------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2003 : Issue 95
A Part of the [removed]!
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Re: Henry Morgan [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
One's Grandfather's Radio [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
Quality OTR [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
Re: Radio Reconditioning [ BH <radioguy@[removed]; ]
Re: Lewis And Clark Radio Dramas [ "Stewart Wright" <stewwright@worldn ]
Zez Confrey [ "steven kostelecky" <skostelecky@ho ]
New Broadcast Log [ "Stewart Wright" <stewwright@worldn ]
The Lone Ranger's name [ "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyro ]
TTR TV [ "Ryan Osentowski" <rosentowski@neb. ]
Lewis & Clark Radio Dramas [ William Brooks <webiii@[removed]; ]
Two Men In A Bed [ "Phil Watson" <philwats@[removed] ]
The Lone Ranger [ lawrence albert <albertlarry@yahoo. ]
Berlin Correspondents [ Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed] ]
March 1st Birthdays [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
radio talk shows [ ddunfee@[removed] ]
OTR sound quality again and again [ "joe@[removed]" <sergei01@earthli ]
William Shirer [ Howard Blue <khovard@[removed]; ]
Longest Running NTR ? [ Henry Howard <hhoward@[removed] ]
Los what? [ JamesAltenburg@[removed] ]
Today in otr history [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
William L. Shirer [ chris chandler <chrischandler84@yah ]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 23:09:45 -0500
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Henry Morgan
Does anyone know where I can find/buy many of Henry Morgan's 15 minute
WOR/Mutual shows? I have long been a fan of Morgan but only recently did I
hear any of the 15 minute shows (on one he ran out of things to say and
encouraged his audience to go find some news or something) and a clip of
another (when he decides to tell "Old Man Adler's Life Story" in lieu of an
Adler Shoe commercial). This man was hilarious, easily one of the most
underrated comedians of the Golden Age. Those 15 minute shows are hard to
come by; J. David Goldin used to have a dozen or so of them, along with a few
more from the late 1950s revival.
I have one half hour ABC show with a commercial featuring the "Eversharp
Schick Shave-A-Thon" shaving contest, which ends with a man shaving himself
in 20 seconds (as the studio audience watched). Morgan then quips "Well,
that's what you get if you put an eight year old kid in the contest!" Very
funny stuff.
Dixon
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 06:29:58 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: One's Grandfather's Radio
Elizabeth McLeod noted,
I want to second the comments that have been made here about the
importance of replacing capacitors in antique radios if you have any
intention of using them -- or even of plugging them into the wall at
all.
There's an old saying that anthropologists ascribe to people within some
primitive tribes: "This is my grandfather's axe. My father replaced the
head, and I replaced the handle." An old radio with modern capacitors
will work as it was designed to, and that should be the key, IMHO.
Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 06:30:35 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Quality OTR
Michael Biel, commenting on OTR audio quality, in reaction to George
Coppen's observations, noted,
If you lived in NY or LA where the programs originated, the
transmitters were fed with a full range audio signal.
Well, in 1946 - 1948, we were living in the Seattle/Tacoma area, and the
sound quality was fine. When I was in San Antonio, Texas (there's a San
Antonio in Florida, so I have to be precise) in 1948 - 1952, the sound of
the radio shows was great. We usually heard a fine, clear signal -- no
clicks, hisses, pops, or other static. When we moved to Japan, the AFRS
OTR shows we heard had clean signals -- no static, hisses, pops, or
clicks. The good sound wasn't restricted to NY or/and LA.
The "O" of OTR refers to when it was broadcast, not its condition. I
agree with Michael Biel's perspective.
Stephen a. Kallis, Jr.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 06:31:24 -0500
From: BH <radioguy@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Radio Reconditioning
Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed]; writes:
No one in my town fixed vintage electronics, or was willing to try, or
was even willing to talk to me when I asked about it -- so I got some
books from the library and taught myself to do it. I replaced every
single paper capacitor in that set -- it took weeks to do it, and it was
extremely difficult to get at some of them. But I did it.
Hooray for you Elizabeth!
And I'm glad I did -- because when I looked at the diagram for that set,
I noticed that there were two paper bypass capacitors across the AC line
-- *BEFORE* the power switch. Had these capacitors failed, it would have
created a dead short across the house wiring -- and that almost certainly
would have caused a fire.
Indeed, Philco was really bad about this, along with some other
brands. I have never understood the reason for such design. When I
encounter line bypass caps before the switch I rewire them after
the switch so there is no voltage on them when the set is off.
By the way, and you probably already know this, the 37 in the
model number of you Philco is the model year (1937).
Bill H. "I don't need The Shadow to cloud my mind, I can do that
all by myself"
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 06:32:22 -0500
From: "Stewart Wright" <stewwright@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Lewis And Clark Radio Dramas
Paul Urbahns asked:
Anyway does anyone know of audio dramas (radio or records) about the Lewis
and Clark expedition?
In the early 1960's a very well-done six and a half hour (in thirteen
chapters) audio docu-drama was produced on The Lewis and Clark Expedition
for Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.
One such series is called HORIZONS WEST.
It starred Harry Bartell as Cpt. Meriwether Lewis and John Anderson as Cpt.
William Clark. Featured in the cast were many fine actors including: Dal
McKennon, Cliff Holland, Karl Swenson, Jack Kruschen, Helen Gerald,
Sebastian Cabot, Don Diamond, Frank Gerstle, Eddie Firestone, Bill Quinn,
Sam Edwards, Howard Culver, and many others.
A broadcast log on the series can be found at:
[removed]
HORIZONS WEST can be found in the libraries of several OTR Clubs including
RHAC and SPERDVAC.
Signing off for now,
Stewart
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 06:32:36 -0500
From: "steven kostelecky" <skostelecky@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Zez Confrey
Mr. Tague mentioned Zez Confrey. I have a collection of his in the "Keyboard
Wizards of the Gershwin Era" series. His is Volume IV. It is on Pearl
Records, a subsidary of Pavilion Records. I highly recommend cruising their
website. They have plenty of otr and otr-related recordings that I found
fascinating.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 06:32:54 -0500
From: "Stewart Wright" <stewwright@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: New Broadcast Log
A new broadcast log for O'HARA, a crime drama series that had two short,
separate runs during 1956 has been posted to the OTR Logs page at:
[removed]
The main character was Bob O'Hara, a foreign correspondent, who was based in
Hong Kong. While the O'Hara character was ostensibly a reporter, he usually
became involved in investigating and solving some crime. O'Hara was
essentially a detective in reporter's clothing.
Much recently discovered information about the series has been incorporated
into the broadcast log. Airing dates, episode titles, and extensive cast
and crew information is included. The main sources of broadcast log
information are the O'HARA scripts and other documents pertaining to the
series that reside in the KNX Collection at the American Radio Archives.
Signing off for now,
Stewart Wright
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 06:33:29 -0500
From: "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: The Lone Ranger's name
On 28 Feb 2003 at 13:22, OldRadio Mailing Lists wrote:
Retroactive or not, to my mind (and most people's, I
would think), the Lone Ranger is John Reid. That's the
name accepted in the radio and TV versions;
No it isn't. Reid is the name accepted. No first name is mentioned anywhere in the radio or
TV versions. The first time the name "John" Reid appears is in a 1966 book about the Lone
Ranger.
--
A. Joseph Ross, [removed] [removed]
15 Court Square, Suite 210
lawyer@[removed]
Boston, MA 02108-2503
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 06:33:50 -0500
From: "Ryan Osentowski"
<rosentowski@[removed];
To: "old time radio"
<[removed]@[removed];
Subject: TTR TV
Hi all:
I was amazed to learn that Tales of the Texas Rangers was a television show
in 1955. It starred Willard Parker as Jace Pearson and Harry Lauter as Clay
Morgon. Does anyone know anything about this show? How long did it last?
Why didn't Stacy Keech produce it? why was Joel McCrea not used in the
starring role as he was on radio? are there any episodes available for
viewing?
RyanO
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 06:34:08 -0500
From: William Brooks
<webiii@[removed];
To:
[removed]@[removed]
Subject: Lewis & Clark Radio Dramas
Paul Urbahns asked about a record series of Lewis & Clark done in the
'60's. If I'm not mistaken this was a 7 record set called HORIZONS
WEST. It starred John Anderson and Harry Bartell as Lewis & Clark
with Paul Frees as narrator. I have listened to it and the production
value and acting are very good. Possibly Harry Bartell could add some
incite as to the making of the set and who produced it etc. By the
way, I originally thought the narrator was Orson Welles, and it was
Harry who told me it was Paul Frees. What a magnificiant voice.
Bill Brooks
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 06:34:43 -0500
From: "Phil Watson"
<philwats@[removed];
To:
<[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Two Men In A Bed
It's not just an American depression poverty thing to show two men in a bed.
Comedians Morecambe & Wise (once introduced by Ed Sullivan on his TV show as
Morry, Cambee & Wise) were Britain's best-loved TV team in the 1960's and
1970's, having worked together since the 1940's on BBC radio (that's the OTR
context, folks!) and later television. Even in the 1970's their TV series
featured them sharing a bed - and no one thought anything of it.
It was well known that both were happily married family men in real life and
as they worked to a family audience there was no suggestion of anything
"improper". After Morecambe's death in 1984 one or two critics mentioned
their sleeping arrangement on TV but were soon derided for bringing sex
iinto a scene where there was none.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 06:35:09 -0500
From: lawrence albert
<albertlarry@[removed];
To:
[removed]@[removed]
Subject: The Lone Ranger
While I'm not one who thinks that a new slant on
an old theme is a bad thing or that elevating old
radio or television shows to a level beyond that which
they were created for, entertainment, is a good thing;
I gotta say the new WB Lone Ranger truly sucked.
Anacronistic dialoge, costuming and old "B" western
cliches just don't get it.
From the frist shot of the stage coming into the
town through a green meadow, with no evidence of
previous wagon ruts visible or any other signs of 19th
century traffic told me just how inept the production
was going to be. The best thing in the show was the
actor Wes Studi as the Shaman. I like the new Dragnet
as much as I like the old, but this "western" would
have reeked no matter what name it was released under.
Regardless of the changes it made to the history of
the Lone Ranger, there was nothing new or clever in
this piece at all. The whole thing was old hat ( and
not even a white hat at that).
Larry Albert
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 07:28:10 -0500
From: Herb Harrison
<herbop@[removed];
To:
[removed]@[removed]
Subject: Berlin Correspondents
I think I read that some reporters/correspondents were interned by the Axis
governments at the outbreak of hostilities with their governments.
If so, who were they; how long were they interned; were they able to get
dispatches out about what was going on in their "host countries"?
Just curious,
Herb Harrison
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 11:38:22 -0500
From: Ron Sayles
<bogusotr@[removed];
To:
<[removed]@[removed];
Subject: March 1st Birthdays
If you born on March 1st, you share your birthday with:
1885 - Lionel Atwill - Croydon, England
1904 - Glenn Miller - Clarinda, Iowa
1910 - David Niven - Kirriemuir, Scotland
1915 - Cy Harrice - Chicago, Illinois
1917 - Dinah Shore - Winchester, Tennessee
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Make your day, listen to an Olde Tyme Radio Program
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 11:38:53 -0500
From:
ddunfee@[removed]
To:
[removed]@[removed]
Subject: radio talk shows
Listening to KDKA talk shows of the 70's and 80's it was sometimes
mentioned that a version of a talk show was heard there but was only one
way. I got the impression it was on in the 50;s at least and perhaps even
the 40's. It was said that a caller could not be put on air as it broke
some FCC rule. The host, Windy someone as I recall, would converse with
the caller and provide enough information so the listeners could follow the
conversation. The show might have had "Party" as part of the name.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 11:39:27 -0500
From:
"joe@[removed]" <sergei01@[removed];
To: "OTR List"
<[removed]@[removed];
Subject: OTR sound quality again and again
Mike Biel commented on audio quality of OTR and the Little Orphan Annie
series recently released by the First Generation Radio Archives
(
[removed])
One incorrect assumption - the LOA transcriptions that the series originated
from were predominantly laterals - only #1164 & #1165 came from a vertical
disc. They sound fine in either format, but the laterals were in overall
better shape.
Joe Salerno
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 12:36:04 -0500
From: Howard Blue
<khovard@[removed];
To:
[removed]@[removed]
Subject: William Shirer
I second Hal Stone's endorsement of Wm. Shirer's "The Rise and Fall of
the Third Reich." Shirer was both a superb radio news man and writer.
It's a shame about how Shirer's career at CBS ended. The quote which
follows is from WORDS AT WAR, by book about World War II era radio
broadcasting.
"Norman Corwin saw the handwriting on the wall after a discussion late in
1948 with William Paley. The CBS President told Corwin that he was not
oblivious to the Red scare. "There is going to be a terrible wave of
reaction in this country," said Paley. "No place will be safe for a
liberal. Why when I went to a board meeting on Wall Street a little while
ago . . . I found myself congratulated on all sides for getting rid of
Bill Shirer." Afterwards Corwin realized that his own fate was clear. No
one, himself included, could doubt that he was a liberal."
Howard Blue
Scarecrow Press has just published "Words at War: World War II Era Radio
Drama and the Postwar Broadcasting Industry Blacklist." For more
information, see
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 12:36:32 -0500
From: Henry Howard
<hhoward@[removed];
To:
[removed]@[removed]
Subject: Longest Running NTR ?
With the Radio Enthusiasts of Puget Sound promotion of
Imagination Theatre being new time radio's longest running weekly dramatic
show,
I did a little digging.
Unshackled, still being produced and running to this day, began in 1950.
(
[removed] )
Adventures in Odyssey began national distribution in Jan 1987.
(
[removed] )
(
[removed] )
While it's debatable wether Unshackled is a new time or otr program,
Adventures in Odyssey is definitely a new time creation.
Henry Howard
radiodrama digest moderator
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 13:32:39 -0500
From:
JamesAltenburg@[removed]
To:
[removed]@[removed]
Subject: Los what?
In OTR shows the announcer and/or actor pronounces Los Angeles with a hard G
and indeed, I remember friends of ours who visited us in the summer from Los
Angeles when I was a kid -- truly a kid -- did so. However today and
beginning about fifty years ago, the common pronunciation is Los Angeles with
a soft G. How did this occur and when and why? This has been bugging me
for a while and I know I will get it solved on this great Digest.
Thanks.
Jim Alton/Altenburg
WKAT Miami 1964-1979
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 20:23:56 -0500
From: Joe Mackey
<joemackey108@[removed];
To: otr-net
<[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Today in otr history
>From Those Were The Days --
1932 - Radio's greatest effort of on-the-spot news coverage began as NBC
and CBS rushed to Hopewell, NJ to cover the kidnapping of the Charles
and Anne Lindbergh baby.
1941 - Commercial FM broadcasting began in the [removed] when station W47NV
in Nashville, TN started operations on this day.
1941 - Duffy's Tavern debuted on CBS.
Joe
--
Visit my home page:
[removed]~[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 20:24:38 -0500
From: chris chandler <chrischandler84@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: William L. Shirer
On the recent discussion of William L. [removed]
I'm probably going to take a terrible lambasting for
saying this, but I personally find Shirer one of the
more boring radio reporters I ever heard.
Frankly, I'd suggest a large part of his fame came
from the noteriety he gained by simply being among the
first of his breed--and from being one of the few
radio voices Americans heard from Berlin early in the
war.
It is possible--and kinda fun--to run a direct
side-by-side NBC/CBS comparison of news product during
that summer of 1940; an extended stretch of 'morning
news' broadcasts exists from each network (CBS at 7:45
AM, NBC Blue at 8:00), almost on a day-to-day
basis--and where NBC's Berlin correspondents Charles
Lanius and Theodore Knaut infuse their work with
military communiques, anecdotes on wartime life,
little sidebars quite capable of grabbing your
attention, Shirer by and large does little more than
regurgitate supper club gossip and Berlin newspaper
editorials. Many times his very first words are "In
the newspapers this [removed]" And while I'll grant
he occasionally comes up with a good story (and he was
extremely clever in slipping between-the-lines
messages past the Nazi censors), for the most part his
radio work is dull as dirt, either too bookish or
perhaps even a little lazy.
In addition, competitively, Shirer was never on the
level with his most direct competitor--NBC's Max
Jordan. At the famous Munich conference in September,
1938, Jordan scooped the entire world media with the
first reading of the 'Peace-In-Our-Time' final
communique; very painfully, he beat Shirer with it by
about 45 minutes--a broadcasting eternity. This
incident cannot be underestimated in terms of its PR
importance back home. CBS was still carping about it
in its authorized histories half-a-century later; the
network's proffered excuse--that the dense Nazis
thought the 'National Broadcasting Company' was a US
governmental agency and therefore deserving of more
attention than CBS--is just silly. Shirer had been on
the ground in Berlin for MONTHS by this time--pleeenty
of time to 'explain things' to the Germans.
In a similar incident two years later, when the Nazis
took the first western reporters into newly-conquered
France, NBC's Jordan again got the first crack at the
microphone. Shirer had inexplicably stayed behind in
Berlin, sending second-stringer (and possibly the
worst radio war reporter I ever heard, though he was
an esteemed newspaperman) Edwin Hartrich instead. NBC
and Jordan again got all the publicity value, and its
listeners were infinitely better-served. Finally, the
famous June, 1940 railroad-car French surrender
broadcast, which we're often told was a Shirer high
point, was actually a JOINT NBC-CBS effort. Shirer
and William C. Kerker shared the microphone that day;
for whatever reason, they haven't shared the
latter-day kudos for the broadcast.
After Shirer returned to America in late 1941, his
radio career frankly wavered for a time. He was QUITE
famous, make no mistake, but CBS seemed uncertain what
to do with him (just as the net arguably bungled its
on-air handling of Ed Murrow and Bob Trout during the
same period). A Shirer commentary late the night of
12/7/41 honestly seems rather pointless, as he has
little expertise to offer on this particular story,
and by D-Day he was pretty much a non-entity--offering
a couple of short commentaries on German propaganda
(the first of which, at mid-afternoon, is
embarrassingly underprepared) instead of being
featured more prominently as the Third Reich expert he
undoubtedly was.
And those who don't know the story of Shirer's CBS
departure may be surprised at the animosity which
accompanied it: cancelled by his sponsor in 1947,
Shirer wanted to continue in the same Sunday time
slot, claiming the news should come before any sponsor
considerations. Ed Murrow, now the CBS news chief,
said no, the network--not the commentator--controlled
the time period, and Shirer departed.
Privately, Murrow reportedly said afterward his old
friend had effectively "gotten lazy" in his radio
work. I always chuckle at that--GOTTEN lazy? Anybody
who listens carefully to Shirer's work could have
drawn that same conclusion LONG before 1947.
Broadcast pioneer, yes. Witness to history? Yeppers.
Briliant war historian, absolutely. Legendary radio
war correspondent, up there with Murrow and Mueller
and Collingwood and Laseur, or even an ace diplomatic
reporter like Max Jordan? No way.
OK, lambast away. :)
chris
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #95
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