Subject: [removed] Digest V2007 #136
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 5/6/2007 4:18 PM

To: [removed]@[removed]

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2007 : Issue 136
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      This week in radio history 6-12 May   [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
      re: Charlie Lung                      [ Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed]; ]
      John Stratton                         [ "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed]; ]
      Truth Or ... ???                      [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr" <skallisjr@j ]
      5-6 births/deaths                     [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
      Bob Hope's what?                      [ "Laura Leff" <president@[removed] ]
      Deadly Deflation                      [ "Bill Knowlton" <udmacon1@[removed] ]

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

    Date: Sat, 5 May 2007 16:04:22 -0400
    From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  This week in radio history 6-12 May

     From Those Were The Days --

    5/6

    1937 - A student of history, a broadcaster or anyone interested in news
    coverage, will remember this day and the words of NBC's Herbert
    Morrison. "Oh, the humanities!" Morrison's emotion-filled historic
    broadcast of the explosion of the dirigible, Hindenburg at Lakehurst,
    NJ, became the first recorded coast-to-coast broadcast as it was carried
    on both the NBC Red and NBC Blue networks from New York City.

    5/8

    1959 - The final broadcast of One Man's Family was heard on NBC after
    being on the air 27 years. The show had completed 3,256 episodes since
    its beginning in 1932.

    5/10

    1936 - Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy started their own radio show on
    NBC -- only months after they had debuted on Rudy Vallee's program. [removed]
    Fields, Don Ameche and Dorothy Lamour were a few of the stars that
    helped Bergen and the little blockhead, McCarthy, jump to the top of
    radio's hit parade.

    5/11

    1927 - The Hotel Statler in Boston, MA. became the first hotel to
    install radio headsets in each of its 1,300 rooms.

    5/11

    1946 - Jack Barry hosted Juvenile Jury on WOR in New York City. The show
    was such a hit after five weeks on the air that it debuted on the Mutual
    Broadcasting System coast to coast.

    5/12

    1922-- the magazine "Radio Broadcast" commented, "The rate of increase
    in the number who spend at least part of an evening listening to radio
    is almost incomprehensible."

    Joe

    --
    Visit my homepage: [removed]~[removed]

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    Date: Sat, 5 May 2007 16:04:49 -0400
    From: Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  re: Charlie Lung

    Conrad Binyon, in his reminisces of Charlie Lung, mentions Charlie's
    memorable performance on "Latitude Zero". I've heard the one existing
    premier episode for that show, but I understand not much else is known
    about it. Conrad, I'm curious--did you work on that show? Do you
    remember much about the plot line, or how it was resolved? This series
    is regarded with a lot of curiosity, because the pilot holds a lot of
    promise for an exciting series. Did it live up to its potential?

    Kermyt

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

    Date: Sat, 5 May 2007 16:05:24 -0400
    From: "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  John Stratton
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    Often, I've written here about my job  in NYC at  the Talking Book Productions
    department of American Foundation for the Blind and how one of my biggest
    complaints is that there have scarcely ever been any OTR-themed books recorded
    in the many years I've worked here.  One book we did about ten years ago was
    Melvin Patrick Ely's "The Adventures of Amos 'n' Andy: A Social History of an
    American Phenomenon."

    I did get to work on this title and I'm sad to report the passing of the
    Talking Books narrator who recorded it--John Stratton. There's no forthcoming
    information about his exact age (believed to have been in mid-70s), the cause
    (Stratton did suffer from congestive heart failure), or if any services
    occurred (John had no immediate family and left no survivors).
    Stratton  had been retired from Talking Books for about five years  and the
    only information we've acquire is that he died this past Tuesday, May 1st.

    Mr. Stratton always  liked to talk about his career and I sort of remember him
    mentioning 1950s NYC-based dramatised radio
    in passing. However, he was mostly a stage/voice-over/print ad actor.

    Knowing that there is a great deal of OTR /Talking Books cross-over appeal for
    many visually impaired readers who access this OTR Digest, I thought John
    Stratton's passing was worth noting.  I'm going to miss him.

    Sadly in the ether,

    Derek Tague

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

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

    Date: Sat, 5 May 2007 22:16:59 -0400
    From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr" <skallisjr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Truth Or ... ???

    I recently acquired a booklet, "Radio's Truth Or Consequences Party
    Book."  It was copyright 1940 by Ralph Edwards.  It provides stunts for
    people playing the game at a party, as well as questions and answers for
    the partygiver.  It reminds me of the radio show, to be sure.

    However, some of the answers to the questions have been altered by time,
    or are in error.

    For instance:

    Q: What state in the United States has the longest coastline?
    A:  Michigan (We didn't sat coastline.)
          That was before Alaska became a state.

    Q: At what point is the lowest sea level in the world?
    A:  Dead Sea, Palestine
          That's really a trick question: any "sea level" definitionally is
    at sea level.  What they really wanted was
          what was the ground level.

    Q: Whose picture is on every package of cigarettes sold at regular
    cigarette counters in this country?
    A:  De Witt Clinton, ex-Governor of the state of New York on the Internal
    Revenue Stamp;.
          Currently, there is no Internal Revenue Stamp on cigarette packs,
    so the correct answer is "nobody."

    Q:  Which President of the United States had the most letters in his last
    name?
    A:  Washington.
           Eisenhower ties his number of letters.

    Q:  Can a man marry his widow's sister?
    A:  No, for he is dead.
          Actually, he could.  If there are two sisters, May and June, first
    he marries may, and she dies.
          Then he marries June, and he dies.  He thus has married May, sister
    of his widow, June.

    At the close of the book, in tiny type is a disclaimer to responsibility
    to any injury, etc., as a result of playing the Truth or Consequences
    party game.  I suspect that any contestants on the show had to sign
    equivalent waivers.

    Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

    Date: Sat, 5 May 2007 22:17:13 -0400
    From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  5-6 births/deaths

    May 6th births

    05-06-1899 - Billy Cotton - London, England - d. 3-25-1969
    bandleader: "Wakey Wakey!!"
    05-06-1900 - Dave Elman - Park River, ND - d. 12-5-1967
    emcee: (The Dean of American Hobbyists) "Hobby Lobby"
    05-06-1906 - Mathilde Ferror - d. 11-26-1990
    writer: "Lorenzo Jones"
    05-06-1908 - Parkyakarkus (Harry Einstein) - Boston, MA - d. 11-24-1958
    comedian: "Eddie Cantor Show"; "Al Jolson Show"; "Meet Me at Parkys"
    05-06-1910 - Alice Reinheart - San Francisco, CA - d. 6-10-1993
    actor: Anne Williams "Casey, Crime Photographer"; Jean Abbott "Abbott
    Mysteries"
    05-06-1911 - Frank Nelson - Denver, CO - d. 9-12-1986
    actor, comedian: Anthony J. Lyon "Jeff Regan"; nemisis "Jack Benny
    Program"
    05-06-1912 - Bill Quinn - NYC - d. 4-29-1994
    actor: Guy Aldis "Against the Storm"; Tom Davis "When a Girl Marries"
    05-06-1913 - Carmen Cavallaro - NYC - d. 10-12-1989
    bandleader: (The Poet of the Piano) "Schaeffer Revue"; "Tums Tune Time"
    05-06-1913 - Stewart Granger - London, England - d. 8-16-1993
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Screen Guild Theatre"
    05-06-1914 - Arline Blackburn - NYC
    actor: Kitty Kelly "Pretty Kitty Kelly"; Eileen Turner "The O'Neills"
    05-06-1914 - Ken Englund - Chicago, IL - d. 8-10-1993
    writer: "Three Sheets to the Wind"
    05-06-1915 - Orson Welles - Kenosha, WI - d. 10-10-1985
    actor: Lamont Cranston/Shadow "The Shadow"; "Mercury Theatre on the Air"
    05-06-1917 - Bob Murphy - Bismarck, ND - d. 10-25-1959
    announcer: "The Breakfast Club"
    05-06-1926 - Marguarite Piazza - New Orleans, LA
    singer: "Encore"
    05-06-1941 - Ghena Dimitrova - Sofia, Bulgaria - d. 7-11-2005
    operatic soprano: "Metropolitan Opera"
    05-06-1945 - Richard Eyer - Santa Monica, CA
    actor: Bobby "My Friend Irma"

    May 6th deaths

    01-24-1909 - Ann Todd - Hartford, Cheshire, England - d. 5-6-1993
    actor: Amy Foster "Those We Love"
    04-02-1911 - Bill Days - St. Louis, MO - d. 5-6-2002
    singer: (Member Sportsmen Quartet) "Jack Benny Program"
    04-27-1899 - Ned Wever - NYC - d. 5-6-1984
    actor: Dick Tracy "Dick Tracy"; Anthony Loring "Young Widder Brown"
    05-13-1907 - Warren Angell - Brooklyn, NY - d. 5-6-2006
    singer: "Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians"
    05-17-1908 - Joe Grant - NYC - d. 5-6-2005
    writer: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    05-31-1900 - Hugh Studebaker - Ridgeville, IN - d. 5-6-1978
    actor: Ichabod Mudd "Captain Midnight"; Silly Watson "Fibber McGee
    and Molly"
    06-23-1925 - Larry Blyden - Houston, TX - d. 5-6-1975
    actor: "Radio City Playhouse"; "Cavalcade of America"
    07-04-1909 - Al Jarvis - Winnipeg, Canada - d. 5-6-1970
    disc jockey, songwriter: "Make-Believe Ballroom"
    07-15-1923 - Herb Sargent - Philadelphia, PA - d. 5-6-2005
    writer: Wrote for radio in the 1940s
    08-09-1901 - Charles Farrell - Onset Bay, Cape Cod, MA - d. 5-6-1990
    actor: Verne Albright "My Little Margie"
    08-17-1888 - Monte Woolley- NYC - d. 5-6-1963
    actor: Edwin Montague "Magnificent Montague"
    09-26-1901 - Ted Weems - Pitcairn, PA - d. 5-6-1963
    bandleader: "Fibber McGee and Molly"; "Sunday Matinee"; "Beat the Band"
    10-06-1893 - Milton Ager - Chicago, IL - d. 5-6-1979
    composer of many songs broadcast on radio
    10-10-1910 - Don Hancock - Anderson, IN - d. 5-6-1980
    announcer: "The Goldbergs"; "Ellery Queen"; "Vox Pop"
    10-17-1923 - Barney Kessel - Muskogee, OK - d. 5-6-2004
    jazz guitarist: "Jubilee"; "One Night Stand"; "Just Jazz"
    11-09-1916 - Norwood Anderson - d. 5-6-2005
    disk jockey: "Town and Party Line" WFTC Kingston, North Carolina
    11-26-1907 - Henry "Hot Lips" Levine - London, England - d. 5-6-1989
    trumpeter, conducter: "Chamber Music of Lower Basin Street";
    "Strictly from Dixie"
    12-27-1901 - Marlene Dietrich - Berlin, Germany - d. 5-6-1992
    actor: Mlle. Madou, "Cafe Istanbul"

    Ron Sayles

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

    Date: Sun, 6 May 2007 09:40:20 -0400
    From: "Laura Leff" <president@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Bob Hope's what?

>     Is it true Bob Hope was suspended for an on-air comment he made to Dorothy
>     Lamour suggesting she kiss him under the sign at a pawnshop?

    You learn something new every [removed] never knew Bob Hope had three of
    [removed]

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

    Date: Sun, 6 May 2007 09:50:12 -0400
    From: "Bill Knowlton" <udmacon1@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Deadly Deflation

    Today, May 6th, is the 70th anniversary of the Hindenburg Disaster in
    Lakehurst NJ.

    I can locate only one contemporary song about the disaster, recorded by Wilf
    Carter (Montana Slim) in NYC THE DAY AFTER the crash (!), and appropriately
    titled "The Hindenburg Disaster."

    At least Vernon Dalhart & Carson Robison waited a few days before THEIR
    musical "tributes!)

    BILL KNOWLTON

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2007 Issue #136
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