Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #200
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 6/3/2002 8:06 AM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2002 : Issue 200
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Re: Charles Flynn                     [ "Stewart Wright" <stewwright@worldn ]
      The End                               [ "Brian Johnson" <CHYRONOP@worldnet. ]
      Nigel Bruce & the peach               [ "Phil Watson" <philwats@[removed] ]
      Lum and Abner Book                    [ Mleannah@[removed] ]
      Howard McNear on TV                   [ Mleannah@[removed] ]
      Re: L&A and A&A -- Compare and Contr  [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
      re:Go-Video DVD/MP3 plyers and file   [ "Greg Willy" <Gregw@[removed]; ]
      Something for Nothing?                [ "Ian Grieve" <ian@[removed] ]
      An Evening With Boris Karloff and Fr  [ "Peter H. Vollmann" <vollmann@hawai ]
      Re: Boris Karloff, Mercedes McCambri  [ John Mayer <mayer@[removed]; ]
      CULTURAL DIFFERENCE + MISC            [ "Ian Grieve" <ian@[removed] ]
      The good side of mp3                  [ "Ian Grieve" <ian@[removed] ]
      Distinctive radio voices              [ "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@hotmail. ]

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

    Date: Sun, 2 Jun 2002 18:27:01 -0400
    From: "Stewart Wright" <stewwright@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Charles Flynn

    CHARLES FLYNN:
            He made his debut as radio actor at the age of 11 on WGN in Chicago
    playing the role of Chester Gump in the 15 minute, 5 day a week,
    late-afternoon serial, The Gumps.  Charles played a boy detective in a
    series called Ben Potter and also appeared in a children's program, Uncle
    Quin's Scalawags.  Both shows were on WGN.

            Bess Flynn, his mother, was a well-known and very successful writer
    of radio soap operas and Charles had featured roles in two of her series -
    Bachelor's Children and We Are Four.

            Charles also appeared in many other network radio series such as
    Myrt and Marge, Tales of Uncle Remus, World's Great Novels, Those
    Sensational Years, and Space Adventures of Super Noodle.

            In the summer of 1939, he auditioned for and won the title role in
    one of the most popular of all children's adventure programs, Jack
    Armstrong - The All-American Boy.  He played Jack Armstrong, with some time
    out while he was in the Navy during WWII, from September, 1939 until the
    show left the air as Armstrong of the Scientific Bureau of Investigation on
    June 28, 1951.

            Charles also appeared in many motion pictures including Penny
    Serenade, Has Anybody Seen My Gal, Father Was a Fullback, and Where The
    Sidewalk Ends.

            In 1954, he left acting for a career in advertising.  He worked as
    the Assistant advertising Manager for the Chrysler Corp. (1954-56),
    McCann-Erickson Advertising Agency (1956-1971), he had his own ad agency
    from 1971-1976, and worked for Doremus & Co from 1976 until he retired in
    1983.

            Charles Flynn died on September 29, 1999

    Stewart Wright

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

    Date: Sun, 2 Jun 2002 18:46:30 -0400
    From: "Brian Johnson" <CHYRONOP@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  The End

    As long established television programs come to an end, the trend in recent
    years has been to tie up loose ends and send characters on their way. Were
    there many comparable endings in radio, especially as network radio faded in
    the fifties? Or did shows just stop abruptly in the tracks as if they were
    going to return in the fall but never did?

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

    Date: Sun, 2 Jun 2002 19:34:44 -0400
    From: "Phil Watson" <philwats@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Nigel Bruce & the peach

    Not sure about Nigel telling the story himself but David Niven recounts it
    in "The Moon's A Balloon" or the other of his autobiographies.

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

    Date: Sun, 2 Jun 2002 21:22:13 -0400
    From: Mleannah@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Lum and Abner Book

    To answer an earlier question, I do not think there is a book on Lum and
    Abner, other than a very informative pamphlet available at the "Jot 'Em Down
    Store" in Pine Ridge. This pamphlet was put together by the current owner of
    the store, now a museum.

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

    Date: Sun, 2 Jun 2002 21:22:29 -0400
    From: Mleannah@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Howard McNear on TV

    To the person who said he disliked Howard McNear on TV, I must respond by
    saying I strongly disagree. McNear is best known on TV as the barber in
    Mayberry, but he appeared on many shows (Burns and Allen, etc.). He was great
    on radio. He was absolutely wonderful on television. His voice remained his
    strongest feature, but his body language put him over the top. It must have
    been a ball writing material for him. I would think anyone who does not
    appreciate his humor is in a wee minority.

        Mike

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

    Date: Sun, 2 Jun 2002 22:03:54 -0400
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: L&A and A&A -- Compare and Contrast

    On 6/2/02 5:06 PM OldRadio Mailing Lists wrote:

>     Third, one set of actors were white and doing black humor and the
>     other two were white doing white humor.

    I think it might be more accurate to say that both programs drew their
    comedy from a close observation of human nature -- neither program used
    comedy that was wholly dependent on the ethnicity of the characters as
    the source of the humor. Both programs emphasized extremely strong
    individual characterization rather than generic "character types" -- this
    is what separated "Amos 'n' Andy" from "Pick and Pat", and what separated
    "Lum and Abner" from "Eb and Zeb." And it was the foibles of each
    individual character, reflecting universal traits of human behavior as
    they reacted to the situations they were in, that were the source of the
    humor. It worked because no matter what Andy or Lum did -- every listener
    knew someone who would react very much the same way in that given
    situation, or could recognize elements of their *own* traits in those of
    the characters.

>     Fourth, during the 15 minute segments
>     it seems to me A&A is much more drama oriented while L&L is more comedy
>     oriented, although  A&A inserts comedy too.

    There were occasional dramatic moments in L&A -- the death of Robert
    Blevins, the only Pine Ridge citizen to be killed in action in WW2,
    stands out as a really moving, dramatic performance -- but in general L&A
    always tended to be a much broader program.

    I think this is where Lauck and Goff really stood out from the dozens of
    other serials in the early thirties inspired by the A&A craze -- while
    they closely followed the basic format of A&A in the way they structured
    their program, they created a *mood* that was entirely different. A&A,
    because of its urban setting, tended during the 1930s to be a much more
    realistic program -- its characters dealt with the realities of the
    Depression, and even though these realities were certainly not depicted
    in meticulous documentary detail, the program could often be a stark
    reminder that not everyone in America lived in middle-class comfort.

    One of the most interesting depcitions of this was in the A&A episode of
    8/11/31, in which Amos and Andy discuss the fact that there are people in
    Harlem walking the streets who haven't eaten in days, and they agree to
    start setting aside the leftovers from the lunch room in order to support
    a program for feeding the poor and jobless. This mirrored what was
    actually happening in many poor urban neighborhoods in the days before
    Federalized welfare programs -- restaurants routinely were asked to
    package their uneaten scraps in sanitary 5-gallon buckets for
    distribution to soup kitchens, and Amos and Andy were doing precisely
    what many of their real-life counterparts were being asked to do.

    By contrast, "Lum and Abner" rarely seems to have acknowledged the
    Depression. There is, for example, mention in the 1935 "Hog Chain Letter"
    storyline that the project is being undertaken in the interests of "Farm
    Relief," but this theme is not developed to any substantial degree, and
    you aren't given any feel for just how desperate farmers were getting in
    1935. L&A, with its far more comic mood, was much more a deliberate
    *escape* from the Depression than a mirror of it -- and it simply
    wouldn't have worked for Lum and Abner to try to address the Depression
    in the same way that Amos and Andy did.

    L&A did move closer to reality during the war years -- Lauck and Goff
    never missed a chance to promote War Bonds, explain rationing, or insert
    other OWI-type material in their episodes -- but even during this era
    they still remained essentially a comedy, doing material that A&A could
    never have done: the "Mars Expedition," Robert the Robot, and similar
    out-and-out comedy sequences that would have simply not worked in A&A's
    world.

    Another way to compare the two series is to look at how they handled
    similar plots. Both series did extended sequences in which the title
    characters cared for a foundling baby - this was pretty much a
    standard-issue plot done by dozens of radio serials and newspaper comic
    strips over the years. A&A did it in 1932, with the story of "Baby
    Lula-May," who was abandoned in the back of the Fresh Air Taxicab by her
    desperate mother; and L&A did it in 1942 with the story of "Little Lum"
    (or Little Charlie, if you prefer) left behind in the Jot-em-Down Store
    by a mystery woman. The A&A sequence was played as straight drama --
    leavened with bits of humor as Andy tried to come to grips with the
    challenge of changing diapers -- and came to its climax when Amos tracked
    down the mother and discovered the desperate poverty in which she lived.
    The L&A sequence, by contrast, was a sort of comedy-mystery, the
    resolution of which I won't spoil for those who haven't heard it. But
    while Lum and Abner dealt with some of the same challenges that Amos and
    Andy had faced in acclimatizing themselves to the presence of the baby,
    the basic mood of their story was entirely different from the rather
    bleak scenario depicted by A&A. That's not to say there weren't dramatic
    moments in the L&A storyline -- but the tone of the drama was still very
    different from that of A&A.

    That it worked for both programs points out something important -- it's
    not the plot that counts, it's what you do with it to make it your own.
    And while the essential structure of L&A -- two guys sitting at a table
    doing multiple characters in a continuing storyline -- was clearly
    inspired by A&A, what made L&A successful is that they took that
    framework and adapted it to suit their own characters and their own
    distinctive vision.

    I think it all boils down to the different points of view of the people
    behind the shows. Chet Lauck was a very intelligent, college-educated man
    -- and was very familiar with 19th/early 20th century literary humor. He
    was quite fond of George Ade, Bill Nye, and Mark Twain, and I think the
    comic sensibilities of L&A strongly reflect these influences. On the
    other hand, Freeman Gosden brought an entirely different set of
    sensibilities to the table: he was raised in a strict religious family,
    quit school at sixteen, and while he was also very intelligent, he was
    not especially well-read. His literary tastes ran to the works of O.
    Henry, an author who mixed subtle character-driven humor with sentimental
    Victorian melodrama, and to early 20th century "inspirational" authors
    like Elbert Hubbard. A&A's serial-era tendency toward sentimentality and
    inspirational/philosophical musings clearly came out of these influences.

    Elizabeth

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

    Date: Sun, 2 Jun 2002 22:32:31 -0400
    From: "Greg Willy" <Gregw@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  re:Go-Video DVD/MP3 plyers and file names

    George Guffey wrote about the Go-Video DVR5000:

>     Unfortunately, what this all came down to in practice was that on my
>     TV screen during the playback process a usefully descriptive OTR file
>     name like "[removed]" was rendered as
>     "Vic*and*.mp3" and the file name that followed
>     ("[removed]") was identically rendered
>     as "Vic*and*.mp3". Finding and playing a specific program on a disc
>     containing perhaps a hundred OTR files would under such difficult
>     circumstances be a tedious undertaking.

    I bought yesterday at Radio Shack a Go-Video DVP855 DVD player ($80 after
    rebate) and it has the exact same problem as George described.  (Also there
    is no fast forward for MP3). I have a similar problem with the file names on
    Winamp on my computer.  When I try to create a play list of a bunch of files
    of OTR, the long file name is nowhere to be seen and the order of the shows
    is changed. Using the "sort list" feature does't help.  Perhaps someone
    could explain something about file names and how they are used by players to
    determine the order of the shows.  Thanks.

    Greg

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

    Date: Sun, 2 Jun 2002 22:56:59 -0400
    From: "Ian Grieve" <ian@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Something for Nothing?

    In issue 195 Harlan Zinck mentioned the unnamed collector:

>     You can add me to that list of (once-again) frustrated collectors who
>     would love to share my OTR treasures with the whole collecting fraternity,
>     but reluctant to see them repeatedly pop up on eBay. In the meantime the
>     deep pocket-types will just keep grabbing up all the goodies.

    You may be surprised that the "otr should be free for everybody", mp3
    fraternity hate the e-bay otr sellers as well :)  Many of the people
    involved in sharing mp3 otr take it very seriously and do put a lot of
    effort into encoding and making up collections.  They do it for the
    enjoyment of the shows and enjoy sharing the hobby with others.  Then to
    have the e-bay sellers copy their CDs for profit tends to upset them a tiny
    bit, just like the Dealers.  I remember the reaction I got from Gordon
    Payton when I was first e-mailing him about Australian OTR, Gordon told me
    up front what he thought of mp3 people getting shows off him and then
    copying them to mp3.  That was in response to my rather naive question as to
    what shows he had in mp3 :)  He forgave me.

    I have said it before and I will say it again, all the various sections of
    this hobby can work together.

    Mp3 as such will never be here to stay, there will be other formats.  An mp3
    encoded properly makes for very good sound, but the important thing is to
    get the shows into a digital format where it can be changed into any format
    you want at any time and at least protect the show in case the original
    media carrier is damaged or destroyed.

    There are so many new people finding this hobby as a result of mp3 and the
    internet that mp3 and mp3 downloaders/collectors cannot be dismissed as
    freeloaders or the bringers of doom and gloom for the hobby.  Mp3 caters for
    a hobbyist, the casual listener will still want audio cassette or CD, but
    for how long?

    I think that if we all start at the beginning where we all share the
    enjoyment of otr, then work through the issues,  then we would all be
    surprised at how close to agreement we really are.  Many of the "free otr
    for everyone" points of view simply comes from a lack of knowledge of the
    history of the hobby.  Correcting that is a forum like this and people who
    make the time and effort to explain and answer questions.  I enjoy OTR in
    all the facets I have tried so far.

    I also agree with Elizabeth that libraries and clubs need to be supported,
    just the same as the Dealers need to be supported, something totally free
    soon wears out and support is required to oil the wheels.

    I know of the Archives but I know the person who supplied the transcriptions
    better.  Fortunately in Australia we have 3 people just like him.

    Ian Grieve

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

    Date: Mon, 3 Jun 2002 02:21:18 -0400
    From: "Peter H. Vollmann" <vollmann@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  An Evening With Boris Karloff and Friends

    I bought the CD from Forry Ackerman last year. It holds the complete
    contents of the rare, long out of print LP that Forry produced with Boris
    Karloff, using sound bytes from many famous horror films. If anyone wants a
    copy of the CD, please contact me off list.
    Peter from Hawaii.

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

    Date: Mon, 3 Jun 2002 02:22:43 -0400
    From: John Mayer <mayer@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Boris Karloff, Mercedes McCambridge,
     Jimmy Barton

    Musiciantoo47@[removed] said:

>     I would be very grateful for any Karloff Horror I don't have ...So if
>     there's anything else, please let me know.

    Somewhere, probably in the shadowy recesses of the attic of my
    parents' foreboding ancestral manor, there are three or four volumes of
    a series of albums, in format somewhat like Arch Oboler's _Exercise in
    Horror_ album, called _Tales of the Frightened_. I suspect the stories
    were rather forgettable, because I've forgotten them. If I ever acquire
    the resources to transfer them from lp to mp3 I will mention it here,
    but just wanted to let you know they exist. (I'll also do that _Sparky
    in Orchestraville_ dub I promised Mr. Kneebone, I believe, long ago.)

    And I finally found the _Fresh Air_ boxed collection with the Mercedes
    McCambridge interview that I promised someone to report upon. I had
    recalled reading that she grew tired of fans asking her ONLY about her
    radio work, and had speculated she might have a low opinion of the
    medium as Tony Randall apparently has. The interview with her on the
    tape was very disappointing; only about 7 minutes with Ms. McCambridge,
    and almost entirely devoted to her _Exorcist_ role, but still of
    interest to OTR fans. Apparently she remembers radio drama very fondly:
    she says it is far more demanding than theater work because every
    subtlety of emotion has to be communicated through the voice, whereas in
    theater the actor is concerned primarily with projecting to the rear
    seats. She laments that so few modern actors have developed their voices
    as much as actors once did, and feels that much of the potential emotion
    is missing as a result, even from movies. And she reveals that she
    called upon all her radio experience for the part of the demon in _The
    Exorcist_; everything you hear the demon utter in that movie comes from
    her own vocal cords, with no electronic filters or modification.

    As an afterthought, I guess it can't hurt to once again ask your readership
    to help solve one of Radio's great mysteries: Who played Jimmy Barton on _The
    Cinnamon Bear_? According to Mr. Dennis Crow of The Cinnamon Bear
    Brigade, he is the only actor who remains unidentified. I believe I have
    heard that only one person associated with that show survives, and she cannot
    recall who played the role of Jimmy. There has been some speculation that he
    was the same lad (assuming the role was played by an actual child actor) who
    played Jerry of the Circus, but Mr. Crow does not think that is the
    case. I have only heard one snippet of Jerry of the Circus, and the
    voice sounds quite different to me, as well (however, that WAS an RA file).
    Are there any readers, perhaps new to the list since this question was last
    posed, who might have some insights into this great mystery?
    Operators are standing by.

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

    Date: Mon, 3 Jun 2002 02:31:27 -0400
    From: "Ian Grieve" <ian@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  CULTURAL DIFFERENCE + MISC

    Ok, Ok, you have me snookered and I give in.  What is a Grape nut?

    To David Kindred, way to go David, lots of Amiga people in this otr Hobby, I
    was chatting to 3 on the #otradio chat on irc over the weekend.

    If Elizabeth is interested in OTR conferences, one day we hope to hold one
    in Australia :)

    And to my Mate (yes that's how it is spelt and spoken) Hal, you don't have
    to be Australian to sell me your book, I have bought a lot of [removed] otr
    related books and enjoy reading them.  I read the recommendations here on
    this Digest and if it is a series or Person I am interested in, out comes
    the wallet :(  Of course Hal you will have to sign it, just so I can see if
    the handwriting is shaky :)

    Fancy having a go at Australian spelling, we get our spelling from the
    English who invented it, don't know where yours comes from.  Perhaps when
    the tea got dumped so did the dictionary :)  You only have to look at
    installing Windows on a computer to see how many versions of English there
    are.  Perhaps when you read my posts you should change the setting on your
    computer to English - Australian, then you will not be as confused.

    Ian Grieve

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

    Date: Mon, 3 Jun 2002 09:59:26 -0400
    From: "Ian Grieve" <ian@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  The good side of mp3

    In issue 197 Tony Baechler wrote his story on otr and it is very similar to
    mine.  Tony, better look again it would be more than double 20,000 eps in
    circulation now.

    I have mentioned here before about mp3 being used by Dealers as a hook to
    grab the newbie, interest them in the hobby, then open the cupboard doors
    and say, "when you're ready, here is the real stuff".  I think mp3 format is
    ideal for the free hobby listeners and then the real stuff for collectors.
    But what is wrong is that the people with the shows are worried about mp3
    instead of embracing it.  If someone with the real goods made a low quality
    encode of their shows and made that available, then the freeloaders would be
    very happy, something for nothing, a favourite series they can listen to
    etc.  They wouldn't bother going to the trouble of finding the best sounding
    version, only a very small number of mp3 collectors want the highest
    possible quality encodes.  By the time the high quality trickled down, the
    listeners would just look at the title, and leave it alone because they
    already had it.

    Those low quality encodes would be picked up by the ebay sellers for their
    $[removed] compilations and it is easy for a Dealer to show the difference
    between what they are selling and what the e-bay sellers are offering, who
    gets hurt?  The dealers and collectors would have the quality ready to
    supply the punters who want the good stuff, but as the low quality mp3
    circulates it will continue to 'hook' people into the hobby and a percentage
    will become buyers like Tony and myself.

    Ian Grieve

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

    Date: Mon, 3 Jun 2002 09:59:56 -0400
    From: "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Distinctive radio voices

    It's time I add my two cents on the topic of distinctive voices of actors. I
    have two: Paul Hughes and Ralph Bell. Literally hundreds of people have
    asked me over the years, who was that actor with the gruff voice on The Lone
    Ranger, Sergeant Preston, [removed] Paul Hughes, of course! I never had the
    pleasure of meeting him but was very surprised years later to see a photo of
    him. I expected a man of a stocky structure, not the slim man he was. And he
    was equally convincing as the "good guy" and the "bad guy."

    As for Ralph Bell, I'm not sure I had any particular mental picture of what
    he might look like but had the feeling that he would be like the characters
    he so often portrayed, mostly unpleasant. I am so grateful that I had the
    opportunity to meet him and talk with him at the Friends of Old Time Radio
    convention. He was so nice and charming and refined, just the opposite of
    his radio persona (and handsome, too!).

    Both of these voices are instantly recognizable, no matter the part they
    played.

    Barbara

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #200
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