Subject: [removed] Digest V2007 #359
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 12/23/2007 10:13 PM
To: [removed]@[removed]
Reply-to:
[removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2007 : Issue 359
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Jack Welles?                          [ mchone@[removed] ]
  OTR Christmas shows                   [ Larry Jordan <midtod@[removed] ]
  Re:OTR Christmas shows                [ Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed] ]
  PSAs                                  [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
  Bob and Ray and Tom and Randy and Mi  [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
  12-24 births/deaths                   [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]

______________________________________________________________________

    ADMINISTRIVIA:

We take pleasure in answering at once and thus prominently the
communication below, expressing at the same time our great
gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends
of The Sun: 

Dear Editor, I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. 
Papa says "If you see it in The Sun it's so."
Please tell me the truth. Is there a Santa Claus?
         Virginia O'Hanlon
         115 West Ninety-fifth St.


VIRGINIA, Your little friends are wrong. They have been affected
by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except
they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible
by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or
children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere
insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world
about him, as measured by the intelligence of grasping the whole of
truth and knowledge 

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love
and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and
give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would
be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as
if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then,
no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should
have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with
which childhood fills the world would be extinguished. 

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies!
You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on
Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa
Claus coming down what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus but
that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things
in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you
ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no
proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the
wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world. 

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside,
but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest
man, not even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever
lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance,
can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty
and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world
there is nothing else real and abiding. 

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand
years from now, Virginia, nay ten times ten thousand years from now,
he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood. 

   -- Editorial page of the New York Sun, September 21, 1897


>From our entire family to yours - Annie, Katie (who knows perfectly well 
there is a Santa Clause, since she's seen him - see 
[removed] ), and yours truly; no matter what you 
are celebrating at this truly amazing time of the year, Happy Holidays!

______________________________________________________________________


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

Date: Sun, 23 Dec 2007 14:41:06 -0500
From: mchone@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Jack Welles?

Recently someone mentioned that Kelsey Grammer used a lot of Jack Benny's
mannerisms and that Jack was one of Kelsey Grammer's heros.  I also notice a
lot of
Orson Welles in Kelsey Grammer's speech at certain times.
Merry Christmas and prosperous 2008 to all.

Roby McHone
Fairbanks, Alaska

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

Date: Sun, 23 Dec 2007 21:56:58 -0500
From: Larry Jordan <midtod@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  OTR Christmas shows

I would be interested in knowing what OTR Digest subscribers think
was the best radio program they ever heard at Christmastime, and why.
I have purchased a few collections of holiday shows, so have some on
hand -- which I love. But I'm sure there are some special ones that
OTR fans remember that I'm not aware of. So I'd like to find out what
they are in the hope of acquiring them. If you mention any, please
also state if this is available somewhere. Thanks and Happy Holidays!

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

Date: Sun, 23 Dec 2007 21:57:03 -0500
From: Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re:OTR Christmas shows

At 5:31 PM -0500 12/23/07, Larry Jordan is rumored to have typed:

I would be interested in knowing what OTR Digest subscribers think
was the best radio program they ever heard at Christmastime, and why.

   Funny you should mention [removed]

   On the Nostalgia Rumblings Blog podcast, I'm running (with thanks to Jerry
Haendiges) two productions of Campbell Playhouse's "A Christmas Carol" with
first-rate sound; beginning with 1938 (for reasons explained on the blog),
and next 1939.

   See the blog for more information, and to listen to and/or download these
programs (and, if I can find time, maybe a special holiday treat or two).

   [removed]

         Charlie

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

Date: Sun, 23 Dec 2007 21:59:03 -0500
From: <otrbuff@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  PSAs

The New York Times included this stirring report on Aug. 15, 1948:

"Station WOR has started a series of station-break announcements designed to
improve the art of baby-sitting.  Herewith is a sample announcement:  'If
you're a baby sitter, remember not to make too much noise around the house.
Don't play the radio too loudly.  And if you have a friend with you, don't
talk and laugh too loud.  Be a quiet baby sitter.'"

If radio had much relevance and credence today, can you imagine hearing such
a public service announcement ... or one like it, perhaps with cartoons, on
TV?  Seems like the key MBS flagship outlet was groping for something to
fill time with, even though we know CBS and others later flooded the
airwaves with safe driving tips, pleas urging donations of blood, money,
time, etc.  But babysitting etiquette?

Jim Cox

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

Date: Sun, 23 Dec 2007 22:02:38 -0500
From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Bob and Ray and Tom and Randy and Mike

From: Randy Story
I have recently become enamored of the work
of Bob Eliot and Ray Goulding.

Randy!!  How could you have lived that much of your life WITHOUT Bob and
Ray??????

Is there a definitive work on their career(s) and work?

Well, obviously there are their three books of scripts, but not to be the
grinch who stole your impression that Bob and Ray ad-libbed all of their
skits, I also STRONGLY recommend as MUST reading to all Bob and Ray fans --
especially advanced fans -- a small monograph "Bob and Ray and Tom" by Dan
Gillespie, published by Bear Manor Media in 2004.  It tells the story of Tom
Koch who actually wrote 2,980 of Bob and Ray's scripts.  Included in this
booklet, along with cover art by Bobb Lynes, is the proof, along with a
guide to which scripts in the three books were written by Tom Koch.  He
wrote 77 of the 146 sketches in the three books. 46% of "Write If You Get
Work", 50% of "Approx. Coast to Coast", and 64% of "The New & Improved".
The book also discusses the scripts Tom did NOT write.  So everybody MUST
have this booklet.

Michael (grinch) Biel   mbiel@[removed]

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

Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2007 00:13:24 -0500
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  12-24 births/deaths

December 24th births

12-24-1881 - Charles Wakefield Cadman - Johnston, PA - d. 12-30-1946
Composed "At Dawning," used as theme for "The Brighter Day."
12-24-1886 - Michael Curtiz - Budapest, Hungary - d. 4-10-1962
film director: "Lady Esther Screen Guild Theatre"; Screen Director's
Playhouse"
12-24-1887 - Lucrezia Bori - Valencia, Spain - d. 5-14-1960
opera singer: "Telephone Hour"; "Ford Sunday Evening Hour"
12-24-1893 - Harry Warren - NYC - d. 9-22-1981
composer: "Good News of 1940"; "Great Moments to Music"
12-24-1895 - Ruth Chatterton - NYC - d. 11-24-1961
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
12-24-1906 - Chuck Webster - Pittsburgh, PA - d. 2-14-1983
actor: "The Green Hornet"; "The Lone Ranger"; "True Detective Mysteries"
12-24-1906 - Franz Waxman - Konigshutte, Germany - d. 2-24-1967
composer-conductor: "Good News of 1939"
12-24-1910 - Fritz Leiber - Chicago, IL - d. 9-5-1992
science fiction writer: "X Minus One"; "Future Tense"; "Audion Theatre"
12-24-1910 - John Bagni - NYC - d. 2-13-1954
writer: Suspense"; "Family Theatre"; "Escape"
12-24-1910 - Mitchell Ayres - Milwaukee, WI - d. 9-5-1969
bandleader: "Dunninger Show"; "Chesterfield Supper Club"
12-24-1910 - Tony Labriola - d. 6-17-1999
actor: Oswald "The Ken Murray Show"
12-24-1913 - Herb Allen - San Francisco, CA
announcer: "The Guiding Light"; "Sherlock Holmes"
12-24-1913 - Myrtle 'Lulubelle' Wiseman - Boone, NC - d. 2-8-1999
singer: (Lulubelle and Scotty) "The National Barn Dance"
12-24-1914 - Ralph Marterie - Naples, Italy - d. 10-10-1978
bandleader: "Marlboro Cigarettes Show"
12-24-1915 - Helen Brown - Washington - d. 9-9-1994
actor: Miss Foster "Big Town"
12-24-1916 - Morton Fine - d. 3-7-1991
writer: "Bold Venture"; "Broadway Is My Beat"; "The Front Page"
12-24-1920 - John Barron - London, England - d. 7-3-2004
actor: "Dad's Army"; "Brothers In Law"
12-24-1922 - Ava Gardner - Grabtown, NC - d. 1-25-1990
actor: "So Proudly We Hail"; "Prudential Family Hour of Stars"

December 24th deaths

01-27-1899 - Milton Rettenberg - NYC - d. 12-24-1986
pianist/conductor: "Chesterfield Presents"; "Cities Service Concerts"
02-02-1888 - Lee Millar - Vancouver, Canada - d. 12-24-1941
actor: (Husband of Verna Felton) Appeared on various radio shows
02-13-1913 - Frank Phares - d. 12-24-1968
writer: "This Is Your FBI"
02-25-1912 - David Roberts - Jacksonville, FL - d. 12-24-1996
NBC staff announcer
03-10-1886 - Clarence Adler - d. 12-24-1969
pianist: Member of the New York Trio
03-20-1908 - Frank Stanton - Muskegon, MI - d. 12-24-2006
president of cbs 1946-1971
04-09-1910 - Alan Melville - Berwick-upon-Tweed, England - d. 12-24-1983
scriptwriter: "BBC Radio Newsreel"; "London Column"
05-26-1895 - Norma Talmadge - Jersey City, NJ - d. 12-24-1957
actor: "Thirty Minutes in Hollywood"
05-31-1898 - Norman Vincent Peale - Bowersville, OH - d. 12-24-1993
preacher: "Art of Living"
06-19-1925 - Charlie Drake - South London, England - d. 12-24-2006
comedian: "Jigsaw"
06-26-1924 - Bob Maxwell - Custer, KY - d. 12-24-2002
actor: "The Lone Ranger"
06-29-1911 - Bernard Herrmann - NYC - d. 12-24-1975
conductor, composer: "Columbia Workshop"; "Mercury Theatre on the Air/
Campbell Playhouse"
07-08-1898 - Melville Ruick - Boise, ID - d. 12-24-1972
actor, announcer: "Cavalcade of America"; "Quiet Please"; "Suspense"
09-07-1923 - Peter Lawford - London, England - d. 12-24-1984
actor: "Radio Reader's Digest"; "Suspense"
11-23-1888 - Nana Bryant - Cincinnati, OH - d. 12-24-1955
actor: Miss Tilsey "Fabulous Dr. Tweedy"
12-01-1885 - Frazier Hunt - Rock Island, IL - d. 12-24-1967
newscaster: Weekday morning newscast on Mutual

Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2007 Issue #359
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