Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #233
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 6/23/2002 10:23 AM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2002 : Issue 233
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Today in radio history                [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
  Radio Spirits' new catalog            [ Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed]; ]
  Who's Who On The Air - 1932           [ David <dbmartin5@[removed]; ]
  seeking Movie Mirror 11/38            [ bloodbleeds@[removed] ]
  Perry Mason on radio                  [ "Ryan Osentowski" <rosentowski@neb. ]
  RE: RS, Miss Duffy, and Jughead Au N  [ Harlan Zinck <buster@[removed]; ]
  [removed]                    [ Ruk77@[removed] ]
  Long Play records                     [ Vntager8io@[removed] ]
  Re Seduction of the Innocent          [ "Thomas Mason" <batz34@[removed] ]
  Re: "Long Playing"                    [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
  [removed] WHAT'S NEXT!           [ JackBenny@[removed] ]
  Re: Allen, NBC and CBS                [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]

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

Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 10:28:07 -0400
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Today in radio history

  From Those Were The Days --

1933 - The Pepper Pot radio program welcomed a new host. Don McNeill
took over the show and renamed it The Breakfast Club. The show, a huge
success for the NBC Blue and later, ABC, became one of the
longest-running radio programs in history. The show aired with McNeill
as host until December 27, 1968. The Breakfast Club was a morning show
that had its share of corny jokes, visiting celebrities and lots of
audience participation.

1941 - Front Page Farrell was heard for the first time on Mutual. In
1942, the program moved to NBC and stayed on the air until 1954. Sally
and David Farrell were the central characters. A young actor, who would
become a major motion picture star, played the role of David Farrell. He
was Richard Widmark.

1947 - Wendy Warren and the News debuted on CBS. The broadcasts
continued until 1958. No, the program was not a newscast, in the
traditional sense. It was a serial -- one of many of the time. The
unique thing about this particular show, however, was that Wendy Warren
and the News did utilize a real three-minute newscast to open the show.
The newscaster, delivering the news as part of the show, chose not to
stay in the entertainment side of radio, but continued to be a true
journalist and a legend at CBS. That newsman was Douglas Edwards.

  Joe

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

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

Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 10:26:57 -0400
From: Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Radio Spirits' new catalog

One thing I don't like about the new Radio Spirts
catalog is that they no longer list the individual
episodes in their various collections. Now they just
the names of the shows in the collection. So if you
order you risk getting duplicates of episodes you
already own. Yeah, that makes sense. Hopefully,
they'll correct that oversight.

I've ordered from Radio Spirits many times over the
last decade and have always been pleased with the
quality of their service. Time will tell if I feel the
same about RS under the new ownership. If the quality
of their service has diminished, then they'll lose my
business.

Rick

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

Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 10:27:14 -0400
From: David <dbmartin5@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Who's Who On The Air - 1932

FYI

The following link contains an interesting scan of a "magazine"
listing who is on the radio in 1932.  Good pictures and some
interesting text.

[removed]

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

Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 10:30:31 -0400
From: bloodbleeds@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  seeking Movie Mirror 11/38

If anyone has a copy of Movie Mirror from Nov. 1938, it should have an article on Don 
Ameche. I'd very much like a copy - Xerox is fine - of this article. Thanks.

Ben

The Great Gildersleeve book
[removed]

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

Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 10:30:09 -0400
From: "Ryan Osentowski" <rosentowski@[removed];
To: "old time radio" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Perry Mason on radio

Hi all:
I was listening to the Perry Mason story on NPR's web site and they said
Perry Mason was a radio show that lasted for 10 years on radio.  This is the
first I ever heard of it.  When did it air and who played Perry Mason?  Who
were the other main characters?  Apparently, Earl Stanley Gardner didn't
care for the series and that's why he fought so hard for control of the
television program.  Still, I'd love to hear a few episodes of the radio
program.  Can someone tell us more about it?
RyanO

"The most tragic thing that can befall a man is for him to become too
complacent in his thinking."
Elliott Lange

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

Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 10:59:08 -0400
From: Harlan Zinck <buster@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  RE: RS, Miss Duffy, and Jughead Au Natural

Bryan Powell writes:

Someone suggested that RS and/or MediaBay might file bankruptcy.
If so, what will become of RS product and rights? Will those products still
be available? Will others be restricted from selling those "protected"
programs, even though RS is moribund? I'm a blues music fan/journalist, and
something similar happened in the '70s with the catalog of the great Chicago
independent, Chess Records. The label went under, and for a couple years, you
were hard-pressed (no pun intended) to find a Muddy Waters or Howlin' Wolf
LP, until MCA picked up the Chess catalog later in the decade.

I think you've answered your own question, Bryan. Although there is nothing
aside from sheer rumor to seriously indicate that Radio Sprits or Media Bay
will be going bankrupt anytime soon, should this ever happen, assets like
their library and remaining inventory would almost certainly be acquired by
another company - probably a larger media conglomerate. What they would
choose to do with it would, of course, be up to them - meaning all of the
shows would not necessarily all be made available for purchase or marketed
in the same way as RS has done for the past decade or so.

An easy comparison is the way that RS dealt with the assets of the other
companies Media Bay purchased at the same time it acquired RS. Some of the
inventory of tapes and tape sets sold by Radio Yesteryear and the others
were liquidated at lower prices through the RS catalog. Some of the
programs previously distributed by these other companies were subsequently
repackaged as RS product, and some were not. Likely some of the rights
agreements held by the previous companies were either not acquired in their
purchase or not renewed by Media Bay when they came due.

Basically, it would be up to the purchaser to decide what to do with the
asset once it was purchased. Whether this would be better or worse for OTR
fans is anyone's guess.

Kenneth Clarke writes:

Speaking of "Duffy's Tavern", didn't Shirley Booth once play Miss Duffy at
one time?  I think so.

Yes, she did - in fact, she was married to Ed "Archie" Gardner for a time
as well. She also played a character very similar to Miss Duffy - "Dottie
Mahoney" - on bandleader Tommy Dorsey's program in the mid-1940s.

Finally, Hal Stone made us quite an offer:

For a measly $1,000, I will even pose laying butt naked on said floor and
personally
inscribe the photo. For an extra $2,000 I will even send a 1 inch piece
cut from me. (no wise guy. Not
that!...It will be a lock of my hair).

So, Hal, how much you gonna charge to *not* send me this stuff? I'm going
to the bank on Monday and, with interest rates so low, it may be worth my
while to take out a small loan.

On second thought, you *could* pose for a nekked photo with your Jughead
hat - might make for an interesting souvenir sale item at the upcoming REPS
Showcase, not to mention a unique item for "Archie" fans. Hey, no one ever
went broke underestimating the taste of the American public, you know.

The exact placement of the hat in the photo would, of course, be at your
discretion.

Harlan

Harlan Zinck
First Generation Radio Archives
[removed]

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

Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 11:10:57 -0400
From: Ruk77@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  [removed]

Anyone can check out this HUGE collection of rare & uncirculated shows. It is
my understanding that this catalog of shows was sold to Radio Spirits just
before Carl Amari was bought out for 5 million dollars. (you will notice he
is no longer mentioned on their websight). Since this buy out Radio Spirits
is a shell of its former self.
    My concern is: will these shows ever make it into circulation or will
they be lost forever??? Media Bay is a huge corporation that trades in the
Nasdaq (sp?) and are more concerned with their bottom line than with catering
to the interests of OTR hobbyists. It makes me sick because in my eyes these
are museum pieces and represent a part of the history of the United States of
America.
    will these shows go the way of the thousands of Vic & Sade [removed]'s that
were thrown into a dumpster by Procter & Gamble because it did not make
fiscal sense to pay to store these artifacts. Thousands of [removed]'s were also
thrown into dumpsters by the networks when it became apparent that television
would take over as the cash cow of media. If it wasn't for the performers &
employees dumpster diving when they realized what was going on so many of
these shows that we all listen to daily would be long [removed] very
sad.
    We are the people of civilization. Let's all try to preserve the
remaining otr shows for the generations of the future. It is a snapshot of
our past and for thousands of years to come the shows will be enjoyed and
studied by the people of this earth. I have learned A LOT about how society
was in the 30's & 40's just by listening to these silly OTR shows. to me it's
fascinating. Hopefully corporate greed can be tempered and all the shows that
remain in existance can be listened to & enjoyed by all.
    If anyone has rare shows to trade, I havge a few myself. Or if anyone is
looking for anything specific, please e-mail. Thanks

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

Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 11:28:46 -0400
From: Vntager8io@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Long Play records

Forgive me for straying a little off-topic, but in a way this is related to
radio, and certainly audio entertainment.

In the last Digest, Dick mentioned:

I don't think 33
1/3 recordings were available to the public until the introduction of
the microgrove.

That's not entirely true. Columbia introduced the first
commercially-successful "long-play" records, but 33 1/3 records were really
first introduced to the public about 17 years earlier by RCA Victor. About
1931 or 1932 (I can't remember which), RCA Victor introduced "Program
Transcriptions"  to the public which were mostly 10" shellac records that
played at 33 1/3 rpm. Since they used standard-sized grooves (not
microgroove) the playing time per side was only between 6-10 minutes. Many
bands and popular artists like Paul Whiteman, Jesse Crawford, Ted Weems, Duke
Ellington, and others recorded "Program Transcriptions" but these discs had
the misfortune to come along during the middle of the depression, and since
they required expensive new record players to play, they did not catch on and
after a year or two, RCA stopped making the records. Today they are quite
scarce. The playing quality of these program transcriptions was not quite as
good as standard 78's from that time, although they don't sound bad either!
When played with a proper-sized stylus, they can actually sound quite good.
Usually, "Program Transcriptions" would contain medleys instead of individual
songs with "tracks."

On a related note, a couple RCA "Program Transcriptions" from 1932 also serve
as the earliest existing true stereo recordings. These stereo recordings were
actually made by accident and only recently recognized as such. In 1932, the
depression was reaching its lowest point and record companies were strugling
to stay in business (many did not succeed). At that time, the process of
making a record involved cutting a master on a wax slab during the recording
session. That wax slab master could not be played back directly (the wax was
too soft and a needle would ruin the recording) but instead had to have a
metal master plated from it. The process that followed included several
plates being made from other plates until finally stampers were made to press
the final records. This process left lots of room for mistakes which could
permanantly damage the recording, and on several occasions, recording artists
would be called back to the studio to re-record their number after the
original wax master was mistakenly destroyed or damaged. Apparently, this
happened fairly often. As you can imagine, this kind of mistake could become
quite costly - especially when dealing with large, famous orchestras like Duke
Ellington. During the recording of some "Program Transcriptions," someone at
RCA Victor decided it would be a good idea to make two separate masters
simultaneously during the recording session, this way, they'd have a back-up
already made in case the first master was damaged or destroyed. Another
possible reason for having two turntables recording simultaneously would be
if the engineer could not decide on the best microphone position for an even
balance. For whatever reason, some 1932 "Program Transcriptions" were
recorded with two microphones hooked up to two separate cutting turntables
and two masters were made simultaneously. One of the two masters was chosen
for release, and the other was put into the vaults. In the early 1980s, a
collector got test pressings of a couple of unissued second masters and
"married" them with the issued masters of two Duke Ellington "Program
Transcriptions." When properly synced, the two records produce a true stereo
sound. I've heard a copy of this synced recording, and it's breathtaking to
hear Duke Ellington's Orchestra in 1932 playing "Mood Indigo" in full stereo.
I believe these are available now on CD.

Back to long-play records. The earliest true long-play record released to the
public that I'm aware of was developed in the mid-1920's by Edison's
laboratories. They developed a 24-minute record which played at 36 rpm. Only
a dozen or so different titles were issued, I believe. I've never heard one,
but I understand the quality is poor, and since they also required special
equipment to be played, they didn't catch on.

Columbia is known for the first successful long-play record, but Edison beat
them to it by over 20 years.

Bryan Wright

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

Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 11:57:36 -0400
From: "Thomas Mason" <batz34@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re Seduction of the Innocent

I was in college when all the hullabaloo started about censoring comics with
EC immediately targeted.  Some of us were curious about some of Wertham's
claims and went to the library and pulled his book.  My first astonishment
was reading his flat out statement that Batman and Robin were the perfect
example of a homosexual relationship.  How many of us in our young lives
ever entertained that thought?  Wertham was [removed] had a further
example of comics filth where he cited a jungle comic [removed] you
examined a picture of the jungle hero and zoomed in on his naked armpit,
then rotated the illustration to its side, he claimed it gave us the perfect
outline of a womans naked crotch.  We all died laughing at that one and put
Wertham's book back on the shelf, never to be viewed again.

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

Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 11:58:57 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: "Long Playing"

Dick Fisher wrote:

The 4 minutes mentioned above was for 78 RPM records. I don't think 33
1/3 recordings were available to the public until the introduction of
the microgrove. Elizabeth, is that correct?

Actually, the public got its first crack at 33 1/3 recordings in 1931,
when RCA Victor introduced its so-called "Program Transcription" format.
These were "Victrolac" (a proprietary name for a type of vinyl)
pressings, but were standard-groove. Quite a bit of material was released
on this format during 1931-32, ranging from Duke Ellington to Stokowski,
and the recordings boasted a total playing time of up to half an hour.

However, the introduction of this format at this particular point in time
was about the dumbest marketing move possible -- 1932 marked the rock
bottom of the Depression, and few people were in any position to pay a
couple of hundred dollars for a new radio-phonograph console just so they
could take advantage of the new discs, especially at a time when the
phonograph business itself was all but dead in the water. By the end of
the thirties, all of the "Program Transcriptions" had been deleted from
the Victor catalog -- except for several discs of pipe organ music,
designed for use in funeral parlors.

The unfortunate thing is that these same factors also killed the RCA
Victor Home Recording System, which was introduced in 1930, and was
offered on many of the new "long playing" radio-phono models. A 12-inch
Victor Home Recording Disc recorded at 33 1/3 rpm could hold about ten
minutes per side -- meaning that for the first time, home equipment was
available that would allow listeners to make substantial recordings of
broadcast programs. Had the machines been less expensive, or if economic
conditions had been better, a lot more material might have survived from
this era.

Interestingly, Columbia's introduction of the microgroove wasn't anything
new either. In the mid-twenties, the Thomas A. Edison Laboratories
introduced "long playing" Diamond Discs which used a finer-than-normal
groove, running up to 20 minutes per side -- and subsequently developed a
microgroove recording system which, when run at 30 rpm, could include a
full half hour of content per side. This system was developed for use in
broadcasting, and a number of experimental aircheck recordings exist on
discs of this type at the Edison Site (Mike Biel can tell you exactly how
he discovered them and some of the material that's on them. It's a
fascinating story -- the failure of the project may have hastened the end
of Edison's phonograph division.)

Elizabeth

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

Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 11:59:48 -0400
From: JackBenny@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  [removed] WHAT'S NEXT!

Many heartfelt thanks to Lynn Wagar for the kind words about the Waukegan
information on our site.  It was my intent to create a narrative that would
enable people to feel like  "you are there", and I am glad to know that the
goal was met.

For some added color, you can picture me sitting in our hotel room after
midnight with the lights out (working by the light of my monitor) typing the
diary on my laptop, with my husband occasionally mumbling through sleep, "You
better get to bed soon."  "Yeah, OK, I just need to finish a couple more
thoughts."  Thus the coffee comments.

The photos have all come from members, so I have to give my pix thanks to Dan
and Hal and Joel and Charlie and Eric and David and anyone else I've
forgotten.

[removed] that success under our collective belts, people have been asking
for an IJBFC convention.  We're looking at doing it February 14-16, 2003 in
Los Angeles.  It's open to anyone who loves Jack Benny, so please take a look
at our Web page under "Featured Items" for a tentative schedule.  We are in
the process of determining how many people would be attending, working the
budget, etc.  So if you want to come, please E-mail me with the events you
would attend and how many people you would bring (spouse/significant other,
kids, parents, etc.).

Please also pass the information along to anyone else who would be
interested.  The more the merrier.

--Laura Leff
President, IJBFC
[removed]

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

Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 12:10:36 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Allen, NBC and CBS

A. Joseph Ross wrote:

Did Fred Allen move from NBC to CBS or vice versa.  If he was one of the
many stars who
moved from NBC to CBS in the late 40s, I wonder whether standards and
practices was part
of the negotiations.

Allen's first series, for the Corn Products Company (Linit) was on CBS,
but he didn't have any contract with the network itself: he worked
directly for the advertising agency. He moved to NBC for his second
series, for Best Foods, and remained there thru his long run for Bristol
Myers. Again, though, he wasn't an NBC Contract Artist -- his contract
was with the advertising agency which produced the program, thru his own
agent, Walter Batchelor (and not the NBC Artists Service, which handled
all NBC contract performers.)

Allen's move to CBS in 1940 was purely sponsor related -- he simply took
over the program that Texaco had been running on that network since 1938.
When he went back to NBC in 1945, it was because he went to work for
Standard Brands, which put him into half of the Sunday night hour it
bought from NBC since 1930 (Bergen and McCarthy had the other half.) In
both cases, Allen had no say on which network carried his program -- he
just went where he was told by the agency.

When the "talent raids" began in 1948-49, it was only then that Allen was
actually put under contract by NBC, specifically to keep him from taking
a deal from CBS. By this time, Janet MacRorie was long gone (she quit in
1946, leaving a 15-page letter of resignation in the NBC files) and after
a sharp confrontation between Allen and her successor, NBC had eased up
on Allen -- this was the famous
"Allen-cut-off-the-air-for-ridiculing-the-network" affair, which led to
NBC agreeing to liberalize its supervision of comedians.

A side note -- speaking of the talent raids, I've not noticed any mention
here of the recent passing of the man who was more responsible for those
"raids" than anyone else. While William Paley is usually given credit for
"luring the top comics to CBS," the raids were in fact triggered by Lew
Wasserman -- the high-powered MCA talent agent who one day over lunch in
1948 explained the tax advantages of incorporation to Freeman Gosden --
and who subsequently brought Correll and Gosden's $[removed] million dollar
buyout proposal to CBS, which jumped at the chance to own "Amos 'n' Andy"
outright. By inspiring this "incorporate yourself and sell your show"
movement later emulated by Jack Benny and others, Wasserman had a
tremendous impact on the development of postwar broadcasting -- and at
one time he was considered "the most powerful man in show business."  He
died June 3rd at the age of 89.

Elizabeth

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #233
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