Potrzebie
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Bob and Ray mystery solved!
I spent months trying to find out why Bob Elliott's character Tex Blaisdell had the same name as the cartoonist Tex Blaisdell. I emailed people who worked in Blaisdell's studio overlooking Carnegie Hall. I asked OTR experts. I spoke on phone with Blaisdell's daughter. No one knew. I finally asked Bob Elliott, and here's his response.
I spent months trying to find out why Bob Elliott's character Tex Blaisdell had the same name as the cartoonist Tex Blaisdell. I emailed people who worked in Blaisdell's studio overlooking Carnegie Hall. I asked OTR experts. I spoke on phone with Blaisdell's daughter. No one knew. I finally asked Bob Elliott, and here's his response.
"Tex" was based on a public relations man for the rodeo who visited our show every year when it came to Boston. Last name borrowed from elevator man in the WHDH building. Name was not stolen from the cartoonist, just a simple coincidence.
-- Bob Elliott
Labels: bob and ray
¶ 3:34 PM 1 comments
Monday, April 12, 2010
Studio visit: Jack Davis
"Murder the Lover" appeared in Crime SuspenStories #12 as a three-pager, followed by the three-page "Murder the Husband". This was in a format known as the "EC Quickie". Harvey Kurtzman reprinted "Murder the Husband" in Mad #11, followed by the three-page "Murder the Story".
From Meet Abraham Lincoln by Barbara Cary (Random House, 1965)
Full screen resolution okay.
Notice that he drew everyone on the recording!
And here he drew almost everyone on NBC!
"Murder the Lover" appeared in Crime SuspenStories #12 as a three-pager, followed by the three-page "Murder the Husband". This was in a format known as the "EC Quickie". Harvey Kurtzman reprinted "Murder the Husband" in Mad #11, followed by the three-page "Murder the Story".
Labels: bob and ray, flashback, jack davis, kurtzman, nbc
¶ 6:13 PM 0 comments
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Everything's coming up Rosa Rio!
Rosa Rio, who will be 107 years old in June, has been the organist at Florida's palatial Tampa Theatre since 1996. She began her career in 1911 as a pianist with silent movies. On radio, during the 1930s to the 1950s, she provided the music for Bob and Ray, Cavalcade of America, Ethel and Albert, The Shadow and other programs. In some cases, such as Bob and Ray and Lorenzo Jones, these programs would be in adjacent timeslots. In this 1942 photo, she is running to get from one NBC radio program to another.
Kurt Loft captured the magic of the Tampa Theatre in his 2007 article for the Tampa Tribune:
Click heading above to hear a 1971 interview with Rosa Rio, who is seen below at the gold and ivory organ in Brooklyn's Fox Theatre where she was the house organist in 1933-34. (The Fox was demolished in 1971.)
Rosa Rio, who will be 107 years old in June, has been the organist at Florida's palatial Tampa Theatre since 1996. She began her career in 1911 as a pianist with silent movies. On radio, during the 1930s to the 1950s, she provided the music for Bob and Ray, Cavalcade of America, Ethel and Albert, The Shadow and other programs. In some cases, such as Bob and Ray and Lorenzo Jones, these programs would be in adjacent timeslots. In this 1942 photo, she is running to get from one NBC radio program to another.
Tampa Theatre interior
Kurt Loft captured the magic of the Tampa Theatre in his 2007 article for the Tampa Tribune:
Tampa rightly takes pride in its prize in the heart of downtown, a 1,450-seat theater built more than 80 years ago and now on the National Register of Historic Places. Nothing like it exists here, a mixed-breed of Italian Renaissance, Byzantine, Mediterranean, Spanish, Greek Revival and English Tudor. Gleaming marble floors and palazzo tile add touches of regal weight. Defending the premises are mythological figures standing in alcoves around the proscenium, and exotic beasts, gargoyles and birds hide among darkened nooks and crannies. On any given night the Mighty Wurlitzer organ - a staple during the age of silent film - pops up through the center of the stage. Designed by architect John Eberson and built for $1.2 million, the theater was Tampa's first "air-cooled" building when it opened on Oct. 15, 1926, featuring the silent film "Ace of Cads" for 25 cents.
Continue reading Loft here.
Continue reading Loft here.
Labels: blogjam, bob and ray, brooklyn, fox, greg williams, lew williams, organ, radio, rosa rio, tampa theatre, the shadow
¶ 3:54 PM 3 comments
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
"Write if you get work."
Control click on above heading to hear Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding. Or click here for Bob and Ray's Encyclopedic Book of Wonder.
The other cast members on the Bob and Ray television series (1951-53) were Cloris Leachman and Audrey Meadows. Above: Meadows plays a game of Duplication with Bob and Ray. The game required Peppermint Patties, cards, checkers and cribbage boards. The series was also known as Club Embassy.
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Control click on above heading to hear Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding. Or click here for Bob and Ray's Encyclopedic Book of Wonder.The NYC Paley Center has an upcoming (3/31) Bob and Ray panel discussion with Bob Elliott (now 85), Chris Elliott and MSNBC's Keith Olbermann. The connection is that Olbermann's "Worst Person in the World" segment is based on an old Bob and Ray routine.
The other cast members on the Bob and Ray television series (1951-53) were Cloris Leachman and Audrey Meadows. Above: Meadows plays a game of Duplication with Bob and Ray. The game required Peppermint Patties, cards, checkers and cribbage boards. The series was also known as Club Embassy.
NPR interview with Bob Elliott.
Thanks to collector Ira Gallen, here's a 1952 clip from the series involving a pitch for the Bob and Ray Burglar Kit.
When you click to enlarge Bob and Ray Throw a Stereo Spectacular (RCA LSP 1773), you can see that on this 1958 Living Stereo record jacket Jack Davis managed to squeeze in almost every performer and group heard on the album. (The only one I don't see is the Percussion Ensemble.)
Thanks to collector Ira Gallen, here's a 1952 clip from the series involving a pitch for the Bob and Ray Burglar Kit.
When you click to enlarge Bob and Ray Throw a Stereo Spectacular (RCA LSP 1773), you can see that on this 1958 Living Stereo record jacket Jack Davis managed to squeeze in almost every performer and group heard on the album. (The only one I don't see is the Percussion Ensemble.)
Listen above for episodes of Bob and Ray's Mary Backstayge, Noble Wife. When I was last at the Museum of Television & Radio (now the Paley Center), I saw they had a huge amount of uncataloged Bob and Ray shows. In 1954 I stayed up until 11pm to listen each night to their late night series, a bit more informal than their daytime shows, yet I never see that series mentioned in print and never run across any CDs or MP3s specifically noting the late night series. Odd. Does anyone know if this is around somewhere? Another item I recall: the Bob and Ray newsletter, available if one wrote in and requested to be placed on the mailing list. Has anyone ever seen this?
Labels: audrey meadows, bob and ray, krazy tv, olbermann, peppermint, radio
¶ 8:44 AM 4 comments
