Sunday, September 27, 2009

The OTRRpedia

The OTRRpedia
from information compiled by The Old Time Radio Researchers Group

This website is devoted to old time radio. A search for programs or episodes is currently up and running and soon a search for radio talent will also be available. (People are already entered, they just can't be searched, but if you look for The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes there is a link to Basil Rathbone. There is also an index to look through for people.) One enjoyable feature is a radio diary. Enter a date and you will find what programs aired on that date. The information is compiled by the Old Time Radio Researchers Group. Clicking on that link brings up other links. Have a ball by clicking on the Publications link, then the Magazines Page. A list of magazines published primarily in the 30s and 40s comes up. Click on a title, then the original issue date comes up. Click on one, then wait just a little bit for it to load (the entire issue has been scanned) and you can actually read the magazine. The articles include the well known (Burns and Allen) and the not so famous (Irene Rich). Just one gripe: no sounds. You can't listen to the memorable theme for The Green Hornet (The Flight of the Bumblebee by Rimsky-Korsakov), so check it out on compact disc here at the library! You also can't listen to some of the great old commercials, like for Cream of Wheat or Pepsodent. (You'll wonder where the yellow went, when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent.) [If you like this, consider the following: There are LOTS of websites for individual programs (try looking for Vic and Sade; Victor Gook and his wife Sade live in a little house halfway up the next block. Vic is the Exalted Big Dipper of the Drowsy Venus Chapter of the Sacred Stars of the Milky Way. He is an accountant for a kitchenware company and he is sometimes asked to submit articles to the Kitchenware Quarterly!) Of course the library has many books on radio programs and you can experience the progams themselves on compact disc.] -- recommended by Rianna S. - Bennett Martin Public Library

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