Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #265
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 7/7/2003 2:20 PM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2003 : Issue 265
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Re: Robert Bloch radio shows          [ "Michael Ogden" <michaelo67@hotmail ]
      Radio collector amiss?                [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
      Re: Victor Borge                      [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
      Hats off to Hal !                     [ Pratz <[removed]@[removed]; ]
      Starting your own AM station  Re: A  [ JaRRod DellaChiesa <gobojoe@[removed] ]
      Louis Armstrong's Birthday            [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]
      Today in radio history                [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
      OTR/nostalgia audiences               [ JackBenny@[removed] ]
      Q&A                                   [ JackBenny@[removed] ]
      I Love a Mystery                      [ "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@hotmail. ]
      Re: comedians that need all the laug  [ rodney-selfhelpbikeco@[removed] ]
      Re: OG, SON OF FIRE                   [ "Michael Ogden" <michaelo67@hotmail ]
      Re: Today in radio history            [ "Michael Hayde" <mmeajv@[removed]; ]
      July 8th births and deaths            [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jul 2003 22:49:28 -0400
    From: "Michael Ogden" <michaelo67@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Robert Bloch radio shows

    Kurt raised the following question about Robert Bloch's radio work:

>     There was a story told by Robert Bloch that a bunch of his stories from the
>     Kate Smith show were >lost in a plane crash and therefore there were no
>     copies of them.  Can anybody verify that and were >they ever found?

    Kurt, I'd love to know what source material you're citing for this story,
    since I had never heard it before. Is there a particular interview Bloch
    gave that this comment was taken from?

    Here's what I can add from my own research to the discussion about Robert
    Bloch, radio shows, and plane crashes:

    Firstly, to the best of my knowledge, only one Bloch story was ever adapted
    for the Kate Smith show, and that one was "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper,"
    which was broadcast in January 1944.

    Secondly, there's only one known instance of Bloch doing a bunch of his
    stories for radio, and that was the 39 episodes that he scripted for the
    1945 transcribed series STAY TUNED FOR TERROR. Here's where the plane crash
    comes in. The show's producer, Johnny Neblett, was killed in the crash of
    his private airplane, and with him died the production company that did the
    Bloch series and that had planned to do a second series of 39 more episodes.

    Since STAY TUNED FOR TERROR was a transcription series,  multiple copies
    should have existed of all the episodes. So it seems unlikely that even if
    Neblett had a complete set of discs aboard his plane, that the series would
    have been completely lost in the crash.

    Unlikely, [removed] The fact remains that not even one episode of STAY
    TUNED FOR TERROR has ever surfaced into circulation among collectors, not in
    all these decades of OTRdom. To my knowledge there's never even been a rumor
    about any episodes existing. Yet, as I said, there were surely multiple
    copies of the discs since it was a successful series and was marketed not
    only all across the continental [removed] but in Canada and Honolulu as well. So
    where did all these discs go? Bloch insisted repeatedly in interviews that
    he had no recordings of the shows. In fact, he said that he didn't even have
    any copies of his scripts.

    So, right up to the present date, this remains a totally 100% lost series. I
    don't know if you'd call it the Holy Grail for OTR horror enthusiasts, but
    it comes pretty darn close. WHERE can all those discs be? How many possible
    attics could they be so buried away in that not even one--ONE--of the shows
    has ever seen the light of collector or archival day?

    Mike Ogden

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jul 2003 22:49:30 -0400
    From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Radio collector amiss?

    There is an old-time radio collector in Canada named Allan Ropchan who I
    purchased some cassettes from a few years back.  I recently tried to send
    something to him but it appears he is no longer available at the address I
    had (which is the same address Jay Hickerson has listed in his ULTIMATE
    GUIDE book).  Below is the old address that isn't feasible.  Does anyone
    have an updated one?
    Allan Ropchan, 8923 8th Ave., Edmonton Alta, Canada  T6C 1E3

    Martin
    mmargrajr@[removed]

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jul 2003 22:52:58 -0400
    From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Victor Borge

    Russ Butler mentioned Victor Borge telling him about his first [removed] jobs in
    radio warming up the Bing Crosby audience and appearing on his Kraft Music
    Hall.  He also said he mentioned once appearing on the Rudy Vallee program.
    Rudy Vallee has some very NASTY things to say about Borge in one or two of
    his autobiographies--things that I think were totally uncalled for.  He
    claimed that Borge was ungrateful.  Valle had discovered Borge, had him
    warm up the audience for his program, but for some reason felt that Borge
    would be more appropriate for Bing's program, and sold Bing on having him
    appear there.  It seemed from Vallee's books that Borge did not appear on
    Vallee's program.  Anybody know for sure?  Vallee seems to had thought that
    Borge was angry at him for not using him on the air and pushing him off to
    Bing.  Of course, Borge was a BIG HIT on Bing's program!!  To which Borge
    was always grateful, but Rudy somehow thought that the credit belonged to
    him, not Bing.

    I had a chance to meet Borge once, but I did not have the courage to ask
    him about his relationship with Vallee.  Borge was so frankly amazed at
    albums I was asking him to autograph that he called his manager over to
    look at them.  I had both of his 78 album sets--the second of which is very
    rare--and just about every version of his LP and 45 albums, including many
    foreign issues.  I told him I attended a concert he gave at Tivoli in
    Copenhagen entirely in Danish (which I certainly don't speak) and asked him
    if he had ever made any records in Danish before he escaped from Denmark at
    the start of WW II.  He said yes, but didn't remember all of the details.
    Shortly thereafter I found a copy of one of them.  He is credited with his
    real name, Borge Rosenbaum, and it is a 2-sided 78 monologue about a
    restaurant.  It is totally non-musical but you can understand a lot of the
    humor from the expressiveness of his voice.

    Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jul 2003 22:52:39 -0400
    From: Pratz <[removed]@[removed];
    To: "OTR (Plain Text Only)" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Hats off to Hal !

    I've already dropped Hal Stone a personal note, but thought I would share
    with the rest of you in "OTR Land" what most of us already know; Jughead is
    a truly nice guy! My wife wanted to get me a copy of his book "[removed],
    Archie! Re-laxx" for my birthday. As we live in Canada and there were some
    questions about postage, handling, exchange rates, [removed] wife emailed
    Hal for answers. Four emails later, all was worked out. Seems those two had
    quite the email exchange going! My wife even remarked what a nice man he
    was. Later, as I unwrapped my birthday book and read the great personal
    inscription he promises with each purchase, an added handwritten note came
    fluttering out from the pages. It was a note from Hal that read - "I
    certainly hope you appreciate what a loving wife Jill is! I mean, who else
    would get you such an incredible birthday gift? Happy birthday! Hal."  The
    book, the inscription and the [removed] my day! I have now started to
    devour the book which looks VERY interesting! Just so you [removed]
    Jughead IS a nice man! I highly recommend Hal's book to one and all, and
    he's not paying me a red cent to say that. I did tell him, however, to stop
    flirting with my wife!

    OTR folks are the best!

    Rich

    PS - How much can I get on EBay for Hal's autograph?

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jul 2003 22:53:07 -0400
    From: JaRRod DellaChiesa <gobojoe@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Starting your own AM station  Re: AM

    Could you tell us a little bit more about starting our own AM station?
    Is there a catalog for buying this stuff?  Or websites on this topic?
    Thanks!

    -Jarrod :0)

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jul 2003 22:53:19 -0400
    From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Louis Armstrong's Birthday

    There has apparently been confusion over Louis Armstrong's birthday for as
    long as he's been famous.  Given the circumstances of his birth, there is
    some question as to whether Mr Armstrong himself ever knew the exact date.

    M Kinsler
    512 E Mulberry St. Lancaster, Ohio USA 43130 740-687-6368
    [removed]~mkinsler1

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jul 2003 22:51:58 -0400
    From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Today in radio history

       From Those Were The Days --

    1943 - Judy Canova, the 'Queen of the Hillbillies', began a weekly
    comedy show on CBS.

    1947 - A hidden microphone eavesdropped on unsuspecting people for the
    first time this night, as Candid Microphone hit the ABC airwaves.

       Joe

    --
    Visit my homepage: [removed]

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

    Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2003 10:25:56 -0400
    From: JackBenny@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  OTR/nostalgia audiences
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/mixed
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    Mark Kinsler wrote:

>     But as it stands, the attitudes of increasingly detached, poorly-educated
>     customers and empire-building museum administrators are symbiotic, feeding
>     off of each other.  What we're starting to see is dumbed-down institutions
>     and patrons who visit once but never again.  A second visit to a modern
>     museum isn't much better than a TV re-run.  I doubt that the Museum of Radio
>     and Television is much different.

    I'm just catching up on some Digests and saw this comment.  In taking a class
    on entrepreneurism, I came up with the idea of a theatre devoted to media
    from the turn of the century to 1965.  I could screen movies, television shows
    you don't see today (like Your Show of Shows), have places for people listen
    to
    OTR, put some of my own personal collection there, etc.  It would be a place
    people could take their kids to see a movie, and not worry about being
    assaulted with gratuitous sex, language, or whatever.  For a few days, I felt
    like
    Ethel Merman singing, "Everything's Coming Up Roses".  I had found a way to
    combine my professional management skills and my personal passion for media.

    Then I started talking with people in the local entertainment industry.  The
    gist of what I heard is [removed] people have tried variations of this in my
    area, and it just doesn't work.   Even when theatres screen movies like
    "Sunset Boulevard" and "North by Northwest", no one shows up.  You can have a
    finite film festival, but it needs lots of publicity and doesn't work as an
    ongoing
    venture.  To get families there, you'd need to rely on the parents to be
    sophisticated enough to seek out that sort of entertainment, and by and large,
    they don't.  For the kids, the pacing of that material is just too slow and
    the
    special effects look schlocky compared to today.  And OTR?  People just won't
    pay to come in the door to hear it.  In short, people would rather pay to see
    Dumb and Dumber than, say, the Marx Brothers or Abbott and Costello.

    So I am also looking into being a Project Manager of some ilk in the various
    media/film companies in the area.  And in researching that, I got the
    following information from a filmmaker and IJBFC member.  Hollywood targets
    its movies
    mostly at male teens that get the money from their parents to go to the
    movies.  And because education in this country is largely in decline, they
    "dumb
    down" the movies so that the humor is handed to you on a plate (or thrown in
    your face) rather than making you think to get the joke (ala the Marx
    Brothers or
    Preston Sturges).

    So bringing this back to Mark's observation, it appears to be a strong
    argument in support of it.  My theatre idea was much in line with the Museum
    of
    Television and Radio.  But if people come in at all, it seems that more and
    more
    they'll look for something current and familiar (like "The Sopranos").  And in
    dumbing down today's media, it creates an ever-widening gap between new stuff
    and the classics.  This drives some of us even more towards the classics, but
    the majority of the audience seems happy to descend to the level of the media.

    Would be curious as to other Digesters' thoughts on this phenomena.  Who
    [removed] may eventually be like the heroes in Bradbury's "Farenheit 451",
    keeping the books and shows intact.

    --Laura Leff

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

    Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2003 10:26:35 -0400
    From: JackBenny@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Q&A
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    Bill Schell asked:

>     When and why did Phil Harris leave the Jack Benny Program?  Did each
>     program
>     have a full orchestra for the music or was some pre recorded?  Did the shows
>     have series finales like TV shows do?

    The Phil Harris question has been batted around for years, with various
    answers.  Some people inferred it had something to do with money, but didn't
    give
    specifics.  Phil still had his show with Alice on NBC in the Sunday 7:30PM
    slot, so the writers would include him in just the first half of the Benny
    show.
    He would then run down a back alley from CBS to NBC and warm up the audience
    for his own show.  Amazing that these shows are so highly regarded today,
    considering the craziness that one of the leads was enduring to get there for
    airtime!  Phil himself indicated to me that it was just too much, and decided
    to
    focus on his own show.

    Fortunately, Al Gordon finally blew the lid on the money question at 39
    Forever.  It seems that in Jack's changeover to CBS, he had gotten a good
    chunk of
    change in the deal.  Some of the cast and crew felt that they should be
    entitled to a piece of the action.  For whatever reason, Jack refused.  Most
    of the
    cast and crew stayed.  Phil eventually didn't, although Jack made the change in
     January of 1949 and Phil's last show was June 1, 1952.  My guess is that it
    was a combination of both factors that led to Phil's eventual decision.

    The Benny program used an orchestra led by Mahlon Merrick, the musical
    director.  I'll let others discuss the Petrillo issues and why pre-recorded
    music
    was prohibited due to Musicians' Union decrees.

    Jack sometimes had a season finale, where he'd be getting ready for a trip
    (as with Phil's last show) or otherwise indicating consciousness about it
    being
    the last show of the season.  On some closing shows, he would introduce the
    full cast.  Ironically, his last show on radio shows none of this
    consciousness.
     It's a Benny show, much like any other, with Jack having problems with
    Twombly the sound man, played by Mel Blanc but named after Gene Twombly, one
    of
    their real sound men and husband of Bea Benaderet.

    --Laura Leff
    President, IJBFC
    [removed]

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

    Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2003 10:26:58 -0400
    From: "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  I Love a Mystery

    Just thought I'd mention we will be playing the complete I Love a Mystery
    serial "Bury Your Dead, Arizona" tonight on Don't Touch That Dial, beginning
    at midnight. Our show goes until 3 am Tuesday. This will be the last 3-hour
    show for a while. The first hour beginning in August will be pre-empted for
    Hispanic programming. Tune us in in southern California at [removed] FM, or [removed]
    FM in the Santa Barbara area, or streaming live at [removed]

    Barbara

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

    Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2003 10:27:34 -0400
    From: rodney-selfhelpbikeco@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: comedians that need all the laughs

    I've heard it said about Bob Hope and Red Skelton that scripts would be
    rewritten so that they would get all of the laughs.  Of course, neither of
    them actually followed a script anyway, so I don't know what difference it
    [removed]

    rodney.

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

    Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2003 12:06:14 -0400
    From: "Michael Ogden" <michaelo67@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: OG, SON OF FIRE

    MJ asked about "OG, SON OF FIRE," inquiring as to whether it was a radio
    series or exactly what it was. MJ, you can find an incredible wealth of
    information about Og in all his manifestations at the following website:
    [removed]

    Briefly, Og originated as the cave boy hero of a series of adventures first
    published in the Boy Scout magazine BOY'S LIFE in 1922, and concluding in
    1965 with "OG, SON OF OG." (I guess Neanderthals didn't have too much
    imagination when it came to naming their kids.) The stories were written by
    Irving Crump, who was also the editor of the magazine. In addition to his
    work with BOY'S LIFE, Clump also claimed to have written "more than one
    thousand scripts for such radio programs as 'OG, SON OF FIRE,' 'JACK
    ARMSTRONG, THE ALL-AMERICAN BOY,' 'TREASURE ISLAND' and others." The Og
    radio series ran on CBS from November 1934 to December 1935. It is, alas
    (like my last posting about "STAY TUNED FOR TERROR"), another one of those
    situations where not a single episode has ever surfaced--another 100%
    totally lost series (no recordings, no scripts).

    Anyway, MJ, even lacking any actual shows, there's a heck of a lot of info
    about the character at the crump/ogs website, including complete texts of
    all of the Og stories. And reading the accompanying articles will make you
    realize why it was your dad's favorite show: it is, apparently, a very
    fondly remembered program for a number of people of his generation.

    Hope this is helpful to you.

    Mike "Son of Og, Father of Ogs" Ogden

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

    Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2003 14:06:17 -0400
    From: "Michael Hayde" <mmeajv@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Today in radio history

    "Those Were The Days" strikes (out) again:

>     1951 - Jack Webb did a summer switch -- from his Dragnet role of Sgt.
>     Joe Friday to that of Pete Kelly. Pete Kelly's Blues, a crime drama, was
>     the summer replacement on NBC for Halls of Ivy

    Actually, Webb didn't "switch" - he did double duty as Friday *and* Kelly
    that summer, just as he played both Friday and Pat Novak during June of
    1949.

    Michael

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

    Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2003 16:08:57 -0400
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  July 8th births and deaths

    July 8th births:

    07-08-1913 - Ann Thomas - Newport, RI - d. 4-28-1989
    actress: Sharon O"Shaughnessy "Bob Burns Show"; Barbara Weeks "We Love and
    Learn"
    07-08-1913 - Bill Thompson - Terre Haute, IN - d. 7-15-1971
    actor: Wallace Wimple, Horatio K Boomer and others "Fibber McGee and Molly"
    07-08-1917 - Faye Emerson - Elizabeth, NJ - d. 3-9-1983
    actress: "My Silent Partner"
    07-08-1931 - Jerry Vale - NYC
    singer: "Peter Lind Hayes Show"
    07-08-1935 - Steve Lawrence - Brooklyn, NY
    singer: "Roadshow"

    July 8th deaths:

    08-24-1913 - Howard Duff - Bremerton, WA - d. 7-8-1990
    actor: Sam Spade "Adv. of Sam Spade"; Mike McCoy "McCoy"; Josh Chandler "Dear
    John"
    10-25-1914 - John Reed King - Atlantic City, NJ - d. 7-8-1979
    announcer, actor:"The Columbia Workshop"; Schuyler 'Sky" King " "Sky King"
    11-05-1913 - Vivien Leigh - Darjeeling, India - d. 7-8-1967
    actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    12-25-1904 - Gladys Swarthout - Deepwater, MO - d. 7-8-1969
    singer: "Palmolive Beauty Box Theatre"; "Prudential Family Hour"; "Voice of
    Firestone"
    --
    Ron Sayles
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin
    Hometown of [removed] Kaltenborn and Jay Jostyn

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #265
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