Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #368
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 10/11/2003 9:18 AM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2003 : Issue 368
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Today in radio history                [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
  Dragnet question                      [ Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed]; ]
  The Shadow                            [ Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed]; ]
  Radio Archiving- Is it Really any be  [ "George Tirebiter" <tirebiter2@hotm ]
  Captain Midnight error                [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
  Roosevelt books                       [ Kenneth Clarke <kclarke5@[removed]; ]
  Sammy Kaye                            [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
  Dunning's "On the [removed]"             [ "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed] ]
  Radio Premium Confusions              [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
  War of the Worlds station break       [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
  Re: Raised on Radio/Capt. Midnight    [ Jim Widner <widnerj@[removed]; ]
  Re: Kent Allard                       [ Jim Widner <widnerj@[removed]; ]
  Meet Miss Sherlock and Sondra Gair    [ "Paul M. Thompson" <beachcomber@com ]
  Shortwave Radio                       [ "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyro ]
  Great Gildersleeve written by a Sout  [ "Matthew Bullis" <matthewbullis@run ]

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

Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 17:16:43 -0400
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Today in radio history

 From Those Were The Days --

10/10

1932 - Two of radio's earliest efforts at soap operas were heard for the
first time. Judy and Jane, sponsored by Folger's Coffee, and Betty and
Bob, sponsored by General Mills, had listeners glued to their radios
into the early 1940s.

1933 - Dreft, the first synthetic detergent, went on sale. Ten years
later, Dreft was the sponsor of The Dreft Star Playhouse.

1937 - The Mutual Broadcasting System debuted Thirty Minutes in
Hollywood. 48 sponsors shared the cost of the program that aired in 72
cities nationwide. It was the first Mutual co-op radio show. George
Jessel and Norma Talmadge starred. Music was provided by the Tommy
Tucker Orchestra.

10/11

1936 - Professor Quiz aired for the first time. It was the first
national quiz show on radio and lasted until 1948. Guests asked
Professor Quiz (Dr. Craig Earl) questions. If they were able to stump
the prof, they collected a $25 prize. Professor Quiz announcers were
Robert Trout and Arthur Godfrey. Sponsors included Kelvinator
refrigerators, Teel Shampoo and Velvet pipe tobacco.

1940 - Glenn Miller recorded Make Believe Ballroom Time for Bluebird
Records -- at the Victor studios in New York City. It would become the
theme song for Make Believe Ballroom on WNEW, New York, with host Martin
Block. Block created the aura of doing a 'live' program, complete with
performers (on records) like Harry James or Frank Sinatra, from the
'Crystal Studios' at WNEW. His daily program was known to everyone who
grew up in the NYC/NJ/Philadelphia area in the 1940s and 1950s. Miller
had been so taken with the show's concept that he actually paid for the
Make Believe Ballroom Time recording session himself and hired the
Modernaires to join in.

1948 - One of radio's last premiering soap operas, The Brighter Day,
happened this day in Three Rivers. The show centered around the Dennisí
and their extended family. It's interesting to take a look at the cast
and see which names are still recognizable, like Hal Holbrook and
William Redfield. Some of the sponsors are still around, too: Ivory Soap
flakes, Blue Cheer detergent and Hazel Bishop lipstick. The soap opera
lasted for six years on radio.

10/12

1937 - The longest-running detective show debuted. Mr. Keen, Tracer of
Lost Persons lasted until 1955. Three different actors played the title
role, Bennett Kilpack was Mr. Keen the longest, and Arthur Hughes saw
the final show. Phil Clark also played the part. There were many more
than three sponsors -- Anacin, Kolynos (a toothpaste), BiSoDol antacid
mints, Hill's cold tablets, Heet liniment, Dentyne, Aerowax, RCA Victor
and Chesterfield cigarettes. Some are long gone, some are still around,
some don't advertise on radio anymore, and some are not allowed to.

Joe

--
Visit my homepage:  [removed]~[removed]

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

Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 17:50:44 -0400
From: Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Dragnet question

Does anyone know if Harry Morgan, who starred with
Jack Webb in the 1967 TV version of Dragnet (and later
in M*A*S*H) appeared on the radio Dragnet? I have an
episode (date unknown) about "obscene literature in
high schools" and in one scene, set in a school
auditorium as Friday is talking with concerned parents
and other citizens about the issue, a voice that
sounds like Morgan's asks what can be done about it.
Is it Harry Morgan, or just someone with a similar
voice?

Rick

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

Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 18:21:13 -0400
From: Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  The Shadow

I tried to post a response to the Kent Allard
question, but since it was bounced back and Anthony
Tollin gave a more detailed answer in the meantime, I
won't bother re-sending it. Tollin's answer did raise
another question in my mind. I don't know if this can
be answered definitively, but let's consider the
Shadow's statement to the real Cranston: "I have other
personalities that I assume as easily as I don
my cloak
and hat."

Would the pulp novels have been more or less
successful if we'd actually seen those other
identities on a regular basis? For that matter, could
the radio series have worked if the Shadow had had
more than one identity (which were actually on stage
from time to time)? It'd certainly stop people from
realizing (not that very many did) that the Shadow
almost always got involved in situations that Lamont
Cranston had been involved in.

Obviously, in both cases the Shadow would be a more
distant character, since reader and listener would
only really know him as "the Shadow" and couldn't
accept any "civilian identity" at face value. It would
be more of a departure for the radio show, which
focused a great deal on Lamont Cranston, the man,
rather than enigmatic "Shadow."

I would probably listen to a Shadow Radio program in
which the Shadow is a mysterious character who can
cloud men's minds, and who also uses a number of
identities to glean information more openly. Of course
what would make such a show more appealing in that
format would be a running subplot as to which identity
is the real one. And, in fairness, the question should
eventually be answered.

For the record, while I gave the 1994 movie (which
combined elements of both the pulps and radio shows) a
"C" in my movie review column, I liked how Lamont
Cranston would pretend to be one of the Shadow's many
agents in a meeting with another agent. Like Henry V
going out among his men unrecognized, this incognito
mixing with his agents  allows him to learn more than
he might otherwise. (Sure, he can go among them
invisibly, but he can't talk to them that way without
letting them know the boss is listening in).

Rick

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

Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 18:41:48 -0400
From: "George Tirebiter" <tirebiter2@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Radio Archiving- Is it Really any better

Hello All,

In response to Chad's post on the above I would guess that very little
archiving goes on today (that is "official" archiving by the producers of a
program -not taping by fans).  I remember a few years ago there was a
threatened slander suit against Don Imus over something he had said on his
program.  Although the program in question had just been aired a few months
earlier and Imus has national syndication there was no audio tape of the
program!  But, since Imus is simulcast on MSNBC (or was at the time at any
rate) it turned out NBC had a video tape of the program.

George

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

Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 18:42:37 -0400
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Captain Midnight error

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr. commented:

Recently, I picked up a volume of bound galleys of Gerald Nachman's book,
Raised On Radio.  I was thumbing through it and came across the only
entry on my specialty, Captain Midnight.

What bothers me is that to the casual reader, it might be taken as
gospel.  Someone totally unfamiliar with the history of the show might
believe that Captain Midnight _was_ a show about a "flying detective,"
rather than being the leader of a paramilitary force.
I have not completed the book, but if it were the only book on OTR that a
person reads, it could misguide the reader.

Stephen is true about the gospel, but regrettably, NO book is perfect.  Any
author who claims their book is flawless is lying (or swell-headed).
Whether it be Dunning's guide, Radio Spirits booklets, my own books, or
McFarland books, there are always flaws and errors.  This is why publishing
companies do revised editions help correct the flaws that went ou the first
time.  Sometimes a revised edition is just expanded to include more material
researched and unearthed since the first edition.  The advantage is that
with each passing publication, information gets corrected.  Compare Buxton
and Owen's THE BIG BROADCAST to Dunning's ON THE AIR and you can see the
difference.  As the years pass, such mistakes or errors will eventually be
deleted.  RAISED ON RADIO, incidentally, is one of the nicer recollection
books about OTR I've read in a while.  Hal Stone's book and Hal Kanter's
book are also enjoyable reads.

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

Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 18:43:50 -0400
From: Kenneth Clarke <kclarke5@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Roosevelt books

          Thanks Allen,  I received my information from
author Donald Bain.  Someone mentioned that he
also ghosted some of the Elliot Roosevelt books.
Mr. Bain, however, denies any such involvement in
them.  They did share the same literary agent
though.

Another radio buff,

Kenneth Clarke

- -------- Forwarded message ----------
From: donaldbain@[removed]
To: "Kenneth Clarke" <kclarke5@[removed];
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2003 11:54:09 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: Elliott Roosevelt books
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed];
References: <[removed]@[removed];

Dear Kenneth - No, I didn't write any of the Elliott Roosevelt books.
They
were written my Michael Harrington, a lawyer-turned-writer, who committed
suicide a year or so ago. We have (had) the same agent.
Best,
Don Bain

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

Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 23:37:32 -0400
From: <otrbuff@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Sammy Kaye

Hello big band lovers.  A question for any of you scholars in the field.
Sammy Kaye aired a quarter-hour series in the 1948-49 season for Chrysler
Corporation.  My question arrives with triple parts:  name the network, the
time and the day(s) of the week the program was broadcast.  The not-so-funny
thing is, I don't know the answer, just that there are at least 33 of those
shows circulating out there among you.  Please contact me off the list if
you have a clue.  Many thanks.

Jim Cox
otrbuff@[removed]

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

Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 23:38:30 -0400
From: "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Dunning's "On the [removed]"

    Andrew S. has asked if any of us Digesters have found mistakes in John
Dunning's "On the [removed]".

    I have.  But I could mention that I've spotted in several other
reference books (on various subjects) a much higher proportion of factual
errors than I've happened to find in "On the Air".  Some factual errors (of
commission, not omission) that I've noticed in "On the Air" are:

-- [removed] (Chesterfield Supper Club) says: "The theme was Smoke Rings."
(Should be Smoke Dreams.)
-- [removed] (Jack Pearl): Al Jolson wasn't a product of the Lower East Side of
NYC.  (At about age eight he moved from Eastern Europe to Washington, DC and
was in DC until about age 16 or so.)
-- [removed] (Jimmy Durante) says: "...as Hotlips Houlihan."  (Should be
Hotbreath Houlihan.)
-- [removed] (Lone Ranger): "General Mills for Cheerios as of May 1941."
(Should be Cheerioats. Some sources indicate that first Kix cereal was
promoted; that later ('42?) Cheerioats joined up too.)

       -- Phil C.

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

Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 23:48:49 -0400
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Radio Premium Confusions

In 1947, I received a great radio premium from the Buck Rogers in the
25th Century program.  It was the Buck Rogers Ring of Saturn, an
incarnation of the Jack Armstrong Dragon's Eye Ring (though I didn't know
it at the time).  Within a short period of time, my father gave me as a
surprise present a Buck Rogers U-235 Atomic Pistol.  I used to play with
the pistol as I listened to Buck, Wilma, Dr. Huer, and the robot, Number
1, on the show.  The Ring of Saturn and the Atomic Pistol both got lost
in moves, but those were magic days.

The Ring of Saturn was a radio premium, but the gun was something my
father picked up at a department store.  Yet as a child, I associated it
with the radio show.  (It was manufactured by Daisy -- the people who
made the Red Ryder Carbine BB gun -- and was never mentioned on the show,
if memory serves.)  I guess you'd call it a Faux Radio Premium.

There are quite a few of these.  There are Lone Ranger pens, Tom Mix
buttons, and other items that were never premiums, but have close
associations to various OTR programs.

Recently, I happened upon an advertisement relating to my own special
program.  It was a 1942 "playsuit," or costume, manufactured by
Collegeville Flag & Manufacturing Company, for a Captain Midnight Flight
Commander uniform.  The promotional copy said, "Get in on the promotional
opportunity of the year -- feature CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT FLIGHT COMMANDER
SUITS.  The millions of youngsters who listen to Captain Midnight on the
air form a tremendous waiting market."

"Flight Commander" was a Secret Squadron rank that members could achieve
by recruiting three other members, and for both 1941 and 1942, each had
an "indirect" radio premium: each was advertised in the handbook that
accompanied the Code-O-Graph premium, so there were close associations to
the radio show.  In 1941, there was a Flight Commander's Ring; in 1942,
there was a Flight Commander's Flying Cross.  But the costume wasn't a
radio premium, even indirectly.

Someone showed me a small leather aviator-style helmet with no markings
that he said the person who gave it to him claimed it insisted was a
Captain Midnight premium.  It certainly wasn't offered on the air, but it
*could* have been part of another costume.

The same advertisement had a Don Winslow of the Navy uniform, and in
addition to being as comic strip, Don Winslow was also an OTR show (which
had some premiums of its own).  This was another near-premium.

There were many personalities that were found in different media.
Blondie, Little Orphan Annie, Dick Tracy, Red Ryder, Buck Rogers, and
Terry and the Pirates were all comic-strip characters (and appeared on
the silver screen as well).  Many of them had associated products.  So
just because something appears to be a radio premium doesn't mean it
really is.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 00:41:58 -0400
From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  War of the Worlds station break

I've mentioned before that I have a tape of the original War of the Worlds
discs that includes the full length of the mid-program station break.  This
was edited out of the recording when the LPs of it were released, but my
tape, which I obtained a year or so before the LPs came out, includes the
silence and the slight surface noise of the original disc.

I came across the tape this evening, and here is the all-important piece of
information.  The station break was twenty seconds long.  So, if you are
concerned about the accuracy of the timing of the recording you have, add
twenty seconds to it to determine what the total length of the program was.
It should be around 59:00 to 59:15 I suppose.  I am not sure of what the
length of a CBS hourly station break was in 1938.

Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 01:26:43 -0400
From: Jim Widner <widnerj@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Raised on Radio/Capt. Midnight

At 04:44 PM 10/9/2003 -0400, Steve Kallis wrote:

What bothers me is that to the casual reader, it might be taken as
gospel.  Someone totally unfamiliar with the history of the show might
believe that Captain Midnight _was_ a show about a "flying detective,"
rather than being the leader of a paramilitary force.

I understand Steve's point, but when Nachman was at one of the FOTR
conventions touting his book, he indicated that it was his memory of the
shows he recalled as a kid. Even the writing style of the book gives away
that the author is recalling a more emotional reaction to hearing the shows
again than "wanting to produce an encyclopedia" as he says in his introduction.

What I enjoyed about the book is that fact or not, I could experience his
reaction to the radio programs. He does speak in hyperbole - just read how
he describes the radio conventions in the last chapter.

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

Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 01:28:25 -0400
From: Jim Widner <widnerj@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Kent Allard

At 04:44 PM 10/9/2003 -0400, you wrote:

BTW, who is this Kent Allard (?) person I've heard about and what
connection does he have with "The Shadow"?  I think someone is pulling my
leg when they suggested he was the Shadow.  (Wasn't that Lamont Cranston?)

Tony Tollin will best answer this, but here is something from the mouth of
Walter Gibson, the creator, himself. Sorry for the length:

"With the stories, we made it quite plain early in the stories, that
Cranston was not actually The Shadow. Cranston was a world traveler, a
millionaire and when he went and left the country, which he did frequently,
the Shadow would step in and assume the identity of Cranston. When it was
finally found out he and Cranston used to work together, then they got very
cordial. Well that was very helpful because criminals found it hard to
identify The Shadow as Lamont Cranston because Lamont Cranston had been
away at certain times when The Shadow was so active. The Shadow's real self
was the he had been an aviator named Kent Allard who had flown on a trip
down to South America and had presumably gotten lost in the jungle.
Actually he had stopped in an Indian tribe there but then he had to come
back. And so instead of being lost in the jungle he was really roving
around fighting [removed] a radio program you're tremendously
[removed] we decided that for the radio they could make all the cases to
be those in which you could easily have The Shadow play the part of Cranston."

To the question whether Allard was ever mentioned in the radio shows,
Gibson responded:
"No. It wasn't mentioned in The Shadow stories until after about the time
the radio began. So we simply took a simple basic approach that would also
enable them to give the work to radio writers."

The above was from an interview with Walter Gibson by Terry Salomonson
published in a source I am not sure of. I have the photocopy, but it
doesn't mention the publication.

Jim Widner
[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 01:40:13 -0400
From: "Paul M. Thompson" <beachcomber@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Meet Miss Sherlock and Sondra Gair

Kenneth Clarke recently asked for information about the program
Meet Miss Sherlock.  This was a comedy mystery heard as a CBS
Summer replacement show from July thru September 1946 and starred
Sondra Gair in the title role as Jane Sherlock. William Conrad had a
recurring role. According to Sondra, Paul Frees, David Ellis, Ira Grossel
(Jeff Chandler) and Barney Phillips among others also appeared in
supporting roles during the run. As far as I know only two shows are
in circulation. The Case of the Deadman's Chest (July '46) and The
Case of Wilmer and the Widow (September '46).  The show apparently
returned to the air in the fall of 1947 first with Betty Moran and then
Monty Margetts in the title role but only lasted a couple of months. No
copies have ever surfaced.

Kenneth's question brought Sondra Gair to mind and a curious fact.
Sondra did quite a bit of radio work but reference books rarely credit
her roles for some reason. For example she did The Chicago Theatre
of the Air off and on over a period of many years. Worked on Inner
Sanctum and Gangbusters and the Chicago soaps. Was Monica Barnes
on Today's Children. Frank Lovejoy played her husband Christopher.
She was also Jeannie Rourke on Masquerade and moved with the
show when Irma Phillips moved her soaps to the west coast around
1946 (the same year she did Meet Miss Sherlock). Other radio work
included shows like Suspense and Escape.

In later years she  was apparently highly regarded as a radio journalist
and host at Chicago Public Radio station WBEZ-FM.  On May 27, 1994
the station went silent for one full hour in tribute following her death
earlier in the week and Northwestern University initiated an annual
Sondra Gair Memorial journalism lecture in her honor featuring well
known guest speakers. Her son Jud Rose who died in 2000 was a
longtime ABC and later CNN correspondent.

Not a bad legacy for the zany Miss Sherlock.

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

Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 09:25:45 -0400
From: "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Shortwave Radio

In my Sunday, USA Today magazine, there is an ad for a Bell and Howell
"Nine Band World Radio" for just $[removed] ([removed] shipping) with AM-FM
and 7 Shortwave bands and bonus TV audio channels, (but that would make it
10 bands, yes?) battery powered and it's a handy size, 5X3X1 inches. The
name is reputable and the price seems low enough to take a chance.

I find it hard to believe that a passably good SW radio can be put out at such a low price.  Is 
this legitimate?

I suppose it depends on what you want to listen to, but a really cheap SW radio may not 
produce very good reception.  I used to find them pretty useless except for the BBC.  And 
now, the BBC no longer beams English language broadcasts to North America.

-- A. Joseph Ross, [removed] [removed] 15 Court Square, Suite 210 lawyer@[removed] Boston, MA 02108-2503 [removed] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 09:26:06 -0400 From: "Matthew Bullis" <matthewbullis@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Great Gildersleeve written by a Southerner? Hello, just noticed something I thought very interesting. In the Episode Gildy Floats a Loan, from October of 1946, Leroy says used-to-could which is a Southern expression. I've never heard this kind of thing before on the program. Perhaps a slight glimpse into the expressions of the writers? Thanks a lot. Matthew -------------------------------- End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #368 ********************************************* Copyright [removed] Communications, York, PA; All Rights Reserved, including republication in any form. If you enjoy this list, please consider financially supporting it: [removed] For Help: [removed]@[removed] To Unsubscribe: [removed]@[removed] To Subscribe: [removed]@[removed] or see [removed] For Help with the Archive Server, send the command ARCHIVE HELP in the SUBJECT of a message to [removed]@[removed] To contact the listmaster, mail to listmaster@[removed] To Send Mail to the list, simply send to [removed]@[removed]