Mighty Mac

 

The Mackinac Bridge, spanning the Straits of Mackinac opened in 1957 and remains the longest suspension bridge between anchorages in the Western Hemisphere. The 26,372-foot-long bridge is familiarly known as "Big Mac" and "Mighty Mac." Spanning the Straits of Mackinac, connecting the Upper and Lower peninsulas of  Michigan, the bridge is part of Interstate 75. 

The dedication of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883 gave Mackinac Bridge backers encouragement. A reprinted story from the Grand Traverse Herald pointed out that the experiment to provide year-round service across the Straits by ferry boat had failed. If a great east-west route were ever to be established through Michigan, a bridge or tunnel would be required. After many decades, the five-mile bridge, including approaches, did not officially begin until 1954. Designed by the engineer, Dr. David B. Steinman, the nearly 26 million agreement to build led to the mobilization of the largest bridge construction fleet ever assembled. Prior to the bridge, traffic could be backed up nearly 16 miles waiting for one of nine automobile ferries to carry them across the straits. 

Note: The Algonquian peoples living in the straits area prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 17th century, called this region Michilimackinac, which is widely understood to mean the Great Turtle. This is thought to refer to the shape of what is now called Mackinac (pronounced MAK-in-aw) Island.

Word Origins

 

*CUBBYHOLE

One might suppose that this had developed from the hole or den in which a young bear or fox may be found, but no. In rural parts of England, one may still find places where cub means the shed or pen or stall for cattle, or the coop for chickens, or the hutch for rabbits, or even a monk’s cell. It is a term for any small shelter. The truncated version, used chiefly by children referring to any small retreat of their own, is cubby, frequently extended to cubbyhole.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

The Silver Streak

The Pioneer Zephyr aka Burlington Zephyr is a diesel-powered trainset built by the Budd Company in 1934 for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, commonly known as the Burlington Route. It set a speed record in 1934 between Denver and Chicago, making a non-stop "Dawn-to-Dusk" dash in 13 hours 5 minutes at an average speed of almost 78 mph over the 1,015-mile route. This event inspired the 1934 RKO film, The Silver Streak, starring Sally Blane and Charles Starrett. On the same day in 1960, the train's  26th anniversary of the "Dawn-to-Dusk" dash, the original Pioneer Zephyr made its last run along the train's regular revenue route from Lincoln, Nebraska, to Kansas City, Missouri, finishing in Chicago, Illinois where it was donated to Chicago's Museum of Science & Industry.

This is Jim Rockford

 

Hi. Just want to put your mind at rest --- found your address book in the theater last week. It's in the mail. By the way, Carol's okay. But Linda...?

Jim's answering machine: 
The Fourth Man, 1976; written by Juanita Bartlett
Guest star: Sharon Gless

The First Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak

 

On this day in 1920, at least 37 tornadoes, the majority significant F3, F4s, took place across northern, Indiana, western Ohio, southern Michigan and southeast Illinois on the first Palm Sunday weather disaster. The more famous 1965 outbreak, the second on a Palm Sunday, was even more deadly. The 1920 tornadoes killed over 380 and at least 1,215 were injured. Many were caught off-guard as the storms moved northeast at speeds over sixty miles per hour. Most of the fatalities occurred in Georgia (201), Indiana (56), and Ohio (55). 

Charts and photos for 1920 and 1965 tornado outbreaks.

Word Origins

 

*HOPSCOTCH

Back in the seventeenth century, this children's game was called scotch-hoppers, which appears to be the earliest English name, although one writer says that the game itself probably dates back to the beginning of the Christian era. But the "scotch" part of the name is in no way related to the country of Scotland nor its people. A giveaway to its real meaning is that in some English shires the game is called hop-score, for the lines marking the squares to be hopped are scored or scotched in the ground.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

When Niagara Did Not Fall

 

On this date in 1903, Niagara Falls ran dry. Telegraphing from Niagara Falls, a correspondent stated that pedestrians crossed over the riverbed, where human feet had never been before. Men, women, and children romped about, unconcerned that a break of the ice jam near Goat Island might submerge them at any moment. Many momentoes were taken from spots not likely to be visible again. The ice jam had diverted the water to the Canadian Horseshoe Falls and almost dried up the American rapids. Residents gathered to witness a sight that they never imagined possible. The water still ran close to the mainland, but practically the entire rocky riverbed was bare.

Note: The above photo was taken in 1903 showing the fall's normal flow of water.

Television Talkers

Allen Ellsworth Ludden (Allen Packard Ellsworth 1917-1981) was an American television personality, actor, singer, emcee, and best known as the congenial host of the game show Password in dark-framed eyeglasses and the husband to Betty White. The Wisconsin-born native was an English and dramatics major at the University of Texas (University of Texas at Austin), graduating with Phi Beta Kappa honors in 1940 and received his Master of Arts in English from the same university in 1941. He served in the United States Army as an officer in charge of entertainment in the Pacific theater and was discharged with the rank of captain in 1946. By the early 1950s, Ludden was an adviser for youth in teen magazine columns. His radio show for teenagers, Mind Your Manners, received an honorable mention Peabody Award in 1950. 

Ludden hosted many game shows, including the College Bowl, but he become hugely popular and well-liked for hosting both the daytime and primetime versions of Password on CBS and ABC between 1961 and 1975. Notable was his opening catchphrase, "Hi doll," directed toward his beloved real-life mother-in-law, Tess White, mother of Betty. Ludden met White near the beginning of the Password craze and their romance blossomed while playing summer stock theatre together in the Critic's Choice in 1962. His ten television acting roles began in 1966 often splitting his time cast as a fictitious host within an episode. More memorable were the couple's appearances together in an episode of The Odd Couple in which Felix and Oscar appeared on Password and then as a couple on The Love Boat.

A Familiar Television Face

 

Paul Carr (1934-2006) was a busy American actor of stage, film, and television for over 50 years. He was also a writer and director and headed the Play Committee of the L.A. Repertory Company. The Louisiana-born actor had a short stint in the United States Marine Corps during his late teens before launching his acting career in a New Orleans production of Herman Melville's, Billy Budd. By the middle 1950s, he was working on live television. Though his career was spent on the small screen, he garnered his first (uncredited) role for Alfred Hitchcock's, The Wrong Man, in 1955. He had supporting roles in many western series with three appearances on Laramie, Trackdown, four appearances on Rawhide, The Rifleman, Gunsmoke, The Tall Man, and The Virginian. He could always be found on popular drama series during the Sixties such as Dr. Kildare, Hawaii Five-O, The Fugitive, Twelve O'Clock High, Burke's Law, and Combat!. Carr could be seen in the science fiction series, The Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants, a notable role on the second pilot episode of Star Trek, and The Invaders. For seven episodes, he was a cast member on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Carr joined the cast of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, in 1981. With the exception of the hit, Murphy Brown, Carr finished his career on lesser-known series through 2002.

Bud Meets Randy

 

Bud Boetticher (1916-2001) was an American film director who can be held in high esteem simply for six low-budget westerns, Seven Men from Now, The Tall T, Decision at Sundown, Buchanan Rides Alone, Ride Lonesome, and Comanche Station. He achieved his major breakthrough when he teamed up with actor Randolph Scott and screenwriter Burt Kennedy to make the first film listed above in 1956. Spanning a four-year partnership, all six films are crafted with care and precision, despite some factual inaccuracies. The cinematography offers tight places within the Alabama Hills, juxtaposed to wide grand vistas, and pastoral surprises. He would stop panning and hold the camera for a moment, taking in the natural beauty near Lone Pine, California.  

These bare-bones westerns made good use of Randolph Scott as a quiet, somewhat alienated hero on a journey through a hostile landscape, crossing paths with self-serving villains. His graceful, economic physicality or his calm use of his voice is consistently compelling. Always playing a character of few words, he out-Coopered Gary Cooper. Scott's screen presence glues these films together and one cannot help but like these charming and self-assured roles.

Richard Kimble's Brief Encounters

 

Kimble is nearly killed by a car driven by a young stewardess. She was otherwise mentally occupied with the devastating realization that her "sweetheart" is a married man with two children. While recuperating in a hospital, Kimble's delirium audibly recalls the night of his wife's murder.

The Girl From Little Egypt, 1963
Guest stars: Pamela Tiffin, Ed Nelson

Discover America on The Lincoln Highway

 

The Lincoln Highway is the first road for automobiles across the United States of America. Conceived in 1912 by the president of Prest-O-Lite Company of Indianapolis, Indiana, Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated October 31, 1913, the Lincoln Highway runs coast-to-coast from Times Square in New York City west to Lincoln Park in San Francisco. Originally running through New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California, in 1915 the "Colorado Loop" was removed, and in 1928 a realignment relocated the Lincoln Highway through the northern tip of West Virginia.

The first officially recorded length of the entire Lincoln Highway in 1913 was 3,389 miles. With realignments over the years, the Lincoln Highway was gradually replaced with numbered designations after the establishment of the U.S. Numbered Highway System in 1926. After the Interstate Highway System was formed in the mid-1950s, the former alignments of the Lincoln Highway were largely superseded by Interstate 80. Detailed state chapters can be found HERE.

Destination: Holiday Inn

Trailways Transportation System was founded by Burlington Transportation Company, Santa Fe Trails Transportation Company, Missouri Pacific Stages, Safeway Lines, Inc., and Frank Martz Coach Company in 1936. In competition to Greyhound Lines, the system provided coast-to-coast service as the National Trailways Bus System. During the 1950s and 1960s, four of the five original Trailways members consolidated to become part of a new company, Continental Trailways, which eventually operated the majority of Trailways routes. Continental Trailways was acquired in 1968 by Holiday Inn. The lodging chain's advertisements often featured a Trailways coach at the entrance. Trailways remained a subsidiary of Holiday Inn until 1979, when they sold Trailways to a private investor, Henry Hillman Sr., of Pittsburgh. Today Trailways members are spread across North America to provide charter bus service, bus tours and scheduled route services.

Note: A common sight on American highways in the 1960s was the Eagle Model 01 (above). For over four decades, some 8,000 Eagle "hightop" coaches were built in four countries on two continents. A thorough history of the Eagle coaches here.

Word Origins

 

*STENOGRAPHY 

As an English word, stenography has been recorded as early as 1602. It is derived from two Greek words, stenos (narrow) and graphein (to write) literally meaning “narrow writing” as opposed to the “broad writing” that is the more ordinary script. Even shorthand is only slightly younger as a synonym for stenography, originating in England near the close of the sixteenth century. But the truth is, stenography is even older than this. It is known to have been practiced in the Roman Senate and there is some evidence that it was practiced by the ancient Greeks before the time of Christ. 

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

This is Jim Rockford

 

Uncle Jim? It's Ralph! I got your letter -- but I moved out here anyway. I really want those detective lessons ...

Jim's answering machine: 

A Bad Deal in The Valley, 1976; written by Donald L. Gold and 

Lester William Berke
Guest star: Susan Strasberg

To Infinity and Beyond Mach 4

 

On this date in 1961, test pilot Major Robert M. White, USAF, flew the number two North American Aviation X-15 hypersonic research rocketplane to Mach 4.43 (2,905 mph) to 77,450 feet, becoming the first pilot to exceed Mach 4. The total duration of the flight, from the airdrop from the Boeing NB-52B Stratofortress to touchdown at Edwards Air Force Base, was 8 minutes, 34.1 seconds.

A Noted Television Theme

 

The ever-popular Murdoch Mysteries (2008-) is a Canadian television drama series set in Toronto beginning in 1895 and progressively follows Detective William Murdoch, who solves murder cases using methods of detection that were ahead of its time, alluding to future commonly used detection methods. These might include "finger marks" (fingerprinting), blood testing, surveillance, and trace evidence. The detective may use existing technology of his time to improvise a crude prototype that would help a 21st-century audience relate. For the same purpose, modern social issues are addressed. As with most modern historical interpretations, the show is a blend of fiction with aspects of fact. The Murdoch character may interact with actual historical figures as if the detective existed. The episodes can range from near slapstick to dark and gruesome murder investigations. 

Supporting excellent opening graphics, Robert Carli composed a contemporary synthesized electronic "steampunk" arrangement. Listen to it HERE

Non-Stop Around The World

 

On this date in 1949, a Boeing B-50A Superfortress, named Lucky Lady II, ended its four-day, non-stop circumnavigation of the Earth, landing back at Carswell AFB, Fort Worth, Texas. The bomber received four inflight refuelings for its 94 hours and 1 minute, 23,452-mile flight. Lucky Lady II was the backup aircraft for this flight but became primary when the first B-50, Global Queen, had to abort with engine problems. Each Lucky Lady II crew member was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Mackay Trophy for the most meritorious flight of the year. Aerial refueling proved there was no distance out the reach for the Strategic Air Command.

13 August 1950, while returning to its base at Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, Arizona, all four engines failed. Unable to reach the runways, the pilot landed safely in the desert approximately two miles away. Though the landing gear was extended, the bomber collapsed and was damaged beyond economic repair. The unrestored fuselage of Lucky Lady II is at the Planes of Fame Air Museum, Chino, California.

Grace and Charm

 

Arlene Francis (Arline Francis Kazanjian 1907-2001) was an American actress with nineteen acting appearances, a television talk show host, and game show panelist. She became a well-known New York City radio personality, hosting several programs. From 1938 to 1949 she became the sole female host of the radio game show What's My Name?. Beginning in 1950, Francis became widely remembered for her 25-year role as a panelist on the television game show with a slight name change, What's My Line?, hosted by John Daly. Francis was known on that show for wearing a heart-shaped diamond pendant, a gift from her husband Martin Gabel, a frequent panelist, which she wore on nearly all of her What's My Line? appearances. Another signature adornment was her blindfold outlined with sparkling studs. She could be frequently seen on Password and Match Game game shows as well through the mid-eighties. Francis possessed charm, grace, and sophistication. Three traits that made her a popular celebrity.