Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #464
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 12/30/2003 3:37 PM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2003 : Issue 464
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Radio Happenings, New Year's Eve spe  [ "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@hotmail. ]
      OTR Premiums                          [ <jlsalley@[removed]; ]
      Today in radio history                [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
      Re: Late Night Audiences              [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
      Radio Recreation                      [ seandd@[removed] ]
      audio tape cassettes                  [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]
      Re: Mutual Radio Theater              [ passage@[removed] ]
      [removed] Fields Testimonial                [ Bob Fells <rfells@[removed]; ]
      Re:good blank tapes?                  [ Fred Berney <berney@[removed]; ]
      Memory's Failures                     [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
      For the fellow wanting good bulk cas  [ "Robert M. Bratcher Jr." <bratcher@ ]
      Submitted for your approval           [ Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed]; ]
      Mutual Radio Theater                  [ ERIC COOPER <[removed]@sbcglobal. ]
      The Christmas Story                   [ "Scott D. Livingston" <[removed]@comca ]
      leftover tapes                        [ John Ruklick <ruklick55@[removed]; ]
      New Year's Eve births/death           [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
      Fats Waller in today's Wall Street J  [ seandd@[removed] ]

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

    Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 07:55:53 -0500
    From: "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Radio Happenings, New Year's Eve special

    Roy of Hollywood has some special programming for New Year's Eve, beginning
    at midnight, KPFK [removed] FM, [removed]

    WEDNESDAY, December 31, 2003
    NEW YEAR'S EVE SPECIAL!
    A Look at "Time"

    12-12:30 Alan Watts "Time"   Video from Electronic University, 1 (800)
    96-watts, [removed]

    12:30-1 "X Minus One: Seventh Victim" by Robert Sheckley.  Originally
    broadcast on NBC 3-6-57.

    1-1:30 "The Mysterious Traveler: The Most Famous Man in the World"
    Originally broadcast on Mutual, June 5, 1951.

    1:30-2 "X Minus One: Sam, This Is You!" by Murray Langster.     Originally
    broadcast over NBC 10/31/56.

    2-4 Eben Rey "Radio Alchymy"  [removed]   Where the fringe
    eclipses conventional wisdom to put reality together with all the pieces.
    New Years Special!

    4-4:20  "X Minus One: Target One"   Originally broadcast over NBC 12/26/57.

    4:20-5:30 The Credibility Gap presents "The Rose Parade"    These hysterical
    and extremely politically incorrect bits were recorded during the Rose
    Parades in the 1970's, broadcast live over (the old) KRLA, and issued in an
    double LP called "A Great Gift Idea"

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

    Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 07:56:19 -0500
    From: <jlsalley@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  OTR Premiums

    With all the talk about how to receive a decoder or other premium, I
    happened to be listening to a 1941 episode of Terry and the Pirates.
    In 1941 a label from Libbys' tomato juice and pineapple juice and 10 cents
    (two labels and a dime) sent to
    Terry
    c/o Libbys
    Chicago
    would get you a "Terry-Scope" just like the one Terry used - only better,
    because Terry had to make his from pieces of mirror he had found and yours
    would be manufactured.  You could see around buildings and over walls.
    Pretty exciting, boys and girls.

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

    Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 07:56:29 -0500
    From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Today in radio history

     From Those Were The Days --

    1936 - The famous feud between Jack Benny and Fred Allen was ignited.
    After a 10-year-old performer finished a violin solo on The Fred Allen
    Show, Mr. Allen said, "A certain alleged violinist should hide his head
    in shame for his poor fiddle playing." It didn't take long for Mr. Benny
    to respond. The humorous feud lasted for ten weeks on both comedian's shows.

    1942 - Mr. and Mrs. North debuted on NBC. Joseph Curtin played Jerry
    North and Alice Frost played Pam. A typical Mr. and Mrs. North episode
    would find Pam leading Jerry on what seemed to be a wild-goose chase as
    they tracked down criminals. Pam always ended up being right and leading
    police to the criminals. The theme song for the show was The Way You
    Look Tonight. Sponsors included Woodbury soap, Jergens lotion and Halo
    shampoo.

    Joe

    --
    Visit my homepage:  [removed]~[removed]

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

    Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 12:13:12 -0500
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Late Night Audiences

    On 12/30/03 8:16 AM [removed]@[removed] wrote:

>     Seriously, it was sometimes a problem for the New York programs
>     to get a quality audience for the repeat programs because they sometimes
>     started at midnight.  I seem to recall Fred Allen having some comments
>     about this situation.

    Oh, yes. The "Town Hall Tonight" broadcast for the West Coast aired from
    midnight to 1 AM, and Allen recalled that it was often necessary to send
    NBC pages out into the street to round up enough people to fill 8-H for
    the broadcast. This often meant an audience made up of some of the more
    flavorful elements of Manhattan nightlife -- grifters, winos, bums,
    streetwalkers, and so forth.

    Allen's most memorable comment on this subject was "It looks like
    somebody tipped over a pool table and these people crawled out of the
    pockets. I could reach into my toilet and pull out a better class of
    people."

    Elizabeth

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

    Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 12:13:16 -0500
    From: seandd@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Radio Recreation

    This article from the Coshocton Tribune notes an upcoming radio recreation.

    Sean Dougherty
    SeanDD@[removed]

    [removed]

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

    Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 12:13:40 -0500
    From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  audio tape cassettes

>     Can anyone suggest where (online probably) to get bulk, Quality blank
>     tapes? I picked
>     up a bunch of 3-packs at the dollar store, but find that they record the
>     last 5+ minutes
>     on each side in a sped up way that really makes them worthless. I also
>     tried some
>     unlabeled white 64 minute tapes which I got by the box online (I forget
>     where), but 1 out
>     of 10 or so don't want to record.

    It's possible that at least part of the problem is in the tape machine
    itself.  Check the condition of

    *the rubber capstan roller.  The outer surface should be black and rubbery.
    They tend to become glazed from age and the tape lubricant.  Scrub it with a
    cloth moistened with rubbing alcohol.  The roller should also rotate freely
    on its little bearing.

    *the capstan, a slim, shiny steel shaft that drives the tape along.  Make
    sure that it's shiny and not gunked up with oxide from the tape.  It should
    also not rattle in its bronze bearing.

    *the torque on the takeup spindle.  If the machine is bi-directional, both
    spindles are take-up spindles.  Moderate finger pressure on the rotating
    spindle should stall it.  If the torque is too low, you risk snarling the
    tape.  If it's too great, the tape will slip through the capstan and its
    roller, and cause odd speed variations depending on the diameter of the
    accumulated tape pack.

    *the motor, the pulleys, and particularly the drive belts, all frustrating
    items to repair/replace.

    *the record lockout finger that tries to poke itself into a recess in the
    rear of the cassette.  If this is bent for some reason, it might be
    occasionally fooled and thus prevent you from recording some tapes that
    don't sit quite right in the machine.

    *the tape head itself.  These can get smeared with enough oxide and oxide
    adhesive to impair the progress of the tape.  Again, scrub it with alcohol.

    <grumble> All of which is to say that the average cassette mechanism is a
    mild disaster in terms of durability: it wouldn't have taken a lot of
    engineering or cost to make a decent 3-motor machine that would last about
    forever, but [removed];/grumble>

    It's indeed likely that the tapes are at fault here.  If the tape 'reels'
    inside don't rotate freely (this is caused by poor molding tolerances)
    you'll get strange, intermittent results.  I'm afraid I don't have a source
    for cheap, reliable tapes.  You might have to use the high-quality,
    high-profit brand-name kind nowadays, if indeed they're still available in
    this age of CD's and MP3's.

    M Kinsler

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

    Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 12:13:52 -0500
    From: passage@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Mutual Radio Theater

    William D. Clark asked:

>     Also could anyone tell me about the Mutual Radio Theater?

    I figured others will answer the rest of your email but the best log
    I've seen for this series can be found at
        [removed]

    It's written by Dick Judge and has a nice description of the series
    as well as the log.

    Frank

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

    Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 12:14:06 -0500
    From: Bob Fells <rfells@[removed];
    To: Old Time Radio <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  [removed] Fields Testimonial

    I wonder if any of the researchers on the Digest have come across this
    item.  A newly published biography of [removed] Fields by James Curtis
    discusses a testimonial dinner given in Mr. Fields's honor in Hollywood
    on February 18, 1939. I suppose it's a long shot but I wonder if the
    various speeches at this event were recorded, even if not broadcast,
    similar to the testimonial dinner given in May 1941 to honor Jack Benny.

    Replies off line are welcome.  Thank you.

    Bob Fells

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

    Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 12:14:19 -0500
    From: Fred Berney <berney@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re:good blank tapes?

    Ben, those blank tapes you bought that don't record, may just have had the
    tabs removed. Look on the back of the tape and see if that is the case. If
    so, put some scotch tape over the hole and they should now record.

    Fred
    [removed]

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

    Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 12:50:53 -0500
    From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Memory's Failures

    Dr. A. Joseph Ross, reacting to my assertion that the de facto
    single-place aircraft of the Secret Squadron was the P-40, noted,

>     How so?  This WAS a radio show.  I would have thought the aircraft of
>     the Secret Squadron would have consisted of sound effects devices.

    The aircraft of the show were pictured on the covers of the manuals that
    accompanied the Code-O-Graphs.  Each of them, save the bomber on the 1945
    manual and the jets on the 1949 manual, were obviously P-40 variants,
    even including the one that's been shot that he pilot has bailed out of
    (and who seems awfully cheerful for just having lost his airplane).

>     The TV version did have a credit as to the ownership of the Silver
>     Dart.  It was owned by Douglass Aircraft, I think.  The pictures were
>     mainly a few stock shots of the plane in flight or taking off.  The
>     cockpit interior scenes were probably a set.

    But the TV version had the Secret Squadron a private organization.  There
    was no strong connection to the radio version, and much revisionism.  I
    don't consider the TV Squadron as Canonical to the Burtt and Moore
    creation.

    Speaking of whether Captain Midnight had a "personal" aircraft that he'd
    named the *Sky King*, I'd pointed out that the aircraft allotted to the
    Squadron were Government issue.

>     That doesn't seem at all inconsistent.  Given that the government
>     provided the plane, there might still have been one plane which Captain
>     Midnight always used.

    Even so, he didn't refer to any of his aircraft by name on the radio
    show.  I'd cited this in the discussion of Jim Harmon's book, *The Great
    Radio Heroes*, where he cited the *Sky King* as part of a description of
    how Captain Midnight rescued Chuck, Joyce, and Major Steele from The
    Barracuda in Japanese occupied China, and the errors of relying solely on
    memory.  Actually, his description was supposed to have been derived from
    a BLB adaptation of the program.  He apparently didn't have one handy
    when he wrote the section, because the BLB adaptation, with the rather
    awkward title of *Captain Midnight and The Secret Squadron vs. the Terror
    of the Orient, adhered very closely to the original radio script, and was
    far from what Mr. Harmon related.

    Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

    Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 12:51:06 -0500
    From: "Robert M. Bratcher Jr." <bratcher@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  For the fellow wanting good bulk cassettes

    Try

    [removed]

    they have both bulk & packaged cassettes at very good prices & even will
    send you a few free samples (I got 4 bulk VHS videotapes that way) if you
    ask on the phone. Oh & they have online ordering which is great for buying
    stuff!

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

    Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 12:57:51 -0500
    From: Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Submitted for your approval

    The SciFi Channel is having a two-day Twilight Zone
    marathon, all day Dec 31 and Jan 1. (See
    [removed]#tz for links to
    the schedule.) I've never really watched the Twilight
    Zone before--I have vague memories of seeing it as a
    kid, but somehow have managed to miss it for the past
    two decades or so. My question is: Are there any
    episodes that feature old radio stars? It would be
    nice to put a face to some voices!

    By the way, did anybody catch the PBS special on Rod
    Serling last night? I saw part of it. The first half
    hour dealt with his work on live dramatic television
    in the 50s, Playhouse 90 and stuff like that. I really
    wish they still showed stuff like that on tv,
    someplace! TV Land and Nick at Nite focus very heavily
    on commercial hits. We need a cable channel that
    replays classic and historically important tv shows,
    not just the nostalgic stuff. Sort of like Turner
    Classic Movies, but for early tv.

    Anyway, back to the Rod Serling biography. When they
    transitioned to discussing the Twilight Zone, they
    made a big deal of how innovative these shows were, at
    least for television. The snippets they showed,
    however, struck both my wife and myself as heavily
    influenced by old radio! Would that be fair to say, or
    are we missing something? I don't mean to say that Rod
    Serling was the Arch Oboler of his generation
    (although the parallel came to mind several times
    during the biopic). Is there any consensus of opinion
    on how influenced by radio Rod Serling was?

    Cheers,
    Kermyt

    [ADMINISTRIVIA: Many OTR stars performed in Twilight Zone episodes; our
    friend Harry Bartell was featured in "I Shot an Arrow into the Air" (volume
    18 of Image-Entertainment's DVD collection).  --cfs3]

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

    Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 12:58:03 -0500
    From: ERIC COOPER <[removed]@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Mutual Radio Theater

    Mutua Radio Theater had its roots in the Sears Radio
    Theater which aired on CBS in 1979-80. Mutual simply
    picked up the SRT tapes in the spring of 1980 and
    rebroadcast them for a time under its own name. Then
    VERY briefly in the fall of 1980, Mutual began
    producing original episodes, but the network could not
    find a sponsor so the new series was cancelled about
    three months after it began.

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

    Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 13:38:58 -0500
    From: "Scott D. Livingston" <[removed]@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  The Christmas Story

    Michael Beil wrote:

>     Last month Warner
>     Bros. issued a new 2-disc 20th Anniversary version of "The Christmas Story"
>     DVD, and the publicity mentioned that there were original Jean Shepherd
>     radio broadcasts included as extra features.

    This 2 disk version did sell like "hot cakes" I saw them in our local
    Wal-Mart one day and the next went back to buy five of them and they were
    gone. I did however go to a neighboring town the same day and buy five of
    the last sets they had.
    My kids (oldest now 28 and the youngest of the 4 now 21) grew up watching
    "The Christmas Story" (at least from the time it came out on VHS). They all
    learned to turn on the TV the last several year and let it run for 24 hours
    while TNT showed it nonstop during Christmas eve and Christmas day. (By the
    way, perhaps my memory is failing me but wasn't it shown without commercial
    interruptions all the years before this one? This year we put in the DVD and
    just let it rerun over and over to avoid the annoying commercials.) Anyway,
    I saw the special edition and told my wife about them and she insisted that
    we buy each of our kids and their spouses the new 2 disk set for Christmas.

>     >From the calls we received Christmas from Luxemburg, New Jersey, Utah and

    Arizona, the 2 disk set was a hit and will be a treasured Christmas gift for
    years to come. They all commented on the great radio stuff of JS's on the
    second disk. I listened to it 3 times on Christmas day between viewings of
    thee movie itself. Ah, what a great Christmas.

    Scott "Fibber" Livingston

    PS Also thought I would mention, as part of our Christmas decorations, we
    have a framed 11X14 ad for a Red Ryder-200 shot-range model- air rifle
    hanging next to our tree and a 1990's-ish model of a Red Ryder BB gun
    propped against the wall underneath the ad. The air rifle was a give to me
    several years ago from one of my kids (they have a pack not to tell which
    one) as I never had one as a child.

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

    Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 14:45:41 -0500
    From: John Ruklick <ruklick55@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  leftover tapes
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    hi everyone, over the years i have been transfering my mp3 old time radio
    shows onto cassette so i could listen in the car, walkman, [removed] problem
    now is that i have hundreds of cassettes filling up a walk in closet and I'm
    driving my wife nuts.
        each cassette contains 3 shows, usually of the same series. I thought
    instead of throwing them away, I could offer them to a new fan who is looking
    for an inexpensive way to get some shows. I thought $[removed] tape plus shipping
    would be fair. I could either make a mix or find a series that you are
    interested in. this is less than the cost of the original tapes and as I
    said, there are 3 shows on each tape. they all sound very good for the most
    [removed] If anyone is interested, please contact me at ruklick55@[removed]. I
    just hate to throw these things [removed] Thanks.

      *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
      ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

    Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 17:31:22 -0500
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  New Year's Eve births/death

    Today in history:
    1943 - Four hundred New York City police are called out to control the frenzied
    crowds as the young Frank Sinatra begins a singing engagement at the
    Paramount Theatre.

    New Year"s Eve Births

    12-31-1897 - Paula Hemminghous - Columbus, OH - d. 11-22-1997
    singer: "Philco Hour"; "National Radio Pulpit"; "Highlights of the Bible"
    12-31-1905 - Jule Styne - London, England - d. 9-28-1994
    songwriter: "I Don"t Wan to Walk Without You"; "I"ve Heard That Song Before"
    12-31-1910 - Richard Kollmar - Ridgewood, NJ - d. 1-11-1971
    actor: John Perry "John"s Other Wife"; "Boston Blackie "Boston Blackie"
    12-31-1914 - Pat Brady - Toledo, OH - d. 2-27-1972
    sidekick, stooge: "Roy Rogers Show"

    New Year"s Eve death

    05-08-1940 - Ricky Nelson - Teaneck, NJ - d. 12-31-1985
    actor: "Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet"

    Ron Sayles
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

    Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 17:31:50 -0500
    From: seandd@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Fats Waller in today's Wall Street Journal

    Nat Hentoff has an article on page D8 of today's Wall Street Journal on a
    recent set of Fats Waller remotes "The Amazing Fats Waller: You'll Remember
    Me," on the Solo Arts label.

    The WSJ doesn't provide free content on the Internet but notes that you can
    order the recordings at [removed].

    Just an update for those musically inclined,

    Sean Dougherty
    SeanDD@[removed]

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #464
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