From Those Were the Days:

1931 - Singer Kate Smith began her long and illustrious radio career with CBS on this, her birthday. The 22-year-old Smith started out with no sponsors and a paycheck of just $10 a week for the nationally broadcast daily program. However, within 30 days, her salary increased to a more respectable $1,500 a week!
9:50:17 AM    comment []  trackback []  

A little bit of this, and a little bit of that

A thousand apologies for my not being able to present a review or article on the blog this morning. I had penciled in a look at Big Town, a popular newspaper radio drama, for today, but things got sort of hectic at the hotel last night. We were filled to the rafters, plus it was the end of the month—which means reports and stuff like that.

I do, however, want to direct your attention to the newest Premier Collection being offered by our good friends at First Generation Radio Archives: The Planet Man, a radio serial from the golly-gee-whillikers school of kiddie science fiction. I call your attention to it only because the liner notes were written by (ahem) yours truly. Granted, the show isn’t X-Minus One—but if you enjoy those old Republic serials like Radar Men From the Moon (and my personal favorite, The Purple Monster Strikes) you’ll get a genuine whiz-bang out of it. (I also noticed this morning that my notes were included in an eBay description selling the original electronic transcriptions—more of what FGRA’s Tom Brown amusingingly calls “contributing to the delinquency of a blog.”) It’s available at a discounted price until May 15th, so if you’re not already a member—what are you waiting for?

Oh, and FGRA is also offering two incredible CD sets containing network coverage of D-Day (June 6-7, 1944) from NBC and CBS. I have both of these sets, and let me tell you they make for fascinating listening. You’ll hear on-the-spot coverage of this historical event, plus news, soap operas, comedy, variety and dramatic programs—it is literally allowing history to parade before your very ears. Even if you’re not certain you want to shell out that much cash, you should at least read the liner notes, written by OTR historian Elizabeth McLeod.

Not too long ago on eBay, I bought a 2-DVD set of some Jack Benny television programs—a pretty nice deal, 15 shows for $10. I took some of them out and watched them yesterday and while I still remain convinced that Jack did his very best work in radio, a few of the shows were really hysterical. One of the shows is the traditional Christmas episode (which I’ve discussed here a time or two)—a broadcast from 1960—that is very funny, and even has a bizarre bit of black comedy at the end. Mel Blanc turns in a top-notch performance as the suicidal sales clerk, and there’s a moment or two where he makes Benny break up. Another show I enjoyed was a program in which actor Dan Duryea guest starred—he participates in a sketch called “Death Across the Lunch Counter,” which was performed on the Benny radio show on at least two occasions: once with Edward G. Robinson (November 24, 1946) and the other with Richard Widmark (November 12, 1950). (The Widmark one is really good, but then I’m a die-hard fan.) This Duryea show is great because Verna Felton appears on it as Dennis Day’s mother, and she’s an absolute treasure.

I also added a link to Bob Burnham's website (BRC Productions); I've bought some CDs from Bob in the past and I've really been impressed with the quality (bought some Jack Benny, Life of Riley and some Henry Morgan shows). Bob remasters these CDs sort of like DVDs, putting chapter stops in each program in case you want to jump in to a particular place without having to fast forward or listen to the CD again. I don't particularly care for the stops, but I will vouch for the top-notch goods.
9:46:33 AM    comment []  trackback []