Subject: [removed] Digest V2006 #316
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 11/14/2006 11:56 AM
To: [removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2006 : Issue 316
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  OTR Collectors Under 40               [ Sean Dougherty <seandd@[removed] ]
  Inner Sanctum live?                   [ Illoman <illoman@[removed]; ]
  INNER SANCTUM STUDIO                  [ PURKASZ@[removed] ]
  Meredith Willson                      [ "Leslie Feagan" <lfeagan@actorsfcu. ]
  Kudo's to MS Lerner again             [ "Bill Scherer" <bspro@[removed]; ]
  OTR Under 40                          [ David Ballarotto <[removed]@ ]
  Poetry on Radio                       [ "Lois Culver" <loiseula@[removed] ]
  No cigar ?                            [ jack and cathy french <otrpiano@ver ]
  Elliot Lewis 937 performances         [ Keith Houdeshell <khowdy@[removed] ]
  11-14 births/deaths                   [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
  Fibber                                [ "erest@[removed]" <erest@verizon. ]
  "Slowly I [removed]"/Under 40           [ "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed]; ]
  Nash Joke Question                    [ Dick Fisher <w9fjl@[removed]; ]
  Re: Studio audiences                  [ Hal Stone <otrjug@[removed]; ]
  [removed]                          [ "Holm, Chris " <[removed]@[removed] ]
  OTR under 40                          [ "Holm, Chris " <[removed]@[removed] ]
  Stu Erwin                             [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]

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

Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 17:48:38 -0500
From: Sean Dougherty <seandd@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  OTR Collectors Under 40

I need to write fast because I won't be under 40 much longer - but I started
collecting after seeing Jack Benny on television and backtracking his career
to radio through tapes in bookstores and via the commercial dealers of the
late 1980s and 1990s (when I started making enough money to buy regularly).
One thing about Benny, everybody who was anybody in OTR appeared on his
show, so he is a great portal to finding out about other entertainers you
may never have heard of directly, like in my case Fibber McGee & Molly (who
never appeared on the show but were next to Jack's shows in the displays at
the bookstore) and Frd Allen.

The only radio show I listened to when it was on was "Alien Worlds," a
science fiction show that CBS FM 101 used to play on Friday nights in the
late 1970s.  I liked it at the time, but when I bought episodes at FOTR
years later it became immediately obvious that it was trash (how can the
only sound effect of a show that takes place on a space station be
footsteps?).

My collecting took off in 1994 when I discovered the Newark FOTR event, this
list and all that entails.

Sean Dougherty
born: 3/6/67

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

Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:02:19 -0500
From: Illoman <illoman@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Inner Sanctum live?

Martin Grams Jr wrote:

Must have been his bad memory.  INNER SANCTUM MYSTERY was NEVER
broadcast before a live studio audience.  It was done in a small
studio where no public performance was available.  New York City
was the host of numerous radio broadcasting, and studios in the
city was host to a number of broadcasts that featured a live studio
audience - but INNER SANCTUM was NOT one of those programs. Himan
Brown directed that series and I cannot think of a single show he
produced/directed that ever had a studio audience.

Talk about bad memories!! Ironically enough I am reading Martin's
book, and it mentions an episode where Boris Karloff invited several
orphans to watch him perform on IS!

I know Martin is referring to a small booth for just a few people
versus an auditorium, but I couldn't resist!

By the way, INNER SANCTUM MYSTERIES: BEHIND THE CREAKING DOOR is an
excellent read, and I highly recommend it!

Mike

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

Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:02:45 -0500
From: PURKASZ@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  INNER SANCTUM STUDIO
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X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

Martin:
     As always your insights and knowledge know no  bounds when it comes to
the really small but important stuff.
    I do some voice-over work in Manhattan and have had  occasion in the
years past to go to many old studios where I imagine I am going  to be in an
radio
show as opposed to an audition to sell something.
    It would be nice to know when and if I have been or  will be in the very
studio where Paul McGrath and the others performed on this  great show.
    Would you happen to know any minutiae on the  address and/or studio
numbers?
    Promise to have a silent moment and a tip of the  hat from you as well as
me if I find myself there in future.
                        Michael  C. Gwynne

  *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
  ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:02:58 -0500
From: "Leslie Feagan" <lfeagan@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Meredith Willson

I'd love to get a list of the shows on which Meredith Willson had speaking
parts, like Burns and Allen and The Big Show. Also, I have a bootleg of a
record he and wife Rini did called "And Then I Wrote The Music Man" which sort
of recreates the backers auditions they did many times to raise the capital to
do the show. Any idea where it came from and if there are other similar
treasures on CDs to be had?
Love,
Leslie Feagan
Just back from doing THE MUSIC MAN with Tom Wopat in Raleigh, NC

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

Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:03:39 -0500
From: "Bill Scherer" <bspro@[removed];
To: ""old-time radio digest">" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Kudo's to MS Lerner again

well Well,
I just thought I should also chime in on the Karen is wonderful thread. <grin>
I needed help with a gift my wife and Sons had purchased for me and she was
there to help out both graciously and speedily.
I hope her bosses appreciate what a great ambassador she has become for Radio
Spirits.
I won't be hesitant to spend money there anymore.
Thanks Karen.
Bill

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

Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:04:15 -0500
From: David Ballarotto <[removed]@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  OTR Under 40

I just turned Jack Benny's mythical age, and have been a fan of OTR since in
grade school. Back in the mid-70s, Geno's Pizza Mix had an ad on the back of
the box for Radio Reruns and I was curious about episodes they had listed for
"The Cisco Kid" and "The Lone Ranger."  My mother bought those two episodes
for me and I thought they were very interesting and opened a whole new world
for me, but it was only a phase.  When Edgar Bergen died, that sparked an
interest in radio again, but again it was only a phase.  In high school, two
different radio stations I could listen to carried classic programs. WKMC in
Roaring Spring, PA carried the syndicated "Golden Age of Radio Theater" and
WCAU out of Philly carried its own "Radio Classics" series.  For four years,
I'd listen to WCAU nightly, eagerly enjoying Bergen and McCarthy, Fibber and
Molly, Jack Benny, "You Bet Your Life" and so on.  When our 11th grade
English teacher had us give an "Informative" speech, mine was about radio
comedy, and generally speaking, the kids in my class thought the shows were a
hoot!   When going to college in 1985, I was no longer able to pick up WCAU
and the Phillies usually pre-empted Radio Classics in the summer, so again I
moved on.

A few years ago, while trying to find more TV episodes of "Ozzie and
Harriet," I ordered some episodes of the radio show and that opened a door
that has yet to close. Most TV shows that I like are either cancelled or have
a great pilot and terrible subsequent shows, so most nights when I'm at home,
it's classic radio I turn to for entertainment because Gildy, Fibber, Jack
and the gang still hold up so well.

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

Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:05:45 -0500
From: "Lois Culver" <loiseula@[removed];
To: "OTR Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Poetry on Radio

KFI Los Angeles carried a poetry show for a number of years - which had
Howard Culver reading the poetry of all types, and Robert Mitchell playing
the organ most of the time.  The show was at first named "Stairway to the
Stars", then the name changed to "A Joy Forever"  ("a thing of beauty is a
joy forever").  Pat Kelly was the producer, and various KFI announcers did
the announce job.

If any of you have a copy of any of these shows, I'd appreciate hearing from
you offline.

Lois Culver
Mrs. Howard Culver

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

Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:06:11 -0500
From: jack and cathy french <otrpiano@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  No cigar ?

On Monday, November 13, 2006, at 05:47 PM, Glenn P wrote:

"Close, but no cigar."

Now, THERE's a phrase I've always wondered about! Does it originate in
OTR? From "You Bet Your Life", perhaps? (I have no idea what makes me
think so, save that Groucho was alway smoking cigars.)

I''m not sure how old that expression is, but I know it predates most
of the Golden Age of Radio.  At the turn of the century until the
Depression, a cigar was the prize awarded to the person who could ring
the bell at the carnival. A large devise had a balance board and when
you hit one end with a large wooden sledge, the other end knocked a
movable piece up a cable, at the top of which was a bell.

When an unsuccessful aspirant sent the "striker" up near the top, but
it fell back without ringing the gong, the barker would yell out
"Close, but no cigar." I heard that familiar cry many times growing up
in the Badger State, back in the days when going to the carnival was a
big deal.

Jack French
Editor: RADIO RECALL

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

Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:06:21 -0500
From: Keith Houdeshell <khowdy@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Elliot Lewis 937 performances

Catching up on some back issues of the digest I saw the reference to
Elliot Lewis's 937 Performances. I have a question, On how many shows
did Jack Benny perform?  I know he did over 700 of his own shows and
was on Fred Allen, Burns & Allen, Phil Harris, Suspense, Lux radio
theator , Bob Hope and many others.

Keith

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

Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:06:33 -0500
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  11-14 births/deaths

November 14th births

11-14-1881 - Clayton Hamilton - NYC - d. 9-17-1946
writer: "Radio Guild"; "Great Playe"; "Brownstone Theatre"
11-14-1894 - James Van Dyk - Brooklyn, NY - d. 12-17-1951
actor: Clyde Houston "Lora Lawton"; Dick Phillips "Rosemary"
11-14-1900 - Aaron Copland - NYC - d. 12-2-1990
composer: "Document A/777"
11-14-1901 - Morton Downey - Wallingford, CT  - d. 10-25-1985
singer: (The Irish Thrush), "Morton Downey Show"; "Songs by Morton
Downey"
11-14-1904 - Art Hodes - Nikoliev, Russia - d. 3-4-1993
jazz pianist: "Eddie Condon's Jazz Concert"; "This Is Jazz"; "WNYC
Jazz Festival"
11-14-1904 - Dick Powell - Mountain. View, AR - d. 1-2-1963
actor: Richard Diamond "Richard Diamond, Private Detective"; Richard
Rogue "Rogue's Gallery"
11-14-1905 - Wilbur "Budd" Hulick - Asbury Park, NJ - d. 3-xx-1961
comedian: "Stoopnagle and Budd"; Mortimer Meek "Meet Mr. Meek"
11-14-1906 - Mercer McCloud - d. 1-20-1993
actor: Fran Cummings "Second Husband"
11-14-1908 - Joseph McCarthy - Appleton, WI - d. 5-2-1957
despotic senator: "Meet the Press"
11-14-1910 - Rosemary De Camp - Prescott, Arizona Territory - d.
2-20-2001
actor: Nurse Judy Price, "Dr. Christian"
11-14-1914 - Court Benson - Vancouver, Canada - d. 2-5-1995
announcer, narrator: "Tennessee Jed"
11-14-1914 - Haila Stoddard - Great Falls, MT
actor: Sue Evans Miller "Big Sister"
11-14-1914 - Ken Carson - Colgate, OK - d. 4-7-1994
singer: (Lustre Cream Shampoo commercial) "Day in the Life of Dennis
Day"
11-14-1915 - Billy Bauer - The Bronx, NY - d. 6-17-2005
jazz guitarist: "Band for Bonds"
11-14-1915 - Martha Tilton - Corpus Christi, TX
singer: "Fibber McGee and Molly"; "Meet Me at Parky's"; "Curt Massey-
Martha Tilton Program"
11-14-1916 - Sherwood Schwartz - Passaic, NJ
writer: "The Bob Hope Show"; "The Great Gildersleeve"
11-14-1919 - Veronica Lake - Brooklyn, NY - d. 7-7-1973
actor: "Exploring the Unknown"; "Request Performance"
11-14-1920 - Irving Ravetch - Newark, NJ
writer, adapter: "Escape"
11-14-1920 - Johnny Desmond - Detroit, MI - d. 9-6-1985
singer: "I Sustain the Wings"; "Philip Morris Frolics"; "Songs for Sale"
11-14-1924 - Phyllis Avery - NYC
actor: Peggy McNutley "Meet Mr. McNutley"
11-14-1951 - Sandahl Bergman - Kansas City, MO

November 14th deaths

01-22-1935 - Dave Holland - Raleigh, NC - d. 11-14-2005
author: "From Out of the Past: A Pictorial History of the Lone Ranger"
01-26-1907 - Eddie Ballentine - Chicago, IL - d. 11-14-1995
orchestra leader: "Don McNeill's Breakfast Club"
02-04-1889 - Walter Catlett - San Francisco, Ca - d. 11-14-1960
actor: "This Is Your [removed]"; "Escape"; "Campbell Playhouse"
02-07-1915 - Eddie Bracken - Astoria, NY - d. 11-14-2002
comedian: "Eddie Bracken Show"; Dizzy Stevens "Aldrich Family"
02-14-1916 - Eddie Arcaro - Cincinnati, OH - d. 11-14-1997
jockey: "Pabst Blue Ribbon Sport of Kings"; "Tops In Sports"
02-27-1894 - Upton Close - Kelso, WA - d. 11-14-1960
commentator: "Events and Trends of the Week"; "Close-Ups of the :News"
04-04-1896 - Robert Sherwood - New Rochelle, NY - d. 11-14-1955
playwright: "Free Company"; "Cavalcade of America"; "Screen Guild
Theatre"
04-08-1916 - Carl Cotner - Indiana - d. 11-14-1986
steel guitar: "Gene Aurty's Melody Ranch"
05-19-1870 - Wright Kramer - Somerville, MA - d. 11-14-1941
actor: Walter Jamison "Showboat"
05-28-1912 - Violet Dunn - d. 11-14-1982
actor: Peggy O'Neill "The O'Neill's"
09-01-1904 - Johnny Mack Brown - Dothan, AL - d. 11-14-1974
actor: "Straight Arrow Pow Wow"
10-02-1911 - Jack Finney - Milwaukee, WI - d. 11-14-1995
writer: "Cloud Nine"
10-15-1908 - Robert Trout - Wake Country, NC - d. 11-14-2000
commentator: "Headlines & Bylines"; "Robert Trout with the News Til Now"
actor: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"
xx-xx-1874 - Floyd Buckley - d. 11-14-1956
actor: Popeye: "Popeye the Sailor"
xx-xx-xxxx - Billy Beard - d. 11-14-1954

Ron Sayles
singer: (Raybestos Twins) "Eddie Cantor Show"; Al Jolson Show"

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

Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 08:07:09 -0500
From: "erest@[removed]" <erest@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Fibber

Frank McGurn mentions listen to a fibber program Sunday night where
Mayor Latrivia open the closet door.  Well Sunday night on WAMU they
played a show were the whole cast has been quarantined at fibber's for a
week.  Gildy can take it no more and in the first couple minutes of the
show decided to leave and instead of course opens the closet door.
 Seems to me Fibber was the one who usually opened the door.
    Rob

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

Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 08:07:59 -0500
From: "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  "Slowly I [removed]"/Under 40
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Touching upon two recent threads.

I was born roughly a month after the accepted 09-30-1962 demise of episodic
dramatised American radio, but have always thought I was born in the  wrong
era. In my early twenties, I was employed at the venerated Strand Book Store
in NYC. At the time, I was quite the wiseguy (Once I told a customer looking
for a complete set of Mark Twain, "Oh, you want a Twain set? Wook in the
wailwoad section."). Anyhow, an elderly woman customer searching fo a
biography of Benny Goodman asked me "Excuse me, young man. Does the name
'Benny Goodman' ring a bell to you?" Without missing a beat, I responded,
"[removed] plays a clarinet." I did assist her in finding the book she wanted.
So much for being under 40.

Another older woman once asked if there were any books about Niagara Falls
(invoking here the  recently discussed "Slowly I Turn" and "Susquehanna Hat
Co." vaudeville/burlesque routines in which a suspect name triggers a violent
reaction in the storyteller). I wanted so badly to enact the routine with her
but felt had I gone into the over-the-top theatrics the routine requires
("slowly I [removed] by [removed] by [removed]") that I might've given a
heart attack.

Once upon a time I was a real [removed] that was before I gave up drinking
(20 years next week!).

The names have been withheld to protect the insolent,

Mayor of Etherville

  *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
  ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 13:50:20 -0500
From: Dick Fisher <w9fjl@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Nash Joke Question

I owned a 1952 Nash and if my memory serves me correctly (and it may
not)  the joke had nothing to do with the back seat.  It was the first
and only car at that time  that you could pull a lever down by the side
of the front  passenger seat and it would fold the back of the passenger
seat down all the way  till it was level with the back seat. It was not
a very comfortable arrangement as the 'bed"  that was made was not
completely flat.  You had to adjust the front seat backward and forward
till the back of the front seat met up with the back seat. I think there
are certain implications as to its advantages in certain situations.
Nuff said!!

I do not remember it the driver's seat did the same thing or not but I
think not.

Dick

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

Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 13:51:06 -0500
From: Hal Stone <otrjug@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Studio audiences

In responding to the [removed] the inner Inner Sanctum program ever
have a studio audience, my buddy Martin Grams, responded [removed]

Must have been his bad memory.  INNER SANCTUM MYSTERY was NEVER broadcast
before a live studio audience.  It was done in a small studio where no
public performance was available. (SNIP)

Studio audience Programs that usually had a large audience were those with
huge
prestige - LUX RADIO THEATER, CAVALCADE OF AMERICA, THE SHADOW, THE CHASE AND
SANBORN HOUR, etc.

Hmmm! True [removed] I never thought that the Archie Andrews show would
have been considered "prestigious" (Grin) yet we probably amassed the
largest TOTAL of people attending radio broadcasts over our 10 year run on
NBC. That is, if kids count as "people". :)

The program was so popular among the younger set, that during the summer
months, when school was out, NBC scheduled us to broadcast out of Studio 8H,
the largest radio studio, (huge stage & audience seating) in the world.
That's the only way they could keep up with the volume of ticket requests.

It was quite awe inspiring to work on the same stage that the great
Toscanini used, and other really big names in the entertainment industry.
I used to hang around NBC sometimes when I worked on a daytime show and
waited around until evening just to watch the great Al Jolson bring down the
house. I also worked on that same stage doing Grown Up programs, Like the
Slapsie Maxie show, the Ether Merman show, and lots of others that I can't
remember.

Fond memories indeed.

Hal (Harlan) Stone
Jughead

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

Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 13:52:49 -0500
From: "Holm, Chris " <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  [removed]

In digest #315, Charles Salt asked:

She wants a sleigh with reindeer, and all Randy can find are a couple
goats. As I recall, all he can find for a sleigh is an old Radio Flyer
wagon. Part of the episode has Randy roaming *snip*It's a Christmas
episode but we're pretty sure it's not 'Five Days Of For Christmas'.

I have a copy of this show, but I'm pretty sure it's not a Nightbeat.
Maybe it's a Casey, Crime [removed] but that might not be it
either.  I'm a work, so I can't dig through my collection, but if no one
else answers I'll check at home and figure it out.

-chris holm

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

Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 13:52:02 -0500
From: "Holm, Chris " <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  OTR under 40

In #313, Andrew Godfrey asked:

how many OTR fans are reading the OTR Digest
are under the age of 40.

I'm 32, so I've definitely never heard a live OTR show (other than
recreations, which I've had the honor in performing in a couple at
Cincy-con).  However, I have been listening to OTR all my life.  I grew
up in the DC area, and my family always listened to the Big Broadcast on
WAMU Sunday nights.  So I guess you can say I grew up with OTR, despite
my age.

-chris holm

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

Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 13:53:26 -0500
From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Stu Erwin

The name of Stu Erwin came up in some stuff I was writing the other day.  I
was using him as an example of my faithfulness to television in the 1950's,
wondering if anyone would know who he was, which nobody did.  His show in
1950 was 'Trouble with Father,' later 'The Stu Erwin Show,' and it was
essentially a precursor of Father Knows Best.  He starred with June Collyer,
to whom I think he was married.  The show was extremely popular despite his
Thomas E. Dewey moustache.

[removed] (the indispensible Internet Movie Data Base) has him down as a
movie and television actor, but I believe he was in one of the Big Broadcast
movies, and there's a publicity shot of him with Burns and Allen and [removed]
Fields.  It is difficult to believe that he wouldn't have been a radio actor
as well at some point.  Does anyone know?

M Kinsler
512 E Mulberry St. Lancaster, Ohio USA 43130 740-687-6368
[removed]

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2006 Issue #316
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