Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #263
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 8/10/2004 10:18 AM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2004 : Issue 263
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Henry Fillmore                        [ "Mike Martini" <mmartini@[removed] ]
      First singing commercial?             [ "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed] ]
      OTR in Robert Parker's Double Play    [ <sweetedit@[removed]; ]
      andy griffith vs. lum and abner       [ "Michael Leannah" <mleannah@charter ]
      ITTA 2                                [ Ga6string@[removed] ]
      8-10 births/deaths                    [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
      Lurene Tuttle                         [ William L Murtough <k2mfi@[removed]; ]
      "The Day the Earth Stood Still" on r  [ Steve Salaba <philmfan@[removed] ]
      Jackson Beck in Star-Ledger           [ seandd@[removed] ]
      Re: RKO Radio                         [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
      Mystery in the Air                    [ Randy Watts <rew1014@[removed]; ]
      King Kong                             [ Zharold138@[removed] ]
      Everett Sloane                        [ damyankeeinva <damyankeeinva@earthl ]
      recording restoration                 [ Mark Reesor <mrees@[removed]; ]
      Sixties stories                       [ "Doug Leary" <doug@[removed]; ]

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

    Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2004 13:45:12 -0400
    From: "Mike Martini" <mmartini@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Henry Fillmore

    Hello,
    Randy Miller recently posed an inquiry regarding the great Sousa trombonist,
    arranger and March music composer Henry Fillmore and his dog, Mike, aka "Mike
    the Radio Hound."  I cannot speak for his national radio program, but I am
    fairly sure his WLW Cincinnati radio program does not exist in recorded form.
    It's my understanding that Fillmore's show was fairly early in the game and
    WLW didn't get its own transcription disc lathe until late 1934.  We do have
    some recordings, however, of Dr. Frank Simon's "Armco Steel Program."  Dr.
    Simon was also a member of Sousa's band and formed his own orchestra for the
    steelmaker in Middletown, Ohio to broadcast nationally for several years in
    the 1930's.  Durward Kirby was the announcer and the Armco band would delve
    into spirited renditions of Fillmore, Sousa and others.  In fact, Simon and
    Fillmore were good friends (Fillmore is mentioned often in Simon's
    autobiography)...Fillmore wrote a few tunes for Simon's band including a
    march called the "Armco Spirit."  In addition, Fillmore's family owned an
    important music publishing company in Cincinnati, which supplied music to
    Simon.  I should note that the Frank Simon band lives on today in a new
    incarnation that is performing throughout the Ohio Valley region.

    And Mike the Radio Hound?  There's an interesting story about [removed] Mike
    passed away (as all radio hounds eventually do), Fillmore apparently had him
    buried with a very expensive, jeweled collar on a farm near Harrison, Ohio
    (near Cincinnati).  Fearing some one might just, well, dig him up to get the
    collar, Fillmore told no one exactly where the dog was laid to rest.  And so
    it remains, sixty some-odd years later, the mystery of the whereabouts of a
    dog collar "treasure" lying beneath the sod in an unmarked spot somewhere on
    a Harrison farm.  May Mike and his master rest in peace.

    -M. Martini

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

    Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2004 14:09:15 -0400
    From: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  First singing commercial?

    In my Franklin Planner, there is a little factoid at the top of each day
    page.  Today's is:

    "The world's first singing radio commercial, aired in 1926,. pitched Wheaties
    cereal."

    I suspect that I may be opening the proverbial can of worms here, but was
    this really the first singing radio commercial?  I'm always suspicious of
    "world's first" things, since they seem to be open to so much debate.  Is it
    even possible to pin down the first singing commercial?   Are there other
    contenders for this title?  Anyone want to shed some light on very early
    radio advertising practices?

    -chris holm

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

    Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2004 14:09:28 -0400
    From: <sweetedit@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  OTR in Robert Parker's Double Play

    Just thought I would mention that Robert Parker's new novel, Double Play,
    which tells the story of a bodyguard for Jackie Robinson during his first
    season with Brooklyn, features a lot of references to OTR programs.

    For me, it's always interesting to see that!

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

    Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2004 15:36:12 -0400
    From: "Michael Leannah" <mleannah@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  andy griffith vs. lum and abner

    With all these postings concerning my all-time favorite TV show, The Andy
    Griffith Show, I am reminded of something I've wondered about for many
    years: Were Andy Griffith and/or his writers fans of the Lum and Abner radio
    show? Many of the TV show plots and sub-plots parallel those of the Lum and
    Abner radio show of the '30s and '40s. If I were to meet Andy Griffith I
    would ask him if he listened to Lum and Abner in his younger days.
    Mike Leannah
    Sheboygan, Wisconsin

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

    Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2004 15:36:31 -0400
    From: Ga6string@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  ITTA 2
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    Maybe I missed it, but has there been any mention here of the recently
    published second volume of "It's That Time Again"? Both volumes, published by
    BearManor Media, include new, fictional short stories written using the style
    and
    characters of various programs.

    I contributed to both volumes as a writer, and enjoyed it immensely. (My
    stories were based on "Rogue's Gallery" and "Nightbeat." I also enjoyed
    reading
    many of the other stories included in these volumes.

    The books are available at [removed] and at [removed], I believe.
    Amazon lists Vol. 2 as a written by Jim Harmon, although he was actually the
    editor of, and a contributor to, the collection.

    Just thought I'd give 'em a plug, in case no one's familiar with these books!

    Thanks,
    Bryan Powell

      *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
      ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

    Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2004 15:36:38 -0400
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  8-10 births/deaths

    August 10th births

    08-10-1885 - Hugh Herbert - Binghamton, NY - d. 3-12-1952
    actor: Pop "That's My Pop"
    08-10-1899 - Jack Haley - Boston, MA - d. 6-6-1979
    comedian: "Log Cabin"; "Wonder Show"; "Sealtest Village Store"
    08-10-1900 - Norma Shearer - Montreal, Canada - d. 6-12-1983
    actress: "Everyman's Theatre"; "Louella Parsons"
    08-10-1902 - Robert Siodmack - Dresden, Saxony, Germany - d. 9-2-2000
    film director: "Screen Director's Playhouse"
    08-10-1908 - Jane Pickens - Macon, GA - d. 2-21-1992
    singer: "Gulf Headliners"; "Evening in Paris"; "Jane Pickens Show"
    08-10-1913 - Noah Beery, Jr. - NYC - d. 11-1-1994
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Screen Guild Theatre"
    08-10-1914 - Jeff Corey - NYC - d. 8-16-2002
    actor: "Nightbeat"; "Escape"; "NBC Presents: Short Story"
    08-10-1923 - Rhonda Fleming - Los Angeles, CA
    actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    08-10-1924 - Martha Hyer - Fort Worth, TX
    actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    08-10-1928 - Eddie Fisher - Philadelphia, PA
    singer: "Stars in Khaki 'n' Blue"; "Eddie Fisher Show"
    08-10-1928 - Jimmy Dean - Plainview, TX
    singer: "Grand Ole Opry"

    August 10th deaths

    05-02-1903 - Sylvan Levin - Baltimore, MD - d. 8-10-1996
    conductor: "Sinfonietta"; "Brownstone Theatre"; "Let's Go to the Opera"
    06-18-1910 - Dick Foran - Flemington, NJ - d. 8-10-1979
    singer: (The Singing Cowboy) "Burns and Allen"
    07-03-1915 - Jerry Gray - Boston MA - d. 8-10-1976
    bandleader: "I Sustain the Wings"; "Philip Morris Frolics"; "Club 15"
    07-17-1917 - Lou Boudreau - Harvey, IL - d. 8-10-2001
    sportscaster: Chicago Cubs
    08-23-1900 - John Nesbitt - Victoria, British Columbia, Canada - d. 8-10-1960
    commentator: "Passing Parade"
    09-20-1898 - Charlie Dressen - Decatur, IL - d. 8-10-1966
    baseball manager: "Tops in Sports"; "Brooklyn Dodgers Locker Room Interviews"
    09-30-1912 - Kenny Baker - Monrovia, CA - d. 8-10-1985
    singer, comedian: "Jack Benny Program"; "Glamour Manor"; "Kenny Baker Show"
    10-27-1890 - Bob Becker - Terryville, SD - d. 8-10-1962
    commentator: "Fireside Chats About Dogs/Pet Parade"
    11-13-1903 - Conrad Thibault - Northbridge, MA - d. 8-10-1983
    singer: "Show Boat"; "Packard Hour"; "Manhattan Merry-Go-Round"
    11-17-1901 - Ted Husing - The Bronx, NY - d. 8-10-1962
    announcer, sportscaster: "Sportslants"; "March of Time"; "Radio Reader's
    Digest"
    11-27-1897 - Vera Allen - NYC - d. 8-10-1987
    actress: Grace Doblen "Hilltop House"; Mother Malone "Young Dr. Malone"
    --
    Ron Sayles
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

    Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2004 16:12:48 -0400
    From: William L Murtough <k2mfi@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Lurene Tuttle

    Richard Pratz asked about Lurene Tuttle who I knew casually when I was on
    the engineering staff at CBS-Hollywood (1945-1951). She was not an old
    lady but was no kid either. She was married and had a daughter who as I
    recall was also and actress, but I never knew her. Also I do not recall
    the name her actress daughter used. When i would be working the night
    shift in KNX (CBS-Holywood) Master Control my wife would pick me up and
    we would drop in at Dan Dailey's "gin mill" in the San Fernando Valley
    for a nightcap on the way home  and would run into Lurene and her
    husband. (Dan was the bartender). Jackie Coogan also was a regular there.
    He lived in a development near us.

    BILL MURTOUGH

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

    Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2004 17:36:41 -0400
    From: Steve Salaba <philmfan@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  "The Day the Earth Stood Still" on radio

    I happened to tune in to an internet radio station today just in time to
    hear the last part of a radio dramatization of the 1952 science fiction
    film "The Day the Earth Stood Still" which starred the same actor who
    played "Klaatu" in the film, Michael Rennie. It seems to have been a
    transcription played for the US Armed Forces according to the "commercial"
    I heard during the broadcast. I'm wondering what program it may have
    originally been on. The film was released the same year I was born, so I
    didn't see it until it was on TV years later. I didn't know they'd done a
    radio version. It's one of my favorite films.
    --
    Steve Salaba

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

    Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2004 22:47:05 -0400
    From: seandd@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Jackson Beck in Star-Ledger

    The Star-Ledger of Newark mentions Jackson Beck in a recollection of great
    cartoon voices today.  Has it really been "several weeks" already?

    Ugh.

    Sean Dougherty
    SeanDD@[removed]

    THE voice is familiar
    Newark Star Ledger - Newark,NJ,USA
    ... who was the voice of Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Barney Rubble
    and many others, but who was also seen as an on-camera regular on Jack
    Benny's popular TV ...
    <[removed];

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

    Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2004 22:47:35 -0400
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: RKO Radio

    On 8/9/04 11:40 AM [removed]@[removed] wrote:

>     It has been pointed out here that RKO broke a sort of "understanding" among
>     film studios that they wouldn't let their properties (scripts, characters,
>     actors, etc.) participate in the new medium.  Sort of the way that the AP
>     ignored radio stations for a long time.

    I have to wonder about the origins of this legend -- Loews Inc, the
    parent of MGM, was regularly presenting Metro stars on the "MGM Movie
    Club" on WHN, New York as far back as 1925. Paramount was an major
    investor in CBS beginning in 1929, and the Paramount Publix Radio Hour
    was a regular feature of the network during 1929-31. Warner Brothers
    regularly promoted its stars and its films on the Warner-owned KFWB,
    Hollywood beginning in the late twenties, and the Vitaphone Hour was a
    network feature beginning in 1928.

    In view of those facts, RKO was actually a bit of a latecomer to the
    movie-radio game -- its predecessor studio, FBO, didn't have a radio
    presence, but when the firm was bought out by RCA in 1928 -- which was
    the source of the "Radio" in Radio-Keith-Orpheum -- it became closely
    tied to broadcasting. Being an RCA subsidiary, RKO had full access to
    performers under contract to the NBC Artists Service, and such
    personalities as Fred Waring, Rudy Vallee, and Amos 'n' Andy all made
    films under the RKO banner. Beginning in 1929, the RKO Hour on NBC
    regularly presented RKO contract talent and capsule previews of upcoming
    films.

    I think it's too common for OTR writers to forget that many if not most
    of the "innovations" that became popular in radio in the forties and
    fifties actually had their origins in the twenties, perhaps because very
    little meaningful research has been done until recently into that era's
    programming -- and the movie-radio connection is definitely one of these
    innovations.

    Elizabeth

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

    Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2004 22:48:04 -0400
    From: Randy Watts <rew1014@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Mystery in the Air

>     Radio actress Peggy Webber told me about this years
>     ago.  She said it happened on one of the Mystery in
>     the Air broadcasts.

    There were actually thirteen MYSTERY IN THE AIR
    broadcasts, but only the last eight circulate among
    collectors.  A ninth, "The Tell-Tale Heart," broadcast
    July 3, 1947, survives in the Library of Congress.

    Randy

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

    Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2004 22:49:29 -0400
    From: Zharold138@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  King Kong

        Hi Anybody,
    On the subject of the movie "King Kong" I just read that the female star Fay
    Wray has passed away at the age of ninety-two.
        On another subject I hope you keep the larger print in todays old radio
    newsletter for us senior readers.
        Till Next Time, Harold
    ,

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

    Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2004 23:42:41 -0400
    From: damyankeeinva <damyankeeinva@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Everett Sloane

    [removed] lists Everett Sloane as a presumed case of self-inflicted
    barbiturate overdose age about 56, as this outstanding radio and film actor
    feared he was going blind.  He was part of Orson Welles' Mercury Players, and
    appeared in nearly three dozen films starting as Mr. Bernstein in "Citizen
    Kane" with other Orsonians.

    Sloane appeared on numerous TV shows, directed a few, and wrote the lyrics
    for the theme song for "Mayberry RFD"!

    One should certainly understand how the prospect of blindness could spell
    doom in the mind of such an outstanding, varied, and accomplished talent,
    with such a career in a visual medium or two in which scripts were so
    important.

    Lee Munsick

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

    Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2004 00:18:03 -0400
    From: Mark Reesor <mrees@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  recording restoration

    The results from scanning old recordings are quite dramatic, and have
    improved a lot since 2002 - you can find some examples and information at:

    [removed]~av/

    The equipment requirements are a little daunting but the technology
    seems very promising.

    Mark Reesor

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

    Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2004 02:20:10 -0400
    From: "Doug Leary" <doug@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Sixties stories

    I'm trying to remember a storytelling program of the late 60s or early 70s,
    featuring a guy with a deep, resonant voice told strange stories. One
    concerned a man obsessed with time, who collected clocks and eventually
    realized that he knew what time it was everywhere in the world. He ended up
    in a little room saying, "BEEP, the time [removed]"  Another was about a house
    burning down, and in the house a stove furiously kept making pancakes as the
    place burned down.

    That's all I can remember. This program was featured on KMPX San Francisco,
    but may have originated elsewhere.

    Doug Leary
    Seattle

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #263
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