Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #112
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 3/23/2002 1:11 PM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2002 : Issue 112
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Re: Radio Paydays'                    [ hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed]; ]
  Re: NY Visit                          [ hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed]; ]
  Today in radio history                [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
  an [removed]                     [ "Holm, Chris " <[removed]@delphiau ]
  Thanks                                [ "Scott Eberbach" <seberbach@earthli ]
  Arsenic and Old Lace                  [ "John DiMezzes" <jadm1@[removed] ]
  Dramatic Shows                        [ William L Murtough <k2mfi@[removed]; ]
  Karloff in Arsenic and Old Lace       [ Clifengr3@[removed] ]
  Re: Arsenic and Old Lace question     [ StevenL751@[removed] ]
  RE: SINGIN' SAM                       [ Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed]; ]
  Re: Wendell Hall and Singin' Sam      [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
  Re: Answers for the "newbie"          [ Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed]; ]
  Re: Answers for the "newbie"          [ Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed]; ]
  Latest Offerings                      [ "Dr. Gavin Pillay" <gavinpillay@mwe ]

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

Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 11:17:41 -0500
From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Radio Paydays'

on 3/22/02 2:56 PM, OldRadio Mailing Lists at
[removed]@[removed] wrote:

ANTHONY TOLLIN did a masterful job in his response to Brian Wests' question
about Radio performers salaries. He was "right on the money". (God, I hate
myself for my lame puns).

It always amazes me how much our resident OTR researchers, pundits and
scholars' know. Even for one who had been in the "business" back then, I'm
always learning more and more.

Kudo's to Anthony.

Now, I have a confession to make. Originally, Brian had e-mailed me those
questions privately, because he was a trifle intimidated about posting to
Digest. I told him not to worry, and that they were valid questions. And
that "Digesters" didn't bite!.I also told him I would be happy to answer
them (in public), just to prove how knowledgeable I am about those days. He
He! :)

Then Anthony comes along and makes my answers pale by comparison. Now I ask
[removed] can I (with a clear conscious), send a bill to Brian for the $24
bucks an answer? :)

Hey [removed] I hit a snag about a fact or two with the book
I'm writing, can I call on you? No Money! Just a credit in the "Dedication"!

Regards to you both.
Hal(HarlanStone
Jughead

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

Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 11:18:20 -0500
From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: NY Visit

Ivan Watson mentioned:

I'll be visting New York for the first time in a few
days and would like to visit some of the city's "OTR"
history. I know about the Museum of TV and Radio and
some of the venues when the great big bands braodcast
from (Cotton Club, Rainbow Room, etc. ) but I was
wondering if someone could help me out with any other
"must-see" OTR places still in existence.

Well, since your going to to the Rainbow Room at "30 Rock", (What we called
the RCA Building back then), be sure to go to the NBC Studios' section
(Middle of the bldg.) and take the Guest Relations Tour. (Gosh, I hope they
still conduct them). All you'll see are TV studios, but they were the same
one's we used for Radio Broadcasts. (Of course, converted and modified).
Maybe the 7th floor still contains the NBC Museum.

[removed] at Hurley's bar on the corner of 49th and "Avenue of the
America's".. (6th Ave to us old timers). They built this huge central Bldg.
of the Rockefeller center complex around and over this corner bar. At one
time or another, practically every NBC Radio and TV Personality probably had
a drink or two in there. It's loaded with OTR Ghosts. Or is it "Loaded"
Ghosts?

Enjoy your visit, and go watch 'em Ice skate under "Golden Boy" like I used
to do. (If the Ice Rink is still operational this time of year).

Regards,

Hal(Harlan)Stone
Jughead

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

Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 11:19:00 -0500
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Today in radio history

  From Those Were The Days --

1940 - Truth or Consequences was first heard on radio. The Ralph
Edwards-produced program was hosted by Mr. Edwards before he discovered
a young announcer named Bob Barker. Barker also was the show's host on
t--------n more than a decade later. The radio show was originally heard
on only four CBS stations. Later, NBC picked up the show where it
eventually became the most popular of all radio quiz shows.

  Joe

--
Visit my home page:
[removed]~[removed]

[ADMINISTRIVIA: No, [removed] is NOT a dirty word around here.
--cfs3]

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

Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 11:19:23 -0500
From: "Holm, Chris " <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: an [removed]

I recently realized something regarding radio and myself.  I am a big fan of
the genre of music one might call modern rock (or alternative, or
progressive, or whatever not particularly meaningful label you want to give
it).  I grew up in the Washington DC area listening to WHFS, and spent some
time in the Detroit area listening to CIMX (Windsor, Ontario), which are both
great modern rock stations.  I now live in mid-Michigan where the radio is
terrible (from my point of view).  Recently, I had digital cable installed,
in part so that I would receive the music channels.  Now that I have them,
I'm a little disappointed.  The music is good, but they lack the interaction
one has with radio.  It's hard to describe, but radio stations have a
[removed] they feel like part of the community (events, DJ's joking about
local issues, etc.).

How does this relate to OTR?  Ok, I've always loved listening to copies of
Big Band remotes.  The noise and response of the crowd in whatever ballroom,
the MC, etc. gives a feeling of interaction, of being there.  However, I
wouldn't enjoy a studio recording of the same songs as much.  It seemed a
little sterile by comparison, and this modern radio experience made me
realize why I preferred the remotes over studio albums.

My questions are:
1)  We mostly discuss OTR shows, but what about OTR music.  I have understood
that remotes were used as time fillers, etc.  Is this true?  Can anyone
estimate the ratio of live remote-style music to recorded studio music?  Was
it used at different times of the day, different purposes, etc?

2)  Has anyone else had these same thoughts?  Or am I just crazy?

-Chris Holm

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

Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 11:42:07 -0500
From: "Scott Eberbach" <seberbach@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Thanks

Hi Ken!
Thanks for the kudos on the digest!  When you posted your question I went
and got out the copy of the 1/24/41 broadcast of Information Please to make
sure on the part of the question on the body [removed] remembered that there
was a bit of a disagreement on the that point between Mr. Karloff and
Clifton Fadiman and Franklin P. Adams.  In the biography on Mr. Karloff that
I read in the fall (written by a personal friend of his) of 2001 it said
that among his many appearences on a variety of radio shows appearing on
Information Please was clearly his favorite.  It also indicated that the
Karloffs were also close friends with Dan Golenpaul (who produced and owned
Information Please) and his wife.  Whether or not this was before or after
his first appearence on the show I don't know.  Regardless, Information
Please showcased his not only his acting talent but showed the audience that
he was an extremely intelligent man with a good sense of humor and wit!  I
have about 22 shows of Information Please and 3 of them have Mr. Karloff as
a [removed] are among my personal [removed] on show in 1942
where he appeared on the show with another fine actor, John Carradine.
Thanks again for the "bravo"!

Scott

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

Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 12:42:17 -0500
From: "John DiMezzes" <jadm1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Arsenic and Old Lace

Lee Munsick stated,
Boris Karloff reprised his role in the film version of
"Arsenic and Old Lace".

That was Raymond Massey made up to look "Karloffish" in the film version.

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

Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 12:43:04 -0500
From: William L Murtough <k2mfi@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Dramatic Shows

I have noticed numerous postings suggesting that the actors on dramatic
programs sat around a table while performing. Not so. During a first
reading,before the engineer arrived, they would sit around a table.
However, for the rehearsals and air show they would perform before a mike
on a floor stand, perhaps two of them if it was a large cast. The
announcer used the same microphone. On Phillip Morris Playhouse, to use
an example, (which I did for two years) I used a44-BX on a floor stand
facing cross-wise of the stage (we were in Playhouse 2 at the time).
Director Charlie Martin wanted only one mike as he felt that the actors
could screw up if there was more than one. The live orchestra was
"upstage.

One Sunday we had a well known husband and wife British acting team. as
the stars. They demanded a second mike. Charlie came into the control
room and explained the situation. He realized that they didn't  want to
work on the same mike as the maid, who was being played by Charlie's
attractive young girl friend. We cooked up a scheme. I put out a second
mike. After a few pages of script I hit the "talkback" and informed
Charlie that I was having trouble "phasing" the second mike. He got
insulting. I was humble. The actor interceded. Charlie told them that he
payed me well and I should be able correct the problem. Finally he gave
in to the team and told me to come out and get the "damned microphone and
put it away". When I got back in the control room, and the actors weren't
looking, he turned toward me  with a big grin and a wink. The actors
never knew that they had been snookered. My two years with Charlie Martin
was a great experience.

By the way, The [removed] stage crew in Playhouse  2 was the greatest. I
shall never forget them!

Bill Murtough

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

Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 12:43:11 -0500
From: Clifengr3@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Karloff in Arsenic and Old Lace

I think you'll find that the Karloff role in the movie was played by Raymond
Massey made up to look like Karloff.

Jim Yellen

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

Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 13:06:10 -0500
From: StevenL751@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Arsenic and Old Lace question

In a message dated 3/23/2002 11:36:02 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[removed]@[removed] writes:

also, in the movie, mr. witherspoon (who arrives from happy dale sanitarium
to commit teddy brewster) is not murdered at all.  i don't remember him
being killed in the play, either, though i read the play many, many years
ago.

Well this is getting very off topic, but I happen to have a copy of the
"Arsenic and Old Lace" play script in front of me.  Here's an abbreviated
version of what happens at the end:

Jonathan (the Boris Karloff role):  Goodbye, Aunties.  Well, I can't better
my record now but neither can [removed] The score stands even, twelve to twelve.

(Jonathan and the cops exit)

Aunt Abby:  I wish we could show him he isn't so smart!

(Her eyes fall on Mr. Witherspoon.  She studies [removed]  The aunts offer him
a glass of homemade elderberry wine, which is how they have poisoned their
other 12 [removed])

Mr. Witherspoon:  You don't see much elderberry wine nowadays - I thought I'd
had my last glass of it.

Aunt Martha:  (Handing him the glass)  No, here it is.

(Witherspoon toasts the ladies and lifts the glass to his lips, but the
curtain falls before he [removed])

- Steve Lewis

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

Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 13:06:29 -0500
From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
To: Radio Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: RE: SINGIN' SAM

From: Kevin Michaels <kmichaels@[removed];
His real name was Wendall Hall and he was on for Barbersol Shave
Cream, with a 15 minute request show. ... If memory serves me right,
in the later years of the show, there was another sound-a-like-
"Singin Sam" that took over the show when Hall either left the show or died.

As far as I know Wendell Hall always sang, broadcast, and recorded under
his own name with a slogan "The Red-Headed Music Maker." He became quite
famous in 1923 for his song "It Ain't Gonna Rain No More", and his high
tenor voice and uke sounds nothing at all like the deep voice of the
real Singin' Sam, Harry Frankel.

Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 13:07:22 -0500
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Wendell Hall and Singin' Sam

On 3/23/02 11:36 AM OldRadio Mailing Lists wrote:

I have noticed several posting about Singin' Sam but no details on the show.
His real name was Wendall Hall and he was on for Barbersol Shave Cream, with
a 15 minute request show.

Right sponsor but wrong man -- Wendell Hall, "The Red-Headed Music
Maker," never worked under the billing "Singin' Sam." Hall was a huge
star in the twenties, both as a recording artist and as a radio
performer, and was closely identified with his theme song, "It Ain't
Gonna Rain No More." In addition to singing in a thick, bombastic,
deep-South dialect, Hall played the banjo-ukulele --a hybrid instrument
which was basically a banjo body fitted with a ukulele neck -- and even
had his own signature-model banjo-ukes and  music instruction books on
the market for a while. Most of his songs were uptempo novelty numbers in
the minstrel/hillbilly style, although he did occasionally do ballads in
a surprisingly soft, crooning voice, and even dabbled a bit in the blues.
He recorded extensively for Gennett, Victor, and Brunswick, and his
records are still a lot of fun.

Harry "Singin' Sam" Frankel, from Richmond, Indiana, sang "Old Time
Songs" in a syrupy baritone voice, and rarely did dialect numbers -- he
was more the Sentimental Balladeer type of performer. He also recorded
for Gennett, and his records sometimes had ukulele accompaniment -- which
might be the source of the confusion between the two performers. He was
far less bombastic in his style than Hall, and he wasn't an especially
slick entertainer: he comes across more like your uncle, singing in the
annual Knights of Pythias Variety Show, than a Big Time Radio Crooner. He
saved his money, invested well, and when he decided he'd had enough of
show business he retired and moved back to Indiana, where he died in 1948.

 >If memory serves me right, in the later years of the show,
there was another sound-a-like- "Singin Sam" that took over the show when
Hall either left the show or died.

Hall and Frankel were actually radio contemporaries for much of the 1930s
-- Hall was on the air for a number of sponsors during the Depression,
notably Majestic radio, Libby McNeill and Libby (for whom he advertised
canned pineapple as "The Pineapple Picador" in an NBC daytime program)
and Fitch Shampoo. Hall's last major network job was the Gillette
Community Sing program in 1937, where he co-starred with fellow oldtimers
Billy Jones and Ernie Hare and master-of-ceremonies Milton Berle. He
remained active into the forties, however, touring small-time vaudeville
theatres in the midwest where he retained a strong following. He also
opened an advertising agency in Chicago, specializing in recorded
jingles, and even dabbled a bit in early local TV. He died in 1969.

Harry Frankel, meanwhile, was on the air for Barbasol on and off for most
of the first half of the thirties -- at one point he was temporarily
replaced by veteran recording artist Vernon Dalhart, and when he finally
left the Barbasol program for good in 1938, it was briefly taken over by
Arthur Godfrey (there is a definite continuity in vocal styles [removed])

After leaving Barbasol, Frankel began a long relationship with Coca-Cola,
doing a syndicated series called "Reminiscin' with Singin' Sam," which
began production in 1939, and remained in distribution well into the
1940s. Frankel was a close personal friend of Coca-Cola president Robert
Woodruff, and his friendship with The Boss ensured his program would
continue, despite advice from Coke's ad men that Frankel was too
old-fashioned, old-timey, and out-of-step with the audiences of the day.
The agency people said the same thing about Coke's other program,
featuring Morton Downey, but Woodruff couldn't have cared less -- Frankel
and Downey were his buddies, and as long as they wanted to work, he'd
have a job for them.

Elizabeth

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

Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 13:39:08 -0500
From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Answers for the "newbie"

From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
We always worked standing in front of a microphone. A normal size
cast might use two microphones, separated by 10 feet or so. If
more than a few actors were involved, they would do a "ballet"
of sorts around the Mikes to get close when they had a line to say.

OK, I'll say it--I assume some of you were expecting me to bring this up
again when Hal gave this first-hand description of how OTR programs
REALLY were performed.  This is one of the reasons why many convention
re-creations and NTR productions never get it quite right.  Most of them
set up a row of six to eight microphones at the front of the stage and
put each actor alone on a microphone facing the audience.  This makes it
very difficult for there to be any real interplay among the
performers--they'd have to go off-mic or cross-mic to even see their
fellow actors.  To make matters worse, it is often difficult to hear the
other players who might be three microphones away.  Last year at
Cincinnati during one of the re-creations I participated in, either
Esther Geddes or Rosemary Rice sat down after a scene and leaned over to
Tyler McVey and said something like "We never used to work on separate
mics like this--we were always facing across the mic at each other,
right?"  I told them that I had commented on this in the past--and even
offered the loan of some ribbon mics--but had received rebuffs saying
that this is they way they prefer to do it to have the actors facing the
audience who came to see them.  I beg your pardon, but it would be far
more interesting, effective, and entertaining to see the actors facing
each other and playing off each other.  And the stage would be far more
efficient and less crowded.  And if they'd set up the room with the
stage on the narrow wall instead on one side of the wide wall--and then
place the sound effects table at the adjacent corner so they and the
actors could communicate with each other--everybody in the audience
would even have better sight lines.  You'll see what I mean in
Cincinnati next month, Hal.

Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 13:40:03 -0500
From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Answers for the "newbie"

From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
We always worked standing in front of a microphone. A normal size
cast might use two microphones, separated by 10 feet or so. If
more than a few actors were involved, they would do a "ballet"
of sorts around the Mikes to get close when they had a line to say.

OK, I'll say it--I assume some of you were expecting me to bring this up
again when Hal gave this first-hand description of how OTR programs
REALLY were performed.  This is one of the reasons why many convention
re-creations and NTR productions never get it quite right.  Most of them
set up a row of six to eight microphones at the front of the stage and
put each actor alone on a microphone facing the audience.  This makes it
very difficult for there to be any real interplay among the
performers--they'd have to go off-mic or cross-mic to even see their
fellow actors.  To make matters worse, it is often difficult to hear the
other players who might be three microphones away.  Last year at
Cincinnati during one of the re-creations I participated in, either
Esther Geddes or Rosemary Rice sat down after a scene and leaned over to
Tyler McVey and said something like "We never used to work on separate
mics like this--we were always facing across the mic at each other,
right?"  I told them that I had commented on this in the past--and even
offered the loan of some ribbon mics--but had received rebuffs saying
that this is they way they prefer to do it to have the actors facing the
audience who came to see them.  I beg your pardon, but it would be far
more interesting, effective, and entertaining to see the actors facing
each other and playing off each other.  And the stage would be far more
efficient and less crowded.  And if they'd set up the room with the
stage on the narrow wall instead on one side of the wide wall--and then
place the sound effects table at the adjacent corner so they and the
actors could communicate with each other--everybody in the audience
would even have better sight lines.  You'll see what I mean in
Cincinnati next month, Hal.

Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 13:44:21 -0500
From: "Dr. Gavin Pillay" <gavinpillay@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Latest Offerings
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

Hi All,

Newest show added (23 March 2001) :

Dangerous Assignment

.490515 The Hottest Guy in the World
.490522 A Piece of Pie
.490723 Nigerian Safari
.490813 Alien Smuggling
.500109 Berlin Kidnapping
.500206 Missing Japanese Weapons
.500213 Captain Rock

Over 300 shows now available :)

Regards,
Gavin

[ Gavin's OTReasure Chest :
[removed] ]

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