Subject: [removed] Digest V2009 #197
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 10/20/2009 4:42 AM
To: [removed]@[removed]
Reply-to:
[removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2009 : Issue 197
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Re: recent Hindenburg Crash program   [ Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed]; ]
  Ducks in a [removed]                     [ Wich2@[removed] ]
  Re: Robert L. Richards                [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
  Re: Dr. Dale Luketich                 [ Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed]; ]
  Arthur Miller                         [ "khovard@[removed]" <khovard@[removed] ]
  Anaheim Azusa and Cucamonga           [ "Laura Leff" <president@[removed] ]
  GeoCities Closing                     [ Don Shenbarger <donslistmail@sbcglo ]
  This Week's Friends of Old-Time Radi  [ Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed] ]
  RE: Was there a second WOTW broadcas  [ Michael Ogden <michaelo67@[removed] ]
  10-20 births/deaths                   [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Mercury Update                        [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]

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

Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:58:48 -0400
From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: recent Hindenburg Crash program

Somebody with the email address zbob@[removed] mentioned a public TV
program he saw recently in which Addison Bain noted that the outer cover
of the Hindenburg could have caught fire regardless of the gas inside.
As there have been two or three programs discussing this in the past few
years, this may have been a repeat, and Bain might have been the
scientist I talked to on the phone for an hour or two about this about 5
years ago.  Yes, this is quite true.  To just about every scientist who
knows how things burn, it is obvious that this was not a hydrogen fire.
Hydrogen alone burns without visible flames.  The fire had flames right
from the start and spread quickly around the skin of the ship.  The gas
was in separate bags and if one was burning it would have not spread to
the others that quickly.  The gas did burn eventually, but it did not
cause the fire nor cause it to spread, but the aluminum doped cover was
VERY flamable, far more flamable than the hydrogen gas.  Differences in
electrical potential in different insulated sections of the skin
facilitated sparking as the electrical charge on the skin rose during
the thunderstorm.  This was disclosed in long-secret findings of the
German inquiry but those findings were withheld in order not to
embarrass the German engineers who had decided to use the dangerous
doping formula, and at the same time to allow the world to blame the
[removed] for withholding helium from the Germans which forced them to use
hydrogen.

Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:37:12 -0400
From: Wich2@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Ducks in a [removed]

 From: "Martin Grams, Jr."  <mmargrajr@[removed];
Subject:  OTR Rebroadcasts

My initial  posting generated a number of private e-mails, most of them
very  negative.

Friend Martin-

I hope you haven't considered my public posts attacks? I'm just fascinated
by the subject, and not yet sold at this point on the  theory.

First Person Singular (the first nine broadcasts) and Mercury  Theater was
performed
three times ...  I never said the War of the  Worlds was dramatized on
radio twice

When you say, "performed three times," do you mean BROADCAST three times,
or rehearsed twice and broadcast once? If you mean three BROADCASTS,  isn't
the WOTW statement then a conflicting one?

He's one of the few people who not only have an open mind

Please count me in that number! I think the Mercury series is not only
Radio history, it's American history. And so the more we learn, the better.

But again, in the considerable amount I've read and heard about this show,
much from the participants, I've never heard multiple broadcasts  mentioned.

But (though I'm from Ohio, not Missouri) you need to show me.
Documentation, please!

Best,
-Craig W.

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

Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:38:11 -0400
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Robert L. Richards

Robert L. Richards wrote for a ton of SUSPENSE episodes as well as CAVALCADE,
and in the late forties or early fifties, made the move to Hollywood
where he began  writing teleplays for TV shows and screenplays for movies.

Richards daughter is an English professor as I recall. I came across her 
web site once where she had some info on her father. I wonder if she is 
aware of Bigsby's book. I can't find the web address right now.

Jim Widner

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

Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:39:05 -0400
From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Dr. Dale Luketich

Martin Grams posted an obit for Dr. Dale Luketich of Morgantown, West
Virginia, host of SCIENCE FICTION THEATER on the Yesterday USA network.
Martin was not sure "if this appeared on the Digest recently."  I can assure
him that it didn't because Dale's fatal heart attack was on October 10 of
last year, not last week.  It was just before FOTR and I was expecting that
Leah and I were just going to assist him in the broadcast, but suddenly we
were IT.  Having had my own heart scare earlier that year, it was quite
sobering.  Beyond his broadcast, Dr. Dale was an important part of the
YesterdayUSA family, devising the equipment and engineering many of our live
remotes, serving as the archive of the daily live broadcasts, and calling in
for many interesting discussions on the air.  He was quite a guy and we all
still miss him.  Except for several FOTRs, I knew him only long distance, but
have found an interesting obit by one of his closest friends that really sums
up the guy.  [removed]

Leah and I will be broadcasting FOTR again this year without Dr. Dale's
guiding hand, but maybe somewhere he is watching to keep us out of trouble
and on the air.

Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:40:11 -0400
From: "khovard@[removed]" <khovard@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Arthur Miller

I read with interest Martin Gramm's account of his efforts to interview
Arthur Miller.

I was able to interview Mr. Miller. But it took a full year after I wrote to
him before I got a reply. Actually he left a message on my answering machine
which got the ball rolling. I interviewed him in his apartment on the upper
East side of Manhattan.

But I think the reason that Miller was interested in my interviewing him was
because my interview was focused on a man Miller called his best friend,
Norman Rosten, who among other things was the poet laureate of Brooklyn (!) -
as well as having been a radio writer. So Martin, I suggest that even had
Miller lived on, he still might not have been available to discuss a kind of
writing in which he had long ago lost interest. No reflection on you, radio
writing etc.

Howard Blue

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

Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:25:27 -0400
From: "Laura Leff" <president@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Anaheim Azusa and Cucamonga

Was there really a train that left [removed] in the 40s that went to Anaheim,
Azusa and [removed]

Nope.  The bit was inspired by George Balzer's childhood memory of hearing
the frost reports for the orange groves, which were delivered by a
flat-voiced announcer later imitated by Mel Blanc.

--Laura Leff
President, IJBFC
[removed]

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

Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:49:42 -0400
From: Don Shenbarger <donslistmail@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  GeoCities Closing

I know there are many OTR related websites located on GeoCities. You
should consider:

GeoCities will shutdown on October 26th. All content will become
unavailable, no copies will be retained by Yahoo. If you are fond of
some websites on GeoCities you probably need to be doing what you can
to copy or print them for your use.

Don

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

Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:14:51 -0400
From: Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  This Week's Friends of Old-Time Radio Con

Folks;

   For those of you attending this week's FOTR Convention, I'll be the
routund guy hanging around the coffee most of the morning, other than when
I'm helping Fred Berney (or at least trying not to make life too difficult
for Fred). I'll have copies of a new, hot-off-the-presses Fundraiser Disc
with me to try and raise a little money for the server fund, but no hard-sell
I promise, so please grab me as I rush from one place to another, introduce
yourself, and say Hello!

   For those NOT attending the convention, I will try desperately to keep a
running description on the Nostalgic Rumblings blog at
[removed] complete with photos from the con. While I tend to
be pretty busy there, my goal is the same as at last Spring's Cincy [removed]
photos published at _least_ once every day with comments on the goings-on,
and maybe even a brief video file or three taken during the festivities!

   I hope to see every one of you this week, either at the Convention or at
the blog!

         Charlie

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

Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:15:15 -0400
From: Michael Ogden <michaelo67@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  RE: Was there a second WOTW broadcast?

Ye gads! In all this bantering about on the topic of whether or not there was
a second "War of the Worlds" broadcast, an essential point seems to have been
overlooked (unless, of course, I missed it in all the assorted
correspondence).

The point is this: The Mercury Theater on the Air was a sustaining program.
And sustaining programs did not get second broadcasts to the opposite coasts.
A sustaining program had no commercial sponsor, and it was the sponsors who
wanted (and could pay for) the widest possible distribution of their show
(and their product). The Orson Welles show did not become a sponsored program
until December of 1938 when it was picked up by Campbell Soups.

During the run of First Person Singular/Mercury Theatre from July to November
of 1938, [removed] during the time that it was a sustaining show, it was only
transmitted once during the evening of broadcast. Simple confirmation of this
fact can be had by checking the newspaper listings at jjonz. On the night of
October 30 the New York Times listed "The War of the Worlds" at 8:00 while
the Los Angeles Times listed it at 5:00. Four hour time difference, just as
it should be. Listeners on the East Coast and the West Coast were hearing the
same broadcast.

On a related issue the Mercury Theater shows that I know for certain have
both an extant rehearsal recording and an extant broadcast recording are:

Treasure Island
A Tale of Two Cities
The 39 Steps
Three Short Stories
The Man Who Was Thursday
Julius Caesar

And, sadly, four Mercurys still remain among the missing (and presumably lost):

Jane Eyre (the Mercury version, not the Campbell Playhouse version)
Oliver Twist
Clarence
The Bridge at San Luis Rey

Mike Ogden

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

Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:33:07 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  10-20 births/deaths

October 20th births

10-20-1872 - Lisa Bickman - d. 2-22-1968
soprano: WHN New York, New York
10-20-1882 - Bela Lugosi - Lugos, Hungary - d. 8-16-1956
actor: "Crime Does Not Pay"
10-20-1882 - Margaret Dumont - Brooklyn, NY - d. 3-6-1965
actor: "Paramount Movie Parade"
10-20-1884 - Billy Baskette - Henderson, KY - d. 11-8-1949
entertained in early radio
10-20-1884 - Thomas Chalmers - NYC - d. 6-12-1966
actor: Sam Young "Pepper Young's Family"
10-20-1887 - Charles Warburton - Huddersfield, England - d. 7-19-1952
actor: "Radio Guild"; "Great Plays"; "Front Page Drama"
10-20-1889 - Robert Fiske - Griggsville, MO - d. 9-12-1944
actor: Speed Robertson "Air Advs. of Jimmie Allen"
10-20-1895 - Rex Ingram - Cairo, IL - d. 9-19-1965
actor: "Free World Theatre"
10-20-1897 - Adolph Deutsch - London, England - d. 1-2-1980
arranger, conductor, composer: "Kraft Program"; "This Is Hollywood"
10-20-1897 - William A. Bacher - d. 4-20-1965
producer, director: "Al Jolson Show"; "Hollywood Hotel"; "Treasury
Star Parade"
10-20-1900 - Wayne Morse - Dane County, WI - d. 7-22-1974
[removed] senator: "Rebuttal"
10-20-1901 - Frank Churchill - Rumford, ME - d. 5-14-1942
pianist: "Greek War Relief Fund"
10-20-1904 - Anna Neagle - Forest Gate, Essex, England - d. 6-3-1986
actor: "Keep 'Em Rolling"; "Kate Smith Hour"; "Radio Tribute to the
Kind and Queen"
10-20-1905 - Frederic Dannay - NYC - d. 9-3-1982
writer: "Adventures of Ellery Queen"; "The Shadow"; "Ford Theatre"
10-20-1907 - Arlene Francis - Boston, MA - d. 5-31-2001
panelist, actor: "What's My Line"; Ann Scotland,"The Affairs of Ann
Scotland"
10-20-1911 - Bobby Christian - Chicago, IL - d. 12-31-1991
percussionist: "Destination Freedom"; "Roy Shield and Company"
10-20-1911 - Will Rogers, Jr. - NYC - d. 7-9-1993
actor: Will Rogers "Rogers of the Gazette"
10-20-1913 - Barney Phillips - St. Louis, MO - d. 8-17-1982
actor: Ed Jacobs "Dragnet"; Somber Jones "Hawk Larabee"; "Gunsmoke"
10-20-1913 - "Grandpa" Jones - Niagra, KY - d. 2-19-1998
country singer, banjoist: "Grand Ole Opry"
10-20-1914 - Fayard Nicholas - Mobile, AL - d. 1-24-2006
dancer: (The Nicholas Brothers) "Big Broadcast of 1936"; "Ben Bernie
Show"
10-20-1920 - Dulcie Gray - Kuala Lampur, Malaysia
author: Several of her novels were adapted for the BBC
10-20-1922 - John Anderson - Clayton, IL - d. 8-7-1992
actor: William Clark "Horizons West"
10-20-1925 - Art Buchwald - Mount Vernon, NY - d. 1-17-2007
humorist: "Monitor"
10-20-1925 - Carolina Cotton - Cash, AR - d. 6-10-1997
singer, actress: "Hollywood Barn Dance"
10-20-1927 - Priscilla Lyon - Washington County, NC - d. 3-7-1980
actor: Corliss Archer "Meet Corliss Archer"; Amy Foster "Those We Love"
10-20-1931 - Mickey Mantle - Spavinaw, OK - d. 8-13-1995
baseball great: "Hear It Now"; "Feature Project"
10-20-1934 - Eddie Harris - Chicago, IL - d. 11-5-1996
jazz saxophonist: "Voices of Vista"
10-20-1935 - Jerry Orbach - NYC - d. 12-28-2004
actor: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"

October 20th deaths

02-01-1920 - Walter Stone - Dunellen, NJ - d. 10-20-1999
comedy writer: "Robert Q. Lewis"
02-13-1877 - Sidney Smith - d. 10-20-1935
comic strip writer: "The Gumps" based on his comic strip
04-17-1901 - Marie Blizard - d. 10-20-1991
writer: Network radio
04-19-1858 - May Robson - Melbourne, Australia - d. 10-20-1943
actor: Aunt May Webster "Lady of Millions"
04-22-1921 - Charlotte Lawrence - California - d. 10-20-1993
actor: Stacy McGill "Advs. of Christopher Wells"; Reba Britten "Just
Plain Bill"
05-02-1912 - Arnold Auerebach - Manhattan, NY - d. 10-20-1998
comedy writer: "Fred Allen Show"; "Milton Berle Show"
05-18-1908 - Ted Malone - Colorado Springs, CO - d. 10-20-1989
commentator: "Between the Bookends"; "Pilgrimage of Poetry"
05-24-1901 - Lucien Moraweck - d. 10-20-1973
music: "The City"; "Intrigue"; "Passpoet for Adams"; "Suspense"
05-30-1891 - Ben Bernie - Bayonne, NJ - d. 10-20-1943
bandleader: (The Old Maestro) "Ben Bernie Orchestra"; "Musical Mock
Trial"
06-25-1911 - Martin Gosch - d. 10-20-1973
producer, creator, writer: "Abbott and Costello Show"; "Amazing Mr.
Smith"
07-16-1932 - Max McGee - Saxton City, NV - d. 10-20-2007
color commentator for the Green Bay Packers
07-18-1903 - Riza Royce - Lancaster, PA - d. 10-20-1980
actor: Victoria Lorring "Young Widder Brown"
08-10-1874 - Herbert Hoover - West Branch, IA - d. 10-20-1964
[removed] president: "The People's Platform"
08-12-1911 - Jane Wyatt - Campgaw, NJ - d. 10-20-2006
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Great Plays"; "[removed] Steel Hour"
08-23-1925 - Larry Nunn - Marshfield, OR - d. 10-20-1974
actor: Don Bradley "Glorious One"; Peter Bretn "Brenthouse"
09-03-1920 - Jackson Weaver - d. 10-20-1992
actor: "A Bright Tomorrow"
09-06-1894 - Billy Mills - Flint, MI - d. 10-20-1971
conductor: "Fibber McGee and Molly"; "Great Gildersleeve"; "Amos 'n'
Andy"
09-07-1913 - Anthony Quayle - Ainsdale, England - d. 10-20-1989
actor:  Guest Panelist "[removed]"
09-18-1929 - Phyllis Kirk - Syracuse, NY - d. 10-20-2006
actor: "MGM Musical Comedy Theatre"
09-19-1892 - Fred E. Ahlert - NYC - d. 10-20-1953
composer/arranger: "When the Blue of the Night Meets the Gold of the
Day"
10-04-1914 - John Larch - Salem, MA - d. 10-20-2005
actor: (Married to Vivi Janiss) Rocky Starr "Starr ofSpace"
10-14-1896 - Bud Flanagan - Whitechapel, London, England - d. 10-20-1968
singer, actor: Sang signature tune for "Dad's Army"
11-02-1913 - Burt Lancaster - NYC - d. 10-20-1994
actor: "Ford Theatre"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
11-05-1905 - Joel McCrea - South Pasadena, CA - d. 10-20-1990
actor: Jace Pearson "Tales of the Texas Rangers"
11-07-1883 - Solomon Lightfoot Michaux - Newport News, VA - d.
10-20-1968
preacher: "Elder Michaux's Happiness Church Service"
11-23-1919 - Andrew Ackers - d. 10-20-1978
orchestra leader: "The National Guard Show"
11-29-1917 - Merle Travis - Muhlenberg County, KY - d. 10-20-1983
singer, guitarist: "Hollywood Barn Dance"
12-10-1923 - Michael Gill - Winchester, England - d. 10-20-2005
producer: Joined BBC in 1954
12-12-1904 - Pete Pumiglio - d. 10-20-1996
musician: "The Ipana Troubadors"
12-15-1916 - Richard Powell - Cincinnati, OH - d. 10-20-1996
script writer: "Topper"; "Dick Powell Show"

Ron

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

Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:35:00 -0400
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Mercury Update

Just an update to pass on. After checking with old newspaper listings, it
appears the initial performance of MERCURY was broadcast via coast-to-coast
hookup. When the program went on the air Sunday at 8 pm in New York, it was
broadcast 7 pm in Chicago and 5 pm in Los Angeles. MERCURY was broadcast in
Buffalo, NY at 10 pm that same evening, hence the second performance. A New
York radio station also offered MERCURY at 10 pm on Monday evening, but
consulting a few friends we suspect the third broadcast may not have been
live, but a transcription played back over the air. This would explain why a
non-sponsored program was being transcribed. The cost factor to have a
broadcast transcribed was not cheap. In 1939, one producer was contractually
paying $90 per half-hour show but assuming the network made the discs
themselves, the cost was probably lower than that -- but it still cost money.
And we checked the weekend of WOTW and no, there is no MERCURY broadcast
scheduled for the Monday evening, October 31. Some local event was broadcast
in its place for that evening.

Two friends are each bringing me copies of their recordings to FOTR. One of
them says he too has two versions. Another friend has various releases from
the Audio Rarities cut (edited a bit) from the early to mid sixties and the
Evolution 2 record set which has been commonly syndicated (then released by
Metacom on CD) versions. I dug out my Nostalgia Lane recording on CD and will
compare all of them (though after FOTR, not at the convention while it's
busy).

As for memories from the cast and crew, I have heard both stories. Some said
the cops were raiding the police station and other said they never saw cops.
Some say Welles and cast was unaware of what was happening outside the studio
until after the broadcast concluded, others say Welles was notified. Welles
himself told both versions years after the broadcast. Sometimes saying he was
unaware until after, other times saying the first inkling something was
happening was when cops were in the control booth. Regardless of which story
is suited by OTR fans, again I state that Welles was 100% aware of the panic
before the broadcast was over. And again, those who e-mailed me and said he
wasn't aware need only read the words below, which he spoke at the conclusion
of the broadcast.

This is Orson Welles, ladies and gentlemen, out of character to assure you
that The War of The Worlds
has no further significance than as the holiday offering it was
intended to be. The Mercury Theatre's own radio version of dressing up
in a sheet and jumping out of a bush and saying Boo! Starting now, we
couldn't soap all your windows and steal all your garden gates by
tomorrow [removed] so we did the best next thing. We annihilated the
world before your very ears, and utterly destroyed the Columbia Broadcasting
System. You
will be relieved, I hope, to learn that we didn't mean it, and that
both institutions are still open for business. So goodbye everybody,
and remember the terrible lesson you learned tonight. That grinning,
glowing, globular invader of your living room is an inhabitant of the
pumpkin patch, and if your doorbell rings and nobody's there, that was
no [removed] it's Hallowe'en.

As my friend Ken pointed out this evening, notice Welles says "...remember
the terrible lesson you learned tonight." Welles was aware of the panic
before the broadcast was over.

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2009 Issue #197
*********************************************

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