------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2004 : Issue 393
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
12-12 births/deaths [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
Re: The Decline and Fall of Fred All [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
OTR and History [ "erest@[removed]" <erest@bel ]
Re: Podcasting and otr [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
Scrooge's many voices [ "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed] ]
Non-Barrymore Christmas Carols [ "John Eccles, Jr." <jeccles@earthli ]
Here We Go A 'CAROL-ing! [ Wich2@[removed] ]
Re: the KMPC Hermit [ "Michael Ogden" <michaelo67@hotmail ]
Scrooge [ "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@hotmail. ]
Cincinnati Covnention [ "Bob Burchett" <haradio@[removed] ]
This week in radio history 12-18 Dec [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
Podcasting and OTR [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
Re: Dragnet: Radio vs. TV [ Kirk GARDNER <kirk_gardner@sbcgloba ]
War of the Worlds [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
A Christmas Carol [ Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed]; ]
frank lovejoy on superman [ "Kurt E. Yount" <blsmass@[removed]; ]
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 15:20:02 -0500
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 12-12 births/deaths
December 12th births
12-12-1893 - Edward G. Robinson - Bucharest, Romania - d. 1-26-1973
actor: Steve Wilson "Big Town"
12-12-1898 - Noreen Gammill - MO - d. 12-21-1988
actress: Sister Dinwiddie "Bill Goodwin Show"; Cathy "Opie Cates Show"
12-12-1902 - Helen Menken - NYC - d. 3-27-1966
actress: Brenda Cummings "Second Husband"
12-12-1908 - Hank Ladd - Chicago, IL - d. 6-9-1982
actor: Beetle "Phil Baker Show"
12-12-1909 - Karen Morley - Ottumwa, IA - d. 3-8-2003
blacklisted actress: "War Town"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
12-12-1913 - Winston Burdette - Buffalo, NY - d. 5-19-1993
newscaster: (protege of Edward R. Murrow) "CBS World News Round Up"
12-12-1915 - Frank Sinatra - Hoboken, NJ - d. 5-14-1998
singer, actor: (The Voice), "Your Hit Parade"; "Frank Sinatra Show"; Rocky
Fortune "Rocky Fortune"
12-12-1918 - Joe Williams - Codele, GA - d. 3-29-1999
blues singer: "Count Basie and His Orchestra"; "Stars for Defense"
12-12-1923 - Bob Barker - Darrington, WA
disc jockey: "Bob Barker Show"
December 12th deaths
01-31-1902 - Tullulah Bankhead - Huntsville, AL - d. 12-12-1968
actress, hostess: "Johnny Presents"; "Big Show"
02-27-1891 - David Sarnoff - Minsk, Russia - d. 12-12-1971
executive: National Broadcasting Company"
02-27-1907 - Mildred Bailey - Tekoa, WA - d. 12-12-1951
singer: (Rockin' Chair Lady) "Mildred Bailey Show"; "Camel Caravan"
03-05-1927 - Jack Cassidy - NYC - d. 12-12-1976
singer, actor: "Stars for Defense"; "Cue Magazine Salutes ASCAP"
04-08-1912 - Sonja Henie - Kristiania, Norway - d. 12-12-1969
skater, actress: "Hollywood Hotel"; "Bill Ster's Colgate Sports Newsreel";
"Shell Show"
04-18-1902 - Harry Owens - O'Neill, NE - d. 12-12-1986
bandleader: "Hawaii Calls"
05-07-1923 - Anne Baxter - MI City, IN - d. 12-12-1985
actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"
05-22-1910 - Johnny Olsen - Windom, MN - d. 12-12-1985
emcee, announcer: "Ladies Be Seated"; "Get Rich Quick"
05-23-1883 - Douglas Fairbanks - Denver, CO - d. 12-12-1939
commentator: "KHJ Los Angeles 1921"
07-04-1898 - Johnny Lee - Los Angeles, CA - d. 12-12-1965
actor: Algonquin J. Calhoune "Amos 'n' Andy"
08-29-1916 - George Montgomery - Brady, MT - d. 12-12-2000
actor: "Hollywood Star Time"; "NBC University Theatre of the Air"
09-24-1915 - Larry Gates - St. Paul, MN - d. 12-12-1996
actor: "Radio City Playhouse"
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 15:21:51 -0500
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: The Decline and Fall of Fred Allen
On 12/11/04 2:19 PM [removed]@[removed] wrote:
some authors have described this as the result of a slow creative
tinkering-around process, resulting in allen eventually hitting on *just* the
right combination of types to provide continued audience appeal over a
sustained period of [removed] when you hit
paydirt with a character like senator claghorn, who inspired two national
catch phrases almost immediately upon his debut, it must be awfully hard to
buck the executives and the folks paying the bills who want to milk the
successful formula.
I think the saddest part of Allen's history on radio is that the medium
eventually forced him to become, in many ways, that which he hated most.
If you read between the lines of his comments in "Treadmill To Oblivion,"
you'll find an interesting a bitter discussion of the agency-enforced
change from the "Town Hall Tonight" format in the fall of 1939 to a
generic "Fred Allen Show". This was more than just a title change -- the
entire flavor of the program was subtly altered, and Allen notes quite
specifically that the agency ordered this change to make the program and
its format more like Jack Benny's. Now, Benny's format was fine for Benny
-- but it didn't work for Allen at all. And anyone who reads Allen's
account of the new regime has to conclude that the joy of radio ended for
him right then and there. When he lost that battle in 1939, radio was no
longer *fun.* It became, increasingly, a difficult, grinding chore -- and
the agencies just kept up the pressure until he couldn't handle it any
more.
Allen had railed thruout the 1930s against catch-phrase-driven hokum
comedy, against the tendency of radio performers to mug to the studio
audience instead of to listeners at home, and against the mindlessness of
the "got-a-new-movie-out" Hollywood guest star system which forced
comedians to use people who were largely unsuited to radio comedy simply
because they were the big names the establishment wanted to plug. And
yet, by the late forties, Allen had fallen, to a greater or lesser
extent, into each of these traps. Or, more accurately, he fell into these
traps because he was shoved into them.
It's essential to remember that Allen was not a well man during the
1940s. He missed an entire season, and part of another, due to chronic
hypertension aggravated by stress. One could argue that the erosion of
the creative disciplines that altered the form and content of his show
over the course of the forties is directly related to the decline in his
health -- but I suggest that much of that physical decline can be
attributed, in turn, to the stress involved in creating a program that no
longer truly represented the sort of program Allen wanted to do. Seen in
this light, you can read Allen's criticisms of vice-presidents and agency
executives in the mid-forties less as quaint, playful witticisims, but as
desperate, enraged lashing-out by a man who was seeing both his health
and his creativity destroyed by forces with no concern but dollars,
ratings points, and empty middlebrow conformity.
The ultimate tragedy is that the sicker Allen got, the more dependent he
became on the cliches and rigid formats the agencies forced upon him --
which makes the decline and eventual destruction of Allen's career a sad
demonstration of just how savage and brutal the radio business could be
to someone who never wanted to fit anyone's mold but his own. But such
was "Big Time Radio" in the 1940s.
Elizabeth
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 15:22:14 -0500
From: "erest@[removed]" <erest@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: OTR and History
The thing that always comes too my mind about OTR and old movies for
that matter is how new they really are. Its only been about 100 years
since recording of sound and moving pictures has been possible. We are
among the first people to go back in time and hear or see the past
rather than an oral or written account of it. You can hear a Jack Benny
program not just hear someone talk about their memory of the program.
So maybe the hobby might fade away, I hope not , but people will always
be searching through OTR for clues to who we were and where we come from.
Just a thought.
Rob
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 17:46:23 -0500
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Podcasting and otr
At 02:18 PM 12/11/2004, you wrote:
Putting on my look into the future hat, one can see a perfect marriage with
the podcast technology and otr. A recent thread has been about the future
of otr, here is one way that it never need end. Perhaps even more
intriguing is the possibility for new and/or redone old shows to be done,
because the cost vs. potential audience is very low.
I have been quietly testing this on my web site for about a month. If you
are familiar with Podcasting and have a portable mp3 player, check out
[removed]
I have my Terry and the Pirates set up that way. I also have some
experimental pages where I have set up a couple of other pages separate
from my own just as a trial. Of most interest might be Dick Bertel's
material he is offering of his old shows, which comes closer to the concept
of podcasting.
Jim Widner
jwidner@[removed]
[ADMINISTRIVIA: I find the whole concept of "podcasting" amusing, since it is
nothing more complex than loading an MP3 file into a portable device,
something we've been doing for quite some time. I realized I posted the first
MP3 to my own websive over seven years ago (July, 1997) after serving
RealAudio files almost another year before, although back then we didn't have
portable players. But honest, people, this isn't anything whiz-bang; the use
of XML to control where the target goes is interesting, but you could as
easily download the files from USENET and load them into your iPod, or other
portable MP3 player. The only advantage of using XML-based RSS is the
ability to aggrigate the feed (that is, auto-download "updates"), but
that makes no sense for OTR IMHO. It's also bandwidth-intensive on the
server; BitTorrent or other "swarm" systems make a whole lot more sense to
distribute OTR collections, since the clients help with the uploading.
Don't let the termonology frighten you off, or make you think you're
dealing with something "new." If you don't have podcasting software and
still want to hear Jim's files, simply read the XML file which
contains the download URLs, [removed] [removed]
or use a browser like Firefox and add a Live Bookmark so you can easily
download them to your computer. --cfs3]
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 17:47:21 -0500
From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed];
To: "Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Scrooge's many voices
Derek Teague has written about Lionel Barrymore's ownership of the role of
Scrooge in Christmas Carol. Well, I suppose one could say that Barrymore
was the best-known Scrooge on the radio, but he was not the only one!
>From my catalog, which is far from complete, I have these recordings:
Orson Welles subbed for Barrymore on Campbell playhouse in 1938.
George Ludlum did Scrooge in the 1930s. Has anyone pinned down the date
of this NBC show?
Jonathan Winters did a spoof of Scrooge in 1991 for NPR.
Edmund Gwen did Ebenezer for Screen Director's Playhouse in 1951.
Alec Guiness did the crafty old skinflint for the BBC, date ?
And there were recordings of some other famous actors on commercial [removed]
Basil Rathbone did his interpretation for Columbia records, date ?
Ronald Colman Scrooged it up for Decca records, date ?
And, of course, Barrymore did cut an album for MGM records in the early
1950s.
Here's a reading that very few collectors [removed]
Student, Todd Distler, for the NY Institute for the Education of the
Blind, date ?
And it seems that a label like Caedmon has/had a version by some famous
actor like Charlton Heston, or was it Alexander Scourby, or ?
Ted Kneebone / 1528 S. Grant St. / Aberdeen, SD 57401
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 17:47:31 -0500
From: "John Eccles, Jr." <jeccles@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Non-Barrymore Christmas Carols
While I certainly feel that Lionel Barrymore "owned" the rold of Ebeneezer
Scrooge on radio, Edmund Gwenn (yes, Santa Claus, himself) played the role
on "Stars Over Hollywood" on 12/22/50 and Laurence Olivier portrayed Scrooge
on Theatre Royale broadcast 12/24/53. However, neither of these versions
could hope to compare, in my opinion, with the version done on The Campbell
Playhouse with Lionel Barrymore, Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater on
12/24/39. For my money, it is the definitive radio version.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 17:48:22 -0500
From: Wich2@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Here We Go A 'CAROL-ing!
Dear Derek & all you lil' Dickens-
Oh boy, you're singing this admirer of "The Fifth Gospel's" music! (And
what's below is but the tip o' the iceberg!)
From: "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed];
...fans of ... "A Christmas Carol" have a wide variety of choices ...
Reginald Owen, Alistair Sim, Mister Magoo, George C. Scott, Patrick Stewart,
Albert Finney, or (very recently) Kelsey Grammer.
PLEASE don't forget Sir Seymour Hicks, who played the role on stage for
years, then in a Silent, & later terrific Talkie that he co-wrote!
In the Kinescope years of TV, there was Fredric March, Basil Rathbone (at
least twice), John Carradine, & Sterling Hayden (riff). (Why know one ever
asked Boris Karloff, is beyond me; his daughter agrees that he would've been
great.)
Later TV & Movie (riffs): Henry Winkler, Jack Elam, James Whitmore, and
Michael Caine.
...Lionel Barrymore: ... It's been reported that ... he essayed the role
>from the mid-1930s until his death in the early 1950s ... one time having
his brother John Barrymore fill in for him.
(Having heard Jack do a great "Lionel" in his Streamlined Shakespeare
"Twelfth Night" - someone PLEASE find a transcription of this!!!)
...from the OTR era (I)find it hard to believe that nobody else even
attempted an alternate [removed]
'Cause it's not true.
Off the top of my head, in direct versions: Ronald Colman, Edmund Gwenn,
Laurence Olivier, Alec Guinness, and Orson Welles (again, subbing for Lionel
- and NOT his shining moment.) In parodies/riffs: Jimmy Stewart, and Lionel
himself.
In the Modern Radio era: Jonathan Winters. And - Your Obediant Servant, in
Quicksilver's first show - courtesy of Lister Max "Santa" Schmid! (To be
webcast again this [removed])
May you all keep Christmas well!
-Craig Wichman
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 17:48:55 -0500
From: "Michael Ogden" <michaelo67@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: the KMPC Hermit
Walden stated:
the Hermit was played by John Dehner in the early 1940s.
Actually, Dehner played the Hermit in the mid-1940s. The Beverly Hills
version of THE HERMIT'S CAVE at KMPC ran from 1940 to 1944. Mel Johnson was
the original Hermit. Dehner, after his discharge from the military, replaced
Johnson. I don't have an exact date, but probably sometime in 1943.
Three episodes of the Beverly Hills HERMIT are known to exist: "The Lost
Black Crow Mine" and "The Man with White Hair" (both from 1942 with Johnson;
both in poor sound) and "Mr. Randall's Discovery (with Dehner; from a 1944
AFRS re-broadcast).
Mike Ogden
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 19:01:42 -0500
From: "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Scrooge
Regarding Lionel Barrymore in the role of Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol",
Derek wrote,
I find it hard to believe that nobody else even attempted an
alternate version.
Edmund Gwenn also played him.
Barbara
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 19:01:17 -0500
From: "Bob Burchett" <haradio@[removed];
To: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Cincinnati Covnention
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain
April 15,16, 2005. Make your plans now to attend.
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 21:07:17 -0500
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: This week in radio history 12-18 December
12/12
From The [removed] --
1901 -- Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi receives the first
transatlantic radio transmission in St. John's Newfoundland.
From Those Were The Days --
1937 - The Federal Communications Commission was a bit upset with NBC.
The FCC scolded the radio network for a skit that starred Mae West. The
satirical routine was based on the biblical tale of Adam and Eve and,
well, it got a bit out of hand. So, following its scolding by the FCC,
NBC banned Miss West from its airwaves for 15 years. Even the mere
mention of her name on NBC was a no-no.
12/13
1942 - The characters of Allen's Alley were presented for the first time
on The Fred Allen Show. This particular segment of the show became very
popular and was used by Allen until 1949. Remember the stops along the
way in Allen's Alley? They were at the Brooklyn tenement of Mrs.
Nussbaum, the farmhouse of Titus Moody, the shack of Ajax Cassidy and
the ante-bellum mansion of Senator Beauregard Claghorn.
12/14
1953 - Fred Allen returned from semi retirement to narrate Prokofiev's
classic, Peter and the Wolf, on the Bell Telephone Hour on NBC.
12/16
1949 - After a decade on radio, Captain Midnight was heard for the final
time. Put your secret decoder rings* away now, kids. (* WE know they
were actually [removed]
12/17
1936 - Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen kidded around with his pal, Charlie
McCarthy (who was a bit wooden, we [removed]), for the first time on
radio. The two debuted on The Rudy Vallee Show on NBC. Soon, Bergen
became one of radio's hottest properties, and was called Vallee's
greatest talent discovery.
Joe
--
Visit my homepage: [removed]~[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 22:39:31 -0500
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Podcasting and OTR
Forgot to mention on this topic that I also have a short article on my own
opinion of podcasting and otr. I would be interested in hearing from others
who also might be thinking about this idea.
[removed]
Jim Widner
jwidner@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 12 Dec 2004 01:25:20 -0500
From: Kirk GARDNER <kirk_gardner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Dragnet: Radio vs. TV
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I agree with Dave's assessment regarding the superiority of Dragnet on radio
vs TV.
I, too, grew up watching the 1960's version, but now looking back I think
they're ridiculously stiff. I really took something to get me to listen to a
Dragnet radio show, but once I did I was hooked.
I think the early episodes are clearly the best. Webb and his crew were
still feeling their way, developing the format, and the variations in those
early shows are consistently interesting. Also, Ben Romero is a respectable
partner for Friday (and Barton Yarborough's a great actor). The tone of
these shows also more emphasizes the grueling nature of police work on the
men who do it. Friday and Romero are often worn down by their jobs, and that
really comes through here.
In the past year, I got Radio Spirits' 60-episode Dragnet album, and found
that by the time of the episodes therein, Dragnet had dropped into its
familiar pattern. We now have Frank Smith as Friday's partner (Barton
Yarborough having died and Ben Romero sharing his fate) who was much closer
to the Harry Morgan character Dave and I knew on TV. There's always the
opening comic scene before the action gets going, where Frank is seen as a
clown, and Friday's tight tag line at the end.
Oh, and then there's the fact that, with Chesterfields as the sponsor, there
is a point in every episode where someone asks for a smoke, and the
remarkable sound effects team devotes significant effort to recreating the
lighting of a cigarette.
I still listened to all of the episodes, but it's just not the same as those
early Dragnets. Those are the one I pull out when I want to demonstrate to
someone who carries the same TV memories as I did what a superior show
Dragnet was originally.
Incidentally, my experience with Dragnet led me to try another radio version
of a TV show I never cared much for: Gunsmoke. A truly great show, that
never seems to have dropped into a rut.
Kirk Gardner
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*** as the sender intended. ***
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 12 Dec 2004 13:17:15 -0500
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: War of the Worlds
For those who follow films of this type, the first trailers for this
Spielberg film coming out in Summer 2005 are now on their official
website. Not much to see yet, though it takes on a sort of darker
"Close Encounters of the Third Kind" look to it.
[removed]
Jim Widner
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 12 Dec 2004 13:20:56 -0500
From: Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: A Christmas Carol
On the 12/23/38 episode of Campbell Playhouse, Orson Welles takes a
turn as Scrooge (for some reason, Lionel wasn't available for that
broadcast that year--they don't explain why). The following year
(12/24/39), Campbell Playhouse repeats the script, but with Orson
supporting Lionel, who's back as Scrooge.
In 1941, Ronald Colman put out a Decca record with him starring in A
Christmas Carol. This isn't quite OTR (since it wasn't broadcast, as
far as I know)--but it shows that other stars weren't afraid to touch
the part.
On 12/23/44, The Globe Theater broadcast A Christmas Carol. I don't
believe Lionel stars in that one. (Doesn't sound like his kind of gig.)
Kermyt
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 12 Dec 2004 13:21:08 -0500
From: "Kurt E. Yount" <blsmass@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: frank lovejoy on superman
I was listening to the beginning stories of superman and heard Frank
Lovejoy as captain anderson. For me, that would be his earliest
appearance on radio. I can't vouch for that, but that was the earliest
appearance I have heard. Kurt
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #393
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