ASOUND FROM THE PAST TO STIR YOUR MEMORY "THE WHISTLER."
The Whistler radio program aired locally, at first, throughout the West and then nationally from May 1942 to September 1955 on CBS
This long-running crime melodrama featured the mysterious herald and criminal conscience known as “The Whistler.” The program was produced by Donald Wilson and cut along the lines of another popular crime drama, “The Shadow.” But where the Shadow was an active crime-fighting persona, the Whistler was merely a teller of crime’s tales, narrating in (an unusual) second person voice from the criminal’s viewpoint.
In the words of the Whistler himself, delivered in a grim mysterious tenor… “I am the Whistler, and I know many things, for I walk by night. I know many strange tales, many secrets hidden in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadows. Yes I know the nameless terrors of which they dare not speak…”
The Whistler told tales of everyday life gone haywire, of common men driven to murder, committing the “perfect crime” only to be tripped up in a cunning double twist.
Early in the show’s run The Whistler was an active voice conversing with the killer, arguing with him like a conscience, then goading him to his doom. However when George Allen took the reigns as director in 1944, he relegated our Whistler to “narrator only.” He also improved the dramatic effects in the story closes, where the shoe drops and the villain is apprehended.
For most of the program’s life it was broadcast regionally throughout the West, sponsored by the Signal Oil Company. There were two short periods in 1946 and 1948 when the program was broadcast in the Midwest and East as well, under sponsorship from Campbell Soups and Household Finance. Despite the “regional” status of the program it was well known and its theme became quite familiar to the American public, especially the theme-song’s dissonant eerie whistling.
The program's popularity inspired the production of eight feature-length films during the 1940's. These films shared the same name and crime themes as the radio show, but with roles played by different actors. These films were directed by William Castle, and usually featured Richard Dix as the Whistler.
On the radio program, Joseph Kerns played the role of the Whistler during the show’s beginnings, but the best known voice for the role was that of Bill Foreman, who’s identity was kept a mystery to the public until 1952.
The real “whistler” (the person with "pursed lips") for the program’s theme was the actress Dorothy Roberts, who weekly for 13 years whistled the 37 notes that began and ended each episode. The theme’s composer, Wilbur Hatch, estimated that only one in twenty persons were capable of whistling that exact melody.
We must remember that back then "recording" was only for the mastering of the program on giant 18 inch transcription disks that were sent to radio stations. Everything was recorded live with no post production. This is why the Folley was truly an artist -- providing sound effects live as the program proceeded.
For today's Sound From the Past we bring you the opportunity to listen to three "Whistler" episodes which first aired in 1945.
It's a pleasant day in Denver. I'm here in this historic Western cultural center with my "beautiful wife of three years and three months as of August 1." Mary Osgood Plunkett's roots are as deep in this mile-high environment as mine are on the tail of the Appalachians in Atlanta and each of us have family in each city. So we spend our time in each city, working as hard in one as the other.
We've had very HOT weather and it's not because Denver is closer to the sun than you. I believe we have broken the record for the number of days above 90 degrees and we still have August to go. Of course you know the routine I hear. "But it's a 'dry' heat." Admitted it is and that's what makes it quite tollerable.
The 10th Mountain Division, who trained in CO, is having it's last reunion this weekend. The men are leaving our world at a rapid pace. The reunion is just a few blocks from our home so I may have to wander over there to just be in the presence of these major HEROES! I'm going to write an article about them shortly.
I lost a hero last week. Gordon Seif, my brother-in-law, went to receive his reward for having a close relationship with Jesus Christ -- and was greated by all his family including Nancy Ann and my brother and Dad. More later.
REASON FOR THE CHATTERBOX
I've been blogging before anyone knew what a "Blog" was becasue the word hadn't been coined yet. I just realize this is the twentieth year of Norm's Ramblins. I started very simply and ruggedly back in 1987 -- trying to write a few memories, share old time radio and try to elicit a few smiles. That's a lof of "journaling" that doesn't mean very much when compared to real life.
I used to have a column called "This 'n That" where I would give the weather in Atlanta, the price of gas, and the changing of the seasons. I'd write about family and chornicle Nancy's frequent skirmish victories in her war against ovarian cancer.
Some of you might remember those days. A friend of mine began using the title for a neat "This 'n That" page he was writing. That and other events of life caused me to become more general in my Ramblins writing.
This past week I decided to do a little bit more "personalizing" as that was a feature of Ramblins many people enjoyed. I've decided to call this feature, "Ramblin Chatter."
Among my favorite books growing up on Cedar Street in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin was a huge Bible story book from the mid-1800's with incredible engravings and the classic Chatterbox that filled the lower shelf of our library. It was a treasure my parents secured from their parents and was an annual publication in the form of a hardbound book. I was captured by the engravings as Mother or one of my older brothers read a story to me. I slowly was able to read it by myself and read interesting stories and learned about life in the 1800's. There were well written articles of fiction, character building articles, wonderful engravings, that kept me on the floor with my bent legs in the air.
I found a great website today about the Chatterbox. Never thought to do that until now. If you're interested enough to explore the site, I've place a link for their address at the bottom of this article. On the site you'll see what a great piece of literature the Chatterboxwas for people living in that era and after. The site only has basic information and not the aritcles. It was literature for the populus -- like John Phillips Sousa. His music was ridiculed by the academics and Arts world, but the people loved it and made him a multimillionaire.
Then I found another article about the scoundrel publisher Worthington who copied and published the Chatterbox without permission. Walt Whitman has the same trouble with Worthington. It's worth a visit and a read. Besides that -- the color illustrations of a string of Chatterboxes and the ability to enlarge them is worth the trip.
All that to introduce this new article feature I'll run from time to time. I sure do miss Chris Plunkett's input. He is such a fine writer. Hopefully, some day he will be the well-known short story writer he deserves to be. But, right now he is Chief Hydrologist for the Flaming Gorge Resevoir and the Unita/Vernal Basin in NE Utah.
He was invovled in the management of that horrendous 320,000 acre forest fire last month. From time to time I'll repeat some of his old Ramblin articles.
Got a couple more pieces of junkmail that bother me. Of course, you know about those bastards who try to get information from you by posing as one of hundreds of banks, PayPal, or one of the major credit cards we all know too well. I've been receiving junk mail from some, no adjective, source that is using "greeting card" as the bait. They indicate that a former classmate, or a neighbor, or whomever has sent me a greeting card and I'm to "click here." Anyone know about this. It's definitely a scam but I don't want to find out how and what.
This has made it's rounds for some time now, but it's still funny enough for advertising to use in commercials and Swami's to make a living. Thanks to Monty Kolste. I'm glad he has my email adress.
Something for you to think about today.....if you have nothing else to do.
Can you cry under water?
How important does a person have to be before they are considered
assassinated instead of just murdered?
Why do you have to "put your two cents in"... but it's only a "penny for your thoughts"? Where does that extra penny go?
Why does a round pizza come in a square box?
What disease did "cured ham" have originally?
How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?
Why do people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up
every two hours and are hungry?
If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?
Why is an actor IN a movie, but ON TV?
Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in
binoculars to look at things on the ground?
Why do doctors leave the room while you change? They're going to see you naked anyway.
Why are the words "bra" singular and "panties" plural?
Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp and smells up the house?
If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why did someone write a stupid song about him?
Can a hearse carrying a body in a casket drive in the carpool lane without getting a ticket?
If the professor on Gilligan's Island can make a radio out of a coconut, why can't he fix that hole in a boat and get that engine running?
Why does Walt Disney have Goofy always stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They're both dogs! And he became the millionaire.
If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn't he just buy dinner and leave the road chicken alone?
If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?
If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?
Do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?
Why did you just try singing the two songs above?
Why do they call it an asteroid when it's outside our stratosphere, but call it a hemorrhoid when it's in our butt?
Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he (or she) gets mad at you, but when you take that same dog for a car ride he sticks his head out the window?
Do you ever wonder why you gave me your e-mail address in the first place?
As an aside: I looked for a nice graphic that would fit this humorous set of thought puzzles and asked for "Swami" not to poke fun as a belief system but to find an unrealistic cartoon figure. What I found was 135,000 individual photographs of genuine Swamis! Then I put in "Cartoon Swami" and got 2,500 Nirvanah cartoons. They I asked for "Fake Swamis" and got photos of 25,000 Fakyr Swamis. That's why I ended up with a substitute "Thinker" so as to not offend Rodan.
DON'T WORRY MOM AND DAD. EVERYTHING IS FINE -- REALLY!
We posted this “parent’s-worst-nightmare” letter from a boy-scout named “Johnny” over a year ago. Unfortunately we don’t know who wrote the original piece, but our congratulations to them just the same. Jared Ponchot brought it to our attention. I think it’s hilarious, and I'm quite sure you will think so too! Summer camps are not far away but maybe you'll forget all this by then.
Dear Mom and Dad,
Our scoutmaster told us to write to our parents in case you saw the flood on TV and are worried. We are OK. Only one of our tents and 2 sleeping bags got washed away. Luckily, none of us got drowned because we were all up on the mountain looking for Chad when it happened. Oh yeah, please call Chad's mother and tell her he’s OK. He can't write because of the cast.
I got to ride in one of the search and rescue jeeps. It was sure neat. We never would have found him in the dark if it hadn't been for the lightning. Scoutmaster Walt got mad at Chad for going on a hike alone without telling anyone. Chad said he did tell him, but it was during the fire so he probably didn't hear him. Did you know that if you put gas on a fire, the gas can blows up? The wet wood still didn't burn, but one of the tents did. Also, some of our clothes. John is going to look weird until his hair grows back.
We will be home on Saturday if Scoutmaster Walt gets the car fixed. It wasn't his fault about the wreck. The brakes worked OK when we left. Scoutmaster Walt said that a car that old you have to expect something to break down; that's probably why he can't get insurance. We all think it's a neat car. He doesn't care if we get it dirty, and if it's hot, sometimes he lets us ride on the fenders! It gets pretty hot with 10 people in a car. He used to let us take turns riding in the trailer until the highway patrolman stopped and talked to us. Scoutmaster Walt is a neat guy. Don't worry, he’s a good driver. In fact, he is teaching Terry how to drive on the mountain roads where there isn't any traffic. All we ever see up there are logging trucks.
This morning us guys were diving off the rocks and swimming out in the lake. Scoutmaster Walt wouldn't let me go with them cause I still can't swim, and Chad was afraid he would sink because of his cast, so he let us take the canoe across the lake. It was great. You can still see some of the trees under the water from the flood. Scoutmaster Walt isn't crabby like some scoutmasters. He didn't even get mad about us having no life jackets.
He’s gotta spend a lot of time working on the car so we’re trying not to cause him any trouble. Guess what? We’ve all passed our first aid merit badges. When Dave dove in the lake and cut his arm, we got to see how a tourniquet works.
Wade and I threw up, but Scoutmaster Walt said it probably was just food poisoning from the leftover chicken. He said they got sick that way with the food they ate in prison. I'm so glad he got out and became our scoutmaster. He said he sure figured out how to get things done better while he was doing his time. I have to go now. We’re going to town to mail our letters and buy bullets. Don't worry about anything. We are so fine!
Love, Johnny
P.S. How long has it been since I had a tetanus shot?
"Good Neighbor" Henrietta Hastie brought this "Military Times" video to my attention recently. You really need to be informed about the incredible woman on a Utah ranch who paints a portrait of every "fallen hero" and gives the priceless gift to the relatives of the hero.
The web address of the Military Times is something that you might consider having in your "Favorites" list.
Invest four minutes of your time and be blessed while learning about an incredible woman who is filled with love, purpose and committment.
I'm No Longer Driven to Impress Others, Incluing God!"
A thought for those who use and believe in the Bible
I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear to be righteous to you or have your good opinion of me.
I am no longer driven to impress God or you because Christ lives in me. The life you see me living isn’t mine; it’s being lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I'm not about to turn my back on that truth!
Galatians 2:20-21 The Message Bible, Nav Press, Colorado Springs, CO
Paul is saying that in the legal sense "Crucified with Christ" means that God looks at Paul and at us as if he and we had died with Christ. Because our sins died with Christ, we are no longer condemned. A believer has become one with Christ and has died to his or her old way of life but continuously has to fight sin.
But Christ's Resurrection Power is available to the max as it promises in Ephesians 1:19-20.
Christ lives in me and this is my reason for living and my hope for the future. Colossians 1:27.
And the focus of it all is the Cross. The Cross is the ONLY way to salvation. Life Application Bible, Tyndale
HE'S GOT HOLD OF THE HANDLE ... TIGHT IN HIS HANDS
Sir Winston Churchill - 1941
His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer.
One day, while working in his field, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He stopped what he was doing and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free
himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.
The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved. "I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life."
"No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer replied waving off the offer. "It's what anyone would do." At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hovel.
"Is that your son?" the nobleman asked.
"Yes," the farmer replied proudly.
"I'll make you this offer. Let me provide your son with the level of education my own son will enjoy. If the lad is anything like his father, he'll no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of. "
And that he did. Farmer Fleming's son attended the very best schools and in time, graduated from St.Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.
Years afterward, the same nobleman's son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia. What saved his life this time? Penicillin!
The name of the nobleman you ask? Lord Randolph Churchill!
His son's name? -- Sir Winston Churchill!
[This is such an astonishing story I questioned its veracity.
Went to "Urban Legends" and couple other sites and couldn't find any reason not to believe it.]
HERE'S A MACHINE TO GIVE YOU A PERSPECTIVE ON YOUR AGE. OUCH!
Pat Kelly, an old school mate of mine from 1947 to 1953, and one of the best quarterbacks Wauwatosa High School ever had, sends me some pretty neat stuff on the Internet. This one was different and provided an interesting few minutes for me.
This will really make you feel old.......no matter what your age.
Click the link below and then put your birth date in the pop-up window. What happens will immediately slot you right into the middle of the Chronology of Culture... and give you a correct perspective of what you may not want to know. It is set for males but can be reset for female information and will also give you the music, television, and other info for your year of birth.
the buttons were better than the cereal and better tasting.
Every kid wanted to get the entire set - which they kept adding to.
Even the inside of the button was signatured.
Not all buttons were cartoon characters. Here are the WW2 48th and 391st bombardment squadrons.
Kellogg’s PEP cereal! WHATTA KID PRODUCT!
They had the very best prizes inside the carton, “between the cardboard and the protective wax bag liner that protects the quality of Kellogg’s PEP! The prizes were mainly pin buttons. I have a collection of comic strip characters like the ones I used to wear on my “propeller, beanie cap.”
Seeing myself in that cap through movies and photos was clear evidence that I looked quite dorky in my pre-adolescence days. Man, that dumb hat was so ugly, -- I thought it made me so tough and there was nothing better. It was a brown beanie complete with the jagged edges on the vertical brim. The pins included full color pictures of Superman, The Phanton, Perry Winkle, Sandy, Minnie Gump, Henry, Flash Gordon, and on I could go.
Back in the 1940's, cereal buying pivoted on the premium inside the box and the material printed on the box. (So what's changed in 60 years?) There was a time when cereal eatin came to a crisis in our home. My brothers and I were buying Kellogg’s Pep every chance we had but we ate Shredded Wheat, Puffed Rice (shot from guns, of course), puffed wheat, and Cheerios.
One day, Mom found the stash. “WHAT’S ALL THIS KELLOG’S PEP HIDDEN IN THE BACK OF THE PANTRY?" During the cereal eatin recovery days and mid-course correction of the "overbuy" we got so sick of Kellogg's PEP - which tasted like straw to begin with.
Kellogg's Pep seemed to give us everything else but pep -- like eating old people's bran flakes. It was like eatin sawdust! Yuck.
But the buttons were incredible and we loved 'em. Today they sell on Ebay for $40-$60 each. Pictured are some of the pins I have in my Radio Premium collection.
We're always honored by visitors. We do our best to provide new information on this "Ramblin" page ... and leave some of the stuff we think is extra good a little longer than the others. Please visit again.
We'd enjoy hearing from you. Drop us a note. We'd enjoy knowing you're visitin.' "Drop Us A Note" at: norman@peachmm.com
We extend to you an old Southern salutation you don't hear much... any more down here in Atlanta. "Ya'll come back now, ya'hear?"
Norman Plunkett
God is good -- ALWAYS!
And especially as He floods you with all the grace you need no matter what the situation. As you trust Him, God's grace is always just enough and always on time.
