Re: NYTimes article on John R. Gambling

[dan.strassberg@att.net]

Although Rambling with Gambling was hosted by three 
generations of John Gamblings--John B, John A, and John 
R--at least four generations appeared on the program 
(could be five if John R has a son John who has 
appeared).  John B's father (don't remember his middle 
initial--might have been C) appeared with his son every 
now and again. John B got his start in radio as a radio 
operator on board a merchant ship. He was English by 
birth, although I don't recall that he had any sort of 
British accent. His father lived in England throughout 
World War II, as I recall, and after the war would come 
to the US from time to time to visit his son and his 
son's family. When the elder Gambling was in New York, 
he would usually do a guest shot or two with his son--
something the audience loved. I don't believe the elder 
Gambling had any other connection with radio, but he 
seemed to enjoy being on the air.

Does anyone else recall that Mr and Mrs John B Gambling 
and their children lived in Seacliff L.I. or that John A 
Gambling went to Dartmouth and helped to put WDCR on the 
air? I suspect that John R also went to Dartmouth and, 
assuming that he has children, at least one of them 
probably went there or is going there. John A Gambling 
also owned WROW in Albany at one time.

And does anyone else remember the seagulls that John B 
saw on the beach near his home every day and talked 
about on the air? He named one pair--Sebastian and 
Marmaduke.

And for Scott Fybush and Bob Bittner (and me--I was born 
in Rochester), does anyone else remember the hometown of 
John B's orchestra leader, Vincent Sori? Yes, it was 
Rochester NY, which much endeared him to my mom, who 
grew up in Rochester.

My mother used to like to recount how WOR and John B 
Gambling were indirectly responsible for one of my 
parents' early marital spats. As I said in a posting 
yesterday, my folks were married in 1927. They lived in 
New York City and used to listen to John B Gambling 
every morning on the Emerson cathedral-top radio that 
was one of their first acquisitions after they got 
married.

One day, my father had invited _his_ father to their 
apartment for dinner after my parents got home from 
work. They arrived to find the radio playing loudly. 
Apparently in 1927, WOR used to sign off after the 
morning show and my mother had absent-mindedly left the 
radio on. In these days, we'd think little or nothing of 
that, but in 1927, I guess the waste of electricity was 
a big deal--or so my father thought.

> http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/12/nyregion/12RADI.html
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