------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2006 : Issue 360
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
100 Years of Radio Broadcasting [ "George Tirebiter" <tirebiter2@hotm ]
Fessenden's Christmas? [ jack and cathy french <otrpiano@ver ]
Death Valley Sheriff [ jack and cathy french <otrpiano@ver ]
Merry Christmas [ "Walden Hughes" <walden1@yesterdayu ]
Fessenden: Urban legend? [ Dan Hughes <danhughes@[removed]; ]
OED Definition of "Keno" [ "thomas" <evander800@[removed]; ]
Re: "Hear it Now" [ Martin Fass <watchstop@frontiernet. ]
12-24 births/deaths [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" [ "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@attorneyross. ]
First program voice broadcast Dec 24 [ "Bill Harris" <nbcblue@[removed]; ]
Who Invented Radio? Canadian Reginal [ Vere Scott <verescott@[removed]; ]
Re: WALTER SCHUMANN -- BLATANT THIEF [ "Michael J. Hayde" <michaelhayde@ea ]
NY DAILY NEWS: "Something for the Se [ jameshburns@[removed] (Jim Burns) ]
Re: "Baby, It's Cold Outside" [ jameshburns@[removed] (Jim Burns) ]
______________________________________________________________________
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: Sat, 23 Dec 2006 19:02:34 -0500
From: "George Tirebiter" <tirebiter2@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: 100 Years of Radio Broadcasting
I don't want to reopen the debate as to what the earliest real radio
broadcast was, but I think everyone will at least agree that the earliest
possible candidate is Reginald Fesseden's Christmas Eve 1906 transmission
from Brant Rock,MA. There is a page on Fessden at
[removed][removed]
This site gives the following description of the 1906 broadcast:
"But an equally historic event, the achievement of a brilliant Canadian
inventor, Reginald Aubrey Fessenden, is generally ignored and largely
unknown. On December 24, 1906, at 9 [removed] eastern standard time, Reginald
Fessenden transmitted human voices from Brant Rock near Boston,
Massachusetts to several ships at sea owned by the United Fruit Company.
The host of the broadcast was Fessenden. After giving a resume of the
program Fessenden played a recording of Handel's "Largo" on an Ediphone thus
establishing two records - the first recording of the first broadcast.
Fessenden then dazzled his listeners with his talent as a violinist playing
appropriately for the Christmas season, "Oh Holy Night" and actually singing
the last verse as he played. Mrs. Helen Fessenden and Fessenden's secretary
Miss Bent, had promised to read seasonal passages from the Bible including,
"Glory to God in the highest -and on earth peace to men of good will," but
when the time came to perform they stood speechless, paralyzed with mike
fright. Fessenden took over for them and concluded the broadcast by
extending Christmas greetings to his listeners - as well as asking them to
write and report to him on the broadcast wherever they were."
Merry Christmas to All,
George
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2006 23:02:01 -0500
From: jack and cathy french <otrpiano@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Fessenden's Christmas?
On Saturday, December 23, 2006, at 06:18 PM, Joe Mackey wrote:
From Those Were The Days --
12/24 --1906 - Professor Reginald A. Fessenden sent his first radio
broadcast from
Brant Rock, MA. The program included a little verse, some violin and a
speech.
Well, maybe it happened on that day, and then [removed]
The August issue of RADIO RECALL also trumpeted the 100th Anniversary
of this historic December 1906 broadcast, based partially on similar
claims made recently in "American Heritage" magazine.
However, we quickly heard from Brian Belanger, the curator of the Radio
& Television Museum in Bowie, MD, who pointed out that claim has never
been confirmed. There is no doubt Fessenden had a strong radio
transmitter at Brant Rock, MA, in 1906 which he had acquired through
the financial backing of two Pittsburgh businessmen. However whether or
not that his first broadcast took place in December 1906, or spring of
1907, or even later, is still in doubt.
The Christmas Eve 1906 broadcast was first set down as the date by
Fessenden's widow, in a book she published decades after the event.
She told such a charming story of how it might have happened, including
sailors on the Atlantic thinking they were hearing voices of celestial
angels, so her version (much like Sarnoff's mythical contacts with the
Titanic) took root in OTR history.
But we should know for certain soon; Belanger says researchers are
pouring through the Fessenden papers, as we speak, so this search
should reveal the factual date of the first broadcast. Stay [removed]
Jack French
Editor: RADIO RECALL
<[removed]>
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2006 23:02:17 -0500
From: jack and cathy french <otrpiano@[removed];
To: OTRBB <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Death Valley Sheriff
Got a note today from Dominic Patrissi of Newington, CT, who is a
member of both the OTR Club of Western NY as well as Metro Washington
OTR Club.
He's trying to locate as many as he can of the supposedly 13 existing
audio copies of this ABC series (1945-51) which also went by the
shortened title of "The Sheriff." His search was been slow and not
very rewarding.
Any Digester have any idea of which direction I might point him in his
quest. (He doesn't have email so I will forward to him.)
Jack French
Editor: RADIO RECALL
<[removed]>
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2006 23:02:23 -0500
From: "Walden Hughes" <walden1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas Everybody,
Walden Hughes
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2006 23:02:36 -0500
From: Dan Hughes <danhughes@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Fessenden: Urban legend?
You've all heard the story of Reginald Fessenden's historic "first voice
broadcast" on New Year's Eve 1906.
Turns out now that it probably never happened.
This article appeared in Radio World magazine a few weeks ago:
[removed]
---Dan, [removed] (check out my Christmas newsletter,
with a Jack Benny mention)
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2006 23:02:50 -0500
From: "thomas" <evander800@[removed];
To: "old_time_radio" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: OED Definition of "Keno"
The Oxford English Dictionary defines "keno" as follows--
'An exclamation (expressing encouragement or approval)'
Example: 1886 (Territorial Enterprise of Virginia, Nevada) "When they thus
got three beans in a row they were to call out 'Keno!' and rake in the pot".
It would seem that the usage by Fran Striker on the 'Lone Ranger'
programs was historically accurate.
Tom van der Voort
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2006 23:03:06 -0500
From: Martin Fass <watchstop@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: "Hear it Now"
My deepest thanks also to dear Charlie for making this radio program
available to us.
Great holiday gift for me!!
--Martin Fass
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2006 23:03:13 -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 - 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 - Mitchell Ayres - Milwaukee, WI - d. 9-5-1969
bandleader: "Dunninger Show"; "Chesterfield Supper Club"
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
02-02-1888 - Lee Millar - Vancouver, Canada - d. 12-24-1941
actor: (Husband of Verna Felton) Appeared on various radio shows
03-10-1886 - Clarence Adler - d. 12-24-1969
pianist: Member of the New York Trio
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"
06-26-1924 - 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
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2006 23:03:26 -0500
From: "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Dickens' "A Christmas Carol"
Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2006 14:45:11 -0500
From: "Joe Mackey" <joemackey108@[removed];
1934 - The Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol, was read by
Lionel Barrymore on The Campbell Playhouse on CBS. The reading of the
tale became an annual radio event for years to come.
The annual event (which I heard on the Hallmark Hall of Fame sometime
in the mid-1950s) was a dramatization, not a reading. I have a
recording of one of the Campbell Playhouse broadcasts.
--
A. Joseph Ross, [removed] [removed]
15 Court Square, Suite 210 Fax [removed]
Boston, MA 02108-2503 [removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2006 08:40:27 -0500
From: "Bill Harris" <nbcblue@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: First program voice broadcast Dec 24, 1906
One hundred years ago, December 24, 1906, an event occured which changed
wireless communications. Canadian born Reginald Fessenden, broadcasting from
Brant Rock MA, presented the first program broadcasting voice and music that
was picked up by amateurs and several ships at sea.
As the current spark gap type of transmitters were not suitable to voice
modulation, Fessenden use an alternator to generate continous radio waves
that were amplitude modulated via a carbon microphone.
Fessenden spoke, played "O Holy Night" on the violin after which his wife
Helen sang.
In a letter at the end of his life, Fessenden described the broadcast; "then
came a violin solo by me being a composition by Gounod, called O-Holy Night,
and ending up with the words, Adore and be still which I sang one verse of."
However, Gounod did not compose "O Holy Night" and the words "Adore and be
still" are not in the lyrics, but Gounod did compose a song called "Adore
And Be Still".
It could have been that Fessenden's memory failed him a bit in later years.
This was not the fist time Fessenden transmitted voice signals. In December
of 1900 he transmitted a short message which was picked up on a distant
receiver by his assistant.
Bill H.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2006 08:40:57 -0500
From: Vere Scott <verescott@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Who Invented Radio? Canadian Reginald
Fessenden, that's who!
100 Years of Radio, 1906-2006
As an inventor, Reginald Fessenden (1866-1932) is credited with over 250
patents; but the Canadian
and British government support for the Marconi system (finally completed and
first heard by the
public in 1919) left him virtually unknown. He is credited with inventing a
myriad of devices
including radio, metal teabags, radar and complex measuring tools, and as an
author of books on
ancient civilizations.
Reginald Fessenden was born in East Bolton, Quebec on October 6, 1866.
SEE: [removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2006 08:41:59 -0500
From: "Michael J. Hayde" <michaelhayde@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: WALTER SCHUMANN -- BLATANT THIEF
Sandy Singer wrote:
After watching The Killers, scored by Miklos Rozsa, it is an obvious
where the Dragnet theme came from.
The courts thought so, too, when Rozsa's publishers brought suit against the
publishers of "Dragnet March" in the 1950's. As a result, Rozsa is
officially listed as a composer of the piece with Schumann, and it was
co-assigned to Rozsa's publishing company.
As I wrote in MY NAME'S FRIDAY, Schumann was at Universal Studios scoring
some Abbott & Costello pictures at the same time Rozsa was there working on
"The Killers." I also wrote that, according to at least one contemporary
account, Schumann had to compose about 100 themes before Jack Webb heard one
he liked. So any plagarism was likely subconscious, not blatant. As all
DRAGNET fans know, the famous theme debuted on the third broadcast in June
1949.
DRAGNET had been on radio for over four years, but nobody noticed any
similarity in the music until Ray Anthony's jazzed-up arrangement became a
top 5 hit. In fairness, Schumann's piece consisted of more than "those four
famous notes," and his incidental "mood" scoring of the episodes on both
radio and TV is wonderful.
And, of course, he produced some wonderful music for this time of year.
Merry Christmas, everybody!
Michael
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2006 13:02:08 -0500
From: jameshburns@[removed] (Jim Burns)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: NY DAILY NEWS: "Something for the Season"
Considering the features I've written over the years, and some of the
more recent work (including some consulting Off Broadway, and on--which
happily, has--coincidentally!--brought me into contact with a few more
OTR people)--
It's maybe an odd hobby to enjoy being in the newspapers, once in a
while.
But these missives can be a fun way to get some information out there,
spread some humor, or, as in this case, remember an element of the
season that often, today, is forgotten.
(A few of these folks, of course, also had radio careers. While many of
us knew that Joe Bolton had been a sportscaster, and later
weathercaster, I only recently learned that he actually called Yankee
games, with the legendary Mel Allen, for a while! Charity Bailey also
recorded a few albums, and Carol Corbett appeared on a few of those hit
political-comedy albums, of the mid-60s, which would often be excerpted
on the radio. )
In any event, Happy Holidays!
_ ______
"Something, for the Season"
New York had a wonderful tradition that seldom is remarked upon,
nowadays, but which I often think about, at the holiday season.
For years, decades ago, we had a number of incredibly talented folks who
hosted local daily childrens' television shows, performing comedy skits,
educational segments, or simply emceeing cartoon presentations. Through
roughly the late 1960s, our town's airwaves were blessed with such
fabulous folk as Soupy Sales, Charity Bailey, Fred Scott, Sandy Becker,
Carol Corbett, "Officer" Joe Bolton, Chuck McCann, Hank Stohl and
"Beachcomber" Bill Biery. (The last five actually worked at the Daily
News' old offices, at WPIX/Channel 11!)
These surrogate "uncles" and "aunts" were friends in the ether--and for
some kids, their only real sense of holiday joy would be the fun that
these entertainers provided.
When Manhattan TV executives decided that hosts were no longer a
necessary expense for ratings, it was like a death in the family. (Our
"buddies" were gone.)
But the contribution of these performers should be noted, and--for those
that are still with us--thanked, for making so MANY of our long-ago
days, seem like the spirit of the season.
Jim Burns (James H. Burns)
New York Daily News, 12-24-06
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2006 13:02:14 -0500
From: jameshburns@[removed] (Jim Burns)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: "Baby, It's Cold Outside"
Which reminds me of another Frank Loesser party story:
Once, when seeing his ex-wife across a room, he commented to the fella
he was chatting with:
"That's the evil, of two Loessers."
Jim Burns
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2006 Issue #360
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