Sunday, October 22, 2017
Got Enid right.
Haven't done an OTR entry in a long time.
The 'Johnny Dollar' show ran for many years and remains one of the most popular OTR series. This 1957 episode puts Johnny in Enid, checking out a strange oilman who seems to have paid for his insurance with counterfeit money. (I won't spoil the plot.)
Atypically for NYC radio, the writers get all the Enid details RIGHT.
Not atypically, Virginia Gregg gets the character of an Okie girl PRECISELY RIGHT. The voice, the dialect, the delicate feminine lady who can fix a car or shoot a rattlesnake when necessary. On the dot.
Gregg was the Universal Voice. Any time you hear a perfectly accurate and uniquely individual female voice in old radio shows, you don't need to wait for the credits. It's Virginia Gregg.
= = = = =
Numerical sidenote: The JD show was organized around a central conceit or framework of Johnny's expense accounts. The accounts are fairly detailed in the earlier shows, including presumably accurate prices for all sorts of objects and services that aren't normally listed online. Expected fees for informants, round-trip flights to Calcutta. An econ researcher could listen to all the shows and build an interesting database of prices.
The 'Johnny Dollar' show ran for many years and remains one of the most popular OTR series. This 1957 episode puts Johnny in Enid, checking out a strange oilman who seems to have paid for his insurance with counterfeit money. (I won't spoil the plot.)
Atypically for NYC radio, the writers get all the Enid details RIGHT.
Not atypically, Virginia Gregg gets the character of an Okie girl PRECISELY RIGHT. The voice, the dialect, the delicate feminine lady who can fix a car or shoot a rattlesnake when necessary. On the dot.
Gregg was the Universal Voice. Any time you hear a perfectly accurate and uniquely individual female voice in old radio shows, you don't need to wait for the credits. It's Virginia Gregg.
= = = = =
Numerical sidenote: The JD show was organized around a central conceit or framework of Johnny's expense accounts. The accounts are fairly detailed in the earlier shows, including presumably accurate prices for all sorts of objects and services that aren't normally listed online. Expected fees for informants, round-trip flights to Calcutta. An econ researcher could listen to all the shows and build an interesting database of prices.
Labels: Aberree
¶ 3:47 AM
