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Thursday, March 07, 2013

The Six-Month Plan


For some of you, this Thursday Diary entry will not be much of a surprise.  For the rest of you, this entry will clear some things up...including why lately I have been looking ahead to six months from now. 

March 7, 2013

There’s a saying about the month of March.  I would imagine that most of you know what it is, but in case you don’t, the saying is this.


“If March comes in like a lamb, it will go out like a lion.  If March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb.”

Of course, everyone who has heard this saying knows that it has to do with weather conditions.  March is probably one of the most unpredictable months as far as weather conditions go as you never really know what to expect.  At least this is the case in Canada, where March is the month that sees the transition between winter and spring.

Lamb like weather includes warm sunny days with gentle breezes.  Lion like weather can include tons of snow, frigid temperatures, and even thunderstorms. 

(Just in case you were wondering, in my part of the country we ended up getting snow on March 1...so, I guess I could say that March has come in like a lion – albeit a little baby lion cub.)

But why should the lion/lamb analogy only be used to describe weather?  Why can’t we apply the same principle to our everyday lives?  I know I certainly can.  Only instead of just focusing on the month of March, I thought I would focus on the year 2013 so far.


Personally speaking, 2013 has come in like a big, bad, nasty lion.  When 2012 ended, I was trying to get over a couple of personal losses, as well as dealing with a couple of stressful situations.  And when 2013 rolled around, things didn’t seem much better.  Over the last three months, I’ve done quite a bit of soul-searching within myself, trying to come up with ideas in how to make things better for myself.  Instead, any ideas that I came up with ended up frustrating me even further.

You know how some writers end up with a condition known as “Writer’s Block”, in which try as they might they cannot come up with any creative ideas on how to advance a story? 

In my case, I’ve had a chronic case of “Life Block”. 

I’ll be completely honest with all of you.  I’m completely stuck in a rut.  I feel like one of those hamsters on one of those wheels that can be found in many pet cages, and I’m unable to find a way to jump off of it. 

I won’t go into too much detail, but here’s the Cliff’s Notes version.  At my job, I’ll still readily admit that the work isn’t tough, and that for the most part I get along with my co-workers...but I’m going to be completely realistic.  I don’t see myself progressing any further than my current position, and in all likelihood, the next opportunity in which I can go further won’t be for several months, or even a couple of years from now.  I suppose that I could wait around and stick it out, but I’m wondering what the payoff in doing that would be.  Even though I don’t mind my job right now, I have to wonder if I love it enough to stay with it knowing that I’ve gone as far as I can go.

And, then there’s the location that I’m currently in.  I’ll readily be the first one to admit that I’ve begun to appreciate my hometown a lot more than I used to, and I’m slowly immersing myself into the community (which I’ll be talking about one week from today).  At the same time, there are some instances in which I feel as though I am the only thirty-one year old single male in my entire community.  Most of the people my age are engaged or married, and it’s very difficult for me to meet people my own age in this area.  Ideally, I’d like to go to a larger town, and possibly come back home after a few years away, but the main obstacle in my way has always been financial.  It is common knowledge that the bigger the city the more expensive the rent.

So, as we were beginning a brand new year, nothing had really changed from the year before, and it seemed as though 2013 was going to be a reheated mess of leftovers from last year. 

But then I received a letter in the mail, and suddenly a lot more options began to open up for me.


As many of you know from my past entries, you know that I went off to university for two years, and for a multitude of reasons I never finished.  I did not get my degree, however I was “rewarded” with a wonderful $14,000 debt. 

(Though, given that I attended school in the early 2000s, I suppose I can count myself lucky that I only accumulated $14,000 debt compared to some others who may have had ten times that amount.)

It took me some time to begin paying off the debt, as it took me a year and a half to find a job, but once I landed the job, I began making payments every two weeks like clockwork.  For most of that time surprisingly, I never really bothered to check the balance of my debt.  As long as it continued to go down, I was satisfied.

So imagine my surprise when I opened up my statement that was sent to my mailbox monthly, and I realized that the debt was almost completely paid.  As of the beginning of March, I only owed a tenth of what I originally had to pay back!  After eleven years of paying off that debt, it was almost wiped out.  I did some calculations, and I figure that if I keep paying what I have been paying them every month, I will have that debt completely wiped out by the time September comes.


It makes me feel giddy inside.  Six months from now, I’ll be completely debt-free (well, for now anyway)!  It’s a fantastic feeling to have, and I’m actually looking forward to September!

Of course, this leads to the next question.  What do I do once September comes?

The fact that I’ve come up with a six-month plan for settling the last of the debt that I owe is the first step towards creating the life that I want to have for myself.  But once that hurdle is cleared, I have to look ahead to the next six months.

There’re several things that I have thought of doing...and each one has its merits.


IDEA #1:  Getting a transfer to a different store in the same chain.  This would require me to move to a different location where the opportunity to grow will potentially be higher.  And, hey, if it’ll improve my social life, all the more reason to go, right?


IDEA #2:  Getting a transfer to a different store and giving college another try.  Based on what I have learned, I know that I don’t have the ambition or the desire to go back to a university campus.  But if I attended a more specialized technical college, I could actually gain the skills that could help me land a better job and achieve a higher standard of living.  And, hey, if it’ll improve my social life, all the more reason to give school another chance, right?


IDEA #3:  Quit the retail business once and for all and try my hand in a different career field.  This move is incredibly risky for me given the state of the global economy, but if I’m heading into that challenge in a fairly good position financially, maybe it might be worth that risk.


IDEA #4:  Taking a year off from work to spend the entire year getting a book written and published.  If you asked me if I was considering this as an option a couple of years ago, I would have 86’ed that suggestion completely.  But considering that I want nothing more than to be a published writer, this option is starting to become very tempting.  And, if I can manage to save up enough money, I could feasibly spend the year crashing at El Cheapo motel rooms while I write about the exciting adventures that I’d likely have while touring across Canada getting inspiration.  You know what, now that I’ve typed that out, that idea is beginning to appeal to me more and more!



IDEA #5:  Toughing it out in my current situation for one more year so that I can ensure that I save the most amount of money possible to fund any one of the above four options.  The question is not whether I can do it, but whether I can handle my current situation without losing my mind.  As of right now, I could probably handle it, but you never know how I would be feeling six months from now.

I’m sure that as I think about it some more over the next six months, I’ll have a couple of more possibilities that could open up.  After all, we never can completely predict where we will be six months, six years, or six decades from now.  But I will say this.  I’ve never felt more optimistic about my future than I am right now at this moment. 


September is still six months away, so I have lots of time to perfect my six-month plan and come to a decision as to what to do.  No matter what happens, I know that somehow, it will all work out.

2013 may have come in like a lion for me personally...but with a little work, and a bit of planning, there’s no reason why the year can’t end like a lamb.

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Defunct Discount Stores from Ames to Zellers




For those of you living in Canada like myself, you may have heard the news that American retail chain Target is planning on opening up at least two hundred stores in various locations right across the country over the next two years.  In fact, three stores in Ontario opened up their doors yesterday.  I remember watching the opening of one of the stores on last night’s six o’clock news, and it seemed to get a lot of attention.  It seemed as though one of the biggest complaints about the retail chain thus far here in Canada has to do with pricing.  Some consumers believe that the prices are a bit too expensive for their meager budgets.  I suppose time will tell what will happen as more stores open up across Canada.

Of course, some of you who have been faithful readers of this blog for almost two years might recall that I currently hold a day job in retail at what could be considered one of Target’s biggest competitors.  Lest you think that I am giving a rival chain free publicity, think again.  For one, I would likely end up getting a stern talking to if I were caught praising a rival chain of stores, and for another, I have not set foot inside of a Target location, so I cannot judge how good of a chain it is.  The closest city to me that will be getting a Target location is about an hour’s drive from where I am, and that store won’t be ready until at least summer.  I’ll probably check it out when the grand opening does take place just out of curiosity, as I’m sure the majority of my co-workers at my job will.

The reason why I am talking about Target moving up north to Canada is because for Target to have the ability to come into Canada, it means that another department store chain has closed up shop.


In this case, Target will be opening up shop in several former Zellers locations over the next year.  The few Zellers locations that are still open are currently having their “Going Out Of Business” sales, and by April 2013 (with the exception of three stores), Zellers will be nothing more than a name of the past.

And, the closure of several hundred Zellers stores all across Canada gave me the idea for today’s topic.  What if I did a spotlight on department stores and supermarkets that I remember going to as a child?  Department stores and supermarket chains that no longer exist?  And, what if I pepper each description of the now-defunct businesses with historical events and personal memories that I experienced when I paid each store a visit?  I thought it would be a great topic to talk about the stores of the past, and at the end, I’ll be asking for some audience participation.  No obligation though, despite my bolding of the words ‘audience participation’.  J

NOTE:  I realize that there are hundreds of department stores and supermarket chains that have shut their doors, but for the sake of this blog, I will only do spotlights on chains that I remember visiting.  But feel free to add your memories of other department stores and supermarkets of the past if I have not listed them here.

And, to begin, we’ll go in alphabetical order with a department store I visited several times as a child when my family would go cross-border shopping in the United States.


AMES
Founded: 1958
Defunct:  Fall 2002

It seems hard to believe now, but at one time, Ames was once the United States’ fourth largest retailer behind Walmart, Kmart, and Target.  The first Ames store was opened up in the community of Southbridge, Massachusetts in 1958 by brothers Milton and Irving Gilman.  The inspiration for the name “Ames” came purely by recycling – the brothers just used the signage of the former business that previously occupied the building, “Ames Worsted Textile Co.”

The company set up several locations strictly in the Northeastern United States, specifically in ruralised areas, offering up the promise of quality items at discounted prices to that sector of population so that they wouldn’t have to drive so far to get everyday household items needed.  By 1978, the company began to expand as a fast pace, taking over the former “Big N” chain, and ten years later, would acquire as many as four hundred more locations from Ames taking over the King’s Department Store chain, G.C. Murphy, and Zayre stores throughout the United States.

Unfortunately for Ames, this move also caused the company to file for bankruptcy in the early 1990s.  Of course, it wasn’t the inability to keep up with the expansion that was the sole factor.  Ames had a policy that allowed customers to extend their consumer credit with the store without any questions asked, and without doing a credit check!  This proved to be a big mistake on Ames’ part, because what eventually happened was that customers were defaulting on their debt payments, which took money out of Ames’ bottom line.  A total of 370 stores were closed during that period.

Amazingly, Ames navigated this bankruptcy quite well, and by the mid-1990s, the company bounced back and began making profits.  Unfortunately, the company had to file for bankruptcy protection a second time in the summer of 2001, and this time, the problems were so great that the company announced that the chain would be going out of business in late 2002.  The final Ames stores were left vacant by the holiday season of 2002.

PERSONAL MEMORY TIME:  Ames never came to Canada, but there was an Ames location in Ogdensburg, New York.  As a kid, I remember going there with my family, and ended up picking up some very cool toys.  I had my first taste of a Brach’s Gum Dinger Pop at Ames.  I bought my first Magic 8-Ball at Ames.  And, my parents bought me my all-time favourite Fisher-Price playset from Ames, the Fisher-Price Main Street Set!  I still can’t believe I remember all that!  I don’t remember exactly what happened to the old Ames location...it either became a Price Chopper supermarket or a Dollar Tree location...I’m not sure, because I don’t know what part of the shopping plaza it was located in.


STEINBERG’S
Founded: 1917
Defunct:  Summer 1992

The only former supermarket chain on this list, Steinberg’s was founded in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1917 by Jewish-Hungarian immigrant, Ida Steinberg.  Her five sons (most notably Sam Steinberg) worked together to grow the business from a simple little storefront into one of Quebec’s first successful supermarket chains.  During the 1930s and 1940s, the chain would expand into New Brunswick and Ontario, and throughout the 1960s, Steinberg would be in charge of several businesses including Miracle Mart, Miracle Food Mart, Valdi, Pik-Nik, Le Quick, and Cardinal Distributors.

Steinberg’s ended up dropping the possessive “S” from its name in 1961, following the decision by Sam Steinberg to have all of his employees in Quebec to offer service in English AND French (something that in 2013 era Quebec would likely NOT happen in some areas of the province).  By 1977, Steinberg’s became Quebec’s largest supermarket chain.

Unfortunately Sam Steinberg passed away in 1978, and after his death, his children became involved in a nasty battle over the future of the company.  That marked the beginning of the end of the Steinberg’s empire.  By 1991, many of the Steinberg stores in Ontario had been sold to Loblaws, A&P, and Dominion, and by the summer of 1992, the once prosperous chain went belly-up.

PERSONAL MEMORY TIME:  Steinberg’s used to be a staple store at the local shopping mall back in the 1980s, and I have a couple of vague memories of the store.  One memory is that I remember always wanting to get a bottle of Steinberg’s orange soda (which at the time came in GLASS bottles).  And, another memory I have is riding the motorized rides parked outside of Steinberg’s that faced the lottery kiosk.  I think I must have played on those rides dozens of times by the time I was five!  Steinberg’s was taken over by Your Independent Grocer in the late 1980s, and currently at its former location are a Shoppers Drug Mart and Stitches Warehouse Outlet.


WOOLCO
Founded:  1962
Defunct:  Spring 1994 (in Canada)

Woolco was first started up in Columbus, Ohio in 1962, and was a subsidiary of another long-running business (which I will talk about a little later).  At the time of its founding came the creation of several neighbourhoods in the outskirts of major cities known as “suburbia”, and Woolco was designed as a discount store that catered to suburban residents.  By 1966, twenty-seven stores had opened up (eighteen in the United States, nine in Canada), and with the company opening up thirty stores each year until the 1980s, is it any wonder how the company ended up having three hundred stores by the mid-1970s?

TRIVIA:  My town’s Woolco store was one of those built during the expansion, opening up its doors in the summer of 1973.

Now, the company ended up closing every single one of its Woolco locations in the year 1982...but in Canada, the company continued on for an additional few years until Walmart bought out the company in early 1994.  The majority of Woolco locations became Walmart stores, and many of the Woolco staff were transitioned easily into Walmart associates.

PERSONAL MEMORY TIME:  Well, aside from working at a business that at one time was a Woolco store...I have so many memories of Woolco that I don’t think I can even list them all.  Among some of the Woolco memories I had as a kid.

-          Walking through the store in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles costume after coming in second at the mall’s Halloween costume contest.

-          Using the layaway counter for the first time at the age of nine to purchase my Nintendo (which took me five months to save up the money for, by the way!)

-          Having both an older sister and an aunt working at Woolco.

-          Having breakfast with Santa Claus one year at the “Red Grille”, Woolco’s own restaurant (which had some fantastic food, by the way).

-          The chaotic events known as $1.44 Mondays.

-          My parents purchasing a really ugly, annoying, noisy Santa Claus Christmas centerpiece that had Santa playing the drums to “Jingle Bells”...which they STILL HAVE...which I have tried unsuccessfully to silence forever for twenty-six Christmases and counting...

And, since I brought up Woolco, why don’t I talk about Woolco’s parent company?


WOOLWORTH’S
Founded:  July 18, 1879
Defunct:  Summer 1997

Ah, Woolworth’s, how I miss you so...

The Woolworth’s chain was once known as the F.W. Woolworth Company when Frank Winfield Woolworth opened up the first successful location in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1879 (after a failed attempt in Utica, New York some six months prior).  Marketed as a Great Five Cent Store, Woolworth’s quickly became successful under the leadership of F.W. and his brother, Charles Sumner “Sum” Woolworth.  After F.W.’s death in 1919, Sum took over the reins of the company and served as Chairman of the company, seeing through four different company presidents until his own passing in January 1947.  By 1979, when the company turned one hundred years old, it was considered to be the largest department store chain in the world, with several hundred locations in several different countries of the world.  And, one could argue that Woolworth’s was the inspiration behind the modern day shopping plaza food court, as their decision to incorporate lunch counters at every location helped bring customers in.


TRIVIA:  In February 1960, a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in North Carolina became the site of civil rights activism when four black youths were refused service simply because of the color of their skin.  This prompted six months of sit-ins and boycotts, which ended up being one of the key events towards the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.  A portion of that lunch counter now sits in the Smithsonian Institute.

Woolworth’s eventually saw a decline following the closure of its Woolco brand in the United States, as well as being associated with a deadly 1979 fire at one of its stores in Manchester, England.  By 1997, the Woolworth’s name was but a memory in North America.

PERSONAL MEMORY TIME:  Of all the stores on this list, I miss Woolworth’s the most.  When I was a really young kid (and I was off from school) my mom and I would go downtown to pay bills every second Thursday, and she would always set aside just enough money to treat me to a burger and Coke at the Woolworth’s lunch counter, as well as choosing one toy from the toy section if I was good.  As long as I live, I’ll never forget how much fun those times were.  I’d usually pick out either a colouring book and “Woolworth brand” crayons, or a giant ball with a Wuzzle or a Smurf on them!

(What can I say...it was the 1980s!)

I have one embarrassing moment too.  My sister took me out to lunch at the Woolworth’s lunch counter one summer (I think it was just before Woolworth’s shut down), and somehow I squirted ketchup all over my brand new purple T-shirt.  I was very upset because I didn’t want anyone to come to the conclusion that I was a sloppy eater, so we ended up purchasing some stickers from the craft department and I stuck a sticker over the stain...because wearing a scratch and sniff citrus sticker was somehow less embarrassing than a ketchup stain... J

And, this leads to the final store...the one where this blog began.


ZELLERS
Founded: 1931
Defunct:  Spring 2013*

(*As of April 2013, there will only be three Zellers locations still open)

When Zellers was founded in 1931 in Southern Ontario, founder Walter P. Zeller had intended for the chain to cater towards “thrifty Canadians”.  The first Zellers locations were opened up in fourteen former Schulte-United stores.  By 1953, the company had expanded into Atlantic Canada, operating 72 stores and employing almost four thousand people.

In 1975, Zellers adopted the logo which it would continue using until 2013, and by 1976, it was making annual sales of over $400 million from its 155 stores located across Canada.  In June 1978, Zellers made a bid to try and purchase the Hudson’s Bay Company, but instead was purchased BY Hudson’s Bay Company, as executives were impressed by Zellers’ profitability.  The HBC took over all Zellers locations by 1981.

Now, some people might state that the purchase of the chain by HBC sealed its fate, but Zellers actually did fairly well leading up into the 1990s.  I would imagine that when Walmart moved into Canada in 1994, it offered some major competition for Zellers at first, but in some communities, Zellers seemed to thrive.

By 2011, the chain was struggling, and in January, Target bought the lease agreements of 220 Zellers locations in the goal of transforming them into Target stores.  The Zellers stores that were not bought out by Target either became Walmart stores, or closed up shop entirely.  In the case of the Zellers store in my hometown, there’s no plans for it to become a Target, so for now, its future is uncertain.  For all I know, they may end up bulldozing the whole store.  For now, the store is selling off whatever inventory they have left for its closure at the end of the month.


PERSONAL MEMORY TIME:  I’ll readily admit that I don’t have a whole lot of memories regarding Zellers because my family more or less shopped at Woolco.  But I do remember a few things.  I remember eating at the Skillet restaurant, which was all right (not NEARLY as good as the Red Grille), and I also remember getting a teddy bear from Zellers (Zellers mascot was the Zeddy Bear).  Other than that, I don’t have too much to say.  I will attest though that the Zellers location at the Billings Bridge Shopping Plaza in Ottawa was twice as busy as the location in my own area though.

And, that’s my look back on defunct and closing department store and supermarket chains.  Now I turn the spotlight on all of you.

BONUS QUESTION:  What are some of your favourite former department stores/supermarkets?  And, what memories do you have of these places?  I’m interested in hearing some of your stories!

Tuesday, March 05, 2013

March 5, 1958


This is the first Tuesday Timeline for March 2013.  It’s the fifth of March, and as it so happens, a lot happened on this date throughout history.  Of course, we can only choose one event to spotlight in this space...but since there is so much to talk about, why don’t we begin with what else happened on March 5.

1496 – King Henry VII of England issues letters patent to John Cabot and his sons, authorising them to explore unknown lands

1616 – A book written by Nicolaus Copernicus, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium is banned by the Catholic Church

1766 – Antonio de Ulloa -  the first Spanish governor of Louisiana – arrives in New Orleans

1770 – Boston Massacre; five Americans are killed by British troops, which would inevitably be one of the main reasons for the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War

1824 – Britain declares war on Burma, setting forth the early beginnings of the First Anglo-Burmese War

1836 – The first production-model revolver, the .34-caliber, is made by Samuel Colt

1850 – The Britannia Bridge – spanning across the Menai Strait – is opened

1868 – Arrigo Boito’s opera, Mefistofele holds its premiere performance at La Scala

1872 – George Westinghouse patents the air brake

1910 – Momofuku Ando, inventor of instant noodles, is born in Kagi County, Taiwan

1912 – Italian forces are among the first to employ airships to be used for military purposes

1933 – Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party receives almost 44% of the vote at the Reichstag elections, which allows the Nazis to pass the Enabling Act while establishing a dictatorship

1940 – Members of the Soviet politburo sign an order which calls for the execution of over twenty-five thousand Polish intelligentsia, in an event come to be known as the Katyn Massacre

1943 – The first flight of Gloster Meteor jet aircraft in the United Kingdom

1946 – The phrase “Iron Curtain” is used in a speech given by Winston Churchill at Westminster College, Missouri

1956 – The late singer Teena Marie (Square Biz, Lovergirl) is born in Santa Monica, California

1960 – Photographer Alberto Korda snaps the world-famous photograph of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara

1963 – Country singer Patsy Cline is killed in a plane crash at the age of 30 along with Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins

1966 – 124 people are killed after BOAC Flight 911 crashes into Mount Fuji

1974 – Israeli forces retreat from west bank of the Suez Canal during the Yom Kippur War

1975 – The first meeting of the Homebrew Computer Club takes place

1979 – The Landsat 3 is launched from Vandenburg Air Force Base in California, while at the same time, Voyager 1 spacecraft has its closest approach to the planet Jupiter

1981 – The ZX81 home computer is launched in Britain by Sinclair Research

1982 – John Belushi dies of a drug overdose in Hollywood, California at just 33

1984 – Six thousand miners go on strike at Cortonwood Colliery in the United Kingdom

1999 – Paul Okalik is elected the first Premier of the newly created Canadian territory, Nunavut

2003 – The first case of SARS in Canada is discovered in the city of Toronto, Ontario

Some of those events are quite sad and depressing, aren’t they?  Hopefully we have some better news within the celebrity birthday section.  Happy birthday to Milt Schmidt, James Noble, Erik Carlsson, J.B. Lenoir, Del Crandall, James B. Sikking, Philip K. Chapman, Paul Sand, Dean Stockwell, Paul Evans, Fred Williamson, Samantha Eggar, Mike Resnick, Billy Backus, Murray Head, Michael Warren, Eddie Hodges, Tom Russell, Eddy Grant, Elaine Paige, Alan Clark (Dire Straits), Marsha Warfield, Penn Jillette, Ray Suarez, Jonathan Penner, Charlie & Craig Reid (The Proclaimers), Joel Osteen, Bob Halkidis, Michael Irvin, Paul Blackthorne, Danny King, John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Lisa Robin Kelly, Rome, Jeffrey Hammonds, Yuri Lowenthal, Brian Grant, Kevin Connolly, Matt Lucas, Eva Mendes, Jill Ritchie, Jolene Blalock, Niki Taylor, Kimberly McCullough, Sterling Knight, and Jake Lloyd.

Well, today’s subject would have also celebrated his birthday today had he lived.


He would have turned fifty-five years old today, making his birthdate March 5, 1958.

His road to stardom was such that he achieved teen idol status at a very young age.  Certainly, his career almost seemed destined to be in the music industry.  After all, his three older brothers formed one of the most successful groups of all time.  Throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, he racked up several Top 10 singles, including a couple of #1 hits, and he embarked on a relationship with a prime time television starlet.  However, he also had a highly publicized addiction to drugs, and this addiction would not only end his career, but his life as well.


This is the story of pop star and teenage idol Andy Gibb, born fifty-five years ago today.

Andrew Roy Gibb was born in Manchester, England, and moved with his family to Australia when he was just six months old.  Andy was the youngest of five children, the kid brother to his older sister, Lesley, and three older brothers.


Those older brothers would be Barry, Maurice, and Robin Gibb, the three brothers who would form the Bee Gees in the 1960s. 

Andy lived in Australia until he was eight years old, before relocating back to the United Kingdom in January 1967, when the Bee Gees began to achieve popularity as a singing group.  During Andy’s teenage years, he worked at clubs and pubs around the island of Ibiza and the Isle of Man, and while he was in the United Kingdom, he formed his first band with John Alderson and John Stringer that was named after a Bee Gees song, Melody Fayre.  During this time, the band recorded a song that was written by Maurice Gibb entitled “My Father Was a Reb”, but it was never released on the charts.

By the time Andy was seventeen, he was encouraged by his brothers to move back to Australia.  Alderson and Stringer followed him, and together they tried to make a go of it as a band.  But due to the band’s sporadic periods of work, as well as Andy taking off for long periods of time, Alderson and Stringer returned to the United Kingdom.

Andy Gibb began his solo career with the release of the single “Words and Music”, which was released under the ATA label.  Shortly after that, he joined another band Zenta, who would later tour alongside acts such as the Bay City Rollers and Sweet when both bands visited Australia for a tour.

It was also around this time that Andy crossed paths with Bee Gees’ manager, Robert Stigwood, who was impressed by Andy’s talent based on demo tapes that he had listened to.  He immediately signed Andy to his record label, RSO Records in 1976, and relocated to Miami Beach, Florida to record songs for his debut album.  Older brother Barry worked with Andy on the songwriting.


That album, 1976’s “Flowing Rivers” would end up being a huge success globally - in particular, within the United States, where two of the singles would become #1.  One was (Love Is) Thicker Than Water.  And the second was this one...


ARTIST:  Andy Gibb
SONG:  I Just Want To Be Your Everything
ALBUM:  Flowing Rivers
DATE RELEASED:  May 1977
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #1 for 4 weeks

TRIVIA:  Those four weeks that song was on the top of the charts weren’t consecutive ones.  It initially peaked at the top for three weeks during the summer of 1977, was dethroned by the Emotions single “Best of My Love”, and went back to the top of the charts the week of September 12, 1977!


This song, which was written by Barry Gibb, also topped the charts in Australia, and was the first of three #1 hits in a row by Andy Gibb.  When Andy’s second album, “Shadow Dancing” was released in 1978, the title track also hit the top of the charts, and the next two singles, (“An Everlasting Love” and “(Our Love) Don’t Throw It Away”) made it into the Top 10.  By the early 1980s, Gibb had released a third album, “After Dark”, had one more top 10 hit with “Desire” (a song that was written by Barry, Robin, Maurice, and Andy Gibb in a four-way collaboration), and performed a duet with Olivia Newton-John (“I Can’t Help It”).


By 1981, his popularity was beginning to fade in the music scene, so he decided to try his hand at acting in musicals.  He had landed a gig in the Andrew Lloyd Webber production, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”, and secured a co-hosting job on the television series “Solid Gold” in 1980.  He even began a relationship with Dallas starlet Victoria Principal in the early 1980s, which also spawned the unlikely musical collaboration below.


(That song was a cover version of the Everly Brothers single, “All I Have To Do Is Dream”, which just missed hitting the Top 50, peaking at #51 in 1981.)

Now, you might think that Andy Gibb was doing fantastic around this time.  But by 1982, he was struggling.  He had developed a serious addiction to cocaine, which included several instances where he binged on the substance.  These incidents caused Gibb to miss several performances of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”, as well as several tapings of “Solid Gold”.  While the producers and co-workers were initially patient at first, his chronic absenteeism eventually led to his being dismissed by both shows.  His relationship with Victoria Principal also suffered, and the relationship ended after Principal issued an ultimatum where he had to choose between the drugs and her.

By the mid-1980s, Andy was deep into his addiction to drugs, and his family stepped in to try and intervene.  Andy checked into the Betty Ford Clinic, and reinvented himself in the process.  During the period between 1984 and 1987, Andy began to appear in guest-starring roles on sitcoms such as “Gimme A Break” and “Punky Brewster”.  He also launched a series of stage shows and performed concerts in San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Lake Tahoe.


By the time 1988 rolled around, Andy was in a very good place in his life.  He had turned thirty years old on March 5, 1988, and he had plans for his future.  He was determined to live the rest of his life drug free, and he even had plans to get back into the recording studio to release what would have been his first new album in eight years.


Sadly, the rest of his life would last less than a week.  Within hours of his thirtieth birthday, Gibb had started feeling sick.  After a recording session in London, England, he was admitted to a hospital complaining of chest pains.  On March 10, 1988, Gibb was pronounced dead, five days after he turned thirty.

The cause of death was myocarditis, which was an inflammation of the heart muscle caused by a viral infection.  Because Andy’s heart had been weakened from years of drug abuse, it was too weak to fight the infection, and it ultimately killed him.  Although the Gibb family (as well as all of Andy’s fans) were saddened by the loss, nobody took it harder than Barry.  Not only was Barry the closest family member to Andy at the time of his death, but Barry later admitted that before Andy died, the brothers had gotten into a really terrible fight, and that was the very last conversation that Barry had with Andy.

He was survived by a daughter, Peta, who was born in 1978 from a brief marriage to Kim Reeder.  At the time of his death, Gibb had only reportedly visited Peta just once, in the early 1980s.

You know, it’s been twenty-five years since Andy Gibb passed away.  A lot has happened in those twenty-five years.  Barry Gibb is the only surviving Gibb brother (Maurice died in 2003, Robin passed away last year), and Andy’s daughter is now thirty-five years old. 

Andy Gibb was a man who achieved success at a ridiculously young age, and unfortunately seemed to be unable to keep up with it.  It’s a shame to see such a talented young man be completely under the influence of drugs and alcohol to the point where it nearly destroyed his career completely.  Perhaps the biggest tragedy of Andy’s short life was the fact that when he died, he was well on his way to staging a comeback.  He had seen how destructive his choices were in the past, and was hoping to make a fresh start as a clean and sober performer.  It’s a shame that time simply wasn’t on his side, and that the damage he had done to his body was too great.  I sometimes think that had he lived, he could have been a real force to be reckoned with.


Sadly, we’ll never know.

Monday, March 04, 2013

Monday Bat-inee - Batman (1989)


I’m going to do something unique for all of the Monday Matinees in March.  A special theme is planned for this month only on Mondays.  I’ll get to the topic of today’s blog entry in a moment, but because my goal for 2013 is to bring more of me to this project, I will be telling all of you a little story that links up to this blog entry.

Do any of you remember going to the birthday parties of your classmates?  I didn’t go to very many parties, but I did remember going to a few.  And, for whatever reason, I remember one birthday party incredibly well (except for the kid’s name, funnily enough).

If I remember correctly, this party was sometime when I was in the third grade, so the kid would have been turning eight or nine years old.  And, if I also remember correctly, the party was great fun, and I remember getting along with every kid that was there (even though looking back on it, I have absolutely no idea who any of them are now). 

One detail seems to stand out at the party that I CAN recall.  When it came time for the birthday boy to open up his presents, one of them ended up being a VHS copy of a popular movie that had been released the year before.  To say that this kid was absolutely excited about getting this movie as a gift would be the understatement of the entire year.  He immediately ran towards his parents and begged them to put the movie inside the VCR so that he and the other partygoers could watch it on the television in the living room.  Of the ten guests that were invited, I think seven of them joined the birthday boy in the living room to watch the movie.  Myself and the other two?  We stayed in the kitchen playing “Operation”.  I don’t know what it was about the movie, but at the time, it did not interest me at all.

It wasn’t until about ten years later that I decided to watch the movie on cable television (it was a Sunday afternoon and nothing else was on), and I immediately regretted not watching it at that childhood birthday party.  Sure, the movie was rather dark and dismal, and some of the characters in the movie did look incredibly scary...but the way that it was presented was brilliant, and I thought that everyone who appeared in the film gave it their all. 

The film became a summer blockbuster in the year 1989...in fact it was 1989’s highest grossing film in North America.  It earned $46.2 million during the film’s opening weekend, grossed over $400 million worldwide, and became the very first film to gross over $100 million during the first ten days of release.



The film that we’ll be looking at in the first installment of the Monday “Bat-inee” is the Tim Burton directed film, “Batman”, which was released on June 23, 1989.  The film that I opted to skip out of at that childhood birthday party I attended years ago.

And don’t think that the word “bat-inee” is a typo.  All this week, I’m spotlighting Batman films every Monday in March.  Hence the phrase, Monday Bat-inee. 

(Well, I thought it was clever.)


As many of you know, Batman is a superhero that was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger.  Batman’s been around since May 1939, when he made his first appearance in Detective Comics #27.  Over the next seven decades, Batman has appeared on a regular basis in several publications by DC Comics.  You’re also probably aware that Batman’s real identity is that of billionaire philanthropist and industrialist, Bruce Wayne.  By day, he lives a life of luxury in his mansion where his faithful butler, Alfred has served him for years.  But by night, he dons the black cape and tights, steps into the Batcave, and hops in his Batmobile to protect the people of the fictional Gotham City as Batman.

And Bruce’s motivation behind why he would assume the identity of a superhero is understandable.  When he was just a young boy, he witnessed the murder of his parents, and since that day, he promised himself that he would make all criminals pay for their crimes.

Batman stands out among the other superheroes of the day (Spider-Man, Superman) by not having any special superhuman powers.  He used his brains, his wits, and his natural agility to defeat evil forces...which Gotham City seemed to have more of than actual citizens.  I think that might be one reason why I kind of admire Batman a lot more than other superheroes.  Deep down underneath those black tights and cape, he’s just a regular guy like you or I...albeit a regular guy who has been pissed off at criminals for some seventy-four years.


The idea of making Batman into a film wasn’t too farfetched.  After all, a successful (not to mention campy) television series and film which starred Adam West and Burt Ward kept audiences entertained throughout the later part of the 1960s.  And a screenplay for a Batman film was in the planning stages as early as 1980...a full nine years before the 1989 “Batman” film was released.


Tim Burton was hired to direct the film, while Sam Hamm came up with the first draft of the screenplay.  Although Warner Brothers was reluctant to greenlight the film at first, the project went ahead in 1988 following the massive success of Burton’s 1988 film, “Beetlejuice”.  In fact, the star of Beetlejuice, Michael Keaton, was cast in the iconic role of Batman.  And this was a decision that was not met well with fans of the Batman series.  It was reported that as many as fifty THOUSAND letters were sent, demanding that Burton rethink his decision to cast Keaton in the role.  Even screenwriter Sam Hamm expressed his concerns about casting Keaton in the role of Batman.


I mean, I’ll be the first one to admit that Michael Keaton might not have been my first choice when it came to casting Batman.  He starred in a film called “Mr. Mom”, after all.  Of course now that I watch the 1989 film again, I now can’t see anyone else playing Batman! 

Rounding out the cast were Kim Basinger as Vicki Vale, Michael Gough as Alfred, Robert Wuhl as Alexander Knox, Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent, Jack Palance as Carl Grissom, Jerry Hall as Alicia Hunt, and Jack Nicholson as Jack Napier (otherwise known as “The Joker”).


TRIVIA:  And Jack Nicholson ended up scoring huge when he agreed to sign onto the film...albeit with conditions.  Among some of these conditions?  Well, how about a high salary, a percentage of the box office earnings, and the ability to pick and choose his shooting schedule?  How’s that for a sweet deal!


I won’t bore you too much with the plot of the film.  I imagine that by now, almost all of you have seen this film at least once, so you know all about how Jack Napier became the Joker, you know about the romantic spark between Bruce Wayne and Vicki Vale, and you know about the Joker using parade floats filled with toxic gas to kill the population of Gotham City.  No need to delve any further.

Besides, when I was watching the movie as well as doing research on some of the behind-the-scenes happenings of this film, I found the backstage trivia quite interesting.  And, I hope that you find it interesting too.

01 – The budget for the film was originally an even thirty million dollars, but it was increased to $48 million.

02 – As a result of the Writers Guild of America strike of 1988, Sam Hamm was forced to drop out of the project.  The screenplay was finished by the uncredited Warren Skaaren, Charles McKeown, and Jonathan Gems.

03 – Before Kim Basinger won the role of Vicki Vale, the part was originally given to Sean Young, who had signed on to begin shooting the film in October 1988.  However, when Sean was thrown off a horse before filming, she sustained injuries that prevented her from being able to continue with the movie.

04 – After Sean Young dropped out of the film, Michael Keaton had suggested that Michelle Pfeiffer take over the role, but she turned it down.  However, she did join the cast of the 1992 film, “Batman Returns” in the role of Batman villainess, Catwoman.

05 – Other actresses who auditioned or were briefly considered for the role of Vicki Vale were Jamie Lee Curtis, Geena Davis, Brooke Shields, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sigourney Weaver, Anjelica Huston, Goldie Hawn, Tatum O’Neal, Lori Loughlin, and Madonna.

06 – On that note, the following people were briefly considered for the role of Batman; Pierce Brosnan, Alec Baldwin, Emilio Estevez, Bruce Willis, Mel Gibson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Matthew Broderick, Kurt Russell, Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, Kevin Costner, Tom Selleck, Charlie Sheen, Michael J. Fox, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.  As many of you know, Schwarzenegger ended up playing a Batman villain just eight years after “Batman” was filmed.

07 – Robin Williams reportedly campaigned to get the role of the Joker, and was well on his way to being cast...but when producers approached Jack Nicholson and told him that Williams would take the part if Nicholson didn’t.  Because Williams felt like he was used as bait by producers, he refused to appear in any film project made by Warner Brothers (including a role in 1995’s “Batman Forever”) until the studio apologized.

08 – Other actors considered for the role of the Joker included Willem Dafoe, Tim Curry, John Lithgow, and David Bowie.  Truth be told, I think Bowie would have made a great Joker!

09 – The entire picture only took twelve weeks to film, wrapping up production in January 1989.

10 – Billy Dee Williams had it written in his contract that he would be brought back to play the role of Two-Face in the 1995 film “Batman Forever”.  But when producers decided to use Tommy Lee Jones instead, the company bought out Williams’ contract.


11 – The theatrical trailer for the movie was reportedly so well-received that people would pay for movie tickets just to see the trailer, and then would exit the theatre!

12 – Appropriately enough, the film was released on the 50th anniversary of Batman’s first appearance.

13 – Before Prince was considered to compose some of the music for the film, Michael Jackson was asked...but he had to turn down the opportunity because he was too busy touring.


14 – The original script was supposed to feature Dick Grayson (a.k.a. The Robin), and Kiefer Sutherland was considered for the role.  But it was decided to drop Robin from the film script before the film went into production.

15 – Ever wondered where Gotham City was located?  If you go by the map that was used in the film, Gotham City is really Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada!


16 – The Batmobile was built on the chassis of a Chevy Impala.

17 – David Cronenberg was offered the opportunity to direct the film, but declined.

18 – Only two of the actors in 1989’s “Batman” appeared in the next three Batman films...Michael Gough and Pat Hinkle (who played Commissioner Gordon).

19 – The film won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction.


20 – This may be spoiling the ending a smidgen, but Robert Wuhl’s character of Knox was supposed to die during the parade scene towards the end of the film.

21 – When Keaton put on the Batsuit, it nullified his sense of hearing.  Fortunately, the lack of hearing helped Keaton get into character better.


22 – Kim Basinger screams a total of twenty-three times during the whole film!  I sure hope she had a huge stock of throat lozenges!

23 – Jerry Hall was cast in the movie by a crew member who happened to spot her while she was on a break filming an ad for chocolates.

24 – Keep an eye on one of the Joker’s goons in the scene where the Joker causes havoc at a museum.  One of them is played by Tim Burton.

25 – Have you wondered just how many people end up dying in the film?  According to the Internet Movie Database, the total body count is fifty-six!

(Wow, you know, come to think of it, maybe “Batman” wasn’t the best choice of entertainment to showcase at a 9th birthday party.  But, it wasn’t my party, who was I to say anything?)


So, that’s our first Monday Bat-inee out of the way.  Next week, we’ll be going ahead in time three years to take a look at Keaton’s second turn as the heroic Batman.  I hope you’re excited!