September 27, 2008
“The Goon Show” is one of my all-time favorite radio programs, a remarkable bit of silliness produced by the BBC throughout the 1950s and featuring Harry Secombe, Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers. I never thought I’d find an original transcription from the series, but here ’tis.
“The Pevensey Bay Disaster” was originally broadcast on the BBC as episode 10 in the sixth “Goon Show” series on April 3, 1956. A bit of trivia - just after this program was recorded, a rail disaster occurred and another program in the series was substituted that week; the program was run in the UK months after it was originally recorded.
What you’ll hear in this post is a BBC Transcription Service version of the program as it was originally syndicated in the US in the mid to late 1950s. The shows were edited slightly for overseas markets to remove time sensitive material or jokes that might have been a little too specific to British culture. The BBC has produced a series of audio cds I’d encourage you to buy if you like the show, going back to the original master tapes to reproduce the series as it was originally broadcast.
I’ve often wondered what the reaction was to the “Goon Show” on its first syndicated run here in the States. At the time, there was nothing quite like it on radio; the program was a huge hit in Britain and became something of an institution. The Goons would inspire later comedy shows such as “Monty Python” and “Little Britain”.
The show was transferred from an original set of BBC Transcription Service discs, matrix numbers 16PH86821 and 16PH86822. There’s a very brief “squeal” from “up cue” damage to disc on part two of the show.
Here’s a rare of example of otr by and for African-Americans. “The Harlem Hospitality Club” was originally broadcast on Saturdays at 2:00 pm from the Savoy Ballroom in New York on the Mutual network. The program was hosted by Willie Bryan and features the Lou Mel Morgan trio. The show is a fascinating mix of live rhythm and blues performances and audience participation. I’ve never seen the show in circulation and have heard of only one other collector that has a couple of shows in the series.
Program number 11 in the series as it was rebroadcast by the Armed Forces Radio Service features guest vocalists Little Miss Cornshucks and Amanda Randolph. Songs include “Keep Your Hands on Your Heart”, “All of Me” and others.
During the program, Bryant interviews the following audience members:
- Zella Carter from Mackenzie, Tennessee
- Andy Addison from Atlantic City and Leroy Johnson from New York, two cooks who discuss whether women are better at cooking than men
- June Williams of Newport, Vermont, who is studying psychology
- a woman from Williamsburg, Virginia who is 76 years old
- Elizabeth Singleton from Snow Hill, South Carolina, about cooking Southern BBQ pig.
The program was transferred from original vinyl AFRS transcription. I have one other program in the series I’ll be posting soon.
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drama — randsesotericotr @ 6:37 pm
“Calling All Cars” was a fixture on radio throughout the 1930s, a “true life” crime drama series sponsored by Rio Grande Oil on CBS’s West Coast stations and broadcast via transcription to stations throughout the Southwest.
In this post, “The Banker Bandit”, originally broadcast on February 24, 1937. The story, of course, concerns an exciting bank robbery. If you’ve never heard the show before, it may remind you of a more primitive version of “Gangbusters” or “Dragnet”.
Because of the distribution of the series through transcriptions, almost every episode in the series survives. If you like the show, you might want to check out a cd set produced by the First Generation Radio Archives of digitally restored programs from the series.
The program was transferred from an original Freeman Lang shellac transcription, probably pressed by Columbia, matrix numbers Matrix numbers L-8128 and L8129. My apologies for some surface noise on side one - the disc is a bit warped.
Another episode of “Your Home Front Reporter”, a series of discs I recently obtained of a program not heard since World War II. A mix of music and hints and information about the War aimed primarily at women, the series was originally broadcast weekdays on CBS and sponsored by the Owens Illinois Glass Company.
In program 96 of the series, originally broadcast September 20, 1943, Fletcher Wiley’s commentary is on why service flags are a symbol of democracy. Wiley also talks about making the most of clothes during wartime. Phil Hanna and Diana Gayle sing “Tip Toe Through the Tulips” and “The West, A Nest, and You”; Phil Regan sings “Boy of Mine”. Wilbur Hatch conducts the orchestra.
Transferred from an original vinyl transcription, matrix numbers BB37016 and BB37017, pressed by World Broadcasting System, Inc. for the Owens Illinois Glass Company.
September 18, 2008
This week, I’m offering up another rarity that I haven’t been able to dig up much information on. It’s the “Dennis Day Show”, distributed as program 185 in the series by the Armed Forces Radio Service.
You may be familiar with Dennis Day from his appearances on the “Jack Benny Show” and you may have heard a sitcom that ran in the late 1940s featuring Day that’s sometimes called “A Day in the Life of Dennis Day”. This program, however, is from a musical variety series done by Dennis Day in the mid-1950s. I recently found this episode, along with two others in this series and a previously lost 1946 episode of the “Dennis Day Show” in a group of discs I purchased from another collector.
In program 185 in the series, the guests are Mel Blanc and Patty Andrews. Dennis sings “It’s a Grand Night for Singing” and Blanc performs “I Tawt I Taw a Putty Tat”. The main comedy sketch is a parody that looks at what radio would sound like in Ireland and includes satires of “Dragnet” and “Old Doctor Malone”.
The show may have been on June 19, 1955, a date which is noted on the disc label; the content of the programs does definitely date it to 1954 or 1955. Does anyone have information on this series and which network it was broadcast on?
The show as transferred from a set of original vinyl AFRS transcription discs. The other two episodes from the series, along with other finds, will be going on the blog soon.
I’m a big fan of “Suspense” and feel quite lucky to have obtained a few AFRS transcriptions of the series for my collection. Here’s another early episode of the program, “The Cross-Eyed Bear”, originally broadcast sixty-five years ago this week on September 16, 1943. It was distributed as program 21 in the “Suspense” series by the Armed Forces Radio Service.
The show stars Virginia Bruce as a young woman that’s hired for a job that turns out to be more than she bargained for. Like many early “Suspense” programs, they were still struggling with finding the right style for the shows - this one has a plot that’s probably a bit too complicated to be as gripping as later scripts in the series, but it’s still well done.
The transfer is direct from an original Armed Forces Radio vinyl transcription.
Here’s the last transcription I’ll be posting for now in the series “The Works Progress Administration Presents”, a program featuring musical ensembles of the Federal Music Project and information about programs and services of the WPA to help communities with the Depression.
In program 46 of the 1938 series, we hear the Commonwealth Symphony and State Chorus of Boston, conducted by A. Buckingham Simpson, performing excerpts of Bizet’s “Carmen”. The program was transferred directly from an original RCA Victrolac pressing, matrix MS 013478.
I have one more program in the series, featuring a Federal Music Project group performing folk music of Mexico, but it’s badly pressed and doesn’t have the best sound - if someone is interested, I can post it on the blog at a later time.
Another entry in the series, “Your Home Front Reporter”, originally broadcast weekdays on CBS and sponsored by the Owens Illinois Glass Company, featuring commentator Fletcher Wiley. This is a series of discs I recently obtained of a series not heard since World War II. In program 26 of the series, broadcast June 14, 1943, Fletcher Wiley talks about a new “welding” sewing machine you can buy after the War if you buy and save up your War Bonds and offers a commentary on keeping a positive attitude and “getting along” with what’s available in wartime. Frank Parker sings “Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes”; Parker and Eleanor Stebel perform “If You Were the Only Girl in the World” and Stebel sings Gershwin’s “Summertime”. The show features the David Brookman Orchestra and announcer Hugh Conover.
The program was transferred from a vinyl transcription, matrix numbers BB35796 and BB35797, pressed by World Broadcasting System, Inc. for the Owens Illinois Glass Company.
September 12, 2008
“Showtime” was an Armed Forces Radio Series series that would take different forms. Sometimes, it would be more of a “disc jockey” program with show-tunes, at other times it would rebroadcast radio programs based on stage or screen musicals.
In this offering, a half-hour condensation of an episode of “Lux Radio Theater” originally broadcast on CBS on April 7, 1947 of “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”. The show features Tyrone Power, Dick Haines, Margaret Whiting and Al Jolson as himself. It’s a good example of how AFRS engineers could skillfully edit material from acetate transcriptions into a seamless program - it’s a breezy, tune-filled program.
The episode was transferred from an original AFRS transcription.
Just a couple of more shows in our series “The Two Daffodils”, a charming little comedy show from circa 1930-31 with Ken Gillum and Duke Atterbury. The program was syndicated by the Continental Broadcasting Corporation.
In program 3082-A, Ken shows off his fancy piano skills in the first unidentified number in the show and there’s a brief sketch that takes place in a police station (a sketch that turns into a Scotsman joke). Ken then sings “I Care for Her, She Cares for Me”; Little Oscar and poet Ewescray pay a visit.
Transferred from an original Continental Broadcasting Corporation laminated transcription pressed by Columbia.
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