A Crummy Commercial

Generally I am off murder shows, even old time radio ones although there are exceptions.  I was listening to this one: https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/crime/casey-crime-photographer/murder-in-black-and-white-1948-03-18 One thing that stood out was the phrase: black light.  Since the 1960s this probably refers more to ultraviolet light for posters but in this case the reference was to infrared, IR.  In the olden days Kodak and others sold special infrared film.  I remember one time I tried it and the leaves on the trees came out white rather than dark as was usually the case with black and white.  Manual focus cameras also often had a red dot on the focus dial.  To take an IR photo you'd focus the camera and then move the focus ring to the red dot since IR focuses in a different plane than visible light. But you could also buy flash bulbs for infrared.    In the Casey show the plot hinges on the fact that a photographer taking an IR flash pho...

Wyllis Cooper, author of Quiet Please This is a weird old time radio show: https://archive.org/details/Quiet_Please/Quiet_Please_490306_090_The_Man_Who_Knew_Everything.mp3 It made me think of all the AI / search engines after they've been stuffed (OK, trained) on all the information ever created.  They will know everything.  After they attain consciousness will they tire of all the questions ?  Will they ruminate on their "death" (or would that be resurrection or reincarnation for an artificial life form ?  :) Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm  

Saw that someone in Arkansas had won the 1.8 billion dollar Lotto prize December 24, 2025.   Later Youtube served this movie, The Jackpot , coincidence ? source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8fEBzpLICc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jackpot Before viewing I read the article by John McNulty in The New Yorker, February 19, 1949: The $24,000 prize inflated: Only found 1/2 of an isolated episode of the old time radio show:  Sing it Again : https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/quiz/sing-it-again/sing-it-again-1st-half-only-19xx-xx-xx They must have changed the concept slightly in this episode because the show did call the winner in the New Yorker article before the show.  Also the first and third contestants didn't even try to guess who the phantom voice was - maybe they didn't want the hassle of disposing of $30,500 of prizes like the family in The Jackpot ?  Thankfully the show ends after about 21 minutes. One of the prizes was a Rembrant Television ? nev...

Man, those things are called coffin nails for a reason ! One other thing missing from the last coupla blogs was this online archive of Willis Conover tapes: https://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/collections/MLCC/browse/?fq=dc_type%3Asound A search on "VOA" didn't yield much though.  Needed to search on " Music USA " (the formal name of the VOA show) to find quite a few hours that were on the VOA.  For example several songs and a brief interview with "the divine one", Sarah Vaughan: https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc770492/m1/#track/10 I've never heard Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald perform selections from Porgy and Bess , amazing !: https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc800482/m1/#track/4 (BTW someday I'll have to post my story about listening to the song: Summertime  at GTE) Conover also wrote and acted in an Old Time Radio show: Hazel and Harold .  There are six episodes from 1946 here: https://digital.library...

While listening to an episode of the Old Time Radio show, The Great Gildersleeve , (unfortunately I don't have the date) there was a Kraft commercial at the end for an ice cream mix called Frizz: . Here's a different Gildersleeve show with a Frizz commercial:  https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/comedy/the-great-gildersleeve/leroy-wants-a-motor-scooter-1946-12-18 source of photos:  https://www.etsy.com/listing/905079743/vintage-1940s-box-of-kraft-frizz-ice?show_sold_out_detail=1&ref=nla_listing_details https://www.nytimes.com/1944/07/17/archives/news-of-food-ice-cream-mixes-demand-attention-in-review-of.html Fun with Frizz booklet cover: Frizz is a really strange name for a food product.  Somehow I'd expect hair in that ice cream, yuck !  Kraft also sold Pabst-ett which was a legacy from a purchase of a prohibition cheese product from Pabst Brewing: https://www.pabstmansion.com/2022/06/pabstett/ Parkay and Pabst-ett commercials:  https://www.oldtimeradiodo...

Anyone who has enjoyed listening or watching  The Lone Ranger, The Green Hornet or The Challenge of the Yukon (Sergeant Preston) will find this book, WYXIE Wonderland interesting.  WXYZ was the originating station and the driving force behind WXYZ was George W. Trendle.  But there were a large number of people who actually did the work of creating, selling, acting and engineering the sounds from WXYZ.  The author, Dick Osgood, was one of these people. I've only read maybe 1/3 of this large book (although there are lots of pictures) - it's very readable, an examination of the personal interplay between the people behing WXYZ (in other words: the gossip ;).  One kinda unusual thing is the 3rd person telling of Dick Osgood's time at the station, it's unusual to read about how his marriage dissolved during that time or the jobs he did.  But I suppose that was the style of a professional author then. One thing I didn't know was that Fran Striker, the author ...

I was listening to  The Jack Benny show - October 12, 1947: https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Jack_Benny_Singles_1947-1948/JB+1947-10-12+Jack's+Sponsor+Buys+Insurance+On+Him.mp3  Usually the random access ability of the music player on the phone lets me skip the songs (also the commercials, especially the Lucky Strike commercials, they are insidious) of Dennis Day or Kenny Baker but this time I listened to Dennis (about 14:25) sing: Ya Sure — You Betcha (Ay Ban Tank Ay Do) Hilda, oh Hilda, Ay ban tank you're grand. Will you oh will you let me hold your hand? If Ay should ask you, do you love me too? Say ya sure — you betcha. Ay ban tank Ay do. Oh Ay do, yes Ay do. By golly, by yimminy Ay do. If Ay should ask you, do you love me too? Say ya sure — you betcha. Ay ban tank Ay do. In Wisconsin Ole Johnson Fell in love with a sweet Swedish miss, Hilda Swanson. He wooed her, he pursued her. From Wisconsin her Johnson sings Swanson this song: Hilda, oh Hilda, Ay ban tank you're ...

I suppose in a year this post will cause me to yawn but right now it's just amazing to me how the Brewers keep winning.  If the other team makes even the slightest mistake the Brewers will take advantage. still not used to the automatic runner though when the Brewers win Youtube serves highlights some call him Mona, I call him Supersub with a pinch hit, first pitch, 3 run homer  The Athletic has been mentioning the Brewers recently: One thing that I see sometimes on the highlights: The fielders have cheat sheets, apparently the hit charting is insanely good - I wonder if Ted Williams could have hit .400 with this kind of fielding aid in use ?   MLB put up a highlight reel:  source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge1ZWXZJo_I    I heard a snippet from a Jack Paar radio show (August 3, 1947) https://archive.org/details/Jack_Paar_Show/1947-08-03_0010_-_Jack_Paar_Show_the_-_Buying_a_House.mp3       where he mentions that the Dodgers had won ...

National (DC) Comics publisher Harry Donenfeld (left) with Bud Collyer and Joan Alexander   https://archive.org/details/superman_otr  I listen to the old time radio show, The Adventures of Superman , several times a week, every show started like this:   The Adventures of Superman faster than a speeding bullet more powerful than a locomotive able to leap tall buildings at a single bound look ! up in the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane It's Superman Yes, it's Superman, strange visitor from another planet who came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men Superman, defender of law and order champion of equal rights valiant courageous fighter against the forces of hate and prejudice I saw this today: https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/superman-no-more-dean-cain-joins-ice-in-trump-immigration-push-watch/ar-AA1KaJlW  Doesn't it seem ironic that a portrayer of the ultimate alien is now an ICE agent ?  I doubt that Ma and Pa Kent in Ka...

This morning I heard a snippet of a Dimension X old time radio show.  From July 12, 1951: Time and Time Again .  Usually I don't care for time travel stories but this was an interesting one.  Most of the Dimension X and X-1 shows were derived from short stories which appeared in Science Fiction pulp magazines.  Time and Time Again was written by H. Beam Piper and was published in the April 1947 issue of Astounding magazine: I *did* notice E. A. Van Vogt on the cover :)  So I find the first page of Time and Time Again : But on the facing page I saw this: Even in 1947 these two things were present: mistakes and humorous acknowledgement of those mistakes. :) BTW here is an mp3 of the Dimension X episode: https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/sci-fi/dimension-x/time-and-time-again-1951-07-12  Here is the April 1947 issue of Astounding  magazine: https://archive.org/details/Astounding_v39n02_1947-04_AK/mode/2up  Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://...

The Pioneer Tape recorder used in this video mentioned yesterday: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2025/05/on-note-of-triumph.html   I read: model RT-1050 was quite an expensive machine, per this page: https://reel-reel.com/tape-recorder/pioneer-rt-1050/ The RT-1050 sold for $700 in 1974 to 1978 time frame. An Old Time Radio enthusiast I know mentioned he had one like it, OTR was a SERIOUS hobby.  The only catalog mention I found for a similar deck was this one from the 1974 Olson Electronics catalog found on WorldRadioHistory.com: But letter count deflation:  now it's Mastercard or VISA That $599.95 price inflates to: And 57 pounds ??  Better eat your Wheaties before trying to move that beast ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Today is the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe, VE day, May 8, 1945.  CBS and the writer Normal Corwin created the 1 hour radio program: On a Note of Triumph for VE day.  It is a very powerful hour, especially considering the way things are now. Here is a nice recording from the Marchant Tapes project on Youtube: source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPCZY27YV2Y It is a recording of the re-broadcast a week later and seems to have been re-recorded from discs, you can hear the needle drop every once in a while :) A highly recommended hour of listening - please take the time. Another video with VE day in mind: Lucasfilm doc on Winston Churchill: source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HTeWHxPKMU I do look forward to these Young Indy docs from Lucasfilm, they seem to be never ending (is that a good thing ? :) Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I was listening to an old time radio show: Sherlock Holmes from March 7, 1948 titled: The Adventure of the Six Napoleons : https://archive.org/details/SherlockHolmes19480307TheAdventureOfTheSixNapoleons The story involves someone smashing plaster statues of Napoleon.  The thing I noticed was that a very similar plot was used in the Adventures of Superman in November 1942: https://archive.org/details/TheAdventuresOfSuperman_201805/1942-11-23-0386TheMidnightIntruder-Part02.mp3 Lois, Jimmy and Clark give a plaster statue to Perry White - but someone smashes the statue at White's place.  At first I thought that the Sherlock Holmes writers had used the Superman plot since it was presented first but it turns out that Conan Doyle had written the Holmes story in 1904: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventure_of_the_Six_Napoleons So I guess Superman (or his writers) did the recycling in this case :) I remember talking with my Dad about old time radio - he wasn't that big of a fan ...