A flurry of interest in Sears Radio Theater over the last few days in the forums and elsewhere sent the legendary Dr. Joe Webb (aka Greybelt) digging into his deep vaults (and I mean, like, Jack Benny’s vaults) and he came up with a massive haul of 72 broadcasts he had personally recorded live in 1979 and subsequently transferred to 128kb encodes.  Forty-nine of these are new to the Library and twenty-three are MAJOR upgrades.  I don’t often wander into the 1970s in my listening, but these are truly special.  Almost 20 years after the close of the Golden Age, this five-days-per week dramatic series was produced by Elliott Lewis and featured world-class writing and acting talent.  The disco music intro is perhaps regrettable, but otherwise it’s all good.  The program moved from CBS to Mutual in 1980 and was retitled Mutual Radio Theater…you’ll find a large set of those in the Library as well.  Here’s to Dr. Joe, a true Hero of OTR… many thanks, Doc!

A CAUTIONARY NOTE:  These programs are uploading as I write… the full set may not be available until late Saturday or early Sunday.

Had to call this post something besides “Miscellaneous”. 

Today we’ve posted a number of 128kb upgrades and a few new files as well.  Here’s the rundown:

New

Rudy Vallee – Fleischmann’s Yeast Hour 34-08-30 (254) Crossed Roads – Elsie Mae Gordon, Jeanne Aubert.mp3
Whatever Became Of 66-10-xx Buffalo Bob.mp3
Whatever Became Of xx-xx-xx David Harum.mp3

Upgrades
Best Plays 53-05-08 (35) Of Mice and Men.mp3
Big Story, The 47-10-15 The Bobby-Sox Kid from Bayonne [Dorothy Kilgallen].mp3
Big Story, The 47-11-26 TCOT Unfinished Love Song [Howard Beaufait].mp3
Big Story, The 48-07-21 The Lottery Racket [Keeler McCartney].mp3
Order in the Court 53-02-05 Man’s faith and love for his crippled second wife and son are being poisoned by his grandmother.mp3
Order in the Court 53-02-12 Young girl marries an older man, who turns out to be not as rich as she thought.mp3
Order in the Court 53-02-19 The Case Of Thomas Patterson.mp3
Order in the Court 53-02-26 The Case of the Three Musketeers.mp3
Order in the Court 53-03-05 The Case Of Young Mr Rutherford.mp3
Order in the Court 53-03-12 Young man falls in love with a married woman whose husband is found dead.mp3
Order in the Court 53-03-19 The Case Of Mrs Manning.mp3
Order in the Court 53-03-26 The Case Of The Unfaithful Wife.mp3
Whatever Became Of 65-xx-xx Lum and Abner.mp3
Whatever Became Of 65-xx-xx Our Gal Sunday.mp3
Whatever Became Of 66-xx-xx Ma Perkins.mp3
Whatever Became Of 67-01-xx Gangbusters.mp3
Whatever Became Of 67-05-09 Life Can Be Beautiful.mp3
Whatever Became Of 68-11-20 Henry Aldrich – Ezra Stone.mp3
Whatever Became Of 68-xx-xx Green Hornet.mp3
Whatever Became Of 70-12-22 Young Widder Brown.mp3
Whatever Became Of 72-01-06 One Man’s Family.mp3
Whatever Became Of xx-xx-xx Amos And Andy.mp3
Whatever Became Of xx-xx-xx Mrs Nussbaum.mp3
Whatever Became Of xx-xx-xx Nero Wolfe and Archie.mp3

Yeah, yeah, I know I was supposed to wait for April.  But after what feels like week upon week of wet snow and steely skies I just couldn’t, so This Is Paris a few weeks early. 

This unusual 1949 variety program was recorded in Paris for later broadcast in the States. 

A typical show opens with star Maurice Chevalier crooning one of his Transatlantic classics (for the first program it’s the eternal “Louise”), followed by additional tunes featuring other French recording artists, additional Chevalier treatments of popular show tunes, and there’s also generally a travelogue feature in which you’ll be taken on a tour of some corner of town or even afield to a country village or a spot on the Cote d’Azur.  On a couple of occasions, you’ll be treated to a special guest star… Eddie Cantor visits on one program, and another sports a Django Reinhardt rendition of “Night and Day”.  If you’re looking to add a little spice and novelty to your OTR collection, this short series may suit nicely.

Today we’re announcing the addition of These Are Our Men, a short series from early 1945 which depicts the life stories of America’s military leaders (pictured above, General George Patton) and additionally features War Bond pitches from Frank Sinatra, Jack Benny and other entertainment luminaries of the time.

In addition, OTRRPedia Commander-in-Chief Larry Husch has been kind enough to send us two episodes of Stars For Defense.  Thanks for the shows and all for your hard work, Larry.

It’s been brought to our attention by our Official Bearer of Ill Tidings, Andrew Steinberg, that our copy of My Favorite Husband episode #1 was nothing more than a duplicate of episode #3.  Checking my own stores along with a number of the DC++ hubs, I’ve not been able to turn up a correct version.  So we’re looking for some help from you guys and gals… if you’ve got a verified accurate copy of that first show, please get in touch so we can correct the Library stock.  For reference, here’s the synopsis (from Vintage Radio Logs) of #1 from 07-23-1948:

“Liz invites the Literary Club’s guest speaker, big game hunter and author Captain Derek Allingham, over to the house for dinner.”

And here’s how the WRONG show is described:

“George pretends to be sick to keep an eye on the handsome artist who is spending all day at the house, painting Liz’s portrait.”

HELP!

Today we bring you the last of the radio shows starring the mad musical genius Spike Jones, the eponymous Spike Jones Show of 1949 (actually just a change of title for the Spotlight Revue sponsored by Coca-Cola).  This grouping comes to us as the gift of member Arnie Gross… thanks very much for offering these, Arnie!  Once you’ve said the man’s name, there’s little that’s useful to add, so we’ll let these little slices of mayhem speak for themselves.   Hope you like the image above of the King of Corn in full royal regalia!

A few days back, we had a little fun at Digital Deli’s expense, indicating that we were posting a file which their log indicated was non-existent or at least not in circulation.   Having heard of this, they’ve written to advise us that this is an incorrect interpretation of their presentation.

While most logs we have seen tend to use a data field labeled “Available”, “Exists”, etc. to indicate whether a recording of a particular episode is known to be in existence, the Deli advises us that in their logs the column header “Avail.” merely indicates whether that episode is in their own collection.  I have to say that I find that to be a little bit of an ambiguous approach, and that the misinterpretation was perhaps not so very inexplicable, but nonetheless it was my error.  Given the very unpleasant remarks about OTRR that are strewn all over the Deli it’s not easy or fun to issue a retraction, but it’s the right thing to do.  And this is the last time I plan to refer to that site as long as the current state of relations between the two organizations persists.

…before, well, practically ANYBODY doing, well, whatever ths IS…. audiences were having Fun with The Revuers!  I have to confess, I grabbed these programs off someone on the OTRR hub (I think… THANKS, whoever you were) because I like variety programs and the show titles intrigued me.  Never did get around to giving them a listen.  Then Mike Harron and some other folks on the OTRR message board got interested a week or two ago and man, were my eyes opened.  Here again, we’ve got some terrific entertainment history that I suspect many of you other folks have never heard, either.

In 1938 a talented young woman named Judith Tuvim asked the owner of the Village Vanguard if she and some friends could provide entertainment on Sunday nights.  Over the next couple of years they moved first to the Rainbow Room and then to their own radio show on NBC.  Their success seems in retrospect to have been practically a given… once you’re aware that before long Ms. Tuvim is to change her name to Judy Holliday, and that two of her cronies were Betty Comden and Adolph Green, just a few years short of co-penning On the Town with Leonard Bernstein!  We’ve got six episodes of this classic music-and-comedy series for you today… we not only hope you have a lot of fun hearing these legendary American stars before they really made it big, but also (as always) would appreciate hearing from anyone who may have any knowledge of the whereabouts of the five additional episodes listed in Goldin. 

Oh, by the way…up to now, this series has been listed in Otter as simply “The Revuers”, but there’ll be an updated and thoroughly researched replacement going up soon courtesy of the aforementioned Mr. Harron and it’s been ascertained quite clearly that “Fun With the Revuers” is the correct title, so that’ll be changing as well.

Two you are already over the 10 gig per month download limit
and will have your download privileges revoked shortly untill
March and you will have to ask to have them turned back
on.

Three others are extremely close and the same applies to you.

Remember, this library  will be open for at least 3 years and
10 gigs per month is more that any one person can listen to
if he/she did it 24/7.

http://www.metal-machine.de/readerror/index.php

Then set the limit to 9.50gigs and only run the program
when you are downloading from the library. It will alert
you when you reach your preset limit of downloads.

I have to use it because of comcast and it’s really saved
me in the past.

Today we’re adding all known extant episodes of the drama anthology Silver Theater.  Unlike a lot of the other general drama programs, these stories don’t have their origins in the popular movies of the time, but sure do feature an incredible array of 1940s film stars.  The series kicks off with a four-part romance entitled “First Love” featuring James Stewart and Rosalind Russell (pictured above), and in the ensuing programs you’ll hear Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, Fredric March, Joan Crawford, Orson Welles… and so on.  Also Helmut Dantine, which is where the word of warning comes in.  You see, Mr. Dantine has the lead in the final program in our set… which DOES NOT EXIST.  I know this because while traipsing around the ‘Net recently I was fortunate to find something called The Definitive Silver Theater Radio Log (Google it for yourself…), which states conclusively– and without fear (or tolerance) of contradiction– that this show is not available.  It is thus most likely only the ephemeral construction of my own weak and diseased mind, but you may enjoy it anyway if in fact it turns out to be a real audio recording after all.  It’s called “The Golden Pheasant”, from July 29, 1945.  I think.

If you like these, you may wish to check out several additional episodes that were rebroadcast by AFRS under the title Front Line Theater, under which title we’re currently posting the shows and maintaining a separate Otter log.