Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #32
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 1/28/2002 11:47 AM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2002 : Issue 32
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  A Small Pekingese                     [ Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed] ]
  Wire and tape [removed]            [ "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed] ]
  Re: How did you listen to radio?      [ Fred Berney <berney@[removed]; ]
  Pesky Tunnels                         [ Conrad Binyon <conradab@[removed] ]
  Re: Fibber's Car                      [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
  re: Internet as boon to OTR           [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
  OTR and the Way We Were               [ Grbmd@[removed] ]
  Listening to OTR                      [ Richard Carpenter <sinatra@ragingbu ]
  OTR Cincy Convention update           [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
  Prerecorded News                      [ "Brian Johnson" <CHYRONOP@worldnet. ]
  Phil Harris                           [ "ejcooper2001" <ejcooper2001@[removed] ]
  Listening to Old Time Radio           [ BH <radioguy@[removed]; ]
  Today in radio history                [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
  Old brand name still on sale          [ John Henley <jhenley@[removed] ]
  Who Is It ?                           [ Richard Pratz <[removed]@[removed]; ]
  Gangbusters log                       [ DIANEK9331@[removed] ]
  more Fibber books!                    [ "Ben Ohmart" <bloodbleeds@[removed] ]
  OTR chat                              [ "bill Scherer" <bspro@[removed] ]

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

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 11:26:31 -0500
From: Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: A Small Pekingese

Critic,  Ken Crossen,  in an essay entitled  "There's Murder in the Air,"
discusses one script of THE FALCON which "had the murderer fire at a woman
from a distance of a few feet, with a Police Positive. The bullet struck a
small Pekingese dog which she held in her arms, killing the animal, but the
only injury to the woman was being knocked unconscious. The bullet,
apparently bouncing against the tough hide of the Peke, did not leave a
mark on her." [THE ART OF THE MYSTERY STORY by Howard Haycraft; Carroll &
Graf, New York, 1992], p. 305.

Anyone know which episode of THE FALCON this is, and whether it survives?

Crossen notes in this 1946 essay, "Death by shooting, on the air, is
manufactured with meticulous attention to how it will sound; the gun shot,
the hacking cough of a man shot through the large intestine, the fall of
the body. But there the care comes to an end. Radio thinks nothing of guns
that leave no powder marks when fired at close range, serial numbers that
mysteriously vanish, revolvers with the firing power of rifles." [Ibid.]

Crossen further states, "Poison, in the realm of radio, means only one
thing -- prussic acid.  Victims are fed prussic acid in pill, liquid, or
any other form that seems convenient, and the only identification is the
odor.  Therefore, 799 times a year, a radio detective will sniff audibly
into a microphone and mutter something about bitter almonds." [Ibid.]

Crossen's negativism continues. "It is seldom that the police ever think of
fingerprinting a suspect; if they do they bungle it; and they obviously
view all criminology  with suspicion. The chief and only clue on a recent
major mystery show was the absence of a bullet hole in the shirt of a man
who had a bullet hole in his chest --all of which the police had
overlooked.  The detective discovered this when he viewed the corpse, still
fully clothed, in the morgue." [p. 305-6]

Crossen concludes that "...what happens to murder on the radio
is---murder." [p. 307]

Remember the year is 1946 when there were, at least, 30 mystery programs on
the air.  Comments?

Dennis Crow

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

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 11:30:04 -0500
From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed];
To: "Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Wire and tape [removed]

Thanks, Joe, for the date on tape recorders for consumers.  I was working in
a small town radio and appliance store during 1947 and 1948 and recall two
machines that came in about a year apart.  Both were WebCor machines.  The
first was a wire recorder and the second was a tape recorder.  The tape
machine had one of those green "magic eye" volume level indicators, and you
could reverse the tape at the end of the reel by just switching directions.
Don't recall the price, but both got customers into the shop just to see and
hear what one of these machines could do.  They came with small, low
fidelity microphones.
    Our high school bought one of each of the machines.   The music teacher
appointed me the recording engineer in 1947 when I worked with the
Wilcox-Gay Recordio disc cutter.  The wire recorder was a flop, but the tape
machine replaced the disc machine. If a student  wanted copies of band or
choir pieces, I dubbed them from tape to disc and charged them the cost of
the blank.

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

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

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 11:30:24 -0500
From: Fred Berney <berney@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: How did you listen to radio?

A recent posting got me thinking about what I use to do when I listened to
radio as a kid. I remember lying on the floor in front of the radio.

Other times I would be sitting at the dinning room table doing my homework
and listen to the radio. I have no idea how I did that. Today if I tried
that my mind would probably shut down. :-)

On Sunday's our family would go to the beach, we lived in Miami back then,
so I'd have my portable radio with batteries that would last about a couple
of hours, and I would listen to some shows. Or usually we would be in the
car driving back home around 5 PM and I would try and get everyone in the
car to be quiet while I listened to The Shadow.

I Love a Mystery was  on later than I was suppose to be staying up, so I
had a clock radio in my bed room and I would turn the volume down real low
and put my ear right next to the speaker and listen that way.

Of course I had to fight with my brother who was younger than me and trying
to sleep. If the radio was too loud he would tell my parents.

In the late 50's I recall lying on my bed and listen to shows like X Minus
One and Tarzan, while the rest of my family, (I still lived at home back
then) would be watching television.

I don't think I ever closed my eyes while listening, but I probably would
stare at the ceiling or just out into space. Before the days of television,
the mind would quickly create images with the eyes wide open.

Fred
For the best in Old Time Radio Shows [removed]

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

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 11:30:50 -0500
From: Conrad Binyon <conradab@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Pesky Tunnels

Christopher wrote:

..... from the statement determined why they were guilty of a
crime. In this case a driver of a car heard certain information > about the
crime while driving through a tunnel. The clever
detective determined she lied because *everybody knows* that a > tunnel
blocks radio reception.

One of my pet peeves.  There's a tunnel through the Santa Monica
mountains that whenever I drive through it the program to which
I'm listening always seems to be broadcast the most interesting
part of its information and the tunnel is long enough that I miss
it.  (It's similar to my wanting to turn left and there's always
some car approaching me down the lane I must turn through so that
I have to wait for them to pass)  At any rate I've always noticed
that tunnels that had trolley car wires through them never lost
the signal.  Why don't the builders of tunnels string a wire
through them as a courtesy for the listeners of car radios. *S*


--
conradab@[removed] (Conrad A. Binyon)
   From the Home of the Stars who loved Ranches and Farms
     Encino, California.

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

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 11:31:19 -0500
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Fibber's Car

  Ken Piletic wrote quoting me --

In issue 23, Joe Mackey writes:

"... And this brings up another question: Did Fibber own a car or not?"

He owned a car for at least one episode.  As I recall, Fibber was driving
his car and hit a bump after which there was a loud "clang".

  That episode is from 3/10/53.
  In the April, 1935 shows where Fibber and Molly arrive in Wistful
Vista they arrive by car.  On 1/16/40 Fibber's car is stolen, and stolen
again on 3/15/45 but he shops for a new one on 10/9/45.  (Musta been a
very early post war car!)
  But I was referring to Gildy's missing wife and Fibber having a car
then not having one, then having one again only to not have one a few
months or a year later.
  BTW, anyone know what Jack Benny drove _before_ his Maxwell?  I do.
Any guess what it was and when did he get the Maxwell?  If no correct
answer, I'll post it in a couple of days.  Laura can't play.  She knows
also.  :)
  Speaking of which, that Maxwell was reinCARnated.  On the 10/18/42
show he takes it to a scrap metal drive.  Yet a couple of years later,
at the most, he's again driving the same car.  (Maybe the war effort
didn't need scrap metal that much? <g>)
  Joe

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

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

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 11:32:02 -0500
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: re: Internet as boon to OTR

  Ryan Hall wrote --

I have to say that in my own personal experience, when I finally got hooked
up to the internet, I was astounded that there were other people like me who
liked OTR.

  Pretty much the same with me.
  I was interested in otr from an early age and assumed, since the shows
were done live they were lost in ether.  Once in a while I would come
across a show on the radio but had no way to record them until the
mid-80s, other than putting a mic near the speaker, which also picked up
any noise in the room.  Around 1988 I was on GEnie and found a area
where OTR was discussed (like a news group) and met Jim Widner (Hi Jim)
and learned about SPERDVAC's tape library.  When the catalogue came I
was in seventh heaven and started collecting.  Later I learned about
ORCA and raided their library.   In the mid '90s I got a pc with Win95
and was able to download shows from the net, then transfer them to
tape.  Due to being temporarily unemployed after 9/11 and low on cash I
decided to save shows, temporarily, on CD's.  With the lower costs of
CDRW's I decided it would be cheaper to save 100 shows on one CD rather
than 50 cassettes.  Since I had high speed and lots of free time I went
on a downloading frenzy.

but I thought for the longest time that I was only person in the world that
enjoyed such

  I get looks from people who think I'm strange for even being
interested in OTR, much less saving thousands of shows.  :)
  Joe

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

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

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 11:32:25 -0500
From: Grbmd@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: OTR and the Way We Were

In a message dated 1/27/02 12:05:02 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[removed]@[removed] writes:

Usually, for family favorite shows, there was a major "living room"
 radio, and listeners would congregate there to listen to its shows.  But
 while people were listening, they almost invariably did so with eyes
 open, "multitasking" with some other activity like assembling a jigsaw
 puzzle, doing a crossword, or the like.

Stephen Kallis nailed it, all right.

My mom, dad, and I would listen to a sequence of programs each night back in
the Forties, when I was in school and before I left for college and work in
the outside world.  Back then I could name you each half-hour's program and
station for each night of the week.  Generally, I had finished my homework
before supper (perhaps listening to the 15-minute serials such as "Superman"
and "Tom Mix").  After supper we all listened to the prime-time shows
(Fibber, Bergen, etc.) on a floor-model Majestic radio.

Generally my dad was reading something, my mom was knitting, and I was
drawing pictures on what they then called a Magic Slate -- the board with the
translucent film over the carbon-black backing.  I drew with a wooden stylus
and erased by lifting the film.  (I saved a lot of trees that way.)  My
pictures would generally track the program we were listening to; I'd draw the
hero, or the singer, or whatever.  At 10 o'clock I would go upstairs to wash
and finish listening to the shows in bed on my table radio until 11 [removed],
which was lights-out time.  Friday nights were special ones; I would bring up
a Pepsi and some potato chips and listen to the Gillette boxing matches from
Madison Square Garden (Louis, Graziano, Zale, etc.).

At one point in the Forties my dad and I rigged up a crystal set with a wire
antenna that ran from my room to the garage out back.  Then I could fall
asleep with headphones on, listening to OTR but not wasting any electricity.

Those were the days.

Spence

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

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 11:32:41 -0500
From: Richard Carpenter <sinatra@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Listening to OTR

   I must confess that, like a couple of others who have written, I have
things rigged so that my OTR MP3s or cassettes appear to coming from radios
of the 1930s or 1940s (replicas, in my case). It really does enhance the
listening experience -- and never mind the strange looks my wife has been
known to give me!

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

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 11:33:02 -0500
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: OTR Cincy Convention update

Bob Burchett e-mailed me this afternoon, regarding the Cincinnati
Convention.  Seems his e-mail is sent in "enriched type," what ever that is
(I'm computer illiterate), and the digest won't except that kind of type, so
he is unable to make a post on the digest personally.  He can, however, read
the digest and receive and send e-mails from person to person.

Anyone wishing to get more details about the Cincinnati convention can
contact Bob personally at haradio@[removed].

Once again, if you are within a day's driving distance of the Cincy
convention, it's worth the trip. Anyone who has ever attended an OTR
gathering has, at the very least, expressed interest in attending more, year
after year. It's really a lot of fun.

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

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 11:33:47 -0500
From: "Brian Johnson" <CHYRONOP@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Prerecorded News

Joining Mike Beil and Brian Johnson in midconversation:
B:
 "I have a copy of a CBS Admiral broadcast with a transcribed interview
with WACs on Guam. Interviews such as these were often scripted and then
prerecorded for security reasons.

M:
What was the date of the broadcast?  Live interviews were often scripted
as well.  There would be even LESS reason to script a pre-recorded interview
for security purposes.

The date was March 18, 1945. Bob Trout announces, "Two WACs are now
stationed on the Marianas. For a recording of an interview with them,
Admiral takes you to CBS San Francisco, Webley Edwards [removed]"

The subsequent interview is nothing earth-shattering, so I would suspect
that the reason for prerecording was probably a combination of both security
and convenience. At 2:30 EWT when "World News Today" aired it was 5:30 am in
Guam. "Excuse me, [removed] you read this script for me at 5:30 in the
morning as not to upset Mr. Paley?"

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

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 11:33:56 -0500
From: "ejcooper2001" <ejcooper2001@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Phil Harris

I 've ALWAYS loved the Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show in it's various sponsor
incarnations, so I am definitely biased. But I have also always thought that
the program was probably an acquired taste for most people then and now. It
seems to be filled with a lot of what I might call "in-crowd" humor. If you
followed the show closely every week, you were in on the hilarious nuances
in the reparte between Phil Harris and Elliot Lewis ("Frankie Remley") or
between Phil and Robert North (brother-in-law Willie) or between Phil and
Walter Tetley(Julius) , well you get the idea. It was almost like in-jokes
between members of one's own family.

And also thanks to the excellent reminiscence of Bill Murtough concerning
Arthur Godfrey.

Eric Cooper

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

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 11:34:14 -0500
From: BH <radioguy@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Listening to Old Time Radio

Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; comments:

What I do is play all  my radio shows through a replica of a cathedral
style Philco. It is a real
radio, but I use it as a speaker. It may sound stupid, but it really does
take me back to the good old days. >Try it.

Here is my otr listening post. OTR is transmitted via a low power
AM transmitter and I set back and relax and tune in the Zenith
Chairside set. Can't get any better than that for the feel of how
it used to be.

[removed]

Bill Harris

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

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 11:34:27 -0500
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Today in radio history

  From Those Were The Days --

1934 - As a result of a compliment paid on this day, by Walter Winchell,
in his newspaper column; a local disc jockey began receiving several
offers from talent scouts and producers. The DJ became known as the
Redhead, adored by thousands in Washington, DC and, later, by millions
across the country on CBS radio and TV. His trademark (strumming a
ukulele and delivering down-home patter) endeared him to fans for many
years. We remember the broadcasting legend, Arthur Godfrey. “I wanna go
back to my little grass [removed]”

1940 Beat the Band made its debut on NBC. The band was that of Ted Weems
and his 14 piece orchestra, who were joined by Elmo ‘The Whistling
Troubadour’  Tanner, Harry Soskind and Country Washington; announcers
Marvin
Miller and Fort Pearson; emcee, Thomas Garrison Morfit (aka Garry
Moore) and Hildegarde; and several noted singers, Marvel Maxwell and
Marilyn Thorne. One other star of the show was a barber from Pittsburgh,
PA (nearby Canonsburg, actually), who would record  many hits for RCA
Victor from 1943 right through the dawn of the 1970s. His name was Perry
Como.

Beat the Band was a funky show where listeners' questions were selected
in the hopes of stumping the band. If a
listener's question was chosen, he or she received $10.

The questions were posed as riddles: What song title tells you what
Cinderella might have said if she awoke one
morning and found that her foot had grown too large for her glass
slipper? If the band played the correct musical answer, Where Oh Where
Has My Little Dog Gone?, the listener lost.

When Raleigh cigarettes sponsored Beat the Band, the listener who beat
the band won $50 and two cartons of
cigarettes ... Raleighs, of course. When the sponsor changed to General
Mill’s Kix cereal, if the listener beat the band, he/she won twenty
bucks and a case of Kix cereal. Crunch. Crunch.

  Joe

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

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

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 11:34:55 -0500
From: John Henley <jhenley@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Old brand name still on sale

I seem to recall someone saying that Pepsodent toothpaste
had joined that list of Fabled Products Gone to the Consumer's
Graveyard.
I saw some tubes of Pepsodent at the Randall's grocery near my
house, a few days ago.  It was on the bottom shelf, and the word
"Value" was highlighted on the package; it was perhaps the most
inexpensive toothpaste the store was selling.
--
John Henley

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

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 11:35:26 -0500
From: Richard Pratz <[removed]@[removed];
To: "OTR (Plain Text Only)" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Who Is It ?

Hey gang, just for fun (I gotta get a life), can you identify the following
popular OTR figure in the 30's, 40's and 50's?

Although he appeared on many OTR programs, he was most closely associated
with one particular audience participation show on radio and later TV. (Jim
Cox, you can't play cause you're too smart and it was you who triggered this
memory for me in the first place with your book "The Great Radio Audience
Participation Shows" which I highly recommend by the way).

What's unusual about this man's show biz career is that he acted in over 35
movies and played in several "B" movie serials as Mandrake the Magician, The
Spider and The Green Hornet. Those cliff-hangers (and others) kept us kids
coming back to the theatre every Saturday.

Who is (was) he? Answer to follow later for those who don't know.

Rich

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

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 12:10:37 -0500
From: DIANEK9331@[removed]
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Gangbusters log

Does anyone know of a Gangbusters log available? Thanks,
Diane

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

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 12:10:32 -0500
From: "Ben Ohmart" <bloodbleeds@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: more Fibber books!

Incredibly, Charles Stumpf managed to grab hold of some more Heavenly Days books, 
still unopened. $30 each, US postage included. All proceeds go to paying Charles' last 
hospital bills from last month's heart attack, and to costs involved in our new 
Gildersleeve book, which will be out next month. Drop a line if you'd like one. I have 10 
sitting here. Thanks. 

[removed] If you'd like to preorder the Gildy book, please visit [removed]

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

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 13:43:06 -0500
From: "bill Scherer" <bspro@[removed];
To: "" old-time radio digest ">" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: OTR chat

Hi all,
I have heard about the OTR chats ever since they started.
For some reason I haven't taken part.  I think it is the fact of being busy
with the kids. <g>
What do I need to do to take part--any special software?
Bill

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #32
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