Bell’s Telephone
The telegraph was invented by Samuel Morse in 1835 and it was Alexander Graham Bell’s intention to improve on the telegraph that lead to his invention of the telephone. It was on March 10, 1876 when Bell in one room and his assistant Thomas Watson in another he shouted the words, ‘Mr. Watson – come here – I want to see you’ into the transmitter. Watson was able to hear what was said and reported back to Bell the exact words. With this the first working telephone was born.
Bell’s experiments with the telegraph was an attempt to transmit multiple messages over the same wire at the same time. He felt that this could be done if each signal would have it’s own different pitch.
On the same day, February 14, 1876, Bell and Elisha Gray with his Western Electric Manufacturing Company, submitted their patients to the United States Patient Office in Washington DC. Bell’s paperwork with application fee was completed first, Gray’s caveat was entered first, but his filing fee was entered after Bell’s. On March 7, 1876, three days before the successful experiment, Bell received Patent Number 174,465.
Gray would file lawsuits challenging Bell’s patent. He would lose them all, mainly because it was determined that because he failed to take actions to complete his caveat until others had demonstrated a working unit. Gray still wasn’t left in the dark since he did receive a patent for the telautograph, a way to transmit handwriting through telegraph systems. It can be called the first fax machine
The Bell Telephone Company was created in 1877 and by 1886, 10 years after the first voice transmission, over 150,000 people in the United States owned telephones.
There really isn’t a sole inventor of the telephone. Bell’s ideas closely resembled Gray’s. The telephone’s transmitter was greatly improved when Edison’s carbon microphone was introduced. Not to mention that the entire idea of the telephone is really just an improvement and enhancement of Morse’s telegraph.
Abbott and Costello
William (Bud) Abbott was born in Asbury Park, NJ, October 2, 1895 and died April 24, 1974 in Woodland Hills, California. Lou Costello (Louis Francis Cristillo) was born in Paterson, NJ, March 6, 1906 and died March 3, 1959 in East Los Angeles, California.
They first began to work together in 1935 at the Eltinge burlesque theater on 42nd Street in New York. Abbott had been working in burlesque for years, usually as the straight man. Costello had tried to become a film actor, but after his failure there, began work on burlesque circuit. In 1936 they formally made the partnership. Their act was built by refining sketches from vaudeville and burlesque with Abbott as the devious straight man and Costello as the stumbling, comprehension-challenged laugh-getter.
In the late 1930’s they worked on radio as regulars for 2 years on the Kate Smith Hour. It was there that Costello began using a high-pitched childish voice since it had been difficult for listening to tell them apart.
In 1940 they appeared in their first movie, One Night in the Tropics, in a supporting capacity. They were the hit of the film and Universal signed them to a long-term contract. The duo made over 30 films between 1940 and 1956 and in many ways saved Universal Studios. Between 1942 and 1952 they were a top 10 box office attraction. Also in the 1940’s they appeared on their own radio program. The Abbott and Costello Show mixed comedy with musical interludes.
In 1951 they moved into television, first as frequent hosts of The Colgate Comedy Hour, a live hour of vaudeville. This gave new sparkle to their old routines. Then in 1952 they began a film ½ hour comedy casting the duo as unemployed wastrel, similar to their radio program.
By the mid 50’s their popularity was waning, due in part to them glutting the market with the same routines. Universal dropped them in 1955 and after making one last independent film (Dance with me Henry) Abbott retired. In 1956 they were charged by the IRS for back taxes, which forced them to sell most of their assets.
About the Philadelphia Phillies
In 1883 with the disbanding of the National League baseball club in Worcester Massachusetts, the Philadelphia Quakers were established. They soon adopted the nickname Phillies. They may have played until 1890 under both names, but definitely stopped using the name Quakers by then.
The Phillies are the oldest continuous one-name, one-city franchise in American professional sports. They have however used alternate nicknames throughout its history.
The Phillies had held record for the longest World Series championship drought in baseball at 97 years (1883-1980). The Chicago Cubs broke this record in 2005, which last won in 1908.
One of the most disappointing as well as one of the biggest collapses in baseball history came upon the Phillies in 1964. With 12 games remaining in the season they held a 6.5 game lead on the Cincinnati Reds. They endured a 10 game losing streak and ended the season in a tie for second place a game behind the pennant winning Cardinals.
The Phillies on July 15, 2007 recorded their 10,000th team loss. The the most losses by a professional team in sports history. Even with this they did the playoffs that year and again in 2008 and 2009, making the World Series in both of those years. They won the World championship in 2008 however they were not able to repeat since they lost to the New York Yankees in 2009.
The Phillies have retired the uniform numbers; 1-Richie Ashburn, 14-Jim Bunning, 20-Mike Schmidt, 32-Steve Carlton, 36-Robin Roberts. They have also honored Grover Cleveland Alexander who played prior using uniform numbers and Chuck Klein, who wore several different numbers with the Phillies.
When the President’s Inauguration was In March!
The 20th amendment to the United States Constitution moved the Presidential Inauguration Day from March 4th to January 20th. Franklin Roosevelt was the last president to be inaugurated on March 4th, when he took the oath of office in 1933. Four years later he became the first to take the oath on the new day.
Why was March 4th chosen as Inauguration Day in the first place? Washington’s first Inauguration Day came nearly two months later on April 30th. When a date was chosen as the first day that the new Congress under the Constitution would meet, the first Wednesday in March was decided upon. The first Wednesday of March in 1789 was March 4th. The 12th Amendment, ratified in 1804, officially made the 4th of March Inauguration Day.
When March 4th fell on a Sunday, the Presidential Inauguration was moved to Monday March 5th. James Monroe and Zachary Taylor were both inaugurated on March 5th. Monroe in 1821 and Taylor in 1849. Rutherford Hayes took the oath on Saturday March 3, 1877. Woodrow Wilson took the oath of office on Sunday March 4, 1913. Both had a public inauguration on the 5th.
The 20th Amendment is sometimes called the “Lame Duck Amendment”. Between the national election in November to a March Inauguration over four months would pass. It was felt that the time before the beginning of the new terms (Both Presidential and Congressional) needed to be lessened. The amendment also clarified what would happen in the case of the President-Elect was not able to take office.
Some of the firsts that happened on the March 4th Inauguration are; The first Inauguration to be photographed was James Buchanan’s in 1857. William McKinley’s 1st Inauguration in 1897 was the first to be captured by a motion picture camera. Calvin Coolidge’s Inauguration in 1925 was the first to be broadcasted on national radio. Four years later Herbert Hoover’s Inauguration was recorded for talking newsreel.
As part of the 20th amendment the Vice-President began taking the oath of office at the same ceremony as the President’s. Prior to this the Vice-President’s oath was done in the Senate Chambers.
The First of the Year
In ancient Rome the first month of the new year was the same one in which spring began. That month was called Martius after the God of War, Mars. Today we call the month March. Spring would seem a natural time for the new year to begin, since that’s when the climate changes and the seasonal plants begin to grow.
Many cultures kept March as the beginning of the new numbered year long into modern times. Russia used March 1 as the beginning of the year until the end of the fifteenth century. Great Britain used March 25 as the first day of the year until 1752, the year they adopted the Gregorian Calendar.
March is known as Women’s History Month. As late as the 1970’s, very little women’s history were taught in the United States public school systems. The National Women’s History Project in 1970’s led a Education Task Force in Sonoma California to address this issue. From this, Women’s History Week was established beginning on March 8, 1978.
By the end of the 1980’s, the Unites States Congress had passed the Nation Women’s History Month Resolution, which declared officially that March would be Women’s History Month. The 2008 theme is Women’s Art:Women’s Vision.
In March the NCAA basketball season ends with those conference which have tournaments and the beginning of the chase for the National Champion. The time of the season has been termed March Madness. It’s an exciting time, but can also be slightly depressing since all but one team’s final game of the season ends with a lost.
Have you ever wonder how the date of Easter is determined? It’s related to the full moon and the first day of spring. Easter occurs on the 1st Sunday after the first full moon on or after March 21st. The full moon this march is on March 30st, with Easter being April 4th.
M*A*S*H
The final episode of the television series M*A*S*H first aired on CBS on Monday, February 28, 1983. It was a 1 1/2 hour episode and was the 16th one of its 11th Season. It was the 251st episode and the only one that was not originally broadcast as a 30 minute episode.
The show was about a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, the 4077, during the Korean War. The series lasted for 11 years. The war itself lasted for slightly more than 3.
Alan Alda was the only actor to appear in every episode. Loretta Swit was contracted for all, but missed one during the series run. Jamie Farr as Corporal and later Sgt. Klinger, a role that was originally introduced as a bit character of a soldier who was trying to get out of the Army by wearing women’s clothes, appeared in 215 episodes, the third most.
The characters of Capt. Benjamin Franklin ‘Hawkeye’ Pierce, Maj. Margaret ‘Hot Lips’ Houlihan and Lt. Father Francis John Patrick Mulcahy are the only ones that were in the Pilot episode as well as the final. Father Mulcahy was played not by William Christopher in the pilot, but by George Morgan.
The series was based upon the Robert Altman movie M*A*S*H released in 1970. The movie was an obvious Vietnam war protest movie and other than an opening title text stating that the movie took place in Korean, there was no mention of when the war was taking place.
Gary Burghoff played the role of Radar O’Reilly in both the movie and the series. He was the only person from the movie to reprise their role in the TV series.
The Original Dixieland Jass Band
Have you been wondering who released the first Dixieland Jazz record? You don’t have to look any farther. The answer to that would be the Original Dixieland Jass Band. They recorded the song Livery Stable Blues and Dixie Jass Band One Step on February 26, 1917 for the Victor Talking Machine Company.
The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, they changed the spelling of Jass to Jazz later in 1917, billed themselves as the “Creators of Jazz”. They were a group of white musicians who copied African-American southern music. The billing as the “Creators of Jazz” was more of a marketing slogan than anything else.
This first record was first marketed as a novelty. It did give many people their first taste of jazz and soon became a hit. It went on to sell over a million copies.
Nick La Rocca, who play trumpet, lead the band with Larry Shields on clarinet; Eddie Edwards on trombone; Tony Sbarbaro on drums and Henry Ragas on the piano.
The Band would record many more songs in an on and off career that would last until after World War II. The songs they recorded up until 1920 were in a variety of styles including traditional square dance. Their specialty was frantic group improvisation.
In 2006 the band was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for their 1917 recording of the Darktown Strutter’s Ball.
Remembering A Science Fiction Master
Unless you were a Science Fiction fan in the 1960s and 70s, you may not know the name Philip Jose Farmer. But during this period he was one of the genre’s best. Farmer passed away on February 25, 2009, a month after his 91st birthday.
Phillip Jose Farmer was born in Terre Haute, Indiana on January 25, 1918. He grew up in the town of Peoria.
Farmer’s first success came in 1952 with a novella called “The Lovers,”. The novella about a sexual relationship between a human and an extraterrestrial won the Hugo Award as “most promising new writer”. In all he won three Hugo Awards. With this success he decided to to become a full-time writer.
His Riverworld series, about a world where all of humanity is recreated along a grand river, original story won a $4,000 first prize.
Farmer was called by Issac Asimov, who many credit as being the greatest Science Fiction writer, as an “excellent science fiction writer; in fact, a far more skillful writer than I am….”
Along with his Riverworld series (To Your Scattered Bodies Go, The Fabulous Riverboat, The Dark Design and the Magic Labyrinth) he was the author of the Dayworld series, an overpopulation crisis on Earth has been relieved by having each person spends one day a week awake and the other six days in suspended animation and the World of Tiers series where mad demigods create pocket universes for their own amusement, only to face rebellion from their putative creatures. He also wrote A Barnstormers in Oz about Hank Stover, a pilot and the son of Dorothy Gale who flies to Oz in 1923.
From Julian to Gregorian
By the middle of the 16th the Calendar used by the Christian Religious leaders was off. The Julian Calendar designed and adopted during the reign of Julius Ceasar in 45 BC was off by 10 to few days.
This was causing confusion on when Easter as adopted by the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Pope Gregory decided that calendar reform was needed. The outcome of this reform was our current calendar, also called the Gregorian Calendar.
Part of the reform was to add these 10 days to the calendar. This action was adopted on February 24, 1582. Later in the year on October 5th, five Catholic counties adopted the calendar. The day after October 5th was October 14th in these countries.
When a county added these days to the calendar it caused for these days to be skipped. England, for example, didn’t adopt the Gregorian Calendar until 1754. At that time another day needed to be added to the Calendar. September 2, 1752 was the last day that England observed the Julian Calendar with the next day being September 14th.
Adoption was slow, in fact as late as the 20th Century some countries were still on the Julian Calendar, including Russia, who changed in 1918, Greece in 1923 and Turkey in 1926.
Another change came in what was the beginning of the year. The Julian Calendar called March 1st as the first day of the year, while the Gregorian Calendar it became January 1st.
Silent Comedy Queen
Mabel Normand was born on November 9, 1892, in New Brighton, Staten Island, New York. Her parents were Mary Drury Normand and Claude G. Normand. There are accounts that give her birth as November 10, with the year given usually being 1894 or 1895. Of their children, only four survived childbirth: Ralph, Claude, Jr., Gladys, and Mabel; and of these, Ralph died in his teens of tuberculosis.
She worked as a bit player at D.W. Griffith’s American Mutoscope and Biograph film company in New York. In the winter of 1911-1912, Griffith took the main Biograph company, including Mabel, to California. Having met Mack Sennett in New York, when he relocated to California and started Keystone Film Company, she joined him.
Normand is regarded as “The Queen of Comedy” and the “Female Chaplin”. She was an actress and comedienne unique to movie history because of the role she played in the earliest development of American film comedy. It is said that she was the first to throw a cream pie into the face of Fatty Arbuckle on film creating a classic comedy routine. She worked in a series of films called the “Fatty and Mabel” comedies.
In 1916 she left Keystone to form her own company; Mabel Normand Feature Film Company. The company was short lived and only produced one film, Mickey, which sat undistributed for a year. She signed in 1918 with Goldwyn Films.
1921-1923 would be disaster years for Normand. In 1921 her good friend Fatty Arbuckle was tried for rape and murder. Then on February 1, 1922 shortly after leaving the home of director William Desmond Taylor, he was murdered. Mabel was the last, other than the murderer, to see him alive and was closely scrutinized by police and the media. In 1923 she was involved in another scandal when her chauffeur Joe Kelly shot and wounded Courtland Dines, one of her many friends.
Towards the end of the 1920’s Normand’s health declined. After an extended stay in a sanitarium she died from tuberculosis in Monrovia, California at age 38 on February 23, 1930.
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