The State of Maine

On March 15, 1820 the State of Maine was admitted to the union of the United States as its 23rd State.

The first European settlement in Maine was in 1604 by a French party that included Samuel de Champlain. The first English settlement in Maine was established by the Plymouth Company at Popham in 1607. This was the same year as the settlement at Jamestown, Virginia.

The Popham Colony was abandoned after only one year. This may have been mostly due to changes in the leadership ranks than lack of success. The loss of life of the colonists in 1607 and 1608 at Popham was fewer than that at Jamestown. Even with its failure the first ship built by the English in the New World was completed in Popham Colony and sailed the colonist back to England.

The City of Portland is Maine’s largest city and until 1832 it was the state’s capital. The capital was moved to Augusta which is more central within the state.

The town of York, located in South East Maine was chartered in 1641. This may be the oldest Chartered town in America.

US Route 1 ends at Fort Kent, Maine near the Canadian border. The route is the major north–south Highway serving the East Coast of the United States and runs south to Florida and the Florida Keys ending at Key West.

Millard Kaufman

Two days after his 92nd birthday, Millard Kaufman died. Kaufman was a screen writer beginning in the late 1940s and into 1970s. He was the co-creator of Mr. Magoo.

Born March 12, 1917, in Baltimore, Kaufman spent two years as a merchant seaman after high school. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Johns Hopkins University in 1939. After graduation he moved to New York City and worked as a newspaperman.

In 1942 he enlisted in the marines and served on Guadalcanal, landed at Guam with the 1st Marine Brigade (Provisional) then participated in Okinawa with the 6th Marine Division. While serving in the Pacific, Kaufman was stricken with malaria and dengue fever. He returned to New York only to discover he couldn’t tolerate the climate changes. He and his wife moved to Los Angeles.

In 1949, Kaufman wrote the screenplay for the short film Ragtime Bear, the first appearance of Mr. Magoo. He followed this up in 1950 with another Mr. Magoo film, Punchy de Leon. Quincy Magoo is a wealthy, short-statured retiree who gets into a series of sticky situations as a result of his nearsightedness.

Kaufman shared an agent with Dalton Trumbo. Trumbo, also a screenwriter, was blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Trumbo co-wrote the screenplay for Gun Crazy, but it was Millard Kaufman’s name that was on the credits.

A writer for most of his life it wasn’t until he was 90 that Kaufman published his first novel. Bowl of Cherries was released in October 2007. A second novel, Misadventure, came out in 2011.

Note: Mr. Magoo Theatrical Collection is scheduled for release in June 2012, while the Television collection is now available.

Free To Be

The late 1940s and into the late 1950s was a time when free speech was not considered appropriate if one wanted to speak for Communism. This was a period that now has the been called McCarthyism. A period that saw people suffering with loss of employment, destruction of their careers, and even imprisonment.

McCarthyism takes it name from Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy, who became the voice of the movement. A movement that actually begun before his name was placed upon it. His first major involvement came in a a Lincoln Day speech to the Republican Women’s Club of Wheeling, West Virginia on February 9, 1950 saying that he had a list of names of people in the US State Department who members of the Communist Party and shaping Government Policy.

The Washington Post coined the term McCarthyism in a Political Cartoon by Herbert Block that was published on March 29, 1950.

As a result to this speech the United States Senate convened the Subcommittee on the Investigation of Loyalty of State Department Employees or by its more common name the Tydings Committee. The committee chaired by Maryland Senator Millard Tydings held hearings between March 8 and July 17, 1950. The outcome was that the persons on McCarthy’s list were neither Communists nor pro-communist.

Even with this declaration McCarthy continued his crusade against Communists and the Democratic Party, which he felt were too soft on Communism.

On March 9, 1954 Edward R. Murrow, a CBS newscaster, See It Now special entitled “A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy” criticized McCarthy and McCarthyism showing how many times McCarthy contradicted himself. This lead to the beginning of the end of Joseph McCarthy and McCarthyism. McCarthy would die on May 2, 1957, at the age of 48 from an official cause of death of acute hepatitis, commonly thought as being brought on by alcoholism.

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 when 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 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.

The Boston Massacre

It was a snowy day on March 5, 1770 when British Troops, which had been dispatched to Boston to keep order, had a deadly confrontation with local patriots. Private Hugh Montgomery was struck down onto the ground by a thrown club. He fired his musket into the air and — as he later admitted to one of his defense attorneys — yelled “Damn you, Fire!” All but one of the other soldiers shot their weapons into the crowd.

This event was dubbed The Boston Massacre by Samuel Adams.

In total five Americans were killed with eleven men hit. Samuel Gray, mariner James Caldwell, and an African American sailor named Crispus Attucks died instantly. Seventeen-year-old Samuel Maverick, hit by a ricocheting musket ball, died a few hours later. Two weeks passed before thirty-year-old Irish immigrant Patrick Carr died.

One of the most famous depiction of the incident was an engraving of Paul Revere. Although many times Revere has been credited with the creation of the imagine, he actually copied it from a painting by Henry Pelham.

Much to everyone’s surprise John Adams, who already was a leading Patriot with plans to run for public office, decided to defend the British soldiers who had been arrested.

At the trail which began on November 27, 1770 Adams argued that the soldiers were endangered by the mob and had the legal right to fight back.

The jury acquitted six of the soldiers. Two of the soldiers were found guilty of murder because there was evidence that they fired directly into the crowd, but the sentence was reduced to manslaughter because of a loophole in British Common Law by proving to the judge that they could read from the Bible. Two privates were found guilty of manslaughter and punished by branding on their thumbs.

Mysterious Disappearances

Since people have been keeping records there have been reports of mysterious vanishings. While some may never been fully explained many of them could have simple explanations. Here is the story of six unexplained vanishings.

In 1587 a small company made up of 90 men, 17 women and 9 children colonized the island of Roanoke just off the coast of North Carolina. John White, the governor of the second colony, went back to England to gather more supplies. He intended to return to Roanoke Island right away, but war between England and Spain delayed him. Three years later when returning with supplies the colony was gone. The only clue the word “Croatan” was carved on a tree.

On November 5, 1872 the Mary Celeste set sail from New York for Italy. A month later on December 5th it was discovered as a derelict. The ship was in perfect order with no sign of trouble and still carried ample supplies. The captain, his family and its 14-member crew have never been found.

In 1913 author Ambrose Bierce joined the army of Pancho Villa as an observer of the Mexican Revolution. It is known that he accompanied Villa’s army as far as Chihuahua since a letter to a close friend was sent from there on December 26, 1913. Afterward he vanished and investigations into the disappearance provided no answers.

On August 6, 1930 New York Supreme Court associate justice Joseph F. Crater was seen walking out of a New York restaurant. He entered a taxi after waving goodbye to some friends and was never seen again. In October, a grand jury began looking into the case and ended up calling 95 witnesses and amassing 975 pages of testimony. Some of the evidence uncovered was that a safe-deposit box had been emptied and two briefcases missing. The conclusion was: “The evidence is insufficient to warrant any expression of opinion as to whether Crater is alive or dead, or as to whether he has absented himself voluntarily, or is the sufferer from disease in the nature of amnesia, or is the victim of crime.”

On March 4, 1983 13-year-old Shannon Lee Potter of Parkville, Maryland climbed out of her bedroom window to attend a party.Five days later Potter’s mother received a letter from her that had been postmarked from Orlando, Florida. Telephone records shows that she had made calls to Florida, Colorado and Mississippi, where her fathered lived. Were these calls related to her disappearance, no one knows. She has not been seen since.

While not a disappearance, the Legend of the Lost Dutchman’s mine in the Superstition Mountain of Arizona has caused a few disappearances with people lost trying to discover its location. In the 1870′s Jacob Waltz is said to have located a mine that he worked with his partner Jacob Weiser. Waltz was German, mistaken for Dutch, and he is the Dutchman where the name originated. Most stories place the mine in the vicinity of Weaver’s Needle, a well-known landmark in the mountains.

Abbott and Costello – Comedy Team from Vaudeville to Television

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 his stumbling, comprehension-challenged partner.

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 those 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 a half hour comedy casting the duo as unemployed wastrels, 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.

One Man One Hundred Points

Wilt Chamberlain was in the middle of his third NBA season when he did what had never been done before or since. He scored 100 points in a single game. That game was played on March 2, 1962.

Chamberlain’s Philadelphia Warriors (now Golden State) were playing a home game against the New York Knicks. Even though it was a home game for the Warriors they were playing in the Hersheypark Arena, in Hershey PA.

It was a cold Friday evening when 4,124 paying spectators enjoyed the once in a life time event. It’s possible that many in attendance weren’t even basketball fans, since players from the football teams Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Colts played in a show basketball game before the NBA game started.

As the game progressed and Chamberlain passed his own single game record of 79 with 7:51 left in the game, the crowd sensing a game that would go into the history books, cheered each time that the Warriors had the ball to give it to Chamberlain.

Chamberlain scored his 100th point with less than a minute to play. The crowd went wild and stormed the court. After a long delay the last 46 seconds of the game was finally played. In the game Chamberlain made 36 of 63 field-goal attempts (all 2 point attempts since the 3 point rule had not been instituted) and 28 of 32 free-throw attempts.

The final score was Philadelphia – 169 and the New York Knicks – 147. The 316 points still stands as the record for the most points scored in a regulation game. Twice overtime games have had more points scored.

An Extra Day in February

February 29th. It’s the day that is added every 4 years to balance the calendar. A year is actually a little less that 365.25 days long. The actual formula for leap days is that it occurs only every four years, in years evenly divisible by 4, except century years not divisible by 400.

Since the day happens only a quarter of the time, less since 1900 was not a leap year, this mean that less things could happen on this day than on any other day in the year. Here’s a couple of things that have occurred on the 29th of February.

In 1892 the city of St. Petersburg, Florida was incorporated. At the time it only had 300 people, now it’s population is around 250,000. St. Petersburg is it the fourth largest city in the state of Florida and the largest city in Florida that is not a county seat.

In 1956, Dwight David Eisenhower announced that he was going to run for a second term as President of the United States. In 2008, it’d already be to late for a major party candidate to announce a run, but stay tuned some one may announce still.

When Hank Aaron signed his contract in 1972, he became the first baseball player to make 200,000 a year. Today that’s below the minimum.

Entertainer Dinah Shore was born on February 29, 1916. She celebrated 19 birthdays before passing away two years before her 20th.

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 played 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.