October 23, 2009
Jimmy Powers returns narrating “The Grantland Rice Story” in this program syndicated by RCA Thesaurus in the mid 1950s.
Program GRS-5 is titled “The Dempsey-Tunny Fights” and features and interview with Jack Dempsey, reflecting on his years in boxing and Grantland Rice.
The program was transferred from original RCA Thesaurus 12″ transcription, matrix number F7-MR-5060-1A.
October 15, 2009
Do you have a problem with your temper?
Perhaps you can pick up a few tips from Fibber McGee in program 85 of the “Fibber McGee and Molly” series from the Armed Forces Radio Service, originally broadcast December 26, 1944 on NBC.
The show features Jim and Marian Jordan, Arthur Q. Bryan, Billy Mills and His Orchestra, Harlow Wilcox, the King’s Men. Our transfer is directly from a vinyl AFRS Navy Department transcription. The program date is from the matrix and was verified by Goldin and a log of the series of otrsite.com.
A very special thanks to listener Michael Utz for donating this disc to my collection.
Now let’s take another look at “Lest We Forget”, a series syndicated by the Institute for Democratic Education in the late 1940s and early 50s to combat prejudice. Although they might seem a little heavy-handed, the shows are well written and produced and are an interesting snap shot of community service programming of the time.
Program 2 of series B features Mercury Theater regular Everett Sloane in “Blow That Whistle”. The drama is about a mailman who, against his better judgment, is drawn into “American First” group that harasses immigrants in the local community.
The show was transferred from an original vinyl Orthacoustic transcription pressed by NBC/RCA, matrix number ND7-MM-5851.
Now for a bit of music and chat with “The Magic of Music”, a show transcribed in Hollywood for the Marine Corps Reserve and Recruiting and originally broadcast on Mutual.
Program 42 of the series as broadcast on AFRS, features guest Kathy Barr promoting her new album “Follow Me”. Barr was one of several female vocalists of the fifties that felt at ease with more sultry and uptempo material. She was brought to the attention of RCA by Mario Lanza. You guys out there might be saying “hubba hubba” when you take a look at the cover of the album. The show includes informational AFRTS announcements about NATO for the troops.
Our program was transferred from an original AFRTS vinyl microgroove transcription. It’s dated May 2, 1958 in the matrix, which could be the date the show was recorded, originally broadcast on Mutual, or the date this version was mastered by AFRTS engineers.
Well, last week, we heard a kind of instant romance develop between “Gus the Gorilla”, Windy Bill’s bodyguard, and Luke Robinson’s secretary on the National Industrial Council (American Manufacturers Association) 1930s syndicated series, “American Family Robinson”. This week, in program 41, Mr. Robinson’s secretary has talked him into putting Gus to work at the paper so Luke has to find something for him to do.
The curious thing about this disc is that it appears to be a program in the series you weren’t supposed to hear - the disc’s pressing plate on this side has been scratched out in a definite spiderweb pattern. It’s hard to tell if this was done before the series was first distributed or later in the run. But, based on the contents, one can see why.
Luke goes into a diatribe about “boondoggling” - the government creating useless jobs for the unemployed. It’s one of the more heartless little talks in the series, considering the high level of unemployment during the Depression and how many people that might have heard the show were either themselves working on a WPA or CCC job or had a relative that did.
I have a friend from the small town of Graham, NC, that recalls his parents and grandparents talking about one of his aunts who was an organist at the local movie theater. At that time, small theaters couldn’t afford the upgrade to sound, so even into the late 1930s, the theater was still showing silent movies - you had to drive thirty miles or more to the big city of Greensboro to see a sound picture. His aunt received WPA support to accompany films and the theater and give music lessons.
This episode of the series was transferred from an original World Broadcasting red acetate transcription, matrix number S 8686-2. The file was compiled from two passes of the disc and was run through click reduction software - I had to reconstruct the program, since the disc skipped so much.
This week’s installment of the “Grantland Rice Story” has host Jimmy Powers relating Rice’s stories about boxing in program GRS-4 in the series, “Jack Dempsey, the Man from Maumee Bay”.
The show was transferred from original RCA Thesaurus 12″ transcription, matrix number F7-MR-5059-1.
Next week, we hear the inside scoop on the famous Dempsey-Tunney fights.
Note: This program contains racial stereotyping themes that may be offensive to some listeners.
Here’s another excerpt from “Pick and Pat”, a program featuring blackface performers Pick Padgett and Pat Malone, two Irishmen who teamed up in 1929 as Molasses and January and had their own network show from the early 1930s through 1945. The shows in this series I’m posting on the blog are from rare aircheck discs that were created for the shows producer, Frank Macmahon. The programs from this group were heard on CBS and sponsored by Dill’s Best and Model tobacco in 1937 and 1938.
This week, we hear part 1 (of three parts) of the program of December 12, 1938. Unfortunately, the disc containing part 2 of the show is missing and the flipside of this disc, part 3, was damaged and I was unable to give it a transfer to digital.
The recording starts off with the end of the previous show on the network and the WABC id. This particular episode, unlike the others I’ve posted on the blog, is billed as “Model’s Minstrels” and is formatted more like a traditional minstrel show. he male chorus sings “There’s Gonna Be a Great Day”. Pick and Pat read letters they’ve received, including one from “Shorty” wanting advice about his farm.
The date on the label is obscured, but the flip side of the disc contains part 3 of the show. Unfortunately, the disc has extensive cracking of the lacquer and I couldn’t play it well enough to transfer, but I did hear the opening of the December 12, 1938 episode of “Lux Radio Theater” (”The Scarlet Pimpernel”) to date this “Pick and Pat” episode.
The program was transferred from original WABC aircheck laquer recorded by Advertiser’s Recording Service, New York. This is a previously uncirculated episode of this rare series.
October 8, 2009
Now let’s turn back the clock to World War II with another entry in the Armed Forces Radio Network variety series, “Mail Call”, that brought the top stars from movies and radio to perform for the troops.
This is a pretty amazing little half-hour program. Program 93 features hostess Paulette Goddard introducing W.C. Fields, Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd with Edgar Bergen, Virginia O’Brien, Borrah Minnevitch and the Harmonica Rascals and the King Sisters. The announcer for the show is Don Wilson.
The program is dedicated to armed forces personnel from the State of Kentucky, so there’s something of a Kentucky Derby theme going on, at least in the program’s opening and first number by the orchestra, “Kentucky”. The King Sisters sing the War themed tune, “Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet” and the Harmonica Rascals do a wonderful arrangement of “Brazil”. (I’m a fan of the Harmonicats, so this was a real treat.)
The highlight of the show is the sketch with W.C. Fields and Edgar Bergen. They’re in rare form, with Fields and Bergen tossing in adlibs as Fields gets lost in the script.
The show was transferred from an original AFRS vinyl transcription. According to the log of the series at otrsite.com, it was recorded May 24, 1944.
By the way - do you recognize the theme the orchestra plays after the intro of Paulette Goddard? It would turn up years later as a main theme used on “The Big Show“. Was this some kind of stock cue in the music score library at NBC?
Broadcast from 1942 to 1951 on Mutual, then CBS, and finally, NBC, “It Pays to Be Ignorant” was a parody of quiz shows that featured panelists of experts - it’s a natural followup to our posts in recent weeks of the “Quiz Kids” and “Twenty Questions”. In this case, our “experts” are a group of regulars always ready for a quick one-liner or really bad pun.
In this post, program 88 in the series as broadcast on AFRS, originally heard on CBS on December 21, 1945. The first question during opening is “Why does the subway have to raise the fare?” and the first question during the main body of the show is “What is the color of the Little Red Schoolhouse?”. The show features host Tom Howard, George Shelton, Lulu McConnell, Harry McNaughton, and announcer Ken Roberts. I think this particular episode might not be in common circulation among collectors.
Frank, a listener to the blog who has had a long career in radio, remembered seeing “It Pays to Be Ignorant” and other shows live when he worked in the mailroom at Mutual. Now that was an employee perk!
The show was transferred from original AFRS vinyl transcription. Date is from the transcription matrix.
I’ve posted a number of drama anthologies to the blog in recent weeks. This type of show seemed to be ubiquitous in 1940s radio and this one isn’t as well known as some of the others. Lets listen to “Your Movietown Radio Theatre”, syndicated by Ziv, and dating from around 1947, according to Goldin.
Program 13 is “The London Legend” with Jane Wyatt, possibly a previously lost/uncirculated program in the series. The story concerns a love triangle involving a real diva, actress Victoria London, her secretary, and a small-town newspaper man. You’ll notice there’s no opening announcement to identify the show - just music. Your local announcer would provide the opening, along with a commercial from one of your fine local merchants.
You younger listeners prying your eyes away from the television to listen to some classic old time radio might recognize Jane Wyatt for her roles on “Father Knows Best” and as Spock’s human mother on “Star Trek”.
The show was transferred from original ZIV vinyl transcription set, matrix numbers UR 174870 AU1 and UR 174871 AU1. This one doesn’t have a scan since there are no labels left on the discs - the set suffered water damage. The discs were also pretty heavily scratched, so the file has been click-reduced before converting to mp3 format.
I have several more shows from the series that I’ll post on occasion.
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