Word Origins

*SUBTLE

Light as a feather—or better, thin as gossamer. Either of these expressions describes fairly accurately the gentleness which is characteristic of true subtlety, but "gossamer" is a close translation of the Latin word from which subtle originates. Subtle was brought into English from the Old French soutil with the meaning of "thin (rarefied), fine, delicate" (the dragonfly above). But the French word came from the Latin subtilis, a contraction of subtexilis, "finely woven" (literally, "underwoven"), from sub, "under," and texare, "to weave." For many years an alternate spelling of the English word, subtile, existed in parallel with the presently accepted spelling, this being based directly on the Latin ancestor.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

This is Jim Rockford

 

It's Dr. Soter's office again, regarding that root canal? The doctor's in his office...waiting. He's beginning to dislike you ...

Jim's answering machine: Piece Work, 1976
Guest star: Michael Lerner

Television Talkers

 

As an aspiring actor and opera singer, Gene Rayburn (Eugene Peter Jeljenic, 1917-1999) made the move to New York City but was unable to find stage work. He landed a job as an NBC Studios page and tour guide at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Before television fame, Rayburn was a radio performer, announcing at various radio stations before enlisting in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. He chose the stage name "Rayburn" by randomly sticking his finger in the phone book.

Making use of his talent, Rayburn took the lead role in the Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie after Dick Van Dyke left to star in The Dick Van Dyke Show. He began a long association with game show producers Mark Goodson and Bill Todman in 1953. After hosting several game shows, he hit pay dirt with The Match Game in 1962-1969. The show was revived in 1973 simply as Match Game and ran for another decade. During this time one of Rayburn's trademarks was his long, skinny microphone that he was able to hold near his waist. 

Note: Rayburn's last game show hosting duties were on Break the Bank in 1985.

Word Origins

*FIGUREHEAD

It was ornamental only, usually carved from wood into the figure or bust of a person, sometimes quite imposing, and it was placed at the very bow of a ship, directly above the water line. Whatever the country or port, it led the vessel. But it had no function. However beautiful the carving, however emblematic the design, the vessel could have been handled just as well without it. And so it is with him or her who accepts an appointment or position that carries neither duties nor responsibilities. The imposing name of such a figurative figurehead lends prestige to the enterprise or organization.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Bethlehem

 

My design and construction for a contemporary Christmas promotional graphic. The entire unit is approximately 36" wide and made from white foamcore board, then airbrushed. There are four linear sections cut out and each attached to one another by half-inch adhesive foam pads. The photographer and I placed a blue background sheet behind the design. Using a single light source between the layers, it was shot in various exposures to get the desired effect. The red "sand wave" was entirely by accident due to the dark exposure setting.

Richard Kimble's Brief Encounters

 

A former patient returns home after a nervous breakdown to discover her father has remarried. Her stepmother wants to force her back into a sanitarium. Kimble discovers what is going on.

The Homecoming, 1964
Guest stars: Shirley Knight, Richard Carlson, Gloria Grahame

Television Talkers

 

John Lewis Gilbert III (1928-) aka Johnny Gilbert, was originally a nightclub singer and entertainer. He has worked mainly on television game shows as far back as the 1950s. He is known primarily for his work as the announcer and audience host for countless game shows. Gilbert was selected by Mark Goodson to replace Don Pardo as the announcer and audience host for the original version of The Price Is Right when it moved from NBC to ABC in 1963. Merv Griffin's quiz show Jeopardy! was reintroduced to television in 1984. Its new host, Alex Trebek, convinced Griffin to hire Gilbert as the announcer. His list for hosting game shows is staggering and can be found elsewhere online.

Gilbert's voice was heard on the CBS ceremonies, the People's Choice Awards and Emmy Awards. In addition, he added his distinct voice to episodes of the animated series, The Angry Beavers and Johnny Bravo.

Above, Gilbert was Dinah Shore's announcer and sidekick for Dinah!, beginning in 1974.

Word Origins

 

*TERRIER

Hunting dogs are used for different purposes, according to their several natures, and the peculiar property that distinguishes the clan of terriers is their ability to dig out burrowing animals from their lairs. It is this earth-moving attribute that has given the class its name. Terriers were originally bred to search for and destroy vermin. Most hunted rats, mice, and other rodents, but some larger breeds were used to hunt foxes, rabbits, and other large game. An old name was terrier dog, which is a half-translation of the French chien terrier. If fully translated, we would have had burrow dog, for the French word terrier has the meaning "a burrow, a hole in the ground." It comes from their terre, "earth," which is from the Latin terra, "earth."

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Word Origins

 

*JOLLY ROGER

The earliest of pirates' flags displayed were no more likely than a plain black sheet. Later, commercial artists pirated designs of grinning skull and crossbones in white, and by the mid-nineteenth century, such was the general appearance. To the English, about the middle of the eighteenth century, the black flag of pirates became known as a Roger, eventually a Jolly Roger. No writer of the period gives a reason for such designation. Roger, perhaps then pronounced with a hard “g” among members of the underworld—the "canting crew," as they were called—had long been a term applied to a beggar or “rogue.” Jolly, of course, meant "carefree." It would follow, therefore, that the Jolly Roger would represent the flag of carefree rogues.

A jolly Roger Miller, above, talented Nashville singer, songwriter, musician, and actor, is not the same thing. 

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Television Transition

 

Don Dubbins (1928-1991)

The television medium offered a career shift for some movie character actors. Many were kept busy, becoming a household face if not a name.

Don Dubbins was an American television actor in westerns and dramas from the early days of the medium throughout the 1980s. His film credits after signing with Columbia Pictures are sparse but James Cagney took a liking to him and he garnered roles in two of his films, one being, Tribute to a Bad Man. He made a quick transition to the small screen where his boyish good looks provided the best benefits. As he matured, his roles were varied, working non-stop throughout his forty-year career.

The Brooklyn-born Marine veteran typically made single appearances on most shows in such classics as Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Wanted: Dead or Alive, The Twilight Zone, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Rockford Files, and Murder, She Wrote. Additionally, he also appeared in other popular series ranging from the comedy Mork & Mindy to the police drama Hunter. However, Dubbins spent extra time with Perry Mason for seven appearances, and five roles each for Dragnet 1967 and Barnaby Jones.

A Man of Value

 

Tom Bergeron was born of French Canadian and Irish descent in 1955. He became a popular radio DJ, playing comedy records along with music and offbeat interviews. One of his first jobs on television was as host of a local game show. Bergeron was always on the move. He landed in Boston's giant, WBZ radio, where he remained through the Eighties. His national television work in the Nineties lead to hosting duties of Hollywood Squares from 1998 to 2004 for which he won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host in 2000. Bergeron had already been host of America's Funniest Home Videos since 2001. He remained there for another fourteen years. He also overlapped duties as host for Dancing with the Stars from 2005 to 2019. Among this non-stop pace, Bergeron had time for acting, appearing on Star Trek: Enterprise and the mystery series, Castle, among others, sometimes as himself. Bergeron is destined to be in demand for many more years.

Word Origins

 

*FLABBERGAST

Someone whose identity will never be known dreamed this up about the year 1770. At least it was reported as a new word in 1772: "Now we are flabbergasted and bored [another new word] from morning to night." Possibly the inventor coined it by joining forcibly the two words flabby and aghast, but there are no notes to furnish a definite clue. The word may be best visually described by Harold Lloyd, above.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Bartholomew Richard Fitzgerald-Smythe

 

In 1916, a young schoolboy, Antonio Gentile from Suffolk, Virginia, submitted drawings for a "Mr. P. Nut" in a design contest and one of his drawings was chosen the winner. Seeing the potential of the concept, commercial artists added the monocle, top hat with a modified cane to create the iconic image. Legend suggests he is of British heritage and has the proper name of Bartholomew Richard Fitzgerald-Smythe. The boy's family received five dollars for winning the contest. However, Planter's founder, Amedeo Obici befriended them and paid for their four children's college education. Afterward, Obici then paid Antonio's way through medical school. He became a doctor in Newport News, dying in 1939.

Planters Peanut Company was founded in 1906 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and incorporated two years later as the Planters Nut and Chocolate Company. See Antonio's original drawings at:

https://acmemorylane.tumblr.com/post/152293213378/mr-peanut-in-1916-planters-nut-and-chocolate

This is Jim Rockford

 

Tompkins of Guaranty Insurance. About your burglary claim...major loss, all right. Funny...you remembered to file, but you didn't pay your premium.

Jim's answering machine: Return to The Thirty-eighth Parallel, 1976
Guest star: Ned Beatty

Word Origins

 

*FANFARE

The word has nothing to do either with a fan or a fare, but when trying to bring a foreign word into English, a syllable or two might get lopped off the original word some three centuries ago, and the meaning was altered. That is, the original was the Spanish word fanfarria, meaning "bluster, presumption, haughtiness." And because persons of that sort demanded attention, their approach had to be announced by the blast of a trumpet or the like. So, in the progress of the Spanish term through French and into English, it came to mean the flourish of a trumpet or the call of a bugle or a noisy demonstration.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

A Television Full of Mavericks

 

Bringing back the old western, Maverick, into an era when westerns were not as popular, seems like a long shot for success. It was. The first attempt was a 1978 TV-movie, The New Maverick, reprising James Garner as Bret and Jack Kelly as Bart. It served as a pilot movie for The Young Maverick, starring Charles Frank as Ben Maverick. The movie was not a rousing success. The new series even less so, running from November 28, 1979 to January 16, 1980. The lack of the Garner's sardonic style was obvious. After The Rockford Files shut down, even Garner could not revive his popular series in, Bret Maverick, only running from December 1, 1981 to May 4, 1982.

Television Talkers

 

Hugh Downs (1921-2020) held the certified Guinness World Record for the most hours on commercial network television from 1984-2004. The congenial Downs was adept as a radio and television broadcaster, announcer and programmer, television host, news anchor, television producer, author, game show host, talk show sidekick, author, and pilot. A television presence from the mid-1940s until the late 1990s, Downs was one of the most trusted voices on television.

Downs made his first television news broadcast in September 1945 in Chicago and moved to New York City in 1954. He became popular as announcer and sidekick for The Tonight Showing starring Jack Paar from 1957-1962, the host of the game show Concentration from 1958 to 1969, the co-host of the NBC News program Today from 1962-1971, and the anchor of the ABC News magazine 20/20 from 1978-1999.

Details of Down's amazing career can be found at https://wikimili.com/en/Hugh_Downs

Word Origins

 

*THESPIAN

Apparently, in the sixth century B.C. there lived a Greek playwright whose name was Thespis, “Thadeus Thespis.” None of his plays or poems have lived to the present, and his name is remembered almost entirely because of the generally accepted view that it was he who invented the Greek tragedy. From his name, the adjective thespian was coined to describe, first, a tragic play, then, a tragic actor. By now the word is used as a name for any actor, tragic or otherwise. Not to be confused with SNL comedian, Jon Lovitz.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Richard Kimble's Brief Encounters

Kimble medical training saves the life of a young boy with a serious medical condition unknown to the kidnappers.

Never Stop Running, 1964
Guest stars: Claude Akins, Joanna Moore, Wright King

This is Jim Rockford

 

Gene's 24-Hour Emergency Plumbing. Your water heater's blown? We'll have somebody out there Tuesday -- Thursday at the latest.

Jim's answering machine: Rattlers' Class of '63, 1976
Guest stars: Elayne Heilveil, James Wainwright

Note: Angel nearly gets married but chickens out after a past scam on his potential inlaws when the truth is revealed.

Reel Character Series

 

Henry Daniell (Charles Henry Pywell Daniell 1894-1963) was an English actor who had a long career in the US on stage and in cinema. He came to prominence for his portrayal of villainous roles in films many classics in the Thirties and Forties but it Is unfair to limit him to these roles.

Daniell made his first appearance on the stage 1913, and a year later on the London stage at the Globe Theatre in a walk-on role. By the 1920s he was appeaaring on Broadway which led to film roles in the early talkies. MGM cast him a few late Thirties films. But it was at Warner Bros where Daniell found fame in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) and the following year as the treacherously slimy Lord Wolfingham in The Sea Hawk (above). It proved to be a seminal year for Daniell with a small tole in the comedy/satire The Great Dictator, then it was back to MGM for The Philadelphia Story.

He had a lead role in The Body Snatcher (1945), with Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, and many swashbuckling roles finished out the decade and into television in the early Fifties. He appeared on numerous popular series during this decade. Daniell was in countless dramatic roles of varying ethnicity and as a straight man in a few comedies. His last role was a small uncredited appearance as the British Ambassador in the 1964 film My Fair Lady.

Television Talkers

 

Peter Marshall (Ralph Pierre LaCock 1926) is an actor, singer, TV host, and radio personality on television, movie, and Broadway. He is the brother of actress Joanne Dru (Red River, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and All the King's Men).

Born into a show business family, he came by his Broadway credits and singing career naturally. By the 1950s Marshall earned his living in a comedy act with Tommy Noonan, appearing in nightclubs, on television variety shows, and in three forgettable films. The team attempted to capitalize on the popularity of Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis with Noonan as Lewis to Marshall's Martin.

But he is best known to television viewers as the unflappable host of some 5,000 episodes of The Hollywood Squares from 1966 to 1981. When his tenure expired, Marshall continued as a game show host and actor in various television shows. For cable subscribers, Marshall, along with co-host, singer Debby Boone, was featured in a successful infomercial presented by Time Life, the Music of Your Life Collection. Featuring hit songs from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, the infomercial was re-released in 2016. Marshall retired in 2021.

Word Origins

 

*LOOPHOLE

In the late Middle Ages a loop was a narrow window, in a castle or other fortification, through which an archer could direct his arrows, but so narrow as to hinder the accuracy of an opposing bowman. The masonry of the window widened inwardly to permit a wider range for the defending archer. Possibly to avoid confusion between loop, “window,” or “a fold,” the former became identified as loophole. The term today is commonly discovered by an attorney or a politician.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Word Origins

 

*DAISY

One can hope coming generations will show imagination and poetry in the coining of names as in the past in the likes of such words as telephone, automobile, airplane, radio, or television. But consider the common field plant, the daisy. Even a thousand years ago it was observed that the white rays of its flower opened with the rising sun, exposing its golden disk through the day, and folded again in the evening. They called it daeges eage, “day’s eye,” (especially in Australia). Quoting the great philosopher, Drew Barrymore, who once quipped, “Daisies are like sunshine to the ground.”

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

A Household Face

 

Allan Melvin (1923-2008) was a versatile actor, voice-over artist and a surprisingly good impressionist of some mega-stars of Hollywood's "golden age." He was also adept in “tough guy” roles, further showcasing his range as an actor. The Kansas City native developed a nightclub act and broke into radio winning Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts radio show competition. His big break came in 1955 as a regular on The Phil Silvers Show as Corporal Henshaw. He was back in the Army as Sgt. Snorkle in Beetle Bailey, 1963.

Melvin's characters ranged from comical to obnoxious with equal success. He worked extensively with Sheldon Leonard and Aaron Ruben on CBS where he became a household face. Still in the television Army, he had the plum role as Staff Sgt. Hacker on Gomer Pyle, USMC. His devious set-ups with Frank Sutton, aka Sgt. Carter, was a highlight of both characters. He was the "go-to" actor for several episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show (as an old Army buddy) and The Andy Griffith Show. By this time, Melvin added to a long list of voice-overs for various cartoon characters which continued into the Nineties. 

Melvin is also remembered for supporting roles as Sam Franklin, the owner of a local butcher shop and boyfriend of the Brady's housekeeper, played by Ann B. Davis on The Brady Bunch, and Barney Hefner, Archie Bunker's neighbor and friend on All in the Family.

Pictured above with Melvin is fellow co-star, Ronnie Schell, on Gomer Pyle USMC.

Woodward Avenue Nostalgia

 

Michigan highway 1 (M-1), commonly known as Woodward Avenue, is a north–south state trunkline highway in the Detroit Metro area. The highway, called "Detroit's Main Street", runs from Detroit north-northwesterly to Pontiac. Woodward Avenue was created after the Detroit Fire of 1805. The thoroughfare followed the route of the Saginaw Trail, an Indian trail that linked Detroit with Pontiac, Flint, and Saginaw. The Saginaw Trail connected to the Mackinaw Trail, which extended north to the Straits of Mackinac at the tip of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan.

Today, Woodward Avenue is most famous for its "Woodward Dream Cruise" held each August. Founded in 1995 as a fundraiser for a soccer field in Ferndale, it takes place on Woodward Avenue between Pontiac and Ferndale. But there is a long history of crusing Woodward Avenue. In 1848, young carriage drivers raced one another along the avenue after the roadway was converted from logs to planks. By 1958, the roadway was used for unofficial street racing with cars. The wide width, median and sections lacking a large commercial presence attracted a reputation for the competition. 

The above photos compare the intersections of Woodward and Farnsworth in 1901 and today.

Word Origins

*KNICKERBOCKERS

The word seems to date back to the days of Peter Stuyvesant, when the Dutchmen on Manhattan Island all wore flaring trousers called knickerbockers. Though the name of this garment is often credited to Washington Irving, we really owe it to the British caricaturist George Cruikshank, who, in the 1850s, illustrated an English edition of the satire A History of New York, written by Irving in 1809 under the pseudonym “Diedrich Knickerbocker.” The garments of the alleged author, in these illustrations, led to the adoption of knickerbockers for any kind of knee-length pants for sports or horseback riding. In certain circles or cultures, the knickerbockers have never completely disappeared but now with a unisex, everyday casual approach. Nearly akin to wearing pajamas to the local convenience store. 

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Richard Kimble's Brief Encounters

A terminally ill man tries to help Kimble elude Gerard but his wife's suspicions come into play.

Somebody to Remember, 1964

Guest stars: Gilbert Roland, Madlyn Rhue

Word Origins

 

*GAZEBO

If the eighteenth-century inventor of this term had known, he might have had a chuckle over the struggles of later scholars. From what source did he obtain it? Some think it is from some unknown Oriental source, but the general consensus is that he just made it up. As he wanted a term for a structural lookout, he may have taken the ordinary word gaze and, under the pretense that it was from a hypothetical Latin verb, gazeo, produced the future form, gazebo, “I shall see.” Which worked out fine for the 1959 film, The Gazebo, the dark comedy starring Glenn Ford and Debbie Reynolds.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Zenith Chromacolor

 

In the late 1950s, many electronic manufacturers, such as RCA, General Electric and Admiral, were changing from hand-wired metal chassis in their radios and televisions to printed circuit boards. While circuit boards save time and errors in assembly, they are not well suited for use with vacuum tube equipment, in which high temperatures are generated that can break down boards, eventually causing the boards to crumble if one attempts to remove a tube. Zenith, and to a lesser extent Motorola, avoided this problem by continuing to use hand-wired chassis in all their vacuum tube equipment. Zenith kept circuit boards out of their televisions until the Chromacolor line of the early 1970s, and even then used them only with solid state components, mounting the four tubes used in the Chromacolor "4 tube hybrid" on the steel chassis. Zenith began using circuit boards in radios when they converted to solid-state in the late 1960s, but even Zenith's early transistor radios were completely hand-wired with socketed transistors. For many years, Zenith used its famous slogan, "The quality goes in before the name goes on." Due to the use of this chassis construction and high-quality components, Zenith televisions and radios of the 1950s to 1970s found today are often still working well, needing little work to restore them to like-new operating condition. 

~ edited from Wikipedia

Television Talkers

 

Jim Lang (1932-2014) was an American game show host and disc jockey. He began his radio broadcasting career in the Twin Cities after winning an audition as a teenager. Upon graduation from the University of Minnesota and serving in the Marines, Lange moved to San Francisco, making his Bay Area broadcast debut as "The All-Night Mayor" on KGO in 1960.

Lange's network television career began in San Francisco with The Ford Show in 1962, where he was the announcer and sidekick to host Tennessee Ernie Ford. Three years later he would sign on to host The Dating Game (1965–1980). He hosted numerous other game shows during those years and adopted a hairpiece best described as a helmet during the early 1970s. Lange appeared as himself on several sitcoms, including Bewitched, Laverne & Shirley, and Moesha among others.

Word Origins

*SHYSTER

This Americanism was probably coined early in the nineteenth century, since its first recorded use, as cited in the Dictionary of American English, was in 1846. The Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English suggests that shyster is a variant of shicer, “a person or thing of no account, worthless,” although the latter may actually be the newer word. In any event, there is some reason to believe that both are derived from the German (possibly through Yiddish) Scheisse. Walter Matthau, above, as William H. "Whiplash Willie" Gingrich, is perhaps the quintessential portrayal of a shyster, an unscrupulous professional, especially in a law practice or politics, in the film The Fortune Cookie (1966).

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

This is Jim Rockford

Dr. Soter's office. This is the third time you've canceled. Now, you have to have that root canal -- a sort foot has nothing to do with your mouth!

Jim's answering machine: So Help Me God, 1976
Guest star: William Daniels

Reel Character Series

 

The American character actress, Dorothy Adams (1900-88), began her film career in the late 1930s almost entirely in uncredited roles. She is probably best known for her downtrodden or careworn roles as a servant, maid or hard-working pioneering type, always generating a spark into a scene. She worked steadily through the 1950s before a brief transition into television. Adams' noted roles include “Elvy” in 1941's, The Shepherd of the Hills, starring John Wayne and the following year as the wild-eyed quirky “Deaf Annie,” a prison snitch whom every inmate assumed could not hear, in Lady Gangster starring Faye Emerson. She was noteworthy as the title character's maid, “Bessie Clary,” in 1944's Laura (above). Perhaps her most visible role was in 1946 as Wilma Cameron's mother in The Best Years of Our Lives.

Her film career was winding down by the 1960s, dividing her time as a popular acting instructor at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Adams married character actor Byron Foulger (also in demand) in 1921. They remained together until his death in 1970.

That Golden Voice

 

Matt Monro (Terence Edward Parsons 1930-1985) was an English easy-listening singer known as "The Man with the Golden Voice." He performed internationally over his 30-year career and was one of the most underrated pop vocalists of the Sixties. Despite being a chain-smoker and battling alcoholism in the Sixties and Seventies, his effortless style and amazing breath control never wavered. Coupled with his perfect baritone with a vocal timbre (always pronounced TAM-ber) that remained consistent over his entire range. Monro had early success in the UK with several Top 10 hits, including, "Portrait of My Love", "My Kind of Girl", "Softly As I Leave You", "Walk Away" and "Yesterday." 

Always with a singing career on his mind, he took numerous odd jobs, famously as a singing bus driver for London Transport. But he struggled to gain any ground through the Fifties. By early 1961, Monro had won ITV's A Song for Britain with "My Kind of Girl". His follow-up hits included that song, plus "Softly as I Leave You" (1962) and the title song written by John Barry for the film, From Russia with Love (1963), used over the final credits as many movie patrons were probably exiting the theater. Monro sang the Oscar-winning title song for the 1966 film, Born Free, also by Barry, which became his signature song. Monro continued to tour until just before his death.

Note: Early in his career, Monro was somewhat pigeon-holed as the "British Sinatra," perhaps due to his satirical recording, "You Keep Me Swingin" in the syncopated Sinatra style for EMI producer, George Martin and Peter Sellers album, "Songs for Swingin' Sellers." The latter chose to use it as the opening track on the record rather than record his own version, realizing he couldn't improve on Monro's performance. Sinatra once said Monro had a fabulous voice and lavished praise on his impeccable diction.

Word Origins

 

*DINGBAT

Bartlett's fourth edition (1877) of his Dictionary of Americanisms, decided that this owed its origin to a bat, or piece of wood or metal, that could be dinged, or thrown. That’s probably as good as any explanation, though the source of any bit of slang is usually highly dubious. At any rate, Americans use it, as we do its derivative, dingus, as a momentary name for anything of which the proper name is out of mind or unknown. 

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Richard Kimble's Brief Encounters

Kimble reunites with the man who saved his life in the Korean War but his heroism left him physically and psychologically scarred.

Taps for A Dead War, 1964
Guest stars: Tim O'Connor, Lee Grant

Reel Character Series

Frank de Kova (1910-1981) was an American character actor in films, stage, and TV, often playing a Native American or Mexican bandit in westerns, or a modern-day gangster, all befitting his craggy face.

Born Frank Campanella, it was imperative a name change was in order so there was no confusion with the film actor of the same name, the older brother of television stalwart, Joseph Campanella. As DeKova, or De Kova, or de Kova—per his grave plot—he made his Broadway debut in Detective Story and was subsequently discovered by director Elia Kazan. In Hollywood, he appeared in Viva Zapata! in 1952 as the Mexican Colonel, and played Abiram in The Ten Commandments. He appeared in three films released in 1958: Cowboy with Glenn Ford and Jack Lemmon, a quirky role in Machine Gun Kelly opposite Charles Bronson, and as the restrictive, old-school tribe counselor in Teenage Caveman, where Robert Vaughn played the cool, teen rebel with the perfect barber shop haircut. De Kova would reunite with Bronson in, The Mechanic in 1972.

De Kova was certainly most visible from his television work, including a role as Mafia hitman Jimmy Napoli in the ABC crime drama, The Untouchables, the western, Cheyenne, and a recurring role in Gunsmoke as a Kiowa Indian who is a trusted friend with Dodge City's marshal. He gained new fame as "Chief Wild Eagle" in the wacky western comedy spoof, F Troop, from 1965-1967. As the Seventies dawned, his work was less frequent, split between television and film. 

Television Talkers

 

Johnny Olsen (1910-85) was an American radio personality and television announcer. Before hearing his tenor voice on television, Olson was ensconced in radio. He joined WTMJ in Milwaukee in early 1933, organizing a five-piece jazz band called The Rhythm Rascals, and became one of the station's most popular personalities. He would later create the first iteration of Johnny Olson's Rumpus Room, which attracted major national performers. After World War II, he revived the show in 1949.

Olson began his tenure as a television announcer in 1949, but few knew about it. By the Sixties, his voice was closely associated with game shows, particularly the work for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions, the original To Tell the Truth and What's My Line? He spent over a decade as the announcer for both Match Game and The Price Is Right, where his high-pitched enthusiastic, "Come on down!" became legendary and often parodied. From 1962 to 1970, he was the announcer for The Jackie Gleason Show. During the peak of his announcing duties in the 1970s and early 1980s, his distinct voice was heard on more than six other game show productions.

Word Origins

 

*SHINDIG

Although one authority cites a purported Southern United States meaning of “a sharp blow on the shins,” this may only be a transferred meaning, from the appearance of the word to an accidental kick received during a spirited dance or party. It seems much more likely that a shindig is a US alteration of the much older British word shindy, which is preceded by shinty and shinny. This last is a ball game of the seventeenth century or older that somewhat resembles field hockey. Its name may have been derived from a call used in the game, “Shin ye! Shin you!” or from the Gaelic sinteag, “a skip, jump.”

Note: The ABC music variety show, Shindig!, was broadcast from 1964 to 1966 and featured many high-profile bands and soloists. The show had competition from NBC's Hullabaloo, which began in 1965.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Word Origins

 

*CHOP SUEY

The chop is English, in the sense of “chipped” or “cut,” but the suey is Chinese sui, “bits.” Like the term itself, the concoction is of mixed origin. It was first devised over one hundred twenty years ago by Chinese operating a restaurant in Brooklyn, who composed it of bits of fried or stewed chicken or pork, rice, noodles, and sesame seeds or oil, and served steamy in its own juice. Author Herbert Asbury stated in 1928 it was the invention of a dishwasher in San Francisco about 1860. 

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Owosso Motor Car Company

 

The Litestar or Pulse autocycles were considered Ground Cruising Recreational Vehicles (GCRV). Founder David Vaughn worked with the supplier of its bodies, Tomorrow Corp., but the two companies severed ties over numerous disagreements. Vaughn then changed the Litestar name to Pulse in 1985. The fiberglass body was designed to look like an aircraft with tandem seating. Including its rear-mounted motorcycle engine, the Pulse weighed in at about 1,000 lbs and considered by the DMV to be motorcycles. 

Technically a two-wheeled motorcycle, the Litestar featured two additional outrigger wheels under its "wings" that provided balance when standing still or in a turn. Though compliant with US federal regulations as a motorcycle, various states took issue with the Litestar. Initially, they had no reverse gear and there were some quality issues. Twenty-seven states were willing to license the vehicle. The Owosso, Michigan company went out of business in 1990 and in its five-year run, manufactured 347 autocycles. A number appear today at various airshows or classic motorcycle venues.

Photo: September 3, 2022. Marion, Indiana

Word Origins

*THOROUGHFARE

New York perhaps thought it had created a new word when it opened its first section of cross-state toll road in 1954, the Throughway, which quickly became known by the non-standard, shortened spelling of Thruway. Beyond the temporary distinction of applying Throughway to a single highway, there is nothing in it that did not already exist in the six hundred-year-old word thoroughfare. Thorough is the ancient spelling of through; fare, used for “passage money,” formerly meant “passage, way.” And thoroughfare has long indicated a “through way between places.”

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Famous Twentieth Century Ians

 

To American moviegoers and television viewers, the name Ian conjures up a number of English actors: One responsible for a famous actor, another as the lone American actor. The name is of Scottish Gaelic origin and Scotland’s version of John. It was one of the top 10 names in the United Kingdom throughout the 1960s. As of 2019, the name has been in the top 100 in the United States every year since 1982.

Arranged upper left to lower right:

Ian Wolfe (1896-1992) Prolific uncredited American actor
Ian Hunter (1900-1975) English actor; The Adventures of Robin Hood
Ian Fleming (1908–1964), British novelist, creator of James Bond
Ian Holm (1931-2020) English actor; Time Bandits, Lord of the Rings
Ian McKellen (1939-) English actor; X-Men, Lord of the Rings
Ian McShane (1942-) English actor; Lovejoy, Deadwood
Ian Ogilvy (1943-) English actor, novelist; The Return of the Saint

This is Jim Rockford

 

It's Shirley at the Plant and Pot. There's just no easy way to tell you this, Jim--we did everything we could. Your fern died.

Jim's answering machine: Coulter City Wildcat, 1976
Guest star: John Anderson

Peanut Butter Comics

Skippy is an American comic strip written and drawn by Percy Crosby, and published from 1923 to 1945. A highly popular, acclaimed and influential feature about rambunctious fifth-grader Skippy Skinner, his friends and his enemies, it was adapted into an Oscar-winning 1931 film starring Jackie Cooper, a novel and a radio show. An early influence on cartoonist Charles Schulz and an inspiration for his Peanuts, Skippy is considered one of the classics of the form. Nothing like it had ever been seen before in the comic strips. The brilliance of Skippy was that it was the first kid cartoon with a definable and complex personality grounded in daily life.

Today, the most well-known extension of the Skippy name is peanut butter. When the California food packer Joseph L. Rosefield began to sell its newly developed hydrogenated peanut butter in 1932, it was labeled "Skippy" without Crosby's permission, resulting in Crosby invalidating the trademark in 1934. Rosefield persisted in using the name. After Crosby was committed to a mental institution and after the passage of the Lanham Act in 1946, Rosefield was granted rights to the trademark.

Rosefield sold the brand to Best Foods in 1955. Its successor companies claimed rights to the trademark over the objection of Crosby's heirs, and much litigation has occurred on this point over the decades. Skippy is currently manufactured by Hormel Foods, which bought the brand from Unilever in 2013. Skippy is the second oldest leading peanut butter brand after Peter Pan (1920).

Word Origins

*BIGWIG

Although humorously used to designate a person of real or self-fancied importance, the start of the allusion was in fact indicated by the size of the wig a man wore, back in the times of Queen Anne of England and Louis XIV of France. Wigs had been courtly fashion for a half-century or more, but by the beginning of the eighteenth century, they attained exaggerated proportions, some covering the back and shoulders and floating down the chest. The status of a man was marked by the style of wig he wore, and the more important in state or occupation, the more imposing his wig. Eventually, the fashion passed, though the wig or peruke is still retained in British courts of law.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)