Subject: [removed] Digest V2007 #9
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 1/8/2007 9:13 AM
To: [removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2007 : Issue 9
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Additional OTR Shows                  [ "Andrew Godfrey" <niteowl049@[removed] ]
  Re: "Quiet Please"                    [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
  The singing cowboy                    [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
  Ernest Tubb                           [ udmacon@[removed] ]
  Durable radio [removed]                [ "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed] ]
  1-8 birth/deaths                      [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
  Blacks on radio                       [ "Marvin R. Bensman" <mbensman@memph ]
  headphones                            [ "Sammy Jones" <sjones69@[removed] ]
  Re: African Americans During the Gol  [ Stephen Davies <SDavies@[removed]; ]
  3-D with your ears!                   [ Ken Greenwald <radio@[removed]; ]
  Half a network is better than none    [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
  FIRST 3-D FEATURE FILM                [ Sandy Singer <sinatradj@[removed]; ]

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

Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 12:09:37 -0500
From: "Andrew Godfrey" <niteowl049@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Additional OTR Shows

  Recently I checked my database of my old time radio show collection and
found that my collection which I started 3 years ago is hopelessly obsolete
because of so many episodes being found and/or remastered. I checked 2 OTR
dealers sites who generally have the most episodes available of any shows.
  Found out that over 2000 more episodes are available which is very
encouraging. Anyone interesting to see the episodes added can go to my
Baseball Etcetera website under the Etcetera portion under the baseball
news.
  The URL is [removed] if anyone is interested in
looking at the list which shows the total of shows I had before new ones
were found or remastered, the new total of episodes of each show plus the
number of additional episodes added for each show with the grand total at
bottom of list.
  You may have to scroll down to the January 6th blog then scroll down past
baseball news till you see the OTR episodes found list.
  This is not an all inclusive list since I don't have all the shows but it
will give a good indication of how much OTR is still being found 45 years
after the last OTR broadcast.
  Happy OTR listening,
  Andrew Godfrey

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

Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 12:12:45 -0500
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: "Quiet Please"
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In a message dated 1/5/07 2:06:45 PM Central Standard Time,
[removed]@[removed] writes:

If the show is so great why didn't last in a regular time slot
and [removed] listeners didn't like it. Never had a Sponsor .

What info do you have that most listeners didn't like it?  Ratings and
sponsorship don't tell the full story about quality, or even critical
success, just
financial success.  It could be most listeners couldn't find "Quiet Please" or
it had a cult following or had to compete at a low-listenership time period
against ratings grabbers like football games.  Remember, people didn't exactly
shut down society to listen to "Columbia Workshop" like they did the serial
version of "Amos 'n' Andy," and I don't think anyone would accuse the
"Workshop"
of having sophomoric production values or of being universally disliked.  As
we've established before, horror in those days wasn't as mainstream as it is
now.

In the TV age, "Star Trek" got awful ratings on NBC.  The ratings went down
each year and at one point it got its butt kicked (badly) by "Gomer Pyle,
USMC."  Yet when NBC finally cancelled it in 1969 it received a lot of
protest,
proving that its low ratings didn't necessarily translate to "nobody liked it."

Dixon

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Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 16:38:12 -0500
From: <otrbuff@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  The singing cowboy

1940 - The gate to Gene Autry's Melody Ranch opened. The 'singing cowboy'
would entertain on CBS radio for the next 16 years.

Well, to get technical, it really wasn't 16 years.  He was on from Jan. 7,
1940 to Aug. 1, 1943 (without summer breaks) when he left the air
voluntarily to serve with the Army Air Corps which he joined in 1942.

By mid-1943 it was clear that he couldn't pursue that call and do the show.
While on the air one evening in July 1943, the 35-year-old star was
administered an official oath of duty.  The military probably saw that
occasion as a propitious platform for encouraging others to follow in his
train.  The show itself was disbanded on August 1, 1943.  Autry became a
flight officer, flying Air Transport Command craft to North Africa and
China.  He was stationed overseas for two years.

When he returned from his tour of duty it was like deja vu transpired.  CBS
immediately found a slot on its evening weekend schedule for him, and his
earlier sponsor, the William J. Wrigley Company, once again stepped up to
the plate.  Wrigley, in fact, underwrote "Melody Ranch" for the duration of
the series' radio life, nearly 15 years between early 1940 and mid-1956,
omitting the time the show was off the air.  It was one of the most enduring
star-sponsor pacts in the annals of evening broadcasting.

The show resumed on Sept. 23, 1945 after an absence of more than two years.
By then, summer breaks were the norm, although the show again ran
continuously from Aug. 2, 1953 until it left the air forever on May 13,
1956.

Obviously, the Wrigley people were able to capitalize on the exemplary
performance of a stalwart entertainer.  And Americans found in him a
celebrity worth emulating.

There's much more to the fascinating Autry tale in my book, Music Radio:
The Great Performers and Programs of the 1920s through early 1960s ...
[removed]

Jim Cox

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

Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 16:40:01 -0500
From: udmacon@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Ernest Tubb
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 Correction: Ernest Tubb joined the Grand Ole Opry in February 1943.

An OTR fact: He established the "Ernest Tubb Midnight Jamboree" over WSM,
Nashville in 1947. To this day it follows the Grand Ole Opry every Saturday
night.

Bill Knowlton

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Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 16:40:33 -0500
From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed];
To: "Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Durable radio [removed]

I agree with Frank and some others that the "Fourble Board" is not my
favorite Quiet Please episode.
And I'm not especially fond of "3 Skeleton Key" from Escape and Suspense,
either.  These episodes get played and mentioned far beyond their real
value.  On first hearing they are shocking.  But there are shows that I go
back to time and time again, such [removed]
    Quiet, Please
    One for the book
    Green light
    Pathetic fallacy
    Red and white guide-on
    [removed]
    Other programs bring me back again.  The Suspense programs starring Jack
Benny, for [removed]
    Good and faithful servant
    Plan X
    Murder in G-flat
    and Edward G. Robinson/The man who thought he was E G [removed]
    Hitchhiker
    When I want to hear other programs that wear well, I listen to these CBS
Radio Mystery Theater [removed]
    Good Times Express
    Holiday visit
    Dr. Heidegger's experiment
    Stolen white elephant
    Behind the blue door
Columbia [removed]
    Day they gave babies away
CBC Theater
    White Christmas of Archie Nicotine
I could go on, but I would like to know your favorite, durable shows --
shows that you really enjoy playing again and again.

Ted Kneebone / 1528 S. Grant St. / Aberdeen, SD 57401
[removed]~stmarkch/

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

Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 23:00:15 -0500
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  1-8 birth/deaths

January 8ty births

01-08-1902 - Alexander Gray - Wrightvilles, PA - d. 10-4-1975
baritone: "Chesterfield Quarter Hour"
01-08-1903 - Roger Bower - NYC - d. 5-17-1979
announcer, emcee: "Can You Top This?"; "Stop Me If You Heard This One"
01-08-1904 - Peter Arno - d. 2-22-1968
panelist: "Stop Me If You Heard This Before"
01-08-1908 - William Hartnell - London, England - d. 4-23-1975
actor: The Doctor "Doctor Who"
01-08-1909 - Jose Ferrer - Santurce, PR - d. 1-26-1992
actor: Philo Vance "Advs. of Philo Vance"; Minister "We Love and Learn"
01-08-1910 - Dick Jurgens - Sacremento, CA - d. 10-5-1995
orchestra leader: "Summer Spotlight Revue"
01-08-1910 - Fabian Andre - La Crosse, WI - d. 3-30-1960
arranger for dance orchestras on NBC
01-08-1910 - Richard Cromwell - Los Angeles, CA - d. 10-11-1960
actor: Kit Marshall "Those We Love"
01-08-1911 - Butterfly McQueen - Tampa, FL - d. 12-22-1995
actor: Oriole "Beulah"; Butterfly "Jack Benny Program"
01-08-1914 - Sam Cowling - Jeffersonville, IN - d. 2-14-1983
singer: (The Three Romeos) "The Breakfast Club"; "Club Matinee"
01-08-1921 - Guy Bagil - d. 2-xx-1971
sportscaster: WALT Tampa, Florida; WTVT Petersburg, Florida
01-08-1923 - Giorgio Tozzi - Chicago, IL
opera singer (bass): "The Chicago Theatre of the Air"
01-08-1923 - Larry Storch - NYC
comedian: "Duffy's Tavern"
01-08-1926 - Soupy Sales - Franklinton, NC
script writer, disc jockey: WHTN Huntington, WV
01-08-1930 - May Wynn - NYC
actor: "Amos 'n' Andy Show"
01-08-1933 - Charles Osgood - NYC
reporter: "Osgood File"
01-08-1935 - Elvis Presley - Tupelo, MS - d. 8-16-1977
singer: "Grand Ole Opry"

January 8th deaths

01-03-1918 - Jesse White - Buffalo, NY - d. 1-8-1997
actor: "Hollywood Radio Theatre"; "Sears Radio Theatre"
01-24-1902 - Walter Kiernan - New Haven, CT - d. 1-8-1978
commentator, emcee: "Sparring Partners"; "Weekend"
01-30-1907 - Lois Wilson - Iowa - d. 1-8-1983
actor: "Jack Benny Program"
03-25-1909 - Jay Blackton - NYC - d. 1-8-1994
composer, conductor, pianist: "Stu Erwin Show"; "Broadway Showtime"
05-02-1952 - Campbell McComas - Melbourne, Australia - d. 1-8-2005
regular performer on Australia's ABC radio
05-16-1891 - Richard Tauber - Linz, Austria-Hungary - d. 1-8-1948
opera singer: "General Motors Concert"
05-19-1919 - George Auld - Toronto, Canada - d. 1-8-1990
bandleader: "Saturday Night Swing Session"
05-29-1899 - Don Brodie - Cincinnati, OH - d. 1-8-2001
grouch: "The Grouch Club"
06-11-1889 - Wesley Ruggles - Los Angeles, CA - d. 1-8-1972
film director: (Brother of Charlie) "Screen Guild Theatre"
06-18-1906 - Ray Bauduc - New Orleans, LA - d. 1-8-1988
drummer, composer: "The Bob Crosby Show"
06-19-1915 - Pat Buttram - Addison, AL - d. 1-8-1994
actor: (Sage of Winston County) "National Barn Dance"
07-14-1911 - Terry-Thomas - London, England - d. 1-8-1990
comedian: "Top of the Town"
07-23-1910 - Gale Page - Spokane, WA - d. 1-8-1983
actor: Holly Sloan "Story of Holly Sloan"; Gertrude Lamont "Masquerade"
08-15-1901 - Sam Perrin - d. 1-8-1998
writer: "Jack Benny Program"; "Phil Baker Show"; "Tommy Riggs and
Betty Lou"
08-28-1914 - Richard Tucker - NYC - d. 1-8-1975
opera tenor: "Chicago Theatre of the Air"; "Standard Hour";
"Metropolitan Opera"
11-06-1905 - Isabel Carothers - Mt. Pleasant, IA - d. 1-8-1937
actor: Lu "Clara, Lu and Em"
12-22-1911 - Milton E. Drentz - d. 1-8-2000
seminary producer: "The Eternal Light"

Ron Sayles

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

Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 00:24:09 -0500
From: "Marvin R. Bensman" <mbensman@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Blacks on radio
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In November of 1914 the W. C. Handy band was employed to play from
the Alaskan Roof Garden of the Falls Building in Memphis, Tennessee.
It was there that Handy introduced the St. Louis Blues. The band was
likely broadcast by a group of radio and enthusiasts that formed the
Tri-States Wireless Association operating from December 12, 1912.
Handy, W. C., Father of the Blues, (New York:  McMillan Publishing)
--
Professor Emeritus Marvin R. Bensman

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Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 00:24:26 -0500
From: "Sammy Jones" <sjones69@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  headphones

We have several pair of Sony MDR7506s at work, and I've used them for years
for sound recording and editing (loudspeakers are preferable, of course, but
under some circumstances that's just not possible).

I finally got a pair of 7506s for my personal use, and I love them.  I
mostly listen on my new pair of Tannoy Reveal 6 loudspeakers, though.  OTR
sounds great on them (especially first gen stuff).

Sammy Jones

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

Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 09:40:45 -0500
From: Stephen Davies <SDavies@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: African Americans During the Golden Age

The best example is Floyd "Wonderful" Smith (1917 - the present) who
appears in skits on post-war Red Skelton.  His characters have complete
equality wit h Skelton's; there's no sassy but subservient roles.
Stephen D
Calgary

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

Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 09:40:54 -0500
From: Ken Greenwald <radio@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  3-D with your ears!

Since there has been some mention of 3D with eyes, I thought I'd
mention the use of 3D in sound.
3D is a matter of seeing depth with 2 eyes. Carlton E. Morse produced
that same effect in sound on
I LOVE A MYSTERY. In "The Temple of Vampires" there is an episode
where Jack and Doc Long
are hanging by ropes in the middle of the temple (both having tried
to swing across to the opposite side and
bumping into each other- leaving them hanging). They decide to climb
the ropes to the top of the
temple. As they do so, they talk to each other. First, Morse has Jack
talking to Doc. His voice is loud (indicating
he is near the listener) while Doc's voice is farther away,
indicating the distance he is from Jack. As the two
climb and talk, Morse subtly changes the "viewpoint" in your minds
eye by making Doc's voice louder and
Jacks voice further away. A brilliant idea that added greatly to the
action of the scene.

As a kid, in 1949, I actually heard this episode on the radio and
remember that the previous episode had Jack and
Doc hanging above the temple floor trying to figure out what to do.
That was in the final minutes of the broadcast. I really
wanted to know what was going to happen --- but, wouldn't you know
how crafty Carlton E. Morse was --- that was
Fridays broadcast! And I had to wait the entire weekend to hear
Mondays episode for the answer to what Jack and
Doc were going to do!

Ken Greenwald

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

Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 09:41:00 -0500
From: <otrbuff@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Half a network is better than none

In the middle of the nineteenth century, Rowland Hussey Macy, a Nantucket
whaler Quaker, tried multiple times to open a merchantile shop without
success.  He was the kind of guy who, on falling off a horse, gets back up
and rides again.  He kept at it until he finally found a winning formula.
In 1858 he opened a "fancy" dry goods store near New York's 14th Street on
6th Avenue where he sold his commodities at fixed prices, discounting and
advertising his wares.  His was also one of the first  outfits to employ
women executives.  He expanded into an adjacent structure within eight years
and when he died in 1877 his emporium was housed in 11 facilities.

Of course, all of it was concentrated in New York City.  As time progressed,
the company expanded, diversified and moved well beyond the confines of
Gotham, in modern times buying chains of prominent retail store systems
throughout the nation.  Today the R. H. Macy nameplate, once revered as an
exclusive Empire State moniker, adorns former competitors with long
histories and proud heritages coast-to-coast.  (Many of those faded
reluctantly in some communities, but that's another story.)

Perhaps a little known detail is the fact that, in the 1930s, Macy -- then
still a New York retailer -- and The Chicago Tribune maintained controlling
interest in one of America's major radio networks, MBS.  The capital stock
of Mutual at its formation on October 29, 1934 consisted of only 10 shares,
of which five were owned by WGN, Inc., a subsidiary of the Tribune, and five
by Bamberger Broadcasting Service, Inc., operator of WOR, a subsidiary of L.
Bamberger & Co., a subsidiary of R. H. Macy & Co.  While Crosley Radio Corp.
of Cincinnati, which operated WLW, acquired five newly issued shares of MBS
stock in early 1936, it returned them to the network a few months afterward.
WXYZ, operated by Kunsky-Trendle Broadcasting Corp. of Detroit, also
participated in the formation of Mutual although it departed the fold in
September 1935.  For the remainder of that decade WOR (Macy) and WGN
(Tribune) persisted as the network's sole stock owners.

With a few exceptions -- Robert Hall, Montgomery Ward and most especially
Sears, Roebuck & Co. come to mind -- dry goods retailers were viewed as
community-based and usually did not go beyond local or regional hookups to
advertise their wares.  That environment has all changed.  Imagine, if you
will, what a commercial windfall owning a national broadcasting chain -- or
even half of one -- could mean to Macy today.  It could be "the network for
all America," as those stentorian-tongued announcers constantly reminded
their listeners, in more ways than one.

Jim Cox

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

Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 11:13:59 -0500
From: Sandy Singer <sinatradj@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  FIRST 3-D FEATURE FILM

Bwana Devil was the very first film shot in 3-D.  It was shot in sepia
tone, written and directed by Arch Obler, starring Robert Stack and
Barbara Britton, with a great score by Gordon Jenkins.

[removed]
          Sandy
[removed]
[removed]
[removed]

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2007 Issue #9
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