------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2004 : Issue 396
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Re: Fred Allen [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
Wherein a Father Brags a [removed] [ danhughes@[removed] ]
Re: Allen and Agencies [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
Mary Lee Robb [ "Rodney W Bowcock" <[removed]@ ]
FRED ALLEN ON GAME SHOW NET. [ "Andolina, Joe" <Joe_Andolina@cable ]
Frank Lovejoy [ "Tom van der Voort" <evander800@ver ]
Just Plain Bill and other Hummert ra [ "Ronnie Wise" <rwise@[removed]; ]
FIBBER'S CLOSET [ Dave Parker <dave@[removed] ]
12-15 births/deaths [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
OTR novels and movies [ <sweetedit@[removed]; ]
Another OTR death [ Richard Pratz <[removed]@[removed]; ]
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Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 00:41:04 -0500
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Fred Allen
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In a message dated 12/13/04 11:14:38 PM Central Standard Time,
[removed]@[removed] writes:
But if his
numbers were as
good as Benny's, he could have done whatever format he wanted.
I guess that answers my question about why CBS didn't exactly snap Fred Allen
up in '49 when NBC let him go. I think a move would've reinvigorated him,
especially if he had creative control to come and go as he pleased.
Dixon
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Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 07:41:22 -0500
From: danhughes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Wherein a Father Brags a [removed]
The new Winter 2005 issue of Nostalgia Digest is out, and the first
article is WHY I LOVE JACK BENNY, by Karen Hughes, who is 20 now and has
loved Jack since she was about four. The article includes a couple of
photos from the Jack Benny Statue Dedication ceremony in Waukegan a
couple of summers ago (see them here in color:
[removed]~[removed]).
Can anyone tell this proud papa how he can get a few extra issues?
Thanks, and by the way, somehow her school got changed in the article
from Illinois State to the University of Illinois. The University of
Illinois is just down the street from us, but she is a sophomore at
Illinois State.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 08:43:09 -0500
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Allen and Agencies
On 12/14/04 12:19 AM [removed]@[removed] wrote:
He
could always, at any point, have sought other ad agencies or other networks
who would let
him do what he wanted, or he could have quit radio altogether. But if his
numbers were as
good as Benny's, he could have done whatever format he wanted.
Well, he tried to do just that in 1940 -- he abandoned NBC and Young and
Rubicam when his contract expired after the unpleasantness of the 1939-40
season, and ended up taking over the Texaco Star Theatre on CBS.
Unfortunately for Allen, the executives at the new agency -- Buchanan and
Company -- were even more obnoxious than those at Y&R, constantly
offering what Allen considered unwelcome and unqualified criticism. The
conflict between performer and employer built steadily thruout their
association -- culminating in Allen's nearly assaulting a Buchanan flunky
who'd been sent to tell him that the agency wanted Portland off the
program.
Allen was considered by most people in the advertising business, and by
most of the people he dealt with at the network level, to be a
professional malcontent, and there may well be some truth to that. He'd
had similar conflicts with meddling vaudeville-circuit officials and
Broadway producers during his stage career, but he had a far greater
degree of autonomy on the stage than he'd ever have in radio.
He threatened constantly to quit radio -- but like all performers, he
needed an outlet for his creative talent. His true love, vaudeville, was
dead, Broadway had fallen in with a trend toward pompous
Rodgers-and-Hammerstein-type musicals which offered no role for someone
like him, he despised moviemaking, and he didn't seem to have the
self-confidence necessary to do what he always said he really wanted to
do -- pursue a career as a literary humorist. So radio, for better or
worse, was really all he had left.
Allen held the whole notion of ratings in contempt -- he compared radio
to the pickle business, suggesting that just because more people prefer a
certain type of pickle, it shouldn't mean that no other varieties should
be offered. "Let Benny go along on his side of the street, peddling his
big dill," he once declared. "I'll stay here on my side, with my little
gherkins."
Elizabeth
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 08:51:45 -0500
From: "Rodney W Bowcock" <[removed]@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Mary Lee Robb
I'm seeking contact info for Mary Lee Robb for a possible interview in
Old-Time Radio Digest. If anyone can help, please respond privately.
Thanks!
Rodney Bowcock
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 10:54:01 -0500
From: "Andolina, Joe" <Joe_Andolina@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: FRED ALLEN ON GAME SHOW NET.
I'd love to see the Fred Allen appearances on What's My Line. Does anyone
know if in fact that the Game Show Network will be in fact airing them, and
if so, when?
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 11:11:18 -0500
From: "Tom van der Voort" <evander800@[removed];
To: "old_time_radio" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Frank Lovejoy
Two more early Frank Lovejoy sightings (listenings?):
--The Blue Beetle in the serial of the same name (1938).
--One of the debaters in the rather strange 'Dime a Month Club', which
discussed issues such as forbidding ransom payments to kidnappers and
establishing a government lottery. Jay Jostyn, radio's 'Mr. District
Attorney', also appears on this 1938 program which was supposedly financed
through listener donations of a dime a month--hence the title.
Tom
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 11:49:55 -0500
From: "Ronnie Wise" <rwise@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Just Plain Bill and other Hummert radio soaps
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Hi: Are there any radio collectors out there who have collections of the radio
soap Just Plain Bill? I'm looking for this on Mp3. I have three episodes of
the small town barber who doesn't have time to cut hair because he's too busy
solving murders and offering psychiatric advice to the community.
I'm also looking for other obscure Frank and Anne Hummert radio soaps such as
Alias Jimmy Valentine, Arnold Grimm's Daughter, John's Other Wife, Judy and
Jane, Lorenzo Jones, and many others. Thanks!
Ron Wise
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Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 12:39:20 -0500
From: Dave Parker <dave@[removed];
To: OLD TIME RADIO <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: FIBBER'S CLOSET
Hi Folks -I want to make a good feature out of Fibber's Closet for
the OTR documentary I'm producing. Does anyone know the "ingredients"
sound man Bud Tollefson used? Or where I can get information on that
signature sound? I'd like to re-create that memorable event for the
show if possible. If any of you can put me in touch with good
sources I'd love it. Incidentally,Gerald Nachman ("Raised on Radio")
told me that Fibber's closet was one of the two radio sound effects
actually patented. The other was the Inner Sanctum's creaking door.
THANKS IN ADVANCE
dave parker
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 15:21:57 -0500
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 12-15 births/deaths
December 15th births
12-15-1873 - Harry Humphrey - San Francisco, CA - d. 4-1-1947
actor: Old Ranger "Death Valley Days"; Horace "Ma and Pa"
12-15-1888 - Maxwell Anderson - Atlantic, PA - d. 2-28-1959
writer: "Free Company"; "Keep 'Em Rolling"; "O'Neill Cycle"
12-15-1896 - Betty Smith - NYC - d. 1-17-1972
author: "Studio One"; "Hallmark Playhouse"
12-15-1907 - Bob Hawk - Creston, IA - d. 7-4-1989
quizmaster: "Take It or Leave It"; "Thanks to the Yanks"; "Bob Hawk Show"
12-15-1915 - Margaret Hayes - Baltimore, MD - d. 1-26-1977
actress: "Silver Theatre"
12-15-1918 - Jeff Chandler - Brooklyn, NY - d. 6-17-1961
actor: Michael Shayne, "Michael Shayne, Detective"; Philip Boynton, "Our Miss
Brooks"
12-15-1926 - Rose Maddox - Boaz, AL - d. 4-15-1998
country singer: "Faron Young Show"; "Country Hoedown"
December 15th deaths
01-15-1913 - Stephen Courtleigh - NYC - d. 12-15-1967
actor: Lamont Cranston/Shadow "The Shadow"
01-28-1909 - Arnold Moss - Brooklyn, NY - d. 12-15-1989
actor: Philip Cameron "Against the Storm"; Reed Bannister "Big Sister"
02-15-1919 - Frank Behrens - Sheboygan, WI - d. 12-15-1986
actor: Billie "Billie the Brownie"; Jack Armstrong "Jack Armstrong"
03-01-1904 - Glenn Miller - Clarinda, IA - d. 12-15-1944
bandleader: "Moonlight Serenade"; "USO Matinee"
05-02-1918 - Frank Milano - d. 12-15-1962
animal sounds: "Bobby Benson and the B-Bar-B Riders"
05-21-1904 - Thomas "Fats" Waller - NYC - d. 12-15-1943
pianist, singer: "Columbia Variety Hour"; "Saturday Night Swing Club"
06-03-1904 - Jan Peerce - NYC - d. 12-15-1984
singer: "Music Hall of the Air"; "A & P Gypsies"; "Golden Treasury of Song"
07-01-1899 - Charles Laughton - Scarborough, England - d. 12-15-1962
actor: "Three Ring Time"; "Columbia Presents Corwin"; "Blue Ribbon Town"
07-18-1903 - Chill Wills - Seagoville, TX - d. 12-15-1978
actor: "Armed Forces Radio Theatre"; "Dinner Bell Round-Up Time"
08-02-1905 - Myrna Loy - Raidersburg, MT - d. 12-15-1993
actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"
10-13-1885 - Harry Hershfield - Cedar Rapids, IA - d. 12-15-1974
comedian: "Stop Me If You Heard This One"; "Can You Top This?"
12-05-1901 - Walt Disney - Chicago, IL - d. 12-15-1966
actor: Mickey Mouse "Mickey Mouse Theatre of the Air"
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 15:22:23 -0500
From: <sweetedit@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: OTR novels and movies
Are there any good fiction books or movies that those of you on the list
would recommend where OTR plays a significant role?
Thanks
Jay Sweet
sweetedit@[removed]
Fort Atkinson, WI
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 23:15:38 -0500
From: Richard Pratz <[removed]@[removed];
To: "OTR (Plain Text Only)" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Another OTR death
Radio actress Frances Chaney died of Alzheimer's Disease Nov. 23 in NYC.
Born in Odessa, Ukraine, Chaney came to the [removed] at a young age, and after
studying acting at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse, found work on Broadway
and in radio. Her career flourished. She was the voice of the character
Burma in the radio juvenile adventure "Terry and the Pirates," which ran
from 1937 to 1939 and was renewed with a war theme in 1943. She also played
Marion Kirby, the friendly female ghost, in the radio version of "The
Adventures of Topper," beginning in 1945. Chaney also appeared on such
popular radio series of the late 30s and early 40s as "Mr. District
Attorney," "Gang Busters" and "A House In the Country." Widow of writer Ring
Lardner Jr., and tainted for years by association because of Lardner's
Hollywood blacklisting, Chaney also acted on stage and television. On TV,
she landed a role that lasted ten years on the soap opera "The Edge of
Night."
Rich
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #396
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