Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #6
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 1/6/2004 4:44 PM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2004 : Issue 6
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Dale Carnegie on radio                [ "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed] ]
      Re: The Breen Office                  [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
      The Bennetts                          [ "Scott D. Livingston" <[removed]@comca ]
      Abroad with the Lockharts             [ "Scott D. Livingston" <[removed]@comca ]
      Feeling old                           [ smzmurphy@[removed] ]
      Sherlock-Edith Meiser(sp?)            [ "Alain Atounian" <[removed]@[removed] ]
      Shredded Wheat                        [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
      Ovaltine Redux                        [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
      Henry Hull                            [ "Bob Scherago" <rscherago@[removed]; ]
      Question about products               [ Kenneth Clarke <kclarke5@[removed]; ]
      Nigel Bruce                           [ Kenneth Clarke <kclarke5@[removed]; ]
      Hepburn on OTR                        [ Kenneth Clarke <kclarke5@[removed]; ]
      Helen Kleeb                           [ "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@hotmail. ]
      1-7 births/deaths                     [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
      Cursing, etc.                         [ "Steve McGuffin" <smcguffin@[removed] ]
      Greatest Obituaries of All Time       [ seandd@[removed] ]
      OTR Calendar                          [ "James Yellen" <clifengr3@[removed] ]
      Postal Zones                          [ dougdouglass@[removed] (doug dougla ]
      vermont country store                 [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 11:57:07 -0500
    From: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Dale Carnegie on radio

    In #5, Tom Barnett wondered:

>     Is anybody aware of when Dale Carnegie had a radio show and
>     what date ranges he was on? I am inclined to think it was during
>     the 1950s, but I may be mistaken.

    I too have wondered this.  As a DC graduate and sometimes grad assistant, I
    was hoping that there would be recordings in existance.  I'd love to play
    them for a class.  Does anyone have any info?

    -chris holm

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 13:31:07 -0500
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: The Breen Office

    On 1/6/04 11:38 AM [removed]@[removed] wrote:

>     I think that "Animal Crackers" was released before the Hays Office came into
>     being, and the kind of language and innuendoes of the Brothers Marx, and Mae
>     West, were some of the main causes for its inception. Of course the
>     off-screen antics of many Hollywood denizens were probably the overwhelming
>     major factor.

    One thing that's often overlooked in discussions of this period is that
    the "Hays Office" actually dated back to the early 1920s -- but it was
    the *Breen* Office that was responsible for enforcement of the anti-smut
    regulations which clamped down on Hollywood as of 1934.

    Will H. Hays was Postmaster General under the Harding Administration, but
    in 1922, in the wake of the Roscoe Arbuckle affair, he was approached by
    film industry leaders to head the Motion Picture Producers and
    Distributors Association of America, a trade organization ostensibly
    founded to serve as a moral watchdog over the doings of Hollywood.
    However, there was no centralized Code for film censorship until the
    first MPPDA Production Code was written in 1930, in part by a Catholic
    priest, Father Daniel Lord.

    The original Production Code was established after years of agitation by
    a coalition of conservative groups over the "decadent moral tone" of
    films, but the structure of the MPPDA had no provision for enforcing
    industry-wide censorship. The producers themselves knew this, and
    essentially ignored the code.

    The period of 1931 thru 1933 saw a barrage of films with highly "adult"
    content, which led to a serious backlash led by the Catholic Legion of
    Decency, culminating in a threatened national boycott of all Hollywood
    product by the Catholic Church. In order to stave off this threat, Hays
    appointed Joseph L. Breen -- a vicious anti-Semite who had served on the
    MPPDA's public relations staff -- as the Production Code Administrator,
    and he took to his job with relish, motivated as much by bigotry as he
    was by moral imperatives. He wrote in 1932:

    "They are simply a rotten bunch of vile people  with no respect for
    anything beyond the making of money. Here [in Hollywood] we have Paganism
    rampant and in its most virulent form. Drunkenness and debauchery are
    commonplace. Sexual perversion is rampant . . . . These Jews seem to
    think of nothing but money-making and sexual indulgence. . . . "

    Such were the "moral values" Joseph Breen brought to his job.

    Rigid enforcement of the Code began in June 1934, under Breen's personal
    supervision, and all films released after that time were required to
    display a seal specifying the "Certificate Number" under which Code
    clearance had been granted. These seals are evident in the credits of all
    films released after that date -- and all *reissued* films were required
    to be cut to comply with the newly-enforced standards, which explains why
    some early 1930s productions survive today only in heavily-edited form.

    Elizabeth

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 13:31:24 -0500
    From: "Scott D. Livingston" <[removed]@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  The Bennetts

    Just listened to a great program called "The Bennett's". At the close of the
    program the announcer said that it was episode 4 and that episode 5 was
    titled "John wants a machine gun".
    I could not find any information on this show in Dunnings' encyclopedia and
    was wondering if someone can shed some additional light on the show? Dates
    it ran? Who were the stars? Are there additional episodes in circulation
    other than episode 4?

    Thanks for any help anyone might be able to give.

    Scott

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 13:31:35 -0500
    From: "Scott D. Livingston" <[removed]@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Abroad with the Lockharts

    I have been listening to some episodes of a show called "Abroad with the
    Lockhart's". Can anyone tell me more about it? I couldn't find anything in
    Dunnings' encyclopedia. Was it more than just a short series about a couple
    going to Europe? When did it run? Is there a log available?

    Thanks for any help I can get.

    Scott

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 13:31:45 -0500
    From: smzmurphy@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Feeling old

    Today, January 6, 2004, marks the 30th anniversary of the premiere of the CBS
    RADIO MYSTERY THEATER. That first episode, "The Old Ones are Hard to Kill,"
    starred the great Agnes Moorehead.

    Best to all,

    Mike

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 14:15:22 -0500
    From: "Alain Atounian" <[removed]@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Sherlock-Edith Meiser(sp?)

    Knowing this board, i have no doubt there will be a deluge of feedback on
    Edith Meiser's background+[removed] one thing i can add:

    She was the writer for a newspaper comics series of Sherlock Holmes stories.
    (which has since been collected and reprinted)

    alain

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 14:17:47 -0500
    From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Shredded Wheat

    [removed], speaking of Shredded Wheat, observes,

>     what I thought of as the REAL shredded wheat came in an odd sized box
>     from Nabisco

    <snip>

>     since the cereal came in humongous pillow shaped
>     wafers that wouldn't fit into a normally shaped cereal box. They were so
>     huge that only two of them would fit in an oversized cereal bowl.

    Yes, that was the *real* Shredded Wheat.  The box had an image of Niagara
    Falls on its size.  I'm not sure why.  I do recall an early OTR joke that
    went:

    Comic:  My wife told me wanted to go on a sightseeing trip.  She wanted
    to go to Niagara Falls.

    Straight Man:  "So what did you do?"

    Comic:  I sat her in the kitchen, and turned the faucet on full while she
    stared at a box of Shredded Wheat.

    Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 14:23:16 -0500
    From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Ovaltine Redux

     [removed] notes, anent Ovaltine,

>     As soon as someone said that Ovaltine tastes AWFUL, there'd be
>     a hundred folks defending the stuff. It's almost as bad as an argument
>     about sex, politics, or religion.

    Well, tasted vary.  I like the new "Classic" now and then, but haven't
    found the real stuff yet.

    Dick Olday observes,

>     the announcer was telling the listeners that Ovaltine was unsweetened,
>     so he said that if you had tried it & did not like it, you should add at
>     Least 1 teaspoon of sugar to your drink since sugar is so cheap during
>     the depression.

    I acquired an old 6-ounce Ovaltine tin, pre-WW II.  On the front of its
    label, it says, in boldface, "Add your own sugar."  Then, in standard
    type, it adds, "Ovaltine is a scientific food concentrate and is
    unsweetened."  I guess sugar started creeping in during the Radio Orphan
    Annie period.

    Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 14:23:23 -0500
    From: "Bob Scherago" <rscherago@[removed];
    To: "Old Time Radio" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Henry Hull

    I'm writing on behalf of Dick Bertel, who is
    looking for any programs or partial programs
    featuring Henry Hull. Please contact Dick
    directly at  dbertel@[removed]

    Thanks.
    Bob Scherago
    Voice of America, Washington, DC

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 14:24:28 -0500
    From: Kenneth Clarke <kclarke5@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Question about products

              Herb Harrison asked if any of us could remember
    some of the OTR shows sponsored by the products he
    listed.  Well Herb,  I can honestly say that most of them
    didn't ring a bell with me.  However, one of the products
    did cause me to remember something.

              I have some tapes of  "Burns and Allen" sponsored
    by Hinds Honey and Almond Lotion.  The episodes were
    titled "Gracie for President" and are very good!  I sure hope
    this helps.

              One program I've been seeking was sponsored by
    Quaker Puffed Wheat and Puffed Rice, "the cereal shot from
    guns" (sounds disgusting, doesn't it?).  If you should hear
    about it during your research, let me know.  I've often wondered
    what type person  would want a cereal shot from a gun.

    Sincerely,

    Kenneth Clarke

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 14:24:51 -0500
    From: Kenneth Clarke <kclarke5@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Nigel Bruce

              Someone recently asked if Nigel Bruce (who
    portrayed Dr. Watson on "The Adventures of Sherlock
    Holmes") did any further OTR roles.  I remember him
    portraying a character role in a movie with Cary Grant and
    Joan Fontaine which might have been recreated on "Lux
    Radio Theatre".

              The title of the movie (unless I'm very much mistaken)
    was "Suspicion".  A newlywed wife begins to suspect her
    husband based on his shady past.  She begins to fantasize
    about  the type of things he might  be capable of doing after
    meeting  with a friend of hers who is a mystery author.
    Sound familiar?  It might have been an Alfred Hitchcock
    production, now that I think about it.

    Sincerely,

    Kenneth Clarke

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 14:33:31 -0500
    From: Kenneth Clarke <kclarke5@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Hepburn on OTR

              Does anyone know whether any of Katherine
    Hepburn's screen appearances were recreated for
    OTR, possibly on "Mercury Theatre of the Air" or
    "Lux Radio Theatre"?

              Someone recently asked whether anyone thought
    the classic Gothic soap opera "Dark Shadows" would
    have made it successfully on OTR.  Given the right
    treatment, I believe it might  have.   However, there were
    several storylines which relied heavily on  what the viewer
    saw in order to provide the maximum effect.

              I've heard, BTW, that one of the cable channels is
    planning on replaying "Dark Shadows" on their station.
    I just wish I knew which one.

              Over the holidays, I listened to the OTR version of
    "It's a Wonderful Life" as played by Jimmy Stewart and Donna
    Reed on "Lux Radio Theatre".  There was one point, in
    particular, which was different from the movie.  Please
    correct me if I'm wrong, but when George Bailey left his youngest
    daughter at home (in the movie) he took some rose petals
    and put them in his vest pocket.  In the OTR version, however,
    he took a bell with him (at least that's what my tape of the OTR
    recreation says).  Was the script rewritten to accommodate
    radio because it's mostly a vocal (and not visual) medium?

    Kenneth Clarke

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 14:34:07 -0500
    From: "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Helen Kleeb

    Ron Sayles asked:

>     "You will notice that Helen Kleeb just passed away on the 28th of December
>     at the age of 96. Does anyone know where she was born?"

    She was born in South Bend, Washington.

    Barbara

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 14:52:25 -0500
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  1-7 births/deaths

    January 7th births

    01-07-1888 - Myrtle Vail Damerel - Joilet, IL - d. 9-18-1978
    actress: Myrtle Spear "Myrt and Marge"
    01-07-1889 - Robert Hilmar ([removed]) Baukhage - La Salle, IL - d. 1-31-1976
    commentator: "Four Star News"; "News and Comments"
    01-07-1898 - Art Baker - NYC - d. 8-26-1966
    announcer, emcee: "People Are Funny"; "Dinah Shore Show"
    01-07-1903 - Alan Napier - Birmingham, England - d. 8-8-1988
    actor: "Campbell Playhouse"
    01-07-1922 - Vincent Gardenia - Naples, Italy - d. 12-9-1992
    actor: "CBS Mystery Theatre"

    January 7th death

    01-28-1904 - Irene Beasly - Whitehaven TN - d. 1-7-1980
    actress: Old Dutch Girl "Red Hook 31"

    Ron Sayles
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 15:57:09 -0500
    From: "Steve McGuffin" <smcguffin@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Cursing, etc.
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    An interesting subject all around for me is the issue of "the good old
    days" and human behavior, including such issues as cursing and domestic
    violence.  I'm always interested in the way things were and my wife, who
    came to the [removed] from Cyprus at the age of 6 in 1975, is always
    fascinated by stories of life in America prior to that time.  My father,
    who will be 71 in February and is possessed of a remarkable memory (he
    can explain in great detail events which occurred when he was 4 and 5
    years old) is by no means a sentimentalist.  My father will acknowledge
    that many things were better during his youth, but always points out the
    big negative, which was the constant thought of contagious disease or
    serious injury without today's medical knowledge.  Anyway, one evening
    while discussing a scandal involving a well-known politician, we began
    discussing whether or not this sort of thing occurred when he was kid.
    My father's response was, heck yes! (Well, actually, he didn't say
    heck!) My father was born and raised in Thurmond, WV, which during the
    period from 1900 to 1920 was frequently referred to as "the Dodge City
    of the East".  My grandfather had left the very rural and peaceful
    Shenandoah Valley of VA in 1912 to work on the C&O Railway.  Up until
    the demise of the steam engine in the mid-1950s, Thurmond employed
    several hundred railway workers, and while it was no longer a "Dodge
    City" environment, it was still a place where there were all kinds of
    folks.  My daddy informed us that he, as a child, was aware of men who
    were alcoholics (including one brakeman who had it timed just right to
    throw the switch to lead the slow-moving coal train into a siding, go
    into the "beer joint" right beside the tracks, drink one down and be
    back when the caboose arrived to throw the switch back), men who beat
    their wives and/or their children, men who ran around on their wives,
    wives who ran around on their husbands, compulsive gamblers, and
    assorted crooks. During World War 2, there was also an incident
    involving a section hand who had come from Germany who got angry and
    made some sort of comment about blowing up a bridge.  The FBI arrived
    the next day to give him an escort for an "extended vacation"!  Daddy
    always says that people are people now just the same as they were then.
    What is different is the social acceptability of some of these things in
    public.  I've heard my father blurt out many words that would be
    unacceptable in a crowded restaurant while listening Cincinnati Reds
    games on the radio, but never involving the Lord's name or the "f" word.
    My daddy's biggest pet peeve is men who wear "ballcaps" while seated in
    restaurants.  My grandfather, by the way, was never known to say
    anything stronger about anybody than referring to them as a "bird", so I
    just thought it was interesting in the way my father came to view
    things.

    On the subject of The Walton's, my father never watched it for more than
    five or ten minutes.  Our relatives here in the rural areas in the
    Shenandoah Valley didn't get electricity until about 1948, and my father
    never failed to point out to us that there's no way the Walton's would
    have had it in the '30s.  I guess this just totally ruined the show for
    him!  Incidentally, an early episode of the Walton's mentions John
    working in Waynesboro.  This is quite accurate, as DuPont built a plant
    in Waynesboro in 1929, and this plant attracted labor from a wide area.
    Schuyler, VA, the real life Walton's Mountain, is about 20 or 25 miles
    from Waynesboro.  The plant continued to hire fairly steadily through
    most of the 1930s. (apparently, many country boys around here just
    couldn't at all deal with working at night and sleeping during the day,
    so there was always a certain amount of turnover).  This would have been
    more believable, but less fun, than the Walton's operating their own
    sawmill.  My father came back to Virginia in 1957 and retired from
    DuPont in 1993.

    Now just to link this back to OTR, let me mention that Gabriel Heatter's
    newscasts during the war always scared my daddy.  He always says that
    Heatter made him think that there were Nazis hiding under the bed every
    night! And, my grandfather had only one "can't miss" radio program.
    Every Saturday night, he listened to the Grand Ole Opry, especially his
    favorite, Uncle Dave Macon.

    Sorry for the rant.

    Steve

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 17:46:38 -0500
    From: seandd@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Greatest Obituaries of All Time

    Now there's a title that can stir up some debate in this crowd!

    In any case, a book of great obituaries that includes Bob Hope's for Jack
    Benny has been published - it is briefly noted here:

    [removed].

    Sean Dougherty
    SeanDD@[removed]

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 17:47:05 -0500
    From: "James Yellen" <clifengr3@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  OTR Calendar
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from text/html

    When I walk into the Barnes and Noble or Borders bookstore, they have
    dozens and dozens of 2004 calendars on display that cover just about area
    of interest [removed] but Old Time Radio. Does anyone know if a
    calendar with an OTR theme is available anywhere? Jim Yellen

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      ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 17:47:14 -0500
    From: dougdouglass@[removed] (doug douglass)
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Postal Zones

    In Manhattan the post office had a special zone number for Contest Mail
    .... New York 46, [removed] which was actually at the Canal Street (Zone 13)
    station.

    Doug Douglass

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 17:47:44 -0500
    From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  vermont country store

>     Subject:  Vermont Country Store

>     I have never bought from them, but I do buy some stuff via mail-order, so I
>     guess that's how I got on their mailing list.
>     Anyhow, I see that they sell some of the products from OTR days.

    Ah, them.  An honest enough outfit, but with the highest prices I've ever
    seen outside of science-supply catalogs.  My favorite item was the
    old-fashioned nostalgic 'milk house' electric heater.  Their price: eighty
    bucks.  K-mart's price: twenty bucks.

    As has been pointed out in the case of (sorry) Ovaltine and Horlick's, many
    of these old brands still live on overseas.  Lifebuoy, I believe, is from
    Britain.

    M Kinsler
    512 E Mulberry St. Lancaster, Ohio USA 43130 740-687-6368
    [removed]~mkinsler1

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #6
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