Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #317
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 8/13/2002 2:15 PM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2002 : Issue 317
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Re: Radio Lessons in History          [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
      religious radio                       [ ClifSr@[removed] ]
      Re: Jack Benny                        [ hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed]; ]
      Re: sharing a room at FOTR            [ hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed]; ]
      Brace Beemer Rumors                   [ william kelley <hopeless_ness@yahoo ]
      Re: Allen and the Bottle              [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
      Re: The Eddy Myth                     [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
      Re: Andy's Shoes                      [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
      Re:Significant others                 [ hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed]; ]
      Re: The Awesome Aussie                [ hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed]; ]
      Re: Wallich's Music City              [ GOpp@[removed] ]
      Re: Converting Cassette Tapes to CDs  [ charles <chascav@[removed]; ]
      kyana otr club-correction             [ "e ginsburg" <edginsburg@[removed] ]

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

    Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 11:09:39 -0400
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Radio Lessons in History

    Lennell H-M wonders,

>     In a similar vein, are there shows other than Amos 'N Andy, There's A
>     New World A Coming, Destination Freedom, Brunswick Brevities, The Story
>     of Ruby Valentine, The Johnson Family, or Tales From Harlem that reflect
>     the actual or perception of African American life?  I've also heard of a
>     program called "The All Negro Hour" hosted by Jack Cooper in Chicago in
>     1932 but have not located any episodes or transcripts.

    I'd strongly recommend "Freedom's People," a thirteen-week series done by
    NBC in 1941-42 in cooperation with the Federal Radio Education Committee.
    This was a documentary with each week's program tracing a different
    element of African-American life, and many prominent personalities in
    pre-war-era black America are featured, ranging from A. Phillip Randolph
    to Paul Robeson to Fats Waller. Each week's program was built around the
    theme "Contributions [removed]" and subjects covered included Education,
    Military Service, Industry, the Arts, Science, and the Theatre.

    After this program's network run, transcriptions of the series were
    distributed by the FREC to schools for classroom use, and all of the
    episodes exist at the Library of Congress. Some of the episodes are in
    limited OTR circulation, although they're not easy to find -- I'm hoping
    to soon have access to several of them.

    Another program worth looking for is an episode of the 1938-1939 CBS
    educational series "Americans All, Immigrants All." This was a 26-week
    series which spotlighted a different ethnic group each week and traced
    its history and accomplishments in the United States. The 12/18/38
    episode discussed "The Negro In The United States." This was another
    series distributed in transcription form for classroom use, under the
    auspicies of the Department of the Interior.

    There was also a 1933 CBS serial called "John Henry -- Black River
    Giant." This was a program based on the works of white folklorist Roark
    Bradford (best known for "Green Pastures), and was adapted for radio by
    the black Puerto Rican actor Juano Hernandez, who also played the lead --
    with stage actress Georgia Burke as his leading lady, supported by "an
    All Negro Cast" drawn from the Lafayette Players of Harlem. The format of
    the program was very unusual -- it was broadcast weekly, in  two
    discontinuous fifteen-minute segments. The first fifteen minutes would
    establish the plot action for the week -- and then the program would go
    off the air for half an hour, making way for an unrelated program. Then
    after that program, "John Henry" returned for a second fifteen minutes,
    which would be devoted to characterization and atmosphere -- with special
    note given to "authentic voodoo lore," according to reviews of the day.
    Critics loved this program, but ordinary listeners seem to have been
    baffled by its "arty," non-linear structure, and it ran for eight months
    without attracting a sponsor. No scripts or recordings have surfaced.

    Jack L. Cooper was a very important figure in black radio -- he began
    "The All Colored Hour" (later "The All Negro Hour") over WSBC in 1929.
    WSBC was a small Chicago station that sold time in blocks to a wide
    variety of ethnic groups, and Cooper built up a thriving business buying
    blocks of time and then reselling them to individual South Side sponsors.
    Cooper himself produced the programs for these sponsors, and they covered
    a wide range of topics -- in addition to "The All Colored Hour," which
    was a variety show, he did a very close imitation of "Amos 'n' Andy"
    called "Luke 'n' Timber" (doing all the voices himself), and also worked
    as a news and feature reporter, a disk jockey, and a comedy
    ventriloquist. By the end of the 1940s, Cooper was taking out full-page
    ads in Variety promoting himself as "The Highest Paid Negro in Radio,"
    and he remained active into the early 1960s. A few recordings exist of
    his later work, but none have ever surfaced of his prime years in the
    1930s.

    There were a number of locally-originated programs similar to those of
    Cooper during the 1930s and 1940s. Although at the start of the thirties
    the African-American radio audience was very small -- less than eight per
    cent of black families owned radios in 1930, according to the U. S.
    Census Bureau -- that audience grew rapidly as the decade wore on, and by
    the late 1930s, local stations in areas with significant black
    populations were experimenting with ways of reaching that audience, and
    black-owned businesses were taking the lead in sponsoring such programs.
    A hint of the prevailing attitudes can be found in this item from the
    1/15/38 issue of "Broadcasting:"

    "NEGROES POPULAR

    "Despite the theory that white southern listeners resent the inclusion of
    negro sponsored and negro talent programs, WSGN Birmingham reports the
    renewal of the 'William Blevins Negro Choir' program, sponsored by the
    Booker T. Washington Burial Insurance Co., an exclusively negro
    organization, for 26 weeks. In addition, the program has been increased
    from 30 to 45 minutes. Henry P. Johnston, director of WSGN, states that
    not a single letter of complaint has been received from a white listener."

    Despite such experiences at the local level, the common attitude in ad
    agencies thruout the OTR era was that "white audiences," especially in
    the South, would not support programming which prominently featured black
    performers, and would be hostile to the sponsors of such programming --
    as late as 1964, a serious investigation of the issue by TV Guide could
    conclude that "sponsors don't think white people will buy their product
    if a Negro is selling it." This attitude, more than any other factor,
    seriously limited the development of African-American-oriented
    programming.

    Elizabeth

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

    Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 11:10:03 -0400
    From: ClifSr@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  religious radio

          Let me make it clear that I'm not interested in starting a theological
    discussion here or in person.  What I present is a non-theological, objective
    interest in religious radio.  It played a big part in the early days of the
    medium.  I grew up listening to Charles Fuller on the Old Fashioned Revival
    Hour, Fulton Sheen on the Catholic Hour, the Message of Israel and the
    Eternal Light, which if memory hasn't gone totally to pot, featured the
    unforgettable voices of Alexander Scourby and/or Arnold Moss. My first job in
    radio involved playing all the syndicated  denominational religious programs
    that came on 16 inch transcriptions.
         I entered "religious radio" in the Teoma, Vivisimo and Google search
    engines and found some great stuff, including history of some early stations.
     If anyone else shares this interest, let me know.

    Clif Martin

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

    Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 11:11:03 -0400
    From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Jack Benny

    Recently, Bryant White asked me:

>     I was wondering if you worked with Jack Benny at all. If you did, I was

    wondering what it was like working with him. Was he as different in private
    life than in in radio as Bob Hope was?

    I met Jack Benny once. I didn't work for him, but does "auditioning" for him
    count?

    Benny had to be in NY for some reason, and was arranging to originate his
    program from there. (For how many weeks I don't remember). It seems a young
    kid was needed on the show in a small part. I was called to go read for Jack
    Benny personally. It was the first and only time in my career that I
    auditioned outside of a radio studio. I had to go to the Plaza Hotel where
    Mr. Benny had a suite of rooms. I knocked on his Hotel Room door and it was
    answered by Mr. Benny himself. (Not Rochester) :)

    He ushered me in (wearing slacks and a fancy dressing gown), and after a few
    pleasantries, I looked over the script, read the part for him, and that was
    it.

    I didn't get the job, and I don't even recall who did. He probably
    interviewed  a few youngsters that  morning, and he was undoubtedly looking
    for a specific type.

    My impressions from meeting the big star that Mr. Benny was, are as follows.
    A nice guy, pleasant and highly professional, (but obviously, no judge of
    talent. :)

    Sorry, folks, I'm just kidding around. I had to throw that line in for a
    laugh. I have a reputation to protect.

    It short, Benny seemed like a very personable guy. It was a kick for me to
    meet him one on one like that. I guess I was somewhere between the age of 12
    and 15. I just remember being there. I can't remember dates.

    Regards

    Hal(Harlan)Stone
    Jughead

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

    Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 11:11:18 -0400
    From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: sharing a room at FOTR

    Arlene , while looking for someone to share a room with at FOTR, qualified
    the search by saying;

>     Inquiries from gentlemen will be kindly ignored.

    Do inquiries from couples count?  Particularly since Fred says:

>     In fact you are one of the most fun persons I've known.

    My wife and I could tell the hotel to give us a room with a Kingsize bed.
    Would that work?  :)

    Instead of [removed], I could don a straight jacket if absolutely necessary. :)

    Regards

    Hal(Harlan)Stone
    Jughead

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

    Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 11:12:40 -0400
    From: william kelley <hopeless_ness@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Brace Beemer Rumors

>     "you would have found out that the DJ was quite mistaken when he
>     said that Beemer was childless and might have been gay
>     because he brought little boys to the studio and embraced and
>     kissed them.  In all probability the little boys were Beemer's two sons.

    While I agree with the idea that unfounded accusations
    and rumor have no place in factual accounts of
    people's lives and personalities, I can't help but be
    bothered by how this particular rumor is angering
    people.

    First of all, why is it that the suggestion that
    someone might be gay is considered a "smear" campaign?
     Believe me, there are plenty worse things you can say
    about someone.

    And second, what kind of person would offer as proof
    of homosexuality the fact that the person in question
    was affectionate to a little boy?  This DJ was a sick
    individual who chose to draw the ridiculous conclusion
    that gay men are child molesters.

    This being said, I personally enjoy reading accounts
    of the bad behavior of celebrities.  I think it serves
    us well to find that people were no more perfect in
    the "innocent" days of radio than they are today.  The
    more human these people appear to me the more I am
    able to enjoy their art.  Maybe I'm weird that way.

    After all, to find out that Bob Hope, who built his
    career playing a fairly weasly jerk character, is in
    fact on occassion less than [removed] well, what's so
    terrible about that?

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

    Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 12:22:11 -0400
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Allen and the Bottle

    On 8/13/02 11:28 AM OldRadio Mailing Lists wrote:

>     As far as fred allen drinking a quart of bootleg
>     whiskey a day, ill bet there werent TOO many of those days as he would have
>     been gone even earlier than he was.

    That's exactly right. And in fact, according to Al Hirschfeld -- the
    famous caricaturist who was one of Allen's closest friends -- Fred *gave
    up* drinking the day Prohibition was repealed in 1933, and didn't touch
    another drop for several years. He would have an occasional belt later in
    life, but never to excess. His biggest vice wasn't liquor -- it was
    Tuck's Five Cent Plug chewing tobacco, and writing sessions for the Allen
    program were often punctuated by the sound of a spitwad plunking into the
    bottom of a cuspidor.

    Alcoholism ran in Allen's family -- his father was an irresponsible,
    hard-drinking man who found it difficult to hold down a job, and you can
    tell that Allen was extremely bitter about this when you read the
    relevant chapters in his autobiography, "Much Ado About Me." John Henry
    Sullivan -- Fred's father -- died of "acute alcoholism" at the age of 46,
    and I suspect that an awareness of what liquor could -- and would -- do
    to him led to Fred's decision to break the habit. (And one can only
    speculate on the inner significance of Ajax Cassidy -- the ultimate
    stereotype of the irresponsible Irish drunk, who seemed to epitomize all
    the qualities Allen resented most in his [removed])

    Elizabeth

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

    Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 12:34:28 -0400
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: The Eddy Myth

    Tom Kirby wrote:

>     Have I overestimated Nelson Eddy's popularity, or did it come later? Or,
>     perhaps he did something to offend everyone in 1938?

    This seems to come up every October, round WOTW time, but it's always
    worth repeating: There is ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE, statistical or
    otherwise, to support the claim that Nelson Eddy provoked a mass tuneout
    on the night of 10/30/38. This is a myth, plain and simple.

    It can be documented by comparing a recording of the 10/30/38 program
    with the survey findings in Hadley Cantril's 1940 book on the WOTW affair
    that most of those who tuned out on The Chase and Sanborn Hour did so at
    the conclusion of the first Bergen-McCarthy routine -- which came
    *fifteen minutes* into the program. This places the tuneout at the start
    of Dorothy Lamour's rendition of "Two Sleepy People." Eddy's first
    selection, "Song of the Vagabonds," came at the very start of the
    program, and there's no suggestion in Cantril's findings that a mass
    tuneout occured at that point. There was in fact no *mass* tuneout
    anywhere in the program:  only 18 per cent of those surveyed by Cantril
    who heard any portion of WOTW tuned into the program after tuning out on
    the C&S Hour -- which projects to a tuneout of between 480,000 and
    600,000 people depending on whose audience figures you use. If you
    consider that the audience for the Chase and Sanborn Hour was
    approximately 35,000,000, then a tuneout of this size is quite
    insignificant.

    Eddy was the most popular male vocalist in radio, according to the 1938
    Radio Guide Star of Stars Poll, and was the overwhelming choice for most
    popular classical vocalist in the 1938 New York World Telegram Newspaper
    Editor's Poll. If the amount of press Eddy received in the fan magazines
    during 1938 is any indication, for a substantial share of the audience,
    it was *Eddy* who was the top star of the Chase and Sanborn Hour, and not
    Bergen.

    Elizabeth

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

    Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 13:12:55 -0400
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Andy's Shoes

    On 8/13/02 11:28 AM OldRadio Mailing Lists wrote:

>     I guess it was either a VERY slow news day, or it meant something to the
>     people of the time.

    In fact, Andy's grumbling about his sore feet was a running gag on A&A
    thruout 1930-31 -- he had severe bunions from wearing cheap shoes, and
    was always cutting slits in the uppers in order to relieve the pressure.
    He had one particularly sliced-up pair of shoes which he called his "easy
    goin' shoes," which he would wear when he was working at the lunch room
    and had to be on his feet for long periods. Amos was always telling him
    not to wear them in public, but to little avail.

    The Paul Whiteman reference is of course a prankish acknowledgement of
    Whiteman's imposing size. Whiteman's orchestra was appearing in Chicago
    during the summer and fall of 1931, appearing nightly at the Edgewater
    Beach Hotel -- from where Correll and Gosden had made their initial mark
    on Chicago radio -- and C&G became friendly with him during this period.

    One of the interesting things about audience reaction to A&A in the early
    thirties is how often audiences sent items to the characters -- not to
    Correll and Gosden, but to Amos and Andy themselves. The shoes were one
    example -- the flowers sent to Ruby Taylor, care of station WMAQ, during
    her 1931 bout with pneumonia are another. But the most interesting
    example arrived around the end of 1929. Over several episodes, Andy had
    been complaining about the rusty second-hand typewriter in the taxicab
    office, and in response a listener in Buffalo expressed a large crate to
    "Andy Brown," care of NBC Chicago, containing a fully-functional
    1888-vintage Smith Premier double-keyboard typewriter -- one of the most
    popular early typewriters sold in the United States. Correll and Gosden
    were extremely impressed with this gift, and used it on the air for
    several years whenever typewriter sound effects were needed.

    In 1933, they donated the machine to the Julius Rosenwald Museum in
    Chicago, where it was on display for many years. That museum is now the
    Museum of Science and Industry, and I suspect the typewriter may still be
    [removed]

    Elizabeth

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

    Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 14:03:37 -0400
    From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re:Significant others

    Barrister A. Joseph Ross quotes,then Posts:

> >     Batman and Robin have already been accused by Frederick Wertham in his
> >     Seduction of the Innocent of being the perfect gay couple.

>     I always thought the Lone Ranger and Tonto were the perfect gay couple.

    I'm just waiting (with dread) for someone to "out" another dynamic duo.
    "Archie and Jughead". :)

    I cant  speak for Hastings, (despite the fact that he has numerous children,
    Grand Children, and even a Grandchild). But to hear him tell it, he started
    acquiring that brood right after Grade school, otherwise, how can one
    account for him looking so young.

    As for me, I'm "Straight" except when it comes to Comedy. I never play the
    "Straight man". I leave that for fellow posters like Ian Grieve and "Tooth"
    [removed] who set me up all the time.

    Regards

    Hal(Harlan)Stone
    "Jughead"

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

    Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 14:03:48 -0400
    From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: The Awesome Aussie

    My dear friend Ian Grieve posts;

>     G'Day Hal,  speaking for myself, I want the TRUTH, the WHOLE TRUTH and
>     nothing but the TRUTH.  <Snip> Keep up the good work.  I don't know if they

    still use tar and feathers there, but you can hang out here 'til they cool
    down.

    Thanks. Never got into the tar 'n feathers scene. But I have been known to
    enjoy being liberally doused with sun tan oil while wearing a feather boa.
    Is that similar?

    Who said performers weren't kinky. :)

    Love ya, Mate! (Let's start more rumors)

    Hal(Harlan)Stone
    Jughead

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

    Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 14:19:24 -0400
    From: GOpp@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re:  Wallich's Music City

    During WWII my mom was the Pop Records Department Manager at Wallich's
    Music City. She used to help out Mort Werner (of [removed], and later of
    NBC) by choosing the records for "[removed] Jill" (Mort's wife, Marty) to play
    for the troops each week on Armed Forces Radio. After a few months of
    this, Mort brought my dad into the store to meet he, they fell in love,
    married, and that's how I ended up on this earth.  So I've always had a
    soft spot for Music City. I have fond memories from long ago of various
    recording artists singing the "It's Music City, Sunset and Vine" jingle
    (to the tune of "Rock-a-bye Baby") over [removed] radio.  Do any of you have
    any idea where I might be able to obtain recordings of any of these radio
    spots? I'd like to surprise my mom on her birthday.

    - Gregg Oppenheimer
    [removed]

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

    Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 14:19:55 -0400
    From: charles <chascav@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Converting Cassette Tapes to CDs

      I sould also consinder geting a GOOD soundcard. Many computer
    manufacturers consider audio quality to be a low priority and the main
    factor is cost.
      I switched from the sound chip on the mainboard (crystal something I
    think), to a  Creative  Audigy and found that MP3 sound files that were
    unlistenable became quite usable.
      It also has a much lower noise level in both record and playback. I'm
    sure the others here could recomend cheaper but good alternative as the
    Audigy is rather expensive.
    Charles

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

    Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 14:19:36 -0400
    From: "e ginsburg" <edginsburg@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  kyana otr club-correction

    the kentuckiana otr club meeting is THIS upcoming sunday

    8-18-02 @ 9:30am at dillon's steak house in louisville at the corner of
    taylorsville road and hurstbourne lane

    forgive my repeated forgetfulness

    If you come by this sunday, I will be the gent wearing the extremely red
    face
    ed

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #317
    *********************************************

    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]