I represent the first generation who, when we were born, the television was now a permanent fixture in our homes. When I was born people had breakfast with Barbara Walters, dinner with Walter Cronkite, and slept with Johnny Carson.
Read the full "Pre-ramble"
Showing posts with label This is what I have been watching while on the treadmill at the gym. Show all posts
Showing posts with label This is what I have been watching while on the treadmill at the gym. Show all posts
that we could use to momentarily forget about those
things that leave a bad taste in our mouths
The Night That Panicked America is an American television film that was originally broadcast on the ABC network on October 31, 1975. The telefilm dramatizes events surrounding Orson Welles' famous - and infamous - War of the Worlds radio broadcast (based on the novel of the same name by English author H.G. Wells) of October 30, 1938, which had led some Americans to believe that an invasion by Martians was occurring in the area near Grover's Mill in West Windsor, New Jersey.
that we could use to momentarily forget about those
things that leave a bad taste in our mouths
The Night America Trembled is a top-rated television dramatization of the public reaction to the 1938 radio broadcast of "The War of the Worlds" that aired September 9, 1957, as an episode of the CBS series Studio One. Hosted by Edward R. Murrow, the live documentary play was written by Nelson S. Bond and uses excerpts of the radio script copywrighted by Howard E. Koch.
The further we go back in Hollywood history, the more that fact and legend become intertwined.
It's hard to say where the truth really lies.
Donna Allen-Figueroa
August 6, 1908
Will Lee is born. William
"Will" Lee (August 6, 1908 – December 7, 1982) was an American actor
and comedian, best known for playing Mr. Hooper on Sesame Street, from the
show's debut in 1969 until his death in 1982.
In 1969, he pursued the role of Mr. Hooper on the
popular children's show Sesame Street. "He gave
millions of children the message that the old and the young have a lot to say
to each other," said Joan Ganz Cooney, president of the
Children's Television Workshop. The New York Times reported that on Sesame
Street, Lee's Mr. Hooper ranked ahead of all live cast members in
recognition by young audiences, according to a survey. His bowtie and hornrimmed
reading glasses became his trademark.
In a November 1970 TIME
article, following the show's first season, Lee recalled his feelings about the
show:
I was delighted to take the
role of Mr. Hooper, the gruff grocer with the warm heart. It's a big part, and
it allows a lot of latitude. But the show has something extra, that sense you
sometimes get from great theater, the feeling that its influence never stops.
In addition to being a staple of Sesame Street
for more than 10 years, Lee played Mr. Hooper in TV specials (Christmas Eve
on Sesame Street and A Special
Sesame Street Christmas), guest appearances (Evening at Pops: 1971),
stage appearances, countless record albums, and parades, including the 1982 Macy's
Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was revealed in Christmas
Eve on Sesame Street that Mr. Hooper is Jewish, as was Lee himself. Lee taped his final segments
as Mr. Hooper in November 1982, but his death would become the focal point of
Episode 1839, in which Mr. Hooper's death is explained to Big Bird by the
adults.
According to his obituary in The New York Times
as he became known on Sesame Street, children would approach him on the
street and ask, "How did you get out of the television set?" or
whisper, "I love you." "Apart from the joy of knowing that you
are helping so many kids, the recognition is heartwarming," Lee was quoted
as saying in 1981.
Lee died in December 1982 at Lenox Hill Hospital
in New York City from a heart attack.
His death left the producers of Sesame Street with questions about
how to acknowledge the death of one of the series' most visible actors. After
considering a number of options, CTW decided to have the character of
Mr. Hooper die as well instead of getting a new actor for him, and use the
episode to teach its young viewers about death as a natural part of life.
Episode 1839, now known to children and fans as "Farewell, Mr. Hooper" aired
on November 24, 1983 (Thanksgiving Day),
and was quickly selected by the Daytime Emmys as being one of the 10
most influential moments in daytime television.
Lee was never married and never had any children. His
sister is Sophia Lee-Lubov, who used to live in Florida.
August 7, 1948
Stanley Victor Frebergauthor, recording artist, animationvoice actor, comedian, radio personality, puppeteer, and advertisingcreative director was born.His first jobs (at age eighteen) involved supplying
voices for Warner Brothers cartoons, usually in support of Mel Blanc and always
without credit. Soon though, Freberg was being heard on radio shows and
on early television. He and V.O. actor Daws Butler worked puppets and
supplied the vocals on Bob Clampett's Time for Beany, the first kids'
show to attract an adult audience.
In 1950, he
launched a long association with Capitol Records, recording silly and satirical
material. The sales and critical reaction stunned the Capitol execs so
they let him keep on doing pretty much anything he wanted, even when it meant
attacking their own industry. His recordings all had two outstanding
qualities. One is that they were funny. The other is that they were
produced with high production values, first-rate music (usually supplied by
arranger-conductor Billy May) and a fine supporting cast that included Butler,
June Foray and Peter Leeds, along with the hundreds of voices that came out of
Freberg himself. Even if you didn't get the satire — and some folks
didn't, especially when Freberg records were released overseas — the material was
always fun to listen to.
Freberg starred in
two network radio shows, both of which also featured his frequent partner,
Butler. The 1954 That's Rich was a fairly standard situation
comedy but the 1957 Stan Freberg Show was a glorious (if short-lived) festival
of satire and comedy. It made him, by his definition, "the last
network radio comedian in America." A nice way to end an era.
When The Stan Freberg
Show ended after 15 weeks, Freberg found a new outlet for his humor in
advertising, with award-winning campaigns for Sunsweet Prunes, Jeno's Pizza
Rolls, Chun King Chow Mein, Pittsburgh Paints and many other clients. He
didn't exactly invent the funny commercial but he quickly became its master,
and rival ad agencies scrambled to emulate his lead. And of course, he
continued to release records, including the album many believe to be the
greatest comedy record of all time. Stan Freberg Presents the United States
of America, The Early Years.
August 10, 1948
Candid
Camera, produced and hosted by Alan Funt, debuted on this day
in 1948. Funt had originally created
the concept for radio, debuting Candid Microphone in 1947. When it
premiered as a television show, the program kept the name Candid Microphone
until its second season. Both the radio and TV versions featured unsuspecting
people captured in their natural, bemused responses to comic setups. Candid
Camera ran on network television from 1948 to 1950, again in 1953, and once
again from 1960 to 1967. In 1989, Alan's son Peter became his father's co-host
in a series of Candid Camera specials. In 1991, CBS tried to revive the show
with Dom DeLuise and Eva LaRue as co-hosts, but the show flopped.
August
11, 1933 Jerry Lamon Falwell, Sr. The evangelical
Christianpastor, televangelist,
and a conservative
commentator was born. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road
Baptist Church, a megachurch
in Lynchburg, Virginia.
He founded Lynchburg Christian Academy (now Liberty
Christian Academy) in 1967, Liberty University
in 1971, and cofounded the Moral Majority in 1979. After the September 11 attacks in 2001,
Falwell said on Pat
Robertson's The 700
Club, "I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists,
and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an
alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way,
all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their
face and say 'you helped this happen.'" Falwell further stated that the
attacks were "probably deserved," a statement which Christopher Hitchens called
treasonous. After heavy criticism, Falwell said that no one but the terrorists
were to blame, and apologized saying "if I left that impression with gays
or lesbians or anyone else, I apologize."
On May 15, 2007, Falwell was found
without pulse and unconscious in his office about 10:45 am after missing a
morning appointment and was taken to Lynchburg General Hospital.
"I had breakfast with him, and he was fine at breakfast.... He went to
his office, I went to mine and they found him unresponsive" said Ron
Godwin, the executive vice president of Falwell's Liberty University. His condition was
initially reported as "gravely serious"; CPR was
administered unsuccessfully. As of 2:10 pm, during a live press conference, a
doctor for the hospital confirmed that Falwell had died of "cardiac arrhythmia, or sudden cardiac death." A
statement issued by the hospital reported he was pronounced dead at Lynchburg
General Hospital at 12:40 pm, EST. Falwell's family, including his wife Macel
and sons Jerry
Falwell, Jr. and Jonathan
Falwell, were at the hospital at the time of the pronouncement.
that we could use to momentarily forget about those
things that leave a bad taste in our mouths
Project U.F.O. is a NBC television series which lasted two seasons, from 1978 to 1979. Based loosely on the real-life Project Blue Book, the show was created by Dragnet veteran Jack Webb, who pored through Air Force files looking for episode ideas. In retrospect, Project U.F.O. anticipated many of the themes of the X-Files, though of course without that show's romantic subtext or anti-government (or for that matter, anti-alien) paranoia. As with Blue Book, many of the UFO sightings on Project UFO turned out to have conventional explanations. Some, however, were left unexplained, and suggestive of alien contact.
that we could use to momentarily forget about those
things that leave a bad taste in our mouths
The pilot centers on Harry Broderick (Andy Griffith) who owns the Jettison Scrap and Salvage Co. and is a specialist in reclaiming trash and junk to sell as scrap. His dream is to recover equipment left on the moon during Apollo Program missions. In the shows' opening title narration, Harry states:
I want to build a spaceship, go to the moon, salvage all the junk that's up there, bring it back and sell it.
