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.

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.

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.

Transition to Television

Karen Kay Sharpe (1934-) is a former actress of film and television, appearing on screen consistently from 1952 through 1966. The attractive Texas-born actress studied ballet and dancing as a child and was a model for magazine covers in her teens. By eighteen, she was cast in a small role for The Sniper, produced by her future husband, Stanley Kramer. Director William Wellman then cast Sharpe in the airline disaster classic, The High and the Mighty, for which she garnered a Golden Globe Award as "New Star of the Year—Actress." She appeared in two "man-titled" films back-to-back, The Man With a Gun (1955) with Robert Mitchum and a B-movie the following year opposite William Campbell, in The Man In The Vault. Before these films, she had already established herself on television by appearing on Racket Squad, Lux Video Theatre, Playhouse 90, General Electric Theater, and The Millionaire, and more. Her only recurring role was in the television western, Johnny Ringo, for eighteen episodes (1959-60). She got noticed on such popular shows as 77 Sunset Strip, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., I Dream of Jeannie, and The Wild Wild West. In between, she also was cast in the Jerry Lewis comedy, The Disorderly Orderly.

She is the third wife of producer/director Stanley Kramer. The two were married in 1966 with Sharpe soon leaving acting to devote full time to her family and serve as assistant to her husband in the film industry. After his death in 2001, she took her married name, Karen Kramer, as an executive producer for a number of video shorts and documentaries from 2005-2008.

A Refreshing Day at The Office

 

A name used since 1934, Muzak is an American brand of background music played in retail stores and other public establishments and owned by a division or subsidiary of another company ever since. Inventor Major General George Owen Squier developed the original technical basis for Muzak, a registered trademark since 1954 of Muzak LLC. The name became known for most forms of background music, regardless of the source of the music, and may also be known as "elevator music." Since 1997, Muzak has used original artists for its music source, except on the Environmental channel. Based in various Seattle locations from 1986 to 1999, Muzak moved its headquarters to South Carolina in 2000. Muzak Holdings was purchased by Mood Media in 2011 and they retired the name 'Muzak' as part of its integration plans in 2013.

The Streamliners Efficient Friend

 

The Alcoa Corporation touted it use of aluminum incorporated in the railroad's Streamliner passenger trains of the 1930s. The integrated-body-and-frame construction using aluminum and Cor-Ten steel was used to reduce the required structural weight to a fraction of conventional railcars. Outwardly, stainless steel was the dominant material, however, typically left unpainted except for the car's reporting marks required by law. In general, the above-illustrated advertisement exaggerates the typical length of these trains.

Burlington and Union Pacific railroads sought to increase the efficiency of their passenger service and looked to the lightweight, petroleum-powered technology offered by Budd and Pullman-Standard. Union Pacific's project was named the M-10000 (top, above) and Burlington's was named the Burlington Zephyr (top, bottom). The M-10000 was the star attraction at the 1934 World's Fair "Century of Progress" in Chicago, Illinois. It was officially named The Streamliner during its demonstration period. With nearly a million miles on its engine, the trainset was scrapped in 1942 and its aluminum recycled for use in the wartime aircraft industry.

Note: Founded in 1888 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Alcoa Corporation (a portmanteau of Aluminum Company of America) is an American industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum.