Subject: [removed] Digest V2007 #283
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 10/4/2007 4:18 PM

To: [removed]@[removed]
Reply-to: [removed]@[removed]

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2007 : Issue 283
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Re: What's a Sitcom?                  [ lizmcl@[removed] ]
      Friends of Old Time Radio in the New  [ Sean Dougherty <seandd@[removed] ]
      10-4 births/deaths                    [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
      Sherlock Holmes sponsor               [ matthew cox <mbcox99@[removed]; ]
      Sit-coms                              [ "Holm, Chris " <[removed]@[removed] ]
      Al Lewis                              [ AudioBoyMA@[removed] ]
      The Mystery of Captain Midnight's Fi  [ Stephen A Kallis <skallisjr@[removed] ]

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

    Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2007 19:42:52 -0400
    From: lizmcl@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: What's a Sitcom?

    As others have pointed out, "sitcom" as such is a term that wasn't coined
    till well into the TV era, but references to "Comedy of Situation" can be
    found a good ways back into the thirties. Such phrases were used in the
    press to describe humorous plotlines in "Amos 'n' Andy" as early as 1930.
    Freeman Gosden himself preferred and used the term "character comedy" in
    describing the style of humor used on the program, but the meaning is
    similar -- the comedy proceeded from recognizable characters placed in
    amusing situations rather than vaudeville-style gag lines or random
    slapstick. "If your characters are likable and familiar," Gosden said,
    "audidiences will respond to that. You don't need a gag in every line to
    be funny."

    Although Correll and Gosden were the first performers to present character
    comedy on radio, "Amos 'n' Andy" wasn't a sitcom in the sense that we
    understand it today --as emphasized in my own book on the subject, it was
    a primarily dramatic serial with humorous undertones. The earliest example
    of a half-hour character comedy presenting its situations in a
    complete-in-one-episode format that I've found is "Mr. And Mrs.," a CBS
    program of 1929-31 based on the comic strip by Clare Briggs, and featuring
    Jack Smart and Jane Houston as Joe and Vi Green, a middle-class husband
    and wife who spent all their time fighting and picking at each other, and
    who seemed to remain married out of sheer inertia. It was an obvious
    prototype of the bickering-spouse format that would be driven into the
    ground in the decades to come, but as far as broadcasting is concerned,
    "Mr. and Mrs." did it before anyone else.

    Elizabeth

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

    Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2007 19:43:18 -0400
    From: Sean Dougherty <seandd@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Friends of Old Time Radio in the News (This
     Weekend)
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    Mark Voger of the Asbury Park Press is running a feature on Friends of Old
    Time Radio Convention guest Will Hutchins in his entertainment column this
    weekend.

    He is also syndicated to other Gannett Newspapers in New Jersey so if you
    live in the Garden State look for it in your favorite Gannett Newspapers from
    Friday onward.

    I think it runs in the Sunday edition of the APP.

    He's done great features on Beverly Washburn, Jon Provost and Elliot Reid in
    the past and always includes contact information for yours truly for anyone
    interested in joining us at the Holiday Inn North in Newark, [removed] October
    18-21, 2007, [removed].

    In fact, if anyone sees the article in their local paper, please let me know
    via e-mail and if you're coming to the convention, bring a copy along to show
    Will.

    Best,

    Sean Dougherty
    201-739-2541
    SeanDD@[removed]

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

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

    Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2007 23:13:35 -0400
    From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  10-4 births/deaths

    October 4th births

    10-04-1878 - Arthur Hopkins - Cleveland, OH - d. 3-22-1950
    producer: "Arthur Hopkins Presents"
    10-04-1880 - Homer Rodeheaver - Union Furnace, OH - d. 12-18-1955
    singer/composer: "Come On. Let's Sing"
    10-04-1884 - Damon Runyon - Manhattan, KS - d. 12-10-1946
    short story writer: "Good News of 1940"; "Damon Runyon Theatre"
    10-04-1892 - Kathryn Card - Butte, MT - d. 3-1-1964
    actor: Grandmother Barton "The Bartons"; Mrs. Wiggins "Uncle Walter's
    Dog House"
    10-04-1893 - Reverend Walter A. Maier - Boston, MA - d. 1-11-1950
    preacher: "Lutheran Hour"
    10-04-1894 - Cliff Hall - Brooklyn, NY - d. 10-6-1972
    comedian: Sharlie "Baron and the Bee, Jack Pearl Show"
    10-04-1895 - Buster Keaton - Piqua, KS - d. 2-1-1966
    comedian: "Shell Chateau"; "Voices from the Hollywood Past"
    10-04-1895 - Lea Penman - Red Cloud, MN - d. 10-12-1962
    actor: Alice Aldrich "The Aldrich Family"
    10-04-1897 - Frederick Chase Taylor - Buffalo, NY - d. 5-29-1950
    comedian: Lemuel Q. Stoopnagel "Duffy's Tavern, Quixie Doodles,
    Stoopnagel and Budd"
    10-04-1900 - Robert Shayne - Yonkers, NY - d. 11-29-1992
    actor: Walter Manning "Portia Faces Life"
    10-04-1903 - Marcus Duffield - d. 1-xx-1973
    columnist: "Information Please"
    10-04-1908 - Patricia Calvert - London, England
    actor: "Just Plain Bill"; "Our Gal Sunday"
    10-04-1909 - James Webb - Denver, CA - d. 9-27-1974
    screenwriter: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    10-04-1910 - James Doyle - St. Paul, MN - d. 7-1-1980
    announcer: "The Great Gildersleeve"; "Rogue's Gallery"
    10-04-1910 - Stanley Farrar - d. 4-5-1974
    actor: (Brother of Danny Thomas) Melvyn Foster "A Date with Judy"
    10-04-1914 - John Larch - Salem, MA - d. 10-20-2005
    actor: (Married to Vivi Janiss) Rocky Starr "Starr ofSpace"
    10-04-1916 - George Sidney - Long Island City, NY - d. 5-5-2002
    film musical director: "Shell Chateau"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
    10-04-1916 - Jan Murray - The Bronx, NY - d. 7-2-2006
    emcee: "Songs for Sale"; "Meet Your Match"
    10-04-1916 - Lenore Kingston - Los Angeles, CA - d. 5-5-1993
    actor: Mercedes Colby "Don Winslow of the Navy"; Jane Daley "Affairs
    of Anthony"
    10-04-1924 - Charlton Heston - Evanston, IL
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Kaleidoscope"
    10-04-1925 - Francisco Aranzamendi - d. 10-xx-1983
    disk jockey: WAPA San Juan, Puerto Rico
    10-04-1929 - Scotty Beckett - Oakland, CA - d. 5-10-1968
    actor: Chester A. Riley, Jr. "Life of Riley"
    10-04-1932 - Felicia Farr - Westchester County, NY
    actor: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"

    October 4th deaths

    01-08-1902 - Alexander Gray - Wrightvilles, PA - d. 10-4-1975
    baritone: "Chesterfield Quarter Hour"
    01-12-1911 - Lon Clark - Frost, MN - d. 10-4-1998
    actor: Nick Carter "Nick Carter, Master Detective"
    03-10-1900 - Sherman Billingsley - Enid, Oklahoma Territory - d.
    10-4-1966
    owner stork club: "Bing Crosby Show"
    04-02-1913 - Fran Carlon - Indianapolis, IN - d. 10-4-1993
    actor: Lorelei Kilbourne "Big Town"; Bunny Mitchell "Story of Mary
    Marlin"
    05-22-1891 - Parks Johnson - Sheffield, AL - d. 10-4-1970
    emcee, interviewer: "Vox Pox"
    05-31-1893 - Albert Mitchell - Elsberry, MO - d. 10-4-1954
    host: "Answer Man"
    06-13-1894 - Tay Garnett - Los Angeles, CA - d. 10-4-1977
    film director: "Three Sheets to the Wind"; "Screen Director's Playhouse"
    09-04-1913 - Jan Savitt - Petrograd, Russia - d. 10-4-1948
    bandleader: "Fitch Bandwagon"; "Rhapsody in Rhythm"
    10-14-1922 - Claire Niesen - Phoenix, AZ - d. 10-4-1963
    actor: "Mary Noble "Backstage Wife"; Peggy O'Neill "The O'Neills"
    11-19-1890 - Charme Allen - Dayton, OH - d. 10-4-1980
    actor: Aunt Polly "David Harum"; Ma Owen "Into the Light"
    11-30-1900 - Geoffrey Household - Briston, England - d. 10-4-1988
    writer: "NBC Presents: Short Story"
    12-30-1873 - Al Smith - NYC - d. 10-4-1944
    governor: "Information Please"
    xx-xx-xxxx - Stuart Dawson - d. 10-4-1958
    announcer: "Backstage Wife"

    Ron Sayles
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

    Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2007 09:24:43 -0400
    From: matthew cox <mbcox99@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Sherlock Holmes sponsor

    Hi Everyone,
    During the New Adventures Of Sherlock HOlmes Harry Bartel does a
    wonderful job describing Petri wines.  Is Petri wine still available
    or did it go the way of Two Buck Chuck?  What was Petri?  Was it a
    two buck Chuck kind of wine for your 1940's consumer?  My guess is it
    was the Mondovi of forty years ago.  But just for fun at our local
    Bevmo I asked about it and it was funny seeing flustering our Bevmo clerk.
    [removed]  You've gotta wonder if someone has a bottle of Petry from back
    then in the cellar now.  To quote Mr. Bartel "isn't that
    delicious?"  I wonder.  Thanks  Matt

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

    Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2007 09:25:03 -0400
    From: "Holm, Chris " <[removed]@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Sit-coms

    In #282, Frank McGurn cites a couple of dictionaries to define the term
    sitcom.  I would argue that this is incomplete.  I agree with whatever
    wag said "The dictionary is a historical document, not a legal one."

    If we merely say a sitcom is a situation with comedy, then by definition
    all comedies would be sitcoms since they all have situations, with the
    possible exception of show that featured only a comedian telling
    unrelated jokes.  Such an inclusive definitions are essentially
    worthless.

    I argue that a sitcom is a much more specific thing, where the plot or
    situation is an integral part of the story, usually following the
    pattern of "character X is humiliated [removed]", as someone pointed out
    here a few months ago.  Usually something embarrassing is done (or
    forgotten to be done) at the beginning of the shows, and the protagonist
    spends the rest of the show trying to cover-up till it all comes off the
    rails at the end.

    Life of Riley would be, I believe, the best example of this type of
    show.  Definitely a sitcom.  Other shows that would definitely be
    sitcoms are Great Gildersleeve, Father Knows Best, Henry Aldrich, Phil
    Harris & Alice Faye, etc.

    However, shows like Fibber McGee and Molly do not fit this pattern, and
    I would argue are definitely not sitcoms.  They don't have a situation
    as much as they do a premise.  The premise moves the show along, but
    isn't integral to the show.  FM&M might be walking to the store, waiting
    in line at the DMV, cutting out dress patterns at home, whatever.  But
    this merely serves as a framework for a series of stock characters to
    come in for a couple of gags and leave.  Much more like Vaudeville humor
    than a sitcom.  LaTrivia, Uppington, or the Old Timer don't drive the
    plot by their appearance, they're just there for jokes.  Fred Allen is
    another excellent example of this type of show.  Jack Benny also uses
    this format frequently.

    There is of course middle ground, and shows that move between both
    categories.  Lum & Abner springs to mind, where some episodes have a
    definite plot and are very sitcomy, while others make only the faintest
    of nods to a plot and spend most of the show riffing on something Abner
    mis-hears.  But since L&A is a serial show, perhaps the sitcom/not
    sitcom definition isn't applicable.

    Just some thoughts,
    -chris holm

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

    Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2007 12:12:23 -0400
    From: AudioBoyMA@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Al Lewis

>     Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 13:11:26 -0400
>     From: "otrbuff" <otrbuff@[removed];

>     Have you looked in the newly released "The Great Radio Sitcoms"?
>     ([removed])  You'll find a few pertinent details there about Mr.
>     Lewis' life, death and career.  Not a whole lot, but possibly more than you
>     have discovered elsewhere.

    It sounds like an awesome book, Jim.  Thanks for the tip!

    Unfortunately, the price is steep in terms of our budget and I doubt I could
    justify it to the committee when all that we need from it is a few lines of
    information.

    I'll keep looking around, though.  Perhaps some of my librarian friends can
    track the information down.

    -N

    --
    Neil Marsh * neil@[removed]
    The Post-Meridian Radio Players * [removed]

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

    Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2007 13:37:20 -0400
    From: Stephen A Kallis <skallisjr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  The Mystery of Captain Midnight's First Name

    In my book, Radio's Captain Midnight, I identified Captain Midnight's
    first name, in his civilian identity as Charles.  This name never was
    articulated in the radio scripts I read, but neither was any other.  The
    only "first" name ever given during the Skelly years in the shows in
    circulation (The Pareda Treasure and The Mysterious Voice) was "Red,"
    obviously a nickname.  It was recently brought to my attention that in
    Tom Tumbusch's book, Tomarts Price Guide to Radio Premium and Cereal Box
    Collectibles, Tumbusch writes, ""His name was Stuart "Red" Albright."
    Interesting, but nothing I ever heard.

    My research for the book's storyline was basically from the radio scripts
    at the Ovaltine archives in their Villa Park headquarters in the 1980s.
    Here, virtually every reference to Captain Midnight's civilian name was
    inferential, such as when someone said that "Captain Midnight" was rather
    flamboyant, and he responds, "That name was not of my choosing."

    So where did the "Charles" come from?  I'll answer that in parts.  I do
    not consider the half-hour radio programs part of the Captain Midnight
    epic.  This is because they did not relate to the previous 11 years'
    storylines from the serial, plus the fact that they were aimed at a less
    sophisticated audience.  (Also, Ed Prentiss was not playing the part;
    Paul Barnes did the dubious honors.)

    That being said, the following television show completely recast the
    Captain Midnight background.  The Secret Squadron, in 1940, was an
    organization funded by the [removed] government.  The Secret Squadron of the
    television program was a private organization.  Most of the supporting
    characters of the radio show didn't transition to television: the only
    one that did was Ichabod Mudd.  In the radio show, besides being the
    Secret Squadron's Chief Mechanic, he was an inventor, developing a number
    of pieces of Secret Squadron equipment, including the Code-O-Graphs.  On
    television, he was sheer comic relief: a new inventor, Tut, the "science
    wizard," developed a number of astonishing and impractical gadgets.

    However, on the television show, Captain Midnight, in civvies, identified
    himself as "Jim Albright."  Although the TV show has virtually no
    relationship to the radio serial, since Ovaltine sponsored both, I
    honored the "Jim," or James, as part of his name.

    So now back to the question: whence came "Charles"?  This was something I
    deduced (or, if you wish, made up) from the way Chuck related to the
    Secret Squadron leader.  Chuck was Albright's ward, yet he called
    Albright "Red," a bit familiar for the late 1930s and early 1940s, for
    one to address his father figure.  This led me to believe that this was
    not Albright's actual first name.  But at the time, Chuck was already
    referring to Albright as Captain Midnight, which was spelled out in
    Ovaltine's origin story of the Captain Midnight name.

    This was and is speculation on my part.  I assumed that Chuck and
    Albright living together and often in each other's company, having two
    people both named Charles would have been awkward, yet "Charles" would be
    an appropriate name for Chuck's parents to have named him if Albright was
    the godfather and/or designated parental surrogate.

    In private communications, a Captain Midnight enthusiast considers my
    reasoning inappropriate and suggests rather heatedly that "James 'Red'
    Albright" was his official civilian name, period.  But "Red" as a
    nickname is a bit unusual, unless one's rather auburn haired, and there's
    nothing in the Ovaltine literature nor in the programs that I recall
    mentioning his hair color.

    I've speculated that "Red" was part of a screen name from Albright's
    presumed motion-picture stunt flying career.

    The above discussion, probably expanded, I intend to insert in my second
    Captain Midnight biography.

    Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2007 Issue #283
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