Subject: [removed] Digest V2006 #45
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 2/12/2006 7:35 AM

To: [removed]@[removed]

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2006 : Issue 45
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Looking for [removed]               [ Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed] ]
      re: Jack Benny and Isaac Stern        [ "Mark E. Higgins" <paul_frees_fan@a ]
      George O' Hanlon                      [ "kclarke5@[removed]" <kclarke5@juno. ]
      Theater Five                          [ "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed] ]
      This week in radio history            [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
      Hawaiian-themed OTR?                  [ JJLjackson@[removed] ]
      Jack Benny benefit concerts           [ "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed] ]
      Radio Digest publisher, [removed] Rayner   [ "claremont@[removed]" <claremont@jun ]
      mini-article How to Collect Quality   [ Rutledge Mann <cliff_marsland@yahoo ]
      obscure kids/adventure serials        [ Rutledge Mann <cliff_marsland@yahoo ]

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

    Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2006 14:08:27 -0500
    From: Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Looking for [removed]

    Folks;

       I am searching for programs originally aired on 15 March 1956. Anyone with
    info (yep, I know about YTJD's fourth episode of, "The Clinton Matter")
    should contact me directly; I will cheerfully summarize for the list, and if
    I can acquire enough and there's interest, make the shows available.

             Charlie

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

    Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2006 16:27:38 -0500
    From: "Mark E. Higgins" <paul_frees_fan@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  re: Jack Benny and Isaac Stern

        I have a tape copy of a 1978 Capitol Record Album (L8108) entitled
    "Jack Benny Fiddles with the Classics".  It's a cute album, in which
    Jack tells Mary the story of how he came to play the violin as he does.
    The tale is that he began playing as a boy, and through practice became
    a very accomplished musician.  When he buys his first violin, however,
    the store proprietor tries to talk him out of the purchase, because the
    the violin has a gypsy curse on it, which requires that the owner never
    play The Flight of the Bumblebee.  After years of resisting audience
    requests for the number, he finally gives in to the request, and finds
    out that the curse is that he has to go back to the beginning and start
    over, which is why he now plays as though he's only had a few lessons.
        The recording includes Mary Livinston as herself, Mel Blanc as
    Professor LeBlanc, and the German music store proprietor, and has
    several serious classical violin pieces, which are all performed by
    Isaac Stern, although in the story, they are presented as Jack's
    virtuoso playing prior to the curse kicking in.  I assume that Jack did
    all the post-curse playing.

    Mark

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

    Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2006 17:31:45 -0500
    From: "kclarke5@[removed]" <kclarke5@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  George O' Hanlon
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

           I was reading through the birth/death dates and came across the name
    of George O' Hanlon.  Somehow or another it seemed to ring a bell for me.
    Wasn't he the actor who was the voice of George Jetson in the cartoon,
    "The Jetsons" several years ago, or might I be mistaken yet again?

           BTW, Janet Waldo's name was on the list recently as well.  Didn't she
    provide the voice of several cartoon characters as well?  I realize that this
    information doesn't specifically deal with OTR, but these two performers,
    Mel Blanc, and I'm sure many others were radio performers before expanding
    voicing cartoon characters which many of us may remember.  I'm sure there
    were many others.

    Another OTR Fan,

    Kenneth Clarke

      *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
      ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

    Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2006 19:38:16 -0500
    From: "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed];
    To: "OTR" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Theater Five

>     Dear readers of the Old Time Radio Digest, while listening to some episodes
>     of Theater Five, I have several questions about this program.

    Jim Taylor asked a number of questions about Theater Five.  I can answer a
    few with info I found in newspaper archives at an online database.

    In obituaries for Edward Byron in the NY Times and Washington Post in Nov
    1964 it noted that he created "Mr. District Attorney" and one of the first
    giveaway shows, "Pot o' Gold'

    During WWII he was Douglas McArthur's radio officer, with the rank of major.
    In that capacity he helped establish Radio Guinea which put MacArthur on the
    air in New Guinea.

    He was creator of 'Moon River', a long-running radio show

    He headed his own company, Ed Byron productions for years before he joined
    NBC in NY  in 1960.  He left NBC in the spring of 1964 to go to ABC.  He
    produced a series called "Theater Five" .   It states in the obit that
    'Theater Five' is not broadcast in the NY area, but ABC supplies it to
    affiliates who schedule it to fit their own needs.

    In June 1965 in a column by Paul Gardner in the NY Times, in writing about
    'Theater Five' he writes that tiny WJRZ [Newark, NJ] purchased the dramas in
    May 1965 'and has found them so successful that it will keep them on the air
    through next spring"and noted that the station had received more than 100
    positive letters after the first broadcast.

    In Jack Gould's column in the NY Times, July 11, 1965, entitled 'Rebirth of
    Spoken Drama" writes of WJRZ which he calls 'a true haven for the nostalgic
    radio fan.'  There is much detail in this column about the 'Theater Five'
    episodes.  Lee Bowman took over as sole executive producer of 'Theater Five'
    after Ed Byron's death. ( If you or anyone else is interested I can email
    you the column.  It's in Adobe Pdf format.)

    In his column in the Chicago Tribune of Oct 15, 1965 Larry Wolters  writes
    of the success of 'Theater Five'.  He notes that it is broadcast over WLS-FM
    in Chicago and some 95 other stations in the US and 'It is done in many
    foreign countries, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Virgin
    Islands, Trinidad, and Jamaica.  It also is dubbed in Spanish for Latin
    American countries'.  There is a lot more information about Lee Bowman and
    the 'Theater Five' programs, including the 'distingished performers' who
    have appeared on the program (for cheap).

    I checked Dunning's entry for 'Theater Five' and he writes that Theater Five
    was broadcast on ABC, New York from Aug 3. 1964 to July 30, 1965, daily on
    weekdays.  From the information  above we know that the program did not run
    in NY until WJRZ purchased the dramas in May 1965.   'Theater Five' did not
    appear in the NY Times radio listings until the June of 1965 and that was
    for WJRZ

    WJRZ became a country-western station and broadcaster of the Mets games in
    the late 60s.

    Again, if you (or anyone else) would like copies of these documents, let me
    know and I'll email them to you.

    Irene

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

    Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2006 20:39:07 -0500
    From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  This week in radio history

     From These Were The Days --

    2/12

    1924 - Calvin Coolidge, known by many as the 'Silent Cal', made the
    first presidential political speech on radio. The speech originated from
    New York City and was broadcast on five radio stations. Some five
    million people tuned in to hear the President speak.

    1924 - The Eveready Hour became radio's first sponsored network program.
    The National Carbon Company took the honor of being the first sponsor of
    a network show.

    1940 - Mutual presented the first broadcast of Superman. The identity of
    the man from planet Krypton was unknown to listeners for six years. The
    secret eventually leaked out that Superman's voice was actually that of
    Bud Collyer.

    2/15

    1932 - George Burns and Gracie Allen debuted as regulars on The Guy
    Lombardo Show on CBS.

    1943 - My True Story was heard for the first time on ABC.  The program
    continued for 17 years and was presented in cooperation with True Story
    magazine.

    2/18

    1949 - Yours Truly Johnny Dollar debuted on CBS. The program starred
    Charles Russell as the insurance investigator with the action-packed
    expense account.

    Joe

    --
    Visit my home page:  [removed]~[removed]

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

    Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2006 21:01:10 -0500
    From: JJLjackson@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Hawaiian-themed OTR?
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    American Radio Theater, in Seattle, is in the planning stages for our two-day
    event for Sept 16-17. One of the things we'd like to do is an OTR show with a
    Hawaiian theme to it.

    We've been gathering suggestions, like Duffy's Tavern's Hawaiian vacation
    slogan.

    The other part of the equation--we'd love to do a show that no longer exists
    in  a recorded form, but only as a script. But if that doesn't exist, we'd
    consider transcribing from a recording.

    Any ideas from the combined wisdoms of the OTR Digesters?

    Thanks for any suggestions you might offer.

    Joy Jackson
    American Radio Theater
    JJLjackson@[removed]

      *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
      ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

    Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2006 00:16:08 -0500
    From: "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed];
    To: "OTR" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Jack Benny benefit concerts

    Being in a searching mood I again went to the archival newspaper database
    and found more info on Jack's benefit concert works.   These are just a few
    of the 100 or so benefit concerts he was said to have performed at.   I've
    found that this database misses things.   Google it aint.   But it's
    nonetheless valuable in what it does find.

    April 23, 1957 - LA Times
    Jack Benny in his West Coast debut as violin soloist with the LA
    Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Alfred Wallenstein in a benefit concert
    for free bed care at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital.  "Benny's numbers are
    scheduled as the first movement from Mendelsohn's Concerto in E Minor for
    Violin and Orchestra, Sarsate's Gypsy Airs, and excerpts from
    Rimsky-Korsakoff's Capriccio Espagnol.   A little 'Love in Bloom' will be
    heard during one of the numbers. "  Dorothy Kirsten appeared as guest
    artist.  [raised over $70,000]

    January 1958 - Chicago Tribune
    Benefit concert at Civic Opera House, with members of the Chicago Symphony
    under the direction of Walter Susskind.

    April 8, 1959 - NY Times - a NY Philharmonic Pension Fund Benefit Concert at
    Carnegie Hall
    advertised as 'Musical Surprise Party' - Jack Benny, Violinist and Leonard
    Bernstein conducting and MC-ing"

    April 9, 1959 - NY Times
    The take for the 'Musical Surprise Party' benefit concert was $35,600, and
    'was that large because the attraction drew a capacity audience of 2,800
    which paid a high-price scale' ranging from $20 to $250

    Some details:  (probably typical of most of his benefit concerts)  'Mr
    Benny's opening gag was the one he used two and a half years ago when he
    first appeared at
    Carnegie Hall in the first of what has turned into a series of benefit
    concerts.  That is, he came out with the utmost dignity, tucked his violin
    under his chin, bowed to the conductor and lifted his right arm to play,
    only to reveal that he did not have his bow.'  There are other details about
    the actual playing.  During one number 'the concertmaster earned Mr. Benny's
    disapproval by outdoing him.  There were many wrong notes and much
    calculated out-of-tune playing; the music turned in to 'Love and Bloom' and
    a cymbalist earned further displeasure by
    crashing too loudly four times in a row.'

    Later in the program  "..Mr Benny became the concertmaster for
    Rimsky-Korsakoff's 'Capriccio Espagnole' and earned one of his biggest
    laughs by shouting out at a particularly hectic moment 'Not so fast'."

    Chicago Tribune
    Sunday July 29, 1962 - benefit concert  with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
    at Ravinia Park.  Proceeds to be used for a new Pavilion stage at Ravinia
    Park.

    on TV in Chicago July 30, 1962 - 'Carnegie Hall Salutes Jack Benny' with
    Issac Stern, Van Cliburn, Benny Goodman and his sextet, Eugene Ormandy, and
    Roberta Peters in a tribute to the Waukegan wit for his many benefit
    concerts on behalf of musicians's pension and endowment funds. It's a
    Repeat - don't know when originally shown.

    LA Times - August 1962
    The  LA Symphony 1962-63 season will include a Jack Benny benefit concert
    for support and maintenance of the orchestra.

    LA Times
    Jan 19, 1963. - Jack Benny will be violin soloist at a special benefit
    concert of the Beverly Hills Symphony This benefit concert will be Benny's
    30th to aid charities and symphony orchestras throughout the nation.

    His previous concerts have raised $3,279,975

    Sept 28, 1964 - Chicago Tribune
    Benefit concert at Waukegan Township High School with Minneapolis Symphony
    [He flew back from Israel where he was performing in a series of benefit
    concerts]

    Oct 10, 1964 - benefit concert for the Meremblum California Junior Symphony
    Orchestra in Santa Monica Civic Auditorium

    On TV - Los Angeles - March 28, 1965
    a 60-min Special - Tape coverage of a benefit concert at The Music Center
    with Jack Benny, John Browning and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
    conducted by Zubin Mehta.  Repeat showings March 29 and April 1 - Ralph
    Edwards, host

    LA Times -
    Feb 16, 1967 - Benefit concert with Pasadena Symphony directed by Dr.
    Richard Lert sponsored by the Pasadena
    Symphony Assn.

    NY Times
    Oct 14, 1970 - Manhattan School of Music $100-a-person benefit dinner and
    show at the Waldorf - billed as a 'Salute to Jack Benny' will honor  him for
    raising almost $5 million for symphonic orchestras by contributing his
    talent at benefit concerts.

    Oct 15, 1970 - nice detailed column on the concert in the NY Times.
    mentioned the MCs were Dick Cavett and Johnny Carson.

    Jun 27, 1971 - NY Times
    referred to a Kansas City Philharmonic benefit concert with orchestra led by
    Arthur Fiedler, with Jack Benny

    July 8, 1974 - WA Post long piece by Tom Shales in a backstage interview
    with 80-year-old Jack Benny who was making an appearance at Wolf Trap with
    the Filene Center Orchestra.  During the concert Jack told the audience
    "Some people think I can play better than this.  But what you heard tonight
    was the best I can do."  One of the other bits in the concert was that from
    time-to-time the conductor would cry out 'Not yet' or 'C Sharp' to let Benny
    and all the world know that the soloist had goofed"

    Wolf Trap might have been his last concert: Perhaps Laura knows.   Jack died
    4 months later in December 1974.  I was shocked to read that his pancreatic
    cancer was diagnosed days before he died.   When word got out there was a
    procession of his celebrity friends to his house.

    By this time Jack was said to have raised almost $6 million for 100
    symphonic orchestras.

    This guy really deserves a stamp, or a bunch of them.

    Irene

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

    Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2006 00:16:35 -0500
    From: "claremont@[removed]" <claremont@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Radio Digest publisher, [removed] Rayner

    Dear All,

    I have been trying in vain to find out information about my grandfather, [removed]
    Rayner, who was the creator and publisher of Radio Digest in the 1920's.

    I have bid on old Radio Digest magazines on EBay when I can find them to try
    to piece information together about him.  I have also searched the web
    repeatedly.  There are always just two hits: an article by Elizabeth McLeod
    Posts that refers to [removed] Rayner's involvement in getting Amos 'n' Andy
    syndicated and another that notes his attendance at the Fourth National Radio
    Conference presided over by Herbert Hoover.  That's it.

    It occurred to me that one of you, of the old time radio network, might know
    something about him! Any information that you have would be greatly
    appreciated.

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

    Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2006 00:36:30 -0500
    From: Rutledge Mann <cliff_marsland@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  mini-article How to Collect Quality OTR on a
     budget

    Hi,

       If anyone wants it, I've written an article "How to
    Collect Quality OTR on a Budget". Like most people, I
    like some box sets too, but at up to 60 bucks a pop,
    often for only 10 CDs (3 bucks a show, I can get 24
    quality shows from reel for that price) - OTR is kinda
    like eating, it's ok to splurge sometimes, but most of
    the time we have to stick to the diet.  I've tried to
    go for more shows without sacrificing very much
    quality.  Often, I can pick up very nice quality reels
    for a minimal price.  It also has common sense stuff
    like OTR Clubs, dealers; Ed Carr, etc.  It's in Word
    (.doc) format, email me if you want a copy (free).
        It's great to support dealers too.  I don't
    usually have extra money to spend a ton but I do pick
    up reels mostly, and I purchase CDs at the convention.
     I'm not affiliated with OTR dealing, it's just common
    sense stuff of how I collect on a budget.  It mostly
    deals with non-compressed, .wav, CD or reel sources.
    Drop me a line if you want it.

    [removed] I was listening to eps of Sherlock Holmes from
    '33 and '34 (in general circulation) this week -
    they're not bad for early 30s shows.

    Trav

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

    Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2006 01:27:47 -0500
    From: Rutledge Mann <cliff_marsland@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  obscure kids/adventure serials

    A few weeks ago, Jack French had brought up some
    obscure adventure serials.  I would like to bring up
    one, "Rip Lawson, Adventurer!!" on the Soundcript
    label. At least nine episodes exist, and I'm sure more
    are out there somewhere.  Anyone have any more?  #1
    and #7 are the ones in common circulation.

    Guests of Doom is a 1930s dark house serial; I think
    at least 3-4 eps survive, hopefully more will turn up.

    THe Penthouse Murder Mystery, circa 1931,1932, or 1933
    is pretty dreadful, but 1 1/2 eps survive (goldin has
    1/2 ep under the Ghost.). From the best I can tell,
    this is the cast of Penthouse:
    Jimmy Mills: announcer
    Don Ritz: (?)  sounds like Innis or Intz  announced as
    part of the "famous Ritz(?) brothers"
    Isabel Dawn  [removed]
    Rush Hughes as Rollins Eubanks
    Hal Raywin (?) as Gerald Norton
    [removed]
    Jimmy Reagan as director

    It's mentioned Isabel Dawn was in "White Cargo", but I
    can't find mention of her in that.  They mentioned she
    was on the NY stage.  Perhaps it was local - anyone
    know the year?  The production values are terrible,
    and  the announcer mumbles.  It doesn't help when the
    audio grade of the ET is Fair-Good.

    There's also Captain Danger, a hilariously dreadful
    show.  There's at least 1 ep, although I've heard
    there might be more.

    There's also Black Magic, The Black Ghost, and Thrill
    Hunter from [removed] McGregor, mid-30s Canadian series.  A
    handful of each are around.

    While I'm at it, I'd also like to chip in with a
    defense of WJSV.  Although some of the shows weren't
    so great, it's nice to have preserved them.  I only
    wish that the CBS day had preserved I Love A Mystery
    from June, 1944.

    The WJSV thing kind of brings up the eternal question
    of what's worth transferring/recording and what's not
    - I think every OTR show is entitled to be transferred
    (or at the very least, not to be thrown away, no
    matter how wretched it is) eventually but some have a
    lot less priority than others for me.  An example, I
    bought a bunch of AFRS and other discs overseas a few
    years back, and it contained a lot of Orel Roberts and
    stuff I had zilch interest in, which would have
    brought economy shipping to 100 bucks.  I left part of
    the lot with a collector overseas, I couldn't justify
    the shipping, and besides, I couldn't afford the full
    shipping at the time, for stuff I didn't want and
    would take up valuable room.

    Trav

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2006 Issue #45
    ********************************************

    Copyright [removed] Communications, York, PA; All Rights Reserved,
      including republication in any form.

    If you enjoy this list, please consider financially supporting it:
       [removed]

    For Help: [removed]@[removed]

    To Unsubscribe: [removed]@[removed]

    To Subscribe: [removed]@[removed]
      or see [removed]

    For Help with the Archive Server, send the command ARCHIVE HELP
      in the SUBJECT of a message to [removed]@[removed]

    To contact the listmaster, mail to listmaster@[removed]

    To Send Mail to the list, simply send to [removed]@[removed]