Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #281
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 8/26/2004 9:42 PM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2004 : Issue 281
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      8-27 births/deaths                    [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
      Lucy cleared of any un-american acti  [ Jer51473@[removed] ]
      Mickey as an entertainer              [ Jer51473@[removed] ]
      Roberta Linn                          [ "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed]; ]
      'pregnant' on the air                 [ chris chandler <chrischandler84@yah ]
      MICKEY AND THE 'ALOOF' BUG            [ PURKASZ@[removed] ]
      RE: Judy Canova                       [ Philip Chavin <pchavin@[removed]; ]
      The Investigator                      [ Anthony Akins <asakins@[removed]; ]
      IJBFC                                 [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]
      CBC's THE INVESTIGATOR                [ "George Tirebiter" <tirebiter2@hotm ]
      OTR sponsors                          [ Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed]; ]
      Super Star Encounter                  [ Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed] ]
      Clara, Lu, and Em                     [ Richard Pratz <[removed]@[removed]; ]
      Re: Eddie Green                       [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
      Re: Mickey Rooney                     [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
      Re: Red Skelton                       [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
      Catchy tune                           [ "William Schell" <bschell@[removed] ]
      wire recordings                       [ JimInks@[removed] ]
      Phyl the First?                       [ Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@erols ]
      Paula Winslowe                        [ lynn wagar <philcolynn@[removed]; ]

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

    Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 15:31:35 -0400
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  8-27 births/deaths

    August 27th births

    08-27-1882 - Samuel Goldwyn - Warsaw, Poland - d. 1-31-1974
    panelist: "People's Platform"
    08-27-1896 - Morris Ankrum - d. 9-2-1964
    actor: "Shakespeare Festival"; "Campbell Playhouse"; "A Report to the Nation"
    08-27-1899 - C. S. Forester - Cairo, Egypt - d. 4-2-1966
    poet, biographer, novelist: "Keep 'Em Rolling"; "Words at War"; "Theatre Guild
    On the Air"
    08-27-1901 - Al Ritz - Newark, NJ - d. 12-22-1965
    comedian: (The Ritz Brothers) "Hollywood Hotel"
    08-27-1901 - John Gannon - WY - d. 11-8-1969
    actor: Billy Fairfield "Jack Armstrong"
    08-27-1901 - Roger Pryor - NYC - d. 1-31-1974
    actor: "Screen Guild Theatre"; "Theatre Guild on the Air"; "Summer Symphony"
    08-27-1905 - Frederick O'Neal - Brooksville, MA - d. 8-25-1992
    actor: "New World A-Coming"
    08-27-1908 - Frank Leahy - O'Neill, NB - d. 6-21-1973
    football coach (Notre Dame): "Hallmark Hall of Fame"; "Bill Stern Colgate
    Sports Newsreel"
    08-27-1916 - Larry Thor - Canada - d. 3-15-1976
    actor: Danny Clover "Broadway Is My Beat"
    08-27-1916 - Martha Raye - Butte, MT - d. 10-19-1994
    comedienne: "Tuesday Night Party"; "Cavalcade of America"; "Screen Guild
    Theatre"
    08-27-1916 - Vicki Vola - Denver, CO - d. 7-21-1985
    actress: Shanghai L'il DeVries "Jungle Jim"; Edith Miller "Mr. District
    Attorney"
    08-27-1921 - Leo Penn - d. 9-5-1998
    actor, film director: "Family Theatre"; "Hollywood Calling: George Fisher
    Interviews"

    August 27th deaths

    01-21-1919 - Jinx Falkenburg McCrary - Barcelona, Spain - d. 8-27-2003
    hostess: "Hi! Jinx"; "Tex & Jinx"; "Weekend"
    02-13-1920 - Joan Edwards - NYC - d. 8-27-1981
    singer: "Chesterfield Presents"; "Your Hit Parade"
    05-25-1892 - Bennett Cerf - NYC - d. 8-27-1971
    narrator, panelist: "Biography in Sound"; "What's My Line?"
    06-30-1894 - Phillips Carlin - NYC - d. 8-27-1971
    announcer: "Palmolive Hour"; "Atwater Kent Hour"
    07-26-1902 - Gracie Allen - San Francisco, CA - d. 8-27-1964
    comedienne: "Burns and Allen Show"
    09-20-1925 - Joan Barton - d. 8-27-1976
    actress: Cashier "Meet Me at Parky's"
    09-21-1925 - Gail Russell - Chicago, IL - d. 8-27-1961
    actress: "Screen Guild Theatre"
    10-13-1918 - Robert Walker - Salt Lake City, UT - d. 8-27-1951
    actor: Davy Dillon "Maudie's Diary"
    12-11-1911 - Sam Levenson - NYC - d. 8-27-1980
    humorist: "Arthur Godfrey Show"; "City Club Forum"
    --
    Ron Sayles
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

    Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 15:31:44 -0400
    From: Jer51473@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Lucy cleared of any un-american activities
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    The fact that she was cleared of un-american activities doesnt mean there was
    no basis for Winchells statements. Im sure she wasnt called onto the carpet
    by the government without their own investigation which most likely preceded
    Winchells column.

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    Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 15:32:24 -0400
    From: Jer51473@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Mickey as an entertainer
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    Sorry, but i tend to disregard opinions of one person by another because i
    know that there are probably just as many opposite opinions by other people. I
    have to have my own encounter or view such to form an opinion of someone i do
    not know. This is in no way a suggestion that the label put on Rooney or the
    incidents described are incorrect or not true, but just that they may or may not
    represent his true character. I may very well, however, see things
    differently if indeed i was cast firsthand in the middle of either incident. But, to
    change the subject, where would Rooney as far as the greatest entertainer of all
    time, as discussed on the digess some time ago, rate? I would have to rate him
    very high. He was multi-talented to an enormous degree and could really
    entertain! His longevity has been excellent. I hate to hear the negatives of his
    personal side, but it would be interesting to hear comments on him as an
    entertainer and how he rates. I didnt think of him before, but after rethinking, i
    would have to place him in my top ten and not necessarily at the end of that
    group.

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

    Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 15:32:50 -0400
    From: "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Roberta Linn

    Hi Everybody,

    I just interview Roberta Linn today and she would like to find copies of her
    radio shows.  She did alot of music shows, but she was an actress on the
    Whistler.  Does any one have any of those shows?  Take care,

    Walden

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

    Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 16:21:18 -0400
    From: chris chandler <chrischandler84@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  'pregnant' on the air

    Kermyt Anderson [removed]

>     The 02/28/54 episode of "The Marriage", starring
>     Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn, is titled "Is Liz
>     Pregnant?" in my collection. (I have no idea if this
>     is the actual script title, or just a descriptive
>     title.) I listened to this a while ago, and I'm about
>     90% sure they do indeed describe her condition as
>     "pregnant."

    That's funny, because I was just about to post that in
    the final episodes of "Ma Perkins", they were *still*
    going to some lengths not to use the word
    "pregnant"--and this was 1960! (Beloved Fay, is
    hinting that she is "gaining some weight"...of course
    nobody mentions that she is, by any accounting,
    dangerously near the end of her childbearing years by
    this time!)  We can probably assume the taboo
    disappeared slowly, as if it had never existed;
    indeed, by the mid-1960s, TV soap opera characters
    were having abortions.

    In the case of "I Love Lucy", the story generally goes
    that the network brass said "You can't do that!", and
    not just because of use of the word "pregnant".  This
    has always seemed silly bordering on the not-credible,
    especially since the CBS west coast brass, men like
    Harry Ackerman, were old radio hands who knew very
    well that a pregnant fictional broadcast character was
    no innovation.  It DID seem much more innovative,
    years later, to nostalgia-blinded TV writers who act
    as if broadcasting only began the day the day a
    television test pattern first hit the air.  The
    business about the "Lucy" company bringing in
    ministers to vet the scripts, while undoubtedly true,
    smacks more of clever publicity than the result of any
    real controversy.

    chris

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

    Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 16:24:07 -0400
    From: PURKASZ@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  MICKEY AND THE 'ALOOF' BUG
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    Folks:
        Has it crossed anyone's mind that another aspect of  the chilly 'ya ya
    ya' response from Mickey could well have been the overly  familiar and perhaps
    even startling pronouncement from a stranger as he came  down the escalator?
        Coupled with the fact that some actors, not  all, but some have been
    waging a decades long battle to get out from under being  associated with a
    character they have played in the past.
        This 'typecasting' and over-association with any  one character is death
    to many an actor's career and they are to be  forgiven for not particularly
    liking the public's insistence on reminding them  of it.
        There is also another possibility and perhaps the  one closer to the
    truth.
        For reasons best left to psychologists, people seem  to presume that
    because they have seen somebody in their home on TV for many  years that they
    actually 'know' them and therefore have the right to just blurt  out
    something in
    passing them on the street as if this person was their long  lost Uncle Al.
        I bet that after spotting Mickey coming their way  the lady had said,
        "I know you. You're Mickey Rooney. Thanks for all  the great
    performances," she'd have gotten a big smile and a polite 'thank you'  for
    her trouble.
        We too often fail to place ourselves in other  people's shoes before
    making judgments about their behavior.
        Just some thoughts from an actor who has been  gifted with many warm
    greetings from strangers.
        Some beautiful women too!
                        Michael  C. Gwynne

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

    Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 16:25:05 -0400
    From: Philip Chavin <pchavin@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  RE: Judy Canova

        George Aust posted:

>     I was listening to a Judy Canova show from 1-5-48
>     yesterday, and I was
>     really amazed at what a talented lady she was/is.

       ...

>     I can't really remember seeing much discussion on
>     this digest about her.
>     Anybody else enjoy her talent and her show?

        I agree she was very talented and I, too, don't
    recall much discussion on this mailing list about her.
     Some months ago I responded on the Digest to, I
    recall, a negative posting about Judy Canova or her
    show and my posting praised her much as George's
    posting has done.

        By the way, the "Cactus Junction" skits (with Mel
    Blanc) still break me up.

      -- Phil C.

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

    Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 17:03:38 -0400
    From: Anthony Akins <asakins@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  The Investigator

    J. Alec West wrote:

>     But back to radio ... specifically, "The Investigator."  As I understand
>     it, this was one of the most controversial radio-plays ever aired on
>     radio ... in either Canada _or_ the [removed]

    More information about "The Investigator" (including the radio
    play downloadable in 4 parts) can be found at:

    [removed]

    Anthony Akins, asakins@[removed], 877-663-5817

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

    Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 17:04:42 -0400
    From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  IJBFC

>     But somewhere in the world are about 20  people with photos of me in front
>     of Jack's home.
>     --Laura Leff  President, IJBFC  [removed]

    And little do they know that they _had_ seen "somebody."

    I'd wager that Jack Benny would think so, too.

    Mark Kinsler

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

    Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 18:20:23 -0400
    From: "George Tirebiter" <tirebiter2@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  CBC's THE INVESTIGATOR

    Someone mentioned James Doohan appeared in this. It can be downloaded (in 4
    parts) for free from:

    [removed]

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

    Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 18:25:14 -0400
    From: Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  OTR sponsors

    Dixon wrote:

>     Shucks, I'd be happy just to have a Coke and listen to
>     "The Spike Jones Show."  Or a cup of Maxwell House and
>     listen to Burns and Allen.

    Ever since I was a kid, I've longed for a trial ton of
    Blue Coal to have while I listened to The Shadow!

    Kermyt

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

    Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 20:39:30 -0400
    From: Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed];
    To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Super Star Encounter

    It is too bad that legendary Mickey Rooney is not more pleasant to his
    fans.  That's always a disappointment when  "stars"  of his magnitude cross
    paths with  those of us who have admired their  talent over the years.

    But, it doesn't always happen.  I remember a  "super star encounter" I had
    once at Crater Lake Lodge located  in Oregon's only national park.  I
    worked there as a teenager.  Joan Crawford arrived with her twins for a
    weekend outing.  She didn't want to pay the money for the lodge so she
    stayed in one of our cold water cabins --at that time, these facilities had
    no bathrooms or kitchens but simply bunkbeds, cots, and a sink that had a
    cold water spigot. The little family enjoyed "roughing" it.

    She was extremely pleasant to everyone she encountered.  The employees and
    guests who she  met liked her and  were rewarded with kindness and usually
    an autograph if it were sought. She even sent back a letter to management
    about what a good time she and her children had.

    Dennis Crow

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

    Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 20:39:42 -0400
    From: Richard Pratz <[removed]@[removed];
    To: "OTR (Plain Text Only)" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Clara, Lu, and Em

    Help! Does anyone have any biographical information on the three OTR
    actresses who starred in what Dunning refers to as the first radio soap
    opera "Clara, Lu, and Em" in 1930? I've exhausted my OTR reference books as
    well as internet searches, but all I can come up with are pictures of the
    trio as well as information about the show itself. Sadly, however, no bio
    information on the three actresses who starred - Louise Starkey (Clara),
    Isobel Carothers (Lu) and Helen King (Em). They started the program as a
    skit at Northwestern University around 1925 and it went from there to WGN
    Chicago. Carothers died in 1936 and that's all the bio information I can
    turn up on any of the three. Anyone?

    Rich

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

    Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 20:40:52 -0400
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Eddie Green

    On 8/26/04 2:37 PM [removed]@[removed] wrote:

>     Anybody got any biographical information on Eddie Green?

    Eddie Green was an important star of black vaudeville. He was born in
    Baltimore in 1896, and went on stage with a minstrel show as a
    song-and-dance man while still in his teens. In 1916, Green wrote "A Good
    Man Is Hard To Find," one of the biggest song hits of that era. The
    publishing rights were bought in 1918 by W. C. Handy, who went on to make
    a fortune off the song -- but Handy was as much a hustler as he was a
    musical legend, and he arranged matters so that Green got next to nothing
    for writing the song.

    Green remained a stage star on the black-oriented Theatre Owners Booking
    Association vaudeville circuit during the twenties, becoming a great
    favorite of African-American audiences with his dancing and dialect
    comedy, and went on to appear in several all-black Broadway revues in the
    late twenties and early thirties. He wrote the book and several songs for
    "Blackbirds of 1932," a stage revue featuring many of the leading black
    comedians of the era. Green made his radio debut in 1932, forming a
    comedy team with Ernest Whitman, a veteran stage actor who appeared with
    him in "Blackbirds." Green and Whitman were featured cast memebers in
    "The Gibson Family" during 1932-33, and were widely promoted as "Radio's
    Only Colored Comedy Team." (This is the same Ernest Whitman, by the way,
    who would host "Jubilee" for AFRS in the 1940s.)

    Green made numerous guest appearances on various programs during 1934-36,
    and in the fall of 1936 became a co-star of Louis Armstrong's Harlem
    Revue, a black-oriented variety series heard on NBC Blue for
    Fleischmann's Yeast. That same year, Green became possibly the first
    African-American performer to appear on television -- doing a routine in
    a special experimental telecast put on by NBC to inaugurate the earliest
    version of their all-electronic television system.

    Green continued to make guest appearances on various programs during the
    late thirties, and became a semi-regular with Rudy Vallee in 1940. He was
    a regular on "Duffy's Tavern" for most of its run, and joined "The Amos
    'n' Andy Show" in 1947, remaining with both programs until his death from
    heart disease on September 19, 1950.

    Elizabeth

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

    Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 21:22:58 -0400
    From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Mickey Rooney
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    In a message dated 8/26/04 2:34:55 PM Central Daylight Time,
    [removed]@[removed] writes:

>     it was
>     specifically noted about Rooney that he had showed up at one community
>     without an act and just kind of rambled on stage for a while and then left
>     and was subsequently banned from that facility for insulting his audience.

    I sure wish I knew the rest of the story but I once heard that when Mickey
    Rooney was in the army, he was stationed briefly at Camp Sibert, Alabama, and
    went before the city commission nearby Gadsden to raise cain about something
    or
    the other.  In the exchange, he supposedly insulted the city deliberately and
    was abruptly thrown out of city hall.

    Dixon

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

    Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 21:23:11 -0400
    From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Red Skelton
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    In a message dated 8/26/04 2:34:55 PM Central Daylight Time,
    [removed]@[removed] writes:

>     didn't Red Skelton announce
>     he was going into the service on the evening of D-Day?
>     Within the context of that emotional day, it had its
>     own impact.

    Ironically, I saw this post after the one I sent off about Mickey Rooney
    being stationed in Gadsden, Alabama at the Camp Sibert military base.  It was
    the
    headquarters of the army chemical corps at the time (World War II), and
    wouldn't you know it?  Red Skelton was stationed there too!

    Dixon

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

    Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 21:51:18 -0400
    From: "William Schell" <bschell@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Catchy tune

    I was recently listening to a Chevrolet Show staring Jack Benny which was
    recorded on 6-18-33.  About mid-way through the show, the band played a
    catchy tune Jack later identified as "My Oh My".   Does anyone know anything
    about this tune and is it possible it was recorded for sale?   I'd sure like
    to get a copy as there is nothing better than a band instrumental.
    B. Schell
    Magalia, Ca

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

    Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 21:58:08 -0400
    From: JimInks@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  wire recordings
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    Does anyone here know if there's anyone who can take wire recordings and
    transfer them to tape?

    -Jim Amash

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

    Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 23:41:08 -0400
    From: Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@[removed];
    To: OTRBB <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Phyl the First?

    John from England writes:

>     I have been listening online to a female detective who was, I
>     understand, the very first female detective on radio. The show dates
>     from 1936 and  the lady's name being Phyllis  Coe Does anyone know
>     where the solutions can be found well over 50 years after the series
>     was broadcast? In  Jack's recent book on 'Private Eyelashes'), even he
>     does not know who  played her.

    First of all, Phyl Coe was not radio's first lady detective, and when
    John reads my book, he'll find out that at least two feminine sleuths
    preceded Ms. Coe. Dating back to 1932, both Irene Delroy and Marie
    Revell, were solving crimes as private investigators before Phyl Coe.
    The adventures of these two were recorded at Transco, who also gave us
    the immortal Cinnamon Bear series.

    As for Phyl's identity, it's still her biggest mystery. While
    researching my book, I had every known OTR voice expert listen to her
    shows again and no one knows who she was. Her boyfriend, Tom Taylor,
    was the voice of Clayton "Bud" Collyer, and other supporting actors on
    the show included House Jameson and Jay Jostyn.

    Jack French
    [removed]

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

    Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 00:37:16 -0400
    From: lynn wagar <philcolynn@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Paula Winslowe
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    Hello- I would very much like to do a story on radio actress Paula Winslowe
    but I am having little to no luck finding info.  I can't even find an obit.
    I appreciate any help any one could give me in my search.  Any one know of
    any living relatives?  Does any one know if a book on "The Life of Riley"
    show was ever written?  Any Help or suggestions
    would be greatlyappreciated!!

    Lynn

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    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #281
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