Announcer for Honeymooners... Ken Carpenter? Ken Niles? Who?
Mike Lookinland
television show: The Honeymooners?
The guy who reads: "Jackie Gleason! The Honeymooners! ...with the
stars Art Carney, Audrey Meadows, and Joyce Randolf"
It sort of sounds like Old time radio announcer Ken Carpenter, but on a
biography page of his there was no mention of him doing this, and many
of the announcers had that same sound back then, but it most likely
would be someone who was also in OTR as an announcer as well.
Thanks in advance.
ab
Johnny Olsen.
Go with Johnny Olsen. Olsen took over as announcer after Lescoulie left. And
yes, Olsen did a lot of radio.
AB
"Mike Lookinland" <mlook...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:3F934A72...@hotmail.com...
Mark
Below is the URL link to a site which gives the credits of the
performers and announcers for the Gleason shows. It would appear that
Jack Lescoulie would have been announcer you referenced. Johnny Olsen
was the later announcer "From Miami Beach.....!"
http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/9348/jackie_gleason_show.htm
Proffesor Kleinschmidt
> Johnny Olsen.
>
> Go with Johnny Olsen. Olsen took over as announcer after Lescoulie left. And
> yes, Olsen did a lot of radio.
Did some biography searches on both these guys, and interesting enough, neither
of their credits mention anything about announcing for the Honeymooners.
Must be someone else.
Funny too, that I can't seem to find any mp3 or wav examples of either of these
two guys anywhere to try and make a comparison by ear.
ab
lips.....it's Johnny Olsen.
Don't know why I bother answering questions posed on this group. No matter
what you post, there is always someone who says "it ain't so!"
AB
"Proffesor Kleinschmidt" <kl...@schmidt.net> wrote in message
news:3F97F5CC...@schmidt.net...
G. W. Clay
> Don't know why I bother answering questions posed on this group. No
> matter what you post, there is always someone who says "it ain't so!"
Ain't so.
Mike Lookinland
> lips.....it's Johnny Olsen.
Yeah, but I read the other guy's lips in this group, Mark, and his lips said:
It would appear that
Jack Lescoulie would have been announcer you referenced.
> Don't know why I bother answering questions posed on this group. No matter
> what you post, there is always someone who says "it ain't so!"
When more than one person gives an answer to a posted question, and each gives a
different answer, you have to understand that one stranger's lips are about as
credible as the other stranger's lips on the newsgroup.
Point is, there is nothing in EITHER one of these guy's biographies that
mentions they were the announcer for the honeymooners, so perhaps you are both
wrong. Or perhaps you can be good enough to show a link or source that
verifies that it was who you say, or a link or source to some other announcing
job he did where you can actually listen and make a comparison. I have
searched and searched and have been unable to find anything to verify either one
of these guys did it.
Can't find it in a honeymooner's companion book I have, not on any Honeymooner's
fan sites.
Amazing that something as big and well known as the intro to this show, it is so
hard to track down who the announcer was.
I appreciate your response, and it may be correct, but I need something that I
can verify this with before I use the information for a piece I am doing on
announcers from famous recordings, such as this opening from the honeymooners.
Or if Mark can verify his guy, then that would be appreciated as well, or anyone
that can prove it is someone else altogether.
Jim Bennie
> Can't find it in a honeymooner's companion book I have, not on any Honeymooner's
> fan sites.
It's not Johnny Olson on the syndicated ones that run now. Then again,
the intros may have been redubbed ages ago, as they really sound closer
to Ernie Anderson.
Johnny O. was certainly the announcer in the 1960s version of the
Gleason Show, and one of the funniest things he ever did was parody
himself in an English version of Gleason: "From the smog and fog
capital of the world!..."
Jim
Bill Andrew
do not know the name of the announcer. However, I would strongly
suspect that the individual was a Dumont announcer who was used in the
initial series before it moved to CBS. Watching it from a graphics
and technical point of view, I would suspect it was filmed once, then
rolled as a standard opening from that point on, whether it was for
the segment on the Dumont/CBS program, or the stand alone HONEYMOONERS
later.
Those of you out there with extensive knowledge of Dumont's
operations, help us out here.
ab
It depends on the "Honeymooners" shows you are asking about as to who the
announcer was.
ALL of the "Honeymooners" shows that ran from Miami and were in color were
introed by JOHNNY OLSEN.
NOW...if you mean the 39 episodes and the lost episodes that were put into
syndication, the announcer was Gaylord Avery who worked for WCBS-TV in NY.
Maybe still does as far as I know.
If proof is needed, I suggest contacting Avery in NY. At least someone at
the station could verify this if he is no longer there.
And B.T.W. Jack Lescoulie's association with Gleason ended in 1959.
Amen and goodnight.
AB
"Mike Lookinland" <mlook...@hotmail.net> wrote in message
news:3F9B1B41...@hotmail.net...
Frew
> syndication,
Of course this is what we mean. The stock opening that we have seen on
television for the past several decades.
> the announcer was Gaylord Avery who worked for WCBS-TV in NY.
Hmmmm, a search on this guy turns up even less that the others mentioned so
far, and nothing about doing the opening for The Honeymooners.
Wow, who would have thought that finding out who the announcer is on such a
famous opening broadcast on television every day would be so hard to do.
This has got to be the most unthanked and uncredited announcer in broadcast
history.
Frew
> do not know the name of the announcer. However, I would strongly
> suspect that the individual was a Dumont announcer who was used in the
> initial series before it moved to CBS.
Why?
> Watching it from a graphics
> and technical point of view, I would suspect it was filmed once, then
> rolled as a standard opening from that point on
This is just too obvious. How could anyone dispute that?
> Those of you out there with extensive knowledge of Dumont's
> operations, help us out here.
I still can't believe that finding out who this is, is such an almost
impossible thing to find out.
norml
Jim Bennie
Bill Andrew
that the voice belongs to Gaylord Avery in New York who, at one time,
worked with WCBS-TV.
Frew, my thinking that the voice was a Dumont announcer goes this
way: The routine was introduced on Gleason's Dumont program. Since
the segment originated there, if there was a standard opening, it
would have been done by Dumont. When the show moved to CBS, for
consistency's sake, it is likely (but not aboslutely) Gleason just
used the Dumont opening. It also could have been that CBS re-produced
the opening using Gaylord Avery.
And Frew, I wasn't saying that anyone disputed the standard
opening. I was simply commenting that whoever did it once, did it
always as long as that standard billboard was used. I apologize if I
was insulting anyone's intelligence or sensibilities.
ab
the air to try to amaze everyone with my knowledge.
Also I believe I said contact WCBS-TV and someone can probably give you a
LOT of facts on what Avery did in the business. He may be retired by now,
don't know. I can tell you this, besides the "Honeymooners" he was the
announcer on the "Gang Busters" show.
Also it does not surprise me that you are having trouble finding a complete
bio for Avery. He was one of those so-called "staff announcers who did
network breaks and were available to jump in with news bulletins, etc. They
were called upon at times to intro shows or fill in with small acting parts
on otr shows. Most never worked regularly on a given show. But they were the
backbone of network OTR because they could be called upon when needed. A
good bit of the time they were hired by the local affiliate of the network
and worked both sides of the street jumping from local to net when needed.
You won't find a lot written about these guys, but they were among the best.
Not unlike character actors in the movies that you couldn't name, but
certainly knew who they were, unheralded workhorses of the industry.
AB
"Frew" <fr...@eit.net> wrote in message news:3FA031DC...@eit.net...
Big Fan
> I certainly am no last word on OTR or TV, but I don't pull answers out of
> the air to try to amaze everyone with my knowledge.
Then how is it you gave Johnny Olsen as the announcer in another post, and then
you tell us it is Gaylord Avery? Who will you tell us it is next week?
You lost all your credibility as soon as you changed your answer to the
question. This shows you would give an answer without being sure you are
right before posting it. Why would we now beleive anything you ever say?
> Also I believe I said contact WCBS-TV and someone can probably give you a
> LOT of facts on what Avery did in the business.
But since you already changed your mind about who the announcer was, why would
we go on a wild goose chase and contact them based on what you say? What
if we would have done that for the other answer you gave? Or the next one
you give?
> don't know. I can tell you this, besides the "Honeymooners" he was the
> announcer on the "Gang Busters" show.
Considering you told us Johhny Olsen on October 20th, how is it all of a sudden
you know and can tell us it is this guy now? And without being able to show
proof? See how this makes no sense at all to us? You are just making
guesses again.
If not, prove me wrong by giving us some proof of where you got this new
information from that you didn't have on October 20th.
------------------------------------
"When will I ever learn not to ask questions from people on newsgroups?"
John Emerson June 16, 2001 American Science Convention
ab
"Big Fan" <b...@bf.net> wrote in message news:3FA2BEE9...@bf.net...
> ab wrote:
>
> > I certainly am no last word on OTR or TV, but I don't pull answers out
of
> > the air to try to amaze everyone with my knowledge.
>
> Then how is it you gave Johnny Olsen as the announcer in another post, and
then
> you tell us it is Gaylord Avery? Who will you tell us it is next week?
> You lost all your credibility as soon as you changed your answer to the
> question. This shows you would give an answer without being sure you
are
> right before posting it. Why would we now beleive anything you ever
say?
If you would read my messages instead of being so quick to send a message of
chastizement, you would see that Olsen was the announcer on the COLOR...got
it, COLOR versions of the "Honeymooners." This is what I stated. Your
acessment of my credibility is of no concern to me. And I repeat, I don't
pull answers out of the air.
> > Also I believe I said contact WCBS-TV and someone can probably give you
a
> > LOT of facts on what Avery did in the business.
>
> But since you already changed your mind about who the announcer was, why
would
> we go on a wild goose chase and contact them based on what you say?
What
> if we would have done that for the other answer you gave? Or the next
one
> you give?
Adding to information is not changing my mind. So doubt all you care to. I
was merely trying to answer a posted question. However, you don't want
answers, you want controversy. And you can leave me out. Personally I
couldn't care less whether you go on your so-called "wild goose chase" or
not. Whatever you care to chase is up to you.
>you told us Johhny Olsen on October 20th, how is it all of a sudden
> you know and can tell us it is this guy now? And without being able to
show
> proof?
Proof, if you care to do anything but send flame messages, was left up to
you. But you called it a "wild goose chase."
>See how this makes no sense at all to us?
US? Now you are the spokesperson for the whole group. How about that. Aren't
we the lucky ones to have you to hold our hands and protect us!
>You are just making
> guesses again.
>
> If not, prove me wrong by giving us some proof of where you got this new
> information from that you didn't have on October 20th.
Like I said above I don't have to prove anything to you. Who would want to,
especially after such a vitriolic note.
Why don't you just refer to John Emerson's question which you have quoted
below? And by the way why don't you prove to us that it is a quote of his?
Do you have proof that he actually said that? Maybe you could get him to
send us each a certified signed document that it was indeed his quote.
AB
solong
STILL no one figured it out, eh? :)
cand...@ptd.net
Jack Lescoulie. It not only sounds like him, it IS him. Know his voice anywhere. Yes, he sounded like everybody else in that era, but for those of us from that era, AND for those of us in the Radio Broadcast Business, we know what we're hearing.
And it's Jack Lescoulie, hands down.
Done with!
