------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2010 : Issue 3
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
#OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Nig [ charlie@[removed] ]
Re: Current radio shows [ illoman@[removed] ]
Re: I Love Lucy on the Radio [ Gregg Oppenheimer <gopp@[removed]; ]
TV to Radio [ jack and cathy french <otrpiano@ver ]
Re: Phil Spitalny [ "Jan Bach" <janbach@[removed]; ]
1-5 birth/deaths [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
Re: From radio to TV [ Randy Watts <rew1014@[removed]; ]
FOTR DVDs AVAILABLE [ Fred Berney <fsberney@[removed]; ]
Re: Phil Spitalney [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
We Will Never Die - Hollywood Bowl H [ Andrew Steinberg <otrdig2@[removed] ]
Help on a serial drama [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
1-6 births/deaths [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2010 02:12:02 -0500
From: charlie@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Night!
A weekly [removed]
For the best in OTR Chat, join IRC (Internet Relay Chat), StarLink-IRC
Network, the channel name is #OldRadio. We meet Thursdays at 8 PM Eastern
and go on, and on! The oldest OTR Chat Channel, it has been in existence
over nine years, same time, same channel! Started by Lois Culver, widow
of actor Howard Culver, this is the place to be on Thursday night for
real-time OTR talk!
Our "regulars" include OTR actors, soundmen, collectors, listeners, and
others interested in enjoying OTR from points all over the world. Discussions
range from favorite shows to almost anything else under the sun (sometimes
it's hard for us to stay on-topic)...but even if it isn't always focused,
it's always a good time!
For more info, contact charlie@[removed]. We hope to see you there, this
week and every week!
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2010 09:43:33 -0500
From: illoman@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Current radio shows
From: wich2@[removed]
Ted, I also concur with your "lifeline" from THEATRE 5, through CBSRMT, and
PRAIRIE HOME, to the work out there today. No debating the fact that the
medium changed radically. But to use a Biblical formulation, a "remnant"
always remained. A spot of yeast to create the new bread.
-Craig W.
Not to forget the program "Unshackled" which is still being produced out of
Chicago. I never hear it mentioned much, but it has to be the longest running
radio drama series. It started in 1950 and new episodes are being aired today.
Mike
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2010 09:43:40 -0500
From: Gregg Oppenheimer <gopp@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: I Love Lucy on the Radio
On Jan 3, 2010, <walthamus@[removed]; wrote:
"I Love Lucy" had a short run on radio after its debut as a TV show. But
the only episode I've heard used the audio track from one of the TV shows.
. . .
Jim Meadows
Actually, there was but a single "radio" episode of "I Love Lucy," produced
from the soundtrack of the TV program. But it was just a test recording,
and it was never broadcast.
The idea of making a radio program out of the "I Love Lucy" soundtrack
was born quite accidentally in February, 1952. By that time, "I Love Lucy"
was the number 2 show on television, trailing only Arthur Godfrey's
"Talent Scouts." Hal Hudson, the CBS executive assigned to the "I Love Lucy"
show was sitting at home one Monday evening with his wife, watching an
episode of "I Love Lucy" entitled "Breaking the Lease," when their TV set's
picture tube went out. So he and his wife "watched" the rest of the program
with sound only. Hal had seen the picture in a projection room and was
able to fill his wife in on the visual aspects of the story, but they both
agreed
that the soundtrack alone was pretty entertaining. The next morning, Hal
phoned my dad (Jess Oppenheimer, "I Love Lucy" producer and head writer),
and they decided that making the soundtrack serve "double duty" (both TV
and radio) was an idea worth exploring.
Within a few weeks, a "radio test" version of "I Love Lucy: Breaking the
Lease,"
was produced, complete with Philip Morris commercials and a bit
of additional narration by Desi Arnaz. But the test was never broadcast.
By April, Dad had decided that producing a weekly radio show in this way
just wasn't worth the extra effort. He was also concerned that he and the
other "Lucy" writers might find themselves straining to make the TV
scripts fit both TV and radio, and that the TV series might suffer as a
result.
- Gregg Oppenheimer
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2010 09:44:39 -0500
From: jack and cathy french <otrpiano@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: TV to Radio
Andy Blatt mentioned "Have Gun Will Travel" and "My Little Margie" as
originating on TV and then going to radio and asks if there were
more. Kathy <Grams46@[removed]; added "Space Patrol." Andy also
speculated on the difficulty of interesting advertisers in such radio
programs unless they were "really cheap."
It's too bad we don't have an FAQ section on the Digest. I've
answered this question four times in the last six years. I also
conducted a seminar on the topic at FOTR Newark. Here we go
[removed] that were first on television and spun off a radio
version are eight in total:
Have Gun Will Travel
My Little Margie
Tom Corbett Space Cadet
Tales of Tomorrow
Howdy Doody
Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
What's My Line?
Hopalong Cassidy
The main reason that the radio versions were created was based on the
lack of TV (or decent reception) in the vast flyover lands between
the two coasts. All of these shows were very popular on TV and to
increase audience sizes in the hinterlands, a radio version was
[removed] with the same leads, sometimes not. These radio
version did very well in the ratings, and none of them were sold
"cheap."
Jack French
Editor: RADIO RECALL
<[removed]>
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2010 09:45:53 -0500
From: "Jan Bach" <janbach@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Phil Spitalny
Hello again --
With all due respect to A. Joseph Ross, a valued contributor to this
newsletter for about as long as I have read it, I want to posit a friendly
disagreement with his attempt to include conductor Phil Spitalny in his
orchestra. Orchestral musicians rarely think of their conductor as "one of
their own," thus, the fact that Phil Spitalny was male had little effect on
his claim that he had an "all-girl orchestra." As a professional orchestral
musician for several years, I can attest to the fact that we thought of "us"
and "him," or, more recently, "her." Leonard Bernstein was one of the few
conductors who was treated like "one of the boys" by his orchestra, and his
inability to control the deportment of the unruly New York Philharmonic
musicians, or any other orchestra, was legendary among other musicians.
Think of assembly line workers (if they still exist), who rarely think of
their CEO as "one of their own," and an orchestral conductor is decidedly a
CEO.
If you want a better illustration of the way most orchestral musicians think
of their conductor, click on this link
[removed];feature=PlayList&p=A83B7BCD9D00F88B&index=0
to see a cartoon by my friend Jeff Curnow, first trumpet of the Philadelphia
Orchestra (SPOILER: the trumpeter has fashioned a gunsight on his mouthpiece
so he can hit the conductor squarely between the eyes!)
Oh, and when I retired my university professorship five or six years ago,
undergraduate coeds were again preferring that they be called "girls" rather
than women. Go figure. Everything that goes around comes around.
yOurs TRuly
Jan Bach
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2010 09:46:27 -0500
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 1-5 birth/deaths
January 5th births
01-05-1879 - Jack Norworth - Philadelphia, PA - d. 9-1-1959
songwriter: "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"; "Shine On, Harvest Moon"
01-05-1882 - Herbert Bayard Swope - d. 6-20-1958
editor, journalist: "Information Please"
01-05-1893 - Ace Brigode - Illinois - d. 2-3-1960
bandleader: "White Rose Gasoline Show"; "Jersey Cereal Show"
01-05-1898 - Irene Kuhn - NYC - d. 12-30-1995
commentator: "Irene Kuhn's Feature Page"
01-05-1901 - George Price - NYC - d. 5-10-1964
actor: "Hildegarde's Raleigh Room"
01-05-1902 - Eve Sully - NYC - d. 8-7-1990
comedian: appeared with husband Jesse Block on radio
01-05-1910 - Lumpy Brannum - Sandwich, IL - d. 4-19-1987
bass: "Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians"
01-05-1911 - Jean-Pierre Aumont - Paris, France - d. 1-30-2001
actor: "Hallmark Playhouse"; "Philip Morris Playhouse"
01-05-1916 - Alfred Ryder - NYC - d. 4-16-1995
actor: Sammie Goldberg "The Goldbergs"; Carl "Easy Aces"
01-05-1923 - Sam Phillips - Florence, AL - d. 7-30-2003
owner sun records: "Lost and Found Sound"
01-05-1925 - Wolfe Mooris - Portsmouth, England - d. 7-21-1996
actor: "The Hobbit"
01-05-1938 - Lindsay Crosby - California - d. 12-11-1989
actor: "Bing Crosby Show"
01-05-1942 - Susan Odin - d. 10-17-1975
actor: "Elizabeth Sharon Ann Barbour "One Man's Family"
January 5th deaths
02-02-1912 - Burton Lane - NYC - d. 1-5-1997
composer: "Columbia Presents Corwin"; "Voices of Vista"
02-17-1914 - Arthur Kennedy - Worcester, MA - d. 1-5-1990
actor: "Best Plays"
02-26-1888 - William Lynn - Providence, RI - d. 1-5-1952
actor: Casper Milquestoast "The Timid Soul"; Mac "Tillie the Toiler"
03-20-1908 - Stuart Metz - Buffalo, NY - d. 1-5-1994
announcer: "Pepper Young's Family"; "Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons"
03-26-1916 - Vic Schoen - Brooklyn, NY - d. 1-5-2000
music: "The Andrews Sisters"
03-29-1902 - Onslow Stevens - Los Angeles, CA - d. 1-5-1977
actor: "Great Plays"
04-11-1921 - Toni Darnay - Chicago, IL - d. 1-5-1983
actor: Evelyn Winters "Strange Romance of Evelyn Winters"
04-15-1915 - Hans Conried - Baltimore, MD - d. 1-5-1982
actor: Professor Kropotkin "My Friend Irma"; Schultz "Life with Luigi"
04-22-1922 - Charlie Mingus - Nogales, AZ - d. 1-5-1979
jazz bass player: "Here's to Veterans"
04-27-1896 - Rogers Hornsby - Winters, TX - d. 1-5-1963
hall of fame baseball player: "Play Ball"; "Tops in Sports"
06-08-1913 - Ray Morgan - d. 1-5-1975
announcer: "Counterspy"; "Gangbusters"; "Murder at Midnight"
06-22-1914 - Lem Davis - Tampa, FL - d. 1-5-2002
saxophonist, clarinetist: "Jubilee"
06-24-1912 - Brian Johnston - Little Berkhamsted, England - d. 1-5-1994
entertainer-commentator: "In Town Tonight"; "Down Your Way"
07-10-1896 - Slim Summerville - Albuquerque, NM - d. 1-5-1946
actor: "Hollywood Star Time"
07-27-1881 - Jack Roseleigh - Tennessee - d. 1-5-1940
actor: Sam Davis "Pepper Young's Family"; Dr. Winslow "Road of Life"
08-08-1905 - Ross Graham - Benton, AR - d. 1-5-1986
bariton-bass: "Cities Service Concert"; "Show Boat"
08-11-1904 - Jess Stacy - Bird's Point, MO - d. 1-5-1994
jazz piano player: "Eddie Condon's Jazz Concerts"
09-27-1913 - Hugh Rowlands - Racine, WI - d. 1-5-1978
actor: Trigger Brett "Island Venture"; Jimmy "Tom Mix"
09-xx-1858 - Lottie Blair Parker - d. 1-5-1937
writer: "Way Down East"
12-11-1908 - Sally Eilers - NYC - d. 1-5-1978
actor: "Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy Show"
12-25-1897 - Joseph Stopak - d. 1-5-1989
violinist: "Roxy and His Gang"
12-27-1924 - Virginia Eiler - d. 1-5-2004
actor: "Family Theatre"; "Let George Do It"; "Yours Truly, Johnny
Dollar"
Ron
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2010 09:46:37 -0500
From: Randy Watts <rew1014@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: From radio to TV
"I Love Lucy" had a short run on radio after its debut as a TV show. But
the only episode I've heard used the audio track from one of the TV
shows.
I LOVE LUCY never made it to radio. The episode that's in circulation was a
test prepared to see if soundtracks from the TV films could be successfully
adapted for the older medium.
Randy
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2010 09:46:43 -0500
From: Fred Berney <fsberney@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: FOTR DVDs AVAILABLE
All the DVDs of the 2009 FOTR Convention are now available to order.
If you placed an order at the convention or by mail, all the orders
have shipped.
You can find an order form at the following link
[removed]
Fred
Check us out for old time radio & TV shows & Movie Serials
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2010 09:47:08 -0500
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Phil Spitalney
On 1/4/2010 6:18 PM, [removed]@[removed] wrote:
It sounds like a male name, but
if Phil Spitalny was male, then it wasn't an all-girl orchestra.
Merely, a language technicality, Joe. Phil was a male and it was Phil
Spitalney's All Girl Orchestra - he was the composer and orchestra
leader not one of the musicians. It also is known as Phil Spitalney and
his Hour of Charm All Girl Orchestra, which might be clearer linguistically.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2010 09:47:13 -0500
From: Andrew Steinberg <otrdig2@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: We Will Never Die - Hollywood Bowl Holocaust
Special
There is a circulating mp3 file called Hollywood Bowl Holocaust Special
purporting to be a radio program from July 4, 1944. The recording has no
mentions of being broadcast or credits. I can not find anything to verify
that date, but found that the concert at the Hollywood Bowl was called We
Will Never Die and was presented on July 23, 1943 a year earlier than the
file date.
My speculation is the concert was recorded and not broadcast, but it is hard
to prove a negative. Does anyone have any information that the concert was or
was not broadcast?
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2010 09:47:19 -0500
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Help on a serial drama
I received this at my web site. If anyone has a clue (because I don't
recognize it), let me know and I'll get in touch with the emailer.
"Hi,
I was wondering if you could help me. I'm trying to track down a radio
serial for my partner's birthday.
He used to follow a radio serial called 30 Days. From the little I
know the serail followed a woman who was on trail for the murder of
her husband. She has an affair with her attourney and was acquitted.
He couldn't finish listening to the serial so he never found out who
the murderer was.
I was wondering if you, or someone you know would be able to help me
track it down or provide clues as to where I might find it.
Thanks for your help,
Madalene"
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2010 09:47:26 -0500
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 1-6 births/deaths
January 6th births
01-06-1878 - Carl Sandburg - Galesburg, IL - d. 7-22-1967
poet: "Cavalcade of America"; "Columbia Workshop"
01-06-1880 - Tom Mix - Mix Run, PA - d. 10-12-1940
legend: "Tom Mix Ralston Straightshooters" based on his life
01-06-1897 - Billy M. Greene - NYC - d. 8-24-1973
actor: Sheriff McGrath "His Honor, The Barber"
01-06-1903 - Francis L. Sullivan - London, England - d. 11-19-1956
actor: "[removed] Steel Hour"
01-06-1907 - Helen Kleeb - South Bend, WA - d. 12-28-2003
actor: Sarah Tuttle "Dr. Kate"; "Gunsmoke"
01-06-1911 - Joey Adams - Brooklyn, NY - d. 12-2-1999
host: "Rate Your Mate"
01-06-1912 - Danny Thomas - Deerfield, MI - d. 2-6-1991
actor: Amos "Bickersons"; Postman "Fanny Brice Show"
01-06-1913 - John S. Wilson - Elizabeth, NJ - d. 8-27-2002
commentator: "The World of Jazz"
01-06-1913 - Loretta Young - Salt Lake City, UT - d. 8-12-2000
actor: "Family Theatre"; "Four Star Playhouse"
01-06-1913 - Tom Brown - NYC - d. 6-3-1990
actor: "Texaco Star Theatre"; "Suspense"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
01-06-1914 - George Reeves - Woolstock, IA - d. 6-16-1959
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Crime Does Not Pay"
01-06-1915 - Margaret Muse - Dallas, TX - d. 3-6-2006
actor: "Family Theatre"
01-06-1917 - Dan Cubberly - Colorado - d. 10-6-1991
announcer: "Rocky Jordan"; "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar"
01-06-1918 - Buddy Weed - Ossining, NY - d. 5-25-1997
musician: "Old Gold Party Time"; "Lanny Ross Show"
01-06-1921 - Robert Weaver - Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
editer: "Ten for Wednesday Night"
01-06-1927 - Jack Voorhies - Sheffield, AL - d. 3-4-2008
radio personality: (Voice of the Shoals) Created Luther Appleby and
his mule Chilton
01-06-1930 - Rita Lloyd - Brooklyn, NY
actor: "Let's Pretend"
01-06-1934 - Bobby Lord - Sanford, FL - d. 2-16-2008
country music artist: "Country Music Time"
January 6th deaths
02-23-1883 - Victor Fleming - Pasasena, CA - d. 1-6-1949
film director: "Gulf Screen Theatre"
03-24-1916 - David M. Bohme - Poland - d. 1-6-2004
on staff of WLS and WGN radio
04-22-1902 - John W. Vandercook - London, England - d. 1-6-1963
commentator: "Newsroom of the Air/News of the World"
05-14-1910 - B. S. Pully - Newark, NJ - d. 1-6-1972
comedian: "Command Performance"; "Mail Call"
05-26-1905 - Margaret Fuller - Butler, PA - d. 1-6-1952
actor: "Attorney At Law"; "Today's Children"
05-30-1899 - Ruth Perrott - d. 1-6-1996
actor: Prudence Rockbottom "Meet Me at Parky's"; Dottie Brainfeeble
"Vic and Sade"
06-19-1863 - William A. Brady - San Francisco, CA - d. 1-6-1950
theatrical producer: heard twice weekly on CBS during 1934-1935
06-26-1891 - Octavus Roy Cohen - Charleston, SC - d. 1-6-1959
writer: "Amos 'n' Andy"; "The Personal Column of the Air"
08-01-1905 - Alice Frost - Minneapolis, MN - d. 1-6-1998
actor: Pamela North "Mr. and Mrs. North"; Martha Jackson "Woman of
Courage"
09-10-1915 - Vivian Della Chiesa - Chicago, IL - d. 1-6-2009
singer: (America's Great Lyric Soprano) "American Album of Familiar
Music"
09-24-1900 - Poley McClintock - d. 1-6-1980
comedic singer: "The Fred Waring Show"
10-02-1915 - Chubby Wise - Lake City, FL - d. 1-6-1996
musician: "Town and Country Time"
10-21-1917 - Dizzy Gillespie - Cherow, SC - d. 1-6-1993
musician: "This Is Jazz"
10-29-1873 - Walter C. Kelly - Mineville, NY - d. 1-6-1939
actor: (The Virginia Judge) "The Eveready Hour"
12-01-1915 - Johnny Johnston - St. Louis, MO - d. 1-6-1996
singer: "Rhapsody in Rhythm"; "Club Matinee"; "Duffy's Tavern";
"Breakfast Club"
12-01-1933 - Lou Rawls - Chicago, IL - d. 1-6-2006
singer: "Here's to Veterans"
xx-xx-xxxx - Frank E. Butler - d. 1-6-1948
co-inventor, with Lee DeForest, of the audion tube
Ron
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2010 Issue #3
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