------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2008 : Issue 36
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
OTR on cds [ laurie platt <laurie1125@[removed] ]
Ray Kemper [ jack and cathy french <otrpiano@ver ]
Devil's tools [ <radioaz@[removed]; ]
Martin's mp3s [ david rogers <david_rogers@hotmail. ]
OTR in the News [ Sean Dougherty <seandd@[removed] ]
This week in radio history 10-16 Feb [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
Magic Island [ Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed]; ]
Tom Corbett Space Cadet comic [ Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed]; ]
Re: Harold Peary's other radio chara [ "Jan Bach" <janbach@[removed]; ]
Five thoughts on "Suspense" [ Richard Carpenter <newsduck@[removed] ]
More Trivia on Gildersleeve [ Ken Greenwald <kgradio@[removed]; ]
Re: Radio -- Tool Of The Devil? [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
2-10 births/deaths [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2008 07:05:08 -0500
From: laurie platt <laurie1125@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: OTR on cds
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I just happened to be at my local Tuesday Morning store and where they keep
the cd's they had some otr shows on cd's, in stock where Alfred Hitchcock, Sgt
Preston, Gangbuster's, and Father Knows Best. Check it out if you have a
Tuesday Morning store near you
Shed those extra pounds with MSN and The Biggest Loser!
[removed]
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Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2008 07:05:34 -0500
From: jack and cathy french <otrpiano@[removed];
To: OTRBB <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Ray Kemper
I've lost touch with Ray Kemper, the extraordinary sound effects
artist of CBS west coast. The "@psnw" email server I had for him no
longer works.
Anyone on list know of any contact info for Ray?
Thanks,
Jack French
Editor: RADIO RECALL
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2008 07:06:07 -0500
From: <radioaz@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Devil's tools
I'm not surprised that fundamentalists would be against radio. They are
against so many new ideas. I remember as a kid in the 50s that they were
against rock 'n roll and were urging kids to burn their R 'n' R records.
That went over real big. Now-a-days take a look at a TV channel called
JCTV--they feature some of the most awful music I have heard in a long
time--all of it rock and heavy metal and all of it aimed at winning kids
over to the church. So, yes--those religious groups have been against many
changes up until they find out they can use them for their own cause.
I wouldn't be surprised if Billy Sunday, Sister Aimee Semple McPherson and
Father Coughlin were in great part responsible for evangelicals adopting
radio as a tool. I'm sure there are many others.
Ted
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2008 07:06:27 -0500
From: david rogers <david_rogers@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Martin's mp3s
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Martin Grams, Jr wrote:
"I use my laptop and my DVD player to play MP3s, so I don't need any
stand-alone MP3 player but someone on this digest may."Dear Martin, how do you
listen to your otr mp3s when you go jogging?
Love as always, David Rogers
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Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2008 10:26:57 -0500
From: Sean Dougherty <seandd@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: OTR in the News
A couple of pieces today that mention old time radio.
This newspaper article on the "Hannah Montanna" pop culture phenomenon
traces the character's roots to Ozzie and Harriet as well as Jack Benny and
Burns and Allen (a bit of a stretch).
[removed]
This black history month column takes a look at the casual racism of the era
that included OTR, mentioning jokes at Eddie "Rochester" Anderson's expense
as part of that phenomenon. This type of column never mentions that having
a white star playing stooge to a black comedian was pretty progressive for
back then but it is a valid observation regardless.
On one Fred Allen program, Fred complained he had been at an event outside
when it was so hot that "the only shade available was under a Ubangi's
lips." I remember thinking that if the most literate popular comedian of
that era would pop off with a joke like that, imagine what the average night
club hack must have been like. I also notice that when Eddie Anderson guest
starred or his character was mentioned on programs not written by Jack
Benny's writers, the stereotype jokes were more crude. Of course, that was
also true of Jack Benny so that might not prove anything. His guest
appearances on Eddie Cantor's show, for example, always relied on really
obvious cheap jokes that generally lacked the careful pacing and subtle
modifications that made it work on his own show.
[removed],0,[removed]
Sean Dougherty
SeanDD@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2008 11:06:16 -0500
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: This week in radio history 10-16 February
From These Were The Days --
2/11
1940 - NBC presented The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street for
the first time. The famous Blue network series included several
distinguished alumni -- among them, Dinah Shore and Zero Mostel. The
chairman, or host, of The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street
was Milton Cross. He would say things like, "A Bostonian looks like he's
smelling something. A New Yorker looks like he's found it." The show
combined satire, blues and jazz and was built around what were called
the three B's of music: Barrelhouse, Boogie Woogie and Blues.
2/12
1924 - Calvin Coolidge, known by many as the "Silent Cal", made the
first presidential political speech on radio. The speech originated from
New York City and was broadcast on five radio stations. Some five
million people tuned in to hear the President speak.
1924 - The Eveready Hour became radio's first sponsored network program.
The National Carbon Company took the honor of being the first sponsor of
a network show.
1940 - Mutual presented the first broadcast of Superman. The identity of
the man from planet Krypton was unknown to listeners for six years. The
secret eventually leaked out that Superman's voice was actually that of
Bud Collyer.
2/13
1939 - Virginia Payne, already popular as the voice of Ma Perkins, took
on a new character in NBC's soap opera, The Carters of Elm Street.
Virginia played the part of Mrs. Carter.
2/15
1932 - George Burns and Gracie Allen debuted as regulars on The Guy
Lombardo Show on CBS.
1943 - My True Story was heard for the first time on ABC. The program
continued for 17 years and was presented in cooperation with True Story
magazine.
Joe
--
Visit my homepage: [removed]~[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2008 12:18:00 -0500
From: Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Magic Island
Somebody a few weeks ago mentioned Magic Island on this list. I'd never
heard of this series, so I downloaded a copy from [removed] and
launched into it. Thanks very much to whoever brought it up--I'm really
enjoying it! Does anybody know anything about the cast? It's not in
Dunning's book, and Hickerson says merely "With Bill Johnstone." Is he
Captain Tex Harding? I had thought the Captain's voice sounded a little
like Johnstone's--but not quite him. I'm only six episodes into it;
perhaps he hasn't shown up yet. Since this show is dated to the
1935/36, that would imply this is a New York production, since
Johnstone was working there at the time. Are any of the other voices
known?
Kermyt
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2008 12:17:55 -0500
From: Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Tom Corbett Space Cadet comic
I know the readership here has a certain overlap with comic books. Has
anybody else noticed that a number of independent comic publishers are
taking a growing interest in OTR-related properties? A new series of
"The Lone Ranger" was released a couple of years ago, which I haven't
read but which apparently is selling pretty well. I don't know how much
it would appeal to fans of the radio show, though, since I think they
updated the character to make him grittier (the norm for most
contemporary comic books). I read somewhere that Tonto no longer speaks
pidgin English. You can see some of the covers from the comic here, at
the publisher's website (it's about the third or fourth row down):
[removed]
Everybody's favorite fighting Buddhist monk, the Green Lama, has been
revived as well, in a series featuring public domain superheroes from
the 30s and 40s called "Superpowers." You can see Alex Ross's designs
for the character here:
[removed];sessionid=b27aade9c5e15226df023aa0452532a0
And there's also a link to the book at the link I gave above for the
Lone Ranger.
Also, I just read that there's a forthcoming series based on Tom
Corbett, Space Cadet. I haven't seen anything else besides the cover,
though the art implies that it might have a more juvenile/less gritty
approach that would be truer to the original character:
[removed]
See you in the funny papers!
Kermyt
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2008 16:15:05 -0500
From: "Jan Bach" <janbach@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Harold Peary's other radio characters
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Hello again --
Mention has been made of Harold Peary's appearances as characters other than
Gildersleeve. According to the book "Heavenly Days" by Charles Stumpf and Tom
Price, he had a long history appearing as other characters even when he was
appearing with Fibber and Molly. Peary's first appearance was on their first
radio show "Kaltenmeyer's Kindergarten" where he was called in to play the
role of the Italian father of one of the school's pupils. He was then heard on
the Fibber McGee show as a blustery mayor, a fussy interior decorator, a
dignified art instructor, a bombastic Army General, piano salesman, taxi
driver, Italian wrestler, assorted doctors, lawyers, a few Indian chiefs,
optometrists and dentists, the stuffy Cicero Clod, the veddy-veddy British
Lord Bingham, a vain movie star named "Silverscreen," a theater manager called
"Mr. Frite-Wig," a department store owner named "Dinwiddie," and many
characters named "Gildersleeve" including Widdicomb P. Gildersleeve, president
of the Gildersleeve Baby Carriage factory or the manager of a girdle factory
(which was chosen as his persona when his spin-off from the Fibber show
began). He was also heard as the pharmacist at Cramer's drugstore, and a
Chinese laundryman called "Gooey-Fooey." Finally, on October 17, 1939, Peary
became the McGee's pompous neighbor, Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, complete
with a wife who was mentioned but never seen, and dropped altogether when
Peary began his own show as a bachelor.
yOurs TRuly,
Jan Bach
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2008 16:15:33 -0500
From: Richard Carpenter <newsduck@[removed];
To: Old Radio <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Five thoughts on "Suspense"
"Suspense," of course, was one of radio's greatest series. Lately I've been having these thoughts and questions about the program:
1) Watching one of the relatively rare "Suspense" TV shows on an OTR fundraising disc (available at [removed];products_id=44 ), I decided it was a pretty good show even with the primitive TV techniques of 1954. That led me to think that someone should bring the series back on television. Pulse-pounding stories in widescreen and high-def -- wow!
2) When he wasn't pushing Johnson's Glo-Coat on "Fibber McGee and Molly,", Harlow Wilcox was busy selling Auto-Lite spark plugs and its other products on "Suspense." On a few shows, I heard him mention a new spark plug that wouldn't cause radio and TV interference. Was that a problem back then? I have a vague memory of the picture on our tiny TV flipping and flipping while a car idled outside, but I may be misremembering.
3) I know that some of the "Escape" shows were also on "Suspense." Was this a budget move as radio lost its luster and advertising to TV? And did "Suspense" use recordings of the "Escape" shows with new introductions and farewells, or did "Suspense" use its own actors, [removed]
4) What was with the several hour-long shows sometime in 1948? They seemed overlong, dragged out, and lacking in, er, suspense.
5) I got a kick out of Harlow Wilcox urging radio listeners to watch the "Suspense" TV show "if you live in a television area." Today, that area embraces the entire world. Sigh.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2008 21:59:00 -0500
From: Ken Greenwald <kgradio@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: More Trivia on Gildersleeve
Martin Grams, Jr. had a bit of trivia about Gildersleeve:
Small bit of trivia: After Willard Waterman took over the role for the radio
series, AND after Waterman was doing the role on the short-run syndicated
television series, Peary was instructed (on a legal basis) not to play any
characters or display any characterization that might resemble the character
of Gildersleeve. This is why in early films like ROAD TO VICTORY, Peary does
the Gildy laugh even though he's not Gildy, and in episodes of THE ADDAMS
FAMILY and FIBBER McGEE AND MOLLY, he isn't playing anything remotely similar
to the character of Gildersleeve.
I just wanted to add that Peary wanted to take The Great Gildersleeve program
to another network because he was not financially happy with what they were
paying. To his surprise he discovered that he did not own the rights to The
Great Gildersleeve, though he thought he did. When Willard Waterman took over
as Gildy and Peary went on to do Honest Harold, he also found out that the
only thing he could use from The Gildersleeve show was his laugh. The laugh
had been originated by him and was legally his. He used it sparingly after
leaving The Gildersleeve show. He did a number of commercials in the 1970s
for radio - by that time the Gildersleeve show was long gone, so it didn't
matter - and, if my memory serves me correctly, he used the laugh on some of
them.
Ken Greenwald
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2008 21:59:17 -0500
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Radio -- Tool Of The Devil?
Paula Keiser asked --
> "In the earliest days of radio, religious fundamentalists were
appalled at the appearance of radio. They declared it a 'tool of the
devil.' Then someone realized that they could make money with [removed]"
> Is there any basis in fact for this story?
I recall reading something, many years ago, written about 1940, this
minister said that no Christian would have a radio in their home since
it was "the devil's music box", bringing worldly music into the home,
music no real Christian should listen to. The writer also railed
against radio in general. I wish I could recall the name of the book.
This was just a part of a chapter and read it in either the late '60s or
early '70s, but its always stuck in my mind.
Joe
--
Visit my homepage: [removed]~[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2008 23:10:57 -0500
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 2-10 births/deaths
February 10th births
02-10-1868 - William Allen White - Emporia, KS - d. 1-31-1944
writer: "American Forum of the Air"; "University of Chicago Round Table"
02-10-1892 - Alan Hale, Sr. - Washington, [removed] - d. 1-22-1950
actor:"Lux Radio Theatre"
02-10-1893 - Bill Tilden - Germantown, PA - d. 6-4-1953
tennis player: "Information Please"
02-10-1893 - Jimmy Durante - NYC - d. 1-29-1980
comedian: (Da Schnozz) Claudius 'Brainy' Bowers "Jumbo Fire Chief
Program"
02-10-1897 - Judith Anderson - Adelaide, Australia - d. 1-3-1992
actor: Royal Gelatin Hour"
02-10-1899 - Dolph Gobel - Regensburg, Germany - d. 8-xx-1970
organist: "Ethel and Albert"; "Doplh Goebel Trio"
02-10-1900 - Lou Breese - d. 1-xx-1969
bandleader: "Invitation to the Fair"
02-10-1902 - Stella Adler - NYC - d. 12-21-1992
acting teacher: "Fleischmann's Yeast Hour"
02-10-1903 - Lewis Allan - NYC - d. 10-xx-1986
writer for theatre, radio, television and films
02-10-1905 - Chick Webb - d. 6-16-1939
bandleader: "Chick Webb and His Orhestra"
02-10-1906 - Lon Chaney, Jr. - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Territory -
d. 7-12-1973
actor: "Pursuit of Happiness"
02-10-1910 - Joyce Grenfell - London, England - d. 11-30-1979
writer, actor: "How"; "A Note with Music"; "We Beg to Differ"
02-10-1913 - James Monks - NYC - d. 10-2-1994
actor: Jim Brandon "The Avenger" I. A. Moto "Mr. I. A. Moto"
02-10-1914 - Larry Adler - Baltimore, MD - d. 8-6-2001
harmonica player: "Forecast"
02-10-1922 - Neva Patterson - Nevada, IA
actor: "Cavalcade of America"
02-10-1927 - Leontyne Price - Laurel, MS
singer: "Metropolitan Opera"
02-10-1929 - Jerry Goldsmith - Los Angeles, CA - d. 7-21-2004
composer, conductor: "Frontier Gentleman"; "Romance"
02-10-1930 - Robert Wagner - Detroit, MI
panelist: "Juke Box Jury"; "Suspense"
February 10th deaths
01-11-1870 - Alice Hegan Rice - Shelbyville, KY - d. 2-10-1942
writer: "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch" based on her novel
01-11-1910 - Richard Kendrick - Vermillion, SD - d. 2-10-1987
actor: Bill Baker "Portia Faces Life"
02-07-1867 - Laura Ingalls Wilder - Pepin, WI - d. 2-10-1957
author: some her works adapted for radio
02-22-1912 - Buddy Tate - Sherman, TX - d. 2-10-2001
jazz saxphonist: "Jubilee"; "One Night Stand"
05-02-1902 - Brian Aherne - King's Norton, England - d. 2-10-1986
actor: Simon Templar "The Saint"
06-16-1899 - Frank X. Capano - Philadelphia, PA - d. 2-10-1956
singer and program director
06-19-1910 - Virginia Payne - Cincinnati, OH - d. 2-10-1977
actor: Ma Perkins "Ma Perkins"; Kerry Carter "Carters of Elm Street"
06-25-1886 - Edna Wheeler Ballard - d. 2-10-1971
harpist: WBBM Chicago, Illinois
09-06-1899 - Billy Rose - NYC - d. 2-10-1966
creator-stager: "Jumbo Fire Chief Program"
09-30-1916 - Wendell Noble - Mesa, AZ - d. 2-10-1988
singer, actor: "Bride and Groom"; "Listener's Digest"
10-17-1915 - Arthur Miller - NYC - d. 2-10-2005
writer: "Cavalcade of America"; "The Doctor Fights"
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2008 Issue #36
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