
 SEE INFO SECTION AT END OF THIS DIGEST FOR UNSUBSCRIBE AND OTHER INFORMATION. 
	  	         === Last Update 1/17/95  ====





	    [removed]   Volume 96 : Issue 139


Articles in this issue of [removed]:

	 Museums of OTR
	 OTR dealers
	 Request for help
	 Enhancing Old Radio Programs
	 Book
	 freeberg usa
	 Freberg's USA
	 Freberg History of US
	 "Your Money or your Life!"
	 Cincy convention
	 Cincy vs Newark
	 A couple of recollections
	 Discounting OTR cassettes, etc.

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

Date: Tue, 16 Apr 1996 19:37:06 -0400
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Museums of OTR
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

Andy Blatt wrote:
>The main point to be made is that they are the only big organization (high
>profile) preserving oldtime radio that people know of, and to the average
>layman, the only game in [removed], like it or not, we have to accept that
>what they do and how they do it are flawed, but at least an attempt is made
>to offer vintage radio and tv programs to the public.
>

Andy, wouldn't organizations such as U of MD's Broadcast Pioneer's Library
also fit into this category. I got their brochure at the OTR convention and
they certainly have quite an impressive collection. I think the big difference
and possibly what you might be referring to above, is that the Broadcast 
Pioneer people do not seem to collect much of the audio portion (lamentably).
That locale, by the way, is very accessible by the otr researcher. They have
a very complete collection of Radio Guides, for example.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Widner                      INTERNET: jwidner@[removed]
Dayton, OH                      WWW: [removed]
COMPUSERVE: 74566,3041          
AOL: JimWidner                            

                                                 

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

Date: Tue, 16 Apr 1996 19:47:00 -0400
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: OTR dealers
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

Bob Burnham wrote:
>Speaking of getting what you pay for, I think that also can apply to old time
>radio cassettes to a some extent.  Will a $[removed] clearance sale cassette from
>a convention hold up to one obtained for $[removed] by mail?  Will the sound
>quality be as good?  Maybe, maybe not.  I'm a stickler for sound, and I'd
>gladly pay $10 for a cassette if I knew it was the best sound available.  I
>know there are a lot of people out there who just want to get as many tapes
>as they can for almost nothing.  Collecting old time radio shows is sort of
>like classic vintage [removed]'t you rather have one in pristine
>shiny fully restored condition rather than a rust bucket missing the engine
>and tires?  You can actually DRIVE and enjoy the restored car and do
>something useful with it!   With a quality old time radio recording, you can
>actually UNDERSTAND and enjoy the contents.  What good is it if it's
>off-speed, muffled or has so much hiss, the dialogue is drowned out?  I'm NOT
>saying everyone who sells cassettes at ultra-low cost has bad [removed]  but
>as a general rule, they don't have the level of sophistication and won't
>provide as CONSISTANT level of quality as the longer established people.

First off, I agree that quality is always the best and one strives for seeking
quality recordings. But I have to add that a lot of the hobby of otr has both
survived and thrived because of these "lesser" dealers you refer to. I would
be the first to want to prevent anyone of these dealers not able to continue
in that hobby and offering cassettes, but I do believe that they provide a
very necessary function in spreading the otr word.  

I would posit that there would be much fewer collectors and interest in this 
hobby if the likes of the super dealers were the hobby's only source.  I find
myself buying the occasional Radio Spirits CD (ala Smithsonian) and I have
even purchased copies from you, Bob. But I also find that there are usually
less control and sometimes a broader collection of otr because of these smaller
dealers. 

I say, don't belittle the smaller dealer despite their sometimes lesser quality.
The quality is great and my first choice, but the selection is also very 
important.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Widner                      INTERNET: jwidner@[removed]
Dayton, OH                      WWW: [removed]
COMPUSERVE: 74566,3041          
AOL: JimWidner                            

                                                 

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

Date: Tue, 16 Apr 1996 19:45:49 -0400
From: SisHeather@[removed]
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: Request for help
Message-ID: <960416194549_273550219@[removed]>

Hello!

I am a junior in high school presently studying World War II.  Although this
is not the subject centered upon by Old Time Radio, I realize what an
important role radio played during this time period.
For this reason, I would like to ask your assistance.  I am working on a
project about American wartime propaganda and rations, and I have encountered
much difficulty in finding enough information to satisfy the criteria of the
assignment (as well as my own curiosity).  If any members know of any facts
or points of interest that may be of use, I would greatly appreciate it if
they could mail me.  [Direct e-mails would avoid bothering other members.]  I
thank you ahead of time for taking the time to share your knowledge with me.

SisHeather@[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 16 Apr 1996 21:43:44 -0400
From: rgb@[removed] (Read G Burgan)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Enhancing Old Radio Programs
Message-Id: <[removed]@btc1>

Glenn Doebler asked:
>DOES ANYONE KNOW OF A PROGRAM THAT HELPS ENHANCE RECORDS? TO HELP REMOVE
>SCRATCHES,NOISE,ETC. 

Both DART (Digital Audio Restoration Technology) by Tracer Technologies and
Sound Forge by Sonic Foundry contain tools that will enable you remove noise
from old records.  These are both software programs for the IBM PC. DART is
great for removing pops and clicks, and is best used after the sound file is
reversed.  Sound Forge has a add-on Noise restoration module that removes
pops and clicks and continuous noise like record surface noise, hiss, etc.
I use both on a daily basis with great success.  If find DART's pop and
click removal a bit less obtrusive than Sound Forge's.  But Sound Forge has
just added a vinyl restoration function with an improved pop and click
function and with a low pass filter function that allows you to adjust the
noise floor so that you can limit the filter so that it has little effect on
the program material -- just the noise is affected.  Depending on the
condition of the origial material, you can approach compact disc quality.

Read Burgan

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

Date: Tue, 16 Apr 1996 21:49:25 -0400
From: JayHick@[removed]
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: Book
Message-ID: <960416214859_192552814@[removed]>

If you enjoy the 20's, then you must buy  "From Flappers to [removed]
Helped Make the '20s Roar."  It was just published by Reiman Publications who
put out Reminisce Magazine.  This unique book is packed  with fascinating
memories and family-album photos of the '20s sent in by readers of Reminisce,
the country's most popular nostalgia magazine.  This 162-page book is $[removed]
plus $[removed] P&H.  Call 1-800-558-1013.

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

Date: 16 Apr 96 23:21:18 EDT
From: MICHAEL BERGER <[removed]@[removed]>
To: otr <otr@[removed]>
Subject: freeberg usa
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>

A little "ad" about Freeberg's USA album. I believe it actually was released in
the late 50s, because I remember hearing it for the first time when I was in
college.  In any event, it was several years after McCarthy's demise, but the
HUAC (House UnAmerican Activities Committee) lived on, and was conducting
hearings into the early 60s. So Freeberg's album needled those who were still in
a witch-hunting mode in those days. I seem to recall that the USA album, which
ended with the Yankees "striking the set" after victory at Yorktown, was
supposed to be the first of a series, but there were enough angry reactions that
the project never went any further. Anyone out there who can add to or clarify
this hazy memory?

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

Date: Tue, 16 Apr 1996 21:33:40 -0800
From: dabell@[removed] (Alan Bell)
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: Freberg's USA
Message-Id: <v01520d00ad9a1975365f@[[removed]]>

More on Freberg Presents the USA:

>> were the references to being hauled in front of committies
>>and what not jokes about the McCarthy Senate hearings???  Are the time
>>frames even right?

>Yup -- when the Ben Franklin character worries about the "Un-British
>Activities Committee" it's a jab at McCarthy.

Well, yes and no. It's certainly a jab at the House Un-American Activities
Committee (HUAC-yech!) but by then, McCarthy was long gone. HUAC was still
around.

>I think the album is from the early-mid 1960s, about a decade after the
>Army-McCarthy hearings.

Actually, I think it was 1960. Certainly no later than 1961 because I was
still in high school when it came out. I first heard it on the car radio
one day, and it was introduced by the local deejay as "controversial
humor," so of course, I had to listen. Unfortunately, at the time, I was
fairly oblivious to what had gone on during that infamous period (I'm sorry
to say) so I missed the controversy. But I thought it was hilarious and sat
in the driveway, listening to it.

I've played it for my sons and other young people over the years and have
to explain some of the references. (What would a young person make of,
"purple mountain majesties above the two-cents plain"?) I also thought that
"Take an Indian to Lunch" was a brilliant skewering of a certain kind of
political pandering during the Civil Rights era. Lots of other topical
references throughout.

_____________________________________________________________________
ALAN BELL  3768 Sonoma Avenue  Santa Rosa, CA 95405  dabell@[removed]
=============================707-546-6988============================

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

Date: Wed, 17 Apr 1996 01:07:30 -0400 (EDT)
From: "'A. Joseph Ross'" <lawyer@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Freberg History of US
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

> Date: Tue, 16 Apr 1996 07:13:37 -0400
> From: stevecap@[removed] (Steven Capsuto)
> To: [removed]@[removed]
> Subject: Freberg History of the [removed]
> Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
> 
> Yup -- when the Ben Franklin character worries about the "Un-British
> Activities Committee" it's a jab at McCarthy.

Actually, it was a jab at the House Un-American Activities Committee, 
which still existed in the early 1960s, more than a jab at Senator 
McCarthy, who was deceased by this time.

======================================================================
A. Joseph Ross, [removed]                                      617/367-0468
15 Court Square                                   lawyer@[removed]
Boston, MA 02108-2573                    [removed]~lawyer/
======================================================================

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

Date: Wed, 17 Apr 1996 01:20:16 -0400 (EDT)
From: "'A. Joseph Ross'" <lawyer@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: "Your Money or your Life!"
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

> Date: Mon, 15 Apr 1996 16:22:32 -0400
> From: SeptSev@[removed]
> To: [removed]@[removed]
> Subject: Your Money [removed]
> Message-ID: <960415162231_375936927@mail06>
> 
> Here's another one for you Benny fans.  I have a broadcast 3/28/48"Stolen
> Oscar", where Jack is robbed with the "your money or your life" gag. Now, I
> have read that this laugh was one of the biggest in radio comedy, but it
> certainly wasn't here.  Was this the first time the Benny show used this gag?

If you actually have the 3/28/48 episode, it ends with Jack borrowing the
Oscar and getting robbed.  More people seem to have the following week's
episode.  That episode begins where the previous week's show ended, with a
repeat of Jack borrowing the Oscar and getting robbed.  The laugh for the
"Your money or your life" line is shorter in that episode because the same
line ended the previous week's show.  The episode goes on to show Jack
trying to find a way to avoid having to tell Ronny that he lost the Oscar. 
Jack and Mary go over to Bing Crosby's house to borrow Bing's Oscar. 

So, if you really have the 4/4/48 show, mislabeled (a real possibility.  
Many of those shows are mislabeled.), that's your explanation.  But if 
you really have the 3/28/48 episode and don't thing that's a long laugh, 
maybe the title "longest laugh in radio" is more apocryphal than real.

======================================================================
A. Joseph Ross, [removed]                                      617/367-0468
15 Court Square                                   lawyer@[removed]
Boston, MA 02108-2573                    [removed]~lawyer/
======================================================================

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

Date: Wed, 17 Apr 1996 07:12:15 -0500 (CDT)
From: Dan Hughes <dhughes@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Cincy convention
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>

A quick note to those who attended--many folks were taking pictures, and 
if anyone on this list got photos of my daughter doing the Lone Ranger 
reenactment (she was the 11-year-old) I'd dearly love to pay you for 
copies.   Please buzz me email---     Thanks,    ---Dan

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

Date: Wed, 17 Apr 1996 07:28:15 -0500 (CDT)
From: Dan Hughes <dhughes@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Cincy vs Newark
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>

To those of you who do Newark but not Cincinnati:  The mood seemed
unanimous at Cincinnati that both stars and fans have a lot more fun at
Cincinnati.  Peg Lynch mentioned the down-homeiness at Cincy, and lots of
people commented on the total lack of formality that prevails in Newark. 
The Cincinnati convention afforded every attendee the chance to chat with
the stars, not just grab the autograph and hustle away.  Sunday morning
the four celebrities sat around in the hotel lobby, talking to anyone and
everyone who happened to be in the area.  By the way, sound effects man
Barney Beck was quite a character.  When Peg asked him why he was the last
one to come downstairs Sunday morning, he said, "I had trouble getting the
wife untied from the bedposts."             
  And a quick Parley Baer story:  He told me he is a Utah-born 
non-Mormon, and he worked at KSL/Salt Lake City, home of the Mormon 
Tabernacle Choir.  He and two other guys ran the weekly network feed of 
the Choir performances every week, and he said, "Not many people knew 
that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performances were run by three guys who 
were a Protestant, a Catholic, and a Jew."
                                         ---Dan

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

Date: Wed, 17 Apr 1996 08:48:50 -0400
From: Bruce Rudesill <lranger@[removed]>
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: A couple of recollections
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

I was gone all last week helping to keep Indiana safe for democracy, so I
wasn't around for the Clayton Moore/Jack Wrather discussion. I do have
some recollections of what went on though. Moore did make personal appear-
ances in his LR garb. And he was legally barred from doing so. That was
when he started appearing in the wrap-around shades. The majority of us
over-grown kids were upset at the way he was treated. I can't say for sure
that it was Jack Wrather who did it to him. "The Legend of the Lone Ranger"
was released in 1981 and I don't know when Wrather died. A somewhat
interesting aside there is the fact that Wrather's widow was Bonita
Granville. So for a while at least, Nancy Drew owned the Lone Ranger.

>From yesterday. Ronald Colman and Benita Hume were married for 20 years,
they had one child, a daughter. Ronald died in May,1958. Later that same
year, Benita married George Sanders. She died in 1967.

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

Date: Wed, 17 Apr 1996 09:54:39 -0500 (CDT)
From: James Ouzts <jouzts@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Discounting OTR cassettes, etc.
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

While I agree with Mr. Burnham's position that  dumping sharply 
discounted cassettes is not a practice that should be practiced by those 
with an agenda to hurt another's sales, it is likely that such  will 
go on so long as there are those commercial dealers who have elevated prices.
(I never criticize a dealer's prices until I have a look at his overhead.)
I, as an individual collector, know the costs of cassette, boxes, 
liners, etc. in volume (units of 500 or more) and I am seeing prices in 
catalogs that indicate a 4X factor--ie the dealer has $[removed] in the item 
and sells it for $[removed] or higher.  That seems a stretch.

Let us be glad there are both sources--cheapos and quality jobs--so that 
the younger folks who may be experimenting with the hobby will find it 
easy to stick around awhile.  Commerical dealers must get customers from 
somewhere.  Helping to develop that sophistication among new devotees 
might be a focus of interest.

Jim Ouzts

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

    


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---- 
End of [removed] Digest V96 Issue #139

