Subject: [removed] Digest V01 #100
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 3/30/2001 10:10 AM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                          The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                             Volume 01 : Issue 100
                       A Part of the [removed]!
                               ISSN: 1533-9289

                               Today's Topics:

     Re: Jack Benney                      [Cnorth6311@[removed]                 ]
     A New OTR Resource                   [Tom van der Voort <evan@[removed];]
     Sci-Fi: Buck Rodgers, Flash Gordon,  ["Art Department" <wolowicz@[removed]]
     OTR Animals                          ["Richard Pratz" <[removed]@home]
     Amos & A, Marx Brothers              ["Dixon H. Chandler II" <dchandler@n]
     Lone Ranger and Roy Rogers           ["J. Randolph Cox" <cox@[removed]]
     Re: Memories of Voices               [Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];       ]
     Phil Harris, Jr.                     [Lili101@[removed]                    ]
     Children's Records                   ["Brian Johnson" <CHYRONOP@worldnet.]
     Re: Phil Harris Jr??                 [Bill Harris <billhar@[removed];    ]
     The Disappearing Claghorn            [chris chandler <christopher_c@email]
     A great story [removed]                 [Jmeals@[removed]                     ]
     THOSE RADIO COMMENTATORS             [Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed]]
     Re: Short, Short Story               [Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed]]
     RE:  RADIO  MIRROR  Magazine         [OTRDSIEGEL@[removed]                 ]
     From 78-L LIST                       [Udmacon@[removed]                    ]
     Re: lost shows                       ["J. Alec West" <Alec@[removed];]
     Radio stars on kids' [removed]      ["Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed]]
     Re:  "lost" Welles Lady Esther shows [Walt Appel <waltman@[removed];     ]
     Question about and old radio ad      ["Harry Machin, Jr." <harbev5@earthl]
     Fred Allen on TV Saturday            [Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];       ]

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

    Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 09:41:18 -0500
    From: Cnorth6311@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Jack Benney

    * 1932 - Jack Benny debuts on radio.

    This is an historical day.

    Charlie

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

    Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 09:41:20 -0500
    From: Tom van der Voort <evan@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  A New OTR Resource

          Those of you who have gotten research reports from Radio Yesteryear
    know how valuable they can be. In fact Radio Spirits  offers reports on
    "custom series" shows for $5 each (refundable).
          Now Dave Goldin, who ran Radio Yesteryear but is no longer in the
    business, has put this treasure trove of information--which includes
    titles, dates, cast lists, length of broadcasts, etc--on line.   You can
    access it at     [removed]
          I think you'll find this listing of over 60,000 shows a very useful
    tool in cataloguing your programs.
    Tom van der Voort

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

    Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 11:09:20 -0500
    From: "Art Department" <wolowicz@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Sci-Fi: Buck Rodgers, Flash Gordon, and the like

    Does anyone out there know if there were ever any Buck Rodgers or Flash
    Gordon shows?  I know about the movie serials and the like, I am talking
    strictly OTR.
    If so any info such as logs or even a list of (MP3) traders would be great!
    I'm dying to get my hands on some more Sci-Fi OTR.

    Thanks and
    Peace,
    Shawn

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

    Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 11:15:02 -0500
    From: "Richard Pratz" <[removed]@[removed];
    To: "OTR (Plain Text Only)" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  OTR Animals

    Hey gang, I recently came across a reference to "The Lassie Show" on radio
    which set me to thinking about how unusual it was to feature animals as the
    stars of OTR programs. If we thought it was strange for a ventriloquist to
    star on [removed] about the four-footed variety having their own programs?

    On Lassie's radio aventure series (The Lassie Show-1947-50), sponsored by
    Red Heart Dog Food, Lassie barked, whined, growled and cried.
    Announcer-narrator Charles Lyon kept the listener informed of what the
    spunky dog was doing. Other cast members - Marvin Miller, Betty Arnold -
    filled in with dialogue. ABC first presented these dog dramas as a 15-minute
    Sunday afternoon show; NBC moved it to Saturday mornings in its second
    season. Lassie's feats were said to amaze radio audiences.

    Was radio's Lassie really a dog in the studio or just a person making dog
    sounds? And since Lassie had his/her own radio [removed] there any other
    animals that had their own program? Sure Sgt. Preston had King, but it
    wasn't King's program.  We all know of countless examples of other so-called
    animals on radio including Mel Blanc's parrot on Jack Benny, the many actors
    who portrayed animals on "Let's Pretend" [removed] was Lassie the only
    animal to have his/her own program with star billing?

    Inquiring minds want to know!!

    Rich

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

    Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 11:44:21 -0500
    From: "Dixon H. Chandler II" <dchandler@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Amos & A, Marx Brothers

    Somebody (sorry, can't recall who--Elizabeth?) mentioned a deleted Amos &
    Andy references in the Marx Brothers movie, Horsefeathers.  I checked around
    with my Marx Bros. fans and scholars, and below is the most cogent response
    I got, from Rob Baeder, editor of Groucho marx and Other Short Stories and
    Tall Tales (a collection of previously-uncollected, little-seen articles and
    fiction by Groucho, HIGHLY recommended).  Here's what he says:

    The Amos n Andy reference was in an early script draft and might have been
    discarded because the studio did not want to promote the show. (This is pure
    speculation but the fact is that the show was so popular that it hurt movie
    attendence.) At the height of Amos n Andy's popularity theatres would stop
    the movie at 7 PM to pipe in the radio broadcast of Amos n Andy and would
    then resume the film. I'm just guessing that making a joke about not missing
    Amos n Andy in a major studio film might have been a bit too sensitive for
    the Paramount brass. (But the joke was certainly written as a response to
    the
    fact that movies would be routinely interrupted for this upstart radio
    show.)

    The scene in question is the classroom beanshooter scene and the take in the
    film looks pretty spontaneous. In fact the scene fades as Groucho appears to
    really get hit in the neck with some projectile object, so it would also be
    possible that the take was aborted and used even though he never got to
    utter
    the line. (Maybe they figured the missing line wasn't that important if the
    take of the rest of the scene was so good.)

    On the other hand, there are dozens of good jokes in early drafts of all of
    the Marx Paramount films and I have never felt the need to figure out why
    some jokes stay and others go. Maybe they just didn't think it was such a
    good joke. The only people who could answer with any certainty are dead.
    Perhaps a far better question would be "Why didn't MGM let them film Kalmar
    and Ruby's Go West screenplay?" Reading this script is far more entertaining
    than watching the actual film as it was made. My guess is that Mayer hated
    them so much he made them shoot the inferior script.

    But just one more thought on Horsefeathers: The butchering of this film is
    really obvious because there are bad cuts and splices in the negative. It
    would be ludicrous to think a clean fade to black is part of the same
    damage.
    That scene fades very deliberately and does not have any of the obvious
    damage that we would refer to as "butchering."

    Hope this [removed]

    Dixon again:  I haven't seen Horsefeathers on DVD, is there a documentary
    that sheds any more light on this?  Interesting ...

    -dc
    dchandler@[removed]
    ----------

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

    Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 11:52:37 -0500
    From: "J. Randolph Cox" <cox@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Lone Ranger and Roy Rogers

    Stephen Kallas askes if it is plagiarism if you copy yourself in the case of
    the Roy Rogers book and the Lone Ranger book, both of which were written by
    Fran Striker -- no, I don't think so. In this case it is merely "recycling"
    the material.

    According to Dave Holland in _From Out of the Past: A Pictorial History of
    the Lone Ranger_ the Whitman _ (p. 326) the last of the Grosset & Dunlap
    books, _The Lone Ranger on Red Butte Trail_ (1956) had its genesis in the
    Lone Ranger pulp magazine novel "Valley of Shadows" (July 1937), after which
    it became the first Charles Flanders daily LR comic strip story (1939), then
    in 1946 "Don Middleton's" _Roy Rogers and the Gopher Creek Gunman_ was
    published by Whitman. The opening sections of this book are what Striker
    recycled in 1956 for his last Lone Ranger novel.

    When you consider how much Fran Striker wrote in his lifetime, it isn't
    strange that he would recycle some of it.

    Randy Cox

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

    Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 12:21:47 -0500
    From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Memories of Voices

    From: Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed];

>     Whenever  I think about a radio personality who I first heard on a
>     children's record, I am thrilled. ... It would be logical for many
>     early radio stars to have performed on childrens' records. ...

    I could discuss many of these as I have a very large collection of
    childrens records, but instead I will use this as a lead-in to a
    question I've had for a long time and have never gotten around to asking
    it.  Does anybody have any bio info and/or pictures of Verne Smith?  I
    first remember him as "The Walt Disney Story Teller" on several of the
    Disney RCA Victor sets in the late 40s and early 50s, but he is probably
    most remembered in OTR circles as the announcer for "The Adventures of
    Ozzie and Harriet."  When I got some of the early TV episodes I was
    pleasently surprised to hear his voice announcing them, but suddenly he
    is gone for the rest of the series during the years I remember watching
    it.  I've always adored Smith's voice but have never been able to find
    anything about him.

    Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

    Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 12:21:46 -0500
    From: Lili101@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Phil Harris, Jr.

    Phil Harris, Jr. was the adopted son of Phil Harris and his first wife,
    Marcia Ralston.  The paper erroneously lists him as Alice's son, but he was
    not.  They did only have two daughters, Alice, Jr. and Phyllis.

    -Alice:)

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

    Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 13:15:36 -0500
    From: "Brian Johnson" <CHYRONOP@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Children's Records

    Dennis W Crow digested:

    "Whenever  I think about  a radio personality who I first heard on a
    children's record, I am thrilled. "

    After my own children reached a "listening" age, I brought some of my old
    children's LPs over from my mom's house. They could have cared less (mostly,
    I believe, because the Hanna-Barbera series they were based on are simply
    not popular anymore and they were unfamiliar with the characters) but I got
    a real kick picking out the voices. Listen! That's Bill Thompson as Wallace
    Wimple as Touché Turtle!
    And Mr. Oldtimer is the farmer! My kids just look at me like I'm a short
    putt away from idiocy. And they may be [removed]

    The best children's record in my collection was Paul Frees as Professor
    Ludwig Von Drake explaining the Wonderful World of Color. The second side is
    the professor explaining the recording process and announcing that the
    engineer is everything! "Without a good engineer you're never going to make
    it to Cleveland!" I laughed at that as a kid because I grew up just south of
    Cleveland, I laugh at it now because it turned out to be prophesy! Want to
    get enshrined in Rock'N'Roll Hall of Fame? Get a good engineer! Wish I had a
    clean copy of that record today as mine is worn to the nub.

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

    Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 13:15:38 -0500
    From: Bill Harris <billhar@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Phil Harris Jr??

    Well, I dunno. I never knew of a son either, that is why I was suprised when
    I saw
    the obit in the paper. The obit does mention his sisters Phyllis Middleton of
    Arcadia, Mo., and Alice Regan of New Orleans. Possibly he was estranged from
    the
    family?

    Bill Harris

    Frosty R. Povic commented:

>     Everything I've read about Phil Harris and Alice Faye, and all
>     I remember, states they had two daughters, Phyllis and Alice.
>     I have never heard any mention of a son by any name.

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

    Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 13:48:45 -0500
    From: chris chandler <christopher_c@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  The Disappearing Claghorn

    Elizabeth ponders the failure of the Senator Claghorn [removed]

> >     Given the increasingly grim and humorless political climate in >>the US in

    the late forties, it's understandable that a program >>that would have
    specifically mocked the inanities of >>government would have failed to
    interest a sponsor.

    [removed] taken in connection with an autumn, 1948 TIME
    magazine article previewing the new radio season, which revealed the
    Claghorn character would be making far fewer appearances on the Allen show
    in the new season, but "might" pop up again more often around election time.

    I always thought this a bizarre development, since Kenny Delmar would
    obviously be on the show anyway, and the character seemed to be the most
    popular Allen's Alley resident.  I chalked the change up to the particularly
    inexplicable tinkering with Allen's format during the 1948-49 season
    (Allen's Alley becomes "Main Street"; familiar musical bridges disappear,
    etc etc)....it never occured to me, but maybe the political climate had
    something to do with THIS, too?

    chris

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

    Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 14:17:09 -0500
    From: Jmeals@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  A great story [removed]

        There has been some discussion here lately about the accuracy of some of
    the wonderful stories that have been circulating about OTR. I believe that a
    recent submission by Gordon Payton may have repeated a wonderful story that
    has no basis in reality.

        While listening to a tape from an OTR convention,  Gordon heard an actor
    discuss the last episode of YOURS TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR. According to the
    actor, the episode concluded with a huge explosion that, presumably,
    destroyed New York. That ended the show. There were no closing credits.

        I heard the last JD episode when it was originally broadcast and, relying
    on memory alone, nothing like that happened. This is how I remember it. Fans
    of JD will recall that each episode ended with "our star" giving a few words
    about next week's show. On the next to last JD broadcast, Mandel Krammer said
    something like, "Next week I want every body to be listening. You might be
    sorry if you don't."

        That, I believe, was the only acknowledgment on the show that YOURS
    TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR was leaving the air. As I remember the final episode,
    Johnny helped a man that he had sent to prison. The only thing really unusual
    about the episode was that there was no news from "our star" about next
    week's show. There was no news from the star at all. That segment was
    dropped. The final episode did contain closing credits.

        I do remember reading, somewhere, that when JD was canceled there was
    some tongue in cheek talk about an apocalyptic ending for the final episode.
    But it was only talk. I am sorry I can't be more specific but I am relying
    entirely on my memory.

    Jim Meals

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

    Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 15:33:55 -0500
    From: Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed];
    To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  THOSE RADIO COMMENTATORS

    I posted two days ago  on an informative book, THOSE RADIO COMMENTATORS
    (The Iowa State University Press, 1977),  by Irving E. Fang.

    I must have read this book at least twice but never fully noticed the
    quotations on the back cover.  I have got to pass along a dandy quote by
    Mrs. H. V. Kaltenborn "commenting on the panic over Orson Welles's  'The
    War of the Worlds'  broadcast."

    The lady says, "Why, how ridiculous.  Anybody should have known it was not
    a real war.  If it had been, the broadcaster would have been Hans."

    At a different time and occasion, I can only wonder what Mrs. Kaltenborn
    must have thought  of President Truman's great imitation of H. V.

    Dennis Crow

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

    Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 15:33:53 -0500
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Short, Short Story

    Ted wonders,

>     Anyone know anything about this show?  How long it was on the air?  Was this
>     a daytime show?  The script is only 17 pages long leading me to believe this
>     may have been a 15-minute show.

    It was indeed a fifteen-minute daytime show -- an interesting experiment
    by Campbells' in the short-form anthology format. Each episode was a
    story complete in itself, and the series had no continuing characters.
    The stories tended to be light romance-comedies, with occasional forays
    into soapish themes. The program ran just shy of one year -- 1/22/40 to
    1/17/41 at 11 AM eastern on CBS. I own a set of 78rpm discs for the
    5/3/40 program from this series, which I believe is the only known
    surviving episode.

    Seventeen pages is actually rather long for a 15 minute script -- most
    double-spaced soap scripts that I've seen, including commericals, tend to
    run 12 to 14 pages.

>     Also, I note that certain words are spelled "British" style:  favourite,
>     honour, etc.  Seems odd.
>     Wonder if that was common back then?

    If you were British, Canadian, Australian, South African, or from
    elsewhere in the British commonwealth it was. There weren't too many
    Australian or South African expatriates working in radio in the US at the
    turn of the forties, so my guess would be that your author was British or
    Canadian.

    Elizabeth

    [ADMINISTRIVIA: Ms. McLeod was kind enough to make available the only
    known episode from the Campbell's Short Short Story series, "Success
    Story," on The Nostalgia Pages. Simply visit:

    [removed]

    ...and follow the link to the "Show of the Moment" page.  --cfs3]

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

    Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 15:42:08 -0500
    From: OTRDSIEGEL@[removed]
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  RE:  RADIO  MIRROR  Magazine

      OTR collectors interested in acquiring one or both of the following RADIO
    MIRROR Magazines shoulkd contactme.

    April 1937: Featuring Lux Radio Theater, Myrt & Marge, Gangbusters, Major
    Bowes & much more. (Joan Blondell on the cover/102 pages)

    March 1940:  Featuring Bob Hope, Our Gal Sunday, Horace Heidt, Lux Radio
    Theater & much more (Mary Martin on the cover/86 pages)

    Dave Siegel

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

    Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 19:16:08 -0500
    From: Udmacon@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  From 78-L LIST

    Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 13:14:03 -0500
    From: "Doug Pomeroy" <pomeroyaudio@[removed];
    CC: alan cooperman <alcoop@[removed];
    Subject: Need Kraft Music Hall Bdcsts

    Kraft Music Hall
    Broadcasts of 10/8/36 and 8/31/39
    urgently needed. Will pay top dollar.
    --
    Doug Pomeroy   pomeroyaudio@[removed]
    Audio Restoration [CEDAR] & Remastering

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

    Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 20:52:00 -0500
    From: "J. Alec West" <Alec@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: lost shows

    Michael Ogden wrote:

>     The only Welles series that seems to be completely lost ([removed] no recordings
>     have been found) is the 1945 opinion-and-discussion program ORSON WELLES
>     PEACE CONFERENCE FORUM. I think at one time Jerry H. did list one show under
>     a PEACE CONFERENCE FORUM heading, but it was from a slightly later date than
>     the Welles series would have been.

    This of course raises the question of whether or not any kind of definitive
    "LOST SHOWS" list exists somewhere.  It would be great to have such a list at
    hand when I find myself haunting estate sales, flea markets, and thrift stores.
    Does such a list exist?  If so, where can it be obtained?  And yes, I imagine
    it would be and incredibly _long_ list (and not necessarily complete).

    Regards,
    J. Alec

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

    Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 22:30:33 -0500
    From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed];
    To: "Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Radio stars on kids' [removed]

    Dennis commented on hearing radio stars on children's records, so I will
    note that Harold Peary did an excellent job with Dr. Seuss' book "Gerald
    McBoing-Boing" on discs.  And Boris Karloff did Legend of Sleepy Hollow and
    Rip Van Winkle.  Not a children's story but another good example is Basil
    Rathbone's version of Dickens' Christmas Carol.  Dennis Day did a neat
    rendition of Johnny Appleseed, did all or most of the voices, and sang as
    well.   ...And that's just the [removed]

    Ted Kneebone / 1528 S. Grant St. / Aberdeen, SD 57401 / 605-226-3344
    tkneebone1@[removed] | OTR:  [removed]
    [removed]  |

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

    Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2001 00:12:54 -0500
    From: Walt Appel <waltman@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re:  "lost" Welles Lady Esther shows

    I have a copy of "My Little Boy" that I recorded off of WAMU's Big
    Broadcast back in the early to mid 80s.  I would hate to have to locate
    it in the "priceless library of sound", as John Hickman used to say, but
    I'll be happy to look for it if anyone is interested.

    Walt

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

    Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2001 00:12:57 -0500
    From: "Harry Machin, Jr." <harbev5@[removed];
    To: "Old Time Radio" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Question about and old radio ad

    While reading the latest OTR Digest, I suddenly
    remembered that there was a floor standing radio
    that used the slogan "No Stoop, No Squat, No
    Squint."  (Because the radio stood on the floor,
    you only had to bend over to turn the dial.)  What
    brand of radio was that?  The ad ran about 60
    years ago.

    Harry Machin, Jr.

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

    Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2001 00:13:04 -0500
    From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Fred Allen on TV Saturday

    Pardon the cross posting but I think that everyone will want to catch
    this.  Game Show Network is showing a program with Fred Allen on the
    panel of "What's My Line" on Saturday.  It is the episode of September
    18, 1955 and will air at 8 PM and Midnight Eastern Saturday Mar 31.  It
    is the first of eight early B&W panel shows featuring baseball guests
    they are showing that evening.
    [removed]  will get you to the
    listing of the programs, dates, and casts.

    Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V01 Issue #100
    *******************************************

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