------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2004 : Issue 72
A Part of the [removed]!
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
OTR soaps [ Jeff Weaver <jweaver@[removed]; ]
car radios for home use [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]
Car radios a luxury? [ "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed] ]
Car radios [ John Mayer <mayer@[removed]; ]
Radio and heater [ danhughes@[removed] ]
AM DX [ danhughes@[removed] ]
who really invented the transistor a [ "ellsworth o johnson" <eojohnsonww2 ]
Car Radios [ "Bruce Williams" <deltaskipper@hotm ]
Cornball sitcoms [ JackBenny@[removed] ]
Horse radios [ JackBenny@[removed] ]
Hubert Updyke's Need for a Car Radio [ Conrad Binyon <conradab@[removed] ]
Car Radios [ "Don Belden" <[removed]@[removed]; ]
Re: Garland and Henning [ Christopher Werner <werner1@globalc ]
Harry Bartell [ Larry Gassman <lgsinger@[removed] ]
Re: Paul Henning's TV work [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
Speaking of Pearl [removed] [ "Bob Watson" <crw934@[removed]; ]
Harry Bartell [ William Brooks <webiii@[removed]; ]
Harry Bartell [ "Katja and Tom" <kattom@[removed] ]
#oldradio chatroom [ Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed] ]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 17:11:31 -0500
From: Jeff Weaver <jweaver@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: OTR soaps
I am hoping I can get some help. I am looking for some shows that I
am interested in. I loved the book King's Row and its sequel Parris
Mitchell of King's Row. Are there any surviving episodes? I am also
looking for samples of Family Skeleton and Woman in My House, both
Carleton E. Morse shows. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Jeffrey
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 17:19:31 -0500
From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: car radios for home use
Here is a project that I have long contemplated but haven't done. Perhaps
it would be of interest to people here.
I think most of us who can't receive OTR programs locally know that the AM
section of most radios/receivers is pretty lame. But many automobile radios
have exceedingly sensitive AM reception.
So the plan would be to salvage a car radio from somewhere. I would favor
an analog-tuned solid-state AM-only set, but that's a bit of speculation on
my part, and I don't know how well these sets age. I have found that in
this area, they're typically available at local charity resale shops for
very low prices (I paid 99 cents at Goodwill Industries for the Chrysler
digital stereo radio that's now in my little car) because nobody knows how
to test them. These are stock car radios that are removed from cars when
people put in fancier audio systems and then languish forever. An
auto-audio installation outfit might also have some for sale.
In any case, you figure out where the speaker and power connections are and
connect up a speaker and an appropriate jack to get the audio to a tape
recorder. The power is provided by either a fairly heavy 12v DC power
supply (the one you used with your CB radio will do) or an old car battery.
Now, this last tip sounds rather bizarre, but I've used nominally-dead car
batteries in my science demonstrations for years. It turns out that a
battery which can no longer start a car usually works just fine for
low-drain (which for a car battery might be fifty amperes!) applications.
It can be kept charged with a trickle-charger or any 12v DC power supply as
necessary, but depending on the health of the battery, they can maintain
their charge for many, many hours of solid-state radio operation.
It's a good idea to keep the battery inside a plastic enclosure. I've used
a plastic garbage can in my work, but there are more elegant solutions.
Any wire stuck into the hole at the base of the Motorola antenna jack will
serve nicely as an indoor antenna.
I came upon this idea whilst in the car radio repair business. I'd often
listen to distant AM stations on whichever radio I was fixing, using just a
random wire clipped to the appropriate terminal
as an antenna.
M Kinsler
512 E Mulberry St. Lancaster, Ohio USA 43130 740-687-6368
[removed]~mkinsler1
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 17:19:39 -0500
From: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Car radios a luxury?
In #70, Alec Cumming wrote:
At what point did car radios stop being a
novelty/luxury, and became omnipresent?
When I was young, my father purchased a 1983 Dodge Aries K-Car that didn't
come with a radio (it also didn't come with a rear window defrost). I was
nine at the time, so I assume that this means it wasn't standard equipment.
He purchased an aftermarket sparkomatic or something, and tried installing it
himself. From that point on, the radio worked fine, but the dashboard never
lit up again. Still, we did listen to a lot of Orioles games in that car.
Why do I remember all this? Well, when I turned sixteen in 1990, I inherited
that crappy car.
-chris holm
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 17:20:41 -0500
From: John Mayer <mayer@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Car radios
Alec Cumming <arack@[removed]; wrote:
I'm abashed to find out I was so far
off in the beginnings of automotive radio. I guess I think of listening in
cars as typical modern-day "multitasking"...
We listened to radio when we happened to be in the car going
somewhere, of course, pretty much as people do today. Since I was a
kid back then and thus an idle passenger the radio was a great
boredom reliever. And hearing a show like "On a Lonely Road" while
riding in the back seat through the woods coming back from Grandma's
house would have been a special thrill. If we happened to arrive home
in the midst of a show, we were likely to sit in the driveway until a
commercial came on; otherwise we'd miss too much of the plot waiting
for the table radio inside to warm up.
I think I probably heard most of the Cinnamon Bear in the car on the
way home from school, riding with my mother when she picked me up
after her job at the textile mill (any oldtimers here remember when
there were still textile mills right here in the good ole US?). I
would always miss a few episodes that way, and it took probably three
Christmases to piece the whole story together. Fellow lister Dennis
Crow may have some similar memories.
One year after a heavy blizzard our part of Knoxville - actually just
outside; we'd not yet been incorporated - was without power for two
weeks; during that time the ONLY way we could listen was to go
outside and sit in the car for a special treat. The loss of radio was
pretty much the only difference being without power made in our daily
lives, other than the fact that our coal oil lamps didn't provide as
much illumination; our cooking, heat and hot water were provided by a
coal range. In fact the coal range also sometimes provided us with
quite audible, and sometimes startling, radio broadcasts, but that
was not something we could count on to hear our favorite shows.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 17:21:09 -0500
From: danhughes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Radio and heater
Jer says,
all new cars in the fifties and sixties had heaters i would think, and
most had radios.
It's my impression that automobile heaters weren't standard equipment in
the deep south. I lived in Indianapolis in 1960, and my best friend's
father was a car dealer. He bought six used cars from a Florida dealer
and had them shipped to Indianapolis, and when they arrived he found that
none of them had heaters! (He said that when he made the deal he thought
he was getting an awfully good [removed])
---Dan
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 17:21:39 -0500
From: danhughes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: AM DX
James says,
At nights, from North Carolina, I could get stations as far west as
Phoenix, Arizona and way into Canada and even Cuba! No modern day radio
is as powerful, unless it is shortwave.
James, more than the "power" of the radio, the fact is that there is are
tons of electronic hash in the air nowadays that didn't exist 20 years
ago, and that more than anything else limits our reception. I could pick
up faraway stations back then on my favorite radio; now I can't.
WBZ-Boston made it into Indianapolis at night like it was a local; now I
can barely get it at all.
---Dan
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 17:35:02 -0500
From: "ellsworth o johnson" <eojohnsonww2@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: who really invented the transistor and
integrated circuit.
Elmer-- hi --
Take a look at this website where you can purchase this book--dirt cheap.
( $ [removed] ) The Day After Roswell by Col. Philip J. Corso --et al .
He had a high level job in the Pentagon. He says he fed the info to companys
like the ones that patented the transistor and integrated silicon circuits
for reasons explained in the book.
[removed]
I own the book--- in fact bot several copies so as to give one each to my 3
sons. I spent a lifetime dating back to 1935 in many facets of electronics.
In fact Col. Corso and myself were both stationed in Italy in WW2 at the
sametime. Wish I had run into him personally then. He is deceased since
writing the book.
I was into early warning radar in those days.
Ellsworth Johnson
Spokane, Wa
former Capt USAF and Signal Corps
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 17:35:14 -0500
From: "Bruce Williams" <deltaskipper@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Car Radios
The early car radios were pretty good. The first ones were AM as were
all radios. They were very susceptible to noise. From my
understanding the resistor spark plug was one of the ways to combat ignition
noise. Driving along the highways, such as they were, or any road for
that matter, if you were under power lines forget any sort of reception. The
hum from the power lines would drive you out of the car. Try it today
with your car radio set on AM. The same with weather, electrical storms
and the like. What we call OTR programs today were the main stream
broadcasts then. Of course we listened to them with as much enjoyment
as now. It was a real treat when all the atmospheric skips were in
place and we got a distant station it was a big event.
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------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 18:19:30 -0500
From: JackBenny@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Cornball sitcoms
... Notorious network programming chief James T. Aubrey, the man who fired
Jack Benny and turned CBS into a network of gimmick-ridden and cornball
sitcoms ...
Well, also remember that Jack was ultimately knocked off the air, in part, by
competition [removed] Pyle. Although I haven't seen a lot of Gomer Pyle,
I think that could fall into the classification of a gimmick-ridden cornball
sitcom on CBS (Gawwww-lee). So some people may not favor such comedies today,
but they were very popular in their time.
Also, even the Benny show was getting into some rather corny gags by the last
season. Some will recall his show with the Kingston Trio, which ends (going
by an old [removed]'t seen it in a while) with a skit where Jack plays
his violin in the Tijuana Jail. I also have a script of a show where Abbe
Lane
appears, which includes a skit about a scientist who's working on some sort of
hair tonic, which is then over-administered to Dennis Day's character. The
close has Dennis coming on in a gorilla suit and taking Lane away.
It also should be remembered that James T. Aubrey (apparently the "T" stood
for "The smiling cobra") also dumped the "cornball sitcoms" in 1971 when
demographics began to mean more to advertisers than ratings. No sense of
loyalty, that guy.
Also interesting to note that Aubrey's right-hand-man was Keefe Braselle, who
later wrote "The CanniBalS" as a scathing indictment of CBS, including a
reference to (again going from memory) "a washed-up old comedian who didn't
know
enough to lay down and die." Supposedly Braselle fired Jack with words along
the lines of, "You're THROUGH, old man!" Paley had wanted to drop Jack's
weekly show but keep him on for the specials, and was mightily upset when he'd
heard that Braselle had dismissed one of his "diamonds" in such a manner.
--Laura Leff
President, IJBFC
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 21:30:17 -0500
From: JackBenny@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Horse radios
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Alec Cumming wrote:
Imagine, in 1935, a man in his seventies being driven around by his
gadget-loving grandson, listening to the wireless in a horseless carriage!
In one of the Buck Benny skits in early 1937, Buck and Andy Devine are riding
to Ensenada, Mexico. Andy mentions that he "had a radio installed in his
horse" and proceeds to tune in a musical number.
--Laura Leff
President, IJBFC
[removed]
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------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 21:33:10 -0500
From: Conrad Binyon <conradab@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Hubert Updyke's Need for a Car Radio
[removed]@[removed] wrote:
Motorola is considered the first company to
successfully commercialize car radios in the 1930's
Jim Backus, in his role of Hubert Updyke III, richest
man in the world, on the Alan Young show asks Alan if
he wants to accompany him and Betty, Alan's girl
friend, to whom Hubert is also playing suitor, for a
ride in his limosine.
He continues to say to Alan, "We can listen to Guy
Lombardo and his Royal Canadians Orchestra."
"Oh, Hubert," says Alan, you have a radio in your
car?"
"No, Alan I have in the back of the limo Guy Lombardo
and his Royal Canadians ."
---
conradab@[removed] (Conrad A. Binyon)
Encino, CA
Home of the Stars who loved Ranches and Farms
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 22:49:08 -0500
From: "Don Belden" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Car Radios
The 1940 Ford that I purchased from my grandparents in 1950 had a radio.
Unfortunately, I have no idea when it was installed.
Don in Denver
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 23:50:30 -0500
From: Christopher Werner <werner1@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Garland and Henning
>The majority of those "cornball sitcoms" were created and/or produced by
>Paul Henning, an OTR vet who began as an assitant writer for "Fibber McGee
>and Molly," moved on to "The Rudy Vallee Show" and joined "Burns and Allen"
>in 1942 where he stayed for 10 years before moving to TV.
Thank you Mr. Hayde, for that fine segue
As I was just reading in the Steven Cox book on "Green Acres", Mr. Henning
was so successful with Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction that he
was given a half-hour time slot to fill with no pilot required by Mr "The
smiling Cobra" Aubrey. He contacted the talented writer Jay Sommers who had
been successful as the writer of "Granby's Green Acres" in the early 50s
and was preparing the show for TV. And so the OTR program paved the way for
the Green Acres series that ran for 5 years.
One of the actors, Tom Lester, who had the part of Eb left a career as a
high school chemistry teacher to study with Lurene Tuttle for two years
prior to landing the roll. In the OTR version (Granby's Green Acres) the
roll of Eb the farmhand was played by Parley Baer. They wanted a younger
farmhand for the TV version, but Parley did play several bit parts in
several shows produced by Henning.
Gale Gordon had the Granby part that later was done by Eddie Albert.
How common was it for OTR actors to be teaching in the 60s?
One of the writers for Green Acres was Mark Tuttle. Was this Lurene's son?
(duh, too lazy to look it up in the [removed])
- -----------------
That being said, the thread began with a post about Judy Garland and a
Washington Post article. The title provided for the article coincides with
a multi-DVD release of many of her TV programs with an index to all the
songs sung. Was this just coincidence or was the article also talking about
the DVD release?
Chris
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2004 07:08:55 -0500
From: Larry Gassman <lgsinger@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Harry Bartell
Hello,
By now, the news will have spread. I was so sorry to have heard earlier
today from his son and daughter, about Harry's passing.
Harry was a true gentleman. Many of us first met Harry at SPERDVAC in
1982. I called him and asked if he would participate in a CBS Actors
workshop of the fifties in OTR. He was delighted to join us.
Over the years, I received countless Christmas cards, phone calls, and
e-mails, up until the last few months or so.
I will miss his genuine down to earth demeanor. He was so very classy and
will be missed by our hobby, and by everyone who knew him.
Larry Gassman
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2004 07:56:18 -0500
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Paul Henning's TV work
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In a message dated 2/27/04 2:15:48 PM Central Standard Time,
[removed]@[removed] writes:
It also should be remembered that James T. Aubrey (apparently the "T" stood
for "The smiling cobra") also dumped the "cornball sitcoms" in 1971 when
demographics began to mean more to advertisers than ratings. No sense of
loyalty, that guy.
It wasn't Aubrey, because he was already gone long from CBS in '71, having
left (been fired, IIRC) in 1965. At that point, Aubrey headed MGM. Someone
else at CBS (Bob Wood perhaps?) cancelled "everything that had a tree in it"
(as
"Mayberry RFD" star Ken Berry once put it). As for "The Beverly Hillbillies,"
a 1964 episode called "The Giant Jackrabbit" is *still* supposedly the
highest rated half-hour single broadcast in television history.
Dixon
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Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2004 07:56:45 -0500
From: "Bob Watson" <crw934@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Speaking of Pearl [removed]
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Does anyone out there know if any of Deems Taylor's commentary from the New
York Philharmonic survives, or maybe a script of his commentary before the
first classical selection began?? Also, my copy of the bulletin at the middle
of the program is "doctored" to include an announcement that Pearl Harbor had
been bombed, which, I believe, is the infamous Hear It Now recreation. Does
an undoctored copy exist that anyone is aware of??
And on more question on the subject. The announcements on my copy of the Jack
Benny Program seem to be local, instead of national announcements. Was this
program the west coast program or are the announcements actually for the east
coast?? Although, it does seem unlikely to me that the announcements are
meant for the east coast, I could be wrong. Which probably means that the
copy I have is a west coast program, but would like to have some
confirmation.
Thanks,
Bob
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2004 07:57:43 -0500
From: William Brooks <webiii@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Harry Bartell
By now most of you have heard of the passing of Harry Bartell. As
fans of Old Radio you have heard his voice and enjoyed his great
radio acting. Most on the digest have read Harry's postings here in
the past, and a lucky few of you might even have met him at various
conventions in the past several years. Count yourselves among the
blessed to have shared some form of time with Harry.
Myself, well all I can say is that I got to know Harry, his wife Bev,
and daughter Judie. I loved them all. Harry and Bev put me up at
their house in Ashland Oregon for a night when I first drove from
Seattle to a SPERDVAC convention in [removed] The hospitality was
unexpected, but warm and wonderful. Over the past 10 years or so I
saw Harry as often as I could and loved every minute of it. An
extremely bright man, and a great talent in several areas, acting,
photography, politics etc., he inspired and encouraged my acting
career, such that it is, and was a critic that helped me with his
crusty but warm way.
I truly love the hobby of OTR, but it has one dramatic draw back.
That is getting to know the Harry Bartell's, Parley Baers, Larry
Dobkins, Peter Leeds etc. and enjoying there friendship only to have
them leave. It is a
sad part of our hobby not to have them with us still, yet wonderful
to have the memories of their friendship.
Please, if you have the chance, go to a convention, get to know these
folks, and enjoy just talking to some wonderful people. Do yourself a
favor. You'll treasure the experience.
In closing I wish Harry God's blessing and I know that he's at peace
to be with Bev again.
God Bless You Harry, and so long for now.
Bill Brooks
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2004 07:58:13 -0500
From: "Katja and Tom" <kattom@[removed];
To: "OTR Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Harry Bartell
It is with great sadness I read about the death of Harry Bartell.
For what it's worth, he became sort of my personal connection to the world
of OTR as it actually happened. When I asked some questions on the list
(particularly about Gunsmoke) he responded both on the list and directly to
me. I still have those emails and I'll keep them.
I knew he must be a terrific guy to take time to personally email a dub like
me with my silly questions.
I, along with thousands of others, will miss him.
My thoughts are with his family.
Tom Z.
Wolfeboro, NH
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2004 08:09:51 -0500
From: Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: #oldradio chatroom
Folks;
The #oldradio chatroom on Starlink-IRC ( [removed] )
will be open this evening; I'll be in around 8:00pm EST (5:00pm PST) for an
informal get-together celebrating the life and work of Harry Bartell.
Charlie
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #72
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