November 18, 2009
This month I’m on something of a World War II kick - in this post, we’re revisiting a series I started running last year and I’ll be running the last four episodes in my collection over the next few weeks.
“Your Home Front Reporter” was broadcast in the afternoons on CBS starting in May 1943 and sponsored by the Owens Illinois Glass Company. The program is a mix of light operetta music by Frank Parker and Met opera star Eleanor Steber and commentary and news on the War aimed at housewives.
Program 106 in the series was originally broadcast October 4, 1943, and includes news of advances by the Allies in Europe and the Pacific. There’s also commentary about how the Fall harvest celebrations and Thanksgiving are a little different during Wartime.
The program was transferred from vinyl transcription, matrix numbers BB37198 and BB37199, pressed by World Broadcasting System, Inc. for the Owens Illinois Glass Company.
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music — randsesotericotr @ 8:36 pm
I’m pleased to offer another previously “lost” show, saved for us by an unknown local station doing some time shifting of their network programming.
“Blue Ribbon Music Time” was a program of light orchestral music broadcast on NBC and, of course, sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer. The series threw the spotlight on David Rose and His Orchestra and vocalist Georgia Gibbs. On the program of September 11, 1947. Rose starts off the show with “I Get A Kick Out of You” and Gibbs sings “The Boy Next Door”. Later in the show, we hear Rose’s arrangement of “Rhapsody in Blue”. The announcer is Jimmy Wallington.
The show was transferred from original line check acetate recorded at unknown local NBC station and includes the chimes; it appears to be lost/uncirculated.
We come to the end of a series of excerpts from the CBS series “Pick and Pat”, featuring Blackface comedians Pick Padgett and Pat Malone. The shows were recorded for the producer of the series and turned up from an estate sale a few months ago.
This excerpt, part of 2 of a program originally recorded in three sections, has Pick and Pat doing a routine about poetry. “I Married an Angel” is played by saxophonist Benny Kruegar and the orchestra and tenor Edward Roecker sings “The Girl in the Bonnet of Blue”. The excerpt would appear to be from sometime in 1938, based on other discs in the series from this collection.
The show was transferred from original WABC aircheck lacquer recorded by Advertiser’s Recording Service, New York and was previously lost.
In this post, a bit of a mystery - an unnumbered and undated episode of the Armed Forces Radio series “Mail Call”.
The host of the program is Jane Nye. The King Sisters kick off the show with “Candy”. Betty Grable, Bob Hope, Humphrey Bogart and Bing Crosby appear in a sketch that parodies “The Princess and the Pirate”. The program also includes appearances by Dick Haymes, Ken Murray, Marilyn Maxell. It sounds like it’s probably an “assembled” show, with Nye’s segments recorded to introduce segments from other Armed Forces Radio programming.
The show was transferred from a unusual 14″ microgroove lacquer that sounds like a dub of an original AFRS disc and appears to date from the 1960s. Christopher McPherson donated the disc to the blog and, believe it or not, the disc came from the estate of Mae West.
Goldin lists his particular “Mail Call” episode, but I couldn’t find any other references to the show. Is the original vinyl disc still out there somewhere?
Jimmy Powers picks up “The Grantland Rice Story” again this week in this Thesaurus syndicated series from circa 1956.
Program 7 in the series, “The Story of Big Bill Tilden” focuses on the world of tennis. Included in the show is an interview with player Vinnie Richards, who had an outstanding career in the sport in the 20s and 30s.
Our mp3 was transferred from original RCA Thesaurus 12″ vinyl transcription, matrix number F7-MR-5064-1.
And now, this week’s installment of “American Family Robinson”, a syndicated 1930s serial sponsored by the National Association of Manufacturers to influence public opinion on Roosevelt’s New Deal economic policies.
We’ve skipped ahead a few episodes, since I’m missing some discs in the series. In program 48, the story picks up with the dedication of a new factory in town and Luke Robinson, editor of the paper, has gotten a speaking slot at the event for Windy Bill and tries to get a job for him at the factory.
The show was transferred from an original World Broadcaster’s acetate transcription, matrix number 8911-1.
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updates — randsesotericotr @ 8:28 pm
Well, I’m back and ready to roll with some new shows. Thanks for your kind words during the break…
November 15, 2009
Filed under:
updates — randsesotericotr @ 7:50 pm
It’s been a busy couple of weeks for me with some unexpected dental surgery and work with my “day job”.
The blog returns later this week when things start getting back to normal (whatever “normal” is)….
October 29, 2009
Filed under:
horror — randsesotericotr @ 2:36 pm
Well, here’s something to keep the kiddies scared on Halloween.
“The Sealed Book” was a horror program from the 1940s that was a bit of a mish-mash. It was hosted by a “keeper of the book” that remind you of “The Hermit’s Cave” or “The Witch’s Tale”. And most of the scripts were originally produced on Mutual’s series, “The Mysterious Traveler”. The show isn’t particularly well regarded for its acting and direction, but it can be campy, gruesome fun.
“Escape by Death” is program 5 in the series and tells the story of an elderly woman who comes to believe that her relatives are trying to kill her. The show is dated by Goldin to April 14, 1945, and it was originally broadcast on Mutual. According to otrsite.com’s log of the series, the script was originally produced on “The Mysterious Traveler” on April 23, 1944.
The show was transferred from an original vinyl Charles Michelson transcription set, matrix numbers WOR-7-2315A and WOR-7-2315B.
Here’s a rare treat with a Halloween theme - some music composed especially for the spooky season.
It’s a concert from the “Hollywood Bowl”, distributed as Program 78 in the series when it was broadcast on the Armed Forces Radio Service. According to Jim Hiliker of Monterey, California on the OTR mailing list, KFI locally broadcast the Hollywood Bowl concerts in the 30s and 40s, so the show probably originated at KFI.
A Mario Lanza website dates this particular show to July 24, 1948. It’s “MGM Night”, so we hear various musicians and personalities under contract to the studio. The orchestra is conducted by Miklos Rozsa and we hear Mario Lanza, very early in his Hollywood career, and Kathryn Grayson doing the vocal duties. The program opens with the overture to the “Bartered Bride” and we hear works by Puccini and Victor Herbert.
The highlight of the show is “The Halloween Suite” composed by none other than actor Lionel Barrymore, who also provides narration for the piece. This “Time” magazine article from 1944, notes that Barrymore had composed hundreds of works in the since the turn of the century, a side of the famous actor not as well known as his work on the screen.
The show was transferred from an original undated AFRS vinyl transcription set and appears to be uncommon or uncirculated among old time radio enthusiasts.
updated 11.3.2009: Corrected spelling of “Miklos Rozsa”.
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