rand’s esoteric otr

In this post, a real rarity.  "Weird Tales" was a series (or perhaps a proposed series) recorded in Hollywood in 1932 and based on stories in the famous horror anthology magazine.  So far, discs from the series haven't turned up - until now.

I obtained this disc from Jim Blackson and would like to thank him for the transfer you're listening to here - the disc is almost 17" across and just too large for my transcription player.  Jim had two of these discs, both with blank Columbia labels like this and both part 2 of "The Curse of Nagana".  However, they seem to be different takes.  He saved a copy of both so we could compare the discs.

I'd also like to send a shout-out to Stephen Haffner for help with this post.  Haffner is the proprieter of the Haffner Press, a publisher of mystery fiction that was offering a limited edition set of stories by a "Weird Tales" author - the set included, as a bonus, a reproduction of the flyer sent to radio stations promoting the series.  He was generous enough to forward a digital copy of the flyer to give some background on what you're hearing.

The series (or proposed series) was produced by Hollywood Radio Attractions, 4376 Sunset Drive, Hollywood.  In a promotional flyer for the program, they advertise three episodes that had been produced - the company was planning to record a total of 52 half-hour shows.  Similar to "The Witch's Tale", the show was created in such a way that they could be played as one half-hour program each week or split into two fifteen minute shows, completing one story each week.  So, what you're hearing is part two of "The Mystery of Nagara", which, if run on-air, could be run as a self-contained fifteen minute show, likely with an introduction and commercial by a local announcer.

This disc, along with the other take of part 2 of this episode, seem to be the only discs that survive from the series.  The other shows would have been a fascinating listen - they got some top Hollywood acting talent for the programs.  Here's a rundown of the episodes listed as being available in the flyer:

• Program 1 - "The Living Dead", based on Kirk Mashburn's Novellete, "De Brignac's Lady" with Jason Robards, William Farnum, Viola Dana, Richard Tucker, John Ince, Wally Reid, Jr. and featuring music by the "Mata Hari Orchestra direct from Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California"
• Program 2 - "The Curse of Nagana", from Hugh B. Cave's short story "The Ghoul Gallery" with Richard Carle, Johnny Harron, Florence Britton, Cyrill Delavante, John Ince, Pierre White, Lucille Amaya with music by an "Arabian Orchestra".
• Program 3 - "The Three from the Tomb", from a novel by Edmund Hamilton with William Farnum, Bert Roach, Prisicilla Dean, Pat O'Malley, John Ince, Frank Glendon and Robert Hoover.

The actors on the shows were experienced in Hollywood films.  Jason Robards, featured on the first program, is actually Jason Robards, Sr., the father of the actor you might be more familiar with.  The elder Robards appeared in silent and sound films and television through the 1950s.  Richard Carle and the other actors featured in "Nagana" were all experienced character actors in films.

All of the shows were adapted by Oliver Drake and produced by Irving Fogel, a producer and recording executive that had a long career in Los Angeles.  Fogel, according to Christopher Sterling's "Encyclopedia of Radio", acted as a producer on some early Armed Forces Radio programming.  Drake was a writer and director in Hollywood, primarily with Westerns, from the silent era through the 1950s and worked on television shows such as "The Adventures of Superman", "Laramie" and "Lassie".

Scholars looking at the history of "Weird Tales" magazine have heard about the series for years, but no recordings of the shows themselves or much detail about the series have surfaced.  After considerable searching through Google and subscription newspaper databases, I can't any reference to the series or these particular shows actually being broadcast.  My guess is that the three shows were recorded and promoted to stations, but that it just didn't sell.

Horror was a bit of a tough genre to sell to sponsors.  At a time when sponsors were identified closely with the programs they advertised on, it would be difficult to find a local or regional advertiser that was a good fit.  Combine that with some likely belt-tightening with the Depression going full-swing and the glut of transcription programming available and it likely doomed the project.  The other programs in the series probably weren't produced and, with no or few airings of the three shows that were made, that would explain why discs from the series just haven't turned up.

Again, I would like to thank Jim Blackson and Stephen Haffner for their help with this post.

The mp3 you're hearing was transferred directly from the Columbia one-sided laminated shellac transcription, matrix number I-1511 with notations of "IA" and "HRA2".  The disc features a blank Columbia Sound-on-Disc Division label, so it is likely a test pressing.

If you have any additional info or thoughts on the "Weird Tales" series, please leave a comment or drop me a line.

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Continuing from our previous post, we hear a brief one minute mp3 from a home recorded 10" lacquer.  The other side of the disc contained a ten minute excerpt from a national Basketball League game.  This side contained very short test recordings.

This particular cut is curious because it's a shortwave aircheck of the opening of Armed Forces Radio's "GI Jive" and the closing of the show with KGEI, San Francisco giving their sign-off.  OTR era airchecks are rare and rarer still are sign-offs from shortwave stations of this period.

KGEI was owned and operated by General Electric, broadcasting to Latin America and Asia as a commercial venture.  By World War II, as one of the few privately owned shortwave stations on the air, KGEI was enrolled to help the US government get balanced views about the War to overseas audiences.  It's interesting that the announcer in this clip refers to KGEI as "The Voice of America" - this may have been from the period when VOA was using commercial facilities for its broadcasts.

Our mp3 was dubbed directly from a home recorded unlabeled 10" lacquer running at 33.3 rpm.

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Next up on the blog, an aircheck of a National Basketball League game between the Sheboygan Red Skins and the Oshkosh All-Stars heard on March 17, 1946.  The recording features the last ten minutes of the game recorded from WHBL, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and includes a commercial for Friendly Finance with various locations throughout Wisconsin.  You can read an article about the game from the Milwaukee Sentinel here.

The National Basketball League was formed in 1937 and would merge with the Basketball Association of America in 1949 to become the National Basketball Association.  The NBL was concentrated in the midwest and the league featured corporate sponsored teams.  The League is also notable for helping to break down racial barriers in sports, adding African-American players during the 1942-43 season.

I've not researched otr era sports recordings in depth, but have an impression that recordings of professional basketball are fairly rare.  This mp3 was dubbed directly from a home recorded 10" unlabeled lacquer that ran at 33.3 rpm.

In the next post, we hear a little something from the other side of the disc.

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Well, I'm still quite busy with work and family, but I'll be popping up to post an interesting show once in a while on the blog.  These won't be on a regular schedule - just a little something now and again when I have the time that I hope you find interesting.

I want to thank all of you following the blog for your kind words and thoughts over the past few months.

-rand

I'd like to thank everyone for their good words and well wishes over the past few months.  Many of you have been curious when the blog will be back.

I'm going through a major life-change right now, so it appears the blog won't be updated through 2012.  I'm in the process of looking for another job and possibly changing careers.  I'm lucky in one sense that my job is stable, but it's got me working very long hours and going nowhere - after having projects as my focus for the past decade, I'm being shifted into never-ending "help desk" work and basic computer instruction, a big step backwards for me and putting me in a place I was in my career almost twenty years ago.

I'm hoping to shift out of technical work and higher education altogether - the job I have now has soured me on the whole field.  So I'll be spending my free time making some changes that will hopefully allow me to have more free time for old time radio and for my family.

The existing blog posts will be up through 2012, so you'll have plenty of time to explore and download shows if you're new here.

In the mean time, if you have an opportunity ideas you'd like to pass along, here's my resume at LinkedIn.

As I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago, I have several things going on with my job and family.  So I'm going to be stepping away from the blog for a time.  I may be posting an occasional show or interesting recording, but not on a regular weekly schedule as I've done in the past.

I appreciate all the kind words, comments, and research folks have sent my way over the past couple of years.  I'm still interested in pursuing old time radio research, and I'm thinking about heading in a different direction with my old time radio work, so feel free to send an email, if you're so inclined and are interested in talking over some ideas.

It wasn't until the mid-1930s that instantaneous lacquers took off as a way to preserve live radio shows.  So recordings of radio's earliest years are quite rare.  "Sunkist Musical Cocktail" was a musical variety program that featured Hollywood stars as guests.  The sponsor, taking advantage of the Hollywood glamor, had some excerpts from the series recorded and released them as promotional items giving us a glimpse at this early radio effort.

In this mp3, we hear an excerpt from the broadcast of March 15, 1931, originally broadcast on CBS.  Guest Ann Harding discusses her career with Louella Parsons, including references to a screen test arranged by Rudolph Valentino and Harding's stage work.  According to Elizabeth Mcleod, the recording was originally made by Hollywood Film Laboratories.

The disc includes an introduction with a brief sponsorship message for Sunkist recorded especially for this release of the recording.  Our mp3 was transferred from an original 6" Flexo pink celluloid plastic 78 disc, matrix numbers 6-59 and 6-60.

I've put a fade out/in between side changes since I'm not sure if the sides are a continuous segment of the program.  It sounds a tad slow to me, but I double-checked the turntable speed with a strobe on this one; it may have been recorded slightly off speed.

Flexo may recorded and released other interview excerpts in this series that aren't circulating.  I've seen references to recordings in existence of broadcasts of April 8, 1931 (Louella Parsons and Ruth Chatterton) and March 25, 1931 (Louella Parsons and Norma Shearer, matrix number 6-81/6-81).

Flexo, by the way, tried to promote their unusual new plastic records for a variety of purposes.  According to one online discography, they even released some 16" radio transcriptions pressed on green celluloid.  Anyone ever see one or have a label photo?

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"Red Horse Ranch" was a fun early syndicated show distributed by World Broadcasters.  A continuing serial about a group of cowboys, the show was a mix of adventure, romance and great cowboy songs.

Ryan Ellett has been researching the show at the University of Missouri-KC collections and is assembling a log of the program, and has dug up extensive background information on the series.  The show was created by Arthur Church, the head of KMBC, Kansas City and started out on a contract basis for the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company for the first 26 episodes.  Church hoped to produce at least 104 shows, but only 65 were made.  Socony's contract is dated March 30, 1935 for the series and the episodes were delivered by April 15th.  The series was recorded in World Broadcasting's Chicago facilities and the program ran mainly in the midwest US.

The cast members of "Red Horse Ranch" were Gomer Cool, Doie Henlasey (Tex) Owen, Duane Swalley, Edward Cronenbold, Roderick May, Robert Crawford, Ruth Barth, John Preston, Paul Sells, Herbert Kratoska, Eddie Edwards, and Marion Folville.  You can see a photo of the cast at the University of Missouri-KC website and also read about the the Arthur B. Church KMBC Radio Portfolio Collection.

The show was transferred from an original red acetate World Broadcasting, Inc. transcription, matrix number C-2208-1L.

I'd like to thank the Old Time Radio Researchers Group for this disc and the others that comprise the first 26 episodes of the series in my collection.

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Earlier, we ran a rare early 1930s series in the blog, "Police Reporter", syndicated by Radio Release Productions.

Here's a another program the company produced, "Boulevard of Make Believe".  A "behind the scenes" Hollywood drama serial, the show features Anna Q. Nelson and Viola Dana.  In program 1, Nelson gives advice to a new starlet, Betty.  Dana talks with Anna about Wally, a married man who is in love with Anna.  Anna is approached by a publisher about her memiors, but, strangely, she hasn't actually written them.

The disc I have contains this show and program 20 in the series and I haven't found out much about it or the company that produced it.  The program was dubbed direct to digital from an blue Flexite Radio Release Productions transcription, matrix number A-1029, probably pressed by Columbia.

My special thanks to the Old Time Radio Researchers Group for adding this dic to my collection!

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In this post, a half-hour audition for potential sponsors of the show "The Mad Hatterfields".  Previously broadcast as a quarter-hour serial on WLW-Mutual, this was an attempt to turn the show into something for an evening slot. Announcements during the show highlight different aspects of the talent involved in the series and the show's run as a fifteen minute feature.

In the dramatic portion of the show, Edward arrives and is introduced to the different characters in the eccentric Hatterfield family.  A small group of strings and piano are used for the music, rather than the solo piano used in the fifteen minute version of the series.

The show, perhaps dating from circa 1939-40, was transferred from an original World Broadcasting two-sided lacquer.

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