Rodgers and Hart

Richard Rodgers is perhaps the greatest American musical composer. His greatest fame came with his work with Oscar Hammerstein II and the many musicals they were involved with in the mid 20th Century. The Sound Of Music, Oklahoma, South Pacific and many more.

But Rodgers had been a successful composer long before his work with Hammerstein. In 1919 at the age of 16 me met Lorenz Hart when they worked together to write songs for an amateur club show. Their first broadway show opened on May 17, 1925 at the Garrick Theatre. The show was called the Garrick Gaieties.

Lorenz Hart was born in 1895 to a Jewish German immigrant family in Harlem, New York. To nearly all, but his mother, he was called Larry.

When the motion pictures began to talk in the late 20′s, many broadway performers and writers went to Hollywood. The song writing team of Rodgers and Hart were included in those ranks. It was in Hollywood in 1934 that they wrote Blue Moon.

By 1935, the team was brought back to Broadway by Billy Rose to write the the songs for his production, Jumbo. Between 1936 and 1943 the team worked on 8 musicals among them Babe in Arms and Pal Joey.

The final collaboration between Rodgers and Hart was the revival of their A Connecticut Yankee. The show included six new songs by the team and opened on November 17, 1943. By this time Rodgers had already began working with Hammerstein. Hart had been ill while they worked on the project. He developed pneumonia and died on November 22, 1943.

56 Straight Games

On May 15, 1941 the New York Yankees played the Chicago White Sox, losing to them 3-1. Joe DiMaggio was able to get a single in one of his four at bats that day. No one knew that it was a game that would begin a streak. One that may never be broke. It was the first game of Joe DiMaggio’s 56 game hitting streak.

The streak ended on July 17, 1941 against the Cleveland Indians. The Indian’s third baseman, Ken Keltner, made two plays that helped end the streak.

On the next day DiMaggio got a hit. He would have another streak, this time of 16 games. During this period he hit safely in 72 of 73 games

During his 56 game hitting streak Joe DiMaggio batting average was .408. 22 of the games he had more than one hit.

In 1933, when DiMaggio was playing in the minor league, he went 61 straight games with a hit.

In Major League history only 6 players have had hitting streaks over 40 games. Ty Cobb with 40 in 1911, George Sisler with 41 in 1922, Bill Dahlen, 1894, 42 games with hits, Pete Rose in 1978 had 44 game streak, Willie Keeler hit in 45 straight starting with the last game in 1896 and the first 44 in 1897 and DiMaggio. DiMaggio is the only one who hit in more than 45 straight games.

Arlington

In a way it may seem ironic that the first soldiers buried at what would become Arlington National Cemetery would be a Confederate Prisoner of War. It was on May 13, 1864 that the first body was buried on the grounds of the confiscated home of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

Then again maybe it’s not, since the site is located in the State of Virginia, which was one of the Confederate States. The Mansion Arlington House was built by George Washington Parke Custis, adopted son of George Washington in 1802. His daughter Mary Anna married Lee in 1831. After the couple departed in 1861, the Mansion was transferred into a Military Headquarters.

By the end of June of 1864, 2,600 men were buried at Arlington. More than 300,000 people are buried in an area of 624 acres. It is the final resting placed of veterans and military casualties from every one of the nation’s wars from the American Revolution through the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Pre-Civil War dead were reinterred after 1900.

One of the most popular tourist area of Arlington National Cemetery is the Tomb that contains the remains of unknown American soldiers from World Wars I and II, the Korean Conflict. The tomb is guarded by members of the 3rd United States Infantry around the clock throughout the year.

On May 20, 1986 the unidentified remains of the Shuttle Challenger, Commander, Francis R. “Dick” Scobee, its pilot, Michael J. Smith, Christa McAuliffe (the first ‘Teacher in Space’), Mission Specialists Ellison S. Onizuka, Judith A. Resnick and Ronald E. McNair, along with Payload Specialist Gregory B. Jarvis were buried at the Space Shuttle Memorial. In addition the identified remains of Scobee and Smith are buried there as well.

Robert E. Lee and Anna Lee’s son, Custis Lee successfully filed a suit against the United States Government (the decision came from the Supreme Court) to regain title to the Mansion. Upon victory he sold it back to the government.

King George VI

When Albert Frederick Arthur George took the British throne becoming George VI on his Coronation on May 12, 1936, it was an unexpected accession. It was his elder brother, Edward, who was suppose to become King on the death of their Father George V. But Edward abdicated the title so as to marry Wallis Simpson. Mrs. Simpson was a twice divorced American socialite.

George VI was the Great Grandson of Queen Victoria and was born while she still was Queen on December 14, 1895. Even though he was named for Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s late husband, many in the family didn’t like the name. He was called Bertie by his family

Albert decided to assume the style of his father and took the title George VI to help restore confidence in the monarchy.

It was common for the coins that carried the image of the British Monarch to face in the opposite direction of his predecessor. Edward, however, felt that his left side was his best and the few coins that bore his imagine faced in the same direction as his father, George V. George VI’s image also faced left, keeping the sequence as if Edward had had his facing right. Queen Elizabeth’s faces right.

In 1939 he made a visit to the United States and became the first British Monarch to step foot on land that had won their Independence during the American Revolution.

George VI died at the age of 56 in the early morning hours of February 6, 1952. His eldest daughter, Elizabeth became Queen as Queen Elizabeth II.

Miss Pin-up of the World – Bettie Page

Bettie Page, the girl with hair as dark as midnight and a smile that could melt an iceberg, is perhaps the the best known and most popular pin-up model of all time. Bettie Page embraced sexuality in the 1950s, a time when being a sexual woman was kept behind closed doors. She graced covers of many magazines in many poses. Many of them wearing not much more than a smile. Today would have been her 90th birthday.

She was born on April 22, 1923, the second of Walter Roy Page and Edna Mae Pirtle’s six children. Troubles caused her parents to divorce when Bettie was only 10 years old, her mother placed her and her two sisters in an orphanage while she worked and saved money.

Bettie married in February 1943 and after receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree from Peabody College she moved to San Francisco with her husband. It was here that she got her first modeling job and traveled to many places. In 1947 she filed for divorce and moved to New York.

In 1950 she meet Jerry Tibbs, a police officer and amateur photographer. Tibbs took pictures that became her first pin-up portfolio. Soon a photographic modeling career was in full bloom.

In 1955, Bettie was named “Miss Pinup Girl of the World.” and was the centerfold in Playboy’s January issue. The “Girl with the Perfect Figure,” was appearing in everything from record albums to playing cards.

For the years of the 1960′s and 1970′s she lived as a normal everyday person. In the 1980′s she emerged after a countrywide search for Bettie. She died on December 11, 2008 after being hospitalized with pneumonia. She was scheduled to be released, suffered a heart attack from which she never regained consciousness.

Happy Birthday Bettie Page. You will forever be the Queen of Pin-ups.

http://www.bettiepage.com/

Happy Telecommunicator’s Week

Each year, the second week of April is dedicated to the men and women who serve as Telecommunications Officers. In October 1991 Congress made a Formal Proclamation to recognize this week as National Telecommunicator’s Week.

Those who perform telecommunications duties serve as an indispensable link between the officers and the public, as well as a vital support services in the Public Safety community. The communications operators who provide radio, telephone and computer services are to be commended for their dedication and professionalism. Too often the importance of telecommunications personnel goes unrecognized and their services are taken for granted.

At times they are treated as glorified office clerks. This is a big mistake and a far cry from the job that they perform. It takes a lot of training to be a Telecommunicator and not something that comes easy. They work hours when others are asleep and during holidays. Many are on a schedule that are far from the usual, including those of their own families.

They are the first point of contact with the public’s plea for assistance. While one call may be just a request with a simple answer, the next call may be the most extreme emergency anyone could face. On every call they have to be prepared for the unexpected and at times the unimaginable.

It takes a special type of person to remain calm when speaking to a screaming mother whose child is hurt, or when a Police Officer or Fire Fighter is calling for assistance or when someone that they know is on the other end of the emergency call.

If you happen to see a Communications Officer let them know that they are appreciated for the job they do for your community. Having worked among them for over 20 years, I understand their unique capabilities. Not everyone can do the job that they do each day.

I offer my thanks and gratitude that they are there to answer the call.

They truly are The First Responder.

April 14-20, 2013

The Sins of Our Daughters

It seems that everyday we see young ladies do what many think are foolish things. Recently Miss Teen Delaware, Melissa M King, resigned due to the uncovering of a porn video that appear to have her performing in it.

Even if it is her, what’s the big deal? Don’t we all do something that at the time seemed to be the right thing, but afterward doesn’t appear to be? And even if it is her, she has denied that it is her in the video, who are we to judge?

Today there aren’t very many who have reached their 18th birthday that aren’t sexually active. Some for as many as 4 years or more. So why do we sit back and pretend that they aren’t.

As they say those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. And I, and I’m sure just about everyone, have done things throughout my life that I don’t really want to be publicly known and wasn’t done with good judgement. Some of those were when I was in my late teens, but also in my 20s, 30s, 40s and even in the past few years.

I titled this as the Sins of Our Daughters, but it probably is nearer to the adventures of being young. I don’t have a daughter. And if I did, I don’t believe that learning that she made a porn video would bother me.

Our views in life are changing. What was thought of as unacceptable when I was 18 now don’t seem so bad. Who’s to say that Miss King when she reaches the age of 55 won’t be a very respected person. Perhaps even the President of the United States.

Does Social Media Make Us Do Dumb Things?

It seems that everyday we hear about a celebrity or society figure doing stupid things via facebook or twitter. This leads us to the question. Does social media make us do dumb things?

I don’t think that it’s directly related to social media. We all do stupid things at times, but usually it’s only those people with whom we are with that know about it.

What seems to happen is when we do those stupid things, usually at times when our thinking may be compromised, we decide to send it to our friends via facebook or twitter. And not only are our closest friends seeing it, so is anyone else who is linked into those accounts.

And once it’s out there, it can’t be erased. At least not totally. You can hide it on facebook, or delete it from twitter. But if someone had decided to download that picture with you jugging down that big drink before you hide or deleted it, they can re-post it. And from there it can go viral.

Then again I suppose some of these dumb things that celebrities do is put up and quickly taken down could be done just to generate publicity. For them even bad publicity can be good publicity, but if you are an alcohol counselor, that photo of you going drink wild is most likely a detriment.

It’s not so much the dumb things we do, it’s the dumb things that we proudly share and then regret that are dumb. And it’s only because social media is easy to use that make it seems as if social media makes us do dumb things.

Originally Published at SMBTechTips.com

85th Oscar’s Prediction

I, like many others, am making my Oscar predictions. Since I haven’t seem very many of the nominated movies and performances my predictions come from what I have heard about them and the hype on who wins.

Best Supporting Actress:
Many people are saying it’s going to Anne Hathaway, who will probably win. But I’m going out on a limb and say that Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln will win. From what I’ve seen she did a good job and who would have thought that Gidget would become First Lady.

Best Supporting Actor:
If Lincoln is the big winner of the night this goes to Tommy Lee Jones. But if the night goes to Silver Lining Playbook then it’s Robert De Niro. Then again it may just possibly be Robert De Niro regardless. So I’ll go with him.

Best Director:
Looking at all of the other award shows it should be Ben Affleck. However for some reason he wasn’t even nominated. Maybe that was to make it easier for the voters to pick Steven Spielberg, who is my choice.

Best Actress:
Jennifer Lawrence is getting a lot of press predicting her to win. Why should I disagree?

Best Actor:
Daniel Day Lewis seems to always win when nominated.

Best Picture:
Lincoln

Although it wouldn’t surprise me if Silver Lining Playbook which has nominations in each of these categories does a complete sweep.

—–

Follow-up:
My guesses ended up with only two correct predictions out of the six. Those were for the Actor and Best Actress.

And the Winners:
Best Picture
“Beasts of the Southern Wild”
“Silver Linings Playbook”
“Zero Dark Thirty”
“Lincoln”
“Les Miserables”
“Life of Pi”
“Amour”
“Django Unchained”
“Argo” — WINNER

Actor in a Leading Role
Daniel Day-Lewis – “Lincoln” — WINNER
Denzel Washington – “Flight”
Hugh Jackman – “Les Miserables”
Bradley Cooper – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Joaquin Phoenix – “The Master”

Actor in a Supporting Role
Christoph Waltz – “Django Unchained” — WINNER
Philip Seymour Hoffman – “The Master”
Robert De Niro – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Alan Arkin – “Argo”
Tommy Lee Jones – “Lincoln”

Actress in a Leading Role
Naomi Watts – “The Impossible”
Jessica Chastain – “Zero Dark Thirty”
Jennifer Lawrence – “Silver Linings Playbook” — WINNER
Emmanuelle Riva – “Amour”
Quvenzhane Wallis – “Beasts of the Southern Wild”

Actress in a Supporting Role
Sally Field – “Lincoln”
Anne Hathaway – “Les Miserables” — WINNER
Jacki Weaver – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Helen Hunt – “The Sessions”
Amy Adams – “The Master”

Animated Feature Film
“Brave” – Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman — WINNER
“FrankenWeenie” – Tim Burton
“Paranorman” – Sam Fell and Chris Butler
“The Pirates! Band of Misfits” – Peter Lord
“Wreck-it Ralph” – Rich Moore

Cinematography
“Anna Karenina” – Seamus McGarvey
“Django Unchained” – Robert Richardson
“Life of Pi” – Claudio Miranda — WINNER
“Lincoln” – Janusz Kaminski
“Skyfall” – Roger Deakins

Costume Design
“Anna Karenina” – Jacqueline Durran — WINNER
“Les Miserables” – Paco Delgado
“Lincoln” – Joanna Johnston
“Mirror Mirror” – Eiko Oshioka
“Snow White and the Huntsman” – Colleen Atwood

Directing
David O. Russell – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Ang Lee – “Life of Pi” — WINNER
Steven Spielberg – “Lincoln”
Michael Haneke – “Amour”
Benh Zeitlin – “Beasts of the Southern Wild”

Documentary (Feature)
“5 Broken Cameras” – Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
“The Gatekeepers” – Dror Moreh, Philippa Kowarsky and Estelle Fialon
“How To Survive A Plague” – David France and Howard Gertler
“The Invisible War” – Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering
“Searching For Sugar Man” – Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn — WINNER

Documentary (Short Subject)
“Inocente” – Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine — WINNER
“Kings Point” – Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
“Mondays at Racine” – Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
“Open Heart” – Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
“Redemption” – Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill

Film Editing
“Argo” – William Goldenberg — WINNER
“Life of Pi” – Tim Squyres
“Lincoln” – Michael Kahn
“Silver Linings Playbook” – Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
“Zero Dark Thirty” – Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

Foreign Language Film
“Amour” (Austria) — WINNER
“Kon-tiki” (Norway)
“No” (Chile)
“A Royal Affair” (Denmark)
“War Witch” (Canada)

Makeup
“Hitchcock” – Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” – Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane
“Les Miserables” – Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell — WINNER

Music (Original Score)
“Anna Karenina” – Dario Marianelli
“Argo” – Alexandre Desplat
“Life of Pi” – Mychael Danna — WINNER
“Lincoln” – John Williams
“Skyfall” – Thomas Newman

Music (Original Song)
“Before My Time” from “Chasing Ice” – music and lyric by J. Ralph
“Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from “Ted” – music by Walter Murphy, lyric by Seth MacFarlane
“Pi’s Lullaby” from “Life of Pi” – music by Mychael Danna, lyric by Bombay Jayashri
“Skyfall” from “Skyfall” – music and lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth — WINNER
“Suddenly” – “Les Miserables” – music by Claude-Michel Schonbergm, lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

Production Design
“Anna Karenina” – Production Design: Sarah Greenwood, Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” – Production Design: Dan Hennah, Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
“Les Miserables” – Production Design: Eve Stewart, Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson
“Life of Pi” – Production Design: David Gropman, Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
“Lincoln” – Production Design: Rick Carter, Set Decoration: Jim Erickson — WINNER

Short Film (Animated)
“Adam and Dog” – Minkyu Lee
“Fresh Guacamole” – PES
“Head Over Heels” – Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly
“Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare’” – David Silverman
“Paperman” – John Kahrs — WINNER

Short Film (Live Action)
“Asad” – Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
“Buzkashi Boys” – Sam French and Ariel Nasr
“Curfew” – Shawn Christensen — WINNER
“Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw) – Tom van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
“Henry” – Yan England

Sound Editing:
“Argo” – Erik Aadahl and Ethan van der Ryn
“Django Unchained” – Wylie Stateman
“Life of Pi” – Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
“Skyfall” – Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers — WINNER (Tie)
“Zero Dark Thirty” – Paul N.J. Ottosson — WINNER (Tie)

Sound Mixing:
“Argo” – John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
“Les Miserables” – Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes — WINNER
“Life of Pi” – Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
“Lincoln” – Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
“Skyfall” – Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson

Visual Effects
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” – Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White
“Life of Pi” – Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott — WINNER
“The Avengers” – Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
“Prometheus” – Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
“Snow White and the Huntsman” – Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“Argo” – screenplay by Chris Terrio — WINNER
“Beasts of the Southern Wild” – screenplay by Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin
“Life of Pi” – screenplay by David Magee
“Lincoln” – screenplay by Tony Kushner
“Silver Linings Playbook” – screenplay by David o. Russell

Writing (Original Screenplay)
“Amour” – written by Michael Haneke
“Django Unchained” – written by Quentin Tarantino — WINNER
“Flight” – written by John Gatins
“Moonrise Kingdom” – written by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola
“Zero Dark Thirty” – written by Mark Boal

Movies with Elvis Presley

As an actor Elvis Presley appeared in 31 movies. The first was Love Me Tender made in 1956. The last was Change of Habit in 1969. There are two, Elvis! That’s the Way It Is and Elvis on Tour that are concert documentaries.

Love Me Tender was the only movie that he made where he did not have top billing. He actually was third behind Richard Egan and Debra Paget. It was also the only movie in which the character he played died and only one of three that were not made in color. The others being Jailhouse Rock and King Creole.

King Creole was loosely based on the novel A Stone for Danny Fisher by Harold Robbins. He is reported as saying that this was his favorite of his movies. It was shot just before his induction in the Army, in fact he received a 60-day extension from his draft board to finish filming.

During the decade of the 1960s many years saw three movies produced starring Elvis.

The soundtrack for his 1962 movie Blue Hawaii was his most successful chart album. The album was on the Billboard Pop Albums chart for 79 weeks spending 20 weeks at #1.

1964 was Elvis’s best movie box office year. The year saw the release of Viva Las Vegas, his highest grossing film, as well as Kissin’ Cousins, his ninth highest and number 10, Roustabout

Do I have a favorite Elvis movie? Not really. Many of them seems just to be the same movie, just set in different locations with different actresses working with him.