Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #5
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 1/6/2002 11:44 PM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2002 : Issue 5
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      RE: Soviet Inventor of Radio          [ Peter Kinder <pdkinder@[removed]; ]
      Skippy                                [ Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@erols ]
      Skippy                                [ Bhob <bhob2@[removed]; ]
      Gunsmoke                              [ "Dale Slack" <dslack@specialty-risk ]
      Re: Weird Circle                      [ GEORGE WAGNER <gwagneroldtimeradio@ ]
      Article on Old Time Radio             [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
      Today in OTR History                  [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
      The Search for Mr. Keen               [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
      On The Air isn't Always There         [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
      CONGRATULATIONS                       [ "George Coppen*" <gacoppen@[removed] ]
      Conelrad                              [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
      My Favorite Husband----again.         [ "Bob Watson" <crw912@[removed]; ]
      ConElRad on NPR                       [ leemunsick@[removed] ]
      BOB HOPE                              [ grayghost@[removed] ]
      Re: SHADOW intros and "Born to play   [ SanctumOTR@[removed] ]
      Re: Paper record web site             [ Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed]; ]
      Voices                                [ JimInks@[removed] ]
      Actors and Parts They Played          [ Grbmd@[removed] ]
      Major Bowes Amateur Hour              [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
      copyright - intellectual property     [ "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed] ]
      Help                                  [ Larry Gassman <lgassman@[removed] ]

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 13:02:05 -0500
    From: Peter Kinder <pdkinder@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: RE: Soviet Inventor of Radio

    	Michael, I fear, has it wrong:  The Soviet inventor of radio was
    that protean Stakhanovite, Regus Patoff, who was himself the creation of the
    great Boston cartoonist, Francis W. Dahl.  (Reg. [removed] Pat. Off.)

    Peter Kinder

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 13:02:58 -0500
    From: Jack & Cathy French <otrpiano@[removed];
    To: OTRBB <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: Skippy

    Ron Vickery asks about his mother's favorite kids show.

    "Skippy" was one of the first juvenile programs on the air, debuting on
    NBC in Nov 1932. This 15 minute show, usually sponsored by Wheaties, ran
    for about three years, and ceased production in Mar 1935.  But, alas,
    not a single episode has survived.

    The series was based upon a very popular comic strip by the same name.
    Percy Crosby created this little kid anti-hero (bow-tie, baggy sox and
    short pants) in the 1920s as a running cartoon in "Life" magazine. It
    became so popular, Crosby turned it into a comic strip that ran daily
    for the Hearst chain.

    Paramount paid Crosby $ 25,000 for the rights to make a movie of Skippy,
    and this 1930 film pushed its star, Jackie Cooper, into instant fame and
    it even garnered an Oscar for Best Direction. (I've seen excerpts of
    this movie on cable, but don't know if it is available in vintage video
    stores.)

    Radio next grabbed Skippy, It was a Hummert production, with script by
    one of their favorite writers, Robert Hardy Andrews. The lead was played
    by Franklin Adams, Jr. The series began on NBC and ended on CBS.

    Incidentally, Skippy was recently in court. Back in the 30s, several
    companies paid Crosby for the use of Skippy in their advertising. Not so
    for Best Foods; they simply stole his name, and the characteristic white
    picket fence from the comic strip, for their Skippy Peanut Butter.
    Crosby took limited court action to stop them but had not succeeded by
    1945 when his copyright expired. By this time, he was in a mental ward
    and unable to battle any more.

    But in 1999, his daughter, Joan Tibbets, took up the fight again with a
    $ 18 million suit in federal court against Skippy Peanut Butter (now
    owned by conglomerate CPC International). Case has not been settled, but
    CPC wants to settle out of court for $ 25,000.

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 13:03:10 -0500
    From: Bhob <bhob2@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Skippy

    Joan Crosby Tibbetts' "bitter legal battle" over Skippy rights can be
    seen in various court documents at:

    [removed]

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 13:20:11 -0500
    From: "Dale Slack" <dslack@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: Gunsmoke

    I received a set of 60 Gunsmoke radio episodes for Christmas and have been
    enjoying them for the past few days.  I have only listened to the first few
    tapes but one thing seems strange about them.  There are no commercials,
    only public service type announcements and plugs for other CBS radio shows.
    I always thought this was a popular show and I assume it was relatively
    expensive to produce so why no commercials.  Was this common and if so how
    did the networks make any money?

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 13:20:54 -0500
    From: GEORGE WAGNER <gwagneroldtimeradio@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Re: Weird Circle

         WEIRD CIRCLE was an NBC syndication from 1946.
         There are a very few good shows, but most are
    mediocre at best. And the worst are genuinely dreadful
    - the kind of radio drama that caused people to pray
    for television, or at least for deafness.
         For an example of the final category, Edgar Allan
    Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" is transformed
    from one of history's truly frightening horror
    classsics into a turgid soap opera featuring "Rod" and
    "Madge" Usher and their remarkably uninteresting
    lives. And Lord Bulwer-Lytton's "The House and the
    Brain," one of the creepiest ghost stories ever
    written, becomes a really puerile and aenemic attempt
    at comedy.

         George Wagner
         GWAGNEROLDTIMERADIO@[removed]

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 13:21:55 -0500
    From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Article on Old Time Radio

    Just wanted to point you to an article that appeared in the Louisville
    Courrier Journal today is online at
    [removed]

    Jim Widner
    jwidner@[removed]

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 13:22:17 -0500
    From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: Today in OTR History

      From Those Were The Days --

    1941 - A young actor appeared for the first time in a new program on CBS
    radio titled, The Home of the Brave. Along with others in the cast, this
    was Richard Widmark’s debut.

    1974 - CBS radio returned to dramatic programming at night with the
    first broadcast of Radio Mystery Theatre, hosted by [removed] Marshall. The
    program debuted on 218 CBS network stations and remains a mainstay (even
    in syndication) for some stations today.

      From a long time subscriber --

    1950 - The Halls of Ivy premieres over NBC starring Ronald Coleman and
    his wife Benita Hume.

      Joe

    --
    Visit my home page:
    [removed]~[removed]

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 13:21:23 -0500
    From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: The Search for Mr. Keen

    Jim Cox's posting just got me thinking.

    Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons ran on network radio for about 17 years
    (off the top of my head, I might be wrong on the years) and Frank and Anne
    Hummert were the producers/creators.  Other than the Library of Congress, I
    would make an assumption that somewhere, out there in the midst of private
    collections and family relatives, lies a large collection of Mr. Keen
    scripts.  If one wanted to track down a one-stop source for radio scripts,
    perhaps the creators/writers.

    Does anyone know if any of the script writers are still around (or their
    next of kin)?  If so, it would be a tremendous contribution to contact Jim
    Cox and let him know where he could find a source.  As this show is one of
    his favorites, (he wrote an article recently for SPERDVAC's Radiogram about
    Mr. Keen), I'm sure he'd follow up on [removed]

    Off the side, Ted Kneebone's posting reminded me of an interesting trivia -
    Nila Mack of Let's Pretend fame actually kept a private notebook and each
    week, listed the date and title of drama for each and every broadcast.  She
    actually kept track of what dramas they did on Let's Pretend personally,
    which i think is sort of odd.  Her notebook exists (thus a complete
    broadcast log of the series) and available for viewing at a public library,
    gathering dust on the shelves.  (One of these days after the snowy season,
    I'll pay a visit to the library and get that log - my partial log only has
    about 30% fo the [removed])
    Does anyone know of any other producers/directors/writers who may have
    actually compiled, week by week, their own broadcast log during their tenure
    on the air?

    Martin

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 13:24:56 -0500
    From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: On The Air isn't Always There

    Jarry Purvis, speaking of Weird Circle, notes,

>     It isn't listed in Dunning's OTR encyclopedia.

    Dunning's encyclopedia, isn't all-encompassing.  When I was growing up, I
    used to listen to The Comics Weekly Man," who I learned was really Lon
    Clark of Nick Carter, Master Detective, fame.  The show had "the man"
    reading and describing some of the strips in the Sunday strips from the
    Hearst Comics Weekly "funny papers."  It was on many different stations,
    but it's not listed in Dunning's book.

    Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 13:25:03 -0500
    From: "George Coppen*" <gacoppen@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: CONGRATULATIONS

    I just received a letter informing me that the OTR Thursday night Chat room
    was 5 years old and I would like to give a huge Thankyou to Lois Culver and
    the many other folks that attend the room almost every Thursday night. I
    suppose I could got into thanking each of these people like of course Lois,
    Don, Charlie, Harverly, Lou, Fibber, Def8, Eric, Geezer,Chibi, Truck,Kestrel
    Susie and on and on and on but I wont because I know I will miss one or two
    and I dont want to hurt any feelings, each person that attends and gives
    their experience and coments to a group like this is so very important. This
    group has made OTR a much more interesting place for a guy like me and I
    hope that if you are interested or have any questions, this group along with
    this Digest are the places where one can get help. So once again, THANKYOU
    for giving me something to look forward too.
    [removed] Coppen

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 13:24:37 -0500
    From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Conelrad

    Neal Ellis, speaking of Conelrad, notes,

>     All Things Conisdered is about to do a piece on the old conelrad (I
>     hope this is spelled correctly) system.

    It's spelled correctly, being an acronym for CONtrol of ELectromagnetic
    RADiation.  For those who see a radio of the 1950s, the two triangles on
    the tuning dial represented the two Conelrad frequencies -- 640 and 1240
    KHz.  Conelrad was developed to thwart any attack on the United States
    that relied on homing in on radio station transmissions.

    Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 13:33:10 -0500
    From: "Bob Watson" <crw912@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: My Favorite Husband----again.

    Oddly enough, I had never really thought about this, until Gregg answered my
    question about the Cugat/Cooper name change, but did Jess Oppenheimer ever
    speculate whether or not the CBS brass would have gone ahead with My
    Favorite Husband with Desi Arnaz in the lead had George and Liz's name NOT
    been changed from Cugat????  Or was the brass so adamant that it wouldn't
    have mattered??

    Also, where can I find a list of "My Favorite Husband" surviving shows??

    Bob

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 16:22:50 -0500
    From: leemunsick@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: ConElRad on NPR

    Thanks to Neal Ellis for advising us of the proposed NPR feature on ConElRad.

    When this is aired, will all the NPR stations switch to 640 or 1240?  A
    joke son, a joke.

    ConElRad is the correct spelling, by the way, for "CONtrol of ELectronic
    RADiation" to deny incoming bombers the use of radio broadcasts as homing
    beacons.   Basically outmoded with the advent of ICBMs which have their own
    accurate guidance systems.  So ConElRad is still in place as EBS for
    tornado alerts and the like.

    There is a fascinating web page all about ConElRad.  I just tried to go to
    it, but my server is screwed up and I couldn't find it.  Most illuminating
    and run by interested--and interesting--people.  Well worth
    checking.  Sorry I lost it in my "favorites".  If you don't find it, let me
    know and I'll search my paper files as there is material there about Arthur
    Godfrey and President Eisenhower, which I printed out.  It is part of a
    larger story which will be detailed in my upcoming book.

    Please keep us advised re the progress of this story on NPR.  Thanks again.

    Lee Munsick   That Godfrey Guy

    [ADMINISTRIVIA: The website to which Mr. Munsick refers is
    [removed]  --cfs3]

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 16:53:42 -0500
    From: grayghost@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: BOB HOPE

    Many have forgotten that Bob was a fellow "Brit," who got his start - not in
    show busines - but as a profesional boxer, under the name of "Packey East."

>     >From what I havd read of his boxing days, he should have called himself "The

    Canvas Kid" since he spent so much time on it.

    Gray Ghost

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 16:59:27 -0500
    From: SanctumOTR@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Re: SHADOW intros and "Born to play a role"

    In a message dated 1/6/02 11:05:35 AM, Owen Pomeroy writes:

>     In reference to the threads about actors and characters born to be played,
>     Orson Welles played The Shadow so differently than Bret Morrison, whom most
>     of us remember as The Shadow.  Even the Laugh was different with Welles.
>     (play a Welles & Morrison Shadow intro and see the difference for
>     yourself)....

    ***There's definitely a huge difference between the laugh and vocal delivery
    in the intros of the Welles shows and Bret Morrison . . . but let's not
    forget that Orson Welles was the only actor who never did the famous opening
    and closings singnatures on THE SHADOW because he could never master the
    laugh.  The wonderfully venomous tones and laughter that open and close the
    Welles SHADOWs are recordings of his predecessor, Frank Readick (which is why
    they are backed by the George Earle Orchestra while the Welles shows
    themselves feature only organ music by Elsie Thompson (Blue Coal) and Rosa
    Rio (Goodrich).  And for the record, I feel Frank Readick and Bill Johnstone
    were better as The Shadow than Orson . . . as did radio critics at the
    time.***

>     ...And let's not forget Bill conrad not playing the tv Matt Dillon, and
>     John Dehner not playing Palladin. (Any others you can think of?)

    ***Not quite the same thing, since Richard Boone's TV portrayal of the man
    called Paladin preceded John Dehner's radio run by more than a year.  Both
    actors are excellent in the role . . . but Boone was first.  In fact, Dehner
    played a supporting role in the eighth episode of Boone's original TV series
    long before he was cast in the radio version.
    --Anthony Tollin***

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 18:01:12 -0500
    From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Re: Paper record web site

    From: Doug Berryhill <fibbermac@[removed];

>     Fibber here- I stumbled accross this web page last night and it
>     reminded me of the thread a while back about paper records. ...
>     I was interested to find that there were paper records released
>     of Red Skeleton's "Pledge of Allegience" ...    -The Fibber-

    Why the surprise?  We discussed this right here several times, the most
    recent being just a week ago in the 31 Dec 2001 OTR Digest #414.  I gave
    details of two different versions including matrix numbers, manufacturer
    name, and what stores sponsored them.  Interestingly, although the
    caption on the web site makes a big deal about this being a Burger King
    item, the version he shows is not the Burger King one but the one put
    out for  Bullocks.    [removed]

    Remember folks, when it comes to OTR, you read it first on the OTR
    Digest!!

    Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 18:35:49 -0500
    From: JimInks@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Voices

    Owens,
    The laugh at the intro of Orson Welles' Shadow episodes is not him.  It's
    Frank Readick. Still, you do make a point.

    Maybe Jim Jordan was considered too old for the role of Fibber (visually
    speaking) and they felt a younger man was needed?  Certainly, Arthur Lake and
    Penny Singleton were too old to play the youngish Bumsteads by 1968, which
    was the year that series started.  And Barbara Billingsley did not play
    [removed] Harty did.

    Sorry, I don't think William Conrad would have physically fit the role of
    Matt Dillon for television.  He was great as Dillon on radio (and I do prefer
    him to Arness), though.  But I do think the rest of the cast would have
    worked out [removed]'d have loved to see Howard McNear play Doc on television.

    John Dehner didn't play Paladin on television because the TV series came
    first.  It was Richard Boone who didn't want to play Paladin on radio, so
    they had no choice but to use another actor.

    -Jim Amash

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 18:36:13 -0500
    From: Grbmd@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Actors and Parts They Played

    The various posts on "born to play" and related subjects stir my memory about
    actors/actresses and the parts they did and didn't play.

    I remember, as a kid, listening to and often imitating Bud Collyer's change
    of voice when our guy went from mild-mannered-reporter Clark Kent to
    save-the-day-hero Superman.  ("This is a job for -- *Superman*.")  That
    change of voice I thought was *so* cool (to borrow a more recent expression).
     It's interesting to note that neither George Reeves on TV nor Christopher
    Reeve in the movies used that change of voice during his transformation.  One
    could argue that the change of voice was needed for only the audio-only radio
    version but not for the audio-visual version.  Still, I came to expect that
    change of voice as a way to help cover up Supy's other identity, aside from
    my admiring of Collyer's talent to pull it off.

    There is another facet of this discussion that has occurred to me, namely,
    roles that actors have turned down and may have regretted later.  One
    incident that comes to mind immediately -- as I heard it -- was that the
    title role in "The Music Man" on Broadway was originally offered to radio's
    Phil Harris, but that he turned it down.  The role eventually went to Robert
    Preston, who repeated it in the movie version.  I think Preston's performance
    is the standard by which other actors' performances have been measured ever
    since.  In Baltimore, for instance, I saw Forrest Tucker play the Music Man,
    and, while he was adequate, I don't think he had a chance of equaling
    Preston's interpretation.

    Can anyone else on the Digest think of other regrettable acting decisions?

    Spence

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 20:31:46 -0500
    From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: Major Bowes Amateur Hour

    Got this request recently at my web site. If anyone can help, please
    contact the person directly at jwiesand@[removed] (Jane Wiesand)

     -----
    My father sang on the Major Bowes amature hour, Feenamint Hour and several
    others, also with the B7 O glee club. His Name was J. Robert Southard. He
    was a bass barritone. I am looking for any kind of recording of his voice.
    Can you help me? He was popular during the 20's and 30's and sang into the
    60's as a spoloist. He was from Long Green Maryland poutside of Baltimore.
    He was trained by George Castell. Thank you.

    Jim Widner
    jwidner@[removed]

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

    Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 20:57:48 -0500
    From: "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject: copyright - intellectual property

       About last autumn there was much discussion on this Digest about
    copyright law and protecting intellectual property (in connection with
    selling OTR recordings, etc.).
       Today (06 January) on the NY Times web site ([removed]), there's a
    review of a new book ("The Future of Ideas") which "argues that America's
    concern with protecting intellectual property has become an oppressive
    obsession."  The review can be found in the site's Books section.
       I thought maybe some Digesters would be interested in the review -- and
    maybe in the book.
    --Phil C.

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

    Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2002 01:34:17 -0500
    From: Larry Gassman <lgassman@[removed];
    To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject: Help

    Recently I had the following hote.  Please write Linda if you have any
    information.
    Larry

    Monarat@[removed]
    I saw your website because I was doing some research on the web.  I am
    looking for someone with an interest in Old Time Radio programs and perhaps
    the time and inclination to help me.

    You might say I am researching my "roots".  My father, who died when I was in
    high school (that would be 20+ years ago), had a local radio program before I
    was born.  I have documentation, rather than just family stories, (found
    today for the first time) that he was a "radio personality" on WLBR in
    Lebanon, Pennsylvania, in 1952.  This radio station, sadly, no longer exists.

    My father was known for his singing and guitar playing, along with the fact
    that he was blind.  I am sure a blind man with a radio show in 1952 was
    unheard of, at least in PA Dutch Country.

    I have no idea how to find out info on this station, or my father's
    relationship to it.  I know my father also recorded a few records (privately,
    not publicly released) but as they are no longer in our family I would love
    to hear a recording of his voice once again.  I would appreciate any help.
    My father's name was Wayne Ober, although
    for part of his radio career he was known either as Wayne Oberly or Overly.
    Once again, the station was WLBR in Lebanon, PA, and I know he was on the
    radio in 1952 and for "years" but no other exact dates.  I know he was known
    for being blind and for being a musician.  At one time he had his own band.

    Thanks again,
    Linda Ober Radzik

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #5
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