Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #224
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 6/18/2002 9:15 PM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2002 : Issue 224
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Bob Bailey                            [ "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@hotmail. ]
      Re: Suspense on NPR                   [ jhcollins@[removed] ]
      Buying recordable blank CDs           [ Eric J Cooper <ejcooper2002@[removed] ]
      Suspense on NPR                       [ Katherine Baer <KBaer@[removed]; ]
      Captain Marvel History and Radio que  [ Kelli Stanley <ks4color@[removed] ]
      Johnny Got His Gun                    [ Howard Blue <khovard@[removed]; ]
      Noel Blanc, Irony?                    [ "Ed Kindred" <kindred@[removed]; ]
      Re: CD query                          [ Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed]; ]
      Re: Anonymous Stars                   [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
      Captain Marvel's Publisher            [ "jsouthard" <jsouthard@[removed]; ]
      "Baby Snooks"/"Funny Girl"            [ Kenneth Clarke <kclarke5@[removed]; ]
      Suspense piece on NPR                 [ Ga6string@[removed] ]
      Re: RSI tapes                         [ Ga6string@[removed] ]
      Jack Benny & Waukegan                 [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
      New Book On Radio                     [ "Read G. Burgan" <rgb@[removed] ]
      Re: Elvis & Captain Marvel            [ Taylor401306@[removed] ]
      Captain Marvels desmise.              [ gad4@[removed] ]
      Re: OTR themed TV?                    [ John Mayer <mayer@[removed]; ]

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 15:32:46 -0400
    From: "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Bob Bailey

    Jim Widner wrote:

>     The tragedy was that Bob Bailey suffered a stroke around 1980 and dropped
>     from site. It turned out he went to live in Lancaster, CA in a convalescent
>     home.

    I assume that was a typo and you meant 1970. When we went to visit him in
    the early 1980s (I think it was 1982) he had already been in the
    convalescent home for over 10 years.

    I could look up the exact date of the visit but I remember we took him a
    birthday cake for his 70th birthday and it turned out it was his 69th
    birthday. That was the first contact he had had from the "outside world" and
    when we told him that there were so many fans who remembered and loved him
    as Johnny Dollar, he had tears in his eyes.

    We spread the word about his location and condition to his radio actor
    friends, who had long thought him dead, such as Virginia Gregg and they were
    able to call him.

    One of SPERDVAC's members lived in Lancaster and visited him weekly after
    that and brought him candy, etc.

    I'll never forget seeing this little man with white hair and blue eyes, half
    paralyzed, in a wheelchair and thinking "Here is Johnny Dollar!"

    Barbara

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 16:49:15 -0400
    From: jhcollins@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Suspense on NPR

    At 03:46 PM 6/18/2002, Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed]; wrote:

>        Anyone else hear the short piece All Things Considered did on Suspense
>     last evening?

    Yes, I was quite surprised that NPR would mention this on "All Things
    Considered". It seemed more like a one-minute sound bite (mainly on how
    Agnes Moorehead learned to scream) than a  report. Better than nothing, I
    suppose. -John Collins

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 16:49:29 -0400
    From: Eric J Cooper <ejcooper2002@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Buying recordable blank CDs

    This is in answer to Joy Jackson's query about what kind of blanks CDs to
    buy. As with anything else, the cheaper the brand , the worse the quality
    (with few exceptions). There is one inexpensive brand I would recommend
    and that is DYSAN. Otherwise, I have been using the "names" in the
    business: Memorex, Sony, TDK etc.

    Eric Cooper

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 16:49:49 -0400
    From: Katherine Baer <KBaer@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Suspense on NPR

    Hey, just wanted to let you know that Joe Mackey's "Today in Radio History"
    was responsible for the segment on All Things Considered (6/17).  I started
    subscribing to the OTR Digest last week and since NPR is always looking for
    a good anniversary (and short segments as filler) I have been scanning that
    particular listing.  Well, when I saw it was the 60th anniversary I
    forwarded it on to an ATC producer and they went for it!

    Thanks for the great information.

    Katherine Baer
    Broadcast Librarian
    National Public Radio
    202-513-2064
    kbaer@[removed]

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 16:50:18 -0400
    From: Kelli Stanley <ks4color@[removed];
    To: OldRadio Mailing Lists <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Captain Marvel History and Radio questions

    I know this is slightly off-topic, but I was in the comics business for
    several years and have been a hobbyist all my life--so I thought I'd
    clear up some of the murky history of Captain Marvel and Superman.
    The character was not owned by Stan Lee's Marvel Comics (famous for
    Spider Man, X-Men, etc.), but by Fawcett Publishers.  In his heyday, the
    Cap outsold the Man of Steel, and [removed] comics (the initials stand for
    Detective Comics, their flagship title--they are now a part of the AOL
    Time Warner group) immediately took Fawcett to court, claiming
    infringement.  By the time the case was settled in the early '50s, the
    superhero comic market was nearly dead (westerns, crime and horror mags
    were the thing), and Fawcett folded quietly.  Even Supes had a hard time
    surviving the '50s.
    Flash forward to the early 70s.  The comic book title name "Captain
    Marvel" had apparently not been renewed as a copyright, and the
    relatively neophyte Marvel Comics group had created their own "Captain
    Marvel" in the late '60s (no relation to Billy Batson's alter ego).  In
    the early '70s, [removed], to expand their lineup, purchased the rights to
    the old Fawcett characters (the *real* Captain Marvel) and the Quality
    Comics Group characters (including Plastic Man), relaunched the Big Red
    Cheese, as he's fondly known, and, because of the new Marvel Comics
    character, could *not* call him Captain Marvel on the title's cover.
    Hence, they issued a comic called "Shazam", which featured the Captain
    Marvel of the '40s. You might remember the short-lived '70s Saturday
    morning TV show, which featured a very modish Captain Marvel.  In the
    comics, [removed] has used the character sparingly over the years, but he is
    a part of their official universe, and, in my view, they've always been
    careful to retain some of the innocence of the original creation.
    Now, on to a radio question:
    I'm fascinated by the Ghost Corps serial, and, if I get an opportunity,
    plan to do some research on it.  But something shocked me--they've
    mentioned the word "hell" twice, and I was wondering if this dates the
    show to some sort of less stringent censorship era, rather like the
    pre-Hays code films of the early '30s.  If anyone has any information on
    radio censorship, when it took hold and what it covered, I'd dearly love
    to know! :)  I've read about the "infamous" Mae West/Charlie McCarthy
    drollery, but would like to find out more about what was specifically
    verboten.
    The Ghost Corps also strikes me as somewhat violent (they describe a
    murdered man on a hook in the ceiling).  I imagine radio censors must
    have had a very tough job--it's difficult to bleep the imagination! :)
    All the best,
    Kelli Stanley

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 17:47:54 -0400
    From: Howard Blue <khovard@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Johnny Got His Gun

    In "Words at War," my book about World War II era radio, I discuss Arch
    Oboler's adaptation of "Johnny Got His Gun" which stars James Cagney.
    After its broadcast, Oboler backed away from association with the story.
    Essentially, he was quite in favor of American intervention in the war.
    He found that this story, of course, gave an interpretation which he did
    not favor.

    Howard Blue

    For further information about the book see [removed]

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 17:50:12 -0400
    From: "Ed Kindred" <kindred@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Noel Blanc, Irony?

>     By the way, "Noel Blanc" is French for "White
>     Christmas." Ironic, as Mel himself pointed out,
>     because the family is Jewish.

    Maybe I am slow about the irony bit. The song White Christmas was written
    by a Jewish Irving Berlin about a holiday named after
    Y'shua ben Yosef whose mother Miriam and stepfather Yosef were both from
    the House of David of the tribe of Judah born in
    Bethlehem. It all seems Jewish to me.
    Ed Kindred a goy who revels in his Jewish heritage

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 17:50:54 -0400
    From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: CD query

    From: Bill Young <byoung@[removed];

>     In my experience, the primary difference between "regular" CDs and
>     music CDs is the cost.  That has been confirmed by some reviews
>     I've read on the web.

    Which proves you can't believe everything you read on the web!  While
    both types of CD-Rs can be used in computer drives, ONLY the "music"
    types can be used in stand-alone CD recorders.  There is data on the
    blank informing the machine whether it is authorized to be used on a
    stand-alone.  The price difference between these two types is not
    concerned with quality, but with royalties.  A small fee is tacked onto
    the price of "music" CDs to compensate performers and record companies
    who feel that they are losing billions of sales due to personal
    recording.  What makes this most injust is that despite the RIAA's
    crying that home recording takes money away from developing new artists,
    most of the money is distributed to the established performers currently
    selling the most.  Thus every time you buy a "music" CD-R you are
    putting money in the pocket of Garth Brooks whether you like him or
    not.  If you use a computer drive, make it a point to NEVER buy a
    "music" type CD-R.

    Michael Biel  mbiel@[removed]

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 17:51:57 -0400
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Anonymous Stars

    On 6/18/02 3:42 PM OldRadio Mailing Lists wrote:

>     1)  Radio listeners in those original days were more attuned
>     to characters than to the actors playing them, and only a minority
>     of people were concerned with who played what.  I imagine that
>     for every fan of Amos'n'Andy who knew the names Correll and
>     Gosden, there were fifty A'n'A fans if not more who would simply
>     ask "Who??"  At least this is the impression I have about what
>     audiences expected to know in those days.

    Given the huge amount of publicity material published about A&A during
    1929-31, you'd think Correll and Gosden would have been household names.
    But nevertheless, the "Mr. Fairfax" column in "Radio Guide" frequently
    included questions from listeners wondering who Amos and Andy really were
    -- and even more interesting, many of these listeners don't seem to have
    believed that Amos, the Kingfish, Brother Crawford, Gwindell, and
    Lightning were really all the same person. Bill Hay once mentioned that
    the question he was asked most often by people he met outside the studio
    was "do they *really* play all those characters?"

    In fact, Bill Hay was the only performer on the original A&A to be
    identified by his real name on the air, other than occasional guest
    performers appearing late in the run. The names of Correll and Gosden
    were never used in the entire fifteen-year run of the original series. It
    wasn't until the early fifties, late in the run of the sitcom version,
    that they finally got on-air credit. So unless you were in the habit of
    reading the fan mags, you never would have known who A&A really were.

    Interestingly, Correll and Gosden originally *wanted* to be anonymous,
    because they were afraid the program would be a failure and didn't want
    to be dragged down with it when it flopped. They went to considerable
    lengths to conceal their real identities during the first months of "Sam
    and Henry" -- even to the point of hiding their identities from
    co-workers at WGN -- but too many sharp-eared listeners penetrated the
    dialect and recognized their voices from their song-and-patter program.

    Another good example of a program where the lead actor remained anonymous
    for many years was "Superman" -- and one has to wonder what a child might
    have thought, had he or she happened to tune in one morning on "The
    Goldbergs," to hear the very recognizable voice of Clark Kent shrilly
    promoting Duz and calling himself "Clayton Collyer."

    Elizabeth

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 17:52:50 -0400
    From: "jsouthard" <jsouthard@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Captain Marvel's Publisher

    In the 123 OTR Digest, Lee  wrote that DC sued Marvel over Captain Marvel. I
    am sorry but the original Captain Marvel was published by the Fawcett
    Company. The two Fawcett brothers, I believe, settled the suit by dropping
    all or most of their comics. A later Captain Marvel ( no relation to the
    earlier Shazam character) was created by Stan Lee and Marvel comics in the
    1960s. He was their first superhero and he took a back seat to Spiderman and
    X-Men. DC tried to resurrect the original Cap by calling the comic Shazam,
    and a short lived TV Show starring the great radio actor Les Tremayne.
    In 1940, Republic Pictures failed to win the Superman character so they made
    a deal with Fawcett and made a serial called :"The adventures of Captain
    Marvel" with Tom Tyler as the Captain and Frank Caughlin as his alter ego
    Billy Batson. It is a far superior serial to the two Columbia Superman
    Serials of the late 40s. Personally I enjoyed Captain Marvel, Jr. drawn by
    Mac Raboy.
    John Southard

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 17:53:26 -0400
    From: Kenneth Clarke <kclarke5@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  "Baby Snooks"/"Funny Girl"

              To the member who, sadly, never saw the movie
    "Funny Girl", I can state categorically there was a
    reference to "Baby Snooks" in  it.  For those who doubt,
    it came when B. Streisand's Fanny  Brice is fighting
    with the character played by Omar Sharif in her dressing
    room.  Someone once told me that there was a shot of
    Streisand coming offstage dressed as "Baby Snooks"
    after an OTR performance.  I doubt that though, since it
    probably would have required buying the copyright to the
    OTR show.  I can say for sure I don't recall any of the
    "Baby Snooks" material being performed  in "Funny Girl".

    Kenneth Clarke

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 17:53:46 -0400
    From: Ga6string@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Suspense piece on NPR

    Charlie writes:

>     Anyone else hear the short piece All Things Considered did on Suspense
>     last evening?

    Yes, I did. The piece was in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the
    program. I was very confused when I heard it, and here's why: When it came
    on, I was just getting back into my van after picking up my daughter from day
    care. I'd been listening to a cassette tape episode of "The Whistler" on the
    ride over to pick her up, but I'd popped the tape out when I got there. Then
    when I got back in and turned the ignition, here comes the intro to
    "Suspense" over the radio. I was bewildered for a minute!: "What happened to
    'The Whistler'?" I wish the piece had been longer.

    Speaking of "The Whistler," I saw the old Jack Nicholson film, "The Two
    Jakes," on AMC not long ago -- it's a detective story set in California in
    the '40s -- and the movie featured a long part of the Whistler intro playing
    over the radio in Nicholson's car. Cool!

    Bryan

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 17:54:19 -0400
    From: Ga6string@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: RSI tapes

    Tony writes, re: defective/damaged RSI tapes:

>     I did not call them because it was long past the 30 days before I knew,
>     so I figured it was not worth bothering since they would probably tell me I
>     was stuck.

    As I've mentioned before, my customer service experiences with defective
    product from Radio Spirits has been outstanding. (A tip: Call them. Do not
    e-mail.) They've always replaced the defective product, regardless of how
    much time had passed. Of course, this was before their recent relocation
    (and, apparently, other changes) so I can't say what they'll do now.

    I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but my last three RSI catalogs have
    not featured single tapes for sale. Looks like they've abandoned that market,
    yes?

    Bryan

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 18:15:12 -0400
    From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Jack Benny & Waukegan

    Tom Barnett mentioned:

>     Similar to the wonderful celebration we have just seen in Waukegan, Ill
>     for Jack Benny. . . .

    Not to be blasphemous, but I wonder if it were not for the long stint that
    Jack Benny had on television if he would be the hero of Waukegan that he is
    today?  As a fellow fan of otr, I would hope so, but I suspect the town's
    worship is based more on his television personality (which didn't vary much
    from his radio personality - except for his visual style).

    I guess I would ask both Laura Leff and anyone who attend (ed) the
    celebration there how much of the celebration is based upon his radio
    career. Quite honestly, I wonder if I had not gotten interested in old time
    radio just how aware of Jack Benny I would have been had it not been for
    his television career around which I grew up.  So I wonder how many
    Waukegan (ians?) are aware of Benny's radio career?

    Jim Widner
    jwidner@[removed]

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 21:37:21 -0400
    From: "Read G. Burgan" <rgb@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  New Book On Radio

    Howard Blue's forthcoming book, "Words at War" has received its first
    critical comment. Here it is:

    -"This may well be the best book on American radio ever written.  Blue
    has captured the vividness of network radio in its golden era, meeting
    the crises of war with intelligence as well as drama (and comedy); and
    the now forgotten national tragedy of Cold War era crackdown on the very
    creators of the best programs.  Radio has never recovered, and now we
    know the reasons.

    Paul Buhle
    Brown University
    author of "Popular Culture in America," "Radical Hollywood,"   etc

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 21:39:42 -0400
    From: Taylor401306@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Elvis & Captain Marvel
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    In a message dated 6/18/02 3:41:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
    [removed]@[removed] writes:

>     Those people who have recently posted their preference for Captain Marvel
>     over Superman may be interested to learn that Elvis Presley was a major
>     Captain Marvel fan. A ring that he gave to his cronies showed the "Shazam"
>     lightning bolt and was accompanied by the letters TCB, which stood for
>     "Taking Care of Business."

    I've also heard that Elvis modeled his haircut after Captain Marvel, Jr.

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

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 21:39:04 -0400
    From: gad4@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Captain Marvels desmise.

    While I dont believe that Captain Marvel is a copy of Superman, I think
    there is some evidence that certain executives in Faucett wanted it to be
    that and that unfortunately didnt make it easy for faucett in the courts.
    For example the cover of Whiz #2 seems very similar to Action #1, but then
    again the amount of similar covers out there is numerous.  Keep in mind that
    one thing dc had on their side is that Superma was the first super powered
    super hero. So in that time period, perhaps all other super heroes, and that
    whole genre, had come into being becuase of his presence. Im not saying it
    justified a lawsuit, but I can see how corporate executives would try to
    pull from the market anything similar to the genre which they created.
    Captain Marvel did outsell Superman and that would be the one to go for.

    When the ending took place, we're talking late 40s early 50s. We're starting
    to enter the slow period of comic book sales. The golden age characters was
    fading out due to lack of sales, and the silver age  hadnt come around yet.
    Since comics sales were slowing, and faucett was considering dropping the
    line anyway, it wasnt as big an issue as we would think it was. They were
    anxious to get this lawsuit that was going on for years over with, and both
    sides wanted to settle it.

    Its interesting to consider how things would have developed if this had not
    happened. Perhaps Faucett might have been able to keep the character going a
    little longer.  If they didnt have the hassles of the lawsuit connected, its
    possible that they could have kept it going. Superman and Batman (and maybe
    wonder woman) were the only heroes who lived through the Fifties. However,
    Faucett had published lots of other magazines, pulps, etc, so they did not
    have to rely on keeping comics going.

    If Faucett had kept the characters, we dont know how it would have evolved,
    and we definately wouldnt have had the CCBeck revival that took place in the
    70s. Its interesting that the handful of books from the 70s has brought the
    character forefront to a whole new generation plus spawned a terrible live
    action show which brought even more name recognition. Hopefully, dc comics
    finds someone in the spirit of ccbeck to keep it going. So far, no one has
    had his touch.

    I didnt hear any more responses to the radio show question. Based upon the
    ads that were quoted, it appears that at least a pilot was made. Unless
    someone knows something different, I would assume that its either lost or
    the disk is in the hands of some unknown collector who may or may not be
    willing to release it.  My assumption is that its more likely in the hands
    of someone in the comic field. Tony or some other comic folks might be able
    to research this or fill us in better.

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 22:25:05 -0400
    From: John Mayer <mayer@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: OTR themed TV?

    Derek Tague <derek@[removed]; asked:
     > is W. Allen's "Radio Days" considered to be the best
     > or the greatest post-OTR-era film about OTR?

    I recall it has having been a pleasant but not extraordinary movie. But
    I'll add to the question by inquiring about tv series, also, involving
    OTR. I didn't have cable when Remember WENN was on, but I really enjoyed
    the _Homefront_ series, which partially involved OTR broadcasting. That
    show also boasted the prettiest women on television (don't remember
    about the men). I really hated to see that show go down so quickly.

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #224
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