Norm Nathan's Vault of Silliness - Ep 309 - Great Haunts and Great Calls

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hello once again and thank you just so darn much for tuning in. Today we have a Norm Nathan show from October 11, 1996, which I've titled Great Haunts and Great Calls. Tom Howey was producing. We begin with a call. It's Gene from Ontario. Subjects include a mention of Paul Sullivan, who had subbed for Norm the previous weekend. While Norm sung with the big band, she defends our friends from America's Hat, Canada. And Norm defends the aroma of horse manure. Next is an excellent interview with our guest, Dave Bertolino, the mastermind behind Spooky World, which at the time was in Berlin, Massachusetts. It had been their sixth year in business. Robert Englund, AKA Freddy Krueger and Elvira were supposed to be on too, but they were exhausted from their flight. But that just gives us more time to talk to Dave and he gives us the deets on everything that will be going on, from their humble beginnings to their growth and g guests, events and attractions. We also learned that Dave's family were the owners of the Little Jack Horner Jokin Magic Shop on Tremont street in Boston. A take calls Allen in Brockton, Al from Malden, Carol in New Hampshire, Antonio from Charlestown, Sam in Wakefield, and Dan from North Andover. The next hour begins with one of our glorious show opens. Then Norm begins hating on having to read the lottery numbers. Our two calls include Phil in Rhode island, or maybe not, or maybe yes, but it's not the full call. Butch from Billerica, Ann in Wakefield with a flirty call. Dick from North Attleborough, Robert from Everett, Tony from Biddeford, Maine, Maddie and Wakefield. Maybe not. Matt from Hingham, Joe and Quincy about the Topsfield Fair, Jimmy J. The dj, Marie from Worcester, Jim in Canton, an unknown caller and another unknown caller. Other fun stuff. Norm reads a story about David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen fighting backstage at the MTV Video Music Awards. There's a frosty accuweather forecast and a brief story about America's sexy wives contest. Exactly. Episode 309, Great Haunts and Great Calls, howls its way to your ears. Now, [00:02:35] Speaker B: This is the Norm Nathan show, for better or for worse. Till death do us part. And to the republic for which it stands, thank you just so much. Okay, we'll be talking about Spooky. We mustn't be rude to our Canadian neighbors. Especially somebody's spending money calling all the way from from Ontario. Gene, I'm delighted to talk with you. Thank you for calling. [00:02:59] Speaker C: You don't need to be apologetic whatsoever. We a thing Went on there with. What was his name, Paul Sullivan, recently. [00:03:11] Speaker B: Yes, Paul was sitting in last weekend [00:03:13] Speaker C: ashamed of the so called Canadian that phoned in. And a couple of the subsequent callers phoned in and they were just knocking on we Canadians. [00:03:22] Speaker D: Please. [00:03:23] Speaker B: Well, I mean, hold on. Would they. No, no. Who were the Canadians knocking? They were not knocking, Paul. [00:03:29] Speaker C: Some man phoned in. [00:03:30] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:03:31] Speaker C: And he was on his way from Montreal and he phoned in, he knocked your Doe Clinton thing and he, he really. [00:03:39] Speaker B: Oh, that's all right. We do that. We do a lot of that too. That's okay. [00:03:42] Speaker C: It's really hard, you know, sometimes to knock one of your own. Willie said he was a Canadian. I don't know whether he didn't show me his credentials, so I don't know. But I can assure you that all Canadians are not like that. [00:03:55] Speaker B: Oh, you don't have to apologize. [00:03:56] Speaker C: And there were a couple of subsequent calls came in from ladies from the south and they were just knocking Canadians. And please believe me, we don't hate you Americans at all. We just like to put out a shaking hand and say hi, you know. [00:04:14] Speaker B: No, we understand. You don't, you don't. You don't have to. Come on, you don't have to make excuses for that, Gene. You don't have to. I mean, we, we don't feel there's much difference between Canadians and Americans. We're all pretty much out of the same pot. [00:04:27] Speaker C: I thought as a talk show host he should have had a little more sense to realize that he had a KU call there, you know, which once in a while you get. Well, once, maybe now you've got one, I don't know. But I've listened to your show for quite some time now and I really have enjoyed it. And it's, it's. Sometimes it's easy late at night, you know, to not get into any heavy political stuff and let it all, you know, go by the board. But I'm going to take you to task right now. [00:04:59] Speaker B: Okay, take me to task. [00:05:01] Speaker C: Okay. I heard you the other night and you said you love this smell of manure. [00:05:06] Speaker B: Yes. [00:05:07] Speaker E: Oh, please. [00:05:08] Speaker B: Well, I love. I love. No, I love this. Wait a minute, Gene. Wait a minute. Do you live in the city? Where do you live? [00:05:15] Speaker C: The suburbs. [00:05:17] Speaker B: Okay, so you. Don't you. Do you go to a farm? Do you ever go out to a farm? Okay, you see, there's a. Hold on just a minute now. There's a, there's a kind of a fragrance and a smell that farms have with their animals and the whole thing that I, I, I find lovely. [00:05:32] Speaker C: Were you raised on a farm, Norm? [00:05:34] Speaker B: No, I was not. I grew up in the city. So you think I would hate it too? Well, yeah, I, but I live in the woods now. No, I live in the, in the country, and I do have a horse, and I, I live near dairy farms and all that kind of stuff, and I find that I, I find that that aroma very lovely. [00:05:52] Speaker C: Well, it just sort of pegged my curiosity because for 37 years, I lost my husband two years ago, and for 37 years, I, I was his only assistant, his only veterinary assistant. He had a, a private veterinary practice here. He was quite called Fatty, and he did both. Large animals, small animals. Well, when you say large animals, small, let's they deal. He dealt mostly with dairy herds and. But once in a while he was called up that. We dealt with pets as well, you know, and there are aromas that. Honestly, Norm, please believe me. There are some aromas that are not pleasant. [00:06:33] Speaker B: Well, I'm sure there are. [00:06:34] Speaker E: Come home. [00:06:35] Speaker C: When he had dealt with a sow that was giving birth to pigs, and he came home and he said, I can't stand the smell of myself. And I said, well, I can't smell of you either. And it really, there are some aromas, you know, that just. Oh, I couldn't understand. I can understand that once in a while you might smell. Well, you've loved horses, okay. And I suppose the smell of it just got to me. It sort of, it brought back so many old memories to me that I thought, oh, gee, these aromas that came home. [00:07:12] Speaker B: No, I don't know. I don't know the, the kind of aromas you're talking about. The other ones maybe, but I remember, I remember when I was. Hold on, hold on just a minute, Gene. Let me just finish this sentence. When I was a kid, I remember taking pony rides. I still lived in the city at that time, and I thought there was kind of a nice fragrance about, around ponies, whether there was a manure or the ponies themselves or what. Those are the kind of smells that I'm talking about. And I, I don't think they're offensive at all. I think they're kind of nice. I don't know about sows giving, you know, giving birth or anything like that, or certainly dog stuff is not the most wonderful fragrance. I'm not talking about that. Just a general farm like kind of feeling that you have, and the, the aromas that come from it, I think are kind of comforting. So there's, [00:08:03] Speaker C: it Just sort of brought back some old memories to me, you know, that sort of. I thought. Oh, you know, I don't know how you can like that. But I think it brings back old memories to you. [00:08:14] Speaker B: Well, yeah, I guess. Yes, it does. It brings back new memories as I smell that stuff every day. You're disgusted with me, aren't you, Gene? I can tell that you. The way you. You're silencing yourself. [00:08:29] Speaker D: Pardon? [00:08:30] Speaker B: I don't know. I forget what I was saying. [00:08:32] Speaker C: I don't know either, but. No, and I can understand. I know. [00:08:37] Speaker B: I don't know whether it was the flow or not, but serious too. Yeah. [00:08:41] Speaker C: And it's. It's real lousy, isn't it? Yes, it's a pit. But I'm so glad to that to know that you're over it. [00:08:48] Speaker B: Well, thank you very much. [00:08:50] Speaker C: So nice. And sometimes late at night I. I tune you in and it's just a warm, friendly show and I love to hear your listeners. [00:08:59] Speaker B: Well, thank you. [00:09:00] Speaker C: Please don't judge me by that stupid man that called in and said he was a Canadian. [00:09:05] Speaker B: Look, you don't have to defend every Canadian. That's kind of silly. I mean, you shouldn't even put yourself in that position. Can you know that they're all. Everybody's an individual and we don't have to. I'm not going to defend every American who ever called a talk show. And you don't have to defend every Canadian. I mean, that's kind of silly, Gene. We have our feelings. [00:09:26] Speaker C: Kind of a real, kind of a lousy. And as far as I'm concerned, whatever his name, Sullivan. I'm not. If he's on, I'm not going to listen. [00:09:35] Speaker B: Well, no, he's a nice man. That's Paul Sullivan. [00:09:38] Speaker C: He's nice, is he? [00:09:39] Speaker B: Yes, he is. He's a decent guy. Let me go, Gene. But to have to get on the air defend every. Every Canadian who ever said anything nasty about America and say we Canadians are not like that. I mean, it's. It's like Americans doing something. It doesn't make any sense. We don't have to defend each other, you know, defend yourself. You know, you speak for yourself. You don't have to speak for everybody else simply because they come from the same country. God, that was a beautiful speech I just made. I wonder what I said. Bertolito, who is the mastermind behind Spooky World, America's horror theme park, which is out in central Massachusetts at Berlin. And we'll find out what's going on. And at The Spooky World, which of course opens during the Halloween season each year. Last year we were, we talked with the Tiny Tim. I was kind of hoping we talk with Robert Anglin. Who you, who's Freddy Krueger and who's one of the guests over there this year, Is that right? David? And also Elvira. Did they not want to talk to me either one of them? [00:10:41] Speaker F: They did want to talk, but they've. They came in on a red eye and were pretty tired. We got them to stay till about 11:30 tonight. Finally they were bordering on collapse so we had to bring them back to their hotel. [00:10:57] Speaker B: Yeah, they're going to be there at the. At Spooky World for a while. [00:11:00] Speaker F: Robert will be here again tomorrow night in Elvira right through Sunday night. And also joining Elvira Sunday night will be Linda Blair from the movie the Exorcist. [00:11:14] Speaker B: Oh yes. Oh yes. How big an area does A Spooky World take up? [00:11:20] Speaker F: Well, we're on 26 acres located in Berlin, Massachusetts which is bordering Marlboro right off of 495. [00:11:30] Speaker B: Right. And you've been in business how long now? [00:11:33] Speaker F: This is our sixth year north. [00:11:35] Speaker B: Son of a gun. Time time flies when you're just whooping up and spooking people. [00:11:39] Speaker F: Exactly. [00:11:40] Speaker B: Okay, you got not give us a little overview as to what Spooky World is all about. [00:11:46] Speaker F: Originally back in, when we started, we started with just a hayride and each year we've added on a new attraction and now we're up to five haunted houses plus a all new hayride trail for this year. And we feature Gifford and Roy magic shows each evening, which is a group of horror magicians that have a whole act around a Halloween style magic venue. We also have the home of the American Horror Museum which is a museum that's populated by various props and displays from actual movies, horror movies, and the [00:12:40] Speaker B: headquarters for that, the, the main place is right at your place. [00:12:44] Speaker F: All eight events are one price admission. And so we're up to eight events this year being our sixth year. [00:12:52] Speaker B: Well now these haunted houses, do you build them right on your land? [00:12:55] Speaker F: Yeah, we add a couple each year. And the latest this year was the Phantom Mineshaft in Cirque Macabre. And of course Cirque Macabre is the new venue that's getting all of the controversy you've seen in the newspapers the last few days. [00:13:15] Speaker B: No, I have not seen that. Maybe I've been out to lunch, but tell me about that. [00:13:21] Speaker F: Well, because we have so many events these days and the most Popular question on the phone. When you call our phone line 24 hours a day, we give out a three minute message that tells you all about Spooky World. And you can elect to break through that message and ask, you know, further questions for operators. And the most common questions the operators were telling us was, is it appropriate for my child? That's what parents want to know. So we finally have addressed that with a rating system of skulls, you know, and on a one to five Grim Reaper skull level, we rated the scariness of the events. And Cirque Macabre, which is kind of [00:14:15] Speaker G: a [00:14:18] Speaker F: circus of horrors display, you know, based on European style Circus, is rated 5 skulls, which is the most horrific. One of the scenes in this haunted house is a corridor that you walk down and lights appear at your feet. And there are 16 live rats at your feet. And these rats appear to be, you know, around your feet, but they actually are separated by two layers of plexiglass 1 inch thick and an air vapor barrier. And last week, opening week, we had some individuals who were together that came through and protested the fact that we had these live rats in the, in this haunted house. And I met with them and addressed their issues. And we kind of thought it was the end of it, but they made an effort to file complaints with the ASPCA and the mspca. [00:15:34] Speaker B: Interesting. That must be one of the rare times people come to the defense of rats. Normally, nobody wants to have anything to do with them. [00:15:43] Speaker F: You know, animals are animals, and we certainly don't want to abuse the animals. And, you know, we do want to abuse the people. We want to scare you. [00:15:53] Speaker B: I guess that's the whole point, of course. [00:15:56] Speaker F: So, you know, the way I address the issues is, you know, we have our rat wrangler who's on duty. [00:16:04] Speaker B: I'm sorry. Oh, you're your rat wrangler. [00:16:06] Speaker F: Oh, yeah. That's an actual position at Spooky World. [00:16:09] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:16:09] Speaker F: And it's filled by a gentleman who has been around animals all of his life and is taking care of animals. And he each evening cleans the cases because it's in an insert that goes in the actual floor system. And it comes out every night. The rats are at regular room temperature. There is air, fresh air pumped into the system. There are live water feeder lines. There are. There's live feed lines for food going in them. And, you know, one of the issues that was questioned is whether the rats are under any stress. So I asked my rat wrangler that very question, and he said, no, they're definitely not under any stress. So it had my curiosity, how do you know that? And I guess there are signs of, you know, when an animal is under stress that they'll, you know, bite at each other's fur or tail. And that's not the case according to our rat wrangler. And all the rats are examined each night and no sign of shaking or convulsionary action. And just want to report the rats are fine. They have a fine hoe. [00:17:32] Speaker B: I think that's wonderful. Where do you get these rats? Is there a. Is there a rat store somewhere? [00:17:37] Speaker F: I think it's Rats R Us. [00:17:40] Speaker B: Rats are Us. [00:17:41] Speaker G: I really don't know. [00:17:43] Speaker B: That's beautiful. That's beautiful. How many rats do you have? [00:17:47] Speaker F: There are 16 live feeder rats that below the feet, [00:17:54] Speaker B: feeder rats are those different. And that's a special kind of rat? [00:17:58] Speaker F: Well, it's a good size, good sized rat. Not the cutest in appearance. [00:18:06] Speaker B: Why do you suppose? I often wonder this, you know, for example, even. Even in the old days on. On the rides, certain rides at, at the amusement parks which were designed to frighten people. You know, the roller coasters. People want to go up to the biggest roller coaster with the biggest drop. They want to go to Spooky World. Why do people pay to frighten themselves? I don't mean to get into a whole psychological psychiatric area of this thing, but I often wondered about that. Normally you think they'd pay not to be frightened. [00:18:41] Speaker F: Well, I'll tell you the truth. I don't go on roller coasters. But I love a good haunted house. [00:18:48] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:18:49] Speaker F: And you know, to me it's, you know, fantasy and illusion. But my stomach can't quite take a roller coaster. Certainly a good haunted house is pretty acceptable to me. [00:19:01] Speaker B: No, I remember once getting stuck on the top car right at the top of a Ferris wheel with my cousin who kept shaking the thing and doing bad jokes. And to this moment I have this sickening feeling in my stomach every time I think of it. [00:19:17] Speaker F: Bad memories. [00:19:18] Speaker B: Yeah, but there are people who love that kind of thing. They want to scare themselves. They want to frighten themselves. I never understood quite why that was. But you do it in a very creative kind of way. How did you. How did you get involved in this? Were you doing scary things before you opened Spooky World? [00:19:34] Speaker F: It actually goes back quite a bit to my. My family owned and operated Little Jack Horner Joke and Magic Shop in downtown Boston. [00:19:47] Speaker B: Oh, I remember that. [00:19:48] Speaker F: Sure. And we had quite a display of Halloween supplies in downtown Boston. And we also developed quite A wholesale business which we later joined forces with a company out of New York City that was manufacturing Halloween supplies. And I went on to represent as a sales rep organization their product line. And one of the areas of my endeavor was to call upon haunted houses throughout the country. And after working with so many haunted houses, supplying them with their props, their fake rats, their snakes and wardrobe and makeup and so forth, I kind of, I got to see what. How others operated. And my wife Linda and I decided that we could build a better mousetrap. Exactly what we did back in 1991 when we started Spooky World on a stretch of land that was kind of deserted farm acreage and opened up to. [00:21:05] Speaker B: I think that's, that's something. Was your joke shop on Tremont Street? [00:21:09] Speaker F: Yes, it was. [00:21:10] Speaker B: Yeah, I remember. Were there two joke shops in Boston? [00:21:14] Speaker F: Actually, I think there was three now. [00:21:17] Speaker B: Whatever happened, did they still have shops like that around? [00:21:19] Speaker F: I'm sure one still in Boston. But, you know, since then we, you know, back in those days we had a second floor to our operation called Boston Costume, which we later relocated to Neyland Street. And my wife Linda still operates that store with her partner Donna. They worked that store on Neyland street in downtown Boston. [00:21:48] Speaker B: How do people. I don't quite know how to phrase this. I was going to say how do they. How do they accept you? That's kind of a snotty way to put it. I don't mean it in that sense, but you were involved in something that practically nobody else is involved in. And there must be about, you know, a handful of people who are even interested in that or do anything like what you're doing. I find that remarkable. I really admire that. Anybody who does something different is a number one on my list. I think that's great. But wandering, you get a lot of jokes about that from. From people you socialize with. [00:22:24] Speaker F: You know, it's more from the people who have just met us for the first time. If we're at a, you know, party or gathering and I'm introduced through friends to somebody else and, you know, one of the first comments is, well, can you make a living at that? You know, it sounds like it's only one month a year, that kind of thing. But it's an all year effort. [00:22:47] Speaker B: I would imagine so. Because as soon as this closes, you'll be thinking of what you can do to add for next year. [00:22:52] Speaker F: I would guess we began back in January of last year for this year's show. [00:22:57] Speaker B: Anything really tragic happened, like a whole group of Like Kiwanians from Methuen, all drop dead out of sheer fright or anything dramatic. [00:23:06] Speaker F: Knock on wood. We've never had any serious incidents at all. But we. We've had some unusual incidents. We had three years ago. A woman was ready to give birth. Well, she was in line in the celebrity line waiting for somebody's autograph and had to rush her to the hospital. [00:23:31] Speaker G: Water. [00:23:31] Speaker B: Inside the haunted house, the little baby had long fingernails, horns coming out of his head. I'm sorry. That whole thing is beautiful. When did you open it? Did you just open this this past week? [00:23:47] Speaker F: We opened on the first. Yeah, a week ago. A little week and a half ago. [00:23:50] Speaker B: And you'll be open to how long? [00:23:52] Speaker F: Right through the 31st of October. [00:23:54] Speaker B: Okay, so. So it's a, it's. It's right a full month. And they go through this. You mentioned when you began, and I remember talking to you when you first began, Dave, the, the fact that you had the wagons going through and stuff, hay wagon stuff. How do they get through now? It's the same kind of process. Yeah. [00:24:13] Speaker F: The same setup. It's just that we've added down so many additional other venues. You know, Walk Through Haunted Houses as well is actually eight different attractions. [00:24:25] Speaker B: What are they like? How do they. Can you give us kind of a summary of. [00:24:28] Speaker G: Sure. [00:24:28] Speaker F: The, you know, Cirque Macabre is the. Is a walk through haunted house that is set up like a circus. And it's a European style circus and that's the most horrific style haunted house. It has 20 actors and actresses in it. We also built an event called Phantom Mineshaft, which is kind of cavernous passages that you appear to be going into tunnels and caverns. And there are miners that greet you throughout the passageways. And it's all themed to a mineshaft. And the third event is Tom Savini's Haunted house, which was designed by Hollywood special effects artist Tom Savini. And that we've had the longest, that I think has been up for four years for the haunted house. But we've totally refurbished it in the last two seasons. And then we have two additional haunted houses that are dark rides, but you actually get into a small little car holding three people and it travels through passageways. And that's a fairly quick haunted house. It only lasts a couple of minutes each. And we have a Chamber of Horrors display that's a walkthrough display, our magic show. [00:25:58] Speaker B: Now what is the. What is, what do they see when they're walking through that? [00:26:02] Speaker F: Through the Chamber of Horrors yeah, Various kind of torture devices throughout the years, like the dunking tank from Salem witches and an iron maiden and a stretching rack and pillars stocks. Yeah, These, these. [00:26:22] Speaker B: Now you have a lot of actors you mentioned who, who work with you on this, right? [00:26:27] Speaker F: We have 120 actors that play to the crowds each evening. Very labor intensive operation. [00:26:34] Speaker B: Okay. Did they ever get frightened themselves? [00:26:37] Speaker F: Not lately, no. They, they're out there to scare you. [00:26:42] Speaker B: Okay, I want to take some, some calls. A mastermind behind Spooky World, the America's horror theme park in Berlin, Massachusetts, out near Marlboro. And we'll give you directions on the hours they're open and all that in just a minute. I was still thinking of people protesting cruelty to rats. I think that's kind of nice, the fact that people care about any living creature and they don't want to see harm brought to them or cruel conditions. It's just that you never think of people coming to the rescue of big ugly looking rats. So that, that, that's kind of has that. Is this the first year you have had live rats? [00:27:21] Speaker F: Yes, it is. Yeah. [00:27:22] Speaker B: Okay. All right, let's, let's see what the Allen has to say. Anybody else would like to talk to, to David about Spooky world or whatever? 2, 5, 4, 10:30. The area code to Boston is 617. And I won't keep you too long, David, because you, you sound kind of tight too. I know this is a, this been a long day. I know. I'm sure it has been. And all the preparation leading up to it and all that kind of stuff is really rough. But it sure beats having, say, I don't know, like a mom and pop variety store or something. I think that's great. Okay. Alan in Brockton, you're on WBC with David Bertolino. [00:28:02] Speaker H: Nice to speak to you, Norman. Nice to speak to you too, Dave. [00:28:05] Speaker F: Hi there. [00:28:06] Speaker H: I have to tell you, Norm, if you've never been there, this is like the Disney World of the horror theme parks. And I had the privilege of going there Wednesday night with the Big Brother association out of Brockton, and we had a wonderful time. And I have to admit, I was very, very impressed. The special effects and the special themes that they employ throughout this whole park is terrific. I mean, they put a lot of time and a lot of effort conceiving, like I say, the Disney World of a horror theme park, in my opinion. [00:28:38] Speaker F: That's very nice of you. Thank you. [00:28:40] Speaker H: And I, I had a couple, just a couple of suggestions to make to you if, if you're open to that, please. Okay. Your hayride. Your hayride was. Was something I couldn't even conceive. It was so fantastic. My only question to you on the hayride is if you're sitting on one side of the cart or the other side of the cart, you obviously get to see different things. And did you ever think of an idea where you could have the cots so the people could, like, say, face one direction? [00:29:11] Speaker F: It would be pretty difficult. We've elevated all of the haunts, I think you noticed. You know, for instance, the Dr. Wells set, you know, the time machine itself. [00:29:26] Speaker H: Right. [00:29:26] Speaker F: He's elevated far above you and you know where the gun battle is. And I'm sure you saw the fire explosion in front of you. [00:29:35] Speaker H: Absolutely. [00:29:36] Speaker F: You know, we have a new special effect, a 30 foot fireball that comes out towards the hay wagon. [00:29:43] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:29:44] Speaker F: And on a cold night, you can feel that blast of heat. It feels great. [00:29:50] Speaker B: Well, who do you have doing these things? You mentioned one name Cervino. No. [00:29:55] Speaker F: Was that Tom Savini? Savini, Hollywood special effects artist that has produced and directed quite a number of horror films. [00:30:05] Speaker B: Now, do you, do you have a lot of people who put this together for you? [00:30:09] Speaker F: Oh, it's quite, it's an ensemble effort. It's, you know, quite a large group of special effects folks that work throughout the year. [00:30:17] Speaker B: Whitney, where do you find these people? In the yellow pages of the phone book. [00:30:21] Speaker F: You know, it's amazing. Believe it or not, there are horror conventions out there where there are, you know, makeup and special effects artists that gather together. There are also amusement park and fair conventions that I go through, you know, throughout the season and, you know, just networking with other amusement parks throughout the country because there's not, you know, many Halloween events of our size. In fact, I think we're independently the largest one that's out there. But we do network with other regular style amusement parks and apply our twist on it for Halloween because there aren't [00:31:06] Speaker B: many theme parks in the north anyway because of the weather. So it'd have to be sort of something special like this. And of course, then you have one month a year and that can pay even a short stand like that. Obviously it does because you've been in business for half a dozen years. [00:31:23] Speaker F: Alan, what did your group, how do they feel about the haunted houses? [00:31:27] Speaker H: We got terrific. We got terrific reaction on the bus going back. It was, it was just a plus. [00:31:34] Speaker F: Oh, that's great. [00:31:35] Speaker H: The thing that I also commented about was no matter where you are in Spooky World, there's always something going on. And you got to picture this, this long line waiting to get into the hayride, and that's like the. The biggest thing attraction at Spooky World, and it's a walking line so you're not bored. And then to make it even more interesting, they have a disc jockey, so there's music while you're in line. You know, they're always thinking of something to keep you occupied and to make you stay there a little more enjoyable. That's great. [00:32:09] Speaker F: Well, I'm glad you feel that. [00:32:10] Speaker B: Excellent. Excellent. Alan. Thank you very much for calling. [00:32:13] Speaker H: Oh, thanks so much. [00:32:14] Speaker B: Take care. [00:32:14] Speaker F: Okay, bye, Alan. [00:32:15] Speaker B: Boy, there's a satisfied customer. Here's another. Al. This is Al, who is in Malden. Al, how. You're on with David bertolino. [00:32:24] Speaker G: Good evening, Mr. Bertolino. Good evening, Norm. [00:32:26] Speaker B: Good evening, Al. [00:32:27] Speaker G: The reason I called is your advertising is fantastic. I was at the fair in East Boston at the country fair, and they had given out some free passes to Spooky World, and my son goes to school at Framingham State, and that's all you see is billboards advertising. Whoever's doing your advertising is doing a great job. [00:32:48] Speaker F: Oh, thank you. [00:32:49] Speaker G: And secondly, all I can. These rats. All I can see is, since you're out there in farm country, is you, you know, breeding these rats because they're so prolific, and maybe you could have a whole house of rats. You know, [00:33:04] Speaker F: actually, Tom Savini, who designed quite a bit at Spooky World, did a movie called Creep show, and in that, in one of the scenes with E. G. Marshall, he created a scene of thousands of cockroaches that attacked E. G. Marshall. And that was kind of the inspiration of doing this rat attack on the floor. [00:33:32] Speaker G: Yeah, I remember the movie, Ben, and that. Oh, sure. Scared me, you know. [00:33:36] Speaker F: Sure. [00:33:37] Speaker G: And I. I really think you should keep it up with the rats and get them going, get them working. [00:33:45] Speaker B: You're okay, Al. Thank you. [00:33:47] Speaker F: Thanks for the call. [00:33:49] Speaker B: Okay, here's Carol, who's in New Hampshire. Hi, Carol. You're on wbz. [00:33:55] Speaker E: Hi, Norm. Hi, Dave. How you doing? [00:33:57] Speaker F: Hi, Carol. [00:33:58] Speaker E: We've got a story for you that's probably a little on the unusual side. [00:34:02] Speaker F: Oh, I. I've. [00:34:03] Speaker G: Go ahead. [00:34:04] Speaker F: I'm dying to hear it. [00:34:05] Speaker B: Yeah, you're talking to a guy who's about as unusual as you can get to begin with. [00:34:10] Speaker E: So, two years ago, my husband and I were married and we spent part of our honeymoon at Spooky World. [00:34:15] Speaker F: Oh, my gosh. [00:34:17] Speaker B: Isn't that nice? [00:34:18] Speaker F: That's Incredible. [00:34:18] Speaker B: Now, how did you pick Spooky World for a honeymoon that you think that would be the last place? Did he pick it so that you'd cling to him when you were in In Total Fear? [00:34:28] Speaker E: Well, that's another story. Story. [00:34:30] Speaker B: I'd like to. I'd like to hear that. I'd like to hear that story. [00:34:33] Speaker E: Well, to begin, the original story is we have friends that. That happen to work up at Spooky World. And we had just gotten married. We were on our way to. To Sturbridge Village, and I said, well, why don't we stop in at Spooky World? Because I had never been there before. So we decided the second day on out that we would stop. And we had a fantastic time. [00:34:55] Speaker G: Oh, great. [00:34:56] Speaker E: Had a wonderful time. But the other story, Norm, is I'm short. I'm only 4 foot 11. [00:35:02] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:35:03] Speaker E: My husband, being taller than I am, is standing behind me as we're going through the haunted house. Well, I'm getting stopped by every actor in there and can't understand why I'm being pointed out. My husband's behind me, pointing down at me, saying, her. [00:35:20] Speaker H: Her. [00:35:21] Speaker E: But it was fantastic. [00:35:22] Speaker C: We loved it. [00:35:23] Speaker E: We had such a great time. When we got home, we've got children, teenage children, and we had to tell them that we were at Spooky World. We had to return the following week because we promised to take them. [00:35:36] Speaker B: How tall is your husband? [00:35:37] Speaker E: Well, he's not that much taller, but enough that he's a head taller than I am and can see above me and everybody can see him. [00:35:45] Speaker B: I think that's fun. I think that's great. So that's. Your marriage has stood intact despite all of that. [00:35:52] Speaker E: Oh, yes. Wednesday's. Our second anniversary is going strong. [00:35:57] Speaker B: Congratulations. That's. That's a lovely story. [00:35:59] Speaker E: Glad to hear about the additions to the park. [00:36:02] Speaker B: Okay, you'll have to come back again. [00:36:04] Speaker E: Oh, we plan on it. [00:36:05] Speaker B: Okay, Carol, thanks. [00:36:06] Speaker C: Have a good night. Bye. [00:36:07] Speaker E: Bye. [00:36:08] Speaker G: Bye. [00:36:08] Speaker B: Bye. Let's just take a little break and we'll talk with Antonio, who's in Charlestown. And you're on the air with David Bertolino. How you doing, Antonio? [00:36:17] Speaker H: Good. [00:36:17] Speaker F: How are you, David? Hi, Antonio. [00:36:21] Speaker B: Well, where do you get all the props from? [00:36:23] Speaker H: From the movies. [00:36:24] Speaker F: How did you get all of them? Well, originally we would go to auctions. Camden House, South Beads, Butterfield and Butterfield. These folks would get pieces that were kind of signature pieces from various contemporary horror films. And we would go to these auctions and attempt to be a decent high bidder. But I'LL tell you. In the last few years, we've had a great deal of trouble trying to acquire pieces at auction because of Planet Hollywood. They've driven up the prices at auction and they have very deep pockets. So we're no longer as successful at auction as we used to be. However, I'm proud to say that many of the producers and directors of horror films now are very much aware of Spooky World and they wind up donating a number of their significant pieces to be on display. So we've been very successful in that area with major producers and directors supplying us with the actual props and displays. Oh, and how old you have to [00:37:52] Speaker B: be to work at Spooky Bob? [00:37:54] Speaker F: You have to be 18. [00:37:57] Speaker B: How old are you, Antonio? [00:37:58] Speaker G: Sixteen. [00:37:59] Speaker H: Okay. [00:37:59] Speaker B: You have to wait a couple years. [00:38:01] Speaker F: Two more years. Yeah. [00:38:02] Speaker B: Does it sound like fun, like a place you'd like to work at? [00:38:05] Speaker H: Definitely. [00:38:06] Speaker B: I think it'd be. [00:38:07] Speaker G: Sure. [00:38:07] Speaker B: Beats like, I don't know, working at McDonald's, I suppose, or something like that. [00:38:13] Speaker F: Oh, we have people, we have actors who currently work at McDonald's and we have a lot of wannabe aspiring actors and we have actually, you know, we have this year is quite a few stand up comedians who, you know, want to break in some material and they'll wind up being narrators on our hayrides and gives them good to good experience as well. But yeah, there's a wide variety of people who, you know, from various backgrounds who work at Spooky Room. So you have two more years, but we'll be glad to have you then. Oh, cool. All right. [00:38:58] Speaker B: Okay. [00:39:00] Speaker G: Will Robert England be there Sunday? [00:39:03] Speaker F: Robert England's last night is tomorrow night, but Elvira will be there right through Sunday. And also starting this Sunday for the entire week is Linda Blair from the movie the Exorcist. I don't know if you remember that movie, but that was one of my favorite horror films. [00:39:22] Speaker H: Oh, okay. [00:39:24] Speaker F: We also have Alice Cooper coming the following week. Yeah, he's quite a popular fellow and he'll be there the week of the 20th. Oh, all right. Okay, thank you. Thanks, Antonio. All right, bye now. [00:39:40] Speaker B: Yeah, bye. Bye, Antonio. Boy, he's really. [00:39:42] Speaker F: He's really excited about fan, isn't he? [00:39:44] Speaker B: He's not. Yeah, he's a fan. He wants to be part of your, your spooky family there. [00:39:48] Speaker F: Absolutely. [00:39:49] Speaker B: Okay, let's go to Sam in Wakefield. Sam, you're on WBZ with Mr. Spooky World. David Bertolino. [00:39:57] Speaker F: Well, Norm. Yes, Sam from Wakefield, the class of 66. Do you remember we we met at the. At the church there. [00:40:06] Speaker H: At the. [00:40:07] Speaker F: At the festival. [00:40:10] Speaker B: Yes, yes, The. The big anniversary of the town of [00:40:12] Speaker F: Wakefield right now, David, I'm. I'm hoping he would remember. Sam Donato. Yes. Hey, Davey. [00:40:21] Speaker G: How are you? [00:40:21] Speaker F: Good, sir. How are you? [00:40:23] Speaker G: A lot older, thank you. [00:40:24] Speaker F: You believe it or not, I got older, so. Yes, yes, David. Surprise. Yeah, I know it. [00:40:32] Speaker G: David and. [00:40:33] Speaker F: And my brother and myself were kind of all in the same business way back when. That's right. Yeah. [00:40:39] Speaker B: What kind of a business was that, Sam? [00:40:41] Speaker G: That was. [00:40:42] Speaker F: Well, my brother had a store in Wakefield. It was very similar to David's father's store, which was downtown. [00:40:47] Speaker B: Okay. [00:40:48] Speaker F: And. And, and we used to jokes and hand jokes and novelties and Halloween costumes and. And that kind of stuff, so. That's right. But I heard of David's success and every once in a while, say, gee, I really ought to give him a call and see how he's doing and that kind of stuff. And now this has affected. Certainly affect your life, I'm sure, kid. It has changed my life. I imagine it has. [00:41:12] Speaker G: That's something else. [00:41:13] Speaker B: What kind of a business are you in now, Sam? [00:41:15] Speaker F: Well, I'm with the class of 66. We do 60s, 70s, 80s, oldies, that kind of stuff. [00:41:23] Speaker B: Oh, I see. [00:41:23] Speaker G: We perform. [00:41:24] Speaker F: We were performing on the common the day you were there. [00:41:26] Speaker G: Oh, yeah? [00:41:27] Speaker H: Yeah. [00:41:27] Speaker F: With your show. [00:41:28] Speaker B: That was. That was a nice event. Oh, that really was. [00:41:31] Speaker F: They always do a nice job. Yeah, we were very lucky to live in Wakefield. They do a lot of nice. [00:41:35] Speaker B: Well, Wakefield's a very pretty town. Right on the lake, quantum powered. And you have your own theater group. And it's. It's a fascinating little. Very pretty little town. [00:41:46] Speaker F: Yes, well, we are real proud of it and. But that's been occupying my time for most of this and a matter of fact, I think we just started when the last time I saw you, David. I think we just started the class of 66. [00:41:59] Speaker G: Is that right? [00:41:59] Speaker F: Yeah, 16 years now. [00:42:01] Speaker G: Wow. [00:42:01] Speaker F: Yeah. Incredible. [00:42:03] Speaker H: Yeah. [00:42:03] Speaker F: A long time. Why don't you come up to Spooky World? No, I think I will every night. [00:42:08] Speaker C: Give me. [00:42:09] Speaker F: Give me a call tomorrow in the office there. Yeah, okay. At the main office. Yeah, it'll be great to talk with you. [00:42:15] Speaker G: Great kid. [00:42:16] Speaker F: Yeah, I'll give you. [00:42:17] Speaker G: I will. [00:42:17] Speaker F: I'll give you a call tomorrow while I just squeeze it in. [00:42:20] Speaker H: I got. [00:42:21] Speaker F: My son's got a drama thing going on right now and everything else, so, you know, so I gotta squeeze it in tomorrow. But I would definitely hear from me within the next Day or so. That'd be great. That's good to talk to you again. And Uncle Norman, as always, good to talk to you. What a surprise. [00:42:35] Speaker B: Thank you, Sam. I'm glad we got you guys together. [00:42:37] Speaker F: All right, thanks. [00:42:38] Speaker B: Take care. [00:42:39] Speaker F: Talk to you soon. [00:42:39] Speaker G: Bye. [00:42:40] Speaker E: Bye. [00:42:40] Speaker F: Bye. [00:42:40] Speaker B: Take one more call, and I'll ask you about how you get the Spooky World in the hours. [00:42:44] Speaker F: All right, well, then these have been outstanding calls. This has been fun. [00:42:48] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. These people are really. They're really big fans, and they really care. Let's go to Dan in North Andover. Hi, Dan. [00:42:55] Speaker G: Hi. How you doing? [00:42:56] Speaker B: Hey. Doing fine, thank you. [00:42:59] Speaker G: I just have a question. Last year, I had gone to Spooky World with a group of people with disabilities, and I was wondering if you guys. It was pretty accessible, and I was just wondering if you guys have done anything to improve the accessibility issues and stuff. [00:43:17] Speaker F: Well, I'm glad you brought that up, because we're proud of that. I would say there's either two or three seasons ago, we. [00:43:29] Speaker B: Excuse me. Let me just talk to dad for a second. Dad, do you have your radio on? [00:43:33] Speaker H: Yes, I do. [00:43:34] Speaker B: If you could turn it down, we'd appreciate it. Yeah, because we hear the kind of the echo on it. Yeah, just. Just turn it down. Is it down now? [00:43:44] Speaker G: Yeah. Okay. [00:43:45] Speaker B: Fire away. [00:43:47] Speaker F: I believe it was three years ago we were visited by the Mass. Office of Disabilities, located at. On Cambridge street. And their representative, Bruce Bruno, came out and kind of gave us sort of a checklist of things that he suggested that we consider doing over a period of several seasons. Basically that was to, you know, make it accessible for those in wheelchairs. Also, you know, some safety guidelines for strobe and sound effect equipment for those hearing impaired, and also the sloping and grade levels and, you know, stairways that we had. And, you know, it was a plan that was probably a three or four year plan to enact. And at that time, we ourselves checked with the ada, you know, the American Disability act, and we decided to accelerate that process, plan, and did all of the changes over one season. And we voluntarily did that. Basically, we ripped out all the stairways. We regraded all of the parking lots, so it's wheelchair accessible. We totally gutted the haunted houses and made them wide enough for wheelchairs to pass comfortably. And we also lowered all of the windows needed, you know, for cash registers and ticket booths, also added accessible bathrooms. And we were cited by Scott Harshbarger, the Attorney General, as a model entertainment venue for Massachusetts and throughout the country. And we made national press service because of our, you know, that endeavor on our part, you know, we're very proud about that. I'm glad you brought it up. It's something that I forget to remind myself sometimes in talking about it. But we are very much accessible. [00:46:12] Speaker B: Just a couple of questions for me. Number one, would you think about extending the length of time or opening the park at times other than Halloween? [00:46:24] Speaker F: I don't think so. I think that it's such a labor intensive effort and it does require so much effort that we'd rather have the shorter window being the one month a year and have a lot of people there. [00:46:41] Speaker B: Okay, now the directions on getting there and the hours that you're open. [00:46:46] Speaker F: Okay. Spooky World is located in Berlin, Massachusetts. We are off of Route 495 and 290. We're actually at exit 25B on Route 290. And Route 290 is a major interstate. It's the road to Worcester and we're the very first exit on that road. So it's about 35, 40 minutes from Boston, about 15 minutes from Worcester. [00:47:14] Speaker B: What are your hours? [00:47:15] Speaker F: From 7pm Each night and we operate three or four hours each evening. And actually we're staying a little a bit later as time passes throughout the month because the crowds are definitely starting to build. [00:47:32] Speaker B: Hey, good, David, thank you very much for coming out with us. I appreciate it. Sounds like fun. And obviously there's a great deal of interest, as you can tell by the number of people who talk. David Bertolino, thanks a lot. Good luck to you. [00:47:44] Speaker F: Thank you, sir. [00:47:45] Speaker B: Maybe one moment please. There we go. [00:47:49] Speaker F: Your Nathan show just makes me glow Each weekend night. He's beyond compare and so debonair he shines so bright. You're on BZ [00:48:17] Speaker I: 103. [00:48:19] Speaker F: Oh, please don't turn that dial. He makes me smile. [00:48:32] Speaker B: Your. This is the Norm Nathan show and I happen to be Norm Nathan and so just. I'm just a pleased to be here. Okay, we'll take calls now. [00:48:59] Speaker H: Okay. [00:49:00] Speaker B: Would that be fun? We'll take calls. Just a minute or so. It's. I don't want to read that either, but I. But I. I just don't feel like I hate reading lottery numbers. Let's go to Phil in Rhode Island. Phil. Hi. Oh, Phil doesn't even want to talk to me anymore, does he? Okay, Phil, I'm sorry about that. If it's something I said to upset you, I'm terribly sorry. Is there. Is there call on another line or can I do something else meantime? Oh, he's on. Okay, here's Phil now. Phil, hello. [00:49:34] Speaker H: Hello, Norm. [00:49:35] Speaker B: Hello, Phil. [00:49:35] Speaker G: How are you? [00:49:36] Speaker B: I'm fine, thank you. Hope you're okay. [00:49:38] Speaker G: Well, I. I want you to know you. I think you have the best show on the air. [00:49:42] Speaker B: Hey, what a nice thing to say. Thank you very much, Phil. [00:49:44] Speaker G: Yeah, I look forward to the weekends, every week when I know you're coming on. [00:49:48] Speaker B: Hey, thank you, Phil. That makes me feel very good. [00:49:51] Speaker G: Well, I'm glad. The reason I called, Norm, was about [00:49:54] Speaker F: a year ago, maybe less. [00:49:55] Speaker G: You had a guest on the air one night who was an expert on [00:49:59] Speaker F: the Beatles, and I think he had written a book or something on the Beatles. [00:50:03] Speaker B: Yes. Okay. Does he talk too fast for you? [00:50:07] Speaker G: They can really reel the words off, I'll tell you. [00:50:09] Speaker B: But do you understand what they're saying? [00:50:11] Speaker F: Vaguely. [00:50:12] Speaker G: Oh, vaguely waking up. [00:50:15] Speaker B: Oh, I see. You want. You want. When you're first waking up, you want somebody to say, and the lottery numbers were six, you know, and just say it very, very slowly and all that kind of stuff. [00:50:27] Speaker G: There you go, Rick, that's. You got it. [00:50:28] Speaker B: Okay. No, Gary. Gary is very upbeat and does have a very. Well, the idea, especially in a morning show, it's supposed to move fast. I don't know who set the rules for that kind of thing, but it's supposed to move very fast. Everybody's supposed to be upbeat. They're talking, you know, because everybody's. Yeah. This is to get you out of bed quickly and get you all excited about the world, but you find that a little too much of a pace. [00:50:54] Speaker G: You know, Tough time understanding sometimes. [00:50:57] Speaker B: Okay. [00:50:57] Speaker G: Yeah, yeah. [00:50:58] Speaker B: Next time I see Gary, I'll tell him that. I'll say, hey, you know Butch from Bill Ricca? [00:51:04] Speaker G: Yeah. [00:51:04] Speaker B: He says, slow down, fella, all right? Otherwise, he's going to come and hit you in the face. [00:51:10] Speaker G: I'll take care of him. [00:51:11] Speaker B: Okay. Take care, Butch. [00:51:13] Speaker G: Thank you. Bye. [00:51:14] Speaker B: Bye. Okay, that's my friend Butch from Billerica. I call him my friend because he seems like a nice person. Okay. We have. We still have lots of open lines. It's kind of quiet here. So if you give me a call at 254-1030, the area code is 617. You know what I'd say to you? I'd say, thanks a lot. And also that goes for. For those calling for the dumb birthday game. 25-4-1030, area code 617. We're talking about the Beatles. I don't know how you feel about Van Halen and David Lee Roth, who were at the MTV Awards. And they had a fight. Apparently backstage I was like, david Lee Roth. I. Is he from. He's from Swampscott, isn't he? Or has relatives in swamps. Good or something. He's from. He has some kind of connection here. The reason I kind of get a kick out of my. [00:52:10] Speaker G: I'm. [00:52:10] Speaker B: I'm not a. I'm not a rock fan. I guess you. You know, that I'm, you know, a jazz fan, all that kind of stuff. But I'm not really snobby about it. It's just that I think he has a very relaxed, funny kind of way. Except later he's. Lately, he seems to be kind of bitter because of maybe what kind of arguments he's had with Van Halen. It says here a backstage fight reports that Eddie Van Halen was furious when David Lee Roth hogged the spotlight on stage at the award show. It got even more tense when Van Halen told reporters backstage the band was going to take time off for him to have a hip operation. Alex Van Halen says Roth went ballistic, telling Eddie, tonight's about me and not your something hip. Expletive hip. Van Halen says that was the end of Roth as far as he was concerned. Van Halen has picked Gary Cerrone of Extreme to replace Roth. You know, you don't hear much about David Lee Roth these days anymore. [00:53:18] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:53:19] Speaker C: Oh, that sounds real good. [00:53:21] Speaker B: You're excited, aren't you? [00:53:22] Speaker C: Oh, yes, I certainly am. [00:53:24] Speaker B: I'm just so darn glad. [00:53:26] Speaker C: Oh, that's a good. We'll have to make plans some night, Norm. [00:53:30] Speaker D: All right. [00:53:31] Speaker B: Okay, baby. Okay. [00:53:33] Speaker F: Okay. [00:53:34] Speaker B: What can I do for you, meantime? [00:53:36] Speaker C: Oh, I just. I'm just calling just to tell you that I listen to you practically every night and I enjoy your program. [00:53:44] Speaker B: Well, that's very nice of you to say that, Ann. I appreciate that. Thank you very much. [00:53:47] Speaker C: Oh, you're entirely welcome. [00:53:50] Speaker B: Well, thank you for calling and I hope things are good in Wakefield. [00:53:53] Speaker C: Oh, they are. [00:53:55] Speaker F: Okay. [00:53:55] Speaker B: We were just talking about the town, which is very pretty. Right on Lake. No, not Quinnipesaki. No, Quinnipowet. You don't even know where you live. You don't even know where you live. [00:54:08] Speaker C: I know. [00:54:09] Speaker B: Winnipeg. You got the wrong state. [00:54:11] Speaker C: I know what you mean. No, Lake Quantapo. Everybody comes in on to walk or run or. They love that lake. [00:54:21] Speaker B: Yeah. Must be a lot of joggers jogging around. Oh, there is. [00:54:26] Speaker C: All day and all night. [00:54:27] Speaker B: All day and all night. They jog and they jog and it's nighttime and they're still jogging at Morning. They're still jogging. They just never stop. [00:54:36] Speaker C: That's right. [00:54:37] Speaker B: What a boring bunch of people. [00:54:39] Speaker C: No, it's so pretty there, though. Do you ever come around? [00:54:43] Speaker B: I do. I come to Wakefield every now and then. [00:54:46] Speaker G: Oh, do you? [00:54:46] Speaker B: You know, when I. When. When I inherit lots of big bucks and I feel terribly romantic and I just want to go away from it all, I head for Wakefield. [00:54:57] Speaker C: Sounds good, Norm. [00:54:58] Speaker B: Okay. [00:54:59] Speaker G: Take care. [00:55:01] Speaker B: Take care, Ed. [00:55:02] Speaker C: Oh, thank you. [00:55:03] Speaker G: Bye. [00:55:04] Speaker E: Bye. [00:55:04] Speaker C: Bye. You take care. [00:55:05] Speaker G: You too. [00:55:05] Speaker B: Thank you very much. I wouldn't be caught dead in Wakefield. I just said that for preach. For comedy effect. No, it is a very pretty town. I'm just so amusing. I can't help but say something and sit here and then I kind of chuckle over it. Dick in North Attleborough. Hi, Dick. [00:55:29] Speaker G: Hey, my Norm. How you doing? [00:55:31] Speaker B: I'm doing okay. How are you doing? [00:55:33] Speaker G: I got a couple of things. One thing, I'm good friends with Michael Schlafman. [00:55:36] Speaker B: You know Mike. Well, Michael slapping my cousin. Do you work with him at Raytheon or anything? [00:55:41] Speaker G: Yeah, we both worker rape Johnny. [00:55:43] Speaker B: He is a super guy. And we. [00:55:45] Speaker G: We see each other every day. And he talks. He's got anecdotes about Norm Nathan. [00:55:50] Speaker B: Oh, has he? I'm glad. [00:55:51] Speaker G: But number two, Norm, I wanted to [00:55:53] Speaker F: tell you that my family goes way, [00:55:55] Speaker G: way back with you. Do you remember Dial a Joke? [00:56:00] Speaker B: I certainly do, yes. [00:56:01] Speaker G: I used to come home from work every night and. And recite the Dial A Joke. And my kids grew up on that. The joke. So very bad. But they were very funny. [00:56:09] Speaker B: Well, yeah, no, the jokes were purposely bad. I don't know where they. Maybe they were purposely bad, but they did turn out to be bad because the idea was the way they were told. For people who are not sure what we're talking about. This. This was back in the late. Let's see, late late 60s, 60s, 70s. In that period at W, when I was working at whdh, I was doing some more comedy stuff during the daytime. And one of the things was Dial a Joke. I would call this Dial a Joke, which was actually a regular service that they offered. I think in the New York system, not so much here. You could call Dial a Joke. Kenny Youngman, I think, started it in New York. You'd call and they'd have a joke. You know, hi, welcome to Dial a Joke. Some humor to make your day brighter, which is what we said. And then this guy would come on and tell these awful jokes and giggle and laugh. [00:57:03] Speaker G: They were very bad. Norman, I've got To tell you that one of the. One of the. Part of my family lore is that I would go, mom, every night with your Dial a joke. And the kids would laugh. And one night my wife looked at [00:57:15] Speaker F: me very sternly and said, you are [00:57:16] Speaker G: forbidden from telling any more. [00:57:20] Speaker F: I thought they were hilarious. [00:57:22] Speaker B: Well, I. I thought that maybe the fun of it was really in the fact that they were so hokey. Parody. [00:57:28] Speaker G: Sure. [00:57:28] Speaker B: Yeah, they were so hokey. [00:57:29] Speaker F: And. [00:57:30] Speaker B: And. And I would start to laugh. I was. I was the guy in the dial. We. What we would do is we would tape the dial a joke, the joke part on the telephone so that. And then I would call the phone and actually be talking to myself. But on the other end of the phone, I can't do it. Exactly, because I. I don't have the technical stuff to do it with at the moment. But the guy would tell the joke and say he would tell the joke. Then he would start to go. And he would start to laugh hysterically, like the guy was having a seizure, you know, after laughing about a joke that wasn't even worth a giggle. [00:58:06] Speaker F: Well, the whole. [00:58:07] Speaker G: The whole concept. The joke may not have been funny, but the concept was terrific. [00:58:12] Speaker B: You know, some dick. You. You and a guy, I think, and maybe in Wakefield, are the only two who still remember that. [00:58:18] Speaker G: Well, I go back further than that. My brother to. [00:58:20] Speaker F: Used. [00:58:20] Speaker G: Used to talk to me about Sounds in the Night. [00:58:23] Speaker B: Oh, the jazz thing that we did, which was fun. I enjoyed that a lot. [00:58:26] Speaker G: That goes back. But, Norm, you've done good work. [00:58:29] Speaker B: You've got a great voice. [00:58:30] Speaker G: I've always enjoyed your work and I [00:58:32] Speaker B: wanted to let you know that you're a nice man. I can't tell you how much that means to me. Thank you very much, Dave. [00:58:37] Speaker G: Good night. [00:58:38] Speaker B: Bye bye. That is very nice. Somebody remembers Dial a Joke. Now, it's. During that period we did a lot of. [00:58:43] Speaker G: Really? [00:58:44] Speaker B: If I say we did a lot of silly things, you're going to say, well, what is it you're doing now? Really serious stuff, or what? But compared to. Compared to some of the crazy things we did then. Anyway, it was fun. I had a great, great deal of fun during that period. I've been very lucky, though. I've been able to do things in radio. [00:59:04] Speaker G: There he goes. [00:59:04] Speaker B: He's giving a speech. Forgive me. I'll stop. I'll stop right this moment. Do I have to talk with Robert from Everett? Do I have to do that? People seem to get a kick out of the fact that I get angry with Robert because I think He's a jerk. I'm going to tell him he's a jerk and watching. Oop. He'll say he's my best. He's his best. My best friend or something. Hello, jerk. [00:59:27] Speaker G: Jack Hart. [00:59:29] Speaker F: No, you're. [00:59:30] Speaker B: No, you're. You're Robert. And I know him. Why did you. Why did you mention. Why did you mention Jack Hart? [00:59:37] Speaker G: Well, Jack Hart and Tony Nesmith are two very, very funny gentlemen. When they get together, they do funny material. [00:59:45] Speaker B: They do funny, funny. Funny. Funny. Funny. Funny. Yes, funny, funny. [00:59:48] Speaker G: And I think they should get together and call themselves like two boys with lame brains. [00:59:54] Speaker F: Oh, that. You. [00:59:54] Speaker B: You really are terribly creative. Do you know, Wolfie? You. You and Wolfie ought to form a duo. [01:00:00] Speaker G: Now, let me finish what I'm saying. [01:00:04] Speaker B: I thought you were. I'm sorry. I thought you were. [01:00:07] Speaker G: You're professional, you are. [01:00:09] Speaker B: Okay, go ahead. [01:00:11] Speaker G: No, you threw me off. I just said they should go into show business. Tony Nesbitt, Jack Hart. But Jack Hart is the one tickles me to death when he does the traffic report. [01:00:28] Speaker B: I'm sorry. Excuse me. [01:00:28] Speaker G: You. [01:00:29] Speaker B: You. [01:00:29] Speaker G: May I. [01:00:30] Speaker B: No, let me. Let me just. [01:00:31] Speaker G: Let me. [01:00:32] Speaker B: Let's. I'm asking you. I just want you to clarify what you just said. He does. You laugh during his traffic reports. You think. There, That's a bit of humor. [01:00:41] Speaker G: Well, he has a lot of humor in there. If you'll listen and I'll do it. [01:00:46] Speaker B: Okay, go ahead, do it. [01:00:49] Speaker G: Oh, you really want to hurt me tonight? [01:00:51] Speaker B: No, no. You just said you want to hurt me. [01:00:55] Speaker G: I respect that. Gentleman. He's funny. [01:00:58] Speaker B: He's funny. Yes, he's funny. [01:01:00] Speaker F: My name is Jack. [01:01:01] Speaker C: Jack Hart. [01:01:02] Speaker G: Jack Hart. Stay away from 93, he says. A big accident up there. Jack Hardy. I'm the greatest. Now I know everything. I work for BZ. Jack Hart. Now you're coming down. 93 goes. Don't go, darling's a big accident down. Don't cross that bridge over there. I'm Jack Hart. [01:01:21] Speaker C: Jack Hard. [01:01:21] Speaker G: I love you. [01:01:22] Speaker D: Can we. [01:01:23] Speaker B: Can we get. Hold on a minute. Can we get Jack Hart on the line? You suppose? [01:01:28] Speaker G: Great. No, he talks to me all the time. [01:01:30] Speaker B: If he's listening, he could come on right this very minute. But he may not be. [01:01:34] Speaker G: I do impersonations of live people now, not dead people. [01:01:39] Speaker B: No, I. Well, I do. I do a couple of live people, but mostly. [01:01:43] Speaker G: Tell me the truth now. How did you do at your. Your show? You did. You wrote a song and everything. How did you really do? Tell the truth. [01:01:51] Speaker B: How did I really do? [01:01:53] Speaker G: Be honest. I'M a pro. You're a pro? [01:01:55] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:01:56] Speaker G: Did you do well? [01:01:59] Speaker B: Yes, I think I. I think I did reasonably well, but my standards are low. I, you know, as I've said very often, so you can't tell by that. [01:02:06] Speaker G: Yeah, but you must have confidence in yourself. [01:02:09] Speaker B: No, I didn't. I was scared to death when I had to sing in front of 1200 people with a big band behind me. I've never done that before. I. I was really frightened. [01:02:18] Speaker G: Don't be frightened because you know how to walk. Did you wear your tux? [01:02:22] Speaker B: Oh, no, I don't wear tux, man. [01:02:25] Speaker G: How. What do you. Sport jacket? [01:02:28] Speaker B: Well, you know, just, you know. Yeah, like that. Sports jacket? Yeah, sports jacket and that. Yeah. [01:02:34] Speaker G: A little makeup? [01:02:36] Speaker B: No. No makeup. No makeup? [01:02:38] Speaker G: No. Nobody asked for an autograph when you came up. They said, yeah, I know. [01:02:43] Speaker B: I gave a few autographs, yeah, but that's no big deal. And people are always asking for. They ask you for your autograph even if they don't know who you are. So that doesn't mean anything. I don't get. I don't get carried away by that. [01:02:55] Speaker G: I ask you, never put yourself down. People love you. They call. I call every week. [01:03:02] Speaker H: All right. [01:03:03] Speaker B: God knows. God knows. I know that. She said, know that. [01:03:07] Speaker G: Take care, buddy. You got a whole week to do. [01:03:10] Speaker B: I'll be around for several more days. Yes, Robert, thank you very much for the call to talk to you or perhaps moment. A whole, whole bunch of broadcasting judges, and I can see them marking my name on some kind of an award just for tonight's program alone. I thank you. Hold on a minute while I wave to them. Hi there, guys. N a T H a n, not en a N. Okay, I'm sorry I interrupted. Just go right ahead. [01:03:37] Speaker F: No problem at all. You deserve that, [01:03:40] Speaker B: whatever it is. [01:03:42] Speaker F: These, all these calls are compliments. [01:03:43] Speaker B: I know. Please don't compliment me. I can't stand it anymore. One more of those that I'm going to throw up. No, I mean, I appreciate it. I'm not belittling them. I do appreciate that a whole lot, but I think it's probably very boring to most people, listening, saying, well, there he goes again. That same program all night. [01:04:01] Speaker G: They. [01:04:01] Speaker B: They butter up that guy. They suck up to him. It's enough. Oh, come on, enough. Anyway, tell me what I can do for you that would be different. Where in Maine are you, by the way? [01:04:09] Speaker G: Way. [01:04:09] Speaker F: I'm in Biddeford. I don't know if you remember, I called you last week. [01:04:12] Speaker B: Yes, I do remember. Biddeford yeah, yeah. [01:04:14] Speaker F: And I was asking you information on getting tapes of old radio shows. [01:04:19] Speaker B: Yes, yes. [01:04:21] Speaker F: I haven't had a chance to go look yet, but I will. [01:04:24] Speaker H: Okay. [01:04:24] Speaker B: And if you have trouble like as I think I told you, send me a. Send me a note and I'll give you a list of places you can write for catalogs. And I. If I have an extra one lying around, I'll even send that to you. But there are a whole lot of companies throughout the country that sell cassettes of old time radio shows, so you should have no problem either at a book or record store near you. And you're near Portland and. Well, Bitterford and Saco are pretty good sized communities. But if there's, you know, if there are other things that you want, I can. I can. I can give you an idea where you can write for them. [01:04:59] Speaker F: Okay. But the reason why I called, as you mentioned, a name a couple minutes ago, they got me wondering what happened to this person you mentioned, Larry Glick. [01:05:09] Speaker B: Yes. Larry is living down in Florida now. [01:05:12] Speaker F: Oh. [01:05:13] Speaker B: Yeah, He's. He was retired from broadcasting a few years ago. Well, yeah, well, I guess it is a few years ago. [01:05:18] Speaker G: Yes. [01:05:19] Speaker B: And he really shouldn't. He should still be in the business, but I guess he's. He was in it for a long time and decided he's had enough. I guess. So he's down in Florida and every now and then I talk with somebody down there who bumps into him. And I talked to a lot of people who remember him when he was here and miss him a great deal. [01:05:36] Speaker F: Yeah, when he was on the air, I remember him with his. Was his Gully Square song and. [01:05:42] Speaker B: That's right, the Glicknick song. The Glicknick. That's right. The little kid singing about the Glick Nicks. That's right. Yeah. [01:05:50] Speaker H: Yeah. [01:05:50] Speaker B: So that's. Anyway, he's in good health, from what I understand, and life is good for him and he's. Apparently he's enjoying retirement. [01:05:58] Speaker G: Yeah. [01:05:59] Speaker B: Okay, so that's pretty good. Thank you for asking, Tony. And if you need any further help on the old time radio show, just let me know. [01:06:05] Speaker G: Yeah. [01:06:05] Speaker F: Once again, I'm enjoying listening to your show. [01:06:07] Speaker B: Thanks a lot. Okay, bye bye now. Tony. Manny, is it Manny? Did I forget your name? You in Wakefield? Look, I'm looking right at you. See the way my eyes are looking right into yours? Piercing into your very soul. Is your name Manny? In Wakefield? A lady in. In wake. Are you in Wakefield? What do you. You act like the. The girl I took to the high school Prom. She didn't want to ever talk to me that night either. Are you. Is Manny there, do you think? Is there somebody. Let me. Let's listen. I thought maybe we could hear her breathing. No, I guess maybe not. Oh, that's so sad. Okay, thank you very much, Manny. That's not a nice thing to do. We have a couple of other calls. Oh, there we go. We have Matt down in Hingham. Hi, Matt. You're a wbc. [01:07:07] Speaker G: Hi, Norm. [01:07:08] Speaker B: How are you? Fine, thank you. I hope you're okay. [01:07:10] Speaker I: I'm doing very good, thank you. [01:07:11] Speaker B: Good. [01:07:12] Speaker I: I wanted to pose a sports question to you. I know you don't talk a lot about it. [01:07:16] Speaker C: A lot. [01:07:16] Speaker I: But I've been posing this of question to my friends tonight. [01:07:19] Speaker B: Okay. [01:07:19] Speaker G: I prom. [01:07:19] Speaker B: Sure. I won't know the answer, but I'll try. [01:07:21] Speaker I: Well, it's an interesting question. You really don't have to know a lot about sports, but agree with me or disagree. The four major sports in the US Are hockey, football, baseball and basketball. [01:07:33] Speaker B: I would say so, yeah. I can't think of a fifth sport [01:07:36] Speaker I: that would match with the recent things with Alomar and the spitting and all that. I mean, first off, that's a horrible [01:07:42] Speaker F: thing to think do. [01:07:44] Speaker I: But let's agree with the fact that football and hockey are the two most aggressive, let's just say testosterone pumping sports [01:07:51] Speaker B: that are out there now more so than certainly than baseball or basketball too, I would guess. [01:07:58] Speaker G: Sure. [01:07:59] Speaker I: My theory is this. Why is it that football and hockey you don't see many confrontations with the officials and the referees? Why is it in baseball and, excuse me, basketball you see confrontations all the time? Such as Dennis Rodman with the headbutting incident with the referee and the recent Alomar incident with the spitting and you know, saying stuff about his child then passed away. [01:08:28] Speaker F: Yeah. [01:08:29] Speaker I: It would seem to me that the two most aggressive sports being hockey and football, you would see more incidents with confrontations with officials. It confuses me why that type of thing happened. [01:08:43] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't. [01:08:44] Speaker G: I don't know. [01:08:44] Speaker B: I don't know why that would be be the case. For example, in basketball, I can understand why it would be more in baseball than say football or hockey. I think they take in those two sports, they pretty much take their aggression up against each other, against other, other things. And also maybe the, the official in baseball, the umpire is kind of there at every play, calls every ball, every strike, you know, makes many more decisions. I'm just guessing. I really hadn't thought about this till you just Brought it up. [01:09:19] Speaker I: But it's an interesting question to pose. Yeah, I mean, I'm not an avid sports player, but just recently with the Alamar and that's really. [01:09:27] Speaker B: I, I think, I think young fire or the, the umpire in baseball is more kind of with the, with each play more so than maybe those other sports you're talking about. You know, there's the guy behind the plate who calls balls and strikes. There's one who decides whether you're safe at first or, or the others on the other races whether or not the ball is, is, is rolled, foul or whether it's still in the line. I mean, there's much more of a presence, it seems to me, of the umpires in baseball than there would be in. Certainly in football. I would. I'm just guessing. And somebody else could maybe have. They could have a different opinion and I'm so unsure of my, my thoughts about these things. I, I buckle. But it just seems to me that the umpire is always there in baseball much more so than other sports. [01:10:17] Speaker I: I, I just, I've been posing this question to all my friends in. It's just been an interesting thing, you know. [01:10:23] Speaker F: Why, why does that happen? [01:10:24] Speaker I: It's just quite interesting. Well, I don't want to bog up your whole night here. I know you have tons of people looking to. [01:10:30] Speaker B: Oh, I appreciate the call. [01:10:32] Speaker F: Can I pose one more question? [01:10:34] Speaker B: Sure. [01:10:34] Speaker I: Your other, the other gentleman that works opposite you on the nights you don't work. [01:10:40] Speaker F: I forget. [01:10:40] Speaker B: Oh, Bob Raleigh. Yes. [01:10:42] Speaker I: You guys. You guys don't seem to have much conversation about each other, it seems. [01:10:48] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:10:48] Speaker I: You work the same position. You would think that you would have more conversation, but you never seem to mention each other. I mean, do you folks get along [01:10:56] Speaker B: or I think sort of casually. I don't. We're not the best of friends. That may. I don't want to, you know, pursue it too much beyond that. But no, I mean, I don't dislike Bob and all and I do mention him. As a matter of fact. Yesterday I was Finch hitting for him and I, I will for a few days next week and certainly it's his program and I talk about that. I guess on a talk show you say you're pinch hitting for somebody, but in a way, I mean, you really are because that's the time that normally on. But in a way, it's such a personal kind of program that when you, even when you pinch it for somebody, you don't always do it in. I don't know what I'm saying. I don't know, let me just say we're not the closest of friends. I have to be honest about that. No, we're not. We're not buddies. We don't get together afterwards and have a beer together and say, how you doing, pal? Or anything. No, we. I think we're. We tend to be kind of cool to each other. You can ask him, and he won't answer you in the same way I just did, But I think that's the truth. [01:12:04] Speaker G: Well, I'll just have to. [01:12:05] Speaker I: To say I'm. I'm 23 years old. I. I've been an avid listener of rock stations and all that, and I've just recently been turned on the WBC completely. I. I love the station. I think your show is excellent. [01:12:18] Speaker C: I love. [01:12:19] Speaker I: I. I work till midnight every night, and I listen to your show for [01:12:22] Speaker G: about an hour before I go home. [01:12:24] Speaker B: I appreciate that, man. [01:12:25] Speaker I: Excellent show, sir. [01:12:26] Speaker B: I appreciate you saying that, and I thank you a lot. Thank you very much. [01:12:29] Speaker G: Have a good evening. [01:12:30] Speaker B: Bye. Bye. [01:12:30] Speaker C: Bye. [01:12:31] Speaker G: Bye. [01:12:31] Speaker B: Okay, let's see. [01:12:32] Speaker G: How about. [01:12:33] Speaker B: Oh, you want to hear an intense guy? Hold on a minute, and I'll get to him after this. [01:12:38] Speaker F: Hello, Norman, how are you? [01:12:40] Speaker B: Okay. [01:12:40] Speaker G: Intense man calling about the top still fair. [01:12:44] Speaker B: Okay. [01:12:44] Speaker F: On the 19th and the 20th. I'm telling you, see this before you die. This will be the chance of a lifetime. There's going to be a poultry show. [01:12:54] Speaker H: They're coming from all over the world. [01:12:56] Speaker F: They're going to have the black swans of Australia. They're $5,000 a pair. They're gonna have the bush turkey from Australia, which is extremely rare animal. [01:13:08] Speaker H: I think. [01:13:08] Speaker F: I don't even think they'd be for sale if anybody could afford them. But it's gonna be on the 19th and the 20th at the Topsfield Fair. [01:13:16] Speaker B: I'll see you there. Okay. [01:13:18] Speaker F: I'm gonna have my chickens on display. [01:13:20] Speaker B: Okay, good. I'll be there. [01:13:22] Speaker G: Yeah. [01:13:22] Speaker H: Okay. [01:13:23] Speaker G: But that's all I want to say. [01:13:24] Speaker F: And God be with you, and I love you. [01:13:26] Speaker B: Thanks a lot, Joe. Thank you. I'm just trying to get caught up with mail, and I'm sure I did. And I. And I. I spent today, a lot of today and some of yesterday, just trying to answer mail. I'm sure I'll get to yours. I haven't seen it, but I'm sure it's there. [01:13:43] Speaker F: You ain't gonna forget this letter. It's about something that happened in 1493. [01:13:50] Speaker B: I will look for it, Joe, and I look for it. [01:13:52] Speaker H: Eagle in. [01:13:53] Speaker B: Okay, thank you. I'll look for It. Right. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Speaking of. Speaking of the times. Feel fair, we were talking one time about these cows with the. With the white stripe across their middle section like a. Like a belt across their belly. And they're called. I forget what they're called. I know Joan McCool, who lives up in. In Tewkesbury and who's very much interested in outdoor activity, outdoor life and farm life and gardens and all that, sent me a little. Little picture, a little caricature of one. Anyway, they have them at the Tops Field Fair now. What are they called? Something. Belted Galways. Yes, exactly. [01:14:43] Speaker F: Did you know? [01:14:44] Speaker B: Did you. [01:14:44] Speaker F: Did you. [01:14:45] Speaker B: Did somebody call in about that? Tom. You just remembered that? [01:14:49] Speaker G: Tom. [01:14:50] Speaker D: Tom. [01:14:50] Speaker B: Tom Howey. Son of a gun. I knew that. Our producer. Yeah, Belted Galways. I had never heard about them till somebody brought that up about a couple of weeks ago. And I couldn't picture a cow that was, for example, all black, although they come in some other colors too, but they're solid colors. And then they have this white thing around their bellies, you know, all around their body at the midst of section that makes it look like they have a belt on. I had never seen a. Never seen a cow like that. [01:15:20] Speaker H: And I. [01:15:21] Speaker B: There are a lot of cows out in the area where I live because most. Most of them are milking cows, the Holsteins. But a belted Galway. And there they were. There must be. Must be about eight or nine of them at the fair, which, incidentally, closes on Monday. So this is the last few days of it. A belted Galway. Son of a gun. Okay, Jimmy J, the dj. Hey, how are you? Good, how are you, Jimmy? [01:15:46] Speaker F: My battery's running low, so if we get disconnected, you know what happened? [01:15:49] Speaker G: Okay. Speaking of belted cows, man, you know, [01:15:52] Speaker F: when I'm out DJing, why is it [01:15:54] Speaker H: that guys that are, like, really heavy wear their belt, like, under their belly [01:15:58] Speaker F: and have the belly flow over the belted cow? [01:16:03] Speaker G: Man, why do they do that? [01:16:05] Speaker B: I don't think they can get them up high enough. [01:16:07] Speaker F: Don't they realize they would look better if they just admitted that they were fat? [01:16:11] Speaker H: Well, I'm a heavy guy, too, you [01:16:13] Speaker F: know, so, I mean, who should I tell? [01:16:14] Speaker B: No, no, no, I know it. All I can tell you is I'm. I'm on a diet and I'm losing a little bit. [01:16:19] Speaker G: But. But. [01:16:20] Speaker B: No, but I know what you're saying. You see guys. You see the guys? No, the guys have. You're talking about the guys with their belts just above their. Their scrotum. It seems. And the bellies come keep, you know, almost come down their knees. [01:16:35] Speaker F: I mean, don't their wives say something [01:16:38] Speaker H: to them like a honey, you know, [01:16:39] Speaker F: let's get a larger size pants or something? [01:16:43] Speaker H: I don't know. [01:16:44] Speaker F: No, I don't know. [01:16:44] Speaker B: I think the pants fit. They just don't pull the belt up high enough. I think maybe if they tied it around, like around their belly button, which is where most people wear their belts. Right. Maybe it would be uncomfortable. I don't know. I'm willing to talk with anybody who's willing to call and explain why they do that. [01:17:01] Speaker F: I think that's a great idea. Be a great idea. [01:17:03] Speaker G: Why do you. [01:17:04] Speaker F: I don't think the pants really fit, Norm. I think that they get them so [01:17:07] Speaker G: small they feel like they're thinner. [01:17:11] Speaker F: Because the only way we could figure that out is if they had like really baggy drawers, then you know, that they can't fit. But these guys usually don't have the baggy drawers. They have the big belly and. [01:17:22] Speaker H: You know, [01:17:24] Speaker B: What a romantic picture you paint. [01:17:26] Speaker F: Well, you know, when you're out there, D.J. and you see all kinds of things, you know. [01:17:30] Speaker B: I know. [01:17:31] Speaker F: And when he was talking about belted cows, that's what came to my mind. [01:17:34] Speaker B: No, I know it. I know it. [01:17:35] Speaker F: Well, with that, I'll leave you. [01:17:37] Speaker B: Okay, thanks a lot, Jim. No, it is. It is kind of. It is kind of an ugly side here. And Jimmy was saying, why don't their wives tell them so? Maybe their wives think they're beautiful. Or maybe their wives have told them a million times and the guys just say, please. I look okay, you like me when we're married, I still look. I don't weigh a pound more today than when we were married. We. I think we all go through life, don't we, with. With this kind of. With this illusion that we're still sharp looking, slim young guys that really haven't changed at all through the years. We just don't see these changes. But I agree with them, with the. With the business about the belts and the bellies hanging over the belts kind of. It's not a pretty sight. Not a pretty sight at all. Okay. Clear and cold, the rest of the night loads from 34 in the suburbs, touch of frost in the suburbs, to 40 in the city. Although it's. I don't know whether we're in the city or the suburbs. [01:18:44] Speaker G: Suburbs. [01:18:44] Speaker B: Here we're in the Alston Brighton area. I know that sounds like. I mean, it's Boston, but where we are, it's kind of open. It's near the river and we have a lot of open land. So it's kind of like semi suburbs and city. [01:18:59] Speaker G: Maybe. [01:19:00] Speaker B: Maybe. Well maybe we could call it sabidius or. No, that doesn't. Some Sid herbs or something. We're sort of in between both because out here it's. The temperature is 34 degrees and there's no question but the further out you go, the it's got to be below freezing. Saturday, mostly sunny with a pleasant afternoon, high 60. Saturday afternoon, a Saturday night, partly cloudy, lows 46. Sunday, breezy and mild with a mixture of clouds and sunshine. High 64. Monday, a shower is possible early in the day and then becoming partly sunny and windy with high temperatures 60 degrees again. Outside the studio it's 34 degrees. Okay, I've got a lot of these really fascinating stories. One story was about Gina Davis. You know, Gina's from, she's from around here. What the town that's down just before the Bourne Bridge on one of those bridges leading across Cape Cod Canal into the Cape. That one of those towns down there is where she's from. So I take great interest. She is also an attractive lady and she's quite a good actress. And she's made a movie called [01:20:26] Speaker G: the [01:20:27] Speaker B: Long Kiss Good Night and apparently she, she had to dive into an ice covered lake in the movie and it was a record cold day in Toronto. You find this interesting or am I just reading this to Phil Time? I think I'm reading this to fill time. Is there somebody on the line there? One of those lines? Okay, why don't we talk with them? Because Marie from Worcester is on what line? [01:20:53] Speaker G: What? [01:20:54] Speaker B: What line? [01:20:56] Speaker F: Two. [01:20:58] Speaker B: Oh, line one. Okay. Is this Marie from Worcester? [01:21:01] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:21:02] Speaker B: Oh, I've been waiting to talk to you. I can't since the day I was born. Marie from Worcester. I was saying one day Marie from Worcester will call and I won't have to finish that boring story about Gina Davis diving into a lake in Toronto. I'm a sneaky person. Yes, what's doing, Marie, what can I do for you? [01:21:25] Speaker D: I have an answer to that last caller. [01:21:28] Speaker F: Okay. [01:21:29] Speaker B: And I forget what the question was about. [01:21:30] Speaker D: Guys, I can't hear you too well [01:21:31] Speaker F: now, how about hello? [01:21:34] Speaker D: Hello? [01:21:34] Speaker B: Hello? [01:21:35] Speaker E: Yeah. [01:21:36] Speaker B: No, no, what was the question? The question was that about the, the guys wearing their belts low with their bellies hanging over. Okay, what's the answer? [01:21:43] Speaker D: Well, the answer is that I was married to a man who was all portly, he had a big stomach and you have to go to the Big and tall stores. And get a high rise. High, wide, high rise. [01:21:58] Speaker B: R I, N, oh, high, high rise. [01:22:00] Speaker D: To take care of that. You know that belly in the front [01:22:05] Speaker B: and the big tushy in the back. [01:22:07] Speaker D: Huh? [01:22:08] Speaker B: And the big tushy in the back. [01:22:10] Speaker D: Well, some of them have a big tushy. Some have no tush. [01:22:13] Speaker B: You mean you can have a big belly and no tushy? Sure, sure you can, but that's how [01:22:21] Speaker D: you take care of it. And, and so get that size of belt or whatever it is. A Hager, I think, sells those pants. Yeah, but the answer is a high rise. [01:22:33] Speaker B: So the idea is get a pair of pants that really do fit and cover the big expanse in your fat body. [01:22:40] Speaker C: Absolutely. [01:22:41] Speaker H: Okay. [01:22:42] Speaker D: Absolutely. There's a few men that I know that look like they're ready to have a baby. [01:22:49] Speaker E: No. [01:22:50] Speaker C: That's the only explanation I know. [01:22:52] Speaker D: It's really, it's an ungodly sight. I don't know why these wives don't get after them. [01:22:57] Speaker E: I think it's terrible. [01:22:58] Speaker B: It is an ugly sight, isn't it? Just a. [01:23:01] Speaker D: Sorry. I know one man in particular. I, I, I'm tempted to say something, but, you know, you mind your own business. [01:23:09] Speaker B: What would you say if you and I. I know you're not going to say it because you sound like a polite person, but what would you say if you, if you really did say what you wanted to? [01:23:19] Speaker D: I'd offer it as constructive criticism. [01:23:21] Speaker B: Yeah? How do you do that? In a diplomatic way? [01:23:24] Speaker D: Well, in a diplomatic way, look at your, at your profile in the mirror. [01:23:29] Speaker F: Yeah. [01:23:30] Speaker B: I would, I would think this guy was, have looked at themselves in the mirror and looked at this big belly hanging there and said, I gotta do something about that. Well, dieting wouldn't be a bad start, but at least get pants that fit so you can pull them up. And at least it sort of camouflages it a little bit. I'm talking like I'm Mr. America here. I'm a little fat guy myself. [01:23:53] Speaker D: Well, that's all right, but anything can be, you know, their wives should go get after them. I don't care what you say. I would never allow my husband to go around. He's not here now. He passed away. But when he did, I used to go to the big and tall men's and I'm sure they have one in Boston or anywhere. [01:24:13] Speaker G: Anywhere. [01:24:14] Speaker B: Yeah. That's how you could, that's how you could do it. Diplomatic. You could say, sir, you are a really big guy. Boy, you're tall. Big, tall guy. [01:24:22] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:24:22] Speaker B: You ought to go to a big tall men's place and get big tall men's. Because that would look so good on a guy who is so beautiful and big and tall like you are. You wouldn't even have to mention fat or his fat tush. And he'd be so complimented, he'd be flattered. Hey, I'm a big tall guy. [01:24:42] Speaker D: Either that or speak to his wife. [01:24:46] Speaker B: Well, you kind of have a feeling. Maybe she's already spoken to him. [01:24:49] Speaker G: Maybe. [01:24:50] Speaker B: I don't know. [01:24:52] Speaker D: But there is a solution and the whole thing is a higher rise. [01:24:59] Speaker G: Okay. [01:25:00] Speaker B: Higher rise. [01:25:01] Speaker D: High rise. And you can be fitted. I think Hager. [01:25:06] Speaker B: I don't know. I have no idea what that means. I mean, I know about infamy and all that stuff. Anyway, let's take some calls. 2, 5, 4, 10:30, area code is 617. And if you behave yourself and you drink your milk to the bottom of the glass where Snow White and the seven dwarfs are looking up at you, then we'll do the lottery numbers, but some other time. I don't feel like it right now. Jim in Canton. Hi, Jim, you're on wbc. Hi, Jim. [01:25:37] Speaker G: I wanted to comment about you talking [01:25:40] Speaker F: about the people with the belt lines. Yes, well, the belt lines don't bother me. It's when you have the repairman or the plumber comes in and the belt line goes a little bit too low on the other side. [01:25:52] Speaker B: Wait a minute. [01:25:53] Speaker F: And you know exactly what I mean. [01:25:54] Speaker B: No, no, no, I really. Actually, I don't, but I'm afraid to probe it, if you pardon the word a little more closely. [01:26:02] Speaker G: I know him when the. [01:26:03] Speaker F: The plumber comes in. [01:26:04] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:26:05] Speaker F: And he's got a little portly belly. [01:26:08] Speaker G: Okay. [01:26:09] Speaker B: This is an actual down. [01:26:10] Speaker F: He's bending over, getting under the sink or something. All of a sudden you look behind him, okay. [01:26:16] Speaker B: And the pants kind of slide down so you can see the crack in his tush. [01:26:20] Speaker G: That's exactly. [01:26:21] Speaker B: Oh, that. That is ugly, isn't it? Especially. [01:26:23] Speaker G: Oh, that's even more ugly. [01:26:24] Speaker B: Oh, oh, that is. Especially if you're having lunch at the time. Yeah, let the. Let it leak. I don't care if the whole house washes away. [01:26:33] Speaker F: I don't care if he has suspenders [01:26:34] Speaker G: on in the whole nine yards. I'd rather see the portly clown. [01:26:41] Speaker B: No, that's right. But very often you see that not only a plumber, but you see a lot of people like that kind of repair man or, you know, where they. Where they have to bend over and do other kind of things like the [01:26:52] Speaker F: guy that's filling your oil tank. You know, the same idea. Well, that wasn't what I called called about just to, you know, put a fresh thing on things, just on the news while I was waiting on the air. And it was kind of funny because that it just happened too. They were talking about Mr. Dole having a 13 point lead and this and that. [01:27:19] Speaker B: I'm sorry, Mr. Clinton having a 13 [01:27:21] Speaker F: point lead over Mr. Dole. Don't you think, Norm, that by the time the election comes about that'll be about six or eight points? [01:27:29] Speaker B: Oh, I, I think you can't really tell the way it's going to be in November the way it is right now. I'm sure. Certainly not. It, it's have to change any, any, any which way. You can't really tell. Obviously not, no, but there is no [01:27:42] Speaker F: way that a president is going to be elected that by that much of a landslide. [01:27:47] Speaker B: What do you think about, about polls in general though, do you think. [01:27:50] Speaker F: Oh, I think they're ridiculous at this [01:27:52] Speaker B: point, but I mean, anytime. Don't, don't you think we're over polled? And the part, the part where they say there can be a 5%, there can be a 5% error. Who decides on the 5% error in that country? [01:28:08] Speaker G: How about when you read the Herald of the Globe? [01:28:10] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:28:11] Speaker F: They say we took a poll of 500 likely voters and there's a 4 or 5% margin. [01:28:20] Speaker G: They only polled 500 people. We don't know who they called. [01:28:23] Speaker B: Well, no, but I think polling has gotten to be relatively scientific in the sense that the people that they do poll, they try to get a representative listing of people, for example, different sexes, different religions, different racial backgrounds, different nationality backgrounds, so that they're fairly, they figure that this is a representative sampling of what the entire population is like and [01:28:52] Speaker F: it's not necessarily that. [01:28:55] Speaker B: Well, they tried that. You know, polls have been fairly close generally. [01:29:00] Speaker G: A lot of Harry Truman. [01:29:02] Speaker B: Well, you see, because polls weren't a scientific factor in those days as they are now when he ran against Tom Dewey. And of course Tom Dewey was the winner right from the very beginning. If polls had been accurate and everybody thought Tom Dewey was going to make it, that Truman had no, but, but, but they weren't, they weren't that accurate back then. [01:29:21] Speaker F: Jim, before the election in 19, was it 86. Mike Dukakis was present. [01:29:28] Speaker B: A month before the election he was leading, but that was a month before. These things change from day to day. I, I just, I just hate, I hate polls in General, I, I don't even like. I don't like the way they kind of vote so quickly. I like to wait till after the polls close and sit there and have to wait for 12, 15, 20 hours, three days. I don't care what. You know. I think it's kind of like watching a baseball game or something, wondering who's going to finally win. [01:29:57] Speaker F: Before you leave. [01:29:58] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:29:58] Speaker G: You run into what I. I'm a graduate of Curry College. [01:30:03] Speaker B: Yes. [01:30:03] Speaker F: And I was in there. Consistent communications program. Have you run into Roger Allen at all in your. [01:30:10] Speaker B: Oh, I know you've been around. No, no, I know. I know Roger Allen. He's a very decent guy, this guy in the world. Yes, he is. He's a very nice man. He was at WCOP for a long time during news there and I know he taught at Curry and he's. I don't. He. I don't know where he is right at the moment. He lived in a town west of Boston. [01:30:30] Speaker F: He lived in Sudbury. The last I knew, you know. [01:30:33] Speaker B: You know, one. The last time I saw him was maybe seven or eight years ago. He and I were sworn in as deputy sheriffs. This is going to sound kind of silly. [01:30:45] Speaker G: It does sound kind of corny, I know, but we. [01:30:48] Speaker B: No, but he was one and I was another. We were signed. We were picked to be deputy sheriffs, plus a whole lot of other guys too, in Middlesex county under a man named Hannibary. [01:31:01] Speaker F: Ed. [01:31:01] Speaker B: Hannibarry. Ed Hannibary died a few years ago. Was a sweetheart of a guy. Anyway, we. We got to be deputy sheriffs. I still have my deputy sheriff's badge. It doesn't really do much of anything, but he was. He was part of that. That was the last time. [01:31:16] Speaker G: He was some alumni from coverage trying to find Roger in somebody. [01:31:19] Speaker B: The last I heard, somebody said he moved to New Hampshire or something. I think. I think he did. I think he did, but I can't really give you anything more specific than that. Well, maybe that. I have a feeling somebody listening probably knows exactly where you. The reason I asked you that is [01:31:34] Speaker F: because I know a lot of your listeners would be the old cop, the old RKO people that somebody might know [01:31:41] Speaker B: or might just be a neighbor of his wherever. [01:31:43] Speaker F: Well, that could be possible, too. [01:31:45] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:31:46] Speaker F: All right, thank you very much. [01:31:47] Speaker G: No. [01:31:47] Speaker H: Okay. [01:31:48] Speaker B: Jim. [01:31:48] Speaker F: That was. [01:31:50] Speaker B: Anyway he was. Roger was a very. Is not. Was. Is a very, very nice man. I was like Roger. And he's a tough, hard bitten deputy sheriff of Middlesex county, same as yours truly. So watch yourself. I'LL bet to put you in. I looked at the, at Henneberg. He was the sweetheart of the guy after him. McGonagall is now in jail and sheriffs in general haven't fared too well. And assistance to them have not fared too well in some counties also. But at any event, Ed there was. Ed was always a very clean guy. And he's the one who just decided it'd be kind of nice to have a bunch of assistant deputies. I don't know why, but we'd get together and have kind of nice social stuff. And we flash our badges and feel like we were taking part in some western, you know, like we were real old cowboy stars and stuff. And so it was, it was, it was kind of fun. Yes. [01:32:47] Speaker F: When I visit my brother in law up in near Presque Isle, Maine, there's a. Quite a bunch of them up there. And I very, very prominent to say [01:32:58] Speaker B: you can't miss them. [01:32:59] Speaker F: They look so damn funny. [01:33:01] Speaker B: I know they do. And somebody had mentioned them to us on the program maybe two or three weeks ago. I never had heard of them before. [01:33:08] Speaker F: Well, I, I had to ask my brother in law about him and he told me what the brand was. He said that his kids call them Oreos. [01:33:15] Speaker B: I guess that's. I guess so. [01:33:18] Speaker F: My, My other sister who was with me at the time, she says, well, some of them call them double stuffs because they, they got a very, very broad band around. [01:33:29] Speaker B: Quite around, around. [01:33:30] Speaker G: And they're, they're. [01:33:31] Speaker F: They're really a funny looking cow. [01:33:34] Speaker B: Yes, they are, they are. And I don't, I don't remember ever seeing them at the Topsfield Fair ever before. But there they were. [01:33:41] Speaker F: They're not all that common. But it wouldn't surprise me. I mean, you know, a agricultural fair, [01:33:50] Speaker B: it wouldn't be surprising to see them there. [01:33:53] Speaker F: But I had a couple of other things I was gonna mention. [01:33:58] Speaker C: You. [01:33:58] Speaker B: I know somebody mentioned Bob Raleigh. Right. [01:34:03] Speaker F: It's not uncommon that you folks might have a little bit different views on such things. I know politics and so on, so forth. But let's face it, I mean, you're two different guys. [01:34:13] Speaker B: Yeah. No, the views. I, I don't, I don't mind the views. I mean, you know, a lot of people have. Yeah. Have different views on things and politically and all that kind of stuff. But you can still get along. That's not a. That should not. Not to be a problem. I, I don't. Well, I don't know. I just. It. This is, it's an uncomfortable area that we're dealing with talking about and it doesn't bother me. [01:34:36] Speaker F: I mean, I, I listen to both of you. [01:34:38] Speaker B: I, I will then. I'm trying to. I'm trying to hear the information. Okay, fire away with the information. Monday the 14th. Yes. Oh, yeah. Okay, here's the. We're straightening out one thing that may have led to a misunderstanding. The Top street affair ends this coming Monday. It always ends on Columbus Day, which obviously this year is on Monday. Joe from, from Quincy had talked about a poultry show at the Topsville fair the following week. But that is not connected with the Topsville fair. That's a separate poultry show. Separate show. [01:35:20] Speaker D: And he was taken out to see the foliage. And when he came back to Boston, [01:35:25] Speaker E: someone asked him what he thought about [01:35:27] Speaker D: the foliage and his answer was typically American. [01:35:31] Speaker C: It's overdone, [01:35:35] Speaker B: that snobby person. Albuquerque, New Mexico. America's Sexy Wives Contest. You find what I'm saying to you of really fascinating stuff or do you wish I'd just shut up? [01:35:47] Speaker H: Thank you. [01:35:49] Speaker B: It's held anyway, as I mentioned in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The contest judges wives on their commitment to marriage, their reason for feeling. They represent sexiness, their charm and poise and their creative expression. And it's always held on the second weekend in October. It's sponsored by. By a group called the Married Mistress association of Albuquerque, New Mexico. I even have a phone number, but I think it would be a little tough to call right now, isn't it? New Mexico is. I don't know whether they on central time or west coast time. I think it's maybe two hours earlier than us. So it's still be coming up to like be about one o'. [01:36:35] Speaker G: Clock. [01:36:36] Speaker B: We could get her out of bed, I suppose, couldn't we, huh? You want to get her out of bed? My guts for waking her up at this time of the day. What, one o' clock out there? Something like that. These days you never talk to anybody directly anyway. You always get an answering machine. [01:36:53] Speaker F: Hello? [01:36:54] Speaker B: We keep unable. [01:36:55] Speaker C: Hi there. [01:36:55] Speaker F: You've reached the offices of Earl and [01:36:57] Speaker C: Rose Smith, better known as Mr. And Mrs. Romance. We're not in. Please leave your name and number at [01:37:03] Speaker B: the tone and we'll get back to [01:37:04] Speaker C: you as soon as we can. And by the way, have a very loving day today. Take care. [01:37:13] Speaker B: That answering machine is great, isn't it? In general, but it's not so great if you're trying to reach somebody. It's. I guess they call that telephone tag. You call them and leave a message. They called you and leave a message. Anyways, that apparently sounds like a public relations firm or an advertising agency thing. And as a gimmick they they sponsoring the American Sexy Wives contest, which probably doesn't don't amount probably to a hill of beans as we say. And that's about it. This is National Pasta Week Pasta. And it's also a thanks I'm not hungry day. [01:37:53] Speaker A: How could National Pasta Week and thanks I'm not hungry day be anywhere near each other on the calendar? Poor planing if I do say so myself. And I do. I found Norm's opening comment till death do us part eerily prophetic since he would be gone a little more than two weeks from this very show. It'll be 30 years on October 29th. Hard to believe Norm had so much fun talking to Dave Bertolino. You could really feel it through the radio. This whole show had a lot of Norm's great laugh. We'll be back next week for more fun. Closing the vault and leaving this world a little sillier than we found it for Canucks. The fragrance of horse manure. The Disney World of horror theme parks. Spooky world Skull ratings. Rat wranglers. Stress free Rats. Fantasy and illusion. Norm's Ferris wheel trauma. The little Jack Horner joke and magic shop. Boston costume all year efforts being scared to death. Haunted hayrides, Haunted houses. Cirque Macabre. The Phantom Mineshaft. Hollywood sound effects artist Tom Savini. The chamber of horrors. 30 foot fireballs. Satisfied customers. A spooky world honeymoon. Spooky auctions. Comic narrators Alice Cooper, Elvira, Robert Englund, Linda Blair, Scott Harchbarger Lottery numbers. Lake Quannapowet, jogging Norm's cousin Michael Schlafman Dial a joke sounds in the night. Robert's Jack Hart impression. Now that was worth the price of admission. Old time radio cassette catalogs. Larry Glick. The rare black swan in Bush Turkey from Australia, the Topsfield Fair Belted Galway cows. Fat guys with low belts. Portly plumbers. Getting yourself a high rise being over polled. [01:39:57] Speaker F: Ouch. [01:39:58] Speaker A: America's Sexy Wives Contest. The Married Mistress association of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Mr. And Mrs. Romance, Paul Sullivan, Jack Hart, Dave Bertolino and the highly praised and beloved Deputy Sheriff Norm Nathan. I'm one of that funny duo. Two boys with lame brains. Tony Nesmith. [01:40:20] Speaker B: I'm just so amusing I can't help but say something and sit here and then I kind of chuckle over it. [01:40:38] Speaker F: Sa.