Working out of Chicago, Springer appeared on radio hawking various patent medicines.  He applied for airtime on WGN and the station contacted the American Medical Association to check out his credentials.  The AMA was appalled and produced a journal article on Springer, calling him the “King of Quacks”.

In this post, we hear Program 1 of a series Springer appeared in hawking Acidine, “Nature’s Normalizer for Acid Stomachs”, for United Remedies.  It’s one of five discs of the series I picked up in an auction a few months ago.  In the shows, Springer takes questions from listeners that mix a homespun philosophies about religion and healthful living with colorful stories about his own life and the people he’s met in his travels.  In the first program of the series, Springer advises a listener about mortgaging their house to pay for their son’s college education.  Springer, of course, comes down on the side of experience and drive, rather than a college education, to get ahead in life.  The commercial announcer is identified in program 4 as Hal Dean.

I’ve found a couple of listings for what I think is this program in “Radio Guide” and “Broadcasting” magazines from 1934, so that’s the likely time frame they were originally heard.

Springer would go on to found the Zzyzx health spa in the Mojave Desert of California in 1944, continuing his syndicated radio programs.  In 1974, Federal authorities shut down Springer’s operation, convicting him of squatting on Federal lands and making false claims about the health foods and remedies he sold.

Our program was transferred from an original single-sided translucent blue celluloid Brunswick transcription, matrix number 9149.  The disc was pressed by Flexo, which was producing various promotion and radio-related plastic and celluloid discs.  Unfortunately, the transcription, like many Flexo pressings has distorted over time, so it was a little difficult to play - you’ll hear some noise and “swoosh” sounds from the aging plastic surface.

The show was previously lost and uncirculated.  I’ll post the other discs I found from the series later - from what I can tell, these are the only surviving broadcasts by the “King of Quacks”.

In this post, a bit of a mystery.

Some months ago, I got some reel to reel tapes that came from someone that was connected with WCBS in New York.  In a previous post, I uploaded a lengthy excerpt from the October 30, 1957 edition of the “Lanny Ross Show” that came from one of the tapes in the group.

This tape is a 7″ Scotch reel recorded in full-track mono at 7.5 ips.  The box is labeled “Skin/LB (piano) - Feb 12 55″ on the back.

There’s a slip of WCBS memo paper that was in the tape box with a handwritten list of songs.  I can’t read the handwriting very well, but it looks like this.  (You can download a scan of the paper here.)

Act I -The Colder Day of the Year -Telegram! -The Whole Crooked Family -It’s Cold

Act II -The Ancient Ordering Mermaids (?) -? (looks like “Kedel”) -Sabrina -Evening (?) Senior Years -Two of Every Kid (Kind?)

Act III -Poor Before We Know It -Sweet Hong (?) -Hour of the Night/Magic -The Coldest Day/Frak (? - “Finale”?)

Also in the tape box was a standard postcard with the notation “Copy to SS” and someone’s signature.  (Download a scan here.)

The tape itself contains different songs played on piano.  There’s no announcements or other audio on the tape.  The mp3 in the post is the first song from the tape, or at least part of it - the tape is starting to curl and warp on the outer edges and doesn’t have a leader at the beginning.  The reel seems to start in the middle of one of the songs.

I’m not sure if this is connected with some type of special show that was done for WCBS or maybe for CBS Television.  I did some searching on JJ’s Radio Logs for 1955, Goldin’s radio show database, and on Billboard magazine at Google Books, but didn’t turn up any radio or tv show with “Skin” in the title.

Anyone know what this is?

Our mp3 was dubbed direct from a 7″ full-track mono Scotch reel to reel tape running at 7.5 ips.

Update, 01 April 2013

My apologies to the folks who commented and got all excited about this “find” on forums and email lists, but Leonard Bernstein’s “Skin of Our Teeth” remains lost.

I hate to say it but … “April Fools”!

I’d like to congratulate my co-conspirators in the gag.

My friend Sean Martin, cartoonist, 3d artist and Broadway aficionado, suggested the idea.  I worked with him on the type of tape box and other elements that might be convincing for the period.  He mocked up all the documents and the tape box in Photoshop.  (He did a really nice job on the WCBS logo on the memo pad, by the way.  He had to recreate that and make it appear to be genuinely printed on an old scrap of aged paper.  And, yes, the paper was aged in Photoshop.)

A special hat-tip goes to Gil Fray, a long-time member of Greensboro’s free improv jazz group the F-Art Ensemble, and a composer and accompanist for silent films, dance and theater.  He composed the piece you heard in the mp3.  If you thought the piece was vaguely reminiscent of the theme from “The Simpsons”, you’re right - this was a bit of a joke on Gil’s part to point out the influence of Bernstein on Danny Elfman and the influence on both of them by Bartok.  Gil modeled the melody on Barbara Cooke’s performance of  “Glitter and Be Gay” in “Candide”, finishing up its run at the time the tape would have made.

If you listen closely and you’re a pianist, you might have heard something that gave the gag away - the final chord of the piece, supposedly played in a studio by Leonard Bernstein, cannot be played with just two hands.

What you’re hearing was played by a computer - not a human being.

Gil composed and output the piece using Notion, a musical notation software used for performance and recording.  Although Notion uses real piano samples, the background was dead quiet.  So, to give the illusion of a performance in a radio studio, I recorded background room noise and mixed that into the recording.  Then, I recorded that on to  vintage 50’s era reel to reel tape, unspooled it, walked all over it, and digitized the mp3 from that.  I added a bit of equalization futzing to muddy it up a little more.

We hope you enjoyed our little exercise in historic fabrication.

Happy April Fools Day!

rand

Program 3 in the “Resettlement Administration” series presents a drama about the plight of tenant farmers, taking the listener through the development of tenant farming after slavery was abolished in the South after the Civil War, how tenant farmers wound up in perpetual debt and poverty, and how the Resettlement Administration could help them.

Conservatives, of course, were outraged at this type of radio “propaganda” - this is the type of program that the National Industrial Council (aka the National Association of Manufacturers) was combatting when they developed the radio serial “American Family Robinson“.

What’s curious about this particular show is that it features an Old Time Radio and classic Hollywood film voice you might recognize - Joseph Cotten.  The Resettlement Administration was only active in 1935-36, so the show probably from those years  and Cotten, at this point in his career, was appearing on-stage in New York with the Federal Theatre Project.  This is one of the earliest recording of Joseph Cotten on the air - the Goldin database lists a November 14, 1936 “Columbia Workshop” production of “Hamlet” with Cotten and he doesn’t pop up on radio again until a September 1938 episode of CBS’s “Mercury Theater”.  Welles and others involved in the Federal Theatre Project, of course, picked up odd jobs on radio, most famously with Orson Welles appearing in “The Shadow” and “The March of Time”.

The show was transferred from an original one-sided shellac Radio and Film Methods Corporation transcription, matrix number 288-A.  The label notes “Dyer Process Recording”, “Use Filmmatic Needles” and address of company as 101 Park Avenue, New York City, CAledonia 5-7530-1.  The company probably also produced 16″ transcription discs for use with filmstrips.  The show appears to be previously lost.

“Eno Crime Clues” is a rare 1930s radio series heard on the NBC Blue Network from 1933 to 1936.  The program had different incarnations, heard on Columbia in the early 1930s and later on Mutual as “Crime Clues”, with the series connected to detective and mystery novels put out by publishers like Doubleday.

Goldin only lists eight programs existing in the Blue Network series, so this is a nice find.  What we have in this post is part 1 of the broadcast of March 28, 1934, Episode 2 of the story “The Talking Skull”, a murder mystery that takes place on an island, with the detective grilling the assembled group of suspects to come to a solution to the crime.  The program is sponsored by Emo Effervescent Salts.

Each story was broadcast in two half-hour installments, so we’re hearing only 15 minutes of the second half of the story.  Even without the solution to the mystery, it’s a nice example of this early type of radio drama.

The show was transferred from an original one-sided Victrolac transcription pressed by RCA, matrix number 82259-1.  The advertising agency is N.W. Ayer and Son, New York.

This show appears to be previously lost.  Anyone have the other disc containing the other half of the show in their attic?

“Sally in Hollywoodland” was recorded June 3, 1947, and is a half-hour kid’s show based on the Walter Lantz cartoons, featuring Woody Woodpecker, Andy Panda and the gang.  The audition includes announcements on how the show could be sold to potential sponsors.

I’ve done quite a bit of searching on this one, but haven’t turned up anything on the origins of the audition or information on the company that produced it.  The show didn’t appear to actually go into production and syndication.

The program was transferred from an original 6000 Sunset Radio Center (Hollywood) vinyl transcription disc, matrix numbers SUN-535A and SUN-536B.

If anyone has some more info on this one, I’d appreciated hearing from you!

Hamp played piano and saxophone and worked in Los Angeles radio in the late 1920s.  He recorded for Columbia Records and recorded this series for Transco in 1936-37, crooning and offering up “hot jazz” arrangements of popular tunes.

The show was transferred direct from a blue laminated Radio Transcription Company (Transco) transcription, matrix number A-2568.

I’ve also activated a new feature provided by Podbean - if you go to http://randsesotericotr.podbean.com/mobile/ with your mobile device, such as an iPhone or iPad, you can see the blog in a special format.  There’s also an option on this link to add it to your device as an app.

Thanks for reading and listening!

Sean Cole, who is filling in for vacationing regular host Dick Gordon, stopped by my apartment on Monday to listen to some of my discs, take a look at the transcription collection and talk about old time radio as a hobby.

You can find a list of stations carrying the show and the time it will be heard in your area at “The Story” website.  They should have it available for listening online Thursday night after the broadcast.

Update:  You can listen or download the episode at “The Story” archives here.

And here are links to the full shows heard in the program:

• Night Beat - February 6, 1950 - Promo 45 set version
• Rosemary - July 22, 1946
• Lum n’ Abner - “Accidentally Yours” - July 1947
• American Family Robinson - Pgm 42
• American Family Robinson - Pgm 62
• Hearts in Harmony - Confidential Prevue - circa 1941
• Plantation Echoes - Pgm 9 - circa 1929-30
• Suspense - “Sorry Wrong Number” - May 25, 1943 - AFRS Pgm 8
• Suspense - “The Lost Special” - Sept 30, 1943

The end theme plays through and we hear a male vocalist crooning the lyrics to “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” - he sounds a bit like Bing Crosby.  Anyone have an idea who it might be?  It wasn’t uncommon for these early 30s syndicated shows to use cues from commercial records, so it might be from a commercially released 78.

Dave Goldin, by the way, lists program 1 in the series in his database, a show which ran in my blog a few months ago.  He conjectures that one of the performers playing a Mexican sounds like Bela Lugosi.  What do you think?

The show was digitized direct from an original shellac Radio Release Productions transcription disc, matrix number A-1055.  Radio Release Productions, you might recall, also produced the “Police Reporter” series I ran on the blog awhile back.

I wish I could run into the full run of the series, which I’m guessing was just 13 or 26 episodes - this sounds like a fun serial.

My special thanks to the Old Time Radio Researchers Group for adding this disc to my collection!

Originally the series premiered in 1943 with Joan Davis as a followup to the “Rudy Vallee Show”.  Davis got her own solo show in 1945, with her co-host, Jack Haley, taking over hosting dues until he departed in 1947.  Then, Eve Arden emerged from the cast to carry the program and she was later joined by Jack Carson.  Both Arden and Carson left the program in 1948, with Arden starring in her own sitcom, “Our Miss Brooks”.

Program 87 of the series, heard on the Armed Forces Radio Service as “Village Store”, was originally broadcast on NBC on May 17, 1945.  The episode has a wartime theme, with Jack trying to make up his mind whether he’s going to buy a speedboat or a War Bond.

The mp3 was transferred from an original AFRS vinyl transcription and appears to be a previously lost episode of the series.

There’s probably plenty more episodes of this series to emerge from AFRS discs.  Despite being on the air for a few years, Goldin only lists 23 programs existing in his database.

Program 28 features love sonnets read by Jane Wyatt, accompanied by organist Milton Charles.

Poetry reading programs were quite common in old time radio and popular on the networks in the early 30s; they continued to be heard on many local stations around the country into the 1950s.  Ernie Kovack’s did his own parody of the style with his famous Percy Dovetonsils character.

Our program was transferred direct from an undated original vinyl AFRS transcription.

Program 174 of the series was heard August 22, 1936 and is titled “Fallen Stars”.  The story concerns a “famous star of the past” and looks at happens when the footlights fade.  Any guess who it might be?

The show was transferred from an original Langlois & Wentworth, NYC/Hearst Newspapers Victrolac transcription pressed by RCA, matrix number MS 104245-1.

Program 6 in the series, as it was heard on the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service on June 5, 1953, is “Autumn Crocus” with Carmen Matthews and Walter Slezak; the announcer is Fred Collins.  “Autumn Crocus“, according to Wikipedia, was first staged at London’s Lyric Theatre in 1931 with Fay Compton and was adapted into a film in 1934.  The drama concerns a schoolteacher who goes on holiday and falls in love with the owner of the hotel where she is staying.

Carmen Matthews had a long career on stage, film and television and appeared in episodes of the “CBS Radio Mystery Theater” in the 1970s.  The show is hosted by John Chapman, drama critic for the New York Daily News.  As I mentioned in a previous post, many of the radio scripts for “Best Plays” were written by Earl Hamner, years before he found fame creating “The Waltons”.

Our program was transferred to digital direct from an original vinyl AFRTS transcription set.

Program 28 is “The Tell Tale Knife” and concerns murder on a southern plantation.  The show was transferred from an original RCA Syndicated Program vinyl transcription, matrix number ND5-MM-3244-7.

“Fun at Breakfast with Ford Bond” features Bond announcing and comedians Tom Howard and George Shelton cracking jokes - the first routine on the show is about starting a telegraph company.  Howard and Shelton, of course, were heard  on “It Pays to Be Ignorant“.

A highlight of the show, is the commercial content for Mennon shaving cream featuring a sultry female announcer to lull you into your day.  Who says sex doesn’t sell?

The concept - a short recorded comedy routine for a local morning show - isn’t unlike the comedy features syndicated to radio stations today.  Think of it as a 1940s version of “Larry the Cable Guy”.

The program was transferred from an original Duane Jones Company vinyl NBC Orthacoustic transcription pressed by RCA, matrix number ND6-MM-3560.

Thanks to the Old Time Radio Researchers Group for adding this one to my collection.  You can hear another episode in the series here.

http://randsesotericotr.podbean.com/2011/02/01/fun-at-breakfast-with-ford-bond-february-27-1946/

As I mentioned in a previous post of this series, Hammack played in several bands over the years and worked for ABC-Parmount Records from 1958 to 1963 as a musical director.  Fans of lounge music will likely enjoy his original composition in the show, “Wind on the Dune”.

The transfer of this previously lost show is from an original microgroove AFRTS transcription.  There’s no date on the matrix, but I’m guessing it’s from somewhere around 1958-1960, based on the contents of the other shows on the same disc.

I couldn’t make out the name of the host at the end of the program and didn’t have any luck finding newspaper articles about her or the show - perhaps one of our readers can help us out with more information.  (Heck, it may be that one of our listeners was in the audience that day.)

Our program was transferred from an original WHO single-sided lacquer.  The disc came from a group of local programs from 1948 heard on stations around the country - I think they may have been entries in some type of contest for local programming.

In this 20 minute excerpt of his show from October 30, 1957, Lanny Ross is celebrating his 25th anniversary in radio and several song-pluggers from music publishers stop by and give him a cake and greetings on the anniversary.  The program includes live and recorded commercials for Bromo Quinine cold tablets, Pepperidge Farm (featuring Titus Moody), Libby’s and Petrie Wine.

You can read a wire story about Ross’s anniversary at the Google News archives.

The show was transferred from an original 10.5″ full-track reel to reel tape running at 7.5 inches per second, probably recorded directly off the sound board in the studio.

This one was a mess to deal with - the tape, which came from the estate of a WCBS engineer, was covered in mold.  I had to discard the tape box and give the tape itself a thorough cleaning before attempting a transfer.  There’s no picture, since the tape only included a brief handwritten notation of “Lanny Ross Anniversary”.

Here’s an interesting article from Google News about the magazine and Blossom published when it was ceasing publication in 1956.

Program 7 looks at W.C. “Pop” Fuller, a coach of female tennis players and also at women in unusual occupations.  The show was transferred from an original RCA Victrolac transcription, matrix number MS 92709.

My thanks to the Old Time Radio Researcher’s Group for this addition to my transcription collection.

I obtained this disc from Jim Blackson and would like to thank him for the transfer you’re listening to here - the disc is almost 17″ across and just too large for my transcription player.  Jim had two of these discs, both with blank Columbia labels like this and both part 2 of “The Curse of Nagana”.  However, they seem to be different takes.  He saved a copy of both so we could compare the discs.

I’d also like to send a shout-out to Stephen Haffner for help with this post.  Haffner is the proprieter of the Haffner Press, a publisher of mystery fiction that was offering a limited edition set of stories by a “Weird Tales” author - the set included, as a bonus, a reproduction of the flyer sent to radio stations promoting the series.  He was generous enough to forward a digital copy of the flyer to give some background on what you’re hearing.

The series (or proposed series) was produced by Hollywood Radio Attractions, 4376 Sunset Drive, Hollywood.  In a promotional flyer for the program, they advertise three episodes that had been produced - the company was planning to record a total of 52 half-hour shows.  Similar to “The Witch’s Tale”, the show was created in such a way that they could be played as one half-hour program each week or split into two fifteen minute shows, completing one story each week.  So, what you’re hearing is part two of “The Mystery of Nagara”, which, if run on-air, could be run as a self-contained fifteen minute show, likely with an introduction and commercial by a local announcer.

This disc, along with the other take of part 2 of this episode, seem to be the only discs that survive from the series.  The other shows would have been a fascinating listen - they got some top Hollywood acting talent for the programs.  Here’s a rundown of the episodes listed as being available in the flyer:

• Program 1 - “The Living Dead”, based on Kirk Mashburn’s Novellete, “De Brignac’s Lady” with Jason Robards, William Farnum, Viola Dana, Richard Tucker, John Ince, Wally Reid, Jr. and featuring music by the “Mata Hari Orchestra direct from Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California”
• Program 2 - “The Curse of Nagana”, from Hugh B. Cave’s short story “The Ghoul Gallery” with Richard Carle, Johnny Harron, Florence Britton, Cyrill Delavante, John Ince, Pierre White, Lucille Amaya with music by an “Arabian Orchestra”.
• Program 3 - “The Three from the Tomb”, from a novel by Edmund Hamilton with William Farnum, Bert Roach, Prisicilla Dean, Pat O’Malley, John Ince, Frank Glendon and Robert Hoover.

The actors on the shows were experienced in Hollywood films.  Jason Robards, featured on the first program, is actually Jason Robards, Sr., the father of the actor you might be more familiar with.  The elder Robards appeared in silent and sound films and television through the 1950s.  Richard Carle and the other actors featured in “Nagana” were all experienced character actors in films.

All of the shows were adapted by Oliver Drake and produced by Irving Fogel, a producer and recording executive that had a long career in Los Angeles.  Fogel, according to Christopher Sterling’s “Encyclopedia of Radio”, acted as a producer on some early Armed Forces Radio programming.  Drake was a writer and director in Hollywood, primarily with Westerns, from the silent era through the 1950s and worked on television shows such as “The Adventures of Superman”, “Laramie” and “Lassie”.

Scholars looking at the history of “Weird Tales” magazine have heard about the series for years, but no recordings of the shows themselves or much detail about the series have surfaced.  After considerable searching through Google and subscription newspaper databases, I can’t any reference to the series or these particular shows actually being broadcast.  My guess is that the three shows were recorded and promoted to stations, but that it just didn’t sell.

Horror was a bit of a tough genre to sell to sponsors.  At a time when sponsors were identified closely with the programs they advertised on, it would be difficult to find a local or regional advertiser that was a good fit.  Combine that with some likely belt-tightening with the Depression going full-swing and the glut of transcription programming available and it likely doomed the project.  The other programs in the series probably weren’t produced and, with no or few airings of the three shows that were made, that would explain why discs from the series just haven’t turned up.

Again, I would like to thank Jim Blackson and Stephen Haffner for their help with this post.

The mp3 you’re hearing was transferred directly from the Columbia one-sided laminated shellac transcription, matrix number I-1511 with notations of “IA” and “HRA2″.  The disc features a blank Columbia Sound-on-Disc Division label, so it is likely a test pressing.

If you have any additional info or thoughts on the “Weird Tales” series, please leave a comment or drop me a line.

This particular cut is curious because it’s a shortwave aircheck of the opening of Armed Forces Radio’s “GI Jive” and the closing of the show with KGEI, San Francisco giving their sign-off.  OTR era airchecks are rare and rarer still are sign-offs from shortwave stations of this period.

KGEI was owned and operated by General Electric, broadcasting to Latin America and Asia as a commercial venture.  By World War II, as one of the few privately owned shortwave stations on the air, KGEI was enrolled to help the US government get balanced views about the War to overseas audiences.  It’s interesting that the announcer in this clip refers to KGEI as “The Voice of America” - this may have been from the period when VOA was using commercial facilities for its broadcasts.

Our mp3 was dubbed directly from a home recorded unlabeled 10″ lacquer running at 33.3 rpm.

The National Basketball League was formed in 1937 and would merge with the Basketball Association of America in 1949 to become the National Basketball Association.  The NBL was concentrated in the midwest and the league featured corporate sponsored teams.  The League is also notable for helping to break down racial barriers in sports, adding African-American players during the 1942-43 season.

I’ve not researched otr era sports recordings in depth, but have an impression that recordings of professional basketball are fairly rare.  This mp3 was dubbed directly from a home recorded 10″ unlabeled lacquer that ran at 33.3 rpm.

In the next post, we hear a little something from the other side of the disc.

I want to thank all of you following the blog for your kind words and thoughts over the past few months.

-rand

I appreciate all the kind words, comments, and research folks have sent my way over the past couple of years.  I’m still interested in pursuing old time radio research, and I’m thinking about heading in a different direction with my old time radio work, so feel free to send an email, if you’re so inclined and are interested in talking over some ideas.

In this mp3, we hear an excerpt from the broadcast of March 15, 1931, originally broadcast on CBS.  Guest Ann Harding discusses her career with Louella Parsons, including references to a screen test arranged by Rudolph Valentino and Harding’s stage work.  According to Elizabeth Mcleod, the recording was originally made by Hollywood Film Laboratories.

The disc includes an introduction with a brief sponsorship message for Sunkist recorded especially for this release of the recording.  Our mp3 was transferred from an original 6″ Flexo pink celluloid plastic 78 disc, matrix numbers 6-59 and 6-60.

I’ve put a fade out/in between side changes since I’m not sure if the sides are a continuous segment of the program.  It sounds a tad slow to me, but I double-checked the turntable speed with a strobe on this one; it may have been recorded slightly off speed.

Flexo may have recorded and released other interview excerpts in this series that aren’t circulating.  I’ve seen references to recordings in existence of broadcasts of April 8, 1931 (Louella Parsons and Ruth Chatterton) and March 25, 1931 (Louella Parsons and Norma Shearer, matrix number 6-81/6-81).

Flexo, by the way, tried to promote their unusual new plastic records for a variety of purposes.  According to one online discography, they even released some 16″ radio transcriptions pressed on green celluloid.  Anyone ever see one or have a label photo?

Ryan Ellett has been researching the show at the University of Missouri-KC collections and is assembling a log of the program, and has dug up extensive background information on the series.  The show was created by Arthur Church, the head of KMBC, Kansas City and started out on a contract basis for the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company for the first 26 episodes.  Church hoped to produce at least 104 shows, but only 65 were made.  Socony’s contract is dated March 30, 1935 for the series and the episodes were delivered by April 15th.  The series was recorded in World Broadcasting’s Chicago facilities and the program ran mainly in the midwest US.

The cast members of “Red Horse Ranch” were Gomer Cool, Doie Henlasey (Tex) Owen, Duane Swalley, Edward Cronenbold, Roderick May, Robert Crawford, Ruth Barth, John Preston, Paul Sells, Herbert Kratoska, Eddie Edwards, and Marion Folville.  You can see a photo of the cast at the University of Missouri-KC website and also read about the the Arthur B. Church KMBC Radio Portfolio Collection.

The show was transferred from an original red acetate World Broadcasting, Inc. transcription, matrix number C-2208-1L.

I’d like to thank the Old Time Radio Researchers Group for this disc and the others that comprise the first 26 episodes of the series in my collection.

Here’s a another program the company produced, “Boulevard of Make Believe”.  A “behind the scenes” Hollywood drama serial, the show features Anna Q. Nelson and Viola Dana.  In program 1, Nelson gives advice to a new starlet, Betty.  Dana talks with Anna about Wally, a married man who is in love with Anna.  Anna is approached by a publisher about her memiors, but, strangely, she hasn’t actually written them.

The disc I have contains this show and program 20 in the series and I haven’t found out much about it or the company that produced it.  The program was dubbed direct to digital from an blue Flexite Radio Release Productions transcription, matrix number A-1029, probably pressed by Columbia.

My special thanks to the Old Time Radio Researchers Group for adding this dic to my collection!

In the dramatic portion of the show, Edward arrives and is introduced to the different characters in the eccentric Hatterfield family.  A small group of strings and piano are used for the music, rather than the solo piano used in the fifteen minute version of the series.

The show, perhaps dating from circa 1939-40, was transferred from an original World Broadcasting two-sided lacquer.

The show is a fun serial that looks at an eccentric theatrical family.  The matron of the clan, Mama Hatterfield, struggles with her “glory days” being in the past; her brother Rolly is a pompous, free-spending thespian; one daughter who is flighty and falls in love with any man coming along while the other level-headed daughter tries to keep everyone in line.

I have eight episodes from the series on original WLW laquers from 1938 and 1939.  No other programs appear to survive in private collections or archives and it’s never been circulated among old time radio collectors to my knowledge.  The discs came from the collection of Marty Halperin, the vice president of the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters.

I think these transcriptions only survived because they were used to assemble an audition disc for the series as a half-hour situation comedy.  (You can hear that audition in the next post.)  The discs included a handwritten sheet of notes on the different shows and the discs have some groove wear, indicating they were played several times as they prepared the audition show.

The program of January 11, 1938 has Nicki calling off his engagement with Meg and sailing for Paris.  Meg and the whole Hatterfield clan have rushed to the boat to find him.  Can Meg convince Nicki to stay and marry her?  The show is sponsored by Nestle’s Lion brand irradiated evaporated milk.  The aives WLW id and states “This is the WLW line to New York.”

A helpful blog listener dug up some infomration from newspapers on the show.  Mutual sent out a press release on July 3, 1938, noting that the program would premiere on Monday, June 27 from 4:45 to 500 pm.  The release also noted that “Midstream”, a more serious serial, would premiere on the same date and was also written by Pauline Hopkins.

Another pr release from Januaruary 1, 1939 offered up praise for Pauline Hopkins:

“A MILLION WORDS WRITTEN FOR ONE RADIO PROGRAM For her 370 episodes of the “Mad Hatterfields,” Pauline Hopkins, author of the popular Mutual network serial, has written approximately 1,036,000 words. At 2,800 words per script, which in itself is above the average for air-dramas, but which is the result of an unusually fast pace set by the comedy, Miss Hopkins’ wordage is believed to be a near record. The author of “Mad Hatterfields” began writing at the age of seven, but gave up all hope of ever becoming a writer when her first novel, “The Scarlet Goods,” written before she was ten, brought nothing but hilarity from her family. Gathering material for her radio-drama, Miss Hopkins turns an eye to the members of her own family, and writes a story of artistic and lovably erratic people. “The Mad Hatterfields” originates in the studios of Mutual’s Cincinnati affiliate,, WLW, and is heard Monday through Friday at 3:45 p. m. over KBST.”

A newspaper publicity photo from June 6, 1939 identifies some of the cast - Rolly was played by William Green, Meg by Pauline Hopkins, Nicky was Duane Snodgrass and Rita was portrayed by Betty Arnold.

Before airing on Mutual, the show appears to have been heard locally in July 1937 on WLW and left the air around June 1939.

Our mp3 was transferred direct from an original WLW lacquer.  It is previously uncirculated among otr collectors.

Program 9 of Series A looks at sound technician’s role in making movies.  Everyone’s getting their hair dyed at Warner Brothers.  With the paper shortage, studios are having trouble finding substitutes for flowers for Technicolor films.  Developing a new transparency screen for a Claudette Colbert film.  Includes personality profiles of Ronald Coleman and Lee Tracy, just out of the Army.  The recording includes a false start just before band three on the disc.

The show was transferred from an original vinyl transcription pressed by Allied in Hollywood; it is previously uncirculated among otr collectors.

Since the blog’s going on hiatus, keep an eye on archive.org for the rest of the series - I’ve given copies to the Old Time Radio Researchers Group and they may be posting the whole set of discs in my collection at some point.

In PDF form, you can download the 1937 edition of the series’s giveaway recipe book.  This one’s titled “Sara and Aggie’s Memory Book” and includes background information on the show, publicity photos of the cast in character, and a collection of household hints and recipes.  You can see the 1936 edition of the giveaway cookbook in a previous post on the blog.

Program 776 was originally heard February 13, 1939.  Curly calls on Cristy Warren to see if he can make amends for the horseshoe game bet.  Can he convince her to go with her heart and be friends with David?  The characters mention that tomorrow is Tuesday, Valentine’s Day.

The show was transferred from an original vinyl Flexite transcription pressed by Columbia, matrix number 075-2.  It is previously uncirculated among otr collectors.

Program 775 of the series was originally broadcast February 10, 1939.  Cristy runs into Carlton Ross at the drug store.  Will she bring up the subject of the horseshoe game bet?  The show was digitized direct from an original vinyl Flexite transcription pressed by Columbia, matrix number 078-2.  It is previously uncirculated.

Instead, I’d like to offer up an amusing little old time radio collecting story.

You might recall this odd 45 rpm box set posted a couple of years ago on the blog.

Pressed by RCA, the set contained three records - 7″ 45s - that contain a full episode of the crime drama “Night Beat”.  It’s unusual in that it also contains a promo announcement, after the opening of the show, inviting potential sponsors to pick up the program.  I found the set at the Burlington, NC Goodwill thrift store - I think I might have paid 50 cents for it.

A few months after I put the show from the set on my blog, I was contacted by a gentleman from Montreal.  He had an original NBC reference acetate of the first audition episode of the series - a rare find indeed.  So, we set up a trade and I posted that disc on the blog.

Fast forward to this week.

One of the readers of the blog, Thomas, noted in a comment that the “Night Beat” promo 45 set is something rather unusual.

You see, around 1949, when the set was created, there was a promising young commercial artist who was designing magazine ads and some album covers.

His name:  Andy Warhol.

Thomas had found the “Night Beat” set in a museum catalogue of record covers designed by Warhol.  Turns out it’s collectable as a piece of art.  Thomas also pointed me to another otr related lp from circa 1950 that had similar cover art by Warhol currently on ebay, “The Nation’s Nightmare“, which contained two CBS news programs about the country’s drug problems.

Well, the story gets better.

I contacted the gentleman in Montreal about his find.  Turns out, he was the author, Paul Marechal, who put together the original exhibition featuring Warhol’s album covers - the “Night Beat” set I traded him is the one that Thomas found in the book.

Paul believes that the “Night Beat” set I found is the only copy to surface - he’s going to donate it to a Warhol archives, along with some of the other rare Warhol works he discovered in his research.  My guess is that it turned up in Burlington, NC because it was given to an employee of Lorillard or RJR Tobacco, both located in the Triad NC area.

Oh - that Warhol lp of “The Nation’s Nightmare” that Thomas saw on ebay?

Moral of the story - look carefully at memorabilia you find at Goodwill.  You might go looking for an old radio show and be taking home a work of art instead.

More new shows in a few days.

rand

The show was dubbed to digital direct from an original Philip J. Meaney Flexite transcription pressed by Columbia.

This particular episode is rather curious - it reminds me of the vocalizations and style of a later children’s show, “The Wormwood Forest“, that originated at WSM in Nashville and was heard on NBC circa 1949.

The show was transferred from an original Standard Radio vinyl transcription pressed by RCA, matrix number PMS-79219.

Many thanks to Michael Utz for his donation of the disc to may collection!

In program 8 of Series A, we hear about authenticity and detail in movies.  In studio news, MGM announces the production of “Green Dolphin Street” in Technicolor.  (The movie would eventually be produced in black and white.)  This week’s personality profiles take a look at movie favorites Cary Grant and Virginia Mayo.

The show was transferred from an original vinyl transcription, probably pressed by Allied.

The show was transferred from an original vinyl Flexite transcription pressed by Columbia, matrix number 080-2.  It is previously uncirculated.

Our program was transferred from an original vinyl Flexite transcription pressed by Columbia, matrix number 083-2.  It is previously uncirculated.

Radio Archives has released a series of discs with shows from the series and, in this post, we highlight a program in the series that hasn’t been released by them on cd so far.  Series C Program 3A features Jimmie Grier and his Orcheastra.  Songs include “September” with a vocal by the Three Ambassadors, “Time on My Hands” with a vocal by Dick Webster, and “Now’s the Time to Fall in Love”.  The show was recorded in 1932.

The program was dubbed direct from an original shellack Transco transcription.