[78-L] Panic..or myth? (Hey, it was 73 years ago last night)

[David Lennick]

A correction, by the way..we just listened to WOTW for the first time in ages 
(in my wife's case, she'd never heard it complete) and the time references put 
it at 9pm EST. I'd had 8pm in my mind for some reason, but as Elizabeth said, 
the west coast would have heard it at dinner time if at all.

Interesting goofs..did Professor Pearson in referring to his notes really see 
the red flash on "October 20"? And was the dance band playing the tango 
supposed to be that rotten, or did half the band just come in a bar early?

dl

On 10/31/2011 6:53 PM, Sammy Jones wrote:
> It does, indeed, exist.  Just check your favorite OTR dealer (who might
> variously list it under Chase and Sandborn Program, Edgar Bergen and Charlie
> McCarthy Show, or simply Bergen and McCarthy).
>
> The question I'm most interested in is to know which performance the
> recording is.  If the recording was a Los Angeles aircheck, it won't be the
> same version that was performed at exactly the same time War of the Worlds
> was on CBS.  If the recording was a New York aircheck, it would be be the
> same.  I'm assuming Chase and Sandborn had two shows for east and west
> (which seems pretty safe).  Of course, if it's a linecheck with no station
> ID present, it's anybody's guess...that is unless somebody has a picture of
> the labels!
>
> I don't have a copy at hand to check and see if there is a station ID after
> the NBC system cue.  Anybody got one handy?
>
> Sammy Jones
>
> dl wrote:
>> I thought I had it on a Radiola lp but I'm not seeing it on the shelf
>> (Edgar
>> Bergen-Charlie McCarthy program).
>>
>> dl
>>
>> On 10/31/2011 5:23 PM, Rodger Holtin wrote:
>>> Is Nelson's show available anywhere?
>>>
>>> Rodger
>>>
>>> For Best Results use Victor Needles.
>>>
>>> .
>>>
>>> --- On Mon, 10/31/11, Michael Biel<mbiel at mbiel.com>   wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> From: Michael Biel<mbiel at mbiel.com>
>>> Subject: Re: [78-L] Panic..or myth? (Hey, it was 73 years ago tonight,
>>> too) [FWD]
>>> To: "78-L Mail List"<78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
>>> Date: Monday, October 31, 2011, 4:02 PM
>>>
>>>
>>> As I mentioned in my early posting, several years ago Elizabeth did a
>>> great explanation about the slightness of the panic by reminding us that
>>> if 1.2 million people were noted as being "upset" or "Disturbed" by the
>>> broadcast, the population of the U.S. was 130 million - so less than 1%
>>> could have upset, let alone panic.
>>>
>>> By the way, you CAN'T blame Nelson Eddy for the tune-outs.  He OPENED
>>> the program.  He starts singing at about 2:15 into the show after a
>>> little banter between Don Ameche, Charlie, and Judy Canova.  He finishes
>>> just after 6:30 when Charlie McCarthy and Bergen join Amache and Eddy.
>>> While his second song "The Canadian Logging Song" is not as exciting as
>>> his first one "Song of the Vagabonds", even this at 4:30 in the show is
>>> much earlier into the program than everyone thinks would grab new
>>> tune-ins.  So people stayed with Bergen&   McCarthy at least until 15:00
>>> into the show when Dorothy Lamour is introduced to sing "Two Sleepy
>>> People".  So is Dorothy Lamour singing a NEW HIT to blame????  You can
>>> blame Lamour if you consider that people tuning into a comedy show do
>>> not want music, but just about every comedy/variety program had music,
>>> including Fred Allen and Jack Benny. BUT Amache does an ad around 19:30
>>> followed just after 21:00 by a rather dull dramatic scene from "There's
>>> Always Juliette" played by Madelene Carrol and Amache.  THIS is the
>>> tune-out, but it is about 20 minutes into the program.
>>>
>>> Unfortunately the BBC closed comments for its article, but the
>>> ill-informed had a chance to tell us that there were no national
>>> stations in the U.S. except for the Mexican border stations, and that
>>> the government and FCC passed laws because of this broadcast.  Of
>>> course, no laws or rules were passed (although NOW there is a rule
>>> against hoax broadcasts, but that is relatively recent), CBS programs
>>> were heard nationwide simultaneously (Boston withstanding!), and that
>>> Orson Welles had been commissioned by the Rockefeller Foundation to
>>> study the possibility of using radio to spread fear and war propaganda.
>>>
>>>
>>> Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com