------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2002 : Issue 163
A Part of the [removed]!
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Re: Cincy Con [ Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed]; ]
Fred Allen on TV [ Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed]; ]
some names in OTR [ "joe@[removed]" <sergei01@earthli ]
Books [ "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed] ]
Death in Childbirth [ otrbuff@[removed] ]
Re: Vallee the Musician [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
TV Guide 50th [ leemunsick@[removed] ]
A Historical Parallel [ Bill Jaker <bilj@[removed]; ]
Dave Warren Redux [ leemunsick@[removed] ]
TV Guide 50th [ leemunsick@[removed] ]
OTR actors on TV [ "Michael Stein" <stein_michael2@hot ]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 2 May 2002 23:51:51 -0400
From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Cincy Con
From: ilamfan@[removed]
And I have to tip my hat to the director Don Ramlow. He must have
a very hard time selecting actors from the roomful of auditioners.
It was very easy in your case, Stephen, because your reading of Stretch
was a riot!! Nobody else came close to you!
And it's really cool being directed with the hand signals - they're
pretty self-explanatory, but they DO make the show flow better.
Where the heck would someone learn that these days, anyway?
I'm pretty sure there's no classes at my local college in
"Live Radio Drama Direction". Guess you'd have to learn it
at an OTR convention. Stephen Jansen
Not necessarily. I teach it in my audio production classes at Morehead
State University in Kentucky. Although pure radio dramatic production
is now only a very small part of the semester (down to only one project
now) handsignals are still important in any live radio production. I
use the drama project to show how to use music and sound effects in
commercial production.
Michael Biel mbiel@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 May 2002 00:36:59 -0400
From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Fred Allen on TV
Michael Hayde is right when he tells my old pal Lee Munsick that Fred
Allen appeared on TV fairly regularly. He hosted the weekly NBC prime
time panel show "Judge For Yourself" from August 18, 1953 thru May 11,
1954 and very soon thereafter was a regular panelist on CBS's "What's My
Line" until the week of his death in March 1956. So that would account
for at least one TV appearance a week for about the last three years of
his life. Despite the fact that these are not big-time comedy/variety
programs, it's not bad for someone who Lee thinks "simply disappeared".
:-)
My daughter Leah has compiled nine of these Fred Allen TV appearances on
two videocassettes, and they are available along with her compilation of
"I've Got A Secret" OTR tributes if any of you are interested. There
are five "What's My Line" programs on the first tape, and the second
tape has his appearance with Walter O'Keefe and Herb Shriner on "Two For
the Money", two editions of "Judge For Yourself" that feature the two
different formats they tried on the program, and a guest shot on "Make
the Connection" with Gene Rayburn AND Gene Klavin. Check with Leah
off-list at my email address if interested.
Michael Biel mbiel@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 May 2002 09:51:12 -0400
From: "joe@[removed]" <sergei01@[removed];
To: "OTR List" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: some names in OTR
Any info on a program called Musical Varieties? I imagine it would be late
20s vintage.
Who were the Harmony Boys? Anyone we know?
Any info available on an announcer Norman Brokenshire? That's a guess at the
spelling of his name, I've not seen it in print.
Joe Salerno
[removed] joe@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 May 2002 09:51:35 -0400
From: "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed];
To: "OTR" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Books
I did a search at Alibris and found the following radio books available from
used book sellers. I don't know anything about most of them myself and
would appreciate comments from anyone who does. There are multiple copies
of all of them available at a range of prices if anyone is interested.
The url of Alibris is:
[removed]
Pictorial History of Radio, by Irving Settel, 1967
The Big Broadcast 1920 - 1950, 1973 ed. Frank Buxton and Bill Owen
Tune in Tomorrow, Or How I found the Right to Happiness With Our Gal
[removed] Other Sudsy Radio Serials, by Mary Jane Higby, 1968
Great Radio Heroes, by Jim Harmon, 1967 (includes actual scripts of your
magic hours lived with Jack Armstrong, Tom Mix, I Love a Mystery, First
Nighter, Inner Sanctum, Ma Perkins, Sherlock Holmes
Radio's Golden Age: the Programs & the Personalities, by Frank Buxton and
Bill Owen, 1966
Radio & TV Premiums: a Guide to the History and Value of Radio and TV
Premiums, by Jim Harmon, 1997
Tune in Yesterday: the Ultimate Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, 1925-1976,
VERY PRICY
Listening in: Radio and the American Imagination: From Amos 'n' Andy and
Edward R. Murrow to Wolfman Jack and Howard Stern, by Susan J. Douglas, 1999
The Great Radio Comedians, by Jim Harmon, 1970
Cavalcade of Broadcasting, by Curtis Mitchell, 1970 (forward by Bob Hope)
Radio Comedy, by Arthur Frank Wertheim, 1979
Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheet-the Marx Brothers' Lost Radio Show, by
Michael Barson, 1988
Raised on Radio, by Gerald Nachman, 2000
This Was Radio: a Personal Memoir, by Joseph Julian (Introduction by Howard
Clurman), 1975 Radio actor's career virtually snuffed out by McCarthy
Radio's Golden Years: the Encyclopedia of Radio Programs 1930-1960, by
Vincent Terrace, 1981
Thirteen by Corwin; Radio Dramas, with a preface by Carl Van Doren, by
Norman Corwin, 1942
On the air: the Encyclopedia of old-time radio, by John Dunning, 1998
Pricey - $[removed] and up.
Holy Mackerel! the Amos 'N' Andy Story, by Bart Andrews & Juilliard Ahrgus,
1986
Sounds in the Air: the Golden Age of Radio, by Norman Finkelstein, 1993
On a Note of Triumph: Norman Corwin & the Golden Years of Radio, by R.
Leroy Bannerman, forward by Erik Barnouw
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 May 2002 09:52:22 -0400
From: otrbuff@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Death in Childbirth
Well, we've had two conflicting reports of the death of Donna Damerel
Fick this week, one of the two principals in Myrt & Marge, an early
dramatic serial, and the real-life daughter of the other principal and
writer, Myrtle Vail. One poster suggested Fick died in childbirth while
the other said it was the result of an automobile accident. While not
intending to stir controversy, my research indicates that Fick's demise
resulted at age 29 immediately following the birth of her third child on
Valentine's Day 1941. I could certainly be wrong. If anyone has
evidence to the contrary, I'd like to know of it.
Which brings me to another point. I recall a few years later similar
circumstances prevailed on a far more popular and durable daytime drama,
Our Gal Sunday. In 1946 Vivian Smolen was given the temporary assignment
of filling in for Dorothy Lowell, who played that serial's lead since its
inception in 1937, while Lowell was on maternity leave. Once, in an
interview a few years ago, Smolen told me quietly, simply, "She died."
At age 28, Lowell didn't survive childbirth, passing on July 1, 1946. In
an unexpected twist of fate, Smolen continued in the role until the soap
opera left the air in 1959.
I've wondered about those parallel events (if indeed both young women
died in childbirth). While there has always been a risk factor, was it
more common then, and were there other radio personalities who suffered
similar consequences?
Jim Cox
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 May 2002 09:53:25 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Vallee the Musician
Dennis Crow wrote:
Rudy's "mean" saxophone always rated an "A" in my book. Vallee has been the
subject of caricature so often that folks sometimes forget what a good
musician he really was.
One part of the problem is that Vallee was a twenties-style *novelty*
saxophonist, not a real jazz saxophonist, and so far as a lot of
Intellectual Music Critics are concerned, there's something illegitimate
about being any sort of a novelty musician. Vallee was out of the
Wiedoeft/Kreuger school, doing lots of cute tricks with his sax -- slurps
and hiccups and laughing effects -- and if the listener is looking for
sophisticated Coleman Hawkins-style jazz, they won't get it from Vallee.
As a result, he ends up being ridiculed for not being something he never
claimed to be in the first place.
Such hipper-than-thou critics tend to forget that general-audience radio
listener polls in the thirties consistently rated "sweet" bands like
Vallee, Guy Lombardo, and Wayne King as far more popular than the
jazz-oriented bands, even well into the "swing era" of the late thirties.
Vallee might never have been "hot" -- although his late thirties Astor
Roof band had a surprising kick when heard in live remotes -- but he knew
what he was doing.
Vallee's original "Connecticut Yankees" are an interesting group. They
aren't a jazz band by any stretch of the imaginiation -- the original
band had no brass at all, just violins, sax, clarinet, piano, guitar, and
drums -- but they are perfectly suited to support of Vallee's vocals.
There's an intimacy to Vallee's 1929-30 Victor records which is unlike
just about anything else of that era -- you can identify a Vallee record
of that era without ever seeing the label or hearing the vocal; the first
few bars of the music will tell you exactly who you're listening to.
Vallee was one of the earliest popular musicians to understand that this
sort of intimacy was an essential element of radio, and he exploited that
trait to great success. His real appeal was that he seemed to be singing
just to *you,* and this really stood out against the generic Scrappy
Lambert/Franklyn Baur types of singers who were more common in the late
twenties.
Vallee's greatest talent was in choosing songs that fit his style.
Despite his monumental ego, he seems to have fully understood his limits
as a vocalist -- and chose to record only songs that worked to his best
advantage. It's interesting to read the regular series of articles Vallee
wrote for Radio Digest during 1931-33 in which he critically examined the
latest pop tunes of the day -- his observations in these articles reveal
that he took music very seriously. Vallee appreciated real jazz and
respected jazz musicians -- as witness the many jazz artists invited to
appear on the Fleischmann's Yeast Hour over the years -- but he knew his
own niche lay elsewhere.
Elizabeth
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 May 2002 10:30:51 -0400
From: leemunsick@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: TV Guide 50th
It's intriguing to compare the 25th Anniversary issue with the 50th. That
caused similar controversy, but I suspect "our people" would have been
happier with that than the current entry.
I will appreciate it if someone who tapes the 50th Anniversary program will
make a copy available to me. I will be happy to pay for tape and
shipping. Thanks!
We get no television here, as we inadvertently cut through the underground
cable to our DirecTV dish, our only means of getting TV. Haven't gotten
around to replacing it, but will shortly. It's surprising to us how little
we miss it. Except for major events like 9-11. I'm still hoping one of
the networks puts out a video with the early parts of that story. The CBS
program was outstanding, but I'd like to see the footage of the early parts
of the story.
It should be pointed out, while I don't think it says so, that the vast
majority of those 50 which TV Guide listed are shows which can be viewed
today, if one looks hard enough, has cable channels, etc. TVG clearly says
the entries had to be series. So the heading of the best 50 "programs" is
really a misnomer. This eliminates many of television's finest hours.
I have always been opposed to lists of what's "best". Any number of fine
people in the motion picture industry have griped about the Academy Awards
along these lines over the years. It's just not fair to select one as the
best, but of course this ploy will continue to be.
How can they choose "Playhouse 90" over all the other outstanding dramatic
programs of the same era? They could at least have mentioned the others as
outstanding examples of the same genre. Consider the incredible work that
went into those live productions. Amazing. For those who've never seen
any, find a copy of the TV production of "A Night to Remember", narrated by
Claude Rains. You will not believe the number of people and sets in that
live production. How they did it with all those folks in the right place
at the right time, I will never know. Traffic cops with silent whistles?
BTW, our own Ray Erlenborn did the SFX on many of the P90 programs. I
acquired "Charlie's Aunt", which they did with a wonderful cast headed by
Art Carney. I mentioned this to Ray. He informed me that he was "the
frog", important in several scenes. He's also proud of "Snows of
Kilimanjaro" on P90. Does anyone have a kine of this? We'd love to see
(and hear) it, and I'll forward a dub to Ray.
Even with radio, although I'm fascinated by his activities and now
thoroughly identified with Arthur Godfrey, asked to pick ONE radio program
as my personal "best", I simply could not do it. How does one select the
finest of a forest of trees, many gorgeous, quite a few "ehh", and a lot
rather scruffy? It's one thing to drop off items from the bottom of the
list, but I think impossible and actually inane to rank the top.
I recognize that this comment will be lost on many of my readers here. If
I truly had to name the finest television program I ever watched, it would
be "Omnibus". That's the incredible CBS Sunday Morning entry emceed by
Alistair Cooke during the 1950s. Magnificent!
Omnibus, by the way, was essentially Sustaining, although supported and
brought about by The Ford Foundation, which was also responsible for the
development of what today is PBS. I give credit and thanks to Charles
Osgoode, the late Charles Kurault and all the people on "CBS Sunday
Morning". They've done a creditable job in today's heavily commercial
market and all the other changes, in continuing that tradition. If only
they'd stop running the same (very good, for the first two times) damned GE
commercials over and over, often in the same program. In that sense, it
brings this fine program down to the level of late-night movie shows.
Alistair Cooke, by the way, is still with us. He will be 94 in
November. Congratulations on a wonderful life, Mr. Cooke. Thanks for
sharing so much of it with us in so many ways! When will someone do a
special or Biography on him?
Lee Munsick
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 May 2002 10:33:38 -0400
From: Bill Jaker <bilj@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: A Historical Parallel
NEWS ITEM: Former President Bill Clinton has been in discussion with
NBC about possibly hosting a television talk show.
HISTORIC QUOTATION: "I know what I'll do when I retire. I'll be one of
those high-powered commentators." --Franklin D. Roosevelt
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 May 2002 10:33:47 -0400
From: leemunsick@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Dave Warren Redux
I'd like to thank Sue Hamilton for preparing - and alerting us about - and
preparing - her outstanding tribute to friend Dave Warren.
A respectful suggestion: whether you knew or knew of Dave or not. If you
have not looked at Sue's outstanding salute, cherished it, and saved it, as
I have - I urge you to do so.
[removed]
Lee Munsick, proud to have been Dave's friend and colleague.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 May 2002 10:33:03 -0400
From: leemunsick@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: TV Guide 50th
It's intriguing to compare the 25th Anniversary issue with the 50th. That
caused similar controversy, but I suspect "our people" would have been
happier with that than the current entry.
I will appreciate it if someone who tapes the 50th Anniversary program will
make a copy available to me. I will be happy to pay for tape and
shipping. Thanks!
We get no television here, as we inadvertently cut through the underground
cable to our DirecTV dish, our only means of getting TV. Haven't gotten
around to replacing it, but will shortly. It's surprising to us how little
we miss it. Except for major events like 9-11. I'm still hoping one of
the networks puts out a video with the early parts of that story. The CBS
program was outstanding, but I'd like to see the footage of the early parts
of the story.
It should be pointed out, while I don't think it says so, that the vast
majority of those 50 which TV Guide listed are shows which can be viewed
today, if one looks hard enough, has cable channels, etc. TVG clearly says
the entries had to be series. So the heading of the best 50 "programs" is
really a misnomer. This eliminates many of television's finest hours.
I have always been opposed to lists of what's "best". Any number of fine
people in the motion picture industry have griped about the Academy Awards
along these lines over the years. It's just not fair to select one as the
best, but of course this ploy will continue to be.
How can they choose "Playhouse 90" over all the other outstanding dramatic
programs of the same era? They could at least have mentioned the others as
outstanding examples of the same genre. Consider the incredible work that
went into those live productions. Amazing. For those who've never seen
any, find a copy of the TV production of "A Night to Remember", narrated by
Claude Rains. You will not believe the number of people and sets in that
live production. How they did it with all those folks in the right place
at the right time, I will never know. Traffic cops with silent whistles?
BTW, our own Ray Erlenborn did the SFX on many of the P90 programs. I
acquired "Charlie's Aunt", which they did with a wonderful cast headed by
Art Carney. I mentioned this to Ray. He informed me that he was "the
frog", important in several scenes. He's also proud of "Snows of
Kilimanjaro" on P90. Does anyone have a kine of this? We'd love to see
(and hear) it, and I'll forward a dub to Ray.
Even with radio, although I'm fascinated by his activities and now
thoroughly identified with Arthur Godfrey, asked to pick ONE radio program
as my personal "best", I simply could not do it. How does one select the
finest of a forest of trees, many gorgeous, quite a few "ehh", and a lot
rather scruffy? It's one thing to drop off items from the bottom of the
list, but I think impossible and actually inane to rank the top.
I recognize that this comment will be lost on many of my readers here. If
I truly had to name the finest television program I ever watched, it would
be "Omnibus". That's the incredible CBS Sunday Morning entry emceed by
Alistair Cooke during the 1950s. Magnificent!
Omnibus, by the way, was essentially Sustaining, although supported and
brought about by The Ford Foundation, which was also responsible for the
development of what today is PBS. I give credit and thanks to Charles
Osgoode, the late Charles Kurault and all the people on "CBS Sunday
Morning". They've done a creditable job in today's heavily commercial
market and all the other changes, in continuing that tradition. If only
they'd stop running the same (very good, for the first two times) damned GE
commercials over and over, often in the same program. In that sense, it
brings this fine program down to the level of late-night movie shows.
Alistair Cooke, by the way, is still with us. He will be 94 in
November. Congratulations on a wonderful life, Mr. Cooke. Thanks for
sharing so much of it with us in so many ways! When will someone do a
special or Biography on him?
Lee Munsick
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 May 2002 10:44:32 -0400
From: "Michael Stein" <stein_michael2@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: OTR actors on TV
Mike Leannah gave some good examples of OTR actors who've appeared on
television. Last week I heard a very familiar voice on an old Andy Griffith
episode, which turned out to be Ralph Bell. Bell is referenced several times
in Dunning's book, including appearances on "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar."
Just watch TVLand enough and you're bound to end up saying to yourself,
"I've heard that voice before." And if you have kids, you'll recognize a few
voices on the Scooby Doo cartoons.
M. Stein
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #163
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