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Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Heathcliff


This is a blog entry that is about cats.

Cartoon cats, that is.

There are a lot of examples of cats being drawn into comic strips.  Obviously the most famous example of a cat starring in a comic strip is Garfield, who has been delighting audiences all over the world since 1978.  But Garfield is hardly the only feline to make people laugh all over the funny pages in the newspaper.  Arlene and Nermal are also a huge part of the Garfield strip as well.  We also have Bill the Cat from “Bloom County”, Bucky from “Get Fuzzy”, Caramel from “Archie”, and Hobbes from “Calvin & Hobbes”.

And then there’s this comic strip cat.


This was the first edition of this strip, dated September 3, 1973.  Do you recognize that fat cat in the comic?  I’ll give you a hint.  He also happens to share the same first name as the main character on the Cosby Show, as well as a character from the book “Wuthering Heights”.



Yes, we’re taking a look at the classic comic, “Heathcliff”, a George Gately creation.  And as you will see, Heathcliff is far from being your typical cat.  If you want my honest assessment of the kind of cat Heathcliff is, I would best describe him as a lovable rogue.  While he does come across to many as being nothing more than a bully to several people, in a lot of cases, it’s not really done in a malicious way...


...ah, who am I kidding?  Of course his actions are malicious.  But for whatever reason, I always seemed to laugh at the antics that Heathcliff got himself into, and the supporting characters of the cartoon added just as much humour to the ongoing saga of Heathcliff as Heathcliff himself displayed.

To begin our look back at “Heathcliff”, we should pay homage to the creator of the classic comic strip.


George Gately was born George Gately Gallagher on December 21, 1928 in Queens Village, Queens, New York.  It was no surprise that George was keen on comics from an early age...he was born into a family of comic lovers, and was always exposed to them.  His father liked to draw, and his brother John was a cartoonist.  It almost seemed like it was written in the stars that Gately would end up following in his brother’s footsteps.

Sure enough, after graduating from the Pratt Institute where he studied art, he ended up pursuing his dream...though it did take him eleven years to do just that.  He passed the time in between working at an advertising agency in New Jersey.  In 1957, George ended up selling his first cartoon, and it was right around this time that he began to be known as George Gately, dropping the “Gallagher” from his name to avoid confusion with his successful older brother.

Gately’s first taste of success in the funny pages came in 1964 when he created the comic strip “Hapless Harry”.  That strip ran for at least a few years, establishing him as a serious cartoonist. 

And around 1971, Gately created a cartoon sketch of a fat, orange cat which would become his most famous creation.  But, it wouldn’t be until 1973 before comic syndicates became interested in publishing it.  Within the first ten years of the “Heathcliff” strip, it became syndicated in hundreds of newspapers.  Each weekday strip was one panel (similar in format to “The Far Side” or “Herman”), and the Sunday cartoon was several panels illustrated in full colour.  The demand for a seven-day-a-week comic strip proved to be a bit difficult for Gately to keep up with, and in later years, he ended up getting assistance from his brother and Bob Laughlin, who helped him draw the strip.


“Heathcliff” was published by McNaught Syndicate for its first fifteen years.  In 1988, Creators Syndicate took over the publishing rights from McNaught, and continues to syndicate the comic in over one thousand newspapers.  George Gately continued working on the strip until 1998, when he retired.  His nephew, Peter Gallagher, took over the artwork for Heathcliff that same year, and as of 2012 still illustrates the comic strip.  George Gately passed away in September 2001 at the age of 72.

Now, who exactly is Heathcliff anyway?


Heathcliff is the pet of Iggy Nutmeg, a young boy who lives in the town of Westfinster with his grandparents, Grandpa and Grandma Nutmeg.  Iggy loves Heathcliff very much, and often sees him as one of his best friends.  Sadly, it appears he may be one of the only humans who will befriend Heathcliff.

Grandma Nutmeg loves Heathcliff as well, but she does spoil him...an awful lot...sometimes even worse than Iggy!  But, I suppose that’s something that can be considered true to life, as my mother often used to spoil any cat that ever lived in our family home over the years.

As for Grandpa Nutmeg...I think he and Heathcliff ended up having a sort of a love-hate relationship with each other.  On one hand, I don’t think that Grandpa Nutmeg could ever imagine life without Heathcliff in it...but I think that he also believed that if Heathcliff wasn’t living with him, his life would be made so much easier.

As far as other characters in the series went, Heathcliff usually got along with Iggy’s classmates.  He liked Iggy’s bespectacled friend, Willy, and I think he also had a soft spot for Iggy’s friend, Marcy.  I mean, not everyone would willingly climb into a baby carriage wearing a baby bonnet sucking a pacifier, but Heathcliff did so willingly.  And, he also was the object of affection of an obsessed female cat known as “Crazy Shirley”...which would have been all right, except for the fact that Heathcliff’s affections were directed towards the lovely young kitten known as Sonja.


Oh, and Heathcliff also had a long-term friendship with the various dogcatchers all over town...the reason being that he would be the one to often tip them off to the locations of stray dogs, and he would end up being a part of the capturing of said dogs.

In case you haven’t figured out yet, Heathcliff hates dogs.


And perhaps the dog that Heathcliff tangles with the most is the bulldog with the name Spike.  Spike and his owner Muggsy Faber (who used to bully Iggy and his friends) would often try to play tricks on Heathcliff, or bully Heathcliff as well.  And, in about 99.9% of all attempts, Heathcliff would always outwit them and get them before they struck first.

(On the other extreme, there is a dog that lives in Iggy Nutmeg’s neighbourhood known as Chauncey who loves Heathcliff to the point where he is constantly licking him.  From one extreme to the other.)

Dogs weren’t the only enemies that Heathcliff had in his life.  He also tangled with the owner of Elite Fish Market...

...the garbagemen who would often have to clean up the messes that Heathcliff caused by knocking over the garbage cans on the street...


...the milkman who often ended up giving the Nutmeg family extra milk thanks to Heathcliff’s scheming...


...not even the mice that lived inside the Nutmeg house were safe!


But despite his mischievous behaviour which was brought upon by Heathcliff’s own selfish needs, he really is a good cat at heart.  He is incredibly devoted to his girlfriend, Sonja, and despite the grief he caused Grandpa Nutmeg, he really did love where he lived, and wouldn’t trade a moment of it for a second.

And lest you think that Heathcliff only existed in comic strip format, think again.  There were Heathcliff comic books that were printed during the 1980s, as well as two animated cartoon series that aired in two separate periods produced by two different companies.  The first series ran between 1980 and 1982, and was produced by Ruby-Spears, while the second series aired between 1984 and 1988 and was produced by DIC Entertainment.  Here’s a clip of the opening intro from the 1984 series.


TRIVIA:  The voice of Heathcliff in both incarnations of the television cartoon was performed by legendary voice artist, Mel Blanc.  It would end up being his last regular role in a cartoon series before his death in 1989.

So, that’s our look back on Heathcliff...a cartoon cat that may not have been as popular as Garfield, but was just as funny...if not more.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

September 11, 1962


I think we can all agree that September 11 is one of those days that has major significance in recent history. And, yes, I will be bringing up the reason why that is the case a little bit later on in this particular blog. One reason being that I talked about this event last year in my blog in full detail. Somewhere in the blog will be a link to that entry. You'll know it when you see it.

At the same time though, I wanted to also use this Tuesday Timeline entry for this week to try and talk about another event in the world of pop culture. Not because I want to downplay the horrible tragedy of the eleventh of September, but because I wanted to point out that there were so many other interesting events that have taken place on September 11, and I really wanted to focus on those events as well. It doesn't mean that we'll ever forget what happened in history eleven years ago, but rather, it will help us remember a time in which September 11 was also a date of great discovery and milestone events in addition to it being a time of mourning.

So, if you're living in America, I hope that you take this Patriot Day to reflect on what happened and to continue living your lives...and to the rest of you, a very happy Tuesday to all of you!

To begin this look back on September 11, we have some celebrity birthdays to list here. Celebrating a birthday today are Oliver Jones, Ian Abercrombie, Brian De Palma, Lola Falana, Mickey Hart, Felton Perry, Dennis Tufano, Amy Madigan, Jani Allan, Tony Gilroy, Brad Bird, Jon Moss, Brad Lesley, Scott Patterson, Roxann Dawson, Virginia Madsen, Elizabeth “E.G.” Daily, Kristy McNichol, Colin Wells, Victor Wooten, Moby, Maria Bartiromo, Harry Connick Jr, Kay Hanley, Laura Wright, Mark Klepaski, Elephant Man, Ludacris, Ben Lee, Frank Francisco, Steve Hofstetter, Mike Comrie, Charles Kelley, and Shaun Livingston.

And, here are a few of the historical events that have taken place on September 11 in history, including the event that I alluded to in the opening paragraph.

1541 – The city of Santiago, Chile is destroyed by indigenous warriors, lead by Michimalonko

1609 – Manhattan Island is discovered by explorer Henry Hudson

1649 – The Siege of Drogheda ends

1709 – The Battle of Malplaquet heats up as Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Austria wage war against France

1775 – Benedict Arnold's expedition to Quebec leaves Cambridge, Massachusetts

1776 – A peace conference held on Staten Island between Britain and the United States fails to stop nascent American Revolutionary War

1786 – The beginning of the Annapolis Convention

1789 – Alexander Hamilton is appointed the first United States Secretary of Treasury

1792 – Six men break into the place where French crown jewels are stored and steal the Hope Diamond

1847 – “Oh! Suzanna”, a song written by Stephen Foster, is first performed in a Pennsylvania saloon

1857 – 120 pioneers are killed in Utah on what would be known as the Mountain Meadows Massacre

1903 – The first race at the Milwaukee Mile is held, making it the oldest speedway in the world

1916 – The central span of the Quebec Bridge collapses, killing eleven

1922 – The Sun-News Pictoral, an Australian newspaper is founded, running until 1990

1939 – Canada declares war on Germany in the early stages of World War II, the first time that Canada made an independent declaration of war

1941 – On the same day that the ground is broken for the construction of The Pentagon, Charles Lindbergh makes his Des Moines speech which accused Britain, the Jews, and the Roosevelt administration for pressing for war against Germany

1954 – Hurricane Edna batters New England, killing 29 people

1961 – Seven years after Edna, Hurricane Carla strikes Texas, the second-strongest storm to strike the state

1970 – The Dawson's Field hijackers release 88 hostages

1972 – The opening day of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit system

1985 – Pete Rose breaks Ty Cobb's record for most career hits when he makes his 4,192nd hit

1988 – St. Jean Bosco massacre occurs in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

1992 – Hurricane Iniki slams into Hawaiian Islands, devastating the islands of Oahu and Kauai

1997 – NASA's Mars Global Surveyor reaches Mars




(To read my account of the attacks that I wrote last year on the 10th anniversary of the attacks, click on the paragraph above.)

2003 – Actor John Ritter falls ill on the set of “8 Simple Rules” and dies hours later from an aortic dissection just days before his fifty-fifth birthday. Also on this date, Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Anna Lindh dies at 47, just a day after a horrific knife attack launched on her.

You want to know what I found eerie about the list of events? Just how many of them were based in New York City and Washington D.C.

But for today's trip back through time, we're going to jolly old England. For the date we are going back to is exactly five decades ago.



September 11, 1962.

So, what happened on this date fifty years ago today? Quite a bit, actually. On this date in 1962, a famous rock band was in the recording studio recording the song that would eventually become their debut single. But as you'll soon discover, the process in the song recording was actually a long-drawn out process. It was right around the time that the band was experiencing a personnel change within its members, and it was a period in which the band was still trying to find their groove, and what worked. In fact, September 11, 1962 was the THIRD attempt at recording this song, as the previous two didn't work out so well.

So, what song are we featuring in this particular entry? It's this one.



ARTIST: The Beatles
SONG: Love Me Do
ALBUM: Please Please Me
DATE RELEASED: October 5, 1962
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #1 for 1 week

That's right. We're taking a look back at the song “Love Me Do”. Although it didn't chart in North America until the spring of 1964, it was the debut single for The Beatles in the UK. And, the song was recorded exactly fifty years ago today on September 11, 1962.



Or was it September 4, 1962? Or, possibly June 6, 1962?

Well, actually, it was all three. And, yes, I will explain why this was the case.

The song “Love Me Do” was actually written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Most of the song was written by McCartney back in 1958 on a day in which he played hookey from school (as I'm sure most sixteen year olds did at least once in their lives). Lennon ended up writing the “middle eight”.



The song was originally recorded in the studios on June 6, 1962 under the band's original line-up, which as most Beatles fans will tell you comprised of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Pete Best. The song was actually a part of their audition at EMI Studios, located at 3 Abbey Road in London.

But then something happened later that summer that would force the song to be re-recorded. In August 1962, Pete Best was let go from The Beatles by the other three members, having been informed of the decision by The Beatles' then-manager Brian Epstein. Though much speculation was made as to why this was the case, that would take a whole blog entry to get into the reasons why. With Best gone, The Beatles welcomed Ringo Starr into the line-up on August 16, 1962.



Just a couple of weeks later, on September 4, The Beatles (now with Ringo Starr) went back to the recording studios to rehearse and re-record “Love Me Do”, “Please Please Me”, and several other songs. Brian Epstein footed the bill for the band to fly down to London, and the band set up in studio three. Producer George Martin was also at the recording session, but wasn't exactly wowed by the songwriting talents of Lennon and McCartney. When the band arrived at the recording studios, Martin was insistent on having the band record a song written by Mitch Murray called “How Do You Do It?”. The song was written originally for Adam Faith, and Murray believed that the song would be a perfect debut single for the band.

One problem. The Beatles were insistent on recording their OWN material. Luckily for them, Martin was willing to let them try. He still was apprehensive about it, but he gave them the benefit of the doubt.

Initially, Martin was still dead-set on releasing “How Do You Do It?” as The Beatles' first single, and almost went through with it. But upon hearing the finished copy of “Love Me Do”, he changed his mind.

But Martin wasn't completely satisfied with the final cut. In particular, he wasn't too keen on the drumming part, which Ringo Starr performed on the September 4 recordings, believing that Starr was having trouble keeping with the beat of the song (something that McCartney reportedly agreed with). As a result, he made the decision to schedule a third recording session on September 11 to try recording the song a third time...without Ringo on drums.



At that time, a number of record producers were using professional show band drummers during recording sessions to try and keep up with the sound that dominated the charts. And in this case, professional drummer Andy White was brought into the third session for “Love Me Do”. The reason he was chosen was largely due to Ron Richards. At the time of the September 11 sessions, George Martin was unavailable to sit in on the recording, so Richards was brought in. And since Richards had worked with White before, it made perfect sense to use him for the session.

But with Andy White being brought into the recording session to re-record “Love Me Do”, it left a rather nasty taste in the mouth of Ringo Starr, who was under the false assumption that his time with The Beatles was ending after not even less than a month. It was bad enough that many of Pete Best's fans were already making him out to be a sort of pariah for taking his place, but this was a lot for Ringo to deal with. Ron Richards even revealed that when the recording was happening, Ringo sat down next to him in the control booth and sat there in complete silence before he asked him to play the maracas on another single, “P.S. I Love You”. It was a bit tension-filled during that September 11 recording session, but eventually Ringo accepted the apologies that both Richards and Martin offered him since the session. Of course, this didn't stop Ringo from never letting Richards forget what happened.

Eventually, the problem of the “Love Me Do” controversy was solved by having both Starr and White play on the record. White played the drums, while Starr played the tambourine, and the third version of “Love Me Do” was completed later that day.

So, that's the story of “Love Me Do”. It was one of the few songs that was recorded three different times by three different drummers! And, believe it or not, despite the fact that the original master tapes from the September 4 session were erased (due to the common practice of erasing the tapes once the singles were mixed down to create the “new” master tapes which would be used to print the records), all three versions can be found in various Beatles compilations. You just have to know where to look.



If you want to hear the June 6, 1962 version of the song “Love Me Do”, with Pete Best on drums, you just need to locate a copy of “Anthology 1”, released in 1995.



If you're interested in listening to the September 4, 1962 version of the song, with Ringo Starr on drums, you can find it on the Beatles compilation album “Rarities”, released in 1980.



And, of course, the September 11, 1962 version with Andy White on drums is the one that is most commonly heard, and is the version located on the “Please Please Me” album...which is partly the reason why I opted to choose today as the date to spotlight what would be the first of dozens of hit singles for The Beatles.

And, that is our look back on September 11, 1962. And with that, I end this note off with a bit of trivia.

TRIVIA: There is one distinct difference between the September 4 version and the September 11 version. The September 4 version doesn't contain a tambourine.

Now you know.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Raiders of the Lost Ark


Last week, I did a feature on one of my favourite movies from the 1980s, only instead of focusing on the plot of the film, I ended up talking about some of the behind the scenes moments about how the film came to be.  Never before heard trivia, bloopers, scene changes, and casting blunders.  You know...the antics that usually end up on the cutting room floor.

Well, since last week’s Monday Matinee was a hit with the audience, I thought that I would do the same thing yet again with another one of my favourite eighties films.  And, believe me, I found out some behind the scenes trivia that not even I knew!

For today’s Monday Matinee, I thought we would go back in time thirty-one years to the year that yours truly was born.

1981 was a year that many would call a period of hodge-podge.  Or, at the very least, I like to call it that.  It was a year in which we had all possible genres of music topping the charts from rock and roll to country music crossovers.  It was a year in which television sitcoms were being backburnered to make way for such prime-time soap operas as “Dallas”, “Dynasty”, “Falcon Crest” and “Knots Landing”.

And in the world of movies, there were a huge variety of films that one could see at the box office.  Among the top ten movies of 1981 were “On Golden Pond”, “Chariots of Fire”, “Arthur”, “The Cannonball Run”, “Stripes”, and “Superman II”.

Quite the eclectic list of films, eh?

It should also be noted that 1981 was also the year that two Hollywood heavyweights made their feature film debuts; Kathleen Turner in “Body Heat”, and Tom Cruise in “Endless Love”.

But what film was the highest-grossing film of 1981?  What film completely set a new standard in how future Hollywood action films were shot?  Which film gave Harrison Ford a career outside of “Star Wars”?

Well...let’s watch a trailer for the movie.  Maybe this will help jog your memory.


That’s right.  We’re going to look at the movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, starring Harrison Ford and Karen Allen.  It’s one of my all-time favourite films, and it was the top-ranked movie of 1981, easily making almost four hundred million dollars at the box office.


The movie was released on June 12, 1981, and it was produced by George Lucas and directed by Steven Spielberg.  This film was so successful that a number of sequels (and at least one prequel), each of which did extremely well at the box office, and also inspired a television series entitled “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles” which aired between 1992 and 1996.

As most of you know, Harrison Ford portrayed the main character of the series, archaeologist Indiana Jones, and as the film begins, we begin to understand who he is and why he does what he does (although the 1984 film “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” does a better job of this, considering that it was the prequel to this film). 

The year is 1936, and Indiana Jones bravely makes his way through a Peruvian temple filled with traps that would kill the average man, woman, or child.  But not our Indy.  He manages to get through the temple in one piece trying to retrieve an ancient golden idol.  It’s just a shame that on his way out of the temple, he is confronted by his arch-nemesis, Rene Belloq (Paul Freeman) and a group of Hovitos, and is forced to surrender the idol and flee.

All that work for nothing!

But then when Indiana Jones returns to his teaching position in the United States, he is told by a couple of Army intelligence agents that the Nazis are searching for Indy’s former mentor, Abner Ravenwood.  Ravenwood being the leading expert in the Egyptian city of Tanis, and who also happens to have the headpiece of a rare artifact “The Staff of Ra” in his possession.  Indiana Jones believes that the only reason why the Nazis would be interested in Tanis is because they believe that it is the location of the Ark of the Covenant, a biblical chest built by the Israelites to contain the fragments of the Ten Commandments.  The Nazis believe that by getting their hands on the Ark, they will become an unstoppable force in the world.  The Staff of Ra, meanwhile, is the key to opening up the Well of Souls, the area in which the Ark is rumoured to be buried in.

And, Indiana Jones couldn’t let the Nazis take possession of the Ark, could he?

So with that, Indiana Jones boards a flight to Nepal in hopes of meeting with Ravenwood.  Unfortunately, he happens to be too late.  He’s already kicked the bucket.    What’s worse, the headpiece of the Staff of Ra is now in the possession of Ravenwood’s daughter, Marion (Allan), a former, embittered lover of the hero.


So, what does one do to try and get something from someone who is scorned?  Buy them off!  No, seriously, that’s what Indiana Jones does.  He offers to pay Marion $3,000 (an insane amount of money back then) for the headpiece, and an additional $2,000 when they return home to the United States!  But before the deal could be made, a group of Nazis along with their leader, Major Toht (Ronald Lacey) bust through the doors of Marion’s tavern and set it ablaze.  Fortunately, both Marion and Indiana escape with their lives and head off to Cairo, Egypt, where they meet up with an old friend of Indiana’s, Sallah (John Rhys-Davies), who agrees to help the two locate the Ark.  But when they learn that Belloq has joined forces with the Nazis to find the mystical treasure, it becomes a race against time to get to the Ark before they do...and naturally there’s lots of danger, trauma, adrenaline, and snakes. 

And anyone who has seen the movie knows exactly how Indiana Jones feels about snakes.

So, that’s the basic plot of “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, completely ignoring the ending...because as you know, I never reveal endings.  But I will reveal a bunch of trivia and facts about this movie.  Again, some of this you might already know.  But some of it may be a surprise.

1 – Here’s a recent piece of trivia.  When “Raiders of the Lost Ark” was re-released in September 2012 for a one-week engagement (to promote the upcoming Blu-Ray release of the movie), it actually outperformed the more recent offerings for that box office weekend.  In fact, this past box office weekend was the worst one since the weekend of September 21, 2001!

2 – Watch the whole movie carefully and you will notice something...throughout all of the action sequences and situations that Indiana Jones faces, he never once loses his hat!


3 – Here’s an interesting piece about how the role of Indiana Jones was cast.  Initially, Harrison Ford was always Steven Spielberg’s first choice to play the role.  But George Lucas did not agree.  He was worried that people would accuse Lucas of casting Ford in every movie that he produced (Ford played Hans Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy).  By May of 1980, they thought they had found the perfect Indiana Jones in actor Tom Selleck...but at the last moment, Selleck dropped out of the production as he had just signed on to do a show called “Magnum P.I.” (which ended up running until 1988).  Harrison Ford was cast as Indiana Jones just three weeks before the film started shooting in June 1980!  How’s that for a close call?

4 – Other actors who were briefly considered for the role of Indiana Jones aside from Selleck were Tim Matheson, Jack Nicholson, Bill Murray, Peter Coyote, and Steve Martin!  Could you imagine Steve Martin as Indiana Jones?  I know I can’t!

5 – The famous truck scene in which Indiana Jones is dragged under and out behind a moving truck took eight weeks to complete.


6 – You know that scene in which Indiana Jones is in the room filled with thousands of snakes?  To recreate that sound in the background, sound designer Ben Burtt used a rather unconventional method.  He recorded the sound that his fingers made as they went inside a cheese casserole! 

7 – The film was originally set at a low budget.  By the time the filming wrapped up, the final budget came in at a whopping $22 million!  Luckily, the film more than recouped their budget!


8 – Danny DeVito was originally considered to play the role of Sallah, but he could not make it in to film the movie due to scheduling conflicts.  Rhys-Davies was given the role after Spielberg watched his performance in “Shogun”.


9 – This film marks the acting debut of Alfred Molina.  He plays a guide to Indiana Jones who ends up betraying him at the beginning of the film.  Don’t worry though...he gets what’s coming to him in the end.

10 – Before Karen Allen was given the role of Marion, Sean Young was also under consideration.  Debra Winger turned down the part.

11 – The iconic opening scene where Indiana Jones makes his way through the booby-trapped temple was inspired by an unusual source...a Donald Duck comic illustrated and written by artist Carl Banks!

12 – The jacket that Indiana Jones wore in the film was actually a brand new jacket at the time.  It had to be artificially aged by the costume department.


13 – I’m sure many of you want to know where Indiana Jones’ iconic hat came from.  Fear not, I have the answer.  Ever hear of a place known as Savile Row in London?  In that area was the famous Herbert Johnson hat shop, which is where the hat was sold.  And here’s a funny story about how the costume department aged the hat, courtesy of the Bonus Features section of the DVD.  Apparently, Harrison Ford and the head costume designer Deborah Nadoolman sat on the hat! 


14 – The boulder used in the iconic boulder rolling scene was made of fibreglass, and the sound effect was achieved by recording the sound of a tire from a Honda Civic coasting down a gravel embankment.

15 – Harrison Ford must have a high tolerance for pain.  When he was filming the scene that involved an airplane that was out of control, the plane ran over Ford’s knee!  Although ligaments were torn, he did not want to undergo any health care in Tunisia (where the bulk of the movie was filmed).  He ended up simply wrapping his knee in ice!

16 – John Rhys-Davies ended up contracting cholera while filming the movie.  In fact, the only crew member that did not get sick during the shoot was director Steven Spielberg!

17 – Initially, the main character of the film was named “Indiana Smith”.  It was changed to Jones the day the film began production.  The name Indiana came from the name of George Lucas’ dog, who also inspired another George Lucas creation, Chewbacca from Star Wars.

18 – Indiana Jones’ bull whip was actually sold at Christie’s auction house for $43,000 in December 1999.  His hat and jacket are on display in the Smithsonian.

19 – In the German release of the film, the voices of the Nazi actors were redubbed because the parts were played by American actors who weren’t exactly fluent in German.


20 – British wrestler Pat Roach held a dubious honour in the film.  He was the only actor to portray two different characters in the film, both of which were killed off!


21 – Want to know how the shot of the monkey raising his paw and saying “Heil Hitler” was achieved?  The first part was achieved by putting a grape on a fishing pole and holding the grape above the monkey’s head so that he would reach for it.  Of course, it took about fifty takes before the production crew got the shot they needed.  As for the voice of the monkey, it was provided by veteran voice artist Frank Welker.

22 – Here’s a freeze frame moment for you.  Take your copy of the movie and fast forward to the scene in which Indy is confronting the Nazi troops, threatening to blow them away with a bazooka.  If you watch the scenes containing Paul Freeman, you may notice a fly creeping around his mouth...which Paul ends up swallowing!

23 – The snake pit in the Well of Souls contained mostly real snakes, scavenged from several pet stores in the London area.  But when they still didn’t have enough snakes to cover the pit, garden hoses were added in.

24 – During the filming of the Well of Souls segment, assistant director David Tomblin was attacked by a python!  He ended up being okay, and the python was not seriously injured.  Another python wasn’t so lucky...it ended up dying after being attacked by a cobra.

25 – Frank Marshall, one of the film’s producers had to play a pilot in the airplane fight sequence after almost all of the stuntmen fell ill.  But this cameo was not a fun experience for Marshall, who was forced to sit in a cramped airplane cockpit in the unrelenting Tunisian heat.

And, finally...

26 – Without giving too much away, I’ll just state that the following items were used in the iconic final confrontation scenes...a vacuum machine, a heat gun with time lapse photography, and a shotgun.  And believe it or not, the movie was almost given an R rating because of the graphic scenes.  It was eventually lowered to PG after some editing work.


That’s our look back behind the scenes of “Raiders of the Lost Ark”.  So, what’s on tap for Monday, September 17?  Well, in 1982, Dustin Hoffman ended up performing in a movie that had people talking...and here's a hint...it's not "The Lady In Red".

Sunday, September 09, 2012

The "Independence" of Martina McBride


“Sweethearts of Country Music” month continues with an artist who has had a career that has lasted over twenty years.  With eleven studio albums, a greatest hits compilation, a live album, and a collection of Christmas favourites, it’s no wonder that our featured singer has sold over fourteen million albums and has earned several award nominations and wins.

But before I get into the subject for today, I wanted to talk a little bit about why I decided to feature country music every Sunday in September.

Obviously, I haven’t focused too much on country music in the blog, mainly because it’s not really a genre of music that I go out of my way to listen to.  When you grow up in a household that consistently played old-school country music by Tom T. Hall, Ernest Tubb, Jim Reeves, and Emmylou Harris every waking hour, it gets to be a bit much.  My entire childhood was spent trying to drown out Ricky Skaggs and Hank Snow with Michael Jackson and R.E.M.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that country music (especially country music that has been released over the last twenty years or so) have some rather powerful lyrics that can really stir up emotions and feelings.  And the song that I plan to feature is one that best displays this point.  In fact, this song actually garnered a little bit of controversy back in the day for displaying disturbing imagery and graphic violence.  Although, on a personal level, given some of the music videos that have aired since, this one appears tame.


Today, we’re featuring the music of the woman who some have called the “Celine Dion of Country Music”, Martina McBride.

Martina McBride was born Martina Mariea Schiff on July 29, 1966 in Sharon, Kansas, a town with a population of just 200.  She was exposed to country music at an early age from her father, who used to listen to it while he worked as a farmer and owner of a cabinet business.  Listening to some of her favourite artists on the radio such as Reba McEntire, Juice Newton, and Linda Ronstadt helped Martina find her voice in a way...for listening to country music all the time inspired Martina to become a singer herself.  By the time she was nine years old, she began singing with her father’s band, “The Schiffters”, and as she grew older, she assumed the role of keyboardist within the band.

Now here’s some interesting trivia for all of you reading this.  Although Martina grew up listening to country music, did you know that when she was in her late teens, she ended up joining a rock band?  The name of the band was “The Penetrators”, and they played around Wichita, Kansas before Martina left the band circa 1987.  That same year, Martina attempted to form another band, and during this time she was looking for a place for her new band to rehearse.  She ended up finding a space for the band to practice in, renting it from a sound engineer named John McBride.


I’m sure you’ve figured out where this story is going.  Martina and John ended up falling in love, they got married in 1988, she took his last name as her own, and they are still married twenty-four years later with three children.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself here.

The year after Martina and John got married, the two relocated from Kansas to Nashville, Tennessee where Martina had dreams of making it big in the world of country music.  It was only a matter of time before Martina’s dreams began to come true. 


Lucky break #1:  Almost immediately after settling down in Nashville, Martina’s husband ended up getting a gig working on the sound crew for up-and-coming country artist Garth Brooks.  This gig eventually set John McBride up for his own career rise when he later became Brooks’ concert promotion manager.  Martina was thrilled for her husband, and she supported him in every possible way.  Would you believe that she even went on the road to sell Garth Brooks souvenirs like T-shirts and concert posters at various venues?

Well, it didn’t take long for Garth Brooks to notice Martina’s bubbly personality and passion, and here is where lucky break #2 factors into the equation.  In 1990, Brooks was so impressed by Martina’s enthusiasm that when he discovered that she wanted to make it big as a singer, he offered her a deal.  He would offer Martina the chance to become his opening act at his concerts.  And certainly, this was a proposition that Martina was not going to refuse.  After all, Garth Brooks was one of the fastest growing country stars of the early 1990s.  Opening up for him would give her a lot of publicity and attention.  But, there was one small catch.  In order for Garth to consider honouring his part of the deal, she would have to get herself signed to a recording contract within Nashville...a task that seemed nearly impossible.

But not for Martina McBride.

Her husband may have been on the road working for various country music artists, but in between his road trips, he helped Martina record a demo tape that she would shop around to various record labels, hoping that one would take interest.  It took a few months, but RCA Nashville Records heard the tape and immediately signed the then 25-year-old singer to a recording contract in 1991.


The following year, Martina McBride released her debut album “The Time Has Come”, and it was by all accounts a traditional country album, influenced heavily by honky tonk and country folk.  The album did net McBride a Top 30 hit with the album’s title track, but the following singles after that failed to chart within the Top 40.  It became clear to McBride that for her sophomore album, she would have to change up her style.

And change it up she did with her second release, 1993’s “The Way That I Am”.  And it is this album that contains the song spotlight for this week.


Although it wasn’t her first album, it was the album that helped propel Martina into Country Sweetheart status.  For one, the album was the first one she released to reach “Gold” status (in September 1994).  Just eight months later, in May 1995, the album went platinum.  The album was also the one that contained Martina’s first top 5 hit on the country charts with “My Baby Loves Me”, in 1993.

It also contained this single.


ARTIST:  Martina McBride
SONG:  Independence Day
ALBUM:  The Way That I Am
DATE RELEASED:  April 25, 1994
PEAK POSITION ON THE COUNTRY MUSIC CHARTS:  #12

TRIVIA:  The song was originally offered to Reba McEntire, but she turned it down, leaving Martina McBride free to record the song herself.  It was written by Gretchen Peters.

You know, I really tried to find a version of the proper music video that I could link to this blog because the music video is a huge part of this entry.  But since I couldn’t find a way to get the video to link, I had to do the next best thing and post the link to the music video.  Click below and watch the video, and once you have, we’ll chat about it.


So, the first thing that you might notice about this song is that it performed modestly on the charts.  It managed to peak at #12 on the charts, but it could have gone higher.  The main reason why it didn’t was due to the song’s airplay...or lack thereof.

A lot of country music stations refused to play “Independence Day” due to the subject matter, and that decision likely helped keep the song from the Top 10. 

The song itself though is very powerful, and although the video is chilling, it worked with the lyrics of the song.


The song is all about the subject of domestic violence, and how it can affect an entire family.  As the video and song begins, we quickly discover that a little girl living at the house is in a situation that no child should have to be a part of.  Imagine witnessing your mother being verbally and physically abused by your father every day of your life and being absolutely powerless to stop it.  Certainly, the video depicted the beatings that the woman sustained in a graphic and disturbing way.  But looking back on it, I’m happy that the director went that route.  With this particular song, I think that it wouldn’t have worked otherwise.  If the director tried to hide the violent scenes from the video, it would not have been as strong a message. 


The little girl at some point during the video decides that she wants to get away from the turmoil at home, and she decides to go to the 4th of July carnival where a parade is taking place.  At first, the little girl seems to be enjoying herself, and is drawn to the parade floats, marching bands, and balloons.  But then a couple of clowns attracted the girl’s attention, and not in a good way.

(And no, it wasn’t because she was afraid of clowns.  It was because she was afraid of what the clowns were doing.)

It wasn’t the fault of the clowns...they had no idea of what horrors the girl had to endure at home.  But when the clowns were doing slapstick comedy on each other, which included fake slaps and shoving, it reminded the girl of the moments in which she saw her father pushing her mother around.  Just in case we weren’t clear, the music video keeps switching back and forth between the clowns and the terrible domestic abuse.

Whatever the case was, the little girl is frightened and runs back home...only to find that her whole house is burning to the ground and that Martina McBride is just standing outside of it singing away.  I mean, seriously, Martina, why are you not throwing buckets of water on the house!  Help the firemen out!

Turns out the woman was getting tired of taking the kicks and punches thrown her way by the man who was supposed to love and protect her the most, and she lit the match that burned down the house that Jack built (well, assuming her husband’s name was Jack, that is.)

Long story short, the fate of the parents is not known (although Martina has later admitted that the woman did not die in the blaze and that the abusive man was delivered karma served piping hot), and the little girl is taken away to become a ward of the state, a tragic end to an already terrible day for her.

All right, so the video’s ending wasn’t like an episode of “Full House”.  But it did serve its purpose that domestic violence is no laughing matter, and I think the video did a good job of displaying that message.  I’m not saying that it should encourage all women in an abusive relationship to set their husband’s bed on fire like Farrah Fawcett did, but it should serve as message that women can reclaim their lives and get their independence back, even if things seemed impossible.  I imagine that the woman ended up getting arrested for killing her husband at the end of the video, and we really aren’t sure if she ended up getting reunited with her daughter or not.  But it didn’t matter to her, because in that moment that her husband died, she regained a sense of independence.  For the first time in what seemed like years, she was finally free of the abuse, the pain, and the scars, and in that moment, she was finally celebrating her own “Independence Day”.

That’s a nice double meaning to the phrase, by the way.  The woman ended up getting her independence back on the 4th of July...the American Independence Day.


This song helped get Martina McBride some more recognition as a serious country music artist.  It was nominated for a couple of Grammy Awards in 1995, and the song won two Academy of Country Music Awards for “Best Video” and “Best Song”.

In the coming years, Martina McBride would end up achieving even greater success on the country charts, and she even had a few crossover hits on the Adult Contemporary charts as well.  With songs such as “Wild Angels”, “A Broken Wing”, “I Love You”, “Concrete Angel”, “This One’s for the Girls”, and “Wrong Baby Wrong”, Martina McBride has successfully cemented her place on the country music charts for years to come...and in this blogger’s opinion, it’s a place that she earned.


Next Sunday, “Sweethearts of Country Music” month continues with a young woman, just twenty-two.  She’s been rewarded with Grammy Awards, and has had several #1 singles and a few Top 10 crossover hits on the pop charts.  And she is not letting bullies, past relationships or Kanye West keep her from her dreams.

That’s coming up on September 16.