Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #446
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 12/17/2003 7:33 AM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2003 : Issue 446
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Twas the Night Before Christmas       [ <welsa@[removed]; ]
      "Life With Luigi"                     [ JJiovanazz@[removed] ]
      Family Theatre                        [ "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed] ]
      RE: My Two Front Teeth                [ "William D. Clark" <wclark4121@stic ]
      Captain Midnight Secrets              [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
      Fred Allen Books Available            [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
      Re: Standards                         [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
      Ahhhh ... Memories!                   [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
      Re: The Night Before Christmas - Fre  [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
      More swearing - in other lanuages     [ "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed] ]
      12-17 births/deaths                   [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
      Family Theater                        [ "Darrel-Lantz -PNL" <dlantz@[removed] ]
      Sacre bleu!                           [ "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@hotmail. ]
      two more are gone                     [ "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@hotmail. ]
      Jonathan Thomas and his Christmas on  [ Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed]; ]
      Re: DVD too good to be true           [ Fred Berney <berney@[removed]; ]
      Superman and Clayton "Bud" Collyer    [ David <dbmartin5@[removed]; ]

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

    Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 10:27:49 -0500
    From: <welsa@[removed];
    To: "OTR Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Twas the Night Before Christmas

    Paula asked about a "full" version of Fred Waring's recording of the musical
    setting for this poem.  While I am not aware of such a recording, I do have
    the score for the song and it does not contain the line she referred to (The
    moon on the crest, etc.)

    Of course, we must note the OTR connection to this song.  It was arranged by
    Ken Darby in 1942.  Darby was one of the King's Men who sang on the FIBBER
    McGEE AND MOLLY show.  And the arrangement was written for that show.  It
    was used for several years as the annual Christmas song on Fibber.  I have a
    recording of one show it was used in and that line is missing there, too.

    I am suspicious that the line is not recorded anywhere since it was not
    written into the arrangement.

    Ted

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

    Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 10:28:55 -0500
    From: JJiovanazz@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  "Life With Luigi"
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    Hello to all,

    Does anyone have a Wrigley Gum commercial from a Life With Luigi show?  The
    Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Boca Raton is having an Italian Night on
    January 31st and we are having a reenactment of a Life With Luigi episode.  We
    would like to include a demonstration of sound effects and commercials as it
    was done back then.  I have a few shows on tape, but none of the tapes include
    the commercials.  By the way, there will be a full Italian dinner and music.
    If you are interested, you can call (561) 482-2001 and make a reservation. the
    cost is $20. per person.

    Jim

    Gum

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

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

    Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 11:05:04 -0500
    From: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Family Theatre

    In #444, Micheal Leannah wrote:

>     Awful show. <SNIP> maybe I just started with a bad one
>     <SNIP> The show I listened to was nothing but an overly
>     dramatic selling job of a very convervative social and
>     political stance.

    	My experience with Family Theatre is much the same.  Originally, I
    was only familiar with the Christmas episodes that came bundled in Christmas
    sets.  I thought these episodes were well done, and enjoyed them.  A few
    years back however, I purchased the Radio Spirits 4 CD science fiction set,
    and was interested to see that it included the Family Theatre presentation of
    20,000 Leagues Under the Sea since I enjoy this book very much.  When I
    listened to the show, I was horrified to hear how they butchered the book.
    They took a strong and compelling Captain Nemo, who travels in his submarine
    because of his love of the sea and his frustration with man's cruelty, and
    turned him into a blubbering idiot who cowers under the ocean to hide his
    love of man and God.  (this is all based on how I interpreted the book,
    others may have read it differently)  It seemed pretty obvious that they were
    less interested in doing a quality adaptation of the book, and more
    interested in using the framework of the book as vehicle for broadcasting
    their particular specific religious message.

    	We discussed this topic several months back, and a few people
    suggested that Family Theatre started by doing quality, family-oriented
    adaptations of classic fiction but over the life the show slid more and more
    into overtly religious proselytizing.

    	Please understand, I have no objection to religious programming.  I
    think it should be part of a broad spectrum of programming for people to
    choose from.  I just hate to see a great book ruined in the process.

    -chris holm

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

    Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 12:24:24 -0500
    From: "William D. Clark" <wclark4121@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  RE: My Two Front Teeth

    Dick Backus asked,

>     Can anyone suggest where I might find a program on which "All I Want
>     for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" was performed.

    William Clark replied,

>     That song is available on a retail CD: Dr. Demento presents The Greatest
>     Christmas Novelty CD of All-Time, Rhino Records #R2 75755.

    Let me mention the information from the liner notes from the CD, and then
    we'll move on:
    	The earliest recording in this collection, and the first really
    funny Christmas hit record, is Spike Jones' "All I want for Christmas Is My
    Two Front Teeth." Recorded December 4, 1947, too late for that year's
    festivities, it reached #1 on the Billboard pop charts in December 1948. The
    magical child's voice was created by Spike's 28 year old star trumpeter,
    George Rock.

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

    Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 12:24:57 -0500
    From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Captain Midnight Secrets

    Joe Mackey, quoting Those Were the Days,

>     * WE know they were actually [removed]

    Actually, the first four Code-O-Graphs (what laypeople call "decoders")
    were badges/  The last three were pocket items.  The last, the
    Key-O-Matic, was a pure cipher device, a clever design for a
    simple-substitution cipher gadget.

    Oddly, the Fall season for 1949 had no cipher messages.  The
    complete-in-one-episode shows had no need of "secret message" previews
    used in the show's serial days (which were much better than the half-hour
    stuff)

    Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

    Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 12:25:26 -0500
    From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Fred Allen Books Available

    Late last year, my mother passed away at age 95.  I have the unpleasant
    duty of having to help sell estate items.  Many of these are going on
    eBay; however, I have three Fred Allen books that I'm offering as a
    package for $[removed] to anyone interested.

    These are Much Ado About Me, and Treadmill To Oblivion, both by Fred
    Allen, and Fred Allen's Letters, edited by Joe McCarthy.  The proceeds
    will go into an estate fund.

    I have also found an LP record of music played by the Cities Service Band
    of America.  If anyone is interested in that, I'll let that one go for
    $[removed]

    I may stumble across other OTR items, but these are available.

    Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

    Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 13:08:55 -0500
    From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Standards

    "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed]; wisely wrote:

>     Back in those days, though, things were extraordinarily innocent.
>     The nastiest thing Bluto could say to Popeye in the cartoons was,
>     "You dirty double-crosser," even though nobody was double crossed.

    Actually, back in the evil days of the 1950s, the nastiest thing that
    someone could say to someone was "You dirty COMMUNIST!"

    You see, the good old days were not always so good.  I find it amusing but
    a little sad that there are some OTR fans who think of the OTR era as one
    of sweetness and light and eternal good cheer.  Along with being protected
    from nasty dirty words, the mainstream radio listener could also be
    protected from the reality of the real world situation.  In our little time
    machine of OTR, this is also possible, but I urge you not to let it happen.
    There ARE programs out there which tell it like it was, and discusses race
    relations, the evils of the McCarthyistic witch hunts, international world
    affairs, inner-city problems, and the other realities of life in the OTR
    era.  I know, just like today when some people come home from a hard days
    work and plop themselves down in front of the TV to be taken away from the
    reality of the world and only want to be entertained, that this also
    happened in the OTR era except that they plopped themselves down in front
    of the radio.  I sense that this has happened to some of the OTR fans who
    seem to think that we used to live in some sort of NeverNeverLand back in
    the OTR era.  Well, we didn't.  The image you hear on much of OTR is phony.
    Fiction radio is FICTION.  It is Life Idealized.

    I DID grow up in that idealized lifestyle in Suburbia, USA, in those
    post-war years, and as a child was treated to the cleansed-up image of
    America that mainstream radio and TV served up to us.  But if you think
    that this was REALITY, you are mistaken.  For those of you who long to go
    back to the days when everything was clean and nice, remember that
    everything in the real world wasn't so clean and nice as it was portrayed
    in mainstream OTR.

    Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

    Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 14:40:58 -0500
    From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Ahhhh ... Memories!

    Dr. Michael Biel, after adding "Communist" to the list of approved
    epithets, noted, correctly,

>     the good old days were not always so good.  I find it amusing but
>     a little sad that there are some OTR fans who think of the OTR era as one
>     of sweetness and light and eternal good cheer.  Along with being protected
>     from nasty dirty words, the mainstream radio listener could also be
>     protected from the reality of the real world situation.  In our little time
>     machine of OTR, this is also possible, but I urge you not to let it
>     happen.

    Nostalgia is remembering the best things of the past while unconsciously
    suppressing the unpleasant memories.  Emptying the drip pan under the ice
    box was a necessary chore, not pleasant, but only remembered if evoked.
    Shovelling coal into the furnace likewise.  Some of our mothers used a
    washboard rather than a washer, and those who had washers usually had one
    with a wringer to squeeze water out of the clothes.  Vacuum cleaners
    didn't have disposable inner bags, if one was fortunate enough to have a
    vacuum cleaner at all.

    If I set my mind to it, I can evoke memories of many unpleasant aspects
    of the past, and as an Army Brat I traveled around enough of the United
    States to see a lot of it.

    I also recall a lot of silliness of that era, neither pleasant nor
    unpleasant, but just inane.  People being scandalized over the likes of
    Johnny Ray collapsing in emotional exhaustion after singing "Cry," is one
    example (it even made Life magazine).  The big hoopla about Frank Sinatra
    receiving a shot of something that made his eyes dilate for the film, The
    Man With the Golden Arm, was another.

    Every era past the Paleolithic has doubtless had its nostalgic period.
    That doesn't make any nostalgia of a previous period the whole truth and
    nothing but the truth.

    Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

    Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 14:41:55 -0500
    From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re:  The Night Before Christmas - Fred Waring

    Paula Keiser <pkeiser@[removed]; posted in OTR DIgest 444 about her search
    for the FULL version of "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" by Fred Waring
    and his Pennsylvanians rather than the truncated version which omits part
    of the poem such as "The moon on the crest of the newfallen snow, Gave the
    luster of midday to objects below."  which is missing in the "popular
    version."  She asked: "Can anyone point me in the right direction?"

    Well, everybody here knows that I don't point people to the right, but the
    CORRECT direction would be to my pal Peter T. Kiefer
    <ptk1@[removed];  who runs the Fred Waring archive at Penn State,
    Fred Waring's America.  As those who heard his talk at this year's FOTR
    will agree, he knows everything there is to know about Waring--and he is
    eager to tell anybody anything they need to know.  You might check with him
    to find out if the version of this work they sell is more complete than the
    recordings you have heard.  Their sales page is
    <[removed];, and on it you will see
    that because MCA controls the original album and is in no hurry to either
    reissue it or license it to someone else, the Archive has re-created the
    contents of the album from their complete archive of all of Waring's
    broadcasts from 1933 on.  The original Decca version of the piece took two
    sides of a 10-inch 78 rpm record, and I always thought it would be
    complete.  But Peter would be able to tell you if the 78 was complete,
    whether the LP reissues were complete, and if his version is complete.  By
    the way, Waring made three commercial recordings of the work, the original
    Decca on July 29, 1942, a Decca re-recording on May 25, 1954, and a Capitol
    recording (probably in stereo) on April 16, 1961.  The version the archive
    is selling comes from a December 24, 1956 broadcast.

    My disclaimer is that I have no connection with this organization and
    receive nothing in return for this plug except the knowledge that I am
    helping to promote a well-run and ideal archive.  It is a situation that is
    not always found in the academic or governmental world.   And judging from
    Ian Grieve's posting about the pending tragedy of ScreenSound Australia, I
    grieve for my friends down in Canberra.

    Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

    Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 14:42:29 -0500
    From: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  More swearing - in other lanuages

    In 445, Ken Piletic wrote:

>     Since this was in the late fortys or early fifties, it couldn't be
>     anything "dirty",  but to this day, nobody has been able to tell
>     me what it means.  I asked  some French-speaking friends, and they
>     translated the phrase to "Sacred Blue" in English.

    I'm no linguist, but it is my understanding that while English swearing tends
    to be more scatalogical, French tends to be more religious such as "Sacre
    Bleu!" or "Tabernac!"  Somebody here is bound to know these [removed]

    -chris holm

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

    Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 14:48:16 -0500
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  12-17 births/deaths

    December 17th births

    12-17-1896 - Arthur Fiedler - South Boston, MA - d. 7-10-1979
    conductor: "Robert Merrill with the Boston Pops Orchestra"; "Boston Pops"
    12-17-1902 - House Jameson - Austin, TX - d. 4-23-1971
    actor: Sam Aldrich "Aldrich Family"; Inspector Douglas Renfrew "Renfrew of
    the Mounted"

    December 17th deaths

    01-01-1909 - Dana Andrews - Collins, MS - d. 12-17-1992
    actor: Matt Cevetic "I Was A Communist for the FBI"
    07-11-1892 - Thomas Mitchell - Elizabeth, NJ - d. 12-17-1962
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Cavalcade of America"
    08-28-1907 - Sam Levene - NYC - d. 12-17-1980
    comedian: "Fred Allen Show"

    Ron Sayles
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

    Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 15:03:40 -0500
    From: "Darrel-Lantz -PNL" <dlantz@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Family Theater

    I have very much enjoyed Family Theater and find most of the shows very
    entertaining.  An earlier message talked about them being to conservative
    and the morals being too heavy handed.  This is also my opinion on some
    episodes, but many many episodes are touching, uplifting, and the messages
    are well presented.  The closest modern show to this that I can think of
    is "Touched by and Angel," and even that contemporary show can often have
    heavy handed messages.  Most shows today have either no message or a
    twisted inappropriate message, so I will take a show like Family Theater
    any day.

    If you want to check out about 30 free episode downloads with episode
    summaries, so you can pick and choose the episodes that interest you, I
    found a great site at [removed]  You will
    need to scroll about half way down the list to get to the downloadable
    episodes.  A new episode is added each week exactly 56 years after it
    originally aired.  Pretty cool idea!

    Take Care,

    Zongo

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

    Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 16:00:44 -0500
    From: "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Sacre bleu!

    Ken Piletic wrote about a character on Blackhawk:

>     One of the characters was from either France
>     or Canada.  He used the expression "Sacre Bleu !" whenever anything unusual
>     happened.

    That phrase was also used on one of my favorite shows, The Silver Eagle.
    Mountie Jim West's sidekick Joe Bideaux exclaimed it at least once on every
    show, or so my memory tells me. I even picked it up myself. As to what it
    means, probably the same as "My stars!" or "Saints preserve us!" It's all in
    HOW it is said.

    Barbara

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

    Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 16:35:13 -0500
    From: "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  two more are gone

    Peggy Webber's husband Sean McClory passed away on December 10 at the age of
    79. His obituary is at
    [removed],0,[removed]

    In addition to movies and TV he appeared often on the California Artists
    Radio Theatre (CART) radio programs produced by Peggy Webber.

    Also, Donn Reed passed away today. In Los Angeles he is remembered as the
    Nightside voice on KMPC (1961-81). Old time radio fans will remember him as
    the reporter who rode along with the Culver City Police Department in the
    reality series Nightwatch, on CBS radio in 1954/55.

    Barbara

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

    Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 19:10:51 -0500
    From: Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Jonathan Thomas and his Christmas on the Moon

    My wife and I have really enjoyed listening to the
    Cinnamon Bear for the first time this year. (A bit of
    guilty pleasure--we're in our mid-30s with no kids, so
    we're only mildly embarrassed about being addicted to
    a kid's show.) I just downloaded a similar serial
    called Jonathan Thomas and his Christmas on the Moon,
    which runs from Nov 29 through Xmas eve, just like the
    Cinnamon Bear. (The site was
    [removed], if anyone's
    interested.) Does anybody know anything about this
    series? Jerry Haendiges's log has dates, but no
    episode titles or actors--and I haven't been able to
    find anything else online.

    Kermyt

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

    Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 23:07:14 -0500
    From: Fred Berney <berney@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: DVD too good to be true

    I'll go along with some of what Martin Grams said, but let me make some
    corrections.

    If there DVDs are DVD-Rs, then everything Martin said is true. At the
    moment you can only get [removed] GB on one side of a DVD-R. Using what is called
    the 2 hours mode, you'll get excellent quality. At 4 hours the quality
    drops, but in some cases is acceptable. The 6 hour mode is very compressed
    and it looks it.

    With video tape, the tape is slowed down to record more information. In a
    DVD, the image is compressed more. It is a tough call, but I think that the
    6 hour speed on video tape looks better than the 6 hour compressed mode on
    a DVD. The image quality strobes. You have to see it to understand.

    Anyway, if the DVDs are replicated, then you can have 9 GB per side. This
    would allow for about 4 hours on one side of a DVD. You can also replicate
    DVDs with two sides. And, if done correctly, you can compress an image more
    with some very expensive equipment than the equipment you get with the
    stand alone DVD recorders and thereby obtain more hours on a DVD.

    Check out some the commercial movies that fill the DVD with tons of extras.

    But, to get back to what Martin said, unless these are commercially
    replicated and authored DVDs, they can't have that much quality if they are
    putting 5 or 6 hours of video on a single sided DVD.

    Fred
    [removed]

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

    Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2003 00:38:11 -0500
    From: David <dbmartin5@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Superman and Clayton "Bud" Collyer

    is the voice of the radio "superman", Clayton "Bud" Collyer, the same
    man who was the host of the 1960's game show "To Tell the Truth".  I
    saw a single show and hear the name, but did not see a spelling so I
    was not sure.

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #446
    *********************************************

    Copyright [removed] Communications, York, PA; All Rights Reserved,
      including republication in any form.

    If you enjoy this list, please consider financially supporting it:
       [removed]

    For Help: [removed]@[removed]

    To Unsubscribe: [removed]@[removed]

    To Subscribe: [removed]@[removed]
      or see [removed]

    For Help with the Archive Server, send the command ARCHIVE HELP
      in the SUBJECT of a message to [removed]@[removed]

    To contact the listmaster, mail to listmaster@[removed]

    To Send Mail to the list, simply send to [removed]@[removed]