The Easy Aces...
That could well draw a blank with you. Well, it was a radio programme in the States when radio really was king. I'd guess we're talking around 50+ years ago. It has another meaning in this day and age as you'll see by the end of this entry.
Television has brought many benefits and yet dare I say as I look at where we are today...I think I prefer radio to television. There is much to say about "pictures in the mind"
I really do believe that radio entertainment could've survived alongside television if the broadcasters and commercial companies could've stayed with the medium and had looked further ahead.
We are fortunate that some people were forward thinking and did something that they probably should not have...taking the transcription discs of programmes home with them. So many priceless recordings have been saved. But what has been lost? The discs were often not looked after, not stored correctly, damaged, smashed up after broadcast or returned to the company issuing them. After all no one believed that once they had been heard, years later anyone would want to hear them again. But why? You listen to a piece of music more than once, watch a movie, see a play etc...
Some collectors keep their collections secret and guard it with their lives, some copies make it out to a larger audience and in recent years thankfully some groups now exist who look for lost recordings and if they find duplicates they will try and find the best quality, the most complete version by combining various versions.
Some enthusiasts are using software to try and improve the sound quality and bring them upto as near perfect quality as is possible.
I have a new link included at the side of my blog and I think it deserves as much help and publicity as possible. Please visit it and often.
You can hear programmes but also read and learn about the people that you are hearing.
Some may be known to you such as George Burns and Gracie Allen( a favourite of mine)yes, there are programmes of my namesake The Great Gildersleeve, Fred Allen(I'll forgive you if you say, Who?) You'll know of Jack Benny but if you get the chance the performances and writing of the Alice Faye and Phil Harris Show takes a lot of beating. Luckily, I know a lot of the references of the day but much of Fred Allen's material was topical as was the ad libbing, sadly some of his performances will be lost on a modern audience. But we had variety, culture, drama. When I say drama you could go from detective(private eye)police drama's, westerns, suspenseful, frightening, adaptations of the classics, plays and films.
When you sometimes let your mind drift and think about living in a different time or place I often find myself wishing that I had been living in the States during the 30-50's and enjoying all this wonderful entertainment at the turn of a radio dial.
We did get access to some of this material and the BBC if my memory serves me correctly actually tried to stop it being heard here because during WWII the American Forces Network was established here and they broadcast programmes specially produced and programmes given by the broadcasters back home to relay to the US troops in Europe and further afield(and the British population was starting to listen and enjoy what they heard)
Of course once again, by the time I came on the scene this had stopped...if I had been around when it was on the air I probably would've been fighting in some foreign land and hearing it not in the place I would have preferred.
And here's another interesting side of US radio...many formats were broadcast on Australian radio and were adapted or performed by Australian actors in the roles American's were playing in America. Two that have some surviving episodes include The Fat Man and The Shadow. Also, probably because Australia is near to the West Coast, it wasn't unusual for US actors to pop across and guest on Australian shows, Vincent Price comes to mind. Now, if some of those shows could be traced and made available.
Having so many links down the side of my blog some of the better one's may be lost or missed so I am deliberately taking the time out to give one site a big build up and some publicity.
Over here it is difficult to do what is known as Old Time Radio justice...
Easy Ace OTR
Television has brought many benefits and yet dare I say as I look at where we are today...I think I prefer radio to television. There is much to say about "pictures in the mind"
I really do believe that radio entertainment could've survived alongside television if the broadcasters and commercial companies could've stayed with the medium and had looked further ahead.
We are fortunate that some people were forward thinking and did something that they probably should not have...taking the transcription discs of programmes home with them. So many priceless recordings have been saved. But what has been lost? The discs were often not looked after, not stored correctly, damaged, smashed up after broadcast or returned to the company issuing them. After all no one believed that once they had been heard, years later anyone would want to hear them again. But why? You listen to a piece of music more than once, watch a movie, see a play etc...
Some collectors keep their collections secret and guard it with their lives, some copies make it out to a larger audience and in recent years thankfully some groups now exist who look for lost recordings and if they find duplicates they will try and find the best quality, the most complete version by combining various versions.
Some enthusiasts are using software to try and improve the sound quality and bring them upto as near perfect quality as is possible.
I have a new link included at the side of my blog and I think it deserves as much help and publicity as possible. Please visit it and often.
You can hear programmes but also read and learn about the people that you are hearing.
Some may be known to you such as George Burns and Gracie Allen( a favourite of mine)yes, there are programmes of my namesake The Great Gildersleeve, Fred Allen(I'll forgive you if you say, Who?) You'll know of Jack Benny but if you get the chance the performances and writing of the Alice Faye and Phil Harris Show takes a lot of beating. Luckily, I know a lot of the references of the day but much of Fred Allen's material was topical as was the ad libbing, sadly some of his performances will be lost on a modern audience. But we had variety, culture, drama. When I say drama you could go from detective(private eye)police drama's, westerns, suspenseful, frightening, adaptations of the classics, plays and films.
When you sometimes let your mind drift and think about living in a different time or place I often find myself wishing that I had been living in the States during the 30-50's and enjoying all this wonderful entertainment at the turn of a radio dial.
We did get access to some of this material and the BBC if my memory serves me correctly actually tried to stop it being heard here because during WWII the American Forces Network was established here and they broadcast programmes specially produced and programmes given by the broadcasters back home to relay to the US troops in Europe and further afield(and the British population was starting to listen and enjoy what they heard)
Of course once again, by the time I came on the scene this had stopped...if I had been around when it was on the air I probably would've been fighting in some foreign land and hearing it not in the place I would have preferred.
And here's another interesting side of US radio...many formats were broadcast on Australian radio and were adapted or performed by Australian actors in the roles American's were playing in America. Two that have some surviving episodes include The Fat Man and The Shadow. Also, probably because Australia is near to the West Coast, it wasn't unusual for US actors to pop across and guest on Australian shows, Vincent Price comes to mind. Now, if some of those shows could be traced and made available.
Having so many links down the side of my blog some of the better one's may be lost or missed so I am deliberately taking the time out to give one site a big build up and some publicity.
Over here it is difficult to do what is known as Old Time Radio justice...
Easy Ace OTR
posted by The Great Gildersleeve | 9:24 pm
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