Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #326
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 10/10/2004 2:43 PM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2004 : Issue 326
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      10-10 births/deaths                   [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
      Jack Benny and the violin             [ JackBenny@[removed] ]
      Re: Jack Benny's Violin Playing       [ "Candy Jens" <candyj@[removed]; ]
      "Devil Bat" on TCM                    [ Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed]; ]
      Re: Zen Nomad                         [ Brent Pellegrini <brentpl@rocketmai ]
      Jack Benny's Violin                   [ "Penne Yingling" <bp_ying@[removed] ]
      j benny violin skills                 [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]
      Yours Truly                           [ "Roby McHone" <otr_alaska@[removed] ]

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

    Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 16:38:41 -0400
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  10-10 births/deaths

    October 10th births

    10-10-1900 - Helen Hayes - Washington, [removed] - d. 3-17-1993
    actress: "New Penny"; "Electric Theatre"; "O'Neill Cycle"
    10-10-1903 - Vernon Duke - Pskov, Russia - d. 1-17-1969
    broadway composer: "Mildred Baily Show"; "Good News of 1940"; "March of Time"
    10-10-1908 - Johnny Green - NYC - d. 5-15-1989
    conductor: "In the Modern Manner"; "Jack Benny Program"; "Man Called X"
    10-10-1909 - Florida Friebus - Auburndale, MA - d. 5-27-1988
    actress: "Great Plays"; "Theatre Guild On the Air"
    10-10-1911 - Zeke Manners - San Francisco, CA - d. 10-14-2000
    singer, disc jockey: "Zeke Manners and His Gang"; "Zeke Manners"
    10-10-1913 - Johnny Downs - Brooklyn, NY - d. 6-13-1994
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    10-10-1915 - Harry 'Sweets' Edison - Columbus, OH - d. 7-27-1999
    jazz trumpeter: "Jubilee"; "One Night Stand"
    10-10-1918 - Paul Dubov - IL - d. 9-20-1979
    actor: Frank Race "Advs. of Frank Race"
    10-10-1926 - Richard Jaeckel - Long Beach, NY - d. 6-14-1997
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"

    October 10th deaths

    01-20-1903 - Leon Ames - Portland, IN - d. 10-10-1993
    actor: "Earplay"; "Screen Guild Theatre"; "Screen Director's Playhouse"
    01-31-1892 - Eddie Cantor - NYC - d. 10-10-1964
    singer, comedian: (Banjo Eyes) "Eddie Cantor Show"; "Chase & Sanborn Hour"
    03-19-1912 - Russ Case - Hamburg, IA - d. 10-10-1964
    orchestra leader: "On a Sunday Afternoon"; "Peggy Lee Show"; "Your Hit Parade"
    05-06-1915 - Orson Welles - Kenosha, WI (Raised: Chicago, IL) - d. 10-10-1985
    actor: Lamont Cranston/Shadow "The Shadow"; "Mercury Theatre on the Air"
    05-24-1886 - Paul Paray - Treport, Normandy, France - d. 10-10-1979
    conductor: "New York Philharmonic"
    07-07-1915 - Yul Brynner - Vladivostock, Czarist Russia - d. 10-10-1985
    actor: "As Easy as [removed]"
    10-23-1884 - Cesar Saerchinger - Aix-la-Chapelle, France - d. 10-10-1971
    news correspondent: "Story Behind the Headlines"; "America's Town Meeting of
    the Air"
    12-19-1902 - Sir Ralph Richardson - Cheltenham, England - d. 10-10-1983
    actor: Doctor John H. Watson, "Advs. of Sherlock Holmes"
    --
    Ron Sayles
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

    Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 16:40:23 -0400
    From: JackBenny@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Jack Benny and the violin

    Jazmaan writes:

>     What's the story  with Jack Benny's famously atrocious violin playing? When

    did he

>      originate that bit?  Does it pre-date his radio days?

    OK,  this can come out of the FAQ as well.  But for a really complete answer,
     I'd recommend that you read my online biography of Jack at
    [removed].

    Q: Did Jack Benny really play the violin that  badly?
    A: There are a variety of observations on this topic. Jack did study  violin
    and perform in vaudeville for a time as a pure violinist. However, he  enjoyed
    performing more than practicing, so never became the Mischa Elman (a  Jewish
    violin virtuoso in the early part of the century) that his parents had  wanted.

    Jack said that if he tried to play badly, it wouldn't be funny.  He claimed
    that he would try to play as well as possible, but create comedy in  his
    missing the mark. Later in life he found the discipline for regular practice
    (for
    sometimes hours at a stretch), but Mary found the noise so unpleasant that
    she
    would make him practice in a far corner of their upstairs floor. Jack also
    used a wolf mute (heavy lead) to quiet the sound of his practicing. His
    daughter, Joan, also maintains that her father's practicing was fairly
    unpleasant.
    On the other hand, I have heard several other people say that Jack  played
    reasonably well.

    Yet Jack helped raise nearly $6 million for  symphonies all over by
    performing as a guest soloist for benefit concerts. Very  few recordings
    exist today of
    his concert performances, so it is difficult to  gauge the level of his
    playing in these circumstances. One would think that if  he was doing nothing
    but
    scratch out wrong notes, people would be unwilling to  sit through a full
    concert of it.

    My suggestion is to listen to some of  his performances and decide for
    yourself. Try the movie "Hollywood Canteen", or  some of the television shows
    with
    Gisele MacKenzie or Toni Marcus. Pick up a  violin yourself for a few minutes
    and see what you can do with it. Once you have  an appreciation for the
    precision required by a violin, you may feel a little  differently about what
    Jack -
    although not a virtuoso - could do with  it.

    --Laura Leff
    President, IJBFC
    [removed]

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

    Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 17:46:54 -0400
    From: "Candy Jens" <candyj@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Jack Benny's Violin Playing

    Actually, he could carry a tune fairly wekk - in fact, he performed with
    various orchestras as a fundraiser.  Like Victor Borge, he played for comic
    effect so well that people didn't believe he could play seriously!

    Candy

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

    Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 20:58:38 -0400
    From: Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  "Devil Bat" on TCM

    At 8:15 AM on Sunday, Oct 10, Turner Classic Movies is showing "Devil
    Bat," starring Bela Lugosi. If memory serves me right, this flick
    features Arthur Q Bryan in a supporting role--one of the few movies in
    which he gets much screen time. Worth checking out if you get this
    message in time.

    Kermyt

    _______________________________

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

    Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 21:00:30 -0400
    From: Brent Pellegrini <brentpl@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Zen Nomad

    I bought a 40 gig Zen Nomad mp3 player. A friend gave a number of OTR on CD's in mp3 format.
    they won't play. I disovered that they will play if I open each show up in Winamp and
    change the ID3v2 tag to ID3v1 tag, hit update and it changes. Any ideas on this? I don't
    think I have the time to go through every show and change the tag. is there a way to
    change them en masse? Does anyone know why the player won't play them with the
    ID3v2 tag?
    brent

    [ADMINISTRIVIA: This question might better be asked to the customer service department of the manufacturer. Check the website for the product maker; you may find a forum there where other users and the manufacturer can help with hardware issues.  --cfs3]

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

    Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 21:00:46 -0400
    From: "Penne Yingling" <bp_ying@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Jack Benny's Violin

    Jack was definitely an accomplished violinist.  In addition to being an avid
    OTR listener, I also am an avid "watcher" of early TV shows (Jack and
    George&Gracie in particular).  I can't vouch for any radio shows that depict
    Jack's master playing (although there may be some), but have an early TV
    show in which Jack plays a lovely sounding violin with another master
    violinist/singer, Gizelle MacKenzie.  (Ciao from Penne)

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

    Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2004 02:00:47 -0400
    From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  j benny violin skills

>     But Jack is definitely playing for laughs.  Are there any examples
>     to prove that Jack really could play well when he wanted to?

    I don't know of any specific examples, but I do know that it takes a great
    deal of skill to 'play for laughs' in any art form.  Otherwise, it all falls
    apart and is anything but funny.

    I've noticed that he exercised great care in his bowing and left hand
    technique, even as he inserted appropriately funny screeches into the music.
      The tunes were recognizable; the rhythms were correct, and the intonation
    (by far the most difficult problem with any fretless string instrument) was
    good where it needed to be.  Thus I think he had a good deal of control over
    the situation and that he was a competent violinist.  For both personal and
    professional reasons, it would have been reasonable for him to be quiet
    about that.

    M Kinsler

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

    Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2004 17:46:55 -0400
    From: "Roby McHone" <otr_alaska@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Yours Truly

    My wife and I have been listening to the 'Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar' series
    for the last three weeks or so.  We have listened to several 5 part
    programs, but mostly the half hour episodes with Bob Bailey.  Every episode
    we have listened to has been either AFN or has had the commercials cut out.
    Who sponsored these shows?  Are copies of them available with commercials?
    A number of the 5 part series are missing one of their episodes, you miss a
    lot when 20% of the show is not there.  Where can I get complete 5 part
    shows or are some of these missing episodes just not in existence?
    Thanks in advance.

    Roby McHone
    Fairbanks, Alaska

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #326
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