From:	SMTP%"[removed]@[removed]" 26-NOV-1995 01:08[removed]
To:	otr@[removed]
CC:	
Subj:	[removed] Digest V95 #415

 
	********************************************************
                      ------   # NOTE #   -------
SEE INFO SECTION AT END OF THIS DIGEST FOR UNSUBSCRIBE AND OTHER INFORMATION. 
		====  INFO SECTION UPDATED 8/19/95  ====
	********************************************************

	    [removed]   Volume 95 : Issue 415


Articles in this issue of [removed]:

	 Were shows once better ?
	 Martian Landing Site
	 Phil Harris and other Jack Benny-related items
	 Cohen Revisited
	 How 1950's babies got hooked on OTR
	 Re: "Lonesome Train"
	 competion used to be good for everyone
	 ADMINISTRIVUA: Read OTR via the web.
	

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

Date: Sat, 25 Nov 1995 22:59:49 -0500
From: BCH66@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Were shows once better ?
Message-ID: <951125225947_33968447@[removed]>

Well any answer is certainly opinion. It is certainly true radio never 
offered the current type of dramas now on TV . LAW and ORDER, CHICAGO HOPE ,
ER  [removed] TV does not offer SUSPENSE, ESCAPE , or [removed]

I think what we have to accept is that there are creative people in
television today who HAVE moved on and are now offering some pretty good
dramas. AND some comedies are pretty funny as well.
With all the channels you will find something worth watching. Whether it be
adventure, Science fiction , drama [removed]
But it is all beside the point . Even if TV offered 100% quality and
excitement there is still room for radio in my opinion.
Sometimes we take radio for granted. How often have I listened to a great
radio program and thought "that would be great TV". Only to see the TV
version later and find it was too slow and generally not as exciting. 
Hey , DIMENSION X   would make great TV if the budget would allow it . But
great radio shows often look cheap once they are transferred to the tube.

Remember radio is from another age and styles change. For example Jack
Benny's earlier programs are not regarded as the classics. But back in 1932
that type of programming would have been considered great. A great orchestra
, a few laughs . Radio was new. 10 years later audiences wanted more and of
course Jack fine -tuned his program. In the 90s we cannot see why a few jokes
and an orchestra were considered great entertainment. But go back to the
depression when radio was a new concept and it changes the whole perception.
Todays programmers have 60 years to look back and try to take the best of the
past and make it look new. Back then they were truly inventing the wheel. 
And also tastes change. After hours people want talk shows and drama. They
did not want these forms of entertainment after hours 
in the 40s . A few networks tried other programming  but found out dance band
remotes were still the favorites.






 

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

Date: Sun, 26 Nov 1995 04:08:59 GMT
From: bilj@[removed] (Bill Jaker)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Martian Landing Site
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

        I hope you all enjoyed a good Thanksgiving, thankful for many things 
and looking forward to more than leftovers.
        I took time out from a holiday visit to Mercer County, NJ to make a 
side trip to the tiny hamlet of Grover's Mill.  You've surely heard of 
Grover's Mill.  That's the place writer Howard Koch immortalized in his 
script for the CBS broadcast of "War of the Worlds", starring Orson Welles. 
It is a real place (yes, it wasn't destroyed), about a ten-minute drive from 
Princeton, a leafy upper-middle class residential area.  At the center is a 
lovely pond, filled this time of year with geese honking loudly as they 
await takeoff on the next stage of their migration.  Or maybe they're the 
newest incarnation of Martians?
        In Van Nest Park, beside the pond, is a unique object -- possibly 
the only monument anywhere commemorating an event that never really 
occurred.  It is a six-foot high bronze slab that was dedicated during 50th 
anniversary observances of the "invasion from Mars".  It says "Martian 
Landing Site" (really!) and beneath it is a bas-relief of Orson Welles 
speaking into a microphone while a family huddles in fear around a cathedral 
radio.  An inscription states, in part, that the broadcast provoked 
"continuing thought about media responsibility, social psychology and civil 
defense."
        I later spoke with a woman who grew up near Grover's Mill and was 
tuned in on that fateful Halloween in 1937.  The program sounded real and 
she was frightened, so she did something that many would later assume would 
be the normal reaction: she changed the station.  However, instead of 
picking up Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy carrying on merrily on NBC she 
happened to tune in to another CBS affiliate, which made it seem as if all 
the stations on the air were reporting the End of the World.
        Reports of panic were probably exaggerated both immediately after 
the broadcast and in later years, yet as my informant confessed, "I really 
felt stupid, but when I heard that so many people were fooled it didn't 
bother me as much."  That's another bit of social psychology we should 
continue to think about.

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

Date: Sun, 26 Nov 1995 00:55:20 -0500 (EST)
From: JACKBENNY@[removed]
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: Phil Harris and other Jack Benny-related items
Message-id: <01HY2VYJ1A3M9LVU89@[removed]>

Jell-o again folks.  Been out of town on VACATION (yes, I do take them at
too-rare and overly-odd intervals), and just slogged through my backlog of
Digests.

Had heard about the upcoming Jack Benny special last May when talking with
Fred deCordova and Irving Fein.  At that point, they were trying to find out
who had the rights to the TV programs (I would wager that it was MCA, but I
didn't hear the end of the story).  As far as who's hosting it, etc., you know,
what the heck, as long as it's positive exposure for Jack Benny.  I think the
thing that has bothered me about various Benny tributes (not saying that any
of them are *bad*) IMO is that you spend lots of time hearing people (yes,
even KNOWN people) say how wonderful Jack was, and not enough  on the material
itself.  It seems that Marx Brothers tributes hold up so much better in this
venue, because you have an almost limitless number of "blackouts" that you
can take from the movies ([removed], from _Day at the Races_, woman--can't remember
her name off the top of my head--holding Groucho "Hold [removed]
closer!"  Groucho:  "If I get any closer, I'll be in back of you!").  Jack
just didn't work so much in that forum.  You almost have to introduce the
cast of characters first, so as to acquaint a newbie with their backgrounds.
If Phil says that he took Remley on his honeymoon but didn't realize it becauasomeone accidentally tied him to the bumper, it's not really that funny unless
you know that Phil was a bandleader, Remley was the guitar player, they were
all supposed to be a bunch of boozers, etc.  I think the 1972
(?) special _The Great Radio Comedians_ succeeds best in this regard, because
it does just that, and has Jack himself talking about the show and all its
trappings, while using excerpts to illustrate each point.  _A Love Letter to
Jack Benny_ is also excellent, since you have some time spent with George
Burns, Johnny Carson, and Bob Hope talking about Jack, and setting up clips.

OK, [removed]'m creating one of these long posts that has made it more time-
consuming for me to scan the Digests.  As far as Phil in real life, I know
I've posted quite a number of comments on him in the past, so I'll just repost
this one.  When I went to interview him, one of the first things he said 
when we went inside was "You know, I didn't drink anywhere near as much as
they made out on radio!  If I drank that much, I couldn't stand up!"  As far
as "what kind of person he was", I certainly can't completely judge from 
one interview, but he struck me as being quintessetially *what* he was:  a
bandleader who had done his share of travelling around (on trains, busses,
etc.), probably had many girls in many ports in his day, was pretty street-
wise, and just really a "guy's guy".  The kind of guy you could really sit
down and have a drink with (yeah, yeah) and talk about "guy stuff" and shoot
the breeze (or whatever material it pleases you to shoot).

--Laura Lee
International Jack Benny Fan Club

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

Date: Sun, 26 Nov 1995 01:05:28 -0500 (EST)
From: JACKBENNY@[removed]
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: Cohen Revisited
Message-id: <01HY2WLQ1O089LVU89@[removed]>

We had talked a lot about the "Cohen at the Telephone" records, so while back
in Indiana (insert singing here), I looked over my collection to see what I
had.  Being that much of my collection was purchased in Grand Rapids, Michigan
(and vicinity) which is not particularly a hotbed of Jewish culture, I
couldn't find very much, but for what it's worth:

Cohen at the Telephone - Cohen's New Auto
Monroe Silver
Emerson - black label, gold lettering - 10272

Cohen at the Picnic, pt. 1 & 2
Monroe Silver
Victor - plain black label, gold lettering - 18608

Cohen Phones About His Auto
Cohen Phones the Gas Company
(serial #s 7186o -  65841 respectively)
Joe Ha????
Columbia - blue label, gold lettering - A37?2
(label was almost completely worn off)

Also found an Edison with a song called "Cohen Owes Me Ninety-Seven Dollars"
but believe it's not a reference to the Cohen  character on the above records.
Since not all of my records are in my database (and won't be for many years),
this list is probably not complete.

An interesting note from the Columbia Cohen/Auto is that at the end, Cohen
has been complaining that his car has broken down.  He then says to hold the
line and returns with (I'm paraphrasing):"Oh, mine son Abie has found de
problem.  Well, you know about de problem between Henry Ford and de Jewish
people?  Well, you sold me a Ford.  And we find out that every time we start
to speak Jewish, the car it starts running."

--Laura Lee
International Jack Benny Fan Club

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

Date: Sat, 25 Nov 95 22:22:34 EST
From: platecap@[removed] (Bob B)
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: How 1950's babies got hooked on OTR
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

A question was asked wondering how those born in the 1950's became
hooked on OTR.

The usual way was through re-broadcasts.  In the 1970s, the country was
going through a "nostalgia" craze and there were a lot of stations
involved in playing OTR.  Charlie Michelson has been involved with
syndicating old time radio since the 1930's and I suspect his business
was particularly good in the 1970's.

Some of the most popular OTR shows (some still going as strong as ever)
were Chuck Schaden in Chicago (who had a bookstore in that area that
Carl Amari worked at), Allen Rockford in northern New York state,  WRVA
Radio in NYC, Warren Pierce in Detroit, Bob Lynes on the west coast,
Frank Bresee on Armed Forces radio and elsewhere, and many many other
stations who simply broadcast the tapes distributed by Charlie
Michelson. Oh yes, John Dunning did an excellent series on Colorado
radio for many years & interviewed many celebrities, too.
Also, NPR and other networks had jumped on the bandwagon and did their
own productions.  Remember Rod Serling's Zero Hour?  Ethel and Albert
had a short revival.  Jim Jordan did a series on NBC Radio in the 1970's
called Fibber McGee & the Good Old Days of Radio.

Another obvious one everyone seems to remember is CBS Radio Mystery
Theater that lasted briefly into the 1980's.

With this vast amount of material on the radio, in is no wonder that a
LOT of people got involved during this period.

--------ANOTHER NOTE--------
I'm always intrigued when I hear (or read) when someone finds an old
catalog of mine from the "old days" when BRC had the Quality Dubs name.
Around then, I was a college jazz radio person and had 200% more hair
(facial and otherwise) and one of those catalogs had my picture on it.

Bob Burchett had the nerve to print that re-print that picture a couple
years ago in the printed Old Time Radio Digest.  Actually I didn't mind,
but kinda distracted people from my article written recently with it.

I was going to offer a reward to anyone with one of those old catalogs
to send me the cover -- but decided I already receive enough junk mail
to feed through my paper shredder!

How times have changed -- and I never would have suspected I'd still be
entrenched in old time radio collecting this many years [removed]
-Just rambling on-

Bob Burnham; BRC Productions; [removed] Box 2645; Livonia, MI 48151
voice (313) 277-3798;  fax (313) 277-3095; internet platecap@[removed]

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

Date: Sun, 26 Nov 1995 01:25:13 -0500
From: Nevartb@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed], otr@[removed]
cc: Nevartb@[removed]
Subject: Re: "Lonesome Train"
Message-ID: <951126012512_116432552@[removed]>

In a message dated 95-11-25 22:33:27 EST, [removed]@[removed]


ort collector writes:

>I've just come across some clips of an old musical documentary made in the
>[removed] called 'Lonesome Train'. The subject is Lincoln's funeral train, it's
>sung by very Hollywood-esque singers and sounds late fifties/early sixties
>ish.

According to LeRoy Bannerman's book, "Norman Corwin and the Golden Years of
Radio," "Lonesome Train"  was a half hour program re: Lincoln's assassination
(part of the Columbia Presents Corwin series) broadcast on CBS, March 21,
1944. That same evening, the cast re-recorded  the show  for Decca records.
During the days following FDR's death, the show was played over and over
again on radio stations across the county as Roosevelt's funeral train
traveled to Washington [removed]

Most "Corwin" shows are available from different vendors. If your copy has
Raymond Massey playing Lincoln, then you have the original broadcast
transcription. He was not available for the Decca recording.  

Bill
Santa Rosa

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

Date: Sun, 26 Nov 95 01:14:18 PST
From: gcoppen@[removed]
To: "@[removed]":otr@[removed]
Subject: competion used to be good for everyone
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

                                                 November 26,1995
Hi Everyone
     We here in Winnipeg have had something happen to us that has 
made the blood boil in this old man.
     We have had a group of old retired announcers get together and
put a radio station on the air. This station is a special events
station that the CRTC has allowed to run for a period of 28 days at a
time with the power of 24 watts---yes only 24 watts. The format of 
this station is old time music and old time radio programs. The OTRP
segment runs for 2 hours per day and I love it as well as the music.
     Well along has come a Mr. Garth Buchko who runs radio station
CJOB here in Wpg. with it 50,000 watts and this turkey is trying to
get this 24 watt station kicked off the air. Man alive, I have always
found that competition made me sharper, I guess this CJOB is affraid
that a bunch of old timers like me will be listening to another
station other than his. The joke of this whole thing is that CJOB 
used to run the same format when they had a larger listening audience
but they have chosen to go to an almost nonstop talking station now
and I guess this guy Buchko is feeling the competion. Can you beleive
a 24 watt station on the fm dial giving a 50,000 watt station on the
am dial so much competion that they are scared that they are going
to go out of business???
     Well I have said my piece and feel a bit better, thanks for 
letting me use up this space.
     Remember if any of you are ever in the Wpg area and you cant 
find CJOB on the dial it must have been CKVN that knocked them off
the air



                                    George Coppen

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

Date: Sun, 26 Nov 1995 00:46:39 -0600 (CST)
From: William Pfeiffer <rrb@[removed]>
To: otr@[removed] (Old Time Radio)
Subject: ADMINISTRIVUA: Read OTR via the web.
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

I posted this some time ago, but for the sake of any newer subscribers
who may not be aware, or for some of those who might find the digest
too big or too frequent, we have created a full hypertext version of
OTR.  Here is how it works.

Access the site [removed]~[removed]  .
(Note to Netscape users you can eliminate the 'http:// part of any web
address.  Netscape will assume it unless you state otherwise.)

At this point you can choose the AIRWAVES RADIO JOURNAL or OTR.  When
you select either one, you will see a long index.  In this index are
the last 500, or so, articles to OTR DIGEST arranged in hyperlinks.
You can sort by either subject, thread, author or date.  

When you click on an article, you will be taken directly to it.  After
reading you are offered the choice of 'next article, previous article,
next in thread, in reply to, or you can return to any of the four
indexes (as defined above).  All by clicking your  mouse.

The articles are nicely formatted in proportional font and  all email
addresses and URL's in the article's text are turned into live
hyperlinks.  This means that if someone mentions a web site, you can
click and go to it immediately.  Replies are also easier since the
poster's email address is a mailto: link.

Oh, you can also reply to articles directly from the web, but you
cannot quote previous article text.  If you can select and copy off
your screen, you can quote that way.

Give it a try.  I think you will like it.  We have resisted the
temptation to make it graphical, to retain speed and compatibility
among different browsers.

The page is usually updated every day or two.  

[removed]~[removed]

--
 
     William Pfeiffer - Moderator [removed] - Airwaves
   wdp@[removed]  *  airwaves@[removed]  * rrb@[removed]
                 Web: [removed]~rrb/
      "Position Wanted: Web Page Design.   F/T, P/T or Freelance"
 
 

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

Date: Sat, 25 Nov 1995 12:57:59 -0400 (EDT)
From: CLARE@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Message-id: <01HY27I2786Q9YHGEI@[removed]>

Subscribe

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

    


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---- 
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