Subject: [removed] Digest V2005 #365
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 11/27/2005 9:23 AM
To: [removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2005 : Issue 365
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Re: Meyer The Buyer Radio Program     [ CPN1994@[removed] ]
  No place for a performer to be "bad"  [ "Frank Phillips" <frankphi@hotmail. ]
  This wek in radio history 27 Novembe  [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
  Stamp                                 [ udmacon@[removed] ]
  The Razor's Edge                      [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr" <skallisjr@j ]
  Laura Makes it to the Front Page of   [ "Jack Feldman" <qualitas@millenicom ]
  Al Jolson fan club and Gary Kramer    [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
  REPS 2006 Convention                  [ BryanH362@[removed] ]
  Scripts                               [ JayHick@[removed] ]
  razor blade and other exotic radios   [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]
  Question about "The Mouse that Jack   [ David Van Nostrand <midmitvguy@yaho ]
  Re: The Razor's Edge                  [ "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@attorneyross. ]
  11-27 births/deaths                   [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]

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

Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2005 11:14:40 -0500
From: CPN1994@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Meyer The Buyer Radio Program

In a message dated 11/14/2005 11:30:15 PM Eastern Standard Time,
"R. R. King" <kingrr@[removed]; writes:

I didn't search very thoroughly but I couldn't find any mention of a
syndicated version of "Meyer the Buyer" in any of the old newspaper
databases I frequent.
<snip>
Stations that carried it at one time or another included: WABC
(premiered August 25, according to the New York Times), WNAC, WFBL,
WBBM, WCCO, WTAQ, WISN, WJAS, WHAS, KMOX, KHJ, WMAL. Teddy Bergman
played Meyer and Ruth Yorke played his wife.

Mr. King was indeed right as I checked the Louisville Courier Journal August
25, 1932, edition.  Under the WHAS Radio Features For Today Coelum, this is
what was found.

Meyer The Buyer
    "Meyer the Buyer, Harry Hershfield's comic strip creation, will come to
life at 8:30 o'clock in a series of new radio sketches headed in the title
role
by Teddy Bergman, phenomenally successful creator of Joe Palooka as a
speaking character.
    Meyer Mizznick has a son at "Coronell College" studying "horatory
spicking" and a daughter at "Wesser" who is in love with a cornet player from
the
ferryboat S. S. Benjamin Franklin; his life is full of cares.  Uncle Ben from
"Salt Lake City, Utica," is always dropping for calls of twenty weeks each,
and
Irma Mizznick, the buyer's wife, has stopped putting on airs and begun
fighting
to keep her family together during the depression.
    Bergman is said to have at his command twenty accurate dialects; he has
filled 865 character roles in his three years as a CBS actor."

* *********************************************************************

Meyer The Buyer was indeed a CBS Network program.  I have an interest in this
program and if anyone can supply any more information please e-mail me at
CPN1994@[removed].    Thank you,
Charles P. Niren

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

Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2005 11:18:13 -0500
From: "Frank Phillips" <frankphi@[removed];
To: "Old time Radio mailing list" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  No place for a performer to be "bad" anymore?
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

I just posted a blog entry about performers, then and now, if anyone is
interested. It is rather lengthy so I won't repeat it here. It can be viewed
at [removed]

Frank Phillips

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

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

Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2005 11:18:29 -0500
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  This wek in radio history  27 November to 3
 December

 From Those Were The Days --

11/27

1930 - Broadcasting from "...the little theatre off Times Square,"
according to the show's introduction, The First Nighter was first heard.
The program, which actually originated from Chicago, then from
Hollywood, aired for 23 years and featured dramas and comedies.

11/28

1932 - Groucho Marx performed on radio for the first time.

11/29

1950 - "I Fly Anything", starring singer Dick Haymes in the role of
cargo pilot Dockery Crane, premiered on ABC. With a title like that, is
it any wonder the show only lasted one season? Haymes went back to
singing and did very well, thank you.

11/30

1940 - Lucille Ball and Cuban musician Desi Arnaz were married.

12/2

1932 - The Adventures of Charlie Chan was first heard on the NBC Blue
network.

   Joe

--
Visit my home page:  [removed]~[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2005 11:49:47 -0500
From: udmacon@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Stamp
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

 Another OTR veteran a number of us are petitioning for a postage stamp is
Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass music and a member of the Grand Ole Opry
from 1939 to 1996.

Bill was personally hired by George D. Hay, founder, producer, namer and
announcer of the Opry who told Bill at the time "if you ever leave the Grand
Ole Opry you'll have to fire yourself."

He never did.

BILL KNOWLTON, "Bluegrass Ramble," Sundays: 9 [removed] Midnight, WCNY ([removed])
Syracuse, WUNY ([removed]) Utica, WJNY ([removed]) Watertown NY, and [removed] on
the web. Since 1973!

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

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

Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2005 11:53:04 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr" <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  The Razor's Edge

A. Joseph Ross, [removed] , speaking of razor-blade radios, observes,

This version used a safety pin, with a piece of pencil lead
attached to the point, as the cat's whiskers.

Actually, many razor blade radios used the safety-pin point as the cat
whisker contact.  The point, as it were, being that common household
items could be used to construct a working radio.

Reminds me of a story: two boys are visiting a guy who had, among other
things in his "miscellaneous" pile, a slide rule.  One of the boys asked
what it was, and the man showed him, demonstrating a few of the basic
operations.  The kid took it all in, then called to his companion, "Hey
Fred!  Come here!  Here's something you can do math on, and it doesn't
need batteries!"

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2005 12:53:03 -0500
From: "Jack Feldman" <qualitas@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Laura Makes it to the Front Page of the
 Chicago Tribune

Surprised I haven't seen this yet, but this morning's Chicago Tribune had an
article, WITH PICTURE, of Laura's efforts to get the image of Jack Benny on
the 39 cent stamp.

Jack

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

Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2005 18:07:30 -0500
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Al Jolson fan club and Gary Kramer

I had two pieces of mail returned, marked "unable to forward."  Does anyone
know if any of these two organizations have an updated mailing address?

The Al Jolson Society
Jim Brockson
933 Fifth Avenue
Prospect Park, PA 19076

Great American Radio
Gary Kramer
Box 504
Genesee, MI 48437
(My Christmas card from last returned the day after I returned from the
Cincy April convention and now a recent letter.)

Martin

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

Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2005 18:13:09 -0500
From: BryanH362@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  REPS 2006 Convention
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

VAN PATTEN AND ALAN YOUNG TO SEATTLE CONVENTION

The REPS Radio Showcase will again be presented by The Radio  Enthusiasts of
Puget Sound on June 23-24, 2006 at the Seattle Center. With a  theme of
"Kids
Again!" (but not limiting the programming  to children's  shows,) we'll
get
excited like so many did "back then."

WHO IS COMING?
Dick Van Patten and Alan Young will be part of the professional group on
hand to re-create old time radio shows and to reminisce a lot. The cast will
also include Dick Beals, Donald Buka, Herb Ellis,  Anne Whitfield  Phillips,
Elliott (Ted) Reid, Rosemary Rice, Harlan (Hal) Stone, Gil Stratton,  Jr.  All
of
these talented folks have roots that go back to the days when  imagination was
important. Other actors will be announced in the near  future.

OTHER TALENT
 Not from early radio days, but very talented and important are  individuals
like Larry Albert, Frank Buxton, Jim and Pat French, Paul and Ilona  Herlinger
Susan Hutchison & several talented [removed]

PROBABLE PROGRAM
With live music and sound effects abounding, the stars will be re-creating
shows such as "I Remember Mama"; "The Cinnamon Bear"; "Family
Theater"
(episode  "20,000 Leagues under the Sea" -sure to please adults and kids
alike)."
The  Adventures of Harry Nile"; "Adventures in Odyssey" Other programs
that
are  currently being considered: Let's Pretend; The Saint; Our Gal Sunday;
Five
Minute Mysteries and Duffy's Tavern.

WANT MORE INFORMATION?
As details develop and registration forms are finalized, you can go to the
website of The Radio Enthusiasts of Puget Sound to check and to sign up right
after the first of the year. ([removed])
You can call 425-823-2547  or email hrrmikes@[removed] to have your name added
to the Radio Showcase mailing  list.

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

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

Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2005 18:13:18 -0500
From: JayHick@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Scripts

I still have about 50 scripts that are available to anyone interested.
Contact me offline if you are interested.  Jay Hickerson

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

Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2005 19:25:22 -0500
From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  razor blade and other exotic radios

When I was in 4th grade, someone gave me a book about how radio and
television worked --
"All About Radio and Television" by Jack Gould -- and one chapter contained
instructions for
making a razor blade radio.  This version used a safety pin, with a piece
of pencil lead
attached to the point, as the cat's whiskers.  The enhanced version called
for a real crystal
and cat's whiskers.  The final enhancement added a variable capacitor -- or
"condenser" as
they used to be called.

I never actually made the radio, but it was fun to read about, and I still
have the book.

On considering this old topic, it occurs to me that there is some historical
and political significance here.  The principal users of these 'foxhole
radios' were, of course, the soldiers who dwelt in such foxholes.  I
wonder--and it's just a guess--whether the value in these home-made
receivers was that they could be manufactured illicitly: that there wasn't
any shortage of radio receiving equipment amongst the Allied troops, but its
use was severely restricted, especially when it came to listening to the
enemy's propaganda broadcasts.  With a foxhole radio, you could listen to
whatever you'd like.

I think it might have been Bill Mauldin who said that the construction of
such a radio began by swiping a pair of headphones out of the nearest tank.
One earpiece was preserved, and the other dissected for the magnetic coil.
The wire from the latter went to winding the tuning coil and to provide an
antenna for the little receiver.

I'm guessing that the razor blade's coating was either a nitride (produced
by quenching the hot steel in a cyanide bath)  or iron phosphide, which we
obtain by applying phosphoric acid.  This coating and the graphite pencil
point form a (pause for trumpets) semiconductor junction, the basis for the
technology you're using right now.  In this case, it forms a diode, the
simplest description of which is that it's a device that allows current to
flow in one direction but not the other.

  Every radio needs a diode of some sort to unravel the music from the
carrier wave, and just about any pair of oxidized metals will produce a
semiconductor junction and thus make a diode.

However, there are further issues at hand.  All semiconductor diodes are
like squeaky doors: they require a certain amount of voltage (think of it as
electrical pressure) to push the current through in the easy direction.
Some semiconductor junctions are better about this than others, and it's
important, especially in a crystal set, where the tiny signal from the
antenna is not amplified.

The signal from the antenna is an alternating voltage, one alternation per
radio wave: a station at 720 kHz produces 720,000 alternations per second at
the antenna terminal of our radio. The amplitude of that voltage--how high
and low it gets--is on the order of microvolts.  The tuning circuit of the
radio--that is, the coil and capacitor--use resonant tricks to raise that
voltage to something like two-tenths of a volt, if we're lucky.  Our job
then is to use this voltage to push a current through our one-way diode.
The diode will conduct 720,000 pulses of current per second, but _only_ if
the signal voltage from the tuning circuit is high enough to push that
current through the diode.

Since it's 1915 and we don't have an easy way to amplify that signal from
the tuning circuit, about all we can do is to (1) make the tuning circuit as
good as we can, and (2) make the diode real easy to get current through.

(1) is the stuff that crystal radio enthusiasts spend their lives pursuing.
They fool with antenna circuits, gold contacts, high-Q coils, low-loss
capacitors, and probably burn chicken feathers over their triple-tuned
resonant circuits to get the highest possible signal voltage at their diode.

(2) is the stuff of mystery.  There are some semiconductor junctions that
are hopeless for crystal radios:  our beloved silicon makes a diode that
requires better than half a volt to work.

The standard crystal set used a steel-lead sulfide (galena) junction, and
the germanium diodes that came later used (I think) P-doped germanium and
steel.  These will conduct at something like [removed] volts, and are thus pretty
good.

Any attempt to improve on these will take you deep into the thickets of
semiconductor physics, and good luck to you.  Much progress has been made in
the field.  I don't think I've ever seen any kind of analysis on the
razor-blade/graphite junction, though I can't imagine that it was ignored in
the past.

The vacuum tube diode, on the other hand, has a forward voltage drop of
about nothing, which is why they're so great.  Ask any 1913 Navy radio
officer and he'll jump around with enthusiasm over tube diodes.  And of
course if we add a grid to the vacuum-tube diode, we can amplify the signal
from the antenna as much as we like before running it through a diode.  This
is the approach taken in receivers now.

There was one interesting technological aside some years back, though.  In
about 1960, when everyone was comfortable with tubes, a firm whose name I
will never recall came out with a high-quality AM receiver that was meant to
work into your pre-amplifier.  The quality was very high, and the signal
very clear and accurate.  It was a crystal set: the signal was run through a
high-grade tuning circuit and thence through a germanium diode.

M Kinsler

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

Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2005 21:08:47 -0500
From: David Van Nostrand <midmitvguy@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Question about "The Mouse that Jack Built" DVD

Does anybody know when this will be available on DVD?  I want to get a copy

Thanks

Dave

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

Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2005 21:19:18 -0500
From: "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: The Razor's Edge

On 26 Nov 2005 at 11:48, Stephen A Kallis, Jr wrote:

Reminds me of a story: two boys are visiting a guy who had, among
other things in his "miscellaneous" pile, a slide rule.  One of the
boys asked what it was, and the man showed him, demonstrating a few of
the basic operations.  The kid took it all in, then called to his
companion, "Hey Fred!  Come here!  Here's something you can do math
on, and it doesn't need batteries!"
Isaac Asimov wrote a short story entitled "The Holmes-Ginsbook Device," in which a couple 
of scientists invent a device for reading materials without an electronic screen.  It comes to 
be called a "book" -- short for "Holmes-Ginsbook device."

-- A. Joseph Ross, [removed] [removed] 15 Court Square, Suite 210 Fax [removed] Boston, MA 02108-2503 [removed] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2005 11:21:37 -0500 From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: 11-27 births/deaths November 27th births 11-27-1890 - Gladys Rice - Philadelphia, PA - d. 9-7-1983 singer: "Roxy's Gang"; "Lucky Strike Dance Orchestra"; "Voice of Firestone" 11-27-1893 - Harry Foster Welch - Annapolis, MD - d. 8-16-1973 actor: "Shell Show" 11-27-1897 - Vera Allen - New York, NY - d. 8-10-1987 actress: Grace Doblen "Hilltop House"; Mother Malone "Young Dr. Malone" 11-27-1898 - Eddie Kay - New York, NY - d. 12-22-1973 composer, conductor: "Those We Love" 11-27-1902 - J. Scott Smart - Philadelphia, PA - d. 1-15-1960 actor: Senator Bloat "Fred Allen Show"; Brad Runyon "Fat Man" 11-27-1904 - Florence Lake - Charleston, SC - d. 4-11-1980 actress: (Sister of Arthur Lake) Tess Terwilliger "David Harum" 11-27-1910 - Ray Herbeck - Los Angeles, CA - d. 1-17-1989 bandleader: "Ray Herbeck and His Orchestra" 11-27-1915 - Ralph Bell -New York, NY - d. 8-2-1998 actor: Travis Rogers "Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator"; Alfred Drake "This Is Nora Drake" 11-27-1916 - Chick Hearn - Buda, IL - d. 8-5-2002 sportscaster: "Pabst Blue Ribbon Bouts"; "Los Angeles Lakers play-by play" 11-27-1917 - Buffalo Bob Smith - Buffalo, NY - d. 7-30-1998 actor: Howdy Doody "Howdy Doody" 11-27-1925 - Ernie Wise - Leeds, England - d. 3-21-1999 comedian: "The Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise Radio Show"; "Bandwagon" 11-27-1925 - Marshall Thompson - Peoria, IL - d. 5-18-1992 actor: "Free World Theatre"; "Lux Radio Theatre" 11-27-1925 - Michael Tolan - Detroit, MI actor: Kato "Green Hornet" November 27th deaths 01-01-1889 - Alexander Smallens - d. 11-27-1972 conductor: "Rising Musical Star" 01-02-1892 - Artur Rodzinski - Dalmatia, Yugoslavia - d. 11-27-1958 concuctor: "NBC Symphony Orchestra"; "Cleveland Symphony Orchestra" 01-15-1906 - Sully Mason - Durham, NC - d. 11-27-1970 singer: "Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge" 02-05-1906 - John Carradine - Greenwich Village, NY - d. 11-27-1988 actor: "Lux Radio Theatre" 07-14-1909 - Walter Gross - New York, NY - d. 11-27-1967 composer, pianist: "Piano Playhouse"; "Carnation Contented Hour" 07-14-1910 - Boris Aplon - Chicago, IL - d. 11-27-1995 actor: Ivan Shark "Captain Midnight" 07-19-1891 - Raymond Bramley - Independence, OH - d. 11-27-1977 actor: Burton York "Howie Wing"; Silas Finke "David Harum" 08-03-1925 - Billy James Hargis - Texarkana, TX - d. 11-27-2004 preacher: Broadcast his ministry on more than 500 radio stations. 10-16-1888 - Eugene O'Neill - New York, NY - d. 11-27-1953 playwright: "NBC Presents Eugene O'Neill"; "Pulitzer Prize Plays"; "Best Plays" 11-04-1910 - Abby Lewis - Mesilla Park, NM - d. 11-27-1997 actress: Telephone Operator "House in the Country" 12-16-1892 - Cameron Prud'homme - Auburn, CA - d. 11-27-1967 actor: Governor Bradley "Little Herman"; David Harum "David Harum" -- Ron Sayles Milwaukee, Wisconsin -------------------------------- End of [removed] Digest V2005 Issue #365 ********************************************* 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]