Subject: [removed] Digest V2001 #343
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 10/26/2001 9:03 PM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2001 : Issue 343
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Second Hindenburg distress call       [ Alan Bell <bella@[removed]; ]
      Re: Ike's First D Day Broadcast       [ "Dave Walter" <fredallenfan@hotmail ]
      Re: Directing, Producing, etc.        [ Alan Bell <bella@[removed]; ]
      Radio Script?                         [ Bill Miles <bmiles@[removed]. ]
      Re:Red Skelton's version of the POA   [ Kenneth Clarke <kclarke5@[removed]; ]
      Wire Recording                        [ "Alan R. Betz" <abetz@[removed]; ]
      Harold Peary                          [ "Scott business" <[removed]@worldne ]
      Terry and the Pirates                 [ "jsouthard" <jsouthard@[removed]; ]
      Ike's First D Day Broadcast           [ Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed]; ]
      re Schwimmer                          [ Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed]; ]
      Re:D-Day Broadcast                    [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
      Re: Hearing and Seeing                [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
      Jack Benny, Art Carney share an aunt  [ leemunsick@[removed] ]

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

    Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2001 23:12:23 -0400
    From: Alan Bell <bella@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Second Hindenburg distress call

    Thought I'd give it at least one more shot, here--kind of like
    repeated requests for donations on public radio--to see if one of you
    kind folks will take pity on me and dub me a copy of the Hindenburg
    documentary that was on Discovery a couple weeks ago. I'll provide
    tape, postage, and any radio shows from my collection that you might
    be interested in. Email me privately.
    --
    Alan Bell
    Grandville, MI
    bella@[removed]

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

    Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2001 23:20:36 -0400
    From: "Dave Walter" <fredallenfan@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Ike's First D Day Broadcast

    Robert Colonna writes:

>     I'm trying to find a "clean" copy of Eisenhower's speech
>     to America announcing
>     that we landed on the beaches in Normandy. The speech begins with
>     "People of Western [removed]"
>     It's a CBS broadcast (6/6/44). Unfortunately, the copy I have has lots
>     of static.

    As all of the [removed] and Canadian networks got the speech via a shortwave
    transmission (that was audibly jammed by the Nazis about halfway through in
    addition to the usual transAtlantic propagation problems), any aircheck
    recording on this side of the Atlantic will have the same interference you
    note here. I know the BBC linechecked the broadcast in London, and a copy of
    that recording would probably be the only truly clean copy you'd encounter.
    I suspect (but don't know positively) that that recording has been issued by
    them commercially at some point or other, and that the BBC's web site at
    [removed] has a page offering any recordings from its archives it
    currently has for sale.

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

    Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2001 23:11:54 -0400
    From: Alan Bell <bella@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Directing, Producing, etc.

>     From: Wich2@[removed]
>     Just a note for folks not in the biz: these roles are pretty fluid in
>     reality. There've been many "activist" producers (Selznick, Speilberg) who
>     basically co-direct.

    Selznick certainly was a hands-on producer whose famous multi-page
    memos drove his directors to distraction. Speilberg, on the other
    hand, IS a director who sometimes take on producer--or more
    often--executive producing responsibilities

>     There are much better scholars on this board than I (paging Elizabeth, et
>     al.), but just about all I've read (barring puff publicity from the time)
>     says that [removed] really only had two connections with the Lux show: hosting,
>     and drawing a [removed]

    Well, I don't think anyone will dispute that, scholar or not.

    Alan
    --
    Alan Bell
    Grandville, MI
    bella@[removed]

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

    Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2001 23:11:20 -0400
    From: Bill Miles <bmiles@[removed];
    To: Old-time Radio <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Radio Script?

    Hi! Does anybody know where I can obtain a radio script copy of "Dial M
    For Murder?" I've searched the web to no avail. (so far!)

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

    Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2001 23:22:32 -0400
    From: Kenneth Clarke <kclarke5@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re:Red Skelton's version of the POA

    I recently remember seeing some information on the
    mailing list regarding Red Skelton's version of the
    Pledge of Allegiance.  It is very good and I'd like to get
    a copy of it.  Does anyone remember the internet
    address(es) where a copy of it can be obtained?

    Thanks,

    Kenneth Clarke
    kclarke5@[removed]

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

    Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2001 23:13:42 -0400
    From: "Alan R. Betz" <abetz@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Wire Recording

    Jim Woods wrote:

>     The stainless steel wire won't rust or oxidize: just keep the wire on
>     the spool and it'll be there and playable a hundred years from now.

      It'll still be there alright.  Complete with severe print-through from
    every segment of wire next to, above, and below the bit of wire being
    played.  Instead of a quiet background you'll have a constant murmur and
    chirping sound.  You'll also hear a lot of "pinging" sounds, as the wire
    tries to break free from the adjacent turns it has become stuck to.  And
    you will experience the delight of trying to find the broken wire ends
    so that you can tie them together--with a square knot--so that you might
    be able to play the wire, briefly, before the next break.
      Been there, done that.
      Regards, Alan.

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

    Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2001 23:20:21 -0400
    From: "Scott business" <[removed]@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Harold Peary

    I have always enjoyed listening to Harold Peary in the Great Gildersleeve
    and his early days on FM&M. I also have a few episodes of his short lived
    Honest Harold series but what I am trying to find out is are there other
    shows that he starred in or guest starred in that I might listen to. Any
    help would be appreciated.
    Scott

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

    Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2001 11:37:38 -0400
    From: "jsouthard" <jsouthard@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Terry and the Pirates

    I recently purchased a great volume of tapes from Ted Davenport at Radio
    Memories called Terry and the Pirates vol 1. The programs are from the WGN
    chicago series of 1941-42. Does anybody know who were the main cast members
    for this series? John Dunning in his two books gives the main cast members
    for the earlier and later national series but not the WGN series.
    John Southard
    jsouthard@[removed]

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

    Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2001 11:38:43 -0400
    From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Ike's First D Day Broadcast

    "Robert Colonna" <Robertc23@[removed]; asked:

> >     I'm trying to find a "clean" copy of Eisenhower's speech to America
> >     announcing that we landed on the beaches in Normandy. The speech
> >     begins with "People of Western [removed]"  It's a CBS broadcast
> >     (6/6/44). Unfortunately, the copy I have has lots of static.

    From: Bill Harris <radioguy@[removed];

>     The reason for the static is because the speech came via short-wave
>     transmission, I have the same recording taken from the NBC network.
>     I don't know if a recording was made at the source at SHAEF in
>     England, but that would probably be the only source of a static
>     free recording if such exists.  Someone else on the digest may can
>     answer [removed] Michael Biel? Elizabeth?

    The speech was a pre-recording, so it exists in that form, and would
    also be available in high quality on recordings of the BBC.  I know I do
    have a high quality recording of this, and I'll try to dig it up.  It
    might be from a British documentary album.

    It is interesting to compare their albums with ours because they
    sometimes have high quality recordings of what we received via
    short-wave, but low quality short-wave relays of what we have in high
    quality.  They'll have high quality recordings of Churchill and
    Chamberlin but poor quality recordings of FDR!  They also will have poor
    quality recordings of Churchill speaking before the [removed] Congress and
    the Canadian Parliment, and maybe also the Fulton Missouri iron curtain
    speech, and our albums will have these in hi-fi.  And it is fascinating
    to hear Edward VIII's abdication speech in hi-fi (such as on the CD set
    "75 Years of the BBC") after having known it from short-wave relays for
    over 40 years.

    Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

    Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2001 11:38:17 -0400
    From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  re Schwimmer

    From: John Henley <jhenley@[removed];

>     Wow, that's the first time I've seen or heard Walter Schwimmer's name
>     in a very long time.  But I do believe I used to see it every day
>     when  I was 10 or so, on the credits for the old Cisco Kid tv show
>     with Duncan Renaldo.  I wonder if it was Schwimmer's idea to film
>     the thing in color at a time when there were essentially no color
>     sets for sale?

    I once had a long talk at an NAB convention with an old timer in the TV
    syndication business who mentioned that the real reason The Cisco Kid
    was filmed in color from the very beginning is that they discovered it
    would be cheaper to film it in 16mm color reversal than 35mm B&W, and
    the master would still have the same picture resolution.

    Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

    Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2001 11:56:46 -0400
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re:D-Day Broadcast

    Bill Harris wrote:

>     I don't know if a recording was made at the source at SHAEF in
>     England, but that would probably be the only source of a static
>     free recording if such exists. Someone else on the digest may can
>     answer [removed] Michael Biel? Elizabeth?

    I believe the Eisenhower "A Landing Was Made This Morning" speech was in
    fact broadcast from a recording, made several days in advance of the
    landings. Whether this original recording still exists or not, I can't
    say -- but if it does, the BBC or the British Sound Archive would be the
    most likely source for finding a copy. But because the recording was
    picked up by shortwave in the US for rebroadcast by the networks, all
    domestic recordings would contain the same overlay of static.

    Elizabeth

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

    Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2001 11:58:49 -0400
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Hearing and Seeing

    Mark Kinsler wrote:

>     I was thinking about Elizabeth McLeod's never-recorded early Amos 'n' Andy
>     shows the other day.  Nobody here has ever heard them, but Elizabeth's
>     descriptions often make me think that I have.

    Thinking about Mark's comment, it struck me that when I read the A&A
    scripts, I actually do *hear* the characters in my mind -- once you pick
    up on the pacing of the broadcasts from the handful of surviving
    recordings, it becomes almost second nature to hear those voices as you
    read. There is a very real difference between material that's written for
    the ear as opposed to material written for the eye -- and I've found the
    A&A scripts one of the most vivid demonstrations of this truth. The more
    you read, the more you *hear.*

    Reading the scripts has also left me with very detailed mental
    impressions of the settings. I can tell you exactly what the taxicab
    office, the lunch room, the rooming house, the Okey Hotel, and the lodge
    hall look like -- and what's interesting is that the scripts really don't
    contain detailed descriptions of these places. It's all established by
    casual mentions in the dialogue -- a line in one episode here, another in
    another episode there -- and these mentions gradually accumulate to
    construct a complete and very elaborate mental image. I think this is one
    of the most important qualities of Correll and Gosden's work -- they
    didn't just tell you a story, but they constructed an entire
    intricately-detailed world and made it come to life around that story.
    They didn't need sound effects, they didn't need a stage full of actors,
    they didn't need long passages of descriptive narration. They did it all
    with dialogue.

    I think their success in doing this is real proof that you *don't* need
    large casts, bombastic acting techniques, first-person-singular
    narration, or elaborate production values to put dramatic radio across.
    All you really need is two very creative people sitting by themselves at
    a table who aren't afraid to let the words do all the work. That, to me,
    is radio raised to its highest, purest form.

    Elizabeth

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

    Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2001 12:04:41 -0400
    From: leemunsick@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Jack Benny, Art Carney share an aunt!

    Perusing a marvelous Reader's Digest 3-VHS set about The Home Front (what
    was happening here c. 1940-1945), there are shots of people at the premiere
    of a Jack Benny film of "Charley's Aunt" c. 1941.

    I don't recall this at all, although I'm very aware of the play and its
    many reincarnations.  In checking the latter at IMDB, I find there was also
    a television production in 1957 with Art Carney!

    Both have to be hilarious.  I'd like to obtain copies of these gems with
    two of radio's most wonderful performers.

    If anyone can help me with either or both of these two films, please let me
    know.  Many thanks.

    Best to everyone, especially those who will be going to FOTR.  For the
    first time in something like 23-24 years, I will not be there.  Hello to all!

    Lee Munsick	That Godfrey Guy

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2001 Issue #343
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