Subject: [removed] Digest V2005 #184
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 6/17/2005 10:18 AM
To: [removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2005 : Issue 184
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Scariest Show                         [ ".dan." <ddunfee@[removed]; ]
  USA shows redone in other countrys    [ John Ruklick <ruklick55@[removed]; ]
  Listen to Gordon Baxter               [ Bhob <bhob2@[removed]; ]
  Re: "Buddy Discs"                     [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
  AFRS 12 inch disks                    [ [removed]@[removed] ]
  No brainer quiz                       [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Black and Blue                        [ Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@erols ]
  Richard Thorne                        [ Joseph Barth <jbarthotr@[removed]; ]
  Re: "Cold Equations"                  [ Jim Widner <widnerj@[removed]; ]
  12" transcriptions                    [ "joe@[removed]" <sergei01@earthli ]
  This weekend with Walden Hughes       [ BryanH362@[removed] ]
  6-17 births/deaths                    [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]

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

Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2005 11:43:20 -0400
From: ".dan." <ddunfee@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Scariest Show

I don't recall the show or series but it was about a small town somewhere
in the midwest apparently in the 19th century.  There was an annual
gathering where a person was chosen by lot to be killed to ensure good luck
and crops for the coming year.  We are introduced to a family as they are
going to town getting to know them as individuals and the conversation is
about how unlikely it will be any of them chosen.  In town there are the
usual interactions with references from time to time to the coming event
but most talk is about the usual social and domestic matters of rural life.
In any case, one of them is chosen, from the family of course, and attempts
to run and the crowd runs them down and the deed is done.  Everyone
congratulates themselves on ensuring a good year to come.  The scary part
is the inevitable end in sight, the common agreement that it is normal and
for the common good and the person we have come to know as an individual is
chosen.  The slow inevitable procession to the undeniable end was nerve
racking and evoked the most profound sense of doom and our own mortality in
myself.  Does anyone know of this show and what series?

                                IC|XC

                               XB
                                IC|XC

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

Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2005 12:27:21 -0400
From: John Ruklick <ruklick55@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  USA shows redone in other countrys

Hello. I was doing some research about OTR, and I was sittting next to a guy
who had come all the way from Australia. He was researching shows, radio &
[removed], that had been done in more than one country. For example, I knew that
Inner Sanctum Mysterys had been done in Australia as well as the USA, and the
same with the Shadow. His reply was, "that's the most usefull information I
have come upon all week!". I mentioned our group and told him I would "ask
the experts".
    So here is the question: Does anyone know of a [removed] or radio show that
was done in the USA and also done in England or Australia? Or the reverse;
shows that were done over seas, then done in the USA.
    Thank you very much. Any information would be very useful to a guy who
came from the other side of the planet for this simple research.

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

Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2005 13:03:30 -0400
From: Bhob <bhob2@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Listen to Gordon Baxter

Clicking around this morning, I discovered I missed yesterday's tribute
to the legendary Gordon Baxter on KVLU (NPR in Beaumont, Texas), but
there's another one on KVLU Friday afternoon (6/17) at 3pm central. It's
a Baxter broadcast from 1959, followed by his 1986 audition program for
KVLU.

Info re KVLU tributes to Gordon Baxter (the Texas answer to Jean
Shepherd): [removed]

KVLU's Gordon Baxter shows: [removed]

Listen to Baxter on KVLU: [removed]
[Scroll down for "Choose your player and connection"]

Sherry Thorup's memories of Port Arthur and Gordon Baxter:
[removed]

Bhob

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

Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2005 14:13:03 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: "Buddy Discs"

On 6/16/05 11:51 AM [removed]@[removed] wrote:

Several months ago I came across on e-bay 12 inch vinyl transcription
discs for 4 different programs. I purchased three of them and when they
arrived I was quite surprised to find that the entire program including
commercials were on each disc. These discs are exactly like the 12"
vinyl records that became so popular after the war.

What you have here are what's commonly referred to as "Buddy Discs." They
were recorded and distributed in 1941-42 by the Morale Services Division
(later redesignated the Special Services Division) of the War Department.
These discs pre-date the establishment of AFRS, and were produced under
contract by the World Broadcasting System for distribution in "Buddy
Kits," packages which were sent out to various military units for
recreational use. Each kit included 25 "Buddy Disc" recordings of
commercial radio programs, along with a selection of ordinary phonograph
records, an assortment of paperback books, several harmonicas, a portable
radio, and a portable phonograph.

Approximately 82,500 of these discs were distributed over the life of the
project, including programs from the following series:

American Album of Familiar Music
Big Town
Bob Hope Show
Burns and Allen
Cities Service Concerts
Coca-Cola Spotlight Bands/Pause That Refreshes On The Air
Double or Nothing
Gang Busters
Fibber McGee & Molly
Kraft Music Hall
Lux Radio Theatre
Manhattan Merry-Go-Round
Old Gold Program
Saturday Night Serenade
Silver Theatre
Voice of Firestone
Waltz Time

Toward the end of the Buddy Kit program, several series created by the
Special Services Division for AFRS were also included in the packages,
including Command Performance, Downbeat, GI Jive, and Jubilee.

Were many of these made and why did the AFRS switch to 16" discs when
they could get a complete show on a 12 inch disc.  My idea is the 12
inch disc with the "micro grove" spacing were too fragile to hold up
physically. Apparently the record manufactures had the ability to put a
lot of material on a disc in the early 40's. After the war this "micro
grove" technology was improved and became very popular.

The Buddy Discs weren't quite microgroove -- the threads were merely more
closely spaced than usual, but were still played back with an ordinary
coarse-groove stylus. But they did wear very quickly, especially when
played back on acoustic phonographs, and when they're found today they're
usually in poor condition, having been passed from camp to camp for
months or even years after their initial release. The quality of the
recordings were short of broadcast-quality even when new, which wasn't
considered a problem since they were never intended for airplay.

Under the contracts with the advertising agencies, networks, and unions
which allowed them to be recorded, the Buddy Discs were not licensed for
broadcast use, and thus had nothing to do with AFRS. When AFRS was
established, it followed regular broadcast standards for its recordings,
leading to the adoption of the 16" format. This also had the advantage of
preventing illegal civilian use of the discs, since most people outside
the recording or broadcasting industries had no access to 16" equipment.

Elizabeth

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

Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2005 14:13:38 -0400
From: [removed]@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  AFRS 12 inch disks

Were many of these made and why did the AFRS switch to 16" discs when
they could get a complete show on a 12 inch disc.

AFRS did switch to 12 inch disks because I have several of them, but mine are
not old time radio shows. AFRS destroyed as many of the disks as possible so
they would not get into the hands of collectors, the agreement with the
original
broadcasters and record companies dictated that action.

Paul Urbahns
Radcliff, Ky

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

Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2005 16:22:27 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  No brainer quiz

Several years ago I got a tote bag which has Olde Tyme Radio sayings
printed on it. I know that for this crowd the sayings are no
brainers, but . . . what the heck.

1. "Oh No! Not That Door!"
2. "Henry! Henry Aldrich!" (This one is fairly obvious)
3. "This is your host . . ."
4. "Hello, Is Anybody?"
5. "Well, Portland."
6. "[removed]"
7. "Jello Again . . ."
8. "Buzz Me, Miss Blue!"
9. "Say, 'Goodnight,' Gracie."

Ron

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

Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2005 16:23:14 -0400
From: Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Black and Blue

Melanie Aultman asks:

Are any episodes of "Adventures of Detectives Black and Blue" [comedy
crime show from Los Angeses radio station KHJ, l932-l934] available?
Any other information appreciated.

Although 333 episodes were recorded as a syndicated series during
1932-34, only five episodes have survived and of those five, only two
are consecutive.  Most OTR dealers and collectors have them in their
inventory.

Jack French
Editor: RADIO RECALL
<[removed]>

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

Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2005 00:57:50 -0400
From: Joseph Barth <jbarthotr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Richard Thorne
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Hello,

I'm trying to get in touch with Richard Thorne, Producer/Writer of the "Hall
of Fantasy" series, or his family.  If anyone has information, please forward
me a private email.

Thanks,
Joe

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

Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2005 00:58:54 -0400
From: Jim Widner <widnerj@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: "Cold Equations"

Bhob wrote:

Godwin's obvious source was a story titled "A Weighty Decision" in the
EC comic book WEIRD SCIENCE (May-June 1952).

A couple of interesting sidenotes to this. The radio version describes
the woman as married and stowing away on the ship so that she can get to
her husband who is on the planet the ship is traveling toward.

In the EC comic, the woman was an adult woman who is the girl friend of
the pilot of the ship on which she has stowed away.

But in the original Godwin story, the girl is a young teen who wants to
see her brother.

In my research for our book on Science Fiction on Radio I found that
this element was altered by the scriptwriters to meet censorship demands
at the time characterizing a young girl being killed versus an adult
woman. Apparently, more palatable to the listeing public.

Also, the story on the EC comic plagerism goes that Godwin wrote his
story, but felt the depressing ending would never sell to his editor,
John W. Campbell, so his original draft had the girl somehow being
saved.  But Campbell told Godwin this was false and told him to change
the ending to the tragic conclusion, which he did. In some ways, it
seems Campbell drove Godwin back into a closer plagerism of the comic.

Jim Widner

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

Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2005 01:00:30 -0400
From: "joe@[removed]" <sergei01@[removed];
To: "OTR List" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  12" transcriptions

(In our previous episode, Richard Fisher asked about 12" transcription
discs.)

Congratulations on your new acquisition Richard. Prior to the creation of
the Armed Forces Radio Service, The Red White & Blue programs you refer to
were the means by which radio shows were made available to servicemen in
what I believe was called a "buddy kit". I believe they were also
distributed to military hospitals. I saw a picture on the net once of a
service man relaxing in the field with a  phonograph. The caption referred
to this as a buddy kit. I was not able to locate that picture again.
However, if you look at
[removed] they refer to a "B
kit" or buddy kit as including a 16" turntable and some transcriptions.
Perhaps the term evolved.

The most info I have ever found in one place on these records is in
Mackenzie's Directory of the Armed Forces Radio Service Series (Greenwood
Press). Mackenzie refers to Stuart Delay Jr.'s 1951 dissertation on the
AFRS. In 1942 there were no less than six government agencies releasing
entertainment type programs. Major Gordon Hittenmark conceived his buddy kit
plan in the autumn of 1941, just prior to Pearl Harbor. A "B kit" contained
a portable radio, a hand wound [removed] rpm turntable with acoustic and
electric pick ups, needles, 48 records, 25 1/2 hour transcriptions of
domestic programs, 6 paper back books and 7 harmonicas. In his research
Delay found documents for advertiser commitments for such shows as Pause
That Refreshes, Voice of Firestone, Fibber McGee and Molly, Burns & Allen,
Big Town, Lux Theatre, Bob Hope, Tom Mix, Gang Busters, Bing Crosby and Old
Gold. 82,500 records were produced and distributed to camps. The Special
Service Division produced some of their own shows, such as Jubilee,
Downbeat, and GI Jive. I don't recall ever seeing any of these shows on the
12" format myself. I must ask, if these shows were produced in such
quantities, why are they seen so seldom these days? Mackenzie's book also
states that 16" transcriptions were being produced at the same time as the
12" ones. Mackenzie does not say when the 12" production ceased.

Unlike the familiar AFRS ETs, these records were not edited for commercials
since they were never intended for re-broadcast. Like AFRS ETs, they rotated
at [removed] rpm and used a groove similar to that of a 78 rpm record. They
played for about 15 minutes per side so a complete show would fit on one
record, or an hour show on 2. The break would come when the space was used
up, even if it might be in the middle of a joke. They were not "exactly"
like a vinyl LP record, this latter used a much finer groove and required a
stylus of comparable proportions to play properly. It is not that LP grooves
hadn't been tried. Edison and others tried it in the early 30s. It just
never caught on, mainly because during the depression few had money to spend
on records, let alone expensive new gadgets like this when radio provided
free music. I think the government took the path of least resistance - using
the currently available technology instead of trying to develop a new one.
Generally, I would have to say that 16" ETs have better sound quality than
the smaller cousins, owing to the faster write speed of a 16" disc.

I have some of these in my collection.  I have often wondered about the
scope of the programs included in this series. I have some silimilar to what
you describe and a Red Skelton and Jack Benny program (neither listed in
Delay's list which did not claim to be exhaustive). Most of the ones I have
seen have programs very low in this series (like 1 or 9) but no dates. I
think they would be 1941-1942 vintage. After posting about the contents of
the programs on this e-mail list and the OTR newsgroup, a few kind
collectors provided me with some dates for some of my shows.

Joe Salerno

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

Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2005 07:35:26 -0400
From: BryanH362@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  This weekend with Walden Hughes
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Heard live on yesterdayusa (live streaming at _[removed]_
([removed]) ).

Friday , Saturday , Sunday  7:30 pm PDT

Hi listed below is the week end line up

Friday  6-17-05

A.  Frank Bresee interview with John Milton Kennedy who was  the announcer
for Lux Radio Theater for 10 years.  John will be  celebrating is 93 birthday
soon.

B.  Frank and Walden interview  with Page Cavanaugh and Mark Miller

Show that will be played that include  Page are Song By Sinatra 12-4-46,
Spike Jones, and Thanks giving special by  Elgon.

Saturday 6-18-05

A.  Dick Bertel and Ed Corcorcan  interview with John Gibson

B.  interview with  Mark Miller  singer

C.  Bing Crosby 12-20-50

C.  two Screen  Guild
D.
two Kraft Music Hall with Al Jolson

Sunday  6-19-05

A.  Laura Leff present Screen Guild of 1-8-39 with Jack  Benny Judy Garland,
Joan Crawferd, and George Murphy

B.  Mike  Biel

C. interview with Don Cornell

D.  Phil Harris and  Alice Faye

E.  Our Miss Brooks

F.  Fibber McGee and  Molly

G.  Great Gildersleeve

H.  Lux Radio Theater from  1953

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

Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2005 07:35:29 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  6-17 births/deaths

June 17th births

06-17-1877 - Charles Coburn - Savannah, GA - d. 8-30-1961
actor: "Roses and Drums"; "Song of Liberty"
06-17-1882 - Igor Stravinsky - Oranienbaum, Russia - d. 4-6-1971
composer: "Columbia Work Shop"; "New York Philharmonic"
06-17-1894 - Harold Levey - NYC - d. 6-18-1967
composer, conductor: "Theatre Guild on the Air"
06-17-1904 - Ralph Bellamy - Chicago, IL - d. 11-29-1991
actor: "These Are Our Men"
06-17-1910 - Red Foley - Blue Lick, KY - d. 9-19-1968
singer: "National Barn Dance"; "Grand Ole Opry"; "Red Foley Show"
06-17-1914 - John Hersey - Tientsin, China - d. 3-24-1993
author: "Bell for Adano"; "Hiroshima"
06-17-1919 - Beryl Reid - Hereford, England - d. 10-13-1996
actress: Monica "Educating Archie"
06-17-1921 - Ben Morris - Oklahoma City, OK - d. 8-18-1982
actor: Pat Novak "Pat Novak for Hire"
06-17-1922 - Jerry Fielding - Pittsburgh, PA - d. 2-17-1980
conductor: "Hardy Family"; "Jack Paar Show"; "You Bet Your Life"
06-17-1923 - Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch - Wausau, WI - d. 1-28-2004
pro football hall of fame, host: "Elroy Hirsch Sports Show"; "Touchdown Tips"

June 17th deaths

05-01-1907 - Kate Smith - Washington [removed] - d. 6-17-1986
singer, emcee: (Songbird of the South) "Kate Smith Revue"; Kate Smith Speaks"
06-07-1913 - Tom Collins - Chicago, IL - d. 6-17-1973
actor: Chandu "Chandu the Magician"; Nicholas Lacey "One Man's Family"
10-13-1915 - Hugh James - The Bronx, NY - d. 6-17-2001
announcer: "Voice of Firestone"; "Three Star Final"; "Big Town"
11-07-1868 - Royal Copeland - Dexter, MI - d. 6-17-1938
commentator: "Health Talk"; "Fleischmann Hour"
11-29-1906 - Luis Van Rooten - Mexico City, Mexico - d. 6-17-1973
actor: George Priestly "County Seat"; John Perry "John's Other Wife"; Nero
Wolfe "Nero Wolfe"
12-02-1908 - Hy Gardner - NYC - d. 6-17-1989
columnist, author, host: Celebrity Interviews
12-15-1918 - Jeff Chandler - Brooklyn, NY - d. 6-17-1961
actor: Michael Shayne, "Michael Shayne, Detective"; Philip Boynton, "Our Miss
Brooks"
12-19-1882 - Bronislaw Huberman - Czestochowa, Poland - d. 6-17-1947
violinist: "A Tribute to . . . ."
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2005 Issue #184
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