------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2009 : Issue 97
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
5-23 births/deaths [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
This week in radio history 24-30 May [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
Joan Alexander , RIP [ jack and cathy french <otrpiano@ver ]
Della and Peggy [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
[removed] JOAN ALEXANDER [ Anthony Tollin <sanctumotr@earthlin ]
Preview "For The Record" Now!! [ LBiel <[removed]@[removed]; ]
Joan Alexander obit [ Jody Davis <baroygis@[removed]; ]
5-24 births/deaths [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
A history of commercial radio [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 May 2009 21:36:19 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 5-23 births/deaths
May 23rd births
05-23-1882 - James Gleason - NYC - d. 4-12-1959
actor: "Jimmy Gleason's Diner"
05-23-1883 - Douglas Fairbanks - Denver, CO - d. 12-12-1939
commentator: "KHJ Los Angeles 1921"
05-23-1890 - Herbert Marshall - London, England - d. 1-22-1966
actor: Ken Thurston "Man Called X"
05-23-1898 - Frank McHugh - Homestead, PA - d. 9-11-1981
actor: Fairchild Finnegan "Phone Again Finnegan"
05-23-1901 - Arch McDonald - Hot Spring, AR - d. 10-16-1960
sportscaster: Washington Senators and Washington Redskins
05-23-1907 - Carlyne Stevens - Parkhill, Canada - d. 10-1-1961
announcer: "Cavalcade of America"; "Roxy's Gang"; "Atlantic Family"
05-23-1907 - Kenneth Griffin - Enid, Oklahoma Territory - d. 1-3-1951
actor: Larry Noble "Mary Noble, Backstage Wife"
05-23-1908 - Frederick Thwaites - Balmain, Australia - d. 8-13-1979
writer: "Beyond the Rainbow"
05-23-1910 - Artie Shaw - NYC - d. 12-30-2004
bandleader: "Melody and Madness"; "George Burns and Gracie Allen Show"
05-23-1910 - Benjamin "Scatman" Crothers - Terre Haute, IN - d.
11-26-1986
jazz musician: early radio into the 40s
05-23-1911 - Dorothy Lee - Los Angeles, CA - d. 6-24-1999
singer: "Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians"
05-23-1912 - Betty Astell - London, England - d. 7-27-2005
panelist: "Does the Team Think"
05-23-1912 - John Payne - Roanoke, VA - d. 12-6-1989
actor: "Hollywood Star Preview"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
05-23-1912 - Marius Goring - Newport, Isle of Wight, England - d.
9-30-1998
actor: Sir Percy Blakeney/Scarlet Pimpernel "Scarlet Pimpernel"
05-23-1917 - Murray McLean - Chicago, IL - d. 4-2-1995
actor: Jimmy Allen "Air Adventures of Jimmy Allen"
05-23-1919 - Betty Garrett - St. Joseph, MO
singer-actor: "Savings Bond Show"; "Guest Star"; "Showtime"
05-23-1921 - Helen O'Connell - Lima, OH - d. 9-9-1993
singer: (Jimmy Dorsey Band) "Kraft Music Hall"; "Fitch Bandwagon"
05-23-1921 - Humphrey Lyttelton - Windsor, England - d. 4-25-2008
host: "I'm Sorry, I Haven't A Clue"
05-23-1921 - Ray Lawler - Footscray, Australia
writer: "Summer of the Seventeenth Doll"
05-23-1927 - Gerald Hiken - Milwaukee, WI
actor: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"
05-23-1928 - Rosemary Clooney - Maysville, KY - d. 6-29-2002
singer: "Rosemary Clooney Show"; "On the Sunny Side"
05-23-1953 - Ronald Frame - Glasgow, Scotland
author: "Winter Journey" adapted from his novel of the same name
My 23rd deaths03-08-1910 - Victor Wolfson - NYC - d. 5-23-1990
author of radio plays
03-11-1907 - Walter Alden Richards - Springfield, IL - d. 5-23-1988
editor, writer: "Cavalcade of America"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
03-15-1915 - David Schoenbrun - NYC - d. 5-23-1988
news correspondent: CBS News, Paris; "CBS Radio Workshop"
03-20-1828 - Henrik Ibsen - Skien, Norway - d. 5-23-1906
playwright: Many of his works adapted for radio
03-26-1916 - Sterling Hayden - Montclair, NJ - d. 5-23-1986
actor: "We the People"
03-29-1962 - Earl Root - Raised Edina, MN - d. 5-23-2008
disk jockey: "Root of All Evil"
05-27-1912 - Slammin' Sammy Snead - Ashwood, VA - d. 5-23-2002
golf legend: "Kraft Music Hall"
06-03-1918 - Patrick Cargill - London, England - d. 5-23-1996
actor: "Brothers in Law"
06-19-1921 - Vernon Jarrett - Saulsbury, TN - d. 5-23-2004
host: "The Vernon Jarrett Report"
07-10-1894 - Jimmy McHugh - Boston, MA - d. 5-23-1969
song writer: "Cavalcade of Music"; "It's Time to Smile"; "The Navy
Sings"
07-19-1896 - Merle Kendrick - d. 5-23-1968
orchestra conductor: "Cabin B-13"
07-22-1874 - Arthur Maitland - d. 5-23-1959
actor: Zeke "David Harum"; Mr. Weatherby "Archie Andrews"
08-04-1915 - William Keene - Pennsylvania - d. 5-23-1992
actor: Red Lantern "Land of the Lost"
09-11-1915 - Athena Lorde - NYC - d. 5-23-1973
actor: Maggie Sprague "Young Widder Brown"; Sherry "Front Page Farrell"
09-12-1914 - Eddy Howard - Woodland, CA - d. 5-23-1963
bandleader, singer: "Carton of Cheer"; "Gay Mrs. Featherstone"
09-24-1886 - James Burke - NYC - d. 5-23-1968
actor: producer: "Rose of My Dreams"
10-01-1910 - Bonnie Parker - Rowena, TX - d. 5-23-1934
outlaw, murderess: Subject on "Gang Busters"
10-07-1900 - Heinrich Himmler - Munich, Germany - d. 5-23-1945
nazi leader: "This is a Chapter of Glory"
10-28-1886 - Ruth Gates - Denton, TX - d. 5-23-1966
actor: Mrs Lenord "Amanda of Honeymoon Hill"
10-31-1900 - Neal Bliss Enslen - Delphos, OH - d. 5-23-1938
opera singer, announcer: "The Baldwin Concert"; "The Slumber Hour"
11-04-1912 - Humphrey Davis - Meriden, CT - d. 5-23-1987
actor: Al Douglas "Life Can Be Beautiful"; Sheriff Jackson "Tennessee
Jed"
12-26-1912 - Oscar Saul - NYC - d. 5-23-1994
writer: "Health for America"
Ron
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 May 2009 21:39:28 -0400
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otr-digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: This week in radio history 24-30 May
From Those Were The Days --
5/26
1933 Charlie Chan was heard for the final time (in this series -ed) on
the NBC Blue network after only six months on the air.
1940 Invitation to Learning was first heard on CBS. The educational
program ran for 24 years.
5/28
1931 WOR in New York City premiered The Witch's Tale. The program was
broadcast on the Mutual Broadcasting System (of which WOR was the
flagship station) where it aired until 1938.
5/29
1939 When a Girl Marries was first heard on CBS.
1943 The Million Dollar Band was heard for the first time on NBC.
Charlie Spivak was the first leader of the band that featured Barry Wood
as vocalist. The unusual feature of the show was the awarding each week
of five diamond rings.
5/30
1922 "Smilin" Ed McConnell debuted, smiling and playing his banjo.
McConnell quickly became a legend in the medium.
1935 America's Town Meeting was heard for the first time. The NBC
program continued for 21 years, with a name change to Americas Town
Meeting of the Air.
1938 Joyce Jordan, Girl Intern was first heard interning on CBS. The
serial later evolved into The Brighter Day (1948).
Joe
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 May 2009 21:39:57 -0400
From: jack and cathy french <otrpiano@[removed];
To: OTRBB <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Joan Alexander , RIP
A month ago I asked Digesters for any recent sightings of Joan
Alexander, the voice of Lois Lane. A few Digesters (including
Superman scholar Michael Hayde) responded that she was alive in 2008
and relatively well at 93 years old when she went into civil court,
suing her Manhattan financial advisers for abusing her savings and
holdings with poor investments that left her in shaky financial straits.
Today's Washington Post contains her obituary (she just died May 21
in New York) which is an extensive summary of her personal and
professional life. The obituary, by Adam Berstein, is far better
researched than we should expect from a large daily newspaper
teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. She was born Louise Abras on
April 16, 1915 to Lebanese parents in the [removed] Her father died when
she was 3 and her new step-father promptly sent her off to a convent
school on Long Island. After graduation she got into modeling and
acting, borrowing Joan Crawford's first name in forming her own
professional name. She studied and worked abroad in Europe prior to
WW II.
Returning to the US, she was successful in soap operas including
"Lone Journey," "Light of the World," and "This is Nora Drake." She
portrayed confident, independent women, thus becoming Della Street on
"Perry Mason" and Lois Lane on "Adventures of Superman." (Obituary
claims she was the third actress to star as Clark Kent's radio
associate.) She also played Joan Adams on the 15 minute mystery,
"It's Murder." The obituary also touches on her subsequent television
and Broadway career.
She was married three times, first to John Sylvester White, whom a
few of us remember as the assistant principal of TV's "Welcome Back,
Kotter." After divorcing him, she next married Robert T. Crowley.
After divorcing him, she married Arthur Stanton in 1955; he was a
millionaire auto distributor of Volkswagen and the two had a lavish
lifestyle in East Hampton, known for their sumptuous parties. He died
in 1993 leaving her a reported $ 70 million estate.
Her survivors include daughter, Jane Stanton Hitchcock (novelist and
screen writer) daughter from second marriage and adopted by Stanton,
and Timothy Stanton, son from her third marriage. The civil suit
referred to in the first paragraph is still pending in a New York court.
Jack French
Editor: RADIO RECALL
<[removed]>
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 May 2009 21:40:06 -0400
From: <otrbuff@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Della and Peggy
The passing of Joan Alexander brings to mind not Lois Lane, the part cited
by critics and reviewers for which she is prominently remembered, but as the
dependable Della Street and bitchy Peggy Martinson.
In Perry Mason, the nasal-tongued Alexander was a whole lot more than a
private secretary. John Larkin as Mason relied upon her heavily for details
during their one-on-one dialoguing. She was good at reacting, and more than
that, she was proactive, anticipating all sorts of possibilities in those
gripping narratives of matinee mayhem. To me she WAS Della, without taking
anything from the indomitable Barbara Hale, who gained the role in the TV
production.
While Ms. Alexander played legions of radio roles, the "other" one that I
recall most was as the nagging bride of Dr. Ken Martinson in This is Nora
Drake. After tricking him into a marriage he lived to regret, she lived her
life with one overarching purpose: to ruin any hopes nurse Drake might have
for a glimmer of happiness, thwarting her spouse's attempts to gain a
release from their ill-fated circumstances so he could wed Nora. Perceptive
audiences knew that all of this would eventually end badly for Peg, but
Nora, Ken and the listeners were kept in anguish for five years (to 1952)
when an assassin's bullet finally brought closure to that torture.
I tried to capture the essence of Alexander in both parts in "The Great
Radio Soap Operas"
([removed]). While she
was Lois Lane to a vast majority of those tuning in daily, she had already
made some serious contributions to daytime audiences as completely opposite
ladies, Della and Peggy. The fact that she did all three so well is a
testament to her ability.
Jim Cox
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 May 2009 21:40:47 -0400
From: Anthony Tollin <sanctumotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: [removed] JOAN ALEXANDER
Joan Alexander, radio's long-running "Lois Lane" on THE ADVENTURES OF
SUPERMAN, has passed away at age 94.
[removed]
This HeraldNet obit is quite good, though it should be noted that while Joan
and Bud Collyer voiced Lois Lane and Clark Kent in the early Fleischer
SUPERMAN cartoons, the roles were later recast after Paramount Famous
Studios took over the series. Also, the syndicated series that first aired
over WOR beginning February 1940 was simply titled SUPERMAN. It was the
later MBS network series that was titled THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN.
--Anthony Tollin
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 May 2009 21:41:03 -0400
From: LBiel <[removed]@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Preview "For The Record" Now!!
"For The Record", my daughter Leah's documentary on record collectors,
will be given its world premiere next Saturday May 30 at ARSC and
thereafter will be available on DVD, but right now you can see a preview
of segments on YouTube.
First is the Roll Call of Collectors, the segment of the closing credits
where the collectors who are profiled state their names. You will hear
some familiar names -- and will now have the faces and voices to place
with them.
[removed];feature=channel
Next is a segment that discusses places where collectors used to meet --
The Record Research Associates, better known as "The Syndicate" -- and
where they now meet on the web -- the 78-L.
[removed];feature=channel
Then comes a segment about another place where collectors and
collections meet -- The Association for Recorded Sound Collections.
[removed];feature=channel
And lastly, for now, is a segment featurinig Bill Bragg of
[removed] , a long established nostalgia network where I
broadcast on Sunday nights at 11:30 PM Eastern time. Bill is also known
as the voice of Big Tex, the very tall greeter at the Texas State Fair.
Bill tells a story about how a recording resurrected a woman's long dead
father.
[removed];feature=channel
I cannot cite the usual disclaimers because I have a particular interest
in this program as the proud papa and one of the interview subjects, but
I hope you don't mind.
Of additional interest to OTR collectors are some videos we uploaded
concerning the NBC Chimes.
[removed];feature=channel
[removed];feature=channel
And another that Michael Shoshani put up with a film I provided.
[removed];feature=related
Michael Biel mbiel@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 May 2009 21:41:16 -0400
From: Jody Davis <baroygis@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Joan Alexander obit
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain
The New York Times is carrying an obit of the actress who played two major
sidekicks in [removed] Lois Lane and Della Street. The link is
[removed]
Ms. Alexander also had roles in numerous soaps throughout the OTR era.
*** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
*** as the sender intended. ***
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 May 2009 21:41:42 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 5-24 births/deaths
May 24th births
05-24-1877 - Robert Hood Bowers - Chambersburg, PA - d. 12-29-1941
conductor: (The Home Harmonizers) "Home Harmony Time"
05-24-1878 - Harry Emerson Fosdick - Buffalo, NY - d. 10-5-1969
preacher: "National Vespers"
05-24-1880- Arthur "Doc" Bagley - d. 3-7-1952
father of radio excercise programs
05-24-1883 - Elsa Maxwell - Keokuk, IA - d. 11-1-1963
society mistress: Roma Wine spokesperson for Suspense; "Texaco Star
Theatre"
05-24-1886 - Paul Paray - Treport, Normandy, France - d. 10-10-1979
conductor: "New York Philharmonic"
05-24-1896 - Jock MacGregor - d. 2-14-1984
director, actor: "Cisco Kid"; "Gangbusters"
05-24-1901 - Lucien Moraweck - d. 10-20-1973
music: "The City"; "Intrigue"; "Passpoet for Adams"; "Suspense"
05-24-1902 - Wilbur Hatch - Mokena, IL - d. 12-22-1969
conductor: "Our Miss Brooks"; "Gateway to Hollywood"; "Screen Guild
Theatre"
05-24-1905 - Joe Lindwurm - d. 2-25-1992
musician: "The Ipana Troubadors"
05-24-1907 - Bill Bouchey - Clare, MI - d. 9-27-1977
actor: Red Albright/Captain Midnight "Captain Midnight"
05-24-1909 - Howard Snyder - d. 4-13-1963
writer: "Jack Benny Program"; "Lum and Abner"; "That's My Pop"
05-24-1911 - Lilli Palmer - Posen, Germany - d. 1-28-1986
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
05-24-1912 - Rachel Carlay - Brussels, Belgium
singer: "Rudy Vallee Show"; "Manhattan Merry-Go-Round"
05-24-1914 - Vernon (Vern) Carstensen - Clinton, IA - d. 4-23-1999
announcer, actor: "Box 13"; "Damon Runyon Theatre"
05-24-1915 - Harvey Bacal - Quebec, Canada - d. 11-14-1993
musical director and arranger
05-24-1916 - Tony Barrett - NYC - d. 11-16-1974
actor: Charlie Dyer "This Life is Mine"; Biff Bradley "Pepper Young's
Family"
05-24-1923 - Frank E. Amole - d. 5-12-2002
newscaster: KDEN Denver, Colorado
05-24-1928 - William Trevor (Cox) - Mitchelstown, Ireland
author of several BBC plays
05-24-1932 - Elaine Malbin - NYC
singer: "Serenade to America"; "Saturday Matinee with Elaine Malbin"
05-24-1941 - Bob Dylan - Duluth, MN
singer: "Folksinger's Choice"; "Soundstage"
May 24th deaths
01-13-1913 - Paul Birch - Alabama - d. 5-24-1969
actor: Radio work in St. Louis under the name of Paul (Lowery) Smith
01-22-1893 - Fulton Oursler - Baltimore, MD - d. 5-24-1952
writer: "The Greatest Story Ever Told"; "Thatcher Colt Mysteries"
01-30-1922 - Dick Martin - Battle Creek, MI - d. 5-24-2008
writer: "Duffy's Tavern"
02-01-1859 - Victor Herbert - Dublin, Ireland - d. 5-24-1924
composer: "Palmolive Beauty Box Theatre"; "Railroad Hour"
03-06-1882 - Guy Kibbee - El Paso, TX - d. 5-24-1956
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
03-15-1908 - Roland Varno (Varnoux) - Utrecht, Netherlands - d.
5-24-1996
character actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "You Were There"
04-03-1898 - George Jessel - NYC - d. 5-24-1981
comedian, emcee: (Toastmaster General of the [removed]) "Hollywood Calling"
04-29-1899 - Duke Ellington - Washington, [removed] - d. 5-24-1974
bandleader: "Jubilee"; "Orson Welles Theatre"; "Story of Swing"
05-28-1910 - Rachel Kempson - Dartmouth, Devon, England - d. 5-24-2003
actor: "The Archers"; "Tom's Midnight Garden"
06-01-1917 - Maggi McNellis - Chicago, IL - d. 5-24-1989
hostess: "Maggi's Private Wire"; "Leave It to the Girls"
06-04-1901 - Carlton E. Morse - Jennings, LA - d. 5-24-1993
writer, producer, director: "One Man's Family"; "I Love A Mystery"
06-26-1897 - Warren Colston - Great Bend, PA - d. 5-24-1972
actor: "Young Widder Brown"; "Cavalcade of America"
07-05-1905 - John Abbott - London, England - d. 5-24-1996
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
08-09-1921 - Joe Anzivin - Youngstown, OH - d. 5-24-2003
sportscaster: KGMB Honolulu, Hawaii
08-13-1910 - Gwen Pharis Ringwood - Anatone, WA - d. 5-24-1984
writer: "New Lamps for Old"
10-22-1920 - Mitzi Green - The Bronx, NY - d. 5-24-1969
actor: Girl "Passport to Romance"
11-24-1918 - Tom Fouts (Captain Stubby) - d. 5-24-2004
humorist: "National Barn Dance"; "Is Anybody Home?"
11-29-1895 - Yakima Canutt - Colfax, WA - d. 5-24-1986
actor, stuntman: "Daredevils of Hollywood"; "Hollywood Rodea"
12-09-1897 - Hermione Gingold - London, England - d. 5-24-1987
actor: "Stagestruck"
12-25-1913 - Candy Candido - New Orleans, LA - d. 5-24-1999
comedian: "Sealtest Village Store"; "Jimmy Durante Show"
Ron
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 May 2009 21:43:08 -0400
From: <otrbuff@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: A history of commercial radio
Here's a heads-up for you: Shortly, McFarland & Company will be releasing
my newest tome, "American Radio Networks." This is a lively history of the
many facets of transcontinental, regional and local audio hookups that
served America from the 1920s to the present. Not only are developments,
programs and personalities cited which directly affected the domain, there
are explorations into the impact of TV, rise of the disc jockey, talk and
specialized formats, satellite technology and consolidation of webs and
stations there, too. The 224-page hardback carries a cover illustration of
Edward R. Murrow with several previously unpublished inside photos of key
network radio icons at work, plus an Appendix surveying numerous chains no
longer operating, chapter notes, bibliography and extensive index. There is
a section that focuses on 45 major series carried by the four leading
national webs. The new volume, at $55, may be ordered now for delivery at
publication in a few weeks at [removed] and 800-253-2187. I'm
expanding my writing into some untapped venues so this will possibly be my
last work in this arena, at least for a while. Hopefully it is my crowning
achievement.
Jim Cox
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2009 Issue #97
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