------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2006 : Issue 139
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Re: Mel Blanc vs. Suspense [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
HOUDINI TALKS TO WILL ROGERS [ PURKASZ@[removed] ]
Houdini [ "Frank McGurn" <[removed]@sbcgloba ]
"Rogers of the Gazette" [ Fred Berney <fsberney@[removed]; ]
A Houdini [removed] [ jameshburns@[removed] (Jim Burns) ]
Bob Hope show [ "Walden Hughes" <walden1@yesterdayu ]
Show That Ran Too Long? [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr" <skallisjr@j ]
Freberg funny? [ "Bill Scherer" <bspro@[removed]; ]
WCCO Radio [ "Bill Scherer" <bspro@[removed]; ]
Hickerson [ "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed] ]
Freberg and Kovacs [ Ed Kindred <kindred@[removed]; ]
Myrt makes an appearance? [ Dancingdays72777@[removed] ]
Short Run Series [ "George Tirebiter" <tirebiter2@hotm ]
5-20 births/deaths [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
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Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 00:14:21 -0400
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Mel Blanc vs. Suspense
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In a message dated 5/18/06 9:53:45 PM Central Daylight Time,
[removed]@[removed] writes:
the show was silly and juvenile
for prime time at 8:30 PM Tuesdays on CBS. He was up against NBC's strong
line up of Suspense, Fibber McGee & Molly
When was "Suspense" ever on NBC? I thought it was always CBS, beginning to
end.
Dixon
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Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 00:15:02 -0400
From: PURKASZ@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: HOUDINI TALKS TO WILL ROGERS
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All this wonderful talk about Houdini and Will Rogers set off a time bomb in
my brain and I rushed to my library to search [removed] here's the story.
In 1971, while living in the Hollywood Tower on Franklin in Hollywood, I
was a regular frequenter to the Cherokee Bookstore on Hollywood Boulevard
run by a genial man named Gene Blum I think his name was.
He loved when I would walk in the store and would loudly cry out some
dialogue he'd heard me speak in a recent movie and I'd reply with the next
line.
He was fond of showing me treasures he'd recently acquired and one day
he showed me a book written by Harry Houdini about the spirit world, sadly
the
title eludes me at the moment, anyway I asked how much and he said a
ridiculously low price and I bought it.
When I got home I realized he must have never opened it because it was
inscribed in sepia fountain pen ink in Houdini's handwriting,
"To my dear friend Will Rogers, best,"
Then the ultimate showman's signature with the self-serving appellation,
"Houdini himself."
I loved [removed] [removed] only I could find it.
Gotta be worth [removed]
Anyone know the title?
Gwynne
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Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 00:23:44 -0400
From: "Frank McGurn" <[removed]@[removed];
To: "The Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Houdini
So far no one has said a word about the 1953 movie "Houdini" that stared
George Marshal, Tony Curtis as Houdini, Janet Leigh, Torin Thatcher, Ian
Wolfe & Sig Ruman. To quote Leonard Maltin "Fanciful biography of famed
escape artist; more fiction than fact, but entertaining." **1/2 It's on
video tape if anyone wants to see it
Frank McGurn
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 00:46:28 -0400
From: Fred Berney <fsberney@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: "Rogers of the Gazette"
At 11:33 PM 5/17/2006, you wrote:
Will Rodger's Jr. had a series, "Rodgers of the Gazette" about a small
town newspaper publisher.
I really enjoyed that show. I use to listen to it every week when it
was originally broadcast. I had recorded one of the programs. The one
dealing with the towns centennial. I didn't know that anyone else was
aware of the show till one day I found another collector who had a
number of them.
Fred
Check us out for old time radio & TV shows & Movie Serials
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 09:28:58 -0400
From: jameshburns@[removed] (Jim Burns)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: A Houdini [removed]
Moe Howard's wife, Helen, was a relative of Harry Houdini's.
Moe, of course, was the lynchpin of the Three Stooges.
Which makes for some very interesting bloodlines.
When I met Moe's and Helen's granddaughter a few years ago, I said:
"Gee, as a kid growing up, you had it good.
"You could poke someone in the eye, and then [removed]"
Jim Burns
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 09:29:16 -0400
From: "Walden Hughes" <walden1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Bob Hope show
Hi Everybody,
reading in the last OTR digest about the Bob Hope show might have seen
its better days after Garry left. I feel that Bob Hope Season from 1948 to
1950 was the very best part of his run. He added new writers like Larry
Gelbart, he had two great singers. Doris Day for two season who showed her
skill as a great comedian as well as a great singer. My friend Bill Farrell
who was the male singer on the show the 1948 to 1949 Season. Jack
Kirkwood, and Irene Rilen. I hope Radio Spirit can put out more Bob Hope
shows from the 1948 to 1950 season. I am also a close friend of Beryl Davis
who came over from England on a Bob Hope Radio contract and started to sang
on Bob Hope show from 2-11-47. I hope Radio Spirit could issues more of Bob
Hope shows during that time frame too. Take care,
Walden
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 09:30:06 -0400
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr" <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Show That Ran Too Long?
Kermyt Anderson, speaking of shows that ran too long, notes,
I also gather that Captain Midnight's final season
or so (if I'm remembering correctly) threw out a lot
of the character's backstory and wasn't very good.
Actually, it was the half-hour show that degraded. This ran twice a
week, alternating with the half-hour Tom Mix show. It ran from 20
September through 15 December 1949. From 1938 through the Spring of
1949, the 15-minute serial had a continuity that was overlooked in the
half-hour programs. This is one reason that in chronicling the radio
program, I do not consider the half-hour programs to be canonical.
The 15-minute serial had a listenership of 49% of voting age ([removed],
adults), according to my contact at Ovaltine, Lyle Bergmann. The
30-minute version was aimed squarely at the grade- to middle school
listeners, and the plots and vocabulary were simplified considerably.
The half-hour series did not star "the voice of Captain Midnight," Ed
Prentiss; rather, it starred Paul Barnes. He did the best with what he
had, but it's fitting that Ed Prentiss was spared the degradation of the
character's presentation.
Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 10:26:43 -0400
From: "Bill Scherer" <bspro@[removed];
To: ""old-time radio digest">" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Freberg funny?
To quote Denis Day, "I'll probably get slugged for this but," I didn't think
the Freberg show was all that funny.
I haven't heard many of them, but 1 bit that stands out to me was the
interview with the abominable Snowman. Not funny. I loved his radio adds,
and I loved
his recordings--particularly the song and dragnet parodies.
Maybe I heard the wrong shows?
He had a
fabulous cast and it should have been incredible.
Oh yeah the Blanc show wasn't good either as mentioned by someone else.
I'd better duck.
Bikll
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 10:26:57 -0400
From: "Bill Scherer" <bspro@[removed];
To: ""old-time radio digest">" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: WCCO Radio
Hi all,
A year or so ago, our local twin cities radio station WCCO AM celebrated it's
85th anniversary. I think that's what it was anyway.
They put out a book that contained CD's of their programming over the years.
The disks are no longer in print and I was wondering if anyone out there may
have bought these?
I'd love to get a copy of the disks and would be happy to negotiate some kind
of trade if he or she would be willing.
Thanks.
Bill
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 10:27:27 -0400
From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed];
To: "Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Hickerson
I sent my copy of the 2nd edition of Hickerson to the first person who
wanted it. Next time Jay does a new edition of "Ultimate History of Radio
[removed]" I would suggest some other kind of binding. Mine got so
frayed I had holes punched so I could put it into a 3-ring binder. At that
point I split the book into two volumes; it was easier to use that way.
Anyhow, Jay, that book is one of my "Radio Bibles." Keep up the good work!
Ted Kneebone / 1528 S. Grant St. / Aberdeen, SD 57401
[removed]~stmarkch/
Democrats: [removed]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 15:16:06 -0400
From: Ed Kindred <kindred@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Freberg and Kovacs
Sandy Singer said
Stan had one of the most creative minds
in the biz, somewhat like that of Ernie Kovacs -- sadly, few 'understood'
their comedy.
Can you imagine staring at your colorfully monochromatic TV and seeing
only an immobile graphic
of a city street at night and listening to the Bartok Concerto for
Orchestra for many minutes? Who
would do such a gutsy, strange thing? The Wild Magyar Kovacs that's who. I
was a teenager at the
time who did own a recording of the Bartok so I was fascinated that it
would be on the telly. I kept
waiting for something to happen on the screen. It never did but I enjoyed
hearing the Bartok in what
I thought was a bizarre setting. We missed a lot of potential that night
he wrapped himself around the
power pole.
The following is excerpted from:
[removed]
'Eighty percent of what I do is in the category of sight gags, no
pantomime. I work on the incongruity
of sight against sound."
It is doubtful that Ernie Kovacs would find a place on television today.
He was too zany, too unrestrained,
too undisciplined. Perhaps Jack Gould of The New York Times said it best
for Ernie Kovacs, "the fun was in trying."
[removed]
Kovacs is buried in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los
Angeles.
His epitaph reads "Nothing in moderation-We all loved him".
Ed Kindred
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 21:56:38 -0400
From: Dancingdays72777@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Myrt makes an appearance?
I hear there's an episode of Fibber McGee and Molly where Myrt the telephone
operator actually makes a brief appearance on the [removed] has a couple of
lines. Does anyone know which episode that was and the date of it?
Thanks,
Matt
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 21:56:47 -0400
From: "George Tirebiter" <tirebiter2@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Short Run Series
I have 2 nominees:
1) "The Bickersons" - This began as a part of DRENE TIME in the '46-'47
season and continued as part of the OLD GOLD SHOW in '47-'48, then was on
BERGEN/MCCARTHY in the fall of '48. The only full length 30 minute sitcom
was THE BICKERSONS in the summer of 1951.
2) THE STROKE OF FATE - This was on NBC for 13 weeks in late 1953. First
rate dramitizations of "what ifs" of history (what if Hamilton killed Burr
in the duel, what if Lee accepted Lincoln's offer to command the Union Army
in 1861 etc.). Real thought provoking stuff and generally well done drama
as well.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 23:01:54 -0400
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 5-20 births/deaths
May 20th births
05-20-1894 - Adela Rogers St. Johns - Los Angeles, CA - d. 8-10-1988
novelist: Commentator on NBC 1936-1937
05-20-1899 - Stan Lomax - Pittsburgh, PA - d. 6-26-1987
sportscaster: "Evening Journal Sports"
05-20-1899 - Virginia Sale - Urbana, IL - d. 8-23-1992
actor: Martha "Those We Love"
05-20-1906 - Lyda Roberti - Warsaw, Poland - d. 3-12-1938
actor, singer: Freelance; Sang with Al Jolson two days before her death
05-20-1908 - Jimmy Stewart - IN, PA - d. 7-2-1997
actor: Britt Ponset "Six Shooter"
05-20-1909 - Jerry Hausner - Cleveland, OH - d. 4-1-1993
actor: "Lum and Abner"; "Silver Theatre"
05-20-1911 - Patricia Dunlap - Bloomington, IL
actor: Betty Fairfield "Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy"
05-20-1911 - Vet Boswell - Birmingham, AL - d. 11-12-1988
singer: (The Boswell Sisters) "The Boswell Sisters"; "Woodbury Soap
Show"
05-20-1920 - Dorothy Howe (Virginia Vale) - Dallas, TX
actor: "Gateway to Hollywood"
05-20-1920 - George Gobel - Chicago, IL - d. 2-24-1991
comedian, actor, singer: (Lonesome George) Jimmy "Tom Mix"; "National
Barn Dance"
05-20-1921 - Joel Kane - Los Angeles County, CA - d. 4-20-1993
writer: "Fibber McGee and Molly"
05-20-1925 - Vic Ames - Malden, MA - d. 1-23-1978
singer,: (Ames Brothers) "Sing It Again"; "Robert Q. Lewis Show"
05-20-1926 - Miles Davis - Alton, IL - d. 9-29-1991
sideman: "Billy Eckstien Orchestra"
05-20-1936 - Anthony Zerbe - Long Beach, CA
actor: "Earplay"
May 20th deaths
06-30-1920 - Dean Harens - South Bend, IN - d. 5-20-1996
actor: Arthur Anderson "We, the Abbotts"
07-07-1919 - Jon Pertwee - Chelsea, England - d. 5-20-1996
actor: The Doctor "Doctor Who"; Worzel; Gummidge "Worzel Gummidge"
11-28-1917 - Elliott Lewis - NYC - d. 5-20-1990
actor, director: Frankie Remley "Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show"; "On
Stage"; "Mr. Aladdin"
12-06-1909 - Lyn Murray - London, England - d. 5-20-1989
conductor: "Chesterfield Presents"; "Your Hit Parade"; "Ford Theatre"
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Birthplace of Judy Tyler
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2006 Issue #139
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