Subject: [removed] Digest V2006 #356
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 12/20/2006 10:18 AM

To: [removed]@[removed]

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2006 : Issue 356
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Joe Barbera                           [ wayne_johnson@[removed] ]
      Re: Vic and Sade's theme music        [ "Jan Bach" <janbach@[removed]; ]
      Parker Fennely and Gene Krupa on "Th  [ "Bob Scherago" <rscherago@[removed] ]
      On the Podcast - Here It Now, the Pr  [ Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed] ]
      Jack Benny's timeslot                 [ "Bob Watson" <crw934@[removed]; ]
      Jack Benny Time                       [ "Frank McGurn" <[removed]@sbcgloba ]
      OTR Love Story                        [ jack and cathy french <otrpiano@ver ]
      Greatest movie about radio            [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
      Wodehouse and radio                   [ Briantaves1879@[removed] ]
      CL?                                   [ "RadioAZ@[removed]" <radioAZ@bas ]
      12-20 births/deaths                   [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
      applause meter                        [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]
      #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Nig  [ charlie@[removed] ]

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 11:35:44 -0500
    From: wayne_johnson@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Joe Barbera

    Maybe it's just me and my age and how and when I came to enjoy OTR.  To me,
    Joe Barbera will be missed as much for his entertainment that I experienced
    as a  child (I particularly enjoyed 'Johnny Quest') but even today for the
    voices that Hanna-Barbera employed that I continue to recognize as I listen
    to OTR.

    Alan Reed, Mel Blanc, Bea Benadarat, and Jean Vanderpyl to name but four from
    The Flintstones.  It amazes me to listen to Life with Louigi or even a select
    YTJD episode and hear Alan Reed's gravely voice and NOT hear
    "Yabba-Dabba-Doo".

    To Joe Barbera of Hanna-Barbera fame ... he kept a few of the voices going
    just a little longer.  Alan Reed will always be "Fred" to me.

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 11:46:14 -0500
    From: "Jan Bach" <janbach@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Vic and Sade's theme music

    Hello, again --

    Actually, Vic and Sade's theme song, Chanson Bohemienne, was written by
    someone named J. B. Boldi in 1919 and described as a "Boston Waltz."  It was
    also published as a song called "My Love and the Lark." It's interesting to
    compare its original, very suitable performance on organ with the highly
    distorted and broadly caricatured arrangement for organ, piano, and bassoon
    appearing in the last year or so of the show . . . running (I think) a
    fitting parallel to the sad distortions of the show itself, once Rhymer
    bowed to the pressures of the NBC execs to add extra speaking parts and a
    studio audience.

    Jan Bach

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 12:24:56 -0500
    From: "Bob Scherago" <rscherago@[removed];
    To: "Old Time Radio" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Parker Fennely and Gene Krupa on "The Golden
     Age of Radio" and "A One Night Stand"

    The latest "Golden Age of Radio" programs with Dick Bertel
    and Ed Corcoran, and "A One Night Stand with the Big Bands"
    with Arnold Dean can be heard at [removed].

    Each week we feature three complete shows in MP3 format
    for your listening pleasure or for downloading; two "Golden
    Age of Radios" and one "One Night Stand." We present new
    shows every week or so. The current three programs will be
    available on line at least until the morning of 12/26/06.

    Program 20 - November, 1971 - Parker Fennely

    Parker Fennelly personified the crusty New England Yankee
    in roles on radio, films and television. He played Titus Moody
    on "Allen's Alley" on radio. His famous opening line there was
    "Howdy Bub". In later years he became famous as the
    Pepperidge Farm's television spokesman. Fennelly was also a
    noted playwright.

    Program 21 - December, 1971 - First OTR Convention

    This program was recorded at the first Old-Time Radio Collectors'
    Convention in New Haven, Connecticut. The convention's organizers,
    Sal Traipani and Jay Hickerson, are featured, along with many of the
    collectors and their favorite shows, including X Minus 1, Escape,
    Suspense, Kate Smith Hour, and The Witch's Tale.

    "A One Night Stand with the Big Bands" With Arnold Dean

    Program 13 - July 1972 - Gene Krupa

    Gene Krupa was a famous and influential American jazz and
    big band drummer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant
    style. Krupa made his first recordings in 1927, with a band under
    the leadership of banjoist Eddie Condon and "fixer" (and sometime
    singer, who did not appear on the records), Red McKenzie: these
    sides are now recognised as the first, and definitive, examples of
    white "Chicago Style" jazz.

    Krupa moved to New York City in 1929 and worked with the
    band of Red Nichols. In 1934 he joined Benny Goodman's band,
    where his featured drum work - especially on the hit "Sing, Sing,
    Sing" - made him a national celebrity. In 1938 he left Goodman
    to launch his own band and had several hits with singer Anita O'Day
    and trumpeter Roy Eldridge. Krupa made a memorable cameo
    appearance in the 1941 film Ball of Fire, in which he and his band
    performed an extended versions of the hit Drum Boogie.

    Many consider Krupa to be the most influential drummer of the
    20th century, particularly with regard to the development of the
    drum kit. Krupa's main influence began in the 1930s with his
    collaboration with the Slingerland drum company, but he had
    already made history in 1927 as the first kit drummer ever to
    record using a bass drum pedal. His drum method was published
    in 1938 and immediately became the standard text.

    In the 1970's WTIC decided that there was a market in
    the evening for long-form shows that could be packaged
    and sold to sponsors. Two of those shows were "The
    Golden Age of Radio" and "A One Night Stand with the
    Big Bands."

    Dick Bertel had interviewed radio collector-historian
    Ed Corcoran several times on his radio and TV shows,
    and thought a regular monthly show featuring interviews
    with actors, writers, producers, engineers and musicians
    from radio's early days might be interesting. "The Golden
    Age of Radio" was first broadcast in April, 1970; Ed was
    Dick's co-host. It lasted seven years. "The Golden Age
    of Radio" can also be heard Saturday nights on Walden
    Hughes's program on Radio Yesteryear.

    Arnold Dean began his love affair with the big band
    era in his pre-teen years and his decision to study
    the clarinet was inspired by the style of Artie Shaw.
    When he joined WTIC in 1965 he hosted a daily program
    of big band music. In 1971, encouraged by the success
    of his daily program and "The Golden Age of Radio"
    series, he began monthly shows featuring interviews
    with the band leaders, sidemen, agents, jazz reporters,
    etc. who made major contributions to one of the great
    eras of music history.

    Bob Scherago
    Webmaster

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 12:25:02 -0500
    From: Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  On the Podcast - Here It Now, the Premier Broadcast

    Folks;

       New on the Nostalgic Rumblings Blog Podcast at [removed]

       I missed - I wanted to have this show posted on the fifteenth, as it was
    the 56th anniversary of the program. On December 15, 1950, a new kind of
    radio program took to the CBS airwaves, a program borrowed from the format of
    a series of records released in 1948; a program whose importance is less its
    own longevity, but more for the experience and experimentation it gave the
    producers, Edward R. Murrow and Fred Friendly. Less than a year later, these
    two would take this program to the CBS Television Network, where the show
    renamed "See It Now" became part of both television history and folklore.
    (The younger generation was introduced to that program and its staff through
    the film, Good Night, and Good Luck.)

       In listening to this particular program, the first in the series, I am
    struck by how little things have really changed within my lifetime. Many of
    the conversations the country was involved in then still resonate with us
    today.

       This program, along with thousands of others, is available for purchase in
    high-quality audio CD from our good friends at Audio Classics at
    [removed] - tell 'em Charlie sent'cha!

       (I'm always looking for more Murrow on radio and television; if you have
    anything you'd like to share with everyone on the list, drop me an email.
    Also let me know what shows you'd like to see on the Podcast, currently
    re-running the entire Jonothan Thomas and his Christmas on the Moon for
    click-to-download or listen!)

             Charlie

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:14:19 -0500
    From: "Bob Watson" <crw934@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Jack Benny's timeslot

    Keith Houdeshell inquired about the Jack Benny timeslot.  I'm hope others
    will ring in with more detailed info.  But basically, movies and tv are
    notorious for placing OTR in the wrong places.  I remember that on the
    Walton's, the family would be listening to shows from the 1940's when the
    Waltons episode itself was set in the 1930's.  And the perinneal favorite, A
    Christmas Story, takes liberties with radio material as well.  So, if a
    movie or tv character is listening to a certain episode of a radio series,
    it is more than likely an episode that is handy to play, rather than a means
    of fixing a timeframe for that particular scene.  But, on an odd note, the
    'movie about a modern aircraft carier' is a movie titled The Final
    Countdown.  What's odd is that they seem to have gone to the trouble of
    locating the Dec 7th, 1941 episode of Jack Benny.  But the aircraft carrier
    actually emerges in the past on Saturday night, Dec 6th.  But when the crew
    checks out the AM broadcast band and hears Jack's program, that IS the
    actual Dec 7th, 1941 program they are listening [removed] FULL DAY BEFORE IT
    WAS BROADCAST.

    LOL

    That always has annoyed me.  LOL

    Bob

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:17:19 -0500
    From: "Frank McGurn" <[removed]@[removed];
    To: "The Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Jack Benny Time

    Keith Houdeshell asks about JB radio programs time. In the Central Time Zone
    (Chicago) he was on from 6:00 to 6:30 PM in the East (New York) it was 7:00
    to 7:30 Sunday night.
    LA I don't know.

    In 1990 Joan Benny, Jack & Mary's daughter, wrote a book "Sunday Nights At
    Seven" referring to the time slot he had from 1934 until 1957. It is a very
    interesting biography by some one who had first hand [removed]

    The movie about the air craft carrier that went back in time to 1941. was
    not [removed] Pearl Harbor was bombed early morning  of 12/7/41, Hawaiian
    time, not on the 6th.

    In the Midwest we had the Chicago Bears Sunday football game interrupted
    with a the first bulletin I heard about the bombing at around 1 or 2 PM in
    the afternoon. Jack Benny, Great Gildersleeve , Charlie McCathy and the
    Screen Guild Theater all were on the air at usual times, but had
    interruptions on the latest about Pearl Harbor.

    Frank McGurn

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 17:47:25 -0500
    From: jack and cathy french <otrpiano@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  OTR  Love Story

    On Tuesday, December 19, 2006, at 08:51 AM, Paul Adomites wrote:

>     Our local theater group is going to get to do TWO OTR performances
>     this year -- and one will be held on Sunday afternoon so we can
>     attract some senior citizens groups. We're excited. One will be the
>     weekend of Valentine's Day, so we'd like to do a love story. Can
>     anyone recommend a good one?

    My favorite is from the Ft. Laramie series, an episode entitled "Never
    the Twain" which aired 5-6-56. It's a retelling of the story of Romeo
    and Juliet in a western setting script written by William N. Robson.
    This time the star-crossed lovers are Lt. Seibert and an Indian
    princess, the daughter of Spotted Tail, who is brought to Ft. Laramie
    for medical help. It's a poignant and realistic treatment of lovers
    from "warring families." As an additional footnote, the script has some
    basis in historical fact, in that the Chief's daughter actually did
    receive some medical attention at the fort, although the subsequent
    romance was Robson's imagination, with a little help from Shakespeare.
    (And mirroring the Bard, Robson does not provide a happy ending.)

    Jack French
    Editor: RADIO RECALL
    <[removed]>

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 17:47:47 -0500
    From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Greatest movie about radio

    I have just watched, for the fifth time, the greatest movie dealing
    with radio that I have ever seen. Of course that is in my humble
    opinion.  "Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald." It is a 1988 Japanese release
    the Japanese title being, "Rajio no jikan." It is the story of what
    can and does happen when changes are made to the script just before
    air time and while on the air. It truly is a hilarious movie. That
    brings up the question, what is your favorite movie dealing with
    radio? I don't mean movies that have radio stars in them, though that
    may be the case, but movies that deal with the subject of radio.

    Ron Sayles

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 17:49:45 -0500
    From: Briantaves1879@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Wodehouse and radio

    Gary in NH ([removed]@[removed]) wrote:

>     I am reading a biography of PG Wodehouse (Plumie to his coterie of
>     chummies)((the creator of Jeeves and Wooster)).  During WWII Wodehouse was
>     interned in France and Germany. After his release (right before his 60th
>     birthday) he made a series of recordings for the Germans which were play
>     over short and long wave to America and to Great Britain.  There was some
>     controversy at the time, but nothing ever came of it.  I am wondering if
>     anything survived that one could listen to or if anyone has any knowledge of
>     the broadcasts.

    I forwarded Gary's query to the foremost authority on Wodehouse, Tony Ring,
    who told me:

    - ---
    I am not aware that all the recordings survive. One does, and is held in a
    private collection. Not mine, I hasten to add. An extract from it was used by
    the British Library for PGW's contribution to a CD 'The Spoken Word -
    Writers' published in 2003, and now, I believe, sadly out of print. ISBN
    0-7123-0516-5, NSA CD12.
    - ---

    Thanks, Tony.  There is also a whole book specifically on Wodehouse during
    WWII, Wodehouse at War, by Iain Sproat, which includes transcripts of the
    humorous radio broadcasts.

    I also discuss the wartime broadcasts in my book, [removed] Wodehouse and
    Hollywood, published this year by McFarland.
    ([removed])  I explore
    Wodehouse's relationship long relationship to film, radio, and television.
    The first screen adaptation of one of his stories was in 1915, and he was
    writing for radio by 1930.  Over the years, there were a variety of Wodehouse
    biographies, interviews, and adaptations for radio.

    As I note in the book, my own vote for the best Wodehouse radio adaptation is
    the 1980s BBC series, WHAT HO, JEEVES, with Richard Briers and Michael
    Hordern, which are today are available on audiotape and CD.

    Brian Taves

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 20:38:45 -0500
    From: "RadioAZ@[removed]" <radioAZ@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  CL?

    Like most digesters I have been spending some time listening to Christmas
    episodes of radio shows.  One I heard today is from 12/24/46.  Fibber McGee
    and Molly.  Fibber Fixes Broken Toys.

    Fibber, as usual has been procrastinating on this project and he tells Molly
    there is no rush, he has until the day before Christmas.

    Molly:  "I have a CL for you, today is the day before Christmas."

    CL?  Any ideas what CL means?

    Ted

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

    Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 00:33:13 -0500
    From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  12-20 births/deaths

    December 20th births

    12-20-1889 - Ernest LaPrade - Memphis, TN - d. 4-20-1969
    conductor: "Collier's Hour"; "Orchestra of the Nation"
    12-20-1898 - Irene Dunne - Louisville, KY - d. 9-4-1990
    actor: Susan Armstrong "Bright Star"; "Family Theatre"; "Hallmark
    Hall of Fame"
    12-20-1900 - Ted Fio Rito - Newark, NJ - d. 7-22-1971
    bandleader: "Presenting Al Jolson"; "Wonder Show"; "Jack Haley Show"
    12-20-1905 - Albert Dekker - Brooklyn, NY - d. 5-5-1968
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    12-20-1906 - Marion Talley - Nevada, MO - d. 1-3-1983
    singer: "Ry-Krisp Presents Marion Talley"
    12-20-1907 - Al Rinker - Tekoa, WA - d. 6-11-1982
    singer (member of The Rhythm Boys) "Paul Whiteman Presents"
    12-20-1914 - Patti Pickens - Macon, GA - d. 11-16-1995
    singer: (Pickens Sisters) "The Pickens Sisters"; "The Magic Key"
    12-20-1918 - Audrey Totter - Joliet, IL
    actor: Millie Bronson "Meet Millie"; Bonnie "Bright Horizon"
    12-20-1920 - Dennis Morgan - Prentice, WI - d. 9-7-1994
    actor, singer: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "[removed] Steel Hour"; "Screen Guild
    Theatre"
    12-20-1923 - Charita Bauer - Newark, NJ - d. 2-28-1985
    actor: Mary Aldrich, "Aldrich Family"; Bert Bauer, "The Guiding Light"
    12-20-1931 - Mala Powers - San Francisco, CA
    actor: "Stars Over Hollywood"
    12-20-1952 - Jenny Agutter - Tounton, Somerset, England
    actor: Alex Price "An American Werewolf in London"

    December 20th deaths

    01-28-1887 - Artur Rubinstein - Lodz, Poland - d. 12-20-1982
    pianist: "Music America Loves Best"; "Telephone Hour"; "Concert Hall"
    02-27-1902 - John Steinbeck - Salinas, CA - d. 12-20-1968
    novelist: "Radio Hall of Fame"; "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Screen
    Director's Playhouse"
    05-09-1914 - Hank Snow - Liverpool, Novia Scotia, Canada - d. 12-20-1999
    country singer: "Grand Ole Opry"
    05-11-1912 - Foster Brooks - Louisville, KY - d. 12-20-2001
    disc jockey: "Foster Brooks Show"; "Melody, Inc."; "Million Dollar
    Ballroom"
    05-14-1936 - Bobby Darin - NYC - d. 12-20-1973
    singer: "The Bobby Darin Show"; "Cancer Crusade"; "Vocies of Vista"
    06-12-1914 - William Lundigan - Syracuse, NY - d. 12-20-1975
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; announcer in early radio
    07-11-1897 - Johnny Marvin - Butler, Oklahoma Territory - d. 12-20-1944
    country singer: Had his own show on NBC
    07-11-1909 - Irene Hervey - Venice, CA - d. 12-20-1998
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    07-21-1863 - C. Aubrey Smith - London, England - d. 12-20-1948
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    08-15-1901 - Ned Washington - Scranton, PA - d. 12-20-1976
    songwriter: "Dick Aurandt Show"
    08-21-1895 - Benny Davis - NYC - d. 12-20-1979
    lyricist: "Benny Davis Stardust"
    09-09-1900 - James Hilton - Leigh, Lancashire, England - d. 12-20-1954
    host: "Hallmark Hall of Fame/Hallmark Playhouse"; "Ceiling Unlimited"
    10-24-1904 - Moss Hart - The Bronx, NY - d. 12-20-1961
    panelist: "Who Said That?"

    Ron Sayles

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

    Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 00:33:56 -0500
    From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  applause meter

>     I have a contact who is looking for a vintage sound level meter. These are
>     the kinds of devices that were used to measure applause levels on shows
>     like "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts" and "Queen for a Day".

    It was always my impression that the applause meter used in Queen for a Day
    was bogus, if only because it had this huge pointer that could scarcely have
    been driven by a VU meter movement.  I thought it looked strange when I
    watched the show in the 1950's.

    In retrospect, I would think that a true sound level meter driven by
    microphones in the audience would not have provided the distinctive kind of
    deflection necessary for a TV game show: if you look at a sound level meter
    while listening to the sound it hears, the percieved and measured loudness
    often seem quite different.

    They might have had a special mechanism, though: TV game shows were having
    problems with being fixed, and they didn't need that on Queen for a Day.

    M Kinsler

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

    Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 02:12:02 -0500
    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 nine 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 V2006 Issue #356
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