Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #36
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 1/30/2002 10:04 AM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2002 : Issue 36
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Re:Jim Widner                         [ TedOTR@[removed] ]
  Was the title of the song White Chri  [ Jer51473@[removed] ]
  Re: Trivia Question                   [ Al Girard <agirard@[removed] ]
  re: Boxing on OTR                     [ "Ryan Hall" <pezman419@[removed]; ]
  Re: A&A Auditions                     [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
  Acting                                [ Harry Bartell <bartell@[removed] ]
  Keep those phones ringing             [ Bryan Wright <bswrig@[removed]; ]
  The "Ringing telephone"               [ hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed]; ]
  OTR on MP3                            [ "Robert Angus" <rangus02@[removed]; ]
  Telephone ringing                     [ otrbuff@[removed] ]
  phone ring                            [ "Rodney w bowcock jr." <rodney-self ]
  Bad [removed]                            [ Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed] ]
  Ringing Telephone opening             [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
  shows that start with phone ringing   [ Osborneam@[removed] ]
  Listening skills                      [ Timothy Clough <timothy@[removed]; ]
  Radio Reception in Tunnels            [ "vegan" <vegan@[removed]; ]
  Telephone on Opening?                 [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
  Cincinnati OTR convention             [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
  Trivia Question                       [ "Scott D. Livingston" <sdl@[removed] ]
  Bells Are Ringing                     [ Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@erols ]
  TELEPHONE OPENINGS                    [ grayghost@[removed] ]
  ring ring ring!                       [ Michael Berger <makiju@[removed]; ]
  #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Nig  [ lois@[removed] ]
  Trivia Question                       [ "Peter H. Vollmann" <vollmann@hawai ]
  Telephone                             [ Tony Baechler <tony@[removed]; ]
  Re: Truth or Consequences             [ Fred Berney <berney@[removed]; ]

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

Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 15:45:20 -0500
From: TedOTR@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re:Jim Widner

Sorry for the editorializing, but while I love the Internet and how it has
helped bring OTR to a whole new audience, I still find it to be an
instigator of the demise of another element of the hobby.

I totally agree with everything that Jim has said.  The shows that are posted
for free downloading have to come from somewhere.  Where?  The delaers and
long time collectors.  I have about 40,000 shows on my website available for
sale.  I have around 250,000 shows in my collection.  If I am put out of
business because of the MP3 postings there will be a vast amount of shows
that I won't be able to offer.  This is true with all of the dealers.  Don't
get me wrong - I am not knocking the MP3 format.  I know of one person that
encodes all of his MP3's and the sound quality is very good.  I have also
heard some of the shows that you can download free and, frankly, I wouldn't
want them in my collection.  In my humble opinion, it all boils down to this.
 You get what you pay for.  If you get crappy shows in free downloads, you
have no right to complain.

Ted Davenport
Radio Memories

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

Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 15:45:40 -0500
From: Jer51473@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Was the title of the song White Christmas

really White Christmas?
Approved: ctrn4eeWlc

 I was only about six or seven when the song came out(Bing Crosby of course)
in, i think, 1942. I have always seemed to vaguely(sp again) remember that
the proper title of the song was Im Dreaming of a White Christmas and cant
remember it being called White Christmas until some years later. Does anyone
out there recall if im right, close to right, or completely dreaming(not of a
white xmas, but of something that didnt happen)? This has occupied my
thoughts at times for many years and i cant find anyone that remembers for
sure. Help appreciated!

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

Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 16:05:04 -0500
From: Al Girard <agirard@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Trivia Question

The question surprised me, because it came from such
a knowledgeable collector and restorer of OTR.  Wayne
Boenig is usually loaded with information, about correct dates
and other valuable information about certain series.  I'm
quite aghast at seeing him stumped by such a simple question,
and I'm sure he's slapped himself on the forehead a few
times since posting his question. I've already
replied to him via private mail, but I can certainly think
of three more series where the shows began with a telephone
ringing.  Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, Lum and Abner and Crime
Club most certainly ring a bell.

Al Girard
Unofficial Fibber McGee and Molly Home Page
[removed]
(Gotta clean out that URL one of these days!)

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

Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 17:55:16 -0500
From: "Ryan Hall" <pezman419@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: re: Boxing on OTR

One quick thought on this [removed] found Hal's own recollections on
remembering boxing broadcasts very interesting, although it makes me a bit
sad. I've coached boxing for several years, though I was forced to go into
retirement when I broke my ankle last may and could not attend practices,
etc., and as of yet  have not picked it back up. And as much as I like
boxing, I don't recall ever having heard a fight on the radio (New or old).
I think its sad that someone could grow up liking and involved in boxing and
still have never had that experience. But then boxing is trying its
darnedest to kill itself [removed] that's off the subject of OTR. I do
however have fond memories of sitting around listening to Tennessee football
games on the radio with my father, so I suppose in my own personal life, all
is not lost on that [removed]

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

Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 17:57:30 -0500
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: A&A Auditions

Lanny Gilbert wrote:

Anybody else have this recording who could maybe shed
some light upon when it was recorded, what was its
purpose, etc?

These are actually voice auditions for the TV series, not the half-hour
radio series, and were recorded in 1949-50. Dozens and dozens of these
recordings were made over a two-year span as various combinations of
actors were tested, the idea being to find actors who could do convincing
imitations of Correll and Gosden. CBS insisted on as close a duplication
of the voices as possible so that the difference between the TV and radio
versions of the program would not be jarring to longtime listeners.

Originally, it had been assumed that Correll and Gosden themselves would
dub the voices for the TV series. This idea was not as strange as it
might seem -- as the story goes, when there was talk of a "One Man's
Family" movie in the late 1930s, there was an impasse over casting -- the
studio insisted that name stars be used instead of the radio actors, but
Carlton E. Morse would agree to the project only if the radio actors'
voices were dubbed in on the soundtrack, insisting that it was the
*voices* that identified the characters and not the faces. Morse refused
to back down, and the film was never made. This was the same line of
thinking that was being followed in the initial planning for the A&A TV
series, but after CBS shot some unsatisfactory test footage the idea was
abandoned.

However, in the original network airings of the A&A tv series, Gosden
*did* dub Amos's voice for the opening narration, with Childress's voice
taking over after the opening commercial. The idea was to blur the
transition by presenting the familiar voice at the beginning of the show
and easing into a close imitation of that voice after the commercial.

Alvin Childress was one of the most determined actors to try out for the
show -- he tested for all the primary roles and really wanted the
Kingfish part -- but he *looked* most like Amos, and that's the part he
got. He was the first actor signed for the TV series, and spent much of
1950 and early 1951 as a member of the production team, helping with
auditions for the other parts.

Elizabeth

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

Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 17:56:13 -0500
From: Harry Bartell <bartell@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Acting

In answer to Jim Murtaugh's question about acting: in my
opinion, acting before the camera is more difficult and
acting for radio more challenging.

The actor has to be conscious of the delivery of lines,
movement, pantomime and the physical restrictions of
hitting marks in front of the camera.

The microphone demanded more challenges in conveying a
rounded character with fewer tools. If you couldn't do it
all with the voice, you couldn't do it at all.

Harry Bartell

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

Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 17:58:19 -0500
From: Bryan Wright <bswrig@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Keep those phones ringing

Hi,

As to phones ringing to start off an OTR broadcast, one of the most famous
was the opening of "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar." Also, unless I'm mistaken,
"The Falcon" also started off with the ringing of a telephone.

Bryan Wright

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

Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 17:58:11 -0500
From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: The "Ringing telephone"

 Wboenig@[removed] asks:

Looking for help with a trivia question.

A long time ago I remember being presented with a trivia question for which I
never received a complete answer.  The challenge was to name at least five
OTR shows that regularly began with the ringing of a telephone.  The only two
I could think of were Duffy's Tavern and Candy Matson.  Would any other
readers be so kind as to provide names of other series that fit this
description?  Thanks.

Well Wayne, I'm not sure the individual who presented the brain teaser had
my show in mind, and if he didn't, then there were 6 shows that began with a
ringing telephone. I'm referring to "The Adventures of Archie Andrews".

Before the Swift sponsorship, for many years, the show opened with a
telephone ring, the SFX of the receiver being picked up, and a "squeaky"
voiced characters [removed]"Hello". Then on filter we hear "Archie"
[removed]"Jughead, this is Archie. Come over right [removed]'s a matter of Life
and death"..followed by Jugheads [removed]"[removed],
[removed]! (Cue opening music theme intro:...cue announcer.

When Swift sponsored the show, they blatantly changed the opening to get
better product identification. The new opening had "Archie" whistling the
first few notes of the swifts Jingle, we then hear the SFX of a window being
raised, and similiar dialogues ensues, only Jughead is told to "Come right
[removed]'s a matter of life and death", with the resultant response the
same.

Back in those days, I probably heard that exchange over and over thousands
of times in my sleep.

Hal(Harlan)Stone
Jughead

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

Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 18:12:41 -0500
From: "Robert Angus" <rangus02@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: OTR on MP3

I'm planning soon to start converting my 12,000 OTR cassettes to MP3 discs,
but I don't want to reinvent the wheel.  Does anybody out there have QUALITY
MP3s for trade of the following items:
    WJSV Broadcast Day
    The 1939 Captain Midnight run (Skelly Oil series)
    The 1939/40 Jack Armstrong run
    Mercury Theatre
    ILAM Complete stories
 I've heard horror stories about MP3 CDs recorded with a microphone in front
of a speaker which include room noises and conversations and dread some of
those 299th-generation copies, so I'm a bit fussy about sound quality.
I have lots of Fred Allen, radio history, Goon shows, Canadian, Australian
and BBC material to offer in exchange.

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

Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 18:13:35 -0500
From: otrbuff@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Telephone ringing

By now I thought dozens of readers would be saying "Dr. Christian's
office," the line nurse Judy Price offered following the phone ringing at
the start of every Dr. Christian episode.  So far, nobody else has
remembered it.

There's a humorous incident that took place in connection with this
weekly feature.  Rosemary DeCamp, the actress who played Judy for most of
the run, waited for her cue to move to the microphone to open the show
one evening.  Sitting before a live studio audience, when the time came
to cross to the mike, she realized that the sash on her dress was caught
in the folding chair she was sitting in onstage.  With air time quickly
approaching, and having no alternative, she bound the chair to her
buttocks and crossed to the microphone to repeat her famous line.  The
home audience was oblivious to the action, of course; the studio audience
gave them the notion that something was askew, nevertheless, when it
responded with thunderous applause!

Mary Jane Higby experienced a similar foible when her dress got caught in
the chair on her very first day of playing Joan Field Davis in 1939 on
When a Girl Marries.  As if that weren't embarrassing enough, when she
looked up in the control booth, there with tear-stained eyes was the
young actress (Noel Mills) peering down at her who had just been kicked
out of the part Higby was assuming.  The director (Ken MacGregor) had
conducted a clandestine series of auditions behind Mills' back and Higby
won the part that would establish her credentials as a radio actress, a
role she carried through 1957.  Wonder if Mills got any satisfaction out
of her rival's faux pax on her first day?

Jim Cox

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

Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 18:13:40 -0500
From: "Rodney w bowcock jr." <rodney-selfhelpbikeco@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: phone ring

The New Adventures Of Nero Wolfe started with a phone ring.

rodney.

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

Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 18:30:35 -0500
From: Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Bad [removed]

Folks;

   For those of you attempting to go to the site referenced in an earlier
Digest issue dealing with the Cincy con and having problems, the correct URL
is:

[removed]

   Now if I can just get Bob to figure out how to send plain-text instead of
Microsoft's default web pages, he could provide the information here himself.

         Charlie

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

Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 18:27:11 -0500
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Ringing Telephone opening

It was asked:
Would any other readers be so kind as to provide names of other series
that fit this description?

Aack. Though I am usually late with the replies since I have to wait until
after work, and I am sure it will already be mentioned - don't forget
"Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar!"

Jim Widner
jwidner@[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 18:31:11 -0500
From: Osborneam@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: shows that start with phone ringing

Okay, I'll jump in.  How about:

Duffy's Tavern
The Falcon
Lum & Abner
Candy Matson
Calling All Detectives
The Crime Club
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar
21st Precinct

and with a bit of a stretch how about Whitehall 1212?

Arlene Osborne

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

Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 19:22:41 -0500
From: Timothy Clough <timothy@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Listening skills

All this talk lately about listening with your eyes closed vs. engaged
in other activities, has made me wonder about my own listening skills.
I'm 34 years old, which means I'm too young to have heard OTR when it
was just R. As much as like OTR, I find it very often, if not usually,
difficult to pay attention to whatever I'm trying to listen to. If I'm
not engaged in any other activity, whether with my eyes open or closed,
my mind wanders off in other directions, and hence I can't concentrate
on the OTR. If I'm engaged in another activity, usually that activity
requires too much of my attention, and again, I can't concentrate on the
OTR.

Does anybody else have this same problem? Does anybody have any possible
solutions? One possible solution might be to find certain activities
that allow me to concentrate on the OTR as well as the activity. Any
suggestions for such activities? For me, at least, any activity that
requires "thinking" in words, such as crossword puzzles, surfing the
web, etc., would not work, as I could only concentrate on one or the
other (activity or OTR).

Thanks in advance.
Timothy Clough

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

Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 19:59:55 -0500
From: "vegan" <vegan@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Radio Reception in Tunnels

When I was in the Navy and stationed in Norfolk Va.(USS Vermillion AKA 107,&
USS Taconic LCC17).I use to go home to New York on the weekends I had off
,sometimes by bus,sometimes by car [removed] route was via the Chessapeak Bay
Bridge Tunnel (1966-1969) and this was a 17mile causway/bridge system with
two [removed] was surprised the first time I went through the tunnels that
the radios kept [removed] was them that I noticed a wire mounted in the
ceiling of the tunnels that acted as a long [removed] far as I know,they
are still [removed] Dezendorf-Florida

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

Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 20:22:37 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Telephone on Opening?

Anent OTR shows that began with a ringing telephone, how about The
Adventures of Sam Spade?

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 21:39:36 -0500
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Cincinnati OTR convention

It would figure that I'd type the address wrong.
Below is a corrected link to the web page.
Sorry about that!

[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 21:40:18 -0500
From: "Scott D. Livingston" <sdl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Trivia Question

Wayne wrote:

The challenge was to name at least five
OTR shows that regularly began with the ringing of a telephone.  The only
two I could think of were Duffy's Tavern and Candy Matson.  Would any other
readers be so kind as to provide names of other series that fit this
description?

One other I can think of is Yours Truly Johnny Dollar. Maybe someone else
can help with the others.

Fibber

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

Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 23:34:28 -0500
From: Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Bells Are Ringing

Regarding the  radio programs that opened with the ringing of a telephone, I recently
authored an article on that very topic. It was published in "Aircheck" and later,
"Radio Recall."

I found a total of about ten network series that began with Bell's invention. Listed
chronologically by year of origin, they are: Lum & Abner, Duffy's Tavern, Adventures
of Nero Wolfe (both versions),  The Falcon, Adventures of Sam Spade, The Crime Club,
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, Candy Matson, and The Lady in Blue.

My article concluded by stating that we're lucky that Dodge City, KS in the 1870s had
only a telegraph line and no telephone service, or "Gunsmoke" might have begun every
episode like this:

ANN: "Around Dodge territory, there's just one way to handle the killers and the
spoilers, and that's with the sound of----"

SOUND:  Telephone ringing, followed by receiver clicking

CHESTER:  "Marshal's [removed] Chester Proudfoot speakin'......what's
that?.....yup, he's here. ......uh, Mister Dillon, it's fer [removed]"

Jack French
Editor: RADIO RECALL

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

Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2002 00:44:48 -0500
From: grayghost@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: TELEPHONE OPENINGS

It looks like most of you mates named the ones that I thought of.  But there
is one that (so far) has not been listed, so I thought I would give it a go.

How about "Phone Again, Finnigan"?
This show starred the very funny american chap Stu Irwin.

GrayGhost

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

Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2002 00:45:11 -0500
From: Michael Berger <makiju@[removed];
To: otr <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: ring ring ring!

Sam Spade Detective [removed]

It's me, sweetheart!

= ====
Please reply to: intercom1@[removed]

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

Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2002 04:52:00 -0500
From: lois@[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 five years, same time, same channel!

Our numerous "regulars" include one of the busiest "golden years" actors in
Hollywood; a sound man from the same era who worked many of the top
Hollywood shows; a New York actor famed for his roles in "Let's Pretend" and
"Archie Andrews;" owners of some of the best OTR sites on the Web;
maintainer of the best-known OTR Digest (we all know who he is)..........

and Me

Lois Culver
KWLK Longview Washington (Mutual) 1941-1944)
KFI Los Angeles (NBC) 1944 - 1950
and widow of actor Howard Culver

(For more info, contact lois@[removed])

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

Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2002 12:02:38 -0500
From: "Peter H. Vollmann" <vollmann@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Trivia Question

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar for one always started with the ringing of
Johnny's phone. (And how I love those shows!)
Peter from Hawaii

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

Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2002 12:02:47 -0500
From: Tony Baechler <tony@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Telephone

Hello.  One show which I did not see mentioned was the New Adventures of
Nero Wolfe.  Except the first show, it always started with a telephone
bell.  It actually reminds me a lot of Johnny Dollar in the way the "phone
bell" sounds.

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

Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2002 12:03:01 -0500
From: Fred Berney <berney@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Truth or Consequences

Does anyone remember the Truth or Consequences show, when Ralph Edwards
told the radio audience that a microphone was hidden in someone's home and
they he called out someone's name and asked them to respond?

I don't know what made me suddenly think of this show, but I had always
wondered how the programs team of engineers had managed to pull that off.

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #36
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