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The Return of Our Show of Shows

The Return of Our Show of Shows

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Dan here. Tom and I have been making calls back and forth for the past few weeks to get the podcast rebooted instanter, and I’m setting up our Patreon, ordering pinback buttons, writing and re-writing show notes, learning new streaming tech, etc, etc.

Some of the benefits for our patrons will be: I’ll put your face onto an image of a 1930s “Radio Stars” magazine for use as your social media avatar.

Our “Our Show of Shows” pinback buttons will be available to patrons, and we’ll also sell them for $1.

Tom and I are excited to get the podcast going again, and you’ll be hearing from us soon.

Old Time Radio Advent Calendars

Old Time Radio Advent Calendars

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The Cinnamon Bear was a wildly popular radio serial adventure for children which began its initial run in 1937. It was a 26-episode, daily, 15-minute transcribed show, which was intended to run from just after Thanksgiving until Christmas. And talk about long-running — the show appeared on commercial stations well into the 1980s, and even now, shows up on community radio stations. I think my introduction to the show was in the early 2000s on the University of Portland’s KDUP, which just left all 26 episodes running on a continuous loop while school was out during the Winter.

In addition to being a radio star, the Cinnamon Bear was a costumed character who appeared as one of Santa’s helpers at various department stores around the country. The show and character were especially popular in the Pacific Northwest, in fact, the Portland Spirit cruise lines have annual Cinnamon Bear Cruises to this day.

Naturally, something this popular spawned imitations; I haven’t listened to Jump Jump and the Ice Queen or Jonathan Thomas and his Christmas on the Moon yet, but I doubt they can hold a candle to Cinnamon Bear.

Here are links to Archive.org’s collections of all three serials…

1937 – The Cinnamon Bear

1938 – Jump Jump and the Ice Queen

1938 – Jonathan Thomas and his Christmas on the Moon

Some Streaming OTR Stations to Tide You Over Until Our Next Episode

Some Streaming OTR Stations to Tide You Over Until Our Next Episode

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Tom and I will be back with a new episode eventually. Tom’s hard drive with our most recent episode (“Our Show of Shows Goes HOLLYWOOD!”) was lost in an apartment fire, so we figure we’ll take the opportunity to make a new version sometime soon. New and improved. Shorter, tighter episodes. It’ll be a challenge, because half the reason we do the podcast is to hang out with each other and ramble, but I think we’re up to it.

Anyway, here’s a nice list of streaming Old Time Radio stations for your listening pleasure in the meanwhile.

Relic Radio
Hank’s Old-Time Radio
Old Time Radio Fan
Old Time Radio USA
Bygolly Old Time Radio
20th Century Radio
Antioch Broadcasting Network

Episode 06: OTR vs. Nazis

Episode 06: OTR vs. Nazis

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Tom and Dan look at American civil rights and the fight against Nazis during the golden age of Old Time Radio. This episode includes: Father Coughlin, Eddie Cantor, “Dear Adolf,” “You Can’t Do Business With Hitler,” “Battle Of The Warsaw Ghetto,” more from the “Orson Welles Commentaries,” “New World A-Coming,” “Destination Freedom,” “The Rock ‘n’ Roll Dance Party,” Jean Shepherd’s tale of the March on Washington, and, of course, Superman battling the thinly-disguised KKK  in “The Clan of the Fiery Cross.”

Episode 05: Orson Welles

Episode 05: Orson Welles

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Click Here To Listen To This Episode 

Tom and Dan discuss the radio career of Orson Welles. Clips in this episode range from his 1937 radio adaptation of Les Miserables, right up to the 1951-52 series The Lives of Harry Lime — several episodes of which Orson wrote, and one of which was later adapted for the screenplay of the film Mr. Arkadin.

Welles Resources

 

Guest on

 

Bogdanovich Interviews – https://archive.org/details/InterviewsWithOrsonWelles

Video

Web Site

 

Episode 04 : The British Sampler (The Goon Show, Kenneth Williams, and Just A Minute)

Episode 04 : The British Sampler (The Goon Show, Kenneth Williams, and Just A Minute)

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Many folks who are getting into or who are well into listening to old time radio are missing out on a whole other country’s worth of material . The UK, Britain, whatever you want to call it, is the home of so much great radio waiting to be heard. Some of it you may know of even if you do not know it.

In this episode we dive into three different treasure troves of listening from that great isle.

  • The Goon Shows
  • Kenneth Williams
  • Just A Minute

But Don’t Take Our Word For It…..

The Goon Shows

From arhicive.org

YouTube

 

AudioStream (24/7)

Kenneth WIlliams

From arhicive.org

For a limited time the BBC is offering a history of Julian and Sandy, listen while you can

Articles about Polari

Just A Minute

From arhicive.org

Audio Stream (24/7)

Fan Page

Episode 03 : Gunsmoke

Episode 03 : Gunsmoke

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This episode, we talk about the great 1950s radio western, Gunsmoke (and, as much as possible, we avoid talking about the mediocre TV version). Gunsmoke was the first radio western made strictly for adults, and its creators originally intended Marshall Matt Dillon to be a sort of Philip Marlow of the Old West, but the show quickly grew into a complex, often dark drama that went to some really harrowing places. We veer off topic into the original Maltese Falcon prop (which sat on Gunsmoke star William Conrad’s mantle for years) and the cast’s connections to Rocky & Bullwinkle, Star Trek, and the Keebler cookies, but we eventually circle back to talk about the curse of being Matt Dillon, why Fort Laramie is no Gunsmoke, and we discuss the pioneering disabled woman who wrote 80 of the last 200 episodes of the show, Marion Clark. And Dan still doesn’t have a good tag line.
Tom’s “Tales of the West” Podcast
Gunsmoke single episodes on Archive.org
Fort Laramie single episodes at Archive.org
Episode 02 : Yours Truly Johnny Dollar

Episode 02 : Yours Truly Johnny Dollar

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Podcast Date: 05/26/17

Click Here To Listen To This Episode 

Click Here To Watch This Episode

  • Dan and Tom explore the man with the action packed expense account, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar. From  cookie cutter detective show to the golden era of Bob Bailey & Jack Johnstone to the end of old time radio itself we take the journey through the highs and lows of this show. We also look at the lasting legacy of the show, from parody to comics to a recent mention on the Samantha Bee show.

Yours Truly The Johnny Dollar Daily Podcast

http://tomwsmf.com/podcasts/yourstruly.rss

  Don Klees “The Real Johnny Dollar Matter” Documentary 

 http://therealjohnnydollar.blogspot.com/ 

 https://vimeo.com/206738923

LINKS:

UPDATE: And here it is, an episode of the Iranian Johnny Dollar!

Episode 01: Fibber McGee & Molly

Episode 01: Fibber McGee & Molly

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Podcast Date: 05/06/17

Click Here To Listen To This Episode 

Click Here To Watch This Episode 

Dan and Tom discuss the long-running radio sitcom Fibber McGee & Molly. Married couple Jim and Marion Jordan play Fibber & Molly, a married couple who have a weekly radio program that just sort of magically happens around them. We talk about the pre-history of the show (the 1931 – 1933 show Smackout!), the vagabond years (when Fibber and Molly lived in their car), and the long-running retconned formula, when they settled down to happy domesticity.
Hidden Gems in the Internet Archive:

Dan’s Pick this Week: A corny little melodrama about a short-line railroad: “The Green Valley Line.”

LINKS: