------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2003 : Issue 51
A Part of the [removed]!
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
a JACK WEBB question [ CHET <voxpop@[removed]; ]
Duffy's Tavern [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
Robert Rockwell [ Shamrock <misterlj@[removed]; ]
Washington DC [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
"Black" Humor [ "Russ Butler" <oldradio@[removed] ]
The Bob Hawk Show & Breakfast Club [ Jpotter64@[removed] ]
WW2 any good? [ "joe@[removed]" <sergei01@earthli ]
Questions about Father Coughlin [ Albert Fields <nick98tom00@[removed] ]
The New Dragnet [ lawrence albert <albertlarry@yahoo. ]
Gasoline Alley [ "Joe Cline" <[removed]@[removed] ]
Accent on accents [ Richard Carpenter <sinatra@ragingbu ]
Ghosts in a sit-com [ "Joe Cline" <[removed]@[removed] ]
re: who played Mr kitzell [ "tjkage" <tjkage@[removed]; ]
MP3 players [ Kurt E Yount <blsmass@[removed]; ]
Err ... Not Quite [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
Is that what's bothering you, bunky? [ Roo61@[removed] (Randy Watts) ]
Eddie Lawrence [ "Don Frey" <alanladdsr@[removed] ]
RE: mp3 Radio [ "Jan Krzok" <jkrzok@[removed]; ]
RE: mp3 Radio [ "Jan Krzok" <jkrzok@[removed]; ]
Cleveland, Seattle, and "Standard Am [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]
OTR Soaps? [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
the phil baker show [ Ruk77@[removed] ]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 21:55:19 -0500
From: CHET <voxpop@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: a JACK WEBB question
when i was around 16 or 17 jack webb had 2 shows that i remember
listening to and havent heard either of them since.
pat novak for hire and johnny modero.
in one of these shows he used extremely clever descriptive phrases ie
"he had as much chance as a christmas tree salesman in july" and "the
butler opened the door ..his eyes were blue the color of washed out levis"
the question [removed] show was it with the colorful phrases?
thanx, chet norris
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 21:55:53 -0500
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Duffy's Tavern
There was a difference between Duffy's Tavern the radio show, and Duffy's
Tavern the television show. (The movie barely resembled anything like the
radio show except for the first few minutes).
In 1945, Paramount wanted to bring Duffy's Tavern into a full-fledged
feature film and as often as many studios did, this movie featured tons of
Hollywood actors in small supporting roles (often in four or five minutes at
a time) because the studios had actors under contract. Goddard, Crosby,
Benchley and many others appeared in brief appearances. Ed Gardner starred
as Archie, but eventually all he does is roam about city with friends,
trying to clear himself out of a situation that doesn't even take place in
the tavern like the radio series did. There is only one brief sequence
worth the price of admission: Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake are performing a
radio skit and at one point Ladd threatens (in the script in front of a
microphone) to punch Lake in the eye. The lights go out and when they come
back on, it is Ladd - not Lake - who has the black eye!
The television series was a flop. Lasted 26 episodes and early on during
the season, Gardner was working out the technical aspects to make the series
televised in color - or so he was quoted in an issue of TV Guide - but it
never came to be. 26 black and white episodes and that was it. Some of the
episodes were adaptations of radio scripts dramatized during the early
fifties, others were apparently originals.
The radio series is still the best, with the comedy clean and crisp, and
very funny. For info about the radio program, you can check out the
articles on [removed].
For any parties interested in watching the movie or television shows, you
can check out [removed].
For any parties interested in listening to the radio series, especially
those who have not listened to the program yet, you can check out
[removed].
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 21:56:26 -0500
From: Shamrock <misterlj@[removed];
To: Old Time Radio <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Robert Rockwell
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Hi All:
I just read an obit on Robert Rockwell the actor best remembered as the
shy biology teacher Mr Boynton on the popular TV comedy "Our Miss
Brooks"
Seems Our Miss Brooks is being hit hard these days with the loss of
Richard Crena not too long ago.
Got me to thinking - Did Rockwell play Mr. Boynton on the Radio, or was
it always Jeff Chandler ???
I know Rockwell did the movies cause I have copies, but do not remember
him on the radio show, and I think I have most of them.
Any of you remember him on radio ???
Larry Killeen
misterlj@[removed]
[server removed an attachment of type text/x-vcard which had a name of
[removed]]
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------------------------------
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 21:57:06 -0500
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Washington DC
if anyone lives in or within driving distance of Washington, [removed], and is
interested in making a little extra cash, please contact me. A private
collection of Old-Time Radio material just became available and my hechtic
9-5 will not allow me any free weekday to travel to [removed] (I would have no
problem doing it myself but we are so short-staffed at my job that I'm
working 52 hours a week at present and my work schedule for the entire month
of February offers no free time.)
I am willing to pay anyone for their time and trouble who can travel into
[removed], gather the material and mail it to me.
Martin Grams, Jr.
mmargrajr@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 21:57:38 -0500
From: "Russ Butler" <oldradio@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: "Black" Humor
<<Ted posted that he didn't know Digger O'Dell was black>>
"Black humor" is a sense of absurdity, common themes include death, personal
misfortune and other morbid subjects. Digby O'Dell was not African
American, but
a character that had tragicomic lines in the radio script which were
actually quite funny.
As a mortician, he could say lines like "I'll be the last one to let you
down" or "I'd better be shoveling off" (as in burying the casket). or, as
Dr. Kallis posted "You're looking very natural" (referring to embalming.)
Digby was only a reoccurring character in the weekly "Life of Riley"
episodes.
Ted is correct saying that "Digger" was a voice of conscience showing up in
the script when Riley was in the deepest trouble (as Riley would say: "What
a revoltin' development this is!") Digger usually had a plausable
suggestion in "The Life of Riley" while meeting in their conversations on a
walk that probably solved his troubling issue, then Digger would disappear
in the nightime blackness.
Russ Butler oldradio@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 21:57:45 -0500
From: Jpotter64@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: The Bob Hawk Show & Breakfast Club
The above two shows were on the air for quite some time.
I've not seen any Bob Hawk shows in circulation and very few Breakfast Club
and they were AFRS.
Is there any availability for these programs, say between 1942 and 1947, or
if at all?
Thanks.
Jim
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 21:57:55 -0500
From: "joe@[removed]" <sergei01@[removed];
To: "OTR List" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: WW2 any good?
I know a lot of collectors look down upon AFRS versions of radio shows, but
given the amount of material that has survived in no other form, I think we
should consider it a blessing to have what we have that we would not
otherwise have.
Joe Salerno
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 22:02:25 -0500
From: Albert Fields <nick98tom00@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Questions about Father Coughlin
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Hi:
Those interested in finding more information about Father Coughlin should
check the following book. "Radio Priest Charles Coughlin The Father of Hate
Radio" by Donald Warren published in 1996.
Al Fields
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Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 23:03:28 -0500
From: lawrence albert <albertlarry@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: The New Dragnet
Why couldn't the new Joe Friday be the grandson of the
original, whose
father was the product of a failed marriage? That
would explain the
difference in attitudes neatly.
Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.
I love OTR, but it is a hobby not a religion. The
shows from OTR are part of a time that is gone and
will never return. The Joe Friday character is no more
sacred then Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan or The Shadow.
These figures have all been reinterpeted by each of
the different actors that played them, why not Joe
Friday? He's just as fair game. As it the entire
concept of Dragnet. The new show, if done in the style
of the old would be a joke. The target audience of the
networks and advertisers would laugh it off the
screen. As it is, from the reviews I've already read I
doubt the show will be with us too long.
The general public at large could care less if the
producers adhere to the old Jack Webb format. What
they want is entertainment. I seriously doubt if most
of the audience under thirty have ever even heard of
the old show let alone seen it.
As OTR collectors we have our MP3s, our
cassettes, our reel to reels and our vidoes of the
original. And that's what we'll have to settle for.
Remember entertainment weather it was OTR or TV is
driven by the how much money it will bring in. All
such properties are commedities to be exploited and
Dragnet is no different. Jack Webb certainly knew that
and made use of it.
I love th old show, but I'm willing to give the new
one a chance. A hundred years from now nobodies goning
to care anyway.
With a deep respect for the old days,
but unwilling to be ruled by them.
Larry Albert
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 23:26:30 -0500
From: "Joe Cline" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Gasoline Alley
The current strip (and the archive link) is at:
[removed]
Joe Cline ([removed]@[removed])
Charlotte
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 23:26:52 -0500
From: Richard Carpenter <sinatra@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Accent on accents
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I'm enjoying the thread on regional accents and have a couple of thoughts
that are only marginally related to old time radio, if at all.
The first concerns an old time movie that also represents something good that
came out of World War II: "The Best Years of Our Lives." Although the film
was set in the Midwest, Harold Russell, playing an amputee named Homer
Parrish, spoke with a strong Boston accent. That accent was never explained.
Russell, of course, wasn't a professional actor so it would have been too
much to ask him to speak Midwestern, but I've always thought they could have
inserted a line for Homer to speak, such as, "Wen I was growing up in Boston.
..." Non-professional with Boston accent and all, he gave one of fildom's
most moving performances ever.
The second comment is about how hard it is to completely lose a regional
accent. Despite diction lessons, Sinatra still had a bit of New Jersey in
that marvelous voice. He would say or sing "heah" instead of "here," for
example. The same can be said of Barbra Streisand and Brooklynisms. Actually,
the same can be said for me. When I was still a student, I thought I might go
into broadcasting and decided to lose my Boston accent. I never did go into
broadcasting and I never completely lost my accent, either. Oh, I always say
"car" instead of "cah," but I still pronounce "yesterday" as "yestidday" and
even "Richard" as "Richud." You can take the boy out of the country, but ....
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------------------------------
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 23:27:03 -0500
From: "Joe Cline" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Ghosts in a sit-com
The show was Topper (based on a novel by Thorne Smith and a movie that
starred Cary Grant.) The cast included Anne Jeffreys and Robert Sterling
as George and Marion Kerby, killed in a car crash along with their
martini-slurping St. Bernard, Noel; the three of them would appear only to
uptight banker Cosmo Topper, played by Leo G. Carroll. Cosmo's wife was
played by Lee Patrick.
Some of the shows were written by a very young Stephen Sondheim.
Joe Cline [removed]@[removed]
Charlotte
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 23:27:09 -0500
From: "tjkage" <tjkage@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: re: who played Mr kitzell
Artie Auerbach
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 23:27:19 -0500
From: Kurt E Yount <blsmass@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: MP3 players
I am a blind person and have collected radio shows for years. I have
recently gotten into MP3 old radio programs. I have noticed that the
player I got, a walkman type which costs about $50, plays certain shows
badly. I have been told that itis because of the bit rate at which the
original shows were recorded. I have also noticed this problem with
certain tutorial MP3s. Does anybody know if a player which costs a
little more but is still a walkman type will play these shows better?
Kurt
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 23:27:54 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Err ... Not Quite
Jim Arva notes,
on the 50's TV sit-com "Topper", Leo G. Carroll played the part of a
ghost who would appear and disappear occasionally throughout the program.
There was a young couple and a dog in the program. I believe the woman
was Ann Jeffreys.
Umm ... this is better mentioned in The Kinescope, but Leo G. Carroll was
the human (the title character, Cosmo Topper) and the young couple were
the ghosts, the Kirbys, as was their dog, a ghost of a St. Bernard named
Neil.
Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 09:05:39 -0500
From: Roo61@[removed] (Randy Watts)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Is that what's bothering you, bunky?
I have been racking my brains trying to
remember the name of a comedian who was
popular back in the 50's and 60's <snp> The
only line I remember him saying "Is that's
what's bothering you, Bunky?". The comedy
bits always started with sentences like "You
say your mother-in-law" or some such thing
that was a whole list of bad thing that would
happen to a person.
Sounds like Eddie Lawrence's "The Old Philosopher" routines. They were
staged as conversations, with the Philosopher recounting increasingly
outlandish lists of someone's troubles, in the "You say [removed]" manner
you describe, ending with some variation on the question, "Is that
what's troubling you, fella?" all accompanied by soft, sentimental
music. These would be punctuated by a crash of cymbals and several
seconds of some loud, patriotic tune, over which the Philospher would
shout words of encouragement, with enthusiastic, flag-waving fervor.
Lawrence recorded numerous variations on this routine for singles and
LPs released on a number of labels over the years, but I have no idea if
any of them has ever been reissued on CD.
Randy
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 09:05:15 -0500
From: "Don Frey" <alanladdsr@[removed];
To: "otr message" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Eddie Lawrence
Kenneth Ruggles was asking who was the "Is that what's troubling you bunky?"
guy.
He was Eddie Lawrence and billed himself as the "Old Philosopher." He was
great.
Wish I could find his albums. My favorite line was from his "disc jockey"
LP. "You say
the president of your fan club beat up an old lady in an [removed]"
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 09:19:48 -0500
From: "Jan Krzok" <jkrzok@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: RE: mp3 Radio
Be sure to take a disc of OTR mp3 files with you. I Have a Memorex mp3
playing CD player and it will not play mp3s encoded at 32k/22 which is what
most OTR files are encoded at. To get the files to play I have to convert
them to 64k/44. The problem with this is that there is a resulting loss of
audio quality (files get converted to wav format and them reripped to mp3;
in effect you are copying a copy). At low encoding rates you also sometimes
(even at 64/44)get weird audio artifacts (beeps, bloops, feedback whistles)
which are not only annoying but may run the risk of damaging your speakers.
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 21:34:54 -0500
From: danhughes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: MP3 radio
Bob says (of the Memorex 3123): "I found what I was seeking at Radio
Shack- Memorex #3123 for $[removed]"
This is a small boombox, and it is on sale right now (at least on the
Radio Shack web site) for $[removed] Think I'll check it out this
[removed]
---Dan
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 09:19:52 -0500
From: "Jan Krzok" <jkrzok@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: RE: mp3 Radio
Bob says (of the Memorex 3123): "I found what I was seeking at Radio
Shack- Memorex #3123 for $[removed]"
This is a small boombox, and it is on sale right now (at least on the
Radio Shack web site) for $[removed] Think I'll check it out this
[removed]
Be sure to take a disc of OTR mp3 files with you. I Have a Memorex mp3
playing CD player and it will not play mp3s encoded at 32k/22 which is what
most OTR files are encoded at. To get the files to play I have to convert
them to 64k/44. The problem with this is that there is a resulting loss of
audio quality (files get converted to wav format and them reripped to mp3;
in effect you are copying a copy). At low encoding rates you also sometimes
(even at 64/44)get weird audio artifacts (beeps, bloops, feedback whistles)
which are not only annoying but may run the risk of damaging your speakers.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 09:19:56 -0500
From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Cleveland, Seattle, and "Standard American
English"
To add to the pile. Being from central Washington state, one would >think
we had no accent. I never realized how I talked until moving >and
listening to myself on tape. In the 50's, there was little >influence on
us - we really were just about in the middle of nowhere >with school and
radio our only social contact. My folks were from >Oregon and Montana, two
relatively non-accent areas.
In 1953, my mother worked for the public relations division of the Ohio Bell
Telephone Company in downtown Cleveland. Splendid building. She told me
that NBC's Cleveland station (WNBK, Ch. 4, I think) had studios in that
building. Mr Murtough would presumably know for sure.
In any event, she often came home with stories of radio and TV operations in
Cleveland. One thing she told me is that lots of announcers, etc, came from
Cleveland, supposedly because Cleveland's speech, which derives from that of
central Connecticut, was considered accent-neutral, and that the only other
locale to have this honor was Seattle, Washington.
Filial loyalty aside, Heaven only knows if this is remotely correct. It
does have the ring of truth to it, though--there were _lots_ of announcers
and radio people from Cleveland.
I've since heard it said that a southern California accent makes you sound
like you're from nowhere, too. Personally, I've spent years in
richly-accented areas: the Connecticut shoreline cities, Pittsburgh, and
graduate school in Mississippi--and I've picked up almost nothing to temper
my nasal Cleveland Heights whine.
And finally, thanks everyone for the discussions on radio accents. I'm very
glad that Ms McLeod and others have finally confirmed my suspicion that
radio actors and the general public were likely influenced by a 'good
English' movement as well as theater dialogue directed more toward
projection than authenticity. It explains a lot of what I've heard on early
recordings and films. Any further amplifications will be appreciated.
Mark Kinsler
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 09:19:59 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: OTR Soaps?
Richard Langham mentions Lifebuoy Soap.
In the OTR days, there was a "soap joke":
"May I hold your Palmolive?"
"Not on your Lifebuoy."
Both advertised on OTR programs.
Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 09:28:04 -0500
From: Ruk77@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: the phil baker show
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there was a show called the phil baker show and there was a ghost called
beetle who would heckle phil. The ghost, Beetle, appeared as a guest star on
the Jack Benny program 1/16/39. Does any one have a copy of the phil baker
show? I have not found it at any vender?
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End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #51
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