Accordion That Backs up ROY ROGERS INTERNATIONALLY FAMOUS COWBOY
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Established 1975 Number 252 September 1997 International's is the Accordion that backs up ROY ROGERS INTERNATIONALLY FAMOUS COWBOY , Hoy lto/."t"l'S, sbo\\ing tlUlt there's nothing like lin lnterJl!'tion:.l to "kOOil him III til<' mood' for !l1~; with nud SIC\'el't, fnmetl accordionist and Frank "'01'th, :\lllSlc H\I'l"('tor of flit' Hoy ROj;el'S Ralllo Show. (Pictures of above avarlable without charge to teachers) The INTERNATIONAL SUPER - the Artist Ac cordion for discriminating musicians. Completely hand-crafted in t.he U.S.A. The ULTIMATg in precision-engineered dependability! Every Interna tional Accordion has in built tone constancy, distortion freequalities-each, a perfection instrument. FEATURES: Multiple all automatic, iu-ti-aule and master shifts, 7 bass shifts, 18 different tonal ef fects. Direct. silent finger-tip ac.ion, 120 basr es, 41 treble keys; finest handmade Swedish Steel Reeds, Models in black, white or special color pearl; chrome, stainless steel trim. Air-tight bellows, medium COl ncrs, larger tone chamber; I ight silent action keys and buttons. Complete with carrying case and straps. Write for catalog. (Federal Tax included) $1500.00 , Special 'iinish fo:: television artists. AMERICA'S MOST MODERN ACCORDION fJLANT Publication of the Old Time Radio Club Membership Information Club Officers and Librarians New member processing, $5 plus club membership President of $15 per year from January 1 to December 31. Jerry Collins (716) 683-6199 Members receive a tape library listing, reference 56 Christen Ct. library listing, and a monthly newsletter. Member Lancaster, NY 14086 ships are as follows: If you join January-March, $15; April-June, $12; July-September, $8; October Vice President & Canadian Branch December; $5. All renewals should be sent in as Richard Simpson soon as possible to avoid missing issues. Please be 960 16 Road R.R. 3 sure to notify us if you have a change of address. 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Tape Libraries Deadline for The Illustrated Press is the Cassettes 1st of each month prior to publication. Don Friedrich (716) 626-9164 21 Southcrest The Illustrated Press is a monthly newsletter of The Cheektowaga, NY 14225 Old Time Radio Club, headquartered in Western New York State. Contents except where noted, are Reel-to-Reel and Reference Library copyright 1996 by the OTRC. Ed Wanat Sr. (716) 895-9690 393 George Urban Blvd. Cheektowaga, NY 14225 Send all articles, letters, exchange newsletters, Tape Library Rates: All reels and video cassettes etc. to: The Illustrated Press are $1.85 per month; audio cassettes and records clo Ken Krug, Editor (716) 684-5290 are $0.85 per month. Rates include postage and 49 Regal Street handling. Canadian rates are the same as above, Depew, New York 14043 but in Canadian funds. SepWn&!t 1997 Publication of the Old Time Radio Club can. A hippopotto-pottamus. He would just get up there "Wanna Buy a Duck?" and ad lib, feeling around for a funny line. Those lines got laughs, but they didn't meet Joe's test. The Radio Moguls Selieve they have a Find in Joe Penner, once known to Joe's test is to mingle with the people in the neighbor Surlesque as "Sumps" hood of the theatre after the show. If he hears them getting ofT some line of his, then he knows the line has By Russell Edwards clicked and he keeps it. He didn't think anything about the "Wanna buy a duck?" line at the time. But his It was a howling hellion of a high seas morning. All the dressing room window opened on the street and after plugs were out of the sky and the rain poured down. the show was over he began to hear voices going by Entering Joe Penner's apartment on Central Park yelling "Wanna buy a duck?" And he knew he had shaking water all over his rug like a wet spaniel, I of something. He can't figure out why a duck should be fered, by way of soggy greeting: "Great weather for any funnier than an ashcan or a hippopotto-pottamus. ducks." (I can think up cracks like that, quick.) Itj~t is and that's that. The rest of the routine grew bit by bit. He would hit on a good line like "Would your The comedian looked up from his stack of wheat cakes brother wanna buy a duck?" and keep that in. Later, and a wary look came into his brown eyes. I knew I had when he was playing movie houses. he found it ideal for said the wrong thing. "you wouldn't want to buy one annoying masters of ceremonies. wouldja?" he asked. "one what?" "I mean - would you le~'s b~ck wanna buy a duck?" I told him I had no place to keep a But, go to the beginning, because in a way, duck. He looked crestfallen a minute. Then he said; Joe s life explains Joe, the comedian, the good natured, "Well would your brother like to buy a duck?" So we had softhearted guy who can take it, and keep smiling and to go all through that. come back for more. You couldn't really blame Joe though. He's been asking He was born Joe Pintner, in a little village in Hungary. people so long if they wanted to buy a duck that it has When Joe was five, his parents came to this country and become sort of a second nature to him. You'll be hearing settled in Detroit, where his father got a job in the Ford him ask it this fall over the radio on the Sunday night plant. Joe's mother wanted him to be a great violinist. Fleischmann Baker's program from seven-thirty to eight Every cent that could be spared from the family budget o'clock. went to a local Hungarian maestro who gave Joe les sons. Joe loved music but he hated to practice. The Noone else could ask that inane question as often as maestro used to get pretty rough with him. Then one Joe does and get away with it. It seems to be all in the day in a fit of exasperation he rapped Joe across the way he says it. In vaudeville and motion picture houses, knuckle with his bow, and Joe socked him. So the music people have been coming back to hear him ask it the lessons came to an end. He started out to earn his living tenth or the nineteenth time, and have still rolled in the at an early age, but everything seemed to end in disas aisles. ter. The answer is that Joe is one of the few naturally funny At last he got a professional job as assistant to Rex the comedians. He looks funny. His gestures are funny. The Mind Reader, for fifteen dollars a week. Joe was the boy funny way he says things gets over on the air. who used to hold the wires that kept the sleeping lady suspended in midair. He used to write out the questions His is the underdog type of humor. He is the shy, half that Rex would see mysteriously unfolded in the crystal apologetic guy who shuffies in and gets cuffed about but ball. can't be discouraged. He has the sympathy of his audi ence, even while they are laughing at him, and that is After thirty-five weeks in Detroit, they decided to take why they like him. "A hoke comedian with a sweet per the show to Toledo. Then he got a job with Desmond's sonality," is the way Marion Sampter, his manager sums New York Roof Garden Revue. It was strictly a family him up. affair. Everybody was supposed to be a Desmond. Joe was billed as Lem Desmond, Jr. Everything went all Joe first pulled his "Wanna buy a duck?" line at a right until the RoofGarden Reuue hit Baltimore. Then a reporter bore down on Joe, said that he didn't look like vaudeville house in Birmingham six years ago. For a long time Joe had been asking people if they wanted to a Desmond, and he didn't think he was a Desmond. Joe buy a lot of other sensitive things. A dead horse. An ash couldn't tell a lie. He confessed all. The next day the re Sepfettl&41997 Publication of the Old Time Radio Club porter ran a piece saying that the comedian was really Marston's series, originally penned by other writers, Joe Penner, and that he was better than all the appeared on dual networks - Mutual at 11:30 a.m.