Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #242
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 6/28/2002 12:33 PM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2002 : Issue 242
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Theodore Edison                       [ leemunsick@[removed] ]
      Re: Thanks etc.                       [ ""Cynthia \"ChibiBarako\""" < ]
      Who's on First                        [ "Arte" <arte@[removed]; ]
      MP3 Giveaway VIII                     [ "Richard Carpenter" <sinatra@raging ]
      History Speaks?                       [ Tim Johnson <tjnknox@[removed]; ]
      Cinnamon Bear                         [ Tim Johnson <tjnknox@[removed]; ]
      Rexall-Dragnet plot suggestion        [ Ivan G Shreve Jr <iscreve@[removed] ]
      Old Radios                            [ "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed] ]
      Billy Idelson                         [ "welsa" <welsa@[removed]; ]
      Rexall Drug Stores                    [ "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyro ]
      Rexall Memories                       [ "Scott D. Livingston" <sdl@[removed] ]
      re more rexall                        [ "Robert Angus" <rangus02@[removed]; ]
      Hoagy the Hero                        [ John Mayer <mayer@[removed]; ]
      Today in radio history                [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]

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

    Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2002 22:03:27 -0400
    From: leemunsick@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Theodore Edison

    Mike Biel mentioned my referring to the youngest son of Thomas Edison as
    "Ted".  This is neither a slap at a truly great man and son of a great man,
    nor is it presumptuous on my part, except perhaps in my public use.

    Ted and Ann were genuinely lovely, quiet, unassuming folk.  The use of the
    familiar names was at Ted's request.  They have been in my home, and I in
    theirs.  I confess to considerable awe on my part in this situation.  Our
    friendship came in the 1970s, when I was running Yesteryear Museum outside
    Morristown, N. J.  We had a great deal of Edisonia.  Our meeting came late
    in Theodore Edison's life.  It was most enjoyable for [removed]
    educational.  Coincidentally, in his youth my father had worked briefly for
    Thomas Edison in the West Orange complex.  He had a couple of interesting
    stories to tell.

    In 1981, on the 50th anniversary of Thomas Edison's death, I assumed that
    the Town of West Orange would make a major commemoration, only a few years
    after enormous festivities, parades and the like celebrated the centennials
    of the phonograph and the electric light.  Surprisingly, they did nothing.

    I placed some plants in honor of Mr. Edison on his grave, unobtrusively and
    quietly located in a far corner of the family property at his home Glenmont
    in Llewellyn Park, West Orange, [removed]  This is now part of the Edison
    National Historic Site operated by the National Park System.  Knowing Mr.
    Edison's predilection for the colors yellow and green, I chose a vivid
    yellow Chrysanthemums.  To my surprise, there was but one other floral gift
    at the grave.

    Later that day, Theodore Edison telephoned me and said, "Lee, did you place
    the yellow flowers on Father's grave?"  I was stunned, both that he would
    think of me, and to learn from him that his were the only other tribute to
    the man to whom we all owe so much.

    It truly must have been difficult to be the offspring of a father so
    universally admired at least in his time, and still, more so outside the
    United States than here at home.  That in itself is a disgraceful comment
    on our nation and its education system.

    Theodore and the brother and sister whose mother was Thomas Edison's second
    wife perhaps didn't have as difficult a time as did the first set of
    children, also two sons and a daughter.

    Edison's devotion to his work kept him away long hours.  He married young
    Mary Stilwell on Christmas Day in 1871.  She was not up to the rigors of
    caring for their family, let alone dealing with her husband's genius and
    fame.  They met when she worked in his small research factory in Newark,
    New Jersey.  From a poor family, with little education, she simply could
    not deal with the world spotlight intensely engulfing her famous
    husband.  Her health also was not good; Mary passed away at the age of 29.

    Those kids really never had a chance, and turned out badly.  The "old
    man's" namesake Thomas Alva Edison Junior additionally had the handicap of
    being very homely,  with a huge nose.  They all led difficult lives and
    sort of disappeared from world sight.  The other two children were Marion
    (sometimes also called Mary) and William.  It was reported in the press
    that the great inventor of telegraph system accessories called his first
    two children "Dot" and Dash".

    It's interesting to note that telegrapher Edison was a fan of Samuel Finley
    Breese Morse for inventing the telegraph.  Edison was so adept that he
    could listen to two telegraph sounders simultaneously, writing down both
    messages at the same time, one with his right hand, one with his left.

    Edison was jealous of Alexander Graham Bell for inventing the telephone,
    which Edison considered a logical extension of the telegraph, "his
    instrument".  Bell was equally in awe of Edison for developing the system
    for recording and playing back sound.  Bell was a student of sound and
    teacher of deaf students, one of whom he made his wife.

    Each developed improvements to the other's invention.  Historians have said
    that when commercially successful, the telephone was in many ways as much
    Edison's as it was Bell's, and the talking machine as much Bell's as it was
    Edison's.

    Edison's second wife Mina came from a very different background.  Wealth,
    success, education, and fine breeding.  She recognized the difficulties of
    her step-children and did everything she could to make them her children,
    while also having her own three youngsters.  The damage had been done with
    the earlier siblings, who were used to coasting on their father's coattails.

    The second set of children were Charles, Madeleine and Theodore.  They were
    given very different goals:  self-reliance, independence, even
    competition.  They were encouraged to create their own personalities and
    success in life.  This may have gone a bit too far, as they became so
    competitive with each other as to provide significant friction.

    All of this contributed to Theodore's reticence and shyness.  His older
    brother Charles took the opposite route.  He took over the reins of the
    Edison interests, and entered politics, boldly trading on the Edison name
    to become elected Governor of New Jersey.  His campaign posters were a
    large picture of the candidate over the Edison company logo which appeared
    on every Edison product, a script form of the word Edison.  He had been
    Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Franklin
    Roosevelt.  Curiously, FDR held the same post under an earlier President,
    at the beginning of his political career.

    Theodore was a successful inventor in his own right, with many items and
    patents to his credit.  Aside from the blinding glare of the senior
    Edison's fame, another reason one does not hear of Theodore in his own
    right is that the patents were in the name of his company, which bore a
    deliberately nondescript name: Calibron Products.  He shied away from
    personal publicity of any sort, refused interviews and requests for
    photographs.

    I was stunned to see him on the evening TV news one night.  I ran for a
    video tape to jam into my VCR, but by the time I got it going, another
    story was on the air.  I had to content myself with newspaper coverage of
    this singular event.

    West Orange acquired the remaining available buildings on the Edison
    company property and decided to have them razed.  Theodore
    uncharacteristically went public, decrying the foolishness, expense and
    waste of destroying perfectly good multi-story buildings, built with Edison
    Cement, as was Yankee Stadium.  They were supposed to be replaced by
    one-floor steel buildings, which would have cost the town much more, had
    they been built.

    In fact, they were not.  All that remains is parking lots adjacent to the
    buildings preserved by the National Park system as the Edison National
    Historic Site, and others earlier sold off, which are used to this day by
    industrial concerns.

    It was fascinating to stand by Ted Edison (the last of the living children)
    and the Loizeaux family geniuses of  the Controlled Demolition company,
    when they blew up those ill-fated buildings.  This was done in two
    stages.  All went well on the first early Sunday morning.  But when the
    dust cloud settled on the second Sunday outing, it revealed the last
    building had come down one story and sat there, as if David had brought
    Goliath to his knees but no further.

    I won't quote the initial reaction from the Loizeaux scion standing nearest
    to me.  It was terse but filled with frustration and puzzlement.  He
    exploded, "There goes our profit", for the remainder of the job would be
    done the expensive, time-consuming old fashioned way, wrecking ball and all.

    "Why didn't that one come down?" he asked.  I said, "Don't you know the
    history of that building?"  He turned to me and said, "[removed], is that
    one different?"  But that's another story, for another Digest.

    Madeleine was the middle of the later children.  Generally, she stayed out
    of the limelight, except to some extent in the West Orange social
    scene.  Late in life she was active in backing various historic ventures
    such as the Edison Birthplace in Milan, Ohio and various nationally
    observed anniversaries of her father's birth.

    During World War II, President Roosevelt designated February 11th as
    "National Inventor's Day".  This fell into disuse.  Many of us have tried
    to have it declared a national holiday, without success.  It made sense,
    since it's long ago been decided that the political establishment in the
    South would never allow the following day to be recognized as a
    holiday.  Not even in New Jersey where he spent his incredible career, or
    in Ohio where he was born, do the politicians show any interest in so
    honoring their incredible son.  But in Japan, Edison is revered as a Shinto
    God, and there are statues of the great man.  Around the world except in
    his own country, Edison is saluted on his birthday by the technical and
    scientific communities.  What a shame.

    Madeleine is the only Edison offspring who had children.  I believe all of
    them have Edison as their middle name.  Those I have had opportunity to
    meet seemed most disinterested in their illustrious grandfather.  The
    great-grandchildren are even less knowledgeable, about the same as the rest
    of their generation of Americans.  How sad.

    One additional curiosity before I close.  Edison's ancestors were from New
    Jersey, but wound up in the midwest via a route through Canada.  How and
    why that occurred is another interesting tale, involving a Tory family
    member during the American Revolution in my home town of Morristown, New
    Jersey.  There are relatives in eastern Canada to this day.  Oddly, they
    pronounce their name as "EEE'-dis-on".  Go figure!

    All the best.  Lee Munsick, Appomattox County, Virginia, USA- One Nation
    Under God

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

    Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2002 22:17:36 -0400
    From: ""Cynthia \"ChibiBarako\""" <cvc@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Thanks etc.

>     (and I believe he was voiced by Sidney Sheldon!)

    Oops, I think I meant Sheldon Leonard ... one of them there producer
    folks ...

    Cynthia

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

    Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2002 22:34:16 -0400
    From: "Arte" <arte@[removed];
    To: "OldRadio Mailing List" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Who's on First

    Derek gave the lineup for Abbott & Costello's famous routine
    and asked about right field.
    First, you had the pitcher & catcher reversed. It was Today
    catching & Tomorrow pitching.
    ("A couple o' days on the team.")
    He is correct in that right field is not mentioned. (This is
    a favorite trivia question.)

    Of course anyone from Chicago knows the right-fielder is
    Sammy Sosa.

    Arte
    [removed]

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

    Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2002 14:10:58 -0400
    From: "Richard  Carpenter" <sinatra@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  MP3 Giveaway VIII

       Here's my penultimate MP3 giveaway: a CD-ROM containing 83 X Minus One
    shows. Alas, the programs aren't ID'd but they played well in a test just
    now. The first (and only the first) person who e-mails me gets the CD free,
    postage paid, and so forth.

       Speaking of X Minus One, I am still bothered by an article in
    Entertainment Weekly sometime back about the history of, and influences on,
    science fiction. While the article correctly included the wonderful [removed]
    sci-fi comics of the '50s, it never mentioned any of the OTR series like X
    Minus One, Dimension X and Beyond 2000. Tsk.

    [ADMINISTRIVIA: You _really_ should send your notes directly to Richard; I've
    been forwarding mis-directed responses that come to the list address to him,
    but you can be certain it'll slow your chances by _hours_ by the time I
    notice and get it forwarded.

    Also, you should all be thrilled that I don't claim these puppies, since I
    always get to see 'em first.  ;)   --cfs3]

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

    Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2002 14:11:17 -0400
    From: Tim Johnson <tjnknox@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  History Speaks?
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
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    Back in 1971 about the same time I learned that OTR was available from
    traders, etc. and was bitten by the bug, I was teaching summer school in a
    local high school and ran across a 2 record album (LP) in the school's
    library that contained several original recordings from Edison
    cylinders/discs that were history related.  I think the album was titled
    "History Speaks", but I'm not absolutely certain of this.  Some of the
    recordings included several presidents speaking,  Lillian Russell singing,
    etc. all with narration.  Has anyone heard or heard of this remarkable album?
    I would be interested in purchasing it if it's available.

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    Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2002 14:11:49 -0400
    From: Tim Johnson <tjnknox@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Cinnamon Bear
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    Has anyone been able to determine who the actor was that played Jimmy Barton
    in "The Cinnamon Bear"?  All the literature that I have read indicate that
    this actor is unknown.  I have also wondered as to the exact location of
    Radio Recorders where the story was recorded.
    I accidentally discovered The Cinnamon Bear one afternoon in 1952 or 53.  It
    was broadcast locally on WBIR 1240.  The format was the opening theme "And
    Here's the Cinnamon Bear" withthe theme played through twice with voiceover
    by the station "dj".  At the end of each episode the theme would play twice
    again with voiceover.  The sponsor was KUB (Knoxville Utilities Board) with
    more of a public service message than a commercial approach, usually
    something to do with checking your Christmas lights for frayed wires, etc.
    Might be interesting to hear from other listeners from other areas as to
    whether this was pretty much a standard format.
    The Cinnamon Bear was followed by fifteen minutes of Santa reading letters
    from listeners complete with "North Pole" sounds and Santa's workshop sounds.
    Such memories!

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    Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2002 14:12:25 -0400
    From: Ivan G Shreve Jr <iscreve@[removed];
    To: Old Time Radio Mailing List <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Rexall-Dragnet plot suggestion

    Elizabeth McLeod wrote:

>     There are still a couple of Rexalls in my area -- one with a very
>     impressive blue-and-orange neon sign that hasn't worked in at least
>     twenty years. Rexall signage is all over the store, but not a Rexall
>     product to be found. In addition, the pharmacist at this store was
>     recently busted for illegally supplying scheduled drugs to the local
>     junkies -- which goes to show that Small Town America isn't all that it's
>     cracked up to be.

    This would make an excellent "Dragnet" episode--how "your Rexall family
    druggist" takes a little time from behind the counter to get nicked by Joe
    Friday and Ben Romero.

    Ivan
    --
    "Radio is theater of the mind--TV is theater of the mindless." -- Hal Kanter

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

    Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2002 14:13:07 -0400
    From: "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed];
    To: "OTR" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Old Radios
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    Kelli Stanley wrote when talking about Rexall and Ferndale:

>     Nearby, a family-owned department store
>     (Lentz) sports a collection of antique radios (not for sale) above the
>     racks of clothes, yarn and sewing notions.

    This reminded me to tell the group that if  any of you are ever in the SF Bay
    Area you should go to the Royal Cafe on San Pablo Ave. in Albany, CA.    They
    have an amazingly diverse and enormous collection of old radios, on shelves
    climbing the walls as well as other great memorabilia, but radios are their
    main thing.   Also not for sale.   And while you're there have one of their
    great omelets.

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    Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2002 14:13:19 -0400
    From: "welsa" <welsa@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Billy Idelson

    Pardon an "idle" question, but does anyone know whether or not Billy Idelson
    (Rush on VIC & SADE) is still living?

    We are doing a VIC & SADE episode in a show this coming Saturday and some of
    our group brought up this subject.

    Perhaps he is William Idelson today!

    Ted Meland
    Madison,Wisconsin

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

    Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2002 14:16:29 -0400
    From: "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Rexall Drug Stores

    Around the Boston area, most Rexall drug stores had signs which identified them as "Liggett
    Rexall" drug stores.  I'm not sure, but I think I vaguely remember seeing one with a name
    other than Liggett on it. I surmise now that the Liggett Rexall stores were probably company
    owned, while the others might have been franchises.

    --
    A. Joseph Ross, [removed]                           [removed]
     15 Court Square, Suite 210                 lawyer@[removed]
    Boston, MA 02108-2503           	         [removed]

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

    Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2002 14:17:07 -0400
    From: "Scott D. Livingston" <sdl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Rexall Memories

    Boy, am I having fun reading about the Rexall Drug Stores. While growing up
    in Craig Colorado I remember running right down to our Rexall Drug store and
    getting a Cherry Coke at the in store soda fountain. That store has long
    since disappeared but I was driving through Kanab Utah the other day and
    there on the main drag was a modern front drug store with a good old
    fashioned Rexall orange and black sign hanging on it. Man what memories. I
    though about my childhood the rest of my trip to SLC. What a great trip!

    Fibber

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

    Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2002 14:16:49 -0400
    From: "Robert Angus" <rangus02@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  re more rexall

    The "Jake leg" scandal referred to by Elizabeth McLeod would have occurred
    at just about the same time as the Great McKesson & Robbins swindle in
    Connecticut, would it not?  M & R, like United Drug, was a wholesaler and
    supplier of pharmeceuticals.  Unlike United, however, it did not operate
    retail outlets.  M & R's guiding genius, A. Philip Musica, had been cooking
    that company's books (not unlike Worldcomm today)  with nonexistent supplies
    of drugs and ingredients supposedly in warehouses in Montreal.  My question:
    was there any connection between Musica and the Liggetts or between United
    Drug and M & R?

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

    Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2002 14:19:02 -0400
    From: John Mayer <mayer@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Hoagy the Hero

    "John DiMezzes" <jadm1@[removed]; took issue with my lexicography:

     > To my knowledge, Mr. Carmichael had nothing to do with the gustatory
     > delight known as the "hoagie." ...Originally, they were called
     > "Hoggies," after the island.  Then, perhaps because mouths were full,
     > the name was slurred to "hoagie."

    Well, I wasn't entirely serious (though I would not be surprised to find
    that some club where Hoagy played had introduced a sandwich in his
    honor). I've found one of the quickest ways to arrive at the truth of
    the matter is to submit some half-baked notion to the digest; you will
    have your research done for you by the time of the next issue.

    But, belatedly ashamed of my laziness, I did try to look up the word
    online. Merriam-Webster claims the etymology is unknown, but one of the
    other web dictionaries said it was a variant of "hoggie," without
    offering the details you have provided. I was surprised to see that I'd
    missed several other names for the hoagy, most of them restricted to
    certain regions. Which makes me wonder how a Tennessee mountain lad
    picked up a term I read is used only in Philadelphia and New Jersey.

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

    Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2002 14:19:37 -0400
    From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Today in radio history

      From Those Were The Days --

    1940 - As a summer replacement for blind piano virtuoso Alec Templeton,
    the Quiz Kids was first heard on radio. The show continued on NBC until
    1953.

    1943 - The Dreft Star Playhouse debuted on NBC. Jane Wyman starred in
    the first broadcast, titled Bachelor Mother.

    1944 - The Alan Young Show debuted on NBC. It was a summer replacement
    for the popular Eddie Cantor. The show became a regular in the fall NBC
    lineup.

      Joe

    --
    Visit my home page:
    [removed]~[removed]

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #242
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