving Mansfield - d. 8-25-1988
producer: "It's Always Albert"; "The Morey Amsterdam Show"
08-11-1915 - Berne Surrey - d. 8-25-1992
sound effects: "Suspense (Sorry, Wrong Number)"; "Whistler"; "Sam Spade"
08-27-1905 - Frederick O'Neal - Brooksville, MA - d. 8-25-1992
actor: "New World A-Coming"
09-09-1899 - Waite Hoyt - Brooklyn, NY - d. 8-25-1984
sportscaster, "Sports Review"; "According to Hoyt"; play-by-play:
Cincinnati Reds
09-22-1895 - Paul Muni - Lemberg, Austria-Hungary - d. 8-25-1967
actor: "Free Company"; "Radio Hall of Fame"
09-26-1929 - Peter Dews - Yorkshire, England - d. 8-25-1997
producer: "The Archers"
09-30-1924 - Truman Capote - New Orleans, LA - d. 8-25-1984
author: "Cather: A Look of Remembrance"
10-03-1918 - Perry Lafferty - Davenport, IA - d. 8-25-2005
producer: "Meet the Music"; "Columbia Workshop"
10-24-1894 - Ted "Kid" Lewis - London, England - d. 8-25-1971
bandleader: "Live Band Remotes"

Ron Sayles
Real men own a Mac

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

Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:52:04 -0400
From: <otrbuff@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  We were plugging along before WEAF

1922 - The first commercial to be broadcast on radio was heard on WEAF
in New York City.

It just ain't necessarily so.

The first substantiated commercial on the air according to Charles Wolfe,
director of radio and TV testing at Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn, Inc.,
exited the mouth of Arthur B. Church of Lamoni, Iowa in 1915.  Speaking over
9WU, his ham radio operation, Church unabashedly publicized the supplies and
parts he carried for sale in his own inventory for the apparatus used in
transmitting ham radio.  For it, he was "flooded" with responses and
inquiries from others sharing his passion.  In fact, his phenomenal success
led him to open a direct-mail commerce that ultimately morphed into a
wholesale and retail operation.

On Oct. 17, 1919, Westinghouse engineer Dr. Frank Conrad of Pittsburgh, on
his experimental station 8XK that was converted a short time afterward to
KDKA, offered recorded music selections (thereby presumably becoming the
world's first DJ) by placing a microphone before his gramophone.  Responses
were swift and strong, asking for certain records to be played on the air.
Unable to cope with the escalating challenge, when Conrad ran through his
personal collection of records during his two-nights-per-week show, the
proprietor of Wilkinsburg's Hamilton Music Store, a regular listener,
offered to supply him with fresh vinyl discs in exchange for mentioning that
they were available at the retail emporium.  It was the first
sponsor-broadcaster relationship, the second time we know that a commercial
arrangement was proffered on the air.

In a third instance, shortly before Christmas 1921, impresario Vincent Lopez
routinely urged listeners over WJZ to call the Grill Room of the Hotel
Pennsylvania for reservations to his entourage's dinner show and subsequent
performances.  "The flood of incoming telephone calls knocked out one of
midtown Manhattan's major telephone exchanges," one reporter wrote.  In this
early attempt at a remote band pickup, it was obvious that radio had the
command to motivate many fans to do its bidding.

And of course there may have been lots of other examples that went
unnoticed.

All of this is recounted more extensively in my newest book released this
summer that explores a niche historiographers have almost missed ... "Sold
on Radio:  Advertisers in the Golden Age of Broadcasting"
([removed] and 800-253-2187) ... 322 pages in hardback surveying
where radio took us before and after we heard "And now, a word from our
sponsor."

Some will argue differently, but it seems that the infomercial for apartment
dwelling in Jackson Heights couldn't possibly have been "the first
commercial to be broadcast on radio" given the facts we know.

Jim Cox

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

Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:52:56 -0400
From: Jim Harmon <jimharmonotr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  LONE RANGER DISGUISES

LONE RANGER DISGUISES

The unmasked face of the Lone Ranger was known only to Tonto and nephew Dan
Reid, and occasionally to those about to die such as Dan's foster
grandmother, Grandma Frisby, and the fatally injured Butch Cavendish on the
occasion of his final escape from prison.   However, the usually Masked Man
was generally not content to merely use his own unmasked countenance to
change his appearance from that of the Lone Ranger, known across the length
and breadth of seven states.   He did do that often in not-quite-official
second Lone Ranger movie serial, even assuming a regular false name, Bill
Andrews.  Of course, he also appeared unmasked in the first movie serial,
except the audience did not know which of seven Texas Rangers he really was.

In most cases after removing his mask he would change the face revealed.  He
would darkened the skin, staining it with "herbs:.  He would sometimes add a
false beard or a fake scar.  It was not said how he did this exactly, but
theatrical stage make-up at the time included colodion to create puckered
scars and spirit gum to attach false facial hair.  In at least one case he
disguised his face before letting himself be captured and unmasked.  "No, I
never seen this ugly looking hombre before."  All this is based on actual
happenings from the radio series, not just conjecture on my part.   There is
no doubt that the Lone Ranger wished to keep his face hidden.  On apocryphal
story told of the Lone Ranger and Tonto going in for a cleansing swim,
skinny-dipping.   A stagecoach went by with members of the women's church
choir and the Ranger hastily grabbed his eye mask and covered up. -- JIM
HARMON

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

Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:53:37 -0400
From: "Jim Nixon" <ranger6000@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Lone ranger's disguises

Frank McGurn posed a question about how the Lone Ranger, often with Tonto's
help, disguised himself.  This is an interesting question because the script
writers, Fran Striker in particular and others who assisted him, made it a
point not to reveal too much detail about the masked man's disguises.  We
know he kept old clothing in his saddlebag in case he needed to appear to be
an  ordinary cowpuncher.  We know that Tonto often used stains made with
berries to darken his complexion, as if being out in the sun all day didn't
darken it enough.  (Perhaps he needed to soften the lines that outlined the
area covered by the mask!)  Occasionally, Tonto would fashion some kind of
scar on his cheek, but we were never told how he did this.  Once in a while,
Tonto made him appear to look exactly like some criminal he was trying to
catch in order that he could pass himself off as the bad man.  But many of
his disguises required more elaborate clothing than that which he was likely
to carry with him.  However, it was not explained how he obtained another
hat, for example, or different boots.  If Silver was too distinctive, he did
exchange horses with Tonto.  As for facial hair, I cannot think of an
adventure off the top of my head in which a moustache was specifically
mentioned, let alone a full beard.  These would have undoubtedly been the
fastest and most efficient means to fashion a disguise.  Of course, since no
one knew what he looked like without his mask, except Tonto, Dan, Mustang
Mag and President Grant, it wouldn't take much to stroll into town
pretending to be a visiting cowpoke.
Maybe the most audacious instance of Ranger disguises is the "Stageline
Challenge" series, broadcast from June 30, 1939 to July 17, 1939 in which
Jay Michael takes the role of the Lone Ranger while Earle Graser was on his
two-week vacation.  The premise of this story arc was that the Ranger had
disguised his features to resemble those of a famous stage driver and he
altered his voice to mimic the man's speech.  Jay even gets to holler "Hi
yo, Silver" once.

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

Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:54:02 -0400
From: "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  The Lone Ranger's disguises

Date: Sat, 23 Aug 2008 14:31:38 -0400
From: Frank McGurn <[removed]@[removed];

 Dose he change cloths, have a fake mustache, Change his guns &
bullets. I would assume that taking off his mask would be enough of
a disguise, because know body, except Tonto and his nephew, knows
what he looks like with out the mask Isn't that enough of a
disguise?

No.  There are likely to be people around who might have known him in
his former life who might recognize him.  In fact, there was one such
instance, in a show in the early 1950s, described in Jim Harmon's
book, where the LR joined an outlaw gang in order to bring them in.
He was recognized by a lawman who is also in the gang, though I don't
recall that it hampered his work any.

In the radio show, the LR simply spoke of disguising his features and
then changed his voice.  On the TV show, he usually used different
clothes and frequently a false beard.  I don't know about his
bullets, but there was an eposide in 1956, which appears in the DVD
set that I got recently from the public library, in which Tonto
disguises himself as an outlaw in prison and leads a prison break.
On the outside, he meets his accomplice, "Stark," who is the LR
without a false beard, and without a change in voice, just a false
scar on his face.

At some point the LR is recognized because "Stark" rides a white
horse and uses silver bullets -- something I thought pretty stupid of
the Lone Ranger.

--
A. Joseph Ross, [removed]                           [removed]
 92 State Street, Suite 700                   Fax [removed]
Boston, MA 02109-2004           	         [removed]

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2008 Issue #205
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