The Encore Theatre Radio Program

Series Derivatives:

Notes on Provenances:

All above cited provenances are in error in one form or another. The most helpful provenance was the log of the radioGOLDINdex.

OTRisms:

The 46-06-11 Episode is often misnamed 'The Story of Louis Pasteur', after the movie of the same name, but Frank Graham announces it as 'The Life of Louis Pasteur', as well as in the credits. Since it's an adaptation, the title is almost certainly the correct title of the script and its broadcast.

The 46-06-18 Episode is often misnamed either 'Yellowjacket', or 'Yellowjack'. The title of the episode is derived from the play and movie, 'Yellow Jack', which refers to the slang name applied to yellow fever during that disease's early existence. The correct title is therefore 'Yellow Jack'.

The 46-07-02 Episode is often misnamed 'A Man In White', but the correct title is 'Men In White'.

The 46-07-23 Episode is often misnamed either 'Doctor Eurlick's Magic Bullet', or 'Dr. Eurlich's Magic Bullet', but the correct title is 'Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet'.

We invite you to compare our fully provenanced research with the log from the '1,500 expert researchers' at the OTRR and their Encore Theater log, which the OTRR claims to be correct according to their 'OTTER log' they represent as the "most authoritative and accurate vintage Radio database in the world":

OTRRpedia

''The OTRR Group's Certified Series is currently the most accurate archive of OTR series in the world. Each series has been thoroughly researched, accurately labeled (dates and titles), and transcribed at the highest quality possible.''

We've provided a screen shot of their current log for comparison, HERE to protect our own further due diligence, content and intellectual property. What remains in their fanciful 'log' of what they refer to as "Encore Theater" [sic] is as follows:

• The production's name is Encore Theatre, not Encore Theater.
• They still refuse to acknowledge the title of Episode No. 3 as Yellow Jack, vice what they refer to as Yellowjack.
• They still refuse to acknowledge the title of Episode No. 5 as Men In White, vice what they refer to as A Man In White.

The wrong production name and two remaining wrong titles. That's like what . . . 79.5% accuracy for a thirteen week production. That's a B- at best, a C+ at worst. Does that strike anyone as "the most accurate archive of OTR series [sic] in the world"?

The OTRR's stubborn insistence to cling to their misinformation can be traced directly to the site from which they copied their initial Encore Theater [sic] log in the first place: The Vintage Radio Place log of Encore Theater [sic]. Indeed, they brazenly continue to cite it as a reference source on their references page for 'Encore Theater' [sic], knowing full well that it's utter rubbish. This is entirely understandable, since the OTRR's minions have strategically placed a link to the highly commercial--and highly inaccurate--Vintage Radio Place on virtually every single 'otr' article page in Wikipedia, driving tens of thousands of hits a month to their highly successful--and highly inaccurate--benefactor.

To give you an idea of the misguided sites that further perpetuate Encore Theatre misinformation--simply run any of the following quoted Google searches:

• "Encore Theater" "Yellowjack"
• "Encore Theater" "Dr. Eurlich's Magic Bullet"
• "Encore Theater" "Yellowjacket"

We don't make this stuff up. Look in the sidebar at left. We don't rewrite history--we simply disclose it. How can any honest researcher miss thirteen gigantic spot ads like the ones at left? And here's the part we don't understand about the study of any 'aural' medium. How in heaven's name can anyone--of any organization--accurately log a series they don't even listen to. It simply can't be done.

A man far wiser, far saner, and a far and away more humble man than the owner of the OTRR will ever be, says the following about his own vintage Radio database:

"This reference work must begin with two admissions, either of which usually dooms a database’s usefulness

1. It is out of date.

2. It is inaccurate."

That quote is from none other than David Goldin, from the entry page of his remarkable database of transcription information, the radioGOLDINdex, the actual 'most often cited vintage Radio database in the world.' When he's unsure of something in his database, he states so. When he's unsure of the spelling of a name or a title, he states so. In short. his database has integrity.

What you see here, is what you get. Complete transparency. Here's how we did it--for better or worse. Here's how you can build on it yourselves--hopefully for the better. Here's the breadcrumbs--just follow the trail a bit further if you wish. No hobbled downloads. No misdirection. No strings attached. We point you in the right direction and you're free to expand on it, extend it, use it however it best advances your efforts.

We ask one thing and one thing only--if you employ what we publish, attribute it, before we cite you on it.

We continue to provide honest research into these wonderful Golden Age Radio programs simply because we love to do it. If you feel that we've provided you with useful information or saved you some valuable time regarding this log--and you'd like to help us even further--you can help us keep going. Please consider a small donation here:

We don't pronounce our Golden Age Radio research as 'certified' anything. By the very definition, research is imperfect. We simply tell the truth. As is our continuing practice, we provide our fully provenanced research results--to the extent possible--right here on the page, for any of our peers to review--or refute--as the case may be. If you take issue with any of our findings, you're welcome to cite any better verifiable source(s) and we'll immediately review them and update our findings accordingly. As more verifiable provenances surface, we'll continue to update the following series log, as appropriate.

All rights reserved by their respective sources. Article and log copyright 2009 The Digital Deli Online--all rights reserved. Any failure to attribute the results of this copywritten work will be rigorously pursued.

The Encore Theatre Series Log

The Encore Theatre Biographies

Ancient Chinese, Egyptians, and Greeks had found that moldy substances were highly effective in keeping open cuts clean. Dr. Louis Pasteur observed an antibacterial action when he noted that the addition of common bacteria stopped the growth of anthrax bacilli in sterile urine.

In the 1920s the Scotsman Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) found a mold growing on some bacterial samples in his laboratory. Indeed, the mold killed the samples. He identified that mold as penicillin. During World War II a team of researchers, led by Australian Howard Florey (1898-1968) furthered that research and tested the new drug on injured soldiers. It proved effective against anthrax, tetanus, and syphilis and was the first drug that worked against pneumonia. About the same time Selman Waksman (1888-1973), an American biochemist, isolated another fungoid, streptomycin, which proved effective against tuberculosis. Waksman coined the term “antibiotic” to describe such biological drugs.

More new drugs followed in the 1950s, including cortisone, a steroid hormone that reduced inflammation and suppressed immune system response. The first effective drugs for the treatment of mental illness also appeared during the era. Two antiviral vaccines--for smallpox and polio--also appeared during this era. Both virtually eradicated both diseases by the end of the 20th century.

Leith Stevens was already a musical child prodigy at the age of 5. By the age of 14 he was making his performing debut. At the age of 16, he was Madame Schumann-Heink's accompanist and mentor to her own students. At the age of 21, the Columbia Broadcasting System wisely scooped him up as a network vocal arranger and within three more years he was a CBS composer/conductor for many of the network's top recurring programs.

From the Star-News - July 24, 1970, Pasadena, California:

Fatally Stricken
When Told Wife
Killed in Crash

HOLLYWOOD (UPI) — Leith Stevens, director of television music at Paramount Studios, was called to an extension telephone to take an emergency long distance call.

The party on the other end advised him his wife, Elizabeth, 40, had been killed when her car plunged over a 150-foot cliff in the Santa Rosa Mountains near Palm Springs.

Stevens, 60, nominated three times for Oscars for songs or movie scores took the telephone call about his wife on a Hollywood studio phone, put down the receiver, walked across the room and slumped in death Thursday, witnesses said.

Stevens was a composer and a conductor during his long career. He was nominated for an Academy Award three times. He was founder and first president of the Composers and Lyricists Guild of America in 1954.

Stevens' wife was driving with her three pet dogs when she was killed. The accident occurred on California 74, the co-called "Palms to Pines Highway," near where Jimmy Durante simulated an accident in the movie "Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. The dogs escaped with minor injuries when the vehicle rolled over and landed upside down.

Oscar nominations were accorded Stevens' movie scores for The Five Pennies and A New Kind of Love. His melody Julie was given an Oscar nomination as Best Song.

What is the function of a director of television music at a studio producing many hours of video entertainment every week for the consumption of millions of viewers?

Does he select the composer? How closely does he supervise the work during writing? How much of his personal touch is reflected in the finished piece? Leith Stevens, the bearded Director of Television Music at Paramount Studios, is eminently qualified to answer these questions regarding the writing of music lor television.

A child prodigy, Stevens took his first piano lesson from his father when he was five years old. He made his piano debut at 14, and when he was 18 he was a coach for the students of the legendary Madame Schumann-Heink. He subsequently went on tour with the contralto as her accompanist.

He was 21 when he joined CBS as a vocal arranger and three years later he was made a composer and conductor for many of the network's top radio shows. In 1941 he began composing for motion pictures--he had been nominated three times for an Academy Award--and when television came along he entered that field.

Stevens said that assigning a composer is like casting an actor for a part. "A composer is chosen whose particular talents fit certain dramatic problems." he explained. "This is usually done in conjunction with the series producer, who has specific ideas about what he wants the music to accomplish. My chore is to guide the composer right and see that he follows through."

"Bruce Geller has strong instincts in this area and almost without exception selects the composer for his productions of Mission: Impossible and Mannix." Bruce chose Lalo Schifrin, a comparative newcomer to the business, to write the theme for Mission four years ago. "Schifrin's ability to provide the right music in the right context is why Bruce also had him write the music for Mannix."

Stevens points out how it is possible to angle music several different ways, giving mysteries as an example. "A producer may wish to highlight the romance in a whodunit and play down the mystery." And then he may wish to go the other way. "I usually check the score while it is in progress and supervise the recording.", Stevens said. "But I try to keep my personal touch out of the work. I don't want our composers sounding like Leith Stevens. A composer's stock in trade is his own personal sound which gives a distinctive quality to his music and I wouldn't want to take that away from him."

Summing up his role as music director, Stevens said: "My function is not to have musicians do something I want them to do but to make sure that what the composer does is in his own style and that the result is right for the show."

“The eternal providence has appointed me to watch over the life and death of all thy creatures. May I always see in the patient a fellow creature in pain. Grant me strength and opportunity always to extend the domain of my craft.”

In fact, the prayer is now believed to have been written, not by Maimonides, but by Marcus Herz, a German physician, pupil of the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, and physician to the great English philanthropist Moses Mendelssohn. The prayer first appeared in print in 1793 which may be when it was written.

Irrespective of who wrote it, it is an extraordinary prayer. The entire prayer reads as follows in its original context:

"Almighty God, Thou has created the human body with infinite wisdom. Ten thousand times ten thousand organs hast Thou combined in it that act unceasingly and harmoniously to preserve the whole in all its beauty the body which is the envelope of the immortal soul. They are ever acting in perfect order, agreement and accord. Yet, when the frailty of matter or the unbridling of passions deranges this order or interrupts this accord, then forces clash and the body crumbles into the primal dust from which it came. Thou sendest to man diseases as beneficent messengers to foretell approaching danger and to urge him to avert it.

"Thou has blest Thine earth, Thy rivers and Thy mountains with healing substances; they enable Thy creatures to alleviate their sufferings and to heal their illnesses. Thou hast endowed man with the wisdom to relieve the suffering of his brother, to recognize his disorders, to extract the healing substances, to discover their powers and to prepare and to apply them to suit every ill. In Thine Eternal Providence Thou hast chosen me to watch over the life and health of Thy creatures. I am now about to apply myself to the duties of my profession. Support me, Almighty God, in these great labors that they may benefit mankind, for without Thy help not even the least thing will succeed.

"Inspire me with love for my art and for Thy creatures. Do not allow thirst for profit, ambition for renown and admiration, to interfere with my profession, for these are the enemies of truth and of love for mankind and they can lead astray in the great task of attending to the welfare of Thy creatures. Preserve the strength of my body and of my soul that they ever be ready to cheerfully help and support rich and poor, good and bad, enemy as well as friend. In the sufferer let me see only the human being. Illumine my mind that it recognize what presents itself and that it may comprehend what is absent or hidden. Let it not fail to see what is visible, but do not permit it to arrogate to itself the power to see what cannot be seen, for delicate and indefinite are the bounds of the great art of caring for the lives and health of Thy creatures. Let me never be absent- minded. May no strange thoughts divert my attention at the bedside of the sick, or disturb my mind in its silent labors, for great and sacred are the thoughtful deliberations required to preserve the lives and health of Thy creatures.

"Grant that my patients have confidence in me and my art and follow my directions and my counsel. Remove from their midst all charlatans and the whole host of officious relatives and know-all nurses, cruel people who arrogantly frustrate the wisest purposes of our art and often lead Thy creatures to their death.

"Should those who are wiser than I wish to improve and instruct me, let my soul gratefully follow their guidance; for vast is the extent of our art. Should conceited fools, however, censure me, then let love for my profession steel me against them, so that I remain steadfast without regard for age, for reputation, or for honor, because surrender would bring to Thy creatures sickness and death.

"Imbue my soul with gentleness and calmness when older colleagues, proud of their age, wish to displace me or to scorn me or disdainfully to teach me. May even this be of advantage to me, for they know many things of which I am ignorant, but let not their arrogance give me pain. For they are old and old age is not master of the passions. I also hope to attain old age upon this earth, before Thee, Almighty God!

"Let me be contented in everything except in the great science of my profession. Never allow the thought to arise in me that I have attained to sufficient knowledge, but vouchsafe to me the strength, the leisure and the ambition ever to extend my knowledge. For art is great, but the mind of man is ever expanding.

"Almighty God! Thou hast chosen me in Thy mercy to watch over the life and death of Thy creatures. I now apply myself to my profession. Support me in this great task so that it may benefit mankind, for without Thy help not even the least thing will succeed."