🎸♥
9:10pm
Austin Rich:
This show aired the day after the Fourth of July. Fourth of July was a Tuesday in 1950, so it's likely everyone had to work Wednesday morning. Something about that seems to add an interesting "shade" to the way this story might have been heard when it first aired.
♥
9:10pm
Tenacious Crow:
He's a smooth talker that Richard Diamond
♥
9:10pm
David Shortell:
Last week’s listener comments compared Flash Gordon with Buck Rogers. I wonder if Flash was inspired more by the fantasy of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter, than by the hard science fiction of Philip Francis Nowlan‘s Buck.
I don’t know because I’ve read none of it! I did see Chuck Jones’ “Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century” (1953) and read Harvey Kurtzman/Wally Wood’s “Flesh Garden” (MAD #11, May 1954). A short time before, Kurtzman briefly wrote the daily Flash Gordon strip!
It saddens me that when I type Buck Rogers into a search engine, the first reply is about the crappy 1979-1981 TV series, which I suspect bore little relation to its source.
When I web-search Flash Gordon, the first result is for the 1980 movie. I suppose that didn’t do as well as hoped, because there were no sequels. I don't know what became of its star either. I’ve always avoided the film because of my disdain for “camp”. If it treated itself seriously like the 2012 John Carter movie, I might’ve seen it.
🎸♥
9:13pm
Austin Rich:
Hmmmmm. Curious observation, about Flash Gordon being inspired by John Carter. Burroughs certainly published before Flash Gordon, and I could see that influence. (I'm a fan of those John Carter books... at least, the first three. The fourth one isn't that great. I didn't read further.)
With regards to the 1980 Flash Gordon movie being camp: Maybe? I think, based on the documentaries I've seen, that everyone making it was trying to make something earnest. But a lot of the people involved were also very eccentric, and I feel like the marketing afterwards leaned into all sorts of angles, to sell the "pile" they had accidentally created.
🎸♥
9:17pm
Austin Rich:
I think that's Gerald Mohr playing this person hiring Diamond.
🎸♥
9:18pm
David The Splatter:
Saxophone reeds and croquet mallets... oddly specific.
🎸♥
9:18pm
Austin Rich:
Gerald Mohr plays Philip Marlowe over on another show.
I have contended that Chris is the "secret" backbone of the show, as he really runs the Tamborine, and he has survived where other staff have died, and Rocky seems to really trust him.
So this "Date Plantation" adventure seems to have been something interesting, if Rocky brought Chris along.
I missed the credits this week, so I'm not sure. But it isn't always Blake. Just MOST of the time. (I linked to Blake's wiki above.)
🎸♥
9:34pm
Austin Rich:
Looks like the Diamond Episode this week was written by Harold Jack Bloom and Joe Moreheim. But I have to say, the both made it sound like a Blake Edwards script, in my mind.
♥
9:35pm
Tenacious Crow:
So is Rocky Jordan also a private eye or was he just a cafe owner who got embroiled in adventure?
🎸♥
9:35pm
Austin Rich:
Bloom wrote the James Bond movie, "You Only Live Twice."
Sometimes the police use him, depending on the case. He's sort of an "Everyman" who is prone to adventure. You know? The way it happens to every cafe owner?
The real story is: Various Radio producers had been trying to get a "Casablanca" radio show going for years, but Bogart was NOT interested. So this show was an attempt to re-create Casablanca, in an "on-going" fashion, with original characters that were clearly not Rick and friends.
I listen to a lot of Podcasts that overlap with what I do, and I try to listen to a lot of radio that airs shows like this. I always wondered why there wasn't more of the host's personality in the show, and I really wanted Dimestore to be unique, in as many ways as I could.
I just want America to be calm for once... Is that too much to ask?!?
🎸♥
10:21pm
Austin Rich:
The reverence for "The Porch" is interesting. I wrote a story for a blog a million years ago, about wanting to start a service that rented "drinking porches," for punk kids who didn't want to use gazebos to drink outside.
🎸♥
10:26pm
Austin Rich:
"Actuality" was the original name for "Documentaries."
🎸♥
10:30pm
Austin Rich:
The importance of Newsreels might not be immediately obvious, but in the early 1900's in the US, a fair number of American's couldn't read, nor did they have easy access to learning. So newspapers, and other means of learning about what's happening in the world, was inaccessible. Newsreels were the first time that News - and general information about the world - was accessible to a much larger number of Americans.
🎸♥
10:32pm
Austin Rich:
"It's an acquired taste. Like Olives."
🎸♥
10:33pm
Austin Rich:
There was an entire industry of "Automated People" before any kind of real robots or computers were available. There was always a person inside, and a variety of tricks, recordings, and other whatzits, could make a person in a "robot costume" seem like a real robot.
It's a scam, and a lot of people did it back then.
Sort of like how AI is a scam, and pretends to be real, but isn't...
🎸♥
10:34pm
Bandit:
Is this episode about the Turk? The chess playing mechanical man?
Good question! He was alive until 1965, and he was a very shrewd businessman, leveraging his name as a sponsor on all sorts of things. So it's likely he "okayed" the show. But I don't know if he heard it / commented on it / had anything to say about it. He might have just been happy to know he was getting money from it.
10:40pm
asheville jon:
Oh Blackstone, you sly devil
🎸♥
10:41pm
Austin Rich:
I wanted to be a magician as a kid, but I never really pursued it seriously. Now I like the idea of stage magicians, but I'm not sure I have the bandwidth to learn enough to do it well.
🎸♥
10:43pm
Bandit:
Now I'm curious how magicians felt that secrets were being shared over the radio. Cause the unbreakable match stick was a trick you could buy from catalogs. Curiouser and curiouser
🎸♥
10:43pm
Austin Rich:
I love this opening "Nightline" music. I need to steal it for something.
Hmmmm. Maybe you could find something, in old magic publications? We sell some vintage stuff, about magic and "the industry." But I've never looked through it.
One of the oldest jokes in the fraternity is "If you dont want someone to learn a trick, put it in a book."
🎸♥
10:47pm
Austin Rich:
As I've mentioned before, this is a period when X-Minus One was only about 20 minutes per episode, and a commercial or two was a part of that 20 minutes. For a show that was nearly 30 minutes when it launched, that's a WILD decrease in air-time.
This is a detail that might get lost. In this story, people wear "masks" of their "public faces." People don't actually know what anyone's regular faces look like, except at home.
Listener comments!
: Good Hello.
Imaginos: Ahoy
Austin Rich:
↳ Imaginos @8:47
Early birds of a feather. I hope you are still well!Asheville Jon: came to lurk, staying for the singing
Austin Rich:
↳ Asheville Jon @8:53
Asheville Jon! "Lurk, and the world lurks with you..."David The Splatter: Richard Diamond... brought to you by DRUGS!!! :D
Evening, Austin and all!
Asheville Jon:
↳ David The Splatter @9:01
oh my gosh, hiAustin Rich:
↳ David The Splatter @9:01
Rexall used to carry EVERYTHING back in the day.Austin Rich: "I break a lot of back."
Tenacious Crow: Hey hey everyone!
I hope you got some thrilling cases for us Austin!
Austin Rich:
↳ David The Splatter @9:01
A wrestling story! Ha! Your avatar is perfect.David The Splatter:
↳ Asheville Jon @9:02
How does a Private Detective?Austin Rich:
↳ Tenacious Crow @9:03
Tenacious Crow! Thanks for dropping into the Digital Salon!David The Splatter:
↳ Austin Rich @9:03
Now I'm sad we never got a Dom DeLuise movie as Captain Chaos in a wrestling ring.Austin Rich: "You know, like guys do, sometimes. He was a great guy."
Cue the homoerotic subtext...
Austin Rich:
↳ David The Splatter @9:04
IF ONLY! That might have been the movie that could have set this country on a better path.Bandit: We got Diek Store Sign!!
Bandit:
↳ Bandit @9:05
Dime Store Sign!!Austin Rich: This is the second actor who has played Levinson. There will be at least one more, over the run of the show.
Austin Rich:
↳ Bandit @9:05
Bandit! Now it's a party.Bandit:
↳ Austin Rich @9:05
Woop woop!! 🙌🙌Bandit: Got our of work early, I get to hear all of Dimestore tonight
Austin Rich:
↳ Song: ""The Mike Burton Case"" by "Richard Diamond, Priv...
This is another circumstance where I have changed the name of the show here, because the listed title would give away something later.Austin Rich: "Likewise, I'm sure."
Asheville Jon: oh no, not the HAIRY HAND!!!!
Webhamster Henry: diamond is still conscious!
Austin Rich: This show aired the day after the Fourth of July. Fourth of July was a Tuesday in 1950, so it's likely everyone had to work Wednesday morning. Something about that seems to add an interesting "shade" to the way this story might have been heard when it first aired.
Austin Rich:
↳ Webhamster Henry @9:10
So far!(Nice to see you, Webhamster!)
Tenacious Crow: He's a smooth talker that Richard Diamond
David Shortell: Last week’s listener comments compared Flash Gordon with Buck Rogers. I wonder if Flash was inspired more by the fantasy of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter, than by the hard science fiction of Philip Francis Nowlan‘s Buck.
I don’t know because I’ve read none of it! I did see Chuck Jones’ “Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century” (1953) and read Harvey Kurtzman/Wally Wood’s “Flesh Garden” (MAD #11, May 1954). A short time before, Kurtzman briefly wrote the daily Flash Gordon strip!
It saddens me that when I type Buck Rogers into a search engine, the first reply is about the crappy 1979-1981 TV series, which I suspect bore little relation to its source.
When I web-search Flash Gordon, the first result is for the 1980 movie. I suppose that didn’t do as well as hoped, because there were no sequels. I don't know what became of its star either. I’ve always avoided the film because of my disdain for “camp”. If it treated itself seriously like the 2012 John Carter movie, I might’ve seen it.
Austin Rich: Hmmmmm. Curious observation, about Flash Gordon being inspired by John Carter. Burroughs certainly published before Flash Gordon, and I could see that influence. (I'm a fan of those John Carter books... at least, the first three. The fourth one isn't that great. I didn't read further.)
Austin Rich:
↳ Tenacious Crow @9:10
The dialog is the main reason for me to listen. I love to heard Dick Powell deliver lines like these.Austin Rich:
↳ David Shortell @9:10
With regards to the 1980 Flash Gordon movie being camp: Maybe? I think, based on the documentaries I've seen, that everyone making it was trying to make something earnest. But a lot of the people involved were also very eccentric, and I feel like the marketing afterwards leaned into all sorts of angles, to sell the "pile" they had accidentally created.Austin Rich: I think that's Gerald Mohr playing this person hiring Diamond.
David The Splatter: Saxophone reeds and croquet mallets... oddly specific.
Austin Rich: Gerald Mohr plays Philip Marlowe over on another show.
Imaginos: Guy was A nun in an earlier life
Webhamster Henry: There we go!
Webhamster Henry: I thought Toby was Otis.
Austin Rich:
↳ David The Splatter @9:18
The writer for this series went on to write the Pink Panther movies, among other things.en.wikipedia.org...
Austin Rich:
↳ Webhamster Henry @9:19
Probably the same actor.Austin Rich:
↳ Webhamster Henry @9:19
I keep meaning to cut in old clips of "Eugor" into Richard Diamond shows, when he gets knocked out.Tenacious Crow: I love whoever wrote these Richard Diamond episodes he has so many fun lines
David The Splatter:
↳ Austin Rich @9:20
I was just about to say I miss Eugor in these Diamond episodes. :)Austin Rich:
↳ Tenacious Crow @9:20
See my note above! While I'm not sure if he wrote this specific epsiode, he writes MOST of the Diamond episodes.Tenacious Crow:
↳ Austin Rich @9:21
I had no idea!I thought Dick Powell was just the voice.
David Shortell:
↳ Austin Rich @9:13
I have this 2021 book that speculates about the Flash Gordon creator’s fatal car crash:www.amazon.com...
It’s not quite finished though, according to this:
cerebus.fandom.com...
Asheville Jon: cut the victrola off, I GOTTA SING!!!!
David The Splatter: Somewhere in the distance, a small dog tilts its head.
Austin Rich: More information about Enrico Caruso:
en.wikipedia.org...
Asheville Jon: weak singing tonight. booooo
Asheville Jon: <throws tomatoes at the radio>
Austin Rich:
↳ Asheville Jon @9:26
Yeah. There's a few coming up, too, where there is NO singing. I'm just warning you in advance.I need to collect all the old songs, and make one long playlist.
Austin Rich: Chris and Rocky had a solo-adventure, between shows, that I should try and write a fan-fic about...
Bandit:
↳ Asheville Jon @9:27
Delmonte brand™ Throw Tomatoes™ I hopeAustin Rich:
↳ Austin Rich @9:28
I have contended that Chris is the "secret" backbone of the show, as he really runs the Tamborine, and he has survived where other staff have died, and Rocky seems to really trust him.So this "Date Plantation" adventure seems to have been something interesting, if Rocky brought Chris along.
Austin Rich:
↳ Bandit @9:29
Only the best!Webhamster Henry: Diamond was not written by Blake Edwards this week?
Austin Rich: This might be the most air-time (in one episode) that Chris has gotten.
Asheville Jon: mmmmmmmy sharona
Austin Rich:
↳ Webhamster Henry @9:30
I missed the credits this week, so I'm not sure. But it isn't always Blake. Just MOST of the time. (I linked to Blake's wiki above.)Austin Rich: Looks like the Diamond Episode this week was written by Harold Jack Bloom and Joe Moreheim. But I have to say, the both made it sound like a Blake Edwards script, in my mind.
Tenacious Crow: So is Rocky Jordan also a private eye or was he just a cafe owner who got embroiled in adventure?
Austin Rich: Bloom wrote the James Bond movie, "You Only Live Twice."
en.wikipedia.org...
Austin Rich: Moreheim wrote on the 60's "The Saint" TV show, among many other things.
www.imdb.com...
Austin Rich:
↳ Tenacious Crow @9:35
Rocky is a Cafe Owner, from St. Louis. For some reason, he finds his way into "Noir" style adventure, almost every week.Imaginos: Getting sleepy
Austin Rich:
↳ Tenacious Crow @9:35
Sometimes the police use him, depending on the case. He's sort of an "Everyman" who is prone to adventure. You know? The way it happens to every cafe owner?Austin Rich:
↳ Imaginos @9:37
Sleep well!Imaginos:
↳ Austin Rich @9:38
Thank youDavid The Splatter: I'm gonna get ready for bed as well. Thanks, Austin!
Bandit:
↳ Austin Rich @9:37
He is a magnet for this stuff tbh. Seems like if he just walked outside he would stumble on itAustin Rich:
↳ Tenacious Crow @9:35
The real story is: Various Radio producers had been trying to get a "Casablanca" radio show going for years, but Bogart was NOT interested. So this show was an attempt to re-create Casablanca, in an "on-going" fashion, with original characters that were clearly not Rick and friends.Austin Rich:
↳ Bandit @9:40
Totally!Bandit: Karnac hotel?? Do they hold the reservations on a hermetically sealed mayo jar on the porch of Funk and Wagnells?
Webhamster Henry:
↳ Song: ""Horde of the Memlocks"" by "The Adventures of Ro...
Mamluks: en.wikipedia.org...Austin Rich:
↳ Webhamster Henry @9:45
I was just about to post that link!Bandit:
↳ Bandit @9:42
Ah come on guys, this was a funny joke! 🤣Austin Rich:
↳ Bandit @9:42
Agreed! I was waiting for something funny to write back..Bandit:
↳ Austin Rich @9:48
Fair enough lolAustin Rich: I have a great Dr. But I never feel more guilty about my lifestyle, than I do after I've seen her.
laurapanic: FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!! (Hi, been lurking)
Austin Rich: The traditional ending with coffee...
Austin Rich:
↳ laurapanic @9:53
laurapanic! It's always a pleasure to have you in the Digital Salon. That's how you know you're doing something right!Bandit: They are fan titles correct?
Bandit: Dimestore revelations best revelations
Webhamster Henry: Apocalypse now (Heart of Darkness)
Webhamster Henry: I want to know what's happening at the other bars in Cairo!
Bandit:
↳ Webhamster Henry @10:10
Next door is just a Cheers ripoffWebhamster Henry: Elliott Gould is the definitive Marlowe.
en.wikipedia.org...
Austin Rich:
↳ Bandit @10:06
Oh? What was the best one?Austin Rich:
↳ Webhamster Henry @10:10
Yeah, we need that show, for sure.Austin Rich:
↳ Bandit @10:11
Ha! I would still listen to it, if Rocky occasionally came it to complain to Sam.Austin Rich:
↳ Webhamster Henry @10:14
No, you are right. I should have said that Mohr is the definitive "Radio" Marlowe.Austin Rich:
↳ Webhamster Henry @10:14
Gould is the definitive "Cat Loving" Marlowe.Bandit:
↳ Austin Rich @10:15
I mean like, all of them! Idk I just like hearing your takes on the stories as well as the information you giveAustin Rich:
↳ Bandit @10:17
I listen to a lot of Podcasts that overlap with what I do, and I try to listen to a lot of radio that airs shows like this. I always wondered why there wasn't more of the host's personality in the show, and I really wanted Dimestore to be unique, in as many ways as I could.Webhamster Henry: Make America 76 Million Again!
Bandit:
↳ Webhamster Henry @10:20
I just want America to be calm for once... Is that too much to ask?!?Austin Rich: The reverence for "The Porch" is interesting. I wrote a story for a blog a million years ago, about wanting to start a service that rented "drinking porches," for punk kids who didn't want to use gazebos to drink outside.
Austin Rich:
↳ Bandit @10:20
I want an America that isn't just a front for Capitalism. I feel like the other problems would work themselves out after that.Bandit:
↳ Austin Rich @10:22
I couldn't agree moreAustin Rich: "We were all in the same boat: none of us had any money."
Austin Rich: "Moving Pictures! Wild!"
Austin Rich: "Actuality" was the original name for "Documentaries."
Austin Rich: The importance of Newsreels might not be immediately obvious, but in the early 1900's in the US, a fair number of American's couldn't read, nor did they have easy access to learning. So newspapers, and other means of learning about what's happening in the world, was inaccessible. Newsreels were the first time that News - and general information about the world - was accessible to a much larger number of Americans.
Austin Rich: "It's an acquired taste. Like Olives."
Austin Rich: There was an entire industry of "Automated People" before any kind of real robots or computers were available. There was always a person inside, and a variety of tricks, recordings, and other whatzits, could make a person in a "robot costume" seem like a real robot.
It's a scam, and a lot of people did it back then.
Sort of like how AI is a scam, and pretends to be real, but isn't...
Bandit: Is this episode about the Turk? The chess playing mechanical man?
Austin Rich:
↳ Bandit @10:34
A version of it...Austin Rich:
↳ Song: ""Midway Robberies"" by "Blackstone, The Magic Det...
This was the first show of the year for this show / series.Bandit: Do we know what the actual Blackstone felt about this show?
Webhamster Henry: People had matches all the time..
Austin Rich:
↳ Bandit @10:37
Good question! He was alive until 1965, and he was a very shrewd businessman, leveraging his name as a sponsor on all sorts of things. So it's likely he "okayed" the show. But I don't know if he heard it / commented on it / had anything to say about it. He might have just been happy to know he was getting money from it.asheville jon: Oh Blackstone, you sly devil
Austin Rich: I wanted to be a magician as a kid, but I never really pursued it seriously. Now I like the idea of stage magicians, but I'm not sure I have the bandwidth to learn enough to do it well.
pxe: Hiya
Austin Rich:
↳ pxe @10:42
pXe! Yay, it finally worked!Bandit: Now I'm curious how magicians felt that secrets were being shared over the radio. Cause the unbreakable match stick was a trick you could buy from catalogs. Curiouser and curiouser
Austin Rich: I love this opening "Nightline" music. I need to steal it for something.
pxe:
↳ Austin Rich @10:42
Yes.. we could not add a comment for a bit of time but it worked nowdas ubuibi: hiho Theater goers !
Austin Rich:
↳ Bandit @10:43
Hmmmm. Maybe you could find something, in old magic publications? We sell some vintage stuff, about magic and "the industry." But I've never looked through it.Austin Rich:
↳ das ubuibi @10:44
dAs! Hooray!pxe: Enjoyed listening while we were out driving around
Austin Rich: "I became a deviant."
Webhamster Henry:
↳ Song: ""Tsylana"" by "X-Minus One"
"Tsylana" turns out to be a special name.Bandit:
↳ Austin Rich @10:44
One of the oldest jokes in the fraternity is "If you dont want someone to learn a trick, put it in a book."Austin Rich: As I've mentioned before, this is a period when X-Minus One was only about 20 minutes per episode, and a commercial or two was a part of that 20 minutes. For a show that was nearly 30 minutes when it launched, that's a WILD decrease in air-time.
Austin Rich:
↳ Bandit @10:46
"Don't kid with your Id."Austin Rich: "I put on my public face."
This is a detail that might get lost. In this story, people wear "masks" of their "public faces." People don't actually know what anyone's regular faces look like, except at home.
Bandit:
↳ Austin Rich @10:49
Thank you for the context, I didn't catch it tbhAustin Rich: "Park your Ego."
Austin Rich: "Reverse Analysis."
Oh dear...
Austin Rich: "You were living with your own father and mother?"
Austin Rich: "I had fallen in love with my own wife."
How dare you.
Heather Z:
↳ Austin Rich @10:53
Ew how unhygienic!Austin Rich:
↳ Heather Z @10:56
Nice to see you in the Digital Salon, Heather Z.Heather Z:
↳ Austin Rich @10:56
Been tuned in and enjoying the program!!Austin Rich: "Happy, not wanting anything..."
Bandit: Hi Heather
Heather Z:
↳ Bandit @10:59
Hi Bandit!Austin Rich: I really don't know how to feel about this story.
It sort of bothers me...
Bandit: "In a world of normal people, the neurotic is king."
This is a great story
Bandit:
↳ Austin Rich @11:00
Kinda feels close to realitypxe: Great episode
Austin Rich: Thanks everyone! See ya next time!
Bandit: Great show Austin!!
Webhamster Henry: Might want to read it! ia801301.us.archive.org...