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

[removed] Digest				Volume 96 : Issue 322

Table Of Contents: 

	 OTR database
	 The Comic Weekly Man
	 The train thread lives on!
	 Re: Cliff Edwards
	 What was wrong with CBS Mystery Theater
	 My train show of the day
	 New Website

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

Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 23:32:23 -0400
From: DavidLHsl@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: OTR database
Message-ID: <960906233204_279249046@[removed]>

Stephen Moore wrote:
<< I would enjoy seeing tips from others on how they catalog and maintain
 their collections.  I am working on a Microsoft Works application for
 looking after my personal collection, and so any ideas on what is, and is
 not important, would be appreciated! >>

  I use a database program called Alpha Five.  I have set up two databases:
 radio shows and radio episodes.  The first, radio shows, contains only two
fields: series title and genre (comedy, western, etc.).  The second database
is structured as follows:
  Series Title (character) - this is linked to the first database
  Episode Title (character)
  Episode Date (date) - left blank if unknown
  Source Ref (character) - vendor's ID number
  Show Length (numeric) - in minutes
  Description (memo) - I haven't done a very good job of keeping this
updated, but this can be one of the most useful fields you can have if you
maintain it properly.
  The radio episodes database is indexed in Series Title -> Episode Date ->
Series Title order (all ascending).
  The only reason I have designed it as two databases is to take advantage of
the pop-up feature in Alpha Five.  Instead of typing the series titles
manually, I have a window pop-up, and I select the title from the list so I
don't have to type it each time.  You will, of course, find it easier to
simply set up one database with all the fields.  Some other fields you could
consider for your own database:
  Date tape acquired (date) - When you puchased it.
  Vendor (character) - I didn't put this in my database because I can pretty
much identify the vendor by their source reference, but I might add this
field to my own list in the future
  Sound quality (character) - Update this field as you listen to each tape.
 Let this field reflect your opinion on the sound quality, not the vendor's
opinion.
  Where tape is stored (character) - If you store your tapes in boxes,
bookshelf cases, or other places, you might number or label each box/case and
include that location in your database.  That way, you don't have to worry
about organizing the tapes within the boxes/cases themselves, because your
database will serve as your index.
  I use Microsoft Publisher for Win95 to print J-Cards and
MyDeluxeLabelDesigner to print labels.
  Miscellaneous Tips and Advice:
  * If a series or episode title begins with "A", "An", or "The", place the
word at the end.  Example: "Day at the Races, A" instead of "A Day at the
Races".
  * Remember that the computer will treat "Abbott & Costello" and "Abbott and
Costello" as different shows.  Make sure you are consistent in the way you
type your information (the reason I set up a pop-up list in my application).
  * A report looks more professional if you set up your report with group
headings rather than repeating the series title on each line.  Compare:
-----(good)-----
  Amos 'n Andy - comedy
     Amos is Missing
     Andy Becomes the New Kingfish
     Andy Courts the Widow's Daughter
-----(bad)-----
  Amos 'n Andy - comedy - Amos is Missing
  Amos 'n Andy - comedy - Andy Becomes the New Kingfish
  Amos 'n Andy - comedy - Andy Courts the Widow's Daughter
-----
  * Your printout will also look nice if you put spaces between each break in
series titles.  I have mine subtotal the number (count) of episodes for each
series (group footer).
  * In designing your reports, don't forget to put your name (and maybe even
your address and phone number) somewhere on the report.  You might want to
print your list for a friend; and you'll want them to know the list is from
you, especially if they obtain lists from other people as well.
  One final comment:  you, and you alone, are the best judge as to what is
and what is not important for your database.  The best way to design any
database is to ask yourself the following question:  What information do I
want to get out of my database?  Visualize the reports you would like to be
able to print out, and visualize the type of searches you'd like to do.  This
will dictate the fields you will need to set up.
  Good luck!

David Hassell

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

Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 23:38:03 -0400 (EDT)
From: "'A. Joseph Ross'" <lawyer@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: The Comic Weekly Man
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

Does anyone remember the "Comic Weekly Man"?  So far as I can recall, this
was a syndicated show which involved a semi-dramatization of selected
comics from "Puck, The Comic Weekly," which was a standardized Sunday
comic section in the Hearst newspapers.

What makes me sure that the show was syndicated was that one Sunday
morning, as the show began, the comics that the Comic Weekly Man and his
sidekick, Miss Honey, were reading were different from the ones in my
newspaper spread out before me.  After one or two comic strips, a local
announcer came on and explained that "Puck, the Comic Weekly Man got a
little ahead of himself" and they had been playing the show for next
week's comics.  They quickly joined the correct show in progress. 

======================================================================
A. Joseph Ross, [removed]                                      617/367-0468
15 Court Square                                   lawyer@[removed]
Boston, MA 02108-2573                    [removed]~lawyer/
======================================================================

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

Date: 06 Sep 1996 22:38:55 GMT
From: [removed]@[removed] (Ron B. Hare)
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: The train thread lives on!
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

Sorry Henry, I don't remember anything like Jerry Colonna's Trolley, but I'd
like to hear it if you ever find a copy.

Max, I'm just getting into the this train thread. How about:

X-1 "The Professor Was A Thief" where the prof had compressed an entire
railroad empire into a briefcase. (BTW, I saw one of these at a recent train
show).

Ron Hare
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Transmitted via LiveWire, a Virtual Valley service. Modem: [removed]
(FirstClass, VT-100)              [removed]

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

Date: Sat, 7 Sep 1996 03:00:22 -0400
From: RLINSURF@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Cliff Edwards
Message-ID: <960907030019_517555942@[removed]>

<<Chet sez:  This _is_ sad.  I remember him from an appearance on _the
Mickey Mouse Club_ (the real one) with Jimmy Dodd, and thinking what a
charming gentleman he was.  Like most kids, I wore out his "Old
MacDonald" record (on 78, not the 45 re-issue) and really look forward to
this upcoming collection.  You will tell us when, where, and how to get it,
won't you?

Did Cliff Edwards do any OTR?

*jeep!
~~~~Chet>>

I certainly will. By the way, I've been trying to get Jim Bedoian on-line
himself. So maybe at some point, we all might get to hear it from the horse's
mouth. But he has told me that the Cliff Edwards release is due possibly in
October, and probably by November. I personally have heard the release all
the way through and it is truly incredible. Great care in the crisp audio
quality brings Cliff Edwards true brilliance to light. I don't personally
know which mail-order and other outlets carry Take Two Records' catalog,
which includes recordings by many other great artists, but when it's
released, you could probably order them through me (or hopefully by that
time, Jim himself!)

<<I received a well-documented and detailed letter from the Disney people
after
Cliff Edwards had died "forgotten and impoverished." It was mailed to me upon
my letter of outrage to them when I heard of Cliff's alledged state.

It was an injustice to Disney; they subsidized him and made him comfortable
in his final days, and they geve proof on what they did for him in their
letter to me.

I have several Edwards appearances on "Eyes Aloft", a World War II West Coast
show beamed thirty minutes weekly to sky watchers and filter center workers
from 1943 to 1944. I have dozens of these shows, rescued from glass acitates
stored at the US Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. Recently, I  dubbed off
cassettes of the show, featuring many Hollywood personalities who donated
their hours of aerial observation to the Army Air Corps' Fourth Fighter
Command, to WRVO, Oswego NY.

BILL KNOWLTON, "BLUEGRASS RAMBLE", WCNY-FM, SYRACUSE NY>>

Bill-- As much as I would like to believe in Disney--and I do!--I would very
much like to see that letter. It is my understanding that when Cliff Edwards
died, the "home" he was in was not even aware of who he was, and he was so
impoverished that he was nearly buried in Potter's Field. It is also my
understanding that when Walt Disney found out about it, he did manage to
place a small plaque commemorating Cliff on his grave--but that is all.
Believe me, I would never knowingly malign Walt Disney, and certainly all I
know is what I've been told by those who have kept Cliff Edwards' memory
alive all these years. But I until I see real evidence otherwise, I must
believe those who are the keepers of his faith.

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

Date: Sat, 7 Sep 1996 03:52:46 -0400 (EDT)
From: MAX SCHMID <mschmid@[removed]>
To: airwavesOTR <[removed]@[removed]>
Subject: What was wrong with CBS Mystery Theater
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

	My problem with the general boredom provoked by this series was 
the obvious padding.  If, as someone pointed out, many of the stories were
based on The Inner Sanctum (which is another over-rated show, and I've heard
dozens of them - all style, little substance), the plots just aren't involved
or involving enough for a 60" format, even with 12-15 minutes of commercials.
The average half-hour show, stripped of commercials, runs about 22 minutes.
Long enough for a few murders, some great organ stings and "doom chords", and
a few wisecracks from Raymond or McGrath, but also fast enough to cover 
the holes in the plot.  
	This is not to say there weren't good episodes of both of these shows,
just not very often, or often enough.
	Compare CBS Mystery Theatre from Hi Brown with Zero Hour from Elliot
Lewis.  Shrewd producer vs. radio artist.  'Nuff said!   -Max

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

Date: Sat, 7 Sep 1996 04:07:59 -0400 (EDT)
From: MAX SCHMID <mschmid@[removed]>
To: airwavesOTR <[removed]@[removed]>
Subject: My train show of the day
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

How could I forget an unusual Jean Shepherd show from 1969 or 1970?!
I have what seems to be the second of two shows recorded live on the last 
run of the Domeliner to San Francisco.  Jean reads the menu from the 
dining car and talks to porters and waiters about working on the railroad.
I may have recently spotted an earlier show from this series in another
Shepherd collector's list, as well.  "Last call for lunch, last call for 
lunch".

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

Date: Sat, 07 Sep 1996 12:43:00 -0400
From: charlie <scharlie@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: New Website
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

For those of you still surfing the web for additional old-time radio sites,
try Radio Netherland's Antigue and Old-Time Radio site.  The url is
[removed]#Top
Even if you have no interest in the old radios themselves, there are plenty
of other links here to explore.  This is an excellent resource for hobbyists.




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End of [removed] Digest V96 Issue #322
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