Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #163
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 5/12/2004 8:17 AM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2004 : Issue 163
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Re: My final answer                   [ hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed]; ]
  Thank You, Patrick Lucanio            [ hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed]; ]
  Eastern War Time                      [ "Bob Watson" <crw934@[removed]; ]
  Wendy Warren and the News             [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
  Paul Frees & ITTA2                    [ benohmart@[removed] ]
  man on street interviews              [ Michael Berger <intercom1@attglobal ]
  war time, Hollywood and Vine          [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]
  "Cinnamon Bear" Quilt Finished at La  [ John Mayer <mayer@[removed]; ]
  #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Nig  [ charlie@[removed] ]

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

Date: Tue, 11 May 2004 19:10:44 -0400
From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: My final answer

 Dennis W Crow Just posted:

Could you answer in The Digest?

Thank you.

Politeness counts, Dennis, so I guess I have to acknowledge your request.

Dennis just sent me the following message, which I now parse.

I have twice commented in the OTR Digest  about Hal Stone's mention of
Shelley Winters in one of his long ago posts, as an actress with whom he
had a bad time while producing commercials (I think I am remembering
correctly).

There is a major inaccuracy in your recollection Dennis. My involvement with
Shelly Winters was not connected with a TV Commercial. As a matter of fact,
I don't recall EVER seeing Shelly do a commercial. I would suspect that she
would consider doing a TV Commercial "beneath her" status as a serious
actress and Star. To [removed] regular "legend in her own mind".

I thought of it  again as I reread his beautiful quotation on Jan Miner
taken, of course, from his popular and extraordinary book about his
theatrical and radio career.  I own and share it with pride!

To mention Jan Minor in the same breath as Shelly Winters is doing a major
disservice to the memory of Jan Minor. But I will forgive you, since you had
such nice things to say about my book. :)

We all know he is writing another --- about his passage through television
advertising.  To my knowledge he has not set a publication date.

As to my "Writing" another book. Maybe I'll get back to it one of these
days.  The correct phrase would be "planning to FINISH writing" another
book. Working on  major alterations on our house have filled my days over
the past year. Therefore, no publication date until I can devote total
concentration re. completing the manuscript. Maybe next year.

So I renew my inquiry about two-time Oscar winner, Shelley Winters.  It is
time for him to say what went wrong with Shelley. I can no longer stand the
suspense.

Sigh! OK! It's kiss and tell time.

Before I established my own NY TV Production company in 1970, I was working
as a Staff Director, Associate Producer, for a major Videotape Production
Facility in NYC. In this instance, I was assigned to be the liaison between
that production facility, and an independent Production company that was
planning to produce Chekhov's  "Three Sisters". I seem to recall it was a
Sol Hurok project, and they assembled a stellar cast. Geraldine Page, Sandy
Dennis, Kevin McCarthy, and the inimitable?? Shelly Winters.

In the interest of brevity here in the Digest, my primary function was to
facilitate and assist this independent outside production Company, their
cast members, etc, whenever they needed anything from the Production studio
facility that I worked for.

That meant I was on hand whenever they rehearsed, blocked shots, etc.

I distinctly recall that Shelly Winters had tremendous difficulty learning
her lines. Rehearsals of scenes involving Shelly (at outside rehearsal
halls) was always painstakingly slow, due to her blowing her lines unless
she had a script in her hand. But that was not why she earned my
displeasure. It was other unprofessional actions that I witnessed, and had
to personally deal with.

It seemed that practically every time she blew her lines during the actual
taping of the teleplay, it was always the fault of some external force.
Never her failure to learn her lines. Here is a prime example. There was
this heavy, poignant scene (lots of Chekhov's scenes are "Heavy" in my
opinion) between Geraldine Page and Sandy Dennis, and Shelly (Playing their
pain in the butt sister-in-law) is supposed to enter the scene (taking place
in one of the Sisters bedroom) and begin to straighten things up, and
grousing about having do do so much work for the family. At that point, (as
Shelly" has dialogue complaining about how untidy they are), she is supposed
to pick up a water glass from a dresser, put it on a tray, and exit the
room, still "bitching" about how much work they cause her.

However, as Shelly was picking up the glass, she started to blow her lines,
and couldn't remember the rest of her exit dialogue. So what does she do.
Instead of apologizing to the cast and crew, she proceeded to have a temper
tantrum. Screaming! "Who the hell put water in this glass? We didn't
rehearse this scene with water in the F-----g glass? And stormed off the
set. I can tell you, her antics were disgraceful by any and all professional
standards.

But then the really obnoxious act occurred the following day. Paul Bogart, a
really fine dramatic TV director, had just finished recording another
particularly deep, heavy traumatic short scene between Geraldine Page and
Sandy Dennis. One that these actresses were able to sink their teeth into,
and actually shed real tears, in extreme close-ups. It was a masterful
performance, and Paul Bogart was so enthralled with the results, he invited
both these actresses into the control room, so they could immediately see a
playback of the tape on the control room monitors. He asked me to replay the
scene for them while he went out into the studio to set up for the next
scene.

As the scene was being played back, Shelly happened to pass the open Control
Room door, saw the two other actresses watching their brief scene replayed,
and immediately had another fit. She refused to do any more scenes unless
she had an opportunity to watch a playback of every scene recorded over the
past few days that she herself had appeared in. What ego! What arrogance!

Guess who had to arrange for an additional Videotape machine and operator,
and escort Miss? Winters up to the tape room, get out the master footage,
and sit there while every scene she had been in was played back for her.
I have never met a more obnoxious, egocentric, and unpleasant performer in
my life.

OK Dennis. You happy now?

I'll probably catch hell from all the Shelly Winters fans, but I was raised
in Show Business to approach everything with a high degree of
Professionalism, and anyone, no matter how talented, who behaves in such an
unprofessional manner does not deserve high marks. Subsequently, I've heard
from from many other performers and Directors in the industry that Shelly
had antagonized. Being a problem was her stock in trade. Brassy, is also a
word I would use to describe her.

Hal(Harlan)Stone
Jughead

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

Date: Tue, 11 May 2004 19:11:40 -0400
From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Thank You, Patrick Lucanio
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Maybe the name Patrick Lucanio may not be familiar to many of you Digest
Subscribers, unless you are a member of SPERDVAC, the Los Angeles based OTR
Club. (SPERDVAC- "The Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, variety
and Comedy")

Patrick is the editor of "Radiogram" the monthly newsletter of the SPERDVAC
organization.

And, obviously, a man of sterling character, unabashed perspicacity, and
faultless judge of character and talent. To prove my point, I offer his
comments contained in his "THE EDITOR HAS HIS SAY" column in this months
issue.  I hope that's permissible and legal.  As long as I credit the
source, right?  :)  I now quote and reproduce same.

"I get questions, I get questions. So here we are with this months queries.

Out  of curiosity, what OTR book are you currently reading and would you
recommend it?

No kidding, I got that question from a reader who somehow knew I was
actually reading an OTR book rather than reading something else.

I am proud to say that I was reading [removed], Archie! Relax! by Hal
Stone. Would I recommend it? You Bet. It is one of the best OTR books
around, written by one who lived it and enjoyed it. It is witty and funny.
It is well designed and profusely illustrated, featuring photos, diagrams,
cartoons, and program reproductions. This book gets my highest
recommendation. Those who have attended conventions and met Hal-- and those
who were able to see Hal and Bob Hastings doing Bob and Ray routines at last
Novembers convention, -- will appreciate Hal's wit and his conversational
style; reading the book is like having Hal in the room with you, sharing his
memories of Old-time radio. I've been waiting for someone to review this
book for some time, but no one has come forward. I guess I'll have to write
one myself, but then I just gave you a mini-review.  You can purchase the
book at Bygone Days Press, [removed] Box 4418, Sedona, AZ 86340, at $[removed] It's
worth it."

Wow! I am truly blown away by such a positive review.  Forgive me if I seem
conceited by sharing this with you, but the fact remains, I'm interested in
selling the remaining copies in the inventory, (as any sane person would
desire) and it never [removed] Whenever someone has something positive to say
about the book, and posts it in the Digest, the orders come pouring it.
(Does two or three orders constitute a "pour"?).

At any rate, after a review like Patrick's , I expect a deluge, not a simple
old pour. :)  Just kidding, honest.

But just in case there are any newbies to the Digest, or anyone who needed a
gentle push to finally order a copy,  I  must thank Patrick, in all
sincerity, for his kind words. I am deeply honored and most appreciative.

But I must correct one thing. Although the cost  of the book is in fact
$[removed] (as Patrick stated), there is an additional $[removed] added for Shipping
and Handling. The total costs, including shipping within the US,  is $[removed]
For our Canadian neighbors, it' s $[removed]  to cover the increased postage
for that destination.

And as most of you Digest subscribers already know, the book can also be
ordered via our internet website.
[removed]
You can either use  the "Paypal" credit card system, or simply download the
order form, and send check or money order.

Wow! Thanks again Patrick.  It's really great to know that one's creative
efforts are appreciated.

Hal(Harlan)Stone
Jughead

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Date: Tue, 11 May 2004 19:12:02 -0400
From: "Bob Watson" <crw934@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Eastern War Time
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I remember looking it up when I was younger.  Eastern War Time was similar to
Daylight Savings Time.  EXCEPT that instead of "springing forward" one hour
for DST, EWT sprung you ahead TWO hours.  I don't the concept was very well
received.  Here in Georgia, I remember reading an article where Georgia went
to Central War Time.

Did any other states switch time zones to avoid the two hour leap??

Bob

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

Date: Tue, 11 May 2004 19:25:30 -0400
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Wendy Warren and the News

The other day a name popped into my mind from out of the past, Wendy
Warren.  She had, as I remember it, a news program that lasted five
minutes and then it was followed by a ten-minutes soap.  She certainly
must have been an early "working woman."  I was just wondering how long
this program lasted?

Wendy Warren was essentially a figment of the imagination of CBS execs. In
1947 Kate Smith's program ended and they were looking for a similar
replacement. At that time Kate Smith also had a short news segment geared
toward women since the show was on at the Noon hour. They wanted to put
some kind of serial drama into that slot.

The character of Wendy Warren was created. The show began with Douglas
Edwards reading what is more of a hard news format. He would introduce
Wendy who would then give news related to women's interest. When it
finished, instead of moving onto another program, listener's would hear her
leave the studio and enter the world of the serial drama. It was a neat
segue into the world of soaps.

At that time, Florence Freeman played Wendy. The series lasted for eleven
years.

Jim Widner
jwidner@[removed]

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

Date: Wed, 12 May 2004 01:45:22 -0400
From: benohmart@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Paul Frees & ITTA2

Hi, all. I gave my first radio interview on Paul Frees and the book
this morning. Went rather well. I have another coming up at 8 pm on
KTRS on Sunday the 23rd.

If anyone's going to the horror movie convention Monster Bash in PA
on June 25-26, I'll be there! It'd be nice to meet a few Frees fans.
I'll also get to meet Dolores Fuller, Ed Wood's girlfriend, as I'm
publishing her autobiography next year.

Also, for all you eager authors, I just got word that It's That Time Again 2
will ship from
the printer tomorrow, so they should come at the top of next week, at which
point I'll be
sending you all your contributor's copies. For anyone still on the fence
about ordering,
have a gander at the impressive cast list at

[removed]

And thanks again for all your support. Without people like you, there would
be fewer otr
books in the world.

Ben Ohmart

[removed] Forgot the other good news! Fredrick Tucker is writing a book on Verna
Felton for
BearManor Media. Not only does he have a Great collection of material on her,
he's
unearthed relatives and some great personal goodies. Verna IS my favorite
female
voice actress, so I'm Very excited about this book.

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

Date: Wed, 12 May 2004 01:45:33 -0400
From: Michael Berger <intercom1@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  man on street interviews
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No idea whether Linkletter was the first [he got his start up north in San
Francisco so might have done such stuff there before he made it big in LA],
but the format of man-in-the-street interviews was well established by the
late 1930s in many locations. In San Francisco, a man named Dean Maddox who
went by the nickname Buddha did a M-F show around noontime from in front of
the old Owl Drug Store at the corner of Powell and Market [I still remember
most of the jingle that always started that show]. That show ran throughout
the 1940s.

About filming and live audience participation shows, Linkletter's House
Party on CBS was live [to the west coast, at least.]  Also, prior to the
transcontinental coaxial cable being completed [removed], all Chicago or east
coast shows were shown by kinescope on the west coast, often delayed a
week. The first big coast to coast TV show if memory serves was Douglas
Edwards and the News, 'brought to you by Oldsmobile' -- which went out of
business the other day.

Michael Berger

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Date: Wed, 12 May 2004 01:46:21 -0400
From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  war time, Hollywood and Vine

What was Eastern War Time?   Standard time?  or what.

I'm pretty sure it was a year-round Daylight Savings Time and that the
clocks were set forward two hours instead of one.  Year-round Daylight
Savings Time was tried in the 1970's during the first of our various energy
crises.  We could be headed for another one.

The corner of Hollywood and Vine is pretty depressing.  At least it was a
few years ago, when it was a thriving supermarket for every sort of illicit
drug. There is a Hollywood improvement organization that has labored
mightily to make the place a bit less dangerous than it has been in recent
years, but I don't know if the improvements have stuck: there have been
repeated attempts in past years to clean the area up since the studios left.

Art Linkletter's show did a good job of publicizing that corner, though.  I
always envisioned it as another version of Times Square, only surrounded by
great movie studios.  I'm sorry to report that the area is drab, with small
two-story commercial buildings.  There isn't anything as
distinguished-looking as, say, Perry Mason's smalll office building.

The Walk of Fame is particularly depressing because it was clearly placed
there in an effort to liven the place up and attract tourists.  I'm not
certain what there is about its appearance that gives me that impression,
but any tourist from a declining Eastern city will recognize it immediately.

Graumann's or Mann's or Whoever's Chinese Theater is located a short ways
down the street and has the famous footprints.  Frank Sinatra had big feet.
But it's isolated, just like the Walk of Fame and the other few attractions
that remain.  I don't recall what is specifically located at Hollywood and
Vine right now, but I seem to recall a lot of rather run-down postcard
shops.

The exceedingly ordinary appearance and atmosphere of Hollywood and Vine
should not be considered a misfortune: it's a regular working street corner
in a neighborhood that could use a little work.  Consider the magic imparted
to that ordinary corner by Art Linkletter, dozens of movie shorts, and
hundreds of radio shows.  It's that talent that we celebrate when we think
of that famous, ordinary street corner.

M Kinsler

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

Date: Wed, 12 May 2004 02:03:34 -0400
From: John Mayer <mayer@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  "Cinnamon Bear" Quilt Finished at Last

I wrote to the digest over a year ago to let everyone know my friend
Barbara Webster was working on a quilt inspired by The Cinnamon Bear
as we both remembered the show from our childhoods, and that it would
be ready before the following Christmas. Well, it seems I sadly
underestimated the amount of work and time that goes into making a
quilt, particularly for a perfectionist like Barbara. However, she
has written to inform me that she has at last finished the piece, and
it may be viewed at
[removed]. Ms. Webster is a
renowned quilter who has been featured in a number of juried exhibits
and won several quilting competitions. She works from her rustic
cabin deep in the Appalachians near Asheville, with just a wood
stove, her home-canned provisions from her own kitchen garden, her
old-fashioned water pump and her computer. She has perfected a
process whereby she is able to transfer images such as mine into the
fabric of her quilts so that they are dyed into the fibers, not
simply printed on. However, getting the colors just exactly right
apparently is an exacting process, accounting for much of the delay.

Originally I had drawn the art, way back in the 70's, for the cover
of the program guide of our local public radio station WUOT when it
aired The Cinnamon Bear, an episode at a time as it was intended, one
Christmas season. In fact, I was the one who had originally suggested
they consider running the series - they were already running other
OTR with Christmas themes - and supplied them the reel-to-reel tapes
I'd purchased by mail a few years earlier. An art major at the
associated University of Tennessee at the time, I also did the cover
for their guide pro bono. These were the characters as I had imagined
them as a young child; I had never seen any depictions of them.

At some point Barbara, visiting her family in Knoxville, saw the
black and white drawing and asked if I'd be willing to add color so
that she could incorporate it into a quilt. Of course I was flattered
and did so. I got a little carried away and added some additional
sketches and a repeating crazy-quilt pattern that I thought she might
be able to utilize. You can see a close-up of the art at
[removed].

I thought it possible someone on this list might be interested. I
think this would be a great thing to cuddle under or to tuck over
your grandchildren at Christmas time. Barbara is asking $450 for it
which, from what little I know about quilts, and considering how much
time and painstaking work she put into it, seems a give-away price to
me. But, anyhow, I'd be curious to hear what some of you think.
Especially Dennis Crow, who I know is both the world's premier
Cinnamon Bear authority, and the husband of another highly regarded
quilter.
--

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

Date: Wed, 12 May 2004 02:12:00 -0400
From: charlie@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Night!

A weekly [removed]

For the best in OTR Chat, join IRC (Internet Relay Chat), StarLink-IRC
Network, the channel name is #OldRadio.  We meet Thursdays at 8 PM Eastern
and go on, and on! The oldest OTR Chat Channel, it has been in existence
over six years, same time, same channel! Started by Lois Culver, widow
of actor Howard Culver, this is the place to be on Thursday night for
real-time OTR talk!

Our "regulars" include OTR actors, soundmen, collectors, listeners, and
others interested in enjoying OTR from points all over the world. Discussions
range from favorite shows to almost anything else under the sun (sometimes
it's hard for us to stay on-topic)...but even if it isn't always focused,
it's always a good time!

For more info, contact charlie@[removed]. We hope to see you there, this
week and every week!

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #163
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