Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #366
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 9/21/2002 3:03 PM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2002 : Issue 366
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Over rated?                           [ lawrence albert <albertlarry@yahoo. ]
  30 Minutes to Curtain                 [ "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@hotmail. ]
  Fred Allen's parody                   [ zbob@[removed] ]
  Twenty Questions/Johnny McPhee        [ "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed] ]
  A way to recover Lost shows???        [ "Richard Sutherland" <rssuth@hotmai ]
  otr small dealers                     [ grshad34@[removed] ]
  Re: CBS -- In The Beginning           [ Tim Cronin <tc1001@[removed]; ]
  Re: William Johnstone                 [ SanctumOTR@[removed] ]
  CLEANING TRANSCRIPTIONS               [ "Ian Grieve" <austotr@[removed]. ]
  Re: AN INTERVIEW WITH GOD             [ Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed] ]
  overrated otr                         [ "e ginsburg" <edginsburg@[removed] ]
  OTR IN MOVIES                         [ "Ian Grieve" <austotr@[removed]. ]
  Overrated radio shows?                [ Jer51473@[removed] ]
  Returning To The Thrilling Days of Y  [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
  Rating: Over, Under, Around, and Thr  [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
  Orson Welles                          [ JayHick@[removed] ]

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

Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2002 17:51:42 -0400
From: lawrence albert <albertlarry@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Over rated?

what do you all think are the most over rated shows in OTR?
off the top of my head, the first one that comes to mindf is Fred
Allen. I LOVE Jack Benny but have never really 'got' Fred
Allen. TOO [removed] about abbot &amp; costello??

Boy this is opening a can of worms. Overrated by whom?
To my mind The Fred Allen Show can't be praised
enough. So whose standards are to be used to judge
what is overrated and what isn't? I personally think
the Lone Ranger as well as the Green Hornet are dull
as dirt, but there are many out there who love both
shows.
Isn't the judging of the value of any OTR show purely
subjective. I can't wait to hear the responses on this
one.
          Larry Albert

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

Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2002 18:51:41 -0400
From: "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  30 Minutes to Curtain

Hi,

Several of you have asked me if my group will be performing again at the
upcoming SPERDVAC convention. The answer is yes. We'll be doing two
recreations on Friday afternoon, November 1st, set to begin at 4:30. Our
beloved Jughead, Hal Stone, the great one, will be appearing with us in
both. He'll play Oogie Pringle in A DATE WITH JUDY and have a feature role
in X MINUS ONE "Mars Is Heaven".  Please make your plane reservations early
enough to be there then. Registration information and forms are available at
the SPERDVAC website: [removed]

There's no charge for Friday afternoon so bring all your friends and family
before you send them off to Disneyland. :)

Barbara

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

Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2002 19:48:59 -0400
From: zbob@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Fred Allen's parody

Really just a status report on the question I posed a couple of weeks ago,
regarding the word  'lewolowa'.  Used by Fred Allen in his "One Long Pan"
series that parodied Mr Moto, Charlie Chan, Mr. Wong, etc. detective stories,
and came up when he discovered a key item of the case - the revolver.
Anyway, besides those who responded wihth the right answer via this otr
outlet, I received four correct answers offline.  Good  Show! !
Bob

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

Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2002 19:49:10 -0400
From: "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Twenty Questions/Johnny McPhee

    "Alanladdsr" asked about Johnny McPhee on Twenty Questions.

    I think basically it went like this (or something like this):  Bobby
"McGuire" (VanDeventer) left the show at the end of August 1949 to go to
college. Then Johnny McPhee (Bobby's high-school friend) took over Bobby's
spot on the panel and, later in 1949, when the show went on TV, McPhee (and
the other three regular panelists) did the TV version also. (The show was
simulcast for a while.  Later there were more changes in the
young-panelist's spot on the radio and/or TV versions.)

  -- Phil C.

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

Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2002 20:46:27 -0400
From: "Richard Sutherland" <rssuth@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  A way to recover Lost shows???

You don't have to travel at faster than the speed of light to pick up lost
radio shows. Objects of immense mass distort radio and light waves, so all you
need is to identify where the radio waves would be after passing near a black
and traverse to that spot in space. Quite easy really!

Of course, whoever got there would claim the shows as his own, put them on
casette tapes, sell them by subsription and get extremely upset if anybody
else dared convert them to mp3 or give them out for free.

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

Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2002 21:44:59 -0400
From: grshad34@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  otr  small dealers

Been away from otr several years--noticed on the otr program guide only the
sponsers are [removed] there any small-time dealers left such as Great
American Radio or Hello again, Radio?...And  what happened to the smaller
dealers if anyone can tell me?..Were they forced out of business, or did they
become tired of the work and little profit?....Any email addresses or snail
mail addresses would be [removed] whitman

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

Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2002 00:39:32 -0400
From: Tim Cronin <tc1001@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: CBS -- In The Beginning

	Kudos to Elizabeth for the most well-documented, brightly written
report on the birth of CBS I've ever seen! (And I'd seen a few, none of
them answering the questions I decided to pose.) Sound like the makings
of a miniseries. Thanks!

	Tim Cronin

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

Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2002 00:39:55 -0400
From: SanctumOTR@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: William Johnstone

In a message dated 9/20/02 4:03:56 PM, alanladdsr@[removed] writes:

<< We all know the greatness of Parley Baer, Virginia Gregg, Jeanette Nolan,
Joseph Julian, Hans Conried, Elliott and Cathy Lewis, many others, but we hear
nothing (or very little) about the persona of William Johnstone. He could do
everything, said Elliott Lewis. And he performed throughout the golden years,
on both coasts, worked with everybody in major and minor roles from the 30's
thru the 50's! Why is nothing said about him? I never hear stories,
rememberances, quotes from or about him.
One of my [removed] [removed]'s forgotten man! >>

***I had the pleasure of interviewing Bill Johnstone a few times over the
phone.  He had retired in 1978 after co-starring on TV's AS THE WORLD TURNS
for the first 23 years of its long run.  He pretty much dropped out of sight
after that, though his longtime friends Kenny and Alice Delmar and Jeanette
Nolan stayed in contact with Bill and Georgia Johnstone.  I really tried to
get Bill to attend my 1983 SHADOW radio cast reunion at FOTR, as did Dwight
Weist and Ken Roberts.  I remember some other committee members predicting
that there would be a standing ovation at the moment we introduced him.  I
wish we'd been able to get him, and I wish he'd been able to witness that
response.  Everyone I've ever spoken to who worked with him insisted that he
was one of the truly nice people in the business.

Bill was indeed an exceptional radio actor.  He was considered one of the
finest character actors on New York radio in the late 1930s, but I think he
really blossomed in Los Angeles.  It's easy to pass over his character work
in favor of his 5-year run as THE SHADOW,  However, he also starred briefly
as the Voice of SUSPENSE, and portrayed THE WHISTLER in the 1948 national
series directed by William Robson and sponsored by Household Finance.  (While
I still prefer Bill Forman as The Whistler, I recall that my ex-wife far
preferred Johnstone's rendition.)  He was one of the most-frequently heard
supporting players on THE LUX RADIO THEATRE (remember him in Yiddish dialect
as Yudleson in "The Jazz Singer"?) and played a variety of old codger/Gabby
Hayes-tyoe roles opposite Jimmy Stewart on THE SIX SHOOTER.  And then there
were his superb dramatic roles on SUSPENSE, often opposite his lifelong
friend Agnes Moorehead, and his performance as the grieving father on
DRAGNET's "A '22 Rifle for Christmas."  (Bill's wife Georgia worked for
decades as Agnes Moorehead's personal secretary.)  And I was pleasantly
surprised to detect Bill Johnstone in some of episodes of THE BOB HOPE SHOW
in Radio Spirit's new 40-show collection (including a wonderful DRAGNET
parody where Jack Webb as Friday is paired with a new partner, Officer Hope).

Speaking of Bob Hope, Bill Johnstone speaks the first line in Bob Hope's MY
FAVORITE SPY and appears in many scenes in the beginning of that film, often
alongside fellow-Shadow John Archer.  (SHADOW-villains Arnold Moss and Luis
Van Rooten are also prominently featured in the film.)  One can also catch
Johnstone as John Astor in the 1950s film THE TITANIC (with Edgar Bergen's
wife Frances playing Mrs. Astor and the friend who brought Johnstone into
radio, Allyn Joslin, in another role).

Regarding Johnstone's tenure as THE SHADOW, I've long felt he was the best of
the stars who portrayed the Lamont Cranston Shadow, and only eclipsed by the
venomous opening and closings by Frank Readick that are featured on all the
Welles shows.  While I am a huge fan of Welles cinema work, his stage
productions and his performances on THE MERCURY THEATRE ON THE AIR, I've
always felt that Johnstone's performances on the series put Welles' in, well,
the shadows.  Johnstone's Cranston was more urbane and sophisticated than
Orson (who sometimes came off as almost a smartass college fratboy) and his
Shadow was deeper and more commanding.  Along with Readick, Johnstone is the
only radio Shadow who I can really accept as the master crimefighter of
Gibson's pulp novels.  I also feel that Bill was better suited to the role
than Bret Morrison, who came off a little too elegant at times.  Also, Bret
was naturally a tenor who had to play The Shadow in the bass range, while
Johnstone was a natural baritone.  BTW, while SHADOW-creator Walter Gibson
always described Readick's venomous tones and laugh in his novels, his
personal favorite in the role was Johnstone.

BTW, I've always suspected that Bill may have received some coaching as The
Shadow from Frank Readick.  (I know Kenny Delmar helped him with the laugh.)
Johnstone shared an apartment near the NYC broadcast studios with Frank
Readick and Dwight Weist during the late-1930s and early 1940s, where the
three conducted their hobbies (photography, woodworking and model railroads,
as I recall) during the hours between East Coast broadcasts and West Coast
repeats.  Which is why their performances were probably always superior to
hoose who spent the waiting time in a bar.

By the way, where did Elliott Lewis' comment about Johnstone appear?
--ANTHONY TOLLIN

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

Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2002 14:47:25 -0400
From: "Ian Grieve" <austotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  CLEANING TRANSCRIPTIONS

Recently I have been having some success with locating Australian Radio
Transcriptions.  One particular find of 158 I will be detailing here in a
couple of weeks.

Last week I was given a large pile of 16" acetate transcriptions, some of
which have some very historical one-off recordings of speeches made in 1945.
Some are peeling and have been bagged to send to Screensound, but others
appear to have white blotches like mold on them.  Considering they were
stored under a building in the dirt for many years, I am not surprised.

Should I attempt to clean them, or let Screensound do it?  What is the best
method of cleaning acetate or vinyl recordings?

The speeches made locally include THE KING (no not Elvis, the real one),
Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, Ben Chifley, Robert Menzies, Lord Rowallan.
Unfortunately THE KING's speech is the worst damaged one, most of one side
is stuck to the vinyl transcription of a Women's program called LEAVE IT TO
THE GIRLS.  The rest of them either have no damage or very slight.

Having visited Screensound and seen first hand how they glue the acetate
back on under a microscope in order to take a recording, I have high hopes,
particularly as the pieces are in the right order, just stuck to the wrong
disc :)

I would like to hear the experiences of other people trying to recover the
treasures from such damaged discs and some of the methods used.

Ian Grieve

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

Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2002 14:48:25 -0400
From: Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: AN INTERVIEW WITH GOD

I enjoyed the presentation.
This reminds me of a TV program from long, long ago called something like
"We interrupt this [removed]" wherein a modern prophet-of-sorts tries to
convince his neighbors that God was ready to speak to the world [removed]
and then He did, by making a simultaneous broadcast via worldwide radio
(which was technically impossible at the time).
Does anybody remember this? I have an idea that the TV program was an
"update" of a previous radio show, but I'm not sure about that.
In any case, I'd like to be able to see/hear either production again.

Herb Harrison

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

Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2002 14:48:35 -0400
From: "e ginsburg" <edginsburg@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  overrated otr

I can think of both The great gildersleeve and the life of riley

Gildy was too [removed] [removed] finds a way to work things
out

Considering that the comedy had it's birth on Fibber and Molly, it should
have tried to be more like it's predecessor

What made Fm+m so great to me was the topical references that were used

the comedy allowed me to understand 'meatless tuesdays', gas rationing, and
many other timely topics in an understated, off the cuff remark kind of way.
  molly was always there to put fibber in his place, but there was no doubt
in my mind that she adored him, no matter how idiotic he became.  It came
thru in all of their banter. throckmorton needed such a foil, other than the
judge or his niece or [removed] who would be at his side,ready to
defend him tooth and nail.

On the life of riley, the situations almost always reflected 'hurt comedies'
misunderstandings, (riley thinks that peg is cheating on him, or that the
kids have forgotten his birthday)..that to me is low comedy.
(with all of their years together, how could he possibly think so little of
the woman who loves him?..it is too irrational)

just my 2 (somewhat incoherent) bits
eddie

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

Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2002 14:48:09 -0400
From: "Ian Grieve" <austotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  OTR IN MOVIES

To add to the thread about OTR in movies, I have been watching JUNGLE GIRL
an old Republic serial written by Edgar Rice Burroughs starring Gerald Mohr.
When the natives were holding them hostage in a hut with an armed guard, one
of the characters threw his voice and made the guard look in a large box.
They knocked the guard out and the character said in passing, "who did you
think it was, Charlie McCarthy?"

Ian Grieve
(Patiently waiting for Jugheads printers, must be using longhand)

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

Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2002 14:48:57 -0400
From: Jer51473@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Overrated radio shows?

<PRE> Somehow this terminology doesnt seem  right to me. You either like a
show or
you dont. If enough people like a show, then i cant see how you can call it
"overrated". If this term is the right one, and who am i to say its
incorrect, these are the ones i feel are or were overrared, but only because
i personally either didnt like the shows or had a moderate interest in.
Abbott and costello, lone ranger, edgar bergen, johnny dollar, sherlock
holmes, all soaps, luigi, gunsmoke (never heard until recently), mercury
theater, ed wynn, duffys tavern, archie, capt. midnight, bob hope, superman,
voice of firestone, my favorite husband, helen hayes. Im not saying these
were bad shows as most of them ive probably not heard enough to really form a
solid opinion. You know if you didnt listen to  or didnt like a show back
then you are not very likely to select it today. There are exceptions to that
though as two of my favorites today are phil harris and magee and molly and
back when i was a kid i dont remember being a fan of either. All the shows i
listed above were very popular to thousands of people so i definitely wouldnt
call them overrated, but i, for various reasons, just never was closely
attracted to them. For instance, if archie had been in a weekday evening
slot, no doubt it would have caught on with me, but not on saturday mornings.
Therefore, for nostalgic reasons i identify more with henry aldrich. Switch
the slots and archie may have won out for me. Of course i go to length to
explain my listing  of archie because who knows, hal may decide to start
issuing discounts on his book. Seriously, i could probably list many other
shows on my list, but thats all it is "my list".

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

Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2002 14:49:32 -0400
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Returning To The Thrilling Days of
 [removed]

Ruk77 notes,

It is my understanding that sound waves travel forever, meaning that
every radio wave transmitted from this earth is on a continuous journey
through space. All we would have to do is figure out a way to travel at
the speed of light , then get in front of the radio waves with a
transmitter and tune in!!!!

An interesting thought experiment, but it has several problems (not the
least of which is how to travel at light+ speed).  One of the biggest is
this: a signal's strength decreases inversely proportionally to the
square of the distance from the transmitter.  Say that you're a mile from
a transmitter, and you measure the signal strength of a transmitter as a
Watt.  At two miles, that would drop down to a quarter-Watt.  Ten miles
away, it would be one one-hundreth of a watt.  A million miles away, it
would be one quadrillionth of a Watt.  Now recall that light travels [removed]
trillion miles in a single year, and that the OTR shows in question are
more than 50 years old, what OTR signals emanating from the Earth one
could supposedly tune in to would be incredibly faint.

Worse, space is full of naturally generated radio signals, and these
would overwhelm the radio signals from the Eaarth.

Stephen A. Kallis, [removed]

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

Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2002 14:50:01 -0400
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Rating: Over, Under, Around, and Through

Ruk77 asked,

what do you all think are the most over rated shows in OTR?  off the
top of my head, the first one that comes to mind is Fred Allen.

Well, a few Digests ago, I mentioned that trying to find the greatest OTR
show is a futile exercise, because most of it is subjective.  The same
holds true with trying to determine which is the most overrated.

Fred Allen is a good example of this.  During its run, it was rather
popular.  However, it also was fairly topical.  Somebody listening to the
shows 50+ years after they were recorded may have some difficulty
understanding what was considered witty.

Like other aspects of OTR, in some, but not all cases, a listener has to
filter a program through the perspective of a person of the 1930s or
1940s.  Fred Allen is a case of that; the Phil Harris - Alice Faye show,
by contrast, still works.

Additionally, it's a matter of taste.  A soap-opera fan might really dig
The Romance of Helen Trent or Portia Faces Life, but might be bored to
tears with Nick Carter, Master Detective.

Also, there's the nostalgia factor.  I once knew a lady who asked me to
play a Great Gildersleeve program just so that she could hear Gildie say,
"Leeeroy."  The openings of The Shadow, Grand Central Station, Tom Mix
Ralston Straight Shooters, The Lone Ranger, and Inner Sanctum Mysteries
may mean more than any individual episode of each of these shows.

And finally, it depends on how you're "rating" a show.  One I listened to
when growing up was Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons.  It was quite
popular, and intergenerational.  The whole family, from my grandmother
through my parents, to me and my sister listened to it.  Today, I like it
more than I did then, but for an entirely different reason.  Now, I find
it literally amusing -- true camp.  Then, as a teenager, I took it
seriously.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2002 14:48:43 -0400
From: JayHick@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Orson Welles

Richard France is looking for copies of Orson Welles' Commentary which was on
ABC 9/16/45 ’Äì 10/13/46.  If you have any please contact him at
<rxfrance@[removed];.  Jay

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #366
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