Candy Matson (Yukon 28209)

The blog known as Comics, Old Time Radio & Other Cool Stuff selected one of my all-time favorite radio shows as one of its recent Friday's Favorite OTR:  Candy Matson:  "San Juan Batista."  The full title of the show was Candy Matson, Yukon-28209, with the latter part of the title representing the heroine's telephone number.  The shows always started with a phone ringing, and Candy answering "Hello, Yukon 28209. . . . Yes, this is Candy Matson."  Candy was a former dancer/model/showgirl who became a private investigator in San Francisco.  Voiced by Natalie Masters (above), Candy solved crimes while exchanging witty, rapid fire dialogue with her pal Rembrandt Watson, and her eventual beau, SFPD Detective Ray Mallard.  The dialogue is one of the reasons this show is one of my favorites.  In one episode, while Mallard and Rembrandt are bantering about with increasingly bad puns, Candy sighs something to the effect of "Who writes this corny dialogue?"  Aside from the obvious joke, the actual writer was Natalie Masters' husband, Marty Masters. 

At Sea With Betty And Bogie

This photo of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, posted on Film Noir Photos, reminds me of one of my favorite Old Time Radio programs, Bold Venture.  In that show, Bogey and Bacall played roles very similar to their film roles in To Have And Have Not.  Bogey runs a hotel and charter boat service out of Havana, and Bacall is his girl.

75th Anniversary Of Pearl Harbor Attack

Today, December 7, 2016, is the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  The "date which will live in infamy" brought the United States into World War II, and began the nation's transformation from an isolationist country to a world superpower.

During the SSS tonight, I'll be playing a few news flashes from December 7 about the Pearl Harbor attack, all available on the News Reports pages of the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio collection.

Pledge Drive Special Tonight: It's A Memphis Swing!

WEVL (home of the SSS) is in the middle of its Fall Pledge Drive, and tonight's SSS Pledge Drive Special is "It's A Memphis Swing!"  I'll be playing music by musicians from Memphis or with a Memphis connection, both from the Swing Era and a few contemporary artists; as well as bands who played in Memphis 75 years ago, in 1941.  In addition to Jimmie Lunceford and Kay Starr, I'll have a spotlight on the Swift Jewel Cowboys (above) and their unique Western-Swing style.  Tune in and make your pledge of support for WEVL!  The above photo of the SJC's shows them at the Mid-South Fair in 1938.  In the background, note the Zippin' Pippin roller coaster on the left, and the old Shelby County Building on the right. 

Bold Venture

I can wholeheartedly agree with the decision of Comics, Old Time Radio & Other Cool Stuff to select a Bold Venture episode as one of its "Friday's Favorite OTR."  I just started listening to this series (available on the Internet Archive), and they are some of the best classic radio adventures I have ever heard.  The roles played by Bogey and Bacall in this series are very similar to their roles in the film To Have and Have Not.  Bogart (Slate Shannon) owns a boat and a hotel in Havana, Cuba, and Bacall (Sailor Duvall) is his romantic interest/foil.  Their dialogue is romantic, dark and sharp.  In one recent episode, Shannon pretends to dump Sailor for a beautiful, female criminal mastermind, only to use the opportunity to disarm said femme fatale so Sailor can get her gun.  Being unaware that Shannon is just pretending, Sailor grabs the gun and says "I've got the gun, Slate, who do I kill first?"  That line caused a definite LOL.  

The Lone Ranger - Comics, Old Time Radio & Other Cool Stuff

I have just started following a blog called Comics, Old-Time Radio and Other Cool Stuff, and came across this posting of a 1942 Lone Ranger radio show entitled "Lennie's Locket."  You can listen or download from the site.  From COTR&OCS:

Everyone wonders why Lennie--a big, burly man--wears a locket and values it so highly. Oddly, the answer might involve outlaws who are apparently black-mailing the owner of the ranch at which Lennie works.

Curtis Howe Springer And Zzyzx Road

Off Interstate 15 in San Bernadino County, California, is a 4.5 mile long rural road known as Zzyzx Road.  I have never seen it, heard of it, or to my knowledge, ever been near it.  This item on Boing Boing, however, provided such an interesting story, and one with its origins in the Swing Era, that it merited posting. 

At the end of Zzyzx Road lies Zzyzx, founded by 1940's radio evangelist, snake-oil salesman and all-around con man, Curtis Howe Springer.  From Road Trippers:

Curtis Howe Springer was one of those old-timey radio evangelists, way back in the day. However, he wasn't actually a minister of any kind. He was born in 1896 in Birmingham, Alabama, and spent much of his early life convincing people he was a doctor. . . .

  Throughout his life Curtis also claimed to be a boxing teacher in the U.S. Army, the "Dean of Greer College" (a defunct/bankrupt school in Chicago), he was a rabble-rouser during Prohibition (he was in favor of it, and railed against "Demon Rum"). He also loved making up universities. Like "National Academy, The Springer School of Humanism, the American College of Doctors and Surgeons, the Westlake West Virginia College, and two non-existent osteopathy schools in Meyersdale, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. . . ."

 Curtis founded several health spas during the 1930s and 1940s. . . .  However, Curtis really hated paying taxes, so most of his "spas" were seized by the Feds. Then in 1944, Curtis hooked up with a new lady and she filed a claim to 12,800 acres of Mojave Desert in California. Springer named the land Zzyzx Mineral Springs resort. The purpose was so that it would be known as "the last word in health," and to build his resort he hired a bunch of homeless men from L.A.'s infamous Skid Row.

 Springer even faked the hot spring! Seriously! He used a boiler to heat pools around the resort, which ultimately included a 60-room hotel, spa, mineral baths, a radio studio, and a church, of course. So, even though he wasn't a minister or a doctor, over 200 radio stations carried his program. Listeners would send in donations for his "cures", which he claimed could relieve constipation, hemorrhoids, hair loss and, oh yeah, cancer. However, what people were getting was, well, actually a bit better than snake oil. It was mostly celery, carrot and parsley juices.

WMPS Postcard

I saw this circa 1930's-40's radio station postcard while browsing around American Radio History.  The call letters for radio station WMPS stood for "Memphis Press Scimitar," which was once one of the daily newspapers that served the city.  Although the newspaper is gone, the station is still around, and up until about five years ago, it had an "adult standards" format (Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, etc.). 

American Radio History

While doing some research for a broadcast of the SSS, a friend referred me to American Radio History.  This site features thousands of searchable scanned copies of broadcasting, technical and early radio magazines from the dawn of radio into the 1980's.  I was looking through copies of Billboard from the 1940's for tour schedules ("skeds") of swing orchestras ("orks"), and found fascinating insights into the era. 

G.I. Jill & Bing

Here is G.I. Jill (a/k/a Martha Wilkerson) and Bing Crosby doing a bit on Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS).  Ms. Wilkerson was an AFRS disc-jockey during World War II.  Posted on The 1940's Homefront. 

Coolest Radio Ever

You can bet that both Batman and the Shadow had one of these babies in the Batcave and Sanctum.  According to Paleofuture, the Kluge California Kilowatt "could not only send and receive messages, but it came with all the bells and whistles — including built-in speakers and an illuminated map of the world, all housed in a sleek fold-down desk." 

On The Radio

The National World War II Museum blog posted this item about the importance of radio to the Home Front during WW2.  Aside from news, the entertainment for which most Americans turned to their radio also had a patriotic flavor, from live big band performances at military bases, to contemporary patriotic popular music like "Comin' In On A Wing And A Prayer," or "Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet!"  The Museum has a collection of sheet music that includes this number featured by Jan Garber and His Orchestra, "Plant A Little Garden (In Your Own Back Yard).

The Shadow Returns

Here is an advertisement, posted on Vintage Ads, heralding the return of The Shadow to the radio airwaves, sponsored by "Blue Coal" (a/k/a Anthracite Industries).  I have listened to many of the old Shadow radio shows, most of which include that friendly reminder to ask for "blue coal."

Largest Radio In The World From 1936

According to this post on 20th Century Radio, in 1936 a Chicago engineer built what was believed to be the largest radio receiver in the world.  Capable of world wide reception and "exceptional" sound quality, the set had 40 tubes, five speakers and weighed in at a mere 620 pounds.

Faxpapers

Another entry from the "Been There, Done That" Department.  It seems that the internet was not the first technology to challenge traditional newspapers.  That honor went to radio.  As this post on Gizmodo explains, by the 1930s, people were already thinking newsprint would soon be killed by radio.  In response, some bright apple thought up the idea of delivering newspapers via radio through radios equipped with printers, or in other words,  wireless fax machines. 

Sunrise Serenade: The Hut Sut Song

This morning's Sunrise Serenade was "The Hut Sut Song," here performed by the King's Men in this 1940's film short posted on 20th Century Radio.  I've had this item for a while, just waiting for the song to pop into my head one morning, and lo, it did. 

What Is Television?

This General Electric ad from 1939, posted on 20th Century Radio, poses the question, "What is television?"  According to the ad, "[i]t represents another step forward in man's mastery of time and space," that will create new jobs for today and tomorrow.  I'll bet they never dreamed of the levels reality television could reach. 

This Week In History

The anniversaries of some notable historic events during the Swing Era occur this week, and the Planet Retro blog listed a few in its This Week In History post. 

World News & the American Experience:
1937 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. President to be inaugurated on the date of January 20th, per the 20th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

1943 – A ban stops U.S. bakers from selling sliced bread. Until the end of World War II, only whole loaves were sold. This was to reduce demand for metal parts.

Movies & TV:
1948 – The Original Amateur Hour debuts on the DuMont network, hosted by Ted Mack.

Music & Radio:
1930 – The Lone Ranger is broadcast for the first time on WXYZ-Detroit.

1944 – The first jazz concert is held at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, starring Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden.

1946 – The Fat Man debuts on ABC radio, starring J. Scott Smart.

This Week In History: December 7-13

We visit Retro Planet's Planet Retro blog again for another look at This Week In History, which includes more notable events from the Swing Era.
World News & the American Experience:

1941 – Dec 7 – “A date which will live in infamy,” Pearl Harbor Day.  1100 men are lost as America’s Pacific Fleet is attacked.  The catastrophic event leads the US to declare war and enter into World War II.

Movies & TV:

1937 – NBC Radio gets into trouble with the Federal Communications Commission for broadcasting a racy skit with Mae West.  As a consequence, West is banned from its airwaves for 15 years.

1948 – The Horace Heidt Youth Opportunity Program is broadcast for the first time on NBC TV.

Music & Radio:

1926 – Benny Goodman’s first recording session takes place (at age 17).  He plays clarinet with the Ben Pollack and his Californians.

1944 – The Chesterfield Supper Club premieres on NBC radio.

1949 – Fats Domino records his first songs for Imperial Records, starting with “The Fat Man”.

Arts & Entertainment:

1939 – Betty Grable is featured on the cover of LIFE.

1949 – Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, starring Carol Channing, opens at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City.

Sports:

1937 – The Red Sox acquired the contract of 19-year-old Ted Williams.

1939 – Lou Gehrig, 36, is elected to Baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Technology & Inventions:

1931 – Coaxial cable is patented.

1945 – The Microwave oven is patented by Dr. Percy Spencer of Raytheon Corp.

This Week In History

RetroPlanet's Planet Retro Blog posts a weekly "Retro History" item, and this week is full of all sorts of interesting anniversaries from the Swing Era, in a variety of areas.  
World News & the American Experience:

1930 – Ruth Nichols becomes the first woman pilot on a transcontinental flight from New York to California.  It took 7 days.

1942 – A tragic fire at the famed Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston, MA kills nearly 500 people.

Movies & TV:

1940 – Woody Woodpecker is seen for the first time in the theatrical short Knock Knock.

1942 – Casablanca premieres at Hollywood Theatre in New York City.

1948 – Hopalong Cassidy premieres on TV.
Music & Radio:

1932 – Groucho Marx performs on radio for the first time.

1944 – The FBI in Peace and War is broadcast by CBS radio for the first time.

1949 – Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer, by Gene Autry, becomes the musical hit of the Christmas season.

1956 – Bandleader Tommy Dorsey dies at the age of 51. His records sold more than 110,000,000 copies.

Arts & Entertainment:

1936 – The first issue of Life magazine, created by Henry R. Luce, is published.

Technology & Inventions:

1944 – Johns Hopkins Hospital performs the first open heart surgery.

1948 – The Zoomar Lens is patented by Dr. Frank G. Back of New York City.  It becomes a popular lens most often used in television production.

1948 – The first Polaroid camera is sold.