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Tuesday, June 12, 2012

June 12, 1994


It's Tuesday, June 12, 2012, and it's the day where we step back in time once more. And this time, we're going to flash back to a moment in time where a heinous crime took place. And with that crime came one of the biggest media circuses ever to grace televisions and magazines all over the world.

But, of course, before we pick the date we're flashing back to,we always have to take a look at some of the other events that took place in history. So, let's have a look at the happenings of June 12, beginning with celebrity birthdates.

Celebrating a birthday this twelfth of June are David Rockefeller, George H. W. Bush, Jim Nabors, Marv Albert, Chick Corea, John Wetton (Asia), Bun E. Carlos (Cheap Trick), Timothy Busfield, Jenilee Harrison, John Enos III, Tim DeKay, Paula Marshall, Rick Hoffman, Gordon Michael Woolvett, Jason Mewes, Kerry Kittles, Michael Muhney, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, DJ Qualls, Wil Horneff, Robyn, Adriana Lima, Chris Young, and Kendra Wilkinson.

June 12 also happens to be a date in which we lost a lot of famous faces. We mourned the losses of Jimmy Dorsey in 1957, Bill Blass in 2002, Gregory Peck in 2003, and Don “Mr. Wizard” Herbert in 2007.

June 12 also had a lot of important events that happened throughout history as well.

1429 – Joan of Arc leads French army in their capture of the city and English commander William de la Pole in the second day of the Battle of Jargeau during the Hundred Years War

1665 – England installs a municipal government in New York City

1775 – British General Thomas Gage declares martial law in Massachusetts during the American Revolution

1860 – The State Bank of the Russian Empire is established

1864 – Ulysses S. Grant gives the Confederate Forces under Robert E. Lee a victory after pulling his troops from Cold Harbor, Virginia during American Civil War

1889 – 78 are killed in Armagh rail disaster in what is now called Northern Ireland

1898 – The Philippines declares independence from Spain

1939 – The Baseball Hall Of Fame opens up in Cooperstown, New York

1942 – On her 13th birthday, Anne Frank receives a diary for a present. Years later, it would become one of the most famous pieces of literature in a book entitled “Diary of a Young Girl”

1964 – Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life in a South African prison for sabotage, and would not get out until February 1990

1967 – Loving vs. Virginia; The United States Supreme Court declares all state laws that prohibit interracial marriage to be unconstitutional

1978 – David Berkowitz (a.k.a. The Son of Sam) is sentenced to 365 years in prison for the six murders he committed

1987 – Ronald Reagan challenges Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall

1991 – Russians elect Boris Yeltzin as president of the republic

1996 – In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a panel of federal judges blocks a law against indecency on the internet

1997 – Queen Elizabeth II reopens Globe Theatre in London

2000 – Sandro Rosa do Nascimento takes hostages during a bus robbery in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; ends with death of do Nascimento and one hostage

2001 – Robert Edward Dyer sentenced to 16 years in jail for his attempt to extort money from a supermarket chain through a letter bomb campaign

So, as you can see, June 12 is a date that had a lot of happenings. And for some odd reason, June 12 seems to be linked to a lot of criminal activity and trials. Therefore, it seems only fitting that the date we're flashing back to also has that link.



Today we are going back to June 12, 1994.

June 12, 1994 was quite a busy day in history. It was the date that the Boeing 777 made its first flight, and it was the date that we lost actor/comedian Christopher Collins. But it was also the date that a brutal double murder took place in the city of Los Angeles. That was horrible enough. But when you take into account that the accused was a famous football star, that made the situation all that much worse. The result was a trial that seemed to never end, and once it did, left a lot of people with a bad taste in their mouths.



On June 12, 1994, 35-year-old Nicole Brown Simpson, and 25-year-old Ronald Goldman were found stabbed to death outside of Brown Simpson's Brentwood condominium just shortly after midnight. An investigation was launched into who could have committed the murders, and immediately one suspect came to mind.



Orenthal James Simpson...better known as O.J. Simpson, former player of the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers, who would later partake in an acting career, landing roles in Roots, the Naked Gun trilogy, and having several endorsement deals throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. Who would have ever guessed that just fifteen years after retiring from the NFL, he would find himself as the prime suspect in one of the biggest murder trials of the decade...maybe even perhaps of the century.

Before we get to that, why don't we take a look back at what happened before the murders took place?



Nicole Brown Simpson was once married to O.J. Simpson. They had met each other in 1977 while she was working as a waitress at a Beverly Hills nightclub. The relationship immediately heated up, even though Simpson himself was still married to his first wife, Marguerite, at the time. The couple married each other in February 1985, and together they had two children, Sydney and Justin. The couple stayed married for the next seven years, but it became clear that the marriage was not a match made in heaven. In 1989, O.J. Simpson pleaded no contest to spousal abuse, indicating that he had physically hurt Nicole on a number of occasions during their marriage. The couple split up, and Nicole filed for divorce in February 1992, citing irreconcilable differences as the main reason.

By 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson had moved on with her life. She had turned 35 on May 19 of that year, and she was looking forward to the future. On the last night of her life, Nicole ate dinner with her family at Mezzaluna restaurant, where Ronald Goldman worked as a waiter. After the dinner ended, Nicole went home, but ended up forgetting her glasses at the restaurant. After Nicole's mother phoned the restaurant to inquire about the glasses, the manager of the restaurant found them, put them inside a white envelope, and Ronald Goldman volunteered to return the glasses to Nicole, since he knew her already.

It would be the last time that Nicole and Ron were seen alive.

At the crime scene, investigators collected the evidence, which according to them pointed the finger of blame squarely on Simpson. After all, Simpson did have a history of abusing his ex-wife during their marriage, and investigators believed that they had enough forensic evidence to convict Simpson of the double murder.

Five days later, on June 17, lawyers convinced the LAPD to allow Simpson to turn himself in by eleven o'clock in the morning. The charges were serious. If Simpson were convicted, he would be condemned to death within the prison system, but his lawyers believed that if Simpson voluntarily turned himself in, it would look better for him. But as we well know by now, Simpson didn't show up, and by two in the afternoon, a warrant was sworn out for his arrest. Three hours later, Simpson's friend and lawyer, Robert Kardashian (and yes, he was the father of Kim, Khloe, and Kourtney) read a note from Simpson that some interpreted as a suicide note. The search for Simpson intensified with reporters joining the police in hopes of finding him.

It wouldn't be until 6:20pm that Simpson would be located, and it would be this sighting that would kick off the ensuing media circus that would take over the world for a year and a half.



After a motorist spotted Simpson inside a white Bronco, police tracked him down, and this lead to a police chase down Interstate 405, which ended up being highly televised. It even interrupted the 1994 NBA finals! It was big news. But if you thought that was the end of it, think again.

Jury selection began in the O.J. Simpson murder trial in October 1994, with the 12-member jury confirmed by November 1994. Opening statements began on January 24, 1995, where prosecutors intended to prove that O.J. Simpson did murder Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman the night of June 12, 1994.



Now, I won't go into great detail about the trial itself because I'm sure that you could find multiple accounts and transcripts detailing everything from the testimonies of the witnesses to the “if the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit” statement. And besides, the actual case isn't the focus of this blog entry. More along the lines of the aftermath, as well as the impact it had in the world of media.

As we all know, the trial lasted a grand total of nine months. During this time, special news reports peppered television during both daytime and primetime slots. It got to the point where it became very unpredictable when it came to watching television shows, as one never knew when a new development in the case would preempt a show. Soap operas were often a frequent casualty of the O.J. Simpson trial. At the trial's peak, viewers were lucky if they could watch their stories three times a week.

On top of that, the constant barrage of media attention that surrounded the O.J. Simpson trial were often fodder for late night talk shows. Kato Kaelin, a witness in the trial soon became a household name thanks to the talk show hosts poking fun at him every chance they had. In fact, Jay Leno really had a ball on his talk show poking fun at the participants in the trial, including having an army of Dancing Itos. Watch the clip below to see what I mean.



Truth be told, everyone who was associated with the trial was elevated to near-celebrity status. After all, watching the trial progressing was almost like a reality show...only instead of winning a million dollars, the contestants were battling against each other to either get their client convicted or acquitted. Johnnie Cochran, Robert Shapiro, Marcia Clark, Robert Kardashian, Lance Ito, Kato Kaelin, Mark Fuhrman...all of these people were thrown into the public spotlight as a result of the high-profile case.

The trial lasted until October 1995. On October 3, 1995, the long-awaited verdict had finally been reached. It was 10:00 in the morning (California time) when jurors came back with the verdict. I actually remember this moment very well. Although the verdict had been reached by the time I got out of school that day (my school day ended at a quarter past two back in ninth grade), the news was plastered on almost every channel. I think only PBS, YTV, and the Weather Network were the only three channels that didn't broadcast the verdict. Would you like to relive that moment? Have a look below.



You heard it here folks. Orenthal James Simpson was found NOT GUILTY.



Certainly the verdict had a huge impact on the world. In particular, within the United States. The date that the verdict occurred, it was estimated that over 100 million people tuned in to watch the verdict live on television...one of the largest viewing audiences ever for a live television event. Those same people dropped everything that they were doing to watch the verdict live on television. Long-distance phone calls reportedly dropped by 58% the day of the verdict, while activity on the New York Stock Exchange decreased by 41%. Water consumption was also at an all-time low during the hour the verdict was announced, upon the speculation that people avoided using the bathroom so that they wouldn't miss the verdict! Even Domino's Pizza recorded an increase in pizza orders just before the verdict was read.

As far as the verdict itself went, reaction was very mixed. A lot of people believed that O.J. Simpson had gotten away with murder (and well, I'll admit it...I was one of those people, and still feel this way eighteen years later). But some never believed for a moment that O.J. Simpson was capable of murder. Whether you find it unsurprising or not, many of O.J. Simpson's supporters were predominately black or Hispanic. In fact, there was a fear among many residents of Los Angeles that if Simpson was found guilty, it would cause another spree of rioting, similar to that of the April 29, 1992 riots linked to the Rodney King trial.

It seems hard to believe that a murder trial could cause so many people to drop everything that they were doing to witness, but back in late 1994/early 1995, that's exactly what a lot of people did. It would seem highly unlikely for another trial to have as much media impact as the O.J. Simpson murder case. When you stop and think about it, the entire trial was almost like a soap opera itself. There were characters of all backgrounds, both representing good and evil, and the case ended up with an ending that divided people for several years.



It's been eighteen years since Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman lost their lives, and at the end of it all, none of us really know what exactly happened the night of June 12, 1994. It's entirely possible that O.J. Simpson could have been innocent the whole time, but given his recent activities, I highly doubt that. When you consider that he wrote a book entitled “If I Did It”, which more or less depicted what would have happened IF he did kill Nicole and Ron, I don't know...for someone protesting that they were innocent the whole time, I would think that the last thing I would do is cast more suspicion on myself. But, again, who knows what went on in O.J.'s mind at the time.

Though, O.J. Is not the only one to write books about the trial. Marcia Clark, Johnnie Cochran, and Mark Fuhrman also wrote books about their points of view during the most-watched murder trial of the century. There have even been books that have speculated on other possible scenarios regarding the murder, including a 2008 book by Mike Gilbert which accuses O.J.'s son, Jason of committing the crime!

But here's a little bit of a footnote. If you are one of the ones who believed that O.J. Simpson got away with murder, you might take some consolation in the fact that in 1997, O.J. Simpson was ordered to pay over $33 million in damages to the Goldman family after losing his wrongful death civil trial. To help with the payments, some of Simpson's belongings were auctioned off, including his Heisman trophy. The auction raised half a million dollars, all of which went to the family of Ronald Goldman.

And then there was the 2007 robbery case in which Simpson reportedly entered a hotel room at the Palace Station in Las Vegas, Nevada and stole sports memorabilia at gunpoint. A couple of days later, after initially being let go after questioning, Simpson was arrested and charged with criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, assault, robbery, and using a deadly weapon. A trial followed suit, and unlike his last high-profile court case, where he was set free, this time, Simpson couldn't hide from the truth. He was sentenced to a thirty-three year prison sentence in 2008, with possibility of parole in 2017, and as of right now, his home is the Lovelock Correctional Center in Nevada.

Funny how life works out. In the end, O.J. Simpson ended up getting away with murder, but still ended up in jail for an unrelated crime. Although I'm sure it is of little comfort for the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, who ended up losing their lives on June 12, 1994.



A double murder in which we may never know what truly happened. Sure doesn't stop us from speculating though.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Mrs. Doubtfire


As of right now, I have no children of my own, but I have to admit that I would like to have at least one child at some point in my lifetime.  I have to admit that I really do enjoy the laughter of children.  I wouldn’t have volunteered in a kindergarten classroom eight years ago if I didn’t.

Of course, it helped that my nephew was a part of that class at the time.

The point is that I definitely can see myself becoming a father at some point in my lifetime.  Mind you, if I were to go the biological route, I would ideally have to find someone to have a child with because as far as we have come medically, they still haven’t found a way for a man to get pregnant.

Not that I would readily volunteer to do this, that is.

For whatever reason though, I admit that at some point, I’d love to have children.  Even if it doesn’t work out that I have a biological child, there’s always adoption or being a step-parent (though not if the step-children are trying to kill me).  Maybe it’s the fact that mostly everyone else I went to school with already has children and I feel like I’m one of the few who is missing out because I don’t have them yet that’s causing me to talk about this, but it’s just a dream I have. 

Anyway, I suppose you’re wondering what becoming a father has to do with the Monday Matinee for today.  Well, I’m glad you are wondering because I’m about to tell you. 

In a world where we have Maury Povich giving out thousands of paternity tests on his talk show trying to determine who baby daddies are, I consider myself quite fortunate that I have a father who was always there when I needed him.  We didn’t always get along with each other, and there were some instances in which we got into huge fights, but in the end, we still love and respect each other.  And, I would hope that if I have children one day, I’m the same way with them...well, minus all the huge fights.

In this movie, we’re going to meet a father who would literally do anything for his three children.  To him, his children are his whole world, and he wanted to make them happy.  Mind you, he didn’t exactly go about it the most mature way, but the children never once doubted his love for them.  So when a life-changing event happens, and the end result is that the devoted dad is kept apart from his children most of the time, he asks himself the following question.  “How far will a father go to make sure that he sees his children every day?”


That’s the question that will be answered as we take a look back at the 1993 film “Mrs. Doubtfire”.  The movie was directed by Chris Columbus, and starred Robin Williams, Sally Field, Pierce Brosnan, and Harvey Fierstein.  It was the second highest grossing film of 1993, right behind “Jurassic Park”, and it made well over $400 million at the box office.  It was loosely based on the 1987 Anne Fine novel “Alias Madame Doubtfire”.


Robin Williams played the role of Daniel Hillard, a struggling voice actor who could not hold down a job.  Luckily, his wife, Miranda (Field) worked a high-paying job at a design firm, so the Hillard family lived a comfortable lifestyle...well, as comfortable as one could be living with the often spontaneous Daniel.  But one thing was for certain.  Daniel absolutely loved his three children, Lydia (Lisa Jakub), Chris (Matthew Lawrence), and Natalie (Mara Wilson).

And when Chris’ 12th birthday came, Daniel really wanted to do something special for his birthday.  Something that Chris would never forget.


It was a nice idea.  To have the party inside a San Francisco neighbourhood with animals from a petting zoo loose inside the Hillard family living room...not so much.  Miranda was absolutely furious at Daniel, and they got into a terrible fight.  Unlike others that the Hillard children witnessed, this one would not have a kiss and make up kind of ending.

Miranda was tired of Daniel’s immaturity and lack of focus, and the birthday party was the final straw.  She put on a brave face for fourteen years, but enough was enough.  She wanted a divorce.  And when she said that, you could basically pinpoint the exact moment when Daniel’s heart split in two.


To make matters completely worse for Daniel, Miranda was granted primary custody of the three children.  Daniel was only allowed to see the children on Saturdays.  And for Daniel, who was deeply devoted to his children, one day out of seven just wasn’t enough.  But with the divorce ending in a bitter fashion, and Daniel having no job prospects lined up, it seemed hopeless.  The judge did tell Daniel that if he had a suitable home and a steady job within three months, the judge would revisit custody arrangements to include joint custody.

Eventually, Daniel lands a job as a shipping clerk at a local television station, and manages to find an apartment.  But when the children note that Daniel doesn’t seem to be trying incredibly hard to see them more than once a week, something inside of him snaps, and he gets more determination to see his children.

As it happens, he finds out that Miranda is looking for a housekeeper to look after the children.  Daniel pipes up that he could watch the children so Miranda doesn’t need to spend the money to hire someone else, but Miranda did not like that idea at all.  So Daniel decides to change the numbers in the ad on purpose so that he could use his voice talents to land the acting gig of a lifetime (and yes, the clip is backwards...it's the only one I could find).


It also helped that his brother Frank (Fierstein) was a skilled make-up artist who could turn Daniel from a 40something man into a 60something British nanny named Euphegenia Doubtfire...the woman that Miranda hired on the spot to watch the children.

At first, Lydia, Chris, and Natalie are appalled by the addition of Mrs. Doubtfire into their lives.  Although none of them had any idea that Mrs. Doubtfire was really their beloved father, Mrs. Doubtfire was one strict bird.  She made them do their homework, she made them do their chores, she even made them eat nutritious food!  It was a far cry from the irresponsible behaviour that Miranda often accused Daniel of exhibiting.  Although, Mrs. Doubtfire wasn’t exactly Martha Stewart, and when it came time for her to prepare dinner for the family, she got more than a little burned.


It worked out well though.  For several weeks, Daniel had everybody fooled.  Certainly, there were a few missteps along the way (such as having his face mask fall out the window only to be run over by a truck), and Daniel certainly didn’t care too much for Miranda’s new boyfriend, Stuart (Brosnan).  But, he ended up cleaning up his act.  His apartment soon became more kid-friendly, his food became more gourmet quality, and he even ended up getting an interview with Jonathan Lundy, the CEO of the television studio he works at to discuss the possibility of hosting a children’s show after seeing him fooling around with dinosaur models. 


In a way, his becoming Mrs. Doubtfire helped Daniel achieve all that and more.  When Daniel took on the role of Mrs. Doubtfire, I have a hunch that he purposely made her strict so that it would make his children love him and respect him more.  But over time, through Mrs. Doubtfire, Daniel taught himself how to become a better, more responsible parent.  Weirdly enough, as Mrs. Doubtfire, he actually found that he got along with Miranda a lot better, and it was through his conversations with her as Mrs. Doubtfire that he really began to understand where the marriage went wrong, and he started feeling remorseful as a result of it.  But I think it was good for him to hear because it made him realize that his war with Miranda wasn’t worth continuing if the people he loved the most got hurt.  Of course, it wasn’t so easy for Daniel as well.  As Mrs. Doubtfire, he was very convincing.  Perhaps even too convincing.  Because when Miranda saw how well Daniel had come along, Daniel had suggested that Miranda let Mrs. Doubtfire go.  But Miranda couldn’t imagine life without her, and Daniel was forced to keep up the charade even further.

Now, along the way, Daniel’s double life is discovered by Chris and Lydia in a most unconventional way (Chris walks in on Mrs. Doubtfire in the bathroom), and at first, both children are disgusted.  Eventually, both of them come around, and Lydia and Chris agree to keep Daniel’s secret from both Miranda and Natalie until he can figure out what to do next.


Of course, Daniel soon finds himself in an impossible situation.  Daniel is about to make the deal of a lifetime with Jonathan Lundy, and after a business dinner at Bridges Restaurant, it seemed as though Daniel would end up landing the biggest job of his whole career.  It’s just too bad that the meeting coincided with Miranda’s birthday.  And for her birthday, Stuart decided to take Miranda, the children, and Mrs. Doubtfire out to dinner.  At Bridges Restaurant.  On the same day at the same time!

I’m sure you can imagine Daniel’s brain exploding on impact.  Daniel had to keep his appointment with Jonathan.  It was the only chance he had to make his dream of being an actor come true.  But Miranda and Natalie insisted that Mrs. Doubtfire join them for dinner.  Daniel had no choice but to go to Bridges Restaurant and switch between himself and Mrs. Doubtfire to keep both dinner dates.  By the end of the night, nothing will ever be the same again.

Now, of course, I never reveal movie endings, so you’ll have to watch the movie yourself to see what happens.  But trust me, you won’t be disappointed.

I’ll admit it.  I really enjoyed this movie a lot.  It was silly and goofy at times, but it was also very heartwarming.  Certainly Daniel Hillard wasn’t your typical father.  But you know, given the amount of trouble that he went through in order to see his children whenever he wanted, you have to hand it to him...he had guts.  And, you know something?  I think Lydia, Chris, and Natalie Hillard were damned lucky to have a father who loved them so much that he would do something so drastic to spend time with them.


Now I’m not saying that I’ll put on a dress and a pair of heels once I become a father.  I mean, with size 12 feet, good luck finding a pair of heels to fit me.  But in all seriousness, I can only hope that if I ever become a father, I’ll love my own children with as much passion and joy as Daniel Hillard did with his.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Get On Your Feet!


This time of month, I’m noticing that there are a lot of charity walks that are being held to raise money for various organizations.  There are walks to fund research towards finding a cure for multiple sclerosis.  There’s the annual “Relay for Life” which is held in memory of those who have lost their battle with the disease, as well as raising money to eventually find a cure.  Even my workplace has an annual walk called the “Walk for Miracles”, which benefits children’s hospitals all across Canada.  If only I weren’t scheduled to work this year, I would be doing that walk in a heartbeat.  But, I did that walk the last three years in a row, and I hope to take part in the walk again in 2013.

But, you don’t need to sign up for a charity walk in order to really enjoy the benefits of a nice walk down the street.  The weather is perfect this time of year (well, unless you’re living in the southern hemisphere) for a nice stroll down by the river, down to the park, or even just up and down the street walking your dog.  Really, I think that for most of us, we take the ability to walk for granted, and we don’t even think that we could have that ability taken away from us at a moment’s notice.  For those of us who still have the mobility, I encourage everyone to be thankful for your legs, and be grateful that they still work.  There are lots of people who would switch places with you in a heartbeat.

This is the story of how one woman was faced with the possibility of never walking again, and how through hard work and determination, she managed to overcome the challenges that were thrown her way one cold day in 1990.


This is the story of Gloria Estefan.  And the song that I have chosen for this blog entry is a song that is quite appropriate given the context of this Sunday Jukebox entry.



ARTIST:  Gloria Estefan
SONG:  Get On Your Feet
ALBUM:  Cuts Both Ways
DATE RELEASED:  September 30, 1989
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #11

This song happens to be one of my favourites by Gloria Estefan, even though it just missed hitting the Top 10 on the Billboard Charts.  It was a decent song in comparison to some of her other efforts, but she certainly had other songs that peaked higher, including a couple of chart-toppers.  But it’s a song that upon retrospect probably has a lot of significant meaning for Gloria Estefan, because just six months after this song was released, Gloria wondered if she would ever get up on her feet ever again.


The date was March 20, 1990, and Gloria Estefan and her band, the Miami Sound Machine, were right in the middle of the North American leg of her tour.  The tour was in support of Estefan’s eleventh album, “Cuts Both Ways”.  The album was memorable in a variety of different ways.  It was Estefan’s first album where she was credited as a solo artist.  Prior to the album’s release, she was credited alongside the Miami Sound Machine, the band that she had joined way back in 1977.  With the Miami Sound Machine, Estefan thrived, and as a result, the band had a slew of hit singles, including “Words Get In The Way”, “Bad Boys”, “Conga”, and “Anything For You”.

“Cuts Both Ways” was released in the middle of 1989, and immediately, the album’s first single, “Don’t Wanna Lose You” reached the top of the Billboard Charts.  It ended up becoming Gloria’s most successful albums, selling more than ten million copies worldwide.  Because the album contained songs that were recorded in English and Spanish, it became very popular in the Latino community as well (not that she needed it, as she had been a favourite of the Latino community before she hit it big anyway). 

The album’s popularity spawned the “Get On Your Feet” world tour in early 1990, and Gloria was anxious to thank her fans for all of their support.  Tagging along for the ride were Gloria’s husband, Emilio (who was a member of the Miami Sound Machine), as well as her then nine-year-old son, Nayib.  The tour, her family, her life...everything was perfect for Gloria Estefan.

Perhaps too perfect.

In an interview that she did with Mail Online (which you can read here if you like), Gloria recounted the events of March 20, 1990.  At the time, their tour bus was in the vicinity of Scranton, Pennsylvania.  Although it was snowing at the time, nobody was worried about the snow.  But Gloria had a nagging feeling that something terrible was about to happen.  She couldn’t quite explain what it was.  She just had the feeling that she had wanted her life to ‘freeze’ at the moment.

Within moments, Gloria tucked her son into bed on the tour bus, and Gloria soon fell asleep as well...only to be woken up by a terrible crash, and searing pain.


A truck had crashed directly into the tour bus, and the impact knocked Gloria onto the floor of the bus.  Upon impact, Gloria was in serious agony, and had known that she had broken her back.  What she didn’t realize was just how serious the accident really was.

Immediately after the accident, Gloria Estefan was brought to the Intensive Care Unit of Community Medical Center before being flown by helicopter to New York City, where she had two titanium rods implanted inside of her to stabilize her vertebral column.

The surgery was a rough and painful one, but it could have been a lot worse.  When the accident happened, Gloria was frantically screaming for her husband.  Emilio Estefan was trying to tell Gloria not to make any sudden movements at all until the ambulances came.  Gloria took heed of his words, which likely saved her from becoming permanently paralysed.

For the next six months, Gloria endured a painful rehabilitation.  She did everything she could to be able to walk again, and she did everything that her doctors advised her to do.  But Gloria revealed in Mail Online that her husband and son both blamed themselves for the accident.  Just before the accident, her husband had encouraged her to take a detour to New York to attend a business dinner, and the accident happened the night of the function.  As for her son, he had been playing a game just before the accident occurred.  The day that the accident happened, Nayib Estefan was jumping along the pavement, chanting the nursery rhyme “Step on a crack, break your mother’s back”, making sure to step on as many cracks as he could.  Of course, he had no way of knowing exactly what was going to happen that day, but Gloria said that he kept it secret for months afterwards, and felt terrible about it.

The aftermath of the accident also caused a lot of emotional stress to Gloria in addition to the physical trauma that she sustained.  She recalled the horror she felt when she saw the surgical scars for the first time since the accident, and she immediately broke down.  She worked so hard to create an image for her music.  She was the young, vibrant, sensuous Latina singer who lived for fun, dancing, and excitement.  It took a long time for Gloria to accept that it had happened.  While she was grateful that she was able to walk again, it took a long time for her to feel comfortable with herself again.


It was a long road to recovery, and certainly Gloria endured an incredibly rough year filled with rehabilitation.  With a little luck, and a lot of determination, along with the love and support of her family, friends, and fans, Gloria made a triumphant return to the stage on January 28, 1991...when she performed at the American Music Awards.  There’s a clip of the performance below which is dubbed in Spanish, but if you click HERE, you can watch the English version as well.


Wasn’t that something?  You could just see the joy in Gloria’s eyes as she took to the stage just ten months after an accident almost cost Gloria the ability to walk again.  Not many people end up getting a standing ovation BEFORE performing at an awards show, but Gloria earned every clap.  Her story of bouncing back from serious injury was nothing short of remarkable.

These days, Gloria is still recording music and touring again, and with each concert she performs, I imagine she never takes walking for granted again.  And in 1994, Gloria gave birth to her second child, a daughter named Emily.  The pregnancy was such that Gloria wasn’t sure if it would even happen at all.  The tour bus accident had caused one of her Fallopian tubes to shift, which prevented Gloria from getting pregnant.  But after undergoing surgery to correct the problem (as well as a series of fertility injections), Gloria fell pregnant after the second attempt.

The story of Gloria Estefan and her rise from the ashes of the tour bus accident is nothing short of fantastic.  Her sheer determination alone is something that should be celebrated.  And ultimately, Gloria ended up learning a very valuable life lesson from the accident...one that I am going to share below.

“But in spite of the accident, I felt an odd relief that it had happened so that I could learn not to take anything for granted.  I also discovered that I had a lot of discipline and patience that I didn’t know I had.”
          - Gloria Estefan, Mail Online, September 4, 2008

I can definitely relate to this.  Well, okay, maybe I still need a bit of work with the virtue of patience...but everything else seems to be something that I could use with my situation as well.  When I underwent my own surgery, the aftermath that I had was a lot like Gloria’s.  In some weird way, I’m glad that my health problems happened too because it allowed me to realize that life can change in an instant.  We always have to be prepared to face the worst, and we always have to treat every day as if it could be our last.  Gloria Estefan certainly lived, and currently lives this philosophy every day, and in the end, it has made her one of the world’s most beloved musical artists.


So, what are you waiting for?  Get on your feet!  Get up and take some action!

Saturday, June 09, 2012

Dennis the Menace


I’m sure that we all have horror stories about the grouchy people in our neighbourhoods growing up.  I certainly have my pick of past neighbours that I thought were mean.  When I was a kid, there was a neighbour that lived across the street from me who HATED kids.  At the time, I lived in a neighbourhood where there were a lot of neighbours that were over the age of sixty-five.  Her husband was a very nice man, but she always glared at me as if the demonic seed of Satan was growing inside my body.  It got to the point where I didn’t feel comfortable playing on the front porch of my house anymore...of which once I stopped, she then wondered why I never went outside.  As if it were any of her business what a nine-year-old boy did in his free time anyway.

In my case, I don’t think she liked me very much.  And, upon retrospect, I didn’t really have much love for the meddling old bat either (said with only the most sincere intentions, by the way). 

In today’s blog entry, I thought we’d take a look at a cartoon that I used to love growing up.  It was a cartoon that was based from a comic strip character that was created in 1951.  In many of the comic strips and cartoon shorts, the storyline kind of mirrored my own experiences with my childhood neighbours, but with a twist.  In both cases, there was a grouchy neighbour that was visibly annoyed by the presence of a little boy and dreaded each time he came around because it usually meant trouble.  But, unlike my situation, the title character of this comic/cartoon wanted desperately to seek his approval.  He would try to do chores for him, bring him presents, be his friend...only to be met with yelling and screaming every time.  In rare occasions, the neighbour would let down his guard and be nice to the boy...but it wasn’t often.

Oh, sure, the boy didn’t intend to cause so much trouble.  He had only the most honourable intentions in regards to his neighbour.  But, when you consider all the bad luck that befell George Wilson, you might be under the impression that the boy was a real...menace.



Yes, today’s blog subject is about Dennis the Menace, the comic strip character that has appeared in television, newspapers, and on Dairy Queen Blizzard cups for years.  In this blog entry, I’ll be focusing mostly on the cartoon series that ran for two seasons from 1986 to 1988, but before we do that, I think that it’s necessary to talk about how Dennis the Menace was created.



We have to go back sixty-two years to the year 1950 to see the moment in which Dennis the Menace was created.  At that time, a man by the name of Hank Ketcham was working as a freelance cartoonist after working as an animator for Walter Lantz and Walt Disney.  He was in his studio trying to brainstorm ideas for a new cartoon when his wife burst into the room in a huff.  When Ketcham asked what the matter was, his wife stated that their then four-year-old son was a menace because he had wrecked his bedroom instead of having a nap.

The son’s name was Dennis.  (And, ironically enough, if you read the name backwards, it would read the word SINNED.)

This inspired Hank Ketcham to create a character based on that remark.  And, with that, the blonde-haired, red overalls wearing Dennis “The Menace” Mitchell was born.



When the first Dennis the Menace comic strip was drawn in 1951, it was initially published in a handful of newspapers.  By the spring of 1953, that number grew to 193 newspapers in the United States, and an additional 52 abroad.  It was estimated that thirty million readers read Dennis the Menace in the newspaper at any given time.

Below are a couple of examples of some of these Dennis the Menace cartoons.



Ketcham continued to do the comic strip for Dennis the Menace for at least the next four decades before retiring to Carmel, California.  He passed away in June 2001.  At the time of Ketcham’s death, the comic was distributed in no less than one thousand different newspapers worldwide.  Since Ketcham’s passing, the comic strip has now been taken over by his former assistants, Ron Ferdinand and Marcus Hamilton, and can still be read in newspapers today.

However, the namesake of the iconic “Dennis the Menace” didn’t end up having as charmed of a life as the character.  The real Dennis Ketcham had a rough upbringing.  He struggled with learning disabilities, and was often neglected by his parents.  His father was too preoccupied with work to give much notice, and his mother was addicted to alcohol.  Dennis’ mother, Alice, died of a drug overdose when Dennis was twelve, and shortly after that, he was sent to a series of boarding schools in Switzerland and the United States.  When Dennis was eighteen, he joined the Marine Corps where he was stationed in Vietnam.  He returned with post-traumatic stress disorder, and eventually ended up estranged from his father as a result.  A far cry from the cartoon character if ever there was one.


TRIVIA:  Have a look at this photo of Hank and Dennis Ketcham, and compare it to the cartoon depictions of Dennis Mitchell and his father.  Notice the similarity?

Oh, and Dennis’ mother was named Alice after the real life mother of Dennis Ketcham.

Certainly a lot of people’s first impressions of Dennis the Menace came from the comic strips and books.  And, some even watched the classic live-action television show that aired in the late 1950s, starring Jay North as Dennis.  And, there was also the live-action 1993 film which starred Mason Gamble, Walter Matthau, and Christopher Lloyd that entertained a new generation of children.


However, my first introduction to Dennis the Menace was the television cartoon.  If you click HERE, you can watch a partial episode of the show, just to see what it was like.  Go ahead and watch it.  I can wait.  While you watch, I’ll offer you some trivia about the voice cast.  The voice of Mr. Wilson and Dennis’ father was performed by two actors.  One was the late Phil Hartman, and the other one was Maurice LaMarche, who would later go on to work on Pinky and the Brain.  As for Dennis, he was voiced by then eleven-year-old Brennan Thicke.  And if that last name sounds familiar, it’s because he happens to be the son of Growing Pains star Alan Thicke, and brother of singer Robin Thicke.

The cartoon debuted on September 22, 1986 in syndication, and it incorporated every single character that appeared in the comic strip into the cartoon show.  There was Dennis, of course, as well as his parents Alice and Henry, and his beloved white dog, Ruff.  We also got to meet Dennis’ friends from school.  Most episodes usually featured Dennis’ best friend, Joey McDonald, or Dennis’ nemesis, Margaret Wade.  But, sometimes you’d have appearances from some of Dennis’ other friends, such as Gina, PeeBee, Tommy, or Jay.  It was very rare that all of these kids appeared in the same episode, but whenever they did, it was guaranteed that Dennis would naturally cause the most trouble.  It didn’t matter whether it was intentional or not.  If Dennis Mitchell was there, you knew that something bad was going to go down.

And, there were lots of situations that Dennis and his friends got caught up in.  Whether it was rescuing a frog from a French restaurant, trying to find the fabled Loch Ness Monster, or even going up into outer space, Dennis often found himself in every situation possible.

But most of Dennis’ mischief ended up targeting one person the most.  And that person was the Mitchell’s neighbour, Mr. George Wilson.  Poor Mr. Wilson was always at the losing end of Dennis’ mischievous nature.  During the course of the cartoon, Mr. Wilson ended up having his house sink into the ground, having his house uprooted and towed away by a moving company, ended up getting attacked by a gorilla, and other crazy situations.  But, of course, this was nothing new, as the comic strip also depicted Dennis always causing trouble for Mr. Wilson.


The thing was that Dennis’ actions were never meant to be malicious or mean.  Dennis truly believed that he was helping Mr. Wilson by offering to do things for him.  Granted, the way that Dennis ended up “helping” Mr. Wilson ended up being counter-productive, but he was a little kid.  How could he have known?  If Mr. Wilson could have seen that all Dennis wanted to do was be his friend, then maybe Mr. Wilson could have showed more patience with the little guy.

And, here’s something else.  Remember how in my situation with my own nasty neighbour, I said that her husband was a great guy?  In Dennis’ case, Dennis could do no right with Mr. Wilson.  But Martha Wilson, George’s wife, absolutely loved Dennis very much, and would often offer a kind word for Dennis or a special treat.  In fact, in many cases, it was MARTHA who convinced Mr. Wilson to be nicer to Dennis for everybody’s sake.  After all, I think Mrs. Wilson could see that Dennis wasn’t the evil little urchin that Mr. Wilson believed Dennis was.  Mrs. Wilson could see that beneath it all beat the heart of a little boy who was very good.

Of course, the cartoon would be very boring to watch if Dennis and Mr. Wilson got along.  But, hey, you can’t blame Dennis for trying, can you?

Friday, June 08, 2012

Who's The Boss?


Last week, I talked about how I felt gender roles were diminishing in importance, and provided a couple of examples about how some broke free of their gender roles. To refresh your memory, I thought that I would repost the link HERE, so you could read what I had to say about it.

The reason why I bring this up is because today's blog entry also deals with the concept of gender roles. In fact, one could say that today's topic features a role reversal of sorts.

Back in the olden days (at least four or five decades ago), households all across North America seemed to have one rule...that the man of the household brought home the bacon, and the woman of the household stayed home to take care of domestic duties. Of course, now we live in a time in which it's almost a necessity to have two working parents in a household, and this has been commonplace since at least the 1990s. As well, there have been a steady increase in stay-at-home fathers over the last twenty years.

Back in the 1980s, however, the idea of a woman going out into the workplace while the man stayed home was a relatively new idea. And, back in those days, it was almost unheard of for a man to assume the role of housekeeper while the woman became an executive.

And that was the idea behind today's topic. A television sitcom where a former baseball player from Brooklyn, New York moves his family to Connecticut where he takes on the role of housekeeper to a female advertising executive.



The show, of course, was ABC's “Who's The Boss?”, which aired on the network for eight seasons, from September 20, 1984 to April 25, 1992. And, here's how the show came to be.



Believe it or not, the show's pilot episode was filmed almost an entire year before the show first aired, in November 1983. Initially, ABC was planning on airing the sitcom beginning in January 1984, as a mid-season replacement. Initially, the title of the show was a bit different, having the original title of “You're The Boss” (it was changed to “Who's The Boss?” just before the premiere). But, due to reported creative differences between the producers and ABC executives, the show was delayed until the beginning of the 1984/85 season.



TRIVIA: While the show was shelved before it officially premiered in September 1984, one of the stars was arrested for fighting in New York City. When the show resumed taping, Tony Danza was still doing community service as a result of this arrest.

The show began as we saw former St. Louis Cardinals second baseman, Tony Micelli (Danza) leaving his Brooklyn neighbourhood for a better life. He was forced to retire from baseball after sustaining a career-killing shoulder injury, and he needed a fresh start. He packed up all the belongings he had, and set out towards the upscale community of Fairfield, Connecticut. Tagging along was his only child, a ten year old girl named Samantha (Alyssa Milano).



MINI-CONFESSION: Alyssa Milano was my first television crush. Nothing you needed to know, just thought that I would share.

Once Tony and Samantha ended up in Connecticut, Tony tried his best to find work, but wasn't having much luck. But then fate brought him to the front door of the Bower residence, where he came face to face with Angela Bower (Judith Light), a career-driven divorced woman who worked in the field of advertising. Tony was hired as the live-in housekeeper, and he and Samantha moved into the Bower household where the shared space with Angela's 7-year-old son, Jonathan (Danny Pintauro). The cast was completed with the addition of Angela's fiesty, sex-crazed mother, Mona (Katherine Helmond).



(Speaking of Katherine Helmond, the show “Who's The Boss?” added another angle that was less than traditional. It showed an older woman who had a very active social and sex life, which was quite unusual at the time, especially when you consider that the program aired a year before “The Golden Girls”.)

The show itself was a brilliant example of showcasing the concept of role reversals, as we saw the struggles and conflict that occurred by having a woman be the main breadwinner and the man staying at home taking care of the household chores. The show also busted open the various stereotypes of Italian-Americans, as Tony Micelli was depicted as sensitive, intelligent, and domestic with a great need and desire to better himself.



On the program, Tony was depicted as easy-going and carefree, a sharp contrast from the self-controlled and serious Angela. But, despite their opposite personalities, the two of them found some common ground, and they grew much closer than even both of them realized. I'll be talking about that a little bit later.

The show also depicted a great bond between the adults and children of the show. Tony would do almost anything for his daughter, but he also ended up being a positive role model for Angela's son, Jonathan. And Samantha really appreciated having Angela as a mother figure to help her deal with the transition towards womanhood, especially since Samantha's mother had died when she was young.

The show also stayed true to Tony and Samantha's Brooklyn roots as well by having several guest stars pop in on the show. Rhoda Gemignani was a frequent guest star, taking on the role of the Micelli's former neighbour, Mrs. Rossini. And, Tony's father-in-law also made a few appearances, played by James Coco. He continued on with the recurring role until his death in 1987, in which his character's funeral was written in the show.

Here's a bit more trivia about the show, courtesy of the Internet Movie Database.

  • When the show was being cast, there was a reported 1,500 girls who auditioned for the role of Samantha Micelli.
  • Who's The Boss?” premiered on the same day as “The Cosby Show”.
  • Who's The Boss?” wasn't the only ABC program to air its final original episode on April 25, 1992. “MacGyver” and “Growing Pains” aired their finales the same night.
  • The 115th episode of the show, “Living Dolls” was meant to be a pilot episode for a new series “Living Dolls”. But, the episode was never shown until the series entered syndication. The decision to pull the 115th episode from the show's original run was due to a last-minute cast change in the cast of “Living Dolls”. Eventually, the show's 123rd episode, “Life's A Ditch”, became the second attempt for the “Living Dolls” pilot, which aired immediately after this episode.





  • In case you were wondering, by the way, “Living Dolls” only lasted one season, but kickstarted the careers of Halle Berry and Leah Remini.
  • There were plans at the end of season three for Mona to spin-off into her own series, where Mona would leave to help run a hotel, and Tony and Samantha would move into Mona's loft apartment. But when producers were worried that Mona's departure would harm the success of the program, the spin-off was cancelled.
  • Who's The Boss?” was in the Top 10 of the Neilsen ratings between 1985 and 1989.
  • At the beginning of the seventh season, a new character was added, a little boy by the name of Billy (Jonathan Halyalkar), who visited the Micellis quite often. He was written out in 1991.
  • Alyssa Milano wanted to leave the show at the end of the seventh season to go to college, but because she was still under contract, she had to stay on throughout the eighth season (which ended up being the last one).
  • In order to combat falling ratings, producers made the decision to have Tony and Angela become a couple during the show's last season. But when the ratings dipped to its lowest ever, the show was cancelled, and Tony and Angela broke up. The final scene of the series was almost identical to the first time when Angela and Tony first met, leaving the ending rather ambiguous.  Originally, the ending had both Tony and Angela getting married!
  • Reportedly during the show's final years, crew members reportedly had to deal with erratic behaviour from Tony Danza. It was rumoured that Danza had gotten disenchanted with the quality of the scripts (something Danza later confirmed as being true), and this lead to Danza walking off the set at the beginning of season six, leaving the other cast members to film scenes without him. Danza returned two weeks later, and offered an apology to the cast and crew, but some crew members wore T-shirts that read “I Survived Week Six” around set.





  • When Tony Danza briefly hosted a talk show in the mid-2000s, he hosted a "Who's The Boss?" reunion with the whole cast.


And that is our look back on “Who's The Boss?”, a program that shattered gender roles, and showed everyone that as long as everyone in the household was happy and well taken care of (as was the case in the Bower-Micelli home), does it really matter what role one takes on?