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

      Please Read Information Boilerplate at the End of This Digest
                          Last Updated 10-28-96

otr Digest				Volume 96 : Issue 441

Table Of Contents: 

	 Arch Oboler
	 narrator Frosted Flakes commercial
	 Command Performance and celebrity voices
	 Phillip Marlowe Anyone?
	 OLD TIME RADIO CHRISTMAS SHOWS.
	 Re: Remember WENN
	 Re: Fibber McGee show patriotism
	 OTR and WWII
	 Lost Superman Episodes

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

Date: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 09:10:49 -0500 (EST)
From: JROZGONYI <JROZGONYI@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Arch Oboler
Message-id: <4749100915111996/A01305/LIBER/11AB7A472000*@MHS>
Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

Does anyone have (or know of) copies of any of Arch Oboler's
radio plays that were published in book form for sale?  I 
know of some of the titles: "Fourteen Radio Plays", "Plays for
Americans", "This Freedom", and "Oboler Omnibus".  I'd particularly
like to get "Omnibus" and "Plays for Americans."  Any info or 
direction would be appreciated.

Jay Rozgonyi
JROZGONYI@[removed]

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

Date: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 19:16:46 +0000
From: torus@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: narrator Frosted Flakes commercial
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

Can someone tell me whether the narrator on the Sugar 
Frosted Flakes TV ads is the same narrator who did the OTR "Superman"?  
Does not seem possible, but the voice is remarkably similar-- at 
least to my memory.

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

Date: 16 Nov 1996 00:06:34 CST
From: [removed]@[removed]
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: Command Performance and celebrity voices
Message-Id: <m0vOckF-000kHdC@[removed]>

Hi all:
First off, about using celebrity immitators in adds, I have been under
the impression that you can do it *if* at the end of the add you say
something like "celebrity voice impersonated." I know that is the way I
hear it done quite often.
Also there is a cartoon that has an Elvis sound and act-a-like as the
star. It is on the Cartoon network. The charecter is Johnny Bravo. It's
real funny.
Other Topic. Anyone know how many Command Performance shows are
available?
Bill
[removed]@[removed]

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

Date: 16 Nov 96 03:11:40 EST
From: "Norman G. Cox" <[removed]@[removed]>
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed]>
Subject: Phillip Marlowe Anyone?
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>

This entry to the OTR Digest is being made to reintroduce a very good show to
the fans of the PI genre.  The Adventures of Phillip Marlowe.  Unless I'm told
to knock it off, I will occasionally submit short reviews of some of the
excellent Phillip Marlowe shows that are carried in the cassette lending library
of the North American Radio Archives (NARA) group.

Based loosely on a character created by Raymond Chandler, Phillip Marlowe had
two lives on radio.  The first was a series in 1947 that starred the film actor
Van Heflin.  The second series, and the shows that will occasionally reviewed,
had the perfectly cast Gerald Mohr as the lead.

"From the pen of Raymond Chandler, outstanding author of mystery, comes his
most famous character and crime's most deadly enemy.  Listen as we present The
Adventures of Phillip Marlowe."  The series was produced and directed in its
second life by the then young Norman Macdonnell who always would make sure of a
tight script and a cast of competent actors.  At the same time he was working on
this show, he was also in charge of the highly regarded Escape series.  Many of
the actors from these series would find themselves in a few years working with
Norman on his Gunsmoke shows. (Which was also a sustaining show during its first
two seasons)
  
Gerald Mohr, a personal favorite of this reviewer, was perfect as the tough PI
working in and around LA and Hollywood for $[removed] a day.  He worked alone but
would let us tag along with him on all his cases.  He would also keep up a
running description of the things that were happening to him while he tooled
around town trying to  break the case.  With no side kicks (Margo Lanes,
Harringtons or Mike Axfords) to get in the way (Holy Cow) we get to take their
place.  At the end of the show we light up a cigarette with him as he tells us
where the bad guys made their mistakes and how he closed the case.

The show was sustaining for most of its life and all of the reviewed NARA shows
(except one that has Ford for a sponsor) have CBS filling the ad spaces with
teasing reminders to us OTR listeners.  "Don't miss Pursuit later on tonight.
Tune in on Sunday to The Green Llama, Call The Police and Sam Spade.
Gangbusters is next."  Now doesn't that sound better than another ad for Duz,
Swan Soap or L & M's ?

NARA Cassette 7217 Side A.  The August Lion

It looks like it's going to be a quiet evening for Phillip.  He is padding
around his apartment in his robe and slippers.  Just one martini and a last
cigarette before he turns in.  But he has unexpected guests.  An old friend
drops by, lugging the body of his dead girl friend and asks Phillip for his help
in finding the murderer.  We run into a great bunch of characters, courtesy of
the show's three talented writers: Mel Dinelli, Robert Mitchell and Gene Levitt.
Pay close attention to the close of the show as it gets wrapped up faster than
yesterday's leftover fish.  The tag at the end of the  tells us that the
identity of The Phantom Voice was solved last week on the Sing It Again Show.
Does anyone remember who it was?

NARA Cassette 7217 Side B.  The Indian Giver

A wholesale curio dealer calls up Phillip for his services.  Hans Conried slips
easily into his best Dutch accent as the shop owner trying to get back an
intriguing piece of Apache pottery shipped to him from New Mexico and then
stolen.  A good multi layered story worthy of your listening.  The tag at the
end mentions that Basil Rathbone's (ill fated) adventure show, The Tales of
Fatima, will be on later this evening.

That's 30 for tonight
NGC
Norman Cox

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

Date: Sat, Nov 16 1996 04:53:11 EST
From: Thomas Heathwood <theathwo@[removed]>
To: <otr@[removed]>
Subject: OLD TIME RADIO CHRISTMAS SHOWS.
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
HI EVERYONE!  With re: to Christmas Radio ----
Vintage Christmas Shows has been one of my favorite areas ever since I
founded HERITAGE RADIO CLASSICS back in 1970. If you want a Christmas List
of some of our very favorites that we've used on the air for many years,
and will again this year on YESTERDAY-USA and with
the Gassman Brothers on the KPCC (Pasadena CA) Christmas OTR Marathon,
please send me a note and I'll see that you get yours right away in the
mail.
<<TOM HEATHWOOD/HERIATGE RADIO CLASSICS/PO BOX 16/BOSTON,MA/02167>>
  FAX: (617) 965-9984  EMAIL: HERITAGE4@[removed]     11/16/96
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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

Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1996 08:09:33 -0800
From: Jan Bach <JanBach@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Remember WENN
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Hello again --

Shawn Whalen wrote: 
> There is a great show on the American Movie Channel called "Remember WENN,"

Shawn is no doubt a recent subscriber to the OTR Digest, as this show
has been discussed a great deal by several readers since its debut on
AMC last spring. Its fans will be happy to know that the second season
finally starts tonight, with an episode that puts the WENN staff
directly into the path of the Second World War. So, as I mentioned in
another note last spring, my information that the show was not frozen in
time but would trace a lot of broadcast history appears to have been
correct; I assume we will be seeing the advent of the network, the
coast-to-coast hookup, the addition of a laughing audience to live
comedy shows and a lot of other changes (will Mr. Foley be replaced by
taped sound effects?) as well as the addition (and loss) of various
radio players on the show. Sorry I didn't have this information to share
with you earlier.
Jan Bach

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

Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1996 08:27:28 -0800
From: Jan Bach <JanBach@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Fibber McGee show patriotism
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Hello yet again.

Karen Warton said:
> 
> Fibber McGee and Molly carried on a war effort theme throughout their
> WWII-era radio shows.  Several shows dealt with pitching in by
> cooperating with the government in various drives and rationing schemes.
> They even took in a boarder, a night-shift factory worker called Alice.
> They encouraged the buying of war bonds, etc.

In addition, I suspect that because Fib & Mol was one of the most
popular shows of its time, the federal government -- or at least the NBC
news agency -- made war announcements before or after the show in order
to inform the largest number of its listeners about new developments. On
one occasion, Harlow Wilcox said that the show would be interrupted for
any late developing news bulletins about the war; on another, the show
was delayed because of an announcement by President FDR.
It is difficult, when listening to these shows today, to place ourselves
in the emotional mindset of those experiencing WW2 at the time, or to
feel the fervor with which yesterday's better (yes) better informed
radio audience followed developing news on the battle fronts. But when I
listen to several Fib & Mol shows in a row (as I often do while in my
car) I get the feeling that the very popularity of the show threatened
to undermine its humor because the frequent patriotic tone and
moralizing (such as Harlow's tongue lashing of Fibber because he tried
to buy meat on the black market) diluted the humor that people had tuned
in to hear. This propaganda was carried to its extreme by F & M not in
their radio show, but in their movie HEAVENLY DAYS, in which they go to
Washington. This film, made in 1944, is, I believe, the weakest of the
couple's five film appearances, and really heavy on the patriotism:
notice Fibber at the film's conclusion as all three characters of the
famous painting "Spirit of '76."
By the way, Alice, the war worker mentioned above, was played by Shirley
Mitchell, Leila Ransom on the Great Gildersleeve show, and marriage
partner of Jay Livingston who wrote "Buttons and Bows," "Silver Bells,"
and a lot of other songs written for personalities to sing in the
movies. She's still very active in voice-overs on the west coast and may
be the only surviving member of the Fib & Mol repertory company; she was
in her young twenties in the early forties when the character of Alice
was introduced to the show.
Jan Bach

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

Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1996 08:32:43 -0500
From: DavidLHsl@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: OTR and WWII
Message-ID: <961116083241_1183622592@[removed]>

  To add to what has already been [removed]
  There was an episode of Lum and Abner (sorry, I can't pin down the date)
where the Jot 'em Down Store is going to sell war bonds.  Lum and Abner
receive news that a pilot, who was born and raised in Pine Ridge, was shot
down.  A tearful Lum vows to get the entire community together for the war
bond drive.
  I'm not sure if it's the same episode, but Lum or Abner comments in an
episode about a Pine Ridge resident who was so gung ho on the war effort that
he donated all of his tires for the rubber drive and drove his [car? tractor?
wagon?] on its rims.
  In the Amos and Andy episode "Turkey Trouble" (11/19/43), Andy is trying to
find a turkey to buy so he can have a turkey dinner for his visiting nephew,
who is in the Army.  At the end of the show, Andy receives a telegram from
his nephew indicating he won't be able to come because he is being called
overseas.  Andy's comments afterward as he expresses his pride in his nephew
are heartfelt and touching.
  In another Thanksgiving episode, this time on The Great Gildersleeves
(11/22/42), Gildy gets his "B" ration book.  It's been a while since I've
listened to this, but I think the episode is about his attempt to get it
upgraded, and he gives a speech towards the end of the show about the need
for making sacrifices.  (I may have this one wrong.)
  Fred Allen, being a topical comedian, provides a great history lesson as
well as a funny show.  Listen to the Texaco commercials for discussion of
keeping your car and its tires in good shape so it'll last through the war.
 Topics for the various Allen's Alley segments include the egg surplus,
victory gardens, and coffee rationing.  The Allen's Alley poet (and don't he
know it!) Falstaff delivers a hilarious poem about how the troops will defeat
Hitler.
  At the end of the Lights Out episode "Scoop" (12/08/42), Arch Oboler gives
a lengthy lecture on the need to by war bonds.
  I forget the series and the sponsor, but I've heard frequent mention of
selling your fat to your butcher so it can be used to make military hardware
and ammunition.
  Even after the war, The Mysterious Traveler had an episode called "Death
Comes for Hitler" (09/14/47).  Here, Hitler tries to escape to South America
in a submarine, and the sub is dragged to the bottom by the sailor who died
at sea during the war.

David Hassell
[removed]
"Bushman say you die in three days!" (Lights Out, "Mungahra", 10/27/42)

  

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

Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1996 07:57:02 -0800
From: "JACK MANN" <jmann@[removed]>
To: <otr@[removed]>
Subject: Lost Superman Episodes
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Hi Digesters:
A few issues back someone asked about the "lost"
Superman episodes. I had also wondered where
they were, so asked my friend Steve Kelez of Radio
Showcase if he knew.
Steve told me that he'd been told that the episodes 
were stored at DC Comics years ago. The programs
in circulation today came from this source. The missing
programs may still be there, or (shudder) they could be
lost. The same goes for Hop Harrigan and House of
Mystery.
I've written to DC Comics to see if they know anything
about all this, and am keeping my fingers crossed. I
will keep the Digest informed of any DC Comics 
responses.

Jack


------------------------------------
Visit my OTR URL List at:
     [removed]



                      ---------------
*  END OF ARTICLE SECTION - INFORMATION BOILERPLATE FOLLOWS *

1) Contacting the list administrator.
2) Unsubscribing from this list
3) Receive a DIGEST READING TIPS file
4) AIRWAVES web page
5) Funding Notice
6) Redistribution of otr-digest

1)  The otr maintainer can be reached at wdp@[removed]

2) To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, send email to
otr-request@[removed] and place the
word UNSUBSCRIBE alone on the Subject: line of your request.  The body
of request mail is ignored by the server.  If you are unable to
unsubscribe using this method, and you are SURE you are doing
everything right, then (and only then) contact the administrator
(wdp@[removed]) for assistance.  Please send along the headers of
any problem mail for diagnostics.

        * PLEASE Never send unsub messages to the list! *

3) For help in dealing with digests, asend for a file called *The Fine
Art Of Reading and Replying To Email Digests* It contains tips on
scanning digests and making replies easier.  Send email to
digest-tips@[removed] and use the subject line of *Digest Tips*.

4) Visit the AIRWAVES MEDIA WEB PAGE.  [removed]

5) otr-digest does not get any funds from your 
internet provider.  If this service is of value to you, please support
it in whatever measure you feel able, to help defray costs.  Suggested
amount is [removed] per year, but any help is appreciated.  Our mailing
address is PO Box 8746 Springfield Mo 65801. Make any checks out to
William Pfeiffer.  Note: No payment is required to receive
otr-digest.

6) If you are redistributing otr-digest in any form, you must
contact the list owner for permission.  Generally permission is given,
free of charge, for non-commercial electronic distribution.
Commercial distribution rights are available under very reasonable
terms.  The listowner's address is  wdp@[removed]

--------------------------------
End of otr Digest V96 Issue #441
********************************

