Subject: [removed] Digest V2007 #147
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 5/18/2007 5:42 AM

To: [removed]@[removed]

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2007 : Issue 147
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Alexanderson correction               [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
      RE: Bob Hope at Fort Belvoir          [ Philip Chavin <pchavin@[removed]; ]
      Hal Stone magazine article            [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
      SUSPENSE book                         [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
      The Shadow                            [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
      A few random OTR thoughts             [ Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed]; ]
      Kenosha? Never hoid a da [removed]     [ "Don Jensen" <dnjkenosha@[removed]; ]
      bob on dat                            [ Henry Howard <hbhoward@[removed] ]
      DAT Reliability                       [ ilamfan@[removed] (S Jansen) ]
      5-18 births/deaths                    [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
      R-DAT                                 [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]

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

    Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 20:14:20 -0400
    From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Alexanderson correction

    Whoops.  Another note about early radio in Ron's daily listing to correct.

    01-25-1878 - Ernest Alexanderson - Uppsala, Sweden - d. 5-14-1975
    engineer: Possibly first voice ever heard on radio Dec. 24, 1906

    Even if this broadcast actually took place as described (there has been a
    LOT of controversy about it this past year -- just in time to scuttle some
    of the 100th anniversary celebrations) it would have been Reginald Fessenden
    who would have been heard.  Ernst [note spelling] Alexanderson was the [removed]
    engineer who re-designed and built the alternators for Fessenden, but it has
    never even been hinted at that he participated in any of the broadcasts.

    Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

    Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 20:14:37 -0400
    From: Philip Chavin <pchavin@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  RE: Bob Hope at Fort Belvoir

    Andrew S., in his #145 follow-up posting re the Ft
    Belvoir broadcast date, wrote:

>     The historian at Fort Belvoir informed me that Bob
>     Hope performed there on May 5th, 1953. I failed to
>     take into account that by 1953, radio shows were
>     taping their performances, so the broadcast could

    have >been on any date after May 5th.

    Yeah, theoretically "any date after May 5th", but
    surely Bob knew on 5 May when the broadcast would go
    out on the network and care would have been taken so
    that the topical information mentioned in the actual
    broadcast wouldn't be stale.  Therefore the
    combination of a 5 May performance and of two topical
    comments made by Bob on the broadcast (the first two
    clues Andrew listed in his #143 posting) certainly
    points to a probable 6 May broadcast.

    -- Phil C.

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

    Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 20:15:13 -0400
    From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Hal Stone magazine article

    The present issue of Comics Buyer's Guide (July 2007) has an article on page
    178 about Hal Stone.  Maggie Thompson penned the article.  She is a frequent
    visitor to FOTR every year and the two photos of Hal in the article are from
    FOTR (you can tell by the badge Hal wears).

    The article gives a run-down about Hal's life, his family, his contributions
    to OTR Conventions, and a link to Charlie Summers' reminiscences and photos.

    The next page has a photo of Maggie with Will Hutchins and both are wearing
    theor FOTR badges.

    Their web-site is [removed]

    Just an FYI.

    Martin

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

    Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 20:16:07 -0400
    From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  SUSPENSE book

    Someone posted a query about the two SUSPENSE books.

    I have not yet seen the new SUSPENSE book coming out through Bear Manor
    Media yet.  I was aware of it, as the author had contacted me a year or so
    ago asking for permission to reprint material from my book.  I gave him a
    signed statement that he had permission to reprint whatever he needed.  I
    even sent him a couple short stories from mystery magazines that were
    adapted from "original" SUSPENSE radio scripts (not short stories that were
    adapted into SUSPENSE radio scripts) with the suggestion that he reprint one
    or two of them so fans of the program can read a story they won't otherwise
    since they were to radio broadcasts not known to exist in recorded form.

    Don Ramlow, who directs many radio recreations at conventions, has been
    working on what will be considered the definitive guide to the series.  He's
    been working on the book for MANY years, many years before I even did my
    book.  His is contracted through McFarland Publishers (last I was told) and
    should be available soon.  Like the author before him, I also gave
    permission to reprint whatever is needed.

    It is a good feeling to see that material on radio shows get more
    comprehensive and detailed and more research is unearthed about radio
    programs, rather than have subjects like SUSPENSE closed doors just because
    of one book.  I am sure the book through Bear Manor Media will have new
    information about the program making it worth the purchase.

    Martin Grams Jr.
    [removed]

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

    Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 20:16:34 -0400
    From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  The Shadow

    I am finishing a SHADOW story entitled "The Black Master" (Gibson/Grant) and
    came across an amusing passage:

    "He strikes in the dark.  He has his agents, but we have never discovered
    them.  He has been at war with crooks, and at certain times, they have
    fallen into our hands through his efforts.  At the same time, he will not
    hesitate to battle with police and detectives is they interfere with his
    plan!"

    "Why is he called 'The Shadow?'

    "Because that is what he is - The Shadow!  He moves in the dark.  He
    disappears like a will-o'-the-wisp.  His voice has been head - over the
    radio.  He has broadcast once a week over a national hookup."

    This story was printed in 1932, years before the crime-fighting version of
    the radio program came to be.  I just found this amusing.

    Martin

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

    Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 20:23:34 -0400
    From: Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  A few random OTR thoughts

    Just a few random thoughts relating to OTR:

    I've been listening to Matinee with Bob and Ray, their 1949/50 show
    that aired locally in Boston. I'm more familiar with their later work,
    and I've also really been enjoying their 59/60 CBS show. It's
    interesting to hear these early versions of their characters and
    sketches in the Boston show. I hadn't realized, for example, that Mary
    McGoon was originally Mary Margaret McGoon--obviously a spoof on Mary
    Margaret McBride. (Incidentally, Ray isn't quite as comfortable with
    the female voices as he would later become.)

    It's too bad we have so little Bob and Ray from between 1950 and 1959.
    My dad listened to them in high school a lot -- say, 1954-1958. He
    still recalls how he and a buddy would get together the next day and do
    impressions of Wally Ballew. I'd love to get some of those shows for
    him but they just don't seem to exist.

    I've just started listening to the Johnny Dollar adventure, The Meg's
    Palace Matter. I found it amusing that the insurance adjuster who calls
    Johnny at the start of the first episode is a character named Byron
    Kane, played by an actor named ... Byron Kane! (I guess Pat McCracken
    wasn't available?) That seems like a very bizarre inside joke. Anybody
    know the reason behind this? Byron Kane wasn't anywhere near a
    household name (though in my household, he'll always be Tom Jefferson
    from [cue Paul Frees] "Stan Freberg Presents The United States Of
    America, Vol. 1: The Early Years.")

    I've been reading "A Wind in the Door," by Madeleine L'Engle.
    Re-reading, I should say, since I read this (probably several times)
    about 25 years ago when I was a kid. (Not sure why I picked it up again
    ... easy summer reading?) Some of you who read the book may recall that
    there's a rather unpleasant elementary school principal who features
    rather prominently. Every time he appears in the book, I picture Osgood
    Conklin, from Our Miss Brooks! Does anbbody else do that--visualize OTR
    characters in books they read? (I mean apart from the obvious cases
    where it's an actual OTR character appearing. I read "The Amazing
    Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" a while back, and Orson Welles has a
    couple of cameos. So I pictured Orson Welles. Incidentally, when the
    book described The Escapist radio show, I did not picture Bud Collier
    as the actor portraying The Escapist on radio. Probably just as well,
    given how things turned out for that character.)

    Kermyt

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

    Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 20:23:44 -0400
    From: "Don Jensen" <dnjkenosha@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Kenosha? Never hoid a da [removed]

    I'm new to this but someone pointed out to me that an old friend,
    Dennis Crow had mentioned my name - - Don Jensen.
    I did, indeed, found the Cinnamon Bear Brigade, the first and to my knowledge
    only "fan club" for that venerable Christmas radio series.  It prompted a lot
    of mail and free membership requests from countless folks who, like me, grew
    up with a great fondness for Paddy O'Cinnamon and his friends.  Most, however,
    wanted to get recordings of the show, and, of course, they learned about the
    sources for same -- then few and far between.   After that, though, mostly,
    they disappeared into the woodwork again.  But in fairness, it is hard to keep
    enthusiasm year round for a very seasonal show.  Anyway, in time, I realized
    that even with help from Dennis and a devoted Portland woman, Carolyn, the
    efforts to keep the Cinnamon Bear Brigade were too much for me.  And so, after
    1991 (I guess it was), the Brigade disbanded.   So much for history.

    As to OTR folks from Kenosha, there were a goodly [removed] Raymond Edward
    Johnson and his sister, Dora,  of course, the Ameche boys, Don and Jim, Orson
    Welles, the Roberts brothers, and others.

    Jack French, as noted, is coming to Kenosha for an event June 30, focusing on
    the Private Eyelashes, which include a couple of new live performances,
    featuring "Candy Matson," the other a brand new character, Rebecca Diamond, a
    creation of Nita Hunter, who is producing this event.  And I, too, will have a
    role in same as we have fun making OTR New Again!.

    don
    Don Jensen

    And I

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

    Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 20:39:19 -0400
    From: Henry Howard <hbhoward@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  bob on dat

    At 06:19 PM 5/17/07 -0400, you wrote:

>     And so I wonder: have DAT cassettes proven unreliable?

    DATs  were a good digital acquisition format until we could do better.
    The idea was, grab the content, then trasfer it to a more stable format.
    The 3M dats suffered similar formula problems to their analog back coated
    stock (sticky tapes).

    The extreme thinness of the tape led to easy stretching or physical failure.
    The narrow gauge also required very tight head alignment.
    As with similar video tape formats, head clogging could be another problem.

    I personally experienced dat tapes that could not be read less than a year
    after recording, despite being stored in tape friendly conditions.
    I also have tapes on the self that still play.

              Henry Howard
    radiodrama digest moderator
         [removed]
       audio drama skills training

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

    Date: Fri, 18 May 2007 04:35:10 -0400
    From: ilamfan@[removed] (S Jansen)
    To: [removed]@[removed] (OTR Bulletin Board)
    Subject:  DAT Reliability

         Yup - the "rumors" are true.  DAT (Digital Audio Tape) is an unreliable
    format.  Entire chunks of audio can disappear with no warning at all.  Even
    though there is error correction involved, the errors can easily exceed the
    level of correction.
         I believe that the main problem is that we're still dealing with
    magnetic tape.  There is, of course,  the level of physical / mechanical
    transport, along with the usual caveats about magnetism: avoid placing tapes
    near magnets, speakers, televisions, bulk erasers, too hot an environment,
    etc etc.
         At least when regular analog tape is mistreated or abused as such, the
    audio is still accessible (though it may not be as pristine as before).  When
    digital tape is affected, it just DOESN'T WORK.
         CDs and DVD's are much more stable formats - even CDR and DVDR will take
    much more deliberate misuse to destroy the information (although a ballpoint
    pen writing on the top will pretty much wreck any disc!).  It's nearly
    impossible to accidentally lose the data on a cd.
         Of course, back when DAT was all we had to record digital audio (ten
    years ago or so), we didn't know what the future held.  Now we are older and
    [removed]

         AND BUSY TRANSFERRING ALL OF THOSE OLD DAT RECORDINGS TO CD WHILE THEY
    STILL WORK, right?

    Stephen Jansen

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

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

    Date: Fri, 18 May 2007 04:35:20 -0400
    From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  5-18 births/deaths

    May 18th births

    05-18-1892 - Ezio Pinza, Rome, Italy - d. 5-9-1957
    singer: "Telephone Hour"; "Ezio Pinza's Children Show"; "Stagestruck"
    05-18-1893 - Jean Goldkette - Patras, Greece - d. 3-24-1962
    bandleader: "The Studebaker Champion Program"
    05-18-1897 - Frank Capra - Bisacquino, Sicily - d. 9-3-1991
    film director: "Gulf Screen Theatre"; "NBC Theatre"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
    05-18-1900 - Lew White - Philadelphia, PA - d. 3-4-1955
    organist: "Lucky Strike Dance Orchestra"; "Break the Bank"; "Betty
    Moore"
    05-18-1900 - Raymond Paige - Wausau, WI - d. 8-7-1965
    conductor: "Hollywood Hotel"; "Musical Americana"; "Stage Door Canteen"
    05-18-1902 - Meredith Willson - Mason City, IA - d. 6-15-1984
    conductor, composer: "Maxwell House Coffee Time"; "Meredith Willson/
    Music Room"
    05-18-1904 - Fred Shields - Kansas City, MO - d. 6-30-1974
    actor: Bill Fraser "Tarzan"
    05-18-1904 - Jacob K. Javits - NYC - d. 3-7-1986
    [removed] senator new york: "Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy Show"
    05-18-1907 - Clifford Curzon - London, England - d. 9-2-1982
    pianist: "March of Dimes"
    05-18-1908 - Alastair McBain - d. 12-xx-1980
    author: "Cloak and Dagger"
    05-18-1908 - Del King - Kansas City, KS - d. 8-22-1964
    announcer: "Avalon Time"; "Tommy Dorsey's Kool Show"
    05-18-1908 - Lorene Scott - d. 4-19-1983
    actor: Maria Hawkins "Young Widder Brown"
    05-18-1908 - Ted Malone - Colorado Springs, CO - d. 10-20-1989
    commentator: "Between the Bookends"; "Pilgrimage of Poetry"
    05-18-1908 - Tommy Tucker - Souris, ND - d. 7-13-1989
    bandleader: "Lucky Strike Show with Walter Winchell"; "George Jessel
    Show"
    05-18-1912 - John Campbell Crosby - Milwaukee, WI - d. 9-7-1991
    radio critic: New York Herald Tribune
    05-18-1912 - Perry Como - Canonsburg, PA - d. 5-12-2001
    singer: "Perry Como Program"; "Chesterfield Supper Club"
    05-18-1922 - Bill Macy - Revere, MA
    actor: "Earplay"
    05-18-1922 - Kai Winding - Aarhus, Denmark - d. 5-7-1983
    musician: "Stan Kenton and His Orchestra"; "One Night Stand"; "Jubilee"
    05-18-1924 - Jack Whitaker - Philadelphia, PA
    disc jockey, sportscaster: "Jack the Bachelor"; "Sports Shots"
    05-18-1931 - Robert Morse - Newton, MA
    actor: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"
    05-18-1932 - Walter Anglin - d. 9-8-2001
    disk jockey: WJLD Birmingham, Alabama
    05-18-1936 - Joel Kupperman - Chicago, IL
    panelist: "Quiz Kids"

    May 18th deaths

    01-13-1890 - Elmer Davis - Aurora, IN - d. 5-18-1958
    newscaster, commentator, correspondent: "Elmer Davis and the News"
    02-06-1888 - Lucille Gleason - Pasadena, CA - d. 5-18-1947
    actor: "Jimmy Gleason's Diner"
    03-21-1893 - Sidney Franklin - San Francisco, CA - d. 5-18-1972
    film producer, director: "Academy Awards Program"; "Screen Guild
    Theatre"
    03-25-1892 - Andy Clyde - Blaingowrie, Scotland - d. 5-18-1967
    actor: California Carlson "Hopalong Cassidy"
    05-03-1919 - Doris Rich - Canada - d. 5-18-1971
    actor: Hannah O'Leary" Houseboat Hannah"; Miss Daisey "Portia Faces
    Life"
    05-10-1910 - Louis Buck - Bessemer, AL - d. 5-18-1971
    announcer: "Grand Ole Opry"; "Sunday Down South"
    06-13-1890 - Elmer Davis - Aurora, IN - d. 5-18-1958
    newscaster: "Elmer Davis and the News"
    06-18-1919 - Ed Simmons - d. 5-18-1998
    writer, director: "The Martin and Lewis Show"; "The Quiz Kids"
    06-29-1908 - Leroy Anderson - Cambridge, MA - d. 5-18-1975
    compser, arranger: " Contemporary Composers Concerts"; "Must for
    America"
    08-31-1908 - William Saroyan - Fresno, CA - d. 5-18-1981
    writer: "Columbia Workshop"; "The Free Company"; "Biography in Sound"
    09-09-1927 - Elvin Ray Jones - Pontiac, MI - d. 5-18-2004
    jazz drummer: "Newport Jazz Festival"
    10-12-1906 - Daniel Saidenberg - d. 5-18-1997
    conductor: "Alec Templeton Time"
    11-01-1923 - Charles Dugdale - Lincoln, NE - d. 5-18-1985
    actor: "Heartbeat Theatre"
    11-16-1912 - Paul Dudley - Massachusetts - d. 5-18-1959
    writer: "Pot o' Gold"; "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar"
    11-23-1912 - Tyree Glenn - Corsicana, TX - d. 5-18-1974
    trombonist, vibraphonist: "Duke Ellington Carnegie Hall Concert"
    11-27-1925 - Marshall Thompson - Peoria, IL - d. 5-18-1992
    actor: "Free World Theatre"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
    11-29-1905 - Mario Braggiotti - Florence, Italy - d. 5-18-1996
    pianist, composer: "Fray and Braggiotti"

    Ron Sayles

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

    Date: Fri, 18 May 2007 04:36:17 -0400
    From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  R-DAT

    Mark Kinsler questioned why some are concerned about using DAT (more
    correctly called R-DAT)  for archival preservation.  Last week at the 41st
    annual conference of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections, the
    question came up in a roundtable discussion with the ARSC Technical
    Committee of which formats should archives be most concerned with for
    failure.  The immediate response was that R-DAT was the most likely to fail.
    It is not a robust format and has only minimal error correction
    capabilities.  It was never meant as a professional format, certainly not
    archival.  Back in the late 1990s when AMPEX was still expressing confidence
    in their open reel tape (much of which was rapidly failing) their data
    sheets for their R-DAT tapes predicted only a five year shelf life.  And
    that was more than five years ago.

    The tape is too narrow and thin to take the stresses it is subjected to.
    Interchangeability between different machines was always a problem, as
    engineers at radio stations with multiple R-DAT machines will tell you.  The
    slightest damage to the tape will result in complete failure of that portion
    of the tape, but not necessarily the rest of the tape.  (MiniDisc does run
    the risk of losing part or all of the disc if something happens to the early
    part of the disc or the table of contents.)

    ALL formats run the risk of failure, but R-DAT is one of the worst.  (And
    speaking of the worst, don't rely on Wikipedia.  There are too many noted
    instances of fake, malicious, or derogatory information being placed on it.

    Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2007 Issue #147
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