Subject: [removed] Digest V2006 #316
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 11/14/2006 11:56 AM

To: [removed]@[removed]

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2006 : Issue 316
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      OTR Collectors Under 40               [ Sean Dougherty <seandd@[removed] ]
      Inner Sanctum live?                   [ Illoman <illoman@[removed]; ]
      INNER SANCTUM STUDIO                  [ PURKASZ@[removed] ]
      Meredith Willson                      [ "Leslie Feagan" <lfeagan@actorsfcu. ]
      Kudo's to MS Lerner again             [ "Bill Scherer" <bspro@[removed]; ]
      OTR Under 40                          [ David Ballarotto <[removed]@ ]
      Poetry on Radio                       [ "Lois Culver" <loiseula@[removed] ]
      No cigar ?                            [ jack and cathy french <otrpiano@ver ]
      Elliot Lewis 937 performances         [ Keith Houdeshell <khowdy@[removed] ]
      11-14 births/deaths                   [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
      Fibber                                [ "erest@[removed]" <erest@verizon. ]
      "Slowly I [removed]"/Under 40           [ "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed]; ]
      Nash Joke Question                    [ Dick Fisher <w9fjl@[removed]; ]
      Re: Studio audiences                  [ Hal Stone <otrjug@[removed]; ]
      [removed]                          [ "Holm, Chris " <[removed]@[removed] ]
      OTR under 40                          [ "Holm, Chris " <[removed]@[removed] ]
      Stu Erwin                             [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 17:48:38 -0500
    From: Sean Dougherty <seandd@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  OTR Collectors Under 40

    I need to write fast because I won't be under 40 much longer - but I started
    collecting after seeing Jack Benny on television and backtracking his career
    to radio through tapes in bookstores and via the commercial dealers of the
    late 1980s and 1990s (when I started making enough money to buy regularly).
    One thing about Benny, everybody who was anybody in OTR appeared on his
    show, so he is a great portal to finding out about other entertainers you
    may never have heard of directly, like in my case Fibber McGee & Molly (who
    never appeared on the show but were next to Jack's shows in the displays at
    the bookstore) and Frd Allen.

    The only radio show I listened to when it was on was "Alien Worlds," a
    science fiction show that CBS FM 101 used to play on Friday nights in the
    late 1970s.  I liked it at the time, but when I bought episodes at FOTR
    years later it became immediately obvious that it was trash (how can the
    only sound effect of a show that takes place on a space station be
    footsteps?).

    My collecting took off in 1994 when I discovered the Newark FOTR event, this
    list and all that entails.

    Sean Dougherty
    born: 3/6/67

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:02:19 -0500
    From: Illoman <illoman@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Inner Sanctum live?

    Martin Grams Jr wrote:

>     Must have been his bad memory.  INNER SANCTUM MYSTERY was NEVER
>     broadcast before a live studio audience.  It was done in a small
>     studio where no public performance was available.  New York City
>     was the host of numerous radio broadcasting, and studios in the
>     city was host to a number of broadcasts that featured a live studio
>     audience - but INNER SANCTUM was NOT one of those programs. Himan
>     Brown directed that series and I cannot think of a single show he
>     produced/directed that ever had a studio audience.

    Talk about bad memories!! Ironically enough I am reading Martin's
    book, and it mentions an episode where Boris Karloff invited several
    orphans to watch him perform on IS!

    I know Martin is referring to a small booth for just a few people
    versus an auditorium, but I couldn't resist!

    By the way, INNER SANCTUM MYSTERIES: BEHIND THE CREAKING DOOR is an
    excellent read, and I highly recommend it!

    Mike

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:02:45 -0500
    From: PURKASZ@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  INNER SANCTUM STUDIO
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    Martin:
         As always your insights and knowledge know no  bounds when it comes to
    the really small but important stuff.
        I do some voice-over work in Manhattan and have had  occasion in the
    years past to go to many old studios where I imagine I am going  to be in an
    radio
    show as opposed to an audition to sell something.
        It would be nice to know when and if I have been or  will be in the very
    studio where Paul McGrath and the others performed on this  great show.
        Would you happen to know any minutiae on the  address and/or studio
    numbers?
        Promise to have a silent moment and a tip of the  hat from you as well as
    me if I find myself there in future.
                            Michael  C. Gwynne

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:02:58 -0500
    From: "Leslie Feagan" <lfeagan@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Meredith Willson

    I'd love to get a list of the shows on which Meredith Willson had speaking
    parts, like Burns and Allen and The Big Show. Also, I have a bootleg of a
    record he and wife Rini did called "And Then I Wrote The Music Man" which sort
    of recreates the backers auditions they did many times to raise the capital to
    do the show. Any idea where it came from and if there are other similar
    treasures on CDs to be had?
    Love,
    Leslie Feagan
    Just back from doing THE MUSIC MAN with Tom Wopat in Raleigh, NC

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:03:39 -0500
    From: "Bill Scherer" <bspro@[removed];
    To: ""old-time radio digest">" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Kudo's to MS Lerner again

    well Well,
    I just thought I should also chime in on the Karen is wonderful thread. <grin>
    I needed help with a gift my wife and Sons had purchased for me and she was
    there to help out both graciously and speedily.
    I hope her bosses appreciate what a great ambassador she has become for Radio
    Spirits.
    I won't be hesitant to spend money there anymore.
    Thanks Karen.
    Bill

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:04:15 -0500
    From: David Ballarotto <[removed]@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  OTR Under 40

    I just turned Jack Benny's mythical age, and have been a fan of OTR since in
    grade school. Back in the mid-70s, Geno's Pizza Mix had an ad on the back of
    the box for Radio Reruns and I was curious about episodes they had listed for
    "The Cisco Kid" and "The Lone Ranger."  My mother bought those two episodes
    for me and I thought they were very interesting and opened a whole new world
    for me, but it was only a phase.  When Edgar Bergen died, that sparked an
    interest in radio again, but again it was only a phase.  In high school, two
    different radio stations I could listen to carried classic programs. WKMC in
    Roaring Spring, PA carried the syndicated "Golden Age of Radio Theater" and
    WCAU out of Philly carried its own "Radio Classics" series.  For four years,
    I'd listen to WCAU nightly, eagerly enjoying Bergen and McCarthy, Fibber and
    Molly, Jack Benny, "You Bet Your Life" and so on.  When our 11th grade
    English teacher had us give an "Informative" speech, mine was about radio
    comedy, and generally speaking, the kids in my class thought the shows were a
    hoot!   When going to college in 1985, I was no longer able to pick up WCAU
    and the Phillies usually pre-empted Radio Classics in the summer, so again I
    moved on.

    A few years ago, while trying to find more TV episodes of "Ozzie and
    Harriet," I ordered some episodes of the radio show and that opened a door
    that has yet to close. Most TV shows that I like are either cancelled or have
    a great pilot and terrible subsequent shows, so most nights when I'm at home,
    it's classic radio I turn to for entertainment because Gildy, Fibber, Jack
    and the gang still hold up so well.

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:05:45 -0500
    From: "Lois Culver" <loiseula@[removed];
    To: "OTR Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Poetry on Radio

    KFI Los Angeles carried a poetry show for a number of years - which had
    Howard Culver reading the poetry of all types, and Robert Mitchell playing
    the organ most of the time.  The show was at first named "Stairway to the
    Stars", then the name changed to "A Joy Forever"  ("a thing of beauty is a
    joy forever").  Pat Kelly was the producer, and various KFI announcers did
    the announce job.

    If any of you have a copy of any of these shows, I'd appreciate hearing from
    you offline.

    Lois Culver
    Mrs. Howard Culver

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:06:11 -0500
    From: jack and cathy french <otrpiano@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  No cigar ?

    On Monday, November 13, 2006, at 05:47 PM, Glenn P wrote:

> >     "Close, but no cigar."

>     Now, THERE's a phrase I've always wondered about! Does it originate in
>     OTR? From "You Bet Your Life", perhaps? (I have no idea what makes me
>     think so, save that Groucho was alway smoking cigars.)

    I''m not sure how old that expression is, but I know it predates most
    of the Golden Age of Radio.  At the turn of the century until the
    Depression, a cigar was the prize awarded to the person who could ring
    the bell at the carnival. A large devise had a balance board and when
    you hit one end with a large wooden sledge, the other end knocked a
    movable piece up a cable, at the top of which was a bell.

    When an unsuccessful aspirant sent the "striker" up near the top, but
    it fell back without ringing the gong, the barker would yell out
    "Close, but no cigar." I heard that familiar cry many times growing up
    in the Badger State, back in the days when going to the carnival was a
    big deal.

    Jack French
    Editor: RADIO RECALL

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:06:21 -0500
    From: Keith Houdeshell <khowdy@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Elliot Lewis 937 performances

    Catching up on some back issues of the digest I saw the reference to
    Elliot Lewis's 937 Performances. I have a question, On how many shows
    did Jack Benny perform?  I know he did over 700 of his own shows and
    was on Fred Allen, Burns & Allen, Phil Harris, Suspense, Lux radio
    theator , Bob Hope and many others.

    Keith

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:06:33 -0500
    From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  11-14 births/deaths

    November 14th births

    11-14-1881 - Clayton Hamilton - NYC - d. 9-17-1946
    writer: "Radio Guild"; "Great Playe"; "Brownstone Theatre"
    11-14-1894 - James Van Dyk - Brooklyn, NY - d. 12-17-1951
    actor: Clyde Houston "Lora Lawton"; Dick Phillips "Rosemary"
    11-14-1900 - Aaron Copland - NYC - d. 12-2-1990
    composer: "Document A/777"
    11-14-1901 - Morton Downey - Wallingford, CT  - d. 10-25-1985
    singer: (The Irish Thrush), "Morton Downey Show"; "Songs by Morton
    Downey"
    11-14-1904 - Art Hodes - Nikoliev, Russia - d. 3-4-1993
    jazz pianist: "Eddie Condon's Jazz Concert"; "This Is Jazz"; "WNYC
    Jazz Festival"
    11-14-1904 - Dick Powell - Mountain. View, AR - d. 1-2-1963
    actor: Richard Diamond "Richard Diamond, Private Detective"; Richard
    Rogue "Rogue's Gallery"
    11-14-1905 - Wilbur "Budd" Hulick - Asbury Park, NJ - d. 3-xx-1961
    comedian: "Stoopnagle and Budd"; Mortimer Meek "Meet Mr. Meek"
    11-14-1906 - Mercer McCloud - d. 1-20-1993
    actor: Fran Cummings "Second Husband"
    11-14-1908 - Joseph McCarthy - Appleton, WI - d. 5-2-1957
    despotic senator: "Meet the Press"
    11-14-1910 - Rosemary De Camp - Prescott, Arizona Territory - d.
    2-20-2001
    actor: Nurse Judy Price, "Dr. Christian"
    11-14-1914 - Court Benson - Vancouver, Canada - d. 2-5-1995
    announcer, narrator: "Tennessee Jed"
    11-14-1914 - Haila Stoddard - Great Falls, MT
    actor: Sue Evans Miller "Big Sister"
    11-14-1914 - Ken Carson - Colgate, OK - d. 4-7-1994
    singer: (Lustre Cream Shampoo commercial) "Day in the Life of Dennis
    Day"
    11-14-1915 - Billy Bauer - The Bronx, NY - d. 6-17-2005
    jazz guitarist: "Band for Bonds"
    11-14-1915 - Martha Tilton - Corpus Christi, TX
    singer: "Fibber McGee and Molly"; "Meet Me at Parky's"; "Curt Massey-
    Martha Tilton Program"
    11-14-1916 - Sherwood Schwartz - Passaic, NJ
    writer: "The Bob Hope Show"; "The Great Gildersleeve"
    11-14-1919 - Veronica Lake - Brooklyn, NY - d. 7-7-1973
    actor: "Exploring the Unknown"; "Request Performance"
    11-14-1920 - Irving Ravetch - Newark, NJ
    writer, adapter: "Escape"
    11-14-1920 - Johnny Desmond - Detroit, MI - d. 9-6-1985
    singer: "I Sustain the Wings"; "Philip Morris Frolics"; "Songs for Sale"
    11-14-1924 - Phyllis Avery - NYC
    actor: Peggy McNutley "Meet Mr. McNutley"
    11-14-1951 - Sandahl Bergman - Kansas City, MO

    November 14th deaths

    01-22-1935 - Dave Holland - Raleigh, NC - d. 11-14-2005
    author: "From Out of the Past: A Pictorial History of the Lone Ranger"
    01-26-1907 - Eddie Ballentine - Chicago, IL - d. 11-14-1995
    orchestra leader: "Don McNeill's Breakfast Club"
    02-04-1889 - Walter Catlett - San Francisco, Ca - d. 11-14-1960
    actor: "This Is Your [removed]"; "Escape"; "Campbell Playhouse"
    02-07-1915 - Eddie Bracken - Astoria, NY - d. 11-14-2002
    comedian: "Eddie Bracken Show"; Dizzy Stevens "Aldrich Family"
    02-14-1916 - Eddie Arcaro - Cincinnati, OH - d. 11-14-1997
    jockey: "Pabst Blue Ribbon Sport of Kings"; "Tops In Sports"
    02-27-1894 - Upton Close - Kelso, WA - d. 11-14-1960
    commentator: "Events and Trends of the Week"; "Close-Ups of the :News"
    04-04-1896 - Robert Sherwood - New Rochelle, NY - d. 11-14-1955
    playwright: "Free Company"; "Cavalcade of America"; "Screen Guild
    Theatre"
    04-08-1916 - Carl Cotner - Indiana - d. 11-14-1986
    steel guitar: "Gene Aurty's Melody Ranch"
    05-19-1870 - Wright Kramer - Somerville, MA - d. 11-14-1941
    actor: Walter Jamison "Showboat"
    05-28-1912 - Violet Dunn - d. 11-14-1982
    actor: Peggy O'Neill "The O'Neill's"
    09-01-1904 - Johnny Mack Brown - Dothan, AL - d. 11-14-1974
    actor: "Straight Arrow Pow Wow"
    10-02-1911 - Jack Finney - Milwaukee, WI - d. 11-14-1995
    writer: "Cloud Nine"
    10-15-1908 - Robert Trout - Wake Country, NC - d. 11-14-2000
    commentator: "Headlines & Bylines"; "Robert Trout with the News Til Now"
    actor: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"
    xx-xx-1874 - Floyd Buckley - d. 11-14-1956
    actor: Popeye: "Popeye the Sailor"
    xx-xx-xxxx - Billy Beard - d. 11-14-1954

    Ron Sayles
    singer: (Raybestos Twins) "Eddie Cantor Show"; Al Jolson Show"

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

    Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 08:07:09 -0500
    From: "erest@[removed]" <erest@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Fibber

    Frank McGurn mentions listen to a fibber program Sunday night where
    Mayor Latrivia open the closet door.  Well Sunday night on WAMU they
    played a show were the whole cast has been quarantined at fibber's for a
    week.  Gildy can take it no more and in the first couple minutes of the
    show decided to leave and instead of course opens the closet door.
     Seems to me Fibber was the one who usually opened the door.
        Rob

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

    Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 08:07:59 -0500
    From: "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  "Slowly I [removed]"/Under 40
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    Touching upon two recent threads.

    I was born roughly a month after the accepted 09-30-1962 demise of episodic
    dramatised American radio, but have always thought I was born in the  wrong
    era. In my early twenties, I was employed at the venerated Strand Book Store
    in NYC. At the time, I was quite the wiseguy (Once I told a customer looking
    for a complete set of Mark Twain, "Oh, you want a Twain set? Wook in the
    wailwoad section."). Anyhow, an elderly woman customer searching fo a
    biography of Benny Goodman asked me "Excuse me, young man. Does the name
    'Benny Goodman' ring a bell to you?" Without missing a beat, I responded,
    "[removed] plays a clarinet." I did assist her in finding the book she wanted.
    So much for being under 40.

    Another older woman once asked if there were any books about Niagara Falls
    (invoking here the  recently discussed "Slowly I Turn" and "Susquehanna Hat
    Co." vaudeville/burlesque routines in which a suspect name triggers a violent
    reaction in the storyteller). I wanted so badly to enact the routine with her
    but felt had I gone into the over-the-top theatrics the routine requires
    ("slowly I [removed] by [removed] by [removed]") that I might've given a
    heart attack.

    Once upon a time I was a real [removed] that was before I gave up drinking
    (20 years next week!).

    The names have been withheld to protect the insolent,

    Mayor of Etherville

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

    Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 13:50:20 -0500
    From: Dick Fisher <w9fjl@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Nash Joke Question

    I owned a 1952 Nash and if my memory serves me correctly (and it may
    not)  the joke had nothing to do with the back seat.  It was the first
    and only car at that time  that you could pull a lever down by the side
    of the front  passenger seat and it would fold the back of the passenger
    seat down all the way  till it was level with the back seat. It was not
    a very comfortable arrangement as the 'bed"  that was made was not
    completely flat.  You had to adjust the front seat backward and forward
    till the back of the front seat met up with the back seat. I think there
    are certain implications as to its advantages in certain situations.
    Nuff said!!

    I do not remember it the driver's seat did the same thing or not but I
    think not.

    Dick

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

    Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 13:51:06 -0500
    From: Hal Stone <otrjug@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Studio audiences

    In responding to the [removed] the inner Inner Sanctum program ever
    have a studio audience, my buddy Martin Grams, responded [removed]

>     Must have been his bad memory.  INNER SANCTUM MYSTERY was NEVER broadcast
>     before a live studio audience.  It was done in a small studio where no
>     public performance was available. (SNIP)

>     Studio audience Programs that usually had a large audience were those with
>     huge
>     prestige - LUX RADIO THEATER, CAVALCADE OF AMERICA, THE SHADOW, THE CHASE AND
>     SANBORN HOUR, etc.

    Hmmm! True [removed] I never thought that the Archie Andrews show would
    have been considered "prestigious" (Grin) yet we probably amassed the
    largest TOTAL of people attending radio broadcasts over our 10 year run on
    NBC. That is, if kids count as "people". :)

    The program was so popular among the younger set, that during the summer
    months, when school was out, NBC scheduled us to broadcast out of Studio 8H,
    the largest radio studio, (huge stage & audience seating) in the world.
    That's the only way they could keep up with the volume of ticket requests.

    It was quite awe inspiring to work on the same stage that the great
    Toscanini used, and other really big names in the entertainment industry.
    I used to hang around NBC sometimes when I worked on a daytime show and
    waited around until evening just to watch the great Al Jolson bring down the
    house. I also worked on that same stage doing Grown Up programs, Like the
    Slapsie Maxie show, the Ether Merman show, and lots of others that I can't
    remember.

    Fond memories indeed.

    Hal (Harlan) Stone
    Jughead

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

    Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 13:52:49 -0500
    From: "Holm, Chris " <[removed]@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  [removed]

    In digest #315, Charles Salt asked:

>     She wants a sleigh with reindeer, and all Randy can find are a couple
>     goats. As I recall, all he can find for a sleigh is an old Radio Flyer
>     wagon. Part of the episode has Randy roaming *snip*It's a Christmas
>     episode but we're pretty sure it's not 'Five Days Of For Christmas'.

    I have a copy of this show, but I'm pretty sure it's not a Nightbeat.
    Maybe it's a Casey, Crime [removed] but that might not be it
    either.  I'm a work, so I can't dig through my collection, but if no one
    else answers I'll check at home and figure it out.

    -chris holm

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

    Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 13:52:02 -0500
    From: "Holm, Chris " <[removed]@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  OTR under 40

    In #313, Andrew Godfrey asked:

>     how many OTR fans are reading the OTR Digest
>     are under the age of 40.

    I'm 32, so I've definitely never heard a live OTR show (other than
    recreations, which I've had the honor in performing in a couple at
    Cincy-con).  However, I have been listening to OTR all my life.  I grew
    up in the DC area, and my family always listened to the Big Broadcast on
    WAMU Sunday nights.  So I guess you can say I grew up with OTR, despite
    my age.

    -chris holm

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

    Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 13:53:26 -0500
    From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Stu Erwin

    The name of Stu Erwin came up in some stuff I was writing the other day.  I
    was using him as an example of my faithfulness to television in the 1950's,
    wondering if anyone would know who he was, which nobody did.  His show in
    1950 was 'Trouble with Father,' later 'The Stu Erwin Show,' and it was
    essentially a precursor of Father Knows Best.  He starred with June Collyer,
    to whom I think he was married.  The show was extremely popular despite his
    Thomas E. Dewey moustache.

    [removed] (the indispensible Internet Movie Data Base) has him down as a
    movie and television actor, but I believe he was in one of the Big Broadcast
    movies, and there's a publicity shot of him with Burns and Allen and [removed]
    Fields.  It is difficult to believe that he wouldn't have been a radio actor
    as well at some point.  Does anyone know?

    M Kinsler
    512 E Mulberry St. Lancaster, Ohio USA 43130 740-687-6368
    [removed]

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2006 Issue #316
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