------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2007 : Issue 290
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Halloween & vintage sets [ Chargous@[removed] ]
The Pilot who was The Shadow [ jack and cathy french <otrpiano@ver ]
The Shadow [ "Bob Scherago" <rscherago@[removed] ]
[removed] [removed] [ Joseph Webb <drjoewebb@[removed]; ]
Re: Jim Harmon Science fiction [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
The Shadow Prose [ Stephen A Kallis <skallisjr@[removed] ]
I need quotes [ "Paul Adomites" <padomites@ccyberne ]
Jim Harmon science-fiction [ <jimharmonotr@[removed]; ]
10-11 births/deaths [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
Re: Actor's pay [ Cnorth6311@[removed] ]
Woodmont [ "erest@[removed]" <erest@verizon. ]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 13:52:00 -0400
From: Chargous@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Halloween & vintage sets
It's almost that time again! If anybody has any restored old radio sets
(it's dangerous to have an unrestored one on - you can easily damage the
set and also cause a fire), it's a blast to broadcast shows to it via an
SSTRAN AM transmitter (FCC legal for home use without a license). A '38-39
Zenith console is a good choice for lights off listening, because the metal
black dial is poorly lit, so the tuning eye is accentuated. A 1938 RCA
810K-1 is also a good choice because of the orange celluloid dial and
tuning eye.
I'll be taking delivery of several sets before Halloween, so this
Halloween', I'll be playing my shows on a Midwest BP-17 - with 17 tubes, it
should be able to deliver pretty decent sound. Perhaps one day I'll have
an [removed] Scott or McMurdo Silver, but at 3 grand and up for an electrically
repaired set, I'll have to wait a little while on [removed] The top-end
Scotts cost $2500 in 1937, which was a lot of money back then.
As far as programming, the '52 Inner Sanctum (network run) season is good -
the Ennz commercial actually adds a little to it. There are lots of good
choices, so you can use your own imagination.
Unfortunately, there isn't as much interaction between the old radio set
and old radio show hobby as one might expect; they're pretty distinct hobbies.
Travis
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:12:49 -0400
From: jack and cathy french <otrpiano@[removed];
To: OTRBB <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: The Pilot who was The Shadow
Kenneth Clarke, who seems to have an abundance of OTR pals who
constantly confuse him, is now in a quandary about the secret
identity of The Shadow. His lady friend has confided to Kenneth that
the real identity of our hero was not Lamont Cranston, but actually a
pilot, whom she declined to identify by name. A diligent search of
Clarke's audio copies of that series reveals no such pilot.
As Anthony "Tex" Tollin will be happy to explain, Kenneth's pal is
confusing The Shadow in the pulp magazines with the radio version. In
the Shadow novels in Street & Smith's Detective Story Magazine,
author Walter Gibson created Lamont Cranston, whom The Shadow only
pretended to be, while the real Cranston was globe-trotting. Gibson
toyed with his readers for years on this subject and in 1937 in his
"The Shadow Unmasked" he revealed the secret identity of The Shadow
as Kent Allard, a world famous pilot who had been lost in a tribe of
Indians in Yucatan.
By the time The Shadow got his own radio series, Lamont Cranston was
his only alter-ego.
Jack French
Editor: RADIO RECALL
<[removed]>
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:13:10 -0400
From: "Bob Scherago" <rscherago@[removed];
To: "Old Time Radio" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: The Shadow
With all the discussion concerning the Shadow it occurred to me that some
listers would like to hear an interview with one of them - Bret Morrison. He
can be heard on Program # 60 at [removed].
Bob Scherago
Webmaster
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:13:51 -0400
From: Joseph Webb <drjoewebb@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: [removed] [removed]
I was a little confused by Harlan Zink's images linked in the last [removed]
both disc labels say "Broadway Is My Beat". Are there any that are labeled
"Broadway's"?
I have done some searching of newspaper archives the past few days, and it
seems clear, at least that the CBS publicity department must have referred to
it regularly as "Broadway Is My Beat," as that is what is picked up in news
stories.
There are far more entries in show listings in the newspaper radio timetables
as "Broadway's" but I have quite a number of "Broadway" references in the
same newspapers.
Both Dunning books have it as "Broadway." Buxton & Owen do not list it at all
in "The Big Broadcast." It's not mentioned in "Before Television" by Glenhall
Taylor. It's "Broadway" in the notoriously unreliable "Radio's Golden Years"
by Vincent Terrace.
The Great American Broadcast by Leonard Maltin (a rather famous movie critic)
has it as "Broadway's" (p 75) where his is discussing the career of Elliott
Lewis.
Unfortunately none of these books are footnote-friendly, but I suspect that
Maltin was using secondary sources that referenced the show in that manner.
Knowing Maltin's age, it is not likely that he heard the show. But he is a
collector and would be familiar with it, yet uses "Broadway's" for what must
have been good reason because he found it that way in his research materials.
The show is not mentioned in Lewis' bio in Radio Stars by Tom DeLong.
In Radio Sound Effects by Mott, it is "Broadway" in the listing of sound
effects artist David Light on pages 271 and 272.
In Harrison Summers' "A Thirty Year History of Programs Carried on National
Radio Networks in the United States 1926-1956", the show is listed on pages
168, 187, 196
If you're not familiar with the Summers book, it was originally compiled in
1958 and presents Hooper and Nielsen ratings for shows, year-by-year. It's
quite an impressive work. It has been reprinted several times. This is the
link on Amazon
[removed]
05035721/ref=sr_1_1/002-7020797-3974417?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192040729&sr=8-1
Summers was working from professionally-prepared reports that obviously
referred to the show in this way. Hooper and Nielsen reports went to the
execs at the networks, and they picked up the name from somewhere, every year.
>From what I can tell so far, the people who worked on the show referred to it
as "Broadway's", and the network suits obviously had something else in
[removed] [removed] when they felt like being decisive.
What's so interesting is that the dual references persist through the entire
run of the series. If it was "really important" that kind of thing would have
been taken care of early on. Could it have been that the "suits" worked in NY
and the "artists" worked in Hollywood, and it never was resolved because no
one thought it was important enough to do so? If the shows creators and
writers kept referring to it as "Broadway's" and network and related
documents refer to it as "Broadway" and they never cared to resolve it,
should we? There's enough source materials around to say very definitively
that this is 1) really confusing and 2) both names can be used by collectors
with good reason.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:59:25 -0400
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Jim Harmon Science fiction
> Is this the same Jim Harmon or is this just a different person with
the same name?
Jim will be able to answer this on his own if he sees it, but just in
case -
yes, that is the same Jim Harmon on this digest and author of several
otr related books. "Measure for a Loner" was only one of a number of SF
stories he has written. You can see a brief bibliography of his SF work
here:
[removed]
Jim Widner
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 17:00:32 -0400
From: Stephen A Kallis <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: The Shadow Prose
Further to The Shadow, radio versus pulp, John Mayer notes,
I think the Shadow himself was a little nicer
on the radio, too.
The Shadow stories by the incredibly prolific Walter Gibson (under the
nom de plume of Maxwell Grant) could be significantly more complex, as
they didn't have to be squeezed into a half-hour time slot, including
commercials. With that little time to work with, the stories had to be
simpler.
The pulp fiction also had the interesting characteristic that nobody ever
"said" anything; rather, they "growled," "pleaded," "whined," "gritted,"
"responded," "inquired," or nearly everything but "pole-vaulted," to
borrow from critic Damon Knight.
I've read that someone asked Walter Gibson whether The Shadow of his
stories could ever cloud minds so people couldn't see him. His response
was that he could, but that if there were more than a few people he was
facing, it would take too much effort, as opposed to just staying in dark
areas, using his black costume to blend into the shadows.
Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 18:33:17 -0400
From: "Paul Adomites" <padomites@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: I need quotes
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain
Friends --
Our bunch of OTR actors here in Franklin PA are on track to do our fifth night
of OTR live in front of anybody who has seven dollars. It's our Halloween
show, so it should be a goodie. We're doing "Good Ghost" from Quiet Please,
"The House in Cypress Canyon" from Suspense and Ozzie and Harriet's "Haunted
House" episode.
I am trying to generate a little more publicity than we usually get by writing
an article for the local paper on the joys of OTR, particularly re-creations.
So once again I ask the experts (you) if you would be willing to tell me, for
quotation purposes, why all this is so much doggoned fun. I know why I think
so, why do you?
Offlist replies are fine. But if you want to share with everyone, listmaster
can make the call. Oh, and briefer is better. So I can quote more of you.
Thanks in advance. When the article appears I'll send along the URL.
Paul Adomites
*** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
*** as the sender intended. ***
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 22:20:53 -0400
From: <jimharmonotr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Jim Harmon science-fiction
FROM JIM HARMON:
I am Jim Harmon who wrote "The Great Radio Heroes" and a number of science
fiction stories in the 1950s, 1960d, snd a few until recent days. I have a
collection of my SF stories, "Harmon's Galaxy", $20, Cosmos, through
[removed] or from me. I also have published this year an SF novel
"Contested Earth", $20 paperback, $30 hardcover, Ramble House direct or
through me. The book also contains seven short stories, including one new
one, written 2007.
Ramble House (Google it) also has published a number of my highly sexed
mystery and adventure novels just this year, which also contained elements of
SF and fantasy, including double volumes of "Vixen Hollow"/ "Celluloid
Scandal" and
"The Man who Made Maniacs"/ "Silent Sex", at the same rates as "Contested
Earth". "Silent Sex" might also be of interest to old radio fans since it
features a film cowboy, Tom Mason, obviously Tom Mix under a slightly
different name.
This is a very active publishing year for me since I am also looking forward
to the expanded revival of my book, "The Great Radio Comedians" from
BearManor.
On the subject of The Shadow, in the early 1970s I shared a drink in my room
at the San Diego ComicCon with Walter Gibson (Maxwell Grant) who seemed to
accept a synthesis of the pulp and radio versions of his character.
Obviously I can't remember his exact words, but he said something to the
effect:
"The Shadow could use hypnosis to make himself invisible, effective for
questioning suspects and confusing enemies. But he had no time for hypnosis
in a running gun fight with a gang of armed killers. He had to rely on his
skill to hide in the shadows and be virtually invisible or at least very
difficult to spot, and to reply with his own .45 automatics." Even on radio,
his deep secret identity was Kent Alland, but the radio show did not go that
deeply into his secrets, to peel away the final layer and just accepted his
Lamont Cranston pose. As another correspondent said, Anthony Tollin would
have the final word on this.
-- JIM HARMON
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 22:21:01 -0400
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 10-11 births/deaths
October 11th births
10-11-1883 - Fritz Stiedry - d. 8-8-1968
conductor: "New Friends of Music"
10-11-1884 - Albert Stoessel - St. Louis, MO - d. 5-12-1943
conductor: Oratorio Society of New York, Chautauqua Symphony
10-11-1884 - Eleanor Roosevelt - NYC - d. 11-7-1962
commentator: "Eleanor Roosevelt Chats/It's a Woman's World/Talks by
Eleanor Roosevelt"
10-11-1887 - Oscar Shaw - Philadelphia, PA - d. 3-6-1967
singer: "Broadway Varieties"
10-11-1897 - Leo Reisman - Boston, MA - d. 12-18-1961
conductor: "Sheaffer Revue"; "Johnny Presents"; "Your Hit Parade"
10-11-1902 - Leon Belasco - Odessa, Ukraine, Russia - d. 6-1-1988
actor: Pagan Zeldschmidt "A Man Called X)
10-11-1906 - Geoffrey Bryant - Houston, TX - d. 3-xx-1982
announcer, actor: "Death Valley Days"; "Mr. District Attorney"
10-11-1913 - Sherman H. Dryer - d. 12-22-1989
producer, director: "Two Thousand Plus"; "Heritage"; "Exploring the
Unknown"
10-11-1913 - Sunny Skylar - Brooklyn, NY
singer/songwriter: "Sunny Skylar Serenade"; "Mary Small Revue"
10-11-1914 - Buddy Twiss - St. Paul, MN - d. 11-7-1952
producer: "I Love A Mystery"; "One Man's Family"
10-11-1918 - Olive Deering - NYC - d. 3-22-1986
actor: Nita Bennett "Lone Journey"
10-11-1919 - Art Blakey - Pittsburgh, PA - d. 10-16-1990
jazz drummer: "Music for Moderns"
10-11-1919 - George Rock - Farmer City, FL - d. 4-12-1988
260 poind trumpet player: "The Spike Jones Shw"
10-11-1919 - Jean Vander Pyl - d. 4-10-1999
actor: Margaret Anderson "Father Knows Best"; "The Halls of Ivy"
10-11-1920 - Ralph Paul - Denver, CO - d. 11-28-1987
announcer: "Aldrich Family"; "True Detective Mysteries"; "Might Casey"
10-11-1926 - Earle Hyman - Rocky Mount, NC
actor: "Story of Ruby Valentine"
10-11-1932 - Dottie West - McMinnville, TN - d. 9-4-1991
country singer: "Country Music Time"
October 11th deaths
01-08-1910 - Richard Cromwell - Los Angeles, CA - d. 10-11-1960
actor: Kit Marshall "Those We Love"
02-02-1923 - Bonita Granville - Chicago, IL - d. 10-11-1988
actor: "Continental Celebrity Club"; "Stars Over Hollywood"
02-04-1904 - MacKinlay Kantor - Webster City, IA - d. 10-11-1977
writer: "Lest We Forget"; "Author's Playhouse"
03-18-1940 - Phil Harper - Raised in Chicago, IL - d. 10-11-2004
actor: Harry Nile "The Adventures of Harry Nile"
03-22-1886 - Chico Marx - NYC - d. 10-11-1961
comedian: Emmanuel Revelli "Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel"
03-27-1914 - Richard Denning - Poughkeepsie, NY - d. 10-11-1998
actor: George Cooper "My Favorite Husband"; Jerry North "Mr. and Mrs.
North"
06-29-1924 - T. Tommy Cutrer - Tangipahoa Parish, LA - d. 10-11-1998
announcer: "Grand Ole Opry"
08-08-1895 - Nat Pendelton - Davenport, IA - d. 10-11-1967
actor: "Dr. Kildare"
10-03-1898 - Morgan Farley - Mamaroneck, NY - d. 10-11-1988
actor: "Escape"
11-07-1890 - Phil Spitalny - Odessa, Russia - d. 10-11-1970
conductor: "Nestles Chocolateers"; "Blue Coal Revue"; "Hour of Charm"
12-03-1907 - Connee Boswell - New Orleans, LA - d. 10-11-1976
singer: (The Boswell Sisters) "Kraft Music Hall"; "Chesterfield
Supper Club"
12-19-1915 - Edith Piaf - Paris, France - d. 10-11-1963
singer: "The Big Show"
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 11:50:41 -0400
From: Cnorth6311@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Actor's pay
Here is something I have wondered about. How did actor's get paid for their
performances? Say on Gildersleeve, Birdie does not appear on a particular show
that week. Is she paid for that show? In other words, is she a saleried
employee of The Great Gildersleeve? I just used Birdie as an example. And,
speaking of The Great Man, is it my imagination, or did the rest of the
characters
become less, and less important as the show progressed through the years, and
the main characters become mainly, Gildersleeve, LeRoy, Judge Hooker, and
Peavey, but with emphasis on Gildy, and LeRoy? There are other shows where
characters played little, or no part in a particular program. The Life of
Riley
is a case in point. There are many shows, where Bab's, and even Junior, are
not heard at all. Another example i can think of off hand, is Harlow Wilcox.
Although he isn't an actor in the broadest sense, he did appear in many
different shows, and did for the most part, have an active part in the skit
with his
commercials. I'm sure, if I sat, and thought about it, I could come up with
many, many, examples of different actor's, and actresses who fit into this
category.
In other words, I guess what I am asking is, did a performer get paid only
for the show they appeared on? Is that the reason actors appeared on so many
different shows. Like today's movie stars, perhaps?
Charlie
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 11:51:01 -0400
From: "erest@[removed]" <erest@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Woodmont
I was on the Western Maryland rail-to-trail yesterday when I passed a
historical display for the Woodmont Rod & Gun Club. They had owned
2000+ acres in the area. One line caught my eye.
Many famous Americans visited Woodmont during it heyday including Babe
Ruth, Gene Tunney, Amos& Andy, and seven US presidents.
The boys were in pretty good company .
Rob
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2007 Issue #290
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