Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #101
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 3/19/2004 1:52 PM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2004 : Issue 101
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      More on Scripts                       [ Conrad Binyon <conradab@[removed] ]
      MILTON BERLE                          [ ME <voxpop@[removed]; ]
      Lone Wolfe/DVD                        [ "Jim Harmon" <jimharmonotr@charter. ]
      Which Lone Wolf?                      [ Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@erols ]
      Looking for America's Sweatheart Vol  [ B A <wbss26@[removed]; ]
      Shiny side out!                       [ Lee Munsick <leemunsick@[removed] ]
      Make Believe Ballroom film            [ Lee Munsick <leemunsick@[removed] ]
      Re: Dragnet and Eddy King             [ "Michael J. Hayde" <michaelhayde@ea ]
      Milton Berle                          [ PFornatar@[removed] ]
      Re: television viewing in 1950        [ jwidner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
      Radio in '30s - book section          [ "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed] ]
      Tarzan and OTR Greatest Mysteries bo  [ Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed]; ]

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

    Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 07:58:24 -0500
    From: Conrad Binyon <conradab@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  More on Scripts

    Somewhere in my archives consisting of [removed] in and [removed]
    inch floppy computer disks resides a blurb I wrote re
    scripts, their pages and the turning thereof, but the
    Almighty Himself is the only one that knows where it
    might be among all of them so here I go writing it
    down for a second time where the information is going
    back up onto the OTR Digest for the edification of
    new readers who didn't see it the first time.  (I
    secretly think second time around written articles are
    a bit better than those first efforts, due to the
    practice one acquires writing a first one.)

    My introduction to radio scripts came from being hired
    by Carlton [removed] to play the role of "Hank", one of
    Hazel and William Henry Murray's twin boys "Hank and
    Pinky"  long time characters of the legendary drama
    "One Man's Family."  On Friday's afternoon rehearsal
    readthrough prior to Sunday's noontime broadcast, we'd
    enter the second floor conference room of NBC's Sunset
    and Vine street studios and find on a table waiting
    for us two piles of scripts.  One pile was a supply of
    ordinary scripts formated in 25 or so pages collated
    and stapled together at the upper left corner.  A
    second pile would also be there of the same script
    pages collated together but inserted between the
    covers of an Oxford standard file folder and with the
    bottom edges of those pages stapled to the back right
    hand side of the folder at three places, top, middle
    and bottom.  Thus holding the folder vertically as you
    would a book one could open the front cover, fold it
    back behind and then have the entire script ready to
    be read page by page.  After finishing a page it could
    be turned down and tucked up behind the back of the
    folder still stapled together so that at show's end
    the entire script was completely rolled up behind the
    cover.   That was the form of the first radio script I
    ever used and I must say it was quite a handful for an
    eight year-old boy to negotiate.  To help me in making
    sure I would turn down only a single page, my mother
    utilized small circular paper clips at the page
    corners so my tiny chubby fingertips could easily
    grasp  the page.  After having a few broadcasts
    under my belt, that script didn't present such an
    awesome effort for me to overcome, and I discarded
    using the paper clips and then on one day's show I
    decided for myself I'd pick up instead an 'ordinary'
    script, such as used by Mr. Morse himself, the
    engineer technician,  Paul Carson, the organist, and
    the soundmen.  I noticed that only the principle
    cast members on the show used those folder encased
    scripts save for Page Gilman, who worked from a
    regular script.  I, wanting to emulate him, took to
    using a rgular script as well, and of course
    in my other hirings on other shows had to, for no
    where else did I ever see a folder covered script such
    as was used on "One Man's Family." offered to cast
    members of other shows.

    Conrad Binyon

    =====
    ---
    conradab@[removed] (Conrad A. Binyon)
    Encino, CA
    Home of the Stars who loved Ranches and Farms

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

    Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 09:31:59 -0500
    From: ME <voxpop@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  MILTON BERLE

    NOT to take anything away from milton [removed] was one of my [removed]
    i stood in front of store windows to watch him [removed] we got our
    round screen packard bell [removed] was his competition? who
    was he up against in his time period? no one that i can [removed]
    about you?
    chet norris

    --
    "ˇYo soy El Espantapájaros!"

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

    Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 10:17:47 -0500
    From: "Jim Harmon" <jimharmonotr@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Lone Wolfe/DVD
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    Hello Again --

    I know a little on two recent subjects.

    The Lone Wolfe Tribe was a very early juvenile radio show.   From talking to
    older friends, I know it was not a drama about a heroic Indian (like Straight
    Arrow) but a show like many early TV shows.
    Lone Wolfe was a friendly Indian adopted "uncle" who talked to children in the
    studio and in the radio audience, told stories about Indian life and legend,
    played games, told them how to start a campfire the Indian way, make decorated
    belts, etc.  The show offered premiums of an appropriate nature.  I don't
    think I ever found out who the sponsor was.

    Radio shows on DVD.  By using the DVD method of recording even more shows can
    be put on one disc than even MP3.  But to play these shows you can only use a
    computer with a build-in DVD drive.   These audio programs will NOT play on a
    regular DVD player for movies, nor on a MP3 player.  I got stuck with a DVD
    audio disc I bought from a dealer.   My computer had an indicated
    DVD slot but I found it was only an available slot where a DVD could be
    installed at extra cost.
    I gave it to my friend Lloyd Nesbitt who has all kinds of equipment, and he
    could not play it.
    Yet this dealer had a lot of favorable feedback on eBay so some people could
    play these discs and liked them.

    I want to thank Stephen Kallis and others who advised me how to get my
    crystal-powered Rocket Radio to work.  The consensus was that I install a
    "ground".  Great, but I had no idea how to do it.
    Then one writer -- forgive me -- I misplaced his name in my aging memory --
    told me to scrape the insulation from one lead of the earphone and attach a
    ground wire from a large metal object.  It sounds like good advice, but I
    haven't got around to trying it.  I hope to get to it.

    Unlike Stephen Kallis, I liked the half hour shows of Sky King, Tom Mix, et
    al.  I agree Captain Midnight was the least successful move to half hour.
    The
    Sky King shows moved like lightning, and were a relief from some of the old
    serials that moved like an inch worm.  Tom Mix was brilliantly written by
    George Lowther, telling a complete story, but retaining a thread of the old
    serial format too.   The Mix show earned its highest rating ever before
    Ralston cancelled it, deciding to go to TV with Space Patrol.  Curley Bradley
    told me General Mills wanted to continue the show, and if agreed to, it might
    have gone on four more years like
    the Lone Ranger, and more shows might have survived.  But even if Tom was now
    eating Wheaties, wouldn't old listeners still thought of Ralston?  Anyway,
    obviously, the deal did not go through.

    -- Jim Harmon

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

    Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 10:18:44 -0500
    From: Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@[removed];
    To: OTRBB <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Which Lone Wolf?

    Bill Harper, our Straight Arrow historian, posted a message entitled
    "Lone Wolf Tribe" and then asked for information about "the Lone Wolf
    radio program."  As Bill probably knows, these were two separate series.

    "Lone Wolf Tribe" was a CBS series that ran for about a year and a half
    starting in Jan 1932. It had originated on the now nearly forgotten
    Midwest Network and aired for a few months before CBS picked it up. It
    was probably produced in Chicago and its two main characters were
    called Chief Whirling Thunder and Chief Wolf Paw, both of whom told
    stories of American Indian bravery and customs. Wrigley's Gum, the
    sponsor, offered premiums in exchange for "waupum" which they placed
    inside packages of gum. This was a 15 minute show, airing three times a
    week. No audio copies have survived.

    "The Lone Wolf" was a 30 min. crime drama on Mutual from Jun 48 to Jan
    49, featuring the exploits of the fictional detective, Michael Lanyard,
    the creation of novelist Louis Joseph Vance. In the novels he was a
    French gentleman and (reformed) thief and the character first appeared
    on film in a silent flic in 1917. By the 1940s, Hollywood had converted
    him into a rival for Philo Vance with  eight Columbia pictures starring
    Warren William.  Mutual's radio show emulated the movie version of The
    Lone Wolf, not the original novels. Gerald Mohr originally played the
    lead, and was later replaced by Walter Coy. Only one episode has
    survived.

    Jack French
    Editor: RADIO RECALL
    [removed]

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

    Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 10:34:14 -0500
    From: B A <wbss26@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Looking for America's Sweatheart [removed]

    This is a Shirley Temple Music CD.  On one of the
    disks is the Leo is on the Air Movie Trailer for the
    movie Kathleen.  I would like to add this to the Movie
    Air Trailer collection that I am working on.

    Thanks in advance,
    Brian Allen.

    [removed] I would buy the CD myself but I am not a big
    Shiley Temple fan.

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

    Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 11:05:10 -0500
    From: Lee Munsick <leemunsick@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Shiny side out!

    Thank you, Laura Leff, for your reminiscence about the novice DJ.  The
    situation you describe sounds enough to drive us all up the wall.   It
    certainly would me!  I never tried to operate programming on two stations at
    once with two different programs, and hope I never have to.  Sheesh!

    Shiny side [removed] me of the old gag "Green Side Up!"  If any reader
    doesn't know it, Email me and I'll send to you.  Definitely off topic here.

    But talking about tails out raises a useful point.  Years ago, I had
    discussions with recording engineers about the best way to store and use
    magnetic tapes.  Several things stuck in my mind, and I adhere to them:

    1.  Never store tapes lying flat like a book on its cover.  Rather always
    store as you would a book on a shelf, spine vertical.  This is a good rule
    for records also, but vertical means vertical, not at an angle which can
    break them.  The reason for storing tapes upright is that if they are laid
    flat, the tapes tend to sag due to gravity, which eventually causes what is
    then the "bottom edge" of the tape to roll over.  Then when played, the tape
    is not positioned correctly, and program material is adversely affected.

    2.  "Fluff" tapes at least once a year.  That is, Fast Forward and/or Rewind
    to give the tapes a workout ('though not necessary to listen to them) which
    helps overcome tight packing of the tapes, which promotes magnetic
    bleed-through.  With this problem in mind, it's also good not to use thin
    tapes such as Video 160s or 180s.  I find it generally wise to stick to
    leading brands, but have also been told by most engineers that within a major
    brand, regardless of how they label their tapes, they're all the same quality
    (Hi-Fi, Professional, etc., etc.).  Wal-Mart, for instance, sells a major
    brand in a slightly different box, which is just for them.  I have no idea
    why.

    3.  With the above in mind, it's useful to store tapes "Tails Out" which
    forces one to "Fluff" before playing.  I adhere to this strictly with my
    video tapes.  Unless I have rented the tape or obtained at a library, I
    simply never rewind tapes.  Rather, I Fast Forward to the end, and leave them
    that way.  This means the tape must be rewound (which doesn't take long)
    before playing, thus having "Fluffed" to one's content.  It also means that
    there is usually a lot of blank tape wrapped around the "outside" of the
    reel, protecting the recorded content farther into the reel.  A local library
    in Virginia runs all video tapes through some kind of device which "turns
    off" the theft alarm device they put into each tape, so the alarm doesn't
    blare when one goes to leave.  It seems to me that this can only be a
    magnetic system, and I note that virtually all of their videos are messed up
    for a few minutes at the beginning of each tape.  They insist that t his is
    not the case, but I still see lots of break-ups at the beginnings.

    4.  Also with video tapes, store them with the smaller "end" of the tape box
    facing out toward the viewer, rather than standing up on end with the longer
    spine showing.  This enables one to get a great many more tapes on shelves on
    a wall, because the shelves are spaced closer together, with vertical gaps of
    [removed]" to 5" instead of 8" or so.  It doesn't quite double your storage
    capacity, but pretty close.

    Hope this is useful to all you audiophiles.  I hope we have all learned that
    while magnetic recordings are a marvelous convenience, good old fashioned
    pressed phonograph recordings are undoubtedly the most permanent, albeit
    fragile and subject to breakage if not handled carefully.

    Bestus, Lee Munsick

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

    Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 11:06:47 -0500
    From: Lee Munsick <leemunsick@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Make Believe Ballroom film

    Can anyone help me find a video copy of the 1949 film "Make Believe
    Ballroom"?  DVD or (preferred) VHS.

    This gem stars Jerome Courtland, Ruth Warrick and Ron Randell, with radio
    names Al Jarvis, Adele Jergens, and old time movie figure Vernon Dent.
    Depicted are Louis Jean Heydt (I don't think he dies in this one) and Paul
    Harvey.

    Also featured are many big names from the 40s popular music era, including
    Jimmy Dorsey, Pee Wee Hunt, the King Cole Trio, and big band names like
    Barnet, Garber, Krupa, McKinley, and The Sportsmen, etc.

    I want!  Please somebody help!

    Gratefully, Lee Munsick

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

    Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 11:09:02 -0500
    From: "Michael J. Hayde" <michaelhayde@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Dragnet and Eddy King

    Elizabeth McLeod wrote:

>     The "Dragnet" trademark is owned by MCA Inc, and any unlicensed
>     distribution of the radio programs could probably be blocked by MCA on
>     that basis alone if they were so inclined. I don't have any information
>     on the specific copyright status of the radio scripts -- perhaps Michael
>     Hayde would have more details on that.

    I responded off-list to Ian, but for those who are interested: MCA purchased
    all of Jack Webb's ownership of the DRAGNET property in 1953; MCA acquired
    Universal Studios around 1961, and those DRAGNET copyrights which Universal
    elected to renew were done under the name Universal Studios Inc.  Based on
    the research I did at the US Copyright Office at the Library of Congress, the
    radio broadcasts were never registered.  However, as Elizabeth pointed out,
    Universal could very well take legal action as owners of the property and
    trademark, even though the radio shows themselves are neither protected nor
    owned by Universal.  The DRAGNET radio scripts - every one of them - reside
    at the UCLA Arts Library's Special Collections.

    Speaking of DRAGNET, I'd like to extend a hearty welcome to Eddy King!  How I
    wish I could have spoken with you when I was writing "My Name's Friday."  As
    the very first announcer to speak the immortal lines, "The story you're about
    to hear is true.  Only the names have been changed, to protect the innocent,"
    you hold a special place in the history of this lasting classic.  I hope you
    will share with us some memories of this, and the rest of your legacy, in the
    days to come.

    Michael

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

    Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 11:52:20 -0500
    From: PFornatar@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Milton Berle
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
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    I suppose you had to be there at the time to realize the effect of Milton
    Berle. I remember being a fan of his when he had his radio show. While it
    wasn't
    the top show there was something different about it. I later read up about him
    being the highest paid nightclub comedian during the depression and probably
    into the fifties. I remember the first time I saw a television sent. It was in
    the window of a local furniture store in Chicago. My family and I were coming
    home from somewhere and as we tried to walk by it was obvious something funny
    was happening in the window. It was Milton Berle and it was about five after
    seven. The whole side walk became a theater as we all stood there and laughed.
    Naturally, my sister and I asked my Dad if we could get a television set.  We
    would go to that window often and watch Kukla Fran and Ollie as well.  I do
    know that the local movie theaters( we had quite a few in the area then) went
    dark and rescheduled on Tuesday nights. To say that he didn't have the
    audience
    is foolish. He had the audience that was available. If there had been more to
    be had, I'm sure he would have had them. Now, I only watch old movies and
    listen to old radio shows. Television ratings are going [removed] book may be
    back before we know it.

    We did get the TV set. It was the worst thing that could have happened.
    Tuesday night because the night all our unknown or unwanted relatives showed
    up---because we had the set. Milton was the reason for most. We were Cubs
    fans, but
    I had an uncle who would come and watch Sox games.  However, Milton Berle
    because special to me, not only because he was wonderfully funny but because
    he
    had all sorts of legendary performers that I had only read about. Wednesday
    morning at school most of us would wait on the play ground going through the
    show.

    When his movie, Always Leave Them Laughing, was at the Chicago Theater,
    Milton came and did an hour between shows. I got to the Chicago and stayed for
    every show from early morning to late evening. It was at that point that I
    found
    why Berle was so great. Those hour shows in between the film were each
    different. At one a fly passed by. It was visible in the spotlight. Milton
    did ten
    minutes at least on the fly. Ad Lib or whatever, he had a facile mind, wit and
    knew what made people laugh. He had the guts to continue a long tradition of
    cross dressing, however, the silly costumes he did appear on the show in were
    of
    a wide variety.

    I remember Eddie Cantor say that if it wasn't for Milton that TV probably
    would have been a passing fad. Milton had done a very early Television test
    back
    in 1929 or was it [removed], I would think his was the first big name on
    television. At the same time, it was a step down for him at the time since he
    probably could have made more money in night clubs. Soon after he was signed
    to a
    thirty year contract.

    The saddest thing about it all, for us collectors, is that few of the great
    kines of the show are [removed] thrashed them inorder to have more space
    for
    contemporary shows. What a wonderful treasure trove of early theaterical
    history we could have shared. How lucky we are to have most of what Jack
    Benny,
    Fibber, Gildersleeve, Gunsmoke [removed] [removed] bad few of you have memories
    of
    the real Milton Berle.

    Paul Fornatar

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

    Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 12:01:19 -0500
    From: jwidner <jwidner@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: television viewing in 1950

    [removed]@[removed] is purported to have said on
    3/19/2004 7:58 AM:

>     So far as communal viewing is concerned, one survey taken in 1950 suggested
>     that the most substantial component of Berle's New York City audience was
>     made up of people watching TV in bars.

    According to several studies done on television viewing and availability in
    1950:

    "10% of Americans owned a TV in 1950"

    "As 1949 turned into 1950 it was in Philadelphia where the relative size of
    TV's share of the broadening audience first passed radio."

    "Philadelphia, with only three stations, proved that more programs did
    not bring larger audience shares. Many at the time argued that New York
    and Los Angeles, with seven stations, and Chicago and Washington, [removed],
    with four, would lead the way. But Philadelphia's three stations, an
    affiliate for NBC, CBS, and ABC, offered a true portrait of the future
    of the TV nation within its three-network confines (Library of American
    Broadcasting, Facts in Focus; "A Survey of Philadelphia TV Families")."

    "Milwaukee was unlike New York or Philadelphia because until 1954 it had
    only one station. Many mid-sized metropolitan areas--for example,
    Albuquerque, Phoenix, Indianapolis, and Jacksonville--were similar to
    Milwaukee."

    On the viewing pattern at this time:
    "from a smattering of magazine articles, finds that early television set
    buyers were rich because sets were expensive; the working class thus
    turned to communal sites in what Leo Bogart and Anna McCarthy call the
    "tavern era" (Bogart 65-93, McCarthy 31-49)."

    Tavern viewing was similar to my experience - a neighbor was the first to
    afford a television set and we all were invited over at certain times to view
    it - thus "tavern viewing."

    And finally in 1950 there were:
    "  * 1950--Ninety-eight stations telecasting to approximately 7,000,000 sets."

    Sorry to be off topic from the digest, but wanted to pass this on based on
    the last couple of digest topics.

    Jim Widner

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

    Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 12:16:00 -0500
    From: "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Radio in '30s - book section

        In case the info below hasn't been referred to on this Digest in the
    past couple of years:

       In the coffee-table book This Fabulous Century: 1930--1940, vol. 4,
    Time-Life Books, NY, copyright 1969, reprinted since then, there's a
    sixteen-page section on [removed] Radio.  This section includes photos, a network
    program schedule for Monday--Friday in June 1938, and short script excerpts
    (Amos 'n' Andy, Kaltenborn, Jack Benny, Charlie McCarthy, One Man's Family
    -- with fellow-Digester Conrad Binyon in a photo-- ; and  Mercury Theatre's
    War of the Worlds).

       Not very much, but if a copy of the book is in a nearby library, some of
    you might care to take a [removed]

       -- Phil C.

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

    Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 13:51:12 -0500
    From: Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Tarzan and OTR Greatest Mysteries booklets

    Last year at the Cincinnati con I bought the Radio
    Spirits collections "Tarzan on Radio" and "Old Time
    Radio's greatest mysteries" (both 60 episodes on 20 90
    minute tapes). However, neither included the 60 page
    booklets that were originally sold with them, and
    Radio Spirits doesn't sell the booklets separately.
    Does anyone know how I might obtain those booklets?

    Rick

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #101
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