Subject: [removed] Digest V2007 #317
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 11/9/2007 10:18 AM
To: [removed]@[removed]
Reply-to:
[removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2007 : Issue 317
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Mercury Theatre recordings            [ "Holm, Chris " <[removed]@[removed] ]
  ABC Mystery Time                      [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
  WAR, yes - but of WHICH worlds?       [ Wich2@[removed] ]
  RE: Orson's "Cold Case"               [ "Druian, Raymond B SPL" <[removed] ]
  Re: WOTW, again.                      [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
  Jim Hawthorne Dies                    [ Stuart Lubin <stuartlubin6686@sbcgl ]
  William Conrad: Height                [ "Belpedio, Dr. James" <[removed] ]
  Orson's "Cold Case"                   [ "Bob C" <rmc44@[removed]; ]
  Odd Behaviors                         [ "Israel Colon, [removed]" <colon@temple ]
  Cold Case/WOTW                        [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
  Fwd: re: Moonlight Serenade           [ Robert Paine <ka3zci@[removed]; ]
  Re: Bill Conrad's Height              [ "Jan Bach" <janbach@[removed]; ]
  Jim Hawthorne                         [ Chuck Everts <ceverts@[removed]; ]
  11-9 births/deaths                    [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
  War of the Worlds                     [ "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@attorneyross. ]
  War of the Worlds, 1938               [ Ken Greenwald <kgradio@[removed]; ]

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

Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2007 12:57:48 -0500
From: "Holm, Chris " <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Mercury Theatre recordings

A recent pre-Halloween Fark thread discussed the Mercury Theatre
broadcast of the War of the Worlds, and one person on the thread claimed
that the recording we are all familiar with wasn't the actual broadcast,
but was rather a re-creation done a week later because of the show's
notoriety.

This sounds a tad bit crazy to me, since recordings exist of most (all?)
of the Mercury Theatre broadcasts and the logs show it being broadcast
one time.  Surely not all of these are re-created recordings, so why
would one be?

What little digging I could do turned up no information regarding the
origins of the MT recordings as a whole, let alone any specific
recordings.  So I'm assuming all of them came straight off of
transcription disks.  But if these shows were going out live, why were
they recorded?  Not to give a copy to a sponsor, obviously.

Would someone here more knowledgeable than I explain the origins of the
Mercury Theatre recordings?

Thanks,
-chris holm

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

Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2007 13:17:18 -0500
From: <otrbuff@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  ABC Mystery Time

Jim Meals observes:

I have discovered a program from that era that I didn't even know
existed. According to an otr website, ABC Mystery Time ran every
weeknight during the 1957-58 season. The show is not listed in Dunning
and I had never heard of it.

Jim, I wrote about this series comparatively speaking fairly extensively in
my 2002 treatise "Radio Crime Fighters:  Over 300 Programs from the Golden
Age" ([removed]).  You may find the enlightenment you're seeking
there.

Jim Cox

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

Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2007 13:17:33 -0500
From: Wich2@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  WAR, yes - but of WHICH worlds?

Dear Jack, Tom, & gang-

I know the  Printed Press is sometimes seen as beyond fault, [removed] could it
be that the  newspaper accounts themselves greatly exaggerated the extent of
The Panic of  '38?

This was John Houseman's contention, in an interview years  later:

"They hated us, and saw this as a chance to piss on  Radio."

Best,
-Craig W.

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

Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2007 13:18:05 -0500
From: "Druian, Raymond B SPL" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  RE:  Orson's "Cold Case"

I usually watch "Cold Case" but last Sunday night I was out and missed about
the first half of the program. The only reference to the WOTW broadcast that
I saw was at the very end. Praise the Lord for giving us reruns!

Anyhow, I read a scholarly piece on the WOTW broadcast several years ago,
where it was pointed out that the Mercury Playhouse (or was it Campbell's by
that time?) was not the most popular program on the air. In fact, its
competition was the highly popular Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy show. It
seems that Welles studied that program for several weeks before the fateful
broadcast, and he learned that the show broke for a commercial at something
like twelve minutes after the hour (I don't remember the precise time), and
it was just at that moment, when many listeners started twisting the dial
during the commercial to see what else was on, that Welles had the Martians
actually land on Earth. Anyone who heard the show from the beginning would
have known that it was just a 'radio program,' but those who ran across it
during the Bergen-McCarthy show were perfectly justified in thinking that
they were listening to an actual newscast. It seems that they were the ones
who did most of the panicking.

Thanx,
[removed]

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

Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2007 13:51:18 -0500
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: WOTW, again.

On 11/8/07 12:18 PM [removed]@[removed] wrote:

Well, facts is pesky things, as someone once said, so let me read Tom
some 1938 news reports from the day after the broadcast:

John Houseman (Welles' co-producer for the Mercury Theatre) had an
interesting theory about the press coverage of the aftermath of the panic
-- suggesting that newspapers grabbed onto the story with particular
vigor because they were still stinging over how badly they had been
scooped by radio in covering the Sudetenland/Munich crisis. Given the
tensions which characterised radio/press relations in the thirties, there
is quite likely truth to this. It's also important to note that much of
the press coverage was based on hearsay and was, in the Princeton study,
demonstrated to have been without basis.

Ten years after the event, Princeton University commissioned a
scholarly study of the incident and its conclusion was that of the
estimated six million people who heard the broadcast, nearly two
million was convinced the program was authentic.

This is hardly a small [removed]

The study was actually mounted in 1940, two years after the broadcast,
and Hadley Cantril, a professor of psychology at Princeton, wrote an
exhaustive study of the results. Based on the data from the study,
Cantril estimated that only about a million people nationwide heard the
broadcast from the beginning (an estimate based on average Crossley
ratings for previous programs in the series) -- but that the audience
increased to at least six million more by the mid-point of the show. Of
these, Cantril estimates that [removed] million people interpreted the program
as a news broadcast -- and of these, about [removed] million were actually
moved to "do something," from calling a relative on the mild side to
fleeing into the night on the extreme.

Given that in 1938 there were approximately [removed] million radio homes in
the US, [removed] million is a pretty small slice of the total audience. And
given that the total population of the US in 1938 was about 138 million,
I'd suggest that [removed] million of that total would seem to fit the
definition of a small percentage. Cantril's evidence would suggest that
the overwhelming majority of Americans didn't even know about the
broadcast until they looked at their newspapers the next morning.

Elizabeth

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

Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2007 13:52:17 -0500
From: Stuart Lubin <stuartlubin6686@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Jim Hawthorne Dies

I thank Larry Gassman for the announcement.  Jim
Hawthorne was just such a super guy.  During the late
forties, the CBS affiliate in Los Angeles, KNX, had a
spot from 12:00 midnight to 1:00 [removed], and the first
one I remember in that spot, with an audience, was
Steve Allen, long before he became well known. When
Steve left, Jim Hawthorne took over the spot.  Jim was
so funny, he could say anything, and people would
roar.  Not having a car at age 14, I had trouble
getting to that show because the buses did not run
after 11:00 [removed] from Hollywood to where I lived.
Staying out of the way of the "curfew police" was
another problem.  So, I convinced my dad to take me
and my seven year old brother to the show.  Jim
Hawthorne saw my brother in the audience and
interviewed him during the show. With Jim, everything
was a great laugh a minute.  Jim was very spontaneous.
 Announcer Tom Hanlon, a staff announcer and
sportscaster at KNX, sat at a table, trying
desperately to stay awake, waiting for the program to
end. After Jim's popularity ended in Southern CA, he
moved to Denver.

Thanks to SPERDVAC, I met Jim at a convention, and, as
an adult, I was able to have some nice conversations
with him.

Stuart Lubin

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

Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2007 14:22:07 -0500
From: "Belpedio, Dr. James" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  William Conrad:  Height
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IMDB lists William Conrad as being 5' 7 1/2". That would make him just about
square.

JBelpedio
Becker College

[server removed an attachment of type application/ms-tnef which had a name of
[removed]]

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

Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2007 14:22:48 -0500
From: "Bob C" <rmc44@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Orson's "Cold Case"

Jack French wrote:

Ten years after the event, Princeton University commissioned a
scholarly study of the incident and its conclusion was that of
the estimated six million people who heard the broadcast, nearly
two million was convinced the program was authentic.

"This is hardly a small [removed]

And also quoted the NY Times, Daily News, Washington Post, The
AP.

I guess, if you believe all you read in the newspapers and
scholarly studies, Jack has a point. I don't. I might have before
hearing of all the bad things happening in the Super Dome in New
Orleans after Hurricane Katrina - that didn't happen.

All I can say is, "You did a heckuva job, Orson!"

Bob Cockrum

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

Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2007 17:22:59 -0500
From: "Israel Colon, [removed]" <colon@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Odd Behaviors

Hi All,

I hope this is not an old issue but here goes.  I have been
struck by the setting, Blue Note Cafe, for the Casey Crime
Photographer series.  Did it strike anyone else as strange
that they were always hanging out in a bar and boozing?  I am
not a prohibitionist and enjoy alcohol.  But, I imagine that
there must have been some outcry from the public about this?

Another quirky behavior that strikes me as strange has to do
with Mr. Keen.  In one episode he sneaks into a home, or
should we call this breaking and entering.  I do not remember
if it was the same episode but he also listens in on an
extension telephone.  In spite of many people berating Mr.
Keen for its simplicity and the shallowness of Mike Clancy, I
love Mr. Keen but am puzzled by these behaviors.  Both of
these behaviors are illegal I presume.

Any comments?

Israel

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

Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2007 17:24:48 -0500
From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Cold Case/WOTW

Like Art Funk, I was also suspicious of the music used in the Cold Case
episode on Sunday which centered on the night of War of the Worlds.  Artie
Shaw's "Begin the Begine" was recorded July 24, 1938, so it would have been
available by October, and I was not able to recognize the Shaw (or was it
Benny Goodman) piece played a little later in the drama.  But when the house
band in the dance hall started playing in the Glenn Miller style, that made
me suspicious of whether house bands would have picked up copying that style
so early.  We usually think of this style as becoming big in 1939 and 40.
But then, like Art Funk, I really became suspicious when they played Miller
playing "Moonlight Serenade."  I quickly ascertained that his Bluebird
record of it was not recorded until April 4, 1939, so that would have meant
that a DJ or a jukebox could not have played it.  But had it already been
used by Miller in a broadcast?  The answer would be in John Flower's
bio-discography of the Miller civilian bands, but my copy seems to be buried
away somewhere inaccessible (I was SURE it was on the stairs leading to the
basement!).  That book details not only the recording sessions, but the
contents of Miller's live broadcasts and any concerts that might have been
recorded.  So without the book, it was off to the record shelves to see if I
have any broadcasts of the piece before Oct 30.  I do.  On Volume 3 of Glenn
Miller On The Air, RCA Victor LSP-2769(e), the album opens with Moonlight
Serenade already being used as Miller's opening theme on June 25, 1938  Brad
McCuen's liner notes specifically mentions "This broadcast sampling predates
the famous studio recording by more than nine months."

So, the song in this arrangement was not unknown by then, but it is unlikely
that it was actually broadcast that night since it could have been available
only as a live playing, not a recording.

Now, as for Jack French's feeling that the newspaper accounts from the
following day disprove Tom Heathwood's statement "The alleged reaction was
greatly exaggerated", I have to side with Tom on this.  Elizabeth has stated
in the past, and might possibly come in again now, that the rivalry between
the press and their competitor radio might have influenced the press to find
ANY nasty thing to say about radio.  This story would be a great way to
demonstrate -- without having to come out and say it -- that newspapers were
a much more reliable source of news than would radio be.  Jack ends with the
Princeton University study that of the approx 6 million listeners to the
program, 2 million thought it was authentic.  Jack than says "This is hardly
a small [removed]"  Yes it __is__ a small percentage.  Even among the
listeners to the program, only one-third of the listeners thought it was
real, which means that two-thirds of the listeners knew that it was just a
radio program.  And since over thirty million people were listening to
Bergan and McCarthy, and the rest of the people were not listening to radio,
that makes even two million a very small percentage of the total population.

Michael Biel   mbiel@[removed]

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

Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2007 17:25:21 -0500
From: Robert Paine <ka3zci@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Fwd: re: Moonlight Serenade
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X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

  George Simon wrote in his biography of Miller that Moonlight Serenade was
written in college as an exercise in mathematics. Not being a math-type
person, I don't recall all of what he wrote, but it was along the lines of
recurring mathematical themes; at least, this is the closest I can come to
the explanation. Perhaps another member can take it from here.

  Bob ka3zci

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

Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2007 18:21:31 -0500
From: "Jan Bach" <janbach@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Bill Conrad's Height

Hello again --

If William Conrad had been somewhat taller, he might have had a chance at
playing Marshall Dillon on the TV version of Gunsmoke, as he sincerely
wanted to do. I met him in the early nineties when a colleague invited him
to our college campus to see our electronic studio and other recording
facilities and while I would certainly not describe him as "squat," I'd have
to say he was somewhat shorter than the average, perhaps 5'6 or 7, with a
huge barrel chest from where that magnificent voice came. You can get a
better idea of his height if you look at any old TV rerun of "Jake and the
Fat Man" or "Cannon" --- he appeared in over a hundred in each -- or see his
appearance in the well-known 1946 classic "The Killers" --just don't catch
him when he's standing next to Burt Lancaster, or he'll look a lot shorter!
;By the way, there is an unintentionally hilarious appearance of Conrad on
Suspense, Escape, or the Whistler, where he plays all the voices of the
characters, a la Paul Frees -- except that, in this case, they all sound
like Bill Conrad!

Jan Bach

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

Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2007 10:19:59 -0500
From: Chuck Everts <ceverts@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Jim Hawthorne

I will always remember watching Jim as he did his radio show at KXLA,
the audience packed in the studio on the main floor.  I'm sure the
Hogan Twanger and Jim and Skippy's singing of "Serutan Yob" will also
be remembered for a long time.

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

Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2007 10:19:47 -0500
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  11-9 births/deaths

November 9th births

11-09-1883 - Edna Mae Oliver - Malden, MA - d. 11-9-1942
actor: Miss Tuttle "Remarkable Miss Tuttle"
11-09-1886 - Ed Wynn - Philadelphia, PA,  - d. 6-19-1966
comedian: (The Perfect Fool) Fire Chief "Ed Wynn Show"; King Bubbles
"Happy Island"
11-09-1893 - John P. Medbury - New York - d. 6-29-1947
writer: "Burns and Allen"; "Captain Flagg and Sergeant Quirt"
11-09-1895 - George D. Hay - Attica, IN - d. 5-9-1968
host: (The Solemn Old Judge) "Barn Dance"; "Grand Ole Opry"
11-09-1895 - Lou Lubin - Pittsburgh, PA - d. 1-30-1973
actor: Shorty "Amos 'n' Andy"
11-09-1899 - Mezz Mezzrow - Chicago, IL - d. 8-5-1972
jazz clarinetist: "BBC Jazz Session"; "For Your Approval"; "Americana"
11-09-1906 - Muggsy Spanier - Chicago, IL - d. 2-12-1967
cornet: "This Is Jazz"; "Eddie Condon's Jazz Concerts"
11-09-1909 - Kay Thompson - St. Louis, MO - d. 7-2-1998
singer: "Fred Waring Show"; "Your Hit Parade"; "Tune-Up Time"
11-09-1913 - Hedy Lamarr - Vienna, Austria - d. 1-19-2000
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
11-09-1916 - Norwood Anderson - d. 5-6-2005
disk jockey: "Town and Party Line" WFTC Kingston, North Carolina
11-09-1922 - Dorothy Dandridge - Cleveland, OH - d. 9-8-1965
actor, writer: "Beulah Show"

November 9th deaths

01-01-1889 - Charles Bickford - Cambridge, MA - d. 11-9-1967
actor: "Radio Hall of Fame"
02-11-1920 - Billy Halop - NYC - d. 11-9-76
actor: Bobby Benson "Bobby Benson Adventures"; Dick Kent "Home, Sweet
Home"
03-15-1898 - Everett Mitchell - Austin, IL - d. 11-9-1990
annnouncer, host: "National Farm and Home Hour"; "Voice of the Farm"
03-18-1869 - Neville Chamberlain - Birmingham, England - d. 11-9-1940
inept british prime minister: "peace for our time"
04-26-1890 - Edgar Kennedy - Monterey, CA - d. 11-9-48
actor: "Screen Guild Theatre"; "Radio Reader's Digest"
06-22-1941 - Ed Bradley - Philadelphia, PA - d. 11-9-2006
newscaster: WBCS New York, New York
07-07-1890 - Tom Powers - Owensboro, KY - d. 11-9-1955
commentator: "Central City"
07-29-1887 - Sigmund Romberg - Nagykanizsa, Austria-Hungary - d.
11-9-1951
composer, conductor: "An Evening with Romberg"; "Swift Hour"
08-22-1915 - Hugh Paddick - Hoddeston, Hartfordshire, England - d.
11-9-2000
actor: "Beyond Our Ken"
09-02-1909 - Adrienne Marden - Cleveland, OH - d. 11-9-1978
actor: Patrica Jordan "Story of Bess Johnson"
09-16-1881 - Jack Harvey - Cleveland, OH - d. 11-9-1954
writer: "Joan Davis Time"
10-13-1921 - Yves Montand - Monsummano Alto, Tuscany, Italy - d.
11-9-1991
singer, actor: "Rendezvouz In Paris"
10-15-1917 - Merrill Ash - d. 11-9-1999
newscaster: KOMO Seattle, Washington
10-27-1914 - Dylan Thomas - Uplands, Swansea, Wales - d. 11-9-1953
writer: "Life of the Modern Poet"; "Modern Muse"
10-29-1921 - Ed Kemmer - Reading, PA - d. 11-9-2004
actor: Buzz Corey "Space Patrol"
11-04-1918 - Art Carney - Mount Vernon, NY - d. 11-9-2003
actor: Billy Oldham "Joe and Ethel Turp"; General Dwight D.
Eisenhower "Living 1948"
11-09-1883 - Edna Mae Oliver - Malden, MA - d. 11-9-1942
actor: Miss Tuttle "Remarkable Miss Tuttle"
12-07-1910 - Charles Baltin - d. 11-9-1992
newscaster: WHOM Jersey City, New Jersey
12-25-1932 - Mabel King - Charleston, SC - d. 11-9-1999
actor: "Camel Rock and Roll Party"

Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2007 10:20:13 -0500
From: "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  War of the Worlds

Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2007 17:05:31 -0500
From: jack and cathy french <otrpiano@[removed];

Boston: Several residents climbed to their rooftops and reported
seeing the red glow from New York burning.

Obviously, then, you and Tom are both wrong.  If eyewitnesses in
Boston saw the glow of New York burning, what actually happened,
obviously, is that the Martians really did land, but that fact has
been covered up by an enormous conspiracy!  ;->

--
A. Joseph Ross, [removed]                           [removed]
 92 State Street, Suite 700                   Fax [removed]
Boston, MA 02109-2004           	         [removed]

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

Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2007 10:21:41 -0500
From: Ken Greenwald <kgradio@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  War of the Worlds, 1938

Jacy French writes:

Ten years after the event, Princeton University commissioned a
scholarly study of the incident and its conclusion was that of the
estimated six million people who heard the broadcast, nearly two
million was convinced the program was authentic.

I do know that Hadley Cantrell wrote a book, which was published, about the
results of Welles' War of the Worlds broadcast.
I have the book stored away, so I don't remember the actual title of the
book, but it is an indepth sociological study of the resulting panic caused
by the broadcast. I read that book and there is no doubt that great panic hit
the American people like a tidal wave. The book incluses many photographs
showing the results of that panic. Get that book if you can find it. Orson
Welles was also interviewed, on film, hours after the broadcast in which he
apologized for the terrible shock his broadcast caused. This film was
released in theaters across the country in the usual Newsreels that were
presented weekly as part of the filmgoers usual fare. On top of that, years
later the book "Invasion from Mars, the 1938 panic broadcast" was written by
Howard Koch, the writer of the War of the Worlds script. He details many,
many accounts of the results of the panic. The book ends with the entire
WoftheW script as presented on radio.

Ken Greenwald

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2007 Issue #317
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