Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #391
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 12/10/2004 12:50 PM
To: [removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2004 : Issue 391
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Irene Castle                          [ Richard Kukan <rkukan@[removed]; ]
  WTIC's Golden Age of Radio            [ "Bob Scherago" <rscherago@[removed]; ]
  I got the ManCalledX problem solved   [ "Joseph" <drjoewebb@[removed]; ]
  Re: Is This Real?                     [ Anthony Tollin <sanctumotr@earthlin ]
  Fred Allen                            [ "jazmaan@[removed]" <dmf273@ya ]
  Cassette log for interviews!          [ vigor16@[removed] ]
  Fred Allen Recommendations            [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
  Re: Imagination in Print and Radio    [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
  Freddy Martin (oops)                  [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Listening Strategies?                 [ Melanie Aultman <otrmelanie@[removed] ]
  Fred Allen Recommendations            [ Richard Fish <fish@lodestone-media. ]
  Radio Spirits                         [ RadioHour@[removed] ]
  SAD NEWS                              [ HERITAGE4@[removed] ]
  re: Billie the Brownie                [ "Mark E. Higgins" <paul_frees_fan@a ]
  Weekends with Walden Hughes           [ BryanH362@[removed] ]
  Re: holiday spoof                     [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
  Re: Fred Allen                        [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
  Re: The Hermit's Cave                 [ "Michael Ogden" <michaelo67@hotmail ]

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

Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 16:39:11 -0500
From: Richard Kukan <rkukan@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Irene Castle

I'm posting this on behalf of a friend who is researching the Castles.

Did Irene ever make any guest appearances on LUX RADIO THEATRE --  or
anywhere else, for that matter?

I'm already familiar with her early 30s autobiographical show, and
have episode four:  are any other episodes in circulation?

Any help from listmembers will be very greatly appreciated,

--
Richard Kukan

TORONTO ISLAND BOOKS
at <[removed];

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

Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 16:39:27 -0500
From: "Bob Scherago" <rscherago@[removed];
To: "Old Time Radio" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  WTIC's Golden Age of Radio

I'm happy to announce that we now have the capacity
to post two programs every week or so on the website
for WTIC's "Golden Age of Radio" with Dick Bertel and
Ed  Corcoran. For the next week or so you can hear
two shows:

Program 4 - July, 1970
Peg Lynch, creator and star of  "Ethel and Albert" and
Margaret Hamilton, Aunt Effie on "Ethel and Albert" and
the Wicked Witch of the West in "The Wizard of Oz".

Program 5 -  August, 1970
Jan Miner, Network Radio Soap Actress and star of "Laura
Lawton" (Jan Miner was an alumna of WTIC)

[removed]

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. It was  first broadcast in April,
1970; Ed was his co-host.

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

Bob Scherago
Webmaster

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

Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 17:24:38 -0500
From: "Joseph" <drjoewebb@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  I got the ManCalledX problem solved

The shows were "Plan To Kill The Atlantic Pact" 03/18/52 and "Rescue from
Czechoslavakian Uranium Mines" 5/13/52. I've had these for years and never
traded them except to three or four people in the 1980s. I got the 1950-1952
run in very nice sound and have converted them to 128kps mp3 format. I have a
large number of programs that I recorded from disc in the late 1970s that
have been transferred to the 128 encode rate, such as Counterspy, Cisco Kid,
Boston Blackie, Green Hornet. I'm looking for some nice dubs of the Box13 run
in no less than 64kps or higher, and haven't been able to find any. If my
name sounds familiar, some of you may remember me as working on the east
coast conventions with Jay Hickerson until around 1984 or so, and also as a
dealer (Old Radio Warehouse and later Nostalgia Warehouse, until 1986). I
also published Collector's Corner with Bob Burnham for many years. I was
given some original scripts from a NY radio director many years ago, and have
been scanning them into Adobe Acrobat PDFs. I'd be interested to know if
anyone else is doing that.

Regards
Joe Webb
Harrisville, RI

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

Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 17:24:53 -0500
From: Anthony Tollin <sanctumotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Is This Real?

on 12/9/04 2:47 PM, corganoid@[removed] wrote:

I was just reading about a a Mercury Theater production called "The
Assassination of Saint Nicholas".  This was apparently a mock newscast from
the North Pole which (on the show) was recently invaded by Nazis.

Uh, no.  As you yourself observed, this was from the NATIONAL LAMPOON
website.  It was obviously inspired by Welles' "War of the Worlds"
broadcast, with possibly a touch of Norman Corwin's "The Plot to Overthrow
Christmas" thrown in. --Anthony Tollin

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

Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 17:25:02 -0500
From: "jazmaan@[removed]" <dmf273@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Fred Allen

Thanks for all the Fred Allen recommendations!  I'll get started tonight!

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

Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 17:25:29 -0500
From: vigor16@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Cassette log for interviews!

Hi

The discussion of the future of OTR raises a question in my mind.  I am
old enough to remember the personalities of Benny Burns Jim Jorden and
other OTR regulars.  Knowing their style and personna has boosted my
interest in hearing these programs.  For those who have not seen or heard
what the hobby is all about may want to find out more about the people
from themselves.  Younger folks I have met seem to want to know more
about the people they are listening to.  Is there a log for interviews
that have been done with actors, creators and/or OTR related people that
is centrally available?  Maybe a catalogue or something.  The only one I
found is through the Radio Hall of fame in Chicago and that was primarily
interviews they did themselves.  I found that in search of the Breakfast
Club and wasn't looking for it at the time.  Thanks for any info.

Deric

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

Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 17:27:17 -0500
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Fred Allen Recommendations

I'm partial to any of the Allen shows of the "Town Hall Tonight" era,
which I think capture the essence of Allen's wit far more than the later
shows -- when Allen was forced into an imitation Jack Benny format in the
early forties, and stuck with a procession of annoying Hollywood guest
stars, the program lost a lot of its creativity. Allen's "Town Hall
Amateurs" segments of the mid-thirties are genuinely entertaining -- and
entirely ad-libbed -- and for me are some of his best work.

The hour-long Texaco shows are a bit less satisfying for me -- they go
too far in trying to put Allen in a trite "Fred and his Gang" format a la
Benny, but there are a few of these that have worthy moments. Perhaps the
best of that series is the 5/7/41 program, styled "A Tribute to Jack
Benny," even though Allen goes to great lengths to avoid actually
mentioning Benny's name. The program is also notable for a guest
appearance by Correll and Gosden, who appear both as themselves and as
Amos, Andy, and the Kingfish.

There are a few of the later shows that work for me -- Allen's 10/18/42
program with Orson Welles is genuinely hilarious in its mockery of
Welles' overbearing boy-wonder schtick. And any of the Allen shows
featuring Henry Morgan as a guest are worth a listen. I'd also recommend
any of the Gilbert and Sullivan parodies -- "A Radio Mikado" and "The
Brooklyn Pinafore" are wonderful stuff.

I don't care all that much for Allen's Alley -- it has its moments, but I
think the newsreel format used in the Town Hall era gave Allen much more
flexibility in presenting topical humor.

Elizabeth

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

Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 17:28:31 -0500
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Imagination in Print and Radio

At 03:46 PM 12/9/2004, you wrote:
What do you think are the best (or alternatively the worst!) examples of
adaptations of print for radio?

I cannot speak for all of radio, but this was of interest to me when I
co-authored the book "Science Fiction on [removed]" I had a section in it on
Adaptation of Science Fictional stories.

In that genre of the fifties SF, I identified several factors in moving
from print to radio drama: 1) time constraint of the radio drama; 2) Inner
thoughts or specific actions that do not translate aurally; 3) censorship.

Tom Godwin's "The Cold Equations" was impacted by censorship when
translated to radio. The story used a young teenager trying to get to her
brother who was forced to be "killed" in space. In the radio version, she
became a young woman married to the man she was trying to reach.

In Ray Bradbury's "The Veldt" the parents of the children are literally
devoured by the lions. In a later version of the story on X Minus One, the
parents are only psychologically damaged by the experience.

In Jack Williamson's "With Folded Hands" the adaptation is terrible in its
attempt to match the printed word, which does not work well in radio when
the adaptations is tried to fit into a 30 minute format.

Cliff Simak's "Lulu" was also badly adapted on radio.

On the other hand, Martin Pearson (Donald Wollheim)'s story "The Embassy"
is much better as a radio story than the written story, in my
opinion.  Though it is just "different" from the radio version. The printed
version has a noir aspect with the hero ending up being a drunkard. In the
radio version, it is darker and more serious with a tragic ending.

Probably the best story in print that was a perfect translation, in my
opinion, was Ray Bradbury's "Kaleidoscope."  It is almost nothing but an
aural play in print with disembodied voices floating in space.

Jim Widner
jwidner@[removed]

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

Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 18:15:03 -0500
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Freddy Martin (oops)

No, Freddy Martin did not die two months before he was born, he died in 1983.

Thanks for keeping me on my toes.
--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 20:34:16 -0500
From: Melanie Aultman <otrmelanie@[removed];
To: OTRDIGEST <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Listening Strategies?
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Are there different listening strategies?  If you like a particular show, do
you try to listen to them in order (as available)?

I'm just sampling for now, but already some plots are [removed]

-impersonate or bump someone off to get an inheritance or other source of $$

-do someone in to be free of relationship or out of jealousy

-haunted house

-spirts come back to earth

Quite frankly, some of that screaming in the mysteries goes a long way!!

Melanie Aultman
otrmelanie@[removed]

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Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 20:35:16 -0500
From: Richard Fish <fish@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Fred Allen Recommendations

Fred Allen shows for a newbie: I just wanted to mention a couple of
favorites, and cheer for those already recommended --

Three 1945 shows with Charlie McCarthy, the "New Partner" and the "Trial
of the Century" are part of a classic crossover-trilogy:

Charlie decides to leave Edgar Bergen (!) in the first show, which is
The Edgar Bergen Show of 10/14/45, takes on Fred as a new partner, and
they audition for Mr. Leaf of Tenderleaf Tea in the second show, which
is the first Fred Allen Show of the season on 10/21/45. When Fred is
hired but Charlie is not, Charlie sues Fred in the third part, the Fred
Allen Show of 10/28/45. (If memory serves, Fred was returning to the air
after a hiatus, and Bergen was riding high, so this crossover was a
"launch" promotion for the new [removed] Show.)

The audition is sidesplitting; the trial, in "Judge McKiester's" court,
is even funnier today than it was then, and ought to be required
listening for all law school students. Before listening, it might be
wise to place yourself in a position where you're unlikely to be injured
  by falling on the floor.

(Say -- you know, lawyers were frequently featured in OTR, often as
villains or objects of satire. How about a boxed-set of such shows?
Millions of clients would love to give it to their [removed])

Back to Fred Allen. The Breakfast Show with Tallulah Bankhead has one of
the best satirical sketches Fred ever wrote, IMHO.

And I'd like to put in a word for Leo Durocher. "Lippy" was manager of
Dem Bums in dem days -- dat's da Brooklyn Dodgers fer you youngsters.
When he guested on the Allen show, Fred had him sing Gilbert & Sullivan
(!!) in "The Brooklyn Pinafore," which reached heights, and depths, of
comedy rarely achieved on radio. One date is April 25, 1948 -- but I
think this piece was so popular it was done twice.

Finally, Fred appeared on "Living 1949," hosted by Ben Grauer (sorry,
don't have the exact date) to discuss "The State of American Humor."
This is a fabulous introduction to Fred all by itself, and a wonderful
program which is just as funny and fascinating after half a century.

Richard Fish

--
"Post proofs that brotherhood is not so wild a dream as those who profit
by postponing it pretend." -- Norman Corwin, 1945

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

Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 21:30:56 -0500
From: RadioHour@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Radio Spirits
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Hello All,
Has anybody out there seen anyRadio Spirits sets at Costco lately? They
usually put them out around this time, but so far I haven't seen anything at
my
local stores.
Thanks, and Happy Holidays to all!
Greg

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Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 07:47:13 -0500
From: HERITAGE4@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  SAD NEWS
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With regret, I pass along the sad news that well know talk show host, David
Brudnoy - who had almost completed his 19th year at WBZ, Boston,  passed from
this life tonight (Thursday) at 6:11 PM of renal failure at age 64 at
Massachusetts General Hospital unexpectantly.
David was most unusual in the world of "talk" in that he presented an
intelligent, informed nightly discussion in the early evening on one of the
country's
most powerful radio stations.  He was heard in 38 states. He held a doctorate
and taught at Boston University's School of Communications.  He was from
Minnesota and broke into radio "talk" about 10 years prior to his long
realtionship with WBZ at WHDH radio (now called WEEI)  He will always be
remembered for
his intellect and ability to converse with all strata of guests from
presidents
to "the ordinary man in the street."Governor Mitt Romney and Senator Ted
Kennedy both were among the first to extend their
condolences;  Kennendy referring to David as "A profile in
Courage."   Dr. Brudnoy had fought off cancer and  AIDS/Immune Deficiency for
more than 10 years, while continuing to do his award winning daily radio
show, teaching and writing.  He is an institution in Boston, and the local
broadcast and print media have (and will) present extensive coverage of his
life
and work,  Needless to say, he will be sadly missed.
Tom Heathwood - Heritage Radio - Boston.

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Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 07:47:42 -0500
From: "Mark E. Higgins" <paul_frees_fan@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  re: Billie the Brownie

    Ron Sayles plugged our Christmas Eve recreation of the Billie the
Brownie script on WTKM.  I wanted to mention that you don't have to live
in the Hartford, WI area in order to hear the broadcast.  WTKM has a
website ([removed]), that streams it's broadcast over the internet.
We've had a lot of fun putting the reenactment together, which includes
an ingenious sound effect built by Ralph to create the sound of Santa's
marching army.  I hope that everyone who can will tune in on Christmas
Eve morning to hear what was a Christmas tradition for kids in the
Milwaukee area from 1932 until 1955.

Mark

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

Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 07:47:57 -0500
From: BryanH362@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Weekends with Walden Hughes

Heard live via the internet at [removed].

Friday 12-10-04 7:30 pm  Pacific Time
"The Friday Night Show" with Frank Bresee and Walden Hughes.

A.  Frank interviews  two cast members of the play "Quite Please" which based
upon the
radio scripts from the classic OTR show.

B.  Frank interviews  Jay Joston famous for playing  Mr. District Attorney.

Saturday 12-11-04
7PM to  3 PM  Pacific Time

A. Super Saturday -- Bill Bragg and Mike Handy broadcasting 8 hours of
Christmas OTR.
Listeners can call in to win great prizes .

4:30 PM . Walden begins three hours earlier this week with additional
Christmas shows from  the Golden Days of Radio. (runs till about 1am) .

Sunday 12-12-04 Regular time of 7:30 PM Pacific Time.

A.  Michael Biels (topic to be announced. ). Prof. Biels is an expert in
recordings.

B.  Laura Leff presents Jack Benny . Program of 11-26-44.

C.  Christmas broadcasts of  Fibber McGee and Molly, Great Gildersleeve,
Lux Radio Theater and One Man's  Family.

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

Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 07:48:33 -0500
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: holiday spoof
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In a message dated 12/9/04 2:44:09 PM Central Standard Time,
[removed]@[removed] writes:

Is this for real?  Did this broadcast ever take place?  If so, do
recordings
exist today?

Considering the source of the article I just don't believe the thing ever
[removed] it did I can only say [removed] were they thinking?


Of course not.  The URL was a big hint:  this is a National Lampoon parody.
Kudos to whoever wrote this hilarious bit, though for their realistic
descriptions of the specials (not a single one on the list actually exists or
ever
took place).

The one time I sat down to hear (years later, by recording) a Mercury Theatre
presentation of "A Christmas Carol," I actually heard "A Christmas Carol,"
with Lionel Barrymore.  The Campbell's Soups commercials were *not* done by
anyone in character (which would've been woefully out of place in a Mercury
production), just the announcer, Ernest Chappell.

Dixon

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Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 08:15:12 -0500
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Fred Allen
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In a message dated 12/9/04 2:44:09 PM Central Standard Time,
[removed]@[removed] writes:

- * 1946-10-27 Tallulah Bankhead - Breakfast Show

I forgot about this one, a hilarious sendup of the husband-and-wife morning
radio shows of the 1940s, one of the funniest Fred Allen sketches I've ever
heard.  I don't know what's funnier: the syrupy "this is how they are" part or
the "what-if" part where the couple wakes up extremely cranky.

Dixon

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Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 11:15:54 -0500
From: "Michael Ogden" <michaelo67@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: The Hermit's Cave

Melanie asked about the opening of THE HERMIT'S CAVE episodes which mention
"the Mummers in the Little Theater of the Air." Yes, Mummers in this case
does definitely refer to the actors. The Mummers were a performing group at
WJR in Detroit. Key figures in the group in the 1930s were Charles Penman
(director, actor), Eric Howlett (scripter, director) and Geraldine  Elliott
(scripter). They created the Hermit show in 1935 and, since it ran in a
more-or-less unbroken stretch until 1947, it probably qualifies as the
longest-running American horror series.

Most of the extant HERMIT'S CAVE episodes are from World Broadcasting
transcriptions. The show was always local (and staged before an audience)
and never network, but WJR syndicated the series to other markets via the
World disks. (When the show was broadcast on Sunday nights, there was a
special line that carried it through to the World Broadcasting studios in
Chicago, where it was recorded).

Confusion has abounded in the past about this series because there were
actually TWO versions of the show--the WJR broadcasts, and another series
(with different scripts) done at KMPC in Beverly Hills (both stations were
owned by G. A. Richards). There's much misinformation out there because of
the accidental jumbling of credits between the two. Even the Radio Spirits
HERMIT'S CAVE set which came out a few years ago talks on the back-cover
notes about the Hermit being played by Mel Johnson. But Johnson was the
Beverly Hills Hermit, and all of the episodes in the Radio Spirits set were
Detroit shows. So that wasn't [removed]

Mike Ogden

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #391
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