Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #97
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 3/17/2004 9:48 AM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2004 : Issue 97
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  3-16 births/deaths                    [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Anchor Hocking                        [ seandd@[removed] ]
  INSIDE START                          [ Lee Munsick <leemunsick@[removed] ]
  Script Page Turning                   [ HK Hinkley <parpark280@[removed]; ]
  Satellite [removed]           [ "Bill Orr" <billorr6@[removed]; ]
  Script dropping                       [ Stephen Davies <SDavies@[removed]; ]
  Attention: Bobby Benson Fans          [ Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@erols ]
  Looking for old Movie Air Trailers    [ B A <wbss26@[removed]; ]
  MEMORY JOG                            [ PURKASZ@[removed] ]
  missed "Here We Go Again"?            [ jhcollins@[removed] ]
  Satellite Radio                       [ "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed] ]
  Uncle Miltie was called Mr. Televisi  [ Jer51473@[removed] ]
  knx question                          [ Grams46@[removed] ]
  It doesn't translate                  [ JackBenny@[removed] ]
  howdy on the radio                    [ Grams46@[removed] ]
  #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Nig  [ charlie@[removed] ]

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

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 11:04:37 -0500
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  3-16 births/deaths

March 16th births

03-16-1893 - Isobel Elson - Cambridge, England - d. 1-12-1981
actress: Jessie Hughes "Young Dr. Malone"
03-16-1894 - Elizabeth Lennox - Ionia, MI - d. 5-3-1992
singer: "Lucky Strike Dance Orchestra"; "American Album of Familiar Music"
03-16-1897 - Conrad Nagel - Keokuk, IA - d. 2-24-1970
actor, emcee: "Silver Theatre"; "Passing Parade"
03-16-1901 - Edward Pawley - d. 1-27-1988
actor: Steve Wilson "Big Town"
03-16-1920 - Leo McKern - Sydney, Australia - d. 7-23-2002
actor: Horace Rumpole "Rumpole of the Bailey"
03-16-1926 - Jerry Lewis - Newark, NJ
comedian: "Martin and Lewis Show"
03-16-1927 - Dick Beals - Detroit, MI
actor: Dan Reid "Lone Ranger"

March 16th deaths

01-14-1901 - Bebe Daniels - Dallas, TX - d. 3-16-1971
actress: "Louella Parsons"
03-05-1903 - Minerva Pious - Odessa, Russia - d. 3-16-1979
commedienne: Mrs. Pansy Nussbaum "Fred Allen Show"
05-28-1922 - Scott McKay - Pleasantville, IA - d. 3-16-1987
actor: John Nelson "Barry Cameron"
08-14-1893 - Carl Benton Reid - Lansing, MI - d. 3-16-1973
actor: Roger Allen "Big Sister"
08-31-1903 - Arthur Godfrey - NYC - d. 3-16-1983
emcee: (The Old Redhead) "Arthur Godfrey Time"; "Arthur Godfrey's Talent
Scouts"
11-11-1899 - Harold J. "Pie" Traynor - Framingham, MA - d. 3-16-1972
sportscaster: KQV Pittsburgh
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 11:05:02 -0500
From: seandd@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Anchor Hocking

In a continuing game of "whatever happened [removed]" sponsors edition, The Daily
Deal today reports the sale of former "Casey, Crime Photographer" sponsor
Anchor Hocking.  The recent death of Jan Minor had me listening to a few of
these programs.

Sean Dougherty
SeanDD@[removed]

Newell Rubbermaid Inc. is finally unloading its Anchor Hocking Company
glassware business. The deal calls for Atlanta-based Newell Rubbermaid
to sell Anchor along with two other divisions, the Burnes of Boston
picture frame and Mirro Co. cookware units, to an affiliate of private
equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP for $310 million.

Go to Article from The Daily Deal
[removed];c=TDDArticle&cid=1079196451757

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

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 11:12:59 -0500
From: Lee Munsick <leemunsick@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  INSIDE START

Mark Kinsler gave an excellent response to the reader who asked why a
phonograph record (in this case apparently a dub) would be made to play from
the inside out.    Mark's very fine reply discussed the relative ease of
brushing away the cuttings if the disc was made in this way.

That may well be the original reason for recording inside-out, and I do not
in any way doubt it is the historical one.  But eventually there was another
reason, which had to do more with programming than recording technique.

As transcriptions became increasingly widespread, often a one-hour program
would be syndicated on two 16" ET's (electrical transcriptions), with
segments 1 and 3 on one disc, 2 and 4 on the other.  Now I digress for a
moment, but bear with [removed]'s all connected:

Thomas Edison's early patents discussed recording on cylinder, disc and even
a form of tape.  Indeed, the "first" recording, a sort of "tape", was simply
a test to see if "Hello!" would record.  The more famous "Mary Had a Little
Lamb" on tinfoil came along later.  But Edison initially refused to make disc
recordings, favoring cylinders instead. Like most everything Edison did, he
had a good reason.  He felt that the quality of sound reproduction lessens as
one gets closer to the center of the disc.  The reason is that the recording
surface is passing beneath the stylus faster near the outside edge.  More
inches per second, or MPH if you prefer.  Don't confuse that with RPMs.   The
first is distance, the second is revolutions.   You can understand this by
simply figuring the length of the circumference of a 12" or better yet 16"
disc at the outer edge, compared with perhaps 3" out from the center hole.
If you want to do that, remember your old friend from School Days, the ratio
for pi.

While there is indeed a diminution in sound quality as the recording proceeds
inward, in normal practice the change is so slow that the marvelous forgiving
human brain ignores that difference.  Edison's rival Emile Berliner counted
on that, and it worked.

When Berliner decided to compete with Edison, he did several things to avoid
patent prosecution.  First, he pressed copies or replicas of his original
studio recordings, rather than selling actual recorded originals, which is
what Edison did for some time from the beginning.  Secondly, Berliner had the
stylus move laterally from side to side within the grooves, whereas Edison's
recordings were vertical (thus "hill and dale"), with the stylus moving up
and down.  Again, Edison's reasoning was that the sideways motion of a stylus
could mess up the quality of reproduction, by kicking the stylus into the
next or former groove.   We are indebted to both ideas, because the ultimate,
modern LP discs accomplished their stereo sound by combining the two methods
and sort of tilting the + motions into a sort of x,  with the L and R signals
divided into the two directions of stylus movement.

Now, let's return to my original point about program transcriptions.  If the
first of the four sides of an hour transcribed program started at its
outside, sound quality diminished as the pickup moved toward the center.  At
the end of the first quarter-hour, the engineer switched to a second
turntable where the second recording was cued up for its first side.  The
difference in sound quality was much more obvious in the sudden jump from the
near-label end of the first side, to the outside start of the second portion.
Are you with me?

[removed] practice was developed of having side 1 of the second record start
from the inside near the label, and play to the outside.  By the time that
second quarter hour was done, the engineer had flipped the first ET over and
cued it up to start at the outside.  When that side finished, the second ET
had been flipped and for the same reason as before, it was recorded and
played from the inside.

This was not always done, as once again many people felt that few listeners
could detect the difference.  By the way, I use the one-hour example to press
the point home (pun not intended), but it could have been done with the two
sides of a half-hour program, although there would be a break of a few
seconds there, while the engineer flipped the record and dropped the
transcription arm on the second side, hoping not to have it miss and land on
the turntable felt.  Ouch!  (Our ears!!)  Or on his finger.  Double Ouch!

This is why you will find ET's (actually of varying sizes) on which the label
on each side is clearly marked INSIDE START or OUTSIDE start.  I think once
over the years, and I'm pretty sure only once, I put on a disc which had been
wrongly marked.  That made for a few seconds of dead air (at least I hope it
was dead), followed by a few more seconds of not-so-carefully chosen
language, which I fervently trust also took place during dead air!

I also got caught during the 50s when shows (especially those Sunday
religions programs) were distributed on reel to reel tape.  Some idiot at the
station before we got the tape (on a round-robin distribution), had neglected
to rewind the tape.  The first thing I and our listeners heard was a
resounding "Nem-Ay".  I think I caught it before much more got out to the air
waves, but my comments perhaps used religious terms, but not exactly as heard
in religious programming.  I had to grab some standby recording to air, and
we lost the correct program and its income.   Rewinding a tape is ever so
much more difficult (not to mention time-consuming) than simply picking up a
tone arm and placing it down at the correct START position!

I hope this helps our inquisitive friend.  Let me add one more note under the
category of  CAREFUL!  When dealing with transcriptions and especially
dubbings or "home" or one-up studio records, always treat them with great
care!  Do NOT flip one casually aside.  Not even if onto a gentle surface as
I did, tossing a dub onto my bed at college after playing it for friends.  I
did not realize that this prized, unique recording was on a glass base, and I
bisected a wonderful special recording for a World War II Bond Rally made by
Raymond Massey.  About two minutes of his marvelous malifluous tones,
followed by an inadvertent Spoonerism, a brief pause, and then
#&%^(_^&$$(*&&_(**)&^^!!!@!@!!!

This is a family Digest, and I choose to preserve the readers' admiration for
the cultured Mr. Massey.

Bestus, Lee Munsick

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

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 11:40:45 -0500
From: HK Hinkley <parpark280@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Script Page Turning

Hal replied:

In my 15 year career appearing as a performer on many network radio
programs, I NEVER, NEVER saw anyone drop pages to the floor during a
broadcast.

Far be it from me to dispute what Hal experienced, but if you will look
at our esteemed listmaster's fund raising disc 001, you will see Jack
Benny putting used pages under the stack, but Mary puts them on a table
or drops them to the floor!

Now returning to lurk mode but staying tuned!

HK

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

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 12:03:27 -0500
From: "Bill Orr" <billorr6@[removed];
To: "OTR List" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Satellite [removed]

All,

Mr. Watson and Mr. MacEachern both make good points.  My son-in-law has XM
and I must admit that if only OTR is considered, then XM wins.  I wish
Sirius had two OTR channels, one for the comedy genre and one for all
others.  Sirius, take note!

With so many channels available on each system, one can easily find many
reasons to fully appreciate either system.

Regards,

Bill Orr

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

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 14:04:20 -0500
From: Stephen Davies <SDavies@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Script dropping

      Maybe people dropped their scripts during the second show when they
wouldn't need them again.  If they dropped them during the first show,
someone would have to re-collage the pages.
      Didn't people ever clip their scripts to cardboard, page by page, to
avoid the rustle?
                              Stephen Davies
                                  Calgary

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

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 14:04:44 -0500
From: Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@[removed];
To: OTRBB <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Attention: Bobby Benson Fans

Today I received an email from Ken O'Rourke, an 82 year old retired
actor and singer, who says he has the original script from the May 2,
1950 television program of Bobby Benson. O'Rourke appeared in that
episode and saved his script, which was written by Hal Cranton.

There were two brief runs on local television in NYC for the Cowboy
Kid, one with Ivan Cury and another with Clive Rice. All shows were
done live, and there are no video copies of any. While the supply of
radio scripts for Bobby Benson is extensive (Jim Shean saved every one
he wrote) this is the first TV script that I've heard of in over 50
years. I am attempting to get a copy of this TV script from O'Rourke.
Hopefully, this will be the basis for a future article in RADIO RECALL.

Jack French
Editor: RADIO RECALL
[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 14:06:42 -0500
From: B A <wbss26@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Looking for old Movie Air Trailers

Hi all,

I am looking for old Movie Air Trailers. Some of you
may know them by the name "Hollywood is on the Air" or
"Leo is on the Air".  They can go by a few different
names.  I have about 90 files in my collection and I
believe the following exist as well:

1930 - Puttin' on the Ritz (United Artists)
1930 -  Eternal Fools
1932 -  Big Broadcast of 1932 (Paramount)
1932 -  While Paris Sleeps (Fox)
1933 -  Sitting Pretty  (Paramount)
1933 -  Parade of Musical Hits (Paramount)
1933 -  1933 Musical Revue (Paramount)
1934 -  Let's Fall In Love (Columbia)
1938 -  Paramount Trio (Tropic Holiday, Man around
Town, and Caifornia)
1934 -  Reckless
1934 -  Stars of tomorrow (Paramount Movie parade)
1936 -  Sing, Baby, Sing (20th Century Fox)
1936 -  After the Thinman
1938 -  Big Broadcast Of 1938
1939 -  Tropic Holiday
1934 -  Happiness Ahead (Warner Bros.)
1934 -  Wonder Bar (Warner Bros.)
1941 -  The Great American Broadcast of 1941
1941 -  Kathleen  (Leo is on the Air)
1942 -  Ship Ahoy (Leo is on the Air)
1944 -  In Society
1945 -  Stepping Stones to Victory (RKO)
1945 -  30 Seconds over Tokyo (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
presents)
1932 - Promo record for Chandu the Magician
(unpublished)

If you have the "After the Thin Man", please make sure
that it is not "Calvalcade of Hits".  Seems to be
incorrectly named in many peoples collections. I have
Magic Waiter and Streamload accounts.
Thanks in advance,
Brian A.

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

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 14:07:00 -0500
From: PURKASZ@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  MEMORY JOG
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        Does anyone remember about three months ago there was a posting about
a device that plugged into the earphone jack of an mp3 player and then you
tuned it to a vacant spot on the FM dial and were able to get those mp3s to
play
on your radio some distance away?
     In the car as well?
     I ordered one from the company about a month ago and nothing has arrived
at my door and I have forgotten who these people were.
     I would like to call and ask where my item is as I have already paid for
it.
     Think it was in Canada somewhere.
     Help.
     A senior moment or just plain carelessness?
     Both perhaps.
     Thanks.
                    Michael Gwynne

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Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 14:28:10 -0500
From: jhcollins@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  missed "Here We Go Again"?

Thanks to Greg Przywara for telling us that "Here We Go Again" with Bergen
and McCarthy and Fibber McGee and Molly was shown on TCM this morning.
Unfortunately, many of us (including myself) didn't see his message in time
to catch the movie. I was relieved to see that I have a video of it,
purchased a while back from our friends at Finders Keepers. -John Collins

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

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 15:05:34 -0500
From: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Satellite Radio

I'm a huge fan of XM.  Like many of you, I'm fed up with my local radio
stations: clearchannel robot stations playing paid-for hits,  timid PD's who
have never heard the term "counterprogram", and AM talk stations packed wall
to wall with ranting, frothing rightwing kooks.  XM is like an island in this
sea of bad radio.  I can find whatever I want whenever I want.  Sometimes I
want to hear heavy modern rock, sometimes I want to hear bluegrass.
Sometimes I want to hear old-school rap, sometimes I want to hear big band.
Sometimes I want to hear classical, sometimes I want to hear 80's new wave.
And then there's OTR, BBC, and stand up comedians (both clean and blue). You
would have to be complete music snob to not be able to find something you
want to listen to.

There is only one bad thing about it.  Though the music is great, sometimes
it doesn't feel like Radio (that's capital R radio).  It's not like your
local radio station used to be (before it was bought by clearchannel) where
it felt like there was a relationship between the DJ and you.  On some of the
music channels, you get a live DJ in the evenings, which gives it just enough
DJ chatter to give it that radio feel, but it's few and far between.  Still
the positives completely outweigh the negative.

That being said, let me put in a vote for XM radio and the Delphi SkyFi
system.  I love mine, and have cradles installed in my apartment and car, as
well as the boombox radio for portability.  I would love it even if I didn't
work for Delphi.  I think it's a great system and if you're interested in
satellite radio, you should definitely check it out.

-chris holm
DISCLAIMER - I do work for Delphi, but my factory makes axles, not SkyFi's.
Take it for what it's worth.

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

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 15:53:14 -0500
From: Jer51473@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Uncle Miltie was called Mr. Television
 because
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
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he was exactly that, Mr. Television! From 1948-early fifties he was by far,
and i do mean by far, THE biggest figure in television. No one rivaled him and
it had nothing whatsoever to do with him "dressing in drag" (cant figure that
one out), although he DID often dress like a woman as part of certain skits.
To my knowlege nothing was made or said of that back then as people seemed to
have cleaner minds back then and his actions were just downright funny to
millions of viewers.

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Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 19:18:43 -0500
From: Grams46@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  knx question
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several months ago, knx radio of los angeles, california announced they
were canceling the drama hour heard twice a day/7 days week because they
wanted to devote 24/7 to news.
knx now broadcasts a 4 hour cooking show and a 3 hour computer show each
saturday and Sunday - 14 hours of non news.
has anyone heard  how knx management rationalizes this contradiction?
from kathy

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Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 19:19:38 -0500
From: JackBenny@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  It doesn't translate

A. Joseph Ross writes:

And, when the Howdy Doody radio program was on, it was for one hour on Saturday 
morning.  Recorded in segments during the week after the TV show, it lacked 
the 
excitement of the television version (Clarabell didn't transfer well to 
radio).

Kind of like Harpo Marx.

Which, apropos of nothing, reminds me of being at a Marcel Marceau 
performance in San Francisco.  In the middle of the performance, someone's cell phone 
started ringing.  And didn't stop.  It may have been the first time there was an 
angry near-riot at a Marceau performance.

--Laura Leff
President, IJBFC
[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 19:20:44 -0500
From: Grams46@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  howdy on the radio
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martin grams wrote:

<Howdy Doody was on the radio.  12/15/51 to 9/12/53 sponsored in part by
International Shoes and 9/13/53 to 4/11/54 with no [removed];

   howdy doody began his show business career on the radio program,
puppet playhouse in january 1948.   in april of that same year, howdy
was the star of the howdy doody show on nbc.
from kathy

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

Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 02:12:00 -0500
From: charlie@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Night!

A weekly [removed]

For the best in OTR Chat, join IRC (Internet Relay Chat), StarLink-IRC
Network, the channel name is #OldRadio.  We meet Thursdays at 8 PM Eastern
and go on, and on! The oldest OTR Chat Channel, it has been in existence
over six years, same time, same channel! Started by Lois Culver, widow
of actor Howard Culver, this is the place to be on Thursday night for
real-time OTR talk!

Our "regulars" include OTR actors, soundmen, collectors, listeners, and
others interested in enjoying OTR from points all over the world. Discussions
range from favorite shows to almost anything else under the sun (sometimes
it's hard for us to stay on-topic)...but even if it isn't always focused,
it's always a good time!

For more info, contact charlie@[removed]. We hope to see you there, this
week and every week!

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #97
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