------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2009 : Issue 156
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
8-15 births/deaths [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
July 2009 deaths [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
President Truman Assassination Attem [ Ken Stockinger <bambino032004-otr@y ]
Feudin', fussin' and a-fightin' [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
Les Paul - Did He? [ "Carl J. Chimi" <cchimi@[removed]; ]
This week in radio history [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
Les Paul's electric guitar [ James H Arva <wilditralian@[removed] ]
CBS Bong [ "Joe" <jpostove@[removed]; ]
RE: Shadow episode [ "Carter, Gay" <CarterG@[removed]; ]
It all [removed] [ Wich2@[removed] ]
Re: eyes, bongs and chirps [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
Re: Alvino Rey [ "Jan Bach" <janbach@[removed]; ]
Re: Les Paul - Did he? [ LBiel <[removed]@[removed]; ]
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:38:44 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: 8-15 births/deaths
August 15th births
08-15-1879 - Ethel Barrymore - Philadelphia, PA - d. 6-18-1959
actor: Hattie Thompson "Miss Hattie"
08-15-1885 - Edna Ferber - Kalamazoo, MI - d. 4-16-1968
author: "Cavalcade of America"; "Cables from Lisbon"; "Campbell
Playhouse"
08-15-1888 - Albert Spalding - Chicago, IL - d. 5-26-1952
violinist: "Forecast"; "Pause That Refreshes . . . On the Air"
08-15-1894 - Harry Akst - NYC - d. 3-31-1963
writer: "The Barry Gray Show"
08-15-1897 - Aben Kandel - d. 1-28-1993
screenwriter: "Lux Radio Theatre"
08-15-1897 - Charles Tobias - NYC - d. 7-7-1970
songwriter: (Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree) "Music for Millions";
"Great Moments to Music"
08-15-1898 - Monroe Upton - d. 8-6-1990
announcer, writer, comedian: KFRC San Francisco
08-15-1901 - Ned Washington - Scranton, PA - d. 12-20-1976
songwriter: "Dick Aurandt Show"
08-15-1901 - Sam Perrin - d. 1-8-1998
writer: "Jack Benny Program"; "Phil Baker Show"; "Tommy Riggs and
Betty Lou"
08-15-1903 - Burke Bivens - Kirbyville, TX - d. 11-6-1967
saxophonist: Wayne King Orchestra
08-15-1903 - Jerry Cady - d. 11-7-1948
writer: "Major Hoople"
08-15-1907 - Margaret Brayton - d. 5-29-1992
actor: "Burns and Allen"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
08-15-1909 - Hugo Winterhalter - d. 9-17-1973
pop-music conductor, arranger: "Johnny Desmond Program"; "Musical
Showcase"
08-15-1910 - Johnny Roventini - Brooklyn, NY - d. 11-30-1998
commercial announcer: (Call for Phil-lip Mor-ress) "Ferde Grofe Show";
"Johnny Presents"
08-15-1910 - Signe Hasso - Stockholm, Sweden - d. 6-7-2002
actor: "Charlie McCarthy Show"; "Hollywood Star Time"; "Lux Radio
Theatre"
08-15-1912 - Robert Lewis Shayon - NYC - d. 6-28-2008
along with Edward R. Murrow created "You Are There"
08-15-1912 - Wendy Hiller - Bramhall, Cheshire, England - d. 5-14-2003
actor: Queen Vic "Original Dramatic Work"
08-15-1914 - Eve Alwyn - Christ Church, New Zealand - d. 11-16-2005
actor: WEAT West Palm Beacg, Florida
08-15-1916 - Van Patrick - d. 9-29-1974
detroit lions play-by-play: "Jean Shepard Show"
08-15-1918 - David Baskerville - Freehold, NJ - d. 12-xx-1986
nbc staff composer and conductor: "Richard Diamond, Private Detective"
08-15-1919 - Huntz Hall - NYC - d. 1-30-1999
comedian: (The Dead End Kids) "Texaco Star Playhouse"
08-15-1923 - Baby Rose Marie - Lower East Side, NYC
singer: (Radio's first genuine child star) "Baby Rose Marie"
08-15-1924 - Phyllis Schlafley - St. Louis, MO
commentator: "America Wake Up"
08-15-1924 - Robert Bolt - Sale, England - d. 2-20-1995
writer: "The Last of the Wine"
08-15-1925 - Bill Pinkney - Dalzell, SC - d. 7-4-2007
singer: (Drifters) "Grand Ole Opry"; "Camel Rock and Roll Dance Party"
08-15-1925 - Oscar Peterson - Montreal, Canada - d. 12-23-2007
jazz pianist: "Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum"
08-15-1925 - Rose Maddox - Boaz, AL - d. 4-15-1998
country singer: "Faron Young Show"; "Country Hoedown"
08-15-1931 - Joe Feeney - Grand Island, NE - d. 4-16-2008
irish tenor: Got start at station WOW in Omaha, Nebraska
08-15-1933 - Bobby Helms - Bloomington, IN - d. 6-19-1997
singer: "Grand Ole Opry"
08-15-1935 - Joey Jay - Middletown, CT
baseball pitcher: "Tops in Sports"
08-15-1944 - Linda Ellerbee - Bryan, TX
disk jockey and newscaster for WVON Chicago
August 15th deaths
01-10-1917 - Jerry Wexler - The Bronx, NY - d. 8-15-2008
record producer: "Sound Stage"
01-10-1924 - Max Roach - New Land, NC - d. 8-15-2007
jazz drummer: "Bands for Bonds"; "Jazz Alive"; "Newport Jazz Festival"
03-04-1888 - Fred Smith - Clarksburg, IN - d. 8-15-1976
announcer: (America's first Ambassador of the Radio) "Newsacting"
03-26-1907 - Clarence Stroud - Kaufman, TX - d. 8-15-1973
actor: "Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy Show"
04-04-1897 - Albert Bagdasarian - d. 8-15-1968
newscaster: WNBZ Saranac Lake, New York
04-04-1906 - John Cameron Swayze - Wichita, KS - d. 8-15-1995
host. panelist: "Monitor"; "Who Said That?"
05-03-1920 - Nina Bara - Buenos Aires, Argentina - d. 8-15-1990
actor: Tonga "Space Patrol"
05-26-1887 - Paul Lukas - Budapest, Austria-Hungary - d. 8-15-1971
actor: Albert Einstein "Quick and the Dead"
05-30-1921 - Roy Neal - Philadelphia, PA - d. 8-15-2003
actor: "The Lost Continent"
06-01-1909 - Ray Heatherton - Jersey City, NJ - d. 8-15-1997
singer, host: "Old Gold Hour"; "Musical Cruise with Spearmint Crew"
07-18-1906 - Clifford Odets - Philadelphia, PA - d. 8-15-1963
playwright: "Fleischmann's Yeast Hour"; "Cresta Blanca Hollywood
Players"
07-24-1911 - Raymond Edward Johnson - Kenosha, WI - d. 8-15-2001
actor: Raymond your host "Inner Sanctum Mysteries"; Don Winslow "Don
Winslow of the Navy"
07-28-1903 - Duane Thompson - Red Oaks, IA - d. 8-15-1970
actor: Telephone Operator "Hollywood Hotel"
08-26-1891 - Frayne Baker - d. 8-15-1968
newscaster: KFYR Bismarck, North Dakota
09-21-1907 - Jack Mather - California - d. 8-15-1966
actor: Cisco Kid "Cisco Kid"
10-23-1904 - Ford Bond - Louisville, KY - d. 8-15-1962
announcer: "Cities Service Concert"; "Manhattan Merry-Go-Round";
Highways in Melody"
11-04-1879 - Will Rogers, Sr. - Oolagah, Oklahoma Territory - d.
8-15-1935
humorist: (America's Greatest Humorist) "Gulf Headliners"
11-28-1916 - Richard Tregaskis - Elizabeth, NJ - d. 8-15-1973
author, war correspondent: (Guadalcanal Diary) "Lux Radio Theatre"
xx-xx-1920 - Bob "Shamrock" Shannon - West Allis, WI - d. 8-15-2000
announcer, host: "Mayor of the Town"; "The Man Says Yes"
Ron
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:38:51 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: July 2009 deaths
03-22-1912 - Karl Malden - Chicago, IL - d. 7-1-2009
actor: "Theatre Guild On the Air"; "Our Gal Sunday"; "Aldrich Family"
07-21-1922 - Mollie Sugden - Keighley, England - d. 7-1-2009
actor: Worked in British radio
03-20-1933 - Pasquale Borgomeo - Naples, Italy - d. 7-2-2009
Director of Vatican Radio
10-12-1912 - Robert Mitchell - Los Angeles, CA - d. 7-4-2009
organist: "Jump-Jump of Holiday House"; "Midnight Matinee"
08-12-1917 - Ebba Haslund - Seattle, WA - d. 7-10-2009
writer: "Himmelsk Dilemma"
06-17-1924 - Sir Edward Downes - Birmingham, England - d. 7-10-2009
conductor: "BBC Philharmonic"; "Netherlands Radio Philharmonic"
04-16-1939 - Donald MacCormick - Scotland - d. 7-12-2009
host: "London News Direct"
05-19-1913 - Beverly Roberts - Brooklyn, NY - d. 7-13-2009
actor: "The John Barrymore Theatre"; "The Falcon"
02-25-1915 - Brenda Joyce - Excelsior Springs, MO - d. 7-13-2009
actor: "Good News of 1940"; "Stars Over Hollywood"; "AmericanShowcase"
01-01-1947 - Neil Munro - Musselburgh, Scotland - d. 7-13-2009
actor: Quentin Nickles "Investigations of Quentin Nickles"
07-19-1919 - Dallas McKennon - La Grange, OR - d. 7-14-2009
start in radio reading O. Henry and Mark Twain
11-04-1916 - Walter Cronkite - St. Joseph, MO - d. 7-17-2009
newscaster: "Soldiers of the Press"; "A Tribute [removed]"
07-04-1921 - Betty Underwood - Rockford, IL - d. 7-17-2009
script writer: Oregon Public Broadcasting
01-03-1925 - Jill Balcom - London, England - d. 7-18-2009
actress: "Time for Verse"
11-18-1924 - Les Lye - Toronto, Canada - d. 7-21-2009
emcee: CFRA Ottawa; CKEY Toronto
05-35-1935 - Hiroshi Wakasugi - NYC - d. 7-21-2009
orchestral conductor: "Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra"
07-27-1925 - Harry Towb - Lame, Northern Ireland - d. 7-24-2009
actor, writer: "The Debt Collector"; "A Candle for Casey"
08-01-1919 - Stanley Middleton - Notinghamshire, England - d. 7-25-2009
author: "The Captain of Nothinghamshire"
06-01-1935 - Reverend Ike - Ridgeland, SC - d. 7-28-2009
His weekly radio sermons were carried by hundreds of stations across
the [removed]
06-23-1923 - George Russell - Cincinnati, OH - d. 7-29-2009
composer, theoretician, pianist: Director of Swedish Radio
10-19-1920 - Harry Alan Towers - London, England - 7-31-2009
producer: "The Black Museum"; "Horatio Hornblower"; "The Scarlet
Pimpernel"
Ron
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:38:57 -0400
From: Ken Stockinger <bambino032004-otr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: President Truman Assassination Attempt
Hi all,
Hope everyone is having a good Summer. While listening recently to radio
coverage of JFK's assassination, I heard several mentions of the unsuccessful
attempt on President Truman's life which occurred Oct. 1,1950.
Which got me thinking,,,are there are surviving radio reports on this
attempt? For that matter, anything from when Ike had his heart attack?
If anyone knows where I can locate/obtain these recordings, please
contact me off-list. Thanks!
Ken Stockinger
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:40:32 -0400
From: <otrbuff@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Feudin', fussin' and a-fightin'
Kenneth Clarke writes:
One of the feuds I've heard which got pretty heated was the one between
columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons. I believe each one worked for
a different news syndicate as well. Was this an actual feud between the two
columnists or just a way to boost their own ratings? Were they as mean
toward each other when in public or was this just something they both did
when they were behind the microphones doing their respective shows?
Dear Kenneth ....
Please go to your local library and check out my book "Radio Speakers:
Narrators, News Junkies, Sports Jockeys, Tattletales, Tipsters, Toastmasters
and Coffee Klatch Couples Who Verbalized the Jargon of the Aural Ether from
the 1920s to the 1980s -- A Biographical Dictionary." If you can't locate
this volume you can order it from
[removed] or 800-253-2187.
The full details of their feuding are there, along with the similar
adventures of Jimmy Fidler, Walter Winchell, and others of the Hollywood
gossip circuit who constantly fought tooth and toenail to get ahead of the
competition. You'll find 1,161 performers documented there, incidentally,
most of them in lengthy detail, so some other questions in your mind might
be satisfied with that tome, too.
Jim Cox
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:41:50 -0400
From: "Carl J. Chimi" <cchimi@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Les Paul - Did He?
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Can someone who really knows clear up who did what?
There were many inventors of the electric guitar. I've never heard the
Alvino Rey story, and I'm intrigued by it. Most of the stories I've heard
date back to the early 1930s, but certainly electric guitars very similar to
modern ones were being sold by about 1935 or so.
My understanding of what Les Paul did is that he invented a very unusual
electric guitar, and he did it when he was just a kid, in about 1927. As I
understand it, he took the tone arm and needle from an electric phonograph
(then a very new device) and somehow attached it to the top of the body of
his acoustic guitar, such that the needle picked up the vibrations of the
top as he played. The needle assembly thus acted as an electrical
transducer and sent the signal to the phonograph's amplifier.
I have no idea how well it worked, but given how new the electric phonograph
was in those days, and how young Lester was, I think it was a pretty clever
idea.
He is often credited in news stories with inventing the electric guitar
because of his work on "The Log", which was an experiment in crafting a
solidbody guitar, but that came much later, after the idea of the electric
guitar had firmly taken hold. The importance of the The Log cannot be
overestimated for guitar players (like me), though, because it led to such
axes as the Les Paul, the Telecaster, and the Stratocaster. Guitars like
those were easier to manufacture, cheaper to buy, had increased sustain, and
just sounded real cool.
RIP Les. Very few people have the sort of influence you had.
Carl
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:42:01 -0400
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otr-digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: This week in radio history
From Those Were The Days
8/23
1923 Billy Jones and Ernie Hare, The Happiness Boys, were heard on
radio for the first time. The two were billed as radio's first comedians
and were also credited with creating and performing the first singing
commercial.
8/24
1950 The summer replacement radio show for Suspense, titled Somebody
Knows, was heard for the final time. The program offered a reward of
$5,000 for information that led to the solving of crimes. Somebody Knows
began with the introduction, "You out there. You, who think you have
committed the perfect crime that there are no clues, no witnesses
listen. Somebody knows."
8/25
1949 NBC debuted Father Knows Best. The Thursday night program aired
for five years. Robert Young played the role of Jim Anderson, the ever
patient father. The rest of the family included wife Margaret, son Bud
and lovely daughters Betty (the eldest) and Kathy. The family lived on
Maple Street in Springfield.
8/26
1873 Lee DeForest was born on this day in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
DeForest seemed to be a born inventor. He held patents for hundreds of
different items including the photoelectric cell and the surgical radio
knife. But none had as much impact on the world as his invention of the
electron tube, specifically the triode, a three element vacuum tube,
which later became the audion tube possibly the most significant
invention that made radio possible.
1939 Arch Oboler's Plays presented the NBC Symphony, for the first
time, as the musical backdrop for the drama, This Lonely Heart.
8/28
1922 The first paid commercial to be broadcast on radio was heard on
WEAF in New York City. Announcer [removed] Blackwell spoke about Hawthorne
Court, a group of apartment buildings in Queens, New York. The
Queensboro Realty Company, of Jackson Heights, bought what was called
Toll Broadcasting. WEAF, owned by AT&T, sold their block programming,
five one minute programs, one a day for five days, for $50 plus long
distance toll fees. The Queensboro Realty Company paid $100 for 10
minutes of commercial airtime.
From The [removed]
1938 The first degree given to a ventriloquist's dummy is awarded to
Charlie McCarthy Edgar Bergen's wooden partner. The honorary degree,
"Master of Innuendo and Snappy Comeback," is presented on radio by Ralph
Dennis, the dean of the School of Speech at Northwestern University.
Joe
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:42:30 -0400
From: James H Arva <wilditralian@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Les Paul's electric guitar
In V2009 #155, Norman Flagg questions whether or not Les Paul really did
invent the electric guitar, bringing up the point that Alvino Ray was
using one earlier than Les did. I believe the answer to that is that --
to the best of my knowledge -- Les Paul is credited with the invention of
the *solid-body* electric guitar, Might Alvino Ray's been an electrified
*acoustic* guitar?
Regards,
Jim Arva
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:42:56 -0400
From: "Joe" <jpostove@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: CBS Bong
I wrote Michael Paraniuk (digest #155 8/15/09) the following message but my
mail bounced back. If Michael is watching the list or if anyone else can
answer my questions about the CBS bong, I would be delighted.
Thanks,
Joe
Hi Michael,
I read with great interest your post to the radio digest on the CBS
"chirp' and its disappearance from CBS Radio. The major talk station in
Norfolk carries Fox (nose held by finger and thumb) and CBS has been hard to
find. Just lately I have started listening to a very small talker here which
carries CBS. It was good to hear the bong again.
I'm writing because a few years ago I was watching "The Price Is Right"
on CBS-TV and I could have sworn I heard the bong. I even posted to the
digest about whether or not the TV side carried the bong, but got no
replies.
Do you know if the tv side once, and perhaps continues to carry the
bong? And lastly, the bong I hear on the TOH CBS casts does not quite sound
like the bong of my youth (60's 70's). It sounds a little more forceful.
Thanks for your time.
See you on the radio!
Joe Postove
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:43:07 -0400
From: "Carter, Gay" <CarterG@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: RE: Shadow episode
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Bob,
You aren't in the Twilight Zone, that is a Shadow episode. It is "Murder from
the Grave" from April 6, 1941. Bill Johnstone is Lamont Cranston/The Shadow.
It should be readily available.
Gay Carter
CarterG@[removed]
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:43:41 -0400
From: Wich2@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: It all [removed]
From: "kclarke5@[removed]" kclarke5@[removed]
As far as whether radio actors/actresses would be able to succeed on
TV, that point is debatable. Many of them who were successful on radio
(and even had their own shows) weren't as successful on television
Well, Kenneth, I'd say yes - and no.
True, some "A+" Radio giants were never as successful in TV - [removed], Fred
Allen.
But MANY "B and C" level performers (and I speak here of fame, not talent)
did just fine: Harry Bartell, Joe Kearn, Bill Conrad, Bud Collyer, Raymond
Burr, and many other folk of their [removed]
Best,.
-Craig W.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:44:02 -0400
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: eyes, bongs and chirps
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In a message dated 8/15/2009 5:18:45 [removed] Central Daylight Time,
[removed]@[removed] writes:
CBS RADIO CHIRP XXXX - July 2009. I will truly miss this little bird
that has set my watch for decades. May she Rest In Peace.
I only know of the chirp dating back to the 1970s, and first heard it on
the "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre" and CBS Radio News updates. I know the
"bong!" dates back as far as 1940s episodes of "The Whistler," "Escape" and
"The
Spike Jones Show" (based on the OTR where I've heard it). Can anyone
narrow down the earliest they've ever heard either the "Bong!" or the
"Chirp!"?
Dixon
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:44:37 -0400
From: "Jan Bach" <janbach@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Alvino Rey
Hello again --
Re Norman Flagg's question about Alvino Rey vs. Les Paul as the inventor of
the electric guitar: Alvino Rey invented an electric pickup (contact mike)
that could be connected to the hollow body of an acoustic Gibson guitar; he
had first used it as an electric pickup for his banjo (he first tried a
telephone receiver, then used a phonograph needle!). He is also credited
with the invention of the pedal steel guitar. Les Paul is credited with the
invention of the solid body guitar; once the guitar was amplified, it no
longer needed the hollow body in order to project the sound.
By the way, did anybody mention here that Les Paul early in his career was
in a terrible accident (automobile, I think) and had to make a choice with
the surgeon as to whether his right arm would be set permanently straight or
bent? Naturally, he chose the bent arm, without which he would have been
unable to play the guitar at all.
Later,
Jan Bach
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:45:38 -0400
From: LBiel <[removed]@[removed];
To: "Bulletin Board, OTR" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Les Paul - Did he?
Norman Flagg asks about the truth of Les Paul's accomplishment because
With any mention of his name, Les Paul is always credited with inventing the electric guitar . . .
While it is possible that some unknowledgable writer might have phrased it this way, what he actually did was develop the SOLID BODY electric guitar. As you had correctly noted, there had been many electric guitarists before him. These had attached either mechanical contact mics or magnetic pick-ups to regular hollow body guitars.
And while we are at it, let's mention that Les Paul was certainly not the inventor of "overdubbing" either. He was a very skilled practitioner and developed innovations to make the process easier, but he wasn't the first. Thomas Alva Edison was. The tinfoil phonograph of 1877 was capable of making new recordings while playing a recording, and by early 1878 Edison is noted to record himself making comments about the playback of himself. Both recordings could then be played back together. This is more accurately "sound-on-sound" but the concept was there. Adding vocals or additional instruments to prior recordings was often done in the film industry, and as early as 1927 Victor was overdubbing Caruso recorings on top of electrically recorded orchestras.
Michael Biel mbiel@[removed]
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2009 Issue #156
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