Chandu and Moving Stories of Life items in Re: REPS Labor Day Special Available


Larry Maupin
 

Thank you Bob for such a nice and informative post.  Until I did some research for this set, I only knew of three existing episodes of Moving Stories of Life, and I think the series is a gem because it is exotic, has great music and has some elements that remind me of soap operas.  I also noticed that Jerry Haendiges has a large number of episodes listed, but wonder whether his are from the same series or a different one.  If they are from the same series, that will increase the known number of episodes tenfold.

As for whether the stories might be based on fact, they seem more like fiction, possibly historical, to me.  The reporter falls in love with a prince, and there were certainly a lot of those around in Europe in the 1930s.  And the cost of a transatlantic telephone call probably was as high as mentioned in "Love on Skies."  

Larry  

-----------------------------------------

From: "Bob Stepno"
To: main@OldTimeRadioResearchers.groups.io
Cc:
Sent: Wednesday September 14 2022 12:53:20PM
Subject: [OldTimeRadioResearchers] Chandu and Moving Stories of Life items in Re: REPS Labor Day Special Available

Thanks, Larry, for including "Moving Stories of Life: Love on Skis (1930s)," which nicely fits my basic obsession with radio stories that include newspaper-reporter characters. But I'm not interested in the whole collection; I've retrieved a copy from the OTRR Library and eventually will add it to my running blog about "Newspaper Heroes on the Air" at jheroes.com

Almost everybody else -- the OTRR library, OTRSite, and Radio Echoes, lists the story as "Love on Skies," but Larry and Dave Goldin have the spelling right -- and are right about the skiing at St. Moritz in the plot. :-)  

Now I'm off trying to find out more about the series: There are a half dozen episodes in Goldin, and Jerry Haendiges has a log with 34 out of a possible 110 episodes, but so far I haven't found any overview of this series of 15 minute dramas. Both lists include this episode. Is the title supposed to suggest they were true stories? Nothing in my old Dunning. Off to the industry and fan magazines later.

This is the only one of Goldin's six episodes to mention a reporter character, so I won't spend too much time on the series He and Haendiges differ on dates (Goldin, 1935 for this episode; Haendiges, 1937), but that's not unusual with a syndicated series. Larry's "1930s" is safer.

Again, thanks for including this item in your collection! Like a lot of "happy endings" in stories about reporters, our heroine in this one is not unhappy about getting fired at the end. And, as Goldin mentions, the actor playing her editor appears to be imitating Ned Sparks. (Sounds like he's blocking his nose and talking through a tin can to simulate a transoceanic connection.)

 

On to the Chandu item (#5) in Larry's 1930s collection...

The 1930s collection does look like fun, but I have too much ADHD to avoid the temptation to listen to hours of things that don't fit into my small obsessive research project, unless they mention journalists. Chandu's fake-news nemesis doesn't show up here, but, because of him I'd recently been listening to a few Chandu episodes I was curious about the one in Larry's batch -- just curious enough to write this note about what appears to be simply a misleading episode name. 

<<Chandu the Magician: "Robert Returns" (May 11, 1933). Dunning (p.148) lists the broadcast history as "1932-1935, transcribed syndication, originally aired on KHJ-Los Angeles, October 10, 1932, a California chain that eventually reached the Northwest." Sponsored by White King Soap. Summary: "Dorothy, Betty and Bob are on the beach. The island they are on is all that remains of Lemuria...The mask of the seven-headed serpent appears in a ghostly phonograph" Source: RadioGoldIndex.>>

 

I had the OTRR Library's Chandu listings on screen and noticed that "Robert Returns" was already there as the title of two other dates' episodes. 

https://www.otrr.org/OTRRLibrary/index.html?idp=2143

So I listened, while keeping my feet planted firmly on the ground to avoid falling down a Chandu rabbit hole.

Conclusion: The May 11, 1933, episode at OTRR does match Goldin's description given by Larry, but it really should have a different title. OTRR offers "Bob Finds Poison & a Letter," which is accurate. "Robert" does not "return," and is not in the episode at all. ("Bob" with the poison, letter, and ghostly photo, is his son.) 

Here are the three entries in the OTRR Library list:

 


Bob Finds Poison & a Letter
5/11/1933 309 MP3 13:59 3.2 MB

 


Robert Returns
11/11/1932 180 MP3 14:28 3.3 MB

 


Robert Returns
11/24/1932 189 MP3 13:43 3.1 MB

 

Thanks again for all your work, Larry...

Best wishes,

 

Another guy named Bob,

between the Blue Ridge and the New River 

 

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Larry Maupin


Bob Stepno
 

Thanks, Larry, for including "Moving Stories of Life: Love on Skis (1930s)," which nicely fits my basic obsession with radio stories that include newspaper-reporter characters. But I'm not interested in the whole collection; I've retrieved a copy from the OTRR Library and eventually will add it to my running blog about "Newspaper Heroes on the Air" at jheroes.com

Almost everybody else -- the OTRR library, OTRSite, and Radio Echoes, lists the story as "Love on Skies," but Larry and Dave Goldin have the spelling right -- and are right about the skiing at St. Moritz in the plot. :-)  

Now I'm off trying to find out more about the series: There are a half dozen episodes in Goldin, and Jerry Haendiges has a log with 34 out of a possible 110 episodes, but so far I haven't found any overview of this series of 15 minute dramas. Both lists include this episode. Is the title supposed to suggest they were true stories? Nothing in my old Dunning. Off to the industry and fan magazines later.

This is the only one of Goldin's six episodes to mention a reporter character, so I won't spend too much time on the series. He and Haendiges differ on dates (Goldin, 1935 for this episode; Haendiges, 1937), but that's not unusual with a syndicated series. Larry's "1930s" is safer.

Again, thanks for including this item in your collection! Like a lot of "happy endings" in stories about reporters, our heroine in this one is not unhappy about getting fired at the end. And, as Goldin mentions, the actor playing her editor appears to be imitating Ned Sparks. (Sounds like he's blocking his nose and talking through a tin can to simulate a transoceanic connection.)

 

On to the Chandu item (#5) in Larry's 1930s collection...

The 1930s collection does look like fun, but I have too much ADHD to avoid the temptation to listen to hours of things that don't fit into my small obsessive research project, unless they mention journalists. Chandu's fake-news nemesis doesn't show up here, but, because of him I'd recently been listening to a few Chandu episodes I was curious about the one in Larry's batch -- just curious enough to write this note about what appears to be simply a misleading episode name. 

<<Chandu the Magician: "Robert Returns" (May 11, 1933). Dunning (p.148) lists the broadcast history as "1932-1935, transcribed syndication, originally aired on KHJ-Los Angeles, October 10, 1932, a California chain that eventually reached the Northwest." Sponsored by White King Soap. Summary: "Dorothy, Betty and Bob are on the beach. The island they are on is all that remains of Lemuria....The mask of the seven-headed serpent appears in a ghostly phonograph." Source: RadioGoldIndex.>>

 

I had the OTRR Library's Chandu listings on screen and noticed that "Robert Returns" was already there as the title of two other dates' episodes. 

https://www.otrr.org/OTRRLibrary/index.html?idp=2143

So I listened, while keeping my feet planted firmly on the ground to avoid falling down a Chandu rabbit hole.

Conclusion: The May 11, 1933, episode at OTRR does match Goldin's description given by Larry, but it really should have a different title. OTRR offers "Bob Finds Poison & a Letter," which is accurate. "Robert" does not "return," and is not in the episode at all. ("Bob" with the poison, letter, and ghostly photo, is his son.) 

Here are the three entries in the OTRR Library list:

 


Bob Finds Poison & a Letter
5/11/1933 309 MP3 13:59 3.2 MB

 


Robert Returns
11/11/1932 180 MP3 14:28 3.3 MB

 


Robert Returns
11/24/1932 189 MP3 13:43 3.1 MB

 

Thanks again for all your work, Larry...

Best wishes,

 

Another guy named Bob,

between the Blue Ridge and the New River