------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2002 : Issue 480
A Part of the [removed]!
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
ANOTHER CHANNEL HEARD FROM [ "randy story" <bygeorge@[removed]; ]
Communist Blacklisting [ badaxley@[removed] ]
Re: The Beginning Of The End On OTR [ otrdsiegel@[removed] ]
a question about old reel-to-reel ta [ Magilla445@[removed] ]
HAY! for what it's WORTH [ Derek Tague <derek@[removed]; ]
Anyone recommend a mp3/CD player sol [ Ed Kindred <kindred@[removed]; ]
Re: McCarthyism: Reuben Ship's "The [ Geoff Loker <gloker@[removed]; ]
Senator McCarthy [ "George Tirebiter" <tirebiter2@hotm ]
Stalinist?? [ "J. Pope" <jpope101@[removed] ]
A Sidepoint on the Blacklisting [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
Blacklisting [ "Gary Yoggy" <yoggy@[removed]; ]
BLACKLISTING [ "Ian Grieve" <austotr@[removed]. ]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 18:04:40 -0500
From: "randy story" <bygeorge@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: ANOTHER CHANNEL HEARD FROM
Greetings, Gates!
Let's pontificate!!!
I have sat idly by in the last few digests watching this whole argument over
the Red Scare and Red Channels growing ever more [removed] have withheld a
lot of my personal attitudes and feelings because I really dislike conflict;
especially in a freindly setting like this one(is supposed to be). But, my
friends, I must say a few things and then be done with [removed] my corner,
anyway.
I have read with disappointment the attacks on one another lately.
Innunendos. Suggestive statements. Almost to the point of name-calling. Sad
really.
But, I have heard all of this before somewhere. Where was [removed],
yes. History class. And a thing called the Red Scare. Took place in the
United States some 50 or so years ago. The key word in that last sentence
was: history. Past is passed; we move on as a nation and as a people. If we
allow ourselves to fall into the same trap they fell into then, we are doing
nothing but repeating the past mistakes of our culture.
Now, I am not as seasoned in life as some on this digest, but I am a student
of history. And human nature. And I can tell you that both are driven by the
individual perspective, or how we each see things differently. I for one
feel that how these people behaved during the time of the Red Scare was
their business and should be no reflection upon their work. This would be
like saying: "That Raymond Burr was a socialist. Too bad. I guess I can't
like his work on FORT LARAMIE or DRAGNET anymore."
We seperate the human choices people make from the work they do. If we did
not, much of Hollywood would not exist today probably. And it goes far
beyond just the choices people make, but into their color, religions, [removed]
I think what I am trying to share is this fact. We all choose different
paths in life; sometimes we take a turn for the bad, other times for the
good. Who is to judge which is which except us? The human individual. What
others say should not really matter in today's world and most of the people
we are speaking of in these Red Scare arguments are gone anyway. Why
diminish their memory by second-guessing their character now?
I am not personally going to discontinue my admiration for people like Bud
Collyer or whomever for a decision based largely on the fear of job loss
some 45 odd years ago. Good Lord, people, half of his contemporaries were
forced into his situation! As well as dozens of others in this nation in all
walks of life during that frightening [removed] Capra was almost labeled a
'commie' for his work on my favorite film of all time, IT'S A WONDERFUL
LIFE, along with several other legendary directors and movies. It all got
ridiculous becasue so many people were afraid of what they saw happening to
handful of people. Wrong or right, Americans in all careers were forced to
make choices that must have been painful for most of them to make.
I love OTR for the voices, stories, and personalities I hear every day of my
life now. I could really care less about their political leanings. I will
continue to enjoy those shows and the wonderful memory of those people who
created them for all of us to share and enjoy.
Why put a shadow over all of that with arguments and disagreements along the
lines we have seen on this digest in the last several weeks? We have more
positive things to talk about. The world of today has enough probelms
without drudging up baggage from our past.
We have learned what lessons we need to have learned from the Red Scare;
what we do with the knowledgre obtained from them is a matter of choice.
Thanks,
Randy
(who hopes he has not angered anyone with his commentary; I am not wanting
to open any more channels of debate on this subject)
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 18:05:14 -0500
From: badaxley@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Communist Blacklisting
I would agree with Hal's comments:
Subject: Re: What else is new
Ok! Ok! call off the dogs.
Let's call off the dogs. It's the season to be jolly! Unfortunately what
happened has already happened and can't be undone. I also remember the period
and tend to agree with Hal. But to take so much time in vindictive arguments
ain't what this digest is all about. Back to good old OTR!
Bob Axley
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 18:05:51 -0500
From: otrdsiegel@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: The Beginning Of The End On OTR
In 1954, some 48 years ago, a sub committee of the United States Senate
chaired by the junior senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy (R) was
involved in a series of investigations of various government agencies that
might be tainted by Communist influence. In April of that year the committe
found itself embroiled in a contraversy in which the United states Army
accused the chairman and the committee's attorney, Mr. Roy Cohen, of trying
to influence the army to grant special favors to a former committee
investigator who had been drafted and who was serving as a private, G. David
Shine.
Senator McCarthy responded to those charges by accusing the Secretary of
the Army, Robert Stevens, of covering up communism in the army and trying to
get the committee to drop it's investigation of the army.
The sub committee scheduled a series of hearings on the counter charges
and temporarily relieved Sen. McCarthy of his chairmanship since he was one
of the accused.
The National Broadcasting Company decided that rather than lose
commercial revenues in giving daytime TV coverage to these hearings they
would cover the hearings, record the testimony and provide it's RADIO
listeners with a recorded summary of each day's hearings in the evening.
THe hearings And testimony went on for some 36 days, frOm April 22, 1954
thru June 15, 1954 and Richard Harkness of NBC news broadcast a 45 minute
summary with recorded testimony each night of the hearings.
I recently acquired a full set of these radio broadcasts and found them
to be as dramatic a form of radio drama as one could imagine.
One hears the voices of the parties in conflict, Senator McCarthy (who
becomes famous for his constant POINT OF ORDER interuptions) of Roy Cohen
and of Se. of the Army Stevens. One also hears the voices of the temporary
committee chairman, Karl Mundt of South Dakota and of senators Symington of
missoiru, Dirkson of Illinois, Jackson of Washington, McClellen of Arkansas
and others. Acting as attorney for the commiutte was Roy Jenkins and acting
as attorney for the army was Joseph Welch.
For anyone who may be familiar with this history the fasmous
confrontation between the senator from Wisconsin and Joseph Welch is said to
have put the final nail on the coffin that was to bring the senator down in
the eyes of hisvfellow senators and of the public.
The total run of these 36 broadcasts plus the introductory program
broasdcast the day before the very first hearing, runs close to 25 solid
hours.
Dave Siegel
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 18:06:26 -0500
From: Magilla445@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: a question about old reel-to-reel tape
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I'm hoping someone on the list can help with a minor problem. I recently
picked up a large batch of old reel-to-reel tapes. Most of them were recorded
in the 50s and 60s.
There is a fair amount of music on them along with religious sermons and
such. The problem with most of these tapes is they are very dirty. There is
no serious warpage or flaking. They had obviously been stored away twenty or
so years in some musty old basement or garage. I assume much of the dirt and
grime on them is mildew. Most of the tapes seem to play OK, discounting all
the crackling and background noise due to the dirty tape. At least the audio
portion hasn't been lost. But they are so dirty that I am constantly cleaning
the head on the old tape player. My question is if there is some sensible
(and hopefully easy) way to give all these tapes a good cleaning. I think
they deserve to be preserved. Any help or suggestions will be greatly
appreciated.
Warmest [removed] Frantz
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Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 18:06:52 -0500
From: Derek Tague <derek@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: HAY! for what it's WORTH
Dear Charlie & Co.:
I found an interesting juxtaposition in the recent posting by my buddy
Anthony Tollin ["that's a Coke, son!"--inside joke]. anyway, here goes:
Anthony [removed]
A group of Hollywood and radio's elite
including Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, Edward G. Robinson, Danny Kaye,
Gene Kelly, Ira Gershwin, Rita Hayworth and Norman Corwin formed the
Committee for the First Amendment to fight the blacklist (with many of the
above appearing on Corwin's ABC broadcasts AMERICA FIGHTS BACK).
And then later about Jackson Beck:
Jackson himself was a victim of the blacklist ... Jack too lost QUICK AS A
FLASH because of the
blacklist, though he was quickly restored to good graces when Vinton Hayworth
and others discovered that Jack was a brother Freemason.
I never knew Rita Hayworth to be overtly political as, say, her fellow
aforementioned colleagues in "Americans for the First Amendment" [unless one
considers that she was once married to Orson Welles, who was quite political
in the 1930s]. But aren't the Hayworths, Rita and Vinton, related somehow?
If so, then it's obvious that either one were on opposite sides of the 1940s
efforts of Congressman J. Parnell Thomas, [removed] Would anybody out in the
ether happen to know if these particular political stances caused a rift in
their releationship [provided, of course, they're related]? The only thing
"red" I can envision was her hair colour when she played the titular role in
that James Cagney movie "The Strawberry Blonde." [OK-OK, I appropriated that
line from Desi Arnaz].
Waiting on an answer,
Derek Tague
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 18:07:14 -0500
From: Ed Kindred <kindred@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Anyone recommend a mp3/CD player sold in UK
I tried to send this note off-line unsuccessfully.
Here is a site for Philips products available in the UK. Maybe it will
help.
There are probably others but I figured that the Euro monster would have a
very international website.
Be of good cheer,
Ed Kindred
[removed];groupId=AUDIO&catId=PORTABLEAUDIOPRODUCTS
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 18:11:46 -0500
From: Geoff Loker <gloker@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: McCarthyism: Reuben Ship's "The
Investigator"
According to Joyce Brabner:
The story of the CBC
broadcast's suppression and clandestine distribution is pretty amazing.
You'll find it at
[removed]
Thanks for the pointer to the page on "The Investigator" - an interesting
read.
There's a recent new Canadian recording starring John Drainie, Barry
Morse & James Doohan as an audio book, but why bother?
Sorry, but it is not a new recording. This is the original broadcast from the
CBC Stage series. John Drainie was the actor who managed, so I have heard, to
nail down McCarthy's sound and vocal mannerisms so well.
As for "why bother", the CBC has wonderful archives full of old programmes
that have not been heard for many years. Unfortunately, they haven't got a
great track record of bringing out this old material, which is part of why
there is not so much Canadian OTR around in comparison to [removed] OTR. By
purchasing these tapes, it helps to encourage the CBC to bring out more.
Also, the tape of "The Investigator" also comes with the CBC Stage version of
"Heart Of Darkness", starring Lorne Greene as Kurtz.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 18:12:14 -0500
From: "George Tirebiter" <tirebiter2@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Senator McCarthy
Hello All:
Kenneth Clarke wrote:
Why was it that the entertainment industry was so
summarily targeted? Why didn't McCarthy research his allegations
against these people more thoroughly before publicly placing
their names on a list which damaged many of their careers?
During a time when we were already having to fight enemies
outside of our country, why did McCarthy feel it was necessary to
start an entirely new war within it?
Someone once described McCarthy as a man who was fundamentally attracted to
dishonesty even when honesty would have better served his purposes. I think
that is the best one sentence summary of the man and the "ism".
George
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 23:15:11 -0500
From: "J. Pope" <jpope101@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Stalinist??
Two, to indicate the extent to which many prominent actors and artists
have been inveigled to lend their [removed] to organizations espousing
Communist causes. THIS REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THEY ACTUALLY BELIEVE IN,
SYMPATHIZE WITH, OR EVEN RECOGNIZE THE CAUSE ADVANCED.
This doesn't sound like intimidation or thought-policing to me. It's
not even accusing those "prominent actors and artists" of having communist
leanings - just of being gullible enough to "lend their names" to things
they don't really agree with or understand. Where's the chilling evil??
Jennifer
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 23:17:50 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: A Sidepoint on the Blacklisting
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Although this is tangential to OTR, there's one thing of interest.
Edward G. Robinson was one of those who was considered "questionable."
In his biography, All My Yesterdays, Robinson's career was virtually
over, but Cecil B. Demille hired him to play a major part in The Ten
Commandments. Demille was considered such a rock-solid anticommunist
that Robinson's career was saved: if he was okay with Demille, he had to
be okay, period. Whatever else, Demille went his own way.
To nail it to OTR, Demille was host of Lux Radio Theater from 1936 -
1945, and his departure from that show was because he refused to
sacrifice his principles.
Stephen A. Kallis, Jr
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Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 23:27:37 -0500
From: "Gary Yoggy" <yoggy@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Blacklisting
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Though I hesitate to get involved in such an emotional issue as blacklisting,
I think Howard Blue's book is excellent: well organized, well researched and
factual, highly readable and a magnificent addition to the ever-growing
academic study of the history of broadcasting in the US.
What truly frightens me in this whole "debate" is the way in which the
defenders of those who participated in the blacklisting of their fellow
actors, etc. seem to justify the TACTICS they used whatever their motives (and
dare I say I'll bet more were motivated by self-survival than patriotism).
Guilt by association based upon the assumption that it is better to wrongly
crucify 100 innocent men than to let one guilty one escape. But then, of
course, the end justifies the means!!! Can't these people see that the
blacklisters were playing right into Communist hands, for it was Karl Marx
himself who preached this very strategy.
Once again kudos to Howard Blue for his fine [removed] disappointment for
those who fail to see the REAL danger in blacklisting. Gary Yoggy
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 23:32:57 -0500
From: "Ian Grieve" <austotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: BLACKLISTING
I for one enjoyed the debate on the "Blacklisting", "Communism",
"redlisting", "McCarthyism" etc, not much in the way of blood was spilled
and I learnt a lot about a subject I only vaguely knew about. I thank those
who gave an opinion and I thank Charlie for allowing it to continue to a
pretty natural end.
Ian Grieve
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #480
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