Game Zone

[semoochie]

No, I've never lived in Idaho. (Though my brother used to.) "Weiserguy" is a riff on my last name.

My "Old Man Rivers" comment was riffing on both a fellow participant (whose screen name is Michael Rivers Kramer) as well as the comment in #53 from @radiofan2023:

So both came together in that reference. But I also know the song Old Man River from Paul Robeson's marvelous recording of it I've had since college. (The album it's on is probably older than me.)

"Ol' Man River was written in 1925 for the musical, "Showboat".

Walter Brennan was Grand Marshall for Portland's Grand Floral Parade in(I believe)1971. He always played an old man in his movies, even when he was young!

 

[radiofan2023]

"Ol' Man River was written in 1925 for the musical, "Showboat".

Walter Brennan was Grand Marshall for Portland's Grand Floral Parade in(I believe)1971. He always played an old man in his movies, even when he was young!

He probably saw that musical when it premiered!

 

[semoochie]

He probably saw that musical when it premiered!

He may have. Brennan was a true contemporary of Jack Benny: They both came into the world in 1894 and died in 1974. The only difference was their ages. Jack was still only 39.

 

[K.M. Richards]

But I also know the song Old Man River from Paul Robeson's marvelous recording of it I've had since college.

Or "Elderly Man River", as the late Stan Freberg did it in the aftermath of a "network censor" on one of his clever recordings.

 

[semoochie]

Or "Elderly Man River", as the late Stan Freberg did it in the aftermath of a "network censor" on one of his clever recordings.

Isn't this a coincidence? Jack Benny's radio timeslot was replaced by Stan Freberg in 1957! I own the entire series!

 

[michael hagerty]

Getting (sorta) back on topic...I was reminded that "The Game Zone" wasn't the first local radio game show in SF.

The Bay Area Radio Museum has not one, but two airchecks of "The Good Word"---a weekly half-hour quiz show on KGO in 1947. If you can sit through both in one shot, you're made of stronger stuff than I:

The Good Word - KGO 810 Radio, San Francisco | Bay Area Radio Museum

The Good Word KGO 810 Radio, San Francisco 1947 A pair of recordings of "The Good Word," a spelling

bayarearadio.org

 

[Mark Roberts]

Getting (sorta) back on topic...I was reminded that "The Game Zone" wasn't the first local radio game show in SF.

The Bay Area Radio Museum has not one, but two airchecks of "The Good Word"---a weekly half-hour quiz show on KGO in 1947. If you can sit through both in one shot, you're made of stronger stuff than I:

The Good Word - KGO 810 Radio, San Francisco | Bay Area Radio Museum

The Good Word KGO 810 Radio, San Francisco 1947 A pair of recordings of "The Good Word," a spelling

bayarearadio.org

That was the year before TV came to San Francisco so people didn’t know any better.

Sometimes people don’t know what they want until you give it to them.

Sometimes people don’t know what they don’t want until you give them an alternative.