Subject: [removed] Digest V2010 #36
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 2/25/2010 10:19 PM
To: [removed]@[removed]
Reply-to:
[removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2010 : Issue 36
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Jim Harmon: Memorial Service          [ jack and cathy french <otrpiano@ver ]
  A touch of old time radio             [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
  Re: Re: Jim Harmon                    [ jameshburns@[removed] (Jim Burns) ]
  Gassing [removed]                         [ Wich2@[removed] ]
  Running times of otr shows            [ Michael Shoshani <mshoshani@sbcglob ]
  Re: What was the first OTR [removed]   [ Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed]; ]
  Station Breaks                        [ Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed]; ]
  First OTR book?                       [ jack and cathy french <otrpiano@ver ]
  2-24 births/deaths                    [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Re: Godfrey and L'affaire La Rosa     [ Michael Hayde <mikeh0714@[removed]; ]
  Early radio tomes                     [ "otrbuff" <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
  regarding jim harmon                  [ Grams46@[removed] ]
  Jim Harmon & It's that time [removed]  [ "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed] ]

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

Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 00:13:04 -0500
From: jack and cathy french <otrpiano@[removed];
To: OTRBB <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Jim Harmon: Memorial Service

I had an opportunity to speak on the phone tonight with Jim's widow,
Barbara. She said he died of heart failure on the morning of February
16. Although he was scheduled for heart surgery on March 8th, he
confided to her that he didn't think he was going to live long enough
for that scheduled procedure. He told her that he would die contented
that he had accomplished all in life that he had planned.

Jim will be cremated and his ashes buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in
Glendale, CA. Barbara had tried to get a burial site close to that of
Tom Mix (Jim's idol since childhood) but Mix is buried in the old
section of Forest Lawn, which is now closed to additional burials. So
Jim's ashes will be put to rest in a grave site in the new section.
Jerry Williams of SPERDVAC is creating a special urn for Jim's remains.

No public funeral service will be held in connection with this burial
but Barbara is planning on a memorial service for Jim,  hopefully in
the next 3-5 weeks. She will provide more details on that as her plan
become firm.

In lieu of flowers, she requested that donations be made in Jim's
name to SPERDVAC, [removed] Box 669, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266-0669. Jim
was a longtime member of that OTR organization and also served on
their board of directors.

Your cards of support will reach Barbara Harmon at the residence she
and Jim shared for many years: 634 S. Orchard Drive, Burbank, CA
91506-2905. She also gave me permission to provide her home phone
number (818-843-5472) in the event Jim's friends would rather call her.

She plans to attend the next SPERDVAC convention and has already
volunteered to help with their registration. She is considering a
return trip to FOTR in Newark, which she and Jim attended last October.

To her knowledge, no obituary of Jim has appeared in any west coast
newspaper.

Jack French
Editor: RADIO RECALL
<[removed]>

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

Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 00:13:09 -0500
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  A touch of old time radio

I often listen to a podcast from Matt Frei who is the presenter of the
BBC World News America. The podcast is called Americana and this week's
has a substitute - Kevin Connelly, who spends some time on this episode
talking to Ed Walker of WAMU and old time radio.

The part with Ed Walker begins  about 17 minutes into the 30 minute
podcast. You can skip ahead if you wish.

So you don't have to go through iTunes unless you want to, you can find
this single one at:

[removed]

The episode is called "Washington Confidential"

Jim Widner

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

Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 00:13:18 -0500
From: jameshburns@[removed] (Jim Burns)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Re:  Jim Harmon

And, of course, those films Jim appeared in were the Lemon GROVE [removed]

Not the Lemon Drop Kids, as I wrote the other day.

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

Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 00:13:58 -0500
From: Wich2@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Gassing [removed]

In a message dated 2/23/2010 11:58:49 [removed] Eastern Standard Time,
[removed]@[removed] writes:

I start out by making sure the  turntable speed is
set properly and use that as a baseline.  Then, I go  by my ears

Rand, though I don't transfer discs, I've been doing that by
pitch-adjustable cassette player for years. And it often amazes me when I
hear  someone
else's dub, and my ears immediately tell me, "that is NOT Orson  Welles' (or
Jack Benny's, [removed]) voice!"

I have one recording I need to transfer again because I didn't realize  it
was running a tad fast ... the infamous "Crepitation Contest"  record

I did just that, when I found an upgrade years ago - and to this day, an
engineer who was used to to old one, swears it is now too slow!

-Craig

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

Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 00:14:28 -0500
From: Michael Shoshani <mshoshani@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Running times of otr shows

rand wrote:

NBC had a system that was automated, giving you a "beep" on the hour or
quarter hour and playing of the chimes at :45, but they could manually
override this.  I've got examples of these in several places on my blog
from NBC line checks (look at the soap operas on my site from circa 1947).

It's a widespread misconception that the NBC chimes were automated, but
it's a misconception nonetheless. The idea was investigated all through
the 1930s and 1940s, but was deemed impractical due to the inability to
synchronize all the clocks across the network due to local power supply
fluctuations. As far forward as 1953, NBC stated in PR material that the
chimes were actuated by push-button control rather than automation, so
it would seem they never overcame that limitation.

I have a much longer exposition of this on my website,
[removed] , under the heading "A Matter Of Time". It's beyond
the scope of the OTR Digest, but it presents a small picture of the very
complex issues involved in an era before NTP servers and GPS
timekeeping.

Michael Shoshani
Chicago

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

Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 00:14:42 -0500
From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: What was the first OTR [removed]

Derek Tague has challenged us to come up with OTR books prior to Jim
Harmon's 1967 "Great Radio Heros" and Buxton & Owens' 1966 "Radio's
Golden Age" but after the Sept 30, 1962 date he picks as the end of the
golden age.

My first reaction was Irving Settell's "Pictorial History of Radio" but
the first edition was 1960 and the second was 1967.  Next I reached over
to "History In Sound" by Milo Ryan, which is the indispensable directory
to the KIRO archive of CBS recordings.  1963, so that could do it, but
Derek might complain that it is an annotated catalog, although it tells
the story of CBS's coverage of WW II.   But since I didn't want to have
to keep on pulling books off of shelves -- some of which are not easy to
get to -- and since Chris Sterling is THE broadcasting bibliographer, I
turned to the bibliography in the 1978 first edition of "Stay Tuned" he
co-wrote with Mike Kittross.

The first volume of Erik Barnouw's 3 volume history of [removed]
broadcasting, "A Tower In Babel" was published in 1966.   Did it beat
out Buxton & Owens?   Well, despite all my  complaints about Barnouw, it
is a more important book.  Then there is the second volume of Asa
Briggs' history of UK broadcasting "The Golden Age of Wireless"  which
was published in 1965.  Volume one was 1961 which also was before
Derek's deadline.  Bill Bluem's "Documentary in American Television"
which also discusses early radio documentaries, came out in 1965.  [removed]
Cole's "Lord Haw Haw and William Joyce" came out in 1964, and although
the British hung him for treason on a technicality, Joyce really was a
[removed] citizen.  And while on the subject of short-wave, "Fifty Years of
the ARRL" was published in 1965.  Degna Marconi's "My Father Marconi"
was 1962, and a semi-fictional bio of Marconi's procurer, David Sarnoff,
was written by Eugene Lyon in 1966.  Sam Slate and Joe Cook's "It Sounds
Impossible"  came out in 1963, and might really be one of the first
entertaining insider look at radio during the time span that Derek is
allowing.

And every single one of these books belongs on any OTR researcher's
bookshelf.

Michael Biel   mbiel@[removed]

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

Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 00:16:44 -0500
From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Station Breaks

Rand's posting of "Pipe Smoking Time" (that's the program's real name)
with Pick and Pat complete with thunderstorm static and the station
breaks is a valuable document.  Local radio continuity is the rarest
type of recording to find, with the possible exception of scarce band
scans.  You will note that from Voice Out to the start of the next
program is almost exactly 30 seconds in both of these breaks.  The fade
out of music or applause after the announcer's CBS system cue is not
really part of the timing of the program as far as the network
operations was concerned.  It just allowed them to sound a little
different from NBC which counted the end of the program from the final
chime.  And as Michael Shoshani mentioned, the chime ringing was not
automated, only the hour beep was.  (There was one -- and only one --
time when the chimes was automated, and that was to teach Fred Allen a
lesson while taking the heat off of Don Pardo who would otherwise have
had to cut Allen off and ring the chimes manually.)

The dead air that Rand noted was part of the sound of radio in that era
that is practically unremembered now.  As Michael mentioned, part of the
necessity of the 30 second break was to allow AT&T to manually change
routing patches on the network lines.  But advertisers in those days
objected to local stations using that time to include advertisements
adjacent to the network programs they owned and paid for.  The networks
tried to restrict  break ads, but as time went on they couldn't stop
locals from doing it.  But the could force their owned-and-operated
stations like WABC to keep the station identification time restricted to
just the ID.  The cancellation announcement of the Lewissohn Stadium
concert is a very rare exception.  It is a wonderful explanation of all
of the static we hear, but also cause me to wonder if the concert might
have been managed by the Columbia Artists Bureau!

One last note.  The timing of War of the Worlds was mentioned a few
digests ago.  Remember that the 30 second middle station break time is
cut from the circulating recordings.  My recording off the master DOES
include the sound of the disc continuing to play during the 30 second break.

Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 00:17:17 -0500
From: jack and cathy french <otrpiano@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  First OTR book?

"Derek the T" ponders "What was the first OTR book?" and he asks for
nominations.

Well, I don't know the answer, but I could suggest one book in my
library that may fit that category: "Sound and Fury--An Informal
History of Broadcasting" by Francis Chase, Jr. (Harper & Bros., 1942)

This hardback, a generous 303 pages, suffers from a major weakness as
a great OTR reference book: no index. (The other is the lack of info
on adventure shows, mysteries, and juvenile programs.) Other than
that, it does an excellent job of chronicling radio broadcasting from
its birth to WW II. Chase is very perceptive and points out some
things that it took other OTR researchers decades to confirm.

He correctly identifies the first paid radio commercial as the
Queensland Corp. selling real estate lots over WEAF. His early
chapters cover the significant shows prior to the network domination,
including Everyready Hour, Jessica Dragonette, and Grand Ol' Op'ry.
He next details the formation and emergence of the networks, with a
side trip into an examination of radio's medical quacks, starring Dr.
Brinkley ("fiery and sometimes bitterly vitriolic.")

Chase devotes a chapter to radio's two "fascists," Rev, Coughlin and
Huey Long. He provides background on radio's prominent announcers and
newscasters, including Milton Cross, Ted Husing, Broake Carter, etc.
All of the "forum" radio shows, including "Town Meeting" are covered
in another chapter, followed by background information on the
international reporters, Kaltenborn, Murrow, Shirer, etc.

Working his way into dramatic radio, Chase discusses the earliest
"serials" including "Sam 'n Henry", "The Smith Family" (with the
Jordans) and "One Man's Family" as well as the various soap opera
writers and producers, concentrating on the Hummerts and Irna
Phillips. Chase accurately rates the true giants of radio as Norman
Corwin, Orson Welles, and Arch Oboler.

Other chapters deal with radio's comedians and variety artists,
including Major Bowles, Jack Benny, Fred Allen, etc. Chase pulls no
punches and succinctly describes Rudy Vallee as "a typical down-east
Yankee: cold, cantankerous, and pernickety" which was certainly true
of the real Vallee, not the happy radio persona he adopted.

In the concluding chapters, he goes into the big band leaders on
radio, and later, WW II propaganda directed at the [removed]  All in all,
a fine OTR book, despite its limitations.

Jack French
Editor: RADIO RECALL
<[removed]>

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

Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 00:18:11 -0500
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  2-24 births/deaths

February 24th births

02-24-1876 - Victor Moore - Hammonton, NJ - d. 7-23-1962
comedian: (The Lothario of the Lumbago Set) "Jimmy Durante Show"
02-24-1885 - Bert Lytell - NYC - d. 9-28-1954
actor: Jimmy Valentine "Alias Jimmy Valentine"; Jeb Stuart "Roses and
Drums"
02-24-1885 - Chester Nimitz - Fredericksburg, TX - d. 2-20-1966
admiral of the navy: "Navy Day Program"; "We the People"; "This is the
Navy"
02-24-1889 - Boyd Bunch - Chamois, MO - d. 2-8-1969
pianist, arranger: "Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians"
02-24-1890 - Marjorie Main - Acton, IN - d. 4-10-1975
actor: "Columbia Presents Corwin"
02-24-1891 - Joe Laurie, Jr. - Moscow, Russia - d. 4-29-1954
comedian: "Can You Top This"
02-24-1895 - May Singhi Breen - NYC - d. 12-19-1970
singer: (The Ukulele Lady) "Sweethearts of the Air"
02-24-1904 - Tim Graham - Kansas - d. 1-14-1979
actor: "Plays for Americans"
02-24-1914 - Zachary Scott - Austin, TX - d. 10-3-1965
actor: "Suspense"; "Encore Theatre"; "[removed] Steel Hour"; "Screen Guild
Theatre"
02-24-1916 - Willie Gilbert - Cleveland, OH - d. 12-2-1980
writer: "Tom Corbett, Space Cadet"
02-24-1917 - Peggy Wall - Spokane, WA
actor: Blue Howard "Betty and Bob"; Lois Colton "Romance of Helen Trent"
02-24-1919 - Betty Marsden - Liverpool, England - d. 7-19-1998
actor: Daphne Whitehigh, Buttercup Gruntfuttock, et al "Round the Horne"
02-24-1921 - Abe Vigoda - NYC
actor: "You Are There"
02-24-1922 - Steven Hill - Seattle, WA
actor: "Treasury Salute"; "Up For Parole"
02-24-1923 - Fred Steiner - NYC
music: "On Stage"; "This Is Yor FBI"
02-24-1924 - Talat Mahmood - Lucknow, India - d. 5-9-1998
singer: "The Frank Sinatra of India) "All India Radio"
02-24-1931 - Barry Oakley - Melbourne, Australia
writer: "Eugene Flockhart's Desk"; "The Great God Mogadon"
02-24-1943 - George Harrison - Liverpool, England - d. 11-29-2001
singer: (The Beatles) "Here We Go Again"
02-24-1943 - Richard Carleton - Bowral, Australia - d. 5-7-2006
correspondent for 2GB radio
02-24-1946 - Barry Bostwick - San Mateo, CA
actor: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"

February 24th deaths

01-10-1927 - Johnnie Ray - The Dalles, OR - d. 2-24-1990
singer: "Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy Show"
01-24-1904 - Franklyn Baur - Brooklyn, NY - d. 2-24-1950
tenor: "Palmolive Hour"; "Voice of Firestone"
02-02-1936 - Arthur Lyman - Kauai, HI - d. 2-24-2002
vibes: Won talent contest on Honolulu  radio, station KGMB
02-08-1913 - Taylor Grant - Philadelphia, PA - d. 2-24-1998
newscaster: "Headline Edition"
02-25-1904 - Marion Claire - Chicago, IL - d. 2-24-1988
singer: "Chicago Theatre of the Air"
02-29-1916 - Dinah Shore - Winchester, TN - d. 2-24-1994
singer: "Eddie Cantor Show"; "Dinah Shore Show"
03-05-1921 - Milt Kamen - Hurleyville, NY - d. 2-24-1977
satirist: "Voices of Vista"; "Here's to Veterans"
03-16-1897 - Conrad Nagel - Keokuk, IA - d. 2-24-1970
actor, emcee: "Silver Theatre"; "Passing Parade"
03-16-1906 - Henny Youngman - London, England - d. 2-24-1998
comedian: (Take my wife, please) "Kate Smith Hour"; "Radio Hall of Fame"
03-25-1906 - Jean Sablon - Nogent-sur-Marne, France - d. 2-24-1994
baritone/composer: (French Troubadour) "Shell Chateau"; Magic Key of
RCA"
03-25-1916 - Jean Rogers - Belmont, MA - d. 2-24-1991
actor: Elaine Dascomb "Those We Love"
04-10-1922 - Marian Richman - California - d. 2-24-1956
actor: "Tell It Again"
04-26-1906 - [removed] "Albert" Alexander - Winthrop, MA - d. 2-24-1967
moderator: "Goodwill Court/Court of Human Relations"
05-02-1925 - Svatopluk Havelka - Vrbice, Czechoslovakia - d. 2-24-2009
composer: member music department Czechoslovakia in Ostrava
05-19-1906 - Bruce Bennett - Tacoma, WA - d. 2-24-2007
actor: "Proudly We Hail"
05-20-1920 - George Gobel - Chicago, IL - d. 2-24-1991
comedian, actor, singer: (Lonesome George) Jimmy "Tom Mix"
05-29-1918 - Herb Shriner - Toledo, OH - d. 2-24-1970
comedian: "Camel Comedy Caravan"; "Herb Shriner Time"
06-01-1915 - John Randolph - NYC - d. 2-24-2004
actor: "New World A' Coming"; "A Date with Judy"
06-04-1924 - Dennis Weaver - Joplin, MO - d. 2-24-2006
actor: Look Magazine Commercial "Have Gun, Will Travel"
06-06-1918 - Martin Esslin - Budapest, Austria-Hungary - d. 2-24-2002
Head of radio drama for the BBC
06-14-1894 - George Hall - Brooklyn, NY - d. 2-24-1959
orchestra leader: CBS network
07-01-1908 - Alvino Rey - Oakland, CA - d. 2-24-2004
bandleader: "Horace Heidt and His Brigadiers"
07-21-1924 - Don Knotts - Morgantown, WV - d. 2-24-2006
actor: Windy Wales "Bobby Benson's Adventures"
08-01-1910 - Walter Scharf - NYC - d. 2-24-2003
music director: "Phil Harris and Alice Faye Show"
08-08-1921 - Webb Pierce - West Monroe, LA - d. 2-24-1991
singer: ""Grand Ole Opry"; Louisiana Hayride"
08-17-1896 - Alma Lawton - Woolwich, England - d. 2-24-1982
actor: "I Love Adventure"; "NBC University Theatre"
09-02-1898 - Arthur Young - Bristol, Gloucestershire, England - d.
2-24-1959
actor: Junior Fitz "Ma Perkins"; Son "The Baxters"
09-02-1902 - Henry J. Taylor - Chicago, IL - d. 2-24-1984
commentator: 'Your Land and Mine"; "News Commentary"
09-09-1922 - Imogene Lynn - Trenton, MO - d. 2-24-2003
singer: "Spotlight Bands"
09-29-1910 - Virginia Bruce - Minneapolis, MN - d. 2-24-1982
actor: Susan Read "Rexall Summer Theatre"
10-04-1932 - Edward Judd - Shanghai, China - d. 2-24-2009
actor: "Drop Me Here, Darling"; "Philadelphia Moonshine"
10-25-1901 - Daniel Landt - Scranton, PA - d. 2-24-1961
singer: Landt Trio, "Doc Pearson's Drug Store"; "Bob Hawk Show"
11-07-1893 - Margaret Leech - Newburgh, NY - d. 2-24-1974
author: "Information Please"
12-03-1927 - Isabelle Lucas - Toronto, Canada - d. 2-24-1997
guest panelist: "Quote-Unquote"
12-24-1906 - Franz Waxman - Konigshutte, Germany - d. 2-24-1967
composer-conductor: "Good News of 1939"

Ron

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

Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 00:18:29 -0500
From: Michael Hayde <mikeh0714@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Godfrey and L'affaire La Rosa

I and the person who emailed me wish to thank everyone that responded both on
and off list to my query about the "Julius lost his humility" novelty song.
An extra tip of the hat to Nick Dragos who sent me the Internet Archive link
where Ruth Wallis' "Dear Mr. Godfrey" can be heard in full:

[removed]

OTR Digest subscribers are, without question, the nicest and most
knowledgable fans, scholars and hobbyists on the planet!  Thank you all again.

Michael

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

Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 00:18:45 -0500
From: "otrbuff" <otrbuff@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Early radio tomes

I'm glad Derek Tague mentioned Frank Buxton and Bill Owens' 1966 volume.
With the exception of the catalogs (which were exceedingly thick) that I was
receiving before then from Radio Yesteryear, I do think Buxton and Owens'
book was the first in print of which I was personally aware.

Derek prompts us all to put on our thinking caps and add others to that
revered list.  I would add Mary Jane Higby's "Tune in Tomorrow" which was
originally issued in 1966, too.  That was an eyewitness account to what went
on behind the microphone.  Isn't that OTR?  (Well this may open pandora's
box, for Fred Allen was out with stuff long before then, and there were
others.  Not sure where that blurred line might take us.  But Higby's
definitely was "this is what happened, folks, and how it happened in
radio.")

Let's see what others turn up.  Just imagine:  nostalgia in a new way!

Jim Cox

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

Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 00:19:06 -0500
From: Grams46@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  regarding jim harmon

Larry Gassman lgsinger@[removed]  wrote:

I  got a note from Jerry Williams earlier this evening.
We  lost Jim Harmon last  night

from kathy
this is very sad  news.
my  love of old radio was rebooted when i read "the  great radio heroes"
in
the  early 1970's.    jim  spoke for me when he wrote "some were born  for
greatness.  I was  born for 'trivia'.  yes, somewhere, there is one  grown
up
kid who  never threw away a radio premium, a secret manual, a comic  book.

me."
thanks jim.  may God rest your precious soul.
peace   from kathy

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

Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 00:19:21 -0500
From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed];
To: "Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Jim Harmon & It's that time [removed]

I think Jim Harmon published 3 volumes of "It's that time [removed]"
Wouldn't it be wonderful for someone to continue Harmon's series?
I was happy to contribute one story to his anthology.  It is the only piece
of fiction of mine that was ever published.  What a pleasure it was to do
this!  Thanks, Jim, for your pioneering work.

Ted Kneebone. 1528 S. Grant St., Aberdeen, SD 57401. Phone: 605-226-3344.
Old Time Radio: [removed]

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2010 Issue #36
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