Subject: [removed] Digest V2006 #315
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 11/13/2006 3:47 PM

To: [removed]@[removed]

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2006 : Issue 315
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      11-13 births/deaths                   [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
      Susquehanna Hats                      [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
      Studio audience, Inner Sanctum        [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
      Re:OTR under 40                       [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
      Re: A Joke about the Nash.            [ "Bill Harris" <nbcblue@[removed]; ]
      Age of collector(s)                   [ "[removed]" <asajb2000@ ]
      Re: Re: "A Joke I Don't Get"          [ jameshburns@[removed] (Jim Burns) ]
      Re: Various [removed]                  [ "Glenn P.," <C128User@[removed]; ]
      OTR fans under 40                     [ "Ryan Hall" <uncle_festor@[removed] ]
      Finding Fibber                        [ "frank mCgurn" <[removed]@sbcgloba ]
      fans under 40                         [ Rodney Bowcock <pasttense_78@yahoo. ]
      Nightbeat- trying to locate a Christ  [ "Charles Salt" <charles_salt@hotmai ]
      Under 40                              [ "Karen Lerner" <[removed]@[removed] ]
      Fans under 40                         [ harx1@[removed] ]

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

    Date: Sun, 12 Nov 2006 22:33:28 -0500
    From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  11-13 births/deaths
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    November 13th births

    11-13-1850 - Robert Louis Stevenson - Edinburgh, Scotland - d. 12-3-1894
    author: "Mercury Theatre of the Air"; "This Is My Best"
    11-13-1903 - Conrad Thibault - Northbridge, MA - d. 8-10-1983
    singer: "Show Boat"; "Packard Hour"; "Manhattan Merry-Go-Round"
    11-13-1913 - Alexander Scourby - Brooklyn, NY - d. 2-23-1985
    actor: Herbert Temple "Young Widder Brown"; Philip Cameron "Against
    the Storm"
    11-13-1913 - Helen Mack - Rock Island, IL - d. 8-13-1986
    producer, director: "Beulah Show"; "Affairs of Ann Scotland"
    11-13-1917 - Robert Sterling - Newcastle, PA - d. 5-30-2006
    actor: Michael Shayne "Michael Shayne"
    11-13-1932 - Richard Mulligan - NYC - d. 9-26-2000
    actor: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"

    November 13th deaths

    03-03-1924 - Barbara Jean Wong - Los Angeles, CA - d. 11-13-1999
    actor: Judy Barton "Cinnamon Bear"
    04-09-1906 - Antal Dorati - Budapest, Austria-Hungary - d. 11-13-1988
    conductor"; "CBS Symphony Orchestra"
    04-14-1917 - Valerie Hobson - Larne, Ireland - d. 11-13-1998
    actor: Guest Contestant "One Minute Please"
    04-29-1915 - Donald F. Mills - Piqua, OH - d. 11-13-1999
    singer: (The Mills Brothers) "Mills Brothers Quartette"
    05-29-1892 - Mario Chamlee - Los Angeles, CA - d. 11-13-1966
    singer: Tony "Tony and Gus"; "Arco Birthday Party"; "Swift Garden Party"
    06-13-1903 - Jack Fulton - Philipsburg, PA - d. 11-13-1993
    singer: "Ben Bernie, The Old Maestro"; "The Kraft Music Hall"
    06-29-1893 - Alma Kitchell - Superior, WI - d. 11-13-1996
    singer, commentator: "Melody Hour"; "Brief Case/Streamline Journal"
    07-25-1901 - Lila Lee - Union Hill, NJ - d. 11-13-1973
    actor: "Fleischman's Yeast Hour"
    09-15-1908 - Penny Singleton - Phildelphia, PA - d. 11-13-2003
    actor: Blondie Bumstead "Blondie" Penny Williamson "Penny Singleton
    Show"
    10-08-1904 - Wally Brown - Malden, MA - d. 11-13-1961
    actor: "The Jack Kirkwood Show"; "Joan Davis Time"
    xx-xx-1890 - Louis Katzman - Odessa, Russia - d. 11-13-1943
    musical director: "Fred Allen's Linit Bath Club"

    Ron Sayles

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

    Date: Sun, 12 Nov 2006 23:20:25 -0500
    From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Susquehanna Hats

    Where I live, the Susquehanna is a river that divides York and Lancaster
    County in Pennsylvania but I believe there is actually no such company known
    as the Susquehanna Hat Company.  The skit was done on vaudeville and in the
    Abbott and Costello movie mentioned in a previous posting but I do recall
    Costello and Fields doing the routine on the short-lived TV series, THE
    ABBOTT AND COSTELLO SHOW.  I believe it was also done on two radio
    broadcasts so it was repeated a number of times.

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

    Date: Sun, 12 Nov 2006 23:21:07 -0500
    From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Studio audience, Inner Sanctum

    Ted wrote:

>     I spoke with a man this morning who grew up in the New York City area.  He
>     says that he and his brother would frequently attend Inner Sanctum Mysteries
>     in the audience.  I didn't know this show had an audience.  Is his memory
>     correct?  He said they had a very large auditorium and it was usually filled.

    Must have been his bad memory.  INNER SANCTUM MYSTERY was NEVER broadcast
    before a live studio audience.  It was done in a small studio where no
    public performance was available.  New York City was the host of numerous
    radio broadcasting, and studios in the city was host to a number of
    broadcasts that featured a live studio audience - but INNER SANCTUM was NOT
    one of those programs.  Himan Brown directed that series and I cannot think
    of a single show he produced/directed that ever had a studio audience.
    Programs that usually had a large audience were those with huge prestige -
    LUX RADIO THEATER, CAVALCADE OF AMERICA, THE SHADOW, THE CHASE AND SANBORN
    HOUR, etc.

    Martin Grams Jr.
    author of "INNER SANCTUM MYSTERIES: BEHIND THE CREAKING DOOR"

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

    Date: Sun, 12 Nov 2006 23:21:27 -0500
    From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re:OTR under 40
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    In a message dated 11/12/06 9:34:14 PM Central Standard Time,
    [removed]@[removed] writes:

>     You forget, Mr. Godfrey, that a subsequent generation had the CBS RADIO
>     MYSTERY THEATER and the SEARS(/MUTUAL) RADIO THEATER and the GENERAL MILLS
>     ADVENTURE [removed]

    I'm 42 and I never heard an old time radio show first run.  I missed
    "Suspense" and "Yours Truly Johnny Dollar" by two years, not old enough to
    remember
    "Theatre Five" and never heard "Breakfast Club" or Arthur Godfrey in my
    market.
    But in addition to the shows mentioned above I was exposed through reruns.  A
    station in Albertville, Alabama reran "The Great Gildersleeve," "Fibber McGee
    and Molly," "The Lone Ranger" and "The Shadow" weeknights.  I listened mostly
    to the two comedies since I went to football games Fridays when "The Shadow"
    ran.  I recall the syndicated copies had all new music dubbed in and possibly
    even a local announcer reading the script for any narration.

    When I was 12 a friend of mine ordered the War of the Worlds broadcast from a
    mail order company advertised in TV Guide and that hooked me.

    Dixon

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 00:13:33 -0500
    From: "Bill Harris" <nbcblue@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: A Joke about the Nash.

>     In response to the question about the Walter Denton being awarded a Nash and
>     pajamas to drive with it on.  The Nash sedans, (about 1952 I belive), rear
>     seats were designed to be made into a bed.

    And no father wanted to see a young suiter drive up in a Nash to take his
    daughter on a date.

    Bill H.

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 00:14:09 -0500
    From: "[removed]" <asajb2000@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Age of collector(s)

    Like Mr. Webb, I was exposed to oldtime radio by
    listening to it on WRVR [removed] FM.  I was also a fan of
    jazz and WRVR seemed to do a great job at that as
    well.  I started listening to the 7 or 7:30-8 pm
    rebroadcasts from Charles Michaelson.  My first
    exposure to oldtime radio came in the 1960's when,
    during dinner, my dad decided we were going to listen
    to The Shadow on WEEI in Boston (I grew up initially
    in the Boston area).  I too, bought cassettes from
    ([removed]) Korvettes.  Their cassettes were called XAM and
    it was there that I also bought FM Guide because I
    also enjoyed classical music in the 1970's.  The
    potential to reach new people and many more than
    conventional trading of tapes and conventional radio
    broadcasting is probably limitless.  Anyone that
    doubts the breadth and scope of internet radio need
    only type in [removed]  Every conceivable format
    of internet radio station is well-represented there,
    including some that feature oldtime radio.
    Andy Blatt

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 00:37:12 -0500
    From: jameshburns@[removed] (Jim Burns)
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Re: "A Joke I Don't Get"

    Has anyone ever checked on the number of men in their early-to-mid
    fifties who have Nash, as a middle name?

    ;-)

    (And, by the way, Rick Keating's recommendation of the THREE
    INVESTIGATORS mystery series of novels, is dead on. When I 10, or 11, or
    so, I LOVED them!  Interesting, that the kids lit of a prior time--Danny
    Dunn, et. [removed] able to transcend at least one era.)

    Jim Burns

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 00:38:41 -0500
    From: "Glenn P.," <C128User@[removed];
    To: Old-Time Radio Mailing List <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Various [removed]

    Lots of interesting Stuff in the Digest to respond to! One at a [removed]

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

    On Sun., 12-Nov-2006, at 11:18:47am EST (-0500 GMT), "[removed]@[removed]"
    posted to [The Old-Time Radio Mailing List] under the subject of "A Joke
    about the Nash":

     > In response to the question about the Walter Denton being awarded a
     > Nash and pajamas to drive with it on. The Nash sedans, (about 1952 I
     > belive), rear seats were designed to be made into a bed.

    Yow! Talk about your make-out seats!   :)

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

    On Sun., 12-Nov-2006, at 02:44:47pm EST (-0500 GMT), "Mr. Robert Birchard"
    <BBirchard@[removed];, posted to [The Old-Time Radio Mailing List]
    under the subject of "Susquehanna Hats":

     :> A couple of issues ago was a story which culminated in the line,
     :> "Susquehanna Hats!!! My brother was KILLED wearing a Susquehanna Hat!!"

     >     Clearly Alan is lacking an education in Burlesque in general and Abbott
     > & Costello in particular, the reference refers to a routine, similar to
     > "Niagara Falls -- slowly I turned," in which a salesman for Susquehanna Hats
     > encounters a series of customers with strongly negative associations to said
     > product and who after declaiming their grievances proceed to destroy the
     > salesman's sample products ([removed] fist through the top of the straw hat,
    etc.)

    1. You have traded one incomprehensible refrence for another: What is
       this "Niagara Falls" routine you refer to?

    2. "Slowly I turned" reminds me of an episode of "I Love Lucy" in which
       a salesman grew chronically violent ("slowly I turned, inch by inch,
       step by [removed]" whenever the name "Martha" was mentioned. Was that
       episode a "take-off" on the routine you reference above?

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

    On Sun., 12-Nov-2006, at 02:48:19pm EST (-0500 GMT), "Mr. Joe Mackey"
    <JoeMackey108@[removed]; posted to [The Old-Time Radio Mailing List]
    under the subject of "Nash and pajama's":

     :> Maybe the seats were as comfortable as your bed?

     > Close, but no cigar.

    Now, THERE's a phrase I've always wondered about! Does it originate in OTR?
    >From "You Bet Your Life", perhaps? (I have no idea what makes me think so,
    save that Groucho was alway smoking cigars.)

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

    On Sun., 12-Nov-2006, at 03:56:37pm EST (-0500 GMT), "Mr. Rick Keating"
    <PKeating89@[removed]; posted to [The Old-Time Radio Mailing List] under
    the subject of "Re: Kids' shows":

     > Scott Benson wrote (about his 12-year-old son):

     :>  I am also looking for similar shows that he might
     :> enjoy. He is a Hardy Boys junky, likes Nancy Drew as
     :> well. Both kids like to watch Burns and Allen with
     :> us.

     > ...if he enjoys mysteries. He might also enjoy
     > "I Love a Mystery."...

    I say, didn't Radio Orphan Annie have some mysteries? (Or maybe he's a
    tad too old for that sort of thing?)

     > [removed]: Since your son likes both _The Hardy Boys_ and
     > _Nancy Drew_, you might also want to consider buying
     > him some of the reprints of the original editions of
     > books in both series.

    "The Mickey Mouse Club" also did a passable version of "The Hardy Boys"
    mystery series starring, if I recall correctly, Tim Consadine. He could
    probably find it on VHS or DVD, if he isn't too particular about seeking
    only RADIO [removed]

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 07:47:57 -0500
    From: "Ryan Hall" <uncle_festor@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  OTR fans under 40

    I am under 40, in fact under 30 (barely). I have been listening to OTR shows
    since I was about 10 years old or so. When I was very little, I had a few
    little records (LPs) that I liked to play on my little kiddie plastic record
    player of Just So Stories and Robin Hood and such, which I think were more
    Modern Audio Drama for kids, but with sound effects. This was when records
    were basically still around in shops but were on the way out and the shops
    were just trying to get rid of them and move to cassette tapes. I remember
    saving up my allowance many times and going on a Saturday to buy a new
    record of audio drama for probably a few dollars or so, but for a 6 year
    old, that was a lot of money.

    We also listened to a lot of radio, especially John Ward's broadcast of
    Tennessee football games, etc. We weren't particularly rich and living in
    the rural South, my family didn't actually have cable television until I was
    about 8 or 9 years old in the mid-'80s, so maybe I was not unlike those
    listening to radio when it was the mass communication medium it was in the
    '40's.

    I actually discovered OTR proper back in the early '90s, when the New
    Adventures of Sherlock Holmes came out on cassette tape. Having been a
    Holmes fan since I was young, I really was enthralled by the whole concept
    of radio. It was not until I was in high school that I discovered that there
    were other radio shows still in existence, namely The Shadow and a few
    others like X Minus One that came out on cassette tapes occasionally.

    When I was in college, I discovered this new fangled invention of the
    internet and discovered all sorts of radio shows thanks the MP3 technology
    and Ebay. I have no doubt I will one day tell my grandkids about life before
    the internet like grandparents today tell of life without automobiles and
    television.

    I remember the first time I surfed onto the [removed] site and managed to
    get onto the OTR chatroom group and actually got to chat briefly with Harry
    Bartell one evening. That was quite a treat. I had no idea that such people
    were still around, or that there were other fans of OTR around. Until that
    point, I thought I just had this eccentric habit of collecting of radio
    shows because I was literally the only person I knew that even knew or cared
    about radio at all.

    I became so interested in radio that I actually got a job in college at the
    campus radio station and took several radio communication classes. I even
    talked the professor in charge of the project to let us do a few recreations
    of OTR shows. Interestingly enough, they were a hit on campus, and always
    had the greatest number of listeners of all the variety radio programming we
    cobbled together.

    I am not sure what my personal fixation with radio is, though. I think maybe
    actually have to do with the fact that it is, in a sense, counter-cultural.
    Maybe that was the attraction for a teenage/college age student. We live in
    a completely visual society now, what with TV and internet.  I remember some
    of the other students who had signed up for the Radio communications class
    who had no background in listening to radio format had serious trouble in
    class discussing the content of a radio show that the professor would play
    bits of in class. Once they finally figured it out, most liked it. But
    forcing them to listen was like pulling teeth. Listening is just not a skill
    that most of the people in the current generation of 20 somethings or
    younger have much practice at because everything is so visually based.

    So there is one (under 30) man's odyssey with OTR.
    -Ryan1

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 08:24:45 -0500
    From: "frank mCgurn" <[removed]@[removed];
    To: "The Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Finding Fibber

    Help for Karen:

    Sunday night was tuned into an OR T  program and heard Fibber McGee show
    dated 11/18/41 "Mayor Latriva Won't Leave" when the mayor finally leaves He
    open the Closet door and we hear "No, NO not that door"  The mayor helps to
    put everything back.
    As usual it is great episode.

    Frank McGurn

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 08:49:06 -0500
    From: Rodney Bowcock <pasttense_78@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  fans under 40
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    I'm 27.  Grew up with OTR, thanks to WVXU in Cincinnati.  Like so many people
    older than me, my childhood favorites were Green Hornet and Great
    Gildersleeve.  I wrote an article on younger people being interested in OTR
    in Bob Burchett's print Old-Time Radio Digest a couple of years ago.

      Rodney

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    Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 12:22:31 -0500
    From: "Charles Salt" <charles_salt@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Nightbeat- trying to locate a Christmas
     episode

    Myself and some friends from an OTR forum are trying to locate an episode of
    Nightbeat that one member recalls as follows:

    "Randy has to go around the city with a woman from the paper, and they're
    tracking down some "props" for a party being given by the wife of the owner
    of the newspaper Randy works for. She wants a sleigh with reindeer, and all
    Randy can find are a couple goats. As I recall, all he can find for a sleigh
    is an old Radio Flyer wagon. Part of the episode has Randy roaming around
    town with the two goats in his car."

    It's a Christmas episode but we're pretty sure it's not 'Five Days Of For
    Christmas'. Does any have a copy of the episode described above please?
    Thanks.

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 14:00:18 -0500
    From: "Karen Lerner" <[removed]@[removed];
    To: "OTR Digest (E-mail)" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Under 40

    In response to Andrew Godfrey's OTR Fans Under 40 [removed]

    I am seven years shy of the big 4-0 and I would be happy to tell you how I
    was first introduced to OTR - a junior high school teacher.  She played us
    epiosdes of the Shadow and a few other mystery-type programs.  What really
    stuck with me was - in one story (I don't remember from which series) - there
    was a character who was walking in the dark through some trees to sneak up to
    a house.  They had a moment of fright when something cold and damp touched
    their cheek, only to discover that it was just a leaf, dangling from a branch
    that was close by.

    I have always been a storyteller at heart, and was truly taken with this
    method of storytelling.  We don't know what the cold, damp thing is any more
    than the character does - so, in a way, we're experiencing the story by being
    right inside the mind of the character.  BUT - the absolute best thing is
    that, in truth, these OTR stories lead us right inside our OWN minds.  It's
    whatever would be scary to US (personally) that we imagine has touched the
    character's cheek.  OTR can take us in to corners of our own minds that we
    might not have even known were there.  To me, that's the genius of OTR
    storytelling.

    Since junior high, I had scant contact with OTR - going to the movies to see
    the ([removed] not so good) Shadow movie, and using a copy of "The Most Dangerous
    Game" as part of a high school class when it was my turn to be the teacher.

    But, the interest was always there - plus, I must confess a natural interest
    in the music, fashion, and history of the time period - and, I consider
    myself quite lucky to have found my way back to it as an adult.

    Karen Lerner
    Radio Spirits

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 14:00:49 -0500
    From: harx1@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Fans under 40
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     I'm 31 and I've been a fan OTR, since I was 14 (or so).  I used to watch
    black and white movies on AMC (back when they did that sort of thing) each
    morning before school.  I saw Burns & Allen in their supporting roles in the
    Fred Astaire starrer, "Damsel in Distress", and I knew who George Burns was
    because of the Oh G-d! movies, and for some reason I had a couple of his
    comedy books, but through that movie, I became a huge fan of Gracie Allen.
    As I often did at the time, I started researching people who I found
    interesting (I was a strange kid) and happened upon this strange phenomenon
    called Old Time Radio.  I found a couple of tapes in the local library and
    was hooked.  For Hanukkah that year, my parents got me one of the set of four
    tapes with different comedians (Burns & Allen, Jack Benny, Abbot & Costello
    and Fibber McGee & Molly) and there was no turning back.  When I got to
    college a few years later, the Internet was just beginning to take off and I
    discovered that there was a whole online community where people traded tapes
    and then I discovered SPERDVAC, and before I knew it I had a couple of
    thousand tapes.  Unfortunately, my parents sold their house in the suburbs,
    so I ended up donating most of my collection to a local senior citizens home
    and I'm now trying to recreate my collection with mp3s, as that's much easier
    to handle.

    -Kerri L. Berney
    harx1@[removed]
    " " -Harpo Marx(smarter words were never uttered)

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    End of [removed] Digest V2006 Issue #315
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