------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2006 : Issue 116
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
dramatic recordings before radio [ ddunfee@[removed] ]
4-27 births/deaths [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
Amos & Andy on TV [ zbob@[removed] ]
"Kingfish, Amos and Andy" [ Bill Jaker <bilj@[removed]; ]
Appreciation and Memories [ "Barbara Harmon" <jimharmonotr@char ]
Recent BBC documentaries on US OTR [ Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed]; ]
Hear It Now [ Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed] ]
4-28 births/deaths [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
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Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 21:15:28 -0400
From: ddunfee@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: dramatic recordings before radio
Last week NPR had a segment on one of its news shows which dealt with
dramatic recordings before radio. The one they used as an example was a
dramatic recreation of the San Francisco earthquake 100 years ago. These
were done on Edison wax cylinders and had only a few minutes of content.
But one could hear a presentation that solved the same kinds of problems
for an un-seeing audience that radio would duplicate later. It was said
these dramatizations were very popular. Has anyone any other information
about them?
XB
IC|XC
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 23:44:54 -0400
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 4-27 births/deaths
April 27th births
04-27-1896 - Rogers Hornsby - Winters, TX - d. 1-5-1963
hall of fame baseball player: "Play Ball"; "Tops in Sports"
04-27-1898 - George McCall - Renton, Scotland - d. 11-28-1952
host: "Man About Hollywood"
04-27-1898 - Ludwig Behelmans - Meran, Austria-Hungary - d. 10-1-1962
author, panelist: "Author, Author"
04-27-1899 - Ned Wever - NYC - d. 5-6-1984
actor: Dick Tracy "Dick Tracy"; Anthony Loring "Young Widder Brown"
04-27-1902 - Harry Stockwell - Kansas City, MO - d. 7-19-1984
singer: "Broadway Matinee"
04-27-1907 - Matty Matlock - Paducah, KY - d. 6-14-1978
jazz musician: (Member of the Big 7 Band) "Pete Kelly's Blues"
04-27-1918 - Robert Mitchell - Casper, WY - d. 10-13-1992
writer: "The Advs. of Philip Marlowe"
04-27-1923 - Peggy Knudsen - Duluth, MN - d. 7-11-1980
actor: Karen Adams "Woman in White"; Lois "Bill Goodwin Show"
04-27-1933 - Casey Kasem - Detroit, MI
actor: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"
04-27-1937 - Sandy Dennis - Hastings, NE - d. 3-1-1992
actor: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"
April 27th deaths
02-15-1896 - Arthur Shields - d. 4-27-1970
actor: (Brother of Barry Fitzgerald) "Cavalcade of America"
03-25-1899 - Bella Spewack - Bucharest, Romania - d. 4-27-1990
writer: "The Radio Guild"
04-06-1909 - Denver Darling - Illinois - d. 4-27-1981
country music: "NBC Thesaurus Library"
04-07-1915 - Stanley Adams - NYC - d. 4-27-1977
writer: "My Friend Irma"
04-10-1905 - Paul "Hezzie" Trietsch - Muncie, IN - d. 4-27-1980
musician-singer: "National Barn Dance"; "Uncle Ezra"
04-25-1908 - Edward R. Murrow - Pole Cat Creek, NC - d. 4-27-1965
newscaster: (This is London) "Edward R. Murrow with the News"
06-28-1908 - Alan Bunce - Westfield, NJ - d. 4-27-1965
actor: Albert Arbuckle "Ethel and Albert"; Jerry Malone "Young Dr.
Malone"
08-21-1908 - Tom Tully - Durango, CO - d. 4-27-1982
actor: Charles Martin "Stella Dallas"
11-07-1922 - Al Hirt - New Orleans, LA - d. 4-27-1999
dixieland trumpeter: "Voices of Vista"; "The Navy Swings"; "Here's to
Veterans"
xx-xx-1855 - Charles Goodell - Dudley, MA - d. 4-27-1937
clergyman: (The Shepard of the Air) "Sabbath Reveries"
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 23:45:09 -0400
From: zbob@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Amos & Andy on TV
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Yeah, just got my satellite tv schedule for May, and there they are: May 9 at
9:30 pm Eastern time, on the Turner channel. Enjoy Check and Double Check!
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Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 10:50:19 -0400
From: Bill Jaker <bilj@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: "Kingfish, Amos and Andy"
Last weekend Evelyn and I went to see "Kingfish, Amos and Andy", the
stage comedy and commentary about the popular and sometimes
controversial series that ran on radio and television for three decades.
Readers of this page are intimately familiar with the black characters
created two white men, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll. It was the
first time radio told a continuing story.
The program moved to television in 1951, just at the moment when African
Americans were seeking their full measure of civil rights, dignity and
respect. Even though the television series featured an all-black cast
(and was showcased as a national classic - remember the opening with a
row of books on a library shelf and "Amos & Andy" alongside "Paul
Bunyan" and "Huckleberry Finn"?), such comic characters as Kingfish,
Lightnin' and Calhoun were seen by some to be demeaning.
The play "Kingfish, Amos and Andy" opens with a student approaching a
film library to look at this aspect of black history. (I know, I know,
he should have picked up an audio [removed]) He is warned that he may find
it offensive but he proceeds to a screening, and the play is the show
that he views. It is a wild and funny story featuring the Gosden/Correll
characters brought back by the Black Spectrum Theater Company, and
written by the company's founder, Carl Clay. It is performed at their
theater in St. Albans, Queens, in New York City.
(A personal aside here: for much of my childhood I lived about six
blocks from the site of the theater so the evening was also a
sentimental journey).
In addition to giving top billing to the true protagonist of the Amos
and Andy series, "Kingfish, Amos and Andy", as directed by Bette Howard,
is a work of theatre that does some things that radio or television
could never do. I'm not referring to dialogue and action that would have
drawn the blue pencil of CBS Continuity Acceptance - though such
dialogue and action is certainly a part of the production - but rather
the dynamism and precision of the live performance that brought the
audience close to the characters.
The plot of the two-act play follows a story line familiar those who
have listened to "Amos & Andy." George "Kingfish" Stevens (Todd Davis)
is a hustler who has never done a day's honest work. His wife, Sapphire
(Arlene McGruder), is fed up with him. His friends seek to get at the
root of his shiftlessness, even to hypnotism and psychiatric attention.
Sapphire's mother (Marcha Tracey) arrives, bold and lascivious and
determined to steal her daughter away on a Bahamas vacation, far from
the Kingfish.
But at the end of the play we return to the young scholar, who has come
to appreciate the human comedy of "Amos & Andy." The performance ends
with an homage to abundantly talented performers like Tim Moore,
Ernestine Wade, Spencer Williams and Johnny Lee who "started it all for
Black Comedy TV".
Staging "Kingfish, Amos and Andy" seemed like a risky move for the Black
Spectrum Theater Company, but the production is being held over until
June and the company is planning a road tour. It is not only a
rollicking performance, but an instance of African-Americans taking
possession for themselves a part of our national culture that may have
fed racist feelings in some persons. For others "Amos & Andy" can stand
as a reflection of comedy genius that transcends ethnicity and shows us,
as Shakespeare might have said, "what fools these mortals be."
There is more information at [removed].
--Bill Jaker
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 11:14:20 -0400
From: "Barbara Harmon" <jimharmonotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Appreciation and Memories
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I would like to thank the several people who have made favorable comments
about me in the Digest. Craig Wichman comes to mind especially, since I
could not return his kindness very well, due to some last minute cuts made
by the publishing staff dropped his excellent piece on the future of radio
drama from the book I recently edited.
That book, It's That Time Again, More Stories of Old Time Radio,
Vol. 3 does contain a brief introduction by the legendary Norman Corwin, a
novelette by myself where Jack Armstrong meets Tom Mix (and some others like
Nick Carter), a story by award-winning science fiction and fantasy writer,
Richard Lupoff, where both the Whistler and the Mysterious Traveler turn
their attentions to one tale, and stories by Jon Swartz, Barbara Gratz, Dawn
Kovner, Tony Clay (who played Doc Long on my new production of "I Love a
Mystery" in a cassette album) and many other names familiar to readers of
this Digest.
"Too familiar," Wichman once quipped, but I trust not. There a great color
cover by Bobb Lynes, over 250 pages, $[removed]
>From BearManor, [removed], or directly from me. From me it is postpaid
and autographed.
One accident of last minute cuts - the exceptional story
involving the Cisco Kid visiting Fort Laramie by best-selling Jack French
somehow disastrously got cut. As I told Jack, this was better than any of
the rather juvenile Cisco shows I heard.
Hopefully, there will be a Vol. 4 and include this outstanding story.
Someone mentioned announcer Tony Marvin. I met him on a book
tour that took me to New York some thirty years ago.
"Godfrey was friendly with me right up to the day he fired me," he said.
His voice was so deep and vibrant I could feel his words vibrating in my own
stomach. I have met a lot of other deep-voiced actors, like Fred Foy and Ed
Prentiss but that is the only time I experienced that phenomenon.
JIM HARMON
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Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 12:28:06 -0400
From: Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Recent BBC documentaries on US OTR
It's amazing that the BBC pays more attention to American radio's
heritage than any current US broadcasting entity. Late last year they
had specials on Stan Freberg and the Firesign Theater, among others. In
the past five weeks or so they've aired three more that might be of
interest to OTR fans:
All the Right Notes but not necessarily in the right order 02/21/06 Ep
4 Spike Jones
Archive Hour 03/04/06 An Audience with Norman Corwin
Who Took the Cork off My Lunch 02/28/06 WC Fields
I haven't listened to any of these yet, but I'm looking forward to it!
Kermyt
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 17:24:03 -0400
From: Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Hear It Now
Evening!
You know, I try not to get in the road here very often, and now I find
myself with _two_ seperate issues.
I posted a note to The Kinescope about the Edward R. Murrow television
program, "See It Now," which made me think a bit about his radio work and "Here
It Now." The Hickerson bible (a must-have compendium of information, as I've
said more than once in this space) lists only eleven episodes existant, but
doesn't have sources listed, which implies these have been around for a
while. Anyone with copies?
Also, my daughter Katie (whom some of you met last week in Cincinnati) is
interested in "Jonathan Thomas and his Christmas on the Moon;" I _know_ I had
that in MP3, as it's been floating around the Net for years now, but
naturally when the redhead asks to hear it, I can't find it. Can anyone
provide good-quality copies?
If I can acquire episodes of "Here It Now" and "JT and his Christmas on
the Moon" from folks here on the Digest (please contact me if you have any of
the above, so I can set up a secure method for transfering the files), I'll
post them to the Nostalgic Rumblings blog (that's [removed]
) for anyone else here who might be interested in the shows, as I don't think
there will be enough interest to set up BitTorrent seeds.
Charlie
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 22:24:42 -0400
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 4-28 births/deaths
April 28th births
04-28-1874 - Sidney Toler - Warrensburg, MO - d. 2-12-1947
actor: "Southern California WPA Symphony Orchestra"; "It's Time to
Smile"
04-28-1878 - Lionel Barrymore - Philadelphia, PA - d. 11-15-1954
actor: Leonard Gillispie "Dr. Kildare"; Ebenezzer Scrooge "A
Christmas Carol"
04-28-1882 - Henry Bellamann - Fulton, MO - d. xx-xx-1945
author: "King's Row" based on his novel
04-28-1892 - Joseph Dunninger - NYC - d. 3-9-1975
mentalist: (Master Mind of Mental Mystery) "Dunninger Show"
04-28-1896 - Edith Evanson - Tacoma, WA - d. 11-29-1980
actor: Helmi "Myrt and Marge"
04-28-1900 - Val Gielgud - London England - d. 11-30-1981
writer: (Brother of John Gielgud) "The Columbia Workshop"
04-28-1908 - Michael Fitzmaurice - Chicago, IL - d. 8-31-1967
actor: Clark Kent/Superman "Advs. of Superman"; Dick Grosvenor
"Stella Dallas"
04-28-1911 - Lee Falk - St. Louis, MO - d. 3-13-1999
writer: "Mandrake the Magician"
04-28-1920 - Nan Merriman - Pittsburgh, PA
singer: "Serenade to America"; "Music of the New World"
04-28-1929 - Carolyn Jones - Amarillo, TX - d. 8-3-1983
actor: "Dragnet"; "Survivors"
April 28th deaths
01-29-1913 - Joe Parker - Venice, CA - d. 4-28-1970
director: "Sara's Private Caper"
02-16-1915 - Dorothy Lovett - Providence, RI - d. 4-28-1998
actor: Libby Collins "Lux Radio Theatre"
03-16-1925 - Lane Nakano - Los Angeles, CA - d. 4-28-2005
actor: "The Big Show"
03-18-1914 - Ben Gage - Chicago, IL - d. 4-28-1978
actor: Jimmy Gale "Modern Cinderella"
03-25-1901 - Ed Begley - Hartford, CT - d. 4-28-1970
actor: Walt Levinson "Richard Diamond, Private Detective"; Charlie
Chan "Charlie Chan"
06-18-1902 - Tom Breneman - Waynesboro, PA - d. 4-28-1948
emcee: "Breakfast at Sardi's/in Hollywood"; "My Secret Ambition"
07-02-1916 - Ken Curtis - Lamar, CO - d. 4-28-1991
singing cowboy: "Hollywood Barn Dance"
07-08-1913 - Ann Thomas - Newport, RI - d. 4-28-1989
actor: Sharon O'Shaughnessy "Bob Burns Show"; Barbara Weeks "We Love
and Learn"
08-08-1922 - Rory Calhoun - Los Angeles, CA - d. 4-28-1999
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
09-19-1899 - Ricardo Cortez - Vienna, Austria-Hungary - d. 4-28-1977
actor: "Shell Chateau"; "Fleischmann's Yeast Hour"; "Treasury Hour"
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2006 Issue #116
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