------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2002 : Issue 166
A Part of the [removed]!
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
thanks for the help [ randy story <BYGEORGE@[removed]; ]
Re: Questionable commercials [ "Kenneth Studdard" <rtoombs@alltel. ]
RE: Boris Karloff on radio [ "D. Fisher" <dfisher@[removed]; ]
Re: The Comedy of Obnoxiousness [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
Rudy Vallee's saxophone [ Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed] ]
.ra files to .wav [removed] [ Arcane <arcane@[removed]; ]
Re: Tape to CD [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
THE WHISPERER [ randy story <BYGEORGE@[removed]; ]
Re: Questionable commercials [ John Mayer <mayer@[removed]; ]
OLDE TYME RADIO NETWORK SCHEDULE [ HERITAGE4@[removed] ]
Today in radio history [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
Court Of Missing Heirs 24 Mar 1942 [ Paulurbahn@[removed] ]
outragious OTR commercial? [ Sandy Singer <sinatradj@[removed]; ]
Radio actors on TV sitcoms [ vigor16@[removed] ]
Stone-Waterman Award [ Osborneam@[removed] ]
amos & andy towers [ Frank Absher <fabsher@[removed]; ]
Rudy Vallee's saxophone [ leemunsick@[removed] ]
OTR actors to TV [ "Robert Paine" <macandrew@[removed] ]
MediaBay Releases First Radio Spirit [ LSMFTnolonger@[removed] ]
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 4 May 2002 19:33:51 -0400
From: randy story <BYGEORGE@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: thanks for the help
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Hello, OTR compadres.
I just wanted to say thanks for all of the help in connecting up with OTR
related magazines and periodicals. I appreciate all of the assistance and am
looking forward to reading the materials that I have ordered.
Thanks a lot,
Randy
(who is preparing a recreation in mid-June)
*** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
*** as the sender intended. ***
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 4 May 2002 19:34:59 -0400
From: "Kenneth Studdard" <rtoombs@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Questionable commercials
Fibbermac wrote:
So does anyone else have a nominee for most outrageous
OTR commercial?
One of Richard Diamond's sponsors was Camel cigarettes. The commercials
claimed that 4 out of 5 doctors prefer Camel cigarettes. I believe that
fits in the category of outrageous.
Kenneth Studdard
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 4 May 2002 19:35:50 -0400
From: "D. Fisher" <dfisher@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: RE: Boris Karloff on radio
This is sort of a follow up to John Henley's reference to Boris Karloff &
the Reader's Digest programs he did. From 1963 to 1965 I was a Producer at
Robert Jennings Productions, producing a series called "Great Moments for
Young American's" with Hugh Downs as the host. This was a series of public
service programs that were aired on over 1100 radio stations all over the
country. But our production company was also the same one that was producing
the Boris Karloff series for Reader's Digest. I had the pleasure on several
occasions to go to his apartment at the Dakota (is that still around) &
record the voice tracks for this series when the regular producer for the
program was not available. Robert Jennings also happened to be the same
person that created & produced the "Mr. President" programs that aired on
ABC from 1947 to 1953. To bad that kinda stuff is not around anymore.
Don Fisher
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 4 May 2002 19:37:22 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: The Comedy of Obnoxiousness
On 5/4/02 5:04 PM OldRadio Mailing Lists wrote:
Mark Twain said, "Show me a man who knows what's funny, and I'll show you a
man who also knows what's not." I'm no prude, but much of today's humor seems
unnecessarily mean-spirited and spiteful.
The OTR era -- and the vaudeville era before it -- had its share of
obnoxious comedians. I doubt you'd ever find a comedian more
mean-spirited and spiteful, for example, than Frank Fay -- whose smug,
smartmouth stage personality wasn't far removed from the personality he
assumed in real life, and who made a very good living on Broadway in the
1920s being as snide and insulting as possible. George Burns considered
him the funniest man he ever heard -- and also the most vicious. But
nobody except historians of vaudeville and bad-early-talkies remember
Frank Fay -- because there was nothing to him *except* obnoxious
smugness, the sort of thing one would call "**Attitude**" today. The kind
of comedy that *survives* requires a more sympathetic characterization
behind it.
It's interesting to compare Fay to Jack Benny -- they were
contemporaries, and in fact certain elements of Benny's stage persona
were copied from Fay -- the vanity, the conceit, the swishy movements.
But Benny made his character the *victim* of the humor, not the
perpetrator of it - and by doing so, turned what could have been just
another abrasive Broadway wise-guy character into a character audiences
could find sympathetic. Bob Hope did the same thing with the same basic
Fay-ish character in his movies.
A Frank Fay type of character could work on the stage because the fact of
the stage itself actually creates a layer of separation between the
performer and the audience -- when you look up and see footlights and a
proscenium, there's a certain distance between you and the performer. But
on radio, the performer is right in your living room, and he *must* be
likeable to succeed. If Frank Fay walked into your living room in person
and ridiculed your decor, insulted your family, and blew cigarette smoke
in your face -- you'd whack him over the head with a skillet and throw
him out the door. (Or at least I would.) So why would you figuratively
invite such a person into your living room by tuning him in on the radio?
It's no coincidence that Fay bombed in his few attempts at radio.
There are plenty of Frank Fay types in comedy today -- think of all the
interchangeable
guys-in-sport-coats-and-t-shirts-standing-against-a-brick-wall doing
minor-league cable TV standup. They may come across more as snotty
college boys than as jaded Broadway playboys, but the essential Fay-ish
attitude is the same: a sort of comedy which says "I can get away with
this because I'm better than you."
I wouldn't put Jerry Seinfeld into this category at all -- in his own
way, the "Jerry" character had a sort of pathetic vulnerability, and he
eventually got what was coming to him -- so in that respect, at least,
Seinfeld and Jack Benny *do* have something in common.
Elizabeth
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 4 May 2002 19:37:45 -0400
From: Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Rudy Vallee's saxophone
To each his own, I guess, but George Aust's remark that Vallee was a bad
saxophone player is not shared by anyone I know who listened to him. Not
only did Vallee work his way through Yale playing the sax, but he was
highly regarded in his own day as a virtuoso. He performed with Vincent
Lopez and had his own band for awhile. His work was well known and
appreciated by his peers even if he was regarded generally as "hard to
work with."
Perhaps Mr. Aust was listening to a program that poked fun at Vallee
generally, including his saxophone. As I said in my post, Vallee's
personality lent itself to caricature. But Jack Benny could really play the
violin; similarly, Vallee could really play the saxophone.
Dennis Crow
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 4 May 2002 19:38:22 -0400
From: Arcane <arcane@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: .ra files to .wav [removed]
I have been seeing a lot of postings about converting otr mp3 files to wav
files but I'd like to know if anyone knows of a program that will convert
otr real audio or ra files to mp3 files. If anyone has any info on this
subject please contact me.
I've had a great deal of trouble in converting .ra files, but have found a
method that has produced some very satisfactory results.
I have split my 'speakers out' line from the back of my audio card and have
run a patch from there right into the back of my cassette recorder. I
record the program onto tape.
Once on tape, its easy to convert the cassette to a .wav or mp3 file.
The only drawback is that you are recording in 'real time'; an one hour
story takes one hour to record.
Hopefully this will be of some use.
Len M
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 4 May 2002 19:45:11 -0400
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Tape to CD
Subject: Tape to CD
Can anyone give me some info on how to convert tape to CD? Do i need
special software?
Check out [removed]. They often trial version of a program
that does this. I forget off hand how much the software costs to
register.
Joe
--
Visit my home page:
[removed]~[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 5 May 2002 11:38:06 -0400
From: randy story <BYGEORGE@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: THE WHISPERER
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Hello OTR Fans.
Just a quick question for someone on the list to answer.
I have acummulated several episodes of a short-lived series called THE
WHISPERER and can find out nothing about [removed] is not even mentioned in
Dunning's text. All I can ascertain from waht little info I do have is that
it was on the air in the early 1950s(?). I am curious about its background as
some of these shows are pretty good and I might want to add the reamaining
few to collection. So far, I have not had time to listen to the three(3) that
I now own.
Thanks All,
Randy
*** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
*** as the sender intended. ***
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 5 May 2002 11:38:28 -0400
From: John Mayer <mayer@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Questionable commercials
Doug Berryhill <fibbermac@[removed]; said:
...I've been thinking about the commercials I've been hearing in some of
my OTR recordings. By modern stadards, some of these ads are positively
outrageous.
I'm not so sure the OTR advertising was so much worse than today's
commercials. At least in those days most folks knew that you had to exercise
a little common sense against charlatans; folks who knew no other Latin knew
the phrase, "Caveat emptor." Nowadays we're under the illusion that federal
watchdog agencies are protecting us. Have you seen the 30 minute infomercials
advertising the "ionic" bracelet that can cure all your pain? Or, for that
matter, almost any commercial aired by a "Doctor" of Chiropracty?
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 5 May 2002 11:38:36 -0400
From: HERITAGE4@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: OLDE TYME RADIO NETWORK SCHEDULE
Here's our lineup for the week starting: Sunday 05/05 at
[removed]
SAME TIME, SAME STATION with Jerry Haendiges
Featuring shows with Orson Welles -
1. The Lux Radio Theater - 4/9/51 "The Third Man"
2. The Lives of Harry Lime - 8/3/51 "Too Many Crooks"
3. The Lives of Harry Lime - 5/2/52 "Suzie's Cue"
HERITAGE RADIO THEATRE with Tom Heathwood
1. THE ALDRICH FAMILY - 10/13/39 Early Fall episode after the show had taken
Jack Benny's place during the Summer. Henry has girl trouble.
2. NBC 75th Anniversary Remembrance - Includes a mint copy of "The Chime
Song"
sent to us by NBC.
3. Vic And Sade - from an NBC reference check disk fialogue only - 2/17/43
4. Colgate Sports Newsreel with Bill Stern - 1945 - Guest: Vivian Blaine.
Enjoy - Tom & Jerry
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 5 May 2002 11:38:57 -0400
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Today in radio history
From Those Were The Days --
1935 - Rhythm at Eight made its debut. The star of the show was
24-year-old Ethel Merman. Though Merman would become a legend years
later, she didn't fare so well on radio. The show went off the air after
13 weeks and Miss Merman returned to her first love, Broadway.
Joe
--
Visit my home page:
[removed]~[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 5 May 2002 12:21:54 -0400
From: Paulurbahn@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Court Of Missing Heirs 24 Mar 1942
I ran across a newspaper article concerning the Court Of Missing Heirs
broadcasting a drama based on Benedict Soalding Whitehouse of West Point
Kentucky on 24 Mar 1942. It is stricky of local interest, but according to
the newspaper article an effort was made to find Ivan Whitehouse, his son
which had not been seen for 24 years.
Does anyone have information on this series/program. Is there a tape of this
episode available?
Paul Urbahns
paulurbahn@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 5 May 2002 13:26:36 -0400
From: Sandy Singer <sinatradj@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: outragious OTR commercial?
Had to be [removed]
[removed] <:-)
A DATE WITH SINATRA
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 5 May 2002 15:07:33 -0400
From: vigor16@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Radio actors on TV sitcoms
In following the thread of radio actors on tv, I noticed, the other day,
that it may have been Lou Parker--from the Bickersons played Ann's father
on That Girl. In fact, someone told me that a vaudvillian flashback show
is in circulation. Dick Trufeld, of Space Patrol announces on such scifi
classics as Lost in Space, Time Tunnel. One more, the other night, I was
looking at some vintage Rifleman episodes that appearently supported many
western superstars of the radio era.
About comedy and Sighnfeld, I emphasize "sigh". Comedy took a turn in
the 1960s that changed it forever. The "adult" nature of the comic
routine became the norm and family comedy has virtually disappeared. At
the risk of sounding prudish, which I don't mind sounding, radio comedy
was the kind of thing that the whole family could share. Today, what
passes as comedy is nothing more than pot shotting at the handicapped,
lighthearted apoligetics, and church bashing, not to mention 500,000 ways
to use profanity and make it sound original. How many family members can
agree on all that. My wife and I don't even agree on movie language at
times. In radio, as amazing as it sounds, 30 million people could listen
to the same program and enjoy it. Today, we have 30 million channels and
we all have our favorites. It also doesn't help when clever thinking
program executives like TV Land snear at good humor past personalities.
Comedy of these days have taken on the appearance of mocking or bad
swipes at an era. One day when I was having lunch at a local pub,
watching comedy central--can't avoid it, tv is the focal point because it
is too loud, a show features a vaudvillian actress dying and they recap
her life as an actress. They imply how foolish people were and the
entertainment was created for a dumb ignorant nation craving cheap
thrills. Showed how much we've improved from those days. I'm not sure
about that. We now all have our own entertainment form, in our living
room, alone with our own remote or sat dish, in the dark by ourselves
because we can't share it with anybody else, even if they were
interested. If someone asked me who my neighbor was, I'd have to say
"What's a neighbor? We have gotten so easy at insulting others that we
don't know what to say to another. Sighnfeld and shows like it have
paved the way for continuedn isolation. Before I create a fire storm
about comedy, I do want to say that this is my opinion, and does not
reflect Charlie or anyone else's. Isn't that what we are suppose to say
these days. What ever happened to comedy that the whole family could
share? The problem with today's comedy is that there are no sacred cows,
even taste. If anyone would like to, I would like to know if there are
any comedians out there that don't use profanity or sexual saturation as
their treasure trobe of gags. Contact me by e-mail of this digest.
Sorry for going on for so long, but comedy is something dear to my heart
and entertainment has trashed it of recent times. One difference between
radio comedians and today. The spoken media of radio days was
transmitted and all experimental. The artists of the day never knew what
would sell and what wouldn't. Today, "artists" take old material and try
to dress it in some new fashion and don't care if it sells. Think of
this, we all know about Jack Benny, or George Burns. What about all
those comedians that were not fortunate enough to be at the right place
at the right time. (and were good). In those days, they may never have
been heard. Today, they just have to wait long enough and will, someday,
be heard at least once whether good or not. Hey, I did all that without
one profane word. That's a feat these days. I know it sounds like
preaching. After all, it is Sunday. Thanks Deric
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 5 May 2002 15:07:53 -0400
From: Osborneam@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Stone-Waterman Award
I wish to restate my congratulations to Ted Davenport of Radio Memories.
I incorrectly stated that Ted was presented with the Parley Baer Award
at Cincinnati. (I should have attended and then I would have known.)
Instead,
Ted received the Stone-Waterman Award.
The Parley Baer Award went to Barb & Dave Davies.
Hats off to you all!
Arlene Osborne
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 5 May 2002 15:52:46 -0400
From: Frank Absher <fabsher@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: amos & andy towers
>From "Radio and Entertainment" (St. Louis) Week ending April 15, 1933
"Amos 'n' Andy, radio's two great blackfaced comedians, are kings of
Chicago's 1933 World's Fair. The two great towers of the Sky Ride,
outstanding amusement feature, have been named Amos and Andy.
"Amos is the east tower, soaring 628 feet above the ground on Northerly
Island, an island built in Lake Michigan for the Century of Progress
Exposition.
"Andy, matching Amos in height, arises on the mainland, 2,000 feet to
the west. The towers are by far the highest structures in Chicago, reaching
about sixty-four stories into the air.
"Bill Hay, the Amos and Andy announcer on NBC, is 'twins' in the World's
Fair scheme of things. Standing 600 feet behind each tower is a 600 foot
counterbalance, and these have been named the 'Bill Hays.'
"Workmen on the $1,200,000 project at the Fair are responsible for the
names. Those working on 'Amos' raced those building 'Andy' to see which crew
could complete the steel work first. The battle ended in a draw. A Coast
Guard crew raised the Stars and Stripes above the twin towers with fitting
ceremony when they were dedicated.
"During the Fair, rocket cars speeding 218 feet above land and lake will
carry passengers between the towers for an aerial view of the exposition
grounds and the surrounding scene. Whizzing elevators also will lift Fair
visitors to great observation platforms about 600 feet above Chicago."
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 5 May 2002 16:46:03 -0400
From: leemunsick@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Rudy Vallee's saxophone
George Aust commented about a show in which everybody kidded about Rudy
Vallee's saxophonism.
George, you got snookered in on a then-time "inside joke". Rudy Vallee was
a very fine saxophonist, that was his instrument, and in the early days at
least, he led his band playing it, then alternating with singing through
that famous cheerleader's megaphone.
In my own opinion, it was his singing that was terrible! But then that was
then, this is now. I asked my Mom why Rudy Vallee was so popular. Born in
1905, she was a young person in Rudy's era. Her answer, "I never could
understand that myself".
It usually takes a fine instrumentalist to play "badly" on command, and yet
still make some sense.
Consider the clowns in the ice follies. Who do you think are the most
incredibly able skaters of all? You got it!
Enjoyed your post. Be well.
Lee Munsick
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 5 May 2002 17:20:07 -0400
From: "Robert Paine" <macandrew@[removed];
To: "OTR Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: OTR actors to TV
Following on John Mayer's and other posts about OTR actors to TV, beside The
Andy Griffith Show, Jack Benny and several more, another show that was an
OTR lover's dream (at least, this one's) was my favorite, Petticoat
Junction.
Besides Bea Benaderet in the title role and Elvia Allman as her favorite
friendly adversary, the show had over the years the likes of Parley Baer
(several appearances - including a baliff or sheriff's deputy); Hal Peary;
Lurene Tuttle; Frank Cady (started as a radio announcer in the 30's); Eddie
Albert; Alan Reed; Janet Waldo; Herb Vigran; Doodles Weaver; Olan Soule;
Forrest Lewis; Everett Sloane; Hope Summers; Irene Ryan; a lady named
Shirley Mitchell, whose character sounded strangely like Leila Ransom; an
[removed] (just kidding),
and ye-ee-esss, Frank Nelson. The creators were Paul and Ruth Henning, and
much of the music was supplied by Curt Massey.
Macandrew
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 5 May 2002 19:04:17 -0400
From: LSMFTnolonger@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: MediaBay Releases First Radio Spirits
Compilation in MP3 Format
Radio Spirits has been selling their 20-hour set of "America at War" in
cassette format for $[removed] and in CD format for $[removed]
I was surprised to find out that they have also released "America at
War" in the MP3 CD format. The announcement can be found at:
[removed]
According to the announcement: "The audio quality is excellent, and by
reducing the number of CDs required, we are able to pass the savings
along to our customers."
Since one CD will cost them less than $[removed], I expected their MP3 CD of
"America at War" to sell for $[removed] or $[removed] I was wrong. They are
selling it on one MP3 CD for $[removed]
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #166
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