Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #337
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 8/27/2002 9:03 AM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2002 : Issue 337
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Fulton Lewis, Jr.                     [ leemunsick@[removed] ]
      Hifgh Speed Pops                      [ "Read G. Burgan" <rgb@[removed] ]
      Re: The NAM and OTR                   [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
      ill ask again, what kind of dog is N  [ Jer51473@[removed] ]
      "Wings of Destiny"                    [ Blaest@[removed] ]
      Dramatic Bergen                       [ Jandpgardner@[removed] ]
      Today in radio history                [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
      Re: Bergen Without McCarthy           [ Alan/Linda Bell <alanlinda43@yahoo. ]
      Re: Don't Make Waves                  [ Taylor401306@[removed] ]
      House of Mystery [removed]          [ gad4@[removed] ]
      news documentaries                    [ "Ryan Osentowski" <rosentowski@neb. ]
      Benny cartoon parodies                [ Roo61@[removed] (Randy Watts) ]

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

    Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 11:52:09 -0400
    From: leemunsick@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Fulton Lewis, Jr.

    Timothy Clough asked about Fulton Lewis, Jr.  He was not a "talk show
    host".  There was really no such animal or program in the middle part of
    the last century, unless one would append that designation to my friend
    Arthur Godfrey.

    Fulton Lewis was the respected and articulate top news commentator for
    Mutual.  He started on WOI in Washington.  Lewis syndicated a newspaper
    column called "Washington Sideshow".  Once a success in radio, he was a
    founder of the Radio Correspondents Association.  Now called the
    Radio-Television Correspondents Association (of course; we should be happy
    that--unlike Mr. Paley's broadcasting museum in NYC--it's not the other way
    around), this venerable organization is into its 59th year, routinely an
    annual stop for Presidential appearances.

    Fulton Lewis' nightly programs gained a solid audience and were heard on
    MBS stations during his career of over 20 years, still broadcasting from
    his base in the nation's capital.

    Most of the more sensational news commentators were decidedly
    controversial.  Walter Winchell and Drew Pearson were perhaps the strongest
    examples of this.

    Fulton Lewis was more serious than they, but his conservative leanings made
    him the object of praise and damnation coming from opposing ends of the
    political spectrum.  This reaction would fit the comment made by Edward R.
    Murrow in discussing the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt:  "If you were one
    of those who loved FDR--and there were many--or if you were one of those
    who hated him--and there were [removed]".  Lewis recognized this, and
    appended the title "Praised and Damned" to his autobiography.

    Unfortunately, Lewis championed the cause of the junior Senator from
    Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy, in his "red-baiting" activities, the loyalty
    oath issue, etc.  This made him even more controversial, and in the long
    run lost Lewis much of his credibility.  Nevertheless, he remained a
    fixture in radio well into the 1970s.

    On a personal note, he was one of my favorite sources, in a list which
    included daily "visits" with Edward R. Murrow, Martin Agronsky, and Hans
    von Kaltenborn.  I leavened this with a weekly listen to Walter
    [removed] good for at least one laugh!   As World War 2 progressed,
    Kaltenborn shortened his first two names to just the initials "[removed]",
    supposedly to reduce the identification with things German.  This was about
    the same time that The Green Hornet's faithful valet Kato overnight was
    found to be actually Filipino, rather than Japanese as indicated through
    the previous program.

    I could never see how one would miss the Teutonic influence in "von
    Kaltenborn".  On the other hand, the Allied war in Europe was led with
    great success by an American from Kansas named Eisenhower.  Must have
    bugged Hitler no end.  Good!

    Kaltenborn also bugged Harry S Truman.  It was Truman who imitated
    Kaltenborn the day after his election victory in 1948.  The previous day
    Kaltenborn had indicated--as did most observers--that Truman was going to
    lose to Thomas E. Dewey.  The audio of Mr. Truman's clipped Kaltenbornian
    phrases is matched with the famous picture of the President holding up the
    Chicago Tribune, which had declared Dewey the winner in a huge front-page
    headline.    As a former newsman, I ache for both.  Oh, the ignominy of it all!

    Lee Munsick
    (whose family name we think--but don't really know--perhaps traces back to
    a little burg in Germany called Munsig.  So if you wish, you may call
    me--as does Anthony Tollin on occasion--Herr Graf (or Baron) von
    Munsig).  Just don't call me late to zupper, danke!

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

    Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 11:52:20 -0400
    From: "Read G. Burgan" <rgb@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Hifgh Speed Pops

    In answer to Deric M's question about clicks and pops on high speed cassette
    dubs, they can be caused by static electricity when cassettes are duplicated
    at high speed in a very dry environment.  I have experienced this phenomenon
    in the winter months when the air is unusually dry indoors.

    Read Burgan

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

    Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 12:52:43 -0400
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: The NAM and OTR

    On 8/26/02 11:23 AM OldRadio Mailing Lists wrote:

>     In May 1941, the National
>     Association of Manufacturers hired him to present a series of
>     testimonials concerning big business and its effort to help national
>     defense. So when he got on the air and attacked unions, he was doing so
>     at least partly out of self-interest to please NAM.

    The NAM was a behind-the-scenes puppetmaster pulling a great many strings
    in the media during the 1930s and 1940s, functioning much like the modern
    "political think tanks" in feeding talking points and background material
    to media personalities. But they took this sort of thing even further
    than their modern descendents -- they made every effort to hide their
    involvement in the propaganda they circulated, to make it seem
    "spontaneous."

    This propaganda effort reached its peak during the second Roosevelt
    Administration of 1937-41, with the NAM covertly bankrolling two
    newspaper feature services, which provided anti-New Deal, anti-labor
    materials free of charge to hundreds of small-town newspapers.
    Columnist/radio commentator George Sokolsky -- who, in ideological terms,
    made Fulton Lewis seem like a centrist -- was the NAM's most
    widely-circulated operative during this period.

    Radio was frequently exploited in these propaganda efforts. In addition
    to Sokolsky's broadcasts, the NAM was responsible for the syndicated
    comedy serial "American Family Robinson," produced from 1935-41, and
    circulated on transcriptions free of charge to any station that would
    carry it. This serial, which was was credited to "The National Industrial
    Council" -- an NAM front -- told the story of a typical Midwestern
    family, the Robinsons, and their efforts to run their family business
    despite interference from meddling government agencies, labor organizers,
    and assorted misguided liberals, who were always portrayed as silly and
    foolish. Chief among the latter was "Windy Bill," an advocate of the New
    Deal, who was portrayed as a blowhard con man in the W. C. Fields manner.

    I transferred a few episodes of this series for the First Generation
    Radio Archives, and it's an interesting mix of corn and propaganda. While
    there's often discussion of the influence of leftist political views on
    OTR programming, seldom is there much exploration given to the use of
    such tactics by the extreme right.

    Elizabeth

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

    Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 13:23:53 -0400
    From: Jer51473@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  ill ask again, what kind of dog is Nipper?

     The answers went from english terrier to bull terrier to fox terrier to jack
    russell terrier. I guess we can conclude that he maybe was a terrier, but
    does anyone know for sure "what kind of dog is Nipper?"

    [ADMINISTRIVIA: According to the [removed] website's Corporate History section,
    available at [removed],2811,EI268-CI263,[removed]
    :

    Nipper and Chipper

    In the late 1800's, a virtually unknown artist named Francis Barraud of
    London saw his little dog, Nipper, sitting attentively in front of the
    talking machine. Barraud was so impressed that he decided to put it on
    canvas. Nipper, the alert Fox Terrier with an ear cocked to an antique
    phonograph, became the best known dog in the world.

    The painting, called "His Master's Voice", became the trademark of the Victor
    Talking Machine Company in 1901. RCA purchased the Victor Company of Camden,
    New Jersey, in 1929, and the purchase included the Talking Machine
    manufacturing plant and the Victor dog trademark.

    Nipper has been used in RCA advertising materials since 1929. Chipper, a Jack
    Russell terrier, was added to the family in 1991.

    --cfs3]

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

    Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 13:29:26 -0400
    From: Blaest@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  "Wings of Destiny"

    "Tune in Wings of Destiny over the NBC Red Network every Friday night"....

    Does anyone know whether these shows are available?  I'm looking for the June
    20, 1941 show, on which the latest winner of a Piper Cub airplane was
    announced in the Wings Cigarette contest.  My husband's father won the plane
    and the"'kids" (all now in their 60's) remember listening to the show.  Their
    dad stayed up all night taking offers and sold it to help support his large
    family.  They would get a kick out of being able to listen to the
    announcement of the winner and the on-air phone call.

    Thanks for any help you can provide.
    Terry

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

    Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 15:09:33 -0400
    From: Jandpgardner@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Dramatic Bergen

    The film referred to by Stephen [removed] Jr in issue #336 in which a ship
    sinks and Edgar Bergen plays a Scandinavian husband is 'Captain China'
    (Paramount 1949). It stars John Payne and Gail Russell and Bergen plays 'Mr.
    Haasvelt' (as stated by George Tirebiter in the same issue) and Ilka Gruning
    his wife. In its review of the film on November 2, 1949, 'Variety' said that
    these two haven't much to do but add a few comedy scenes'.
    George also refers to Bergen's appearance in 'Don't Make Waves' (MGM 1967) as
    'Madame Lavinia' . This is described as a 'wacky comedy' but the reference
    books I have looked in do not mention Bergen's performance (he is eighth in
    the cast list). I haven't seen the film so can't say whether he appears in
    drag but would guess he does.
    John Gardner

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

    Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 19:04:27 -0400
    From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Today in radio history

      For nearly a week I've been without net access, so catching up--

     8/22

    1947 - After many years as a 15-minute daily serial, "Jack Armstrong,
    the All-American Boy", was heard for the first time as a 30-minute
    feature on ABC radio. Remember, if you want to grow up to be big and
    strong like Jack Armstrong, keep these three rules in mind: Get plenty
    of sleep, fresh air and exercise. Make a friend of soap and water,
    because dirt breeds germs -- and germs can make people sickly and weak.
    And for sound nourishment and keen flavor, eat a big bowlful of
    Wheaties, the Breakfast of Champions, with plenty of milk or cream and
    some type of fruit.

    8/23

    1923 - Billy Jones and Ernie Hare, "The Happiness Boys", were heard on
    radio for the first time. The two were billed as radio's first comedians
    and were also credited with creating and performing the first singing
    commercial.

    8/24

    1950 - The summer replacement radio show for "Suspense", titled
    "Somebody Knows", was heard for the final time. The program offered a
    reward of $5,000 for information that led to the solving of crimes.
    "Somebody Knows" began with the introduction, "You out there. You, who
    think you have committed the perfect crime -- that there are no clues,
    no witnesses -- listen.  Somebody knows."

    8/25

    1949 - NBC debuted Father Knows Best. The Thursday night program aired
    for five years. Robert Young played the role of Jim Anderson, the
    ever-patient father. The rest of the family included wife Margaret, son
    Bud and lovely daughters Betty (the eldest) and Kathy. The family lived
    on Maple Street in Springfield. Remember Bud's favorite phrase (he only
    said it about six dozen times per show)? "Holy Cow!" Father Knows Best
    made the transition to TV in 1954, with Robert Young as the only cast
    member to continue with the show.

    8/26

    1939 - The radio program Arch Oboler's Plays presented the NBC Symphony,
    for the first time, as the musical
    backdrop for the drama, This Lonely Heart.

    Birthday: Lee DeForest was born on this day in 1873 in Council Bluffs,
    Iowa, d. June 30, 1961

      Joe

    --
    Visit my home page:
    [removed]~[removed]

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

    Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 19:26:47 -0400
    From: Alan/Linda Bell <alanlinda43@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Bergen Without McCarthy

    "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." remembers:

>     Back in the late 1940s or early 1950s, there was a minor disaster
>     film >(a ship sinking) where Bergen played the part of a
>     Scandinavian husband

    Sounds like Captain China (1949) with John Payne and Gail Russell. "A
    mutinous [removed] a raging [removed] a dangerous [removed]" Bergen's
    character was named Mr. Haasvelt.

    Isn't the Internet amazing?

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

    Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 21:34:14 -0400
    From: Taylor401306@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Don't Make Waves
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    In a message dated 8/26/2002 11:04:30 AM Eastern Standard Time,
    [removed]@[removed] writes:

>     The most
>     unusual listing is for a 1967 beach party comedy called DON'T MAKE WAVES in
>     which his character name is Madame Lavinia!  I assume this means he was in
>     drag.  Has anybody ever seen this?

    I saw this  "adult  Beach Party"comedy. It starred Tony Curtis & Dave "Mr.
    Universe" Draper. Edgar Bergen played a man who wrote a Zodiac column under
    the name of "Madame Lavinia".

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

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

    Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 23:58:59 -0400
    From: gad4@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  House of Mystery [removed]

    While browsing the web I saw the [removed]

    "The House of Mystery

    Broadcast from 1/15/45 to 5/11/45 as a 15m show, 9/15/45 to 6/1/46 and
    10/6/46 to 12/25/49 as a 30m show. Most of the discs survive in the DC
    Comics "vaults", but they won't release them. These are the few broadcasts
    that have trickled down from other sources. 15~30m"

    Im curious if this is [removed] It seems unlikely to me as, if I remember
    my research accurately, the comic book came out apx. 5-10 years after this
    series. Also, I would think if they did exist in this "vault", they would
    probably be "out" as superman and hop harrigan are.  If this many new shows
    did exist though, it would definately be good news.

    If anyone can clarify more on this series it would be greatly appreciated.

    Sincerely,
    George

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

    Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2002 00:03:02 -0400
    From: "Ryan Osentowski" <rosentowski@[removed];
    To: "old time radio" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  news documentaries

    Hi all:
    I recently read a book called, "We Interrupt This Broadcast," which
    high-lights the major news events on radio from 1937 through 2001.  I love
    this book and was wondering if there are any other audio documentaries out
    there that chronicle major news events in radio.  I'd be interested in
    anything from WWII through the present.  Anything involving audio news would
    be good.  If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.
    Thanks.
    RyanO

    "Post coinum omne animal triste."
    Aristotle

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

    Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2002 09:16:00 -0400
    From: Roo61@[removed] (Randy Watts)
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Benny cartoon parodies

>     Still, it's a wonderful parody of Jack Benny and
>     Rochester and I have always been wondering
>     what other parodies were done about Jack
>     Benny? Anyone know of any others?

    The 1940 Warner Bros. cartoon "Malibu Beach Party" has Jack hosting the
    titular affair, with assistance from Rochester.  The Warner crew also
    turned Jack into a caveman in pursuit of Daffy Duck in "Daffy Duck and
    the Dinosaur" (1939).  "Hollwood Daffy," from 1946, features a Benny
    cameo, with the worst impersonation of his voice that I've ever heard in
    my life.  Jack, along with Rochester, Mary Livingstone and Don Wilson,
    provides his own voice in Warner's 1959 "The Mouse That Jack Built."

    Randy

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #337
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