Subject: [removed] Digest V2016 #75
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 11/18/2016 10:18 PM

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

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                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2016 : Issue 75
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      NUMBER PLEASE now available           [ "Read Burgan" <rgb@[removed]; ]
      Macy's Parade on the Radio?           [ Chad Palmer <[removed]@[removed] ]

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    Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2016 00:11:55 -0500
    From: "Read Burgan" <rgb@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  NUMBER PLEASE now available

    Two years ago I announced that I had acquired a set of more than 40
    electrical transcriptions of a 15 minute transcribed program titled "Number
    Please."  As far as I am aware, these are the only known recordings of this
    series.

    I have finally finished transferring and digitally restoring the entire set
    of programs that I have here.  If you would like to hear the series, I am
    making a set of 2 data CD's each containing 36 programs available for $6 per
    CD ($12 for a 2 CD set) plus priority mailing at $[removed]  I use CEDAR
    hardware and other restoration software transferring from Technics direct
    drive turntables using SME tone arms.

    The name "Number Please" was used by a several different radio stations
    during this period.  In 1949 WGN in Chicago had a give away program using
    that name and the FCC threatened to shut down the program.  In 1946 KGO had
    a program with the same name sponsored by the Pacific Telephone Telegraph
    Company that ran 7 days a week.

    That sounds similar to my "Number Please" series. However the KGO program
    used a different announcer suggesting that it was not a part of this
    specific series.

    My "Number Please" series featured Eddie Dunn, a veteran WOR announcer and a
    mixed quartet vocal group called The Song Spinners in a 15 minute program.
    The Song Spinners was organized by Margaret Bassett Johnson.

    Margaret was born in Texas in 1907 to the Reverend Wallace Bassett.  Upon
    graduation from Baylor University, she married a fellow student and tenor,
    Travis Johnson.  Together they moved to New York in 1931 to pursue musical
    careers.  In 1937 she joined the Bob Hope radio show as Honey Chile.

    Margaret and Travis formed the vocal group The Song Spinners and provided
    music for a radio program called the "Wayside Cottage."  In time they
    provided the background music for many vocalists including Dick Haymes, Ella
    Fitzgerald and Bing Crosby and appeared on "The Henry Aldrich Show", "Melody
    Round Up," "The House Of Mystery", "I'd Walk A Mile" and other popular radio
    shows.  By 1940 Margaret was considered one of New York's most popular vocal
    arrangers.

    The origins of the "Number Please" program are a bit obscure.  According to
    "Radio Daily" the program had its debut on Detroit's WWJ on December 10,
    1945.  That was probably the same transcribed version that I have here.

    However in 1946 "Radio Daily refers to the program as an NBC series.  Were
    there two versions of "Number Please"?  One as a syndicated program aired on
    independent stations and another aired nationally over the NBC network?

    The version that I have was sponsored by Michigan Bell Telephone Company and
    ran on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 6:15 PM.  My discs were originally
    aired on WSOO at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
    The earliest disc that I have is number 161 and dated December 30, 1946.

    The earliest 16 inch electrical transcriptions that I have were pressed and
    distributed by the World Broadcasting System.  Later the discs were pressed
    and distributed on the WOR label.

    Because the program ran three days a week, many discs are two sided with the
    Monday program on one side and the Wednesday program on the other.  The
    Friday program was often on a one-sided disc.  I am speculating that a
    week's worth of discs were shipped at a time.

    I am also speculating that the WOR produced program was syndicated in other
    Bell Telephone markets using the same content but just changing the opening
    and closing and the one minute infomercial in the middle of the program.
    That raises the question:  If that is so, why haven't more electrical
    transcriptions of this program turned up?

    The program consisted of Eddie Dunn (and sometimes Song Spinners' members)
    providing the background of a song and then the Song Spinners singing the
    song.  Most programs contained five songs -- some six.  The music included
    folk, traditional, popular, spirituals, hymns, Broadway and novelty numbers.

    The primary benefit for Michigan Bell was the infomercial inserted at the
    mid point of the program and it provides interesting insights into post war
    life in America.  Many of the infomercials apologize that Michigan Bell
    could only provide party line service to new applicants.  Frequent appeals
    were made to party line users to limit their use of the phone for the sake
    of others sharing the line.  It also provided staggering statistics on the
    number of miles of cable being laid, the number of phones being
    manufactured, etc.

    The last "Number Please" program featuring the Song Spinners was on January
    28, 1949.  After that, the program changed formats but continued using Eddie
    Dunn as the announcer.

    >From 1949 to 1952, Margaret appeared on a New York television program
    called, "The Maggie Johnson Television Shopper Show."  For many years after
    that she created the lyrics for commercial jingles including "Winston tastes
    good, like a cigarette should!"

    In 1967 Margaret and Travis returned to Dallas, Texas.  Travis died in 1970.
    Margaret died at the age of 99 on May 27, 2007.

    If you are interested in receiving copies of "Number Please," please email
    me at rgb@[removed].

    Read Burgan

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    Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2016 00:23:00 -0500
    From: Chad Palmer <[removed]@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Macy's Parade on the Radio?

    Earlier today I was reading an article about the 90th anniversary of the
    Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and it mentions the fact that it has aired on
    radio since 1932. Are there any old radio broadcasts of the Macy's parade in
    circulation? I did a few quick searches and wasn't able to find much online.

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    End of [removed] Digest V2016 Issue #75
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