Subject: [removed] Digest V2018 #58
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 10/16/2018 4:18 PM

To: [removed]@[removed]
Reply-to: [removed]@[removed]

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2018 : Issue 58
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Art Baker                             [ Martin Fass <watchstop@frontiernet. ]
      This week in radio history 7-13 Octo  [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
      Captain Midnight                      [ A Joseph Ross <joe@[removed] ]
      War Of The Worlds 80th Anniversary    [ Mike K <mikerrigan@[removed]; ]
      This week in radio history 14-20 Oct  [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]

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

    Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2018 15:28:48 -0400
    From: Martin Fass <watchstop@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Art Baker

    The piece about "People Are Funny" (V2018 #57) prompts me to send a personal
    memory of Art Baker.

    When my partner and I, recently out of college, made our first 16mm
    instructional film in about 1958, we needed a narrator.  We asked Art Baker,
    and he agreed to do the job for a truly token fee.  One nice, considerate,
    genuinely friendly person in our experience.  And yes, we gave him a credit
    in large letters in the opening titles.

    --Martin Fass

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

    Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2018 15:28:55 -0400
    From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  This week in radio history 7-13 October

       From Those Were The Days

    10/7

    1922   The first radio network    of sorts    debuted. It was a network
    of just two stations. WJZ in Newark, NJ teamed with WGY in Schenectady,
    NY to bring the World Series game direct from the Polo Grounds in New
    York. Columnist Grantland Rice was behind the microphone for that broadcast.

    1939   Kate Hopkins, Angel of Mercy was heard for the first time on CBS
    radio. Tom Hopkins, Kate's husband, was played by Clayton 'Bud' Collyer,
    later of eventual Superman fame. The 15 minute radio drama was written
    by Chester McCraken and Gertrude Berg. The announcer for the four year
    run of Angel of Mercy was Ralph Edwards of future This is Your Life
    fame. And the sponsor was Maxwell House of coffee fame.

    1940   Portia Faces Life debuted on the NBC Red network. This radio soap
    opera centered around the life of Portia Blake Manning, an attorney and
    a widow with a young son.  Portia Faces Life was extremely popular, and
    therefore, had many sponsors    none of which were soap. The sponsors
    included Post Toasties, Grape Nuts Flakes, Grape Nuts Wheat Meal,
    Maxwell House coffee, Jell O desserts and La France bleach.

    10/8

    1935   The O'Neills debuted on CBS. The theme song, Londonderry Air,
    opened the 15 minute soap opera. The O'Neills aired Mondays, Wednesdays
    and Fridays at 7:30 [removed] In 1936 it moved to daytime where it stayed
    until 1943 on NBC's Red and Blue networks and on CBS, too. One of
    radio's original soaps, it was sponsored appropriately by Silver Dust,
    Ivory soap and Ivory soap flakes.

    1935   Wedding bells pealed for a singer and a bandleader who tied the
    knot, making radio history together. The bandleader was Ozzie Nelson and
    the singer was Harriet Hilliard. They would make the history pages again
    on this very day    nine years later.

    1944   The first broadcast of The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet was
    heard on the CBS network.

    10/9

    1935   Cavalcade of America was first broadcast this very day. The CBS
    show featured some of Hollywood and Broadway's most famous stars in
    leading roles in the half hour dramas. Thomas Chalmers narrated the
    stories about obscure incidents and people in American history. The
    orchestra was led by Donald Voorhees. The show aired from 1935 to 1953,
    changing from CBS to NBC in 1939; with one sponsor for its entire
    duration. The DuPont Company introduced its slogan on Cavalcade of
    America ... "Better things for better living through [removed]"

    1943   ABC presented Land of the Lost. The opening phrase for the show
    was, "In that wonderful kingdom at the bottom of the [removed]" This
    children's adventure fantasy serial took the audience underwater where
    the main characters, Isabel and Jimmy, were guided by their friend, a
    red fish named Red Lantern and played at first by Junius Matthews and
    later, by Art Carney. Land of the Lost found a large audience and
    remained on the air until 1948.

    10/10

    1932   Two of radio's earliest efforts at soap operas were heard for the
    first time. Judy and Jane, sponsored by Folger's Coffee, and Betty and
    Bob, sponsored by General Mills, had listeners glued to their radios
    into the early 1940s.

    1933   Dreft, the first synthetic detergent, went on sale. Ten years
    later Dreft was the sponsor of The Dreft Star Playhouse.

    1937   The Mutual Broadcasting System debuted Thirty Minutes in
    Hollywood. 48 sponsors shared the cost of the program that aired in 72
    cities nationwide. It was the first Mutual co op radio show. George
    Jessel and Norma Talmadge starred. Music was provided by the Tommy
    Tucker Orchestra.

    10/12

    1937   The longest running detective show debuted. Mr. Keen, Tracer of
    Lost Persons lasted until 1955. Three different actors played the title
    role, Bennett Kilpack was Mr. Keen the longest, and Arthur Hughes saw
    the final show. Phil Clark also played the part. There were many more
    than three sponsors: Anacin, Kolynos toothpaste, BiSoDol antacid mints,
    Hill's cold tablets, Heet liniment, Dentyne, Aerowax, RCA Victor and
    Chesterfield cigarettes.

    10/13

     From [removed]

    1930  Groucho Marx made his radio debut introducing Heywood Broun on
    WABC, the New York affiliate of CBS.

    Joe

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

    Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2018 15:31:18 -0400
    From: A Joseph Ross <joe@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Captain Midnight
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

>     "The [removed] children's radio series Little Orphan Annie (1931-1940) and
>     Captain Midnight (1938-1949), and the subsequent Captain Midnight TV series
>     (1954-1956), were sponsored by Ovaltine. They had promotions in which
>     listeners could save proofs-of-purchase from Ovaltine jars to obtain radio
>     premiums, such as "secret decoder ring" badges, or pins that could be used to
>     decode messages in the program. Children from the time may remember that
>     "Ovaltine" is an anagram for "Vital One"."

    And the decoder badges were revived during the run of the television
    show, where you had to send in a seal from an Ovaltine jar with 25 cents
    in coin to an address in Chicago.  That made me think that the "Mountain
    top high above a large city" where Captain Midnight's headquarters were
    located must have been Chicago.  I still have my Silver Dart decoder
    badge from 1957.

    Although the always promoted chocolate Ovaltine, there was also
    "plain-flavored" Ovaltine, and they apparently accepted the seals from
    those jars, too.  I was having an early onset of acne at the time, and
    my mother (who was a doctor) said I needed to avoid chocolate.  So I
    used "plain-flavored" Ovaltine and got my decoder no problem.

    --
    A. Joseph Ross, [removed] . 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 . Newton, MA 02459
    [removed] . [removed] . [removed]

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

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

    Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2018 15:32:08 -0400
    From: Mike K <mikerrigan@[removed];
    To: old time radio <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  War Of The Worlds 80th Anniversary

    Hello,

    This October 30th will be the 80th anniversary of the famous 'War of The
    Worlds" radio broadcast. The links below provide information on some of
    the events scheduled in New Jersey to commemorate this milestone.

    [removed]

    [removed]
    -worlds/

    Will you celebrate by listening to the broadcast?   Is anyone aware of
    other events / broadcasts scheduled to mark the occasion?

    Mike

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

    Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2018 15:32:16 -0400
    From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: otr-digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  This week in radio history 14-20 October

     From Those Were The Days

    10/14

    1934   Folks had cleaner hands for 21 years beginning this day. The Lux
    Radio Theater was heard on the NBC Blue [removed] and nearly every
    famous Hollywood star over the next three decades appeared on the
    program. Lux Radio Theater adapted novels, Broadway plays and Hollywood
    films into radio's favorite dramatic series.

     From NYT Today in history

    In 1943, the Radio Corporation of America completed sale of the NBC Blue
      network to businessman Edward J. Noble for $8 million; ($115,297,852
    in 2017 dollars) the network was renamed the American Broadcasting Company.

    10/16

    1939   Radio listeners welcomed The Right to Happiness on the NBC Blue
    network. The 15 minute drama turned out to be one of the longest running
    shows of its kind. It moved over to CBS in 1941, then back to NBC in
    1942. Fourteen years later Right to Happiness returned to CBS where it
    stayed until its last days in 1960. The show had a theme song, Song of
    the Soul, and what seemed like a cast of thousands. It just took a lot
    of different actors to play the continuing roles over a 21 year period.

    1945   Barry Fitzgerald starred as Judge Barnard Fitz in His Honor, the
    Barber, which debuted on NBC.

    10/17

    1919   The Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was formed.

    1938   This was a big day in Tinseltown. NBC moved to the corner of
    Sunset and Vine, the 'Crossroads of the World'. The new Hollywood Radio
    City drew thousands of visitors ready to fill studio audience seats for
    popular radio programs.

    1938   Captain Midnight was heard on radio for the first time, on
    Mutual. The Captain flew his single engine plane all over the place
    fighting crime.

    10/18

    1922   As the British observed the wild growth of radio in the [removed],
    they realized the potential of broadcasting in their own country, as
    well as the need for its regulation. The British Broadcasting
    Corporation (BBC) was established on this day to monitor the development
    of the radio biz in Great Britain.

    1943   The first broadcast of Perry Mason was presented on CBS. In the
    15 minute (Monday Friday) shows, Perry was played by Barlett Robinson,
    Santos Ortega, Donald Briggs and John Larkin.

    10/19

    1937   "The freedom of the press is a flaming sword. Use it justly, hold
    it high, guard it well." The radio classic, Big Town, made its debut on
    CBS radio. Star reporters at the Illustrated Press, Steve Wilson and
    Lorelei Kilbourne, were played by Edward G. Robinson and Claire Trevor.
    Tell the Story was the theme song. Sponsors included Ironized Yeast
    tablets and Lifebuoy soap.

    10/20

    1930 - One of the most memorable of all radio shows, "The Adventures of
    Sherlock Holmes", was first heard on the NBC Red network. Its debut
    entry, "The Speckled Band",  featured William Gillette in the role of
    the famous detective. Gillette introduced Holmes to New York audiences
    as early as 1899 ... on the stage, not the radio, of course.

    1932 - Journalist Robert Trout joined CBS. Trout became a household name
    to CBS listeners.

    Joe

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2018 Issue #58
    ********************************************

    Copyright [removed] Communications, York, PA; All Rights Reserved,
      including republication in any form.

    If you enjoy this list, please consider financially supporting it:
       [removed]

    For Help: [removed]@[removed]

    To Unsubscribe: [removed]@[removed]

    To Subscribe: [removed]@[removed]
      or see [removed]

    For Help with the Archive Server, send the command ARCHIVE HELP
      in the SUBJECT of a message to [removed]@[removed]

    To contact the listmaster, mail to listmaster@[removed]

    In the event of a major mail problem, please contact the listmaster via
      the web-based contact form available at [removed]
      (on the sidebar) or follow/DM CFSummers on Twitter

    To Send Mail to the list, simply send to [removed]@[removed]