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Tuesday, August 20, 2013

August 20, 2007

I really thought long and hard about today's Tuesday Timeline entry for today. When I was looking over the events and happenings of August 20, there was one subject that I really wanted to talk about. In fact, I guess you could say that the subject immediately stood out as one that I really wanted to speak about.

However, I was initially very conflicted about the subject matter.

As you well know by some of my previous posts in this blog, I am a huge advocate of stopping bullying. As a person who went through it, I am not one who has any sympathy for anyone who belittles, degrades, or humiliates people just because they see it as a fun distraction for their own lives. I've even started up a Facebook group devoted to stopping bullying in schools and workplaces entitled the “Gallery of Healing”. I know what it was like and it was not a fun experience.

Well, I'm going to offer you a bit of a warning. Today's Tuesday Timeline happens to feature a person who many would consider to be a bully. She was a right nasty piece of work who allegedly terrorized her own employees and went for the jugular of anyone who ever dared cross her path.

Now, you might be wondering why I would choose to spotlight someone like that when I have such a strong dislike of all bullies. Well, I'll be completely honest with all of you as I type this. I always have been a huge believer in karma. I believe that if you do good things, you will be bestowed positive karma that will serve you well in life. And if you do things that are very, very bad – well, you better put up your dukes, because bad karma will surely come your way.

In today's Tuesday Timeline, we're going to explore the life of this person as well as some of the things that helped make them famous – or infamous – as someone who was intensely mean towards those who were “beneath them”. But what is interesting is that for all of their bravado towards the world – they also experienced quite a bit of heartbreak along the way. And one might wonder if maybe that heartbreak contributed to the hardening of their personality and heart.

But we'll get to that a little later. For now, we have other business to attend to.

If you were born today, you are quite lucky, as you share a birthday with the following famous faces. Happy birthday to you and Don King, Ron Paul, Connie Chung, Robert Plant, Patrick Kilpatrick, Al Roker, Joan Allen, James Marsters, Sophie Aldred, KRS-One, David Rees Snell, Colin Cunningham, Billy Gardell, Fred Durst, Amy Adams, Misha Collins, Andrew Garfield, Brant Daugherty, Daniele Donato, and Demi Lovato.

And, here are the events throughout history on this, the twentieth day of August.

14 A.D. - Agrippa Postumus, adoptive son of late Roman Emperor Augustus, is executed by his guards while in exile under peculiar circumstances

1775 – The Spanish establish the Presidio San Augustin de Tucson in the area that would eventually come to become the city of Tucson, Arizona

1858 – Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution through natural selection

1866 – American President Andrew Johnson declares the American Civil War is over

1914 – German forces occupy Brussels, Belgium as the first World War proceeds

1920 – Detroit, Michigan becomes home to the very first commercial radio station entitled 8MK (now WWJ Radio)

1923 – Country singer Jim Reeves is born in Galloway, Texas

1938 – Baseball player Lou Gehrig hits his record breaking 23rd Grand Slam

1940 – On the same day that Winston Churchill makes the fourth of his famous wartime speeches, Leon Trotsky is attacked by an axe-wielding man in Mexico City, succumbing to his injuries the following day

1942 – Singer, songwriter, and actor Isaac Hayes is born in Covington, Tennessee

1960 – Senegal declares its independence from the Mali Federation

1988 – The Yellowstone National Park fires blaze on; August 20, 1988 is declared “Black Saturday”, with over 150,000 acres of trees being consumed by the flames

1989 – Following a collision, pleasure boat Marchioness sinks into the River Thames, killing fifty-one people

1991 – More than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union's parliament building in protest of the coup aiming to depose Mikhail Gorbachev

1998 – The U.S.A. launches a missile attack against alleged al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and a chemical plant in Sudan following the bombing of two American embassies nearly two weeks earlier

2002 – A group of Iraqis who are opposed to Saddam Hussein's regime stage a takeover of the Iraqi embassy in Berlin for a little over five hours

2012 – Actress and comedienne Phyllis Diller passes away at the age of 95

So, you can see that August 20 was a fairly busy day in a historical sense.

So, which date am I going to feature in today's blog entry? Well, it's actually a date that is fairly recent.



August 20, 2007.

I don't think that I've featured the year 2007 in this blog before. Partly because the year 2007 wasn't exactly a great year for me on a personal standpoint. I've certainly had worse years than 2007, but it wasn't really one of my best years either.

Of course, for our blog subject for this week, 2007 was not a great year for her either. It was the year she died!

Yes, on August 20, 2007, our blog subject breathed her final breath at the age of 87. The cause of death? Congestive heart failure. Some might call that incredibly ironic, given that she allegedly spent her entire life treating other people miserably and was frequently named in the press as “The Queen of Mean”.



This is the story of Leona Helmsley, who passed away exactly six years ago today.

Now, some of you might not know the name, so for those of you who don't, here's a brief biographical sketch of her.

She was born as Lena Mindy Rosenthal on July 4, 1920 in the small town of Marbletown, New York to Polish-Jewish immigrants. And as a child, she had a rather interesting upbringing, moving at least six times to various neighbourhoods before settling in Manhattan, New York City by the time she was a young woman.

I can only imagine what that must have been like, trying to get settled into a new place, only to have to move again once you were. In fact, I can say that I was one of those kids, moving to at least five different homes before I was five years old. It was difficult for me to establish long-term friendships with people as a result, and I imagine that for little Lena, it was the same story, different time period.

Lena Rosenthal dropped out of high school before graduating, as she felt that it was necessary for her to achieve fame and fortune.

PSA:  Stay in school, kids!  Get that degree.

Something else changed when Lena Rosenthal dropped out of school.  Her name.  She eventually settled on the name Leona Roberts after trying out the names "Lee Roberts", "Mindy Roberts", and "Lani Roberts".

And Leona Roberts had a bit of a struggle finding love as well.  Her first marriage to Leo Panzirer ended in divorce (though the union did produce Leona's only child, Jay, born in 1940).  Her second marriage to Joseph Lubin also ended in divorce, and after the breakdown of her second marriage, Leona worked at a sewing factory before joining the staff of a real estate firm in New York.  The one thing that I will say about Leona is that she worked exceptionally hard to make her way up within the company, and that work ethic helped her secure the vice-presidency of the very company she worked for.



In 1968, Leona became acquainted with a man named Harry Helmsley while Leona was working as a condominium broker, and joined his own firm two years later in 1970.  Soon after, Leona became involved in the first of many scandals that seemed to pop up in her life.  In late 1971, several people sued Leona for forcing the tenants of one of the apartment buildings she managed to purchase condominiums in an effort to increase her own personal net worth.  Leona ended up losing the case, and as part of her sentence, she had to compensate and give the tenants involved in the lawsuit a three-year-lease, and her real estate license was suspended.  In the end, it meant little to Leona.  She married Harry Helmsley in the spring of 1972 (which made her Leona Helmsley), and focused her energies on helping to grow her husband's booming hotel empire.



Over the next seventeen years, the Helmsleys built a billion dollar empire, with some prime real estate under their control.  Amongst some of their real estate success stories were the Helmsley Palace on Madison Avenue, the Park Lane Hotel, the New York Helmsley Hotel, the Helmsley Palace Hotel, and believe it or not at one time their real estate portfolio included the Empire State Building!  By 1989, it was estimated that Leona Helmsley directly controlled almost two dozen hotels!

But while the Helmsley's personal fortune and net worth continued to grow, Leona Helmsley began showing her true colours...and they weren't pretty.

It's hard to say when Leona turned into the "Queen of Mean", but I would hazard a guess that it may have been triggered by the death of her son Jay in March 1982.  Jay's wife, Mimi, was left a widow with four children to raise.  And how did Leona support her?  She served her an EVICTION NOTICE!  Yes, Mimi happened to live in a building that Leona owned, and just days after Jay's funeral, Mimi was thrown out!  To add insult to injury, Leona sued her son's estate for money and property that she claimed he borrowed from her before his death, and was awarded almost $150,000!  The end result left Mimi nearly penniless, and without answers as to why Leona would do such a thing, especially since she and her husband had a net worth estimated to be one billion dollars at the time.

Now you understand why she was called the "Queen of Mean"?

There are other horror stories as well detailing Leona's treatment of other people within her hotel chains.  It had become common knowledge that Leona was a tough cookie whom you did not want to cross, but few really knew exactly how mean she was.  Here are a few alleged examples of what I mean.

- When Leona Helmsley went to breakfast with lawyer Alan Dershowitz, Dershowitz claimed that Helmsley humiliated a poor waiter who worked at one of the hotels she owned.  He served a cup of tea with a little bit of water spilled on the saucer, and this infuriated Helmsley so much that she grabbed the cup, smashed it on the floor and demanded the waiter get down on his knees and beg for his job!
- Leona had commissioned somebody to install a barbecue pit for her home, but flipped out when she saw that the final bill was over thirteen thousand dollars.  She refused to pay the bill claiming that the work was subpar.  What was worse, the contractor had a family of six to support, which gained him no sympathy from Helmsley, who thought that he should have "kept his pants on" if he wanted money so badly!
- And perhaps one of the most shocking comments that was allegedly uttered by Helmsley was in 1983 when Elizabeth Baum - a former housekeeper at the Helmsley home - made the remark that the Helmsleys must pay a lot of taxes.  To which Leona quipped the following.

"We don't pay taxes.  Only the little people pay taxes."

Funny thing is that it is this statement that caused Leona Helmsley to swallow a dose of nasty, bitter tasting karmic retribution.



The floor came crashing down in 1983, when the Helmsleys purchased Dunnellen Hall to use as a weekend retreat.  The cost of the property was a steal at eleven million dollars, but the Helmsleys wanted to make the property value soar by remodelling the 21-room mansion.  They put Jeremiah McCarthy in charge of the operation, and initially things started off well.  But then McCarthy claimed that Leona repeatedly demanded that he sign illegal invoices designed to illegally bill purchases to the estate.  When McCarthy refused to do this, it ticked Leona off big time.

By the time the renovations were completed, the Helmsleys were disgusted to realize that the total bill came to eight million dollars, and initially refused to pay.  The Helmsleys did pay off most of the money after the contractors went to court, and the contractors made the claim that Leona Helmsley and her husband were billing their work as business expenses for the Helmsley hotel empire.  These expenses included a mahogany card table, a clock crafted with silver, and a dance floor that reportedly cost a million dollars!



The contractors were understandably furious with Helmsley, and they sent out documentation to the New York Post, supporting their claims, which prompted United States Attorney Rudolph Giuliani to indict the Helmsleys on extortion charges in 1988.

The trial commenced in 1989 after a few months passed, due to the fact that Harry Helmsley had suffered a stroke during this time and was declared unfit to stand trial.  Therefore, "The Queen of Mean" had to face her accusers alone.

And at the trial, all of the "Queen of Mean"'s dirty knickers were exposed for all to see.

Several former staffers testified that she had a tyrannical personality and she used it to her advantage.  She often belittled her staff, and she fired people for disagreeing with her and the way she ran things.  Many of the staffers talked about how much they feared her and the horror stories that unfolded while working for her.  Mind you, Leona Helmsley did herself no favours by alienating the jury, who were appalled by her hostile personality and arrogance.

On August 30, 1989, Helmsley was found guilty of several charges, which included...

- One count of conspiracy to defraud the United States
- Three counts of tax evasion
- Three counts of filing false personal tax returns
- Ten counts of mail fraud
- Sixteen counts of assisting in the filing of false corporate and partnership tax returns

Leona Helmsley met karma that day...and my oh my what a bitch karma was to her.  

Luckily for Helmsley, karma's bitch-slap wasn't as powerful as she feared.  She was acquitted of the major charge of extortion, which could have seen her thrown in jail without any chance of getting out.  But the sentence she was given was severe.  If she had served out her full sentence, she would have been in jail until the year 2005.  Instead, she appealed the sentence, and it was greatly reduced.  

Ironically enough, Leona Helmsley was ordered to report to prison on April 15, 1992 - the American tax day.  She remained in custody at a federal prison for the next eighteen months.  By 1994, she was by all accounts a free woman.

But was she really free?  

Since Leona Helmsley's release from prison, she spent the remainder of her life in complete isolation.  Her beloved husband died in 1997, making her a widow, and although she was left her husband's entire fortune which was worth five billion dollars, she ended up losing an entire fortune herself.  Because she was a convicted felon, she was forced to give up the majority of her hotel empire because it was illegal for felons to obtain a liquor license (most of Helmsley's hotels had bars within them).  



She died on August 20, 2007 without anybody but her beloved dog, Trouble, beside her.

Of course, some might say that she got exactly what she deserved.  Even in the months after her death, many people still felt that she was demonstrating her "Queen of Mean" persona from beyond the grave.  Her will reading in particular was especially shocking - especially the part about her awarding a twelve million dollar trust fund to her dog, Trouble, but completely snubbing two of her four grandchildren, leaving them with absolutely nothing.

I mean, really...who leaves two grandchildren money and ignores the other two?  Come on.  And even the other two grandchildren who did receive a five million dollar trust fund found that it was conditional.  They had to visit their father's grave at least once a year, and sign a registration book proving that they did!  Unbelievable.  Is it any wonder why the Hemlsley grandchildren were reportedly estranged from Leona?

Although, it was later determined that when Leona made her will, she was mentally unfit to make such huge decisions given everything that had happened, and in 2008, a court reversed Leona's will, making the divvying up of her assets a little fairer.

But still, to see someone go from being a bully to her staffers making everyone's life miserable to becoming a woman so broken and empty that she died alone...that's gotta make one think, doesn't it?

And I should also state that in her later years, it appeared that Leona Helmsley was trying her best to rebuild the tattered reputation she ended up with.  After the September 11, 2001 attacks, she reportedly donated five million dollars of her own fortune to the families of firefighters that were killed in the World Trade Center collapse, and she even contributed twenty five million dollars to the New York Presbyterian Hospital to aid in medical research.

Perhaps there is a lesson to learn in Leona Helmsley's life and death.  There is no glamour in being a bully.  And being a bully in this life might take you so far.  But as Leona Helmsley learned the hard way...sometimes when you take the unscrupulous climb to the top...it only makes the impact after the fall so much more painful when your grip inevitably loosens.

And that's what happened on August 20, 2007.





Monday, August 19, 2013

Murder on the Orient Express

I just want to talk about my love for mysteries. In particular, the mysteries that usually end up with somebody dying at the very end.

I think I got bit by the mystery bug at a really young age. If I remember correctly, it started with a book that I had my mother order for me through the Scholastic Book Clubs that we used to have in elementary school. Here's the thing though...for the life of me, I can't even remember what the book title is, but I can tell you that it was one of my all-time favourite books. There were ten mysteries that you had to solve just by reading the stories and examining the illustrations for clues. Now, keep in mind that because the book was geared towards an elementary school audience, the crimes were more like petty larcenies (for example, one case had you trying to figure out which seventh grader cheated on a test, while another case had you trying to discover who destroyed a shop window), but as a kid, I was so fascinated with trying to piece together all of the puzzles. In fact, it almost inspired a possible career choice as a private investigator...

...until I deduced that my absolutely dislike of the sight of blood would forever crush that dream.

Oh well...I still love the idea of a good murder mystery. I love watching mystery movies, I enjoy playing video games with a murder mystery element to it, and I will be the first one to admit that one of the things that I have added onto my bucket list is to participate in a murder mystery dinner or murder mystery theatre. I just think it would be so fun to be a part of the action, even if I ended up being one of the victims.

I mean, I was watching the television series “Whodunnit” that recently concluded on ABC last night, and I was absolutely glued to the series from the very beginning. The premise of the show was that thirteen ordinary people of different backgrounds came together inside of a luxurious mansion to what they think is a simple cocktail party. But when people start getting killed off one by one, the real game becomes clear. One of the party guests is the murderer, and the other twelve, pawns in his or her game. Using clues left behind by the killer, the surviving guests of the manor must piece together how each person died, and pinpoint who the killer is before they become the next victim themselves. Whoever is the last one standing receives a cash prize of $250,000...and more importantly, the right to stay alive.

DISCLAIMER: Contrary to what some people astonishingly believed, nobody on the show actually ended up dead.

And, you know what? Even though I got the murderer wrong in the end, I still had a great time trying to piece together all of the puzzles.

SPOILER ALERT: From day one, I had my eye on Lindsey. I either suspected that she would win the whole thing, or be exposed as the killer. Imagine my surprise when she was the killer's final victim, shot through the throat by an arrow shooting knight. I did have Cris (the real killer) on my radar for a little bit, but discarded her as being the killer because I thought Lindsey acted more suspicious by playing both sides. But anyway, congratulations to Kam for exposing Cris as the real killer. Spend that money wisely. And, Cris? Congratulations for duping even myself! You really had a ball playing the role of killer, and I for one was impressed. Well done all!

(I certainly hope there's a second season.)

So, why would I talk about murder mysteries? Well, as you might have guessed, today's Monday Matinee will be featuring a film that acts as a two hour long murder mystery. And the reason why I chose this movie is because it happens to be one of the better murder mystery films that I have ever seen. There are so many twists, turns, clues, and red herrings within this film that it keeps you glued to the screen right from the very beginning until the surprise ending.



And we have author Agatha Christie to thank in part for the film being brought to the big screen.

Now, anyone who has heard of Agatha Christie knows that she is the master of detective fiction. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Agatha Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time, and her various works have been ranked by her estate as the third most-widely published books, right behind the works of William Shakespeare and the Bible. Her works have been translated into at least 103 different languages, and some of her best-selling novels include “The A.B.C. Murders”, “Ten Little Indians”, and “A Murder is Announced”, and made household names of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.

(Appropriately enough, Agatha Christie was the subject of a mystery herself when she disappeared for nearly two weeks following a fight between her and her then-husband! But more on that story another time.)

Instead, we're going to be featuring one of Agatha Christie's works, which was adapted into a feature film in 1974.



On New Years' Day, 1934, Agatha Christie published one of her most famous books, “Murder on the Orient Express”, a tale about a murder taking place on a train and investigator Hercule Poirot has to examine every nook and cranny to determine who committed the crime. Not an easy task though, given that everyone on the train was a potential suspect.



Well, director Sidney Lumet felt that it was a classic book that was worthy enough to be made into a movie. And on November 24, 1974, the film adaptation of “Murder on the Orient Express” debuted in theatres, and instantly became a success. In fact, many critics believe that this film was one of the greatest film adaptations of any Agatha Christie novel ever made.

I certainly can see why. The film boasted some immense star power, and had a great story that kept people guessing right up until the end.

(Well...that is unless you read Christie's book prior to watching it.)

TRIVIA: Admittedly Agatha Christie was apprehensive about greenlighting the producers and director the rights to turn her novel into a movie, as she had not been happy with previous films. However she reluctantly agreed, and the final project earned her seal of approval – minus the fact that she disapproved of the way that Albert Finney's moustache was styled when he performed the role of Hercule Poirot.

Sigh...everyone's a critic.



Anyway, the mystery begins on the legendary Orient Express (a train route through Europe that began services in 1883), as Hercule Poirot is on his way back home to England. While on the journey, Poirot reconnects with his friend Monsieur Broc (Martin Balsam), a director of the company which owns the line that the Orient Express travels on. While the Orient Express is usually almost always filled with people, this particular day, every single first-class compartment is booked completely.



As soon as the train departs from Istanbul, Turkey, Poirot is approached by a man named Ratchett (Richard Widmark), who wishes to secure Poirot's help for the price of fifteen grand. You see, Ratchett is not exactly the most popular person in the entire world. In fact, according to Ratchett's claims, several people want to kill him. He is willing to do anything to stay alive, even if it means asking a random stranger on a train to serve as his bodyguard. Poirot, on the other hand, wants no part of it, and flatly turns down his offer.

That night, a sudden snowstorm slows the train to a crawl, and the people inside have no choice but to wait it out. It's only until the next morning arrives that Poirot and the rest of the passengers on the train realize that Ratchett's fears were founded. His body was found in one of the first-class cabins, stabbed twelve times. Some of the wounds were not harmful, but at least a couple were enough to kill the man. It was a very puzzling case indeed.

And this time, Poirot was on the case to figure out who did the deed.

Certainly, everyone who had access to the first-class cabins were instant suspects. There were thirteen in all.

Pierre-Paul Michel (Jean-Pierre Cassel) – French conductor of the sleeping car
Hector McQueen (Anthony Perkins) – Ratchett's secretary/translator
Cyrus B. “Dick” Hardman (Colin Blakely) – a detective in the guise of a travel agent
Antonio “Gino” Foscarelli (Denis Quilley) – an Italian car salesman from Chicago
Edward Henry Beddoes (John Gielgud) – Ratchett's valet
Mary Debenham (Vanessa Redgrave) – a teacher returning home to England
Harriett Belinda Hubbard (Lauren Bacall) – a chatty socialite from America
Colonel Arbuthnott (Sean Connery) – an officer of the British Indian Army
Greta Ohlsson (Ingrid Bergman) – a missionary from Sweden returning from Africa
Count Rudolph Andrenyi (Michael York) – an aristocratic Hungarian diplomat
Countess Elena Andrenyi (Jacqueline Bisset) – The Count's wife
Princess Natalia Dragomiroff (Wendy Hiller) – a member of the Russian Royal Family
Hildegarde Schmidt (Rachel Roberts) – Princess Natalia's maid

Wow...right off the bat we have Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Lauren Bacall, Sean Connery, Ingrid Bergman, and Jacqueline Bisset in the same movie! No wonder this film was so good, with all the Hollywood influence signed to the picture!

But which one did the deed? Well, I'm certainly not going to tell you. One thing I absolutely HATE is when people spoil the murder mystery for me ahead of time. So the last thing that I will do is reveal who the killer is.

But what I can do is reveal some clues as to what the motive could be.

You see...Ratchett wasn't the man who he claimed to be. Five years earlier, he was going under a different name, and he was involved heavily in criminal activity. His worst sin was kidnapping a young child from a family and demanding a huge ransom from her worried parents. Something went terribly wrong though, and the end result meant that an entire family was completely destroyed and eradicated from existence forever. Ratchett went into hiding, taking on a brand new identity in hopes that his crime would go unpunished.

But fate has a funny way of delivering instant karma, courtesy of a train trying to pass through a blinding snowstorm.

What connection could any of these suspects have in a case that took place five years ago? Well, that's for you to figure out.

Since I'm ending this blog off on a mysterious note, I thought that I would offer up some trivia in regards to the behind the scenes action during the filming of this movie.

1 – Although the actual Orient Express train cars had not been used for some time prior to the filming of this movie, the authentic Orient Express engine was.

2 – The film's premiere was the last public appearance that Agatha Christie would make prior to her death in January 1976.

3 – Ingrid Bergman was initially asked to play the role of Princess Dragomiroff, but she felt that the role of Greta would give her more to work with. Although Greta had far fewer scenes than the Princess did, they were enough to earn Bergman an Academy Award for her performance!

4 – Believe it or not, Albert Finney was just two years shy of forty when he won the role of Hercule Poirot. He had prosthetic make-up applied to make him appear a decade older than he was to fit the part.

5 – Alec Guinness was offered the role of Hercule Poirot, but he had to turn it down as he had another prior engagement.

6 – The cast filmed the final scene of the film in multiple takes, which nearly exhausted poor Albert Finney, who had an eight page monologue at the end of it all!

7 – Richard Widmark admittedly was a little star-struck when he agreed to take on the role of the victim. He did so just so he could have the opportunity to meet the other stars who took part!

8 – Sean Connery was reportedly the first person cast for the movie. According to the director, he felt that if he said yes, others would surely follow.

9 – The backstory of the film (and I hate to give plot details away, but I have no choice here) is loosely based on the Lindbergh kidnapping case of 1932.

10 – I found this to be absolutely bizarre, but according to the Internet Movie Database, Albert Finney was actually picked up at his home each shooting day by ambulance! While Finney still slept, the people inside the ambulance would apply his make-up! Apparently, Finney was working on a stage play at the same time the film was shot and he was complaining about not being able to get enough sleep!

11 – The luxury food that is inspected and carried aboard the train early in the film was actually stolen from the set before the scene was shot! It all had to be repurchased, which must have been a huge strain on the already tight $1.4 million budget!

And finally...


12 – If you want to see the film yourself, click HERE. The entire two hour movie is available for viewing on YouTube (though admittedly, you may want to click on it as soon as possible, as full length movies typically don't last too long there.)

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Venus Was Her Name...

I suppose that you could consider this blog entry one of those “two for the price of one” deals, as today we're featuring songs by two different artists.

But there's a catch. The artists in question will be singing the same song. There is a reason for this. I was trying to decide which version to feature in this space for the Sunday Jukebox, and I simply could not make a decision as I enjoy both versions.

So today, you'll be hearing both. You'll be hearing the original version which was released in 1969, as well as a cover version by a different group seventeen years later.

Of course, we have to have some sort of background info before we launch into the song. And, I do have to warn you...it may come across as a mythology lesson. But trust me. It's of great importance.

So, everyone has heard of at least one of the Roman deities that have been mentioned throughout Greek mythology. Or maybe you've seen works of art in museums painted and sculpted by artists of the Renaissance era that have featured Roman gods and goddesses. Believe it or not, there are at least twenty identified principal gods of Roman religion. Would you like to know what they are? Here's the list.

APOLLO      CERES             DIANA
GENIUS       JANUS              JUNO
JUPITER      LIBER              LUNA
MARS          MERCURY       MINERVA
NEPTUNE   ORCUS             SATURN
SOL             TELLUS           VENUS
VESTA        VULCAN

That's quite a list of names! Some of the names may seem familiar (many are also the names of planets in our solar system), while others you may not have heard of. I'll be the first to admit that I didn't even know there was a god named Vesta.

But we're not going to talk about Vesta. The goddess we're discussing today is the eighteenth one on the list alphabetically (or the last name in the last column).



Venus. The goddess of beauty and love.

Mind you, it's also the name of the second planet in the solar system, a razor blade made especially for women, the name of a pro tennis player, the name of Miss America 1944, a plant that eats flies and possibly other creatures, and according to John Gray, it happens to be the location where all women come from.

How Venus came to be depends on what book you read it from. But in the world of literary mythology, it is said that Venus was born of sea-foam and represents the element of water, which balances out with the fiery tempers of fellow Roman gods Vulcan and Mars. Venus reportedly tempers the male essence, offering the promise of military victory, sexual satisfaction, good fortune, and prosperity.

Sounds like the kind of gal a man wishes they could have, right? I know that I'm currently searching for my own “Venus”, so to speak and make no apologies in admitting this fact.

Anyway, back to the blog.

All you really need to know is that Venus is a gal who really represents love, passion, and beauty. Certainly qualities that suitors definitely look for in a mate (whether you're male or female).

So why wouldn't there be a song written about this goddess?

Well, okay, Frankie Avalon recorded a song entitled “Venus” in 1959 (and if you're interested in hearing that song, you may click HERE). But as talented a man as Frankie Avalon is, we're not going to be featuring his song today.

Instead, let's go back to 1969 and hear the first version of today's song.



ARTIST: Shocking Blue
SONG: Venus
ALBUM: At Home
DATE RELEASED: October 2, 1969
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #1 for 1 week

Now, here's the write-up of the band who introduced us to the classic rock hit “Venus”.

Did you know that the group that sang the song originated in the Netherlands? It's true. The band came together in 1967 in The Hague, and was originally comprised of Robbie van Leeuwen (guitar/sitar), Cor van der Beek (percussion), Klassje van der Wal (bass guitar), and Fred de Wilde (vocals).



It should be noted though that “Venus” was not the band's first single to be released. They had a minor hit in 1968 with the song “Lucy Brown Is Back In Town”, but it wasn't until Mariska Veres took over the lead vocals from de Wilde that the band really began to take off. The band released the single “Venus” in the Netherlands months prior to the American release in October 1969, where it peaked at at modest #3. But little did the band know that the single would become a huge chart-topper worldwide. We already know that the single reached the top of the charts in America when it hit the pole position in February 1970. But did you know that the song also hit #1 in Canada, Belgium, Finland, France, Italy, and Spain as well? It also made the Top 10 in the United Kingdom and Japan.

The original version of the song sold at least seven and a half million copies worldwide since it was released in 1969, and it remains Shocking Blue's one and only chart-topper.

The song certainly has withstood the test of time over the years. The song has been featured in a variety of television shows and feature films from “Grumpier Old Men” to “The Brady Bunch Movie” to “Remember The Titans”.



And, if you skip ahead to the two minute mark in this video, the song was even parodied in a commercial for the V-Chip by a few of the Muppets! I thought it was kind of cute, but that could just only be me.



So, whatever became of “Shocking Blue”? Well, in North America, their popularity quickly fizzled after the release of “Venus”, making them more or less a one-hit-wonder there. But in their native country, they were anything but. The band released over a dozen singles between 1969 and 1974, all of which received heavy airplay on Dutch radio. The band continued making hits until 1974, when Mariska Veres quit the band to embark on a solo career (with her peak popularity lasting between 1975 and 1977). The band did attempt a bit of a comeback five years after Mariska's departure. However, despite the fact that the band recorded the single “Louise” in 1979, it was never released. The band did manage to have a couple of releases in the 1980s as well.

Sadly, Mariska Veres died of cancer at the age of 59 on December 2, 2006.

So, that was the story of Shocking Blue. But it's not quite the end of the story for their hit single “Venus”. For just seventeen years later, the single would chart once more, courtesy of an all-girl group from the United Kingdom. And just like the Shocking Blue version, this group's version also topped the charts.



ARTIST: Bananarama
SONG: Venus
ALBUM: True Confessions
DATE RELEASED: May 30, 1986
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #1 for 1 week



Just like the Shocking Blue version, Bananarama's version also lasted one week at the top of the charts, peaking at #1 on September 6, 1986. Although the trio (made up of Keren Woodward, Sara Dallin, and Siobhan Fahey) were used to performing the song already. They started incorporating the song into their live sets right around the time that they recorded 1983's “Deep Sea Skiving”, and really wanted to record the song as a single as all three girls loved the song and wanted to record it as a Hi-NRG dance single.

The only obstacles in their way were their producers, Steve Jolley and Tony Swain.



The production team had nearly completed the band's third album “True Confessions”, set to be released in July 1986, and when Woodward, Dallin, and Fahey approached them to include their cover version of “Venus” onto their album, they were given a bit fat no by both Jolley and Swain.

And that just wasn't good enough for the group.

Determined to make the single a success, the group approached the production team of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman, the team who would eventually help put Rick Astley, Dead or Alive, and Kylie Minogue on the map. It wasn't initially met with a warm reaction when Bananarama asked Stock, Aitken, and Waterman if they would help them produce the song, as the production team believed that “Venus” wasn't exactly a song that they believed would make a great dance record.

Naturally, Bananarama disagreed. And it's a really good thing that the women were strong enough to keep pressing their belief that the song was ready to be reinvented by them because eventually Stock, Aitken, and Waterman relented. Not only did Bananarama record “Venus” with Stock, Aitken, and Waterman for “True Confessions”, but they also recorded another minor hit on the album, “More Than Physical”.

Actually, come to think of it, Bananarama would start working with Stock, Aitken, and Waterman more often, as they recorded several singles with the production team between 1986 and 1993. So I suppose that “Venus” helped the band expand their horizons and seek out a brand new sound which made them sound more sophisticated and mature.

TRIVIA: And here's some shocking trivia for all of you reading this. Do you know who choreographed Bananarama in the music video for “Venus”? It was a man by the name of Bruno Tonioli – better known as one of the judges of the ABC reality television series “Dancing With The Stars”.

Now, the remake of “Venus” didn't top the charts in as many countries as Shocking Blue's did, but it did hit #1 in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, and Switzerland. And like the original version, the Bananarama version has appeared in several films like “Romy and Michele's High School Reunion” and “American Wedding”.

And, just like Shocking Blue, Bananarama had some personnel changes over the years. Siobhan Fahey left the band in 1988 to form Shakespear's Sister with Marcella Detroit, to be replaced with Jacquie O'Sullivan later that year. Three years later, O'Sullivan departed the band herself, leaving Bananarama a duo in 1991. As of 2013, Woodward and Dallin still perform and record as Bananarama, and I would almost be certain that they still perform the single “Venus” in concert every now and then.

Two different groups with the same single. Both songs hit the top of the charts, and both bands sustained line-up changes after the song was released. But no matter what you say about both songs, and no matter how well you like either Shocking Blue or Bananarama...the fact remains that had it not been for “Venus”, people would not have heard of either band.


They've got it. Yeah baby, they've got it...

Saturday, August 17, 2013

The Roadrunner and the Coyote

It's the third Saturday of August which means that we are going to be featuring a cartoon of some sort for the Saturday Smorgasbord.

And this week, I decided to go classic.




I don't know what it was about “The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show” that I loved so much, but I tuned in every Saturday afternoon to watch it when I was a kid.

(Keeping in mind that there was a Canadian channel that used to air “The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show” every Saturday at five o'clock, just before the evening news.)

I didn't even care if I saw all of the Looney Tunes cartoons a million times already. They were classic cartoons that all of us grew up with, and they are still very much a part of everyone's childhood memories.




Believe it or not, I'm almost tempted to pick up the Warner Brothers DVD box set which contains no less than fifty of these classic cartoons. After all, there is no feeling in the world quite like rediscovering the kid inside of you by owning a small part of your childhood in your media collection.

Certainly within “A Pop Culture Addict's Guide to Life”, I've done several features on Looney Tunes characters over the last two years. In fact, one of my very first entries was on Elmer Fudd. Of course, there have been others along the way. I did an entire spotlight on “Bugs Bunny” along with links to several of his best cartoons. Sylvester and Tweety also got their own blog topic. And I even did a feature on the juniorized version known as “Tiny Toon Adventures”, which given my general dislike of juniorizing classic cartoon characters was surprisingly wonderful.

So, which classic Looney Toon characters will I be featuring this week?

I'm going to feature a pair of characters who could be considered the ultimate enemies. I mean, if you had someone who tried to catch you and make you the main course of their dinner, you wouldn't really like them very much, would you?

But don't feel too sorry for the prey. In fact, you should probably cheer him on. For one, they have the fastest feet in the entire world. Their natural agility makes them run faster than a cheetah, and he can literally run at speeds topping 300 miles an hour or greater. It kind of makes it impossible to get a hold of him if you take that into consideration.

Not even the entire product listings in the ACME store order form, The Sears Wish Book, or the Bradford Exchange artisan catalogue could help our antagonist catch and eat his prey. If anything, the prey is so intelligent that he often ends up using his enemy's bag of tricks against him.

You'd think that after trying so hard to catch his dinner and failing miserably that he would give up meat altogether and just subside on a diet of Caesar salads and V8 vegetable cocktail.




Then again, nobody ever claimed that Wile E. Coyote was a super genius either.

Yes, today we're going to take a look at the relationship between Wile E. Coyote and his ultimate nemesis – a little bird with a lot of turbo power known as the Acceleratii incredibus.




Or, by his nickname, the Road Runner. Meep Meep!

Created by Chuck Jones at the height of Warner Brothers and Looney Tunes popularity in 1948, Wile E. Coyote continues to be the thorn in the side of the Road Runner, with their most recent cartoon together airing on December 17, 2010!  It's a wonder the coyote hasn't dropped dead from starvation!  Spending over sixty years trying to catch the perfect meal?  He should've just gone to the nearest KFC and be done with it!

But then again, if there are any Looney Tune characters that could feasibly continue making cartoons, it's the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote.  After all, both of them are almost considered to be silent characters with the exception of the Road Runner's distinctive call (recorded by Paul Julian).

Anyway, I bet you're wondering how Chuck Jones came up with the inspiration behind the creation of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.  Well, as it turns out, author Mark Twain could be credited towards the creation of Wile E. Coyote.  In Twain's book "Roughing It", Twain describes the coyote as a "long, slim, sick, and sorry looking skeleton" that is a "living, breathing allegory of Want".



Yep, I can definitely see that about Wile E. Coyote.  He's desperate, starving, and is so consumed with trying to get what he wants that he loses his grip with reality.  

TRIVIA:  As far as the appearance of the coyote went, Chuck Jones designed him with fellow animator Ken Harris in mind.  I kind of wonder how well their professional relationship was, given that Chuck Jones' character would end up doing a lot of this during the entire run of the Looney Tunes cartoons.



Yeah, that had to hurt.



Anyway, the first cartoon that aired which featured Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner together aired on September 17, 1949.  The name of the cartoon was "Fast and Furry-ous". 

(Not to be confused with the long-running film series "The Fast and the Furious" starring Paul Walker and Vin Diesel that in my opinion had run its course three movies ago...but hey, that's just my opinion.)

The cartoon was directed by Chuck Jones (as were most of the earliest Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner cartoons), and this episode set the stage for a lot of the running gags that took place in each subsequent episode.  Have a look and see what I mean.



GAG #1 - The ever-changing Latin origin.

As you well know, every species in the world has an official Latin name - even us (homo sapien).  And, naturally, the Road Runner has his own original Latin name.  In fact, it's so original that during each episode, it changes to something else!  In every case though, the name usually has something to do with speed.  In the very first cartoon, his name was Acceleratii incredibus, but here were some other names that were mentioned.

Velocitus tremenjus (Zipping Along, September 1953)
Hot-roddicus supersonicus (Stop, Look, and Hasten!, August 1954)
Speedipus Rex (Ready, Set, Zoom!, April 1955)
Delicius-delicius (Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z, May 1956)
Tastyus supersonicus (Scrambled Aches, January 1957)
Batoutahelius (Wild About Hurry, October 1959)
Velocitus incalcublii (Fastest With The Mostest, January 1960)
Fastius tastyus (Lickety-Splat, June 1961)
Burn-em-upus asphaltus (War and Pieces, June 1964)
Semper foodellus (Freeze Frame, November 1979)
Ultra-sonicus ad infinitum (Soup or Sonic, May 1980)
Boulevardius burnupius (Chariots of Fur, December 1994)
Geococcyx californiaus (The Whizzard of Ow, November 2003)

I should also note that Wile E. Coyote also had ever-changing Latin names too such as Everreadii eatibus or Carnivorous slobbius, but I always found the Road Runner names to be much cooler.



GAG #2 - The coyote has the ACME supply store on speed-dial.

If you're ever buying stock in the fictional cartoon world, don't waste your time on Slate Industries, Spacely Sprockets, or the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant.  The money can really be found at ACME Industries, of which Wile E. Coyote has seemingly spent his whole life savings on goods from the company.

And when I say that Wile E. Coyote has basically purchased every single thing from ACME, I really mean it.  Just have a look at all of the list of things that Wile E. Coyote has used to entrap the Road Runner.

He's used an ACME Super Outfit, rocket powered roller skates, a weather balloon, a giant kite kit, glue, ACME grease, ACME Triple Strength Battleship Steel Armor Plate, a jet bike, ACME Dehydrated Boulders, a giant elastic rubber band, an Indestructo Steel Ball, Earthquake Pills, invisible paint, suction cups, a bungee cord, and countless other devices and gadgets.  With an arsenal like that, you'd think that he'd have a handle on things.

But then again, Wile E. Coyote was cursed with the "Inspector Gadget" gene.  He has all the tools needed to be a success, but can't figure out how to use them.  In some cases, like the example below, they have a tendency to turn against him!



And, this leads to the third and final recurring gag, which you've seen already, but I can't seem to get enough of it.

GAG #3 - 

Sigh...yeah...that never gets old.  

Friday, August 16, 2013

Twice in a Lifetime

Yesterday, I had a bit of a moment.

Everyone has one of those days in which they are forced to sit down and re-evaluate everything that has happened to them over the course of their entire lives and they reflect on what they could have and should have done differently in order to understand how we got to this point in our lives, and where to go from there.

Yesterday was that day for me.

I've been struggling with the fact that I'm essentially at a point in my life where it seems as though I cannot grow any more in both the personal and professional aspects of it, and it scares me to death that there doesn't seem to be any clear-cut solution to fix either one right now. I honestly am at a loss over what I can do to get myself from a good place into an even better place in life right now.

I know that somewhere out there, the answer does lie. I just need a super strength calculator in order to figure it out. Or maybe just a little bit of luck.

If anything though, my little period of reflection that I went through yesterday has told me one thing. I can't continue the way things are right now. I've got to do something about it, even if it means making some incredibly hard decisions along the way about my future in regards to my professional and personal life. I've got to find a way to find that balance again, and to feel self-confident about myself.

But that's the thing. As far as I know, I have the time to be able to do that. I mean, almost nothing is ever guaranteed in this world. Especially not time. The only things that seem to be a guarantee are that we all have to pay taxes (unless you're “Survivor” winner Richard Hatch), and we all end up dead at the end of our journeys.

I know it sounds like a rather bleak and depressing outlook, but it's what inevitably happens. Unless of course, you're one who believes in reincarnation. In that case, just disregard that last fact.

But you know, as bleak and morbid as this is going to sound, have you ever thought about the legacy that you're going to leave behind after you breathe your last breath? What your epitaph will say?

I suppose in some way, I'm currently leaving behind a little piece of myself in cyberspace by doing this blog. Unless something happens like in the television series “Revolution” where all the electricity mysteriously disappears, I would like to think that my blog will remain after I pass away. It's no guarantee, especially if I happen to live to be a hundred. But, knowing that I have something posted for everyone to see gives me some comfort.

Still though...is it enough for me? That's kind of debatable right now. I do wish that I could have done things differently in my life, and sometimes I do feel as though I have regrets. Usually though, I don't dwell on the mistakes of the past, as I cannot do anything to change them. All I can do is make changes now, and hope that somewhere along the road, they will be worth it (even if I'm not sure what to do at this point in my life).

I'm sure I'm not alone. Many of you have been in the same position I am. You have little regrets that you have carried with you for weeks, months, even years, and those regrets have basically shaped the way that your entire life has gone ever since.

If we're lucky, we make peace with those regrets, or even find a way to turn things around. But some of us hold onto those regrets our entire lives until we die. And once we die, there's no way to turn back the clock and fix what has happened...

...or IS there?



Case in point with today's television show feature, the PAX television series “Twice in a Lifetime”. The show only ran for two seasons between August 1999 and May 2001, but in its short run acquired its fans. And, I'm not afraid to admit it. I was a fan of this show.

The best way that I can describe “Twice in a Lifetime” is that it's kind of similar to what might happen if “Touched by an Angel” had a love child with “Quantum Leap”. It's a show about going back in time to right the wrongs of the past...with a twist. In each episode, the star of the show is a person who has already died, are sent to heaven, and are given three days by a judge of the higher order to fix the mistakes that their past selves made and hopefully steer themselves towards a better and brighter future.

Now, here's what's very interesting about this show. Each of the shows had its regular characters that appeared in almost every single episode. The late Al Waxman played Judge Othniel, the judge who handed out the sentences to those poor, unfortunate souls who had a lot of regrets weighing them down.



And helping all of the recently deceased stay on the right path to making all of their future dreams come true were a pair of angels. In season one, the angel was named Smith (Gordie Brown), and in season two, the angel was named Jones (Paul Popowich).

In fact, one of the most interesting things about season two was that Jones appeared to be one of the ones who also appeared to be undergoing a trial in understanding his own regrets (his human self was killed off in season two's first episode). And it appeared as though every single person that Jones helped got him one step closer to understanding his own regrets (though I'm not exactly sure if Jones' story was resolved at the end of the series or not, as I did not see the final episode).

And to be honest with you, I thought that the whole show ended on an abrupt note anyway...though to be fair, Al Waxman did die the very same year that show ended, and once Judge Othniel passed away, I suppose that it would be tough to continue the show without him.

But now, here's the thing about “Twice in a Lifetime”. The characters who appeared in the opening credits of the show weren't exactly the stars of the show. In fact, what's very unusual about this show is the fact that the show relied heavily on its guest stars to drive the show along.

And just who were some of the stars who made appearances on the program? Well, here's a partial list for you, as well as the show/movie you might remember them from.

Corbin Bernsen (L.A. Law)
Kate Jackson (Charlie's Angels)
Patrick Duffy (Dallas)
Donna Mills (Knots Landing)
Julia Duffy (Newhart)
Joe Penny (Riptide)
Lance Kinsey (Police Academy)
Tracey Gold (Growing Pains)
Markie Post (Night Court)
Miko Hughes (Pet Sematary)
Ralph Macchio (The Karate Kid)
Reginald VelJohnson (Family Matters)
Jackee Harry (Sister Sister)
Stepfanie Kramer (Hunter)
Ian Ziering (Beverly Hills 90210)
John Schneider (The Dukes of Hazzard)
Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

Not a bad list of names, isn't it? And each one of those people featured were killed off, given the three-day sentence, and somehow ended up better people at the end of their respective journeys.

So, how do people end up getting such a sentence from Othniel? Well, in every single case, something happens to them that changes the entire course of their entire life, and they end up broken, bitter, and living a life of broken dreams and tons of regrets. And the way that they end up dying is usually a method which can be embarrassing or ironic.

Some of these examples include...

A man whose son went missing from a camping site who is struck by a car after he thinks he sees his son passing by.

A woman who finds out she is dying of lung cancer who ironically enough gets run over by a truck advertising cigarettes.

A woman dies alone in a park after giving up her dream of being a photographer to pursue a life filled with pain, heartbreak, and anger.

A man whose teenage child ends up stuttering and pregnant due to her being neglected by him due to work commitments slips on a book and dies after an epic fight with his boss.

An overbearing father bullies his son to the point that the son resents him, and both end up getting struck with baseballs to the head – where the son ends up dying from his injuries.

A womanizer who woos women and breaks their hearts ends up choking to death.

A former tennis pro sustains injuries which paralyze her. She becomes bitter and dies alone at her home.

And, finally, in what could be considered to be one of the most bizarre deaths to be featured on “Twice in a Lifetime”, a gossip queen who ruins the life of a celebrity ends up dying after accidentally falling in a dumpster!

(Hey, I don't write this stuff, people!)

So, when they go back in time to the period in which their entire lives went sour, they are disguised as someone else who will have the opportunity to get close to their younger selves in hopes that they can make them see the error of their ways. The smoker, for instance, becomes a guidance counselor at the school that her younger self attends. The son who died in the baseball accident becomes a player on the team that his father played on when he was a kid. And in one of the funnier episodes of the series, the womanizer who treated women as objects came back as a...you guessed it...a woman!

Now, usually on the first day and a half, the people end up making novice mistakes, and in a lot of cases, they sometimes end up making the problem a hundred times worse. But it's not until the third day arrives that they end up finding out the solution, and convincing their former selves to make the opposite choices in hopes that their lives will be spared. And in the process, they all learn a little bit about themselves.

Now, I don't want to spoil the endings of all of these shows for you, because I think that most of you should watch them yourselves. But there are little clues that are scattered throughout each show that will point viewers in the right direction. It could be a person that seems like a recurring character at first who ends up being the person who saves them from themselves. Or it could be reigniting an old passion that may seem like a hobby at first.

In the examples I brought up in this blog, do you know how I talked about the episode where the man lost his son in a camping trip? He convinces his younger self to support a new business...one that involves recruiting dogs in the aid of recovering missing persons.

Or, you know the woman who was suffering from cancer? What happens when she reveals a secret that her own mother has been keeping from her? Does this convince her younger self to butt out once and for all?

The woman who ends up giving up her dream of being a photographer finds herself working at the same restaurant as her teenage self. Can she convince her younger self to follow her dream?

The man who dies after spending his whole life being a workoholic is taken back in time to when his daughter was a toddler...and he begins to realize that maybe a career as a stay-at-home dad doesn't sound so terrible after all.

What happens when the baseball playing boy discovers that his own father was being bullied himself by his grandfather? Can he find the courage to break the cycle?

When the paralyzed tennis player goes back to the rehabilitation centre where she ends up meeting her younger, still paralyzed self, can she find the courage to help her accept her disability? A young girl who is also staying at the rehab centre might be the key to the whole thing.

Being a woman certainly hasn't been easy on the womanizer...especially when he realizes that his secretary whom he always ignored might have the charm to keep his younger self on the straight and narrow.

And as for the paparazzi who choked inside a dumpster? Let's just say that the stars have a way of aligning together in her case. In particular, one Hollywood starlet who helps her see that sometimes friendship is more important than gossip.


So, to close off this blog entry, I have a special treat. Here's an EPISODE OF THE SHOW for you all to watch! Enjoy!