Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #171
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 5/19/2004 9:07 AM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2004 : Issue 171
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Harry Shearer Interview / RIP Anna L  [ seandd@[removed] ]
  re: WW II blackouts and OTR           [ BH <radiobill@[removed]; ]
  Terry and the Pirates (1940)          [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
  More on Blackouts and Associated Stu  [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
  Radio To the Silver Screen            [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
  Bela Lugosi on Radio                  [ "John Eccles, Jr." <jeccles@earthli ]
  Harry Von Zell/Sal Hepatica "blooper  [ jodie <raisingirl@[removed]; ]
  Love, Sidney observation              [ "Ivan G. Shreve, Jr." <iscreve@comc ]
  Charles Osgood's new book on WWII &   [ "Steve Dillie" <sjdillie@[removed] ]
  Richard Nixon                         [ "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyro ]
  Tony Randall                          [ "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyro ]
  Re: Bela Lugosi & OTR                 [ "Brian L Bedsworth" <az2pa@[removed]; ]
  Re: Tony Randall gone                 [ "Jan Bach" <janbach@[removed]; ]
  More West Coast Blackouts             [ George Aust <austhaus1@[removed] ]
  #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Nig  [ charlie@[removed] ]
  Bela                                  [ Thomas Biddy <t_biddy@[removed]; ]

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

Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 16:49:32 -0400
From: seandd@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Harry Shearer Interview / RIP Anna Lee

Two Jack Benny mentions in the news today - an interview with Jack's child
star Harry Shearer discussing his breaking up Jack in rehearsals (not a huge
feat as readers of George Burns' autobiography will know, but keep in mind
that Shearer was about eight years old at the time) as well as a discussion
of his radio program Le Show, a modern radio comedy program.

Second, from across the pond comes news that British actress Anna Lee has
died.  She appeared with Jack in his USO tours as well as many Hollywood
films.  Radio is not mentioned but I'm sure someone will be able to fill that
in.

Sean Dougherty
SeanDD@[removed]

PAUL KRASSNER
New York Press - New York,NY,USA
... As a kid on The Jack Benny Show, when the cast was doing a read-through,
there was one line in the script where, he says, "I just got it in my
mind to do it ...
<[removed];[removed];

ANNA Lee
[removed] - London,England,UK
... for overseas duty with the United Services Organisation, and entertained
the Allied troops in Africa, Iran and Sicily, first with Jack Benny and
his wife Mary ...
<[removed].
xml&sSheet=/opinion/2004/05/18[removed];

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

Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 18:49:43 -0400
From: BH <radiobill@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  re: WW II blackouts and OTR

David Phaneuf asked:

So here's my feeble attempt to bring things back on topic:  WHAT PART
DID [removed] PLAY IN THE BLACKOUTS, if any?

Well, if your lights were out, you either went to bed or listened to the
radio or both.

Bill H.

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

Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 18:51:13 -0400
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Terry and the Pirates (1940)

TERRY AND THE PIRATES was a long-running radio serial based on the comic
strip of the same name.  Although little history is known about the serial
(at least, widely known), Himan Brown was quoted in an interview that has
been in print for about fifteen years that he created the radio series.  The
1940 Columbia Matinee Serial Ivan mentioned is "commercially" available on
VHS (and has been for some time) and just this month being released to DVD.
The company that put it out is VCI and their prices are usually expensive
(usually $25 or [removed] for a 2-disc matinee serial).

The 1940 serial has an interesting history behind it.  Columbia Pictures
purchased the screen rights to the radio serial and comic strip with the
intentions of offering two serials.  The first however, was not superb in
many aspects and it's no surprise that Columbia scrapped the idea of doing a
sequel.

Columbia Pictures was not kind to preserving some of their older films,
including a few Matinee Serials.  One of them, sadly, was the TERRY AND THE
PIRATES serial.  The end result was that the negative was damaged and very
little of the serial surfaced in the form of mm reels.  A few years ago, VCI
went to the trouble of acquiring the best possible picture quality and with
no sound originating from the reels due to the damage, replaced the entire
soundtrack with a new one.  That is, they hired actors to supply the voices
and lip to the action on screen.  As primitive as this may be, it's the ONLY
known print of TERRY AND THE PIRATES known to exist.  Anyone who has a copy
of this serial can easily play a chapter and realize that what they are
listening to is a dubbed sound track with added sound effects and dialogue.
No one has yet been able to surface a copy in its complete form with the
original soundtrack.

The matinee serial has since passed into the public domain (as well as the
short-lived 1952 TV series) so copies of the 1940 serial and the 1952
television episodes have been floating about very easily - but regardless of
collectors and dealers who insist that their print is film chained from a 16
mm or 35 mm master, it's really the VCI release.  Every time I see a dealer
offering the series at a convention I attend, I ask to have it played on a
TV screen and half of the time dealers say theirs came from a 16 mm print
but when I listen to the sound track, I have always noticed it's the new one
dubbed so to date, the ONLY print is the VCI.

I rarely endorse VCI for their releases cause 90% of what they offer are
public domain titles and you can get those very same episodes for a lower
price elsewhere (and on some occassions, a better picture quality print) but
for anyone wanting the BEST possible print of TERRY AND THE PIRATES, the
1940 serial on DVD format, VCI is presently the only place to go.

(The plot and the dialogue is witless so don't expect a top-notch
[removed])
Martin

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

Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 18:55:22 -0400
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  More on Blackouts and Associated Stuff

Anent blackouts, on the thread started by Chris Holm, blackouts were
certainly part of World War II.  The world was a different place in those
days.  Materials restrictions prevented the manufacture of metallic radio
premiums from 1942 (those issued after the start of the war had been
manufactured prior to Pearl Harbor).  Most wartime premiums were
nonmetallic.  Little Orphan Annie, under Quaker Puffed Wheat Sparkies
sponsorship, offered two cardstock "decoders."

Many premiums were made of paper or cloth,  Terry and the Pirates and
Captain Midnight both offered "plane spotters" -- identification
silhouettes of friendly and enemy aircraft.  Terry's was simpler, but
both did the job.

But connecting the subject to blackouts, some of the premiums were
"blackout kits."  They incorporated luminous sheets of paper that could
be snipped into small pieces to help locate things in the darkness of
blackouts -- doors, steps, light switches, and the like.

Nowadays, people can buy night vision glasses, but there was a charm
about blackouts.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 20:05:07 -0400
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Radio To the Silver Screen

Speaking of radio programs turned into movies, Pete Greco notes,

I am sorry to report but the Captain Midnight serial falls into the
same mix.
Its a shame because the lead David O'brien was a former stuntman turn
actor, who does look  the part, but that's a far as it goes.

Columbia movie serials of radio/comic stories generally had only a
passing acquaintance with the original material.  In the case of the
Captain Midnight serial, the title character was a masked alter identity
for the hero, there was no Secret Squadron (save as a dumb throwaway
line), no Code-O-Graphs, or any of the things familiar to listeners.
Joyce Ryan in the film was an inventor's daughter, not really part of the
team.

But then, most serials were lots more dependent on action and less on
thought.

The Captain Midnight serial was closer to the radio show than the Fawcett
comic book, but that's not saying much.

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

Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 21:17:47 -0400
From: "John Eccles, Jr." <jeccles@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Bela Lugosi on Radio

Regarding Martin Gram's posting about Lugosi's radio work the book "Lugosi"
written by Gary Don Rhodes mentions the Baker's Broadcast show in the
chapter on Lugosi's radio work.  There is no mention of the Gloria Swanson
show or Tex and Jinx.  Does anyone know what Lugosi did on the Gloria
Swanson Show?  The thought of Norma Desmond and Count Dracula on the same
broadcast boggles the mind.

John Eccles, Jr.

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

Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 00:04:14 -0400
From: jodie <raisingirl@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Harry Von Zell/Sal Hepatica "blooper"

hello all --

Bill H. wrote:

I was listening to a clip from a Fred Allen show where Harry Von Zell is
doing a commercial and cannot remember the name of the product, Sal
Hapitica, and I was wondering if this was scripted.

If it's the same one I've heard (on one of the old Radio Reruns "50
Great Commercials" tapes), it sure sounds like a "scripted" blooper to
me.  Of course, I could be [removed]!

Jodie Peeler

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

Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 01:19:53 -0400
From: "Ivan G. Shreve, Jr." <iscreve@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Love, Sidney observation

Dr. Michael Biel spoke from his lectern:

You might remember
that this was the series where his character was supposed to be gay--and
the character was openly gay in the film--but by the time the series was
made NBC had backed down from that position.  Now it seems almost every TV
series is required to have a gay character.

I thought this was an interesting point, given that NBC is the home of Will
& Grace--but it should be pointed out that while NBC was skittish about a
gay character, ABC was not.  Billy Crystal was playing Jodie Dallas on the
sitcom Soap for around four years at that time.

Ivan
----
OTR Ramblings and Musings at Thrilling Days of Yesteryear:
[removed]

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

Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 01:27:17 -0400
From: "Steve Dillie" <sjdillie@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Charles Osgood's new book on WWII & OTR

I noticed today that Charles Osgood of CBS radio and TV has a new book
titled "Defending Baltimore Against Enemy Attack: A Boyhood Year During
World War II."  I have not read it, but thought it was timely.

The following is a small portion of the Publishers Weekly review I found on
Amazon.  "Osgood's memoir of growing up in Baltimore's Liberty Heights
neighborhood circa 1942 echoes with the same measured cadence and
disarmingly simple structure that the anchor uses in his CBS radio and TV
broadcasts. The Emmy Award winning broadcaster pulls readers into a
seductive world, as he relates his obsession with baseball, his love of
radio programs (which had a "profound influence" on him) and his experiences
with other slices of Americana. Yet the war news affected Osgood, too, if in
a minor way: he built a stink bomb with a friend ("weapons of mass disgust
to waft at the enemy"), pinned a tiny Japanese flag over Manila on the map
mounted on his bedroom wall and wondered "just how much of Africa needed
liberating."

Best regards,

Steve

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

Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 01:49:19 -0400
From: "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Richard Nixon

Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 11:48:21 -0400
From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];

There are other scraps of evidence, and much of it depressing.  Some
years ago, I heard Richard Nixon, once a lieutenant in one of the war
planning departments, discuss how wage and price controls did not work
during the war and only encouraged corruption. 

How ironic.  In 1971, as President, he imposed wage and price controls to control inflation.

Then again, my father remembered FDR promising not to send American Boys off to any 
foreign war.

-- A. Joseph Ross, [removed] [removed] 15 Court Square, Suite 210 lawyer@[removed] Boston, MA 02108-2503 [removed] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 01:49:50 -0400 From: "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@[removed]; To: [removed]@[removed] Subject: Tony Randall I remember Tony Randall best on the 1950s TV show "Mr. Peepers," in which Wally Cox played the title character, a junior high general science teacher. Tony Randall played his friend, Harvey Weskit, the history teacher. I saw a kinescope episode around 1985, and it held up fairly well. It was a gentle comedy, and it's too bad that reruns don't seem to be available today. And, back in the 1950s, when gender stereotypes were in vogue, that episode depicted Mr. Peepers' sister as an astronomer. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 01:50:32 -0400 From: "Brian L Bedsworth" <az2pa@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Re: Bela Lugosi & OTR A quick check of my own files shows, in addition to many of the programs listed by other respondents, a Command Performance from the fall of 1944 with Lugosi and (host) Bob Hope which was rebroadcast in the fall of 1946. Also, the GOLDINdex notes Lugosi's presence on a 1939 pre-Fred-Allen Texaco Star Theatre appearance, a 1944 Mystery House syndie ep and a 1949 Crime Does Not Pay show. [removed],+Bela&ArtistNumber=02253 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 02:07:21 -0400 From: "Jan Bach" <janbach@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Re: Tony Randall gone Hello again -- So sad that Tony Randall has gone; he had such an active life, establishing what he hoped would be an American national theater (every other country seems to have one!) after so many movies, television shows, and of course I Love a Mystery as Reggie York. I am the proud possessor of a letter from Mr. Randall, written in his scratchy longhand nine years ago when he was making a guest appearance at the Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland. Several years earlier he had been interviewed by Chuck Schaden, pooh-poohing his role on ILAM and criticizing most dramatic radio shows as "nothing but reading," (with which I'm sure Elliott Lewis and Joe Kearns -- to name only a couple of excellent radio actors who gave their roles "their all" -- would vehemently disagree), clinching his argument with the statement that "Vic and Sade was the only good program to come out of the radio." As a die-hard V&S fan, and a member of the "Friends of Vic and Sade" fan club, I wrote thanking him for his comments and enclosing a cassette of six of my favorite V & S broadcasts. To my great delight, he wrote back, saying in part: Thanks for the tape. They tried putting V&S on TV some years ago but it wasn't good -- the scripts are vignettes, no action, no structure, no climax. BUT -- Art Van Harvey, Bernadette Flynn, Billy Idelson! I first heard them when I was a kid in Tulsa. We did I Love a Mystery from NY (it was the second time around. The first cast broadcast from S. F.) Randall contributed so much to so many movies (including some serious ones -- remember "No Down Payment"?), television shows, and appearances on Tonight with Johnny Carson (he made Johnny so self-conscious about his smoking that eventually Johnny wouldn't smoke while Tony was on camera) and David Letterman, who said that "Tony was always good for a laugh." Thanks for the memories, Tony. And thanks, OTRers, for allowing me this bit of reminiscence. Jan Bach ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 02:07:59 -0400 From: George Aust <austhaus1@[removed]; To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: More West Coast Blackouts Someone asked how headlights painted over except for a small slit would keep the enemy from spotting the light in a blackout. I think that goes back to the eastcoast problem of all the light aiding the U-Boats off shore in seeing the shipping along the atlantic coast at night, and the idea was to reduce the amount of light all night long. Here in California we didn't seem to have the same problem and I never saw a car with it's headlights painted over. And even though I was a child I was into cars in a big way (still am) and I would have been aware of it. The main threat here was attack by aircraft, so a total blackout was necessary as any light would have been seen from above. Also most of our backouts were of relatively short duration. Planes were over head for only a few moments and then they were gone. As a result I never knew anyone who had backout shades or curtains here in So. Calif.(Though I'm sure that there may have been some who had them) When the air raid sirens went off, which happened alot, especially during the early part of the war, we simply turned off all the lights. In our house we could see enough by the light of the radio dial, plus we had a floor lamp that had a small bulb in the base of the lamp which was covered by a plastic lense( remember those?) that we turned on and it allowed enough light that we didn't fall over things in the house. Someone also mentioned the camouflage consisting of netting and chicken feathers that covered Consolidated Aircraft in San Diego. I think we may have discussed this sometime ago on this list, but for those who weren't here then I can tell you little about that. Both my mother and my uncle worked there in 1942-43. The netting covered all of the aircraft factory buildings and Pacific Coast Hwy which ran right down the middle of the factory. From the top (from the air) it would appear that it was undeveloped rolling landscape with palm trees(fake) scattered about. Underneath it was constantly "snowing" chicken feathers and provided no end of enjoyment for this then six year old boy. My mother who was a draftsman there(yes she was a draftsman for her entire career, as the word draftperson had not been thought up yet, this for the benefit of all the pc freaks out there) complained however, that the chicken feathers brought fleas with them and that everyone in the aircraft plant had bites all over there legs. She said that there was a man who did nothing but walk around and spray insecticide. I believe that Boeing Aircraft in Seattle had a similar camouflage treatment and possibly there were others. I also remember the battle of LA as we lived in the Highland Park section at that time and we sat in the dark and listened to all of the shooting and mysterious bangs seemingly right outside the house. That blackout seemed to last along time but my sense of time at that age was not reliable. My mother still claims to this day that the goverment covered up something that happened that night as she says that something was "bombed" just a few blocks from where we lived and it was never reported. But who knows! It has just occured to me that we who were children then will be the last who lived through those days and can give first hand reports on how it was. The young adults of the war years are rapidly leaving us. It's sad that we are losing the greatest generation. George Aust ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 02:12:01 -0400 From: charlie@[removed] To: [removed]@[removed] Subject: #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Night! A weekly [removed] For the best in OTR Chat, join IRC (Internet Relay Chat), StarLink-IRC Network, the channel name is #OldRadio. We meet Thursdays at 8 PM Eastern and go on, and on! The oldest OTR Chat Channel, it has been in existence over six years, same time, same channel! Started by Lois Culver, widow of actor Howard Culver, this is the place to be on Thursday night for real-time OTR talk! Our "regulars" include OTR actors, soundmen, collectors, listeners, and others interested in enjoying OTR from points all over the world. Discussions range from favorite shows to almost anything else under the sun (sometimes it's hard for us to stay on-topic)...but even if it isn't always focused, it's always a good time! For more info, contact charlie@[removed]. We hope to see you there, this week and every week! ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 03:07:45 -0400 From: Thomas Biddy <t_biddy@[removed]; To: otr <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Bela Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 12:12:32 -0400 "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed]; said
...yet to be documented in any Lugosi book I've read)...

Please let me know the titles and authors as I would like to read these, too.

=====
Have a GREAT day,
Thomas

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #171
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