------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2004 : Issue 17
A Part of the [removed]!
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
RE: Bart Marshall [ "Jan Willis" <jlwillis@[removed]; ]
THE LITTLEST ANGEL [ "Gary Dixon" <argy@[removed]; ]
The original doozy [ Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed]; ]
1-13 births/deaths [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
Jerry Haendiges [ Allen J Hubin <ajhubin@[removed]; ]
Those Cereal Boxes [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
Apropos of nothing [ JackBenny@[removed] ]
Martha Wentworth [ Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed] ]
Jack Benny's Singer [ Robert and Emily Burdick <burdick@c ]
Re: Letter on OTR from Indianapolis [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
Gunsmoke - Matt Dillon [ BrianWest2@[removed] ]
The Organ [ lawrence albert <albertlarry@yahoo. ]
Hal Stone on YUSA this Friday night [ "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed]; ]
OTR/Youngers' references [ Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed] ]
Cat [ John Politis <channel1@[removed]; ]
OTR pet names [ "Clifton Martin" <MARTBART@peoplepc ]
Re: Enlightening Laura [ hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed]; ]
BANG, BANG [ Sandy Singer <sinatradj@[removed]; ]
Another Skelly Oil Map [ "Harry Machin Jr" <harbev5@earthlin ]
Longest Running Actors in Prime Time [ seandd@[removed] ]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 15:39:13 -0500
From: "Jan Willis" <jlwillis@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: RE: Bart Marshall
After reading (Digest #14) Mr. Harry Bartell's
wonderful remembrance of Herbert "Bart" Marshall, I wondered
if I might be indulged a (non-OTR) followup, as it also shows the
kind of decent, caring man that Bart Marshall was.
Mr. Bartell, those were marvelous memories of a man who
enjoyed - and loved - the people with whom he worked.
In that same FILMS OF THE GOLDEN AGE article on Marshall
(Spring, 2002 / issue 28) that discussed his wives, author Brad Richards
notes that Marshall - who knew about loss - looked for
opportunities to help others.
His missing right leg, due to a World War I (sniper's
bullet) injury as Mr. Bartell noted, resulted in that leg
having to be amputated nearly up to his hip.
After 13 months being spent in a hospital, he then faced
a long period adjusting to an artificial leg.
I can't even ... [removed] what he went through,
phsyically and emotionally.
He was just beginning to get established in some minor stage
roles when the war, and the amputation, changed his life.
He credited his uncle (who had lost his oldest son in the war),
and theater mananger Tod Slaughter (a familiar
name to horror genre fans) who had faith that Marshall could
still have an acting career, as turning his life around. Especially
Slaughter, who downplayed Marshall's disability and acted as
if he should just get pick up where he'd left off before the
war interruupted his acting plans.
Richards writes that Marshall subsequently would use
his own position in life - thriving as a movie actor despite having
an artificial leg - to encourage others who found themselves in the
same situation he did during the war.
He would encounter or even just read about someone else
who had lost a limb.
Knowing the depression - often the despair, I'm sure - that they were
enduring, he would share what he had personally
learned that had convinced him that life was _still_ worth living.
Then, during World War II, Marshall used his own time
and money to quietly visit veterans hospitals.
He'd speak to soldiers who were now amputees, encourage them,
and also show them how he personally had adjusted to using
an artificial limb.
(Which he certainly did; I was well into my adult years
before I realized he had one artificial leg)
Anyway, this is just something that *I* will remember, the next
time I see Marshall quietly dueling with wife Bette Davis in THE LITTLE
FOXES,
with that voice of his -
"Maybe it's easy for the dying to be [removed]
you'll wreck the town, you and your brothers.
You'll wreck the country, you and your kind, if
they let you.
But not me, I'll die my own way, and
I'll do it without making the world worse.
I leave that to you."
Jan Willis
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 16:53:23 -0500
From: "Gary Dixon" <argy@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: THE LITTLEST ANGEL
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain
For the gentleman who asked about the Loretta Young story concerning the
[removed] name of it was "THE LITTLEST ANGEL" and the author was Charles
Tazewell.
To the best of my [removed] was released on a DECCA RECORDS 33 1/3 rpm
recording back in the late 40s. If memory serves me right, Loretta narrated
the story and there were a couple of actors who supported her. It was
originally released on a series of 78 RPM records, but it's originally source
was probably a radio show. From the sound of the recording, the commercials
were edited out of the record.
Argydix
*** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
*** as the sender intended. ***
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 16:56:03 -0500
From: Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: The original doozy
David H. Buswell, commenting on examples of references
originally on OTR that wouldn't be understood by young
OTR listeners, listed the following:
1. "It's a doozy (Duesy)" Reference: the Duesenberg
automobile
The NY Times had an article recently (August 22, 2003)
on Eleonora Duse, the early 20th century actress whom
the article called "the original doozy." Several
online sources
([removed],
[removed],
[removed]) note that the word
"doozy" was used in this context as early as 1903,
years before the Dusenberg automobile existed. The
exact origin of the word is still unclear, but
apparently it's not from Dusenberg.
Kermyt
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 16:56:11 -0500
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 1-13 births/deaths
January 13th births
01-13-1884 - Sophie Tucker - Russia - d. 2-9-1966
singer: (The Last of the Red Hot Mammas) "Sophie Tucker and Her Show"
01-13-1903 - Kay Francis - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Territory - d. 8-26-1968
actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"
01-13-1913 - Jeff Morrow - NYC - d. 12-26-1993
actor: "Electric Theatre"
01-13-1918 - Steve Dunne - Northampton, MA - d. 8-27-1977
actor: Sam Spade "Advs. of Sam Spade"
01-13-1919 - Robert Stack - Los Angeles, CA - d. 5-14-2003
actor: "Family Theatre"; "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Screen Guild Theatre"
01-13-1930 - Frances Sternhagen - Washington, [removed]
actress: "CBS Mystery Theatre"
January 13th deaths
05-11-1911 - Doodles Weaver - Los Angeles, CA - d. 1-13-1983
comedian: (Brother of Pat Weaver) Professor Feedlebaum "Spike Jones Show"
07-09-1881 - Samuel "Roxy" Rothafel - Stillwater, MN - d. 1-13-1936
emcee: "Roxy"s Gang"; "Roxy Revue"
09-23-1889 - Don Bestor - Longford, SD - d. 1-13-1970
bandleader: "Nestle Program"; "Jack Benny Program"
12-22-1901 - Andre Kostelanetz - St. Petersburg, Russia - d. 1-13-1980
conductor: "Chesterfield Hour"; "Light Up Time"; "Pause That Refreshes"
-
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 16:56:26 -0500
From: Allen J Hubin <ajhubin@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Jerry Haendiges
I gave up on Haendiges several years ago. Details off list if
anyone is interested.
Al Hubin
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 16:57:36 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Those Cereal Boxes
Speaking of "variety packages" (single-serving packages) of cereals, Dr.
A. Joseph Ross Wrote,
When I went shopping the day after writing this, I noticed in the
supermarket that Kelloggs still has more than one assortment of this
type, but none of the other cereal companies have -- or at least no
others were on display
To which Herb Harrison observed,
It's possible that Ross saw only Kellogg's version of the cereal
"10-pacK" because only Kellogg paid for the space. Other national
manufacturers probably lost out in the "bidding wars" for supermarket
shelf space.
Well, in the Publix Supermarket I frequent in Tampa, there are General
Mills variety packs (and single-serving individual packs) on sale.
However, there was one thing about Kellogg's packages. When I was a kid,
I used to get these in railroad dining cars if I ordered Pep at breakfast
time. Each little package was touted as a "Kel-Bowl-Pak," which was an
arrangement to convert the package into something one could eat the
cereal from. Basically, the back had perforation lines on it that looked
like a horizontal H, where the perforations, when opened, would swing
back two "door" like panels, exposing the wax-paper interior container.
Using a knife, one could repeat the H pattern in the wax paper, swing
open the interior bag, and fill it with milk (and sprinkle it with "sugar
to taste"), and use the container as if it were a bowl. But the
how-to-use illustrations were misleading, making it appear that cutting
the wax paper "doors" curl back tastefully. However, no matter how I cut
the wax paper, no matter how sharp the knife, I never got that neat curl.
Very sad to be disillusioned at age eight.
Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 16:57:57 -0500
From: JackBenny@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Apropos of nothing
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain
I was scanning the index of a recent Digest and thought I saw a subject of
"One Square Inch of Fred Foy". I'm sure Mr. Foy would not appreciate being so
parceled (although it makes me think of the reliquariums in Italy). Maybe I
need my glasses [removed]
--Laura Leff
*** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
*** as the sender intended. ***
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 19:46:14 -0500
From: Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Martha Wentworth
Steven Lewis mentions Martha Wentworth's participation in Stan Freberg's
"That's Rich," a short-lived OTR sitcom.
Miss Wentworth appeared often on radio. I think she performed on the very
first "The Whistler, " among many other of OTR's most remembered shows.
Arguably her most enduring role, however, was as Wintergreen, the Witch,
on "The Cinnamon Bear." She is to radio witchdom what Margaret Hamilton
was to movie legend as the mean old and very wicked witch in "The Wizard
of Oz."
Dennis Crow
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 19:49:09 -0500
From: Robert and Emily Burdick <burdick@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Jack Benny's Singer
I think that fellow who was talking about JACK BENNY AN HIS HIGH PITCHED
SINGER I BELIEVE WAS DENNIS DAY IF
I REMEMBER [removed]@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 19:49:50 -0500
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Letter on OTR from Indianapolis Herald
Tribune
At 03:39 PM 1/12/2004, you wrote:
Somebody should write this guy about the Cincinatti Convention - sounds
like he'd get a kick out of it.
[removed]
794/1029
Not sure where Sean got the idea this was an Indianapolis connected news
article. The Herald-Tribune is a Sarasota Florida based newspaper. Having
grown up in Indianapolis and living only a couple of hours away now, it is
not from Indy. Nor would the trip from Sarasota to Indy be an easy drive or
flight!
Jim Widner
jwidner@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 23:55:25 -0500
From: BrianWest2@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Gunsmoke - Matt Dillon
I was watching an episode of gunsmoke on the AMC channel tonight and at the
end of the show Ed Asner came on with some comments about the show. he started
talking about the auditions for the Dillon role. he mentioned that the scene
entailed the bad guy coming into the marshall's threatening to kill Dillon.
The
scene then had Dillon stand up from the chair and shoot the bad guys. Well,
according to Asner, when Conrad had his turn the bad guy came in, threatened
him and when Conrad stood up to shoot the bad guy, the chair went with him.
Asner got a good chuckle out of that as if to comment as that's the reason
Conrad
didn't get the TV role.
It's a pretty funny story, but does anyone know if it is true?
Brian West
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 01:10:23 -0500
From: lawrence albert <albertlarry@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: The Organ
Can anyone tell me why the organ seeed to be the
instrument of choice for so many OTR shows? The only
reason I can come with is that it could produce a
varity of sounds and was cheap.
Larry Albert
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 01:11:03 -0500
From: "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Hal Stone on YUSA this Friday night
Hi everybody,
this Friday night 1-16-04 the interview that Hal Stone did in Frank Bresee
studio will be heard at [removed] at 7-30 [removed] West Coast time.
Hal shares many of his radio stories, and radio show featuring Hal will be
heard including Theater Guild broadcast of Dead End of 2-24-46 that is
mention in Hal book. The show comes from Frank Bresee transcription
collection. Set up a tape recorder because the interview with the radio
shows last over 3 hours. You can buy Hal book at [removed]
Take care,
Walden Hughes
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 09:20:40 -0500
From: Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: OTR/Youngers' references
rick selvin asks:
Can anyone think of other references that younger people might not
understand. Of course, many World War II references would be on the list, but
I'm sure there are others.
Funny, I was just thinking today of one thing that might apply:
In the early '50's, when I was a kid, the news on television & radio often
mentioned "May Day" celebrations in "red/communist/socialist" countries on
May 1st of each year, when thousands of "workers" would take to the streets
& demand their rights.
France and Italy had semi-strong legal Communist political parties.
Eastern Bloc countries usually paraded their rockets & other military gear
to demonstrate their intent to defend their "workers' paradises".
The United States countered by naming May 1st "Law Day". If I remember
right, it never caught on. (In my opinion, its creation was completely
artificial, and it deserved to die.)
Anybody remember any parades for "Law Day"?
Just curious,
Herb Harrison
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 09:20:49 -0500
From: John Politis <channel1@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Cat
I have a cat named Minerva. I'll leave it to you to guess what was my
favorite OTR show as a kid.
John Politis
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 09:21:23 -0500
From: "Clifton Martin" <MARTBART@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: OTR pet names
As I write this, a cat is perched atop the monitor. Here is a treasured
memory of my late sister, whose short term memory was wiped out by
Alzheimer's: When this cat was a small kitten, I took it for a visit to my
sister's nursing home. I said, "You know we have a cat named Andy, so what
do you think we named this one?" Without missing a beat, she answered
"Amos." She didn't know where she was or why she was there, but she
remembered those great old radio days. I volunteer each week at the
geriatirc unit of a local hospital's psychiatric wing. The patients love
old songs and brief OTR excerpts. George and Gracie and Mel Blanc have
brought smiles to patients who were otherwise totally unresponsive. I offer
this is an idea for anyone who deals with such patients, whether
professional or volunteer. Oh, by the way ... Amos turned out to be Amy.
Clif Martin
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 09:22:30 -0500
From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Enlightening Laura
Premise:
There's a line in one the 1-24-37 show that I don't get. Phil's mother is
out for a visit, and Jack asks about the wonderful smell coming from the
kitchen. Mary says that it's "My pot roast", which gets a tremendous
audience
reaction. Jack makes some statement like "Oh, that only plays on the West
Coast."
If anyone can enlighten me on that gag, I'd appreciate it!
Gee, Laura, I always thought you were so sophisticated. I can't believe you
don't know what's going on. But then again, you're a nice girl, clean living
and virtuous.
Now, since I wasn't there during the broadcast, this is only conjecture on
my part. But it's based on knowing a lot of musicians from that era.
Marijuana is known by many names. "Mary Jane", "Weed", "Grass", are but a
few of the slang terms used for the plant. But those terms came along much
later down the road, primarily during the "Flower Child" (Beatnik)
generations. The word "Pot" is probably one of the most common, and oldest
of the slang terms.
Until "Pot" was "discovered" by the beat generation, it was a little known
(much less used) "recreational" drug substance among the general population.
But was in fairly common usage among Professional musicians. Actually,
musicians were the ones who popularized it, and when the Rock and Roll
generation exploded on the scene, "Pot" came along with it.
Now, getting back to the specific Benny show joke. People in show business
often teased musicians about their fondness for the stuff. Picture this.
Whenever a comedy radio program had a studio audience, performers could
hardly resist doing a visual sight gag (on or off mike) that would prompt a
laugh when a seemingly innocuous line was delivered. I can just picture Phil
Harris, or members of his orchestra, miming taking a big drag on a cigarette
when that line "it's my Pot Roast" was delivered.
Will you buy that explanation? I'd bet the farm on it.
Hal(Harlan)Stone
Jughead (not Pothead)
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 09:37:47 -0500
From: Sandy Singer <sinatradj@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: BANG, BANG
What type of person would want to eat a cereal shot from guns?
BIG SHOTS
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 09:38:33 -0500
From: "Harry Machin Jr" <harbev5@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Another Skelly Oil Map
Stephen Kallas's comments about a Skelly Oil map,
brought back a memory of my own wonderful experience
with a Skelly map of a different [removed] I was in grade
school, listening to Captain Midnight regularly, I was told
to go to the Skelly station and pick up a map and try to
solve a puzzle relating to an episode in the Captain
Midnight story. The short of this tale is that my best friend
acidentally dropped his map in a lard bucket and some
secret writing appeared. We decided we had solved the
mystery of the location of something (I don't remember
what, it was, that was 62 years ago). We both sent in our
maps and wrote out our solution, the essay being a
necessary condition to win a prize. Well, I won and my
friend didn't, and I was one of two boys in Kansas to win
the prize, an Agfa Clipper camera. My name was
announced over the radio (and mispronounced) and I
was thrilled. All along I naively believed I would win, and
never listened to one of my older brothers who nagged
me and made fun of my strong belief in winning. My friend,
of course, was unhappy with me, since he uncovered the
secret writing. But he wasn't as good an English student as
I was, and perhaps that was the key, I don't know. Perhaps
all who listened to Captain Midnight as a child can relate to
this story. Perhaps someone who posts to this digest can
remember that contest, even, perhaps entering the contest.
Harry Machin Jr
harbev5@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 12:51:31 -0500
From: seandd@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Longest Running Actors in Prime Time
I read an article today by the Associated Press making reference to the
conclusion of the "Frasier" sitcom that included the "fact" that Kelsey
Grammer and James Arness share the record for most seasons portraying a
single character in prime time at 20 years.
Of course, the article didn't differentiate prime time television from prime
time anything else, [removed] radio, making the statement wrong a whole bunch of
ways.
As a party game, let's all come up with as many actors playing the same
character in prime time longer than 20 years as we can.
Off the top of my head I came up with Jack Benny, Burns & Allen, Jim and
Marion Jordan, Gosden & Correll, the original cast of One Man's Family and
probably Phil Harris although I didn't check the math. How about Uncle
Fletcher? How many years did Harold Peary play Gildersleeve before
relinquishing the role? Does Frank Readdich get credit just for doing the
opening on The Shadow all those years? I figure it isn't fair to exclude
actors who are playing characters who they a share a name with but I suppose
that's another debate we can have.
Sean Dougherty
SeanDD@[removed]
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #17
********************************************
Copyright [removed] Communications, York, PA; All Rights Reserved,
including republication in any form.
If you enjoy this list, please consider financially supporting it:
[removed]
For Help: [removed]@[removed]
To Unsubscribe: [removed]@[removed]
To Subscribe: [removed]@[removed]
or see [removed]
For Help with the Archive Server, send the command ARCHIVE HELP
in the SUBJECT of a message to [removed]@[removed]
To contact the listmaster, mail to listmaster@[removed]
To Send Mail to the list, simply send to [removed]@[removed]