Subject: [removed] Digest V2007 #136
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 5/6/2007 4:18 PM
To: [removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2007 : Issue 136
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  This week in radio history 6-12 May   [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
  re: Charlie Lung                      [ Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed]; ]
  John Stratton                         [ "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed]; ]
  Truth Or ... ???                      [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr" <skallisjr@j ]
  5-6 births/deaths                     [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
  Bob Hope's what?                      [ "Laura Leff" <president@[removed] ]
  Deadly Deflation                      [ "Bill Knowlton" <udmacon1@[removed] ]

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Date: Sat, 5 May 2007 16:04:22 -0400
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  This week in radio history 6-12 May

 From Those Were The Days --

5/6

1937 - A student of history, a broadcaster or anyone interested in news
coverage, will remember this day and the words of NBC's Herbert
Morrison. "Oh, the humanities!" Morrison's emotion-filled historic
broadcast of the explosion of the dirigible, Hindenburg at Lakehurst,
NJ, became the first recorded coast-to-coast broadcast as it was carried
on both the NBC Red and NBC Blue networks from New York City.

5/8

1959 - The final broadcast of One Man's Family was heard on NBC after
being on the air 27 years. The show had completed 3,256 episodes since
its beginning in 1932.

5/10

1936 - Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy started their own radio show on
NBC -- only months after they had debuted on Rudy Vallee's program. [removed]
Fields, Don Ameche and Dorothy Lamour were a few of the stars that
helped Bergen and the little blockhead, McCarthy, jump to the top of
radio's hit parade.

5/11

1927 - The Hotel Statler in Boston, MA. became the first hotel to
install radio headsets in each of its 1,300 rooms.

5/11

1946 - Jack Barry hosted Juvenile Jury on WOR in New York City. The show
was such a hit after five weeks on the air that it debuted on the Mutual
Broadcasting System coast to coast.

5/12

1922-- the magazine "Radio Broadcast" commented, "The rate of increase
in the number who spend at least part of an evening listening to radio
is almost incomprehensible."

Joe

--
Visit my homepage: [removed]~[removed]

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Date: Sat, 5 May 2007 16:04:49 -0400
From: Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  re: Charlie Lung

Conrad Binyon, in his reminisces of Charlie Lung, mentions Charlie's
memorable performance on "Latitude Zero". I've heard the one existing
premier episode for that show, but I understand not much else is known
about it. Conrad, I'm curious--did you work on that show? Do you
remember much about the plot line, or how it was resolved? This series
is regarded with a lot of curiosity, because the pilot holds a lot of
promise for an exciting series. Did it live up to its potential?

Kermyt

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

Date: Sat, 5 May 2007 16:05:24 -0400
From: "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  John Stratton
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

Often, I've written here about my job  in NYC at  the Talking Book Productions
department of American Foundation for the Blind and how one of my biggest
complaints is that there have scarcely ever been any OTR-themed books recorded
in the many years I've worked here.  One book we did about ten years ago was
Melvin Patrick Ely's "The Adventures of Amos 'n' Andy: A Social History of an
American Phenomenon."

I did get to work on this title and I'm sad to report the passing of the
Talking Books narrator who recorded it--John Stratton. There's no forthcoming
information about his exact age (believed to have been in mid-70s), the cause
(Stratton did suffer from congestive heart failure), or if any services
occurred (John had no immediate family and left no survivors).
Stratton  had been retired from Talking Books for about five years  and the
only information we've acquire is that he died this past Tuesday, May 1st.

Mr. Stratton always  liked to talk about his career and I sort of remember him
mentioning 1950s NYC-based dramatised radio
in passing. However, he was mostly a stage/voice-over/print ad actor.

Knowing that there is a great deal of OTR /Talking Books cross-over appeal for
many visually impaired readers who access this OTR Digest, I thought John
Stratton's passing was worth noting.  I'm going to miss him.

Sadly in the ether,

Derek Tague

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

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Date: Sat, 5 May 2007 22:16:59 -0400
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr" <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Truth Or ... ???

I recently acquired a booklet, "Radio's Truth Or Consequences Party
Book."  It was copyright 1940 by Ralph Edwards.  It provides stunts for
people playing the game at a party, as well as questions and answers for
the partygiver.  It reminds me of the radio show, to be sure.

However, some of the answers to the questions have been altered by time,
or are in error.

For instance:

Q: What state in the United States has the longest coastline?
A:  Michigan (We didn't sat coastline.)
      That was before Alaska became a state.

Q: At what point is the lowest sea level in the world?
A:  Dead Sea, Palestine
      That's really a trick question: any "sea level" definitionally is
at sea level.  What they really wanted was
      what was the ground level.

Q: Whose picture is on every package of cigarettes sold at regular
cigarette counters in this country?
A:  De Witt Clinton, ex-Governor of the state of New York on the Internal
Revenue Stamp;.
      Currently, there is no Internal Revenue Stamp on cigarette packs,
so the correct answer is "nobody."

Q:  Which President of the United States had the most letters in his last
name?
A:  Washington.
       Eisenhower ties his number of letters.

Q:  Can a man marry his widow's sister?
A:  No, for he is dead.
      Actually, he could.  If there are two sisters, May and June, first
he marries may, and she dies.
      Then he marries June, and he dies.  He thus has married May, sister
of his widow, June.

At the close of the book, in tiny type is a disclaimer to responsibility
to any injury, etc., as a result of playing the Truth or Consequences
party game.  I suspect that any contestants on the show had to sign
equivalent waivers.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Sat, 5 May 2007 22:17:13 -0400
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  5-6 births/deaths

May 6th births

05-06-1899 - Billy Cotton - London, England - d. 3-25-1969
bandleader: "Wakey Wakey!!"
05-06-1900 - Dave Elman - Park River, ND - d. 12-5-1967
emcee: (The Dean of American Hobbyists) "Hobby Lobby"
05-06-1906 - Mathilde Ferror - d. 11-26-1990
writer: "Lorenzo Jones"
05-06-1908 - Parkyakarkus (Harry Einstein) - Boston, MA - d. 11-24-1958
comedian: "Eddie Cantor Show"; "Al Jolson Show"; "Meet Me at Parkys"
05-06-1910 - Alice Reinheart - San Francisco, CA - d. 6-10-1993
actor: Anne Williams "Casey, Crime Photographer"; Jean Abbott "Abbott
Mysteries"
05-06-1911 - Frank Nelson - Denver, CO - d. 9-12-1986
actor, comedian: Anthony J. Lyon "Jeff Regan"; nemisis "Jack Benny
Program"
05-06-1912 - Bill Quinn - NYC - d. 4-29-1994
actor: Guy Aldis "Against the Storm"; Tom Davis "When a Girl Marries"
05-06-1913 - Carmen Cavallaro - NYC - d. 10-12-1989
bandleader: (The Poet of the Piano) "Schaeffer Revue"; "Tums Tune Time"
05-06-1913 - Stewart Granger - London, England - d. 8-16-1993
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Screen Guild Theatre"
05-06-1914 - Arline Blackburn - NYC
actor: Kitty Kelly "Pretty Kitty Kelly"; Eileen Turner "The O'Neills"
05-06-1914 - Ken Englund - Chicago, IL - d. 8-10-1993
writer: "Three Sheets to the Wind"
05-06-1915 - Orson Welles - Kenosha, WI - d. 10-10-1985
actor: Lamont Cranston/Shadow "The Shadow"; "Mercury Theatre on the Air"
05-06-1917 - Bob Murphy - Bismarck, ND - d. 10-25-1959
announcer: "The Breakfast Club"
05-06-1926 - Marguarite Piazza - New Orleans, LA
singer: "Encore"
05-06-1941 - Ghena Dimitrova - Sofia, Bulgaria - d. 7-11-2005
operatic soprano: "Metropolitan Opera"
05-06-1945 - Richard Eyer - Santa Monica, CA
actor: Bobby "My Friend Irma"

May 6th deaths

01-24-1909 - Ann Todd - Hartford, Cheshire, England - d. 5-6-1993
actor: Amy Foster "Those We Love"
04-02-1911 - Bill Days - St. Louis, MO - d. 5-6-2002
singer: (Member Sportsmen Quartet) "Jack Benny Program"
04-27-1899 - Ned Wever - NYC - d. 5-6-1984
actor: Dick Tracy "Dick Tracy"; Anthony Loring "Young Widder Brown"
05-13-1907 - Warren Angell - Brooklyn, NY - d. 5-6-2006
singer: "Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians"
05-17-1908 - Joe Grant - NYC - d. 5-6-2005
writer: "Lux Radio Theatre"
05-31-1900 - Hugh Studebaker - Ridgeville, IN - d. 5-6-1978
actor: Ichabod Mudd "Captain Midnight"; Silly Watson "Fibber McGee
and Molly"
06-23-1925 - Larry Blyden - Houston, TX - d. 5-6-1975
actor: "Radio City Playhouse"; "Cavalcade of America"
07-04-1909 - Al Jarvis - Winnipeg, Canada - d. 5-6-1970
disc jockey, songwriter: "Make-Believe Ballroom"
07-15-1923 - Herb Sargent - Philadelphia, PA - d. 5-6-2005
writer: Wrote for radio in the 1940s
08-09-1901 - Charles Farrell - Onset Bay, Cape Cod, MA - d. 5-6-1990
actor: Verne Albright "My Little Margie"
08-17-1888 - Monte Woolley- NYC - d. 5-6-1963
actor: Edwin Montague "Magnificent Montague"
09-26-1901 - Ted Weems - Pitcairn, PA - d. 5-6-1963
bandleader: "Fibber McGee and Molly"; "Sunday Matinee"; "Beat the Band"
10-06-1893 - Milton Ager - Chicago, IL - d. 5-6-1979
composer of many songs broadcast on radio
10-10-1910 - Don Hancock - Anderson, IN - d. 5-6-1980
announcer: "The Goldbergs"; "Ellery Queen"; "Vox Pop"
10-17-1923 - Barney Kessel - Muskogee, OK - d. 5-6-2004
jazz guitarist: "Jubilee"; "One Night Stand"; "Just Jazz"
11-09-1916 - Norwood Anderson - d. 5-6-2005
disk jockey: "Town and Party Line" WFTC Kingston, North Carolina
11-26-1907 - Henry "Hot Lips" Levine - London, England - d. 5-6-1989
trumpeter, conducter: "Chamber Music of Lower Basin Street";
"Strictly from Dixie"
12-27-1901 - Marlene Dietrich - Berlin, Germany - d. 5-6-1992
actor: Mlle. Madou, "Cafe Istanbul"

Ron Sayles

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

Date: Sun, 6 May 2007 09:40:20 -0400
From: "Laura Leff" <president@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Bob Hope's what?

Is it true Bob Hope was suspended for an on-air comment he made to Dorothy
Lamour suggesting she kiss him under the sign at a pawnshop?

You learn something new every [removed] never knew Bob Hope had three of
[removed]

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

Date: Sun, 6 May 2007 09:50:12 -0400
From: "Bill Knowlton" <udmacon1@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Deadly Deflation

Today, May 6th, is the 70th anniversary of the Hindenburg Disaster in
Lakehurst NJ.

I can locate only one contemporary song about the disaster, recorded by Wilf
Carter (Montana Slim) in NYC THE DAY AFTER the crash (!), and appropriately
titled "The Hindenburg Disaster."

At least Vernon Dalhart & Carson Robison waited a few days before THEIR
musical "tributes!)

BILL KNOWLTON

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2007 Issue #136
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