Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #334
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 8/24/2002 9:03 AM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2002 : Issue 334
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  The huge influencing of advertising   [ Jer51473@[removed] ]
  Re: Sound Effects Libraries           [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
  Re: Sound Effects Libraries           [ Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed] ]
  Peter Lorre/Jack Benny appearance     [ JackBenny@[removed] ]
  Re: "Mighty Memory Mobile"            [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
  My! My!                               [ JackBenny@[removed] ]
  Re: Mighty Memory Mobile              [ bruceglazer@[removed] ]
  Bergen w/o McCarthy                   [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Re: sound effects                     [ JJLjackson@[removed] ]
  Benny in a movie?                     [ zbob@[removed] ]
  Media Query                           [ Kubelski@[removed] ]
  Something Nice                        [ WallyEly1@[removed] ]
  Capt. Midnight and the Co-Op          [ Harlan Zinck <buster@[removed]; ]
  Nipper                                [ "George Tirebiter" <tirebiter2@hotm ]

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

Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 09:54:06 -0400
From: Jer51473@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  The huge influencing of advertising

Some have posted that advertising has never influenced them to buy a product
and this could be possible, but it definitely influences millions of people
to the extent that it is necessary to establish or increase sales. Without
the sponsors we all know there wouldnt have been the otr that we enjoyed then
or now and the same is true and has been for tv. These companies dont spend
money for  the publics benefit and in most cases most people are influenced,
if only in subtle ways, to purchase products. Subliminal brainwashing is a
very old tactic of advertising. Along these same lines does anyone recall
products that were marketed so well that people actually replaced the type of
product with a companys brand name? Off the top of my head i can think of
two, but there must have been others and instances probably varied according
to sections of the country or maybe neighborhoods. I grew up thinking a
refridgerater was a fridgidare and i still today catch myself referring to it
as such. My grandparents bought the first one in our family in the thirties
and thats what we called it. The other product that comes to my mind is
gelatin dessert which we served often and we called it jello. I still today
call gelatin dessert jello. These are some examples of the power of good
advertising. I can remember selling and buying candy in the fifties and very
seldom were there displays or ads of any kind, including radio, of hershey
candy bars. They sold themselves and were so popular that the ads that were
run usually consisted of just a picture of the product or radio reminders
with a brief message. I later took some adverising courses in school and
found advertising to be the most exciting part of marketing whether it be
radio, tv, billboards, magazines, or whatever. I would highly reccomend such
a course if you havnt had one and see the in-depth mind games these people
play with us. The height of effective advertising is going on right now on tv
and the internet.

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

Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 10:59:19 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Sound Effects Libraries

On 8/23/02 9:56 AM OldRadio Mailing Lists wrote:

I suspect that back in the heyday of OTR, there were equivalent
sound-effects records.  It would be far easier to buy "generic sound
effects" on records than to have to develop them individually, show by
show.

Quite true. By the mid-1930s, there were several companies in the
business of making and selling sound effects records for broadcast use:
Gennett/Speedy-Q (the earliest such line, introduced in 1928), Thomas J.
Valentino/Major Records, and Standard Radio [removed] Super-Sound
Effects. The recordings were sold individually or in complete libraries,
on standard 10 inch 78rpm pressings, and the catalogues were updated
regularly with new sounds. Sets of such discs were essential tools in any
sound effects department, network or local.

These companies advertised regularly in "Broadcasting" and other trade
publications. Here are typical descriptions of new Standard Super-Sound
Effects releases appearing in the 1/15/38 issue of "Broadcasting:"

"46A BATTLE BACKGROUND (MODERN): Continuous -- 2 minutes 40 seconds.
Large open battle between two well armed forces, this effect shows
clearly sounds of rifle fire, light and heavy cannon, field mortars,
machine guns, and occasional whine of ricochet. This effect gives a
modern battle background that does not drown out dialogue but still sets
a scene of modern fighting ferocity.

"46B ANIMAL EFFECTS: Cow Mooing -- 08 secs.  Rooster Crowing -- 07 secs.
Wolf Howling (continuous) 1 min. 00 secs. Recorded from life, all these
effects have the outdoor perspective.

"47A AERIAL BATTLE: Continuous -- 2 mins. 40 seconds. This effect
re-creates a 'dog fight' with roaring of plane motors, whining of struts
and wires, and ever present the deadly sound of machine guns.

"47B NEWSPAPER OFFICE: Continuous -- 2 mins. 40 secs. Distinguishable
sounds are: typewriters, teletype, general busy conversation, telephones,
calls for copy boy.

"48A BATTLE BACKGROUND (OLD TIME) -- Continuous -- 2 minutes 40 seconds.
Composite of rifle fire and cannon, scattered in spots to indicate the
looseness, comparatively speaking, with which field encounters took place
in the day before modern warfare as we knew it came into being. By
superimposing cavalry charges, shouts, and cries of soldiers, etc. this
effect can be made to fit every situation in battle scenes for historical
dramas.

"48B LOCOMOTIVE EFFECT: Continuous --2 mins. 40 secs. Train has just
stopped at a small country station. Effect is from the locomotive
perspective -- steam escaping, blowing and puffing of engine. First
section includes the engine bell as it gradually dies down, second
section includes signal whistle between engine closest to us and another
one down the track, third section is straight as described above. These
sections have been slightly separated by small spreaders for easy cueing,
although the entire effect is continuous."

Standard Super-Sound Effects discs sold for $[removed] each on an individual
basis -- in an era when an ordinary Victor record cost 75 cents -- but
library discounts were available to stations which bought the entire
package in bulk, or who were already subscribers to the Standard Program
Library.

As can be seen from these descriptions, the recorded effects were far
from being a cheap crutch: they were carefully thought out, and offered
sound technicians a great deal of flexibility in producing effects that
would be impractical or impossible to generate thru manual methods. Just
about any possible sound, or combination of sounds, could be found on a
record -- or created by combining cuts from multiple discs. The idea of a
sound effects department which produced its sounds exclusively thru
manual means was obsolete by 1933.

Elizabeth

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

Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 11:02:06 -0400
From: Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Sound Effects Libraries

At 10:53 AM -0400 8/23/02, Elizabeth McLeod is rumored to have typed:

Quite true. By the mid-1930s, there were several companies in the
business of making and selling sound effects records for broadcast use:

   Silly [removed] did these companies record the sounds? I mean, today,
you can go pretty much anywhere with a digital recorder the size of your pen
and record any sound you want; in the '30s, weren't the available disc
recorders a little large to go lugging around?

         Charlie

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

Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 12:56:42 -0400
From: JackBenny@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Peter Lorre/Jack Benny appearance

((she's asked me to find a Jack Benny fan who could supply her the March 1946
episodes. Can anyone help her?))

The show on which Peter Lorre appeared was 3/24/46, with a version of "I
Stand Condemned".  This show is available in the IJBFC library in tape or MP3.

--
Laura Leff
President, IJBFC
[removed]

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

Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 12:58:36 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: "Mighty Memory Mobile"

On 8/23/02 9:56 AM OldRadio Mailing Lists wrote:

I wondered if any one listened to it when it was out originally
and knows anything about the program? It appears to have come out of
NewYork City and may have been local or syndicated and from comments by
Moore it was early to mid 70's.

I remember listening to this as a syndicated feature around 1978 over
WHET in Waltham, Massachusetts -- which ran the program in a
late-afternoon/early evening slot on the weekends.  The programs were
about 90 minutes long in first run,  allowing half an hour for
commercials and breaks for local news to fill a two hour slot. (More
recent reissues of the series cut the programs down to fit an hour slot
by splitting each episode into "Part One" and "Part Two.")

Each program focused on a particular year from the 1920 thru the 1964,
and illustrated the events and popular successes of that year with audio
clips taken from radio programs, newsreels, or ordinary phono records.
The format was that Maxwell and Moore were taking you for a ride on their
"Memory Mobile," and there was a very catchy bit of electronic theme
music/sound effects to establish the image of this vehicle.

The series was  produced in Baltimore -- Moore's hometown -- during
1975-76, and a year's worth of episodes were completed. Occasionally
Maxwell was absent, and would be replaced by a guest host, such as Ben
Grauer or Durward Kirby. At the time I heard it, it came across as one of
the better "nostalgia/clip show" packages of the day, and Moore,
especially, seemed to be enjoying himself.

Some years ago, McCoys Recording in Washington state offered several
reels' worth of these shows, airchecked off a public-radio station in
Texas.

Elizabeth

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

Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 13:14:43 -0400
From: JackBenny@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  My! My!

Hi Derek,

I really like the song & dance number called "My, My!" that
Eddie "Rochester" Anderson  performed in one of the Jack Benny movies
("The Meanest Man in the World"? I can't exactly place it). Does anybody out
there in the ether happen to know if Rochester's performance of this song is
available on CD?

I'm working from memory, but I think that "My! My!" is from "Buck Benny Rides
Again".  The song "Waitin' for Jane" was released separately on record, but I
am not aware that "My! My!" was similarly released.  Of course, there's
always the possibility that someone dubbed it to .wav from a videotape of the
movie.

--
Laura Leff
President, IJBFC
[removed]

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

Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 14:27:24 -0400
From: bruceglazer@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Mighty Memory Mobile

In the late 70's I was a communications instructor and general manager
of a junior college's radio station.  I  remember receiving and airing the
"Mighty Memory Mobile" reel-to-reel audio tapes.  It was a syndicated 
series that was both educational and enertaining, featuring banter between Moore and
Maxwell and the playing of OTR.  As a college, I do not believe we had to pay for it.

A well produced program, but I am not sure if there was enough interest in OTR, at 
that time, to sustain longtime interest the "Mighty Memory Mobile".

Bruce R. Glazer

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

Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 15:40:41 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Bergen w/o McCarthy

I just listened to two Suspense programs. “The Plan” with Jack Benny and “The
Ten Grand” with Lucille Ball. They were both totally out of character and very
good. My question to this astute group is, did Edgar Bergen ever appear
without Charlie McCarthy in a straight dramatic role, or for that matter did
he ever appear in a comedic role without Charlie. I seem to be on an Edgar
Bergen kick, but I liked him very much.
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Hometown and final resting place of [removed] "Hans von" Kaltenborn

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

Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 16:00:00 -0400
From: JJLjackson@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: sound effects

This is not exactly on the same thread as the previous postings about sound
effects, but a close relative.

Some of the Digesters already know about this, because they are members of
the Radio Enthusiasts of Puget Sound, but I thought the rest of the Digest
might be interested in hearing.

Ray Erlenborn, sound effects wizard of the West Coast (Red Skelton, Jack
Benny, Bergen & McCarthy, Amos & Andy, Lum & [removed]) has donated his entire
sound effects collection--his life's work--to REPS. That includes a number of
Mc kenzie machines, and the stuff to go with them.
We are in the process of arranging transportation to Seattle, and storage of
the collection. In the spring, plans are afoot to have Ray and Meridy come to
Seattle for one of REPS' monthly meetings, as well as doing a workshop to
show us how everything works (which we plan to videotape, for posterity).

This is the second collection of sound effects equipment that has been
donated to REPS. Stewart Conway's collection has been used at every Showcase
convention since 1993. Ray wanted to make sure that his "children" would have
a continued life of being used for their original intention. (Each Showcase
has had 6-8 recreations, squeezed into [removed] days--live sound effects lovingly
used.)
Look for them at Showcase 11, June 27-29, 2003.

Thanks, Ray! I hope you'll be able to use them at the Showcase for many years
to come.

Joy Jackson
Radio Enthusiasts of Puget Sound

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

Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 16:44:29 -0400
From: zbob@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Benny in a movie?

About 15 minutes into "Springtime in the Rockies",
Harry James and orchestra have a big number. The end
violinist (stage left) sure looks like Jack? ? ? ? Bob

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

Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 16:44:21 -0400
From: Kubelski@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Media Query

A freelance reporter writing for Redbook is looking for comedians and comedy
experts to explain how to make people laugh - how to "hone in the on the
funny bone" as she puts it.

Broadcast comedy peaked in the golden age of OTR, so do we have any old time
comedy writers on the list who we might want to introduce to this reporter
and let her know how it's done?

If so, contact me off-list and I'll hook you up with the reporter.  Bonus
points if you manage to mention "Friends of Old Time Radio Convention" in the
interview.

Thanks,

Sean Dougherty
Kubelski@[removed]

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

Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 17:49:03 -0400
From: WallyEly1@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Something Nice
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

Following up on the thread of recent weeks about the saying, "If you can't
say something [removed]"

I always thought that was originated by Thumper in Bambi, when he said, "If
you can't say somethin' nice, don't say nuthin' at all."

Wally Ely

  *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
  ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 18:33:55 -0400
From: Harlan Zinck <buster@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Capt. Midnight and the Co-Op

First off, my thanks to Stephen Kallis for his interesting review last
Sunday of the "Captain Midnight" episode from December 2, 1943, one of the
"Signal From the Sky" sequence. This newly discovered program, taken from a
glass-based 16" disk, was preserved and restored by the Archives earlier
this year. It's now available on the free membership CD given to everyone
who joins the First Generation Radio Archives. This CD runs over seventy
minutes and also includes uncirculated episodes of "Vic and Sade" and
"Little Orphan Annie" as well as a Jimmy Durante Rexall program from 1948.
Drop by our website for more information.

And, if you're a fan of "Captain Midnight," you'll be glad to hear that we
have other uncirculated programs that we intend to include on next year's
membership CD. Stay tuned!

In other news:

ilamfan@[removed] wrote:

Does anyone know what we're listening to as far as the original "War Of
The Worlds" broadcast?  (snip) Is
there actually a "BEST" version available?  First-Generation Archives,
anyone?

I wish I could say that the Archives had access to original lacquers of
"The War of the Worlds" but, alas, no one has yet come forward with an
offer to sell or loan us such a thing. If they ever did, that would be me
you hear hollering "whoopee"...or words to that effect. ;-)

This suggestion does, however, bring to mind one of the greatest benefits
that the First Generation Radio Archives and other old time radio clubs
offer to both members and other people in the OTR community: buying power.

If you've browsed eBay anytime in the past few years, you've probably been
amazed at the prices original radio recordings are going for these days.
It's not uncommon to find a single syndication disk going for upwards of
$[removed] and original lacquers garnering bids well into the hundreds of
dollars - prices far out of the reach of the average collector or casual
OTR listener. It's easy to see that, if someone chooses to make such a
sizable investment in disks, they're not likely to give others the chance
to hear them before they get their investment back one way or another.

But when the Archives buys a disk, it's a very different story.

We buy disks for two reasons: one, to document and preserve their content,
and two, to share that content with the rest of the Archives members via
low-cost CD loans from our libraries. We hold nothing back - any show from
any disk we have chosen to buy in the past is either currently available in
one of our CD libraries or Premier Collections or will be as soon as time
and manpower allows. In addition, since memberships, library loans, and CD
sales financially support our work - and because we're an all-volunteer
organization in the first place - we're able to offer our restorations to
members for a loan or sale price far lower than average.

Were we ever offered the chance to borrow or buy an original set of line
checks of "The War of the Worlds," you can be sure our members would get
the chance to hear them not long after they arrived - the same way that
those uncirculated "Vic and Sade," "Captain Midnight," and "Little Orphan
Annie" shows can be heard and enjoyed for just the price of an Archives
membership.

In many ways, this makes the Archives something of an OTR co-op for our
members. Each one of them, with their memberships, contributes to the
memberships of everyone else to form a collective that equals access to
rare and great sounding shows at very low prices.

If you're not currently a member of the Archives or one of the other
outstanding old time radio clubs, I encourage you to check us out. It's
thanks to groups like SPERDVAC, REPS, MWOTRC, the Archives, and others that
so much newly-discovered old time radio can now be widely and affordably
heard - and without having to mortgage the house to win those auctions!

Harlan

Harlan Zinck
First Generation Radio Archives
[removed]

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

Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 18:29:35 -0400
From: "George Tirebiter" <tirebiter2@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Nipper

There is a gigantic Nipper on top of the former RCA factory in Albany, New
York. The building long ago changed hands but there is sufficient public
opinion pressure to keep this local landmark intact.

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #334
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