------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2004 : Issue 384
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Re: 12-2 births/deaths - Alvin York [ otrfan@[removed] ]
The future of OTR [ Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed]; ]
12-3 births/deaths [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
Searching for OTR archival informati [ "David S. Siegel" <otrdsiegel@veriz ]
That infamous couple next door [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
Re: Frank Bresee's GOLDIN DAYS OF RA [ Anthony Tollin <sanctumotr@earthlin ]
Frank Bresee [ "Jim Harmon" <jimharmonotr@charter. ]
Re: radio on History Channel [ "Jack Feldman" <qualitas@millenicom ]
Spencer Tracy [ "larry" <lfw48@[removed]; ]
This Weekend with Walden Hughes [ BryanH362@[removed] ]
12-4 births/deaths [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 15:59:40 -0500
From: otrfan@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: 12-2 births/deaths - Alvin York
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain
12-13-1887 - Alvin York - Pell Mell, TN - d. 12-2-1964
world war I hero: "We the People"; "What Are We Fighting For?"
That's spelled Pall Mall, TN. It is pronounced Pell Mell, though. I was up
there
this past summer, and visited both the gravesite and home. His
daughter-in-law,
a very gracious lady, showed us around the house.
Mark Orr
*** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
*** as the sender intended. ***
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 16:01:34 -0500
From: Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: The future of OTR
I tried posting this a week or so ago, but there were
E-Mail problems. By an interesting coincidence, about
the same time the question of what will become of OTR,
and the interest in the same, when the first
generation of fans are gone, was raised on Harlan
Ellison's website about the same time it appeared
here.
What follows is what I posted there back on Nov. 14. I
think it fits here, as well:
(A previous poster) asked whether the memory of OTR
will die with Ellison's generation. My answer: No.
For one thing, radio drama existed up to 1962, so
there are people in their late 40s and early 50s who
would have first-hand memories of OTR.
Of course, their generation will also be gone one day.
But even then, the memory of OTR won't die, because
there are a number of people, myself included, who are
HUGE OTR fans, who hadn't even been born during the
age of OTR. Sure, we don't have any memories of
listening to it when it was first broadcast, but I do
remember listening to a radio station playing OTR
reruns on Sunday nights in the early 1980s. No, I
wasn't hearing them in the same era in which they had
originally been broadcast, but I was hearing them on
the radio, and used my imagination to create the
scenes being described, just as people had done when
that particular broadcast aired for the very first
time. Today, I often listen to my tapes in my car, in
lieu of my radio.
I've also passed my interest in OTR on to my now
18-year-old cousin, to whom I introduced the medium
when she was 12; and just the other day, I bought my
2-year-old nephew the "Cinnamon Bear" for Christmas.
So I'm getting him started really early.
So, there are OTR fans who weren't around when OTR was
first run, and whom will continue to keep the medium
alive (to just a niche market, to be sure, but alive,
nonetheless). In fact, I wrote a magazine article on
the continuing appeal of old-time radio, a few years
ago. The article featured interviews not only with OTR
performers such as Fred Foy, Bob Hastings, Rosemary
Rice, Peggy Webber, Tyler McVey, Peg Lynch and Clive
Rice, but also OTR fans ranging in age from their
teens to middle age.
Side note about WVXU, it's the radio station of my
alma mater, Xavier University in Cincinnati.
Unfortunately, I don't believe they played OTR when I
was a student.
Cincinnati is also home of the Cincinnati OTR and
Nostalgia convention every April. I recommend it for
anyone interested in OTR who lives in the midwest
and/or would have the time and inclination to travel
there in mid April.
Rick
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 16:01:43 -0500
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 12-3 births/deaths
December 3rd births
12-03-1873 - Atwater Kent - Burlington, VT - d. 3-4-1949
invent and radio manufacturer: Maker of Atwater Kent radios
12-03-1889 - Ferdinand Munier - San Diego, CA - d. 5-27-1945
actor: Rene Michon "Count of Monte Cristo"
12-03-1902 - Bill Slater - Parkersburg, WV - d. 1-25-1965
emcee: ""Uncle Jim's Question Bee"; "Twenty Questions"; "Dunninger Show"
12-03-1907 - Connee Boswell - New Orleans, LA - d. 10-11-1976
singer: (The Boswell Sisters) "Kraft Music Hall"; "Chesterfield Supper Club"
12-03-1908 - Anna Sten - Kiev, the Ukraine - d. 11-12-1993
actress: "March of Time"; "Stagedoor Canteen"
12-03-1916 - Whitfield Connor - Rathdowney, Ireland - d. 7-16-1988
actor: Harry Davis "When a Girl Marries"
12-03-1944 - Malcom Brodrick - NYC
actor: Peter Marriott "The Marriage"
December 3rd deaths
03-17-1906 - Michael O'Shea - Hartford, CT - d. 12-3-1973
actor: "Textron Theatre"; "Radio Reader's Digest"; "Philip Morris Playhouse"
07-29-1876 - Maria Ouspenskaya - Tula, Russia - d. 12-3-1949
actress: "Towards the Century of the Common Man"; "Treasury Star Parade"
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 16:58:54 -0500
From: "David S. Siegel" <otrdsiegel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Searching for OTR archival information
David and Susan Siegel (aka Book Hunter Press) are researching sources of
archival print and audio materials dealing with radio broadcasting from the
1920's to the early 1960's.
The information will be included in the "Resource Guide to the Golden Age
of Radio," a new publication scheduled for release in Summer, 2005.
The Guide will include:
1) archival material in libraries, museums and other locations
2) bibliographic sources (books and magazines)
3) Internet sites that contain material of interest to researchers. Sites
that only sell audio material will not be included.
A key part of the publication will be a single Subject Index incorporating
data from all three sections.
If you or your institution have one or more special collections, or if you
host a web site that meets the above criteria, please visit our home
page, [removed], and follow the
links to the appropriate electronic Submission Form so that your resource
can be included in the publication.
If you have leads on the whereabouts of any special collections, or if
you'd like to suggest some web sites for inclusion in the publication,
please send an email to my wife, Susan (the real force behind this project)
at bookhunterpress@[removed] as she'll be doing most of the legwork for
this project.
Thanks.
Dave Siegel
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 18:01:11 -0500
From: <otrbuff@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: That infamous couple next door
Sean Dougherty wrote that Tom Nolan "has a book coming out called "The
Couple Next Door: the Collected Short Mysteriers by Margaret Millar."
It doesn't seem to be about Peg Lynch."
Margaret Millar was the wife of Kenneth Millar, better known to mystery
fans as Ross MacDonald, author of the Lew Archer series. She also wrote
mysteries, though I've never read any. She published a 1954 mystery
story in Ellery Queen magazine called "The Couple Next Door" -
presumably where the anthology draws its title from. (Note that this
pre-dates Peg Lynches series of the same name by about 3 years.)
While it might predate Peg Lynch's series, it appears she might have
borrowed the title from previous incarnations. The Couple Next Door
originated as serialized banter between spouses in 1935 over Chicago's WGN.
It was confined there until MBS aired it to a wider audience for Procter &
Gamble's Oxydol detergent between April 12-September 17, 1937. Olan Soule
and Elinor Harriot played Tom and Dorothy Wright. The show returned to the
airwaves over CBS two decades later on December 30, 1957 and continued until
"Black Friday," November 25, 1960, among the last dialogue features to
depart from the ether. The latter version under multiple sponsorship
spotlighted Alan Bunch and Peg Lynch as an unnamed married duo who
identified each other merely as "honey bunch," "dear," etc. That pair had
enjoyed a flourishing run in a similar humorous exchange, Ethel and Albert,
on ABC between 1944-50, reprising it on three TV networks between 1953-56.
Jim Cox
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 18:01:39 -0500
From: Anthony Tollin <sanctumotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Frank Bresee's GOLDIN DAYS OF RADIO
on 12/2/04 1:51 PM, [removed]@[removed] at
[removed]@[removed] wrote:
I'm a fairly young fan (45), but was introduced to a broad range of
OTR shows at ages 10-12 by the Armed Forces Radio Network in
Frankfurt, Germany, which aired a show called "The Golden Days
of Radio," hosted by somebody named Frank Brazee (spelling?).
<SNIP>
I'd loveto know more about him and his fine show; such as whether it's
available anywhere these days, in recorded or broadcast form.
***Frank Bresee is still with us and still doing new episodes of his
wonderful GOLDIN DAYS OF RADIO series ... only now it's heard on the
Yesteryear USA satellite station. I saw Frank just two weeks ago at the
SPERDVAC convention at LAX, where he and Walden Hughes did a live con
remote. BTW, Frank was a child actor during the Golden Age of Radio, and
one of the early portrayers of Little Beaver on RED RYDER. He also appeared
on MAJOR HOOPLE and occasionally on A DATE WITH JUCY.***
on 12/2/04 1:51 PM, [removed]@[removed] at Bruce Rosenberger
asked:
why not do NEW productions? While there is a little of this
going on, it seems too little. One show that keeps me craving new
episodes is I Love A Mystery.
OTRDigester Jim Harmon did just that a few years back, and produced an
authorized cassette collection of a lost I LOVE A MYSTERY serial. The cast
included radio-greats Fred Foy, Les Tremayne and the aforementioned Frank
Bresee. I believe Jim still has copies for sale. (Jim, that's an
invitation for you to plug your set, ala Hal Stone. Don't miss out on this
golden opportunity.)
As for the relative lack of new radio productions, part of the problem is
the lack of modern-day radio networks to air them on. --Anthony Tollin***
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 20:01:27 -0500
From: "Jim Harmon" <jimharmonotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Frank Bresee
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain
Hello -- In replay to David Loftus and his inquiry about Frank Bresee (correct
spelling) and his Golden Days of Radio, I suppose I will be one of many to
inform him.
Frank Bresee is still very active in the world of Old Time Radio and he
still does his program of the Golden Days of Radio, now on the website and
some broadcast stations, [removed]
Frank recently celebrated his 75th birthday, but has the looks and energy of a
much younger man.
I believe he has all of his previous Days broadcasts on tape or disc. He
re-runs some of them on the site mentioned, and he produces new ones. Frank
is one of the best known people in the whole hobby, regularly appears at
conventions around the country. He was in radio himself, alternating with
his long time friend, Tommy Cook, in the role of Little Beaver on the Red
Ryder radio series, and appeared in many other roles over the years. In the
television age, he did work with Ralph Edwards on his TV productions, and
eventually started his own company which arranged for the prizes given away on
quiz shows. Frank has invented a number of home board games, notably
Passout, and has written a book of the Golden Days of Radio, illustrated by
Bobb Lynes, and resembling the Believe It or Not comic strip, but all about
radio shows, one program per page. Frank is married to the movie actress,
noted for horror films, Bobbee Bresee. I'm proud to say he has been my
friend for over thirty years, and was instrumental in saving me from financial
disaster on my cassette album of I Love a Mystery, both with his acting skills
and his help and advice on production. Frank Bresee has been described as the
Patron Saint of Old Time Radio.
-- Jim Harmon
*** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
*** as the sender intended. ***
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 20:03:36 -0500
From: "Jack Feldman" <qualitas@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: radio on History Channel
7-8pm -- Modern Marvels - Radio: Out of Thin Air.
If this is the show I saw please be aware that Marconi did not invent the
radio tube, and that the explanation of how a transistor works is incorrect.
I wasn't aware that some folks actually thought Marconi had invented the
radio tube until I mentioned it to a friend.
Alexander Fleming noticed that the Edison lightbulb deposited some material
on the bulb and though it had something to do with the electrons boiling off
the filament. He put a charged plate in the lightbulb and found that he was
correct. He had created the first step in the radio tube. The device was
called the Fleming Valve because you could control the flow of current by
the charge (+ or -) on the plate. It really was the first rectifier.
Lee De Forest thought about it and put a grid of metal between the filament
on the plate and found that he could regulate the flow of current to the
plate by manipulating the voltage on the grid. The called this the Audion
(or close to that), and the first real radio tube was born.
The program I saw showed me that they don't check their facts. It was minor
to the show on Vikings in which the complete mixed up the events in the
lives of Herald the Fair, and Herald II of Norway, and presented them as one
person!
Don't trust the History Channel.
Jack
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 23:03:42 -0500
From: "larry" <lfw48@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Spencer Tracy
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain
I have been listening to Command Performance recently. On the Christmas show
of 1944 Spencer Tracy appears and narrates the Christmas story "The Little
One" which I believe is more commonly assosciated with Bing Crosby.
Mr Tracy also hosts the Command Performance of June 30, 1942.
I have been listening to Old Radio since 1964 and it strikes me that Spencer
Tracy was not a frequent presence on radio. I would appreciate some comments
on this from those who are better informed.
Thanks
Larry
*** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
*** as the sender intended. ***
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 10:51:22 -0500
From: BryanH362@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: This Weekend with Walden Hughes
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain
Reminder :
Walden Hughes Sentimental Journey program featured on yesterdayusa can be
heard live via the internet at
[removed]
Friday 12-3-04
Frank Breesee and Walden Hughes interview Gloria Jean. Gloria Jean was a
film star from the 1940s who also appeared on radio . Two Lux Radio Theater's
featuring Gloria Jean will be presented during the interview.
Following the interview two special and rare christmas shows will be heard :
Christmas sing with Bing 12-24-60, Christmas from the front 12-25-43
On Saturday and Sunday Walden's program will be dedicated to presenting for
broadcast some of the original radio programs first heard during the period
of 12-7-41 through 12-16-41. The list of the programs is shown
at the end of this post .
To feature this Pearl Harbor presentation , Walden will begin his
program at the special early hour of 4:30 pm Pacific Time Saturday
afternoon
running till about 1 am . The special will resume Sunday evening at around
9:30 pm following Michael Biels and the Laura Leff Jack Benny weekly
features which begin at the regular time of 7:30 pm . Laura will present
the Jack
Benny program from 11-19-44.
Radio programs to be heard as part Walden Hughes Pearl Harbor Special :
12-07-41 Screen Guild Theater
12-08-41 Breakfast Club , FDR Address to Congress ., Fred Waring, Lux
Radio Theater
12-09-41 Fred Waring , Fibber McGee and Molly, FDR Fireside Chat
12-10-41 Fred Waring , [removed] Attorney , Kay Kyser , Fred Allen
Texaco Star Theater
12-11-41 Fred Waring , March of Time
12-12-41 Information Please
12-14-41 Great Gildersleeve , Jack Benny , Charlie McCarthy
12-15-41 We Hold These Truths
12-16-41 Fibber McGee and Molly
*** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
*** as the sender intended. ***
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 15:28:12 -0500
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 12-4 births/deaths
December 4th births
12-04-1889 - Buck Jones - Vincennes, IN - d. 11-30-1942
actor: "Hoofbeats"
12-04-1889 - Isabel Randolph - Chicago, IL - d. 1-11-1973
actress: Rhoda Harding "Dan Harding's Wife"; Mrs. Abigail Uppington "Fibber
McGee and Molly"
12-04-1921 - Deanna Durbin - Winnipeg, Canada
singer: "Eddie Cantor Show"
12-04-1930 - Harvey Kuehn - West Allis, WI - d. 2-28-1988
baseball great: "Tops in Sports"
December 4th deaths
01-13-1910 - Jack Mercer - d. 12-4-1984
actor: Popeye "Popeye the Sailor"
06-20-1897 - Bob Howard - W. Newton, MA - d. 12-4-1986
pianist-singer: "Calsodent Presents Bob Howard"; "Sing It Again"
08-13-1895 - Bert Lahr - NYC - d. 12-4-1967
comedian: "Hildegarde's Raleigh Room"; "Manhattan at Midnight"; "Royal
Vagabonds"
09-01-1887 - William Daly - Cincinnati, OH - d. 12-4-1936
condctor: "Raleigh Review"; "Voice of Firestone"
09-07-1903 - Margaret Landon - Somers, WI - d. 12-4-1993
author: "Lux Radio Theatre"
09-12-1916 - Ed Binns - Philadelphia, PA - d. 12-4-1990
actor: "This Is My Story"
10-08-1897 - Rouben Mamoulian - Tiflis, Georgia, Russia - d. 12-4-1987
film director: "Theatre Guild On the Air"
11-22-1913 - Benjamin Britten - Lowestoft, Suffolk, England - d. 12-4-1976
composer: "Columbia Workshop"; "An American in England"
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #384
*********************************************
Copyright [removed] Communications, York, PA; All Rights Reserved,
including republication in any form.
If you enjoy this list, please consider financially supporting it:
[removed]
For Help: [removed]@[removed]
To Unsubscribe: [removed]@[removed]
To Subscribe: [removed]@[removed]
or see [removed]
For Help with the Archive Server, send the command ARCHIVE HELP
in the SUBJECT of a message to [removed]@[removed]
To contact the listmaster, mail to listmaster@[removed]
To Send Mail to the list, simply send to [removed]@[removed]