Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #238
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 6/15/2003 7:46 PM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2003 : Issue 238
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Why old radio WON't work on TV Today  [ Froggievilleus <froggievilleus@yaho ]
      Track Meets On Radio                  [ wa5pdk@[removed] ([removed] L.) ]
      Color Radio                           [ "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyro ]
      "TV or not TV: That Is the Question.  [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
      OLDE TYME RADIO NETWORK Schedule for  [ HERITAGE4@[removed] ]
      Re: Scarlet Queen                     [ Shenbarger@[removed] ]
      Re: Brinkley                          [ "Joe Cline" <joeunited@[removed]. ]
      Color Radio                           [ eric_cooper@[removed] ]
      Today in radio history                [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
      Campbell's Playhouse /Ellery Queen t  [ BryanH362@[removed] ]
      June 16th birthdays                   [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
      Help with westerns                    [ "[removed]" <ddunfee@[removed]; ]
      one more Bob Hope [removed]          [ Sean Dougherty <seandd@[removed] ]

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

    Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2003 21:42:07 -0400
    From: Froggievilleus <froggievilleus@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Why old radio WON't work on TV Today

    Hi All,

    Sorry about taking so long to respond.  It has been
    busy here the past few days and I have been trying to
    catch up with the digests.  :)

    In all honesty, sad to say, that most of what was on
    radio won't work on tv today, mainly because of what
    tv produces - which is 5% quality and 95% crap.  To
    me, a beautiful part of radio is the fact that we
    control what we see in our minds.  How I see The Green
    Hornet can be different from someone else's vision.
    TV forces us to see things.  And, with the technology
    today, it all looks the same.  It is dull and tedious
    with few exceptions.  I am part of the demographic
    they are pandering to and for the exception of the Fox
    Sunday Night Lineup and 'Ed' on NBC, I don't watch the
    major networks.  I do watch other channels at times,
    like Game Show Network and Nick at Nite TV Land.
    Today's TV is just repetative and dull and rather
    depressing.  I, for one, and tired of the violence and
    sex and foul language.  With radio, yes there is some
    violence, but it is not in your face blood and guts.
    And sex was not really sex, but it was romance and
    passion and feeling, not the bump and grind variety of
    today - boring!  Imagination is being raped from the
    minds of today.  I say let us keep our radio shows
    where they are and not make updated versions of them.
    Guaranteed they will disappoint you.

    Enough rambling for now.

    :)

    Elizabeth S.

    Radiophile and proud of it!

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

    Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2003 23:08:34 -0400
    From: wa5pdk@[removed] ([removed] L.)
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Track Meets On Radio

    I was surprised at how interesting something like a track meet can be
    when it is produced by a professional.  As a child I thrilled at the
    running of the mile race when the great Glenn Cunningham ran.  This was
    pre- four minute mile, but still run in a respectable time.  Glenn had
    been burned as a child and his legs were affected so badly that some
    doctors said he might not walk again.  Then to hear Clem Mc Cartney call
    the race as the runners came down the last two hundred yards.  "And Here
    Comes Cunningham!" (He had a great closing kick and starting far back,
    he would pass all of the runners to break across the finish line first.)
    Anybody remember that?

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

    Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2003 23:08:44 -0400
    From: "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Color Radio

>     Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2003 21:01:46 -0400
>     From: "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@[removed];

>     I remember hearing it on WMEX, Boston and WPTR, Albany in the late 60s and
>     early 70s.  I'm sure other stations used it as well.

    Oops!  That should have been late 50s and early 60s.

    --
    A. Joseph Ross, [removed]                           [removed]
     15 Court Square, Suite 210                 lawyer@[removed]
    Boston, MA 02108-2503           	         [removed]

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

    Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2003 23:14:44 -0400
    From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  "TV or not TV: That Is the [removed]"

    Lawrence Albert, speaking of the difficulties of adapting OTR shows to
    current TV, notes,

>     Frankly after spending some time reading posting after posting I came
>     to my personal conclusion that the only way a new version of any OTR show
>     on TV would please most collectors would have to be one that was done in
>     exactly the same style as the original. Which of course would be
>     ridiculous.

    I suspect that things needn't be that Draconian.  A version of The Lone
    Ranger, based on the original (as opposed to the recent attempt), could
    work even today.  The historic aspect of the original, and the time
    separation, could make a good version acceptable to a modern audience.
    Indeed, many Westerns could work out well, for the same reasons.
    Likewise, Bold Venture, if set in the 1940s, could work (though without
    Bogie and Bacall ... nothing would be perfect).

>     To redo an OTR show today it would have to be updated to appeal to the
>     viewer of today. And to do that, for many of the shows, it could mean
>     jettisoning much of what made it popular originally.

    But not all.  There's nothing in the usual Phil Harris - Alice Faye show
    that couldn't work today, if people would listen to it.  A current TV
    version could work nicely: the humor is trenchantly funny and timeless.
    (There were a few exceptions that were topical, such as Frankie Remley
    and the orphaned little French girl, but those were exceptions.)

>     Well for OTR collectors "they" will never get it right unless they dig
>     up the original actors and scripts and do the shows without any changes
>     at all.

    I cannot speak for anyone but myself, but in my view, _some_ OTR shows
    could make a good transition.  Some couldn't.  For one intimately
    involved with a specific program -- Captain Midnight for me, Amos 'n'
    Andy for Elizabeth, etc. -- seeing a credible adaption would seem
    anywhere from extremely unlikely to impossible.  Yet some of the OTR
    shows could be adapted fairly easily.  The Whistler, being an anthology
    of weird stories with O. Henry twist endings, could work without too much
    effort.  Indeed, Grand Central Station, Mr. First Nighter, and other
    anthology shows could be adapted without much strain.

    For the adventure shows, it's a bit tougher.  Save for historical dramas
    like The Count of Monte Cristo, moving a hero or heroic team into current
    times wouldn't work well if one wishes to preserve the mythos of the
    original.  Unless it's locked to an era, like Pete Kelly's Blues, the
    differences in current culture from the original would work against a
    successful translation to TV.

>     That being the case why not just listen to the tapes, CDs or MP3s and
>     forget about it.

    Realistically, I doubt anyone in current TV production is mining this
    Digest for ideas.  However, Jim's question provides a good intellectual
    exercise, as it helps us get a better perspective of the shows comprising
    our hobby.

    Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

    Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2003 00:36:39 -0400
    From: HERITAGE4@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  OLDE TYME RADIO NETWORK Schedule for week of
     06/15/03

    Here are the shows for this week on the OTRN at:
    [removed]        These shows are all in streaming
    audio and are in very nice sound (high bit rate)  New shows are posted every
    Sunday, and are available 24/7

    SAME TIME, SAME STATION with Jerry Haendiges
    1. THE JACK BENNY SHOW (JELLO)  6/18/39   Father's Day. Last
    show with Kenny Baker.
    2. THE MAGNIFICENT MONTAGUE    6/15/51  "Father of the Year"
    with Monty Wooley and Arnold Stang.  Includes Art Carney.
    3. FATHER KNOWS BEST    6/14/51   Stars Robert Young in
    "Father's Day Picnic"
    4. THE GREAT GILDERSLEEVE     2/21/51    Marjorie's Twins Arrive"
    with:  Willard Waterman,  Walter Tetley, Mary Lee Robb, Dick Crenna, Earle
    Ross, Cathy Lewis and Lillian Randolph.

    HERITAGE RADIO THEATRE with Tom Heathwood
    1. AMOS AND ANDY    NBC   1/13/48  Andy is persued by his recent
    fiance's brother.
    2. THE ABBOTT & COSTELLO SHOW  ABC   "The UNO Convention"
    3. THE GREEN HORNET   1/27/48    "Hit And Run"

    Enjoy - Tom & Jerry

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

    Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2003 10:30:20 -0400
    From: Shenbarger@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Scarlet Queen
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    In a message dated 6/14/2003 10:04:03 AM Central Daylight Time, Doug Leary
    writes:

>     Voyage of the Scarlet Queen, the excellently produced story of Capt. Phil
>     Carney and his first mate Red Gallagher plying the south seas in search of
>     adventure, has always fascinated me. All the episodes I've heard are
>     recordings of Armed Forces Radio broadcasts. Do earlier (possibly better)
>     copies exist? Two of the 34 episodes are believed lost. I would love to know
>     where the existing recordings came from and why the set is incomplete. Were
>     they copied from AFR's own set? Did the copies in circulation come from a
>     single set, or did individual copies come to light over the years? How would
>     one go about tracing the pedigree of a set of recordings?

    I too enjoy in the "Voyage of the Scarlet Queen". Dunning says they were
    broadcast by Mutual. Supporting actors included William Conrad, Ben Wright and
    John Dehner.

    I too have all but two episodes. As far as I know, episode #7 from 8-14-47
    and # 10 from 9-4-47 are not in circulation. There are no commercials in any
    of
    my stories. Only a few say they are AFR programs, most say they are a Mutual
    Broadcast System program. Many of the shows I have are poor in quality.

    I could be interested in a restoration project for this series. There are a
    lot of sound effects lost in most of the existing recordings I've heard and
    many are badly clipped.

    Don Shenbarger

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

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

    Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2003 10:39:56 -0400
    From: "Joe Cline" <joeunited@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Brinkley

    Jim sez:

>     Charlie brings up the fact that David Brinkley was once an "Esso
>     Reporter" but he doesn't know where.  Without signifying certainty (and
>     somebody likely can), I'm guessing that was probably over the 50,000-watt
>     CBS powerhouse in Charlotte, WBT, where I grew up.

    I've never heard that Brinkley ever worked for WBT (or at either the
    Observer or the News, for that matter); I think he was exclusively UP when
    he was here.

    Two radio/TV news guys who DID start out at WBT were Charles Kuralt and
    Nelson Benton, both of whom went on to CBS. WSOC was the NBC affiliate in
    Charlotte, and it's possible that he may have been a stringer for them.

    Joe Cline
    Charlotte

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

    Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2003 11:42:04 -0400
    From: eric_cooper@[removed]
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Color Radio

    I once met Jean Purcell, whose husband, former KFI announcer and later
    Crowell-Collier Stations manager Bob Purcell, initiated  "Color Radio" here
    on the west coast at KFWB-Los Angeles.("Color Channel 98") It began in 1958
    and lasted about 8 years. Color Radio included brassy sounding jingles,
    which Mrs Purcell said were inspired by the music of West Side Story and a
    very upbeat sounding format. Another attempt to lure TV viewers back to
    radio, even if all they were going to get on Color Radio was the pop music
    of the day. Other stations in other markets picked up on it right away. KFWB
    which is all news today, still uses the basic "Color Radio" tune for their
    jingles.

    Eric Cooper

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

    Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2003 11:42:10 -0400
    From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Today in radio history

       From Those Were The Days --

      1936 - Al Jolson and Ruby Keeler starred in Burlesque on the Lux Radio
    Theatre.

       Joe

    --
    Visit my homepage: [removed]

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

    Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2003 13:34:24 -0400
    From: BryanH362@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Campbell's Playhouse /Ellery Queen tidbit
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    When the program began the fall season in the fall of 1939 it occupied the
    Sunday night at 8pm  time slot on Sunday night. This was the same time slot it
    had occupied a year earlier as the Mercury Theater . However, when Campbell's
    took over sponsorship December 2 , 1938   the program was moved to Friday
    nights at 9pm replacing  Hollywood Hotel  which Campbell's had been
    sponsoring for
    quite some time.
    For the 1939-40 season  Orson Welles and the gang were  back on the air up
    against  Charlie McCarthy  once again.  Well in the east atleast.
    Charlie McCarthy was on NBC  at 8pm in a one shot performance that went all
    the way to the west coast where the program was heard at 5pm Pacific Time.
    In 1938 The Mercury Theater followed the same schedule .
    However, for the fall of 1939 The Campbell's Playhouse  utilized a different
    feed pattern when it returned to the Sunday airwaves.
    Orson and the gang would broadcast from Hollywood  at 5pm  so that the
    program could be heard in the East Coast at  8pm  . They would finish the
    broadcast
    at 6pm  PST.    An hour later at 7pm   PST  they would  do another live
    performance for the Central, Mountain and Pacific time zones .  (7pm PST,
    8pm MST ,
    9 pm CST) .

    Over the summer months of 1939 the 8pm EST  slot had been occupied by Ellery
    Queen .   Ellery was heard at 7pm CST , 6 MST , 5 pm PST.
    When the Campbell's Playhouse  began its 1939 fall season  in the East ,
    Ellery Queen was moved to 10 pm EST to make way  for  Orson Welles.
    However,  since Orson Welles only did this first show for the east , the
    Ellery Queen program  maintained its  same time slot in the central ,
    mountain and
    pacific time zones .(7 Ct, 6 Mt , 5 Pt )  .   At 10 pm Eastern time when the
    Campbell's Playouse was being broadcast for the west Ellery Queen was being
    done  for the East.

    So Ellery Queen on Sunday Nights in the fall of  1939 was being done first
    for the west and then two hours later for the east .  That's a switch .
    Usually
    it was a reverse situation.

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

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

    Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2003 15:50:09 -0400
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  June 16th birthdays

    June 16th birthdays

    06-16-1885 - Tom Howard - County Tyrone, Ireland - d. 2-27-1955
    comedian: "It Pays to Be Ignorant"; "Sunday Night Party"
    06-16-1907 - Jack Albertson - Lynn, MA - d. 11-25-1981
    actor: Grouch "The Grouch Club"; "Milton Berle Show"
    06-16-1910 - Ilona Massey - Budapest, Hungary - d. 8-20-1974
    actress: Mata Hari-style operative in World War II "Top Secret"

    June 16th deaths

    01-05-1914 - George Reeves - Woolstock, IA - d. 6-16-1959
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    02-14-1913 - Mel Allen - Birmingham, AL - d. 6-16-1996
    sportscaster, announcer: "White Owl Sports Smoker"; "Truth or Consequences"

    Ron Sayles
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin
    Hometown of [removed] Kaltenborn and Spencer Tracy

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

    Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2003 18:12:07 -0400
    From: "[removed]" <ddunfee@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Help with westerns

    Hello,

    I would like to do some research on radio westerns, especially any
    information that exists in web resources.  From reading a few OTR books and
    following discussion here, it seems most of the early shows were oriented
    toward children, with many adults finding them entertaining also. in the
    50's a more "realistic" approach was taken with Gunsmoke etc. being
    examples.  In the case of the early shows, is it accurate to say they were
    most founded on the pulp novels and/or comic books?  For the later shows,
    were they another example of a more realistic turn radio made with such
    examples as Dragnet etc. and other such explorations; maybe even influenced
    by the movies and TV? Isn't it the case that there seemed to have been a
    few adapted for radio from the movies presentations, such as might be on
    the Lux
     Theater? Didn't there also appear a western attempt during the 70's time
    period of CBS Mistry theater, maybe done by CBS also?  Any help is greatly
    appreciated.

    Thanks,

    Dan

                                   xv
                                    ic|xc

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

    Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2003 21:44:23 -0400
    From: Sean Dougherty <seandd@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  one more Bob Hope [removed]

    This one from Time Magazine is particularly strong.  It covers his whole
    career, notes the centrality of his radio persona to his broader body of
    work, and doesn't give him any credit for stuff Jack Benny did first.

    Reading all of these things, my "Hope is Overrated" veneer in cracking.

    Best,

    Sean Dougherty
    SeanDD@[removed]

    [removed],8599,457660-3,[removed]

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #238
    *********************************************

    Copyright [removed] Communications, York, PA; All Rights Reserved,
      including republication in any form.

    If you enjoy this list, please consider financially supporting it:
       [removed]

    For Help: [removed]@[removed]

    To Unsubscribe: [removed]@[removed]

    To Subscribe: [removed]@[removed]
      or see [removed]

    For Help with the Archive Server, send the command ARCHIVE HELP
      in the SUBJECT of a message to [removed]@[removed]

    To contact the listmaster, mail to listmaster@[removed]

    To Send Mail to the list, simply send to [removed]@[removed]