Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #326
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 8/19/2002 1:05 PM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2002 : Issue 326
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      War Of The Worlds Book Etc            [ ilamfan@[removed] ]
      WOTW Recording                        [ ilamfan@[removed] ]
      Candice Bergen                        [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
      Coast to Coast/Children's Hour        [ Dancingdays72777@[removed] ]
      Captain Midnight Episode Review       [ skallisjr@[removed] ]
      Arch Obeler                           [ "Hugh Rodgers" <hubear@[removed]; ]
      Re: Cigarette Sales                   [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
      "Be sure to get _____ at your grocer  [ "Thomas Mason" <batz34@[removed] ]
      The Jughead beanie                    [ Craig E Peterson <cp1133@[removed]; ]
      Green Valley Line                     [ "Arte" <arte@[removed]; ]
      Radio Advertising and OTR Premiums    [ Grbmd@[removed] ]
      Re: Jungle Jim                        [ Ga6string@[removed] ]
      Beverly Washburn trivia               [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
      Two O'clock, Eastern Wartime          [ Jim Kitchen <jkitchen@[removed]; ]
      World's Greatest Old-Time Radio Show  [ Ivan G Shreve Jr <iscreve@[removed] ]
      "Store Brands"                        [ Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed] ]
      Old C Rations                         [ Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed] ]
      Today in radio history                [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
      burns + allen                         [ "e ginsburg" <edginsburg@[removed] ]

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

    Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 14:52:25 -0400
    From: ilamfan@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed] (OTR Bulletin Board)
    Subject:  War Of The Worlds Book Etc

         I just picked up a book titled "The Complete War Of
    The Worlds" (ISBN 1-57071-714-1).  It's pretty nice,
    although I wouldn't have the gumption to call
    it "complete" - there's a lot that's included, but
    there's a lot that's missing, too.
         It comes with an audio cd which has the original
    broadcast (of course), Orson's press conference after
    the broadcast, H G Wells meets Orson Welles, an excerpt
    of WKBW War of The Worlds 1968, and an NBC interview
    with Orson in the late 1970's.  Pretty cool.
         It does go somewhat in-depth about the Feb 12, 1949
    broadcast in Equador of WOTW, in which thousands of
    people filled the streets in panic over the "martian
    invasion", then, once they were informed the broadcast
    was a hoax, they stormed the broadcast building.  They
    burned it to the ground, killing 20 radio station
    employees.  Wow.  Orson actually was pretty darn lucky.
         Does this recording exist?  Even if it's not in
    english, I would love to have it.
         The book also talks a little about the other
    broadcasts of WOTW:
    1944 Santiago, Chile
    1964 WPEN Portland, OR
    1974 WPRO Providence, RI
    1988 Radio Braga, Portugal

    Along with more current incarnations.

         I would really like to get a chance to hear these
    alternate WOTW shows.  ESPECIALLY the WKBW 1968 Buffalo
    NY show, since it is in English and in-between Old and
    New Time Radio.  If anyone out there has these shows, I
    would be "gratefully eternal" for copies.  Please
    contact me off-list (ilamfan@[removed]) if you can help.
         Other than that, I think that the book would be a
    superb "starter" to get someone hooked on OTR.  A lot of
    co-workers recognized the Martian spaceships on the
    cover from the George Pal movie, but didn't know about
    the Orson Welles broadcast (how soon we forget!).
         The book is hardcover, retails for about $40 (!),
    has lots of photographs, includes the original radio
    script, the complete H G Wells story with original
    magazine illustrations, and the audio cd.  Nice package,
    good gift.

    --
    Old Time Radio never dies - it
    just changes formats!

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

    Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 14:52:57 -0400
    From: ilamfan@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed] (OTR Bulletin Board)
    Subject:  WOTW Recording

         Does anyone know what we're listening to as far as
    the original "War Of The Worlds" broadcast?  Are they
    all copies of copies of copies?  Is there a single
    original transcription disc?  Has it been digitally
    recorded by an ET professional (for absolute highest
    quality) and computer-processed with de-click/de-
    noise/CEDAR/etc?  Is there actually a "BEST" version
    available?  First-Generation Archives, anyone?
         I can still hear their "noise gates" (makes quiet
    portions of audio even quieter, like silences between
    words, etc) working on my best copies of WOTW, I think
    that today's processing equipment is more transparent -
    am I hoping for too much?
         I have heard some other audio cleanups that are
    like NIGHT and DAY, absolutely incredible.  Can that be
    done to the original WOTW recording?  Maybe it already
    has, the original sounds like garbage, and with cleanup
    sounds as good as it ever will, now.
         Anyone have any answers?

    --
    Old Time Radio never dies - it
    just changes formats!

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

    Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 14:53:16 -0400
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Candice Bergen

    There is an interview with Candice Bergen in the latest issue of Reader's
    Digest. I have read in another source that she appeared on her father's show
    at least once, maybe more. I have never seen this program listed anywhere. Is
    it available?
    --
    Ron Sayles
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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

    Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 15:37:01 -0400
    From: Dancingdays72777@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Coast to Coast/Children's Hour
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    Are there any episodes of Coast to Coast on a Bus or the Horn and Hardart's
    Children's Hour in existence?

    Thanks.

    Matt

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

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

    Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 15:37:25 -0400
    From: skallisjr@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Captain Midnight Episode Review

    I have had the pleasure of listening to the Captain Midnight episode
    aired on 2 December 1943, one of the "Signal From the Sky" sequence.  It
    is one of the subplot episodes I could not include in my book, and is
    associated with the "X Island" story.  The newly circulated episode is
    from the First Generation Radio Archives' 2002 Membership CD.  The audio
    is better than I ever heard while listening to Captain Midnight in the
    days when it was first broadcast.

    The show story covers Captain Midnight, Ichabod Mudd, Joyce Ryan, and Lt.
    Mark Cross, USMC, downed in the jungle of a Japanese-occupied  island
    near New Guinea.  Japanese patrols are hunting them.  Captain Midnight
    and Mudd scout ahead and are hidden by a medical missionary, whose wife
    and child had been killed by the Japanese forces.  The missionary hides
    them, and while the rest of the party waits in the jungle, Captain
    Midnight tries to work out a way to continue his mission.  At night, an
    Allied aircraft overflies the island area at low altitude, possibly to
    help locate Captain Midnight's party.

    The show has the long Ovaltine commercials normal to the show, but with a
    wartime message.  And as an added treat, a Secret Squadron message
    enciphered in the 1942 Code-O-Graph's Master Code 1.  [The decrypted
    message indeed tells of what will happen in the next episode, but I won't
    reveal it here.]

    I started listening to the show in late 1945, so I've never heard this
    before.

    I'm gratified that First Generation Archives found it and has it in
    circulation.

    Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

    Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 16:34:39 -0400
    From: "Hugh Rodgers" <hubear@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Arch Obeler

    Does anybody know if there is a biography of Arch Obeler. I've listened to
    his plays and would like to know more about him.  Hugh Rodgers

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

    Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 16:35:47 -0400
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Cigarette Sales

    On 8/18/02 2:55 PM OldRadio Mailing Lists wrote:

>     I'd like to see some numbers on the sales of the various brands of
>     cigarettes thru the years. Anybody know if such exists?

    Here are market share figures for 1940, as quoted in "Ashes to Ashes," by
    Richard Kluger (Knopf, 1996). Per cent figures shown reflect share of the
    total cigarette market.

    1. Camel (RJ Reynolds).........................................24 per cent
    2. Lucky Strike (American Tobacco).............................[removed] per
    cent
    3. Chesterfield (Liggett & Myers)..............................18 per cent
    4. Ten Cent Brands (Wings, Avalon, Sensation, Twenty Grand)....12 per
    cent combined
    5. Philip Morris English Blend (Philip Morris)..................7 per cent
    6. Raleigh (Brown & Williamson).................................[removed] per
    cent
    7. Old Gold (Lorillard).........................................3 per cent
    8. Pall Mall (American Tobacco).................................[removed] per
    cent

    Lucky Strike and Camel jousted for the top spot thru the early 1940s, but
    by 1944, Camel had fallen to third place behind Lucky Strike and
    Chesterfield. Camel reclaimed the second spot by 1948, and finally
    returned to the number one position in 1950.

    Thruout this period, advertising claims for the top brands were under
    attack by the Federal Trade Commission, which was goaded into action by
    an expose appearing the July 1942 issue of Reader's Digest, which laid
    bare the essential fraudulence of claims that this brand or that was
    "less irritating" and by inference more healthful -- or that there was
    any essential difference at all among the various brands other than minor
    and subjective variations in taste.

    It was found as a result of the FTC investigation that American Tobacco's
    claims that Lucky Strikes were two-to-one favorites with Men Who Know
    Tobacco Best were totally fictitious, that claims that "Camels renew and
    restore bodily energy" were false and deceptive since "there being in
    tobacco smoke no constituent which could possibly create energy," that
    Lorillard's claims that Old Golds were "lowest in nicotine of the major
    brands" were irrelevant since the major brands in fact differred only by
    two-fifths of one per cent in nicotine strentgh, an amount which was
    physiologically without significance, and that Philip Morris admen were
    the most outrageous frauds of all, since not one of the company's health
    claims could be documented thru independant scientific analysis. In PM's
    case, the FTC findings led to a court case which would be drawn out for
    more than thirteen years before a settlement was reached -- by which time
    the health claims in PM advertising had been discontinued.

    I heartily recommend Kluger's book as perhaps the most thoroughly
    researched study yet attempted on the behind-the-scenes practices of the
    20th Century tobacco industry in the US. It's especially interesting to
    have on hand for checking up on those OTR-era cigarette commercials.

    Elizabeth

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

    Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 16:49:23 -0400
    From: "Thomas Mason" <batz34@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  "Be sure to get _____ at your grocer

    "Be sure to get _____ at your grocer
    Re the urge to go out and buy a [removed]  my main reason in getting some
    of the cereals and food products hawked on the air were the keen premiums.
    Ovaltine was my favorite and I enjoy it to this [removed] sprinkled on my
    cereal it is great.   Kelloggs Pep and Wheaties always were at the bottom of
    my [removed] the Superman premiums and the buttons enclosed in Pep were hard
    to refuse, and luckily I found out my Uncle loved the stuff for breakfast
    and he was happy to buy it and furnish me with the buttons and boxtops.  I
    still like Cheerios to this day as well because it is not a sweetened
    [removed] never went for all those sugary cereals.  I ate a lot of hot
    Ralston for ole Tom Mix's sake and his premiums and its nutty flavor was
    okay if you added some butter to it.  Wheat Chex and Rice Chex persisted
    through my Space Patrol days and they were fairly edible.  Bread and milk
    products as sponsors were [removed] was a necessity we used all the
    time, I just had to convince my Mom to buy the right brand.  Out here on the
    coast, we ate a lot of Barbara Ann Bread when Hoppy was on KTLA in Los
    Angeles.
    But just like Stephen Kallis, I was never driven to buy a product just due
    to the fact that it was advertised over the [removed] attached
    to a premium offer was another thing.
    Tom Mason

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

    Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 18:26:48 -0400
    From: Craig E Peterson <cp1133@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  The Jughead beanie

    Check out [removed] for (perhaps) the origin of Jughead's unusual
    head ornament.  James Lileks has an "Old Ads" page on his web site where
    he likes to comment on unusual old ads.  This 1936 gem for a Jack Sprat
    grocery store offers a free "whoopee" cap for the cereal buyer.  Lileks
    feels it answers his question: "What the hell did Jughead wear on his
    noggin, anyway?"

    Any comments?

    Craig Peterson

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

    Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 18:34:58 -0400
    From: "Arte" <arte@[removed];
    To: "OldRadio Mailing List" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Green Valley Line

    I have episodes 1-26 of this series, and am told there were
    52 altogether.
    Besides the actors named, the quality of the sound patterns
    and the depth of research also speak of WXYZ. I learned a
    lot of railroad jargon just listening to these programs, and
    can't wait to hear the second half. Even my wife, who only
    likes Johnny Dollar, enjoyed them.

    Are episodes 27-52 available anywhere?

    Arte
    [removed]

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

    Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 19:46:10 -0400
    From: Grbmd@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Radio Advertising and OTR Premiums

    Joe said:

>      I can't remember the last
>      time I brought [sic] anything because it was advertised.

    Well, I *can* remember buying.  It was when I was just a dumb kid in the
    Forties listening to my favorite radio serials and other kid programs.  My
    folks actually bought the product, but I furnished the envelope, stamp, dime,
    and boxtop or label.

    I can recall asking my parents to buy the Lone Ranger's Silvercup bread and
    Little Orphan Annie's Ovaltine mix.  Both offered a decoder device.

    Probably the most influential one, though, was Tom Mix's Ralston cereal.  He
    offered a decoder badge too.  (If he said the word "gun" it meant "watch
    out," or something like that.)  And there was a ring with a peek-through
    photo of Tom and Tony inside.  But he also offered a makeup kit, which I
    remember included "checkerboard-square" tins of red and black greasepaint.  A
    few years ago I spied one of those tins at a booth at the FOTR convention in
    Newark, [removed]

    When The Shadow was sponsored by Blue Coal, I ordered a white
    glow-in-the-dark plastic ring that had a blue piece of coal-like plastic set
    in the top.  I can't imagine, however, talking my folks into ordering a ton
    of Blue Coal just so I could get that ring.  I probably filled out the
    traditional "3x5 card in block letters with the words"...etc.

    I also ordered (boxtop + 10 cents?) a ring with a rotating wheel and, when I
    blew down on it, it would make a siren-like noise (I guess to signal for
    help, or whatever).  Does anyone remember who offered that one?

    -- Recalling fondly those "thrilling days of yesteryear,"
    and waiting anxiously to "tune in tomorrow,"
    I remain your loyal OTR fan,
    Spence Coleman

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

    Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 22:38:38 -0400
    From: Ga6string@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Jungle Jim

    Steven Kelez answered my query regarding Gerald Mohr and the Jungle Jim
    series, mentioning that in episode 130, from the serial, "The Ghost of the
    Java Sea, the episode entitiled, "Who Is The Ghost?" 4/23/38, Mohr starred as
    Jungle Jim, as "an all-new cast took over the series." Then, on episode 139,
    in June 1938, the original cast, starring Matt Crowley, returned.

    Hmm. Sounds to me like there's a story behind that! Anyone know the details
    of how an entire cast would be replaced, only to be reinstated a couple of
    months later?

    Thanks,
    Bryan Powell

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

    Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 00:26:09 -0400
    From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Beverly Washburn trivia

    Without cross-referencing, don't quote me on it, but if I am not mistaken,
    Beverly Washburn was Elizabeth to Lon Chaney, Jr. in the 1964 cult classic
    SPIDER BABY.  A low budget black and white horror that actually featured
    Chaney singing the title song, and a very aged Mantan Moreland (everyone's
    favorite comedian in the Chan films) riding a wheelchair in the opening
    scenes.  Washburn will be attending the FOTR convention and I'll be curious
    to know if she remembers the film because it's considered a cult classic
    now.  I couldn't help laughing at a few scenes when I watched it the other
    month.

    On an old-time radio-related venue, Washburn was also one of the Kilgores in
    the 1956 movie THE LONE RANGER starring Clayton Moore.

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

    Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 00:26:20 -0400
    From: Jim Kitchen <jkitchen@[removed];
    To: Old Time Radio Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Two O'clock, Eastern Wartime

    While browsing the bargain books at our local Borders, I came across
    John Dunning's latest book "Two O'Clock, Eastern Wartime" for $[removed]
    Now I have to read it!

    Jim Kitchen

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

    Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 10:09:11 -0400
    From: Ivan G Shreve Jr <iscreve@[removed];
    To: Old Time Radio Mailing List <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  World's Greatest Old-Time Radio Shows

    Dan Trigg spilled his thoughts freely amongst the group:

>     I received same offer as Rick Keating, but turned it down as it was a club
>     where you had to return what you didn't want. That it "might" be part of
>     Radio Spirits, I was glad to find out. After spending several thousand
>     dollars with "Spirits" and their extremely slow service I'm glad I made that
>     decision.

    I also received the same offer as Dan and Rick (Keating), and since there
    has to be a guinea pig in every group, I went ahead and mailed in the
    response card.  To be kind of honest, the offer I received contained some
    OTR collector's cards, which I thought were kinda spiffy--strange that no
    one's mentioned anything like that before, I'd join the club for the cards
    alone.  So this thing is either going to be the biggest rip-off since "This
    way to the egress' or it might not turn out to be such a bad deal.  I'll
    keep you posted on how it turns out.

    Ivan

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

    Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 10:09:34 -0400
    From: Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  "Store Brands"

    Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed]; said:

>     I can't remember the last time I brought anything because it was
>     advertised. Most of the stuff in
>     my apartment are store brands and only purchased because there was a
>     need I had before I brought it, not one that I realised I "needed" before
>     some ad. :)

    I may be wrong, but it seems to me that in the heyday of postwar (WWII)
    advertising, there were very few "store brands" of goods that sold well
    (excluding perhaps Sears-Roebuck & Montgomery-Ward). American industry had
    helped win the war, and we consumers were glad to reap the benefits of the
    superior technology that those companies had developed during the war.
    Besides, American companies were the only ones in the world capable of
    producing the flood of merchandise that consumers wanted.
    It was only during the 1980's, at a time of consumer backlash against high
    advertising costs. that we started to buy products branded as "Generic"
    (remember the black-and-white labels?). The grocery chains glommed onto the
    trend, and introduced their own "generic/store" brand names which sell for
    generally lower prices than the nationally advertised [removed]
    Joe, much of the "store brand" stuff in your apartment wouldn't have been
    available to you a few years ago, since they were created in response to
    the "advertised brands" that became successful, and it was advertising that
    helped make them successful.
    By the way, I'm a fan of store/generic stuff, [removed] as long as I get
    quality *and* the lower price.
    (I'm "really* happy when I can buy a national-brand item *on sale*, with
    *double coupons*, with a *senior discount*. That'll beat any store brand
    purchase anytime!)

    Herb Harrison

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

    Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 10:10:13 -0400
    From: Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Old C Rations

    Jer remembers:

>     Also, in the fifties as we opened C rations
>     we were told were packaged in the forties, there they were
>     again, these same
>     I was never sure, though, those C rations were that old.

    I was a cook in the US Army, in Germany, in the early 1960's. Periodically
    we would receive a batch of old C Rations that we had to break down and
    serve to the troops before the rations' expiration dates. Many were from
    the 1940's.
    Some of the meals were pretty good "as is". Some items had to be modified a
    bit: the yeasty "canned bread", for instance, was a good base for
    strawberry shortcake, once it was sliced.
    As for the [removed]
    We smoked some "off-brands" like 'Wings' & 'Fatima', but since our pay was
    around $90 a month, we were glad to get any kind of cigarettes for free!
    Just out of curiosity, does anybody remember any radio commercials for
    various brands of smokes?
    I remember "[removed]  Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco."

    Herb Harrison

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

    Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 10:10:19 -0400
    From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Today in radio history

     From the AP's Today in History --

    1929 Amos and Andy made its network debut on NBC.

     Joe

    --
    Visit my home page:
    [removed]~[removed]

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

    Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 10:10:34 -0400
    From: "e ginsburg" <edginsburg@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  burns + allen

    I have a question about george burns and gracie allen on the radio
    I want to know when they stopped doing their vaudeville routine on their
    radio show and started doing the husband wife shtick
    i know that it was post-vote for gracie era
    but i would like to know in order to
    make sure that my collection is as complete as possible and I do NOT want to
    include the era when they were the flirtatious boyfriend and girlfriend and
    started being the loving couple that really defined their show
    ed

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #326
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