Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #76
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 2/17/2003 6:26 PM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2003 : Issue 76
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      name of places to eat                 [ "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed]; ]
      OTR Time Machine                      [ Greg Przywara <gmprzywara@students. ]
      Artie Shaw                            [ "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed]; ]
      Encyclopedia of Radio                 [ Donna Halper <dlh@[removed]; ]
      Early Radio Remembered                [ "Lois Culver" <lois@[removed]; ]
      missing Ben Romero Dragnet episodes   [ Troy Burnham <tburnham@[removed]; ]
      Power of Radio                        [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
      Butterfly McQueen as Mary Livingston  [ "David Golumbia" <dgolumbi@mindspri ]
      Re: The Road Show                     [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
      The OTR Time Machine                  [ Tim Johnson <tjnknox@[removed]; ]
      Subject: Louis L'Amour Theater        [ lawrence albert <albertlarry@yahoo. ]
      Old Tape Format Question              [ Henry Howard <hhoward@[removed] ]
      lost email address                    [ Thomasmartin245@[removed] ]
      Tom Corbett                           [ "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyro ]
      Time Capsule                          [ oldpdb@[removed] (Paul Barringer) ]
      John Todd in his real voice           [ "Frederick S. Hillman" <fshillman@6 ]
      Tom Corbett                           [ "david rogers" <david_rogers@hotmai ]
      Re: Women broadcasters                [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]

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

    Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 16:31:20 -0500
    From: "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  name of places to eat

        Hi Everybody, in the last OTR digest a question was ask about using a
    OTR name for a eating place.  Mike Fields in Colorado had a place called
    Gildersleeves diner.  John and Larry Gassman did a wonderful piece on Mike
    place years ago on the there radio show.  Mike had Mr. Waterman back for the
    big opening and a group of people from RHAC did two recreation of a radio
    show that first day.  The place ran old time radio at each booth, and there
    was radio picture of the stars and other such items in the place.  In
    Vermont there is a bed and breakfast place. which runs OTR through the
    place.  TV set are hidden away to give a feel of the 1930s, or 1940s.
    Another memory I have is the Variety Art Theater.  I attended two of Frank
    Bresee,s radio show there one night in 1987.  The place serve dinner, and
    had picture of many celebrities from the golden days.  I been at the Fryers
    Club in [removed] a couple of time and they have many great picture of there past
    members displayed there.  On the second floor of the Hollywood Roosevelt
    Hotel they have a display of radio items  donated by Frank Bresee on
    display.  The hotel is right across from the famous foot prints display in
    front of the movie theater.  Take care,

    Walden Hughes

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

    Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 16:31:27 -0500
    From: Greg Przywara <gmprzywara@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  OTR Time Machine

    If time travel were possible I would prefer to go back to fall 1938 and
    tape all those lost Mercury Theater on the Air shows. However I don't think
    radios in those days would have been in and out jacks for hooking up a tape
    recorder so any kind of recording I would be doing would sound too hollow
    and would be unsuitable for making CDs and selling them on ebay.

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

    Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 16:31:23 -0500
    From: "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Artie Shaw

    Hi Everybody, Artie Shaw is still going strong today.  I heard a great
    interview with Artie Shaw this past Saturday morning.  Artie is nomnated for
    two Grammies this year.  Artie will turn 93 years old on May 23.  He is as
    sharp as ever.  He was saying that working as a radio studio musician in the
    1930s brought him disaplin.  In the 1990s I ask Artie about working on
    radio.  He told me that he was Burns and Allen band leader for a while.
    Does any one have any of those shows?  I know Artie figure out at one time
    he was earning in to day dollars about 600,000 a week in the high of his
    career.  Take care,

    Walden Hughes

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

    Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 16:32:57 -0500
    From: Donna Halper <dlh@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Encyclopedia of Radio

>     Howard wrote--
>     Elizabeth asked who else contributed articles to the Encyclopedia of
>     Radio. I contributed one on the topic of radio dramatists.

    I plead guilty too-- I did articles on WBZ, WGI and on several other
    Boston-related subjects.  Being in the same book with talented authors like
    Liz, Howard, Stephen and others is indeed a privilege!

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

    Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 16:35:45 -0500
    From: "Lois Culver" <lois@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Early Radio Remembered

    EARLY RADIO REMEMBERED:

    Was radio fun in its early days?  You bet it was-and it was a lot of
    headaches, also!  I wouldn't have missed a minute of it!

    It was a Sunday morning in 1941 at KWLK radio station, Longview, Washington,
    a Mutual network affilliate, where at the transmitter Merle was almost
    dozing while the sustaining religious show was airing.  I came to the
    station to use the typewriter and knew no one would bother me as no one was
    there on Sundays - it was locked up tightly.  After the Mutual show there
    would be numerous religious and musical electrical transcriptions to be
    played from the transmitter, about 10 miles away from the station.

    The phone rang.  I answered, hesitantly, and a man asked when he was to meet
    our announcer at the church to set up the remote broadcast.   HUH??  Since I
    made out the logs, I knew there was NO remote set up for that day.  I tried
    to get some information without him knowing the only person at the station
    didn't know anything about his remote.  I told him I'd have the Assistant
    Manager call him back-that we had been waiting for his call.  (Yeah,
    right!)

    Assistant Manager Nick knew nothing about a remote, either.  He tried to
    contact the station manager, who evidently had set up the whole thing.  Aha!
    The manager ([removed]) was having one of his "snits" and was angry at his wife
    and locked himself in his room, not answering her-not even coming out to
    eat. (She put a tray by his door with his meals on it.)  Nick hurried over
    and tried to talk to [removed] through the door, without any luck-no answer.
    There was nothing to do but handle it ourselves.

    Nick called the client back, and by wily questions found out this was an
    out-of-town  minister and he and his choral group had set up with [removed] a
    remote from a local church that afternoon at 3 PM.  Nick yelled at me to
    clear the space-I called Merle at the transmitter and had him clear
    everything for about an hour after 3 pm, and "Stand By" for a remote.

    I tried to call our Remote Man.  He was a high school boy named "Jeep" who
    carried our sparse remote equipment in the trunk of his car at all times.
    He was at church with his mother.  Nick rushed to the church and yanked Jeep
    out.  They both went over to the church in question to see what had to be
    done there for a remote broadcast, not knowing what would be necessary for
    the choral group and their [removed]  The minister of that church had to be
    found, which used up more precious time.

    We were all sweating as 3 PM crept up-and we breathed a sigh of relief when
    Nick's voice came through at the transmitter to Stand By, and here came his
    voice introducing the minister and his group.  The broadcast went smoothly
    and we all collapsed when it was over.

    [removed] came out of his room the next day.  As he passed Nick in the hall of
    the station he grunted "Nice job."

    But we all knew this could happen again!

    Lois Culver
    KWLK Radio (Mutual) Longview, WA 1941-44
    KFI Radio (NBC) Los Angeles CA 1944-47, 50-53
    Widow of Howard Culver, actor

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

    Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 16:36:56 -0500
    From: Troy Burnham <tburnham@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  missing Ben Romero Dragnet episodes

    The other day in the time machine thread somebody mentioned wanting to go
    back and recover the missing Dragnet episodes with Ben Romero.  I'm on a
    mission to collect all of the available shows with Romero so can somebody
    list the dates of those shows that aren't available?

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

    Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 16:37:00 -0500
    From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Power of Radio

    Nancy McAleer, speaking of an incident while listening to a recording of
    an OTR show, notes,

>     I was <snip> listening to an episode of the "Dimension X" <snip>
>     ("Destination Moon"  --  June 24, 1950). ... About 20 minutes into the
>     program <snip> the network broke in for two news bulletins.  It seems
>     that North Korea just declared war on Southb Korea. <snip>  I have to
>     admit, it surprised me, and it took a moment to realize that I was
>     listening to a recording.

    I've related it a long time ago, but it's worth sharing:  Once, I was
    listening to a newly acquired recording of a Captain Midnight show.  At
    its close, the announcer said, "Now, get paper and pencil ready.  Stand
    by for a Secret Squadron Signal Session!"  I nearly broke my leg
    scrambling for writing materials so that I could jot down the message.
    It wasn't until well after I'd jotted it down that it occurred to me that
    I could just have stopped the tape.

    The power of ancient radio.

    Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

    Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 16:37:07 -0500
    From: "David Golumbia" <dgolumbi@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Butterfly McQueen as Mary Livingstone's maid
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
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    Looking for information on the story of Butterfly McQueen playing Mary
    Livingstone's maid on Jack Benny in the early 1940s. I have the episodes
    that appear to be her, and most of the standard available references on Jack
    Benny and [removed] wondering if anyone might have some background or know
    where some more documentation might exist, for an article.

    Thanks,

    DG

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    Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 16:40:11 -0500
    From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: The Road Show

    Bill Diehl of ABC Radio Network asked about info and recordings of The Road
    Show.  This is the description I wrote over 30 years ago for the catalog of
    the Northwestern University collection where we had the first and fifth
    half hours of the first program, January 9, 1954:

    Bill Cullen hosts this forerunner to MONITOR.  This was a four hour
    Saturday afternoon program that included live music by Jack Haskell and
    recorded music also, news reports from W. W. Chaplan, and a Lucky License
    Plate Contest where people send in their plate numbers and if the numbers
    are read on the air, they call Bill Cullen collect in New York and answer
    some questions for a prize.  Mr Safety is also out there on the road
    stopping cars for prizes.  As you can see, this show was aimed for the
    Saturday driver crowd.  Oh yes, Bob Denton did national weather.
    Apparently the Monitor Weather Girl was not born yet.

    I don't think tapes of these discs are yet circulating.  Hopefully I can
    find my tape of these discs now that the house of cards-like shelving the
    tapes were on has been safely replaced.  I'll keep you posted.  But in the
    meantime there are reports of several episodes in the NBC collection at the
    Library of Congress and those can be heard there.

    Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

    Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 18:37:20 -0500
    From: Tim Johnson <tjnknox@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  The OTR Time Machine

    Most of us find it a daunting task to come up with a list of shows we would
    record if such a time machine existed, but I would certainly pay a visit to
    Radio Recorders sometime during 1936-37 and ask a certain young man his
    name.  Anyone like to come along?
    Tim

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

    Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 18:40:19 -0500
    From: lawrence albert <albertlarry@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Subject:  Louis L'Amour Theater

    Subject:  Louis L'Amour Theater

>     I hear this as a once a month feature on the Imagination Theater show.
>     I'm just wondering what people think of it.  One thing I have noticed is
>     there is much more narration then might be the case in other radio
>     productions. Where a character might have lines to set a context or
>     venue, a narrater does it, which probably shows it's fiction as print
>     roots.

      As I understand the history of the Louis L'amour
    Theatre the stories weren't done originaly for
    broadcast purposes but were released as books on tape.
    However, in the late eighties in the Seattle area a
    Christian stationed used to air the Louis L'amour show
    in the mornings. So I could be wrong. My personal
    opinon of the programs is not very high. If they were
    designed for radio then a very bad job was done. The
    acting isn't very good and as stated before there's
    just too much narration. A good point regarding the
    productions is the music and SFXs.
      I must admit though, because many listeners think
    since the show airs on Imagination Theatre Jim French
    Productions has something to do with it, we get many
    e-mails in support of the show.
                       Larry Albert

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

    Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 18:40:45 -0500
    From: Henry Howard <hhoward@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Old Tape Format Question

    I got a call today from someone that has the old RCA
    super sized cassette  case (the type that used 1/4 inch tape)
      from the early 60s.

    Other than finding a player that still runs, does anyone know if this
    format used the standard 1/4 track head alignment and
    what speed(s) it ran?

    As this is rather off topic, please respond directly to me
    if you please.

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

    Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 18:40:59 -0500
    From: Thomasmartin245@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  lost email address
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    Pat I've lost your address and anxious to do the [removed]

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

    Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 18:41:45 -0500
    From: "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Tom Corbett

>     Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2003 10:15:30 -0500
>     From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];

>     Once the program originated over ABC, someone came up with the idea of
>     having the scripts written so cleverly that the audio tracks to the
>     television episodes could be recorded and re-edited to pose as radio
>     broadcasts.  Much like television actors acting out the part of a radio
>     script on the bube tube. That's why the radio episodes sound much like
>     TV broadcasts.

    I've never heard this before, and I don't believe it.  First of all, the radio episodes don't sound
    that much like the TV broadcasts, and most of the radio stories don't correlate with any TV
    storylines that I know of.  Besides that, the radio programs all use the studio organ as the
    only theme and background music.  If the TV audio was used on radio, some of the TV
    background music (various recorded background music) would have been heard.

    I have found one radio storyline, about an asteroid of "contraterrene matter" (what would
    today be called "anti-matter"), which I have also seen as a TV story.  The differences are
    enough that the radio version does not sound like it came from the audio of the television
    version.

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

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

    Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 18:37:52 -0500
    From: oldpdb@[removed] (Paul Barringer)
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Time Capsule

    I just thought I would chime in on the discussion of OTR time capsule.
    Having grown up during the golden age of everything, and being bedridden
    for a year with rheumatic fever, I spent hours upon hours listening to
    radio, I listened to everything from the soap operas to the news, with
    everything in between.
    I grew to love OTR and if I could bring back any programs, I would say
    all of them.

    My favorites back then were the kid shows and the mystery shows, but I
    never tired of listening to the dramas and comedies as well.

    Like I said I enjoyed everything presented on radio.

    I kept Kelloggs Pep and Ovaltine going in those years, sending for every
    premium offered by every show I could find. How my mom did it I'll never
    know, what with the times of the depression and the years following.

    I try to listen to one OTR show daily.

    Well enough for now.

    I still prefer to listen to radio over television even today, this
    includes news, sports, and everything.

    Best to all the OTR listeners, the OTR clubs and those on this site.

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

    Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 19:02:45 -0500
    From: "Frederick S. Hillman" <fshillman@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  John Todd in his real voice
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    A few days ago Joe Salerno asked if there were any recordings of John Todd
    speaking in his real voice "...like an interview."

    I haven't seen any responses to Joe's question, and I don't know if there are
    any interviews of Todd; however, there are several Lone Ranger shows on which
    Todd was double-cast -- where he played the faithful Indian companion (with
    his ever-present difficulty with subjective vs. objective pronouns!) and also
    played the role of a townsperson, perhaps a judge, a bystander, etc.  Because
    of the importance of his role as Tonto, his other lines would be limited --
    but the voice is unmistakably his.

    One such (and there are many) is in the adventure "Boot Hill Secret" broadcast
    on Feb. 7, 1944.  Starting from the beginning of the theme, about 6 minutes
    and 12 seconds into the adventure, there is a segment where an Englishman
    (played by Todd) is riding on the seat of the stage with the driver and
    conversing with him.  Incidentally, there is a fluffed line here, too:  the
    Englishman sees a jackrabbit and decides to take a shot at it.  There is the
    sound effect of a pistol shot, and Todd was presumably supposed to say, "A
    hit!"  What comes out, however, is "A cue!" -- either he sees the cue for the
    sound effect or for him to speak his line after the shot.  The stage driver
    picks up the dialogue, though, and doesn't miss a beat.

    Another example of Todd's "straight" speech is in the adventure entitled "Sam
    Bass" (broadcast on 4-24-1944).  Todd plays the role of a doctor who tries to
    save the life of Sam Bass' wife who was shot during a bank robbery.  This
    segment starts about 4:12 into the adventure.

    Once you hear Todd's voice, Joe, you will find yourself looking for it in
    smaller roles in various adventures -- and you will probably find it quite
    recognizable!

    And he doesn't have pronoun difficulties in his "straight" roles!  (He was, of
    course, as is well documented, an accomplished Shakespearean actor.)

    What I wouldn't give to have a film or kinescope of one of those rehearsals or
    broadcasts!  Anyone know if any visual records exist?

    Mike Wallace also appeared in some of the Lone Ranger radio adventures, I
    understand; but I haven't been able to pick out his voice yet.  (Any help on
    that would be appreciated.)  I keep waiting for him to say, as he goes for the
    jugular, "So then, Mr. Cavendish, you categorically deny any involvement in
    these raids on wagon trains -- is that right?  How then do you explain the
    evidence which has been found clearly tying you to this bloodshed?"

    Yours for less expensive silver bullets,
    Fred Hillman

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

    Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 19:18:08 -0500
    From: "david rogers" <david_rogers@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Tom Corbett

    I would just like to thank thise that wrote in response to my question about
    the titles of the Tom Corbett radio shows. If anyboy else has a similar
    problem I found that there is a description of the contents of each show at:

    [removed]

    I read the book last summer while we were on holiday and really enjoyed it.
    I love a lot of those juvenile sci fi shows as they make me feel that sense
    of wonder about things that I had when I was a kid.
    Many thanks once again for all of the information.

    Love as always, David Rogers

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

    Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 19:42:23 -0500
    From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Women broadcasters

    From: Donna Halper <dlh@[removed];

>     ... And while Edward R. Murrow may have told Pauline Frederick
>     that women are not suitable for news broadcasting (a position
>     Walter Cronkite and [removed] Kaltenborn both said they agreed with),...

    You know, Donna, after seeing former NBC newswoman Liz Trotta's shameful
    performance on the Faux News Network on Saturday, I'm almost inclined to
    agree with Ed, Walter, and Hans.  She's now a reporter for the Moonie
    Washington Times and a Faux contributor--and NBC is very lucky not to have
    her any more.  Even Pauline never would have stood for Liz's wide open
    partisanship if she had played those tricks while at NBC.  But while she
    claims she was ousted due to gender, her performance on Saturday proves it
    was probably otherwise.  CBS had to likewise quickly dispose of Dominick
    Dunne for much of the same reasons, so it is impartial reporting, not
    gender, that makes the difference.

    Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #76
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