------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2007 : Issue 361
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Re:"Night Beat" record set [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
Tune into Yesterday newsletter [ Graeme Stevenson <graemeotr@[removed] ]
Re: Lights Out / Three Men [ "R. R. King" <kingrr@[removed]; ]
Re: Radio in Cinema [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
CHRISTMAS SHOW [ "Bob Burchett" <haradio@[removed] ]
Favorite OTR Christmas Shows [ Ken Stockinger <bambino032004-otr@y ]
Out of the mouths of babes [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
Edgar Bergan [ "Joe" <jpostove@[removed]; ]
OVER-DUBBING RIDES AGAIN [ DurangoKid@[removed] ]
12-26 births/deaths [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
#OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Nig [ charlie@[removed] ]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2007 03:10:54 -0500
From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re:"Night Beat" record set
Randy A. Riddle discussed a set of three 45 RPM records which appear to be a
prospectus recording for potential advertisers of "Night Beat." During
1949, the first year of 45s, RCA Victor pressed almost all of them on
colored transparent vinyl that was color-coded to the series. Blue was
used for the regular popular series, but this NBC set was obviously not
meant for public sale. I agree that it seems likely that RCA Victor pressed
these discs, therefore, Randy, although you probably have not seen it since
you have only recently returned to the Digest, I have been preaching here
over and over that if you have the discs sitting there in front of you, give
us the matrix numbers. If we are lucky they will work like magic to give us
all sorts of info including dates. Are the engraved numbers also on the
labels? In all likelihood when reading the engraved numbers they will be at
the 6 O'clock position. Then look very carefully up around the 12 o'clock
position to see if there is another tiny engraved letter such as R, I, or H.
That indicates the RCA pressing plant, Rockaway, [removed], Indianapolis, or
Hollywood. They might not have started using the embossed letter because
they were initially planning on using a secret double-dash code on the label
in the trademark area, but that trademark info would not be on this
non-commercial label. Lastly, another indication on how early a 45 these
would be is the thin area around the spindle hole. Does it slope gradually
to the hole for a half inch or so, or is it a sudden thinning only about an
eighth of an inch around the hole? The latter is how the 45 pressings were
for the first few months. All this might not seem important to OTR
collectors, but record collectors and discographers know it can help
identify or date an otherwise unidentified recording. (These are the same
sorts of things a coin collector would ask someone who just said that they
had this-here quarter.)
Randy also brought up an interesting historical point:
After listening to it, I can understand why Columbia
won the "war of the speeds" for longer format material.
Flipping sides six times to listen to a half-hour drama
is just silly.
Ah, but these were not meant to be played on a single manual turntable.
Broadcast studios always had at least two turntables, so if the record set
was arranged with sides 1 and 4 on the first disc, then 2 and 5 , and lastly
3 and 6, these were meant to be used on dual turntables. BUT if they were
set up with sides 1 and 6, then 2 and 5, and lastly 3 and 4, they were meant
to be played on a changer. The first changers specifically designed for 45s
were FAST!!! The change was made in one revolution of the record, which is
one and a half second. It was expected that you could go from
music-to-music in no more than three seconds. But these changers were too
fast, and by the end of 1949 RCA Victor had to redesign them to about 1 1/2
or 2 revolutions. Still less than 5 seconds. But this required a small
changer that only played 45s. A 3-speed changer had a long tone arm and a
large turntable, and this required longer changing times to move the long
arm so much further than the small changer required. That made some change
times 6 to 10 seconds and ruined the 45's chance to be successful for
long-form recordings.
BUT you might ask, even with the early fast changer, what about the middle
of the program when you had to turn over the stack of records? Wouldn't an
LP of the Columbia system have been better? NO! If they put this on a
10-inch LP, there would still have been a side change in the middle! And
until 1952 they had not been able to get more than about 23 minutes on a
12-inch LP side.
One last thought, depending on how early this set is, did NBC expect that
the receiving person or company had 45 RPM equipment yet? Believe me, there
was a BIG push on the part of RCA to get radio stations and the public
equipped for 45s. All radio stations already had two-speed turntables
although they had to add a second tone arm in order to play microgroove LPs.
But modifying turntables to play a third speed was nearly impossible with
one major exception. RCA found a way to modify their HUGE gear-drive
broadcast monster turntables. I have one of these modified turntables and
the instruction book on how to install the modification. Looks like it
might have been a full day job. The broadcast aspect of the war of the
speeds is something that very few people have ever thought about. The war
of the speeds for the public is well known and well written about, but it
was even more of a problem at broadcasting stations.
Michael Biel mbiel@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2007 04:25:48 -0500
From: Graeme Stevenson <graemeotr@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Tune into Yesterday newsletter
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Readers of the OTR Digest in the UK might be interested to know that the
latest edition of Tune into Yesterday newsletter is now available from the
Old Time Radio Show Collectors Assoc . ( ORCA ). Included in the new edition
are articles about the US Army station at Linz in Austria in 1945 ( members
can hire recordings of this station transferred by Dave Goldin for us from
the original discs ), the first part of an article by Bernard Wichert about
OSS programmes beamed to Germany in 1944, AFN Berlin remembered by German
listener Dieter Salemann, and a 1934 article about the BBC's blettnerphone
recording system. There are also many old programmes available for members to
hire on tape, CD and mp3 CD.
To obtain a copy of the newsletter in the UK, send a cheque for one pound
and fifty pence to : John Wolstenholme, PO Box 1922, Dronfield, S18 8XA
Graeme Stevenson Editor : Tune into Yesterday newsletter ORCA / UK
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2007 04:28:48 -0500
From: "R. R. King" <kingrr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Lights Out / Three Men
LIGHTS OUT
Episode 71 12-22-37 "The Uninhabited"
Host and author: Arch Oboler
I'm pretty sure that Arch Oboler didn't write this episode of Lights
Out.
The 20 December 1948 episode of NBC's Radio City Playhouse uses a
slightly revised version of the same script, entitled "Three Men," and
credits it to Wyllis Cooper.
Cooper wrote LO from 1934-1936 and the 25 December 1935 Chicago
Tribune reports that that night's episode is scheduled to be "a
Christmas play about three men in France" -- the same premise as the
surviving LO recording which is dated 22 December 1937, during Arch
Oboler's 1936-38 run. I suspect that the recording is a rebroadcast of
the earlier Cooper play.
(As it happens, Oboler was out of town at the time, having left
Chicago in late '37 to work for a couple of months on a West coast
variety series called "Your Hollywood Parade." The scripts are buried
somewhere in the [removed] files and indicate that Oboler
contributed at least nine dramatic sketches to YHP from 8 December
1937 to 9 February 1938. He actually DID have a holiday play air on 22
December 1937. It was a YHP sketch called "Christmas Present" starring
the Mauch Twins, Billy Halop and Leo Gorcey!)
I'm not sure where the title "Uninhabited" comes from. Does anybody
know? It's not used in the episode itself and doesn't really match the
content of the script. Perhaps an LO episode entitled "Uninhabited"
was scheduled to air but, for some reason, was replaced by a
rebroadcast of Cooper's holiday-appropriate story? That's just a
guess, though.
The script has some things in common with Cooper's Quiet Please story
"Rede Me This Riddle" which uses the same King James idiom and some of
the same plot and characters as the "Biblical" portion of the LO
script. Also, Cooper the World War I veteran (who, like the script's
army officers, was in France at the close of the Great War) often
wrote stories informed by his war experiences (the Empire Builders
Armistice Day story, for example).
Here's another little nugget. The 11 December 1947 Bridgeport (CT)
Post reports:
***
FAIRFIELD PREP DRAMA
"The Three Men," an original Christmas production by Willis Cooper,
will be broadcast Sunday at 2:30 by WICC in cooperation with Fairfield
Prep. The drama will be directed by the Rev. J. Joseph Ryan and the
Rev. David Commiskey, with Ken Rapleff as producer. In the cast are
Roy Daly, John Gonzalez, George Thomas, Geoffrey Ryan, Judson Bump and
Anthony Pellegrino.
***
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2007 04:30:07 -0500
From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Radio in Cinema
On 12/16/2007Jim Hilliker asked whether there was an earlier Hollywood movie
to feature radio as part of the plot than the 1925 Our Gang film called
"Mary, Queen of Tots"
which featured a short scene showing Uncle John
Daggett of KHJ radio in Los Angeles, with the radio
station as part of the plot of the movie, after the kids
turn on a radio. in somebody's home.
While this might not be a "Hollywood" movie since it was filmed in New York,
but just today I received the DVD set about the early 20s deForest
Phonofilms "The First Sound of Movies" and I was astonished to see that in
1922!! Monroe Silver performed a version of his routine "Cohen On The Radio"
on this commercially shown soundfilm system!!! I have all the versions of
this routine that he made on phonograph records, but this film was
completely unknown to me. So here is broadcasting portrayed in a movie in
1922.
It already was a surprise when I told David and Susan Siegel that Silver's
"early 20s" film of "Cohen on the Telephone" was a talkie, not a silent
film, but now here comes this even bigger surprise.
By the way, if you have not already gotten a copy of the Siegels' new book
"Radio and the Jews" you MUST make an unbreakable New Year's resolution to
immediately order it. It would have made a great Christmas present, and it
would have been an even better Hanukkah present (I gave a copy of it to my
daughter Leah), but better late than never. And it comes with a great CD.
The book is expertly and exhaustively researched, and will answer many
questions that you didn't even ask yet. (And congrats to them on their very
informative interview on XM's Radio Hanukkah channel a couple of weeks ago.)
Michael Biel mbiel@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2007 12:28:08 -0500
From: "Bob Burchett" <haradio@[removed];
To: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: CHRISTMAS SHOW
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One of my favorites is the Gunsmoke Christmas show.
Mat is trying to get back to Dodge for Christmas.
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2007 12:28:27 -0500
From: Ken Stockinger <bambino032004-otr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Favorite OTR Christmas Shows
Hi Everyone,
My all-time favorite Christmas show has to be
"Amos 'n Andy" when Andy plays Santa Claus to get a
doll for Arbadella. And when Amos does "The Lord's
Prayer", I never fail to tear up.
Another one I need to hear every year is an
episode of The Shadow entitled "Joey's Christmas
Story". This was probably the first Christmas themed
OTR show I had ever heard after getting into the
hobby, so it has special meaning to me.
Time to go downstairs and see what's under the
tree. I may have been dreaming, but I swore that last
night I heard sleigh bells. :)
To the wonderful folks of the OTR Digest, from my
family to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas!
Ken Stockinger
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2007 12:29:27 -0500
From: <otrbuff@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Out of the mouths of babes
A man that inspired a lot of what we heard -- and later saw -- in daytime
television has passed. Jack Linkletter, 70-year-old son of Art Linkletter,
died of lymphoma Dec. 18, his 95-year-old dad reported. Jack was a
broadcaster in his own right no doubt stemming from the influence at home.
Jack was Art's inspiration for interviewing young children on "House Party"
all those years (1945-67 on radio, 1952-70 on TV). It came about like this,
according to The Los Angeles Times:
Art Linkletter recalled that he was still a radio personality in San
Francisco when 5-year-old Jack came home from his first day of kindergarten.
Art was speaking into an early recording machine when Jack came into the
room and asked what he was doing.
"I'm just practicing my radio voice," said Art. "Come over here, and I'll
interview you."
"Jack, what did you do today?" asked Art.
"I went to school for the first time," said Jack.
"How did you like it?"
"I'm not going back."
"Why aren't you going back?"
"Because I can't read, I can't write, and they won't let me talk."
Art got such a kick out of the exchange that he played his interview with
Jack on his "Who's Dancing Tonight?" Sunday-night interview show broadcast
from the St. Francis Hotel.
Afterward, he recalled, "Mail came in from all over Northern California
saying what a wonderful thing it is to hear a little boy talking to his
daddy, and it struck me that there were no interviews with children as
children; they were always professional children -- trained, coached and
written for."
After launching "House Party" in Hollywood in 1945, Art began interviewing
four children between the ages of 4 and 10 during the last five minutes of
each show -- about 27,000 children over the years.
"Jack opened my eyes for the first time to the joy of just hearing kids say
the 'darndest' things," Art said.
Jim Cox
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2007 17:26:06 -0500
From: "Joe" <jpostove@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Edgar Bergan
What About Bergen's Hands?
I've listened to Bergen and Company for years now, and something just
occurred to me that must have occurred to others here, and is known by some.
While doing the radio show how did Bergen handle the dummies? And then the
question arises, how did he handle the script?
Did EB use the dummies while performing the radio show? And if so, how did
he handle the script? With only two hands he couldn't really work Charlie
and Mortimer and the others and hold the script too. Not to mention turning
from page to page.
I don't know, but I would think that he would use the dummies for the
benefit of the studio audience (how disappointing it would be to attend a
Chase and Sanborn Hour and not see Charlie McCarthy, Mortimer Snerd and the
rest).
I know somebody on the list must know the answer to this question.
Thanks,
Joe Postove
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2007 17:26:33 -0500
From: DurangoKid@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: OVER-DUBBING RIDES AGAIN
I am wondering if anybody knows of any other instances where old
radio recordings have been over-dubbed with new music? If so, I'd be
interested to know the details.
Even tho this isn't OTR, it's close ! ! There's a new DVD box set
of six (6) John Wayne "B" Westerns (early 1930's) that is computer
colored, new music and some over-dubbed dialog, according to Bobb
Lynes . . . The computer coloring is EXCELLENTLY done . . .
Along with the color version of the movies, there's
the B/W version for you die hards . . Also, each disc has some
bonus features: shorts, trailers, commercials he did for a
savings & loan and trivia (about JW) games . . AND a 73 min
documentary he narrates titled: NO SUBSTITUTE FOR VICTORY
The box set is called: JOHN WAYNE IN COLOR by Legend Films and
Genius Entertainment . . .
Glenn E. Mueller
Rowland Heights, CA
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2007 22:10:56 -0500
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 12-26 births/deaths
December 26th births
12-26-1874 - Leon Rothier - Rheims, France - d. 12-6-1951
opera singer: "The Metropolitan Opera"
12-26-1891 - Tony Wons - Menasha, WI - d. 7-1-1965
host: "Tony Wons Scrapbook"; "House by the Side of the Road"; "Camel
Quarter Hour"
12-26-1893 - Vladimir Golschmann - Paris, France - d. 3-1-1972
conductor: New York Philharmonic
12-26-1900 - Charles Perry - NYC - d. 2-26-1967
producer, sports announcer: WHN New York
12-26-1902 - Irene Handl - London, England - d. 11-29-1987
actor: "Hello Playmates"
12-26-1905 - Robert Magidoff - d. 2-xx-1970
NBC newscaster
12-26-1906 - Ashley Buck - d. 2-6-1980
writer: "We Are Always Young"
12-26-1908 - Carmine Anthony - d. 6-xx-1981
disk jockey: WOC Davenport, Iowa; WJJD Chicago, Illinois
12-26-1914 - Richard Widmark - Sunrise, MN
actor: Neil Davison "Home of the Brave"; Alan Webster "Joyce Jordan,
[removed]"
12-26-1921 - Steve Allen - NYC - d. 10-30-2000
comedian, actor, singer, composer and anything else you might
mention: "Steve Allen Show"
12-26-1924- Jimmy Blaine - Greenville, TX - d. 3-18-1967
announcer: "Lannie Ross Show"; "Ladies Be Seated"
December 26th deaths
01-13-1913 - Jeff Morrow - NYC - d. 12-26-1993
actor: "Electric Theatre"
02-14-1894 - Jack Benny - Chicago, IL - d. 12-26-1974
comedian: "Jack Benny Program"
04-05-1929 - Nigel Hawthorne - Coventry, England - d. 12-26-2001
actor: Acted for his college radio station at the University of Cape
Town
05-08-1884 - Harry S Truman - Lamar, MO - d. 12-26-1972
[removed] president: "Milestones on the Road to Peace"; "World Food Crisis"
05-17-1895 - Gayelord Hauser - Tubingen, Germany - d. 12-26-1984
nutritionist: "Look Younger and Live Longer"
07-14-1913 - Gerald R. Ford - Omaha, NE - d. 12-26-2006
accidental [removed] president: "Meet the Press"
07-22-1922 - Jason Robards, Jr. - Chicago, IL - d. 12-26-2000
actor: "Pepper Young's Family"
08-12-1911 - Dr. Olan Downes - West Roxbury, MA - d. 12-26-2001
musicologist: "Texaco Metropolitan Opera"; "New York Philharmonic"
08-22-1851 - Daniel Frohman - Sandusky, OH - d. 12-26-1940
broadway producer: "Lux Radio Theatre"
10-28-1902 - Elsa Lanchester - Lewisham, England - d. 12-26-1986
actor: "Arch Oboler's Plays"; "Columbia Presents Corwin"; "Everyman's
Theatre"
xx-xx-1923 - Jimmie Osborne - Winchester, KY - d. 12-26-1958
singer: "WLS Barn Dance"; "WLW Midwestern Hayride"
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2007 02:12:01 -0500
From: charlie@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Night!
A weekly [removed]
For the best in OTR Chat, join IRC (Internet Relay Chat), StarLink-IRC
Network, the channel name is #OldRadio. We meet Thursdays at 8 PM Eastern
and go on, and on! The oldest OTR Chat Channel, it has been in existence
over nine years, same time, same channel! Started by Lois Culver, widow
of actor Howard Culver, this is the place to be on Thursday night for
real-time OTR talk!
Our "regulars" include OTR actors, soundmen, collectors, listeners, and
others interested in enjoying OTR from points all over the world. Discussions
range from favorite shows to almost anything else under the sun (sometimes
it's hard for us to stay on-topic)...but even if it isn't always focused,
it's always a good time!
For more info, contact charlie@[removed]. We hope to see you there, this
week and every week!
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2007 Issue #361
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