Subject: [removed] Digest V01 #63
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 2/24/2001 9:10 PM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                      The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                         Volume 01 : Issue 63
                   A Part of the [removed]!
                           ISSN: 1533-9289


                           Today's Topics:

 Re: Remember WENN                    [Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];       ]
 Don Ameche show                      [DIANEK9331@[removed]                 ]
 Re: CONELRAD                         ["Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@]
 Tubes                                [Bill Harris <billhar@[removed];    ]
 Night that Panicked America          [Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];       ]
 Re:member                            ["Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@]
 Transcription Discs                  [Richard Fisher <w9fjl@[removed];     ]
 Re: Interview Records                [Thomas Butts <trbutts@[removed]]
 One-Sided Interview Records          ["General Manager" <genmanager@radio]
 Ersatz Old Radio                     ["Len Freedman" <lenfreedman@earthli]
 Rathbone on Berle                    ["J. Randolph Cox" <cox@[removed]]
 Re: Sorry Wrong Number on SUSPENSE!  [OTRChris@[removed]                   ]
 RE: 1940s Radio Hour                 ["Michael Brady" <MBrady@[removed]; ]
 Jack Benny Christmas                 ["Art Shifrin" <goldens2@[removed]]
 quiz                                 ["Art Shifrin" <goldens2@[removed]]
 Another Club has made it to the web  ["Robert McDivitt" <robmcd@[removed];]
 Paul Frees and Elvis                 ["steven kostelecky" <skostelecky@ho]

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

Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 20:31:45 -0500
From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Remember WENN

From: LDunham509@[removed]
I'm not certain ''Remember WENN'' -was- intended to convey an
accurate impression of a radio station, any more than TV's
''WKRP In Cincinnati'' was, in its era.

Right! That was EXACTLY the point I and Bill Harris and several others
were trying to make.  While you and the others were commenting on my
posting, don't forget that I was commenting on a posting that DID say
that WENN was an "accurate portrayal" of a radio station:

From: "Owens Pomeroy" <opomeroy@[removed];
Subject:  RADIO SALUTE: TV & MOVIES
. . . The third and most recent production was he TV original
series on American Movie Classics called "Remember WENN" about
a small station in Pitsburgh, just ptior to and during WW II.
What a well written and acurate portrayal of the era that one was!

Although I hoped it would be accurate, I never expected it to be.  I
just wanted to point out that it would be folly for anyone to watch that
program and think that it WAS an "accurate portrayal".  It was an
impression and a satire--and often betrayed the film and TV backgrounds
of the creators.

Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 21:31:34 -0500
From: DIANEK9331@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Don Ameche show

Does anyone have a log of Don Ameche's Drene Show?
Thanks,
Diane

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

Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 22:47:27 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: CONELRAD

Henry Brugsch comments on the early emergency broadcasting system,

conolrad (spell?<<

Actually, it was CONELRAD.  It was an acronym that I slightly
misemphasized when bringing it up.  Just as RADAR is RAdio Detection And
Ranging, so CONELRAD is CONtrol of ELecrtomagnetic RADiation.
Admittedly, a little ambitious for a title, but a name's a name.

A bit like an electronic version of the blitz [removed];<

A nice analogy.  The Japanese aircraft homed in on a Honolulu radio
station on the way to attack Pearl Harbor.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 22:47:29 -0500
From: Bill Harris <billhar@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Tubes

Stephen Kallis Jr. commented about 'drug store tube testers".

Step back to the 50'[removed] radio set built in the 1930s would only be 20 years
old.
The capacitors and resistors would most likely  still be in good condition so
if a
set failed, probably there was a 90% chance it would be a tube. Today a
1930's set
is 70 years old and the percentage favors that it will be the old capacitors or
resistors and not a tube that will be the defective component. Those in-store
testers were designed to sell tubes and often skewed the test towards the red
(bad)
side of the dial. Anyone who pulled the tubes out of their radio or
television were
bound to find several that read at least week and of course felt the need to
buy
new ones for top performance. A technician would test the tubes in a set
brought in
for service and replace any that measure weak. Today, restorers do not have
that
luxury and never throw out a tube just because it may read weak on a tester.
The
current inventory of tubes is limited, there are no more being made except
for a
few tube types currently being manufactured for the audiophile crowd. When the
current inventory is gone there is no more, so no matter how weak a tube my
read,
if it still works I leave it in the set until the day comes it will no longer
perform.

There was a kitchen radio genus that service technicians of the time called
"the
All-American Five," because radios of that sort used five of the smaller
tubes like
12AX7s, that ran in the 50-Watt range.  I > suspect that a significant number
of
surviving tube radios are of that sort.

These radios were the AC/DC (aki dak) sets that used tubes such that when the
required voltages for the filaments were added up, the total voltage equaled
120
volts. These tubes were developed in the 30's. Up until that time most tubes
filaments operated on 6 volts, which required a transformer to step down the
120
volt ac input voltage. By using these  new tubes with the filaments string
wired in
series, the entire string could be operated directly across the 120 volt ac
line
and the need for a transformer was eliminated thus greatly reducing the cost
of the
set. A typical 'All American Five' AC/DC set might use a tube line up of a
12SA7,
12SK7, 12SQ7, 50L6, and 35Z5. If you add up the filament voltages of the
tubes (the
first number before the letter) you get 121 volts, just the right voltage
drop to
operate directly across the 120 volt ac line. In these sets, since the filament
string was connected in series, if the filament of one tube opened up, that
interrupted the current flow to the rest of the tubes and they all went out,
so you
could not tell which tube might be bad just by looking to see which ones were
glowing as could be done with a transformer operated set.

Bill Harris

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

Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 22:47:32 -0500
From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Night that Panicked America

For those of you who (like me) missed it when it was on in November, the
SciFi Channel is airing the 1975 CBS-TV movie "The Night That Panicked
America" which is a re-creation of Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds"
broadcast.  It will be on Saturday Night/Sunday Morning, Feb 24/25 at
2:00 [removed] Eastern.  It is two hours long.

Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 23:45:57 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re:member

Speaking of Remember WENN, Bill Harris says,

It was far from an accurate portrayal of how a radio station of that
era was [removed];<

Whereas, on the same subject, Robert Gee notes,

If presenting a technically and historically accurate depiction of a
radio station were the series creator's goal, he would have written a
documentary, not a dramatic series.  ... Any dramatic portrayal of an
event will offend purists.  <snip>  As an historian I find myself
cringing occasionally when I listen to old radio historical dramas, but I
enjoy them if they engender a "feel" for the particular era or event they
[removed];<

Which tempts me to throw an oar in here.  Anyone who is specialist in an
area can be bothered by an anomaly.  Sometimes it's a tiny detail;
sometimes it's so bad that the resulting story is flatly impossible.  In
terms of OTR, the radio exchange between Hop Harrigan in "CX-4" and the
unnamed control tower is so unrealistic to provoke speculation on which
of them is the most incompetent communicator among anyone with an
aeronautical background, but that wasn't sufficient to keep one from
listening.  The aeronautical aspects of  Captain Midnight and Sky King
were very accurate (even to a passing reference to altimeter lag in a
Captain Midnight episode); and that very accuracy helped make Captain
Midnight a favorite for Air Corps flight crews when they were stationed
where they could hear it.  [Deviating from OTR for a moment, the Bruce
Willis film, Die Hard 2, with an aviation content, is absolutely, flatly,
impossible.  That utterly spoils it for those knowledgeable.]

Little gaffes can jar a listener (or viewer), but can be overlooked, like
the astronomer in the Lone Ranger story.  Objecting to a "law" cited by a
crooked deputy prohibiting the use of a telescope in court testimony, he
noted that he'd seen planets exploding in his studies of the skies,
though why that made the "law" "stupid" was left unclear.  Now the fact
that even in the 21st Century, nobody's ever seen even a single, tiny,
planet explode didn't really detract from the story, though it was
momentarily jarring.

I think too much nit-picking is self-defeating.  <<

Yes, but this is also how misinformation becomes "known fact."  If a TV
show or movie depicts OTR in a way that leads to "everybody knowing"
certain things that just ain't so, problems develop.

Last year, Ovaltine, through its Himmel Nutrition distributor, offered on
its label, a "decoder ring," proclaiming that "It's back!"  The only
problem is that Ovaltine had never before offered a Decoder Ring -- not
in the Little Orphasn Annie radio show, nor in either the radio or TV
versions of Captain Midnight.  (In fact, no OTR show ever did.)  But
their marketing people were certain that they had.
Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 23:49:00 -0500
From: Richard Fisher <w9fjl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Transcription Discs

I have a very few 16 inch transcription discs and have become curious
about them.

Some are on aluminum and are heavy, some are quite flexible and light
weight, some are recorded on only one side so that a 30 minute show
takes up two discs. I also saw one recently that had a 30 minute show
#xxx on side one of disc one and on side one of disc 2 and  another
episode of the same show #yyy on side 2 of disc one and side two of disc
2. I can guess at some of the reasons such as if the show were live on
the air they would have to have 2 recorders going to get both halves of
the show if they also wanted the commercials.  This also begs the
question - did they ever do a recording this way [removed] two discs and then
copy the second disc on to the flip side of disc one so that the entire
show would be on one disc.

There apparently were hundreds of companies producing these discs at one
time. I don't think any two I have have the same manufacture except of
course AFRS.

I would like to know why so many different ways of putting a program on
a disc and why the different materials - I understand there are glass
base and aluminum base and have no idea how many others there were.

I have searched [removed] for new books on this subject and ABE and a
couple of others for any used books but have found nothing.  Possibly
this information is contained in a book(s) that do not have
transcription discs in their title or more likely this is a "who cares"
topic that wouldn't sell a single copy if someone wrote about it!!

Please reply directly as this type of question may not be of general
interest to OTR fans.

Dick

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

Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 01:01:42 -0500
From: Thomas Butts <trbutts@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Interview Records

As I recall, Wally Phillips, the great WGN "disk jockey" became famous by
asking
"humorous" questions before playing the response on these records.  I vaguely
recall hearing one of his "interviews" on some sort or retrospective of his
career.  Perhaps someone from Chicago has more information.

Tom Butts
Dallas, TX



Subject:  Interview Records

The practice of giving local stations canned interviews with celebrities to
be read by local anchors as if they were live interviews continues to this
day.


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

Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 01:01:44 -0500
From: "General Manager" <genmanager@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  One-Sided Interview Records

Arthur Smith <agsmith_stl@[removed]; writes:

"Concerning "Interview Records", I believe it was Johnny Carson who told the
story that when he was on radio in Nebraska, they were often sent these
bogus interview records to localize the celebrity. He said in at least one
instance, he made up questions that would have little to do with the "real"
questions."

By sheer chance, I happen to have a copy of Carson's profile from the New
Yorker magazine (1978), which describes his first job in radio:

"A multi-purpose job (at forty-seven dollars and fifty cents a week) as disk
jockey, weather reporter, and reader of commercials on an Omaha radio
station, where he breaks a precedent or two; [removed], when he is required to
conduct psudo-interviews, consisting of answers prerecorded by minor
celebrities and distributed to small-town [removed]'s with a list of matching
questions, he flouts custom by ignoring the script. Instead of asking Patti
Page how she began performing, he says, "I understand you're hitting the
bottle pretty good, Patti - when did you start?,"
which elicits the taped reply "When I was six, I used to get up a church
socials and do it."

One shudders to think what Howard Stern would do in the same situation
today!

Harlan

Harlan Zinck
First Generation Radio Archives
[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 01:19:18 -0500
From: "Len Freedman" <lenfreedman@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Ersatz Old Radio

Stephen Kallis's idea of an ersatz old radio triggered a memory.  I
was in a used stereo shop back in the early '70s.  The walls of the
shop were lined with audio components of every vintage (well,
seperate components had only been around about 20 years at
that point).  To me, being only about 20 years old, it seemed
almost like a museum.

One receiver had a fat, satisfied-looking cat curled up on it, fast
asleep.  The receiver was on, but not playing  The owner of the
shop said "That one's not for sale.  The tube units are getting
scarce these days.  We keep this one just for the cat."

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

Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 01:19:20 -0500
From: "J. Randolph Cox" <cox@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Rathbone on Berle

Should anyone remember my query about the date when Basil Rathbone appeared
on the Buick-Berle Show, I found the answer by going to the radio and tv
listings pages of the New York Times. I had found some ads and descriptive
listings in the Minneapolis Tribune which identified the guests to help me
eliminate some dates. Then I checked the Times for the dates for which I had
no guest list -- and arrived at January 12, 1954.

Elementary!

Randy Cox

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

Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 08:37:15 -0500
From: OTRChris@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Sorry Wrong Number on SUSPENSE!

In a message dated 2/22/01 6:43:15 AM Pacific Standard Time,
[removed]@[removed] writes:

<<My question is this:  Was there a
 special rebroadcast of SWN to correct the goof for west coast listeners???
 Thanks,
 Bob >>

No there was not to the best of  my knowledge.   At the time Sorry Wrong
Number was first heard  on Suspense   05-25-1943 the program was airing on
CBS on Tuesday nights at 9:30 pm Eastern  War Time. Right up against FIBBER
MCGEE AND MOLLY on NBC.  Both of these shows were only performed once so the
air time on the Pacific Coast was 6:30 PM. So the actor misreading his line
on Sorry Wrong number was heard that way coast to coast. I realize many
people have often written that this was corrected for the west coast but all
the radio logs I have ever seen would contradict this statement.  Those
vendors that claim to posess a recording of a  west coast version  actually
could not have such since there was no such second broadcast. In fact I think
the recording touted as such is simply the same old flubbed show with the
flub cleverly edited out.
A few months later on 08-21-1943 Sorry Wrong Number was repeated .
There were two performances done that night  as the program was in its new
time slot 7:30 PM EWT  Saturday ( heard at 8PM PWT.) But there was no flubbed
line on this night.

During the Roma Wine years The show was performed twice also .
Suspense aired at 8pm Thursdays and also 12 midnight  Mondays ( some eastern
stations supposedly carried both performances but the second performance was
intended  for the west coast  for a 9pm airing. )
Around the spring or Summer of 1946 the second performance was  changed from
Monday night to Thursday . At this time Suspense would be heard all across
the country on the same night. 8pm EWT/ 7CWT /  6MWT/   9PWT
Repeat performance of SWN were heard 2-24-44 and 9-6-45 again flub free.

By the time Sorry Wrong Number was repeated again on 11-18-1948 Suspense was
sponsored by Auto Lite  and was again only performed once each evening.
9 PM Eastern /6pm Pacific  Thursday Nights.
It would be done three more times into the 50s but by such times its possible
that the show was pre-recorded and not live.



-Chris

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

Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 08:38:16 -0500
From: "Michael Brady" <MBrady@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  RE: 1940s Radio Hour

Actually, one of the many theater companies here in town did the show a
couple of months [removed] and was very well received, with good sized
audiences.

I was part of the cast, and played Lou, the stage manager.  I was very
pleased with how it came out and wished we'd had a longer run.

Back to lurkdom,
Michael Brady
 ----------------------------
   I just saw a local production of the Tony Award winning "I94o's Radio
Hour" recently at one of our local Community College Theatres.  I must say I
was very well impressed by the over-all feel of the production, just as it
was then.  Anyone who hasn't seen it yet, keep an eye on the entertainment
section of your local paper as to when it will play in your area.  I
understand from people  associated with the production that they revive it
about 3very 2 years.  Has it played in Your area yet?

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

Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 09:34:22 -0500
From: "Art Shifrin" <goldens2@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Jack Benny Christmas

Hi Gang,

There's another item, but not from a Benny show.  I dubbed it years ago from
a 16" lacquer when I knew Raymond Scott & had access to his disks.

It's about a 12 minute portion of a Lucky Strike Christmas special.  In it,
Jack's getting ready to call his sponsor (to which Dennis ask's "what are
you going to call him this time?").  At the beginning of the skit, Jack
announces that:

- Mary's not appearing due to a cold
-Mary's sister Babe is playing her part
-Phil Harris isn't on because of his own show

Rochester and Don are present too.  Amongst the gags: Jack waters down
Rochester's eggnog, Don explains why he can't eat turkey,  and Frank Morgan
stops by asking to use Jack's phone & of course needs change to do so.
Dennis cracks up Jack by feigning confusion between Christmas and Pesach
(Passaover).  Jack sings Abbott & Costello's Camel theme, ending in
raspberries.  The sketch ends with the cast singing special lyrics to "God
Bless America" (God Bless American).  It's funny and warm and delightful
entertainment.

Well!
Shiffy
check out my website: [removed]

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

Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 09:42:47 -0500
From: "Art Shifrin" <goldens2@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  quiz

Sorry to say that I'm sure of only two answers: #13 Bing & Bob Crosby; #16
Connee Boswell.  I'm guessing that # 2 is Arch Obler & #11 is Benny Goodman.

Best,
Shiffy
check out my website: [removed]

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

Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 11:07:53 -0500
From: "Robert McDivitt" <robmcd@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Another Club has made it to the web

Another club has finally made it to the web. You can find "The Old Time
Radio Club" of Bffalo, Ny. at  '[removed] ' . The club has been
around since 1975 and finally made it to the web.

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

Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 11:07:55 -0500
From: "steven kostelecky" <skostelecky@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Paul Frees and Elvis

I don't know how much of this has been covered in past Digests, but I
thought it bizarre and a little fascinating.
In Peter Guralnick's "Careless Love," the second part of his two-volume
Presley biography, on page 412, he talks about Elvis' association with John
O'Grady, "ex-Los Angeles narcotics chief and private [removed] night
the whole gang went out for dinner with O'Grady at Chasen's, and O'Grady
introduced Elvis to Paul Frees, 'the man of 1,000 voices,' who was famous
for his commercials, cartoons, and voice-overs. Frees was also an undercover
narcotics agent and at O'Grady's prompting showed Elvis the federal badge he
had recently obtained from the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs in
recognition of his extensive undercover work. From that point on, all Elvis
could talk about was getting his own BNDD badge."
Don't worry, Elvis got his badge on Dec. 21, 1970, from Pres. Nixon.
I think anyone who reads any creditable writing on popular music will know
Mr. Guralnick. He's written for over thirty years on blues, rockabilly, rock
'n' roll, soul and other American roots music. That's why I'm reading an
Elvis biography from him--I trust him.
The source he cites is an interview with one of Elvis' cronies, Jerry
Schilling, but he also says, "virtually every memoir and biography and
innumerable interviews, have recounted this incident with little variation
save for the location of the dinner."
Anybody know any more about Mr. Frees' undercover work?

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V01 Issue #63
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