Subject: [removed] Digest V2008 #156
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 6/23/2008 8:05 AM

To: [removed]@[removed]
Reply-to: [removed]@[removed]

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2008 : Issue 156
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Made in China                         [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
      Crosby, Tape and Philco               [ Brian Johnson <chyronop@[removed] ]
      6-22 births/deaths                    [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
      More about transcription and tape     [ "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@attorneyross. ]
      Book Report                           [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]

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

    Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2008 10:18:11 -0400
    From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Made in China

    Tom Heathwood said:

>     Although it's made in China,  it is quite a nice little unit very
>     reminiscent of old units we used to buy back in the cassette Hey-Day.

    Being made in China is okay as long as you don't eat it.

    Ron

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

    Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2008 10:19:50 -0400
    From: Brian Johnson <chyronop@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Crosby, Tape and Philco

    All of the replies about the Benny/Crosby remarks carry an element of the story.

    Crosby's first season of Philco Radio Time was on disc. But part of that was because the show was
    syndicated beyond the ABC network. From Newsweek (August 26, 1946, p56.):

    "For three years starting Oct. 2, Philco will pay a weekly guarantee of $24,000 for a transcribed
    Crosby package to be aired on a cross-continent schedule Wednesday nights at 9 by a minimum of 325
    stations, including the 208 of the ABC network. For each station that is added an additional sum
    will be paid, and if Philco reaches its announced goal of 600 stations (two-thirds of the nation's
    transmitters) Crosby's weekly take will total well over $30,000. Philco will pay for the package
    and its dealers will pay for time. If the Groaner's Hooper rating falls below 12, either party of
    the contract can call the deal off or insist that Crosby work as a live performer."

    Part of the Benny joke may have also surrounded one of Philco's pitches for their phonographs,
    which they claimed eliminated the needle scratches from your favorite recordings.

    Magnetic tape was so entrenched by the end of Bing's Philco contract, he was easily lured back to
    his original CBS home for the 1949-50 season. He would stay with CBS for Chesterfield and GE for
    half-hour shows through the end of the '53-54 season.

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

    Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2008 10:20:36 -0400
    From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  6-22 births/deaths

    June 22nd births

    06-22-1887 - Julian Huxley - London, England - d. 2-14-1975
    film director: "Information Please"
    06-22-1901 - Charlie Agnew - Illinois - d. 10-22-1978
    bandleader: "Yeast Foam Program"; "Armandes Face Cream Program"
    06-22-1901 - Jack Whiting - Philadelphia, PA - d. 2-15-1961
    singer: "MGM Radio Club"
    06-22-1901 - Phil Duey - Macy, IN - d. 4-7-1982
    singer: "Lucky Strike Dance Orchestra"; "Leo Reisman Orchestra";
    "Happy Bakers"
    06-22-1903 - Ben Pollack - Chicago, IL - d. 6-7-1971
    bandleader: Bib band remotes - became the Bob Crosby Orchestra
    06-22-1903 - Glenhall Taylor - d. 12-28-1997
    producer, director: "Blondie"; "Sherlock Holmes"; "Dinah Shore Show";
    "Ozzie and Harriett"
    06-22-1906 - Billy Wilder - Sucha, Austria-Hungary - d. 3-27-2002
    screenwriter, film director: "Lady Esther Screen Guild Theatre"; "Lux
    Radio Theatre"
    06-22-1907 - Mike Todd - Minneapolis, MN - d. 3-22-1958
    film producer: "Closing the New York World's Fair"
    06-22-1909 - Milton Kaye - Brooklyn, NY - d. 8-14-2006
    pianist/arranger: "Roger Kilgore, Public Defender"; "Under Arrest"
    06-22-1912 - June Carroll - Detroit, MI - d. 5-16-2004
    composer: "New Faces of 1948"
    06-22-1914 - Lem Davis - Tampa, FL - d. 1-5-2002
    saxophonist, clarinetist: "Jubilee"
    06-22-1915 - Robert Soderberg - Ohio - d. 4-9-1996
    writer: "Junior Miss"
    06-22-1916 - John Craven - NYC - d. 11-24-1995
    actor: "Campbell Playhouse"; "Star Spangeled Theatre"
    06-22-1916 - Johnny Jacobs - Milwaukee, WI - d. 2-8-1982
    announcer: "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar"; "Frontier Gentleman";
    "Granby's Green Acres"
    06-22-1918 - Julian Anthony - d. 6-xx-1984
    newscaster: "News of Tomorrow"
    06-22-1919 - Gower Champion - Geneva, IL - d. 8-25-1980
    choreographer: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Guest Star"
    06-22-1920 - Paul Frees - Chicago, IL - d. 11-1-1986
    actor: Jethro Dumont/Green Lama "Green Lama"; Robert Aladdin "Mr.
    Aladdin"
    06-22-1922 - Joe Siracuso - Cleveland, OH - d. 9-5-1997
    drummer: "The Spike Jones Show"
    06-22-1925 - Basil Beardsley - d. 12-3-1991
    disk jockey: WJER Dover, Ohio
    06-22-1930 - Roy Drusky - Atlanta, GA - d. 9-24-2004
    singer: "Grand Ole Opry"
    06-22-1932 - Prunella Scales - Sutton Abinger, Surrey, England
    actor: Sybil Fawlty "Fawlty Towers"; Sarah France "After Henry"
    06-22-1941 - Ed Bradley - Philadelphia, PA - d. 11-9-2006
    newscaster: WBCS New York, New York
    06-22-1949 - Meryl Streep - Summit, NJ
    actor. "Earplay"

    June 22nd deaths

    01-09-1908 - Carl Swanson - Utica-Rome, NY - d. 6-22-1994
    disk jockey: "Mr. Sunshine"
    01-14-1909 - Joseph Losey - La Crosse, WI - d. 6-22-1984
    director: "Words at War"
    01-26-1899 - Wyllis Cooper - Pekin, IL - d. 6-22-1955
    producer, writer, director: "Lights Out"; "Quiet Please"
    03-17-1905 - Lisa Sergio - Florence, Italy - d. 6-22-1989
    news and music commentator: "Let's Talk it Over"; "One Woman's Opinion"
    03-30-1905 - Don Hollenbeck - Lincoln, NE - d. 6-22-1954
    news commentator: "CBS Views the Press"; "You Are There"
    05-03-1897 - Charlie Lung - England - d. 6-22-1974
    actor: Paul Sycamore "You Can't Take It with You"; "Wild Bill
    Hickok"; "Escape"
    05-10-1899 - Fred Astaire - Omaha, NE - d. 6-22-1987
    dancer, actor: "Fred Astaire Show"
    05-10-1902 - David O. Selznick - Pittsburgh, PA - d. 6-22-1965
    film producer: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Bud's Bandwagon"
    05-10-1907 - Pee Wee Hunt - Mount Healthy, OH - d. 6-22-1979
    composer: "The Hoagy Carmichael Show"
    05-17-1906 - John Cannon - Chicago, IL - d. 6-22-2001
    announcer, actor: "City Hospital"; "Jack Armstrong, the All-American
    Boy"
    05-21-1916 - Dennis Day - The Bronx, NY - d. 6-22-1988
    singer, comedian: "Jack Benny Program"; "Day in the Life of Dennis Day"
    06-07-1896 - Hope Summers - Mattoon, IL - d. 6-22-1979
    actor: Clara "Girl Alone"
    06-10-1922 - Judy Garland - Grand Rapids, MN - d. 6-22-1969
    singer, actor: Romantic Interest "The Hardy Family"; "Good News of 1938"
    08-10-1902 - Venezuela Jones - d. 6-22-1995
    actor: Susie Robinson "Our Gal Sunday"
    08-24-1909 - Ridley Bell - d. 6-22-1989
    newscaster: WGBA Columbus, Ohio
    09-11-1889 - Bill Comstock - Syracuse, NY - d. 6-22-1979
    actor: Tizzy Lish "Mirth Parade"
    10-06-1866 - Dr. Reginald Fessenden - Milton, Canada - d. 6-22-1932
    made world's first radio voice broadcast (Decmeber 24, 1906)
    10-18-1908 - Rene Garriguenc - d. 6-22-1998
    composer: "Rogers of the Gazette"; "Advs. of Sam Spade, Detective"
    11-10-1931 - Don Henderson - Leytonstone, East London, England - d.
    6-22-1997
    actor: "The Wolf and the Woodcutter"
    12-09-1927 - Benny Green - Leeds, England - d. 6-22-1998
    musician, conversationalist, writer: ""Stop the Week"; "Kaleidoscope"
    12-14-1884 - Jane Cowl - Boston, MA - d. 6-22-1950
    actor: "Great Plays"; "Brownstone Theatre"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
    12-28-1896 - Rose Franken - Gainesville, TX - d. 6-22-1988
    writer: "Claudia and David" based on her stories
    12-29-1892 - Emory Parnell - St. Paul, MN - d. 6-22-1979
    actor: Grouch "Grouch Club"; "Eddie Bracken Show"; "Lux Radio Theatre"

    Ron Sayles
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

    Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2008 10:22:02 -0400
    From: "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  More about transcription and tape

    Robert Dwan, in his book =As Long As They're Laughing,= about his 14
    years as director of You Bet Your Life, says that when Groucho signed
    to go on ABC in 1946, John Guidel, the producer, was at the ABC
    offices the next morning saying that if Bing Crosby could pre-record
    his show, why not Groucho?  He says that Guidel was mainly worried
    that Groucho might get so entranced with talking to the guests and
    telling old Vaudeville jokes that he would never get around to
    playing the quiz game.

    Others have advanced other reasons for pre-recording.  Arthur Marx,
    in =Life with Groucho=, says that Groucho insisted on it because, if
    he was supposed to ad lib and be quick on the uptake, he didn't want
    to have to worry about whether what he said was fit for broadcast.
    They also found it useful to record for 45 minutes or more and edit
    down to make a more entertaining show.

    Dwan goes on a bit about the difficulties of editing an acetate
    recording, since they wanted to remove single words and phrases as
    well as paragraphs, with an audience in the background and a host who
    rarely waited for anyone else to finish speaking before he spoke.

    According to Dwan, they got tape equipment for the second season
    (which would have started in fall 1948).  And again, Bing Crosby
    played a role.  Crosby's technical producer, Murdo MacKenzie, heard a
    demonstration of the first Ampex recorders and persuaded Crosby to
    listen.  Bing immediately called ABC and proposed that the network
    buy some equipment.  ABC investigated Ampex, but wanted some
    guarantee of continued production from the small company before
    making a major investment in its product.  Crosby sent Ampex an
    unsolicited check for $50,000, and they were off and running.  ABC
    got three editing machines, two for Crosby and one for YBYL.

    With tape recorded at 30 inches per second, the slightest pause in
    the dialog extended over several inches of tape, making editing much
    easier.

    --
    A. Joseph Ross, [removed]                           [removed]
     92 State Street, Suite 700                   Fax [removed]
    Boston, MA 02109-2004           	         [removed]

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

    Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 09:59:44 -0400
    From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Book Report

    From: jack and cathy french <otrpiano@[removed];

>     Despite his thoroughness, Baker does have one big mistake in his book.
>     He repeats as fact the long discredited canard that young David Sarnoff
>     was the Marconi wireless operator who picked up the radio signals from the
>     sinking Titanic.  Jack French

    Don't be too hard on him, Jack.  In 1981 the Sarnoff Titanic
    fable had not yet been debunked.  If a NEW book repeated
    the fairy tale, then you can go after them!

    Michael Biel   mbiel@[removed]

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2008 Issue #156
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