Corey's Ramblings

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Another 25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas - Day 12: Palm Beach Santa Claus on the Damon Runyon Theater (1949)

I have always had the good fortune to live in places where we get all four seasons. So for me, snow at Christmas time has been the norm. But there are people who celebrate Christmas in warm weather - but they find a way to make it work. This must how they celebrate in Florida and other warm locations across the States and elsewhere. But even Palm Beach needs Christmas - and Santa Claus. And thanks to Damon Runyon - we have a great story about Christmas in the most elegant of Florida cities. So today's entry for Christmas on Old Time Radio we are going to where Santa might be able to get by with shorts. If you have Sirius XM, you can listen to Greg Bell's Old time radio channel (#148). Or you can see my previous OTR Christmas entries (or drop to the bottom of this message).

TV Set for NCSI: Los Angeles - Long Beach, California - October 22, 2015

The Damon Runyon Theater is a great series and takes you right into the world of Damon Runyon. Damon Runyon captures a romanticized version the charming lives of New York's gamblers and other rougher characters like Harry The Horse and Broadway. The show starred John Brown as Broadway, who serves as the central figure and narrator of the stories. If you like Guys and Dolls, you will love these great dramatizations for radio. Since this series did not have a standard schedule of broadcasts, the Christmas episodes were recorded at different times of the year. I previously highlighted the story called Dancing Dan's Christmas - which appears to have been first broadcast on March 13, 1949 (as far as I can tell). It was produced by the Mayfair Transcription Company and pretty much only ran in 1949. It was broadcast over many different stations, but not as a network program. Mayfair Transcription Company was run by movie star Alan Ladd, who's Box 13 is one of my favorite series.

Today's featured story is called Palm Beach Santa Claus and once again brings us a Christmas story from the world of Damon Runyon. We meet Fatso Zimpf, a gambler and horse aficionado who finds himself in sunny Florida on December. And as his name would indicate, he is not a small person. So when he is by chance waiting around in between races at Hialeah and other tracks on a sunny Winter's day, he is spotted as the perfect candidate to be...well...Santa Claus. The person with the immediate Santa-need is Mrs. Mimm of Palm Beach. She is interested in having a Santa at her big Christmas party to hand out the gifts for all the guests at the party. While Fatso is happy for the paying gig as Santa, he decides that what the guests really need is a bit of enhanced match-making and plays Cupid as well. You know - sometimes it is hard to read the names of the packages for someone wearing a Santa suit! But what might be the best part of the story is how Fatso has to translate the beautiful phraseology of the New York gambler with that of Palm Beach society.

The original story appears in Colliers Magazine on Christmas Eve, 1938 (link below). This episode was directed by Richard Sanville and stars John Brown and Jeff Chandler. I hope you enjoy this great story from the holidays.

Palm Beach Santa Claus (July 24, 1949)

Original story from Colliers Magazine (December 24, 1938)

Here are some links to programs relating to Damon Runyon Theater:

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

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)

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Another 25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas - Day 11: Missing Christmas Money from Life With Luigi (1949)

As a kid growing up - I was fascinated with banks. Not sure why I felt this way - but there it is. I loved the idea of savings accounts (more than the reality of saving money) and thought that a passbook was a magical passport. I also was very interested in the concept of the Christmas Clubs that banks offered. You would save a certain amount every week, starting in October, that would be the money you could spend on Christmas gifts the following year. What probably did in the Christmas Clubs is the relatively easy way with which we can get credit now. But this was a great way for many of us to save money for Christmas gifts.

AND...it is a great way to introduce this next program in my blog of Christmas during the Golden Age of Radio. It is a program I have heard often enough, but have not featured on my blog until today. The program is Life With Luigi, a comedy series staring J. Carrol Naish in the title role. I expect to have some repeats, but also some new shows featured as well. If you have Sirius XM, you can listen to Greg Bell's Old time radio channel (#148). Or you can see my previous OTR Christmas entries (or drop to the bottom of this message).

Farmers & Merchants Bank - Downtown Long Beach, California - October 21, 2015

From 1948 to 1953, CBS Radio featured a weekly half-hour situation comedy telling the story of a recent immigrant to the United States in the times after World War II. It was the brain-child of Cy Howard and starred J. Carrol Naish plays the title character, Luigi Basco, who was spending his new life in Chicago. Character actor Alan Reed (maybe best known as the voice of Fred Flinstone) plays Pasquale, Luigi's sponsor and best friend. Each of the episodes starts off this the same opening - as announcer Bob Stevenson would say:

We invite you to enjoy life – Life with Luigi – a new comedy show created by Cy Howard and starring that celebrated actor, Mr. J. Carroll Nash with Alan Reed as Pasquale.

A year ago, when Luigi Basco left Italy to start his new life in America, he promised his mother that he would write and tell her about his adventures. So now let’s read Luigi’s letter as he writes to Momma Basco in Italy.

The episode we are featuring first aired on December 20th, 1949. It was repeated again on December 19, 1950 and December 25th, 1951. Luigi starts off (as he does each week) with his letter to Momma Basco and was talking about Christmas shopping. He even talked about buying a washer for his kitchen sink at Sears and still had it gift wrapped! Luigi was describing the toaster that he was sending to his mother - along with instructions on how to use it.

Luigi was most proud about his gift for his good friend Pasquale. To pay for it, he saved a $1 a week in his bank and had just collected the $50 for his big gift. He was so excited that he did not even need to include Pasquale on his Christmas gift list. He was very excited telling his fellow classmates in his citizenship and English class with other immigrants. But at the class, he makes a horrible realization. He has misplaced the list...and the money... Luigi panics that he has lost all that money and his ability to buy his good friend a present. His good friend, is thinking about something completely different. While Pasquale found the envelope and the list - he was furious that he was not on it. In typical situation comedy fashion - the mix up leads to lots of comic moments - and a very happy ending. The cast also includes Mary Shipp, Joe Forte, Ken Peters, Hans Conried, Jody Gilbert and was written by Mac Benoff and Lou Derman.

I hope you enjoy this great Christmas episode.

December 20th, 1949 (Luigi's Missing Christmas Money)

Here are some links to programs relating to Life With Luigi:

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

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)

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Another 25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas - Day 10: The Plot To Murder Santa Claus with Frank Sinatra (1953)

One hundred and two years ago - something pretty remarkable happened in Hoboken, New Jersey - but no one really knew it for years to come. On December 12, 1915, Italian immigrants Antonino Martino "Marty" Sinatra and Natalina "Dolly" Garaventa celebrated the birth of their only child, Francis Albert Sinatra. We know him better just as Frank!

Frank Sinatra has so many great Christmas programs during his years as one of the major forces on radio. Today, I am going to revisit one of my favorite series that starred Sinatra as a young man named Rocky Fortune, though it might not have been one of his favorites. In this episode, Frank continues the theme of yesterday's featured program and was putting on the Santa suit! Between now and Christmas, I will be showcasing different programs that brought the holidays across the airwaves during the Golden Age of Radio. I expect to have some repeats, but also some new shows featured as well. If you have Sirius XM, you can listen to Greg Bell's Old time radio channel (#148). Or you can see my previous OTR Christmas entries (or drop to the bottom of this message).

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 have shared during this series already and yet to come. While he was all over radio, the truth was that his career was mired in a terrible slump. It was during this time where he took on a series that would feature 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 award in his pocket - he did not need to do anything less than the best.... So 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. But such was Frank's career in the early 1950s as he was

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! Here is a link to the episodes along with a few of the many Sinatra appearances on old time area:

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

Here are some links to programs relating to Rocky Fortune:

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

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)

Monday, December 11, 2017

Another 25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas - Day 9: The Night Before Christmas from Sherlock Holmes (1945)

One of the most common plot lines around the holidays involves dressing up as Santa Claus. And maybe it is still on my mind because my ears still throb from the way the false beard wraps around your head on a particular costume that may have worn over the weekend for a dance recital. So it makes sense that as I catch up on my series of Christmas episodes from Old Time Radio, I am going to spend the next few days looking at others who had to put on the suit! Between now and Christmas, I will be showcasing different programs that brought the holidays across the airwaves during the Golden Age of Radio. I expect to have some repeats, but also some new shows featured as well. If you have Sirius XM, you can listen to Greg Bell's Old time radio channel (#148). Or you can see my previous OTR Christmas entries (or drop to the bottom of this message).

Santa at the Family Christmas Party - 2012

If you had to list off some of the most famous fictional characters in all of literature, you might think of a number of different names. But it is very likely that one of the first names that rolls off the tongue would be Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective, Sherlock Holmes and his able assistant, Dr. Watson. Doyle's first story involving this amazing duo appeared in 1887 when he published the story, A Study in Scarlet. Throughout all these stories, Holmes and Watson solve all the problems that stump Scotland Yard, among others.

Sherlock Holmes had a very long history on the air through a variety of programs on NBC, Mutual and ABC. The show that we are going to feature appeared on the Mutual Network under the name the New Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes. Holmes was played by radio greats including Basil Rathbone (1939–1946), Tom Conway (1947) & John Stanley (1947–1949). Watson was played also by greats including Nigel Bruce (1939–1947) & Alfred Shirley (1947–1948) among others.

On December 24, 1945, they featured the episode called "The Night Before Christmas" The cast includes Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Watson. We open with Watson explaining why he is wearing a Santa suit - well is for for a good cause! But there are others who are not wearing the suit for a good cause - including "Lou the Lisper" who was a henchman of Professor Moriarty (Holmes' sworn enemy). Sherlock Holmes even gets his suit ready as they look to thwart a crime at Christmas time.

I hope you enjoy this great Christmas episode from one of the great characters of all time!

The Night Before Christmas (December 24, 1945)

Here are some links to programs relating to Sherlock Holmes:

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

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)

Saturday, December 9, 2017

Another 25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas - Day 8: Choral Music for the Holidays from Du Pont's Cavalcade (1946)

I have fallen behind - but I will catch up soon. Today, I think I highlight another episode from Du Pont's Cavalcade of America as they celebrate their own staff in the Wilmington, Deleware headquarters.

Seems like a great way to celebrate the holidays this year. As you know, I am highlighting a different Christmas episodes from Old Time Radio by showcasing a program a day (well, I will try). I expect to have some repeats, but also some new shows featured as well. If you have Sirius XM, you can listen to Greg Bell's Old time radio channel (#148). Or you can see my previous OTR Christmas entries (or drop to the bottom of this message).

MSVMA All-State Choir at Michigan Youth Arts Festival
(Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 9, 2009)

The Cavalcade of America is a great series sponsored by DuPont. The purpose of the program has been one of great study and I am definitely glad that I have a few episodes to talk about it. The long-running show ran from 1935 to 1953 and then had a second life on television. Starting first on the CBS Network, it moved to NBC in 1939. This 30 minute program provided a great platform to showcase some of the lesser known incidents and people who made the country great. Not only was this series a great source of historical dramas, there were numerous fictional stories brought in as well. From the Internet Archive page (see link below), "The company's motto, 'Maker of better things for better living through chemistry,' was read at the beginning of each program, and the dramas emphasized humanitarian progress, particularly improvements in the lives of women, often through technological innovation."

For the Christmas episodes of Cavalcade in 1946, 1947, 1950 and 1951, the program passed up a chance to engage leading actors, writers and producers of radio to shift the focus inward. In 1944, a group of Du Pont employees formed the Du Pont Chorus through their mutual interest in song. They were directed by Daniel Boyer and included around 200 employees from across the company. For the first time they were featured on Cavalcade on December 23, 1946, they performed at the Playhouse in Wilmington Delaware where 154 Du Pont men and women sang a beautiful collection of songs for the season. It is great to hear where the soloists are from in the company - including Miss Lois Cato of the Wilmington Chemical Department who sang the solo in When the Crimson Sun Has Set. The shows also feature a statement from the Du Pont President - who for the 1946 program was Walter Carpenter Jr. This year, they decided to share the joy of the Du Pont Chorus with the world. In the message, Carpenter shared best wishes for the holidays and the new year for the world that was coming off a devastating war.

I hope you enjoy these wonderful programs of songs of the season from the men and women of the Du Pont Company.

Du Pont Chorus on Cavalcade for America December 23, 1946