Norm Nathan's Vault of Silliness with Tony Nesbitt

The summertime is heating up with Episode 93 of Norm Nathan’s VoS.

The number may just match today’s temp here in some parts of MA. It’s a scorchah!

We have a DBG from July 2nd, 1995 which is titled:

‘Raiders of the Lost Birthday Book’ because we begin with Norm not being able to find said book and a quest may be needed!

Was it just misplaced by Norm? Was it stolen by Sid Whittaker and WCCM? (a reference to some scandal back in Ep 91) Will Netflix buy the rights to this astonishing whodunnit?

Stay tuned!

Onward to the game:

Our 1st player is Stan Roberts, calling in from Buffalo. He worked with Norm back on WHDH from 1970-72.

They chat quite a bit before the game begins. Some WHDH history, station breaks, technology of the time, and how Norm got his overnight gig.

Stan notes that “In an age when machinery is replacing man, you replaced a machine.”

Wait until you hear Stan recall the great ad campaign for his show that was on a billboard along the SE Expressway.

And there’s talk of Stan’s career when he returned to Buffalo.

And now the other players:

Michael from PA

Tom in Cleveland

Robert in Framingham

Hope Schauer producing and playing in studio

And the wild, different and crazy Ken Newman in traffic.

Bdays:

Polly Holiday

John Sununu

Lucy Baines Johnson Turpin

Cheryl Ladd

Jimmy McNichol

And then it’s event time. And we get three!

What year did Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappear over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first round the world flight at the equator?

What year did the Lawrence Welk Show premiere on ABC television?

And in what year was The U.S. Army Air Corp created?

The game is so exciting that it reminds Norm that just when he feels that he’s been in radio longer than he should be, nope. Not yet. This prompts a possible lead in the DBG Book theft!

We get the details on an old survey that Lawrence welk had taken where one of the questions was, “Larry, what do you think of violence?

It is revealed that Norm hosted a polka program which featured the one and only, Johnny Wilfahrt.

And post-game we get a few more minutes of conversation with Norm and Stan which takes us through to the end.

Ep 93, ‘Raiders of the Lost Birthday Book’ is comin’ atcha in 3, 2 and 1.

So happy to have you back for another episode of NNVoS. Episode 92 for those of you keeping track at home.

As promised, we will feature a SMQ from June 29th, 1995.

Let’s call this one: AM Gold

The usual suspects of yours truly, Ed Mullen, Jack Harte, and Norm comprise the panel.

Mike Epstein was producing.

The pregame ritual of explaining the rules is here in all its glory and is revisited later for even greater clarification.

The Categories:

Rock n’ Roll

Musical Comedy

Jazz/Big Band

And the all-new: Bible Songs and Yiddish Freylekhs

The prize package ante has been upped. Not only will you receive a Certificate of Award but a much-coveted Peepers Keyring!

Later the question arises regarding the keyring supply and what if we run out? Fear not as I put forth the best solution.

Another non-musical question is posed:

What happens if the Tobin Bridge toll takers run out of change?

This discussion was prompted by Norm giving an on-air “hello” to one of them.

The game begins a little differently as Ed and Norm give some starting questions before we take calls.

AND for RnR it will be multiple choice 70’s theme question night – get 2 out of three and move to the next round! 

If my count is correct, we took 38 calls.

And here now, for your dining and dancing pleasure, are the names:

Frank in Leicester

Ann in Marlborough

Jim from NH

Ken in his car

Lance from Dorchester

Chris from Peabody

Linda in Quincy

Deedee in W. VA

Helene in Belmont

Eddie from Attleboro

Tom in Fitchburg

Brian in Walpole

Ruth from Portland ME

David in Brookline

Mike in PA

John from Cleveland

Dennis in Beverly

Joe from Cambridge

Matt in his car

Matt from Boston 

Ladies and gents…Side B

Buddy in Belmont

Terry from Weymouth

Kevin in Lynn

Beth in MI

Frank in Dorchester

Mary from Worcester

Doug in Medford

Carl

Bob in Medford

Todd from Walpole

John in Arlington

Dieter from Maryland

John in his car

Gloria in Malden

Christian from Charlestown

Warren in Medford

Kevin from Foxborough

And Bill in Nashua NH

If the Swellness of the quiz wasn’t enough here’s some other highlights:

We break for a news update on the The Unabomber...that’s NOT included here!

The RnR HoF will be open Labor Day weekend – our caller from Cleveland was not a fan of the building.

We get the briefest snippet of a Jordan’s Furniture commercial and then we hear the end of Norm reading all about PowerVites and PowerMate. It’s another classic with Norm advising, “Call the number and ask them what it was I said.” And in a funny turn of events, one of our callers asks Norm about the number!

There’s a lovely resort town in the Appalachian Mountains where they take great care of you with clean sheets and feeding you five times a day.

A request for Linda Chase to do a SMQ theme.

Norm gives us his impression of “the guy with the muscles in his throat” - Vaughn Monroe.

Did you know that 4 Certificates of Award is equal to a PhD?

And Norm reads a Vermont Teddy Bear commercial that was done with full accompaniment by ‘The Bunch of Hairy Guys.’

Episode 92, AM Gold – a SMQ from June 29th, 1995 is in the cassette deck. Pressing play in 3, 2 and 1.

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Welcome to Episode 91 – A Cavalcade of Clips & Work Crews.

It is a collection of Norm’s show hours from June 16th and June 25th, 1995. Hope Schauer, Mike Epstein and someone named Ed St. Clair, not to be confused with Eddie LeClair, producing.

A lot of the calls heard here are in-progress, a bit choppy, cut short, and unnamed but, as always, just so darn entertaining.

It all begins with Louie talking about how radio was changing. 

We hear from Chauncey and eating rubber chicken in Canada?

A caller who entertains with his wife at the Boathouse in Hyannis, the Brandy Barrel in Lynn, and Natalie’s in Danvers.

Quick hit from a guest on at 4am from across the pond who ewrote a book on Lorenz Hart.

There's some random musical interlude.

Then we move to a broadcast from WCCM in Lawrence MA with former WBZ producer Sid Whittaker doing the news! The host was Bruce Arnold and what I believe to be his producer, Eric. There’s some behind the scenes talk about a ‘Countdown to Weather.’ Then a scandal erupted to my ears! They play something called The Birthday Game?! Eric, Sid and a caller take guesses on a couple of celebrity birthdays to be entered to win a gift certificate to The Pasta Shack - We shall return this this later.

Next up is Paul Drake doing traffic for Boston’s Business Station, WBNW. That guy sounds familiar.

Then some traffic with ‘Paul’ Jack Harte for WBZ

We get lots of Norm Show opens throughout this episode.

Norm teases an upcoming guest, Phil Kaufman.

Some More Jack Harte traffic. 

Let’s now jump to Norm and Jack talking. I had clipped out an article on The Zipper Lane and the wacky machine that moves the little barriers on the SE Expressway. Norm was fascinated by the whole thing. They have cameras monitoring all of it and this leads to a discussion on all sorts of cable channels dedicated to all sorts of camera feeds. Norm has a particularly good idea that you’ll have to wait to hear. There’s even a mention of the long-lost Store 24. They may have something here since Norm would have never believed there would be a channel totally dedicated to weather (TWC) yet here we are!

Norm tells us of another upcoming guest Tom Hamil, editor of Collecting Toys Magazine.

Another Jack Traffic report.

Let’s take some more calls:

Jim from the Burlington, Vermont area

Next caller is a musician and soloist. Plays a variety of string instruments. Does comedy and offbeat stuff. Plays a regular gig in Boston on a night when Norm’s not on. He won’t recognize Norm by sight, so he’ll have to do his best work all the time just in case he shows up.

During this we hear some wisdom from Norm’s grandfather.

Jack Harte in traffic again! 

A caller complimenting Norm.

One from whereabouts unknown, talking about shooting pigeons in the park from 6pm to dusk.

We take a moment to understand how to use clothes on the clothesline to find the wind direction?

Thankfully this was very ‘brief.’

Next caller, Chris, talking about old time radios, the Antique Radio Association and the N.E. Antique Radio Club, Hosts a program called ‘Let’s Talk Showbiz’ on WOMR down on the Cape in Provincetown.

There’s VERY Quick call from Foster Brooks?

Next up is Frank, continues the old radio talk tubes and testers

Then our old friend Glenn from Brighton is on the line. His friend Eleanor in Quincy is afraid of balconies. Glenn has a foolproof solution you’ll want to hear and maybe even try. There’s some discussion of The Shadow, Kato (Not to be confused with Kato Kalin) and Margo Lane.

Hillary from Buck’s County, PA is on with us and her call mosies on over to Side B. She had recently played the DBG and hopes she didn’t offend. Norm lets her know that if you can’t say something racy between 3 and 4am what’s the point of anything?

We hear from both Jack Harte and Paul Drake on traffic pandemonium

And now we return to the scandalous WCCM with Bruce Arnold, Eric, Sid Whittaker and a caller Chris playing ‘the birthday game.’  I mean…what the hey?!

Another guest is talked about, David Stewart author of Heart & Sole. It’s the story of his 1600 mile walk from his home in Gillette, Wyoming to Nashville, Tennessee. Now the guest may have had his reasons but Norm reveals the real one.

Norm flaps papers in our ears not once but twice!

We hear from a familiar voiced caller talking about her trip to the Southwest with her husband, Bill. A call that’s full of enchanting details.

Norm talks about a few upcoming MC appearances. 

Bones talking about our Old Time Radio gigs and MC stuff.

Then we hear our dear friend, Joan from Tewksbury! She gives an unforgettable report on WCCM and their “mini version of the DBG.” She also talks about her big plans for the weekend.

Norm gives us a weather forecast with a riveting live look out the window.

Like a bad penny, WCCM returns to the tape, this time with Golden Age Radio promo

Now it’s Norm with a guest he talked about and the interview is actually here! Dick Syatt talks dating and Norm reveals what he’s looking for and also offers up quite the observation. 

Back to the calls…

This time we hear from Neal who works for an FM station in town

A secret to working in radio is let out of the bag.

Next caller was 11 years old when he knew what he wanted to do with his life and it’s a very interesting occupation that generates more calls.

Moving on with a call asking about Steve Martorano. He also tells us a funny story and defines a job title for us.

And we close with Peg who worked for WBZ from ‘52 – ‘54 on the 4p – 11p shift manning the switchboard. She runs down a list of some breat broadcasters from back then too.

I hope I’ve whet your appetites because Ep 91, A Cavalcade of Clips & Work Crews is being served up…now.

This episode took a while to produce as I had to stop a few times due to uncontrollable laughter. Now I may be building this up but if you don’t at least laugh out loud and maybe even hit pause to collect yourself then I don’t even know you!

Gracing the airwaves today is a NNS from June 10th, 1995.

It is a mash-up of 2 hours and I’ve titled it: The Games People Play

Hope Schauer is producing. 

We begin with some mystery applause for someone named ‘Jim.’

Norm reads the Accuweather forecast…or does he?

We are then joined by a the very serious Bert Cohen – a veritable master of all thing’s marbles. They talk about an upcoming Marble Tournament being held on the Boston Common at the Frog Pond.

This leads into Norm and I and callers talking all about children’s games, being creative, the old days and not so old days, rhymes, jokes and antioxidants.

Callers:

Pete from Methuen

Paul in Winthrop

Ed from Boston

Jen in Salem

Jeremy from Framingham or NC?

Elaine from Chelsea on a payphone including the clicking and operator warning as her time expires!

And a side-splitting call from Kay in Lunenburg who informs us on the history of Ring Around the Rosie.

Other highlights include:

Commercials from Dave Maynard for Caitlin Travel, Jack Harte tells us about Kwai Garlic and an unforgettable, partial, live read from Norm for PowerVites. That sponsor got so much more than the sixty seconds they paid for.

We learn of the great 12th century Maestro Myron Boskowitz and his pharmaceutical background.

I pry into Norm’s life and ask a very personal question.

We are stopped in our tracks not once, but twice with thought provoking, life changing quotes from Norm’s Hungarian Gypsy Princess Grandmother (HGPG).

There’s talk about some talentless bum who gets a lot of publicity.

Phone prompt Hell

And bile duct blockage. 

Ep 90, The Games People Play, jumps into your ears in 3, 2 and 1.

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May I have your attention…

Please stand by for some pre-show announcements.

Congratulations are in store to my cousin Taylor, her husband Dan and their daughter Arla, as they added to the family and welcomed their second child, a boy, Riley James, on June 1st. Today, June 3rd , is my first born’s 19th bday – Happy Birthday, Chanson. Also, tomorrow, June 4th, is my cousin Tim’s Happy double-nickel Birthday and lastly, Sunday, June 5th would have been David Brudnoy’s 82nd birthday.

Love to you all.

And now back to our regularly scheduled program… 

Before the we start the DBG we have Norm in the middle of a story about the time he was able to suit up in a Red Sox uniform and hit a “hot sizzler halfway back to the pitcher’s mound.”

The game here is from June 4th, 1994, of which I’ve titled: What did Emilio say?

And what a cast of characters we have lined up to play:

Chris parked in his driveway, double parked and then parked at Gold’s Gym in East Boston

The adorable Kristin in Dorchester

Kathy from Tewksbury with the world’s worst phone connection? – She used to work with Norm doing trivia with Marty Minasian and Bernie Corbin from 12a – 5a back in 1980 on WHDH Radio.

Steve in Allston - first time caller/player and at 25 years old and a new dad! 5-week-old baby, Hailey.

I’m on the phone

Jack Harte – making the streets safe for humanity and raucous punchlines

Emilio Marotta producing, playing and causing trouble

The Bdays:

Dennis Weaver

Gene Barry

The Big One, Parker Stevenson

Freddy Fender aka Baldemar Huerta – American success story.

Robert Merrill and Norm blows the roof of the dump with his rendition of “The Bluebird of Happiness”

Michelle Phillips

And Bruce Dern

We close with an Historical Event:

The White House was completed on this date in what year?

Other stuff, and not surprisingly it all involves Emilio:

Emilio brings up Bob Barker, a lawsuit and how does Norm feel about this old guy having relations with this beautiful, young woman?

Norm’s integrity is on display here. Hey! Put that thing away! No one wants to see that!

Norm flexes his muscles with Emilio!

We hear a Lovell Dyett word

There are well deserved, hurt feelings

Norm shuts off Emilio’s mic and then releases him from that bondage

Emilio states he is here to provide entertainment.

Jack asks the question that’s been on all of our minds. Listen closely as it goes by quick but it’s darn funny.

Lastly, there’s a quick flip to Side B to finish the game

Episode 89, “What Did Emilio Say?” begins now.

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Crazy 8’s is what we have here as we bring you Ep 88 of Norm Nathan’s Vault of Silliness.

We love it when you like, subscribe and share our moments of madness.

Don’t be afraid to do that on whichever service you use to allow us to tickle your ears with fun.

A DBG from May 25th, 1996 closes out this month and leads us into the long Memorial Day weekend.

Because the Game features many birthdays from the fairer sex, this one is titled: Ladies Night.

We begin with an appreciation for Jack’s traffic advice as well as his summer fashion awareness and then it’s on to the game.

The Players:

Jack Harte

I’m on the phone and looking not to make people laugh (which is very presumptuous of me) but for people to make me laugh.

Call me crazy…and Norm doesn’t hesitate to call me something else!

Mr. Direct, Tom Howie producing and playing in studio

The slow talking, possibly inebriated, Kevin in Jamaica Plain

Kathy in Altoona, PA – a virgin player but requests “no sacrifices.”

And Scott in Wayland

The Bdays:

Karen Valentine – we have a ‘hearty’ time with her. The Lone Ranger and Tonto stop by. Also, Norm recites a ‘poem.’

Leslie Uggams

Dixie Carter

Beverly Sills – and an operatic debate ensues

Connie Sellecca – and I injure myself with whilst reaching for a pun

K.C. Jones

Kitty Kallen

And Hal David

Other highlights include:

Norm sharing observations because he’s a ‘relations expert.’  And the relations discussed should really be re-examined by a trained professional.

I had seen Spy Hard with Leslie Nielsen and give an in-depth review.

We learn that Norm’s mother in-law had no sense of humor.  Nor did Shirley, his date to the prom.

Norm still cleaning out his house to put together prize packages. Maybe a bag of ashes is suggested. Why? Norm had a small fire at his house, “Just in the house, in the walls and things, didn’t amount to anything, the usual type of wall fire.”

I also had recently watched, “The Benny Goodman Story” with Steve Allen on AMC and give another in-depth review that’s not to be missed.

A scoring update could be the beginning of a dirty joke.

We get a nice Sherm Feller history lesson from Uncle Norm.

And there may be some angry letters to the rules committee. 

Episode 88, Ladies Night, begins…now.

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The Dumb Birthday Game-a-palooza continues this week with a recording from May 22nd, 1993.

I have titled this one: “Two’s Company but Eight’s a Crowd” because we have amassed a panel of EIGHT Players:

How many bdays will we be able to get to with that many people? Just you want and see.

We have Roy, who’s working construction in Bedford but is from Lawrence and taking an unauthorized break to play the game.

Andy from Topsfield

‘Calendar’ Bill in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada

Evelyn in London, Ont

Hazel from Hamilton, Ont

I’m producing and playing in-studio and had been recently vetted by Ch. 4’s investigative Eye Team

Jack Harte the WBZ Traffic Person

And Keith Shields, (no relation to Brooke) whom I’m training, playing in-studio and is revealed to be a management spy.

We all have a good laugh about the windfall we receive every week in our paychecks from Westinghouse.

Norm possibly can’t afford the job because it costs him too much!

But the lure or reaching 38 states and parts of Canada with the 50,000w clear channel signal of the nation’s first commercial radio station…well, that should be payment enough.

Bdays:

Charles Aznavour

Peter Nero

Richard Benjamin 

Paul Winfield

Judith Crist

We have time for some dates in history as well:

Mr. Rogers Neighborhood premiered on PBS in what year?

And in what year was the first life insurance policy issued in the U.S.?

We are informed that Norm’s 26 year-old horse, Sunflower, was entered into a horse show that weekend. 

A caller seems very interested in her so Norm tries to do some matchmaking.

We learn that there were some mystery players participating in the game from a remote location: Saul, Brett, Bartholomew, Sidney, Gladys, and Shirley.

I open up and you get a glimpse in to my tv-less world.

We get a brand-new phrase to embroider on our doilies

A learned quote from Norm’s HGPG and a pun from Norm that, while putting this show together, had me laughing hard here at the Norch Studio and FuzzyWuzzyProductions.

And we close with a commercial for Marezine.

Episode 87, “Two’s Company but Eight’s a Crowd,” begins in 3, 2 annnnnnd 1.

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I would like to welcome my local cable channel, WMCT-TV in Marlborough, MA as an affiliate of Norm Nathan’s Vault of Silliness!

Now I don’t know about you, but I get quite a few local channels from the surrounding communities so even if you’re not in Marlborough you just may be able to find it on your cable carrier.

It will air later in the evening while the message boards fill your screen with that all-important community info.

They will begin with Episode 1 and roll on from there.

When the time comes to incorporate a video aspect we just may move to ‘prime-time’ (wink-wink).

Granted, by the time THIS episode airs everything I just said will be old news to the viewers.

We are just so darn thankful to WMCT for expanding the reach of our silliness.

I have titled this DBG from May 13th, 1996: Truth, Lies and Analog Tape.

From the moment we press play the game is on! But the first bday guessed is absent.

Side note:

We are joined in the Teen Canteen by reporters from some local papers that are covering this highly contested competition: The Brockton Enterprise, The Middleboro Gazette, The Chelsea Record, The Salem Evening News and the The Lynnfield/Saugus Hadassah Newsletter.

Players:

Lisa

Susan

Tess in studio

Karen Regal in traffic

Michael in Arlington

Mike Epstein producing and playing

Bdays:

?

Harvey Keitel

Peter Gabriel

Dennis Rodman

Bdays from 5/15:

Lainie Kazan…nope

Trini Lopez…pass

Anna Maria Alberghetti gets the nod!

The game is held over until after the news because of commercial content! But Karen from traffic has vanished.

We continue with:

Eddie Arnold

AND Lainie Kazan and Trini Lopez make a triumphant return to the list!

Ever wonder what happens to the DBG Scoresheets?

They are all entered in to the WBZ H.o.F. where Broadcasting is our middle name.

Classic Commercials Content:

BJ’s Cellular Centers and CELLULAR ONE

Living Trust Seminars with Attorney’s Guliomo and Cody of Braintree

And a Jack Benny impression begins a commercial, but it gets cut off.

A post-game caller talking jazz closes out this episode.

Ep 86, Truth, Lies and Analog Tape is all hooked up and ready to analyze.

Hola to Spain, yassou to Greece and tanks for hoppin’ on the jitney to the Bahamas! Those are the three new countries that have joined us in our quest to leave this world a little sillier than we’ve found it.

The Medley of Blame, Hate & Technical Difficulties is the title of this show as we withdraw from the Vault a DBG from May 4th, 1996.

We begin with the technical difficulties or is it ‘operator error?’

Before the game begins Norm does an entertaining tap dance to fill the time while the issue is being worked on. However, due to the previous editing of the tape, it is not included here. But one can imagine…

Jack Harte gets on his soapbox to praise radio and in the end…all the problems are blamed on one of the players; Shirley.

Speaking of players…it’s a short list:

Shirley from Michigan

Margaret from Falling Waters, W. VA

Jack Harte

And Tom Howie producing and playing

They digress again before playing the game with Norm railing on about blame and hate and society crumbling. That troublemaker, Shirley, is asked for her opinion and doesn’t hold back!

The dregs of daytime TV talk at the time are mentioned as well.

Birthdays:

Pia Zadora and Norm sings a medley of her hits

Randy Travis aka Randy Bruce Traywick, aka Randy Ray – Norm gushes on about his love of Randy from his days as a dishwasher to country music stardom. Though there are some seedy details revealed so stay tuned!

Opera singer Roberta Peters

Jackie Jackson

Honsi Mubarak

Maynard Ferguson – and we just may get another medley from Norm.

Norm was going to be taking that Saturday night off (the lovely and talented Paul Sullivan was filling in), so he includes May 5th birthdays too:

Annette Benning

Alice Faye

And Tammy Wynette

Other highlights include:

A moment of sensual delight, perspiration, a Lionel Barrymore cameo, and Norm telling us how he reflects on the show when he gets home. 

We close with an abbreviated caller talking about Big Bands, band leaders and black musicians.

Episode 85, The Medley of Blame, Hate & Technical Difficulties, begins now.

Before we get started on today’s featured presentation…

Risking life and limb to bring this to you…as promised…making their annual appearance…please welcome to the show…Peepers 2022! 

Now back to our regularly scheduled program already in progress.

Thank you just so darn much for tuning in again to Norm Nathan’s Vault of Silliness.

Today we have a DBG from April 30th, 1994 aptly titled “The Hello Bluebird ‘Shmateh-time’ Mixtape” as Norm sings many iterations of the song throughout the game. The shmateh reference? Well, just you wait.

The Players:

Libby in VA

Carol from Lynn who’s all dressed up and rarin’ to go

Henry-Harry-Harry-Henry from Attleboro

Ron in Chelmsford – 1st timer

I’m on the phone and Norm and I discuss some upcoming guests and their square-dancing llamas.

Emilio Marotta – producing and playing in studio

And Jack Harte in Traffic

Before the birthdays we will get a world-class llama impression from Norm and some not so world-class jokes from me and Jack.

Bdays:

Cloris Leachman

Willie Nelson and his flammable shmateh

Jill Clayburgh

Bobby Vee

Gary Collins

The very controversial Al Lewis

And Al Toon

Norm sweet-talks Carol and Arthur Godfrey is back, better than ever, singing “On the Road Again.”

The madness of Episode 84, The Hello Bluebird ‘Shmateh-time’ Mixtape, hits the road to your ears in 3, 2 and 1.

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