Subject: [removed] Digest V2006 #324
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 11/21/2006 11:35 AM
To: [removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2006 : Issue 324
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Old Time Radio DVDs                   [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
  LASSIE on old-time radio              [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
  Light Crust Doughboys                 [ Larry Groebe <lgroebe@genericradio. ]
  Samuel the Seal                       [ Crow8164@[removed] (Dennis Crow) ]
  The Light Crust Doughboys             [ Brian Johnson <chyronop@[removed] ]
  11-21 births/deaths                   [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
  SOS and Light Crust Doughboys         [ "Bill Harris" <nbcblue@[removed]; ]
  uncompressed file formats             [ Rodney Bowcock <pasttense_78@yahoo. ]
  Re: Light Crust Doughboys             [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
  Re: FYI About "SOS" and MP3's         [ "Joe Mackey" <joemackey108@adelphia ]
  I am still [removed]                 [ "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed] ]
  Norman Corwin video                   [ "John Weber" <wjweber@[removed] ]

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

Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2006 19:27:52 -0500
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Old Time Radio DVDs

I'm cleaning out inventory and have 100 commercial release DVDs (some still
in shrink wrap) and many are based on old-time radio.

INNER SANCTUM (1948)
IT'S A JOKE SON (1947) with Kenny Delmar
UP IN THE AIR (1942)  Mantan Moreland in a murder mystery at a radio station
INVISIBLE AVENGER (1950s) SHADOW TV pilot
ALL OVER TOWN (1937)  Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson under a killer during a
live radio broadcast
THE PHANTOM BROADCAST (1933)
UNCLE JOE  (1941)  Gale Storm as a radio singer
and so on.  Not all of the DVDs are OTR-themed but many are.  My wife and I
are are making way to clear room in the loft and I'm offering the entire box
at cost.  These same DVDs retail $[removed] each and they wholesale $[removed] each
plus postage when you buy 50 or more so the box of 100 DVDs is $[removed] plus
postage.  Anyone wanting a ton of old-time movies, many based on OTR, at
cheaper than cost if you buy them at stores.  I'm not making any profit from
this, (I paid postage to have them shipped to me so I am losing a bit of $
for this) so first come, first serve.

I know the Digest is not the place to solicite but this is not a for-profit
venture.  Contact me off list and if you read this days after the posting,
please don't e-mail as they will probably be taken within 48 hours of this
posting.
Thanks!
Martin
mmargrajr@[removed]

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

Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2006 19:44:49 -0500
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  LASSIE on old-time radio

I have very little information regarding Lassie on old-time radio except for
Dunning's and Hickerson's (the obvious references).  I just got off the
phone this evening with someone in charge of the official Lassie Fan Club
who plans to do a presentation at MANC this September about the TV series
and they are open to offering information about the radio program as well
but they have just as little information as I do.  Anyone know anything
about the show?  Cast lists?  Details about production?
Martin

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

Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2006 19:46:02 -0500
From: Larry Groebe <lgroebe@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Light Crust Doughboys

On Nov 20, 2006, Kelli Stanley wrote:

While browsing in my favorite paper ephemera shop in San Francisco, I
found and purchased a postcard featuring "The Light Crust Doughboys."
I'd never heard of the group, but of course was intrigued.

The Light Crust Doughboys have a long and storied history, dating
back to 1932 and carrying forward into the present day -- a working
version of the group still plays regularly. In fact, the Texas A&M
University press published a book about them a few years ago:
"The Light Crust Doughboys Are on the Air: Celebrating Seventy Years
of Texas Music"

[removed]

The Doughboys were indeed a musical creation for the Burrus Flour
Mills, originating from WBAP in Fort Worth. The original group
featured the two original influential musical legends of "Texas
Swing" music -- Milton Brownie and the famous Bob Wills. While these
founders didn't stay with the Doughboys long, their sound was popular
and their manager/announcer -- "Pappy" O'Daniel became well known
enough to run for (and win!) the Texas Governor's race in 1938.

The Doughboys have had a long run of musicians in and out of the
group, although some members stayed for decades. "Smoky" Montgomery
(who would be "Junior" in your postcard)  played banjo with the group
from the mid 1930s right up to his death in 2001.

Currently the group is managed by bass player Art Greenhaw and you
can see their current incarnation at their website: http://
[removed]. In fact, the group will be playing at
Dallas' Pocket Sandwich Theater two weeks from tonight (Monday).

Somewhere in my reels I once had a tape of one of their transcribed
shows. If I still have it, it wouldn't be among the Jay Hickerson
episodes, since this one was never in circulation.

A few MP3 samples can be heard on the TAMU press website.

--Larry

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

Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2006 19:46:37 -0500
From: Crow8164@[removed] (Dennis Crow)
To: [removed]@[removed] (Old Time Radio Digest)
Subject:  Samuel the Seal

Ron Sayles does an extraordinary job with his daily necrology.  I have
learned and continue to learn much from his great and intelligent effort. May
he never get discouraged.

Alas, I have a small correction. The great Dr. Strangelove bombardier, actor
Slim Pickens,  never appeared on "The Cinnamon Bear." Ron lists his date of
death as November 20, 1983.   Confusion arises because there was a character
named  "Slim Pickins," --- that's right, spelled with an 'i' --- on "The
Cinnamon Bear."   He was played by Howard McNear, who never straddled a live
bomb in his life!

The character of Samuel the Seal, attributed to Pickens by Ron, was also
played by the inimitable McNear, whose voice artistry is legend.

Dennis Crow

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

Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2006 21:06:23 -0500
From: Brian Johnson <chyronop@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  The Light Crust Doughboys

Actually, the Light Crust Doughboys still exist. They were originally formed
by the King of Texas
Swing, Bob Wills.

More information can be found at the Handbook of Texas online and the
Doughboys official web site.

Brj

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

Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2006 23:31:36 -0500
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  11-21 births/deaths

November 21st births

11-21-1882 - Alfred White - d. 8-22-1972
actor: Soloman Levy "Abie's Irish Rose"
11-21-1891 - Edward Ellsberg - New Haven, CT - d. 1-24-1983
writer: "The Mercury Theatre on the Air"
11-21-1894 - Max Miller - Brighton, England - d. 5-7-1963
stand-up comic: "Cheeky Chappie" Spotty BBC career due to blue material
11-21-1902 - Arthur Schutt - Reading, CA - d. 1-18-1965
pianist: "The Ipana Troubadors"
11-21-1902 - Frank Hursley - d. 2-3-1989
writer: "American Women"; "Cousin Willie"; "Those Websters"; "The
Truitts"
11-21-1904 - Coleman Hawkins - St. Josephs, MO - d. 5-19-1969
tenor sax: (Father of the tenor sax) "Saturday Night Swing Club"
11-21-1905 - Ted Ray - Wigan, Lanchashire, England - d. 11-8-1977
comedian: "Ray's a Laugh"
11-21-1907 - Charles Korvin - Postyen, Hungary - d. 6-18-1998
actor: "Voice of the Army"
11-21-1908 - Mary Young Taylor - Star Lake, NY - d. 12-9-1973
commentator: (The First Lady of Radio) "Martha Deane Show";
11-21-1912 - Eleanor Powell - Springfield, MA - d. 2-11-1982
singing tap dancer: "Flying Red Horse Tavern"
11-21-1912 - Ralph Butler - d. 4-6-1987
director: "Bright Horizon"; "Perry Mason"; "Rosemary"
11-21-1919 - Steve Brodie - El Dorado, KS - d. 1-9-1992
actor: Mike Mallory "Mike Mallory"
11-21-1920 - Ralph Meeker - Minneapolis, MN - d. 8-5-1988
actor: "Crime Does Not Pay"
11-21-1920 - Stan Musial - Donora, PA
baseball great: "Image Minorities"; "Feature Project: The Game of
Baseball"
11-21-1921 - Vivian Blaine - Newark, NJ - d. 12-9-1995
actor, singer: "Lux Radio Theatre"
11-21-1933 - Joseph Campanella - NYC
actor: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"; "The Zero Hour"
11-21-1934 - Laurence Lukinbill - Fort Smith, AR
actor: (Son-in-law of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball) "Earplay"

November 21st deaths

01-22-1934 - Bill Bixby - San Francisco, CA - d. 11-21-1993
actor: "We Hold These Truths"
02-11-1909 - Max Baer - Omaha, NE - d. 11-21-1959
heavyweight boxing champion, actor: Lucky Smith "Lucky Smith"
03-02-1909 - Mel Ott - Gretna, LA - d. 11-21-1958
sportscaster: Play-by-Play Detroit Tigers; "Babe Ruth Show"
04-09-1897 - John B. Gambling - Norwich, England - d. 11-21-1974
host: "Your Personal Program"; "John B. Gambling Club"; "Rambling
with Gambling"
05-07-1884 - Gloria Gordon - d. 11-21-1962
actor: (Mother of Gale Gordon) Mrs. O'Reilly "My Friend Irma"
05-12-1892 - John Barclay - Blethingly, Surrey, England - d. 11-21-1978
singer, actor: "Palmolive Beauty Box Theatre"; "Richard Gaylord "The
Guiding Light"
05-25-1912 - Eddie Maxwell - Detroit. MI - d. 11-21-1999
writer: "The Spike Jones Show"
06-06-1903 - Bert Lown - d. 11-21-1962
CBS Network executive, also a songwriter
07-11-1906 - Harry Von Zell - Indianapolis, IN - d. 11-21-1981
actor, announcer: Bill Smith "Smiths of Hollywood"; "George Burns and
Gracie Allen Show"
07-29-1888 - Niles Welch - Hartford, CT - d. 11-21-1976
announcer: "The Campbell Playhouse"
09-15-1889 - Robert Benchley - Worcester, MA - d. 11-21-1945
comedian: "Buick Program"; "Melody and Madness"
09-17-1904 - Jerry Colonna - Boston, MA - d. 11-21-1986
comedian: "Bob Hope Show"
10-22-1905 - Edward Byron - Newport, KY - d. 11-21-1964
writer, producer: "Moon River"; "Mr. District Attorney"
10-29-1916 - Hadda Brooks - Los Angeles, CA - d. 11-21-2002
pianist: "Jubilee"
11-05-1905 - John Whedon - d. 11-21-1991
writer: "The Great Gildersleeve"
11-11-1885 - George S. Patton - San Gabriel, CA - d. 11-21-1945
maverick general: "These Are Our Men"

Ron Sayles

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

Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 07:55:04 -0500
From: "Bill Harris" <nbcblue@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  SOS and Light Crust Doughboys

Glenn P writes:

FYI, my understanding (possibly mistaken) is that prior to adoption of
"SOS", the distress signal was "CQD" -- "CQ" being a ham radio shorthand
for "I'm calling anyone"*, and the "D" for "distress". I'm not certain but
I believe I read somewhere that the Titanic issued CQD's as well as SOS's.

CQ is a general call, still used by ham radio operators today. CQD was used
by British wireless operators as a distress signal, the D being added for
"Danger".
In 1906 an International Conference on Wireless Communications attempted to
standerdize the issue of what letters should be used as a distress signal.
The Germans wanted to use SOE, but opposition was that the letter E, a
single Morse code dit, might get lost in the transmission, so the commission
finally settled on SOS (dit-dit-dit--dah-dah-dah--dit-dit-dit).

The Titantic operator, Jack Phillips sent the distress call CQD until the
other operator Harold Bride suggested the new SOS signal saying to Phillips
this might be the only time you get to use it. So the Titanic did use both
distress signals. Bride survived the sinking, Phillips did not.

*(In the last quarter or so of "The War Of The Worlds" broadcast, you have
a ham operator, "2X2L", calling "CQ" and "8X3R", meaning he wants to talk
to 8X3R, but failing that he'll talk to anyone.

2X2L and 8X3R were not valid ham radio callsigns, but after all it was a
radio show.

  And Kelli Stanley wrote:

While browsing in my favorite paper ephemera shop in San Francisco, I
found and purchased a postcard featuring "The Light Crust Doughboys."
I'd never heard of the group, but of course was intrigued.

The group was formed in the early days of the depression by  W. Lee "Pappy"
O'Daniel, president of Burrus Flour Mill and who eventually became governor
of Texas. The group performed on the radio but "Pappy" O'Daniel cut the show
short because he did not like their hillbilly style of music. The radio
audience disagreed, especially housewives who used Burrus Mill flour and
they demanded that the show be put back on the air or they would stop buying
Burrus flour. So the show was brought back by popular demand with "Pappy" as
the announcer.

The show was on around noon each day with Bob Wills on fiddle. Wills
eventually left the Doughboys and formed the Bob Wills Playboys. The probram
always began with their theme song, "Listen everbody from near and far if
you wanta know who we are, we're the Light Crust Doughboys from Burrus Mill.
I can still remember this theme clear as a bell as we usually had the radio
tuned to WBAP, Ft. Worth at noon during lunch.

They used to tour around the state, bringing along a "chuck wagon" where the
cook made the best pan biscuits one ever tasted, made with, of course,
Burrus flour. I remember in the late 1940's they came to our small farming
community. The boys played and the cook handed out those wonderful buttered
biscuits to the crowd. I am sure those biscuits sold a lot of Burrus flour.

"Smokey" Montgomery joined the band in 1935 as the banjo player. My wife and
I went to see the boys in Grapevine, Tx a few year ago and "Smokey" at 80
plus years was the only original player left from the early days. He died at
age 88 in 2001.

The boys are still playing, recording and touring today.

Bill H.

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

Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 10:09:44 -0500
From: Rodney Bowcock <pasttense_78@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  uncompressed file formats
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

In music circles, people are starting to realize that mp3 isn't that great of
a format after all.  Any time you use a compressed format, you're stripping
layers of sound away from what you're hearing.  If you convert a cassette to
mp3, then trade it to someone, who in turn makes it a wav file, it's still
going to sound like the mp3.  Then maybe they'll recompress it, and trade it
again, and it's going to sound even worse than before.  Much worse and more
tinny than a multi-generation cassette.  While you can remove the hiss from a
cassette digitally, you certainly cannot replace layers of sound that are no
longer part of the original file.

  Try an experiment:  Convert an audio CD to mp3 then convert them to wav
files and burn them to a CD.  Play a song from that wav file, then put in the
original CD and hear the difference.  There will be no contest in the quality.

  Has anyone considered using lossless formats like SHN or FLAC (in
particular) for their OTR collection?

  rodney

  *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
  ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 10:10:52 -0500
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Light Crust Doughboys

Kelli Stanley asked about the Light Crust Doughboys:

The Light Crust Doughboys is/was a Texas Swing Band formed in 1931 from
the legendary Bob Wills' Fiddle Band and the inclusion of vocalist
Milton Brown and sponsor Burrus Mill and Elevator Company came forward
allowing them to take their band to a radio program under the name "The
Light Crust Doughboys." The Mill's chief staple was their Light Crust
Flour.

The radio program would be introduced by Truett Kimsey with his rather
enthusiastic "The Light Crust Doughboys are on the air!"

W. Lee (Pappy) O'Daniel the owner of Burrus Mill was impressed with the
program's following and ramped up the number of stations carrying the
show. He also joined as the announcer while continuing to run the mill.
But some dis-satisfaction soon began to creep in. Milton Brown left to
form his own group; Wills got fired after missing a number of shows and
formed his own group - the legendary Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys.

However, overtime new talented musicians joined the band and O'Daniel
continued to sponsor it until 1942 when he cancelled the show. It was
reformed in 1946 and on the air once more, but many say it was not as
good as the original shows possibly too much success?

There still is a Light Crust Doughboys playing that kind of music, but
it bears no real resemblance to what the show was. You can find a web
site devoted to the new Light Crust Doughboys.  I also have recordings
from Pat O'Daniel and his Hillbilly Boys from their show in 1939. He was
the son of W. Lee O'Daniel and was named for their "Hillbilly Flour."

Jim Widner

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

Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 10:11:18 -0500
From: "Joe Mackey" <joemackey108@[removed];
To: "otrd" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: FYI About "SOS" and MP3's

  Glenn P wrote --

FYI, my understanding (possibly mistaken) is that prior to adoption of
"SOS", the distress signal was "CQD" -- "CQ" being a ham radio shorthand
for "I'm calling anyone"*, and the "D" for "distress". I'm not certain but
I believe I read somewhere that the Titanic issued CQD's as well as SOS's.

  I am not a ham, but I heard/read that SOS takes fewer key taps than CQD so
it was faster to tap out SOS.  And when there's emergency time is of the
essence.

  Several people have written about their dislike of mp3's.
  I started collecting on cassette tape (early '90s) and recall old timers
complaining about how lousy cassette's were, that only reel-to-reel should
be used.
  I don't think this issue will ever be solved.  Its gonna be a is to/is not
argument, until whatever replaces mp3 comes along then old timers will
complain that new way and how superior mp3 was.
  Joe

----
Visit my homepage: [removed]~[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 11:34:11 -0500
From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed];
To: "Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  I am still [removed]

This is just to notify readers that I am still trading old time radio
programs on cassettes and on CDs.  If you want to see my catalog, go to my
Geocities website; URL is listed below.

Ted Kneebone / 1528 S. Grant St. / Aberdeen, SD 57401
[removed]~stmarkch/

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

Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 12:11:11 -0500
From: "John Weber" <wjweber@[removed];
To: "OTR Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Norman Corwin video

There is new video of an interview with Norman Corwin up on the
[removed] site and [removed]  It can be seen at
[removed], or by searching for "norman corwin" at youtube.

The first excerpt discusses the break that landed Norman at CBS as a radio
producer.  The second is him discussing the merits of radio drama versus
contemporary radio and TV.

-- John Weber

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2006 Issue #324
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