"Hey! Shouldn't you be gettin' back to work or somethin'? Greetings once again from The Spark. We don't know about you, but last week's epic nearly killed us in the writing, so this week's will be shorter, and, we hope, sweeter. Monday: Let's begin by noting that it's Ask a Stupid Question Day, created by teachers to let their students ask away without fear of mockery. We agree that the idea is a good one, for those questions may well lead to good answers, though probably not as good as the one Albert Einstein asked in 1905, when the physics journal "Annalen der Physik" published his paper "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?" and got the answered "E=mc²." We’re not claiming to understand either the question or the answer, but physicists sure did. That wasn't the only question answered on this day, though. In 1822, French linguist Jean-Francois Champollion announced that he had deciphered the Rosetta Stone. For those unwilling to ask, it’s an engraved slab that had been discovered in 1799 in Rashid (or Rosetta), Egypt, and combined ancient hieroglyphics with Egyptian and Greek letters. Champollion’s deciphering of the text gave archaeologists their first real means to interpret ancient pictographs. It’s been on display in the British Museum since 1802, and is the most-visited object in that institution to this day. If you're still interested in trivia, we point you to the small town of Lancaster, PA. In 1777, it was the capital of the United States -- but for only one day. Speaking of the capital reminds us of politics, which reminds us of cartoonist Thomas Nast, born on this day in 1840. Nast was, among other things, the man who gave us the Republican elephant, the Democratic donkey, Uncle Sam, and the modern depiction of Santa Claus. Not so jolly was Henry Ford. In 1908, Ford’s first Model T rolled off the assembly line. The automobile went on sale Oct. 1 for $825 (just under $20,000 in modern currency), but soon became a national sensation, opening up personal transportation for the masses. By 1925, Ford's assembly line technique had become so efficient, that the price of the car had dropped to $265 -- or just over $3,000 today). Turning to television, we see that today is not only the 56th anniversary of "Tonight!" -- which soon became "The Tonight Show" hosted by Steve Allen (and today is the 90th birthday of Steve's widow, Jayne Meadows), we also see that coming up on the October 1st is the 48th anniversary of Johnny Carson taking over the "Tonight" host's chair he'd occupy for the next 29 years. Unfortunately, NBC, not sensing any historical value in the show, erased most of the tapes of the show's early years. In fact, it's only in the last couple of weeks that the audio track of the first three minutes of Carson's first show surfaced after decades of being lost. (Unfortunately, the video is still missing.) "Tonight" was a real gamble on the part of NBC executive Sylvester "Pat" Weaver (father of Sigourney Weaver, by the way), in that no one knew if anyone would stay up into the wee hours to watch TV. I think we know the answer to that particular question nowadays ... (For those who need help, though, it is National Coffee Day.) We see that the new season of "Sesame Street" begins today, but we assume we won't be seeing any sign of Katy Perry. Tuesday: In 1901, Ed Sullivan was born. Sullivan came to fame in the 1920s and '30s covering Broadway and Hollywood gossip (not to mention his bitter feuds with rival columnist Walter Winchell). From 1948 to 1971, though, he became in integral part of American culture by hosting a weekly variety show that featured singers, plate spinners, ventriloquists, comedians, and everything in between in an attempt to entertain every part of the audience. Variety shows like Sullivan's have all but disappeared from the airwaves, but there's one that began decades before his program and continues to the present day -- this day especially, as, following the tragic floods in Tennessee this spring, the Grand Ole Opry will return to its home to continue its 85-year tradition of broadcasting the finest in country music. That's not the only show tonight, though. On PBS, Ken Burns's "The Tenth Inning" premieres, continuing his 1994 series on the history of baseball. Ironically, the show airs on the 90th anniversary of one of the game's greatest scandals: the indictment of eight members of the Chicago White Sox, who were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. Gambling itself may be a disease, but it’s not one that can be cured with antibiotics, like penicillin, which Alexander Fleming discovered on this day in 1928. Dr. Fleming noticed that one of the molds in his lab was killing bacteria. Within months, he had released it to the world, giving doctors an irreplaceable tool in the treating of disease. (Speaking of gambling, we’d like to think we could win a bet that the transition into that paragraph was one of the most awkward ever.) Wednesday: On the docket today: the 110th birthday of singing cowboy Gene Autry. Autry had worked as a ranch hand in his youth, but realized his future lay in entertainment. By 1928, he was singing on the radio; by 1929, he was making records; and by 1934, he was making movies. The pictures were cheaply made, but from 1936 to 1954 (with time out for service in World War II), he was one of the top-grossing stars in Hollywood. He was able to parlay his screen fame into a broadcasting empire and ownership of the (then) California Angels. When he died in 1998 (a mere three days after turning 91), he was one of the wealthiest men in America and remains the only person with five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Thursday: You ever played with a Frisbee? Of course you have -- well, either a Frisbee or a generic flying plastic disc. In 1958, the Wham-O company patented the toy. It, which was originally named the "Pluto Platter," but got its present name with Wham-O executive heard that Boston college kids (who were used to sailing pie plates from the local Frisbie Pie Company) were calling the platters "frisbies," and the rest is marketing history. We don't believe they had Frisbees in Bedrock (after all, everything in that town is made of rock, which doesn’t tend to sail real well), but if they did, we would have found out about them starting 50 years ago tonight, when "The Flintstones" premiered in prime time on ABC. While the Frisbee and "The Flintstones" were good ideas, tonight is the chance to celebrate not-so-good ideas, as the annual Ig Nobel Prizes will be awarded for discoveries "that cannot, or should not, be reproduced." In other words, they're the gold standard for bad ideas. In 1954, singer and actress Julie Andrews made her Broadway debut, starring in the musical "The Boy Friend," the day before she turned 19. (She, of course, turns 75 tomorrow.) On a sadder note, it was on this day in 1955, that actor James Dean was killed in a car crash. Dean had made only a few films (though he'd made numerous appearances on live television dramas), but his personality and acting style influenced and impacted a generation of Americans and actors. Friday: Beginnings and endings today: In 1890, both Yosemite National Park and Yellowstone National Park were established by the U.S. Congress. In 1957, the words "In God We Trust" made their first appearance on U.S. paper currency. (Frankly, we were surprised it was so late in American history.) In 1968, George A. Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" opened, beginning a cycle that has subjected audiences to an endless series of zombie and vampire movies. Talk about not dying! For those who can't get enough Disney (in which number we do not include ourselves), in 1971, Walt Disney World opened in Orlando, FL, followed in 1982 by the EPCOT Center. EPCOT, which is an acronym for “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow” was intended by Uncle Walt to be a testing ground for new and innovative domestic theories and products, soon turned into just another tourist trap. Oh, well; the best-laid plans of mice ... On the same day that EPCOT opened, Sony introduced their first compact disc player (the CDP-101, which looks about as big as a Buick). While nowadays, the CD is just about as dead as vinyl, it was, in its time, beyond ultra-modern. The farewell is from Babe Ruth. Ruth's name has come to be synonymous with baseball, and while his hitting prowess speaks for itself, he’d be a Hall of Famer for his pitching alone. He was one of the greatest left-handers of all time, winning almost 100 games in his career. In 1933, he made his final appearance on the mound, beating his former team, the Boston Red Sox, 6-5. He pitched all nine innings, giving up twelve hits (no strikeouts), and hitting a homer. Finally, today is International Raccoon Appreciation Day. If only it were Weasel Appreciation Day, we could feel sorry for Tony Hayward, who's stepping down as the head of BP. Saturday: Today's birthdays include three of the greatest comedians in showbiz history. First is Groucho Marx (1890), the most verbose of the Marx Brothers, who turned insults and wisecracks into an art form. Second is Bud Abbott (1895), who partnered for years with Lou Costello, and who is generally considered the greatest straight man of all time. Last is George "Spanky" McFarland, the child actor who became the leader of the kid group known as either "Our Gang" and "The Little Rascals." Two other birthdays are of men who couldn't be more different. 1452 saw the birth of England's King Richard III. Shakespeare painted Richard as a manipulator who lied and murdered his way to the throne, but recent reappraisals have called him either benevolent or, at worst, benign. The other is Mohandas Gandhi (1869), better known as Mahatma Gandhi, whose nonviolent policies led to the independence of India from the British Empire. In that period of history (the late 19th century), that empire spanned the globe, so that it was the perfect atmosphere for the fictional Phileas Fogg to make his 1872 wager that he could travel around the world in eighty days. Fogg used almost every means of transportation available to him in those less-advanced times, except a hot-air balloon, which makes this week's International Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, NM, slightly ironic. Three anniversaries that we've tried to link, but just can't: In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson suffered a massive stroke, which left him partially paralyzed and unable to fulfill his duties, so until his recovery, the country was basically run by his wife Edith. Charles M. Schulz's comic strip "Peanuts" began running. Schulz ended the strip in 2000, and in an odd twist of fate, died the day before the last Sunday page ran. Finally in 1959, "The Twilight Zone" premiered. Even though it ran only five seasons, it's still the gold standard for creepy television, and its guitar-riff theme song, which signifies something odd happening, is known to even those who never saw the show. Sunday: Let's begin the end of the week by wishing Barack and Michelle Obama a happy 18th wedding anniversary. (And just to remind you, Mr. President, porcelain is the traditional gift.) Like the "Odd Couple" juxtaposition of Gandhi and Richard above, today's pairing is just as jarring. In 1873, Emily Post was born. She devoted her life to the gospels of etiquette and good manners. On the other hand, we have Harvey Kurtzman, born in 1902. Kurtzman gave us, among other things, Mad Magazine (the original, funny version), and his sense of humor has influenced pretty much everyone from the Pythons to the writers of the National Lampoon (again, the original, funny version), who went on to create or inspire everything from "Animal House" to "Saturday Night Live," and even David Letterman. By extension, Kurtzman influenced almost every American comedian and comedy movie of the second half of the Twentieth Century. There are exceptions, though, such as "The Andy Griffith Show," which premiered in 1960, or "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (1961). The contrast of the two shows, with their respective rural and urban perspectives, set the standards for television comedies for the next ten years, even if they were neither particularly satirical nor Kurtzmanesque. We'll close the week by mentioning that it’s the 15th anniversary of O.J. Simpson being acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, and then pausing while you say, "That's fifteen years ago? Wow." See you next time! Suggested Sites... E = mc2 Explained - yeah. Right. We still don't get it. The British Museum - home to the Rosetta Stone and so much more. PBS: The Tenth Inning - it ain't over till it goes into extra innings. Hollywood Chamber of Commerce - home of the Walk of Fame. Improbable Research - awarding the annual Ig Nobel Prizes.

Directory categories: Physics, Automobiles, Talk Shows, Toys, Animated TV Shows

Archived under: 18th Century, 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 19th Century, Actors, American History, Ancient History, Andy Griffith, Animation, Anniversaries, Archaeology, Athletes, Autos, Babe Ruth, Bacteria, Barack Obama, Baseball, Baseball Players, Biographies, Birthdays, Books, Broadway, Cartoonists, Celebrations, Celebrities, Child Actors, Coincidence, Comedians, Comic Strips, Comics, Country Music, David Letterman, Dead Celebrities, Democratic Party, Disney, Drugs, Ed Sullivan, Egypt, England, Entertainment, Etiquette, European History, Events, Festivals, Fiction, Filmmaking, Government, Hanna-Barbera, Health, History, Holidays, Hollywood, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Human Rights, Humor, India, Invention, Inventors, Italian Food, James Dean, Journalism, Journalists, Languages, Late Night TV, Law Enforcement, Legal Cases, Literature, Little Rascals, London, MLB, Media, Medicine, Monsters and Creatures, Movie History, Movies, Muppets, Music, Music History, Musicals, Musicians, Nostalgia, Our Gang, Pennsylvania, Politics, Presidents, Reporters, Republican Party, Rosetta Stone, Santa Claus, Science, Scientists, Singers, Sitcoms, Society and Culture, Sports, TV, Talk Show Hosts, Technology, U.K. History, United Kingdom, United States, Vampires, Variety Shows, Vintage, Weird Stuff, Women, Zombies

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I was given this record in 1961, and I still own it. If you were a kid growing up in the '50s or '60s, you lived through a golden age of television. In those antediluvian days, all television was local. Most cities and towns had no more than one or two channels (growing up in Los Angeles, we were blessed with a whopping eight) -- and some didn't even start broadcasting until mid-afternoon. Regardless of where the stations were, they almost all had one thing in common: kiddie show hosts. Before or after school, some poor station employee (a weatherman, an announcer, or even a news anchor) would be forced to dress up as a hobo, a sea captain, a cop, a castaway, or a clown, and act enthusiastic as he (or she) introduced crappy cartoons, chopped-to-bits "Three Stooges" shorts, or even more heinous fare. At the top of the heap, though, was Milton Supman, born January 8, 1926. You've never heard of him? Perhaps you know him better by his stage name: Soupy Sales. Soupy began his television career in Cincinnati and Cleveland, but soon moved to WXYZ in Detroit, where he hosted not one, but two, daily programs: "Lunch with Soupy" for the kiddies at noontime, and "Soupy's On" for the grownups in the late evenings. The latter featured such jazz superstars as Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis (who made six appearances) as guests -- heady fare for the mid-1950s. Soupy's midwestern fame soon got him a gig in Los Angeles and a primetime network show on ABC. Unfortunately, the national show was cancelled after only thirteen weeks, but he continued appearing locally, and nationally as a late-night fill-in for Steve Allen. It was in 1964, though, that Soupy hit the big time. He moved to WNEW in New York and his show took off like a rocket, being syndicated nationally. Celebrities like Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis, Jerry Lewis, Judy Garland, Sammy Davis, Jr., Mickey Rooney, and Burt Lancaster were clamoring to have Soupy throw pies in their faces. Those pies became Soupy's trademark. It was estimated that, over his career, he either threw or was hit with nearly 20,000 pies -- a prop he was exacting about. "You can use whipped cream, egg whites, or shaving cream," he explained, "but shaving cream is much better because it doesn't spoil. The secret is you just can't push it and shove it in somebody's face. It has to be done with a pie that has a lot of crust so that it breaks up into a thousand pieces when it hits you." The most notorious event in Soupy's career, though, was his New Year's show in 1965. Peeved at having to work on the holiday, he told the kiddies to find their parents' wallets and "get all the green pieces of paper with the pictures of guys in beards" and mail them to him. In return he would send them "a postcard from Puerto Rico." With that, the proverbial pie hit the fan. While the station was flooded with Monopoly money from those who got the joke, it was also flooded with phone calls from those who didn't get it, and Soupy was suspended for a week. Soupy's show ended in 1966, but in the decades after, he was a regular panelist on "What’s My Line?" and made numerous radio, television, and live appearances. When he died in October, 2009, a pie was placed on his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. But by that time, the magic, like the era of live TV hosted by local personalities, was gone. Suggested Sites... TV Party: The Soupy Sales Shows - illustrated history of the master of pie-throwing. You Tube: Green Pieces of Paper - Soupy tells the story of New Year's Day 1965. "The Soupy Sales Show" - watch a complete broadcast from 1965. "The Mouse" - Soupy even had a hit song. This was it. POV: Soupy Sales - Mark Evanier speaks for every kid who grew up watching Soupy.

Directory categories: Soupy Sales, Classic Television, Children's Television, Comedians, Television History

Archived under: 1950s, 1960s, Actors, Biographies, Birthdays, Celebrities, Children´s TV, Comedians, Entertainment, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Humor, Nostalgia, Soupy Sales, TV

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On April 6th, 1956, the world's first circular commercial building was dedicated near the corner of Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles, CA. Designed by Welton Becket to be the home of the music label Capitol Records, it still stands today as a well-known symbol of Hollywood, just one mile east of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. A legend says that the building was built to look like a stack of 45 rpm records on a turntable, but this has never been confirmed. The label was created in 1942 by songwriter Johnny Mercer, music store owner Glenn Wallich, and movie producer Buddy DeSylva. On top of the spear that surmounts its thirteen stories, a red blinking light has been spelling out the word "Hollywood" in Morse code since the building was dedicated, to remind one and all that Capitol was the first music label to settle on the West Coast (the other big music companies at that time, Victor, Columbia, and Decca, were all still in New York). The recording studios and the echo chambers buried underground have hosted decades of famous artists, from Frank Sinatra, who inaugurated the studios with sessions for his instrumental album, "Tone Poems of Color," to Gorillaz, the Beatles, Coldplay, and Nat King Cole. Next to the building, both John Lennon and Garth Brooks have their Walk of Fame stars. In 2006, Capitol's parent company EMI sold the tower to a real estate company for 50 million dollars, with the promise to keep Capitol Records in its historical location. Suggested Sites... Capitol Records - official site for the label, with pictures of current and past artists -- and of the building. Welton Becket - the architect behind the Capitol Tower designed some of LA's most famous buildings. The Hollywood Entertainment District - the beating heart of Hollywood: the Walk of Fame, the Grauman's Theatres -- and of course, the Capitol Records tower. Capitol Records History - info on Capitol's facilities, technology, and marketing practices. Capitol Studios - technical specs on the building's recording facilities.

Directory categories: Music Labels, Music History, Hollywood, Buildings and Structures, Architecture

Archived under: 1940s, 1950s, Anniversaries, Architects, Architecture, Buildings, Design, Entertainment, History, Hollywood, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Los Angeles, Music, Music History, Records, Rock and Roll, Skyscrapers, Tourist Attractions

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