------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2002 : Issue 470
A Part of the [removed]!
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Anne Whitfield on Suspense [ Sean Dougherty <seandd@[removed] ]
Elizabeth's Response To The Infamous [ "JLF" <infom@[removed]; ]
Early CBS history in Los Angeles [ "Jim Hilliker" <jimhilliker@sbcglob ]
1950s bowl games [ Michael Berger <makiju@[removed]; ]
Amurricanismn` [ Harry Bartell <bartell@[removed] ]
Rose Bowl; NBC Radio/Telev--- [ Mark J Cuccia <mcuccia@[removed]; ]
Dr Who Audio [ "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed] ]
Norman MacDonnell [ "bkidera" <rkidera1@[removed] ]
George Reeves on OTR [ "Michael Hayde" <mmeajv@[removed]; ]
Thank you, Elizabeth! [ "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed] ]
Re: Big Finish Audio CD's & Maureen [ "Maureen O'Brien" <mobrien@[removed] ]
Apology [ "timl2002" <timl2002@[removed]; ]
The Cold War [ "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyro ]
Radio Crime Fighters [ lawrence albert <albertlarry@yahoo. ]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 19:09:49 -0500
From: Sean Dougherty <seandd@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Anne Whitfield on Suspense
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Last week, WAMU's "Big Broadcast" featured a Suspense play "Twas the Night
Before Christmas," starring Greer Carson and REPS regular Anne Whitfield (aka
Anne Whitfield Philips). It is a standout of the series - a great Suspense
play that lives up to the name by keeping you guessing about the fate of the
parents of a young girl waiting for her parents to return on Christmas Eve.
Like a similar-feeling Suspense episode, "The Long Night," which starred
Frank Lovejoy, this episode made you care about the characters and emphathize
with the situation. I won't spoil the ending, but I will note that it is
available to listen to for at least the next couple of days at
[removed].
Having had the pleasure of seeing Ms. Philips perform live at REPS the past
two years and then hearing her star in this show made it a double treat. If
anyone has reason to speak to her soon, please mention the show and that it
is still being enjoyed by her fans.
Sean Dougherty
SeanDD@[removed]
(formerly kubelski@[removed])
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------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 23:21:37 -0500
From: "JLF" <infom@[removed];
To: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Elizabeth's Response To The Infamous
Blacklist.
Thanks Elizabeth - well stated. Hereby seconded! Those terrible half-truths
irreparably changed radio and society in general - and not for the better.
We are beginning to re-live history.
JLF
[ADMINISTRIVIA: Again, folks, let's avoid references to modern-day political
issues and stick to the OTR period. --cfs3]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 23:25:27 -0500
From: "Jim Hilliker" <jimhilliker@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Early CBS history in Los Angeles
Again, I want to thank Elizabeth McLeod for her very informative and
interesting explanation about the 1928 and 1929 broadcasts from
KFWB-Hollywood and how they got aired on CBS. Even though I've been
researching early radio broadcasting in Los Angeles since the 1980s, I still
have a lot to learn, since my on and off methods of research have been hit
or miss, and sometimes my discoveries have been due to pure luck
Was the 1929 program I spoke of the first national broadcast to originate at
KFWB? I saw a book on the Warner Brothers with a photo taken at KFWB in
1932 that claimed a broadcast that year was the first coast-to-coast radio
show from the KFWB studio.
So, if I have this straight, KPLA was the official CBS Los Angeles
affiliate before CBS owner William Paley negotiated a deal for KHJ and the
Don Lee Network to air CBS programming in [removed] and the three Pacific Coast
states in the summer of 1929.
(I find it ironic that KPLA was carrying Columbia's
programs in '28-'29. Late in 1929, KFI owner Earle C. Anthony purchased
station KPLA. On November 15, 1929, the station became KECA, for Anthony's
initials.
KFI and KECA are remembered in Southern California for carrying the programs
of the NBC Red and Blue networks for many years. In 1954, KECA changed call
letters to KABC).
I simply found it fascinating in these old newspaper articles to find
another station carrying CBS programs in [removed] at that time, and that many
times they listed KPLA-KMTR, and sometimes, all three stations, KPLA-KMTR
and KFWB supposedly carrying the CBS progams at the same time. Sounds
crazy, but then again, I found a listing in October 1929 for 6 Los Angeles
radio stations all broadcasting a USC football game at the same time, but
they used their own play-by-play announcers on each station with separate
sponsors.
Now, if I haven't worn out my welcome around here, can I please ask two more
questions?
Did any other Los Angeles radio stations broadcast CBS programs in either
1927 or 1928 besides KPLA? I had read that KMIC-Inglewood (where Harry Von
Zell started in radio) had been part of a new network at the time, but I
haven't found out which one or if it is true.
Also, why in 1929 and 1930 did the Paul Whiteman Old Gold Hour broadcast
many times from the studios of KMTR radio in Hollywood instead of at the KHJ
studios, if KHJ was the CBS station in Los Angeles then? Maybe KHJ/Don Lee
hadn't enlarged or modernized his 7th and Bixel studios yet, and KMTR had
better facilities for such a live broadcast?? I believe Whiteman was in
Hollywood to make a movie.
I look forward to any replies to these questions.
Jim
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 23:26:09 -0500
From: Michael Berger <makiju@[removed];
To: otr <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 1950s bowl games
Throughout most of the 50s and maybe beyond, NBC did the
Rose Bowl, CBS the Cotton Bowl and ABC the Sugar Bowl; in
those days, those were the major bowl games on New Year's
day; next in line was the Gator Bowl which might have been
carried on MBS but not sure about network TV.
Michael Berger
= ====
Please reply to: intercom1@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 23:40:19 -0500
From: Harry Bartell <bartell@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Amurricanismn`
My sincere thanks and appreciation to Elizabeth McLeod for her literate and
extremely accurate account of Red Channels and the climate it provoked.
Collyer, Hayworth and Weist may have been the very nicest people in the
world, but that does not excuse their using guilt by association and
innuendo to destroy innocent people.
It is perhaps difficult to imagine for someone who hasn't experienced it
what it is like to be barred from earning a living because of one's ideas. I
can attest to that feeling. When accused, I could not elicit a single
direct charge of any action I had taken or promulgated. The only evidence I
could ever provoke was that I had been seen talking to someone or had
attended a meeting of a "suspicious" group.
It has not been mentioned that most of the charges hurled by the zealots
were in the time frame that Communism was a legal political party. That did
not prevent private and government actions from taking the course they did.
The issue was not really America versus communism. There was never any
doubt that Russia was as much of a potential threat as Germany. The issue
was whether or not someone who had suffered the miseries of the Great
Depression might find a possible solution in a different economic system.
And it is fascinating that there was no hue and cry against America First
and the German -American Bund even though they supported what was an
immediate threat.
Let's not confuse personalities and facts.
Harry Bartell
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 23:43:27 -0500
From: Mark J Cuccia <mcuccia@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Rose Bowl; NBC Radio/Telev---
George Kelly wrote:
I am interested in which radio networks carried the New Year Day's
college football bowl games during the 1950s. The bowls' Internet sites
give the television networks but not the radio networks, or at least not
that I have been able to find.
As far as I know, NBC *always* carried the Rose Bowl from Pasadena CA,
going back to 1927, I [removed] it seems like an NBC "tradition" to carry
the Rose Bowl. And when that "nasty 't' word" came about, it was the
NBC Telev----n Network that carried it live on that medium as well.
And on January 1954, a few weeks after the FCC had officially approved the
RCA, [removed] NTSC system of COLOR T--------N, it was a "big thing" for
RCA's NBC Tel------n Network to COLORCAST the Tournament of Roses Parade,
even though probably no individuals had RCA Color T*'s in their homes!
However, some of the NBC affiliates had set up some RCA color sets in
their lobbies for the public to have a chance to see Color for the first
time with the Tournament of Roses Parade.
Ed Reitan has a great website on the history and development of Color T*
[removed]~ereitan/
with the following page on RCA/NBC Color "firsts"
[removed]~[removed]
which mentions NBC-T* colorcasting the Tournament of Roses Parade on
1-Jan-1954. And then there is an entire webpage here on RCA/NBC's
colorcasts of that first day in January 1954, "The Day a Black and White
World Changed into Living Color",
[removed]~[removed]
Anyhow, back to NBC [removed]
I _assume_ that when New Years' Day fell on a Saturday or Sunday in
that twenty year period from 1956 to 1975, that the Rose Bowl was simply
carried as part of an "extended" version of MONITOR. When Monitor first
started in Summer 1955, it ran forty continuous hours, from Saturday 8am
to Midnight closing out Sunday nights (Eastern Time). By early 1956, the
12-midnight to 8am (Eastern) overnight segment early Sunday mornings was
eliminated. So for those years in the later 1950's where January 1st fell
on a Saturday or Sunday, the Rose Bowl would have simply been a 3+ hour
event carried by Monitor. But in 1961, NBC changed Monitor to several 3 or
4 hour segments throughout the weekend (all times Eastern)...
Saturday
9 am - 12 Noon
3 pm - 6 pm
7:30 pm - 10:30 pm
Sunday
2 pm - 6 pm
7 pm - 10 pm
I guess it might have been possible that the 3+ hour coverage of the Rose
Bowl itself might not have "fit" within one of those Saturday or Sunday
afernoon segments of Monitor, depending on when kickoff for the Rose Bowl
was that year. And then there would be pre-game, post-game, etc. events
carried on NBC Radio as well.
Monitor sadly came to an end on the NBC Radio Network at the end of
January 1975. But a few months later, NBC came out with an additional
radio network "All News" service, called NIS: News and Information
Service. The original NBC Radio Network still fed a 5-min-30-sec newscast
every-hour-on-the-hour, and a 5-min or so "feature" (or sportcast) at the
bottom-of-the-hour, and the original NBC Radio Network still had Sunday
morning and Sunday evening "long form" religious and public affairs
programs ("Meet the Press", for instance). But the remainder of the hour,
24/7 (except for Sunday mornings and evenings), this continuous long-form
NIS News service was fed down the telco lines of NBC Radio. It was "sort
of" like the way ABC Radio divided itself up into four packages in 1968,
and how Mutual had their brief 1970's alternate "network" packages of the
Mutual Black Network and Mutual Spanish Network. But being a "long form"
informational program, it "could" have also been thought of as a
continuation of Monitor! (Although NIS was primarily news/information,
while Monitor was a VARIETY of music, entertainment, sports, tid-bits, and
basic news/information).
This NIS lasted only about two years. NIS was cancelled in Summer 1977.
But NBC Radio (and NBC-Tele-----n) had a long tradition of carrying the
baseball playoff games as well as the World's Series. And when NIS came
about in 1975 on NBC Radio, the higher-ups at 30 Rockafeller Plaza dropped
all long-form live play-by-play sports from NBC Radio's schedule,
including the National/American League playoffs and the World's Series.
But NOT the New Year's Day broadcast of the Rose Bowl! It was RETAINED
on the NBC Radio Network. :-)
The "NIS" was simply pre-empted on New Years' Day in 1976 and 1977.
I don't know if NIS was pre-empted only during the actual (original) NBC
Radio Network coverage of the Rose Bowl for those 3+ hours, or if NIS was
pre-empted "all day" ([removed], maybe 6am to Midnight? I don't see what kind
of "continuous/breaking news coverage" would have occurred on a holiday
for NIS to even be broadcasting).
(The CBS RAD))|((O NETWORK picked up the baseball games that had been an
NBC Radio tradition for decades though).
I don't know what the radio status of the Rose Bowl has been since
NBC Radio became swallowed up by Westwood/Mutual in the early 1990's, and
then Westwood/Mutual/Infinity is now associated with CBS/Viacom/Paramount.
Even though Mutual's 'brand name' no longer exists, it "seems" that what
*WAS* Mutual still "lives" in the form of what originates from 1755 South
Jefferson Davis Hwy in Arlington VA (Jim Bohanon still has his weekday
"America in the Morning" program originating from Arlington/Washington,
though now branded "Westwood" instead of "Mutual"). But while the weekday
morning newscasts on the old NBC Radio channels still exist and are
loosely branded as NBC Radio News, they are originated and produced by
CBS Radio/CBS News, 524 West 57th Street in Manhattan, anchored by CBS
Radio News personnel, and have been so since September 1998. I wonder
if maybe CBS/Viacom/Paramount/Westwood/Infinity's "Westwood One Radio
Sports" runs the Rose Bowl???
[removed] it WOULD be interesting to know the radio (and telev----n)
network history of *ALL* of the Holiday football events, both the
professional playoffs (and Super Bowl) as well as college bowl games, and
not just New Years' Day bowl games, but ALL bowl games! And games such as
the "Blue-Gray" Game, etc. I wonder if there were "team" or "ad-hoc
bowl/events" radio networks back in the 1950's that were "created" to
carry any of these games?
So, if anyone has any further details, please post any such info to the
list!
I'm not really much of a sports fan, but this IS all part of network
radio history! :-)
Mark J. Cuccia
mcuccia@[removed]
New Orleans LA
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 23:44:03 -0500
From: "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed];
To: "OTR" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Dr Who Audio
I have been delighted to learn of Dr. Who radio tapes. I have been watching
Dr. Who on PBS since the early 80s and am so pleased to find that there are
at least 4 others in this group like me . One PBS station in the bay
area, KTEH in San Jose, is like a Dr. Who outpost, so devoted are its fans,
and quick to open their wallets at pledge break time. I think they have
been airing it for almost 20 years uninterrupted.
As is true for most Americans who were introduced to the Doctor it was
originally in his incarnation as Tom Baker and he will always be my
particular favorite. I've gone to a number of Star Trek and later Sci Fi
conventions in SF which included Dr. Who. I had a nice chat with
"Turlough", Mark Strickson, at one of them and unlike Turlough he smiled a
lot and told me HIS favorite TV show was "Taxi".
Thanks to all of you for the info about "Big Finish". Are there other
tapes available?
Irene
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 23:44:09 -0500
From: "bkidera" <rkidera1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Norman MacDonnell
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Lately, I have been relistening to a bunch of Gunsmoke episodes and have been
appreciating the work of Norman MacDonnell (who also directed Philip Marlowe,
another series I enjoy a great deal). I got to wondering, whatever happened
to him? He was such a talented director, did he go on to do television work?
I'd appreciate any information anyone could give me about his later career.
Bob Kidera
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------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 23:44:50 -0500
From: "Michael Hayde" <mmeajv@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: George Reeves on OTR
I hope this doesn't get lost in the midst of the "Blacklist Backlash!"
Harry Bartell's latest "Struts and Frets" mentions George Reeves, best known
to many as TV's first (and, for my money, still greatest) Superman. A 1976
book documenting that series, titled "Superman: Serial to Cereal," included
a page of a radio script circa 1943, in which Reeves appeared as himself.
And I wonder just how much OTR Reeves may have done, and if any of it
exists.
I know that he appeared on LUX RADIO THEATER with Jeff Corey, in "Lydia."
Reeves had a supporting role in the 1941 Merle Oberon film of the same name.
Does anyone know the date of this one, and if it's in circulation?
The NBC files at the Library of Congress yield only two performances for the
network:
HOLLYWOOD STAR PREVIEW (American Home Products, 1/4/48): "Post-script to
Christmas," with Veronica Lake. Reeves played Hugh Davis.
THE JOE DIMAGGIO SHOW (8/19/50): Reeves is listed as part of the "dramatic
cast."
Are either of these in circulation? And does anyone know of any other
programs on which Reeves performed?
Many thanks!
Michael
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 23:40:44 -0500
From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed];
To: "Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Thank you, Elizabeth!
Once again Elizabeth McLeod has brought us face to face with facts and
original sources. Her citations from Red Channels showed us again how
skimpy were the reasons that entertainers found themselves blacklisted by
that book, and its authors.
Thank you, Elizabeth, for your insistence on getting back to basics of
research.
Ted Kneebone/1528 S. Grant [removed], SD 57401/605-226-3344
OTR: [removed]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 23:45:32 -0500
From: "Maureen O'Brien" <mobrien@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Big Finish Audio CD's & Maureen O'Brien!
Jules Burt said:
It's funny that the name Maureen O'Brien has come to light on a
previous posting as of course, she was a famous Dr. Who companion on
the TV show!
Yes, I found out that was the name of the actress who played Vicki when
I first attended a Dr. Who convention. I hadn't been a fan very long,
and as soon as I introduced myself people were thinking I was a little
_too_ into the [removed] <g> Thanks to most of her stories being ones
destroyed by the BBC, I haven't seen much of her work, alas.
She apparently now writes mysteries. They're good mysteries (I've only
found one, and I'm too lazy to order through Amazon, but the one I got
was remarkably well-written). This is of course bad news for _my_
literary career!
But at least it's her real name, unlike most literary O'Briens. (It
broke my heart to find out Patrick O'Brien wasn't his original name,
although I applauded his good taste in choosing to join our [removed])
Desperate attempt to go back on [removed], yeah. That other
Maureen O'Brien also reads audiobooks, including Jane Eyre. And The
Rainbow by [removed] Lawrence, [removed] written during the days of OTR!
Maureen
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 6 Dec 2002 01:42:46 -0500
From: "timl2002" <timl2002@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Apology
Fellow OTR list members:
I just wish to apoligize to any and all for seemingly opening up a can
of worms regarding Bud Collyer. I was just relating my thoughts about him
by watching him on television. I have read about his activities as AFRA
president but since I was born in 1957, After the blacklist and "Red Scare",
etc. This should not affect my enjoyment of his work on Television or
Radio. I am sorry if my comments contributed to some of the angry posts in
the last few digests. By the way I have no problem with dicussing history
as it relates to OTR as long as we all remain civil with each other as we do
so. On a lighter note let me wish all on the digest a Wonderful Holiday
season
Sincerely,
Tim Lones
Canton, Ohio
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 6 Dec 2002 01:47:07 -0500
From: "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: The Cold War
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 10:59:19 -0500
From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Baloney
In retrospect and hindsight, is there any doubt that Communism (and
Communists) were a dangerous subversive force in the world.
There can be no doubt that this was so. There is also no doubt, in hindsight, that the danger
also was exaggerated, sometimes out of honest belief or fear, and sometimes for personal
gain. Acknowledging that subversion existed does not mean that the hysteria of the
McCarthy era was justified.
--
A. Joseph Ross, [removed] [removed]
15 Court Square, Suite 210
lawyer@[removed]
Boston, MA 02108-2503
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 6 Dec 2002 01:47:57 -0500
From: lawrence albert
<albertlarry@[removed];
To:
[removed]@[removed]
Subject: Radio Crime Fighters
This seems to be my week for nit picking. Radio Crime
Fighters is a marvelous book, as long as it sticks to
radio with very few errors. I don't think Howard
McNear played Speed Gibson, and Senator Eugene
McCarthy had nothing do to with 50's McCarthyism. But
whoever was Mr. Cox's researcher for movie information
needs a refresher course. For example, in the Shadow
entry the author says " As of this writing there have
been four Shadow film productions to reachscreenlver
scrteen." Actually there have been at least three more
then that. In the Perry Mason entry there is no
mention of the Warner Brothers Mason films of the
early thirties, in one of which he marries Della
Street. In giving the name of the actor who played the
Lone Ranger in the first of two serials released by
Republic Pictures in 1respectively respectivly he
names someone called Billy Bletcher. It was really Lee
Powell, an actor who was killed in W W II.
Again as concerns OTR I highly recommend Radio
Crime Fighters. It needs some reworking for the movie
buff.
Larry Albert
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #470
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