Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #461
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 12/29/2003 7:48 AM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2003 : Issue 461
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  OLDE TYME RADIO NETWORK               [ "Jerry Haendiges" <Jerry@[removed] ]
  Cash on the Barrelhead?               [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
  'Shep's' Childhood                    [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
  Jack Benny quote                      [ StevenL751@[removed] ]
  Mary Livingston                       [ William L Murtough <k2mfi@[removed]; ]
  Awful-Tine Chocolate Drink            [ RickEditor@[removed] ]
  12-29 births/death                    [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  ... And Furthermore ...               [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
  Sky Captain                           [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
  Gunsmoke credit                       [ "Albert P. Cohen" <apcohen@intercom ]
  EBay: Now I've Seen [removed]   [ Mike Thompson <mthomp86@[removed]; ]
  Coupla things                         [ "Ivan G. Shreve, Jr." <iscreve@comc ]
  Big Band Christmas--Not!              [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]

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

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2003 10:25:45 -0500
From: "Jerry Haendiges" <Jerry@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  OLDE TYME RADIO NETWORK

Hi friends

Here is this week's line-up for the week of 12-28-03 on my Olde Tyme Radio
[removed] Featuring Tom Heathwood's "Heritage Radio Theatre," Big John
Matthews and Steve Urbaniak's "The Glowing Dial" and my own "Same Time, Same
Station" broadcasts, being broadcast on demand 24/7 in high quality
streaming RealAudio at [removed]

Past archived broadcasts are also available there.

We look forward to seeing you there!

	Jerry

Here's this week's lineup:

SAME TIME, SAME STATION with Jerry Haendiges

New Year's Special

LIFE WITH LUIGI
Episode:  12-27-49   "New Year's Phone Call"
STARS: J. Carrol Naish, Alan Reed, Jody Gilbert, Gil Stratton, Mary Shipp,
Hans Conried, Joe Forte and Ken Peters
CREATOR/PRODUCER: Cy Howard

HAPPY THE HUMBUG
Episode 14  12-28-48

HAPPY HANK
12-30-48  "New Year's Resolutions

FATHER KNOWS BEST
Episode 184  12-31-53
Stars: Robert Young

SEALTEST VARIETY THEATER
"The Dorothy Lamour Show"
Episode 16  12-30-48  "New Year's Eve Party"
Stars: Dorothy Lamour
Guests: Lionel Barrymore, Garry Moore, Ken Christy and Herb Vigran
- --------------------------------------------------

HERITAGE RADIO THEATRE with Tom Heathwood

NBC THEATER-SCREEN DIRECTOR'S GUILD PLAYERS
NBC - 1-1-49    "Stagecoach"
Stars: John Wayne, Claire Trevor and Ward Bond
Adapted from the 1939 United Artists movie

THE FRANK MORGAN / BABY SNOOKS SHOW
AFRS - 1943 Pgm.#51    Guest: Marilyn Maxwell
Frank takes Snooks to the Zoo

THE STRANGE DR. WEIRD
MBS 5-15-45    "Revenge From the Grave"
Stars: Maurice Tarplin as Dr. Weird
- -------------------------------------------------

THE GLOWING DIAL with Big John and Matthews and Steve Urbaniak

Spending the HOLIDAYS with Jack Benny and the Gang

THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM
NBC     12/11/1938     "Christmas Shopping In New York"

THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM
NBC     12/24/1939     "Christmas Open House At Jack's"

THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM
NBC     12/22/1940     "Christmas Shopping - Rochester's Missing"

THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM
CBS     12/7/1952     "Addressing Christmas Cards"

THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM
CBS     12/20/1953     "Cactus Christmas Tree"
- ----------------------------------------------------

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or requests for upcoming
shows.

            Jerry Haendiges <Jerry@[removed];

  [removed]  The Vintage Radio Place
  Largest source of OTR Logs, Articles and programs on the Net

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

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2003 13:09:54 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Cash on the Barrelhead?

Speaking of sending in for Captain Midnight Code-O-Graphs, Dr. AS Joseph
Ross notes,

Everyone's memories are different on this.  Jim Harmon, in =The Great
Radio Heros=, describes sending in a dime and Ovaltine seal.  Since the
program was on radio for quite a few years, I can easily believe that
everyone is right, but is remembering a different time-frame.

When Jim Harmon wrote *The Great Radio Heroes*, he was relying on his
memory alone.  In his writeup of Captain Midnight, his memory was very
fuzzy.  His description in that book of rescuing Chuck, Joyce, and Major
Steele from the clutches of The Barracuda, he had the hero flying, "the
*Sky King*, the plane of Captain Midnight."  Certainly during the Secret
Squadron years, Captain Midnight did not use his personal airplane (the
Squadron was a paramilitary organization covertly funded by the [removed]
Government, and received Government-supplied aircraft).  The de facto
single-place aircraft of the Squadron was a variant of the Curtiss P-40,
according to the pictures on the manuals (save for the Lockheed P-80
variant on the 1949 manual and the bomber -- possibly a B-25 -- on the
1945 manual).

If memory serves, in *Jim Harmon's Nostalgia Catalogue*, the author wrote
that Ovaltine didn't charge for Code-O-Graphs: that Ovaltine was
expensive and just buying the stuff was enough.  For all other premiums,
though, there was payment as well as a label.

Ovaltine at some point seems to have come in a tin can, perhaps those
labels were easier to remove.

Well, if you wanted to drink the stuff, you'd have to get past the seal
anyway.  :-)

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2003 13:10:20 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  'Shep's' Childhood

The renowned Dr. Elizabeth McLeod, speaking of Jean Shepherd's story
about yearning for a Red Ryder 200-shot Range Model Air Rifle, notes,

So Shepherd, unless he had an unusually prolonged childhood, could
hardly have spent his Christmases yearning for such a weapon.

You mean he _hadn't_ a prolonged childhood?  :-)

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2003 13:10:45 -0500
From: StevenL751@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Jack Benny quote

In the New York Times book review section today, in a review of a new
biography of Sammy Davis, Jr., the following quote appears:

Jack Benny once got a big laugh on radio when he asked Bing Crosby, who had
complained that a country club didn't admit actors, "How would you like to be
an actor and a Jew?"

The review was written by Gary Giddins, who is the author of a recent
biography about Bing Crosby.

I don't recall Benny ever acknowledging his Jewish heritage when he was
appearing in character.  Is anyone here familiar with the Benny quote and can
identify what radio show it is from?

Steve Lewis

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

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2003 13:44:33 -0500
From: William L Murtough <k2mfi@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Mary Livingston

During my many years with the CBS engineering department, I spent five of
them at CBS-Hollywood. (1945 to 1951) It was during that period that CBS
overhauled their program schedules, resulting in their owning a large
number of the shows. One was the Jack Benny Sunday afternoon program. As
I recall it was a million dollar deal. One of the stipulations was that
he bring his NBC engineer, George Foster , with him. This locked up the
seniority list. On Sunday afternoons I was usually assigned to the "fish
bowl" master control room at the rear of the large reception area. After
the show Jack would lead his troop "single file" past my location and
would always wave a greeting as would his entire gang. Mary was always
with him. However, in later days Ray Erlenborn tells of being assigned to
travelling oui to Jack's residence in Beverly Hills to record Mary's
lines from her "bedside". Apparently things had changed.

Bill Murtough

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

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2003 14:16:27 -0500
From: RickEditor@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Awful-Tine Chocolate Drink
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from text/html

 Finally, someone (lawyer Joe Ross) has the guts to admit how
terribly AWFUL Ovaltine tasted. Of course, as the counselor knows,
this is simply a free-speech opinion -- and one I happen to share. It
may have been and still be a perfectly good-tasting and wholesome
product. (End of disclaimer.)

 My milk-flavorings of choice were Bosco and an ingenious product
called Flav-R-Straws (or some spelling variant of same).

 Each straw had what looked like a flat, felt-like ribbon running
through it. The felt was soaked with a flavor -- chocolate, vanilla
and strawberry were the choices, I believe. You never had to mix
anything in your milk; the flavor was added as you sucked the milk
through the straw. While the flavors tasted totally artificial, the
great benefit of this product is that a parent could not easily
tell that you were drinking flavored milk. The stuff in the glass
remained white.

 And speaking of Bosco, I remember a parody of the
product's jingle we used to sing at summer camp. The original was,

 "I love Bosco, it's rich and chocolatey.
Chocolate-flavored Bosco is mighty good for me.
Mama puts it in my milk for extra energy.
Bosco gives me iron and sunshine Vitamin D.
Oh, I love Bosco, that's the drink for me."

the way we sang it as kids mentioned that it was poison and

"mama put it in my milk to try to poison me;

but I fooled mama and put it in her tea,

and now I have no mama to try to poison me.

I don't know if web site coding comes up through AOL e-mail, but if it
does, go here for some great old jingles (albeit TV).

[removed] l

rick selvin

philadelphia

[removed] Apologies from my computer to the list's computer. I keep getting
that same message to send in plain text only, and AOL seems to not
want me to do so. I am testing a beta version of AOL -- perhaps that's
why.

end

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

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

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2003 14:27:02 -0500
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  12-29 births/death

Today in history:
1913 - The first movie serial, the thirteen-part "Adventures of Kathleen,"
begins
playing in Chicago.

December 29th births

12-29-1898 - Pat Padgett - Atlanta, GA - d. 2-6-1990
comedian: January "Show Boat"; Pat "Model Minstrels"
12-29-1904 - Wendell Niles - Twin Valley, MN - d. 3-28-1994
announcer: "Bob Hope Show"; "Man Called X"; "Hollywood Star Playhouse"
12-29-1920 - Viveca Lindfors - Uppsals, Sweden
actress: "[removed] Steel Hour"

December 29th death

03-28-1890 - Paul Whiteman - Denver, CO - d. 12-29-1967
conductor: "Kraft Music Hall"; "Burns and Allen"

Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2003 14:27:18 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  ... And Furthermore ...

In discussing the mistakes in Jim Harmon's *Great Radio Heroes* account
of Captain Midnight rescuing Joyce, Chuck, and Major Steele from The
Barracuda's clutches, I noted,

he had the hero flying, "the *Sky King*, the plane of Captain
Midnight."  <<

I then observed,

The de facto single-place aircraft of the Squadron was a variant of the
Curtiss P-40, according to the pictures on the manuals<<

I forgot to mention (and Jim Harmon didn't) that the prisoners were being
held in a Japanese-occupied area of China, and that Captain Midnight
didn't come alone.  He came with a number of Chinese soldiers, led by
Major Sun of the Chinese Air Force.  Soldiers were parachuted into the
stronghold of The Barracuda, and the battle to drive off The Barracuda's
mercenaries took the better part of an [removed]  (If Captain Midnight had
flown "his own plane," it would probably have been a Curtiss P-40,
probably on loan from the Flying Tigers.  The Secret Squadron aircraft, a
twin-engine amphibian, had been shot down by The Barracuda's forces in a
surprise attack)  Under any circumstances, the description illustrates
that unassisted memory is a tricky thing.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2003 16:25:52 -0500
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Sky Captain

I was wondering two things: 1) there is a movie coming out called Sky
Captain and was wondering if this was an actual radio show?

The film is officially called "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow."  It
stars and is produced by Jude Law with Gwenyth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie.
The film does not appear to be based on anything more than the pulp
hero/comic book style. It definitely has a very cool retro look to it as it
takes place in the forties with a Wellesian (as in Orson) "War of the
Worlds" invasion.

You can view the only trailer for the film at
[removed]
[removed]

You need Apple's Quicktime player if you don't already have it loaded. The
main web site is:

[removed]

If you view the trailer, be sure the sound from the main web site is off -
otherwise you might not hear the dialogue in the trailer.

Sorry for the off-subject, but I suspect there might be some interest from
some of this crowd.

Jim Widner
jwidner@[removed]

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

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2003 19:23:06 -0500
From: "Albert P. Cohen" <apcohen@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Gunsmoke credit

This afternoon I was listening to "The Buffalo Hunter" episode of Gunsmoke
from May 9, 1953.  The last credit listed was William Wyler.  Does anyone on
distribution including Harry Bartell - also in the cast  - know if Wyler was
any relation to the director?

Al Cohen

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

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2003 20:25:36 -0500
From: Mike Thompson <mthomp86@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  EBay: Now I've Seen [removed]

While doing a quick eBay search to see what kind of
OTR was available (and making the unpleasant discovery
that most of what's available on eBay these days are
CD-Rs of MP3s of shows; am I the only one who doesn't
like those? Give me cassettes!), I discovered that
somebody was actually auctioning off one of those
mini-books that come in those Smithsonian OTR
collections ([removed] "The Best of Burns and Allen," "The
Best of Lucille Ball," etc). I'm sure you guys know
what I mean; they're essentially deluxe liner notes.
And somebody is actually auctioning them off! This
might be somewhat acceptable if the guy was only
asking a buck or so, but guess what the starting price
is? $[removed]! With a Buy it Now option for $[removed]! For
glorified liner notes! Unbelievable!

Mike

[ADMINISTRIVIA: Now you understand why we disallow mentions of specific
auctions on the OTR Digest; eBay is probably the _worst_ place to look for
Old-Time Radio, since most of the "dealers" there are only selling stuff
they've downloaded from the newsgroups anyway. Heck, I bet the booklet isn't
even autographed by the author. --cfs3]

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

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2003 22:02:00 -0500
From: "Ivan G. Shreve, Jr." <iscreve@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Coupla things

My good friend Martin Grams, Jr. took time from writing the GANGBUSTERS book
to opine:

First  off,  actors  appeared  in  movies, on television, and on radio
(especially character actors like Parker Fennelly and Les Tremayne) as long
as they were paid.  They rarely turned down an offer unless there was  a
personal reason.

This sounds right on the money--I just thought I would throw in my two cents
and add that there were also radio actors who accepted film or TV roles ONLY
if it was a worthwhile part.  Frank Nelson comments in Leonard J. Maltin's
THE GREAT AMERICAN BROADCAST that he pretty much stayed with radio because
film roles would have required him to be away from the radio programs he
regularly appeared on for three to six weeks at a time.  I guess it would
have been a little chancey to give up a steady radio gig for a movie part
that could possibly end up on the cutting room floor.

And Richard J. Smith stopped the show with:

I am back. It has been a while sense I have been a member of the digest.

Welcome back to the list!  Help yourself to punch and cookies (on Charlie,
of course)...

ps: Any Old-time radio show bloggers out there?

Well, I hate to toot my own horn (oh, heck, why not--if I don't, who will?)
but you'll find one of them by clicking on my signature.

Ivan
----
OTR Ramblings and Musings at Thrilling Days of Yesteryear:
[removed]

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

Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 09:42:21 -0500
From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Big Band Christmas--Not!

OK.  I was wrong.  It is amazing what assumptions can trip you up.  As I
discussed with Walden Hughes on YesterdayUSA this evening, there WAS an
amazing LACK of Christmas songs recorded by popular big bands during the
big band era.  I was shooting from the hip for my challenge posting here on
the OTR-D yesterday because all of my reference materials were not at hand.
But in preparation for the showdown tonight, I did some research.  I first
went to John Flower's Bio-Discography of Glenn Miller which lists not only
recording sessions but also broadcasts of Miller's civilian band.  Looking
thru all of Miller's December broadcasts from 1938 to 1942, I expected to
see loads of Christmas songs, including some medleys.  NONE.  Not a one.
The closest we got was several playings of "Jingle Bells" which really is a
winter song.

I knew immediately that my theory was in trouble.  If Miller wasn't playing
Christmas songs, was anybody??  I next pulled out a slew of record company
catalogs of the 1940s.  While there were many recordings of traditional
songs like "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear," "Silent Night," "Adeste
Fideles," "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," "O Tannenbaum," "Good King
Wenceslas," "The First Noel," "Joy To The World," "O Holy Night," etc. etc.
etc. just about all of them were done by choruses, organs, bells, military
bands, symphony orchestras, quartettes, or operatic voices.  Back in the
catalogs of the Acoustical era of the teens and early 20s there were a few
comedy sketches such as "Christmas Morning at Clancey's" by Steve Porter,
"Christmas Time at Pumpkin Center" by Cal Stewart and Ada Jones (Uncle Josh
& Aunt Nancy), and "Santa Claus Hides In the Phonograph" by Ernest Hare.
There also were some descriptive scenes by Prince's Orch like "Santa Claus'
Workshop" and "Christmas Morning."  But lighthearted things like this were
gone by the 30s.

What did surprise me was that practically the only pop Christmas records by
big bands from the mid-30s to the pre-war 40s were a large number of
couplings of "Jingle Bells" on one side and "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town"
on the other.  Sometimes these two songs were done by two different bands
on the same record.  RCA Victor 25145 coupled Benny Goodman on Jingle with
Tommy Dorsey on Santa for 50 cents, while their 35 cent Bluebird B-11353
coupled Glenn Miller on Jingle with Alvino Ray on Santa.  Decca 23281 had
Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters doing both sides of the Jingle & Santa
coupling, while Woody Herman's Orch. did both sides of Decca 18152.  Ozzie
Nelson's Orch also did both sides of this coupling on Columbia 35186.
Earlier,  Harry Reser and his Orch did these songs on Decca 264, while
Riley-Farley and their Orch. did them on Decca 1031.  There were a few
other recordings of these songs coupled with a different song, but not
many.  Very few other big band recordings of christmas songs showed up in
these catalogs--and none of traditional-type songs.

One of the best recent compilations of big band Christmas records is a 3-CD
set produced in 2001 by my friend David Lennick for the Canadian budget
label Direct Source, called "Swingin Around the Christmas Tree." TP-91282.
The three individual CDs that comprise the set also were sold separately,
"The Original Big Band Christmas." Christmas Swing," and "Christmas
Crooners" XMS 91142, 91112, and 91102.  The company doesn't let him include
discographical info on these, so there are a few of the recordings that I
am not sure of the source or date.  But there are recordings by some of the
above plus Fats Waller, Shep Fields, Guy Lombardo, Louis Prima, Les Brown,
Bob Crosby, Red Norvo, Ted Weems, Frankie Carle, Lionel Hampton, Sammy
Kaye, and other bands who broadcasted.  While this seems like a large
amount, some of the titles are repeated, showing that there was still a
relatively small amount of songs to select from prior to the Christmas song
writing boom starting in the mid-1940s.  Until I went thru the record
catalogs this evening, I had no idea that it was probably difficult for
David to find enough records to fill these CDs.

Perhaps the most illuminating thing I see from this small amount of
preliminary research was the reluctance of the popular musicians to "jive
up" the traditional Christmas songs.  Almost all of the recordings are of
secular songs that discuss Santa Claus, non-religious social aspects of the
holiday, and Winter.  By the 1950s it was possible to put a beat to "Silent
Night" or "Adeste Fideles."  They apparently wouldn't do that back in the
30s and 40s.  What would they have thought of the "Jingle Cats"?  Or the CD
I have playing now called "It's A Cow Christmas" Spinnaker SPI 42697.  It
starts off with the "Hallemoojah Chorus" and includes "God Rest Ye Merry
Cattlemen" with the opening lines:
	God rest ye merry cattlemen
	Let nothing you dismay
	Remember Christ our savior
	Was born in bales of hay.

(I have a very eccelectic record collection.)  Sounds like a good subject
for some scholarly research if somebody over at the Society for American
Music hasn't done it already.  The irony is that there was a discussion a
few weeks ago (was it here or over on the 78-L??) of why there weren't any
good Channukah songs.  (Actually there are, but none that are really of the
calabre of "White Christmas" or "The Christmas Song.")  One person
responded that it was because all of the good Jewish songwriters like
Irving Berlin were busy writing Christmas songs!!  But the REAL irony is
the article I read in last week's "Time Out New York" magazine about a
recently discovered batch of Chanukah songs written in the 1940s by Woody
Guthrie which were being premiered in a NYC concert.  His mother-in-law was
a noted Jewish poetess, and she collaborated on them.  I hope they taped
the concert--it would probably be a good fundraiser for PBS next year.

I just realized that the one thing I didn't get around to doing was looking
thru my catalogs of the recorded music library services like Thesaurus,
World, Associated, Lang-Worth, etc.  I bet these provided the local
broadcasters of the 30s and 40s with recordings of Christmas songs.   But
most of them were probably orchestral, organ, or choral, not jazzy or big
band.

Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #461
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