------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2006 : Issue 368
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Re: Chandu the Magician [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
"Golden Age of Radio" and "A One Nig [ "Bob Scherago" <rscherago@[removed] ]
RE: Movie actors on radio [ "Belpedio, Dr. James" <[removed] ]
Movie Actors Who Couldn't Adjust to [ Stuart Lubin <stuartlubin6686@sbcgl ]
If you want to try Quiet Please. [ "Matthew Bullis" <matthewbullis@run ]
Quiet, please: some of my favorites. [ "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed] ]
Re: Clarence Hartzell [ "Jan Bach" <janbach@[removed]; ]
Re: Thing on the Fourble Board [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
Spy shows [ jack and cathy french <otrpiano@ver ]
Movie stars on OTR [ "Robert Birchard" <bbirchard@earthl ]
Richard Widmark [ "Donald" <alanladdsr@[removed]; ]
Roy and Dale [ "Robert Birchard" <bbirchard@earthl ]
Richard Widmark [ "Tom Bewley" <fords3137@[removed] ]
OTR on TCM [ Melanie Aultman <otrmelanie@[removed] ]
Re: Quiet [removed]"The Thing on the [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 13:21:07 -0500
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Chandu the Magician
Someone mentioned research they were doing on Chandu the Magician and
was trying to get an idea on when the series began. I thought I had
forwarded a clipping I had from the Los Angeles Times dated August 4,
1931 which stated that:
"Gayne Whitman as Chandu the Magician is to be presented over KHJ at
7:45 tonight. Richard Creedon, publicist, says this offering will be
'the first of a new daily mystery - romance - magic dramatic series in
which Chandu prevails over the Orient and Evil in a most thrilling and
diverting fashion.' The series is to be replete with heroines, heroes,
villains and sneaky musical seducements by Raymond Paige and his
orchestra. The scene opens in Beverly Hills - and so on to India."
If you don't have the clip, let me know and I can email it to you.
Jim Widner
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 13:21:17 -0500
From: "Bob Scherago" <rscherago@[removed];
To: "Old Time Radio" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: "Golden Age of Radio" and "A One Night Stand
with the Big Bands"
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].
Starting this week we feature four complete shows in MP3 format
for your listening pleasure or for downloading; two "Golden
Age of Radios" and two "One Night Stands." This week also
marks the beginning of a new format where the two WTIC programs
are on different pages for more flexibility. Please let me know what
you think. You can email me at goldena@[removed]
We present new shows every week or so. The current four programs
will be available on line at least until the morning of January 17, 2007.
Program 24 - March, 1972 - Shirley Eggleston
In searching for material on this week's featured actress, Shirley
Eggleston,
I found this interesting article from "Radio Days:"
In the style of The Adventures of Sam Spade, ABC broadcast a thirty
minute radio detective series beginning on Halloween, October 31, 1952
on Fridays at 8:00 [removed] EST. The series was sponsored by Gillette-Toni,
but was short-lived leaving after the last broadcast on February 27, 1953.
The series starred veteran radio and film actor Myron McCormick as Dan
Dodge with Shirley Eggleston as his secretary. McCormick is probably
best known today as Sgt Orville C. King in the comedy film No Time For
Sergeants who always seemed victimized by the innocent Andy Griffith.
Read the whole article at our website.
Program 25 - April, 1972 - Ruby Keeler
Ruby Keeler was an actress, singer, and dancer. She was born in Halifax,
Nova Scotia, Canada. Her first "show-business" job was as a chorine,
working in a speakeasy for the Prohibition-era hostess Texas Guinan.
After that stint, Keeler made her Broadway debut (at Guinan's request)
in George M. Cohan's The Rise of Rosie O'Reilly in 1923. In 1927, Keeler
appeared in a total of three musicals: Bye Bye Bonnie, Lucky, and Sidewalks
of New York.
>From a 1965 interview. Not part of the original broadcast series.
See [removed] for details.
"One Night Stand with the Big Bands" with Arnold Dean
Programs 15 and 16 - Sy Oliver
Part 1 - January, 1973
Part 2 - February, 1973
These are the first and second of three shows featuring Sy Oliver.
Mr. Oliver was born on December 17, 1910. He was a jazz
trumpeter, composer, and bandleader and one of the leading
music arrangers of the 1930s and '40s.
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: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 14:17:51 -0500
From: "Belpedio, Dr. James" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: RE: Movie actors on radio
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The fundamental problem for screen actors was that their performance was going
out live to an audience of millions. Movie actors are accustomed to ratakes
when they flub a line or miss a cue. They were accestomed alsop to memorizing
shoer scenes and then waiting around for the next scene. A radio show was
broadcast in its entirety, live. Even though they were reading their lines,
most of the screen actors were terrified of doing radio. Lux Radio Theater
even constructed a special microphone with a metal hand grip circling the
device so that nervous actors could have something to grasp onto while reading
their lines. It kept them from shaking.
JBelpedio
[server removed an attachment of type application/ms-tnef which had a name of
[removed]]
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------------------------------
Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 14:18:33 -0500
From: Stuart Lubin <stuartlubin6686@[removed];
To: Time Radio Digest Old Time Radio Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Movie Actors Who Couldn't Adjust to OTR
I see absolutely nothing wrong with Andrew Godfrey's bringing up this subject.
Movie actors who were so good at their craft that they were invited to appear
on radio could not have been expected to be as good on radio as they were on
the screen, but many of them were just excellent. I am thinking of Joel
McCrea,James Stewart, Lucille Ball, and many many more, who were just as good
as any exclusive radio performer.
Conversely, many. many radio people were terrific in the movies and on stage.
These skills cross over, even though I know that you certainly can take issue
with that statement. Personally, as a 14 year-old kid who was not very
interested in movies, I broke down and went to see "All The King's Men", only
because two of my favorite radio performers left New York to appear in that
film: Ann Seymour and Mercedes McCambridge. At least for Merci Mccambridge,
the rest is movie-history.
One of the best "shadows" that I knew, Bill Johnstone, left Hollywood radio to
take a New York soap role on "As the World Turns", and he was not the only
radio actor to appear on that soap, thus leading to my addiction to that soap,
to this very day. Needless to say, there are no radio actors on that soap
today.
Getting back to Andrew's subject, I believe the big anxiety of screen actors
doing radio was that there were no "repeat takes". Screen actors can do it over
and over again, until they get it right. The late, great Rhoda Williams, who
appeared on many Lux Radio Theatres as a child actor, told me that when break
time came, the radio people would relax and socialize, while the movie people
quite often continued to practice their lines. When you think of it, the no
repeat take situation can be a scary thing. That's why I think radio actors are
the greatest!
Happy New Year to all of you, and may 2007 be a healthy one!
Stuart
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 15:24:57 -0500
From: "Matthew Bullis" <matthewbullis@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: If you want to try Quiet Please.
Hello, if you'd like to read about, and listen to, all existing episodes,
there's actually a Quiet Please web site, which is
[removed]
I was pleasantly surprised to find that this series has this web site
devoted to it.
Matthew
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 15:25:33 -0500
From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed];
To: "Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Quiet, please: some of my [removed]
Following the lead of "Fourble Board" on Quiet, Please, I want to recommend
my favorite shows from that series. I have chosen some both for their story
line and excellent acting, but because the audio is good. On many shows the
audio is so poor it is difficult to even follow the story. Some of the
shows in circulation are only half-shows. There is an excellent log book
published by Randy Eidemiller and Chris Lambesis, and they sell individual
scripts of the missing shows. I am not selling the book, but I suppose the
compilers read this Digest.
Berlin 1945
Bring me to life
Green light
Little visitor
One for the book
Pathetic fallacy
Presto, change-o, I'm sure
Red and white guide-on
Third man's story
Thirteen and eight
Twelve to five
Valentine
Very unimportant person
If I had any of these shows with me on that deserted island, I would be
quite happy. I would not need "Fourble board"!
Ted Kneebone / 1528 S. Grant St. / Aberdeen, SD 57401
[removed]~stmarkch/
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 15:25:51 -0500
From: "Jan Bach" <janbach@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Clarence Hartzell
Hello again --
I enjoyed Ken Greenwald's memories of meeting Clarence Hartzell's nephew.
But in the interest of good scholarship (although it probably makes little
difference to most OTRers), Clarence and his wife Helen moved from Chicago
to Bella Vista, Arkansas in 1979. So Ken's memories of the Hartzell
incident, like many of our own memories, must have been earlier than he
remembered. I wouldn't have known this if I hadn't consulted one of my many
"Friends of Vic and Sade" materials looking for Clarence's obituary (and
possibly the name of his nephew) and found this little fact in an article
from the National Lum and Abner Society. Clarence had used a version of his
Uncle Fletcher character in playing Ben Withers, a veterinarian on the Lum
and Abner radio program. And we know that Clarence heard his performances on
several of those old radio shows.
Happy New Year!
Jan Bach
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 15:26:14 -0500
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Thing on the Fourble Board
Dennis Crow asks:
> When did "The Thing on the Fourble Board," become so highly regarded;
when did its reputation start to
> build, and more to the point, why?
My two cents:
First of all, Dennis, have you listened to other Wyllis Cooper stories?
The wonder of Cooper for me is the structure of the plays for "Quiet,
Please." There are always lots of narration in many of his stories.
Cooper tends to break the fourth wall directly involving the listener so
that they are not only listening, but also participating with Chappell
talking directly to us.
Cooper was a minimalist. His plays very subtly build up to their climax
through the use of dialogue as well as the organ. Sound effects are
usually minimal allowing you to focus directly on the story itself.
That said, I agree that Fourble Board is probably held in higher regard
than it should. I think Cooper has written much more wonderful stories
such as the very autobiographical "In the House Where I Was Born" or
"Adam and the Darkest Day." But these are not horror stories of the
same plane as "Fourble Board." In that story the thing follows in the
tradition of the Kraken such as you later see in a film such as
"Fantastic Planet" or Lovecraft's Cthulu stories. But the image of the
"thing" doesn't quite come off though the horror lay not so much in the
"thing" itself, but rather first of all what happens to Porky and how he
is "married" to such a horrible thing, but the finality wherein the
listener becomes food for the "thing." A sort of true horror that for
me didn't work as well as other stories of horror writer Cooper has written.
So I wouldn't dismiss the story - it is in the tradition of the bona
fide horror stories and possibly why many fans of horror like it, but it
is much more subtle in the style that made Cooper in my mind, one of the
best writers of radio drama. But as I said, don't form an opinion
strictly on that one story. Go back and listen to those others and
remember, Cooper is not truly a horror writer - Quiet, Please is not a
horror series - but rather a vehicle for the fantastic and experimental
drama. Cooper said of horror back in 1935 (speaking of his Lights Out
series) - "I think that the horror slant is good in [removed] hits
the ears only. Listeners build their own pictures." It doesn't quite
work for "Fourble Board." However, radio horror has to be more visceral
and it needs to come from within each listener rather than thrown at us
with heavy use of sound effects and this is what Cooper was a master at
doing in my opinion. It's no wonder that Arch Oboler called Cooper "the
pappy" of radio drama.
Jim Widner
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 15:28:19 -0500
From: jack and cathy french <otrpiano@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Spy shows
On Sunday, December 31, 2006, at 01:23 PM, George Aust wrote:
I have a friend in his early thirties who has expressed an interest in
old time radio and he has specifically asked for "spy shows", and
this has got me stumped. Do any of you know of some spy shows from the
WW 2 period that are available or that I might even unknowingly have in
my collection?
In December 2004 Wes Britton composed a list of about 30 OTR series
that involved spies. I believe he posted it on this Digest. Most of
the shows dated from WW II.
I've sent George a copy of Wes' list by separate email.
Jack French
Editor: RADIO RECALL
<[removed]>
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 17:41:40 -0500
From: "Robert Birchard" <bbirchard@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Movie stars on OTR
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Andrew Godfrey asked:
Just would like to know what their problems might have been adjusting to
old time radio . . .
Oddly enough, I was having breakfast in DuPar's in Studio City on Christmas
day and Gil Stratton was sitting at a table across the aisle from me and he
was talking with his companions about some of his early work in radio. I was
not part of the conversation, I merely had big ears, but he mentioned working
on the Lux Radio Theater production of "Song of Bernadette" with Jennifer
Jones, who had played the role on film and had won the Best Actress Oscar for
her portrayal.
Stratton said that in rehearsal it became clear the Jones couldn't
read--probably not that she was incapable of reading but that she could not
convincingly cold read a script live for the radio. Jones's husband, producer
David O. Selznick, was present at the rehearsal and had it called off. the
actors were sent home and the script was hastily rewritten so that, according
to Stratton, Bernadette's lines were reduced to simple "yes" or "no"
responses to lines from the other players.
I have not heard this Lux production, so I don't know how drastically
Bernadette's part was trimmed, but it was an interesting story none the less.
On the opposite end of the spectrum would be George Burns, who, according to
his secretary Jack Langdon, never learned how to read or write to any degree
because he was working from age seven and had little if any formal schooling.
Burns had paid readers who would read the scripts aloud to him so he could
memorize them.
A collector's tip: if you have a Burns autograph that says something more or
other than "Best" or "Love, George Burns," you have something relatively rare.
Now available from the University Press of Kentucky
"Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood" by Robert S. Birchard
[removed]
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Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 17:40:51 -0500
From: "Donald" <alanladdsr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Richard Widmark
Responding to Mr. Blue's challenge, I believe Sandy Koufax was the Dodger in
question. I always wondered if the marriage lasted but I guess it didn't.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 17:42:31 -0500
From: "Robert Birchard" <bbirchard@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Roy and Dale
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Jack French wrote:
That being said, both of them, from 1947 until their respective deaths
(Roy in 1998 and Dale in 2001), led moral, exemplary lives as parents
and performers.
I'm a fan of Roy and Dale, they did a lot of good and went through a lot,
but let's not fictionalize and idealize their lives too much.
In the first place, Roy and Dale were catting around before Arline passed
away. In the second place, Roy had a long running affair with the wife of
Spade Cooley after he was married to Dale. The first time Spade Cooley
caught his wife and Roy together he beat the crap out of Roy. The second
time he caught them together he ended up killing his wife and spent the rest
of his life in prison. It was after this that Dale laid down the law and Roy
got religion. I have no doubt that their beliefs were sincere, but they
sought out the good Lord to save their public reputations, and the Lord seems
to have stood by them after that.
Now available from the University Press of Kentucky
"Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood" by Robert S. Birchard
[removed]
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Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 17:42:41 -0500
From: "Tom Bewley" <fords3137@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Richard Widmark
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For what it is worth, Richard Widmark was the first actor to appear as
"Albert"on Peg Lynch's Ethel and Albert show when she brought it to ABC in
1944.
Tom Bewley
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Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 17:44:56 -0500
From: Melanie Aultman <otrmelanie@[removed];
To: OTRDIGEST <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: OTR on TCM
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Turner Classic Movies reran Sorry, Wrong Number the other morning followed by
The Return of the Thin Man. What is the radio show the woman is listening
to toward the end? Some kind of mystery. Next were some of the original
Merrry Melody cartoons with the early "Goofy". In one of them a character
says he likes Amos 'N Andy.
Happy New Year to all and a great '07.
Melanie
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------------------------------
Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 23:33:10 -0500
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Quiet [removed]"The Thing on the Fourble
Board"
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In a message dated 12/30/06 7:29:43 PM Central Standard Time,
[removed]@[removed] writes:
The ending is more ambiguous than it is frightening. I can
imagine dialing into "Quiet, Please", hearing the program, and if I hadn't
fallen asleep, wondering, "what this was all about." Yet, it has "stood the
test of time."
I can't say the ending/plot twist/climax of "The Thing on the Fourble Board"
was frightening, [removed] it was very, very disturbing, or at least I
thought so. The "Joe Lunchbox" persona of the narrator, and perhaps the time
in
which this show aired (1948?), contributed to my shock at hearing the ending.
But knowing people who've been on isolated rigs like this one helped me
understand what was really going on between the lines.
Of course, I could be the only one who understood it that way. I'm really
surprised it was never remade on TV for "The Twilight Zone" or "Alfred
Hitchcock
Presents," but the special effects would have been perhaps too limited due to
technology and budget.
Dixon
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--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2006 Issue #368
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