Subject: [removed] Digest V2012 #15
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 1/27/2012 12:26 PM
To: [removed]@[removed]
Reply-to:
[removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2012 : Issue 15
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Robert Arthur, SHADOW research, docu  [ Anthony Tollin <sanctumotr@earthlin ]
  1-26 births/deaths                    [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Eddie Cantor's Syndicated show        [ Frank McGurn <[removed]@sbcglobal. ]
  The Golden Age of Radio line-up for   [ mschmid@[removed] ]
  Corwin Question                       [ mschmid@[removed] ]

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

Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:23:49 -0500
From: Anthony Tollin <sanctumotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Robert Arthur, SHADOW research, documents vs.
 firsthand OTR 	memories

on 1/22/12, Ken Stockinger wrote:

For years, it has been speculated by old
time radio fans (a very popular rumor, by the way, for anyone who didn't know
this) that the author of those two scripts was Walter Gibson himself,
arranging for Robert Arthur to sign his name to them, but no hard evidence
has ever been uncovered to prove this. No cancelled checks, no inter-office
memos, nothing to [removed]

The original manuscript carbons survive for both scripts, typed on the same
cheap acidic paper that Walter Gibson used for his early 1950s true crime
articles ... and comparison of the two manuscripts with other Gibson
manuscript carbons from the same year suggest they were typed on the same
typewriter. (These two scripts were the only MBS first-draft Shadow scripts
that existed as carbons in Walter's archives. When questioned, Arthur's
longtime business partner David Kogan recalled that Bob Arthur had "fronted"
the two scripts at a time when his friend Walter was hard up for income. (At
the time, Walter Gibson was in the midst of a lawsuit with Street & Smith
over Shadow rights.) Also, Kogan noted that if Bob Arthur had written and
sold the scripts on his own, they would have legally HAD to have carried the
joint Arthur & Kogan byline as required by their partnership agreement.

BTW, a recent OTR history identified Robert Arthur and David Kogan as "staff
writers at Mutual" ... which appears to be an incorrect "assumption." David
Kogan insisted that they were independent writer/producers, which is why
they were also able to write and produce series for Charles Michelson. David
Kogan explained to me that a major difference between being staffers or
independent writer/producers was that they were paid a set price for each
full broadcast. Whatever economic corners they could cut (through cast
doubling, etc.) was money they personally pocketed for themselves. That's a
long way from being a nine-to-five staff employee. (Similarly, there's a lot
of confusion as to staffers vs. freelancers in the comic book field. I
recently read a claim that my former DC Comics coworkers Joe Simon and Jack
Kirby were Harvey Comics "staffers" when they drew a couple of GREEN HORNET
covers for Harvey in 1942. Wrong assumption! Simon & Kirby were both under
contract to DC Comics at the time, and Jack was actually working
five-days-a-week in the DC bullpen alongside Joe Shuster, Mort Meskin and
Jerry Robinson. Jack and Joe produced these two GREEN HORNET covers after
hours on a moonlighting FREELANCE basis for Harvey, which certainly doesn't
make them Harvey "staffers.")

Regarding Kenny Delmar's memory of having filled in as The Shadow in a
single broadcast, I'm still not ready to discount it entirely. My former
Manhattan neighbor related it while praising Orson's and Bill Johnstone's
performances in the role. Kenny told me that he himself was mediocre in the
role when called upon to fill in. He wasn't certain whether he performed the
part opposite Agnes Moorehead or Margot Stevenson (thought it MIGHT have
been the latter but was unsure). However, Kenny felt his own attempt at
playing The Shadow was pretty awful, so he certainly wasn't tooting his own
horn or seeking to promote himself. (Also, it's often those
embarrasing/mortifying personal experiences that are retained in a person's
memories.) Since eleven Orson Welles episodes from the 1937-38 Blue Coal
season are still missing, I think it's still too soon to determine for
certain that Kenny's memory was untrue.

There are plenty of reasons not to automatically discount personal memories
from radio veterans. Back around 1980, scriptwriter Jerry Devine informed me
that Margot Stevenson had portrayed Margot Lane opposite Orson Welles during
the 1938 Goodrich summer season. Up until that time, all previous OTR
histories had credited only Agnes Moorehead. Trusting Jerry's memory, I
tracked down Margot Stevenson who of course became one of our most popular
and gracious guests at the annual FOTR conventions. A few years later,
Margot located and sent me photocopies of her Social Security records
documenting her 1938 income from Ruthrauff & Ryan and Goodrich, but until
then the only confirmation was in 40-plus year old memories (including those
of Ken Roberts and Dwight Weist). Since the Goodrich syndicated
transcriptions lacked a network PR division, there was very little vintage
documentation in the press. Finally, circa 2000, ace-OTR researcher Karl
Schadow located an obscure 1938 article mentioning Margot Stevenson's
performances on THE SHADOW, but until then we had relied (and trusted) the
firsthand memories of Jerry Devine, Margot Stevenson, Ken Roberts, etc. And
if we hadn't trusted those personal memories, FOTR attendees might have been
denied two decades of Margot's convention visits, performances and
interviews.

There seems to be a conversation lately suggesting that the memories of OTR
veterans can't be trusted, and are less reliable than vintage printed
accounts, often by journalists who were only able to hear a particular
broadcast a single time over the airwaves. (One danger with vintage
newspaper articles is that they can sometimes be tainted by an "echo"
effect. As someone who worked for The Associated Press 40 years ago and in
the offices of a big city newspaper, I know from personal experience that
news articles would often be supplemented by earlier material and photos
from the newspaper's "morgue." Seems to me that published newspaper and
magazine articles citing Frank Readick's participation in, say, the January
1932 Perfect-O-Lite SHADOW series could be tainted by this "echo" effect, if
news staffers looked for supplementary material in the news morgue. I'm
personally not certain that Readick voiced The Shadow in the Perfect-O-Lite
series because the original CBS sponsor cards identified an executive from
the Chicago office as the "agency producer" of that particular series. All
the other seasons had producers from Ruthrauff & Ryan's New York office. I'm
not claiming that the Perfect-O-Lite series was actually broadcast from
Chicago, but I'd personally prefer to see absolute confirmation that this
particular 5-episode series definitely originated in CBS' New York studios
... not limited newspaper clippings that could be the result of the
aforementioned "echo" effect.)

Certainly, a number of OTR performers had mediocre memories. Bill Johnstone
explained to me that when he was performing in twenty shows a week, it was a
blessing to be able to immediately forget the script he'd performed a couple
hours earlier and focus only on the performance he was enacting at that
moment. However, some memories are much more trustworthy ... often those of
announcers like Ken Roberts (who had more time to just watch the
performances in between commercials) and scriptwriters (who spent far more
time plotting and executing a script than an actor whose work was over
within a couple hours counting the rehearsal).

And a lot also depends on the interpretations of the writer/historian, since
it's often impossible to locate as much firsthand data as one would prefer
to have in a more-perfect world.

Case in point: a recent OTR book states absolutely that The Shadow NEVER
hosted the Street & Smith LOVE STORY broadcasts, despite Walter Gibson and
SHADOW-editor John Nanovic insisting that The Shadow did host LOVE STORY.
This historian claimed that Gibson's and Nanovic's personal memories could
be discounted because some OTR veterans had inaccurate memories and that
"Nanovic's involvement was minimal--except for occasionally listening to the
visits along with John. Q. Public." The writer also maintained that The
Shadow didn't appear on LOVE STORY until AFTER the Perfect-O-Lite series
ended in February 1932, a statement that conflicts with a RADIO GUIDE
critic's comments published two months earlier in December 1931. (see below)

However, Gibson and Nanovic were much more involved with the promotion of
The Shadow in the fall of 1931 than merely as casual radio listeners. Both
men were almost totally consumed by the production and promotion of The
Shadow at that time, especially since so many pulp writers and former Street
& Smith assistant editors were hurting for work at the time due to many
recent magazine cancellations. For that reason, I trust their memories more
than I would an actor who was dividing his time and focus between twenty
shows a week and was not fully dependent on income from THE SHADOW ... or
the published remarks of a journalist who was similarly not personally
involved with the project.

Gibson recalled The Shadow hosting LOVE STORY in a number of interviews
conducted during the 1970s and 1980s, and Walter explained that: "they kept
The Shadow as announcer for LOVE STORY. because Ralston as a good business
manager said, Well, we identify The Shadow with Street & Smith and LOVE
STORY is also published by Street & Smith, so keep the announcer.'"

(BTW, Walter Gibson also recalled The Shadow hosting LOVE STORY in a 1980s
Canadian TV interview that can be viewed online at:

[removed]

and is highly recommended. Watch it and determine for yourself how
trustworthy Walter Gibson's 50-year-old memories were.)

BTW, LOVE STORY scriptwriter Edith Meiser also confirmed that The Shadow
hosted LOVE STORY, adding that The Shadow was only heard in the openings and
closings and that his voice "wasn't scary" on LOVE STORY. (From her
comments, I suspect that The Shadow's portrayal on LOVE STORY was closer to
the intimate quality that Bill Forman utilized as The Whistler than
Readick's bone-chilling intonations on DETECTIVE STORY HOUR and the 1931
two-reeler BURGLAR TO THE RESCUE.) And RADIO GUIDE columnist "Porthos"
complained that  "... The Shadow had tottered from his underworld throne
into those Street & Smith love stories" in the December 19, 1931 issue. (If
anyone would like to view this actual clipping, email me offlist and I'll
send you the page in jpeg format.)

This OTR historian's claim that The Shadow had never hosted LOVE STORY seems
to be based solely on The Shadow not appearing in a single surviving 1932
script from late in the season ... long after the sinister narrator had been
tapped to host first the short-lived Perfect-O-Lite SHADOW series in
January, followed by the BLUE COAL RADIO REVUE beginning in March. As I
wrote in an article in volume 52 of my double-novel SHADOW trade paperbacks,
I now suspect that The Shadow left the LOVE STORY series before the
Perfect-O-Lite show began January 1932, which seems likely since sponsors
usually demanded exclusivity of their star talent. An assumption, perhaps,
but not one that contradicts the eyewitness and earwitness accounts of
Gibson, Nanovic and Meiser (and also Richard Wormser, another assistant
editor of THE SHADOW MAGAZINE in 1931).

Regardless, I think it's a reckless situation for modern-day historians to
discount the personal memories of people who were actually there at the
time, especially when the memories come from sources as credible as editor
John Nanovic and trained-journalist Walter Gibson. Especially when such
assumptions are based on limited physical documentation. I'd be very
cautious about claiming that The Shadow NEVER hosted LOVE STORY unless
original recordings and final broadcast scripts survived for ALL 52
broadcasts. I've never heard an actual broadcast of Street & Smith's LOVE
STORY series. As far as I know, none of us have ever heard a broadcast of
this 80-year-old CBS series (as opposed to the 1936 MacGregor & Sollie
transcribed series). And unless ALL 52 shows/scripts survive and are
accessible, I think it's premature to discount the firsthand recollections
of Walter Gibson, John Nanovic and Edith Meiser, as collaborated in part by
the December 1931 RADIO GUIDE article and vintage ads in LOVE STORY
MAGAZINE.

BTW, I went into much greater detail on the subject of The Shadow and LOVE
STORY in "The Man With The Shadow's Laugh," an 11-page article on Frank
Readick that was recently published in volume 52 of my double-novel SHADOW
reprints. The article includes a number of previously unpublished photos
from Frank Readick's personal archives ... even one of his baby pictures and
nearly 100-year-old photos of him with his own actor father. If anyone on
this list would like to obtain this particular volume, it's available for
$[removed] from Sanctum Books; [removed] Box 761474; San Antonio, TX, 78245-1474.
There's usually an additional $3 shipping charge, but if you tell me you
read about it on this OTR mailgroup, I'll forego the postage charge and mail
it to you for cover price.

Ken, I believe you received a copy of this particular book as a table prize
at FOTR in October. What did you think of the article on Frank Readick, and
do you personally think that The Shadow hosted the early LOVE STORY
broadcasts, or do you believe that the collective firsthand memories of
Walter Gibson, John Nanovic and Edith Meiser are false?

--Anthony Tollin

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

Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:24:11 -0500
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  1-26 births/deaths

January 26th births

01-26-1880 - Douglas MacArthur - Little Rock, AR - d. 4-5-1964
general: "Special Broadcast from Tokyo"
01-26-1885 - Hugh Barrett Dobbs - d. 2-20-1944
actor: Captain Dobbsie "Ship of Joy"
01-26-1892 - Guy Robertson - Denver, CO - d. unknown
singing host: "Broadway Varieties"
01-26-1899 - Wyllis Cooper - Pekin, IL - d. 6-22-1955
producer, writer, director: "Lights Out"; "Quiet Please"
01-26-1905 - Margaret Cousins - Munday, TX - d. 7-30-1996
writer: "Holmes Radio Magazine"
01-26-1905 - Maria von Trapp - Vienna, Austria-Hungary - d. 3-28-1987
singer: (Trapp Family Singers) "Christmas Seal Sale"
01-26-1907 - Eddie Ballentine - Chicago, IL - d. 11-14-1995
orchestra leader: "Don McNeill's Breakfast Club"
01-26-1907 - Rita Ascot - d. 3-6-1988
actor: "Fay "Ma Perkins"; "Chicago Theatre of the Air"
01-26-1913 - Jimmy Van Heusen - Syracuse, NY - d. 2-6-1990
composer: "Amos 'n' Andy"; "Frank Sinatra Show"; "Command Performance"
01-26-1913 - William Prince - Nichols, NY - d. 10-8-1996
actor: "Crime Does Not Pay"; "Philco Radio Playhouse"
01-26-1914 - Jack de Manio - Hampstead, England - d. 10-28-1988
announcer: "Today"; "Jack de Manio Precisely"; "Woman's Hour"
01-26-1914 - Phoebe Ephron - NYC - d. 10-13-1971
author: "Lux RadioTheatre"
01-26-1918 - Vito Scotti - San Francisco, CA - d. 6-5-1996
actor: "Romance"; "Broadway Is My Beat"
01-26-1919 - Jan Bart - Poland - d. 8-12-1971
traveled with Major Bowes for 7 years, had his own radio show
01-26-1922 - Michael Bentine - Watford, Hertfordshie, England - d.
11-26-1996
comedian: "Goon Show"
01-26-1922 - Page Cavanaugh - Cherokee, KS - d. 12-18-2008
singer: (The Page Cavanaugh Trio) "The Jack Paar Show"
01-26-1925 - Joan Leslie - Detroit, MI
actor: "Screen Guild Theatre"
01-26-1927 - Billy Redfield - NYC - d. 8-17-1976
actor: Grayling Dennis "Brighter Day"; Willie Piper "Tales of Willie
Piper"
01-26-1927 - Ronnie Hilton - Hull, England - d. 2-21-2001
singer: "Sounds of the Fifties"
01-26-1935 - Bob Uecker - Milwaukee, WI
baseball announcer: "Milwaukee Brewers"
01-26-1937 - Alison Steele - Brooklyn, NY - d. 9-27-1995
disk jockey: "The Nightbird"
01-26-1945 - Marti Caine - Sheffield, Yorkshire, England - d. 11-4-1995
comedian: "The Marti Caine Show"

January 26th deaths

01-08-1909 - Jose Ferrer - Santurce, PR - d. 1-26-1992
actor: Philo Vance "Advs. of Philo Vance"; Minister "We Love and Learn"
02-14-1897 - Victor Lindlahr - d. 1-26-1969
commentator: "Talks on Diet"
04-02-1917 - Gertrude Warner - Hartford, CT - d. 1-26-1986
actor: Margo Lane "The Shadow"; Christy Allen "Against the Storm"
04-26-1922 - Eric Sinclair - Burkburnett, TX - d. 1-26-2004
actor: "Alias Jane Doe"
04-28-1916 - Rena Craig Waxman - Denver, CO - d. 1-26-2003
actor: "School of Charm"
05-17-1897 - Fletcher Wiley - d. 1-26-1966
commentator: "Your Home Front Reporter"
06-05-1914 - J. Donald Wilson - d. 1-26-1984
creator, writer, producer: "The Whistler"; "Advs. of Nero Wolfe";
"Dark Venture"
06-19-1894 - Emil Coleman - Odessa, Russia - d. 1-26-1965
orchestra leader: "Penthouse Party"; "Gulf Headliners"
07-08-1908 - Nelson Rockefeller - Bar Harbor, ME - d. 1-26-1979
vice president: Helped fund "Hello Americans" with Orson Welles
08-09-1905 - Leo Genn - London, England - d. 1-26-1978
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
09-24-1905 - Wilbur 'Bill' P. Bardo - d. 1-26-1975
bandleader: "One Night Stand"
10-02-1900 - Cecil Roy - St. Paul, MN - d. 1-26-1995
actor: (Girl of a Thousand Voices) Junior Fitz "Ma Perkins"
10-09-1899 - Goebel (Leon) Reeves - Sherman, TX - d. 1-26-1959
singer, yodeler: "Rudy Vallee Show"
10-17-1912 - Jack Owens - Tulsa, OK - d. 1-26-1982
vocalist: Cruising Crooner "The Breakfast Club"; "Tin Pan Alley"
11-06-1892 - Ole Olsen - Wabash, IN - d. 1-26-1963
comedian: (Olsen and Johnson); "Rudy Vallee Show"; "Breakfast Club"
12-05-1901 - Grace Moore - Jellico, TN - d. 1-26-1947
opera singer: "General Motors Concerts"; "Speed Show"; "Vicks Open
House"
12-10-1913 - Jean Dickenson - Montreal, Canada - d. 1-26-2007
singer: (Nightingale of the Airwaves) "American Album of Familiar Music"
12-12-1893 - Edward G. Robinson - Bucharest, Romania - d. 1-26-1973
actor: Steve Wilson "Big Town"
12-15-1915 - Margaret Hayes - Baltimore, MD - d. 1-26-1977
actor: "Silver Theatre"
12-19-1888 - Mabel Brownell - Cincinnati, OH - d. 1-26-1972
actor: "Polly witha Past"

Ron

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

Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:24:18 -0500
From: Frank McGurn <[removed]@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Eddie Cantor's Syndicated show

Joseph Ross, the Boston Attorney wants inf about Eddie Cantor's recorded
syndicated show. Some where in my collection possibly 35 years ago I had
2 Programs called"Eddie Cantor's Show Business" the dates I had were
11/12/52 and 12/24/53.
Eddie's voice seemed very soft and weak. He would play some record and
talk about stars he knew. As example his subject was Helen Morgan on the
11/52 show'

Eddie retired from a regular weekly program after,  I think, was heart
problems. These show that he recorded didn;t require a lot of stress
etc. . These shows kind of interesting.

Frank McGurn

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

Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:24:23 -0500
From: mschmid@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  The Golden Age of Radio line-up for YUSA Sat 1/28

YUSA show for Saturday Jan 28:

Chandu The Magician Chapters 91-92 from Nov 2 & 3 1948;

The Blue Beetle starring a young Frank Lovejoy #3 May 22, 1940 "Murder
for Profit" in which BB shows off lots of new powers and
super-scientific gadgets;

Yours Truly Johnny Dollar starring Bob Bailey "The Kranesburg Matter"
Chapters 1 & 2 (of 6) from 1956;

and we wrap it up with an audition show starring Myron (Mike) Wallace
in Crime on the Waterfront - they did two of these, this is the
second, recorded on March 01, 1949, about a plot aboard a cruise ship.

And I got it in the mail a day early, so the Post Office has no excuse
this week!

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

Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:24:28 -0500
From: mschmid@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Corwin Question

I've been sorting through some Corwin files and found an anomaly.
There is an mp3 in circulation labeled Columbia Workshop 40-12-22. The
actual program has no series format, and at the close the announcer
muses on the fact that they didn't know a year ago whether they would
be broadcasting this again on December 24, 1942. Also, the show is
interrupted near the end for a bulletin that
French Admiral Darlan had been assassinated, which happened on 12-24-42.

So that would appear to be the date of the actual broadcast.  I guess
my question is: was this a special, or part of a series? It would have
been two days after the last NY broadcast of An American in England.

This makes the Bannerman book wrong in this instance, as he mentions
this same broadcast as being from either 1939 or 1940 (the timeline in
the book is very unclear, seeming to jump between the two years in the
narrative).

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2012 Issue #15
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