------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2008 : Issue 138
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Announcers in proliferation [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
Atomic Age! [ Wich2@[removed] ]
Passages [ Wich2@[removed] ]
re: Questions [ Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed]; ]
Duchin, " Lady in Red"? [ Frank McGurn <[removed]@sbcglobal. ]
re: Smith Ferebee [ Kevin Bristol <citadel92@[removed] ]
The Fat Man [ jwoox@[removed] ]
Come on, Arlene [ "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed]; ]
Re: Suggestion [ <georgewagner@[removed]; ]
Drawing Blancs [ "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed]; ]
5-31 births/deaths [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:34:51 -0400
From: <otrbuff@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Announcers in proliferation
Kenneth Clarke ponders:
Is there a book out there about the announcers and or hosts of
programs? Heaven knows there would be enough material for someone should
they decide to write one. Right now, I'm looking for a book about the
hosts of game/quiz shows. Any ideas?
Not sure how Ken has missed all of this in my texts "The Great Radio
Audience Participation Shows" (2001) and "Radio Speakers: Narrators, News
Junkies, Sports Jockeys, Tattletales, Tipsters, Toastmasters and Coffee
Klatch Couples Who Verbalized the Jargon of the Aural Ether from the 1920s
to the 1980s--A Biographical Dictionary" (2007), both available at
[removed] or 800-253-2187.
There is also the earlier "Golden Throats and Silver Tongues" (1978) by Ray
Poindexter, long out of print but available on the Internet.
Jim Cox
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:35:43 -0400
From: Wich2@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Atomic Age!
From: "R. R. King" _kingrr@[removed]_ (mailto:kingrr@[removed])
In Antony Ellis' 1955 adaptation of Ray Bradbury's "Kaleidoscope," a
cynical character named Applegate keeps using an expression I can't make
out. Sounds like "mar sash."
"Mars ash," maybe?
Great weekend,
-Craig W.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:36:25 -0400
From: Wich2@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Passages
From: Elizabeth Minney _epminney@[removed]_ (mailto:epminney@[removed])
It is surprising to me to learn that Thompson set aside his voice work to
become an executive in an oil corporation.
Dear Betty-
Only a guess, [removed]
As much as some of us have an eventually terminal case of "fire in the
belly" for acting, as Boris Karloff used to put it, some folks just get
tired of
performing. Or decide they want to exercise other muscles, or make more money.
Our own dear departed Hal Stone effectively left acting behind, producing
commercial/corporate material for most of his adult life; and others have
left
the field entirely for their "second career."
Great weekend,
-Craig W.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:41:30 -0400
From: Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: re: Questions
Kenneth Clarke (kclarke5@[removed]" asked
I was wondering, were there any books with the Fat Man, Brad Runyon
ever published or was this character exclusive to radio?
Hammett never wrote anything for Brad Runyon. The character was
"inspired by" ("based on" may be too strong a phrase) the Continental
Op, an overweight nameless detective who was an operative of the
Continental Detective Agency (hence his name) in San Francisco. He
appeared in about 3 dozen short stories and novellas between 1923 and
1930. Hammett bundled several of them into two novels, Red Harvest and
The Dain Curse; in addition, most of the short stories are still in
print in various anthologies. (All except "It", aka "The Black Hat That
Wasn't There" -- if anybody has a copy of this please let me know!)
Some people who aren't familiar with Hammett's writing assume Brad
Runyon is based on Kasper Gutman, "the fat man" and the main villain of
The Maltese Falcon. Other than sharing the same nickname, Runyon has no
other similarities to Gutman.
I imagine the producers of the radio show created the title "the fat
man" to conjure up a parallel to "the thin man," thus capturing and
extending the Hammett brand name. Hammett himself had nothing to do
with the radio incarnations of any of the shows that bore his name,
apart from cashing his checks (and drinking the proceeds).
According to my records (based on listening to the shows and reading
the stories), at least 19 Sam Spade episodes are based on, or have
references to, Hammett's non-Spade short stories--mostly the
Continental Op. I haven't yet read Martin Gram's definitive Sam Spade
book--it's sitting on my shelf--but I imagine he covers this ground in
more detail.
Kermyt
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 12:53:22 -0400
From: Frank McGurn <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Duchin, " Lady in Red"?
Martin Grams, Jr asked for help;
One male lead comments that Eddie Duchin
offered the song, "The Lady in Red," but it appears he never performed the
song. Anyone help confirm?
It would help to know what program the Duchin Orchestra was on, I
have several shows that he appeared as a guest or as the
music for a program (Texaco Fire Chief), or his own remote from a hotel
in NYC.
Frank McGurn
Eddie Duchin & His Orchestra 10/2/1948
Fire Chief (The) 1/22/1935
Kraft Music Hall 2/7/1946
Kraft Music Hall 2/14/1946
Radio's Biggest Show 6/18/1946
Texaco Fire Chief (The) 3/26/1935
Texaco Fire Chief (The) 4/9/1935
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 15:25:17 -0400
From: Kevin Bristol <citadel92@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: re: Smith Ferebee
You might want to try and contact the VMI (Virginia Military Inistitute)
library/museum since Ferebee was a grad. The link below states "Included
are clippings, photographs, printed material, and correspondence,
1923-1990, that document Ferebee's widely publicized golf marathons
(1938)". Maybe one of those clippings contains information about what
Chicago station was broadcasting the marathon.
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 17:36:40 -0400
From: jwoox@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: The Fat Man
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I believe "The Fat Man" was inspired by the Hammett character "The
Continental Op", who appeared in the Hammett books "Red Harvest" and "The
Dain Curse" and perhaps a dozen short stories, but his name was never stated.
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Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 17:42:56 -0400
From: "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Come on, Arlene
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No, not the lovely Miss Osborne and her celebrated hot-air ballooning business
in New England, but Arlene McQuade from "The Goldbergs' (radio AND
television). Sorry, Miss Arlene.
Prof. Sayles in his birthday almanac listed her:
05-29-1936 - Arlene McQuade - NYC
actor: Rosalie Goldberg "The Goldbergs"
Does anybody out there in the ether know whatever became of Miss McQuade
and/or where one can find her? I'd love to invite her (not necessarily this
year) to the FOTR convention in [removed] and would gladly like to place her on the
"Funny Friday" comedy panel.
Help!
Derek Tague
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Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 17:43:05 -0400
From: <georgewagner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Suggestion
For radio announcers try GOLDEN THROATS & SILVER TONGUES: The Radio
Announcers, by Ray Poindexter, Conway (Arkansas): River Road Press, 1978.
Sincerely,
George Wagner
georgewagner@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 18:24:37 -0400
From: "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Drawing Blancs
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With today (30th) being the centennial anniversary of the birth of the great
radio/cartoon voiceman Mel Blanc, maybe it's appropriate to bring up one of my
favourite OTR cross-genres, animation. A recent newspaper quiz pointed out by
Sean Dougherty incorrectly stated that Mel Blanc voiced FM&M's "Wallace
Wimple" character, when we OTR fans know it to have been Bill Thompson. The
only conceivable trajectory I can think of would have been in a couple of
WWII-era Daffy Duck/Warner Bros. cartoons, which utilised a milquetoasty
character named "Mr. Meek," who was clearly modeled after the Wimple
character.
Mel Blanc may or may not have done the voice of this wimpy knock-off.
In one cartoon "Draftee Daffy," Mr. Meek is "the little man from the draft
board" coming to serve a conscription notice on the reluctant duck; at one
point, the ersatz Wallace uses a non-Wimple catch-phrase "What's all the
hubbub, bub?"
In another whose title escapes me (calling animation historians Rodney
Bowcock, Michael Hayde, Craig Wichman, or anybody else at our Beck-and-call),
[removed] begins the film by telling the audience that his off-screen wife
"Sweetie-Face" (or maybe it was altered to "Sweetie-Puss") had ordered him to
kill their pet duck Daffy for a duck dinner (yes, this might seem disturbing
on the surface, but, hey!, there was, after all, a contemporaneous meat
shortage). The film ends with the lost-on-the-modern-audience catch-phrase
"Now you're cooking with gas!" and there's also an hilarious scene where Daffy
is dancing on a dining-room table, squashing a bevy of cakes and pies while
singing "Short'nin Bread" -- a scene well worth the admission.
My apologies that Tague is being vague with the foregoing. I used to be moreso
into cartoons and might've been able to conjure up the title of said cartoon &
who its director was about twenty years ago. My latest obsession about
animation is trying to figure out who helium-swallowers sounded like before
Mickey Mouse was created.
Being that it's Mel's birthday, I'd like to know if our pal Ben Ohmart can
give us something resembling a preview of his and BearManor Media's upcoming
Blanc biography.
In honour of Mel Blanc: I miss you. "Ugga-ugga-boo, ugga-boo-boo-ugga!"
Yours in the Zebras,
Derek Tague
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 31 May 2008 00:21:38 -0400
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 5-31 births/deaths
May 31st births
05-31-1819 - Walt Whitman - Long Island, NY - d. 3-26-1892
writer: "Against the Storm"
05-31-1879 - Frances Alda - Christchurch, New Zealand - d. 9-18-1952
soprano: "Atwater Kent Hour"
05-31-1893 - Albert Mitchell - Elsberry, MO - d. 10-4-1954
host: "Answer Man"
05-31-1894 - Fred Allen - Cambridge, MA - d. 3-17-1956
comedian: "Linit Bath Club"; "Town Hall Tonight"; "Fred Allen Show"
05-31-1898 - Norman Vincent Peale - Bowersville, OH - d. 12-24-1993
preacher: "Art of Living"
05-31-1900 - Hugh Studebaker - Ridgeville, IN - d. 5-6-1978
actor: Ichabod Mudd "Captain Midnight"; Silly Watson "Fibber McGee
and Molly"
05-31-1901 - Alfredo Antonini - Alessandra, Italy - d. 11-3-1983
conductor: "La Rosa Concerts"; "Treasure Hour of Song"
05-31-1901 - Joe Kelly - Crawfordsville, IN - d. 5-26-1959
emcee, quizmaster: "National Barn Dance"; "Quiz Kids"
05-31-1903 - Abo Hosiosky - Latvia - d. 2-xx-1976
NBC news in partnership with Alex Dreier
05-31-1903 - Blanche Stewart - Pennsylvania - d. 7-25-1952
actor: Brenda "Bob Hope Show"
05-31-1904 - Clifton Utley - Chicago, IL - d. 1-19-1978
newsman: (Father of Garrick) "Comments by Clifton Utley"
05-31-1904 - Jeanne Juvelier - NYC - d. 1-25-1981
actor: Madame Babette "Arnold Grimm's Daughter"
05-31-1905 - Jeff Sparks - NYC - d. 9-30-1981
announcer: "Ben Bernie and all the Lads"; "Death Valley Days"
05-31-1908 - Don Ameche - Kenosha, WI - d. 12-6-1993
actor, singer: John Bickerson "Bickersons"; Captain Hughes "Jack
Armstrong"
05-31-1908 - Jack Costello - Sauk Centre, MN - d. 9-xx-1983
announcer: "Stella Dallas"; "Words at War"
05-31-1912 - Henry M. Jackson - Everett, WA - d. 9-1-1983
[removed] senator washington: "Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy Show"
05-31-1918 - Bill Harrington- Indianapolis, IN
singer, songwriter: "Your Hit Parade"
05-31-1920 - Jeanne Wilson - London, England - d. 12-xx-1996
author, actor: "No Medicine for Murder"
05-31-1921 - Alida Valli - Pola, Istria, Italy - d. 4-22-2006
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Hedda Hopper's Hollywood"
05-31-1925 - Bob Aro - d. 5-25-1996
disk jockey: WHLB Virginia, Minnesota
05-31-1931 - Barbara Whiting - Los Angeles, CA - d. 6-9-2004
actor: Judy Graves "Junior Miss"; Mildred "Meet Corliss Archer"
05-31-1938 - Johnny Paycheck - Greenfield, OH - d. 2-18-2003
country singer: "Country Sessions"
May 31st deaths
01-29-1917 - Lloyd Perryman - Ruth, AR - d. 5-31-1977
singer: (Sons of the Pioneers) "The Roy Rogers Show"
02-04-1908 - Manny Klein - NYC - d. 5-31-1994
trumpet: "The Ipana Troubadors"
02-25-1904 - Adelle Davis - Lizton, IN - d. 5-31-1974
nutritionist, author: "Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy"
03-01-1923 - Andrew Faulds - Tanzania, East Africa - d. 5-31-2000
actor: Jet Morgan "Journey Into Space"
03-01-1929 - Eddie Jones - New Jersey - d. 5-31-1997
jazz bassist in the Count Basie band
04-01-1920 - Art Lund - Salt Lake City, UT - d. 5-31-1990
singer, actor: "Benny Goodman and His Orchestra"; "Land's Best
Bands"; "Jubilee"
04-13-1912 - Roy Winsor - Chicago, IL - d. 5-31-1987
director, writer: "Vic and Sade"; "Sky King"
04-20-1923 - Tito Puente - NYC - d. 5-31-2000
percussionist, bandleader: "Manhattan Melodies"
05-03-1898 - John Roy - d. 5-31-1985
actor: Roy Calvert "Amanda of Honeymoon Hill"
05-11-1930 - Stanley Elkin - NYC - d. 5-31-1995
writer: "Earplay"
06-02-1908 - Ben Grauer - Staten Island, NY - d. 5-31-1977
announcer, emcee: "Walter Winchell"; "Information, Please"; "Boston
Symphony"
06-24-1895 - Jack Dempsey - Manassa, CO - d. 5-31-1983
boxing champion: "Ben Bernie Show"; "Kemtone Hour"; "Saturday Night
Bandwagon"
07-29-1900 - Owen Lattimore - Washington, DC - d. 5-31-1989
consultant: "Pacific Story"
08-03-1907 - Adrienne Ames - Fort Worth, TX - d. 5-31-1947
film star: WHN New York, New York
08-04-1936 - Elsbery Hobbs - Manhattan, NY - d. 5-31-1996
singer: (The Drifters) "Grand Ole Opry"; "Camel Rock and Roll Party"
08-05-1905 - Wilbur Evans - Philadelphia, PA - d. 5-31-1987
singer:"Vicks Open House"; "Stars from the Blue"
10-20-1907 - Arlene Francis - Boston, MA - d. 5-31-2001
panelist, actor: "What's My Line"; Ann Scotland,"The Affairs of Ann
Scotland"
12-30-1899 - Michael Raffetto - Placerville, CA - d. 5-31-1990
actor: Paul Barbour "One Man's Family"; Jack Packard "I Love A
Mystery/Adventure"
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2008 Issue #138
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