Subject: [removed] Digest V2007 #300
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 10/21/2007 8:22 PM
To: [removed]@[removed]
Reply-to:
[removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2007 : Issue 300
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  10-20 births/deaths                   [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
  This week in radio history 21-27 Oct  [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
  FOTR, and what was the value of mone  [ Joseph Webb <drjoewebb@[removed]; ]
  Missing ILAM Episodes                 [ "belanger" <belanger@[removed]; ]
  Is Lt. Danny Clover on Suspense?      [ Joseph Webb <drjoewebb@[removed]; ]
  Another bit of [removed]                [ "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed] ]
  teresa brewer 1931-2007               [ afanofoldradio@[removed] ]
  10-21 births/deaths                   [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
  NBC's first few weeks                 [ "Steve Jones" <stevpj@[removed]; ]
  "hall of fame award"?                 [ Joseph Webb <drjoewebb@[removed]; ]
  Repeats and/or replays                [ Ken Greenwald <kgradio@[removed]; ]
  Re: The Coffin in Studio B            [ "R. R. King" <kingrr@[removed]; ]
  The Shadow                            [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
  LIGHTS OUT                            [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]

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

Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 03:41:54 +0000
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  10-20 births/deaths

October 20th births

10-20-1882 - Bela Lugosi - Lugos, Hungary - d. 8-16-1956
actor: "Crime Does Not Pay"
10-20-1882 - Margaret Dumont - Brooklyn, NY - d. 3-6-1965
actor: "Paramount Movie Parade"
10-20-1884 - Thomas Chalmers - NYC - d. 6-12-1966
actor: Sam Young "Pepper Young's Family"
10-20-1884 - Thomas Hardie Chambers - NYC - d. 6-11-1966
actor: Sam Young "Pepper Young's Family"
10-20-1887 - Charles Warburton - Huddersfield, England - d. 7-19-1952
actor: "Radio Guild"; "Great Plays"; "Front Page Drama"
10-20-1889 - Robert Fiske - Griggsville, MO - d. 9-12-1944
actor: Speed Robertson "Air Advs. of Jimmie Allen"
10-20-1895 - Rex Ingram - Cairo, IL - d. 9-19-1965
actor: "Free World Theatre"
10-20-1897 - Adolph Deutsch - London, England - d. 1-2-1980
arranger, conductor, composer: "Kraft Program"; "This Is Hollywood"
10-20-1897 - William A. Bacher - d. 4-20-1965
producer, director: "Al Jolson Show"; "Hollywood Hotel"; "Treasury
Star Parade"
10-20-1900 - Wayne Morse - Dane County, WI - d. 7-22-1974
[removed] senator: "Rebuttal"
10-20-1904 - Anna Neagle - Forest Gate, Essex, England - d. 6-3-1986
actor: "Keep 'Em Rolling"; "Kate Smith Hour"; "Radio Tribute to the
Kind and Queen"
10-20-1905 - Frederic Dannay - NYC - d. 9-3-1982
writer: "Adventures of Ellery Queen"; "The Shadow"; "Ford Theatre"
10-20-1907 - Arlene Francis - Boston, MA - d. 5-31-2001
panelist, actor: "What's My Line"; Ann Scotland,"The Affairs of Ann
Scotland"
10-20-1911 - Will Rogers, Jr. - NYC - d. 7-9-1993
actor: Will Rogers "Rogers of the Gazette"
10-20-1913 - Barney Phillips - St. Louis, MO - d. 8-17-1982
actor: Ed Jacobs "Dragnet"; Somber Jones "Hawk Larabee"; "Gunsmoke"
10-20-1913 - "Grandpa" Jones - Niagra, KY - d. 2-19-1998
country singer, banjoist: "Grand Ole Opry"
10-20-1914 - Fayard Nicholas - Mobile, AL - d. 1-24-2006
dancer: (The Nicholas Brothers) "Big Broadcast of 1936"; "Ben Bernie
Show"
10-20-1920 - Dulcie Gray - Kuala Lampur, Malaysia
author: Several of her novels were adapted for the BBC
10-20-1922 - John Anderson - Clayton, IL - d. 8-7-1992
actor: William Clark "Horizons West"
10-20-1925 - Art Buchwald - Mount Vernon, NY - d. 1-17-2007
humorist: "Monitor"
10-20-1925 - Carolina Cotton - Cash, AR - d. 6-10-1997
yodeler: (Yodeling Blonde) "Carolina Cotton Calls"; "Country Hoedown"
10-20-1927 - Priscilla Lyon - Washington County, NC - d. 3-7-1980
actor: Corliss Archer "Meet Corliss Archer"; Amy Foster "Those We Love"
10-20-1931 - Mickey Mantle - Spavinaw, OK - d. 8-13-1995
baseball great: "Hear It Now"; "Feature Project"
10-20-1935 - Jerry Orbach - NYC - d. 12-28-2004
actor: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"

October 20th deaths

11-02-1913 - Burt Lancaster - NYC - d. 10-20-1994
actor: "Ford Theatre"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
11-05-1905 - Joel McCrea - South Pasadena, CA - d. 10-20-1990
actor: Jace Pearson "Tales of the Texas Rangers"
11-07-1883 - Solomon Lightfoot Michaux - Newport News, VA - d.
10-20-1968
preacher: "Elder Michaux's Happiness Church Service"
11-23-1919 - Andrew Ackers - d. 10-20-1978
orchestra leader: "The National Guard Show"
11-29-1917 - Merle Travis - Muhlenberg County, KY - d. 10-20-1983
singer, guitarist: "Hollywood Barn Dance"
12-10-1923 - Michael Gill - Winchester, England - d. 10-20-2005
producer: Joined BBC in 1954
12-12-1904 - Pete Pumiglio - d. 10-20-1996
musician: "The Ipana Troubadors"

Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 03:42:03 +0000
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  This week in radio history 21-27 Oct

 From Those Were The Days --

1932 - Fred Allen made his radio debut. His wife, Portland Hoffa, 
joined  him on the CBS broadcast. Allen's comedy-variety program was known 
as The  Linit Bath Club Revue. It then became The Salad Bowl Revue, then, 
The Sal Hapatica Revue, The Hour of Smiles, Town Hall Tonight, The Texaco 
Star Theatre and finally, someone with just a bit of sense, came up with 
The Fred Allen Show. The comedic legend stayed on radio for 17 years.

10/24

1929 - The Rudy Vallee Show was broadcast for the first time on NBC. 
Actually, the Rudy Vallee show had several different titles over the years, 
all of which were referred to by the public as The Rudy Vallee 
Show.  Megaphone-totin' Rudy and his Connecticut Yankees band were 
mainstays on radio into the late 1940s.

10/25

1937 - Stella Dallas made her debut on the NBC Red network. Stella hung out 
on NBC until 1955 with Anne Elstner in the title role for the entire 
run.  Stella Dallas was "A continuation on the air of the true-life story 
of  mother love and sacrifice, in which Stella saw her own beloved 
daughter,  Laurel, marry into wealth and society, and realizing the 
difference in  their tastes and worlds, went out of Laurel's life."

10/26

1935 - A talented twelve-year-old sang on Wallace Beery's NBC show. Judy 
Garland delighted the appreciative audience. The young girl would soon be 
in pictures and at the top of stardom.

10/27

Marconi, Fessenden, and De Forest were the catalysts. However, it was an 
engineer for Westinghouse Electric who, in 1916, was broadcasting music 
from his garage (in Wilkinsburg, PA, a suburb of Pittsburgh) over a 
wireless (amateur radio station 8XK) who really got the whole thing 
started. A newspaper article about the broadcasts caused such interest that 
the head honchos at Westinghouse decided to build a real radio station.

It took until this day in 1920 for the Westinghouse radio station to 
receive a license to broadcast. The license for KDKA, Pittsburgh came from 
the [removed] Department of Commerce. Although the license was officially issued 
on this day, KDKA did not start their broadcast operations for a week (they 
had to wait until the license was posted in the station). On November 2, 
1920, the station aired the returns of the Harding/Cox election ... the 
first radio programming to reach an audience of any size ... approximately 
1,000 people.

1947 - This is Nora Drake premiered on NBC. Nora solved domestic, social 
and child-raising problems until January 2, 1959.

1947 - "The one, the only Groucho" Marx appeared as quizmaster on You Bet 
Your Life for the first time -- on ABC. George Fenneman was Groucho's 
eternal straight man. Fenneman stayed with Marx during the program's run on 
radio (1948 - 1959.

Joe

-- Visit my homepage: [removed]~[removed] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 03:42:40 +0000 From: Joseph Webb <drjoewebb@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: FOTR, and what was the value of money in the radio age? I was at the FOTR convention Thursday, my second time in the last three years after a 20 year hiatus before that. It still amazes me how vibrant the hobby is, with the great assistance of digital technologies that have brought us a new audience. The celebrity guests are so devoted to the convention and the fans it is quite the love fest. It is just marvelous to see. I'm sorry I was only able to go just for the one day. Personally, I was able to meet childhood "hero" Chuck McCann who mixes so well with the crowd and has great affection for the medium though not technically part of it. He is just a marvelous guest. Just overhearing his chatter with the other guests and their mutual acquaintances was entertaining. Many of you know that I write an economics column for a printing industry web site. In there, I deal with various issues like inflation. So with that in mind I always find it amusing when guests at the convention talk about what they were paid at various points in their careers and then hearing the oohs and ahhs from the audience about how little it was. It usually wasn't so little. The issue also comes up when listening to OTR. How many murders are committed to inherit a $50,000 estate, or to collect on a $10,000 insurance policy? With that in mind, I went to the Bureau of Labor, one of the first things I looked for was what Bing Crosby's salary was in 1931. His then $4,000 per week salary is $54,000 a week in today's dollars, a handsome $[removed] million annually. Think of what he'd be making today if he could only play shortstop :) At the convention, it was mentioned that Fred Ziv was pay non-star TV actors $80 per [removed] that would be about $625 a day in today's [removed] a very good [removed] if you could work regularly. If someone was getting $300 a week in 1955, that was $2300 a week. Here are some selected years and what to multiply them by if you hear of someone being murdered on Suspense for the insurance money, or someone being arrested by the FBI for stealing something that would seem petty by today's standards: 1940: [removed] (so if it's $10,000, multiply it by [removed] and you get $149,000) 1945: [removed] 1950: [removed] 1955: [removed] 1960: [removed] Some may remember a note I wrote about this question concerning Johnny Dollar's expense account last year. Johnny's expense account today would be a lot different today, because technology has changed the nature of airfare. In fact, that was his biggest expense. But yes, he did pad his account, but that show is very funny when you hear the barrage of minor [removed] but keep these inflation numbers in mind when listening. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 03:42:53 +0000 From: "belanger" <belanger@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Missing ILAM Episodes I've enjoyed OTR for decades, but there is still some of it's history I'm not up on. Here's what I don't understand about the poorly recorded or missing I Love A Mystery shows: Why are they missing in the first place? I understand that Carlton Morse had a separate guest house on his estate devoted to his career memorabilia collection. As meticulous as Morse was in preserving his memorabilia, and with the power he had in dealing with the networks and advertisers, did he not have his own personal recordings of everything? And even if, for some reason, all of the west coast shows were not in his possession, there was the entire second opportunity with the east coast run! So why are they missing? Is it possible that the Morse Estate actually does have them all and just refuses to release tham? ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 03:43:26 +0000 From: Joseph Webb <drjoewebb@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Is Lt. Danny Clover on Suspense? Now that we're tired of the "is/'s" controversy, is Larry Thor playing Lt. Danny Clover (of Broadway Is/Broadway's My Beat) on a Suspense episode? If i'm remembering it right when I listened the other day, the lieutenant's name is never mentioned in the story, and is always referred to by his rank. I wonder if it was one of those inside jokes that we collectors love, or if it was planned to make the events more in keeping with the sense of NY that the other series was promoting. It was easy to have him play the part since he was on the program as announcer, anyway. Who better to play it, than someone already "active" on the NYC police force at the time? :) It is one of the better episodes of that part of Suspense's run. here's the radiogoldindex entry, which acknowledges the parallel: 24211. Suspense. October 27, 1952. CBS net. "Allen In Wonderland". Sponsored by: Auto-Lite. A southern lawyer in New York quotes a bit of Lewis Carroll in a train station, and finds himself involved in Balkan intrigue! Larry Thor and Charles Calvert play New York policemen in the exact same accents they were using on their own show "Broadway Is My Beat," which was then on CBS! Richard Chandlee (adaptor), Truda Marson, Larry Thor (announcer, performer), Lucien Moraweck (composer), Lud Gluskin (conductor), Elliott Lewis (producer, director), Harlow Wilcox (commercial spokesman), Jack Kruschen, Joseph Kearns, Charles Calvert, Clayton Post, Cornel Wilde, Curt Singer (author), Edgar Barrier. 29:34. Audio condition: Excellent. Complete. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 03:44:20 +0000 From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Another bit of [removed] There is one more very brief bit of ILAM from the Your Daytime Radio Newspaper of November 3, 1943. It is a 20-second spot announcement. Here is what is looks like in my [removed] Your daytime radio newspaper (later called Crisco Radio Newspaper, with Bernardine Flynn and Durward Kirby): November 3, 1943. After program is promo for I Love a Mystery [20 seconds]. Information from Brian Misiaszek: "It seems that the show in question is one of the interior episodes of the Hollywood version of MY BELOVED IS A VAMPIRE, which ran October 4 to November 5. This is a show which has only one surviving episode, the final one from the second run of the [removed]" I have this from an ET discarded by WNAX, Yankton, South Dakota. Ted Kneebone / 1528 S. Grant St. / Aberdeen, SD 57401 [removed] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 03:44:39 +0000 From: afanofoldradio@[removed] To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: teresa brewer 1931-2007 X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain It has been announced that singer Teresa Brewer, who made regular appearences on the "Major Bowes Amatuer Hour" from 1938 to 1943, has died in New Rochelle, [removed] at age 76 of brain palsy on October [removed] *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear *** *** as the sender intended. *** ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 03:44:56 +0000 From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: 10-21 births/deaths October 21st births 10-21-1892 - Gummo Marx - NYC - d. 4-21-1977 comedian: (Marx Brothers) "American Review" 10-21-1905 - Carleton Young - NYC - d. 11-7-1994 actor: Dick Grosvenor "Stella Dallas"; Ellery Queen "Advs of Ellery Queen" 10-21-1907 - Jack Holden - Alba, MI - d. 6-xx-1971 announcer: "National Barn Dance"; "Uncle Ezra" 10-21-1908 - Tommy Riggs - Pittsburgh, PA - d. 5-21-1967 comedian: "Fleischmann Hour"; "Quaker Party with Tommy Riggs"; "Tommy Riggs and Betty Lou" 10-21-1913 - Jack McElroy - Kansas - d. 3-2-1959 announcer, host: "Bride and Groom"; "Breakfast at Sardi"s" 10-21-1917 - Dizzy Gillespie - Cherow, SC - d. 1-6-1993 musician: "This Is Jazz" 10-21-1920 - Hy Averback - Minneapolis, MN - d. 10-14-1997 announcer, actor: "Sealtest Village Store"; "Bob Hope Show"; "Take It or Leave It" 10-21-1923 - Jean Gillespie - Boston, MA actor: Martha Piper "Tales of Willie Piper"; Inza Burrage "Advs. of Frank Merriwell" 10-21-1924 - Julie Wilson - Omaha, NE vocalist: "Hollywood Showcase" 10-21-1927 - Ray Brenner - California - d. 6-5-1995 writer: "The Phil Harris/Alice Faye Show" October 21st deaths 01-03-1918 - Maxene Andrews - Minneapolis, MN - d. 10-21-1995 singer: (Andrews Sisters) "Andrews Sisters Revue" 04-25-1900 - Gloria Ann Simpson - Cleveland, OH - d. 10-21-1956 actor: "The NBC University Theatre" 05-03-1910 - Curt Massey - Midland, TX - d. 10-21-1991 singer: "Show Boat"; "Curt Massey Show" 07-04-1888 - Henry Armetta - Palermo, Italy - d. 10-21-1945 actor: "Fleischmann's Yeast Hour" 07-06-1923 - Marie McDonald - Westchester, NY - d. 10-21-1965 actor: "Duffy's Tavern"; "Maxwell House Coffee Time"; "Proudly We Hail" 07-07-1887 - Raymond Hatton - Red Oak, IA - d. 10-21-1971 actor: Football Coach "Jack Oakie's College" 08-14-1897 - Lal Chand Mehra - Amritsar, India - d. 10-21-1980 actor: "I Love A Mystery"; "I Love Adventure" 11-04-1911 - Jack Rose - Warsaw, Russian Empire - d. 10-21-1995 writer: "The Bob Hope Show" 11-25-1893 - Jack Frost - Boston, MA - d. 10-21-1959 producer: "The National Barn Dance" 11-30-1907 - Happy Felton - Bellevue, PA - d. 10-21-1964 actor: "Pot 'O Gold"; "Finders Keepers"; "Stop the Music" 12-06-1904 - Elissa Landi - Venice, Italy - d. 10-21-1948 actor: "I'm An American"; "Lux Radio Theatre" Ron Sayles Milwaukee, Wisconsin ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 03:43:45 +0000 From: "Steve Jones" <stevpj@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: NBC's first few weeks Hi I am very interested in the early history of the networks and have read a lot on the subject, but I would like some clarification on a couple of points. Firstly, as I understand it, NBC Red began in November 1926 and NBC Blue in January 1927. NBC Blue took over from the earlier RCA network. What I would like to know is, between November 1926 and January 1927, what network, if any, fed the stations that had been affiliates of RCA and would become part of NBC Blue? Also, why did NBC Blue about six weeks later than NBC Red, even though it was always the intention for NBC to have two networks? Was it because the AT&T lines weren't in place for the Blue until January 1927? Many thanks Steve ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 03:41:32 +0000 From: Joseph Webb <drjoewebb@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: "hall of fame award"? There already is one: the Allen Rockford Award, given for about 25 years at the Friends of OTR Convention. Many past recipients are regularly active on this very newsletter. [ADMINISTRIVIA: Your obedient servant is proud and humbled to be a past recipient of this award. --cfs3] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 03:44:48 +0000 From: Ken Greenwald <kgradio@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Repeats and/or replays For what it is worth: There are a number of radio shows on ET at PPB that have the air date on them and then, in bold red letters stamped across the label REPLAYED and the date of the replay inked in on a line. These shows are from various series. Can't remember which as PPB is shut down for now and I can't get in to reference what I speak of. Do bear in mind that the networks would not allow any transcriptions or tapes to be played on the air. That is, until ABC started doing it with "transcribed earlier for presentation at this more convenient time." By 1950, NBC and CBS were finally allowing tapes and ETs to be played across the network. Hope this helps. Ken Greenwald ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 03:44:06 +0000 From: "R. R. King" <kingrr@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Re: The Coffin in Studio B > I just listened to The Coffin in Studio B, from the 1946 revival of > Lights Out using scripts by Arch Oboler. Well, actually all the scripts for the 1946 LO revival seem to be by Wyllis Cooper, except for the version of Dickens' "The Signal Man" which is by another author, for some reason -- maybe Martin Grams knows why. The script was very likely first broadcast in the mid-1930s though I notice it's been slightly updated for the 1940s (there's a throwaway reference to Orson Welles who wasn't a prominent radio figure when Cooper was writing the series in 1934-6). > I would swear one of the leads is Ernest Chappell, but he's not > mentioned in the cast listing at the end. Instead, I think "Bob Murphy" > is named for that character. Could this have been a pseudonym, for > some reason? Can anybody verify whether or not that actually is > Chappell in the part? I don't think it's Chappell but another announcer/actor with a similar voice. This LO revival was done from Chicago and announcer Bob Murphy worked there at the time (on Quiz Kids, for example). You can see a sampling of Murphy's credits at [removed] Not sure where Chappell was at that time but I would guess he was based elsewhere, probably New York. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 22:19:30 -0400 From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed]; To: [removed]@[removed] Subject: The Shadow Jason Loviglio asked:
I have a Shadow question: Does anyone remember the episode where the Shadow
comes into the prison cell to interrogate a prisoner and drives him to
insanity and suicide in the process?

Though I'm not an expert of THE SHADOW at all, I would guess it to be one of
two episodes:
A PASS TO DEATH  (Feb. 6, 1944)
or GUEST OF DEATH  (Dec. 18, 1938)

I could be wrong, but those are educated guesses.
Martin

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

Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 22:19:41 -0400
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  LIGHTS OUT

Kermit asked about "Coffin in Studio B" episode of LIGHTS OUT.

I would not be surprised if that was Ernest Chappel in the role because the
script was written by Wyllic Cooper, the same man responsible for QUIET,
PLEASE (thus the connection).  I would like to point out, however, that
there was an announcer named Bob Murphy, according to Jim Cox's wonderful
book, RADIO SPEAKERS.  Robert Leo Murphy was connected with KSTP, St. Paul,
Minn., before he joined Don McNeil and his gang in Chicago.  Initially a
sportscaster at KSTP in 1937, from 1940 to 1942 be was a newscaster.  In the
summer of 1949, Murphy was master of ceremonies on NBC-TV's "[removed] AMERICA"
originating in Chicago, a how-to Thursday night half-hour focused on plants
and animals.  So it's possible that it's a real announcer by that name, but
also possible Ernest Chappel played the role of an announcer named Bob
Murphy.  The mystery grows . . .

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2007 Issue #300
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