Subject: [removed] Digest V2006 #367
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 12/31/2006 11:23 AM
To: [removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2006 : Issue 367
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Movie Actors Who Couldn't Adjust to   [ "Andrew Godfrey" <niteowl049@[removed] ]
  Quiet, Please                         [ Illoman <illoman@[removed]; ]
  Re: XM Satellite Radio Deal           [ <mikeandzachary@[removed]; ]
  Quiet Please                          [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
  12-31 births/deaths                   [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
  Syndicated shows                      [ "Sammy Jones" <sjones69@[removed] ]
  A Biel broadcasts from Times Square   [ mbiel@[removed] ]
  Heart Beat Theater                    [ "Walden Hughes" <walden1@yesterdayu ]
  Richard Widmark                       [ <vzeo0hfk@[removed]; ]
  Spy Shows                             [ <austhaus1@[removed]; ]
  Hoagy Carmichael                      [ <austhaus1@[removed]; ]
  The President's Birthday Ball         [ <austhaus1@[removed]; ]
  Hoagy Carmichael's 'Buttermilk Skies  [ Vere Scott <verescott@[removed]; ]
  Fourble Board                         [ ilamfan@[removed] (S Jansen) ]
  Clarence Hartzell                     [ Ken Greenwald <radio@[removed]; ]
  Re: Science Fiction for Fifth Grader  [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]

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

Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2006 21:24:11 -0500
From: "Andrew Godfrey" <niteowl049@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Movie Actors Who Couldn't Adjust to OTR

  This is not meant to mention names of any movie actors who had trouble
adjusting to old time radio. Probably some great movie actors couldn't make
the adjustment but don't want to make anyone think less of them if they
couldn't make the adjustment. Some entertainers just weren't cut out to do
old time radio.
  Just would like to know what their problems might have been adjusting to
old time radio when they could be heard on old time radio shows after being
in the movies.

  Andrew Godfrey

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

Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2006 21:25:22 -0500
From: Illoman <illoman@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Quiet, Please

On Dec 30, 2006, at 8:30 PM, Dennis wrote:

When did "The Thing on the Fourble Board," become so highly regarded;
when did its reputation start to build, and more to the point, why?

Dennis, Quiet, Please is a very unusual radio program. Willis Cooper
deliberately kept the pacing of the stories slow, to counteract the
hurried speed of most radio shows, in his estimation. I think it is a
bit of an acquired taste. Either you love the series or you can't
stand it. I personally love it, and it just may be my favorite OTR
series.

As far as the Fourble Board, (*spoiler alert* if you haven't listened
to it), what's so terrifying is that the creature the oil driller
encounters is a half woman half spider. As horrible as this would
appear to someone with 1950's sensibilities, the driller ends up
marrying the creature!! He speaks of covering up her lower half with
a dress so people might be fooled.

The episode has lots of suspense, and builds until the amazing ending
unfolds. It is just classic OTR, with the listener using all his
powers of imagination to "see" the events unfold.

Give the rest of the series a try. It contains some of the very best
writing in OTR history.

Mike

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

Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2006 21:52:15 -0500
From: <mikeandzachary@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: XM Satellite Radio Deal

I just wanted to confirm Charlie's praise for XM. I've had it for a few years
now. It's a great entertainment value for all that he mentioned and much,
much more. If I needed a new receiver, I'd go for that Crutchfield deal.
Alas, I have no financial interest in XM either. With all the new subscribers
I've gotten for them, I wish I did!

Mike

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

Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2006 22:22:11 -0500
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Quiet Please

Dennis Crow asked:

I don't get the reputation of "The Thing on the Fourble Board."  I may be a
little dense, but I had to listen to it several times to understand what it
was all about.  Surely, I wouldn't have gotten it the first time around.
It's complexly plotted, virtually all narration, with little to hold one's
attention. The ending is more ambiguous than it is frightening.  When did
"The Thing on the Fourble Board," become so highly regarded; when did its
reputation start to build, and more to the point, why?

I can explain that.  Three reasons.
1.  The entire series was pretty much built around a first person narrative.
  The episodes were slow at first (often the first ten minutes is chit chat,
nothing special).  Then the story took effect and the last 30 seconds was a
twist ending or punch line or sound effect that often gave the story a super
climax.
2.  With QUIET PLEASE, you have to allow your imagination to go free and
accept what is being presented to you.  Whether it be Jesus Christ
celebrating his birthday with soldiers in Berlin, 1945, or Robin Hood
fighting Hitler and his tanks with exploding arrows.  That was the format of
the series and it worked.  Compared to most fantasy and horror fiction radio
programs, QUIET PLEASE had some of the best stories ever presented.  Yes,
the prose is first person narrative so it rarely is written masterful and
frankly, had Wyllis Cooper actually wrote the plot ideas and Arch Oboler
create the prose, the series would have been top-notch.  But the story is
the most important part.
3.  "The Thing on the Fourable Board," the tale of a man who ends up
marrying a giant invisible spider after failing to warn oil drillers about
the creature may seem silly like most of the QUIET PLEASE episodes, but
until ten years ago, it was one of 16 episodes known to exist in
circulation.  When so very little is known to exist in recorded form, we are
all stuck with what we have and often consider the best surviving episode of
the series as the best.

The episode is silly, but not bad - if it's the first time you've heard a
QUIET PLEASE, I can understand - I too would have thought it ridiculous and
uncomprehensable.  Best suggestion is to listen to a dozen episodes (some
recommendations are below) and give it a fair chance.  After listening to
these you'll get the idea of how the series was formatted and better yet,
might have a deep appreciation for the program.

Berlin, 1945
The Man Who Stole a Planet  (one of my favorites)
Let the Lillies Consider
Symphony in D-Minor
Northern Lights
Not Enough Time

For anyone who has never heard this series, I recommend the above episodes.
You'll then get a general idea of how the episodes are written and I think
you'll be hooked.
Martin

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

Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 00:06:31 -0500
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  12-31 births/deaths

December 31st births

12-31-1894 - Vance Archer - d. 12-xx-1962
sportscaster: KNEX McPherson, Kansas
12-31-1897 - Orry-Kelly - Kiama, New South Wales, Australia - d.
2-27-1964
costume designer: Intermission Guest "Lux Radio Theatre"
12-31-1897 - Paula Hemminghous - Columbus, OH - d. 11-22-1997
singer: "Philco Hour"; "National Radio Pulpit"; "Highlights of the
Bible"
12-31-1904 - Nathan Milstein - Odessa, Russia - d. 12-21-1992
violinist: "NBC Symphony Orchestra"; "Concert Hall"
12-31-1905 - Dick Chevillat - NYC - d. 5-10-1984
writer: "Phil Harris/Alice Faye Show"; "Rudy Vallee Show"
12-31-1905 - Jule Styne - London, England - d. 9-28-1994
songwriter: "I Don't Wan to Walk Without You"; "I've Heard That Song
Before"
12-31-1908 - John Kirby - Baltimore, MD - d. 6-14-1952
jazz musician: "Duffy's Tavern"; "Flow Gently, Sweet Rhythm"
12-31-1908 - Jonah Jones - Louisville, KY - d. 4-30-2000
jazz trumpeter: "Eddie Condon's Jazz Concert"; "Army Bandstand";
"Manhattan Melodies"
12-31-1910 - Richard Kollmar - Ridgewood, NJ - d. 1-11-1971
actor: John Perry "John's Other Wife"; "Michael West "Big Sister";
"Boston Blackie "Boston Blackie"
12-31-1914 - Pat Brady - Toledo, OH - d. 2-27-1972
sidekick, stooge: "Roy Rogers Show"
12-31-1921 - Rex Allen - Wilcox, AZ - d. 12-17-1999
country/western singer: "Country Music Time"; "Country Hoedown"
12-31-1930 - Odetta - Birmingham, AL
singer: "Voices of Vista"

December 31st deaths

01-12-1908 - Joan Burroughs - Chicago, IL - d. 12-31-1972
actor: (Daughter of Edgar Rice Burroughs) Jane "Tarzan"
01-23-1894 - Clara Acuff Adams - d. 12-31-1950
soprano: KOA Denver, Colorado
02-13-1912 - Art Rollini - d. 12-31-1993
saxophone: (The Benny Goodman Orchestra) "Let's Dance"
03-11-1887 - Raoul Walsh - NYC - d. 12-31-1980
film director: "Jack Benny Program"
03-29-1919 - Eileen Heckart - Columbus, OH - d. 12-31-2001
actor: "Cloak and Dagger"; "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"
04-11-1910 - Jim Britt - San Francisco, CA - d. 12-31-1980
sports commentator: "Dateline Boston"
05-08-1940 - Ricky Nelson - Teaneck, NJ - d. 12-31-1985
actor: "Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet"
05-12-1927 - Suzanne Dalbert - Paris, France - d. 12-31-1970
actor: "George Fisher Interviews the Stars"; "Command Performance"
07-27-1919 - David Swift - Minneapolis, MN - d. 12-31-2001
writer: "Opie Cates Show"
08-04-1913 - Wesley Addy - Omaha, NB - d. 12-31-1996
actor: "Theatre Guild On the Air"; "Cavalcade of America"; "Great Plays"
08-24-1905 - Don Douglas - Kinleyside, Scotland - d. 12-31-1945
actor: "Good News of 1939"; "Cavalcade of America"; "Did Justice
Triumph?"
09-27-1921 - Carol Thurston - Forsyth, MT - d. 12-31-1969
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
10-14-1932 - Enrico Di Giuseppi - Philadelphia, PA - d. 12-31-2005
operatic tenor: "Metropolitan Opera"
10-27-1933 - Floyd Cramer - Samti, LA - d. 12-31-1997
country pianist: "Country Music Time"; "Country Style [removed]"
12-01-1896 - Ray Henderson - Buffalo, NY - d. 12-31-1970
composer: "Music for Millions"; "Cue Magazine Salutes ASCAP"
xx-xx-1891 - Clarence J. Ingram - Jersey City, NJ - d. 12-31-1955
interviewer: "Stardust"
xx-xx-1927 - Neil Strawser - Ohio - d. 12-31-2005
newscaster: "CBS World News Roundup"

Ron Sayles

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

Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 00:07:18 -0500
From: "Sammy Jones" <sjones69@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Syndicated shows

Lenny Kohl asks:

Can I assume then, that as a
station decided to pick the show up,  that station would begin the
transcription recordings of the show from the  beginning, or would they pick
up the show from the point that other stations  around the country were
playing it?

It totally depends on the individual series and the agreement between the
syndicator and the station playing the program.

Programs that were produced exclusively for recorded syndication tended to
be played from the beginning as they were picked up by various stations (a
possible exception is the early Amos 'n' Andy serial, although this may not
count, as a live version was being transmitted simultaneous with the
recorded version via WMAQ, Chicago).  Programs that were extension spotted
(recorded from the network feed and then syndicated to stations outside of
the network) obviously tended to have stations pick up the series with
current episodes.

These are not hard and fast rules; only my observations based on evidence.
I again stress that arrangements could vary with every series and
syndicator.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Sammy Jones

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

Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 00:07:23 -0500
From: mbiel@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  A Biel broadcasts from Times Square Tonight

I don't know if Charlie will be getting out another Digest in time, but radio
is going to return to Times Square for a live New Year's Eve broadcast
tonight.  Tune in to [removed] .   Leah Biel will be in Times
Square and she'll be checking in starting at 11:30 Eastern while her dad and
Walden Hughes bring in the new year in comfort from Brooklyn and California!
So join in the fun while we three bring in the new year the way it should be
done -- on radio.

Michael (Dad) Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 00:07:39 -0500
From: "Walden Hughes" <walden1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Heart Beat Theater

Happy Newyear Everybody,

Frank Bresee is looking for a copy of a Heart Beat Theater broadcast that
his wife Bobbie appeared on the national broadcast date was 1-16-83.  This
is one of the radio series that started in during the Golden Days of radio
and ran after  1962.  Take care,

Walden

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

Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 00:07:55 -0500
From: <vzeo0hfk@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Richard Widmark

Richard Widmark was also a regular on the
wartime show, "The Man Behind the Gun."

And now, sports fans, what Brooklyn Dodger
player became (for a while) Widmark's son in
law! (no fair Googling!)

Drumroll please . . . . ,

Howard Blue

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

Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 01:19:30 -0500
From: <austhaus1@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Spy Shows

I have a friend in his early thirties who has expressed an interest in old
time radio and I would like to supply him with a number of old radio shows to
get him started. He, like myself, is interested in the 1940-1945 period in
history and I have many news and entertainment shows in my collection which I
can share with him. However he has specifically asked for "spy shows", and
this has got me stumped. Do any of you know of some spy shows from the WW 2
period that are available or that I might even unknowingly have in my
collection?

Thanks
George Aust

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

Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 01:57:08 -0500
From: <austhaus1@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Hoagy Carmichael

I was surprised that no one mentioned the best movie that Hoagie ever
appeared in having won the Oscar for best movie of 1946(I think). That was
The Best Years Of Our Lives.

George Aust

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

Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 01:57:24 -0500
From: <austhaus1@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  The President's Birthday Ball

I recently got a hold of a couple of home recordings taken off the air of
FDR's Birthday Ball on January 30,[removed] are very incomplete fragments of
what was broadcast that night. They consist mostly of Eddie Cantor hosting
and Glenn Miller and his orchestra playing "Chattanooga Choo Choo" and "At
The President's Birthday Ball" ( this last a song that Miller got Irving
Berlin to compose for the event).
I was wondering if any complete recording exists of this fund raising
event(for The March of Dimes). I sure would appreciate any more info.

Thanks
George Aust

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

Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 01:58:02 -0500
From: Vere Scott <verescott@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Hoagy Carmichael's 'Buttermilk Skies' and
 Dale Evan's horse

Dale Evans identified her love of Hoagy Carmichaels song 'Buttermilk Skies'
as the origin of her
naming her light buckskin-coloured horse, 'Buttermilk'.

Vere Scott

Buttermilk (horse): link with photo.
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[removed](horse)

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

Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 10:18:27 -0500
From: ilamfan@[removed] (S Jansen)
To: [removed]@[removed] (OTR Bulletin Board)
Subject:  Fourble Board

Dennis Crow posted:

I don't get the reputation of "The Thing on the Fourble Board."  I may be a
little dense, but I had to listen to it several times to understand what it
was all about.  Surely, I wouldn't have gotten it the first time around.

Well, I surely got it the first time around - maybe it was my listening
environment: it was late at night, and I was driving alone in the car,
playing some various recommended "scary" radio [removed] only took a few
minutes for THIS one to grab me.  What were your listening circumstances?

It's complexly plotted, virtually all narration, with little to hold one's
attention.

I never thought that it was very complex, certainly more so than most OTR,
but not too hard to follow.  Also, the entire series of "Quiet Please" is
mainly told in first person, by Ernest Chappell: a neat literary device to
draw the listener in.  Not the typical style for radio drama, but definitely
unique and effective.

The ending is more ambiguous than it is frightening.

YOW!  I never thought that it was the least BIT ambiguous - I never had any
doubt what was going to happen to the person the story was being told to (the
listener, aka YOU or ME).

Radiola once released a record with an artistic representation of the
episode on the cover.

[removed] never saw that album, and frankly, I hope I never do.  The "thing"
is supremely terrifying in my imagination.  If they show it on the album
cover, I have no doubt that I would be disappointed in the artist's
rendition.

When did "The Thing on the Fourble Board," become so highly regarded;
when did its reputation start to build, and more to the point, why?

My guess is that the episode had been burned into the memories of those who
first heard it (Aug 9th, 1948), and then continued to be heard and remembered
from existing recordings.  Now, for the WHY: it's just so darned good!

SPOILERS AHEAD: DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT HEARD THE SHOW!

The explanations about oil rigs and drilling lingo are real, and lend an air
of blue-collar believability to the show.  The oil rig is a lonely unfamiliar
place, a good location for a scary tale.  The pork chops being cooked up at
the beginning (more reality, to help anchor the dark fantasy) are
foreshadowing - eating is a part of the element of horror in this episode.
The guys find a ring in the drill core sample (strange), millions of years
old (more strange, creepy), on an invisible finger (beyond strange, past
creepy, to chilling) - the ring on the finger is also more foreshadowing,
refer to the last few shocking minutes of the show.  Our narrator tells his
friend (who ends up dead, from a mysterious fall from the oil tower) has a
fear of [removed] "thing" is part huge spider.  It only becomes visible
when he splashes blood-red paint on [removed] "thing" has a strange mewling
cry - this sound goes right through me, a mixture of crying child and angry
[removed]!  He starts talkin
g about feeling pity for it, putting makeup on it, covering the spider legs,
WHAT?!? Did I hear that right? - this stuff is extreme horror, the icing on
top of the creepy cake.  Then the REAL kickers, the last few lines of the
show, when he talks about his WIFE, and how SHE'S HUNGRY, and YOU'D BETTER
SIT [removed], the hackles raise on my neck just writing this stuff now!
THIS stuff is maximum inside-out horror - the sprinkles on the icing on top
of the creepy cake!  Some actual literary devices, some convincing
storytelling/narration, and an unparalleled original story make this a
classic, something that has been listened to for about 60 years - and, I
expect, will continue to be listened to for years to come.

Ghah!  You need to cue this one up again, and listen to it by yourself in the
dark with no distractions.  And maybe try "Northern Lights", the one with the
singing caterpillars - yes, you heard me right, singing caterpillars.  That
Willis Cooper had SOME imagination (hey, he did create "Lights Out", before
handing it over to Arch Oboler!).  This series is different than all the
others, the format is somewhat unusual, but the diverse imaginative stories
are all very rewarding listens.

Now I'm all creeped out, and I have to try to go to sleep.  Maybe a little
"One Man's Family"...

Stephen Jansen

--
Old Time Radio never dies - it just changes formats!

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

Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 10:19:02 -0500
From: Ken Greenwald <radio@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Clarence Hartzell

Back in the early 1980s I had the good fortune to meet Clarence
Hartzell's nephew. I'm not sure of his first name. Memory doesn't
serve me sometime. I believe it was Darryl Hartzell, though it could
have been Dwayne. If someone knows, please correct me. In any case
(I'll call him Darryl) Darryl was living in Hollywood and came down
to PPB to look around, take the 2 cent tour and talk a bit. Of
course, we talked a great deal about Vic and Sade, and Darryl
mentioned that he was going to leave for Chicago to see his uncle
Clarence and spend time with him on his uncles birthday. I was
astonished that Clarence Hartzel had never heard a single broadcast
of Vic and Sade. He only acted on it!
Well, I offered to make some taped copies of a number of the
broadcasts (ones that are already circulating). Darrel came back the
following week and I gave him a tape with 12 Vic and Sade shows on
it. Then he went back to Chicago.
A month later Darrel strolled into PPB and said hello to me with a
BIG  smile on his face.
"What's the smile for?"
Seems that, when he was visiting his uncle Clarence, Darryl gave him
the tape as a birthday present. Clarence was astonished that any of
the Viv and Sade broadcasts existed. After dinner, the family sat
down and Darryl turned on the tape recorder and they listened to Vic
and Sade. Clarence listened hard and fast to the shows, hanging on
every incident in the unfolding story. He laughed at his own humor
and then, when it was least expected, he teared up. Darryl asked him
why he was all teared up and Clarence said hearing the shows brought
back so many loving memories he simply could not help but cry for
joy. He told Darrel it was the best gift he could ever have had!
When Darrel told me that, it was my turn to smile!

Ken Greenwald

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

Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 13:20:52 -0500
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Science Fiction for Fifth Graders

John Mayer asks:

Does anybody else have any suggestions of OTR sci-fi shows that would
be compelling - and not too
conspicuously dated - introductions to the genre to jaded fifth graders?

When I taught elementary school back in the mid-seventies, one of my
favorites for using OTR science fiction was also "Kaleidoscope" though
the Dimension X copies floating around are not very good. My personal
preference was actually the Suspense presentation of this story in 1955
with William Conrad.  The story might be considered a bit too scary for
some fifth graders, but it played well back in the seventies and kids
were not that sensitive and I would think that today's kids are even
more jaded about these themes given the "reality" of what they are
exposed to nowadays.

In my book from back in 1996 I mention that "Kaleidoscope" was pure
radio with each character developed by  dialogic situations and not by
action defined. I also mention that "Pail of Air" falls into that same
vein. For me both of these evoke powerful images from one's own
imagination much more than many of the radio science fiction adaptations.

Needless, I was quite surprised at how receptive the kid's were to the
story despite it seeming originally to me as too adult.  Many of
Bradbury's stories adapted to radio are good for the classroom in my
opinion as there was such a child in his wonder about the universe.

Jim

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2006 Issue #367
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