------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 01 : Issue 223
A Part of the [removed]!
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Re:Just another OTR quote [Kenneth L Clarke <kclarke5@[removed]]
The Bee [JackBenny@[removed] ]
Jack Benny Waukegan celebration [JackBenny@[removed] ]
"Not suitable" scripts ["Lois Culver" <lois@[removed]; ]
Hopalong Cassidy Trademark [Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
Swift's Jingle / Organist ["Welsa" <welsa@[removed]; ]
Funniest OTR ["stephen jansen" <stephenjansen@ema]
Re: TGOTA "Green Pastures" [Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed]]
Novels Package [George Aust <austhaus1@[removed]]
Live radio shows [removed] ["Robert Paine" <macandrew@[removed]]
funny stuff ["randy story" <BYGEORGE@[removed]; ]
BOB & RAY [HERITAGE4@[removed] ]
Gildersleeve [HERITAGE4@[removed] ]
The Grapes of Wrath [MGiorgio1@[removed] ]
B & A again [dabac@[removed] ]
Bob and Ray on WOR [Clifengr3@[removed] ]
Shadow Not Suitable [GEORGE WAGNER <gwagneroldtimeradio@]
re: gildersleeve? [dabac@[removed] ]
Stage names ["David H. Buswell" <dbuswell@rivnet]
Control over Program Content ["Cope Robinson" <coplandr@bellsouth]
"Funniest Episodes and Irving Berlin ["[removed] Wolfe" <rjrmemorabilia@yahoo.]
New DRAGNET Book [Michael Henry <mlhenry@[removed];]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2001 20:04:31 -0400
From: Kenneth L Clarke <kclarke5@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re:Just another OTR quote
I was listening to "Information Please" with guest star
Fred Allen last night. He asked if he could change the
format of the show somewhat and ask the questions
of the panelists. Whatever monies were paid out were
sent to the "Bundles for Britain" charity in the names
of the panelists.
All of the questions asked were ones he was asked on
a previous "information Please" program. One of the
questions was in regard to a quote by Nietzsche:
"Man is the only animal who laughs for he suffers so
excruciatingly that he was inspired to invent laughter."
This struck me as the perfect quote to share with the
mailing list members.
Kenneth Clarke
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2001 21:30:16 -0400
From: JackBenny@[removed]
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: The Bee
Trying to catch up on my Digests, and saw this post:
Ted Kneebone is correct that the piece played to "start" the Benny-Allen feud
was "The Bee" (not "The Flight of the Bumblebee"), which Jack maintained was
a more difficult piece. The boy who played it is now in in his 70s, and
Stuart Canin is still an active violinist. You can see his name from time to
time in movie music credits.
To my knowledge, the Fred Allen broadcast that started the feud is considered
"lost." Hopefully this will be a rediscovered treasure some day.
--Laura Leff
President, IJBFC
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2001 21:56:29 -0400
From: JackBenny@[removed]
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Jack Benny Waukegan celebration
For anyone interested, I have the latest information on the September
Waukegan celebration on our Web page: [removed].
--Laura Leff
President, IJBFC
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2001 21:56:27 -0400
From: "Lois Culver" <lois@[removed];
To: "OTR Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: "Not suitable" scripts
Scripters had to be very careful in those days not to offend listeners.
I had a friend who enjoyed "Defense Attorney" on ABC, which starred Mercedes
McCambridge as the defense attorney and my late husband Howard Culver as her
newspaperman boy friend. My friend wrote that they would not be listening
to the show any longer, since the attorney and her boy friend planned to go
"up to the lake" for the weekend!
Lois Culver
KWLK Radio (Mutual) Longview, WA 1941-44
KFI Radio (NBC) Los Angeles CA 1945-47, 50-53
Widow of Howard Culver, actor
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2001 21:56:25 -0400
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Hopalong Cassidy Trademark
Joe Ross ponders:
>>>> This is a perfect example of the difference between a copyright and a
trademark. The original Hopalong Cassidy films and radio shows may still
be under copyright, but the trademark may be available. <<<<
Not really, if you do a trademark search for Hopalong Cassidy, you'll see
that US Television Office Inc. has it all covered:
Trademark #2056008 - G & S: posters, books concerning Westerns [, and movie
theater lobby cards, inserts and half sheets ]. G & S: T-shirts, sweaters,
headwear, neckwear, vests, and cowboy outfits, primarily, caps, chaps, shirts.
Trademark #1985293 - G & S: firearms.
Trademark #1991689 - G & S: prerecorded video tapes of Westerns and related
products, namely recordings of Western radio shows.
All are live trademarks.
Jim Widner
jwidner@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2001 21:56:22 -0400
From: "Welsa" <welsa@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Swift's Jingle / Organist
We talk about the way TV ads are aimed at children in such a shameless way
today. Imagine you were a tyke in the studio audience of Archie during the
1940's. I would think that sometime during the warm-up someone would teach
the kids to sing the Swift's jingle. Exploitive? You bet. And the kids
were probably thrilled to do it.
The organist was none other than George Wright. He became a famous and
well-recorded show organist later on. I have at least one of his albums--a
pipe organ intrepretation of SOUTH PACIFIC.
Ted
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2001 21:56:20 -0400
From: "stephen jansen" <stephenjansen@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Funniest OTR
I've got to put in my ten cent's worth about the "funniest OTR show".
I must say it's Bob and Ray!
Probably the most interesting thing for me, is that they were funny to
me on their own, when I first began listening to OTR. Then, as I began to
discover more about OTR (typical situations in other series', lame plot
devices, obtuse characters, etc), I began to laugh all over again at the
extreme parodies Bob and Ray were doing - their humor works on several
different levels.
Some of my favorite bits are: Mr Science (explains how a flame keeps
the refrigerator cold?!?), Mr Trace, Keener Than Most Persons (and his
assistant, Spike Delancey "What do you mean, Boss?!?"), the Handyman (one of
the bits involves him squeezing bad tuna fish to get a mess of mercury to
add to a modified eyedropper to make a homemade thermometer), Matt Neffer,
Boy Spotwelder (the characters keep "moving" around the imaginary radio
room - "Over here, in the attic, Matt."), and, of [removed] Ballou
Reporting. That's Wally Ballou, of course. For some reason he never can
get his first name on the air, even though he is the winner of "several
diction awards".
How these two guys kept all of their character voices and names
straight, is a wonder. Much of their shows were done as improv, off the
cuff. And still they didn't mix up their dialects, still left perfect
openings for each other so smooth it was as if they were reading from
scripts. What great talents.
At your first, casual listen, they may fool you into thinking that they
are dolts. That they don't quite know what they are doing. Don't be
tricked - it's a put-on. These guys know what they're doing - they're
making us laugh so hard it hurts.
Thanks, Bob. Thanks, Ray.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2001 23:09:38 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: TGOTA "Green Pastures"
greg przywara wonders,
This is a question for the Theater Guild on the Air experts out there:
I recently heard the TGOTA version of Marc Connely's "The Green Pastures"
and would like to know if the radio play was done by an all-black cast like
the stage and screen versions. It's kind of odd that some of the players
sound like the Amos and Andy style white dialecticians and yet the Hal
Johnson Choir, one of the most prestigious African-American gospel groups of
its day, is singing excerpts from spirituals here.
The credited cast of the radio "Green Pastures" were all African-American
stage and film actors -- Juano Hernandez, who played De Lawd, was one of
the most distinguished black actors of the 1940s, and was reprising a
part he had first played on radio in a "Cavalcade of America" production
in 1941. This was a difficult role for Hernandez so far as the dialect
was concerned -- Hernandez was born and raised in Puerto Rico, and his
natural speech was a very formal Standard English, tinged with a hint of
Spanish. His real-life exposure to rural Southern Black English was
extremely limited, so it's understandable that at times his use of the
dialect sounds artificial -- because for him, it was. But Hernandez does
have the authoritative voice required for the part, and for the most part
he's able to carry it off -- even though the play depicts The Almighty as
a cigar-smoking derby-wearing deity, given to saying things like "Let de
fish fry [removed]"
Among the other principal cast members in the TGOTA "Green Pastures,"
Maurice Ellis had been a member of the famous Lafayette Players in
Harlem, and had worked under Orson Welles in the 1936 all-black-cast
Federal Theatre Project production of "Macbeth." Avon Long is probably
best known as the definitive "Sportin' Life," a role he brought to
Broadway in the 1942 revival of "Porgy and Bess." Richard Huey was
another Lafayette veteran, and appeared in supporting roles on Broadway
from the mid-thirties forward.
The Hall Johnson Choir, of course, had a vital part of the original stage
production of "Green Pastures," and appeared in the 1936 film as well.
They had frequently appeared on radio during the 1930s, most notably in
support of Irvin S. Cobb and Clarence Muse on the 1936-37 "Paducah
Plantation" series. Working in the choir thruout this period were two
performers who would go on to become quite familiar to OTR fans -- singer
Ernestine Wade and assistant conductor Jester Hairston.
OTR fans might also be interested in the movie version of "Green
Pastures," for Eddie Anderson's memorable performance as Noah, a year
before he would become "Rochester."
Elizabeth
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 00:20:12 -0400
From: George Aust <austhaus1@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Novels Package
A similar package "Rebecca", "The Grapes of Wrath", "The Scarlet
Pimpernel" and "The Maltese Falcon", and I believe "Billy Budd" were
offered in a wooden crate by Radio Spirits some years ago ( 7,8,9
years?) It seemed like a good deal so I ordered it. When I received it
I discovered that the crate included two copies of "The Grapes of
Wrath" and no "Maltese Falcon".
I called Radio Spirits and told them what had happened and they very
graciously told me to keep the dup copy and that they would send me a
"Maltese Falcon". Some days later I came home to find a rather large
package had been delivered. I was puzzled as I couldn't remember
ordering anything and certainly nothing that would require a box of that
size. Upon opening the package and removing all the carefully arranged
packing material, I was amazed to discover an actual 51/2 lb black
Maltese Falcon.
I must have stared at the thing for a full minute before it hit me.(the
thought, not the bird) and I started laughing. Took me a few minutes to
recover before I could explain what had happened to my stunned wife who
was still just starring at this thing.
Well, I still don't have a copy of the show but I sure got the bird and
he (how do you tell an male falcon from a female falcon?) is sitting on
a shelf right above my head over the computer, just waiting for one of
our famous California earthquakes and he's gonna get me for keeping the
darn thing. Do you suppose that I'll get a bill from Carl Amari now?
George Aust
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 00:21:50 -0400
From: "Robert Paine" <macandrew@[removed];
To: "OTR Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Live radio shows [removed]
Hal Peary was interviewed by Frank Bresee on AFRTS's The Golden Days of
Radio (?) some years ago. He told of the night when the actor playing an old
timer (I don't think he meant THE Old Timer) came back for the repeat
broadcast having had a little too much at the dinner break. Peary told
someone, maybe Walter Tetley, to hold the guy offstage while he - Peary -
handled both parts. He said the audience was so shocked seeing him play
Gildy (he said that in the character's voice) and the old fella (in an old
guy's voice) that they didn't laugh for some minutes.
Re: Bob and Ray on [removed]'ll retell a story on myself.
While they were doing the drivetime program, I was driving to work as a
welder at a shipyard, listening to Mary Backstayge; The Gathering Dusk; Matt
Knepper, Boy Spotwelder and their other lunacy. It was a struggle to have to
go in at 4:45 PM when they're in the midst of a good story. [removed] or
Bob and Ray? Work usually won out - very reluctantly. I wonder how many
close encounters they're responsible for - WOR should have run a warning,
listening to the following program may be hazardous to other drivers. They
helped me get through some very tough personal times, and I am grateful for
their antics.
Macandrew
"Write if you get [removed]"
"Hang by your [removed]"
"And remember, it's milder - much milder."
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 00:21:48 -0400
From: "randy story" <BYGEORGE@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: funny stuff
hi, kids.
i just wanted to chime in on the "funniest episode" thread of conversation.
i agree with the others that have indicated their preference for THE PHIL
HARRIS & ALICE FAYE SHOW as the funniest ever! i have at least laughed hard
once during each episode that i have listened to. harris is a hoot, but
lewis is a genius. i always wait for "frankie" to say: "I know a [removed]".
usually that means trouble is afoot. and the way those two use poor
"julius".8-)
i remember laughing the hardest during the show wherein phil wants to be a
fireman and frankie tells him that he should practice saving people from
burning buildings. their [removed], [removed]: julius. the location:
the harris guest room. during this episode, i first heard walter
tetley(julius) cough into a fit of foghorn sounding gasps. he did this in
several other episodes, too. fuuuuunnnnnnnnnyyyyyyy
8-)
i also agree with jer that the GREAT DEBATE episode of A & A is among the
funniest ever!
nothing produced these days can make me laugh as much as that good
old-fashioned humor!
btw, i want to thank all of you who have so kindly sent me either logs or
websites in my quest to organize my otr collection. it is appreciated.
thanks and god bless,
randy
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 00:21:52 -0400
From: HERITAGE4@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: BOB & RAY
To Art Shifrin and others commenting on BOB & RAY. Write me if you are
interested in CD's of original B&R (Boston) Shows.
Tom Heathwood Heritage4@[removed] 7/9/01
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 00:21:46 -0400
From: HERITAGE4@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Gildersleeve
Doesn't [removed] Fields refer to a policeman as a "gildersleeve" in the LUX
production of "Poppy" ??
<<Tom Heathwood - [removed];>
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 08:24:47 -0400
From: MGiorgio1@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: The Grapes of Wrath
Regarding the Great Radio Novels version of "The Grapes of Wrath," it is
probably (and I emphasize "probably" since I don't own the set) the NBC
University Theatre production of the show, which did have Jane Darwell from
the movie cast in her original role of Ma Joad. It is an excellent
production.
Michael Giorgio
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 08:26:39 -0400
From: dabac@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: B & A again
A few issues back I posted a question about burns & allens recent
popularity with otr fans. One of the principle things that prompted me
to ask about this was that the nostalgia pages otr phorums - one of my
favorite sites, while providing forums for a number of shows and several
of B&A contemporaries, does not have a forum for them. And although I
was aware that B&A is generally held in high regard by many fans of otr
(including me), I could`nt figure out the reason for this, since I know
it is a fairly popular site. Dan
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 08:28:21 -0400
From: Clifengr3@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Bob and Ray on WOR
I still chuckle when I think of some of the stuff they [removed] made it a
point to tape the afternoon show just to catch their stuff. One of the
funniest was a guy selling a light bulb filament replacement kit. And of
course, there was Mary Backstage, Noble Wife.
Wonderful stuff!
Shiffy
Shiffy,
I'm a big fan of the B&R WOR years too!
Perhaps someday we can meet at the HOUSE OF TOAST in Skunk Haven Long Island
and, over a prune shake and an order of toast (do you prefer yours buttered
on the near side or far side?) we can reminisce about "Westchester Furioso."
Hang by your thumbs,
Jim Yellen
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 08:28:01 -0400
From: GEORGE WAGNER <gwagneroldtimeradio@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Shadow Not Suitable
I have a taped talk Bret Morrison made back in
the 1970s, probably at an early one-day Newark OTR
convention, where he was asked about this very subject
- i. e., whether eyebrows were ever raised about this
"constant companion" business.
No, Morrison said, and added that it was always
very much to his surprise. Margo and Lamont would
reach Cranston's apartment at midnight, music bridge
or commercial, then next be seen sharing breakfast in
the morning. According to Morrison, nobody seemed to
object to this.
One of the popular magazines of the 1920s is
supposed to have been roundly criticized when the
(unmarried) hero and heroine of a serialized novel
entered his house one evening at the end of a chapter,
with both of them still there at the start of the very
next installment, which took place the very next
morning. The magazine's rejoinder to its critics: "We
very much regret that we can accept no responsibility
whatsoever for any acts which the characters in our
serialized stories choose to engage in between
installments."
George Wagner
GWAGNEROLDTIMERADIO@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 08:24:49 -0400
From: dabac@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: re: gildersleeve?
Alright, I apologise - maybe my curiousity got the better of me with the
gildersleeve thing. What I`d really like to know - who was THROCKMORTON
P. GILDERSLEEVE, the "man behind the man" REALLY like?! : )
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 13:44:25 -0400
From: "David H. Buswell" <dbuswell@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Stage names
Eric Cooper mentioned the real names of a few OTR stars. Here are some
other birth names of several other personalties associated directly or
indirectly with OTR:
STAGE NAME
BIRTH NAME
1. Fred Allen
John Florence Sullivan
2. Eve Arden
Eunice Quedens
3. Jeff Chandler
Ira Grossel
4. Penny Singleton
Mariana McNulty
5. Alice Faye
Alice Leppert
6. Kitty Carlisle
Catherine Conn
7. Frances Langford
Frances Newbern
8. Walter Winchell
Walter Winechel
9. Eddie Cantor
Isidore Itzkowitz
10. John Barrymore
John Blythe
11. Fanny Brice
Fanny Borach
12. Gertrude Berg
Gertrude Edelstein
13. Edward Arnold
Guenther Schneider
14. Al Jolson
Asa Hesselson (later Yoelson)
15. Gale Gordon
Charles Aldrich, Jr.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 13:57:50 -0400
From: "Cope Robinson" <coplandr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Control over Program Content
Dennis Crowe asked:
Which brings me to a question. Who exercised greater control over program
content: the advertiser or its agency? Did big companies place trust in
others to best represent their interests and determine what would sell, or
did the corporations who controlled the purse-strings really call the
shots. Or was it a combination of both forces at work?
It probably depended on the advertiser and the amount of broadcast billing
as much as anything else. I can tell you that for Liggett & Myers and its
advertising agencies (I worked for both) between my years (1948-1970,
tobacco's final broadcast year), the agencies had a minimal role at best in
the decision making process for program [removed] In fact, I can't think of
a single radio program during that period which was not negotiated and
purchased by Liggett alone. A better than good guess is that some other
large broadcast advertisers operated similarly. I don't think that method
of operation had anything to do with lack of trust in an advertising agency
but rather since the advertiser had the experience and talent to make those
kinds of decisions, it was more efficient to do it that way.
Cope Robinson.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 14:38:59 -0400
From: "[removed] Wolfe" <rjrmemorabilia@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: "Funniest Episodes and Irving Berlin"
Hey Gang; I heartily agree that the Phil Harris -
Alice Faye Show was probably the funniest program on
radio and the show that was mentioned from "Ammos 'N
Andy" was hilarious too. But just on pure laughter and
audience reaction alone I still haven't heard anything
close to when "Myron Proudfoot" gets crowned "King For
A Day" on the Fred Allen Show.
If I did have to choose one program that was the
funniest I've Ever heard the only other one that comes
to mind besides that is "Command Performances',"
"Murder In B Flat" Or "For Goodness Sakes Isn't Dick
Tracy Ever Going To Marry Tess Truehart." That
particular episode was the crowning achievement of
"Command Performance." Bing Crosby played "Dick
Tracy," Dinah Shore played "Tess," Bob Hope played
"Flattop," Jimmy Durante played "The Mole" Frank
Sinatra played "Shakey" and Judy Garland, Frank
Morgan, Cass Daley and Harry Von Zell were also
included in the cast.
There are also at least 3
different radio shows in active circulation with
Irving Berlin that come to mind. One has him guesting
on "Philco Radio Time" with Big and Al Jolson and I've
often wondering how long they kept entertaing the
audience after the show ended. Another is a Bob Hope
Christmas show from Berlin and the third is a guest
spot with Al Jolson on the "Kraft Music Hall." They
are all highly entertaining but the "Philco Radio
Time" is the best.
Goodnight all
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 20:18:51 -0400
From: Michael Henry <mlhenry@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: New DRAGNET Book
For all DRAGNET fans
Michael J. Hayde, author of the new book "My Name's Friday:
The Unauthorized but True Story of Dragnet and the Films of
Jack Webb", will be speaking to the Metropolitan Washington
Old Time Radio Club this Friday, July 13.
If you are interested in attending, admission is FREE. The
MWOTRC meets at 7:30pm in the Parish Hall of the Trinity
Episcopal Church, 2217 Columbia Pike, Arlington, Virginia.
-Michael Henry
Vice-President, Program Chairman,
Metropolitan Washington Old Time Radio Club
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V01 Issue #223
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