>­ cu 0:::: ""O C: cu ..0 0 co OldDmelladio 'DIGESJ' Old Time Radio No. 143 Winter 2014 The Old Time Radio Oigesl is printed _BOOKS AND PAPER published and distributed by _,.._..... ..... -----·-------··----·- --4-· -·--... __ .., __ .,.____ - .. - -- RMS & Associates Edited by Bob Burchett We have one of Che htrgest selections in thr USA of out of print books and pa1,cr items on all aspec ts of radio broadcast in~- MAY 16& 11, 2014 Published quarterly four l11nes a year -----·--- -------------- ----------------- ·-·- -··-·----- One-year subscription is $15 per year Hoo ks: A large assortment of books on th~· history of broadcasting, Single copies $3.75 each Pasl issues are available. Make checks radio writ ing, stars' biographies. radio show-;. and radio play~. payable to Old Time Radio Digest. A lso books on hrnacl casting techniques. social impact l1f ,a<lio t' IC .. 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Fall issue doses June 1 Technical Radio and F.lcctronir,;. lf>ou wish infonnat ion on tra\(·I or Winter issue closes September 1 accommodations, give us a call or vi!> it our web :..ite; ,, ww.t,rqt,ool<~.com. fr(lm Spring issue closes December 1 our site you can take a lour <>f our ~hop or lii1<J out all about Fit7william NI I. Summer issue closes March 1 Bequac1t Old Books, P.O. Box 77 5 All ads display and classified must be paid in advance. Make checks payable to Fi tzwilliain NH 03447 Old Time Radio Digest 10280 Gunpowder (603)-585-3448 Road Florence KY 41042 2 Bob 'Ray From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Bob Elliott (born 1923) and Ray Gould­ 1976 they were the afternoon drive hosts ing (1922- 1990) were an American com­ on WOR, doing a four-hour show. In their edy team whose career spanned five last incarnation, they were heard on Na­ decades. Their format was typically to tional Public Radio, ending in 1987. satirize the medium in which they were They were regulars on NBC's Monitor, performing, such as conducti ng radio or often on stand-by to go on the air at short television interviews, with off-the-wall dia­ notice if the program's planned segments logue presented in a generally deadpan developed problems, and they were also style as though it were a serious broadcast. heard in a surprising variety of formats Radio and timeslots, from a 15-minute series in Elliott and Goulding began as radio mid-afternoon to their hour-long show announcers (Elliott a disc jockey, and aired weeknights just before midnight in Goulding a news reader) in Boston with 1954-55. During that same period, they their own separate programs on station did an audience participation game show, WHDH-AM, and each would visit with the Pick and Play with Bob and Ray, which other while on the air. Their informal ban­ was short-lived. It came at a time when ter was so appealing that WHDH would network pages filled seats for radio-TV call on them, as a team, to fill in when shows by giving tickets to anyone in the Red Sox baseball broadcasts were rained street, and on Pick and Play the two Characters man-on-the-street interviewer, "and win­ out. Elliott and Goulding (not yet known comics were occasionally booed by audi­ Elliott and Goulding lent their voices to a ner of 16 diction awards," whose opening as Bob and Ray) would improvise comedy ence members unfamiliar with the Bob variety of recurring characters and count­ transmission almost invariably begins with routines all afternoon, and joke around and Ray comedy style. less one-shots, creating a multi-layered an "up-cut" with him starting early, before with studio musicians. Some of their radio episodes were re­ world that parodied the real-life world of his microphone was live, as in "-ly Ballou Elliott and Goulding's brand of humor leased on recordings, and others were radio broadcasting. Elliott and Goulding here". In one of his broadcasts, he was caught on, and WHDH gave them their adapted into graphic story form for publi­ played "Bob" and "Ray' , the hosts of an discovered to have started early on pur­ weekday show in 1946. Matinee with own cation in Mad magazine. Their earlier ostensibly serious radio program. Their pose and was chewed out by the location Bob and Ray was originally a 15-minute shows were mostly ad-libbed, but later "staff' (all voiced by Elliott and Goulding) engineer (Ray) for making it look as show, soon expanding to half an hour. programs relied more heavily on scripts. was a comic menagerie of reporters, though the mistake was his. (When explaining why Bob was billed While Bob and Ray wrote much of their book reviewers, actors and all other man­ • Snappy sportscaster Biff Burns ("This is first, Goulding claimed that it was be­ material, their writers included Tom Koch, ner of radio personalities, all of whom in­ Biff Burns saying th is is Biff Burns saying cause "Matinee with Bob and Ray" who scripted many of their best-known teracted with "Bob" and "Ray" as well as goodnight") sounded better than "Matinob with Ray routines, and the pioneering radio hu­ with each other. Almost all of these char­ • Tex Blaisdell, a drawling cowboy singer and Bob".) Their trademark sign-off was morist Raymond Knight. Bob Elliott later acters had picturesque names, as in one who also did rope tricks on the radio "This is Ray Goulding reminding you to married Knight's widow. sketch where Bob introduced Ray as one • Arthur Sturdley, an Arthur Godfrey take-off write if you get work"; "Bob Elliott remind­ Another writer was Jack Beauvais, who Maitland W. Mottmorency, who then • Johnny Braddock, another sportscaster, ing you to hang by your thumbs". had performed as a singer for WEEI in replied, "My name is John W. Norvis. I but with an obnoxious streak They continued on the air for over four Boston during the 1930s and also worked have terrible handwriting." • Kent Lyle Birdley, a wheezing, stammer­ decades on the NBC, CBS, and Mutual for some of the big bands in the 1940s Recurring characters played by Bob El­ ing old-time radio announcer networks, and on New York City stations and 1950s liott included: • Fred Falvy, "do-it-yourself' handyman WINS, WOR, and WHN. From 1973 to • Wally Ballou, an inept news reporter, • One of the McBeeBee Twins, either 4 5 Claude or Clyde. These non-identical ting a cuspidor) twins spoke in unison, led by Goulding, • The other McBeeBee twin, either Clyde and echoed by Elliott. Always interviewed or Claude. As mentioned above, Goulding by Elliott. would speak first, usually trying to trip up • Cyril Gore, a Boris Karloff sound-alike and break up Elliott who often appeared as a butler or door­ • Charles the Poet, who recited sappy man; his catchphrase was "Follow me verse (parodying the lugubrious Chicago down this cor-ree-dor." late-night broadcaster Franklyn Maccor­ • Peter Gorey, a character similar to Gore mack and, to a lesser extent, the Ernie but with a Peter Lorre-type voice. He Kovacs character Percy Dovetonsils) but would typically appear as a news reporter, could never get through a whole example reading the same gruesome stories of his bathetic work without breaking ("Three men were run over by a steam­ down in laughter roller today ... ") each time he appeared.