Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #318
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 10/4/2004 6:38 AM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2004 : Issue 318
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Cold war NBC chimes                   [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]
      Re: Sound effects                     [ StevenL751@[removed] ]
      Re: MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER            [ StevenL751@[removed] ]
      10-4 births/deaths                    [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
      This week in radio history 10/3-10/9  [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
      Benny as The Man Who Came to Dinner   [ JackBenny@[removed] ]
      John McGiver                          [ <fc90030@[removed]; ]
      Sky Captain                           [ "[removed]" <donsplace@[removed]; ]
      Haunted Houses                        [ "Philip Railsback" <philiprailsback ]

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

    Date: Sun, 3 Oct 2004 09:52:22 -0400
    From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Cold war NBC chimes

    I seem to recall a phonograph record in the 1950's called 'Russian
    Bandstand.'  I think it had a parody of the NBC chimes, but they were struck
    on what sounded like a heavily-damped kid's xylophone--very tinny: tink tink
    tank.  Those three chimes were a marvelous commentary on the difference
    between Western and USSR technology.

    It must have been a Stan Freberg production.

    M Kinsler
    512 E Mulberry St. Lancaster, Ohio USA 43130 740-687-6368
    [removed]~mkinsler1

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

    Date: Sun, 3 Oct 2004 12:54:22 -0400
    From: StevenL751@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Sound effects

    In a message dated 10/3/2004 9:32:07 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
    [removed]@[removed] writes:

>     After reading about the Sam Spade episode re-enactment I was wondering  how
>     they do the sound effects today for a show like that as opposed to  the good
>     old days of old time radio when someone had to physically make  the sounds
>     that were needed for the shows.

    Well, even in the "good old days" many of the sound effects you hear on
    shows came off of records.

    For our productions, like our Spade recreation tonight, we use a mixture of
    live effects and effects we've taken off CD's from commercial sound effects
    libraries.  I prefer to do as many of the effects as we can live, as  director
    I feel I have more control over the sound and "attitude" of the effect  that
    way.  But there are many effects that would be too difficult for us to  do in
    the studio.  The sound effects for the Spade show tonight are  actually pretty
    simple, comparatively speaking.  We're doing doors and  footsteps and
    telephones and liquor bottles and guns being thrown into  fireplaces live.
    >From CD we
    have street backgrounds and hospital  backgrounds and things of that nature.

    Doing live sound effects is an art, and it's not easy to do well so that it
    sounds "real."  Many producers of audio drama today prefer to work
    exclusively with recorded effects, which is possible if you're pre-recording
    the  actors
    and then doing extensive post-production in the editing room, but can be
    more difficult when you're performing the show live on the air.   There's
    also a
    strong movement today of producers who like to record their shows  out in the
    real world in real situations with natural sound.  So, for  instance, if they
    have a scene where their characters are driving in a car, then  they'll
    actually record the scene in a real moving car with the actors actually
    driving the
    vehicle as they're saying the dialogue.  You can get some  really great
    sounding effects that way, along with the actors' natural  vocal inflections,
    but
    obviously it also presents some production  challenges.

    Steve Lewis
    director, Gotham Radio Players

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

    Date: Sun, 3 Oct 2004 12:54:45 -0400
    From: StevenL751@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER

    In a message dated 10/3/2004 9:32:07 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
    [removed]@[removed] writes:

>     First, are there any radio versions of the play out there? I seem to  recall
>     someone on the digest mentioning a production with Jack Benny as  the lead?

    Is

>     that something I only imagined?

    The version with Jack Benny as Sheridan Whiteside was from the HOTPOINT
    HOLIDAY HOUR, which aired on 12/25/49.  It's actually an all-star  cast, also
    including Gene Kelly, Charles Boyer, Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire,  Rosalind
    Russell, Henry Fonda, and John Garfield.

    There's also a version which starred Fred Allen from THE THEATRE GUILD ON
    THE AIR.  I don't have the date of that one handy.

    Steve Lewis

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

    Date: Sun, 3 Oct 2004 15:14:46 -0400
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  10-4 births/deaths

    October 4th births

    10-04-1884 - Damon Runyon - Manhattan, KS - d. 12-10-1946
    short story writer: "Good News of 1940"; "Damon Runyon Theatre"
    10-04-1892 - Kathryn Card - Butte, MT - d. 3-1-1964
    actress: Grandmother Barton "The Bartons"; Mrs. Wiggins "Uncle Walter's Dog
    House"
    10-04-1893 - Reverend Walter A. Maier - Boston, MA - d. 1-11-1950
    preacher: "Lutheran Hour"
    10-04-1894 - Cliff Hall - Brooklyn, NY - d. 10-6-1972
    comedian: Sharlie "Baron and the Bee, Jack Pearl Show"
    10-04-1895 - Buster Keaton - Piqua, KS - d. 2-1-1966
    comediann: "Shell Chateau"; "Voices from the Hollywood Past"
    10-04-1897 - Frederick Chase Taylor - Buffalo, NY - d. 5-29-1950
    comedian: Lemuel Q. Stoopnagel "Duffy's Tavern, Quixie Doodles, Stoopnagel
    and Budd"
    10-04-1900 - Robert Shayne - Yonkers, NY - d. 11-29-1992
    actor: Walter Manning "Portia Faces Life"
    10-04-1909 - James Webb - Denver, CA (that is right, CA) - d. 9-27-1974
    screenwriter: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    10-04-1910 - Stanley Farrar - d. 4-5-1974
    actor: (Brother of Danny Thomas) Melvyn Foster "A Date with Judy"
    10-04-1914 - John Larch - Salem, MA
    actor: (Married to Vivi Janiss) Rocky Starr "Starr ofSpace"
    10-04-1916 - George Sidney - Long Island City, NY - d. 5-5-2002
    film musical director: "Shell Chateau"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
    10-04-1916 - Lenore Kingston - Los Angeles, CA - d. 5-5-1993
    actress: Mercedes Colby "Don Winslow of the Navy"; Jane Daley "Affairs of
    Anthony"
    10-04-1917 - Jan Murray - The Bronx, NY
    emcee: "Songs for Sale"; "Meet Your Match"
    10-04-1924 - Charlton Heston - Evanston, IL
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Kaleidoscope"
    10-04-1929 - Scotty Beckett - CA - d. 5-10-1968
    actor: Chester A. Riley, Jr. "Life of Riley"

    October 4th deaths

    02-08-1911 - Judith Allen - NYC - d. 10-5-1996
    actress: Margo Lane "The Shadow"
    05-24-1878 - Harry Emerson Fosdick - Buffalo, NY - d. 10-5-1969
    preacher: "National Vespers"
    06-25-1899 - Arthur Tracy - Kaminetz-Podolski, Russia - d. 10-5-1997
    singer: (The Street Singer) "Street Singer"; "Music That Satisfies"
    07-13-1895 - Sidney Blackmer - Salisbury, NC - d. 10-5-1973
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    09-14-1899 - Hal B. Wallis - Chicago, IL - d. 10-5-1986
    film producer: "Tex and Jinx Show"; "Academy Award Program"; "Lux Radio
    Theatre"
    11-05-1897 - Jan Garber - Norristown, PA - d. 10-5-1977
    bandleader: "Jan Garber Supper Club"
    11-28-1925 - Gloria Grahame - Los Angeles, CA - d. 10-5-1981
    actress: "Hollywood Star Playhouse"
    --
    Ron Sayles
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

    Date: Sun, 3 Oct 2004 16:29:34 -0400
    From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  This week in radio history 10/3-10/9

     From Those Were The Days --

    10/3

    1901 - The Victor Talking Machine Company was incorporated on this day.
    After a merger with Radio Corporation of America, RCA-Victor became the
    leader in phonographs and many of the records played on them. The famous
    Victrola phonograph logo, with Nipper the dog, and the words "His
    Masterís Voice", appeared on all RCA-Victor phonographs and record labels.

    1946 - Dennis Day started his own show on NBC. Dennis, a popular tenor
    featured on The Jack Benny Show, played the same (type) naive young
    bachelor he played on the Benny show. A Day in the Life of Dennis Day
    aired for five years.

    10/4

    1948 - Gordon MacRae hosted the premiere of a radio classic. The
    Railroad Hour debuted on ABC. The theme song was I've Been Working on
    the Railroad and the show was sponsored by -- get ready -- America's
    Railroads.

    10/5

    1930 - The New York Philharmonic Orchestra was first heard on the air
    over CBS from Carnegie Hall. The Sunday afternoon concerts set CBS back
    $15,000. Not per week, but for the entire season!

    1930 - This was a big day for CBS. Following the orchestra broadcast
    (above), Father Coughlin, The Fighting Priest was first heard on the
    radio. He lit up the airwaves with oratory that aired into the early
    forties.

    1934 - The first major network radio show to originate from Hollywood
    aired on this day. Hollywood Hotel was heard on CBS and was heavily
    promoted as being the first to broadcast from the West Coast of the [removed]

    1947 - A small Northern California company got a major boost from Bing
    Crosby. The first show recorded on tape was broadcast on ABC. 'Der
    Bingle' was so popular, that his taped show promoted wide distribution
    of the new magnetic tape recorders that would become broadcast classics
    -- the venerable Ampex 200.

    1952 - After an 11-year run, Inner Sanctum, the legendary mystery
    series, was heard for the final time. We'll never know if they oiled
    that squeaky [removed]  (Of course there is the story of a staffer who did
    actually oil the door before one [removed] ed)

    10/6

    1937 - Hobby Lobby debuted on CBS. The host was the dean of American
    hobbyists, Dave Elman. The show's theme was The Best Things in Life are
    Free. Sponsors included Fels Naptha soap, Hudson paper products and
    Colgate Dental Creme.

    10/7

    1922 - The first radio network -- of sorts -- debuted. It was a network
    of just two stations. WJZ in Newark, NJ teamed with WGY in Schenectady,
    NY to bring the World Series game direct from the Polo Grounds in New
    York. Columnist Grantland Rice was behind the microphone for that broadcast.

    1939 - Kate Hopkins, Angel of Mercy was heard for the first time on CBS
    radio. Tom Hopkins, Kate's husband, was played by eventual Beat the
    Clock host Clayton 'Bud' Collyer. The 15-minute radio drama was written
    by Chester McCraken and Gertrude Berg (writer and Emmy Award-winning
    actress of The Goldbergs, a popular radio and TV series in the 1940s &
    1950s). The announcer for the four-year run of Angel of Mercy was Ralph
    Edwards of future This is Your Life fame. And the sponsor was Maxwell
    House of coffee fame.

    1940 - Portia Faces Life debuted on the NBC Red network. This radio soap
    opera centered around the life of Portia Blake Manning, an attorney and
    a widow with a young son.  Portia Faces Life was extremely popular, and
    therefore, had many sponsors -- none of which were soap. The sponsors
    included Post Toasties, Grape Nuts Flakes, Grape Nuts Wheat Meal,
    Maxwell House coffee, Jell-O desserts and La France bleach.

    10/8

    1935 - The O'Neill's debuted on CBS. The theme song, Londonderry Air,
    opened the 15-minute soap opera. The O'Neill's aired Mondays, Wednesdays
    and Fridays at 7:30 [removed] In 1936 it moved to daytime where it stayed
    until 1943 on NBC's Red and Blue networks and on CBS, too. One of
    radio's original soaps, it was sponsored appropriately by Silver Dust,
    Ivory soap and Ivory soap flakes.

    1935 - Wedding bells pealed for a singer and a bandleader who tied the
    knot, making radio history together. The bandleader was Ozzie Nelson and
    the singer was Harriet Hilliard. They would make the history pages again
    on this very day -- nine years later.

    1944 - The first broadcast of The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet was
    heard on the CBS network.

    10/9

    1935 - Cavalcade of America was first broadcast this very day. The CBS
    show featured some of Hollywood and Broadway's most famous stars in
    leading roles in the half hour dramas. Thomas Chalmers narrated the
    stories about obscure incidents and people in American history. The
    orchestra was led by Donald Voorhees. The show aired from 1935 to 1953,
    changing from CBS to NBC in 1939; with one sponsor for its entire
    duration. The DuPont Company introduced its slogan on Cavalcade of
    America ... "Better things for better living through [removed]"

    1943 - ABC presented Land of the Lost. The opening phrase for the show
    was, "In that wonderful kingdom at the bottom of the [removed]" This
    children's adventure-fantasy serial took the audience underwater where
    the main characters, Isabel and Jimmy, were guided by their friend, a
    red fish named Red Lantern and played at first by Junius Matthews and
    later, by Art Carney. Land of the Lost found a large audience and
    remained on the air until 1948.

    Joe

    --
    Visit my homepage: [removed]~[removed]

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

    Date: Sun, 3 Oct 2004 16:29:52 -0400
    From: JackBenny@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Benny as The Man Who Came to Dinner

    Randy Story writes:

>     First, are there any radio versions of [The Man Who Came to  Dinner] out

    there? I seem to > recall someone on the digest mentioning a  production with
    Jack Benny as the lead? Is

>     that something I only  imagined?

    Yes, that was on Hotpoint Holiday of 12/25/49.  Very strange to hear  Jack in
    the truly obnoxious leading role of Sheridan Whiteside;  lines like  the
    sneering "Shut your nasty little face!" just don't fit in his mouth.   You'll
    definitely need someone more in the Noel Cowardish/Frank Fayish vein  to be
    able
    to carry that off.  Good luck!

    --Laura Leff
    President,  IJBFC
    [removed]

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

    Date: Sun, 3 Oct 2004 20:00:42 -0400
    From: <fc90030@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  John McGiver

    Mark Kinsler didn't recognize John McGiver's name but I bet he will
    recall the face when he reads that McGiver was the prim, proper
    and stern-faced, bald man who waited on Audry Hepburn at
    Tiffany's in, "Breakfast At Tiffanys."   He revealed his, "heart of
    gold," by arrainging to have her Cracker Jack box ring engraved.

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

    Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2004 00:29:42 -0400
    From: "[removed]" <donsplace@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Sky Captain

    Just after Frankie gives the order to scramble the amphibious assault
    teams, there is a cutaway to a pilot reaching for a helmet. The
    nameplate on the wall is "M. Keen"

    Also, there is one shot of a wrecked ship with the BOLDly lettered name
    "VENTURE".

    OK, the second was a big stretch, but it is a very entertaining movie.

    --- [removed]

    "Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am
    persecuted whenever I am contradicted." --- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

    Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2004 09:40:58 -0400
    From: "Philip Railsback" <philiprailsback@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Haunted Houses

>     There is something that I have wondered, maybe folks can help me with.  A
>     lot of the old movies are what I would call screwball horrors - an old dark
>     house, a killer, a romance and some comedy (I love these sorts of movies).
>     What radio shows would you say fit into this catagory?

    There must of been a lot shows that featured at least one haunted house
    episode, but the only one that comes to mind is a "Life of Riley".  I can't
    remember the name of the episode.  I think it would have have been around
    1945-46 as the show also dealt with the end of the war.

      - Philip

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #318
    *********************************************

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