Subject: [removed] Digest V2007 #7
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 1/6/2007 1:07 AM

To: [removed]@[removed]

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2007 : Issue 7
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Re: Fourble Board                     [ Illoman <illoman@[removed]; ]
      African Americans During the Golden   [ "Karen Lerner" <[removed]@[removed] ]
      Fibber McGee on TV                    [ "Robert Birchard" <bbirchard@earthl ]
      One-Eyed director                     [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
      Black OTR shows                       [ jack and cathy french <otrpiano@ver ]
      Radio Feuds in San Bernadino Sun      [ seandd@[removed] ]
      Re:Quiet, Please                      [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
      actor in Jerry at Fair Oaks, Amazing  [ Stephen Davies <SDavies@[removed]; ]
      re: Silent Film on Radio              [ Stephen Davies <SDavies@[removed]; ]
      Re: Hondo                             [ Illoman <illoman@[removed]; ]
      Re: In defense of Quiet, Please       [ Illoman <illoman@[removed]; ]
      combining the best of radio and cine  [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]
      Will Rogers, Silent Film and OTR      [ "George Tirebiter" <tirebiter2@hotm ]
      3-D Movie Question                    [ Ljk2476@[removed] ]
      Fibber McGee and Molly on TV          [ Randy Watts <rew1014@[removed]; ]
      1-6 births/deaths                     [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
      3D movies                             [ Steve Carter <scarter2@[removed]; ]
      Correction on 3D                      [ John Mayer <mayer@[removed]; ]

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

    Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 13:57:09 -0500
    From: Illoman <illoman@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Fourble Board

    On Jan 4, 2007, at 11:33 PM, Patricia wrote:

>     Distilled version of my opinion of all this: It's not so much the
>     idea that makes a story great as it is the art of telling it.
>     I think that's behind the celebration and endurance of "The Thing
>     on the Fourble Board."

    Patricia, what a wonderfully eloquent post on Willis Cooper and
    Ernest Chappell. What you said, I believe goes for the entire series
    of Quiet, Please and not just the Fourble Board.

    Richard Hand's book, Terror on the Air has the best background/
    biographical information on this wonderful series and it's creators
    that I have found. And man, have I searched!!

    Mike

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

    Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 15:18:39 -0500
    From: "Karen Lerner" <[removed]@[removed];
    To: "OTR Digest (E-mail)" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  African Americans During the Golden Age

    I have been trying for some time to convince the powers that be at Radio
    Spirits to create a collection in tribute to the black contributors to OTR.
    I think they're afraid that there is not enough interest for a product like
    that to be successful in our catalog. Each time I bring it up, I'm told that
    there is not enough material for a collection - but, that is simply not the
    case.

    Take, for example, the series Destination Freedom - the civil rights
    anothology series.   And, what about the 11-5-39 broadcast of The Pursuit of
    Happiness with an 11-minute ballad sung by Paul Robeson?  We don't have that
    - even in our warehouse - and, I've been itching to get my hands on a copy of
    that for some time.

    I'm very interested to see what everyone will have to share on this topic.

    Karen Lerner
    Radio Spirits, Inc.

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

    Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 15:19:26 -0500
    From: "Robert Birchard" <bbirchard@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Fibber McGee on TV
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    Tim Lones wrote:

>     Jim Jordan did make one TV [removed] 1976 on Chico And The Man
>     (NBC)..He also did a commercial for AARP (American Association of Retired
>     Persons)

        Jordan also did TV commercials for Johnson's Wax in the 1970s.  It seemed
    an odd choice, because even with the historical association, few viewers at
    the time would have remembered that the names of Jordan and Johnson's were
    inseparable.

    Now available from the University Press of Kentucky
    "Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood"
    [removed]

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    Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 16:09:04 -0500
    From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  One-Eyed director

>     But 3-D is fun particularly when things are thrown into  the audience.
>     If my memory serves me there was one film - House of Wax?-  in which the
>     director had only one eye.  To say the least there were  problems in the
>     shooting of the film.

    I didn't answer this as I assumed multiple people would have posted this.
    The director was Andre de Toth (sp?) and he directed HOUSE OF WAX for Warner
    Bros.  Yes, he had a glass eye and what make it ironic is that you need two
    eyes to see the 3-D process so what is considered the best 3-D movie of all
    time was directed by a man who couldn't see the 3-D process himself.  There
    was a lengthy article and interview with him in an old issue of FILMFAX
    Magazine about 10 or 12 or so years ago where he admitted this fact.

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

    Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 16:12:11 -0500
    From: jack and cathy french <otrpiano@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Black OTR shows

    On Friday, January 5, 2007, at 01:55 PM, Karla Moore wrote:

>     	I'm co-chair with Joan Valentina, of the AFTRA NY Locals EEO
>     Committee.  This year for our Black History Month program we are
>     focusing on Black Pioneers of Early Radio.

    To assist Digesters in searching their archives for these early Black
    radio programs, here's a partial list of shows and performers: Hampton
    Institute Choir (from 1924), Noble Sissle, Fess Williams, and Pace
    Jubilee Singers (from 20s), Paul Robeson featured on "General Electric"
    and "Eastman Kodak" (30s), "John Henry" CBS-1932 (nearly all-Black
    cast),  Ethel Waters, sponsored by American Oil Company, Ernest Whitman
    and Eddie Green on Maxwell's "Showboat", Lillian Randolph and Billy
    Mitchell as "Lulu and Leander" WXYZ-1930s, "Slick and Slim" all-Black
    series from WHN in 1932, "A Harlem Family" (all-Black cast) from WMCA
    in 1935, Wonderful Smith on "Red Skelton" in 40s, "Americans All,
    Immigrants All" (38-39), "Freedom's People" (41-42), "The Negro Speaks"
    (written and performed by Blacks) NYC 1942, "New World A-Coming'" WMCA
    (44-57), "Destination Freedom" (48-50) written by Richard Dunham.

    Karla should contact the Museum of Broadcast Communication in Chicago,
    IL. In 2005 the widow of Richard Dunham donated his script archives and
    audio copies of 91 episodes of "Destination Freedom" in addition to
    other items about Black radio history. RADIO RECALL published that
    press release of that acquisition, which can be read at:
    <[removed];

>     Any leads or assistance in locating such materials AND/OR New York
>     based scholars or historians who could facilitate a panel
>     discussion of the period from the 20's - 50's including the social
>     conditions and the significance of Negro/Black/African American
>     writers, actors, musicians who worked in radio during this period
>     would be GREATLY APPRECIATED.

    Since Howard Blue is too modest to nominate himself, I will. This topic
    is right up his alley; it's one of his research specialties and he's
    written about the subject and conducted several interviews in this
    regard.

    Jack French
    Editor: RADIO RECALL

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

    Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 16:12:59 -0500
    From: seandd@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Radio Feuds in San Bernadino Sun
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    A modern radio feud sparked this reporter's memory of classic radio feuds
    such as Benny/Allen and Bernie/Winchell.

    Sean Dougherty
    SeanDD@[removed]

    [removed]

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

    Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 16:33:16 -0500
    From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re:Quiet, Please

    Frank McGurn writing in Digest #6 asks:
     > If the show is so great why didn't last in a regular time slot and
    [removed] listeners didn't like it. Never had a
     > Sponsor .

    Whoa, Frank!

    When did regular time slots and sponsors become an indicator of "great"
    (or quality) radio series?  It might be an indicator of popular success,
    but not of quality. After all, there were many sponsored programs with
    good time slots that were crappy programs in terms of quality.  The same
    even applies to television nowadays.

    Quiet, Please was an experimental, well-written fantasy series by
    possibly one of the best radio scriptwriters ever in radio (subjective
    opinion aside). Because of that very experimentation, it might have been
    difficult to find sponsorship whether or not it was desired.

    Other programs such as the Columbia Workshop and CBS Radio Workshop and
    even many of Norman Corwin's programs all lacked sponsors. Sometimes
    they were given good timeslots, if the situation warranted, but often
    not so.

    Please be careful in your choice of words between "great" and
    "popular."  Even if you (or a portion of an audience) didn't like the
    program, it doesn't mean it wasn't a quality series.

    Jim Widner

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

    Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 16:43:24 -0500
    From: Stephen Davies <SDavies@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  actor in Jerry at Fair Oaks, Amazing Mr
     Malone & Richard Diamond

    I just heard the same pleasant voiced actor who played Lee Phillips in
    "Jerry @FO", and who played a gun-toting wretch at least a couple of times
    in "Malone".  This time I heard him as the villainous union corrupter who
    gets pulverised by Richard Diamond in an early episode of that series.

    [removed]

    This is distressing for me, because I like the actor a lot, but all his
    adult roles seem to be counter-casting.  Did he sound like too much of
    a nice guy to be believable during the evening programming of tough
    detectives?  If someone could help me identify the actor, I could find
    if he at least had better daytime roles.

    Stephen D
    in Calgary

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

    Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 19:04:40 -0500
    From: Stephen Davies <SDavies@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  re: Silent Film on Radio

    Bob F mentions DW Griffith interviewed on Lux ("Irene", 1936-jun-29); you
    can hear the unfactual legend getting solidified here.  "Griffith never
    used a megaphone", "He invented the close up", etc.

    An early episode of "Box 13" called "Actor's alibi" sends Dan Holiday to
    protect an obnoxious radio actress.  One of her resentful castmates is a
    former silent star called Marvin Masterson, and I wondered if they were
    mocking/parodying Francis X Bushman.

    [removed]

    Stephen D
    in Calgary

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

    Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 19:05:06 -0500
    From: Illoman <illoman@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Hondo

    On Jan 5, 2007, at 1:55 PM, Stephen wrote:

>     The film in question is Homdo, starring John Wayne, which was
>     directed by John Ford.

    I remember this, and still have my 3D Hondo glasses!! I think you had
    to go to 7-11 or a store like that to purchase them.

    Mike

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

    Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 19:05:26 -0500
    From: Illoman <illoman@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: In defense of Quiet, Please

    On Jan 5, 2007, at 1:55 PM, [removed]@[removed] wrote:

>      If the show is so great why didn't last in a regular time slot
>     and [removed] listeners didn't like it. Never had a Sponsor .

    Like a lot of great art, it just wasn't appreciated by the masses. It
    took effort to "get" it, and a lot of folks choose not to invest that
    much time or energy in it. It's uniqueness I'm sure made it
    unapproachable to a lot of folks.

    Mike (who's really not an elitist!)

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

    Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 19:06:07 -0500
    From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  combining the best of radio and cinema

>     "although I confidently expect that in time, the radio and the picture
>     business must join forces >permanently to produce a superior type of
>     entertainment that will combine all the elements of the >stage, the screen
>     and radio."

    Well, good luck with that.

    But it shows that people were thinking about movies with sound, and radio
    with pictures, from the very earliest days of those mediums, or media.

    M Kinsler

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

    Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 19:24:49 -0500
    From: "George Tirebiter" <tirebiter2@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Will Rogers, Silent Film and OTR

    One silent star who also appeared on OTR was Will Rogers.  Although Rogers
    never was as big a star  in silent films as he would be after the talkies
    came in, he did appear in films (many of them short comedies) from the late
    teens on.  And, while he didn't have his own radio show until 1930, he did
    appear on radio from the early 20s onward (I seem to recall a picture of him
    in front of a microphone that was said to date from 1923). Of course, in the
    first half of the 1930s his fame reached stratospheric levels - he was the
    #1 box office draw in 1934, the last full year of his life.

    it now

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

    Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2007 01:33:51 -0500
    From: Ljk2476@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  3-D Movie Question
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    Howdy!
        Stephen Kallis  notes that he believes the film directed by a "one-eyed
    film director" was John  Ford. If I remember reading correctly, John Ford had
    two working eyes back then.  One of them was either a "lazy eye" or sometimes
    sensitive to light, and so he  often wore an eye-patch.
        I believe the  director Andre DeToth (Check spelling, please!) is the
    director in question for  HOUSE OF WAX, as he was blind in one eye. One story
    I've read is that Jack  Warner wanted him to direct the movie so that he would be
    concerned with the  STORY and so that the special effects people would worry
    about the "3-D"  details! - Lenny Kohl

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

    Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2007 01:34:06 -0500
    From: Randy Watts <rew1014@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Fibber McGee and Molly on TV

    Somewhere I have a brief article from the New York
    Times, circa 1950, noting that Jim and Marion Jordan
    would be spending part of their summer vacation at the
    Hal Roach Studios, filming a pilot for a TV version of
    their radio series. If this was actually filmed, it
    would be interesting to see.

    Randy

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

    Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2007 01:34:15 -0500
    From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  1-6 births/deaths

    January 6th births

    01-06-1878 - Carl Sandburg - Galesburg, IL - d. 7-22-1967
    poet: "Cavalcade of America"; "Columbia Workshop"
    01-06-1880 - Tom Mix - Mix Run, PA - d. 10-12-1940
    legend: "Tom Mix Ralston Straightshooters" based on his life
    01-06-1897 - Billy M. Greene - NYC - d. 8-24-1973
    actor: Sheriff McGrath "His Honor, The Barber"
    01-06-1903 - Francis L. Sullivan - London, England - d. 11-19-1956
    actor: "[removed] Steel Hour"
    01-06-1907 - Helen Kleeb - South Bend, WA - d. 12-28-2003
    actor: Sarah Tuttle "Dr. Kate"; "Gunsmoke"
    01-06-1911 - Joey Adams - Brooklyn, NY - d. 12-2-1999
    host: "Rate Your Mate"
    01-06-1912 - Danny Thomas - Deerfield, MI - d. 2-6-1991
    actor: Amos "Bickersons"; Postman "Fanny Brice Show"
    01-06-1913 - Loretta Young - Salt Lake City, UT - d. 8-12-2000
    actor: "Family Theatre"; "Four Star Playhouse"
    01-06-1913 - Tom Brown - NYC - d. 6-3-1990
    actor: "Texaco Star Theatre"; "Suspense"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
    01-06-1914 - George Reeves - Woolstock, IA - d. 6-16-1959
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Crime Does Not Pay"
    01-06-1917 - Dan Cubberly - Washington - d. 10-6-1991
    announcer: "Rocky Jordan"; "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar"
    01-06-1918 - Buddy Weed - Ossining, NY - d. 5-25-1997
    musician: "Old Gold Party Time"; "Lanny Ross Show"
    01-06-1930 - Rita Lloyd - Brooklyn, NY
    actor: "Let's Pretend"

    January 6th deaths

    02-23-1883 - Victor Fleming - Pasasena, CA - d. 1-6-1949
    film director: "Gulf Screen Theatre"
    04-22-1902 - John W. Vandercook - London, England - d. 1-6-1963
    commentator: "Newsroom of the Air/News of the World"
    05-14-1910 - B. S. Pully - Newark, NJ - d. 1-6-1972
    comedian: "Command Performance"; "Mail Call"
    05-26-1905 - Margaret Fuller - Butler, PA - d. 1-6-1952
    actor: "Attorney At Law"; "Today's Children"
    05-30-1899 - Ruth Perrott - d. 1-6-1996
    actor: Prudence Rockbottom "Meet Me at Parky's"; Dottie Brainfeeble
    "Vic and Sade"
    06-19-1863 - William A. Brady - San Francisco, CA - d. 1-6-1950
    theatrical producer: heard twice weekly on CBS during 1934-1935
    06-26-1891 - Octavus Roy Cohen - Charleston, SC - d. 1-6-1959
    writer: "Amos 'n' Andy"; "The Personal Column of the Air"
    08-01-1910 - Alice Frost - Minneapolis, MN - d. 1-6-1998
    actor: Pamela North "Mr. and Mrs. North"; Martha Jackson "Woman of
    Courage"
    09-24-1900 - Poley McClintock - d. 1-6-1980
    comedic singer: "The Fred Waring Show"
    10-02-1915 - Chubby Wise - Lake City, FL - d. 1-6-1996
    musician: "Town and Country Time"
    10-21-1917 - Dizzy Gillespie - Cherow, SC - d. 1-6-1993
    musician: "This Is Jazz"
    10-29-1873 - Walter C. Kelly - Mineville, NY - d. 1-6-1939
    actor: (The Virginia Judge) "The Eveready Hour"
    12-01-1915 - Johnny Johnston - St. Louis, MO - d. 1-6-1996
    singer: "Rhapsody in Rhythm"; "Club Matinee"; "Duffy's Tavern";
    "Breakfast Club"
    12-01-1933 - Lou Rawls - Chicago, IL - d. 1-6-2006
    singer: "Here's to Veterans"

    Ron Sayles

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

    Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2007 01:36:20 -0500
    From: Steve Carter <scarter2@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  3D movies
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    I didn't want to get into the 3D discussion since it is so far off
    topic. But I need to correct some things.

    Stephen A Kallis, Jr said;

>     "The film in question is Homdo, starring John Wayne, which was
>     directed by John Ford."

    Unfortunately this is not correct since the movie Hondo was directed
    by John Farrow. The typo "Homdo" is sort of fun though, kinda
    "Brokeback". : )
    House of War was directed by Andre De Toth who only had sight in one
    eye.

    You might infer form John Mayer's post that one can only see depth 12
    feet from the 3D movie screen from the line,

>     No doubt he was unable to fully appreciate it, but it probably wasn't
>     too great a handicap; 3D only works up to about 12 feet away; depth
>     beyond that is inferred by other indications we pick up as we grow
>     beyond infancy: relative size, atmospheric perspective, convergence, etc.

    The depth of the 3D photographic image looks DEEPER the FURTHER you
    are away from it. This would work for the new digital systems in
    theaters currently and classic movies as well as 3D stills. So if you
    want to see move 3D in a 3D movie sit in the back not in the front.
    If you have red/blue 3D glasses you can see this for yourself with
    the image Mr. Mayer provided; [removed] The
    further back from it you get the deeper it looks. The things he says
    about 3D in real life and also with photography by taking the two
    images further apart are quite correct.

    I'm a 3D photographer so I know this stuff.
    There is a lot of 3D information on the WWW if you want to get into
    it. It's quite fascinating.
    We now return to our regular radio broadcast.
    Steve

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

    Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2007 01:37:11 -0500
    From: John Mayer <mayer@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Correction on 3D

    It's never wise for me to speak off the cuff, without verifying my
    facts, and yet I continue to do so. Sometimes I add the tiresome
    phrase "as I recall," or "to the best of my recollection," but, even
    if I fail to do so, that should always be inferred in my case.

    Stephen Kallis has corrected my statement that "3D only works up to
    about 12 feet away." I was making an estimate based on my own
    experiences as a monocular person, but I was a bit off. Stephen wrote
    to correct me: "Actually, stereoscopic perception can go well beyond
    12 feet.  I'm speaking as one who was into stereoscopy for years.
    The actual stereo perception, mathematically,  is a tangent function,
    mathematically, and the further back one goes, the less pronounced
    the effect -- but it still is there."

    Stephen is correct; our eyes can still "triangulate" beyond 12 feet,
    up to about 30. The University of Toledo Physics Page says, "The
    muscular action of convergence also provides unambiguous depth
    information. Accommodation and convergence play a role for distances
    less than about 10 meters (30 feet). Beyond 10 meters, depth of field
    and convergence cannot distinguish any fixed depth from infinity."
    <[removed]~lsa/_[removed];  There is
    also a neat 3D picture here wherein a one-eyed person can see depth,
    sorta.

    I apologize for getting so far off topic, but I know that a lot of
    visually impaired folks get into OTR and a lot of older fans (like
    myself) are likely candidates for eye problems, so I wanted to get my
    facts straight.

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2007 Issue #7
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