Subject: [removed] Digest V2005 #331
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 10/27/2005 4:50 PM

To: [removed]@[removed]

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2005 : Issue 331
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      10-27 births/deaths                   [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
      If I Am Not Fpr Myself                [ "Jack Feldman" <qualitas@millenicom ]
      Johnny Dollar TV pilot / Casey Crime  [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
      WXYZ Wixie Wonderland                 [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
      Re: Abbott and Costello routine       [ alo <alo@[removed]; ]
      Free Cigarettes                       [ "Phil Stallings" <redrydertexas@sbc ]
      Another Jim Harmon Book               [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr" <skallisjr@j ]
      FOTR                                  [ JayHick@[removed] ]
      Collection                            [ "D. FISHER" <dfisher052@[removed] ]
      FOTR Video Order Forms                [ Fred Berney <fsberney@[removed]; ]
      WOTW, Profs Pierson & Cantril         [ Lee Munsick <damyankeeinva@earthlin ]
      "Essential" OTR Library: The Top Ten  [ Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@erols ]
      Stetson Kennedy and Superman - Myth?  [ Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed] ]
      Another Review of "Good Night, Good   [ seandd@[removed] ]

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

    Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 10:15:37 -0400
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  10-27 births/deaths

    October 27th births

    10-27-1890 - Bob Becker - Terryville, SD - d. 8-10-1962
    commentator: "Fireside Chats About Dogs/Pet Parade"
    10-27-1898 - Richard Carroll - Cambridge, MA - d. 3-11-1959
    writer: "Shorty Bell"
    10-27-1908 - Josephine Antoine - Boulder, CO - d. 10-30-1971
    singer: "Contented Hour"
    10-27-1910 - Jack Carson - Carmen, Manitoba, Canada (Raised: Milwaukee, WI) -
    d. 1-2-1963
    comedian: "Jack Carson Show"; "New Sealtest Village Store"
    10-27-1911 - Leif Erickson - Alameda, CA - d. 1-29-1986
    actor: Richard Rhinelander III "My Friend Irma"
    10-27-1914 - Dylan Thomas - Uplands, Swansea, Wales - d. 11-9-1953
    writer: "Life of the Modern Poet"; "Modern Muse"
    10-27-1918 - Bill Ballance - Peoria, IL - d. 9-23-2004
    talk show host: "Feminine Forum"; "Bill Ballance Show"
    10-27-1918 - Teresa Wright - New York, NY - d. 3-6-2005
    actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    10-27-1920 - Nanette Fabray - San Diego, CA
    singer, actress: "Advs. of Ellery Queen"; "MGM Musical Comedy Theatre"
    10-27-1923 - Ruby Dee - Cleveland, OH
    actress: "Story of Ruby Valentine"
    10-27-1933 - Floyd Cramer - Samti, LA - d. 12-31-1997
    country pianist: "Country Music Time"; "Country Style [removed]"
    10-27-1939 - John Cleese - Weston-Super-Mare, England
    comedian: Basil Fawlty "Fawlty Towers"

    October 27th deaths

    01-01-1900 - Xavier Cugat - Tirona, Spain - d. 10-27-1990
    bandleader: (King of the Rhumba) "Camel Caravan"
    01-12-1894 - Georges Carpentier - Lens, France - d. 10-27-1975
    boxer: Dempsey vs. Carpentier first boxing match broadcast
    03-05-1900 - Sam Hearn - Jersey City, NJ - d. 10-27-1964
    comedian: Schlepperman "Jack Benny Program, Glamour Manor"
    03-21-1919 - Lois Collier - Salley, SC - d. 10-27-1999
    actress: Carol Chandler "Dear John"
    05-26-1910 - Larry Rhine - San Francisco, CA - d. 10-27-2000
    writer: "Duffy's Tavern"
    08-26-1907 - Lester Lanin - Philadelphia, PA - d. 10-27-2004
    bandleader: "Lester Lanin and His Orchestra"; "Here's to Veterans"
    09-20-1911 - Frank De Vol - Moundsville, WV - d. 10-27-1999
    conductor: "Rudy Vallee Drene Show"; "Sealtest Village Store"; "Dinah Shore
    Show"
    09-23-1910 - Elliott Roosevelt - New York, NY - d. 10-27-1990
    commentary for the Mutual Network (Son of FDR) "Information Please"
    10-25-1891 - Father Charles Coughlin - Hamilton, Canada - d. 10-27-1979
    commentator, preacher: (The Radio Priest)
    10-29-1910 - Lew Parker - Brooklyn, NY - d. 10-27-1972
    actor: John Bickerson "The Bickersons" "Mennen Shave Time with Lew Parker"
    11-30-1914 - Charles Hawtrey - Hounslow, Middlesex, England - d. 10-27-1988
    actor, comedian: Hubert Lane "Just William"
    12-01-1886 - Rex Stout - Noblesville, IN - d. 10-27-1975
    author: Creator of Rex Stout; Debunker of Axis Propaganda "Our Secret Weapon"
    xx-xx-1929 - Alfred Hudgins - d. 10-27-2004
    disc jockey: "Blues in the Night"
    xx-xx-xxxx - Winifred Wolfe - d. 10-27-1981
    writer: "Cloak and Dagger"
    --
    Ron Sayles
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

    Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 10:15:52 -0400
    From: "Jack Feldman" <qualitas@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  If I Am Not Fpr Myself

    The suggestion that the saying came from old time radio is akin to the
    period in history when the Russians claimed to have invented everything.

    Here is the complet quote and correct source:

      If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
      If I am not for others, what am I?
      And if not now, when?

      Rabbi Hillel (30 BC - 9 AD)
    Jack Feldman

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

    Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 10:17:55 -0400
    From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Johnny Dollar TV pilot / Casey Crime
     Phgotographer

    Joe commented:
    I read on [removed] that there was a pilot for a Johnny Dollar
    TV series. [removed]
    Does anyone know if it's floating around anywhere?

    No, it's not available yet.  Whatt he site does not state it that it was
    produced through Revue Studios, part of Universal and that pilot is a
    "wanted" grail to OTR-related TV shows.  I have had people searching for
    years for that pilot, but still no dice.

    Joe also commented:
    Also, I saw a Casey Crime Photographer DVD at the [removed] anyone have
    any information on how to get it and also if the others might be available?
    I didn't buy fast enough, and when I got back it was gone.

    That was me.  It's the 1938 movie HERE'S FLASH CASEY.  Regular price DVD is
    $[removed] plus postage, but since you missed at the convention, you can still
    get the convention price $[removed] plus postage.  web-site listing tons of
    OTR-related movies and TV shows is [removed].  That web-site of ours
    has been offering the movie for years, along with such classics as the 1933
    Little Orphan Annie, all of the Fibber McGee and Molly movies and TV shows,
    Whistler TV shows, etc.

    Martin

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

    Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 10:18:12 -0400
    From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  WXYZ Wixie Wonderland

    Martin Silverman asked me at FOTR to find a copy of a book entitled WIXIE
    WONDERLAND by Dick Osgood.  It's an out-of-print book about radio station
    WXYZ in Michigan, which needs no introduction. I checked with my sources and
    cannot find any extra copies that can be spared so if anyone has an extra or
    knows where he can get one, please contact Martin Silverman at the address
    below.

    408 W. Country Line Road
    Lakewood, NJ 08701

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

    Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 10:54:56 -0400
    From: alo <alo@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Abbott and Costello routine

    At 04:10 PM 10/21/2005, "Bill Scherer" <bspro@[removed]; wrote in part:

>     About the A&C Mudder Fodder bit, it's on an Edgar Bergen show as
>     well.  Judy Garland was also on the show and it was a Father's Day
>     episode.  I don't have a date, though.

    I believe that would have been the Chase & Sanborn show dated June 21st
    1942. Garland sang "I Never Knew" on that broadcast.

    cheers,
    Amanda

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

    Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 10:56:54 -0400
    From: "Phil Stallings" <redrydertexas@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Free Cigarettes

    Good morning, All ... Phil Stallings here ... I'm retired airline pilot ....
    born and raised in Brace Beemer and Jim Harmon's hometown of Mt. Carmel,
    Illinois ... I started flying for Central Airlines (Fort Worth, TX) in 1964
    .. we merged with Frontier in 1967 ... I don't remember when the practice
    stopped, but for the first several years I flew, those little boxes of 4
    cigarettes each were handed out (free) to the passengers on our flights ...
    just thought some of ya'll might remember that, also .... excuse me while
    light up and pour myself another cup of java .... *grin*

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

    Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 12:08:29 -0400
    From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr" <skallisjr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Another Jim Harmon Book

    One of the earliest books I got on OTR was Jim Harmon's The Great Radio
    Heroes.  However, another book he wrote I snapped up when new: Jim
    Harmon's Nostalgia Catalogue.  This second book encompasses more than
    OTR, though there is a sizable OTR component.

    A good chunk of the book concerns radio premiums.  Mr. Harmon had photos
    of the various premiums printed oversize, so those of us who sent for
    them growing up would behold them "as we remembered."  A nice idea.

    Many radio premiums had little connection to the shows.  The Kix Atomic
    Bomb Ring, known to most of us kids as The Lone Ranger Atom Bomb Ring,
    anachronistic as that sounds, didn't have the same connection to its show
    as, say, the Dragon's Eye Ring did to the Jack Armstrong show, in the
    Sulu Sea sequence.  The Sky King radio premiums, which were among the
    most creative ever offered, were almost incidental to the show.

    But the premiums were an integral part of the OTR experience for most
    kids of the time.  Many of them strengthened the bond between show and
    young listener: each owning one had a physical manifestation of the show
    in his or her hands.

    Listeners to Little Orphan Annie and Captain Midnight used the shows'
    cryptological premiums ("decoder pins" and "Code-O-Graphs," respectively)
    to have a closer connection to the shows.  In both cases, the encrypted
    messages were invariably clues to the forthcoming episode, highly useful
    in the oft recurring cliffhanger closing moments of a show.

    The premiums were well represented in Jim Harmon's Nostalgia Catalog.
    IMHO, if you can find a copy, it would be an excellent addition to
    anyone's OTR library.

    Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

    Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 12:08:49 -0400
    From: JayHick@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  FOTR

    Many thanks for everyone who contributed to our 30th Convention.  I could
    never have gone 30 years without much needed help.  We have the special 30th
    convention souvenir booklets available and also the regular convention
    booklets
    with convention details and bios.  They are both $[removed] each including
    postage.
    Send to Jay Hickerson, Box 4321, Hamden, CT 06514.  Again, Many thanks to our
    entire committee.  If you want the special 30th Anniversary DVD, or the DVD of
    this convention, contact  Fred Berney.  Jay

    All of the sessions were video recorded by Satellite Media Production. You
    may order them as a complete set or by individual sessions. Please contact
    Fred
    Berney at Satellite Media Production, [removed] Box 638, Walkersville, MD
    21793-0638. Phone 800-747-0856. Email: fsberney@[removed].

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

    Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 12:30:39 -0400
    From: "D. FISHER" <dfisher052@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Collection

    Well, the time has come. After 40 years of collecting OTR I have finally
    decided to give up my cassette collection. I have 146 boxes with 15 tapes in
    each box with 2 shows on each tape. That comes out to about 4380 shows. They
    have been well stored in a cabinet made just for them. In all cases they
    have all been recorded on new tape stock & in most cases they have not been
    played since the original recording. If you are interested please contact me
    & will be glad to let you know what I want for them & can email you a
    catalog. Be aware that the catalog will run about 100 pages as a Word
    document. I can't justify giving them away, but I'm willing to let them go
    at a very reasonable price. I'm only interested in getting rid of the whole
    collection, not just pick & choose. If I find no takers I will entertain the
    idea of donating them to a non-profit group (such as SPERDVAC), for shipping
    charges.

    Don Fisher.

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

    Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 13:01:57 -0400
    From: Fred Berney <fsberney@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  FOTR Video Order Forms

    The order form for this years FOTR convention is on my web site. It
    will take me about 3 weeks to get the tapes and DVDs ready, but you
    can at least take a look at the order from as well as order forms
    from past conventions.

    Fred
    [removed]

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

    Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 14:02:09 -0400
    From: Lee Munsick <damyankeeinva@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  WOTW, Profs Pierson & Cantril

    A long-time New Jersey friend (over 30 years) sent me the following re this
    Saturday, 10/29/05.
    Perhaps their Instant Analysis will be done by exhuming the ghost of Prof.
    Hadley Cantril and the specter of Prof. Richard Pierson?  I hope some of our
    readers in the Princeton area will attend and report back to us.  Here's what
    my friend wrote:

    Dear Lee - Speaking of old time radio---

    We are going to see a radio dramatization of War Of The Worlds this Saturday
    at the Sarnoff Library in Princeton.
    check it out:

    [removed]

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

    Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 15:25:03 -0400
    From: Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@[removed];
    To: OTRBB <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  "Essential" OTR Library: The Top Ten

    My cyber buddy, Ron Sayles, has started an interesting thread by
    listing what he considers the most important OTR books one should have
    on a nearby shelf.  Since I was raised in the Dairy State, I hate to
    quibble with a fellow Badger, but Ron's list will not apply to all
    vintage radio fans and collectors.

    To begin, there are only two OTR "must-have bibles":  1) Dunning's
    encyclopedia "On The Air" and 2) Jay Hickerson's "Ultimate Revised
    History of Network Programming", now in its 3rd edition. If you don't
    have these two major reference books, you're not really a serious OTR
    collector or fan.

    Beyond these two volumes, the rest of an "essential" library depends on
    whether you are 1) a researcher, historian, or serious collector, or 2)
    an OTR fan who likes to read about your favorite shows.  I would guess
    Ron falls in the latter category as most of the books he nominates
    (usually written by a frequent Digester) are fun, entertaining, and
    mainly deal with one star or one series.

    For the fan of certain stars or series, it's easy to compile your
    "essential library." You can start with a good OTR bibliography
    (Dunning has compiled an excellent one, so has Jim [removed] exceed
    300 books) and you merely check off all the books that cover the shows
    you are interested in, buy 'em, and that fills up your book shelf.

    On the other hand, if you are serious about OTR history and research
    (or you just want to answer tricky questions posted on the Digest) here
    are the eight books you must have at hand, in addition to Dunning and
    Hickerson above:

    3) "The Great Radio Heroes" by Jim Harmon  (the book that "launched"
    our hobby)

    4)  "Radio Mystery and Adventure, etc." by Jim Harmon (best book on the
    popular juvenile shows)

    5)  "Radio Stars" by Thomas A. DeLong (bio-dictionary of over 900 OTR
    stars)

    6)  "Radio Crime Fighters" by Jim Cox (detailed summary of every crime
    series)

    7)  "Handbook of Old-Time Radio" by Jon Swartz & Robert Reinehr
    (excellent composite of most network series)

    8)  "Don't Touch That Dial" by J. Fred MacDonald (Still pertinent
    although originally published in 1979)

    9)  "Radio Comedy" by Arthur Frank Wertheim (Best overview
    concentrating on most of the comedy series)

    10) "Hake's Price Guide to Character Toy Premiums" by Ted Hake (Radio
    premiums are too important not to have at least one good reference
    source.  Hake's book is better than the more well-known "Tomart's Price
    Guide to Radio Premium and Cereal Box Collectibles")

    Jack French
    (whose book "Private Eyelashes" does not appear on Ron's list either)

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

    Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 18:27:05 -0400
    From: Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Stetson Kennedy and Superman - Myth?

    Folks;

       Forgive this long-winded posting (which is in my role as subscriber, not
    as listmaster), but I need to give some background before approaching the
    real issue. According to many articles available on the Internet as well as
    multiple books, Stetson Kennedy infiltrated the KKK and funneled information
    not only to law enforcement, but to the writers of radio's "Adventures of
    Superman," which incorporated the details into the plot. From Metroactive:

    - --
    THE MOST noteworthy Superman radio episodes are
    described in Weyn Craig Wade's indispensable history of the
    Ku Klux Klan, The Fiery Cross. According to Wade, Stetson
    Kennedy, a reporter for the short-lived lefty newspaper PM,
    went undercover into the Klan, learning the secret passwords
    and countersigns used by the Grand Dragon "Doc" Green's
    vicious Klavern No. 1 of Atlanta. For sport, Kennedy passed
    on the info to writers of the Superman radio show about that
    comic-book character whom Wade calls "the ultimate
    antifacist."

    As Wade relates the incident:

       The writers jumped on the idea and Superman ... began
       trouncing the Klan over the airways, a battle replete with
       obviously authentic detail. During the first broadcast, "Doc"
       Green received a phone call from the Atlanta AP bureau chief:

       "Superman's really on your trail ... sounds to me like
       Superman's got a pipeline into your klaverns somehow. You'd
       better watch your step."

       "I smell a rat," the Dragon said bitterly. "Just wait till I get my
       hands on him!"

       "You'd better make it snappy--Superman just flew over your
       Imperial Palace to case the joint."

       "Nuts," the Doctor said, and hung up.

    Green had to change his passwords because of the show. The
    Klan chief tried to retaliate by pressuring Pep Cereal--sponsors
    of the Adventures of Superman--off of grocery shelves in
    Atlanta. Despite Green's actions, the sponsors continued to
    green-light the anti-Klan shows.
    - --

       This detail is repeated or referenced in many many articles, some noting
    four weeks' worth of shows, others noting only four programs (likely from the
    Wikipedia article). The series usually referenced as being the shows Kennedy
    provided information for is part of the "Unity House" series, "The Clan of
    the Fiery Cross" from June of 1946. There's only one small [removed]

       It doesn't fit. Not even a little bit.

       I listened to this entire series, and although the Clan of the Fiery Cross
    is a Klan-like organization, there is no "inside information" in this
    storyline; the leader is the "Grand Scorpion" and the supreme national leader
    is the "Grand Imperial Mogul" (no Imperial Wizard here), no passwords or
    secret rituals are mentioned (hooded men meeting in a field to
    tar-and-feather Jimmy and Perry doesn't rise to "secret information" level,
    the way passwords or handshake descriptions would), the eventual motive is
    shown to be financial profit, etc. This sixteen-episode storyline, while
    terrifyingly powerful (I urge everyone to listen to it, it's really amazing),
    simply cannot be the series referenced by Wade.

       MetaFilter says:

    - --
    The resulting episodes, titled "Clan of the Fiery Cross'" (listen to them
    here) incorporated actual Klan terminology and rituals, exposing the nation
    to the inner workings of this "secret" organization.
    - --

       ...but that's just not right; there's _no_ Klan termonology used in that
    series, indeed there are alterations to _avoid_ legitimate Klan termonology
    in this storyline, even that which was not secret at the time. Makes one
    wonder if anyone actually _listened_ to the episodes before posting the
    assertion that this is the storyline in question.

       A blurb on the University Press of Florida website, selling a reprint of
    Stetson's "The Klan Unmasked," says:

    - --
    As a result, for a time in the 1940s, Washington news commentator Drew
    Pearson was reading Klan meeting minutes on national radio, and radio's
    Superman had America's kids sharing the most current Klan passwords as fast
    as the Dragon could think up new ones.
    - --

       ...again, no evidence of _any_ of that here (although I am limiting my
    research to Superman, I'd love to hear evidence of the Pearson story if it
    happened).

       On the advice of one of our subscribers (waves to Brian), I listened to
    the entire "Knights Of The White Carnation" series from February/March 1947,
    unfortunately finding basicallly the same thing. While the Knights are also a
    Klan-like group, this time the leaders are businessmen and politicians
    instead of working-class thugs. There's no mention of passwords or rituals,
    just a bunch of narrow-minded bigots who get their eventual comeuppance. This
    storyline is even less likely to use any "inside dope" from the real Klan,
    since instead of white robes and burning crosses, these Knights meet over
    brandy snifters while hiring gamblers and worse to do their dirty work (the
    leader is the publisher of the Planet's rival newspaper).

       Other websites make reference to this mysterious series of episodes having
    exposed the Klan's handshake and codenames to mockery, and insist the Klan's
    recruiting boom imploded immediately thereafter. At least in the two series
    I've already heard, _none_ of this occured. And it's quite clear the blogs
    just assume the stories to be true, endlessly repeating them without being
    able to identify any series other than "Fiery Cross," or even questioning any
    of the tale.

       I have to admit I am seriously perplexed, especially since none of the
    descriptive logs of the series available on the Net even _mention_ the "real"
    Klan. If Wade is correct in his information, does anyone know which series
    contains a "Doc" Green, or any of these secret rituals? If Wade is
    _incorrect_ causing all derivitave works (including the recent
    "Freakonomics") to be wrong in the same way, exactly what information _did_
    Stetson Kennedy provide to the Superman script writers, and how and in what
    series was it used? Is it possible _all_ of the memories of this are faulty,
    and the "embarassment" Kennedy caused the Klan and its leadership through the
    "Adventures of Superman" radio series is nothing more than folklore, or at
    least exaggeration based on faded memory?

       Any Superman specialists out there who can help? What originally started
    started as researech for someone else has turned into a personal curiosity
    which I simply cannot let go. I can't believe that no one has looked
    skeptically at this information before, so leads to information proving or
    disproving Kennedy's involvement in the radio series is desperately requested.

             Charlie

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

    Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 18:40:51 -0400
    From: seandd@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Another Review of "Good Night, Good Luck"

    Here's another review of Goodnight, Good Luck.

    Sean Dougherty
    SeanDD@[removed]

    [removed]

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2005 Issue #331
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