------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2001 : Issue 264
A Part of the [removed]!
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
APEX and DAWOO DVD PLayers for MP3 w [ Paulurbahn@[removed] ]
I Can Hear It Now [ Eric Cooper <ejcooper2001@[removed]; ]
OTR radio expressions [ "@" <josephpostove@[removed]; ]
THANKS! [ "stephen jansen" <stephenjansen@ema ]
AUSTRALIAN OTR [ "Ian Grieve" <ian@[removed] ]
Apex 500 [ George Aust <austhaus1@[removed] ]
[removed] Wilson [ George Aust <austhaus1@[removed] ]
#OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Nig [ lois@[removed] ]
magazines [ "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed]; ]
Expressions [ "Jimidene Murphey" <jimimark@[removed] ]
Trying to Find Jim Reeves Radio Show [ midtod@[removed] ]
Re: Al Pearce's gang of comics [ "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed] ]
Stereo Radio Broadcasts [ Rkayer@[removed] ]
RE: "I Can Hear It Now" [ "Lee, Steve (DEOC)" <slee@[removed]. ]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 23:53:07 -0400
From: Paulurbahn@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: APEX and DAWOO DVD PLayers for MP3 without TV
Maybe a DVD player owner of one of these models will tell me, Can you play
MP3 disks woithout having a TV set attached? In otherwords are thjeir enough
buttons to do it. At these prices I am thinking of replacing the CD player in
my stereo with one. That way I don't have to play MP3s on the computer.
Thanks,
Paul Urbahns
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 00:05:19 -0400
From: Eric Cooper <ejcooper2001@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: I Can Hear It Now
I can only speak of the original 78RPM issue which was in 1948
Eric Cooper
Mission Viejo,CA
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 11:40:01 -0400
From: "@" <josephpostove@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: OTR radio expressions
The recent spate of otr expressions that have and have not stood the test of
time got me to thinking of Homer Simpson's comment on tv:
"Television does so much, and yet asks so little."
Joe Postove
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 11:40:04 -0400
From: "stephen jansen" <stephenjansen@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: THANKS!
First off, thanks to everybody who offered their favorite "Shadow"
episodes - I've been listening for more than a week now, and found MANY to
be excellent, not tepid, like I had originally thought. "The Creeper"
(Orson Welles episode) is a favorite now, because of the particularly wacky
nutjob villain - great character and superb vocal work.
And I listened to "Spider Boy" too, and even though it wasn't very
good, I thoroughly enjoyed it because I was sharing some of the past with
someone who posted that it scared the daylights out of them when they were a
kid.
An episode along the same lines, from my past, is Lights Out "Story Of
Mr Maggs". I heard it rebroadcast during the late 1970's when I was a young
teen. Scared me silly. It's about a man who buys a murderer's trunk at an
auction - it's not quite as good now as it was then, but it actually holds
up pretty well. Like the Shadow "Creeper" episode, this one has marvelously
hateful characters and top-notch voices.
So, now my reason for today's post: I remember reading some article
about OTR sound effects long ago, and it had an interview with a sound
effects man (for Lights Out, I believe). He recounted how there was a show
in which he had to make the sound of a madman sawing off his victim's
fingers. He used a hacksaw to cut through some pork chops for the effect.
During the broadcast, he became overwhelmed with his own ridiculous
situation - intently sawing pork chops back and forth - and started to laugh
out loud. The narrator, thinking fast, interjected "The killer's insane
laughter echoed throughout the castle." or something to that effect (give
that man a BIG raise!).
My questions are:
Is this story true? Who was the effects man? The quick-thinking
announcer? Which show was this? And most importantly, is it available? I
would LOVE to hear the show, if the story is true!
Thank you all again, for the Shadow suggestions, and all of your help.
Wotta great bunch!
Stephen Jansen
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 11:40:09 -0400
From: "Ian Grieve" <ian@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: AUSTRALIAN OTR
Dan writes:
Thanks for the reply to my question regarding the Clock series. You`re
right about the confusion over the show, so far I`ve heard of the
possibility of as many as three different versions or variations of the
program. I`m sure that the digest members would be interested to hear of
any additional information as well - it is somewhat unusual.
Yes Dan, In this case I have the advantage over those who list it as
English, because some of the actors listed at the end have become well known
Australian Actors and are household names here. But may not be well known
in America. I listened to one last week that credited Charles (Bud)
Tingwell for example. Now Bud has starred in hundreds of Australian TV
shows and Stage shows (must be in his 70's now)but offhand I can't think of
a big budget movie that would have been shown in America that you would
recognise him from. He was partnered with an Actress who is now probably
the Matriarch of Australian Theatre, June Salter.
You may have been asked this before, but I wondered if you might be able to
answer some questions concerning australian otr in general? - What % of
the programs broadcast were imports vs australian productons and how did
they compare with australan audiences popularity-wise? Also what % were
australian versions of foreign shows?
Tough questions. Rather than deal in percentages, because I am no Elizabeth
McLeod and have no research background, I will give my impressions.
When I first started collecting OTR late last year, I joined the otr chat
group and found that most of the members believed that the only Australian
shows were those that were based on American scripts and that Australians
were just 'copycats' as far as OTR goes. Yes we imported a lot of American
shows, scripts etc. When we ran out of episodes we then wrote our own and
in same cases sold them back to the [removed] Gordon the Sci-Fi Guy that I
always plug, has done a lot of research in this area and I have read his
handout and find it very interesting. Off hand I can say we did our own
versions of Hop Harrigan, Biggles, Tarzan, Superman, Fatman and heaps more,
those are just the well known ones. Many scripts were adapted also so that
they were more in line with our lifestyle and hence more believeable.
I promise that at some stage in the future I will do more research and give
you a better picture of Australian OTR, unfortunately I missed the Golden
Years, so I cannot speak with authority on the subject.
With regard to Local Shows, we made plenty of them, right through all the
genres. From what I have learnt, very few were exported, hence why so
little is known of them outside of Australia. I am researching George
Edwards at the moment. In the 1930's onward he would have been the best
known Australian Radio performer. He was known as the 'Man with a thousand
voices'. For those of you collecting mp3 shows, you may have noticed
Frankenstein and also Dr Jeckyl on ftp sites and also on Log sites. Those
shows starred George Edwards and he did virtually all the male voices.
Again log sites have them listed as originating in the [removed] instead of
Australia. George Edwards for my generation is better known playing Dad
Rudd in Dad and Dave, which was a long running serial based on books by
Steele Rudd (who lived about 30 minutes away from me and is/was related by
marriage on two different lines of my family, anyone would think I was
Tasmanian). Dad and Dave is still played daily somewhere in Australia.
Unfortunately, one of the reasons Australian OTR is simply seen as copies of
[removed] shows is because Australian OTR is not promoted outside of Australia.
We have a dedicated Film and Sound archive but whilst plenty goes in, not
much comes out. I have sent copies of this digest to the archives
suggesting that we should do the same thing and collect the memories of
people who took part in the creation and broadcasting of Australian OTR. It
is like everything, costs, labour, time, make it difficult. The Australian
Archives do release CD's and collectors like me buy them. The online shop
can be found at [removed] . Take advantage of the low low low
Australian Dollar and buy a couple of CD's and try them out. Also as
mentioned before, the scifiguy trades Australian shows.
I hope Dan, that I have at least partially answered your questions, gut
feeling, we produced more than we imported but it would be close. I also
feel that our archives would hold many shows that are considered missing in
the [removed] Unfortunately there are more shows uncatalogued than catalogued
from what I have been told.
Ian Grieve
Missing Hal Stone
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 11:40:17 -0400
From: George Aust <austhaus1@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Apex 500
I've been following the discussion of the Apex 500 with interest. I own
an Apex 500A and while it does its job for which I bought it, it falls
far short in other areas. This unit does not recognize CDRs nor does it
have component outputs for video hook up to my TV. I bought the DVD to
use as a CD player, and for that its fine. I didn't want a multi disc
machine and finding a single CD player these days is not easy. My TV
will take a S video connection but my satelite receiver also uses an S
video connection and though I have two S video inputs I can only use one
at a time. So that means that I had to do a disconnect and connect every
time I wanted to watch a DVD movie. So I bought a very reasonably priced
($[removed]) Panasonic RV 31 which does everything well so far. By the way
I have seen three different Apex 500 models ,all of them very different
from the other and none of them offer component outputs. For my monery
the Panasonic is a much better machine.
George Aust
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 11:40:14 -0400
From: George Aust <austhaus1@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: [removed] Wilson
Bill Murtough recalled that the mountain where the television and FM
transmitters were located was Mount Wilson. Well ,he is right, with the
exception of Channel 2 which was for many years located on Mt. Lee which
is nothing more than a high hill in the Hollywood hills, not a mountain
at all. Starting around 1939 the transmitter that became KTSL channel
two began broadcasting from Mt Lee. It was not an ideal location for
telecasting to the whole Los Angeles area. For those of us who live in
the San Gabriel valley the picture was weak and filled with ghosts.
KTTV channel 11 was the CBS station in the eary 50's but it was not
owned ,I believe, by the network. They purchased KTSL and continued to
transmit from Mt. Lee for several years before they built a transmitter
at [removed] which is located in a entirely different range, the San
Gabriel mountains.
I have no idea how Don Lee got to name a hill after himself but I do
think that the transmitting tower is still there though I forget what it
is being used for now.
George Aust
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 11:40:12 -0400
From: lois@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Night!
A weekly [removed]
For the best in OTR Chat, join IRC (Internet Relay Chat), StarLink-IRC
Network, the channel name is #OldRadio. We meet Thursdays at 8 PM Eastern
and go on, and on! The oldest OTR Chat Channel, it has been in existence
over four years, same time, same channel!
Our numerous "regulars" include one of the busiest "golden years" actors in
Hollywood; a sound man from the same era who worked many of the top
Hollywood shows; a New York actor famed for his roles in "Let's Pretend" and
"Archie Andrews;" owners of some of the best OTR sites on the Web;
maintainer of the best-known OTR Digest (we all know who he is)..........
and Me
Lois Culver
KWLK Longview Washington (Mutual) 1941-1944)
KFI Los Angeles (NBC) 1944 - 1950
and widow of actor Howard Culver
(For more info, contact lois@[removed])
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 14:14:17 -0400
From: "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: magazines
Does any body know of any stores or dealers that deal in show business
magazines from the 1940s such as Downbeat? Any lead would be very helpfully
for me on a project that I am working on.
Walden Hughes
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 14:14:16 -0400
From: "Jimidene Murphey" <jimimark@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Expressions
Thank you, Elizabeth, for enlightening me on the origins of "unlax." My
father said that daily for as long as I can remember (he was 86 when he died
a few years ago, so he had been saying it for a LONG time!) I always
thought it was one of his own personal stretchings of the English language,
which he did quite frequently.
Seems there is a lot from Fibber and Molly that we remember. When I was a
kid in the late 50s and early 60s, my younger sister and I were always going
back and forth with "OOOHHHH, noyoudon't" and "OOOOHHHHH yesIdo." I'm not
sure if that came exclusively from Fibber, but I've heard it often on that
show.
I've been listening passionately to OTR for several years now, and although
its golden years were more the "rusty" years by the time I came along, I am
trying to do my part in making sure the "rusty" doesn't completely
disintegrate.
Jimidene Murphey
jimimark@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 14:14:14 -0400
From: midtod@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Trying to Find Jim Reeves Radio Shows
It's been a couple of years since I asked this question, but hopefully I'll
have better luck this time. I'm trying to find any old transcriptions/tapes
of Jim Reeves' radio show, which aired on the ABN network (forerunner of
ABC) in the latter part of 1957 and early 1958. The show was 1-hour, 5 days
a week, for a total of 65 shows in the series. After years of searching,
only TWO of these have ever surfaced, and I find that bewildering.
The show originated at WSM in Nashville and featured, in addition to
Reeves, Owen Bradley's orchestra and the Anita Kerr singers. It was a
first-class effort, especially because Jim Reeves was one of the greatest
vocalists ever to draw breath.
I also know that besides the live network feed, transcription disks were
sent to Armed Forces stations for delayed broadcast. It is inconceivable to
me that ALL of these have disappeared. (By comparison, a lot of Jim's
transcriptions specifically for the armed forces have, indeed, survived).
Since I'm also writing a book on Reeves, I'd appreciate any suggestions any
of you would care to offer on where I might look next to locate any of
these shows. Surely there are copies in some archives somewhere. I suspect
I just haven't looked in the right [removed]
Larry Jordan
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 16:01:16 -0400
From: "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Al Pearce's gang of comics
Ray Erlenborn asks those who have been alive since the 1920s if they can
recall early comic performers on Al Pearce's show(s) besides the ones he
names in his posting. I'm not quite that old but, despite my "youth", maybe
Mr. E. won't mind my naming, for 1929: Jean Clarimoux, Norman Nielsen, Hazel
Warner, Abe Bloom, Tommy Harris, Charles Carter, Edna Fisher, and Cecil
Wright. (And Al's brother's name was Cal.) My source for this information
is John Dunning's "On the Air".
Hope that helps.
-- Phil Chavin
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 16:01:14 -0400
From: Rkayer@[removed]
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Stereo Radio Broadcasts
During the early '60's 'stereo; was marketed heavily by the recording and
movie industrys. (Remember RCA's "Living Stereo" recordings and movie ads for
'multi channel sound'. Anything 'mono' was considered old fashioned and
inferior. It would be a few years before the commercial development of
multiplex FM which allowed stations to broadcast in true stereo. So many
radio stations scrambled to be able to provide stereo programing with
existing technology and receivers. Thus the stereo broadcasts utilizing FM
for one channel and AM for the other, such as the WMAQ AM,FM broadcasts in
Chicago that were recently mentioned I actually bought a component tuner (a
Knight if I recall) for a new stereo system in 1960 that was billed as a
'stereo receiver' when all it did was allow you to play both an AM and FM
program simultaneously through the amplifier.
Bob Kayer
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 22:47:21 -0400
From: "Lee, Steve (DEOC)" <slee@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: RE: "I Can Hear It Now"
RE:
Anyone know the date, at least the year, of Ed Murrow's "I Can Hear It
Now"?
My database doesn't sort well with unknown [removed]
Thanks,
Norm Schickedanz, Elmhurst, IL
Don't know the exact date, but I believe the original 5 disc 78 set came out
in 1948. It was a collaboration between Murrow and Fred W. Friendly. They
were produced on the Columbia Masterworks Label. Remember, the recordings
pre-date the release of the famous album. Complete original sets and
individual 33 1/3 LPs(volumes 1 through 4)are available on Ebay.
I was fascinated as a young child listening to my parents original 78
recordings of famous events and speeches [removed], Eisenhower, Chuchill,
Roosevelt, Stalin, Hitler, MacArthur, Truman, FDR's Funeral Procession,
D-Day, Hindenburg Explosion, and Lou Gehrig's farewell.
[removed]
Steve Lee
-
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2001 Issue #264
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