Bob and Ray WHDH September 2nd 1949

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Friday September 2nd, 1949. The audio quality on this file is above the normal Bob and Ray For The Truly Desperate standard of poor to unlistenable. It was transferred from a transcription disk in the collection of revered member R2. Please list as much information about these shows as possible in a review of the show. Your information will be used to update the Archive page. Thank the users who have helped with this file. Some notes on the show. Dating Of Episode: At the 18 minute mark, sportscaster Leo Egan says that the Boston Red Sox have 25 games left to play, pinpointing this episode at Friday September 2, 1949. One reference that seems to work against this date is that at the one minute mark, as Ray talks about protecting your garden from frost, Bob mentions that the weather "felt like it (frost) this morning". The Boston low for September 2, 1949 was actually a mild 55 degrees Fahrenheit (13 Celsius). Bob may have been engaging in some hyperbole, however. Boston's record low for that date, set in 1967, is 48 Fahrenheit (9 Celsius), so 55 degrees may have felt frosty to a Bostonian heading into the Labor Day weekend. Despite Leo Egan's remarks re the Red Sox, and the mention at 16:30 of The Casino At Magnolia remaining open until September 17th, some mp3s of this episode have been misdated as late as October 13 1949. That date would be eleven days after the Red Sox season ended, with a 5-3 loss in a one-game play-off with the New York Yankees, and twenty-six days after the casino had closed for the season. ----------------------------------------------------------- 0:00 - Bob & Ray aren't quite ready to open the show. After a brief time-out, they introduce their program, entitled 'Time To Think'. 1:00 - Ray talks about gardens, and protecting them from frost with old army blankets. 1:55 - A recording of the 1899 song 'Hello Ma Baby' (the first-ever song to reference a relatively new invention: the telephone), sung in Al Jolson style. 4:30 - An interview with 'The Singer Of Songs', vaudevillian Carl Crumpley (Bob), who claims to have sung the just-played song, backed by The Elm City Four. At the close of the interview, Ray refers to Carl Crumpley as 'Carl Crumlet'; Carl Crumlet (Bob) was actually another B&R character of this era, a Harvard professor with a thick German accent. 6:25 - Discussion of the Boston Red Sox returning from their road trip, sportscasting, and other programming on WHDH. Sportscaster Leo Egan is in the studio, visiting and spying on Bob and Ray. 8:10 - Bob & Ray present a detective program in which they both want to play the private eye; they take turns. 9:45 - The show suddenly switches from a private eye program to Ben Dover (Ray) and Stan Dupp (Bob) sharing some caviar and conversation. Interesting to note that on the previous day's program, it was Bob who played homely little philosopher Ben Dover, while Ray played Stan Dupp. Were these Bob and Ray's only interchangeable characters? 11:05 - Stan Dupp and Ben Dover segue into a singing commercial for Chesterfield cigarettes. 11:25 - A mention of the show's musicians Ken and Bill being on vacation, then Tex (Bob) drops by to talk about his country & western band, his recent show tour, his mechanically-autographed pictures for sale, and his upcoming television and movie projects. 13:55 - Ray reads a commercial for The Casino at Magnolia, with much interruption from Bob. 17:05 - Discussion of the Brockton Fair contest with sportscaster Leo Egan, who seems to have been hanging around in the background throughout the show. Bob and Ray imply that they spoke on-air with Leo Egan the previous day; since Leo doesn't appear in the September 1st episode, it may have been that Bob and Ray crashed Leo's sportscast. 17:35 - Bob & Ray chat with Leo about the Boston Red Sox, their chances of winning the American League pennant, and the previous year's World Series. (This discussion allowed a precise dating of this episode; see above.) 19:40 - Bob does a commercial for The House Of Television; Bob, Ray, and Leo Egan talk about old serials and other shows on television. 23:10 - Bob, Ray, and Tex (Bob) talk about playing a song, they eventually play a rather morose version of Vernon Dalhart's 1924 hit 'The Prisoner's Song'; Ray plays devil's advocate and offers the singer no sympathy at all. The song seems to be played at a slightly slow speed, emphasizing its hang-dog tone. 27:00 - Ray reads a commercial for Wonderland Revere Greyhound Park. 28:20 - Bob gives an extremely vague weather report, for nowhere near Boston. 29:30 - Ray wraps up the program. Episode annotation by Harry Wilson

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.

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