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Newsletter April 2024

Newsletter April 2024

By March 21, 2024Newsletter

NEWSLETTER | VOL. 36, April 2024

Welcome to this month’s edition of The Hollywood 360 Newsletter, your place to get all the news on upcoming shows, schedule and interesting facts from your H360 team!

Carl’s Corner

by Carl Amari

Happy April everyone! Here’s the Hollywood 360 newsletter, April 2024 / Vol. 36. As someone on our mailing list, you’ll receive the most current newsletter via email on the first day of every month. If you don’t receive it by the end of the first day of the month, check your spam folder as they often end up there. If it is not in your regular email box or in your spam folder, contact me at carlpamari@gmail.com and I’ll forward you a copy. The monthly Hollywood 360 newsletter contains articles from my team and the full month’s detailed schedule of classic radio shows that will air on Hollywood 360. Beginning this month, we’ll present one monthly episode of the incredible anthology series THEATER 5. Each will be introduced by noted radio historian, and THEATER 5 expert Dr. Joseph Webb. THEATER 5 was produced in 1964 and 1965 and was ABC’s valiant attempt to bring back the golden-age of radio. Casts included many of the East Coast’s radio pros: George Petrie, Brett Morrison, Jackson Beck, Vicki Cola, Ed Begley, Robert Dryden, Bryan Raeburn and many more. Don’t miss our first presentation of THEATER 5 the week of April 20th. In Joe’s introductions for each monthly episode, he’ll give you background information and set the scene. Here’s an article on THEATER 5 — enjoy!

 

Theater 5 

by Dr. Joseph Webb
This year is the sixtieth anniversary of THEATER 5, a major radio drama initiative of ABC Radio that has been unfairly treated by history, and deserves greater awareness and appreciation. 
 
 
In September 1962, CBS discontinued radio drama and ABC saw an opportunity to fill that vacuum with a weekday hour-long evening series. The new program would mainly present mysteries. Over the next months, after consultation with ABC affiliates, the idea was refined to become a half hour of syndicated content that included ABC news and four minutes of local commercial time. In Spring 1964, Ed Byron, who masterminded the great success of Philip H. Lord’s MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY radio franchise, and was a radio and television executive in subsequent years, was hired to lead this new THEATER 5 initiative. Byron assembled a crew of producers, directors, production and music staff, from within ABC and supplemented them with outside hires. The program concept was broadened to an anthology series with comedy, drama, adventure, science fiction and fantasy, and other productions. THEATER 5 was viewed as a means for ABC to cultivate new writing talent that could use that experience in its television productions. There was big money behind the series: in today’s 2022 US dollars, each episode had an average budget of more than $18,000, making the annual budget more than $4 million (in US 2022). Writers were paid 40% more than union scale. In the end, more than 60 writers contributed the 260 scripts, with 13 of them authoring more than half of the programs.
 
It is likely that Byron knew he had cancer when he was hired, and considered the THEATER 5 opportunity as his chance to re-establish network radio drama on the airwaves. Byron knew THEATER 5 had to be modern and not a continuation of “old” radio. He sought scripts and storylines that reflected early 1960s society and not the morays of the mid-1940s. THEATER 5’s scripts tackled social issues directly and in passing, with dialogue and situations that catered to the 10pm adult listener.
 
Byron’s passing, after the eightieth broadcast, unfortunately disrupted the momentum that THEATER 5 had gained among ABC’s top executives. Before he died, Byron started an effort to recruit higher visibility stars to the program. That vision continued, and led to the hiring of actor, producer, and entrepreneur Lee Bowman, who had strong contacts in Hollywood as well as credibility among broadcast executives. The original 26-week funding was renewed for a second 26 weeks, and Bowman brought more “big names” to the program. In April 1965, it was believed the program would be renewed once more, but by the end of May 1965, it was clear that the new initiatives did not reach their desired objectives. ABC decided to close the THEATER 5 production down. That decision was announced in June. By the end of that Summer, ABC continued to market THEATER 5 to stations in and out of their network. The program could be heard in various markets until Spring 1969.
 
In the end, THEATER 5 produced 260 episodes with 62 writers, and cast more than 240 actors in more than 1,100 roles. Just 16 ABC production staffers managed and mustered that much output, without ever resorting to running a repeat episode. The productions were augmented with original music with many bridges composed for specific scenes in individual episodes, and played by a symphony orchestra, is notable at a time when “canned” music had become the norm. THEATER 5 is an amazing story, only now being told, nearly 60 years later.
 
Join me each month on HOLLYWOOD 360 for a journey I believe you’ll greatly enjoy!

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FROM CARL AMARI:  BOLD VENTURE and BOSTON BLACKIE fans – THANK YOU – we saved both series! 

As most of you know, I have licensed the entire Frederic W. Ziv library of more than 10,000 original radio shows.  Mr. Ziv was one of radio’s premiere radio producers and syndicators.  

The Ziv library contains 41 different radio series including the entire runs of BOLD VENTURE, BOSTON BLACKIE, I WAS A COMMUNIST FOR THE FBI, PHILO VANCE, THE CISCO KID, MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY, FAVORITE STORY and many more.  

Mr. Ziv preserved these radio shows on “unplayed” 16 inch transcription discs, which have been stored in a climate-controlled warehouse for more than 60 years.  If these episodes are not transferred, they will never be heard by the world.  

We launched two Kickstarter campaigns to raise the funds to transfer all 78 BOLD VENTURE and all 218 BOSTON BLACKIE radio shows.  Thanks mostly to YOU the HOLLYWOOD 360 listeners, we were successful in saving both of these series.  We already made the transfers for the 78 BOLD VENTURE shows and are in the process of making the transfers for all 218 BOSTON BLACKIE shows. 

If you were one of the 200+ Kickstarter pledgers for BOLD VENTURE you have your digital downloads or audio CDs by now.  If you pledged toward BOSTON BLACKIE you will receive your digital downloads or audio CDs as soon as we’ve completed the transfer of all 218 episodes, which we expect to be before June 2024.  

If you did NOT pledge and you’d like to receive the complete runs of BOLD VENTURE and BOSTON BLACKIE via digital download or audio CDs, call us at 815-900-7535 and speak to a live operator.  Because BOSTON BLACKIE is 218 episodes, we are offering a 3-pay option.  

LEND ME YOUR EARS by Lisa Wolf
BOTH SIDES, NOW by Joni Mitchell

RELEASED: 1969

Watch On YouTube

“I was reading Saul Bellow’s Henderson the Rain King on a plane and early in the book Henderson the Rain King is also up in a plane. He’s on his way to Africa and he looks down and sees these clouds. I put down the book, looked out the window and saw clouds too, and I immediately started writing the song. I had no idea that the song would become as popular as it did.” ~ Joni Mitchell

“Both Sides, Now” is a timeless ballad by Joni Mitchell, released in 1969 as part of her album “Clouds.” Born from a plane journey, the song explores the complexities of life and shifting perspectives. Mitchell’s Grammy-winning masterpiece has earned a place in the Grammy Hall of Fame, becoming a celebrated part of her musical legacy.

Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides, Now” has been covered by numerous artists across various genres. One of the earliest and most notable covers was by Judy Collins in 1968, a year before Mitchell’s original release. Collins’ rendition played a crucial role in introducing the song to a broader audience and establishing it as a folk classic.

Watch On YouTube

 

Over the years, the song has been reinterpreted by artists from different musical backgrounds. Some notable covers include versions by Herbie Hancock, Frank Sinatra, Neil Diamond, Susan Boyle and Carly Rae Jepsen. These covers showcase the song’s versatility and enduring appeal, as it continues to inspire artists from diverse genres to put their unique spin on this Joni Mitchell classic.

“Both Sides, Now” is also heard in film and television, including “Love Actually,” “The Simpsons,” and “The West Wing.”

Watch On YouTube

HOLLYWOOD 360 Broadcast Schedule for April 2024

4/6/24 (repeat of 3/7/22 show)

SUSPENSE 6/29/44 The Walls Came Tumbling Down

 BABY SNOOKS & DADDY 5/1/51 Report Card Blues

 GENERAL ELECTRIC THEATER 7/9/53 Random Harvest

THE NEW ADV. OF NERO WOLFE 1/19/51 The Calculated Risk

OUR MISS BROOKS 11/21/48 Model American 

4/13/24 

PHILO VANCE, DETECTIVE 3/14/50 The Mathematical Murder Case

THE STAN FREBERG SHOW 7/21/57 Episode 2

THE LINE-UP 9/26/51 The Fur Flaunting Floozy

SPACE PATROL 2/28/53 The Strange Gift of the New Star

THE SCREEN DIRECTOR’S PLAYHOUSE 3/27/49 Suddenly It’s Spring

 4/20/24

THEATER 5 8/4/64 A House of Cards

THE DEAN MARTIN & JERRY LEWIS SHOW 3/21/52 w/ guest, Marlene Dietrich

 NICK CARTER, MASTER DETECTIVE 2/18/45 Mind Over Murder

HAVE GUN-WILL TRAVEL 5/10/59 The Statue of San Sebastián

WHITEHALL 1212 12/2/51 The Fournier Case

4/27/24 (Repeat of 4/25/22 show)

RICHARD DIAMOND, PRIVATE DETECTIVE 2/1/52 The Garibaldi Case

 THE GEORGE BURNS & GRACIE ALLEN SHOW 10/26/43 w/ guest, Hedy Lamarr

DIMENSION X 6/10/50 The Green Hills of Earth 

TOP SECRET 7/23/50 Midnight for Danger

WILD BILL HICKOK 12/26/52 Ruins of Black Canyon

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