Subject: [removed] Digest V01 #132
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 4/29/2001 6:24 PM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                      The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                         Volume 01 : Issue 132
                   A Part of the [removed]!
                           ISSN: 1533-9289


                           Today's Topics:

 Ken Weigel                           ["Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed]]
 Scripts of lost shows                ["Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed]]
 Radio Awards                         [Conrad Binyon <conradab@[removed]]
 Re: 1930s Performers Identified      [Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed]]
 Bob and Ray FTP ??                   ["Gerry Vogler" <GVogler1@[removed]]
 ***Quote REJECT engaged              ["Bill in GA" <wmewilson@[removed]]
 Overrated?                           [Joe Mackey <wmackey@[removed]]
 Jerry and Jimmy                      [Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed]]
 Remley vs. Archie                    ["Philip Railsback" <philiprailsback]
 Funday Sunnies                       ["Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@]
 Jim Harmon's Nostalgia Catalog       ["Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@]
 Nostalgia and commercials            [John Politis <politisj@[removed]]
 [Applause]                           ["Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@]
 "I Hear A White Horse Approaching .. ["Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@]
 Johnson Smith Company                ["David H. Buswell" <dbuswell@rivnet]
 Indy 500 on radio                    [Neal Ellis <bstenor@[removed];     ]
 Book about OTR                       [vigor16@[removed]                   ]
 Patron Saint                         [nicoll <nicoll@[removed];       ]
 logs                                 ["Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed];]

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

Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2001 20:02:23 -0400
From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Ken Weigel

Many of you may recall Ken Weigel who posted to these OTR digests.  I found
his obit in The Comet (Aberdeen, SD weekly) and will quote from it:

    Ken was born September 6, 1940 in Aberdeen, SD.  Graduated from Aberdeen
Central in 1958 and was in the USAF until 1962.  Worked for the Seattle
Daily Journal of Commerce.  Moved to Los Angeles in 1973 and joined the
staff of KFWB, Hollywood.  Later joined the law firm of Irell & Mandella,
where he was employed for 24 years.  He married Kimberly Moore in 1975, who
died in 1976.  He returned to Aberdeen in 1998.
    He is survived by one daughter, one son, one brother, one granddaughter.

    Ken wrote on a high intellectual plane and from considerable knowledge
of radio.  Even tho we lived in the same town, I never met Ken, but we did
email each other about OTR.  I miss reading Ken's interesting posts to this
Digest.

Ted Kneebone / 1528 S. Grant St. / Aberdeen, SD 57401 / 605-226-3344
tkneebone1@[removed] | OTR:  [removed]
[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2001 20:02:42 -0400
From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Scripts of lost shows

Thanks, Gordon, for your comments about re-enactments of radio programs.
Surely those programs for which we have scripts but no surviving recordings
should have some kind of priority with serious radio production groups,
amateur and professional.  Except for a few re-creations of I Love a
Mystery, there seems to be little being done to re-create the missing Quiet
Please shows, for example.  All the scripts are available from Randy
Eidmiller.  I can't see the point in trying to recreate Fibber & Molly, Jack
Benny, or Sam Spade.  No one can begin to come close to the original actors.
Those shows are available in recordings. As for scripts for I Love a
Mystery, a lot of them are available from Brian Misiaszek, who has the "un"
official ILAM website.

Ted Kneebone / 1528 S. Grant St. / Aberdeen, SD 57401 / 605-226-3344
tkneebone1@[removed] | OTR:  [removed]
[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2001 20:17:14 -0400
From: Conrad Binyon <conradab@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Radio Awards

Dan Panke wonders,

I was wondering whether radio ever had awards given for Best Comedy Show,
Best Actor, etc. similar to the Academy Awards or TV awards.

Did the award process just happen with the advent of film?  If there was
awards, to what extent?  Best Sound Effects? Producer?

And if there was awards, is there a site that provides the 'winners' through
the year?

Elizabeth McCleod has mentioned one such activity by Radio Guide
whereby the readers
had a say-so in who the winners of their designated awards would
be.  I mention another
group who established their award activity, also a publication.

As the magazine ceased publication some time ago or was absorbed
by another such publication there is no internet site to my
knowledge which would have such a
"winners" list.  To give an idea of what existed, click the link
below:

[removed]

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

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

Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2001 21:56:49 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: 1930s Performers Identified

Michael Berger wonders [removed]

Jesse Block and Eve Sully

They were a popular husband-and-wife vaudeville comedy team, who were
doomed to be forgotten because their act was very similar to that of
Burns and Allen. Block and Sully were part of the
Burns-Allen-Benny-Livingstone social set when all of these performers
were living in New York. They made a few Vitaphone film shorts in the
early thirties along with their radio work, and continued to dabble in
films into the war years. But by the forties, there seemed to be room for
only one dumb-dora act in radio, and Burns and Allen were it.

Red Davis (drama segment)

"Red Davis" was a nightly family-drama serial which eventually evolved
into "Pepper Young's Family."

...and these announcers: David Ross, Phil Stewart and
Tiny Ruffner.

David Ross may have had the most perfect pure *voice* in all of radio --
he was a member of the original announcing staff at CBS beginning in
1927, and remained with the network for more than a decade before
becoming a freelancer. He was best known for his work as the romantic
narrator of the 1929-31 desert adventure series "Arabesque", for his
association with Old Gold cigarettes on the Fred Waring series of 1933-34
and most of all for his poetry readings. He was the winner of the 1932
Diction Award presented by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Phil Stewart was another poetry reader, best known for his collaboration
with Wayne King on the Lady Esther Serenade program, in which Stewart's
readings of romantic poetry over a soft musical background would be
interpolated into selections by the orchestra. While King's later
collaborations with Franklyn McCormack are better known, Stewart actually
originated the technique, and was rather bitter when McCormack replaced
him. Stewart also spent much of his career explaining to people that he
wasn't Bill Hay, the longtime "Amos 'n' Andy" announcer -- their voices
were almost identical.

Edmund "Tiny" Ruffner was a member of the NBC-New York announcing staff
from 1929 until 1935, specializing in variety programs -- most notably
the Maxwell House Show Boat and Fred Allen's Salad Bowl Revue, Sal
Hepatica Revue, Hour of Smiles, and the first two years of Town Hall
Tonight. He was known as "Tiny" because, of course, he stood 6 feet 6
inches in height. He left NBC in 1935 to become a vice president with the
Ruthrauff and Ryan advertising agency, and often appeared on programs
produced by that agency. He remained active in advertising into the 1960s.

Elizabeth

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

Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2001 23:01:47 -0400
From: "Gerry Vogler" <GVogler1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Bob and Ray FTP ??

Although considered by many not to actually be OTR, I roll Bob and Ray into
the category (along with CBS Radio Mystery Theatre).  Does anyone know of an
FTP site where I can access some of the great Bob and Ray shows ?

Gerry

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

Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 00:48:08 -0400
From: "Bill in GA" <wmewilson@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  ***Quote REJECT engaged

If so, what other "crossover" shows were there?

I know that one of my personal favorites, Ray Bradbury's "The Zero Hour"
played on both Suspense and on Dimension X.

Bill W.

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

Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 10:44:27 -0400
From: Joe Mackey <wmackey@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Overrated?

  In the discussion on some Suspense shows being overrated, I can only
say that a show that was on week after week for 20 years is bound to
have a few clinkers every now and then.  I don't care what show it was.
  Joe

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

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

Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 10:44:29 -0400
From: Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Jerry and Jimmy

Thanks to Ken Piletic for his efforts at finally resolving the question
about whether Jerry of "Jerry of the Circus" and Jimmy Barton of "The
Cinnamon Bear" are played by the same actor.

It always comes down to what the ear perceives.  I'll keep an open mind and
I wish Ken luck!  I hope I hear something I haven't heard before.

Dennis Crow

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

Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 10:44:34 -0400
From: "Philip Railsback" <philiprailsback@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Remley vs. Archie

I can't say that I ever noticed much similarity.  But I will agree with you
that Remley is funnier.  Probably had to do with the writing. Also Elliot
Lewis's deadpan delivery is perfect.

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

Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 10:44:45 -0400
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Funday Sunnies

Edwin Humphrey, speaking of reading comic-strips over the radio,
observes,

LaGuardia was not the only one to read the Sunday comics over OTR.
<snip>  During that same time there was also a Sunday morning program on
a NYC station that dramatized several of that day's comics.  As I recall,
the comics dramatized were those appearing in the New York Sunday News

That was probably The Comics Weekly Man, with Lon Clark as The Man.  The
situations were different.  In the case of La Guardia, he was bringing
"intellectual content" to listeners (mainly children) because a newspaper
strike blocked the normal means of getting it.  In The Comics Weekly Man,
the owners of the intellectual content were paying to have it broadcast.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 10:46:11 -0400
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Jim Harmon's Nostalgia Catalog

Arthur Smith indicated he wanted information for a friend of his,
regarding a work by Jim Harmon.

He has a book [by Harmon] from 1973 called "The Nostalgia Catalog" and
wanted to know if
there is a market for it. It's printed on "comic book paper" and looks
cheap, but has information on radio premiums. I told him I would ask, so,
is there a market for such books?

Well, there's a market for anything. :-)   That aside, Jim Harmon's
Nostalgia Catalog was in some ways a watershed book.  It came out a few
years after his first edition of The Great Radio Heroes, and it covered
far more than just radio premiums: it included comic books, pulp
magazines, and even Johnson-Smith merchandise.  As with his Great Radio
Heroes book, Harmon had to work mostly from memory, so errors crept in to
his text.  But the book had two features that made it special.  One was
that it systematized discussion of memorabilia: not that other "catalogs"
hadn't done this before, but in the Harmon work, radio premiums were
broken down by program rather than being lumped together.  (Harmon's work
wasn't really a catalog: the reader couldn't order anything from it, nor
could he or she get systematic pricing information on various
collectibles.)  Second, and much more important, it had photographs of
various premiums.  Many of these were printed oversize so as to jibe with
our memories of the items, since a lot of us who ordered them were
significantly smaller when we did so.  This first real taste of images
from the past doubtless whetted the appetites of those who once had, but
were parted from, their radio premiums of yore.

I suspect that without Jim Harmon's Nostalgia Catalog, Tom Tumbusch
wouldn't have launched his Tomart's Guide series on radio (and
associated) premiums.

The paper in the book isn't the highest quality, but it's a step up from
the comic-book stock from the time it was printed.  It's a softcover
book, and the photographic reproduction isn't of the highest quality
either.  But to someone who hadn't seen the items in more than 20 years,
it was very welcome.

The book is worth a good perusal (I have it in my library).  I wouldn't
use it for scholarly research, but it's a very effective nostalgia trip.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 10:46:45 -0400
From: John Politis <politisj@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Nostalgia and commercials

The reason many commercial stations   have stopped webcating is because the
union representing actors  in commercials has said that the payment to the
actors covered only over-the-air broadcasting.

I
John Politis  [removed]~politisj

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

Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 10:46:54 -0400
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  [Applause]

Tom van der Voort, after posting an article excerpt from Radio Mirror,
adds,

Finally, a concluding box urges readers to let Radio Mirror know how
they feel about "applause on your radio program." How do OTR fans feel?
Problem or pleasure?

Depends upon the show.  Jack Benny's audience sometimes accented the
humor of the show, such as the "your money or your life" bit.  Dramatic
shows generally were audience free.  Imagine a show like, say, Dragnet,
with audience reaction.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 10:47:22 -0400
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  "I Hear A White Horse Approaching ...."

Brent Pellegrini, speaking of sound effects, notes,

It seems like whenever a car comes to a stop in old radio shows there
is a squealing of the tires. It is always the same. I was wondering if
there was a single sound effect for this on tape or record or if the
sound effects man created it somehow?

I suspect that the "squealing of tires" was a convention, to underscore
that the listener is hearing a car coming to a stop.  There are other
conventions one can hear in OTR recordings.  For instance, every time a
rifle is shot, the sound always includes a ricochet.  Another example is
that when a car starts to move, it always shifts through second.  By
establishing conventions for sound effects, it becomes easier for the
listener to visualize the action without the intervention of dialog or
narration.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 11:27:21 -0400
From: "David H. Buswell" <dbuswell@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Johnson Smith Company

I received a Johnson Smith Catalogue in the mail today and it's now called
"Clever Gear You Never Knew Existed."  This company has been sending out
catalogues since 1914 and I am rather confident that many OTR buffs as kids,
as I did, ordered their first crystal set radio from JS in the 1940s (or
earlier) in order to listen to programs under the covers while supposedly
sleeping.

The JS catalogues that I remember from those long ago days were packed with
practical joke items ("whoopi cushions," cigarette inserts that would
explode, etc.), many items for the amateur magician and jui jitsu courses.
But it was that crystal set in the cheap bakelite case with the sliding dial
on top that I'll always remember.

Dave

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

Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 13:58:41 -0400
From: Neal Ellis <bstenor@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Indy 500 on radio

Does anyone know of there are any radio or tv broadcasts of the Indy
500 available prior to 1970?

=====
Neal Ellis
Sound Engineer (National Public Radio)
Librarian (First Generation Radio Archives)

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

Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 14:57:07 -0400
From: vigor16@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Book about OTR

Hi Folks:

I am wondering if any of you ever read a book called "Raised on Radio"
(c1998)  by Jerry Nachman.  The book starts out with the author's
reference to growing up during the radio days of the 30s-50s and, before
long, we are into radio show criticism.  It seems, a lot of people want
to judge OTR with a current view.  Every scandle that occured in radio
was brought up, whether true or rumored.  I felt insulted for my most
prized hobby.  I've been a show collector for almost 15 years, late
bloomer, and read the same diatripe about Amos & Andy and other shows.
	His best argument was that a lot of shows had a stereotypical nature
and
believableness was impossible.  The same could be said for the bland
television offerings of today.  Is society really that violent, sexual,
or filthy mouthed?  The thing Mr. Nachman seems to forget are two fold:
1.  Stereotypes are necessary for a 25 minute program to move the plot
and not bog down in creating characters.  That would make thin plots.  Do
we really need to have a resume on Clansey the cop, or Lightnin"?
2.  Stereotypes create identification with a character.
	Stereotypes have their purpose.  It helps us to like a person.  I
suspect the reason A&A was so well liked and still today is liked, is
that the characters of the Royal Order of the Sea were friendly blacks.
I was taught that one had to be friendly to have friends.  OTR has a lot
of characters, stereotypes or not, that are much friendlier than many
people we meet in everyday life.  I would love to have a neighbor like
Gildy or Fibber McGee.  There is a charm about these people.  Even Riley
or John Bickerson are friendly, compared to many of our contemporaries.
Would you like Sinefeld for a border?  Don't answer that!
	The other pot shot that Mr. Nachman took was at the perpetual poor
Western--Indian killers,and the like.  The "Gun", like the "cigarette"
has become the last refuge of the protesting generation.  The western was
never meant to be reality on radio.      At best, it was a slice of
fictional Americanna.
	The problem I have with people writing about OTR is that we tend to
look
back from a sophisticated point of view.  We need to keep in mind that
OTR was new and fresh and experimental at the time.  Fresh went out with
the invention of television.  My wife and I and other folks, we know,
don't have television on anymore.  Television didn't create anything that
hadn't already been explored by our radio pioneers.  Today, we look to
personalities.  Shows, today, are just radio shows with pictures and
dirty words and sex jokes.  I suspect, television is on her last legs.
The internet is becoming the next entertainer.  You can't compare the
two.  Television took "My Favorite Husband" and turned it into "I Love
Lucy",  "The Bickersons" and turned it into "the Honeymooners", and so
on.
	The sadest part about the OTR historian is that radio even has to be
compared, at all.  We don't compare books to newspapers, the Beatles to
M&M, day to night.  Why do we have to compare radio to anything at all.
I enjoy it.  The shows have a freshness about it that never stops making
me laugh, get scared, or cry.  I don't think I could have the rishness in
my life and relaxation that I have without it.  Ya, tapes are expensive,
but every show is a part of someone's life.  I don't believe malicious
intent is present when I listen to A&A or and other show.  For God's
sake, leave the poor western alone.  Prove to me that Matt Dylan or the
Lone Ranger killed any "native" people.  Guns don't kill, people using
them do.  Hope I didn't go on too long.  Just had to get it off my chest.
 You can smash my TV, but don't touch my radio thank you,  Deric

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

Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 17:50:12 -0400
From: nicoll <nicoll@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Patron Saint

A book I was reading (Occupation - subject: Germany's occupation of France)
stated Joan of Ark to be the Patron Saint of radio.  Reason [removed]
heard voices through the air.

I did research:  Not so.  Gabriel the Archangel is the Patron Saint of
"broadcasters and radio workers."

Will Nicoll

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

Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 19:52:38 -0400
From: "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  logs

With in the last week I got the chance to interview Buddy Ebsen, and Karolyn
Grimes who was Zuzu Jimmy Stewart daughter in the movie "It's A Wonderful
Life," does any one have a show log showing any of the performing appearing
on a radio show, or a copy of a radio show with either of them, Walden.

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V01 Issue #132
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