Subject: [removed] Digest V2007 #276
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 9/26/2007 4:18 PM
To: [removed]@[removed]
Reply-to:
[removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2007 : Issue 276
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Sitcom?                               [ Alan Bell <alanlinda43@[removed]; ]
  Doye O'Dell                           [ "bobb lynes" <iairotr@[removed]; ]
  What to do with old VHS tapes?        [ "David Easter" <davideaster@comcast ]
  Jim Cox does it again!                [ "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed]; ]
  Re: What to do with old VHS tapes?    [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
  RE: What to do with old VHS tapes?    [ "Robert M. Bratcher Jr." <bratcher@ ]
  Re: Bra Inventor?                     [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
  Re: Cussing radio stars               [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
  new command performance?              [ EDWARD CARR <edcarr@[removed]; ]
  9-26 births/deaths                    [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
  You Bet Your Life                     [ "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@attorneyross. ]
  #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Nig  [ charlie@[removed] ]
  Re: Swearing and OTR                  [ "R. R. King" <kingrr@[removed]; ]
  another Gildy?                        [ Chargous@[removed] ]
  When Radio Was'                       [ Frank McGurn <[removed]@sbcglobal. ]

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

Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:33:44 -0400
From: Alan Bell <alanlinda43@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Sitcom?

I wonder if the term "situation comedy" arose in the
radio era or did it wait for TV? Certainly what we
call sitcoms were common then, but does anyone know if
the term itself was? If I had asked people in 1948
what their favorite situation comedy was, would they
have known what I was talking about?

Alan

_________________
Alan/Linda Bell
Grand Rapids, MI

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

Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:34:00 -0400
From: "bobb lynes" <iairotr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Doye O'Dell

Hi all,

I just read Ken Greenwald's  correction re Don Rickles, the announcer.  I
met Don at one of those PPB Nostalgia Nights.
I also watched DOYE (correct spelling) O'DELL on KTLA, channel 5, on early
TV.  His Western Thrills show played old B westerns every evening (20
minutes at a time, continuing the next evening) and featured Doye singing
and interviewing  kid visitors and guests.  (I might have even seen little
Kenny G. on the show!!).  I watched it almost every day (while waiting for
"Time for Beany", as was most of Southern California, I'm sure).   Both very
popular [removed]

Bobb

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

Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:39:40 -0400
From: "David Easter" <davideaster@[removed];
To: "Old-Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  What to do with old VHS tapes?

Option 1: Donate them. I suggest a community college. They seem to be more
willing to accept less-than-million-dollar donations. When a fellow
collector died several years ago, I donated his collection of tapes to the
local community college. They are now broadcasting 3-hours of OTR every
Saturday morning.

Option 2: Sell them on e-bay. Apparently someone, somewhere will buy almost
anything. (Caution - there may be legal ramifications involved.)

Option 3: Chuck them. Recently I wanted to get rid of several hundred blank
3-inch floppy disks, but in this day and age absolutely no one wanted them.
They are going to the dump!

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

Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:40:21 -0400
From: "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Jim Cox does it again!
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

I've just acquired a copy of Jim Cox's latest tome devoted to a particular
facet of OTR, viz. "The Great Radio Sitcoms" via McFarland (ISBN:
978-0-7864-3146-5). While I have only given it a quick once-over, I can tell
it's going to be a fun read. There's a nice photo of Marian & Jim Jordan on
the casebound cover, whose cheerfully inviting orange binding joyfully
complements the subject matter. If you're fan of Prof. Cox's oeuvre, you'll
surely like this one as well. Simply put, it's the ginchiest.

There are twenty chapters, each devoted to a high-profile favourite (I'm
short-forming here: Ozzie & Harriet, Aldriches, A 'n' A, Archie Andrews,
Snooks, Beulah, Blondie, Duffy's, Father Knows best, Fibber, Burns & Allen,
Gildy, Benny, Riley, Luigi, Meet Millie, Favorite Husband, Irma, Miss Brooks,
Harris-Faye), an appendix devoted to another 13 (Bickersons, Judy, Dennis Day,
Easy Aces, Ethel/Albert, Halls of Ivy, Junior Miss, Lum 'n Abner, Maisie,
Corliss Archer, Margie, That Brewster Boy, and Vic 'n' Sade). [[removed]: Cox, the
"Ray Stanich Award" -winning author,  makes the case that space limitations
prevented him from exploring these programmes with the full-blown treatment
accorded his top-20]. and an another appendix which briefly lists the names
and cast members for approximately 170 other shows ("Granby's Green Acres,"
anyone? "The Magnificent Montague"?).

Though I admit that I haven't sat down and devoured this book outright
(sometimes it's hard to muster up interest even to read OTR books on your
free-time when you read books for a living like I do), my favourite part, so
far, is the nice write-up/background material given in the "Archie Andrews"
chapter for our old pal Hal Stone, the patron saint of this OTR Digest.

Before signing off, I feel it's mandatory to disclose that while I have worked
extensively with Jim Cox in the past on other projects--most notably, "Radio
Speakers"--I have no self-interest in the promotion of "The Great Radio
Sitcoms." I did no research for Jim on this one nor was I among the fellow OTR
fans/historians/aficianadoes Mr. Cox consulted when he elicited feedback in
the course of determining what sitcoms to include. I wholeheartedly want this
volume to sell well only because Jim Cox is my pal, who, like me, works in the
field of audio recordings for the blind (he dedicates the book to his
"colleagues of the Audio Studio for the Reading Impaired, Inc., Anchorage,
Kentucky").

In all modesty, I don't know how this one got by me. Comedy is my life. But
all in all, one of the biggest thrills I get whenever I delve into a new OTR
book is looking through the acknowledgments and bibliographies to see the
names of many folks I know. If you are somewhat like-minded, you'll find many
names familiar to this forum at "ether" end of Cox's "Sitcoms." Do yourself a
favo(u)r (with or without the British "U") and get yourself a copy of "The
Great Radio Sitcoms."

Congratulations, Jim! Good luck on your next project. I'm sure, as always,
you'll outdo yourself once again.

That's about the size of it.

Derek Tague

  *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
  ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:09:15 -0400
From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: What to do with old VHS tapes?

John Collins asks what he should do with the VHS tapes of OTR-related
materials after he finishes dubbing them off onto DVD.  Although VHS tape
itself is not considered a long-lasting archival format, neither is DVD+/-R.
Proper archival procedure is to save the old format materials after
transferring them because they might end up lasting longer than the newer
format.  Additionally, the original masters might prove to be the best
source for transferring to the media that will undoubtedly (and relatively
soon) replace DVD+/-R.  Worldwide, advanced audio archives are already using
Mass Digital Storage devices for preservation and are only using individual
artifacts like DVD for public reference copies.  I know of no instance where
an archive has not regretted sometime in the future that they had in the
past disposed of the original format masters -- with the possible exception
of explosively deteriorating nitrate motion picture film!

Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 23:14:43 -0400
From: "Robert M. Bratcher Jr." <bratcher@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  RE: What to do with old VHS tapes?

At 05:18 PM 9/25/2007, you wrote:

I have hundreds of VHS tapes of OTR-related material which I've
started copying onto DVDs. My question is: what should I do with the
tapes? I'm reluctant to just throw them away. - John Collins

Well you could keep your old tapes like I'm doing or give them to
somebody else to enjoy. Part of my VHS collection has been bought on
commercial DVD's & some more have been recorded on my cable DVR (from
cable channels like TCM) then recorded from it to a DVD. I'll never
throw my VHS tapes [removed]

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

Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 23:16:07 -0400
From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Bra Inventor?

Jack French, in a message which was "altered by the server" gently chided
Ron Sayles for including "bra inventor" in Howard Hughes' listing instead of
some more worthy achievements such as designing aircraft.  I think you
answered your own question -- it got your attention!!!!  I know it got mine!
I supposed he used it for much the same reason the current American
corporate news media uses totally useless and unworthy stories like
Brittany's spires or Paris's hills or Lindsey's lower-hands or Michael
Vick's vices to avoid having to spend the air time reporting what is really
important.  It gathers our eyes -- our attention -- and the ratings, and
allows them to avoid getting in trouble with those who have influence on FCC
or other governing bodies.  But then again, Jack's message may not have
"appeared as the sender intended."

Michael (unaltered?) Biel   mbiel@[removed]

[ADMINISTRIVIA: Ken would prefer the discussion avoid the contemporary, and
stick to the 1920's-1960'[removed]  --cfs3]

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

Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 23:16:40 -0400
From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Cussing radio stars

Stephen Davies (from Canada) was surprised hearing Jack Benny uttering "some
simple profanities" in a non-broadcast tribute from 1941.  Stephen, you
ain't heard nothin' yet!  You've got to hear the Players Club roast of film
producer Harry Joe Brown from the late 50s or early 60s.  George Burns,
Georgie Jessel, and some others used up all of the words leaving only one
left for Jack.  And he uses it.  But the real kicker of the evening is Art
Linkletter.  He discusses how he spent the week warming up for the event,
starting slowly by calling his kids by a name that refers to their
parentage.  He brings down the house when he says he knew he was ready when
he told his mother-in-law to perform a certain act upon herself.  I took an
overnight bus from Philadelphia to Montreal in 1967 to buy copies of this on
a white label LP that I knew were stocked only in a store there.  I also
smuggled in some 45s from the Cuban pavilion at Expo 67, but that's another
story. Canada got all the good stuff, and their dollar is now worth more
than ours.

Michael (it was a nervous time at customs inspection) Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 23:16:53 -0400
From: EDWARD CARR <edcarr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  new command performance?

hi
i may have new command performace shows from the disc, prog#203 and
prog#277, but i won't know for sure till i get my cd copies back from 1st
gen,as i let them copy a number of 16in discs.
edcarr@[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 23:17:02 -0400
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  9-26 births/deaths

September 26th births

09-26-1875 - Edmund Gwenn - Glamorgan, Wales - d. 9-6-1959
actor: Ebenezer Scrooge "Christmas Carol"; "Lux Radio Theatre
09-26-1888 - T. S. Eliot - St. Louis, MO - d. 1-4-1965
writer: "Columbia Workshop"
09-26-1889 - Frank Crumit - Jackson, OH - d. 9-7-1943
singer, emcee: "Blackstone Plantation"; "Battle of the Sexes";
"Singing Sweethearts"
09-26-1890 - Sarah Allis - d. 4-xx-1980
newscaster: WHAI Greenfield, Massachusetts
09-26-1893 - Fay Holden - Birmingham, England - d. 6-23-1973
actor: Mrs. Hardy "The Hardy Family"
09-26-1894 - Glenn Hunter - NYC - d. 12-30-1945
actor: "Roses and Drums"
09-26-1895 - George Raft - NYC - d. 11-24-1980
actor: Rocky Jordan "Rocky Jordan"
09-26-1896 - Vaughn DeLeath - Mount Pulaski, IL - d. 5-28-1943
singer: (The Original Radio Girl) "Voice of Firestone"
09-26-1897 - William B. Heyne - d. 3-26-1992
choral director: "Lutheran Hour"; "Lutheran Laymen's League"
09-26-1898 - George Gershwin - Brooklyn, NY - d. 7-11-1937
pianist, composer: "Music by Gershwin"
09-26-1898 - Richard Lockridge - St. Joseph, MO - d. 6-19-1982
writer: "Mr. and Mrs. North"
09-26-1900 - Ray Kinney - Hawaii - d. 1-28-1972
interpreter of Hawaiian rhythm: Sporadic timeslots on the Blue Network
09-26-1901 - Donald Cook - Portland, OR - d. 10-1-1961
actor: Dr. Allison "My Son Jeep"; Charlie "Charlie and Jessie"
09-26-1901 - Ted Weems - Pitcairn, PA - d. 5-6-1963
bandleader: "Fibber McGee and Molly"; "Sunday Matinee"; "Beat the Band"
09-26-1904 - Richard Thorne - NYC - d. 1-31-1957
writer, creator, producer, director: "The Hall of Fantasy"
09-26-1908 - Sylvia Marlowe - NYC - d. 12-10-1981
harpsichord virtuoso: "Lavender and New Lace"; "Sylvia Marlowe and
Richard Dyer-Bennet"
09-26-1912 - Al Helfer - Elrama, PA - d. 5-16-1975
sportscaster: "Game of the Day"; "We Want a Touchdown"
09-26-1912 - Jacqueline de Wit - Los Angeles, CA - d. 1-7-1998
actor: Ruth Thompson "Meet Mr. McNutley"; Valerie "Second Husband"
09-26-1914 - Dora McCann - d. 8-14-1975
host: "McCann Pure Food Hour"
09-26-1915 - Tony Romano - Fresno, CA - d. 3-5-2005
guitarist: "The Bob Hope Show"
09-26-1919 - Barbara Britton - Long Beach, CA - d. 1-17-1980
actor: Pamela North "Mr. and Mrs. North"; "Screen Guild Theatre"
09-26-1921 - Russ Atwood - d. 6-30-1992
disk jockey: WMAS Springfield, Massachusetts
09-26-1925 - Marty Robbins - Glendale, AZ - d. 12-8-1982
country/western singer: "Grand Ole Opry"; "Country Style [removed]";
"Big Sound"
09-26-1926 - Julie London - Santa Rosa, CA - d. 10-18-2000
torch singer: "Guest Star"; "Here's to Veterans"
09-26-1927 - Patrick O'Neal - Ocala, FL - d. 9-9-1994
actor: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"

September 26th deaths

01-02-1915 - Nick Fatool - Milbury, MA - d. 9-26-2000
drummer: (Member of the Big 7 Band) "Pete Kelly's Blues"
02-03-1890 - Charles Correll - Peoria, IL - d. 9-26-1972
actor: Andrew Brown "Amos 'n' Andy"
02-04-1912 - Bryon Nelson - Waxachaie, TX - d. 9-26-2006
golfer: "The Bill Stern Sports Newsreel"
02-19-1901 - William Post, Jr. - d. 9-26-1989
actor: John Perry "John's Other Wife"
03-08-1929 - Betty Carter - d. 9-26-1998
jazz vocalist: "Jazz Alive"
03-23-1898 - David Newell - Chicago, IL - d. 9-26-1986
outdoorsman: "Fishing and Hunting Club of the Air"
04-30-1919 - Jack Haskell - Akron, OH - d. 9-26-1998
singer: "Dave Garroway Show"; "Music from the Heart of America"
05-09-1898 - Edith Meiser - Detroit, MI - d. 9-26-1993
writer: "Life and Love of Dr. Susan"; "The Shadow"; "Sherlock Holmes"
06-02-1915 - Lionel Murton - London, England - d. 9-26-2006
Began career in radio with Montreal Repertory Company
07-04-1916 - Iva Toguri d'Aquino "Tokyo Rose" - Los Angeles, CA - d.
9-26-2006
disc jockey, american patriot: (Little Orphan Ann) Zero Hour NHK
Tokyo, Japan
08-03-1906 - Robert Emmett Dolan - Hartford, CT - d. 9-26-1972
music maestro: "The Circle"; "Birdseye Open House"
08-04-1903 - Helen Kane - The Bronx, NY - d. 9-26-1966
actor: (The Boop-Boop-a-Doop Girl) "Today's Children"
08-19-1903 - Muriel Kirkland - Yonkers, NY - d. 9-26-1971
actor: Mary Marlin "Story of Mary Marlin"; Mary Todd "Honest Abe"
10-02-1898 - Baron Keyes - Greenwood, WI - d. 9-26-1976
writer: "Air Castle"; "The Story Man"
10-30-1879 - Eily Malyon - London, England - d. 9-26-1961
actor: Lady Greystroke "Tarzan"
11-13-1932 - Richard Mulligan - NYC - d. 9-26-2000
actor: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"
12-14-1893 - Carl Brisson - Copenhagen, Denmark - d. 9-26-1958
singer, actor: "A Voice In the Night"
12-23-1887 - John Cromwell - d. 9-26-1979
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"

Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2007 01:20:44 -0400
From: "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  You Bet Your Life

Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 14:07:07 -0400
From: "kclarke5@[removed]" <kclarke5@[removed];

       Although I have no knowledge of any of Ernie Kovacs programs
currently in circulation, I do happen to have an eps of "You Bet Your
Life", which starred Candice Bergen and Groucho's daughter Melinda.
Since the girls were much younger than the usual contestants, he asked
two adults to come out of the audience to assist them.  Candice was
assisted by her father Edgar Bergen and Melinda was assisted by Ernie
Kovacs, since Groucho was the emcee of the program.  As I recall, they
did quite well.

Actually, you're confusing two episodes of You Bet Your Life which
have appeared together on opposite sides of an LP.  On one side,
Melinda and her friend Candy Bergen appear as contestants, hoping to
win some money for their girl-scout troop.  Ernie Kovacs doesn't
appear in that episode.  Groucho joins Edgar Bergen in helping (if
anything he said really helped!) the girls, and George Fenniman takes
over Groucho's seat as quizmaster.  Groucho was a most unruly
contestat, and Fenniman seemed terribly uncomfortable about it all.
The girls in fact managed to answer the necessary number of questions
to win their $1000.  Without any mention about it, they didn't return
for the big question at the end.

In a different episode, on the other side of the LP, bridge expert
Charles Goren appears as a contestant and, at the start of the quiz,
gives up his place to anyone from the audience who wants it.  Nobody
volunteers, so Groucho calls up Ernie Kovacs, who happens to be in
the audience.  Kovacs says he will donate his winnings to a charity,
and proceeds to say the secret word over and over (It had previously
been said while Kovacs was in the audience).  Groucho awards his
charity the secret word money, admitting that the whole thing is
crooked.  This episode also appears on the DVD of You Bet Your Life
TV episodes that is currently in circulation.

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

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

Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2007 02:12:01 -0400
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!

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

Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2007 15:01:44 -0400
From: "R. R. King" <kingrr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Swearing and OTR

1. The book _American Babel: Rogue Radio Broadcasters of the Jazz Age_
by Clifford J. Doerksen has a fascinating chapter on the popular
Louisiana "shock jock" William K. Henderson who did quite a bit of
cussing in the late 1920s and early '30s. The chapter, minus the
endnotes, is online at:

[removed]

In 1931, the Federal Radio Commission put pressure on Henderson to
clean up his language. He solved the problem ...

***
... by delegating the pleasures of broadcast swearing to his
listeners, who accommodated him with letters and telegrams peppered
with "hells" and "damns." These Henderson would read on the air while
legalistically covering himself with fig-leaf caveats such as "I
didn't use those words; I merely read them out to you."
***

2. One of the objections that NBC's New York executives had to putting
Chicago's local "Lights Out" horror series on the network in 1935 was
the liberal use of swearing in the audition show. Bertha Brainard
wrote in a memo:

***
The Program Department in New York would not find a script of that
kind acceptable with all its profanity. If it were sold [to a client]
it would have to be cleaned up to be acceptable in this neighborhood,
and certainly it must not be put on at any time when children are
listening.
***

In another memo, she listed the offending words: hell, damn, lousy and nuts!

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

Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2007 15:02:06 -0400
From: Chargous@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  another Gildy?

I had forgotten all about another show in my archives - I can't remember if
I had released it or not - 9/3/44 - lonely Gildy - AFRS #54.  It was
uncirc. as of Hickerson '96 and is missing from the Goldin
collection.  From a noisy & worn AFRS ET.

At usenet or for those without that: [removed]

This is the last Gildersleeve that's possibly uncirc. in my archives at the
moment.

Travis

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

Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2007 15:02:20 -0400
From: Frank McGurn <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  When Radio Was'

      When Radio Was' is going to comtinue with out Chuck Schaden. New
      ouner and new host As of Oct. 8, Schaden will be succeeded as host
      by Greg Bell, who hosts "Radio Classics"

For details see
[removed],[removed]
That's Rober Feder's column. today

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2007 Issue #276
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