Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #147
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 4/8/2003 1:42 PM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2003 : Issue 147
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Gary Owens will be SPERDVAC's guest   [ "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@hotmail. ]
  Amos N Andy                           [ Howard Blue <khovard@[removed]; ]
  Struts and Frets                      [ Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed]; ]
  Dragnet.                              [ Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed]; ]
  The Comedian Harmonists               [ "Henry Brugsch" <Henry@listentohear ]
  how did the Shadow?                   [ "joe@[removed]" <sergei01@earthli ]
  Radio April Fool stunts               [ Dan Hughes <danhughes@[removed]; ]
  Howard's CUNY Panel                   [ dougdouglass@[removed] ]
  OTR Grids                             [ "Harry" <hb1379@[removed]; ]
  Re: "The Belmont Is On The Air"       [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
  HEY HEY HEY                           [ PURKASZ@[removed] ]
  Re: "Holy Grail"                      [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
  April 9th Birth Dates                 [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Cincinnati OTR Convention             [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]

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

Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2003 16:03:46 -0400
From: "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Gary Owens will be SPERDVAC's guest in May

SPERDVAC's guest speaker for May 10th has been confirmed. It's Radio Hall of
Famer GARY OWENS! From teen-aged DJ and big band remote announcer to
Hollywood radio-TV-movie [removed]  currently a teen-aged DJ again(!) Gary
is an almost 50 year veteran of radio, voice-over cartoons (Roger Ramjet,
Space Ghost), movies ("Love Bug"), TV (Laugh-In:6 years, The Gong Show,and
more). He'll have a lot of stories about his career during the changing
years at the end of the "Golden Age" and the following decades.

The meeting will be in meeting room A at the Westside Pavilion, corner of
Pico Blvd. and Overland in West Los Angeles, at 12 Noon on Saturday, May 10,
2003. For more information, contact Bobb Lynes,(323)256-5879
or email at iairotr@[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2003 16:05:44 -0400
From: Howard Blue <khovard@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Amos N Andy

I know that a number of times there have been threads about "Amos 'N
Andy" on the digest and I have to confess that I did not follow them very
closely.  So if the point that I'm about to raise has been made before,
I'll understand if people don't respond. (I'm dealing with this as one of
the topics for discussion by the panel at CUNY in Manhattan on Wednesday)

 I've read (in Michele Hilmes' book) that a major function of ethnic
humor has been to encourage a sense of community among various groups
that make up America.  And so it tends to exist in careful balance with
the sensibilities of the performers who along with the audiences
themselves frequently belong to the groups which they're satirizing. The
jokes leave off at the point where members of the audience no longer can
laugh at themselves. But in "Amos 'N Andy,"  neither the actors nor most
of the audience belonged to the satirized group. In fact, blacks had a
difficult time getting getting jobs on radio. This differs significantly
from the situation with The Goldbergs where at least the main actors were
Jews.

Given the tendency of  "Amos 'N Andy"  to portray its characters as
ignorant buffoons, wasn't it inevitably going to  be viewed by black
Americans as racist--and perhaps with good reason?

Howard Blue

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

Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2003 16:20:10 -0400
From: Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Struts and Frets

I'm not sure why Harry Bartell expected arguments as a
result of his Struts and Frets column. After all, he
was giving his thoughts and opinions about certain
aspects of his career, based on his own experiences.
If Hal Stone did such a column, for example, he would
have different thoughts and opinions, since he had
different experiences. The way I see it, the only way
Mr. Bartell's column should have generated any
(legitimate) arguments is if someone else who'd "been
there" had disputed certain facts.

At any rate, I enjoyed reading his columns. They were
very informative. It's too bad there won't be more,
but hopefully he'll continue to contribute to the list
from time to time.

As for [removed]

I'm still planning to pick up a copy of your book in
Cincinnati, despite what you did.

Don't deny it, Jug. I know you're the one responsible
for this morning's blizzard. I don't know how, but I
know it was you.

Unless, of course it was Reggie.

Nah, sweet innocent Reggie would never pull a nasty
trick like hitting us with an ice storm over the
weekend and a blizzard on Monday.

Rick

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

Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2003 16:20:53 -0400
From: Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Dragnet.

I don't remember if the recent discussion about the
1950s era half hour Dragnet TV series brought this up
or not, but there are some episodes available on DVD.
I bought a set at Borders that was on sale for $[removed]
It's put out by alpha video ([removed]) and
features four episodes, all adapted from radio. There
are no titles given, but I know I've heard the radio
version of at least one of them. These episodes
concern a wave of thefts by a kleptomaniac; a hit and
run murder of a grandmother and grandson; an abandoned
baby at a bus depot (the one I've heard on radio); and
four year old twins who are abducted are molested.

I found a number of things interesting about these
programs. First, just like the radio show, Joe Friday
gave a running narration of what he and Frank Smith
(and other officers at times) were doing in the course
of the investigation. Only, on TV, we see them talking
to witnesses or suspects or whomever while the
voiceover is taking place.

Obviously, it helps in a half hour format to move the
story along, and the voiceover does that, but it's
still kind of interesting, from a 2003 perspective to
see a scene played out that way. In most dramas today,
of course, we'd actually see the full scene in
question, or one character would relate to another
something that had happened off screen if there wasn't
time to show it.

Second, there was a scene in the kleptomaniac episode
(and I've heard similar scenes on radio) where the
store manager reveals that store personnel were
suspicious of one of their employees. He relates how
items were disappearing from the department she was
working in, and that after being transferred to
another department, they began disappearing from that
one as well. He talks at length about these incidents
and her denials, and only after Friday asks to speak
to her does he get around to mentioning that the woman
no longer works there.

You gotta love it. Unless, of course, you're Joe
Friday, trying to get some useful information.

It's also interesting how certain attitudes and
expectations have changed over the last 50 some years.
The idea that the grandmother, at 64 (or thereabouts)
was an old woman may have been true in the 1950s, when
life expectancies were a bit shorter than they are
today, but I think my Mom, who is 62, and a relatively
new grandmother, would disagree with the old woman
part. Today, you're in late middle age in your 60s.

Heck my grandmother, who is 94, is far from old. In
fact, her doctor told her a few years ago she's in
excellent condition for a woman in her 60s.

The other side of the coin, I suppose is that when you
look at people in old movies or TV shows of the 1950s
or earlier, an actor or actress in their early 20s
might look to be in their 30s. People seemed to age
faster back then for some reason. Maybe because most
people started families at a younger age, who knows?

Well, the Shadow does, but he's not telling.

Which reminds me. That same company that released the
Dragnet DVD has a DVD of something called "The
Invisible Avenger" with the tag line "Who Knows What
Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Men?"

Now where have I heard that before?

[removed]

Rick

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

Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2003 16:21:40 -0400
From: "Henry Brugsch" <Henry@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  The Comedian Harmonists

It's been a while since I have been on this list, a lot has happened here,
too much to go into now.
Anyway, just within the last few weeks I have been unearthing some old
memories.
A dat of about 2 hours or more of the Comedian Harmonists from various lps,
and listening to this fantastic group.
The music is at once compelling, and haunting. The first time listen may
produce an unexpected reaction to it.
A few of the songs sound like a bunch of chickens in concert. But, after a
while, you get into the sonic language of the group, and see what they are
about.
Anyway, I got hold of some documentaries on them, and a dvd of a 1999 movie
about 3 of them.
Fantastic material. The movie was compelling viewing, a must watch if you
find this group of interest.
But, my real reason for posting up here is:
There was a concert held by the Harmonists just before they broke up in the
'30s, thanks to the ospesies of the Nazies. 3 of them were Jewish, the
German government under Hitler saw fit to disband the group, and curtail
their opperations.
So, 3 of them left for the States, I believe, and the rest carried on in
Germany.
But, before they finnished, they held a concert in the States aboard the
carrier Saratoga.
At that time, the whole thing was relayed to the fleet via radio links.
So, the question arises, did anyone record this, and has it shown up in any
collections?
Be really interested in knowing if it did, and how I could get hold of the
concert, or any part of it.
Thanks
--
Henry Brugsch
[removed]
phone: +441562820090

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

Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2003 16:22:10 -0400
From: "joe@[removed]" <sergei01@[removed];
To: "OTR List" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  how did the Shadow?

the voice I mean. The filtering part is easy, but if the Shadow and another
character speak at the same time, how was the Shadow's voice acoustically
isolated from other mics (assuming multi-micing, which has not been shown in
photos generally) so that it would not bleed into other channels and leak
over the air un-filtered? Was he behind a gobo or in a booth or did he walk
into an adjacent room?

Joe Salerno
Video Works! Is it working for you?
PO Box 273405 - Houston TX 77277-3405 [removed]

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

Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2003 16:22:29 -0400
From: Dan Hughes <danhughes@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Radio April Fool stunts

In the late 1980's or so on the CBS radio network, newsman Mike Maus did
a story (on April 1) about a particular religious order (the Jesuits I
believe) attempting a leveraged takeover of a much larger religion
(perhaps Roman Catholicism?)  I happened to hear it live, and I wrote
Mike and asked for a dub.  He sent me a copy on cassette, along with a
letter saying he had gotten a lot of flack from people who believed the
story!

---Dan, who will see you in Cincy on Friday!

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

Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2003 16:22:57 -0400
From: dougdouglass@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Howard's CUNY Panel

New Yorkers will remember the CUNY Graduate Center at 365 Fifth Avenue
as B. Altman & Company. Built in 1906, the store closed in the early
'90s.

Doug Douglass

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

Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2003 16:23:41 -0400
From: "Harry" <hb1379@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  OTR Grids
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Laura from the LJBFC wrote:

[removed] this grid exist for radio? Or have I over-simplified it?

Check your local library to see if they have microfilm copies of your
local newspaper.  Many many libraries have such records.  In the 40s and
50s (I'm not quite old enough to remember before that) the radio
listings were frequently on the Comics page and were listed as a grid.
It may take a bit of figuring to match up the station listing with the
network but you will be able to find a grid for any year or date you
care to look up.  (The comics are fun to read too).

Harry Button
hb1379@[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2003 16:24:16 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: "The Belmont Is On The Air"

On 4/8/03 11:14 AM OldRadio Mailing Lists wrote:

The other thing I have concerns the "Belmont On The Air" Fred Allen episode.
Was this done for a family? Was he hired to come up with something or were
they family friends? Was it recorded on a dictabelt or some other home
recording device? The date I have is 1948 but it sounds earlier, though the
quality of my copy may just make it sound older.

>From what I understand, this material was recorded for the amusement of
fellow guests during Allen's stay at the Belmont Hotel on Cape Cod during
the summer of 1948. The Allens usually vacationed in Maine for the
summer, but FA's severe health problems during 1948 caused his doctor to
keep him closer to home than usual that summer. To pass the time, he and
several other guests decided to put on informal in-house entertainments.

The recordings were probably made on an ordinary home-recording machine
such as a Wilcox-Gay Recordio, using a cheap consumer-grade crystal
microphone -- hence the dim quality. The discs were probably a better
grade of home recording blanks -- not the cheap cardboard-based discs,
but a long way for professional quality.

Allen was at the Belmont again in 1949, but suffered a stroke that
summer, preventing any further ad-hoc entertainment for his fellow guests.

Elizabeth

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

Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2003 16:24:23 -0400
From: PURKASZ@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  HEY HEY HEY
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        Did I detect an implicit threat from one named Jimmy Futurity towards
a fellow member???
     Folks, relax, this is a hobby and born out of a sense of love and fun.
There is no place and I repeat it, NO place for that kind of response.
     Aside from implicating people from the 'South' as prone to some form of
assaultive response when any disagreement takes place, he aims this uncalled
for lambaste at one of our more dedicated and respected members!
     Our new 'friend' seems to think his taste in humor superior to the rest
of us who took the joke played on us in the spirit of the day, went with and
laughed it off.
     May I suggest an apology here from our new member?
     Or perhaps a new hobby?
                     Gwynne

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Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2003 16:24:42 -0400
From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: "Holy Grail"

From: Udmacon@[removed]
I've heard a tantalizing story that EVERY radio program ever broadcast
over WSM, Nashville was recorded on disks and stored at the transmitter
site.  Then somebody either took them or tossed them.  Gad! EVERY
Grand Ole Opry from 1925 on? That would be MY Holy Grail!!
Bill Knowlton

The discussions I've had with Nashville people including Bob Pinson,
reveals that WSM never did much recording at all.  I believe that Jim
Bulleit had been a WSM engineer when he started his recording studio right
after the war, which led to Bullet Records (and the ever present easy to
find 78 by Francis Craig "Near You"), and that thereafter his studio did
any of the small amount of recording that WSM needed.

For a station to record EVERYTHING they broadcast, once lacquer discs were
introduced near the end of 1934, would have taken from 20 to 50 discs per
day, depending on their hours on the air and whether they did them one
sided or two sided.  Lets say 30 years of this, and there would be a
collection of from 200,000 to 500,000 discs.  In the pre-lacquer days from
25 to 35 there are various forms that could have been used, and these could
have generated another 100,000 or so items.  Even the NBC collection was
just 175,000 discs.  Something like this would have been "noticed" if it
was lying around the transmitter building.

There were various forms of logging machines which could make poor quality
recordings of one hour per floppy 16-inch plastic disc, and there's always
the chance that this could have been used instead.  Then the Soundscriber
2-inch tape system that some broadcasters like WOR and WABC used in the 60s
could do a day on a 3-inch reel.  So there's always the possibility that
there could have been some years worth being stored out there, but
certainly not from the beginnings in 1925.  And the sound quality of these
recordings are barely minimal (but there are some digest readers that have
expressed the opinion that they like crappy sound like that!)

No matter what, that story has got to be an enormous exaggeration.

Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2003 16:24:49 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  April 9th Birth Dates

If you were born on the 9th of April, you share your birthday with:

04-09-1893 - Mary Pickford - Toronto, Canada - d. 5-30-1979
04-09-1897 - John B. Gambling - Norwich, England - d. 11-21-1974
04-09-1898 - Paul Robeson - Princeton, NJ - d. 1-23-1976
04-09-1900 - Allen Jenkins - NYC
04-09-1903 - Ward Bond - Denver, CO - d. 11-5-1960

Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Make your day, listen to an Olde Tyme Radio Program

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

Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2003 16:25:18 -0400
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Cincinnati OTR Convention

Anyone still holding out, you don't know what you're missing.  The Cincy Old
Time Radio Convention begins (unofficially) Thursday evening and
(officially) Friday morning.  The dinner on Saturday night is VERY popular
not just because it has great performances, but the service is above par.
Last year the dinner featured the largest attendance ever so be sure to grab
your dinner tickets as soon as possible in the event it is sold out.  Bob
Burchett can be reached at haradio@[removed] but be aware that he may not
be available by phone or e-mail anytime starting today because of all the
hard work he puts into the convention.  Best to call the hotel for info if
you are planning to attend.  See ya all there!

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #147
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