------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2009 : Issue 202
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Soupy Sales, [removed] [ jameshburns@[removed] (Jim Burns) ]
Mae West question ... [ "Bill Wilson" <[removed]@jacobsme ]
Re: Jack Holden (a little off subjec [ "Jan Bach" <janbach@[removed]; ]
regarding: more on Anaheim, Azusa, a [ Grams46@[removed] ]
another script re-used [ John Olsen <jrolsen2@[removed]; ]
Richard Wilson and Paul Stewart [ Ken Greenwald <kgradio@[removed]; ]
Norman Corwin's New Book [ Richard Fish <fish@lodestone-media. ]
10-24 births/deaths [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
Anaheim, Azusa, and Cucamonga [ "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@attorneyross. ]
This week in radio history 25-31 Oct [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
"Washington is admired; but Lincoln [ Wich2@[removed] ]
Mary And Ricky [ "Joe" <jpostove@[removed]; ]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:22:05 +0000
From: jameshburns@[removed] (Jim Burns)
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Soupy Sales, [removed]
Hey, Here's something I wrote for a friend's website, about late last
night, when I heard the sad [removed]
___
...Yes, Soupy Sales' mid-1980s radio show was funny. (And my favorite
segment was LUNCH WITH SOUPY, with Paul Dver doing a terrific Curly
Howard impression, as Jerry the Waiter. (Jerry (Babe) Howard/Horwitz was
Curly's real name.) If it wasn't necessarily the best venue for Soupy's
talents at that [removed] It's interesting to note that Soupy had
actually started out in radio, and I believe was where he even invented
Pookie the Lion (later, his puppet sidekick, ultimately voiced and
operated by Clyde Adler, and then my old pal, Frank Nastasi).
I didn't meet Soupy until about 1990 when we were both guest speakers at
a comic book convention. I had been wondering about a memory I had had
for decades, of a skit where Soupy was home watching a murder mystery on
television, when he got so worked up by the suspense, he ENTERED the TV,
and was then in the movie, helping to right the evildoers, and save the
damsel in distress. It was shown on a Sunday night on ABC, in the '70s,
as a special. Soupy explained that the skit was from one of his last
pilots, one that had been mounted with some network enthusiasm, before a
regime [removed] He seemed delighted that anyone would remember.
But that was the delight, and charm, I would often see Soupy display
over the ensuing years, whenever encountering fans.
It's intriguing to remember the breadth of Sales' career. In Detroit, at
the time of his first kids shows succes, he also hosted a NIGHT TIME,
TONIGHT SHOW-type talk show. (Sales was able to indluge his lifetime
love of jazz, with many notable musician guests.)
At the height of his fame, there were pilots, guest-shots with Judy
Garland, HOLLYWOOD PALACE appearances, guest-hosting THE TONIGHT [removed]
Later, a regular gig on the SHA NA NA weekly syndicated [removed] His
status as one of television's most durable game-show [removed] And
always the nightclubs, and other personal appearances.
As a tot, I loved the mid-1960s series where Sales seemed to be some
type of detective, and he'd be menaced, intermittently, by a GORILLA. As
a three-year old, I'd tune into the regular, daily SOUPY SALES SHOW, and
wonder where the monkey [removed]
It would be years before I realized that the first show was the
ingenious spy/detective spoof, PHILO KVETCH (which I believe ran weekly,
on WNEW, on Saturday mornings). Soupy did double duty, as the hero, and
his evil nemesis, the orchid-loving The Mask. (And I'll aways dig my
memory, from just a few years ago, of the late Frank Nastasi and I
riding uptown one night, and him recreating his role as The Mask's
henchman, Onions Oregano, as I fed him straight [removed])
It's astonishing that the 1960s Soupy Sales phenomenon--the wild
enthusiasm that sold out The Paramount, led to a plethora of
merchandising (including a comic book published by THE ARCHIE folk, and
a couple of special one-shot magazines)--came when he was nearly forty
years old.
That wonderful humor, available at least five days a week, for a few
years there, has proved to be timeless.
When some of those shows finally resurfaced, almost two decades ago, it
was a delight to discover that they were legitimately funny, and not
simply a product of their era.
Jim Burns (James H. Burns)
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:22:25 +0000
From: "Bill Wilson" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Mae West question ...
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain
To the reader who's remembering listening to Mae West instead of TWOTW, I
believe that Ms West was the guest on "The Chase and Sanborn Hour" that
evening.
*** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
*** as the sender intended. ***
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:22:46 +0000
From: "Jan Bach" <janbach@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Jack Holden (a little off subject)
Hello again --
Although Jack French's note in OTR Digest #200 was meant to fill in details
on the life of Jack Holden, let us not forget that the line-up of actors
playing Tom Mix on the radio included Joe "Curley" Bradley as the last of
the line and the one most of us still around would identify with the role.
He was a good singer and I remember vividly that FDR's untimely death was
brought home to seven-year-old me by the program on that day, when the plot
was suspended in order for Curley to sing FDR's favorite songs, including
of course "Home on the Range." This was the first time I ever heard regular
programming suspended for a special event (I was too young to remember John
Daly interrupting the New York Philharmonic broadcast for news of Pearl
Harbor -- and wouldn't have been listening to it anyway).
Later,
Jan Bach
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:23:00 +0000
From: Grams46@[removed]
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: regarding: more on Anaheim, Azusa, and
Cucamonga
32 years ago, our daughter was in the fourth grade in azusa, california.
her teacher's last name was davis - can't remember his first name. mr.
davis said his father had been a writer for the jack benny show.
because of this, mr. davis' job applications were only to the school
districts
in anaheim, azusa, and cucamonga.
peace from kathy
support our troops; end the war in iraq
john 3:16
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:23:21 +0000
From: John Olsen <jrolsen2@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: another script re-used
It seems that re-using scripts was fairly common back in the 1930s through
1950s. Most of us know shows like "Death At Storm House" first showed up
on The Mysterious Traveler in 1943, and then again on the syndicated The
Sealed Book a couple years later. And apparently radio listeners had
listened to so many dramas that their benumbed minds didn't notice it was
the same story. Makes me wonder how closely they paid attention in the
first place. Maybe the radio was simply "background noise" while they read
the newspaper, fixed dinner or did some knitting. But I [removed]
I found another one of those recycled scripts. Stedman Coles wrote "Death
Goes Fishing" for The Shadow, broadcast November 12, 1944. Three years
later, the same script was used on a Crime Club episode with the new title
"Fish For Entree." Little effort was made to disguise the script; it was a
word-for-word repeat. Mostly, they just changed the names "Lamont" to
"Barney" and "Margo" to "Janice."
There was no effort made to conceal the name of the scriptwriter. He was
even given on-air credit in the 1947 Crime Club broadcast. Apparently this
practice of selling the same script to two (or more) shows was recognized
and accepted by the producers. Maybe as long as a couple years had passed,
they weren't too concerned. But as far as the listener went, I'm sure more
than one of them were stuck by deja vu upon occasion, when listening to the
second incarnation of a previously-heard script. "Hey, I know how this
[removed] there are narcotics hidden inside the dead fish!"
John
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:23:51 +0000
From: Ken Greenwald <kgradio@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Richard Wilson and Paul Stewart
Richard Wilson and Paul Stewart were invited guests at a PPB "NOSTALGIA
NIGHT" a number of years ago.
I was there and their talk about The War of the Worlds was recorded and is
in the files of the PPB Archives.
I would love to pull that recording and re-listen to it because Wilson and
Steward covered exactly what happened the night of WofTheW.
Unfortunately, PPB has been closed down do to major physical damage for
about 5 years [removed] so I have to go by what I remember being said:
Both Wilson and Stewart said that the cast and crew became aware something
was wrong before the end of the broadcast.
They certainly didn't know exactly what it was because they were
broadcasting live and had to adhere to the script and finish the show.
They said it was obvious to them, as they were broadcasting, that people
in the studio were becoming more and more agitated.
Neither Wilson nor Stewart ever mentioned that Welles' final speech was
"hastily written" as an apology. It was written into the script long before
airtime.
Not withstanding all the information that has been discussed, the broadcast
that night did, indeed, change the face of the world.
It was a catalyst in bringing out the hidden fears people had about Hitler,
war, and even the depression (which in some parts of the US was still
happening).
It also propelled Welles and the Mercury Theater into greater prominence.
The War of the Worlds broadcast was not the best of The Mercury Theater
radio presentations. There are parts that, by today's standards, are rather
boring.
But none of that matters, for the WofTheWorlds broadcast has stood the test
of historical time. It is still remembered and re-broadcast some 78 years
later.
That, in itself is astonishing.
Ken Greenwald
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:25:09 +0000
From: Richard Fish <fish@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Norman Corwin's New Book
I may have missed it, but haven't seen this on the list yet:
Norman Corwin has published a new book. Not many authors do that at age 99,
and how many of those publish something really good, and timely?
"Norman Corwin's One World Flight" is published by Continuum International
Publishing in New York. Edited by Michael C. Keith and Mary Ann Watson.
It's Norman's personal diary he kept all during the 1946 round-the-world
trip he won from the Wendell Willkie Foundation: the first One World Award.
It was filed away in his voluminous papers, and surfaced only recently.
Of course it's never been published, because he was focused on sound. He
took a wire recorder and a CBS engineer with him, recorded sounds and music
and interviews with everybody from Presidents and Prime Ministers to kids
and grandmothers, and distilled 13 half-hour radio broadcasts.
The "One World Flight" series can be found, and I'm playing them every
Sunday night at 8 on my radio show, streaming at wfhb dot org.
Talk about absolutely pure journalism!
Richard Fish
--
"Post proofs that brotherhood is not so wild a dream as those who profit by
postponing it pretend." -- Norman Corwin, 1945
(
[removed] )
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:25:26 +0000
From: Ron Sayles
<bogusotr@[removed];
To:
<[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 10-24 births/deaths
October 24th births
10-24-1879 - Benjamin Albert "[removed]" Rolfe - Brasher Falls, NY - d.
4-23-1956
conductor: "Lucky Strike Dance Orchestra"; "Believe It or Not"
10-24-1888 - William Podmore - England - d. 9-xx-1963
actor: Barnabas Thackery "Shafter Parker and His Circus"
10-24-1891 - Nila Mack - Arkansas City, KS - d. 1-20-1953
director: "Helen and Mary"; "Let's Pretend"
10-24-1894 - Ted "Kid" Lewis - London, England - d. 8-25-1971
bandleader: "Live Band Remotes"
10-24-1901 - Gilda Gray - Cracow, Poland - d. 12-22-1959
ziegfeld follies singer/dancer: WOO Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
10-24-1901 - Harry Breuer - Brooklyn, NY - D. 6-2-1989
percussionist: "A&P Gypsies"; "Bert Hirsch's Novelty Dance Orchestra"
10-24-1903 - Melvin Purvis - Timmonsville, SC - d. 2-29-1960
fbi agent, narrator: "Top Secrets of the FBI"
10-24-1904 - Moss Hart - The Bronx, NY - d. 12-20-1961
panelist: "Who Said That?"
10-24-1904 - Radie Harris - NYC - d. 2-22-2001
gossip columnist: CBS Radio Network
10-24-1911 - Sonny Terry - Greensboro, NC - d. 3-11-1986
blues singer, harmonica player: "Hootenanny"; "Roomful of Music"
10-24-1916 - Ray Singer - NYC - d. 11-16-1992
writer: "Phil Harris/Alice Faye Show"; "Rudy Vallee Show"; "Charlotte
Greenwood Show"
10-24-1924 - Mary Lee - Centralia, IL - d. 6-6-1996
singer: "Ted Weems and His Orchestra"; "Spotlight Bands"
10-24-1925 - Teri Keane - NYC
actor: Hope Evans "Big Sister"; Terry Burton "Second Mrs. Burton"
10-24-1930 - J. P. "Big Bopper" Richardson - Sabine Pass, TX - d.
2-3-1959
Early Rock and Roll disc jockey
10-24-1936 - David Nelson - NYC
actor: "Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet"
October 24th deaths
01-31-1919 - Jackie Robinson - Cairo, GA - d. 10-24-1972
sportscaster: (Baseball Hall of Fame) "Jackie Robinson Show"
02-27-1888 - Lotte Lehmann - Perleberg, Prussia, Germany - d. 10-24-1976
soprano: "Command Performance"; "Concert Hall"; "Here's to Veterans"
03-28-1888 - Jim Harkins - d. 10-24-1970
emcee: "Song Writing Machine Series"
04-03-1921 - Leonard Sues - El Paso, TX - d. 10-24-1971
music: "The Eddie Cantor Show"
04-22-1865 - Hal Brown - d. 10-24-1942
harmonica: "Just Plain Bill"
04-30-1870 - Franz Lehar - Romorn, Austria-Hungary - d. 10-24-1948
operetta composer: "Railroad Hour"; "Showtime"
08-06-1933 - Beverly Wills - California - d. 10-24-1963
actor: (Daughter of Joan Davis) Fluffy Adams "Junior Miss"
08-19-1921 - Gene Roddenberry - El Paso, TX - d. 10-24-1991
writer: "Have Gun, Will Travel"
09-07-1927 - Don Messick - Buffalo, NY - d. 10-24-1997
actor: "Let George Do It"; "Horizons West"; "NBC University Theatre"
10-28-1897 - Edith Head - San Bernardino, CA - d. 10-24-1981
costume designer: Intermission Guest "Lux Radio Theatre"
11-02-1896 - Walter Woolf King - San Francisco, CA - d. 10-24-1984
emcee, host, actor: :Beatrice Lillie Show"; "Flying Red Horse Tavern"
Ron
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:25:35 +0000
From: "A. Joseph Ross"
<joe@[removed];
To:
<[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Anaheim, Azusa, and Cucamonga
> Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:27:05 +0000
> From: "Jim Hilliker"
<jimhilliker@[removed];
> As for the flat-voiced, monotone announcer who delivered the frost
> reports on radio each winter in California, I'll bet the voice was
> based upon an imitation of Floyd B. Young, ... <snip>
> But I can see where his monotone voice giving the temperatures for
> orange groves in Anaheim Azusa and Cucamonga could be turned into a
> funny bit by Mel Blanc on the Benny radio show.
So the big question is, did he pronounce "CUC - amonga" the way Mel
Blanc did?
--
A. Joseph Ross, [removed] [removed]
92 State Street, Suite 700 Fax [removed]
Boston, MA 02109-2004
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:26:28 +0000
From: Joe Mackey
<joemackey108@[removed];
To:
<[removed]@[removed];
Subject: This week in radio history 25-31 Oct
From Those Were The Days
10/25
1937 Stella Dallas made her debut on the NBC Red network. Stella hung out
on NBC until 1955 with Anne Elstner in the title role for the entire
run. Stella Dallas was "A continuation on the air of the true life story
of mother love and sacrifice, in which Stella saw her own beloved
daughter, Laurel, marry into wealth and society, and realizing the
difference in their tastes and worlds, went out of Laurel's life."
10/26
1935 A talented twelve year old sang on Wallace Beery's NBC show. Judy
Garland delighted the appreciative audience. The young girl would soon be
in pictures and at the top of stardom. It would be only four years before
Ms. Garland (George Jessel gave her the name, thinking it would be better
than her own, Frances Gumm).
10/27
Marconi, Fessenden, and De Forest were the catalysts. However, it was an
engineer for Westinghouse Electric who, in 1916, was broadcasting music
from his garage (in Wilkinsburg, PA, a suburb of Pittsburgh) over a
wireless (amateur radio station 8XK) who really got the whole thing
started. A newspaper article about the broadcasts caused such interest that
the head honchos at Westinghouse decided to build a real radio station.
It took until this day in 1920 for the Westinghouse radio station to
receive a license to broadcast. The license for KDKA, Pittsburgh came from
the [removed] Department of Commerce. Although the license was officially issued
on this day, KDKA did not start their broadcast operations for a week (they
had to wait until the license was posted in the station). On November 2,
1920, the station aired the returns of the Harding/Cox election ... the
first radio programming to reach an audience of any size ... approximately
1,000 people.
1947 This is Nora Drake premiered on NBC. Nora solved domestic, social
and child raising problems until January 2, 1959.
1947 "The one, the only Groucho" Marx appeared as quizmaster on You Bet
Your Life for the first time on ABC. George Fenneman was Groucho's eternal
straight man*. Fenneman stayed with Marx during the program's run on radio
(1948 1959) and TV (1950-1961). By the way, who is buried in Grant's
tomb? (*Except for the first few shows).
10/28
1922 WEAF in New York broadcast the first collegiate football game heard
coast to coast. Princeton played the University of Chicago at Stagg Field
in the Windy City. The broadcast was carried on phone lines to New York
City, where the radio transmission began. (Princeton 21,
Chicago 18.)
1946 Our favorite flying cowboy was heard on ABC for the first time. Sky
King starred Jack Lester, then Earl Nightingale, and finally, Roy Engel, as
Sky. Beryl Vaughn played Sky's niece Penny; Jack Bivens was Chipper and
Cliff Soubier was the foreman. Sky King was sponsored by
Mars candy.
10/30
Orson Welles presented his famous dramatization of [removed] Wells' The War of
the Worlds on The Mercury Theater, CBS, at 8 [removed]
10/31
1942 One of the great wartime shows premiered. CBS debuted Thanks to the
Yanks, starring Bob Hawk. It became one of the most popular of the wartime
programs.
Joe
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:26:37 +0000
From:
Wich2@[removed]
To:
<[removed]@[removed];
Subject: "Washington is admired; but Lincoln is
[removed]"
Dear Friends-
I just want to take a moment to thank those among this happy band who were
at FOTR for the grand and humbling response to our production of YOUNG MR.
LINCOLN.
We were gifted with a powerhouse bench of a cast -
Arthur Anderson (properly stately, as legendary actor Walter Hampden),
Larry Conroy (suitably smarmy, as prosecutor Felder), Will Hutchins
(rambunctiously raw, as the JackCass), leslie Shreve (genteelly
coquettish, as Mary
Todd), Bill Owens (accurately imperious as The Little Giant, Steven
Douglas), Cliff Carpenter (irascible as the country Judge) and Elaine Hyman
(supremely touching as the Earth Mother, Mrs. Clay.)
- and as director Jay Stern (of Independent Film and the Off-Broadway
stage) said after, they all brought their very best game.
The response at the end of the show, in comments that night, and during
Edgar Russell's Poe/Lincoln panel with Richard Sloan of the Lincoln Group of
NY the next day, proved, I believe, the truth of the famous historian's
quote above. And I want to thank all of you reading these words personally:
Abraham Lincoln has been one of the lights of my life, all my life; and it
has been a blessing to be on earth during his bicentennial year, and to
have the honor of doing several performances in tribute to that great and
good man.
So, as he once said:
Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere
for good, to His care I commend you, as I hope in your prayers you will
commend me.
Affectionately,
-Craig Wichman
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:26:47 +0000
From: "Joe"
<jpostove@[removed];
To:
<[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Mary And Ricky
Just a thought, but has anyone ever noticed the similarity in the voices of
the young Ricky Nelson and Mary Livingston?
And while I'm at it, did Jack Benny and Ozzie Nelson ever appear together
on radio or tv?
Inquiring [removed], [removed], sorry, that's tv.
Joe Postove
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2009 Issue #202
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