------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2013 : Issue 74
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
OLD TYME RADIO NETWORK [ Jerry Haendiges <Jerry@[removed]; ]
Innocence Lost [ <skallisjr@[removed]; ]
Nostalgia Digest Podcast and Those W [ Steve Darnall <fvpress@[removed] ]
Lone Ranger movie [ "Jim Nixon" <ranger6000@[removed] ]
Lone Ranger Movie [ "Steven Kelez" <otrsteve@[removed]; ]
You Know You're an OTR Fan [removed] [ Michael Leannah <mleannah44@[removed] ]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 8 Jul 2013 10:37:52 -0400
From: Jerry Haendiges <Jerry@[removed];
To: Old Time Radio Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: OLD TYME RADIO NETWORK
Hi Friends,
Here is this week's schedule for my Olde Tyme Radio Network. Here you
may listen to high-quality broadcasts with Tom Heathwood's "Heritage
Radio Theatre," John and Larry Gassman's "Same Time Station," Duane
Keilstrup's "Classics and Curios," Charlie St George's "Make Believe
Ballroom Time" and my own "Old Time Radio Classics." Streamed in
high-quality audio, on demand, 24/7 at
[removed]
Check out our High-Quality mp3 catalog at:
[removed]
Check our our Transcription Disc scans at:
[removed]
=======================================
OLD TIME RADIO CLASSICS
INNER SANCTUM MYSTERIES
Episode 238 9-25-45 "The Lonely Sleep"
Stars: Karl Swenson, Joan Banks, Luis Van Rooten, Ann Shephard, Santos
Ortega
Host: Paul McGrath
CBS Lipton Tea
FREEDOM USA
Episode 45 10-26-52 "Pennsylvania Avenue Peanut Stand"
Stars Tyrone Power as Senator Dean Edwards
Syndicated by ZIV
LUCKY U
1953 Diamond Horseshoe quiz
Spin-off from the Sons of the Pioneers' "Lucky U Ranch"
Stars: Ken Curtis, Shug Fisher, Betty Taylor.
Music: Frankie Mathena and the Top Hands
Syndicated Quick Elastic Starch
FITCH BANDWAGON
Episode 242 4-18-43 "Merle Evans, Ringling Brothers Circus Band"
Live from Madison Square Garden, New York.
NBC Fitch Shampoo
==================================
HERITAGE RADIO THEATRE
MAIL CALL
(AFRS) 11/24/43 - Star-studded lineup with MC, Lucille Ball. Features a
skit with a rare radio appearance of Laurel & Hardy. Don Wilson is the
announcer.
OUR MISS BROOKS
(CBS) 7/19/48 First Show !! Stars Eve Arden. Who plays Osgood Conklin -
soon to be replaced by Gale Gordon ?
ADV. OF SUPERMAN
(Syndicated/WOR) 2/10/41 Episode #157 - The Dragon's Teeth" Chapter 1.
====================================
SAME TIME, SAME STATION
Independence Day Special
LIVING from 07/04/48 Episode (019) American Self Portrait - 1948.
PAUL WHITEMAN PRESENTS from 07/04/43 Episode 005 Guest-Original Rhythm Boys.
MILLIONS FOR DEFENSE from 07/02/41 Episode (001) Fred Allen, Judy
Garland Charles laughton, Grace More, Barry Woods,Mickey Rooney, and the
Information Please cast. .
====================================
This Week's Classics & Curios Show:
"Echoes of Songs and Laughter"
Episode 78
"STAR TIME" FEATURING DJ FRANK BRESEE
This week we highlight a show produced by the legendary Frank Bresee
back in 1953. Frank is still a radio hero for me and, of course, has
been for countless other OTR fans for well over 50 years. Perhaps he is
most famous for his "Golden Days of Radio" on the AFRS Network for over
a quarter of a century and will soon be returning to The Olde Tyme Radio
Network with that great series.
Frank's show for this episode is called "Star Time" and was an audition
show on radio KPOL in Los Angeles. For the format of "Star Time" Frank
planned frequently to have a popular guest artist to introduce a current
hit recording and would also arrange with popular performers to record
introductions to their own hits. Recorded appearances of artists on this
trial show in February of 1953 included Vaughn Monroe, Frankie Laine,
and Billy May. Vaughn introduced his "Tenderly" recording; Billy May
brought "My Silent Love;" and Frankie Laine had "Wonderful, Wasn't It?"
Upon first hearing this delightful show I found Frankie's song
pleasantly new and fresh after I thought I'd heard all of his many
recordings through several decades. (See my "Frankie Laine Tribute" on
Episode 72.)
Now as you listen, you'll hear The Modernaires perform a new "Juke Box
Saturday Night" with their renditions of songs by Don Cornell, The Four
Aces, Les Paul & Mary Ford, and Johnnie Ray. The show's crescendo is
Joni James' number 1 hit at the time of my high-school graduation in
1953: "Why Don't You Believe Me?"
Of all the great songs on this "Star Time" my favorite is probably "Glow
Worm" by the Mills Brothers. Not only is the song and performance great,
with outstanding new and clever lyrics written by Johnny Mercer, but
this tune is dear to my heart for a special reason. It was also one of
my song choices on my brief "DJ of the Day," "audition" which I produced
for Eddie Hubbard and which he played on ABC radio. After my retirement
from The University of Texas at Arlington that was my first "fantasy"
venture into producing shows for conventional and internet radio which
soon led me to Bill Bragg's YesterdayUSA and most recently to Jerry
Haendiges' Olde Tyme Radio Network.
Frank's in-person guest on this show is Eddie Fisher, who was about to
leave for Germany for his army commitment. Eddie talks about
entertaining the troops and about his new recording "Lady of Spain" with
Hugo Winterhalter's fine orchestra.
Frank signs off with "Keep well till I see you tomorrow on KPOL." Frank,
however did not "see" his radio audience "tomorrow" because KPOL in a
major blunder failed to pick up the show. Radio KPOL audiences in 1953
were -- and current listeners on The Olde Tyme Radio Network are -- the
losers of more wonderful additional shows that could have been produced
and aired as part of the continuing Golden Days of Radio, celebrated in
Frank's book "Radio's Golden Years" (with artist Bobb Lynes).
Thank you, Frank, for blessing us with so much radio joy, and thank you,
Lord, for blessing us with Frank Bresee, "Mr. Old Time Radio."
********************************************************************************
*********************************
Special thanks to Jerry Haendiges for the meticulous restoration of
"Star Time." This show is available for purchase from Jerry Haendiges
Productions. .
====================================
Make Believe Ballroom Time
Episode 6
Today, BBSS is featuring Chuck Foster and his "Music in the Foster
Fashion" They are broadcasting from the Hotel New Yorker in NY City. The
New Yorker Hotel is located in Manhattan's Garment Center, central to
Pennsylvania Station, Madison Square Garden, Times Square and the Empire
State Building. An early ad for the building boasted that the hotel's
"bell boys were 'as snappy-looking as West Pointers'" and "that it had a
radio in every room with a choice of four stations" It was a New Yorker
bellboy who served as tobacco company Phillip Morris' pitchman for
twenty years, making famous their "Call for Phillip Morris" advertising
campaign.
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s the hotel was among New York's most
fashionable and hosted many popular Big Bands, such as Benny Goodman and
Tommy Dorsey, while notable figures such as Spencer Tracy, Joan Crawford
and Fidel Castro stayed there. The New York Observer noted that in the
building's heyday, "actors, celebrities, athletes, politicians,
mobsters, the shady and the luminous-the entire Brooklyn Dodgers roster
during the glory seasons-would stalk the bars and ballrooms, or romp
upstairs".
Some say the Foster band copied the style of Guy Lombardo's successful
and popular Royal [removed] Reed player Chuck Foster began his career
as a bandleader in 1938, bringing the sweet (and sometimes syrupy)
sounds of his band to such sizeable venues as San Francisco's Mark
Hopkins Hotel and the Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel's famous Biltmore Bowl.
With radio remotes routinely being broadcast from both locations, the
band hit its stride early and quickly achieved popularity with the help
of talented pianist Hal Pruden and a raft of popular vocalists.
The Foster band is appearing on BBSS in a remote broadcast from the
Hotel New Yorker in NY City. It's mid-August 1945 just prior to Chuck
Foster being drafted into the WWII military.
====================================
If you have any questions or request, please feel free to contact me.
Jerry Haendiges
Jerry@[removed] 562-696-4387
The Vintage Radio Place [removed]
Largest source of Old Time Radio Logs, Articles and programs on the Net
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 8 Jul 2013 10:39:02 -0400
From: <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Innocence Lost
The problem with those of us who are ancient enough to have grown up
listening to OTR is that to most, if not all, of us find "modern"
storytelling often misses the point concerning the characters established
when we were young. When I first heard that a new Lone Ranger film was
being planned, I was rather expecting something like what's been reported
to emerge.
A year or so, a book of "Captain Midnight" stories was released, which
was a collection of short stories that ignored the great radio tradition.
The people who wrote the short stories do not seem to have heard many --
if any -- of the surviving transcriptions of the shows. When a couple of
unfavorable reviews on the book were posted, the reaction of the editor
was that, "it's not your grandfather's Captain Midnight."
An established cultural icon, be it an OTR character, a literary
character, or a legendary one like Paul Bunyan or Pecos Bill, becomes the
target of a new writer who's not in tune with the heritage, he or she
might figure that the image of that icon can be "improved" with a more
sophisticated viewpoint.
[Injecting a personal note into this, when I first heard that the Disney
studios were going to do the Lone Ranger film, I anticipated that it
probably would be disappointing. They'd done a film, /Pearl Harbor/,
about the attack that pulled the US into World War II. As a 4-year-old,
lived through the attack -- our whole family did -- and I was extremely
disappointed in how the Disney studios handled that. I expected no
better with regards to a Lone Ranger film from that studio.]
Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 8 Jul 2013 10:38:52 -0400
From: Steve Darnall <fvpress@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Nostalgia Digest Podcast and Those Were the Days
The Nostalgia Digest Podcast for July features a conversation with Clair
Schulz, author of "Tuning In The Great Gildersleeve," as he talks about
radio's first "spin-off series" and the men who portrayed radio's most
lovable blowhard. You can listen and download it via iTunes or by visiting
[removed], where you can also hear our
June conversation with the great Bob Elliott!
And this Saturday, Those Were the Days honors another radio comedy legend
with "Red Skelton: A Centennial Celebration," presenting Red as a star on his
own shows-and as a guest star on "Suspense," "The Screen Guild Players," and
Dinah Shore's "Birds Eye Open House." Tune in Saturday from 1 to 5 pm at
[removed] or hear it archived afterward at [removed]!
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 8 Jul 2013 10:38:48 -0400
From: "Jim Nixon" <ranger6000@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Lone Ranger movie
Derek Tague did an excellent job reviewing the disastrous Disney production
of The Lone Ranger. There are just a few points I'd like to add without
getting too far off-topic on OTR.
Had he been alive, George Trendle surely wouldn't have lived through the
movie. Trendle's original vision of the character bears no likeness
whatsoever to the righteous fop that Armie Hammer portrays on the screen.
Johnny Depp's version of Tonto is nothing more than Jack Sparrow in a
different costume. And those who know something of the American west know
that the original meeting of east and west at Promontory Point, Utah, which
took place in 1869, did not occur in Texas, nor did the railroad come to
Texas for many years following the Civil War. Scenes of Monument Valley
were spectacular, but try finding anything like it in Texas.
As a railroad buff, I shuddered at the idea a railroad would construct huge
trestles and parallel tracks winding through rocky and wooded terrain when
they were struggling with adequate capitalization and trying to find the
shallowest grades over the Continental Divide. The movie makers seemed
simply to be trying to out-do the Indian Jones movies. At least the 1981
Lone Ranger movie tried to have a sensible plot. I was left with the
feeling that I'd watched a two-and-one-half hour Mad Magazine comic book
parody of the masked man --the one that finished with the Lone Ranger
lurking in the bushes waiting until someone asked, "Who was that masked
man?" before he could mount Silver and shout "Hi Yo, Silver".
It was a great disappointment.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 8 Jul 2013 13:16:07 -0400
From: "Steven Kelez" <otrsteve@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Lone Ranger Movie
I feel Shakespeare best sums up the context of the new Lone Ranger movie;
"It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury Signifying nothing."
Without giving anything away, that is an accurate description of the film.
An aged befuddled Native American tells a little boy dressed in a Lone
Ranger outfit the story of the Lone Ranger. This all takes place at a
carnival in 1933. At different points while the story unfolds, the youngster
interrupts the narrative and asks questions that points out plot holes in
the fanciful tale. The Indian shrugs and just continues on, showing the
little boy and the movie audience this is just a story and doesn't need to
make any sense. One scene reinforces this disrespect for the audience. Right
near the end of the movie there is a quick scene that leaves the impression
that the characters are in two different locations at the same time. Clearly
this version of the Lone Ranger is not the real story and should be
dismissed as a tall tale told to an unsuspecting little boy.
Inside this horrible trashing of the Lone Ranger we all know and love, is a
pretty good story/movie. Unfortunately the movie doesn't know if it's a
comedy, parody, or western adventure. If Disney wanted to make a comedy they
should have hired Mel Brooks to write and direct.
On the plus side of this two hundred million dollar fiasco, a beautiful
collector's set of the entire TV series and the two movies starring Clayton
Moore has been released, obviously to cash in on the renewed interest of the
Lone Ranger.
One last thought. May the ghost of Jay Silverheels visit Johnny Depp one
dark and dreary night.
Steven Kelez
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 8 Jul 2013 19:02:33 -0400
From: Michael Leannah <mleannah44@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: You Know You're an OTR Fan [removed]
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain
A couple of years ago I asked people here to recall the old Mad Magazine device
of "You Know You're Really a (Fill in the Blank) [removed]" People pitched in
with ways to complete that sentence with regard to our love of old time radio. I
think this might be a good time to try it again. I'll start with one I used
the last time, as well as a few new ones.
You know you're really a lover of Old Time Radio [removed]
...you watch the movie Niagara not to see Marilyn Monroe, but to catch a glimpse of
Don Wilson.
...you have three children and their names are Rochester, Gracie, and Throckmorton.
...you acknowledge the 100th birthday of side-characters like Bill Thompson
of Fibber McGee and Molly (born July 8, 1913).
...you buy Barbasol shaving cream because you like the jingle they used back in the
1930s.
...you come home from work and instead of asking the kids, "Where's your mother?"
you change your voice and blurt, "Say, have you seen my wife?"
I'll wait to hear other takes on [removed]
Mike Leannah
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
*** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
*** as the sender intended. ***
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End of [removed] Digest V2013 Issue #74
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