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"
Stewart’s irreverent take on national and world
events has been a huge hit with audiences and has even led some viewers to cite
The Daily Show as their primary source of news.
Raised in Lawrenceville, New
Jersey, Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz attended the College of William and Mary and
after graduation began performing stand-up comedy at clubs in New York City. In
1991, he became host of Short Attention Span Theater on Comedy Central,
which was followed in 1992 by You Wrote It, You WatchIt on MTV.
In 1993, he hosted a half-hour program, The Jon Stewart Show, also on
MTV. A late-night, nationally syndicated version of the program launched
the following year but was cancelled in 1995.
In January 1999, Stewart took over hosting duties of The Daily Show
from Craig Kilborn, who had hosted the show since its 1996 debut on Comedy
Central and left to replace Tom Snyder as host of The Late Late Show.
With Stewart in the anchor seat, The Daily Show typically opens with a
monologue about the day’s news stories, followed by a satirical report from one
of the program’s “fake news” correspondents. (Previous correspondents have
included Steve Carrell, who was a Daily Show regular from 1999 to 2004 and
went on to star in such movies as The 40-Year-Old Virgin,Little Miss
Sunshine and Get Smart and the NBC sitcom The Office. Another
Daily Show correspondent, Stephen Colbert, left the program in 2005 to
launch his own spin-off, The Colbert Report.)During the final
segment of the half-hour Daily Show, Stewart conducts interviews with
politicians, authors, Hollywood celebrities or other newsmakers. The Daily
Show has won multiple Emmy Awards, and in 2004 Stewart and his writing
staff released a best-selling mock-history textbook titled America (The
Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction.
In addition to hosting The Daily Show, Stewart served as master of
ceremonies for Hollywood’s biggest annual event, the Academy Awards, in 2006
and 2008. His own movie career, which includes appearances in Playing by
Heart (1998), The Faculty (1998)and Big Daddy (1999),
has yet to win him any Oscars. On The Daily Show, Stewart has mocked his
roles in such box-office bombs as 2001’s Death to Smoochy.
November 28, 1997
The final episode of "Beavis and Butt-head"
aired on MTV.
When
Highland High's secretary calls Beavis and Butt-head's home to see why the boys
aren't in school, Beavis falsely claims that he and Butt-head are dead.
Principal McVicker is pleasantly surprised and even stops his typical nervous
shaking. Mr. Van Driessen mourns the loss and tries to get the class to
remember something good about the obnoxious duo, though Daria echoes most of
the class's sentiments by saying "it's not like they had bright futures
ahead of them". The school faculty mostly agree (except Van Driessen) that
although they never liked Beavis and Butt-head, they should exploit their
apparent deaths to make their trouble worthwhile. Beavis and Butt-head see news
that someone died at school, and decide to show up anyway. Just as Principal
McVicker is on camera, holding a jar full of the memorial charity's change
saying he would (hypothetically) trade it to have Beavis and Butt-head back,
they greet him to his shock and end up in possession of the jar. Beavis and
Butt-head walk off into the sunset, believing that they are rich and have no
need to attend school anymore. This episode was the original series finale, up
until the 2011 revival.
This is a little brain candy to snack on while dinner is cooking.
May we all be thankful for what we are about to view...
Station manager Arthur Carlson comes up with a big idea for a unique holiday promotion involving live turkeys and a helicopter. First aired on 40 years ago on October 30th 1978 (Season 1, Episode 7) In 1997 TV Guide ranked this episode number 40 on its '100 Greatest Episodes of All Time' list.
World Television Day celebrates the daily value of
television as a symbol of communication and globalization. Television is one of
the single greatest technological advances of the 20th century, serving to
educate, inform, entertain and influence our decisions and opinions. It is estimated that approximately 90% of
homes around the world have televisions, however, with the introduction of
internet broadcasting, the number is declining in favor of computers.
World Television Day was proclaimed by the United
Nations in 1996. It is celebrated annually on November 21.
November 21, 1937
Margaret Julia ”World Television Day is born.
Actress,
producer, and social activist known for her starring role on the TV
series That Girl (1966–1971) and her award-winning feminist children’s
franchise, Free
to Be… You and Me. For her work
in television, she has received four Emmys, a Golden Globe, the George Foster
Peabody Award and has been inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of
Fame. She also received a Grammy award for her children’s album Thanks
& Giving All Year Long.
November 21, 1972
Maude's
Dilemma Part two.
Maude Findlay (Beatrice Arthur) discovers she is
pregnant and opts for an abortion. To comfort Maude, her grown daughter said
"When you were young, abortion was a dirty word. It's not anymore."
Two CBS affiliates canceled the episodes and 32 CBS affiliates were
pressured not to rerun the segments in the summer of 1973 by anti-abortion
factions.
The second airing of the program gave the show a 41 percent share with 65
million people tuning in. The first time the show aired CBS received 7,000
letters; the second time around 17,000 letters of protest poured in.
This program appeared at a time when the Supreme Court had not yet protected
legalized abortion (The Roe vs. Wade decision was still one year away).
Reportedly, Pro-Life groups mailed Norman Lear photographs of aborted fetuses
in protest.
November 22, 1932
Robert Francis Vaughn is born.
Actor noted for his stage, film and television work.
His best-known TV roles include the suave spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s series The
Man from U.N.C.L.E. and the
wealthy detective Harry Rule in the 1970s series The Protectors. In film, he portrayed one of the title characters
in The
Magnificent Seven and Major
Paul Krueger in The
Bridge at Remagen, and provided
the voice of Proteus IV, the computer villain of Demon Seed.
November 23, 2012
Larry
Hagman, star of "Dallas" and "I Dream of Jeannie," dies.
Larry Hagman dies at age 81
of complications from cancer at a hospital in Dallas. Hagman was best known for
his role as the villainous Texas oil baron J.R. Ewing on “Dallas,” which aired from 1978 to 1991 and
was revived in 2012.
Hagman was born on September 21, 1931, in Fort Worth,
Texas, to actress Mary Martin, who would become known for her roles in Broadway
musicals including “Peter Pan,” “South Pacific” and “The Sound of Music,” and
Benjamin Hagman, a lawyer. After graduating from high school in Weatherford,
Texas, the younger Hagman briefly attended Bard College before dropping out to
pursue acting. During the Korean War, he served in
the U.S. Air Force, producing and directing shows for American troops.
Following his military service, Hagman worked as a New York stage actor in
the late 1950s and early 1960s. He also appeared on various TV series, including a two-year stint on
the daytime soap opera “The Edge of Night.” Hagman made his movie debut in
1964’s “Ensign Pulver,” whose cast also included Jack Nicholson.
Hagman’s breakout role was on the hit sitcom “I Dream
of Jeannie,” which aired from 1965 to 1970. He played astronaut Tony Nelson,
who becomes “master” to a genie (played by Barbara Eden) whom he releases from
a bottle he finds on a desert island. Following “I Dream of Jeannie,” Hagman
appeared in several short-lived TV shows before the 1978 debut of “Dallas,” the
prime-time soap opera about a wealthy, feuding Texas family, the Ewings. J.R.
Ewing was originally intended to be a supporting character, but as portrayed by
Hagman, the gleefully conniving, cowboy-hatted oil tycoon became the star of
the show and someone audiences loved to hate.
In the cliffhanger finale of the show’s second full
season, broadcast on March 21, 1980, J.R. was gunned down by an unknown
assailant, and the question of who shot him soon became a pop culture
phenomenon. Hagman landed on multiple magazine covers, there were “I Shot
J.R.” T-shirts and bookmakers even took bets on the identity of the person who
pulled the trigger. The answer, finally revealed eight months later in an
episode that aired November 21, 1980, turned out to be J.R.’s scorned
ex-mistress, Kristin Shepard (played by Mary Crosby). The episode was seen by
an estimated 350 million viewers around the globe, and remains the
second-highest-rated television program in U.S. history, after the final
episode of “M*A*S*H” in 1983. J.R. survived the shooting, and Hagman went on to
appear in all 357 episodes of the original “Dallas.”
After “Dallas” ended in 1991, Hagman had roles in
movies including “Nixon” (1995) and “Primary Colors” (1998) and made
appearances on “Nip/Tuck,” “Desperate Housewives” and other television shows.
In October 2011 the actor, who developed cirrhosis after years of heavy
drinking and had a liver transplant in 1995, announced he had cancer but still
would reprise his role as J.R. Ewing on the revival of “Dallas.” The rebooted
“Dallas” premiered in June 2012, and Hagman died on November 23 of that same
year. His death later was worked into the show, and in an episode that aired on
March 4, 2013, the iconic J.R. was shot and killed by a then-unknown assailant.
The parade was suspended
from 1942 to 1944 as a result of World War II, owing to
the need for rubber and helium in the war effort. The parade resumed in
1945 using the route that it followed until 2008. The parade became known
nationwide after being prominently featured in the 1947 film, Miracle on 34th Street, which included footage of the 1946
festivities. The event was first broadcast on network television in 1948 (see below). By this
point the event, and Macy's sponsorship of it, were sufficiently well-known to
give rise to the colloquialism "Macy's Day Parade". Since 1984, the
balloons have been made by Raven Aerostar (a
division of Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based Raven Industries).
Cartoonist Charles M. Schulz is born in St. Paul,
Minnesota.
The son of a barber,
Schulz showed an early interest in art and took a correspondence course in
cartooning. After serving in the army in World War II, Schulz returned to St.
Paul and took a job lettering comics for a small magazine. In 1947, Schulz began
drawing a comic strip for the St. Paul Pioneer Press called "L'il
Folks," featuring Charlie Brown and his gang of friends. In 1950, after
several rejections, Schulz sold syndication rights to United Features, which
renamed the strip "Peanuts." Schulz drew the comic himself, without assistants,
until his retirement in 1999. Peanuts ran in some 2,600 papers, in 75 countries
and 21 languages, earning Schulz some $30 million a year. Schulz died in 2000.
The Hollywood Christmas Parade (formerly the Hollywood Santa Parade or Santa Claus Lane Parade) is an annual
parade that takes place on the Sunday after Thanksgiving in
the Hollywood community in Los Angeles, California, United
States.
The parade follows a 3.5-mile route along Hollywood
Boulevard, then back along Sunset Boulevard and features various celebrities among
its participants.
The Parade was
suspended from 1942 to 1944 due to World War II, but reopened in 1945 with record
attendance.
We were not even human beings. When we got to Buchenwald, the SS shoved us into a shower room to spend the night. I had heard the rumors about the dummy shower heads that were gas jets. I thought, 'This is it.' But no, it was just a place to sleep. The first eight days there, the Germans kept us without a crumb to eat. We were hanging on to life by pure guts, sleeping on top of each other, every morning waking up to find a new corpse next to you. The whole experience was a complete nightmare — the way they treated us, what we had to do to survive. We were less than animals. Sometimes I dream about those days. I wake up in a sweat terrified for fear I'm about to be sent away to a concentration camp, but I don't hold a grudge because that's a great waste of time. Yes, there's something dark in the human soul. For the most part, human beings are not very nice. That's why when you find those who are, you cherish them.
-Robert Clary
Robert Clary (born Robert Max Widerman) March 1, 1926 – November 16, 2022
Robert Clary died at his Los Angeles home on November 16, 2022, at the age of 96.
Born in 1926 in Paris, France, Clary was the youngest of 14 children, 10 of whom would die inthe Holocaust.At the age of twelve, he began a career singing professionally on a French radio station and also studied art in Paris.In 1942, because he wasJewish, he was deported to theNaziconcentration campat Ottmuth, inUpper Silesia(now Otmęt,Poland). He was tattooed with the identification "A5714" on his left forearm. He was later sent toBuchenwald concentration camp.At Buchenwald, Clary sang to an audience of SS soldiers every other Sunday, accompanied by an accordionist. He said, "Singing, entertaining, and being in kind of good health at my age, that's why I survived. I was very immature and young and not really fully realizing what situation I was involved with ... I don't know if I would have survived if I really knew that."
Clary was liberated from Buchenwald on April 11, 1945. Twelve other members of his immediate family were sent to Auschwitz concentration camp; Clary was the only survivor. When he returned to Paris after World War II, he learned that three of his 13 siblings had not been taken away and had survived the Nazi occupation of France.
Clary returned to the entertainment business and began singing songs that not only became popular in France, but in the United States as well.Clary made his first recordings in 1948; they were brought to the United States on wire and were issued on disk by Capitol Records. He went to the U.S. in October 1949. One of Clary's first American appearances was a French-language comedy skit on The Ed Wynn Show in 1950. Clary later met Merv Griffin and Eddie Cantor. This eventually led to Clary meeting Cantor's daughter, Natalie Cantor Metzger, whom he married in 1965, after being "the closest of friends" for 15 years.Cantor later got Clary a spot on The Colgate Comedy Hour. In the mid-1950s, Clary appeared on NBC's early sitcom The Martha Raye Show and on CBS's drama anthology seriesAppointment with Adventure.
Clary's comedic skills were quickly recognized by Broadway, where he appeared in several popular musicals, including New Faces of 1952, which was produced as a film in 1954.
In 1959, he was cast in the title role of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec in a British production of an Edward Chodorov play, Monsieur Lautrec. The play ran for two weeks at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry.Although The Stage panned the play, it praised Clary for portraying Lautrec "with a delicacy and yet moving intenseness."
In 1965, the diminutive 155 cm (5 ft 1 in) Clary was offered the role of Corporal Louis LeBeau on a new television sitcom called Hogan's Heroes, and he accepted the role when the pilot sold. The series was set in a German prisoner of war (POW) camp during World War II, and Clary played a French POW who was a member of an Allied sabotage unit operating from inside the camp.
Asked about parallels between LeBeau's incarceration and his own, Clary said, "Stalag 13 is not a concentration camp. It's a POW camp, and that's a world of difference. You never heard of a prisoner of war being gassed or hanged. When the show went on the air, people asked me if I had any qualms about doing a comedy series dealing with Nazis and concentration camps. I had to explain that it was about prisoners of war in a Stalag, not a concentration camp, and although I did not want to diminish what soldiers went through during their internments, it was like night and day from what people endured in concentration camps."
Clary became one of the last two surviving principal cast members of Hogan's Heroes, with Kenneth Washington (Sergeant Richard Baker, final season), when Cynthia Lynn (Helga, first season, 1965–1966) died on March 10, 2014. He was the last surviving original principal cast member.
Clary appeared in the 1975 film The Hindenburg, which portrayed a fictional plot to blow up the German airship after it arrived at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station. He played Joseph Späh, a real-life passenger on the airship's final voyage.
Clary spent years touring Canada and the United States, speaking about the Holocaust. He was a painter, painting from photographs he took on his travels.
Clary published a memoir, From the Holocaust to Hogan's Heroes: The Autobiography of Robert Clary, in 2001.
