Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #459
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 12/27/2003 11:34 AM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2003 : Issue 459
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Bestiality on [removed] or how making l  [ "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed] ]
  Fibber McGee and Molley               [ "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed]; ]
  12-27 births/deaths                   [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Christmas music on radio shows        [ "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed]; ]
  Les Tremayne                          [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
  new shows                             [ "Ed Carr" <edcarr@[removed]; ]
  Skippy Revisited                      [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
  A Personal Story                      [ "James Friedline" <JHFriedline@aol. ]
  Re: Christmas shows without Christma  [ "Michael Ogden" <michaelo67@hotmail ]
  Addendum to the 'Shep' Story          [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
  Hitchcock's Radio Penchant?           [ <welsa@[removed]; ]
  Ralphie Once More, With a Twist       [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
  Lack of Shadow recordings from the 1  [ "kent nolen" <knolen@[removed]; ]
  Ovaltine and Jean Shepherd            [ KENPILETIC@[removed] ]
  Doctor [removed]                      [ "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed] ]
  Les Tremayne                          [ Alan Chapman <[removed]@verizon. ]

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

Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 14:41:15 -0500
From: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Bestiality on [removed] or how making love has
 changed

    When I was young (approx 13), my parents gave me a two cassette set of
"Best of OTR."  I think it was put out by Metacom or something, and it
included fragments and bits from a bunch of different shows.

    There was a piece of Truth or Consequences which provided no end of
amusement for a 13 year old boy and his snikering friends.  It went something
like:

"Well, you didn't tell the truth so now you have to pay the consequences.
Can you imagine anything more ridiculous than making love to a seal before a
national radio audience."  The contestent was expected to lay down on the
ground, clap his 'flippers' and making seal-like barking noises.  Evidently
the 1940's version of making love.

I had a 1980's version of making love in mind, and the making love to seal
bit was quite amusing.  In fact, I still smirk a little when I think of it.

-chris holm
An unrepentent "Son of a Sea-Cook!"

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

Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 15:08:42 -0500
From: "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Fibber McGee and Molley

Hi Everybody,

I notice in mo Fibber McGee and Molly collection that the 1943 Christmas is
not there.  Does any one have one?  Take care,

Walden Hughes

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

Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 15:08:50 -0500
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  12-27 births/deaths

Today in history:
1932 - Radio City Music Hall, a monumental showplace that combines a live
stage performance with movies, opens to an awed public.

December 27th births

12-27-1879 - Sidney Greenstreet - Sandwich, England - d. 1-19-1954
actor: Nero Wolfe "Advs. of Nero Wolfe"; "Hollywood Star Preview"
12-27-1901 - Marlene Dietrich - Berlin, Germany - d. 5-6-1992
actress: Mlle. Madou, "Cafe Istanbul"
12-27-1906 - Oscar Levant - Pittsburgh, PA - d. 8-14-1972
panelist, pianist: "Information Please"; "Kraft Musci Hall"
12-27-1916 - Cathy Lewis - Spokane, WA - d. 11-20-1968
actress: Jane Stacy "My Friend Irma"; Kathryn Milford "Great Gildersleeve"

December 27th deaths

08-04-1908 - Wally Maher - Ohio - d. 12-27-1951
actor: Dan Murray "One Man"s Family"; Archie Goodwin "Advs. of Nero Wolfe"
11-22-1899 - Hoagy Carmichael - Bloomington, IN - d. 12-27-1981
singer, composer: "Hoagy Carmichael Show"; "King"s Men"

Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 15:11:09 -0500
From: "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Christmas music on radio shows

Hi Everybody,

in the last digest a good question was point out that on some of the
Christmas show there was no Christmas music.  Chuck Cecil who has hosted a
big band show since 1956 has over 30,000 recordings from the 1930s and 1940s
and pointed out on his Christmas show that there was very little Christmas
music recorded on records.  If you examine the history of popular Christmas
songs recording, you will find that Tommy Dorsey record Santa Clause is
coming to Town in the mid 1930s, Bing recorded White Christmas in 1942.
Doris Day and Les Brown recorded the Christmas Song in 1946.  Gene Autrey
song of Here Comes Santa Clause around 1948, Rupho in 1949.  The famous
recording of Little Drummer Boy around 1949. Frosty the Snowman around 1949.
Silver Bells came out in the movie  with Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell around
1951.  I am going by my memories of years I know when the songs came out.
If you listen to some of the big band remote of that time it was not wall to
wall with Christmas music.

Take care,

Walden Hughes

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

Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 15:12:05 -0500
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Les Tremayne

NPR Morning Edition broadcast a tribute to Les Tremayne featuring brief
clips from his radio work. You can find it at
[removed] select the Friday 12/26 show.

Jim Widner
jwidner@[removed]

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

Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 16:36:49 -0500
From: "Ed Carr" <edcarr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  new  shows

hi
here are other shows which may be new
harlem hospitality club #11
afrs #114 dennis day 11/5/49
afrs #11 duffy's tavern 11/02/43
afrs#81-sat night seranade 12/5/45

i asked jay hickerson and he affirms it that harlem hospitality
shows are new in fact it might be i have the only ones, but i can not find a
date for them, other than
around the inside rim the info is ssv-8-28-2, is this a date and what side
it is on? as the reverse has ssv-8-28-1
i really never gave this a thought till now
many thanks ahead of time
ed

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

Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 16:37:59 -0500
From: <otrbuff@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Skippy Revisited

From: Albert Latson <alatson@[removed];:

Who was the radio character "Skippy"? I was born in 1946 and mom gave me
the nickname because of a radio soap opera she listened to. Thanks for any
help you can provide.

As we're into naming all of the Skips of daytime radio we can think of, let
me advance the name of Skip Kramer, who emanated from a familial legacy of
soiled history that included a couple of unstable parents, and at least one
who was at the time capable of just about anything.  Skip's dad, Dwight
Kramer, offered early indication that he was as erratic as his partner.
This condemned any chance of a lasting covenant for the pair.  By the end of
the 1940s they were divorced, with mom fighting pop in a nasty court battle
to regain custody of their son, who had been awarded to his father.

For her part, mom was something else.  In time, she would be laden with the
appellation Carolyn Allen Walker Kramer Nelson MacDonald.  She was aural
serialdom's "most married heroine," the leading lady of The Right to
Happiness (1939-1960), and had a habit of dispensing with husbands under
eyebrow-raising circumstances, at least for that epoch.

The first one, Bill Walker, was pure ogre.  He was accidentally shot to
death by his lady in waiting.  While incarcerated on that rap, Carolyn gave
birth to the aforementioned Skippy, whom she also later wed.  A decent woman
she was--she might be a jailbird but she'd also give her baby a respectable
name.  By the late 1940s it was obvious hubby #2 and Carolyn had no future
and they divorced.  He quickly remarried and the new Mrs. Kramer complicated
matters big time for Carolyn and Skippy.

Representing Carolyn in the court custody battle (which she won) was a
dashing young attorney on the way up, Miles Nelson.  She not only picked him
as her lawyer but as spouse #3.  He showed his mettle by getting himself
elected governor of an unnamed state (although some scholars believe it to
be Mississippi).  Listeners didn't hear lots about Skippy during the
governor's reign--more about the domestic foibles, political troubles and
Miles' deteriorating physical maladies, which eventually cost him his life
and allowed mama to move on with hers.

That's when Skip came to the forefront.  Mama was still "manizing" and Skip
became bitter, resentful-- a handful.  While he was the irrefutable object
of his mom's affection, at least during custody battle era, trouble just
naturally seemed to find him during his teen years, much to Carolyn's
chagrin.  By 1955 he was doing terrible things like scoring points with a
gang of juvenile hoodlums by resorting to "petty acts of vandalism."  Making
poor grades and doing everything he could to frustrate his mother, he
determined to destroy the principal's car singlehandedly in early 1956.

As the series wound towards its inevitable conclusion, mom married #4, the
devilishly handsome lawyer Lee MacDonald, and we saw a distinct change in
Skip's early pubescence.  He accepted the new man in Carolyn's life, called
him "dad" and sought his advice on financial, scholastic and romantic
matters.  That was a big leap in maturity from the problem child he had been
only a short time before.  Would this have happened had the series not been
leaving the air?  Hard to say.  It was one of those warm-fuzzy feelings
writers sometimes display when their series are canceled.  Nevertheless, had
there been no cancellation, we could almost bet there would have been a
spouse #5, based on Carolyn's checkered past.  It was the stuff of which
great narratives were imbued.

Jim Cox

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

Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 18:05:51 -0500
From: "James Friedline" <JHFriedline@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  A Personal Story

Seasons Greetings to all of my fellow OTR fans:

      In  1947, I was a very sickly 5 year old, who had to spend a lot
of  time  in  bed.  The  radio became my best friend during that time.
Two days before the end of the series of "The Cinnamon  Bear" I became
very  seriously  ill.   My  father  called the family doctor (yes they
still  made  house  calls  then), who after examining me called for an
ambulance  to  rush me to the hospital.  I didn't get to hear the last
two episodes.

     Last year for Christmas my wife who knew the story (she must have
heard  it  a  hundred  times)  bought me the taped series to add to my
collection.  If someone would have taken a photo, they would have seen
the face of a 59 year old child with an ear to ear smile.

      This  year I played the series for my younger grandchildren, one
eposide  a  day.   I finally got to hear the last two episodes with my
grandchildren  55 years later.   Special thanks to all of you who have
kept  the  spirit of Old Time Radio alive.   (an added note:   several
of the grandchildren have been OTR fans for sometime now)

Yours in History and OTR

Jim Friedline      JHFriedline@[removed]

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

Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 22:07:58 -0500
From: "Michael Ogden" <michaelo67@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Christmas shows without Christmas music

It was mentioned that there were certain series for which it might not have
been appropriate to have Christmas music, and INNER SANCTUM was cited as a
primo example. But, during three Yule seasons at least, the Sanctum folks
got into the Christmas spirit. In 1945 they completely broke format to
present Helen Hayes in a performance of Charles Tazewell's "The Littlest
Angel" on Christmas Day. And in 1949 Frank Sinatra appeared in the Christmas
story "The Enchanted Ghost," which was repeated the following year with
Larry Haines.

And as for the suggestion of Raymond and the Lipton Lady dueting on "Baby,
It's Cold Outside." Well, if that particular week's episode was set in the
morgue, then they could sing "Baby, It's Cold INSIDE." :) Don't think it
would work? Well, Yule just have to trust me on this one.

Happy Holidays and (still channeling the spirit of Raymond) a Creepy New
Year!

Mike Ogden

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

Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 22:08:44 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Addendum to the 'Shep' Story

Speaking of the Jean Shepherd "decoder" story, I noted in the last
Digest, "I've heard one monologue where 'Shep' was reminiscing on the
supposed event.  He'd related that his family was poor and couldn't
afford Ovaltine, though he
really wanted a Decoder Pin.  Finally, he found a used Ovaltine container
and was able to send off for one."

In my discussion, I forgot one tiny point: when Little Orphan Annie was
being broadcast on radio, Ovaltine was sold in tins.  The
proof-of-purchase was the inner seal from a tin of Ovaltine.  If "Shep"
had found a used tin, that inner seal would doubtless be gone. I vaguely
recall sending an inner seal from a jar of Ovaltine when I sent for my
1946 Code-O-Graph, some six years from any Ovaltine sponsorship.  It
wasn't until 1947 that they changed it to a jar label. The advantage of
using a label was that one could write the return address and name on the
back of the label.

"Be sure to drink your Ovaltine" indeed!

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 22:09:19 -0500
From: <welsa@[removed];
To: "OTR Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Hitchcock's Radio Penchant?

Sometime ago there was a discussion on here about several radio actors who
appeared in various small roles in Alfred Hitchcock's NORTH BY NORTHWEST.  I
was reminded of that in reading the late Les Tremayne's obituary since he
was the auctioneer in that film.

I know that two other radio stars appeared in Hitch's THE TROUBLE WITH
HARRY.  Parker Fennelly from the Fred Allen Show was there, as was Phil
Truex in the uncredited role of Harry.  (OK, so a speaking voice was not the
prime requisite for playing Harry.)

My question:  Does anyone know if Hitchcock had a penchant for wanting radio
actors in his movies in the 1950's?  Or is it just that these folks were
available since radio was on the wane by then?  Or none of the above?

Ted

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

Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2003 11:18:49 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Ralphie Once More, With a Twist

My wife, Carmen, was bemoaning the other day the lack of "good Christmas
movies" the other day, meaning Christmas movies she hadn't seen, so I
rented A Christmas Story, despite its fabrication on enciphered messages.
 I had heard a recording of the "Shep" monologue before, but I hadn't
seen the film.

What I found interesting was that the Decoder Pin they used in the film
was the 1940 Speedomatic model.  It was great for dramatic effects as
both the numbers and letters are on the rim of the circular pin, adding
to the drama of the deciphering process.

Like most children, Ralphie deciphered it word by word rather than
filling in all the same letters in the message at once.  But, had the
story been true, he wouldn't have had to decipher more than a few letters
of the last word to get the message

However, in the film, the audience got but a glance of the Speedomatic
model, which was issued in 1940, and was the last of the Ovaltine ROA
Decoder Pins.  With all that was going on in the world at the time (and
one reason that Ovaltine dropped Little Orphan Annie to pick up Captain
Midnight), the design was very patriotic.  It had an eagle in front of a
flag.  And prominent on the flag was the field of stars.

But, as Paul Harvey would put it, "Here's a strange."  The top row of
stars was six in number; the next row, five.  Then six, then ...,  Well,
the eagle obscured some of the field.  But in 1940, with only 48 states,
the field of stars was six rows of eight stars each.  The alternating
six- and five-star rows didn't occur until Alaska and Hawaii were
admitted to the Union as States, more than a decade after the pin was
distributed.

Well, it still looks good today.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2003 11:19:01 -0500
From: "kent  nolen" <knolen@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Lack of Shadow recordings from the 1950's
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I have always wondered why recordings of The Shadow programs from the 1950's
were not preserved. The only show to survive that I am aware of is "The
Vengence of Angela Nolan" from 1954. Granted the later Shadow broadcasts were
not as good as the broadcasts from the Welles and Johnstone eras(in my
opinion) but it would still be nice to have them. Does anyone have a theory or
facts on this. Thanks.

Kent Nolen

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Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2003 11:19:13 -0500
From: KENPILETIC@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Ovaltine and Jean Shepherd
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Hi Gang -

REGARDING OVALTINE

Catching up on the digest, I noticed that several recent issues
discussed Ovaltine and Code-O-Graphs.   There was mention of
the "seal" than needed to be sent in.

My experience with Ovaltine was from the Captain Midnight (radio)
era.  The Captain never charged for his Code-O-Graph.  We kids were
told to remove the label from the jar of Ovaltine, and write our name and
address on the back of the label.  Then we would send this label to
Captain Midnight.   He sent us the current Code-O-Graph in return.

There was no money involved, and there was no "seal" involved.
The only seal I remember is from Sky King, who was sponsored by
Peter Pan Peanut Butter.   The seal was actually a tinfoil disc which
would be found inside the jar under the lid, on top of the peanut butter.
Perhaps some digesters are confused between this seal and the
Captain Midnight decoder offer.

I, being a kid in the 1940's and early 1950's, don't remember Ovaltine
when it came in a can rather than a glass jar.  Perhaps in the old "can"
days there might have been a seal - but back then Ovaltine was
sponsoring Little Orphan Annie, not Captain Midnight.   Perhaps
someone remembers when Ovaltine switched to the jar from the can.

REGARDING JEAN SHEPHERD

I had the pleasure of meeting with Jean Shepherd on four separate
occassions. On one of these occassions I questioned him as to his
writing that the "secret message" was a commercial for Ovaltine.
He said that that was a story.  His stories may contain some historical
facts, but they are all fiction.  The way he wrote (often in the first
person) many of his stories sound like fact, and some libraries even
place his books in the non-fiction section.

Shepherd knew that "secret messages" were not commercials, but
it made for a better story if he wrote that they were.

Happy Taping - Ken Piletic, Streamwood, Illinois
kenpiletic@[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2003 11:19:30 -0500
From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed];
To: "Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Doctor [removed]

If anyone has any episodes of The Doctor Fights, please let me know.  A
fellow trader is interested in finding anything in this series.  Hickerson
lists 8 shows that are in circulation.  Thanks.

Ted Kneebone/1528 S. Grant [removed], SD 57401/605-226-3344
OTR: [removed]

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

Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2003 13:33:00 -0500
From: Alan Chapman <[removed]@[removed];
To: Old-Time Radio Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Les Tremayne

On NPR (Dec. 26), Bob Edwards did a tribute to Les Tremayne which
included several radio excepts.  Hear it at
[removed]

-- Alan

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #459
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