Subject: [removed] Digest V2008 #100
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 4/19/2008 10:18 PM
To: [removed]@[removed]
Reply-to:
[removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2008 : Issue 100
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Cincinnati comments                   [ JJLjackson@[removed] ]
  Re: A&A Cartoons                      [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
  Re: Amos n' Andy and first time OTR,  [ rand@[removed] ]
  Re: The only accounting for taste, i  [ Larry Husch <lshusch@[removed]; ]
  SPERDVAC convention in two weeks      [ "Walden Hughes" <walden1@yesterdayu ]
  Benny fluffs                          [ "Laura Leff" <president@[removed] ]
  This week in radio history 20-26 Apr  [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
  Re: Where do you listen to OTR?       [ Fred Berney <fsberney@[removed]; ]
  4-20 births/deaths                    [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]

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

Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2008 01:54:47 -0400
From: JJLjackson@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Cincinnati comments
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

I have to add my .02 to the Cincinnati theme. There were four of us
representing American Radio Theater at the Cincinnati convention--2 of us
from
Seattle, one from Lexington, and one from Birmingham, England. We all had a
fantastic time at the convention, before it, on Thursday evening, and
afterward,  on
Sunday, when we sat and chatted with the Hughes family while waiting for Dr.
Bob's departure time for the airport.

The recreations, author panel, Martin's movie clips and John Rayburn's
monologue were both fun and informative. I barely got my suitcases closed
from  all
the stuff I either bought in the Dealer's room, or had the incredible luck
to win from the raffle.

The hotel rooms were in much better shape than last year. I left the tag on
the door saying "do not disturb", and on Friday morning, I found a plastic bag
 containing towels, roll of toilet paper and box of kleenex, with a note
saying  they had honored my request.  That has never happened to me before.

(To offset that, on Saturday, the person doing the making up of rooms
(different woman from Friday) must have decided to go off early, since I
know some
of the rooms on the 5th floor didn't get much attention.)

There were 3 tables plus assorted chairs in front of the desk, and a couple
of couches over by the vending machines--all of which were gratefully used
most  of the time. A vast improvement over last year.

Re: chairs. I'd be surprised if all of the hotel's chairs for those two
programming rooms are involved in the set-up for the room that has the
rehearsals
in it. Maybe if a person were designated to have the staff make the  unused
chairs available on Thursday night or Friday morning, the situation might
improve. Or perhaps it might be worthwhile to pony up a little money for that
extra service.

To me, the glaring problem was the staffing of the bar and restaurant. If
you didn't have access to a car, then you didn't eat on Saturday for
lunch--which was a big problem for the OTR stars. And the restaurant was
staffed  by
only one over-loaded waitress on Saturday morning. The only way around that
would be to make sure folks could run out to the nearby fast-food places.   I
did
learn that the desk staff did have a menu, that could be ordered from for
room service, but that was not an apparent solution to most of us.

Yeah there were little bars of soap--but the shampoo bottle that was in the
room was also a body wash--something I haven't seen in other hotels.

I think the hot and cold water in the bathtubs of at least two rooms were  on
the wrong sides--but that's what makes it an adventure!

Would I do it again?  In a heartbeat. As I said, we had a wonderful  time.
And we are making plans for next year.

Joy Jackson
American Radio Theater

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

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

Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2008 09:08:46 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: A&A Cartoons

On 4/18/08 11:24 PM [removed]@[removed] wrote:

I was just poking around [removed] wondering if there were any A&A
radio shows. Not so much, but some TV excerpts, some Victor records, and
2 cartoons that I had never heard of before. Lion Tamer & Rasslin' Match

Perhaps Elizabeth could give us a little more background on these?

There were two films in this shortlived series produced in New York by
Van Bueren Productions and distributed by RKO --

"The Rasslin' Match" (released 1/5/34)

"The Lion Tamer" (released 2/2/34)

The two films were to have been the start of 13-film series, with Correll
and Gosden providing their own voices and story material ("Wrasslin'
Match" was a seven-minute condensation of a two-week-long serial
storyline that had aired in the summer of 1932, in which the Kingfish
promoted a match between Andy and pro wrestler Bullneck Mooseface).
Correll and Gosden recorded the soundtracks for the first two films in
the series in the spring of 1933 during one of their rare visits to New
York, and had no further input on the visual side of the project. When
the first film was released, they were very disappointed with the shoddy
quality of the films -- and didn't at all like the way the characters
were caricatured -- so the team walked out on the project.

Studio president Amadee Van Beuren had hoped that the A&A cartoons would
prove the salvation of his floundering studio, and when Correll and
Gosden terminated their contract, Van Beuren promptly sued them, charging
that the termination was illegal. Correll and Gosden countersued, the
case dragged thru the courts, and ended up falling by the wayside when
the studio went bankrupt in 1936. The entire Van Beuren film library was
eventually  bought up by an outfit called "Official Films Inc." which
released them on 16mm for home use, and for TV syndication in the late
forties. They have been floating around ever since, and were quite common
on public-domain videocassettes in the 80s and 90s.

Elizabeth

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

Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2008 09:12:05 -0400
From: rand@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Amos n' Andy and first time OTR, Goon Show

I'm not one for political correctness, but the half-hour sitcom version of
Amos and Andy does make me cringe a bit.  The characters don't seem to
have much depth.  The quality of the writing seemed typical of many
similar ad agency driven sitcoms of the late 1940s and early 50s.  They're
using stock characters that act a bit "dumb" in order to drive the comedy
and plots of the shows, much like other sitcoms of the day.  The fact that
the characters are played by white actors makes it a little disconcerting
for me - sure, it was accepted at the time, but I can see how someone who
is African-American would find it offensive.

I work at Duke University, helping faculty use technology in teaching
courses and helped one professor teaching a class on radio drama in the
Theater department.  "Amos and Andy" and other OTR shows are discussed in
the class and the professor uses it as an opportunity for the students to
explore how attitudes have changed over time about race, the role of
women, etc.

But, getting back to the original thread, the professor also has the
students choose a script they produce as a recorded radio play for the
class in small teams.  The students seem to respond well to the classic
thriller shows, like Suspense.  Oddly, at least in my mind, they also seem
to like "Your Truly, Johnny Dollar" and some of the groups have chosen to
recreate episodes of that program.  I guess it's appealing to the young
college guys because of the idea of being an investigator with a seemingly
unlimited expense account.

With my own friends, it's been hit or miss with OTR.  I have a couple of
friends with a similar sense of humor that I thought would enjoy "Vic and
Sade", but they didn't seem to get it.  I had a bit more success
introducing them to the 15 minute serial format with "Lum and Abner",
particularly the Thanksgiving show where they debate killing a turkey.

If someone likes "Monty Python", I can usually get them interested in "The
Goon Show", but it might take listening to a couple of episodes before
they can understand the fast-paced patter.  Another thing that's worked
well with these folks has been some of local shows by Bob and Ray in my
collection.

I've also gotten some friends interested with some of the "Superman" shows
from just after WWII (the "Atom Man" series) and 1930s episodes of "Jungle
Jim", or "Chandu the Magician" - there's a kind of goofiness about them
that they seem to appreciate.  They're sometimes surprised by subject
matter, which can get them interested (such as the Superman storyline
where he battles racists or a "Dragnet" episode dealing with marijuana).

One show in particular that I've sprung on a few friends over the years is
the Mercury Theater production of "Dracula" - it's a favorite of mine I
return to once in a while because of the way it captures the creepiness of
the story better than the early 30s film.  Another favorite I've tried on
a few people is the Columbia Workshop program, based on a New Yorker story
I think, about the radio that can receive conversations from other homes
in an apartment building and my friends seemed to enjoy that.

I've had less success with comedy shows.  I think Fred Allen is the bee's
knees and really enjoy Jack Benny and Stan Freeburg, but they've gotten
ho-hum responses.  A colleague at work actually found Fibber McGee and
Molly irritating and he's someone who enjoys "old timey" music and comedy
from the 78 era.

I think some friends would really like episodes of "Quiet Please", but
I've been reluctant to try them because of the sound quality.

By the way, has anyone ever run into reviews of "The Goon Show" when it
was run on NBC in the 1950s?  I've been curious what kind of reaction
there was to the show at the time by American audiences.  I'm a big fan of
British comedy and the shows can even be a little dense for me - it
sounded so different from anything on US radio.

I recently saw an ebay auction where someone had a "part two" disc of a
"Goon Show" episode on an AFRTS disc.  The other side had part of a "Grand
Old Opry" show.  A rather strange pairing.

Randy
Mebane, NC

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

Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2008 09:55:37 -0400
From: Larry Husch <lshusch@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: The only accounting for taste, is by taste

I would concede that Amos n Andy is as politically incorrect as My Friend Irma, if you could prove to me that Irma Peterson is dumb because she is Caucasion.

During my pre-teen years, I grew up in a Polish part of Queens, NYC 
right next to an Italian neighborhood. Later, I went to St. Francis 
College in Brooklyn where most of the students were first or second 
generation American born and were of Polish, German, Irish, Italian, 
Puerto Rican or African descent. My grandmother told me that she 
objected to the use of the term Pole to describe someone of Polish 
descent even though, to me, the term was not as objectionable as the 
terms that were used to refer to people of the other ethnicities.  Of 
course, I would not contradict my babcia.

Years later, I did not like the Polish jokes that were told on Rowan and 
Martin's Laugh In. But I didn't think much about it until one time they 
told a joke about a Polish Martian. I remember really getting upset 
about it. What was amazing to me that it was not really offensive as the 
other Polish jokes that were told.  The point is that MY feelings were 
hurt.  The incident reenforced my resolve to be sensitive to the needs 
of others and not to tell them how they should feel.  I remember the 
controversy  that followed the release of the Godfather movies; after my 
experience, I would not tell a person of Italian descent how he/she 
should feel about these movies.

Larry

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

Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:07:21 -0400
From: "Walden Hughes" <walden1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  SPERDVAC convention in two weeks

Hi Everybody,

we are just two weeks away from the SPERDVAC convention in California.  We
have close to 50 personalities from the Golden Days of radio in our panels
and shows, and many more will be joining us for dinners during the week end
of May 2 through May 4 at the Sportmen,s Lodge.  You might want to consider
coming to this convention that will feature a Lone Ranger  show with Fred
Foy, a Jack Benny show starring Eddie Carroll, and a Great Gildersleeves
show starring Shirley Mitchell.  Some of the panels will be Radio Goes to
the Movies with Coleen Gray, Anne Jeffreys, and Alan Young, or Music on the
Radio with Kay Starr, Gogi Grant, and many others.  We are going to
celebrate Norman Corwin 98 birthday on Sunday morning too with Norman.  You
can read about the convention at [removed], and come join us in two
weeks.  Take care,

Walden

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

Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:14:40 -0400
From: "Laura Leff" <president@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Benny fluffs

 Randy Larson continued his [removed]

Well, two-parter:  What was the period of live repeat broadcasts for JB, 
and how were flubs handled in either or the two broadcasts on any particular
Sunday in said live repeat era?

(4/12:  Know this was a while [removed]'t even had a chance to read my 
E-mail all
week.)  (4/19:  Then my response got rejected until I could resend a week 
later.)

Probably the easiest cheat answer for me is to copy out of my
 introduction for 39 Forever Volume [removed]

 "I find it particularly amazing that in spot-checking a few bloopers with
 the scripts, some of them were not bloopers but fully intentional and
 scripted slips. One time Jack says, "You haven't an ounce of
 [removed]" To my ears, it sounded like a real blooper. But in
 looking at the script, Jack had written "sediment" in pencil just above the
 line. It may have been a conscious edit for script improvement. Perhaps it
 was fluffed in rehearsal, and they decided to keep it in. It may have been
 fluffed in the East Coast show, and kept for the West Coast. It is
 impossible to know now. I have not cross-checked every blooper, but I wanted
 to acknowledge that some listed in this volume were intentional."

 --Laura Leff
President, IJBFC
[removed] 

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

Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2008 21:41:40 -0400
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  This week in radio history 20-26 April

 From Those Were The Days --

4/20

1935 -- Your Hit Parade was first broadcast.

1947 - Fred Allen didn't find things so funny when censors cut him off
the air during his broadcast. Allen was telling a joke about a mythical
network vice-president when he was suddenly taken off the air. One
moment [removed]

4/21

1940 - Take It or Leave It, was first heard on CBS on this day. Bob Hawk
offered contestants a top prize of $64. No, there were no lovely parting
gifts or consolation prizes that we could find. Losers just left.

1949 - The prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for Broadcasting was
presented to You Bet Your Life star, "The one, the only, Groucho
(Marx)." This was the first time the honor had been awarded to a comedian.

4/22

1940 - The first all-Chinese commercial radio program was broadcast over
KSAN in San Francisco, CA.

1946 - Tex McCrary and Jinx Falkenburg arrived at WEAF in New York City
with an entertaining morning show called, Hi, Jinx.

4/24

1949 - Dick Powell starred in Richard Diamond, Private Detective on NBC.
The show stayed on the air for four years.

1955 - X-Minus One, a show for science fiction fans, was first heard on NBC.

4/25

1938 - Your Family and Mine, a radio serial, was first broadcast.

Joe

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

Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2008 21:41:56 -0400
From: Fred Berney <fsberney@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Where do you listen to OTR?

I'm just curious. Where do you mostly listen to OTR programs.

I use to listen at home, but now I'm finding that I listen more in my
car. I'll either grab some cassettes or CD and put them in the car
when I'm about to go for a drive that will keep me in the car for
more than 30 minutes.

On trips, I load up my GPS with hours of MP3 files.

Fred

Fred
Check us out for old time radio & TV shows & Movie Serials
[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2008 22:14:10 -0400
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  4-20 births/deaths

April 20th births

04-20-1889 - Adolf Hitler - Braunau, Austria - d. 4-30-1945
dictator: Propaganda broadcasts
04-20-1893 - Harold Lloyd - Burchard, NE - d. 3-8-1971
comedian: "Comedy Theatre"
04-20-1897 - Gregory Ratoff - St. Petersburg, Russia - d. 12-14-1960
panelist: "Information, Please"
04-20-1898 - Sidney Lanfield - Chicago, IL - d. 6-20-1972
film director: "Screen Director's Playhouse"
04-20-1904 - Bruce Cabot - Carlsbad, NM - d. 5-3-1972
actor: "Hallmark Hall of Fame"; "Hollywood on the Air"
04-20-1904 - John Sanford - Harlem, NY - 3-6-2003
screenwriter: "Lux Radio Theatre"
04-20-1908 - Lionel Hampton - Louisville, KY - d. 8-31-2002
vibraphone artist: "Jubilee"; "One Night Stand"; "Lionel Hampton and
His Orchestra"
04-20-1914 - Betty Lou Gerson - Chattanooga, TN - d. 1-12-1999
actor: Mary Marlin "Story of Mary Marlin"; Charlotte Wilson "The
Guiding Light"
04-20-1915 - Evelyn Scott - Brockton, MA - d. 1-31-2002
actor: "Arch Oboler's Plays"; "The Smiths of Hollywood"
04-20-1923 - Tito Puente - NYC - d. 5-31-2000
percussionist, bandleader: "Manhattan Melodies"
04-20-1924 - Nina Foch - Leyden, The Netherlands
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Suspense"; "Cavalcade of America"
04-20-1924 - Patricia Peardon - Allendale, NJ - d. 4-22-1993
actor: Mary Aldrich "Aldrich Family"; Joan Worthington "Orphans of
Divorce"
04-20-1926 - Elena Verdugo - Hollywood, CA
actor: Millie Bronson "Meet Millie"

April 20th deaths

01-21-1924 - Benny Hill - Southampton, England - d. 4-20-1992
comedian: "Educating Archie"
01-29-1923 - Martin Ragaway - d. 4-20-1989
writer: "The Abbot and Costello Show"; "The Milton Berle Show"
03-27-1916 - Howard Merrill - NYC - d. 4-20-2002
writer: "Advs. of Leonidas Witherall"; "Leave It to Mike"; "Secret
Missions"
04-12-1919 - Cy Bahakel - Birmingham, AL - d. 4-20-2006
newscaster: WJRD Tuscaloosa, AL
05-07-1892 - Archibald MacLeish - Glencoe, IL - d. 4-20-1982
writer: "Columbia Workshop"
05-10-1922 - Ric Throssell - Greenmount, Western Australia - d.
4-20-1999
writer: "The Day Before Tomorrow"
05-20-1921 - Joel Kane - Los Angeles County, CA - d. 4-20-1993
writer: "Fibber McGee and Molly"
06-19-1920 - Johnny Douglas - London, England - d. 4-20-2003
host: "In the Still of the Night"
06-25-1924 - Phil Nowlan - d. 4-20-2002
writer: Buck Rogers in the 25th Century based on Nowlan"s comic strip
06-28-1904 - Hector Chevigny - d. 4-20-1965
writer: "Portia Faces Life"; "The Second Mrs. Burton"
07-09-1925 - Alan Dale - Brooklyn, NY - d. 4-20-2002
singer, actor: "Sing It Again"
08-08-1912 - Gail Henshaw - NYC - d. 4-20-1954
actor: Kitty Keene "Kitty Keene"; Linda Munson "The Woman in White"
08-22-1879 - Edward Johnson - Ontario, Canada - d. 4-20-1959
operatic tenor: "Metropolitan Opera"
09-19-1910 - Dresser Dahlstead - Springville, UT - d. 4-20-1998
announcer: "I Deal in Crime"; "Death Valley Days"; "I Love a Mystery"
10-20-1897 - William A. Bacher - d. 4-20-1965
producer, director: "Al Jolson Show"; "Hollywood Hotel"; "Treasury
Star Parade"
10-26-1912 - Donald Siegel - Chicago, IL - d. 4-20-1991
film director: "Bud's Bandwagon"
11-08-1847 - Bram Stoker - Dublin, Ireland - d. 4-20-1912
author: "Mercury Theatre"; "Hall of Fantasy"; "Mind's Eye"
11-20-1890 - Robert Armstrong - Saginaw, MI - d. 4-20-1973
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
12-20-1889 - Ernest LaPrade - Memphis, TN - d. 4-20-1969
conductor: "Collier's Hour"; "Orchestra of the Nation"

Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2008 Issue #100
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