Subject: [removed] Digest V2012 #60
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 4/5/2012 4:18 PM
To: [removed]@[removed]
Reply-to:
[removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2012 : Issue 60
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Captain Midnight: The Hey, It's Me,   [ Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed]; ]
  4-5 births/deaths                     [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Pleasures of Listening                [ "jsalerno@[removed]" <jsalerno@ ]
  re: The Pleasures of Listening        [ Steve Salaba <dangerdanger@sbcgloba ]
  RE: The Pleasures of Listening        [ "Steven Kelez" <otrsteve@[removed]; ]

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

Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2012 20:15:32 -0400
From: Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Captain Midnight: The Hey, It's Me, Chuck
 Ramsay. Ivan Shark is Still Holding Me Captive Adventure

I recently listened to the Captain Midnight storyline referred to as "The
Mysterious Voice", which ran from Jan. 12-March 27, 1940. March 27, 1940 is
also given as the final date of the WGN transcribed run (the show would
subsequently return, slightly revamped, on Mutual the following September) in
several sources, including Dunning's "On the Air." But the adventure that
aired that date doesn't conclude the "Mysterious Voice" storyline. Captain
Midnight has discovered where Chuck Ramsay and a student pilot named Frank
Crane are being held prisoner, but he hasn't rescued them, yet.

Which means 72 years later, Chuck is _still_ waiting for rescue.

What I'm trying to figure out is why the storyline comes to such an abrupt
end, especially given that several episodes of any transcribed series were
probably recorded in a single day. A few possible explanations come to mind.

1. Some "suit" at WGN arbitrarily pulled the plug before the final episodes
could be recorded (or possibly even written). True, the storyline could have
been wrapped up in one more episode, but previous installments all but stated
the next would be the conclusion, only for several more installments to
follow. So, maybe another week of episodes had been planned, but never got
made. Nothing announcer Don Gordon says suggests the show's about to go off
the air. That suggests he had no idea when he recorded the March 27, 1940
episode.

2. The writers and/or the actors knew the show was being taken off the air,
and just didn't give a damn.

This is considerably less likely, and I don't believe it myself; I'm just
including it as a possibility. I don't believe it because A) that would
require all the actors to be very unprofessional; and B) if they didn't give
a damn, at least one of the actors would have "phoned in" his or her
performance. No one did. Performances are consistent throughout the storyline.

3. Captain Midnight did not end its WGN run on March 27, 1940, but later that
spring. However, no WGN episodes from after that date survive, and whoever
work first gave the March 27, 1940 end date for the WGN run assumed that
because there were no further episodes, that date must have been the last for
WGN. If that's the case, I can only assume whoever first put forth that date
didn't actually listen to the episode aired that day. Or didn't bother to
wonder why the storyline didn't wrap up.

Like I said, I reject possibility 2 entirely; I just included it to cover all
bases. I think possibility 1 is the answer, but #3 would explain a lot. Like
why there was no hint the show was ending, and why the storyline wasn't
wrapped up. We also know there's a lot of inaccurate information out there
(I'm looking at you, "John Reid"), so it wouldn't surprise me if someone
assumed, because no WGN Captain Midnight episodes exist after March 27, 1940,
that WGN ended its association with the program on that date; and every
subsequent reference work just parroted that information.

So, does anyone know if WGN aired Captain Midnight beyond that date, or if
that was the last WGN broadcast, why the storyline just stopped?

Rick

[removed] on a slightly related note, did any radio shows ever have end of season
cliffhangers, the way some TV shows do. If so, how successful were they?

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

Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2012 20:15:39 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  4-5 births/deaths

April 5th births

04-05-1894 - Bradbury Foote - Fairfield, IA - d. 12-14-1995
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Suspense"
04-05-1898 - Everett Crosby - Roslyn, WA - d. 7-13-1966
brother and manager of Bing Crosby
04-05-1900 - Spencer Tracy - Milwaukee, WI - d. 6-10-1967
actor: "Good News of 1938"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
04-05-1901 - Melvyn Douglas - Macon, GA - d. 8-4-1981
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
04-05-1905 - William Andrews - Oakland, CA - d. 5-2-1985
announcer: "One Man's Family"
04-05-1908 - Bette Davis - Lowell, MA - d. 10-6-1989
actor: "Cresta Blanca Hollywood Players"; "Prudential Family Hour of
Stars"
04-05-1910 - Jim Alderman - d. 12-5-1992
newscaster: Dallas, Texas
04-05-1911 - Gordon Jones - Alden, IA - d. 6-20-1963
actor: Pete Thompson "Meet Mr. McNutley"
04-05-1911 - Martin Denny - NYC - d. 3-2-2005
orchestra leader: Live radio show for Alaskan Air Force Command Radio
04-05-1912 - John Le Mesurier - Bedford, England - d. 11-15-1983
actor: Sergeant Arthur Wilson "Dad's Army"
04-05-1913 - Anne Scott-James - London, England - d. 5-13-2009
journalist: "My Word"
04-05-1914 - Eric Roberts - Winchmore Hill, England
author: "The Manadrins Cat"
04-05-1916 - Gregory Peck - Lo Jolla, CA - d. 6-12-2003
actor: "Doctor Fights"; "Sealtest Variety Hour"
04-05-1917 - Robert Bloch - Chicago, IL - d. 9-23-1994
writer: "Stay Tuned for Terror"
04-05-1919 - Ted Liss - d. 3-3-1992
actor: "Destination Freedom"
04-05-1921 - Barney Beck - d. 1-30-2007
sound effects: "The Shadow"; "I Love A Mystery"; "Bob and Ray"
04-05-1922 - Gale Storm - McDade, TX - d. 6-27-2009
actor: Margie Albright "My Little Margie"
04-05-1924 - Lee Stevens - Baltimore, MD
announcer: "Big Sister"
04-05-1926 - Stan Levy - d. 4-19-2005
jazz drummer: "Dizzy Gillespie and His Orchestra"
04-05-1928 - Michael Bryant - London, England - d. 4-25-2002
character actor: "Bequest to the Nation"
04-05-1929 - Nigel Hawthorne - Coventry, England - d. 12-26-2001
actor: Acted for his college radio station at the University of Cape
Town

April 5th deaths

01-01-1917 - Shelby Storck - Kansas City, MO - d. 4-5-1969
actor: Speed Robertson "The Air Advs. of Jimmie Allen"
01-16-1917 - Brainerd Duffield - Boston, MA - d. 4-5-1979
writer: "The Ford Theatre"
01-26-1880 - Douglas MacArthur - Little Rock, AR - d. 4-5-1964
general: "Special Broadcast from Tokyo"
01-28-1915 - Jud Denaut - Walkerton, IN - d. 4-5-1999
bassist: "Woody Herman and His Orchestra"
02-06-1926 - Nancy Overton - NYC - d. 4-5-2009
singer: (The Chordettes)"Stars for Defense"; "Guest Star"
02-09-1901 - Brian Donlevy - Cleveland, OH - d. 4-5-1972
actor: Steve Mitchell "Dangerous Assignment"
02-17-1941 - Gene Pitney - Hartford, CT - d. 4-5-2006
singer: "Voices of Vista"
03-12-1916 - Jeanette Eymann - d. 4-5-1997
secretary, sometime actor: "The Jack Benny Program"
04-16-1911 - Frank Vass - Greenville, SC - d. 4-5-1988
singer: (The Vass Family) "The Lady Next Door"; "Kraft Phoenix Program"
04-27-1892 - Marjorie Mills - Waterville, ME - d. 4-5-1979
columnist: "The Girl from Maine"
05-19-1897 - Breta Griem - Wisconsin - d. 4-5-1980
home economist for WTMJ radio
06-01-1898 - Molly Picon - NYC - d. 4-5-1992
actor: "I Give You My Life"; "Molly Picon's Parade"
07-10-1916 - Dick Carey - Hartford, CT - d. 4-5-1994
jazz pianist: "Louis Armstrong and the Original All-Stars"
07-14-1909 - Isabel Jewell - Shoshone, WY - d. 4-5-1972
actor: "Dr. Kildare"; "NBC Presents: Short Story"
07-28-1901 - Felix Mills - Fort Collins, CO - d. 4-5-1987
musical director: "Aldrich Family"; "Burns and Allen"; "Tarzan"
07-28-1901 - Hal Totten - Newark, NJ - d. 4-5-1985
sportscaster: first play-by-play announcer for Chicago Cubs; "Elgin
Campus Review"
07-29-1910 - Joseph Curtin - Cambridge, MA - d. 4-5-1979
actor: Nick Charles "Advs. of the Thin Man"; John Perry "John's Other
Wife"
08-07-1920 - Mel Diamond - NYC - d. 4-5-2002
comedy writer: Kate Smith, Milton Berle, Bob Hope and Mickey Rooney
08-12-1914 - Guy Sorel - d. 4-5-1994
actor: Larry Noble "Backstage Wife"
08-22-1921 - Robert Marsden - London, England - d. 4-5-2007
actor: "Saturday Night Play"
08-24-1884 - Earl Derr Biggers - Warren, OH - d. 4-5-1933
author: Charlie Chan books
09-13-1871 - Alma Kruger - Pittsburgh, PA - d. 4-5-1960
actor: Emily Mayfield "Those We Love"
09-24-1905 - Howard Hughes - Humble, TX - d. 4-5-1976
film producer, bra designer, billionaire: "Howard Hughes Senate
Hearings"
09-27-1898 - Vincent Youmans - NYC - d. 4-5-1946
composer: "Chicago Theatre of the Air"
10-04-1910 - Stanley Farrar - d. 4-5-1974
actor: (Brother of Danny Thomas) Melvyn Foster "A Date with Judy"
10-04-1924 - Charlton Heston - Evanston, IL - d. 4-5-2008
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Kaleidoscope"
10-26-1917 - Buddy Christian - Nyack, NY - d. 4-5-2009
drummer" "Dizzy Gillespie Band"
10-31-1887 - Chiang Kai-Shek - Hsikow, Chekiang, China - d. 4-5-1975
world leader: "Free World Theatre"
12-18-1922 - Bob Dunnavant - Decatur, AL - d. 4-5-2008
co-founder of the Athens Broadcasting Company
xx-xx-1926 - Larry Stevens - d. 4-5-2000
singer: "The Jack Benny Program"

Ron

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

Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2012 20:15:44 -0400
From: "jsalerno@[removed]" <jsalerno@[removed];
To: OTR List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Pleasures of Listening

Alan,

One of the things that made Gunsmoke so outstanding was the use of
silence. Usually radio people, public speakers, and just about anyone is
afraid of silence, but Gunsmoke made it work really well. It was like
being there. Hitchcock would have been proud.

Also, Gunsmoke had no narration, another kind of silence. The story was
told by the actors, just like real life. What a contrast with Fred Foy
on the Lone Ranger or Jackson Beck narrating Superman.

Joe Salerno

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

Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2012 20:15:49 -0400
From: Steve Salaba <dangerdanger@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  re: The Pleasures of Listening

Three of my favorite jokes that you could probably only do well on radio come
from the Command Performance show "Dick Tracy in B-Flat".

Bob Hope (as Flattop): "What a pleasure! I always wanted to have a gun in
this guy's back."

Bing Crosby (as Dick Tracy): "Yeah, and you can pull it up a little, too."

Bob: "Sorry, I was gonna blow your brains out."

and

Bing (as Tracy): "He took off all my clothes and locked me in a bank vault in
my long underwear."

Dinah Shore (as Tess Trueart): "How did you escape?"

Bing: "Through the trap door in the back."

and

Bob (as Flattop): "I'll show you how tough I am. Watch me tear this telephone
book in half."

Judy Garland (As Snowflake): "You couldn't!"

(Sound): RRRRIP!

Bob: "Now for the next page."

They sure do conjure up some funny [removed]

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

Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2012 20:15:54 -0400
From: "Steven Kelez" <otrsteve@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  RE: The Pleasures of Listening

Alan Bell's request for some sound bites bring to mind the episode of CBS
Radio Workshop - I have Three Heads 5/26/57. It's about a tape recorder.
Also the little girl going up to the attic to reveal her parents to the
aliens is from Zero Hour (6/17/50), not Knock. Another episode of Dimension
X that might be useful is the very short opening to the Martian Chronicles -
1st story: Rocket Summer - 8/18/50. Some of the Stan Freberg sketches from
his short lived show might also prove intriguing. Sounds like you'll have a
great presentation.

Steven Kelez
[removed]

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2012 Issue #60
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