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"
| Show No. 135 | First hour: Ed welcomes actress, comedienne and activist Alison Arngrim (Little House on the Prairie, Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated). Alison's upcoming appearances include the opening of Nellie Oleson's Trunk of Treasures in France on May 18, a performance of her one-woman show, Confessions of a Prairie Bitch, at the Laurie Beecham Theatre in New York on June 15-16, plus appearances at the annual “Laura Palooza” in Mankato, MN on July 12-14, and the annual “Walnut Grove Days” festival in Walnut Grove, MN on July 20-22. Also in this hour: Tony Figueroa and Donna Allen remember the launch of the first Jane Fonda workout tapes, the first experimental coast-to-coast satellite broadcast, and other events that originally took place This Week in TV History. |
Many of us think of George Maharis as Buz Murdock on Route 66, the groundbreaking TV series from the early 1960s that remains among the best dramatic series ever made. But George also has an extensive stage and film background, including Exodus with Paul Newman, plus he has also enjoyed a successful career as a recording artist (both for Columbia Records as well as in Las Vegas), and is an accomplished painter, with a particular concentration on Impressionistic art.
All four seasons of Route 66 will be released as a special edition box set from Shout Factory that also includes such bonus features as the documentary Great Cars: Corvette (everything you wanted to know about the legendary sports car featured every week on Route 66), as well as the rarely seen panel discussion from 1990 featuring George Maharis, series writer/producer Herbert B. Leonard, and casting director Marion Dougherty. Route 66: The Complete Series will be officially released on May 29, but if you order it now through ShoutFactory.com, you can get the entire box set for $99.99 (plus 66¢ shipping and handling). This special offer is available for a limited time only, and certain restrictions apply. For more information, go to ShoutFactory.com.
Also joining us this week will be longtime radio personality Sam Yates with a special tribute to television producer and impresario Dick Clark. Sam knew Dick personally and professionally for more than three decades, and he’ll be playing an interview that he did with Dick to celebrate the 40th anniversary of American Bandstand, as well as sharing some memories. All this and more when we pay tribute to Dick Clark during our first hour.
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As always, 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.
April 29, 1992
The Los Angeles Riots were sparked on when a jury acquitted four Los Angeles Police Department officers accused in the videotaped beating of African-American motorist Rodney King following a high-speed pursuit.
Thousands of people in the Los Angeles area rioted over the six days following the verdict. First day (Wednesday, April 29) The acquittals of the four accused Los Angeles Police Department officers came at 3:15 p.m. local time. By 3:45, a crowd of more than 300 people had appeared at the Los Angeles County Courthouse, most protesting the verdicts passed down a half an hour earlier and many miles away. Between 5 and 6 p.m., a group of two dozen officers, commanded by LAPD Lt. Michael Moulin, confronted a growing African-American crowd at the intersection of Florence and Normandie in South Central Los Angeles. Outnumbered, these officers retreated. A new group of protesters appeared at Parker Center, the LAPD's headquarters, by about 6:30 p.m., and 15 minutes later, the crowd at Florence and Normandie had started looting, attacking vehicles and people, mainly whites.
At approximately 6:45 p.m., Reginald Oliver Denny, a white truck driver who stopped at a traffic light at the intersection of Florence and South Normandie Avenues, was dragged from his vehicle and severely beaten by a mob of local black residents as news helicopters hovered above, recording every blow, including a concrete fragment connecting with Denny's temple and a cinder block thrown at his head as he lay unconscious in the street. The police never appeared, having been ordered to withdraw for their own safety, although several assailants (the so-called L.A. Four) were later arrested and one, Damian Williams, was sent to prison. Instead, Denny was rescued by an unarmed, African American civilian named Bobby Green Jr. who, seeing the assault live on television, rushed to the scene and drove Denny to the hospital using the victim's own truck, which carried twenty-seven tons of sand. Denny had to undergo years of rehabilitative therapy, and his speech and ability to walk were permanently damaged. Although several other motorists were brutally beaten by the same mob, Denny remains the best-known victim of the riots because of the live television coverage.
Fifty-three people died during the riots including 10 shot dead by the LAPD and the National Guard with as many as 2,000 people injured. Estimates of the material losses vary between about $800 million and $1 billion. Approximately 3,600 fires were set, destroying 1,100 buildings, with fire calls coming once every minute at some points. Widespread looting also occurred. Stores owned by Korean and other Asian immigrants were widely targeted, although stores owned by Caucasians and African Americans were targeted by rioters as well.
To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
