Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #217
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 6/30/2004 8:11 PM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2004 : Issue 217
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  The Cowboy Kid                        [ Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@erols ]
  Here's Lucy DVD                       [ seandd@[removed] ]
  #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Nig  [ charlie@[removed] ]
  Waukegan                              [ "Michael Leannah" <mleannah@charter ]
  Re: Forties Comedy                    [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
  Non-Contact Audio Restoration         [ "Doug Leary" <doug@[removed]; ]
  My client curley                      [ Robert Sheldon <rsheldon@sbcglobal. ]
  Non-Contact Audio Restoration         [ "RBB" <oldradio@[removed]; ]
  Re: Country Wide Silent Period        [ "Jim Pogras" <jimpo@[removed]; ]
  Funny Side Up                         [ "Tim Hughes" <rekokut@[removed]; ]
  review of portable Memorex MPD8507CP  [ "Tim Hughes" <rekokut@[removed]; ]
  Parley Baer                           [ "mike ray" <mikeray42@[removed]; ]
  7-1 births/deaths                     [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Mercedes McCambridge Arail            [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]

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

Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2004 21:21:26 +0000
From: Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  The Cowboy Kid

Penne Yingling asks about Bobby Benson, a show in the 40s with a Western theme.

There were actually two series with Bobby Benson in the lead, as the orphan 
kid with his own ranch in the Big Bend section of Texas. The first one 
began in 1932 on CBS called "The H Bar O Rangers" and ran until 1936. Among 
the lads who portrayed Bobby at the microphone was Billy Halop, later to 
become the leader of the Dead End Kids on stage and in film. A second 
series, "Bobby Benson and the B -Bar-B Riders" aired on Mutual from 1949 to 
1954. Ivan Cury, and later, Clive Rice, voiced the Cowboy Kid, and both 
actors are still alive and well. While no audio copies have survived from 
the CBS series, there are approximately 20 in circulation from the latter.

A lengthy article by your truly, covering both series, is posted on the web 
site of Jerry Haendiges, "Vintage Radio" at
[removed]

Jack French
Editor: RADIO RECALL
[Author, "Private Eyelashes" - [removed]  --cfs3]

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

Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2004 21:21:34 +0000
From: seandd@[removed]
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Here's Lucy DVD

Another review of the Lucille Ball DVD collection makes note of the fine 
episode of her series that guest starred Jack Benny.

Sean Dougherty
SeanDD@[removed]

HERE'S Lucy Best Loved Episodes
[removed] - Canada
... Stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Carol Burnett, Jackie
Gleason, Johnny Carson, Milton Berle, and Jack Benny are characters in
her humorous ...
<[removed];

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

Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 02:12:00 -0400
From: charlie@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Night!

A weekly [removed]

For the best in OTR Chat, join IRC (Internet Relay Chat), StarLink-IRC
Network, the channel name is #OldRadio.  We meet Thursdays at 8 PM Eastern
and go on, and on! The oldest OTR Chat Channel, it has been in existence
over six years, same time, same channel! Started by Lois Culver, widow
of actor Howard Culver, this is the place to be on Thursday night for
real-time OTR talk!

Our "regulars" include OTR actors, soundmen, collectors, listeners, and
others interested in enjoying OTR from points all over the world. Discussions
range from favorite shows to almost anything else under the sun (sometimes
it's hard for us to stay on-topic)...but even if it isn't always focused,
it's always a good time!

For more info, contact charlie@[removed]. We hope to see you there, this
week and every week!

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

Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 09:18:20 +0000
From: "Michael Leannah" <mleannah@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Waukegan

Hello Anybody--
     I stopped in Waukegan a couple of days ago and spoke with the owner of a
business near the Genessee Theater who said the restoration project has
become a complete mess.         As you might recall, two Junes ago a statue
of Jack Benny was unveiled across from the theater. It was a weekend of
celebration featuring performances by Benny impersonator Eddie Carroll,
radio show reenactments by the International Jack Benny Fan Club, speeches
by local officials, and more.
     Those in attendance were allowed to view the interior of the Genessee
Theater, where premier showings of Jack's movies were run. We were told the
theater was to be renovated and were led to believe that after the work was
completed, a performance by Eddie Carroll and a Jack Benny movie would
highlight the reopening.
     There is work going on at the theater but not much progress is being
made. It looks like a wreck. The man I spoke with said funds have not just
run out, they have been pilfered and several individuals are under
investigation. The box office has been removed, not restored, original
theater seats have been ripped out and trashed, porcelain fixtures have been
stripped and looted.
     If what this man says is true, it is purely a shame. I know a lot of
people who were looking forward to seeing the place restored to its original
beauty, the way many theaters around the country have been. This looks like
a disaster.
     I intend to further investigate this matter and will post again here
when I get more information.

Michael Leannah
Sheboygan, Wisconsin

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

Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 09:18:46 +0000
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Forties Comedy

On 6/29/04 8:30 PM [removed]@[removed] wrote:

 >How could you get Fred Allen, who you practically have to have a masters in
 >American history to get at this point, and not find the rest of it funny?

Well, I have to admit that I've loved Fred Allen since I was fourteen
years old, but have little use for any Marx Brothers picture made after
they left Paramount.  And Abbott and Costello have never, under any
circumstances, made me laugh.

I'm not entirely sure why it is -- but maybe it's just that I sense a
real pasteurized-process quality in so much of the mass-produced,
committee-written, Hollywoodized humor of the forties, especially from
about 1945 onward. It strikes me as a *product* cynically ground out for
mass consumption, and makes no real attempt to hide it. There are
exceptions -- Allen, Benny, Henry Morgan, and perhaps Harris/Faye jump to
mind. But so much postwar radio comedy was the sort of limp gag-file
jokes that could be read by anyone that it just doesn't work for me. The
exceptions I've cited *do* work specifically because they *aren't* that
generic written-by-three-guys-named-Zelmo stuff.

I do think, though that Lileks has a good point: comedy movies were made
to be viewed with a large theatre audience, and were written, directed,
timed, and performed for such an audience. Their impact, and the quality
of their humor, cannot be adequately judged by from viewing them alone on
a TV set. Even a moldy damp dishrag of a film like "The Big Store" is
slightly more tolerable when viewed with a live audience.

Elizabeth

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

Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 09:19:12 +0000
From: "Doug Leary" <doug@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Non-Contact Audio Restoration

Wow, this seems to be the real thing this time. I think this is really
exciting because at one time I was thinking of trying to do it myself.
Someone once claimed on the Internet to have scanned a phonograph record
with an ordinary photo scanner, then converted the image to sound with
software. They even submitted a sample mp3 file of the alleged result. There
were various technical rebuttals and it turned out to be a hoax, but it got
me thinking about how to really do it.

The person making the claim was sketchy on details but said he simply put a
record on a scanner and processed the round image in a spiral fashion. My
idea was to mount the record on a spindle that would ride along with the
scanhead, rolling the record against a straight edge so it would rotate as
it moved. This would produce a straightened-out scan of one revolution of
the grooves, sort of like tire tracks. Converting the shadowy ripples to
sound with software might not be all that difficult (I'm a programmer).
Certainly simpler than processing a round image.

If it worked at all, getting decent quality would require a pretty high-end
scanner, because the information in the grooves is very dense. For example,
at 78 rpm a track 3 inches from the center hole travels past the needle at
about 24 inches per second. For sound at 20,000 Hz, the tiny ripples in the
groove would occur about every 1/1000 of an inch. A 1200 dot-per-inch
scanner would barely register these patterns, let alone capture their
subtleties. Nevertheless, I had an old malfunctioning scanner that I was
going to use to try to get this to work at a crude level. Combining multiple
scans with the light source in different positions might simulate a higher
resolution scanner. That would be for later. But alas, taking apart my old
scanner with a screwdriver was as far as I got. (Maybe that explains why I'm
not a wealthy inventor!)

The Berkeley guys seem to be using a scanning method involving subatomic
particles. Rocket science compared to my idea! Now if they can just engineer
it to be cheap enough for universities and large libraries to afford it, and
can avoid getting sued by the [removed]

Doug Leary
Seattle

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

Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 09:20:16 +0000
From: Robert Sheldon <rsheldon@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  My client curley

 > For those not aware of the plot, it deals with a talent scout/agent who 
hires a
 > dancing caterpillar named "Curley"....

Yeah, I know what  "ing" is, but what was the reason Curley  came up on All 
Things Considered last week?

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

Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 09:20:38 +0000
From: "RBB" <oldradio@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Non-Contact Audio Restoration

<<<Stephen Jansen posted about the recent NPR [removed];>>

Thanks for bringing that interview to the list.  I, too, was fascinated with
listening to the two developers of the non-contact audio restoration
scanner. They were particularly interested in seeing if they could restore
and transfer the audio from old, fragile cylinders of Thomas Edison as an
initial test.

If I correctly remember the comments, their process does not eliminate the
scratches, surface noises or hisses, that would be done by another computer
software program.  However, the scanner would identify the "bumps."  This
concept  to scan and transfer is a marvelous, technical innovation.  Kudos!!

=Russ Butler  oldradio@[removed]

(Everything that is old, is new again!)

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

Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 17:48:46 +0000
From: "Jim Pogras" <jimpo@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Country Wide Silent Period

Someone asked about a silent period across the country in 1960.  This
was the one and only time that the old CONELRAD system was activated.
It was done as a test.  My dad was an engineer at WHK in Cleveland,
Ohio.  He had the honors or re-tuning the stanby transmitter for 1240
Khz.  As I remember the test ran from 1600 to 1630.  I don't remember
the exact date of this test.
-- Jim Pogras Cleveland, Ohio ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 17:48:56 +0000 From: "Tim Hughes" <rekokut@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Funny Side Up Hi, Does anyone have Funny Side Up (it was packaged in AFRTS as "Funny Side Up" and "Garry Moore-Funny Side Up") from disc or a generation off? I love that show. Tim ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 17:49:02 +0000 From: "Tim Hughes" <rekokut@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: review of portable Memorex MPD8507CP CD mp3 player Hi, I bought this player - which is basically a knockoff of the Rio Volt SP-250, for $54, at Walgreens. I bought a power adapter for $[removed] at Wal-mart. The Memorex MPD8507CP plays .mp3 and allegedly .wma, although I don't know why anyone would want to play .wma. I make custom mixes for work and on the go, at usually beween 80-128/44 mono. It also played the ultra-low 32/22. It shows id3 tags, you can search for a filename, has a few equalizer presets, and it has a resume button. It plays CD-RW's, which I use exclusively for my mixes. HOWEVER, it seems to be finicky how FAST you burn them. It wouldn't work at above 4x on the CD-RW. I haven't tried experimenting on speeds with CD-Rs. It played the few that I put in there. Occasionally, you'll have to turn it on and off a couple times to get it to read the disc successfully. I've been transferring a lot of lo-gen reels, and this has been a great way to listen to more of them. (I keep the archival .wav, of course.). What I've been doing when doing my CDs lately is, the default directory is the .wavs and a summary of what's on the shows in a .txt file. Then I have an mp3 separate folder with the mp3 so I can listen on my bedside radio. (beside Philips Expanium mp3 boombox). I've really been enjoying Escape and Our Miss Brooks. I've also been listening to an Australian mystery serial of the dark house type, except on a ship, Passage of the Tangmar - a superb series! We Americans shouldn't snub Aus OTR - they really excel at serials. The Major Keene series is SUPERB - Dossier on Dumetrius, 26 Hours, Deadly Nightshade, etc. Dumetrius was by far the best spy serial I had ever listened to. The player has its foibles, but is all-in-all a decent player for a cheap price. Tim From 'will you?' to 'I do,' MSN Life Events is your resource for Getting Married. [removed] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 17:49:19 +0000 From: "mike ray" <mikeray42@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Parley Baer Hi Gang: A picture of our beloved friend Parley Baer will Be on my web site for 5 days. You can check it Out at: [removed] Best regards, Mike Ray ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 17:49:28 +0000 From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: 7-1 births/deaths July 1st births 07-01-1881 - Josef Pasternack - Czenstachown, Poland - d. 4-29-1940 conductor: "Atwater Kent Concert"; "Carnation Contented Hour" 07-01-1899 - Charles Laughton - Scarborough, England - d. 12-15-1962 actor: "Three Ring Time"; "Columbia Presents Corwin"; "Blue Ribbon Town" 07-01-1901 - Irna Phillips - Chicago, IL - d. 12-23-1973 actress, writer: Mother Moran "Today's Children"; "Guiding Light"; "Road of Life" 07-01-1902 - William Wyler - Muhlhausen, Germany - d. 7-28-1981 film director: "Screen Director's Playhouse"; "Hollywood Fights Back" 07-01-1907 - Bill Stern - Rye, NY - d. 11-19-1971 sportscaster: "Carnival of Champions"; "Colgate Sports Newsreel" 07-01-1908 - Alvino Rey - Oakland, CA - d. 2-24-2004 bandleader: "Horace Heidt and His Brigadiers" 07-01-1909 - Madge Evans - NYC - d. 4-26-1981 panelist: "Leave It to the Girls"; "Who Said That?" 07-01-1916 - Olivia De Havilland - Tokyo, Japan actress: "Plays for Americans"; "Your Hollywood Parade"; "Lux Radio Theatre" 07-01-1925 - Farley Granger - San Jose, CA actor: "Lux Radio Theatre", "Screen Guild Theatre" 07-01-1931 - Leslie Caron - Boulogne, France actress: "Lux Radio Theatre" 07-01-1934 - Jamie Farr - Toledo, OH actor: Armed Forces Radio 07-01-1934 - Jean Marsh - London, England actress: "Earplay" July 1st deaths 02-21-1938 - Wolfman Jack - Brooklyn, NY - d. 7-1-1995 disc jockey: Mexican Border Radio" 08-06-1917 - Robert Mitchum - Bridgeport, CT - d. 7-1-1997 actor: "Family Theatre"; "So Proudly We Hail" 08-08-1910 - Sylvia Sidney - The Bronx, NY - d. 7-1-1999 actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Columbia Presents Corwin"; "Philip Morris Playhouse" 12-23-1913 - Anton M. Leader - Boston, MA - d. 7-1-1988 director: "Eternal Light"; "Murder at Midnight"; "Suspense"; "Words at War" 12-26-1891 - Tony Wons - Menasha, WI - d. 7-1-1965 host: "Tony Wons Scrapbook"; "House by the Side of the Road"; "Camel Quarter Hour"
-- Ron Sayles Milwaukee, Wisconsin ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 23:11:05 +0000 From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Mercedes McCambridge Arail A friend of mine asked me whether I could identify a radio program, possibly a serial. In it, Mercedes McCambridge played a lady on a train who had killers after her. Possibly she was either guarding or seeking some gold pins. Does anyone know anything at all about this? Stephen A. Kallis, Jr. -------------------------------- End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #217 ********************************************* 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]