DVD Savant has a review of the newly-released, "Five", a 1950 post-nuclear apocalypse movie by Arch Oboler.
Oboler is best known today as the man behind "Bwana Devil", the movie that started the 1950s 3d craze. However, fans of old time radio know him for his work on "Lights Out", an influential radio mystery series.
Oboler's film work is mostly forgotten, but is certainly worth checking out - his parody of mass media, "The Twonky", from the early 1950s sounds very intriguing. Besides the subject matter and style of Oboler's movies, which used some radio techniques for sound, the movies are interesting technically. "Five" was the first movie to use magnetic sound recording and was the first movie to use television as promotion for the release. His later film, "Domo Arigato", was the first to use single-lens 3d projection, the format used for movies in the 1980's 3d revival.
You can read an overview of Oboler's film career at parallaxview.org (part one and part two).
Showing posts with label otr. Show all posts
Showing posts with label otr. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
The Avengers - radio series restorations
A project devoted to preserving and restoring rare episodes of a South African radio series based on the popular UK television series, "The Avengers", has started up their restoration efforts again after a couple of years in hiatus.
The program was broadcast as a five-day-a-week serial and was based on scripts from the tv series using South African actors. At the time, television in the country wasn't well developed, but people got familiar with "The Avengers" through film exchanges, which rented 16mm films much like today's video stores. Radio drama was still a major art form in South Africa, so the tv show was turned into a radio show.
You can see more info on the show and download restored episodes here.
The program was broadcast as a five-day-a-week serial and was based on scripts from the tv series using South African actors. At the time, television in the country wasn't well developed, but people got familiar with "The Avengers" through film exchanges, which rented 16mm films much like today's video stores. Radio drama was still a major art form in South Africa, so the tv show was turned into a radio show.
You can see more info on the show and download restored episodes here.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Vince Long's paper tape archives
Here's an interesting site that came along in an old time radio mailing list I'm a member of.
OTR enthusiast Vince Long obtained about 100 reel to reel tapes, many early Scotch paper-based tapes, that were recorded of network and local radio shows in the Billings, Montana area in the early 1950s. They're a fascinating look at local radio and what an average listener might have been tuned to at the time. The collection includes many shows not previously in circulation and include music, variety, news and sports shows. All are available in downloadable MP3 format.
http://www.otrannex.com/papertapes/
OTR enthusiast Vince Long obtained about 100 reel to reel tapes, many early Scotch paper-based tapes, that were recorded of network and local radio shows in the Billings, Montana area in the early 1950s. They're a fascinating look at local radio and what an average listener might have been tuned to at the time. The collection includes many shows not previously in circulation and include music, variety, news and sports shows. All are available in downloadable MP3 format.
http://www.otrannex.com/papertapes/
Friday, December 28, 2007
NBC Night Beat promo record set
On a recent trip to Goodwill, I found a curious little 45 rpm record set.
After RCA developed the 45 rpm record, they promoted the format as a replacement for 78 rpm album sets and singles. In the late 40s and through the early 50s, they issued album sets in various genres and promoted RCA record changers for 45s that could be hooked up as auxiliary devices to radio sets.
At Goodwill, there were a few of these sets by artists like Wayne King and Vaughn Monroe, but one caught my eye. It was called "Night Beat" and featured an NBC record label. I've heard an old NBC radio drama series by that name, but had never seen a radio show issued on 45s like this. Curious, I picked up the set and checked it out.
The set consists of one complete episode of the show with an announcement aimed at advertisers inserted just after the opening, inviting potential sponsors to buy time on the program. So, this appears to be a promotional set put out by NBC.
listen to MP3 of the opening and promo announcement (2 MB)
I'm guessing that someone at NBC saw it as a chance to promote the series to advertisers in the face of competition from television. Indeed, "Night Beat" was sustained, without a sponsor, for the first few months of its run.
I posted about the set on the OTR mailing list and Michael Biel helpfully provided some additional information about the set. The label and matrix numbers are EO-CX-342 through 347 and the label runoff area includes an "I" notation near the matrix number. According to Biel, "EO" is a date code indicating 1950. The "C" indicates "Custom", pressed by RCA for a special purpose (a "K" would be used if the records were custom pressed for an outside customer). Biel estimates that the master numbers were done early in the year, perhaps mid-January to early February.
The "X" in the matrix number is a problem - usually a "W" was used in this position at the time. Biel thinks this might be a holdover from the "X" used in this position during secret development of the 45 rpm system between 1940 and 1948. The "I" indication is a code for pressings done in the Indianapolis plant.
The source of the recording sounds to my ears like a 16" transcription - halfway through the show, you can hear a side change where the audio quality changes, similar to what might be heard when going from the end of one side of a transcription to the beginning of a second side.
Despite no episode title in the program or on the label, the episode on the records appears to be "Zero", the first show of the series broadcast on February 6, 1950, according to a log of the series.
Anyone have any additional info on the set or seen others like it? Was there other material, like a press kit, also released? Was it sent to ad agencies or advertising departments at some companies?
After RCA developed the 45 rpm record, they promoted the format as a replacement for 78 rpm album sets and singles. In the late 40s and through the early 50s, they issued album sets in various genres and promoted RCA record changers for 45s that could be hooked up as auxiliary devices to radio sets.
At Goodwill, there were a few of these sets by artists like Wayne King and Vaughn Monroe, but one caught my eye. It was called "Night Beat" and featured an NBC record label. I've heard an old NBC radio drama series by that name, but had never seen a radio show issued on 45s like this. Curious, I picked up the set and checked it out.
The set consists of one complete episode of the show with an announcement aimed at advertisers inserted just after the opening, inviting potential sponsors to buy time on the program. So, this appears to be a promotional set put out by NBC.
listen to MP3 of the opening and promo announcement (2 MB)
I'm guessing that someone at NBC saw it as a chance to promote the series to advertisers in the face of competition from television. Indeed, "Night Beat" was sustained, without a sponsor, for the first few months of its run.
I posted about the set on the OTR mailing list and Michael Biel helpfully provided some additional information about the set. The label and matrix numbers are EO-CX-342 through 347 and the label runoff area includes an "I" notation near the matrix number. According to Biel, "EO" is a date code indicating 1950. The "C" indicates "Custom", pressed by RCA for a special purpose (a "K" would be used if the records were custom pressed for an outside customer). Biel estimates that the master numbers were done early in the year, perhaps mid-January to early February.
The "X" in the matrix number is a problem - usually a "W" was used in this position at the time. Biel thinks this might be a holdover from the "X" used in this position during secret development of the 45 rpm system between 1940 and 1948. The "I" indication is a code for pressings done in the Indianapolis plant.
The source of the recording sounds to my ears like a 16" transcription - halfway through the show, you can hear a side change where the audio quality changes, similar to what might be heard when going from the end of one side of a transcription to the beginning of a second side.
Despite no episode title in the program or on the label, the episode on the records appears to be "Zero", the first show of the series broadcast on February 6, 1950, according to a log of the series.
Anyone have any additional info on the set or seen others like it? Was there other material, like a press kit, also released? Was it sent to ad agencies or advertising departments at some companies?
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