Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #60
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 2/7/2003 9:03 PM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2003 : Issue 60
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Ugliness / Hal Stone book / Gildersl  [ BryanH362@[removed] ]
  Have Gun Will Travel Feature Film     [ Philipmarus@[removed] ]
  Re: Amos 'n' Andy in "The Untouchabl  [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
  Have Gun Will Travel explanations     [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
  Re: The Thin Man                      [ Shenbarger@[removed] ]
  A&A in literature                     [ Richard Carpenter <sinatra@ragingbu ]
  B. J.'S Wholesale Club                [ Bruce Young <youngsphotos@[removed]; ]
  Dragnet "Big Ben"                     [ "Ryan Osentowski" <rosentowski@neb. ]
  interviews                            [ "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed]; ]
  Re: Paladin                           [ John Mayer <mayer@[removed]; ]
  Re: commercials                       [ Fred Berney <berney@[removed]; ]
  DISKS                                 [ "[removed]" <[removed] ]
  Paladin                               [ "Harry Machin Jr" <harbev5@earthlin ]
  Master Detective                      [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
  Alternate Universe Speculation        [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
  Panel discussion at CUNY (NY City)    [ Howard Blue <khovard@[removed]; ]
  The Happy Gang                        [ " tompolley" <tompolley@[removed] ]
  broadcast days                        [ "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed]; ]
  a similar booboo gone undone          [ Ronald Staley <mrvintageradio@earth ]

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

Date: Thu, 6 Feb 2003 22:15:37 -0500
From: BryanH362@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Ugliness / Hal Stone book / Gildersleeve book
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02-06-2003

Roby in Alaska disagrees with me about the new blood being a benefit to
the
beauty of Americans.  The women definitely were more beautiful
after the GIs brought their foreign wives over and their children grew up.

Huh ??   Geez  ....  How did we get on this subject ?  What is considered
beauty is  so totally subjective  is it not? Regardless, Whether one thinks
the children born right after WW2  were/are  better looking than the previous
generations I doubt that it would have much to do with GI's  marrying foreign
wives  (one way or the other)  . The amount of baby boomers that are the
children of such a union  ( an American GI  and a foreign wife )   is
miniscule (particularly compared to the baby boomers as a whole).  Not much
of an OTR topic anyways.

In regard to OTR ;   One thing I like about the 21st century is all the
resources collectors have today to enjoy this hobby .  And even all the
recent books.
It's great to read all these books written about OTR . I just finished
reading Hal Stone's  book  . It was great !  No surprises there ...right?
Makes you want to find
a whole bunch of Archie shows and listen and  listen and  [removed]
Question for Hal :   Which network had the most popular Saturday line-up ?
Was it NBC or CBS  or another network ? I am looking at a few schedules
between 1948 and 1950  and I see on NBC   Frank Merriwell , Archie Andrews,
Meet the Meeks and Smilin Ed MCConnell.   CBS had  Mary Lee Taylor  , Let's
Pretend and for a time  'Junior  Miss'  and even a Saturday edition of
'ESCAPE! '

How many years was the Archie show live versus pre-recorded  I wonder ?  I do
recall Hal stating  that very early on they had to do another live show for
the west coast . How long did this last ( I forget ) ? Out west Archie was
airing at  11AM Pacific Time.

Another book I am reading is about the Great Gildersleeve by  Charles Stumpf
and Ben Ohmart.  The book  touches upon some behind the scenes events that I
had not known of previously.  I was well aware of the circumstances  that led
to Willard Waterman replacing Hal Peary in the role of Gildersleeve in 1950.
I did not know that
in 1945 Peary had actually tried to negotiate with the sponsor and the
advertising agency for control of the show and the rights to the Gildersleeve
character. Even further interesting was the letter announcer Jim Bannon wrote
to his parents in 1943 wherein he mentioned that Hal Peary was having a bad
case of star pains . Bannon  cautioned Hal Peary's behavior because another
actor from chicago was quite capable of taking  over the role of
Gildersleeve. What actor?   Willard Waterman
of course!

 Eventually I Intend to read all the books on OTR   :  )
Jim Cox , Martin Grams , everyone ... keep turning them out and I will read
them .
Has anyone done a book on Lights Out ?

-Bryan

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Date: Thu, 6 Feb 2003 22:30:06 -0500
From: Philipmarus@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Have Gun Will Travel Feature Film
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I read news of the Have Gun Will Travel Feature film with interest. My Dad
who was an avid fan of both the [removed] series and the subsequent radio spin-off
(he collected them both) just passed away in December. For last several years
my Dad had heard rumors of film of  Have Gun, Will Travel being made which
was susposed to star John Travolta in the title role. Upon reading the news
story, it apparent they have even begun the casting process yet. The film is
clearly still in the early stages. It will be interesting to see who starring
role finally goes to.

Mike Kerezman, Jr
Macomb, Oklahoma

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Date: Thu, 6 Feb 2003 22:30:34 -0500
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Amos 'n' Andy in "The Untouchables"

In one scene it was 1930, and Elliot Ness and his wife were
listening to Amos
& Andy on their cathedral radio.

This episode had a studio audience!

The actual episode they used for that scene was, in fact, the 10,000th "Amos
'n' Andy" broadcast from November 1952 (22 years after the scene takes
place), in which they restaged the duo's origins.

Dixon

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

Date: Thu, 6 Feb 2003 23:05:23 -0500
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Have Gun Will Travel explanations

Herb Harrison wrote:

I checked the site that Rob Chatlin kindly noted.
         The site says Paladin "lived a split life as a well-off society
man and a reluctant hired avenger of evil". I remember Paladin as being
reluctant to take on "hired-gun" jobs that had no moral purpose. As for
theother, I don't remember that he was accepted in San Francisco "society";
he was certainly cultured, and he was "well-off". (He often found ways
tocollect his hefty fee without charging his "broke" clients when the job
was done.)

Paladin was a hired gun, he rejected any offer that would have made him a
hired assassin.  He would take any job that required a body guard, a bounty
hunter who brought his catches in alive (not dead), deliveries of expensive
products and dangerous missions.  His only true ethics was not killing
people - Paladin didn't feel justified getting paid to murder people.

         The site says "The name Paladin came from the soldier who
commanded Charlemagne's troops." My understanding is that a paladin was an
army's "champion" during the wars of the Crusades: The Christian army would
send out a champion fighter to fight individual combats with a champion
fighter from the Saracen army; each side believed that its god would confer
victory on its champion, representing victory over evil.

Paladin was the name of a knight in the court of Charlemgne - of which the
horse chess piece was named after.  People oftendays call that chess piece a
knight, but it's real name is Paladin - which is why that piece is centered
on Paladin's business card.  In Italian, a paladino is a knight-errant.  As
Paladin described it in the episode "The Road to Wickenberg," "Gentlemen,
the symbol on my holster is a chess knight.  An attack piece.  He's the most
veritale on the board.  It can move 8 ways over barriers, always
unexpected."

         Rob seems to assume that Hey Boy needs to be treated with more
respect than in the OTR programs. It seems to me that Paladin respects
thecharacter as an intelligent, perceptive human being - despite his "low"
status as a hotel servant.

Paladin did respect Hey Boy, and was close friends.  There are about half a
dozen Tv episodes in which he helped family and friends of Hey Boy out of
kindness.  He tipped Hey Boy for good work, even took Hey Boy on a fishing
trip in "So True, Mr. Barnum."  Hey Boy was just as faithful to Paladin, by
keeping his mouth quiet on occassion when people were getting too close to
Paladin's personal life.  Course anyone who has ever seen or heard "Hey
Boy's Revenge" (better to see the TV episode) can see just how much he cared
about Hey Boy's well being.

We'll see what happens on-screen when/if the movie comes out. It probably
won't be exactly the same as the OTR or TV [removed] it might be even be
better!

Last I heard, the movie is not going to be made.  I have a copy of the film
script, drafted in 1996 and it was clearly written with John Travalta in
mind for the lead (as suggested on the script cover) but the script plays so
much like a remake of the recent Hopkins picture THE MARK OF ZORRO, with
Paladin saving slaves in the mines.  There are really stupid scenes in the
script but one puzzle remains - why Hey Boy is never seen in the script!
They left him out!

Makes me remember how sick I was when I left the movie theater after seeing
WILD, WILD WEST on the big screen a few years [removed]

Martin Grams, Jr.
Author of "THE HAVE GUN - WILL TRAVEL COMPANION"

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

Date: Thu, 6 Feb 2003 23:05:50 -0500
From: Shenbarger@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: The Thin Man
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In a message dated 2/6/2003 8:42:34 PM Central Standard Time,
[removed]@[removed] writes:

There are only 5 episodes of The Thin Man that are circulating.

I have one on cassette: "Nora's Night of Mystery". The tape was supplied by
The Great American Audio Corp. I have probably had it for ten years and don't
know where I bought it.

Don Shenbarger

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Date: Thu, 6 Feb 2003 23:06:05 -0500
From: Richard Carpenter <sinatra@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  A&A in literature

  The mention of Amos 'n' Andy being heard on TV's
"The Untouchables" reminded me that there was a
reference to the duo in one of the "Studs Lonigan"
novels by James T. Farrell -- books I read years ago.
I remembered that Studs' father was describing a
broadcast to his uninterested son, and an Internet
search refreshed my memory as to what he said. Alas,
"You would have laughed yourself sick at them" is all
I feel comfortable quoting  because the rest of the
older Lonigan's statement reflects the prejudices, or
at least the attitudes, of the day.

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

Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 00:22:25 -0500
From: Bruce Young <youngsphotos@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  B. J.'S Wholesale Club

Hi!

I was at [removed]'s the other day and Radio Spirit's sets of the Shadow and
comedy at $[removed]

Bruce Young

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

Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 00:50:27 -0500
From: "Ryan Osentowski" <rosentowski@[removed];
To: "old time radio" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Dragnet "Big Ben"

Hi all:
Does anyone have a copy of Dragnet, "The Big Ben," dated 03-15-51?
Apparently, this is the episode where Joe Friday is shot and Ben Romero
takes up the story to track down the shooters.  This would be a gem to add
to my collection.  Hope someone can help.
Thanks in advance.
RyanO

Freedom
is just frosting
On somebody else's
Cake-
And so must be
Till we
Learn how to
Bake.

Langston Hughes

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

Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 09:40:02 -0500
From: "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  interviews

Hi Everybody, does any one have interviews that George Fisher did in the
1940s and 1950s, or others like that?  I would like to play them on
Yesterday USA for the weekend live shows.  I have very good response for new
and old interviews of Radio, music and movie personalities.  Take care,

Walden Hughes

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

Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 09:41:08 -0500
From: John Mayer <mayer@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Paladin

Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed]; mentioned:
 The site says "The name Paladin came from the soldier who commanded
 Charlemagne's troops." My understanding is that a paladin was an
 army's "champion" during the wars of the [removed]

I'd always thought it was just another word for knight, but more
specifically, it seems, it properly refers to a favored palace guard:

  Pal"a*din, n. [F., [removed] paladino, fr. L. palatinus an officer of the
  palace. See Palatine.] A knight-errant; a distinguished champion; as,
  the paladins of Charlemagne. --Sir W. Scott.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

I recall from my boyhood love of mythology that there were twelve
paladins, of whom the most famous were Orlando and Rinaldo, the
latter of whom, as did our later cowboy heroes, had a horse almost as
famous as himself. Rinaldo's horse was named Bayard, and Rinaldo
subdued him in the wild with a couple of good rights to the jaw, sort
of like the scene in _Blazing Saddles_.

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

Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 09:44:02 -0500
From: Fred Berney <berney@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: commercials

Sometimes the old commercials are just as good as the old shows.

I was transferring one of the Perry Mason shows this evening and there was
a commercial for a Florida Grapefruit Spoon. This was a spoon that had
small teeth at the tip that were used for cutting into the slices of
grapefruit as you ate it.

I can just see this product trying to be sold today. The safety
organizations would be jumping all over the manufactures to remove those
small teeth.

I don't remember ever reading about anyone cutting off their tongue while
eating a grapefruit, so somehow we managed to survive those "unsafe"
inventions.

Fred
[removed]

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

Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 09:40:31 -0500
From: "[removed]" <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  DISKS
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Hello from Devon in Great Britain.  My E mail & membership to you has been
prompted by my recent acquisition of three 16 inch disks - dated 1932.  Six
Radio Programmes - sent to the BBC on the opening of their "new" studios in
London 1932!

     Details as follows:-  The label is white with green markings/text - the
heading "The Western Broadcast Co. Distributors of FRANK WATANABE and HON.
ARCHIE - Japanese Houseboy and his employer - copyright 1932  Program Number
XX  - Recorded by Freeman Lang and Pressed by Columbia Phonograph Co.

               I am keen to learn more about these disks

                            Many thanks    Tudor Gwilliam-Rees

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Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 11:23:08 -0500
From: "Harry Machin Jr" <harbev5@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Paladin
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One of the souvenirs I brought back from my navy days (1950-54, when I
frequently hitchhiked to Hollywood to visit the Hollywood Canteen and
attend radio shows) was a card that pictured aknight from a chess set and
had the words "Have Gun, Will Travel."  I don't remember now where I got
that card, but it was my understanding that Paladin, as the TV song said,
was a"knight without armor in a savage land."  My assumption was that
"Paladin" meant "Knight", insome other language than English, perhaps.
I'm sure someone will post a message explaining"Paladin."  Harry Machin
Jrharbev5@[removed]

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Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 11:44:53 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Master Detective

Derek Tague notes,

This reminds me that when I was  <snip> baby-sitting Anthony Tollin's
merchandise while he was rounding up a rental car at EWR, I found myself
reading the [removed] Daily News. When Tony returned, I told him "I cut out an
article about Nick Carter for you." [removed] was on to my ruse "You mean the
singer, don't you?" <snip> Imagine all those teenaged girls with crushes
on this latter-day Nick entering his name into a search engine only to
have to sough through countless references to some old "Master
Detective," who had the name first.

Well, if it comes to that, the original Nick Carter was contemporaneous
with Sherlock Holmes as a (US) dime-novel hero.  Quite different from the
laid-back Master Detective played so well by Lon Clark.  There were also
some 1960s paperbacks with Nick Carter: Killmaster, as a very different
hero as well.  Nick Carter the crimefighter (in the broadest sense) has
had a long and varied history.  (There is a Dover Press reprint of
various dime novel adventures, including a Nick Carter tale, if anyone is
curious.)

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 11:45:26 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Alternate Universe Speculation

Ron Sayles, speaking of World War II, notes,

I posed the question, was [removed] good for anything. I said not much,
but I proposed the theory that it extended the life of Olde Tyme Radio by
a few years and it was good for that. ...  I got a couple of virulent
responses saying that of course it was good for something, it stopped
Hitler and Japanese aggression. <snip> Lighten up! This is an Olde Tyme
Radio list and the question was asked in that context.

Well, virulence is, I suppose, in the eyes of the beholder.  However, for
those of us who lived through World War II, the question was astonishing.

IMHO, the a response saying "it stopped Hitler and Japanese aggression,"
is hardly virulent; it's historical fact.  I still am of the opinion that
if World War II hadn't taken place, there would have been no high demand
for television, and certainly no industry geared up to manufacture CRTs
(picture tubes) in high volume.  Without the impetus of wartime
technological development, electronic development, I truly believe, would
have been significantly slower than what actually happened.  I'd imagine
that OTR as we know and love it would probably have extended into the
1960s.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 12:19:55 -0500
From: Howard Blue <khovard@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Panel discussion at CUNY (NY City)

 I appreciate Irene's posting about the panel discussion that I organized
 at City University's Graduate Center yesterday. As Irene noted, it was
cosponsored by Nation Magazine. It went off quite well with some fine
people on the panel: Victor Navasky. publisher of The Nation Magazine,
and actors Cliff Carpenter, Terry Keane and Madeline Gilford (widow of
comic actor Jack Gilford). Arthur Anderson (of Let's Pretend fame ) was
among a group of prominent attendees in the audience.

Unfortunately the 1 1/2 hour was not taped. A reminder that I am
organizing another panel discussion to be held at CUNY on April 9, this
one more broadly on the topic of old time radio. Terry Keane will be on
the panel, so will Mason Adams, Arthur Anderson and Donald Buka.

Howard Blue

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

Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 15:35:11 -0500
From: " tompolley" <tompolley@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  The Happy Gang

While growing up in northern Indiana and north central Ohio I recall a
lively group that called themselves the "Happy Gang".  I believe they were
on a Windsor, Ontario station, probably CKLW and the broadcast was on at
mid-day.  Does anyone remember them or what happened after the group
break-up?  Thanks.
Tom Polley      tompolley@[removed]

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

Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 15:35:04 -0500
From: "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  broadcast days

Hi Everybody, I thought it might be fun some day to go through my collection
some day and try to reconstruct a partial day, or week of broadcast by
checking the dates of the show and listening to them as a group.  Many of us
are aware about the already complete days of broadcast that does exists like
9-21-39, or large block of NBC Red and Blue of 12-7-41, or CBS and NBC of
6-6-44, ECT, but I imagine many of use if we check would have two to three
shows of the same broadcast day  like a Sunday with Jack Benny, Fred Allen,
Amos and Andy ECT, or Monday Lux Radio Theater, then Screen Guild Theater,
and My Friend Irma, or Tuesday of Fibber McGee and Molly, then Bob Hope, and
then Red Skelton.  It would be interesting if any one has done that yet, and
have any one try to pick out a week and try to find shows that cover each
day of that week.  Take care,

Walden Hughes  of .

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

Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 18:22:14 -0500
From: Ronald Staley <mrvintageradio@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  a similar booboo gone undone

	In 1974 I went to see the sting, the story with robert redford and Paul
newman situated in the year 1936.

A sequence featuring messr's n and r going over to a woman policy banker's
house got me nearly thrown out of the theater.

In that sequence, the policy banker's pre-teen is listening to Gangbusters
on the radio. Wayyy off in the distance the announcer entoned: "sloan's
linament presents .... gang busters."

Oops I came out of my seat. In 1936, Gangbusters was sponsored by Palmolive
Shave cream; it was hosted then by Phillips H. Lord himself.

Well telling this story later got me no satisfaction; in fact, I was told
that was a rather picky thing. Well, considering that when Sloan's Linament
got the program the program wasn't even on the same network, and Phillips
H. Lord had receded back to promotions and production work, I guess I was
very picky.

Yep, wen doin history you just have to have your themes straight.

ron staley

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #60
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