Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #170
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 5/9/2002 9:03 AM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2002 : Issue 170
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Where to get StreamRipper             [ "Doug Leary" <doug@[removed]; ]
      The Seinfeld/Rochester Connection     [ "steven kostelecky" <skostelecky@ho ]
      Re: More Frank Fay                    [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
      OTR Actors to TV                      [ "james hunt" <jameshunt@[removed] ]
      OTR Stars on TV                       [ "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed] ]
      Frankly speaking                      [ otrbuff@[removed] ]
      re: NBC/75 years comments             [ nicoll <nicoll@[removed]; ]
      Re: OTR Actors to TV                  [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
      Artie Green and Jack Webb             [ Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed] ]
      OTR Article                           [ "H. K. Hinkley" <hkhinkley@[removed] ]
      NBC TV 75th Anniversary               [ Elmer Standish <elmer_standish@telu ]
      Sid Caesar question and comment       [ knight555@[removed] ]
      frank fay                             [ leonardfass@[removed] (Leonard Fass ]
      our limited language                  [ leonardfass@[removed] (Leonard Fass ]

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

    Date: Wed, 8 May 2002 11:26:58 -0400
    From: "Doug Leary" <doug@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Where to get StreamRipper

    Streamripper is a program for recording audio directly from streaming radio
    sources on the Internet. It was written a couple years ago by a friend of
    mine named Jon Clegg. For awhile it was difficult to find, due to various
    legal rumblings from the recording industry, but is now available on
    SourceForge. You can download and read more about it here:

    [removed]

    Doug Leary

    [ADMINISTRIVIA: This open-source application is pre-compiled for various
    platforms (not Mac OS 9, but does support OS X), but this is _not_ related at
    all to the Streambox Ripper mentioned in a previous issue. StreamRipper is an
    open-source application to record MP3 streams only, and does _not_ work for
    other formats like RealAudio, MediaPlayer, etc. Most MP3 players (WinAmp,
    MacAmp, etc.) will also record MP3 streams.  --cfs3]

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

    Date: Wed, 8 May 2002 12:25:11 -0400
    From: "steven kostelecky" <skostelecky@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  The Seinfeld/Rochester Connection

    I was listening to the 12/3/50 Benny show which concerns how Jack met
    Rochester--revisionist history as he really met him as a porter. Anyway the
    story was that Jack ran into Rochester's cab which was up on a "grass
    reeks". Rochester drove the cab for Amos and Andy and, instead of having to
    pay damages to Jack they decide to make Rochester his valet.
    On "Seinfeld" Jerry and George pitch their sitcom about nothing to the NBC
    brass and receive little enthusiasm. However, their idea to make a
    settlement in a car accident by having one of the parties become the others'
    valet is accepted as the basis for a pilot for Jerry.
    Funny that ideas so widely separated by time were still considered silly
    enough to work as comedy.

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

    Date: Wed, 8 May 2002 12:40:51 -0400
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: More Frank Fay

    Bob Fells wrote:

>     According to Mr. Burns, Frank Fay seemed to be his own
>     worst enemy, alienating people who wanted to be his friend.

    There's another account in Fred Allen's "Much Ado About Me" which sheds a
    bit of additional light on the Fay personality. It seems that around
    1920, Fay approached Allen about appearing in a proposed Broadway revue,
    "Frank Fay's Fables," but neglected to advise him that he hadn't managed
    to arrange financing for the production, and his arrogance with
    prospective backers ensured he wouldn't find any. Allen relates --

    "Fay's arrogance was eventually his undoing. John Golden and Winchell
    Smith, after seeing a rehearsal, agreed to finance the show; for their
    money they wanted fifty-one per cent of the stock to assure controlling
    interest. Fay refused. He had no consideration for the actors and chorus
    girls who had been rehearsing for weeks. It was Fay's idea, Fay's show,
    Fay was going to run it. 'Fay's Fables,' with this cast, never opened. If
    Fay's ego had been acid, he would have consumed himself."

    Similar problems plagued "Harvey" during its Broadway run during the
    1940s -- at one point, the entire supporting cast filed a complaint with
    Equity over Fay's abusive backstage behavior.

    Fay seemed, most of all, to have an almost pathological need to humiliate
    other comedians -- to prove that he was the Alpha Comic. There's an
    oft-told story about Groucho Marx making the mistake of heckling Fay at a
    testimonial dinner -- and Fay immediately invited him up to the podium to
    "have some fun." Marx, who clearly feared Fay as the one man in show
    business who might be able to cut him, refused. And Fay immediately
    thrust in the dagger -- his exact words vary depending on who's telling
    the story, but they were something along the lines of "Tsk Tsk Tsk. You
    really *are* nothing without Zeppo."

    Another veteran comic, Bert Wheeler (of Wheeler and Woolsey), made the
    mistake of accepting Fay's invitation to "come up and have some fun." Fay
    proceeded to cut him to shreds, and when Wheeler had finally had enough,
    he turned to Fay and said, "I bet I can get more applause from this crowd
    that you ever got in your life." When Fay smugly challenged him to try,
    Wheeler punched him in the mouth -- and got a standing ovation.

    Elizabeth

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

    Date: Wed, 8 May 2002 14:30:04 -0400
    From: "james hunt" <jameshunt@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  OTR Actors to TV

    There was a very well produced <"Family"> cartoon series on ABC-TV, early
    60's (?)  titled "Top Cat".
    I seem to recall it being  a highly rated series.
    And no wonder. The creative talents behind the camera belonged to Freeman
    Gosden and Charles
    Correll.
    I never watched the screen. I would tune in,. turn up the audio and enjoy
    the updated adventures Amos, Andy, the Kingfish.
    Lightnin'-and all the rest.
    Great Fun.
    Don Hunt

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

    Date: Wed, 8 May 2002 14:36:13 -0400
    From: "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed];
    To: "OTR" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  OTR Stars on TV

    Regarding OTR stars on TV, has someone already mentioned the 'Our Miss
    Brooks' folks, all favorites of mine.   Eve Arden, Gale Gordon and Richard
    Crenna (and Jeff Chandler who jumped to films).   Richard Crenna is one of
    the juveniles who just kept on going and going.

    I recently read that Parley Baer played Don Rickles boss on 'The Don Rickles
    Show' on TV.    And, on that subject, someone recently wondered if an
    announcer named Donald Rickles might be 'Mr. Warmth'.     Rickles did work
    in radio so I suppose it's quite possible he was the announcer Donald
    Rickles.   I'll prowl the internet to see if I can find that out.  We saw
    his act in Lake Tahoe and he really was very funny.   People were just dying
    to have him pick on them.  Immediately after the show champagne was
    delivered to all the victims' tables.

    [ADMINISTRIVIA: For whatever it's worth, today is Don Rickles' 76th birthday.
    It's also the birthday anniversary of John Archer, who was born 87 years ago
    today. --cfs3]

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

    Date: Wed, 8 May 2002 14:50:20 -0400
    From: otrbuff@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Frankly speaking

    I'm searching high and low for information on Frank Hummert's early life,
    the years prior to his ascension as one of the major players among
    advertising agencies that led to his rise as a creator/producer of tons
    of radio dramatic fare.  Most historians have been deathly silent about
    Hummert's early life as a collegian, St. Louis newspaperman and writing
    school educator before he entered the world of advertising at Lord and
    Thomas.  I'm sure the stuff exists; I simply haven't been lucky in
    turning up much detail.  Can anyone on this list either furnish it or
    point me to sources that would satisfy this request?  I'll be grateful.
    Please contact me directly off list.

    Jim Cox
    otrbuff@[removed]

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

    Date: Wed, 8 May 2002 17:41:56 -0400
    From: nicoll <nicoll@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  re: NBC/75 years comments

    In defense of [removed] is difficult to portray the history of a medium
    that has no pictures on one that does.  Think about the reverse - a history
    of television on radio.

    Will Nicoll

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

    Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 01:42:27 -0400
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: OTR Actors to TV

    On 5/8/02 2:45 PM Charlie Summers wrote:

    Don Hunt recalls,

>     There was a very well produced <"Family"> cartoon series on ABC-TV, early
>     60's (?)  titled "Top Cat".
>     I seem to recall it being  a highly rated series.
>     And no wonder. The creative talents behind the camera belonged to Freeman
>     Gosden and Charles
>     Correll.
>     I never watched the screen. I would tune in,. turn up the audio and enjoy
>     the updated adventures Amos, Andy, the Kingfish.
>     Lightnin'-and all the rest.

    This was actually "Calvin and the Colonel," which has been discussed here
    from time to time. Correll and Gosden provided the voices of Calvin
    Burnside, a bear, and Col. Montgomery T. Klaxton, a fox -- voices which
    sounded remarkably like those of Andy and the Kingfish. The series was
    produced and written by Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, who had written for
    "The Amos 'n' Andy Show" from 1946 to 1955, and "The Amos 'n' Andy Music
    Hall" from 1954 to 1960 -- and indeed, a number of C&TC episodes seem to
    have been adapted rather closely from Connelly-Mosher A&A sitcom scripts.
    The series ran for a single season, 1961-62, but was dogged by production
    delays -- Creston Studios, which provided the animation, found it
    difficult to keep up with the production schedule, and episodes often
    arrived at ABC at the last minute. The ratings didn't outweigh the
    production problems, and ABC ended up cancelling the show after that
    single year. In a bit of nostalgic coincidence, one of the sponsors for
    "Calvin and the Colonel" was Pepsodent -- sponsor of A&A during the years
    of its greatest success.

    "Top Cat," on the other hand, was a rather close animated copy of "Sgt.
    Bilko," acted out by a troupe of alley cats, and set in a run-down city
    rather than an army base. Top Cat and his gang of hangers-on were
    hustlers in the best Bilko tradition, and were constantly matching wits
    with the stolid Officer Dibble. There are OTR connections galore in the
    cast, notably Arnold Stang as Top Cat himself. Maurice Gosfield -- best
    known as Pvt. Doberman on "Bilko" essentially recreated his role in
    animated form as T. C.'s goofy sidekick "Benny the Ball" (at times, "Top
    Cat" seemed to owe as much to Damon Runyon as to Phil Silvers and Nat
    Hiken.)

    Elizabeth

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

    Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 01:44:30 -0400
    From: Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed];
    To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Artie Green and Jack Webb

    Russell Hudson writes about Jack Webb and his typical, carefully managed,
    artistically stilted [if I can use that  somewhat contradictory phrase]
    appearances  on "Pete Kelly's Blues."

    See again the famous Billy Wilder film, "Sunset Boulevard."  Jack Webb's
    portrayal of a chatty and nervous assistant director, Artie Green, is like
    no other acting I have ever seen by our famous "Joe Friday." Why he was
    picked for the part is beyond me even though he does a great job. Webb had
    not really settled into a groove yet even though "Dragnet" on radio debuted
    within weeks of Webb's finishing "Boulevard."  Perhaps Webb biographer,
    Michael Hayde, has info on what happened to Jack Webb between "Sunset
    Boulevard." and "Dragnet."  How did the guy finally settle on his famous
    acting style? And is "Sunset Boulevard" his only major departure from the
    laid-back character he later portrayed?

    Dennis Crow

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

    Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 01:44:47 -0400
    From: "H. K. Hinkley" <hkhinkley@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  OTR Article

    The monthly newspaper of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois published a
    two page spread titled "When America tuned in to classic network radio."
    The article is written by Kenneth R. Masson and seems to be reasonably
    accurate to me--schooled by all you experts over the last few years.  It
    covers the subject from radio's beginnings in 1920 to today's meager
    offerings from Westwood One.

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

    Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 01:47:12 -0400
    From: Elmer Standish <elmer_standish@[removed];
    To: Old Time Radio Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  NBC TV 75th Anniversary

    Although I did not get to see all of the program I was disappointed
    in the opening sequences. I would much rather have seen clips from
    the early shows at the beginning.

    In discussing this with an EMail friend, we came to the conclusion that
    because TV is a Visual medium, we were not too disappointed in the lack
    of clips from Radio Shows. If the clips were video from OTR, they might
    have been acceptable to today's audience but the modern audiences don't
    seem to have much of an attention span. Personally, I could have listened
    to audio clips for the whole show, but it's doubtful NBC ratings would
    have been worth counting if that had happened.

    Although I don't post often to the Digest, I felt my opinion might
    find some agreement among some of you.

    Many thanks to the regular posters; I have learned a lot from all of
    you.

    ===> ELMER

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

    Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 01:48:15 -0400
    From: knight555@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Sid Caesar question and comment

    Having recently watched the NBC "anniversary" special and seeing Sid Caesar
    all too briefly, reminded me of the first time I saw him when I was young
    (maybe in the late 60's or so) when he did a little skit about a "Dippy
    instead of a Hippy".  It was great and hooked me on his humor
    immediately.  Anyway, I was wondering if any recordings are available of
    him from radio as I have never seen any.   If anyone knows, feel free to
    reply directly if you like.
    Another unrelated thought; it isn't that young people aren't or wouldn't be
    into otr. Unless their parents know about it, they don't even know it's
    there, since commercial radio doesn't like to carry it too much (maybe once
    a week  at night?)  Perhaps if more sponsors thought the audience was
    there, we'd hear more on the air.  I've often thought that if some otr
    aired during drive time, instead of shouting and argumentative "talk
    radio", that there'd be alot less road rage and more laughing going on
    during daily commutes.  People would probably arrive at work or school more
    relaxed too.  My kids unwind to otr, most of their friends don't know what
    it is.  Maybe if their parents heard it during the day or while driving,
    they'd introduce their kids to it.   Maybe somebody should suggest it to
    Walmart?  Maybe the Wiz would like to sponsor some "great sounds that sound
    even better through their products"?  Just my two cents. :o)    MJS

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

    Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 01:48:50 -0400
    From: leonardfass@[removed] (Leonard Fass)
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  frank fay

    someone is planning a new film based on harvey. too bad it will not have
    frank fay in it. those people who judge fay by what others have written
    (however true the accounts may be) are being [removed] they would not
    have written their narrow minded remarks had they been in a theater in
    new york or on the road when mr. fay was elwood.

    [removed] jimmy stewart in the first film adaptation was good but he was no
    frank [removed] sober. much too sober.

    [removed]

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

    Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 01:49:09 -0400
    From: leonardfass@[removed] (Leonard Fass)
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  our limited language

    nbc in the golden age of radio and cbs in the golden age of radio. are
    simply not the nbc and cbs of today. base metal is not gold. and should
    it be described as if it were.

    [removed]

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #170
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