Vin Scully in 2006 There aren't many things that have stayed constant since 1950. In that time, there have been six popes, twelve presidents, and 59 best pictures. But one thing that has remained constant is that, for six decades, Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodger fans have known that they could tune into a ballgame and hear the mellow tones of Vin Scully calling the action. Vincent Edward Scully was born November 29, 1927, and developed a love of sports and sportscasting by lying underneath his parents' radio and listening to such giants as Graham McNamee and Ted Husing call college football games (but not baseball; New York's three major league teams forbade any radio broadcasts of their games until 1938, not wanting to give the product away for free). Scully played some baseball himself while at Fordham University, but longed to do play-by-play. Finally, in 1950, announcer Red Barber convinced the Dodgers to hire Scully, and the rest is baseball and broadcasting history. When the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958, a new phenomenon was born as people who came to the LA Coliseum to watch the game brought their transistor radios so as to not miss any of Vin's calls. Over the decades, Vinny (as Dodger fans lovingly refer to him) has cemented his reputation as the finest baseball play-by-play man in history, whose style mixes poetry and play-by-play in a way that reports only the facts of the game, rather than blatantly rooting for the Dodgers. So beloved is Scully that, in 1969, when Los Angeles fans were asked to vote on the Greatest Dodger of all time -- from a roster that included Sandy Koufax, Jackie Robinson, and Duke Snider -- Vinny won in a landslide. He was voted into baseball's Hall of Fame in 1982, and when recent reports indicated he might retire after the 2008 season, fans were so upset that the team was forced to announce that he'll man Dodger Stadium's broadcast booth through at least the 2009 season. And on this weekend especially, that is something all baseball fans can be thankful for. Happy Birthday, Vinny! Suggested Sites... Los Angeles Dodgers: Vin Scully Retrospective - a salute to Vinny, with video clips. Baseball Almanac: Vin Scully Quotes - inlcudes the transcript of the ninth inning of Sandy Koufax's perfect game. Salon Brilliant Careers: Vin Scully - for 60 years, an Irish redhead from the Bronx has been the gold standard for baseball announcers. Wikipedia: Vin Scully - good overview of Vinny's life and career. NPR: Recorded History: Vin Scully Calls a Koufax Milestone - aw, the hell with it -- here's the audio of the Koufax game. Pure poetry.

Directory categories: Vin Scully, Los Angeles Dodgers, Brooklyn Dodgers, Sportscasters, Major League Baseball

Archived under: Artists, Baseball, Biographies, Birthdays, Celebrities, Los Angeles, MLB, Radio, Redheads, Sports, Sportscasters, TV, Vin Scully

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Berkeley's 1934 musical "Dames" Some men just have an eye for razzle dazzle. Busby Berkeley was doubtless such a man. As one of Hollywood's most respected choreographers and dance directors, Berkeley wowed audiences with his inventive staging and unique use of the camera. Born William Berkeley Enos on November 29, 1895, his first exposure to staging musical numbers came in 1918 while serving in the U.S. Army, directing and conducting parades. He later performed and directed for a number of smaller companies in New York until the opportunity to create the dances for the musical "Holka Polka" was presented to him. It was there that Berkeley discovered his knack for devising extravagant dance routines and his reputation as a Broadway dance director took off. He had another huge success choreographing the dance sequences in Rodgers and Hart's "A Connecticut Yankee," and was shortly lured to Hollywood by Samuel Goldwyn to choreograph Eddie Cantor's "Whoopee!" Once there, Berkeley reinvented the way dance was seen on film. In classics like "42nd Street" and "Gold Diggers of 1935," his use of the camera was revolutionary: he drilled into ceilings so he could get his camera high enough to capture spectacular overhead shots, and wove in and out of his scantily-clad chorines. Berkeley employed hundreds of dancing girls dripping in spangles (and not much else) to create dazzling kaleidoscopic routines and surreal patterns of flesh tailor-made for the camera. He worked tirelessly throughout the '30s and '40s, until tastes in musicals changed and his brand of over-the-top excess was no longer in fashion. His later years were peppered with grief and tragedy -- a string of unsuccessful marriages, problems with alcoholism, and a highly publicized drunk-driving accident that killed two motorists. He was acquitted of all charges but never emotionally recovered from the event. He had an unusually close relationship with his mother and after her death, Busby attempted unsuccessfully to take his own life. Despite a brief return to Broadway "supervising" a revival of "No, No, Nanette," he fell into relative obscurity and passed away in 1976. A tragic end to a man with such auspicious beginnings. Interestingly enough, Busby Berkeley never took a single dance lesson. Quite a feat for a man considered to be one of the world's most recognized choreographers. Suggested Sites... Classic Movie Favorites: Busby Berkeley - dedicated to the master choreographer and dance director with biography, filmography, photos, videos, and more. Wikipedia: Busby Berkeley - includes information about his career, personal life, and movies. YouTube: BerkeleysGal's Channel - find dozens of videos featuring Busby Berkeley, Ruby Keeler, and Ginger Rogers. IMDB.com: Busby Berkeley - includes a filmography for the famed director and choreographer.

Directory categories: Busby Berkeley (1895-1976), Classic Hollywood, Filmmaking, Dance, Theater

Archived under: 1930s, 1940s, Biographies, Birthdays, Broadway, Celebrities, Creativity, Dance, Directors, Entertainment, Filmmaking, Hollywood, Movie History, Movies, Musicals, Nostalgia, Performing Arts, Vintage

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(Photo by Scott Liddell) (Editor's note: We originally ran this piece in 2006, and Heather has since left Yahoo!, but we felt its message about the holiday was as relevant now as it was then. Please enjoy it and thank you.) In anticipation of this year's commotion, we had planned to focus our Thanksgiving edition of The Spark on ways to beat holiday stress. But as I sat down to write, I couldn't stop thinking about what's missing this holiday. This will be my 14th Thanksgiving without my mother, who died of cancer when I was 14 years old. The loss caught up with me this year, and I joined a local grief group. Today, I'm thankful for the strong strangers I met there: a homeless woman mourning the loss of her son while trying to remain together with her husband in a transitional home; a woman who lost her stepfather only three weeks before is finally beginning to grieve for the little brother she'd lost nearly a decade ago; a man who shyly admitted that he sprays his wife's perfume in the bedroom every so often after recently losing her. Most of us will experience holidays of missing at some point in our lives. While I thank my group for sharing their stories and their strength, I have some colleagues to thank as well. One editor cherishes her Yahoo! Messenger conversations with her husband in Iraq. They turn on their web cams so they can see each other. And their daughter leaves palmprints on the monitor after touching the image of her dad's face. Another editor is afraid he can't carve the turkey like his dad used to. But as he shares his father's Thanksgiving traditions with his young daughters, he is sure they will learn all the great things about Grandpa.... Through our memories and the stories we share, our loved ones can live on, during the holidays and beyond them. Thank you for reading. Happy Thanksgiving. Suggested Sites... How to Remember a Loved One at the Holidays - listen to their favorite music. Light a candle. Plant a tree, or establish a scholarship. Grief During the Holidays - suggests ways to cope with loss of a loved one this holiday season. With the Holidays Can Come Renewed Grieving - article from the American Cancer Society gives suggestions on how to begin or continue your process of grieving and healing.

Directory categories: Bereavement, Grief Groups, Thanksgiving Graces and Blessings, Thanksgiving, Holiday Stress

Archived under: Bereavement, Death, Health, Holidays, Mental Health, Thanksgiving

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Now that the holidays are upon us, we thought that, rather than looking at the immediate past of sites and categories added to the Yahoo! Directory, we should take a look at the bigger picture; that is, the stuff you’ve looked for in years past, and which we’re pretty sure you’ll be looking for again this week. After all, this is the season for giving, and what better gift can we give you than the information you so desperately crave? Let’s start with the most obvious search: Thanksgiving. People will be hustling and bustling around the country to be with loved ones, so you’ll want to know whether your guests will arrive (or if you’re the traveler, how long it’ll take). Why not start in the Travel category, where you'll find information about ticketing, tracking flights, and airport advisories? If you're not flying, how about information about trains, automobiles -- or less traditional forms of travel? Of course, if you’re hosting a Thanksgiving dinner, you’ll probably want to decorate, and you’ll find clip art and graphics here -- even wallpaper for your computer. But let’s not forget the guest of honor: Mr. Tom Turkey. We can show you a vast array of ways to prepare the noble bird -- or even substitute a healthier alternative -- along with an array of ubiquitous side dishes from mashed potatoes and gravy to green bean casseroles. Not quite sure what to do with all that turkey afterwards? Fear not, as we can show you plenty of recipes for leftovers and soups. (And of course, if you just can’t stand another mouthful of stuffing, well, that’s what takeout is for.) Of course, since the holiday is just beginning, you know what comes next. Even in these economically-unsure times, there are those who just can't resist the siren call of the shopping mall, and we can show you where to go and who has the best deals. For those of you not shopping, who are of a more traditional persuasion, take a gander at some ideas for Christmas decorating -- after all, it’s only a month away (where the heck did 2008 go, anyway?). Regardless, happy holidays from your friends at the Yahoo! Directory; America’s favorite Internet source of aggregated information for over a tenth of a century. Suggested Sites... Yahoo! Directory: Turkey Cooking and Carving - it's not enough to roast the bird; you have to know how to serve it, too. Yahoo! Directory: Deep-Fried Turkey - for Pete's sake, don't burn the house down! Yahoo! Directory: Traffic and Road Conditions - plan your trip to arrive in one piece. Yahoo! Directory: Football - because Turkey Day isn't complete without pigskin... Yahoo! Directory: Turducken - ...unless you mean this kind of pigskin.

Directory categories: Thanksgiving, Travel, Families, Food and Drink, Pilgrims

Archived under: Birds, Celebrations, Christmas, Cooking, Decorating, Diets, Eating, Food and Drink, Football, Holidays, Pizza, Recipes, Shopping, Tofu, Travel, Turkey, Vegetables, Yahoo! Directory

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Darwin ape If history does indeed repeat itself, then today we should be on the lookout for groundbreaking news in the study of evolution. Why? Well, it was on this day in 1859 that Charles Darwin published the revolutionary "On the Origin of Species," and 115 years later, Donald Johanson and Tom Gray discovered the Lucy skeleton at Hadar, Ethiopia. "On the Origin of Species" detailed the processes of natural selection and adaptive radiation. Though the work never explicitly claimed we were descended from apes, Darwin was nonetheless attacked for that proposition. Even today, he's still a polarizing figure, as creationists try to refute what biologists and the scientific community defend -- that man evolved over time from ancient hominid ancestors. The debate continues with no likely end in sight. So did Lucy's discovery lend a hand to Darwin and his proponents? Most certainly. The discovery of this 40%-complete skeleton of Australopithecus afarensis offered fossil evidence of a potential human ancestor that walked upright 3,000,000 years ago. Furthermore, this evidence was supported by Mary Leakey's amazing find of footprints from Lucy's time at Laetoli. While it may seem that debate over scientific theory is one best left to the experts, average Americans haven't been deterred from taking it to the streets. Nothing short of a silent evolutionary war is being waged on the backsides of automobiles. From the Jesus fish to the Darwin fish to the truth-eats-Darwin fish and beyond, this once-binary argument has given birth to unforeseen allegiances and a unique forum for debate. With such a contentious topic at hand, it seems as though it may be risky to make a call for one side or the other. However, based on the historical significance of this day in history, the 24th of November is going to have to be called in favor of the evolutionists. So go have a banana and go for a walk, you bipedal hominids of today! Suggested Sites... Literature.org: The Origin of Species - read Darwin's legendary work firsthand. The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online - when "On the Origin of Species" just isn't enough. BBC: The Evolution of Man - browse articles discussing the story of human evolution. The Darwin Awards - for those less interested in science and more interested in the idiocies of others.

Directory categories: Charles Darwin, Evolution, Creation vs. Evolution, Australopithecus Afarensis

Archived under: Anniversaries, Archaeology, Biology, Charles Darwin, Creationism, Evolution, Nature, Primates, Science, Scientists

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