------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 01 : Issue 211
A Part of the [removed]!
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Queen for a Day ["Marvin R. Bensman" <mbensman@latte]
re: Elvis and the Marvels [Rob Chatlin <rchatlin@[removed]]
Re: Annette Hanshaw and the Show Boa [Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed]]
Re: Calling All Cars [Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed]]
Sorry, Wrong Assumption [Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed]; ]
Calling all Cars not the first cop s ["greg przywara" <orsonwelles3@home.]
Jack Lemmon on "Brighter Day" ["greg przywara" <orsonwelles3@home.]
Dwight Weist [otrbuff@[removed] ]
bob & ray [jef olson <jefolson2000@[removed]; ]
Still-On-Time Radio ["Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@]
Berle and Jolson [Richard Kukan <rkukan2101@[removed];]
Would we? ["Brian Johnson" <CHYRONOP@worldnet.]
Keen Appeal ["Mike Kerezman" <philipmarlowe@eart]
" Pickle in the [removed]" [Conrad Binyon <conradab@[removed]]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 11:52:03 -0400
From: "Marvin R. Bensman" <mbensman@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Queen for a Day
Hello Everyone!
Every now and then someone is looking for a program broadcast on a
particular day. We all know how unlikely it is that they will be
successful. I am passing this one along in the hope that someone out
there can help.
"From: Margery J. Cunningham
PO Box 118
Elk Falls, Kansas 67345
I am a 74-year young great grandmother who had 15 minutes of fame
when I was chosen QUEEN FOR A DAY on July 29, 1957. As you know it
was live on TV and played the following day on the radio.
The program was given to me in the form of a record. I kept it
several years. It made one trip to a Show and Tell at my children's
school. It either became lost or broken. I don't remember.
Do you know a source for a replacement? I would like to let my grand
and great grandchildren hear a small part of my life in that year."
Mrs. Cunningham did not give me her E-mail address so any response
can be sent to me to forward OR preferably you can contact her
yourself at the above address.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help this 74-year old young lady.
Marvin R. Bensman, [removed], [removed]
Director: University of Memphis Radio Archive
Department of Communication
Memphis, TN 38152
Archive Web page: [removed]~[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 11:52:01 -0400
From: Rob Chatlin <rchatlin@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: re: Elvis and the Marvels
I'm not sure of the origin of Elvis' lightning bolt,
with it was always accompannied by the letters TCB.
Together, it was Elvis' "philosophy" for things:
Taking Care of Business "in a flash".
If this is related to the comics at all, I'm not sure.
rob
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 12:35:19 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Annette Hanshaw and the Show Boat
Mike Biel hyperventilates --
Pant, Pant, Pant! With Annette Hanshaw????? Pant, Pant, Pant! If
there is ANYTHING of the Maxwell House Showboat with Annette Hanshaw's
voice, there are hundreds of eagerly panting record collectors just
dying to hear these.
Unfortunately not -- Annette's first spot usually came about ten or
fifteen minutes into each program, and the longest Showboat excerpt I
found on the Vallee discs was about six minutes long.
Annette gets third billing in the opening announcement -- behind Charles
Winninger and Lanny Ross -- but the opening musical number in the
six-minute excerpt of the 11/30/33 program was a jaunty version of "Down
Among The Sugar Cane" by the Songsmiths Quartet (Scrappy Lambert fans, at
least, would be pleased, but I suspect Annette could have done a
wonderful job with this tune.) Then there's some inane plot dialogue
among Ross, Conrad Thibault, and Rosaline Greene about Captain Henry's
old girlfriend visiting the Show Boat, and trying to get him to give up
the river, and then Lanny Ross sings the first eight bars of "Did You
Ever Hear A Dream Walking?" as the recording fades out.
So far as I know, only one complete Hanshaw-era Show Boat broadcast
exists -- the 6/15/33 broadcast, in which Captain Henry's troupe performs
in an adaptation of the Kern-Ferber-Hammerstien "Show Boat." Annette
sings the tragic-mulatto role of Julie (Rosaline Greene doubles Julie's
lines) and performs genuinely haunting versions of "Can't Help Lovin' Dat
Man" and "Bill." I would have thought her voice too delicate to handle
songs written for Helen Morgan, but she does an excellent job with them.
This program was first circulated by Radio Yesteryear about twenty years
ago, and the transfer was excellent-sounding except for one thing: for
whatever reason several discs were out of sequence. Another thing
interesting about this broadcast is that all the racially-provocative
elements of the play are left intact, including unexpurgated lyrics in
the opening number and the big "misegenation" scene in which Steve
literally mixes his blood with Julie's to satisfy the sherrif that, like
her, he has "Negro blood." By the end of the thirties, radio would be too
afraid of controversy to take on material like this -- and would remains
so for quite a while to come -- but the fact that General Foods and NBC
were willing to risk it in 1933 indicates that early radio was a lot more
grown-up in a lot of ways than would be in later years.
Elizabeth
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 15:09:36 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Calling All Cars
Tony Bacheler wonders,
First, I would like some general background information on the
series. I know it ran from late 1933 to 1939 and was directed by
William N. Robson. Can anyone give any more information? What
network was it on? I heard that it was on KHJ, but J. David Goldin's
database lists it as being on the CBS Pacific network. Unless I am
mistaken, CBS did not even go as far west as LA at that time, right?
Also, why are some programs sponsored while others are definitely
syndicated? Were they trying to reach a nationwide audience as
well?
"Calling All Cars" has a rather complex history, and I don't have all the
answers about it. But I can fill in a few details. An in-depth article on
the history of the program up to the fall of 1934 -- written by William
N. Robson himself -- appears in the 11/1/34 issue of "Broadcasting."
Robson was at this time the Director of Radio for the
Hixon-O'Donnell-Seymour Agency in Los Angeles, which produced and owned
the program.
The program began 11/29/33 as a local show on KHJ -- which was then the
flagship station for the Don Lee Network, which fed the show at first
just to KGB and KDB. The Don Lee Network from 1929 thru the end of 1936
was CBS's sole affiliate on the West Coast: strictly speaking, CBS had no
affiliation contracts with any individual stations on the Coast during
the 1929-36 period, but all Don Lee affiliates carried selected CBS
programming, and CBS, in turn, picked up certain programs originated by
Don Lee ("California Melodies" being the most notable). This arrangement
deteriorated after Don Lee died in 1934 -- his son Tommy got into a power
struggle with CBS-New York over time-clearance issues, and dissolved the
agreement at the end of 1936 in order to get a better deal with Mutual.
CBS bought KNX and formed a western network of its own, and "Calling All
Cars" moved to KNX as of 1937. The live broadcasts were heard over the
newly-established CBS Pacific network thereafter.
Recordings of the program began to be made during the late winter of
1934, as explained in this notice taken from the 3/1/34 issue of
"Broadcasting:"
"Walter Biddick Company, station representatives, Los Angeles, has placed
an order with Otto K. Oleson Sound Studios, Hollywood, to pick up the
weekly KHJ program known as 'Calling All Cars.' Account on the station is
for the Rio Grande Oil Company, with Hixon, O'Donnell, and Seymour
agency, Los Angeles, in charge. Transcriptions will be spotted on
stations in Arizona and New Mexico."
The live broadcasts continued in Los Angeles, and in October 1934, the
program was picked up by the full Don Lee Network. With the broadcast of
10/2/34, production began to be split between KHJ and KFRC in San
Francisco -- with the production originating in LA one week and San
Francisco the next. William N. Robson commuted between the two cities to
supervise the broadcasts, but the actors remained local.
Rio Grande was a small, regional oil company that served the West Coast
and parts of the Southwest -- and if it wanted to reach its entire
marketing territory with a radio program, transcriptions were the only
viable option, since the Don Lee Network didn't extend into the
Southwest. Recording a live show off the air and then spotting onto a
non-network station was a very common practice thruout the OTR era,
especially for sponsors like oil companies which served regional
territories.
The "Broadcasting" item reflects events that happened during the second
half of February 1934, so it is evident that any circulating "Calling All
Cars" programs dated prior to that time are incorrectly dated. They may
be rebroadcasts of scripts from earlier dates, but they could not be
recordings of actual broadcasts from those dates -- since recordings
weren't made prior to mid-February 1934.
This situation also means that a program aired live in LA aired several
weeks later over the stations taking the show by transcription -- meaning
there is plenty of room for confusion on the dates for anyone trying to
assemble a definitive log. One more possibility for confusion is the use
of program numbers on the discs as a key for dating: transcribed Program
1 is not the same as overall series Program 1, since the recordings
didn't begin until the show had been on the air for nearly three months.
I've not seen any Calling All Cars discs, so I can't confirm what
information the labels do or do not contain, but I suspect this might be
an explanation for at least some of the dating discrepancies.
Finally, was this the first police drama series? I heard it was but I
would think that either Gangbusters or some other series came
earlier. Any confirmation on this? Also, how representative is this
program of early radio drama? I have no other drama programs from
the period to compare with. Other than having no middle commercial
and obviously having a limited budget, it seems typical of later
dramas to me.
I think it's safe to call CAC the first "police procedural." There were
other crime shows prior to CAC -- Eno Crime Clues being the outstanding
example, but Spencer Dean was a private investigator, not a police
detective, so it really wasn't a cop show. Charlie Chan was on the air
several months before the premiere of CAC, and he *was* a badge-carrying
police detective, but the emphasis was largely on his personality and not
on the mechanics of crime solving.
I don't know if Jack Webb ever officially cited CAC as an influence on
his own work -- but I would be very surprised if it wasn't. Webb was an
LA teenager during CAC's prime years, and I doubt very much that he never
heard it. It's also interesting to note that -- like Dragnet --CAC was
produced with the cooperation of the LAPD, with Police Chief James E.
Davis serving as Robson's technical consultant.
As far as being representative of early drama, it seems to me to be an
excellent example of what a well-produced dramatic show was like in the
mid thirties. Early radio drama tends to get a bad rap from people who've
only heard the really cheap syndicated serials of the 1930s, but given a
decent budget and a good production team, I think thirties drama stands
up quite favorably compared to what came later.
As to the cast, there was no set stock company. Whoever was available
from the usual pool of LA radio actors was used -- people like Hanley
Stafford, Kenneth Niles, Elvia Allman, Lindsay MacHarrie, et. al. (If
you look at a cast listing for "The Cinnamon Bear," you'll find as good a
listing as any for "Who Was Who In LA Radio In The Mid Thirties.") The
original narrator was Dr. Charles Frederick Lindsley, professor of speech
at Occidental College in LA.
Elizabeth
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 15:09:34 -0400
From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Sorry, Wrong Assumption
From: "[removed] Wolfe" <rjrmemorabilia@[removed];
Sorry I haven't posted lately but I've ben on a little "Odyssey"
with Homer and another adventure with Virgil. Right at this
moment I'm on trip with "Dante"
and have apparently entered the hell of assumptions, misinformation, OTR
myths, highly illogical thinking. I sense that the ancient philosophers
are not happy. But I digress.
The piece of information that is still missing is when "Supense"
aired in Los Angeles . . . look up May 25th, the date that "Sorry,
Wrong Number" and tell us what time it was broadcast in Los Angeles.
If the "Los Angeles Times" says that it aired at 6:30 then there
was indeed only one broadcast. BUT if the "Times" says 9:30 that
would be the "WEST COAST BROADCAST"
This will not answer the question of a separate West Coast feed. The
networks didn't generally allow recorded programs to be aired on the
nationwide networks, but they did occasionally grant permission to
individual affiliated stations to record programs and air them at a more
convenient time. The huge KIRO Seattle collection was the result of CBS
granting permission for them to replay newscasts and other programs on a
delayed basis. Additionally, around 1940 both CBS and NBC Blue allowed
certain programs to be played on the West Coast networks on a recorded
delayed basis. My dissertation has a section that gives the business
reasons why this was done, and Elizabeth has picked up from there and
did a posting a year or so ago with some specific examples.
BUT if the [[removed]] "Times" says 9:30 that would be the "WEST COAST
BROADCAST" because it would've been 11:30 here and the "CBS"
affiliate in our city was already off the air and in New York
it would've been 12:30 and guess what? Their "CBS" affiliate
was off the air too!
This is very illogical. Why would it be necessary for the New York City
CBS station (or your Chattanooga station) to be on the air during the
feed of a program to the West Coast?? Those stations wouldn't have
broadcast that late feed anyway, and it is not necessary for the NYC
station to be on the air for the network to be operating.
During my jog I ran into the great philospher, Rene Descartes who
must be in some way related to OTRChris because Mr. Descartes
wouldn't believe anything he read, saw or heard without some
sort of verification of the facts first . . .
So, if someone or more than one someone can pull up the
microfilm that would be the last piece of conclusive
evidence we need to know whether or not it was done twice
because listening to two different tapes wouldn't prove
anything to Rene Descartes because it's not really concrete
evidence but the radio listing in the "Los Angeles Times" is.
No matter how many ancient philosophers you hallucinated seeing, they
have not inspired you to present a logical discussion. Newspaper
listings are only ___SCHEDULED___ programs. They are not conclusive
proof that the program actually aired. Anybody who looks at the current
TV listings knows that. My good friend Tim Brooks, who along with Earl
Marsh has written numerous editions of "The Complete Directory of Prime
Time TV" has often tripped up well-meaning letter writers who send them
corrections based on TV Guide or the NY Times. These authors have
instead relied on the files of the rating services which give conclusive
proof of exactly what __WAS BROADCAST__, not what was scheduled to be
broadcast. They also use the logs that the networks keep, although this
doesn't always note if a certain city didn't air a program due to a
technical problem or a pre-emption for a breaking local event. For
radio, the WEAF/NBC Red and WJZ/NBC Blue logs exist in bound form at
LC. They list all the stations that each program was fed to, and have
penciled notations on the details of any changes. That's how I got all
the details of the Hindenburg disaster bulletins--but I now know that if
the feed did not go thru New York, it is possible that some West Coast
details are not included there. (Thus I still am not sure if there was
a third feed of an excerpt of the recording from Chicago to the West
Coast.)
Instead of consulting philosophers who died hundreds or thousands of
years before OTR, you should check the OTR experts who could have told
you that it is a myth that all West Coast repeats were live and that you
can conclusively trust newspaper radio listings. It is YOU who didn't
have all of the facts, and have made assumptions based on
half-truths--and the ancient philosophers are not in any position to
provide you with the real information.
Michael Biel mbiel@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 16:13:46 -0400
From: "greg przywara" <orsonwelles3@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Calling all Cars not the first cop show
"Police Headquarters", had already been on the air for a year before
"Calling all Cars" first aired in late December 1933. However PH petered
out after only 39 episodes(all of which are easily obtainable from many tape
and CD-rom dealers).The whole anthology detective series genre in this
country goes back to at least 1930, when Edith Meiser first sold the concept
of a Sherlock Holmes radio show to NBC. The BBC had a series called "Danger"
in 1924, though I'm not certain if this was more of a spy show than a
typical detective program.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 16:13:45 -0400
From: "greg przywara" <orsonwelles3@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Jack Lemmon on "Brighter Day"
Recently found out that the late,great Jack Lemmon got his first break in
radio on "The Brighter Day" after World War II. Was he a regular cast member
or was he just a guest star on a handful of episodes? If anyone has any
episodes of this daytime drama with Lemmon, I would be willing to trade for
them.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 16:13:43 -0400
From: otrbuff@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Dwight Weist
Dwight Weist was one of those familiar voices who was fortunate enough to
be around on what is often reverently referred to as "the day radio drama
died," Nov. 25, 1960. Along with the rest of the cast of network radio's
very last soap opera to air--The Second Mrs. Burton--he said his "goodby"
to a faithful audience of millions of homemakers, many of whom had been
hearing him for the full 15 -year-run of that series. In it he played
the male lead of Stan Burton, the second Mrs. Burton's husband.
Ironically, on this show the first Mrs. Burton was Stan's mother, a
rather overbearing woman whose idiosyncrasies tended to offend her son
more than his wife, Terry, who was a true peacemaker. Both Terry and
Stan were winsome personalities, however, and actress Teri Keane and
Weist played them in a lighthearted manner.
Born Jan. 16, 1910 at Palo Alto, Calif., Weist wrote for a local radio
station and took a job as a staff announcer while attending Ohio Wesleyan
College. Before moving to New York City he performed at the Cleveland
Playhouse. He founded the Weist-Barron School of Television and
Commercial Acting and taught for 35 years.
When he entered radio, his ability to imitate a wide range of ages and
accents came to the forefront. He acquired the designation "man of 1,000
voices" within the industry. He worked dramatic roles in Buck Rogers in
the Twenty-Fifth Century, The March of Time Quiz, The Texaco Star
Theater, The Theatre Guild on the Air and We, the People. Weist had
running parts in Big Town, Valiant Lady and The Shadow, he played the
title role of Mr. District Attorney, and he assisted Irene Beasley on the
daytime giveaway show Grand Slam. The busy performer was announcer for
The Aldrich Family, By Kathleen Norris and Inner Sanctum Mysteries. For
many years he announced television's Search for Tomorrow.
Weist did voice-overs for commercials as well as Pathe newsreels shown in
motion-picture theaters. He appeared in two movies, Radio Days (1986)
and The Name of the Rose (1989). He died at Block Island, New York, on
July 16, 1991.
Jim Cox
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 16:13:41 -0400
From: jef olson <jefolson2000@[removed];
To: otr list <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: bob & ray
aybody got any bob and ray SCRIPTS? email me if you
can help.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 18:54:33 -0400
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Still-On-Time Radio
George Wagner muses,
Let's pretend that our beloved radio is still in its Golden Age. A
fourth or even a fifth actor now portrays Throckmorton Philharmonic
Gildersleeve. Other comedians the calibre of Fred Allen, Jack Benny,
Eddie Cantor, George Burns and Gracie Allen and Jim and Marian Jordan
still entertain us every night. <snip>
JACK ARMSTRONG currently trails atomic bomb-smuggling terrorists
through Afghanistan. If this were indeed the case, would the OTR
avocation exist at all?
Naturally, as pure speculation, every response is a matter of opinion.
My answer is, "yes, but." The "but" is that it wouldn't be as dedicated
as the OTR hobbyists today, because of the availability of shows at the
turn of a switch. There will be a hard core of nostalgists who will
collect the old stuff; but with no end in sight, I suspect that some
wouldn't be as concerned about the shows as now. One often wants what's
unobtainable, and the next best is wanting something that's hard to get.
However, there would be hobbyists. Some people today collect silent
films; others, Edison cylinders.
Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2001 09:36:20 -0400
From: Richard Kukan <rkukan2101@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Berle and Jolson
Bill Knowlton wrote:
Oldtime Radio content: did Berle and Jolson ever appear on radio together, or
at least on the same show?
Jolie guested on Berle's June 6, 1945 broadcast. You can hear the show at:
[removed]
Not one of Berle's best, I think. Actually, despite the low
reputation Berle's radio work seems to have, I've very much enjoyed
some of his other broadcasts, such as the Sept. 30, 1947 'Tribute to
Brooklyn'. Anyone else out there willing to admit to having enjoyed
Berle's radio work?
Richard Kukan
--
Vintage Film Star Postcards <[removed];
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2001 09:39:55 -0400
From: "Brian Johnson" <CHYRONOP@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Would we?
George Wagner wonders if we would all be collecting OTR if there were NTR of
the same [removed] Well, if NTR could exist side-by-side with television it
would probably be just as raunchy as today's TV. So is that why people
collect old movies on VHS and DVD even though they're still making new
"talkies?"
Brj
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2001 09:39:58 -0400
From: "Mike Kerezman" <philipmarlowe@[removed];
To: "Old Time Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Keen Appeal
I often wondered about the inexplicable appeal of Mr. Keen myself. I never
understood the appeal it had for my Dad who listened to it as a child and
still does. My Dad explains that it was the one detective program in which a
ten year old could easy follow the plot, and not get confused over details.
There was no doubt who the killer was and who got killed when the named
murder says:
"Mr. x, I going to kill you this gun. [removed]"
Sincerely
Mike Kerezman
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2001 09:40:00 -0400
From: Conrad Binyon <conradab@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: " Pickle in the [removed]"
George Kelly asks:
I was listening to Jack [removed] the running gag where
Jack opened a cafe around his pool and sold sandwiches and
beer causing Phil Harris to crack: "pickle
in the middle and the beer on tap." Didn't this parody the
line: "pickle in the middle and the mustard on top?" Can
someone tell me who spoke this line and why it was funny?
My response allows me to submit a photo of the individual
involved additionally. I trust it [removed] out
my thoughts about an Eddie Cantor show:
[removed]
CAB
--
conradab@[removed] (Conrad A. Binyon)
From the Home of the Stars who loved Ranches and Farms
Encino, California.
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V01 Issue #211
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