Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #341
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 10/23/2004 8:30 AM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2004 : Issue 341
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      undated Benny episode                 [ Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed]; ]
      AFRS                                  [ Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed]; ]
      10-23 births/deaths                   [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
      Re: Are We Certain They Were Black?   [ "Brian L Bedsworth" <az2pa@[removed]; ]
      Jack Benny and Race                   [ "jazmaan@[removed]" <dmf273@ya ]
      Re: Jack Benny Joke                   [ Thomas Bray <orderinfo@piecesoftime ]
      superheroes                           [ "Jim Harmon" <jimharmonotr@charter. ]
      Second Honeymoon                      [ Ken Dahl <kdahl@[removed]; ]
      Anyone have Hangman Won't waitt?      [ "Matthew Bullis" <matthewbullis@run ]
      RE: Gunsmoke program "I Don't Know"   [ "Stewart Wright" <stewwright@worldn ]
      Good and bad soap operas              [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
      Portable Radios and transistors       [ BH <radiobill@[removed]; ]

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

    Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 17:10:57 +0000
    From: Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  undated Benny episode

    I need help dating a Jack Benny episode. My copy says only "1944". Jack
    is trying to get a date to the premiere of "The Horn Blows at
    Midnight", and asks Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard, Jinx
    Falkenburg, and Jeanne Crain -- of whom eventually accept. The copy I
    have might be AFRS--all the commercials are cut out. All supporting
    players besides Rochester are excised, as well, suggesting this is a
    heavily edited ("butchered") copy. I haven't bought 39 Forever, vol 1
    yet--in the meantime, can anybody suggest a date for this episode?

    Thanks,
    Kermyt

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

    Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 17:11:07 +0000
    From: Kermyt Anderson <kermyta@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  AFRS

    I find that when I listen to AFRS shows, I'm more conscious than I used
    to be of the absence of the commercials. This is especially true for
    comedy programs with integrated commercials (Jack Benny, Burns & Allen,
    etc), where you're not just missing the ad but a lot of jokes as well.
    On the flip side--I'm sure there are many shows that survive only
    because the AFRS made copies! Which got me to thinking--how many shows
    would that be? Does anybody have a rough guess as to what proportion of
    extant episodes exist only in the AFRS version? 10%? 15%? Maybe as high
    as 20%?

    I know the AFRS retitled programs to avoid mentioning the sponsors. In
    many cases this was easy--The Lucky Strike Program became The Jack
    Benny Show, The Chase and Sanborn Hour became The Charlie McCarthy
    Show, etc. (Once you're used to it, you can tell from the opening
    announcement whether it's an AFRS program.) What did they do for things
    like Lux Radio Theater or Campbell Playhouse, where the sponsor's name
    was so tightly integrated into the title? Abbreviated names like "Radio
    Theater" or "Playhouse" sound too generic!

    Kermyt

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

    Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 17:11:20 +0000
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  10-23 births/deaths

    October 23rd births

    10-23-1884 - Cesar Saerchinger - Aix-la-Chapelle, France - d. 10-10-1971
    news correspondent: "Story Behind the Headlines"; "America's Town Meeting of
    the Air"
    10-23-1901 - Arthur Jacobson - NYC - d. 10-6-1993
    actor: Kirk Harding "Woman in White"; Anthony J. Marleybone "Affairs of
    Anthony"
    10-23-1904 - Ford Bond - Louisville, KY - d. 8-15-1962
    announcer: "Cities Service Concert"; "Manhattan Merry-Go-Round"; Highways
    in Melody"
    10-23-1904 - Margaret Speaks - Columbus, OH - d. 7-16-1977
    singer: "Voice of Firestone"
    10-23-1904 - Oliver Barbour - d. 4-11-1968
    producer, director: "Life Can Be Beautiful"; "Parker Family"; "When a Girl
    Marries"
    10-23-1906 - Lucy Monroe - NYC - d. 10-13-1987
    singer: (The Star-Spangled Soprano) "Hammerstein's Music Hall"; "Manhattan
    Merry-Go-Round"
    10-23-1911 - Martha Rountree - Gainesville, FL - d. 8-23-1999
    co-founder, moderator: "Meet the Press"
    10-23-1922 - Coleen Gray - Staplehurst, NE
    actress: "Lux Radio Theatre"
    10-23-1923 - Frank Sutton - Clarksville, TN - d. 6-28-1974
    actor: "Couple Next Door"
    10-23-1925 - Johnny Carson - Norfolk, NE
    disc jockey: "Johnny Carson Show"
    10-23-1931 - Diana Dors - Swindon, Wiltshire, England - d. 5-4-1984
    actress: "Earplay"

    October 23rd deaths

    01-31-1872 - Zane Grey - Zanesville, OH - d. 10-23-1939
    writer: "Rudy Vallee Hour"
    05-10-1909 - Maybelle Carter - Nickelsville, VA - d. 10-23-1978
    singer: (Queen of Country Music) "Grand Ole Opry"
    05-26-1886 - Al Jolson - Srednick, Lithuania, Russia - d. 10-23-1950
    singer: (The Jazz Singer) "Shell Chateau"; "Kraft Music Hall"
    08-04-1897 - Abe Lyman - Chicago, IL - d. 10-23-1957
    bandleader: "Jack Pearl Show"; "Lavender and New Lace"; "Waltz Time"
    12-02-1915 - Adolph Green - NYC - d. 10-23-2002
    songwriter: "Columbia Presents Corwin"
    --
    Ron Sayles
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

    Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 17:11:31 +0000
    From: "Brian L Bedsworth" <az2pa@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Are We Certain They Were Black?

     > In the early 40s, there were frequent subtle (and not-so-subtle)
     > references to Rochester's skin color on the Jack Benny program.
     > Rochester didn't do black dialect, of course, but in the earlier days
     > he did engage in stereotypical "coloured" behaviors, such as a love of
     > gin, shooting craps, and loose women, and in his spare time he could be
     > found on Central Avenue (or in Harlem whenever he was in New York).
     > Jokes about these traits only made sense because everybody knew
     > Rochester was black.

    That's the view that gets expressed most frequently. Yet how true is it
    really? Would jokes about a Benny character having a fondness for liquor,
    women and gambling =really= only make sense if the character were known to
    be (fill in your own preferred term for Eddie Anderson's "race" here)?

    Then explain Phil Harris. Benny's Harris was (always) a bigger drinker,
    (until his marriage) a far greater womanizer, and every bit as big a bettor.

    Yes, he was a musician, and there were similar stereotypes bandied about
    musicians in those regards. But the Benny show worked because it exaggerated
    to (some might say well past) the point of absurdity these sorts of
    stereotypes, causing the stereotypes to cease to have any real meaning and
    creating real people beneath those stereotypes. Past the bluster, Harris was
    a warm-hearted family man who adored his kids and was devoted to his music
    (even if he didn't have enough formal education to actually =read= any of
    it). Even with Bill Morrow and Ed Beloin writing him in the early 1940s,
    Rochester was portrayed as the one who ran the Benny homestead (and many of
    Jack's business ventures, as well), and was given lines that presume a
    status level within the household that =no= domestic character of any race,
    color or gender would again approach until the 1970s (Soap).

    Eddie "Rochester" Anderson was generally known to the public to be
    Black/Negro/Colored/African-American/whatever because he made public
    appearances, acted in films (mainstream and "race"), and made print
    endorsements featuring his likeness. NOT because there was something so
    monolithically stereotypical about his character that he just "had" to be
    non-White.

     > Incidentally, Jack mentioned in his autobiography
     > that he was glad when these traits disappeared from Rochester's
     > character after the war.

    Which was not quite accurate. The most extreme aspects of the early
    Rochester character (the lazier, superstitious, razor-fighting Rochester, if
    you will) were generally gone by the late fall of 1942 (not coincidentally,
    within weeks of the removal of Morrow/Beloin as head writers), but he still
    was prone to more than a few late night soirees on LA's Central Avenue long
    into the television era, the occasional nip/swig/downing of demon liquor,
    and devoting a not-insignificant portion of his efforts to looking for his
    fair share of potential Mrs. Van Joneses.

    By then, though, =all= the cast's earlier stereotypes had long since been
    exaggerated out of relevance except as gag lines or very occasional plot
    points, to the point where using an earlier script (the situation to which
    Benny's autobiographical allusion responds) in which characters are not as
    fully realized would seem jarring and even bigoted. That goes not just for
    the earlier Rochester, but also for the much more shrewish and man-crazy
    Mary of the earlier era, and even the angrier (the 1938-40 Benny was apt to
    snap at anyone for anything, or nothing much at all) confrontationally
    parsimonious Jack. The traits were still there, but they no longer defined
    the characters so completely.

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

    Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 11:17:08 +0000
    From: "jazmaan@[removed]" <dmf273@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Jack Benny and Race

    Today I happened to hear the episode where Butterfly McQueen and her
    "uncle" Rochester are in the
    audience as shills to laugh out loud at Jack's bad jokes.   Butterfly and
    Rochester, what a
    pairing of unique comedic black voices!!  Jack does a lengthy skit about
    Brazilians, only it seems
    more like he's doing generic Mexican south-of-the border siesta shtick
    about how "lazy" they are
    about everything.  I usually can't stand Dennis Day's vocal interludes but
    I must admit he gave a
    pretty nice rendition of "Brazil".  And then Jack comes in and plays the
    violin with a hilarious
    vocal chorus behind him singing a "Grape Nut Flakes" jingle set to the tune
    of "Brazil".

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

    Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 11:17:38 +0000
    From: Thomas Bray <orderinfo@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Jack Benny Joke

    On Oct 22, 2004, at 1:13 PM, Chris wrote:

     > I remember one particular episode (sorry, can't remember date) where Jack
     > is complaining about Rochester's relatives who had come to visit. Jack
     > said something along the lines of I should plant some cotton to give them
     > something to do." I remember being astounded when I heard [removed] I mean,
     > wow, I wasn't expecting that.

    Chris:

    While I understand the reaction (the joke is certainly NOT PC and is,
    through our more enlightened prism, even in bad taste), as an old comedy
    writer, were I to transport my self through time back to the days of the
    Benny show, I might have actually pitched that joke.
    It's actually very much in character for Jack; one, much of what he said
    had a streak of the ridiculous about it, and when taken through the famous
    JACK IS CHEAP filter, it has a much more acceptable through line of logic
    to it. Think about the joke again and remember how tight Jack is with a
    buck--the joke takes on an added dimension.

    Please, no floods of angry mail. By today's standards, it is tasteless. But
    there is more to the joke than meets the eye; I believe it was very much in
    character and quite a smart, if not bold, Benny joke for that time.

    Thom Bray

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

    Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 11:17:52 +0000
    From: "Jim Harmon" <jimharmonotr@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  superheroes
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    Hello -- Besides Superman, someone has pointed there was the Blue Beetle who
    had super-strength and many of the same powers as the more famous Man of
    Steel.  Then there is the matter of the Green Lama.  In comic books, he could
    fly and let bullets bounce off of him, but on radio if he had such powers he
    never USED them and just acted as an ordinary detective.
         Then there is the matter of Captain Marvel.   A number of people have said
    they heard Captain Marvel on the radio briefly.   I am sure I saw a listing of
    it in a radio log in an old magazine, but I was not able to find that magazine
    again. MAYBE he was on radio until the owners of Superman brought pressure.
         In comic books, Captain Midnight and Batman (guest star on Superman radio)
    are often said to be superheroes so I guess that would extend to their radio
    appearances.  The same could be said of the Green Hornet.
         The Avenger could, like The Shadow, become invisible (the Avenger used a
    secret gas to do the trick).  Many would call both superheroes.
         Tarzan was one the earliest heroes on radio, and continued into the
    fifties.  Certainly his powers were beyond those of a mortal man.
         Question to somebody:  Why do I always get a notice to send "plain text"
    emails to the OTR letterzine?  I AM sending plain text with no doodles. -- JIM
    HARMON

       *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
       ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

    Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 11:18:01 +0000
    From: Ken Dahl <kdahl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Second Honeymoon

    A few weeks ago Max Schmid had a posting to the OTR Digest requesting
    information on specific radio programs.  One of the programs he listed was
    Second Honeymoon.  I advised Max off line that I had attended a broadcast
    of Second Honeymoon and informed him, as best as I could remember, details
    about the program.  He thanked me for the information and encouraged me to
    post the details to the Digest.  What follows is almost a word for word
    posting of what I sent to Max.

    In 1949 I was in New York City with my parents in preparation for a 5 month
    trip to Norway.  We stayed at the Paramount Hotel and one of the bellboys
    gave us tickets to attend a broadcast of the Second Honeymoon program which
    was, as I recall, at another hotel.  The broadcast studio had the
    appearance of a large conference room with rows of folded chairs.  Perhaps
    200 people could have been seated.  At the front of the studio was a raised
    stage and to the side of the stage was a glass enclosed room where an
    engineer sat.  About 20 minutes before airtime, a couple of producers went
    into the audience and asked for married couples to raise their hands if
    they wished to be contestants on the program.  Perhaps about a dozen
    couples responded.  The producers then asked each couple too briefly tell
    why they deserved a second honeymoon.  The producers then got together and
    selected either 2 or 3 couples who then went on stage and during the
    broadcast each couple told their story as to why
      they deserved a second honeymoon.  It was quick paced as I believe the
    program was only 15 minutes long.  The winner was detemined by audience
    applause.  The winning prize was a getaway weekend for the couple that
    won.  On exiting the studio we were given a ballpoint pen.  It was the
    first such pen we had ever seen.  Remember, this was 1949.

    That is my memory of the program.

    Regards,
    Ken Dahl

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

    Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 11:18:12 +0000
    From: "Matthew Bullis" <matthewbullis@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Anyone have Hangman Won't waitt?

    Hello, I got halfway through this Suspense program, only to find my file
    incomplete. Does anyone have this show which they can send me?
    Thanks a lot.
    Matthew

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

    Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 11:18:23 +0000
    From: "Stewart Wright" <stewwright@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  RE: Gunsmoke program "I Don't Know"

    Matthew asked:

     > Hello, is this show from December 6, 1952 really supposed to be called I
     > Don't Know, or is it someone saying "I don't know what this show should be
     > called, so I'll just say I don't know?" It sure seems like a lame title to
     > me, even though these titles are made up by collectors anyway.
     > Thanks a lot.

    The title for the episode in question is actually "I don't Know."

    The episode titles for GUNSMOKE Were Not " made up by collectors."  GUNSMOKE
    is one of many series that did not broadcast episode titles, but did have
    episode titles on the scripts.  Unlike many other series, documented proof
    of the GUNSMOKE episode titles has survived.

    In the last  few years, I was working on a GUNSMOKE research project and got
    to view over 350 scripts from the radio series.  Each script had an episode
    title on the cover page of the script.

    Also, SuzAnne and Gabor Barabas wrote an extensive book called "Gunsmoke A
    Complete History and Analysis of the Legendary Broadcast Series with a
    Comprehensive Episode-by-Episode Guide to Both the Radio and Television
    Programs."  The authors had access to the scripts and other series-related
    documentation. The titles for the radio and television are listed in the
    book.

    Signing off for now,

    Stewart

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

    Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 11:18:35 +0000
    From: <otrbuff@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Good and bad soap operas

    Irene Heinstein postulates:

     > Do any of you know which soaps were the best?  and the worst?   Were all
     > the Hummert soaps as bad as 'Backstage Wife'.

    Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and there are probably some on
    this list who could dub Jack Benny, McGee and Molly, Fred Allen, Suspense,
    and Johnny Dollar as "bad."  It's a matter of personal preference, wouldn't
    you agree?

    Backstage Wife, in spite of its repetitive Hummert style of addressing a
    character by name every two or three sentences so the listener could never
    doubt who was speaking to whom, was a delightful story.  Particularly so if
    you were to hear the near- consecutive broadcasts in widespread circulation
    that run for many more than 100 episodes.  They concern the usual cat and
    mouse chases but they also dissolve into a murder mystery with poor Larry
    Noble the accused, spouse of beleaguered heroine Mary.  It's a stirring
    narrative, tidbits of the yarn being gradually meted out to a captivated
    audience that's just itching to discover "what happens next?"  I'll grant
    you that any serial (or series) can have a "bad day" or even a "bad
    sequence."  But please don't judge a chapter play that ran for 24 years
    (from 1935-59) by a single installment.  Given that there were nearly 300
    soap operas, it was probably one of the best.

    What were some examples of "good" soap operas? Irene pondered.  Depending on
    one's preferences I'd list among them (strictly based on literary qualities,
    directing and acting) in no particular order Ma Perkins, Wendy Warren and
    the News, Hilltop House, One Man's Family, Perry Mason, Backstage Wife,
    Stella Dallas, The Right to Happiness, Life Can Be Beautiful, Pepper Young's
    Family, Against the Storm, The Second Mrs. Burton, The Brighter Day, Road of
    Life, Big Sister and Lorenzo Jones.  Most (but not all) omitted the pathos
    and romantic triangles found elsewhere and some sounded pretty close to
    normalcy.

    And the worst, you ask?  Again, it depends on one's definition.  If we can
    acknowledge that the Hummerts majored on quantity instead of quality, then
    their serials become suspect.  Most historiographers claim their factory
    produced more banal dialogue than all the rest put together.  Thus, similar
    fates awaited the heroines of Lora Lawton, Amanda of Honeymoon Hill, Our Gal
    Sunday, The Romance of Helen Trent, Young Widder Brown, John's Other Wife,
    Betty and Bob and scores of others.  (The Hummerts initiated more than 60
    daytime serials.)

    Backstage Wife was an example of their work, yet pursued a pretty
    mesmerizing plotline about a famous matinee stage idol and ongoing
    voluptuous vixens vying for his attention.  Just Plain Bill and David Harum
    were pretty good tales from the same camp.  Possibly the most stellar of the
    Hummert features was Stella Dallas.  While it was totally implausible,
    nevertheless it could hold fans spellbound as the Boston seamstress went
    after anybody who maligned her Lolly-Baby, pursuing them around the globe if
    need be.  It was so unreal it seemed plausible at times (like Jack
    Armstrong, Sky King and The Cisco Kid about an hour later), and you could
    chuckle to yourself at Stella's ridiculous, yet comical antics.

    Don't judge a book by its cover, and don't think you've figured out a serial
    after hearing one quarter-hour episode, I would humbly beg.

    Jim Cox

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

    Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 11:20:06 +0000
    From: BH <radiobill@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Portable Radios and transistors

    From: Tom Greenli

     > I just read an interesting article on the MSNBC about
     > the first transister radio. Can you believe that was
     > 50 years ago? If you are interested check out:
     > [removed]

    As usual, the media never quite gets the facts straight.

    "But the people at Regency based their radio on a product from a company
    called Texas Instruments — the transistor."

    Regency did not develope what was to be known as the TR-1 the first pocket
    transistor radio, that was done at Texas Instruments. A member of the
    Vintage Radio & Phonograph Society of Irving, Tx., was the project engineer
    on the pocket transistor radio. He gave a talk some years ago at the VRPS
    Convention awards banquet about the development of the set. He had a hand
    wired prototype for display. Many components like Intermediate Transformers
    and output transformers had to be hand made by the engineers as there were
    no units small enough available.

    Texas Instruments approached RCA about marketing the transistor radio but
    RCA wasn't interested, so TI contacted the Regency Division of IDE
    (Industral Development Engineering - Indianapolis, Indiana) and TI
    contracted with them to manufactur the sets.

    "Legend has it that the boss at IBM was so enamored by the unbelievable
    idea of the world's first pocket radio that he bought a bunch of them
    for other movers and shakers at his [removed];nbsp; He wanted them to be able
    to be informed and get breaking news before anyone else."

    Thomas Watson Jr. of IBM was impressed with the transistor and had the
    foresite to see that transistors could replace tubes in computers, greatly
    reducing size and power requirements. He ordered that after June 1, 1958,
    no more IBM machines were to be built using tubes. Many engineers were not
    convinced of the usefulness of transistor, so when one expressed doubts, he
    handed them a TR-1. So it wasn't for breaking news he purchased a number of
    the radio, it was the fact he wanted to show the engineers what the
    transistor was capable of.

    At the VRPS banquet, the TI engineer told a story of how they took a
    prototype to Indianapolis and could tune in WBAP in Ft. Worth, TX at night,
    even though the set only use four transistors.

    Bill H.

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #341
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