Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #245
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 7/27/2004 2:29 PM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2004 : Issue 245
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Clickety click, click                 [ Conrad Binyon <conradab@[removed] ]
      Sam Edwards                           [ Conrad Binyon <conradab@[removed] ]
      Re: [removed] "Speed" Riggs auctioneer     [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
      Anyone have Dragnet 56-12-18 in mp3?  [ "Matthew Bullis" <matthewbullis@run ]
      Re: More LS/MFT hard-sell stuff       [ jodie <raisingirl@[removed]; ]
      Jubilee                               [ "jazmaan@[removed]" <dmf273@ya ]
      Allen's Alley                         [ "William Schell" <bschell@[removed] ]
      RE: Mary Livingstone salary           [ "Philip Railsback" <philiprailsback ]
      Mary was "odd"?                       [ Jer51473@[removed] ]
      Director's can be wrong.              [ hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed]; ]
      "Shadow" bio                          [ "kclarke5@[removed]" <kclarke5@juno. ]
      What's in name?                       [ lawrence albert <albertlarry@yahoo. ]
      7-28 births/deaths                    [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]

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

    Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 19:21:08 -0400
    From: Conrad Binyon <conradab@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Clickety click, click

>     Doug writes [removed]@[removed]

> > >     In the opening of some of the later Lucky Strike programs there is  an
> > >     announcer who says "[removed]"  We all know what that  means, but
> > >     between the lines we hear what sounds like some kind of mechanical device
> > >     clicking.

    And Laura comments:

>     I believe that's a telegraph key.  I don't know Morse

    === message truncated ===

    Can't tell if in the truncated part of Laura's message
    Laura mentions Morse's code was allegedly devised by a
    gentleman named Alfred Vail and that the telegraph's
    mechanical clicking device was called a sounder which
    was heard differently than the tonal dots and dashes
    we are more used to in radio telegraphy.  Telegraphs
    and Radio Telegraphy has a full and intersting
    history, more to it than meets  the ear.

    CAB

    =====
    ---
    conradab@[removed] (Conrad A. Binyon)
    Encino, CA
    Home of the Stars who loved Ranches and Farms

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

    Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 19:21:21 -0400
    From: Conrad Binyon <conradab@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Sam Edwards

    Sad, of course, am I to hear the turn of events
    re Sam Edward's condition.  I wish his family well
    during their ordeal.

    Here's what I remember about Sam Edwards and which I
    originally submitted to the digest some time ago about
    my association with Sam.

    [removed]

    CAB

    =====
    ---
    conradab@[removed] (Conrad A. Binyon)
    Encino, CA
    Home of the Stars who loved Ranches and Farms

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

    Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 19:53:43 -0400
    From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: [removed] "Speed" Riggs auctioneer

       Kenneth Clarke wrote --

     > Yeah, I remember Mr. [removed] "Speed" Riggs as the Lucky Strike
    auctioneer on the old "Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge" program.

        I have had a question for some time.  During Jack Benny's time at
    NBC for Lucky Strike, I know all shows were done live, since NBC didn't
    allow ET's unless they were so stated.  Speed Riggs was in the opening
    and closing commercials.  My question is this: Was Riggs live in the
    studio or was it done by remote from where ever Riggs happened to be?
    While Luckies spent a lot of money on advertising I imagine it was done
    by remote.
        Joe

    --
    Visit my home page: [removed]~[removed]

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

    Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 22:21:29 -0400
    From: "Matthew Bullis" <matthewbullis@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Anyone have Dragnet 56-12-18 in mp3?

    Hello, perhaps this is a long shot, but I've acquired a collection of
    Dragnet mp3's, but 56-12-18 has the size of the program but no data. If
    anyone has this program complete, please get in touch with me, and let me
    know if you can attach it by e-mail.
    Thanks a lot.
    Matthew

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

    Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 22:21:54 -0400
    From: jodie <raisingirl@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: More LS/MFT hard-sell stuff

    hello all --

    Further to the discussion about the Lucky Strike telegraph key sound and
    the repetitiveness of the "[removed]" campaign, it reminded me of a
    commercial that I have on one of my Jack Benny tapes.  I use it in some
    of my classes when I'm telling the students about hard sells and
    repetitiveness, repeating the message, and George Washington Hill's
    philosophy that if you keep whacking the audience over the head with a
    message, they'll remember it.

    Anyway, it's from a Benny program from (IIRC) late 1945, and it starts
    off as a usual Lucky Strike commercial with the urgent "LS/MFT!
    LS/MFT!" and telegraph key.  Then Basil Rysdale (I believe it is,
    anyway; the tape is in my office right now, and I haven't listened to it
    in several months) interrupts with an "important message" that "Herbert
    Tareyton is back.  There's something about them you like!"  He keeps
    repeating those same points over and over, stopping only once to say
    that Tareyton cigarettes had been made for soldiers during the war, but
    now they're back on the market.  And he keeps repeating "Herbert
    Tareyton is back.  There's something about them you like!  There's
    something about them YOU LIKE!"

    When I play it for my students, I like to count the number of times the
    three central themes are repeated.  It's really something to see how
    often Hill's writers would repeat the same message within the space of a
    minute.  I'm sure it annoys the daylights out of the students, but it's
    about as graphic a way as I can illustrate about how you repeat the
    sales theme and people will remember it!

    Richard Kluger's book "Ashes to Ashes," about the cigarette industry,
    talks about Hill's advertising philosophy a bit.  And, as annoying as
    the commercials could be, we still remember "LS/MFT!" to this day.

    Contrast that to some of the television commercials from the 1950s.  I
    can't stand cigarettes, but the stop-motion Lucky Strike ads -- [removed],
    the square-dancing cigarettes -- are some of the most stunning
    advertising design I've seen.  Very stylish.

    Jodie Peeler

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

    Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 22:22:26 -0400
    From: "jazmaan@[removed]" <dmf273@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Jubilee

    I recently posted about Jubilee.  I thank the several people who responded.  But I guess I should
    have been more specific in my request so here goes:

    Does anyone have any of these "harder-to-find" episodes?

    Jubilee #153, October 1945 featuring Slim Gaillard
    Jubilee #155, November 1945 featuring Slim Gaillard
    Jubilee #163, December 1945,rebroadcast as #209 featuring Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie
    Jubilee #165 featuring Dizzy Gillespie and his Rebop Six
    Jubilee #???  Bird's 2nd Jubilee appearance in March or April of 1946 featuring an alto showdown
    with Willie Smith
    Jubilee #238 August 1947 featuring the Howard McGhee Sextet with Wardell Gray
    Jubilee #239 September 1947 featuring the Howard McGhee Sextet with Wardell Gray
    Jubilee #271, April 1948 featuring the Just Jazz All-Stars with Wardell Gray

    The music from most of these Jubilees isn't too hard to locate on CD.  But I want the entire shows
    complete with banter, other guests etc.  Most of these show numbers and dates come from
    [removed], which should mean that they should still exist in their entirety
    somewhere.

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

    Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 22:22:39 -0400
    From: "William Schell" <bschell@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Allen's Alley

    I just listened to a 1-23-49 Fred Allen broadcast with Jack Haley as guest
    and Fred was walking down Main Street.  I too wonder why the change from
    Allen's Alley.
    B. Schell
    Magalia, Ca

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

    Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 10:17:15 -0400
    From: "Philip Railsback" <philiprailsback@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  RE:  Mary Livingstone salary

>     I don't think Mary was working for scale.

    No, I don't think so either, especially after reading the Joan Benny book.
    But I don't think she qualifies as a professional actress, at least not in
    the sense that we usually mean with the term.  You can look at the David
    Letterman show for people who appear on screen, are paid, act out a
    character, yet by no stretch of the imagination are actors.  Mary
    Livingstone strikes me as much closer to that than end of the scale than,
    say, Alice Faye (to stick with OTR).

    On the other hand I have to admit that though she only played one character,
    so did Gracie Allen.  But there's really no question that she would never
    have appeared on radio if not for the fact that she was married to the star.
      Mary, I mean, not Gracie.

    So I put her down as that odd duck -- a professional non-professional, with
    the emphasis on the non.

      - Philip

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

    Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 10:18:14 -0400
    From: Jer51473@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Mary was "odd"?
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    According to brian that was true because beryle and a couple of more had that
    opinion. Lets assume she was, does that keep her from being a professional?
    If so, then many, many of these people that we watch in the movies or on tv
    today are not pros no matter how much they earn. Mary earned only the minimum,
    required salary because of tax loops? No proof of that whatsoever, but if we
    assume its true, it would seem to me she still would have been a pro if she
    was
    paid ANYTHING. Im sure mary wasnt jacks slave and worked for nothing. Directly
    or indirectly she added to hers and jacks wealth by acting on the show for
    many years. If she hadnt been jacks wife she would not have been a performer?
    Maybe so maybe not, but the fact is she DID become an actress for whatever
    reason. All "professionals" have to have some reason or circumstance that got
    them
    where they are or were. Most child actors or actresses get there jobs because
    of some connection their parent(s) have rather than their own pursuit of a
    career. Circumstances, being in the right place at the right (or wrong) time
    and
    knowing the right people can cause a person to become a professional whethe
    they really want to be or not. As far as being "odd" there is probably someone
    somewhere that thinks all of us are odd and if they wrote a book about it--
    well, many, many people might believe it if they saw it in print. We could
    still
    be professionals though if we get paid to preform and, i guess, dont drop
    paper
    on the floor.

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

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

    Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 10:29:02 -0400
    From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Director's can be wrong.

     My Jet Jocky buddy, Conrad Binyon, just posted.

>     Yikes!  I'm watching "Annie" over my suscribed
>     HBO/Cinemax cable channel, and there is a radio
>     scene with Peter Marshall, "Bert Healy" and Albert
>     Finney as "Daddy Warbucks" at the microphone
>     during the nationwide search scenes for "Annie's"
>     parents.  It shows them not only dropping script pages
>     on the floor, but Finney, in character,  actually
>     misreads parenthetically enclosed directions [removed]
>     (drop page) over the air in his confusion.
>     (SNIP)
>     No wonder the idea persists that such a practice was
>     universally done in  the industry.  It's in the
>     movies!

    Drat! Double Drat! I played golf with Peter Marshall about 6/7 years ago. If
    this current thread about page Dropping was in my head at the time, I
    definitely would have asked him whose idea it was to include that ridiculous
    bit of business.

    (GIGGLES) Yep! There are people who actually believe what the see in the
    movies. I remember the first time (as a young child) my Mom brought me to
    see Snow White. Whenever the Wicked Witch showed up on the screen, I went
    under the theater seat. And as an adult, after seeing "Psycho" at a
    Drive-in, when my wife and I arrived home, I was actually afraid to get out
    of the car to open the garage door.

    In the Motion Picture industry, (and often in Television) The Director has a
    lot of creative power, and input, as do the producers and writer, (if they
    have any clout).

    I have great respect for John Houston. As a matter of fact, I had dinner
    with him one night at a Polynesian restaurant in LA. Super nice guy, and a
    fascinating individual. I am an admirer of many of the films he Directed.
    "African Queen" was a classic. And there were many others. But just between
    you, me and the lamp post, "Annie" was not among them. Directing a musical
    comedy, and directing a drama, are two very different genre's.

    But that's just my opinion re "Annie", (which admittedly, is totally
    subjective), but based on the extent of my experience and expertise in the
    industry. Incidentally, "Annie" was shot at Monmouth college in [removed] while
    my daughter was attending school there. I saw John briefly when I visited
    her one weekend. He was in failing health at the time.

    But as to the dropping of radio script pages in "Annie", I confess I don't
    remember the scene. But I can perhaps offer an explanation for it.
    Obviously, "someone" thought it was a good bit of "business" and/or
    factually accurate. Who knows. But as to a script page containing the
    notation ("drop page"), that is nothing more than a contrived bit of
    business that somebody thought was clever and possibly "Humorous".

    But what I do know, FROM FIRSTHAND EXPERIENCE, is that a Director will play
    fast and lose with what happens (happened) in the real world. I recall,
    early in my TV production career, that I was assigned as an associate
    producer (liaison) between a Video Tape production company and a Motion
    Picture Director. This particular film director knew absolutely nothing
    about how things were photographed (video'd) for TV. The scenes were
    supposed to be taking place inside a TV studio. He staged his shots , and
    set up the Prop TV cameras in the most implausible and unrealistic fashion.
    When I gently pointed out that fact, he brushed it off with, "Not to worry.
    No one will know the difference".

    Now you see how people take things as "Gospel". What's that great expression
    that is certainly appropriate and germane to this topic.

    "Believe only half of what you see, and nothing of what you hear"

    Except, (of course) when I tell you stuff. :)

    Hal(Harlan)Stone
    Jughead

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

    Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 14:45:36 -0400
    From: "kclarke5@[removed]" <kclarke5@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  "Shadow" bio

         I've heard several stories regarding the background
    of the "Shadow" (aka Lamont Cranston) and it's all quite
    confusing.  I can understand 'artistic license' and all
    that, but would like to know the true background of this
    character.

         The first story I heard is about a wealthy man about
    town named Lamont Cranston, whose plane crashed in Tibet,
    then studied with a yogi from the Far East who noted Cranston's potential and
    taught him how to 'cloud men's minds, so they
    could not see him'.  Once he was proficient in this art, he
    returned to New York and worked undercover as the "Shadow".
    Later on, he entrusted Margot Lane with his secret and she
    assisted with his cases.

         The next story (unfortunately) is rather fragmented.
    Lamont Cranston, wealthy man about town, flew to the far East
    on holiday and crashed in the hills of Tibet.  He was saved
    from death by a yogi who taught him how to 'cloud men's
    minds so they could not see him'. (Here's where it gets
    fragmented.) He returned to New York and became the mysterious
    "Shadow", but found that another man had returned earlier
    to assume his identity as Cranston.  The two worked together
    as crimefighters until Margot Lane showed up. (I doubt this
    story.)

         In the movie, "The Shadow", he is portrayed as a cocaine
    dealer who is saved from death by a yogi who offers him
    the choice: either take his chance against the hordes of
    drugged out enemies who want to kill him OR be saved by the
    yogi and learn how to 'cloud men's mind's so they can not see
    him' and use this ability to bring others to justice. (He,
    of course, chose the latter.) Once proficient in this art,
    he was given the identity of Lamont Cranston, a wealthy man
    about town, who'd been missing for some time and resembled
    this man.  As Cranston, he met Margot Lane and later as the
    "Shadow" saved her father (a prominent scientist). After this,
    he trusted her with his secret and she assisted him in his
    crime solving.  Which of these is the truth?

         Also, I seem to recall that once the "Shadow" saved
    someone (usually someone whose talents he thought he could
    later use in his crime solving later on), he'd swear them
    allegiance and provide them a ring.  Whenever he needed them,
    he signal them by using the ring and they'd comply.

         Was this anything like the seal left behind by the Green
    Hornet.  Were there any radio eps where this mysterious
    ring was mentioned?

    Kenneth Clarke
    OTR Fan

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

    Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 11:26:51 -0700 (PDT)
    From: lawrence albert <albertlarry@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: What's in name?

    Hal Stone Wrote:

>     Their was a posting yesterday from "Lawrence" Albert. Is that the same
>     Albert who, before he got snooty, called himself "Larry".

     Hal
      I wrote this with an English accent and as those who
    are in the know whenever I do English iit's "Lawrence"

>     I once knew a "Larry" Albert. A super nice guy, (but terribly mixed up
>     politically). He happened to be a former military man, so that made him
>     a hero in my eye. He' also a very talented contemporary radio actor.

     Oh, my blushes

>     "Has the term Straight Jacket" become politically incorrect?  Has the Gay
>     community organized a protest march to get the Government to create an equal
>     opportunity term.

               To answer this quetions offers a wonderful
    opportunity to offend someone out there but I'm eating
    a chocolate bar and that is ifinetly more important.

>     Anyway, I find this Albert guy's posting very enlightening. (Primarily
>     because he agrees with me 100%.) Way to go, Lawrence. He goes on to
>     say:

> >     the actors we use on Imagination Theater are all professionals, they
> >     make their respective livings as actors or voice over talent, and members
> >     of AFTRA and we have never had anyone who dropped their pages. That is until
> >     last week.

    Their are always exceptions to the rules. But it's
    interesting to note,
    (perhaps only to me) that the exceptions are the ones
    that I already
    outlined in my prior posts.

>     Lack of Manual dexterity looms it's ugly head. Plus lack of practice to
>     perfect the technique.

        Truth be told there isn't a lot of opportunity or
    reason for today's actors to become profcient in page
    turning.

>     Someone should have stepped on his necktie when he was in the "stooped"
>     position, then see the fun begin. Is Imagination Theatre planning to use
>     him again?

      Oh yeah were going to use him next time I'll put a
    tall, a very tall stool next to him and he can place
    the pages  there.

>     My hero! What method would you have used? A Karate chop alongside the head?
>     Or a kick to the nether regions? :)

     Hal please, he's 6'8" I'm 5'7" on a good day. I have
    the ultimate threat though. I won't sign his check,
    that'll stop him.

>     I knew I liked members of the Albert family. [removed] [removed]
>     Makes no nevermind. They are both brilliant.

      Thank you, my new best friend

              Larry "Lawrence" Albert

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

    Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 14:56:42 -0400
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  7-28 births/deaths

    July 28th births

    07-28-1892 - Joe E. Brown - Holgate, OH - d. 7-6-1973
    comedian, quizmaster: "Ceiling Unlimited"; "Joe E. Brown Show"; "Stop or Go"
    07-28-1901 - Rudy Vallee - Island Pond, VT (Raised: Westbrook, ME) - d.
    7-3-1986
    singer, bandleader, emcee: (The Vagabond Lover) "Fleischmann Hour"; Rudy
    Vallee Show"
    07-28-1911 - Ann Doran - Amarillo, TX - d. 9-19-2000
    actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    07-28-1912 - George Cisar - IL - d. 6-13-1979
    actor: Tim "Tena and Tim"
    07-28-1914 - Carman Dragon - Antioch, CA - d. 3-28-1987
    conductor: "Maxwell House Coffee Time"; "Baby Snooks Show"; "Railroad Hour"
    07-28-1916 - Laird Cregar - Philadelphia, PA - d. 12-9-1944
    actor: "Hello, Americans"; "Radio Hall of Fame"; "Suspense"
    07-28-1937 - Peter Duchin - NYC
    pianist: "Stars for Defense"

    July 28th deaths

    02-08-1905 - Truman Bradley - Sheldon, MO - d. 7-28-1974
    announcer: "Easy Aces"; "Red Skelton & Co."; "Drene Show"
    02-09-1914 - Ralph Hermann - Milwaukee, WI - d. 7-28-1994
    bandleader: "Herb Oscar Anderson Show"
    04-09-1911 - Jim Bannon - Kansas City, MO - d. 7-28-1984
    announcer, narrator: "Joe Penner Show"; "Eddie Bracken Show"
    06-20-1899 - Helen Traubel - St. Louis, MO - d. 7-28-1972
    singer: "Metropolitan Opera"; "Telephone Hour"; "Jimmy Durante Show"
    07-01-1902 - William Wyler - Muhlhausen, Germany - d. 7-28-1981
    film director: "Screen Director's Playhouse"; "Hollywood Fights Back"
    10-13-1910 - Tex McCrary - Calvert, TX - d. 7-28-2003
    interviewer: "Hi Jinx"; "Tex & Jinx"
    --
    Ron Sayles
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #245
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