Subject: [removed] Digest V2009 #63
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 3/27/2009 10:18 PM

To: [removed]@[removed]
Reply-to: [removed]@[removed]

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2009 : Issue 63
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Benny Goodman Profile in The Wall St  [ seandd@[removed] ]
      3-26 births/deaths                    [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
      OTR Books                             [ Frank McGurn <[removed]@sbcglobal. ]
      Re: Pennzoil Parade?                  [ Jordan Young <jordanyoung50@sbcglob ]
      Oh, we got trouble                    [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
      commercial bird                       [ mchone@[removed] ]
      Fred Allen Update                     [ Rentingnow@[removed] ]
      3-27 births/deaths                    [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]

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

    Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:55:02 -0400
    From: seandd@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Benny Goodman Profile in The Wall Street Journal

    Pegged to a pending re-release of his classic Columbia recordings, The Wall
    Street Journal's jazz critic Will Friedwald takes a look at the career of
    Benny Goodman, focusing on the old time radio era.  This link probably works
    for non-subscribers but in case it doesn't, it was on page D7 of the March 25
    issue.

    [removed]

    Sean Dougherty

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

    Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:55:07 -0400
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  3-26 births/deaths

    March 26th births

    03-26-1894 - Will Wright - San Francisco, CA - d. 6-19-1962
    actor: Ed Kremer "Fibber McGee and Molly"; George Honeywell "My Little
    Margie"
    03-26-1900 - Creighton Allen - Macon, MS - d. 7-18-1969
    pianist for NBC in 1935
    03-26-1907 - Clarence Stroud - Kaufman, TX - d. 8-15-1973
    actor: "Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy Show"
    03-26-1907 - Claude Stroud - Kaufman, TX - d. 10-16-1985
    actor: "Edgar Bergen/Chaarlie McCarthy Show"
    03-26-1907 - Leigh Harline - Salt Lake City, UT - d. 12-10-1969
    music: "Eddie Bracken Show"; "Ford Festival of American Music"
    03-26-1907 - Phil Rapp - d. 1-23-1996
    creator, writer, director: "The Bickersons"; "Baby Snooks"; "Old Gold
    Time"
    03-26-1908 - Hank Sylvern - Brooklyn, NY - d. 7-4-1964
    orchestra leader: "Beyond Tomorrow"
    03-26-1911 - Hank Booream - St. Paul, MN - d. 6-9-2006
    director: "March of Time"; "Burns and Allen"; "Screen Guild Theatre"
    03-26-1911 - Tennessee Williams - Columbus, TN - d. 2-25-1983
    author: "Drama Critics Award"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
    03-26-1912 - Al Sloey - d. 12-15-1975
    singer: (Riders of the Purple Sage) "Roy Rogers Show"; "Hollywood Barn
    Dance"
    03-26-1915 - Flip Phillips - Brooklyn, NY - d. 8-17-2001
    jazz saxophonist: "Woody Herman Show"; "Saturday Night Swing Session"
    03-26-1916 - Sterling Hayden - Montclair, NJ - d. 5-23-1986
    actor: "We the People"
    03-26-1916 - Vic Schoen - Brooklyn, NY - d. 1-5-2000
    music: "The Andrews Sisters"
    03-26-1918 - William Hardcastle - Newcastle, England - d. 11-10-1975
    newscaster: "The World At One"
    03-26-1920 - Junior Blizzard - d. 2-2-2005
    disk jockey: WMJM Cordele, Georgia
    03-26-1923 - Bob Elliott - Boston, MA
    comedian: "Bob and Ray Show"; "Back Bay Matinee"
    03-26-1923 - Charles Wheeler  Bremen, Germany - d-. 7-4-2008
    news correspondent: "Transatlantic Call"; "A Tribute to Alistair"
    03-26-1924 - Jean M. Brooks - Brighton, England - d. 1-3-2003
    writer: "Gregory of the Outback"; "Opal Witch"
    03-26-1924 - Marcia Van Dyck - Grants Pass, OR
    actor: Marcia Barry "It's the Barrys"
    03-26-1928 - Carole Carr - London, England - d. 1-8-1997
    singer, actress: "Calling All Forces"
    03-26-1928 - Patsy Lee - Alameda, CA
    singer: "Don McNeill's Breakfast Club"
    03-26-1931 - Leonard Nimoy - Boston, MA
    actor: [removed] Theatre Works "War of the Worlds"

    March 26th deaths

    01-27-1918 - Irving Cummings - d. 3-26-1996
    producer, host: "Lux Radio Theater"; "Gulf Screen Theatre"
    02-27-1899 - Ian Keith - Boston, MA - d. 3-26-1960
    actor "The O'Neill Cycle"
    03-04-1904 - Dorothy Page - Northampton, PA - d. 3-26-1961
    vocalist: "Paducah Plantation"
    04-03-1921 - Jan Sterling - NYC - d. 3-26-2004
    actor: "Screen Director's Playhouse"; "[removed] Steel Hour"
    05-31-1819 - Walt Whitman - Long Island, NY - d. 3-26-1892
    writer: "Against the Storm"
    06-06-1898 - Walter Abel - St. Paul, MN - d. 3-26-1987
    actor: "Columbia Presents Shakespeare"; "Magic Key"; "Voice of the Army"
    06-18-1898 - Francis 'Dink' Trout - Beardstown, IL - d. 3-26-1950
    actor: Waldo Binney "Life of Riley"; Mr. Anderson "A Day in the Life
    of Dennis Day"
    07-23-1888 - Raymond Chandler - Chicago, IL - d. 3-26-1959
    detective story author: "Phillip Marlow"
    08-13-1909 - Tristram Coffin - Mammoth, UT - d. 3-26-1990
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    08-18-1896 - Alan Mowbray - London, England - d. 3-26-1969
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Forecast"; "Hollywood Hotel"; "Screen
    Guild Theatre"
    08-29-1917 - Eddie Hubbard - Baltimore, MD - d. 3-26-2007
    disk jockey: "Music Unlimited"
    09-06-1889 - Louis Silvers - NYC - d. 3-26-1954
    music director: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    09-26-1897 - William B. Heyne - d. 3-26-1992
    choral director: "Lutheran Hour"; "Lutheran Laymen's League"
    10-13-1904 - Wilfred Pickles - Halifax, England - d. 3-26-1978
    announcer, newsreader: "Have A Go"; "Children's Hour"; "Where Are You
    Now?"
    10-25-1902 - Eddie Lang - Philadelphia, PA - d. 3-26-1933
    jazz guitarest: "Music That Satisfies"
    12-09-1912 - Bartlett Robinson - NYC - d. 3-26-1986
    actor: Walter Manning "Portia Faces Life"; Perry Mason "Perry Mason"
    12-13-1894 - Olin Landick - d. 3-26-1972
    actor: Cassandra Drinkwater "Cousin Cassie"
    12-16-1899 - Noel Coward - Teddington, Middlesex, England - d. 3-26-1973
    actor, playwright: "Stagestruck"

    Ron

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

    Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:55:27 -0400
    From: Frank McGurn <[removed]@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  OTR Books

    I read the OTR Digest about books written by many of the experts who
    contribute their knowledge to digest and refer to books they have had
    published. I would love to read these books, but the library in my area
    don't  have any  of the titles I read [removed]

    "The Old Radio Times" has been advertising, books by Jim Cox, and
    others,  I look at the  price of these books and they are very expensive
    so I will never be able to afford to buy any.

    Frank McGurn
    McHenry, Illinois

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

    Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:55:33 -0400
    From: Jordan Young <jordanyoung50@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Pennzoil Parade?

    Harry Sosnik was a well-known bandleader, and Decca's musical
    director in the '30s and '40s.

    Jordan R. Young

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

    Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:55:50 -0400
    From: <otrbuff@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Oh, we got trouble

    Ron Sayles reminded us this week of the death of one of the provocative
    "inspirators" (my term) of radio drama:

>     01-10-1882 - Olive Higgins Prouty - Worcester, MA - d. 3-24-1974

    writer: "Stella Dallas" based on Prouty's novel without her approvals

    The memorable announcer, Howard Claney, bearing a distinctive nasal twang
    while clearly enunciating every word (a Hummert prerequisite), and one of
    several narrators in the strain, introduced Prouty's infamous feature every
    weekday afternoon (1938-1956) with this enigmatic epigraph:

    "We give you now -- Stella Dallas! -- a continuation on the air of the
    true-to-life story of mother love and sacrifice in which Stella Dallas saw
    her beloved daughter Laurel marry into wealth and society and, realizing the
    difference in their tastes and worlds, went out of Laurel's life.  These
    episodes in the later life of Stella Dallas are based on the famous novel of
    that name by Olive Higgins Prouty and are written by Anne Hummert."

    That intro must have remained a curiosity to the narrative's enduring
    listeners who, not being stupid, must have asked themselves:  "What does he
    mean when he says she 'went out of Laurel's life'?"  Who knew?  It turned
    out to be nothing more than an idiom, repeated daily across a couple of
    decades.  An analyst of such trivia would have observed that "If she went
    out of Laurel's life, they'd have no story."  As it turned out, Laurel
    (Lolly-Baby) was nothing more than a puppet, and mama pulled the strings.
    It was obvious that the grown daughter couldn't have made it through life
    without Stella to save her from Arab shieks and other scum that would do
    Lolly-Baby bodily harm.  Poor Laurel had a nasty way of stimulating the male
    juices, inspiring wild seduction schemes in many a man.  Yet despite the
    affection she bestowed on her offspring, thankless Stella received nothing
    more than a trio of lousy handkerchiefs one Christmas as an expression of
    Laurel's gratitude for her abiding care.

    Returning to the disturbance over Olive Higgins Prouty:  Ms. Prouty wrote
    her turn-of-the-century novel and no fewer than two celluloid versions of
    her tale appeared on screen before the radio sequel was born.  The first
    starred Belle Bennett and the second, Barbara Stanwyck.

    Although the radio drama purportedly picked up where the movie version left
    off, the indomitable Ms. Prouty found little to her liking in the series
    produced by Frank and Anne Hummert.  Those two were notorious, as we have
    previously discovered, in taking whatever was available and adapting it to
    their needs.  Thus came stories for David Harum and other characters based
    on heroes of films, novels, stage plays, etc.  Almost all of their theme
    songs were lifted from public domain ("How Can I Leave Thee?" for Stella,
    "The Rose of Tralee" for Backstage Wife, "Funiculi Funicula" for Lorenzo
    Jones, "In the Gloaming" and "Wonderful One" for Young Widder Brown,
    "Someday I'll Find You" for Mr. Keen, "Darling Nellie Gray" and "Polly Wolly
    Doodle" for Just Plain Bill, et al.).  The reason for using such accessible
    material?  To pad the Hummerts' bottom lines by dispensing with costs in
    having someone think up new stories and write new music for their 127
    series.

    Prouty's novel focused on a crude but benevolent mother who felt she must
    suppress her attachment with her daughter for the child to realize
    fulfillment.  Bowing gently before her unkind fate while in print, in radio
    she became a tough old bird who wouldn't have bowed before a sultan.  As
    heard on the air Stella Dallas became a supersleuth.  After the series
    ended, Anne Elstner, who played her all those years on NBC, confessed that
    the most memorable line she uttered was "Lolly-Baby, I ain't got no time for
    nothin' but trouble!"

    And had Ms. Prouty been alive today and the Hummerts adapted her story, with
    or without her permission, could there be any doubt in this sue-happy
    society that USA Today and CNN would be reporting Prouty's lawsuit involving
    the Hummerts?  Oh, we'd have trouble, right here in the river city of Boston
    (where Stella was a seamstress).  Frank and Anne wouldn't have no time for
    nothin' but trouble!

    There's much more on Stella and her contemporaries in a new softcover "The
    Great Radio Soap Operas"
    ([removed] or
    800-253-2187).

    Jim Cox

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

    Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:56:02 -0400
    From: mchone@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  commercial bird

    Jim Cox wrote about the bouncy commercial jingles on radio.  They were aired to
    often that they stuck in your head.  My Mother had a parakeet that lived within
    earshot of our radio and it wasn't before the bird would sing "T-I-D-E tide"
    over
    and over.

    Roby McHone
    Fairbanks, Alaska

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

    Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:56:18 -0400
    From: Rentingnow@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Fred Allen Update

    I have read I think all of the books that Fred  Allen wrote and paid
    respectful homage at his grave.

    Someone said he/she  was working on a book of his letters.  Could we have an
    update on how the  book is coming?

    Larry Moore

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

    Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:56:26 -0400
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  3-27 births/deaths

    March 27th births

    03-27-1892 - Ferde Grofe - NYC - d. 4-3-1972
    conductor, composer: (The Grand Canyon Suite) "Florsheim Frolic"
    03-27-1892 - Thorne Smith - Annapolis, MD - d. 6-21-1934
    writer: "Advs. of Topper" based on his book
    03-27-1895 - William W. Chaplin - NYC - d. 8-18-1978
    newsman: White House correspondent for NBC
    03-27-1898 - Gloria Swanson - Chicago, IL - d. 4-4-1983
    panelist: "Hollywood Byline"; "Suspense"
    03-27-1902 - Sidney Buchman - Duluth, MN - d. 8-23-1975
    movie writer: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    03-27-1904 - Hal Kemp - Marion, AL - d. 12-21-1940
    bandleader: "Phil Baker Show"; "Lady Esther Serenade"; "Gulf Gas
    Program"
    03-27-1906 - Pee Wee Russell - Maple Wood, MO - d. 2-15-1969
    clarinet: "Eddie Condon's Jazz Concerts"
    03-27-1907 - Mary Treen - St. Louis, MO - d. 7-20-1989
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    03-27-1914 - Budd Schulberg - NYC
    writer: "Free World Theatre"; "The New Theatre"
    03-27-1914 - Richard Denning - Poughkeepsie, NY - d. 10-11-1998
    actor: George Cooper "My Favorite Husband"; Jerry North "Mr. and Mrs.
    North"
    03-27-1914 - Snooky Lanson - Memphis, TN - d. 7-2-1990
    singer: "Snooky Lanson Show"; "Your Hit Parade"
    03-27-1915 - Hugh Conover - Washington, [removed] - d. 9-27-1992
    announcer: "Amanda of Honeymoon Hill"; "Big Sister"; "Right to
    Happiness"
    03-27-1915 - Robert Lockwood, Jr. - Turkey Scratch, AR - d. 11-21-2006
    guiatrist: "KFFA King Biscuit Time"
    03-27-1916 - Howard Merrill - NYC - d. 4-20-2002
    writer: "Advs. of Leonidas Witherall"; "Leave It to Mike"; "Secret
    Missions"
    03-27-1920 - Richard Hayman - Cambridge, MA
    arranger, harmonica player: "Stop the Music"; "Steve Lawrence Show"
    03-27-1921 - Fletcher Markle - Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada - d. 5-22-1991
    actor, director, producer: "Columbia Workshop"; "Studio One"
    03-27-1921 - Fred Foy - Detroit, MI
    announcer, narrator: "The Lone Ranger"
    03-27-1921 - Harold Nicholas - Winston-Salem, NC - d. 7-3-2000
    dancer: (The Nicholas Brothers) "Big Broadcast of 1936"; "Ben Bernie
    Show"
    03-27-1924 - Sarah Vaughn - Newark, NJ - d. 4-3-1990
    singer: "Guest Star"; "Your Rhythm Revue"
    03-27-1930 - Bob Larson - Los Angeles, CA - d. 5-1-2002
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    03-27-1930 - Jack Adams - Hobart, OK - d. 6-14-2003
    singer in nightclubs and radio
    03-27-1940 - Janis Martin - Sutherlin, VA - d. 9-3-2007
    rockabilly singer: "Army of Stars"; "Reflections By Starlight"

    March 27th deaths

    01-10-1916 - Don Gardiner - NYC - d. 3-27-1977
    newscaster: "Monday Morning Headlines"
    01-17-1904 - Grant Withers - Pueblo, CO - d. 3-27-1959
    actor: "Calling All Cars"; "Screen Guild Theatre"
    04-09-1904 - Joseph "Sharkey" Bonamo - Milneburg, LA - d. 3-27-1972
    conductor: (Sharkey Bonamo and His Sharks of Rhythm) "Saturday Night
    Swing Club"
    06-12-1910 - Leon Carr - Allentown, PA - d. 3-27-1976
    composer: "Voices of Vista"
    06-18-1908 - Elmore Vincent - Amarillo, X - d. 3-27-2000
    actor: Phineas Peabody "Lum and Abner"
    06-22-1906 - Billy Wilder - Sucha, Austria-Hungary - d. 3-27-2002
    screenwriter, film director: "Lady Esther Screen Guild Theatre"; "Lux
    Radio Theatre"
    07-07-1925 - Wally Phillips - Portsmouth, OH - d. 3-27-2008
    radio personality: WGN Chicago, Illinois
    07-08-1911 - Gertrude Niesen - Mid-Atlantic Ocean - d. 3-27-1975
    singer: "Songs by Gertrude Niesen"; "Good News of 1939"
    07-12-1908 - Milton Berle - NYC - d. 3-27-2002
    comedian: "Milton Berle Show"; "Let Yourself Go"; "Three Ring Time"
    08-05-1914 - Anita Colby - Washington, DC - d. 3-27-1992
    actor: "Radio Hall of Fame"
    09-06-1904 - Ted Royal Dewar - Skedee, Oklahoma Territory - d. 3-27-1981
    orchestrator: "Wayne King and His Orchestra"; Ted Weems and His
    Orchestra"
    09-25-1926 - Aldo Ray - Pen Argyl, PA - d. 3-27-1991
    actor; "MGM Musical Comedy Theatre"
    11-03-1889 - Gustave Haenschen - St. Louis, MO - d. 3-27-1980
    conductor: "Palmolive Hour"; "Show Boat"; "Saturday Night Serenade"
    11-04-1930 - Kate Reid - London, England - d. 3-27-1993
    actor: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"
    12-12-1902 - Helen Menken - NYC - d. 3-27-1966
    actor: Brenda Cummings "Second Husband"
    12-17-1895 - Rudolph Anders - Germany - d. 3-27-1987
    actor: Dr. VanMeter "Space Patrol"

    Ron

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2009 Issue #63
    ********************************************

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