Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #271
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 8/17/2004 8:30 PM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2004 : Issue 271
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  SPERDVaC convention                   [ "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed]; ]
  The Lottery                           [ Osborneam@[removed] ]
  8-17 births/deaths                    [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Peter Lorre                           [ "Mike" <dudemth@[removed]; ]
  Demented Peter Lorre ????             [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
  A few random thoughts on different t  [ "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed] ]
  Radio Database                        [ Bhob <bhob2@[removed]; ]
  Peter Lorre and the Hungarian Connec  [ PURKASZ@[removed] ]
  Re:A Sound of Thunder                 [ Don Shenbarger <donslistmail@sbcglo ]
  Tony Mottola                          [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  8-18 biraths/deaths                   [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Cavalcade of America correction       [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]

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

Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 09:10:32 -0400
From: "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  SPERDVaC convention

Hi everybody,

just want to mention if all of plans come through this year at the SPERDVaC
convention it should be one not to miss.  Bobb Lynes,s has allot of good
things in the works, and I am happy to be on his panel teams again this
year.  I am planning to be at all three days this year and I am very
interested in finding out what Hal Stone is going to direct on Friday night.
I arrange last year to have Art Linkletter to come over frank Bresee studio
and he is a great story teller.  Don,t miss his talk Sunday morning.  I
imagine Bobb will post a new update down the road.  Take care,

Walden Hughes.

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

Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 10:04:01 -0400
From: Osborneam@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  The Lottery

Matthew Bullis asks:

did any OTR program do a
dramatization of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery?

The Lottery was performed on NBC Short Story
on 03/14/51.

Arlene Osborne

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

Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 10:04:20 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  8-17 births/deaths

August 17th b irths

08-17-1888 - Monte Woolley- NYC - d. 5-6-1963
actor: Edwin Montague "Magnificent Montague"
08-17-1893 - Mae West - Brooklyn, NY - d. 11-22-1980
actress: "Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy Show" (Famous Adam and Eve Skit)
08-17-1900 - Quincy Howe - Boston, MA - d. 2-19-1977
newscaster: "Quincy Howe: Comment"
08-17-1904 - Ann Harding - Fort Sam Houston, TX - d. 9-1-1981
actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Cavalcade of America"; "Hallmark Playhouse"
08-17-1918 - Evelyn Ankers - Valparaiso, Chili - d. 8-28-1985
actress: Argentine Radio
08-17-1920 - Georgia Gibbs - Worchester, MA
singer: (Her Nibs) "Your Hit Parade"; "Camel Caravan"; "Philco Hall of Fame"
08-17-1920 - Maureen O'Hara - Millwall, Ireland
actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"
08-17-1921 - Donald Buka - Cleveland, OH
actor: Barney Mallory "Sparrow and the Hawk"
08-17-1922 - Jack Sperling - Trenton, NJ - d. 3-8-2004
drummer: Bands of Bunny Berrigan, Les Brown and others"

August 17th deaths

01-26-1927 - Billy Redfield - NYC - d. 8-17-1976
actor: Grayling Dennis "Brighter Day"; Willie Piper "Tales of Willie Piper"
02-06-1888 - Bennett Kilpack - England - d. 8-17-1962
actor: Mr. Keen "Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons"; "James Benson "David Harum"
03-29-1918 - Pearl Bailey - Newport News, VA - d. 8-17-1990
singer: "Kraft Music Hall "; "Tribute to Glenn Miller"
05-09-1895 - Richard Barthelmass - NYC - d. 8-17-1963
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
05-17-1907 - Horace McMahon - South Norwalk, CT - d. 8-17-1971
actor: "Crime Does Not Pay"
06-29-1901 - Ed Gardner - Astoria, NY - d. 8-17-1963
comedian: Archie "Duffy's Tavern"
07-24-1904 - Delmer Daves - San Francisco, CA - d. 8-17-1977
movie writer/director: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Screen Guild Theatre"
07-26-1909 - Vivian Vance - Cherryvale, KS (Raised: Independence, KS) - d.
8-17-1979
actress: Ethel Mertz "I Love Lucy"
09-11-1908 - Elisebeth A. Heisch - Madison, WI - d. 8-17-2003
writer: "The Cinnamon Bear"
10-20-1913 - Barney Phillips - St. Louis, MO - d. 8-17-1982
actor: Ed Jacobs "Dragnet"; Somber Jones "Hawk Larabee"; "Gunsmoke"
12-02-1902 - Howard Koch - NYC - d. 8-17-1995
writer: "War of the Worlds"
12-06-1896 - Ira Gershwin - NYC - d. 8-17-1983
songwriter: "Lady in the Dark"; "Jolson Story"; "Barkleys of Broadway"
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 10:20:07 -0400
From: "Mike" <dudemth@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Peter Lorre
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

Jazmaan Wrote:

Any other good Lorre shows out there you can recommend?

I just listened to a great Suspense program from 8/30/45 starring Peter Lorre
as a man who confesses to a kidnapping - and more in "Nobody Love Me".

Mike

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Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 10:21:27 -0400
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Demented Peter Lorre ????

Lee Munsick described the German film "M".  It comes highly recommended, but
catch the Criterion release where the remaining footage was restored and
subtitles are not annoying.  Their print is expensive but worth watching.

On a side note, according to the story I read, Adolph Hitler appreciated
many movies made in Germany.  He arranged to have many copies of Fritz
Lang's METROPOLIS made so he could dispense them to his "associates" cause
he claimed it was the greatest movie ever made.  Also highly recommended
(watch the KINO ON VIDEO version), this film is considered one of the ten
greatest science-fiction films ever made but if it wasn't for Hitler having
ordered copies of this silent film to be made, we wouldn't be enjoying it
today.  Anyway . . . I'm getting ahead of myself.  After viewing "M", Adolph
Hitler wrote to the Hungarian actor Peter Lorre in England, who by that time
was being filmed for SECRET AGENT and another early British flick directed
by Alfred Hitchcock (who was also impressed with Lorre's acting duties in
M).  In the letter, Hitler complimented Lorre for his work on M, and asked
him to return to Germany so that he could star in a series of propoganda
films in which Lorre could once again play a murderer.  Lorre sent a polite
letter thanking him for his compliment, but declined the offer because as he
described it, there was already a murderer in Germany and the country didn't
need another.  Many years later, Hitler's "hit list" was discovered, a list
of the hundred people Adolph Hitler wanted dead.  According to some sources,
Germany had eight agents in the [removed] during WWII, trained to track down
these 100 people and secretly make them disappear forever.  Of the 100
people, number one being on the top of the list, Peter Lorre was number
three on that list . . .

Martin Grams, Jr.

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

Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 10:22:45 -0400
From: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  A few random thoughts on different [removed]

- ---OTR while driving

I live in Michigan, and often drive back to the DC area to visit my family.
Usually, this is a 10+ hour drive so proper OTR selection is critical.  I
agree that serialized programs are often a good choice, because you get the
whole story.  I have a couple of sets of soap opera shows from Shaun Wells
<sp?>, and they're perfect for traveling.

I also try to pick shows based on the weather and mood.  If I'm going to be
driving through the night, or it's stormy out - shows like Suspense and
Lights Out are perfect for the mood.  Comedy shows fit well into a sunny
afternoon.  Even though I've heard them all a hundred times before, I make
sure to break out the Christmas shows when I'm driving to visit for the
holidays.

- ---Speed Controlled Volume:

In #270, Bill H. wrote:

This device was supposed to adjust the level of the radio
to compensate for wind noise in the car. This was before
air conditioning was common in autos.

Many cars still have this feature.  My GM car came equipped with a stereo
with a feature they call SCV (speed controlled volume).  There is a second
dial behind the volume knob with four settings (off,1,2,3 or something).  I
assume it boosts volume on some linear scale - so if you're going 30 it
boosts volume by some factor X, and at 60 it's 2X.  As you turn the dial up
through the settings, it increases the X boost factor.

If you're having trouble hearing OTR in the car, check your manual, your
vehicle may have the same feature.

- ---On setting volume levels:

Fred Berney wrote:

Or better yet a movie on DVD. . . . And as
for movies, to hear the actors you set one
level and then the explosions begin at another

I too had this problem.   Between loud car stereos, rock concerts, and
working in a factory, my hearing isn't what it was when I was a younger man
(say 10 years ago when I was 20).  I would have the receiver turned up to
hear the voices clearly, and when the explosions kicked in my
couple-hundred-watt powered subwoofer would set the windows rattling and most
surely irritated my downstairs neighbors.

I think part of the problem is that with slight hearing loss (or threshold
shift), it's the middle frequencies that start to go first - just the range
where you find the human voice.  Highs and lows cut through no problem, but
sometimes voices are muddled.  I solved this problem by sitting down with the
manual from my surround sound receiver.  On any quality unit, you should be
able to adjust each channel individually - and on a [removed] system, most of the
voice comes from the center channel.  I boosted the center channel levels,
and now the voices come through fine while the explosions are manageable.

As an aside, I think this is part of the OTR-in-the-Car problem.  In OTR, the
voice range is just the one we're most interested in.  With all the other
noises in a car, if you have some slight middle freq loss you have to turn
the unit up higher to get the voices clear, which also makes the other ranges
louder too.  The same ones you had no problem hearing before, so now they
seem twice as loud.

regards,
-chris holm

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

Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 13:07:50 -0400
From: Bhob <bhob2@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Radio Database

This was my second post (on 8/3) to the contributor's message board of
the Internet Movie Database suggesting that they create a radio database
interlinking radio actors with films:

Related to this, I should also point out that there is a site devoted
to the radio appearances of film actors. This is Fair Pickings, which
displays this information in very attractive page designs:
[removed]

Silent film actors made quite a few radio appearances during the 1930s,
and it's possible to see those credits at Fair Pickings. For instance,
here is the Fair Pickings listing for Theda Bara:

BARA, THEDA
Lux Radio Theatre "The Thin Man" w/ W. Powell, M. Loy, M. Gombell. ([removed]
is intermission guest) CBS
6/8/36 (1 hr.)
Texaco Star Theatre w/ K. Murray, F. Langford, L. Gish. CBS 11/8/39 (1
hr.)

Here are some shows that aired on ACADEMY AWARD (CBS) in 1946:

6/29/46 "A Star is Born" Fredric March
7/3/46 "The Maltese Falcon" Humphrey Bogart, Sidney Greenstreet, Mary
Astor
7/10/46 "Young Mr. Lincoln" Henry Fonda
7/17/46 "The Prisoner of Zenda" Douglas Fairbanks, jr., Virginia Bruce
7/24/46 "Foreign Correspondent" Joseph Cotten
7/31/46 "Hold Back the Dawn" Olivia de Havilland
8/7/46 "Watch on the Rhine" Paul Lukas
8/14/46 "Vivacious Lady" Lana Turner
8/21/46 "Keys of the Kingdom" Gregory Peck
8/28/46 "One Sunday Afternoon" James Stewart
9/4/46 "Pinocchio"
9/11/46 "Shadow of a Doubt" Joseph Cotten

One begins to see the advantages and research potential if even just
three radio series (LUX RADIO THEATRE, ACADEMY AWARD, SCREEN GUILD
PLAYERS) had IMDb pages and direct links to the IMDb actor [removed];<

At this point, I began to run out of arguments. Actors who overlapped
between film and radio get full pages on the IMDb, but their radio
credits are relegated to an "other works" button on the side. The IMDb
feels this is sufficient. Too bad. There really is a need for an
Internet Radio Database. The Goldin index is just a listing, not a true
database with hyperlinks.

Bhob

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

Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 13:09:19 -0400
From: PURKASZ@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Peter Lorre and the Hungarian Connection in
 Hollywood
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

"M" is truly one of the great filmed horrors of  that era. 
    Lang's work was to grow over the years. As was Mr.  Lorre's radio work 
and films.
    In the interest of accuracy I must alert Lee to the  fact that Lorre, 
real name Laszlow Lowenstein, was from Hungary thus not a  'Slovak.'
    He was also a part of that great group of Hungarian  madmen in Hollywood 
that I used to hear about when I lived there that consisted  of Peter Lorre, 
Bela Lugosi, Michael Curtiz, Paul Lukas and the great pianist  Ervin 
Nyiregyhazi whose mad piano bombastics and heroic sonatas were a big  feature at the 
much ballyhooed all-night parties at the Lugosi mansion on  Outpost Drive in the 
1930s.
     After debuting at the age of 6 on stage at  Carnegie Hall in 1925, a 
book on the 'child prodigy' as musician was written  about him shortly before he 
disappeared for the first time.  
    In 1946 Lorre got Ervin the job of being the  disembodied hand in the 
film, "Beast With Five Fingers" just before he  disappeared again
     Rediscovered in 1978 living the life of a  homeless drunk in the 
Tenderloin of San Francisco, he was heard by a recording  engineer playing in a free 
concert at a small church in order to try to get some  money to bury his fifth 
wife.
    Never owned his own piano. Was once heard to say,  "Does a truck driver 
live with his truck?"
    He was recorded by Columbia Records in 1979-80  after the world heard of 
his reappearance and what mighty thunder they are! The  engineer who 
discovered him as he walked by the Church in San Francisco one  afternoon said he had 
never heard anyone play with such power and volume let  alone an 89 year old 
man.
    Not too happy with his new fame he just wanted  enough money to buy his 
Bourbon and be left alone.
    Then he disappeared again for the last time.
    The Hungarians seem to have the edge on unique  behavior and a damned 
fine cuisine as well.
                    Gwynne

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

Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 13:09:40 -0400
From: Don Shenbarger <donslistmail@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re:A Sound of Thunder

On 8/17/2004, Jim Widner wrote:
Though tangential to Old Time Radio, I just wanted to pass on that the Ray
Bradbury story which was dramatized on the South African radio series SF68
- A Sound of Thunder - has been made into a film which is supposed to be
released yet this year.

Many thanks for the head's up. I look forward to watching it.

The story was also made for NPR in 1984 by Brigham Young University and
released as part of a series titled "Bradbury 13".

Don Shenbarger

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

Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 20:48:24 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Tony Mottola

I don't know how many caught this, but jazz guitarist Tony Mottola died on the
9th of August. Though not a huge presence in Olde Tyme Radio he did appear in
such programs as "Eddie Condon's Concert"; "Chamber Music Society of Lower
Basin Street"; "Gordon MacRae Gulf Spry Show"; and "Burl Ives Sings."
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 20:48:36 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  8-18 biraths/deaths

August 18th births

08-18-1879 - Gus Edwards - Hohensaliza, Germany - d. 11-7-1945
songwriter: "Thirty Minutes In Hollywood"
08-18-1896 - Alan Mowbray - London, England - d. 3-26-1969
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Forecast"; "Hollywood Hotel"; "Screen Guild
Theatre"
08-18-1900 - Walter O'Keefe - Hartford, CT - d. 6-26-1983
comedian, emcee: "Camel Caravan"; "Town Hall Tonight"; "Double or Nothing"
08-18-1907 - Enoch Light - Canton, OH - d. 7-31-1978
big band leader: "BMI Pin Up Platter"

August 18th deaths

04-22-1909 - Ralph Byrd - Dayton, OH - d. 8-18-1952
singer, actor: Local and Hollywood radio
04-26-1893 - Anita Loos - Sisson (now Mt. Shasta), CA - d. 8-18-1981
playwright: "Lux Radio Theatre"
06-17-1921 - Ben Morris - Oklahoma City, OK - d. 8-18-1982
actor: Pat Novak "Pat Novak for Hire"
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 23:19:35 -0400
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Cavalcade of America correction

Art Chimes remarked:
Some years ago I was researching the Cavalcade of America. Scripts, ETs and
some production records of the show are at the Hagley Library in Wilmington,
which has custody of much of Dupont's (the sponsor's) corporate history. If
I recall correctly, many early Cavalcade episodes did not have a
title on the mimeo scripts (which were in bound volumes at Hagley), and no
proper title was announced in the show. Later in the series the script would
be properly titled and usually, but not always, clearly announced in the
show. There may have also been occasional discrepancies between the title on
the script and the title as announced on the show.

Although Art is correct in that there were a FEW discrepancies regarding
titles, the CAVALCADE OF AMERICA scripts DID have titles on the front page
and were announced on the show.

The very few episodes that featured more than one title are as follows:

Episode #10, "The Will to Explore"  Broadcast December 11, 1935 was also
assigned the title "Courageous Curiosity" by script writer Kenneth Webb.

Episode #64  Broadcast January 6, 1937 had two titles, not one.  Why the
scripts and production notes and advertsising brochures featured two titles
is not known.  The titles were "Winning Prestige for the American Stage" and
"The Story of Thomas Jefferson."

The same situation regarding two titles comes up for episodes 105, 106 and
107 and 111.  And for the record, they were not subtitles as would be
assumed at first.  They are actually two different titles assigned to the
scripts.

Episode #105 Broadcast October 20, 1937 was "John Jacob Astor" and "Pioneer
in American Commerce"

Episode #106 Broadcast October 27, 1937 was "Clara Louise Kellogg" and
"First American Prima Donna"

Episode #107 Broadcast November 3, 1937 was "Elmer Ambrose Sperry" and "The
Last of the Old-Time Inventors"

Episode #111  Broadcast December 1, 1937 was "Otthar Mergenthaler" and The
Invention of the Linotype"

Episode #229 was the same, broadcast June 2, 1941 entitled "The Woman in
Lincoln's Cabinet" and "Anna Ella carroll: The Woman in Lincoln's Cabinet"

Episode #296 was the only broadcast that didn't have a title at all.
Broadcast September 14, 1942, this broadcast consisted of no drama, but it
did feature a speech by the former [removed] Ambassador to Japan, the Honrable
Joseph C. Grew on the occasion of awarding the Army-Navy E Award at the
Remington Arms Plant in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Episode #298 featured two titles, broadcast September 28, 1942 entitled
"Thunder From the Mountain" and "Juarez"

Off the side, for anyone wanting to hear a fascinating episode of the
CAVALCADE series, I recommend episode #594.

Episode #594  "EXPERIMENT AT MONTICELLO"  Broadcast january 10, 1949
Stars Rex Harrison as Thomas Jefferson, Ed Jerome as Corcoran, Elliott Reid
as Druce, Cathleen Cordell as Mrs. Reynolds, Joan Lorring as Sally, Ed
Jerome as Trimble, Cathleen Cordell as Patsy, and supporting cast including
Anna Maude Morath, Mae Questal (Betty [removed]), mike Garrin, John Harper and
Dorothy Storm.
Written exclusively for CAVALCADE by Arthur Arent.
Produced and directed by Jack Zoller.
Bill H. Hamilton was the commercial spokesman and Ted Pearson was the
announcer.
Music composed by Ardon Cornwell and conducted by Donald Bryan and his
orchestra.
Story:  Smallpox was becoming an epidemic in 1801, and there seemed to be
little that could stop it.  In Boston, Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse advanced his
theory of vaccination to control the disease, but only a few people, among
them Thomas Jefferson, sided with him.  When Sally Corcoran, pretty young
daughter of Monticell's overseer, arranged a meeting between Jefferson and
her friend, John Druce, Jefferson asked the young medical student his
opinion of vaccination.  John, whose experience was limited to the teaching
of his professors, termed Waterhouse a fraud.  but smallpox had reached
Monticello, and Jefferson offered himself not only to be vaccinated, but to
inoculate any person on his plantation - including his slaves and servants -
with Dr. Waterhous's serum.

Just a few years ago it was proven that Jefferson had relationships with
slaves because a group of black people were given some form of DNA tests and
it was proven that they were related to Thomas Jefferson.  No sooner did
this news break out than deja vu hit me.  I was driving home listening to
this very broadcast of CAVALCADE and remarked what a coincidence that
Jefferson requested that his slaves also be given the serum to prevent
smallpox . . . or was it a coincidence?

Material regarding episode titles, aridates, triva and so on are documented
in THE HISTORY OF THE CAVALCADE OF AMERICA (Morris Publishing, 1999).  And
yes, Hagley was one of five primary sources of information, but Hagley isn't
the only place that houses large collections of the DuPont archives, which I
personally copied myself on a copy machine and all of the script covers have
since been shipped to Audio Classics who presently holds on to the material
for preservation.
Martin Grams, Jr.

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #271
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