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Post by pegasus on Nov 23, 2011 9:04:25 GMT -7
JUKEBOX DAY
 The first ‘Nickel-in-the-Slot’ (jukebox) was placed in service on Nov. 23rd in 1889 in the Palais Royal Saloon in San Francisco, California. Juke, at the time, was a slang word for a a disorderly house, or house of ill repute.
The unit, developed by Louis T. Glass, contained an Edison tinfoil phonograph with four listening tubes. There was a coin slot for each tube. 5 cents bought a few minutes of music. The contraption took in $1,000 in six months!
Wow! And this was before Elvis, the Beach Boys, Motown, and the Beatles, too!
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Post by pegasus on Nov 25, 2011 15:37:40 GMT -7
RAGS TO RICHES TO RAGS DAY
 Philanthropist and industrialist Andrew Carnegie was born on Nov. 25th in 1835. He left his native Scotland, and the town of Dunfermline, with his almost penniless family, ending up in southwestern Pennsylvania at the age of 13. It was there that he worked his way up from telegraph messenger boy to division manager of the Pennsylvania Railroad, eventually making his fortune in railroads and steel.
He was the founder of Carnegie Steel Corporation, one of the greatest industrial enterprises in the United States. In 1901 he sold it to the U.S. Steel Corporation in Pittsburgh. After selling out to J.P. Morgan for $400 million, Andrew Carnegie devoted the rest of his life to giving his fortune away. The author of several influential essays, he wrote: “Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community. ... The man who dies ... rich dies disgraced.”
Carnegie, who died at Shadowbrook, his summer estate in Massachusetts on August 11, 1919, disbursed about $308 million before he died. Among the beneficiaries of his generosity were 2,509 public libraries, the Carnegie Foundation, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Carnegie Institution of Washington, the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Carnegie Hall in New York City - founded in 1891 and still a mecca for musicians the world over. Carnegie-Mellon University (formerly Carnegie Institute of Technology, founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1900), and the Andrew Carnegie Library, both in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, PA, also still bear his name.
One of the most remarkable immigrants to America, Andrew Carnegie entered the U.S. a poor boy, became one of the richest men in the world, then gave away most of his wealth for the betterment of mankind.
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Post by pegasus on Nov 26, 2011 7:24:53 GMT -7
FRATERNITY DAY
 It all started when nine close friends, meeting over apples and roasted potatoes in a cold and bare dormitory room at Union College in Schenectady, New York, unknowingly put their mark on the entire future of collegiate student organizations. They didn’t originate the idea of a secret Greek-letter society; Phi Beta Kappa had done that 50 years earlier ... nor the concept of a literary society; groups with names like Philomathean and Cliosophic had been around even longer. They didn’t even originate formalized student social groups or college eating clubs; both having long been commonplace.
What John Hart Hunter, one of the nine, proposed on this day in 1825 was to take an informal group calling itself The Philosophers, and formalize it using the strongest characteristics of all these existing institutions. Thus, The Philosophers became Kappa Alpha Society. It was this synthesis that caught the attention of the college world and exploded into the collegiate fraternity system over the following 75 years.
The nine members were Rev. John Hart Hunter, John McGeoch, Prof. Isaac Wilbur Jackson, Dr. Thomas Hun, Orlando Meads, James Proudfit and Hon. Joseph Anthony Constant of the class of 1826, and Rev. Arthur Burtis and Joseph Law of the Class of 1827.
In the words of Arthur Burtis, “After we were domiciled in our upper chamber, in the fourth story of the south section---South College, northeast corner... we now and then beguiled the long winter evenings and entertained our friends with a few baked potatoes and salt and comforted them with apples. Jackson, Hun, Meads, Constant, and McGeoch were often the genial sharers of our simple meal, which was enlivened with mirth and wit and merry song.... It was determined to raise Hunter to an elevated seat on the woodpile, which stood in the corner of the room. When he was exalted to his high eminence, with his pipe in his mouth, he became the leader of this little band. Whereupon I suggested it would be right for us to get our light from this central luminary and that I would carry it to the others.... This band was now beginning to assume shape and form and comely order.”
And that’s the way the first social fraternity was formed in the U.S. We wonder if they had any toga parties...
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Post by pegasus on Nov 27, 2011 7:43:38 GMT -7
PENN STATION DAY
The largest railway station in the world opened to traffic on nOV. 27th in 1910. Pennsylvania Station, more fondly known as Penn Station, was one of the first grand buildings of the 20th century. The building covered 28 acres of mid-Manhattan. This cathedral-like structure of steel, glass and Italian marble saw hundreds of thousands of souls pass through its grandiose concourse, stand at ticket counters and step to the platforms to make the commute home, or board trains to points north, south and west of New York City. Multitudes walked through its doors just to people-watch, or fantasize as they heard the whistle blow and the call, “All aboard.” This was no ordinary building ... what stories it could tell! As the decades passed, Penn Station remained a palace among New York’s famous skyscrapers for more than half a century.
It is said that all good things must come to an end. Penn Station met its demise almost 53 years to the day it opened as crews began demolishing it on October 28, 1963. The building was torn down to make way for a new Madison Square Garden, although the trains continue to run beneath it. Gone was the grandeur of another time.
In 1999, there was a plan to turn the James A. Farley U.S. Post Office Building (across the street from the original Penn Station) into a new Pennsylvania Station, in the great public building style of its predecessor, and to be named Moynihan Station in honor of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Not so coincidentally, the post office was designed by the architectural firm that designed the original Penn Station.
In 2002, funding began and initial design proposals were laid out, but the project schedule was continually pushed forward. By 2005, the initial plan was replaced. The second plan was not as elaborate as the first; however, it too was replaced by yet a third design and plan. This time, work actually began in the preservation of the façade of the Farley building.
And in October 2007, the state of New York unveiled a $14-billion plan for the redesigned Penn Station area, featuring a new Madison Square Garden and a pair of grand transit hubs. The owners of Madison Square Garden backed out of that plan a few months later, however.
The Friends of Moynihan Station, a coalition of civic organizations, continues to push for an eventual Penn Station resurrection. Maybe, just maybe, there really will be a miracle. It’ll be on 33rd instead of 34th Street, or even maybe on 32nd Street, but still a miracle as Penn Station is resurrected – not like it was before but in a 21st century version of subways, trains and walkways.
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Post by pegasus on Nov 29, 2011 8:04:55 GMT -7
TV TUNES DAY
 The Grammy Awards were shown on network television for the first time Nov. 29th night in 1959. (It was actually the second year of the Grammy Awards.) "Mack the Knife" won Record of the Year and Bobby Darin, who belted it out, was Best New Artist of the Year. Frank Sinatra won Album of the Year for Come Dance with Me. Jimmy Driftwood penned the Song of the Year: "The Battle of New Orleans", which also won Country and Western Performance of the Year honors for Johnny Horton.
The Best Folk Performance of the Year went to The Kingston Trio for their ...at Large album. The Best Performance by a Top 40 Artist was Nat King Cole’s "Midnight Flyer" and the Grammy for Best Comedy Performance, Musical went to Homer & Jethro for their immortal "The Battle of Kookamonga".
The great Duke Ellington received the 1959 Grammy for Best Performance by a Dance Band this night for his Anatomy of a Murder movie sound track. Ellington won another Grammy and the National Academy of Recording Arts & Science’s Lifetime Achievement Award six years later.
It was only appropriate that the Grammy Awards would be shown annually on television since the ‘new medium’ of TV would supply much-nominated music over the years and would also spotlight performers. Little did the Academy know what it started ... and that someday, it would award Grammys for music videos as seen on MTV.
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Post by pegasus on Nov 30, 2011 15:32:53 GMT -7
CHURCHILL DAY
 Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born (prematurely) on Nov. 30th in 1874. He became a British statesman, soldier, and author -- and the first man to be made an honorary citizen of the United States (by an act of Congress on April 9, 1963).
A graduate of Sandhurst Military Academy, Churchill fought in India, the Sudan and South Africa. In 1900 he was elected to the British Parliament. He was the first Lord of the Admiralty (1911-15) in World War I until discredited by the failure of the Dardanelles campaign, which he had championed. Churchill later served in several cabinet positions in the Liberal government including Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1924 to 1929. Out of office from 1929 to 1939, Churchill issued unheeded warnings of the threat of Nazi Germany.
In 1940, seven months after the outbreak of World War II, Winston Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as prime minister. Churchill’s stirring oratory, his energy, and his refusal to make peace with Hitler were crucial to maintaining British resistance. After the fall of France (on June 22, 1940), Germany intended to destroy the British Royal Air Force (RAF). In July, the German Luftwaffe began to bomb British airfields and ports. By September, the Luftwaffe had begun to make nightly raids on London. The RAF fought bravely but were badly outnumbered. However, they still managed to hold off the Luftwaffe. Churchill expressed his nation’s gratitude to its airmen: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”
After the post-war Labour party victory in 1945, Churchill became leader of the opposition. In 1951 he was again elected prime minister. Two years later he was knighted. That same year he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for “...his mastery of historical and biographical presentation and for his brilliant oratory...”
Sir Winston Churchill died in London on January 24, 1965. He is already recorded in our history as one of the greatest statesmen and leaders of the 20th century.
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Post by pegasus on Dec 1, 2011 6:56:25 GMT -7
CIVIL AIR PATROL DAY
 “After the German surrender, one of Hitler’s high-ranking naval officers was asked why the Nazi U-boats had been withdrawn from U.S. coastal waters early in 1943. The answer was exploded in a curt guttural: ‘It was because of those damned little red and yellow planes!’” -- From Robert E. Neprud’s Flying Minute Men.
Civil Air Patrol members became the Minutemen of World War II, volunteering their time, resources, and talents to defend the nation’s borders. They filled the gaps left by the men, women and resources mobilized to fight abroad. These Flying Minutemen, all volunteers, performed valiantly on many missions including coastal patrol to search for enemy submarines, search and rescue missions throughout the United States, cargo and courier flights to transfer critical materials and personnel. They even towed targets so Army Air Corps personnel could practice air-to-air gunnery techniques. In all, these volunteers amassed a stunning record -- flying more than half-a-million hours, sinking two enemy submarines, and saving hundreds of crash victims.
Where did these volunteers come from? Although Pearl Harbor propelled the United States into World War II, many Americans saw the AXIS threat long before Dec. 7, 1941. Among them were nearly 150,000 men and women involved in aviation.
As early as 1938, they began to argue for the creation of an organization to harness their experience in the event America entered the conflict. Their efforts, led by writer-aviator Gill Robb Wilson and supported by Gen. Henry ‘Hap’ Arnold, resulted in the creation of the Civil Air Patrol. The Director of Civilian Defense, former New York Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia, signed a formal order creating the CAP on this day in 1941 -- one week before Pearl Harbor.
A thankful nation recognized the vital role CAP played during the war and felt that it could continue to provide invaluable help to both local and national agencies. On July 1, 1946, U.S. President Harry S Truman signed Public Law 476 incorporating the CAP as a benevolent, nonprofit organization. And on May 26, 1948, Congress passed Public Law 557, permanently establishing the CAP as the Auxiliary of the new U.S. Air Force.
With more than 53,000 members, 535 light aircraft and an extensive communications capability, the Civil Air Patrol is fully equipped to continue its mission for America.
Happy birthday, CAP!
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Post by pegasus on Dec 2, 2011 9:05:30 GMT -7
MODEL A DAY
 Sales of Henry Ford’s fabulously successful Model T had slipped noticeably in 1926. Those who lived during the prosperous 1920s had had their fill of pure utility and were ready for a larger measure of comfort and beauty. The Ford car simply had not kept up with America’s rising standard of living. And so, production of the Model T ceased at the end of May, 1927, a few days after the 15-millionth car had come off the assembly line. A new car would take its place.
The most extraordinary aspect of Henry Ford’s plunge into the future was that his old car expired before his new car had been born. No matter what vehicle he might come up with, no one knew how it would be powered because no plan for a new engine existed. Nevertheless, movement in the direction of a totally new car forged ahead. Ford’s basic concept was for a car that would deliver the speed, power and comfort suited to the improved roads and the quickened pace of life in that day. The body would be lower than the T, longer, wider, more pleasing in its proportions, available in a variety of models and an assortment of colors (the Model T had been available in black only). And it would be named after the first car made by Ford Motor Company back in 1903: the Model A.
To produce the new car, retooling on an unprecedented scale would be required. According to one historian, a changeover of this scope and urgency was, at the time, “unknown in American industrial history.” During the months between the discontinuance of Model T and delivery of the first Model A, 400,000 orders had piled up for a car that not a single customer had seen.
 The first Model A was unveiled on Dec 2nd in 1927 in New York City’s Waldorf Hotel and in 35 other cities around the U.S., Canada and Europe. The car was priced affordably: the Phaeton sold for $395.00 and the Tudor Sedan for $495.00. The lag between cars available and orders on hand had mounted to 800,000 by the spring of 1928. Ford made almost two million Model A cars in 1929 alone.
But Black Thursday came on October 24th of that year, ushering in the Great Depression, and from that time on it was downhill all the way. In 1931, sales dropped to 620,000 units. Production of Model A was shut down in August, and early the following year, the ‘new order’ took over in the form of the radically different Ford V-8. By that time, a total of well over 20 million Fords had been manufactured, and almost 5 million of these had been the brilliant little Model As.
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Post by pegasus on Dec 3, 2011 16:00:45 GMT -7
CONNIE BOSWELL DAY
On Dec. 3rd in 1907, Mr. and Mrs. Boswell of New Orleans were celebrating the birth of their daughter, Connie. They should have known from her melodic cries that she would one day be singin’ the blues. Connie or Connee (a spelling she preferred later in life), who also played several musical instruments, arranged vocals for herself and her two sisters.
Although she was stricken with polio and worked from her wheelchair, she never let this get in the way of being part of her white, jazz-singing trio. The Boswell Sisters’ talent was quickly recognized and by the time Connee was 24 years old, the sisters were doing vaudeville, radio, playing New York’s Paramount Theatre, recording with the Dorsey Brothers: "You Oughta Be in Pictures;" making films and appearing on the U.S.A.’s first public TV broadcast.
One thing led to another and Connie went solo, entertaining World War II troops, making films, appearing on Broadway and recording with big names like Woody Herman; even a duet classic with Bing Crosby: "Basin Street Blues." Her musical influence spanned many generations and music styles. If you’d have asked Ella, she would have told you, “They just don’t make ’em like Connee Boswell anymore.”
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Post by pegasus on Dec 4, 2011 19:20:32 GMT -7
BOOM BOOM DAY
 Cannon’s went off in Lynn, Massachusetts on Dec. 4th in 1940, when baby Frederick Anthony Picariello arrived on the scene. Little Freddy and his mom got along just fine. They even collaborated in the writing of a song when Freddy was 16. They titled their piece, "Rock ’n’ Roll Baby". By this time Freddy was driving a truck while he was trying to make the move to show biz. The first thing he did was take on the stage name of Freddy Karmon.
Then he made a demo of the song and presented it to Philly DJ, Jack McDermott. What happened next made rock ’n’ roll history. Producers Frank Slay and Bob Crewe heard the song, took Freddy under their wings, changed his stage name to Freddy Cannon and the title of the song to "Tallahassee Lassie." Freddy Cannon exploded onto the music charts and on June 29, 1959, he had a #6 hit. From that day on, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when you’d turn on a rock station, you could count on hearing jocks introducing Freddy ‘Boom Boom’ Cannon and hits like "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans" (#3 on January 11, 1960), "Palisades Park" (#3 on June 23, 1962), and "Transistor Sister."
After recording several hit LPs in the mid-1960s, Freddy, no longer a teenage idol, promoted other singers’ recordings for Buddah Records, and participated in an oldies revival; having some success with his 1981 recording, "Let’s Put the Fun Back in Rock ’n’ Roll."
Happy Birthday, Boom Boom.
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Post by pegasus on Dec 5, 2011 7:04:49 GMT -7
LET'S GET ORGANIZED DAY
 The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was the first national association of craft unions in the United States to represent the practical economic interests of its members (dating back to the 1880s).
The CIO (originally known as the Committee for Industrial Organization) represented workers in the mass-production industries, such as the automobile industry, and was a part of the AFL. After the AFL decided to expel the group in 1938, the CIO reorganized as the Congress of Industrial Organizations and operated on its own.
On Dec 5th in 1955, after many years of rivalry, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to become the AFL-CIO. Not all national unions belong to the AFL-CIO. The Teamsters Union was kicked out in 1957 and the United Auto Workers pulled out in 1968.
The AFL-CIO has five major activities (in addition to keeping itself organized): 1) To work for laws favorable to labor and general welfare; 2) To help organize workers who are not in labor unions; 3) To settle disputes and encourage friendly relations among member unions; 4) To take part in the world labor movement through the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, an association of unions from all parts of the free world; and 5) To help educate union members and the general public about the aims of organized labor.
The organization of organizations celebrates its birthday today. Let’s walk a picket line in their honor.
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Post by pegasus on Dec 6, 2011 18:00:17 GMT -7
LADIES' HOME JOURNAL DAY
 On Dec. 6th in 1883 Ladies’ Home Journal and Practical Housekeeper was published for the first time. It became one of the few magazines to reach a circulation of over one million. Paid circulation is over 3,000,000. But, why not let the folks at LHJ say it in their own words:
“...As the oldest, most respected women’s service magazine in the country, Ladies’ Home Journal has always focused on issues of crucial importance to millions of women. Since our first issue, in December 1883, we’ve covered an incredibly wide range of topics--from the latest medical research and consumer news to parenting know-how, workplace survival, good skin care, nutrition facts and much, much more. Every issue includes subjects as diverse as the lives of our readers, women who work both in and out of the home and who are wives and mothers as well. With top-quality research, analysis and reporting, Ladies’ Home Journal represents a standard of excellence that just keeps getting better after more than a century of service to America’s women. We both empower women and applaud their growing power. Our fifty year slogan has never been more true: Never Underestimate the Power of a Woman.”
Well said. And, we won’t!
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Post by pegasus on Dec 7, 2011 8:56:55 GMT -7
REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR DAY
December 7, 1941 is remembered as “a date which will live in infamy”: Pearl Harbor Day. Thousands of lives were lost, a major portion of America’s Pacific fleet was in pieces and the U.S. was catapulted into war in the Pacific.
Today, at the onshore USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center, we can see displays of World War II naval history and wartime Hawaii; and view a film about the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. A ferry shuttles back and forth between the visitor center and the memorial where one can actually stand right above the Arizona. In fact, the rusted remains of the Arizona are clearly visible under the waters of Pearl Harbor. The memorial to the 1,100 men entombed forever within the sunken, once mighty, battleship, straddles the USS Arizona. One wall of the structure bears their names. Although there were many suggestions throughout the years for a USS Arizona memorial, planning for the structure did not begin until 1960.
And, without the help of Elvis Presley, the Memorial might still be just a dream. Elvis staged a benefit concert at Pearl Harbor’s Bloch Arena on March 25, 1961, raising more than $60,000 to start the USS Arizona Memorial’s building fund. Construction was completed in 1980.
Today, we pause to reflect on one of America’s most tragic days.
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Post by pegasus on Dec 8, 2011 15:38:30 GMT -7
LENNON REMEMBERED DAY
 John Lennon was shot and killed on Nov. 8th in 1980 as he stood outside of his New York City apartment house, the Dakota. The deranged, obsessed ‘fan’ was quickly apprehended by others gathered at the scene. A several-days vigil by hundreds of mourning fans is remembered as candles flickered and the song Give Peace a Chance was heard -- a continuing tribute to the musician and songwriter of a generation.
John Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono, together with New York’s officials, set up a permanent memorial to her husband: a section of Central Park, opposite The Dakota, named Strawberry Fields.
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Post by pegasus on Dec 9, 2011 15:29:11 GMT -7
CHRISTMAS SEALS DAY
 The U.S. Post Office in Wilmington, Delaware offered Christmas Seals for sale for the very first time on this day in 1907. Contributions for the original seals, designed by Emily P. Bissell, helped in the fight against tuberculosis. (A hospital in Wilmington is named in honor of Bissell.)
Top Ten Reasons Why You Should Use Christmas Seals (from the American Lung Association’s Web site:
10. Because Emily Bissell was able to save a much needed TB sanatorium from closing when she launched her first Christmas Seal campaign in 1907.
9. So at the next cocktail party you attend you can answer the question, “What do you use Christmas Seals for anyway?” One answer: They do wonders to dress up envelopes!
8. To help educate and better the lives of the more than 4.8 million American children with asthma.
7. So the people who receive your holiday cards know that you have a big heart.
6. Because more than 50,000 children entered the American Lung Association’s Christmas Seals Kids’ Drawing Contest sponsored by the Triaminic Parents Club. (Call 1-800-LUNG-USA).
5. Because the Triaminic Parents Club donates $1 to the American Lung Association for every child’s Christmas Seals Kids’ Drawing Contest entry form.
4. To know that 90% of the proceeds from the Christmas Seal Campaign goes to local Lung Associations to prevent lung disease and promote lung health.
3. Because Christmas Seals make great keepsakes and collector’s items.
2. Because we’re asking nicely.
1. And the number 1 reason why you should use Christmas Seals is to support the American Lung Association’s efforts to fight lung disease, including asthma, emphysema, and lung cancer, because When You Can’t Breathe, Nothing Else Matters.
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