Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #217
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 6/30/2004 8:11 PM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2004 : Issue 217
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      The Cowboy Kid                        [ Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@erols ]
      Here's Lucy DVD                       [ seandd@[removed] ]
      #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Nig  [ charlie@[removed] ]
      Waukegan                              [ "Michael Leannah" <mleannah@charter ]
      Re: Forties Comedy                    [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
      Non-Contact Audio Restoration         [ "Doug Leary" <doug@[removed]; ]
      My client curley                      [ Robert Sheldon <rsheldon@sbcglobal. ]
      Non-Contact Audio Restoration         [ "RBB" <oldradio@[removed]; ]
      Re: Country Wide Silent Period        [ "Jim Pogras" <jimpo@[removed]; ]
      Funny Side Up                         [ "Tim Hughes" <rekokut@[removed]; ]
      review of portable Memorex MPD8507CP  [ "Tim Hughes" <rekokut@[removed]; ]
      Parley Baer                           [ "mike ray" <mikeray42@[removed]; ]
      7-1 births/deaths                     [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
      Mercedes McCambridge Arail            [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]

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

    Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2004 21:21:26 +0000
    From: Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  The Cowboy Kid

    Penne Yingling asks about Bobby Benson, a show in the 40s with a Western theme.

    There were actually two series with Bobby Benson in the lead, as the orphan
    kid with his own ranch in the Big Bend section of Texas. The first one
    began in 1932 on CBS called "The H Bar O Rangers" and ran until 1936. Among
    the lads who portrayed Bobby at the microphone was Billy Halop, later to
    become the leader of the Dead End Kids on stage and in film. A second
    series, "Bobby Benson and the B -Bar-B Riders" aired on Mutual from 1949 to
    1954. Ivan Cury, and later, Clive Rice, voiced the Cowboy Kid, and both
    actors are still alive and well. While no audio copies have survived from
    the CBS series, there are approximately 20 in circulation from the latter.

    A lengthy article by your truly, covering both series, is posted on the web
    site of Jerry Haendiges, "Vintage Radio" at
    [removed]

    Jack French
    Editor: RADIO RECALL
    [Author, "Private Eyelashes" - [removed]  --cfs3]

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

    Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2004 21:21:34 +0000
    From: seandd@[removed]
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Here's Lucy DVD

    Another review of the Lucille Ball DVD collection makes note of the fine
    episode of her series that guest starred Jack Benny.

    Sean Dougherty
    SeanDD@[removed]

    HERE'S Lucy Best Loved Episodes
    [removed] - Canada
    ... Stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Carol Burnett, Jackie
    Gleason, Johnny Carson, Milton Berle, and Jack Benny are characters in
    her humorous ...
    <[removed];

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

    Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 02:12:00 -0400
    From: charlie@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Night!

    A weekly [removed]

    For the best in OTR Chat, join IRC (Internet Relay Chat), StarLink-IRC
    Network, the channel name is #OldRadio.  We meet Thursdays at 8 PM Eastern
    and go on, and on! The oldest OTR Chat Channel, it has been in existence
    over six years, same time, same channel! Started by Lois Culver, widow
    of actor Howard Culver, this is the place to be on Thursday night for
    real-time OTR talk!

    Our "regulars" include OTR actors, soundmen, collectors, listeners, and
    others interested in enjoying OTR from points all over the world. Discussions
    range from favorite shows to almost anything else under the sun (sometimes
    it's hard for us to stay on-topic)...but even if it isn't always focused,
    it's always a good time!

    For more info, contact charlie@[removed]. We hope to see you there, this
    week and every week!

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

    Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 09:18:20 +0000
    From: "Michael Leannah" <mleannah@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Waukegan

    Hello Anybody--
         I stopped in Waukegan a couple of days ago and spoke with the owner of a
    business near the Genessee Theater who said the restoration project has
    become a complete mess.         As you might recall, two Junes ago a statue
    of Jack Benny was unveiled across from the theater. It was a weekend of
    celebration featuring performances by Benny impersonator Eddie Carroll,
    radio show reenactments by the International Jack Benny Fan Club, speeches
    by local officials, and more.
         Those in attendance were allowed to view the interior of the Genessee
    Theater, where premier showings of Jack's movies were run. We were told the
    theater was to be renovated and were led to believe that after the work was
    completed, a performance by Eddie Carroll and a Jack Benny movie would
    highlight the reopening.
         There is work going on at the theater but not much progress is being
    made. It looks like a wreck. The man I spoke with said funds have not just
    run out, they have been pilfered and several individuals are under
    investigation. The box office has been removed, not restored, original
    theater seats have been ripped out and trashed, porcelain fixtures have been
    stripped and looted.
         If what this man says is true, it is purely a shame. I know a lot of
    people who were looking forward to seeing the place restored to its original
    beauty, the way many theaters around the country have been. This looks like
    a disaster.
         I intend to further investigate this matter and will post again here
    when I get more information.

    Michael Leannah
    Sheboygan, Wisconsin

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

    Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 09:18:46 +0000
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Forties Comedy

    On 6/29/04 8:30 PM [removed]@[removed] wrote:

     >How could you get Fred Allen, who you practically have to have a masters in
     >American history to get at this point, and not find the rest of it funny?

    Well, I have to admit that I've loved Fred Allen since I was fourteen
    years old, but have little use for any Marx Brothers picture made after
    they left Paramount.  And Abbott and Costello have never, under any
    circumstances, made me laugh.

    I'm not entirely sure why it is -- but maybe it's just that I sense a
    real pasteurized-process quality in so much of the mass-produced,
    committee-written, Hollywoodized humor of the forties, especially from
    about 1945 onward. It strikes me as a *product* cynically ground out for
    mass consumption, and makes no real attempt to hide it. There are
    exceptions -- Allen, Benny, Henry Morgan, and perhaps Harris/Faye jump to
    mind. But so much postwar radio comedy was the sort of limp gag-file
    jokes that could be read by anyone that it just doesn't work for me. The
    exceptions I've cited *do* work specifically because they *aren't* that
    generic written-by-three-guys-named-Zelmo stuff.

    I do think, though that Lileks has a good point: comedy movies were made
    to be viewed with a large theatre audience, and were written, directed,
    timed, and performed for such an audience. Their impact, and the quality
    of their humor, cannot be adequately judged by from viewing them alone on
    a TV set. Even a moldy damp dishrag of a film like "The Big Store" is
    slightly more tolerable when viewed with a live audience.

    Elizabeth

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

    Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 09:19:12 +0000
    From: "Doug Leary" <doug@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Non-Contact Audio Restoration

    Wow, this seems to be the real thing this time. I think this is really
    exciting because at one time I was thinking of trying to do it myself.
    Someone once claimed on the Internet to have scanned a phonograph record
    with an ordinary photo scanner, then converted the image to sound with
    software. They even submitted a sample mp3 file of the alleged result. There
    were various technical rebuttals and it turned out to be a hoax, but it got
    me thinking about how to really do it.

    The person making the claim was sketchy on details but said he simply put a
    record on a scanner and processed the round image in a spiral fashion. My
    idea was to mount the record on a spindle that would ride along with the
    scanhead, rolling the record against a straight edge so it would rotate as
    it moved. This would produce a straightened-out scan of one revolution of
    the grooves, sort of like tire tracks. Converting the shadowy ripples to
    sound with software might not be all that difficult (I'm a programmer).
    Certainly simpler than processing a round image.

    If it worked at all, getting decent quality would require a pretty high-end
    scanner, because the information in the grooves is very dense. For example,
    at 78 rpm a track 3 inches from the center hole travels past the needle at
    about 24 inches per second. For sound at 20,000 Hz, the tiny ripples in the
    groove would occur about every 1/1000 of an inch. A 1200 dot-per-inch
    scanner would barely register these patterns, let alone capture their
    subtleties. Nevertheless, I had an old malfunctioning scanner that I was
    going to use to try to get this to work at a crude level. Combining multiple
    scans with the light source in different positions might simulate a higher
    resolution scanner. That would be for later. But alas, taking apart my old
    scanner with a screwdriver was as far as I got. (Maybe that explains why I'm
    not a wealthy inventor!)

    The Berkeley guys seem to be using a scanning method involving subatomic
    particles. Rocket science compared to my idea! Now if they can just engineer
    it to be cheap enough for universities and large libraries to afford it, and
    can avoid getting sued by the [removed]

    Doug Leary
    Seattle

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

    Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 09:20:16 +0000
    From: Robert Sheldon <rsheldon@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  My client curley

     > For those not aware of the plot, it deals with a talent scout/agent who
    hires a
     > dancing caterpillar named "Curley"....

    Yeah, I know what  "ing" is, but what was the reason Curley  came up on All
    Things Considered last week?

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

    Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 09:20:38 +0000
    From: "RBB" <oldradio@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Non-Contact Audio Restoration

    <<<Stephen Jansen posted about the recent NPR [removed];>>

    Thanks for bringing that interview to the list.  I, too, was fascinated with
    listening to the two developers of the non-contact audio restoration
    scanner. They were particularly interested in seeing if they could restore
    and transfer the audio from old, fragile cylinders of Thomas Edison as an
    initial test.

    If I correctly remember the comments, their process does not eliminate the
    scratches, surface noises or hisses, that would be done by another computer
    software program.  However, the scanner would identify the "bumps."  This
    concept  to scan and transfer is a marvelous, technical innovation.  Kudos!!

    =Russ Butler  oldradio@[removed]

    (Everything that is old, is new again!)

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

    Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 17:48:46 +0000
    From: "Jim Pogras" <jimpo@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Country Wide Silent Period

    Someone asked about a silent period across the country in 1960.  This
    was the one and only time that the old CONELRAD system was activated.
    It was done as a test.  My dad was an engineer at WHK in Cleveland,
    Ohio.  He had the honors or re-tuning the stanby transmitter for 1240
    Khz.  As I remember the test ran from 1600 to 1630.  I don't remember
    the exact date of this test.
    --
    Jim Pogras      Cleveland, Ohio

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

    Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 17:48:56 +0000
    From: "Tim Hughes" <rekokut@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Funny Side Up

    Hi,

    Does anyone have Funny Side Up (it was packaged in AFRTS as "Funny Side Up"
    and "Garry Moore-Funny Side Up") from disc or a generation off?  I love
    that show.

    Tim

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

    Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 17:49:02 +0000
    From: "Tim Hughes" <rekokut@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  review of portable Memorex MPD8507CP CD
      mp3 player

    Hi,

    I bought this player - which is basically a knockoff of the Rio Volt
    SP-250, for $54, at Walgreens.  I bought a power adapter for $[removed] at
    Wal-mart.
    The Memorex MPD8507CP plays .mp3 and allegedly .wma, although I don't know
    why anyone would want to play .wma.  I make custom mixes for work and on
    the go, at usually beween 80-128/44 mono.  It also played the ultra-low 32/22.

    It shows id3 tags, you can search for a filename, has a few equalizer
    presets, and it has a resume button.

    It plays CD-RW's, which I use exclusively for my mixes.  HOWEVER, it seems
    to be finicky how FAST you burn them.  It wouldn't work at above 4x on the
    CD-RW.  I haven't tried experimenting on speeds with CD-Rs.  It played the
    few that I put in there.  Occasionally, you'll have to turn it on and off a
    couple times to get it to read the disc successfully.

    I've been transferring a lot of lo-gen reels, and this has been a great way
    to listen to more of them.  (I keep the archival .wav, of course.).  What
    I've been doing when doing my CDs lately is, the default directory is the
    .wavs and a summary of what's on the shows in a .txt file.  Then I have an
    mp3 separate folder with the mp3 so I can listen on my bedside radio.
    (beside Philips Expanium mp3 boombox).  I've really been enjoying Escape
    and Our Miss Brooks.  I've also been listening to an Australian mystery
    serial of the dark house type, except on a ship, Passage of the Tangmar - a
    superb series!  We Americans shouldn't snub Aus OTR - they really excel at
    serials.  The Major Keene series is SUPERB - Dossier on Dumetrius, 26
    Hours, Deadly Nightshade, etc.  Dumetrius was by far the best spy serial I
    had ever listened to.

    The player has its foibles, but is all-in-all a decent player for a cheap
    price.

    Tim

     From 'will you?' to 'I do,' MSN Life Events is your resource for Getting
    Married. [removed]

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

    Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 17:49:19 +0000
    From: "mike ray" <mikeray42@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Parley Baer

    Hi Gang:
    A picture of our beloved friend Parley Baer will
    Be on my web site for 5 days. You can check it
    Out at: [removed]
    Best regards,
    Mike Ray

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

    Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 17:49:28 +0000
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  7-1 births/deaths

    July 1st births

    07-01-1881 - Josef Pasternack - Czenstachown, Poland - d. 4-29-1940
    conductor: "Atwater Kent Concert"; "Carnation Contented Hour"
    07-01-1899 - Charles Laughton - Scarborough, England - d. 12-15-1962
    actor: "Three Ring Time"; "Columbia Presents Corwin"; "Blue Ribbon Town"
    07-01-1901 - Irna Phillips - Chicago, IL - d. 12-23-1973
    actress, writer: Mother Moran "Today's Children"; "Guiding Light"; "Road of
    Life"
    07-01-1902 - William Wyler - Muhlhausen, Germany - d. 7-28-1981
    film director: "Screen Director's Playhouse"; "Hollywood Fights Back"
    07-01-1907 - Bill Stern - Rye, NY - d. 11-19-1971
    sportscaster: "Carnival of Champions"; "Colgate Sports Newsreel"
    07-01-1908 - Alvino Rey - Oakland, CA - d. 2-24-2004
    bandleader: "Horace Heidt and His Brigadiers"
    07-01-1909 - Madge Evans - NYC - d. 4-26-1981
    panelist: "Leave It to the Girls"; "Who Said That?"
    07-01-1916 - Olivia De Havilland - Tokyo, Japan
    actress: "Plays for Americans"; "Your Hollywood Parade"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
    07-01-1925 - Farley Granger - San Jose, CA
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre", "Screen Guild Theatre"
    07-01-1931 - Leslie Caron - Boulogne, France
    actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    07-01-1934 - Jamie Farr - Toledo, OH
    actor: Armed Forces Radio
    07-01-1934 - Jean Marsh - London, England
    actress: "Earplay"

    July 1st deaths

    02-21-1938 - Wolfman Jack - Brooklyn, NY - d. 7-1-1995
    disc jockey: Mexican Border Radio"
    08-06-1917 - Robert Mitchum - Bridgeport, CT - d. 7-1-1997
    actor: "Family Theatre"; "So Proudly We Hail"
    08-08-1910 - Sylvia Sidney - The Bronx, NY - d. 7-1-1999
    actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Columbia Presents Corwin"; "Philip Morris
    Playhouse"
    12-23-1913 - Anton M. Leader - Boston, MA - d. 7-1-1988
    director: "Eternal Light"; "Murder at Midnight"; "Suspense"; "Words at War"
    12-26-1891 - Tony Wons - Menasha, WI - d. 7-1-1965
    host: "Tony Wons Scrapbook"; "House by the Side of the Road"; "Camel
    Quarter Hour"
    --
    Ron Sayles
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

    Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 23:11:05 +0000
    From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Mercedes McCambridge Arail

    A friend of mine asked me whether I could identify a radio program,
    possibly a serial.  In it, Mercedes McCambridge played a lady on a train
    who had killers after her.  Possibly she was either guarding or seeking
    some gold pins.

    Does anyone know anything at all about this?

    Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #217
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