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The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2008 : Issue 17
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Jewish characters [ Jim Harmon <jimharmonotr@[removed] ]
Jewish Stereotypes [ Stuart Lubin <stuartlubin6686@sbcgl ]
re: Lone Ranger on All Things Consid [ kittersmom@[removed] ]
Thanks, and a couple questions [ Robert Paine <ka3zci@[removed]; ]
Lone Ranger and American culture [ Nita Hunter <otradiogrl@[removed]; ]
WEVD, New York [ Stuart Lubin <stuartlubin6686@sbcgl ]
Re: Jim Jordan on Wistful Vista [ wboenig@[removed] ]
Re: Jim Jordan on Wistful Vista [ wboenig@[removed] ]
Uncertain Terrain [ "Holm, Chris " <[removed]@[removed] ]
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Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 09:33:13 -0500
From: Jim Harmon <jimharmonotr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Jewish characters
Many Jewish characters on radio spoke with an accent as did the Irish,
Swedish and other groups to give color and variety to a medium that was
confined only to sound. However, there were Jews who spoke without any
accent. After the death of Barton Yarborough who played Ben Romero on
"Dragnet", Joe Friday had a sidekick named Ed Jacobs, obviously a Jewish
name, and he spoke in as much a monotone as Friday. Some of the real life
policemen on "Gangbusters" had Jewish names, but no accent. These included
cops named Levy and Greenberg. Superman's private detective friend, Candy
Myers was obviously of Jewish origin but spoke plain American. And while Mr.
Kitzel said it Yiddish, the star of the show, Jack Benny, was All-American.
While I am mostly Irish, my wife, Barbara, is Jewish and I watch to see if
Jews are being treated fairly and equally. Wyatt Earp, another man with a
loved Jewish wife, used to pull a gun on bigots. I can't get away with that
today, but sometimes there is the urge. -- JIM HARMON
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Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 09:34:13 -0500
From: Stuart Lubin <stuartlubin6686@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Jewish Stereotypes
Dr. Torch writes:
I have real problems with the "schmaltzy" Yiddish inflections which Molly
Goldberg (Gertrude Berg) and Minerva pious seemed compelled to use--neither
had that accent in reality.
I must emphatically disagree. I spent the first 14
years of my life in Brighton Beach/Coney Island,
Brooklyn, in which there were many Jews from Eastern
Europe. Gertrude Berg was in Yiddish Theatre on 2nd
Avenue and certainly either affected the dialect or
really spoke that way. As I remember Mrs. Nussbaum,
she had the true Yiddish accent, but with a lot of New
York thrown in.
A Yiddish dialect is the result of the speaker having
lived in a Slavic country. Because of the ghettos,
some Jews did not speak the National language and
spoke only Yiddish, which is a throwback from time
spent in the Austrian Empire, speaking German, with
Slavic and Hebrew words thrown in. Yiddish is
grammatically old German. Spanish, Italian, and
French Jews didn't have a Yiddish dialect. Only Slavs
did. In case anyone does not know, the word "Yiddish"
is a translation from the Yiddish language , meaning
"Jewish".
Stuart
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Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 09:37:39 -0500
From: kittersmom@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: re: Lone Ranger on All Things Considered
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I think it is worth mentioning that the All Things Considered piece on the
Lone Ranger would have been? a very different piece had it not been for Neal
Ellis,? a sound engineer at NPR, who set them straight on some of the "facts"
in their piece, and led them to Terry Salmonson as an expert on the subject.
Jo Snyder
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Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 09:40:00 -0500
From: Robert Paine <ka3zci@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Thanks, and a couple questions
Thanks to all who responded to my post about the AFRS
recordings of several Christmas episodes. I sincerely
apologize that I haven't answered as yet, but I've
been kind of under the weather. It may be awhile but I
will answer each one.
Does anyone recall a TV episode of The Jack Benny
Program that has him introducing Eddie "Rochester"
Anderson "Well, it's my old friend, Rochester!", or in
similar words? It seems I saw it in the early to mid
Seventies and read an article to the effect that Benny
was so pleased that Rochester could be portrayed that
way. It was one of those moments that makes me wish
we'd had VCR's years before we got them. Personal
take: I know Mr. Benny thought of Rochester as a
friend long before societal change. In fact, I read
the during a tour, he refused to stay at a hotel that
wouldn't allow Anderson to have a room.
Next question: does anyone have video of the episodes
of the original I've Got A Secret which featured three
of Brace Beemer's grandchildren as the contestants
with the secret, and another that had a number of
actresses that had the leads of radio soap operas? If
so, I'd really like to get copies of these since I've
never seen either.
Again, I promise to answer all responses. Please bear
with [removed]'m losing weight and am only a shadow of
the 390 poundes I once was.
Bob weight: 325 and 3/4 pounds (thank you, Bob
Steele <g>)
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Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 09:40:42 -0500
From: Nita Hunter <otradiogrl@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Lone Ranger and American culture
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What amazed me about the Lone Ranger 75th anniversary story on ATC was the
length of the piece. ATC devoted 13 minutes of their program to the Lone
Ranger. Of course, he deserves it, but I was expecting a 30 or 60 second
mention. What a nice surprise to have come out of my radio.
To add to the Lone Ranger conversation, I was amazed to learn just last night
that a colleague of mine who is a depth psychologist recently wrote a book
comparing American cultural complexes with those of Islam. Before you
[removed] is this doing on the Old Time Radio bulletin board?...well, she
used The Lone Ranger as the exclusive example of the cultural icon for
America! She listened to hours and hours of it.
When the book comes into print (soon), I'll post the information. In the
meantime, I'm enjoying the discussion and the NPR piece was wonderful.
Nita Hunter
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Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 09:40:52 -0500
From: Stuart Lubin <stuartlubin6686@[removed];
To: Time Radio Digest Old Time Radio Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: WEVD, New York
In growing up in the Greater New York area, from 1935
to 1948, I remember as a ten year old listening (ever
so briefly) to WEVD. It was a station that broadcast
in Yiddish. They even had a soap opera, and I was able
to understand about 40%. While both my parents spoke
Yiddish to their own parents, they never spoke it to
me, so what I did know, was from living in the area or
overhearing conversations with the grandparents.
Stuart
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Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 09:41:11 -0500
From: wboenig@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Jim Jordan on Wistful Vista
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John Hetherington asked about a quote from Jim Jordan?in which?he
(Jordan)?describes Wistful [removed] This quote came from Jim's interview in
the 1972 PBS documentary "The Great Radio Comedians."
(I have a copy of this, but it's in pretty lousy [removed] Anyone who has a
better copy and is willing to talk trade may contact me [removed] Thank
you.)
Wayne Boenig
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Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 09:41:34 -0500
From: wboenig@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Jim Jordan on Wistful Vista
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John Hetherington asked about a quote from Jim Jordan?in which?he
(Jordan)?describes Wistful [removed] This quote came from Jim's interview in
the 1972 PBS documentary "The Great Radio Comedians."
(I have a copy of this, but it's in pretty lousy [removed] Anyone who has a
better copy and is willing to talk trade may contact me [removed] Thank
you.)
Wayne Boenig
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Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 09:47:19 -0500
From: "Holm, Chris " <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Uncertain Terrain
In #16, john hetherington wrote:
Jim Jordan: ".... (It) Took place in a mythical town,
of course, called Wistful Vista. This town was
mythical and the street they lived on was mythical.
Wistful Vista was not a small town either. It was a
huge metropolis if we wanted it to be. It was
anything we wanted it to be."
Unfortunately, I can't answer John's question, but it did make me think
of something else.
This comment reminded me quite a bit of the town of Springfield, where
The Simpsons live. A town of uncertain location, geography, population
size and climate.
But it also reminded me The Shadow. The Shadow's city appears to
simultaneously be on a river, an ocean, and just below the damn of a
huge reservoir. Just outside of town you'll find mountains, farm land,
and I believe even a desert once. Not to mention all sorts of other
glaring inconsistencies over the years.
In any sufficiently long series, one assumes that the writers will
create all sorts of situations related to the geography of the show in
the search for new and fresh stories. That always bothered me for some
reason.
Maybe it's just a function of modern OTR listening habits. I don't get
one show a week spread out over a decade. I can listen to dozens of
shows back to back, in any order. But when the locale in one episode is
radically different from the locale in a different episode, I always
find it a tad jarring. It breaks the illusion for me, and hampers my
suspension of disbelief.
-chris holm
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End of [removed] Digest V2008 Issue #17
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