Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #190
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 6/4/2004 10:04 PM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2004 : Issue 190
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  hal sampson                           [ "randy story" <hopharrigan@centuryt ]
  Buster Keaton on radio                [ Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed]; ]
  Mr. Keen book                         [ Ruk77@[removed] ]
  Bedside Radio                         [ "RBB" <oldradio@[removed]; ]
  Re: The BS in CBS                     [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
  Re:Recording the D-Day re-creation    [ "Jorgenson, Ron" <RJorgenson@planom ]
  Re: Recording the XM D-Day re-creati  [ Anthony Akins <asakins@[removed]; ]
  Cancelled Checks                      [ "Jim Harmon" <jimharmonotr@charter. ]
  6-5 births/deaths                     [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Comics and OTR                        [ <robertgaxley@[removed]; ]
  The Whistler                          [ "Lois Culver" <lois@[removed]; ]
  Re: Paley article                     [ chris chandler <chrischandler84@yah ]

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

Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2004 13:01:20 -0400
From: "randy story" <hopharrigan@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  hal sampson
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

Hi.
At the Cincy Con, memoribilia dealer Hal Sampson told me of a woman that
travels across the country doing OTR related workshops for school kids. I ahve
misplaced Hal's contact information and I really need to speak with him about
this matter very soon. Anybody on the digest know how to reach Hal? Let me
know off-digest please.
Thanks,
Randy Story
(who just yesterday turned 40 years old)

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

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

Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2004 13:30:32 -0400
From: Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Buster Keaton on radio

Alan Chapman noted that in 1930, Buster Keaton made
his first radio appearance. This prompts me to follow
up with a query about Sing It Again's Phantom Voice,
in late 1949. I just listened to a Yours Truly, Johnny
Dollar episode (The Haiti Matter, 12/17/49), which
concluded with a message that went something like "Did
you guess it? Did you know that Sing It Again's
Phantom Voice was Buster Keaton?" Does anybody have
any more information on this? Do any copies of this
show survive? Was the Phantom Voice something like
TOC's Mr. Hush?

Buster, of course, spent years in vaudeville before
going into movies, and was no stranger to speaking and
singing.  A few years back, NPR played a recording of
Buster Keaton singing a bunch of songs from his
vaudeville days. It was fascinating! Does anybody
happen to have a copy of that as well?

A number of prominent silent films stars had
long-running radio careers after their film careers
had fizzled. Francis X. Bushman is perhaps the most
noted example. He seems to crop up almost in
practically every  dramatic show from the 40s and
early 50s as a character actor. Anybody know of any
others?

I read someplace (it might have been in Chaplin's
Autobiography) that Charlie Chaplin first went on the
radio in the mid-30s, to promote Modern Times. Charlie
also had a great speaking voice, as anybody who's seen
his later films (or the dubs he did of his earlier
ones) can attest. Does anybody know of any surviving
shows featuring Chaplin or Keaton? (Or for that
matter, Harold Lloyd? I know Harold had his own radio
series for a while. As did Mary Pickford.)

I suppose I'm drawn to silent films for the same
reason I enjoy radio--you have to use your imagination
to fill in part of the action.

Thanks,
Kermyt

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

Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2004 13:32:32 -0400
From: Ruk77@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Mr. Keen book
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

I got my copy of the new Mr. Keen book and it is great. It outlines EVERY
episode there was and gives the plot line. Mostly it made me sad, though, that
all those great episodes are lost forever. I haven't read the entire book yet
but my preliminary examination tells me that Jim Cox did a great job of
documenting and keeping alive the adventures of the kindly old tracer of lost
persons/

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

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

Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2004 13:33:32 -0400
From: "RBB" <oldradio@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Bedside Radio

<<Alan Chapman asked about the Veteran's Bedside [removed];>

During my military years in 1953-56,  I ran the Fort Devens (MA) hospital
"radio station" with AFRS equipment.  I volunteered at night, after duty
hours, to play V-discs, 16-inch music ET's and I filled the requests from
nurses for patients in the wards.  It was sent to their individual bedside
speaker by wire (not over the air broadcast).  They could also choose other
channels to hear baseball games, news, etc. from other local, broadcast
stations piped into the amplified system throughout the hospital, even in
the cafeteria and recreation lounge.

I understand that VA hospitals no longer have this in-house "bedside radio"
system.  Whatever happend to all of that equipment and great ET libraries?
However, the service is still going strong in hospitals in England, with
volunteers playing music requests and shows for patients.  Here is just one
link of many in a Google search of the UK:
[removed]

My military, AFRS experience is probably not the "network" that Alan is
inquiring about, but it was indeed, "bedside radio." There appears to be a
NYC telephone contact for the Veteran's Bedside Network (212) 620-0748, in a
Google search, however.

Incidentally, I still have a couple of b/w photos of that Ft-Devens radio
station and a newspaper article about it for anyone interested, or perhaps,
from someone who has had a similar radio experience (amplified wire, carrier
current, low power, etc.)
Can we talk?  Thanks.

=Russ Butler  oldradio@[removed]

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

Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2004 13:34:44 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: The BS in CBS

On 6/4/04 12:18 PM [removed]@[removed] wrote:

Some of  the posts in th OTR
digest seemed to indicate that the article was  practically written by the
CBS
publicity department.  What was meant by  this ?   I doubt if the current CBS
publicity department even  cares about CBS radio history . (perhaps I am
wrong
??   ) .  Or  was it simply meant that CBS sources have mostly written radio
history over the  years ?  This is an interesting subject and I would like to
hear  more.

Well, let's just say that over the years, CBS managed its publicity far
more efficiently and effectively than NBC, and Paley himself was very
adept at ingratiating himself with the media, when it suited his purposes
to do so. It suited Paley to style himself "Founding Chairman" of CBS,
for example, which is why the real founders of the network -- George
Coats and Arthur Judson -- were pushed further and further into the
background and finally disappeared completely from view, and why the
comic-opera ineptitude of CBS's first year has been quietly erased from
the official record. "Authorized" accounts of the origins of the network
have more to do with furthering that one-man's-genius-started-it-all
image than they do with the reality of what actually happened. Likewise,
the cultivated image of CBS as a lonely fountain of freethinking
intellectual creativity in the parched commercial desert of radio has
more to do with carefully-orchestrated publicity campaigns dating to the
late 1930s than it does with cold hard fact.

I think a lot of the Columbiacentric approach to history dates back to
Erik Barnouw, who was very much a Columbiacentrist himself, almost to the
point of looking down his nose (in print, at least) at those uneducated
proles at NBC -- an attitude which is quite obvious when you read his
History of Broadcasting In America trilogy. Barnouw's work was, for a
long time, the only widely available serious overview of broadcasting
history, and greatly influenced the way in which subsequent generations
of historians have looked at the evolution of the broadcast media --
Barnouw's attitudes gradually ended up becoming the standard-issue
Received Wisdom taught in all media history classes.  And media writers,
being exceptionally lazy people, just kind of followed along in the wake.

Elizabeth

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

Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2004 14:46:45 -0400
From: "Jorgenson, Ron" <RJorgenson@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re:Recording the D-Day re-creation

Bob asks

I don't know if there is a way to do this.  The total time of the
re-creation is so large, but does anyone who has XM plan to record the
event??  Does anyone have any tips on how to do this for those of us that
would like to.

I don't have XM but would love to have it for this event. I have recorded
long spells of radio using two methods.

You could set up the audio output to feed into a VCR (HiFi is preferred) then
just record onto VHS tape, for 6 or 8 hours at a time. Then you can transfer
that later to whatever format you like. The HiFi audio is very good. If you
have 2 or more VCRs you can set the timers and swap out the tapes. I've taped
many a marathon that way. You may need to have a video source feed into the
VCR as well, I just hook a cable from a DVD or another VCR and leave it on,
sometimes the sound doesn't play back through the TV very loud w/o the video
signal.

The next method, which may be preferred is to take the XM audio output and
hook up to the "line in" input on your computer's sound card. Then record
using whatever sound recording software you have (musicmatch works and is
free, just set sound source to line in). You could record directly into MP3
to save space and later on transfer that to a CD. I use Total Recorder from
High [removed] (no connection, just a very satisfied customer) this
program will let you set up automatic breaks in the file so it won't be so
large. It also records streams and can be set to record audio just like you
setup a VCR!

Hope this helps, and don't be afraid to offer me a copy if you get it to work.

Ron

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

Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2004 14:47:05 -0400
From: Anthony Akins <asakins@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Recording the XM D-Day re-creation

Bob Watson asked in issue 189 how to record the XM D-Day
re-creation. I can think of a couple of ways. They both involve
having a computer with plenty of disk space and sound recording
software (my favorite is Total Recorder) running on the
computer.

If you have the XM PCR (the XM receiver that relies on your
computer as the tuner interface and for sound) all you need to
do is record the stream from XM.

If you have any of the other XM tuner/receivers you would
connect the sound output of the receiver to the microphone input
of your computer.

Either way, you're ready to go. The sound recording software
will record either from the microphone or the sound stream that
would play through speakers.

If you record the stream as a standard audio wave file one hour
of sound will take up around 700mb of disk space. Multiple hours
means a few gigabyted will get used to record the stream. Most
sound recording software offers the ability to encode the stream
to MP3 or WMA on the fly, which would save a lot of space. Total
Recorder allows you to break up a long recording into time
defined chunks (say one hour a piece) or logical chunks (start a
new file when the sound drops below a certain level for a
defined number of seconds).

Sadly, while I have a XM Roady I haven't revieved my home
adapter kit yet, so if I listen to the re-creation, I'll be in
my [removed]

Anthony Akins, asakins@[removed]

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

Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2004 14:48:54 -0400
From: "Jim Harmon" <jimharmonotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Cancelled Checks
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

Hello --

The story about Joan Benny destroying the cancelled checks of her father, Jack
Benny, reminds me of a similar incident.

Even before Curley Bradley died, his last wife, Margaret, began destroying his
things.  One of the earliest divestures I heard about was her planning to take
two of his Western styled tuxedoes out to the trash.  My wife, Barbara and I
heard about this on a visit, and Barbara managed to get Margaret to postpone
this, but later they were gone and apparently she could just not quell her
destructive tendencies.  Probably the Gene Autry Museum would have been
interested in them, or I would have, as collectors' items and many others.
    Than Curley died.   I attended the funeral.  Actually, I did more than
attend.   I conducted the funeral.  The minister did not show up.  Margaret
asked me to say a few words.   I did, and in fact gave what from memory I
considered a funeral service.   My prepared remarks were reprinted in Paul
Mix's second book about Tom Mix (and to a much lesser extent the actors who
portrayed him).  The minister showed up in the last five minutes, and said if
you had any respect for Curley you would accept Jesus Christ immediately.   I
found this pretty offensive.  I am an agnostic, and from everything I heard
Curley say on the subject he was at least an agnostic (although to please his
wife he might have said something else at the end).  My wife, Barbara, is
Jewish, and there must have been other faiths and convictions in that
gathering.
    Anyway, the next thing I heard from Margaret was that she had spent all
day burning his cancelled checks to others for radio work, personal
appearances, and the rodeos he had put on.
Many people would have liked to have had one of those checks signed by Curley
Bradley "Tom Mix" and of course they were worth money -- probably thousands of
dollars from collectors.
    She did give me some things that Curley had asked her to pass on to me --
two 16 in. transcription sets for two shows of "Curley Bradley, the Singing
Marshal" and some tapes he had made in his later days as a disc jockey with
people like Paul Whiteman, and one singing show he did.  (No Tom Mix
material.)  There were also a lot of photos of Curley on personal appearances,
and a lot of photos autographed TO him by about every radio star in the
business.  One from Roy Rogers is particularly interesting -- "You know you
were always my idol and inspiration".  I have put the recordings in
circulation long ago.
    Margaret had her good points, but she just knew absolutely nothing about
show business or collectors.   She may have criticized Curley while he was
alive, but after his death she had a large photo set up in alcove with a light
on it, looking rather like a shrine.  I have lost track of her, although for
years I sent her practically everything I made from selling some tapes I made
of a semi-pro series, "Curley Bradley's Trail of Mystery", not that it was
ever a very significant amount.
    June 3 was the 18th anniversary of Curley Bradley's death.  I'll never
forget visiting him in the hospital near the end.  He seemed to be in a coma,
but when I touched his shoulder he climbed back into consciousness to grasp my
hand.  I knew him for the last ten years of his life and he was certainly like
a member of my own family.
    -- JIM HARMON

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

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

Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2004 15:57:52 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  6-5 births/deaths

June 5th births

06-05-1895 - William Boyd - Hendrysburg, OH - d. 9-12-1972
actor: Hopalong Cassidy "Hopalong Cassidy"
06-05-1910 - Herb Vigran - Fort Wayne, IN - d. 11-29-1986
actor: Sad Sack "Sad Sack"; Hector Smith "Father Knows Best"

June 5th deaths

09-13-1925 - Mel Torme - Chicago, IL- d. 6-5-1999
actor, singer: Joe Corntassel "Little Orphan Annie"; "Torme Time"; "New Mel
Torme Show"
09-22-1926 - Sybil Trent - Brooklyn, NY - d. 6-5-2000
actress: "Let's Pretend"; Thelma "As the Twig is Bent/We Love and Learn"
11-11-1887 - Roland Young - London, England - d. 6-5-1953
actor: Cosmo Topper "Advs of Topper"; William "Johnny Presents"
12-30-1911 - Jeanette Nolan - Los Angeles, CA - d. 6-5-1998
actress: Nicolette Moore "One Man's Family"; Mrs. Hudson "Advs. of Sherlock
Holmes"
--
Ron Sayles
For a complete list:
[removed]

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

Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2004 15:58:06 -0400
From: <robertgaxley@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Comics and OTR

I have been following the thread of comics and OTR with interest.  I did a
two part article in our club newsletter, Chattanooga Airwaves, a couple of
years ago.  One part had to do with comics which spawned OTR shows and the
other part vice versa.  It was fairly easy using the Overstreet Comic Book
Price Guide, the Smithsonian History of the Comic Strips, and John Dunning's
book.  It was a very interesting research and indicated the great number of
programs associated with the comics.
Bob Axley

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

Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2004 17:12:10 -0400
From: "Lois Culver" <lois@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  The Whistler

For B. J. Watkins, who wanted to know who played The Whistler in early
shows:  No, as far as I know it was not Howard Culver.

Lois Culver

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

Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2004 23:55:10 -0400
From: chris chandler <chrischandler84@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re:  Paley article

Bryan [removed]

As far as radio history is concerned  do we really
need to emphasize the BS in CBS when reading some of
the history of the network?

That would be yes.  :)  You're right, this particular
Biz Week article smacked of simple incompetence (any
writer who compares Jack Benny and Fats Waller as
major 1940s radio personalities isn't worth taking
very seriously), but it's emblamatic of the larger
issue.

There are a number of reasons for the CBS-i-zation of
broadcast history.  Paley himself had a top public
relations expert as close friend and advisor, and he
learned early on not only to schmooze with reporters
(something which reporters eat up like little babies,
but something NBC's David Sarnoff wouldn't deign to
do), but also to trumpet each and every alleged
victory loudly and frequently enough that some of
these stories finally became ingrained in the national
consciousness as history--whether there was any
reality behind the hype, or not.

This sort of PR tactic is to be expected; it's even
commendable in a corporate executive.  The
less-excusable part of the equation is the gullibility
and/or complete self-absortion of three generations of
writers and media critics, many of whom never
understand that their likes and dislikes aren't
universally shared.  In the 1930s and early '40s, the
higher-brow elements of CBS were alot like NPR in
2004--adored by critics and  elitists; largely ignored
by almost everybody else.  And the writers who swooned
over Ed Murrow and Norman Corwin largely, and
conveniently, overlooked Helen Trent and Major Bowes
because this lowbrow fare didn't jibe with their
Columbia-centric picture of radio reality (much like
those who today bash 'corporate' radio never mention
that "Car Talk" or "The Tavis Smiley Show" on public
radio are identical to the pap you can hear on any
commercial station in the country).

Even decades after those formative years, historians
like Erik Barnouw were peppering praise upon the
"Tiffany Network"--essentially heaping compliments
upon personal friends, even as he either ignored or
actively dissed entire genres of programming which
reached a much, much wider audience--and had
infinitely greater influence--than many of the
programs he so clearly prefers.  (That "Tiffany
Network" nickname itself is instructive, since it was
put into use just about the time CBS was airing "Green
Acres" and "Hee Haw", and banning post-speech analysis
of Presidential addresses.)

The most fascinating thing to me about this entire
subject is the almost complete disconnect between
what's written *about* some of these programs and
personalities, and actually *listening* to them.  I
defy anybody to sit and actually listen to several
months' worth of William L. Shirer's 1939-1940 air
work, for example, and tell me it's either interesting
or informative.  It is neither, decades of
near-mythological praise nonwithstanding.

Likewise some of Norman Corwin's stuff.  "On A Note of
Triumph" just sounds angry, overlong, and to me more
than a little condescending toward the very servicemen
to which it tries to pay tribute.  And it's not just a
matter of taste--"Triumph", for example, was heard by
far fewer people than heard a quite moving "Fibber
McGee and Molly" program that very same night, yet
which of these stanzas has gotten every single drop of
ink over the years?  For my money, "Triumph" wasn't
even the best, deepest, or most emotional dramatic
work on *CBS* that evening--but how many of us have
ever heard or read about any of the rest of Columbia's
VE-Day specials?

In many cases, the legends simply don't match the
reality.  The question is whether this is harmful, or
simply annoying.  I find it annoying, as you might be
able to tell; but this type of lazy-historian/reporter
syndrome does a disservice to the 'real' story, which
is much broader and involves a greater number of
innovaters and colorful characters than the "round up
the usual suspects" approach on display in this recent
article, and elsewhere.

chris

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #190
*********************************************

Copyright [removed] Communications, York, PA; All Rights Reserved,
  including republication in any form.

If you enjoy this list, please consider financially supporting it:
   [removed]

For Help: [removed]@[removed]

To Unsubscribe: [removed]@[removed]

To Subscribe: [removed]@[removed]
  or see [removed]

For Help with the Archive Server, send the command ARCHIVE HELP
  in the SUBJECT of a message to [removed]@[removed]

To contact the listmaster, mail to listmaster@[removed]

To Send Mail to the list, simply send to [removed]@[removed]