Meteorite Versus Human

 

On this date in 1954, thirty-four-year-old Ann Hodges became the first modern confirmed case of a meteorite striking a human. Asleep under quilts on her sofa in her Sylacauga, Alabama home one afternoon, Hodges was hit by a grapefruit-sized meteorite that crashed through the roof and ceiling of her house, ricocheting off a large wooden radio and impacting her body, causing a large football-shaped bruise on the left side of her abdomen. When her husband returned home from work, there were so many spectators it was difficult to gain entrance to his home.

In a 2018 Wired magazine article, “The Mad Scramble to Claim the World’s Most Coveted Meteorite” they calculated the odds of a meteorite landing in a particular spot as 1 in 182 trillion. Ironically, Hodge’s house was across the road from the Comet drive-in theater.

More images at Sylacauga's meteor

This is Jim Rockford

 

Mr. Rockford, Miss Miller of the Bartlett Book Club. "Great Detectives of America" is not in stock, so we sent you "Cooking Made Easy." 

Hope you enjoy it.

Jim's answering machine: In Hazard, 1976
Guest star: Joseph Campanella

Note: There were a number of inside staff jokes used in the messages. The Bartlett Book Club refers to long-time Rockford scriptwriter, Juanita Bartlett.

A Noted Television Composer

 

Vince Guaraldi (1928-1976), was a highly-respected American jazz pianist noted for his innovative compositions and arrangements. He is probably most associated with the Peanuts animated classic music. His mainstream success catapulted beginning with an early Sixties album and the radio airplay of his arrangement for the likable tune, Cast Your Fate to the Wind. Television producer Lee Mendelson heard the song and hired Guaraldi to write the music for a planned Peanuts documentary entitled, A Boy Named Charlie Brown. For the 1965 Christmas special, A Charlie Brown Christmas, the soundtrack album was recorded by the Vince Guaraldi Trio and contained the holiday standard, Christmas Time Is Here, along with Skating, and the Linus and Lucy theme. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving originally aired on the CBS network, November 20, 1973, receiving an Emmy Award the following year. It is the tenth prime-time animated television special based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. The animated film is directed by Bill Melendez and Phil Roman and produced by Lee Mendelson and Bill Melendez. 

Read more about Vince Guaraldi

More Appreciated After Death

 

Artist and author, Eyvind Earle (1916-2000), possessed a distinctive graphic design approach for many of his landscape interpretations. The suggested low light, perfectly round silhouette of trees, and bright colors were surrealistic in certain works. Earle began his long and successful career of selling Christmas cards in 1939 that he designed and printed himself for the American Artist Group. He created over 800 designs through 1995 and sold more than 300 million copies. Earle joined Walt Disney Productions in 1951 as an assistant background painter and received credit for his experimental background paintings. Earle returned to full-time painting in the mid-sixties, producing watercolors, oils, sculptures, drawings, scratchboards, and limited-edition serigraphs. Much of his work was never exhibited in his lifetime, but The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rahr West Art Museum, Phoenix Art Museum and Arizona State University Art Museum purchased Earle's works and are among their permanent collections. 

More stunning works at: Eyvind Earle

Earning Celebrity Status

 

Ruta Lee (Ruta Mary Kilmonis 1935-) has been a staple of television since the early Fifties with appearances in The Roy Rogers Show and the Adventures of Superman. The attractive and ageless actress was never typecast, whether roles in westerns, melodramas, or police dramas which carried her through television's first decade. In the Sixties, she often tapped into her Lithuanian heritage with a convincing German or Russian accent in comedies or dramas. There was no slow down as she plowed through the Twentieth Century. Her frequent appearances on the game show circuit, often with a panelist name placard, went a long way to place a name with the face. 

The 5' 1" Canadian-born actress was no stranger to the occasional film, her big break coming as one of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in 1954. Her supporting roles continued in Witness for the Prosecution, and the musical comedy Funny Face. 1972's low-funded Doomsday Machine is a campy science fiction adventure with the cast doing their best in spite of the screenplay. Her most recent role was in the 2021 film, Senior Moment starring William Shatner.

Some Records Are Inevitably Broken

 

On this date in 1952, Captain James Slade Nash, U.S. Air Force, a test pilot at the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, flew a North American Aviation F-86D-20-NA Sabre Dog, 51-2945, to a FAI World Absolute Speed Record at the Salton Sea, in the Colorado Desert of southeastern California, few miles east of Palm Springs. Under less than ideal conditions, the new international speed record was established when the Sabre Dog roared by at 699.9 miles an hour, breaking the previous 1948 record of 670+ miles per hour. Captain Nash barreled the interceptor four times over the course as close as 100 feet to the ground.

Not All Smiles

 

On this date in 1930, the 2-act Broadway musical "Smiles" premiered in New York City and closed sixty-three performances later. Among the extensive cast on opening night were Fred Astaire and sister Adele as Bob and Dot Hastings, respectively. Swallowed up in the ensemble cast was Bob Hope. Produced by Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. with music by Vincent Youmans, Ring Lardner provided some additional lyrics for the music numbers.

A Noted Television Theme

 

As more commercials intrude into a network's time slot, not only has the episodes been trimmed, so has theme song length on various series. Gone are the one minute themes from the Sixties to the Eighties to introduce a show. One of the best short themes of the Twenty-First Century is for the long-running CBS hit series, NCIS. Electronic musicians, Matt Hawkins, Maurice Jackson and Neil Martin joined forces under the name, Numeriklab, to create the theme in 2002, though the arrangement has evolved slightly since then. A slick synthesized work with a melody that comes off as if played by classical mainstream instruments. Scroll down the linked page for the cool NCIS theme.

Note: Speaking of CBS, the original Magnum, P.I. series theme was another hit for Mike Post. The theme has been effectively edited for the new CBS revival series. A theme better shortened for an opening, yet it still captures all the memorable elements of the original.

Mastering Radio and Television

Virginia Gregg (1916-1986) was an American actress known for her many roles in radio dramas and prolific work in television from the Fifties into the mid-Eighties. Gregg's versatility as a voice actress on radio cast her in the major programs of the day, including Lux Radio Theatre, Dragnet, Dr. Kildare, Gunsmoke, The Jack Benny Program, Let George Do It, and Mutual Radio Theater, to name a few. During the Bob Bailey years in Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, she was exceptional, often cast as his sexy potential love interest yet ultimately her true nature arose by the episode's end as a two-timing criminal. Gregg was equally effective as Richard Diamond's girlfriend, the wealthy Helen Asher, on the Richard Diamond, Private Detective radio series starring Dick Powell. In addition, Gregg made more than forty-five films from 1947 to 1981.

But she made her indelible mark on television. Roles that somewhat typecast her as a homely, disgruntled housewife, belligerent individual, or a condescending co-worker. Her ability to appear in these roles thanks to no makeup and an angry countenance. A face that eventually was made for radio. But she was much more than this. She appeared in nearly every narrative television series in the late Fifties through the mid-Seventies, including Bourbon Street Beat, Hawaiian Eye, 77 Sunset Strip, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Perry Mason, Wanted Dead or Alive, The Virginian, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Wagon Train, Mannix, Make Room for Daddy, My Favorite Martian, The Twilight Zone, and The Rockford Files, just to add a smattering. Gregg perhaps is best remembered for her many appearances in Jack Webb's Dragnet television series, but she and Webb had a long working relationship since his radio version.

Note: Before going into radio, Gregg played the double bass with the Pasadena Symphony and Pops. She was a member of the Singing Strings group heard initially locally in Los Angeles in 1937 and later on CBS and Mutual.

Richard Kimble's Brief Encounters

 

This an old fashioned murder mystery episode that has Kimble aboard a freighter, Alaskan Star, a few hours out of Seattle. There are many familiar television faces in this episode and most seem to have their own secrets. Among the eleven intertwining passengers, and a crew of fourteen, is an FBI agent in search of a Korean War criminal and traitor. The viewer logically narrows this down to a male passenger. The agent does not live to pin the crime on the killer, however, and Kimble must use his medical degree to diagnose who committed the murder. 

Ticket to Alaska, 1963
Main guest stars Geraldine Brooks, Tim O'Connor, June Dayton

Record Breaker

 

On this date in 1956, the first prototype XB-58, serial number 55-0660, made its first flight at Fort Worth, Texas, with Convair’s Chief Test Pilot, Beryl Arthur Erickson. The B-58 Hustler served with the United States Air Force as a Mach 2 strategic bomber with the singular purpose of delivering an atomic weapon from a high altitude. It was crewed by a pilot, navigator/bombardier, and a defensive systems operator, located in individual cockpits. Due to advancements in ground-to-air and air-to-air missiles, a higher than average accident rate, and perhaps political decisions, the 116 aircraft only served from 1960 to 1970. Other than the museum samples, all were sent to Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, Arizona for long-term storage, though none were brought back to serve. Other than its beautifully aggressive design, the Hustler remains best known for setting numerous speed records.

A Noted Television Composer

 

Artie Kane (Aaron Cohen 1929- ) is an American pianist, film score composer, and conductor with a career spanning over six decades. Kane composed the music for over 250 television shows including Wonder Woman, Vegas, Hotel, Dynasty, Matlock, A Question of Guilt, and Man Against the Mob. During his career, he conducted over sixty motion pictures at MGM, Disney, Universal, Fox, Warner Brothers, Sony, and Paramount.

Of special note was his Music Supervisor position on the first season of The Rockford Files. His chosen music for Rockford in his Firebird was unique for the series. Originally a ninety-minute episode, This Case is Closed (1974), is perhaps the best example. Rockford is staking out a suspect as an inventive heavy percussion score adds tension. As the chase begins, the brass and woodwinds kick in as the stunt driver and Garner speed through a residential neighborhood at a realistic pace. Kane's jazzy, seemingly Lalo Schifrin-inspired music during the chase, was, to my knowledge, never used again. The music chosen for the series was never the same after his tenure with the series eventually repeating the same music cues when the Firebird was in motion.

A Reel Character

 

George Winslow (George Karl Wentzlaff 1946-2015) was an American child actor of the 1950s, noted for his deadpan expression and slow, monotone delivery, belying his young age. Though hard to justify, he was nevertheless nicknamed "Foghorn." The Los Angeles native broke into the entertainment business on Art Linkletter's radio program, People are Funny. When asked his name the youngster said: "George Wentzlaff, but I'd rather be Casey Jones." Cary Grant heard the show and was impressed, which led to Room For One More (1952) and more famously as the leader of young Indians giving Hugh Marlowe a mohawk scalping in Monkey Business the same year, also with Grant. He was the scene-stealer opposite Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). With brilliant Howard Hawks comedic casting, Wentzlaff played Henry Spofford III, Monroe's young admirer. His lines about her possessing a "certain animal magnetism" or confronting her with, "Are you a burglar?" are the most charming moments in the film. He had another fine turn in the comedy Mister Scoutmaster (1953), where he traded barbs with Clifton Webb's character. After fifteen acting credits, "Foghorn" retired from show business in 1958 at age 12. He finished school and served in the Navy during the Vietnam War.

This is Jim Rockford

 

Sorry, Jim --- this is for Rocky. Hey Rock --- Stan. I got that redhead and her sister. Ten-thirty, Stacy's Grill. [chuckles]

Jim's answering machine: Joey Blue Eyes, 1976
Guest star: Michael Ansara

Questioning Your Identity

On this date in 1945, My Name is Julia Ross premiered in New York City. The sixty-four-minute suspense drama from Columbia Pictures was directed by Joseph H. Lewis and starred Nina Foch, Dame May Whitty, and George Macready. Set in London, Ross takes a position with an employment agency but soon discovers someone(s) are attempting to convince her to question her own identity. Based upon the 1941 novel, The Woman in Red by Anthony Gilbert, the psychological twists and fast-paced, tense action has been played out in many films before and since, but it is worth watching for the convincing cast.

The Landlord's Game

 

On this date in 1935, Parker Brothers launches the board game Monopoly, a multi-player economics-themed board game. Monopoly is derived from The Landlord's Game created by Lizzie Magie in the United States in 1903 and was intended as an educational tool to illustrate the negative aspects of concentrating land in private monopolies. Around 1932, Parker Brothers bought the game's copyrights to Magie's patent for $500. The original version of the game's format was based on the streets of Atlantic City, New Jersey. Founded in 1883, Parker Brothers was absorbed into Hasbro in 1991. The Parker Brothers trade name was eventually dropped to become Hasbro Gaming.

Retirement in Sunny Arizona

 

On this date in 1954, the Strategic Air Command retired its last B-29 Superfortress to the aircraft storage facility at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona. The B-29  was the most technologically advanced bomber produced during World War II. The Superfortress was manufactured by Boeing at Seattle and Renton, Washington, and Wichita, Kansas by the Glenn L. Martin Company, Omaha, Nebraska, and by Bell Aircraft Corporation, Marietta, Georgia. After a rough teething period, the rapid war effort helped make the aircraft an eventual success. Though modest improvements were made, the Superfortress was underpowered, something its successor, the ten-engined Convair B-36, was not. Even in the late stages of the war, the Enola Gay had to be specially enhanced to be able to lift the first atomic bomb. Of the 3,990 built,  only two B-29s remain airworthy, with the remaining twenty-four displayed at various museums in America, with two displayed in the UK, and South Korea.

A Noted Television Theme

 

Dick DeBenedictis (1937-) is an American pianist and composer of music for numerous television series. The ten-time Emmy nominated musician composed music for Police Story, Columbo, Father Dowling Mysteries, The Rockford Files, Hawaii Five-O, Phyllis, and two Matlock spin-offs, Jake and the Fatman and Diagnosis: Murder. Upon retirement, he began a teaching career at universities in Los Angeles and New York City. 

He wrote the theme to Andy Griffith's second hit series, a composition that is easy to remember but difficult to forget: http://www.televisiontunes.com/Matlock.html

Charles Wysocki

 

Charles M. Wysocki, Jr. (1928-2002) was an American painter, whose works depict a stylized version of American life of yesteryear, mostly during the horse and buggy era. Born in Detroit, Michigan, in spent a two-year hitch in the US Army before entering the Art Center School in Los Angeles under the G.I. bill. There, he focused in the field of commercial art, spending four years in Detroit where his illustrations were used in Dodge trucks, Unocal, Carnation, and Dow Chemical Company advertisements. He returned to Los Angeles where he helped to form a freelance advertising agency. Because of his wife's heritage in the San Fernando Valley, Wysocki came to appreciate a simpler, more rural life. Together they made many trips to New England, which served to nurture his interest in early American folk art. He continued his lucrative commercial artwork for a time, but eventually devoted all of his attention to this new interest. In his Americana paintings, Wysocki usually included an American flag, something many admires enjoyed locating.

Peter Haskell: Made for Television

 

Peter Haskell (1934-2010) began his career on American television in supporting roles, as both good and bad guys. Though he acted in the occasional film, the 6' 2" actor is best known for his forty-five years frequenting many popular series, often in an authority role as doctor, Senator, or an unscrupulous businessman. His deviously good looks and strong presence before the cameras began during television's second decade with The Outer Limits, Dr. Kildare, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Fugitive, and 12 O'Clock High. He played Dr. Anson Brooks in two episodes of Ben Casey, then Mission: Impossible, with appearances on Medical Center. Haskell had a forty-one-episode run as lead character, Kevin Grant, for the one-season drama, Bracken's World in 1970. He was so familiar during the Seventies on television he was expected on the police/crime shows so popular of the era such as McCloud, Mannix, Cannon, and The Streets of San Francisco. In 1976, he played ruthless billionaire, Charles Estep in, Rich Man, Poor Man - Book II. As the Eighties dawned and his hair switched to white, he continued with mostly single appearances on television's schedule with recurring roles on three daytime soap operas. His last recurring role was in sixteen episodes as Tyler Chase on, The Law and Harry McGraw. His final performance was, appropriately or not, in 2009 during the final season of the medical drama, ER.

Life in Black and White

 

On this date in 1941, American photographer, Ansel Easton Adams (1902-1984),  photographed a moonrise over the town of Hernandez, New Mexico. It would become one of the most famous images of his 1940s period. The American landscape photographer and environmentalist is known for his black-and-white images of the American West. Adams had a life-long passion in photography since being gifted with his first camera at age 12 while visiting Yosemite National Park. He developed his early photographic work as a member of the Sierra Club and was equally famous for his rich Yosemite and Grand Teton photographs.