------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2004 : Issue 102
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Interesting quote [ JackBenny@[removed] ]
Communal viewing [ JackBenny@[removed] ]
3-20 births/deaths [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
Re: Milton Berle [ "Candy Jens" <candyj@[removed]; ]
Berle/Benn [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
Milton Berle revisited [ "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed] ]
Age Fudging [ "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed] ]
Half-Hour Former Serials [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
Make Believe Ballroom [ "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed] ]
Dear Mercedes [ Conrad Binyon <conradab@[removed] ]
Mercedes McCambridge and radio [ "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed] ]
Milton Berle [ Udmacon@[removed] ]
More on Milton Berle [ "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyro ]
Early TV [ "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyro ]
Howdy Doody at the DIA [ "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyro ]
Re: Berle's TV competition [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
Miltie's magic [ Richard Carpenter <sinatra@ragingbu ]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 14:37:01 -0500
From: JackBenny@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Interesting quote
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"You have made of radio a laughing stock to [removed] have cut time
into tiny segments called spots (more rightly stains) where with the
occasional fine program is periodically smeared with impudent insistence to
buy and
try."
-- Lee de Forest - inventor of the vacuum tube for radio - addressing the
National
Association of Broadcasters in 1946
WELL!
--Laura Leff
President, IJBFC
[removed]
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------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 15:24:31 -0500
From: JackBenny@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Communal viewing
The discussion of communal television viewing reminds me of a passage from
the winning entry in our Benny script writing contest at 39 Forever. (Again,
this is by Mary Cooper, not an actual Benny show.) Jack is taking the gang
out
to dinner on his birthday, and they all give him cheap gifts (like a sample
cologne bottle from the May Company). Jack is [removed]
JACK: Whattya mean, calm down? These are the cheapest gifts I've ever
received! And just for that, I'm not paying for dinner!
DENNIS: Then let's go to Mr. Benny's house and watch his new television set.
JACK: You're not going anywhere! You're going [removed] (pause) What new
television set?
MARY: The television set we bought you for your birthday!
JACK: You mean these aren't all of my presents?
DON: We gave you gag gifts, Jack, so we could surprise you with the
television set.
PHIL: You can watch television inside now.
JACK: Well, the department store windows weren't bad but those shoppers can
be so pushy when they're leaving the store. (pause) Someone bumped into my
chair and knocked my bowl of popcorn over once.
--Laura Leff
President, IJBFC
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 15:24:41 -0500
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 3-20 births/deaths
First day of Spring
March 20th births
03-20-1890 - Lauritz Melchior - Copenhagen, Denmark - d. 1973
singer: "Magic Key"; "Metropolitan Opera"; "Voice of Firestone"
03-20-1906 - Ozzie Nelson - Jersey City, NJ - d. 6-3-1975
actor: "Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet"
03-20-1908 - Kermit Murdock - Pittsburgh, PA - d. 2-11-1981
actor: Rod Buchanan "Whisper Men"
03-20-1908 - Sir Michael Redgrave - Bristol, England - d. 3-21-1985
actor: Horatio Hornblower "Horatio Hornblower"
03-20-1908 - Stuart Metz - Buffalo, NY
announcer: "Pepper Young's Family"; "Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons"
03-20-1912 - Sarah Burton - London, England
actress: Mrs. Bixby "Mrs. Miniver"; Lisa "Against the Storm"
03-20-1913 - Judith Evelyn - Seneca, SD - d. 5-7-1967
actress: Grace Marshall "Helpmate"; Kay Miniver "Mrs. Miniver"
03-20-1914 - Wendell Corey - Dracut, MA - d. 11-8-1968
actor: Detective Dan McGarry "McGarry and His Mouse"
03-20-1918 - Jack Barry - Lindenhurst, NY - d. 5-2-1984
actor: "It's the Barrys"
03-20-1918 - Marian McPartland - Stough, England
jazz pianist: "Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz"
03-20-1922 - Carl Reiner - The Bronx, NY
comedian: "The Curse"; "Sounds of Freedom"; "Here's to Veterans"
03-20-1922 - Jack Kruschen - Winnipeg, Canada - d. 4-2-2002
actor: Sergeant Muggowen " Broadway is My Beat"
03-20-1922 - Ray Goulding - Lowell, MA - d. 3-24-1990
comedian: "Bob and Ray Show"
March 20th deaths
06-12-1909 - Archie Bleyer - Corona, NY - d. 3-20-1989
conductor: "Arthur Godfrey Time"; "Casey, Crime Photographer"
08-03-1920 - Marilyn Maxwell - Clarinda, IA - d. 3-20-1972
singer, actress: "Kraft Music Hall"; "Abbott and Costello Show"; "Bob Hope
Show"
12-10-1911 - Chet Huntley - Cardwell, CO - d. 3-20-1974
newscaster, producer: "They Burned the Books"
12-18-1885 - J. Anthony Smythe - San Francisco, CA - d. 3-20-1966
actor: "Carefree Carnival"; Henry Barbour "One Man's Family"
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 15:24:53 -0500
From: "Candy Jens" <candyj@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Milton Berle
Milton's competition was Bishop Fulton J. Sheen - and he often gave Uncle
Miltie a run for his money! Sheen's intelligence, sense of humor, and flair
for the dramatic made him a great speaker. A man aheasd iof his time!
Candy Jens
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 15:26:06 -0500
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Berle/Benn
>From my own personal experience, Milton Berle had no effect whatever in my
parents buying a television set. It was when Jack Benny first came to TV that
prompted them to finally take the plunge.
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 15:35:18 -0500
From: "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed];
To: "OTR" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Milton Berle revisited
I suspect that by 1948 most people in the country had newspapers and
probably were aware of the Milton Berle show and its popularity whether they
had a TV or not. :)) I'm pretty sure that most of those people in the
hinterlands would have watched as well if they were able.
'Sex and the City' being compared to Milton Berle????
Remember 'Seinfeld'? They said it was 'too New York' to make it. Don't
underestimate the folks in the middle of the two coasts.
His appeal was universal and not an urban thing. After all vaudeville did
well in those midwest towns and Berle brought much of his vaudeville humor
to his show.
I can't imagine why Berle's influence is in dispute. The arguments run
against the professional and popular perceptions of the time, never
challenged, except here. Berle was considered so formidable a figure that
NBC signed him to a 'lifetime' contract [30 years] in 1951 paying him
$200,000 a year whether he worked or not so long as he did not work for
another network. That was a lot of money in 1951 and this agreement was
considered as one that was paying him not to work in TV - for NBC's
competitors. In 1965 he asked that he be allowed to do a variety show for
ABC and NBC agreed, cutting his pay to $60,000 a year.
He was a groundbreaker in that he demonstrated that a variety show could be
done week after week with the same set of people and succeed. Sid Caesar
has said that this made his wonderful program, 'Show of Shows' possible.
The title 'Mr Television' was broader then a reference to his influence in
demonstrating to the public that TV was something worth buying, it included
all else that he had done for the medium and the influence he had on those
comedians who followed, and were inspired by him.
Why we should want to rain on the parade of one of the first members of the
TV Hall of Fame I don't know. Numbers aren't everything and I say this as
a retired finance officer/senior accountant.
Irene
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 15:53:56 -0500
From: "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed];
To: "OTR" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Age Fudging
Jack French wrote about actresses fudging their age in his comments about
Mercedes McCambridge.
I've been doing a lot of genealogy research and have access to the census
records through 1930 with my paid membership at a couple of genealogy
websites.
One day when reading a NY Times obituary I noticed that on the side bar they
had links to the obituaries of famous people, who had died in the same month
in past years as they had appeared in the NY Times at the time. I read
the obituary for Ethel Merman in which they said her age was either x or y,
Having her real name and borough available, just for fun I checked the
census records, found her there as a child and learned that she was actually
2 years older then she had claimed.
Anyone you want me to check?
Irene
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 16:43:13 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Half-Hour Former Serials
Jim Harmon, commenting on my observation that a contributory effect to
inducing people to move to TV was former serials being converted to
half-hour format, noted.
Unlike Stephen Kallis, I liked the half hour shows of Sky King, Tom Mix, et
al. I agree Captain Midnight was the least successful move to half hour.
Well, I'd better clarify! First, as many in the Digest might bed aware,
for me, there was OTR and there was Captain Midnight, in a class by
itself. In the half-hour segment, Sky King did fine. The aviation was
fine, and when in the news one US pilot in the Korean War helped a fellow
pilot who'd been temporarily blinded steer his aircraft by flying close
enough to control the attitude of the other aircraft's wings, the show
picked up the idea for a story of its own. The Tom Mix stories were
okay, but had been "juveniled" a little.
But Captain Midnight! To put it aviationally, it went into a death
spiral. It had been written down to a gradeschool level, and some of the
shows were almost laughable as compared to the adventures in the serials.
I'll repeat one story that was in connection with the Iron-On Transfer
of the period. Since the advent of the half-hour time slot, there were
no more Code-O-Graphs issued. So, the item used as an identifier for
being a Secret Squadron member was an iron-on transfer that could be put
on any piece of cloth. The item recommended was a handkerchief . The
transfer, a picture of Captain Midnight's head, with aviation helmet and
goggles, would be ironed on so that the handkerchief could be folded to
conceal it. For other Squadron members, it could be opened up fully to
reveal the ID. [For younger readers, in the 1940s and 1950s, people
routinely carried handkerchiefs. Some, two: "One for show and one for
blow," as a saying went.)
In the story, some organization tried to infiltrate an agent into the
Secret Squadron, finding a physical double for Chuck Ramsay whom they
trained to act like Chuck. When they were making the swap, Chuck was
captured and ordered to swap clothing with the counterfeit. Sniffling a
little, Chuck asked his captors, "May I keep this handkerchief? I think
I'm coming down with a cold. Then, he blew his nose.
The request was granted, and the fake Chuck, with a fresh, clean,
handkerchief, joined Captain Midnight, Joyce, and Ichabod Mudd.
Somehow, the conversation turned to handkerchiefs, and equally
improbably, "Chuck"'s answers were evasive, raising the suspicion of the
others until, finally, Captain Midnight asked, "Yes, Chick. Just what
_is_ on that handkerchief?" (Considering what the fake saw the real
Chuck do, the answer might have been rather astonishing to the crew!)
But the fake continued to be evasive, and was uncovered, spoiling the
plot. (Silly as this reads, it sounded even more inane.) The sheer low
quality of the half-hour Captain Midnight shows is such that I cannot
consider them Canonical.
The point is that in some programs, the writing was lowered -- check out
Armstrong of the SBI, for instance -- while TV was still in its novelty
stage.
Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 16:47:39 -0500
From: "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed];
To: "OTR" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Make Believe Ballroom
Lee,
You didn't mention Martin Block, the legendary host synonymous with 'Make
Believe Ballroom' on WNEW in NY and a member of the Radio Hall of Fame.
He is considered the first radio DJ and as an avid fan I will always
remember the program as Martin Block and his Make Believe Ballroom. He
managed to create the image of live performers coming on stage in his
ballroom, when he was actually playing recordings, thus the 'make believe'.
Irene
[removed] I looked for the film at the usual places I've bookmarked but
couldn't find you a copy.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 19:32:27 -0500
From: Conrad Binyon <conradab@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Dear Mercedes
Aw, damn. Sorry to hear about the passing of Mercedes
McCambridge. She was something of a talent for sure.
Here's an earlier submission of mine about the lady I
put up some time ago during my earlier days on the
Digest.
[removed]
=====
---
conradab@[removed] (Conrad A. Binyon)
Encino, CA
Home of the Stars who loved Ranches and Farms
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 19:32:56 -0500
From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed];
To: "Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Mercedes McCambridge and radio
I have read several of the obits for Mercedes McCambridge, and they have
dwelt on her television and movie career. Little attention has been given
to her great work in radio. If some young OTR fan were to ask me which
radio programs to listen to to get the flavor of her performing voice, I
would without hesitation recommend "I love a mystery" and many of the "CBS
Radio Mystery Theater" shows. There were others as well, but I do not have
a list of them.
What a great voice! The timbre, the emotion, and whatever else it makes to
project the story: they all were there in Mercedes' voice. Most of all, it
was a distinctive voice. No other voice was anything like it.
And that's the neat thing about radio, as it used to be. No two voices were
alike. Except maybe Harold Peary and Willard Waterman (Great Gildersleeve)!
I suppose an expert could tell them apart.
Ted Kneebone/1528 S. Grant [removed], SD 57401/605-226-3344
OTR: [removed]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 21:45:56 -0500
From: Udmacon@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Milton Berle
I DO know that for a time Ernie Kovacs was up against Uncle Miltie. As a
result, he did whatever he felt like since he didn't think he had much of an
audience (Gawd he was funny!).
And don't forget several years of Uncle Fulty: Bishop Sheen!
Aside: who was the actor/actress who portrayed Martha on Berle's radio show.
Martha's only line: "Yawwwssss!"
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2004 00:44:45 -0500
From: "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: More on Milton Berle
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 09:31:59 -0500
From: ME <voxpop@[removed];
NOT to take anything away from milton [removed] was one of my
[removed] i stood in front of store windows to watch him [removed]
we got our round screen packard bell [removed] was his
competition? who was he up against in his time period? no one that i
can [removed] about you? chet norris
For some time, he was so popular that nobody put sponsored shows opposite him. So the
first show to give him ratings competition was a half-hour sermon by Archbishop Fulton J.
Sheen on the DuMont network. Bishop Sheen was a bit of a showman and cracked jokes
during his talk. He would use a blackboard to illustrate a point, then move away from the board
for a moment. Then when he returned to the blackboard, it would be erased, and he would say
that his "angel" had erased it for him.
Berle, for his part, called Bishop Sheen "Uncle Fultie," said that they both had the same
sponsor -- Sky Chief -- and said it was understandable that Bishop Sheen should do better
because he had better writers -- Matthew, Mark, Luke ...
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 11:52:20 -0500
From: PFornatar@[removed]
The saddest thing about it all, for us collectors, is that few of the
great kines of the show are [removed] thrashed them inorder to have
more space for contemporary shows.
This is a story that has many versions. In at least one version, when a lawsuit from Berle
loomed, NBC suddenly discovered that they had the kinescopes after all. Is there anyone out
there who knows the true story?
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2004 00:44:39 -0500
From: "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Early TV
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2004 18:55:22 -0500
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
It was, for example, impossible to receive a usable television
signal in the town where I grew up until our state got its first
television station in 1953, by which time the bloom was well off
Berle's rose.
I remember in late 1953 or early 1954 reading an article in "My Weekly Reader" about a new
television station coming on in Vermont, which meant that "Now all parts of the United States
have television."
--
A. Joseph Ross, [removed] [removed]
15 Court Square, Suite 210
lawyer@[removed]
Boston, MA 02108-2503
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2004 00:46:22 -0500
From: "A. Joseph Ross"
<lawyer@[removed];
To:
[removed]@[removed]
Subject: Howdy Doody at the DIA
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 01:17:40 -0500
From: Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed];
Are you SURE the Howdy Doody puppet is at the DIA?
I've never seen it there. Or did you mean that it's
kept in storage at the DIA, not on display?
There was litigation in federal court in Connecticut a few years ago, and the DIA won Howdy,
as a result of an agreement between the puppeteer, Rufus Rose, and NBC after the show went
off the air. The Rose family and Buffalo Bob's estate wanted to auction Howdy off along with
the other puppets (which were auctioned off a couple of years ago). The DIA put Howdy on
display after they acquired him, and he was on their Website. I couldn't find him when I
checked just now, and I don't know if he's currently on display there. I know that at least once,
he was on loan to another museum in Chicago. But he is the property of the DIA per order of
the federal court.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2004 00:46:42 -0500
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Berle's TV competition
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In a message dated 3/19/04 1:52:46 PM Central Standard Time,
[removed]@[removed] writes:
NOT to take anything away from milton [removed] was one of my [removed]
i stood in front of store windows to watch him [removed] we got our
round screen packard bell [removed] was his competition? who
was he up against in his time period? no one that i can [removed]
Good question [removed] first, virtually no one. This info comes from a 1981
edition of "The Complete Directory of Prime Time Television Shows
1948-Present" by Tim Brooks and Earl Marsh. Berle came on Tuesday nights at
8 EST, and
note the radio [removed]
1948:
ABC: Film shorts, the first half of "America's Town Meeting of the Air"
NBC: Texaco Star Theatre
1949:
CBS: movies/specials
Dumont: Court of Current Issues
NBC: Texaco Star Theatre
1950:
ABC: Game of the Week/Buck Rogers
CBS: Prudential Family Playhouse/Sure as Fate (alternating)
Dumont: Court of Current Issues/Johns Hopkins Science Review
NBC: Texaco Star Theatre
1951:
ABC: Charlie Wild, Private Detective/How Did They Get That Way?
CBS: Frank Sinatra Show
Dumont: What's the Story?/Keep Posted
NBC: Texaco Star Theatre
1952:
CBS: Leave It to Larry/Red Buttons Show
Dumont: Power of Women/Keep Posted
NBC: Texaco Star Theatre
1953:
CBS: Gene Autry Show/Red Skelton Show
Dumont: Life is Worth Living/Pantomine Quiz (note: Berle later acknowledged
"Life is Worth Living"--which starred Bishop Fulton J. Sheen--was the show
that
began eating at his ratings; his joke was that they had the same sponsor,
"Sky Chief" but note Buick had actually replaced Texaco at this point)
NBC: Buick/Berle Show
1954:
ABC: Twenty Questions (second half hour only)
CBS: Red Skelton Show/Halls of Ivy
Dumont: Life is Worth Living/Studio 57
NBC: Buick Berle Show
1955:
ABC: second half of Warner Brothers Presents; Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
CBS: Navy Log/You'll Never Get Rich (latter is the sitcom starring Phil
Silvers as Sgt Bilko)
NBC: Martha Raye Show/Milton Berle Show/Chevy Show (rotating)
Dixon
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2004 00:43:15 -0500
From: Richard Carpenter <sinatra@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Miltie's magic
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Here's my Milton Berle memory:
It's a Tuesday night in 1948 and I'm walking -- almost running -- down a
street in Salem, Mass., with parents, brother, grandmother, cousin, and an
uncle or two. We're all heading for the local social club where they have a
television set. They also have dime beers for the adults and for 8-year-old
me a machine that yields a handful of pistachio nuts for just a nickel. The
Milton Berle show comes on and everyone is riveted to the set, ready to
guffaw. A handful of pistachio nuts and Uncle Miltie on TV ... man, I am in
paradise.
-- [removed]
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--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #102
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