Subject: [removed] Digest V2008 #10
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 1/12/2008 9:56 AM

To: [removed]@[removed]
Reply-to: [removed]@[removed]

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2008 : Issue 10
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      1-11 births/deaths                    [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
      Re: THE WHISTLER                      [ Anthony Tollin <sanctumotr@earthlin ]
      The Whistler correction               [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
      Gerard Hoffnung                       [ "Bill Scherer" <bspro@[removed]; ]
      Re: A bit more on Skip Craig          [ Jordan Young <jyoung@[removed]; ]
      Re: Literary quotes                   [ "R. R. King" <kingrr@[removed]; ]
      introduction                          [ andre <andre66@[removed]; ]
      Victor Borge, Long Island?            [ Ed Kindred <kindred@[removed]; ]
      JOHNY GRANT                           [ PURKASZ@[removed] ]
      1-12 births/deaths                    [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
      Ronald Sayles' Radio Personalities D  [ Larry Husch <lshusch@[removed]; ]

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

    Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2008 10:35:09 -0500
    From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  1-11 births/deaths

    January 11th births

    01-11-1870 - Alice Hegan Rice - Shelbyville, KY - d. 2-10-1942
    writer: "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch" based on her novel
    01-11-1886 - George Zucco - Manchester, England - d. 5-28-1960
    actor: "Encore Theatre"
    01-11-1888 - Charles Previn - Brooklyn, NY - d. 9-22-1973
    conductor, pianist: "Sea Romances"; "Silken Strings"
    01-11-1891 - Finney Briggs - Castlewood, SD - d. 9-xx-1978
    actor: "Little Orphan Annie"; "Dari-Dan"; "Ma Perkins"
    01-11-1896 - Armina Marshall - d. 7-20-1991
    theatre guild supervisor: "The Theatre Guild on the Air"
    01-11-1896 - George Houston - Hampton, NJ - d. 11-12-1944
    baritone: "Theatre Magazine"
    01-11-1899 - Eva Le Gallienne - d. 6-3-1991
    actor: "Civic Repertory Theatre"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
    01-11-1902 - Charlie Nehlsen - d. 3-30-1980
    engineer: Recorded Hindenburg disaster as reported by Herb Morrison
    01-11-1905 - Manfred Lee - Brooklyn, NY - d. 4-3-1971
    writer: "Advs of Ellery Queen"; "Author, Author"
    01-11-1908 - Lionel Stander - The Bronx, NY - d. 11-30-1994
    actor: J. Riley Farnsworth "Life of Riley"; Hoolihan "Grapevine Rancho"
    01-11-1910 - Betty Miles - Santa Monica, CA - d. 6-9-1992
    actor: Millie Anderson "A Day in the Life of Dennis Day"
    01-11-1910 - Donald 'Red' Barry - Houston, TX - d. 7-17-1980
    actor: "All-Star Western Theatre"; "Forecast"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
    01-11-1910 - Gene Baker - Portland, OR - d. 8-14-1981
    announcer: "Lum and Abner"; "Queen for a Day"
    01-11-1910 - Izler Soloman - Minneapolis, MN - d. 12-6-1987
    conductor: "Design for Living"; "Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra!
    01-11-1910 - Richard Kendrick - Vermillion, SD - d. 2-10-1987
    actor: Bill Baker "Portia Faces Life"
    01-11-1917 - Carl Caruso - Boston, MA
    announcer, director: "A. L. Alexander's Goodwill Court"; "The Shadow"

    January 11th deaths

    05-03-1892 - Beulah Bondi - Chicago, IL - d. 1-11-1981
    actor: "Free World Theatre"; "NBC University Theatre"
    05-03-1902 - Jack Larue - NYC - d. 1-11-1984
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    06-21-1928 - Rudy Wissler - d. 1-11-2007
    actor,singer: "Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy Show"
    07-10-1923 - John Bradley - Antigo, WI - d. 1-11-1994
    raiser of second flag on Iwo Jima: "Interview programs"
    09-17-1903 - Frank Barton - Chicago, IL - d. 1-11-1995
    announcer: "A Day in the Life of Dennis Day"; "One Man's Family"
    10-04-1893 - Reverend Walter A. Maier - Boston, MA - d. 1-11-1950
    preacher: "Lutheran Hour"
    11-22-1887 - Charles E. Mack - White Cloud, KS - d. 1-11-1934
    comedian, actor: (Two Black Crows) "The Eveready Hour"
    12-04-1889 - Isabel Randolph - Chicago, IL - d. 1-11-1973
    actor: Rhoda Harding "Dan Harding's Wife"; Mrs. Abigail Uppington
    "Fibber McGee and Molly"
    12-08-1913 - Sarajane Wells - Owensboro, KY - d. 1-11-1987
    actor: Betty Fairchild "Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy"
    12-22-1912 - Myron Barg - d. 1-11-1994
    disk jockey: WJBC Bloomington, Indiana

    Ron Sayles
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

    Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2008 10:35:41 -0500
    From: Anthony Tollin <sanctumotr@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: THE WHISTLER

    on 1/11/08 12:18 AM, Jerry Martell asks:

>     For those of you that are fans of The Whistler; TCM will be broadcasting  The
>     Voice Of The Whistler and The Mysterious Intruder this Sat. morning. I find
>     it unusual that Richard Dix starred in all six of the Whistler films playing
>     six  different characters in doing so. I would be interested in knowing why
>     this was  done.

    Because THE WHISTLER films followed the anthology format of the radio
    series. In other words, there were no continuing characters, other than the
    shadowy Whistler (voiced by Bill Forman on radio, film and the 1955 TV
    series) as narrator. Series like THE SHADOW, SAM SPADE and GUNSMOKE have
    continuing characters; anthologies like THE WHISTLER, LIGHTS OUT, THE
    MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER and SUSPENSE don't. As an actor, Richard Dix probably
    enjoyed creating different characterizations, alternating between hero to
    villain, in each of his WHISTLER films.

    Actually, Richard Dix starred in the first seven WHISTLER films, but was not
    in THE RETURN OF THE WHISTLER (1948), the eighth and final movie in the noir
    series. Dix died of a heart attack the following year.

    --Anthony Tollin (lurking in the shadows ...)

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

    Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2008 10:36:26 -0500
    From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  The Whistler correction
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    Jerry Martell wrote:

>     For those of you that are fans of The Whistler; TCM will be broadcasting
>     TheVoice Of The Whistler and The Mysterious Intruder this Sat. morning. I
>     findit unusual that Richard Dix starred in all six of the Whistler films
>     playingsix different characters in doing so. I would be interested in knowing
>     whythis was done.

    I am sure Jerry will be getting a number of postings on
    this, but Dix starred in seven Whistler films, not six.  They made eight
    total, but Dix was unable to play the lead for the final film of the series.
    Columbia made the films on a shoe-string budget.  They were classified as "B"
    pictures, usually part of a double feature.  It was not uncommon for a film
    studio that made money on a particular low-budget mystery movie to make
    additional pictures of the same series, using the same actor.  The studio's
    mentality was if it was a success the first time, it'll be a success if we
    keep everything the same.  Many of the scripts were junk, sitting on the
    shelves, gathering dust, and the studio used this method as an excuse to use
    up scripts they paid for and this way, get their money out of 'em.  At least a
    couple were adaptations of Cornell Woolrich stories, and one, if I am not
    mistaken, was a former draft of a movie they had better success earlier on,
    but didn't want to waste the former script they had.
    Martin

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    Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2008 11:23:14 -0500
    From: "Bill Scherer" <bspro@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Gerard Hoffnung

    Hi all,
    If you go to [removed] you can find both books and a CD or 2 of Gerard
    Hoffnung.
    I managed to find a 2 disc set of the Music Festivals for $14.
    No! I don't work for Amazon.  <g>
    Bill

    [ADMINISTRIVIA: Barns and Nobel has a number of out-of-print books available;
    a redirector to the long search URL is:

    [removed]

       Note that if you purchase new titles from B&N while you're there, we'll
    receive a small commission to help maintain the lists and website, so feel
    free to buy big.  ;)  --cfs3]

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

    Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:37:26 -0500
    From: Jordan Young <jyoung@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: A bit more on Skip Craig

    It might also be mentioned that Skip is an exceedingly modest man. It
    was he who compiled the first Spike Jones discography, beginning in
    the '40s, eventually turning his research over to Ted Hering--but
    when I published the first edition of my book on Jones in '84 and
    suggested they share joint credit on the discography, Skip wanted Ted
    to know it was my idea, not his. (Spike named him th

    Jordan Young

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

    Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2008 13:32:00 -0500
    From: "R. R. King" <kingrr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Literary quotes

>     I'd like to know if the Digest readership would
>     be able to conjure up any other examples of great
>     authors and persons of letters elevating radio as
>     an art form and giving it literary legitimacy
>     back in the day.

    I'm afraid this isn't exactly what you want but here's an interesting
    excerpt from a 1938 letter by novelist John Fante in Berkeley, CA to
    playwright William Saroyan:

    ***
    ... I am now a complete and ungarnished hack. The field is radio. The
    subject matter is one-act plays. The technique is simple, and even
    interesting. The one-dimensional limitations of a radio play make for
    some pretty facile quirks and squeezes. And strange as it may seem,
    the taboos are less rankling than any other field in American
    writing-excepting of course the stage and serious literature. You can
    say hell on the radio. You can say damn, and you can even talk about
    the brotherhood of man and communism with a small c. Reason: you deal
    with such morons that they don't understand you. The radio today is a
    sleeping powder. Turn it on, relax, and soon enough the emanating
    bilge wafts you to slumber. All the inhibitions I ever had are pouring
    out of me and into a radio script. I mean of course unaesthetic
    inhibitions. All the crap and guff and flubdub, all the dullness and
    tedium, all the mediocre thoughts and ideas I've accumulated over a
    long, terrible life, are walking from under my fingers and across
    pages and pages of sheer unpolluted crap. [...]

    There's dough in radio, Willie. Your kind of dough. Ten page, one-act
    plays--three to five hundred bucks a piece. It's really a lark. I can
    turn the stuff out hanging from a four story building by one foot, and
    writing with the toes of my other foot. I've knocked out four plays,
    and [am] finishing my fifth in three weeks. You get authorship credit,
    too. Six million people on a chain hookup like Rudy Vallee's--and they
    do some goddamn good stuff once in a
    while--Chekov--Shaw--O'Neill--Joyce--and even the morbid "Mice and
    Men." And within the concentration of one dimension there is
    power--and above all--speech--words--pure speech and sound .... but
    all of this is naturally the exception rather than the rule .... the
    average is awful, but no worse than pix. The joke shows are all pretty
    lousy. I'm talking about drama. (Incidentally, I haven't sold any of
    my plays yet but I am told by my agent at the Morris office that they
    are damn fine and will click.) ...
    ***

    That last sentence always cracks me up.

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

    Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2008 16:52:19 -0500
    From: andre <andre66@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  introduction
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     Hello everyone,
    just wanted to introduce myself,my name is Andre and i live in the vancouver
    area of BC. I have listened to OTR sporadicallly since my early teens, too
    long ago, on CKNW, a radio station in vancouver which plays OTR at night.
     Decided to do an online search on OTR and to my delight i have found a whole
    world waiting to be explored, i am very excited to start buying MP3's and
    having my own collection.
     Too short an intro but work beckons!
    Andre

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

    Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:02:18 -0500
    From: Ed Kindred <kindred@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Victor Borge, Long Island?
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
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    Unless he moved Victor Borge lived on Long Island Sound in Greenwich, CT
    in a large appearing mansion with a huge
    lawn sweeping down to the waterfront. That at least was what I was told as
    we ferried out to city owned Island  around
    1968 or 1969. It takes a real gift to present variations on the same
    material for over 50 years, pack a house and have
    people absolutely love you. Shortly before he died our son and I attended
    a concert/recital/program of very familiar
    material at the Kennedy Center and were totally entertained along with
    everyone else. His curtain call of standing on
    the stage rolling and unrolling a handkerchief before his face was
    wonderfully creative.  How many nonagenarians could
    fill a concert hall and perform the same stuff you had been loving for 50
    years?

    We waited outside of the Center on the off chance that we might see him.
    He ambled out heading for the waiting Limo
    and gave us a few charming, delightful minutes of his time as we thanked
    him for a delightful evening.  Even though he
    is physically gone, thankfully Amazon can provide an abundant amount of
    material for a Borge fanatic.
    Ed Kindred

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

    Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:03:11 -0500
    From: PURKASZ@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  JOHNY GRANT

    The details of Johnny Grant's death have changed.
    He had lunch with a staffer in the hotel restaurant, then  complained of not
    feeling well and said he was going to take a nap.  When  he didn't answer his
    phone later, another staffer who had his door key went to  check on him and
    found him slumped over in his rocking chair overlooking  Hollywood Blvd.
    It appears he died peacefully,  looking at the city he so loved.
    That may or may  not be PR hype, but its the official story now. His ashes
    will be scattered  along the base of the Hollywood sign at his request.
    The guy was apparently a promoter of the first  order.  I didn't know until
    coverage of his death that his star on the Walk  of Fame (in front of the
    Chinese Theater) is the only one for which the honoree  made application
    himself
    and paid the fees.
        He bought himself a star!!!
    When his hand prints and signature were later put nearby,  in the excitement
    he mis-spelled his own name with only one "n" in  "Johnny."  The cement set
    before anyone noticed it.  But it will be at  least [removed] more
    likely
    [removed] find anyone with something  unkind to say about the guy.
    So long [removed] remember  you well. So do a lot of  us.
    Michael C Gwynne

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

    Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2008 23:04:06 -0500
    From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  1-12 births/deaths

    January 12th births

    01-12-1878 - Ferenc Molnar - Budapest, Austria-Hungary - d. 4-1-1952
    playwright: "Fleischmann's Yeast Hour"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
    01-12-1887 - Theresa Helburn - NYC - d. 8-18-1959
    producer: Was the guiding light of "Theatre Guild on the Air"
    01-12-1892 - Ed McConnell - Atlanta, GA - d. 7-24-1954
    host, actor: Smilin' Ed McConnell Show"
    01-12-1894 - Georges Carpentier - Lens, France - d. 10-27-1975
    boxer: Dempsey vs. Carpentier first boxing match broadcast
    01-12-1894 - Tommy Handley - Liverpool, England - d. 1-9-1949
    comedian: Minister of Aggravation "It's That Man Again"; "Radio
    Radiance"
    01-12-1896 - Harry Reser - Piqua, OH - d. 9-27-1965
    bandleader: "Cliquot Club Eskimos"
    01-12-1902 - Joe E. Lewis - NYC - d. 6-4-1971
    comedian: "Midnight to Dawn in New York and London"
    01-12-1904 - Eddie De Lange - Long Island City, NY - d. 7-13-1949
    musical director: "Honolulu Bound"; "Phil Baker Show"
    01-12-1906 - Tex Ritter - Murvaul, TX - d. 1-2-1974
    singer: "Lone Star Rangers"
    01-12-1908 - Joan Burroughs - Chicago, IL - d. 12-31-1972
    actor: (Daughter of Edgar Rice Burroughs) Jane "Tarzan"
    01-12-1910 - Luise Rainer - Vienna, Austria or Dusseldorf, Germany
    actor: "Linclon Highway"; "Yesterday's Children"
    01-12-1910 - Patsy Kelly - Brooklyn, NY - d. 9-24-1981
    comedienne: "MGM Musical Comedy Theatre"; "Screen Guild Theatre"
    01-12-1911 - Lon Clark - Frost, MN - d. 10-4-1998
    actor: Nick Carter "Nick Carter, Master Detective"
    01-12-1912 - Sara Berner - Albany, NY - d. 12-19-1969
    actor: Mable Flapsaddle "Jack Benny Program"
    01-12-1915 - Martin Agronsky - Philadelphia, PA - d. 7-25-1999
    newscaster: "The ABC Morning News"
    01-12-1916 - Jay McShann - Muskogee, OK - d. 12-7-2006
    jazz pianist and bandleader: "Jubilee"; "Jazz Alive"
    01-12-1920 - Theodor Uppman - San Jose, CA - d. 5-17-2005
    operatic baritone: "Bell Telephone Hour"
    01-12-1923 - Ira Hayes - Gila River Indian Reservation, AZ - d.
    1-24-1955
    raiser of second flag on Iwo Jima:: "Interview programs"
    01-12-1925 - Don Atlas - d. 12-28-2005
    sportscaster: KLOK San Jose, California
    01-12-1926 - Ray Price - Perryville, TX
    singer: "Galaxy of Stars"
    01-12-1930 - Glenn Yarbrough - Milwaukee, WI
    singer: "Guest Star"

    January 12th deaths

    01-17-1899 - Nevil Shute - d. 1-12-1960
    novelist: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    01-23-1919 - Ernie Kovacs - Trenton, NJ - d. 1-12-1962
    announcer, panelist: Monitor, "Where Have You Been?"
    01-31-1887 - Charlies Irwin - Curragh, Ireland - d. 1-12-1969
    actor: "Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy Show"
    02-05-1901 - Arthur Sheekman - Chicago, IL - d. 1-12-1978
    writer: "The Marx Brothers"
    03-15-1932 - Ray Aparicio - d. 1-12-2006
    disk jockey: KBUC Corona, California
    03-16-1893 - Isobel Elson - Cambridge, England - d. 1-12-1981
    actor: Jessie Hughes "Young Dr. Malone"
    04-20-1914 - Betty Lou Gerson - Chattanooga, TN - d. 1-12-1999
    actor: Mary Marlin "Story of Mary Marlin"; Charlotte Wilson "The
    Guiding Light"
    04-21-1923 - Tex Antoine - d. 1-12-1983
    announcer: "The Eternal Light"; "Jane Pickens Show"
    05-09-1908 - Leonard Sillman - Detroit, MI - d. 1-12-1982
    producer: "New Faces of 1948"
    06-07-1911 - Stanley Unwin - Pretoria, South Africa - d. 1-12-2002
    sound engineer, commentator, actor: "Beyond Our Ken"
    06-18-1904 - Keye Luke - Canton, China - d. 1-12-1991
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Image Minorities"
    07-09-1917 - Kay Aldredge - Tallahassee, FL - d. 1-12-1995
    actor: "Maxwell House Coffee Time"
    07-21-1925 - Anne Meacham - Chicago, IL - d. 1-12-2006
    actor: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"
    08-03-1903 - John S. Young - Springfield, MA - d. 1-12-1976
    announcer: Foreign news for NBC in Nyw York
    09-15-1890 - Agatha Christie - Torquay, England - d. 1-12-1976
    author: Creator of "Hercule Poirot"
    09-22-1932 - Allen Actor - d. 1-12-2004
    disc jockey: Orlando, Florida
    10-18-1911 - Helen Claire - Union Springs, AL - d. 1-12-1974
    actor: Virginia Lansing "Backstage Wife"; Joyce Jordan "Joyce
    Jordan,[removed]"
    11-12-1884 - Griff Barnett - Blue Ridge, TX - d. 1-12-1958
    actor: Rexall Family Druggist "Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show"
    12-21-1917 - Rolly Bester - NYC - d. 1-12-1984
    actor: "Tales of Tomorrow"

    Ron Sayles
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

    Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 11:50:29 -0500
    From: Larry Husch <lshusch@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Ronald Sayles' Radio Personalities Database and
     RadioWebLinks

    Ron Sayles is a daily contributor to the Old-Time Radio Digest with his
    listing of births and deaths of radio personalities.  We are pleased to
    announce that Ron has agreed to the inclusion of his database into
    RadioWebLinks ([removed]).  Ron's database has been
    implemented in two ways:
    1. You can search by the date of birth, date of death or by the first
    letter of the last name by using the
    interface [removed]
    2. A new category, Radio Personalities, is being added to each program
    page on RadioWebLinks. This category will contain the list of names from
    Ron's database which associate that program.

    RadioWebLinks is organized by the name of radio programs and provides
    links to both the Internet and published works which reference the radio
    program.  It has been under construction for about a year and was
    recently changed over to a database format so that information like Ron
    Sayles' can be included more easily and so that searching is possible.

    We note that the interface between the RadioWebLink's database and Ron's
    database is still under construction. Ron's database contains over 6700
    names with over 10,000 links to programs. All of the names are included,
    but we are still missing about 1500 links to the programs.

    We thank Ron Sayles profusely for letting us use his data!

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2008 Issue #10
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