Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #119
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 3/27/2002 11:03 AM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2002 : Issue 119
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Harry Bartell                         [ " Dial" <epminney@[removed]; ]
      "Our first radio"                     [ Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed] ]
      Pittsburgh OTR                        [ Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed] ]
      RE: RADIO AWARDS OR LACK, THEREOF     [ Kevin Michaels <kmichaels@doityours ]
      #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Nig  [ lois@[removed] ]
      Hall of Fantasy                       [ "Ryan Osentowski" <rosentowski@neb. ]
      Suspense in the '60's                 [ "Ryan Osentowski" <rosentowski@neb. ]
      Today in radio history                [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
      Ah ... There's Bad News Tonight       [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
      Amos & Andy Site                      [ "" <cooldown3@[removed]; ]
      Re: Churchill imitated on Radio       [ "Chris and Alice Arveson" <chris@ma ]
      Re:Fla Convention site?               [ hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed]; ]
      Defending my Buddy                    [ hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed]; ]
      Seth Parker                           [ Udmacon@[removed] ]
      Re: Churchill "fakes"                 [ Eric J Cooper <ejcooper2002@[removed] ]
      Norman Shelley's day job !            [ "Phil Watson" <philwats@[removed]; ]
      Payroll survey                        [ "Brian Johnson" <CHYRONOP@worldnet. ]

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

    Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 04:24:11 -0500
    From: " Dial" <epminney@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Harry Bartell

    My thanks to Brian West who in the Digest of March 21 asked some
    excellent questions concerning pay scales for OTR performers; reasons
    for movie stars performing in radio; and announcers' pay.  And my
    thanks to Hal Stone, Harry Bartell, and Anthony Tollin for their
    answers-we are really lucky to have these actors, researchers, and
    other talented and interested people contributing to this Digest!

    In his answer Hal spoke of actors who could do different dialects or
    change their vocal quality to meet a role's requirements-these actors
    were asked to audition more frequently.  I'd like to describe three
    different performances showcasing Mr. Bartell's great radio-acting
    ability.  Each of these roles is very different from the other, yet
    they are all superbly done.

    The first is an Escape episode called Second-Class Passenger.  In it
    Harry Bartell plays a priggish but somehow likeable drapery clerk who
    is taking a cruise as a second-class passenger (no one at the store
    will know I'm traveling SECOND class).  During his stopover in Morocco
    he becomes separated from the tiresome people he has taken up with.
    Abruptly he is pitched into a series of amazing escapades, and he
    emerges a dashing hero with an exotic Moroccan lady in love with him!
    Then he hears his ship's horn signaling the all aboard.  Willy-nilly he
    heads toward the harbor where he runs into his shipboard companions who
    obviously regard him as a schnook.  The exotic lady begs him to stay
    with her, but the pull of his life's old pattern is too strong, and he
    returns to the boring group.  You can hear his hesitation, the
    knowledge that he is probably making a great mistake in leaving the
    lady, the awareness that his life has been forever changed and that he
    will never again be a hero-all this in the actor's voice.

       	The second is a scene called The Loving Cup from the Fort
    Laramie series (a series that rivaled Gunsmoke in quality and could
    have continued for many years if radio hadn't been losing ground to
    TV).  In this show we learn that young Lt. Seiberts (as played by Harry
    Bartell) is scared to death of his senior officer, Captain Quince (as
    played by Raymond Burr).  Seiberts is new to the far west and Indian
    fighting, and, although a capable young man, he freezes around this
    austere, older officer.  When this is pointed out to Captain Quince by
    the post commandant, Quince makes an effort to get to know the younger
    man and invites him out to share a bottle of whiskey.
        	 In the next scene we hear the slurred speech and uproarious
    spirits of Lt. Seiberts who has obviously worked his way around several
    drinks.  (I just cringed in embarrassment for Seiberts when I heard him
    laugh riotously toward the end of the scene-he even went so far as to
    slap Quince on the back and tell him what a good man he was!  Ouch!)
    It's worth the whole program just to hear Seiberts' hilarious, well-
    lubricated laugh.  And you should hear Seiberts' voice the NEXT day!
    	The scene is absolutely on target-not at all a parody.

    	The third character as performed by Harry Bartell makes me so
    mad I just fume whenever I listen to the show (so I don't have it on my
    list of repeats).  It is a Frontier Gentleman episode in which Bartell
    plays a for-hire bad guy who is so insolent I just want to slap him
    (upside the head, as they say in Texas).  I have never heard anyone get
    so much lazy insolence into his voice.  (And as a former schoolteacher
    I've heard some heavy-duty impudence).
    	It's always a treat to listen to Mr. Bartell's performances:
    what will his next character be like?

    	Thanks for the forum - Elizabeth Minney

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

    Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 04:36:08 -0500
    From: Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: "Our first radio"

    When we moved to a duplex house in rural western Pennsylvania in 1957, our
    neighbor, "Uncle George", used to tell us kids about the "old days". One
    story that I remember concerned the first radios that were sold in the
    valley. They were direct-current sets that were powered by storage
    batteries (similar to car batteries, the way I understood it) that sat on a
    shelf below the radio.
    When reception got weak, you took the battery "downtown" to the radio
    store, where you exchanged your weak battery for a fresh, recharged one.
    I believe this story for a couple of reasons:
    .The house had been built in 1927 by my grandfather, but it had both
    rudimentary electrical service and natural-gas lights. (My grandfather
    didn't want to rely on the new electric service, and my grandmother was
    afraid of the "emanations" from the wall outlets - she wouldn't go near them).
    .When I looked at the radios & appliances for sale at the local [removed]
    "five& ten" store, the boxes were marked with the power system that they
    were compatible with: AC, DC, or AC/DC, with warnings not to connect the
    products to incompatible power supplies without adaptors.
    But in 1957 we were advanced: We had a radio in the living room and my
    cousin had a "portable" radio (with tubes and an expensive bar-shaped
    battery) that she could sling over her shoulder and take anywhere!
    Then came [removed]

    Herb Harrison

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

    Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 04:36:36 -0500
    From: Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Pittsburgh OTR
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    FKELLY <fkelly@[removed]; writes:

>     Also, Remember WENN notwithstanding, is there any OTR history connected
>     with Pittsburgh?

    This will probably be the 14th reply with the same info, but:
    KDKA (now KDKA-AM) was the first *commercial* broadcast station in the nation.
    In 1920, they broadcast the results of the Harding-Cox Presidential
    election from the roof of the Westinghouse building in Pittsburgh, in order
    to show the benefits of the new technology, and sell radios.

    Herb Harrison

      *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
      ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

    Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 04:35:53 -0500
    From: Kevin Michaels <kmichaels@[removed];
    To: "Radio  Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: RE: RADIO AWARDS OR LACK, THEREOF

    In answer to the posting of why no radio awards?  There certainly were:

    The "Oscar" Award of the Radio Industry  was The Peabody Award, that was
    usually broadcast the same as the Oscar is televised, and was an annual award
    as well.

    Then there was the Redbook Awards, that was usually presented anually  on the
    individual show that won it each year.  I can remember when the Aldrich
    Family received it and was presented  (I believe) at te end of "Homer's
    Engagement."

    Other Annual Awards from the various Radio Magazines like Radio Mirror, Radio
    Guide, etc., were given the same way as the one above, on the individual
    program that won it, only these were printed in the publication in addition
    to being presented on the show.  The only awards given to the individual
    performer were on the Peabody Awards Presentations.

    Kevin Michaels

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

    Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 04:52:00 -0500
    From: lois@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Night!

    A weekly [removed]

    For the best in OTR Chat, join IRC (Internet Relay Chat), StarLink-IRC
    Network, the channel name is #OldRadio.  We meet Thursdays at 8 PM Eastern
    and go on, and on! The oldest OTR Chat Channel, it has been in existence
    over five years, same time, same channel!

    Our numerous "regulars" include one of the busiest "golden years" actors in
    Hollywood; a sound man from the same era who worked many of the top
    Hollywood shows; a New York actor famed for his roles in "Let's Pretend" and
    "Archie Andrews;" owners of some of the best OTR sites on the Web;
    maintainer of the best-known OTR Digest (we all know who he is)..........

    and Me

    Lois Culver
    KWLK Longview Washington (Mutual) 1941-1944)
    KFI Los Angeles (NBC) 1944 - 1950
    and widow of actor Howard Culver

    (For more info, contact lois@[removed])

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

    Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 11:45:16 -0500
    From: "Ryan Osentowski" <rosentowski@[removed];
    To: "old time radio" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: Hall of Fantasy

    Hi all:
    Someone mentioned a couple of episodes of, Hall of Fantasy.  If you haven't
    done so, check out an episode of this show called, "The Crawling Thing."   I
    first heard it when I was in sixth grade and it gave me nightmares for
    months.  It still gives me the chills.  Another great episode is, "The
    Shadow People," best listened to in the dark.
    RyanO

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

    Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 11:45:46 -0500
    From: "Ryan Osentowski" <rosentowski@[removed];
    To: "old time radio" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: Suspense in the '60's

    Hello all:
    I just purchased a large number of Suspense programs from 1961 until the
    final broadcast in September of 1962.  There are a few things I notice.  One
    is that some of the scripts from these shows are used on other series.
    There is a story called, "The Lunatic Hour," which was formerly used on
    Inner Sanctum as, "The Unforgiving Corpse."  Another script, "The Curse of
    Kamashek," was formerly a five-part episode of Johnny Dollar.  "The
    Imposters," was later used as the same story and title on, Theater Five.
    I also heard an episode called, "The Lost Ship," in which the starring role
    was clearly played by Mason Adams, but he was credited as Matt Cooper.
    Anyone know why this is?
    RyanO

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

    Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 11:45:51 -0500
    From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: Today in radio history

      From Those Were The Days --

    1943 - Blue Ribbon Town was first heard on CBS.

      Joe

    --
    Visit my home page:
    [removed]~[removed]

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

    Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 11:47:01 -0500
    From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Ah ... There's Bad News Tonight

    Brian Johnson, responding to a speculation on inflation, observes,

>     According to the Columbia Journalism Review's inflation adjustor <snip>
>     $30 US in 1945 is equivalent to $300 today.

    Until fairly recently, I used as an inflation indicator the price of
    comic books.  The paper, ink, and the like, were constants, so any
    changes could be assigned to inflation.  Since comics started using
    different inks and papers, this has all changed; but well into the 1970s,
    it was a reliable index.

    According to the Comic Book Index, the Columbia Journalism Review's
    inflation adjustor was a tad conservative.

    Stephen A. Kallis, Jr,

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

    Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 11:47:26 -0500
    From: "" <cooldown3@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Amos & Andy Site

>     "Amos 'n' Andy" enthusiasts will now find detailed plot summaries for
>     episodes aired during 1933 at the "A&A -- The First Decade" section of my
>     "Amos 'n' Andy In Person" website.

    I have enjoyed the detail that your site provides and want to thank you for
    all of the time and effort you have put into this. I have come across a few
    old Amos & Andy and this has enhanced my enjoyment to no end.
    Will you also address the Sam & henry shows? I have found one snippet
    attributed to them.
    Thanks again,
    Patrick

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

    Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 11:48:50 -0500
    From: "Chris and Alice Arveson" <chris@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: Re: Churchill imitated on Radio
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    The recordings of Churchill's speeches by actor Shelley were not made for
    broadcast. From the Churchill Center's quarterly publication, Finest Hour,
    Autumn 2001 (Number 112), in a story on Churchill's speeches, "How Churchill
    Did It", by Dr. Stephen Bungay. A footnote (number 6) on page 27, discusses
    the belief that Churchill's "their finest hour" speech of June 18, 1940, was
    delivered by an actor.
    "6. David Irving has put it about that this broadcast, along with the "fight
    on the beaches" speech of 4 June, was in fact the work of the actor Norman
    Shelley (Churchill's War, Avon Books 1987, 313, 338.) Others, such as Clive
    Ponting in 1940: Myth and Reality (Hamish Hamilton 1990, 158) eagerly followed
    suit. In fact, neither Churchill nor Shelley broadcast the speech of June 4th:
    parts of it were read out by an announcer with no pretence to be other than
    who he was. The speech of 18 June was broadcast by Churchill and can be heard
    at the National Sound Archive in London, ref. 2488-91, preceded by an
    announcer saying: "Ladies and gentlemen, the Prime Minister." Churchill was
    asked by the British Council later in the war to make a recording for the
    [removed], and having rather a lot on his plate, he suggested they use an actor
    instead. Shelley did the recording, Churchill heard it, was much amused and
    gave his approval. Shelley told the story in a BBC radio interview in 1978. It
    is not known for sure when, if at all, his recording was used. Its fate
    remained unknown until the autumn of 2000 when Anthony Shelley discovered a
    disc dated 7 September 1942 of his late father doing a Churchill impression,
    though it is not of any known Churchill speech. I am grateful to the late
    Sally Hine and to Simon Rooks of the BBC Sound Archive and to Chris Mobbs of
    the National Sound Archives for helping to sort this out."

    Respectfully,

    Chris Arveson

    chris@[removed]

      *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
      ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

    Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 11:49:25 -0500
    From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: Re:Fla Convention site?

    R. Dezendorf posts:

>     I've seen mention of OTR Conventions in Newark & Cincinatti. Since Florida
>     is such a popular retirement site, I was wondering if any are ever held
>     here, are scheduled to be held here, and if so, where and when?

    Hi "R".

    Beats me why no OTR Convention sites in Florida. (I used to live there) I
    agree it would seem to me it would be an ideal OTR Hobby hot bed (pardon the
    pun), what with all the Retirement havens down there.

    I'm not even sure if there are even any formidable and active OTR clubs in
    the State. Why not start a ground swell and get some organized? All it would
    take is a lot of dedication, hard work, energy, time and even a little money
    to promote the Hobby in those retirement communities. "Nostalgia" is the "in
    thing" now.

    I recently received an e-mail from an OTR fan who was trying to drum up
    interest in his area. Why not get together and do it on a united front. I
    can at least put the two of you together. Then [removed] Guggenheim, The #1
    "Archie" fan, lives in Central Florida.

    Contact Elliot at <otrcollector@[removed];. Or Bill, at
    <BillG@[removed];

    And if any other "Digesters" are from Florida, "get your act together" (to
    coin the Show Biz phrase).

    Good Luck

    Hal(Harlan)Stone
    Jughead

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

    Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 11:50:05 -0500
    From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: Defending my Buddy

    To  Michael Biel  & Lee Munsick:

    Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! (and one more "Tsk!" for good measure)

    M. Biel posts;

>     My pal Lee Munsick ended his peon to Bob Hastings saying: " Bob Hastings
>     is a gem and we all love him.  Just please don't sing again!"

    To which M. Biel adds;

>     Lee, I think I know what you mean! :-) <SNIP>
>     And Hal, find out what substance Bob was ON when he made these records.
>     It must have been GOOD stuff!!! <SNIP>

>     Hal, next time you get a chance to speak to Bob, ask him how much he is
>     willing to fork over so that I will not have them played to his
>     unsuspecting public at the Cinc convention?

    You guys are not going to get me involved in this "Character Assassination".
    Or should it be termed "Vituperative Vocal Vitriol"

    I have to Live with the guy. (Figuratively speaking). More to the point, I
    have to work with the guy. (I'm losing my hearing, so it's not all that
    difficult).

    You have to [removed] sounds a lot better than Rudy Valley who made a lot
    of money at it. Speaking of Valley, I understand he was very "tight with a
    buck". That's something else my Silver Tongued friend has in common with him
    Rudy. :)

    Consequently, your attempt at extortion and blackmail will not succeed. (see
    last two sentences in above paragraph).
    [removed] chance! Black [removed]!

    Hal(Harlan)Stone (The tone deaf friend of Bob Hastings)

    POSTSCRIPT: cfs. added to this thread

>     [ADMINISTRIVIA: let's remember that he got his start in radio as the, "Twelve
>     Year Old Boy Soprano" on the National Barn Dance. So people actually _paid_ to
>     sit in the audiance and hear him sing.

    Are you sure you got your facts straight, Charlie? Could it have been the
    other way around. "He" paid people to sit in the audience to listen to him
    sing.

    OK enough now! If he gets wind of all this "bashing", he won't show up at
    the Convention. (Or is that your game plan?) Cut it [removed] I'll Sing a
    duet with him.

    Jughead

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

    Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 11:50:26 -0500
    From: Udmacon@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Seth Parker
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    Just finished watching "Way Back Home," with Bette Davis and a very young
    Phillips H. Lord playing his famous "Steth Parker" character. The movie
    beautifully recreated the basis of the "Sunday Night At Seth Parker's" early
    network show; lovely hymns and ballads very well sung. I got this 1931 movie
    thru E-Bay.

    Bill Knowlton

      *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
      ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

    Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 11:50:48 -0500
    From: Eric J Cooper <ejcooper2002@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Re: Churchill "fakes"

    Churchill also repeated his remarks for reporters and newsreels at other
    times, so not everything you hear of Winston Churchill is Norman Shelley.
    The World War Two era has been a special interest and study of mine for
    over 30 years and Churchill had such a distinctive voice and speaking
    style that it is easy (at least for me, having heard it probably a
    hundred times) to tell the real from the phony.  I have heard both
    Shelley and Churchill. If you listen to both extensively, you can tell
    them apart.

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

    Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 11:51:18 -0500
    From: "Phil Watson" <philwats@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: Norman Shelley's day job !

    In Digest #118 Sean Dougherty mentioned that some of Winston Churchill's
    wartime speeches had actually been recorded by actor Norman Shelley. I
    mentioned this in the gigest a few months ago when it was publicised in the
    British press for some reason I've forgotten.

    Sean mentioned Shelley's day job was playing Winnie-the-Pooh on the BBC's
    Children's Hour show. For old-time-radio fans he is best known as Dr. John
    H. Watson in the BBC Sherlock Holmes series between 1952 and 1969, with
    Carleton Hobbs as Holmes.

    I know I would sooner remember him as Dr. Watson than Winnie The Pooh !

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

    Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 11:53:07 -0500
    From: "Brian Johnson" <CHYRONOP@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: Payroll survey

    Inflation [removed] Good wages or slave labor?

                                                        1949             2002

    [removed]$4,[removed]$30,303
    Staff [removed],[removed],606
    [removed],[removed],364
    Sound effects [removed],[removed],394
    Free-lance [removed],[removed],727
    Straight Arrow annual [removed],200,[removed],090,909
    Howard Culver (2 Shows)...........................[removed],038
    Sheldon [removed],557

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #119
    *********************************************

    Copyright [removed] Communications, York, PA; All Rights Reserved,
      including republication in any form.

    If you enjoy this list, please consider financially supporting it:
       [removed]

    For Help: [removed]@[removed]

    To Unsubscribe: [removed]@[removed]

    To Subscribe: [removed]@[removed]
      or see [removed]

    For Help with the Archive Server, send the command ARCHIVE HELP
      in the SUBJECT of a message to [removed]@[removed]

    To contact the listmaster, mail to listmaster@[removed]

    To Send Mail to the list, simply send to [removed]@[removed]