Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #372
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 9/25/2002 8:44 PM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2002 : Issue 372
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  More on MORRISON                      [ SanctumOTR@[removed] ]
  Underrated: Soaps?                    [ loviglio <loviglio@[removed]; ]
  Book by Hal Stone                     [ Jerry Bechtel <[removed]@[removed] ]
  The Ranger again                      [ "joe@[removed]" <sergei01@earthli ]
  Code & SOS                            [ Alan Chapman <[removed]@verizon. ]
  Re: Penner and "Komedy Kapers"        [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
  DeMarcos                              [ John Henley <jhenley@[removed] ]
  Mr. Keen Redux                        [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
  Ooops                                 [ "Holm, Chris " <[removed]@delphiau ]
  Orson, Bill, or Brett                 [ "jsouthard" <jsouthard@[removed]; ]
  Radio Adventures/Scarlet Pimpernel    [ "Gareth Tilley" <tilleygareth@hotma ]
  Dog Impersonation                     [ Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed] ]
  Re: hoofs SFX                         [ hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed]; ]
  Under-rated and Over-rated            [ BH <radioguy@[removed]; ]
  OTR book                              [ "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed] ]
  MGM and WHN                           [ "Ed Ellers" <ed_ellers@[removed]; ]
  Amos 'n' Andy Recreations on WBCQ     [ Dennis DeMarco <dennisdm@earthlink. ]
  History of SCIENCE FICTION            [ SanctumOTR@[removed] ]

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

Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 12:28:04 -0400
From: SanctumOTR@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  More on MORRISON

Bret Morrison also had a busy second career as a cabaret singer, headlining
at Old Nick's Music Hall and Castaway's Celebrity Room.  His singing talents
were showcased in his 1947-48 Mutual series SONG OF THE STRANGER, a
musical-adventure series in which he was heard as Pierre de Varney, a French
resistance fighter.  As a singer, Bret appeared as the first guest in the
premier telecast of ARTHUR GODFREY'S TALENT SCOUTS.  I included a clip of
that broadcast (along an interview with Bret conducted by Frank Bresee) in my
one-hour audio documentary, "Voices from the Shadows," which is included in
GAA's THE SHADOW CHRONICLES, available in bookstores or from Radio Spirits.
There is also a very interesting recording floating around of Bret Morrison
auditioning for the role of Clark Kent/Superman in 1947, at a time when the
series was returning after a summer hiatus and Bud Collyer may have been
holding out.  Like Collyer, Bret's background as a singer helped with the
transformation from tenor Clark Kent to the baritone Superman.  Bret often
tripled on THE SHADOW when a part offered an opportunity for him to sing, as
in the episode "Murders on the Main Stem" in which he sings as "Jean LaRue."
("Murders on the Main Stem" also features radio's first Shadow, James
LaCurto, as Shrevie.) --ANTHONY TOLLIN

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

Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 12:29:54 -0400
From: loviglio <loviglio@[removed];
To: OldRadio Mailing Lists <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Underrated: Soaps?

I have been wondering for months why so few posts to this digest concern
OTR soap operas. I have been listening to Pepper Young's Family,
The Life of Mary Southern, and others and I'm absolutely hooked on the serial
format, the slow-developing
plots, the incessant marital intrigue, and the
suprising moments of humor, too.  Am I the only one?

Jason Loviglio

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

Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 12:29:02 -0400
From: Jerry Bechtel <[removed]@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Book by Hal Stone
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/mixed
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

Perhaps I missed it. How does one get the opportunity to purchase the
upcoming book by Mr. Stone? I'm 66 years old, used to listen to Archie
ALL the time and would be thrilled to purchase a copy of "Jughead's"
book! I find Mr. Stone's comments on the digest to be an exciting part
and look forward to reading them each time he contributes. He certainly
is a great personality and a valuable asset to the OTR community!

Jerry Bechtel

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

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

Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 15:49:05 -0400
From: "joe@[removed]" <sergei01@[removed];
To: "OTR List" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  The Ranger again

David asked about  Fred Foy. He started as the regular announcer about 1947
I believe.

Symphonic interludes - on transcriptions, the music continues to fill the
space that the broadcaster would use for commercials. The record continued
but commercials were inserted in place. When you hear a transfer made by an
OTR dealer, the commercials are not there. You are hearing the recording as
it was made.

Joe Salerno

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

Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 15:49:30 -0400
From: Alan Chapman <[removed]@[removed];
To: Old-Time Radio Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Code & SOS

Stephen Kallis wrote:

...Thus, the code "SOS" means "I am in trouble and need assistance,"

I suppose SOS could be considered "code" for "I am in [removed]", but
it actually is neither code nor cipher ... it is simply the initials of
"Save Our Souls." It originated as a teletype abbreviation.

Alan Chapman

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

Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 15:50:19 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Penner and "Komedy Kapers"

Derek Tague wrote:

I never saw the appeal of Joe Penner. In spite of the fact that I always
strive to allow for a different mindset  that existed in the 1930s,
I just don't get it.

Just think of Penner as the Pee Wee Herman of the 1930s, and it will all
fall into place. The whole point of Penner's comedy was the bizarre
juxtaposition of obnoxious-four-year-old-child behavior coming out of a
full-grown-adult, displayed right alongside more conventional grown-up
appetites (cigar smoking, skirt chasing, etc.) The mindset of the
character really isn't all that different from the Pee Wee persona of the
1980s.

  The other show in which I failed to see the humour was  a 15-minute show
called "Komedy Kapers." I had never heard of this bit of obscuriana
until I bought a cassette of it at last year's FOTR convention. Figuring that
since the show spelled both "comedy" & "capers" with "K's," I ventured to
think that it just HAD to be [removed]

This was one of the many syndicated programs produced during the 1932-33
season by Radio Transcription Company of America, Inc, built around
various personalities from local Los Angeles radio. Frank Gill and Bill
Demling were most often the featured performers -- a smalltime
vaudeville-style comedy team that had been featured on various programs
at KHJ, including the "Union Oil Merrymakers" -- but other personalities
sometimes appeared. Basically this series, and others like it, were
catchalls for whatever minor-league talent was available to work for a
few dollars when the programs were to be recorded.

There were literally hundreds of two-bit comedy-harmony-novelty teams
like Gill and Demling on the stage and in radio up until the
mid-thirties, when most of them got swept away by the death of vaudeville
and the takeover of radio by the Big Time Broadway Showbiz crowd. If you
don't expect much out of these acts, some of their material can be
amusing.

Elizabeth

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

Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 15:50:57 -0400
From: John Henley <jhenley@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  DeMarcos

Gunner <revrcg@[removed]; said:

As always, the above thoughts are simply, one man's opinion

which I would hope he believed, after saying

.. Fred Allen may have had the
worst singers of all time in the "DeMarco Sisters". I have to believe that,
all over America, water pressure dropped when they started their weekly
caterwauling.

Speaking for _this_ man's opinion, I really like the DeMarco
Sisters and actually wish they had been given another minute per
program to sing slightly longer arrangements.  To my ear their
harmony singing is tighter, more imaginative, and more swingin'
than any other harmony "sister" act I know of this side of the
Boswell Sisters.
And, just as singers, they were way better than the Andrews Sisters.
John Henley

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

Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 15:52:17 -0400
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Mr. Keen Redux

Herb Harrison, speaking of Mr. Keen, asks,

I remember listening to this show when I was about 10 years old. I
thought it was keen.  However, I remember almost nothing about the show
itself, so I might agree that it was terrible if I could hear it now.
Anybody know if it's webcast online, so I could judge if it's good, bad,
or "campy"?

"Campy" can be either good or bad.  There are plenty of Mr. Keen episodes
around; Radio Spirits even had (and may still have) an album of them.

Mr. Keen is one of those programs that I can see on no other medium than
radio.  The dialogue was priceless: every time anyone spoke to another
person, the speaker would say the name of the person being addressed,
with one exception.  Dialog like,

"Mr. Keen, I'm Amy Blake.  I've come to ask your help."
"Won't you have a seat, Miss Blake?  How can I help you?"
"Thank you, Mr. Keen.  I'm here because of my brother, James."
"Would you explain what your brother has to do with you seeing me, Miss
Blake?"
"Well, Mr. Keen, my brother, James, is missing."

... and so forth.

The only exception is the killer.  If a victim sees a menacing figure, he
or she would say something like, ":You!  You!  What are you doing down
here?  Why are you holding that knife?  What are you ... planning to do?"

Of course, the murderer will never respond, since that would identify the
character.

And the other thing is the way the dialog is used to describe what's
going on.  "Look, Mr. Keen!  That handyman feller's holding a big axe.
And he's chopping wood with it."  "Is ... is that a gun?  Why are you
pointing it at me?"  "Mike, look at that safe.  It's been forced open.
And its contents are scattered on the floor in front of it."

The "detection" in Mr. Keen is haphazard and illogical, but that adds to
the charm.

For sheer entertainment, IMHO, you could do far worse than Mr. Keen.

But don't expect it to be a regular detective show.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 15:53:07 -0400
From: "Holm, Chris " <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Ooops

In 371, Anthony Tollin wrote:

***You're referring to the origin story from the 1994 movie,
which has nothing to do with the origin of The Shadow from Walter
Gibson's pulp novels (in which The Shadow was in reality former
aviator and spy Kent Allard) and very little to do with the radio
origin.  The Shadow didn't commit those atrocities in either the
pulp or radio versions, but the new movie's producer's chose to
lift part of a new drug-smuggling origin inflicted on the
character by Howard Chaykin in a 1986 comic book miniseries.

Well, I feel [removed] because if you can't trust Hollywood, who can you
trust.  Again, I claim my 1974 birth excuses a little mistake now and then.
So what are some good references to get an overview of the original
pulp/radio Shadow origins.

And what then was the pulp version's Shadow's motivation?

-Chris Holm
Who still feels the early Shadows and Welles voice are darker and more
haunted sounding.  And perfers them that way.

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

Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 15:53:17 -0400
From: "jsouthard" <jsouthard@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Orson, Bill, or Brett
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

I have been following the "Who was  the best Shadow?" thread with great
interest.  The Shadow was one of my favorite programs as a child. Since Brett
Morrison was the Shadow I listened to, he was my first choice. After listening
to all three portrayers for the last thirty years I have been collecting OTR,
I now vote for Bill Johnstone as the best Shadow. Welles characterization
often showed the sloppy presentation, he usually skipped all rehearsals and it
shows. His later fame has given him an overated Shadow. Morrison suffered from
a show that had grown tired and a formula. It was mostly a detective show with
the Shadow making two appearances, before the middle commercial to interrogate
a suspect, and in the end to save Margo from some crackpot murderer.
Morrison's voice was perfect, eventhough the show was inferior. Bill
Johnstone's characterization was excellent and the scripts were good. So for
best Shadow shows stay with Bill Johnstone.
John Southard

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

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

Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 16:25:21 -0400
From: "Gareth Tilley" <tilleygareth@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Radio Adventures/Scarlet Pimpernel

Hi

Did anyone record "Radio Adventures" this week from Radio 4  - it was about
the scarlet pimpernel - one of my favourite shows so I'd really apprieciate
a copy. Please email me privately if you have one!

Thanks

Gareth

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

Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 20:55:57 -0400
From: Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Dog Impersonation

Recently, I was talking to a group  of senior citizens about old time
radio. I mentioned  "The Challenge of the Yukon,"  a great program
featuring one of my childhood heroes, Sergeant Preston.

The audience consisted of folks interested in radio history.  A gentleman
in his eighties claimed that he had been a dog impersonator for his local
radio station many, many years ago. He was good at it and so the station
called him for its local childrens' shows whenever the script called for a
dog.

I asked him if he could do an impersonation of Yukon King. He said he
didn't do huskies --- that huskies were a specialty and that the husky
impersonators in the days of his youth were the busiest dog impersonators
there were.

Could this possibly be true? It drew quite a laugh from the audience but
the gentleman said he was dead-on serious.

Dennis Crow

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

Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 20:56:48 -0400
From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: hoofs SFX

Don Hunt responded to the question about horses' hoof SFX.

The consesus among the group-and I could be wrong- was that-in this case-the
sound of the horses' hooves was reproduced with the use of plungers in a box
full of sand. At one end of the box were pebbles whereby the plungers were
used
to represent the changes in terrain.

In early OTR, the better SFX practitioners were innovative, and spent hours
experimenting with methods to produce the needed sound. In the early days,
what was used in Detroit, was not necessarily used in NY, or from network to
network. Speaking of Network Sound Effect departments, they became much like
a parts department in a huge factory. The Director of a show usually
selected his particular favorite SFX guy from a list of those on the network
staff. (When and if they didn't have a conflict.) If the program was
particularly "heavy" with effects, the SFX guy would have an assistant
assigned.

Then, after being assigned to a program, they would receive their scripts in
advance, and prepare a "parts" list, for submission to the SFX "storage
room". He'd then have everything at hand when it came time to lug all that
stuff into a studio to rehearse the program. Sometimes, if there were lots
of hand held effects, they would wheel a laden "Laundry cart" filled with
goodies. (At least that's the way it was done at NBC NY.

I don't know when coconut halves (The inner shell) became standard for
horses hoofs, but I remember them in use around 1940. (When I worked on
"Death Valley days" the sound effects man used to let me play with them
during breaks in rehearsal until I outgrew that childishness).

That's not to say that rubber "plunger" bottoms wouldn't have worked just as
well. But the advantage of the coconut shell halves was that a strap could
be attached to them, and the SFX man could slip his hand between the strap
and top of the shell, and maintain better control of them. The strap was
about 1" wide, and if memory serves me, looked as if it was cut from a heavy
duty automobile tire inner tube. (Remember those things) :) The
approximately 2X2 shallow (maybe 6" deep) box that held the "media" on which
to "clip-clop", could be filled with sand, gravel, or plain old dirt, and
large enough to accommodate two sets of SFX hands. (I remember dirt, more
than anything else. It gave a better "packed terrain" sound. It might have
even been the type of surface used on "clay" tennis courts.

The BIGGER heavier effects, like actual doors and window sash, (and even
record turntables on wheels) were kept in the rear of some of the bigger
studios, as well as some of the larger musical instruments (piano's,
xylophones, kettle drums, etc.) That stuff was usually hidden by a curtain
at the rear of the studio. But, if a "door" was needed in studio B, and it
was in use someplace else, the NBC Set-Up crew (similar to stagehands),
would go get one from another studio, (on another floor perhaps) and deliver
it via freight elevator to whatever studio needed it. The SFX guys usually
just concerned themselves with gathering the hand held items and recorded
effects.

The Sound Effect that I thought was the most ingenious was the one used for
"thunder". It consisted of a sturdily constructed large wooden frame on a
base that had casters, so it could be wheeled around from place to place. A
very large piece of sheet metal was suspended from this frame. When it was
shook (hard of gentle) it could produce an overhead thunder clap, or distant
rumblings, depending on where it was grabbed, and how violently it was
shaken.

One other bit of SFX trivia. All of these large pieces of equipment were
uniformly painted black, with the NBC logo stenciled on part of the frame,
and "Sound Effects Dept" someplace else.

I recall that if a show had a studio audience, they were always fascinated
by the activities in the SFX area. And some of these guys really "played" to
the audience. Particularly if the show was a comedy.

Hal(Harlan)Stone
Jughead

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

Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 20:56:58 -0400
From: BH <radioguy@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Under-rated and Over-rated

"Michael Psarakis" <[removed]@[removed]; says:

The Lone Ranger - Gunsmoke makes it look amatuerish, never any  > character
development, why was this show on twice a week?

You're mixing apples and oranges. The LR was aimed at the juvinel
crowd, I loved it as a kid, he was a real hero we could look up
too. Gunsmoke was an adult western.

Bill H.  "I don't need the Shadow to cloud my mind, I can do that
all by myself"

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

Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 20:57:09 -0400
From: "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  OTR book

    I've just read "Radio's Captain Midnight: The Wartime Biography" by
OTR-Digester Stephen A. Kallis, Jr. (McFarland & Co., 2000) and highly
recommend it, especially to OTR, aviation, and WWII buffs.  It's
well-researched and is written as a serious history of the hero-aviator and
his Secret Squadron organization, treating them as though they really
existed.  It includes realistic adventures based on scripts of this famous
"Captain Midnight" OTR series and tells about premiums offered on the
series. Also it tells about cryptology (codes), military aircraft of WWII,
and more. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

    -- Phil C.

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

Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 20:57:27 -0400
From: "Ed Ellers" <ed_ellers@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  MGM and WHN

Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed]; wrote:

This was a local show aired for many years over WHN, New York -- and dates
back at least to 1927. It had its origin in the family connection between
WHN and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer: the station was owned during the 1920s by the
Marcus Loew Booking Office, an arm of Loews Incorporated, which also
controlled MGM.

For a while starting in 1943, WHN's FM station was in fact called WMGM; ISTR
references claiming that they even briefly changed the AM call to WMGM (some
time after 1947), but I can't confirm that.  During the same 1943-47 period
WOR's FM station was called WBAM (short for Bamberger, which owned the
station), and WQXR's FM station was called WQXQ.  I don't know what NBC, CBS
or ABC -- all of which had New York FM stations -- did.

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

Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 20:57:49 -0400
From: Dennis DeMarco <dennisdm@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Amos 'n' Andy Recreations on WBCQ

Hello all,

I've been enjoying the Amos 'n' Andy recreations currently airing on
shortwave broadcaster WBCQ ([removed] MHz)weeknights at Midnight. I fell upon
the program accidently and now listen most nights. I'm especially impressed
with his Andy voice -- to my untrained ear he sounds pretty close to the
original. His Amos is not that on target, however. I'm only familiar with
the half-hour sitcom version, so the 15-minute serials are quite
interesting to me.

In any event, I admire the uniqueness of putting these shows back on the
radio -- something no domestic AM/FM radio station would ever do. I hope
the shows continue. He ends each show asking for donations to offset the
$[removed] he must pay each week to the station to air his show.

Anybody else listening to this? Elizabeth?

Dennis

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

Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 22:42:37 -0400
From: SanctumOTR@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  History of SCIENCE FICTION

Just a note to mention that I'll be discussing radio science fiction in a TV
documentary that premieres this weekend. FANTASTIC VOYAGE: THE EVOLUTION OF
SCIENCE FICTION airs this Saturday night (September 28) on the History
Channel (8pm ET and again at midnight).  The two-hour documentary features
visits with Samuel "Chip" Delany, William Shatner, Forrest J. Ackerman, SF
historian David Kyle, Roger Corman and others including yours truly, Anthony
Tollin - who will be speaking about broadcast science fiction and perhaps the
influence of SF on society, morality and religion.  I haven't seen the
finished film yet so I don't know for sure what was included in the final
cut.

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #372
*********************************************

Copyright [removed] Communications, York, PA; All Rights Reserved,
  including republication in any form.

If you enjoy this list, please consider financially supporting it:
   [removed]

For Help: [removed]@[removed]

To Unsubscribe: [removed]@[removed]

To Subscribe: [removed]@[removed]
  or see [removed]

For Help with the Archive Server, send the command ARCHIVE HELP
  in the SUBJECT of a message to [removed]@[removed]

To contact the listmaster, mail to listmaster@[removed]

To Send Mail to the list, simply send to [removed]@[removed]