Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #261
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 8/8/2004 8:06 AM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2004 : Issue 261
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Re: Andy Griffith actors on radio     [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
  Radio Actors On TV                    [ StuartLubin@[removed] (OTRFREAK) ]
  8-8 birth/deaths                      [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Radio Actors in Mayberry              [ "Stewart Wright" <stewwright@worldn ]
  Jack Benny's Maxwell                  [ JackBenny@[removed] ]
  Radio Actors in Mayberry              [ "Louie Johnson" <ljohnson@[removed]; ]
  OTR ACTORS IN MAYBERRY                [ "randy story" <hopharrigan@centuryt ]
  Restoration of Ancient Recordings     [ zbob@[removed] ]
  Re: Radio Actors in Mayberry          [ "Michael Molloy" <mrmolloy@adelphia ]
  We the People                         [ "randy story" <hopharrigan@centuryt ]
  Roses and Drums                       [ Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@erols ]
  BBC We Interrupt This Programme       [ "Phil Watson" <possum@[removed] ]
  Lead acting vs. creating a Character  [ Wich2@[removed] ]
  Re: Radio Actors in Mayberry          [ "Greg Willy" <gregw@[removed] ]
  This week in radio history 8-14 Augu  [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
  re: Radio Actors in Mayberry          [ "Matthew Bullis" <matthewbullis@run ]
  Cincinnati convention                 [ "Bob Burchett" <haradio@[removed] ]
  Paper hitting the [removed]            [ Doug Berryhill <fibbermac@[removed] ]

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

Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2004 15:59:34 -0400
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Andy Griffith actors on radio
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In a message dated 8/7/04 12:17:55 PM Central Daylight Time, 
[removed]@[removed] writes:

 Who did I miss?

As far as Mayberry residents with OTR pedigrees, one obvious person would be 
Barney Fife himself, Don Knotts, who played Windy Wails on the "Bobby Benson" 
radio show in the 1950s.  Andy himself, as we've mentioned here before, often 
did brief vignettes on CBS radio circa 1958-60 or so. 

Also, I don't think Richard Crenna ever appeared on camera during the series, 
but my memory could be messing with me today.  He did direct a number of 
classic episodes however.  And didn't "Vic and Sade" 's Bill Idelson either write 
or direct a few too?

Dixon 

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Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2004 16:00:06 -0400
From: StuartLubin@[removed] (OTRFREAK)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Radio Actors On TV

I can add one more to Richard Pratz's list of radio actors in Mayberry,
although I am certain there are many more: Amzie Strickland, who is
still with us and lives only a few blocks from me.
Has anyone ever written about the plethora of radio actors who have
appeared on the old Perry Mason TV show, including John Larkin, who
actually played Mason on the radio?                       STUART LUBIN

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

Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2004 16:00:14 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  8-8 birth/deaths

August 8th births

08-08- 1900 - Victor Young - Chicago, IL (Raised: Warsaw, Poland) - d.
11-11-1956
conductor, composer: "Shell Chateau"; "Old Gold Don Ameche Show
08-08-1887 - Malcom Keen - Bristol, England - d. 1-30-1970
actor: "Cavalcade of America"
08-08-1895 - Nat Pendelton - Davenport, IA - d. 10-11-1967
actor: "Dr. Kildare"
08-08-1900 - James Pierce - Freedom, IN - d. 12-11-1983
actor: Tarzan "Tarzan"
08-08-1905 - Nino Martini - Verona, Italy - d. 12-9-1976
singer: "Seven Star Revue"
08-08-1905 - Ross Graham - St. Louis, MO - d. 1-5-1986
singer: "Cities Service Concert"; "Show Boat"
08-08-1907 - Benny Carter - NYC - d. 7-12-2003
saxaphonist, songwriter (Professor) "Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin
Street"
08-08-1910 - Sylvia Sidney - The Bronx, NY - d. 7-1-1999
actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Columbia Presents Corwin"; "Philip Morris
Playhouse"
08-08-1913 - Axel Stordahl - Staten Island, New  - d. 8-30-1963
conductor: "Songs by Sinatra/Frank Sinatra Show"; "Your Hit Parade"; "Coke
Time"
08-08-1921 - Webb Pierce - West Monroe, LA - d. 2-24-1991
singer: "Louisiana Hayride"
08-08-1922 - Rory Calhoun - Los Angeles, CA - d. 4-28-1999
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
08-08-1923 - Esther Williams - Los Angeles, CA
actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Tex and Jinx"
08-08-1926 - Richard Anderson - Long Beach, NJ (Raised: Los Angeles, CA)
actor: "Suspense"
08-08-1937 - Dustin Hoffman - Los Angeles, CA
actor: "Soundstage"

01-07-1903 - Alan Napier - Birmingham, England - d. 8-8-1988
actor: "Campbell Playhouse"
04-29-1904 - Russ Morgan - Scranton, PA - d. 8-8-1969
bandleader: (Music in the Morgan Manner) "Russ Morgan Orchestra"
07-19-1914 - Lou Krugman - Passaic, NJ - d. 8-8-1992
actor: Tony Griffin "Romance of Helen Trent"; Ulysses Hink "Dear Mom";
"Gunsmoke"
07-26-1899 - Danton Walker - Marietta, GA - d. 8-8-1960
broadway columnist: "Forty-Five Minutes on Broadway"; "Twin Views of the News"
09-14-1908 - Bernard Green - NYC - d. 8-8-1975
orchestra leader: "The Clock"
09-15-1928 - Cannonball Adderley - Tampa, FL - d. 8-8-1975
jazz saxphonist: "Voices of Vista"
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2004 16:00:42 -0400
From: "Stewart Wright" <stewwright@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Radio Actors in Mayberry

        Sam Edwards appeared in 5 episodes.

        You can also add actor Everett Sloane to the list.  He played
moonshiner, Jubal Foster in episode # 45, " Keeper Of The Flame."
        Not only did Sloane act on the Andy Griffith Show, he also had a
most unusual connection to the series.  He wrote the seldom heard lyrics to
the theme song of the show, " The Fishin' Hole."  This version can be heard
with Andy Griffith singing on the 1961 Capitol records LP, " Songs, Themes
And Laughs From The Andy Griffith Show."  Griffith also sang the song on
other albums.  I happened to see the sheet music for the song when doing a
research trip involving Everett Sloane at the facility that also houses the
collection of the song's co-writer, Earle Hagen.

    Actors Gene Reynolds, Bob Sweeney, Sheldon Leonard, Richard Crenna, and
Larry Dobkin directed episodes of the series.

Signing off for now,

Stewart

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

Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2004 16:01:47 -0400
From: JackBenny@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Jack Benny's Maxwell

Steve Salaba writes:

I was reading Stephen King's "On Writing", his book about his life  and his
work, and he mentions that when he was in high school, he had a  classmate
whose parents entered all kinds of contests and once they won  "Jack Benny's
Maxwell". Is Steve mis-remembering or was there actually  such a contest? He
says that the Maxwelll sat in their yard for quite a  few years.

As Jack might [removed]"[removed]"
 
The Maxwell is a funny thing, and I think I've discussed this here  
previously.  But what the [removed] dropping never goes out of fashion,  so I'll risk 
repeating myself.
 
It seems that the Maxwell became such an icon that almost ANY Maxwell  wanted 
to claim the pedigree of being Benny's.  A couple years ago, someone  
contacted me that they had just purchased a Maxwell and thought that it might  have 
been his.  They had no evidence to support that, and never expressed a  reason 
to substantiate the theory other than that Jack had owned a  Maxwell and this 
might have been it.  Some violins have similar  aspirations.
 
Sometimes when Jack went into a town, "his people" (or the hosting city)  
would contact a local person who owned a Maxwell.  Then the Maxwell  would be 
brought out at some event (his arrival, a parade, etc.) and Jack would  ride in 
it or drive it away.  So if Jack sat in a Maxwell just ONE TIME, it  became 
Jack Benny's Maxwell forever.  One of these in Phoenix, Arizona went  on Ebay 2-3 
years ago.

I have a first-hand story on this topic.  Jack said if this  person would do 
something for him, "I'll give you a Maxwell."  The  person didn't do it, and 
the two of us puzzled over the offer some 45 years  later, wondering if he 
really would have made good on it and where he would have  gotten the car (CBS 
prop department?).  Maybe he had a source for wholesale  Maxwells.
 
To answer the original question, I've not heard of such a contest, but it  
could have been a local thing.  Was it Jack's Maxwell?  Probably not  in the 
sense that it was used any more than in a publicity stunt, if that.  

--Laura Leff
President, IJBFC
[removed]
 

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

Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2004 16:02:17 -0400
From: "Louie Johnson" <ljohnson@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Radio Actors in Mayberry

Rich Pratz wrote:

Does Producer Sheldon Leonard (1907-1997) count? Who did I miss?

Sheldon surely counts in my book, and so should Bill Idelson,
Rush of Vic & Sade, who wrote a lot of episodes for the series.

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

Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2004 16:02:29 -0400
From: "randy story" <hopharrigan@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  OTR ACTORS IN MAYBERRY
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Concerning OTR actors in Mayberry(THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW)...
Leave us not forget: Russell Thorson, Don Knotts, Forrest Lewis, Betty Lynn,
Larry Thor, Stacy Harris, Howard Mcnear, Norris Goff, Jack Albertson, Everett
Sloan, Jay Novello, Will Wright, George Petrie, Danny Thomas(Producer of the
series and actor in the pilot episode), Dick Elliot, Hal Smith, Bob
Sweeney(directed a few shows), and Bill Idelson(wrote a few, too).

Had to chime in here as the ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW is one of my all-time
favorites.

Later,
Randy

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Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2004 16:30:04 -0400
From: zbob@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Restoration of Ancient Recordings

"Historic  Sounds  Being  Rescued"  is the title of a front page story in
today's local [removed]

Chaps at Lawrence Berkeley Labs are working on optical schemes to read
mechanical recordings.  Maybe some OTR stuff will develop as a result of
this.  They are working on untouchable disc records and cylinder recordings
as well. The optics reads the wiggles and jiggles of the groove and
translates it into audibles.

The full article can be seen by calling up  [removed]  and at the
top of the page is a box "Articles-------"  (last 7 days)  and  title
"Historic Sounds"  and you're in.

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

Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2004 16:30:37 -0400
From: "Michael Molloy" <mrmolloy@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Radio Actors in Mayberry
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Lets not forget Don Knotts, wasn't he on "Bobby Bensen and the B Bar B
Riders?

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Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2004 16:31:13 -0400
From: "randy story" <hopharrigan@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  We the People
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Hello.
I am looking for some copies of the WE THE PEOPLE series, which I read about
in Chuck Schaeden's miraculous book SPEAKING OF RADIO. Harry Von Zell was an
announcer for that show and he said it was an interesting show to do, so I was
hoping to sample it in some form. It might be a teaching tool for my classroom
in the near future if it lives up to what I think it might be. I am also
looking for some more episodes of the series NIGHTWATCH as a teaching tool.
By the by, I have been approached to do a workshop on the subject of OTR in
the classroom in late September for the Speech/ Theater Assoc. of Missouri and
I am in need of suggestions or input as to how some of you might teach such a
workshop(target audience is educators). I have done such workshops before, but
I always like to freshen up things and keep as current as possible as to
trends([removed] websites, books).
Let me know soon, kids!
Just putting something in the pot(and alos hoping to get something out of
it),
Randy
[removed]
I am still looking for episodes of Jack Kirkwood radio appearances. Can
anybody on the digest help me out with this?

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Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2004 17:25:08 -0400
From: Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@[removed];
To: OTRBB <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Roses and Drums

"Roses and Drums" was a CBS radio show about the Civil War, starring
Reed Brown, Jr. (as the Yankee) and John Griggs (as the Rebel officer)
which aired from April 1932 to June 1934, sponsored by United Central
Life. NBC brought it back on the air in September 1934 and it ran until
March of 1936 on their Blue network.

No known audio copies have surfaced yet.

Jack French

Editor: RADIO RECALL
[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2004 17:39:08 -0400
From: "Phil Watson" <possum@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  BBC We Interrupt This Programme

Last week I advised that BBC Radio 4 had started a short series of
documentaries at [removed] UK time on Tuesdays, about "subversive"
comedians or comic acts, the first being Bob & Ray. Next Tuesday, 10th,
it's the great Stan Freberg.

Regards from England
Phil

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

Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2004 19:52:09 -0400
From: Wich2@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Lead acting vs. creating a Character

From: StuartLubin@[removed] (Stuart Lubin)<

In Stuart's own write:

the Digest has many ... professionals who know the business first hand and,
like Hal, excellent in what they did.  However, I have to take issue with
Craig

If I read this aright, I guess the proper response is "Ouch!"

I can't lay claim to the longevity of Hal's career - blame the fact that I
arrived on the planet years after him. Nor, to his glorious fame, nor to his
vast accumulated wealth (though I've added to it, with a purchase of his
book!)- blame the casting folks. I can fairly claim solid training, and two
decades of experience in all media. The judgement of the QUALITY of that
work, I'll leave up to the audiences.

I will leave it to others to defend Clark Gable, but anyone who has ever
seen the later movies of Tom Cruise must realize that he is an expert in
developing a character

Stuart, I respectfully stand by my original statement.

I have indeed seen both of these men admirably fulfill the first element of
acting that I mentioned: making a scene believable. But, after seeing much
work by both of them, I have yet to see the kind of characterization that I
described as the second element. Clark Gable's characters always LOOKED, and
SOUNDED, much like Clark Gable; Cruise's, like Tom Cruise. (We set aside
slight changes in hairstyle and facial hair, here.)

To use a radio analogy: they are very solid actors, in the way that Robert
Young and Joe Cotton were in their radio work.
Very BELIEVABLE - but never very DIFFERENT sounding.

Compare this to the remarkable vocal differentiation by masters such as Joe
Kearn, Santos Ortega, Bill [removed]

It's apples and oranges - all fruit, but NOT the same thing.

Best,
Craig

[removed] Stuart, here's an invite to come see me at the FOTR mic, either as
SHERLOCK HOLMES, or in YOU ARE THERE, to judge my wares for yourself.

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

Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2004 21:17:47 -0400
From: "Greg Willy" <gregw@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Radio Actors in Mayberry

Another OTR actor who appeared in The Andy Griffith Show was Norris Goff,
Abner of Lum and Abner, who played a shop keeper in the episode where Opie
and another boy have a contest to see who will be the store's delivery boy.
Goff uses a famous line of Lum's, "wore' to a frazzle!" in that show.  Could
someone point out what character Lurene Tuttle played on Andy Griffith?
I've heard her in a number of Lum and Abner episodes and always wondered
what she looked like.  Apparently she could play any kind of character from
a little girl to a gruff old woman and extremely well.

Greg

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

Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2004 21:18:25 -0400
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  This week in radio history 8-14 August

 From Those Were The Days --

8/9

1942 - CBS debuted Our Secret Weapon. The program featured Rex Stout,
who countered lies being broadcast by the Axis powers through shortwave
radio.

8/11

1909 -- The international distress call, SOS, which replaced CQD (All
stations -- distress!), was first used by an American ship on this day,
"The Arapahoe". and it was out of Cape Hatteras, [removed]

8/12

1937 - Comedian Red Skelton got his first taste of network radio as he
appeared on the Rudy Vallee Show on NBC.

8/13

1912 - St. Joseph's College in Philadelphia, PA was granted the first
experimental radio license by the [removed] Department of Commerce.

8/14

1933 - WLW in Cincinnati, OH premiered Ma Perkins. Just four months
later, Ma moved to WMAQ in Chicago and was heard over the entire NBC
network. Virginia Payne was 23 years old when she started in the title
role. Ma Perkins operated a lumberyard in Rushville Center. Her children
were Evey, Fay and John (who was killed in the war). One of the other
characters in the show was Shuffle Shober. Virginia Payne played Ma
Perkins for 27 years -- and 7,065 episodes.

1942 - Garry Moore hosted a new program on NBC. The Show Without a Name
was an effort to crack the morning show dominance of Arthur Godfrey
(CBS) and Don McNeil's Breakfast Club (ABC). A prize of $500 was offered
to name the show and Someone came up with the title, Everything Goes.

1945 - CBS began the series, Columbia Presents Corwin. Orson Welles did
a special reading about the fall of Japan, titled, Fourteen August.

Joe

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

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

Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2004 21:19:05 -0400
From: "Matthew Bullis" <matthewbullis@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  re: Radio Actors in Mayberry

There's Hal Smith, 1916-1994, the voice of Otis, who although to my
knowledge didn't appear on OTR, did appear as the original voice of Winnie
The Pooh, and from 1987 to 1994 as the voice of John Avery Whittaker in
Adventures In Odyssey on radio.
Thanks a lot.
Matthew

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

Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2004 22:30:57 -0400
From: "Bob Burchett" <haradio@[removed];
To: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Cincinnati convention
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I know it's a little early,  but I just got an email asking
the dates for next years convention. April 15, 16, 2005.
Make your plans now to attend.

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Date: Sun, 8 Aug 2004 02:56:40 -0400
From: Doug Berryhill <fibbermac@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Paper hitting the [removed]

I've enjoyed following this thread and reading Hal's
eyewitness accounts and explanations of the way radio
actors handled their script pages.

After everything that's been stated on this subject, I
was interested in hearing the following exchange on
the 04-12-52 episode of "The Chamber Music Society of
Lower Basin Street":

Henry "Hotlips" Levine: "...the other day a character
came up to me and said, 'Will you contribute five
bucks to bury a piccolo player?' So I said, 'Here's
sixty bucks. Bury a dozen of them.'"

Arthur Treacher: "Yes,...very amusing. As you can see,
Dr. Levine gets his material by sweeping up after 'The
Milton Berle Show'."

I mention this not to contradict Hal's first-hand
accounts, but rather, to give an example of how, even
in 1952, there must have been wide-spread public
belief that radio performers routinely discarded their
script pages onto the floor as they finished with
them. It's hard to de-bunk such a long-standing
misconception, Hal. You may be tilting at windmills
trying to set the world straight on this point.

In a barely related vein, I remember hearing a story
about a radio performance by Peter Lorre. It seems
Lorre was getting into his role so much that he began
making wild gestures with his arms and he accidently
sent his script flying into a paper snowstorm during a
live performance. The day was saved by a quick
thinking actor who shared his/her script with Lorre
until a commercial break, when they were able to
reassemble Lorre's script. Anybody else heard this
story? I was wondering if anyone knew the show and
episode where this happened. I'd be interested in
listening to the show to see how noticable this gaff
was to the radio audience.

-FIBBERMAC-

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #261
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