The Blue Note Cafe

Seth Rogen is the new Green Hornet?

2010-11-10T08:46:00.001-08:00

I'm not too sure about this casting choice. I will wait and see and give it a fair chance but I just don't get it.

new cd's coming!

2010-11-10T08:42:00.000-08:00

I recently put in an order to otrcat.com for 12 cd's. This will bring my total number of shows to over 3000 (and counting!). I hope to one day have the biggest and best collection of shows.

Johnny Dollar editorial comment

2009-03-23T19:02:00.000-07:00

Listened to a bunch of Johnny Dollar episodes last night (I have about 95% of the entire series so it's gonna take awhile to get through them all). I selected a few of each of the different actors to play the role and I can see (hear) why Robert Readick had the shortest run of them all (not counting Gerald MOhr and Dick POwell in single audition episodes) - he simply lacked personality in the role,, I found his episodes to be very dry and boring. Certainly the writing could share some of the blame but I have heard many shows and watched a lot of movies where the writing lacked something but the actors managed to make up for it.

Bob Bailey and Edmund O'Brien were, far and away, the best to play the role of my favorite radio character.

Quick notes....

2009-03-21T12:25:00.000-07:00

I was listening to a bunch of Johnny Dollar episodes last night and heard a very funny line from Bob Bailey. One of the supporting characters was named George and he,Johnny, and that episodes "dame" were leaving a house and they had forgotten something in the house. The girl says to Johnny "aren't you going to go back and get it?", to which Johnny replied "nah, Let George do it". I thought it was pretty funny.

One thing I find funny about OTR is that EVERYBODY smokes and drinks. They practically have smokes and whiskey for breakfast!

I am in the process of starting an Access data-base of all my shows. What a chore. A slightly enjoyable one but a long chore none the less.

I think I may have occasional trivia on here.

On "father Knows Best" there was an actreess named Norma Jean Nillson who played the youngest daughter Kathy. SHe lives in my towen here and I have had the pleasure of meeting her on several occasions. I will try to pin her down for an interview. She's a very nice lady, a bit eccentric but very sweet.

As always : Happy Listening!

Honaorable mentions and my LEAST favorite shows

2009-03-20T16:08:00.001-07:00

In my first post I listed my favorite shows. SInce that list was (for the most part) made off the top of my head I, naturally, left out some shows that could easily be in that list as well.
Here,then, in no particular order are some of my other faves :
The Shadow,The Green Hornet,The Bickersons, Broadway Is My Beat, Barry Craig, Calling All Cars, Crime Classics, I Was A Communist For The FBI, Halls Of Ivy, The Amazing Mr. Malone, Screen Directors Playhouse, Crime Club, Academy Award Theater, True Detective Mysteries, and a few others as well. There are just so many great shows to choose from that it's hard to pick just a couple faves.

A few shows I'm not too crazy about :
The Avenger ( a poorly done Shadow rip-off, in my opinion)
The Whisperer ( a bit too corny , even for the genre and era)
Dark Fantasy ( I just listened a few of the episodes I have on file and nothiong special jumped at me)
Any of the musical type shows (not that they are bad, just not my cup of tea
Duffy's Tavern ( I know it's a "classic" but I just never found it to be that funny. Sorry. :)
Some of the comedies just because a lot of the jokes relate to current events as they were at the time and I don't get the references is all.

Until next time : Happy Listening

Abbott & Costello

2009-03-20T13:46:00.000-07:00

Last night I did a semi-marathon session of Abbott & Costello shows.I listened to about 12 episodes (including the classic "Baseball" episode, which in my opinion, is THE funniest comedy bit of all time).I find that even though these episodes are 60+ years old they are still freaking hilarious.(without, present day comedians take note, profanity or vulgarity - just plain funny bits.) Abbott & Costello are by far my fave comedy team of all time, although
The Marx Brothers do run a close second.

Happy listening

How the death of a Beatle sparked my interest in OTR

2009-03-18T19:22:00.000-07:00

The day after John Lennon was murdered I was flipping around the radio dial for any and all things related to the shocking news. I happened to come across a station that was playing the Lux Radio version of "Angels With Dirty Faces" starring James Cagney. Having been a fan of old movies, I decided to stop and listen. I had always been aware that radio had once been the prime source of entertainment for most people back in the day but had never really paid much attention to it. After the show was over the radio station reminded listeners to tune in for their regular 3 hour long "Owl Prowl" broadcasts starting at midnight every night on their sister station. I tuned in that night and have been hooked ever since.

What got you started?

Hello, we are on the air!

2009-03-16T20:10:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my newest blog. It will be about all things OTR related. Mostly I will discuss my favorite shows but occasionally I will try to post articles regarding OTR and the history of some shows.

For my first entry I will list my favorite 10 shows and in the coming days I will research some good sites for free downloads, etc. and then post them in the "sites I vist" column.

So here, in no particular order, are my favorite 10 shows : (okay - the first is my absolute fave but the rest are in random order)

1) Johnny Dollar
2) Escape
3) Suspense
4a) Dimension X
4b) X Minus 1 - (Essentially the same show, with some duplication of episodes as well)
5) Gangbusters
6) Dragnet
7) Black Museum
8) Candy Matson
9) Blue Beetle
10) Casey, Crime Photographer

Also, here are my two favorite individual episodes :

1) - A Pail of Air - (X MInus 1 - Written by Fritz Leiber)
2) A 22 Rifle for Christmas - ( Dragnet - listen to this and try not to bawl your eyes out! A very touching story)

Okay, pressed for time but will be back soon with the story of how I got interested in OTR in the first place.

Until then : Happy listening!