Subject: [removed] Digest V2006 #347
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 12/10/2006 6:44 PM

To: [removed]@[removed]

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2006 : Issue 347
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      12-10 births/deaths                   [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
      House in Cypress Canyon               [ "Rick Botti" <rbotti@[removed]; ]
      Re: Blackhawk (or Black Hawk)         [ "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed] ]
      ABC documents and records             [ Ken Greenwald <radio@[removed]; ]
      Fred Allen on Fred [removed]           [ Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed] ]
      Attacking the Messenger               [ jack and cathy french <otrpiano@ver ]
      definition of a sitcom                [ <jer51473@[removed]; ]
      SUSPENSE 1949                         [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]

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

    Date: Sat, 9 Dec 2006 22:43:15 -0500
    From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  12-10 births/deaths

    December 10th births

    12-10-1889 - Arthur Vinton - Brooklyn, NY - d. 2-26-1963
    actor: Killer Kane "Buck Rogers"; Commissioner Weston "The Shadow"
    12-10-1889 - Ray Collins - Sacramento, CA - d. 7-11-1965
    actor: Doc Will Hackett, "County Seat"; member of The Mercury Theatre
    12-10-1903 - Una Merkel - Covington, KY - d. 1-2-1986
    actor: Adeline Fairchild "Great Gildersleeve"; "Johnny Presents";
    "Texaxo Star Theatre"
    12-10-1908 - Bill Spargrove - d. 9-xx-1984
    announcer: "Hollywood Byline"
    12-10-1911 - Chet Huntley - Cardwell, CO - d. 3-20-1974
    newscaster, producer: "They Burned the Books"
    12-10-1913 - Morton Gould - Richmond Hill, NY - d. 2-21-1996
    conductor: "Music for Today"; "Original Amateur Hour"; "Cresta Blanca
    Carnival"
    12-10-1914 - Dorothy Lamour - New Orleans, LA - d. 9-21-1996
    singer, actor: "Chase & Sanborn Hour"; "Front and Center"; "Sealtest
    Variety Show"
    12-10-1914 - Jean Dickenson - Montreal, Canada - d. 1-31-1989
    singer: (Nightingale of the Airwaves) "American Album of Familiar Music"
    12-10-1919 - Alexander Courage - Philadelphia, PA
    music: "Broadway Is My Beat"; "Hollywood Soundstage"; "Romance"
    12-10-1923 - Michael Gill - Winchester, England - d. 10-20-2005
    producer: Joined BBC in 1954
    12-10-1960 - Kenneth Branagh - Belfast, North Ireland
    actor: Renaissance Theatre Company in association with BBC Radio Drama

    December 10th deaths

    02-02-1901 - Jascha Heifetz - Vilnius, Lithuania - d. 12-10-1987
    classical violinist: "Telephone Hour"; "Soldiers in Greaspaint";
    "Concert Hall"
    02-25-1932 - Faron Young - Shreveport, LA - d. 12-10-1996
    country singer: "Town and Country Time"; "Country Style [removed]"
    03-11-1900 - Andy Sannella - Brooklyn, NY - d. 12-10-1962
    bandleader: "Campbell Soup Orchestra"; "Gillette Community Sing"
    03-14-1869 - Algernon Blackwood - d. 12-10-1951
    author: "Escape"
    03-26-1907 - Leigh Harline - Salt Lake City, UT - d. 12-10-1969
    music: "Eddie Bracken Show"; "Ford Festival of American Music"
    03-29-1916 - Eugene McCarthy - Watkins, MN - d. 12-10-2005
    [removed] senator: "Meet the Press"
    05-05-1899 - Freeman F. Gosden - Richmond, VA - d. 12-10-1982
    comedian: "Sam n' Henry"; Amos Jones "Amos n' Andy"
    05-08-1895 - Bishop Fulton J. Sheen - El Paso, IL - d. 12-10-1979
    preacher: "Catholic Hour"
    06-13-1894 - Mark Van Doren - Hope, IL - d. 12-10-1972
    pulitzer prize winning poet: "NBC University Theatre"; "Invitation to
    Learning"
    07-15-1919 - Eve McVeagh - Ohio - d. 12-10-1997
    actor: Harriet Beatty "Clyde Beatty Show"
    07-19-1913 - Charlie Teagarden - Vernon, TX - d. 12-10-1984
    trumpet: (Brother of Jack) "Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street"
    08-02-1892 - John Kieran - The Bronx, NY, New  - d. 12-10-1980
    panelist: "Information, Please"
    08-02-1912 - Ann Dvorak - NYC - d. 12-10-1979 - d. 12-10-1979
    actor: "Movietone Radio Theatre"
    08-05-1915 - Peter Lisagor - Keystone, WV - d. 12-10-1976
    chicago daily news [removed] bureau chief: "Meet the Press"
    08-26-1907 - Jack Berch - Sigel, IL - d. 12-10-1992
    singer: "Kitchen Pirate"; "Sweetheart Serenade"; "Jack Berch Show"
    09-26-1908 - Sylvia Marlowe - NYC - d. 12-10-1981
    harpsichord virtuoso: "Lavender and New Lace"; "Sylvia Marlowe and
    Richard Dyer-Bennet"
    10-04-1884 - Damon Runyon - Manhattan, KS - d. 12-10-1946
    short story writer: "Good News of 1940"; "Damon Runyon Theatre"
    10-13-1903 - Patsy Moran - Pennsylvania - d. 12-10-1968
    actor: Martha Hoople "Major Hoople"; Hilda "Junior Miss"
    11-01-1915 - Bob Garred - Walla Walla, WA - d. 12-10-1956
    announcer: "The Stanford Hour"; "I Want a Divorce"
    12-11-1914 - Marie Windsor - Marysville, UT - d. 12-10-2000
    actor: "Escape"; "Suspense"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
    xx-xx-xxxx - Sy Shaffer - d. 12-10-2005
    trombonist: "Arthur Godfrey time"

    Ron Sayles

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

    Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 08:41:40 -0500
    From: "Rick Botti" <rbotti@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  House in Cypress Canyon

    House in Cypress Canyon scared the living daylights out of me when I
    first heard it at age 10. I got Goosebumps for a couple of weeks after
    that just thinking about it. I never forgot that episode and for years
    kept an eye out for it but never found it on tape. Then 35 years later
    while talking on the phone to one of the regulars here, the subject
    came up. He had it in his collection and he made me a copy.

    A nightmare is a very good way of describing that story. I recently
    loaned my copy to a co-worker and she sat down with her granddaughter
    and listened to it during a bright sunny day and it scared the both of
    them. My friend had Goosebumps just telling me about the next day.

    I'm not a fan of scary stories, I like Johnny Dollar and other
    detective type shows, but House in Cypress Canyon is open of my OTR
    favorites.

    BTW, a few years ago a friend was having problems with his young
    teenaged daughter, so one day after a nasty argument with my friend,
    her Uncle Ricky asked her to listen to House in Cypress Canyon with
    him. That night she insisted that her father stay with her until she
    feel asleep. So you might say it was a nightmare that helped bring a
    little calm to a family, at least for a few days.

    Rick Botti
    [removed]

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

    Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 08:43:20 -0500
    From: "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed];
    To: "OTR" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re:  Blackhawk (or Black Hawk)

    Art Chimes wrote:

>     I have no firsthand knowledge, but I have found at least one standard
>     reference that mentions the series.  According to Harrison Summers ("A
>     Thirty-Year History of Programs Carried on National Radio Networks in the
>     United States, 1926-1956," Ohio State Univ. 1958, reprinted Arno Press 1971),
>     "Black Hawk" (two words) was in its first season on ABC in January 1951,
>     airing Wednesday at 5:30 for a half-hour. As a sustaining show, it was not
>     rated.

>     It was not listed in January 1952.

    I dug in on this program and finally found some listings for "Blackhawk"
    (listed as one word in the NY Times radio schedules).  The ProQuest
    Historical Papers database search failed in my search for "blackhawk" and
    "black hawk" for the period in which the program was possibly on the air.  I
    searched both 1951 and 1952 and came up with nothing so I searched the "on
    the radio" listings for that period (title of the NY Times radio listings)
    and had to go through the listings day by day to find "Blackhawk".   I
    mention this because other researchers should know about the problem.   I've
    become suspicious that the search engine has changed in some way, but can't
    figure out how that could happen.  Since "Blackhawk" was clearly in the
    listings a search should have brought up at least one or more links to the
    program listing in "on the radio".

    Harrison Summers was correct about the time slot for "Blackhawk", 5:30-6:00
    pm every Wednesday on WJZ.  However the listings I found began on Wed. Sep
    13, 1950 identified as "premiere" in the highlights for that day,  and ended
    on Dec. 27, 1950.

    The full listings I found were:

    Sep 13, 1950 - premiere
    Sep 20, 1950
    Sep 27, 1950
    Oct 4, 1950
    Oct 11, 1950
    Oct 18, 1950
    Oct 25, 1950
    Nov 1, 1950
    Nov 8, 1950
    Nov 15, 1950
    Nov 22, 1950
    Nov 29, 1950
    Dec 6, 1950
    Dec 13, 1950
    Dec 20, 1950
    Dec 27, 1950

    The programs in that time slot Mon-Fri  were:
    Mon - Space Patrol
    Tues - Superman
    Wed - Blackhawk (one word)
    Thurs - Superman
    Fri-Space Patrol

    The next listing for Blackhawk should have been Jan 3, 1951.   However in
    its time slot appeared "Big Jon and Sparky"  which held that time slot
    Mon-Fri. throughout January, when I stopped looking.

     Checking on Monday Jan 1 and Tuesday Jan 2 "Space Patrol" and "Superman"
    had their final listings in that time slot rotation which began Mon Sept 11,
    1950 on WJZ.

    I have pored over the schedules to the point of boredom and have not found
    any listing for "Blackhawk" in Jan 1951 in the NY Times radio listings.  The
    best I can do.  But it does appear there were at least 16 episodes.

    Irene

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

    Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 08:44:44 -0500
    From: Ken Greenwald <radio@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  ABC documents and records

    Art Chimes asks:

>     Incidentally, is there any central archive of ABC Radio documents
>     and records
>     from the OTR era (after it was spun off from NBC)?

    Long after radio died, ABC took over the building at 1313 N. Vine
    Street. That was only a block and a half down the street from NBC
    radio at the corner of Sunset and Vine. (That building at been torn
    down in 1964) At 1313, ABC built up a vast TV department where they
    had their main offices and their editing facilities for commercials
    and news features.  When ABC decided to give up 1313 N. Vine and move
    their offices to Century City and to their TV studios on Prospect and
    Talmadge, they began dumping everything. They ripped out tons of
    video equipment, sending some to the junk yard and other equipment to
    the Prospect and Talmadge studios. (I was there watching them do it.)
    During this period a number of filing cabinets were discovered in the
    basement that contained scripts from the Golden Age of Radio. A lot
    of the scripts were from daytime shows, soap operas, special event
    shows, some news broadcast scripts, a large number of Red Ryder
    scripts, and miscellaneous material such as interoffice memos and
    contracts. No transcriptions. Those filing cabinets were give to the
    Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters Radio Archives,where they  reside to
    this day. As far as I could determine, there seems to be no ABC
    archives or memorabilia from that great era anyplace else. At least
    not on the west coast. Since that time, ABC has changed hands and
    even moved their main offices from Century City to a new building
    which is part of the Walt Disney complex in Burbank. I'm sure, in all
    that "shuffling around," whatever else may have been left from the
    Golden Age of Radio was disposed of. In talking to a number of people
    involved in ABC television they are completely unaware of radio as a
    dramatic medium and could care less. (Very sad!)
    There may be an ABC radio archive on the east coast, but I have no
    knowledge of it.
    Of course, that bothers me, because ABC, in breaking from NBC, did
    become a major force in radio. Witness the fact they were the first
    network to use audio tape to present shows rather than playing
    transcription discs or just presenting shows live as the other
    networks did.
    On a last note:  I have heard that the Mutual radio network does have
    an extensive archive of their radio shows on disc. I say I have heard
    that, but never have seen any proof, so far, that this statement is
    true.
    Ken Greenwald

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

    Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 11:41:21 -0500
    From: Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Fred Allen on Fred [removed]

       I know I have been considerably lax in blog/podcast entries on the
    Nostalgic Rumblings blog lately, but forgive the personal matters which
    prevented me from staying on top of things as much as I'd like.

       A while ago, there was considerable discussion here about the humor of
    Fred Allen. Some of you appreciated it, others not-so-much. Our friend Bill
    Scherer provided us with an episode of "Conversations with Clifton
    Fadiman," aired as a tribute shortly after Fred's death, where Fred Allen and
    Gilbert Seldes discuss comedy in general, and much more.

       Whether you are a fan of Allen or not, I think you'll find this to be a
    fascinating interview. Check it out at [removed]

       (And feel free to drop me a line or contact me via the blog's contact form
    if there's something you'd like to hear on the [removed] feel free to
    ask any questions you might have about how to automatically receive these
    OTR shows!)

             Charlie

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

    Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 11:42:53 -0500
    From: jack and cathy french <otrpiano@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Attacking the Messenger

    I've been noticing an uncomfortable trend in Digest postings in which
    an ernest question is asked, a factual answer is provided by a second
    Digester, and then a third Digester pooh-poohs the entire answer.

    Most recently, Bruce Rosenberger asked if there actually was a
    "Blackhawk" radio series. Irene Heinstein replied, setting forth the
    known facts on the series, including the time and day of broadcasts,
    the network, the duration of the series, and identity of the leading
    actor. However, a Doubting Thomas scoffed at her response, termed it a
    "legend,' and retorted:

>     I've heard the legend before, but have seen NO proof: ads, pics, - and
>     dare I ask? - TRANSCRIPTIONS?

    Aside from the fact that only the smallest percentage of series that
    aired in the Golden Age of Radio have left us any audio copies, one
    would hope on this Digest at least, a reliable researcher would be
    treated more fairly.

    Within 48 hours, Jim Harmon, an esteemed OTR historian and author,
    pointed out that not only had he heard the series as a kid, but also
    gave us more specifics on the nature of the programs. Art Chimes then
    cited Harrison Summers' exhaustive history of network radio, confirming
    Irene's initial facts.

    As an ace OTR researcher, Irene Heinstein certainly needs no defense
    from me, nor even from Jim Harmon or Art Chimes. Her impeccable
    credentials as a researcher are based upon years of hard work, detailed
    discoveries, accurate results, and a talent for uncovering the most
    obscure details of OTR shows and stars.

    Our Digest, unfortunately, is not the only place where this stuffiness
    from the Unconvinced occurs.  Not a week goes by that I do not receive
    an unsolicited email from a stranger, asking for details on Bobby
    Benson, lady detectives, Tom Mix, or goodness-knows what. I answer the
    question, based upon my years of research, and freely provide the known
    facts.  But instead of a "thank you", I usually get an arrogant
    response from the requester, along the lines of "Oh yeah? Well, that
    ain't the way I remember it."

    I suspect most OTR researchers have experiences that mirror mine.
    (Obviously, Irene has.)

    Jack French
    Editor: RADIO RECALL
    <[removed]>

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

    Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 15:07:03 -0500
    From: <jer51473@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  definition of a sitcom

      As far as i know, there is no official definition. Call it what you want,
    your peception is as good as any. As i hope everyone knows, sitcom is short
    for situation comedy. So, it would seem to me, any comedy with with somewhat
    of a real life storyline, could be considered a sitcom if one sees it that
    way. Even if the word shows up in the dictionary the definition will and
    should vary with different individuals. Its really a mute question, but an
    interesting one for discussion.

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

    Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 20:33:20 -0500
    From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  SUSPENSE 1949

    Michael Gwynne asked about the fact about SUSPENSE episode where a woman
    drank a glass of blood.  My information states it was broadcast in late 1949
    and I can narrow it down to only half a dozen titles. I do not have the
    exact title because 1. I don;t have a shooting script for each and every
    television episode and 2. I don't have a recording of every television
    episode from that time period.  My source was the New York Times, and it was
    broadcast in late 1949.  The transition from horror to true-crime began in
    early 1950.  Television producer Martin Manulis even stated to TV Guide that
    "We've moved away from horror and unneccessary violence because there's been
    a reaction to it.  In general, an audience won't accept in a living room
    what it will in a movie house.  So we've had to adjust."

    Martin

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2006 Issue #347
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