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

[removed] Digest				Volume 96 : Issue 393

Table Of Contents: 

	 Report on the convention
	 Clifford Simak
	 Re: OTR at Bouchercon
	 Gregory Hood
	 FOTR in Newark FM & M 15-minute versions
	 Why I love OTR
	 Re: Gregory Hood
	 Music Til Dawn and War of the Worlds
	 The Fifth Horseman log
	 Re: Danny Kaye and Benny
	 Re: Lennon Group

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

Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 20:58:11 -0400
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Report on the convention
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I will have a laptop at the convention and hope to tap into the digest. I
am planning on trying to put out some "reportage" while there, so that
those who cannot attend get a chance to know what is going on.

Hopefully, if I connect up with some of you going, you will be able to
provide some insight that maybe can be put out to the digest.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Widner                      INTERNET: jwidner@[removed]
Dayton, OH                      WWW: [removed]
COMPUSERVE: 74566,3041          
AOL: JimWidner                            

                                                 

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

Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 20:58:07 -0400
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Clifford Simak
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Though this is beginning to move off subject and I'm sure the cyber-police
will be coming through the door any minute, let me clarify my comments
which Anthony Tollin commented upon. 

Simak did publish a lot during his fulltime career of newspaper journalism.
And he did publish some major works. He wrote a few stories prior to 1932,
but wrote virtually no sf from '32 to '38. He seemed inspired (as I
understand it) by Campbell's editorial policy when he took over Astounding
and began once more to write sf with greater enthusiasm. 

What I said and what I meant was that Simak did not begin writing
"fulltime" until after he retired. He never left his primary occupation
while continuing to write sf. Anthony is correct in that some of his most
famous works came while he was still working in the newspaper business. Not
sure when he actually retired, but he began producing novels at a
one-a-year rate only after 1959.

In my own opinion, most of the radio versions of Simak's work do not do
justice to the writer. It all goes to the central aspect of what I wanted
from "Science Fiction On [removed]" - listeners should go back to the
original stories to fully appreciate what they hear on the radio versions.
Some are excellent, though some are completely different from the original.
This might be ok, except that in some, meaning is lost or distorted.  Maybe
we'll get into this some more at the SF Panel in Newark.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Widner                      INTERNET: jwidner@[removed]
Dayton, OH                      WWW: [removed]
COMPUSERVE: 74566,3041          
AOL: JimWidner                            

                                                 

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

Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 18:12:14 -0700
From: Dick Lochte <dlock@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: OTR at Bouchercon
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Dick Lupoff's suggestion that he and I come up with an OTR entry for
next year's Bouchercon in Monterey is one of those seemingly obvious
things that have been overlooked for far too long.  My attendance at
B'cons goes back quite a while and, to my knowledge, there has been very
little mention of Anthony Boucher's career as a writer of radio
mystery.  (I do recall the participation of the 221 "A" Baker Street
Associates, but no real celebration of the Sherlock Holmes series.) 

Maybe we should try to get permission to stage one of the radio shows,
Dick.  Judging by the attractions of this year's Con -- the apache dance
performed by Sara Paretsky and Parnell Hall being but one -- I imagine
we could assemble an all-star cast.

On the subject of the Holmes shows, I'd like to note that the cassette
packages (featuring two of the original transcriptions) are still being
produced.  The Simon and Schuster series, featuring mainly Rathbone and
Bruce, seems to have ended.  But Brilliance Nova has issued at least
four new sets of two, featuring Bruce as Watson and Tom Conway as
Holmes. For some reason, possibly because they felt that the loss of
Rathbone required it, the plots in the Conway series seem a little
stronger. It would have been nice if Anthony Boucher and Denis Green had
been credited on the jacket, as they were in the S&S editions. But at
least they're mentioned on the inside.

Dick Lochte

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

Date: Wed, 16 Oct 96 18:54 PDT
From: lois@[removed] (Lois Culver)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Gregory Hood
Message-Id: <m0vDhfM-0008RBC@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

>>summary about the show "The Casebook of Gregory Hood".
>Brief? Who starred in it, who produced it, who wrote [removed]

"The Casebook of Gregory Hood" was a Hollywood-based sporadically-aired show
which was a summer replacement on Mutual Network in 1946, written by Anthony
Boucher and Denis Green (working back and forth from their offices in
Hollywood and San Francisco).  It did go into the fall schedule of 1946
sponsored by Petri Wines, then popped up as summer replacements and a full
season in 1949-50, sustaining on ABC. Its unsalability left it behind after
that.

Ned Tollinger produced it, and Gale Gordon, Elliot Lewis, Martin Gabel and
others played the lead at various times.  At one time I remember Lee Bolen
directing  it for Mutual. (Question:  is Lee still around??)

Lois Culver
KWLK Longview WA, 1941 - 1943
KFI Los Angeles CA, 1944 - 1953

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

Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 22:32:48 -0500
From: vintage@[removed] (Andy Blatt)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: FOTR in Newark FM & M 15-minute versions
Message-Id: <v01540b01ae8b57ec78b1@[[removed]]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Regarding the details about the FOTR convention in Newark.  It's at Holiday
Inn - North in Newark.  (Take exit 14 and remain on the service road after
paying the toll).  The hotel is on the right (just past the Radisson).
It's across from Newark Airport.  The festivities are basically 9-5
Thurs-Saturday, with the evening activities (cocktails, dinner and
additional recreations) until about 9 or 10.

I have several Fibber McGee & Molly 15-minute programs, but some are in only
fair or good sound, as opposed to very good.

Andy Blatt
Vintage Broadcasts

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

Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 22:55:48 -0400
From: DavidLHsl@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Why I love OTR
Message-ID: <961016225547_1179265263@[removed]>

  I wrote a short essay to post to my new website, but I wanted to share it
with you folks here as well.

I'm driving down the interstate in my car, but my mind is elsewhere.  While
other drivers are worried about people like me who aren't paying attention to
the road, I'm in a darkened apartment room waiting for a killer to show.
 It's an episode of Suspense called "A Little Piece of Rope" starring Lucille
Ball that's playing from my car cassette player that is placing me in this
situation.  Lucille Ball portrays a clever con artist who has worked this
scam where she convinces people to pick her up in her car, then she knocks
them out and takes their dough.  It was all a little too clever, until that
time the person she was conning turned out to be a serial killer who
strangles women to death with a piece of rope.  Now the killer is stalking
her, because she has his wallet with his identification, and she has to hide
in an undisclosed apartment complex using an assumed name.  But she knows
there will have to be a showdown soon.  And one of them will have to die.
 She prays it doesn't have to be her.  Cowered in the darkened room, she
lures the killer to her apartment with an ad in the personals section
indicating an exchange:  the newspaper clippings describing his crimes and
his wallet with his identification in exchange for money which would secure
her departure to safety.  Knowing that won't be enough, she rigs a pistol to
a lamp.  When he turns on the lamp to check out the materials she turns over,
she'll be out of the jam she put herself into and with the money all to
herself.  Outside the door, in the hallway, she hears footsteps approaching.
 I can hear those footsteps [removed]

Drat!  Why don't I look out where I'm going?  I'll miss my turn.  I'm back in
my car.  Where was I headed?  Oh, yeah, I'm going to the mall.  That's right.
 Do you know how hard it is to turn a steering wheel with your palms covered
with sweat?  My car is going ten miles an hour below the speed limit, and my
heart is going thirty miles an hour over the speed limit.  I pull my car into
a parking space -- not particular about which space -- and leave the engine
running while the car is parked.  I could always return after shopping to
find out how the story ends, but I've got to find out how this turns out.
 The world around me darkens, and I return to that darkened apartment room.
 Yes, I guess you could say I'm hooked on old time radio.

I'm 33 years old as of the date I'm writing this, so I'm too young to
remember the days of radio.  So I'm not listening to OTR for nostalgia's
sake.  I don't collect OTR shows the way a stamp collector or coin collector
collects their materials.  OTR isn't just something to sit in a display case
or in a binder to be perused periodically.  OTR is a viable source of
entertainment.  OTR has the ability to make me laugh, to cry, and to make me
dream and wonder in a way that television doesn't seem to be able to do
anymore.  I don't think it's the fault of the medium itself.  "Star Trek",
"The Twilight Zone", "Columbo", and "The Honeymooners" are perfect examples
of what television is capable of when it's done right.  But it seems as if
the people in the entertainment industry are more interested in offending,
shocking, or insulting me than they are in trying to entertain me.

You might say that OTR is nothing but re-runs.  But how can you call
something a re-run if you haven't experienced it yet?  I have approximately
1800 episodes in my collection acquired over the 8 years that I've been
listening to OTR, and I've heard about half of them so far.  That means that
there are about 900 episodes I have available right now to experience.  In
those 900 episodes are murders to solve, death to defy, jokes to tell, places
to explore, songs to sing, people to meet.  I have just begun to scratch the
surface.  And although the golden days of yesteryear aren't a part of my
childhood, I can proudly say that they are now a part of the childhood in my
adult years.

That is why I love old time radio.

-- David Hassell

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

Date: Thu, 17 Oct 1996 00:22:15 -0400
From: Neubacher@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Gregory Hood
Message-ID: <961017002214_1179277698@[removed]>

Gale Gordon played Gregory Hood.  He was an amateur detective who ran either
a
curio or an antique shop for his regular lively hood.


Bill Neubacher
NEUBACHER@[removed]

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

Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 22:01:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: roy547@[removed] (Roy Trumbull)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Music Til Dawn and War of the Worlds
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Length:        852

The theme "That's All" used for American Airlines Music Til Dawn was
from the Acquaviva recording on MGM. The album is entitled "A Man and
His Dream"
In San Francisco, the earliest host I recall was Dave MacElhatton. 
When I visited KCBS in their Palace Hotel studios in 1957, I found
Dave also was the announcer for Albert White's Morris Plan Masters
of Melody.
Ken Ackerman was the host most people remember but the amazing thing
was his relief man Al Coviah (sp). You had to really listen to tell
it was Al and most of us were fooled more than once. 

Regarding the movie about the War of the Worlds, pay attention to
the announcer. It's Art [removed]"And now your Toast of the Town, Ed
Sullivan." He told me they'd done an exceptional job of recreating
the studio used for the show. He couldn't help but open the doors
to see what was behind them.

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

Date: Thu, 17 Oct 1996 01:12:09 PST
From: passage@[removed] (Frank M Passage)
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: The Fifth Horseman log
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>

                 T H E   F I F T H   H O R S E M A N
                 -----   ---------   ---------------

                                 1946


First Show: 07-04-46                             Last Show: 08-22-46
Number Shows: 8                                  Audition Show: none


Show Description:

THE FIFTH HORSEMAN was a short series of eight shows produced to 
convince the American public to accept a plan to put all nuclear 
weapons under United Nations control.  Produced by Public Service, 
this piece of early Cold War propaganda dramatized the argument that 
we could not win a nuclear conflict by portraying the horrors of 
life after a nuclear holocaust. 


List Comments:

This short series is not common in catalogs.  In fact, the last 2
shows were only found in Gordon Payton's catalog.  The stars came
from the Radio Showcase catalog.


List:

    Date      Num  Title            Stars                Src Key
    --------  ---  ---------------  -------------------  ---------
    07-04-46   1   Rehearsal        Henry Fonda          123
    07-11-46   2   Dawn             William Bendix       123
    07-18-46   3   Promise          Glen Ford            123
    07-25-46   4   Crisis           Robert Young,        123
                                    Howard McNear        
    08-01-46   5   Zero-One         Bill Johnstone,      123
                                    George Coulouris
    08-08-46   6   Doomsday         Dane Clark           123
    08-15-46   7   Aftermath                             1
    08-22-46   8   Memo To Mankind                       1


Information Sources:

The information above was obtained from the following OTR vendor
and club catalogs.  Contact them directly for more information.

Key Source
--- -----------------------------------------------------------------
 1  Gordon R. Payton, 119 E. Cuthbert Blvd., Bldg. "O", #3, Westmont,
    NJ 08108-1829 
 2  Great American Radio, PO Box 504 Genesee, MI 48437
 3  Radio Showcase, Steve Kelez, PO Box 4357, Santa Rosa, CA 95402

To be fair to all, this is not an endorsement of the above vendors
and clubs.  I receive nothing by mentioning them.  They help keep 
OTR alive.  Please support them.


Last Update: 10-16-96


I retain copyright, but this log may be freely copied provided that 
the text is unchanged.  Please send error corrections or additional 
information to:   Frank Passage, 109 Elmwood Road, Verona, NJ 07044 
or via e-mail to passage@[removed]

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

Date: Thu, 17 Oct 1996 07:29:24 -0400
From: JShnay@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Danny Kaye and Benny
Message-ID: <961017072923_213248592@[removed]>

Danny Kaye was a guest on the Jack Benny program both on 5-28-44 and 3-2-52.
jshnay

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

Date: Thu, 17 Oct 1996 09:13:55 -0400
From: OTRDSIEGEL@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Lennon Group
Message-ID: <961017091355_1778658656@[removed]>

  In response to a recent posting here concerning an Al  Smith Documentary,
it is quite possible that I would be able to provide some of the audio
material being sought ie. ABBIE'S IRISH ROSE and excerpts from a few of the
personalities cited. If the person who posted the inquiry contacts me after
the FOTR Convention and sends me a COMPLETE copy of the list of material in
question I can provide a more definitive answer.   Dave Siegel




--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V96 Issue #393
*******************************************

