Subject: [removed] Digest V2004 #35
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 1/25/2004 12:58 PM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2004 : Issue 35
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      radio warm-up                         [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]
      Fibbermac's comments on Jerry H.      [ "Scott D. Livingston" <[removed]@comca ]
      Rreplica Radios                       [ "Scott D. Livingston" <[removed]@comca ]
      Gil Gross                             [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]
      Warming Up                            [ BH <radioguy@[removed]; ]
      Warming up                            [ BH <radioguy@[removed]; ]
      wishing to get in contact with Danie  [ "Tim Hughes" <rekokut@[removed]; ]
      Shamus                                [ David Phaneuf <david_phaneuf@yahoo. ]
      Are we geeks                          [ "david rogers" <david_rogers@hotmai ]
      OLDE TYME RADIO NETWORK               [ "Jerry Haendiges" <Jerry@[removed] ]
      A Billy May Question and A comment    [ "Gary Dixon" <argy@[removed]; ]
      Re: Gambling, MacFadden, and Bagley   [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
      Lindbergh Trial On Radio              [ Udmacon@[removed] ]
      Who's On First                        [ OldTix@[removed] ]
      This week in radio history 25 to 31   [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
      BILLY MAY                             [ Sandy Singer <sinatradj@[removed]; ]

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

    Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 01:09:28 -0500
    From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  radio warm-up

    If you're old enough, you may recall your shock the first time you turned on
    a transistor radio.  It started instantly, and who'd expect _that_?

    In the last days of tube-type radios, I used to wire a silicon diode across
    the power switch of the radio such that the tube filaments were kept at half
    power even while the set was turned off.  It used very little power and the
    radio came to life instantly when the switch was turned on.  After
    transistor sets were marketed, tube-type TV sets were fitted with this same
    feature.

    I cannot imagine that a manufacturer of a reproduction radio would add an
    ersatz warm-up delay.  It could be done easily enough with a timer circuit,
    but the complaints would come pouring in from a public that's long been
    accustomed to 'instant-on' devices.

    That ten-second warm-up period seemed like an eternity.  Some tubes were
    marketed as 'quick warm-up' types.

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

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

    Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 01:14:31 -0500
    From: "Scott D. Livingston" <[removed]@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Fibbermac's comments on Jerry H.

    Just want to throw my 2 cents in as well. I would just say Amen to what
    Fibbermac said regarding Jerry H. Overall, I would give Jerry and his
    efforts a big thumbs up!

    Scott (Fibber) Livingston

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

    Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 01:15:12 -0500
    From: "Scott D. Livingston" <[removed]@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Rreplica Radios

    Stephen A Kallis Jr. wrote

>     I've recently seen ads for replica radios, most table-model cathedral and
>     often with semiconcealed cassette or CD drives.  There innards are
>     solid-state, but I've never seen anyone turning them on.  I wonder whether
>     any of them have a built-in "warmup" lag.

    I have several of the replica radios scattered around my house and office.
    They remind me of my youth. Some have CD capability, one has a CD and
    turntable and a couple are just FM-AM. None, alas, have the delay of the old
    days while warming up. My favorite though, a replica AM-FM 1944 Crosley does
    glow in the dark from its old style tuning face. I love the memories that
    warm glow brings back while I'm listening to "when radio was" late at night
    in the dark of my bedroom.

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

    Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 01:15:47 -0500
    From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Gil Gross

>     my friend Gil Gross (former ABC and CBS correspondent who also worked at
>     WOR)
>     says NOT SO. "Shep," says Gross "often made an OUTLINE of a story he was

    I was glad to hear about Gil Gross.  I was a constant listener to WCBS-AM
    during the best days of its run as an all-news station.  Mr Gross'
    intelligent delivery and subdued wit made him my favorite news guy.  I've
    heard him in some other venues and always enjoyed hearing him.

    The old WCBS was perhaps the 'straightest' radio station in history; not a
    scintilla of humor ever seemed to be emitted therefrom except in the most
    subtle form.

    There was one crack-up, however, and it might have involved Gil Gross.
    There was a reference in the newscast to the famous painting, the Mona Lisa.
      Apparently one of the other news guys didn't know that a microphone was
    switched on when he started to bellow a hoarse rendition of Nat King Cole's
    song, "Mona Lisa."  The commentator couldn't go on--he just broke up on the
    air.

    I once won 88 New York subway tokens in a WCBS contest.

    Mark Kinsler

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

    Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 01:22:36 -0500
    From: BH <radioguy@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Warming Up

    "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." in speaking of waiting for tube radios to warm up said:

>     I've recently seen ads for replica radios, most table-model cathedral
>     style, and often with semiconcealed cassette or CD drives.  There innards
>     are solid-state, but I've never seen anyone turning them on.  I wonder
>     whether any of them have a built-in "warmup" lag.

    If there were a warmup lag, the current generation would think it was
    defective. A few years ago my daughter, while admiring my collection of
    vintage sets, asked if I had one I might part with as she would like one
    to use in her kitchen. I gave her a nice little RCA Bakelite set that I
    had fully restored. A few days later her husband call to say the set did
    not work. I asked him to bring it next time he came and I would check it
    out. When he did bring it over we plugged it in, he turned it on and
    upon hearing no sound said, "see it won't play". "Just wait a few
    seconds", I replied. After the tubes warmed up it played just fine and I
    had to explaine to him about tubes having to warm up to function.

    Bill H.

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

    Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 01:22:44 -0500
    From: BH <radioguy@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Warming up

    I might also add on this subject, have you ever notice in movies of the
    days when radios were tubes sets, that when someone turns on a radio
    there is no warmup delay?

    Bill H.

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

    Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 01:36:51 -0500
    From: "Tim Hughes" <rekokut@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  wishing to get in contact with Daniel Murray

    Hi,

    I apologize for using the Digest as a "find" mechanism, but it was my last
    avenue; no one else had the email address, and I wished to get in contact
    with a collector from Michigan; Daniel Murray.  His email address, and ebay
    ID seemed to have changed from 2 years ago, and if Mr. Murray is reading
    this, I would like to get in contact.  (It's nothing serious, just wanted to
    re-establish correspondence and trade).

    I apologize again for the "whois", but as I said, I had exhausted all other
    [removed]

    Thanks much,

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

    Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 02:26:05 -0500
    From: David Phaneuf <david_phaneuf@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Shamus

    I have been thoroughly enjoying my hours of listening
    to Philip Marlowe and Richard [removed] two
    hard-boiled, hard-fighting, and hard-headed private
    detectives.  Diamond is considerably more lighthearted
    than is Marlowe, having a definite flare for wit and
    sarcasm, but both get the job done efficiently.  Since
    I'm listening to both at the same time, some of the
    details between them are blurred [removed] but I can't
    help wondering, with being knocked out in every single
    episode (is it Marlowe, or Diamond, or both?), how he
    does not become brain-damaged is beyond me.

    But the thing that has been intriguing me most of all,
    is the name "Shamus".  Marlowe, I believe, bears this
    moniker, though I could swear Diamond was called that
    once or twice too ([removed] the blurring effect).

    I've been trying to find out the origin of this name
    as it applies: Was this a general nickname given to
    private eyes? Does it refer to an actual part of the
    character's name? Or is there some other explanation
    for it's usage?  After some research, it seems to be a
    slang term for Private Eyes, though how it became so
    still eludes me.

    So far, my search has turned up little, though I have
    found some interesting articles on the net, most
    notably, "Shamus: a Tribute to Philip Marlowe" by Bill
    Henken
    [removed]
     (webmaster, William L. Paolucci). This one is nice,
    for it contains very brief bio of Raymond Chandler, as
    well as a useful Glossary of "Hardboiled Slang".

    Another interesting link I've come across is
    [removed] which holds forth a
    listing of the "Shamus Awards" as well an "A to Z"
    listing of "Private Eyes and Other Tough Guys".

    Of course, both sites, deal not only with Old Radio,
    but also TV, Cinema, and Literary private eyes.

    -- David Phaneuf

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

    Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 10:16:40 -0500
    From: "david rogers" <david_rogers@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Are we geeks

    I would like to ask people on this list:

    "Are we geeks?"

    This question was in part inspired by Martin Grams, Jr.  Now before I
    continue I just want to say that I do not know Mr Grams and have never met
    him.  He has e-mailed me a couple of times and I must say that he seemed
    like a nice bloke.  Actually the question is prompted by a T-shirt I saw him
    wearing.  I have been trying to find the photo again on the net but it seems
    to have been taken down.  The T-Shirt had a slogan that said something like:
      "Grils [removed]" I can't remember the rest of the slogan but basically
    it meant geek or nerd.  I am not too sure as to the linguistic differences
    between a nerd and a geek, but for the purposes of this exercise I will
    assume that they are similar.
    Which leads me back to my question.  Are we geeks for liking otr?  How do
    people outside of otr lovers view us?  Do we care?  I remember a lady on
    this digest saying that when her family used to go on a journey her family
    would patiently let her play her stuff, but they never became fans.  I
    recently read a posting elsewhere where someone was told by there children
    that they planned to get rid of the father's stuff after he died.
    When I tell people I know that I collect otr, people are always polite, but
    I do not think that they really understand what I mean.  With fellow Brits I
    usually say, "the old Goon shows and Tony Hancock" - if they are a bit older
    or "Radio 4 type-stuff" if they arae a bit younger.  With Canadians, I
    usually say "like stuff from CBC - they do a Mystery Project series."  I am
    still unsure what to say to Americans.
    But even when people understnd what it is that I mean they are still unsure
    why.
    "So you just listen to these shows?" poeple asked with a bit of a strange
    look on there face.
    If people are really trying to show an interest they may ask "So where do
    you get your stuf from?"
    But that is about as far as it goes.  I have never in face-to-face
    conversation with anybody had the response:
    "Oh I collect otr as well" or even "I know someone else that does that as
    well."

    So can anybody else help me?

    Are we geeks?
    If not what are we?
    Do we care?

    Love as always, David Rogers

    [removed] I would like to stress again that this is in no way a posting about or
    against Martin Grams Jr (who as I said seems to be quite a nice and
    knowledeable chap).  I hope that I have not offended him in anyway.  It is
    just a thought inspired by his T-shirt.

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

    Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 10:16:59 -0500
    From: "Jerry Haendiges" <Jerry@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  OLDE TYME RADIO NETWORK

    Hi friends,

    Here is this week's line-up for the week of 1-25-04 on my Olde Tyme Radio
    [removed] Featuring Tom Heathwood's "Heritage Radio Theatre," Big John
    Matthews and Steve Urbaniak's "The Glowing Dial" and my own "Same Time, Same
    Station" broadcasts, being broadcast on demand 24/7 in high quality
    streaming RealAudio at [removed]

    Past archived broadcasts are also available there.

    We look forward to having you join us!

    	Jerry

    Here's this week's lineup:

    SAME TIME, SAME STATION with Jerry Haendiges

    DUNNINGER, THE MENTALIST
    "The Kemtone Hour"
    Episode 24  6-14-44
    Guest Panelists: Dorothy Kilgallen, Shep Fields and Joseph Auslander
    Announcers: Jackson Beck and Glen Riggs

    THE FIRE CHIEF PROGRAM
    12-12-33  "As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap"
    Stars: Ed Wynn as the Fire Chief
    With Graham McNamee,
    Music: Don Voorhees Band, The Fire Chef Quartet

    JACK PEARL SHOW
    11-23-36
    Stars: Jack Pearl, Sharlie Cliff Hall and Mae Questel
    Vocal: Eythe Wright, Morton Bowe
    Music: Tommy Dorsey Orchestra

    LET GEORGE DO IT
    Episode 125  3-14-49  "The Motif is Murder"
    Stars Bob Bailey as George Valentine
    =======================================

    HERITAGE RADIO THEATRE with Tom Heathwood

    SCREEN DIRECTOR'S PLAYHOUSE
    NBC    10-24-49    "Love Letters"
    Stars: Joseph Cotten

    SUSPENSE
    CBS    1-21-55    "The Operation"
    Stars: Mary Jane Croft and Hy Averback

    MR. KEEN, TRACER OF LOST PERSONS
    AFRS    1-1-50    "The Bride and Groom Murder Case
    ========================================

    THE GLOWING DIAL with Big John and Matthews and Steve Urbaniak

    Those daring detectives return to The Glowing Dial featuring:

    The Adventures Of Frank Race
    SYNDICATED   5/29/49   # 5   "The Enoch Arden Adventure"

    Broadway Is My Beat
    CBS   1/31/53   # 150   "Helen Selby"

    Casey, Crime Photographer
    CBS 7/24/47 "Photo Of The Dead"

    The Adventures Of Nero Wolfe
    NBC   3/23/51   # 22   "The Final Page"

    Boston Blackie
    MUTUAL 5/14/47 # 109 "Drowned After Robbery"
    ====================================

    Please feel free to contact me with any questions or requests for upcoming
    shows.

                Jerry Haendiges <Jerry@[removed];

      [removed]  The Vintage Radio Place
      Largest source of OTR Logs, Articles and programs on the Net

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

    Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 10:17:38 -0500
    From: "Gary Dixon" <argy@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  A Billy May Question and A comment
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    Hi!

    Like so many of [removed] was saddened to hear of Billy May's recent passing.

    I know that Stan Freberg is in the process of putting together the 3rd and
    final installment of THE UNITED STATE OF [removed] I'm sure Billy was part
    of the project.  If this information is incorrect, please let let me know who
    might be doing the orchestrations.

    Here's my question.

    When Capitol Records reissued a slew of the Warner Bros/Disney 78s on LP (back
    in the 70s)...Billy's composing, arranging and orchestral work was on nearly
    all of them.  Would anybody know if these were ever available on CDs?  I
    realize the stories were originally recorded in mono and for some
    "stereophiles"---mono recordings are a NO-NO!  [removed]'d be curious if there
    was any way to obtain these 6-7 minute stories on CD?

    With classic radio personalities like Mel Blanc, June Foray, Daws Butler, Paul
    Frees, Arthur [removed] and so many others present on [removed] would be great
    to own all of them in one package.  Thanks for any responses.

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

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

    Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 10:18:52 -0500
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Gambling, MacFadden, and Bagley

    On 1/25/04 12:15 AM [removed]@[removed] wrote:

>     His name was John B. Gambling.  He took over the WOR morning program when
>     exercise guru Bernarr MacFadden didn't show up for his program.  Gambling's
>     program was initially called "Gambling's Musical Clock", but eventually it
>     became known to millions of listeners over several generations of listeners
>     and John Gamblings, as "Rambling With Gambling".

    Gambling had been doing "Musical Clock" for nearly a decade by the time
    of the Lindbergh trial, so he wasn't quite a novice. He took over for
    MacFadden in 1925 --- and, interestingly, MacFadden wasn't the originator
    of the program either. The morning exercise program began on WOR in 1924
    under the direction of Arthur Bagley, a small, energetic man who jumped
    to WEAF in 1925 and began a decade-long run as that station's wakeup
    personality, under the sponsorship of the Metropolitan Life Insurance
    Company. His program, "Tower Health Exercises," was also a regular
    early-morning feature of the eastern stations of NBC-Red into 1935.

    Bagley is noteworthy in that it was his format that was closely imitated
    by Gambling -- the calisthenics, the studio orchestra, the chirping
    canaries (Hartz Mountain bird seed was one of the sponsors), and the
    informal kidding-around atmosphere had all been developed by the
    program's original director, and went into temporary abeyance when the
    eccentric Bernarr MacFadden took over the program. Bagley's concepts were
    quickly revived when MacFadden left, and became institutionalized under
    Gambling.

    The excercise format continued under Gambling into the early 1940s. The
    "Rambling With Gambling" title was originally applied to an entirely
    separate WOR program, but gradually ended up being attatched to the
    morning show.

    The Lindbergh trial coverage did provide a boost for another prominent
    air personality -- WNEW in Newark used staff announcer Martin Block to
    provide recorded-music interludes between its reports from Flemington.

    Elizabeth

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

    Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 10:25:13 -0500
    From: Udmacon@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Lindbergh Trial On Radio

    Lee, as I recall, the person who played records during the delays of the
    Lindbergh trial was Martin Block. I think he even came up with the idea of
    "Make Believe Ballroom" during those broadcasts.

    John R. Gambling is on WABC weekdays from 10 [removed] to 11:45; then is the
    morning man on Saturdays.

    Bill Knowlton

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

    Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 14:53:40 -0500
    From: OldTix@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Who's On First
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    In the latest Society for Baseball Research (SABR) newsletter, a member
    posted a plea for research help regarding Abbott and Costello's famous "Who's
    On
    First" routine.  He needs to know whether they wrote it themselves (if not,
    who
    did?), who influenced them, etc.  He promises to acknowledge all inquiries.
    Contact him directly:  MARK SOMMER, 1266 TEANECK ROAD #10A, TEANECK, NEW
    JERSEY
    07666 or by phone at (201) 837-0489.

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

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

    Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 14:53:54 -0500
    From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  This week in radio history 25 to 31 January

     From Those Were The Days --

    Jan 25 --

    1937 - NBC presented the first broadcast of The Guiding Light.

    1944 - The character, a black maid named Beulah and played by a white
    man, Marlin Hunt, aired for the first time on Fibber McGee and Molly.
    The spinoff, Beulah, became a radio series in 1945.

    Jan 26 --

    1947 - The Greatest Story Ever Told was first heard on ABC.

    Jan 27 --

    1931 - NBC introduced listeners to Clara, Lu 'n' Em on its Blue network.
    The show became the first daytime radio serial when it was moved from
    its original nighttime slot.

    1948 - Wire Recording Corporation of America announced the first
    magnetic tape recorder. The 'Wireway' machine with a built-in oscillator
    sold for $[removed]

    1956 - The CBS Radio Workshop was heard for the first time. This first
    broadcast featured Aldous Huxley narrating his classic, Brave New World.

    Jan 28 --

    1940 - Beat the Band made its debut on NBC, with the Ted Weems band.
    Beat the Band was where listeners' questions were selected in the hopes
    of stumping the band. If a listener's question was chosen, he or she
    received $10.  The questions were posed as riddles: What song title
    tells you what Cinderella might have said if she awoke one morning and
    found that her foot had grown too large for her glass slipper? If the
    band played the correct musical answer, Where Oh Where Has My Little Dog
    Gone?, the listener lost.

    When Raleigh cigarettes sponsored Beat the Band, the listener who beat
    the band won $50 and two cartons of cigarettes ... Raleighs, of course.
    When the sponsor changed to General Mill's Kix cereal, if the listener
    beat the band, he/she won twenty bucks and a case of Kix cereal.

    1934 - As a result of a compliment paid on this day, by Walter Winchell,
    in his newspaper column; a local disc jockey began receiving several
    offers from talent scouts and producers. The DJ became known as the
    Redhead, adored by thousands in Washington, DC and, later, by millions
    across the country on CBS radio and TV. His trademark (strumming a
    ukulele and delivering down-home patter) endeared him to fans for many
    years. We remember the broadcasting legend, Arthur Godfrey. "I wanna go
    back to my little grass [removed]"

    Jan 30 --

    1933 -- The Lone Ranger was heard for the first time.

    Jan 31 --

    1936 - The Green Hornet was introduced by its famous theme song, The
    Flight of the Bumble Bee. The radio show was first heard on WXYZ in
    Detroit, MI on this day. The show stayed on the air for 16 years. The
    Green Hornet originated from the same radio station where The Lone
    Ranger was performed. You may remember that the title character in The
    Green Hornet was really named Britt Reid. He was, in fact, supposed to
    be the great nephew of John Reid, the Lone Ranger. Both popular series
    were created by George Trendle and Fran Striker.

    Joe

    --
    Visit my slightly updated (1/1/04) homepage:
    [removed]~[removed]

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

    Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 14:54:54 -0500
    From: Sandy Singer <sinatradj@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  BILLY MAY

    Billy was not only the fastest writer in the West, he wrote charts
    vertically, rather than horizontally.  Filled in the manuscript, writing
    each note for every instrument in a very unorthodox up and down
    technique.

    My favorite Sinatra/May story.  Frank, totally PO'd at Capitol, had just
    finished his next to last session for them, with May, Come Swing With Me.
     Going out the door, Sinatra put his arm around Billy, and said, "F**k
    them, let's go make OUR version."  At the time he was also recording
    albums for his new label, Reprise.  Well, they did an album of songs,
    like, and arranged like, Come Swing With Me, and titled it, Swing Along
    With Me.  Capitol made them change the title, because they claimed the
    right to the Come _____ With Me concept--Fly, Dance, etc.  Those who own
    the first copies of the LP, released with the original title, have a true
    Sinatra collector item.

    [removed]

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #35
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