------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2002 : Issue 79
A Part of the [removed]!
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Empire State Building crash [ leemunsick@[removed] ]
British bells [ leemunsick@[removed] ]
Re: Janet Leigh on radio [ Gerry Wright <gdwright@[removed]; ]
RE: INTERUPTED DIALOUGE [ Kevin Michaels <kmichaels@doityours ]
Re: Mutual in Detroit [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
In response to Hal Stone's "What wou [ "Scott Eberbach" <seberbach@earthli ]
Of Clappers and Chimes -- Also Pearl [ KENPILETIC@[removed] ]
Will The Lone Ranger Return? [ luckycowboy@[removed] (Gregory Robe ]
Gotham Radio Players - Live This Sun [ StevenL751@[removed] ]
Big Ben [ "welsa" <welsa@[removed]; ]
Jim French, Lone Ranger, Green Horne [ Mdlang11@[removed] ]
Empire State Building [ KEDSmith@[removed] ]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 14:26:23 -0500
From: leemunsick@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Empire State Building crash
I read somewhere that part of the B-25 (probably an engine) went right
through the building and out the other side, but have never read where it
wound up, or what damage it did in the process. Obviously, there must have
been debris--possibly some very large and dangerous--which made it to the
pavements below. Fortunately it was a Saturday when traffic was less than
on a business day.
Just to show you how people can garble up historic facts, I'll relate a
comment made to me as I was giving a talk about Arthur Godfrey. This was
from one of the listeners:
"Yeah, I remember when Arthur Godfrey flew his DC-3 into the Empire State
Building".
One wonders how many people will have the 9-11 disaster just this messed up
in their minds, 55 years from now?
Lee Munsick
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 15:28:49 -0500
From: leemunsick@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: British bells
Too all those who have rung up on this subject, perhaps Charlie will let me
ask one more question, as I remain fascinated:
Several references have been made to "Bow Bells", which have been described
as an ongoing cacophany of bells pealing. So what are/were
they? Where/what is "Bow"? A carillon, perhaps playing "changes"?
Thanks - I'll keep my eyes and ears pealed - Lee Munsick
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 15:59:10 -0500
From: Gerry Wright <gdwright@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Janet Leigh on radio
Walden Hughes asked about Janet Leigh's appearance on Lux Radio Theater
and >other raido show
>From a search of my collection of radio logs I found the following
entries:
Lux Radio Theater
11-07-49 -- 676
High Wall
Van Heflin, Janet Leigh
03-13-50 -- 694
Little Women
June Allyson, Margaret O'Brien, Peter Lawford, Janet Leigh
03-19-51 -- 739
The Red Danube
Walter Pidgeon, Peter Lawford, Janet Leigh
12-08-52 -- 807
Strictly Dishonorable
Janet Leigh
03-09-53 -- 820
The People Against O'Hara
Walter Pidgeon, Janet Leigh
04-06-53 -- 824
Angels In The Outfield
Janet Leigh, George Murphy
Screen Guild Theater
11-23-50 -- 484
Romance of Rosey Ridge
Janet Leigh, Ida Lupino
Stars in the Air
02-14-52 -- 10
Model Wife
Janet Leigh, Tony Curtis
------
Gerry Wright
ZoneZebra Productions
San Francisco
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 16:06:28 -0500
From: Kevin Michaels <kmichaels@[removed];
To: "Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: RE: INTERUPTED DIALOUGE
I have in my collection of Radio Scripts, several Gunsmoke shows in which the
interruption is written in the script as cue: (OVERLAP).
Example: GUNFIGHTER: ...."You better draw, Marshall, while you [removed]
DILLON: (OVERLAP LAST WORD, "STILL")... Touch that gun,
[removed] your a dead man!"
With the overlap cue written in the script, there could be no pauses and the
dialog would sound real. I am sure there were many other scripts written the
same way. Therefore, the bad timing, must lay on the shoulders of the
writers IMHO.
Kevin Michaels
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 16:43:29 -0500
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Mutual in Detroit
On 2/28/02 2:42 PM OldRadio Mailing Lists wrote:
Can any of you Detroit old-timers explain the history of Mutual Broadcasting
in the Motor City? As I understand it, WXYZ was a founding member of the
Mutual Network, formed in part to carry The Lone Ranger. Yet by the time I
began listening to TNR in 1939 or 1940, he was on the NBC Blue affiliate
(WNBC) in Hartford, Conn. and at some point, a Canadian 10,000-watter in
Windsor was carrying Mutual programs---without TLR.
I'm about 1500 miles away from Detroit, but I think I can answer this.
WXYZ dropped out of Mutual after less than a year, in order to become a
basic NBC Blue affiliate, and was replaced as Mutual's Detroit outlet by
CKLW in Windsor. Prior contractural arrangements kept The Lone Ranger on
certain Mutual stations until 1942, when it moved to the Blue. However,
beginning in February 1938, the program began to be distributed by
syndicated recordings to stations in markets where the live program was
not being carried, and it is likely that you were hearing one of these
transcription broadcasts rather than a live network presentation. The
transcriptions and the live broadcasts continued alongside each other
thruout the 1940s.
The "Mutual was formed to carry the Lone Ranger" story is a bit of
wishful exaggeration on the part of various former WXYZ staffers -- the
real story is more complicated. In truth, the prime movers in the
formation of Mutual were WOR in Newark NJ/New York and WGN in Chicago.
Both stations had been involved in an ad-hoc network called the "Quality
Group," along with WLW Cincinnati, which had operated on an as-needed
basis since around 1930. Albert McCosker of WOR and Wilbert McFarlane of
WGN were probably inspired to set up a permanent network by a former NBC
executive named George McLelland, who opened an office in New York in
late 1933 proposing to start a new cooperative network based on the
"mutual" sharing of expenses among members. McLelland couldn't get the
idea off the ground due to lack of financial backing -- and in despair,
he killed himself. In the meantime, McCosker and McFarlane helped
themselves to his idea and ran with it -- setting up a cooperative
WOR-WGN program exchange in which the stations' sales staffs and
production departments would work together, and the stations would divide
the cost of permanent network lines.
Meanwhile, the Lone Ranger had already begun airing on WGN, via a direct
pickup from the Michigan Network fed by WXYZ. Gordon Baking Company,
which sponsored the program in Chicago and Detroit beginning in November
1933, wanted to add a New York outlet as well -- and at first proposed
sending the scripts to WOR to be produced locally. This proved too
expensive, and as a result beginning in early 1934, Gordon Baking took
advantage of the already existing WGN-WOR line to send the Detroit
production into New York. This marked the first association of WXYZ with
the WGN-WOR group.
WLW began taking feeds from the WGN-WOR circuit around this same time, as
a revival of the old Quality Group arrangement. In September 1934, WOR,
WGN, WLW, and WXYZ formalized their relationship with a contract,
specifying that WOR and WGN held controlling interests in the operation,
and the following month, the Mutual Broadcasting System Inc. was
incorporated, with WOR and WGN each controlling fifty per cent of the
stock.
Contracturally, at this stage, the Ranger *wasn't* really a Mutual
program -- its presence on WOR, WGN, and WLW had been arranged by the
Gordon Baking Company dealing with the stations on an individual basis,
and not thru a network sales office. "Lum and Abner" was also being
placed on the Quality Group/WGN-WOR stations by Horlick's Malted Milk on
the same sort of basis during 1934. The first really major account to be
placed thru the new Mutual sales office may have been the Feenamint
National Amateur Night, which ran over a "special hookup including the
Mutual Broadcasting System" during the early weeks of 1935.
Unfortunately, WOR was unable to clear the Feenamint program due to other
commitments, and although arrangements were made to give the show a New
York outlet on WINS, the sponsor was dissatisfied, and jumped the series
to CBS at the first opportunity.
This type of situation was common for Mutual in its formative years -- it
couldn't attract large accounts, and if it did, they didn't stay long.
These problems led WXYZ to drop out in 1935 and WLW quit the following
year, although the latter station retained a secondary affiliation. What
ensured Mutual's survival was the deal with the Don Lee Network in 1936,
which gave it coast-to-coast service.
Elizabeth
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 17:56:21 -0500
From: "Scott Eberbach" <seberbach@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: In response to Hal Stone's "What would you
do?"
Approved: ctrn4eeWlc
Hi Hal!
Well, according to Gerturde Warner, the same sort of thing happened during a
broadcast of The Shadow while she had the role of Margo Lane. The sound man
fired the pistol and nothing happened and all of a sudden the director of
the show (who's name escapes me) runs out of the control booth and yells
"Bang!...Bang, Bang!!!" She related that story in an interview when
discussing her tenure as Margo Lane in The Shadow [removed] to
comment on that story Anthony?
Scott
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 17:57:40 -0500
From: KENPILETIC@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Of Clappers and Chimes -- Also Pearl Harbor
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain
program (song?)
Approved: ctrn4eeWlc
Hi Gang - February 28, 2002 - Thursday - 3:20 PM cst
Regarding Big Ben and his [removed]
I seem to remember about two years ago, NPR did a feature
concerning the replacement of the Clapper in Big Ben (the bell).
According to the broadcast, the there was something wrong with
the original clapper, and a new one was installed.
The new clapper struck the bell slightly different from the way the
old one struck, and there was a discernable difference in the sound. The
broadcast then proceeded to play recordings of the "old" and
"new" sounds so that the audience would hear the difference.
It was announced that after a few years, the new clapper would
"wear in" and eventually sound the same as the old one.
As I recall, the BBC broadcast the "chimes", but not Big Ben itself
at some station breaks. The broadcasts were alleged to be live,
and the BBC magazines "London Calling" and "BBC On Air" both
published photographs of microphones in the belfry.
BBC has eliminated it's (shortwave) broadcasts to North America.
We cannot hear their "live" broadcasts any more. I suspect that may
we why we don't hear the chimes. The delayed broadcasts via NPR
or other re-broadcasters might chime the wrong time, so they may
not be fed to the satellite at all.
- -------------- On a completely different matter -----------------
Yesterday someone asked me about a "radio program" called
"Remember Pearl Harbor". I am familiar with a (relatively recent)
song by that name, but not a radio program. I told my friend about
the song. He said, that's right, it's a song - written at the time of
the Pearl Harbor attack. Is there more than one song with the
same name? Was there such a radio program? I think my friend
is confused. If anyone has a recording of the "old" song, please
contact me privately. Thanks.
Happy Taping -- Ken Piletic - Streamwood, Illinois
kenpiletic@[removed]
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*** as the sender intended. ***
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 17:57:53 -0500
From: luckycowboy@[removed] (Gregory Robert Jackson, Jr.)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Will The Lone Ranger Return?
We all love The Lone Ranger radio series and, of course, there was also
a television version. Well, right now, the WB is considering a new TV
version for the fall.
For details go to:
[removed]
and when you get there, type Lone Ranger in the search engine.
Gregory R. Jackson, Jr.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 18:27:39 -0500
From: StevenL751@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Gotham Radio Players - Live This Sunday
The Gotham Radio Players
present
THE ADVENTURES OF THE SAINT
"The Horrible Hamburger"
Live!
This Sunday, March 3
7:30pm (Eastern)
WBAI, [removed] FM in NYC
[removed]
Live!
You are cordially invited to dinner at "The Happy Hamburger," Ben Laughton,
proprietor. Among those on the guest list are a loquacious taxicab driver,
an amorous farmer's daughter, a lonely [removed] and Simon Templar, better
known as the Saint. On the menu ... murder!
Join us on Sunday as the Gotham Radio Players bring you a recreation of a
lost episode of THE SAINT. This time we bring you "The Horrible Hamburger",
heard for the first time since its original broadcast on September 10, 1950.
Tune in and hear us live this Sunday evening, March 3, at 7:30pm (eastern)
on WBAI, [removed] FM in New York City, or over the web everywhere else at
[removed].
The Gotham Radio Players were formed in 1991 by a group of enthusiasts for
the heyday of radio drama. Our mission is to bring new productions of classic
radio programs of the 30's, 40's, and 50's to the airwaves of the new millennium,
as well as showcase original scripts written by the emerging audio dramatists of
today. Now under the leadership of producer Max Schmid and director Steven
Lewis, the Gotham Radio Players are featured regularly in live performances on
WBAI-FM, at the annual "Friends of Old-Time Radio" Convention, and at
other personal appearances in the New York City metropolitan area.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 18:32:17 -0500
From: "welsa" <welsa@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Big Ben
Not to nit-pick, but just so you can't say you didn't learn anything today:
Big Ben is the name of the CHIMES in the clock in the tower of the Houses of
Parliament in London. Big Ben is not the name of the tower itself.
Technically, it's not even the name of the clock. But down through the
years the clock has come to be known by that name, also. But originally, it
applied only to the chimes inside.
Ted
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 19:01:07 -0500
From: Mdlang11@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Jim French, Lone Ranger, Green Hornet
Does the Seattle-based writer/producer Jim French or the program that has
been mentioned here have a website? Something that archives or streams the
shows?
Also, re the music for the Lone Ranger, etc., I dimly recall that the
then-conductor of the Detroit Philharmonic recorded the music used on the
WXYZ shows with members of his orchestra whom he had taken to Mexico to avoid
union rules. I can't remember the time frame or the conductor's name, and I
could be completely wrong about this. I am one of the younger fans of OTR,
and there is a significant possibility that this is all a drug
flashback-induced hallucination masquerading as a memory.
Oh, and Harlan Stone is my new hero. Not for his radio work but for retiring
at age 50.
Mike Langworthy
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2002 12:17:11 -0500
From: KEDSmith@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Empire State Building
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain
Both my grandfather and father were to be in the Empire State Building
on the day of the crash. My father was to be in the offices that were hit and
my grandfather on the floor above. Plans of both, now no longer living,
changed at the last minute. Family members, thinking one or both were in the
building, were very worried.
Kathleen Smith
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--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #79
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