Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #381
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 11/30/2004 10:19 AM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2004 : Issue 381
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Golden Age of Television              [ Dan Hughes <danhughes@[removed]; ]
      Peter Lorre and Jack Benny            [ JackBenny@[removed] ]
      Death of the golden age               [ JackBenny@[removed] ]
      11-30 births/deaths                   [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
      Entrepreneurs over 60                 [ seandd@[removed] ]
      FUN WITH THE LONE RANGER              [ Dave Parker <dave@[removed] ]
      Golden Age of TV                      [ "Philip Railsback" <philiprailsback ]
      Halls of Ivy                          [ "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed]; ]
      Jocko Madigan channels Joe Friday     [ Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed]; ]

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

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 13:29:11 -0500
    From: Dan Hughes <danhughes@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Golden Age of Television

    For me, the golden age ended with the arrival of color.  The quality just
    shrunk a bit when color took over.

    Examples:

    Andy Griffith in B&W:  Barney, Floyd, Gomer
    Andy Griffith in color:  Warren, Howard, Goober

    Gunsmoke in B&W:  Chester
    Gunsmoke in color:  Festus

    ---Dan

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

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 17:08:45 -0500
    From: JackBenny@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Peter Lorre and Jack Benny

    David writes:

>     Why was Peter Lorie chooses as a judge for the "I can't
>     stand Jack Benny" contest?  I understand Fred Allen, but
>     what was PL's association with Jack?

    It's possible that they were friends, since I know Lorre was a tennis buddy
    of Larry Adler.  Lorre was also a guest on both Jack's radio and television
    shows.

    I remember Don announcing that Peter Lorre would be a judge, and Jack
    comments, "He scares me."  Don then says that Fred Allen is the chief judge,
    and Jack says, "He scares Peter Lorre!"

    --
    Laura Leff
    President, IJBFC
    [removed]

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

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 17:08:57 -0500
    From: JackBenny@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Death of the golden age

    Just gotta say [removed]

    The Golden Age of Television died when Gomer Pyle could draw higher ratings
    than Jack Benny.

    --
    Laura Leff
    President, IJBFC
    [removed]

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

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 17:09:08 -0500
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  11-30 births/deaths

    November 30th births

    11-30-1873 - Frederic William Wile - La Porte, IN - d. 4-7-1941
    commentator: "Political Situation in Washington"
    11-30-1894 - David Ogden Stewart - Columbus, OH - d. 8-2-1980
    humorist: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    11-30-1913 - John K. M. McCaffrey - Moscow, ID - d. 10-3-1983
    newscaster: "Author Meets the Critics"; "What Makes You Tick?"
    11-30-1914 - Charles Hawtrey - Hounslow, Middlesex, England - d. 10-27-1988
    actor, comedian: Hubert Lane "Just William"
    11-30-1915 - Brownie McGhee - Knoxville, TN - d. 2-16-1996
    blues guitarist, singer: "New World A' Coming"; "This Is Jazz)
    11-30-1919 - Joe Cabbibo - d. 10-1973
    sound effects: "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar"; "Tennessee Jed". "Counterspy"
    11-30-1920 - Virginia Mayo - St. Louis, MO
    actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    11-30-1923 - Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. - NYC
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    11-30-1926 - Dick Crenna - Los Angeles, CA - d. 1-18-2003
    actor: Oogie Pringle, "A Date with Judy"; "Walter Denton, "Our Miss Brooks"
    11-30-1929 - Dick Clark - Mt. Vernon, NY
    host: "March of Dimes March of Stars"; "Tribute to Murray the K"

    November 30th deaths

    01-11-1908 - Lionel Stander - The Bronx, NY - d. 11-30-1994
    actor: J. Riley Farnsworth "Life of Riley"; Hoolihan "Grapevine Rancho"
    01-27-1916 - Merrill Mueller - d. 11-30-1980
    reporter: "NBC Stands By"; "Morning News Roundup"; "The Navy Hour"
    01-28-1892 - Ernst Lubitsch - Berlin Germany - d. 11-30-1947
    film director: Intermission Guest "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Gulf Screen Guild
    Theatre"
    02-10-1910 - Joyce Grenfell - London, England - d. 11-30-1979
    radio critic: "London Observer"
    02-25-1901 - Zeppo Marx - NY  - d. 11-30-1979
    comedian: (Marx Brothers) "American Review"
    04-08-1900 - Bert "Mad Russian" Gordon - NYC - d. 11-30-1974
    comedian: "Eddie Cantor Show"; Yasha "Duffy's Tavern"
    05-08-1899 - Arthur Q. Bryan - Brooklyn, NY - d. 11-30-1959
    actor: George 'Doc' Gamble "Fibber McGee and Molly"; Floyd Munson "Great
    Gildersleeve"
    05-12-1901 - Harold "Scrappy" Lambert - New Brunswick, NY - d. 11-30-1987
    singer: Mark "Smith Brothers: Trade and Mark"; "Town Hall Tonight"
    06-23-1894 - Laurie York Erskine - England - d. 11-30-1976
    author: "Renfrew of the Mounted"; "Adventure Story"; "National Children's Weel"
    08-15-1910 - Johnny Roventini - Brooklyn, NY - d. 11-30-1998
    commercial announcer: (Call for Phil-lip Mor-ress) "Ferde Grofe Show";
    "Johnny Presents"
    10-09-1922 - Phil Sterling - d. 11-30-1998
    actor: "Radio City Playhouse"; "Hilltop House"; "Special Agent"
    12-04-1889 - Buck Jones - Vincennes, IN - d. 11-30-1942
    actor: "Hoofbeats"
    12-08-1906 - Richard Llewellyn - St. David's, Wales - d. 11-30-1983
    author: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "NBC University Theatre"
    --
    Ron Sayles
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 17:12:55 -0500
    From: seandd@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Entrepreneurs over 60

    If we have any OTR dealers who started their business as senior citizens on
    this list ([removed] you were over 60 when you started the successful company),
    please contact me privately.

    I may have a media opportunity with Forbes magazine if anyone fits the bill.

    Thanks,

    Sean Dougherty
    SeanDD@[removed]

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

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 17:12:39 -0500
    From: Dave Parker <dave@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  FUN WITH THE LONE RANGER

    Hi OTR fans--I just joined your group and look forward to sharing
    articles as time goes by.  I was an actor on the RANGER, GREEN HORNET
    and CHALLENGE OF THE YUKON back in the late 40's and  had many
    chances to talk with the producers (Trendle,Campbell, Meurer).

    Ray Meurer--TCM general counsel--told me about the court case in
    which he represented the RANGER in an action against a guy in Wyoming
    who had bragged that he owned "the original great horse Silver!"

    "Not so" - said Meurer in court. Then, addressing his honor, he
    added-- "The original Great Horse Silver is here in this paper bag!"

    As all eyes focussed on the bag, Meurer slowly withdrew two
    short-handled toilet plungers, then said with theatrical relish
    -"THIS is the original Great Horse Silver!"  With which he
    demonstrated Silver's galloping hooves on his table.

    "You see" said Meurer --"The Great Horse Silver is a sound effect!!"

    "Case dismissed!" Said His Honer as the courtroom burst into laughter>

    Right now I'm in the middle of a video documentary on OTR, and would
    welcome any articles you think would be useful to include.

    				hi yo Siver

    			Dave Parker

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

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 18:18:40 -0500
    From: "Philip Railsback" <philiprailsback@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Golden Age of TV

>     Yes, everyone has--and is entitled to--their own Golden Age. For me,
>     "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (1961-1966) was part of it, and its demise
>     coincided with the show's conclusion.

    The Dick Van Dyke Show's end also corresponds directly with the end of B&W
    TV, as the very next year all network TV went color.  That's an awfully
    convenient cut off point for the Golden Age.  That is to say, Golden Age
    equal B&W.  That's sure one way to shortcut arguments over whether a
    particular show was golden age or not  -- it's it B&W it's golden age, end
    of argument.  Thought that does create problems with shows that started off
    B&W and switched to color later.  But then on many of those shows, it's the
    B&W episodes that I consider legitimate.  The Fugitive, for instance.  The
    Golden Age of the Fugitive, you might say, were the B&W years (though I must
    admit that all the years of the Fugitive were B&W for me since we didn't
    have a color TV.  But looking at them in repeats in later years I notice a
    definite drop in quality for the color episodes.  Is it psychological?
    Could be.)

    Still, I personally place the end of the Golden Age of Television in the
    very early sixties, perhaps corresponding with the collapse of the Warner
    Bros shows.  For the first seven or eight years of TV, the movie studios
    boycotted the medium.  Disney was the first to enter broadcast TV, in 1955.
    Warners followed soon after.  After a false start or two they finally found
    a successfull model with Cheyenne in 1956 (I think it that was the year.  It
    might have been 1957).   There was rapid expansion after that and by the
    1960s Warners dominated the ratings with something like 6 out of ten shows
    in the top ten.  Jack Warner thought he was a genius but it was all an
    illuson as Warners TV no sooner reached the top than they went straight off
    the cliff, every show but one cancelled within two years.  And that show was
    cancelled the next year.

    For Baby Boomers like me, Warners Brothers played a very important part in
    our youth (at least baby boomer who sat in front of the TV hours every day
    like me).  As for the Golden Age ending with the decline of live TV, what
    about shows like the Twilight Zone?  Wouldn't they be considered part of the
    Golden Age?  To me they are, but perhaps not to the people who were actually
    there.  I'm talkng about the Rod Serlings and John Frankenheimers.  I
    suspect that for them the Golden Age corresponds with New York and live TV.
      For me the golden age includes Warners Bros, which started during the live
    period and ended soon after.

      - Philip

    [ADMINISTRIVIA: Ok, folks, let's move this discussion over to The Kinescope,
    and  get back to discussing Old-Time Radio here.  --cfs3]

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

    Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:56:30 -0500
    From: "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Halls of Ivy

    Hi Everybody,

    a question was ask about a recording of the theme song Halls of Ivy.  It was
    done by Kitty Kallen and Richard Hayes on Mercury 78s.  Take care,

    Walden Hughes

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

    Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 10:04:36 -0500
    From: Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Jocko Madigan channels Joe Friday

    It was raining as I drove to work, that Sunday. A cold
    rain, accompanied by wisps of would-be fog reaching
    out to you with its tendrils. The kind of rain that
    makes you feel all wet.

    I was listening to old-time radio as I drove. That's
    what I do, as an OTR fan. Listen to old-time radio.
    And so, I'm listening to "Pat Novak, For Hire", a
    radio show starring Jack Webb. The episode called
    "Rubin Calloway's Picture." The airdate given on the
    cassette case is March 13, 1949.

    Now Pat Novak is the kind of guy who gets into trouble
    more quickly than a bull in the proverbial china shop.
    He courts danger more surely than a pedestrian on the
    track at the Indy 500. This adventure was no
    different. Before long Patsy found himself caught up
    in someone else's problems [removed] well, a patsy. So he
    skedaddles to his pal Jocko Madigan, hoping Jocko can
    help get him out of this jam. But when it comes to
    Jocko, this ain't always an easy proposition. See,
    Jocko tends to romance the bottle a bit too much, and
    sure enough, Patsy finds him communing with the
    spirits (if you take my meaning), and reminiscing
    about memories of times gone by.

    And yet, somehow Jocko was connecting to someone in
    the future even as he waxed nostalgic. A guy named
    Friday. He's a cop. LAPD. A cop who will one day
    investigate a holiday tragedy.

    And oh, yeah. He'll be played by Jack Webb.

    So anyway, Jocko's strange connection with this future
    cop comes while he's waxing nostalgic for Patsy.
    "Memory is like a toy," Jocko says. "But it can be
    dangerous, [removed]

    "Like giving a kid a rifle for Christmas."

    There's something eerily coincidental about
    coincidences, ain't there?

    Rick

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #381
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