Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #150
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 4/9/2003 1:12 PM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2003 : Issue 150
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Re: Radio Magazines                   [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
  Re: Cloaked Threat?                   [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
  Wm B. Lewis: Who was he & where are   [ Howard Blue <khovard@[removed]; ]
  Re: missing Johnny Dollars            [ rodney-selfhelpbikeco@[removed] ]
  Comedian Harmonists                   [ Vollmannp@[removed] ]
  Re: Amos & Andy                       [ rodney-selfhelpbikeco@[removed] ]
  The April Fool Queen                  [ "Tom Thomas" <tomth@[removed]; ]
  Re: How did the Shadow?               [ SanctumOTR@[removed] ]
  Accuracy                              [ Harry Bartell <bartell@[removed] ]
  shows on Yesterday USA                [ "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed]; ]
  Amos and Andy                         [ "Andrew Godfrey" <niteowl049@[removed] ]
  Radio scripts                         [ "Andrew Godfrey" <niteowl049@[removed] ]
  The joke                              [ lawrence albert <albertlarry@yahoo. ]
  CBS Tribute to Richard Crenna         [ jhcollins@[removed] ]
  binary newbie                         [ "joe@[removed]" <sergei01@earthli ]

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

Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 12:35:45 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Radio Magazines

On 4/8/03 11:55 PM OldRadio Mailing Lists wrote:

Prior to about 1935 radio schedules were limited to newspaper columns and
some small publications in larger cities like Chicago and New York (where
sales of the magazines could be profitable and enough stations existed to
make a compilation worthwhile).

There were quite a few such regional magazines. One of the most
interesting was "New York Radio Program Weekly," published in 1927-28 by
Hugo Gernsback of "Radio News" and science-fiction-magazine fame. This
publication contained detailed program listings for all New York City
stations, along with feature articles on programs and personalities,
illustrated by line drawings and cartoons. The cover illustrations were
rather hideous paintings, but otherwise this is an excellent publication
both for research and casual reading.

"Broadcast Weekly" was a small, digest-size magazine published on the
West Coast from the late twenties into the mid-thirties, and contained
detailed listings for all stations in the region. Most of the editorial
contact was taken from press releases or tear sheets, but there were
occasionally original articles on West Coast-based performers.

Another magazine of interest in the late 1920s was "Radio Index," usually
abbreviated to "RADEX." This was a digest-size magazine focused on the
interest of "DX" listeners -- people whose primary interest in radio was
locating and tuning in distant stations. Abbreviated program listings
were published, along with detailed rosters of all functioning broadcast
stations. Most of the editorial content revolved around DX topics, but
occasionally short star profiles were published, usually drawn from press
releases.

"Broadcast Listener," based in Cincinnati, was another interesting
magazine of the 1926-27 era. There were no program schedules, but there
were articles and news items on personalities and programs. However, the
magazine also featured a regular department devoted to Theosophy, a
quasi-religious "New Thought" movement of the era, and many readers found
this section to be both offensive and inappropriate -- and its presence
probably contributed to "Broadcast Listener's" demise. The effect was
something like if TV Guide suddenly decided to feature a weekly column
based on the philosophy of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh -- it simply wasn't
the sort of content readers expected or wanted from the magazine.

Doubleday-Doran's "Radio Broadcast," beginning in 1922, was probably the
slickest radio magazine of the twenties, and the one most often preserved
in bound volumes by libraries. It began as a technical journal, but by
1923 was devoting a section each month to programming issues and
personality profiles, and also dealt with broadcasting-industry-business
topics as needed. This wide focus eventually compromised the magazine,
and in 1929 it became strictly a technical magazine devoted to the
radio-repair-and-service trade before going out of business in the summer
of 1930.

The most important nationally-published radio magazine of the era -- was,
by far, "Radio Digest," which began as a weekly newsprint tabloid in
1922. At first the Digest dealt with mostly technical subjects, but by
the end of 1923 it featured detailed weekly program listings for major
stations, organized by time zone.

The publication switched to semimonthly format in 1925, and began
featuring two-color art covers in 1927. The content shifted more and more
away from technical topics to focus on programs and personalities -- and
beginning in 1926, the magazine even published fiction. (Its 1926 serial
"The Step on the Stair" was adapted for radio by Fred Smith of WLW,
Cincinnati, becoming radio's first-ever mystery serial.)

In 1927, the magazine switched to monthly publication, and in the summer
of 1928 it abandoned the tabloid format for a new perfect-bound
standard-sized magazine format with full-cover art covers. This format
was published quarterly until the fall of 1929 when monthly publication
resumed.

"Radio Digest" from fall 1929 into 1932 is probably the definitive
publication on programs and personalities of the era -- the editorial
quality of its articles were excellent, and its scope was impressive,
giving equal coverage both to network and local/regional personalities.
In the summer of 1930, "Radio Digest" merged with Doubleday-Doran's
"Radio Broadcast," and moved from Chicago to New York -- but otherwise
remained unchanged, other than a switch to bi-monthly publication in
1932. Around this time, Radio Digest Publishing Company began a second
magazine, "Radio Art." This was exclusively a trade publication,
available by subscription only, dealing primarily with the business
aspects of broadcasting, and intended as a competitor to "Broadcasting"
magazine.

The Depression's impact on advertising sales compromised the magazine's
cash low, however, and in the spring of 1933 "Radio Digest" underwent a
radical change, transforming into a new monthly magazine called "Radio
Fan-Fare." This is a difficult magazine to describe -- it had "attitude"
in a way that no radio magazine had ever had, with an emphasis on snide,
smart-mouthed, and sarcastic criticism of programs and personalities.
This "College Humor" approach to radio  inflamed old-school Radio Digest
readers, and "Radio Fan Fare" died before the end of 1933. It made for
interesting reading while it lasted, but it was a far cry from "Radio
Digest's" glory days.

From 1935 to 1942 Radio Guide was published on a regional basis weekly.

Radio Guide actually began in Chicago and New York in November 1931, as a
venture of Moe Annenberg, publisher of the Daily Racing Form. For about
its first year it was presented in a tabloid newspaper format, with most
of its editorial content coming from press releases -- although New York
Journal radio critic Mike Porter and music critic Carleton Smith were
regular contributors from very early on.

Beginning in 1933, Radio Guide began to feature two-color "art covers"
and was presented in a saddle-stitched large-magazine format. There was
also a new emphasis on original editorial content, and Chicago
Herald-Examiner radio editor Evans Plummer became a regular contributor
with his "Plums and Prunes" column.

Full color art covers were featured beginning in the spring of 1935, and
continued until the magazine switched to black-and-white photo covers in
early 1938. Many of these covers were elegant portraits of
stars-of-the-moment painted by Charles Rubino, and these issues are
perhaps the most collectible of the run. This period also marked the peak
of Radio Guide's editorial quality -- it published substantial criticism
and serious journalism about radio, such as its 1935 expose revealing
that certain elements of "Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour" were rigged.

In about 1940 the publication morphed into Movie-Radio Guide so it
could begin covering the Hollywood stars and their latest movies along with
the radio celebs.

This happened as a direct result of Moe Annenberg being sent to prison
for tax evasion in 1940 -- the magazine was taken over by his son Walter
(later publisher of "TV Guide") and the change to a combination
radio-movie format was an attempt to pump up the cash flow by merging
"Radio Guide" with "Screen Guide," another troubled Annenberg publication
of the era.

The transition to "Movie Radio Guide" was unfortunately accompanied by a
sharp drop in editorial quality -- the publication became much more of a
gee-whiz celebrity fanrag, rather like what's happened to TV Guide over
the last fifteen years.

I have yet to find a Movie-Radio Guide published after
1942/1943, the loss may be war related (shortage of paper or ink) or just
financial.

"Movie Radio Guide" ceased publication at the end of 1943, as a casualty
of the wartime paper shortage. The magazine had tried several strategies
for reducing page count during 1942-43, and switched to a monthly format
in early 1943, which continued until the publication went out of business
at the end of the year.

Oh yes, the Guide was published in an oversized format (13x16
approx) and had beautiful color illustrations of various actors/actresses
on the cover. Some were done by fairly famous artists and eBay occasionally
has someone selling/buying the covers just for the artwork.

Coverless copies of the Guide are an excellent value if you're interested
more in the content of the magazine than in the pretty pictures on the
cover. I've come across them in bulk at flea markets for a couple of
dollars per copy. Complete issues with covers, especially from the
Rubino-art-cover period, will rarely sell for less than $8-$10 per copy,
and popular cover subjects will usually sell for far more.


From 1941 to 1963 a publication called Radio Mirror was published. It had
a more traditional magazine format (8-1/2 x 11) with more advertisements
and articles about the actors.

"Radio Mirror" actually started in 1933, and was probably the best of the
straight fan magazines, which actually isn't saying a whole lot: the
somewhat-cheesier "Radioland" and "Radio Stars" being its major
competitors. It was targeted almost entirely to working-class women, and
its editorial content rarely advanced beyond the manipulative "Will Jane
Radiostar Find Love?" level. There *were* some interesting personality
profiles in the magazine during its early years, but by the 1940s it had
degenerated sharply, and its articles from this era should be taken with
large quantities of salt. Even during the thirties the reporters for
these fanrags tended to be very sloppy with facts, and when using these
magazines as research sources one needs to be very aware of the influence
of press agents, and to *always* double-check claims of fact before
depending on such articles as valid sources.

Under the title TV-Radio Mirror, this magazine was still being published
into the mid-1970s -- but by the sixties it focused pretty much entirely
on daytime TV serials. It was finally put out of business by hipper, more
aggressive competitors like "Soap Opera Digest."

Elizabeth

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

Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 12:36:07 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Cloaked Threat?

On 4/8/03 11:55 PM OldRadio Mailing Lists wrote:

If any offense should be taken, it should be taken by her
for receiving a cloaked threat.

I *was* a bit taken aback by this when I first saw it, to be honest --
but I'm willing to asssume it was just an attempt at humor, and let it go
at that. I'm not the type to tolerate any sort of actual threat from
anyone under any circumstances, and if I actually *felt* threatened in
any way, be assured I know how to determine exactly where it came from
and what to do about it.

But after thinking about it, I don't see any reason to take this comment
as anything more than a tossed-off wisecrack, and so far as I'm concerned
the matter needs no further comment.

Elizabeth
(And they say *I* have questionable [removed])

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

Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 12:36:22 -0400
From: Howard Blue <khovard@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Wm B. Lewis: Who was he & where are his
 papers?--Art Chimes comment

>From time to time, I'm identifying the locations of the papers of various
OTR folks:

Art Chimes is quite correct in pointing out the importance of NUCMC as a
source of information which can point the way toward locations of various
OTR folks
papers. There are one or two other important reference sources too, which
I will soon be mentioning.

William B. Lewis,  the former vice-president of programming at CBS was a
major figure in the development of the network's success. For one thing,
it was he who nurtured Norman Corwin's career at CBS. It was also Lewis
who give the green light to Irving Reis who was anxious to start an
experimental drama program, called The Columbia Workshop.  The Columbia
Workshop. succeeded so well that some 7,000 plays a year flooded into the
network from playwrights hoping to see their work given a chance.

Finding Lewis' papers was a challenging task. As I recall, I had to
contact a newspaper in Florida where he died, to find an obituary which
provided information about his residence in the North.  That eventually
led me to contact a librarian on the East End of Long Island who provided
me with information that led to my contacting both Lewis' widow and
daughter--It was the daughter who Informed me that the papers were in the
special collections library at Boston University.

Howard Blue

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

Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 12:36:40 -0400
From: rodney-selfhelpbikeco@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: missing Johnny Dollars

 >Aug 23-31, 56 (Part 3 of
7-part story; Let me know also if >these
are available.

As has been pointed out to me, and confirmed by listening to it, this is not
a 7 part story.  The serial started on a Friday, and wrapped up the next
week, so it's a 6 parter.  Chalk it up to a mistake in a log that's been
allowed to go hog-wild over the years.

See all of you in Cincy!

rodney.

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

Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 12:37:15 -0400
From: Vollmannp@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Comedian Harmonists
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

I, too, enjoy the Comedian Harmonists. The German feature movie about them
made in the nineties was quite good and one of the few money makers of the
heavily subsidized German film industry.
It is my understanding, that after being forced to replace the Jewish members
of the group, the Comedian Harmonists suddenly found they had a competing
group touring non-Nazi Europe, and in one instance both groups were even
appearing in the same city at the same time.
I don't recall the concert aboard ship you mentioned. It is highly improbable
that a recording was made and survived.
Peter

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

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

Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 12:37:43 -0400
From: rodney-selfhelpbikeco@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Amos & Andy

Given the tendency of  "Amos 'N Andy"  to portray its characters as
ignorant buffoons, wasn't it inevitably going to  be viewed by black
Americans as racist--and perhaps with good reason?

Only if you're going to view every sitcom that features white actors as
racist against caucasians.

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

Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 12:37:58 -0400
From: "Tom Thomas" <tomth@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  The April Fool Queen

I'm late jumping in on this, but a recent post by [removed], (amply
responded to by Gwynn), drove me to my keyboard.  OTR is, after all, a
vehicle for the imagination, a launchpad for our flights of fancy.  Isn't
that what Elizabeth's April 1 posting was all about - a starting point for
one's imagination?  What an excellent OTR what-if.  The variety of responses
is testament to the power of imagination, and in each one of the wheels were
probably turning in a different direction.  But I'll bet they were turning.
Considering Elizabeth's many hours of authoratative postings and generous
responses, even if one didn't enjoy the ruse - and I'm one of those who
did - surely it can be read in the spirit in which it was written.

Here's to next April Fool, whoever takes up the gauntlet.

Tom Thomas

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

Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 12:40:18 -0400
From: SanctumOTR@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: How did the Shadow?

In a message dated 4/8/03 3:47:39 PM, Joe Salerno asks:

the voice I mean. The filtering part is easy, but if the Shadow and another
character speak at the same time, how was the Shadow's voice acoustically
isolated from other mics (assuming multi-micing, which has not been shown in
photos generally) so that it would not bleed into other channels and leak
over the air un-filtered? Was he behind a gobo or in a booth or did he walk
into an adjacent room?

***The actor portraying The Shadow always used a separate microphone (usually
an 8-ball) that was hooked into the filter device at the engineer's board.
(The same microphone was also used for telephone voices.)  In the early days
of the series, Frank Readick spoke his lines in a biting stage whisper,
almost kissing the mike.  Readick's words were almost unintelligable to the
actors working a few feet away, but came through loud and clear over the
radio, with an etherial, ghostly, shadowy quality that none of his successors
possessed.

During the early 1940s, a separate booth was constructed at the side of the
stage, with its only window facing the control room.  Bill Johnstone, John
Archer or Bret Morrison would enter the booth to give voice to The Shadow,
and return to the onstage microphones to portray Lamont Cranston. --ANTHONY
TOLLIN***

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

Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 12:40:51 -0400
From: Harry Bartell <bartell@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Accuracy

Art Chimes wrote

Notes:         The collection consists of 317 radio scripts and
                  60 television scripts (with some preliminary
                  drafts and working notes) for the long-running
                  series "Gunsmoke."
               Norman H. MacDonald and John A. Durkel, Gift,
                  6/25/1974.

I don't know how accurate the rest of the material is, but it is 0 for 2  on
name spelling. It should read  MacDonnell and Dunkel. As we used to say in
showbiz: Don't care what you say , but spell the name right!

Harry Bartell

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

Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 12:52:28 -0400
From: "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  shows on Yesterday USA

Hi Everybody, there are allot of special things happening on Yesterday USA
this weekend all starting at 7-30 PM California time.  This Friday on
4-11-03 Frank Bresee and I will be celebrating Les Tremayne,s 90th birthday
with a live telephone call with Les and three Golden Days of Radio shows
featuring highlight of Les career.  On Saturday 4-12-03 John Dunning will be
my live guest, and I will rerun an interview that John and Larry Gassman did
with Les Tremayne.  On Sunday 4-13-03 I will run an interview with Alan
Chatman and Will Hutchins talking about Radio Classics Live.  You can hear
all three show at [removed]  Take care,

Walden Hughes

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

Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 13:36:29 -0400
From: "Andrew Godfrey" <niteowl049@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Amos and Andy

  I was not planning on buying any Amos and Andy radio shows after having
only known the TV version but now I know I need to give the radio show a
chance.
  Correct me if I am wrong but I think Amos and Andy was the first well
known comedy radio show which would make it imperative to have in any OTR
comedy collection.
   Next week when the A&A shows arrive in the mail I will give the show an
unbiased chance on its own without any comparison to the TV version.
   Andrew Godfrey

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

Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 13:58:48 -0400
From: "Andrew Godfrey" <niteowl049@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Radio scripts

  I was wondering how the OTR actors were able to be holding scripts next to
mike and for the listeners not to hear the papers being handled.
Was a special kind of noiseless type paper used? Would enjoy hearing the
comments of those who might know how this was handled.
  Andrew Godfrey

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

Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 14:00:10 -0400
From: lawrence albert <albertlarry@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  The joke

To all of the individuals who, many days later, are
still whining about how Elizabeth fooled us all with
her highly imaginative prank: GET OVER IT!!!
              Thank you
              Larry Albert

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

Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 14:53:11 -0400
From: jhcollins@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  CBS Tribute to Richard Crenna

Next week's episode of "Judging Amy" (CBS, Tuesday,April 15, 9:00-10:00 pm
dst in the eastern time zone, USA) will feature the death of "Jared Duff",
Richard Crenna's last role.

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

Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 14:53:23 -0400
From: "joe@[removed]" <sergei01@[removed];
To: "OTR List" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  binary newbie

Hello Newbie,

Download a program called FreeAgent, made by Forte. I don't recall the
address but search and you will find.

After you set up the groups you want to sub to, refresh the headers, like in
any group. Click on one of the files of a show you want to DL, and then
Control+D.

Then you go drink coffee, lots of it. Even on a fast line it takes a while.
A 30 minute program takes about 30 minutes on my cable, but at some times of
the day it is slower. That's cable.

When you get back, your MP3 is somewhere in the Agent folder, unless you
tell it to save somewhere else. I think it's groupspropertiessomething or
other to set the directory to DL to. Search "binary" in the help menu

That's about all there is to it.

Joe Salerno

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #150
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