Corey's Ramblings

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

25 More Days of Old Time Radio Christmas: Day 14 - The Gift of the Magi (Radio Reader's Digest)

A few days ago I featured the Radio Reader's Digest episode starring Frank Sinatra called Room for a Stranger. I am heading back to this series for one of the great dramatization of a Christmas classic from author O. Henry. While this program was first broadcast only a few months after Room for a Stranger in March 1947, and it has a bit of a twist from the original story. And while they changed the holidays to make it work for a March airing, it clearly is one that should be included in this series of Christmas Old Time Radio episodes.

This is the second year I have showcased different Old Time Radio programs for Christmas. Here is a link to all the 2014 OTR Christmas entries. If you have 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 closer to Christmas and the end of December. I actually heard this driving the other week as part of the Frank Sinatra blocks that he setup to celebrate the centennial of his birth.

Red Squirrel at My New Squirrel Feeder (Saline, Michigan) - February 14, 2015

Red Squirrel at my backyard feeder - February 2015 in Saline, Michigan.

The Radio Reader's Digest is a great series on radio. It started in 1942 as a CBS series with Ernest Chappell as the announcer. Ernest Chappell was well known as the lead actor and announcer for Quiet Please. The stories for the Radio Reader's Digest came from the pages of Reader's Digest, which was a huge publication during the 30s and 40s for sure. It still is most certainly around (seehttp://www.rd.com/). The radio program that came from their publication was first sponsored by the Campbell Soup Company, it shifted to Hallmark in 1946. Later, the series would be changed to the Hallmark Playhouse and feature dramatic versions of classics of world literature. Last year, I featured their program telling the story of the writing of the Christmas classic song, Silent Night.

On March 20, 1947, the Radio Reader's Digest was sponsored by Hallmark Cards and hosted by Richard Kollmar. The story stared movie star Gene Tierney as the young bride in O. Henry's brilliant story, The Gift of the Magi, with William Quinn as her husband. Instead of Christmas, the story was changed to the young couple's first wedding anniversary. What did not change was the fact that they had few materials possessions that they cherished. For her, it was her beautiful hair. For him, it was a watch that was fancier than anything else he owned. The young couple wished so much to buy something special for their anniversary, that they lost sight of what really mattered.

The story can be played for tears, but it was definitely played with a more light-hearted approach and got lots of laughs from the studio audience. As stores are telling us that they are the means to "Win the Holidays," it is nice to know that some of the best gifts are the most simple. Enjoy this wonderful telling of this classic American short story.

The Gift of the Magi (March 20, 1947)

Here are some links to programs relating to the Radio Reader's Digest:

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

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2014)

25 More Days of Old Time Radio Christmas: Day 13 - A Child Visits the Magnificent Montague

There are a few short-lived series that seem to be as good as ones that played for years and years. Part of the issue is listening to the programs with modern sensibilities. It is hard sometimes to fully appreciate how a series was received at the time that it was produced. Such was the case with the wonderful NBC series the Magnificent Montague."

This is the second year I have showcased different Old Time Radio programs for Christmas. Here is a link to all the 2014 OTR Christmas entries. If you have 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 closer to Christmas and the end of December. I actually heard this driving the other week as part of the Frank Sinatra blocks that he setup to celebrate the centennial of his birth.

Cosmo (my cat) in the Christmas Tree (2008)

The Magnificent Montague starred noted actor Monty Woolley. He might have been best known for his role as Sheldon Whiteside in the Man Who Came to Dinner (which I showcased last year as a Christmas special with Jack Benny). In this series radio series, Monty Woolley played Edwin Montague, a former stage actor who was a founding member of the "Proscenium Club of Shakespearean Thespians." As a great actor, he is very proud of his work on the stage. But as an aging actor, he found himself with fewer and fewer paying opportunities, he turned to a most scandalous occupation - one of a radio actor! Edwin plays in a local soap opera as 'Uncle Goodheart', He is very concerned that one of his fellow members of the Proscenium Club will discover his secret. So his household is sworn to secrecy on Edwin's new job! Anne Seymour played Edwin's wife Lily (also a stage actress), and Pert Kelton played Agnes, their housekeeper of 25 years.

In just the fifth episode of this series that started in November, A Child Visits, the Magnificent Montegue has to deal with his new-found fame at the holidays. Seems everyone wants to send Uncle Goodheart a gift, and it is flooded their home. As a last minute twist, their housekeeper's nephew is sent to stay with them for Christmas. But Montague is distracted with the Christmas demands of Uncle Goodheart, especially when it comes to children. So not only is Montague annoyed that he has a child visiting for Christmas, but when Agnes hurts herself - it is up to Montague and Lily to watch Junior for Christmas. Turns out that Junior is not that sweet little boy that Agnes remembered! In addition to Monty Wolley, Anne Seymour and Pert Kelton, the cast features John Gibson, Arnold Stang, John Griggs, and Art Carney (who we know from his work on The Honeymooners). Also, the announcer was a young Don Pardo, who we would know as a game show and Saturday Night Live announcer).

A Child Visits (also known as Christmas Gifts) - December 22, 1950

Here are some links to programs relating to Magnificent Montague:

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

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2014)

Sunday, December 13, 2015

25 More Days of Old Time Radio Christmas: Day 12 - Frank Sinatra in Room for a Stranger (Radio Reader's Digest)

So yesterday was a very special day for Old Time Radio. It is the Centennial of Frank Sinatra's birth. A few days ago, I showcased the Christmas episode of the Rocky Fortune series that I am quite fond of. Today, I am going to showcase a Christmas episode from the Radio Reader's Digest, a precursor to the Hallmark Playhouse over the CBS Radio Network.

This is the second year I have showcased different Old Time Radio programs for Christmas. Here is a link to all the 2014 OTR Christmas entries. If you have 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 closer to Christmas and the end of December. I actually heard this driving the other week as part of the Frank Sinatra blocks that he setup to celebrate the centennial of his birth.

Christmas Lights, Saline, Michigan - December 2007

The Radio Reader's Digest is a great series on radio. It started in 1942 as a CBS series with Ernest Chappell as the announcer. Ernest Chappell was well known as the lead actor and announcer for Quiet Please. The stories for the Radio Reader's Digest came from the pages of Reader's Digest, which was a huge publication during the 30s and 40s for sure. It still is most certainly around (see http://www.rd.com/). The radio program that came from their publication was first sponsored by the Campbell Soup Company, it shifted to Hallmark in 1946. Later, the series would be changed to the Hallmark Playhouse and feature dramatic versions of classics of world literature.

On December 19, 1946, the Radio Reader's Digest was sponsored by Hallmark Cards and hosted by Richard Kollmar. If that name is familiar, it is because Richard stared as Boston Blackie in the series of the same name (I featured Stolen Rings at Christmas from Boston Blackie in last year's blog). Richard (or Dick as he was more commonly known) was very proud to introduce Frank Sinatra as the star of their radio adaptation of a true story from the pages of Reader's Digest.

The heartwarming true story is about a young soldier in Illinois on Christmas Eve in 1943. Despite an injured leg from a plane crash, he could not have been happier. He was going to spend Christmas with his girl. But when a telegram forces him to return to the Great Lakes Naval Hospital right away, his dreams of seeing his love vanish in a moment. It was not until then that he realized how blessed his Christmas was going to be as people all over take in this stranger and give him a Christmas gift that he would remember forever. I think Frank Sinatra's introduction to the program said it best:

I think I'd call it a happy story, and I'm glad it's a true one. I think it proves something pretty wonderful about the American people. There's a kinda warmth here, Dick, a spirit of friendly giving, without thought of return, that you don't quite find anywhere else. - Frank Sinatra during the introduction of the program.

I hope you enjoy this and make room for a stranger in your world this holiday season and beyond.

Room for a Stranger on Radio Reader's Digest (December 19, 1946)

Here are some links to programs relating to the Radio Reader's Digest:

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

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2014)

Saturday, December 12, 2015

25 More Days of Old Time Radio Christmas: Day 11 - A Radio Nutcracker

OK - I am running behind. Things have been busy all over - and those Nutcrackers are not going to dance themselves.....I will catch up this week - promise!

This is the second year I have showcased different Old Time Radio programs for Christmas. Here is a link to all the 2014 OTR Christmas entries. If you have 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 closer to Christmas and the end of December.

Ann Arbor Dance Classics Nutcracker 2015 (Milan High School, Michigan)

Ann Arbor Dance Classics Production of the Nutcracker - Milan High School December 2015

A ballet is a hard thing to convey via the radio. But that was just what happened in 1952 when the Railroad Hour broadcast their Christmas Party on December 22nd of that year. The Railroad Hour is a classic variety show that was sponsored by the Association Of American Railroads and was on the NBC Network. This show features great songs and music and Gordon MacRae was the longtime host. Ironically, it never was an hour (as far as I can tell). This episode is 30 minutes.

From their site - you can read that the Association of American Railroads (or AAR):

America's freight railroads operate the safest, most efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally sound freight transportation system in the world — and the Association of American Railroads (AAR) is committed to keeping it that way. Founded in 1934, AAR is the world's leading railroad policy, research, standard setting, and technology organization that focuses on the safety and productivity of the U.S. freight rail industry. AAR Full members include the major freight railroads in the United States, Canada and Mexico, as well as Amtrak. AAR Railroad Affiliate and Associate Members include non-Class I and commuter railroads, rail supply companies, engineering firms, signal and communications firms, and rail car owners.

This show is called Christmas Party and is hosted by Gordon MacRae. Included among the stars on the program (from the great RadioGOLDINdex) are: Dorothy Kirsten, Noreen Corcoran, , Marvin Miller (announcer), Carmen Dragon (conductor), Norman Luboff (choir director) and Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee as writers (pretty sure that we are not talking about THAT Robert E. Lee). This musical variety show has great Christmas carols, including the 12 days of Christmas, Silent Night, O Holy Night, among others. The reason I wanted to showcase this today was the Nutcracker portion of the Christmas party. In the second half of the program, they created a radio version of the Nutcracker, with words set to the great Tchaikovsky music. Hope you enjoy the great music from this episode. Bet you did not know that the Nutcracker had words!

Christmas Party (December 22, 1952)

Here are some links to programs relating to the Railroad Hour:

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

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2014)

Thursday, December 10, 2015

25 More Days of Old Time Radio Christmas: Day 10 - Department Store Contest with Connie Brooks

Well - when you are thinking about the holidays - you often think about presents. Two days ago, I featured the centennial honoree Frank Sinatra as a department store detective Rocky Fortune trying to solve the thefts in his store. Yesterday, we headed back to a department store with one of the earliest episodes of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. So for today, I thought we would stay in the department stores - and visit Madison High School favorite English teacher, Connie Brooks. This is part of my Christmas series on Old Time Radio (I will fall behind - but catch up next week - promise!) Here is a link to all the 2014 OTR Christmas entries. If you have 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 closer to Christmas and the end of December.

274/365/2100 (March 12, 2014) - Snowing Again on the Squirrels at the University of Michigan (March 12, 2014)

Squirrel at the University of Michigan - March 2014

Last year, I featured two of the standard Christmas episodes from Our Miss Brooks, one of my favorite comedies on Old Time Radio. From 1948 through 1957, Eve Arden played the lovelorn English teacher at Madison High, Connie Brooks. This series is one of the very best comedies that we have from Old Time Radio days. Arden leads an all-star cast in this well written series on CBS Radio that actually holds up well, even today. Between never having enough money, job responsibilities that seem to change from week to week, a cat that is a character all to herself and a love interest who is more fixated on frogs than women...Eve Arden's Connie Brooks always maintains her grace and charm. The show also featured Jeff Chandler as Mr. Philip Boynton (Connie's long suffering love interest), Jane Morgan as Mrs. Margaret Davis (Connie's landlord), Gale Gordon as Mr. Osgood Conklin (Madison High School's principal, and Richard Crenna as Walter Denton (a student at Madison High).

The show also was on television starting on October 3rd, 1952. Through TV and Radio, she became one of the most famous teachers of her day! From her obituary in the Los Angeles Times in 1990, they wrote:

But it was as Connie Brooks, the wisecracking English teacher in mid-America's mythical Madison High where she constantly engaged in hilarious battles with her stuffy principal, that she became a Friday night favorite.

She was offered the role of the classroom humanist with the smart mouth and warm heart after being heard as radio's Miss Brooks for four years.

There she had developed a following of hundreds of teachers across American and had even been offered teaching jobs in real schools. Miss Arden (making $200,000 a year at the time) did not accept, but she did begin speaking at PTA meetings.

Department Store Contest (or Connie's Letter To Sandy Clawsss) - December 18, 1949
In the weeks before Christmas, Mrs. Davis is sharing with Connie Brooks that Bush's Department Store is having a contest for little children to write Santa Claus. The best letter earns the winning child a free toy! Since Mrs. Davis goes to the store often, she volunteered to bring the letters from the children in her neighborhood. Mrs. Davis even found a letter that Connie wrote when she was only 7 years old:

Dear Sandy Claws:

I don't want you to bring me very much toys at all 'cause then you would not have enough for all the other little children. Please Sandy, just bring me a slate with some chalk and a eraser and some crayons and a ruler on account cause when I grow up I want be a English teacher.

Signed Connie Brooks, age 7.

Just hope this letter does not get mixed up with the ones Mrs. Davis is collecting!

Here are some links to programs relating to the Our Miss Brooks:

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

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2014)

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

25 More Days of Old Time Radio Christmas: Day 9 - Department Store Woes with Johnny Dollar

Yesterday I featured the centennial honoree Frank Sinatra as a department store detective Rocky Fortune trying to solve the thefts in his store. Today, I am heading back to a department store with one of the earliest episodes of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. I am not sure I heard it before I started working on this entry. But that is the fun part of this project - listening to new recordings. Here is a link to all the 2014 OTR Christmas entries. If you have 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 closer to Christmas and the end of December.

Squirrels Outside the Michigan State Capitol (Lansing, Michigan) - December 7, 2015

Squirrel at the Michigan State Capitol Christmas Tree in Lansing (December 7, 2015)

Last year, I featured the great five part Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar series called the Nick Shurn Matter. This is one of my favorite multi-part series. It stars Bob Bailey (who is my favorite actor who played Johnny Dollar). Also, with a 75 minutes to play with (15 minutes for five consecutive nights), there is a whole lot more the writers can do to make the story more complex. That does not even take into account the ability to have more drawn out conversations between the characters. Well, that was in 1955 and 1956. When it started out in 1949, it was a basic 30 minute detective series. After 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.

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.

On December 24, 1949, the producers found an opportunity to work in a Christmas show during the first season. And in many ways, the show tried by like Richard Diamond in not only having a good story, but also having a lot of fun with it. That comes over loud and clear as Johnny Dollar tries to figure out who is the phantom burglar hitting New York Department Stores.

Johnny Dollar is called into the offices of the Association of Department Stores of Greater Manhattan when it is discovered that a burglar is dressing up as a store clerk, working with a customer, taking their cash and never returning. Upon arriving in New York, Johnny Dollar discovers that this happened again, and is off to the store to find the witness, a little girl who wanted to buy a camera. Thinking the camera had film, our mystery burglar tries to take it from the girl, only to be bit on his hand by the victim. And when the store detective turns up dead, the simple theft becomes murder. Johnny Dollar works his magic to solve the case. And in the process, not only gets things wrapped up, but he also gets free shipping (trust me on this one - it makes sense).

So when your shopping this season, be extra nice to the sales staff. Who knows if they have a worried store manager making their lives very difficult! Actually, we should be nice to sales staff all year long. What a wonderful world it would be.

How I Played Santa Claus - or Small Time Swindlers Of Big Time Department Stores (December 24, 1949)

Here are some links to programs relating to Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar:

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

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2014)

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

25 More Days of Old Time Radio Christmas: Day 8 - The Plot To Murder Santa Claus (with Frank Sinatra as Rocky Fortune)

One of the oldest conventions among radio programming is the reused script. Gunsmoke did it. Richard Diamond did it...and I will do it... So with all sorts of stuff going on, I am going to reuse a blog entry that I used last year. But there is a really good reason. First, it is a great show. Second, more people are reading the blog this year. Third, it stars Frank Sinatra who we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of his birth this week (on December 12).

So with this, I am highlighting for Day 8 Frank Sinatra as Rocky Fortune in The Plot to Murder Santa Claus. (Here is a link to all the 2014 OTR Christmas entries). If you have 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 closer to Christmas and the end of December.

Antique Postcard of the NBC Radio Studios in Hollywood, California

The first time I heard Rocky Fortune...I was not hooked. The series was created in 1953 to showcase the great American singer, Frank Sinatra. Sinatra was showcased in a large number of musical specials in the 1940s and 1950s - some of which I will share later this holiday season. But there was this one series where he was featured for his speaking voice - not his singing. Rocky Fortune was on NBC from October 6, 1953 through March 30, 1954. The timing for the end of the series was not a fluke. A few days before the last episode aired, Frank Sinatra won the 1954 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the 1953 From Here to Eternity. With that, Sinatra's career portraying Rocky Fortune (Rocko Fortunato if you are not into the brevity thing) came to an end.

Rocky Fortune was a "footloose and fancy-free young man" who was always searching for the next job - since he started most episodes without one. In the series, he was a social director at a Catskills Resort, a truck driver, an oyster shucker, and just about anything else. There is, however, a real charm in Sinatra's hard-luck Rocky as he fumbles through missed opportunities and problems with both the police and bad guys. While many called this a "B grade series," I enjoyed it a great deal and sometimes wish there were more than 25 episodes.

On December 22, 1953, The Plot to Murder Santa Claus was aired over the NBC Network. In this episode, Rocky is employed as an assistant store detective for the Krackenbaum Department Store in New York City. They had just had a theft at the store of $8,000 in pearls and they were still missing. Rocky finds himself in the middle of the entire situation when he discovers that in addition to be the assistant store detective, he also needs to play Santa when the main one had lunch. That leads to him meeting a young girl and his older sister as they tried to tell Santa about the Elf doll she wanted. Turns out, the little girl had expensive taste!

This is a great episode for the holidays - enjoy!

The Plot to Murder Santa Claus (December 22, 1953)

Here are some links to programs relating to Rocky Fortune:

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

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2014)