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Tuesday, July 10, 2012

July 10, 1989


It's time for another fun-filled look back through time with this week's installment of the Tuesday Timeline. It's the 10th of July, and there's quite a lot that has happened on this date.

So, let us not waste any time with this. We'll kick this edition of the Tuesday Timeline off with the events of July 10.

1212 – London is nearly burned to the ground following a series of devastating fires

1553 – Lady Jane Grey takes the throne of England

1584 – William I of Orange is assassinated by Balthasar Gerard in Holland

1778 – Louis XVI declares war on Britain

1821 – United States takes possession of newly bought territory of Florida from Spain

1850 – Millard Fillmore is inaugurated as the thirteenth President of the United States following the death of Zachary Taylor

1890 – Wyoming becomes the 44th U.S. State

1911 – Royal Australian Navy is established by HM King George V

1913 – The highest recorded temperature in the United States is recorded in Death Valley, California, at a sweltering 134 degrees Fahrenheit (that's nearly 57 Celsius for the metric system users)

1917 – Don “Mr. Wizard” Herbert is born in Waconia, Minnesota

1921 – 16 are killed and 161 homes are destroyed during Belfast's “Bloody Sunday”

1925 - “Monkey Trial” begins which sees teacher John T. Scopes being accused of teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act

1926 – Fred Gwynne, otherwise known as Herman Munster, is born

1938 – Howard Hughes completes marathon 91 hour flight around the world

1940 – Vichy government established in France

1962 – The world's first communications satellite, Telstar, is launched into orbit

1966 – The Chicago Freedom Movement; Martin Luther King Jr holds a rally in a Chicago Park, which attracts over 60,000 people

1973 – John Paul Getty III is kidnapped in Rome, Italy

1976 – Seveso disaster occurs in Italy

1978 – World News Tonight debuts on ABC

1985 – Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior is bombed, and sinks near New Zealand, killing Fernando Pereira

1991 – Following the end of Apartheid, the South African cricket team is readmitted into the International Cricket Council

1992 – Manuel Noriega, former Panamanian leader is sentenced to 40 years behind bars for drug and racketeering violations

1998 – Diocese of Dallas agrees to pay over $23 million to nine former altar boys who laid claim that former priest Rudolph Kos sexually abused them

2002 – Peter Paul Rubens' painting “The Massacre of the Innocents” is sold for $76.2 million to Lord Thomson at a Sotheby's auction

2005 – Hurricane Dennis strikes Florida panhandle, causing billions in damages

2011 – Russian cruise ship, Bulgaria, sinks, killing 122

My, oh my...was July 10th a busy day in recent history!

As it turns out, July 10th is also a date in which several celebrities were born. Celebrating a July 10 birthday are the following; Jake LaMotta, Alice Munro, Jerry Nelson, Ian Whitcomb, Ron Glass, Arlo Guthrie, Greg Kihn, Phyllis Smith, Cheryl Wheeler, Kim Mitchell, Rik Emmett (Triumph), Neil Tennant (Pet Shop Boys), Cindy Sheehan, Jeff Bergman, Urban Meyer, Ken Mellons, Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark, Jonathan Gilbert, Gale Harold, Alexandra Hedison, Gary LeVox (Rascal Flatts), Jason Orange (Take That), Sofia Vergara, Andrew Firestone, Elijah Blue Allman, Adrien Grenier, Gwendoline Yeo, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Jessica Simpson, Simenona Martinez, and Heather Hemmens.

And, I am exhausted!

Now, you might notice in the celebrity birthday list that I have put one name in italics. Jeff Bergman. Why have I done this? Well, he's sort of linked to the subject of this blog. He was born on July 10, 1960, making him 52 years old today. But twenty-three years ago, when Bergman turned 29, his birthday marked the end of a legendary performer.



Yes, we're taking a trip back in time to July 10, 1989.

And it was on this date that we said farewell to one of the most well-respected voice artists the world had ever seen.



Today, we're looking back on the life and times of Melvin Jerome Blank...but you may know him better by his professional name, Mel Blanc.

He was born on May 30, 1908 in San Francisco, California to Jewish parents Frederick and Eva Blank. While he was attending high school, he had a fondness for performing and manipulating his voice and experimenting with dialects. It was something that fascinated Mel since he was ten years of age. Mel once claimed that he changed his name from Blank to Blanc when he was sixteen after a teacher told him that he would amount to nothing, and live up to his “blank” name.

Oh, if he could have seen into the future at his times, he would have eaten his words.

Mel dropped out of school when he was in the ninth grade, and immediately jumped into the world of show business, splitting his time between performing vaudeville shtick, and leading an orchestra.

TRIVIA: When Mel Blanc was conducting, he was, at the time, the youngest conductor in the country, being just seventeen.

In 1927, Blanc began a career in radio, starring on the program “The Hoot Owls” as a voice artist. Blanc's ability to speak in several dialects in various tones helped put his name out there. Five years later, he met his future wife, Estelle, and married her in 1933. That same year, he moved to Portland, and produced and co-hosted the radio show “Cobweb and Nuts” on KEX. The show ran for two years. Upon the conclusion of the show, and with encouragement from his wife, the Blancs relocated to Los Angeles, California and joined KFWB, a radio station owned by Warner Brothers in 1935. From there, he ended up becoming a regular on the NBC Red Network show “The Jack Benny Program” playing a huge variety of roles from Professor LeBlanc to Polly Parrot. Perhaps one of his most famous voices that he did from his earliest days in radio was that of Sy, the Little Mexican, who was known for only speaking one word at a time. In fact, when Sy's signature line of “Si...Sy...Sew...Sue” was performed, it was so effective that it always made everyone laugh, largely in part to Mel's comedic timing with Jack Benny.

Later, when the radio show transitioned into television, viewers finally got a taste of the wonderful partnership between Mel and Jack, and they keenly noted that whenever the two got together, Jack Benny found it damned near impossible to keep a straight face. Occasionally, Benny's writers would often make an attempt to stump Blanc by suggesting vocal effects that seemed almost impossible to achieve, such as “English horse whinny”, and “goldfish”. But clever Mel would find a way to make it work. For the latter, he just walked up to the microphone in the studio and pursed his lips a bunch of times, silently.

By the mid-1940s, Blanc had been credited to 15 radio shows, albeit in supporting or cameo roles. But on September 3, 1946, he ended up getting his own show on CBS Radio, The Mel Blanc Show. On the program, he played the part of a hapless fix-it shop owner, as well as the voice of his young cousin Zookie. The show also employed other actors, which included Mary Jane Croft, Jim Backus, Alan Reed, and Bea Benaderet. Actually, I want you to remember those last two names. They would end up working with Blanc again in a few years time. The show was well received, but it didn't even last a year, ending its run in the summer of 1947.

Of course, his radio work only served to pale in comparison to the parts that he would play on the television screen.



Back in 1937, Blanc joined Leon Schlesinger Productions. The company made animated cartoons that were distributed by Warner Brothers. But when Blanc wanted to perform voice work for the cartoons the company were making, the music director at the time (Norman Spencer), who was also in charge of cartoon voices, had told Blanc that they didn't need him. He had already cast all the voices that they needed. Mel Blanc was persistent though, and he visited Spencer every two weeks over a two year period!

When Spencer passed away, Carl Stalling took over as music director, and Treg Brown took over the role of cartoon voice casting. Brown met with Blanc and immediately introduced him to such animators as Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng, and Frank Tashlin. All four men loved Mel's voices, and Blanc was immediately brought onto the team. His first cartoon was Picador Porky, where he did the voice of a drunken bull.

Soon after that, Joe Dougherty, the original voice of a character known as Porky Pig, was replaced by Blanc, who also voiced a new creation, Daffy Duck.

And as Blanc did more and more work with Looney Tunes cartoons, he would voice more characters along the way. Tweety Bird, Elmer Fudd, Pepe LePew, and Sylvester the Cat.



TRIVIA: If you ever wondered what Mel's real voice sounded like, just picture Sylvester without the lisp. That was the voice that was closest to Mel's speaking voice.



Of course, everyone knows that his most famous voice was that of Bugs Bunny, the flagship character for Looney Tunes (and to a lesser extent, Warner Brothers itself). With his intelligence, his quick wit, and his signature “What's Up, Doc?” tagline, Mel Blanc took Bugs Bunny and made him all his own. But did you know that carrots ended up making Mel's job in voicing Bugs much harder than people thought?

In order to add authenticity to the character of Bugs Bunny, Mel Blanc would often chomp on a carrot. After all, Bugs ate carrots in almost every single cartoon short he appeared in. But Mel soon discovered that chewing carrots compromised the flow of the dialogue. After trying other vegetables, such as celery, Blanc came up with a solution. He'd bite on the carrot, chew it for a few seconds, spit it out, and continue with the lines.



TRIVIA: Contrary to what some sources have said, Mel Blanc was never allergic to carrots, and in a 2004 interview with one of Blanc's confidants confirmed that Blanc spit out the carrots as a time-saving measure, not because of allergy concerns or general dislike of carrots.

Another voice that often gave Blanc a lot of trouble was that of the Looney Tunes baddie Yosemite Sam. Because Sam was loud and brash, and spoke with a raspy tone, Blanc often strained his vocal cords to the limit whenever he had to voice him. Foghorn Leghorn provided similar strain, but not nearly to the limit that Yosemite Sam did. By the late 1980s, Blanc turned over the voice work of Yosemite Sam to voice actor Joe Alaskey, as Blanc was unable to do the voice by then.

One thing that Mel Blanc fought for was the right to be credited for the work that he did as a voice artist. By 1944, his contract stipulated a credit that read “Voice Characterization by Mel Blanc”, crediting him for each voice that he performed on the show. Eventually, actress June Foray would also be given a credit for her work as Granny and Witch Hazel, which can be seen during the closing credits of “The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show”.

Yes, Mel's time with Warner Brothers was very rewarding, and he left his lasting mark with that company. However, he also did work for other cartoon companies. He was the original voice behind the laugh of Woody Woodpecker years ago. Amd in 1960, Blanc began working with Hanna-Barbera studios, which had been working on a new animated prime time series.



That series was “The Flintstones”, which until “The Simpsons” came along in 1989 was the longest running animated sitcom to air. Mel Blanc voiced the character of Barney Rubble, and the gig reunited him with a couple of stars that he worked with on his short-lived radio program – Alan Reed, who voiced Fred Flintstone, and Bea Benaderet, who voiced Betty Rubble. Blanc would also voice the character of Mr. Spacely on “The Jetsons”.

On January 24, 1961, it almost came to an end when Blanc was involved in a serious car accident, which left him comatose. Would you believe that when word of the accident came out that over fifteen thousand fans wrote get well cards for him? Mind you, some of them were addressed to Bugs Bunny, but the thought was there, and it was nice. In fact, Blanc actually credited Bugs with saving his life. When Blanc was still in a coma, his doctor tried to interact with him by calling him by the name of his most famous voice. When the doctor asked how Bugs Bunny was today, he responded in his Bugs voice! What a neat story.

With Blanc recovering, veteran voice actor Daws Butler substituted for him on a few episodes of “The Flintstones”, while Warner Brothers briefly considered having Stan Freberg take over as the voice of Bugs Bunny while Blanc got better. Freberg refused out of respect for Blanc. Luckily, Blanc made a full recovery.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Blanc's voice work slowed down a bit, but he kept active. He ended up voicing the comic strip cat Heathcliff in a 1980s cartoon show, and one of his last voice projects was in the 1988 film “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, which was one of the last times that he would voice Bugs Bunny.

In 1989, Mel Blanc filmed a commercial in celebration of Bugs' 50th anniversary with his son, Noel. But after filming wrapped up, Mel had developed a serious cough, and it alarmed Noel, who insisted that he go to the doctor. After a check-up, the doctor offered Mel two choices. He could either bring an inhaler home, or stay in a hospital overnight. Mel decided on the hospital stay. But little did he know that the decision he made would be fatal. Because a staff member failed to put rails on his hospital bed, Mel Blanc took a serious fall, breaking his femur, and releasing fat emboli into his brain. He suffered a serious stroke as a result, and 48 hours later, on July 10, 1989, he was dead.

Mel Blanc was 81 years old.



However, 23 years since his death, Mel continues to leave a lasting impression. He was the honorary mayor of Big Bear Lake, California for 33 years following the release of a song he recorded entitled “Big Bear Lake”, and was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to radio.



And here's one final point to make. You know how I made sure to focus on Jeff Bergman, who happens to celebrate a birthday today? Well, when Mel Blanc died in 1989, someone had to take over the role. Jeff Bergman was that someone, winning the role in 1989...the same year that Blanc died.

It seems almost poignant in a way for the new voice of Bugs Bunny to have a birthday that fell on the same day that Mel Blanc died. More than poignant...almost kismet in a way.

That's what happened on July 10, 1989.

Monday, July 09, 2012

Flashdance...What A Feeling!


Hello, everyone!  If you’re able to read this blog entry today, then allow me to congratulate you on surviving that nasty virus that threatened to damage all Internet connections today!  A big pat on the back for all of you this 9th day of July!!!

I myself am relieved that I am able to post this blog entry today.  I double checked everything before I started writing this piece, so I’m under the impression that I survived this virus as well. 

Sigh...it just seems like only yesterday that the Y2K bug was poised to destroy the whole world, didn’t it?

Before I launch into yet another Monday matinee, there’s something that I would like to say.

Today happens to be my sister’s birthday.  For the sake of argument, I won’t reveal what her age is today because it’s one of those milestone birthdays, and I have a feeling that she might not want everyone in the world to know it.  I could come up with...oh...forty reasons why I should, but in the end, I decided against it. J

Because when I thought about it, visual aids make for so much better discussion, don’t you think?  So while I borrowed Mom and Dad’s photo album and leafed through it, I happened to come across this lovely picture of my sister standing next to our late grandfather (who was obviously alive at the time this photo was taken).


Now, I realize that this very well could be my last blog entry ever, as I completely understand that the minute my sister sees this photo of herself taken years ago, she is liable to force feed my spleen down my throat.  But, so help me, I can’t resist.

There’re two reasons why I chose to post this photograph in particular.  The first...well, I’m a younger brother, and younger brothers are supposed to do silly things like this to their older sisters.  It’s almost a rite of passage!

And secondly, this photo is linked to today’s Monday Matinee.

Do you see the sweatshirt my sister is wearing in the photograph?  It has the word “Flashdance” on it.  Now, I have no idea when exactly this photo was taken, but I know that it was taken no earlier than 1983.  Why?  That was the year that the movie “Flashdance” was released in theatres.


The date was April 15, 1983.  “Flashdance” opened up in theatres and ended up getting some rather negative reviews.  Although the film was directed by Adrian Lyne, and was a collaboration effort between Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson on the production side, the film was critically panned.  Roger Ebert placed the film on his “Most Hated List”, the New Yorker dismissed the film as simply a series of rock videos, and the screenplay of the film was actually nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award (it ‘lost’ to “The Lonely Lady”).

So, how did it end up becoming one of 1983’s most successful movies?

The film, despite its negative reviews, ended up making almost $100 million at the box office, and was the third most successful film of 1983 right behind “Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi” and “Terms Of Endearment”.  It’s hard to say why the movie became a hit, especially since I was barely two years old when it was released.  I can only hypothesize that the majority of people may have heard how bad the film was from critics, and wanted to check it out to see what the fuss was about.  Or, maybe the film’s soundtrack had something to do with it, as a couple of songs ended up becoming huge hits.  The first one was this single.





ARTIST: Michael Sembello
SONG: Maniac
ALBUM: Flashdance Official Soundtrack Album
DATE RELEASED: June 5, 1983
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #1 for 2 weeks


The second one...well, we’ll get to that a little later.

Though, I can imagine that another reason why the film was successful...in particular with the teen boys and twentysomething men of the early 1980s...Jennifer Beals.


Yes, Jennifer Beals was the main star of “Flashdance”.  She played the role of Alex Owens.  She may only be eighteen in the film, but she has already found work as a welder at a steel mill in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Well, at least that’s her day job.  At night, she switches the welding goggles for a skimpy outfit as she dances at her night job at a local bar called “Mawby’s”.

There’s one of these jobs that Alex likes doing better than the other one.  If you guessed welding, you’d get a strike against you.  No, Alex has dreams of becoming a full-time dancer.  Though, she doesn’t see herself being the cabaret girl of Mawby’s for the rest of her life.  No, she wants to become a respected dancer, and her dream is to attend the Pittsburgh Conservatory of Dance and Repertory.  Of course, the one thing holding her back is her lack of formal dance training, but despite this, she is determined to make her dream come true.

By chance, at one of her dance performances at Mawby’s, she ends up crossing paths with a man named Nick Hurley (Michael Nouri), who watches her dance.  But here’s where awkwardness comes into play here.  Hurley happens to be Alex’s boss at the steel mill where she does her day job.

(Even more awkward, when the movie began filming, Jennifer Beals was 19.  Michael Nouri was 36.  And one of the main complaints by moviegoers about this film was that they believed that Nouri’s character was too old for Beals.  Imagine that!)

Believe it or not, Alex’s friends who work with her at Mawby’s also have hopes of making it big beyond the bar one day.  Jeanie (Sunny Johnson) wants to break free from her waitressing days so she can become a professional ice skater, while her boyfriend Richie (Kyle T. Heffner) would gladly quit flipping burgers if it meant that he achieved his dream of performing stand-up comedy. 

Alex is determined to make her dream come true no matter what.  She even heads down to the Pittsburgh Conservatory to fill out an application to get into the dance program.  However, when Alex is looking over the application, and is forced to leave a large portion of it blank due to her lack of experience, she gets frustrated, and leaves the building in a hurry.  Fortunately, Alex is blessed with a caring mentor, a woman named Hanna Long (Lilia Skala), who happens to be a retired ballet dancer.  Hanna is very encouraging to Alex, and she wants to see Alex achieve her dream just as much, if not more, than Alex does.

(But is it really “Alex’s” dream?  The truth of the matter is that any scene that featured Alex dancing didn’t feature Jennifer Beals.  A couple of body doubles were used instead, and the lighting was dimmed purposely in order to hide the fact that “Alex” wasn’t really Alex.)

At the same time, Alex is trying to help her friends by supporting them in their dream.  Unfortunately, Jeanie ends up slipping a couple of times while auditioning at an ice show and the slip-up destroys her self-confidence.  She gets so depressed about the incident that she ends up taking a job at The Zanzibar, a club featuring exotic dancing.  It’s up to Alex to rescue her from the strip club once and for all.

Then there is her relationship with Nick, which develops from a friendship into a romantic interlude (which basically is a conflict of interest at her welding job), and which ends up placing her on the receiving end of Nick’s ex-wife at a restaurant.  On top of all that, when Alex ends up getting an opportunity to audition for the school she has dreamed of attending, she receives some devastating news.  The question is...how does she cope with the news?  How does she do at the audition?  Well, the truth is that the ending is up to the viewer.  It is meant to be ambiguous on purpose.  I have my own idea as to what the ending of the film is, but I’ll keep silent.  I don’t want to spoil it.



But, I think the movie provides a great message for everyone here.  If you have a dream that you want to pursue, don’t sit around and wait for it to happen.  You have to do the work yourself and find your inner strength to make it happen.

As Irene Cara once sang...take your passion, and make it happen!

Sunday, July 08, 2012

Party In The U.S.A.


Guilty pleasure songs.

Oh, come on. Admit it. We all have them.

In fact, I'll be admitting what one of mine is a little bit later in this blog, and maybe if you see me doing it, you'll work up the courage to post some of yours. At least, that's my intention, anyway.

I guess I should probably define what a “guilty pleasure” song is first. I believe it to be a song that a person absolutely can't get enough of, but can't really admit to liking it in public for fear of taunts and teasing from those closest to you because it's “uncool” to like it. There's lots of examples of this in the world of pop culture. Take a look at the novelty hit “Macarena”, which dominated the top of the charts for a huge chunk of 1996. Many people loved the song (and still do), but many more seem to despise it. Another artist that gets a lot of flak is Justin Bieber. I'll admit that while I don't really care for his music, I do respect him as a person, and I won't readily insult or talk badly about him just because others do. Besides, Justin Bieber has already won the hearts of just about every girl under the age of 14 globally, so clearly he must be doing something right.

I guess the point that I'm trying to make is that there are songs that are released in which people seem to feel that it's more fun to make fun of than actually listen to it while keeping an open mind. And for whatever reason, I don't really agree with that logic. In fact, I bet that I can take every artist that has ever recorded a song within the last 50 years, and find one song that I absolutely love of theirs. When I run off the names Britney Spears, Hilary Duff, Lady Gaga, and yes, even Justin Bieber...I can list off at least one song I like from each of these artists. Those songs, respectively, are “Sometimes”, “Stranger”, “Bad Romance”, and...well...I don't mind “Baby” as much. The last one isn't really a favourite, but I do find it tolerable.

Hey, at least give me credit for trying here.

And, for today's blog topic, I thought that I would post another song that I consider to be a “guilty pleasure” song of mine. One that I admittedly still enjoy three years after it was released.



ARTIST: Miley Cyrus
SONG: Party In The U.S.A.
ALBUM: The Time Of Our Lives
DATE RELEASED: July 29, 2009
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #2



Yes, I know what you're saying. I'm doing a blog topic on Miley Cyrus. Some of you might be staring at me in disbelief and confusion. But, you know, I'm not ashamed to admit it. I love “Party In The U.S.A.” because it's happy, carefree, you can dance to it...it's probably one of the better songs that came out of the decade known as the noughties.



I imagine that most of you who are at least sixteen years of age or younger may remember Miley Cyrus best from the Disney Channel show “Hannah Montana”, which ran from March 2006 until January 2011.

(On a side note, who knew that it ran for five years? I didn't think it was that popular until I read that in 2008, over 200 million people all over the world watched the program.)

Oh, and Miley's father was this guy.



I STILL can't believe that it was a #1 hit on the charts twenty years ago.

Anyways, there's very little to tell about the life history of Miley Cyrus. Her autobiography only spans nineteen and a half years. But she was born on November 23, 1992 with the given name of Destiny Hope Cyrus. The reason behind her original name was because her parents believed that she would accomplish great things with her life.

So, how did the Miley come into play? Well, according to Billy Ray Cyrus, she always used to smile a lot when she was a baby, and he had given her the nickname “Smiley”. At some point, it was shortened to Miley, and the name stuck. A few years later, she would legally change her name to Miley Ray Cyrus, which she did in memory of her grandfather Ronald Ray Cyrus, who passed away in 2006.

Miley got her first taste of show business when she was quite young, making a cameo appearance in the show “Doc”, which starred Billy Ray Cyrus. She's also done a couple of films in addition to her work on “Hannah Montana” (including a Hannah Montana movie), has released several singles that have charted on both the mainstream and country charts (yes, “The Climb” has been played on some country music stations), and her godmother is country singer Dolly Parton!

Mind you, she's been making headlines recently for some not-so-nice publicity shots...but I don't really want to talk about those. My goal for this blog is to make it as positive as it can be. I want people to walk away with warm fuzzies, not anger and bitterness.

Instead, I thought I would choose this particular song, not just because of the fact that it's a guilty pleasure song...but because it also happens to be her most successful song. It managed to reach #2 on the Billboard Charts in late 2009. I'd call that a success.

But did you know that “Party In The U.S.A.” wasn't originally written for Miley?



The song was originally written by British singer Jessie J, who had a hit a few months ago with the song “Domino”. She worked on the song along with collaborators Claude Kelly and Dr. Luke. It was intended to be released on her debut album, but before she made it to the recording studio, she had changed her mind about the song. She opted not to record it because she felt that it wasn't edgy enough for her.

Flash forward a few months later when Miley herself was working on an album with Dr. Luke. The song “Party In The U.S.A.” resurfaced, and was re-written by a writing team. They felt that somehow they could use the song as a method of promotion, as Miley was working on a clothing line with Max Azria at the time. The song was rewritten by Jessie J, Dr. Luke, and Claude Kelly with Miley as the subject, and the lyrics were fine-tuned to tell the story of how Miley and her family relocated from Tennessee to Hollywood, California.

Here's the kicker, though. When the song was completed, Miley Cyrus did like it enough to record it, and add it onto the album “The Time Of Our Lives”, but she didn't exactly fall in love with it right away. Miley believed that the song didn't really reflect the kind of music she liked to perform. Ironically enough, the main complaint that she had with the song was the fact that she had felt that the song wasn't edgy enough for her...the very reason why Jessie J refused to record the song herself! And, on top of all that, the song lyrics make a reference to her listening to a Jay-Z song on the radio. But in 2009, when the song was released, Cyrus admitted that she had never heard a Jay-Z song prior to the song's release.

But somehow, record producers seemed to believe in the song a little bit more than Cyrus. When the album was released, “Party In The U.S.A.” ended up being the lead single of the whole album, something that surprised Cyrus, as she didn't feel that the song was strong enough to become commercially successful. The single was leaked on radio stations the last week of July, 2009, and within two weeks had taken over the country by storm.



The song itself was also performed live for the first time on August 10, 2009. That performance was at the Teen Choice Awards, and was the subject of some mixed reactions. Everyone agreed that the song was quite good, and it had garnered a lot of critical praise. The performance, on the other hand, was more mixed. You see, Miley decided to perform the song wearing a rather revealing outfit, and part of the choreography of the performance involved an ice cream cart and a pole that she shimmied down. Although that portion of the performance lasted less than a minute, it was thirty-nine seconds too long for some. A lot of people launched complaints over the appropriateness of a sixteen year old girl showing children that it was okay to pole dance at an awards show for teenagers. But, at the same time, others remarked that the focus should have been on the fact that Miley won six awards that night, and not for the sexuality exhibited during her performance.

(I'm curious to know...what do you all think? I'll post a link to the performance HERE. Watch it and weigh in. What do you think? Did she go too far?)

At any rate, while there may have been some controversy linked with this song, it still doesn't take away from the fact that by itself, I kind of like it.



And, here's one final footnote to add onto this. Would you believe that the death of Osama bin Laden was a key ingredient in the re-emergence of this song's popularity? When Osama bin Laden's death was announced in America in the late night hours of May 1, 2011, people flocked onto YouTube, and posted all sorts of pro-America and anti-Osama comments underneath Miley's video! It suddenly became an anthem for the day. I must say that while my first reaction to hearing about the death of a known terrorist would not be to watch a Miley Cyrus video, I get the feeling that for some people, it was a source of comfort.

But for me, it's just a great song. One that I make no apologies in liking.

Saturday, July 07, 2012

Liberty's Kids


One of my favourite subjects in school was history class. For whatever reason, the subject of history fascinated me. I loved studying dates, and events, and the significance of events that helped shape the world that we all live in. As someone who enjoys writing, I didn't mind that most of the class assignments involved writing essays and other reports. I did much better with writing those than trying to balance a chemical equation or trying to find out the square root of 10,201.

For the most part, I found learning about history to be a wonderful subject, and I was never bored with it at all. However, I noticed that when I was in high school, the majority of my classmates didn't seem to share that same love of history. And, in a way, I could understand why they felt that way. With the exception of a couple of my teachers, the majority of them weren't exactly the most charismatic of instructors.

I'm sure that they tried their best, but when you're trying to teach history, it's a bit difficult to make the subject interesting. I know that whenever I had to present an oral history report, I had always struggled with trying to make the subject that I was talking about interesting. Of course, a part of that could have been because I hated public speaking in school, and tried my best to avoid it whenever possible.

Looking back through my own childhood, I couldn't even think of any educational programs that aired that really made learning about history fun. It was bizarre, because it seemed as though every other subject had a television show that made education seem exciting. For reading and language, you had “The Electric Company” and “Readalong”. For mathematics, “Square One” successfully blended math with MTV for a fun learning experience. “Bill Nye The Science Guy” and “Beakman's World” took care of science, while we learned all about geography from chasing Carmen Sandiego and her minions all over the world.

History, however, was completely ignored in that for the longest time. Or, if there was a show about history that aired during the 1980s, I must have missed it.

It wasn't until the early 2000s came along that I made an interesting discovery. Back in those days, my niece and three nephews were all in their early childhood, and their main channel of television viewing was PBS. Whenever I had to babysit them, the television was always on PBS for the first couple of hours. And there was one show that really caught my attention, because it really was the only example that I could find where history became entertaining.



The show that I'm referring to was the PBS show “Liberty's Kids”, which aired on most PBS stations from September 2, 2002 until the summer of 2004.



The show was created and developed by Kevin O'Donnell, Robby London, Mike Maliani, and Andy Heyward, and was produced by DiC Entertainment (which has since been absorbed into Cookie Jar TV).



The program centered mostly around American history, but there was a little bit of world history mixed into that as well. And that was the purpose of the show. It was designed for children between the ages of 7-14, and its main goal was to teach children all about how America was created, as well as some of the historical figures that made a difference. Through the eyes of some young people living through the times of the Revolutionary War, as well as their mentor, one Benjamin Franklin (voiced by Walter Cronkite), children were taken back in time to the late 1700s, and found that they were just as captivated by the historical events of the country as they were by the individual tales of each of the main characters.

Now, here's the weird thing about the show. The show itself spanned a number of years (roughly between 1773 and 1789), but none of the children seemed to age at all. Of course, since it is a cartoon, I suppose that is nothing new. After all, Maggie Simpson should be twenty-six years old by now if the Simpsons were allowed to age normally.



There was Sarah Phillips (Reo Jones), a fifteen-year-old girl originally from England. She comes to America in search of her father, who was last heard exploring Ohio. She crosses paths with Benjamin Franklin, and stays with him as a guest. With the news of war breaking out between the American colonists and the British people, Sarah is torn between allegiances. She decides that the best way for her to stay neutral is to write for Franklin's newspaper, to offer a balanced perspective to the press. She's passionate about making sure that everyone has equal rights, and she is not afraid to stand up for anything that she believes in, using the power of words as her voice. Initially, Sarah is portrayed as a British loyalist, which often caused a bit of friction between her and her friend James, but over time, she grows to support the American Revolution.



There was James Hiller (Chris Lundquist). James' story was quite tragic. He was orphaned as a young boy because lightning caused his house to burn down with his family still inside. At 14, he idolizes Benjamin Franklin, mainly because of the fact that he invented the lightning rod, a device that likely saved other people from experiencing the same deadly fate as his parents. James is very much supportive of the American Revolution, but his feelings are quite one-sided, irking Sarah, who would rather take on an impartial and diplomatic stance. He works as an apprentice in Franklin's Print Shop, and he is very street-smart, although his downfall lies in his impulsive nature, and his zealousness.



Then you have Henri Richard Maurice Dutoit LeFevbre (Kathleen Barr)...otherwise known as just Henri. At just eight years old, Henri is the youngest of the three, taken in by Benjamin Franklin after his parents died of the plague while traveling to America from France by ship. Henri is skilled in French, and can read and write it (obviously being from France, this makes perfect sense), but Franklin also encourages Henri to learn English as well, which he does in the series. Henri's youth sometimes acts as a disadvantage, as he lacks the maturity to understand how serious the war is, but his small stature proves useful, as he can crawl into small spaces without getting detected by the enemy. He values his freedom, but deep down inside, all Henri really wants is a home and family to call his own.



Finally, you have Moses (D. Kevin Williams), a boy born in Africa, and made to become a slave in America. His ingenuity allowed him to learn how to read, forge metal, and buy his freedom from his master, which allowed him to break free from the slavery that dominated the American south. He is forced to carry papers with him at all times as a way to tell people that he was freed, and not just a runaway slave, and eventually finds a job working for Benjamin Franklin. His main drive is the fight for freedom, and he hopes to one day help Americans of all colours achieve the goal of being free.

I think the one thing that made the show stand out were all of the celebrity cameos that happened on the program. There were some big named Hollywood stars that signed on to voice one of the key figures in American history. Below is a list of some of these stars, as well as the roles they played.

Liam Neeson – John Paul Jones
Michael York – Admiral Lord Richard Howe
Dustin Hoffman – Benedict Arnold
Annette Bening – Abigail Adams
Maria Shriver – Peggy Shippen
Billy Crystal – John Adams
Michael Douglas – Patrick Henry
Charles Shaughnessy – King George III
Sylvester Stallone – Paul Revere

On a lighter note, can you imagine Rocky Balboa running up those stairs in Philly shouting “The British Are Coming! The British Are Coming!” Brings a smile to my face each time.

But that's what “Liberty's Kids” was all about. It was a program that made learning about American history fun. Every kid loves a great cartoon series, and although only 40 episodes were made in total, each one had its own distinct storyline and historical lesson. I reckon that I would have benefitted from watching “Liberty's Kids” when I took American history in the 12th grade. Watching old episodes of the series, I can see how informative and entertaining it was.

In fact, let's conclude this blog entry by watching an episode right now.


Friday, July 06, 2012

The Andy Griffith Show




The world lost a television legend on July 3, 2012, when we said farewell to Andy Griffith, who died at the age of 86.

I imagine that millions of people all over the world mourned his passing. None more so than the people who lived in the community of Manteo, North Carolina, where Andy Griffith had lived. I remember watching a news report that aired yesterday regarding his passing, and the people spoke so lovingly of him, and held him in such high regard. I was thinking to myself how touching it was, and how beautiful it was. It really demonstrated what an impact he had on the world of entertainment.

And what an impact it was!

I thought that for today's blog entry, I would take the opportunity to do a tribute to Andy Griffith by talking about his life and times, as well as one show that made him (and several others) household names famous.



Andy Griffith was born on June 1, 1926 in the community of Mount Airy, North Carolina (which also happens to be the date of birth of another famous star, Marilyn Monroe). He was born to a family that didn't have a lot of money...in fact, he spent the first few months of his life sleeping inside a dresser drawer, as his family didn't have a crib or a bed for him to sleep in. But Andy made his upbringing work. He ended up spending his early childhood listening to music, as well as hearing his father tell him dozens of old family stories...stories which he later admitted contributed to the development of his sense of humour. And although he initially struggled with finding friendships in school, his jokes and charming wit won his classmates over, and the formerly shy student broke out of his comfort zone once and for all.

In high school, he participated in his high school's drama program, and had Ed Mickey as a mentor. Mickey, who was a Moravian priest, taught Andy how to play the trombone, and how to sing. He ended up being more influential than he realized, as initially Andy had decided to become a Moravian priest himself. Instead, he opted to go into the field of music, graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a bachelor of music in 1949. It should also be noted that before he graduated from college, he played roles in several student operettas including “The Mikado” and “The Chimes of Normandy”.

After graduating, Andy ended up working as a music and drama teacher at Goldsboro High School in Goldsboro, North Carolina. In 1953, he took on a job reading and performing monologues on records. One of his most successful projects was one entitled “What It Was, Was Football”, a monologue that was told from the point of view of a rural backwoodsman trying to understand what was happening at a football game. Believe it or not, the monologue was released as a single, and peaked at #9 in 1954! It proved to be the beginning of his recording career. Did you know that between 1953 and 2005, he released twenty albums? And, that's only scratching the surface.

In 1957, Griffith ended up netting his first role in a dramatic film, “A Face In The Crowd”. He played a country boy who thrived on manipulation and greed (characteristics which contrasted from any other role he played). Griffith enjoyed the role, because it allowed him to perform a more complex role, and even believed that the film became more popular as time went on.

The late 1950s was also a monumental period for Griffith as he ended up befriending a man by the name of Don Knotts. The two met while on the set of the 1958 movie “No Time For Sergeants” (which coincidentally was the inspiration behind Gomer Pyle USNC), and immediately hit it off.



Little did Griffith and Knotts know that this film wouldn't be the first time that they would end up working together just a couple of years later. And that this project would end up changing the life of a 6-year-old boy forever.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself here.

The year was 1960. Sheldon Leonard, who was already the successful producer of The Danny Thomas Show, had just commissioned Arthur Stander (who wrote several episodes of The Danny Thomas Show) to create a sitcom venture for Andy Griffith. Griffith had previously expressed some desire to attempt a television role, and after having meetings with Leonard, Griffith filmed an episode of The Danny Thomas Show, which introduced the new character that Andy was to play.

On February 15, 1960, the episode “Danny Meets Andy Griffith” aired for the first time. It was the first introduction of Andy Taylor, the sheriff of Mayberry, North Carolina, and in the episode, Taylor arrests Danny Williams (played by Danny Thomas) for running a stop sign. The episode was also notable for its guest stars in addition to Griffith. Actress Frances Bavier was cast as Henrietta Perkins, a random townsperson, and a little red-haired boy named Ronny Howard (who was just a few weeks shy of his sixth birthday) was cast as Andy's son, Opie Taylor. Remember those names for later.

The episode was a great success in the ratings, and immediately garnered the attention of the show's main sponsor, General Foods. They were the ones who had first access to the spinoff and immediately voiced their committal to sponsoring the new program as well.



That new program would end up becoming “The Andy Griffith Show”.

The show debuted on CBS on October 3, 1960, and was a hit right from the beginning. Ronny Howard made the transition to the program, continuing to play Opie Taylor, as did Frances Bavier. But instead of playing the role of an average Mayberry citizen, a new role was created for her, the role of housekeeper Aunt Bee. As if being the widowed sheriff of Mayberry wasn't stressful enough for Andy Taylor, he also had to deal with bumbling lawbreakers, demanding girlfriends, dense-minded friends, and the klutziness of his faithful deputy, Barney Fife, who was played by Don Knotts, reuniting him with his old friend, Andy.

And since we're talking about the show, here's some more trivia facts about the show.

1 – The show ended up running for eight seasons, concluding its run on April 1, 1968.



2 – Although the show wrapped up in 1968, that didn't mean that we saw the last of Mayberry. Frances Bavier signed on to do the spinoff “Mayberry R.F.D.”, which debuted in September of that year. That spinoff lasted until 1971.

3 – A television reunion movie was filmed and aired in 1986, “Return To Mayberry”. The film reunited most of the original cast, and was the highest rated television movie of 1986.

4 – Originally, Barney Fife was portrayed as Andy's cousin in three of the first six episodes of the series. After that, it was never mentioned again.

5 – The show was filmed at Desilu Studios.

6 – The show's music, “The Fishin' Hole”, was composed by Earle Hagen and Herbert Spencer. The lyrics were written by Everett Sloane, who guest starred in a 1962 episode. The whistling was performed by Hagen.

7 – The series was very successful during its whole run. It was always in the Top 10 of the Neilsen ratings, and when the show signed off for good in 1968, it ranked at number one.

8 – It was apparent that Don Knotts and Frances Bavier were well-respected as actors. Between the two of them, they ended up winning six Emmy Awards.

9 – During the show's entire run, Andy Griffith never won an Emmy Award. Nor did the show itself.



10 – This show ended up being the launchpad for Ronny Howard's career. A few years later, he opted to simply go by Ron Howard, who starred in another successful sitcom, “Happy Days”, and became a successful film director, responsible for directing such films as “Splash”, “Cocoon”, and “Apollo 13”, amongst many others.

11 – Ron Howard is now the only original cast member of the series still living. Bavier passed away in December 1989, Knotts passed away in February 2006, and Griffith passed away three days ago.

12 - Howard McNear, who played Floyd the Barber on the show actually suffered a stroke while filming the series. When it became impossible for McNear to stand, the producers filmed his last few episodes with him sitting down.

13 – McNear eventually left the series because of his ailing health. When he left, Floyd's barber shop became Emmit's Fix-It Shop.

14 – Initially, Griffith and Knotts were committed to a five-year-contract, with both expecting the series to wrap up at the end of the 1964/65 season. When the fifth season ended, Knotts signed a five year deal with Universal Pictures. However, when the show was picked up for the 1965/66 season, Griffith attempted to offer Knotts a contract for another three years. But since Knotts couldn't break the contract, he was forced to leave the show as a regular cast member.

15 – Ever wonder why Andy's hand is bandaged up during the second season? On the show, it was explained that he had injured it apprehending criminals, but in reality, Griffith had broken his hand after punching a wall. Wow, I'd hate to see the wall.

16 – Helen Crump was supposed to be a one-off character, but producers were so impressed by actress Aneta Corsaut that they made her a series regular.

17 – Rockne Tarkington was the only African-American character to have a speaking guest role on the show.

18 – Look closely at the maps that are featured behind Andy's desk. One is simply a map of the state of Nevada flipped upside down.

19 – When Don Knotts left the series, actor Jerry Van Dyke was tapped to replace him. Instead he chose to act in the sitcom “My Mother, The Car”. He later admitted that he made the wrong choice.

20 – Opie Taylor was named after Opie Cates, a 1930s/1940s band leader.

There's a lot more trivia that I can share with all of you about this show, but I'll leave it to all of you to find it for yourselves. But one thing I'll point out about this show is how all of the stars of the program managed to become successful years after the show ended. I already mentioned the success that Ron Howard experienced post-Andy Griffith show, but Don Knotts managed to find success in his later years. He starred in the successful film, “The Incredible Mr. Limpet” the year before he left The Andy Griffith Show, and played the role of Ralph Furley on “Three's Company” from 1979 until the show's end in 1984.

As for Andy Griffith, he ended up having a fantastic and rewarding career years after his time in Mayberry came to an end. He guest starred in dozens of television series, appeared in a few movies, and in 1986, he ended up becoming the star of Matlock, which ran until 1995.

But I think the biggest legacy Andy Griffith left behind for his fans and friends was his determination and work ethic. He worked hard for all of his successes, and more importantly, he enjoyed the climb. I think his rise to success can be an inspiration to all of us, and I truly believe that we could all take a page out of his guide to life, and that we'd all be better people for it.

Rest in peace, Andy. And, know that millions of people loved, and will continue to love you.