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

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


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


                                 Today's Topics:

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

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

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

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

Thanks,
Kermyt

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

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

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

Kermyt

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

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

October 23rd births

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

October 23rd deaths

01-31-1872 - Zane Grey - Zanesville, OH - d. 10-23-1939
writer: "Rudy Vallee Hour"
05-10-1909 - Maybelle Carter - Nickelsville, VA - d. 10-23-1978
singer: (Queen of Country Music) "Grand Ole Opry"
05-26-1886 - Al Jolson - Srednick, Lithuania, Russia - d. 10-23-1950
singer: (The Jazz Singer) "Shell Chateau"; "Kraft Music Hall"
08-04-1897 - Abe Lyman - Chicago, IL - d. 10-23-1957
bandleader: "Jack Pearl Show"; "Lavender and New Lace"; "Waltz Time"
12-02-1915 - Adolph Green - NYC - d. 10-23-2002
songwriter: "Columbia Presents Corwin"
-- Ron Sayles Milwaukee, Wisconsin ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 17:11:31 +0000 From: "Brian L Bedsworth" <az2pa@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Re: Are We Certain They Were Black? > In the early 40s, there were frequent subtle (and not-so-subtle) > references to Rochester's skin color on the Jack Benny program. > Rochester didn't do black dialect, of course, but in the earlier days > he did engage in stereotypical "coloured" behaviors, such as a love of > gin, shooting craps, and loose women, and in his spare time he could be > found on Central Avenue (or in Harlem whenever he was in New York). > Jokes about these traits only made sense because everybody knew > Rochester was black. That's the view that gets expressed most frequently. Yet how true is it really? Would jokes about a Benny character having a fondness for liquor, women and gambling =really= only make sense if the character were known to be (fill in your own preferred term for Eddie Anderson's "race" here)? Then explain Phil Harris. Benny's Harris was (always) a bigger drinker, (until his marriage) a far greater womanizer, and every bit as big a bettor. Yes, he was a musician, and there were similar stereotypes bandied about musicians in those regards. But the Benny show worked because it exaggerated to (some might say well past) the point of absurdity these sorts of stereotypes, causing the stereotypes to cease to have any real meaning and creating real people beneath those stereotypes. Past the bluster, Harris was a warm-hearted family man who adored his kids and was devoted to his music (even if he didn't have enough formal education to actually =read= any of it). Even with Bill Morrow and Ed Beloin writing him in the early 1940s, Rochester was portrayed as the one who ran the Benny homestead (and many of Jack's business ventures, as well), and was given lines that presume a status level within the household that =no= domestic character of any race, color or gender would again approach until the 1970s (Soap). Eddie "Rochester" Anderson was generally known to the public to be Black/Negro/Colored/African-American/whatever because he made public appearances, acted in films (mainstream and "race"), and made print endorsements featuring his likeness. NOT because there was something so monolithically stereotypical about his character that he just "had" to be non-White. > Incidentally, Jack mentioned in his autobiography > that he was glad when these traits disappeared from Rochester's > character after the war. Which was not quite accurate. The most extreme aspects of the early Rochester character (the lazier, superstitious, razor-fighting Rochester, if you will) were generally gone by the late fall of 1942 (not coincidentally, within weeks of the removal of Morrow/Beloin as head writers), but he still was prone to more than a few late night soirees on LA's Central Avenue long into the television era, the occasional nip/swig/downing of demon liquor, and devoting a not-insignificant portion of his efforts to looking for his fair share of potential Mrs. Van Joneses. By then, though, =all= the cast's earlier stereotypes had long since been exaggerated out of relevance except as gag lines or very occasional plot points, to the point where using an earlier script (the situation to which Benny's autobiographical allusion responds) in which characters are not as fully realized would seem jarring and even bigoted. That goes not just for the earlier Rochester, but also for the much more shrewish and man-crazy Mary of the earlier era, and even the angrier (the 1938-40 Benny was apt to snap at anyone for anything, or nothing much at all) confrontationally parsimonious Jack. The traits were still there, but they no longer defined the characters so completely. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 11:17:08 +0000 From: "jazmaan@[removed]" <dmf273@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Jack Benny and Race Today I happened to hear the episode where Butterfly McQueen and her "uncle" Rochester are in the audience as shills to laugh out loud at Jack's bad jokes. Butterfly and Rochester, what a pairing of unique comedic black voices!! Jack does a lengthy skit about Brazilians, only it seems more like he's doing generic Mexican south-of-the border siesta shtick about how "lazy" they are about everything. I usually can't stand Dennis Day's vocal interludes but I must admit he gave a pretty nice rendition of "Brazil". And then Jack comes in and plays the violin with a hilarious vocal chorus behind him singing a "Grape Nut Flakes" jingle set to the tune of "Brazil". ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 11:17:38 +0000 From: Thomas Bray <orderinfo@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Re: Jack Benny Joke On Oct 22, 2004, at 1:13 PM, Chris wrote: > I remember one particular episode (sorry, can't remember date) where Jack > is complaining about Rochester's relatives who had come to visit. Jack > said something along the lines of I should plant some cotton to give them > something to do." I remember being astounded when I heard [removed] I mean, > wow, I wasn't expecting that. Chris: While I understand the reaction (the joke is certainly NOT PC and is, through our more enlightened prism, even in bad taste), as an old comedy writer, were I to transport my self through time back to the days of the Benny show, I might have actually pitched that joke. It's actually very much in character for Jack; one, much of what he said had a streak of the ridiculous about it, and when taken through the famous JACK IS CHEAP filter, it has a much more acceptable through line of logic to it. Think about the joke again and remember how tight Jack is with a buck--the joke takes on an added dimension. Please, no floods of angry mail. By today's standards, it is tasteless. But there is more to the joke than meets the eye; I believe it was very much in character and quite a smart, if not bold, Benny joke for that time. Thom Bray ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 11:17:52 +0000 From: "Jim Harmon" <jimharmonotr@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: superheroes X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain Hello -- Besides Superman, someone has pointed there was the Blue Beetle who had super-strength and many of the same powers as the more famous Man of Steel. Then there is the matter of the Green Lama. In comic books, he could fly and let bullets bounce off of him, but on radio if he had such powers he never USED them and just acted as an ordinary detective. Then there is the matter of Captain Marvel. A number of people have said they heard Captain Marvel on the radio briefly. I am sure I saw a listing of it in a radio log in an old magazine, but I was not able to find that magazine again. MAYBE he was on radio until the owners of Superman brought pressure. In comic books, Captain Midnight and Batman (guest star on Superman radio) are often said to be superheroes so I guess that would extend to their radio appearances. The same could be said of the Green Hornet. The Avenger could, like The Shadow, become invisible (the Avenger used a secret gas to do the trick). Many would call both superheroes. Tarzan was one the earliest heroes on radio, and continued into the fifties. Certainly his powers were beyond those of a mortal man. Question to somebody: Why do I always get a notice to send "plain text" emails to the OTR letterzine? I AM sending plain text with no doodles. -- JIM HARMON *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear *** *** as the sender intended. *** ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 11:18:01 +0000 From: Ken Dahl <kdahl@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Second Honeymoon A few weeks ago Max Schmid had a posting to the OTR Digest requesting information on specific radio programs. One of the programs he listed was Second Honeymoon. I advised Max off line that I had attended a broadcast of Second Honeymoon and informed him, as best as I could remember, details about the program. He thanked me for the information and encouraged me to post the details to the Digest. What follows is almost a word for word posting of what I sent to Max. In 1949 I was in New York City with my parents in preparation for a 5 month trip to Norway. We stayed at the Paramount Hotel and one of the bellboys gave us tickets to attend a broadcast of the Second Honeymoon program which was, as I recall, at another hotel. The broadcast studio had the appearance of a large conference room with rows of folded chairs. Perhaps 200 people could have been seated. At the front of the studio was a raised stage and to the side of the stage was a glass enclosed room where an engineer sat. About 20 minutes before airtime, a couple of producers went into the audience and asked for married couples to raise their hands if they wished to be contestants on the program. Perhaps about a dozen couples responded. The producers then asked each couple too briefly tell why they deserved a second honeymoon. The producers then got together and selected either 2 or 3 couples who then went on stage and during the broadcast each couple told their story as to why they deserved a second honeymoon. It was quick paced as I believe the program was only 15 minutes long. The winner was detemined by audience applause. The winning prize was a getaway weekend for the couple that won. On exiting the studio we were given a ballpoint pen. It was the first such pen we had ever seen. Remember, this was 1949. That is my memory of the program. Regards, Ken Dahl ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 11:18:12 +0000 From: "Matthew Bullis" <matthewbullis@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Anyone have Hangman Won't waitt? Hello, I got halfway through this Suspense program, only to find my file incomplete. Does anyone have this show which they can send me? Thanks a lot. Matthew ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 11:18:23 +0000 From: "Stewart Wright" <stewwright@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: RE: Gunsmoke program "I Don't Know" Matthew asked: > Hello, is this show from December 6, 1952 really supposed to be called I > Don't Know, or is it someone saying "I don't know what this show should be > called, so I'll just say I don't know?" It sure seems like a lame title to > me, even though these titles are made up by collectors anyway. > Thanks a lot. The title for the episode in question is actually "I don't Know." The episode titles for GUNSMOKE Were Not " made up by collectors." GUNSMOKE is one of many series that did not broadcast episode titles, but did have episode titles on the scripts. Unlike many other series, documented proof of the GUNSMOKE episode titles has survived. In the last few years, I was working on a GUNSMOKE research project and got to view over 350 scripts from the radio series. Each script had an episode title on the cover page of the script. Also, SuzAnne and Gabor Barabas wrote an extensive book called "Gunsmoke A Complete History and Analysis of the Legendary Broadcast Series with a Comprehensive Episode-by-Episode Guide to Both the Radio and Television Programs." The authors had access to the scripts and other series-related documentation. The titles for the radio and television are listed in the book. Signing off for now, Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 11:18:35 +0000 From: <otrbuff@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Good and bad soap operas Irene Heinstein postulates: > Do any of you know which soaps were the best? and the worst? Were all > the Hummert soaps as bad as 'Backstage Wife'. Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and there are probably some on this list who could dub Jack Benny, McGee and Molly, Fred Allen, Suspense, and Johnny Dollar as "bad." It's a matter of personal preference, wouldn't you agree? Backstage Wife, in spite of its repetitive Hummert style of addressing a character by name every two or three sentences so the listener could never doubt who was speaking to whom, was a delightful story. Particularly so if you were to hear the near- consecutive broadcasts in widespread circulation that run for many more than 100 episodes. They concern the usual cat and mouse chases but they also dissolve into a murder mystery with poor Larry Noble the accused, spouse of beleaguered heroine Mary. It's a stirring narrative, tidbits of the yarn being gradually meted out to a captivated audience that's just itching to discover "what happens next?" I'll grant you that any serial (or series) can have a "bad day" or even a "bad sequence." But please don't judge a chapter play that ran for 24 years (from 1935-59) by a single installment. Given that there were nearly 300 soap operas, it was probably one of the best. What were some examples of "good" soap operas? Irene pondered. Depending on one's preferences I'd list among them (strictly based on literary qualities, directing and acting) in no particular order Ma Perkins, Wendy Warren and the News, Hilltop House, One Man's Family, Perry Mason, Backstage Wife, Stella Dallas, The Right to Happiness, Life Can Be Beautiful, Pepper Young's Family, Against the Storm, The Second Mrs. Burton, The Brighter Day, Road of Life, Big Sister and Lorenzo Jones. Most (but not all) omitted the pathos and romantic triangles found elsewhere and some sounded pretty close to normalcy. And the worst, you ask? Again, it depends on one's definition. If we can acknowledge that the Hummerts majored on quantity instead of quality, then their serials become suspect. Most historiographers claim their factory produced more banal dialogue than all the rest put together. Thus, similar fates awaited the heroines of Lora Lawton, Amanda of Honeymoon Hill, Our Gal Sunday, The Romance of Helen Trent, Young Widder Brown, John's Other Wife, Betty and Bob and scores of others. (The Hummerts initiated more than 60 daytime serials.) Backstage Wife was an example of their work, yet pursued a pretty mesmerizing plotline about a famous matinee stage idol and ongoing voluptuous vixens vying for his attention. Just Plain Bill and David Harum were pretty good tales from the same camp. Possibly the most stellar of the Hummert features was Stella Dallas. While it was totally implausible, nevertheless it could hold fans spellbound as the Boston seamstress went after anybody who maligned her Lolly-Baby, pursuing them around the globe if need be. It was so unreal it seemed plausible at times (like Jack Armstrong, Sky King and The Cisco Kid about an hour later), and you could chuckle to yourself at Stella's ridiculous, yet comical antics. Don't judge a book by its cover, and don't think you've figured out a serial after hearing one quarter-hour episode, I would humbly beg. Jim Cox ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 11:20:06 +0000 From: BH <radiobill@[removed]; To: <[removed]@[removed]; Subject: Portable Radios and transistors From: Tom Greenli > I just read an interesting article on the MSNBC about > the first transister radio. Can you believe that was > 50 years ago? If you are interested check out: > [removed] As usual, the media never quite gets the facts straight. "But the people at Regency based their radio on a product from a company called Texas Instruments — the transistor." Regency did not develope what was to be known as the TR-1 the first pocket transistor radio, that was done at Texas Instruments. A member of the Vintage Radio & Phonograph Society of Irving, Tx., was the project engineer on the pocket transistor radio. He gave a talk some years ago at the VRPS Convention awards banquet about the development of the set. He had a hand wired prototype for display. Many components like Intermediate Transformers and output transformers had to be hand made by the engineers as there were no units small enough available. Texas Instruments approached RCA about marketing the transistor radio but RCA wasn't interested, so TI contacted the Regency Division of IDE (Industral Development Engineering - Indianapolis, Indiana) and TI contracted with them to manufactur the sets. "Legend has it that the boss at IBM was so enamored by the unbelievable idea of the world's first pocket radio that he bought a bunch of them for other movers and shakers at his [removed];nbsp; He wanted them to be able to be informed and get breaking news before anyone else." Thomas Watson Jr. of IBM was impressed with the transistor and had the foresite to see that transistors could replace tubes in computers, greatly reducing size and power requirements. He ordered that after June 1, 1958, no more IBM machines were to be built using tubes. Many engineers were not convinced of the usefulness of transistor, so when one expressed doubts, he handed them a TR-1. So it wasn't for breaking news he purchased a number of the radio, it was the fact he wanted to show the engineers what the transistor was capable of. At the VRPS banquet, the TI engineer told a story of how they took a prototype to Indianapolis and could tune in WBAP in Ft. Worth, TX at night, even though the set only use four transistors. Bill H. -------------------------------- End of [removed] Digest V2004 Issue #341 ********************************************* Copyright [removed] Communications, York, PA; All Rights Reserved, including republication in any form. 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