Word Origins

 

*TYMPANY

Used in modern times as a collective noun to designate the aggregation of kettledrums in an orchestra, this word is actually the Anglicized form of the Latin tympanum, “a drum,” from the Greek tympanon, “a drum,” from typtein, “to strike, beat.” The modem use of tympany may have arisen from the mistaken belief that this spelling, or at least the pronunciation thereof, represented the Latin plural, tympani.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

This is Jim Rockford

 

*Teddy's Treehouse---you've won our free landscaping services for one full year! We'll mow your lawn, top your trees, moat, seed, fertilizer, and feed? Isn't that wonderful!

Jim's answering machine: The Oracle Wore A Cashmere Suit, 1976
Guest star: Robert Webber

* Not only is this one of the most entertaining episodes of the series, but it also possesses one of the most ironic messages.

Television Talkers

 

Dave Garroway (1913-1982) was an American television personality best known as the founding host and anchor of NBC's Today show from 1952 to 1961. Garroway began his broadcasting career at NBC as a page in 1938 before landing a job at Pittsburgh radio station KDKA in 1939.  He became known as the "Roving Announcer" with a reputation for finding a good story, even in unusual places. After WW2, His fellow disc jockeys voted him the nation's best in the 1948 and 1949 Billboard polls. He won the award again in 1951.

Garroway's relaxed, informal style, as well as his humor, became part of his television trademark, to say nothing of his eyeglasses and bow tie. He possessed no false jollity or witticisms. On the contrary, he was pleasant, serious, and scholarly-looking. Trustworthy. His popular "cohost" on Today was a lovable chimpanzee by the name of J. Fred Muggs who helped take the edge off some more serious news moments. Garroway was one of the broadcasters who introduced conversational style and tone to television, beginning some broadcasts as though viewers were sitting in the studio with him. As an example, "And how are you about the world today? Let's see what kind of shape it's in; there is a glimmer of hope." His ability to clearly explain abstract concepts earned him the nickname "The Communicator" and eventually won praise from critics and viewers alike. Garroway was known for his signoff, saying "Peace" with an upraised palm. Many late sixties hippies owed him a debt for that.

More at Garroway at Large.

Note: Unknown to viewers, Garroway's easygoing and relaxed style -- the epitome of poise -- hid his lifelong battle with depression, which is better diagnosed today.

Word Origins

 

*STALEMATE

Originally, the term was just stale—the mate part was added, possibly originally in jest, because a stalemate, like a checkmate, serves to end the game. Unlike checkmate, (from Arabic) and chess itself, stale seems to have originated in the French estaler (étaler), one of the meanings of which is “to fix,” in the sense of “to set in place.” The latter is related to the German stellen, “to place.” 

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Big Yellow Brick

 

The Checker is an automobile produced by the Checker Motors Corporation of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Its Marathon/Superba models began production in 1960 and were advertised to individual customers in upscale publications. The ads emphasized the durability of the Checker and the attention to quality improvements. Marathons were produced in both four-door sedan and four-door station wagon forms. The eight-door, 12-seater "Aerobus" wagon was typically spotted shuttling airline passengers to and from a major airport. They remained largely unchanged to keep costs down and its late 50s design held its ground until 1982, the Marathon's final production year. 

Long before the Marathon, the Checker Motor Company manufactured taxicabs aimed at fleet buyers, famously used by Checker Taxi, a privately owned cab company in Chicago. Morris Markin established the Kalamazoo business in 1922. In its early years, he not only produced the vehicles but also ran Checker Cab, a taxi company that was in direct competition with John D. Hertz, owner of Yellow Cab. The Checker Motor Company ceased to exist with the sale of its Kalamazoo headquarters in 2010.

Horton Hears a Tune

 

Robert Horton (Mead Howard Horton Jr. 1924-2016) was an American actor best known as Flint McCullough in Wagon Train (1957–1962). During his six decades of television, Horton also became known for his voice, leading him into a career in musical theater. After graduating cum laude from UCLA in the mid-Forties, he relocated from California to New York City but the struggling actor returned to California, eventually signing a contract with MGM. It was there he met fellow actors Robert Fuller and James Drury, both of whom became Horton's lifelong friends. 

The ruggedly handsome Horton, who was often not assigned a shirt, made dozens of appearances on television beginning in its infancy, most notably in several episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. About a decade later he had an offbeat role as an amnesiac in the 1965-1966 television western, A Man Called Shenandoah. As a talented singer, in the 1960s Horton recorded on the Columbia Records label and performed in theaters and nightclubs all over America and Australia. He was hired as the male lead in a successful run of the musical version of N. Richard Nash's play, 110 in the Shade (aka The Rainmaker) on Broadway. Before retiring in 1989, he took a brief turn in the daytime soap, As the World Turns.

A Convair B-36 with Jet Engines

On this day in 1952, piloted by Chief Test Pilot Beryl A. Erickson, and Arthur S. Witchell, the prototype Convair YB-60 made its first takeoff at Carswell Air Force Base, Fort Worth, Texas. As a proposed competitor to Boeing’s XB-52 Stratofortress, the YB-60 was developed from a B-36F fuselage by adding swept wings and tail surfaces and powered by eight turbojet engines. Its bomb load was expected to be nearly double that of the B-52 and it would have been much cheaper to produce since it was based on an existing operational bomber.

“The YB-60 rode like a Cadillac with no noise like a B-36—no prop noise or vibration,” Witchell stated and Erickson concurred, “This is the Queen Mary coming in gracefully.” The plane was as big as the B-36, though the angled wings shortened the overall width twenty-four feet. Erickson said, “Most any B-36 pilot would feel right at home.” And that was the problem. Much of the YB-60 was still a B-36, not the innovation of Boeing's game-changer. It was markedly slower than the B-52, due to the YB-60's inferior aerodynamics.

Note: Two prototypes were built but only the YB-60 ever flew. The USAF favored the B-52 and Convair's "updated B-36" was canceled with both planes being scrapped. In the above photo, the B-36 is in the background at Edwards AFB, California.

Word Origins

 

*CROWBAR

Dating back to circa 1400, someone discovered that if the end of the ordinary iron rod were sharpened to a point or beak, its use as a lever would be more effective. Someone then likened that shaping to the beak of a crow—especially of one curved or bent near its wedge-shaped end. They also were called simply crows, or iron crows. Several centuries later, steelmakers noted that the desired crow must have a "beak" on both ends.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

The Potter Palmer Ego

 

Lake Shore Drive (known by other designations by locals) is a multilevel expressway that runs alongside the shoreline of Lake Michigan, primarily through parkland, in Chicago, Illinois. Lake Shore Drive is designated as part of U.S. Highway 41. In 2021, the Chicago City Council approved a compromise ordinance officially renaming the outer portion of Lake Shore Drive for the city's first non-indigenous settler, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable.

Lake Shore Drive's origins date back to 1882 when Potter Palmer coerced the city to build the street adjacent to his lakefront "castle" (above) to enhance its value. The drive was originally intended for leisurely strolls for the wealthy in their carriages, but the auto age changed its role completely. By 1937, the famous double-decker Link Bridge over the Chicago River opened. The "drive" has been under constant revisions and renewal ever since.

Television Talkers

 

Bob Eubanks (1938-) is an American disc jockey, and television personality best known for hosting the game show, The Newlywed Game, off and on since 1966. The show ended in 1974 and made Eubanks one of the most popular game show hosts at the time. He also hosted various editions in syndication spanning the years 1977 to 1999. Eubanks hosted an episode of The Newlywed Game, subtitled "Game Show Kings". It featured past notable game hosts and their wives. This makes him the only person to host the same game show in six consecutive decades from 1960s to the 2010s.

Eubanks was a popular radio DJ in Los Angeles prior to entering the game show world. As music promoter and manager between 1960 and 1968, he was responsible for bringing The Beatles to Los Angeles for their first West Coast performances in 1964 and 1965 at the Hollywood Bowl.

Deputy Inspector, Frank E. Lugar

James Gregory (1911-2002) was an American character actor of Broadway, television and known for playing brash film roles like Schaffer in Al Capone (1959), Sen. John Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate (1962), and the audacious General Ursus in Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970). Yet Gregory sunk his career almost entirely in television in lead and supporting roles. His deep, gravelly voice was unmistakable and his delivery, at times, would explode from a mumbling quietness (as if an aside to the script) to a booming foghorn. By the mid-Fifties, midst his small-screen work, he appeared in a few second-string crime/drama films, such as the angry jealous husband in, The Scarlet Hour (1956), a crime boss in, The Big Caper (1957) and an insurance agent in Nightfall (1956). He is likely remembered for playing Dean Martin's superior in the Matt Helm secret agent spoof film series, but less so in the one-off Elvis Presley film, Clambake (1967). 

Though periodically surrounded by comedy, it was not until 1975 did viewers witness his comedic expertise on the hit, Barney Miller, his first full-time foray into comedy as the philosophical, blunt, bow-tie-wearing, and slightly loopy, Deputy Inspector, Frank Lugar. The Inspector could be lovable, annoying, ingratiating, exasperating, and, of course, humorous. Rambling, often lost in thought, and unapologetic, most often referred to Ron Carey's character, Officer Levitt,  as Levene. Lugar is unabashedly old-school and drops by the precinct for a chat with his best pal, Barney, in his office as if it were a high-level meeting. It quickly becomes apparent he is simply a lonely guy, still living in his formative years. He might reminisce about his former police partner, share frank opinions or randomly start humming a tune---lilting on the high notes---with an excellent command of every note, by the way. Lugar increased his on-screen presence after the death of Jack Soo to a slightly more obnoxious level. One gets the feeling this is a role he had been wanting to play his whole career but was never given the chance. Gregory's timing and comic gestures are a sign of a true professional and I like to imagine the cast was in awe when working with him. Lugar remains his signature role, all coming about a decade before another signature role, Lt. Frank Drebin. 

Operation Teapot

 

On this day in 1955, a Convair B-36H assigned to the 4925th Test Group (Atomic) at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico dropped an atomic weapon from 42,000 feet over the Nevada Test Site, Area 1. Operation Teapot was authorized by President Eisenhower on 30 August 1954. This series of fourteen shots proof-tested a broad variety of fission devices with low to moderate yields. The bomb detonated at 36,620 feet with an explosive force of 3.2 kilotons. The bomb was parachute-retarded to slow its fall so that the bomber could escape its blast effects. Because of the altitude of the explosion, there was no significant fallout. The airdrop was a Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory high-altitude test of an air-to-air missile warhead. It was the only parachute weapon drop ever conducted at the Nevada Test Site.

Though the B-36 was the only aircraft in the USAF inventory capable of carrying the largest atomic weapon at the time, this Teapot test, Shot HA (high altitude), used a 125-pound warhead encased in a 1,085-pound ballistic case.

Word Origins

 

*QUAGMIRE

One who ventures into a new undertaking only to find himself inextricably entangled in a hopeless mess has become quagmired, or bogged down, has been recorded as early as 1775. The term, shaky ground, is nearly a literal equivalent as quag is a variant of quake. Thus a quagmire is a piece of ground that looks firm but shakes when walked upon, only to engulf the person. An obsolete form is quickmire, related to quicksand, which has much the same treacherous properties.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Richard Kimble's Brief Encounters

 

For the first time since trial, Kimble returns home to a father with a serious health concern and a younger brother believing he is guilty.

Note: This episode is notable for Jacqueline Scott's first appearance as Kimble's sister. Her phone conversation with her brother "out of the blue" is a series highlight. Scott's acting was genuine and quite believable. Robert Keith was in failing health in real life, dying in 1966.

Home Is The Hunted, 1964
Guest stars: Jacqueline Scott, Andrew Prine, Robert Keith