Subject: [removed] Digest V2011 #127
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 8/9/2011 8:59 PM
To: [removed]@[removed]
Reply-to:
[removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2011 : Issue 127
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  8-7 births/deaths                     [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  Johnny Dollar vs. Gang Busters        [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
  8-8 births/deaths                     [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  OTR and the Young                     [ "Ryan O" <ryano218@[removed]; ]
  Dodgers' Broadcaster Dies             [ jack and cathy french <OTRpiano@ver ]

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

Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2011 22:51:36 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  8-7  births/deaths

August 7th births

08-07-1883 - Reinald Werrenrath - NYC - d. 9-12-1953
baritone: "Old Company Program"
08-07-1884 - Billie Burke - Washington, [removed] - d. 5-14-1970
comedian: "Billie Burke Show"; Mrs. Featherstone "Gay Mrs. Featherstone"
08-07-1902 - Charles Cornell - Budapest, Hungary - d. 12-3-1993
composer: "Boston Blackie"; "Date with Judy"
08-07-1903 - Hilda Hopkins Burke - d. 4-6-1978
soprano: WBAL Baltimore, Maryland
08-07-1904 - Dr. Ralph Bunche - Detroit, MI - d. 12-7-1971
activist: "The Big Show"
08-07-1904 - Herbert Colin Rice - Guilford, England - d. 5-27-1991
creator, writer, producer: "Bobby Benson"
08-07-1906 - Ernestine Wade - Mississippi - d. 4-14-1983
actor: Sapphire Stevens "Amos 'n' Andy"
08-07-1907 - Alexander Turner - London, England - d. xx-xx-1993
writer: "Coat of Arms"
08-07-1908 - Dave Bacal - NYC - d. 9-12-1986
staff organist for CBS
08-07-1908 - Kathleen Fitz - d. 4-22-1998
actor: Judy Price "Dr. Christian"; Portia Brent "Brenthouse"
08-07-1909 - Sheldon Stark - NYC - d. 2-6-1997
writer: "The Columbia Workshop"; "Straight Arrow"
08-07-1910 - Freddie Slack - Westby, WI - d. 8-10-1965
pianist, bandleader: "Kraft Music Hall"
08-07-1911 - Nicholas Ray - Galesville, WI - d. 6-16-1979
director: Free lance
08-07-1913 - George Van Eps - Plainfield, NJ - d. 11-29-1998
guitarist: "Pete Kelly's Blues"; "Guest Star"; "Just Jazz"
08-07-1914 - Clifford Thorsness - d. 6-14-2002
sound effects: "Fibber McGee and Molly"; "Edgar Bergen/Charlie
McCarthy Show"
08-07-1914 - June Travis - Chicago, IL - d. 4-14-2008
actor: Stormy Curtis/Wilson "Girl Alone"; Bernice Farraday "Arnold
Grimm's Daughter"
08-07-1920 - Mel Diamond - NYC - d. 4-5-2002
comedy writer: Kate Smith, Milton Berle, Bob Hope and Mickey Rooney
08-07-1921 - Poni (Jane) Adams - San Antonio, TX
contestant escort: "Darts  for Dough"
08-07-1921 - Warren Covington - Philadelphia, PA - d. 8-24-1999
orchestra leader: "Warren Covington and His Orchestra"
08-07-1926 - Stan Freberg - Los Angeles, CA
comedian: "That's Rich"; "Stan Freberg Show"
08-07-1927 - Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer - Paris, IL - d. 1-21-1959
actor: "Thirty Minutes In Hollywood"
08-07-1942 - Garrison Keillor - Anoka, MN
vocalist, storyteller: "A Prarie Home Companion"

August 7th deaths

01-05-1902 - Eve Sully - NYC - d. 8-7-1990
comedian: appeared with husband Jesse Block on radio
01-18-1892 - Oliver Hardy - Harlem, GA - d. 8-7-1957
comedian: "Ruth Lyons Show"
01-28-1900 - Mahlon Merrick - Farmington, IA - d. 8-7-1969
music: "Jack Benny Program"; "Skippy Hollywood Theatre"
01-28-1914 - Tom Neal - Evanston, IL - d. 8-7-1972
actor: "I Am An American"; "The Unexpected"
02-09-1901 - Walter Preston - Quincy, IL - d. 8-7-1982
singer: "Philco Hour"
03-07-1905 - Ruth Freed Akst - Vancouver, Canada - d. 8-7-1989
composer/violinist lead singing and instrumental trio on radio
03-07-1937 - Anne Kristen - Scotland - d. 8-7-1996
actor: "Carver"
03-10-1903 - Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke - Davenport, IA - d.
8-7-1931
jazz musician: "Band Remotes"
03-16-1885 - Rev. Dr. William L. Stidger - Moundsville, WV - d. 8-7-1949
pastor: "Getting the Most Out of Life"
04-13-1889 - Herbert Yardley - Washington, IN - d. 8-7-1958
writer: "Stories of the Black Chambers"
05-18-1894 - Raymond Paige - Wausau, WI - d. 8-7-1965
conductor: "Hollywood Hotel"; "Musical Americana"; "Stage Door Canteen"
05-30-1912 - Jerry D. Lewis - d. 8-7-1996
writer: "This Is Your FBI"
06-09-1912 - Ingolf Dahl - Hamburg, Germany - d. 8-7-1970
conductor, pianist
06-11-1920 - Robert Hutton - Kingston, NY - d. 8-7-1994
actor: "Proudly We Hail"; "NBC University Theatre"
07-15-1900 - Helen Shields - Champaign, IL - d. 8-7-1963
actor: Linda Dale "I Love Linda Dale"; Sylvia Meadows "Amanda of
Honeymoon Hill"
07-25-1917 - Arthur Alsberg - NYC - d. 8-7-2004
wrote comedy routines for Milton Berle and Danny Kaye
07-27-1920 - Henry "Homer" Haynes - d. 8-7-1971
comedian: (Homer and Jethro) "WLS National Barn Dance"
07-29-1938 - Peter Jennings - Toronto, Canada - d. 8-7-2005
news broadcaster: "When Conventions Were Conventions"
08-16-1888 - Howard Marsh - Bluffton, IN - d. 8-7-1969
singer: "Buick Presents"; "Evening in Paris"; "Frigidaire Program"
08-25-1931 - Hal Fishman - Brooklyn, NY - d. 8-7-2007
television news anchor: Got start on campus radio at Cornell
09-14-1918 - Bill Hanrahan - d. 8-7-1996
newscaster, announcer: "Inheritance"
10-05-1913 - Lois January - Fort Worth, TX - d. 8-7-2006
actor: "County Fair"
10-20-1922 - John Anderson - Clayton, IL - d. 8-7-1992
actor: William Clark "Horizons West"

Ron

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

Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2011 22:52:12 -0400
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Johnny Dollar vs. Gang Busters

Norman Flagg described the following JOHNNY DOLLAR episode: One of the Johnny 
Dollar episodes centers around "Indestructible Mike," an alcoholic bum the 
bad guys try to kill in a variety of ways to cash on an insurance policy they've 
taken out on him. All attempts fail,  Mike keeps bouncing back and of course Dollar 
does get the culprits and saves Mike in the end.

I have not heard all the JOHNNY DOLLAR episodes yet, since I spread thin the shows
I enjoy so they last longer. But having heard this I double-checked as it occurred
to me that this was the same plot for an episode of GANG BUSTERS. A "lost" episode
that does not exist in recorded form. Another example of where radio plots and 
scripts were being re-used. In this case, GANG BUSTERS based it on the actual facts
behind the 1933 crime.
Martin

 		 	   		  

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

Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2011 22:52:18 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  8-8 births/deaths

August 8th births

08-08-1885 - Gene Buck - Detroit, MI - d. 2-25-1957
president of ascap: "World's Fair Concert"
08-08-1887 - Malcolm Keen - Bristol, England - d. 1-30-1970
actor: "Cavalcade of America"
08-08-1889 - Major J. Andrew White - d. 3-13-1966
Pioneer announcer, sportscaster and executive
08-08-1895 - Nat Pendelton - Davenport, IA - d. 10-11-1967
actor: "Dr. Kildare"
08-08-1896 - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings - Washington, [removed] - d. 12-14-1953
novelist: "Stars in the Air"
08-08-1900 - James Pierce - Freedom, IN - d. 12-11-1983
actor: Tarzan "Tarzan"
08-08-1900 - Robert Siodmak - Memphis, TN - d. 3-10-1973
film director: "Screen Director's Playhouse"
08-08-1900 - Victor Young - Chicago, IL - d. 11-11-1956
conductor, composer: "Shell Chateau"; "Old Gold Don Ameche Show
08-08-1904 - Ray Buffum - d. 12-13-1980
writer, director: "A Man Named Jordan"; "Rogue's Gallery"
08-08-1905 - Nino Martini - Verona, Italy - d. 12-9-1976
singer: "Seven Star Revue"
08-08-1905 - Ross Graham - Benton, AR - d. 1-5-1986
bariton-bass: "Cities Service Concert"; "Show Boat"
08-08-1906 - Joe DuVal - Wisconsin - d. 4-22-1966
actor: Professor Wiz the Owl "Cinnamon Bear", Big Town"
08-08-1906 - Richard Cunliffe - McKeesport, PA - d. 12-12-1968
composer, arranger: "Ted Weems and His Orchestra"
08-08-1907 - Benny Carter - NYC - d. 7-12-2003
saxaphonist, songwriter (Professor) "Chamber Music Society of Lower
Basin Street"
08-08-1909 - Bob Davis - Charleston, MS - d. unknown
singer: "Spotlight Bands"; "One Night Stand"
08-08-1910 - Sylvia Sidney - The Bronx, NY - d. 7-1-1999
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Columbia Presents Corwin"; "Philip Morris
Playhouse"
08-08-1912 - Gail Henshaw - NYC - d. 4-20-1954
actor: Kitty Keene "Kitty Keene"; Linda Munson "The Woman in White"
08-08-1913 - Axel Stordahl - Staten Island, NY  - d. 8-30-1963
conductor: "Songs by Sinatra/Frank Sinatra Show"; "Your Hit Parade";
"Coke Time"
08-08-1914 - Pete King - Greenville, OH - d. 9-21-1982
conductor: (Pete King Chorale) "Bing Crosby Show"; "Doris Day Show"
08-08-1917 - Ann Francine - Philadelphia, PA - d. 12-3-1999
singer: "Hour of Charm"
08-08-1917 - Malvin Wald - Brooklyn, NY - d. 3-6-2008
writer: "Suspense"
08-08-1921 - Webb Pierce - West Monroe, LA - d. 2-24-1991
singer: ""Grand Ole Opry"; Louisiana Hayride"
08-08-1922 - Esther Williams - Los Angeles, CA
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Tex and Jinx"
08-08-1922 - Rory Calhoun - Los Angeles, CA - d. 4-28-1999
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
08-08-1923 - Jimmy Witherspoon - Gurdon, AR - d. 9-18-1997
blues singer: (Jay McShann's Band) "Jubilee"
08-08-1926 - Richard Anderson - Long Beach, NJ
actor: "Suspense"
08-08-1927 - Basil Kirchin - Blackpool, England - d. 6-18-2005
drummer: "Harry Roy and His Orchestra"
08-08-1930 - Terry Nation - South Wales - d. 3-9-1997
comedy writer: "Goon Show"
08-08-1937 - Dustin Hoffman - Los Angeles, CA
actor: "Soundstage"
08-08-1945 - Percy Granger - Norman, OK - d. 3-10-1997
actor: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"

August 8th deaths

01-07-1903 - Alan Napier - Birmingham, England - d. 8-8-1988
actor: "Campbell Playhouse"
01-10-1897 - John P. McEvoy - d. 8-8-1958
writer: "Information Please"
01-13-1882 - Domenico Savino - Tranto, Italy - d. 8-8-1973
composer/conductor: "Evening in Paris"; "La Palina Smoke Dreams"
01-20-1926 - Patricia Neal - Packard, KY - d. 8-8-2010
actor: "Hollywood Star Preview"
02-08-1905 - Henry King - d. 8-8-1974
orchestra leader: "Burns and Allen"
02-08-1941 - Martin Huston - Lexington, KY - d. 8-8-2001
actor: Jeep Allison "My Son Jeep"
02-12-1905 - Harry Bellaver (Belaver) - Hillsboro, IL - d. 8-8-1993
actor: "Cavalcade of America"; "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"
04-01-1917 - Mel Shavelson - NYC - d. 8-8-2007
writer: "The Bob Hope Show"
04-29-1904 - Russ Morgan - Scranton, PA - d. 8-8-1969
bandleader: (Music in the Morgan Manner) "Russ Morgan Orchestra"
06-04-1912 - Jess Barker - Greenville, SC - d. 8-8-2000
announcer, actor: "Guest Star"; "Proudly We Hail"
07-19-1914 - Lou Krugman - Passaic, NJ - d. 8-8-1992
actor: Tony Griffin "Romance of Helen Trent"; Ulysses Hink "Dear Mom";
"Gunsmoke"
07-26-1899 - Danton Walker - Marietta, GA - d. 8-8-1960
broadway columnist: "Forty-Five Minutes on Broadway"; "Twin Views of
the News"
09-10-1907 - Fay Wray - Alberta, Canada - d. 8-8-2004
actor: Rosemary "Keeping Up with Rosemary"
09-14-1908 - Bernard Green - NYC - d. 8-8-1975
orchestra leader: "The Clock"
09-15-1928 - Cannonball Adderley - Tampa, FL - d. 8-8-1975
jazz saxphonist: "Voices of Vista"
10-07-1896 - Phil Ohman - New Britain, CT - d. 8-8-1954
pianist: "Names of Tomorrow Finding Stardom Today in Hollywood"
10-11-1883 - Fritz Stiedry - d. 8-8-1968
conductor: "New Friends of Music"
10-12-1917 - G. William Marshall - Chicago, IL - d. 8-8-1994
singer: "Fred Waring Orchestra"
10-31-1922 - Barbara Bel Geddes - NYC - d. 8-8-2005
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Ford Theatre"; "[removed] Steel Hour";
"Cavalcade of America"
11-08-1909 - Sam Balter - Detroit, MI - d. 8-8-1998
sports, news commentator: "Inside of Sports"; "Sizing Up the News"
11-30-1907 - Jack Brinkley - Oxford, NC - d. 8-8-1972
announcer, actor: "Aunt Jemima"; "Couple Next Door"
12-14-1919 - Shirley Jackson - San Francisco, CA - d. 8-8-1965
writer: "NBC Presents: Short Story"

Ron

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

Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2011 22:53:41 -0400
From: "Ryan O" <ryano218@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  OTR and the Young

Hi all. I am a 36-year-old guy and have loved otr for 25 years. Bryan
Wright's comments interested me very much. Those, coupled with Mr. Murphy's
post in which he repeated the assertion from the VP of an otr fan club that,
"OTR has about run it's course," compelled me to add my comments to the mix.

First, let me state that I've never been to an otr convention. I'd love to
attend one, but have just never gotten around to it. I hope I can do so
before they become scarce. Bryan's comments were dead on and I can't top
them, so I'll simply add an amen and move on to a broader topic.

I'm building this on the premise that otr has in deed nearly run it's
course. The main reason for this, as Mr. Murphy so aptly pointed out, is
demographics. Those of the generation who experienced the golden age of
radio first-hand are leaving us and those who experienced it second hand are
growing older. There are many of us who experienced it third hand; by that I
mean, those of us who were born after 1970, but we too are a smaller number
than those of the previous generations. I find that those who were born
after 1980 are virtually unfamiliar with radio as a conventional
entertainment medium akin to television and the movies. They have grown up
with visual mediums (music videos, videogames, TV, graphic movies and the
internet), and they find it hard to take audio drama as seriously as did the
previous generations. Add to that the fact that much of the radio dramas
from the golden era contain stories that are less complex than today's fair.
Subject matter that was considered taboo back then is now discussed in
today's media with ease and comfort, and the standards of morality have
largely changed. The good guys don't always win and the protagonists are
more flawed than the likes of Matt Dillon, Sam Spade and The Shadow. Add to
that the fact that the entire stylistic presentation of classic radio drama
is different from today's art of sound. I recently played an episode of
Gunsmoke for a friend of mine and she felt that the exaggerated sound
effects (the footsteps and horse noises, in particular) were too cornie to
take seriously.

Having said all of that, the hobby of old-time radio need never die out
completely. Many young people do and will continue to enjoy audio drama,
both classic and present day. There is an easy and obvious solution to keep
the flame alive. Many people won't like it, but here it is. It's not
conventions, commercial sales or even terrestrial radio as we know it today.

The internet is our best hope of keeping the sounds of radio's golden past
among the youth of today. I will stipulate that copyright law is a murky
issue where otr is concerned. I will also submit that the internet is a
vast, largely untamed frontier where many digital legal rights are broken
every day. But this is our last, best hope of perpetuating the craft of
vintage drama.

I realize that some legitimate companies like Radio Spirits have staked many
claims to copyrighted material. I also know that they have taken a step
forward and now offer many of their past and present programs on a download
site. Other private collectors will have to do the same. For the young, the
age of cassette and CD players has gone by the wayside. The iPod is the
thing now, along with equivalent open-source digital machines. And with the
ease of tapping a few keys comes the propagation of copies of shows, both
legal and illegal.

I am not looking to drudge up that old debate on copyright laws. I am not
advocating that anyone break the law. What I am saying is that sticklers for
copyright will eventually have to concede the point that otr is a dying
hobby and that keeping it alive may mean a more flexible approach to the
copyright issue. If young people are going to continue to be exposed to
classic radio shows, it will be through the internet.

I also hasten to point out that the modern rage seems to be to over-restore
programs. Young people are used to stereo, digital surround sound and
CD-quality technology. They aren't going to have the patience to listen to a
scratchy old recording of Suspense. But they also won't have the patience to
listen to a digitized copy that sounds like a muffled, garbled mess in which
too many high and low frequencies have been removed for supposed better
listenability. Radio Spirits is the chief culprit here and they will need to
rethink their sound engineering policies if they want to attract either the
young or the elderly.

Anyway, those are the thoughts of a sound enthusiast straddling the
generational fence. I know many will disagree with them and that's ok, but I
do believe they are valid. Take them for what they're worth.

RyanO

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

Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2011 22:54:29 -0400
From: jack and cathy french <OTRpiano@[removed];
To: OTRBB <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Dodgers' Broadcaster Dies

Nat Allbright, 87. died July 18th of pneumonia at Virginia Hospital
Center in Arlington. He had broadcast over 1,500 Dodger baseball
games, without ever once being in Ebbets [removed] any other stadium.

 From a studio in Washington, DC, Allbright recreated the games for
12 years while they were being played, working from telegrams and
wire service reports. He had recording of crowds in various modes,
including vendors hawking their wares. To simulate the bat striking
the ball, he clicked his tongue.

Allbright's competition was Red Barber and Vin Scully, who did
broadcast from whereever the Dodgers were actually playing, but
Allbright's announcing was probably heard by more people as over 115
stations on the East Coast carried his broadcasts. He supplemented
his color commentary with recordings of the music played at each
stadium, including their version of the Star Spangled Banner. Few of
his listeners ever knew that he was accomplishing all this in one
tiny studio, hundreds (and later thousands) of miles from where the
game was actually being played. Allbright continued his shows after
the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles.

Nathan Matthew Allbright was born in Texas in November 1923 but the
family soon moved to Roanoke, VA. As a grade-schooler, he'd rip the
lineups of teams from the local newspaper and then walk down the
street, giving a play-by-play recitation of the game.  He served in
the Amry Air Force in WW II, and thereafter attended a broadcasting
school in Washington, DC. He did all kinds of radio programs,
including a DJ for teen age dance music, and covered virtually all
love [removed] actually attended the events.

When radio "died" he went into the advertising business with his
wife, but still kept up with his recording. He did "Fantasy
Personalized Sports Tapes, in which he worked anyone's name into a
sports recreation. In 1982, during the NFL players strike, he
recreated eight imaginary Redskins' football games. A year earlier,
with major league baseball players on strike, he created a fictional
All-Star game, which was more exciting than the real ones.

Jack French
Editor: RADIO RECALL
<[removed]>

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2011 Issue #127
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