Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #132
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 4/6/2002 10:03 PM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2002 : Issue 132
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Personal organist story               [ "welsa" <welsa@[removed]; ]
      re: Reading [removed] Harbor        [ "Robert Paine" <macandrew@[removed] ]
      "Rush" on Vic and Sade                [ Mdlang11@[removed] ]
      Re: Children on Radio                 [ "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed] ]
      Be careful what you say here          [ Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed] ]
      Today in radio history                [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
      Who first hosted People Are Funny?    [ otrbuff@[removed] ]
      Re: Correll and Gosden Sing!          [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
      OTR and Comics                        [ badaxley@[removed] ]
      Books for the blind                   [ "Ryan Hall" <pezman419@[removed]; ]

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

    Date: Sat, 6 Apr 2002 00:33:59 -0500
    From: "welsa" <welsa@[removed];
    To: "OTR Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: Personal organist story

    OK, so my story doesn't rank up there with Gaylord Carter or George Wright
    or Ethel Smith or Eddie Dunstetter (sp?), but my grandmother was a radio
    organist!  Yep, Really!

    But alas, she did not provide the pathos for a soap opera, or the gallop for
    a cowboy chase or anything like that.  She lived in a small town in central
    Minnesota--Brainerd is its name.  And in the 1940's they had only one radio
    station, a station that still exists--KLIZ.  For a while on weekday
    afternoons they had some spare air time, usually 15 minutes or so.  And they
    hired her to come in and sit at the Hammond and play.  No talking, no
    commmercials, just music.

    I would often accompany her when I visited.  The studio was in a converted
    house on the edge of town.  What I remember most is that all the studios had
    something odd about them that I realized many years later was a good idea.
    Egg cartons.  The old cardboard egg cartons were tacked to the walls as
    audio insulation.  And many's the time I came up the sidewalk to the house
    and saw piles of egg cartons sitting on the wide porch.  Waiting to be
    nailed to the wall!

    Just a brief reminiscence.  Now we return to our regularly scheduled
    program.

    Ted

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

    Date: Sat, 6 Apr 2002 00:34:59 -0500
    From: "Robert Paine" <macandrew@[removed];
    To: "OTR Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: re: Reading [removed] Harbor

    OK, I'm being PC - but I know people with 20/20 who are blinder [removed],
    use your imagination. [removed]

    Although the content here will be somewhat off-OTR topic, I want to put in a
    word for radio-reading services. I worked at the Washington Ear in Silver
    Spring MD for a couple of years in the early 80's. I did more "real" radio
    and learned more about the business than the other public and commercial
    station for which I worked combined.

    The setup was Master Control and five studios. Two were air studios, one or
    two other could have been made so - and probably the fifth - had there been
    the need. I did station breaks, PSA's, promos, engineered sound, racked
    tapes, recorded programs, engineered the reading of newspapers (two hour
    blocks with tape repeat). Sometimes - just to keep busy - I would fill in
    for one of the readers who didn't show. I also recorded a 28-minute Movie
    and TV listings for Saturday night through Monday noon. I chose to record so
    that if I goofed I could do it live. With all the channels and many more
    theaters, ain't NO way I'd want to try it in 28 minutes and try to be
    understood.

    I also had the opportunity to show up - on my own time - one morning and
    read the newspaper as a reader - from the studio. And I occasionally filled
    in on the sports show - How The Ball Bounces. The listeners knew a good deal
    more than I and I said so up front.

    All told, it was the most frenetic, fascinating, nerve-wracking job and -
    overall - the most rewarding as far as "doing" REAL radio (to my way of
    thinking). There was even a bit of a tie-in with [removed] played
    dramas on Saturday night. Actually, they came from NPR and so were NTR but
    it was [removed] of.

    If you or someone you know is visually impaired, check for a radio reading
    service in your area. If you have the time, see about being a volunteer
    reader. I return you now to our regularly scheduled [removed]

    Question - does anyone have information on how much Mutual Pearl Harbor
    coverage may exist? Also, is there any documentation as to what the network
    did that day - either concentrate on news or as the other nets, go with the
    regularly schedule and interrupt as necessary?

      Macandrew

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

    Date: Sat, 6 Apr 2002 02:24:35 -0500
    From: Mdlang11@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: "Rush" on Vic and Sade

    Wasn't the actor who played "Rush" on Vic and Sade named Bill Idelson?  I'm
    pretty sure the last name was Idelson, anyway.  He went on to a successful
    career as a tv writer, working on, among many others, "The Andy Griffith
    Show."  His daughter, Ellen, is a tv writer today.

    Mike Langworthy

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

    Date: Sat, 6 Apr 2002 03:06:45 -0500
    From: "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed];
    To: "OTR" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: Re:  Children on Radio
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    Kevin Michaels said:

>     I am sure this list has triggered the memory of other posters remembering
>     child radio stars.  Let's hear from you!

    Here's a marginal addition.  Jane Withers was a radio star at age 3 on a local
    show in Atlanta called "Aunt Sall's Kiddy Club."  When she was six after her
    family had moved to LA to promote a film career she worked on radio there as
    well.

    Irene
    IreneTH@[removed]

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

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

    Date: Sat, 6 Apr 2002 10:57:15 -0500
    From: Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Be careful what you say here

    Doug Leary's warning to be careful about what we say here about various
    manufacturers' products certainly hit home with me!
    I was going to go on an e-mail tirade about the following advertisers'
    stuff until I read his message; then I  stopped, for fear of lawsuits.
    I'll mention them here, but don't you guys tell anybody, okay?

    Carter's Little Liver Pills - My liver is bigger than it was when I started
    taking them 45 years ago. (Proctoscope available as proof; it's taped to my
    computer monitor for easy viewing.)

    Ironized Yeast - Just can't get a rise out of it anymore (maybe 'cause the
    last pack I bought was in 1949).

    Serutan - My nature has turned backwards: I'm now a homicidal maniac.

    Geritol - I got old; now I'm too weak to kill anyone.

    Signal Gasoline - I can't find any, so I can't "go farther" in search of
    potential victims that I might be able to just run down with my car.
    <Sigh> Even my Hudson Hornet has lost its sting.

    (Sorry, [removed] couldn't resist. Now, if we wanted to talk about the
    degradation in quality of RCA TVs, we could start a whole new (actionable)
    topic here!)

    Herb Harrison

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

    Date: Sat, 6 Apr 2002 11:19:41 -0500
    From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: Today in radio history

      From Those Were The Days --

    1931 - Little Orphan Annie, the comic strip character developed by
    Harold Gray, came to life on the NBC Blue network. About 5 decades
    later, the comic strip inspired a Broadway play and a movie, both
    titled, Annie.

    1942 - We Love and Learn premiered on CBS radio. The serial featured
    Frank Lovejoy as Bill. The program would continue until 1951.

    1945 - This is Your FBI debuted on ABC radio. Frank Lovejoy from We Love
    and Learn had little problem finding work, as he served as narrator for
    This is Your FBI for the next eight years.

      Joe

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

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

    Date: Sat, 6 Apr 2002 11:23:47 -0500
    From: otrbuff@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Who first hosted People Are Funny?

    There appears to be a minuscule dispute abrewing on this list over who
    was the first host of People Are Funny.  Joe Mackey reported it was Art
    Baker at its inception in 1942 with Art Linkletter succeeding him the
    following year.  Now comes A. Joseph Ross quoting Linkletter's memoirs
    that he and Baker were co-hosts from the start but that they didn't get
    along and Linkletter was dumped but replaced Baker a year later.  There's
    probably some truth in both versions, and maybe a little editorial
    license to go with it.

    According to my research, included in "The Great Radio Audience
    Participation Shows" (McFarland, 2001), producer John Guedel "selected
    Art Baker as the show's debuting master of ceremonies."  Tom DeLong, who
    did extensive interviews with his subjects before producing his
    perceptive volume "Radio Stars:  An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary
    of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960"--in referring to People Are
    Funny--claims Baker was "the relatively forgotten host who first
    introduced the stunt-filled series on human nature."  By way of
    additional credentials, Baker narrated Tapestries of Life and presided
    over Art Baker's Notebook, Hollywood in Person, The Grouch Club and Pull
    Over, Neighbor, the latter another Guedel-produced feature.

    When Guedel proposed People Are Funny to NBC he personally preferred the
    extroverted Linkletter as emcee over the more pedantic Banker.  The
    network disagreed, however, according to published sources; Baker would
    host the show while Linkletter, who actually thought up many of the
    show's pranks, "assisted" [note that operative word] for a little while.
    Linkletter had been in on the ground floor of developing People Are
    Funny.  Guedel claimed the two men hatched the series in a corner booth
    of the Brown Derby Restaurant near the famous intersection of Hollywood
    and Vine.

    The rather avant-garde radio series premiered on April 10, 1942.  As time
    rolled by it became increasingly apparent to many that the show lacked a
    vital ad-lib quality at the top.  A year-and-a-half later Guedel abruptly
    replaced Baker with Linkletter.  Baker sued him and lost.  People Are
    Funny became Linkletter's venue, and the fans quickly forgot there ever
    had been another host.  Baker later went on to emcee television's You
    Asked for It.  As for Linkletter, his career rose instantly to national
    exposure as he displayed a style soon coveted by the industry.  While
    People Are Funny would continue to air on radio through June 10, 1960 and
    would also reap millions of television viewers, Linkletter's popularity
    would soar even higher with another Guedel series, House Party.  That one
    aired on radio from Jan. 15, 1945-Oct. 13,  1967, with a televised
    version under various monikers extended through Sept. 25, 1970.

    Jim Cox

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

    Date: Sat, 6 Apr 2002 11:24:32 -0500
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: Re: Correll and Gosden Sing!

    Patrick wrote:

>     Can you tell me if these were released by Correll & Gosden too, and if so
>     can you list the recording information if available please?

    16 vocal duets by Correll and Gosden were released during 1926 and 1927.
    Gosden sings lead on most selections, with Correll providing harmony
    backup.

    Victor 19986 -- All I Want To Do (BVE-34578)/Let's Talk About My Sweetie
    (BVE-34579) Both sides include interpolations by "Sam and Henry," and
    "Sweetie" interpolates a brief fragment of "Who'll Be The Papa?," which
    was one of the team's best-known radio selections. Gosden -- tiple,
    Correll -- piano. This is the only C&G song record on which the
    performers play their own instruments as well as sing. Both sides
    recorded 3/2/26.

    Victor 20088 -- I Found a Round-a-bout Way To Heaven (BVE-35036)/That's
    Why I Love You (BVE-35057) Delos Owen -- piano (Owen was a staff pianist
    at WGN) Recorded 5/26/26.

    Victor 20107 -- Georgianna (BVE-35059) Delos Owen -- piano. Recorded
    5/26/26. Gosden once named this as the biggest-selling Correll and Gosden
    song record -- but pointed out that its success may have owed more to the
    Gene Austin selection ("Here I Am") on the other side.

    Victor 20255 -- Elsie Schultz-en-heim (BVE-36433)/I Just Wanna Be Known
    As Susie's Feller (BVE-36434) Delos Owen -- piano. Recorded 9/29/26.
    "Elsie" is the only purely-comic song in the issued series, and includes
    the immortal line "She had her nose done over, they just bobbed it you
    see -- now she looks so very sweet and Gentile to me!" The song also
    mentions a number of popular silent-film actresses of the day, including
    Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson, Bebe Daniels, Priscilla Dean, and Mae
    Murray.

    Victor 20286 -- Meadow Lark (BVE-36406)/Kiss Your Little Baby,
    Good-Night! (BVE-36435) Delos Owen -- piano. Recorded 9/25/26 and 9/29/26.

    Victor 20324 -- I Never Knew What The Moonlight Could Do (BVE-36432)
    Delos Owen -- piano. Recorded 9/29/26. Other side is by the Mitchell
    Brothers. (Give Me A Ukulele and a Ukulele Baby.)

    Victor 20826 -- Gorgeous (BVE-39084)/Who Is Your Who? (BVE-39087) Delos
    Owen -- piano. Recorded 7/6/27. "Who Is Your Who?" includes a comic
    dialogue interpolation in the manner of the team's pre-Sam-and-Henry
    radio performances, and the female voice assumed by Gosden in this
    routine is probably very similar to the voice he used to portray Madam
    Queen in three A&A episodes during 1931 and 1932. "Gorgeous" was
    recreated from the same arrangement twenty-seven years later during the
    special "Life Story of Amos and Andy" radio broadcast. The music for "Who
    Is Your Who?" was written by Little Jack Little, a contemporary of
    Correll and Gosden in local Chicago radio.

    Victor 20928 -- No Wonder I'm Happy (My Baby's In Love With Me)
    (BVE-39085)/Somebody and Me (BVE-39086)  Delos Owen -- piano. Recorded
    7/6/27.

    Victor 21143 -- What'll You Do? (BVE-41313)/Oh Look At That Baby
    (BVE-41314) Piano and violin accompanists unidentified. Recorded 12/4/27.

    In addition to the sides listed above, Correll and Gosden recorded seven
    other vocal duets which were not released. I don't believe any of the
    released sides have been reissued on LP or CD. All these sides had been
    deleted from the Victor catalog by November 1929.

    Although 21143 was their final song record, Correll and Gosden continued
    to perform their harmony act on radio over WMAQ during 1928 and early
    1929 as part of a weekly variety program, and featured vocal duets as
    part of their personal appearance act as late as their Publix Theatre
    Circuit tour in early 1930. During the late 1940s and early 1950s,
    Correll and Gosden would occasionally warm up the live audience for their
    weekly sitcom with a few harmony numbers, often including a
    slightly-risque version of "Who'll Be The Papa?" Unfortunately, no
    recordings of these warmups are known.

    Elizabeth

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

    Date: Sat, 6 Apr 2002 13:53:53 -0500
    From: badaxley@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: OTR and Comics

    There has been some input on the digest re comics and
    OTR.  About a year ago, I did an article for our OTR
    club newsletter (Chattanooga Airwaves) about comics and
    OTR.  It was amazing how many comic characters were
    adapted to radio and how many radio and movie characters
    were adapted to comics.  In fact I did a two part
    series, one on each of the above.
    Bob Axley

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

    Date: Sat, 6 Apr 2002 13:57:42 -0500
    From: "Ryan Hall" <pezman419@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Books for the blind

    Though somewhat off OTR topic (big shocker), I was wondering if anyone knew
    how I could become involved with this. With my work on college radio, we
    often did dramatizations of books (often in the OTR sytle), and I still have
    most of what we did on tape or CD. If anyone is involved with reading for
    the blind and know if they would be interested in my efforts, I would be
    happy to contribute. [removed]

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #132
    *********************************************

    Copyright [removed] Communications, York, PA; All Rights Reserved,
      including republication in any form.

    If you enjoy this list, please consider financially supporting it:
       [removed]

    For Help: [removed]@[removed]

    To Unsubscribe: [removed]@[removed]

    To Subscribe: [removed]@[removed]
      or see [removed]

    For Help with the Archive Server, send the command ARCHIVE HELP
      in the SUBJECT of a message to [removed]@[removed]

    To contact the listmaster, mail to listmaster@[removed]

    To Send Mail to the list, simply send to [removed]@[removed]