Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #470
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 12/6/2002 8:40 AM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2002 : Issue 470
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Anne Whitfield on Suspense            [ Sean Dougherty <seandd@[removed] ]
      Elizabeth's Response To The Infamous  [ "JLF" <infom@[removed]; ]
      Early CBS history in Los Angeles      [ "Jim Hilliker" <jimhilliker@sbcglob ]
      1950s bowl games                      [ Michael Berger <makiju@[removed]; ]
      Amurricanismn`                        [ Harry Bartell <bartell@[removed] ]
      Rose Bowl; NBC Radio/Telev---         [ Mark J Cuccia <mcuccia@[removed]; ]
      Dr Who Audio                          [ "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed] ]
      Norman MacDonnell                     [ "bkidera" <rkidera1@[removed] ]
      George Reeves on OTR                  [ "Michael Hayde" <mmeajv@[removed]; ]
      Thank you, Elizabeth!                 [ "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed] ]
      Re: Big Finish Audio CD's & Maureen   [ "Maureen O'Brien" <mobrien@[removed] ]
      Apology                               [ "timl2002" <timl2002@[removed]; ]
      The Cold War                          [ "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyro ]
      Radio Crime Fighters                  [ lawrence albert <albertlarry@yahoo. ]

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

    Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 19:09:49 -0500
    From: Sean Dougherty <seandd@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Anne Whitfield on Suspense
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    Last week, WAMU's "Big Broadcast" featured a Suspense play "Twas the Night
    Before Christmas," starring Greer Carson and REPS regular Anne Whitfield (aka
    Anne Whitfield Philips).  It is a standout of the series - a great Suspense
    play that lives up to the name by keeping you guessing about the fate of the
    parents of a young girl waiting for her parents to return on Christmas Eve.

    Like a similar-feeling Suspense episode, "The Long Night," which starred
    Frank Lovejoy, this episode made you care about the characters and emphathize
    with the situation.  I won't spoil the ending, but I will note that it is
    available to listen to for at least the next couple of days at
    [removed].

    Having had the pleasure of seeing Ms. Philips perform live at REPS the past
    two years and then hearing her star in this show made it a double treat.  If
    anyone has reason to speak to her soon, please mention the show and that it
    is still being enjoyed by her fans.

    Sean Dougherty
    SeanDD@[removed]
    (formerly kubelski@[removed])

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    Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 23:21:37 -0500
    From: "JLF" <infom@[removed];
    To: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Elizabeth's Response To The Infamous
     Blacklist.

    Thanks Elizabeth - well stated. Hereby seconded! Those terrible half-truths
    irreparably changed radio and society in general - and not for the better.
    We are beginning to re-live history.

    JLF

    [ADMINISTRIVIA: Again, folks, let's avoid references to modern-day political
    issues and stick to the OTR period.  --cfs3]

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

    Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 23:25:27 -0500
    From: "Jim Hilliker" <jimhilliker@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Early CBS history in Los Angeles

    Again, I want to thank Elizabeth McLeod for her very informative and
    interesting explanation about the 1928 and 1929 broadcasts from
    KFWB-Hollywood and how they got aired on CBS.  Even though I've been
    researching early radio broadcasting in Los Angeles since the 1980s, I still
    have a lot to learn, since my on and off methods of research have been hit
    or miss, and sometimes my discoveries have been due to pure luck

    Was the 1929 program I spoke of the first national broadcast to originate at
    KFWB?  I saw a book on the Warner Brothers with a photo taken at KFWB in
    1932 that claimed a broadcast that year was the first coast-to-coast radio
    show from the KFWB studio.

    So, if  I have this straight, KPLA was the official CBS Los Angeles
    affiliate before CBS owner William Paley negotiated a deal for KHJ and the
    Don Lee Network to air CBS programming in [removed] and the three Pacific Coast
    states in the summer of 1929.

    (I find it ironic that KPLA was carrying Columbia's
    programs in '28-'29.  Late in 1929, KFI owner Earle C. Anthony purchased
    station KPLA.  On November 15, 1929, the station became KECA, for Anthony's
    initials.
    KFI and KECA are remembered in Southern California for carrying the programs
    of the NBC Red and Blue networks for many years. In 1954, KECA changed call
    letters to KABC).

    I simply found it fascinating in these old newspaper articles to find
    another station carrying CBS programs in [removed] at that time, and that many
    times they listed KPLA-KMTR, and sometimes, all three stations, KPLA-KMTR
    and KFWB supposedly carrying the CBS progams at the same time.  Sounds
    crazy, but then again, I found a listing in October 1929 for 6 Los Angeles
    radio stations all broadcasting a USC football game at the same time, but
    they used their own play-by-play announcers on each station with separate
    sponsors.

    Now, if I haven't worn out my welcome around here, can I please ask two more
    questions?

    Did any other Los Angeles radio stations broadcast CBS programs in either
    1927 or 1928 besides KPLA?  I had read that KMIC-Inglewood (where Harry Von
    Zell started in radio) had been part of a new network at the time, but I
    haven't found out which one or if it is true.

    Also, why in 1929 and 1930 did the Paul Whiteman Old Gold Hour broadcast
    many times from the studios of KMTR radio in Hollywood instead of at the KHJ
    studios, if KHJ was the CBS station in Los Angeles then?  Maybe KHJ/Don Lee
    hadn't enlarged or modernized his 7th and Bixel studios yet, and KMTR had
    better facilities for such a live broadcast??  I believe Whiteman was in
    Hollywood to make a movie.

    I look forward to any replies to these questions.

    Jim

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

    Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 23:26:09 -0500
    From: Michael Berger <makiju@[removed];
    To: otr <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  1950s bowl games

    Throughout most of the 50s and maybe beyond, NBC did the
    Rose Bowl, CBS the Cotton Bowl and ABC the Sugar Bowl; in
    those days, those were the major bowl games on New Year's
    day; next in line was the Gator Bowl which might have been
    carried on MBS but not sure about network TV.

    Michael Berger

    = ====
    Please reply to: intercom1@[removed]

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

    Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 23:40:19 -0500
    From: Harry Bartell <bartell@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Amurricanismn`

    My sincere thanks and appreciation to Elizabeth McLeod for her literate and
    extremely accurate account of Red Channels and the climate it provoked.
    Collyer, Hayworth and Weist may have been the very nicest people in the
    world, but that does not excuse their using guilt by association and
    innuendo to destroy innocent people.

    It is perhaps difficult to imagine for someone who hasn't experienced it
    what it is like to be barred from earning a living because of one's ideas. I
    can attest to that feeling. When accused, I could not elicit a single
    direct charge of any action I had taken or promulgated.  The only evidence I
    could ever provoke was that I had been seen talking to someone or had
    attended a meeting of a "suspicious" group.

    It has not been mentioned that most of the charges hurled by the zealots
    were in the time frame that Communism was a legal political party. That did
    not prevent private and government actions from taking the course they did.

    The issue was not really America versus communism. There was never any
    doubt that Russia was as much of a potential threat as Germany. The issue
    was whether or not someone who had suffered the miseries of the Great
    Depression might find a possible solution in a different economic system.
    And it is fascinating that there was no hue and cry against America First
    and the German -American Bund even though they supported what was an
    immediate threat.

    Let's not confuse personalities and facts.

    Harry Bartell

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

    Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 23:43:27 -0500
    From: Mark J Cuccia <mcuccia@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Rose Bowl; NBC Radio/Telev---

    George Kelly wrote:

>     I am interested in which radio networks carried the New Year Day's
>     college football bowl games during the 1950s.  The bowls' Internet sites
>     give the television networks but not the radio networks, or at least not
>     that I have been able to find.

    As far as I know, NBC *always* carried the Rose Bowl from Pasadena CA,
    going back to 1927, I [removed] it seems like an NBC "tradition" to carry
    the Rose Bowl. And when that "nasty 't' word" came about, it was the
    NBC Telev----n Network that carried it live on that medium as well.

    And on January 1954, a few weeks after the FCC had officially approved the
    RCA, [removed]  NTSC system of COLOR T--------N, it was a "big thing" for
    RCA's NBC Tel------n Network to COLORCAST the Tournament of Roses Parade,
    even though probably no individuals had RCA Color T*'s in their homes!
    However, some of the NBC affiliates had set up some RCA color sets in
    their lobbies for the public to have a chance to see Color for the first
    time with the Tournament of Roses Parade.

    Ed Reitan has a great website on the history and development of Color T*
    [removed]~ereitan/

    with the following page on RCA/NBC Color "firsts"
    [removed]~[removed]
    which mentions NBC-T* colorcasting the Tournament of Roses Parade on
    1-Jan-1954. And then there is an entire webpage here on RCA/NBC's
    colorcasts of that first day in January 1954, "The Day a Black and White
    World Changed into Living Color",
    [removed]~[removed]

    Anyhow, back to NBC [removed]

    I _assume_ that when New Years' Day fell on a Saturday or Sunday in
    that twenty year period from 1956 to 1975, that the Rose Bowl was simply
    carried as part of an "extended" version of MONITOR. When Monitor first
    started in Summer 1955, it ran forty continuous hours, from Saturday 8am
    to Midnight closing out Sunday nights (Eastern Time). By early 1956, the
    12-midnight to 8am (Eastern) overnight segment early Sunday mornings was
    eliminated. So for those years in the later 1950's where January 1st fell
    on a Saturday or Sunday, the Rose Bowl would have simply been a 3+ hour
    event carried by Monitor. But in 1961, NBC changed Monitor to several 3 or
    4 hour segments throughout the weekend (all times Eastern)...

    Saturday
    9 am - 12 Noon
    3 pm - 6 pm
    7:30 pm - 10:30 pm

    Sunday
    2 pm - 6 pm
    7 pm - 10 pm

    I guess it might have been possible that the 3+ hour coverage of the Rose
    Bowl itself might not have "fit" within one of those Saturday or Sunday
    afernoon segments of Monitor, depending on when kickoff for the Rose Bowl
    was that year. And then there would be pre-game, post-game, etc. events
    carried on NBC Radio as well.

    Monitor sadly came to an end on the NBC Radio Network at the end of
    January 1975. But a few months later, NBC came out with an additional
    radio network "All News" service, called NIS: News and Information
    Service. The original NBC Radio Network still fed a 5-min-30-sec newscast
    every-hour-on-the-hour, and a 5-min or so "feature" (or sportcast) at the
    bottom-of-the-hour, and the original NBC Radio Network still had Sunday
    morning and Sunday evening "long form" religious and public affairs
    programs ("Meet the Press", for instance). But the remainder of the hour,
    24/7 (except for Sunday mornings and evenings), this continuous long-form
    NIS News service was fed down the telco lines of NBC Radio. It was "sort
    of" like the way ABC Radio divided itself up into four packages in 1968,
    and how Mutual had their brief 1970's alternate "network" packages of the
    Mutual Black Network and Mutual Spanish Network. But being a "long form"
    informational program, it "could" have also been thought of as a
    continuation of Monitor! (Although NIS was primarily news/information,
    while Monitor was a VARIETY of music, entertainment, sports, tid-bits, and
    basic news/information).

    This NIS lasted only about two years. NIS was cancelled in Summer 1977.
    But NBC Radio (and NBC-Tele-----n) had a long tradition of carrying the
    baseball playoff games as well as the World's Series. And when NIS came
    about in 1975 on NBC Radio, the higher-ups at 30 Rockafeller Plaza dropped
    all long-form live play-by-play sports from NBC Radio's schedule,
    including the National/American League playoffs and the World's Series.

    But NOT the New Year's Day broadcast of the Rose Bowl! It was RETAINED
    on the NBC Radio Network. :-)

    The "NIS" was simply pre-empted on New Years' Day in 1976 and 1977.
    I don't know if NIS was pre-empted only during the actual (original) NBC
    Radio Network coverage of the Rose Bowl for those 3+ hours, or if NIS was
    pre-empted "all day" ([removed], maybe 6am to Midnight? I don't see what kind
    of "continuous/breaking news coverage" would have occurred on a holiday
    for NIS to even be broadcasting).

    (The CBS RAD))|((O NETWORK picked up the baseball games that had been an
    NBC Radio tradition for decades though).

    I don't know what the radio status of the Rose Bowl has been since
    NBC Radio became swallowed up by Westwood/Mutual in the early 1990's, and
    then Westwood/Mutual/Infinity is now associated with CBS/Viacom/Paramount.
    Even though Mutual's 'brand name' no longer exists, it "seems" that what
    *WAS* Mutual still "lives" in the form of what originates from 1755 South
    Jefferson Davis Hwy in Arlington VA (Jim Bohanon still has his weekday
    "America in the Morning" program originating from Arlington/Washington,
    though now branded "Westwood" instead of "Mutual"). But while the weekday
    morning newscasts on the old NBC Radio channels still exist and are
    loosely branded as NBC Radio News, they are originated and produced by
    CBS Radio/CBS News, 524 West 57th Street in Manhattan, anchored by CBS
    Radio News personnel, and have been so since September 1998. I wonder
    if maybe CBS/Viacom/Paramount/Westwood/Infinity's "Westwood One Radio
    Sports" runs the Rose Bowl???

    [removed] it WOULD be interesting to know the radio (and telev----n)
    network history of *ALL* of the Holiday football events, both the
    professional playoffs (and Super Bowl) as well as college bowl games, and
    not just New Years' Day bowl games, but ALL bowl games! And games such as
    the "Blue-Gray" Game, etc. I wonder if there were "team" or "ad-hoc
    bowl/events" radio networks back in the 1950's that were "created" to
    carry any of these games?

    So, if anyone has any further details, please post any such info to the
    list!

    I'm not really much of a sports fan, but this IS all part of network
    radio history! :-)

    Mark J. Cuccia
    mcuccia@[removed]
    New Orleans LA

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

    Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 23:44:03 -0500
    From: "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed];
    To: "OTR" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Dr Who Audio

    I have been delighted to learn of Dr. Who radio tapes.  I have been watching
    Dr. Who on PBS since the early 80s and am so pleased to find that there are
    at least 4 others in this group like me .    One PBS station in the bay
    area, KTEH in San Jose, is like a Dr. Who outpost, so devoted are its fans,
    and quick to open their wallets at pledge break time.   I think they have
    been airing it for almost 20 years uninterrupted.

    As is true for most Americans who were introduced to the Doctor it was
    originally in his incarnation as Tom Baker and he will always be my
    particular favorite.    I've gone to a number of Star Trek and later Sci Fi
    conventions in SF which included Dr. Who.  I had a nice chat with
    "Turlough", Mark Strickson, at one of them and unlike Turlough he smiled a
    lot and told me HIS favorite TV show was "Taxi".

    Thanks to all of you for the info about "Big Finish".   Are there other
    tapes available?

    Irene

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

    Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 23:44:09 -0500
    From: "bkidera" <rkidera1@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Norman MacDonnell
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    Lately, I have been relistening to a bunch of Gunsmoke episodes and have been
    appreciating the work of Norman MacDonnell (who also directed Philip Marlowe,
    another series I enjoy a great deal).  I got to wondering, whatever happened
    to him?  He was such a talented director, did he go on to do television work?
    I'd appreciate any information anyone could give me about his later career.

    Bob Kidera

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

    Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 23:44:50 -0500
    From: "Michael Hayde" <mmeajv@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  George Reeves on OTR

    I hope this doesn't get lost in the midst of the "Blacklist Backlash!"

    Harry Bartell's latest "Struts and Frets" mentions George Reeves, best known
    to many as TV's first (and, for my money, still greatest) Superman.  A 1976
    book documenting that series, titled "Superman: Serial to Cereal," included
    a page of a radio script circa 1943, in which Reeves appeared as himself.
    And I wonder just how much OTR Reeves may have done, and if any of it
    exists.

    I know that he appeared on LUX RADIO THEATER with Jeff Corey, in "Lydia."
    Reeves had a supporting role in the 1941 Merle Oberon film of the same name.
      Does anyone know the date of this one, and if it's in circulation?

    The NBC files at the Library of Congress yield only two performances for the
    network:

    HOLLYWOOD STAR PREVIEW (American Home Products, 1/4/48): "Post-script to
    Christmas," with Veronica Lake.  Reeves played Hugh Davis.

    THE JOE DIMAGGIO SHOW (8/19/50): Reeves is listed as part of the "dramatic
    cast."

    Are either of these in circulation?  And does anyone know of any other
    programs on which Reeves performed?

    Many thanks!

    Michael

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

    Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 23:40:44 -0500
    From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed];
    To: "Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Thank you, Elizabeth!

    Once again Elizabeth McLeod has brought us face to face with facts and
    original sources.  Her citations from Red Channels showed us again how
    skimpy were the reasons that entertainers found themselves blacklisted by
    that book, and its authors.

    Thank you, Elizabeth, for your insistence on getting back to basics of
    research.

    Ted Kneebone/1528 S. Grant [removed], SD 57401/605-226-3344
    OTR: [removed]

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

    Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 23:45:32 -0500
    From: "Maureen O'Brien" <mobrien@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Big Finish Audio CD's & Maureen O'Brien!

    Jules Burt said:

>     It's funny that the name Maureen O'Brien has come to light on a
>     previous posting as of course, she was a famous Dr. Who companion on
>     the TV show!

    Yes, I found out that was the name of the actress who played Vicki when
    I first attended a Dr. Who convention. I hadn't been a fan very long,
    and as soon as I introduced myself people were thinking I was a little
    _too_ into the [removed] <g> Thanks to most of her stories being ones
    destroyed by the BBC, I haven't seen much of her work, alas.

    She apparently now writes mysteries. They're good mysteries (I've only
    found one, and I'm too lazy to order through Amazon, but the one I got
    was remarkably well-written). This is of course bad news for _my_
    literary career!

    But at least it's her real name, unlike most literary O'Briens. (It
    broke my heart to find out Patrick O'Brien wasn't his original name,
    although I applauded his good taste in choosing to join our [removed])

    Desperate attempt to go back on [removed], yeah. That other
    Maureen O'Brien also reads audiobooks, including Jane Eyre. And The
    Rainbow by [removed] Lawrence, [removed] written during the days of OTR!

    Maureen

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

    Date: Fri, 6 Dec 2002 01:42:46 -0500
    From: "timl2002" <timl2002@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Apology

    Fellow OTR list members:
         I just wish to apoligize to any and all for seemingly opening up a can
    of worms regarding Bud Collyer.  I was just relating my thoughts about him
    by watching him on television. I have read about his activities as AFRA
    president but since I was born in 1957, After the blacklist and "Red Scare",
    etc.  This should not affect my enjoyment of his work on Television or
    Radio.  I am sorry  if my comments contributed to some of the angry posts in
    the last few digests.  By the way I have no problem with dicussing history
    as it relates to OTR as long as we all remain civil with each other as we do
    so. On a lighter note let me wish all on the digest a Wonderful Holiday
    season

    Sincerely,
    Tim Lones
    Canton, Ohio

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

    Date: Fri, 6 Dec 2002 01:47:07 -0500
    From: "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  The Cold War

>     Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 10:59:19 -0500
>     From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
>     To: <[removed]@[removed];
>     Subject:  Re: Baloney

>     In retrospect and hindsight, is there any doubt that Communism (and
>     Communists) were a dangerous subversive force in the world.

    There can be no doubt that this was so.  There is also no doubt, in hindsight, that the danger
    also was exaggerated, sometimes out of honest belief or fear, and sometimes for personal
    gain.  Acknowledging that subversion existed does not mean that the hysteria of the
    McCarthy era was justified.

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

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

    Date: Fri, 6 Dec 2002 01:47:57 -0500
    From: lawrence albert <albertlarry@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Radio Crime Fighters

    This seems to be my week for nit picking. Radio Crime
    Fighters is a marvelous book, as long as it sticks to
    radio with very few errors. I don't think Howard
    McNear played Speed Gibson, and Senator Eugene
    McCarthy had nothing do to with 50's McCarthyism. But
    whoever was Mr. Cox's researcher for movie information
    needs a refresher course. For example, in the Shadow
    entry the author says " As of this writing there have
    been four Shadow film productions to reachscreenlver
    scrteen." Actually there have been at least three more
    then that. In the Perry Mason entry there is no
    mention of the Warner Brothers Mason films of the
    early thirties, in one of which he marries Della
    Street. In giving the name of the actor who played the
    Lone Ranger in the first of two serials released by
    Republic Pictures in 1respectively respectivly he
    names someone called Billy Bletcher. It was really Lee
    Powell, an actor who was killed in W W II.
        Again as concerns OTR I highly recommend Radio
    Crime Fighters. It needs some reworking for the movie
    buff.
                     Larry Albert

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #470
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