Subject: [removed] Digest V2006 #345
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 12/8/2006 8:20 PM
To: [removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2006 : Issue 345
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  12-8 births/deaths                    [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
  House in Cypress Canyon               [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
  FM&M a sitcom                         [ "Holm, Chris " <[removed]@[removed] ]
  "...[removed]!"                      [ Wich2@[removed] ]
  Shawn A. Wells                        [ "Dick Judge" <dickjudge@[removed]; ]
  re: Development of the Sitcom         [ Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed]; ]
  Looking to hear from officers/member  [ wboenig@[removed] ]
  When you wish upon a star             [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]

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

Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2006 23:12:38 -0500
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  12-8 births/deaths
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December 8th births

12-08-1888 - Raymond Lawrence - Bedford Square, England - d. 3-28-1976
actor: "Escape"; "The Halls of Ivy"; "Pursuit"
12-08-1891 - Percy Crosby - Brooklyn, NY - d. 12-8-1964
"Skippy" a juvenile serial was based on Crosby's comic strip
12-08-1894 - Elzie Segar - d. 10-13-1938
writer: "Popeye the Sailor" based on his comic strip
12-08-1894 - James Thurber - Columbus, OH - d. 11-2-1961
writer: "This Is My Best"
12-08-1895 - Harold Arlin - d. 3-14-1986
first full time radio announcer in the world, KDKA, Pittsburgh, 1921
12-08-1904 - George Stevens - Oakland, CA - d. 3-8-1975
film director: "Lux Radio Theatre"
12-08-1906 - Richard Llewellyn - St. David's, Wales - d. 11-30-1983
author: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "NBC University Theatre"
12-08-1907 - Frank Faylen - St. Louis, MO - d. 8-2-1985
actor: "Screen Guild Theatre"
12-08-1909 - Elaine Melchior - NYC
actor: Ardala Valmer "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century"
12-08-1910 - Ruth Matteson - San Jose, CA - d. 2-5-1975
actor: Nicole Scott "Against the Storm"
12-08-1911 - Lee J. Cobb - NYC - d. 2-11-1976
actor: the tailgunner "Roosty of the AAF"; "Citizen of the World";
"Hollywood Startime"
12-08-1914 - Mary Patton - Duluth, MN - d. 11-8-1982
actor: Marie Martel "Arnold Grimm's Daughter"; Lila North "Fat Man"
12-08-1915 - Ernest Lehman - NYC - d. 7-5-2005
writer: "Forecast"
12-08-1916 - Richard Fleischer - Brooklyn, NY - d. 3-25-2006
film director: "The TM Radio Program"
12-08-1928 - Jimmy Smith - Norristown, PA - d. 2-8-2005
jazz organist: Won a radio talent contest in Philadelphia at the age
of 9

December 8th deaths

01-31-1917 - Fay Baker - NYC - d. 12-8-1987
actor: "Words at War"
02-11-1882 - John H. Mills - Bellfonte, PA - d. 12-8-1967
singer: (Father of the Mills Brothers)  "Mills Brothers Quartette"
03-02-1914 - Martin Ritt - NYC - d. 12-8-1990
film director, teacher: "Coming Home"
03-03-1924 - Cathy Downs - Port Jefferson, Long Island, NY - d.
12-8-1976
actor: "Your Movietown Radio Theatre"; "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Mail Call"
05-04-1903 - Luther Adler - NYC - d. 12-8-1984
actor: Peter Gentle "Mystery Without Murder"; "Greatest Story Ever
Told (1938-39)"
07-15-1893 - William Dieterle - Rhein-Palatinate, Germany - d. 12-8-1972
movie director: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Screen Director's Playhouse"
08-19-1922 - Lester Fletcher - Cardiff, Wales - d. 12-8-1989
actor: "Sherlock Holmes"; "FBI in Peace and War"
09-13-1900 - Gladys George - Patton, ME - d. 12-8-1954
actor: "Lincoln Highway"
09-26-1925 - Marty Robbins - Glendale, AZ - d. 12-8-1982
country/western singer: "Grand Ole Opry"; "Country Style [removed]";
"Big Sound"
10-09-1929 - Harry Harvey - Florida - d. 12-8-1978
actor: Oogie Pringle "A Date with Judy"
12-08-1891 - Percy Crosby - Brooklyn, NY - d. 12-8-1964
"Skippy" a juvenile serial was based on Crosby's comic strip

Ron Sayles

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Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2006 08:40:12 -0500
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  House in Cypress Canyon

Someone asked:

Was " House In Cypress Canyon" ever adapted for the SUSPENSE television
series and if so, is it available? Incidently, the most comparable Hollywood
movie has got to be producer/director Robert Wise's 1963 "THE HAUNTING" with
Julie Harris. Like the SUSPENSE show, the house is the star, and the house
seduces Julie Harris. Here's another similarity to "House In Cypress
Canyon": forty years later, which also means after forty years advancement
in special effects, Robert Wise says people still tell him THE HAUNTING was
the greatest horror movie ever made. (There's just something about those
dark empty houses).

The House drama was never adapted to television that I know of - and I don't
think it would have been done successfully had it been.  The drama was
well-written for television and envisioning the concept of the blood oozing
from underneath the door is more scarier heard than seen.  Even the SUSPENSE
television series dismissed the notion, since horror wasn't as well accepted
during the 1940s (which is why the Auto-Lite gods preferred based-on-true
stories).  In 1949, an actress drank a glass of blood in one SUSPENSE story,
and television viewers wrote in, upset over the scene, thus starting the
Auto-Lite concern.

I met Robert Wise years ago before he died.  I was among a long line of
people who waited at Fanex to see Wise in person.  Those in front of me and
in back of me in line had THE HAUNTING Laserdisc covers and DAY THE EARTH
STOOD STILL movie posters.  He was a very nice man.  I gave him my Citizen
Kane poster (also autographed by Agnes Moorehead) and he muttered quietly to
me, "thank God someone remembers me for something other than EARTH and
HAUNTING."  He even took a moment to check out the details of the poster as
he was impressed with it.

If I am not mistaken, I do believe the HOUSE IN CYPRESS CANYON was performed
a second time, but on a different radio program, and possibly under a
slightly different title but I recall CYPRESS CANYON was still in the title
but I doubt it would have had as much flair as the SUSPENSE version.

Martin

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

Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2006 09:22:46 -0500
From: "Holm, Chris " <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  FM&M a sitcom

I'm really hesitant to consider Fibber McGee and Molly a sitcom.  While
it's true they were a weekly half hour with continuing characters, I
feel the resemblance to a sitcom ends there.

I mentioned this a month or two ago, when we were discussing Fred Allen
and the (lack of) universality of comedy.  FM&M isn't sitcomy.  The
standard sitcom framework is illustrated by shows like Life of Riley.
Riley does something stupid or forgets to do something, and then spends
the rest of the show trying to cover up or get away with it.  One digest
member (the name, unfortunately, escapes me) describes this model with
TV guide descriptions to go "character X is humiliated [removed]"  And apt
description, in my opinion.

The story lines in FM&M, however, are much looser.  Their stories are
based on a simple premise (waiting for a phone call, going to the DMV,
etc) that serves as a framework to hang character driven sketches on.
Especially encounters with such stock characters as the stuffy rich
person, the old person, and assorted ethnic characters.  The plot and
story is really secondary to the sketches.

The comedy in FM&M is joke driven, not story driven, and I feel this
puts in closer to the vaudeville model than the sitcom model.

-chris holm

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

Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2006 11:10:34 -0500
From: Wich2@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  "...[removed]!"

Dear Irene & gang-

From: "Irene Heinstein" _IreneTH@[removed]_
(mailto:IreneTH@[removed])

From  Wikipeda:
The Blackhawk radio series was broadcast Wednesdays at 5:30pm on  ABC from
September 1950 to January 1951. Michael Fitzmaurice portrayed  Blackhawk.

Can anyone pin this down?

I've heard the legend before, but have seen NO proof: ads, pics, - and dare
I ask? - TRANSCRIPTIONS?

Enquiring Comics Fans need to know!
Merriest,
-Craig

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

Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2006 16:12:57 -0500
From: "Dick Judge" <dickjudge@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Shawn A. Wells
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

A little over a week ago or so, one of the subscribers announced some news
about Shawn. Shawn was sort of new to OTR and was an up and coming bright
star. He did some great work re-recording OTR and was known for his love of
Lum & Abner. Along that vein he compiled one of the best runs of that series.
I called him a friend and colleague. And then he just disappeared. Which
brings me up a few days ago when I read in the Digest that he had been killed
in an auto accident. I found this so hard to believe. I researched this
through his hometown newspaper for any news about this but to no avail.
Does anyone out there have any further news of this? When did this happen?
Where?
I can be contacted on or offline.

MEMORIES OF RADIO/Dick Judge

How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were?

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Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2006 16:13:12 -0500
From: Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  re: Development of the Sitcom

Thanks very much to Elizabeth McLeod for her wonderful summary of the
development of the sitcom. It gave me new appreciation into the form,
and made me realize that the sitcom covers a lot more ground that my
usual conception, which was "guy does something stupid and spends the
rest of the episode either trying to keep everybody from learning that
he did something so stupid, or  unaware that he's about to suffer the
consequences of his stupid action." Turns out most of the comedies I
enjoy are actually sitcoms!

A couple of years ago the BBC ran a documentary on Peg Lynch which they
titled "The woman who invented sitcom." Peg's name doesn't appear in
Elizabeth's summary. It sounds like she helped perfect a format created
by others. Did Peg Lynch ever claim that title for herself, or did the
BBC just slap it on her?

Kermyt

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

Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2006 16:13:57 -0500
From: wboenig@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Looking to hear from officers/members of OTR
 clubs

I would like to hear from persons on this list who are either officers or
long-time members of the various OTR clubs that are scattered around the
country.  The nature of my request is that I would like to benchmark our
operating procedures and find out what makes each club run efficiently or
not.  Would anyone who fits this description and is willing to exchange ideas
in the interest of better club operations please contact me off-list?  Thank
you.

Wayne Boenig
Recording Secretary
The Radio Collectors of America
wboenig@[removed]

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

Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2006 22:20:30 -0500
From: <otrbuff@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  When you wish upon a star

For your Christmas/Hanukkah wish list:  the most exhaustive book I have ever
put together -- and literally never expect to supersede -- is to be released
shortly by McFarland & Co.

Prepared in the vein of Tom DeLong's helpful "Radio Stars," this new
360-page hardcover volume focuses on personalities in the glory days of
network radio (1920s-1980s) that directly addressed the home audience in
seven disciplines (announcers, news reporters/analysts, sports reporters,
gossip columnists, advice consultants, masters of ceremonies, binary
breakfast babblers).  Most of the 600 biographical entries are more
extensive than "Radio Stars," some providing several printed pages of facts
and anecdotes about performers' lives and careers.  An Appendix giving
names, chains and assignments of another 600 individuals is also there
covering the more obscure and easily forgotten personalities and people who
earned the bulk of their livelihoods elsewhere.

Assisting in the meticulous process of gathering and verifying the details
for this imposing work was a trio of skilled intellects who contribute to
this forum on occasion:  Claire Connelly, Derek Tague and Jim Widner.  Every
hobbyist, collector and researcher will want this encyclopedia on his/her
shelf and it will be referred to hundreds of times by virtually all of us
for substantive information on the lives of these entertainers.  Most have
never appeared with this much data elsewhere; hundreds have not appeared in
any previously published biographical text.

The book sells for $55 + $4 s/h and may be ordered now for delivery early in
the new year (likely January).  You can be the first kid on your block to
receive it!  Here's the title and how to order:

RADIO SPEAKERS
Narrators, News Junkies, Sports Jockeys, Tattletales, Tipsters, Toastmasters
and Coffee Klatch Couples Who Verbalized the Jargon of the Aural Ether from
the 1920s to the 1980s--A Biographical Dictionary

[removed] or 800-253-2187 (call Monday-Friday 8-4:30 ET)

Jim Cox

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2006 Issue #345
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