------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2005 : Issue 358
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Upcoming Nostalgia Con [ Wich2@[removed] ]
Theremin [ "RadioAZ@[removed]" <radioAZ@bas ]
Lobotomies on the Air [ "thomas" <evander800@[removed]; ]
The Future Of OTR Conventions [ "Stuart Lubin" <StuartLubin@[removed] ]
Re: Wyllis Cooper TV Show [ Jim Widner <widnerj@[removed]; ]
Program vs. Show [ "Randall F. Miller Jr." <rfmillerjr ]
on crystal radios and museums [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]
Music Hall Memories [ Jmeals@[removed] ]
Google Book Search [ Art Chimes <[removed]@[removed] ]
Leo Is On the Air [ "RadioAZ@[removed]" <radioAZ@bas ]
Re: Wyllis Cooper [ "R. R. King" <kingrr@[removed]; ]
11-19 births/deaths [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
This week in radio history 20-26 Nov [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2005 16:49:38 -0500
From: Wich2@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Upcoming Nostalgia Con
Dear Martin-
Sounds like a good time will be had by all.
I'd love to see Ken Stockinger's Baseball seminar. Being born in '58, one of
the most "OTR" memories I have is that of being in my Grandpa's kitchen, as
he & my uncle stood for hours, staring at the little radio atop the fridge -
and an ENTIRE Tigers game came spilling out, to fill the [removed]
Ditto, Charlie's X-ONE recreation, as I both love that show, and appreciate
new stories in established formats. (Having done all three types, I'm
curious: will the cast be Vets, Amateurs, or a "Salad?")
Spaceman's Luck, all!
-Craig
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2005 17:27:47 -0500
From: "RadioAZ@[removed]" <radioAZ@[removed];
To: "OTR Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Theremin
As the proud owner of a Theremin, I can tell you they are no cinch to play.
Oh, you can make weird sci-fi noises easily, but to produce music you need a
perfect-pitch ear and rock-steady nerves.
Fortunately, I just wanted one for the cheap space noises.
Ted
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2005 18:12:27 -0500
From: "thomas" <evander800@[removed];
To: "old_time_radio" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Lobotomies on the Air
In the very first episode of 'The Story of Dr. Kildare', pianist Angela
Kester has a prefrontal lobotomy after trying to kill herself. Apparently
this was a generally accepted medical procedure when the program was
broadcast--February 1, 1950. Guess that means we shouldn't look at doctors
who performed this operation as monsters. It may be one reason why we become
more skeptical of miracle cures as we get older.
Oh, by the way, the procedure restored Angela to a happy and productive
life. Go figure.
Tom van der Voort
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2005 22:22:03 -0500
From: "Stuart Lubin" <StuartLubin@[removed];
To: "OTR_Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: The Future Of OTR Conventions
Walden Hughes brings up this subject during a season when, under former
leadership, there would have been a SPERDVAC convention. There was also no
convention in 2002. People wonder why.
SPERDVAC used to be the grand master of OTR clubs. They had great
conventions, and with all their money, no one on the board cared that much
about how much was spent to bring in and honor those luminaries who
brightened our childhood, gave the golden age of radio great prestige, and
put its contributions in the history books.
Who can one blame, if a major OTR organization fails to have a yearly
convention, as they now have done twice? The board of directors would blame
lack of volunteers. Why should anyone in their right mind volunteer to work
in a convention where the board micro-manages every aspect of the
convention, not only the expenditures? The truth of the matter is that
SPERDVAC has a board whose members really do not want a convention. They
individually, with the exception of one, who has always worked long and hard
at SPERDVAC conventions, do not really want a convention. It is the
responsibility of the board to see to it that there be a yearly convention.
Last October I attended the FOTR Convention. That should be the model for
what an OTR Convention should be. SPERDVAC is a dying organization, and I
would like to see a new organization in the Los Angeles area develop, with
the sole purpose of holding a yearly convention, not just an afternoon at a
hotel. Anyone interested in helping to jump start such a group should
please contact me off list.
Stuart OTRadiofan) Lubin
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2005 22:22:53 -0500
From: Jim Widner <widnerj@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Wyllis Cooper TV Show
Kermyt Anderson asked about Wyllis Cooper's Volume One TV series:
> I suppose it's too much to hope that kinescopes of this show survive?
Does anybody
know if the scripts exist? Also, do scripts exist for the 14 Quiet
Please episodes that are missing and were not repeated?
There is a partial kinescope, I understand, at the University of
Southern California, but I don't think it is a complete show. There is a
list of the programs, one of which Frankie Thomas appeared in (there is
an extensive interview with him floating around the Internet with a
partial section in which he talks about the show).
I don't know if the television scripts exist, but if they do they are
either at the USC campus or possibly at the Museum of Television and
Radio in NYC where some of his papers were donated. (His papers are kind
of scattered in various places).
All of the Quiet, Please scripts do exist and are at the Library of
American Broadcasting at the Maryland campus. Mike Henry, who is on this
list, can tell you more about them.
Jim Widner
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2005 22:23:30 -0500
From: "Randall F. Miller Jr." <rfmillerjr1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Program vs. Show
As my former boss (Dr. Walter P. Shepherd) [The only man I know who had a
Doctorate in Broadcasting] used to tell me, a show is on television or in
the theatre, but a program is on the radio. He would always write the prgram
promotional copy (promos) with the word program. The only exception that I
remember was "The Goon Show" which we aired from the BBC. Apparently the
title was either registered or copywrited, so we could not change it to
program.
--Randy Miller, Senior Engineer WITF-TV-FM; Radio Pennsylvania, Harrisburg,
PA
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2005 22:24:56 -0500
From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: on crystal radios and museums
In 1980 I was living about a two-hour ride from New York City, and we used
to go visit whenever we could. A splendid destination is the American
Museum of Natural History. It is the definitive museum of the world: it was
founded by Teddy Roosevelt, it has its own subway stop, a collection of
stuffed birds in a hall the size of a Wal-mart Super Center, a stuffed blue
whale, meteors, dinosaurs, a gem collection that includes a topaz the size
of a trash can, and Jumbo the Elephant (deceased.) And somewhere, buried
deep in its collections, is a crystal radio I made.
I lived two hours away from NYC in 1980. One day I was wandering through
and noticed that they had a display of crystals as used in industry, or
something. There was a Radio Shack crystal radio--the square plastic kit
with a 1N34A germanium diode--labeled "galena crystal radio set."
Well, for shame. I wrote a letter expressing scholarly outrage and offered
to build them a crystal radio with a galena crystal. And to my astonishment
the curator wrote back and said fine.
I don't know where I got a hunk of galena, but I was able to file out an
authentic-looking crystal holder, mount it on a board, find an old-fashioned
capacitor, wound some sort of a coil, and mounted a crystal headphone inside
an antique-looking oblong wooden case like I'd seen somewhere before. It
worked, sort of.
I drove triumphantly down to the museum and was ushered into new offices.
They were doing a remodeling job that was essentially vandalism. (How about
suspended acoustical ceilings below a skylighted ceiling in a great marble
hall?) Most of the cool exhibits were gone, but the curator assured me that
the museum was grateful for my contribution. I was pleased with myself.
I've since done enough museum work to know that they museums are
repositories of stuff made by everyone who ever wanted fame. Every museum
you've ever heard of has anonymous off-site warehouses full of stuff, and
more stuff. I cleaned out the warehouse of our local science museum and
discovered a complete antique automobile, a complete penny arcade from about
1890, a complete collection of 3/4 scale mannequins of all the US Presidents
up to Ronald Reagan, and a bronze structure that was once the main desk of
the New York Stock Exchange.
We discuss museums a good deal over at the Mechanical Music Digest, as
indeed we do here. And, as has been cautioned many times in both forums, be
careful where you donate your stuff.
I'm not real disappointed about my crystal radio; maybe it's on display
there, now, and it was fun to build.
M Kinsler
512 E Mulberry St. Lancaster, Ohio USA 43130 740-687-6368
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2005 23:54:11 -0500
From: Jmeals@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Music Hall Memories
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain
I have very much enjoyed the discussion of the Amos & Andy Music Hall. By
all accounts the music hall was the weakest of the three formats that Freeman
Gosden and Charles Correll employed. Still, for those of us of a certain age
it
is hard not to think back on the show with a great deal of fondness. For
many boomers the Amos & Andy Music Hall was the A & A that we grew up with.
Like Mr. Joseph Ross, I listened to the Music Hall while doing my homework.
I always looked forward to Thursday evening because that was the night when
the story line for that week would reach a crisis and be resolved. On
Thursday
nights, the comedy got higher priority than the music which is the way I
liked it.
I do have a particularly fond memory of the show. One night my mother
happened to stroll into my room while I had the A&A Music Hall on the radio.
My
mother's entrance was concurrent with the entrance of Algonquin J. Calhoun
the
lawyer, on the show. Calhoun was angry with the governor. When asked why,
Calhoun explained that a client of his had been executed in the electric
chair
that morning. A few hours before the execution, Calhoun had found some
evidence
which would have proved his client innocent. The lawyer tried to phone the
governor but "That man was too cheap to accept the charges."
I laughed out loud but mom was not amused. She thought it horrible that such
humor would be allowed on the radio and declared that she would write a
letter of protest to CBS. She never did.
I guess that even in their Music Hall years, Amos & Andy could not escape
controversy.
Jim Meals
*** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
*** as the sender intended. ***
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2005 23:54:51 -0500
From: Art Chimes <[removed]@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Google Book Search
The controversial Google program to scan books and make them available in
searchable whole (for non-copyrighted materal) or in what they consider fair
use part (copyrighted stuff) may be of benefit to serious OTR researchers as
well as fans.
If you haven't tried it, surf on over to [removed] and plug in
a favorite OTR personality, show or other term, and see what happens.
Here are a few random results of some random searches ...
In 1963, Elliott (Ted) Reid had the temerity to do his JFK impersonation at a
Washington dinner attended by President Kennedy and other dignitaries. (p. 179
of Ed Sikov's 2003 biography of Peter Sellers, who shared the bill with Reid,
Benny Goodman, and others.)
Broadcasting historian Eric Barnouw writes about his work on Cavalcade of
America: "Like other listeners, I had experienced [the show] one program at a
time, and each was likely to be impressive, often moving and ... reasonably
accurate. I could now see that the series added up to an extremely distorted
and misleading panorama of American history." (p. 77 of Barnouw's 1996 memoir,
"Media Marathon.")
Google excels at finding obscure references in unlikely places, like this one,
from a work of philosphy:
"Plato's representation of Callicles is so powerful that Nietzsche was
captivated by it ... and, in May of 1956, the radio series, Yours Truly,
Johnny Dollar, featured a five-episode 'The Callicles Matter,' in which
Callicles was called the greatest of the Greek philosophers--turnabout to the
philosophical literature that questioned his very historicity." (p. 76 of "The
People of Plato," by Debra Nails, 2002)
Happy searching,
Art
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2005 23:55:13 -0500
From: "RadioAZ@[removed]" <radioAZ@[removed];
To: "OTR Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Leo Is On the Air
A very nice person recently gave me the newly released "Thin Man" DVD set.
Great fun if you haven't seen them.
Among the extra features on one of the DVDs are two radio shows. The first
is the 6/17/40 Lux Presents Hollywood version of "After the Thin Man." The
other is a little oddity called "Leo Is on the Air."
The "Leo" name comes from the MGM lion as this was an MGM radio
presentation. It was obviously broadcast right around New Year 1937. It is
a 15-minute review of some hit songs from 1936. Oddly enough, all of the
songs were from MGM musicals.
No idea who the announcer was, although the voice was a bit familiar.
Anyone know anything more about this program?
Ted
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2005 10:06:59 -0500
From: "R. R. King" <kingrr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Wyllis Cooper
Wyllis Cooper's first (only?) series on television, a six episode
series called "Volume One (No's 1 - 6)". The descriptions of the
episodes are very evocative. No dates are given, but since the
article is from September 1949, the show obviously precedes
that date. I suppose it's too much to hope that kinescopes of
this show survive? Does anybody know if the scripts exist?
Also, do scripts exist for the 14 Quiet Please episodes that are
missing and were not repeated?
The "Volume One" series appeared in the summer of 1949 just as "Quiet,
Please" was ending its radio run. In fact, the TV show was apparently
going to be called "Quiet, Please" (and was initially listed that way
in some newspapers) until the title was changed.
UCLA claims to have a kinescope reel from the final episode of "Volume
One." Don't know if anything else survives. All of the "Quiet Please"
radio scripts are at the University of Maryland.
"Volume One" may not have been Cooper's first work for TV. He's
credited as the writer of the premiere episode of the 1946 TV version
of "Lights Out." But I'm not sure if he wrote the script especially
for TV or had one of his old radio scripts adapted. I've read
conflicting accounts. NBC rebroadcast the script a couple of years
later on another series. In early 1945, Cooper was working for the
Compton advertising agency in New York and spoke at a meeting of the
American Television Society at the Museum of Modern Art -- so
presumably he had some familiarity with the medium at that point.
After "Volume One," Cooper produced (but did not always write the
scripts for) two brief CBS series in 1950: "Escape," which was
supposed to be a TV version of the radio show, and "Stage 13," another
supernatural anthology. He also wrote for the TV versions of "Lights
Out" in 1951 and "Studio One" in 1953.
In '51, he was reported to be working with "Lights Out" producer
Herbert Bayard Swope on a TV or movie version of "Fu Manchu." Swope
later produced a TV pilot but with a script credited to someone else.
Does anybody know of any other TV credits? Does anybody know what his
contributions were to the "Lights Out" TV series?
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2005 10:07:06 -0500
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 11-19 births/deaths
November 19th births
11-19-1863 - Billy Sunday - Ames, IA - d. 11-6-1935
preacher: "Back Home Hour"
11-19-1864 - Geroge Barbier - Philadelphia, PA - d. 7-19-1945
actor: "Song of the Islands"
11-19-1883 - Ned Sparks - Guelph, Canada - d. 4-3-1957
actor: "The Grouch Club"; "The Texaco Star Theatre"
11-19-1885 - Erskine Sanford - Trinidad, CO - d. 7-7-1969
actor: "The Free Company"; "Mercury Theatre on the Air"; "Orson Welles Theatre"
11-19-1889 - Clifton Webb - Indianapolis, IN - d. 10-13-1966
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
11-19-1897 - Bud Green - Austria - d. 1-2-1981
lyricist: "Great Moments to Music"
11-19-1901 - Charles Webster - England - d. 2-xx-1965
actor: Dr. Kimball "Life Can Be Beautiful"; Tom Bryson "Backstage Wife"
11-19-1905 - Eleanor Audley - New York, NY - d. 11-19-1991
actress: Elizabeth Smith "Father Knows Best"
11-19-1905 - Tommy Dorsey - Shenandoah, PA - d. 11-26-1956
bandleader: "Jack Pearl Program"; "Fame and Fortune"; "Tommy Dorsey Show"
11-19-1913 - Blue Barron - Cleveland, OH - d. 7-16-2005
bandleader: "Blue Barron and His Orchestra"; "One Night Stand"
11-19-1919 - Alan Young - North Shields, Northcumberland, England (Raised:
Vancouver, Canada)
comedian: "Alan Young Show"; "Tony Martin Show"; "Jimmy Durante Show"
11-19-1919 - George Fenneman - Peking, China - d. 5-29-1997
announcer, actor: "You Bet Your Life"; "Dragnet"; Buzz "I Fly Anything"
11-19-1921 - Roy Campenella - Philadelphia, PA - d. 6-26-1993
sports news: "Campy's Corner"
11-19-1923 - Frank Reynolds - East Chicago, IN - d. 7-20-1983
newscaster: Chicago radio
11-19-1933 - Larry King - Brooklyn, NY
talk show host: "WOR Diamond Julilee"; "Rambling with Gambling"
11-19-1936 - Dick Cavett - Gibbon, NE
talk show host: "Jean Shepherd Show"
11-19-1939 - Garrick Utley - Chicago, IL
news correspondent: "Second Sunday"
November 19th deaths
01-06-1903 - Francis L. Sullivan - London, England - d. 11-19-1956
actor: "[removed] Steel Hour"
03-01-1896 - George Frame Brown - d. 11-19-1979
actor: Gus "Tony and Gus"
03-22-1918 - Robert Carroll - North Carolina - d. 11-19-1994
actor: Inspector Mark Sabre "Molle Mystery Theatre"
05-01-1888 - Anna Appel - Bucharest, Romania - d. 11-19-1963
actress: Mrs. Cohen "Abie's Irish Rose"
05-30-1902 - Stepin Fetchit - Key West, FL - d. 11-19-1985
comedian: "Hollywood Hotel"
07-01-1907 - Bill Stern - Rochester, NY - d. 11-19-1971
sportscaster: "Carnival of Champions"; "Colgate Sports Newsreel"
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2005 12:11:24 -0500
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: This week in radio history 20-26 Nov
From Those Were The Days --
11/20
1929 - The first broadcast of The Rise of the Goldbergs, with Gertrude
Berg as Molly, was heard on the NBC Blue network. Later, the title would
be shortened to The Goldbergs. Mrs. Berg, incidentally, wrote the first
scripts for the 15-minute program and starred in the show -- for $75 a
week. The program continued until 1945 (it returned for one season in
1949-1950). Gertrude Berg entertained audiences with New York style,
motherly phrases like, "Button up your neck. It's cold outside."
11/21
1938 - WBOE in Cleveland, OH became the first school-operated radio
station (owned by a municipality) to receive a license from the FCC.
WBOE went on the air as a 500-watt AM station and later became an FM
station.
1938 - The first broadcast of Central City was heard. It was an
adventure-mystery show set at the newspaper in, you guessed it, Central
City. Elspeth Eric played the part of crime reporter Emily Olson; and
Van Heflin was crime reporter Bob Shellenberger (later, the part was
played by Myron McCormick). Central City aired until 1941.
1944 - "Happy trails to you, until we meet [removed]" The Roy Rogers
Show was first heard on the Mutual Broadcasting System. Singing along
with Roy (The King of the Cowboys'), were the Whippoorwills and The Sons
of the Pioneers.
11/22
1906 - Delegates attending the Berlin Radiotelegraphic Conference in
Germany voted to use SOS (...[removed]) as the letters for the new
international signal. The international use of "SOS" was ratified in
1908. Its meaning? No, not "Save Our Ship" or "Save Our Souls" as many
believe. Its only meaning was as a distress signal, quick to transmit by
Morse code and not easily misread. It is not an acronym. Incidentally,
how did SOS pads come to use the same initials? They're named after a
patented process, Soap on Steel.
11/23
1929 - Shirley Booth and Ed Gardner were married on this day. Miss Booth
was famous for her television acting role ("Hazel"); but we remember
when she and her husband played Miss Duffy and Archie on Duffy's Tavern.
1958 - One of the last drama programs on radio debuted. It was unusual
in that it followed the TV show of the same name. Have Gun Will Travel
was broadcast on CBS and starred John Dehner as Paladin.
11/24
1937 - Music from the Raymor Ballroom in Boston, Massachusetts was
beamed coast to coast on NBC. The special guests during this broadcast
were Glenn Miller and his orchestra.
11/25
1920 - The first play-by-play coverage of a football game was broadcast
by WTAW in College Station, TX. Texas University beat the Aggies of
Texas A&M, 7-3.
1944 - CBS presented The FBI in Peace and War for the first time. It
became one of the longest-running crime shows on radio -- lasting 14 years.
1945 - A spoof of the Gilbert and Sullivan classic, [removed] Pinafore, was
broadcast on The Fred Allen Show. The spoof was titled, The Brooklyn
Pinafore. Joining actress Shirley Booth in the skit was baseball great
Leo 'The Lip' Durocher.
1960 - Radio actors were put out of work when CBS axed five serials
(soap operas) from the airwaves. We said so long to The Second Mrs.
Burton (after 14 years), Young Doctor Malone, Whispering Streets (after
8 years), Right to Happiness (after 21 years) and Ma Perkins (after 27
wonderful years.) In 1940, the high point for these radio programs,
there were as many as 45 on the air each day!
11/26
1945 - The program, Bride and Groom, debuted on the NBC Blue network. It
is estimated that 1,000 newly-wed couples were interviewed on the
program before it left the airwaves in 1950.
Joe
--
Visit my home page: [removed]~[removed]
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2005 Issue #358
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