Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #372
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 10/15/2003 7:45 AM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2003 : Issue 372
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Daily News Coverage of Orson Welles   [ Sean Dougherty <seandd@[removed] ]
  Today in radio history                [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
  10-15 births/deaths                   [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Re: Al Jolson Film                    [ Bob Fells <rfells@[removed]; ]
  Captain Midnight Premiums             [ Dan Hughes <danhughes@[removed]; ]
  Antennae                              [ Dan Hughes <danhughes@[removed]; ]
  Re: Dialects in Radio                 [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
  Great Green Hornet Episodes           [ "David Van Nostrand" <dvannost@char ]
  Re:Antennas for radios                [ Lou Genco <lgenco@[removed]; ]
  OTR series that might've been         [ "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed] ]
  "Powered " AM antenna                 [ <exportech@[removed]; ]
  Henry Morgan                          [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]
  Re: WWRL/WLW                          [ Udmacon@[removed] ]
  Re: Regional Accents                  [ "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed] ]
  Zeroes?                               [ "Jennifer Pope" <ifearonlyhim@hotma ]
  Howard Blue at Newton MA library      [ Howard Blue <khovard@[removed]; ]
  Douglass Dumbrille                    [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Re: "hamburger sandwich"              [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
  About Caring less                     [ Al Girard <24agirard24@[removed] ]
  OTR announcers on DVD                 [ "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed]; ]
  "A Man Called Peter"                  [ Doug Berryhill <fibbermac@[removed] ]

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

Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 10:20:17 -0400
From: Sean Dougherty <seandd@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Daily News Coverage of Orson Welles Movie

The New York Daily News runs a review of the Showtime Orson Welles
documentary in today's edition.  The link is here:
[removed].

Sean Dougherty
SeanDD@[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 10:20:24 -0400
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Today in radio history

 From Those Were The Days --

1934 - Folks had clean hands for 21 years beginning this day. The Lux
Radio Theater was heard on the NBC Blue [removed] and nearly every
famous Hollywood star over the next three decades appeared on the
program. Lux Radio Theater adapted novels, Broadway plays and Hollywood
films into radio's favorite dramatic series.

 From NYT Today in history --

In 1943, the Radio Corporation of America completed sale of the NBC Blue
  network to businessman Edward J. Noble for $8 million; the network was
renamed the American Broadcasting Company.

Joe

--
Visit my homepage:  [removed]~[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 10:20:31 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  10-15 births/deaths

October 15th births

10-15-1879 - Jane Darwell - Palmyra, MO - d. 8-13-1967
actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"
10-15-1893 - Ina Claire - Washington, [removed] - d. 2-22-1985
actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"
10-15-1896 - Joe Sanders - Thayer, KS - d. 5-14-1965
bandleader: (The Ole Left Hander) "Nighthawks Frolic"
10-15-1898 - Ransom Sherman - Appleton, WI - d. 11-26-1985
actor: Uncle Dennis "Fibber McGee and Molly"; Hap Hazard "Hap Hazard"
10-15-1908 - Robert Trout - Wake Country, NC - d. 11-14-2000
commentator: "Headlines & Bylines"; "Robert Trout with the News Til Now"
10-15-1917 - Jan Miner - Boston, MA
actress: Ann Williams "Casey, Crime Photographer"; "Lora Lawton "Lora Lawton"
10-15-1921 - Robert Rockwell - Chicago, IL - d. 1-25-2003
actor: Philip Boynton "Our Miss Brooks"
10-15-1926 - Jean Peters - Canton, OH - d. 10-13-2000
actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"

October 15th deaths

07-09-1917 - Ted Steele - Hartford, CT - d. 10-15-1985
bandleader: "Ted Steele"s Studio Club"; "Chesterfield Supper Club"
09-25-1905 - Carl Hoff - Oxnard, CA - d. 10-15-1965
bandleader: "Al Pearche and His Gang"; "Your Hit Parade"
10-13-1918 - Cornel Wilde - NYC - d. 10-15-1989
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
11-11-1899 - Pat O" Brien - Milwaukee, WI - d. 10-15-1983
actor: Dan Carson "Dan Carson"; "Screen Guild Theatre"; "Family Theatre"

Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 10:50:37 -0400
From: Bob Fells <rfells@[removed];
To: Old Time Radio <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Al Jolson Film

In response to Fred Berney's inquiry, that musical clip you saw, "Goin'
to Heaven on a Mule," is from the 1934 Warners-First National feature
film WONDER BAR and it is indeed Al Jolson doing the singing. The number
was designed by Busby Berkeley is easily his most embarrassing work
filled with terrible racial stereotypes. This number was often cut by
television censors when the film was aired.

The song itself was written by Al Dubin and Harry Warren and is in the
"Green Pastures" vein but it is Berkeley's visuals that really do the
damage. Nice song, lousy number. Jolson himself never sang it again.
WONDER BAR is a sort of a GRAND HOTEL in a nightclub and was one of
Warners most popular films for 1934. Curiously, the musical number was
filmed in January 1934 after the rest of the film had been completed
during 1933. The story was inspired by a 1931 play of the same name that
Jolson starred in.  The theater was literally turned into a night club
and Jolson sang out in the audience as well as on stage.  It closed
after 81 performances on Broadway but then became a hit when Jolson
decided to take the play on tour. The play had totally different songs
than the film version - mercifully!

Probably more than you wanted to know!

Bob Fells

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

Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 10:50:54 -0400
From: Dan Hughes <danhughes@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Captain Midnight Premiums

Steve's gotta know the answer to this:

I have faint memories of what I think was a Captain Midnight premium I
had when I was a kid, and I'd like you to verify that my memory isn't yet
totally shot.  This was from the TV show:  a pair of binoculars that
strapped to your head with an elastic band, so you could peruse the skies
for enemy aircraft without using your hands!  I remember how cool I
thought I was, wearing those riduculous binoculars as I swaggered up and
down the sidewalk.  Am I dreaming?

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

Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 11:28:52 -0400
From: Dan Hughes <danhughes@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Antennae

Herb asks about [removed]

Your TV antenna should help your FM but probably not your AM.  The FM
frequency band is just above TV Channel 6 (if you have a channel 6 in
your area you can probably pick up its audio on the left end of your FM
radio dial).

All the powered AM antennas I've tried seem to amplify noise more than
signal.  I have had good luck with an inductive antenna such as the one
discussed on my web site:  [removed]~dan

Hope this helps!

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

Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 11:29:52 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Dialects in Radio

On 10/14/03 10:25 AM [removed]@[removed] wrote:

This doesn't seem to be true, for OTR and OTR-influenced TV shows like Perry
Mason.  Everyone except Amos and Andy spoke like they were from nowhere in
particular.  Are there any exceptions?

Well, Fred Allen would be one good exception: listen to him talk for five
minutes and it's pretty obvious he's from Boston. Ditto for Jack Haley
and Charles Farrell, two other New England-inflected performers of the
same era. And then there's every role Parker Fennelly ever played, in
which he sounded like someone who never stepped foot south of Kittery in
his life.

And, of course, during the height of the A&A-inspired dialect craze of
the early thirties, there were programs on the air featuring Jewish ("The
Goldbergs," "Potash and Perlmutter," "Berl and Shmerl," "Bronx Marriage
Bureau," etc.), German ("Louie's Hungry Five", "Tony Cabooch"), Swedish
("The Taystyeast Jesters"), and Italian ("Tony and Gus") dialect
characters, along with such regional US dialects as New England ("The
Stebbins Boys," "Uncle Abe and David," "Soconyland Sketches," "Seth
Parker"), hillbilly ("Lum and Abner," "Mountainville Sketches"),
Upstate-New-York rural ("Real Folks," "Main Street Sketches,") and
Midwestern ("Clara, Lu and Em," "Vic and Sade," "Easy Aces," "Smackout").

There were also network-level announcers in the
late-twenties/early-thirties era with recognizable accents: Phillips
Carlin and Milton Cross (New York), Howard Petrie and John S. Young (New
England), Chester Gaylord (*very* strong New England, complete with flat
"A"), John B. Daniel (British), and Bill Hay (Scottish).

Speech did become more homogenized by the forties, though -- probably as
a side effect of the overall Hollywoodization of the medium, and of the
ill-conceived class-driven belief that there's only one "proper" way to
speak English.

Elizabeth

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

Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 11:31:16 -0400
From: "David Van Nostrand" <dvannost@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Great Green Hornet Episodes

Hi

I am a big fan of the Green Hornet. Currently my commute
takes me 1 hour to get to work.  What are your favorite
episodes of GH that I should look for.  Also want to know
if any of you in the group notice this.  With each GH
episode they use the same voice cast for different roles.
 Some of the actors have very distictive voices and hearing
them be a criminal in one episode and being a totally
different character in the next episode, sometimes it is
hard to "get in to the story" when this happens.  Just a
thought

Thanks

Dave

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

Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 11:32:04 -0400
From: Lou Genco <lgenco@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re:Antennas for radios

On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 10:24:46 -0400, Herb Harrison
<herbop@[removed]; wrote:

Some of us still use regular roof antennas for television reception.
Two questions:
Can we hook them up to AM/FM receivers to get better radio reception on the
AM and/or FM bands?

Yes.  If an AM radio (with appropriate antenna connectors) is
connected to the TV antenna, the twinlead and antenna acts a bit like
a long-wire antenna.  In addition, the frequencies on which TV sound
is broadcast is very close to the standard FM radio frequencies, so
the TV antenna will help there too.

Interestingly enough, if you have metal gutters that are NOT grounded,
and if your radio has an "antenna" connector and a "ground" connector,
try connecting the "antenna" side to the gutter, and grounding the
other connector.

Since you are not transmitting with the antenna, matching the
impedance to resonance is not critical.

Assuming we have a built-in AM "bar antenna" in our receivers, with an
input connection for an external AM antenna, is there some kind of POWERED
antenna that we could attach so we could pull in more-distant AM OTR
STATIONS?

Yes.  From Question/Answer 22 of the OTR FAQ:

[quote mode ON]

Q22. What is the best radio / antenna to get distant OTR stations?

A22. Several readers have been acclaiming the GE SuperRadio III as an
excellent choice for picking up distant AM stations that carry OTR
programming. Although the tuning dial has notoriously poor
calibration, the sensitivity and selectivity seem superior to other
radios.

Some readers have had good success with the Select-A-Tenna antenna
advertised in several magazines, and the Grove Catalog. The S-A-T
seems to be rather directional, and may eliminate off-axis
interference.

Ham Radio magazines sometimes carry information about small loop
antennas for AM DX-ing. Some pointers to instructions on how to build
them are at [removed]. Also, Dan Hughes (dan@[removed])
left this note:

       Several years ago one of the electronic magazines ran
       plans with dimensions and number of turns, etc to build
       one of these antennas.  I have built several and I'm no
       mechanic.  If you (or anyone else reading this) would
       like a copy of the article and plans, visit my website
       at [removed]~dan

If you are interested in AM Broadcast Band reception, and technical
articles related thereto, send a SASE to the following address for
their product catalog:

        National Radio Club
        Publications Center
        PO Box 164
        Mannsville, NY  13667-0164

(The National Radio Club also has a WWW page, at [removed])

[quote mode OFF]

Remember, however, that a lot of AM stations broadcast on the same
frequencies.  You can't "tune out" a strong AM station to hear a
weaker one, if they are both on the same frequency, unless they are at
significantly different azimuths, and you use a very good directional
antenna.  The "clear channel stations" days are gone.

Also consider that many AM antenna amplifiers amplify both the signal
and the noise, so the s/n ratio remains about the same.

For more information, see the OTR FAQ and the table of stations
currently broadcasting OTR at [removed]

--
Lou
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE WWW site for "Old Time Radio":         [removed]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** No HTML-Formatted email, please! **

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

Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 13:04:55 -0400
From: "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  OTR series that might've been

The original Captain Marvel was a 1940s comic book super-hero.
I think that comic book series (maybe adding Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel,
Jr.)  had the ingredients for a terrific kids' radio series in the 1940s.  I
realize that it probably couldn't have happened because of the somewhat
similar Superman already on the air, a similarly-named radio character
(Captain Midnight), legal issues, etc.  But in my mind's ear I can hear what
the opening might've sounded like, sixty years ago:

(A=Announcer.    Dviec=Deep voice in echo chamber.)

A:  Mankind's mightiest mortal!  Fighting evil and injustice! Captain
Marvel!
Music:  (Theme.)
A:  Billy Batson, a short and frail schoolboy, walks down a city street.   A
large car pulls up. Two large, hairy arms try to pull the boy into the car.
Billy shouts the magic word ...
Billy: Shazam!
Sound:  (Thunder peal.)
A (and appropriate Sound): Billy is gone!  In his place now is a tall,
muscular man in red costume, white cape, and yellow boots. Effortlessly, he
lifts the car,  flies into the sky, drops the car with its passengers
outside a police station, and flies off.  He'[removed]
Dviec:  Captain Marvel!
A: He has the wisdom of
Dviec: So- lo- monnn!
A: The strength of
Dviec: Her-cu- leees!
A: The stamina of
Dviec: A- tlaaas!
A: The power of
Dviec:  Zeuuuus!
A:  The courage of
Dviec:  A-chi-lleees!
A:  And the speed of
Dviec:  Mer-cu-ryyy!  ...  SHAZAM!
Sound:  (Thunder peal.)
A:  Now, from the pages of Fawcett Comics and into the airwaves [removed]
Captain Marvel!
Dviec:  Shazam!
Sound:  (Thunder peal.)

     -- Phil C.

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

Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 14:14:57 -0400
From: <exportech@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  "Powered " AM antenna

I have a device I bought about two years ago which works quite well.  It's a
9-inch diameter circular loop with a tuning knob. It's housed in black
plastic bearing the brand name TERK.  The tuning is surprisingly sharp which
should help to cut down noise, and rotating the loop helps too.
Incidentally, it's not powered.  In the AM band, gain wouldn't help much
considering all the electrical noise present.

I forget where I purchased this but I'm sure it was not by mail.  Try Radio
Shack, Best Buy, or Circuit City.
Frank Kelly

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

Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 14:16:24 -0400
From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Henry Morgan

Henry Morgan (comedian) seems to have had a difficult time in later life.
He appeared as a spokesman for an organization of divorced men who had been
treated unfairly in court.  Somewhat later, his picture was featured in a
small advertisement in Popular Science magazine for National Radio
Institute's appliance repair program.

It made me sad, though I suppose I should feel worse for all the people who
tried all their lives to get onto radio or TV and had no success at all.

Mark Kinsler
512 E Mulberry St. Lancaster, Ohio USA 43130 740-687-6368
[removed]~mkinsler1

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

Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 14:52:14 -0400
From: Udmacon@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: WWRL/WLW

Bad news: NYC's venerable WWRL has abandoned its charter Woodside Queens
studios to take over the former WEVD studios in Manhattan. WWRL had been a
Queens fixture in a former home since it went on the air in the 'twenties.

Good news: WLW's radio tower in Mason, Ohio now has an historic marker
nearby.  Congrats!

Bill Knowlton

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

Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 16:49:09 -0400
From: "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed];
To: "OTR" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Regional Accents

Mark Kinsler wrote:

Everyone except Amos and Andy spoke like they were from nowhere in
particular.  Are there any exceptions?

Lum 'n' Abner sure talk regional.    I was listening to the 1938
Transatlantic broadcast and Abner warned Lum, who had met a woman on the
trip,

"You be careful now.  Don't hop the broomstick when you're over there."   I
first heard about jumping the broomstick in relation to slave marriages [I
think 'The Color Purple' was when I first was made aware of it], but have
since learned that it can be traced back to celtic, dutch and gypsy marriage
customs as well as African.

Another expression used in Lum'n Abner is what sounds like 'farking'.
Does anyone know what that means?    Today, it seems to be used as a
substitute for that other 'f' word, but in that same transatlantic episode
Abner asks Lum about the woman he met on the ship and Lum says he's "farkin
(?) her on the side" which leads to Abner's 'hop the broomstick' comment.

As for Ohio. In 1956 when I started college in central Ohio there were a
couple of expressions I found amusing.    They called brown paper bags
'sacks' and asked 'Do you want off at the next corner' instead of 'Do you
want to get off'

-Irene

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

Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 16:49:20 -0400
From: "Jennifer Pope" <ifearonlyhim@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Zeroes?

     I keep hearing about this Los Angeles restaurant while listening to
Jack Benny, Burns and Allen, etc.  It seems to be rather famous (or
infamous), but I can't find a website that mentions the place, no matter how
I spell the name (Zero's, 00s, etc.) - is/was it real?  Can anyone point me
to further information?

Jennifer

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

Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 17:22:58 -0400
From: Howard Blue <khovard@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Howard Blue at Newton MA library

I will be doing a book talk about WORDS AT WAR this Wed., October 15, at
7:30 PM at the Newton (MA) Free Library.  I'd love to see any digest
members there who live in the area.

Howard Blue

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

Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 18:51:40 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Douglass Dumbrille

Sorry for the gaff on the birth list of 10-13.

I had:

10-13-1889 - Douglas Dumbrille - Hamilton, Ontario, Canada - d. 4-2-1974
actor: "Screen Guild Theatre"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
10-13-1890 - Douglass Dumbrille - Hamilton, Ontario, Canada - d. 4-2-1974
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"

The correct birthday is 10-13-1889. Thanks for pointing that out to me.

Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 19:05:53 -0400
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: "hamburger sandwich"

And later, he and Mary
talked about buying a "hamburger sandwich" (instead of just a hamburger).

Once, in an old movie shown on "Mystery Science Theatre 3000," a guy at a
cafe described a hamburger and fries as a rather stuffy-sounding "french
fried potatoes and a hamburger sandwich," prompting the 'Bots to mock that
phrase all throughout the rest of the show.  If I recall, that particular
movie dated to the mid 1930s.

Dixon

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

Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 19:56:50 -0400
From: Al Girard <24agirard24@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  About Caring less

Maybe youins could help him with the answer.
If not, I could care less.

Herb Harrison

You could care less?  How much less could you care?  Not trying to be picky,
but the correct term is couldn't care less.

And yes,  I'm sure there are some of you who couldn't care less about my
comment
(running and ducking)

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

Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 20:59:38 -0400
From: "MICHAEL BIEL" <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  OTR announcers on DVD

Martin Grams, Jr. comments on the promotional radio spots that are extra
features on many of the James Bond DVDs.  In 1967-68 I worked for the
company that produced all of United Artists, MGM, and Avco Embassy's radio
and TV spots and theatrical trailers.  The voice talent we used included
Fred Foy, Jackson Beck, Norman Rose, Dan Ingram, and one of our company's
execs, Don LaFontaine.  Off the top of my head I know that Fred and Don can
be heard on the spots for "You Only Live Twice."  When I told Fred that I
had a large collection of these spots and play them in my classes, he was
overjoyed because he said this was a part of his career that he had
absolutely no recordings of.  He does now.  When I likewise told Jackson
Beck that I used to work for Floyd L. Peterson, Inc;, he asked in that deep
voice of his "Do you happen to know where that @^#%$^#&@ Floyd is?  He
still owes me a thousand bucks!"

I haven't gotten the DVD version yet, but Fred can be heard in the
theatrical trailer on the anniversary videocassette of Dr. Zhivago.  I
prefer the radio spots because much more care was taken with synchronizing
the narration with the rhythm of the music, and it would be nice if the DVD
also included the radio spots as well as the theatrical trailer.

Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 23:18:20 -0400
From: Doug Berryhill <fibbermac@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  "A Man Called Peter"

I just recently listened to the 12-28-52 episode of
Hallmark Playhouse, an adaptation of "A Man Called
Peter". Joseph Cotton starred in this biographical
story of the noted clergyman, Peter Marshall.

It reminded me of a scene in the movie by the same
name where Marshall's bed-ridden wife listens to her
husband preach over the radio. I was wondering if any
of Peter Marshall's sermons were recorded and still
exist. I'd be very interested in hearing anything that
exists of this man, sermons or anything else.

Thanks in advance for checking.

-FIBBERMAC-

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #372
*********************************************

Copyright [removed] Communications, York, PA; All Rights Reserved,
  including republication in any form.

If you enjoy this list, please consider financially supporting it:
   [removed]

For Help: [removed]@[removed]

To Unsubscribe: [removed]@[removed]

To Subscribe: [removed]@[removed]
  or see [removed]

For Help with the Archive Server, send the command ARCHIVE HELP
  in the SUBJECT of a message to [removed]@[removed]

To contact the listmaster, mail to listmaster@[removed]

To Send Mail to the list, simply send to [removed]@[removed]