rand's esoteric otr

Rosemary - May 8, 1947

Sometimes, the right talent comes together and the stars align, creating a perfect moment of artistry.  That's what we have right here in this post - Old Time Radio magic. From May 8, 1947, originally broadcast on CBS, we hear the final installment in our mini-run of "Rosemary", sponsored by Ivory Snow.  You can catch up on the previous two blog entries from the soap here.

As we join our story in progress, Rosemary's amnesiac husband has remembered that he has another wife and a child that came into his life before he met Rosemary.  In last week's episode, Bill had found his "old" wife and Rosemary returned home from her search for the "other woman" to find she had lost her job, but still had the support of her friends and family. In this episode, Bill Roberts arrives at a farm in Meadville with Audrey, the "other woman", and their child.  There's an epidemic in the city and Bill is concerned that their daughter might be ill.  As our episode begins, Bill and Audrey settle down in the house. Audrey doesn't seem too happy about being on the farm and seems a bit, shall we say, on edge.  Just what is Audrey hiding? I think you'll agree that the actress playing Audrey gives a memorable tour-de-force performance as the most irresponsible mother of all time. The show includes some great musical commercials for Ivory Snow, including one about "Heartless Harry" and another about "Gorgeous Geraldine".  As usual, we get our little reminder to save our used chicken fat. This previously lost/uncirculated episode of the series was transferred from an original Radio Recorders lacquer transcription; the label has a typo in the date, listing it as "1957", and is notated "Network".

Rosemary - May 7, 1947

This week, we continue a short run of three episodes of the 1940s soap opera, "Rosemary", that highlight a key plot in the soap, where Rosemary's amnesiac War vet husband discovers he had a wife and child before he met Rosemary.

In the episode of May 7, 1947, Rosemary returns home from her jaunt to New York to look for Bill's previous wife and his child.  She's lost her job at the newspaper, with the position filled by someone else as Rosemary trotted off to the big city.  But, the kindly doctor in town is there to help Rosemary find another job.  At home, Rosemary tries her best to get her mother hooked up with the doctor and Rosemary's artist friend, Brad, consoles her and tries to help her forget her problems. Will Rosemary find another job to support her mother and sister?  Will she finally get over that amnesiac husband of hers and respond to the advances of her wild and crazy artist friend? The show was sponsored by Ivory Snow.  Notice how they separate the reminders about saving kitchen fat from the sponsor's product message?  I guess they didn't want to get housewives thinking too much about the fact that their favorite beauty bars and laundry soaps were being made from leftover hamburger grease. Our show was transferred from an original line check Radio recorders lacquer transcription marked "Protection Copy".  The program appears to be previously lost/uncirculated. Next week ... a very special episode of "Rosemary" where we finally meet [insert organ music here] the Other Woman....

Rosemary - July 22, 1946

This week, I'm starting a run of three episodes of the soap opera "Rosemary".  This show might not sound that interesting, but, trust me  - we're leading up to a really fun little episode of this series in a couple of weeks and this will set up the story for you. "Rosemary" was broadcast first on NBC and then on CBS from 1945 to 1955.  The show was created by Elaine Carrington, who also gave us "Pepper Young's Family".  The story centers on Rosemary Dawson, a young secretary that works to support her mother and younger sister.

A major storyline in the series was Rosemary's marriage to Bill Roberts.  Bill has a slight problem - he's a War vet and has amnesia.  So, as you're probably guessing Bill forgot that he was married to another woman.  This series of three episodes comes from right in the middle of the story and gives us an interesting peek into how things developed. In this first post, we hear the program of July 22, 1946 broadcast on CBS.  Rosemary and her friend Brad, an artist, have arrived in New York by train.  They stop for lunch before Mary boards the train for Meadville.  Rosemary is looking for the woman in New York who may have been married to Bill.  Will Rosemary find this other woman?  Will Rosemary see how her artist friend is coming on to her?  The program was sponsored by Ivory Snow and includes a commercial for saving used kitchen fat. The show was transferred from original line check KNX-CBS Radio Recorders lacquer transcription. Next week, we learn what happens to your job when you go galloping across the country in search of your husband's ex-wife. By the way - I was going to link to something about the sponsor, but they discontinued manufacturing Ivory Snow Flakes a few years back.  They just sell that liquid and powder stuff now.

Dick and Jeannie - Pgm 2

Our budding romantic pair continue their swoon-fest in episode 2 of "Dick and Jeannie", an unusual five-minute musical serial syndicated by Harry Jacobs Productions circa 1947.  Each episode features a particular song and this one is "My Heart Stood Still" by Rogers and Hart.

The show was transferred from original vinyl WOR - Harry Jacobs Productions transcription, matrix number WOR 6-9431. Next week, the plot thickens as we work our way through the first six programs in the series.

Dick and Jeannie - Pgm 1

Can two young people trying to break into show business find love with each other?  Will people think they're nutty because they burst into song at the drop of a hat?

That's the central concept behind a five minute serial, "Dick and Jeannie", syndicated by Harry Jacobs Productions in Hollywood and New York.  Ben Kibler, a helpful member of the otr mailing list, found references in newspapers showing the series broadcast as early as January 19, 1947 and as late as November 6, 1947. In program 1 of the series, Dick and Jeannie introduce themselves and meet for the first time.  Each show has a featured song and this one has them spooning and belting out "My Ideal". The show was transferred from an original WOR-Harry Jacobs Productions transcription, matrix number WOR 6-9431.  I think this might be a previously lost or at least a rare series among otr collectors. I've got the first six shows in the series and we'll be hearing one each week over the next month and a half.  So, stay tuned!

Backstage Wife - August 8, 1947

Well, we come to the last episode in my collection of "Backstage Wife", a fun little fifteen minutes of heartbreak and tears.  It's unfortunate I don't have any more shows in the series, since this one's a real doozy and I wonder how the story turned out for poor Mary. "Backstage Wife" asks the question, "What is like to be married to a famous star?"  In this episode, dated August 8, 1947, it must be pretty lousy since Larry has decided to leave Mary.  The show may contain what may be the worst written and acted child part I've ever heard in an old time radio show, as Mary and Larry's son tries to figure out what's going on with mom and dad.  No, this isn't Fanny Brice playing "Baby Snooks".  This appears to be a previously lost program in the series. This show continues a storyline we heard in the following episodes previously on the blog, if you'd like to hear others in this others in the series from this period:

• July 3, 1947
• August 13, 1947
• September 3, 1947

The program was transferred to digital from an original lacquer line check made at an unknown local NBC station, possibly for time shifting or other purposes, and includes the opening system cue.  I've obtained several discs of NBC network shows made at the same station during the summer of 1947.

Ma Perkins, Pgm 423

I'm sure all of you have heard of the long-running soap opera of the classic otr era, "Ma Perkins".  Running on NBC and later CBS between 1933 and 1960, the show followed the trials and tribulations of Ma as she ran a lumber yard in Rushville Center and tried to keep up with her kids, Evy, Fay, and John.  Virginia Payne played Ma Perkins for 27 years, starting in the role at age 23.

In this blog entry, we offer a very rare early episode of the series, dated by the radioGOLDINdex to August 1935.  Faye and John have an argument at dinner and Faye announces her intention to seek her fortune in the big city.  The show at this point in the run was sponsored by Oxydol and the long organ intro and outro were probably for the local announcer to insert the commercial. The show is of special interest to those looking at the changing role of women over the years - Faye is representative of an increasing number young women at the time were looking at having careers and a life outside of being a homemaker.  Ma Perkins herself was thrust into that role, managing her husband's business after his death. This is also the first metal base disc I've offered up on the blog.  These were used for a period in the early 1930s before instantaneous lacquers became common - the cutting head actually embossed the groove into a thin sheet of bare aluminum.  You can read something about the early days of recording radio broadcasts in two articles by otr experts Elizabeth Mcleod and Michael Biel here and here. The origins of this disc are obscure.  I think it may have been made for extension-spotting the show in Canada in conjunction with it's broadcast in the US.  According to this site, Proctor and Gamble was one of the biggest advertisers in Canada in the early 30s, buying up time on stations to broadcast "Ma Perkins" and other soaps, much to the annoyance of Canadian officials who wanted more home-grown content on the radio.  This led to restrictions on the use of transcriptions and gave the CBC power to selectively run series live from American radio networks.  So, this disc may have been used to broadcast "Ma Perkins" over one of those privately-owned Canadian stations. Our show was transferred directly from an original uncoated aluminum transcription made by Mercury Recording Studios, Chicago.

Backstage Wife - September 3, 1947

Again we drop in on Mary Noble, struggling through life answering the question, "What's it like to be married to a famous Broadway star?" In this show from September 3, 1947, Mary and her husband Larry go to the apartment of Regina to talk with her about dropping out of a play that Regina is backing.  It seems that Barnwell, the producer of the play, is suing Larry, dragging his name through the mud, and he wishes to bow out of the play to save Regina embarrassment.  This short series of various shows we've heard on the blog over the past couple of months, taken from the storyline revolving around the production of a play, have been a real mess for Larry and Mary that gets worse as things go along.  If acting is this much trouble, perhaps Larry should take up another profession. The program was sponsored by Energine and original broadcast on NBC.  Our mp3 was transferred directly from a line check acetate recorded at a local NBC station, probably for time-shifting purposes.

Claudia - Audition

This week, we feature a guest post from fellow otr collector Daniel Sears who shares a rare 78 rpm record set with us containing an "audition" for the soap opera "Claudia".  Daniel is the Creative Director for GrumpyFILMS, inc in New York. Many thanks for the show and blog post - I hope we can hear more from Daniel's collection in coming weeks. - Randy "They saw...they met...they married each other. Six whole weeks ago." So goes the intro for this audition episode of "Claudia", the well-known daytime serial sponsored by "your friendly neighbor who bottles Coca-Cola." This audition program, however, seems to take plot points and parts of scripts that would later be broadcast across several episodes and squishes them together into one 15-minute program.

In this visit with Claudia and David, we hear the craziness that ensues when David has to get up early for an appointment in Connecticut, and he discovers what Claudia has done to his socks and his breakfast. Later, Claudia goes shopping for a dog with her mother, and in the third segment we see what happens when David comes home and discovers what kind of dog Claudia has bought. Looking at the radioGOLDINdex, my guess would be that parts of this script would later be used in programs broadcast on 9/30/47 ("Waking Up Early"), 10/13/47 ("Claudia Ruins Breakfast"), and 10/14/47 ("Claudia Buys David a Big Dog"). However, I was not able to find postings of these episodes online to confirm that. The broadcast episodes of "Claudia" featured Kathryn Bard and Paul Crabtree, with Joe King announcing. Comparing this recording with snippets found online, it sounds like Ms. Bard is the only one also found on here. No cast list is announced, so does anyone have any guesses as to who the other actors are? Maybe the actor playing David didn't make the final cast because of the couple of goofs he makes... This file was transfered directly from a pair of vinyl 78 rpm discs with great maroon/brown marbeled vinyl. The surface noise gets a little thick in spots, but I hope you'll enjoy this rare program.

Backstage Wife, August 13, 1947

"What is it like to be married to a famous star?" That's the question the long-running classic soap opera, "Backstage Wife", tried to answer, following the trials and tribulations of Mary Noble and her actor husband, Larry. In this episode, we're continuing a story line heard on the blog in January in this post. Mary is living alone in their house in the country.   Husband Larry has gone back to New York, shocked that he found playwright Eric Jackson making a move on Mary.  Eric's scheme to produce his play at the summer playhouse is falling apart.  Meanwhile, Larry pays a visit to Regina, an atrractive woman that he hopes will back a new play he wants to star in.  I have a funny feeling that Backstage Wife Mary won't be happy about that, especially since his business meetings with Regina at a nightclub have made the gossip columns. The show is sponsored by Energine Cleaning Fluid - "Keep it clean with Energine!" Unfortunately, this show is a bit difficult to listen to.  Sorry for the surface noise on this one - the years hadn't been kind to this one of a kind lacquer, but it appears to be a lost episode of the series.  The mp3 was directly transferred from an original aircheck acetate transcription recorded from the NBC line by an unknown local affiliate. I have a couple of more episodes from this period in the run of the show that I'll be posting in future weeks.