Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #105
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 3/18/2002 11:22 AM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2002 : Issue 105
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Re: Releasing "Archie"                [ "Ian Grieve" <ian@[removed] ]
  Radio reviews                         [ "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed] ]
  45 albums/story lady                  [ vigor16@[removed] ]
  Dave Warren                           [ "Donald & Kathleen Dean" <dxk@ezlin ]
  Radio Faces                           [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
  Radio Reviews                         [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
  Pat Weaver on "Town Hall Tonight"?    [ "Dave Walter" <fredallenfan@hotmail ]
  4 Archie [removed]!              [ "Ian Grieve" <ian@[removed] ]
  Tip for mp3 collectors                [ "Doug Leary" <doug@[removed]; ]
  Arsenic and Old Lace                  [ Bryan Wright <bswrig@[removed]; ]
  The Story Lady unmasked ? Plus: musc  [ Gary McDole <gmcdole@[removed]; ]
  Today in radio history                [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
  Plutonium in children's toys, and ot  [ John Mayer <mayer@[removed]; ]
  a request: commercials and public se  [ khovard@[removed] ]
  Detroit OTR                           [ ClifSr@[removed] ]
  Re:Pat Weaver/Moniotor                [ Eric J Cooper <ejcooper2002@[removed] ]
  Arsenic And Old Lace Trivia Question  [ "Scott Eberbach" <seberbach@earthli ]
  Archie                                [ Frank =?iso-8859-1?Q?Ros=EDn?= <fra ]

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

Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2002 21:19:50 -0500
From: "Ian Grieve" <ian@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Releasing "Archie"

In Digest #100 in relation to a 'release of Archie', Elizabeth asked:

The question is, then, *is* there enough of a market to both cover the
costs of production and offset the losses that would result from the
inevitable MP3ing of the materials? Given the choice, would "Archie" fans
support the effort to release the shows by purchasing the set  -- or
would they wait to download it for free?

Certainly both would happen, the freeloaders will copy whatever they can lay
their hands on and distribute for free, but also collectors would buy a set.
I think such a set would sell well, particularly if it was a dual release
with a book about the Archie show.  Value for money and ownership of
something weighed against a CD of mp3 would seperate the collectors from the
boys (and girls).

Come on Hal, its not as though you have anything else to do, or maybe one of
the dealers may want to take it on as well, besides, waiting for the rights
and the cleaning up of the originals etc will give you an excuse to take
more time on writing the book.  Just think, listening to those episodes will
jog your memory on things that happened whilst recording that show or other
items of interest that can be linked to the episodes.

I pledge to buy such a set (remember the earlier value for money statement,
Hal).

Elizabeth, I seem to remember hearing an Archie episode that somebody had
converted to mp3 that had an opening statement indicating it was from Radio
Spirits.  Does that mean some negotiation for rights has already occurred
but for some reason only for a handful of episodes, or maybe it was part of
'the bluff'.  As a humble Colonial I have never seen one of their catalogues
so I don't know if Archie is included on it.

Ian

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

Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2002 21:59:45 -0500
From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed];
To: "Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Radio reviews

Martin Grams asked about reviews of radio programs in Variety.  I cannot help
with that particular magazine, but I am fairly sure that the Reader's Guide
to Periodical Literature ([removed] Wilson Co.) indexed radio program reviews.
Since I do not have a copy of RG at hand, I would suggest checking it using
the dates the show was on the air and the name of the radio series, and radio
personality.  There is also the possibility that there may be a heading
something like, "Radio programs--Reviews."

They did it for movies, books, stage plays, so I am assuming they covered
radio as well.

Ted Kneebone
1528 S. Grant St., Aberdeen, SD 57401 / 605-226-3344
OTR:  [removed]

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

Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2002 22:42:59 -0500
From: vigor16@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: 45 albums/story lady

Hey folks:

I have two questions.
	1.  This is not radio specifficly,n but would like to know if anyone
knows if there are any of those albums, look like photo albums, that hold
45 rpm records around any more.  If so, where may I, if anyone knows, can
get em.
	2.  I don't know if this was local in Rochester, NY. or national.
There
was a 5 minute radio story telling of "The story lady" where she would be
introduced.  Then she'd start telling a fable or children's story.  At
the end, the story ended up kind of different than what you'd expect.  It
was a serial thing, I think, late 60s or early 70s.  Is that skit
recorded anywhere.  It was a 5 minute spot that may have been played
during morning drive time, as I recall.  It may have been concurrent with
"Chickenman".  I have such little information about it.  Does anyone know
about "the Story lady"?  Deric thanks

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

Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2002 22:43:05 -0500
From: "Donald & Kathleen Dean" <dxk@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Dave Warren

Hi Gang:

Many thanks to Lee Munsick for letting us know about
Dave Warren. I'll definitely get a card and an email out to
Lois right away for Dave.

Dave is a close friend. Has been since my 30 year senior
class reunion in 1982. It was then I found that Dave had
married my classmate Lois. At the time I didn't realize he
was into OTR until I attended the Friends Of Old Time
Radio Convention for the first time in 1983. He was one
of first I met when I walked in the door. So very sorry to
hear about Dave. I understand Dave and Bob Burchett grew
up together in Portsmouth, Ohio down river about 18 miles
from my hometown of Ironton, Ohio. Hope he makes it.
We're having our 50 year class reunion this year.

Thanks Lee

Don Dean N8IOJ

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

Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2002 23:02:42 -0500
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Radio Faces

Lois Culver relates a story about imagination:
Howard said. "I'm Howard Culver"....and she, trying to look past him,
around his 5' 8"....said, "No, he's much taller!

Not to bring television into this, but the old series about radio in the
30's & 40's - Remember WENN had a classic (probably one of their best)
episode starring Molly Ringwald that touched on this subject. She was a
blind person who was visiting the radio station and wanted to meet "The
Vagabond" a romantic, poetic, soft spoken "lover" who was played on the
radio station by a radio actor who was short and balding. The radio actor
was so afraid to meet her fearing she would find out the truth about his
"radio sham."

Jim Widner
jwidner@[removed]

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

Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2002 23:42:33 -0500
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Radio Reviews

Martin Grams asks about radio reviews:

I know that John Crosby the former radio -TV critic for the New York Herald
Tribune edited a book of some of his best columns in a book called "Out of
the Blue" published in 1952.

Ring Lardner also had some reviews he wrote in a column for the New Yorker
magazine during his final days. Some of the columns were published in "Shut
up, He Explained" edited by Henry Morgan and Babette Rosmond.

Jim Widner
jwidner@[removed]

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

Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2002 23:42:13 -0500
From: "Dave Walter" <fredallenfan@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Pat Weaver on "Town Hall Tonight"?

Colonel Stoopnagle & Budd subbed for Fred Allen during the summer 1936
stretch of NBC's "Town Hall Tonight." During the talent competition on the
last program of that series, there's a reference made by The Colonel to a
Pat Weaver as a behind-the-scenes man on the show (one of the acts is from
Bermuda, where Weaver had just returned from vacationing at). I've always
been convinced that this had to be Sylvester, considering the innovations
for NBC that he went on to create, but the wording of the AP obit I read
have me wondering now. The AP piece suggests he was indeed in radio at the
time, but in Los Angeles rather than New York. Anyone able to shed
conclusive light on this matter? Would this have been a different Pat
Weaver?

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

Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 00:32:01 -0500
From: "Ian Grieve" <ian@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 4 Archie [removed]!

In Digest #104 Hal wrote (almost a novel):

(The Awfully Awesome Astute Aussie)' thats more A's than I ever got in my
school career.

You will not be adding to my workload at all Ian. I'll simply use the
[removed] credit you. Or will you be suing me for Plagiarism if I do?
:)

No problem with suing you Hal, but I wonder where I got it from :)

My posting about the LOC copies has crossed over your comments, but whilst
it may all be pipe dreams it would be great to get something to happen.  Now
I don't know about the LOC or Archie Comics apart from reading them in my
youth, or for that matter the network that donated the copies to the LOC.
But surely if a former Actor from the show like yourself, who is writing a
book that includes the time spent on the show, your publisher, plus the guys
that run the Comics (good thing there weren't daughters or they may not want
your book published) and the network along with the LOC, cannot come up with
some sort of joint marketing plan of mutual benefit, then what hope is there
for other shows?

You have a strong following here and I bet there are people who went and
found Archie shows BECAUSE of reading your humorous posts here.  Ok so it
may not (I said may not Hal) have the following of [removed] or Suspense which
would probably generate more interest and hence more buyers, but it could
have appeal to the current purchasers of the Comics, as well as appeal to
otr people.  Anyway it is food for thought.

Ian

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

Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 00:32:26 -0500
From: "Doug Leary" <doug@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Tip for mp3 collectors

If you collect mp3 files through any of the various file sharing systems,
here is a helpful tip for collecting stories of multiple episodes, such as
Journey into Space. If you find a source with an entire story line, say a
dozen episodes, start with the last episode and work backwards. Most people
collect a series starting with episode 1. They might get 3 or 4 files and
then the source disconnects. So the earlier episodes are a lot more common,
and thus easier to find. By starting with the last one and you can usually
collect the entire series much sooner.

Doug Leary

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

Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 00:51:50 -0500
From: Bryan Wright <bswrig@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Arsenic and Old Lace

Lady Esther Screen Guild Theatre broadcast a 30-minute version of "Arsenic
and Old Lace" on November 25, 1946. I have a tape of this in my collection,
but unfortunately, I can't get to it right now. It starred Boris Karloff,
who was also in the original Broadway production (if memory serves).

Bryan Wright

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

Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 00:56:36 -0500
From: Gary McDole <gmcdole@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: The Story Lady unmasked ? Plus: muscatel

At 05:38 PM 3/17/02 -0500, Richard Fisher <w9fjl@[removed]; wrote:
Recently I received a disc of "fractured fairy tales".  There are about
215 shows on the disc and the "The Story Lady" tells twisted to very
twisted versions of fairy tales. Each show lasts 1 to [removed] minutes.

Can anyone tell me if these were ever broadcast or where they might have
been used.

In the San Joaquin Valley in the late 60's these syndicated spots were big
favorites.  The voices MAY be   joan gerber & byron kane.  When I
rediscovered these via mp3 a year or so ago I did a pretty thorough web
search to try to find information about who wrote them or did the
voices.  I couldn't find anything, but I did find a site (which I'm pretty
sure no longer exists) that had mp3s of a faux soap opera called "Return to
Paper Plates," in which the voices of the leads, who were identified as
joan gerber & byron kane, are almost certainly the same voices as the story
lady and byron, with the "byron" part only serving to increase the
likelihood (since the Story Lady refers to her announcer as "Byron").

There's also a Story Lady connection to a question that Christopher Werner
<cwerner@[removed]; asked back on March 6th:

I'm not so concerned if *Roma Wines* is still in business, but listening to
lots of Suspense shows during their sponsorship has one thing driving me
absolutely crazy. What happened to Muscatel Wine? Go ahead, check any store
- you'll find Chablis, Chardoney, Burgandy, Zinfindel, etc. *But no
Muscatel*. I don't get it. [snip]  Did all the Muscat grapes die one winter?
California - what's the problem?

In one of the Story Lady spots she tells the story in about 15 seconds, so
that she can get to the store for some muscatel.  "What about your
listeners?" asks Byron, and she snarls "Let 'em get their own muscatel
!"  The implication is that the Story Lady is a ...um "wino" would have
been the non-PC term we used back then.  And, though I had no first hand
knowledge, I think if you'd asked me back then "What do winos drink ?" my
answer might well have been "muscatel," which I think was a pretty commonly
held belief at least among people I knew.  So I was surprised and amused a
year or so back when I first I heard Harry Bartell extolling the virtues of
Petri Muscatel to Dr Watson or Gregory Hood.

But having said all that, complete disclosure would require me to add that
although I seldom drink, last summer someone served me some Beaulieu
Vinyards Muscat de Beaulieu, and since then I've pretty mush always had
some in the house.  According to the label it's "been crafted in the same
manner since 1922."

Gary in Berkeley

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

Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 05:17:00 -0500
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Today in radio history

  From Those Were The Days --

1940 - Light of the World was first heard on NBC. The soap opera was
unique in that it featured the Bible as the center of the story line.

  Joe

--
Visit my home page:
[removed]~[removed]

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

Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 05:17:48 -0500
From: John Mayer <mayer@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Plutonium in children's toys, and other

radioactive sales gimmicks
Approved: ctrn4eeWlc

"James B. Wood, [removed]" <woodjim@[removed]; wrote:

This is not to be confused with the Tom Mix "Glowing Cat's Eye Ring," ...
Unlike the
belt (or most any other glow-in-the-dark item, for that matter), the ring
did not require any exposure to light; it glowed [removed]  I recall that
the word 'plutonium' was used in the advertising for this [removed]

Unlikely; plutonium didn't even exist until the 40's, so it must have
been pretty rare and pretty expensive, even if its status of World's
Most Dangerous Poison were not yet recognized (if I remember right, one
tablespoon, evenly distributed into the lungs, could kill every person
on earth - something like that; someone here will probably know). It's
only in recent years enough of the stuff has been produced that whole
pounds are unaccounted for; probably just leeched away in tiny
increments into little cracks and crevices in the ductwork, we're reassured.

More likely it was Ms. Curie's radium; it was used for decades on watch
dials before its dangers were realized. Young ladies making less than
$20 a week hand painted the numbers with radium paint, often putting the
brushes in their mouths to restore the points of the bristles. One might
think such close work would have ruined their eyes but, in fact, few of
them lived long enough for their eyes to be affected; a disproportionate
number of these unfortunates died very young, many from "anemia."

Radium was also used in "medical" tinctures in hopes of all kinds of
wonderful healthful effects, with predictable results (well, predictable
in retrospect). Makes homeopathy seem almost benign. There were also
radium devices to be worn for the alleviation of pain, etc., sort of
like some of the worthless bracelets advertised on tv today (apparently
without fear of prosecution).

It seems quite likely radium might have been used for other novelties as
well, including radio premiums. Danger to young listeners was probably
minimal if they refrained from eating it.

Which reminds me of the marvelous foot scopes that used to be a fixture
in our local Miller's Department Store shoe department and, in fact, in
every well-appointed shoe store. Half the fun of buying shoes was in
sticking our prospective purchases, shiny new Buster Browns or Robin
Hoods, into the little cubby holes at the bottom of the machine, which I
recall resembling the penny weight and fortune machine, and looking
through the viewer to watch our own skeleton toes wiggle (supposedly to
help gauge the fit). What a disappointment the day we showed up at the
children's shoe department and I immediately saw the device was gone,
victim of an overzealous government trying to destroy my youthful spirit
of scientific inquiry. Who knows, had the government infringed less upon
free enterprise in the shoe business, I might have grown up to be a
podiatrist. Or a double amputee. The dose of x-rays pouring through our
feet every couple of months must have been massive to allow us to watch
our phalanges twitch in real time. I wonder if anyone has ever done a
study of the prevalence of toe cancer in baby boomers.

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

Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 12:00:50 -0500
From: khovard@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: a request: commercials and public service

announcements during World War II
Approved: ctrn4eeWlc

A producer of radio dramas is seeking examples of product commercials and
Public Service announcements from the War Department that would be
period-specific for around February 1942. They are needed for a benefit
performance of detective radio dramas set in 1942 Los Angeles to be done
in May

He asks "Do you know or can  you point me to a source to see when certain
types of ads or propaganda began being broadcast? I can't believe they
were very organized just weeks after Pearl Harbor. I don't want to do
spots on saving grease or buying war bonds in
early 1942, if they didn't really start until later that year."

Thanks,

Howard Blue

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

Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 12:01:11 -0500
From: ClifSr@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Detroit OTR

Does anybody out there remember Joe Gentile (GenTEElee) and Ralph Binge
(BING-ee) and their zany Early Morning Frolics that started on CKLW in
Windsor, Ont. and later moved across the river to WJBK?  When Joe left to do
sports, Ralph did a show doing the voices of his imiginary friends, Beautiful
Carl and Sharp Frank.  it was brilliant and hilarious.  I would almost kill
for recordings of  Ralph, Carl and Frank.  Surely somebody must have made
home recordings.  BTW, Detroit's reigning king of DJ's in the late 40's, Ed
McKenzie as Jack the Bellboy, passed away just a year or so ago in Flushing,
Michigan.  Anybody recall Frantic Ernie on WJLB, who talked all in rhyme?  I
worked with him in Flint in the 50's.  He did the "High Brown Hour." And how
about Bob Maxwell, first famous as "Luke the Spook" on Saginaw Michigan radio
before becoming  an early TV personality in Detroit.  I also worked with him
in Flint.  I think his real name was Rudolph Maxwelton Sosh or something like
that.

Clif Martin
Muskegon, Michigan

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

Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 12:01:22 -0500
From: Eric J Cooper <ejcooper2002@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re:Pat Weaver/Moniotor

I was also sorry to hear the news. Monitor, IMHO, kept network radio
alive in some form for years after it was supposed to be dead . It
extended the life of Fibber McGee and Molly in the 1950s and brought back
X Minus One in the 70s. Besides it was FUN to listen to.

Eric Cooper

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

Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 12:02:12 -0500
From: "Scott Eberbach" <seberbach@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Arsenic And Old Lace Trivia Questions

Hi Kenneth!
Would that famous actor who showed his comic prowess on Broadway be that
fine actor, the incomparable Boris Karloff?  I read in a biography that he
refused the role initially until the writers of the play told him the role
was written for [removed]"Jonathan Brewster looks like Boris [removed]" they
thought it would be great for Boris to play the [removed] they told him
this he finally relented and played the role to the hilt!  I'm not sure
whether or not he played the role for a set sum of money, but memory tells
me that he did not make more money (due to his *star status*) than the other
actors who were in the play.

The body count is a little more difficult to [removed] the 1/24/41
broadcast of Information Please Karloff asserts that the body count is
[removed] for him and 13 for the old ladies.  Both Clifton Fadiman and
Franklin P. Adams assert that they "...have it on good authority " that the
body count was [removed] for Jonathan Brewster and 13 for the two old
[removed] 13th being the unfortunate Mr. Witherspoon.  Karloff still
insists that the 12 for him is incorrect and that he had 13 deaths to his
credit so he and the old ladies are tied.

Strangely enough, I had the role of Teddy about 12 years ago when I did the
play in community theatre. I don't recall what the body count [removed] was
only concerned that there was enough room in the basement for all those
*victims* of Yellow Fever!

Scott

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

Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 12:02:34 -0500
From: Frank =?iso-8859-1?Q?Ros=EDn?=  <frankr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Archie

I have 4 Archie episodes in my collection not on the Ian list and one
date correction.

For the program called 'Halloween Party' I have a date of 10-30-1948

In addition I have these programs I got over 30 years ago.  I do not
know if the dates or titles are accurate or duplicate the list because
my titles may be wrong but they do check out as Saturdays.  I also will
have to check out the sound quality but I have them listed as A- on the
card in the tape box.  I do not recall where I got them.

I would be glad to run them off onto CDs if someone needs them.

11-6-1948 Locked out of the House
11-13-1948 Going to Bed Early
11-20-1948 Relatives Visit
---             Archie's Father tells Jokes at Party

Frank Rosin   frankr@[removed]

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #105
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