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	  	         === Last Update 1/17/95  ====





	    [removed]   Volume 96 : Issue 217


Articles in this issue of [removed]:

	 Re: SPERDVAC
	 Whoops!
	 Re:Fibber McGee and Molly
	 The Vigilante
	 Introduction, and a query
	 Re: blimps and derigibles
	 Re: Buster Brown Stories
	 Re: Hindenberg
	 Early Benny Programs

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

Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 01:29:29 -0400
From: RLINSURF@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: SPERDVAC
Message-ID: <960618012929_137281112@[removed]>

Dear Jack--

<<Jeffery,
      I appreciate your great blurb on SPERDVAC, but it is not the only
old time radio club in the USA.  In fact, my major complaint with
SPERDVAC is that is a regional organization.  Although it has members
nationwide, most of its activities and all its meetings are in Calif.>>

While I am certainly aware of several other large OTR organizations, at this
moment, although you are correct that it's meetings and, of course, the
Convention, are largely Southern California based, our membership is I
believe both the largest of all the OTR organizations, and is spread
worldwide--even as far as Japan. Although it is true that we are a Los
Angeles-based club, that by no means limits our activities, or concerns, to
the Los Angeles area. Our newsletter, the SPERDVAC "Radiogram", is sent
worldwide, and our tape library, and well-known catalogue, is available to
collectors throughout the United States. Although the Convention, and our
monthly meetings, with talks from the Hollywood stars of yesteryear, are
certainly exciting mainstays of our group, they aren't by any means our sole
functions. We, of course, wish all our members could attend both, especially
the Convention, and many do fly in and stay at our hotel accomadations --
spectacular! -- however, the majority of our members from the old days of
radio, naturally, happen to reside in Los Angeles, and therefore it is more
convenient to hold such affairs here, inviting the rest of our membership to
participate, and join the stars, as they can.

I hope this clears this up for you -- by the way, have you considered
becoming a member? You might find SPERDVAC offers you more than you thought!

Yours,
Jeffrey Ellis 

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

Date: Mon, 17 Jun 1996 23:26:20 -0700
From: Jack Mann <jmann@[removed]>
To: OTR@[removed]
Subject: Whoops!
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>

Lou: The URL I gave in my last mail was wrong. [removed]
should read [removed], as you well know. Sorry about
that!  Jack

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

Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 07:33:24 -0400 (EDT)
From: elchurch@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re:Fibber McGee and Molly
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

>
>My name is John and I am an avid listener and collector of old time radio
>shows.  I have been collecting shows since I was 14 years old and I am now
>27.  My collection is getting quite large.  My favorite shows are Fibber
>Mcgee & Molly and Gunsmoke.  My question is, in the beginning of the Fibber
>Mcgee and Molly shows the audience is usually laughing and sometimes you
>can hear people talking.  This is even before the announcer starts the
>show.  Does anyone know what went on before the show went on the air?  It
>may be nothing, but it happens  in many of the shows.

  There has been much discussion on the net regarding this. The information
I have seen indicates that the laughter is a result of a warmup of the
audience, perhaps by Harlow Wilcox. One of the gags that may have been used
was to ask the audience members to turn around and shake hands with the
person behind them. Warmups were a tradition that carried over to some live
tv shows and are used by performers today by having a comedian or other
entertainment perform before the principal performers come on stage. The
audience is thus in a good mood when the main entertainment starts.  Hope
this helps.

 Edgar L. Church Jr.

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

Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 09:12:53 -0400
From: ab065@[removed] (Ron Abrams)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: The Vigilante
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

Something triggered and old memory of a series called The Vigilaante.  It
never made it big, but I remember enjoying it.  Does anyone have any detail
on it?  Also, The Whisperer -- was a big fighter of organized crime.  
Memory really "slips" after 45-50 years!

--
Ron Abrams ab065@[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 13:30:30 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Henry A. Campbell-Ickes" <hacickes@[removed]>
To: OTR mailer <otr@[removed]>
Subject: Introduction, and a query
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>

I should have introduced myself before having posted to this mailer a 
couple of weeks ago, but oh, well . . .

I'm Hank Campbell-Ickes, and I live in Arlington, VA.  I lived in and
around New York City from my birth (1946) to 1964, when I split for 
adventure in various parts of the world, finally landing here in 1978.  
My interest in old-time radio comes from as far back as I can remember - 
my father was a staff director for CBS radio/WCBS until 1960, and he used 
to put a wide range of shows on the air: mystery, soaps, variety, news, 
he did it all.

I also used the time gainfully becoming a big fan of Jean Shepherd (a 
subject on which I've already corresponded with some of you-all), and I'm 
delighted to know about the WWW site established in his honor! 

As a result of that mis-spent youth, I went to Syracuse U. after three 
years in the Army, coming out with a degree in Broadcasting, Advertising 
and PR, which background I occasionally still use (I work for the Feds, 
now, in an unrelated area).  While at Syracuse, I volunteered at the 
local PBS TV station, WCNY-TV, and even worked as a C&W/Rock DeeJay and 
newscaster for WOLF, a 1KW/250W AM-er.  Not as much fun as listening to 
the old scripts was!

With that out of trhe way, a question: can anyone point me toward a 
collection of organ music that would have been used in radio soap operas, 
drama shows, and the like?  I'm specifically looking for sheet music, but 
if that's not available, CDs, cassettes, or LPs would still be okay.

Thanks!

Hank C-I

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

Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 12:59:06 -0500 (CDT)
From: barrym <barrym@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: blimps and derigibles
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>

I've received so many corrections about this in email that I
feel I have to say something here.  It seems that I had blimps
and dirigibles reversed.  I had seen an explanation of the
differences many years ago and I thought I remembered them.
There seemed to be some confusion on this subject and I thought
I had the answer, but it seems I rememered incorrectly and gave
the wrong answer.

I'm sorry about any confusion I might have caused.  I really
thought I was right.  But it seems I wasn't.

Barry

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

Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 13:19:59 -0500 (CDT)
From: barrym <barrym@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Buster Brown Stories
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>

> I thought that was "Gunga."  They added some other things to the TV show,
> including Little Fox of the Sioux Indians, who, along with Gunga the
> Elephant Boay, were regulars in the Buster Brown Comic Book available at
> the shoe store.

I don't remember the Buster Brown show that well.  We always had it
on but I didn't really like it.  Except for those stories.  The
stories they did on that show were a bright spot in my week.

One of them has always stayed with me.  It was about a boy who
couldn't speak and his brothers always blamed him for everything
because he couldn't defend himself.  But then he met something,
I think a magic bird, who gave him the power to sing.  He could
communicate then and make everyone happy and his life was
transformed.

Does anyone remember that story?  I'm not 100% sure it was from
Buster Brown but I think it was.  No School Today also had stories
like this and it might have been from that show.

Barry

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

Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 16:22:48 GMT
From: Francis Fisher <fisherf@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed], otr@[removed]
Subject: Re: Hindenberg
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

bensmanm@[removed] (Marvin R. Bensman) wrote:

> The reason the networks did not play recordings are interesting. The FCC
> had a rule that if you played a transcription or recording of any kind you
> had to announce that the preceding or following was recorded. 

This requirement exists today to the extent, if you'll recall, that Cokie
Roberts can't be chroma-keyed into a live shot of an event that she is not
attending and leaving you to believe that she reported a story from the scene. 

My take on the use of network recordings is a little different. Until
magnetic tape was available in the studios there wasn't much to speak of for
quality recordings. Electrical transcriptions (ET) were pretty bad, so bad
that no one would consider using an ET on-air. Now, years later, ETs are the
primary source of OTR material and that's too bad. As broadcast, the
fidelity of those live performances was of very good quality. The FCC
requirements for fidelity, distortion and noise have not tightened with the
passage of time and the introduction of 'better' equipment. It's still the
same specs as existed then. (New requirements exist for stereo
considerations, etc.) A primary _technical_ difference between then and now
relates to the new mechanisms for recording program material. We could do
passable work in the 50s and perfect work today using inexpensive digital
equipment.

Network executives had a love affair with the bottom line during the height
of OTR days in the same way they do today. Likewise, performer's egos
haven't changed in any way that I can detect. Performers like to use tape
because they can re-record as needed to create their best offering.
Executives like to use tape today because it is a money saver (put that
musical bridge on tape ...and fire those guys in the band). 

ETs distort real sound. A year ago we talked about the sound of the Monitor
beeper: pure sine waves (tone) recorded on an ET.

Francis
____________________
Francis P. Fisher II
Dir of Engineering
WV Public Radio

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

Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 17:40:16 -0400 (EDT)
From: Nicholas Kierniesky <kiernies@[removed]>
To: OldTimeRadio <otr@[removed]>
Subject: Early Benny Programs
Message-ID: <[removed]@alpha>

     I notice in Jack Benny logs that all of the early programs which  did
not survive (or yet discovered) have titles reflecting the shows' content.
How are these titles known?  Have scripts survived?  Descriptions from
newspaper/mags?  I imagine that Jack Benny is among the most
well-researched figures of OTR.  Do those in the know suspect that any
more lost Benny shows are yet to be found?  Or at this stage, it is highly
unlikely.

-Nik
*************************************************************************
Nicholas C. Kierniesky (Nik)             kiernies@[removed]
Department of Psychology                 (301)447-5394 (office)
Mount Saint Mary's College               (301)447-5755 (fax)
Emmitsburg, MD 21727			 (717)334-7771 (home)
*************************************************************************

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

    


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---- 
End of [removed] Digest V96 Issue #217

