Episodes
Friday Feb 15, 2019
Coleman Cox - Pgm 12
Friday Feb 15, 2019
Friday Feb 15, 2019
Following up on our previous post, here’s program 12 in the “Coleman Cox” series. The announcer is probably Hal Dean and the first bit of philosophy is “If you need it, really want, have the money, and can spare it, go and buy it. It is not that which you deny yourself, but what you buy yourself.”
The show was dubbed to digital from a ten inch MacGregor & Sollie Recording Laboratories laminated disc pressed by Columbia, matrix number MS-1312. The disc runs at 33 1/3 rpm and plays inside-out.
Friday Feb 15, 2019
Coleman Cox - Pgm 11
Friday Feb 15, 2019
Friday Feb 15, 2019
In this post and the next, two shows in an odd little series of syndicated five minute programs by “Coleman Cox”.
My research hasn’t turned up much about Cox, except that he was an author from California that published in the 1920s. At JJ’s radio logs site, he pops up in the 1934-35 New York Times and Los Angeles radio listings. On WJZ, he was listed as a “Philosopher”.
And that appears to be what Coleman Cox is doing here in program 11. After the show introduction, describing Cox as “the kindly philosopher who smiles as he talks”, Cox offers little bits of wisdom, such as “You’re well dressed when no-one can remember anything you’re wearing”. Each little bit is separated by a bell. Oddly, the theme song is “Jingle Bells”. The announcer sounds like Hal Dean, heard on the Curtis Springer transcriptions I posted on the blog awhile back.
Our mp3 was directly digitized from a ten inch MacGregor & Sollie Recording Laboratories laminated 33 1/3 rpm disc pressed by Columbia, matrix number MS-1311. The disc plays from inside-out.
In the next post - the other side of the disc.
Saturday Nov 10, 2018
As Told by Jim Tully - Clark Gable
Saturday Nov 10, 2018
Saturday Nov 10, 2018
Finally, following up from our previous posts, Jim Tully tells us about the personal side of Clark Gable and his early career.
Saturday Nov 10, 2018
As Told by Jim Tully - Spencer Tracy
Saturday Nov 10, 2018
Saturday Nov 10, 2018
Following up on our previous post, Tully tells us about the early career of Spencer Tracy and how he got started in Hollywood and his friend Pat O’Brien.
Saturday Nov 10, 2018
As Told by Jim Tully - Jack Dempsey
Saturday Nov 10, 2018
Saturday Nov 10, 2018
Last week, we heard a fifteen minute show adapted from Jim Tully’s popular book on his years “riding the rails” and learned about Tully’s later work in Hollywood as a columnist.
This week, a set of three five minute shows from the same time period by Tully. In these, we hear from Tully himself, telling stories about his friends in Hollywood.
The first show on the disc has Tully telling us about prizefighter Jack Dempsey, “one of the finest fellows I’ve ever known” and talks about the personal side of the night of the Tunny fight.
I haven’t found anything else about this program; it may just be an audition disc for a series that never went into syndication. Based on the internal references, I’m guessing it dates from around 1937.
Our show, along with the next two episodes, were transferred direct from a shellac 16” Hollywood Recorders transcription, matrix number HR 1006.
Saturday May 06, 2017
How About That - Pgm 2
Saturday May 06, 2017
Saturday May 06, 2017
Here's our second and final program in the syndicated series “How About That”, hosted by Gregory Abbott.
In program 2, the first story is about a “lighthouse” to call waiters at restaurants. We also hear about “emergency umbrellas”, creating sterling silver objects as a hobby, cooking a perfect poached egg, and the work of CARE rebuilding libraries in war-torn Europe to combat the rise of Communist propaganda.
Our mp3 was transferred from an original sixteen inch vinyl transcription distributed by the Faught Company, 342 Madison Avenue, New York, matrix number 3132. Apologies for the rough sound on this one - as you can see from the photo, this was a pretty beat up disc.
Saturday Apr 22, 2017
How About That - Pgm 1
Saturday Apr 22, 2017
Saturday Apr 22, 2017
This week, we hear the first of a couple of episodes of an odd little series, “How About That”, hosted by Gregory Abbott. Goldin dates the show to 1949.
The series is similar to “Ripley’s Believe It or Not”, with more of a slant on science and industry. The stories in program one concentrate on spring. The first story is about “Overhand Joe”, an automated baseball pitching machine used in spring training. Seed companies are coating their seeds in the same color as the flowers that will bloom. Experiments in growing grass for golf courses makes advances for home lawns. A special guest talks about materials made from the then-new material, latex foam rubber.
Our mp3 was transferred from an original sixteen inch vinyl transcription syndicated by the Fought Company, 342 Madison Avenue, New York, matrix number 3131.
I’ve never seen anything other than programs 1 and 2 circulating from this series - I wonder if these were just demonstration programs for a series that never made it to air or if these are just more commonly found because they were used for demonstration purposes and more widely circulated than the series itself.
Saturday Mar 25, 2017
For Your Consideration - Pgm 4 - November 26, 1941
Saturday Mar 25, 2017
Saturday Mar 25, 2017
I’ve been posting some previously lost local programming that came from a group of “throwaway” working lacquers from WHBC in Canton, Ohio over the past few weeks.
We continue our look at these unusual discs with another episode of “For Your Consideration” sponsored by the Timken Company. The show was heard Sundays at 1:00 pm.
Program four in the series, heard November 26, 1941, is the usual mix of light music by a small group playing live in the studio and talk by an unidentified commentator. The talk is about how you perceive different things in life based on your experience and point of view. The show includes an id at the end for the Ohio Broadcasting Company.
The show was transferred from an original 16” Audiodisc lacquer.
It’s odd to hear a little show like this that was broadcast just a couple of weeks before Pearl Harbor.
Saturday Mar 11, 2017
Curtis Springer for Acidine - Pgm 5
Saturday Mar 11, 2017
Saturday Mar 11, 2017
And now the last episode I have in my collection of an obscure early 30s syndicated radio show featuring Curtis H. Springer, the “King of the Quacks”, with his advice on “the facts about life”. You can read more about Springer in my first post on the series.
In program 5, Springer starts off his commentary talking about old family photographs, leading into his pitch for how fashions can be damaging to health. The sponsor is Acidine and your announcer is Hal Dean.
Our mp3 was transferred direct from a translucent blue one-sided 16” celluloid Brunswick transcription, matrix number 9153. The disc was pressed by Flexo, a manufacturer of promotional and radio-related discs made with experimental plastics in the early 1930s. The series was recorded in Chicago.
Thursday Jan 26, 2017
Curtis Springer for Acidine - Pgm 3
Thursday Jan 26, 2017
Thursday Jan 26, 2017
Now we continue our run of the first five episodes of “Curtis Springer”, a daily fifteen minute show featuring commentary by the “King of Quacks” with his advice on the “facts about life”. You can read more about Springer in my first post on the series.
In this episode talks about two “dizzy blondes” he overheard at a restaurant talking about doping up kids they were supposed to be babysitting when they went out for a hot night of dancing. He didn’t intervene or report the conversation because he would be wasting his time trying to give advice to someone who doesn’t want it. This syndicated series was sponsored by Acidine.
The mp3 you’re listening to was transferred direct from a translucent blue one-sided 16” celluloid Brunswick transcription, matrix number 9151, pressed by Flexo, a manufacturer of promotional and radio-related discs made with experimental plastics in the early 1930s.
Again, I think these may be the only surviving radio programs by Springer from the 1930s.