Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #410
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 12/28/2004 8:38 AM
To: [removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2004 : Issue 410
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Another OTR passing                   [ Richard Pratz <[removed]@[removed]; ]
  sound over sight - radio v. TV        [ David Loftus <dloft59@[removed] ]
  wanted                                [ Pete <pappleyard_ca@[removed]; ]
  kemo sabe a racial slur?              [ leonardfass@[removed] (Leonard Fass ]
  Wally Maher?                          [ "dennis townsend" <dltnkt@[removed] ]
  Sonovox                               [ ilamfan@[removed] ]
  Re: The Bickersons                    [ Gerald Wright <gdwright@[removed] ]
  Allen's Alley                         [ Richard Carpenter <newsduck@[removed] ]
  availability of CD/MP3 players        [ "Kurt E. Yount" <blsmass@[removed]; ]
  Re: Benny Christmas Shopping Traditi  [ "Brian L Bedsworth" <az2pa@[removed]; ]
  Gildy's Wife                          [ Mkerezman@[removed] ]
  Daily News on Passings in 2004        [ Sean Dougherty <seandd@[removed] ]
  News from Lake Woebegone              [ Bhob <bhob2@[removed]; ]
  The Sonovox                           [ Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@erols ]
  Eddie Layton                          [ JayHick@[removed] ]
  Casey Crime Photog mislabeled shows   [ "Joseph" <drjoewebb@[removed]; ]
  Norman and Himan                      [ "Mike Martini" <mmartini@[removed] ]

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

Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2004 21:10:10 -0500
From: Richard Pratz <[removed]@[removed];
To: "OTR (Plain Text Only)" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Another OTR passing

Unless you were an Arthur Godfrey fan, the name Haleloke (pronounced
Holly-Low-Key) probably doesn't mean much. But if "The man himself" was your
cup of tea (Lipton's) on radio and TV, you'll remember who she was. Haleloke
Kahuaolapua died Dec. 16, 2004 in Union City, Indiana. She was 82. She was
born in 1922 at Hilo, Hawaii and rose to fame in the 1950s due to the
ukelele-toting 'old redhead's' fondness for things Hawaiian. She was one of
the 'Little Godfrey's' on his radio and TV shows for 5-years, from 1950 to
1955. During the 1951-52 season, the bashful Hawaiian singer/dancer was
featured on the cover of TV Guide along with Godfrey. Before Godfrey,
Haleloke was on the Mutual radio show "Hawaii Calls," a program of Hawaiian
music. She also performed on Ed Sullivan's "Toast of the Town." Julius
LaRosa and bandleader Archie Blyer were not the only persons fired by
Godfrey. He also fired The Mariners, The Chordettes, three writers, and in
April of [removed] Godfrey replaced her with a Japanese girl,
Miyoshi Umeki who later starred on TV's "The Courtship Of Eddie's Father" as
a housekeeper. Haleloke eventually faded into obscurity and lived out an
ordinary life in Union City. No, she wasn't a huge OTR star, but as part of
the "Godfrey Gang" on both radio and TV, she made her mark.

Rich

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

Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2004 21:10:45 -0500
From: David Loftus <dloft59@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  sound over sight - radio v. TV

In response to somebody's comments:

These were not great literary works, but they left a far more indelible
impression on me than all of Jack London's work.

Mark Kinsler wrote:

I think I know why.  Radio--and now, TV--can be appreciated by a kid before
he can read.  So radio (and its advertising) has something like a 5-year
head start on the (heh heh) impressionable child's mind.   TV is even
better.

Or worse, depending on your perspective. I remember reading Marie
Winn's _The Plug-In Drug_ in 1977 and Jerry Mander's _Four Arguments
for the Elimination of Television_ several years later. I wonder what
substantive research has been done on the scientific and psychological
effects of TV since. . . ?

thoroughly addicted to TV as a child and now radio as a proto-geezer.

David Loftus

(who went for months in childhood without seeing a television, and never
got near to seeing as much in a month as the average American adult
apparently views in a week, but was addicted to LPs -- musical and spoken
word -- as a kid)

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

Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 09:56:52 -0500
From: Pete <pappleyard_ca@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  wanted

With all the talk about The Worst Program the name of
a program that I had forgotten all about.
Like others my father-in-law can remember his canary
singing his heart out when The Hartz Mountain Canaries
program came on . He says it was on a Sunday morning
and he insists it was on the CBC.
Anyways, is there someone out there with a program
that they would sell the old guy?? If so please drop
me a line at  pappleyard_ca@[removed]   and I will get
back to you right away.
Thanks  Pete

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

Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 09:57:05 -0500
From: leonardfass@[removed] (Leonard Fass)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  kemo sabe a racial slur?

that  thought is  silly and worth no response.

[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 09:57:16 -0500
From: "dennis townsend" <dltnkt@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Wally Maher?

Seems to have passed away very young. Anyone have a clue as to what took him?
Dennis

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

Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 09:59:14 -0500
From: ilamfan@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed] (OTR Bulletin Board)
Subject:  Sonovox

Here's some info on the Sonovox, taken directly from Barnouw's 1949 "Handbook
Of Radio Writing":

     *The Sonovox is the brilliant device that makes sound effects and music
"talk", that makes trains say "Bromo-Seltzer, Bromo-Seltzer, Bromo-Seltzer,"
and also gives speech to foghorns, marching feet, diving airplanes, fire
sirens, or any musical instruments.
     The Sonovox has a different status from the filter and echo chamber in
that the Sonovox is a patented device, which must be rented at a royalty fee
for each broadcast on which it is used.  Also, operation of the device
requires such special skills that only operators trained by the Wright
Sonovox Company may be used for articulating the sounds or music.  The device
is available in the major network centers but not yet elsewhere.
     This, then, is a device that cannot be used as casually as a filter, but
is reserved for rather special moments.
     The device was invented by Gilbert Wright, former physics teacher at the
University of California.  While shaving with an electric razor, he noticed
that the brrrr of the razor went through the wall of his throat and came out
of his mouth, which amplified it like a loud-speaker.  This was the basis for
the invention.
     When the device is in use, a recorded sound effect or musical passage is
played into the throat through two instruments resembling earphones, clamped
tightly to the throat.  As the sound emerges from the operator's mouth the
operator "shapes" the words, but makes no sound.  The sound is supplied
entirely by the sound effect or music.
     The operator is generally called an "articulator".
     The effect has been widely used for commercials, but also occasionally
for drama.  On "The Shadow", a man who had murdered his wife kept hearing her
voice in the sound of a vacuum cleaner.*

     And used, of course, on the "Rusty" records.  A similar device is used
on the late 1970's song "Do You Feel Like I Do" by Peter Frampton, and
numerous others.  I happened to have this information handy because I just
finished reading the Barnouw book (which was very good!).
     Okay, the next question is, which episode of the Shadow is that?  Now I
want to check it out - I'm guessing that unless it was done extraordinarily
well, the "lady in the vacuum cleaner" is more funny than it is unnerving!

Stephen Jansen

--
Old Time Radio never dies - it
just changes formats!

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

Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 09:57:56 -0500
From: Gerald Wright <gdwright@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: The Bickersons

David Loftus mentioned in passing:

After years of being a Bickersons fan, I was astounded to learn
recently that the show was on for only two seasons in the late 1940s
(at least with Ameche and Langford

... any of the shows I've run across in OTR collections at the library
are not dated

I don't suppose there's any authoritative listing of show dates and
content anywhere?

Here is the information I've been able to put together about the
Bickersons.

Drene Time (1946, Sept. - 1947, June) NBC Sundays - had a Bickerson
skit with Don Ameche & Frances Langford

Old Gold Show aka Don Ameche Show (1947, Sept. - 1948, June) - CBS
Wednesday,  Fridays - had a Bickerson skit with Don Ameche & Frances
Langford

Charlie McCarthy Show (1948, Oct - Dec.) - had a Bickerson skit with
Don Ameche & Marsha Hunt

The Bickersons  (1951, June 5 - Aug 28) - CBS Tuesdays starred Lew
Parker & Frances Langford

Then to confuse the OTR collecting community even further Don Ameche
and Frances Langford were reunited in the 1960's to  record two reunion
albums in stereo - "The Bickersons," and "The Bickersons Fight Back"
[both have been re-released on a single CD]. Tracks from these two
albums are floating around as if they were actual Bickerson skits from
the radio programs. Here is a listing of the tracks from the two albums
to help collectors sort out the recordings from the actual broadcasts.

THE BICKERSONS:

1. Breakfast with John  and Blanche (6:21)
2. The Bickersons at Sea (12:31)Ý
3. Wedding Anniversary (5:41)Ý
4. Later That Same Evening (10:22).

THE BICKERSONS FIGHT BACK:

1. Round I ñ Sister Clara (8:12)Ý
2. Round II ñ Three OíClock in the Morning ((12:19)Ý
3. Round III ñ Blanche Learns to DriveÝ
4. Round IV ñ Back From Peapack (13:06)

J. David Goldin's database of radio programs is an excellent source for
identifying shows. His site can be located at:

<[removed];

Here is a listing of the various versions of the Bickersons listed at
his site:

Drene Time [Don Ameche & Frances Langford] with Danny Thomas as brother
Amos

470112 - Blanche gets a puppy
470209 - Blanche let Amos borrow John's tuxedo
470223 - Brother Amos is in jail for wrecking John's new car
470302 - John going on brief business trip
470316 - Blanche bought a $50 ticket form a race track "trout"
470330 - Amos borrows John's new fishing pole to clean a drain with!
470413 - John has returned from a bachelor party for brother Amos
470518 - Amos tries to get John to make out a will

Old Gold Time [Don Ameche & Frances Langford] with comedian Frank Morgan

471115 - Blanche's birthday present
471126 - John is in the hospital to have his Uvula shortened to stop
his snoring
471203 - John and Blanche are on a fishing boat
471224 - Christmas eve at the Bickersons
480213 - John comes home at 2:00 A. M. to discover that Blanche wants
him to take out an accident insurance policy
480227 - The Bickersons are arriving home from the movies. They've just
seen (or slept through) "Sleep My Love."
480306 - The Bickersons are at Niagara Falls for their second honeymoon
480326 - Blanche has bought a dyed rabbit coat for Easter
480416 - The Bickersons go on a trailering vacation
480423 - Blanche's sprained ankle
480430 - John's new job as a streetcar conductor
480507 - The Bickersons cat is about to have kittens.
480514 - John plans to spend his vacation sleeping
480521 - Blanche has lost bets on eight races at the track
480528 - In the Presidential Suite of a San Francisco Hotel
480604 - The eighth anniversary
480611 - Blanche has bought a new handbag with John's tax refund check
480618 - The Bickersons have moved into a new apartment [last show of
the series]

The Bickersons [Lew Parker & Frances Langford]

510602 - John is arrested as a "cat burglar" and misses his own
anniversary
510610 - Blanche uses John's insurance money to buy a new mink coat
510622 - After a driving lesson, the Bickersons rent the Gooseby's
house while Brother Barney uses the Bickerson's home for a poker game
510717 - Blanche has a sprained [removed] she buys a television set
from Dr. Hersey!
510810 - Blanche is finally determined to cure John's [removed] an
operation!
510817 - Blanche's cousin Agnes is getting married, which leads John
into a jail cell!

Gerry Wright
ZoneZebra Productions
San Francisco

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

Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 09:59:28 -0500
From: Richard Carpenter <newsduck@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Allen's Alley
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I'm a little late joining the recent discussion on Fred Allen, but I would
like to recommend the 1989 biography "Fred Allen: His Life and Wit" by Robert
Taylor. I'd also like to note that there is an actual Allen's Alley in
Boston, a passageway near the Tremont Street theater district. It's sad to
think that the name probably has no significance to maybe 90 pewrcent of the
people who pass by it.

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

Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 09:59:41 -0500
From: "Kurt E. Yount" <blsmass@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  availability of CD/MP3 players

Thanks for this information.  I am still checking for true resume.
Thanks for these tests though.  This makes me aware that if you are going
to buy one, it has to be done now, if you want to find one with true
resume.  Most of the ones put out by Sony have true resume only until you
open the lid.  I will keep everybody posted.  Kurt

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

Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 10:01:27 -0500
From: "Brian L Bedsworth" <az2pa@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Benny Christmas Shopping Tradition

Date: Sun, 26 Dec 2004 22:34:45 -0500
From: "William Schell" <bschell@[removed];
To: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  OTR Christmas shows

The first I listened to was The Christmas Wallet broadcast in 1948.  The
second was Christmas Shopping for the Cast with an unknown date but most
likely the next year.

"Shopping for Cufflinks" was broadcast 02 Dec 1951.

I don't know the actor who played the poor clerk in
the first show but it sounded Like Mel Blanc in the second.

The 1948 show's harried help was also portrayed by Blanc; the earlier show
featured him in a relatively rare use of his "real-life", more
conversational voice.

In fact, nearly =every= postwar Christmas Shopping episode featured Blanc as
the shop clerk. In one of the Benny show's many running gags, Mel's counter
man would move from department to department, hoping to avoid that crazy
customer who couldn't choose between plastic-tipped and metal-tipped
shoelaces, plastic or wooden golf tees, lethal or non-lethal gopher traps,
and so forth. (No matter how often he moved, though, Benny would find him;
one year, he moved to the date counter at the store's Palm Springs location
to hide, to no avail.) Often, he would mention having made it back from a
breakdown, or having spent so much time waiting on Benny that he'd miss his
=own= holiday gathering (or, at least once, miss seeing his family grow
up!).

I am left wondering why the two shows shared
many of the same gags and lines.  Could there have been a writers' strike?

The Benny Christmas Shopping shows were a radio tradition that featured many
running gags over the years. Some of these gags were left practically
unchanged from year to year because they were seen as sure-fire
laugh-getters. Other bits were re-arranged somewhat to keep them from going
stale. Still other bits were retired for several years before being re-used
(the "mama-doll/twirling-bird/chemistry-set" gag from 1951, for instance,
was lifted almost verbatim from a 1938 "Shopping in New York" show). Still
other bits were brand-new.

Why reuse so much older material? Might as well ask why the Claymation(TM)
"Rudolph" special airs every year. Everyone has seen it. Everyone knows it.
(Sadly, some of us can even quote long stretches of dialogue and sing whole
songs from it. In character voice.) Why run it again?

Because the holiday season is a time when people seem to =embrace= the
familiar, the known. Tradition is never more important, it seems, around
Christmas. That's why Barrymore would put on the Scrooge each Christmas Eve.
That's why Andy Brown woukl play Santa at the department store (and Amos
Jones would explain the Lord's Prayer to his kids) every year. That's why
Judy and Jimmy Barton have been chasing after that darned Silver Star each
and every December for sixty-seven years and counting.

The Benny Christmas Shopping program was one of those "evergreen" shows that
families went back to year after year after year. Its power was such that,
even after the final regular weekly original broadcast of his show in 1955,
Benny returned for one more new show at Christmas of the following year.
That was seen as the time most likely to draw families back to the radio to
hear the familiar mixed with the new. And isn't that one of the most
endearing things about our holiday celebrations? Old friends, new times?

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

Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 09:58:32 -0500
From: Mkerezman@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Gildy's Wife
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I've been listening to fair amount amount christmas OTR in last week. On
listening to a number of pre-1941 Fibber Mcgee and molly christmas shows I've
noticed a number of references to Gildersleeves wife. I was wondering how
this was
resolved by the time Gildy moved to Summerfield?

Mike Kerezman
Macomb, Ok

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Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 10:06:35 -0500
From: Sean Dougherty <seandd@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Daily News on Passings in 2004

David Hinckley of The Daily News in New York ([removed]) devotes 
his column today to radio stars who died in 2004.  Two FOTR mainstays are 
mentioned, Jackson Beck and Harry Fleetwood, along with various post-OTR 
personalities like John Gambling and Scott Muni.

RIP.

Sean Dougherty
SeanDD@[removed]

[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 10:06:54 -0500
From: Bhob <bhob2@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  News from Lake Woebegone
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Very good Q&A interview with John Dunning about collecting radio
programs, talking with radio personalities and problems of writing TWO
O'CLOCK, EASTERN WARTIME:
[removed]?
page=author&authorID=552&view=interview

I previously mentioned Dunning's work in researching radio for Robert
Altman's THIEVES LIKE US, a film in which Altman used vintage radio as
a substitute for a music score. Altman has said, "Radio was my first
love." Now he is making a movie based on PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION, so
radio might get a treatment similar to Altman's mullti-layered
NASHVILLE. Garrison Keillor's screenplay depicts a fictional
performance of his radio show, blending onstage routines with backstage
subplots of romantic comedy and drama. Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin
appear as the Johnson Sisters. Lyle Lovett and Tom Waits are singing
cowboys Dusty and Lefty. Keillor portrays himself. This was announced
as slated to film during January and February in St. Paul.

Bhob

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Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 09:58:12 -0500
From: Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@[removed];
To: OTRBB <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  The Sonovox

Dennis Crow asks about a process called "Sonovox."  Was that the same
process used in making musical instruments appear to talk in the album,
"Rusty in Orchestraville?"  How does it work?

The Sonovox was invented by Gilbert Wright in the late 30s and
consisted of twin transducers held against a speaker's larynx. A piston
assembly had the voice coil and magnet assembly rigidly mounted in one
unit. The devise was used in radio many times (all the Bromo Selzer
commercials), musical albums (including Rusty in Orchestraville), and
the movies (the sound of the little train in "Dumbo") You can see a
demonstration of it in the film, "You'll Find Out" starring Kay Kaiser.

A lengthy article on the Sonovox, written by Gary Schneider, appeared
in the April 2002 issue of RADIO RECALL.

Jack French
Editor

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

Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 10:06:49 -0500
From: JayHick@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Eddie Layton

Eddie died on Sunday.  He was in his late 70's and organist for the NY
Yankees and Madison Square Garden.  He play on radio in many shows.  Eddie
attended
our convention many years ago.

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

Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 10:25:47 -0500
From: "Joseph" <drjoewebb@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Casey Crime Photog mislabeled shows

I'm always on the lookout for this series, and sloppy collecting seems to be
at work here. It's understandable for some series to have various titles for
the same show, but there's no excuse here as the title is always announced.
I've wondered if it's actually some malicious intent to deceive unsuspecting
collectors by giving wrong names to shows that have been circulating for
years. So here's what i've compiled so far; bad title first, actual title of
show:

"Dangerous Characters" is actually "Christmas Shopping";
"Photo Finish" ==> "Photo of the Dead";
"White Monster" ==> "Key Witness";
"Killer's Kid" ==> "Murder in Black & White";
"Buccaneer's Cove" ==> "Treasure Cave";
"Dead Pigeon" ==> promo show for Anchor Hocking sales meeting;
"Girl on the Dock" ==> "Serpent Goddess";
"Old Joe" ==> "Death in Lovers Lane";
"Victory Garden" ==> "Clue in the Clouds"

I hope this helps some people avoid problems collecting this series

Regards
Joe Webb
Harrisville RI

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

Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 10:29:25 -0500
From: "Mike Martini" <mmartini@[removed];
To: "Old Radio Chat Group (E-mail)" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Norman and Himan

Hello,

2005 will be a big year for Norman Corwin and Himan Brown!

Norman Corwin (born in Boston, 5/3/10), as Mr. Fish points out, still
teaches, still writes and is still active in Hollywood.

Himan Brown (born in Brooklyn, 7/21/10) still teaches, still lectures and
still produces radio drama at a college in New York.

Both have web sites (just plug in their name and add dot-com) and both have
great stories and memories.  We are so fortunate to have both of them and
hopefully will for many years to come!

Maybe we can have big birthday parties on both coasts this year.

-Mike Martini

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #410
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