Subject: [removed] Digest V2007 #9
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 1/8/2007 9:13 AM

To: [removed]@[removed]

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2007 : Issue 9
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Additional OTR Shows                  [ "Andrew Godfrey" <niteowl049@[removed] ]
      Re: "Quiet Please"                    [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
      The singing cowboy                    [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
      Ernest Tubb                           [ udmacon@[removed] ]
      Durable radio [removed]                [ "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed] ]
      1-8 birth/deaths                      [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
      Blacks on radio                       [ "Marvin R. Bensman" <mbensman@memph ]
      headphones                            [ "Sammy Jones" <sjones69@[removed] ]
      Re: African Americans During the Gol  [ Stephen Davies <SDavies@[removed]; ]
      3-D with your ears!                   [ Ken Greenwald <radio@[removed]; ]
      Half a network is better than none    [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
      FIRST 3-D FEATURE FILM                [ Sandy Singer <sinatradj@[removed]; ]

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

    Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 12:09:37 -0500
    From: "Andrew Godfrey" <niteowl049@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Additional OTR Shows

      Recently I checked my database of my old time radio show collection and
    found that my collection which I started 3 years ago is hopelessly obsolete
    because of so many episodes being found and/or remastered. I checked 2 OTR
    dealers sites who generally have the most episodes available of any shows.
      Found out that over 2000 more episodes are available which is very
    encouraging. Anyone interesting to see the episodes added can go to my
    Baseball Etcetera website under the Etcetera portion under the baseball
    news.
      The URL is [removed] if anyone is interested in
    looking at the list which shows the total of shows I had before new ones
    were found or remastered, the new total of episodes of each show plus the
    number of additional episodes added for each show with the grand total at
    bottom of list.
      You may have to scroll down to the January 6th blog then scroll down past
    baseball news till you see the OTR episodes found list.
      This is not an all inclusive list since I don't have all the shows but it
    will give a good indication of how much OTR is still being found 45 years
    after the last OTR broadcast.
      Happy OTR listening,
      Andrew Godfrey

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    Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 12:12:45 -0500
    From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: "Quiet Please"
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    In a message dated 1/5/07 2:06:45 PM Central Standard Time,
    [removed]@[removed] writes:

>     If the show is so great why didn't last in a regular time slot
>     and [removed] listeners didn't like it. Never had a Sponsor .

    What info do you have that most listeners didn't like it?  Ratings and
    sponsorship don't tell the full story about quality, or even critical
    success, just
    financial success.  It could be most listeners couldn't find "Quiet Please" or
    it had a cult following or had to compete at a low-listenership time period
    against ratings grabbers like football games.  Remember, people didn't exactly
    shut down society to listen to "Columbia Workshop" like they did the serial
    version of "Amos 'n' Andy," and I don't think anyone would accuse the
    "Workshop"
    of having sophomoric production values or of being universally disliked.  As
    we've established before, horror in those days wasn't as mainstream as it is
    now.

    In the TV age, "Star Trek" got awful ratings on NBC.  The ratings went down
    each year and at one point it got its butt kicked (badly) by "Gomer Pyle,
    USMC."  Yet when NBC finally cancelled it in 1969 it received a lot of
    protest,
    proving that its low ratings didn't necessarily translate to "nobody liked it."

    Dixon

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    Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 16:38:12 -0500
    From: <otrbuff@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  The singing cowboy

>     1940 - The gate to Gene Autry's Melody Ranch opened. The 'singing cowboy'

    would entertain on CBS radio for the next 16 years.

    Well, to get technical, it really wasn't 16 years.  He was on from Jan. 7,
    1940 to Aug. 1, 1943 (without summer breaks) when he left the air
    voluntarily to serve with the Army Air Corps which he joined in 1942.

    By mid-1943 it was clear that he couldn't pursue that call and do the show.
    While on the air one evening in July 1943, the 35-year-old star was
    administered an official oath of duty.  The military probably saw that
    occasion as a propitious platform for encouraging others to follow in his
    train.  The show itself was disbanded on August 1, 1943.  Autry became a
    flight officer, flying Air Transport Command craft to North Africa and
    China.  He was stationed overseas for two years.

    When he returned from his tour of duty it was like deja vu transpired.  CBS
    immediately found a slot on its evening weekend schedule for him, and his
    earlier sponsor, the William J. Wrigley Company, once again stepped up to
    the plate.  Wrigley, in fact, underwrote "Melody Ranch" for the duration of
    the series' radio life, nearly 15 years between early 1940 and mid-1956,
    omitting the time the show was off the air.  It was one of the most enduring
    star-sponsor pacts in the annals of evening broadcasting.

    The show resumed on Sept. 23, 1945 after an absence of more than two years.
    By then, summer breaks were the norm, although the show again ran
    continuously from Aug. 2, 1953 until it left the air forever on May 13,
    1956.

    Obviously, the Wrigley people were able to capitalize on the exemplary
    performance of a stalwart entertainer.  And Americans found in him a
    celebrity worth emulating.

    There's much more to the fascinating Autry tale in my book, Music Radio:
    The Great Performers and Programs of the 1920s through early 1960s ...
    [removed]

    Jim Cox

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

    Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 16:40:01 -0500
    From: udmacon@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Ernest Tubb
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     Correction: Ernest Tubb joined the Grand Ole Opry in February 1943.

    An OTR fact: He established the "Ernest Tubb Midnight Jamboree" over WSM,
    Nashville in 1947. To this day it follows the Grand Ole Opry every Saturday
    night.

    Bill Knowlton

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    Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 16:40:33 -0500
    From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed];
    To: "Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Durable radio [removed]

    I agree with Frank and some others that the "Fourble Board" is not my
    favorite Quiet Please episode.
    And I'm not especially fond of "3 Skeleton Key" from Escape and Suspense,
    either.  These episodes get played and mentioned far beyond their real
    value.  On first hearing they are shocking.  But there are shows that I go
    back to time and time again, such [removed]
        Quiet, Please
        One for the book
        Green light
        Pathetic fallacy
        Red and white guide-on
        [removed]
        Other programs bring me back again.  The Suspense programs starring Jack
    Benny, for [removed]
        Good and faithful servant
        Plan X
        Murder in G-flat
        and Edward G. Robinson/The man who thought he was E G [removed]
        Hitchhiker
        When I want to hear other programs that wear well, I listen to these CBS
    Radio Mystery Theater [removed]
        Good Times Express
        Holiday visit
        Dr. Heidegger's experiment
        Stolen white elephant
        Behind the blue door
    Columbia [removed]
        Day they gave babies away
    CBC Theater
        White Christmas of Archie Nicotine
    I could go on, but I would like to know your favorite, durable shows --
    shows that you really enjoy playing again and again.

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

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

    Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 23:00:15 -0500
    From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  1-8 birth/deaths

    January 8ty births

    01-08-1902 - Alexander Gray - Wrightvilles, PA - d. 10-4-1975
    baritone: "Chesterfield Quarter Hour"
    01-08-1903 - Roger Bower - NYC - d. 5-17-1979
    announcer, emcee: "Can You Top This?"; "Stop Me If You Heard This One"
    01-08-1904 - Peter Arno - d. 2-22-1968
    panelist: "Stop Me If You Heard This Before"
    01-08-1908 - William Hartnell - London, England - d. 4-23-1975
    actor: The Doctor "Doctor Who"
    01-08-1909 - Jose Ferrer - Santurce, PR - d. 1-26-1992
    actor: Philo Vance "Advs. of Philo Vance"; Minister "We Love and Learn"
    01-08-1910 - Dick Jurgens - Sacremento, CA - d. 10-5-1995
    orchestra leader: "Summer Spotlight Revue"
    01-08-1910 - Fabian Andre - La Crosse, WI - d. 3-30-1960
    arranger for dance orchestras on NBC
    01-08-1910 - Richard Cromwell - Los Angeles, CA - d. 10-11-1960
    actor: Kit Marshall "Those We Love"
    01-08-1911 - Butterfly McQueen - Tampa, FL - d. 12-22-1995
    actor: Oriole "Beulah"; Butterfly "Jack Benny Program"
    01-08-1914 - Sam Cowling - Jeffersonville, IN - d. 2-14-1983
    singer: (The Three Romeos) "The Breakfast Club"; "Club Matinee"
    01-08-1921 - Guy Bagil - d. 2-xx-1971
    sportscaster: WALT Tampa, Florida; WTVT Petersburg, Florida
    01-08-1923 - Giorgio Tozzi - Chicago, IL
    opera singer (bass): "The Chicago Theatre of the Air"
    01-08-1923 - Larry Storch - NYC
    comedian: "Duffy's Tavern"
    01-08-1926 - Soupy Sales - Franklinton, NC
    script writer, disc jockey: WHTN Huntington, WV
    01-08-1930 - May Wynn - NYC
    actor: "Amos 'n' Andy Show"
    01-08-1933 - Charles Osgood - NYC
    reporter: "Osgood File"
    01-08-1935 - Elvis Presley - Tupelo, MS - d. 8-16-1977
    singer: "Grand Ole Opry"

    January 8th deaths

    01-03-1918 - Jesse White - Buffalo, NY - d. 1-8-1997
    actor: "Hollywood Radio Theatre"; "Sears Radio Theatre"
    01-24-1902 - Walter Kiernan - New Haven, CT - d. 1-8-1978
    commentator, emcee: "Sparring Partners"; "Weekend"
    01-30-1907 - Lois Wilson - Iowa - d. 1-8-1983
    actor: "Jack Benny Program"
    03-25-1909 - Jay Blackton - NYC - d. 1-8-1994
    composer, conductor, pianist: "Stu Erwin Show"; "Broadway Showtime"
    05-02-1952 - Campbell McComas - Melbourne, Australia - d. 1-8-2005
    regular performer on Australia's ABC radio
    05-16-1891 - Richard Tauber - Linz, Austria-Hungary - d. 1-8-1948
    opera singer: "General Motors Concert"
    05-19-1919 - George Auld - Toronto, Canada - d. 1-8-1990
    bandleader: "Saturday Night Swing Session"
    05-29-1899 - Don Brodie - Cincinnati, OH - d. 1-8-2001
    grouch: "The Grouch Club"
    06-11-1889 - Wesley Ruggles - Los Angeles, CA - d. 1-8-1972
    film director: (Brother of Charlie) "Screen Guild Theatre"
    06-18-1906 - Ray Bauduc - New Orleans, LA - d. 1-8-1988
    drummer, composer: "The Bob Crosby Show"
    06-19-1915 - Pat Buttram - Addison, AL - d. 1-8-1994
    actor: (Sage of Winston County) "National Barn Dance"
    07-14-1911 - Terry-Thomas - London, England - d. 1-8-1990
    comedian: "Top of the Town"
    07-23-1910 - Gale Page - Spokane, WA - d. 1-8-1983
    actor: Holly Sloan "Story of Holly Sloan"; Gertrude Lamont "Masquerade"
    08-15-1901 - Sam Perrin - d. 1-8-1998
    writer: "Jack Benny Program"; "Phil Baker Show"; "Tommy Riggs and
    Betty Lou"
    08-28-1914 - Richard Tucker - NYC - d. 1-8-1975
    opera tenor: "Chicago Theatre of the Air"; "Standard Hour";
    "Metropolitan Opera"
    11-06-1905 - Isabel Carothers - Mt. Pleasant, IA - d. 1-8-1937
    actor: Lu "Clara, Lu and Em"
    12-22-1911 - Milton E. Drentz - d. 1-8-2000
    seminary producer: "The Eternal Light"

    Ron Sayles

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

    Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 00:24:09 -0500
    From: "Marvin R. Bensman" <mbensman@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Blacks on radio
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    In November of 1914 the W. C. Handy band was employed to play from
    the Alaskan Roof Garden of the Falls Building in Memphis, Tennessee.
    It was there that Handy introduced the St. Louis Blues. The band was
    likely broadcast by a group of radio and enthusiasts that formed the
    Tri-States Wireless Association operating from December 12, 1912.
    Handy, W. C., Father of the Blues, (New York:  McMillan Publishing)
    --
    Professor Emeritus Marvin R. Bensman

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    Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 00:24:26 -0500
    From: "Sammy Jones" <sjones69@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  headphones

    We have several pair of Sony MDR7506s at work, and I've used them for years
    for sound recording and editing (loudspeakers are preferable, of course, but
    under some circumstances that's just not possible).

    I finally got a pair of 7506s for my personal use, and I love them.  I
    mostly listen on my new pair of Tannoy Reveal 6 loudspeakers, though.  OTR
    sounds great on them (especially first gen stuff).

    Sammy Jones

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

    Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 09:40:45 -0500
    From: Stephen Davies <SDavies@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: African Americans During the Golden Age

    The best example is Floyd "Wonderful" Smith (1917 - the present) who
    appears in skits on post-war Red Skelton.  His characters have complete
    equality wit h Skelton's; there's no sassy but subservient roles.
    Stephen D
    Calgary

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

    Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 09:40:54 -0500
    From: Ken Greenwald <radio@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  3-D with your ears!

    Since there has been some mention of 3D with eyes, I thought I'd
    mention the use of 3D in sound.
    3D is a matter of seeing depth with 2 eyes. Carlton E. Morse produced
    that same effect in sound on
    I LOVE A MYSTERY. In "The Temple of Vampires" there is an episode
    where Jack and Doc Long
    are hanging by ropes in the middle of the temple (both having tried
    to swing across to the opposite side and
    bumping into each other- leaving them hanging). They decide to climb
    the ropes to the top of the
    temple. As they do so, they talk to each other. First, Morse has Jack
    talking to Doc. His voice is loud (indicating
    he is near the listener) while Doc's voice is farther away,
    indicating the distance he is from Jack. As the two
    climb and talk, Morse subtly changes the "viewpoint" in your minds
    eye by making Doc's voice louder and
    Jacks voice further away. A brilliant idea that added greatly to the
    action of the scene.

    As a kid, in 1949, I actually heard this episode on the radio and
    remember that the previous episode had Jack and
    Doc hanging above the temple floor trying to figure out what to do.
    That was in the final minutes of the broadcast. I really
    wanted to know what was going to happen --- but, wouldn't you know
    how crafty Carlton E. Morse was --- that was
    Fridays broadcast! And I had to wait the entire weekend to hear
    Mondays episode for the answer to what Jack and
    Doc were going to do!

    Ken Greenwald

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

    Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 09:41:00 -0500
    From: <otrbuff@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Half a network is better than none

    In the middle of the nineteenth century, Rowland Hussey Macy, a Nantucket
    whaler Quaker, tried multiple times to open a merchantile shop without
    success.  He was the kind of guy who, on falling off a horse, gets back up
    and rides again.  He kept at it until he finally found a winning formula.
    In 1858 he opened a "fancy" dry goods store near New York's 14th Street on
    6th Avenue where he sold his commodities at fixed prices, discounting and
    advertising his wares.  His was also one of the first  outfits to employ
    women executives.  He expanded into an adjacent structure within eight years
    and when he died in 1877 his emporium was housed in 11 facilities.

    Of course, all of it was concentrated in New York City.  As time progressed,
    the company expanded, diversified and moved well beyond the confines of
    Gotham, in modern times buying chains of prominent retail store systems
    throughout the nation.  Today the R. H. Macy nameplate, once revered as an
    exclusive Empire State moniker, adorns former competitors with long
    histories and proud heritages coast-to-coast.  (Many of those faded
    reluctantly in some communities, but that's another story.)

    Perhaps a little known detail is the fact that, in the 1930s, Macy -- then
    still a New York retailer -- and The Chicago Tribune maintained controlling
    interest in one of America's major radio networks, MBS.  The capital stock
    of Mutual at its formation on October 29, 1934 consisted of only 10 shares,
    of which five were owned by WGN, Inc., a subsidiary of the Tribune, and five
    by Bamberger Broadcasting Service, Inc., operator of WOR, a subsidiary of L.
    Bamberger & Co., a subsidiary of R. H. Macy & Co.  While Crosley Radio Corp.
    of Cincinnati, which operated WLW, acquired five newly issued shares of MBS
    stock in early 1936, it returned them to the network a few months afterward.
    WXYZ, operated by Kunsky-Trendle Broadcasting Corp. of Detroit, also
    participated in the formation of Mutual although it departed the fold in
    September 1935.  For the remainder of that decade WOR (Macy) and WGN
    (Tribune) persisted as the network's sole stock owners.

    With a few exceptions -- Robert Hall, Montgomery Ward and most especially
    Sears, Roebuck & Co. come to mind -- dry goods retailers were viewed as
    community-based and usually did not go beyond local or regional hookups to
    advertise their wares.  That environment has all changed.  Imagine, if you
    will, what a commercial windfall owning a national broadcasting chain -- or
    even half of one -- could mean to Macy today.  It could be "the network for
    all America," as those stentorian-tongued announcers constantly reminded
    their listeners, in more ways than one.

    Jim Cox

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

    Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 11:13:59 -0500
    From: Sandy Singer <sinatradj@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  FIRST 3-D FEATURE FILM

    Bwana Devil was the very first film shot in 3-D.  It was shot in sepia
    tone, written and directed by Arch Obler, starring Robert Stack and
    Barbara Britton, with a great score by Gordon Jenkins.

    [removed]
              Sandy
    [removed]
    [removed]
    [removed]

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    End of [removed] Digest V2007 Issue #9
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