Tuesday, December 25, 2018

25 More Days of Old Time Radio Christmas - Day 25: Christmas with Don Ameche and the Elgin Watch Company

Once again, as we have reached the 25th Day of my Old Time Radio blog celebrating Christmas, we are at my other favorite episodes - or series of episodes: The Elgin Watch Specials. These 2 hour shows are too long to be broadcast on Greg Bell's Old time radio channel (#148), but are simply the best part of the holidays for me, especially if you are cooking in the Christmas. Or you can see my previous OTR Christmas entries (or drop to the bottom of this message).  These have been fun to share and I hope that you have enjoyed them.  I am wishing you a Merry Christmas, happy holidays and a great new year.

193/365 (December 21, 2008) - The Best Christmas Tree Ornament

Cosmo the cat enjoying the Christmas Tree - 2008

One of the really cool shows I stumbled onto a few years back were the Elgin Seasonal Specials for Thanksgiving and Christmas in the 1940s. These were also known as Elgin's "2 Hours of Stars."  The shows were sponsored by the Elgin Watch Company of Elgin, Illinois. Starting in 1942 for the soldiers overseas, the Elgin Holiday Specials were two hour programs that featured the brightest stars in radio and the movies. Heard on these programs is Bing Crosby, Mario Landa, Jimmy Durante, Bob Hope and were all hosted by Don Ameche. The Internet Archives has five total shows (see the link below). One of the real treats takes place one hour into the show from 1945. Jack Benny gave a twisted performance of Sorry Wrong Number, one of the most iconic episodes of Suspense. Also, given that the program runs 2 hours, these are not commonly played on current radio programs like XM 148.

I read that the specials had very different purposes.  The Thanksgiving shows were to get you to think about Elgin Watches and accessories for Christmas gifts.  The Christmas shows were to get you to think about Elgin Watches as you cashed in your gift certificates that you might have received for the holidays.  Variety reported in June 1949:
Shows last year cost Elgin an estimated $100,000 each, of which $26,000 went for network time and $60,000 for talent. First program to get the axe was the Christmas package, which was aimed at coaxing recipents of gift certificates into post-holiday buying of timepieces. Last year's January business, however, was reportedly so far from expectations that the watch company figured it has a white elephant on its hand. J. Walter Thomson agency made a fight to save the plum, with no luck.
As a great variety show that lasts two hours, it is a perfect thing to have on your radio (or computer) as you cook the Christmas meal.  It has been on the radio in my kitchen these last few years over the holidays.  Though we are not cooking for Christmas this year, it is a regular for me and will be my go-to Old Time Radio program for both Christmas and Thanksgiving.  I hope some day to write up something more in-depth on this program.

Here are links right to the Elgin's Christmas Shows:

Elgin's 3rd Annual Christmas Show (December 25, 1944)



Summary:  The show features and all star list of radio and movie actors including: Ginny Simms, Eddie Anderson, Jack Benny, Louis Silvers and His Orchestra, Manny Klein, The Swing Wing, The Charioteers, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Carmen Miranda, Joseph Szigeti, The Les Paul Trio, Barbara Jo Allen, Bob Hope, and Bing Crosby.  The great Don Ameche served as the master of ceremonies.  I think it is totally great to hear any early performance by Guitar great Les Paul and his Trio!  Bing Crosby also went off the Christmas script and sang "Don't Fence Me In."  The routine between Bob Hope and Bing Crosby was fantastic as well.

The shows have great Christmas music, and some pretty funny comedy bits.  I particularly enjoy the long skit between singer Ginny Simms, Jack Benny and Eddie Anderson about how they were rehearsing for this song on the Elgin special.  The performance also by guitar great Les Paul is fantastic.

In the Variety Radio Reviews of the program (which appear in the December 27, 1944 issue - page 28):
This third annual Elgin Watch Christmas Day star-studded show was a boff companion piece for the company-sponsored Thanksgiving program-and that's another way of saying that you'll probably have to wait a long time (until, perhaps, Elgin shoots the works on another ultra-package) to match the 120 minutes of entertainment that went out over the CBS network from 4 to 6 p.m.  And like the Thanksgiving show, this one not only went into the homes of the nation's Yuletide celebrants, but circuited the global warfronts.   
Here was a Xmas package that couldn't but help momentarily gladden the hearts of those GIs holding down the battle line forts.  As such it will stand as a tribute to Bob Hope-Bing Crosby-Jack Benny & Co. (and with due acknowledgement to the whole supporting cast); to the top scripting job sparked by Carroll Carroll and overall Tony Stanford production that combines a properly tempoed humor and hilarity with a complete awareness of the sensitivities involved in justifying a gay, laughing-at-home mood in contrast to the misery and tragedies that the boys overseas are encountering.  It was to a large measure, that sensitively-wrought portion that helped make the show memorable, particularly in the treatment it was given by Don Ameche, who emceed the show (there ought to be a Society of the Promotion of Ameche as Permanent Emcee for Such Occasions), and in the Crosby windup spiel.
 The show was well paced and marked by a proper integration of drama, comedy, music (both in the hot and longhaired idiom), all with dignity and, for the most part, in good taste, but essentially it was a show build for laughs - laughs to hypo GI spirits and those at home with a stake in the war via concern for sons, fathers, brothers, sweethearts.  It was comedy with a purpose, and in paying the freight, Elgin contributed its own generous portion of extending the season's greetings.
Not that the program was without its imperfections.  In keeping with that overall good-will-toward-men theme, those Elgin pitches could have been soft-pedalled; similarly the multiplicity of plugs to fie in the products of the guestars were overworked.  There was, too, a middle-portion boggin down in which Carmen Miranda, in particular, came off second best.  
But add up that wham Crosby-Hope latter portion routine with its spontaneity and warm, infections quality; that Jack Benny-Rochester-Ginny Simms fiddle accomp comedy stretch; the latter's sock renditions of "Hallelujah" and "Wish You Were Waiting for Me"; add, too, the Burns & Allen-Don Ameche laugh-packed skit, the Charioteers singing "Poor Little Jesus Boy," the Les Paul Trio doing "Danger - Men At Work," the hot routine of the Swing Wing (Mannie Klein) musical combo from the Santa Ana Army Air Base Band, the change in pace via Joseph Szigeti's flawless violinistics, and it's easy to understand why this Christmas package couldn't miss.
Elgin's 4th Annual Christmas Show (December 25, 1945)



Summary:  The show stars  Don Ameche as the masters of ceremonies and a all star cast including:  Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Ginny Simms, Red Skelton, Bob Crosby and The Bobcats, Barbara Jo Allen (as "Vera Vague"), Allan Jones, Artur Rubinstein, Ella Logan, Alan Reed, General Omar Bradley, The Charioteers, Larry Storch, and The Elgin Orchestra conducted by Louis Silvers.

Elgin's 7th Annual Christmas Show (December 25, 1948)



Summary: The show stars  Don Ameche as the masters of ceremonies and a all star cast including: Sandra Berkova. Lauritz Melchior, Al Jolson, Danny Thomas, Red Ingle, Jack Kirkwood, Jo Stafford, Edgar Bergen, Sandra Berkova (a 15 year-old violinist), Cass Daley, Ozzie Nelson, Harriet Hilliard, Robert Armbruster and His Orchestra, and Jane Morgan.

I hope you have a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and enjoy these wonderful recordings!

Here are some links to programs relating to the Elgin Watch Specials:

25 More Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2018) & Other Links
Another 25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2017) 
25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2016) 

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2015) & Other Links

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2014)
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Monday, December 24, 2018

25 More Days of Old Time Radio Christmas - Day 24: Carmen Kringle and Johnny Dollar (1957)


29/365/3681 (July 10, 2018) - Harris's Antelope Squirrels - Desert Botanical Gardens (Phoenix, Arizona - July 10th and 11th, 2018)

Not a Burro -But in the desert.
 Harris's Antelope Squirrels - Desert Botanical Gardens (Phoenix, Arizona - July 2018)
It's Christmas Eve and I have been mixing it up between new programs featured on this series and some of my all time favorites.  I am going to mix it up in this very entry by going to one of my favorite series and a Christmas episode I had not featured before.  And while you make think I am being stubborn with my choices here - it will all make sense in a bit.  You might here this (and many others) on Sirius/XM, you can listen to Greg Bell's Old time radio channel (#148).  He does a great job of showcasing great holiday themed episodes, especially as we get close to Christmas.

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar started out in 1949 as a basic 30 minute detective series.  Dick Powell did the audition show for Johnny Dollar, but he opted to do the great series Richard Diamond (with many scripts written by a young Blake Edwards).  With Dick Powell turning down the role, CBS went with Charles Russell who played Dollar for the first year.  Many people took the role, but most fans like the episodes voiced by Bob Bailey.  He took over the role at a time when the format changed from a once weekly 30 minute episode to daily 15 minute series.  Most were five day series and allowed the writers and producers to create more in-depth stories.  After this experiment lasted around a year, they went back to the 30 minute format, still with Bob Bailey.  He would star in the series until the moved the production to New York City in November 1960.

While Johnny Dollar is a basic detective program, the gimmick was that it revolved around his expense report.  Johnny Dollar provided the exposition around the expenses incurred during the case.  At first, I could not believe that they had a show featuring an insurance investigator with an expense report.  But it quickly became one of my favorite series.

I have featured Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar a few times before during this series:
On December 22, 1957, the episode featured on this series was the "Carmen Kringle Matter."  Poor Johnny Dollar is resting on vacation when he gets a call from Pat McCracken...never a good sign.  He was in Palm Springs and was fairly close to an easy job.  An old miner wanted to change the beneficiary of his policy from his nephew to Carmen.  Carmen was not a girlfriend, a wife or another significant other.  It was a burro...a mule...a trusty companion.  The town is on edge when the burro goes missing, especially so close to the holidays.  The prospector is named Chris Kringle and he every year, he and his beloved Carmen would deliver gifts to all the miners in the town.  But this year, that is all up in the air because Carmen is missing.  So off he goes to the Mojave Desert and to see the agent who is trying to make the change in the policy to match the old man's wishes.

The recording is OK, but the story is fairly unique.  The script was written by Robert Bainter - the pen name of Bob Bailey (the actor who played Johnny Dollar).  I believe this is his only writing credit in his many years of radio from the 1940s to the early 1960s.  Also included in this story is Howard McNear, Jean Tatum, Junius Matthews and was directed by Jack Johnstone.

Its a fun way to spend Christmas eve.  Best wishes for the holidays!

Carmen Kringle Matter (Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar) - December 22, 1957

Here are some links to programs relating to Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar:
25 More Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2018) & Other Links
Another 25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2017) 
25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2016) 

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2015) & Other Links

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2014)
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Sunday, December 23, 2018

25 More Days of Old Time Radio Christmas - Day 23: Christmas with the Texas Rangers (Not Those Rangers)

I heard part of one of these stories tomorrow and changed up the last few days of my Christmas series on Old Time Radio.  So sorry baseball fans, you will have to wait to hear about your Texas Rangers later.  As for now, lets get Ranger Jayce Pearson on the case.  You might here this (and many others) on Sirius/XM, you can listen to Greg Bell's Old time radio channel (#148).  He does a great job of showcasing great holiday themed episodes, especially as we get close to Christmas.

Scenes from John Wayne Airport (Orange County, California) - Sunday July 15, 2012

Old Radios on Display at John Wayne Airport (Orange County, California), July 2012

Tales of the Texas Rangers is a great crime series that ran on NBC from July 8, 1950 through September 14, 1952.  While many might classify this as a western, it really is a straight up crime series.  The show stars Joel McCrea as Texas Ranger Jayce Pearson.  All of the cases were reenactments of real Texas Ranger cases.  The series was directed by Stacy Keach, Sr. and is one of the best crime series on old time radio.  It has the feel of the series This is Your FBI, the long running series that recreated true FBI cases.  Maybe I will try to get their Christmas episodes on one of these links.

In these two episodes, Ranger Jayce Pearson solves the impossible with these two horrible Christmas time crimes.  In Christmas Present (December 24, 1950), two very unlikely men rob a bank in the middle of the day, right before Christmas.  Typically, Santas are not armed and do not try to rob a bank.  Not only did these two Santas think they were getting away with a massive haul, an innocent man was jailed while the Rangers worked to solve the case.  But some lucky breaks and a dab of paint helped Jayce Pearson solve the crime and set everything straight.

Christmas Present (December 24, 1950)


In Christmas Payoff (December 23, 1951), misguided revenge does in a respected town doctor on Christmas Day.  Being a small town doctor means working when people are sick, be it on their birthday, the 4th of July or Christmas.  When wrapping up a patient who needed the doctor's help on Christmas, a nurse notices a man stalking the Doctor's office.  The stalking man had a bandaged hand that had a surprise for the doctor.  Sadly, he would not see the 26th.  Ranger Jayce Pearson is called in and starts working on the crime right on Christmas.  He connects to dots and ends up with a tremendous Christmas Payoff.

Christmas Payoff (December 23, 1951)




Here are some links to programs relating to Tales Of The Texas Rangers:

25 More Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2018) & Other Links
Another 25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2017) 
25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2016) 

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2015) & Other Links

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2014)
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