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Heartbeat Theater (1956 - 1985) --- The last live, regularly scheduled radio drama produced in Hollywood.

Posted by Robert on December 22, 2011 at 5:30am

Heartbeat+Theater+60-01-24+%28204%29+Count+of+Nine.jpg

Heartbeat Theater (1956 - 1985) was the last live, regularly scheduled radio drama produced in Hollywood. The first one was produced in December of 1955 and released in March, 1956. I think Preston Foster was in the first one. Raymond Burr did some, Greer Garson--everyone's done a 'Heartbeat' at one time or another. All sorts of famous people appeared on the show.

The Salvation Army saved "Heartbeat" in 1977 with its plan to update sound effects and dramatize social issues. After the 1977 transformation, Hills' new "Heartbeat Theater" wallowed in prostitution, incest and homosexuality with the regularity of a 1980s TV sitcom. At one point, Hills had to discourage an overenthusiastic would-be TV writer from submitting "Heartbeat" plays with a Kojak-like Salvation Army captain climaxing final acts by chasing down villains in a squad car.

The final show, featuring Daws Butler and hosted by "Days of Our Lives" soap-opera doctor MacDonald Carey, was taped Oct. 10, 1985 at Studio House in Hollywood, just after producers George Galbraith and Don Hills got word that the Salvation Army had written them out of their 1985 budget.

Hills, who cranked out 52 morality tales a year for the show, said the Salvation Army spent half its annual media budget on keeping the half-hour drama alive for the 500 U.S. radio stations on the "Heartbeat" distribution list.

Heartbeat Theater.zip (all shows)

Nostalgic Movies Gave Escape in Tumultuous Year

Posted by Robert on December 19, 2011 at 5:34pm

Here is an interesting clip from NBC News that caught my attention. Something members here at Times Past have known all along. What do you think?

"In a year of protest and unrest, filmmakers tried to give audiences an escape by looking to the past. NBC's Kristen Dahlgren reports. (Nightly News) "

Night Watch (Maybe the first reality Cop Show)

Posted by Robert on December 19, 2011 at 6:00am

CBS brought NIGHT WATCH to the air for its short run on April 2, 1954 to Apr 21, 1955. NIGHT WATCH was the first show to bring live police drama to the air. Police Reporter Don Reed accompanied Officer Ron Perkins, bringing with him a tape recorder to capture the action. Don Reed actually carried a dry-cell powered reel to reel tape machine on his back and had a concealed microphone inside a flashlight casing. Reed went on to be one of the first traffic helicopter reporters, and Perkins eventually was elected Mayor of Culver City.

Very unique show that is often overlooked because of the short run. This is a true reality cop show from the past. What an overlooked gem.

Click here for All files in one zip

A Bluegrass and Old Time Music Radio Show

Posted by Robert on December 18, 2011 at 10:00am

Jack Lewis produced an Old Time Radio Music Show which apparently ended in 2007. But the show left us with 26 episodes that are both entertaining and educational. The shows feature old time music and history of the music, instruments, and styles of a time past. There is four episodes that will give you a history lesson about the Appalachian music. You do not want to miss these four shows.

Show #9 - October 27, 2005 -- Jack describes the history of old time mountain music and plays songs that correspond to this history. Main emphasis is on the work of Wayne Erbsen and his selected songs. Original songs by Ernest V. Stoneman and The Carter Family are included. Download now (9.1 Mb - 51.4 minutes).

Show #14 - May 13, 2006 -- Jack gives a second installment of the history of old-time and bluegrass music. (Listen to Show #9 for the first installment.) The Carter Family made a major contribution to old-time, bluegrass and country music from 1927 to 1943. They recorded over 300 songs, many of which became big hits and were played by many later bands including those that play today. Maybelle Carter forever changed the way the guitar is played and everyone who plays the guitar now uses her style of picking. You won't want to miss this show and be sure to view the accompanying websites listed in Jack's blog.................. Download now (9.8 Mb - 56 minutes).

Show #16 - June 10, 2006 -- Jack gives a third installment of the history of old-time and bluegrass music. (Listen to Episodes 9 and 14 for the first and second installments.) He discusses the major contributions the "Monroe Brothers" and "Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys" to the music style now called bluegrass. If you like bluegrass music, you will not want to miss this episode. Download now (6.7 Mb - 38 minutes).

Show #18 - July 9, 2006 -- The Itinerant Band is featured in this episode. This band plays music from the 18th century and uses instruments seldom heard or seen in a band. I bought their Jefferson and Liberty album while attending a reenactment of the 1757 battle between French and British forces at Fort Ticonderoga in upper state New York. This is another of my history of old time and bluegrass music episodes and I think you will like it. You can learn more about the band at www.itinerantband.com. You can learn more about Fort Ticonderoga at www.fort-ticonderoga.org. Download now (7.1 Mb - 40 minutes).

There is some Christmas episodes that are great for the Holiday season like Show #11 and Show #25.

You can download all 26 shows on Jack's Web Site,

Bluegrass Preservation Society Radio Show

Posted by Robert on December 18, 2011 at 8:22am

The Bluegrass Preservation Society, Inc Radio Show is an one hour of homegrown Appalachian Bluegrass Music, hosted by Ewell Ferguson and his Bluegrass Kitty Cat, Buster. Dedicated to the preservation of old time bluegrass music, these shows are ones you should enjoy.

Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and is a sub-genre of country music. It has its own roots in Irish, Scottish, Welsh and English traditional music. Bluegrass was inspired by the music of immigrants from the United Kingdom and Ireland (particularly the Scots-Irish immigrants in Appalachia), as well as jazz and blues. In bluegrass, as in jazz, each instrument takes its turn playing the melody and improvising around it, while the others perform accompaniment. This is in contrast to old-time music, in which all instruments play the melody together or one instrument carries the lead throughout while the others provide accompaniment. Traditional bluegrass is typically based around acoustic stringed instruments, such as mandolin, acoustic guitar, banjo, fiddle, and upright bass, with or without vocals.

The podcast is a very entertaining show and if you are interested in exploring this Appalachian old time radio music, you can subscribe free here.

Below is current podcast feed and the archives for you listening pleasure, or download shows for a nice addition to an old time radio collection.

TCF Nostalgia TV Christmas Page

Posted by Robert on December 13, 2011 at 6:30pm

If you have not visited the Christmas page from TCF Nostalgia TV, you are in for a treat for some great movies and shows for this Holiday season. Great selection from White Christmas to Home Alone. Go to this page here and click on Visit Our Christmas Page. If you enjoy the work done there, let them know by signing the guestbook.

20th Century-Fox Hour s01e06 Miracle on 34th Street (1955)

Posted by Robert on November 23, 2011 at 9:00am

The 20th Century Fox Hour is an hour-long drama anthology series that was broadcast in the United States on CBS from 1955 to 1957.

Original Air Date—14 December 1955
Miracle on 34th Street

A 1955 one-hour television adaptation of the movie
starred Thomas Mitchell as Kris, Macdonald Carey as Fred, Teresa Wright as Doris, and Sandy Descher as Susan. This version did not show the drunken Santa at all. Titled The Miracle on 34th Street, it originally
aired as an episode of The 20th Century Fox Hour. It was later re-run as Meet Mr. Kringle.

One Kris Kringle, a department-store Santa Claus, causes quite a commotion by suggesting customers go to a rival store for their purchases. But this is nothing to the stir he causes by announcing that he is not merely a make-believe St. Nick, but the real McCoy.

Download

Lux Radio Theater - South African

Posted by Robert on November 13, 2011 at 1:34pm

Here is a collection of South African Lux Radio Theater shows. Most all of these are excellent quality.

All Shows: Lux Radio Theater - South African.zip

The Elvis Presley Story

Posted by Robert on November 11, 2011 at 8:22pm

The Elvis Presley Story, produced and directed by Ron Jacobs, was first distributed by Watermark in 1971 as a 2-hour program. Following Presley's death in 1977, the original was updated and an additional hour was added making the story a total of 3 hours. The Elvis Presley Story was written by Elvis biographer Jerry Hopkins and narrated by long-time Los Angeles media personality Wink Martindale. This shows are packed full of interviews and music. The show being done in 1971 except the last added hour, the music recordings you can tell are from some of the original recordings. Quiet entertaining.

Elvis Presley Story 01.mp3

Elvis Presley Story 02.mp3

Elvis Presley Story 03.mp3

Stories of the Century

Posted by Robert on October 30, 2011 at 1:37pm

Stories of the Century is a Western television series that ran in syndication through Republic Pictures between January 23, 1954, and March 11, 1955.

Jim Davis (who later played "Jock Ewing" on the television series Dallas) portrayed the role of fictitious Southwestern Railroad detective Matt Clark. Davis also did narration for each episode. Mary Castle co-starred in twenty-six episodes as Clark’s attractive assistant, Frankie Adams. Castle left the program and was replaced by Kristine Miller who appeared in fourteen episodes as Margaret Jones, or "Jonesy".

In 1955, Stories of the Century became the first western to win an Emmy Award in the then category of "Western or Adventure Series".

These can all be found at archive.org, but I set up an rss feed so they can be added easily to an iPod, or other media player. Can also just download easily also. The feed page is here.

History Of The Pinkerton Agency - The First Private Eye

Posted by Robert on October 30, 2011 at 11:06am

The Pinkerton National Detective Agency, usually shortened to the Pinkertons, is a private U.S. security guard and detective agency established by Allan Pinkerton in 1850. Pinkerton became famous when he claimed to have foiled a plot to assassinate president-elect Abraham Lincoln, who later hired Pinkerton agents for his personal security during the Civil War.

In the 1850s, Allan Pinkerton met Chicago attorney Edward Rucker in a local Masonic Hall and formed the North-Western Police Agency, later known as the Pinkerton Agency.

Historian Frank Morn writes: "By the mid-1850s a few businessmen saw the need for greater control over their employees; their solution was to sponsor a private detective system. In February 1855, Allan Pinkerton, after consulting with six midwestern railroads, created such an agency in Chicago."

History Of The Pinkerton Agency - The First Private Eye

Naxos Audiobooks: 2 FREE Horror tales, The Damned Thing by Ambrose Bierce and The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde (post from SSF Audio)

Posted by Robert on October 22, 2011 at 7:16am

Naxos Audiobooks: 2 FREE Horror tales, The Damned Thing by Ambrose Bierce and The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde:
SFFaudio Online Audio

Naxos Audiobooks, is offering a couple of free audiobook downloads this month!

Here’s part of the description of the first one:

Bierce’s ghost stories are not among the best-written but they are unusual and distinctly ‘modern’ in their definition of what constitutes a ‘ghost’. They enjoy a popularity today that eluded them during Bierce’s lifetime, perhaps because the late twentieth century reader is more prepared to accept his psychological approach to the genre. The stories resist neat classification, no conclusions are offered. Whatever the true nature of the entity in The Damned Thing, Bierce offers no tidy answer. One of the protagonists offers his theory but it is no more than that and you are left with the feeling that perhaps the entity wanders the earth to this day and that Bierce merely recorded one episode of its existence.

NAXOS AUDIO - The Damned Thing by Ambrose Bierce

The Damned Thing

By Ambrose Bierce; Read by Jonathan Keeble

1 |MP3| – Approx. 20 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks

Published: 2007

ISBN: 9789626344941

First published in 1894.

The Damned Thing has been adapted as an episode of Masters Of Horror as well as for the comics in Graphic Classics: Ambrose Bierce, 2nd Edition:

The Damned Thing - illustration by Reno Maniquis

The Damned Thing - illustration by Reno Maniquis

The second audiobook is longer, but not huffduffable. It’s wrapped in a zipped folder with 12 MP3s (and also includes a wonderful 8 page PDF with story notes by Chloé Harmsworth).

NAXOS AUDIO - The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde

NAXOS AUDIO - The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde

The Canterville Ghost

By Oscar Wilde; Rupert Degas

1 Zipped MP3 – Approx. 77 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks

Published: 2009

ISBN: 9789626349748

“A terrifying ghost is haunting the ancient mansion of Canterville Chase, complete with creaking floorboards, clanking chains and gruesome disguises – but the new occupants seem strangely undisturbed by his presence. Deftly contrasting the conventional gothic ghost story with the pragmatism of the modern world, Wilde creates a gently comic fable of the conflict between old and new. Rupert Degas’s hilarious reading brings the absurdity and theatricality of the story to life.”

The Canterville Ghost - illustration by Wallace Goldsmith

The Canterville Ghost - illustration by Wallace Goldsmith

The Canterville Ghost has been adapted to film more than a dozen times! Here’s the trailer for the first such, from 1944:

Posted by Jesse Willis

Breathing New Life Into Hank Williams' Lyrics (from NPR)

Posted by Robert on October 13, 2011 at 6:53pm

It's hard not to feel ambivalent about The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams. Yes, it does give us an opportunity to hear previously unreleased lyrics by one of the greatest songwriters country music has produced. But Williams didn't write the music that accompanies his words, and as sincere as these performers are, none of the words are framed the way Williams would have, had he completed the songwriting process. Would Hank, for example, have set "The Love That Faded" to a waltz beat, as Bob Dylan has done with it? I like Dylan's performance, the way I like so many of his latter-day, gargling-with-Drano vocal turns. Dylan doesn't try to capture the sound of Hank Williams, and that's a good strategy. But so is Alan Jackson's, in "You've Been Lonesome Too," and if anything, Jackson sounds like an uncannily well-rested, well-preserved version of Hank Williams himself.

One of the greatest gifts of this project is to hear Williams at his most heartless, bitter and vengeful. The legend spent much of his career balancing songs of heartache with songs of faith. But I was thrilled to hear the dark Hank Williams presented by Vince Gill and Rodney Crowell in their stark version of a great, ruthless lyric, "I Hope You Shed a Million Tears." Instead of heartache, heartlessness — dismissals don't get much more decisive than that. Dylan was the first artist contacted to interpret this material, and the album has been released on his Egyptian Records imprint for Columbia Records. The stone-cold words in "I Hope You Shed a Million Tears" can't help but remind me of the harsh Dylan of "Like a Rolling Stone" or something from Blood on the Tracks. Similarly, Patty Loveless takes another face-slap lyric, "You're Through Fooling Me," and brings it to full crimson passion and beauty. It's interesting to see the words of one song as printed on the CD jacket of The Lost Notebooks, and to listen to where the line-breaks occur in the singing of the others. Williams usually wrote here in quatrains, each verse a direct ABAB rhyme scheme. Keeping the structure simple allowed him to speak directly yet artfully.

There's a flaw in this collection, however. Too frequently, the invited stars err on the side of caution, applying pallid, even rudimentary melodies to the lyrics, resulting in the washed-out backgrounds of songs covered by, for example, Sheryl Crow, Lucinda Williams and Jakob Dylan. Then there's Jack White's labored impersonation of the wrong Hank — he sounds more like Hank Williams III, the wobbliest member of the Williams family to trade on the great man's name. Overall, however, The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams is catnip for anyone familiar with Williams' greatest hits. A couple of these songs could have been crafted by the man himself into important additions to his canon. As it stands, we have these reverent, and sometimes inspired, interpretations of words that ring with graceful candor. [Copyright 2011 National Public Radio]

Breathing New Life Into Hank Williams' Lyrics

Pat Novak, For Hire

Posted by Robert on October 2, 2011 at 10:10am

Pat Novak, for Hire was an old-time radio detective drama series which aired from 1946-1947 as a West Coast regional program and in 1949 as a nationwide program for ABC. The regional version originally starred Jack Webb in the title role, with scripts by his roommate Richard L. Breen. When Webb and Breen moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles to work on an extremely similar nationwide series, Johnny Modero, for the Mutual network, Webb was replaced by Ben Morris and Breen by other writers. In the later network version, Jack Webb resumed the Novak role, and Breen his duties as scriptwriter. The series is popular among fans for its fast-paced, hard-boiled dialogue and action and witty one-liners.

Pat Novak, for Hire is set on the San Francisco, California waterfront and depicts the city as a dark, rough place where the main goal is survival. Pat Novak is not a detective by trade. He owns a boat shop on Pier 19 where he rents out boats and does odd jobs to make money.

Each episode of the program, particularly the Jack Webb episodes, follows the same basic formula; a foghorn sounds and Novak's footsteps are heard walking down the pier. He then pauses and begins with the line "Sure, I'm Pat Novak . . . for hire". The foghorn repeats and leads to the intro theme, during which Pat gives a monologue about the waterfront and his job renting boats. Jack Webb narrates the story as well as acts in it, as the titular character. Playing the cynic, he throws off lines such as "...about as smart as teaching a cooking class to a group of cannibals". He then introduces the trouble in which he finds himself this week.

Typically, a person unknown to Pat asks him to do an unusual or risky job. Pat reluctantly accepts and finds himself in hot water in the form of an unexplained dead body. Police Inspector Hellman (played by Raymond Burr) arrives on the scene and pins the murder on Novak. With only circumstantial evidence to go on, Hellman promises to haul Novak in the next day for the crime. The rapid, staccato dialogue between Webb & Burr is typical of harboiled fiction and is often humorous. Pat uses the time to try to solve the case. He usually employs the help of his friend Jocko Madigan (played by Tudor Owen) - a drunken ex-doctor typically found at some disreputable tavern or bar - to help him solve the case. As Pat asks for his help, Jocko launches a long-winded philosophical diatribe, full of witty and funny remarks, until Novak cuts him off.

Jocko and Pat unravel the case and Hellman makes the arrest. Finally, we hear the foghorn and Novak's footsteps on the pier again before Novak spells out the details of the case for us. At the end, Novak informs us that "Hellman asked only one question", which Pat answers with a clever retort. The dialogue is rife with similes found in pulp fiction. Example: 'The neighborhood was run down - the kind of place where the For Rent signs look like ransom notes.'

Pat Novak for Hire 46-11-24 (09) Dixie Gillian
Pat Novak for Hire 47-08-03 (45) John Brown Gambling Ring
Pat Novak for Hire 47-08-10 (46) Mysterious Set of Books
Pat Novak for Hire 47-11-23 (60) Lydia Reynolds Case
Pat Novak for Hire 47-11-30 (61) Death in Herald Square
Pat Novak for Hire 49-02-20 (02) Jack of Clubs
Pat Novak for Hire 49-02-27 (03) Marcia Halpern
Pat Novak for Hire 49-03-06 (04) Fleet Lady
Pat Novak for Hire 49-03-13 (05) Reuben Callaway's Pictures
Pat Novak for Hire 49-03-20 (06) Rory Malone
Pat Novak for Hire 49-03-27 (07) Joe Condano
Pat Novak for Hire 49-04-02 (08) Father Leahy
Pat Novak for Hire 49-04-09 (09) Sam Tolliver
Pat Novak for Hire 49-04-16 (10) Dixie Gillian
Pat Novak for Hire 49-04-23 (11) Sam Tolliver
Pat Novak for Hire 49-05-01 (12) Rita Malloy
Pat Novak for Hire 49-05-08 (13) Wendy Morris
Pat Novak for Hire 49-05-15 (14) Geranium Plant
Pat Novak for Hire 49-05-22 (15) Give Envelope to John St. John
Pat Novak for Hire 49-06-05 (17) Agnes Bolton
Pat Novak for Hire 49-06-12 (18) Georgie Lampson
Pat Novak for Hire 49-06-19 (19) The Only Way to Make Friends Is to Die
Pat Novak for Hire 49-06-26 (20) Little Jake Siegel

Wait, I Know This

Posted by Robert on October 1, 2011 at 7:30am

Eric Chilton from Wait, I Know This interviews celebrities from the retro era. Eric is from Mount Airy, NC (hometown of Andy Griffith) and it is know wonder he had to be classic TV guy. Wait, I Know This has a nice blog along with a podcast of the interviews from the Golden Era celebrities.

One recent interview of interest was not really a retro person, but Greg Bell, host of “Radio Classics” on Sirus-XM. Greg talks about the stars of radio making the jump to television. Very good show with some interesting trivia from the Golden Age of Radio.

Interview with Greg Bell on Wait, I Know This

Here is some quick links to some past shows. One of my favorites was an interview with Betty Lynn, who played Thelma Lou on The Andy Griffith Show.

Al Jarreau: Jazz musician
Alison Arngrim: Nelly Olson/Little House on The Prairie
Betty Lynn: Thelma Lou/The Andy Griffith Show
Beverly Washburn: Old Yeller
Bill Kirchenbauer: Just The Ten Of Us and Clueless
Billie Richards: Voice of Rudolf The Red Nosed Reindeer
Billy Ingram: Classic TV expert
Charles Fox: TV theme composer
Deborah Pratt: Quantum Leap producer
Don Grady: Robbie Douglas/My Three Sons
Gary Peterson: Drummer/The Guess Who
George Lowe: Voice of Space Ghost
Geri Jewell: Cousin Geri/Facts Of Life
Greg Bell: Radio Classics host on Sirius/XM radio
James Best: Roscoe P. Coletrain/Dukes of Hazzard
Jeff Cook: guitarist/ "Alabama"
Jill Schulz: Daughter of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz
John Amos: Actor/Good Times, Roots
Jon Provost: Timmy/Lassie
Julie Newmar: Catwoman/Original Batman series
June Foray: Voice actor/Granny,Rocky The Flying Squirrel...etc
Kathy Garver: Sissy/Family Affair
Lana Wood: Actress/Bond Girl, Peyton Place
Laurie Jacobson: Classic Hollywood expert/author
Maria Lauren: Golddigger/The Dean Martin Show
Martin Tahse: Producer/Kukla, Fran and Ollie
Mary McDonough: Erin Walton/The Walton
Paul Peterson: Jeff Stone/The Donna Reed Show
Rick Goldschmidt: Rankin Bass Expert
Rip Taylor: Comedian/Host
Rose Marie: Sally/The Dick Van Dyke Show
Susan Olsen: Cindy Brady/The Brady Bunch
Tere McConnell: Alfred Hitchcock's grandaughter
Tippi Hedren: Actress/The Birds
Willie Aames: Tommy Bradford/Eight Is Enough
Yvonne Craig: Batgirl/Original Batman TV series

The Ed Sullivan Show - 21 May 1961

Posted by Robert on September 20, 2011 at 5:51am

An episode of "The Ed Sullivan Show" complete with commercials. With Jerry Lewis, Sandy Stewart, Phil Harris, a woman doing tricks on a bike, a spoof magic act, a Juggler, some dancers, and some very suspicious camera work doing the Phil Harris segment. Jack Benny is in the audience.

10 Cool Gadgets for Your Pet

Posted by Robert on September 14, 2011 at 4:50pm

10 Cool Gadgets for Your Pet:

Pets are awesome, and sometimes they require a bit more maintainance than we can offer at the moment. Saying that some inventors have created a few cool gadgets that you can use to help you save time and have your pet leaving satisfied.

1. Remote Pet Feeder

This pet feeder runs on and feeds your pet according to your schedule. It also allows you to watch your pet through the Internet while it's enjoying its meal.

100914_remote-pet-feeder.grid-3x2.jpg

2. Canine Treadmill

For those who don't want to walk their dogs, their dogs can now walk themselves, for a price of course. Various sizes are available for different sized pooches.

100914_dog-treadmill.grid-3x2.jpg

3. Pet Emergency Evacuation Jacket

This jacket is made of flame-retardant material and comes with a carrying handle with pockets filled with pet necessities (food bowls, muzzles, odor control bags, rain hoods, rain boots, freezer packs, a bell, and a waterproof pet ID). Of course it has emergency tools for you too: granola bars, Band-aids, aromatherapy oil to calm you down, gloves, a radio, and emergency whistle.

100914_pet-evacuation-jacket-japan.grid-4x2.jpg

4. Puppy Tweets collar

Now you can add your dog to your Twitter followers. This gadget sends Tweets based on an analysis of what your dog is doing (licking, biting, eating, etc.)

100914_puppy-tweets.grid-3x2.jpg

5. Cats Attack Scratching Post

Turn your kitten into Catzilla with this city-scape scratching post.

100914_cats-attack.grid-4x2.jpg

6. Tennis Ball cannon

The name pretty much gives it all away. This toy shoots out tennis balls to your pup, and when it senses that the dog has placed the ball back, it sends another one its way.

7. Dog shower

This shower for your pup has 16 jet-nozzles and an extendable showerhead. It is both practical for you and relaxing for your dog.

100914_dog-shower.grid-3x2.jpg

8. Pet Peek

The Pet Peek is pretty much a porthole for your fence. It allows your dog to look around without running loose. Necessary? Not at all. But it is kinda cool.

100914_pet-peek.grid-3x2.jpg

9. Litter Robot

This robot waits seven minutes after your cat leaves the litter box and begins to clean out the clumps of kitty litter. It collects the waste in a small compartment that can be removed and emptied once full.

100914_litter-robot.grid-3x2.jpg

1

0. Coffee Table Cat Hammock

Just in case your cat can't find another place to curl up, you can purchase a $2,400 coffee table with a built-in cat hammock. It has all the function of an actual coffee table, plus a cozy fabric hammock for your feline friend.

100914_cat-hammock.grid-4x2.jpg

The Guitar from Folk Ways

Posted by Robert on September 12, 2011 at 8:00pm

Host David Holt begins by introducing Dale McCoy, who demonstrates his style of finger picking, a style viewers may recognize from The Potters of Seagrove. Wayne Henderson not only dazzles audiences with the flight of his fingers, but he invites us into his guitar shop, where he explains the precision and care involved in handcrafting a guitar. Paul Graybeal, known well by people who collect guitars, handcrafts miniature and full-sized guitars, but devotes as much time and care to the process as one would do with a guitar that can play. Bryan Sutton demonstrates flat-picking and its variations and explains the demands made of a session player in Nashville. As a final treat, David Holt plays alongside the legendary Doc Watson, one of the great pioneers of Appalachian folk music.

Download

The Lives of Harry Lime (HQ Set)

Posted by Robert on August 26, 2011 at 9:00pm

The Lives of Harry Lime (original British title The Adventures of Harry Lime) was an old-time radio program produced in London, England during the 1951 to 1952 season.

Orson Welles reprized his role of Harry Lime from the celebrated 1949 film adaptation of Graham Greene's novel The Third Man. The radio series is a "prequel" to the film, and depicts the many misadventures of con-artist Lime in a somewhat lighter tone than the character's villainy in the film.

Most episodes would begin with "The Third Man Theme" being played, abruptly cut off by an echoing gunshot. Then Welles would speak:

"That was the shot that killed Harry Lime. He died in a sewer beneath Vienna, as those of you know who saw the movie The Third Man. Yes, that was the end of Harry Lime ... but it was not the beginning. Harry Lime had many lives ... and I can recount all of them. How do I know? Very simple. Because my name is Harry Lime."

Although often cited as a BBC production, the series was one of a number produced and distributed independently by the prolific Harry Alan Towers. Only sixteen of the episodes were acquired and broadcast by the BBC in the UK. It was the first time that the BBC broadcast episodes of a dramatic series that it did not produce. The full series was syndicated to radio stations in the U.S.

All The Lives of Harry Lime (HQ Set).zip

Singles

Lum and Abner

Posted by Robert on August 13, 2011 at 9:22pm

From 1931 to 1955, the Lum and Abner radio show brought the town of Pine Ridge (Montgomery County), into the homes of millions of listeners across the country. During World War II, Armed Forces Radio took Lum and Abner around the world.

Chester “Chet” Lauck and Findley Norris “Tuffy” Goff, two young comedians from Mena (Polk County), created the characters when they were invited to appear on a statewide flood relief broadcast over KTHS radio in Hot Springs (Garland County) on April 26, 1931. Seconds before being introduced, they created the names Lum Eddards for Lauck and Abner Peabody for Goff.

The two old codgers (Lauck and Goff were actually in their late twenties) ran the Jot ‘Em Down General Store in Pine Ridge. Lum was a bachelor with an eye for women, and his ego usually got in the way of common sense. Abner was a hen-pecked married man, and his gullibility was enormous. They were civic-minded merchants who never seemed to have any money in the cash register. Their schemes for grandeur always brought them to the brink of tragedy.

Additional characters were created for later broadcasts. Lauck portrayed Cedric Wehunt, and nosey Grandpappy Spears, while Goff became Dick Huddleston (the real store keeper in Waters, the town upon which Pine Ridge was based), schemer Squire Skimp, shy Mousey Gray, Mose Moots the barber, town-meany Snake Hogan, and many others. Each character was based on a composite of old friends from Waters and Mena.

The Lum and Abner show was set in the Jot ‘Em Down Store in Pine Ridge. On April 26, 1936, the citizens of Waters changed the town’s name to Pine Ridge in honor of Lum and Abner.

Their humor was clean and honest, reflecting small town life and human nature. The stories had universal themes that have not become dated, and therefore Lum and Abner continues to be popular with old-time radio fans.

KTHS groomed the young talent on Sunday broadcasts for just a few months, and then they auditioned in Chicago for a network show on NBC radio. Lum and Abner was picked up immediately and continued for almost twenty-five years, including 5,800 daily live fifteen-minute programs. A series of contracts saw them on the air for four radio networks (NBC, ABC, CBS, and Mutual), sponsored by such major companies as Quaker Oats, Ford Motor Company, Horlick’s Malted Milk, Alka Seltzer, General Foods, and General Mills.

Lum and Abner was the first network program broadcast from Radio City in New York in 1933, the first to do a marathon charity broadcast, and the first to make a transatlantic “simulcast,” with Lauck in London and Goff in Chicago. Their promotions of war effort causes during World War II were especially successful. Their sponsors offered premiums that are now collectibles.

As a result of their radio popularity, Lum and Abner broadcasts moved to Hollywood studios in 1939 in order for the actors to pursue careers in motion pictures. The pair made six movies during the 1940s: Dreaming Out Loud (1940), The Bashful Bachelor (1942), So This is Washington (1943), Two Weeks to Live (1943), Going to Town (1944), and Partners in Time (1946). Lum and Abner Abroad (1956) was made in Europe as a television pilot, with the two characters as Hollywood personalities. Lauck and Goff did not like the result, and it was not released to theaters; it is now sought-after piece of Lum and Abner history.

Lum and Abner began as a lark in Mena, traveled to Hot Springs, and grew in Chicago and other cities. Hollywood fulfilled the dreams of two small-town boys. Early broadcasts were carried by local sponsors, but soon, nationwide sponsors reached into millions of homes. After nearly twenty-five years of radio, television made inroads into audiences, and the programs were again locally sponsored. By 1955, the two were ready to quit, as Norris Goff had been in poor health for many years. Their concept has been copied on such programs as Beverly Hillbillies and by the comic strip “Li’l Abner,” which is often confused with Lum and Abner, but the original has never been equaled.

Lum and Abner made a small town in Arkansas world famous. Today, Pine Ridge is home to the Lum and Abner Museum. The National Lum and Abner Association was founded in 1984 and has 600 members nationwide. (Encyclopedia Of Arkansas)

L&A 480926 A Surprise Party For Lum And Abner

L&A 481003 The Store Is Pratically On Someone Elses Property

L&A 481010 Baby Cedric The Mind Reader

L&A 481017 Lum Fakes A Broken Leg

L&A 481024 Lum Becomes The Substitute Postmaster

L&A 481031 Lum Takes Up Surrealist Painting

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Note: this page contains paid content.

Note: this page contains paid content.

Note: this page contains paid content.