Subject: [removed] Digest V01 #109
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 4/7/2001 3:10 PM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                      The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                         Volume 01 : Issue 109
                   A Part of the [removed]!
                           ISSN: 1533-9289


                           Today's Topics:

 Juvenile radio                       [Rich Samuels <richsam@[removed];     ]
 Re: Recording Quality                [Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed]]
 Harlan Stone                         [Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed]]
 re others in the otr medium          [chet !! <cien@[removed];          ]
 the blacklist                        [Howard Blue <khovard@[removed];     ]
 The Dressing Contest                 [HERITAGE4@[removed]                  ]
 Fidelity of actual OT radio broadcas ["Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed]]
 Observation on The Good Old Days.    ["Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed]]
 Scarlet Queen sequel?                ["Doug Leary" <dleary@[removed];    ]
 Re: Shady Nook WLW Moon River Organ  [GEORGE WAGNER <gwagneroldtimeradio@]
 Lois Culver                          [hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];    ]
 Moon River Organ                     [ClifSr@[removed]                     ]
 Virginia Payne                       [Conrad Binyon <conradab@[removed]]

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

Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 17:41:55 -0400
From: Rich Samuels <richsam@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Juvenile radio

The show Richard Pratz is trying to recall is "Happy Hank"---which I heard
as a kid  on WLS in Chicago ca. 1946-1947. The sponsor was Co-Co Wheats
(the Little Crow Milling Company of Warsaw, IN). Highlight of the show (in
my memory) was the dressing race in which boys were pitted against
girls.  The winner of the race on any particular day was ascertained by a
"magic electric eye" which peered into the bedrooms of the contestants.
A few unanswered questions: was this show produced by WLS or was it
syndicated? In the recesses of my mind, I keep hearing the electrical
transcription disclaimer associated with the show. Who portrayed "Happy
Hank"? Could it have been the same artist who appeared from time to time on
WGN in the late 20's billed as "Happy Henry"? Someone out there with a 1946
or 1947 "WLS Family Album" might be able to check to see if Hank was a
member of the sizable WLS stable of performers.
Would love to have someone discover a surviving transcription of this
show---which many Chicagoans of a certain age remember.

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

Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 19:13:13 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Recording Quality

Dave Phaneuf wonders,

My question is:  not ever having ever heard anything of OTR _EXCEPT_ tapes
and records and .ram's and MP3's, how common were "surface noise and volume
drops"?  They were certainly there on the [removed] but was that the result
of age-old transcription disks showing wear and tear (kind of like my old
children's LPs listened to so many times, the sound was scratched and
fuzzy)?

Most of the "surface noise and volume drops" mentioned by the famous
Radio Reruns disclaimer had nothing to do with the original discs. They
were artifacts created by generation on generation of tape-to-tape
dubbing, recorded quarter-track on consumer-grade machines usually
running at slow speed, and on tape stock of wildly-varying quality, and
compromised by generation after generation of attempted correction of the
defects by poorly-used equalizers. A lot of what was in circulation for
OTR collectors in the that era amounted to dim, muffled shadows of what
had actually been recorded.

While digital formats promise to eliminate the problem of
multi-generation degradation, they can't reverse the damage that already
exists if the material encoded is a poor-quality multi-gen dub.
Heavy-handed processing of such dubs with digital noise-reduction tools
usually ends up creating a whole new layer of unpleasant artifacts --
making a program that used to sound like it was coming from under a
blanket now sound like it's coming from under a blanket immersed in a
barrel of water.

Actual transcriptions were often of exceptional audio quality ---
depending on where along the audio chain they were recorded, and by whom,
they could have audio response up to 12 kc, and a correctly-transferred
first-generation copy needs no audio quality disclaimer. (Insert plug
here for the First Generation Radio Archives, [removed].)

Static from interference over the airwaves, I imagine was there, but that
shouldn't come over on a tape recording of a transcription disk, should it?

If a recording was made off-the-air, as opposed to off the network or
studio line, atmospherics can very easily be present. Storm crashes are
minor annoyances, but I have to admit that I'm always interested to find
station drift or adjacent-channel interference preserved in the grooves
of an original transcription - it's an enjoyable challenge to try and
identify the interfering program and determine what station it's coming
from.

Elizabeth

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

Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 20:26:28 -0400
From: Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Harlan Stone

Thank you, Harlan Stone, for your answer to my question. It was very
detailed and I will be looking forward to your book!

Radio performers are rarely one dimensional; perhaps that's what makes them
great actors.

Dennis Crow

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

Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 20:35:47 -0400
From: chet !! <cien@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  re others in the otr medium

david phaneuf asks

  HOW
MANY OF YOU OUT THERE -- AND WHO ARE YOU -- ARE     ACTUAL
VETERANS OF
[removed] -- YOU KNOW, WORKED IN THE MEDIUM?  I know Hal Stone, and Lois,
of
course, and Mike Biel, and Owens Pomeroy.  I think Shiffy.  I know I
missed
a bunch of you.  Who else?
****************************

me, [removed] got into radio acting in los angeles around the tail end
of the golden [removed] the neighborhood of 1949 or 50 as a teenager and
then it was off to to fight our alleged enemy "korea" and when i
returned it was [removed] drayma that is
chet norris

--

 [removed]

"Non urum ad ventum"


                        {=^.^=}

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

Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 22:01:02 -0400
From: Howard Blue <khovard@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  the blacklist

Friend Harlan mentioned my research about the blacklist and I just want
to clarify something briefly. I do indeed have a chapter about the
broadcasting industry blacklist.

I very much appreciate the comments that Harlan made to me concerning
Hayworth and others involved in the blacklist. However, I am not prepared
to comment on the topic. I am still negotiating to have the book
published and I don't want to scoop myself.

					Howard Blue

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

Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2001 03:00:39 -0400
From: HERITAGE4@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  The Dressing Contest

Thanks to Steve Kallis, Jr.,  I recall a similar program feature on the
Yankee Network outlet in Boston, WNAC, in the 1940's.  A program timed for
the approximate "getting up time" of kids in the elementary grades.  The host
would encourage everyone to do their best every morning in the "Dressing
Contest" by singing the following little verse:

Now get your clothes together,  in front of the radio,
Or in some other handy place, hurry now, don't be slow
'Cause this is the dressing contest -- Let's see who will win
And when I give the signal, we'll all begin.

I believe the host than gave a "countdown" and  played a fast-paced number on
the piano.  At the conclusion, the host implied that he was able to "see"
who won - the boys or the girls.  Over the long run, it was always even!
I always wondered about the last line of his song, "we'll all begin" -
and whether that meant "Mr. Annoucer Man" was getting dressed in the studio.
<<Tom Heathwood>>  Heirtage Radio Classics  [removed]
Heritage4@[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2001 03:00:41 -0400
From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Fidelity of actual OT radio broadcasts

My question is:  not ever having ever heard anything of OTR _EXCEPT_ tapes
and records and .ram's and MP3's, how common were "surface noise and volume
drops"?  They were certainly there on the [removed] but was that the result
of age-old transcription disks showing wear and tear (kind of like my old
children's LPs listened to so many times, the sound was scratched and
fuzzy)?

Static from interference over the airwaves, I imagine was there, but that
shouldn't come over on a tape recording of a transcription disk, should it?

Not that I remember, though memories can indeed be very subjective.  There
certainly weren't scratches, and the stations we listened to in Cleveland
were sufficiently powerful so that there wasn't any appreciable 'airwave'
interference.  The network broadcast lines would probably sound a bit dull
to those of us who are used to digital-quality, FM radio, but there wasn't
any obvious noise on these, either.

Far as I can remember, a program on AM radio then sounded pretty much like a
program on AM radio now, only then there was something to listen to.  I
suspect that what you're hearing is the result of some really wretched
treatment of the transcription disks.

For what it's worth, I first heard a recording of the War of the Worlds
broadcast back when radio soap operas and One Man's Family and Gildersleeve
were still running.  I was shocked at the high noise level and generally
poor fidelity on that recording, and I really doubted then and now that it
could have sounded anywhere near that bad when originally broadcast.

M Kinsler

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

Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2001 03:00:45 -0400
From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Observation on The Good Old Days.

THEM WERE THE GOOD OLD DAYS

This is excellent, and thanks so much for posting it.  I have one
observation that might be helpful, though I doubt it'll surprise many of the
OTR fans here:

When Ed Armstrong was a steeplejack

I believe that this is a reference to a famous photograph of Maj. Edwin
Armstrong, inventor of FM and darned near everything else in modern radio,
balancing on one foot on the spire of a very tall skyscraper, I believe in
New York.  I still get the willies when I see that picture.  Though the most
practical of engineers, Maj. Armstrong was a true genius and lived the
tragic life story of so many other geniuses.

Mark Kinsler

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

Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2001 03:00:43 -0400
From: "Doug Leary" <dleary@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Scarlet Queen sequel?

Someone may have mentioned this a while ago, but I don't have the back
[removed] what was the short-lived seagoing adventure series of the early
50s that was an attempt to revive the "Voyage of the Scarlet Queen" concept?
I've been going nuts trying to find the name of it on the web.

Doug Leary

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

Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2001 10:38:41 -0400
From: GEORGE WAGNER <gwagneroldtimeradio@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Shady Nook WLW Moon River Organ

     Tall Paul Kattelman wonders where the Shady Nook
Restaurant pipe organ is to be discovered in the
building.
     The organ "lives" in the basement and is raised
up into the restaurant proper on a lift. The organist
begins playing swelling chords a full 30 second or
more before the organ makes its remarkably dramatic
visual appearance. I always found this combination of
sound and sight stunningly and overwhelmingly pleasant
to both the ears and the eyes - very nearly a
religious experience. (Heck, it IS a religios
experience!)

     Let me point out here this was NOT the organ of
Fats Waller and the gin bottles. That was yet another
WLW studio pipe organ! (Exactly how many pipe organs
did WLW have?)

     By the way, those who have never listened to the
1927 Victor pipe organ recordings Thomas "Fats" Waller
cut for Victor in 1927 might well want to rectify that
unfortunate omission. (My favorite is "Gin Bottle
Stomp.") I personally regard Waller as the greatest
pipe organist since Johann Sebastian Bach - and I may
well have listed the names of those two saints in
reverse order.

     George Wagner
     GWAGNEROLDTIMERADIO@[removed]
     poetdreamerscholar@[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2001 10:40:32 -0400
From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Lois Culver


Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 08:59:53 -0400
From: "David Phaneuf" <dphaneuf@[removed];

In the last Digest, David Phaneuf , relating to Lois's Pic with her husband,
"ooozed" the following:

Lois herself entered in, denying it was ever her, and gave us her
picture to gaze upon at:
(The picture of the REAL me is found with Howard Culver at:
[removed]

W-E-L-L! even if it was Lois _Collier_ on Boston Blackie, Lois _Culver_ was
STILL pretty, there in new husband Howard's arms!     ;o)

(I'm sure you still are, too, Lois, though a few years more golden .....
since I've never met you in person!)

I now say to David Phaneuf: CUT IT OUT! NO MORE "HITTING" ON LOISŠŠŠ SHE"S
MINE! (But then again, I bet the shameless vixen tells that to all the
guys). If you join her "Chat Room" on Thursday nites, you can get lots of
Hugs. I'm black and blue all over!

Re your question that follows:

One thing I would like to know, since this raises the question for me:  HOW
MANY OF YOU OUT THERE -- AND WHO ARE YOU -- ARE     ACTUAL VETERANS OF
[removed] -- YOU KNOW, WORKED IN THE MEDIUM?

David, I'm trying to get more of "us" involved. It's lots of fun being
"Celebrities" again. I'm working on trying to convince Bob Hastings to sign
up, but the only thing he uses the damn computer for is to keep track of the
stock market and all his investments. I hear tell he has to get a new
keyboard because the one he is currently using is getting "Rusty" from all
his tears.

The other guy I'm trying to get involved is Ben Cooper, another OTR child
actor who went on to appear in Films and TV many years ago. Ben and I go
Waaay back. His older sister was my first girlfriend in Grammar school.

I'll keep trying. The more the Merrier. (We don't mind sharing the
spotlight, right Lois?)  And we don't need a big "Spotlight". There are so
few of us left.

Hal (Jughead) Stone

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

Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2001 10:40:34 -0400
From: ClifSr@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Moon River Organ

     I'm sure somebody from the American Theater Organ Society will know if
the WLW pipe organ still languishes in the  basement of the now defunct Shady
Nook North of Cincinnati. They used a fork lift to make it rise dramatically
into view.    By the way, calling it the WLW Moon River organ was a bit of a
stretch unless you're a pipe organ purist.  In pipe organ parlance, "organ"
doesn't mean the console with it's keys, pedals, stop tablets and various
gadgets. It refers to the pipes and other noisemakers that are usually in one
or more rooms some distance from the console.    That's why the golden voiced
OTR announcers were often heard saying "at the console of the organ."   The
Shady Nook instrument contained some of the pipework from WLW but the big,
wonderfully garish console came out of some theater.  Radio organ consoles
didn't look like that. Some historians say there were two WLW "organs," which
I'm guessing meant two consoles.  I think the Shady Nook organist told me
what happened to the WLW console but I have forgotten.  It's probably in a
private home someplace unless it was chopped up for firewood as many pipe
organs were where the Hammond replaced them.

Clif Martin
Things I Can't Say on the Air
[removed]~ticsota

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

Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2001 10:40:36 -0400
From: Conrad Binyon <conradab@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Virginia Payne

[removed]@[removed] wrote:

Sorry, I spelled Virginia Payne's name wrong.  The wonderful actress who
was MA PERKINS deserves better treatment.

Dennis Crow

And for those of you who missed it before who wouldn't have
wanted to have a "MA" as good looking as Virginia.

See for yourselves at:

     [removed]

--
conradab@[removed] (Conrad A. Binyon)
   From the Home of the Stars who loved Ranches and Farms
     Encino, California.

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V01 Issue #109
*******************************************

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