Just reminiscing about radio days, ie, the heyday of radio, particularly the comedy shows. (That's not to denigrate the wonderful drama and horror shows such as Dragnet, The Inner Sanctum [which was a struggle to listen to with the lights off ... if one wanted to be a "big boy"] and The Green Hornet.) Shows such as Baby Snooks (I remember the night that she died and the live show was cancelled with that announcement.), Fibber McGee and Molly (and their famous closet), I Remember Mama, ....

I got to thinking about Mr. Kitzel, a fixture on The Goldbergs (and then on The Jack Benny Show) — especially Molly's inevitable call to him out the window: "Yoo-hoo, Mister Kitzel!"

Most of the shows featured Jewish talent — one's own Catskill's borscht circuit, without the cost and the clothes.

Many successfully made the transition to TV in the '50s. It was then that Amos 'n' Andy could no longer be white actors doing 'blackface' vocally; they actually had to be what they seemed.

Radio had a way of stimulating the imagination in ways that television stultified — much like a reading of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings plunged one into Middle Earth unlike any movie could do; like Frodo, one could emerge alive and be better for it.

{sigh}

Like you, I cherish memories of radio shows from days long past. By and large I agree that the unfettered freedom your imagination can put to great use when reading, and to a somewhat lesser degree, listening to a story is diminished when experiencing those same stories visualized in a 'predigested' manner. Making things increasingly explicit as is inevitably the case with TV and movies often detracts from one's 'preconceived notions' by channeling imagination.

Still, when done 'right' (an admittedly subjective qualification) the movie experience can be thoroughly rewarding, without any lingering regrets regarding old memories. For me, a great example of this was the movie version of the Lord of the Rings. I loved the books, and got another kick out of those movies. Of course, a book must precede the movie to not pre-empt imagination.

Up until about 8 years ago, my local NPR station ran weekly half-hour mystery radio dramas. The best part was trying to figure out how they created all the sound effects. Never a silent door in Radioland!

For me, the best creation in a book of a world was the original Dune.

As much a fan of Frank Herbert that I am, I tried on several separate occasions to read (get into) Dune, but each and every time I could get no further than page 17 (softcover version).
I finally threw in the towel and watched (repeatedly) David Lynch's movie version from 2 decades later and found it to be superb, but then I'm a fan of Lynch's macabre/bizarre/kinky approach.
At some point I'll give the book another go.

another good one is the harry potter series. it's incredible the amount of content that didn't make it to the theatre. I'd say 2/3 of the story isn't in the movie. Huge important parts just didn't make it. At least listen to the audio books.

What does any of this have to do with the iPad???

[oh, sorry. guess I had a senior moment there. ]

You've just gotta stop buying that "grey market" Aricept!

'Grey market' = 'Canadian' pharmacy?

All of those old time radio shows are alive and well on Sirius/XM satellite radio. They just kept me awake on a 12 hour drive through the night at the end of a 25 hour day. Far more entertaining than 80% of the schlock on television.

> For me, the best creation in a book of a world was the original Dune.

I got through Dune and pretty much hated it. (The concept's downhill slide began spectacularly with Dune Messiah, and although Children Of Dune was better it was the point at which I got thoroughly bored and quit reading.)

For me, the best creation of a world in a book, and, more important, the best attempt I've ever run across at defining an alien consciousness, was Herbert's Dosadi Experiment. (If you haven't read it you've missed one of my top three, the others being John Brunner's Stand On Zanzibar and Norman Spinrad's Bug Jack Barron.)

I am THOROUGHLY impressed by that feat!

WOW!

Edit: (When I had a car I preferred Country-Western music over all contenders for keeping me awake while diving.)

RE 'Grey market' = 'Canadian' pharmacy?

No, we got good stuff, sometimes cheaper than in the States.
I was thinking more like Thailand or Nicaragua or .... Lotsa times drugs from such places are at best 'placebos'; usually, however, either tainted or expired, but 'cheap'.
But, as I always say, ya pays yer money and ya takes yer choice.

Looks like I was too grey: had I intended to say what you think I did, I would have omitted the quotes around 'Canadian'...

Oh, me know what you intended to say — me just wanted to do some tweaking (but for others it might have provided some food & drugs for thought).

PS The Canadian $ is now at par with the US$ (actually, at the moment, the US$ is worth less than the C$).