Subject: [removed] Digest V2008 #137
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 5/30/2008 7:42 AM

To: [removed]@[removed]
Reply-to: [removed]@[removed]

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2008 : Issue 137
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      re: James Bond                        [ Ben Ohmart <benohmart@[removed]; ]
      Yes, but?                             [ Wich2@[removed] ]
      Re: James Bond                        [ rob haskins <everclean1@[removed]; ]
      Questions                             [ "kclarke5@[removed]" <kclarke5@juno. ]
      Bill Thompson                         [ Elizabeth Minney <epminney@hotmail. ]
      Suggestion                            [ "kclarke5@[removed]" <kclarke5@juno. ]
      LAWRENCE TIERNEY                      [ "belanger" <belanger@[removed]; ]
      New OTR volume released               [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
      RE: Smith Ferebee                     [ mbensman@[removed] ]
      5-30 births/deaths                    [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
      Routing and timing of network shows   [ "Sammy Jones" <sjones69@[removed] ]
      Re: Suspense character name           [ "R. R. King" <kingrr@[removed]; ]
      Eddie Duchin                          [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]

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

    Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 11:28:17 -0400
    From: Ben Ohmart <benohmart@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  re: James Bond

    You're in luck! BBC Radio 4 is now doing Dr. No, so
    you might be able to listen live or find more info at:
    [removed]

    Ben Ohmart
    Old radio. Old movies. New books.
    [removed]

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

    Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 11:29:15 -0400
    From: Wich2@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Yes, but?

    Dear Jim-

     From: <otrbuff@[removed];
    Alan Bell  writes:

>     One of the answers given for the quiz states that  Mel
>     Blanc supplied the voice for Wallace Wimple on ... Does that  mean he did the
>     voice at some time, even though he wasn't the usual voice  actor?

    Your extended which [removed]

>     The other celebrated Thompson characterization, Wallace Wimple, was  brought
>     out of mothballs to make his first appearance on FM&M on April  15, [removed]

    ...was interesting, but unless I missed something, did not answer the
    question that you quoted?

    Signed. "Curious in NYC."
    -Craig W.

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

    Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 19:47:25 -0400
    From: rob haskins <everclean1@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: James Bond
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
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    Try this e-mail:

    jckaelin@[removed]

    This should help.

    Rob

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    Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 19:49:15 -0400
    From: "kclarke5@[removed]" <kclarke5@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Questions
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
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            I've got a couple questions I hope to get answers to.  Last night,
     I was listening to some eps of "The Fat Man" and the announcer mentioned
    the creator was Dashiell Hammett (who also created "The Thin Man"). I was
    wondering, were there any books with the Fat Man, Brad Runyon ever
    published or was this character exclusive to radio?

           Also, I'm looking for a series from the early 1940's called (I hope I
    get this right) "I Deal in Crime".  It sounds like one I might want to check
    out.

            Charlie, I'm using the correct computer address, but it keeps telling
    me That some thing's wrong with the content.  How can I avoid this?

    Another OTR Fan,

    Kenneth Clarke

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    Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 19:53:29 -0400
    From: Elizabeth Minney <epminney@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Bill Thompson
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    In issue #136 of the OTR Digest Jim Cox gave us a wonderful resume on the
    family of Bill Thompson characters -- Wallace Wimple and Mr. Old Timer being
    perhaps the most memorable.

>     In 1957 Thompson became an executive in community relations for the
>     Union Oil Corporation in Los Angeles. He continued doing limited work
>     in animation, playing King Hubert in 1959's Sleeping Beauty and Touche
>     Turtle on TV's Touche Turtle and Dum Dum.

    It is surprising to me to learn that Thompson set aside his voice work to
    become an executive in an oil corporation.  How did this come about -- did the
    oil people recruit Thompson, perhaps figuring that his show-business
    connections would provide an entree into the world of community relations?

    I realize that radio was losing out to TV, but Thompson was doing a lot of
    work in both TV and the movies.

    Just a random, curious question.

    Betty

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    Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 19:53:58 -0400
    From: "kclarke5@[removed]" <kclarke5@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Suggestion
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          Is there a book out there about the announcers and or hosts of
    programs? Heaven knows there would be enough material for someone should they
    decide to write one.  Right now, I'm looking for a book about the hosts of
    game/quiz shows.  Any ideas?

    Another OTR Fan,

    Kenneth Clarke

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    Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 19:55:10 -0400
    From: "belanger" <belanger@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  LAWRENCE TIERNEY
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
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    I recently heard Hollywood bad boy, Lawrence Tierney playing Duke Mantee in a
    radio version of PETRIFIED FOREST. The guy certainly had a unique sounding
    voice. Does anyone know if he ever did any other radio?

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    Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 19:55:16 -0400
    From: <otrbuff@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  New OTR volume released

    I'm pleased to announce that my newest work, "Sold on Radio:  Advertising in
    the Golden Age of Broadcasting," has just been released by McFarland & Co.
    The 322-page hardback traces commercial radio from its historic antecedents
    through a protracted controversy surrounding how radio was to be financed,
    federal oversight, the profound effects of advertising agencies and audience
    measurement systems, copywriters, announcers, musicians, creative promotions
    applied to marketing on the ether, and the people backstage who made it
    happen.  A half-dozen background chapters supply insightful information on
    an area vital to the success of radio which has heretofore been almost
    altogether out of the spotlight.

    Following those opening stanzas, 24 major U. S. corporations and their
    involvement in and impact on radio advertising are examined in depth, along
    with associated personalities and samples of their audio wares in text
    treatments.  They include:

    American Home Products

    American Tobacco Company

    Bristol-Myers Company

    Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company

    Campbell Soup Company

    Coca-Cola Company

    Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Company

    Ford Motor Company

    General Foods Corporation

    General Mills, Inc.

    General Motors Company

    Andrew Jergens Company

    Kellogg Company

    Kraft Foods Company

    Lever Brothers Company

    Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company

    P. Lorillard, Inc.

    Miles Laboratories, Inc.

    Philip Morris Company

    Procter & Gamble Company

    Quaker Oats Company

    R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company

    Standard Brands, Inc.

    Sterling Drug, Inc.

    In addition, there are 100 more major U. S. firms which also plugged their
    commodities regularly on radio that are explored in summary profiles in one
    of the book's trio of appendices.  A glossary of advertising-broadcasting
    jargon is included, plus myriad intriguing variants that supply compelling
    insights into radio commercial development offering little-known secrets
    outside the industry.  There's also a handful of photographs, notes,
    bibliography and index.

    "Sold on Radio" is available now at $55 via any of these routes:
    [removed], 800-253-2187, fax 336-246-4403.

    Jim Cox

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

    Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 19:56:44 -0400
    From: mbensman@[removed]
    To: OTRDigest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  RE: Smith Ferebee

    This is a question for someone in this knowledgeable group to answer.
    Post to the digest, but also send your comment and/or answer to:

    ducibej@[removed]

    - ---
    Dr. Bensman:
     My name is Jim Ducibella, and I am writing a book about a man named
     Smith Ferebee. In 1938, Ferebee played 144 holes of golf in one day at
     Chicago's Olympia Fields Country Club to win a Virginia Beach
     plantation. According to Editor and Publisher magazine, the marathon
     was broadcast, but the magazine does not say by which station. I have
     written and called the Museum of Broadcasting in Chicago several times
     and have received no answer; they are closed for renovation and while
     they instruct you to leave messages, none are returned. There is also
     a Chicago-area DJ who runs a broadcast history of Chicago site, but
     I've e-mailed him a couple of times the last 18 months and never heard
     back.
     Is there someone in Chicago or 1930s radio historian that you know who
     might be able to tell me which station would have been most likely to
     send someone out to broadcast this event? Ferebee went on Ripley's
     program a couple of nights after the marathon, and was in the studios
     of WMAQ while Ripley was in NY, not that that means anything.
     Thank you in advance for any guidance you can provide.
     Jim Ducibella - ducibej@[removed]--
    - ---

    Professor Emeritus Marvin R. Bensman, [removed], [removed]
    WESTON FL 33327-2439

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

    Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 03:09:58 -0400
    From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  5-30 births/deaths

    May 30th births

    05-30-1888 - James Farley - Crassey Point, NY - d. 6-9-1976
    post master general: "Information Please"
    05-30-1891 - Ben Bernie - Bayonne, NJ - d. 10-20-1943
    bandleader: (The Old Maestro) "Ben Bernie Orchestra"; "Musical Mock
    Trial"
    05-30-1892 - Raymond Clapper - LaCygne, KS - d. 2-1-1944
    commentator: (Killed During WWII) "News and Commentary for White Owl
    Cigars"
    05-30-1892 - Russ Brown - Philadelphia, PA - d. 10-19-1964
    singer: "Ben Bernie, The Old Maestro"; "The Joe Penner Show"
    05-30-1896 - Whispering Jack Smith - The Bronx, NY - d. 5-13-1950
    singer: "Whispering Jack Smith"
    05-30-1899 - Ruth Perrott - d. 1-6-1996
    actor: Prudence Rockbottom "Meet Me at Parky's"; Dottie Brainfeeble
    "Vic and Sade"
    05-30-1901 - Cornelia Otis Skinner - Chicago, IL - d. 7-9-1979
    actor: Mary "Johnny Presents"
    05-30-1902 - Stepin Fetchit - Key West, FL - d. 11-19-1985
    comedian: "Hollywood Hotel"
    05-30-1904 - Carol Goodner - Katonah, NY - d. 11-29-2001
    actor: "Keep It Dark"; "Advs. of the Red Feather Man"
    05-30-1906 - Norris Goff - Cove, AR - d. 6-7-1978
    actor: Abner Peabody "Lum and Abner"
    05-30-1908 - Mel Blanc - San Francisco, CA - d. 7-10-1989
    actor: Professor Pierre La Blanc "Jack Benny Program"; August Moon
    "Point Sublime"
    05-30-1909 - Benny Goodman - Chicago, IL - d. 6-13-1986
    bandleader: (King of Swing) "Camel Caravan"; "Victor Borge Show"
    05-30-1911 - Douglas Fowley - NYC - d. 5-21-1998
    actor: "Hollywood Hotel"
    05-30-1911 - Louise Campbell - Chicago, IL - d. 11-15-1997
    actress: "The Star Maker"
    05-30-1912 - Jerry D. Lewis - d. 8-7-1996
    writer: "This Is Your FBI"
    05-30-1912 - Julian Symons - London, England - d. 11-19-1994
    crime writer: "Night Driver to Dover"; "Affection Unlimited"
    05-30-1913 - Julian Blaustein - NYC - d. 6-20-1995
    writer: "Cavalcade of America"
    05-30-1914 - Bob Sherwood - Indianapolis, IN - d. 1-23-1981
    music: "The Eddie Cantor Show"
    05-30-1915 - Frank Blair - Yemasse, SC - d. 3-14-1995
    newscaster, announcer: "America Looks Ahead"; "Fulton Lewis, Jr."
    05-30-1917 - Peter Leeds - Bayonne, NJ - d. 11-12-1996
    actor: Eugor "Rogue's Gallery"; "Bob Hope Show"; "Stan Freberg Show"
    05-30-1920 - Franklin J. Schaffner - Tokyo, Japan - d. 7-2-1989
    writer, director: "World Security Workshop"; "The March of Time"
    05-30-1921 - Roy Neal - Philadelphia, PA - d. 8-15-2003
    actor: "The Lost Continent"
    05-30-1923 - Jimmy Lydon - Harrington Park, NJ
    actor: Jimmy "Young Love"
    05-30-1926 - Christine Jorgenson - The Bronx, NY - d. 5-3-1989
    actor: "Whatever Became [removed]"
    05-30-1927 - Dick Noel - NYC
    announcer, vocalist: "The Breakfast Clug"; "Ray Anthony and His
    Orchestra"
    05-30-1936 - Keir Dullea - Cleveland, OH
    actor: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"
    05-30-1944 - Meredith MacCrea - Houston, TX - d. 7-14-2000
    actor: (Daughter of Gordon and Shelia MacCrea) "Sears Radio Theatre"
    05-30-1961 - Ralph Carter - NYC
    actor: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"

    May 30th deaths

    02-12-1914 - Tex Beneke - Fort Worth, TX - d. 5-30-2000
    tenor sax, singer, bandleader: "Glenn Miller and His Orchestra";
    "Sunset Serenade"
    03-01-1905 - Doris Hare - Bargoed, Monmouthshire, Wales - d. 5-30-2000
    actor, host: "Navy Mixture"
    04-03-1894 - Dooley Wilson - Tyler, TX - d. 5-30-1953
    actor: "Theatre of Romance"; "New World A-Coming"; "Jubilee"
    05-10-1911 - Paul Taubman - Winnipeg, Canada - d. 5-30-1994
    organist/pianist: "Perry Mason"; "Mysterious Traveler"; "Family Doctor"
    06-14-1912 - Peggy Ann Wood - Chiswick, England - d. 5-30-1998
    actor: "The Cleverest Man at Oxford"
    07-13-1924 - Patrick Campbell - d. 5-30-2003
    actor: "The Chase"
    08-06-1921 - Ella Raines - Snoqualmie, WA - d. 5-30-1988
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Red Cross Show"
    08-18-1898 - Ken Sisson - Danbury, CT - d. 5-30-1947
    conductor/arranger: "Maxwell House Coffee Time"; "Your Hit Parade"
    09-03-1899 - Ezra Taft Benson - Whitney, ID - d. 5-30-1994
    [removed] secratary of agriculture: "Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy Show"
    09-05-1895 - William Hillman - NYC - d. 5-30-1962
    newscaster: Teamed with Raymond Clapper on NBC BLUE, ABC
    11-10-1889 - Claude Rains - London, England - d. 5-30-1967
    actor: "Shakesperian Circle"; "This Is War!"; "Presenting Claude Rains"
    11-13-1917 - Robert Sterling - Newcastle, PA - d. 5-30-2006
    actor: Michael Shayne "Michael Shayne"
    12-03-1897 - George Riley - Rochester, NY - d. 5-30-1972
    comedian: "Furlough Fun"
    12-05-1906 - William Spier - d. 5-30-1973
    producer, director: "Advs. of Sam Spade"; "Suspense"

    Ron Sayles
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

    Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 03:11:11 -0400
    From: "Sammy Jones" <sjones69@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Routing and timing of network shows

    Hello all,

    I've recently discovered the excellent NBC Chimes Museum website
    ([removed]).  What a wonderful resource to get the story on
    the NBC chimes!  Reading about that great on-air trademark inspired me to
    set the NBC net ID and chimes as my Windows logoff sound.

    Veering back on topic:  I didn't know that before the NBC production
    facility was built in Hollywood in the late '30s, NBC shows originating from
    the West Coast were fed directly to Chicago before being sent out on the
    network.  I suppose that meant KFI, Los Angeles (which was not an O&O)
    received the feed of Hollywood shows only after they had made the trek to
    Chicago and back!  Were the chimes for West Coast shows rung in Hollywood or
    Chicago?

    All this info about chimes and routing on the site got me wondering if there
    is any more info out there regarding the processes in routing network feeds.
    Apparently the West Coast feed was only one way, with Los Angeles having no
    way to monitor the rest of the net while it was feeding a program down the
    line.

    What was the relationship exactly between NBC and AT&T?  I always assumed
    that AT&T merely supplied the requisite phone lines, but apparently they had
    quite a bit to do with routing and switching feeds to the different networks
    and legs.

    And finally, what was the exact timing of an NBC (or other network show)
    supposed to be?  Some sources indicate a half hour show was 29:30 exactly.
    No matter what.  I've also heard 20 seconds was the required amount in
    between shows.  The Chimes site says shows often ran long or short, and the
    chimes were rarely rung exactly on time.  Listening to airchecks from the
    '30s seems to bear this out, with the KFI ID following the chimes on many
    Jack Benny programs giving the time as, "10 seconds before 9."  I just heard
    one that said, "5 seconds before 9"!  If the next show on the net originated
    from Hollywood, I can imagine some poor engineer trying to get the circuit
    turned around before 9, a task that it seems took about 15 seconds to do!

    Interesting to note that it sounds like the Benny program from 6/21/36 uses
    the Rangertone chimes at the end, but the very next show after the summer
    break 10/4/36 uses the hand struck dinner chimes.  Is there a precise date
    known when the Rangertone chimes went into service?

    When I first began collecting OTR I just assumed little was actually known
    about how shows were produced and how networks operated on a day to day
    basis.  I reckoned all these shows just existed on cassette or reel and the
    history behind them was lost.  I've learned that's really not true.  Books
    like Michael Biel's "Making and Use of Broadcast Recordings" are eye
    opening.  There's lots of information already out there, and even more
    waiting to be uncovered.  Does anyone know the answers to my questions?

    Thanks,
    Sammy Jones

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

    Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 03:12:47 -0400
    From: "R. R. King" <kingrr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Suspense character name

>     Sometimes words do not come out clearly in recordings of radio
>     shows. ...

    I have an obscure Suspense query of my own. In Antony Ellis' 1955
    adaptation of Ray Bradbury's "Kaleidoscope," a cynical character named
    Applegate keeps using an expression I can't make out. Sounds like "mar
    sash."  The context makes it seem like an expletive ...

    ***
    APPLEGATE: Who's giving orders?

    HOLLIS: I am.

    APPLEGATE: Oh, [mar sash?] to you, friend.
    ***

    ... as if the character were saying "Nuts to you." The character uses
    it later in other lines like: "Be my guest! Order me some more. You
    gonna put me in chains till we land? [mar sash?] to you, Captain."

    The expression doesn't seem to appear in Bradbury's short story or his
    later stage adaptation. My first thought was that it's supposed to be
    some kind of futuristic slang invented by Ellis. Anybody know anything
    about this?

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

    Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 09:26:35 -0400
    From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Eddie Duchin

    A friend of mine is trying to solve a bit of a mystery. I suspect it was an
    unintentional error in a script. One male lead comments that Eddie Duchin
    offered the song, "The Lady in Red," but it appears he never performed the
    song. Anyone help confirm?
    Martin

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2008 Issue #137
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