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Vol. 34 • No. 9
sperdvacLUCILLE FLETCHER • MANC IS COMING • OTR INTERNET MARATHON • BOB MITCHELL • GALE STORM • BOOK REVIEW
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SPERDVAC graciously extends its gratitude to these individuals who have contributed $50 or more to SPERDVAC during the past 12 months. If you wish to be a sponsor of SPERDVAC and join this select group your tax-deductible donation to SPERDVAC can be mailed to Dan Haefele, 13720 Jefferson Avenue, Hawthorne, CA 90250. Thank you!
THANK Y
OU
• ALICE AKINS in memory of Glen Akins• ARTHUR J.M. ANDERSON in memory
of Nila Mack• ERIC BAELEN• JUDIE BARTELL in memory of Harry
Bartell, Ben Wright and Vic Perrin• FRED BONDY in memory of the whole
Gunsmoke gang• GEORGE BRECKENRIDGE• BUD BRESNAHAN in memory of Rich-
ard Crenna• RICHARD A. BROCKELMAN• DENNIS B. BURK in memory of Phil
Harper• CHRIS M. BUZZARD• WARD L. COCHRAN• BERT H. COHEN• RICHARD F. COLAVECHIO in memory
of Bryna Raeburn, Craig McDonnell, Bill Zuckert and Florence Robinson
• JOHN COLLINS• THOMAS W. COLLINS in memory of
William Conrad• TOMMY COOK in memory of Arch
Oboler• IVAN CURY in memory of Bob Novak• DIX DAVIS• LLOYD DE LLAMAS• ROSEMARY DOBBS• JUNE FORAY DONAVAN in memory of
Hobart Donavan• WIL DUFOUR• HENRY C. ENGELHARDT III in memory
of Michael Meredith• CARMEN FINESTRA• JACK FRANCE• BARBARA FULLER in memory of
John Newland, Peggy Knudsen and Laughter
• JACK GAGNE• BARRY GERBER• STANLEY D. GINSBURG• RICHARD GLASBAND in honor of
Bobb Lynes and Barbara Watkins• KATHLEEN GRAMS-GIBBS in memory
of Mary Grams• JOHN F. HALLEY• DR. MICHELE HILMES• STEPHEN E. HOLDEN• JAMES F. HORNER in memory of The
KNX Radio Drama Hour• SEAMAN JACOBS in memory of Fred
S. Fox• RALPH M. JOHNSON
• SAM KAMLER• CASEY KASEM• NILAN L. KINCAID• ALBERT J. KOPEC• RON LANGSETH• JEFFREY J. LEBRUN in memory of all
departed voice artists• ALFRED LUCAS• LON McCARTT in memory of Smilin’ Ed
(Froggy the Gremlin) McConnell• ROBY McHONE• JAN MERLIN in memory of Frankie
Thomas and Mona Bruns Thomas• GEORGE (BOB) & VIRGINIA NEWHART in
memory of Bill Quinn• DR. WAYNE OTT• FORREST F. OWEN• GARRY PAPERS• PHIL PROCTOR• LEE SMITH• BRIAN E. RAMSEY• MARIE RAYMOND• RONALD M. REISNER, M.D.• DICK RICHARDS• D.W. RICHARDSON• STEPHEN K. SHUTTLEWORTH• LOREN SLAFER• LEE SMITH• C. W. STAUFENBERG in memory of Paul
Rhymer and members of the “Vic and Sade” cast
• RICHARD STONE• RICHARD & MADELENE TEPERSON in
memory of Gil Stratton• EDMUND TOTMAN• EUGENE J. WARD• BETSY L. WEINBERG• LESLIE C. WEST
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August 2009
THANK Y
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BOARD OF DIRECTORSpresident
Bob Steinmetz• • •
Dan Haefele • Dave StruthersRex Quinn • Glenda KellyJim Harmon • Don Aston
Editor
PATRICK LUCANIORADIOGRAM is published monthly except December by SPERDVAC, the Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy, a California nonprofit public benefit corporation, P.O. Box 669, Manhattan Beach, Cali-fornia 90266-0669. Dues are $25 for first year and $15 for renewals; $30 American currency for Canadian members. Annual subscriptions to Radiogram only are $15 in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, and $20 in all other countries. Edito-rial submissions are welcome, but the publisher assumes no responsibility for the return of unsolicited material. All editorial-related photographs and artwork received unsolic-ited become the property of SPERDVAC. Opinions expressed are not necessarily the opinions of SPERDVAC All rights to letters sent to Radiogram will be treated as uncondition-ally assigned for publication unless otherwise stated. The publishers make every effort to ensure the accuracy of information published in editorial and advertising material but assume no responsibility for inconveniences or damages resulting from editorial error or omissions. Publisher is not responsible for typographical errors. All photographs and illustrations are believed authorized for reproduction as set forth within. Entire contents are copyright © 2009 by the Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy. All rights reserved. Nothing contained in this issue may be reproduced, in whole or in part, by any means, including the Internet, without prior written permission from the publisher.
EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONS should be sent to Radiogram, Patrick Lucanio, Editor, 1097 Janus Street, Springfield, Oregon 97477; e-mail: [email protected]. E-mail attachments in Microsoft Word are encouraged for all articles submitted. Articles sent by U.S. Mail should be Microsoft Word formatted floppy disk or compact disk accompanied by hardcopy.
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Volume 34 • Number 9 • August 2009
OfficersTreasurer Pro Tem ........................................ Dan HaefeleSecretary .......................................................Glenda KellyActivities Chair ............................................... Bobb LynesAcquisitions Chair ......................................... Dan HaefeleMembership Chair ........................................ Barry OpligerElections Chair ........................................... Neil J. MitchellMerchandise ..................................................Michael PlettCatalogs .....................................................Bob SteinmetzNew Members .................................................. Rex Quinn
The Society toPreserve and Encourage
Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy
RGUABLY, the most famous ra-dio broadcast was “War of the Worlds.” Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre on the Air en-tered broadcasting immortality
on the basis of that singular play. So what was the second most famous radio broadcast? Maybe On a Note of Triumph from the pen of Norman Corwin. Or, perhaps, Edward R. Murrow’s broadcast from a London rooftop during the blitz. Or possibly “Sorry, Wrong Number” from the hand of radio’s first “Queen of Screams,” Lucille Fletcher.
“Sorry, Wrong Num-ber” may be the broadcast that defined Fletcher’s ra-dio career but it was far from her only contribution to the medium. Fletcher began her radio appren-ticeship in 1934 shortly after her graduation from college. She started inaus-piciously enough as a clerk in the Music Clearance Department at CBS. By 1937 she had moved over to the CBS Publicity Department turning out network copy during the day. During her off hours Lucille was a contributor to such publi-cations as The New Yorker and Movie Mirror.
Fletcher’s passion, however, had always revolved around writing plays. Her interest in the written word, according to Fletcher, had started at the age of five when she had collaborated with her sisters and cousins in writing plays that they would act out for fam-ily members.
Not long after joining CBS, Fletcher met her future husband, Bernard Herrmann, a young conductor-composer working for the network. After a lengthy courtship the couple wed in the fall of 1939. By that time, Fletcher was on the verge of real success as a radio writer. Lucille had come to the conclusion that she might be able to write for radio her-self after one of her “short shorts” was used on The Fred Allen Show. As quoted by Leonard Maltin in The Great American Broadcast, Fletcher explained that “when I saw how they did it, how Fred Allen’s scriptwriters turned that little story into a radio show, I realized that I might be able to do the same thing and
earn more money.”The 1940s saw Fletcher’s name attached
to a multitude of radio plays. The Columbia Workshop presented several Fletcher stories and/or adaptations including “My Client Curley,” “The Man with the One Track Mind,” “Carmilla,” “Alf, the All American Fly,” “Someone Else” and “Remodeled Brownstone.”
Writing for Suspense, Fletcher quickly hit her stride as an author of horror. Without doubt Fletcher contributed some of the most memorable scripts of the long-running series.
On September 2, 1942, Sus-pense presented Fletcher’s play “The Hitch-Hiker,” a play of constantly escalat-ing horror destined to play again and again variously on radio, television, film and on stage. Fletcher conceived the idea for the play during a long auto trip she took with her husband. Twice during their trip, the Herrmanns passed a rather odd looking man on the side
of the road. The visage of the character re-mained with Lucille and soon metamorphosed into the ghostly hitch-hiker. Bernard Her-rmann served as composer-conductor when “The Hitch-Hiker” was broadcast.
On April 27, 1943 Fletcher’s story “The Diary of Saphronia Winters” aired with Agnes Moorehead in the title role. It was a story of evolving madness and an old hotel with 125 empty rooms. The following month, on May 25, 1943, the team of Fletcher and Moorehead struck again with “Sorry, Wrong Number.” Sixty-six years later “Sorry, Wrong Number” remains a remarkable testament to the power of radio to throw audiences into an emotional vortex. “Sorry, Wrong Number” aired seven more times on Suspense between 1943 and 1960, each time with Agnes Moorehead in the role of the hysterical invalid, Mrs. Stevenson, who unwittingly hears her own murder being plotted over the telephone. The character of the distraught victim in “Sorry, Wrong Number,” like that of the death-dealing hitch-hiker, was drawn from real life. As Fletcher
She Put into Words Ideas that Made Us Shiver
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AUGUST 15 Sat 9 - 12 • Host: Devon Wilkins•Wayne and Shuster: “Canada’s the Place for Me” 53-08-17• Mystery Project: Suddenly This Summer 1997-09-13• Ozzie and Harriet: Home-Made Ice Cream, 53-10-30 • Favorite Story: Casey at the Bat 48-04-17 • Canadian Snapshot: Muskoka Sat 12 - 3 • Host: Bob Acosta• Halls of Ivy: Summer Vacation 52-06-25• Rogers of the Gazette: Eula Horn & the Country Fair 53-10-22• Mutual Radio Theater: A Trip to Casablanca 80-04-25• Jerry of the Circus: Jerry’s Clown Debut • Crime Club: Coney Island Nocturne 47-07-10• Jimmy Durante: Looking for a Cheap Vacation 48-03-24Sat 3 - 6 • Host: Kelly Sapergia• Burns and Allen: Separate Vacations 1948-01-29• Amos and Andy: Vacation at Lake Chipawa 54-04-11• Gangbusters: The Case of the Carnival Caper• Cavalcade of America: National Parks Pioneers 37-03-03• Adventures of Dick Cole: JudoSat 6 - 9 • Host: Rob Hancik• Archie Andrews: Stranded on an Island 46-07-13• A Date with Judy: Judy’s planning to appear as Minnehaha 47-07-08• Barrie Craig Confidental Investigator: Midsummer• Lunacy 54-08-17• Fibber McGee and Molly: Packing for Vacation 40-06-25• Richard Diamond: The Baseball Matter 53-08-30AUGUST 16Sunday 9 - 12 • Host: John Beaulieu• Damon Runyon: Baseball Hattie 49-06-26• Father Knows Best: Vacation Arrives 50-07-06• Our Miss Brooks: Heatwave 49-08-07• Your hit Parade: All or Nothing At All 43-07-17• Life with Luigi: At the Beach 49-07-17Sunday 12 - 3 • Host: Matt Cox• Dimension X: Time And Again 51-07-12• Lux Radio Theater: The Pride Of The Yankees 43-10-04• You Are there: July 3rd Battle of Gettysburg• Six Shooter: The Battle of Tower Rock. 54-02-21
Sunday 3 - 6 • Host: Larry Gassman• Suspense: August Heat 05-31-45• Red Skelton: Vacation Time and Mad NBC Producers 06-04-46• Screen Guild Theater: The Babe Ruth Story 10-21-48• Jack Benny: Guest Bob Feller 06-20-48• Drgnet: Production 11 aka Sixteen Jewel Thieves 08-18-49Sunday 6 - 9 • Host: John Gassman• Philip Marlowe: Red wind 48-09-26• Great Gildersleeve: Fishing Trip 42-08-30• Bill Stern 46-03-22 & 34-07-02• Gunsmoke: Shakespeare 52-08-23• Night beat: Old Home Week 50-09-04
RadioOutofthePast.org Sets 24-hour Internet OTR Marathon for Aug. 15-16
“Summertime and the livin’ is easy,” and Joy Jackson, of Radio Out of the Past, reminds all OTR fans to get out the hot-dogs and the lemonade for the Radio Out of the Past marathon set forAugust 15-16 from 9 am to 9 pm Pacific time. That’s 24-hours of solid old-time-radio shows on the good ol’ summertime: baseball, circuses, and vacations; from Archie Andrews through Suspense and The Halls of Ivy to You are There, all available at www.RadioOutofthePast.org in the Fred Bertelsen room.
The weekend schedule is as follows:
Mike Kacey of Anthracite Films, pro-ducer of the recent documentary film The
Poet Laureate of Radio: An Interview with Norman Corwin, recently started a petition to honor radio legend Norman Corwin with the Congressional Gold Medal and/or the
Presidential Medal of Freedom for Corwin’s incredible radio work during World War II and beyond.
Corwin, Kacey said, is truly a forgotten American icon.
“He’s 99-years-old” Kacey added, “and still very much involved with what’s happening in the world today.
Those seeking to sign the petitions can go to www.poetlaureateofradio.com and sign the two petitions to urge Congress and the President to recognize Corwin. Additional information is also available at www.norman-corwin.com, which is also Kacey’s website.
Petition underway to honor Norman Corwin
Celebrated musician Bob Mitchell dies
SPERDVAC friend Gale Storm dies
SPERDVAC friend Bob Mitchell, who played at this year’s convention in May and
was the last surviving work-ing accompanist from the silent-film era, died July 4th from congestive heart failure at Hancock Park Rehabilitation Center in Los Angeles. He was 96.
Mitchell was perhaps best known as founder and director of the Robert Mitchell Boys Choir, which would appear in more than 100 films and was prominent in the 1944 film Going My Way with Bing Crosby. The group was formed after Mitchell was hired in 1934 as the organist at St. Brendan’s Catholic Church in Los Angeles, and in the early years the choir sang on the radio.
Because many choir members came from disadvantaged homes, Mitchell set up a private school and often paid for braces and sometimes even college for the boys.
Robert Bostwick Mitchell was born October 12, 1912, and is survived by several cousins.
Gale Storm, the 17-year-old Houston, TX high school senior who became Gale
Storm after winning a radio talent contest, died June 29 of natural causes at a convales-cent hospital in the Northern California community of Danville. She was 87.
Storm was Josephine Cottle when she arrived in Hollywood in late 1939 as a finalist in a nationwide talent contest. The winning contestants were promised contracts with RKO-Radio Pictures, and would be given the Hollywood monikers Terry Belmont and Gale Storm.
Storm and fellow finalist Lee Bonnell not only became Gale Storm and Terry Belmont but also Mr. and Mrs. Lee Bonnell in 1941, a marriage that lasted until Bonnell’s death in 1986 and one that produced three sons and a daughter. After a brief film career, Bonnell became an insurance executive while Storm pursued a film career in a variety of genres for diverse studios including three Roy Rog-ers westerns.
Born on April 5, 1922, in Bloomington, TX, Storm starred in two popular TV sitcoms, My Little Margie which also aired on radio, and The Gale Storm Show—syndicated as Oh Susanna!.
She also had singing career in the 1950s with “I Hear You Knocking” reaching to No. 2 on the Billboard chart in 1955.
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August 2009
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Last issue’s “Mystery of the Friday Frolic” has been solved, well, at least we’re 99% positive we have found the answer to “The Borden Friday Frolic” as depicted in the poster sent to us by Larry Holian. Jeanette Berard, special collections librarian at the Thousand Oaks (CA) Library System, sent the following:
I don’t know anything first-hand about the Friday Frolic, and we don’t have anything in our American Radio Archive, but I did find a regular series of advertisements in the Los Angeles Times from 1934. They advertise a ‘live show’ with a movie, broadcast live over KHJ from the stage at 6th and Hill streets at 8:45 pm every Friday. Fanchon & Marco presented a different live show every week. This was broadcast for 30 minutes, 8:45 to 9:15.
Feb. 9, 1934 announced the “second of a new series from the stage of the Paramount Theater.” So, the series apparently started Feb. 2, 1934., and on Feb. 16, 1934, the announcements became a graphic, and includes the “Fanchon and Marco” list-ing.
May 11, 1934, KHJ announces that “Friday Frolic Quits Air Tonight” and Bill Goodwin announces the end of the variety show. But Sept. 19, 1934, KHJ announces Ed Fitzgerald to emcee a new series of Friday Frolics to begin Oct. 12, at a new time, 7:30 pm. and on Dec. 8, 1934 a disagreement was noted between the emcee and his sponsor. Notices for the show then disappear from the newspaper after Dec. 28, 1934.
If the series continued in 1935, the Times does not pick up on it. The air schedules do not show any such program on the Friday line-up.
Hope that helps!Yes, it does! Thanks so much, Jeanette.
Friday Frolic Mystery Solved?
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Few things are more fascinating than American pop culture, especially television, motion pictures and old-time radio. More than a dozen film festivals are held every year in the United States. Among the notables are the Williamsburg Film Festival, which, every March hosts cowboy westerns for a crowd that favors Whip Wilson and Roy Rogers. Cinevent is held in Columbus, Ohio and plays host to a number of silent and early sound pic-tures including Laurel and Hardy and Charley Chase shorts. Then there is the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention. Held annually towards
the end of summer in Aberdeen, MD, pop culture and old-time
radio thrives for three days.Past year events have offered radio
recreations of “lost” radio shows such as The Green Hornet from 1945, a re-creation of a 1948 Sam Spade broadcast and a clas-sic episode from X Minus One. But old-time radio re-creations are not the only thing that flavors the event. Film shorts aplenty add meat to the offerings. Past events revealed Thomas Edison film shorts, World War II cartoons, 1950s television wrestling matches complete with beer commercials, USO Tour with old-time radio stars, Creature From the Black Lagoon shown in 3-D (glasses were provided), 1939 New York World’s Fair films, Anti-Communist film shorts of the fifties, silent Tom Mix film shorts and Thelma Todd comedies. When Margaret Kerry of the Our Gang fame attended the 2008 event, three film shorts featuring Kerry were screened as part of the annual Saturday morning Little Rascals feature.
Actor Larry Storch was guest last year and not only did he discuss F-Troop and Car 54, Where Are You? but he also brought up the subject of guest work on radio’s Duffy’s Tavern. Author Michael Hayde discussed the radio series of Superman at a past event but this year he’ll be signing copies of his Super-man book just recently published this summer through BearManor Media.
When blooper reels from the You Bet Your Life quiz program starring Groucho Marx were screened last year, it was standing room only. And the room roared with laughter. Not only did Groucho display a sharp tongue, but the contestants were just as liable to slip with theirs. Another highlight was the 1934 version of Buck Rogers (pre-dating Buster Crabbe as the first screen version of Buck Rogers) from
the Chicago World’s Fair was presented on the big screen.
The 2008 event featured the 1954 Egyp-tian version of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein with Egyptian actors reprising a scene-for-scene remake. The 2006 event screened the original Abbott and Costello version, introduced by author and film his-torian Gregory William Mank. The 2007 event gave attendees an opportunity to view Creature from the Black Lagoon in 3-D with complimentary glasses.
This year’s events include plenty of old-time radio offerings. The 1951 motion-picture The Fat Man will be screened with J. Scott Smart reprising his radio role. Following the movie is the 1968 unaired TV pilot with Robert Middleton in the lead. Fire Chief fans might enjoy watching Ed Wynn make a transition to television with a 1949 telecast featuring Celeste Holm as his guest. The Academy Award winning actress who ap-peared on Lux Radio Theater and numerous other radio programs will also be a guest sign-ing autographs and posing for photos with the fans at the event.
Also attending is Rosemary Rice, best known as Katrin on TV’s I Remember Mama. Rosemary Rice was also a cast member on radio’s Suspense, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar, X Minus One and many other programs. Courtesy of Terry Salomonson and Rosemary Rice, two famous broadcasts from I Remember Mama will be screened including the episode in which Katrin gets married. Bob Hastings, best known as Lt. Carpenter on McHale’s Navy, will be signing autographs for fans. Hastings was on numerous radio programs including X Minus One, Cavalcade of America, Archie Andrews and The Shadow.
A broadcast of The Ed Sullivan Show from the late fifties will feature a star-studded gath-ering of old-time radio celebrities including Rudy Vallee, Jack Benny, George Burns, Jean Hersholt, Art Linkletter, H.V. Kaltenborn, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy and many more! The 1943 motion picture Henry Aldrich Swings It will be featured, requested by a frequent attendee claiming it is one of the best films of the series. A Charlie Chan and Nick Carter movie round out Friday afternoon.
Neal Ellis will be broadcasting “live” from
Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention
August convention will celebrate the best of radio, television and film
Continued Page 14
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And for almost 20 years, The Cavalcade of America rivaled second behind the equally long-running Hollywood prestige program, The Lux Radio Theater. Stars of Hollywood and Broadway such as Raymond Massey, Orson Welles, Bette Davis, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart and Burgess Meredith were offered top-notch acting performances. Carl Sandburg, Arch Oboler and Arthur Miller contributed to the program.
Among the program’s highlights was “The Green Pastures” with Juano Hernandez, a Christmas offering for 1940. For the broadcast of October 20, 1941, Edward Arnold, Jane Darwell and Walter Huston starred in “All That Money Can Buy” from Stephen Vincent Benet’s The Devil and Daniel Webster. Henry Fonda reprised his screen role from Drums Along the Mohawk. Errol Flynn reprised his screen role for They Died With Their Boots On three days before the movie premiered in theatres. Fredric March starred in the lead for The Adventures of Mark Twain. Kay Armen and Ray Block lent their talents during the war for a patriotic musical presentation titled “Sing A War Song.”
While most radio directors and actors had to contend with the fear of their programs being “pulled” from the air for any number of reasons, especially losing the sponsor, The Cavalcade of America did not have to contend with such worries. Cavalcade was a “DuPont program” as most performers referred to at the time. DuPont had no intention of drop-ping sponsorship, and it was this very reason why the program never had a brief broadcast run on the air.
When DuPont chemists were toiling over their Bunsen burners and squinting into the reports to bring into the world new materials such as nylon and lucite, the public thought of DuPont as a gunpowder manufacturing gargantuan, making goods of destruction and profiting from world wars. Then some smart advertising agency executive sold the 26 men
on DuPont’s executive committee the idea of advertising on radio the constructive things DuPont was making for society. “Better things for better living through chemistry” was the motif behind the advertising plan and it was soon heard as DuPont’s slogan on the weekly program.
Radio was still an infant in 1935 when the program premiered. During the program’s early years, Cavalcade was subjected to a series of different formats. The first was producer Arthur Pryor’s conception of two, 13-minute plays bridged with a DuPont pro-motional advertisement in between. Each episode dealt with a fundamental achieve-ment that America could be proud of. For the broadcast of December 18, 1935, titled “Defiance of Nature,” two docudramas about the Erie Canal and the Holland Tunnel were offered. For the broadcast of March 25, 1936, “Conservation” was the subject with a brief drama about Johnny Appleseed and another about a modern story of a forest fire and fire-fighters combating the elements to preserve our forests. This early format stopped after the first 39 broadcasts.
The second format began with episode 40. Musical programs were a common staple on the radio so Pryor tried his hand at a weekly musical offering. From July 15, 1936 to September 23, 1936, Cavalcade offered a short-run summer series subtitled “The Development of Band Music in America,” fol-lowed by a number of other musical offerings such as “The Orchestra of Today and How it Grew” and “Music of the Movies.
The third format began on the evening of September 30, 1936 and became a staple for the rest of the series. One half-hour biographical drama centering on individuals both famous and obscure who helped in the advancement of progress here in the United States. A biography of Charles Goodyear, the showmanship of P.T. Barnum, and the person responsible for introducing seeing-eye dogs
were among the earliest presentations.Beginning with episode 90, broadcast July
7, 1937, the name of the program changed to The Cavalcade of Music and like the previous summer presented musical offerings for the radio listeners. This time each episode cen-tered on a famous American composer with his music bridged between dramatic scenes. The works of Cole Porter, Jerome Kern and Victor Herbert were among the highlights.
Beginning with episode 102, broad-cast September 29, 1937, the series picked up where it left off—offering a half-hour biographical sketch about an American who pioneered or advanced the means by which we live today. And it was this format that re-mained throughout the rest of the program’s run. By 1939, the program had gained enough prestige to attract the attention of Hollywood actors who were performing on stage in New York. Since the series was presented from the East Coast, Cavalcade producers Larry Hard-ing and Homer Fickett sought out actors from stage and screen who were willing to play the leads—and DuPont advanced the salaries. By 1940, actors such as Orson Welles, Burgess Meredith and Raymond Massey were making return visits and by 1941 all of Hollywood was jumping on board.
DuPont spared no expense. Nearly 1000 man-hours each week and eleven-and-a-half hours of rehearsal time were spent in the preparation of each half-hour production. Newspapers with a circulation of 17,500,000 carried advertisements of the program. Close to 715,000 pieces of mail were sent out weekly to stockholders, business leaders, educators, customers, and anyone else who might have an interest in the program. Variety reported in February of 1944 that the budget for Cav-alcade moved from $5000 to $7000 per show exactly one year before to $11,500.
When each episode was broadcast “live” over the air from 1935 to 1953, DuPont went to the added expense of recording each of the
The Cavalcade of America was an instant success, accomplishing the task it was first sent out to do in 1935.
Cavalcade was designed to re-awaken in the public mind a consciousness of those ideals and inheritance
that were most basically American. With this objective, the show was submitted to a permanent time slot
and longer broadcast run.
by Martin Grams, Jr.
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broadcasts to transcription disc format. By the time the series picked up prestige and stars of stage and screen began making a weekly ap-pearance, DuPont made it a tradition to cut a transcription disc for each of the lead actors and present the stars with a disc of their own. Photos were taken (many exist today with the stars proudly holding their disc while facing the photographer) and DuPont themselves retained a disc for each and every broadcast. These discs were housed in Wilmington and shortly after the series concluded they were transported to the Hagley Library where they remain today in storage for preservation.
During the early 1980s, a private collector dealing with old-time radio contacted the ar-chive at Hagley and asked for the opportunity to transfer the recordings to a more stable medium so patrons visiting the archive could listen to the radio broadcasts without the necessity of removing the transcription discs from the shelves.
Regrettably, a visit to the same archive in 1999 revealed a fright for any radio historian: only 500 episodes of the 780 broadcasts re-mained. According to an employee at Hagley, not all of the discs and/or recordings were returned. A checklist was made and more than 200 recordings were not amidst the collection. Paperwork dated 1967 verified that all 780 discs were in the archive, sparking a mystery regarding the whereabouts of the missing episodes and who or what was responsible for the disappearance?STATISTICS
BEFORE we begin the elusive search for the “lost” episodes, a few statistics are
in order:(1) For anyone keeping count, there was
“officially” a total of 780 radio broadcasts and 197 television broadcasts. All of the television episodes are known to exist on both 35mm and 16mm formats and since this article focuses
on the radio programs we can focus on the radio program.
(2) Episode #408 titled “Jane Addams of Hull House” scheduled for November 6, 1944 was never broadcast. The same drama was performed years previous on the Cavalcade series but the time slot was sold to the Na-tional Independent Committee for Roosevelt and Truman. The election speeches, the Re-publican/Democratic special, also pre-empted other radio programs that evening. DuPont, however, continued numbering the scripts consecutively so the broadcast of November 13 was listed as episode #409.
I have to repeat: episode #408 was never broadcast.
While many reference guides claim 781 episodes were broadcast, 780 was the exact figure. Sadly, some collectors have taken the May 21, 1940 broadcast of the same name and assigned it the 1944 broadcast date. The 1940 version featured Helen Hayes in the title role. The 1944 version would have starred Loretta Young. Therefore, unless someone miracu-lously comes up with a version starring Loretta Young, the 1944 recording is considered a “holy grail” and should be dismissed. It was never broadcast and should not be counted as an episode of Cavalcade.
After months of research, with the co-operation of DuPont and private collectors of old-time radio programs, in early 1999 I completed an official list of the 17 lost radio episodes. SPERDVAC’S Radiogram featured the official list with the hopes that someone reading the essay would have sought out one or two of the lost episodes. After all, how can a collector know what is and is not a “lost” episode without such a list? And certainly far easier to remember the titles of 17 episodes than 764.
Today, more than ever, collectors of old-time radio broadcasts and fans of Hollywood
motion pictures have been discovering The Cavalcade of America. While broadcasts of The Lux Radio Theatre have been making their way as extras on studio commercial DVDs, The Cavalcade of America has begun sharing the same success. Scholars and fans alike are discovering how polished the audio dra-matizations can be, and everyone can thank DuPont for their efforts of keeping the series alive. Without DuPont footing the bill for the electrical transcriptions we would not have as many radio broadcasts to listen to today.TRANSCRIPTIONS
THE most frequent question that arises is this: If so many episodes exist today why
are there still a handful missing? The answer is varied depending on which “lost” recording we are referring to.
During the 20s and 30s radio broadcasts were generally broadcast live. Very few pro-ducers took to the expense of recording or transcribing the programs on disc. No one suspected there would be a commercial value over the span of decades and so after the initial live broadcast, the scripts were dismissed and the attention of the cast, producer and script writer centered on next week’s production. According to statistics that appear in print, ra-dio broadcasts of the 20s and 30s indicate that the ratio of lost recordings may be anywhere from 80 to 90 percent if not more.
The reasons for this dreadful statistic are numerous, but one of the most important is the unstable nature of preservation. Even when the studios shelved transcription discs in storage, it would be years later that decision-makers chose to throw the discs away to make room for new offices. Collectors throughout the 1970s and 1980s still recall fishing through dumpers in alleys for the discs, taking them home and cleaning the dust off.
Junking old transcription discs was a standard operating procedure and a perfectly reasonable business decision—if there existed a duplicate recording kept in good condition. But when the duplicate transcription is also lost, there is nothing to return to, and the recording is gone forever.
To be fair to the studios of the past, few
Edward Arnold portrayed Teddy Roosevelt in one of the lost episodes of the celebrated series The Cavalcade of America, sponsored by Du Pont for the series’ entire run.
Page 10 sperdvac
August 2009
people believed there was any lasting worth to radio recordings except for their historical value. News briefs of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Hindenburg disaster and the War of the Worlds panic broadcast were given second thoughts before the decision to throw them away was discarded. To studio heads that center their efforts on the latest programs telecast on television, radio drama was a disposable art form, enjoyed years previous, forgotten the next, in much the same way we think of a newspaper or, perhaps, a magazine. Audiences didn’t notice that these frivolous entertainments also contained a record of the times in which they were made, capturing people, places, styles, and attitudes in a truer, more vivid way than could any history book.
Saving a single recording of an endan-gered program is obviously important, but saving or restoring the original disc or creating a new duplicate recording from which new copies could be struck is even more vital. The condition of those transcriptions—if they exist at all—depends in large part on how popular the program was. A transcription disc for an un-circulated episode of The Shadow from 1944, for example, would generate larger interest than an episode of remote ballroom music from New York’s Waldorf Astoria from the same year.
The practice of transferring radio broad-casts from transcription discs is not as simple as playing an LP record. Use the wrong needle and you damage the disc. The raw audio has to be recorded digitally. Then software (often expensive) is used to remove some of the hiss and pops that are in the soundtrack. True preservationists insist on saving the audio on a 44.1 mhz linear .wav file (comparable to CD audio) and avoid the MP3 format. The .wav file is used to strike a restoration copy and stored in its original form so if future programs designed and offered later can improve the quality from today’s restoration techniques, the raw version can be consulted without the need of again removing the fragile discs off the shelf. The MP3 format compresses the audio file and while suitable for listeners and collections, it is often com-pared to a six-hour recording on a VHS video as opposed to a re-mastered commercial film on DVD.THE LOST EPISODES
THE list featured in the 1999 issue of Radio-gram featured a total of 22 episodes that
were not known to exist in circulation. Sev-enteen were not in available recorded form (hence the word “lost”) and five episodes were known to exist but remained un-circulated at
Hagley. A request was placed with Hagley to have a copy of those five episodes struck but given their prior relationship with the collec-tor who failed to return all of the recordings, the offer was declined.
Neal Ellis, host of Sounds Like Yesterday radio program heard weekly on the Yester-day USA Network (www.yesterdayusa.com) spent the past year working with a number of archives along the East Coast to preserve what remains of The Cavalcade of America. His efforts are not in vain. Thanks to the cooperation of library archives and private collectors, Neal has begun a restoration pro-cess from original masters to ensure superb sound quality and the most complete collec-tion anywhere.
Thanks to his efforts, four of the five episodes that existed but were formerly not available in circulation are now available: “Éluthère Irénée DuPont” (May 29, 1939), “The Lady and the Flag” (June 15, 1942), “My Wayward Patient” (April 2, 1945), “Man of Great Importance” (September 16, 1952). The only episode known to exist but still withheld from circulation is “Accent on Youth,“ broadcast March 2, 1942. With luck, that episode will become available shortly.
As for the former 17 “lost” episodes, three have become available thanks to Neal’s efforts and are now on CD and MP3 format. They are: “The Development of Band Music in America: The Concert Band Comes Into Its Own” (August 12, 1936), “The Development of Band Music in America: Introducing the Instruments” (August 19, 1936), “Modern American Orchestral Music” (September 9, 1936).
What now remains are 14 “lost” episodes with details provided below.
• Lost Episode #1: “The Story of Rub-ber.” Broadcast November 18, 1936. An-nouncer Frank Singiser. Commercial An-nouncer Craig Stevens. Written by Lawrence Hammond. Produced by Arthur Pryor and directed by Kenneth Webb. Music com-posed by Donald Voorhees conducting his Orchestra.
This episode documents Charles Good-year, who, in 1832, began experimenting with a crude form of rubber called India Rubber in an attempt to find a way to make the substance useful for manufacturing.
• Lost Episode #2: “The Cavalcade of Music.” Broadcast August 11, 1937. Soprano Francia White. Announcer Frank Singiser. Script first written July 22, 1937 and revised on August 10, 1937. Produced and directed by Kenneth Webb. Music composed by Donald
Voorhees conducting his Orchestra.Subtitled “Jerome Kern’s Music,” this
was part six of a 12-part summer series dra-matizing the history of American musicians and their compositions. Some of the songs featured were “Old Man River,” “Till the Clouds Roll By,” “Good Morning Dearie,” “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” and “Can I Forget You.”
• Lost Episode #3: “The Pathfinder.” Broadcast January 26, 1938. Announcer Frank Singiser. Commercial Announcer Dwight Weist. Written by John Driscoll. Script first written on August 31, 1937 and revisions were made on January 3, 11 and 25, 1938. Produced by Arthur Pryor and directed by Kenneth Webb. Music composed by Donald Voorhees conducting his Orchestra. The opening overture was “My Little Gray Home in the West.”
The drama for this episode was about John C. Fremont, geologist, botanist and topographer, who combined the technical knowledge with his daring as a pioneer in the western wilderness.
• Lost Episode #4: “Dear Brutus.” Broadcast March 16, 1942. Cast: Fredric March (Dearth), Karl Swenson (Matey), John McIntire (Mr. Coade), Jeanette Nolan (Mrs. Coade), Charita Bauer (Margaret), and Betty Garde (Alice). Narrator Kenny Delmar. Announcer Clayton Collyer. Pro-duced and directed by Homer Fickett. Music composed by Donald Voorhees conducting his Orchestra.
Next to Peter Pan, Dear Brutus is the most beloved of all the plays written by Sir James Matthew Barrie. The radio script was adapted for Cavalcade by Robert Tallman (who wrote for The Whistler and Suspense). For trivia buffs, real-life husband and wife John McIntire and Jeanette Nolan played a married couple in this episode.
• Lost Episode #5: “The Silent Heart.” Broadcast on March 30, 1942. Cast: Ingrid Bergman (Jenny Lind), Karl Swenson (Jo-seph), Bill Johnstone (Otto), Betty Garde (Anna), Ed Jerome (Webster), Ted Jewett (the voice), John McIntire (P.T.) and Ed-gar Vincent (the sailor). Announcer Kenny Delmar. Based on unpublished research by Carl Carmer; written by Norman Rosten. The production credits are the same as the above episode.
This episode featured the Ken Christie singers. Elizabeth Mulliner sang Bergman’s role of Jenny Lind, singing the 1813 song “Last Rose of Summer.” Best remembered as the Swedish nightingale, this episode told the story of Jenny Lind and her debut at the Old Castle Garden on the Battery in New York.
• Lost Episode #6: “This Side of Hades.” Broadcast on April 27, 1942. Cast: Loretta Young (Molly Pitcher), Ed Jerome (Irvine),
To studio heads that center their efforts on the latest programs telecast on television, radio drama was a disposable art form, enjoyed years previous, forgotten the next, in much the same way we think of a newspaper or, perhaps, a magazine.
sperdvac Page 11
August 2009
NICK CARTER, MASTER DETECTIVE:Volume TwoFrom the first burst of knuckles rapping on his office door to his deft wrapping up of each case, Carter is an investigator in action. But, he doesn’t work alone. Assistant Patsy Bowen and “demon reporter” Scubby Wilson have his back…as does Sgt. Mathison, struggling not to be seen as riding on Nick’s coattails! Lon Clark stars in these 18 escapades as “the detective whose ability at solving crimes is unequaled in the history of detective fiction.” These episodes, previously featured on a long-discontinued cassette collection, are available now for the first time on CD!
The Unwilling Accomplice 01-29-44, Dead Witnesses 02-26-44, A Cat Brings Death 04-15-44, The Numbers Murders 10-08-44, The Slingshot Murders 10-15-44, The Funeral Wreath 10-29-44, Death in the Pool 11-05-44, Murder in the Night 11-12-44, Death Plays the Lead 12-03-44, Ready for Murder 02-04-45, Mind Over Murder 02-18-45, Funeral Wreath 03-04-45, Death Goes to the Post 03-18-45, Death Behind the Scenes 03-25-45, The Vanishing Lady 05-06-45, The Mystery of Hangman’s Wood 05-20-45, The Man Who Lived Too Long 07-01-45, Shakespeare’s Ghost 12-30-45, The Witness Saw Nothing 02-24-46
Item # 4431CD $35.95
THE SHADOW:Unearthly SpectersOrson Welles, Bill Johnstone and Bret Morrison each star in the title role, staving off the forces of voodoo and an onslaught of the occult. Malevolent creatures stalk co-stars Agnes Moorehead, Margot Stevenson,Marjorie Andersen and Grace Matthews;all playing the role of The Shadow’s lovely companion Margot Lane. Fall under the spell of two newly discovered episodes — “The Mark of the Bat” and “The Witch Drums”, (both starring Orson Welles). These episodes are available here to the public for the first time since their original broadcast dates. Includes a Program Guide by William Nadel.
Tomb of Terror 06-19-38, The Mark of the Bat 07-24-38, The Witch Drums 09-11-38, Black Abbot 10-02-38, Ghosts Can Kill 01-15-39, The Ghost of Captain Bayloe 02-05-39, The Cat that Killed 12-31-39, The Laughing Corpse 03-10-40, The Mark of the Black Widow 10-27-40, The Ghost on the Stair 12-29-40, The Ghost Building 01-12-41, The Ghost Walks Again 03-16-41, Voodoo 03-30-41, Return of Anatole Chevanic 02-01-42, The House that Death Built 01-25-48, Death Coils to Strike 03-21-48, The Ghost that Gleams 04-04-48, Phantom Racketeer 10-03-48
Item # 44242 $35.95Includes Never Before
Released Episodes!
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SAM SPADE: CapersWith a quick mind and a quicker tongue (oc-casionally planted firmly in cheek), Dashiell Hammett’s daring detective takes the case, takes a few punches, takes the dough (when there is any), and takes advantage of Effie’s…good nature. This set stars Howard Duff as Spade, with Lurene Tuttle as his flirtatious Gal Friday, and includes a Program Guide by Martin Grams, Jr. with photographs and in-formation about the series.
The Death Bed Caper 06-20-48, The Wheel of Life Caper 07-11-48, The Missing Newshawk Caper 07-18-48, The Lazarus Caper 09-12-48, The Hot 100 Grand Caper 09-19-48, The Dick Foley Caper 09-26-48, The Red Ampola Caper (Rehearsal) 05-21-50, The Farmer’s Daughter Caper 09-03-50
Item # 44312 $18.95
THE GREEN HORNET: Spies and RacketsHe hunts the biggest of all game! Public enemies who try to destroy our America!Britt Reid, millionaire bachelor and manager of his father’s powerful newspaper, donned a disguise to smash rackets and expose crooks, spies and saboteurs. With his faithful sidekick Kato lurking in the shadows, a gas gun in his hand, a mask upon his face and The Black Beauty in the garage, he became The Green Hornet! Also includes a Program Guide by Martin Grams, Jr. and Terry Salomonson.
Paroled for Revenge 05-16-44, One for the Books 05-23-44, Racketeers in Gas Coupons 05-30-44, Code for Sabotage 06-06-44, Circumstances Alter Cases 06-13-44, Dope Versus the War Effort 06-20-44, Birds of a Feather 06-27-44, The Make Believe Sheriff 07-04-44, Madhouse Adventure 07-11-44, Fireworks for Smitty 07-18-44, Road to Riches 07-25-44, Gentleman Jerry Meets His Match 08-01-44, Mystery in the Dentist’s Office 08-08-44, The Female of the Species 08-15-44, Flames of Wrath 08-29-44, Ramona 09-05-44, Murder in the Rain 09-19-44, Story of a Dog 09-26-44, Murder Masquerade 10-03-44, Prelude to a Blood Bath 10-10-44
Item # 44272 $39.98Includes Never Before
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Page 12 sperdvac
August 2009
Betty Garde (Beulah), Bill Johnstone (the sentry), Paul Stewart (Smith), Bill Pringle (the Captain), Ted Jewett (the Colonel), John McIntire (George Washington) and Jeanette Nolan (Mrs. Irvine). Announcer Clayton Collyer. Based on research by Carl Carmer; written for Cavalcade by Robert Tallman. Produced and directed by Homer Fickett. Music by Donald Voorhees conducting his orchestra.
True story of Molly Pitcher, who ran back and forth from the front lines to a distant well with her pitcher of water during the American Civil War. Then one day her husband fell exhausted by his cannon, and Molly came to the rescue.
• Lost Episode #7: “Clara Barton.” Broadcast on June 1, 1942. Cast: Madeleine Carroll (Clara Barton), Bill Pringle (Sena-tor Z.), Everett Sloane (Jim), John McIn-tire (Wilson), Jeanette Nolan (Ann), Paul Stewart (Hay), Ed Jerome (Senator Y) and Ted Jewett (the orderly). Announcer Kenny Delmar. Production credits same as the above episode.
Clara Barton not only founded the American Red Cross but also spent four years after the Civ-il War directing an extensive search for missing soldiers.
• Lost Episode #8: “Man of Iron.” Broadcast on July 13, 1942. Cast: Dean Jagger (Lt. Worden), Bill Johnstone (Greene), Ian Martin (the atta-che), Paul Stewart (the helmsman), Arnold Moss (Fox), Arlene Francis (Olivia), Ed Jerome (Abe Lincoln) and Karl Swenson (Stanton). Announcer Clayton Collyer. Written by Robert L. Richards and Robert Tallman. Produced and directed by Homer Fickett. Music by Donald Voorhees conduct-ing his Orchestra.
John Ericsson came forward to build, in the incredibly short period of one hundred days, a vessel that would destroy the new menace called the Merrimac. His “cheesebox on a raft” introduced a basic new principle of naval warfare to the world.
• Lost Episode #9: “Theodore Roosevelt, Man of Action.” Broadcast on August 17, 1942. Cast: Edward Arnold (Roosevelt). Written by Robert L. Richards and Robert Tallman. Production credits are the same as the above episode.
This presents the life of Roosevelt, the man who charged up San Juan Hill, won the vice- presidency in the election of 1900, and became president a year later when McKinley died at the hand of an assassin. The original title of this script was “The Big Stick,” refer-
ring to the old proverb, “walk softly and carry a big stick.” By the time the final draft of this script came into being the title was changed to the above. One small historical mistake occurred during this drama. McKinley was as-sassinated by three bullets (provided by sound man Al Scott). When listeners heard this, they began writing to DuPont, commenting that McKinley was assassinated by two bullets, not three. And the listeners were correct!
• Lost Episode #10: “The Road to Vic-tory.” Broadcast December 7, 1942. Narrator Carl Sandburg. Announcer Clayton Collyer. Based on numerous works by Sandburg, and adapted for Cavalcade by Norman Rosten. Produced and directed by Homer Fickett. Music composed by Ardon Cornwell and conducted by Donald Voorhees.
A vocal number is sung by the Delta Rhythm Boys. This episode was a one-year an-niversary of Pearl Harbor with Sandburg de-scribing his meetings with Americans from all walks of life, and paused to celebrate the road builders and those traveling along that road. Radio actors often played more than one role
in the same drama, a common practice for creating the illusion of a crowd, or filling in for simple one-line remarks such as a con-ductor calling “All Aboard,” or a pass-erby saying “hello.” To note, this episode featured the largest
cast of characters than any other Cavalcade broadcast. Seventy-three characters were featured and all of the roles were played by a little more than a dozen actors!
• Lost Episode #11: “Sing a War Song.” Broadcast on May 29, 1944. Stars Kay Armen in a musical war-time presentation. Narrator Deems Taylor. Announcer Roland Winters. Commercial Announcer Ted Pearson. Writ-ten for Cavalcade by Peter Lyon. Produced and directed by Jack Zoller. Music for this program was under the direction of Donald Voorhees and his orchestra of twenty-eight men, Ray Block and a chorus of twenty-four voices and the Golden Gate Quartet. Donald Bryan directed the musical scores. Songs featured were “Elmer’s Tune,” “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition,” “Rosie the Riveter,” “Don’t Forget to Say No, Baby,” “This is the Army, Mr. Jones,” “One More Mile to Go,” “One Little Wac,” “Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet,” and “When the Yanks Go Marching In.”
• Lost Episode #12: “Pink Lace.” Broad-cast on February 28, 1949. Cast: Janet Blair (Pauline Cushman) and Staats Cotsworth (McNairy). Announcer Ted Pearson. Com-mercial Announcer Bill Hamilton. Written for
Cavalcade by Virginia Radcliffe. Produced and directed by Jack Zoller. Music composed by Ardon Cornwell and conducted by Donald Bryan.
During the War between the States, actress Pauline Cushman openly declared herself for the South thereby enabling her to move around gathering information as a fe-male spy. This episode actually has two titles. The official script title was “Pink Lace,” but beforehand it was titled “The Girl in the Pink Lace.” At the beginning of the broadcast Ted Pearson announced the drama as “The Girl in the Pink Lace,” even though the official script title says otherwise. Madeline Carroll was originally slated to play the role of Pau-line Cushman, but for reasons unknown she was unable to attend. Janet Blair became her replacement.
• Lost Episode #13: “Letter From Eu-rope.” Broadcast on March 21, 1949. Cast: Charles Boyer (Albert Gallatin), Barbara Weeks (Hannah), Ethel Owen (Mrs. Har-wood), Scott Tennyson (Janney), House Jameson (Thomas Jefferson), Robert Dryden (voice one), Alan Hewitt (the chairman); Ar-nold Moss (John Adams) and Joseph Bell (the Massachusetts man). Written for Cavalcade by Russell Hughes. Production credits are the same as above.
In 1798, when war with France seemed inevitable, a small group of men marshaled themselves against it. Among them was the European-born Albert Gallatin. He won his fight and later became Secretary of the Trea-sury under President Jefferson.
• Lost Episode #14: “Never Marry a Ranger.” Broadcast on May 9, 1950. Cast: Martha Scott (Roberta McConnell), Donnie Harris (Scott), Nelson Case (Mr. McCon-
Seventy-three charac-ters were featured and all of the roles were played by a little more than a dozen actors!
Dean Jagger appeared the Civil War episode “Man of Iron,” one of several lost episodes of The Cavlacade of America.
sperdvac Page 13
August 2009
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OR THE TRADITIONALISTS among us who still prefer to read books rather than perpetually “Twit-ter” our lives away online, may I suggest The Lucky Strike Papers
by Andrew Lee Fielding. Ostensibly, an affectionate look at the career of Fielding’s mother, Sue Bennett, a gifted vocalist from the early days of live television, The Lucky Strike Papers re-creates the world of early television through the use of personal recol-lections, interviews, kinescopes and sound recordings, careful research and a wealth of detail and minutia which taken as a whole flesh out the story of an exciting and creative time in American popular culture.
Sue Bennett was a regular performer on such top programs as Your Hit Parade, Kay Kyser’s College of Musical Knowledge and The Freddy Martin Show. Downbeat magazine in 1951 described Bennett as having “the con-trolled musicianship of a [Jo] Stafford, and the jazz ideas of a [Sarah] Vaughn.” So why did Bennett’s career as a nationally known singer fade? Fielding’s portrait of his mother answers that question and reveals a performer without ego who elected to put her family first. Bennett had met and married a young medical student, Waldo Fielding. At the beginning of 1953 the Fieldings moved to the Boston area and Waldo began a private medical practice. The couple began to raise a family and Sue, more or less, confined her musical activities to local radio and television. It was a far cry from the choices most performers would make today but then 1953 was another era and Sue Bennett was a different kind of person.
The author of The Lucky Strike Papers was born in 1956. There is poignancy to this volume which amounts, as it were, almost to a quest to uncover a piece of his own heritage which the author missed experiencing first-hand by a mere handful of years. Fragmentary kinescopes and imperfect, incomplete and barely listenable audio tapes, scratchy discs and patchwork reminiscences all serve to help put that legacy into something resembling an intelligible context. But even then the picture remains out of focus. As Fielding admits:
“But mostly, I cannot know—and never will know—what it felt like, to sit before a TV set, in 1949, or 1950, or 1951, or 1952—when watching a show was a new and singular ex-
perience, when it was a luxury to have a TV set, when the idea of images coming into one’s home was revolutionary; when an industry was being invented, moment to moment.”
In a broader sense, however, it is more than just the author’s heritage that is being explored in the 257 pages of The Lucky Strike Papers. Fielding’s approach encapsulates the legacy of early live television and by extension that of radio itself. The history of radio and early television, for all intents and purposes, ought to be considered as an organic whole. Although some limited segments of the OTR community insist on exorcising early televi-sion from the equation, the practice ill serves efforts to adequately chronicle and preserve radio’s history. It was not from caprice or poor judgment that early television was ha-bitually referred to as “radio with pictures.” Television was the visual extension of radio in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Sue Bennett’s television career peaked on such programs as Your Hit Parade and Kay Kyser’s College of Musical Knowledge. Those programs were born on radio and underwent conversion to TV precisely because of their success on radio. The same can be said for hundreds of other radio programs that translated in part or in whole to the emerging medium. It doesn’t make sense to allow one’s passion and affin-ity for old-time radio to obscure or denigrate the contributions of early television at a time when the two were delivering the same mate-rial to the same audiences.
Some, though clearly not all, radio veter-ans actually welcomed the arrival of televi-sion; a few heretics even claimed to prefer the new medium. Fielding references a 1950 Kay Kyser interview conducted by Bob Thomas of the Associated Press. Kyser admitted to preferring television over radio. “Television is easier,” he said, “because I can be myself. In radio, you have to keep jabbering to get the point across . . . . In TV I can act more naturally and do with a look or a shrug what used to require a lot of words.”
Radio and television, during the years chronicled by The Lucky Strike Papers, were not mutually exclusive. Frankly, it makes little sense to treat them as such today, not by those of us who appreciate the kinds of entertain-ment that the two outlets were disseminating in tandem.[
nell), Joseph Bell (the boss), Robin Morgan (Cissie), George Petrie (the volunteer), Cameron Andrews (Old Pete), Joe Latham (Oley), Rica Martens (the woman), Clifford Tatum, Jr. (the baby cry) and Carl Eastman (the radio voice). Announcer Ted Pearson. Commercial Announcer Bill Hamilton. Writ-ten for Cavalcade by Virginia Radcliffe as adapted from the book of the same title by Roberta McConnell as originally published by Prentice-Hall in 1950. Produced by Roger Pryor and Directed by Jack Zoller. Music composed by Roger Pryor and conducted by Donald Voorhees.
Story of the Forest Ranger station on Callina Crib in the Utah mountains and how Roberta, the wife of a Forest Ranger, has to contend with her husband’s job and the life that accompanied it. When a forest fire broke out one day, it was Roberta who saved the day and then realized the importance of her husband’s job. CONCLUSION
COMPARE your collection with the list above. If you believe you have any of these lost
recordings, please drop a note so it can be verified. Because the MP3 market is flooded with supposed “lost” episodes (pre-existing recordings re-assigned titles and broadcast dates), a copy of the lost episode would need to be verified. I purchased half a dozen MP3s during the past two years claiming to have at least one “lost” episode and not one of them were legit in their claims. Should you wish to forward a copy of the recording to Neal Ellis for verification, his web-site is www.oldtime-radioonmp3.com. Further details about The Cavalcade of America can be found in the 480-page book, The History of the Cavalcade of America (Morris Publishing, 1998).[
New Book Neatly Encapsulates Legacy of Early TV and Radio
by Gary Coville
Page 14 sperdvac
August 2009
McGee’s Closet is a free service to our members and honor-ary members. Send your wants in OTR-related material to [email protected] (the preferred method) or write to Mc-Gee’s Closet, P.O. Box 669, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266-0669. Please specify desired taping format (cassette, open reel, recordable CD, or DAT). Also, please include your membership number with your advertisement.
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explained to an interviewer, she had gone to a local drugstore to obtain some medicine for her husband. In the course of her drugstore visit, Lucille incurred the wrath of a shrill, highly irritating woman who objected to Fletcher’s usurpation of the druggist’s time. Thus was born the hysterical and neurotic Mrs. Stevenson.
Like “The Hitch-Hiker,” “Sorry, Wrong Number” transcended its initial radio out-ing. Besides radio the play would later be televised, fashioned into a feature film star-ring Barbara Stanwyck and turned into a stage play.
Lucille Fletcher died on August 31, 2000 at the age of 88 years. Fletcher had a success-ful career after radio, writing for television and penning novels. Her greatest impact, however, remains her radio work. Lucille Fletcher had an intuitive understanding of what makes an audience uncomfortable and a craftsman’s ability to put into words ideas that would make us all shiver in the darkness.[
the event over the weekend over Yesterday USA as well as offering a fascinating presenta-tion titled “Radio Was There.” Attendees will be treated to rarely heard radio broadcasts of the past (some recently discovered and not in circulation) including Hurricane Carol devastate WBZ radio in Boston, the final flight of the Hindenberg, the flood broadcast of WHAS Louisville (1937) and the B-25 that crashed into the Empire State Building in New York City.
Terry Salomonson will offer a presenta-tion about radio’s Challenge of the Yukon, also known as Sgt. Preston of the Yukon. Professor Gary Yoggy will offer “The Top Ten Radio Programs” and author Martin Grams will explore Alfred Hitchcock’s appearances on radio.
Other highlights of the weekend include a drive-in movie theater set up outside the hotel (double feature starts at sunset) on Friday evening, a charity auction to benefit the St. Jude Children’s Hospital, a rare screening of Operation Kid Brother (1967) with Sean Con-nery’s real-life brother playing James Bond’s brother, and a special offering of Gentleman’s Agreement in honor of weekend guest Celeste Holm. Newsreel footage of her accepting the Oscar will also be presented!
Other guests for the weekend include Ed Walker (“The Joy Boys” and radio host of The Big Broadcast in Washington D.C.), Lee Meriwether (Catwoman on Batman, Time Tunnel), James Best (Roscoe P. Coltrane on Dukes of Hazzard, Forbidden Planet), Patty McCormack (star of The Bad Seed and will reprise her radio debut on the 1956 Suspense broadcast “The Doll”), Diane Sowle (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) and Johnny Whitaker (Family Affair and Tom Sawyer). MANC resident staple Derek Tague and radio host Joel Blumberg of Silver Screen Audio will also be on hand to interview the stars on stage.
With an economy showing clear signs of a slowdown and rising gas prices, and film festi-vals centered on a specific genre and/or time period, many film festivals have questioned whether outside factors would handicap their own festivals. Many have proudly displayed growth and have cause to cheer. With an event such as the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention, happily stamped and hooted by attendees, and just establishing itself as the new phase of film festivals—perhaps the diverse selection of vintage films and Hol-lywood celebrities will please every cowboy and rocket ranger who wants to revisit again and again.
For details call the convention hotline at 443-286-6821 or check the convention website at http://www.midatlanticnostalgiac0nvention.com.
This year’s convention is scheduled for August 27-29 at the
Clarion Hotel at Aberdeen, MD.
Nostalgia Convention Lucille Fletcher
NORMAN CORWIN PETITIONThose seeking to sign petitions to honor Norman Corwin with the Congressional Gold Medal and/or the Presidential Medal of Freedom for Corwin’s incredible radio work during World War II can go to www.poetlaureateofradio.com and sign the two petitions to urge Congress and the President to recognize Corwin. Additional information is also available at www.normancorwin.com.
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August 2009
OLD-TIME RADIO IS BETTER THAN EVER!
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