Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #236
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 7/19/2004 10:18 PM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2004 : Issue 236
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Phil Harris and Jack Benny            [ JackBenny@[removed] ]
  Benny mannerisms                      [ "Doug Leary" <doug@[removed]; ]
  Mr Benny and Cpl O'Reilly             [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]
  I Love A Mystery trivia               [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
  7-20 births/deaths                    [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  In "defense" of the VOA               [ "Mike Martini" <mmartini@[removed] ]
  Family Theater remastered shows       [ Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@erols ]

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

Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2004 00:32:58 -0400
From: JackBenny@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Phil Harris and Jack Benny
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

(Sent this in a while ago, but had some technical difficulties.)

Brian Bedsworth writes:

It wasn't so unusual. Bob "Yes, I'm His Brother" Crosby had a good  working
relationship with Jack going back to 1942, when he was the most  frequent
fill-in for Phil Harris during his aborted stint with the  Merchant Marine

All my information on this is in notes that need to be transcribed right
now, but I don't think Bob was the most frequent fill-in.  Based strictly  on
my
recollection (so don't put this in the bank), I think Bob only subbed once
for Phil on the 2-21-43 show.  Benny Goodman was on a few times, as well as
Abe
Lyman.  And there were a few others.

Though Harris was able to stay and do his show on a regular  schedule, it
also meant
that he was no longer able to work on the live  New York Benny telecasts.

An excellent point.

So, if Jack needed a bandleader for his TV show, he would have had to  get
the
one with whom he felt most comfortable who was in the area. My  guess is
that
Crosby was that guy.

The early shows I've seen aren't the same kind of structure as the radio
shows, which had either the gang just chatting or in a situation like Jack
opening his pool.  They were the "in one" shows with a monologue, a guest,
and a
skit.  So there also wasn't a need for someone like Rochester, who  was
usually
situation-based.  However, he did play a role on at least one  "in one" show
where he was selling sandwiches to the cast and crew.  Since  the orchestra
was almost never pictured in the television shows and there were  no
instrumental numbers, the part of the "bandleader" became relatively
anonymous.  Bob
Crosby appeared more as a vocalist than a bandleader on the  Dorothy Shay
show.
So in a sense, he was subbing more for Dennis than  Phil.

--Laura Leff
President, IJBFC
[removed]

--Laura  Leff
President, IJBFC
[removed]

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

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Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2004 10:15:13 -0400
From: "Doug Leary" <doug@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Benny mannerisms

Of course the thing we would most like to know is, did Jack drop his script
pages on the floor?  ;-)

Doug Leary [quickly running for cover]

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

Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2004 10:15:38 -0400
From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Mr Benny and Cpl O'Reilly

I submit this out of considerable ignorance, but wasn't Jack Benny in
several movies in the '30's and '40's?  Though Benny was a fine actor, I
would think that mannerisms from his vaudeville days would have been
showcased in at least a few of these.

At least that's what I suggested to snopes.

M Kinsler
512 E Mulberry St. Lancaster, Ohio USA 43130 740-687-6368
[removed]~mkinsler1

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

Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2004 10:54:12 -0400
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  I Love A Mystery trivia

For anyone who loves trivia (since the subject of M*A*S*H* has come up), one
of the first season episodes of M*A*S*H* was entitled "I Hate a Mystery" and
the title was a spin-off of the radio series title.
MG

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

Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2004 14:31:02 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  7-20  births/deaths

July 20th births

07-20-1881 - Hugh Sothern - Anderson County, KS - d. 4-13-1947
actor: John Marshall "Those We Love"
07-20-1890 - Verna Felton - North Hollywood, CA - d. 12-14-1966
actress: Blossom Blimp "Sealtest Village Store"; Liz Pierce "Judy Canova Show"
07-20-1896 - Harry Horlick - Tiflis, Russia - d. 7-1970
conductor: "A&P Gypsies"
07-20-1905 - Murray Forbes - d. 1-28-1987
actor: Willie Fitz "Ma Perkins"; Benny Fox "Foxes of Flatbush"
07-20-1910 - Bill Goodwin - San Francisco, CA - d. 5-9-1958
announcer, actor: "Burns and Allen"; Johnny Fletcher "Johnny Fletcher"
07-20-1919 - [removed] Stevens - Los Angeles, CA - d. 6-13-1994
actress: Lois Graves "Junior Miss"
07-20-1938 - Natalie Wood - San Francisco, CA - d. 11-29-1981
actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"

July 20th deaths

01-23-1893 - Franklin Pangborn - Newark, NJ - d. 7-20-1958
actor: "Screen Guild Theatre"
03-31-1908 - Les Damon - Providence, RI - d. 7-20-1962
actor: Nick Charles "Advs. of the Thin Man"; Michael Waring "The Falcon"
04-09-1900 - Allen Jenkins - NYC - d. 7-20-1974
actor: "Harold Lloyd Comedy Theatre"; "Hollywood Hotel"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
05-13-1912 - Helen Craig - San Antonio, TX - d. 7-20-1986
actress: "Crime Does Not Pay"
07-23-1916 - Sandra Gould - Brooklyn, NY - d. 7-20-1999
actress: Lucy Twitchell "Sad Sack"; Miss Duffy "Duffy's Tavern"
10-09-1910 - Phil Hanna - River Forest, IL - d. 7-20-1957
actor: Three Cheers "Al Pearce Show"
11-19-1923 - Frank Reynolds - East Chicago, IN - d. 7-20-1983
newscaster: Chicago radio
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2004 17:13:23 -0400
From: "Mike Martini" <mmartini@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  In "defense" of the VOA

Hi again,
There was one major violent act at the Voice of America Betheny Relay Station
north of Cincinnati (or so the older engineers tell me) and that was a fellow
in the 1950's who successfully brought down one of the smaller towers with a
stick of explosives.  He was not a [removed] a local fellow who was
a bit unstable at the time.  I won't go into whether he was drinking or
"hearing voices" (although given all of the radio waves flying through the
air up there, the latter is possible!)

The VOA Betheny station is (was) located on 300-acres of perfectly flat land
with very few trees hiding anything.  There was a fence surrounding the
property as well as a guard shack on the main driveway.  The building itself
looks like a 1930's airport with a five story central tower.  Designed, built
and operated by Crosley engineers in 1944, the building was not only
functional but quite pleasing to look at.  Rumors were that it could've
easily been converted to an airport should the war go poorly and planes
needed to be diverted inland.  Anyway, the top floor of the tower is of
"umbrella" [removed] is, there is a central pole that supports the
weight of the roof leaving the window panes free from having to support
anything.  The view from up there is quite good to the south, west and
[removed] to the east is a solid brick wall.  The WLW transmitter is in
that direction, so I guess they felt they didn't have to worry about the east.

Speaking of WLW, which is less than a mile down the road from the VOA, an old
engineer told me about the war years and how they were afraid someone would
try and bring down the 831-foot Blaw-Knox tower.  So they designed, built and
installed, at regular intervals along the fence surrounding the property,
small audio "pick-ups" from surplus equipment.  Then the guards, if they
heard a noise, could isolate the section of fence, swing a spotlight into
place and investigate the noise. They also built a three story guard tower
replete with machine guns next to the transmitter building.  I don't think
the guns were ever fired, but the guard tower continues to stand today (I
doubt the guns are there, though, although with Clear Channel anything is
possible!).

Finally, it was because of security that WLW's studios were moved from the
8th floor of the Crosley factory near downtown Cincinnati to a renovated Elks
Hall renamed "Crosley Square" in 1943.  The Crosley factory was designing and
manufacturing top-secret war materials such as the proximity fuse and aerial
drones and couldn't have the daily parade of 200 or more WLW/WSAI staffers
riding the elevators of the building.  I have seen photos, however, of the
armed guard hired to protect the Crosley [removed] numbered probably
50 or more, had their own uniforms and flag and often were paraded around a
nearby park.

[removed]

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

Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2004 17:13:55 -0400
From: Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@[removed];
To: OTRBB <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Family Theater remastered shows

Since my last posting on the 550 episodes of Mutual's Family Theater
radio shows, I've have several inquiries on how these may be obtained.
The press release I saw did not contain any such information.

While awkward, one can send an email to the Family Theatre Production
Company with such an inquiry by going to their web site:
[removed] and clicking on "Contact Us."  However,
as I've found out, their cyber response time is not that great.

It may be just as easy to mail them a letter. The contact is Dan Petri,
Family Theater Productions, 7201 Sunset Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90046.

Jack French
Editor: Radio Recall
[removed]

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #236
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