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

[removed] Digest				Volume 96 : Issue 295

Table Of Contents: 

	 ETs
	 Death of OTR
	 12" transcriptions
	 Frank Nelson
	 Horse Racing and OTR
	 decline of radio
	 How did they get Jimmy
	 Reply and request
	 Did otr kill itself?
	 Who Killed OTR?
	 JOHN HOUSEMAN
	 Vic and Sade on TV
	 Currents dramas on NPR???
	 Imagination Theatre???

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

Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 20:47:52 -0500
From: Joe Salerno <jsalerno@[removed]>
To: "'OTR LIST'" <[removed]@[removed]>
Subject: ETs
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

To the gentleman who emailed me privately about ETs. I lost your =
address, sorry. ET stands for electrical transcription, a record with =
too many hormones. They are 16" in diameter, and the first time you see =
one they generally leave you in amazement. We are very acustomed to the =
standard 12" LP/78 size. =20

Some are vynil on an aluminum base, some on glass and very fragile for =
it. Some are pressed like LPs (except they play with a 78 size stylus =
generally)
and the very earliest ones are on shellac like 78s and quite heavy.

Thisis what radio stations and professionals recorded on before magnetic =
[removed]
Hope this answers your question.

Joe Salerno

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

Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 21:57:45 -0400
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Death of OTR
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Chet asks:
>So I'd like to ask our Much More Knowledgable Than Me People on this
>list -- What are your theories for the "death" of OTR?  Hey, we'll even
>entertain Area 51 conspiracy theories for this question.  (Come to think of it,
>right about the time those alien bodies were supposed to be found, OTR
>started losing its [removed]  <Twilight Zone music>)
>

While I am not suggesting by this response that I am part of the
"knowledgeable ones" I do have some thoughts on the subject. 

First off, I generally agree with Houseman's theory that the execs started
pumping the money into television and began abandoning radio. Everything I
have read seems to support that based on the advertisers realizing the money
was to be made in that new medium. I mean, my gosh, verbal advertising and
moving pictures too! Coming right into people's homes?? What ad exec
wouldn't be salivating at the idea.

The other reason for otr's death is that like the ad execs, the population
began to wholeheartedly adopt the new medium in an unbelievable fever that
continued to grow as the price of televisions dropped.  People embraced the
visual with open arms. While at first it might have been a novelty, I agree
with some of McLuhan theories that such a passive medium was easier to
become addicted to. The fifties were this country's lazy years. The economy
was generally booming, the new middle class was fattening all the time in
increasing numbers and people felt they could have it all. Television only
enhanced all of that and radio did not. Radio was becoming a "kid's medium"
in the sense that as it moved more and more into music only programming, it
was used as a background medium, not always actively listened to, but simply
there. How many still turn it on in our automobiles to pass some time as we
go to and from?  It began to be molded to fit into that kind of passive medium. 

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

                                                 

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

Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 21:08:38 -0500
From: Joe Salerno <jsalerno@[removed]>
To: "'OTR LIST'" <[removed]@[removed]>
Subject: 12" transcriptions
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

I made a new discovery recently, maybe someone out there can bring me up =
to date about. I acquired a number of 12" vynil records consisting of =
popular radio shows. They play at 33&1/3 and use a 78 size stylus. They =
run apx. 15-17 minutes per side. The label says War Department, US =
Government. Unlike conventional AFRS transcriptions, however, these =
recordings are not denatured (commercials removed), have no dates =
inscribed on them, and some even sound, judging by some statements, as =
if they were live studio recordings but not regular broadcasts. One =
makes reference to television, that's the only time reference. Some of =
the performers are Hope, Skelton, Crosby, Brice, Crooks, & Benny. A few =
of the programs, in the tradition of the AFRS, are programs created for =
the troops from commercial [removed]

What surprises me most is that there has been no attempt to remove =
commercial references. Raleigh Cigarettes featured prominently on Red =
Skelton, for example. The labels also feature the names of sponsors, =
such as Maxwell House Coffee, Jello, Kraft, Firestone, Pepsodent, etc.

I would appreciate any info that can be provided about these discs. =
Thanks in advance, everybody!

Joe Salerno

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

Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 19:30:06 -0700
From: Dennis De Marco <dennisdm@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Frank Nelson
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

>>We are big fans of Frank Nelson's appearances on the Jack Benny show as 
>>various insufferable floorwalkers, sales clerks, waiters, etc.  I seem 
>>also to remember seeing him occasionally on one of Lucille Ball's TV 
>>programs.  Does anyone out there know more about his radio (or other) 
>>appearances?  He was fabulous.

>>Karen Warton

I remember Frank being on "Sanford and Son" sometime in the '70s. He did the
"Y-e-e-e-e-e-e-s" thing.

Dennis

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

Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 22:42:18 -0400
From: DBrockway@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Horse Racing and OTR
Message-ID: <960822224217_391908497@[removed]>

Greetings from Saratoga Springs, New York, where they've been racing
thoroughbreds every August since 1863. It's easy to feel like you've entered
a 'time warp' when you're in the grandstand, which looks exactly the same
today as it did during all the years when Jack Benny was 39.

Horse racing was popular 'fodder' for many OTR shows, especially the
comedies. Characters with a weakness for the ponies were always good for a
couple of sure-fire laughs.

I'm trying to get copies of any and all shows that have a 'horse race' theme
- comedic *and* dramatic. 

I know there are many - what are *your* favorites? 

- Which characters on OTR shows spent time and money at the track?
- Was there ever a show which took place in a racetrack setting?
- Are there any 'airchecks' of famous races from days gone by?

Suggestions and recommendations welcome. Thanks!



Still waiting for Crosby's horse to make it past the finish line,

Don Brockway
dbrockway@[removed]

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

Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 23:30:08 -0500
From: vintage@[removed] (Andy Blatt)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: decline of radio
Message-Id: <v01540b00ae42e2416d71@[[removed]]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Frances Fisher mentions the abandonment of CBS' radio studios at 485
Madison [removed] studios are now occcupied by Bonneville Broadcasting's
NYC station,
WMXV [removed], up until 4 or 5 years ago, CBS owned the CBS studio on East
52nd (I think this is correct), that they finally sold after using it for
years as a warehouse/storage area.  This was where Arthur Godfrey did all
his shows.
CBS (unlike ABC and NBC) does not have its studio and network operations in the
same area.  ABC has consolidated all theirs in their own building at West
66th Street; NBC is of course on different floors of the GE (RCA) building
and CBS'
operations are spread out around West 57th Street.  The Ed Sullivan Theater
is located at 54th and Broadway, where Letterman tapes his show.    Does
anyone know if ABC and CBS (when there was only radio) had any operations
located all in one place (or at least in one building?)  RCA/NBC always had
their operation based at Rockefeller Center (or Rockefeller Plaza) in the
GE/RCA building.

Andy Blatt

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

Date: 22 Aug 1996 22:41:26 CST
From: [removed]@[removed]
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: How did they get Jimmy
Message-Id: <m0utn85-000YW8C@[removed]>

Hi, all,
If we know that OTR was becomming a thing of the past in the 1950's, how
did someone get Jimmy stewart to star in the six Shooter. Also what kind
of money would he make doing that show? I wouldn't think that it was
more than he made for a movie. Any Ideas?

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

Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 20:42:34 -0800
From: "C. HENDRIX" <chendrix@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Reply and request
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

To Douglas Lee RE:
  Jack Benny and missing end of show-
  Mary questions Jack as to how he hit the car in Amos & Andy's garage.
  There was never any answer given- the show just ended there. There is
  nothing missing- they just left the question hang (gag line?).

  Who played the Thing-
  It was deleted from the show, but Phil Harris played the part.

 Help please-
 I need time of day/day of week for OTR on the following stations-
  680  KNBR  San Francisco
  810  KGO   San Francisco
 1530  KFBK  Sacramento

 Thanks all, Dan Hendrix

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

Date: Fri, 23 Aug 1996 00:45:40 -0400 (EDT)
From: "'A. Joseph Ross'" <lawyer@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Did otr kill itself?
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

> Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 13:35:31 -0600
> From: Chet Cox <CHCOX@[removed]>
> To: [removed]@[removed]
> Subject: No sponsors for CBS or anyone else
> Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
> 
> Oddly enough, so _many_ people have stated that OTR committed suicide
> - John Houseman blamed network execs for throwing their entire resources
> into television and pushing OTR into a grave - that I've been looking at
> ratings.  It appears that the general public was abandoning radio in hordes
> just as quickly as sponsors were.  Talk shows and DJs seem to have been
> the only thing SO cheap ([removed] - one performer and twice as many
> commercials) that as many stations survived as do done did.  And
> whenever a new attempt at radio is tried on a national level (CBS Mystery
> Theatre, etc) it meets with, at best, a lukewarm reaction.  TV evidently has
> had such unfanthomable numbers (and resultant amount of money) that it
> takes tens of millions of people to make a difference in entertainment.

The other side of the story is that the networks stopped promoting radio.
You didn't see ads in the newspaper about who Jack Benny's guest on his
radio show was this Sunday.  You'd see ads about his TV show.  And the
same has been true about things like the CBS Mystery Theatre.  There were
awfully few people who even knew it existed.

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

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

Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 23:44:14 -0500
From: Joe Oliver <joliver@[removed]>
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: Who Killed OTR?
Message-id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

        Nobody killed OTR.  It is not dead.  We hear it and see it every
day. Better to ask, who killed radio as it was from the 1930s through 1956
or so. the answer is not the least bit complicated. It wasn't a scarcity of
talent; it wasn't networks placing their stars on TV and closing down
production budgets. People just wanted pictures with their radio as soon as
they could get them.  It was simple technological evolution and not unlike
how sound movies replaced silents, color movies replaced black-and-white,
CD's replaced the phonograph, color computer monitors replaced monocrome and
wordprocessors replaced [removed] goes on endlessly.  Radio didn't
do anything wrong any more than typewriter manufacturers did something wrong
in the 1970s when their sales started falling.

        It is difficult for those of us who love OTR to accept the fact that
this is the way it is; but, we have to get it:  most folks don't want their
drama to be sans pictures.  This form of home entertainment is never coming
back for the masses.  I hate it, but it's so. On the other hand, the big
bands aren't coming back either; and, ballet, opera, poetry, while great art
forms, aren't compelling to the majority of people.

        The narrow appeal of OTR and our preferences for it are what bond us
together.  When the masses hear our shows, they wish for the pictures; when
we hear the shows, we see the pictures and wish others could.


Joe Oliver




        
W. Joseph Oliver
Department of Communication
Stephen F. Austin State University
Nacogdoches, TX  75962

     (409-468-4001)

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

Date: Fri, 23 Aug 1996 01:18:00 -0400 (EDT)
From: "John R. Pellatt" <bs206@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: JOHN HOUSEMAN
Message-ID: <[removed]@queen>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

I've been reading some references to John Houseman and it has prompted me 
to post a question that has been bugging me for years: does anyone know 
the specifics of the falling out between Houseman and Orson Welles? In 
the big interview book by Peter B., Welles seems pained to even mention 
Houseman. They obviously had a falling out but does anybody know anything 
about it?

NOTE TO HENRY BRUGSCH in England: If you are still on this list please 
contact me directly. Your old e mail address is bouncing all mail back.

Many thanks in advance!

John Pellatt, Toronto                             

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

Date: Fri, 23 Aug 1996 02:34:32 -0400 (EDT)
From: MAX SCHMID <mschmid@[removed]>
To: airwavesOTR <[removed]@[removed]>
Subject: Vic and Sade on TV
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

	According to a very old fanzine (AIRWAVES, of all things, issue #8,
June 1977, Jerry Chapman and Joe Webb editors, for you old-timers):
"1/10/57 The Vic and Sade program goes on television in black and white, 
and color (!) from Chicago, in a fifteen minute format, which lasts 8 
weeks.  The program is weekly, on the NBC station. (one sound tape from 
the series is circulating)" 
	In the margin I have written "2 TV shows - one has new actors and 
full cast - the other (first?) (1949?) - 15" of main 3 reading scripts."
If I ever run into myself, I'll ask me where I got that info from. 
*Willy!
~~~Max

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

Date: Fri, 23 Aug 1996 03:07:35, -0500
From: DAVE@[removed] ( DAVID ALLAN   BOUCHER)
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: Currents dramas on NPR???
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

-- [ From: .. * [removed] #[removed] ] --

Does anyone know if NPR has any regulalry scheduled dramas?

Thanks!

Dave in Boston  (E-Mail: Dave@[removed])

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

Date: Fri, 23 Aug 1996 03:07:24, -0500
From: DAVE@[removed] ( DAVID ALLAN   BOUCHER)
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: Imagination Theatre???
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

-- [ From: .. * [removed] #[removed] ] --

Just caught wind that our local station is airing a program called
'Imagination Theatre'.  

Does anyone know anything about it?  Thoughts?

Dave in Boston  (E-Mail: Dave@[removed])




--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V96 Issue #295
*******************************************

