Subject: [removed] Digest V2005 #108
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 4/5/2005 6:39 AM
To: [removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2005 : Issue 108
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Harry Bartell                         [ Bob Slate <moxnix1961@[removed]; ]
  Margarine                             [ Rentingnow@[removed] ]
  Fwd: The Campbell Playhouse           [ JayHick@[removed] ]
  Jack Benny in the Twilight Zone       [ JackBenny@[removed] ]
  tips for re-creations                 [ "bobb lynes" <iairotr@[removed]; ]
  A Christmas Story - will the press e  [ Jim Widner <widnerj@[removed]; ]
  Jack Benny / Twilight Zone            [ Sean Dougherty <seandd@[removed] ]
  Margarine Memories                    [ Conrad Binyon <conradab@[removed] ]
  Re: I Swan, how about you?            [ "Candy Jens" <candyj@[removed]; ]
  colored margerine                     [ Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed]; ]
  Radio Is All In the Hearing           [ OTRadiofan@[removed] (OldTimeRadio  ]
  Pure as Fine Cast Steel Soap          [ John Mayer <mayer@[removed]; ]
  Swan Soap                             [ "Paul Thompson" <beachcrows@sbcglob ]
  "Camp- town races, don't do- don't d  [ Wich2@[removed] ]
  Cast Steel/Castile                    [ Jim Widner <widnerj@[removed]; ]
  Harry Bartell, seen and heard!        [ Lee Munsick <damyankeeinva@earthlin ]
  cast-steel = castille                 [ <fc90030@[removed]; ]
  4-5 births/deaths                     [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Re: voices                            [ Brent Pellegrini <brentpl@rocketmai ]
  Re: Woolrich-Marijuana                [ Brent Pellegrini <brentpl@rocketmai ]

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

Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 16:41:33 -0400
From: Bob Slate <moxnix1961@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Harry Bartell
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Harry Bartell was also the Announcer, on "The Casebook Of Gregory Hood," and
did the Petri Wine commercials, and he was a regular cast member on the show.
He was very prominent as the catholic priest on  the radio and the television
versions of "Dragnet's, "Big Little Jesus," where the little mexican boy
borrowed the little Jesus statue that was in the church's manger [removed] was
a Harry Bartell classic at his best! Also, Jeff Chandler's voice was notable
on more than one episode of "The Adventures Of Red Ryder" usually as a thug.
Of course he was memorable as Mr. Boynton, the bashful Biology teacher on
"Our Miss Brooks" and "Michael Shayne, Private Eye." Gale Gordon's voice was
prominent on many shows such as "Our Miss Brooks" as well as Richard Crenna.
Joseph Kane, Joe Julian, and Frank Lovejoy's  voices were noticeable as
gangsters, and good guys on shows such as"Gang Busters",Your [removed] I. In Peace
And War,"The Mysterious Traveler,""X-Minus One," etc;etc;   Bob Slate

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

Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 16:51:42 -0400
From: Rentingnow@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Margarine

You kneaded the bag until the
white margarine turned yellow.

Some states didn't allow, by law, margarine to be colored yellow. It was
felt that it would compete unfairly with butter because it was so much
cheaper.
Wisconson was one and there may have been others.  The way  that they got
around it was the color buds.

Larry Moore

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

Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 19:30:11 -0400
From: JayHick@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Fwd: The Campbell Playhouse
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Can someone help Tom.  His email is <tcooke@[removed];

Subject: The Campbell Playhouse
Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 11:47:43 -0700
From: "Cooke, Tom" <tcooke@[removed];

               I am a frequent visitor to Nothing's New, a source of old-time
radio programs. I asked Roger Hill, the owner, about a Campbell Playhouse
program, "For Whom The Bell Tolls" (with Orson Welles and Katherine Hepburn)
that I was lookin for. He suggested that I contact you as the person most
knowledgeable about old-time radio. Some Campbell Playhouse programs are
available to collectors and some are not. Why is this? I assume that listeners
were not transcribing these broadcasts in the late 1930s. So if some of these
broadcasts are available, I would guess it it was because that someone
connected with the broadcast ([removed], the network, sponsor, ect.) made it a
standard practice to record these shows. If that is the case, if one show is
available, all shows in the series should be available. Why are they not?
Thanks for any information that you can give me.

                                                            Tom

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

Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 19:31:39 -0400
From: JackBenny@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Jack Benny in the Twilight Zone

Martin Grams writes:

I don't believe Jack Benny was ever on THE TWILIGHT ZONE.   Jack Carson was,
during the second season, along with Agnes Moorehead  and Fred Allen's voice
over an antique radio.

He wasn't, but Rod Serling was on JACK'S show.  Jack pooh-poohs the  concept
of the Twilight Zone, and then ends up caught in it himself during his  walk
home.  It's really, really fun, especially for people like me who are  fans of
both series.  We also have this episode in our video library.

--Laura Leff
President, IJBFC
[removed]

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

Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 19:32:15 -0400
From: "bobb lynes" <iairotr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  tips for re-creations

Hi,

Craig Wichman had some good "suggestions" for OTR re-creators in #105.  I
most heartily agee with all of them.  Craig, IMHO, you left out one "no-no":
  DO NOT LET YOUR PERFORMERS DROP EACH PAGE AS THEY ARE FINISHED READING
THEM DURING THE RE-CREATIONS.   I know we've covered this stupid (and
dangerous) practice many times before, but I just had to reply and add to
Craig's missive.   BTW, Craig, it was a great thrill for me to do the G.
Washington  coffee commercials while you did your Sherlock Holmes at the
FOTR convention last October.  We all did it right!  (Holler if you need any
more help this year).
OTR still lives,
Bobb

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

Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 19:32:36 -0400
From: Jim Widner <widnerj@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  A Christmas Story - will the press ever get
 it right?

File this under "the press will never get it right."  (and aggravate
Steve Kallis at the same time):
The Associated Press in reporting on the guy who bought the house in
Cleveland where Jean Shepherd's "A Christmas Story" was filmed contains
this quote:

Talking about how the new owner is going to restore the house to the way
it looked in the film, the AP writes: "In addition, he plans to open an
onsite gift store selling items linked to the movie, including Ovaltine,
Little Orphan Annie decoder rings and leg [removed]"

I know Steve will want to tell us all about those "decoder rings!"

Jim Widner

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

Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 19:33:03 -0400
From: Sean Dougherty <seandd@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Jack Benny / Twilight Zone

Martin is correct that Jack Benny never appeared on The Twilight Zone
television series.  The Benny apperance on the DVD collection is from his
own TV program, on which Rod Serling guest-appeared.  That's in the article
someplace.

Sean Dougherty
SeanDD@[removed]

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

Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 19:33:32 -0400
From: Conrad Binyon <conradab@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Margarine Memories

--- [removed]@[removed] wrote:

Ron Schalow informs us: Of Leo Peters.

Huzzahs for Mr. Leo Peters, the inventor of the
capsule bud inside the plastic container bag of
margarine.
I remember one of my kitchen chores as a kid was to
break that orange color pack of food dye over the
block of white margarine in the bowl and mix the
softened mass until it turned yellow (never the bright
orange color of the powder. Who'd eat orange margarine
anyway?)  I used a fork which was tough going
dragging and mashing the tines through and through the
stuff.  But with the breakable color bud inside a
closed plastic bag it was not at all hard to mix the
coloring into the margarine by just a squeezing of the
bag with ones hands until the color was achieved.  Pop
the bag back into the fridge to solidify it back to
where blocks could be cut for the "butter" dish used
on the table, and one was in business.

CAB

--
conradab@[removed] (Conrad A. Binyon) Encino, CA
Home of the Stars who loved Ranches and Farms

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

Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 19:33:44 -0400
From: "Candy Jens" <candyj@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: I Swan, how about you?

The Swan commercial  referred to pure Castile, a type of soap.  No cast
steel involved <g>!

Candy Jens

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

Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 19:36:00 -0400
From: Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  colored margerine

The discussion on the history of colored margerine has been
interesting. I've been listening to Gildy shows from the spring of
1949, and they've spent a lot of time promoting the fact that Parkay
Margerine is now available in handy yellow bars--"where permitted by
state law"! I was puzzled for a while why anybody would have laws
forbidding this, but then I realized it must be due to interests in the
dairy industry.

Kermyt

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

Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 19:36:39 -0400
From: OTRadiofan@[removed] (OldTimeRadio Fan)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Radio Is All In the Hearing

Yes, we love radio, a fact which all of us OTR Digest subscribers have
in common, but even highly revered radio had its disadvantage: It is all
in the hearing.  This is not a criticism of radio on my part because,
never being an avid reader, and not having educated parents, I got any
extensive vocabulary that I might have had as a kid, strictly from the
radio programs I listened to.

In commenting on the Swan Soap slogan, chris holm thinks that it went:
"Pure as fine cast-steel." (A horrible thought!)  I heard it as "pure as
fine castile.", castile being a very mild soap, made from fats and some
pure olive oil; probably named because of the region of Spain by the
same name from which it is said to have emanated.  So often, as
children, we sang musical commercials, not knowing exactly what the
words really were.  I wish that Digesters would contribute more examples
of misunderstood words and phrases on OTR because they were audio only.
The only example I can come up with at the moment is when the [removed] was
at war with Italy at the beginning of WW2, the sponsor of "First
Nighter" was heard as "Campana Italian Bomb"
when it was really "Campana Italian Balm".  Other examples would be much
appreciated.

Stuart Lubin

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

Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 19:37:25 -0400
From: John Mayer <mayer@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Pure as Fine Cast Steel Soap

"[removed]" <[removed]@[removed]; asked:
I was listening to some Burns and Allen the other day, and I have a
question about the Swan Soap spots.  Is the Swan Soap slogan really
"Pure as fine-cast steel"?  ...that doesn't sound like much of a
slogan.

I remember Swan Soap - is that gone now, too? - but I don't recall
the commercial. But I'll hazard a guess that the slogan was "Purest
fine Castile," referring to a type of soap that, presumably,
originated in that region of Spain, and which was, and still is, made
from olive oil, not from the lard and wood ash that my own folks, and
probably the families of quite a few others' old enough to remember
radio in its heyday, made at home. Dr. Bronner's is the best known
brand, I suppose, available today, and his label makes entertaining
reading for an idle evening or two. But, if you want to try your hand
at making your own, here's the recipe, compiled from various sources:

40 oz olive oil

  5 oz. lye

  14  oz water.

Mix at 100 degrees, hand stirring constantly for the first 15 minutes
to prevent scorching. As the soap cools and thickens, add a few drops
of scent. Color if desired. Pour into molds.

The wood ash soap my family made was, by contrast, quite harsh,
usually referred to as lye soap, and was the subject of a mock hymn
that was performed as part of the novelty album "It's In the Book,"
popular on radio in the early 50's and performed by John Standley
(not to be confused with the  talented John Stanley who wrote most of
the _Little Lulu_ comic stories just reissued by Dark Horse).

There you have as labyrinthine a response as I've ever offered here.

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

Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 19:38:23 -0400
From: "Paul Thompson" <beachcrows@[removed];
To: "OTR Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Swan Soap

Chris Holm asked:

Is the Swan Soap slogan really "Pure as fine-cast
steel"?  That's what it sounds like, but that doesn't sound like much
of a slogan.

Guess not, but try instead  "Pure as fine castile" which will make
more sense.

Castile soap is a fine, hard, white, odorless soap made with olive oil
and sodium hydroxide.

I swan, don't you youngsters learn anything while growing up???

Paul Thompson

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

Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 20:31:24 -0400
From: Wich2@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  "Camp- town races, don't do- don't do"

Dear Folks-

Still trying to catchup [removed]

"From: "Paul Adomites" _padomites@[removed]_
(mailto:padomites@[removed])

Relating to  live re-creations: Is it considered a cheap shot to make a
visual joke out of  a sonic [removed] We're going to be doing an OTR night at
our local theater in  front of a live audience and we thought that would be a
big part of the fun.  (Missed cues; extra-long bits, etc.)"

At the risk of Taking It All Too Seriously (what can I say? I love the
medium, old and new), I'd proffer these distinctions:

1. If it's a drama, No Way. Never. If it's a comedy, move on [removed]
2. If you do it AS PART OF THE FUN (a door slam punctuates a fight, etc.),
sure! Sfx were often used thus in OTR. I recall several Benny show instances.
BUT- if it's done in a spirit of "wasn't this medium quaint, and weren't the
techniques precious?" or worse, "weren't those technicians ham-fisted?" NO!
That's unfair to them then, and a cheap trick to the audience now.

However, an intentional demo of famous fluffs from the old days- such as
Arthur Anderson & I may use in NJ later this month- is another animal
[removed]

Best,
-Craig Wichman
Quicksilver Radio Theater

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

Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 23:31:48 -0400
From: Jim Widner <widnerj@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Cast Steel/Castile

[removed]@[removed] wrote:

I was listening to some Burns and Allen the other day, and I have a
question about the Swan Soap spots.  Is the Swan Soap slogan really
"Pure as fine-cast steel"?  That's what it sounds like, but that doesn't
sound like much of a slogan.

Chris, the slogan is "Pure as fine Castile."  You might have seen in
supermarkets Castile soap, which is really a generic name (not a brand)
for supposedly quality soap. Castile, of course, is a region in Spain
and the soap of this type is usually made from the finer oils such as
olive, palm and coconut unlike regular soaps which are and were at that
time made from animal fats.

At that time, to compare it to Castile soap was considered a compliment
because of the ingredients in the Castile Soap.

Jim Widner

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

Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 23:33:17 -0400
From: Lee Munsick <damyankeeinva@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Harry Bartell, seen and heard!

At the risk of annoying older posters and lurkers here, allow me again to
relate one of my most embarrassing moments.  There is a point, for you
wanting to know about Harry Bartell.  Years ago, at one of those marvelous
FOTR October shindigs, after the evening's activities I was invited to a
suite upstairs along with other friends.  I found myself sitting on a sofa,
to the left of a handsome man whom I had not seen there before (as it turned
out, I believe it was his first FOTR visit, though certainly not mine.  I
think I attended 23 of them, and am happy to congratulate all involved on
this year's 30th anniversary!

The two of us chatted for a while, and the subject of "Dragnet" came up.  I
said that I immensely enjoyed the program both on radio and television, and
that my favorite performer, who appeared frequently, was he who played the
priest on the annual Christmas program about the theft of the Christ child
from a local church.   The gentleman said very calmly and quietly, "That was
me".   I was startled and chagrined.  I got up from the seat to look him
square in the face, and realized that was indeed.  I'm sure I blushed, and
apologized.

I was thrilled thus to meet Harry Bartell.  We talked on at great length then
and again later in the convention.  The conversations were renewed a couple
of years later when I made it out to the November SPERDVAC session.

Harry Bartell was a delightful and kind gentleman as well as a very versatile
performer.  For those who want to know how to identify him, and if you can
hang around until Christmas approaches, the color version of that very
program airs somewhere each year.  Watch the TV Land listings.  The
television version, by the way, was done both in black and white and in
color, and I have seen both.   Watch for them, and you will enjoy and get to
know the visage and voice of "Father" Bartell.

Oddly enough, the same exact thing happened to me in 1988, when there were
all kinds of semicentennial observations of the "War of the World" broadcast.
One was held in the area of New Jersey where the Martians supposedly landed.
This included a week-long carnival, a parade (in which Anthony Tollin and I
participated), and a seminar.

Among those present were members of the television program "War of the
Worlds" which was then very popular.  It featured a fine cast of performers
who did their performances on film in Canada.  I found myself seated next to
a pretty young girl (this time on my left) and the conversation was much like
I related above, when the young lady said that she was involved with the TV
program.  I asked in what capacity, as the representatives included the
director and producer, if I recall.  She said that she was the female lead.
Once again, I had to move to look at her from the front, and I probably
turned red again.  She was quite gracious and we enjoyed a most pleasant
conversation.

Moral of these stories is:  If in doubt, face it out.  Face to face and eyes
to eyes, that is!

Bestus, Lee Munsick

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

Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 01:10:16 -0400
From: <fc90030@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  cast-steel = castille

[removed] fell victim to one of the dangers of OTR.  I refer to hearing words
which are unfamiliar and interpreting them as words one knows put together
in a strange fashion.  Swan soap was being compared with fine Castille soap,
an old European beauty product made, I believe, from cocoanut oil.  Swan was
not a fine cast steel.  Come to think of it maybe that's why Swan sank while
Ivory just floated along.
Cheers,
Frank Coopersmith

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

Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 08:33:07 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  4-5 births/deaths

April 5th births

04-05-1900 - Spencer Tracy - Milwaukee, WI - d. 6-10-1967
actor: "Good News of 1938"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
04-05-1901 - Melvyn Douglas - Macon, GA - d. 8-4-1981
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
04-05-1908 - Bette Davis - Lowell, MA - d. 10-6-1989
actress: "Cresta Blanca Hollywood Players"; "Prudential Family Hour of
Stars"
04-05-1911 - Gordon Jones - Alden, IA - d. 6-20-1963
actor: Pete Thompson "Meet Mr. McNutley"
04-05-1911 - Martin Denny - NYC - d. 3-2-2005
orchestra leader: Live radio show for Alaskan Air Force Command Radio
04-05-1912 - John Le Mesurier - Bedford, England - d. 11-15-1983
actor: Sergeant Arthur Wilson "Dad's Army"
04-05-1916 - Gregory Peck - Lo Jolla, CA - d. 6-12-2003
actor: "Doctor Fights"; "Sealtest Variety Hour"
04-05-1917 - Robert Bloch - Chicago, IL - d. 9-23-1994
writer: "Stay Tuned for Terror"
04-05-1922 - Gale Storm - Bloomington, TX
actress: Margie Albright "My Little Margie"
04-05-1929 - Sir Nigel Hawthorne - Coventry, England - d. 12-26-2001
actor: Acted for his college radio station at the University of Cape
Town

April 5th deaths

01-26-1880 - Douglas MacArthur - Little Rock, AR - d. 4-5-1964
general: "Special Broadcast from the Phillipines"; "Special Broadcast
from Tokyo"
02-09-1899 - Brian Donlevy - Portadown County, Armagh, Ireland
(Raised: WI) - d. 4-5-1972
actor: Steve Mitchell "Dangerous Assignment"
06-01-1898 - Molly Picon - NYC - d. 4-5-1992
actress: "I Give You My Life"; "Molly Picon's Parade"
07-14-1909 - Isabel Jewell - Shoshone, WY - d. 4-5-1972
actress: "Dr. Kildare"; "NBC Presents: Short Story"
07-29-1910 - Joseph Curtin - Cambridge, MA - d. 4-5-1979
actor: Nick Charles "Advs. of the Thin Man"; John Perry "John's Other
Wife"
08-12-1914 - Guy Sorel - d. 4-5-1994
actor: Larry Noble "Backstage Wife"
08-24-1884 - Earl Der Biggers - Warren, OH - d. 4-5-1933
author: Charlie Chan books
09-13-1871 - Alma Kruger - Pittsburgh, PA - d. 4-5-1960
actress: Emily Mayfield "Those We Love"
09-24-1905 - Howard Hughes - Humble, TX - d. 4-5-1976
film producer, bra inventor, billionaire: "Howard Hughes Senate
Hearings"
09-27-1898 - Vincent Youmans - NYC - d. 4-5-1946
composer: "Chicago Theatre of the Air"
10-04-1910 - Stanley Farrar - d. 4-5-1974
actor: (Brother of Danny Thomas) Melvyn Foster "A Date with Judy"
10-31-1887 - Chiange Kai-Shek - Hsikow, Chekiang, China - d. 4-5-1975
world leader: "Free World Theatre"
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 08:33:21 -0400
From: Brent Pellegrini <brentpl@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: voices

Off the top of my head;
i recognize Larry Dobkin, Sam Edwards, some Harry Bartell,
John Dehner, Parley Baer, Elliot Lewis and of course William Conrad.

My 3 year old daughter has been watcing Alice in Wonderland and
Joseph Kearns is the voice of the doorknob.

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

Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 08:33:47 -0400
From: Brent Pellegrini <brentpl@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Woolrich-Marijuana

I have an old Dell 10 cent paperback by Woolrich called Marijuana.
Was it also a radio show by Molle?

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2005 Issue #108
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