Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #137
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 4/11/2002 9:12 AM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2002 : Issue 137
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      NBC Symphony Orchestra                [ "D. Fisher" <dfisher@[removed]; ]
      John Gibson                           [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
      "Cliff Ending" Endings                [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
      Re:Welles                             [ SeptSev@[removed] ]
      Rosenbergs Spycraft                   [ Robert Kirk <isobar@[removed]; ]
      And more trivia                       [ JackBenny@[removed] ]
      Re: John Gibson                       [ "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed] ]
      Re: A&A in KC                         [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
      Recommend - MP3 Radio/Boombox         [ David Martin <dbmartin5@[removed]; ]
      Re: Longest Radio Themes              [ Harlan Zinck <buster@[removed]; ]
      Re:Amos And Andy Themes               [ Eric J Cooper <ejcooper2002@[removed] ]
      Connection                            [ "William Strom" <stromman@[removed] ]
      Movie Car Cliffs                      [ Bill Harris <radioguy@[removed] ]
      Gunsmoke Pictures - Thank you!        [ Peter Kinder <pdkinder@[removed]; ]
      WOTW legal repercussions?             [ Eric J Cooper <ejcooper2002@[removed] ]
      Radio [removed] casting: The Lone Ranger  [ Eric J Cooper <ejcooper2002@[removed] ]
      Re: WOTW legal repercussions          [ Bill Jaker <bilj@[removed]; ]
      Re: Longest Inro                      [ John Mayer <mayer@[removed]; ]
      RE: GUNSMOKE; ANESS NOT FIRST CHOICE  [ Kevin Michaels <kmichaels@doityours ]
      Any "Titanic" related OTR?            [ Chad Palmer <chadpalmer@[removed]; ]
      The Rosenberg Sadness                 [ PURKASZ@[removed] ]
      Hitler as German Chancellor           [ "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyro ]

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

    Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 19:32:02 -0400
    From: "D. Fisher" <dfisher@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  NBC Symphony Orchestra

    Does anyone know if there is a site on the internet that might have a
    listing of what musical selections were played on the NBC Symphony
    Orchestra's radio broadcasts. I have some recordings of broadcasts without
    dates & I would like to date them.

    Don Fisher

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

    Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 19:33:18 -0400
    From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  John Gibson

    Tony writes:
     >I do not hear him on late 1950's shows like "X Minus One," so did  he
    retire by then?

    John is heard quite a bit on both Dimension X and X Minus One. He died in
    1986. You can hear him on "The Professor Is A Thief" (11/5/50) as the
    Professor; "Nightmare" (6/10/51) as Mr. Gurney.

    On X Minus One he was Sam in "Child's Play" (10/20/55); "C-Chute" (2/8/56);
    "A Gun For Dinosaur" (3/7/56); "Pictures Don't Lie" (10/24/56); "Chain of
    Command" (11/21/56) as George; "The Girls From Earth" (1/16/57) as Henry;
    "Venus Is A Man's World" (2/6/57) as the Captain; "Something For Nothing"
    (4/10/57).

    Other fifties Science Fiction he appeared in included a Tales of Tomorrow
    episode,  "Betelgeuse Bridge" (1/15/53);  Suspense episode "Zero Hour"
    (1/3/60).

    In an interview by Ed Corcoran, John indicated that his first radio
    performance was in 1925 on an Oakland, CA station. He migrated to NYC about
    1939 where he starred in Manhattan at Midnight. He estimated his radio
    appearances at over 10,000 by 1971. He played Archie to Santos Ortega's
    Nero Wolfe.

    Most of the above came from a book I co-wrote with Meade Frierson III
    several years ago called "Science Fiction on Radio: A Revised Look At
    1950-1975."

    Jim Widner
    jwidner@[removed]

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

    Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 19:33:27 -0400
    From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  "Cliff Ending" Endings

    I seem to recall at least one episode of Superman where Lois Lane riding in
    a car goes over a cliff, but is, of course, saved by the ubiquitous Superman.

    Jim Widner
    jwidner@[removed]

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

    Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 19:45:54 -0400
    From: SeptSev@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re:Welles

    In a message dated 4/10/02 4:32:32 PM, doug@[removed] writes:

>     I was wondering if Welles was sued
>     for emotional upset, etc. because the broadcast? Nowadays anybody who pulled
>     a stunt like that would be looking at a queue of litigators a mile long.

    Doug:

    Believe it or not, I don't believe there was a single personal suit against
    Orson Welles for WOTW.

    Regards

    Thom Bray

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

    Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 20:42:23 -0400
    From: Robert Kirk <isobar@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Rosenbergs Spycraft

    Elizabeth asked:

>     Now, I'll ask one. What connection did the Rosenberg/Fuchs/Greenglass spy
>     operation have to a product that formerly sponsored Jack Benny?

    Rosenberg tore the label from a Jello box into two parts so Greenglass
    could match up his part with that to be carried by an unknown courier
    (Harry Gold) later near Los Alamos.

    Very Creative.

    Bob Kirk

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

    Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 21:30:21 -0400
    From: JackBenny@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  And more trivia

>     What connection did the Rosenberg/Fuchs/Greenglass spy
>     operation have to a product that formerly sponsored Jack Benny?

    At the time of the apprehension, Ethel Rosenberg was sloppily eating a large
    bowl of cherry Jell-O, which confirmed the Fed's accusations that she was a
    red.

    Here's my two-cent trivia question:

    What does Bill Cosby have to do with a product that formerly sponsored Jack
    Benny?

    (Hint:  It's not off-topic)

    --Laura Leff
    President, IJBFC
    [removed]

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

    Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 21:57:58 -0400
    From: "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: John Gibson

       Re the request for info on John Gibson's radio work:

       He played the role of Connie on the 1941-42 Midwest regional version of
    Terry and the Pirates, produced, I believe, in Chicago.

       In John Dunning's OTR reference book "On the Air ...", Gibson is named on
    about fifteen different pages.

       -- Phil C.

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

    Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 21:58:53 -0400
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: A&A in KC

    Derek Tague wrote:

>     On page 196 of the book "Jazz: A History of America's Music" by Geoffrey
>     C. Ward (the companion book to Ken Burns's multi-part PBS documentary), a
>     list
>     of popular 1930's Kansas City  jazz clubs is given. One of the clubs
>     mentioned
>     is "the Amos 'n' Andy."

    I'd never heard of this club 'til the "Jazz" book came out, but I can
    tell you that the A&A craze hit Kansas City well before most of the rest
    of the country. WDAF was one of the major links in the "chainless chain"
    before the program went network, carrying the series under the
    sponsorship of the Crown Drug Company. A&A attracted a lot of attention,
    winning newspaper polls in 1928 and 1929 as the city's most popular radio
    feature, and when Correll and Gosden visited Kansas City in June of 1929
    on their personal-appearance tour of the Pantages vaudeville circuit,
    they brought the city nearly to a halt: when they got off the train they
    were mobbed by fans, were welcomed by a parade of cars decorated as
    "Fresh Air Taxicabs," and were formally greeted by a special mayoral
    committee. Among those attending their theatre performances was a young
    Kansas City newspaperman named Goodman Ace -- who was inspired to get
    into radio himself after seeing the furor that greeted the performers.

    Correll and Gosden broadcast their nightly episodes live from their
    Pantages Theatre dressing room over WDAF for the duration of their run,
    and developed a close friendship with H. Dean Fitzer, the station
    manager. Later that summer, they wrote Fitzer into one of their episodes
    -- using his name for the rental agent for their taxicab office in
    Chicago.

    Kansas City's most significant contribution to the Amos 'n' Andy story
    happened backstage at the Pantages. It was there that the performers were
    contacted by A. W. "Sen" Kaney, an NBC-Chicago announcer -- and told that
    as soon as they got back home, NBC vice-president Niles Trammell wanted
    to meet with them about a proposition that they might find very
    profitable. That meeting led to their first $100,000 contract with the
    Pepsodent Company and to "Amos 'n' Andy's" network premeire.

    As far as naming things after A&A and its characters is concerned, the
    Kansas City jazz club isn't the only unusual example -- for many years,
    you could buy a new car from an auto dealership in Chattanooga, TN called
    "Amos 'n' Andy Buick." There was also a brief craze for naming twin boys
    "Amos" and "Andy" during the early thirties -- and when the performers
    heard about any of these namings, they sent each set of twins a pair of
    engraved silver spoons, and remembered them each Christmas with a gift.

    Elizabeth

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

    Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 21:59:07 -0400
    From: David Martin <dbmartin5@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Recommend - MP3 Radio/Boombox

    I am sure that this has been asked before, but I am looking for
    recommendations for a good MP3 player/boombox, eg. with speakers, that will
    play assorted MP3 bitrates/freq.  The only two I have seen in stores is a
    Memorex ($80) and a Sony($120).

    Thanks

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

    Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 22:00:06 -0400
    From: Harlan Zinck <buster@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Longest Radio Themes

    In the past few days, there have been some postings regarding the length of
    the theme music  in many OTR programs - particularly in "Lone Ranger" shows.

    I hope I'm not being obvious when I mention that the listener was never
    *supposed* to hear that lengthy theme music in its entirety. What they were
    supposed to be listening to was the local announcer make his pitch for the
    sponsor's product. However, since most of the programs have survived in
    their original syndication format, what modern listeners are left with is
    two minutes or so of the theme that *would* have been in the background -
    or faded out altogether - when the show was aired locally.

    In our CD library, the Archives has many episodes of "Boston Blackie" with
    Richard Kollmar (1945-50) and "Philo Vance" with Jackson Beck (1948-50),
    all of which are taken directly from original Frederic W. Ziv syndication
    disks. All of the episodes feature lengthy theme music at the beginning and
    end of each show, originally to be used under the ads for local sponsors.
    If you listen to too many of these shows in a row, the organ theme will get
    very, very tiresome.

    If it's any consolation, some of the "Boston Blackie" shows that survive
    with local commercials intact can be equally difficult to tolerate - in
    fact, they'll make you long for that organ theme. Originally broadcast in
    upstate New York, there is a series of programs in a Radio Spirits tape set
    that contain commercials for Champagne (Something) Beer. (See, the ads were
    so bad, I've tried to erase them from my memory.) The beer might have been
    OK, but the catch phrase wasn't: "It's Smooth," pronounced "It's
    Smeeeuuuuuuthhhhhh" with an upturn inflection at the end. Honestly, four
    times through hearing the guy say "smeeeuuuuuuthhhhh" and I wanted to kill
    somebody - preferably that furshlugginner announcer!

    (the other) Harlan

    Harlan Zinck
    First Generation Radio Archives
    request a free newsletter subscription:
    [removed]

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

    Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 22:27:38 -0400
    From: Eric J Cooper <ejcooper2002@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re:Amos And Andy Themes

    Why was neither La Serenata nor The Perfect Song used on the Amos n Andy
    Musuc Hall. What was the music used for that?

    Eric Cooper

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

    Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 22:28:01 -0400
    From: "William Strom" <stromman@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Connection

>     Now, I'll ask one. What connection did the Rosenberg/Fuchs/Greenglass spy
>     operation have to a product that formerly sponsored Jack Benny?

    The product was I believe red JELLO.
    Bill

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

    Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 22:28:22 -0400
    From: Bill Harris <radioguy@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Movie Car Cliffs

    Grbmd@[removed] ponders:

>     To: [removed]@[removed]
>     Subject:

>     I'm reminded of the Fifties movie with James Dean, "Rebel Without a Cause."
>     Does anyone recall the vintage of the cars shown in that film?
>     It showed Dean and his teenage rival getting into cars, and later it  >
>     showed the other one plunging off the cliff.  Was the car true to the >age?

    It has been a while since I have seen this movie. It depends on
    what you mean by "true to the age", kinda like Clinton's it
    depends on what "is" is. There were cars of the 50's in the movie,
    if I remember correctly, older ones also. I grew up in the fifties
    and it was not uncommon for teens of driving age to drive older
    cars. There were lots of post WW II cars around that could be
    purchased at prices that some teens could afford. They were also
    good for modifying into hotrods. My brother drove a Model A Ford
    in high school, sold it and purchased a 46 Ford. So a 1940's
    vintage auto in the movie would not be out of place.

    Bill

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

    Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 22:29:44 -0400
    From: Peter Kinder <pdkinder@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Gunsmoke Pictures - Thank you!

    	My thanks to Mr. Bartell and to Mr. Summers for publishing the
    photos of Gunsmoke as it might have been.  I am very grateful.

    	I was 6 when Gunsmoke first hit the air, and I listened to it
    devotedly until it left radio.  What amazes me about the photos is how
    closely they match my recollections of the images I created from the radio
    plays.

    	When Gunsmoke began on TV, I went to a friend's to watch it.  A few
    minutes into the show, I remember burying my head in a pillow so he wouldn't
    see me crying.  The black and white images bore no resemblance to those I'd
    created in my mind.

    	I continue to be captivated by the radio show's grittiness, its
    reality.  A show on miscegenation in its first season!  And in 1952-53 when
    inter-racial marriage was a big issue.  The treatment of alcohol and
    alcoholism in every day life must have been unique at the time, and is close
    to it today.  As a boy, I felt I was hearing how adults behaved.  As an
    adult, I'm surprised I realized that at 6 or 7.  At 55, I find some of the
    shows unbearable in their portrayal of loss, of cowardice, of horrible
    happenstance.

    	Meston's was a brilliant concept and it was brilliantly executed by
    CBS.  (I'd love to know more about Meston.)  The casting was superb.  (No,
    Mr. Bartell, that isn't flattery.  It's a fact.)  John Dehner's voice, in
    particular, adds a contrasting texture that is critical to the show.  The
    remarkable thought that went into the types of voices of the supporting cast
    shows nothing less than genius.

    	The only character in the TV show I really liked was Amanda Blake
    who played Kitty.  Now that I've seen Georgia Ellis, I understand why I
    liked Blake.  Two exceptionally handsome women whose faces show real
    character.  And, what they both brought to their characters!  Extraordinary!

    	I know this is not the time, but I hope, Mr. Summers, that you might
    get Mr. Bartell to reminisce a bit about William Conrad.  I am fascinated by
    the man and I'd like to know more about him.

    	Again, many thanks for posting the pictures.  I really appreciate
    having the chance to savour them.

    Peter Kinder

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

    Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 22:30:01 -0400
    From: Eric J Cooper <ejcooper2002@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  WOTW legal repercussions?

    I will quote from THE PANIC BROADCAST by Howard Koch ( for the benefit of
    those few who may not know much about  the Mercury Theatre's  War Of The
    Worlds version , Mr. Koch was the writer of the script for the broadcast)

    "Law suits for injuries and damages were filed against CBS and the
    Mercury Theatre, running into millions of dollars, but none of these came
    to trial since there was no applicable precedent for such actions under
    those circumstances"
    (page 86)

    Eric Cooper

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

    Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 23:19:58 -0400
    From: Eric J Cooper <ejcooper2002@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Radio [removed] casting: The Lone Ranger

    We've been talking about William Conrad vs. James Arness in Gunsmoke. But
    why were John Hart and Clayton Moore given the TV role of The Lone Ranger
    instead of Brace Beemer?

    Eric Cooper

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

    Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 23:34:17 -0400
    From: Bill Jaker <bilj@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: WOTW legal repercussions

    Doug Leary wrote:

>     Elizabeth's information about the FCC response to Orson Welles' War of
>     the
>     Worlds broadcast was very interesting and refreshing. Although the
>     government seems to have acted sensibly, I was wondering if Welles was
>     sued
>     for emotional upset, etc. because the broadcast? Nowadays anybody who
>     pulled a stunt like that would be looking at a queue of litigators a
>     mile long.

        There were a number of lawsuits filed by listeners who charged that
    CBS had caused them physical suffering or property damage (like the man
    who was in such a hurry to escape that he drove right through his garage
    door).  Nearly all were dismissed.  The network had announced, after
    all, that the program was a dramatization.
         However, I once heard John Houseman, who was producer of The
    Mercury Theatre on the Air, tell this story:
         Shortly after the "War of the Worlds" was broadcast and the furor
    was starting to die down he and Orson Welles received a letter from an
    unfortunate man out in Colorado who was slowly recovering from the
    deprivations of the Great Depression.  In his mountain cabin his only
    valuable possession was a bottle of good Scotch whiskey, which he was
    saving for a celebration when he finally found a job and began to build
    a life again.
         But he had been so frightened by "The War of the Worlds" that he
    uncorked the bottle of Scotch and tried to quench his apprehensions.
    When he learned that it was just a story  his rare Scotch whiskey was
    gone.
         Welles and Houseman were so moved by this letter that they decided
    to send the man a gift.  Prohibition had ended and they could mail him
    another bottle of Scotch.
         "When the CBS lawyers learned what happened," Houseman explained,
    "they hit the ceiling.  'Do you know what you two have done?  You've
    admitted liability!'"  If the world found out about the bottle of
    Scotch, it could have cost CBS millions.

     ////////////////////////0\\\\\\\\\\\
    A note about the Gunsmoke radio cast performing the TV series:
    "Gunsmoke" was a fine program on television but the radio series was a
    work of art.  It began on CBS Radio in 1952 and the television program
    ran from 1955 to 75.  If the radio cast had moved to the visual medium I
    doubt that it would have continued on radio for another six years, till
    1961.  It's probably just as well that "Gunsmoke" had two incarnations.

     ///////////////////////0\\\\\\\\\\\\
    And may I state here my very deepest sympathies to Harry Bartell.

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

    Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 23:41:28 -0400
    From: John Mayer <mayer@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Longest Inro

    Longest radio theme? I never actually timed it, but I suspect the
    Adventurers' Club  theme ran about half of the show's 15 minutes. BTW,
    on one of the episodes The Cinnamon Bear dies a horrible death (well, it
    was clearly his voice).

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

    Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 00:19:15 -0400
    From: Kevin Michaels <kmichaels@[removed];
    To: "Radio  Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  RE: GUNSMOKE; ANESS NOT FIRST CHOICE

    When the Gunsmoke pilot aired on CBS, the show was introduced by John Wayne.
    The reason for this, according to the TV Guide story which appeared the same
    week, John Wayne was first choice (an ideal one, in MHO) to play Matt Dillon.
    Wayne, not wanting to commit to a TV series (which he never did),suggested to
    CBS Top Brass to give the role to a young up-coming star,Jim Arness, who
    appeared with him in Big Jim McLaine.  Arness got the role soley on Wayne's
    recomendation. What a noble gesture that was!

    Kevin Michaels

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

    Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 00:19:27 -0400
    From: Chad Palmer <chadpalmer@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Any "Titanic" related OTR?

    With the 90th Anniversary of the Titanic sinking coming up it got me to
    wondering, are there any OTR programs out there that either retold this
    story or dealt with it as subject matter?  There are tons of TV shows,
    Movies, etc, but I've never heard of a Radio series about the disaster.

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

    Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 11:03:19 -0400
    From: PURKASZ@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  The Rosenberg Sadness

        The great Elizabeth and her encyclopedic mind bring back to my mind the
    heady combination of sadness and American humor during a very dark period in
    American history.
        Aside from being turned in by her brother David Greenglass to save his
    own ass, Ethel and Julius were convicted based largely on the evidence of
    David and British physicist Klaus Fuchs, a coworker from Los Alamos, who
    convinced the FBI that he, David, met Julius by a bridge in Santa Fe bearing
    a crude cutout from a Jell-O package with the verbal message, "I come from
    Julius."
        He then gave him a drawing of a minor component of the lens construction
    inherent in the spherical construction of the A-bomb.
        The Jell-O package remains in the evidence room of the FBI.
        If it wasn't so tragic, ending as it did with the electrocution of the
    mother and father of two young boys, the event would be the stuff of bad
    radio drama.
        It was the cold war.
        It was Jell-O!!!
        Jell-O, Imagine!!!
        A part of America during a very difficult time.
        I still see that cutout in my mind when I think of that era.
        I think it was one side of an S shaped cutout from the front package of
    Raspberry that was to have been carried by the courier.
        Someone else had the other side.
        That was how the Russians were supposed to have gotten the information
    that sent the Rosenbergs to the chair.
        Sigh.
        Pass the whipped cream please!!
                         <A HREF="[removed],+Michael+C.">
    Michael C. Gwynne</A>

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

    Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 11:03:45 -0400
    From: "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Hitler as German Chancellor

>     Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 14:01:43 -0400
>     From: Derek Tague <derek@[removed];

>     The LR also figures as a footnote to WWII-related intrigue: acc. to
>     Dunning's "[removed]", the [removed] was 1st heard on 01/30/1933; this was the
>     day Hitler seized the German Chancellorship.

    Hitler didn't Sieze the chancellorship.  He achieved it through constitutional process.  He
    was duly appointed to the position because, as a result of an election, he led the largest
    party in the Reichstag.

    --
    A. Joseph Ross, [removed]                           [removed]
     15 Court Square, Suite 210                 lawyer@[removed]
    Boston, MA 02108-2503           	         [removed]

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #137
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