------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2003 : Issue 196
A Part of the [removed]!
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Today in radio history 5/12 [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
LIFE WITH LUIGI SCRIPTS [ james h arva <wilditralian@[removed] ]
Rinso, Super Suds, and Grand Opera [ "Frederick S. Hillman" <fshillman@6 ]
Re: Arthur Godfrey [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
Re: bloopers [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
Super Suds, Super Suds [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
Re: Musical Interludes [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
The Station of all Free Americans [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
XM gets out of the car [ "Nemesis@[removed]" <nemesis@[removed] ]
Arthur Godfrey [ "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyro ]
Re: Firing Julius LaRosa [ SanctumOTR@[removed] ]
LONE RANGER ON CBS ??????? [ HERITAGE4@[removed] ]
Re: Godfrey on TV [ Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed] ]
Network Consolidation [ Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed] ]
White bread in Saginaw [ "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed] ]
re:more abc-tv [ "Frank Phillips" <frankphi@hotmail. ]
Arthur Godfrey outcues [ W4CU@[removed] ]
Strange Dr. Weird [ "Don Frey" <alanladdsr@[removed] ]
Bill Stern [ "Don Frey" <alanladdsr@[removed] ]
Roger Kahn [ "Don Frey" <alanladdsr@[removed] ]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 18:23:03 -0400
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Today in radio history 5/12
From Today's Almanac --
1922-- the magazine "Radio Broadcast" commented, "The rate
of increase in the number who spend at least part of an
evening listening to radio is almost incomprehensible."
Joe
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 18:23:10 -0400
From: james h arva <wilditralian@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: LIFE WITH LUIGI SCRIPTS
12 MAY 03
JJiovanazz@[removed] writes that he's having trouble finding scripts for
"Life with Luigi". Well, finding scripts is not the easiest thing to do,
by any means. A few years ago, however, I produced a re-enactment of an
episode from "The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" for a Sherlock
Holmes club I belong to in Baltimore. I simply sat down with a little
hand-held cassette player and played the audio of that program ...
started and stopped it as needed ... backed up and re-listened as needed
... and kerplinked it into my computer, line by line. It's not really as
laborious as it might sound. It represents about 8 hours of work for a
half-hour show. It happened to be one of the episodes in which our good
friend Harry Bartell was the announcer, and I sent him a script and he
was kind enough to record his lines from this old script, and during the
performance I played his parts from the recording.
I'm in the process of producing another one for our Christmas meeting
in
December, and I have the script already transcribed, printed out, copied,
and sent to the cast members. The thought of trying to find a script
never crossed my mind. I'm sure it would take a lot longer than the 8
hours the transcription took me to do.
Best regards,
Jim Arva
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 18:23:40 -0400
From: "Frederick S. Hillman" <fshillman@[removed];
To: "Old Time Radio" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Rinso, Super Suds, and Grand Opera
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I recall the jingle for Super [removed] a brief line for Rinso ("Rinso white
-- Rinso bright -- Rinso blue," the latter when blue Rinso came out,
presumably an improvement). The vocalist for Rinso's jingle was a young Belle
"Bubbles" Silverman, later known as Beverly Sills, one of the greatest to
grace the operatic stage. Following a stellar career in opera she became, if
I recall correctly, a manager (General? Artistic?) for the New York City
Opera Company. I read somewhere -- and it makes sense -- that she got her
nickname not only from her effervescent and pleasant personality but from the
product for which she sang the jingle decades ago.
Amazing how high one can go when starting from a lowly soap jingle. Would
that be from soap opera to grand opera?
Fred Hillman
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------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 19:49:40 -0400
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Arthur Godfrey
What could he have done
to so infuriate Godfrey to fire him on the air instead of
waiting until the
show was over? Being fired is bad enough but to be humiliated
on top of the
firing by having it broadcast to the nation makes it even more
traumatic.
The A&E "Biography" retells this in gleeful detail. Apparently Godfrey was
jealous of LaRosa's rapidly rising star, and felt threatened. It sparked a
major furor at the time that escalated when Godfrey held a news conference
days later to explain that he fired LaRosa because "he lacked humility."
(Obviously the controversy got worse and Godfrey's ratings actually took a
hit.) Up to that point, Godfrey was so big at CBS (ratings wise and ego wise)
the network heavily pampered him and he got whatever he wanted; but the
fallout from this incident (and the one where he buzzed the airport control
tower and lost his pilot's license) supposedly, resulted in CBS finally
standing up to him and telling him how things would be done from now on.
The A&E special, BTW, recounts the day of the firing, with clips of the TV
feed then the audio of the actual radio feed when Godfrey says "I'll Take
Manhattan" was LaRosa's "swan song."
One final note: you know that famous fictional phrase, "How are ya, how are
ya, how are ya?" The one that impersonators often quoted from Godfrey? I may
have a recording of the only time Godfrey ever actually said it or claimed
to: in a 1979 radio PSA for Social Security Direct Deposit, in which Godfrey
makes the point that, until that moment, he never actually said it.
Dixon
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 19:50:11 -0400
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: bloopers
I always knew many of the entries on Kermit Schafer's Blooper albums were
re-creations, sometimes of fictional incidents or urban legends (the "Uncle
Don" fiasco, for instance), but weren't there a few real ones sprinkled in
there? Some of the Lowell Thomas bloopers sounded legitimate, like the one
where he cracks up after describing how President Eisenhower had just met
"all the folks who make Hershey's Chocolate, with and without nuts," or the
breakup over Dolly Dimples' comeback after her near-fatal heart attack (guess
which phrase got mangled?).
I heard at least one online version of a "Pat Novak for Hire" episode (I hope
it's the right series?) in which the announcer ends the program by mangling a
cast member's name, then blurts out "This is ABC, the National Broadcasting
Company," then someone else's laughter as the network feed ends.
[removed] think at least one cassette company has the "Double or Nothing"
broadcast in which one contestant goes into vivid (and frank) detail
describing what was, for all practical purposes, an orgy (a "screwing party,"
as she put it). CBS only *thought* they had destroyed all transcriptions of
the show.
Dixon
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 20:20:55 -0400
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Super Suds, Super Suds
Wasn't the Super Suds, Super [removed] commercial for RINSO ?
Jerry B.
No, Rinso's went:
Rinso white - Rinso bright -
Happy little washday song!
It may have been a jingle for an actual sponsor, but I do recall accurately
that SPIKE JONES had a hit song using "Super suds, Super suds . . . over and
over as a jingle refrain between lyrics. It's probably that song you
remember.
Martin
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 21:01:59 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Musical Interludes
On 5/12/03 6:48 PM OldRadio Mailing Lists wrote:
What was the thinking in including so much music in what today would be
straight-forward situation comedy shows? An example was a Fibber McGee &
Molly where the segment ends and Harlow Wilcox introduced Billy Mills and
the orchestra, who played a song. Or Fred Allen introducing Al Goodman. Or
Dennis Day, who was at least integrated into the program.
This was an evolution from stage revues and vaudeville -- which, in turn,
leads directly back to the minstrel shows of the pre-Civil War era.
These forms of stage entertainment always integrated music with sketches
and dialogue, and by the 1920s, the better vaudeville houses managed
their programs in very much the same format as would become familiar in
radio, with a wisecracking master-of-ceremonies overseeing the
proceedings and often performing in skits and sketches in order to give
the show a loose continuity. This type of presentation carried over
intact into radio.
One of the most striking examples of this is the familiar Jack Benny
format of the 1930s -- which corresponds almost exactly with the
ritualized format of a minstrel show. The opening banter with the cast
corresponds to the comedy dialogue exchanged between the end men and the
interlocutor. The tenor solo and band number in the middle of the program
correspond to the minstrel "olio," which featured a range of music and
variety-type acts, and the concluding sketch corresponds precisely to the
minstrel "afterpiece." Benny's format during the 1940s drifted away from
this rather rigid model, of course -- but vestiges remained.
Elizabeth
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 21:03:01 -0400
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: The Station of all Free Americans
Paul Feavel mentions Eric Barnouw's discussion of "Black" Radio:
"Barnouw describes a German station calling itself 'The Station of All True
Americans' purporting to come from somewhere in the American midwest, but
traced to Germany. "
This was a station "Debunk" The Station of all FREE Americans. It was
developed by Dr. Herbert John Burgman, who was employed at the US Embassy
in Berlin before the US entered the war. When Germany declared war on the
US, instead of being repatriated, he chose to stay in Germany and assumed a
new name "Helmuth Bruckmann."
Beginning on March 12, 1942, Bruckmann broadcast to North America under
the pseudonym "Joseph Scanlon" a fictitious figure who was supposedly
connected to the isolationist, anti-communist Christian Front movement. His
broadcasts came from "clandestine" station "Debunk." Its focus was as
mentioned to create suspicion around Roosevelt's foreign policies.
The station claimed to be coming from Iowa, but was soon identified to
actually be transmitting from Germany. The station regularly played "Carry
Me Back to Old Virginny" and always ended its daily broadcasts with the
National Anthem. One of its specialties were news flashes, for example:
Flash from Australia: General MacArthur driving an open car has run over
several American soldiers and killed them!
Flash from Denver: The citizens of Denver suggest that this war should be
called "Franklin's Last Experiment."
After the war, Burgman was sentenced to 20 years in prison where he died.
I suspect that if any copies of these programs exist, they are in the
German Archives and usually very hard to obtain copies.
Jim Widner
jwidner@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 22:04:46 -0400
From: "Nemesis@[removed]" <nemesis@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: XM gets out of the car
Here's a link to a story about XM radio being able to move to a PC without
hooking up to the [removed]
[removed]
Linda Thuringer
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 23:20:51 -0400
From: "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Arthur Godfrey
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 09:14:47 -0400
From: Mark J Cuccia <mcuccia@[removed];
have him closing out with an outcue and local-ID (while Godfrey's theme
"Seems Like Old Times" plays softly underneath), the outcue being "This is
CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System" prior to Summer/Fall 1951. Since
both CBS Radio and CBS-TV outcued at the end of every program/segment this
way, it didn't matter if Godfrey was simulcasting that 15-minute segment.
This brings to mind an old memory. I think it was Arthur Godfrey we were
listening to, and while I don't remember just what they were talking
about, it had something to do with soup. And Godfrey (I think) then gave
the outcue "This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting Soup."
--
A. Joseph Ross, [removed] [removed]
15 Court Square, Suite 210 lawyer@[removed]
Boston, MA 02108-2503 [removed]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 23:21:29 -0400
From: SanctumOTR@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Firing Julius LaRosa
In a message dated 5/12/03 5:49:14 PM, Andrew (no relation to Arthur) Godfrey
writes:
However, the Julius LaRosa firing is something I really don't understand.
What could he have done to so infuriate Godfrey to fire him on the air
instead of waiting until the show was over? Being fired is bad enough but to
be humiliated on top of the firing by having it broadcast to the nation
makes
it even more traumatic.
***Actually, the problems had been building for some time and LaRosa's agent
was demanding a release from the singer's contract with Godfrey. Godfrey
reportedly discussed the problem with CBS execs Bill Paley and Frank Stanton
over a meal, and Dr. Stanton suggested: "You hired him on the air. Why don't
you fire him on the air?" (There was apparently some concern with putting
Julie on-air if he knew in advance that it was his last show. )
Have you actually listened to Godfrey's farewell to LaRosa? (It's included
in the TOO HOT FOR RADIO collection I prepared a few years ago for GAA.)
After LaRosa sings "I'll Take Manhattan," Godfrey pays tribute to Julius'
talents, predicting great things for his future: "Thanks ever so much, Julie.
That was Julie's swan song with us. He goes off now to make it on his own,
as his own star, soon to be seen on his own programs, and I know you wish him
godspeed the same as I do. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System."
It was done so subtly that Julius reportedly didn't even know he had been
fired until after the show when others told him what "swan song" meant, and
later that day Godfrey claimed that firing Julie "was like tearing my
eyeballs out." A lot of people have been publicly fired in a far worse
manner than
Julius LaRosa (who still credits Godfrey with giving him his career in the
first place). --ANTHONY TOLLIN***
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 23:57:51 -0400
From: HERITAGE4@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: LONE RANGER ON CBS ???????
RE: A. Joseph Ross' comments about THE LONE RANGER in Boston --
I'm not sure what station you were listening to, but CBS did not rebroadcast
LONE RANGER radio programs. ABC did.
The Boston CBS station was WEEI, and was owned and operated by CBS. They
never re-broadcast ABC or NBC or MBS programs.
I worked at WCOP - one of the two local ABC station, the other being
WLAW Larence/Lowell. We broadcast THE LONE RANGER and most other ABC radio
programs. The RANGER had run previously
on MBS and The Blue Network. In 1944 BLUE became ABC.
Tom Heathwood _ Heritage Radio -Boston
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 13:47:00 -0400
From: Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Godfrey on TV
Mark J. Cuccia wrote:
Lots of stuff that I didn't know about Godfrey's long career.
I remember, as a kid, seeing/hearing his various shows on radio & TV. I
remember reading about the La Rosa (sp?) episode in my mother's TV/Radio
magazines. It seemed to be a big scandal at the time; I always thought it
more-or-less put an end to Godfrey's career. I had no idea that he was
still on radio through the 1960's.
I read an "interview" article (I think around 1968, in TV Guide) where he
predicted that he would experience a comeback on TV, and lamented the bad
press that came from the "firing incident" and the "airport buzzing" in his
private plane.
He seemed sorrowful to me.
Question: Are there any Godfrey radio sound clips out there on the web that
I could listen to, just for old times sake?
Herb Harrison
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 13:47:19 -0400
From: Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Network Consolidation
Mark J Cuccia <mcuccia@[removed]; wrote, in part:
Also "ironic" that Westinghouse (or what remained of them) merged with or
bought out CBS in more recent [removed] of course, today, I think of CBS as
being part of CBS/Viacom/Paramount/Westwood/Infinity/Mutual/NBCRadio/etc.
Just wait until the FCC is finished with their next Rules change
publication: Add three television stations, unlimited radio stations, and a
bunch of newspapers to the ownership of any corporate entity = finish to
ANY independent media voices.
Herb Harrison
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 13:48:47 -0400
From: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: White bread in Saginaw
In Digest #186, Roger writes:
Awhile back someone mentioned that white bread was
tasteless. Hal Stone worked for WNEW in Saginaw,
Michigan and seeing he was there for a few years I
I bet that he would disagree about white bread
being tasteless, that is if he had any Spatz's bread
while he was there.
As a current Saginaw resident, I'll second this posting. Spatz's is pretty
good bread, and makes great sandwiches here at the local Tony's.
While at Cincy, I got to chat with Hal Stone about his career, the OTR hobby,
and his time in Saginaw, MI. Somehow, he also suckered me into buying a book
too. Just kidding, but he did write a very kind inscription in the book for
me. If there are still one or two of you out there who haven't got the book
yet, get one before they run out. It's fun to read, filled with pictures,
and to a younger person in the hobby (28 years old) like myself, a great
introduction to some radio people who I didn't know much about, but whose
work I was familiar with.
-chris holm
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 13:49:01 -0400
From: "Frank Phillips" <frankphi@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: re:more abc-tv
Got in on the exchange rather late, but ...
In the late 1950s, maybe even into the '60s, WKZO-TV, Channel 3, Kalamazoo,
Mich., advertised itself as BOTH an ABC and CBS affiliate. That ended soon
after, as I recall.
Frank Phillips
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 13:49:11 -0400
From: W4CU@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Arthur Godfrey outcues
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I can remember one unforgettable [removed]"This is the columbia Broadchasing
System". Given, of course, by Arthur. John Reinke( 60 years in B/c
engineering).
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 13:49:24 -0400
From: "Don Frey" <alanladdsr@[removed];
To: "otr message" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Strange Dr. Weird
In responding to Walden Hughes' inquiry about shows broadcast on VE Day,
one
mention was made of "Strange Dr. Weird" 5/ 8/45, "Picture of a Killer." This
is a
common error that must be corrected once and for all! That story was not
presented
on 5/8. On VE-Day, the series presented "One Million BC." I have the show
and an
announcement concerning the fall of Germany is included. The stories are
similar, each
involves a picture, which is reason enough for the confusion. "One Million
BC" is
rarely listed in the logs printed and the total # of shows is not 28 but
[removed] think "Picture of a Killer" was 5/15/45, with the last show being
5/22/45, "Revenge From the Grave."
Jay Hickerson's latest has the information. I may have the last two dates
wrong but the
"One Million BC" for 5/ 8/45 seems certain. Radio Memories has the show for
those who may wish to "check it out."
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 13:49:41 -0400
From: "Don Frey" <alanladdsr@[removed];
To: "otr message" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Bill Stern
My favorite Bill Stern: Baseball game, the batter is hit, ear permanently
injured, causes
deafness. The batter: Thomas Edison. [removed] you wonder who threw that
ball,
well, legend has [removed] James.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 13:49:55 -0400
From: "Don Frey" <alanladdsr@[removed];
To: "otr message" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Roger Kahn
Martin Grams was asking about a pianist for radio shows in the 30's-40's. He
thought
the name was something like "Cohen." How about Joe Kahn who was the pianist
for Information Please. (See Dunning.) He was the father, by the way, of
Roger Kahn
who wrote the great baseball book "Boys of Summer."
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #196
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