Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #509
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 12/30/2002 8:04 AM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2002 : Issue 509
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Musical Variety Shows                 [ George Aust <austhaus1@[removed] ]
      Longest running OTR show              [ "Andrew Godfrey" <niteowl049@[removed] ]
      Red/Blue Cue                          [ "Brian Johnson" <CHYRONOP@worldnet. ]
      1936 NBC Service                      [ bryanh362@[removed] ]
      Re: Say Goodnight Gracie              [ StevenL751@[removed] ]
      Update on Reeves Audio Samples        [ Larry Jordan <midtod@[removed]; ]
      OTR Where You least Expect It         [ "Ian Grieve" <austotr@[removed]. ]
      Music Man                             [ "William Strom" <stromman@[removed] ]
      End of live music on radio            [ otrbuff@[removed] ]
      Today in radio history                [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
      XM Radio Classics editing             [ "Kirby, Tom" <Kirby@[removed]; ]
      RE: Charlie McCarthy                  [ "Kirby, Tom" <Kirby@[removed]; ]
      Re: JOHN ARCHER and "The Man Who Dre  [ SanctumOTR@[removed] ]

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

    Date: Sun, 29 Dec 2002 23:49:17 -0500
    From: George Aust <austhaus1@[removed];
    To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Musical Variety Shows

    A number of people have responded to my original post about musical
    variety shows on OTR as well as straight musical shows. I think that a
    lot of old broadcasts exist and are released regularly, on CD and tape,
    but they don't usually show up in the normal channels of distribution
    for other OTR shows.
    Someone mentioned the Redmond Nostalgia catalog and that is a good
    source for lots of musical shows  although they are not cleaned up at
    all and contain lots of sometimes distracting clicks, pops and
    distortions as well as speed variations. Still it is the only source
    that I know of for some of these programs.
    Another one is Worlds Records. This is primarily a source of re-released
    old time records from the whole of the 20th century. But if you go
    through the catalog carefully you will find OTR music and variety shows
    that have been cleaned up very nicely and released on CD.  They issue
    new catalogs about 4 times a years and each contains a massive amount of
    material.  However these are only the "new" releases, as they don't
    repeat the same items in later catalogs.  I think you may be able to
    search their entire inventory on their website ([removed])
    although it's been sometime since I logged in so I'm not sure what it
    contains anymore.

    Last, I had mentioned my favorite variety show, the Kraft Music Hall and
    Elizabeth responded with a favorite of hers, the Rudy Vallee Show
    (although it had different names thru the years),  and I was wondering
    if there were other shows that deserved a mention.  Among the strictly
    musical shows my favorite would have to be Chesterfields Glenn Miller's
    Moonlight Serenade. But another favorite was the Voice of Firestone.
    I'm still looking for some of the earlier broadcasts of that one
    especially from 1941. Anyone know if those exist?

    George Aust

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

    Date: Sun, 29 Dec 2002 23:49:59 -0500
    From: "Andrew Godfrey" <niteowl049@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Longest running OTR show
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from text/html

    Saw in last digest where Breakfast Club was on the air for 35 years. Were
    any other shows on longer than 35 years? I suspect very few shows lasted
    more than 30 years  as even Jack Benny started in 1932 but left the air
    in the middle 50's if I recall correctly and Fibber McGee and Molly
    lasted approximately 25 years.

    Andrew Godfrey

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    Date: Sun, 29 Dec 2002 23:50:34 -0500
    From: "Brian Johnson" <CHYRONOP@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Red/Blue Cue

    I've heard the so called Red/Blue "blooper" many [removed] only it was never
    a blooper. I've heard it said at the end of more than one news broadcast,
    usually presidential adresses and the like when both networks
    would combine.

    Using the numbers supplied by Elizabeth a couple of editions ago and the CJR
    inflation adjuster, an hour on the Red Network today would cost you around
    $169,500. I doubt you could buy an hour of television today from GE with
    [removed] oh, [removed] actually you could probably have a good  share of MSNBC
    for just a little more.

    Elizabeth - what were the hourly rates in 1941? And what percentage of the
    availble hours did they sell in various dayparts?
    And did news sponsors have any say on how the news was presented?

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

    Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2002 00:01:10 -0500
    From: bryanh362@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  1936 NBC Service

    Using the Northern Pacific edition of RADIO GUIDE from October
    1936  one can get somewhat of an idea of the situation as it pertained to
    NBCs red and blue network schedules outside of their  basic Eastern network.
    In 1936    NBC was able to boast a  dual network affiliation
    in all of the larger Pacific Coast Cities. In  Los Angeles, SanFransisco ,
    Portland, Seattle and Spokane  NBC  had  a seperate blue and red network
    station. However,  in places such as Denver Colorado in the rocky mountain
    states , NBC only had one affiliate in 1936.
    In Denver the station was KOA .  Obviously  KOA could not offer the full
    complement of the NBC red and blue service but would air only certain
    programs chosen from either source. If  KOA was carrying an NBC sponsored red
    network program in a certain time period a  sponsor on NBC blue  in the same
    time period could not be heard in Denver. What is interesting is that in
    Denver this situation did not happen as much as one might think. In 1936 more
    often than not if NBC Red had a sponsored program airing in the time slot the
    alternate program on NBC blue would be sustaining (and visa versa ). It
    almost appears that very often NBC had trouble selling the same time period
    on both networks simultaneously. However,  one such case of competing NBC
    sponsored programs was represented in the schedule on Monday night. Sanka was
    sponsoring Helen Hayes on NBC blue and over on NBC red was the Johnson's Wax
    program Fibber MCgee and Molly. KOA carried FM&M.
    Helen Hayes would be heard out on the Pacific Coast where there was both a
    red and blue network NBC station but not in Denver where there was only one
    NBC station. One thing that is interesting is that at times when both NBC
    networks had a competing sponsored offering the network program not heard in
    Denver would not be heard on  any west coast stations at all.
     As though NBC decided that since they could not offer a full network they
    would build regional programs for the time period.
    ([removed]  a program for the eastern network and then another for the stations on
    the Pacific Coast).  This seemed to satisfy regional sponsors whereas a
    national sponsor might have been irked that they could not be heard in all of
    the desired cities.  Some sponsors seemed to not want to "buy" the Denver
    market even when it was available.  Horlick's malted milk did not place Lum
    and Abner on KOA during 1936 even though the time period appeared to be
    available. While all other stations west of Denver were airing L&A at 9:15
    MST KOA aired a non destinct local program. KOA did air the preceeding NBC
    program which was Amos N Andy at 9PM MST. One interesting thing to note is
    that back East Amos N Andy aired at 7pm EST on NBC RED and the competition on
    NBC Blue was Easy Aces. KOA would take the Easy Aces program direct at 5PM
    MST from NBC blue but would take Amos N Andy  from NBC red at 9pm MST. This
    later A&A broadcast was specifically for stations in Central , Mountain and
    Pacific time.  Therefore, Denver got both programs even though back east they
    were competing programs but out west they were not.
    To further complicate the situation in regard to  NBC blue and red (out west
    atleast ) is indicated by the program "Ripley's
    believe it or not". When NBC sold the time period on NBC blue  Sunday nights
    at 7:30 pm  to Fleischmann's it appears that the stations of NBC blue were
    already sold regionally to a western sponsor. In this case NBC placed the
    program on western stations usually associated with NBC red.
    As you can see netowrking in 1936 was very much more complicated than the
    uniform schedules associated with the TV
    networks of today.

    -Bryan

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

    Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2002 08:50:59 -0500
    From: StevenL751@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Say Goodnight Gracie
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    In a message dated 12/29/2002 11:54:55 PM Eastern Standard Time,
    [removed]@[removed] writes:

>     I had the pleasure of seeing SAY GOODNIGHT GRACIE in New York yesterday.
>     I feel compelled to share my joy with all lovers of old time radio (and
>     especially, of George Burns).  The show was wonderful!!!

    I have to say that I disagree.  I did not find the show particularly good,
    just very strange.   I thought the show would have been great if George Burns
    himself had been on stage, but it's not George Burns.  It's an impersonator
    doing a George Burns act, and not a terribly good impersonation in my
    opinion.  Now that still might have worked if there had been a dramatic
    reason for this play to exist and "George" was a character in the play, but
    there's no play here.  It's just "George" telling the story of his life as if
    it was a stand-up routine.  There's no real plot,  no dramatic tension,
    nothing but the man on the stage talking to the audience.   So there's
    nothing to distract you from the fact that there's this guy unsuccessfully
    trying to be George Burns.  Now I suspect someone who doesn't really know
    much about Burns' life or someone who fondly remembers watching the TV show
    40 years ago might see this as nostalgia and enjoy this show more than I did.
     But as an OTR fan who very frequently listens to George Burns' real voice
    and has heard and read all these stories before, I found the impersonation to
    be a pale imitation of the real thing and the play uncomfortably close to
    grave robbing.

    Steve Lewis

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    Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2002 08:51:28 -0500
    From: Larry Jordan <midtod@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Update on Reeves Audio Samples

    Just a brief clarification and follow-up to my post yesterday about the
    OTR project involving Jim Reeves transcription disks from his live
    network radio show. I didn't realize that the audio samples on the
    website ([removed]) were all the UNprocessed versions. They
    were posted before all the mastering was done, in order to meet a
    deadline imposed by the webmaster.

    However, the good news is that NOW the site has been updated with the
    FINISHED sound samples online from the recently-released commercial CD,
    "Jim Reeves Around the World." Included are a couple of songs that
    hadn't been available yesterday. Even given the inherent limitations of
    streaming RealAudio, I think you can now get a better idea of how well
    they turned out. Aside from Reeves' "Love Letters In the Sand" and other
    smooth vocals, I call your attention to a swinging version of "I'm Gonna
    Sit Right Down (and Write Myself A Letter), as done by the orchestra
    under the direction of Owen Bradley. The band members are obviously
    having a lot of fun, and twice in the song shout out in unison "Oh ya!"
    It's a lotta laughs.

    Wouldn't it be great if some decent live bands performed on radio again?

    Larry Jordan

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

    Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2002 08:51:53 -0500
    From: "Ian Grieve" <austotr@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  OTR Where You least Expect It

    With the recent interesting thread on young people and their interest in OTR
    I thought I would ask about other references to OTR.  I know it has been
    mentioned here before about OTR references in Cartoons and other places you
    wouldn't expect to find them.  But what OTR references in places you would
    least expect it, have Digest members seen or heard?

    I was reading a book about Dick Tracy The Celebrated Cases of Dick Tracy
    1931 - 1951 (Introduction by Ellery Queen) and in one of the strips
    'Breathless' is being chased by Dick Tracy and she cons a couple of young
    blokes in an old jallopy to give her a lift.  On the two sides of the engine
    hood, is painted "MCGEES CLOSET".

    Ian Grieve

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

    Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2002 08:52:09 -0500
    From: "William Strom" <stromman@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Music Man

    To all people interested on Music Man and OTR reference, please go to :

    [removed]

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

    Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2002 08:53:25 -0500
    From: otrbuff@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  End of live music on radio

    Walden Hughes asked when live music ended on radio, believing it to have
    been around 1960.  I can't speak for other areas but "The Waking Crew"
    hosted by Teddy Bart and featuring several vocalists backed with a band
    of 8 to 12 professional musicians was still being broadcast over WSM
    every weekday morning from 7:45-9 [removed] when I left Nashville in 1975.  On
    several occasions I visited its glass-enclosed studio at the Opryland
    Hotel which included room for a small audience.  For years before the
    move to Opryland the group had broadcast from WSM's home atop Knob Hill
    on the city's western edge and earlier from the studios in the National
    Life building downtown.  It was all reminiscent of Godfrey's program
    without a hint of  retribution as host, singers and musicians bantered
    back and forth daily offering humorous asides while welcoming studio
    guests and interviewees.

    I can't say how long "The Waking Crew" continued to air (possibly into
    the early 80s, I'm just not sure).  But last week when I was in Nashville
    I noticed that Teddy Bart is still on the air.  That in itself is a good
    run--extending an on-air career that has lasted at least four
    decades--beginning with a show he inherited from others after it had been
    running in the 1940s and 1950s.  So live music on that station survived
    well beyond the golden age.  Of course, if you want to consider WSM's
    Grand Ole Opry (continuous every week since October 1925), live music
    broadcast from Nashville has simply never quit.

    Jim Cox

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

    Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2002 08:53:45 -0500
    From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Today in radio history

>     >From Those Were The Days --

    1936 - The famous feud between Jack Benny and Fred Allen was ignited.
    After a 10-year-old performer finished a violin solo on The Fred Allen
    Show, Mr. Allen said, "A certain alleged violinist should hide his head
    in shame for his poor fiddle playing." It didn't take long for Mr. Benny
    to respond. The humorous feud lasted for ten weeks on both comedian's
    radio shows.

    1942 - Mr. and Mrs. North debuted on NBC. Joseph Curtin played Jerry
    North and Alice Frost played Pam. A typical Mr. and Mrs. North episode
    would find Pam leading Jerry on what seemed to be a wild-goose chase as
    they tracked down criminals. Pam always ended up being right and leading
    police to the criminals. The theme song for the show was The Way You
    Look Tonight. Sponsors included Woodbury soap, Jergens lotion and Halo
    shampoo.

      Joe

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

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

    Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2002 08:53:51 -0500
    From: "Kirby, Tom" <Kirby@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  XM Radio Classics editing

    I've been listening to my new Delphi satellite radio, and I've been
    noticing that in the Jack Benny shows (and probably others), the songs
    have been cut out, along with the original commercials. Is this a
    royalty issue, or just a way of inserting more regular commercials/DJ
    chatter into the program?

    -- Tom Kirby <kirby@[removed];

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

    Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2002 09:03:43 -0500
    From: "Kirby, Tom" <Kirby@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  RE: Charlie McCarthy

>     Q - Whatever happened to Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd, Edgar
>        Bergen's dummies?
>     A - There are three sets.  They're safe and soundless at the Smithsonian in

    I thought that before Bergen died, he donated Charlie, Mortimer, and Effie
    to the Smithsonian, and that they turned down Mortimer and Effie, prompting
    Bergen to remark on the Smithonian's good taste?

    Or was that just another joke by Mr. Bergen?

    -- Tom Kirby <kirby@[removed];

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

    Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2002 09:05:32 -0500
    From: SanctumOTR@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: JOHN ARCHER and "The Man Who Dreamed Too
     Much"

    In a message dated 12/29/02 4:04:24 PM, Joy Jackson writes:

>     I know of two occasions that the program was re-created: Radio Enthusiasts
>     of
>     Puget Sound did this show at their first convention in 1993, and I know
>     SPERDVAC did it after that.

    ***Actually, John Archer performed "The Man Who Dreamed Too Much" at SPERDVAC
    some seven years BEFORE he did it at REPS' first convention.  The late Alfred
    Bester gave me all of his original SHADOW scripts from John's 1944-45 season
    back in 1978, and I recruited John to reprise his radio role at the 1986
    SPERDVAC Convention.  My SPERDVAC presentation of "The Man Who Dreamed Too
    Much" featured a wonderful cast of SHADOW veterans including John Archer,
    announcer Andre Baruch, Lesley Woods as Margot, Dwight Weist as Weston, Les
    Tremayne as Dr. Nightmare, and Alice Frost, Bill Zuckert and Amzie Strickland
    in supporting roles.  OTRDigester Ray Erlenborn provided the sound effects.

    I also directed John in three other SHADOW recreations: a new Sidney Slon
    SHADOW script commissioned for our QUICK AS A FLASH recreation at the 1987
    FOTR convention; and recreations of two 1937 SHADOW scripts at the 1994 FOTR
    and SPERDVAC conventions, "Terror Island" and "The Death House Rescue."  Both
    of the latter co-starred the late, great Jeanette Nolan (who also performed
    with John in a superb SUSPENSE recreation at FOTR (circa 1991) directed by
    Don Ramlow).  The 1994 FOTR SHADOW recreation also featured Jackson Beck,
    Margot Stevenson (who had made her first appearance on THE SHADOW playing a
    supporting role in the original broadcast of "Terror Island" some months
    before she took over the role of "the lovely Margot Lane" for the 1938
    Goodrich summer season) and Ted Mallie, who announced the final two radio
    seasons of THE SHADOW.

    BTW, John Archer's performance as The Shadow in Alfred Bester's "The Little
    Man Who Wasn't There" is included in Radio Spirits' THE SHADOW: RADIO'S
    GREATEST MAN OF MYSTERY, along with 4 shows starring Orson Welles, 8 with
    Bill Johnstone and 7 outings by Bret Morrison.  The 20-show collection is
    being released in January and also features a new historical booklet by
    --ANTHONY TOLLIN***

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #509
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