Breaking Walls

Jerry Lewis was born Jerome Joseph Levitch on March 16th, 1926 in Newark, New Jersey. His father was a Vaudevillian and his mother was a pianist for WOR.

By fifteen, Lewis had developed a "Record Act", miming lyrics to songs while a phonograph played offstage. To supplement his income he worked as a soda jerk at the Paramount Theater while he honed his act. In 1943, Lewis met singer Dino Paul Crocetti thanks to Frank Sinatra’s mother Dolly. They became friends.

Dino Crocetti was born on June 7th, 1917 in Steubenville, Ohio. He spoke only Italian until age five, got bullied for his broken English in school, and eventually dropped out in the tenth grade.

By fifteen Crocetti had bootlegged liquor, worked in a steel mill, served as a croupier at a speakeasy, and was a welterweight boxer. Boxing got him, among other things, a broken nose and a scarred lip. He’d later get the nose fixed.

Dino then worked as a roulette stickman in an illegal casino behind a tobacco shop, and started singing with local bands, calling himself "Dino Martini."

By late 1940 he had begun singing for Cleveland bandleader Sammy Watkins, who suggested he change his name to Dean Martin. In the fall of 1943 he’d begun performing in New York, but was drafted into the military during World War II. Dean served fourteen months before being discharged due to a hernia.

Although they were friends for more than a year, Dean and Jerry didn’t officially team up until debuting at Atlantic City's 500 Club as Martin and Lewis on July 25th, 1946. The highlights of their act included Lewis heckling Martin while he was trying to sing, which ultimately led to them chasing each other around the stage. People loved their improvisational style. And Lewis knew that Martin was his comic equal.

Martin and Lewis’ success at the 500 Club led to a series of well-paying engagements along the Eastern Seaboard, culminating with a run at New York's Copacabana Club. Almost overnight, the two were the biggest smash hit in clubs across the country.

It’s 4PM eastern time on November 25th, 1948. Elgin Watches annual Thanksgiving Day special is on the air from NBC’s KFI in Hollywood. Don Ameche is the emcee. Ken Carpenter is announcing. This November Radio ratings are robust. Eleven shows have ratings higher than twenty points, and Lux Radio Theatre’s 33.2 is the most listened-to show on the air. But a major shift is about to happen just as the TV era launches.

In 1948 comedian Jack Benny organized his activities into a corporation. At that time American individuals were taxed seventy-seven percent on all income over seventy thousand dollars. Benny’s hope was to secure a deal with NBC for his company, so that he could be taxed under capital gains laws at 25%. NBC’s parent company was the Radio Corporation of America. Their head, David Saroff, refused.

Amos N’ Andy were the first to secure such a deal. They jumped to CBS in October of 1948. Then Lew Wasserman and Taft Shreiber—President and VP of The Music Corporation of America, called head of CBS William Paley to see if he was interested in a similar deal for Jack Benny.

In November, David Sarnoff got word and sent NBC president Niles Trammel to California with orders to keep Benny at NBC, but Sarnoff refused to be there. William Paley flew to LA to meet in person, agreeing for CBS to buy Benny’s corporation for $2.26 Million. NBC responded by doubling their offer. However, Lew Wasserman again intervened, obtained the NBC contract, changed every mention of NBC to CBS, and re-offered the deal to Benny, who then signed it.

Although Benny was signed, Paley next had to convince Benny’s sponsor American Tobacco to make the move. He did so by guaranteeing that CBS would pay the cigarette giant three thousand dollars per week for every ratings point lost after the migration. Floored that Paley would offer this, all parties agreed immediately.

On Thanksgiving in 1948, William Paley had plenty to be thankful for. While Jack Benny was appearing on NBC for this Elgin Special, CBS announced on their evening news that The Jack Benny Program would be jumping to CBS. When asked that evening by the United Press, Benny declined to comment. It touched off a firestorm between the two networks. NBC claimed any such deal was unlawful. David Sarnoff said “leadership built on a foundation of solid service can’t be snatched overnight by a few high-priced comedians. Leadership is no laughing matter.”

It was the biggest mistake of Sarnoff’s career. Jack Benny left NBC at the end of the year. Edgar Bergen too. There was suddenly a glaring hole in NBC’s Sunday night lineup. Between Benny and Bergen, NBC would need to replace roughly forty-five million listeners come January. In 1949, Burns and Allen, and Bing Crosby followed to CBS.

NBC’s desperation created major opportunities. Among those to benefit were a comedic duo who’d been selling out nightclubs all over the country. Their names were Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

In Breaking Walls episode 138 in honor of opening day, we’ll share stories, and sounds from Baseball history and the radio.

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Highlights:

• Dots and Dashes

• The Babe

• Mel Allen

• Dizzy

• The War

• Jackie

• The Death of Babe Ruth

• Baseball Radio Drama

• The Shot Heard Round The World

• Westward Ho!

• The TV Era and the Death of Jackie Robinson

• Looking Ahead To May with Frank, Dean, Jerry, and Marilyn

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The WallBreakers:

http://thewallbreakers.com

Subscribe to Breaking Walls everywhere you get your podcasts.

To support the show:

http://patreon.com/TheWallBreakers

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The reading material for today’s episode was:

• On The Air — By John Dunning

• The Voice: Mel Allen’s Untold Story — By Curt Smith

• Those Great Old-Time Radio Years — By Aubrey J. Sher

As well as countless other references and websites for baseball stats and history.

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On the interview front:

• Mel Allen and Vincent Price spoke to Dick Bertel and Ed Corcoran for WTIC’s The Golden Age of Radio. Hear these full interviews at GoldenAge-WTIC.org

• Vincent Price also spoke to Chuck Schaden. Hear this interview at SpeakingofRadio.com

• Red Barber and Ben Gross spoke to Westinghouse for their anniversary special in 1970

• Red Barber spoke for Please Stand By in 1986

• Red Barber and Phil Rizzuto spoke to CBS for their Fiftieth Anniversary Special in 1977

• Marilyn Monroe spoke to Dave Garroway for NBC’s Monitor in 1955.

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Selected music featured in today’s episode was:

• Take Me Out To the Ball Game — By Dorris Day and Frank Sinatra

• Love Echoes in the Pine Hills — By George Winston

• Someone To Watch Over Me — By Rosemary Squires & The Ken Thorne Orchestra

• Swing Into Spring — By Benny Goodman

• I’m a Fool To Want You — By Billie Holiday

• Battle Cry of Freedom and Steal Away — By Jacqueline Schwab

• The Colorado Trail, Opus 28 Fantaisie for Harp — By Elizabeth Hainen

• There Used to Be A Ballpark — By Frank Sinatra

• The First Baseball Game — By Nat King Cole

• Danse Macabre — By Camille Saint-Saens

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A special thank you to Ted Davenport, Jerry Haendiges, and Gordon Skene.

For Ted go to RadioMemories.com, for Jerry, visit OTRSite.com, and for Gordon, please go to PastDaily.com.

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Thank you to:

Tony Adams

Steven Allmon

Orson Orsen Chandler

Phil Erickson

Jessica Hanna

Perri Harper

Briana Isaac

Thomas M. Joyce

Ryan Kramer

Earl Millard

Gary Mollica

Barry Nadler

Christian Neuhaus

Aimee Pavy

Ray Shaw

Filipe A Silva

John Williams

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WallBreakers Links:

Patreon - patreon.com/thewallbreakers

Social Media - @TheWallBreakers

Well, that brings our episode of baseball stories to a close. But speaking of heroes and heroines.

Next time on Breaking Walls, it’s the 1950s and four people are taking the world by storm for different reasons. We’ll cover all four of them under the guise of one show. Who are the four? Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Frank Sinatra, and Ms. Marilyn Monroe.

Radio ratings peaked in 1948 and the networks used excess profits to help launch TV. By 1950 NBC, CBS, and ABC were filling their entire primetime TV schedule. After eighteen years as one of radio’s highest-rated weekly shows, the just-heard Fibber McGee and Molly began airing five nights per week for fifteen minutes on October 5th, 1953.

As America moved west after World War II, turning farms into suburbs and western towns into cities, the pattern of radio listening was changing. The desire to expand the Major Leagues into new cities gained traction thanks to an upstart league known as The Continental League. In order to block its entry into the marketplace, Major League Baseball finally expanded in 1961.

When the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota before the ‘61 season to become the Twins, Washington received a new Senators franchise.

Thanks to the success of the Dodgers, The American League added the Los Angeles Angels, upping the junior circuit to ten teams.

The following year, the National League added two new teams: The Colt 45s, who, in 1964 changed their name to the Astros, and the New York Metropolitans, colloquially known as the Mets.

One by one, old ballparks were being torn down—Ebbets field in 1960, The Polo Grounds in 1964. Both sites are now occupied by housing projects. New stadiums were often multipurpose —able to accommodate both football and baseball.

Like with baseball, how America got its entertainment was also changing. By 1960, scripted radio drama was dying out as shows either moved to TV or were canceled.

Although baseball would still be broadcast on the radio, fans now tuned into TV for their favorite games. A new generation of sportscasters emerged, like former Yankees shortstop Phil Rizzuto. He called Roger Maris’ record-breaking sixty-first home run at Yankee Stadium on October 1st, 1961. Rizzuto had a respectable playing career—winning the 1950 AL MVP award, but it was his work as a Yankees announcer that got him voted into the MLB Hall Of Fame in 1994.

In 1956, while the Dodgers were still in Brooklyn, Jackie Robinson was putting the finishing touches on his remarkable career. That December 13th, the Dodgers traded Robinson to the Giants for Dick Littlefield and thirty-thousand dollars. Jackie Robinson opted to retire. Within a few years he was hosting his own syndicated radio show, Jackie Robinson’s Radio Shots. In 1960, he interviewed perhaps the most famous African-American pitcher in history, Satchel Paige.

Jackie Robinson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. Robinson was also the first African-American television analyst in MLB history, and the first African-American vice president of a major corporation, Chock full o'Nuts.

On October 15th, 1972, at the second game of the World Series between the Oakland Athletics and the Cincinnati Reds, at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium, Jackie Robinson was invited to throw out a ceremonial first pitch in honor of his twenty-five years of service to Major League Baseball.

Complications from heart disease and diabetes made him almost blind by middle age. He used the opportunity to make one last statement to the baseball establishment. It would be Jackie Robinson’s last public appearance. Jackie Robinson died nine days later at his home. He was fifty-three. His Manhattan funeral service attracted twenty-five hundred mourners. Many of his former teammates were pallbearers. Reverend Jesse Jackson delivered the eulogy.

On April 15th, 1997, the fiftieth anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s first game at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, Major League Baseball unanimously retired Robinson's number forty-two across the league. He is the only man to receive such an honor.

In 1954, it took a historic season to dethrone the Yankees who were five-time defending world champions. Although they won one-hundred three games, the Cleveland Indians won a then-American League record one-hundred eleven. The Indians were led by Center Fielder Larry Doby, the first African-American player in the AL, Third Basemen Al Rosen, and slugger Vic Wertz. Their pitching staff was anchored by Early Wynn, Bob Lemon and Bob Feller.

In the National League, the pennant winners were the underdog New York Giants, who won ninety-seven games, once again beating out the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Giants drew 1.15 million fans to the Polo Grounds, second in the National League.

Built in a hollow overlooking Coogan’s Bluff near the western shore of the Harlem River in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, a Polo Grounds ballpark had been on this site since 1890. The quirky park was shaped like a bathtub. It was only two-hundred-eighty feet from home plate down the left field line, and only two-hundred-sixty feet down the right. Center field however was over four-hundred-eighty feet away. But, the surrounding neighborhood was changing and Giants owner Horace Stonham began to wonder if he could draw more fans elsewhere.

In the eighth inning of game one, the score was tied at two. Cleveland’s Al Rosen and Larry Doby had both reached base on Giants pitcher Sal Maglie. Vic Wertz came up to bat. Wertz hit a ball to deep center field, where Giants superstar Willy Mays was playing. Mays ran straight backwards and caught the ball over his shoulder with his back to the field. Later nicknamed “the catch,” it changed the entire complexion of the series. The Giants would go on to sweep the Indians to claim the 1954 World Series title. It would be their last World Championship in New York.

Baseball’s economic model was changing. As great as the Yankees were, their dominance over the game created a league problem. The G.I. Bill was bringing families to the suburbs in the 1950s — and most of these families were white — radio and TV were embedding deeper into local markets. Major League cities were struggling to support two teams.

After the 1952 season, the National League’s Boston Braves, unable to compete with the Red Sox, moved to Milwaukee and won the World Series in five years. The AL St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore after the 1953 season and became the Orioles, where they won 6 American League pennants in their first thirty years. The next year the Philadelphia Athletics moved to Kansas City, where they would remain until moving again, to Oakland, in 1968. Oakland won three consecutive championships in the 1970s.

Although fans of every other team loved to hate the Yankees, the franchise was a lightning rod for celebrities and other heroes. Throughout the years Mel Allen had many interesting guests in the booth, like noted Pirates fan Bing Crosby.

The team the Yankees often defeated in the World Series? The Brooklyn Dodgers, who lost to the Yankees in 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, and 1953. In 1955 the tide finally turned and the Bums from Brooklyn became World Champions. Later, retired Hall of Fame player and then broadcaster Frankie Frisch was inside the Brooklyn Dodgers clubhouse speaking to the victorious team.

Two years later, owner Walter O’Malley was in a dispute with New York City Park’s Commissioner Robert Moses. Ebbets Field, open since 1913 was falling apart.

The success of the Dodgers, and the population explosion in Brooklyn had made Ebbets Field too small. The 1957 seating capacity was a tiny thirty-two thousand. Yankee Stadium could seat nearly double.

O’Malley wanted to build a stadium at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues in Brooklyn. Robert Moses wanted the team moved to Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens.

1951 seemed like the season it would all finally come together in Brooklyn. The Dodgers were led by Catcher Roy Campanella, First baseman Gil Hodges, Outfielder Duke Snider, and now second-baseman, Jackie Robinson.

Through one-hundred sixteen games, Brooklyn had seventy wins. On August 11th the New York Giants trailed the Dodgers in the standings by thirteen games.

Then, Giants manager Leo Durocher put coach Herman Franks in the Polo Grounds offices in the Giants’ clubhouse beyond center field. His objective was to steal opposing catchers’ signals. Franks used a telescope to relay signs through an electrical-buzzer system to the Giants’ bullpen. From there, the signs would be flashed to the Giants’ hitters.

The Giants won thirty-seven of forty-four games down the stretch. It forced a tie with the Dodgers in the standings. A three game series was announced to decide the winner of the pennant.

At Ebbets field in Game 1, Giants pitcher Jim Hearn out-dueled Dodgers starter Ralph Branca, and the Giants won three to one behind solo home runs from Andy Pafko, Bobby Thomson, and Monty Irvin.

The second game, played at The Polo Grounds was a rout, but in favor of Brooklyn. Jackie Robinson had three hits, including a home run, and Dodgers starter Clem Labine went nine.

October 3rd, 1951: Game three. The tight, tense affair was played before more than thirty-four thousand fans at the Polo Grounds. Brooklyn struck first when Jackie Robinson had an RBI single in the first inning. The Giants tied it in the seventh when Bobby Thomson hit a Sacrifice Fly. But the Dodgers struck right back, scoring three runs in the eighth. Jackie Robinson was once again in the middle of the action. With Dodgers pitcher Don Newcombe dealing, the game seemed all, but over.

Then in the bottom of the 9th, The Giants put back-to-back men on. Whitey Lockman doubled to center field to score two runs. It made the score four-to-three. The winning run came up to bat. Ralph Branca came in to relieve Newcombe. Bobby Thompson was the Giants batter.

The Giants would face the Yankees in the World Series and the Dodgers would again have to wait until next year.

The man you just heard is acting legend Vincent Price. Price’s only continuous radio role was as star of The Saint where he played Simon Templar. Leslie Charteris created the character as a suave private eye. He was a dapper dresser, equally at home at the wheel of a fast car, in an airplane, or on horseback. The Saint would also break the law if the result justified it. The show had begun on CBS in 1945. After a tour on The Mutual Broadcasting System, The Saint moved to NBC beginning on Sunday June 11th, 1950 at 7:30PM.

Games and sports speculation weren’t the only form baseball took on the radio. It showed up in drama radio as well, Like on The Saint’s September 3rd, 1950 episode. Lawrence Dobkin was Louie the Cabbie.

And of course, there were no two institutions in America somehow more intertwined in the twentieth century than baseball and comedy legend Jack Benny.

In 1946, Babe Ruth, always a heavy smoker, began to experience severe pain over his left eye and difficulty swallowing.

Tests were bleak. Ruth had an inoperable malignant tumor at the base of his skull. He was one of the first cancer patients to receive both drugs and radiation treatment simultaneously.

He lost eighty pounds and was discharged from the hospital in February of 1947. Baseball commissioner Happy Chandler proclaimed April 27th, 1947 Babe Ruth Day around the major leagues. At Yankee Stadium a number of teammates and others spoke in honor of Ruth, who briefly addressed the crowd of almost sixty-thousand. By then, his voice was barely more than a soft whisper.

Around this time, developments in chemotherapy offered some hope. Doctors treated Ruth with a folic acid derivative. He showed dramatic improvement. During the summer of 1947 he was able to travel around the country doing promotional work for the Ford Motor Company on American Legion Baseball.

On August 12th he appeared on Red Barber’s radio show.

The improvement was temporary. By late 1947 he was unable to help write his autobiography. In and out of the hospital in Manhattan, Ruth traveled to and from Florida that winter.

The next June 5th, 1948, a "gaunt and hollowed out" Babe visited Yale University to donate a manuscript of his autobiography to its library. There he met Yale’s baseball captain, future president George H. W. Bush. Eight days later he visited Yankee Stadium for the final time.

Ruth used a bat as a cane. Nat Fein’s photo of Ruth taken from behind, standing near home plate won the Pulitzer Prize and is one of the most famous Baseball photos in history,

Ruth made one final trip on behalf of American Legion Baseball, then entered Memorial Hospital.

George Herman “Babe” Ruth died on August 16th, 1948, at 8:01 p.m. He was just fifty-three. His open casket was placed on display in the rotunda of Yankee Stadium. In two days more than seventy-seven thousand people paid tribute. His Requiem Mass was held at St. Patrick's Cathedral; a crowd estimated at seventy-five thousand waited outside. Babe Ruth is still widely considered the greatest baseball player of all-time.

Tuesday, April 15th, 1947. 12:30PM. It’s damp and overcast. We’re at Ebbets field in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York. The visiting Boston Braves are playing the Brooklyn Dodgers on opening day. We can smell hot dogs, pretzels, popcorn, knishes, and beer.

Manager Leo Deroucher has been suspended by MLB’s offices for conduct detrimental to the team. He’ll have to sit out the whole season. Burt Shotton, known to be calm and steady, is managing the Dodgers. They’re expected to contend.

Red Barber is up in the press booth calling the action for CBS and Gladys Gooding is on the organ. Here with us are stadium celebs like the Dodgers Sym-phony and Hilda Chester the Cowbell Lady, along with more than twenty-six thousand others. These men, women, and children are wearing Dodgers caps, windbreakers, flannel jackets, letterman’s sweaters, sport coats, and suits. They’re Italian, African-American, Jewish, Irish, Polish, Norwegian.

At 12:45 the melting pot stirs as the Dodgers trot out of the clubhouse. There’s Second Baseman Eddie Stanky, Center Fielder Peter Reiser, Catcher Bruce Edwards, and pitcher Joe Hatten. Hatten warms up as one by one the rest of the Dodgers starters come out. Right fielder Dixie Walker. Left Fielder Gene Hermanski. Third Baseman Spider Jorgensen, Shortstop Pee Wee Reese.

There’s an audible buzz as the Dodgers first baseman and final starter comes out. This man was born in Cairo, Georgia. The youngest son of a sharecropper, he was a four-sport letterman at UCLA, and an Army second lieutenant in World War II. His name is Jack Roosevelt Robinson and he’s the first African-American to play in the Major Leagues since Moses Fleetwood Walker in 1884.

Robinson tosses infield practice until Home Plate umpire Babe Pinell signals for the start of the game.

Robinson smooths the dirt in a playing path by first base and sets himself, knees bent, slightly crouched. His glove is on the ground and open. Boston’s Shortstop Dick Culler digs in. Brooklyn’s lefty Joe Hatten winds and delivers the pitch. Culler swings and slaps a ground ball towards third base. He digs out of the batter’s box as Spider Jorgensen charges in and fields the ball on a high hop, throwing slightly off balance towards first base. Robinson, right foot on the bag, stretches as far as he can, catching Jorgensen’s throw and getting Culler out by a step.

And just like that, a fifty-year old gentleman’s agreement between changing owners and the commissioner’s office, that had barred any dark skinned men from playing in the league, was dead. It died here in Flatbush at 1PM, on Tuesday April 15th, 1947 as twenty-six thousand people looked on, and wildly cheered.

Later, in the bottom of the Seventh inning, after an error while batting allowed him to reach second base, Robinson scored the Dodgers fifth run of the game on a double from Pete Reiser. The Dodgers would win five to three.

Although he was the subject of taunts, bean balls, spikes, and scuffles with opposing players and fans all season, Jackie Robinson had the faith of African-Americans and Brooklyn Dodgers fans, as well as the quickly-earned support of his teammates.

Robinson would go on to hit .297 with one-hundred-twenty-five runs scored, forty-eight extra-base hits, and lead the league with twenty-nine stolen bases en route to winning the Rookie of the Year as the Brooklyn Dodgers went ninety-four and sixty, winning the National League pennant.