------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2003 : Issue 239
A Part of the [removed]!
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
old-time radio and TV [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]
"Old = good / New = bad" (A very simp [ Wich2@[removed] ]
Voyage of the Scarlet Queen [ "Jerry Haendiges" <Jerry@[removed] ]
Re: : Network Audio Line Quality [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
two things [ "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed]; ]
Robert Arthur & Mysterious Traveller [ Rob Chatlin <rchatlin@[removed] ]
'Fatman' TV series [ Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed] ]
re: Why old radio Won't work on TV T [ "Mike Carraher" <mike_carraher@hotm ]
AM FM Portable Stereo [ zbob@[removed] ]
June 17th birthdays [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
Voyage of the Scarlet queen [ "Alain Altounian" <[removed]@[removed] ]
Sixty Years At NBC [ dougdouglass@[removed] ]
Tom Collins [ seamus <seamus@[removed]; ]
Today in radio history [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2003 23:30:26 -0400
From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: old-time radio and TV
Yes, 90% of television is tawdry, repetitious, and generally depressing.
That leaves perhaps ten percent that's worthwhile.
But what percentage of an average OTR broadcast day is represented by the
shows that we discuss here?
M Kinsler
512 E Mulberry St. Lancaster, Ohio USA 43130 740-687-6368
[removed]~mkinsler1
------------------------------
From: Wich2@[removed]
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2003 22:37:06 -0400
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: "Old = good / New = bad" (A very simplistic [removed])
Folks-
This debate is just too interesting to keep out of! (Bona fides: I produce
radio drama; my wife & I listen to OTR; we watch silent films; we enjoy classic
TV. [removed])
From: Froggievilleus
...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.
I'd divide it more like 10 good, 50 [removed], and 40 crap - but I think anyone who
thinks the percentages were any different in the old days hasn't heard enough
of the material.
(Hal? Harry? Lois?)
From: Stephen A Kallis, Jr.
Ê The Lone Ranger, based on the original ... could work even today. The
historic aspect of the original, and the time separation, could make a good
version acceptable to a modern audience.
Though not perfect, recent film versions of TARZAN, THE PHANTOM, and THE SHADOW
were perfectly acceptable to modern audiences.
Indeed, many Westerns could work out well, for the same reasons.
Contemporary cable films and miniseries such as LONESOME DOVE, and RIDERS OF
THE PURPLE SAGE, were done well - and did well.
Likewise, Bold Venture, if set in the 1940s, could work (though without Bogie
and Bacall ... nothing would be perfect).
MOONLIGHTING had a long run.
There's nothing in the usual Phil Harris - Alice Faye show that couldn't work
today ... A current TV version could work nicely: the humor is trenchantly
funny and timeless.
MAD ABOUT YOU, anyone? How about Elizabeth's choice, KING OF THE HILL?
The Whistler, being an anthology of weird stories with O. Henry twist
endings, could work without too much effort.
How about TALES FROM THE CRYPT & THE TWILIGHT ZONE?
Indeed, Grand Central Station, Mr. First Nighter, and other anthology shows
could be adapted without much strain.
I'd like to see more anthology, too; but though it's stretching the definition,
a lot of the varied films - many shorter than feature length - on such venues
as IFC and BRAVO come close.
For the adventure shows, it's a bit tougher ... moving a hero or heroic team
into current times wouldn't work well if one wishes to preserve the mythos of
the original.
I've tried to bypass animation here, but most lovers of these heroes agree that
the Warners Animation versions of Batman, Superman, and the Justice League are
more than just "good" - they're the truest adaptations of the material ever
done.
Jim's question provides a good intellectual exercise, as it helps us get a
better perspective of the shows comprising our hobby.
Hear, hear! One of the deepest debates in a while. But (as I mentioned to
Barbara off-list) I get a little squirmy when I sense the attitude I long ago
got reading Kevin Brownlow's THE PARADE'S GONE BY: it's one of the very best
books ever written on silent film, but when the author basically postulates
that nothing worthwhile or innovative has been done since 1929, things get a
little silly!
Best,
Craig Wichman
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 10:44:35 -0400
From: "Jerry Haendiges" <Jerry@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Voyage of the Scarlet Queen
Hi Friends,
In answer to two "Voyage of the Scarlet Queen" [removed]
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.
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.
We have 33 of the 35 (YES, that's right, I said 35) episodes.
Additionally
we also have the original preview or audition show for this series from
2-2-47. Not included with the list is the revival attempt from 5-6-50
titled "The Log of the Black Parrot." Although this pilot is similar and
also produced by Elliott Lewis, it is NOT a part of the original "Voyage of
the Scarlet Queen" series.
All of our programs have been restored and are in excellent sound
quality.
Those of you who have purchased our programs know when I say excellent sound
quality, I do mean excellent sound quality :-) Most were recorded from the
original transcriptions and are not the same as we have released on cassette
in the past or have been floating around for years. This restored set is
only available on Audio CD.
If you wish to find out more information on the series, you may go to
my
Website, The Vintage Radio Place at <[removed]>. Go down to the "Main
Table of Contents" and click on "Vintage Radio Logs." Then just click on
"Voyage of the Scarlet Queen," or any of the other over 500 logs listed
there to view, download or print out the log(s). All programs with catalog
or location numbers are available for purchase there also on CD, Cassette
and other formats.
You may also find this series listed in my on-line CD / cassette
catalog
which is located at <[removed]> OTRSite On-Line Catalog. To
use this catalog, your browser must be Frames compliant and you should be
running at a resolution setting of 800x600 or higher for best viewing
(although lower resolution settings may be used). This is a very large
list. If you don't have a high-speed connection, you may not be able to
download it. If you contact me, I'll send you a text version of the list,
or leave your mailing address and I'll send our complete catalog on [removed]
If you'd like to hear an example of the quality, we did broadcast one
episode on January 19th of this year. Go to my Olde Tyme Radio Network page
at [removed] and go down to the "Click here for
Archived Previous Broadcasts" and then scroll down to the broadcast of
1-1-2003. Voyage of the Scarlet Queen is the first show on the program of
that date. Keep in mind that since this is in a compressed format, it like
all mp3 and other compressed files are in inferior sound quality and the
show may have been slightly edited for time restraints, but I think you will
still be able to see what our quality recordings are like
I hope this helps. If you have any other questions, please feel free to
contact me.
Jerry Haendiges <Jerry@[removed];
[removed] The Vintage Radio Place
Largest source of OTR Logs, Articles and programs on the Net
Available on CD, Cassette, Reel to Reel, DAT, VHS
Over 100 programs in streaming RealAudio
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 10:45:45 -0400
From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: : Network Audio Line Quality
Mark J. Cuccia's posting about his line quality experiences in New Orleans
was very interesting. It is always good to hear about the experiences from
different parts of the country. I mentioned to him that I have an original
wire recording that was made one evening in April 1948 in New Orleans of
many different network and local newscasts. I'll go back to that recording
now with an ear towards the relative sound quality of the network and local
material.
As many of you know, 30 years ago I had access to the collection of NBC
Chicago discs, and I also had access to the small amount of discs that
remained at WCAU Philadelphia. Both collections dated from the mid-30s
thru the war years into the 1950s. Both of these cities were on the main
trunk, and thus had fine network lines. They also had top quality
recording machines. And while it is true that there is an audible
difference between recordings of programs originating in their cities vs.
those coming in on the network lines, the quality was still much better
than just 5 KHz. frequency response. What is also telling is how the
quality of news reports from Washington sounded after passing thru New York
and then on to Chicago or Philadelphia. Even during the war years this is
better than just 5 KHz.
But I do agree that off of the main trunk the quality was easily deficient.
As a great demonstration of this, I have a group of 1940 recordings of Beat
the Band which generally originated in Chicago. But for a few weeks the
Ted Weems band went on tour and did the broadcast from where they happened
to be. As they got further and further from Chicago the quality of the
lines got worse and worse. When I get a chance I'll try to go to those
tapes--dubbed directly from the discs--and note where they were and what
the quality is.
We also had some safety master discs of Lone Ranger programs from 1950
which were fed by a special line from Detroit to NBC Chicago where all the
syndication recordings were made. It is quite possible that all of the
syndication Rangers that exist were sourced via Chicago. So if--and only
if--the dubs are directly off of the discs, you would be able to hear how
the line from Detroit to Chicago sounded. I wouldn't want to judge line
quality from the evidence of the recordings in general circulation which
often are dreadful multi-generational nightmares. Recordings made off the
air can be only as good as the radio receiver and the station's
transmitter, and this can be determined only if the announcer from the
local station is also on the recording. This is also a determining factor
for recordings made via line at stations outside the originating city. The
recording of the network program might have a 5 KHz quality about it
because of the station's recording machine. It is the line's fault if the
local announcer on the same recording sounds better. Alas, it is not very
often that the local announcers are included surrounding network
programs--so this comparison is not always possible. It will be possible
on the wire recording I mentioned above.
Here is a good demonstration that many of you can check for yourself. If
you have both Radio Spirits CD boxes of The Stan Freberg Show--the actual
CDs, not someone's dub of them--compare the sound on the first box of the
early shows with the second box of the later shows. If you've been on the
digest long enough, you might remember my discussion of these sets with
Carl Amari. After just the first box had come out I complained to him
about how crumby they sounded compared with what you can hear on the
Capitol LPs which were issued from the series. The CDs sounded just like
the old tapes I had that were done off of WCBS-FM (which include a great
near-crackup of the WCBS announcer after "Wunnerful Wunnerful." He barely
made it thru the weather report and ID.) The tapes were obviously
suffering from line quality problems that the local announcer recordings
made all the more obvious were not problems with the tuner and tape
recorder. Carl later discovered that June Foray had the original master
tapes, and these were the ones that were used for the second box. (Carl
promised that the first box would be redone, but the last time I asked him
this still had not been done.) While the second box suffers a little from
unnecessary use of No-Noise noise reduction, and thus also does not sound
quite as good as the original LPs, they can nearly show you what the
programs should sound like (box 2) compared with 1950s network lines (box
1.)
Michael Biel mbiel@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 10:46:09 -0400
From: "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: two things
Hi Everybody,
in reading Brian last post. Remind me that on the night of 10-30-38 when
Mercury Theater was broadcasting War of the Worlds. Norman Corwin recall
that he did not here the show because his program was to follow Mercury
Theater on CBS. Does any one know what the show was, and does it exist?
Brian also wrote about the East coast broadcast and the West coast repeat.
Got me thinking that according to Frank Bresee such West Coast shows such as
Lux Radio Theater, Fibber McGee and Molly, and the Bob Hope show did not
have a repeat broadcast. Does any one know which one of the West Coast
shows did a repeat? Take care,
Walden Hughes as
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 10:46:17 -0400
From: Rob Chatlin <rchatlin@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Robert Arthur & Mysterious Traveller
Does anyone know any other shows that writer Robert Arthur
contributed to, aside from The Mysterious Traveller?
thanks,
rob
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 10:46:28 -0400
From: Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: 'Fatman' TV series
Seems to me that there was a "Fatman" TV series starring William [removed]
or was it 'Nero Wolfe'? Help!
Herb Harrison
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 11:33:56 -0400
From: "Mike Carraher" <mike_carraher@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: re: Why old radio Won't work on TV Today
Froggievilleus <froggievilleus@[removed]; wrote:
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.
Let's be fair about this: The same quality to crap ratio existed in Old
Time Radio (and in any other medium). What we remember (and treasure) today
represents only a small proportion of OTR's total output. Listen to the
total broadcast day from WJSV (now WTOP) Washington and hear what I mean.
On another point: I've heard people talk about the "theater of the mind" in
old time radio. I never saw (and still don't see) radio in my mind. I
immerse myself in the voices, sounds, stories, personalities and jokes --
the content -- but I don't picture it. One theory holds that different
senses are dominant in different people. People who are visual may
visualize radio. I'm auditory and mostly I had an experience of sound. The
one exception was radio shows I first became acquainted with on TV (I am an
early baby boomer and grew up during the period in which OTR overlapped
OTTV). When I heard Gunsmoke, I did picture James Arness with Bill Conrad's
voice coming out of his mouth. When I saw Gunsmoke, Matt's voice never
seemed right (and still doesn't). Same thing with the Lone Ranger (although
I thought Jon Hart came closer than Clayton Moore).
Anyone else who did not "see" radio?
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 13:39:11 -0400
From: zbob@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: AM FM Portable Stereo
Looking over some old stuff on Father's Day, I ran across a letter to the
editor, HiFidelity magazine, (2/55) in which it was indicated that pocket
radios were now available in both AM and FM (separately), so that one could
walk down the street listening to stereo with the proper plug in each ear.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 15:46:15 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: June 17th birthdays
June 17th birthdays
06-17-1904 - Ralph Bellamy - Chicago, IL - d. 11-29-1991
actor: "These Are Our Men"
06-17-1910 - Red Foley - Blue Lick, KY - d. 9-19-1968
singer: "National Barn Dance"; "Grand Ole Opry"; "Red Foley Show"
06-17-1922 - Jerry Fielding - Pittsburgh, PA - d. 2-17-1980
conductor: "Hardy Family"; "Jack Paar Show"; "You Bet Your Life"
06-17-1923 - Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch - Wausau, WI
sportscaster: WKOW Madison, WI
June 17th deaths
05-01-1907 - Kate Smith - Greenville, VA - d. 6-17-1986
singer, emcee: (Songbird of the South) "Kate Smith Revue"; Kate Smith Speaks"
10-13-1915 - Hugh James - The Bronx, NY - d. 6-17-2001
announcer: "Voice of Firestone"; "Three Star Final"; "Big Town"
11-07-1868 - Royal Copeland - Dexter, MI - d. 6-17-1928
commentator: "Health Talk"; "Fleischmann Hour"
11-29-1906 - Luis Van Rooten - Mexico City, Mexico - d. 6-17-1973
actor: John Perry "John"s Other Wife"; Nero Wolfe "Nero Wolfe"
12-15-1918 - Jeff Chandler - Brooklyn, NY - d. 6-17-1961
actor: Michael Shayne, "Michael Shayne, Detective"; Philip Boynton, "Our Miss
Brooks"
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Hometown of [removed] Kaltenborn and Spencer Tracy
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 18:08:47 -0400
From: "Alain Altounian" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Voyage of the Scarlet queen
This series was amongst my first OTR collections and is still one of my
faves!
As w/Don S. ; 2 episodes appear to be not (yet) in circulation , none of my
copies have commercials (w/most of first ~2/3 having "Mutual" imprint and
roughly last third via AFRS).
Unlike Don, i would grade >90% to be "very good" (yes, a few abrupt clips,
but overall clarity is quite good).
With usual disclaimer of no connection, i bought mine (2 sets of 6 cassttes
each) roughly 7 years ago via Adventures in Cassettes/Metacom-now Radio
Spirits?)
Alain
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 20:24:57 -0400
From: dougdouglass@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Sixty Years At NBC
On Sunday, June 15, Don Pardo celebrated sixty years at NBC. Beginning
as a staff announcer and top-of-the -hour newscaster in 1944, in the
'50s he became the voice of many quiz shows. Today Don is heard on
"Saturday Night Live".
Doug Douglass
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 20:25:08 -0400
From: seamus <seamus@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Tom Collins
Hi,
does anyone have any information on Tom Collins the actor who played
Frank Race, Chandu and many others on radio. Is he still alive? any
information would be appreciated. He is one of my favorite actors.
Thanks,
Seamus
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 20:26:09 -0400
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Today in radio history
From Those Were The Days --
6/17
1942 - Suspense, known as radio's outstanding theatre of thrills,
debuted on CBS. The program kept millions of loyal listeners in suspense
for the next 20 years (and three months, for the purists <g> -ed)
Joe
--
Visit my homepage: [removed]
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #239
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