Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #169
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 5/18/2004 8:32 AM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2004 : Issue 169
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      East Coast Blackouts                  [ Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed] ]
      Radio Cross Country Trip              [ Michael Henry <mlhenry@[removed] ]
      5-18 births/deaths                    [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
      Radio's Lone Ranger: Brace Beemer Da  [ danhughes@[removed] ]
      [removed] II Blackouts                     [ "D. Fisher" <dfisher@[removed]; ]
      Terry and the Pirates                 [ "Ivan G. Shreve, Jr." <iscreve@comc ]
      Cavin Coolidge                        [ tomhood <thood@[removed]; ]
      Homefront Memories & OTR              [ howard blue <khovard@[removed]; ]
      Re: Blackouts, Home Front and WWII    [ "Bill Orr" <billorr6@[removed]; ]
      Re: Blackouts, Home Front and WWII    [ "Bill Orr" <billorr6@[removed]; ]
      Home Front                            [ "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed] ]
      World War 2                           [ "George Tirebiter" <tirebiter2@hotm ]
      BELA LUGOSI on TEXACO STAR THEATRE    [ Gsgreger@[removed] ]
      Science Fiction on the BBC            [ John Francis MacEachern <JohnFMac@c ]
      Question about Richard Diamond        [ "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed] ]
      Harry Von Zell Blooper                [ BH <radiobill@[removed]; ]
      WW2 Blackouts                         [ "Philip Railsback" <philiprailsback ]

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

    Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 10:39:51 -0400
    From: Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  East Coast Blackouts

    I've been busy with some other things, so I might be repeating some stuff here:

    At the beginning of 1942, blackout rules were not enforced on the East
    coast of the US. After Germany & Italy declared war on the US,
    Hitler  directed that much of the German submarine force be sent against
    American Atlantic coast targets.
    (Note: It is not true that Roosevelt declared war on the whole 'Axis' after
    December 7th, 1941. Congress declared war on Japan in the face of its
    attacks on the US. Germany & Italy declared war on the US shortly
    afterward, and Congress reciprocated.)
    East coast cities were so well lit that German submarine commanders
    maneuvered their boats so that their target ships (tankers, freighters,
    etc) would be "backlit" by the bright lights ashore, ensuring easier kills
    for their torpedoes.
    German submariners called this the "Happy Time".
    Many ships & their crews were lost before the Admiral in charge of East
    coast defences was replaced, and effective preventive measures were
    undertaken, including the use of ship convoys and on-shore blackouts.

    "Don't you know there's a war on?"
    Herb Harrison

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

    Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 10:40:18 -0400
    From: Michael Henry <mlhenry@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Radio Cross Country Trip

    I'll be driving from San Jose, California to College Park, Maryland from
    June 10-June 18. I'll be taking Route 70/Route 50 through California,
    Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West
    Virginia, and Maryland. Does anyone know of any radio museums, archives,
    stations, clubs, people that I should visit along the way?

    Thanks

    -Michael Henry
    Library of American Broadcasting

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

    Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 10:40:31 -0400
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  5-18 births/deaths

    May 18th births

    05-18-1892 - Ezio Pinza, Rome, Italy - d. 5-9-1957
    singer: "Telephone Hour"; "Ezio Pinza's Children Show"; "Stagestruck"
    05-18-1897 - Frank Capra - Bisacquino, Sicily - d. 9-3-1991
    film director: "Gulf Screen Theatre"; "NBC Theatre"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
    05-18-1900 - Raymond Paige - Wausau, WI (R; Los Angeles, CA)- d. 8-7-1965
    conductor: "Hollywood Hotel"; "Musical Americana"; "Stage Door Canteen"
    05-18-1902 - Meredith Willson - Mason City, IA - d. 6-15-1984
    conductor, composer: "Maxwell House Coffee Time"; "Meredith Willson/Music Room"
    05-18-1904 - Fred Shields - Kansas City, MO - d. 6-30-1974
    actor: Bill Fraser "Tarzan"
    05-18-1908 - Ted Malone - Colorado Springs, CO - d. 10-20-1989
    commentator: "Between the Bookends"; "Pilgrimage of Poetry"
    05-18-1913 - Perry Como - Cannonsburg, PA - d. 5-12-2001
    singer: "Perry Como Program"; "Chesterfield Supper Club"
    05-18-1922 - Bill Macy - Revere, MA
    actor: "Earplay"
    05-18-1924 - Jack Whitaker - Philadelphia, PA
    disc jockey, sportscaster: "Jack the Bachelor"; "Sports Shots"
    05-18-1931 - Robert Morse - Newton, MA
    actor: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"
    05-18-1936 - Joel Kupperman - Chicago, IL
    panelist: "Quiz Kids"

    May 18th deaths

    02-06-1888 - Lucille Gleason - Pasadena, CA - d. 5-18-1947
    actress: "Jimmy Gleason's Diner"
    03-25-1892 - Andy Clyde - Blaingowrie, Scotland - d. 5-18-1967
    actor: California Carlson "Hopalong Cassidy"
    05-03-1919 - Doris Rich - Canada - d. 5-18-1971
    actress: Hannah O'Leary" Houseboat Hannah"; Miss Daisey "Portia Faces Life"
    06-13-1890 - Elmer Davis - Aurora, IN - d. 5-18-1958
    newscaster: "Elmer Davis and the News"
    11-27-1925 - Marshall Thompson - Peoria, IL - d. 5-18-1992
    actor: "Free World Theatre"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
    11-29-1905 - Mario Braggiotti - Florence, Italy - d. 5-18-1996
    pianist, composer: "Fray and Braggiotti"
    --
    Ron Sayles
    For a complete list:
    [removed]

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

    Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 11:21:47 -0400
    From: danhughes@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Radio's Lone Ranger:  Brace Beemer Day

    Yesterday (Saturday) was Brace Beemer Day in Brace's home town, Mt.
    Carmel, Illinois (southeast part of the state, just a few miles from
    Vincennes, Indiana).  Lone Ranger announcer Fred Foy was there signing
    autographs, and he starred as the masked man in a recreation of the one
    program in which he stepped in to play the part when Brace had
    laryngitis.

    Mt. Carmel has a museum with a Brace Beemer room that has a ton of Lone
    Ranger stuff, including one of the cowboy suits that Brace wore at
    personal appearances.  Fred Foy and his wife, and Brace's daughter and
    her husband all put their footprints in cement in the garden in front of
    the museum.

    There was a luncheon at the local Moose Hall, wherein Fred gave a great
    talk (with taped music and dialogue) and then answered questions from the
    audience.

    Hopefully OTR Digest member Phil Stallings, who helped orchestrate the
    to-do, will drop in and give us some behind-the-scenes stories.

    It was a fun day, the weather was cool with an occasional light sprinkle,
    but I think everybody had a great time.

    ---Dan

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

    Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 11:22:09 -0400
    From: "D. Fisher" <dfisher@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  [removed] II Blackouts

    When I was a kid during the war I can remember we had blackouts & we lived
    way inland, Rochester, [removed]
    As my father was an Air Raid Warden (he was Chief of the Fire Dept.) my
    mother, brother & I would be home alone sitting in the dark. I remember on
    nights when Lights Out was on during a blackout we would sit & listen to the
    program with, of course, the lights out.
    By the Way, I was at a church book sale yesterday & was surprised to find a
    hardbound copy of John Dunning's book "Two O'Clock Eastern Wartime" in like
    new condidtion. I had already read the book & given my copy to my son-in-law
    so decided not to get it. But then further on at another table was a copy of
    the book in paperback, again in like new condidtion so couldn't resist. I
    figured at some point I'll probably want to read it again. At 50 cents how
    could I not get it. If you haven't read it yet it's a great read. Worth
    looking for.

    Don Fisher

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

    Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 11:22:35 -0400
    From: "Ivan G. Shreve, Jr." <iscreve@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Terry and the Pirates

    The 1940 Columbia Pictures 15-chapter serial TERRY AND THE PIRATES--based on
    the comic strip by Milt Caniff and also the long-running OTR program--is
    getting a DVD release on June 29, 2004.  It's being released by VCI (Video
    Communications Inc.) and according to the info at [removed], it will
    also include an episode of the 1952 TV series as a bonus.

    As always, the usual disclaimers apply.  I haven't seen it myself, but would
    I be correct in guessing that it's like the usual Columbia cliffhanger
    (quite a bit of comedy relief)?  It's directed by James W. Horne, who
    oversaw Buster Keaton's COLLEGE (1927) and many of the Hal Roach-produced
    Charley Chase shorts in better days.

    Ivan
    ----
    OTR Ramblings and Musings at Thrilling Days of Yesteryear:
    [removed]

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

    Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 14:54:37 -0400
    From: tomhood <thood@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Cavin Coolidge
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    Hi All
    Yesterday I visited a site that had a  27 second clip of what was said to be
    a Pallophotophone recording of Calvin Coolidge speaking on WGY Dec 24 1922.
    I have never heard of this early air-check [removed] predates the Woodrow
    Wilson
    recording by almost one year. Can anyone provide more background?
    Thank You
    Tom Hood

      *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
      ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

    Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 14:56:02 -0400
    From: howard blue <khovard@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Homefront Memories & OTR

    I've followed the discussion of home front memories with interest. A
    chapter entitled The Home Front, in my book WORDS AT WAR (Scarecrow
    Press, 2002) about World War II era dramatic programming, discusses a
    number of radio shows that dealt with home front issues.  There were
    shows (mostly produced by the government) that dealt with rationing,
    "loose lips," industrial and agricultural output, familial disruptions
    caused by the war, and TREASON. Series such as Cavalcade of America also
    got into the act.

    For a discount significantly below the retail price, see my web site.
    You can deduct an extra $1 from the price listed on it if you read this
    posting.

    Howard Blue
    [removed]

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

    Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 14:56:50 -0400
    From: "Bill Orr" <billorr6@[removed];
    To: "OTR List" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Blackouts, Home Front and WWII

    Would like to get in my two-cents worth before the List Boss gets tired of
    these threads.  Also, have OTR connections.

    Like several posters, my dad was an Air Raid Warden.  Although he had served
    in both the Army and Marine Corps, he was too old for WWII.  Like "awfulE",
    I was eleven.

    In January 1942 when the first U-boats appeared off the East Coast, there
    had not been time to implement black outs.  U-123 under the command of
    Reinhardt Hardegen was one of the first.  In interviews after the war,  he
    recalls the lights of NYC, automobile headlights and the red obstruction
    lights on the radio tower of WOR.  He relates how they would listen to "The
    Goldbergs" on WOR trying to make sense of the plot.  They also listened to
    "Missus Goes A-Shopping" on WABC and the Gramercy Chamber Trio on WNYC.  The
    crew's first impression of New York  was amazement and the second was
    "Didn't the Americans know there was a war on?"  Later, U-123 listened to
    WBT in Charlotte, NC playing "swing music" as their patrol took them further
    south.  They sank their last ship, a tanker, off Jacksonville, FL before
    returning to Germany.

    Lee Munsick is correct about the victim ships being silhouetted against the
    lights of cities.  However at that point in time, we had no convoy plan,
    thanks to Admiral Ernest King who was violently anti-Brit and refused to
    take their advice regarding a convoy system until we had lost nearly 50
    ships off the East Cost.  Therein lies a hellavu [removed] of Admiral
    King's parents were Brit immigrants!

    Regards,

    Bill Orr

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

    Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 14:57:50 -0400
    From: "Bill Orr" <billorr6@[removed];
    To: "OTR List" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Blackouts, Home Front and WWII

    Would like to get in my two-cents worth before the List Boss gets tired of
    these threads.  Also, have OTR connections.

    Like several posters, my dad was an Air Raid Warden.  Although he had served
    in both the Army and Marine Corps, he was too old for WWII.  Like "awfulE",
    I was eleven.

    In January 1942 when the first U-boats appeared off the East Coast, there
    had not been time to implement black outs.  U-123 under the command of
    Reinhardt Hardegen was one of the first.  In interviews after the war,  he
    recalls the lights of NYC, automobile headlights and the red obstruction
    lights on the radio tower of WOR.  He relates how they would listen to "The
    Goldbergs" on WOR trying to make sense of the plot.  They also listened to
    "Missus Goes A-Shopping" on WABC and the Gramercy Chamber Trio on WNYC.  The
    crew's first impression of New York  was amazement and the second was
    "Didn't the Americans know there was a war on?"  Later, U-123 listened to
    WBT in Charlotte, NC playing "swing music" as their patrol took them further
    south.  They sank their last ship, a tanker, off Jacksonville, FL before
    returning to Germany.

    Lee Munsick is correct about the victim ships being silhouetted against the
    lights of cities.  However at that point in time, we had no convoy plan,
    thanks to Admiral Ernest King who was violently anti-Brit and refused to
    take their advice regarding a convoy system until we had lost nearly 50
    ships off the East Cost.  Therein lies a hellavu [removed] of Admiral
    King's parents were Brit immigrants!

    Regards,

    Bill Orr

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

    Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 15:55:25 -0400
    From: "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed];
    To: "OTR" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Home Front

    Reading all the memories I wanted to add my own. I was born in 1938 but have
    many memories of WWII.   I had an uncle in the Navy, stationed on the Bataan
    in the Pacific. Thus the war had great personal relevance to me as a child.
    My grandmother's non-stop worrying about her youngest child and my favorite
    uncle kept me worried and tuned into the war.

    My Dad was also an air raid warden (in suburban NYC) and had a helmet and
    arm band but he also had a nightstick.   I don't think anyone else has
    mentioned nightsticks, but he never used it.  My older brother still has the
    helmet and nightstick.  I remember hiding behind our couch during blackouts
    and worrying about my Dad when he went out during blackouts.

    We had a victory garden, saved fat, collected papers, the works.   It was a
    period of great community in this country, never experienced since, except
    briefly after 9/11, and it has nothing to do with how we should define
    patriotism today, as someone seemed to suggest.

    While we can be very proud I will never forget the suffering, courage and
    dedication of the British and all the sacrifices they made, including
    sending their children away to remove them from harm's way.   I've been
    listening to WWII broadcasts and CBS News reported on 7/23/40 that Britain
    had adopted its largest budget in history and that British citizens were
    willing to provide 50% of their income to the government for the war cause.

    Our immediate next-door neighbors until 1947 were Japanese-Americans that
    the government had helped relocate from California during the war years
    because of Mr I's work with the government.

    Looking back I realize just how extraordinary their treatment was in our
    neighborhood and community.   No one called them 'Japs' because they weren't
    our enemy (although I later learned that away from our community, as
    anonymous Japanese, they were not treated as well.)

    Words we use against people during war are not appropriate to use after when
    they become our friends again.    While 'Jap' was an historical word, and on
    the face of it not necessarily offensive it did become a derogatory name for
    Japanese people during WWII.   I can't imagine why it would be necessary for
    anyone to use that appellation today, or consider it PC to not use it.   Our
    neighbors returned to California and kept in touch with everyone in the
    neighborhood until their deaths.   When I came out to California I visited
    them, as did my mother every time she visited me.    He had become a very
    important man and their gratitude and respect for all of us made me proud of
    my conservative and fair home town.

    There are lots of historical references that we also don't use today.  Would
    you refer to an Italian as a wop or a guinea today?   Or call a Jewish
    person a kike, an African-American a [removed]  Would you call a
    Vietnamese-American a gook, which we did during the Vietnamese war?  Is that
    also PC.   Times change and so should sensitivities.   That's progress not
    PC.

    I've always been glad that we Greek-Americans never had such identification.
    Not enough of us to bother with, I guess.

    -Irene

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

    Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 21:08:30 -0400
    From: "George Tirebiter" <tirebiter2@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  World War 2

    When I was in high school (early 1970s) a friend told me that he had heard
    family stories about some relative of his who was a Nazi sympathizer before
    and during  WW2  (his family was of German descent).  During the blackout
    this man would bring his shortwave radio to the front door, open it, and
    turn the volume on the radio all the way up while tuning in the German
    shortwave station.  Apparently this was designed to lower the morale of his
    neighbors, but they all thought him a fool (as did the rest of his family)
    and no one ever paid any attention to him.

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

    Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 21:08:41 -0400
    From: Gsgreger@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  BELA LUGOSI on TEXACO STAR THEATRE

    In issue 168, Thomas Biddy asked about Bela Lugosi appearances on radio.

    Bela appeared on Fred Allen's Texaco Star Theatre show on April 25, 1943.
    The show's skit was titled "Lugosi's Radio Monster" which was Bela giving
    Fred a tour of Bela's house (fictional residence, of course).

    Also appearing on that show were the usual Texaco Workshop Players:  Minerva
    Pious as Mrs. Nussbaum, Alan Reed as Falstaff Openshaw, John Brown as John
    Doe, and Charlie Cantor as Socrates Mulligan.  Music was provided by the
    group Hi, Lo, Jack and the Dame, and by Al Goodman and his Orchestra.  And,
    finally, announcer Jimmy Wallington had returned to the show four months
    earlier following Arthur Godfrey's brief eight weeks as the show's announcer
    to begin the 1942-43 season.

    I'm unaware of any other shows that Lugosi appeared on.

    Gordon Gregersen
    La Grande, Oregon

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

    Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 21:10:15 -0400
    From: John Francis MacEachern <JohnFMac@[removed];
    To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Science Fiction on the BBC

    Hi!

    This week's archive hour program is about science fiction on radio and
    in general.

    Here's a blurb from the website:

    The award-winning science fiction author, Brian Aldiss, examines the
    social history of science fiction on the radio and asks: Does science
    fiction hold a mirror up to progress?

    In an archive hour replete with radio drama, satire, commercials and
    music, we'll also hear the news and debate from which the sci-fi series
    sprang.

    You can find the program here:

    [removed]

    Click on the "Listen Again" icon to  hear it.

    John Mac

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

    Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 01:26:10 -0400
    From: "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed];
    To: "OTR" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Question about Richard Diamond

    This question was raised by a member of another group who wondered if an
    episode of Richard Diamond was missing from the logs.

    At the end of the 4/26/50 episode, Ep #53, "Ralph Baxter, Jewel Robber" the
    announcer says that RD would be back 'two weeks from tonight' which would
    have been 5/10/50.  However there is no show for 5/10/50 in circulation, nor
    do any loggers seem to think it exists.  I listened to my copy of that show
    and heard the same thing.

    All the logs show 4/26/50 as the last show of the season, with the next show
    broadcast 6/14/50 on a different night with a different sponsor and numbered
    as Ep #54.

    Any thoughts as to how this would happen?  Were broadcast time and sponsor
    issues decided that late in the season so as to change announced schedules?
    Not an important question, just curious.

    Irene

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

    Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 01:30:59 -0400
    From: BH <radiobill@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Harry Von Zell Blooper

    I was listening to a clip from a Fred Allen show where Harry Von Zell is
    doing a commercial and cannot remember the name of the product, Sal
    Hapitica, and I was wondering if this was scripted. The commercial is
    rather lengthy and I would think he would have been reading from a
    script rather then relying on memory. It is quite funny but I would like
    to know if it really was a blooper. Sorry I don't have the date of the
    broadcast but I am sure someone on the list knows of which I am speaking.
    Thanks - Bill H.

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

    Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 10:14:30 -0400
    From: "Philip Railsback" <philiprailsback@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  WW2 Blackouts

>     So if you hear wartime radio programs which seem to you to be blatant
>     propaganda, and tire of references to the war,

    I've heard tons of shows that were "blatant propaganda", but I never tire of
    the references to war.  It think these are my favorite shows.   Of all the
    WWII shows, Eddie Cantor is my favorite precisely because of his constant
    references to the war.  I wish other shows had done this as well, though I
    understand their reluctance since folks no doubt were looking for a little
    vacation from the war.  Though I'm not old enough to have any memories of
    WWII, as a baby boomer I grew up in the shadow of the war.  So major an
    event in 20th century history -- world history for that matter --
    it's almost as if the war had never quite ended, but was transformed into a
    state of mind.

    Thanks very much for posting your remembrances.  Very entertaining.  One
    question, how the heck would painting half a headlight make it invisible to
    aircraft?  Or was this just a necessary compromise? That is, I'd imagine
    that a driving curfew would have been imposed if east coast cities were
    getting bombed.  Even your description sounds like overkill.  Of course it's
    easy to talk with 20/20 hindsight.  I suppose the Nazis could have pulled a
    Doolittle type raid, but somehow I suspect that Hartford would have been
    way, way down the list.  Now, New York, that's another story.  Did NYC go
    dark at night?  Seems like it must have, but it's certainly hard to imagine
    Manhattan all closed up.

      - Philip

      -  Philip

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #169
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