Stuff That Interests AL904

King of the Wild Frontier

Remember When? Fess Parker
Visited For Davy Crockett 
Movie Premiere Here In 1955

Sun File Photo, Ken Hood Jr.

The original caption for this June 2, 1955, photo in The Greeneville Sun read: "Fess Parker, dressed in his buckskins and coonskin cap, is shown in the photo with Charles Breeden, eight-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher Breeden of McKee Street, who donned his jacket and cap for one of the most exciting days of his life. The photo was taken at Davy Crockett's birthplace near Limestone Sunday while Parker was visiting here." The birthplace later became the State Park. Parker visited Greeneville and the birthplace to promote the Capitol Theatre's showing of "Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier," which had its world premiere in San Antonio but also began showing here on June 8. Former Sun editor Alex S. Jones is fourth from right.

The Greeneville Sun, BY TOM YANCEY, Staff Writer, March 20, 2010:

In 1954, some of the best viewing available on television screens was the popular "Disneyland" show on Sunday evenings, and probably the most popular feature on the show was "Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier."

Davy Crockett was portrayed by Fess Parker, a 6-foot-6-inch Texan with a friendly, unassuming manner well suited to the small screen.

Parker was welcomed into living rooms and soon captured the hearts of Americans, especially the post-war "baby boomers" who were then just children.

Every boy -- and many girls -- wanted a coonskin cap, and wore it proudly.

When the Crockett theme started playing, proclaiming that their hero was "born on a mountaintop in Tennessee, greenest state in the land of the free," kids in the Volunteer State could be forgiven for feeling a touch of kinship, and a large measure of pride.

The series was "true to life," as Walt Disney said, so when Crockett was killed at the Alamo on one Sunday night episodes of the TV show, kids all over America all but went into mourning.

Then, the next year, Davy Crockett was reborn in a full-length motion picture that was just as good as the TV series, edited from it, but bigger on the big screen, and in color.

It has been listed as one of the most patriotic movies ever produced by Hollywood.

GREENEVILLE PREMIERE

The movie premiered not far from the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, but it was simultaneously released in Greeneville, and shown here at the Capitol Theatre on June 8, 1955.

An article in The Greeneville Sun on June 2, 1955 noted that Parker was greeted by crowds of children in Greeneville the day before, and he repeatedly had his car slow down so he could wave and speak to them.

The article said that Parker "won the hearts of the homefolks, with his friendly grin, easygoing personality, and just plain kindly attitude."

The article noted, "On one occasion, he appeared to be deeply touched and said, 'I am simply overcome by the way these children have received me. I do not want to disappoint any of them, and I only wish I could shake hands with each one.'"

The article went on to say, "One youngster, who approached Fess while his car was getting gasoline, could hardly believe his eyes, when he saw the huge, buckskin-clad figure. The wide-eyed boy said in a hushed voice, 'Gosh, Daddy, I thought he was dead.'

"With that, Parker reached over and picked up the youngster in his arms, and after giving him a hug, he signed an autographed picture for him."

THOUSANDS AT CAPITOL THEATRE

Parker stood on top of a fire truck to greet "a crowd of several thousand" fans in front of the Capitol Theatre here, and was introduced by the manager, Harry Beekner.

Parker, whom the article repeatedly referred to as "Fess," told his audience, according to The Greeneville Sun, "that he was proud to be able to be in Greeneville and to visit Crockett's birthplace "on the shady banks of the Nolichucky River."

He said, "This is a beautiful spot, and I can readily understand why Davy must have loved it.

"It will be fine when a road is built to the birthplace (which was then still privately owned) and it would be fine if the actual cabin in which he was born could be restored."

The article noted that members of the Limestone Ruritan Club "are meeting this week with Gov. Frank Clement, in an effort to get a state road and recreation center at the site of Davy Crockett's birthplace."

 

America's Oldest Teenager

   "Humor is always based on a modicum of truth. Have you ever heard a joke about a father-in-law?"

Dick Clark

Richard Wagstaff "Dick" Clark (born November 30, 1929) is an American businessman; game-show host; and radio and television personality. He served as chairman and chief executive officer of Dick Clark Productions, which he has sold part of in recent years.

He is best known for hosting long-running television shows such as American Bandstand, five versions of the game show Pyramid, and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve.

Clark has long been known for his departing catchphrase, "For now, Dick Clark...so long," delivered with a military salute, and for his youthful appearance, earning the moniker "America's Oldest Teenager", until he had a stroke in late 2004.

With some speech ability still impaired, Clark returned to his New Year's Rockin' Eve show on December 31, 2005/January 1, 2006. Subsequently, he has appeared at the Emmy Awards on August 27, 2006, and every New Year's Rockin' Eve show since then.

On November 30, 2009, disc jockeys throughout the nation paid tribute to Clark on his 80th birthday.

Wikipedia

Shatner to star in 'S*** My Dad Says' TV pilot

In November, 2009's, "Tweet Smell of Success", I posted an article from the New York Post that had a subtitle of "Slacker turns cranky dad into TV sitcom." The article told about Justin Halpern, a 29-year old man who stilled lived with his parents. Justin tweets things that his 73-year-old dad says around the house. Since then, I have been following Justin Halpern on Twitter and some of the tweets are pretty outrageous and funny. Recently, he posted his dad's saying "Can we talk later? The news is on... Well, if you have tuberculosis it's not gonna get any worse in the next 30 minutes, jesus." Many things dad says (and Justin tweets) are far worse (and funnier!)

Yesterday, Chris Matyszczyk of Cnet News reported the following:

Shatner to star in 'S*** My Dad Says' TV pilot

by Chris Matyszczyk

I
f you haven't yet sniffed out "S*** My Dad Says," you have missed a chronicle of someone who is chronically honest.

Sam Halpern used to work in nuclear medicine at University of California at San Diego. His son, Justin, having been forced to move back in with his parents, one day thought it might be fun to start a Twitter page dedicated to the stuff that emerges from his dad's mind via his pleasant potty mouth.

The result makes Archie Bunker look like the kind old weather man on a regional TV station in Florida. For example, here is Sam's bon mot of February 9: "I don't get it; I sweat, I smell fine. You sweat, you smell like mule s***...Relax, she's on the treadmill next to you, she knows."

There is a rule that once more than a million people follow you on Twitter, you're either already on TV or you soon will be. So who would offer even the slightest "you s******* me?" to discover that the Twitter phenomenon is reportedly being made into a TV pilot. And the network behind it is CBS, CNET's parent company.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Captain Kirk himself, the man some Trekkies refer to as William S***ner, after he began to make fun of them, will be taking up the role of Sam Halpern.

"Please don't let the script be crap." (Credit: CC Zaphod's Other Head/Flickr)

Justin Halpern is co-writing the script, and the Reporter reports that the title of the show just might not be quite the same as that of the Twitter page. Perhaps it will be "Stuff My Dad Says." Or "Papa the Potty Mouth."

Perhaps, though, you might be a little queasy about the casting. While Shatner created a fine, Emmy-winning curmudgeonly presence in "Boston Legal," he was a very patrician and privileged Denny Crane. Sam Halpern is not merely a little rougher around the edges, he is rougher at his very heart than anything the skirt-chasing, perhaps-Alzheimery Denny Crane could ever muster.

Take this from January 23: "Sprain, huh? Did you go to medical school?...Well I did, so spare me your dog-s*** diagnosis and lemme look at your ankle." Or this from January 9: "Been thinking for a while, and I'd say there's 1.5 pounds of s*** in the dog. Tried to get the vet to weigh a sack of it. No dice."

Then there's this utter delight to celebrate the New Year: "Universe is 14 billion years old. Seems silly to celebrate one year. Be like having a f****** parade every time I take a piss."

Where often naughty words are gratuitous, Sam Halpern's invective is such a fundamental part of his being that it is hard to imagine these meaningful four- and seven-letter words not exiting from your flat-screen TV.

Justin Halpern, though, believes that his dad has always been sanguine about the Twitter feed, which has been going only since August 3. He told the Los Angeles Times: "He really doesn't give a crap."

So it can't be called "Crap My Dad Gives," right?

I've always enjoyed Shatner's crazy TV commercials. I still love his character, Denny Crane, and watch the re-runs of "Boston Legal" every chance I get. It should be interesting to see if the pilot becomes a series.

My Forty-Fourth Super Bowl

My Forty-Fourth Super Bowl

   Okay, this will give away how old I am. Except for a couple of years that I was at sea with the Navy, I have watched every Super Bowl on TV. (While at sea, we caught radio broadcasts of the Super Bowls.) I remember the excitement of the first Super Bowl game that matched the NFL champion against the upstart AFL champion for the first time. All of us who considered ourselves 'experts' thought that the NFL's Green Bay Packers would blow away the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs. After all, the Green Bay Packers had been in existence since the early 1920's competing in the National Football League, while the Chiefs and the new AFL were established in 1960.

   On January 15, 1967, Helen and I were in front of our black and white 15" TV to watch the "First World Championship Game," as it was called. Although, Kansas City lost 35-10, they played a respectable game. We were also there in front of our now larger 18", but still black and white TV in 1969, to see the Jets beat Baltimore for the first ever win by an AFL team.  The rest, as they say, is history.

  Needless to say, Helen and I were delighted when, in 1993, Jacksonville (our home since 1970) was awarded an NFL franchise.

  We owned season tickets for the first seven years. Now, we continue to be Jags fans, never missing a game on television. We long for the day that they make their first Super Bowl appearance. Being lifelong Red Sox fans, we are very patient, and have complete confidence that next year will be "the year."

The Father of Television

Jan 29, 1901: DuMont Will Make TV Work

 from Wired.com By Hugh Hart  January 28, 2010:

1901: In Brooklyn, a boy is born who will himself give birth to a revolution in home entertainment. Allen B. DuMont will be called by many the Father of Television.

DuMont contracted polio as a child. Bedridden for a year, he became obsessed with disassembling and reassembling a crystal-radio set. By 13, he’d built his own two-way radio from scratch and soon began spending his summer vacations working as a licensed wireless operator on trans-Atlantic ships.

DuMont then went to work at a radio company, where he failed in his early attempt to capture sound and picture through the use of spinning disks, so-called mechanical television. Realizing that cathode-ray tubes and a fully electronic system offered a more promising solution, he quit his day job in 1931.

Working in his garage, the incessant tinkerer figured out how to extend the life of the cathode ray tube from just a day to 1,000 hours. Armed with the innovation, DuMont showed off the first CRT television receiver to the public at the New York World’s Fair in 1939.

The engineering breakthrough propelled the television medium from an interesting experiment to a practical reality. DuMont introduced his own line of then-revolutionary TV sets that used CRTs as picture tubes.

Like Steve Jobs and Thomas Edison, DuMont was a shrewd businessman. He became one of the TV industry’s first millionaires.

Figuring that entertainment content would accelerate demand for the TV sets manufactured by his company, he launched the DuMont Television Network after World War II. The net was home to early sci-fi series Captain Video and His Video Rangers and Tom Corbett, Space Cadet. It also broadcast Jackie Gleason’s first “Honeymooners” sketches on its Cavalcade of Stars variety show.

But DuMont finished a perennial fourth to ABC, CBS and NBC. In 1955, DuMont shut down the network that bore his name.

Even if he fell short as a network exec, DuMont’s tech-head virtuosity ensures him a permanent niche in broadcasting history as a father of television, along with Philo T. Farnsworth, John Logie Baird, Vladimir Zworykin and David Sarnoff.

From "Life With Elizabeth" to "Hot In Cleveland!"

I can remember getting home from school in the early 1950's finding my mother watching a young Betty White in  "Life With Elizabeth" on television. Over the years we have seen her in the "Mary Tyler Moore Show," "Golden Girls," and numerous TV guest appearances as well as a supporting actress in many movies. It is nice to see Hollywood honor Miss White with a lifetime achievement award.

'Golden Girl' Betty White Shines

By George Christy

 - FOXNews.com

Just a week after her 88th birthday, Betty earns lifetime achievement award.

"Queen of the Hop she was at the 16th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, and Betty White rewarded the crowd at the Shrine Auditorium with the best acceptance speech when she was honored with their Lifetime Achievement Award.  She should give lessons.

"Honored with standing ovations for her six-decade career, Queen Betty, who's of German and Greek ancestry and graduated from Beverly Hills High, sighed that with so much attention she "may not be fit to live with these next few years."  Funny and wickedly clever, describing herself as an "old broad," she made no bones about being 88 years old.  Presenter Sandra Bullock zinged that she finds Betty "annoying, having appeared in four TV series."   Betty didn't miss a beat, firing back, "Isn't it beautiful how far a plain girl as she is can go?"  Betty then recalled that she began her acting career by singing in what then was an experiment:  "Television."

"Backstage, Betty praised Sandra for "being gorgeous and talented and the most down-to-earth human being … the epitome of what a movie star should be."

"But Betty didn't deny that she's star struck, never having met one of her idols, Robert Redford.  

"Acknowledging her age, she reminded that she celebrated her 88th a week before the  awards, and added that she has "a lot of stuff to do," championing animal health advocacy and working with the Los Angeles Zoo Association."

Apparently, Betty White isn't ready to call it quits yet. According to The Internet Movie Database, she is currently in pre-production for a 2010 TV series, "Hot In Cleveland."

  

Straight No Chaser

"The Christmas Can Can" by Straight No Chaser

A few days ago, my friend, Brian Patrick O'Malley posted a link to a Straight No Chaser (SNC) video on YouTube. I had never heard of the a cappella group but instantly became a big fan.

I did a little research and found that Wikipedia describes SNC's history as follows:

"The group was formed in 1996 at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. Together the 10 students -- Dan Ponce (the founder), Randy Stine, Charlie Mechling, Steve Morgan, Jerome Collins, Dave Roberts, Walter Chase, Mike Itkoff, Patrick Hachey, and Kevin Caroll—became Straight No Chaser. Their name, Straight No Chaser (SNC), was inspired by a Thelonious Monk composition."

While the cartoon version of "Christmas Can Can" is funny and entertaining, the non-cartoon version showing the group's members and their antics is my favorite.

I really enjoy their singing and humor. You can learn more about the talented group and watch SNC's videos at the Straight No Chaser website. Of course, YouTube has many of their videos as well.

SNC's new CD for the Christmas season.

The Muppets sing "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen

I have to confess that I have loved the Muppets ever since I saw their skits on "Saturday Night Live" in 1975 and 1976. When they got their own half-hour TV series, I never missed an episode.

If you are a fan of the Muppets, and enjoy music by Queen, or even if you aren't a Queen fan, this 4+ minute video is worth watching. If your computer can handle 1080p (HD) make sure you select the 1080P version.

Turn up your sound, and enjoy! 

Tweet smell of success

"Son, no one gives a s*** about all the things your cell phone does. You didn't invent it, you just bought it. Anybody can do that."

Slacker turns cranky dad into TV sitcom

New York Post, By MAXINE SHEN, November 11, 2009

Justin Halpern, 29, still lives at home -- and he's just turned his four-month-old Twitter site into a TV series for CBS.

Who says the Internet is a dark, lonley place?

Halpern's story may soon be the stuff of slacker legend and give Hollywood a whole new path to show-biz success.

Last August, the screenwriter-wannabe was forced to move back with his parents in San Diego after breaking up with his girlfriend.
While living there -- saving money while working remotely as a maxim.com editor -- he started a Twitter page to chronicle the outrageously funny things that his 73-year-old, retired father said.

COUCHED: Justin Halpern at home yesterday. His improbable Twitter feed has been sold to CBS.

He called the site something unprintable here -- "S- - - My Dad Says."
And it was an overnight, Internet smash, attracting more than 700,000 followers in a month's time.

Yesterday, CBS announced that they'd signed him to write a family sitcom based on the Tweets. The series will be overseen by "Will & Grace" creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick.

Of course, the key to the whole story is Halpern's father, Samuel, who is wise, funny and more than a little profane -- a digital world Scrooge who says things like: "Son, no one gives a sh*** about all the things your cell phone does. You didn't invent it, you just bought it. Anybody can do that."
Halpern, who majored in TV and film production at San Diego State University, says that his screenwriting background "was actually why I had put those Tweets up. I was thinking that maybe someday, I would use the things my dad said in a script, so I was just trying to keep a record of them" that couldn't be deleted.

Skeptics might think that the Tweets are a little too polished to be real, but Halpern insists that they are essentially verbatim.

"The most that I'll do is change a word here or there to make it fit in the 140 [characters allotted by Twitter]," Halpern says. As proof, he says he has "a couple of recordings of my dad leaving messages on my voicemails," which he'll put up on a Web site -- one of these days.

Meanwhile the elder Halpern -- who "worked in nuclear medicine," says Justin -- couldn't be less interested in his new fame.

"He doesn't think any of this stuff is interesting," Justin says. "He's not a fan; this is not something he thinks [is funny]. He doesn't care."

Upon finding out about all the media interest, Sam Halpern laid down two rules. The first was that he didn't "want to f- - - - - - talk to anybody." That effectively killed the guest spot on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" they'd been invited to last month.

Rule 2: No online statements that refer to personal things about the family.
"Once, I made the mistake of using my mom's name in one of [the Tweets] and he was pissed about that. It's still up there though," Halpern says.

If his dad ever does object, he say, he'd stop Tweeting right away.
"I had a career before this," says Justin. "It wasn't as lucrative, but it's not worth screwing up [our relationship].

"The man lets me live in his house for free," he says. "I love my dad, I don't want to piss him off intentionally."