Subject: [removed] Digest V2005 #273
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 9/9/2005 6:55 AM

To: [removed]@[removed]

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2005 : Issue 273
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Movies?                               [ Wich2@[removed] ]
      GWYNNE -- CHIMING IN ON NBC CHIMES    [ Sandy Singer <sinatradj@[removed]; ]
      NBC Chimes                            [ Janet Chamberlain <pepsipenquin@yah ]
      THEME SONG                            [ Sandy Singer <sinatradj@[removed]; ]
      Transcriptions and Selling            [ "Austotr" <austotr@[removed]; ]
      What Happened to Molly?               [ "William D. Clark" <wclark4121@stic ]
      Re: NBC CHIMES                        [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
      Theme song "I love to [removed]"       [ "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed] ]
      Paul Temple reruns on BBC 7           [ [removed]@[removed] ]
      Re: Theme Song                        [ "Candy Jens" <candyj@[removed]; ]
      Oliver Perry                          [ Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed]; ]
      Acting vs. reading a script           [ Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed]; ]
      Beulah                                [ "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@attorneyross. ]
      Penthouse Murder Mystery              [ Rutledge Mann <cliff_marsland@yahoo ]
      9-9 births/deaths                     [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]

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

    Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 15:41:20 -0400
    From: Wich2@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Movies?

    From: PURKASZ@[removed]

>     like  the
>     crazy movement of silent movie people was shown not to be  real but  a part
>     of
>     the technical problems of frame speed from camera to   projector

    Dear Mike-

    Actually, that was a problem of the  change in technology when sound came in.

    >From the beginning, both cameras  and projectors were hand-cranked. Which
    meant, that as long as both were kept at  the same speed - and this was
    constantly adjustable - things looked  "right."

    When sound came in, for consistency in pitch, the equipment had  to be
    mechanized. And STANDARDIZED. The studios settled at 24 frames-per-second  -
    which,
    alas, was a bit faster than most Silents - especially the earlier ones  -
    has been shot.

    Best,
    -Craig

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

    Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 17:01:59 -0400
    From: Sandy Singer <sinatradj@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  GWYNNE -- CHIMING IN ON NBC CHIMES

    The chimes were automated to cut the program on the air at "25 seconds
    past the program end time" -- in cases where a President was making a
    speech, or news bulletins, etc., they had to physically reprogrammed NOT
    to do the 'automatically' thingy.

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

    Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 17:03:05 -0400
    From: Janet Chamberlain <pepsipenquin@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  NBC Chimes
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    Found this interesting website about the NBC Chimes:

    [removed]

    Penguins that live in Igloos, Love to Drink Ice Cold Pepsi:Cola!!!!!!!!!!

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

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

    Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 17:03:16 -0400
    From: Sandy Singer <sinatradj@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  THEME SONG

    Eddie Cantor used both songs.

    SS

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

    Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 18:35:54 -0400
    From: "Austotr" <austotr@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Transcriptions and Selling

    Well what an issue #272 was.

    I mentioned we need to see more shows circulated and Dave Siegel wrote about
    Barry Hill's collection going to a new home and that is good news.  Not that
    that means the shows will be circulated but its good to know that they are
    going to someone who will appreciate them.  Barry kept outbidding me on ebay
    quite often whenever a British Comedy Transcription appeared.  I am not sure
    what [removed] or Australian Transcriptions he had but he sure had a lot of
    British Comedy.

    Unfortunately Dave's welcome news was followed by an mp3 seller who was
    selling mp3 copies of Australian eps, some of which came from my collection
    and the collections of other collectors who have stated that they don't want
    the episodes sold.  What Cliff didn't mention in his post about me releasing
    shows was that I had stopped releasing on mp3 several months ago as a result
    of not being able to convince certain websites and ebay sellers to stop
    selling my Australian encodes.

    I get requests for shows all the time and I love showing OTR people that
    Australia did more than just have Australian versions of some [removed] scripts.
    The count at the moment puts the Australian OTR Series to over 4,700
    series/plays (not episodes, that figure would be staggering) which we are
    documenting.  But I don't know what we can do about the growing number of
    people who see OTR mp3 as an opportunity to make money.  Apart from
    hoarding, which simply is not in my nature.  At the moment I simply do not
    encode to mp3, but do trade in non mp3.

    Ironic, since it was mp3 that introduced me to this great hobby and the
    wonderful people I have met and emailed with over the years.

    Ian

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

    Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 18:36:12 -0400
    From: "William D. Clark" <wclark4121@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  What Happened to Molly?

    Hello,

    My family and I are currently listening to the run of the Johnson Wax Show
    Fibber McGee and Molly, and we are enjoying it immensely. We noticed that
    Marion (Molly McGee) Jordan is missing from all shows from about December
    1937 until April 1939. In many of the shows Jim (Fibber McGee) Jordan
    alludes to the fact that Marion (Molly) is ill and sends her best wishes.
    Can anyone here supply the details of what happened, and what her extended
    illness was?

    OTR lover in San Antonio
    Dale

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

    Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 20:21:23 -0400
    From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: NBC CHIMES

    Michael Gwynne's response about the NBC chimes raise a number of
    interesting issues.

>     I went to my piano and played those notes using the
>     middle C and was delighted to hear what I recall as
>     the NBC chimes!

    But you will find that there are other note combinations that will also
    create this melody.  You would just be transposing it into other keys.  For
    example, try the C A F combination that Michael Shoshani mentioned in the
    previous Digest.  You will find as many different combinations as there are
    musical keys.

>     If he's saying they are not always those particular notes then
>     we have what are called intervals to deal with.

    Precisely!  Remember, the actual physical chimes that the announcers struck
    only had four notes on them.  They were not like a xylophone or
    glockenspiel that had all of the notes on them.  Each four note chime set
    was pitched to a specific key, and not all of them were the same.  So you
    had no choice in which lettered notes to play, only the interval spacing in
    the key that the chimes were pitched to.  Only the chime sets with G C E G
    could provide G E C.

>     but someone made a decision to select those notes and others
>     made the decision to hold on to them as a signature.

    You would think so, wouldn't you.  Well, so did all of us, but NOWHERE has
    any of us found some kind of memo in the NBC files or a contemporary item
    in some radio magazine or newspaper radio section that announces what NBC
    is starting to do with chimes.   There seems to be the possibility that at
    first there were five note combinations that denoted specific cities of
    originations, because Elizabeth and I have separately found original discs
    of different Chicago programs recorded off of Milwaukee and Boston stations
    which have the same melody, and I found a Detroit area broadcast recorded
    off of WJZ with a different melody.  We need another WJZ recording to be
    sure whether it identifies Detroit or Newark.  But we have no way of
    knowing if it even was a city locator because nowhere is there any
    paperwork discussing this possibility.  It might have just been what the
    announcer liked to play.  It is only years after the three notes melody we
    now recognize was chosen that there is some written info in the files, but
    by then nobody remembered how the melody came to be chosen and what came
    before.  And later we started to see competing and contrasting stories, but
    these were all written long after the fact.

>     I was most excited by Michael's research into the correction
>     of pitch.  I've always wondered if some of those old voices
>     were accurate

    Back in the 1960s I entered the OTR area as a record collector, someone who
    had been collecting the actual original discs.  I quickly realized that
    most OTR collectors were trading tapes that were copies of copies of copies
    of copies of copies of copies of copies, etc. and not only did the sound
    quality of most of these dubs stink to high heaven, few of them were at the
    correct speed.  I've written here before how I am still amazed at how many
    OTR collectors will tolerate (and sometimes prefer!) the wretched sound
    quality of some recordings that started off in glorious near-hi-fi sound on
    the original discs.  (Fortunately there are now some collectors who are as
    concerned with preserving sound quality as I am.)    But I still hear so
    many programs being played very far off-speed.  An easy example would be
    some of the MP3 discs of The Lone Ranger that are circulating.  Most
    players can jump almost instantly from track to track to track.  Try it and
    see the wide variation of the pitch of the first notes of the William Tell
    Overture.  They should all be the same.  Do it with discs of other series
    that start off with a theme song.  Now some people are doing it right and
    making corrections, but others don't even notice it!  And by the way, the
    corrections MUST be made by changing the speed of the recording.  You can't
    just correct the pitch and leave the tempo alone as can be done on some
    computer programs.  I am afraid that some people have completely screwed up
    recordings this way.

>     just like the crazy movement of silent movie people was
>     shown not to be real but a part of the technical problems
>     of frame speed from camera to projector.  Unless there
>     really was way too much coffee at the Keystone Studios
>     in those days!   Gwynne

    Silent movies were almost all shot with hand-cranked cameras, and most
    projectors in that era were also handcranked.  The chase scenes were shot
    "undercranked" so they would play faster, and sometimes the projectionists
    would show them even faster (sometimes to get in an extra showing during
    the day.)  But the problem really began in the early days of television
    when so many silent films were shown on kiddie shows because they were
    cheap or free.  The normal speed of silent film was 16 to 18 frames per
    second, but most projectors used on TV film chains were set at the sound
    speed of 24 frames per second and could not be varied because there was a
    complicated shutter in use to synchronize that rate to the TV system of 30
    frames per second.  In later years some companies started
    "stretch-printing" the films to allow them to look natural when projected
    at 24 frames, but that wasn't done back in the early days of TV.  So my
    generation grew up thinking that this is what silent film looked like.  We
    thought that all normal action was speeded up, and that the chase scenes
    were speeded up that much more.  In reality, only the chase scenes were
    supposed to be shown faster than normal.

    And if you have seen Reefer Madness, especially in the new Showtime
    version, it wouldn't have been COFFEE that they would have been high on to
    get that fast action without undercranking!!!!!

    Michael Biel   mbiel@[removed]

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

    Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 20:21:57 -0400
    From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed];
    To: "Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Theme song "I love to [removed]"

    That song was the theme for the "Eddie Cantor Show."
    Ted Kneebone.  OTR website:  [removed]
    Democrats: [removed]
    1528 S. Grant St., Aberdeen, SD 57401 / Phone: 605-226-3344

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

    Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 23:07:33 -0400
    From: [removed]@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Paul Temple reruns on BBC 7

    Paul Temple the 1950s detective from BBC Radio is being rerun on the Crime and
    Thrillers hour on BBC Radio 7.

    Though a crime detective his adventures have the international intrigue
    normally
    found in James Bond thrillers. It is well produced, and worth a listen if you
    like crime dramas. Americans will notice the British production lacks
    background
    music and sound effects are used only as necessary.

    The 30 minute drama airs 5 days a week (M-F) and the shows are archived for 7
    days at the BBC 7 website. The current adventure started today called Paul
    Temple and The Alex Affair. Paul Temple is called in by Scotland Yard when
    three
    deaths occur which have in common the names Alex and Mrs Trevelyan. This
    particular series has 8 episodes.

    You can hear the Paul Temple shows by going to the BBC Radio Player:
    [removed]
    Then select BBC 7 and on the following page select the Paul Temple episode
    you wish.

    It's nice to see the BBC making this 50 year old show available again.

    Paul Urbahns
    Radcliff, KY

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

    Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 23:08:06 -0400
    From: "Candy Jens" <candyj@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Theme Song

>     A friend has asked me if can recollect what show the song
>     "I Love To Spend One Hour With You" was the theme.

     I "think" that Eddie Cantor used this at the end of his  show, but not
     absolutely sure . . .
     Candy

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

    Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 23:10:30 -0400
    From: Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Oliver Perry

    Can anyone tell me how many times private detective
    Oliver Perry, who suspected Britt Reid of being the
    Green Hornet crossed paths with Reid, and what the
    episodes in which he appeared were called? I know some
    refer to Perry by name ([removed] "The Last of Oliver
    Perry"), but at least one does not ("The Unexpected
    Meeting").

    Rick

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

    Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 23:11:34 -0400
    From: Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Acting vs. reading a script

    The discussion has come up about how some radio
    performers could make you believe they were actually
    _acting_, while others sounded like they were simply
    reading from a script. Among the names broached in
    this discussion was Vincent Price. Now, as it happens,
    I enjoy listening to _The Saint_, and I love Price's
    portrayal of Simon Templar. Maybe it's because his
    portrayal was the first non-written incarnation of
    _The Saint_ I encountered, but I consider Price to be
    the definitive Simon Templar.

    Now, to quote Bill Cosby, I told you that story to
    tell you this one. When I listen to _The Saint_, I
    don't hear Vincent Price reading a script in a studio;
    I hear Simon Templar talking to whomever is with him.
    Now, intellectually, I _know_ Price (and everyone
    else) is reading a script, but he doesn't make that
    fact blatantly obvious, as has been suggested.

    Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I've
    been listening to OTR since I was 12- decades before I
    had any inkling that the actors read from scripts
    rather than having memorized their lines; but unless
    an actor is _really_ bad, I tend to focus on the story
    and the characters, forgetting that these are actors
    in a studio.

    (Unless, of course, I'm specifically listening for
    something- like trying to identify whether a voice
    belongs to actor A or B; I'm actually thinking about
    the actors reading their scripts; or C, Lou Costello
    asks, "what page are you on, Abbott?").

    Case in point: When I listened to "Superman Vs. the
    Atom Man" during my drive up to (and back from) our
    place up north, I _knew_ Mason Adams was standing in
    front of a microphone with a script either in his
    hand, or on a stand in front of him; but what I heard
    (and saw in my mind's eye) was the Atom Man growing
    ever more restless and impatient for the opportunity
    to go one-on-one against Superman.

    On another, but related note: I've asked this before,
    and if I remember correctly, Hal Stone provided the
    answer, but I still don't get it: Why did/do radio
    actors have their script in hand when they
    perform(ed)? If Hal (for example) is hired to portray
    a character on stage, TV or in a movie, he would
    memorize his lines, go out on stage (or before the
    cameras), and perform as that character. But on radio,
    he would come out with a script in hand, and read from
    it, acting the part (not just "reading" it) as he goes
    along.

    Why? Yes, most radio was live, but so are plays, and
    so was early TV.

    For that matter, were there _any_ radio shows in which
    the actors didn't read from scripts, but had
    previously memorized their lines?

    Rick

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

    Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 23:57:55 -0400
    From: "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Beulah

>     Date: Tue, 6 Sep 2005 11:35:04 -0400
>     From: "Druian, Raymond B SPL" <[removed]@[removed];

>     Could someone refresh my ever-fading memory; the way I remember it,
>     Oriole was played by Butterfly McQueen, and, when Hattie McDaniel
>     became too ill to perform, her role as Beulah was taken on, first by
>     Ethyl Waters and then by Lillian Randolph, until Ms. McDaniel passed,
>     after which McDaniel reruns were broadcast.

    Ethyl Waters played Beulah for a couple of years on the television show.  Then, the entire
    show was re-cast, and Louise Beavers took over the role.  According to Alex McNeil in "Total
    Television," Hattie McDaniel was scheduled to take over the part, but never did because of
    her illness.  But I do remember a few episodes of the show with the second cast in which the
    announcer said "Starring Hattie McDaniel as Beulah."

    --
    A. Joseph Ross, [removed]                           [removed]
     15 Court Square, Suite 210                 Fax [removed]
    Boston, MA 02108-2503           	         [removed]

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

    Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2005 00:22:20 -0400
    From: Rutledge Mann <cliff_marsland@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Penthouse Murder Mystery

    Hi again,

    I'm also sharing the only episode to surface of the
    Penthouse Murder Mystery, circa 1930-33, which hasn't
    been in circulation, as far as I can tell.  It's on
    [removed] - the same
    place as the Abbotts.  Perhaps Elizabeth could provide
    more exact information about the series upon listening
    to it.

    Thanks to all the people that had kind words about the
    Abbotts, I'm glad I could be of help.

    I don't think my hopes of getting more transcription
    collectors to come forward to share, or at least trade
    will work, but at least I can do my part.  No use
    sitting on it forever.  You can't take it with you.

    Trav

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

    Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2005 08:17:34 -0400
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  9-9 births/deaths

    September 9th births

    09-09-1828 - Leo Tolstoy - Yasnaya, Polyana, Russia - d. 11-20-1910
    author: "Great Plays"; "Arthur Hopkins Presents"; "Hour of St. Francis"
    09-09-1873 - Max Reinhardt - Baden, Austria - d. 10-30-1943
    film director: "Texaco Star Theatre"
    09-09-1882 - Clem McCarthy - East Bloomfield, NY - d. 6-4-1962
    sportscaster: The Kentucky Derby
    09-09-1887 - Raymond Walburn - Plymouth, IN - d. 7-26-1969
    actor: "That's My Pop"
    09-09-1894 - Arthur Freed - Charleston, SC - d. 4-12-1973
    songwriter: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    09-09-1898 - Frankie Frisch - The Bronx, NY - d. 3-12-1973
    baseball broadcaster: (Baseball Hall of Fame) New York Giants
    09-09-1899 - Neil Hamilton - Lynn, MA - d. 9-24-1984
    actor: [removed] Raffles "Raffles"
    09-09-1899 - Waite Hoyt - Brooklyn, NY - d. 8-25-1984
    sportscaster, "Sports Review"; "According to Hoyt"; play-by-play: Cincinnati
    Reds
    09-09-1900 - James Hilton - Leigh, Lancashire, England - d. 12-20-1954
    host: "Hallmark Hall of Fame/Hallmark Playhouse"; "Ceiling Unlimited"
    09-09-1908 - Ed Prentiss - Chicago, IL - d. 3-19-1992
    actor: Red Albright/Captain Midnight "Captain Midnight"; Ned Holden "The
    Guiding Light"
    09-09-1915 - Richard Webb - Bloomington, IL - d. 6-10-1993
    actor: "Family Theatre"; "Crime Does Not Pay
    09-09-1924 - Jane Greer - Washington, [removed] - d. 8-24-2001
    singer, actress: "Rudy Vallee Show"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
    09-09-1927 - Elvin Ray Jones - Pontiac, MI - d. 5-18-2004
    jazz drummer: "Newport Jazz Festival"
    09-09-1927 - Mary O. Major - Santa Barbara County, CA - d. 8-12-1998
    vocalist: "The Eddie Cantor Show"
    09-09-1930 - Martha Steinberg - d. 1-29-2000
    detroit radio: WQBH-AM

    September 9th deaths

    01-31-1872 - Rupert Hughes - Lancaster, MO - d. 9-9-1956
    writer: (Uncle to Howard Hughes) "The Story of Holly Sloan"
    03-19-1927 - Richie Ashburn - Tilden, NE - d. 9-9-1997
    baseball hall of famer, sportscaster: "Tops In Sports"; "Philadelphia Phillies
    Play by Play"
    03-21-1903 - Nan Boardman - New York City, NY - d. 9-9-1984
    actress: "The Modern Adventures of Casanova"
    05-23-1921 - Helen O'Connell - Lima, OH - d. 9-9-1993
    singer: (Jimmy Dorsey Band) "Kraft Music Hall"; "Fitch Bandwagon"
    06-30-1905 - Nestor Paiva - Fresno, CA - d. 9-9-1966
    actor: "NBC Presents: Short Story"; "Escape"
    08-02-1892 - Jack L. Warner - London, Ontario, Canada - d. 9-9-1978
    film studio owner" "Jack Benny Program"; "Warner Brothers Academy Award
    Theatre"
    09-13-1911 - Bill Monroe - Rosine, KY - d. 9-9-1996
    mandolin player: (Father of Bluegrass) "Rider's Radio Theatre"
    09-22-1900 - Hanley Stafford - Hanley, Staffordshire, England - d. 9-9-1968
    actor: Mr. Higgins "Baby Snooks Show"; Julius C. Dithers "Blondie"
    11-16-1907 - Burgess Meredith - Cleveland, OH - d. 9-9-1997
    actor: "Red Adams/Red Davis "Red Adams/Red Davis" (the precursor to "Pepper
    Young's Family")
    12-23-1922 - Ruth Roman - Boston, MA - d. 9-9-1999
    actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Hollywood Sound Stage"
    12-24-1915 - Helen Brown - Washington - d. 9-9-1994
    actress: Miss Foster "Big Town"
    --
    Ron Sayles
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2005 Issue #273
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