------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2004 : Issue 282
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
A Recommendation, For Fred Berney! [ jameshburns@[removed] (Jim Burns) ]
Re: Lucy the Red-Head Red? [ "Brian L Bedsworth" <az2pa@[removed]; ]
Hey, I know you [ JackBenny@[removed] ]
Fw: OTR SPONSORS [ "[removed] MANN" <VOXPOP@[removed]; ]
LIFE OF RILEY Inquiry [ David Siegel <otrdsiegel@[removed] ]
Eddie Green [ Booksteve@[removed] ]
Music Radio [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
lucy a commie [ chris chandler <chrischandler84@yah ]
8-28 births/deaths [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
Mickey [removed] Again [ "Mary L. Wallace" <mlwallace57@hotm ]
"The Investigator" on LP [ damyankeeinva <damyankeeinva@earthl ]
Chester's last name (Gunsmoke) [ "Harry Machin Jr" <harbev5@earthlin ]
Mickey Rooney [ "Don Belden" <[removed]@[removed]; ]
Lucille Ball and the FBI [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
More on Eddie Green [ "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed]; ]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 00:37:36 -0400
From: jameshburns@[removed] (Jim Burns)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: A Recommendation, For Fred Berney!
I've been meaning to post this for weeks, so damn me for my
procrastination!
Last month, I had the pleasure of getting some materials from Fred
Bernery--
Whom I only knew from this "list."
The products were top-notch, and the transactions were smoothe.
If you haven't had a chance to check out Fred's catalogs, perhaps, you
should! (And, Fred, maybe you should mention the website, again.)
Thanks, Fred!
Jim Burns
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 01:22:12 -0400
From: "Brian L Bedsworth" <az2pa@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Lucy the Red-Head Red?
Jer51473@[removed] suggested that:
The fact that she was cleared of un-american activities doesnt mean there
was no basis for Winchells statements. Im sure she wasnt called onto the
carpet by the government without their own investigation which most likely
preceded Winchells column.
Indeed there was. And Lucille Ball acknowleged the truth of said
investigation when called to testify. According to uncontradicted testimony,
Lucy registered with CPUSA in 1936 to satisfy the wishes of her grandfather,
at a time when she had not yet emerged from Sam Goldwyn's stable of dancers
and needed the goodwill of every relative she could manage in order to, as
the cliche goes, "keep body and soul together".
Investigators had no evidence that Ball had ever attended CP meetings, and
indeed she claimed not to have been politically active, or even voted at
all, during the earliest days of her career. In impassioned testimony before
the HCoUAC, she talked about her commitment to the principles of free
enterprise and "American values" and the like, pointing to her own career as
a businesswoman with RKO-Desilu as an example of how the "American dream"
was achievable.
The committee was swayed, and the American public let it go.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 10:31:18 -0400
From: JackBenny@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Hey, I know you
Michael Gwynne writes:
For reasons best left to psychologists, people seem to presume that
because they have seen somebody in their home on TV for many years that
they
actually 'know' them and therefore have the right to just blurt out
something in passing them on the street as if this person was their long
lost Uncle Al.
It was a funny thing when I used to DJ on a couple radio stations in Fort
Wayne, [removed] would regularly get calls from listeners that went like
this:
"WEZV/WEZR, may I help you?"
"Hello, Laura?"
"Yes?"
"This is BOB!"
(thinking: Bob who?) "[removed] Bob!"
"I just love your [removed](etc.)"
They would then launch into comments about the show, the music, their own
life story, what they'd been doing that day, and so on. These conversations
were often very familiar, like they somehow expected me to already know who
they were on the other side of the transmitter. I don't want to know how
many
had already been talking back to the radio (and I bet I know of at least two
who were).
On a celebrity note, there are many people who have told me that they felt
like Jack Benny and his gang were personal friends, and even sometimes family
members.
To Mark Kinsler: I'll pay you your $20 later.
--Laura Leff
President, IJBFC
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 10:31:47 -0400
From: "[removed] MANN" <VOXPOP@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Fw: OTR SPONSORS
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and of course i loved the uss steel hour and felt terrible guilt for never
having bought even one pound of steel.
chet norris --
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------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 10:33:25 -0400
From: David Siegel <otrdsiegel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: LIFE OF RILEY Inquiry
A recent posting on the Digest inquired as to whether there might be any
books written about THE LIFE OF RILEY.
In 1949 the Waverly House Publishing Co. of Waltham, MASS (which may
no longer exist) published a 121 page hard cover book entitled THE LIFE OF
RILEY by Irving Brecher (novelized from the screenplay)
And, yes I do have a copy of the book which I was lucky enough to
encounter on one of my book hunting trips.
When I checked [removed] today to see if other copies were
available I found a single listing for the book. If you check the site i
suspect you will be shocked.
Dave Siegel
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 10:34:07 -0400
From: Booksteve@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Eddie Green
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I actually played the "Eddie" part in a re-creation of a Duffy's Tavern
script at the Cincinnati Con about 14 years ago. I was quite familiar with
the
character as WVXU had been running reruns of the series intermittently for
years. The thing that struck me most was that Eddie was less of a stereotype
than
even Rochester on Jack Benny. He was well-spoken, was the most intelligent
guy in a less-than-stellar braintrust group and, like Rochester, often got
the
best of his boss. Interestingly, my director that year kept telling me to add
more "dese's" and "dose's" to my interpretation. I reluctantly did so during
rehearsal but, in tribute to Mr. Green, dropped them out during the actual
show. Everyone said I got the drawl just right so the director loved it
anyway!
Steven Thompson
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------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 10:34:28 -0400
From: <otrbuff@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Music Radio
Let me tell you about a new book that will be out next year and will fill
many gaps in present information. The full title is "Music Radio: The
Great Performers and Programs of the 1920s through Early 1960s." McFarland
will release it next spring, a 400-page 20-chapter volume that includes
photographs, appendix and index.
Here's the description currently appearing on the publisher's web site:
"Long before the invention of 'talk radio,' music was filling the pores of
the medium's programming--often standing alone by itself, yet simultaneously
seeping in between features, filling background din and identifying to
widespread audiences the shows coming on and exiting the ether.
"This work encompasses the entire range of musical programming from the
early 1920s to the early 1960s. Jazz, country, classical, gospel, pop, big
band, western and semi-classical forms are explored as are the vocalists,
instrumentalists and disc jockeys who made them available to listeners.
Virtually all the major series and artists are explored in depth alongside
hundreds of references to the lesser varieties. Some of the programs
included are The Bing Crosby Show, The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin
Street, The Fred Waring Show, Grand Ole Opry, The Bell Telephone Hour, The
Cities Service Concerts, Your Hit Parade, The Kate Smith Show, The Railroad
Hour and The Voice of Firestone. An appendix is also included describing
the vocal ranges of the feminine and masculine voices from soprano to basso
profundo."
Enjoy.
To access the write-up with a photo of the cover, go to [removed]
and type in Music Radio in the Quick Search.
Jim Cox
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 10:38:04 -0400
From: chris chandler <chrischandler84@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: lucy a commie
On Lucille Ball, Jer51473 [removed]
The fact that she was cleared of un-american
activities doesnt mean there was no basis for
Winchells statements.
It doesn't, eh? This is the type of uninformed
innuendo that helped ruin people's careers half a
century ago.
Coincidentally, however, you are technically correct.
Ms. Ball had testified to investigators, privately,
and been "cleared" before Winchell ever made his
broadcast, and his report ("America's top comedienne
has been confronted with her membership in the
Communist party") was factually accurate, not an
innuendo or a baseless slam.
Lucy had "signed up" as a commmie in 1936 to please
her ailing leftist grandfather, and purpotedly never
thought about it again afterward, much less took any
action. Investigators had come across the
documentation, and previously asked Ball about it, a
year before the information became public in 1953.
While all the elements were suddenly in place to have
her career ruined, and some elements of the press did
indeed take out after her in the days after the
Winchell broadcast, it's likely her overwhelming
popularity, combined with the fact that she either
came up with--or was fed--the perfect script when she
faced investigators ("I never wanted to be a
[removed] those days it was almost as bad to be a
Republican!"), saved her professional life, where many
others had not been so fortunate.
chris
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 11:03:09 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 8-28 births/deaths
August 28th births
08-28-1891 - Stanley Andrews - Chicago, IL - d. 6-23-1969
actor: Daddy Warbucks "Little Orphan Annie"
08-28-1895 - H. Norman Schwarzkopf - Newark, NJ - d. 11-25-1958
narrator: "Gangbusters"
08-28-1897 - Charles Boyer - Figeac, France - d. 8-26-1978
actor: Michel "Presenting Charles Boyer"; "Hollywood Playhouse"
08-28-1898 - Charlie Grimm - St. Louis, MO - d. 11-15-1983
Sportscaster:(Jolly Cholly) WBBM Chicago
08-28-1907 - Sam Levene - NYC - d. 12-17-1980
comedian: "Fred Allen Show"
08-28-1908 - Genevieve Rowe - Freemont, OH - d. 2-26-1995
singer: "Gay Nineties Revue"; "Songs America Loves"; "An Evening with Romberg"
08-28-1925 - Donald O'Connor - Chicago, IL - d. 9-27-2003
comedian, actor: "Ginny Simms Show"; "Philip Morris Playhouse"; "Suspense"
08-28-1930 - Ben Gazzara - NYC
actor: "Strange Interlude"
August 28th deaths
07-22-1917 - Lou McGarity - Athens, GA - d. 8-28-1971
jazz trombonist: "Eddie Condon's Jazz Concert"; "Arthur Godfrey Show"
08-05-1906 - John Huston - Nevada, MO - d. 8-28-1987
actor, writer: "Lux Radio Theatre"
08-17-1918 - Evelyn Ankers - Valparaiso, Chili - d. 8-28-1985
actress: Argentine Radio
09-12-1910 - Lehman Engel - Jackson, MS - d. 8-28-1982
broadway conductor: "Madrigal Singers of New York"; "Texaco Star Theatre"
10-30-1896 - Ruth Gordon - Wollaston, MA - d. 8-28-1985
actress: "Lincoln Highway"; "Meet Mr. Weeks"; "Orson Welles Theatre"
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 14:06:13 -0400
From: "Mary L. Wallace" <mlwallace57@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Mickey [removed] Again
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I met Mickey Rooney at the Hollywood Collectors Show a few years ago and he
did seem a bit aloof. What stands out in my mind, however, was seeing him
being escorted into the room by a couple of [removed] sheriffs, which was done for
other celebrities. To be fair to Mr. Rooney, one of the sheriffs sounded a
bit condescending when directing him to his [removed] turned and
barked, "You don't tell me where to go!"
I remember that there was a period a few years ago where every time Mickey was
interviewed on TV, Jan was always with him to keep him from getting derailed
in his [removed] seemed like he would get a little confused and Jan
would help him. He was kind of like that at the autograph show. In the last
year or so, however, I have seen him interviewed by himself and he seemed to
have no difficulties at all.
Mary Lou Wallace
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------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 14:05:39 -0400
From: damyankeeinva <damyankeeinva@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: "The Investigator" on LP
I can confirm that "The Investigator" came out on an LP. It is in my
library.
One of the funniest and cleverest bits of writing and acting I have heard.
The historical references involving the people in the "trial" of Senator
McCarthy before he could enter Heaven are definitely impressive.
Lee Munsick <damyankeeinva@[removed];
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 16:56:43 -0400
From: "Harry Machin Jr" <harbev5@[removed];
To: "Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Chester's last name (Gunsmoke)
Please forgive such an obvious question that I'm sure was brought up
and hashed out ages ago. But I hope someone can explain about the
use of "Good" and "Proudfoot" at different times/shows (radio, TV).
Perhaps an authority on the Gunsmoke series (TV & Radio) can write
me off-Digest, or if someone thinks that it's worth putting on the Digest,
do that.
Thanks in advance,
______________
Harry Machin Jr
harbev5@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 17:01:28 -0400
From: "Don Belden" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Mickey Rooney
I used to tune into the Jim and Tammy Baker show occassionally for laughs.
Mickey Rooney was a regular guest.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 17:01:44 -0400
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Lucille Ball and the FBI
If I recall accurately, during the 1950s Lucille Ball was only suspected of
supporting the Communist Party because someone discovered an old 1936
registration form revealing that she applied to vote for the Communist
party. The end result was that during the House Committee on Un-American
Activities's investigation, she admitted that she only signed the paper to
please her grand father, who by then had passed away, but back in 1936 he
was in strong support of the Communist Party and inisted she sign up and she
wanted to make him happy. there was also suspicion (and still rumored?)
that she secretly worked for the FBI during key moments of her career and
that the FBI quietly assisted in the investigation when her name was brought
up during the 1950s investigation.
I have tons of papers in a file including a copy of the actual form she
signed and box-checked back in 1936, but I have yet to find any hard-core
evidence that she was definately under the FBI [removed]
Martin
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 18:39:39 -0400
From: "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: More on Eddie Green
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Hiya Gang:
As always, I'd like to thank Elizabeth McLeod for her expert work in providing
biographical background on Eddie Green from "Duffy's Tavern." I would like to
amend to her bio with some 1930's/40s items from my own collection. Please
keep in mind the political climate of the times and try to overlook such
awkward terms like "Negro" and "colored." Also, in the CBS press release
below, you might also want to sidestep the egregious reference to fried
chicken.
Enjoy!
Derek Tague
- ----------------
>From Columbia Broadcasting System,
485 Madison Ave., New York, 9/11/41
S*T*A*R*L*I*N*E*S
EDDIE GREEN -- of "DUFFY'S TAVERN"
One of the few players who can boast billing in radio, stage, screen.
And add musical comedy, light opera and burlesque.
He can sing, dance, act, write, do card tricks and run a restaurant.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland. Went to grade and high school there.
Started in showbusiness as a boy magician.
Did magic, then discarded cards for comedy.
Was Billy Minsky colored star for eleven [removed]
Was the original "Ko Ko" in "The Hot Mikado."
Won instantaneous fame for his written-and-acted burlesques of
historical and classical heroes ... for Rudy Vallee.
Co-starred with Louis armstrong in radio.
Co-starred with Paul Robeson.
Created the role of "Sweeney the Jockey" with ben bernie program.
Made several appearances in Columbia's "Pursuit of Happiness" series.
Has been guest star in comedy and straight roles on many radio
programs from Hollywood.
Featured in many warner Brothers short subjects.
Starred in featurettes made by Sepia-Art Pictures (all-colored casts).
Is married to the former Constance Piper, a dancer.
Daughter lives in Philadelphia.
Sideline for Eddie is conducting a chain of Harlem restaurants.
Hobby is amnateur radio.
Has held license for 15 years and operates W2AKM, New York.
Favorite food is not fried chicken ... he likes T-bone steak
smothered in French fried potatoes.
He is the handy-man in "Duffy's Tavern" (WABC-CBS, Thursdays, 8:30
to 8:55 PM, EDST. Rebroadcast at Midnight, EDST).
(End)
- ----------------------------
(from the New York Journal-American, May 20, 1939)
Hot 'Ko-Ko' Cold As Magician
Mr. Green Turns Red as Audience Goes Blue at Miscue
[no by-line]
Eddie Green once found out that sometimes a bad magician makes
a good comedian.
The diminutive Ko Ko of Michael Todd's "Hot Mikado" at the
Broadhurst Theatre, started his career in show business billed as "The
Boy Magician." At an amateur performance, he missed one of his
tricks and the audience howled. That taught Eddie a lesson and ever since
then his frustrated antics have supplied a measure of comedy to the
nation's public.
From that beginning in his native Baltimore, Green signed up with a
traveling burlesque troupe and for 15 years was in that field. A few
years ago Rudy Vallee offered him a radio guest spot and he remained a
feature of the Vallee Hour for 20 weeks. Other radio engagements
followed.
Plays Executioner
In "Hot Mikado" he plays the part of the Lord High Executioner, a
oublic official who is so kind hearted that he "can't kill nobody," and who
is finally forced into marriage with the voluptuous Katisha, played by
rose Brown.
This is Green's first headlining role in a Broadway show, although his
writing has enlivened many musicals in the past. It was he who wrote the
material for "Hot Chocolates."
In addition to his acting chores, Eddie is the owner of two prospering
barbecue establishments in the Lenox ave. region, and has a licensed short
wave radio station which keeps him up most of the night talking to air-
wave friends all over the world.
Last year Eddie was in Hollywood serving out a radio contract at the
time of the big flood. He volunteered his services for relief work and the
police put him in charge of one of their emergency radio stations. He got a
bigger kick out of that than of practically growing up with Gypsy Rose Lee.
- ---------------
It's me again.
>From some other clippings, I can tell you:
Some of the historical/classical sketches he did comic takes on while with the
Rudy Vallee program were "John Alden and Priscilla" (written by John Tucker
Battle) and "Jonah and the Whale."
The New York "Daily News" of April 18th, 1937 refers to his radio show
with Louis Armstrong, which had debuted the previous night (4/17/37) as being
"[r]adio's first commercial all-colored revue" [I'm sure this is open for
debate]
and "...a radical departure for radio because, with the exception of Amos 'n'
Andy, most colored comedy has been of the corny, lowdown [removed]"
Also featured in the cast were Gee Gee James, who co-starred with Eddie in a
sketch written by Octavus Roy Cohen, and singer Amanda Randolph.
A review by "[removed]" of the stage show "Blackberries of 1932" (at titular
variance
with "[removed]" as reported by Ms. McLeod) from the "New York Tribune"
(date unavailable; presumably 1931) reports this show's credits as:
BLACKBERRIES OF 1932, a Negro revue in two acts and twenty-six
scenes. Book by Eddie Green, and lyrics and music by Donald Heywood
and Tom Peluso. Dances arranged by Sidney Sprague and Lew Crawford;
scenery by Myer Kanin and Buell Scenic Studios; staged by Ben Bernard;
produced by Max Rudnick; At the Liberty Theatre.
PRINCIPLES --Eddie Green, Tim Moore, Susaye Brown, Sammy Paige,
Johnny Long, Mantan Moreland, John Dickens, Alice Harris, Thelma
Meers, Harold Norton, Dewey Markham, Gertrude Saunders, Jackie
Mabley and others.
A brief profile of Mr. Green from the New York "Daily News" of
April 14th, 1939, in connection with the aforementioned "Hot
Mikado" mentions some of the items in Ms. McLeod's bio, but also
goes on to say that Eddie made his New York debut at Miner's Bronx
Theatre, is a member of the Federal Radio Commission, that being a
radio ham is "his life,' and that his two thriving barbecue restaurants
in Harlem specializes in spare-ribs.
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--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #282
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