Subject: [removed] Digest V2005 #141
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 5/6/2005 4:43 PM

To: [removed]@[removed]

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2005 : Issue 141
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Re: LOC et Copyright                  [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
      night of the auk                      [ "Kurt E. Yount" <blsmass@[removed]; ]
      VE day coverage on XM                 [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
      Skitch Henderson profile              [ Sean Dougherty <seandd@[removed] ]
      5-6 births/deaths                     [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
      Frank Sinatra Article in Daily News   [ seandd@[removed] ]
      Harry Von Zell, American Idol?        [ "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed]; ]
      WTIC's Golden Age of Radio            [ "Bob Scherago" <rscherago@[removed]; ]
      Is he joking?                         [ Dan Hughes <danhughes@[removed]; ]
      OPur Miss Brooke Question             [ <cooldown3@[removed]; ]
      Clarifications!                       [ Wich2@[removed] ]
      Re: Radio Minimalism                  [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]

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

    Date: Fri, 6 May 2005 11:13:15 -0400
    From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: LOC et Copyright

    Brent Pellegrini asked "how the LOC feels about copy machines and copying
    pages from a book."  There are self-service photocopy machines all over all
    three Library of Congress buildings.  There are two reasons why this is so.
    One of them is to protect the books from vandalism from people who would
    tear out a page instead of taking notes if they couldn't make a photocopy.
    The other is that one of the concepts of fair use vs. copyright violation
    concerns the percentage of the total work that is copied.  Rarely do people
    photocopy an entire book, just a few pages.  When sound recordings are
    copied, often it is the entire recording that is copied, not just a short
    excerpt.

    Having said that, LoC makes no exception if all you need IS just a short
    excerpt.  Let me relate to specific situations that happened to me.  In
    1977 I was researching the introduction of electrical recording for a
    presentation at the Association for Recorded Sound Collections the
    following week, and had discovered that LoC held the earliest example of
    Western Electric electrical recording.  And by "discovered" I mean that I
    actually identified the it for them -- they had no idea what the recording
    was.  No title, no date, no source, no nothing except for some
    unidentifiable numbers engraved in the masters.  I knew what it was within
    ten seconds of hearing it.  (It was a 1922 soundtrack by Stanley Watkins
    for a film describing the Audion tube.)  I asked them for 30 seconds from
    the first take with lots of distortion, and 30 seconds from the second take
    with negligible distortion.  They knew I would be playing it the following
    week at ARSC, and that many of them were going to be attending.  Oh no,
    they said, you can;t have it until you investigate who holds copyright to
    it.  It took about a half an hour, but finally I convinced them to let me
    have it, and Bob Carneal, the director of the recording lab, dubbed it for
    me personally.  Mind you, all of these people were personal friends of
    mine, Don Leavitt, Bob Carneal, Gerry Gibson, etc.  And I still had to
    convince them.  C'mon guys, this is for a talk I am giving next week and
    you are all going to be there, and what possible commercial use could I or
    anybody make of just a few seconds of an obscure experimental test
    recording on a very boring subject, when I am only trying to demonstrate
    the sound quality of their first recordings in 1922,

    One of the ironies of that day -- and I pointed this out to them very
    clearly -- was that when I needed to make photocopies of some book pages I
    had to use the photocopiers in the Music Division Reading Room.  All day
    long there were dozens of people at that machine making photocopies of
    sheet music.  Many of them making copies of ENTIRE musical works.  Isn't it
    amazing that they will make it easy to photocopy the sheet music of a
    copyrighted song but won't let you have a copy of a recording of that exact
    same song.

    The other case involved the George Gershwin Feenamint radio program where
    there had been a bad splice between two sides in the commercial release of
    the recording and a skipped groove a few seconds later.  I was trying to
    show that the Gershwin piano performance of "The Man I Love" WAS complete
    on the original discs.  All I needed was the last five seconds of side one
    and the first ten seconds of side two so that I could demonstrate that the
    proper edits were possible, but this request was also refused.

    If these were in print form, all I would have had to do to get a copy was
    either carry it over to a copy machine or press a button on a microfilm
    reader.  But because it is a sound recording, the rules are completely
    different.

    I have been badgering them about this for 30 years.  And you know
    something, they AGREE with me!  THEY are just as frustrated with these
    rules as WE are.  Hardly a day goes by when they are confronted by a
    frustrated researcher and they have to explain this over and over and over.
    They hate having to do it.  Thru ARSC and the Associated Audio Archives
    division of ARSC they have been working with other archives to get the Fair
    Use rules to a saner position, but every time we think we are about to get
    a break thru, something stupid happens over in Congress and we are back to
    square one.  The RIAA is perhaps the most evil organization on the face of
    the earth.

    Let me comment on one other posting.  I had to check to see if it was one
    of Elizabeth's famous April Fool's Day joke, but no, it was posted on May 4
    by someone else, apparently Larry Bohall (although that name has to be
    figured out via the email address.)  He stated: "As an author, I have to
    say I appreciate what the Congress has done. Under the old laws, my works
    would be in the public domain very [removed]"  FIFTY SIX YEARS IS "VERY
    QUICKLY"?????????  He further stated "I've made precious little royalties
    on a novel that took me years to create as it is."  I wonder if he is
    anywhere near the end of the fifty-six year copyright period of the old
    1909 copyright law?  It is quite rare that novels would still be gathering
    royalties fifty-six years after publication, let alone seventy years after
    the death of the author under the current copyright law.  Of course he does
    mention one of these rare cases:  "People like JRR Tolkein had to spend a
    fortune trying to protect their works from people who issued unapproved
    editions with no royalties attached to them. With the new Copyright laws
    that is much harder to do now."   I am at a loss to understand how the new
    laws make it harder to protect copyrighted works -- except that now the
    copyright period can potentially be sooooooooooo much longer, and THAT
    might make it more difficult to control.  After all, if an author lives 86
    years following the writing of a work, the copyright term will be one
    hundred and fifty six years, rather than the old term of (merely) fifty six
    years.  I can imagine how hard it would be to convince people that a book
    written one hundred and fifty six years earlier is still in copyright !

    Our Esteemed ListOwner has suggested reading the writings of Lawrence
    Lessig.  I agree.  Mr. Lessig was the lawyer for last years Aldred case,
    and Lessig has been having second thoughts about how he might have done
    things differently so that he could have won the case.  My friend Tim
    Brooks tried to get him to bring to the Supreme Court's attention the
    situation about pre-1972 sound recordings.  ALL PRE-1972 SOUND RECORDINGS
    WILL REMAIN IN COPYRIGHT IN THE [removed] FOR NINETY FIVE YEARS FROM 1972.  For
    example, cylinders recorded by Columbia in 1890, and discs recorded by
    Berliner in 1890, both now claimed by Sony, will not go into the public
    domain in the [removed] until the year 2067 -- a total of ONE HUNDRED AND
    SEVENTY SEVEN YEARS.   According to the Constitution of the United States,
    copyright and patents are designed to promote the scientific and creative
    arts by granting control to the creators for LIMITED PERIODS OF TIME, and
    then for the works to go into the Public Domain for the good of the public.
    Those were the wishes of our Founding Fathers.  One Hundred and Seventy
    Seven Years is NOT a Limited Period of Time.  The Copyright law should have
    been declared Unconstitutional.

    It should be noted that recordings made before 1954 are in the Public
    Domain in most of the rest of the world.  The songs and the scripts might
    still be in copyright, but the sound recordings themselves are available
    for reissue which can bring royalties to the performers and the songwriters
    if the record company is honest.  A record company in the [removed] which claims
    copyright on recordings that they do not have in their current catalog and
    do not allow to be reissued by others are effectively keeping the
    performers and songwriters from gaining potential royalties.

    How does THAT benefit the creators of our culture ?????

    Most copyrights on movies and sound recordings are corporations which are
    successor companies to the originals.  These are companies which have
    bought companies which have bought companies which have bought companies,
    etc.  These copyrights are held by companies which had nothing to do with
    their creation.  They had no stake in their creation.  They took no risk.
    They did nothing artistic.  Indeed, they often are actively working AGAINST
    the best interests of those who DID have a stake in the creation of the
    work, who DID take a risk, who DID do things artistic.  There are artists
    and creators who have wanted their works to be reissued, but the companies
    have REFUSED to reissue them, and REFUSED to let the artist reissue them.

    How does THAT benefit the creators of our culture?????

    How does THAT benefit the public ?????

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

    Date: Fri, 6 May 2005 11:16:06 -0400
    From: "Kurt E. Yount" <blsmass@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  night of the auk

    I am wondering if Arch Obler's show Night of the Auk exists out there
    anywhere?  I heard it years ago and had an old tape of it, but it has
    disappeared like so much old material into the ether or into the trash,
    and whichever it was, it is just gone.  If anybody has it can they
    contact me off list?  Thanks.  Kurt

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

    Date: Fri, 6 May 2005 11:16:33 -0400
    From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  VE day coverage on XM

    I have been hearing promos on XM that their channel 4, The 40s, is going to
    be doing something like 32 straight hours of VE Day OTR this weekend,
    possibly starting at 8:35 AM Saturday.  Their web site says nothing about
    it.  The promo says that it will start with the first bulletin that came
    thru at 8:35 Eastern War Time, so your guess is as good as mine since we
    are on Eastern Daylight Time, not War Time.

    I should also mention that Walden Hughes will be doing several hours of VE
    Day recordings on YesterdayUSA following our regular Sunday night talks.
    He starts with Laura and Jack Benny at 10:30 PM Eastern, and I come in
    around 11:30, so the war will probably end around 12:30.

    Michael Biel   mbiel@[removed]

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

    Date: Fri, 6 May 2005 11:16:44 -0400
    From: Sean Dougherty <seandd@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Skitch Henderson profile

    This Associated Press profile of former tonight show bandleader Skitch
    Henderson includes mentions of a great many OTR stars, including Jack Benny.

    Sean Dougherty
    SeanDD@[removed]

    [removed]

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

    Date: Fri, 6 May 2005 11:16:52 -0400
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  5-6 births/deaths

    May 6th births

    05-06-1899 - Billy Cotton - London, England - d. 3-25-1969
    bandleader: "Wakey Wakey!!"
    05-06-1900 - Dave Elman - Park River, ND - d. 12-5-1967
    emcee: (The Dean of American Hobbyists) "Hobby Lobby"
    05-06-1906 - Mathilde Ferror - d. 11-26-1990
    writer: "Lorenzo Jones"
    05-06-1908 - Parkyakarkus (Harry Einstein) - Boston, MA - d. 11-24-1958
    comedian: "Eddie Cantor Show"; "Al Jolson Show"; "Meet Me at Parkys"
    05-06-1910 - Alice Reinheart - San Francisco, CA - d. 6-10-1993
    actress: Anne Williams "Casey, Crime Photographer"; Jean Abbott "Abbott
    Mysteries"
    05-06-1911 - Frank Nelson - Denver, CO - d. 9-12-1986
    actor, comedian: Anthony J. Lyon "Jeff Regan, Investigator"; nemisis "Jack
    Benny Program"
    05-06-1912 - Bill Quinn - NYC - d. 4-29-1994
    actor: Guy Aldis "Against the Storm"; Tom Davis "When a Girl Marries"
    05-06-1913 - Carmen Cavallaro - NYC - d. 10-12-1989
    bandleader: (The Poet of the Piano) "Schaeffer Revue"; "Tums Tune Time"
    05-06-1913 - Stewart Granger - London, England - d. 8-16-1993
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Screen Guild Theatre"
    05-06-1914 - Ken Englund - Chicago, IL - d. 8-10-1993
    writer: "Three Sheets to the Wind"
    05-06-1915 - Orson Welles - Kenosha, WI (Raised: Chicago, IL) - d. 10-10-1985
    actor: Lamont Cranston/Shadow "The Shadow"; "Mercury Theatre on the Air"
    05-06-1945 - Richard Eyer - Santa Monica, CA
    actor: Bobby "My Friend Irma"

    May 6th deaths

    01-24-1909 - Ann Todd - Hartford, Cheshire, England - d. 5-6-1993
    actress: Amy Foster "Those We Love"
    07-04-1909 - Al Jarvis - Winnipeg, Canada - d. 5-6-1970
    disc jockey, songwriter: "Make-Believe Ballroom"
    04-02-1911 - Bill Days - St. Louis, MO - d. 5-6-2002
    singer: (Member Sportsmen Quartet) "Jack Benny Program"
    04-27-1902 - Ned Wever - NYC - d. 5-6-1984
    actor: Dick Tracy "Dick Tracy"; Anthony Loring "Young Widder Brown"
    05-31-1900 - Hugh Studebaker - Ridgeville, IN - d. 5-6-1978
    actor: Ichabod 'Ichy' Mudd "Captain Midnight"; Silly Watson "Fibber McGee and
    Molly"
    06-23-1925 - Larry Blyden - Houston, TX - d. 5-6-1975
    actor: "Radio City Playhouse"; "Cavalcade of America"
    08-09-1901 - Charles Farrell - Onset Bay, Cape Cod, MA - d. 5-6-1990
    actor: Verne Albright "My Little Margie"
    08-17-1888 - Monte Woolley- NYC - d. 5-6-1963
    actor: Edwin Montague "Magnificent Montague"
    09-26-1901 - Ted Weems - Pitcairn, PA - d. 5-6-1963
    bandleader: "Fibber McGee and Molly"; "Sunday Matinee"; "Beat the Band"
    10-17-1923 - Barney Kessel - Muskogee, OK - d. 5-6-2004
    jazz guitarist: "Jubilee"; "One Night Stand"; "Just Jazz"
    11-26-1907 - Henry "Hot Lips" Levine - London, England - d. 5-6-1989
    trumpeter, conducter: "Chamber Music of Lower Basin Street"; "Strictly from
    Dixie"
    12-27-1901 - Marlene Dietrich - Berlin, Germany - d. 5-6-1992
    actress: Mlle. Madou, "Cafe Istanbul"
    --
    Ron Sayles
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

    Date: Fri, 6 May 2005 11:17:04 -0400
    From: seandd@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Frank Sinatra Article in Daily News

    The Daily News reviews  a pair of new biographies of singer and radio star
    Frank Sinatra today.

    He doesn't come off all that well in either of them, apparently, accused in
    one of being a gangster and in a second of being a rapist.

    Sean Dougherty
    SeanDD@[removed]

    [removed]

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

    Date: Fri, 6 May 2005 11:17:26 -0400
    From: "Derek Tague" <derek@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Harry Von Zell, American Idol?
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    My ears perked up when I heard somebody at the next table in  the AFB
    lunchroom
    talking about "Von Zell." Boy! was I disappointed to learn that they were
    talking about
    TV's "American Idol." Apparently, heretofore unbeknownst to me, there's a
    young girl
    contestant named "Von Zell." Just to goes to show how out of touch I am. With
    all the
    problems that show has been having lately, sometimes, it pays to be blissfully
    ignorant!

    Yours in the ether,

    Derek Tague

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

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

    Date: Fri, 6 May 2005 11:17:44 -0400
    From: "Bob Scherago" <rscherago@[removed];
    To: "Old Time Radio" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  WTIC's Golden Age of Radio

    The latest "WTIC's Golden Age of Radio" programs
    with Dick Bertel and Ed Corcoran, can be heard at
    [removed]

    This time around we're presenting three complete shows
    in MP3 format for listening or downloading. If our server
    host can handle the strain, we'll provide three each time.
    The programs will be available until at least Thursday, May
    19th.

    32. November, 1972 - Ruby Keeler, radio and motion
    picture actress, who starred in many major Hollywood
    musicals of the 1930s.

    33. December, 1972 - Raymond Edward Johnson, actor
    who portrayed Raymond, the host of "Inner Sanctum
    Mysteries"

    34. January, 1973 - Virginia Payne, actress who portrayed
    "Ma Perkins" for over a quarter of a century.

    In the 1970's Dick Bertel created the program for WTIC in Hartford,
    CT. The idea came to Dick after he interviewed radio collector-
    historian Ed  Corcoran a few times on his radio and TV shows.
    "The Golden Age of Radio was first broadcast in April, 1970;  Ed
    was Dick's co-host.

    For the next seven years the program featured interviews with
    actors, writers, producers, engineers and musicians from radio's
    early days. Each show featured excerpts from Ed's collection.

    Bob Scherago
    Webmaster

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

    Date: Fri, 6 May 2005 11:47:13 -0400
    From: Dan Hughes <danhughes@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Is he joking?

    Someone needs to put Ron Sayles out to [removed]
    Listing Jack Benny, Amos & Andy, and Vic and Sade as bad programs
    absolutely boggles the mind.  Saying there is "no story" in Vic and Sade
    simply makes no sense.  The richness of the characters and storylines in
    Vic and Sade stand head and shoulders above the great majority of radio
    shows.

    To me, Vic and Sade is the ultimate radio show.  OTR buffs point out that
    radio is better than TV because your imagination supplies the pictures.
    It follows then that Vic and Sade is better than radio, because your
    imagination must also supply the sound effects!

    ---Dan

    [removed]  Bet you get a LOT of mail on this one.  I think Ron is pulling our
    chains.

    [ADMINISTRIVIA: I hope you have the Nostalgic Rumblings blog set as a "Live
    Bookmark" in Firefox; if so, you'll know I posted my own personal comments
    about this issue there. [removed]  --cfs3]

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

    Date: Fri, 6 May 2005 11:54:55 -0400
    From: <cooldown3@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  OPur Miss Brooke Question

    Hi All,

    Among some reels I have purchased receintly I have found 3 episodes I do not
    find listed anywhere.

    #1 Boynton, Conklin and Brooks are locked in a meat locker
    #2 Conklin is told he is not married and starts dreaming of sowing 'wild
    oats'
    #3 Brooks plans a celebration of enrights birthday.

    As these are not on any sellers lists I can locate I would appreciate help
    in properly dating them.

    Thanks in advance for any help.
    PAtrick

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

    Date: Fri, 6 May 2005 11:55:39 -0400
    From: Wich2@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Clarifications!

    Dear Dave-

    "From:  davesline@[removed]"

>     I beg to differ with Craig over the comment he made that  the "Batman Mystery
>     Club" is really OTR.

    No need to beg, Dave; honest  mistake. I did indeed call BMC (weak) OTR;
    It was the TWO other Batman  titles in the original subject, that I posited
    as much later.

    Also- part  of my Welles SUSPENSE note didn't make it through the ether: I
    mentioned that  Orson used a distinct Jack Barrymore voice in that
    performance.
    That accent was  often used to denote "ham" in those days (witness Dick
    Tracy's "Vitamin  Flintheart"). The two of them often razzed each other thus;
    their
    Rudy  Vallee duos are a hoot.

    Best,
    -Craig

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

    Date: Fri, 6 May 2005 12:20:50 -0400
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Radio Minimalism

    On 5/6/05 11:27 AM [removed]@[removed] wrote:

>     No story, no sound effects, just two people talking.

    Personally, this is my favorite format for radio -- probably the most
    demanding approach of all from a writing and acting standpoint.
    Minimalist production techniques, for my money, are much more rewarding
    than the sort of radio which camouflages a formulaic script and
    pedestrian acting beneath layers of sound effects and music. Two
    performers facing a microphone, night after night, without a safety net,
    is, from my perspective, the most challenging form of radio there is. I
    rarely listen to any other form of radio drama.

    Elizabeth

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2005 Issue #141
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