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

[removed] Digest				Volume 96 : Issue 350

Table Of Contents: 

	 LUX, Reel Talk, and Chips
	 Taglines
	 Re: Bill Conrad
	 HE** on Radio
	 Pat Novak for hire Script
	 Re: Elaina Verdugo
	 [removed] Digest V96 #349
	 KIM By Rudyard Kipling
	 Tape Boxes
	 FRANK READICK vs. ORSON WELLES/David LHsl - favorites
	 Shadow date
	 Shadow Favorites/Shadow CDs

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

Date: Mon, 23 Sep 1996 23:33:26 -0400
From: KENPILETIC@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: LUX, Reel Talk, and Chips
Message-ID: <960923233324_109300277@[removed]>

Hi Gang -              September 23 - 1996 -- Monday 10:30 PM cdt 

I finally finished reading the last "back issue" of the otrdigest 
from June.  Moral: When you take a month's vacation, try to connect 
to your server a few times while you're on the road - otherwise you'll
have a lot of reading to do when you get home. 

One of the questions asked in a June issue was not answered, so I'll try.
Someone asked why the Movie Stars did not always appear in the LUX RADIO 
THEATRE production of the movies they stared in.   I learned that many 
movie actors were "scared to death" of the microphone.  Mic Fright is a 
very real problem to anyone who is not used to being on the air.  Some 
movie stars needed something to hang on to during a radio broadcast. 

I learned at the REPS otr convention that a railing was used for this 
purpose on the Lux Radio Theatre.  This railing was a portable device 
that resembled a walker, and the actor could place his hands on the rail 
while standing at the mic.  This device would calm the actor down and he
could hold is script without shaking it.  But even this railing was not 
enough for some movie actors and actresses, so they did very little radio.

Perhaps someone from the REPS could expand on this.  I don't think 
"railing" was the term used at the convention.  Most of the radio people 
from Lux refered to the device by a name which I forgot.  

------ new topic ---  Reel Talk Recorder --- 

In issue 96-348, Neal Coulter inquired about the "Reel Talk" recorder. 
This device is a combination of and AM-FM radio, a quarter-speed cassette 
recorder, and a timer.  The idea is to tune the radio to the desired 
station, insert a cassette, and set the timer.  When the proper time 
arrives, the device will turn itself on and record from the radio to the 
cassette.  The "new model" of the Reel Talk has improvements over the 
original model (sorry, I don't know the model numbers).  The radio is more 
sensitive and the recorder mechanics have been improved.  The Reel Talk 
can use house current or batteries.  The idea of the quarter-speed 
recorder is to get more time on the cassette.  A C-60 will get 2 hours per 
side, as opposed to 30 minutes (4 hours total time).  Since the idea is to 
allow the user to record radio programs automatically, the longer the 
cassette, the more it will record.  For example, it will record 8 hours 
total time on one T-120 cassette (but you must manually turn the tape over
after 4 hours).  Thin (long play) cassettes have always had a tendency to 
jam, and at this slow speed they have an even greater possibility of 
jamming.  Bear this fact in mind when using long cassettes.

Unfortunately, when the cassette tape moves so slowly (15/32 ips), there 
is a significant loss of high frequencies, and the likelihood of wow and 
flutter make it undesireable for recording music.  Anything recorded on 
this machine must be played back on it (or on another reel talk).  The 
recordings will not play properly on a standard cassette recorder.  
Recordings made on this machine should be copied to a more standard medium 
if they are to be archived. 

Still, this is a great device for recording when you are away or asleep. 

------ New Topic ---  Chips at the Convention --- 

I think a computer chip attached to the name badge would be a great way  
to identify ourselves at the forthcoming FOTR convention.  The little 
"feet" can easily be pushed through the cardboard of the badge, and the 
plastic holder will keep the chip from falling out. .... Now, where it 
that box of old computer [removed]

Happy Taping & See you in Newark -- Ken Piletic - Streamwood, Illinois 
kenpiletic@[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 01:39:29 -0400
From: John Koppel <[removed]@[removed]>
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed]>
Subject: Taglines
Message-ID: <199609240139_MC1-9BB-44AE@[removed]>

Hello everyone,

I don't know if this counts as a tagline, but I find myself using this in
my everyday speech:   "Heavenly Days"  From the Fibber Mcgee and Molly
Show.

Question:  Can anyone tell me SPERDVAC is. I hear people mention it here in
the digest all the time. 

John Koppel

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

Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 02:31:33 -0400
From: Nevartb@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
cc: Nevartb@[removed]
Subject: Re: Bill Conrad
Message-ID: <960924023132_291882508@[removed]>

My favorite Bill Conrad performances are on a "Gunsmoke" blooper tape
apparently compiled sometime during the late sixties. 20 minutes of the
funniest off-color out-takes never heard on the air.  I'm sure many of you
out there have heard the "New Hotel" rehearsal tape, maybe even the legendary
"12 Days of Xmas" recording in which Conrad reads the song lyrics (as a young
woman) whose home is slowly destroyed by the barnyard animals she is forced
to accept from her lover.  But the blooper tape - also  peppered with four
letter words - gives the listener a genuine behind the scenes ear full of
what it was like to perform on radio. You get the feeling these people really
liked each other, and really loved what they we're doing. 

- Bill
Santa Rosa 

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

Date: Tue, 24 Sep 96 07:39:52 EDT
From: TBARNETT@[removed]
To:   otr@[removed]
Subject: HE** on Radio
Message-Id: <m0v5VqE-000k0ZC@[removed]>

To: SMTP    --AHIPC2S  OTR Digest

From:    Tom Barnett
         EDS NAO/VDTO Finance and Personnel Systems Support
         (810)986-0389 (8-226) Internet:TBARNETT@[removed]

Subject: HE** on Radio

An example of the word HELL, is actually on the Jack Benny Show. The premise
was the Sportsmen Quartet had been fired and Don Wilson hired Dick Haymes,
Andy Russel, and Bing Crosby to sing with Dennis as a new quartet.

Jack "Now fellas. . . . "
Guys "MMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm"

At one point in a song Bing was singing ,stopped  and exclaimed "Who the hell
picked out this key Dennis Day!?!?"

The Cast cracked up but the song progressed to it's conclusion.

Tom Barnett
"There are no Ordinary moments." -Dan Millman

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

Date: Tue, 24 Sep 96 07:43:48 EDT
From: TBARNETT@[removed]
To:   otr@[removed]
Subject: Pat Novak for hire Script
Message-Id: <m0v5Vu2-000k0ZC@[removed]>

To: SMTP    --AHIPC2S                     SMTP    --AHIPC2S  OTR Digest

From:    Tom Barnett
         EDS NAO/VDTO Finance and Personnel Systems Support
         (810)986-0389 (8-226) Internet:TBARNETT@[removed]

Subject: Pat Novak for hire Script

A number of years back I bought a PAT NOVAK FOR HIRE script reproduction
                                                            ------------

through an OTR vendor. If anyone is interested let me know and I'll get the
e of the broadcast off it. I'm pretty sure a lot of people might have this
date of the broadcast for you. I'm inclined to think that a lot of people

may have this one already.

dallchin  if interested let me know. . . . .

 ddn [removed](dallchin)

Tom Barnett
"There are no Ordinary moments." -Dan Millman

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

Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 08:24:18 -0400
From: Neubacher@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Elaina Verdugo
Message-ID: <960924082417_316160422@[removed]>

I believe that she played Millie on OTR in the program "Meet Millie."  I know
she played it on TV.

Bill Neubacher
Neubacher@[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 24 Sep 96 11:57:00 GMT 
From: bhob@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: [removed] Digest V96 #349
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

The Museum of Television & Radio does have a few early TIME FOR BEANY
episodes.  Another remarkable item I ran across at MT&R is a tv show
before a live audience in which Gosden and Correll gave individual
introductions to the then-unseen cast members of the forthcoming
AMOS AND ANDY tv series.  I'm curious to know if this was the first in the tv
series or was a separate promotional show.  Btw, each of the actors
came onstage in costume, but only one approached the microphone and
spoke in character.  There was a very big enthusiastic audience response.
Is it possible this show was also heard on radio?  What did Gosden and
Correll do on their last radio show?

I recall that when Freberg did THAT'S RICH it seemed like a routine
situation comedy until Freberg brought up the idea that the character
could have dream sequences -- which was a device for doing live
performances of his records before the studio audience.  As I remember
it, this became the big payoff near the end of each show, and the main
reason for tuning in, since it was great fun to hear how the audiences
reacted.

Speaking of MT&R, it might be worth noting (if it hasn't been
mentioned here before) that MT&R's new West Coast division contains a
mirror duplicate of the entire NY MT&R collection, a copy of all 70,000+
audiotapes and videotapes.

 ...............Bhob

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

Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 08:32:04 -0400 (EDT)
From: JSEXTON@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: KIM By Rudyard Kipling
Message-id: <01I9UMGX8KC28WWE4Y@[removed]>
Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

  When I was a young boy,I barely remember listening to Hallmark Hall Of Fame
("When You care enough to send the very best").I can barely remember them
producing Rudyard Kipling's great novel "Kim".
   I have never seen this offered by the dealers in OTR and wonder if 
anyone has a copy [removed] came out sometime in the 1950's.
   It also seems that for several years they would feature Lionel
Barrymore in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in Dicken's Christmas Carol.
I cannot remember ever seeing [removed] as Scrooge in the movies or
television-but do recall his crusty voice on the radio more than once
as the timeless Scrooge. Best,John (JSEXTON@[removed])

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

Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 07:39:39 -0500 (CDT)
From: caldwell@[removed] (Wayne Caldwell)
To: otr@[removed] (otr mailing list)
Subject: Tape Boxes
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Length:        892

I buy my boxes from a company in Duncanville, Texas (just outside Dallas)
called W-M Sales. They sell the hard plastic boxes for .12 ea min of 100 boxes.
They do mail order sales also. Call for a catalog.  972-296-2773
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Wayne Caldwell        |                                  |   
  [removed] 831183        |    caldwell@[removed]    |   972-436-2724
  Richardson, Texas     |    MSGID = CWB                   |  answer machine
  75083-1183            |                                  |   
                    [removed]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"They say your memory is the second thing to go. But I can't remember what
 the first was."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 09:18:41 -0400
From: SanctumOTR@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: FRANK READICK vs. ORSON WELLES/David LHsl - favorites
Message-ID: <960924091841_316185150@[removed]>

Actually, David has heard another voice as The Shadow besides Welles,
Johnstone, Archer and Morrison.   As I mentioned in my query, the venomous
tones that ask: "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? and proclaim
"The weed of crime bears bitter fruit bears bitter fruit" on all the Welles
SHADOWs belongs not to the mercurial Orson but to his Shadowy predecessor,
Frank Readick.   I've always felt that Welles came off a very poor second in
the comparison (as did radio critics of the 1930s).   Readick gave the role a
sinister and etherial quality; he was really the only radio Shadow to give
the role a shadowy tone.   (If you're curious to hear what Orson Welles would
have sounded like doing THE SHADOW's famous opening signature, he did intone
the famous line on several TV comedy and variety series during the 1960s and
I've included Welles' own version of the opening in a SHADOW medley that
opens the "Voices from the Shadows" audio documentary from GAA Corp.  In his
early days, Bill Johnstone gave the openings some of the same special
quality.   Johnstone had acted on the show during Readick's tenure and the
two rented an apartment near the radio studios together so they could partake
of their hobbies during dead time between rehearsals; as I recall one was a
model train afficianado and the other was into woodworking.  I wonder if
Readick coached Bill Johnstone at all about the role and laugh.  Frank
Readick and John Archer were the only radio Shadows who treated the opening
as a question, asking "Who knows what [removed]"  By the time Morrison made the
role his own, the opening had become a theatrical declaration, a statement
rather than a question.  I bow to no one in my appreciation of Welles as a
radio and film  and theatre director, but I feel he really just "phoned in"
his Shadow performances.  More than anything, I'd like to hear an entire
Frank Readick SHADOW, which more closely resembled THE WHISTLER in format and
style  (Christmas hint).  (You always want what you don't have; since I
couldn't obtain an entire Readick SHADOW, I recreated Street & Smith's
DETECTIVE STORY PROGRAM with three original cast members at the 1990 FOTR
convention so I could finally hear what it sounded like.)  THE WHISTLER was,
of course, an attempt by CBS to recreate their early SHADOW programs;.
 During the first season the program began "I am the Whistler and ended with
The Whistler laughing and prolaiming "I know!";" CBS's 1930 DETECTIVE STORY
program opened with "I am The Shadow!"  Actually, if you judge a program by
its imitators, the Readick SHADOWs fared far better than Lamont Cranston and
company.  The Frank Readick SHADOW program clearly inspired The Man in Black
on SUSPENSE, Raymond on INNER SANCTUM, THE WHISTLER, THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER
and probably even Old Nancy on THE WITCH'S TALE.  The later Lamont Cranston
SHADOW series inspired THE BLACK HOOD, THE AVENGER, and THE GREEN LAMA and
other minor series.      

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

Date: Tue, 24 Sep 96 09:49:16 EDT
From: amosborne@[removed] (Arlene M Osborne)
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: Shadow date
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

Since we now have a Shadow "expert" on board (welcome Anthony!),
I have a Shadow episode without a date.  I can't find it listed
in the Shadow Scrapbook (well, I have a xerox of part of it).
Anthony, can you tell me the date on

"Death OF the Shadow"

Arlene Osborne
amosborne@[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 09:11:02 -0700
From: John Cunningham <johnc@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Shadow Favorites/Shadow CDs
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

I'd have to agree that Welles tossed off his lines with a certain "this 
is beneath me" flavor, but I think this suited well the playboy aspect of 
Lamont Cranston, and Welles (to me) is by far the best Cranston.

As the voice of The Shadow, I'd probably have to pick Johnstone--his 
theatricality worked well for the Shadow voice, although I thought him a 
bit too stagy as Cranston.

Overall, I'd rate them: Welles first, Morrison second, Johnstone third.

As to Margo: I'd agree that Agnes Moorehead sounded a bit too "society" 
as Margo, but perhaps that was intentional to match Lamont's playboy 
aspect.  I'd have to say that I find Moorehead to be the most interesting 
Margo to listen to, but I probably like Marjorie Anderson best overall.

My favorite episode (yet untopped) is: "The Gibbering Things". "Death on 
the Bridge" and "Comic Strip Killer" also stand out in my mind.  (I'd 
like to hear what others feel are their top two or three favorite 
episodes!) 

Isn't it maddening to think that in government storage somewhere there is 
a whole group of "lost" Shadow episodes waiting to be found?  It reminds 
me of the ending shot of "Raiders of the Lost Ark"--crate upon crate of 
precious material just sitting there.  Wouldn't it be great if one of the 
audio companies like GAA would underwrite the expense of sifting through 
some of this (government permitting, of course)?  It sure would be a 
great find for them, because this truly would be material not previously 
released.  Which brings me to:

SHADOW CDs:  Although I'm glad to see the current set of Shadow CDs 
available, and I'm VERY VERY interested in the hour-long documentary by 
Mr. Tollin, I don't feel that I can order it myself because I already 
have four of the eight episodes.  As has been pointed out in the digest 
already, some of these episodes are really not new releases.  That's 
okay, except that since I already have four of them I'd have to 
"amortize" the cost of the set over only four episodes which makes for 
some pretty expensive episodes.  What I'd like to suggest is that GAA 
make the documentary available as a single CD.  I'd buy that in a second 
(!), but I just can't justify the cost of the whole set when I already 
have so many of the episodes in my collection. Several other collectors 
have told me this same thing, so I know there are others of us out there 
in the same predicament. 

So, GAA, how about that documentary as a single CD or cassette??  I 
realize that it's being marketed as an incentive to buy the set, but due 
to the situation above, which MANY of us find ourselves in, I think GAA 
would make more money and realize greater profit if they also offered it 
as a seperate item.

Happy Listening!

John




--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V96 Issue #350
*******************************************

