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The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2002 : Issue 459
A Part of the [removed]!
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
What's a Nice Kid Like You; People a [ Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed] ]
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Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2002 23:48:43 -0500
From: Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: What's a Nice Kid Like You; People and Places
WHAT'S A NICE KID LIKE [removed]
by Sandy Singer
++++
People and Places
Breakfast Club clown, Sam Cowling, lived across the street from me - a block
from Lake Michigan. In the summer Sam, his children and I played ball at
Lunt beach after dinner. He knew I was in radio, and every now and then
would take me to a Saturday broadcast of the show. I always sat in the
control room, which was not a very good place to watch the show - it was in
the very back of NBC Studio A, and all we really saw were the back-side of
Don McNeill and the gang, and the faces of the studio audience.
My first encounter with notorious director Jim Jewell was a total disaster.
During a rehearsal of That Men May Live, a local show originating from WBBM
[Ken Nordien, CBS staffer, announced], I fluffed a few lines. We heard a
loud noise from the control room--Jewell banged through the control room
door, went through the sound-lock, and nearly totaled the door to the studio
- I was 13 and scared as hell. He ranted and raved, told us he didn't need
any of us - "I can do it ALL." Being a talented writer, director, producer
and actor - he was right. A few years later I did a 2 day gig on Jack
Armstrong, of which, at the time, Jewell had total control. My then mentor,
and one of Chicago's busiest, and best, free-lance announcers, Franklyn
Ferguson was announcing the show. He told me Jewell had driven him nearly
insane. One fond memory - the ad agency would send over samples of the
give-away premiums. I remember throwing the glow-in-the-dark Dragon Eye
rings at each other during a playful rehearsal. Little did we know those
would be so valuable 60 years later.
Curley Bradley was a studio cut-up - he loved playing with the actress' hair
while they were reading their lines.
I was stunned the first time I met Boris Aplon. It was on an episode of
Captain Midnight. Boris looked EXACTLY like the character he played - Ivan
Shark.
Every now and then, both Don and Jim Ameche were together at the BLUE
studios, and we would play Ameche Roulette. All the staffer's and actor's
would meet in a studio, throw a dollar in the pot, turn the lights out, and
listen to one of the Ameche's speak a line. When the lights came on, we
voted on which Ameche spoke, and the winner's divvied up the cash.
- ------------------
Sandy Signer's career started at the age of 12, as a child actor in
Chicago, on radio's kid/adventure shows. His disc jockey work took him
back to Chicago, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Dallas, etc. He's been in
broadcasting 59 years, and so, in his own words, "never 'worked' a
day of my life."
This article will be archived at:
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End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #459
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