Subject: [removed] Digest V2005 #181
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 6/14/2005 10:14 AM

To: [removed]@[removed]

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2005 : Issue 181
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Scariest Show                         [ Froggievilleus <froggievilleus@yaho ]
      re: Scary moments                     [ Dan <teac35@[removed]; ]
      Re: Radio Friendly? TV friendly, too  [ Martin <watchstop@[removed]; ]
      Arlene Harris                         [ "kclarke5@[removed]" <kclarke5@juno. ]
      Re: Actual Cases?                     [ "Michael J. Hayde" <michaelhayde@ea ]
      Mystery ads                           [ Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@erols ]
      "based on actual cases"               [ "Joseph" <drjoewebb@[removed]; ]
      Dragnet actual cases                  [ Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed]; ]
      RE: Jack Benny and Pork               [ "Druian, Raymond B SPL" <[removed] ]
      Origin of Johnny Dollar?              [ Alan/Linda Bell <alanlinda43@yahoo. ]
      Last Day of Radio Drama               [ Art Chimes <[removed]@[removed]; ]
      Re: Gunsmoke                          [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
      Re: Scary Shows                       [ LBohall@[removed] ]
      6-14 births/deaths                    [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
      How quickly they forget               [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
      Nana Clute                            [ yoggy <yoggy@[removed]; ]

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 12:42:58 -0400
    From: Froggievilleus <froggievilleus@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Scariest Show

    Hi,

    Been playing catch up with my emails from the weekend
    and have been enjoying other's scariest shows entries.
     Here is mine.

    Back in 1995, when I was living for a short time in
    Iowa, one dark night I was in the mood for something
    spooky.  I popped in a cassette in my player and
    decided on an episode of Cape Cod Mystery Theater.
    The episode was "The Caller On Line One".  The longer
    the show went on, the more creeped out I got.  At the
    end of the show, I couldn't help but look at the phone
    on the wall, hoping that it would NOT ring.  I ended
    up sleeping with the lights on that night.

    :)

    Elizabeth S.

    [removed]

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 12:43:15 -0400
    From: Dan <teac35@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  re: Scary moments

    "The Wailing Wall" from Suspense
    the other two have been mentioned already
    Dan

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 14:51:17 -0400
    From: Martin <watchstop@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Radio Friendly?  TV friendly, too!

    A tardy response after Michael Biel's good message in Issue 175.

    It makes sense that often the presence or absence of a friendly
    closing could be determined by the particulars of when a program
    might be aired.

    This brings me to think again about Alistair Cooke, who would open
    his weekly Letter from America with "Good evening," and his final
    words at the end of each program, "Good night."  However, both of
    those friendly elements were actually retained on a limited basis by
    the BBC, because the program was broadcast at various time around the
    clock. especially during the years when short wave was used much more
    than today.

    There were slipups however, and now and then those special words
    would come through, even at ten o'clock in the morning.  I like to
    think that sometimes engineers intentionally allowed the cordial
    salutation and closing (it is amazing what Mr. Cooke could do even
    with two words) to reach the listener.

    --Martin

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 14:53:47 -0400
    From: "kclarke5@[removed]" <kclarke5@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Arlene Harris

           Yes, I remember Arlene Harris alright. I never got
    to hear her perform on OTR, but seem to recall a guest spot
    she did on the old "Dick Van Dyke Show". The writers of the
    show decided to have radio performers do their acts during a
    time when new skits were hard to come by. It was a very good
    performance, and if that was, indeed, indicative of the type
    work she did on OTR, she must have been quite good.

    Another OTR Fan,

    Kenneth Clarke

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 14:54:20 -0400
    From: "Michael J. Hayde" <michaelhayde@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Actual Cases?

    "RadioAZ" asks:

>     Many of the crime shows on radio such as Dragnet, Gangbusters and the FBI
>     shows all indicated that the stories were based on actual [removed] <snip>
>     I
>     just wondered if anyone knows for a fact that those shows were reality-based?

    I'll let my friend Martin Grams Jr. speak for "Gangbusters."  As far as
    "Dragnet" is concerned: yes, Jack Webb and his team of writers had access to
    LAPD cases.  In the early radio days, this was via the show's two technical
    advisors: Sgt. Marty Wynn and Det. Vance Brasher.  Later, a system was set up
    by which officers from any division could submit a likely case, and these
    were filtered through the LAPD's Public Relations department (at one time,
    then-LAPD cop Gene Roddenberry worked there).

    The Department set limitations on which cases could be used; and, of course,
    what you heard (and later saw) on "Dragnet" was never exactly what
    transpired.  The whole thing is spelled out in my book "My Name's Friday,"
    which also includes descriptions of two cases as they actually happened,
    versus their "Dragnet" adaptations.

    Michael

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 14:55:57 -0400
    From: Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Mystery ads

    On Monday, June 13, 2005, at 12:18 PM, Bill Harker wrote:

>     Can someone tell me if there were ever _Yours Truly Johnny Dollar_
>     advertisements in newspapers or trade magazines.
>     To make this complete, how about ads for any other mystery-oriented
>     shows?

    In the RADIO RECALL archives, we have copies of advertisements for True
    Detective Mysteries, Stories of the Black Chamber, The Whistler,
    Calling All Cars, Dick Tracy, Crime Photographer, Attorney at Law,
    Perry Mason & Mr. Keen, Phillip Marlowe, Ken-Rad Unsolved Mysteries,
    and Murder at Midnight.  Also included is an undated ad from WHEC in
    Rochester, NY for Johnny Dollar and Mr. Chameleon.

    Jack French
    Editor

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 17:33:47 -0400
    From: "Joseph" <drjoewebb@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  "based on actual cases"

    one doesn't need to have access to police records to "base" something on
    actual cases. it could be anything. a collection of newspapers, a history
    book, a chat over coffee with a cop friend. this was actually quite flexible.
    just like today's law & order tv show "ripped from the headlines" is about as
    far as it gets when it has a murder that looks like something but then is
    something quite different in the end when the episode is concluded. while
    some shows may have involved cooperation, like dragnet often did, the reason
    would be for public relations purposes. the names would be changed so they
    could play fast and loose with the facts so they could fit everything into a
    30 min show with commercials, but still retain the core of the story. the
    news is a great source for plotlines.

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 17:35:19 -0400
    From: Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Dragnet actual cases

    The question was asked of Dragnet and other shows:

    "But, were these shows based on real situations?"

    >From all reports, "Dragnet" was based on real cases.
    The key words, of course, are "based on." Obviously,
    the stories were fictionalized to some degree. Not
    only with the name changes, but also with some of the
    dialogue. If you listen to "Dragnet" long enough,
    you'll note a [removed] style in how people deliver
    not only their lines, but the information contained
    within them. In many cases, for example, a witness
    will describe things they saw and/or heard, and/or
    will comment/complain about something totally
    unrelated to the case (in a just making conversation
    way). Some of this will appear to be useful to the
    investigation, and some of it won't, but at the end of
    the conversation, there's always that last bit of
    information- that coda, that either solidifies what
    the person has said, or renders it all worthless.

    Case in point, in one episode I listened to recently,
    Friday and Smith are interviewing the neighbor of the
    owner of a car which may or may not have been used in
    a crime. They want to see if the owner matches the
    description of the criminal in question. The neighbor
    offers her criticisms about the car's owner (about a
    variety of things), and while some of it appears to be
    petty jealousies unrelated to the crime, it starts to
    look like they've got the right guy.

    Then she describes the neighbor, physically, and he
    doesn't match up with witness reports in even a vague
    way. Friday and Smith thank her and are about to
    leave, when she suddenly volunteers that the neighbor
    is actually away, and that his brother, who _does_
    match the description is driving the car.

    There are other examples, not all ending with key
    information like that; but every "Dragnet" episode has
    a conversation ending with a "punchline" of sorts.

    Now, you know that the real life cases aren't going to
    have those dialogue quirks. Not _all_ of them, at any
    rate. Likewise, the real life version of the cases
    investigated by Joe Friday and his various partners
    were very likely investigated by a variety of actual
    cops over the years, not the same two or three.

    As to the cases themselves, I imagine Jack webb and
    the writers took the basic information ([removed] known
    Cleveland-based forger John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt
    left town in violation of parole and resurfaced in
    [removed], where he began a running a bad-check ring. The
    police got the goods on him when an underling caught
    passing bad checks agreed to take part in a sting
    operation) and tweaked it a bit. They would doubtless
    add some minor characters who didn't exist in the
    actual case, and maybe change the locations where the
    hypothetical bad checks were passed in LA from a
    hardware store to a grocery store, etc.

    Again, the basic _story_ was true, but I'm sure
    certain details were tweaked above and beyond the name
    change and the "Dragnet"-style dialogue.

    As to why the police would cooperate, the primary
    reason is obvious. Good publicity. Jack Webb was known
    and respected as someone who wouldn't make the police
    look bad or incompetent. Instead, through "Dragnet",
    he gave the average listener (and later, viewer), an
    idea of the hard work that police officers go through.
    He also depicted the cops as ordinary people. Witness
    Frank Smith's complaints about his brother-in-law, or
    other issues at home.

    Webb's depiction of police life and work is a bit
    idealized, of course, as the cops on "Dragnet" always
    eventually get their man. On the other hand, it isn't
    100 percent ideal. one episode covered a case that
    actually took more than a year to solve, so Friday, et
    al., weren't depicted as perfect.

    Rick

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 17:36:05 -0400
    From: "Druian, Raymond B SPL" <[removed]@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  RE: Jack Benny and Pork

    Sad to say, but pork, in the instance of the Jack Benny statue, is actually
    PORC, an acronym for "Project of Regional Concern." Considering the nature of
    many of those projects around the nation, it's no surprise that the acronym
    has been replaced in most folks' minds, with "pork."

     B. Ray
     W9KEE (ex W7KVW)
     [removed]@[removed]
     bray@[removed]

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 17:36:31 -0400
    From: Alan/Linda Bell <alanlinda43@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Origin of Johnny Dollar?

    I recently watched the old B&W version of The Killers starring Burt
    Lancaster and Ava Gardner, and noticed an interesting thing. Edmond
    O'Brien played an insurance investigator trying to figure out why
    "the Swede" got knocked off. Just a coincidence that not too much
    later he played an insurance investigator on the radio? Could that
    have been the germ of an idea that developed into YTJD?

    Also I notice on IMDB that he is credited with being the SECOND
    person to play JD on radio. I'd always thought he was the first,
    unless of course they're counting a pilot show that have featured
    someone else. (Or IMDB is [removed])

    Alan
    --
    _______________
    Alan/Linda Bell
    Grand Rapids, MI

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 20:21:06 -0400
    From: Art Chimes <[removed]@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Last Day of Radio Drama

    Given the recent posts on the final broadcasts of the last surviving CBS
    dramas in 1962, I'll modestly use this opportunity to mention the
    commentary I did on All Things Considered a few years ago on the 40th
    anniversary of that occasion. It's still online at
    [removed]

    -Art-

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

    Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 21:30:25 -0400
    From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re:  Gunsmoke

       In #179 Joseph Ross questioned re: my weekly "this week" items --

     >> 1961 - Gunsmoke was broadcast for the last time on CBS.

     > Is this right?

        According to Dunning, pg 302, yes it is.  :)
        Joe

    --
    Visit my homepage:
    [removed]~[removed]  No trees
    were killed in the sending of this message.  However a large number
    of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

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

    Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2005 00:56:18 -0400
    From: LBohall@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Scary Shows

    In a message dated 6/13/2005 11:19:20 AM Central Standard Time, John  Mayer
    writes:

>     _Suspense_'s "On a Lonely Road" was another that made an  impression
>     on me. And I remember I was often unsettled by _X-1_, though the  only
>     scary story I remember clearly from that show was "Tunnel Under  the
>     World," which frightened by placing the protagonist in a position  of
>     absolute powerlessness. Appropriately, it was about advertising.

    I'm not sure it qualifies as "scary," but wasn't there an X-1 episode  called
    "Cold Equation" or something similar about a woman who stows away on a  space
    ship which depletes the crew's oxygen, and in the end the captain has to
    dump her out into space? If I'm remembering that right, I found it pretty
    scary.

    One night I was listening to "When Radio Was" (I know that's not the best
    thing to admit here) and they were playing an episode of "The Hermit's Cave"
    in
    which a guy is lost in the desert, desperately searching for water. I was
    working late at the office, and it was almost midnight, and someone started
    banging on the outside door. I went out and there was this hitchhiker who
    wanted
    some [removed] was a scary (and funny) [removed]

    And when CBSRMT was on, our local affiliate used to play it at 4 am, and I
    was working in those days as a janitor at McDonald's, all alone in the
    building,  cleaning through the night, and some of those shows, lame as they
    often
    were,  were pretty scary, too. Mostly, though, it was that creaking door and
    the
    ominous music that went with it.

    Larry
    My novel, Martyr's Cry, is  available now! Go to: [removed]
    for more [removed]

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

    Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2005 08:37:40 -0400
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  6-14 births/deaths

    June 14th births

    06-14-1884 - John McCormack - Athone, Ireland - d. 9-16-1945
    singer: "The Atwater-Kent Hour"; "The Vince Program"
    06-14-1891 - Elaine Sterne Carrington - NYC - d. 5-4-1958
    creator-writer: "Pepper Young's Family"; "Rosemary"; "When a Girl Marries"
    06-14-1893 - Joe Forte - England - d. 3-11-1967
    actor: Osgood Conklin "Our Miss Brooks"; Horowitz "Life with Luigi"
    06-14-1894 - Benny Fields - Milwaukee, WI - d. 8-16-1959
    actor: "The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air"
    06-14-1895 - Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards - Hannibal, MO - d. 7-17-1971
    singer: Jiminy Cricket "Fun and Fancy Free"; "Cliff Edwards, Ukulele Ike"
    06-14-1906 - Gil Lamb - Minneapolis, MN - d. 11-2-1995
    actor: Homer Clinker "The Rudy Vallee Show"
    06-14-1907 - Nappy Lamare - New Orleans, LA - d. 5-19-1988
    jazz guitarist: "The Bob Crosby Show"
    06-14-1908 - John Scott Trotter - Charlotte, NC - d. 10-29-1975
    conductor: "Kraft Music Hall"; "Philco Radio Time"
    06-14-1909 - Burl Ives - Hunt Township, IL - d. 4-14-1995
    singer: "Columbia County Journal"; "Radio Reader's Digest"
    06-14-1914 - Nat Polen - NYC - d. 5-3-1981
    actor: Edward McCormick "Indictment" "CBS Mystery Theatre"
    06-14-1915 - Kay Sutton - Irvington, NJ - d. 3-1-1988
    actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    06-14-1917 - Paul Monash - NYC - d. 1-14-2003
    writer: "Molle Mystery Theatre"
    06-14-1918 - Dorothy McGuire - Omaha, NE - d. 9-13-2001
    actress: Sue Evans Miller "Big Sister"; "Joyce Jordan, [removed]"
    06-14-1919 - Gene Barry - NYC
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    06-14-1919 - Sam Wanamaker - Chicago, IL - d. 12-18-1993
    actor: Ellis Smith "The Guiding Light"; "Lone Journey"
    06-14-1929 - Cy Coleman - NYC - d. 11-18-2004
    jazz pianist, composer: "Cy Coleman at the Piano"; "Voices of Vista"
    06-14-1930 - David Leeson - d. 2-xx-1971
    writer: "Young Doctor Malone"

    June 14th deaths

    04-16-1924 - Henry Mancini - Cleveland, OH - d. 6-14-1994
    orchestra leader: "Family Theatre"; "Voices of Vista"
    04-27-1907 - Matty Matlock - Paducah, KY - d. 6-14-1978
    jazz musician: (Member of the Big 7 Band) "Pete Kelly's Blues"
    05-29-1874 - G. K. Chesterton - London, England - d. 6-14-1936
    creator: "Advs. of Father Brown"
    06-18-1910 - Betty Mandeville - Minneapolis, MN - d. 6-14-2001
    producer, director: "The FBI in Peace and War"; "Take It or Leave It"
    07-09-1878 - Hans Von  "[removed]" Kaltenborn - Milwaukee, WI - d. 6-14-1965
    commentator: "Current Events"; "Editing the News"
    08-20-1907 - Alan Reed (aka Teddy Bergman) - NYC - d. 6-14-1977
    actor: Falstaff Openshaw "Fred Allen Show"; Pasquale "Life with Luigi"
    08-31-1918 - Alan Jay Lerner - NYC - d. 6-14-1986
    writer: "Victor Borge"; "Raleigh Room"; "Philco Hall of Fame"
    10-10-1926 - Richard Jaeckel - Long Beach, NY - d. 6-14-1997
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    12-22-1907 - Peggy Ashcroft - London, England - d. 6-14-1991
    actress: BBC "Queen Victoria"
    --
    Ron Sayles
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

    Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2005 10:22:44 -0400
    From: <otrbuff@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  How quickly they forget

    Here's an interesting news item:

>     CHICAGO (AP) - An American Airlines jet flying from New York to Seattle was

    diverted to Chicago on Monday evening after a suspicious item was found on
    board, authorities said. It turned out to be a radio.

    Security matters aside, has it been so long since some people heard one that
    they've forgotten what a radio looks like?  If so, vintage radio must have
    been further back than we are remembering.

    Jim Cox

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

    Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2005 12:13:15 -0400
    From: yoggy <yoggy@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Nana Clute

          I have some sad news to communicate and this seems to be the fastest
    way.   Many of you know Ed and Nana Clute and also know that Nana has been
    very ill for the past 2 years.  Well, she passed away yesterday.  She was
    always (when healthy) at Ed's side and the two were very devoted, so this has
    hit Ed quite hard.  As of now Ed does not feel up to having a funeral service
    but in a few weeks I think he will hold a memorial service for Nana at their
    church in Watkins Glen, NY.  In the meantime, I know he would appreciate any
    prayers and best wishes that you might care to send him.  His mailing address
    is :  4 Orchard Ave., Watkins Glen, NY 14891.  His phone number is (607)
    535-2010.  thanks to everyone for your concern,  Gary Yoggy

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2005 Issue #181
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