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

[removed] Digest				Volume 96 : Issue 327

Table Of Contents: 

	 Comic Weekly Man & Other Topics 
	 Out of the mouths of babes
	 Re: Everybody's [removed]
	 RE: CBS Mystery Theater doesn't stack up
	 The Comic Weekly Man
	 WWW Page Updates
	 Pardon My Blooper
	 Re: sterling holloway

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

Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996 12:31:13 -0400
From: KENPILETIC@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Comic Weekly Man & Other Topics 
Message-ID: <960909123113_474820104@[removed]>

Hi Gang -                     September 9 - 1996 -- Monday - 11 AM cdt 

There have been several references to "The Comic Weekly Man" in recent
issues of the digest.  I'm surprised that nobody thus far has mentioned
that the Comic Weekly Man was LON CLARK, who also played Nick Carter. 
Lon is scheduled to be at the FOTR convention next month.  If you attend,
you might ask him about it.   

In these same issues there were several references to "Uncle Don".  
When you play your "Pardon My Blooper" recordings, listen carefully to 
the announcer's introduction, "... a legend [removed]".  Kermit Schafer 
never claimed the Uncle Don story was true.  The recording is in fact
a fake. 

The CBSRMT did have a some really good programs.  The "Sherlock Holmes"
programs with Kevin McCarthy and Court Benson were particular favorites
of mine.  Those readers who had the privilege of meeting Court at the
FOTR conventions know that he was the perfect choice for the role of 
Dr. Watson.  The Conon-Doyle stories were presented very well. 
It is true that not all CBSRMT were of that calibre, but it's hard to 
be perfect seven nights a week for so many years. 

As I recall, the Radio Version of "What's My Line" was actually the 
sound from the TV program.  When the guests would "sign in", the 
announcer would tell the radio audience what the guest wrote.  There 
may have been changes in the commercials, too, but the program was 
basically a delayed simulcast.  I think I may have a program or two in 
my collection - but I don't know where (as usual). 

That's Enough for [removed] 
See You in Newark -- Ken Piletic (Streamwood, Illinois) 
kenpiletic@[removed] 

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

Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996 09:57:29 -0700 (PDT)
From: roy547@[removed] (Roy Trumbull)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Out of the mouths of babes
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Length:       1146

My one kiddie show experience was a TV one and it didn't involve
an open mic and epitaphs.
The host of this particular program resided in Sacramento and
the program was in San Francisco. There was one day a week in
which we taped two shows and did one live. Naturally we didn't
get any breaks on those days and it wasn't unheard of to raid
the candy closet. I will never eat another Clarke Bar for as
long as I live.
Our host wasn't that swift and on the live show he asked the
kiddies if they had any jokes to tell. A bad move on his part.
This one sweet little boy said he had a riddle about a squirrel.
"How do you make a squirrel laugh?" Well, none of us former 5
year olds in the control room could think of any joke about
a squirrel that wasn't dirty. 
The tension was intense as we all anticipated the outcome. We'd
forgotten that even our show host had once been a 5 year old. To our
great relief he said: "Run up a tree and act like a nut."Then he
put some distance between the kid and the microphone.

This was small potatos compared to what came out of kids mouths
on the Art Linkletter House Party that was simulcast on radio and TV.

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

Date: Mon, 09 Sep 96 18:19:00 -0500
From: [removed]@[removed] (GRAHAM NEWTON)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Everybody's [removed]
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>

It has gotta be an urban legend, spread by people all over the country.

There was Uncle Don, Uncle Bob, Uncle George and Uncle Roy
but in Montreal Canada, we had Uncle [removed] and whatdya [removed]
Uncle Troy was said to have done the same thing!
Although I worked in Montreal radio broadcasting (not at Uncle Troy's
station) I was never able to find anyone who could confirm from direct
experience that Uncle Troy actually said "... and that'll hold the little
bastards for another night!".

The closest thing to this kind of "blooper" happened on Toronto FM Radio
station CKFM a few years ago.  This one is well documented and was heard by
thousands of the station's listners and resulted in the DJ being severely
dealt with.

Phil MacKellar had done a radio show called "All That Jazz" for  years in
Toronto, and was doing a shift one evening on CKFM during the "Caribana"
festival.  (For those who don't know what Caribana is, it's a festival
celebrating Black music, food and dance, held in Toronto every year)

Apparently, MacKellar had just intro'd a new selection on the show, turned
his studio monitor completely off, hit his mike button, and took a telephone
call from a [removed] only his mike wasn't off, and he didn't know it,
and he wasn't aware that his monitor was still muted - he'd turned it
completely off - and his air mike was still live!

Listners heard his side of the conversation along with the music, and the
conversation got around to Caribana, whereupon MacKellar was asked by the
friend if he wanted to go downtown after his shift.  MacKellar's response was
"are you [removed] it's wall-to-wall niggers down there tonight".

It was well written up in the Toronto papers and MacKellar lost his job as a
[removed] sometime later he died of a heart attack, probably brought on by
the stress of the whole mess he created by sitting in a broadcast studio and
saying something that he couldn't have wanted the whole world to hear.

He violated the number one rule of [removed] when you are in a studio
with microphones, say only what could go to air.  If he'd replaced the word
"niggers" with the word "people", NOTHING would have happened.

[removed] I was told when I was a kid, that "sticks and stones will break my
bones, but names will never hurt me"... guess that was BS, like Santa Clause!



... The cost of feathers has [removed] now even DOWN is up!
___ Blue Wave/QWK [removed]

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

Date: Mon, 09 Sep 96 18:02:55 -0500
From: "Treasure Mountain" <[removed]@[removed]>
To: "OTR Digest" <otr@[removed]>
Subject: RE: CBS Mystery Theater doesn't stack up
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

My, my, many of the comments about  CBS Mystery Theater certainly have been
harsh.

I had the pleasure of listening to this series on a regular basis for perhaps
five years and found it very uneven but also--often--quite enjoyable.  I
think of it as the most literate of dramatic radio shows.  E. G. Marshall's
narration was rich and imaginative in a way completely unlike any of its
forerunners, filled with alusions to literature, and overall CBSMT was about
as good as any other long-running show I've ever heard.  (Not up to "Three
Skeleton Key" or "Linengin vs. the Ants," but awfully good in its own way.) 
I wish I could give specific episode titles, but I don't remember them.  I
liked the adaptions quite a lot--O'Henry, Twain (the Poes were pretty awful).


I didn't hear the last year or two of the series, but I was very impressed by
some of the odder material used toward the end of the period I did hear.  For
instance, there was a loose series of historical mysteries--assassinations of
the Grand Duke at Sarajevo, of Lincoln, and so forth.  They did a few
Sherlock Holmes, too.  I've heard quite a few Suspense episodes that were far
below the medium level of CBSMT. 

During the period when I was listening, there were only about three new
episodes each week; the remaining four were repeats.  I doubt that more than
10% of the shows can be fairly labeled "drivel," with perhaps another 10% as
very good to excellent.  There were a lot of shows in the middle, pleasant
and engaging if not terribly memorable.  (That's the way most things are. 
Much of the so-called classic OTR leaves me cold.  Suspense, for instance,
has always struck me as overrated.  Even Escape was often weak.  I am, of
course, excepting classics like those mentioned above.)  Frankly, I was
amazed at how well the show did with such a small number of writers and
actors.

CBS Mystery Theater was special to many of us who listened regularly.  I'd
love to see it brought back to one of the networks.  A noticable number of
subscribers to the Digest have written that they first became interested in
OTR as a result of listening to CBSMT.  I think that speaks volumes.

Pat Adkins

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

Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996 20:38:22 -0400
From: Kubelski@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: The Comic Weekly Man
Message-ID: <960909203822_304847045@[removed]>

I thought I had posted on this recently, but perhaps I haven't.  Lon Clark,
who played the Comic Weekly Man, as well as Nick Carter, Master Detective,
recreates his starring role annually at the Friends of Old Time Radio Show in
Newark.

He's still a fabulous entertainer.  Last year he also starred in a recreation
of Frank Lovejoy's old show, "Nightbeat."  He commented at the time that he
never gets to play Nick Carter anymore because whenever they recreate an
action drama, "I'm the only actor left who plays those kinds of parts."

But he always gets to play the Comic Weekly Man (I'm fairly certain that's on
the schedule again for this year, but Jay will have to confirm for me).

I've nicknamed Mr. Clark "The Last Action Hero", based on his comments and
we'll see if it sticks.

He should (cross your fingers) be appearing on "Test Your Memory" on WOBM-FM,
Tom's River, [removed], on September 30, following up a successful appearance by
Arthur "Let's Pretend" Anderson on the same program.

Your loyal and humble -- and soon to be unemployed due to my company going
out of business does anyone know anyone who needs a publicist -- PR man,


Sean Dougherty
Kubelski@[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 00:49:37 GMT
From: lgenco@[removed] (Lou Genco)
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: WWW Page Updates
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>

Recent updates at my Old-Time Radio WWW site:

All files have been moved from the East Coast server to Texas.  The
East Coast site will disappear on the 10th of September.  

The Humongous Database has grown yet again, thanks to Bob Yellin's
updates.  

A few more soundbytes are scattered here & there on the pages.

The Old-Time Radio Bulletin Board lost its old messages during the
transition, but is working well at the new site.  You can find your
way there by using the pointers on my page, or by accessing
[removed]  directly.  Sorry, the
bulletin board software doesn't do well with LYNX [removed]

Sight impaired or low-power computer users might check out my software
sub-page.  There is a new pointer; to NetTamer software, that is
usable on less than totally modern PCs, and is speech interface
friendly too!








Lou
------------------------------------------------------------------------
WWW page on "Old Time Radio":                   [removed]
------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996 21:26:38 -0400 (EDT)
From: Fred Berney <berney@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Pardon My Blooper
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I just noticed a posting about these records.

In 1972, when I lived in Miami, I met Kermit Shaffer. In fact I did the
editing on two of his films. "Out of the Blue" and the feature film, "Pardon
My Blooper".

It is a long story, so I don't want to take up the space here unless someone
wants me to go into depth. But, many of the spots on the record were
recreations.

I think you'll find that the early records are real. Then Kermit would hear
about a blooper, but could not find the actual tape, so he would have
someone recreate it.

I have all of the records. He even was nice enough to autograph one of the
records.

Here is a small aside to all of this. When I was editing the film, Kermit
had an assistant named April Kelly. She told me one day that she was leaving
to go to California to work on a new TV series. It was staring one of the
people from the SECOND CITY cast.

When the first season of Mork and Mindy was on, I noticed an April Kelly
listed in the credits.

As I said, my two years of working with Kermit could fill a book.

                                Fred

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

Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 10:14:30 -0400
From: Joelsiegel@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: sterling holloway
Message-ID: <960910101429_475532700@[removed]>

the film was hollywood hotel and, sorry, it wasn't sterling holloway. even
sorrier, i checked a couple of references including a history of warner
brothers and the busy berkand can't find a credit list. the singer was one of
goodman's musicians, a trumpet player i think, and i don't recall any credit
OTHER than singing hooray for hollywood.
his first name was a nickname. stuff? snuff? if anyone has the busby berkely
cd or the great warner brothers lp's that came out a bit ago celebrating 50
years of talkies, he'd be listed as the talent.
sterling holloway, though, was the voice of gyro gearloose.
and ronal reagan has a bit part as a radio announcer in hollyood hotel.




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End of [removed] Digest V96 Issue #327
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