Subject: [removed] Digest V2007 #18
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 1/16/2007 7:36 AM
To: [removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2007 : Issue 18
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Hearing America Radio special         [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
  Joe has a dream                       [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
  "The Thing" Godfrey too               [ <verotas@[removed]; ]
  FOTR Script Contest                   [ JayHick@[removed] ]
  Re: Museum of OTR premiums            [ "Candy Jens" <candyj@[removed]; ]
  nothing on it is ever well done       [ Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed]; ]
  Re: Thanks for input on Radio Premiu  [ Joemartelle@[removed] ]
  Bill Idelson                          [ "thomas heathwood" <HeritageRadio@m ]
  1-16 births/deaths                    [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
  Premium Museum Thoughts               [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr" <skallisjr@j ]

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

Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 10:27:29 -0500
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Hearing America Radio special

I don't think I saw any mention of this in the digest, but I heard a
radio special last night over public radio that was produced in
December. The hour special was called "Hearing America: A Century of
Music on the Radio" and a large portion was devoted to early radio with
some clips and interviews with radio historians such as Susan Douglas,
Michelle Hilmes, Cliff Doerksen and others. It was an interesting look
at early radio around the presentation of music.  You can actually
download the show too.

The site's main web page is
[removed]
and nearly center right on your browser page is a link that says
"Download this program as an mp3."  If you haven't heard it, it provides
some fascinating listening.

Jim Widner

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

Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 11:25:21 -0500
From: <otrbuff@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Joe has a dream

Joe Martelle's idea for a museum dedicated to radio premiums, with some
expansion added by Dan Hughes, is a fascinating idea.  I'd love to visit.
And while the setting proposed sounds idyllic, my immediate reaction is:  in
a remote part of the hinterland, off the beaten path for the populace at
large, wouldn't it have only miniscule appeal?  Wouldn't it be so limited in
accessibility that -- no matter how grand or how widely publicized -- many
who would enjoy and learn from it simply wouldn't be able to get there?  And
therefore, sadly, revenue would lag.

If that barn could be set down on the outskirts of Atlanta, St. Louis,
Cincinnati, Houston, Chicago, Tampa, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Kansas City or
Phoenix, wow!  What an opportunity for a draw!  Think of the publicity the
local media could generate.  Otherwise it would likely be passed over by the
masses who didn't live within a hundred miles and weren't looking for a
field trip experience.  The present radio museums in NYC, LA and Chicago
seem to do well because they are where the people are.  I'm reminded of a
soft drink memorabilia exhibition in a backwoods setting within an hour's
drive of my home that seemingly doesn't draw many patrons.  A fabulous idea
except it's in the wrong place.

If Joe can be fulfilled by reaching only a handful of people, and sustain
the operation thereby, he should go for it in order to satisfy an itch.
This is, after all, the day to have a dream.

Jim Cox

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

Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 11:25:32 -0500
From: <verotas@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  "The Thing" Godfrey too

Arthur Godfrey also had a good-selling version of "The Thing" on Columbia,
with The Mariners as backup.  I don't know which record came first, Godfrey's
Columbia or Phil Harris'  Victor.  Can anyone look up numbers and dates and
tell me?  My reference materials are still packed due to my recent move to
Florida.  I could not find the Godfrey disc listed on the Internet, but one
source lists the Phil Harris "The Thing" with the date 11-25-50, and what is
supposedly a record number RCA 3968.  Whether the date is release date or
when it hit the charts I don't know.

I looked into this and read about the Phil Harris/NBC promotion connected
therewith, getting toys for kids.  Did this possibly morph into the program
done for so many years and still, in connection with the [removed] Marines?
Does anyone recall if Mr. Godfrey lent his support to the toy program?

 Logical, as it would tie in with HIS record too - but difficult, due to the
two networks and record companies involved.  Not that that bothered Mr.
Godfrey much, although usually the exceptions when he tied in with NBC stars
Perry Como and Bob Hope and Bing Crosby on ABC, were because of their
connections with Chesterfield cigarettes, the sponsor's wishes generally
over-riding the network vice-presidents, whom both Godfrey and Hope liked to
kid anyway.

But at the time, I believe Phil Harris' sponsor was not Fitch or one of the
others, but RCA Victor itself!  So any tie-in with the Godfrey deal would
probably have been vetoed there (despite the fact at that point in time RCA
Victor record catalogs were still carrying listings of some RCA Bluebird
(their low-price label) records which Mr. Godfrey recorded with his
Washington organist Johnny Salb, while he was still an NBC staff announcer
and had his morning show on the NBC station in Washington, before they fired
him and he was immediately snatched up by their competitors at Columbia.

Some years later Frank Stanton at CBS Hdq caught his show and asked Mr.
Godfrey to come up to NYC to talk full time network exposure on CBS.   From
he recently-departed "Doc" Stanton was Godfrey's mentor, for instance
suggesting that when it was decided to release Julius LaRosa from the Godfrey
programs at LaRosa's specific request (he was NOT fired), it was Stanton who
suggested "Well, you hired him on the air -- why not release him on the air?"
which, of course, was exactly what happened.

Any help anyone can give me on this will be most appreciated.

Lee Munsick  (that Godfrey guy)

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

Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 12:34:06 -0500
From: JayHick@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  FOTR Script Contest
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2007 Friends Of Old-Time Radio Script Contest

The 14th Annual FOTR scriptwriting Contest is now open.   This time we want a 
half-hour program which is a takeoff of the classic soap operas, complete 
with brain tumors, mistaken identity - broken romance - whatever brings out the 
worst in that Golden Age Of Radio.   Probably best would be two fifteen-minute 
episodes, complete with soupy organ music - and finish with a dramatic teaser 
for next episode.   Sponsor (short commercials at beginning and end of each 
episode) should be a laundry product that existed in the 30's or 40's, or one 
created by you.

Please limit cast to 5 or 6, including announcer, but minor parts could be 
doubled.   Script must be ready to produce - 10 point type or larger, all sound 
and music cues included.   First Prize is $200.   and it will be performed 
live at our 2008 convention, with a DVD copy to first prize winner.   Second 
prize is $[removed]   Deadline for submissions is August 31, 2007 to Dave Zwengler, 
319 Plymouth Rd., North Brunswick NJ 08902 (732-0940-7639).   Three 
experienced judges from our steering committee will pick the winners.

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Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 14:10:22 -0500
From: "Candy Jens" <candyj@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Museum of OTR premiums

Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2007 16:54:26 -0500
From: Joemartelle@[removed]
For many years now, I have toyed with the idea of opening a radio premium
museum!

Joe, the first thing to consider is where you are - if you're miles from
anywhere, people won't come without a tremendous (read: expensive!)
promotion job.  The second is the amount of your time and energy you want to
put into the project - for example, the visitors who arrive after hours,
pleading for you to re-open "just this once."

BUT! - the Internet has allowed for an inexpensive solution, and a fun hobby
to maintain at YOUR convenience - set up a virtual museum as a website,
displaying photos (and possibly stories) of your own premiums and soliciting
others to send in their snapshots.  Nobody gives up physical posession of
their items, you work on updates at your leisure, and the results are
available 24/7.  You might even be able to promote the site here <g>.  It
would also be vastly less expensive than remodeling the barn!

Good luck from a fellow mail-watcher for rings, "silver" bullets, etc . who
didn't have the foresight to keep 'em -
Candy

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

Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 18:05:39 -0500
From: Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  nothing on it is ever well done

I had always attributed the phrase "Television is called a medium
because nothing on it is ever well done" to Fred Allen. (In fact, I
just heard him say it on the premiere episode of The Big Show, on
11/05/1950.) However, I recently re-read "The Groucho Letters," and in
an undated letter to Groucho from the 1950s, Goodman Ace uses this
phrase. He doesn't attribute it to anybody; he just states it. The fact
that he was the main writer for The Big Show suggests it's possible
that he put the words into Fred's mouth as well. Does anybody know if
that phrase really belongs to Goody and not Fred?

Kermyt

PS. In the same letter to Groucho, Goodman states that TV is an acronym
for "terrible vaudeville."

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

Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 18:07:30 -0500
From: Joemartelle@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Thanks for input on Radio Premium Museum
 and e-mail from   Bill Kizer
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In a message dated 1/15/2007 9:43:38 [removed] Mountain Standard Time,
wrk41@[removed] writes:

I want  to thanks those of you who took time to offer suggestions and ideas
for  my proposed 'Radio Premiums  Museum'...with a special thanks to  Bill
Kizer,  Dan Hughes,  Arthur Emerson,  Grant Shorten and of  course,
'Charlie,'
for kindly printing my rather long letter of  explanation.
With Bill's permission, I've forward his reply with suggestions.

If I may, please allow me to clarify one important point, as to the
location, of our proposed RADIO PREMIUMS  MUSEUM, here in Colorado. The
small town of
Mesa, Colorado, may be high in the mountains (7500 foot level),  but we're
not as far out in the boonies as you and Bill, may think:) We are  about a 20
minutes drive, (depending on the weather and road conditions) up the  canyon,
from  I-70, on one of Colorado's few scenic drives. Our home,  complete with
barn is located just a few minutes off the scenic main road to the  top. It's
a
beautiful 4 seasons area for recreation. Ten minutes above us is  Powderhorn
Ski Resort, which is on the picturesque Grand Mesa. I'm sure the town  folks
would love the idea of the radio premium museum being located in their  town
and
be very supportive.

Many of you wrote and thought that a website would be the way to go with  the
museum,. I must admit, it's an interesting suggestion, but I'm still leaning
towards a permanent 'home,' not only to show off my premiums but those of
other  collectors. I'm not interested in selling them but displaying them, for
others  to enjoy seeing, especially future generations. The intent of the
RADIO
PREMIUMS  MUSEUM  is to show  'a living history'  of the role 'these  little
gems' played in so many of our favorite radio programs,  and how  much fun and
enjoyment they brought to millions of Americans!
Perhaps, the website and a permanent 'fixed' home would compliment each
other?!  Please feel free to contact me off line and give me your thoughts  on
which you prefer, for the RADIO PREMIUM [removed] WEBSITE or a PERMANENT
LOCATION, like our barn!?  Thanks so much for your time and input.
Joe

_joemartelle@[removed]_ (mailto:joemartelle@[removed])

From: "wr k" <wrk41@[removed];
To: joemartelle@[removed]
Subject: Radio Premium Museum
Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 11:41:25 -0500
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   Read your letter on the OTR Digest [removed] A good idea but, probably
   a bad location which, would limit the number of [removed]

   My suggestion would be to open your own web site and post multiple
   pixs of each item for close up viewing along with descriptive
   [removed] way, thousands could visit at their [removed] The items
   would not be handled or subject to fires, [removed] photographing,
   they could be safely stored in a safety deposit box or safe
   [removed](Or, even sold if the price were lucrative!)

   A web site would keep your overhead to a [removed] barn to heat
   and no contents to insure against fire and [removed] visitors could
   even be asked for a small donation to help maintain the site like
   Charlie does with the [removed] you draw enough visitors, you might
   even land a few advertisers which would more then pay for the monthly
   web [removed]

   Even if you had the museum and displayed the articles, they would have
   to be under glass for [removed] think the web photos----close ups
   taken at various angles would allow visitors to see even more
   [removed] And, they could download and print copies for their own
   personal files.

   In addition to premiums, you could display other artifacts as
   [removed] and rare radios from the early days, such as Atwater-Kent,
   Grebe, [removed] Radio scripts, actors photos, etc. etc. [removed]

   Give it some [removed] guess is initial set-up expense would run
   well under $1000 and monthly expense afterward about $[removed] It
   would always be "open" and you and your family would be free to travel
   and go [removed] you pass on to that geat studio in the sky,
   it would be very easy for someone else (You designate) to takeover and
   maintain the web [removed]

   I like your idea for a [removed] could contribute by sending
   photos, etc. without actually relinquishing their
   [removed] luck on your [removed]!!!

                 Bill Kizer, Lynchburg, VA 24503
     _________________________________________________________________

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

Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 20:52:00 -0500
From: "thomas heathwood" <HeritageRadio@[removed];
To: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Bill Idelson
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Hi Everyone -  We wanted to remind folks that this week we are proud to have
Bill Idelson as our special guest on Heritage Radio Theatre on The Olde Tyme
Radio Network. Bill tells us about his early days in radio in Chicago and how
he came to VIC & SADE on NBC. We have some good clips to thanks to Jan Bach
and Heritage Radio Classics.  Tune in 24/7  now through Saturday at:
[removed]<[removed]
t>            Tom Heathwood     1/15

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

Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 23:06:11 -0500
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  1-16 births/deaths

January 16th births

01-16-1878 - Harry Carey, Sr. - NYC - d. 9-21-1947
actor: "Lincoln Highway"; "Suspense"
01-16-1890 - Lloyd Bacon - San Jose, CA - d. 11-15-1955
film director: "Screen Guild Theatre"; " Screen Director's Playhouse"
01-16-1894 - John B. Kennedy - Wales, Great Britain - d. 7-22-1961
commentator: "Collier's Hour"; "RCA Magic Key"
01-16-1895 - Irene Bordoni - Ajaccio, Crosica, France - d. 3-19-1953
singer: "The Coty Playgirl"
01-16-1901 - Sid Silvers - Brooklyn, NY - d. 8-20-1976
actor: Beetle "Phil Baker Show"; "Jack Benny Program"
01-16-1907 - Alexander Knox - Strathroy, Ontario, Canada - d. 4-25-1995
actor: "Document A/777", BBC
01-16-1907 - John Hiestand - Madison, WI - d. 2-5-1987
announcer: "Amos 'n' Andy"; "Cinnamon Bear"; "Feg Murray Show"
01-16-1909 - Ethel Merman - Astoria, NY - d. 2-15-1984
singer" "Ethel Merman Show"; "Home Front Matinee"
01-16-1910 - Dwight Weist - Palo Alto, CA - d. 7-16-1991
actor: Mr. District Attorney "Mr. District Attorney"
01-16-1911 - Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean - Lucas, AR - d. 7-17-1974
baseball broadcaster: (Baseball Hall of Fame) "Game of the Day"
01-16-1914 - Roger Wagner - Le Puy, France - d. 9-17-1992
chorale director: "It's Time for Johnny Mercer"; "America Sings"
01-16-1916 - Joe McMichael - Minneapolis, MN - d. 2-12-1944
singer: (The Merry Macs) "Bing Crosby Show"; "Fred Allen Show"
01-16-1916 - Norval Taborn - d. 1-23-1990
singer: (The Vagabonds) "The Breakfast Club"
01-16-1917 - Brainerd Duffield - Boston, MA - d. 4-5-1979
writer: "The Ford Theatre"
01-16-1920 - Elliott Reid - NYC
actor: Biff Bradley "Pepper Young's Family"
01-16-1922 - Lina Romay - NYC
latin singer: "The Bing Crosby Show"; "The Dick Haymes Show"
01-16-1924 - Allen Swift - NYC
actor: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"
01-16-1924 - Katy Jurado - Guadalajara, Mexico - d. 7-5-2002
actor: "George Fisher Interviews the Stars"
01-16-1929 - Popeye the Sailor - d. will live forever
cartoon character: "Popeye"

January 16th deaths

02-12-1888 - Victor Kolar - Budapest, Hungary - d. 1-16-1957
conductor: "Ford Sunday Evening Hour"
03-25-1867 - Arturo Toscanini - Parma, Italy - d. 1-16-1957
conductor: "NBC Symphony Orchestra"
05-03-1907 - Earl Wilson - Rockford, OH - d. 1-16-1987
columnist: "Earl Wilson's Broadway Column"
06-13-1908 - Carl Eastman - d. 1-16-1970
actor: "Mrs. Miniver"; "Renfrew of the Mounted"
06-26-1913 - Jack Moyles - d. 1-16-1973
actor: Major Daggett "Fort Laramie"; Rocky Jordan "A Man Named Jordan/
Rocky Jordan"
07-31-1892 - Herbert W. Armstrong - Des Moines, IA - d. 1-16-1986
preacher: "Plain Truth"; "The World Tomorrow"
09-22-1875 - Guy Bates Post - Seattle, WA - d. 1-16-1968
actor: Ulysses S. Grant "Roses and Drums"
10-06-1908 - Carole Lombard - Fort Wayne, IN - d. 1-16-1942
actor: "The Circle"; "Hollywood Hotel"

Ron Sayles

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

Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 23:07:04 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr" <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Premium Museum Thoughts

Dan Hughes, speaking of Joe Martelle's idea for a museum, notes,

I wouldn't limit it to radio premiums.  I'd make it a History of Radio
Museum, with displays for your local stations and some of the legendary
nationals.  This would be a great way to get your local stations
involved, and most of your visitors will probably be familiar with the
local stations.

My original idea was to find some way to preserve the rich history of the
radio premiums, and their impact on the listeners of the time.  There are
already Broadcasting Museums, and what would make a museum unique is the
tangible bits of broadcast history that premiums represent.

Mr, Hughes notes,

You can still emphasize radio premiums, but they wouldn't be the do-all
exhibit they would have to be if there were nothing else to see.

Well, in my original observations, I noted, "I wonder: has anyone thought
of an OTR museum?  Not a Museum of Broadcasting, but perhaps a Museum of
OTR artifacts?  Not only of premiums, but of associated memorabilia.  It
might be a way to preserve the heritage."  That still holds.  Before I
retired, I spent some time producing ([removed], shooting, scripting, editing,
etc.) industrial films.  Had I the spare money, I'd have shot a sort of
"day in the life" of a young listener of the OTR period, showing him or
her using various of the old units, such as a Code-O-Graph and a
Magni-Glo Writing Ring.  Such a film would be an aspect of such a museum,
even though I couldn't afford to shoot one [removed]

Audio exhibits could be pitches for some of the old premiums.

There are many ways to capture at least some of the magic of radio
premiums, but primarily if we can maintain focus.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2007 Issue #18
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