Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #288
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 7/27/2003 9:35 AM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2003 : Issue 288
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Births and Deaths we 8-2              [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Re: Amos 'n' Andy airchecks           [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
  More call letters                     [ "bkidera" <rkidera1@[removed] ]
  Re: radio announcer in "Seabiscuit"   [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
  Re: broadcasting giants               [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
  Re: call signs                        [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
  Seabiscuit                            [ "Marvin R. Bensman" <mbensman@memph ]
  Red and blue                          [ "William Schell" <bschell@[removed] ]
  Seabiscuit                            [ Lee Munsick <leemunsick@[removed] ]
  RE: live 365 stations                 [ "Jan A Krzok" <jkrzok@[removed]; ]
  WCFL                                  [ Sandy Singer <sinatradj@[removed]; ]
  SPERDVAC                              [ Sandy Singer <sinatradj@[removed]; ]
  OTR movie trailers                    [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]

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

Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2003 10:30:43 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Births and Deaths we 8-2

Births July 27th

07-27-1916 - Keenan Wynn - NYC - d. 10-14-1986
actor: Moe 'Shrevie" Shrevnitz "The Shadow"; Gregory Smith "Amazing Mr. Smith"
07-27-1928 - Barbara Eiler - Los Angeles, CA
actress: Babs Riley "Life of Riley"; Millie Anderson "A Day in the Life of
Dennis Day"

Deaths July 27th

02-22-1915 - Dan Seymour - NYC - d. 7-27-1982
actor: Danny "Aunt Jenny"s Real Life Stories"
03-25-1905 - Binnie Barnes - London, England - d. 7-27-1998
panelist: "Leave It to the Girls"; "Breakfast with Binnie and Mike"
04-18-1907 - Miklos Rozsa - Budapest, Hungary - d. 7-27-1995
composer: "Lux Radio Theatre"
05-15-1909 - James Mason - Huddersfield, England - d. 7-27-1984
actor: "James and Pamela Mason Show"; "Studio One"
08-31-1905 - Larry Elliott - Washington, [removed] - d. 7-27-1957
announcer: "Texaco Star Theatre"; "American Melody Hour"; "Barry Cameron"

Births July 28th

07-28-1892 - Joe E. Brown - Holgate, OH - d. 7-6-1973
comedian, quizmaster: "Ceiling Unlimited"; "Joe E. Brown Show"; "Stop or Go"
07-28-1914 - Carman Dragon - Antioch, CA - d. 3-28-1987
conductor: "Maxwell House Coffee Time"; "Baby Snooks Show"; "Railroad Hour"
07-28-1916 - Laird Cregar - Philadelphia, PA - d. 12-9-1944
actor: "Hello, Americans"; "Radio Hall of Fame"; "Suspense"

Deaths July 28th

02-08-1905 - Truman Bradley - Sheldon, MO - d. 7-28-1974
announcer: "Easy Aces"; "Red Skelton & Co."; "Drene Show"
06-20-1899 - Helen Traubel - St. Louis, MO - d. 7-28-1972
singer: "Metropolitan Opera"; "Telephone Hour"; "Jimmy Durante Show"

Births July 29th

07-29-1869 - Booth Tarkington - Indianapolis, IN - d. 5-19-1946
writer: "Maude and Cousin Bill"
07-29-1887 - Sigmund Romberg - Nagykanizsa, Austria-Hungary - d. 11-9-1951
composer, conductor: "An Evening with Romberg"; "The Swift Hour"
07-29-1890 - Theda Bara - Cincinnati, OH - d. 4-13-1955
actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"
07-29-1892 - William Powell - Pittsburgh, PA - d. 3-5-1984
actor: Father "My Mother"s Husband"
07-29-1905 - Thelma Todd - Lawrence, MA - d. 12-18-1935
comedienne: Series with Zasu Pitts
07-29-1910 - Joseph Curtin - Cambridge, MA - d. 4-5-1979
actor: Nick Charles "Advs. of the Thin Man"; John Perry "John"s Other Wife"
07-29-1911 - Florence Freeman - NYC - d. 4-25-2000
actress: Ellen Brown "Young Widder Brown"; Wendy Warren "Wendy Warren and the
News"
07-29-1924 - Robert Horton - Los Angeles, CA
actor: "Suspense"

Deaths July 29th

03-01-1910 - David Niven - Kirriemuir, Scotland - d. 7-29-1983
actor, panelist: "NBC Radio Theatre"; "Transatlantic Quiz"
06-09-1900 - Fred Waring - Tyrone, PA - d. 7-29-1984
conductor: "Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians"; "Pleasure Time/Victory Tunes"
08-30-1896 - Raymond Massey - Toronto,  - d. 7-29-1983
actor, host: "The Doctor Fights"; "Harvest of Stars"

Births July 30th

07-30-1928 - Christine McGuire - Middletown, OH
singer: (The McGuire Sisters) "Arthur Godfrey Time"

Deaths July 30th

03-17-1916 - Karl Weber - Columbus Junction, IA - d. 7-30-1990
actor: Ray Matson "Dr. Six Gun"; Phil Stanley "When a Girl Marries"
05-10-1914 - Charles McGraw - NYC - d. 7-30-1980
actor: Ken Thurston "A Man Called X", "Dragnet"; "Suspense"
08-22-1897 - Eddie Dunstedter - Edwardsville, IL - d. 7-30-1974
organist, conductor: "Gold Medal Fast Freight"; "The Lineup"; "It Happened in
Hollywood"
09-13-1905 - Claudette Colbert - Paris, France - d. 7-30-1996
actress: "Cresta Blanca Hollywood Players"; "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Millions
for Defense"

Births July 31st

07-31-1894 - Roy Bargy - Newaygo, MI - d. 1-15-1974
conductor: "Jimmy Durante Show"; "Kraft Music Hall"; "Rexall Summer Theatre"
07-31-1903 - Robert E. Griffin - Hutchinson, KS - d. 1960
actor: Joe Marlin "Story of Mary Marlin"; Patrick Ryan "Terry and the Pirates"
07-31-1904 - Billy Hillpot - Red Bank, NJ - d. 2-25-1985
singer: Trade "Smith Brothers: Trade and Mark"; "Camel Pleasure Hour"
07-31-1911 - George Liberace - Menasha, WI - d. 10-16-1983
sideman: Orrin Tucker Band, Anson Weeks Band
07-31-1912 - Chester Stratton - Paterson, NJ - d. 7-7-1970
actor: Carter Trent "Pepper Young"s Family"; Hop Harrigan "Hop Harrigan"
07-31-1919 - Curt Gowdy - Green River, WY
sportscaster: play-by-play Boston Red Sox

Death July 31st

03-08-1893 - Victor Arden - Wenona, IL - d. 7-31-1962
conductor, pianist: "American Album of Familiar Music"; "America the Free"
04-30-1909 - Bud Linn - Indianapolis, IN - d. 7-31-1968
singer: (The King"s Men) "Kraft Music Hall"; "Fibber McGee and Molly"

August is a new month:

August Flower is the Larkspur
Auguts Birthstone is the Ruby

Major Holidays in August:
O-Bon (Japan)
Peace Day (Hiroshima, Japan)

Birth August 1st

08-01-1910 - Alice Frost - Minneapolis, MN - d. 1-6-1998
actress: Pamela North "Mr. and Mrs. North"; Martha Jackson "Woman of Courage"

Deaths August 1st

01-29-1923 - Paddy Chayefsky - The Bronx, NY - d. 8-1-1981
writer: "Theatre Guild of the Air"
09-19-1913 - Frances Farmer - Seattle, WA - d. 8-1-1970
actress: "The Pursuit of Happiness"
11-13-1906 - Conrad Thibault - Northbridge, MA - d. 8-1-1983
singer: "Show Boat"; "Packard Hour"; "Manhattan Merry-Go-Round"

Births August 2nd

08-02-1886 - Cesare Sodero - Naples, Italy - d. 12-16-1947
conductor: Series of condensed operas on WEAF New York
08-02-1892 - John Kieran - The Bronx, NY, New  - d. 12-10-1980
panelist: "Information Please"
08-02-1900 - Helen Morgan - Danville, IL - d. 10-08-1941
hostess, singer: "Helen Morgan, Songs"; "Broadway Melodies"; "Fred Allen Show"
08-02-1905 - Myrna Loy - Raidersburg, MT - d. 12-15-1993
actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"
08-02-1912 - Ann Dvorak - NYC - d. 12-10-1979 - d. 12-10-1979
actress: "Movietone Radio Theatre"
08-02-1915 - Gary Merrill - Hartford, CT - d. 3-5-1990
actor: Bruce Wayne/Batman "Adventures of Superman"
08-02-1918 - Beatrice Straight - Old Westbury, NY
actress: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"

Death August 2nd

01-14-1911 - David Gothard - Beardstown, IL - d. 8-2-1977
actor: Gil Whitney "Romance of Helen Trent"; Nick Charles "Advs. of the Thin
Man"
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Hometown of [removed] Kaltenborn and Jay Jostyn

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

Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2003 14:02:53 -0400
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Amos 'n' Andy airchecks
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

In a message dated 7/26/03 9:40:55 AM Central Daylight Time,
[removed]@[removed] writes:

There are also a number of fragmentary airchecks known to survive, the
earliest dating to November 1930, and the latest being a five-minute
fragment of the final serial episode. Most of these fragments are very
short -- a few as short as ten seconds.

Elizabeth, do you have a list of the 13 existing serial episodes of A&A?
Also, I have a Radiola release from the 1970s that features the opening theme
(sounds like a phonograph record, same orchestration as in the re-released
"Birth
of a Nation" soundtrack) and Bill Hay doing a Pepsodent commercial from March
[removed] that all that exists of that one?

Dixon

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

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

Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2003 14:03:01 -0400
From: "bkidera" <rkidera1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  More call letters

Here's a couple more call letters:

WLS - Chicago: World's Largest Store (I believe that Sears had at least
part ownership in the station).

WTMJ - Milwaukee: The Milwaukee Journal (City's main newspaper had an
affiliation with the station).

Bob Kidera

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

Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2003 14:03:11 -0400
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: radio announcer in "Seabiscuit"
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

In a message dated 7/26/03 9:40:55 AM Central Daylight Time,
[removed]@[removed] writes:

According to what I read, the character is pure myth and I don't
believe even exists in the book. Little research was done around the
radio aspect and the character was added to bring a little comedy to
the film.

In that case, after whom could the character have been modelled?  Sounds to
me like they used Bill Stern as a basic framework, with the antics of any
number of late 1950s/early 1960s DJs (yes, I know, an anachronism).

Dixon

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

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

Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2003 14:03:20 -0400
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: broadcasting giants
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

In a message dated 7/26/03 9:40:55 AM Central Daylight Time,
[removed]@[removed] writes:

Desi Arnaz, who pioneered the three-camera technique for
filming a sitcom in front of a studio audience; and Jack Webb, whose DRAGNET
may well have been the catalyst that kept radio drama alive for an
additional decade, and who is the undisputed father of modern TV drama -
police or otherwise.


I have always considered these two men to be among the most underrated
broadcasting giants of all time, in terms of what they did that is still
being done
today.  BTW, do any broadcasts of Desi's radio game show, "Your Tropical
Trip," still exist?  What was it like?  Who sponsored it, Phillip Morris?

Dixon

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

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

Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2003 14:03:38 -0400
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: call signs
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

Here are a couple from the cotton state, where I live:

WBRC--Bell Radio Company, Alabama's oldest set of call letters; they now
belong to the Fox TV O&O where I work
WSGN--"South's Greatest Newspaper", though I couldn't tell you if that was
the Birmingham News-Age or whatever else they had at the time.

Dixon

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

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

Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2003 14:03:53 -0400
From: "Marvin R. Bensman" <mbensman@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Seabiscuit

If you read "Seabiscuit" check out Page 345, end of second paragraph.
--
Professor Marvin R. Bensman, [removed], [removed]
University of Memphis
Director: Radio Archive

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

Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2003 14:04:04 -0400
From: "William Schell" <bschell@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Red and blue

I keep reading of networks' red and blue channels. What were these?
Thanks
Bill Schell
Magalia, Ca

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

Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2003 15:27:17 -0400
From: Lee Munsick <leemunsick@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Seabiscuit

With all the attention to Seabiscuit and his famous races inspired by
the current release of the new film of the same name, I thought I'd
bring up something for newer readers, which we discussed here before.

There was an earlier film in 1949, called "The Story of Seabiscuit".  It
starred Shirley Temple, Barry Fitzgerald, Rosemary DeCamp, and Lon
McAllister.  Like the film "Titanic", the attendant love story and the
character played by Barry Fitzgerald are typical Hollywood delightful
fiction, but it's a fun salute to the great race horse.

As it happens, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is showing the film TODAY,
Saturday 7/26, at 4:00 [removed] Eastern Daylight Time.  Because of the new
film, they'll probably run it again soon.  Sorry for the late news - I
only just learned it myself.

Also included in the cast--barely--is an old friend of ours, sound
effects entrepreneur, all around good guy and sometimes actor, Ray
Erlenborn, familiar and beloved by many OTR convention goers.

Ray told me of this appearance about a year ago, along with several
other films in which he appeared.  It took me a long time to track down
the film.  In the meanwhile I found the others (including the original
Ramon Novarro silent version of "Ben Hur"), and spotted Ray as he looked
back then in two fo them.  But he'd been cut out of one of them, in
which he [removed] what?  A sound effects man!  But in this case
the sound he made was [removed] scene, about a radio studio
broadcast, is gone in the version TCM shows!  Drat!

As I carefully watched "The Story of Seabiscuit" and it neared the end,
I despaired that Ray had wound up once again "on the cutting room floor"
at TCM.

But wait!  There he is!  In the very last few moments of the film, right
after that great challenge race, a photographer comes up to Lon
McAllister as the jockey up on Seabiscuit.  He requests the
photographer's "just one more quick shot" so they could go get other
photos.  That photographer (he'd played one in one of the other films,
too) is our boy Ray.  You'll have to watch quickly not to miss him.
Don't blink!   He appears from the right of the screen with his back
slightly toward the viewer, carrying a Graphic camera in his hand.

Good luck!  And Ray, thanks for the memories!

Lee Munsick

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

Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2003 23:12:29 -0400
From: "Jan A Krzok" <jkrzok@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  RE: live 365 stations

Revelation206jm asked what free OTR stations were available on live 365. He
provided the following list:
OTRNowLive!
OTRNow Feature
Rat Patrol Radio
Cybershortwave and OTR
Mystery Play I-Radio
Mystery Radio Network
Isabella Radio
Memories Live365
The Radio Time Machine
WWII Radio
WW2- The Wireless War

to which I add:
Yesterday USA
KNR's Old Time Radio
Jack Benny to Gunsmoke
Ultimate [removed] (Plays some)
Radio Mystery Theater
WNAR-AM
Central New York Old Time Radio
The Drive In (not really OTR. They're playing a Star Wars dramatization as I
type)
Radio Creature Feature (also not OTR but plenty of recent radio dramas)

He wanted to exclude premium stations, but for those that care I have the
following premium stations among my presets:
The Burns and Allen Channel
The Avenger (OTR)
Squid Action! OTR
Scary Theater
Sam Spade (OTR)
Radio K-MBC OLD T
OUR MISS BROOKS with E
old time radio theater
OLD TIME RADIO SHOWS
Old Time Radio Program
old time radio blend
Mystery Radio Theatre
Lux Radio
Listen to Escape over
Life Of Riley (OTR)
GHOST RADIO 2- [removed] (They play more than just OTR; they do "scary" music as
well. The Halloween movie theme is playing now)
Digital Voices OTR Rad
CBS_RADIO_MYSTERY_THEA
Audible Shriek Theater
AMOS & ANDY (and Kingf
@()@ Vic and Sade OTR
#OldTimeRadio - 10

 If anyone knows of any others, please feel free to add to this list.

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

Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2003 23:13:05 -0400
From: Sandy Singer <sinatradj@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  WCFL

Ah, the ol' Voice Of Labor -- Jack--remember my old school chum Dan
Sorkin?  Well, in addition do discovering [and later announcing his TV
show] Bob Newhart, Danny's greatest claim to fame was, on Labor Day,
announcing to the WCFL audience, "Labor Day parades are stupid!"  He got
canned, but, to this day, is still the funniest DJ I have ever heard!  He
went to KSFO in the City By The Bay, and was the top rated DJ in SF.

[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2003 23:13:17 -0400
From: Sandy Singer <sinatradj@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  SPERDVAC

Mentioning Glenn Mueller reminds me of something my mentor, Marvin Miller
[used to be Mueller] told me.  "My biggest regret was having to change
the spelling of my last name."

[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2003 23:14:17 -0400
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  OTR movie trailers

My good friend Walden Hughes asked:

Does any one know if the show like Leo on the Air, and Paramount on the air
are around to be collected? These where promo for movies that were broadcast
on the air.  Take care,

There are many that exist - I know I have at least seven or eight cassettes
each containing four episodes on each and I've seen MANY other recorded
radio spots exist in recorded form.  The programs known as LEO ON THE AIR
and PARAMOUNT ON THE AIR were temporary titles as every couple years the
studios would change the title.  PARAMOUNT ON THE AIR, for example, was
previously entitled PARAMOUNT MOVIE PARADE and PARAMOUNT PLAYHOUSE.  Usually
the trailers were about 12 - 14 minutes long and were recorded at the movie
studios.  Usually an announcer or the lead star of a particular picture
would introduce themselves, describe the movie a little, and clips of sound
tracks from the movies would be presented.  Sometimes original material
written for the trailers (besides the opening and closing announcements)
were dramatized but for the most part it was audio tracks.  If Jeanette
MacDonald sang in a song in the movie, the broadcast would feature the song
to attract the listening audience.

One of the best I ever heard was the DAY AT THE RACES trailer.  Clearly
designed specifically for the Marx Bros., only a couple minutes of the movie
is played - the rest is original material.  At one point Harpo is asked to
speak to the radio audience "for the first time" and all that you hear of
his "speaking part" is his horn!  Another scene has the announcer describe a
"preview showing" of the movie somewhere "south of the border" but when he
interviews people coming out of the theater and asks them what they thought
of the movie, all you hear are people, one by one, speaking in Spanish!
Funny Marx Bros. humor.

It's also funny because during the 1920s, movie studios initially took a
dislike toward the medium of radio, fearing that if people had entertainment
at home, they wouldn't have a reason for attending movie theaters.  One has
to remember that at the peak of the Golden Age of Hollywood, it was
estimated that about 90 percent of Americans attended the movie theaters
once a week.  Now with television, and especially the VCR and DVD market,
theater owners are lucky if twenty percent of the American audience visits
the movie theater once a year.

Eventually, by the early thrities, the movie studios realized the
advertising and promotional advantage of radio and began working their
movies into the medium via short advertisements like Walden described,
loaning Hollywood stars out for dramas on the condition that the studio's
latest movie was playing in theaters, and even adaptations of their movies.
Example: On January 22, 1947, director Frank Capra and actor James Stewart
were guests on radio's INFORMATION PLEASE.  The classic Capra-directed IT'S
A WONDERFUL LIFE was re-released in movie theaters just weeks before so
Capra and Stewart's appearance was clearly for advertising purposes.

Course, by the late thirties, movie studios were keeping a keen eye on radio
programs with a large audience in hopes of cashing in on the name of the
radio programs with motion pictures of their own.  Columbia Pictures was one
of the strong forces behind silver screen adaptations.  Both in movie and
serial form, they brought THE SHADOW, CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT, JACK ARMSTRONG
THEALL-AMERICAN BOY, TERRY AND THE PIRATES, I LOVE A MYSTERY, THE CRIME
DOCTOR, and THE WHISTLER just to name a few.  Universal brought INNER
SANCTUM MYSTERY, RKO brough Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy, The Great
Gildersleeve and Fibber McGee and Molly to the big screen.  Amazing now when
we look back at it, how much both mediums helped each other through co-op
marketing.

Martin

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #288
*********************************************

Copyright [removed] Communications, York, PA; All Rights Reserved,
  including republication in any form.

If you enjoy this list, please consider financially supporting it:
   [removed]

For Help: [removed]@[removed]

To Unsubscribe: [removed]@[removed]

To Subscribe: [removed]@[removed]
  or see [removed]

For Help with the Archive Server, send the command ARCHIVE HELP
  in the SUBJECT of a message to [removed]@[removed]

To contact the listmaster, mail to listmaster@[removed]

To Send Mail to the list, simply send to [removed]@[removed]