Subject: [removed] Digest V2006 #301
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 11/2/2006 11:09 AM
To: [removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2006 : Issue 301
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  OTR FAN                               [ lawrence albert <albertlarry@yahoo. ]
  Avengers South [removed]              [ wd011a8458@[removed] ]
  Re: Christmas Carol                   [ "Andrew Godfrey" <niteowl049@[removed] ]
  Re: Rationing                         [ "Kirby, Tom" <Kirby@[removed]; ]
  Re: Christmas Carol                   [ "Kirby, Tom" <Kirby@[removed]; ]
  Bill Harris - Ration Book             [ "Frank McGurn" <[removed]@sbcgloba ]
  Re: cover art                         [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
  Christmas Carol                       [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
  A Christmas Carol                     [ "Frank McGurn" <[removed]@sbcgloba ]
  Fred, Jack and Ed!                    [ Illoman <illoman@[removed]; ]
  Favorite "lost" episode?              [ Illoman <illoman@[removed]; ]
  11-2 births/deaths                    [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
  Halloween & other holiday OTR         [ Chargous@[removed] ]
  Re: You know you are a fan of OTR wh  [ Brent Pellegrini <brentpl@rocketmai ]
  QUICK AS A FLASH                      [ "thomas heathwood" <HeritageRadio@m ]
  Bob Tallman                           [ William Harker <wharker@[removed] ]
  Big Band Cassette Collection          [ seandd@[removed] ]
  Call for Philip Moooreeeeeiis!        [ Alan Bell <alanlinda43@[removed]; ]
  Telegrams and Soap                    [ KENPILETIC@[removed] ]
  You know when you are an OTR fan      [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]

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

Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2006 15:01:20 -0500
From: lawrence albert <albertlarry@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  OTR FAN
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You know you're an old time radio fan:
      When you go into a huge Antiques and Collectibles mall and find an
unopened box of Rinso with the new ingredient Solium and really think
seriously about buying it. However I like being married and just couldn't
come up with a believable enough excuse for spending the money.
  Larry Albert

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

Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2006 18:26:22 -0500
From: wd011a8458@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Avengers South [removed]

Hello, everyone!

I don't post very often around here, but I couldn't resist responding to
[removed]

You watch Diana Rigg as Emma Peel and try to listen for the South African
accents (I wonder how many will understand that one).

Ah, the South African radio adaptations of the Avengers. Quite
extraordinary, some of them - not a patch on the blessed Patrick Macnee
and Diana Rigg (and the decision to rewrite some of the latter Tara King
episodes so that they feature Emma Peel instead doesn't really work),
[removed] goodness, but they move! Fifteen pun-filled minutes per episode,
they capture something of the flavour of the original [removed] and succeed
in making Avengerland even more quaintly English than it originally was.

So, [removed] I get that one!

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

Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2006 18:26:30 -0500
From: "Andrew Godfrey" <niteowl049@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Christmas Carol

Will take the advice of Bob Cockrum and try to find the Lionel Barrymore
version of A Christmas Carol. I will include it in my list of shows to hear
this Christmas season.
Andrew Godfrey

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

Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2006 18:27:07 -0500
From: "Kirby, Tom" <Kirby@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Rationing

I have a bunch of my great-grandparents old ration books,
as well as the little cardboard blue and red tokens, which
were change from the stamps. I hadn't realized it until I
talked to my grandmother that rationing didn't work the way
I thought it did. It didn't occur to me that just because you
were ENTITLED to buy the products, you still had to come up
with the money. Since my great-grandfather was a farm laborer,
there wasn't a lot of money, depression or not. So, there are
a lot of unused stamps, especially the meat ones. Also, just
because you were entitled didn't mean the product was actually
available when you went to the store.

I remember seeing a picture in a Time-Life book of a butcher
shop and a placard listing the meats that you didn't need points
for, and they weren't anything I would eat with the lights on.
8^)

Another great-grandfather had better gas privileges, because
of his work (he worked as a zookeeper for the National Zoo
in Washington DC!).

An episode of Fibber McGee & Molly sort of put things in
perspective, where Fibber bought some "black market" meat
that would make his [removed] water. He kept telling
all his visitors that he knew where he could get meat, only
to have the visitor give him an angry lecture on the evils
of the black market. The lecture that finally sunk in was
from Doc Gamble who was having to make house calls for people
who got sick eating uninspected black market meat.

My grandfather, who had been injured in France and shipped home,
got a furlough, and wanted to go home for a visit. He needed
gas, and bought some black market gas coupons (or whatever you
needed for gas). He said that the next day, gas rationing ended.
I'm not sure of the time frame, or his memory, but this must
have been after VJ Day, I would think. Maybe someone who lived
through this can correct any errors that my grandfather's
memory may have introduced.

-- Tom Kirby

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

Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2006 18:28:04 -0500
From: "Kirby, Tom" <Kirby@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Christmas Carol

Of the TV versions, I like Alistair (sp?) Sim's 1951 the best.
However, that's not on topic for this list.

How many radio versions are there? I have one that I think had
Orson Welles playing Scrooge, and the story seems like it ran
long and had to have the last part sort of condensed. It left
me feeling like something was missing. Are there any better
versions?

Thanks,

-- Tom Kirby

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

Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2006 18:28:33 -0500
From: "Frank McGurn" <[removed]@[removed];
To: "The Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Bill Harris - Ration Book

Somewhere I have my book of ration stamps that were purchased in my name

I hope Bill Harris finds his old ration book it would be good to see one
again. I point out that the books weren't purchased, but were issued, free
by the Feds.
As soon as rationing as over most people didn't keep them. One of our
neighbors burned their books.

As I remember when you were in the store you had to have your ration books
with you to prove you weren't using some persons stamps.

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

Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2006 18:27:43 -0500
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: cover art

On 11/1/06 3:00 PM [removed]@[removed] wrote:

Consider the cover of
Dunning's "On the Air" - the small picture of Amos 'n' Andy on
the left side, looking to the right (as they ideally should), but
what's that in the background? A microphone topped with SBC.
Maybe there's some copyright agreement that prohibits blotting
out the letters or just flipping the microphone itself (easily
done these days), but it sure looks silly and careless.

Especially so when someone went to a good deal of effort to airbrush out
the "IXAT" sign on Amos's cap. The layout artist must've been in a rush
to get to lunch that day.

I found the cover-art situation to be one of the most aggravatging
aspects of my own book -- I was quite insistent about what I *didn't*
want on my cover, and the publishers were at least accomodating on that
point. But I had also submitted a full graphics package to go along with
it, designed by the very capable artist Amanda Osborne, which we felt
gave the whole book a very dignified, unified tone. They ended up using a
couple elements of that design package and scrapped the rest, much to our
frustration. To this day, I have a hard time displaying the book because
I know it could have come out looking a lot [removed]

Elizabeth

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

Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2006 18:29:35 -0500
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Christmas Carol

There have been so many versions of the story performed on stage, screen and
radio that it's difficult to choose which is the best.  All producers and
directors try their best to bring a vision unlike the others, and deem proud
of the actor playing the lead.

Alistair Sims version of 1951 is considered the classic among all Christmas
Carols (and watch for the technician towards the end of the movie holding
the light - he can be seen in the background after Scrooge returns from his
final visit with the Ghost of Christmas Future).  Avoid the colorized
version.  VCI offers the film (black and white) on DVD.

If you want to see an odd version, catch the 1935 screen version with Sir
Seymour Hicks.  Filmed in Boston, it's the only film that I can recall that
instead of showing the lonely crutch of Tiny Tim's in the corner of the
room, they show Tim's actual corpse in the coffin!  And the cast sings "God
Hail the Queen" during a dinner sequence.

Thomas Edison's version is brief but worth watching.  I have three TV
versions, 1949 with Vincent Price and two versions of the 1954 TV telecast
with Frederic March and Basil Rathbone and both versions are worth a peak
but somewhat limited with sets because it was "live" TV.  Bernard Herrmann's
music for the 1954 version is magnficient.

On radio, Lionel Barrymore took on the tradition for almost 20 years and
would play the role on some anthology series (or in the case of the year he
played in MAYOR OF THE TOWN he did the drama on that series) and among all
the versions, the best is the Christmas Eve 1939 version done on THE
CAMPBELL PLAYHOUSE.  Bernard Herrmann also supplied the music for that radio
production, using the "English Folk Song Suite" to bridge one sequence that
was brilliant.  A similar production was done the year before of THE MERCURY
THEATER ON THE AIR with Orson Welles but I enjoyed the Barrymore version
best.

Martin

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

Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2006 18:30:10 -0500
From: "Frank McGurn" <[removed]@[removed];
To: "The Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  A Christmas Carol

I first heard the "Christmas Carol" in  1938 and in 1939 on The Campbell
Play house and I really enjoyed it then and still do every Christmas season.
It's impossible to improve on Lionel Barrymore and Orson Wells. They were
masters of their craft.

I have seen the "Christmas Carol" on TV, several versions, and some are
good, but Lionel, Orson and cast bring the story to life so well that your
imagination puts in merry old London at Christmas.

I suggest that every on should skip the TV version of  "A Christmas Carol"
and listen to The Campbell play house "A Christmas Carol"

Try It, You 'll like, I'm sure. If you don't like some body will refund . If
you return the unused portion.

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

Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2006 18:30:44 -0500
From: Illoman <illoman@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Fred, Jack and Ed!

Kermyt wrote:

There's also two pictures of Jack and Fred that I hadn't seen before.
Worth checking out:
[removed]

Thanks, Kermyt for posting about those photos of Fred Allen. I'd like
to know where the one on the left of Jack and Fred was shot. Sitting
directly behind Allen is Ed Gardner, one of my favorite radio
comedians. i don't know of any shows that Fred and Ed appeared in,
though.

Mike

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

Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2006 18:53:37 -0500
From: Illoman <illoman@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Favorite "lost" episode?

I was just curious, if you could have one episode of OTR that is
considered lost, which would it be?

Without hesitation, mine would be the 3/30/38 broadcast of Lights Out
entitled Valse Triste, with Boris Karloff. I know a copy exists in
the LoC, but monetarily it is out of my reach. I have attempted to
find this episode for over five years. Several people have it listed
but every time, without exception, it is the later 1942 version
without Boris. It is an exceptionally creepy episode, and one can
only wonder what the Karloff version would sound like.

Mike

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

Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2006 23:07:52 -0500
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  11-2 births/deaths

November 2nd births

11-02-1886 - Philip Merivale - Rehutia, Manickpur, India - d. 3-12-1946
actor: Reverend Spence "One Foot in Heaven"
11-02-1892 - Alice Brady - NYC - d. 10-28-1939
actor: "Hollywood Hotel"
11-02-1897 - Dennis King - Coventry, England - d. 5-21-1971
announcer: "When a Girl Marries"
11-02-1899 - Evelyn MacGregor - Pittsfield, MA - d. 7-xx-1967
singer: " American Melody Hour"; "American Album of Familiar Music"
11-02-1899 - Glenn Rowell - Pontiac, MI - d. 10-9-1965
singer, comedian: "Quaker Early Birds"; "Gene and Glenn"
11-02-1899 - Walter Woolf King - San Francisco, CA - d. 10-24-1984
emcee, host, actor: :Beatrice Lillie Show"; "Flying Red Horse Tavern"
11-02-1901 - James Dunn - NYC - d. 9-1-1967
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
11-02-1901 - Paul Ford - Baltimore, MD - d. 4-12-1976
actor: "Suspense"; "Tom Corbett, Space Cadet"
11-02-1906 - Joseph Ruscoll - d. 1-xx-1956
writer: "The Molle Mystery Theatre"; "Murder at Midnight"
11-02-1906 - Peggy Conklin - Dobbs Ferry, NY - d. 3-18-2003
actor: Kitty Archer "McGarry and His Mouse"; Barbara 'Babs' Riley
"Life of Riley"
11-02-1908 - Bunny Berrigan - Hilbert, WI - d. 6-2-1942
bandleader: "Saturday Night Swing Club"; "Tim and Irene"
11-02-1909 - Fred Lowery - Palestine, TX - d. 12-11-1984
whistler: (The Blind Whistler) "New Fred Lowrey Show"; "Horace Heidt
Show"
11-02-1911 - Johnny Richards - Schenectady, NY - d. 11-xx-1968
orchestra leader: "The Jack Carson Show"
11-02-1913 - Burt Lancaster - NYC - d. 10-20-1994
actor: "Ford Theatre"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
11-02-1918 - Janette Davis - Memphis, TN
singer: "Arthur Godfrey Time"; "Avalon Time"; "RedSkelton Show"
11-02-1919 - Warren Stevens - Clark's Summit, PA
actor: "Quiet Please"
11-02-1920 - Ann Rutherford - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
actor: Blondie Bumstead "Blondie"; Connie Menihan "Eddie Bracken Show"
11-02-1920 - Kay Armen - Chicago, IL
singer: "Stop the Music!"; "Pet Milk Show"; "Bob Crosby Show"
11-02-1921 - Shep Menken - NYC - d. 1-2-1999
actor: "Six Shooter"; "NBC Presents: Short Story"; "Four-Star Playhouse"
11-02-1929 - Judith Ames - Portland, OR
actor: "George Fisher Interviews the Stars"

November 2nd deaths

01-14-1892 - Hal Roach - Elmira, NY - d. 11-2-1992
film producer, actor: Hollywood Hotel"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
02-28-1925 - Jean Carson - Charleston, WV - d. 11-2-2005
actor: "Broadway Is My Beat"; "Frontier Gentleman"
03-01-1896 - Dimitri Mitropoulos - Athens, Greece - d. 11-2-1960
conductor: "The NBC Symphony Orchestra"
06-14-1906 - Gil Lamb - Minneapolis, MN - d. 11-2-1995
actor: Homer Clinker "The Rudy Vallee Show"
07-26-1856 - George Bernard Shaw - Dublin, Ireland - d. 11-2-1950
playwright: "Wisconsin College of the Air"; "George Bernard Shaw Speech"
10-01-1914 - Donald Wollheim - NYC - d. 11-2-1990
science fiction writer: "Dimension X"
12-08-1894 - James Thurber - Columbus, OH - d. 11-2-1961
writer: "This Is My Best"

Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 00:28:39 -0500
From: Chargous@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Halloween & other holiday OTR

Did anybody do anything special per OTR and Halloween?  I chose one of my
old radios, in this case, the 1937 Zenith 7-D-126, and transmitted a
Witch's Tale to it.  I turned the lights off, as to maximize the glow of
the celluloid rainbow dial.

Earlier, I had done Inner Sanctum on the Zenith console 9-S-367, with the
green tuning eye.  Set the mood pretty well.

Pretty soon will be time to take out the XMAS [removed]

Travis

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

Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 00:28:46 -0500
From: Brent Pellegrini <brentpl@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: You know you are a fan of OTR [removed]

You know you are a real fan of OTR when you prefer to listen to the shows
with static, hiss and drop outs because that is the way you heard them
on the radio back when.

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

Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 10:31:13 -0500
From: "thomas heathwood" <HeritageRadio@[removed];
To: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  QUICK AS A FLASH
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QUICK AS A FLASH was an audience participation quiz show broadcast on the
Mutual Network for HELBROS watches from June 14, 1944 to Dec. 17, 1949, and
from
Dec. 1949 to June 29, 1951 on ABC for Quaker Oats, Toni and others.
The first host was Ken Roberts.  Ken was heard also a little earlier as the
SHADOW
announcer when the show was on Mutual.
It challenged the panel of studio contestants to figure out the answer to
varying puzzles presented in narration/mini-dramas, and each week there was a
mystery play that the players were supposed to solve.  The sound of a
contestant answering was heard as a loud
electronic "lightening flash"  sound effect when they pressed their buzzers.
The show was hosted by Win Elliot starting in 1947 and later by Bill Cullen
starting in 1949.
The announcers were Frank Gallop and Cy Harris and featured a lot of
imaginative music by
Ray Bloch & his orchestra.
During the Mutual days, The SHADOW would come and do the Mystery Play segment
once
in a while, which must have made for a busy afternoon at MBS for Bret Morrison
and Ken Roberts since both shows were done "live" on Sundays afternoons.
For a long time, collectors believed that there were no extant MBS programs.
It was later found that a couple of complete shows and a promotional demo show
was available.  These had been in the personal library of Ken Roberts, who was
bound (under some vague
promise) not to make the shows available publicly. Write to me offline if you
need about those shows.
It was a fun show.
Tom Heathwood -Heritage Radio Theatre/Classics    The Olde Tyme Radio Network.
11/1

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

Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 10:32:02 -0500
From: William Harker <wharker@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Bob Tallman

I have found two William R. Tallman's in the [removed] census
records.  Does anyone know if these two are the same and if they are
the correct Tallman (the writer on the Sam Spade show)?

Born about 1912.
Living in South Gate, CA in 1930 at age 18.
Parent's names:  Ray M. and Marie A.
Younger brothers:  Robert M., Clarence R., Jack R.

The other:
Born December 15, 1914
Died September 10, 1915
Last residence was West Hollywood but he received his social security
card before 1951 in New York.
Birthplace was Colorado.
Mother's maiden name was Bowers.

Bill Harker

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

Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 10:32:22 -0500
From: seandd@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Big Band Cassette Collection

David Levidow, a New York City resident and friend of Mercury Theater Vet.
Bill Herz contacted me recently to see if I could find a good home to a large
collection of cassette tapes of big band recordings and a small portion of
OTR programs from the Golden Age of Radio.

My understanding from speaking to him is that he isn't interested in money,
he just doesn't want to throw them out.

He can be reached at 212-247-4164.

Sean Dougherty
SeanDD@[removed]

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

Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 10:32:42 -0500
From: Alan Bell <alanlinda43@[removed];
To: Old Time Radio <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Call for Philip Moooreeeeeiis!

I'm sitting here listening to our local classical
music station playing the On the Trail section of
Grand Canyon Suite by Grofe, which brings to mind its
use as the theme for the above noted cigarette brand.
My question is, was it used only on early television
and not on radio? My recollection is that I Love Lucy
was sponsored by PH (am I right about that?) and as a
kid, it was my intorduction to that music. But in all
my listening, I have yet to come across its use on
OTR. Was there any OTR show that was sponsored by PH
and used that music in its ads?

AB

_________________
Alan/Linda Bell
Grand Rapids, MI

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

Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 11:21:13 -0500
From: KENPILETIC@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Telegrams and Soap

Hi Gang -

Reading digests from last week - Telegram Thread:

In the mid to late 1940's, I would go to the Saturday Movies (usually
Cowboys) and stand
in line waiting for the box office to open.  The LaSalle (Illinois)  Theatre
was next door to
the Western Union Telegraph Office.  Often the line passed in front of  the
office, which had
large windows facing the sidewalk.  A person standing in line could  see all
the activity
taking place inside.

I was surprised that nobody was sending or receiving message in Morse  Code,
like they
did in the Cowboy Movies.  Instead, the messages were sent  via machines
commonly called
"Teletype".

The sending operator would type the messages on a keyboard similar to  a
typewriter.
The receiving machine was connected by wire, and would print the  message on
a strip
of paper.  The paper strip was cut into convenient size  lengths and pasted
to a form.
This was the "Telegram" that was delivered to the addressee.

I went inside and talked to the telegraph operator.  He told me that  most of
the operators
did indeed understand the Morse Code, but they stopped using it for
telegrams years ago.
Sometimes operators talked to each other in Morse by striking a particular
key on the
Teletype keyboard which caused a "click" on the other end.

Note: Teletype is a registered trademark - Other companies besides Teletype
Corporation
also made machines for sending and receiving telegrams.

On another note - I still use Oxydol, but it's getting harder to find these
days.

Happy Taping (digitizing?) -
Ken Piletic (W9ZMR) - Streamwood, Illinois

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

Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 12:09:17 -0500
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  You know when you are an OTR fan

You know you are an OTR fan when Mike Leannah comes to a MARE meeting
wearing a T-shirt with a picture of Howard McNear on it and you shout
our, Doc Adams instead of Floyd the Barber.

Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2006 Issue #301
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