------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2003 : Issue 446
A Part of the [removed]!
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Twas the Night Before Christmas [ <welsa@[removed]; ]
"Life With Luigi" [ JJiovanazz@[removed] ]
Family Theatre [ "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed] ]
RE: My Two Front Teeth [ "William D. Clark" <wclark4121@stic ]
Captain Midnight Secrets [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
Fred Allen Books Available [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
Re: Standards [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
Ahhhh ... Memories! [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
Re: The Night Before Christmas - Fre [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
More swearing - in other lanuages [ "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed] ]
12-17 births/deaths [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
Family Theater [ "Darrel-Lantz -PNL" <dlantz@[removed] ]
Sacre bleu! [ "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@hotmail. ]
two more are gone [ "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@hotmail. ]
Jonathan Thomas and his Christmas on [ Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed]; ]
Re: DVD too good to be true [ Fred Berney <berney@[removed]; ]
Superman and Clayton "Bud" Collyer [ David <dbmartin5@[removed]; ]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 10:27:49 -0500
From: <welsa@[removed];
To: "OTR Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Twas the Night Before Christmas
Paula asked about a "full" version of Fred Waring's recording of the musical
setting for this poem. While I am not aware of such a recording, I do have
the score for the song and it does not contain the line she referred to (The
moon on the crest, etc.)
Of course, we must note the OTR connection to this song. It was arranged by
Ken Darby in 1942. Darby was one of the King's Men who sang on the FIBBER
McGEE AND MOLLY show. And the arrangement was written for that show. It
was used for several years as the annual Christmas song on Fibber. I have a
recording of one show it was used in and that line is missing there, too.
I am suspicious that the line is not recorded anywhere since it was not
written into the arrangement.
Ted
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 10:28:55 -0500
From: JJiovanazz@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: "Life With Luigi"
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain
Hello to all,
Does anyone have a Wrigley Gum commercial from a Life With Luigi show? The
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Boca Raton is having an Italian Night on
January 31st and we are having a reenactment of a Life With Luigi episode. We
would like to include a demonstration of sound effects and commercials as it
was done back then. I have a few shows on tape, but none of the tapes include
the commercials. By the way, there will be a full Italian dinner and music.
If you are interested, you can call (561) 482-2001 and make a reservation. the
cost is $20. per person.
Jim
Gum
*** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
*** as the sender intended. ***
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 11:05:04 -0500
From: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Family Theatre
In #444, Micheal Leannah wrote:
Awful show. <SNIP> maybe I just started with a bad one
<SNIP> The show I listened to was nothing but an overly
dramatic selling job of a very convervative social and
political stance.
My experience with Family Theatre is much the same. Originally, I
was only familiar with the Christmas episodes that came bundled in Christmas
sets. I thought these episodes were well done, and enjoyed them. A few
years back however, I purchased the Radio Spirits 4 CD science fiction set,
and was interested to see that it included the Family Theatre presentation of
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea since I enjoy this book very much. When I
listened to the show, I was horrified to hear how they butchered the book.
They took a strong and compelling Captain Nemo, who travels in his submarine
because of his love of the sea and his frustration with man's cruelty, and
turned him into a blubbering idiot who cowers under the ocean to hide his
love of man and God. (this is all based on how I interpreted the book,
others may have read it differently) It seemed pretty obvious that they were
less interested in doing a quality adaptation of the book, and more
interested in using the framework of the book as vehicle for broadcasting
their particular specific religious message.
We discussed this topic several months back, and a few people
suggested that Family Theatre started by doing quality, family-oriented
adaptations of classic fiction but over the life the show slid more and more
into overtly religious proselytizing.
Please understand, I have no objection to religious programming. I
think it should be part of a broad spectrum of programming for people to
choose from. I just hate to see a great book ruined in the process.
-chris holm
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 12:24:24 -0500
From: "William D. Clark" <wclark4121@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: RE: My Two Front Teeth
Dick Backus asked,
Can anyone suggest where I might find a program on which "All I Want
for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" was performed.
William Clark replied,
That song is available on a retail CD: Dr. Demento presents The Greatest
Christmas Novelty CD of All-Time, Rhino Records #R2 75755.
Let me mention the information from the liner notes from the CD, and then
we'll move on:
The earliest recording in this collection, and the first really
funny Christmas hit record, is Spike Jones' "All I want for Christmas Is My
Two Front Teeth." Recorded December 4, 1947, too late for that year's
festivities, it reached #1 on the Billboard pop charts in December 1948. The
magical child's voice was created by Spike's 28 year old star trumpeter,
George Rock.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 12:24:57 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Captain Midnight Secrets
Joe Mackey, quoting Those Were the Days,
* WE know they were actually [removed]
Actually, the first four Code-O-Graphs (what laypeople call "decoders")
were badges/ The last three were pocket items. The last, the
Key-O-Matic, was a pure cipher device, a clever design for a
simple-substitution cipher gadget.
Oddly, the Fall season for 1949 had no cipher messages. The
complete-in-one-episode shows had no need of "secret message" previews
used in the show's serial days (which were much better than the half-hour
stuff)
Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 12:25:26 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Fred Allen Books Available
Late last year, my mother passed away at age 95. I have the unpleasant
duty of having to help sell estate items. Many of these are going on
eBay; however, I have three Fred Allen books that I'm offering as a
package for $[removed] to anyone interested.
These are Much Ado About Me, and Treadmill To Oblivion, both by Fred
Allen, and Fred Allen's Letters, edited by Joe McCarthy. The proceeds
will go into an estate fund.
I have also found an LP record of music played by the Cities Service Band
of America. If anyone is interested in that, I'll let that one go for
$[removed]
I may stumble across other OTR items, but these are available.
Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 13:08:55 -0500
From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Standards
"Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed]; wisely wrote:
Back in those days, though, things were extraordinarily innocent.
The nastiest thing Bluto could say to Popeye in the cartoons was,
"You dirty double-crosser," even though nobody was double crossed.
Actually, back in the evil days of the 1950s, the nastiest thing that
someone could say to someone was "You dirty COMMUNIST!"
You see, the good old days were not always so good. I find it amusing but
a little sad that there are some OTR fans who think of the OTR era as one
of sweetness and light and eternal good cheer. Along with being protected
from nasty dirty words, the mainstream radio listener could also be
protected from the reality of the real world situation. In our little time
machine of OTR, this is also possible, but I urge you not to let it happen.
There ARE programs out there which tell it like it was, and discusses race
relations, the evils of the McCarthyistic witch hunts, international world
affairs, inner-city problems, and the other realities of life in the OTR
era. I know, just like today when some people come home from a hard days
work and plop themselves down in front of the TV to be taken away from the
reality of the world and only want to be entertained, that this also
happened in the OTR era except that they plopped themselves down in front
of the radio. I sense that this has happened to some of the OTR fans who
seem to think that we used to live in some sort of NeverNeverLand back in
the OTR era. Well, we didn't. The image you hear on much of OTR is phony.
Fiction radio is FICTION. It is Life Idealized.
I DID grow up in that idealized lifestyle in Suburbia, USA, in those
post-war years, and as a child was treated to the cleansed-up image of
America that mainstream radio and TV served up to us. But if you think
that this was REALITY, you are mistaken. For those of you who long to go
back to the days when everything was clean and nice, remember that
everything in the real world wasn't so clean and nice as it was portrayed
in mainstream OTR.
Michael Biel mbiel@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 14:40:58 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Ahhhh ... Memories!
Dr. Michael Biel, after adding "Communist" to the list of approved
epithets, noted, correctly,
the good old days were not always so good. I find it amusing but
a little sad that there are some OTR fans who think of the OTR era as one
of sweetness and light and eternal good cheer. Along with being protected
from nasty dirty words, the mainstream radio listener could also be
protected from the reality of the real world situation. In our little time
machine of OTR, this is also possible, but I urge you not to let it
happen.
Nostalgia is remembering the best things of the past while unconsciously
suppressing the unpleasant memories. Emptying the drip pan under the ice
box was a necessary chore, not pleasant, but only remembered if evoked.
Shovelling coal into the furnace likewise. Some of our mothers used a
washboard rather than a washer, and those who had washers usually had one
with a wringer to squeeze water out of the clothes. Vacuum cleaners
didn't have disposable inner bags, if one was fortunate enough to have a
vacuum cleaner at all.
If I set my mind to it, I can evoke memories of many unpleasant aspects
of the past, and as an Army Brat I traveled around enough of the United
States to see a lot of it.
I also recall a lot of silliness of that era, neither pleasant nor
unpleasant, but just inane. People being scandalized over the likes of
Johnny Ray collapsing in emotional exhaustion after singing "Cry," is one
example (it even made Life magazine). The big hoopla about Frank Sinatra
receiving a shot of something that made his eyes dilate for the film, The
Man With the Golden Arm, was another.
Every era past the Paleolithic has doubtless had its nostalgic period.
That doesn't make any nostalgia of a previous period the whole truth and
nothing but the truth.
Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 14:41:55 -0500
From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: The Night Before Christmas - Fred Waring
Paula Keiser <pkeiser@[removed]; posted in OTR DIgest 444 about her search
for the FULL version of "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" by Fred Waring
and his Pennsylvanians rather than the truncated version which omits part
of the poem such as "The moon on the crest of the newfallen snow, Gave the
luster of midday to objects below." which is missing in the "popular
version." She asked: "Can anyone point me in the right direction?"
Well, everybody here knows that I don't point people to the right, but the
CORRECT direction would be to my pal Peter T. Kiefer
<ptk1@[removed]; who runs the Fred Waring archive at Penn State,
Fred Waring's America. As those who heard his talk at this year's FOTR
will agree, he knows everything there is to know about Waring--and he is
eager to tell anybody anything they need to know. You might check with him
to find out if the version of this work they sell is more complete than the
recordings you have heard. Their sales page is
<[removed];, and on it you will see
that because MCA controls the original album and is in no hurry to either
reissue it or license it to someone else, the Archive has re-created the
contents of the album from their complete archive of all of Waring's
broadcasts from 1933 on. The original Decca version of the piece took two
sides of a 10-inch 78 rpm record, and I always thought it would be
complete. But Peter would be able to tell you if the 78 was complete,
whether the LP reissues were complete, and if his version is complete. By
the way, Waring made three commercial recordings of the work, the original
Decca on July 29, 1942, a Decca re-recording on May 25, 1954, and a Capitol
recording (probably in stereo) on April 16, 1961. The version the archive
is selling comes from a December 24, 1956 broadcast.
My disclaimer is that I have no connection with this organization and
receive nothing in return for this plug except the knowledge that I am
helping to promote a well-run and ideal archive. It is a situation that is
not always found in the academic or governmental world. And judging from
Ian Grieve's posting about the pending tragedy of ScreenSound Australia, I
grieve for my friends down in Canberra.
Michael Biel mbiel@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 14:42:29 -0500
From: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: More swearing - in other lanuages
In 445, Ken Piletic wrote:
Since this was in the late fortys or early fifties, it couldn't be
anything "dirty", but to this day, nobody has been able to tell
me what it means. I asked some French-speaking friends, and they
translated the phrase to "Sacred Blue" in English.
I'm no linguist, but it is my understanding that while English swearing tends
to be more scatalogical, French tends to be more religious such as "Sacre
Bleu!" or "Tabernac!" Somebody here is bound to know these [removed]
-chris holm
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 14:48:16 -0500
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 12-17 births/deaths
December 17th births
12-17-1896 - Arthur Fiedler - South Boston, MA - d. 7-10-1979
conductor: "Robert Merrill with the Boston Pops Orchestra"; "Boston Pops"
12-17-1902 - House Jameson - Austin, TX - d. 4-23-1971
actor: Sam Aldrich "Aldrich Family"; Inspector Douglas Renfrew "Renfrew of
the Mounted"
December 17th deaths
01-01-1909 - Dana Andrews - Collins, MS - d. 12-17-1992
actor: Matt Cevetic "I Was A Communist for the FBI"
07-11-1892 - Thomas Mitchell - Elizabeth, NJ - d. 12-17-1962
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Cavalcade of America"
08-28-1907 - Sam Levene - NYC - d. 12-17-1980
comedian: "Fred Allen Show"
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 15:03:40 -0500
From: "Darrel-Lantz -PNL" <dlantz@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Family Theater
I have very much enjoyed Family Theater and find most of the shows very
entertaining. An earlier message talked about them being to conservative
and the morals being too heavy handed. This is also my opinion on some
episodes, but many many episodes are touching, uplifting, and the messages
are well presented. The closest modern show to this that I can think of
is "Touched by and Angel," and even that contemporary show can often have
heavy handed messages. Most shows today have either no message or a
twisted inappropriate message, so I will take a show like Family Theater
any day.
If you want to check out about 30 free episode downloads with episode
summaries, so you can pick and choose the episodes that interest you, I
found a great site at [removed] You will
need to scroll about half way down the list to get to the downloadable
episodes. A new episode is added each week exactly 56 years after it
originally aired. Pretty cool idea!
Take Care,
Zongo
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 16:00:44 -0500
From: "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Sacre bleu!
Ken Piletic wrote about a character on Blackhawk:
One of the characters was from either France
or Canada. He used the expression "Sacre Bleu !" whenever anything unusual
happened.
That phrase was also used on one of my favorite shows, The Silver Eagle.
Mountie Jim West's sidekick Joe Bideaux exclaimed it at least once on every
show, or so my memory tells me. I even picked it up myself. As to what it
means, probably the same as "My stars!" or "Saints preserve us!" It's all in
HOW it is said.
Barbara
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 16:35:13 -0500
From: "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: two more are gone
Peggy Webber's husband Sean McClory passed away on December 10 at the age of
79. His obituary is at
[removed],0,[removed]
In addition to movies and TV he appeared often on the California Artists
Radio Theatre (CART) radio programs produced by Peggy Webber.
Also, Donn Reed passed away today. In Los Angeles he is remembered as the
Nightside voice on KMPC (1961-81). Old time radio fans will remember him as
the reporter who rode along with the Culver City Police Department in the
reality series Nightwatch, on CBS radio in 1954/55.
Barbara
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 19:10:51 -0500
From: Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Jonathan Thomas and his Christmas on the Moon
My wife and I have really enjoyed listening to the
Cinnamon Bear for the first time this year. (A bit of
guilty pleasure--we're in our mid-30s with no kids, so
we're only mildly embarrassed about being addicted to
a kid's show.) I just downloaded a similar serial
called Jonathan Thomas and his Christmas on the Moon,
which runs from Nov 29 through Xmas eve, just like the
Cinnamon Bear. (The site was
[removed], if anyone's
interested.) Does anybody know anything about this
series? Jerry Haendiges's log has dates, but no
episode titles or actors--and I haven't been able to
find anything else online.
Kermyt
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 23:07:14 -0500
From: Fred Berney <berney@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: DVD too good to be true
I'll go along with some of what Martin Grams said, but let me make some
corrections.
If there DVDs are DVD-Rs, then everything Martin said is true. At the
moment you can only get [removed] GB on one side of a DVD-R. Using what is called
the 2 hours mode, you'll get excellent quality. At 4 hours the quality
drops, but in some cases is acceptable. The 6 hour mode is very compressed
and it looks it.
With video tape, the tape is slowed down to record more information. In a
DVD, the image is compressed more. It is a tough call, but I think that the
6 hour speed on video tape looks better than the 6 hour compressed mode on
a DVD. The image quality strobes. You have to see it to understand.
Anyway, if the DVDs are replicated, then you can have 9 GB per side. This
would allow for about 4 hours on one side of a DVD. You can also replicate
DVDs with two sides. And, if done correctly, you can compress an image more
with some very expensive equipment than the equipment you get with the
stand alone DVD recorders and thereby obtain more hours on a DVD.
Check out some the commercial movies that fill the DVD with tons of extras.
But, to get back to what Martin said, unless these are commercially
replicated and authored DVDs, they can't have that much quality if they are
putting 5 or 6 hours of video on a single sided DVD.
Fred
[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2003 00:38:11 -0500
From: David <dbmartin5@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Superman and Clayton "Bud" Collyer
is the voice of the radio "superman", Clayton "Bud" Collyer, the same
man who was the host of the 1960's game show "To Tell the Truth". I
saw a single show and hear the name, but did not see a spelling so I
was not sure.
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #446
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