Subject: [removed] Digest V2007 #337
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 11/30/2007 10:18 PM
To: [removed]@[removed]
Reply-to:
[removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2007 : Issue 337
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  11-30 births/deaths                   [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
  re: Howdy Doody                       [ "Carl J. Chimi" <cchimi@[removed]; ]
  re: Willard Waterman                  [ "Carl J. Chimi" <cchimi@[removed]; ]
  Re: Bob Bailey's 'Johnny Dollar' Swa  [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
  Howdy Doody                           [ "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@attorneyross. ]
  Network timelines                     [ Ken Greenwald <kgradio@[removed]; ]
  Re: Missed opportunity                [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
  Re: radio jingles                     [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
  Re: Empire State Building crash       [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
  Re: TV Shows That Spun Off of Radio   [ Anthony Tollin <sanctumotr@earthlin ]
  Typecasting                           [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
  TV to Radio                           [ jack and cathy french <otrpiano@ver ]

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

Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 22:03:01 -0500
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  11-30 births/deaths

November 30th births

11-30-1667 - Jonathan Swift - Dublin, Ireland - d. 10-19-1745
writer: Works used on the "Columbia Workshop"
11-30-1873 - Frederic William Wile - La Porte, IN - d. 4-7-1941
commentator: "Political Situation in Washington"
11-30-1874 - Winston Churchill - Oxfordshire, England - d. 1-24-1965
british prime minister: War time broadcasts
11-30-1884 - Rev. Dr. Daniel A. Poling - Portland, OR - d. 2-7-1968
clergyman: "The National Youth Conference"
11-30-1885 - Charles West - Pittsburgh, PA - d. 10-10-1943
actor: "Dramas of Youth"
11-30-1889 - Vito Pellettieri - d. 4-xx-1977
stage manager: "Grand Ole Opry"
11-30-1890 - Ramsey Hill - Georgetown, Guyana - d. 2-3-1976
actor: "Escape"; "NBC University Theatre"
11-30-1894 - Donald Ogden Stewart - Columbus, OH - d. 8-2-1980
writer: "Information Please"
11-30-1900 - Geoffrey Household - Briston, England - d. 10-4-1988
writer: "NBC Presents: Short Story"
11-30-1903 - Frank Worth - Debrezin, Hungary - d. 5-3-1990
orchestra leader: "Richard Diamond, Private Detective"; Those Websters"
11-30-1906 - John Dickson Carr - Uniontown, PA - d. 2-27-1977
writer: "Suspense"; "Cabin B-13"; "Murder by Experts"
11-30-1907 - Happy Felton - Bellevue, PA - d. 10-21-1964
actor: "Pot 'O Gold"; "Finders Keepers"; "Stop the Music"
11-30-1907 - Jack Brinkley - Oxford, NC - d. 8-8-1972
announcer, actor: "Aunt Jemima"; "Couple Next Door"
11-30-1913 - John K. M. McCaffrey - Moscow, ID - d. 10-3-1983
newscaster: "Author Meets the Critics"; "What Makes You Tick?"
11-30-1914 - Charles Hawtrey - Hounslow, Middlesex, England - d.
10-27-1988
actor, comedian: Hubert Lane "Just William"
11-30-1915 - Brownie McGhee - Knoxville, TN - d. 2-16-1996
blues guitarist, singer: "New World A' Coming"; "This Is Jazz)
11-30-1917 - William Ash - Dallas, TX
Senior script editor for the BBC radio drama department
11-30-1918 - Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. - NYC
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
11-30-1919 - Joe Cabbibo - d. 10-xx-1973
sound effects: "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar"; "Tennessee Jed".
"Counterspy"
11-30-1920 - Virginia Mayo - St. Louis, MO - d. 1-17-2005
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
11-30-1926 - Dick Crenna - Los Angeles, CA - d. 1-18-2003
actor: Oogie Pringle, "A Date with Judy"; "Walter Denton, "Our Miss
Brooks"
11-30-1929 - Dick Clark - Mount Vernon, NY
host: "March of Dimes March of Stars"; "Tribute to Murray the K"
11-30-1947 - David Mamet - Chicago, IL
writer: "Earplay"
11-30-1952 - Mandy Patinkin - Chicago, IL
actor: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"

November 30th deaths

01-11-1908 - Lionel Stander - The Bronx, NY - d. 11-30-1994
actor: J. Riley Farnsworth "Life of Riley"; Hoolihan "Grapevine Rancho"
01-27-1916 - Merrill Mueller - NYC - d. 11-30-1980
reporter: "NBC Stands By"; "Morning News Roundup"; "The Navy Hour"
01-28-1892 - Ernst Lubitsch - Berlin Germany - d. 11-30-1947
film director: Intermission Guest "Lux Radio Theatre"
02-10-1910 - Joyce Grenfell - London, England - d. 11-30-1979
writer, actor: "How"; "A Note with Music"; "We Beg to Differ"
02-25-1901 - Zeppo Marx - NYC  - d. 11-30-1979
comedian: (Marx Brothers) "American Review"
03-20-1890 - Gigli Beniamino - Recanti, Italy - d. 11-30-1957
operatic tenor: "Atwater Kent Hour"
04-07-1878 - Bert Swor - Paris, TN - d. 11-30-1943
comedian: "Modern Mistrels"; "Bicycle Party"
04-08-1900 - Bert "Mad Russian" Gordon - NYC - d. 11-30-1974
comedian: "Eddie Cantor Show"; Yasha "Duffy's Tavern"
04-28-1900 - Val Gielgud - London England - d. 11-30-1981
writer: (Brother of John Gielgud) "The Columbia Workshop"
05-08-1899 - Arthur Q. Bryan - Brooklyn, NY - d. 11-30-1959
actor: George 'Doc' Gamble "Fibber McGee and Molly"
05-10-1884 - Olga Petrova - Tur Brook, England - d. 11-30-1977
actor, writer: "Mary Margaret McBride"
05-12-1901 - Harold "Scrappy" Lambert - New Brunswick, NY - d.
11-30-1987
singer: Mark "Smith Brothers: Trade and Mark"; "Town Hall Tonight"
06-23-1894 - Laurie York Erskine - England - d. 11-30-1976
author: "Renfrew of the Mounted"; "Adventure Story"; "National
Children's Week"
07-29-1900 - Don Redman - Piedmont, WV - d. 11-30-1964
bandleader: "Don Redman and His Orchestra"; "Chipso Radio Program"
08-11-1915 - Jean Parker - Deer Lodge, MT - d. 11-30-2005
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
08-15-1910 - Johnny Roventini - Brooklyn, NY - d. 11-30-1998
commercial announcer: (Call for Phil-lip Mor-ress) "Ferde Grofe
Show"; "Johnny Presents"
08-26-1896 - Phil Baker - Philadelphia, PA - d. 11-30-1963
comedian, emcee: "Honolulu Bound"; "Take It or Leave It"
10-09-1922 - Phil Sterling - d. 11-30-1998
actor: "Radio City Playhouse"; "Hilltop House"; "Special Agent"
10-16-1854 - Oscar Wilde - Dublin, Ireland - d. 11-30-1900
writer: "The Columbia Workshop"
12-04-1889 - Buck Jones - Vincennes, IN - d. 11-30-1942
actor: "Hoofbeats"
12-08-1906 - Richard Llewellyn - St. David's, Wales - d. 11-30-1983
author: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "NBC University Theatre"
xx-xx-1927 - Jim Brown - d. 11-30-2004
announcer: "Give and Take"

Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:34:00 -0500
From: "Carl J. Chimi" <cchimi@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  re: Howdy Doody


 11-27-1917 - Buffalo Bob Smith - Buffalo, NY - d. 7-30-1998
actor:  Howdy Doody "Howdy Doody"

Buffalo Bob starred with Howdy but he didn't play him as I interpret  the
above entry to imply.

Actually, unless I am remembering incorrectly, he did.  I think I remember
reading that Mr. Smith actually prerecorded all of Howdy's line for that
show on disks, which were played as Howdy "spoke".  Smith wasn't a
ventriloquist, but with the aid of the disks he performed somewhat like one.

Carl

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

Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:34:55 -0500
From: "Carl J. Chimi" <cchimi@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  re: Willard Waterman

All I know is that I thoroughly
enjoyed Gildersleeve, and I hate to admit this, but I
could never tell the difference between Willard's and
Hal's voices.  They both were tremendously talented
performers.

I agree.  I think Peary was more "naturally" Gildy, and had a wider range of
expression in his vocal mannerisms (much like Curly Howard in a way).  But
Waterman did an amazing job of catching Peary's vocal quality, and really
sounded like him as Gildy.

But you CAN tell the difference.  It took me a while.  First of all,
Waterman never uses the famous nervous giggle Peary made famous.  Second,
Waterman actually sounds as though he is acting the role, whereas Peary
sounded as though he was Gildy; I know that is very subjective, but Waterman
sometimes sounds as though he hesitates to set himself up to create the
right effect vocally.  Peary never does.  Third, Waterman uses a peculiar
vocal hiccup - a sort of rising inflection - on many words, particularly
when he says the word "well" (which he does a lot).  It's that inflection
that is perhaps the least Peary-like part of his impersonation.  Finally,
Waterman's voice is naturally lower pitched than Peary's, and that sometimes
comes through as he speaks.

Still, although I've heard that some people don't like Waterman as Gildy,
I've heard every program that I can find of Gildy - about 520 or so), and
Mr. Waterman, while the scripts are not as good after a while in his run,
does a superb job in the role.  He becomes his own Gildy and a very good
one, IMHO.

Carl

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

Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:35:42 -0500
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Bob Bailey's 'Johnny Dollar' Swan Song


Since Bailey gave a brief preview of the next week's program and there
was no break in the series, I wondered if anyone knows why the move to New
York with a new Dollar was completely ignored.
Several factors. First, it wasn't important to the listener from the
Network's perspective that the show was now going to be produced from
New York. By this time in radio's history, it didn't add anything to the
serial unlike the novelty of when Lux Radio Theatre moved to Hollywood
in the thirties.

Bailey would have liked to stay with the show, but he didn't want to
move to New York and the network wasn't willing to pay the cost of
getting him back and forth each week - radio budgets were already slim
and the show was sustained at that time. Bailey felt his career was in
California, though unfortunately, it never translated to anything
ultimately.

Since it was already set up and decided, it was professional of Bailey
to simply stick with the format and explain what next week's adventure
was going to be without mentioning it was from New York with a new
actor. While nostalgically we like to think of him as the best Dollar
(for dollar), he wasn't looked upon as any more than the lead actor in a
radio series that really wasn't sold on the force of his name.

Jim Widner

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

Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 10:38:06 -0500
From: "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Howdy Doody

Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2007 20:45:06 -0500
From: JimBourg@[removed]

Buffalo Bob starred with Howdy but he didn't play him as I interpret
the above entry to imply.

To some extent, he did.  Bob Smith did Howdy's voice from the first
show in December 1947 until his heart attack in September 1954.
While Buffalo Bob was recuperating, Howdy's voice was done by Allan
Swift.  Swift continued voicing Howdy after Buffalo Bob's return to
the show, until the show moved to Saturday morning in June 1956.  At
that time, Swift was let go, and Buffalo Bob went back to doing
Howdy's voice.

And of course, on radio, he did Howdy's voice all the time and
therefore "played" Howdy just as much as any actor played any
character on radio.

Bob Smith was not a ventriloquist, and he originally simply spoke
Howdy's lines while the camera was on Howdy.  There were occasional
glitches, some of which survive on kinescopes in circulation, where
the camera switched to Smith while he was talking for Howdy.  This
also caused confusion for the kids in the peanut gallery (studio
audience), so eventually, Smith switched to pre-recording Howdy's
lines.

I specifically refer to him as "Bob Smith" rather than "Buffalo Bob"
in several places above because in the early days of the show, he was
known as "Mr. Smith."  I once read an article in which he explained
that one day, when Clarabell was sneaking up on him with a selzer
bottle, the kids in the peanut gallery yelled, "Watch out, Mr.
Smith!"  And his own kids, watching the show at home, yelled at the
TV set, "Watch out, Mr. Smith!"

When Smith's wife told him about it, he realized that he needed a
better name.  My recollection is that the change took place sometime
in 1950.

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

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

Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 10:38:23 -0500
From: Ken Greenwald <kgradio@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Network timelines

Michael Biel commented on my "assumption" about the 39 week time frame that
started in September/October of each year and ended the following year in
June. Though his detailed breakdown is correct and some actors were replaced
and shows did not last a total of 39 weeks on the network, I will stick by my
understanding that Network Radio did, indeed, have a 39 week run on most
every popular radio show.
I base this on the fact that I have transferred over 3,000 network radio
shows from the original network discs for preservation. Inevitably the labels
on these disc followed the dates from September/October to June, covering the
entire season of a major network show.
Even though such radio stars as Willard Waterman, Jim "Fibber McGee" Jordan
and others may have had intermittent runs when they were young and doing
local radio broadcasts, once they were established network stars (as in The
Great Gildersleeve), it was almost inevitable these stars would work 39 weeks
in the time period I mentioned -- from September to June. That was network
policy. If a show did not fare well, then it was axed before the 39 week
period. But such luminaries as Willard Waterman, Jim Jordan, Eve Arden, Jack
Benny, etc. (once their shows were a success) always worked the network
standard of 39 weeks a year, from one year to the next until summer
replacement shows took over for 3 months. There is no reason an established
network star such as Willard Waterman would not see a 39 week season as a
years work.  Of course, one can go into explicit detail on the exact dates
and periods of time any actor worked consistantly on a network show.
My assumption about such well loved stars working the 39 week period, year in
and year out, is in reference to all those actors who had prime roles in
network radio series that were popular, lasted a long time and made a lot of
money.

I welcome any comments on where this may be an incorrect "assumption" on my
behalf. If I am truly wrong, I will apologize publicly here to any and all
who comment on the OTR Digest.

Ken Greenwald

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

Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 10:39:43 -0500
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Missed opportunity

Jim Cox writes:

It was an assignment that fell into his lap after CBS dispatched a
staffer from New York to cover a five-power naval conference in London.

That "staffer" was more than that. It was Frederic William Wile, who
possibly was truly CBS Radio's first foreign correspondent, albeit only
for a short time. Wile had been a pioneer broadcaster having first cut
his journalistic teeth as an editorial writer for the Washington Star.
He had a weekly 15 minute broadcast for CBS from Washington [removed] on the
politics in that town. In fact he was doing the broadcast even before
[removed] Kaltenborn began doing his commenting on current events from New
York.  Wile did political analysis for the network beginning in 1929. He
left CBS in 1934 to work for Young & Rubicam.

Jim Widner

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

Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 12:03:41 -0500
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: radio jingles
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

Well having grown up in a part of the country where we didn't have Robert
Hall stores, but being someone who loves old radio jingles, I feel just a
little
left out--just a little--of the Robert Hall discussion.  I'll have to buy that
Les Paul set, sounds like a hoot.

But anyway I have a couple of tapes of OTR commercial compilations and am
curious, does anyone know the approximate year/time periods of the following?

Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer ("When bowlers bowl a spare or strike/that smoother
taste is what they [removed]")
Household Finance ("Never borrow money needlessly/Just when, you [removed]")
Northwest Orient Airlines ("...with Northwest [removed]'ll fly as
you've never flown [removed]")

Any "sightings" (there must be a better term for the audio media) on any
specific network OTR shows or were these all used locally?  And what's the
earliest for the Roto-Rooter jingle?  I found it in a mid-1960s DJ show but
wonder if
it's earlier than [removed]

Dixon

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

Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 12:03:31 -0500
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Empire State Building crash
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

In a message dated 11/27/07 3:10:51 PM Central Standard Time,
[removed]@[removed] writes:

08/31/54  Plane HIts Empire State Bldg. Mutual Coverage
  08/31/54  Dictabelt recording being made when plane hits Empire State
Bldg.

I was thinking this happened in 1944 and am very interested in this myself.
I understand there was a dictaphone running at the time that recorded the
sound of the crash, and that would be awesome not to mention a milestone.

Dixon

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  ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:45:00 -0500
From: Anthony Tollin <sanctumotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: TV Shows That Spun Off of Radio

on 11/29/07 10:02 PM, [removed]@[removed] at
[removed]@[removed] wrote:

While  hundreds of radio shows eventually were reincarnated as a TV
series, there  are only eight TV shows that spun off a radio version.
And that's not  counting simulcasts

Jim Burns wrote:

I'm aware of "Have Gun, Will Travel", what are the others?

Well, MY LITTLE MARGIE was one. TALES OF TOMORROW was another. I think WILD
BILL HICKOK may have premiered on TV a couple months before the radio
version (though I think both versions were planned from the beginning).
I'm also curious about the others

--Anthony Tollin

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

Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:45:13 -0500
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Typecasting

Talk about type casting. A couple of days ago I watched the movie "It
Should Happen to You" starring Jack Lemmon and Judy Holliday. And
talk about typecasting, who do you suppose played a floor walker,
Frank Nelson.

Ron

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

Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:46:35 -0500
From: jack and cathy french <otrpiano@[removed];
To: OTRBB <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  TV to Radio

I dropped the little teaser about TV shows that became radio programs
in my discussion of "Howdy Doody," one of eight such reincarnations.
Basically I was thinking of programs that began on television and for
some reason later branched out to a radio version, with substantially
the same cast, theme, and storylines.

A. Joseph Ross points out, correctly, that the greeting "Howdy Doody"
began on Bob Smith's radio show, "Triple B Ranch" from WEAF when the
character "Elmer" (voiced by Smith) would use that phrase.

"Howdy Doody" on TV with Smith, the Princess, Clarabell, Howdy,
Flubadub, Dilly Dally, and other characters in Doodyville featured
both adult actors as well as marionettes, voiced by actors. The radio
version was the same, except they removed the marionettes and their
characters were, of course, just [removed] but by the same actors
who did them on TV. (Except as I previously mentioned, Clarabell's
horn was honked by a soundman.)

"Triple B Ranch" bore absolutely no similarity to the above programs
since it was a quiz show for kids. Two competing schools chose four
students and the program started with the four astride their
respective wooden hobby horse. Bob alternated asking questions
between the two horses and each student who gave an incorrect answer
had to dismount. At the end of the program the school with the most
remaining riders was the winner.

Smith also played the piano theme and sang the commercials. For comic
relief, Smith would briefly talk to one of the ranch hands, Elmer
(Smith doing both voices.) Elmer was a direct steal from Mortimer
Snerd, "Hyuk, hyuk, howdy doody, hyuk, hyuk." The listeners at home
started calling Elmer "Howdy Doody."

However Howdy on TV (and radio) was not Elmer. The latter was a ranch
hand of indeterminate age who was a dull, rustic yokel. Smith created
an entirely different voice for Howdy since this character was a
bright, even brash, young boy.

As for the other seven [removed] Bourg has already correctly
identified "Have Gun, Will Travel." There is certainly enough
knowledge among our Digesters that the remaining six will be ferreted
out long before the Cinnamon Bear finds the Silver Star this season.
And this thread can certainly move down court without me hogging the
ball so I pass it on to my illustrious cyber companions.

Jack French
Editor: RADIO RECALL
<[removed]>

PS:  For those few of you suffering from ACS (Advanced Curiosity
Syndrome) contact me off-list and I'll tell you the remaining six.

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2007 Issue #337
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