Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #7
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 1/6/2004 9:45 PM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2004 : Issue 7
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Sherlock Holmes answer                [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
      Movie serials                         [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
      Re: Bob Hope on PBS                   [ Steve Salaba <philmfan@[removed] ]
      NTR Brings Message of Peace to Middl  [ seandd@[removed] ]
      The Bennetts                          [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
      Shot From Guns                        [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
      Re: Shredded Wheat, but a little OT   [ RickEditor@[removed] ]
      Katharine Hepburn                     [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
      Bennetts and Lockharts                [ Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@erols ]
      Postal zones and Chicago 77           [ "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed] ]
      Crime Letter From Dan Dodge           [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
      Glidersleeve without an audience      [ "Rich Weil" <richweil@[removed]; ]
      shot from guns                        [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]
      Irene Beasly                          [ William L Murtough <k2mfi@[removed]; ]
      seeking Syracuse help                 [ benohmart@[removed] ]
      Question about products               [ BH <radioguy@[removed]; ]

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 18:37:50 -0500
    From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Sherlock Holmes answer

    knight555@[removed] asked:

>     Hello.  An inquiry about Sherlock Holmes that someone may be able to answer
>     that came up in discussion the other night here after listening to several
>     shows and ordering some of the new dvd sets of the movies.  When Basil
>     Rathbone left the radio show, had he also finished his run on the Holmes
>     movies or was one a result of the other ([removed] did the movies end and he
>     wanted out of the radio show, or did any more movies finish completion
>     after he finished the radio show?).
>     Also, did Nigel Bruce do any more radio after he left Sherlock Holmes on
>     radio? Had either of them done any other radio before Holmes? (I can't
>     recall if Rathbone reprised his role in Captain Blood for the radio
>     version).

    Answer #1: Basil Rathbone played Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce played Dr.
    Watson for a total of fourteen movies (first two released through 20th
    Century Fox in 1939 and the remaining twelve from 1941 to 1946).  Rathbone
    and Bruce also played the same screen roles for the radio series, THE NEW
    ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES which featured both a mix of new mystery
    stories and Conan Doyle stories (including a six-part presentation of "The
    Hound of the Baskervilles" from January 12, 1941 to February 16, 1941, which
    as most people know, was the same story that was made into the 1939 movie
    with Rathbone and Bruce.)
    After the broadcast of May 27, 1946, Rathbone dropped from the series to
    star in his own starring vehicle for raido, TALES OF FATIMA which lasted
    about a year on the air.  Tom Conway, who played the Falcon's brother in the
    RKO Falcon movie series and Bulldog Drummond in a few Drummond movies, took
    over the role of Sherlock Holmes on radio.  Nigel Bruce remained playing the
    role of Dr. Watson till the final broadcast of July 7, 1947 when the radio
    progam went off the air.  There actually exists many recordings from the
    1945 - 1947 seasons with both Rathbone and Conway so it's fairly easy to
    compare the two personalities.  (Rathbone was the better in my opinion.)

    Answer #2: The movies came first.  THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES premiered
    in the movie theaters on March 24, 1939 and was a huge success.  The radio
    series premiered on October 2, 1939.  For an interesting bit of trivia, one
    of the later Holmes movies, PURSUIT TO ALGIERS, actually features a scene in
    which Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) is persuaded to tell a story of one of his
    adventures with Mr. Holmes (much in the same way he did on the radio series
    suggesting that the passengers on the boat heard his weekly radio series . .
    . cute).  Watson does, announcing that he's about to tell the story of their
    adventure he called "The Case of the Giant Rat of Sumatra," which
    incidentally, was a real radio script dramatized twice including March 1,
    1942 and July 31, 1944 (based on a short story by Conan Doyle).

    Answer #3: The final Sherlock Holmes film to star Rathbone and Bruce was in
    1946, about the same time Rathbone left the radio series.  I can't say I
    blame him - the productions on the movies were going low-budget by the tenth
    and eleventh film.

    Lastly, you mentioned the DVD releases of the Holmes movies.  MPI is
    responsible for releasing the series on DVD (both as singles and in
    four-packs) but the price is steep at the moment.  I know that within a year
    you'll be able to get them for a much lower price like $[removed] a DVD instead
    of $[removed]  The quality, however, is the best anyone could ever ask for.
    PREMIERE magazine reported six months ago that Hugh Hefner, who is also an
    avid movie fan, donated $2 million dollars for the restoration of 12 of the
    14 Holmes movies, from archival materials at UCLA.  (The first two in the
    series, HOUND and ADVENTURES had already received restoration from 20th
    Century Fox a decade ago.)  if anyone wants to scrap the old KEY VIDEO
    releases they've had for the last two decades (which some actually feature
    the wrong closing credits cut from other Holmes movies) and replace them
    with the MPI releases, it is worth the investment but shop around for the
    best price.  MPI does have a reputation for not cutting price breaks to the
    commercial market - a friend of mine once contacted their wholesale
    department about buying discs at wholesale and they told him they wouldn't
    cut him any breaks because as they put it, if he was going to resell them to
    Holmes fans, they'd rather sell them to his market directly and make more
    money.  Sad.
    Martin Grams, Jr.

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 18:41:04 -0500
    From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Movie serials

    I am being asked to document a movie serial from 1942 that was based on an
    old-time radio series and I was wondering if there was anyone on this digest
    who has any reference books about Matinee Serials?  My bookshelf is a little
    bare when it comes to movie serials, and even though I have acquired all the
    production info including copies of the studio contracts, I am curious to
    know what other authors have written about it.  If anyone has any books
    pertaining to matinee serials and can copy or zerox the brief material, I
    would be more than welcome to $ reimburse you.
    Many thanks,
    Martin Grams, Jr.
    mmargrajr@[removed]

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 18:41:17 -0500
    From: Steve Salaba <philmfan@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Bob  Hope on PBS

    At 11:38 AM -0500 1/6/04, Kenneth Clarke wrote:

>     Did anyone see "Bob Hope: The Road To Laughter" on
>     PBS the other night beside me?

    I saw it a while back and I was very impressed with the way they not only
    DID NOT talk over any of the clips, but showed the clips in their entirety.
    One of the reasons I love PBS. I must check the PBS web site and see if
    this is available on [removed]

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 18:45:05 -0500
    From: seandd@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  NTR Brings Message of Peace to Middle East

    Interesting article from Wednesday's Christian Science Monitor on the
    political implications of modern radio drama in and around [removed]

    Sean Dougherty
    SeanDD@[removed]

    What will Ahmad do? Peaceful soap opera gripped Palestinians
    A radio drama's nonviolent message aims at promoting creative
    resolutions to conflict with Israel. By Nicole Gaouette
    [removed]

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 19:11:40 -0500
    From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  The Bennetts

    Ken asked about a radio recording entitled THE BENNETTS.  If it's the same
    show I am thinking about off hand, it wouldn't be listed in Dunning's guide.
      THE BENNETS was a recording made around 1945 or 1946, many months after I
    LOVE A MYSTERY went off the air in December of 1944.  Carlton E. Morse
    wrote, produced and directed an audition recording of a show he entitled THE
    BENNETTS (Morse did a lot of audition recordings in 1945 and 1946 in an
    attempt to replace the financial income he was no longer receiving for the
    now-defunct I LOVE A MYSTERY series.  Dean Jagger who was a celebrated actor
    of his own right (and later star of the Old Time Radio episode of THE
    TWILIGHT ZONE episode "Static" which was the subject or recent OTR Digest
    postings) was the star of THE BENNETS, a cross between ONE MAN'S FAMILY
    taking place at a lumber camp along the West coast and the events that
    proved tragedy to the family.  William Holden was another actor heard on the
    pilot and Frank Martin, who was the announcer on I LOVE A MYSTERY and many
    other Morse programs was also the announcer.

    If this is the same recording, regrettably there are no other episodes to be
    found in recording form.
    Martin Grams, Jr.

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 19:44:35 -0500
    From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Shot From Guns

    Kenneth Clarke notes,

>     I've been seeking was sponsored by Quaker Puffed Wheat and Puffed Rice,
>     "the cereal shot from guns" (sounds disgusting, doesn't it?). If you
>     should hear
>     about it during your research, let me know.  I've often wondered what
>     type person  would want a cereal shot from a gun.

    I recall hearing the "Shot From Guns" commercials in the mid-1940s, but
    all the probable shows I guessed might have sponsored it turned out to
    have been sponsored by others.  I do recall that on TV, Gabby Hayes show
    was sponsored by Quaker Puffed Wheat/Rice, because he had a ring premium
    sporting a miniature of the cannon that the puffed cereal was supposed to
    have been shot from.

    When I was studying gunnery in one of my Naval ROTC courses, I speculated
    about the interior ballistics of Quaker Puffed cereals in whatever gun
    they were shot from.  If you try to throw a puffed wheat or rice kernel,
    it has tremendous air resistance and doesn't travel far.

    As long as the gun was clean, though, I doubt that there would be
    anything particularly horrible about eating a cereal shot from it.  Just
    a bit weird.

    Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 19:45:12 -0500
    From: RickEditor@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Shredded Wheat, but a little OT
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    Referring to Shredded Wheat, Stephen Kallis recalled this joke:

>     Comic:  I sat her in the kitchen, and turned  the faucet on full while she
>     stared at a box of Shredded  Wheat.

    Henny Youngman told a similar story in way only he could:
    "I asked my wife what she wanted for her birthday. She said, "Take me
    someplace I've never been ...so I took her to the kitchen!"
    rick selvin

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 19:57:38 -0500
    From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Katharine Hepburn

    Ken asked about Hepburn's radio appearances.  Here's a list.

    The Campbell Playhouse  (12/30/38)  "A Farewell to Arms"  with Orson Welles.
    Arch Oboler's Play  (9/16/39)  "Suffer Little Children"
    Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt Special  (10/30/40)  with Edna Ferber.
    Red Cross Show  (12/24/41)  with an all-star cast.
    March of Dimes Diamond Jubilee (1/31/42)  with an all-star cast.
    The Lasy Esther Screen Guild Theater  (4/19/43)  "Woman of the Year" Spencer
    Tracy and Katherine Hepburn both reprised their film roles.
    Ethel Barrymore Tribute  (8/15/45)  with an all-star cast
    The Story of the Big Missouri  (10/30/45)  with Frederic March.
    Theater Guild on the Air  (12/23/45)  "Little Women"  with Oscar Homolka.
    Hepburn reprised her screen role.
    The Right to live  (5/18/47)  one of those Himan Brown / Jewish Appeal
    programs.
    Theater Guild on the Air  (12/21/47)  "Little Women"  with Paul Lukas.
    Hepburn reprised her screen role again.
    The Lux Radio Theatre  (10/6/47)  "Undercurrent"  with Robert Taylor.
    Cancer Society program  (10/19/48)  "Two Lines"
    The US Steel Hour  (1/2/49)  "The Game of Love and Death"  with Paul Henried
    and Claude Rains
    Stagestruck  (4/18/54)  "How the Stage Helped Make Hollywood History"
    Biography in Sound (aka Recollections at Thirty) (3/20/55)  "Ethel
    Barrymore"

    Katherine Hepburn also reprised her stage and film role in "The Philadelphia
    Story" numerous times on radio [removed]
    The Lux Radio Theatre  (7/20/42)  "The Philadelphia Story"  with James
    Stewart, Cary Grant and Ruth Hussey.
    Arthur Hopkins Presents  (5/10/44)  "The Philadelphia Story" with Vinton
    Hayworth.
    The Lady Esther Screen Guild Players  (3/17/47)  "The Philadelphia Story"
    with Cary Grant and James Stewart.  Hepburn reprised her film role.

    This is just a selection of her radio credits.
    Martin Grams, Jr.

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 20:05:46 -0500
    From: Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@[removed];
    To: OTRBB <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Bennetts and Lockharts

    Scott Livingston asks about two programs, "Abroad with the Lockharts"
    and "The Bennetts" since neither appears in either of Dunning's books.

    I have often contended that any person sitting at a computer, with a
    recent edition of Jay Hickerson's "Revised Ultimate History of Network
    Programming, etc." in their lap, could answer at least 40% of the
    questions asked on this Digest. Other books by Dunning, Buxton & Owens,
    and others never claimed they had an entry on every network show. Nor
    are they supposed to, but Jay has compiled vital statistics on over
    6,000 radio series.

    "Aboard With the Lockharts" was a syndicated series that dates back to
    1932, and starred, of course, Gene and Kathleen Lockhart. It was a 15
    minute program about this couple's fun in foreign countries. Nine
    episodes have survived today, the first seven shows, plus episodes 12
    and 13.  There is no log of the series and no way of currently
    constructing such.

    "The Bennetts" is another one of the many shows auditioned but never
    picked up, even though this one was written by Carlton E. Morse.  The
    audition, starring Dean Jagger, is dated 11-20-45. While it pretends to
    be episode # 4 and announces the upcoming episode # 5, it is the sole
    program recorded.

    Jay's book is privately printed and available only from him; details
    upon request,  jayhick@[removed]

    Usual [removed] the fact that somebody at Jay's 1998
    FOTR convention got away with a half a dozen airchecks of Shirley
    Eggleston, went back to Massachusetts, and hasn't been heard from since.

    Jack French
    Editor: RADIO RECALL
    [removed]

    [ADMINISTRIVIA: I second Jack's comments; Jay's "Ultimate History" is as
    equally vital if not more so to anyone serious about this hobby as Dunning's
    "On The Air" - it is revised _yearly_ to keep the information fresh and
    relevant. Like Jack, no financial interest here, just a seriously satisfied
    customer (who has never lived in MA).  --cfs3]

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 20:31:38 -0500
    From: "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Postal zones and Chicago 77

       According to the USPS web site, postal zones in large [removed] cities were
    first used in 1943.  I believe they had a maximum of two digits in the
    1940s.

       So the earliest any address ending with "Chicago 77, Illinois" could have
    been used was 1943.

       An address used by Captain Midnight/Secret Squardron HQ/Wander Co.
    (Ovaltine) in the 1940s was 360 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill.  But
    possibly the Michigan Avenue address was never given by the radio announcer
    when giving instructions for sending for a premium.

      -- Phil C.

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 22:47:28 -0500
    From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Crime Letter From Dan Dodge

    As Jack French mentioned several digests ago, a copy of Crime Letter From
    Dan Dodge has recently surfaced that originally came from Shirley
    Eggleston, who portrayed the secretary on the series. A [removed] minute segment
    was played on Dick Bertel's Golden Age of Radio show in 1972. In 1998
    Shirley loaned the discs to someone from Massachusetts whom she had met at
    the FOTR convention and who promised to make copies for her and return the
    discs. That never happened and the discs have now disappeared. (If anyone
    knows how we can reach this unknown person, please contact Jack French).

    All that is left is the [removed] minute segment from the opening of the show,
    which Dick Bertel through Jack French has released to the OTR community.

    With Jack's cooperation, I have added a page to my web site to allow the
    community to download the raw copy of the [removed] minute segment and/or a
    slightly cleaned up mp3 copy. The raw copy is a wave file that is 19 megs
    in size and most likely will require a high-speed connection. The mp3 copy
    is much smaller at only [removed] megs for those with slower connections who want
    to hear it.

    You can find the two versions at [removed]

    Jim Widner
    jwidner@[removed]

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 22:47:39 -0500
    From: "Rich Weil" <richweil@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Glidersleeve without an audience
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    There are at least two Gildy episodes that I know of, "Labor Day at Grass
    Lake," September 2, 1945, and the following week, "Leroy's New Teacher," where
    it appears as if the show was done without a studio audience since I do not
    hear any laughter. These are the first two Gildy episodes I've heard where
    there isn't an audience. The weeks before and after have audiences. Does
    anyone know why these episodes (and maybe others?) would not be in front of an
    audience?

    Thanks

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 22:49:58 -0500
    From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  shot from guns

>             One program I've been seeking was sponsored by
>     Quaker Puffed Wheat and Puffed Rice, "the cereal shot from
>     guns" (sounds disgusting, doesn't it?).  If you should hear
>     about it during your research, let me know.  I've often wondered
>     what type person  would want a cereal shot from a gun.

    Puffed wheat and rice are made by a rather violent procedure.  The grain is
    cleaned and placed with a little water in a special pressure cooker with a
    hinged lid.  Heat is applied, causing steam pressure to build up in the
    cooker.  The hot steam permeates the grain, thus cooking it.  After a
    certain length of time, the cooker's lid is unlatched while the contents are
    still under high pressure.  The steam expands explosively, causing each
    individual kernel of grain to puff out.  Hence, the phrase "shot from guns."
      The grain is caught, dried, and packaged unless it's to become Post Sugar
    Crisp or the like, in which case it's coated with a sugar syrup solution and
    dried further.

    I am a great fan of puffed wheat.  Our cat is also fond of it and will eat
    it out of my hand.  Puffed rice is less appetizing to me, but has gained
    great popularity lately in the form of rice cakes for dieters.

    M Kinsler

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 22:50:11 -0500
    From: William L Murtough <k2mfi@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Irene Beasly

     Ron Sales listed the obit about my  good friend, Irene Beasly. She was
    basically a singer and in the early days was known as the "Old Dutch
    Cleanser Girl". In later years she hosted an audience participation show,
    "Grand Slam" daily on CBS radio. Abe Goldman was the organist and Bob
    Downey the pianist as I recall. My flyimg buddy Dwight Weist was the
    announcer. When I returned to CBS=New York from Hollywood in 1951 I was
    the vacation releif engineer on Grand Slam for abou a month which is how
    our friendship began.  She lived on her two hundred acre estate in a
    house that dated back to revolutionary times in Ardsley, New York, about
    a half mile up the road from my house. On Sunday evenings she would drop
    by to invite my wife and I out to dinner with her. She later  developed
    her own real estate business. A nice lady and a good friend.

    Bill Murtough

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 22:50:34 -0500
    From: benohmart@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  seeking Syracuse help

    Hi there. A while back I was seeking someone who lives near Syracuse University to do
    a bit of otr research. I think the person who offered may've fallen through, so am still
    seeking someone. Please email (don't call!) offlist and I'll give you details. Again, I'm
    happy to reimburst expenses for this helpfulness. Thanks much!

    Ben Ohmart

    The Paul Frees biography - out in March!
    [removed]

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

    Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 22:50:56 -0500
    From: BH <radioguy@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Question about products

    Kenneth Clarke <kclarke5@[removed]; commented:

>              One program I've been seeking was sponsored by
>     Quaker Puffed Wheat and Puffed Rice, "the cereal shot from
>     guns" (sounds disgusting, doesn't it?).  If you should hear
>     about it during your research, let me know.  I've often wondered
>     what type person  would want a cereal shot from a gun.

    He he, how the mind of a child works. I remember as a youngster when
    hearing those commercials, I had visions of these people pouring wheat
    and rice into these big cannons and shooting them off, while a bunch of
    other people were some distance away holding big bags to catch all this
    puffed wheat and rice.

    Bill H.

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #7
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