Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #64
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 2/19/2002 7:20 PM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2002 : Issue 64
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Thanks! I [removed]                    [ Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed] ]
      Re: Book                              [ Kenneth Clarke <kclarke5@[removed]; ]
      Re: Father Knows Best                 [ stewwright@[removed] ]
      one more Groucho                      [ John Henley <jhenley@[removed] ]
      Chimes-inspired reveries              [ leemunsick@[removed] ]
      Re:15 minute Fibber and Molly         [ Eric J Cooper <ejcooper2002@[removed] ]
      RE: The man of Bronze                 [ "Jeff Bankens" <jeff_bankens@thenew ]
      Newspaper Radio Listings              [ Grbmd@[removed] ]
      Radio System Cues                     [ "Russ Butler" <oldradio@[removed] ]
      Theme Songs                           [ "Russ Butler" <oldradio@[removed] ]
      Forget Loomis! Here's Radio in 1853!  [ GEORGE WAGNER <gwagneroldtimeradio@ ]
      Re: The one, the [removed]!     [ "Rodney w bowcock jr." <rodney-self ]
      Re: Questions                         [ "bygeorge" <bygeorge@[removed]; ]
      Re: Steve Allen show                  [ "tas richardson" <tasrichardson@spr ]
      Howard K. Smith                       [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 16:32:08 -0500
    From: Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Thanks! I [removed]

    Folks;

       A quick "Thank you!" to Tom Heathwood for his kind words about the OTR
    Digest in the most recent edition of Heritage Radio Theatre (available on the
    web at [removed] ). And it was great to hear our
    dearly-missed old friend Lon Clark in the episode of "2000 Plus" that he's
    airing this week.

       But I _am_ a little concerned about that mental patient's [removed] he
    trying to tell me something?

             Charlie Summers

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 12:13:12 -0500
    From: Kenneth Clarke <kclarke5@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Re: Book

              I'm still looking for a book called "Verse By The
    Side Of The Road".  Every book store I've checked
    out so far lists their inventory by the author's name and
    not the title.  Unfortunately, I don't know the author of this
    book.  If anyone knows who it is, please contact me off list
    at kclarke5@[removed] with this information.

              Also, someone asked me a question regarding one
    of the lesser known/lesser reported performers on OTR
    Arnold Stang the other day.  As far as I know, he was on the
    "Henry Morgan Show" in a second banana capacity.  Sort of
    a nerdy character, as I recall.  I remember him performing
    on "The Milton Berle Show", "The Eddie Cantor Show",
    "Let's Pretend" and "The Rise of the Goldbergs", too.  As far
    as movies are concerned, wasn't he also in "The Man With
    Golden Arm" with Frank Sinatra, in a supporting role? I think
    he wore glasses and a cap with a large bill.  Please correct
    me, if I'm wrong.  When asked if he was still alive, I had to
    say I wasn't sure.  If so, and anyone has an address, I'd like
    to know about it.

              I've heard several differing stories regarding Eddie Cantor.
    I'm not sure about the voracity of them though.  For the most
    part, the reports I've heard are very good.  His comedic talent,
    his penchant for publicly supporting various charities on his
    radio program, and ability to hold an audience are well known.
    I've also heard that during rehearsals for his show he'd steal
    other players lines and assign them to himself  and was quite
    arrogant.  Which is closer to the truth?  From what I've actually
    heard, he was quite funny and public spirited.

    As always,

    Kenneth

    "Never place a period where God has only put a comma."
    ---Gracie Allen

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 14:41:35 -0500
    From: stewwright@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Re: Father Knows Best

>     Just heard an episode of the Jack Carson show.
>     The character of Norma Jean, sounds awfully
>     similar to Kathy (the youngest daughter) on Father

    Knows Best ...

      The actress who played both roles is Norma Jean
    Nilsson.  She will be attending the Radio Enthusiasts of
    Puget Sound (REPS) Showcase in Seattle June 28-30.

      Here is a brief biographical sketch on Norma Jean that
    I wrote for last year's REPS Showcase Program.

    Norma Jean Nilsson - Since she comes down from Canada,
    Norma Jean adds an international flavor to this, her 8th
    Showcase.  Last year she was a recipient of REPS Radio
    Appreciation Award.  Her mother was a bit of historian,
    because she kept so many clippings and photos from Norma
    Jean's days in radio, television, and motion pictures.
    On her first radio show, Norma Jean worked with Rhoda
    Williams, Lou Merrill, Diana Shore, and Fred McMurray on
    Arch Oboler's Free World Theater "Your Day Is Coming."
    She had featured roles on Baby Snooks, Blonde, The Jack
    Carson Show, and Father Knows Best.  She appeared on 28
    times on the prestigious Lux Radio Theatre.  Just a small
    sampling of NJ's many shows are:  The Aldrich Family,
    Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy Show, Escape, Eternal
    Light, Gunsmoke, Honest Harold, Lady Esther's Screen
    Guild Players, Screen Director's Playhouse, Stars Over
    Hollywood, Suspense, and The World's Greatest Mother.
    The only Have Gun, Will Travel script to air twice was
    "Stardust" aka "Lola Blackwood."  Both Norma Jean and
    fellow Showcase guest Anne Whitfield played the same
    role, the niece Laurie, in the different productions of
    this episode.  Norma Jean remembers, "When I was about 15
    or 16, Jack Webb directed this unbelievable Christmas
    show.  The whole show sounded just like Dragnet.  It was
    so emotional.  It was the only time on radio that I could
    not control my tears.  I don't know if it was the writing
    or the directing. The show just seemed to write itself,
    which probably meant that Jack Webb was a good director."
    Norman Jean mentioned as a child, she was frightened of
    directors.  "I remember Arch Oboler terrified me, so he
    must have been great."

      For more information on the upcoming Showcase, go to
    the REPS Web Site at:
    [removed]

      One of the items in this year's REPS Showcase silent
    auction will be a specially signed copy of John Dunning's
    book "On The Air."

    Signing off for now,

    Stewart

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 14:46:07 -0500
    From: John Henley <jhenley@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: one more Groucho

    My offhanded remark the other day about Groucho and
    his ad-libs seems to have provoked a few people, who
    I guess are non-fans, to respond that, in so many words,
    his reputation as an ad-libber is undeserved.

    Since much of this argument seems to center around
    "You Bet Your Life" and its heavy compliment of "scripted" ad-libs,
    I would contend that it's the wrong example.  The fact
    that much of YBYL was scripted was, I believe, no secret at the
    time, but the information wasn't picked up by most celebrity
    writers, who continued with the old "he makes it all up"
    line.  The need for the scripted remarx has more to do with
    the pressures of tv production than being any reflection on
    Groucho's ability.

    And while he was pretty much slacking off by the end of YBYL's run,
    this fact was pointed out in such a way as to suggest that his later
    lackluster performances were somehow typical - which they weren't.

    Therefore, I will let him stay on the pedestal he occupies
    in my own opinions.

    Regarding the panel show mentioned as being "from the sixties or seventies"
    in which it was said that Groucho couldn't hold his own with the
    other panelists:  If it was really that late, then Groucho was the
    oldest member of said group and in poorer health than the others,
    so it might be understandable if he didn't participate as much.  His
    tv appearances at that stage of his life veered between being fun and
    being just depressing, depending upon how he felt that day.

    (To be fair, speaking for myself, I no longer have much patience
    with writers and fans who still claim to this day that a lot
    of the dialogue in the early Marx films is ad-libbed.  Repeated viewings,
    and some knowledge of how movies are made, assure that the
    ad-lib content of the films is Zero.)

    And as I suspect Charlie's tiring of this thread, I'll sign off
    on the topic.

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 16:35:08 -0500
    From: leemunsick@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Chimes-inspired reveries

    Eric Cooper commented here on the fact that only NBC in the USA had a
    "radio logo" (the famous NBC chimes), but several South American stations
    used audible trademarks.

    My family vacationed in Florida in the late 1950s.  As was my wont then and
    now, I was DXing all over the radio seeking interesting things, certainly
    far more than one finds nowadays.  I settled in on a Cuban station which
    played good music.  They had a unique chiming bell ID from which I got a
    kick.  Nearly a half-century later I do not recall what it was, just that
    it was delightful.

    There was in the 1960s--may still be--a delightful station in the San
    Francisco Bay Area called KABL, with a station ID of the ringing of a Cable
    Car bell.  Get it?  [removed] perhaps it was [removed]  station
    identification pauses with charming brief descriptions of sailboats darting
    about the bay, Fishermen's Wharf, Ghirardelli Square, and other things
    around San Fran ([removed] "Frisco!").

    Anent the chimes, perhaps older posters and lurkers will pardon me, while
    for newcomers I re-tell the story of NBC radio being sold.  In the
    negotiations with the proposed new owners, there was discussion about the
    use of the famous NBC chimes.  I believe the new people were from Westwood
    One, for a time owners of MBS, and now somehow tied in with what used to be
    CBS.  Who can keep track?

    The RCA representatives assumed that the "new" NBC Radio Network would want
    to use those famous NBC chimes.  There was concern about confusion, because
    the ongoing NBC Television network also wished to do so.  RCA, of course,
    is the company which for years couldn't make up its mind about using the
    famous "His Master's Voice" logo with "Li'l Nipper" who has more recently
    squired a scion.  And for a time Channel 4 in New York wavered back and
    forth on call-letters, alternating WNBC and WRCA.

    The representatives of the proposed new owners of NBC Radio said they could
    care less about the chimes.  Keep 'em, they said!

    But they DID want to have the use of the NBC logo, the strange one with the
    sharp-angled "N" and the famous Peacock.  Of course these are strictly
    visual--or TELEVISION--trademarks.  The peacock even more so, being the
    indicator for COLOR television.

    Amazingly, the RCA people agreed to let them use it!  So much for worry
    about consumer identification confusion.  Now, when you see a picture with
    a newsman or speaker's stand displaying a microphone with the NBC color
    logo on it, this could be someone from NBC TELEVISION nee GE nee RCA nee GE
    (that's another whole story).....[removed] could be someone from NBC RADIO
    which is a totally separate, unconnected company.

    But these radio folk did NOT want to use the NBC RADIO chimes!   Go figure
    corporate logic, if any.  Mr. Spock would give up!

    And to which of these no longer existing radio products did you listen in
    on all those great old programs?  Admiral, Crosley, Emerson, Fada,
    Packard-Bell, Philco, Radiola, Silvertone, Sparton, Stewart-Warner,
    Stromberg-Carlson, Wilcox-Gay, even Atwater-Kent?

    Brings to mind confusing, surprising things like Post Cereals made by
    Kraft.  Kleenex Tissues and  Scott Paper products from
    Kimberly-Clark.  DaimlerChryslerJeeps (my "Spelchek" ironically suggested
    this name perhaps should be "disenchanted").

    Remember the running Jack Benny gag about Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner and
    Beane.  The latter seemingly changed his name to Smith, only to join Pierce
    and Fenner in ignominy, along with Batten, Barton, Durstine and
    Osborne.  Where are they now?

    How long before we see Ford Chevrolets?  Or GM Mercurys, a possibility
    since Ford desires to let the Mercury line die.   This is the company which
    in those nifty fifties desperately wanted to have four lines, the same as
    the then Chrysler roster, to compete with General Motors' five
    brands.  This panicky undertaking was so badly managed that it practically
    wrecked Ford:  the birth (and death) of the Edsel.  We're informed of the
    bad condition Ford is in [removed] knows what will happen next?  Perhaps
    young Mr. Ford will change his name to Olds, or even Duryea, to scoop his
    illustrious ancestor.

    It boggles!   As I said, go figure.  And hang in [removed]'s
    undoubtedly worse still to come!

    On that joyous note, all the best to you all!  Lee Munsick

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 16:35:10 -0500
    From: Eric J Cooper <ejcooper2002@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Re:15 minute Fibber and Molly

    David in Memphis has inquired:

>     I have been listening to some of the 15-minute episodes of Fibber McGee
>     & Molly from 1953.  What prompted the change in format?  Was their
>     popularity waning?  Did they loose their sponsor?  What was the time
>     slot of the quarter-hour programs?

    Al Girard will probably be in a better position to answer this question,
    but as an FMG fan, I will take a stab at it. It was getting tough by 1953
    for even the big stars and the big shows of radio to find ONE full half
    hour sponsor. The Tuesday night adventures with the McGee's had slipped
    from about a 16 rating in 1950 to about a 5 rating in 1953 (Niesen
    figures). Television competition in the fall of 1953 in the Tuesday night
    9:30pm slot fomerly inhabited by Fibber and Molly included SUSPENSE,
    ARMSTRONG CIRCLE THEATRE and the US STEEL HOUR, all big shows.

     So as television was growing across the country, radio audiences were
    dwindling (by the fall of '53, all major cities had one or more TV
    stations broadcasting full time). The radio networks were trying to
    experiment with new formats to retain what audiences they had left. Bob
    Hope also had a 15 minute daily daytime radio show during this period as
    well. The 15 minute format, while not allowing for orchestral
    accompaniment, singers or a studio audience, did allow for participating
    sponsorship (so that more than one sponsor could pay the bills--Tums and
    PaperMate pens in the case of the McGees). When you look at it another
    way, 15 minutes 5 days a week amounts to 1 hour and 15 minutes per week
    or 45 more minutes per week than Fibber and Molly had before that point.

    Another factor was Marian Jordan's slowly deterioratiing health. Doing a
    daily 15 minute pre-recorded show in a quiet studio with no audience must
    have certainly been easier than the full fledged comedy-variety program
    they had been doing.

    The time slot was generally 10:00 to 10:15pm Monday through Friday,
    possibly different in the different time zones

    Eric Cooper

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 16:35:24 -0500
    From: "Jeff Bankens" <jeff_bankens@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: RE: The man of Bronze

    Mr. Tolin,

    Thank you very much for the Doc Savage info!  You are truly a gentleman, and
    a scholar!

    Jeff Bankens

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 16:35:57 -0500
    From: Grbmd@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Newspaper Radio Listings

    Jim Cox wrote:

>      He mentioned the newspaper schedules of radio programs that were
>      often squeezed into small spaces.  I recall that The Charlotte Observer
>      and The Charlotte News abbreviated those listings, fitting them into tiny
>      rectangular boxes for every hour of the day for each station.  Thus, on a
>      weekday, they'd alter "Arthur Godfrey Time" to just "Arthur Godfrey,"
>      "Art Linkletter's House Party" to "House Party" and drop the "This Is"
>      before "Nora Drake" and "The" before "Brighter Day."

    At least in the old days the papers itemized the list of programs, however
    abbreviated they might have been.

    Nowadays the Baltimore Sun, for instance, occasionally prints a list of the
    AM and FM stations and summarizes the kind of programming for each in a box
    headed "Radio Dial."  For instance, in a recent box:

    WCAO    600   Gospel music.
    WCBM    680   News, talk, information, business, sports.
    ............
    WAMD    970   Oldies rock, adult contemporary.
    ...........
    WWLG   1360  American pop standards.
    ...........

    (Incidentally the last example is the best Baltimore station I've found for
    music from the Thirties through the Fifties.)

    How about the papers from other cities?  Do any of your papers still list
    radio stations program by program?

    Spence

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 16:39:16 -0500
    From: "Russ Butler" <oldradio@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: Radio System Cues

    Eric Cooper asked why no other network except NBC used a musical or network
    cue:  CBC in
    Canada, of course, has sounders as system cues and many of the European
    broadcasters also have identifiable, distinguishable audio signatures.

    I've always been impressed with the private stations(independent) both
    English and French broadcasters in Canada who have major production ID's and
    audio intros to news, programming segments, etc. as compared to just station
    jingles and drop in sfx, tags and music bits on the USA stations.

    A great station ID production is radio quality and the slogans or "names"
    (The Hawk, The River, 95-Triple X, D-99, The Buzz, et al) is not "real
    radio."  Terrific production jingles like KSFO's "Sound of the City" with
    the Johnny Mann Singers, and, the original WNEW's "Eleven Three-Oh" musical
    bumpers and ID's with jazz and vocals are "real radio."  Even "77 WABC"
    makes you tingle when you hear the production.

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 17:06:17 -0500
    From: "Russ Butler" <oldradio@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: Theme Songs

    The recent posts on this list about OTR themes
    prompts a recollection of some other radio program musical signatures:
    "Jumpin' With Symphony Sid" by George Shearing for Symphony Sid Torin on WJZ
    in NYC (and elsewhere); "Jack,
    The Bellboy" for the Detroit jazz dj;  "Robin's Nest" for NYC jazz dj Fred
    Robbins; "The Milkman's Matinee" by Les Brown for the legendary WNEW all
    night show; "The Make Believe Ballroom" with
    Martin Block on WNEW in NYC (and elsewhere);  the song, "Moonglow" for Dick
    Martin's midnight jazz show, "Moonglow With Martin" on WWL in New Orleans;
    "Midnight Blue" introduced Norm Nathan on Boston stations; and of course,
    "That's All" for the all night "Music Til Dawn"  programs on CBS stations
    for American Airlines.  Any others come to mind?  Who had custom-made theme
    songs?

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 18:22:15 -0500
    From: GEORGE WAGNER <gwagneroldtimeradio@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Forget Loomis! Here's Radio in 1853!!

         I found the following 1913 newsclipping while
    perusing an old scrapbook just this afternoon:

         "WIRELESS SIXTY YEARS AGO -

         "James Bowman Lindsay, a Scotchman [sic], began
    experimenting with electricity in 1820. In a few years
    he produced a 'constant stream of light,' which was
    the admiration of scientists. Then in 1853 he invented
    a system of wireless telegraphy, regarding which a
    Dundee paper of April 12, 1853, said:

         "'The experiment removes all doubt of the
    practicability of Mr. Lindsay's invention; and there
    is every reason to think  that it will soon connect
    continent with continent, and island with island, in
    one unbroken line of communication.'"

         Lindsay's most famous lectures were a series
    under the general title of "Telegraphing without
    Wires." He was also a polyglot's polyglot, familiar
    with at least 50 languages.

         Want to do some more research on this fellow, of
    course, but thought this bit was well worth passing
    on.

         George Wagner
         GWAGNEROLDTIMERADIO@[removed]

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 18:22:51 -0500
    From: "Rodney w bowcock jr." <rodney-selfhelpbikeco@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Re: The one, the [removed]!

>     Some heavy-handed backstage
>     manipulations saw that the irascible Groucho routinely delivered the
>     laughs, even when he couldn't think of any guffaws himself.  Almost
>     everything he said, in fact, was provided by somebody else.  You didn't
>     think he was staring at the stars when you saw him on TV rubbing his
>     bushy eyebrows and gazing heavenward, did you?

    Actually, I never gave that much thought.  I knew the show was heavily
    edited, but yeah, I always did think Groucho came up with all of that
    stuff on his own.  Oh, well.  Chalk it up to the blinded eyes of youth.

    rodney.

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 20:22:12 -0500
    From: "bygeorge" <bygeorge@[removed];
    To: OldRadio Mailing Lists <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: Re: Questions

    HELLO, ALL!
    I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO CLEARLY RECEIVE MY EMAIL LATELY AND I HAVE FOUND
     GAPS IN MY ITEMS FROM THIS AND OTHER NEWGROUPS. SO FORGIVE FOR ASKING
    THESE QUESTIONS?
    1) WHAT IS THE WEBSITE FOR THE CINCINNATI CONVENTION THIS COMING APRIL?
    2) WHERE CAN I OBTAIN A COPY OF THE NEW BOOK ABOUT THE GREAT
    GILDERSLEEVE?
    THANKS, ALL!
    RANDY STORY
    WEST PLAINS, MO
    HOME OF THE 2002 NATIONAL AUDIO THEATRE FESTIVAL IN MAY!

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 21:13:27 -0500
    From: "tas richardson" <tasrichardson@[removed];
    To: "Oldtime Radio" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: Re: Steve Allen show

    I am sure I have the complete program of Steve Allen's radio show from KNX
    with Al Jolson as a guest.   It's on a cassette, and my cassette collection
    is still uncatalogued.

    Now in which suitcase is [removed]

    [removed] from back surgery in Alberta.

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

    Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 21:14:03 -0500
    From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Howard K. Smith

>     He wrote several books includinga bestseller, "The Last Train From Berlin"
>     in 1942 describing Hitler's rise to power and his own experiences as the
>     last American news correspondent to leave Berlin after WWII was declared.

    There was also his book called "Events Leading Up to My Death" published in
    1996 in which he describes his being the selected radio network reporter to
    travel to Berlin upon its surrender and report on the surrender proceedings.

    Jim Widner
    jwidner@[removed]

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #64
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