Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #371
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 9/25/2002 11:03 AM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2002 : Issue 371
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Italian talent show?                  [ "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed] ]
      Underrated/Overrated                  [ "Michael Leannah" <mleannah@charter ]
      Re: Marlowe research                  [ Ga6string@[removed] ]
      Re: LONE RANGER music and openings    [ SanctumOTR@[removed] ]
      Re:THE SHADOW's origin and Bret Morr  [ SanctumOTR@[removed] ]
      #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Nig  [ lois@[removed] ]
      "Today in radio history" remarks      [ Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed] ]
      Mr. Keen, where are you?              [ Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed] ]
      best and worst                        [ "Ryan Osentowski" <rosentowski@neb. ]
      Joe Penner/"Komedy Kapers"            [ Derek Tague <derek@[removed]; ]
      A tale of two Tollins                 [ Derek Tague <derek@[removed]; ]
      Re: Pre-1930 Radio Drama              [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
      Update/Reply                          [ James Hunt <jameshunt@[removed] ]
      No Code In De Head                    [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
      Who Knows?                            [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]

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

    Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 00:13:12 -0400
    From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed];
    To: "Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Italian talent show?

    Anyone have information or sounds from an Italian talent show broadcast on
    radio in the 1930s by
        Emilino Rica ?
    The program was in Italian and may have been broadcast from either Buffalo
    or Lackawanna, NY.  I have a friend in Minnesota who is writing a book about
    Italian immigrants who lived in Lackawanna, NY and will be happy for
    anything you can tell him about Mr. Rica.

    Ted Kneebone/1528 S. Grant [removed], SD 57401/605-226-3344
    OTR: [removed]

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

    Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 00:13:23 -0400
    From: "Michael Leannah" <mleannah@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Underrated/Overrated

    It seems silly to list one's favorite and least favorite shows without a
    word of explanation as to why you feel the way you do. Everyone admits that
    the whole idea of revealing one's personal list of overrated and underrated
    shows is like "opening a can of worms", yet they go ahead and do it anyway.
    If you must, at least mention why you feel the way you do. That might
    generate some interesting discussion.

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

    Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 00:49:50 -0400
    From: Ga6string@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Marlowe research

    "Rodney w bowcock jr." writes:

>     For a research project that I'm working on, I was hoping that someone
>     could provide me with yearly ratings for the Adventures of Phillip Marlowe.
>     I'm also looking for any information that could help lead me to any articles
>     from the years that the show ran critically discussing the show. >>

    As a big fan of Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler, Gerald Mohr, etc., I'd LOVE
    to see that info as well!
    Thanks,
    Bryan Powell

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

    Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 01:19:44 -0400
    From: SanctumOTR@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: LONE RANGER music and openings

    In a message dated 9/24/02 11:17:46 PM, David H. Buswell writes:

>     I listened the other evening to
>     two Radio Yesteryear episodes: (1) "A Page From Mr. Lincoln" broadcast
>     12/29/41 and (2) "The Masked Man and The Law" (broadcast 1/2/42).  In both
>     instances the opening announcer's expository sequences were not by Fred Foy
>     and were not as I remember them, [removed], "Nowhere in the pages of history can
>     one find a greater champion of justice, etc." I was sure that Foy was in
>     place on those dates, but apparently not  In addition, the musical opening
>     and some of the interludes seemed to me to be interminable.  They went on
>     and on to the point that for a moment I thought I had stumbled upon a
>     symphonic program instead of the LR.

    ***Fred Foy didn't begin announcing THE LONE RANGER until the fall of 1948,
    which was also around the time what we consider the classic introduction
    became standard.  There were lots of variations in the intro copy up until
    that time.  Foy was the last (and best) of many LONE RANGER announcers, and
    because he started so late in the run we are still privileged to have him
    with us at the beginning of the 21st century,

    Regarding the music, remember that listeners at home usually did not hear the
    extremely-long stretches of classical music.  I suspect what you're
    complaining about is the music that was intended to filter under (or be
    replaced by) commercials delivered by a local announcer.  Many syndication
    discs (like the awful THE AVENGER) contain long stretches of music that would
    be faded out or under the local announcer, and also allowed the engineer to
    fade the music back up after the local commercial before the story resumed.
    Today, we're often listening to the full syndication recording, not what the
    listener actually heard at home. --ANTHONY TOLLIN***

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

    Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 01:21:10 -0400
    From: SanctumOTR@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re:THE SHADOW's origin and Bret Morrison

    In a message dated 9/24/02 11:17:46 PM, Chris Holm writes:

>     The Shadow is a similar character.  Driven by guilt over the atrocities he
>     committed in the East (Nepal?  Tibet?), he is desperately trying to make up
>     for his crimes.  (BTW - I've always wondered if he did all this bad stuff to
>     the
>     people of the East, why did he come to New York to try and cleanse his soul?

    ***You're referring to the origin story from the 1994 movie, which has
    nothing to do with the origin of The Shadow from Walter Gibson's pulp novels
    (in which The Shadow was in reality former aviator and spy Kent Allard) and
    very little to do with the radio origin.  The Shadow didn't commit those
    atrocities in either the pulp or radio versions, but the new movie's
    producer's chose to lift part of a new drug-smuggling origin inflicted on the
    character by Howard Chaykin in a 1986 comic book miniseries.  Part of the
    same darkening/character assasination that has plagued Batman, Green Lantern,
    MISSION
    IMPOSSIBLE's Jim Phelps and other characters in recent years since heroism
    went out of style  Maybe the success of the new SPIDER-MAN movie and TV's
    SMALLVILLE will help bring it back into fashion.***

    and chet norris asks:

>     how come in this SHADOW thread no one has mentioned BRETT MORRISON?

    ***Actually, I did in my previous posting on this thread.  In a message dated
    9/21/02 4:03:46 PM, I wrote:

>     I also feel that Bill was better suited to the rolethan 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, whileJohnstone was a natural
>     baritone.

    ***Actually, I have tremendous respect for Morrison's talents, and there's no
    denying that he starred in the series during its most popular years when it
    was broadcast over more than 300 stations.  He was a true renaissance man:
    actor, writer, director, artist, songwriter and composer.  And I agree with
    MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER-director David Kogan that Bret was one of the top
    dramatic actors in New York radio.  Just listen to Bret's incredible job of
    doubling in THE MYSTERIONS TRAVELER 08/28/51: "Fire in the Sky" (included in
    RSI's recent 40-show MYSTERY collection).  That's Bret doubling as the aged
    professor Jeremiah Jones).  And my late friend Bob Steel related to me that
    he once recruited Bret to portray a grandmother when an actress didn't show
    up - with no one the wiser.  I own a large quantity of Bret Morrison's
    professional archives, including the opera cape he wore in publicity photos
    as both Mr. First Nighter and The Shadow.
    --ANTHONY TOLLIN***

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

    Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 04:52:08 -0400
    From: lois@[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 five years, same time, same channel!

    Our numerous "regulars" include one of the busiest "golden years" actors in
    Hollywood; a sound man from the same era who worked many of the top
    Hollywood shows; a New York actor famed for his roles in "Let's Pretend" and
    "Archie Andrews;" owners of some of the best OTR sites on the Web;
    maintainer of the best-known OTR Digest (we all know who he is)..........

    and Me

    Lois Culver
    KWLK Longview Washington (Mutual) 1941-1944)
    KFI Los Angeles (NBC) 1944 - 1950
    and widow of actor Howard Culver

    (For more info, contact lois@[removed])

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

    Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 12:25:39 -0400
    From: Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  "Today in radio history" remarks

    Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed]; writes in "Today in radio history":

>     1921 - KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania started one of the first daily
>     radio newscasts in the country. The broadcast came from the city desk of
>     The Pittsburgh Post.

            As a lot of you know, KDKA is credited with making the first
    commercial radio broadcast in the USA, in 1920 - in a shack on the roof of
    the Westinghouse headquarters building - of the Harding-Cox presidential
    election results.
    That broadcast helped sell Westinghouse radios, and presaged the creation
    of the Westinghouse Network.
    Since KDKA is one of only a few (two?) commercial stations east of the
    Mississippi whose call letters don't start with "W", I've won quite a few
    bar-bets with the basic facts (although twice I had to return with my
    Encyclopaedia Britannica to prove the point).

>     1953 - Jimmy Stewart debuted in The Six Shooter on NBC. He played Britt
>     Ponset on the radio Western.

            Question: I like this show. The opening is so convincing that I've
    often wondered if Jimmy Stewart's character is based on a real person.
    Anybody know?

    Herb Harrison

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

    Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 12:26:09 -0400
    From: Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Mr. Keen, where are you?

    Kenwyn Steel, speaking of overrated shows, notes,

>     1) Mr. Keen - I find this show to be the worst of them all. Terrible
>     acting and scripts.

    I remember listening to this show when I was about 10 years old. I thought
    it was keen.
    However, I remember almost nothing about the show itself, so I might agree
    that it was terrible if I could hear it now.
    Anybody know if it's webcast online, so I could judge if it's good, bad, or
    "campy"?
    Thanks,

    Herb Harrison

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

    Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 12:26:23 -0400
    From: "Ryan Osentowski" <rosentowski@[removed];
    To: "old time radio" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  best and worst

    Hi all:

    Just adding my two cents to this thread.

    Best shows:  Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (five-part shows), Dragnet
    (1949-1951), Gunsmoke, The Whistler (Bill Foremann), The Green Hornet,
    Gangbusters, Dimension X, Night Beat, Escape, Tales of the Texas Rangers,
    Phil Harris and Alice Fae, Fort Laramie, X Minus One, The Six Shooter, The
    Shadow (Orson Welles and Bill Johnstone), Lights Out and The Bickersens

    Worst shows:  Inner Sanctum, The Man Called X, Boston Blacky, Have Gun Will
    Travel, This is Your FBI (you can tell Mr. Hoover rubber-stamped this one)
    and My Favorite Husband.

    RyanO

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

    Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 12:26:35 -0400
    From: Derek Tague  <derek@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Joe Penner/"Komedy Kapers"

    Hi Gang:

       Radio's most overrated & underrated shows? I'll gladly listen to anything
    from  the OTR era, for, IMHO, even the worse OTR programmes are infinitely
    better than anything  presently being offered by the "vast wasteland."
       Anyway, I've only encountered two shows that I actually hated, both
    allegedly being "comedies."
       I never saw the appeal of Joe Penner. In spite of the fact that I always
    strive to allow for a different mindset  that existed in the 1930s,
    I just don't get it. The only lasting legacies that Penner gave us were a
    coupla over-used catch-phrases ("Wanna buy a duck?" & "You nasssty man!),
    and giving Mel Blanc his first big break in network radio (for that alone, OTR
    fans should be eternally grateful).  I actually find"Egghead," the Warner
    [removed] "Tex" Avery cartoon caricature of Penner,
    more endearing than Penner himself--at least Egghead's stories were good.

       The other show in which I failed to see the humour was  a 15-minute show
    called "Komedy Kapers." I had never heard of this bit of obscuriana
    until I bought a cassette of it at last year's FOTR convention. Figuring that
    since the show spelled both "comedy" & "capers" with "K's," I ventured to
    think that it just HAD to be [removed]
    Boy, was I mistaken. Does anybody have any more info on the producers &
    performers of this programme, including other OTR credits? If so, then I can
    proceed with caution whenever purchasing future tapes.

    Yours in the ether,

    Derek  Tague

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

    Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 12:26:53 -0400
    From: Derek Tague  <derek@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  A   tale of two Tollins

    Jell-O Again, Digest-ers:

        I address this to my buddy Texas Tony Tollin:

        Your family history was quite interesting, but would you please clarify
    something? Is the pronunciation TOE-lin, or TAH-lin. I've heard both. Which do
    you personally prefer?
        Maybe only "The Shadow [removed]"

    Derek Tague

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

    Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 12:27:06 -0400
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Pre-1930 Radio Drama

    On 9/25/02 12:17 AM OldRadio Mailing Lists wrote:

>     This is only part of the problem.  Numerous dramatic presentations were
>     on the air before Sept. 24, 1933.

    The WGY Players began the first regularly-scheduled series of radio
    dramas over WGY, Schenectady in September 1922. This was an anthology
    program presenting adaptations of stage plays, enacted by a group of
    actors gathered for the most part from community theatre groups around
    the Albany-Troy-Schenecdady area, and was supervised by one Edward Smith.

    The first American drama to be written specifically for radio was
    probably "When Love Wakes" by Fred Smith, program director of WLW
    Cincinnati, and first broadcast in April 1924.

    The first dramatized program to feature continuing characters was "Sam
    'n' Henry" by Correll and Gosden, beginning over WGN, Chicago on 1/12/26.
    The program was primarily a drama with comic leavening, not straight
    comedy.

    The first network dramatic program was probably "Famous Characters in
    Literature," a Thursday night half-hour anthology program heard on the
    Red Network during 1926, even before the formation of NBC.

    The first network dramatic program to feature continuing characters was
    "Real Folks" by George Frame Brown, beginning in August 1928 -- a weekly
    half hour revolving around the residents of the small town of
    "Thompkinsville," and centered on the general store run by the town's
    mayor, Matt Thompkins. The series was a thinly-veiled reworking of "Luke
    Higgins' Main Street Stories," a series Brown presented as a local
    feature on WOR, Newark in 1927-28

    The first network serial program was "Amos 'n' Andy" by Correll & Gosden
    moving to NBC Blue
    on 8/19/29 after eighteen months as a syndicated feature. Like "Sam 'n'
    Henry," the program in its original form was more drama than comedy.

    Other important dramatic features on network radio before the end of the
    1920s included "The National Players"(1927), "Bible Dramas" (1927),
    "Soconyland Sketches"(1928), "The True Story Hour"(1928),"The Empire
    Builders" (1929), "Johnson and Johnson Melodramas"(1929), "The True
    "Harbor Lights"(1929), "Mystery House"(1929), "Arabesque"(1929),
    "Mountainville True Life Sketches" (1929), "Heroes of the World" (1929),
    "Ken-Rad Cabin Nights" (1929), "Forty Fathom Trawlers"(1929), "McFadden
    Red Seal Hour" (1929), "The Family Goes Abroad" (1929) "Famous Loves"
    (1929) and "True Detective Mysteries" (1929). This isn't an exhaustive
    list by any means, but you get the idea -- while drama wasn't the
    dominant form during the early years of network radio, neither was it
    neglected.

    Elizabeth

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

    Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 12:27:25 -0400
    From: James Hunt <jameshunt@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Update/Reply

    After reflecting on my comments that appeared in the previous issue
    regarding the inculcating of the sound
    patterns of the horses' hooves on "The Lone Ranger", I now realize that this
    procees evolved over the
    years. When the show debuted on radio in the early thirties the actors
    and/or sound technicians were
    slapping their chests, [removed]
    At some point in time the sand box together with the pebbles/rocks and
    plungers was introduced and remained
    a permanent fixture from then on.
    David Buswell was commenting on and seeking responses to a different
    voice(es) that he heard narrating a 1941 Ranger
    show. Someone other than Fred Foy. Also about a totally different intro than
    the one Foy used.
    There were at least four or perhapes more anouncers/narrators that preceded
    Fred Foy. Mr. Foy was not heard until
    July of 1948 and remained until the last "Live" broadcast in 1954.
    Fran Striker/ or some member of his staff wrote a variety of different
    introductions to "The lone Ranger" from the 30's
    through most of the 40's no doubt for a variety of reasons. I am not privy
    to the details on this. But i do know that Fran
    Striker's ending credit as "Editor" Is there for a reason. While I have
    reason to believe that he personally wrote the
    majority of The Ranger scripts he was doing the same for "The Manhunter"
    series, which, I think, was on WXYZ
    when "LR" debuted in 1933. Also further down the road he had a hand in
    creating and began scripting "Challenge Of
    The Yukon/Sgt, Preston" and "The Green Hornet".
    I have noticed in recent years while watching the black and white reruns of
    the "LR" tv series-on the end credits i read
    "Based on an original radio play [removed]" Many times a name other than
    Striker's appears.
    As far as the music on the "Lone Ranger"radio series in the early years is
    concerned, I kow that I am treading on dangerous
    turf here but I believe that "The William Tell Overture" was Not Necessarily
    The first choice of "The Powers That Be".
    Although I was not around then it is my understanding that the issue was
    resolved before the show went on the air.
    Yes different musical bridges Were Used early on. I have some very early
    shows where "The Flight Of The Bumble Bee"?
    and some of "Borodine's" music later associated with "Challenge-Yukon" is
    heard.
    Dave's list of some other classical excerpts used on "The Ranger" is right
    on the money.
    Don Hunt.

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

    Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 12:27:41 -0400
    From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  No Code In De Head

    Robert J. McKee, reminiscing on the virtues of OTR, notes,

>     It was difficult waiting for the day the mail brought the latest
>     decoder ring or other involving accessory.

    I feel it incumbent upon me to point out that there never was a "decoder
    ring" radio premium in the OTR period (an FM station in California last
    year offered a modified version of the Ovaltine Secret Decoder Ring, so
    that _is_ a radio premium).  That urban legend is beginning to take on a
    life in the OTR hobby, which should know better.

    However, rather than just letting it go at that, I think it would be
    constructive to discuss OTR "decoders."  Many of these were badges; some
    were pocket items; and I repeat, none were rings.

    To a cryptologist, most of the premiums weren't code devices; they were
    cipher items.  A _code_ is a series of letters taken as a unit, or some
    other symbol or representation to represent a word or phrase.  Thus, the
    code "SOS" means "I am in trouble and need assistance," as does the
    spoken word, "mayday."  The skull-and-crossbones symbol on a bottle
    represents "poison."

    By contrast a _cipher_ is a message where every letter of a message is
    replaced by another letter or a number.  Using the Radio Orphan Annie
    Telematic Decoder Pin set at "22," the message "24-17-6-3  6-3  19
    12-6-10-17-18-14" deciphers to "This is a cipher."  Most of the cipher
    devices used number substitution for letters.

    Shows that broadcast cipher messages favored the letter-number
    substitution.  I suspect that the reason for this was because there is
    less likely to confuse numbers than letters (E, C, D, B, and V, for
    example), particularly with the delivery of someone like Pierre Andre.

    Ovaltine had a thing for crypto devices.  Radio Orphan Annie's pins, and
    Captain Midnight's Code-O-Graphs spanned fifteen years, if we include the
    first ROA cipher in the 1934 ROA manual.  Little Orphan Annie had two
    more "decoders" when Quaker Puffed Wheat Sparkies picked up sponsorship.
    Additionally, Red Ryder had a "decoder," and there were a few others.

    Tom Mix Ralston Straight Shooters had two code offerings.  The Six-Gun
    Decoder Basdge, a 1941 premium, was a badge with a movable pointer,
    shaped like a revolver.  Pointing the barrel to one of the icons on the
    front would cause a coupled pointer on the back to indicate a word or
    phrase.  In 1946, the Tom Mix show offered a set of pinback buttons of
    various characters on the show.  On the front was an identifying photo;
    on the back, a word.  "Look on the back of your Mike Shaw button" meant
    that the answer to the question the announcer had posed was "No."

    Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

    Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 12:27:59 -0400
    From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Who Knows?

    Chet Morrison asks,

>     how come in this SHADOW thread no one has mentioned BRETT MORRISON?

    Beats me. I think he sounded precisely like the "wealthy young man about
    town" that Lamont Cranston should be.

    Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #371
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