How
Much Do you Know about
The
World We Live In ?
Where is the Coldest
Place in the
World?
East Antarctic
Plateau
On the high ridge of the East Antarctic Plateau, the temperature can drop to as low as -135.8 degrees Fahrenheit, which was recorded in August, 2010. Where is the world's most populated city? 
Shanghai
At a
whopping 24,150,000 permanent
inhabitants, Shanghai is the only city that is home to
over 24 million people in one city.
Where is the world's least populated city?  Vatican City With a paltry population of 842, the city-state of Vatican City is the smallest city and state in the world. Where is the World's Wealthiest City? 
Tokyo,
Japan
Tokyo tops the charts with a GDP of $1,520 billion,
beating
New York City by a mere $310 billion.
Where is the world's poorest city
in the
poorest country?
Kinshasa, Congo It is the poorest city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is also the poorest country in the world, at a GDP of $55 billion. Many of its residents live on less $1 a day. What is the highest point in the world?  Mount Everest Towering 29,029 feet in the air, the top of Mount Everest is the closest you can get to touching outer space
while
still standing on Earth.
Where is the lowest point in the world?  The Challenger Deep Trench It is the lowest known natural point in the world at 35,797 ft below sea level at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Only three people have ever made it to the bottom in a submersible, one of which was filmmaker James Cameron. What is the most photographed place in the US? 
The
Guggenheim building in New York
Photos have always told stories, but in today's world of cell phone cameras and social media, that story is relayed as data to companies who monitor everything we do. Where is the wettest spot on Earth?  Mawsynram, India In this city in India, it rains an average of 467.35 inches per year, and has a record of 1000 inches in 1985...
much more
than any rain forest !
Where is the driest spot on Earth?  The Atacama Desert The 600 miles of South America's Atacama desert is recorded
as the
driest place on Earth. This desert has an
average
of only 4
inches of rain every hundred years.
What city claims to be the sunniest place in the US ?  In this city in Arizona, the sun shines for an average of 11 hours a day. The usual forecast is sun for 90 percent of the year,
averaging
a total of 4015 daylight hours each
year.
Where is the most expensive city to live in?  Singapore This city has recently beat out Tokyo, Japan,
for the
title of "most expensive city" for 2014.
Where is the least expensive city to live in?  Mumbai, India For some comparison, a loaf of bread that would cost $3.36 in Singapore, would only cost $0.91 in Mumbai. What country consumes the most food capita?  The overweight United States We eat an average of 3,770 calories a day each. Where is the world's oldest city?  Damascus
There is
evidence of civilization that extends back over 11,000
years.
Which is the youngest country in the world?  South Sudan The people of South Sudan
were
formally recognized as an independent country in 2011 , making it the youngest country in
the world to-date.
Which is the world's most visited city?  London After a several years of competition with Bangkok,
London has
regained its place as the world's most visited
city.
The city sees about 18.69 millions international visitors each year,
generating $19.3
billion in revenue for their
city.
What is the world's least popular country?  Iran On that same rating scale, Iran has come in dead last (at a 79% negativity rating) for many years. Only 15% of people polled viewed Iran in a positive light. Where is the world's most dangerous city to live in?  San Pedro, Honduras This city averages over three murders a day . The violence stems from the city's role as a major hub for illegal drug and arms trafficking. Which country consumes the most caffeine in the world ?  Sweden
The Swedes consume an average of
388 mg of caffeine in coffee per person, per
day (that's almost 5 Red Bulls in the
U.S.).
Which country in the world drinks the most alcohol?  Belarus In the little country of Belarus, each person above the age of 16 drinks an average of 4.62 gallons of alcohol every year. Which country is the most bicycle friendly in the world?  The Netherlands By comparing cities using the average number of bicycle trips made daily, one city reigns supreme: Groningen in the Netherlands.
About 50
percent of the population commute via bike
daily, making it the city with the
greatest proportion of cyclists.
Where is the world's most energy efficient city ?  Reykjavik, Iceland All of the energy and heat used by the citizens of Reykjavik, Icelandcome from geothermal plants and renewable hydropower making it the most sustainable and energy efficient city in the world. This city has also been replacing traditional buses with hydrogen-fueled buses, from which the only emissions are water. Which country has the longest
life
expectancy in the
world?
 Monaco Monaco tops the charts for longest living citizens with an average life expectancy of 87.2 years. Men in Monaco live an average 85.3 years, and women live longer to an average of 89 years. Which country has the shortest life expectancy ?  Sierra Leone
The population of Sierra Leone
live only to an average of 47 years. The men of Sierra Leone live to an
average of 47 years old, whereas women live an average of 48
years.
What country would qualify
as
the most stressed-out nation in the world
because of their living conditions?  Nigeria By looking at the homicide rate, the GDP per capita, continued income inequality, corruption, lack of education opportunities
and
unemployment numbers, Nigeria's
people are the most stressed out population in the
world.
Which city has the highest average IQ?  Hong Kong
Hong Kong
has the highest IQ level, at an average of 107 points per
person.
Which foreign city is the world's most well-connected one for internet use ?  Seoul, South Korea With 10,000 government supported free WiFi spots dotting the city, and an internet speed that goes unchallenged globally,
Seoul is
an internet junkie's paradise.
___________________________
Stand-Up
America
This is Your
Day
Anthem
Opinions wishes all of our readers a ...
 Let's look back and say "Thanks" for the 240 years we've been a nation and for the courageous individuals who met in Philadelphia and signed this cherished document !  Could anyone have explained it better than the late John Wayne?  The Land... 
and...
 Those Who Made It Great ! Happy Father's Day !  "Dad"...what a great word and how that name has so many meanings.
We
all have or had one, and hopefully those childhood memories of growing up, had a
great influence on who and what you were yesterday, are today, and will be,
tomorrow.
And...we
want to celebrate you "dads" and your "dad'" by asking you to talk about
them....not a long discussion, but in a fun manner.
Fun
manner?
By
taking a survey !
Our
generation invented the "era of television". We went from small black and white
screens with rabbit ear antennas to the giant "H-D" ones we have
today....
And
TV shows have been a part of our culture for close to 70
years.
But...
Which are your
favorites and does any one(s) remind you of your dad ?
Here
are our 25 nominees (with theme songs)
1.
Jim
Anderson
(Robert
Young)
"Father
Knows Best"
2.
Danny
Williams
(Danny
Thomas)
"Make
Room for Daddy"
3.
Ward
Cleaver
(Hugh
Beaumont)
"Leave
it to Beaver"
4.
Ozzie
Nelson
(Ozzie
Nelson)
"The
Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet"
5.
Steve
Douglas
(Fred
MacMurray)
"My
Three Sons"
6.
Bentley
Gregg
(John
Forsythe)
"Bachelor
Father"
7.
Lucas
McCain
(Chuck
Connors)
"The
Rifleman"
8.
Ben
Cartwright
(Lorne
Greene)
"Bonanza"
9.
Andy
Taylor
(Andy
Griffith)
"The
Andy Griffith Show"
10.
Alex
Stone
(Carl
Betz)
"The
Donna Reed Show"
11.
Herman
Munster
(Fred
Gwynne)
"The
Munsters"
12.
John
Walton
(Ralph
Waite)
"The
Waltons"
13.
Fred
Sanford
(Redd
Foxx)
"Sanford
& Son"
14.
Steven
Keaton
(Michael
Gross)
"Family
Ties"
15.
Archie
Bunker
(Carroll
O'Connor)
"All
in the Family"
16.
Charles
Ingalls
(Michael
Landon)
"Little
House on the Prairie"
17.
Howard
Cunningham
(Tom
Bosley)
"Happy
Days"
18.
Heathcliff
Huxtable
(Bill
Cosby)
"The
Cosby Show"
19.
Danny
Tanner
(Bob
Saget)
"Full
House"
20.
Al
Bundy
(Ed
O'Neill)
"Married
with Children"
21.
Mike
Brady
(Robert
Reed)
"The
Brady Bunch"
22.
Tim
Taylor
(Tim
Allen)
"Home
Improvement"
23.
Dan
Conner
(John
Goodman)
"Rosanne"
24.
Jason
Seaver
(Alan
Thicke)
"Growing
Pains"
25.
Jay
Pritchett
(Ed
O'Neill)
"Modern
Family"
Now it's your turn !
Send
your vote(s) and comments to:
Anthem
Opinions Administration
________________________________
Another Famous (Infamous) Vegas Hotel Dies It will shortly be imploded and become rubble, but those who have come to Las Vegas for years will never forget the "glory" on this monarch....
The Riviera Hotel &
Casino
It was allowed to decay
over the past decade to a point where the only alternative was to end it
all....destroy it...kill it...but emotionally it will never
die...
...because history will
never allow that to take place.
So let's examine the glory and perhaps somewhat sordid history of that mighty Las Vegas Strip hotel.
It was originally to be
called the "Casa Blanca" when the idea
was conceived in 1953, but licensing problems in Nevada hampered the project
when it was learned that one of the original Miami partners had ties to mobster,
Meyer
Lansky.
 Later in 1953 the Nevada Tax Department approved the investor list that included Harpo & Gummo Marx of the Marx Brothers.
Finally a man named Sam
Cohen and a group of Miami investors
(and what many believe, influence of the "Chicago Outfit") pursued
the dream...
...to build Las Vegas' first "skyscraper" with nine stories having 221 rooms...
...in a town that
the 1950 census indicated 24,624
residents (compared to 2010
having 584,378).
It opened on April 20, 1955, 61 years ago,
when the original budget of $7.5 million grew by an additional $1 million before
the doors would open.
It lasted three months
until it went bankrupt, then being taken
over by a man named Gus
Greenbaum...
...who was murdered in
1958.
It would have
a number of owners over the years and was run by some interesting characters,
one of which was the ex-husband of singer/actress Pia
Zadora, Meshulam
Riklis.
 ...and even Dean Martin had 10% ownership at one time.  But...what "built" the reputation of "The Riv" was the amazing entertainment....
...the greatest performers that
Las Vegas would ever see.
And...they "broke the mold" when
the hotel opened in 1955 paying an unheard of salary of $50,000 p/week (equivalent to $437,000 in 2016
dollars) to a piano player named Liberace, who opened "The Clover Room" (later
named "The Versailles Room") on April 29, 1955.
Here's a poster from a show in
1963.
Liberace's salary would jump
to $300,000
p/week in 1972.
Over the years here is a partial list of other famous entertainers who would grace the stages and lounges of The Riviera....
Frank
Sinatra
Dean
Martin
Elvis
Presley
Bob
Hope
Wayne
Newton
Dolly
Parton
Ray
Bolger
Orson
Welles
Rich
Little
Anthony
Newley
Petula
Clark
Shecky
Greene
Barry
Manilow
Tom
Jones
Dionne
Warwick
Bill
Cosby
Totie
Fields
Patrice
Munsell
Buddy
Hackett
John
Davidson
Joan
Rivers
Billy
Gardell
There were shows that lasted for
years...
"An Evening at La
Cage"
(with a very young Frank Marino...for 23 years) 
"Crazy
Girls"
(for 28
years)
 "Splash" 
(originally with a revolving
stage having guest entertainers...such as
"The Fifth
Dimension")
The Comedy Club...that was started
by a matre 'd named Steve Schirripa....
...later to become
famous in his own right on the hit TV show "The
Sopranos"...
...hired celebrities Dennis Leary, Damon Wayans, Drew Carey, Jeff Dunham, Ellen DeGeneres, Richard Belzer , and Joe
Rogan.
"The Riv" was the location of a number
of Hollywood films...two of the most memorable....
  There was the food..... Anyone remember "The Hickory Room"? Back in '55 you wore a coat and tie...and that special person "dressed to the 9s" ! 
Last but not least..."the
stories"...some of the antics that took place over the years.
Perhaps
the craziest story was that of "Tahar", the “Splash”
specialty act built up with teaser ads who turned out to be an alligator
wrestler.
The
big reveal of the act was unintentionally
comical.
The
14-foot alligator had to be unceremoniously dumped out of its cage onto the
stage.
The
poor thing seemed half-frozen as Tahar tried to pry its jaws open to feign the
peril of putting his head in its mouth. The creature actually was
hypnotized.
Either
way, someone left the gate open. The Riviera had built a cage with air
conditioning so the alligator could live out in the loading
dock...
...but
it escaped and crossed Riviera Boulevard to the north of the hotel, where it got
run over by a car.
But
that didn’t kill it.
No,
the alligator died when Tahar spray-painted it green in an attempt to cover up
the tire track. Rumor has it that Tahar buried it next to some mobster in the
desert.
Even if the elevators at
the Riviera could talk …
Sinatra
performed New Year’s shows at the Riv in 1990 and
1992.
For
one of them, he and Pia Zadora first sang downstairs, then moved up to an
invited-guests bash on the 24th floor of the Monaco Tower, the last of the
Riviera’s piecemeal additions that spanned out like rings from a
tree.
“We
got stuck in the elevator,” Zadora says. “It was a mad rush, and everybody was
going up in the elevator. Me in my Bob Mackie (gown), Jilly Rizzo, (Sinatra’s
righthand man) and Frank in his perfect tux, Jilly started sweating and
swearing: ‘What if we starve?’
“Frank’s
looking at him like, ‘Jesus Christ, Jilly.’ We were there for like 30 seconds,
and he was already talking cannibalism.”
The Dean Martin
story...
Dean
Martin, perhaps for good reason, always took the stairs. “He never went in an
elevator,” Rich Little says. “Wherever he was staying, it had to be the first
floor or a walk up to the second floor.”
So
the Riv created a second-floor suite that eventually was torn down for one of
the mid-’70s tower additions.
Martin ended up joining a
recurring pattern of entertainers whose Riviera memories ended by walking
away.
Comedian Shecky
Greene was one of the most
popular draws for the Riviera, pulling down $10,000 per week and points in the
hotel to ply his comedy in the Starlite Lounge.
That
was before Ed Torres moved over from the Fremont to run the hotel in
1968.
Greene
hated Torres and told staffers to keep him out of the lounge while he was
working.
When
management sent down a birthday cake as a peace offering one night, Greene
smashed it into his own face.
Back to Dean
Martin....
Torres
was the one who lured Martin over from the Sands, but the two eventually clashed
when Torres wanted him to perform two shows a
night.
“He
was going to walk out on them, but he still had a contract there,” Rich Little
recalls.
Eddie
Torres got so mad at him that he took all his clothes out of the suite and threw
them in the hall.
“Dean
went up there, saw all his clothes in the hallway, picked up one jacket and
walked out and went to the MGM Grand. …
...It
didn’t seem to faze him.”
And then at 2:00am on June 14, 2015...the end finally
came...in all it's glory !
So...as this old majestic
building joins the ranks of The Dunes, New Frontier, Hacienda, Sands, Stardust,
and Desert Inn..
We
say....
 Dick Arendt
____________________________Grant Sawyer Building Honors Vets with Memorial
Over
Memorial Day, the Las Vegas Veterans Memorial Foundation dedicated a national
memorial on the grounds of the Grant Sawyer State
Office Building, just north of downtown Las
Vegas.
Built
in a park-like setting, the memorial features 18 larger-than-life
statues honoring various war
veterans surrounded by granite walls that span our nation’s history from the Revolutionary War to today’s
Global War on Terrorism, with the centerpiece being a bronze family
sculpture looking on at the soldiers.
  
The
memorial was created by award-winning artist, Douwe Blumberg, and is a Must-See
for any person residing in or visiting Las Vegas.
The
address:
555 E. Washington
Blvd.
_________________________
Entertainment Contributor
Norm
Johnson
Remembers
"The
Greatest"
“Muhammad
Ali”
I first met a very
young Muhammad
Ali in March, 1962 when he arrived in Los Angeles. All I knew
about him was that he had won the 1960 Olympics
Light-Heavyweight boxing gold medal and was going to be our
headlining boxer at the Los Angeles Sports
Arena in
April.
I was working
for Joe
Louis (the former heavyweight
champion of the world) at the time, and had been hired by Louis in 1960 to be
the assistant publicist for United World
Enterprises, the corporation backing Joe
in promoting fights in Los Angeles.
My boss and mentor was an old
newspaper sport writer, Sammy
Schnitzer, who had been one of the top
sports writers in Los Angeles.
By the end of 1961, Sammy was
too ill to work and retired, thus I was promoted to the top
spot.
We were and would be in
direct competition with the “First Lady of Boxing,” Eileen
Eaton—a fierce promoter who “loved
Louis,” but disliked him for going up against
her Olympic
Auditorium.
Of course when I met Ali at
the Biltmore
Hotel, in downtown Los Angeles, he
was Cassius
Clay.
My job was to make the rounds
of the newspapers, television and radio stations, and to make sure he was a
happy camper at the Main Street
Gym, where he was training for
his fight with George
Logan.
Angelo
Dundee, had been hired by the group
of 10 Louisville,
Kentucky business men who were
managing Clay at the time, to be his trainer, after Clay walked away
from Archie
Moore’s training camp because of
certain rules at the San
Diego camp.
Clay had contacted Louis
and Sugar Ray
Robinson, asking them if they would
like to be his trainer. Both champions declined
the offer, thus enter Dundee.
From our first meeting,
Cassius Clay and I became great friends.
He loved the fact that I had
a 1960 Ford Thunderbird convertible that we would use to travel throughout Los
Angeles.
His brother, Rahaman
Clay, was always by his side, and
trained with him at the Gym.
There was no entourage, and
no one to put words in his mouth. He was actually quite quiet and had not yet
begun to predict his fights.
One afternoon at the Gym, I
was watching him in the ring and he looked like he was floating around the
ring.
I commented to him that he appeared to
be floating, and he smiled and said, “That sounds nice, maybe one day I
might use it…”
He never showed the brashness
that would become his theme for most of his fighting career. When I was with
him, he was actually quite calm, rather bashful, and definitely was a sweet
person, and always a gentleman.
He and his brother were like
brothers—they would have an argument, and the silent treatment would
begin.
Eventually, either Cassius or
Rahaman would apologize.
Prior to the fight we had
a huge dinner at Joe
and Martha
Louis home in the exclusive
district of Los Angeles called Hancock
Park. Martha cooked the entire
dinner herself, and I remember the Clay brothers couldn’t get enough of the
“greens,” and the other old style
southern food she had specially prepared for that
evening.
One of the special guests was
Joe’s neighbor, Nat King
Cole.
Another thing I took away
from meeting Cassius that first fight was how humble he actually
was.
He truly loved Joe Louis
too!
His eyes, which were so
expressive, bright and alive, would get real bright whenever Joe would show up
at the gym, or when we would be together at some promotional
event.
He was also a big tease: he
loved to come up behind me and put his hands over my eyes, and trying to
disguise his voice, he would ask, “Guess who?” And I would say a few names and he’d begin
to laugh.
At one point during the month
he was in L.A., for his first west coast fight, I was asked to meet with Ali and
Dundee, where I was asked if I would consider becoming his PR
guy.
I turned the offer down to stay
with Louis.
Another big mistake? But,
hey, I was working for Joe Louis—one
of the most beloved champions in the world.
(Norm Johnson on
left...Joe
Louis in back of picture)
Of course Clay (he did not become Mahammad Ali until
1964) won with a 6th round TKO over
Logan.
We brought Cassius back to
Los Angeles, and the Sport Arena, to fight
the Argentine heavyweight, Alejandro Lavorante , on July
20th, 1962 (another TKO victory
in the 4th round).
Next up was his former
trainer and a personal friend of Louis, the long-time
reigning World Light Heavyweight
Champion Archie
Moore.
The fight was heavily
promoted and even Walter
Winchell (a very famous gossip
columnist from New
York) was in town to cover the
fight.
The odds were leaning heavily
towards Clay.
Archie, at the time, was 46
and had held the title for 10 years, until he was stripped of the title by the
various ruling sanctioning groups controlling boxing in those
days.
Archie was knocked down three
times and the fight ended in the 4th round with Clay receiving a
victory by KO.
That was the last time I
would see him until we met up again in Las
Vegas.
After my award winning story
of the Watts
Riot in August 1965, I moved to
Las Vegas with my family to be a featured sports writer and columnist for
the Las Vegas
Sun.
Clay had just won the
Heavy Weight Title from Sonny
Liston...
...and was in town to take on
former champion Floyd
Patterson at
the Las Vegas Convention
Center in November,
1965.
Caesars
Palace was still under construction
at that time, but eventually it would become the arena of choice for 90 percent
of the major fights in the village.
We continued to see each
other through the years. In his later years when we met Ali, he would get that
brief glint in his eyes, as if he remembered me from the
past.
It’s very hard to wrap up a
lifetime of “Hello’s and See ya’s” in one column. but, I
tried.
I can honestly say that I met
a true champion of the people.
Muhammad Ali was so loved by the men, women and children
of the world, and he loved them back.
Ali was honest with his heart
much to his detriment a couple of times, when he could’ve turned his cheek and
walked away (or stepped forward).
But....that was not the young
man I first met in 1962, nor the last time I saw
him at Caesars Palace.
He autographed a famous photo
for me.
We said “goodbye,” and I
walked away from his suite.
He really was "The Greatest" is
so many ways.
Rest
in peace, champ, there will never be another one like
you.
Norm
Johnson
________________________
The Final Toast 
They once were
among the most universally admired and revered men in the United
States.
There
were 80 of them in April
1942, when they carried out one of the most courageous and
heart-stirring military operations in this nation's history.
The mere
mention of their unit's name, in those years, would bring tears to
the eyes of grateful Americans.
Now
only two survive.
After Japan's attack on
Pearl Harbor, with the United
States reeling and wounded, something dramatic was needed to turn the war effort
around.
Even though
there were no friendly airfields close enough to Japan
for the United States to launch a retaliation, a daring plan was
devised.
Sixteen
B-25s were modified so that they could take off from the deck of an aircraft
carrier.
This
had never before been tried...sending such big, heavy bombers from a
carrier.
 
The 16 five-man crews,
under the command of Lt. Col.
James Doolittle, who himself flew the lead plane off
the USS Hornet, knew that they would not be able to return to the
carrier.
They would
have to hit Japan and then hope to make it to China for a safe
landing.
But on the day
of the raid, the Japanese military caught wind of the
plan.
The Raiders
were told that they would have to take off from much farther out in the Pacific
Ocean than they had counted on.
They were told
that because of this they would not have enough fuel to make it to
safety.
And those
men went anyway!
They bombed Tokyo and then flew as
far as they could.
Four planes crash-landed; 11 more
crews bailed out, and three of the Raiders
died.
Eight more were captured; three were
executed.
Another died of
starvation in a Japanese prison
camp.
One crew made it to
Russia.
    
Lt. Colonel
Robert Hite
The Doolittle
Raiders sent a message from the United States to its enemies, and to the rest of
the world:
We will
fight. And, no matter what it
takes, we will
win.
 
Of the 80
Raiders, 62 survived the war. They
were celebrated as national heroes, models of
bravery.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
produced a motion picture based on the raid; "Thirty Seconds Over
Tokyo ," starring Spencer Tracy
and Van Johnson. It was a patriotic and emotional box-office hit, and the phrase
became part of the national
lexicon.
In the
movie-theater previews for the film, MGM proclaimed that it was presenting the
story "with
supreme pride."
This scene from
the movie has been acclaimed as one of the greatest scenes in movie
history.
 
Beginning in 1946, the surviving
Raiders held a reunion each April, to commemorate the
mission.
The reunion was in a different city
each year.
In 1959, the city of Tucson, Arizona,
as a gesture of respect and gratitude, presented
the Doolittle Raiders with a set of 80 silver
goblets.
Each goblet was engraved with the
name of a Raider.
Every year, a
wooden display case bearing all 80 goblets was transported to the reunion city.
Each time a Raider passed away, his goblet was turned upside down in the case at
the next reunion, as his old friends bore solemn
witness.
Also in the wooden case was a bottle
of 1896 Hennessy Very Special
cognac.
The year is not
happenstance:
1896 was when Jimmy Doolittle was
born.
There had always been a
plan:
When there are only two surviving
Raiders, they would open the bottle, at last drink from it, and toast their
comrades who preceded them in
death.
As 2013 began, there were five living
Raiders; then, in February, Tom
Griffin passed away at age
96.
What a man he
was. After bailing out of his plane over a mountainous Chinese forest after the
Tokyo raid, he became ill
with malaria, and almost
died.
When he
recovered, he was sent to Europe to fly more combat
missions.
He was shot
down, captured, and spent 22 months in a German prisoner of war
camp.
The selflessness of these men, the
sheer guts ... There was a passage in the Cincinnati Enquirer obituary for Mr.
Griffin that, on the surface, had nothing to do with the war, but that was
emblematic of the depth of his sense of duty and
devotion:
"When his wife became
ill and needed to go into a nursing home, he visited her every day. He walked
from his house to the nursing home, fed his wife, and at the end of the day
brought home her
clothes.
At night, he washed
and ironed her clothes. Then he walked then up to her room the next morning. He
did that for three years until her death in
2005."
In 2012, the
70th anniversary of the Doolittle Raid, of the original 80, only four Raiders
remained: Dick Cole (Doolittle's co-pilot on the Tokyo raid), Robert Hite, Edward Saylor, and David
Thatcher.
All were in
their 90s at that time. They decided that there are too few of them for the
public reunions to continue.
And in 2012, the event in Fort Walton Beach marked the
end.
It had come
full circle; Florida's nearby Eglin Field was where the Raiders trained in
secrecy for the Tokyo mission.
The town
planned to do all it could to honor the men: a six-day celebration of their
valor, including luncheons, a dinner and a
parade.
Did the men ever wonder if those of
us for whom they helped save the country were worthy of their
sacrifice?
They didn't talk about that, at least
not around other people.
They decided
that after that
final public reunion in 2012, they would wait until a later date during that
year...to get together once more, informally, and in absolute
privacy.
This is when
they opened the bottle of brandy.
The years were
flowing by too swiftly now; they are not going to wait until there are only two
of them. They will fill the four remaining
upturned goblets.
And raise them in
a toast to those who are gone.
70th Anniversary
Photo
It's four years
later...two more have left us....
Edward Saylor died on January 24, 2015 at the age of
94, and Robert
Hite passed away March 29, 2015
at the age of 95.
And then there
were only two...Dick Cole, who will turn age 101 on September 7,
2016, and David Thatcher, who will be 92 on July 31,
2016.
On April 15, 2015
the final two received the Congressional Gold
Medal in Washington on behalf of
the Doolittle Raiders....
...presenting it
to the National Museum of the US Air Force three days later on April 18th...the
73rd anniversary of the raid.
It is on display
at the museum near Dayton, Ohio, joining an exhibit depicting the launch from an
aircraft carrier of the Raiders' daring 1942 attack on
Japan.
Let us all keep
the original oath and raise a goblet to them as a tribute to the heroism of
those brave 80 men, known to history as....
The Doolittle
Raiders
Dick
Arendt
__________________________
Breaker
19....A Look Back at Trucks !
They may look like this
today....but ....
Did
you ever think that riding down a highway and just looking out your window and
seeing those "18
wheelers" pass you by....that they
too...
...have a
history?
And
it goes well past the love America discovered for them in 1975 when just about
all of us bought that "CB radio" and had a "handle".
I
too was guilty.....I was the "Classy Chassis"
!
(OK....I
concede....time has changed that one time appropriate moniker
!)
Remember
this tune?
Believe
it or not, the first "truck" was invented in 1896 by a German automotive pioneer
named Gottlieb
Daimler, a
name I'm sure many of you are
not familiar.
Gottlieb
Daimler
Mr.
Daimler (1834-1900) was a man "before his time" when he
developed a four horsepower engine and a belt drive with two forward speeds and
one reverse.
It
was the first "pick-up" truck.
When
we think of the "horseless carriage", we
often associate it with Henry Ford, but when Ford was first named Chief Engineer
at the Edison Illuminating Company in 1893, Daimler had already been a noted
inventor.
Daimler invented the
first motorcycle in 1885, and is credited for inventing the first
taxi in 1897, four years before Henry
Ford established the Ford Motor Company.
But
this article is about "trucks" and how they seem to
have captivated the imagination of the American public....and entrepreneurs as
the years passed...
....and
I happen to be one of those individuals.
I
think it all started when I first watched an old movie that was made before
I was born, John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of
Wrath".
Watching
"Tom
Joad" drive across the country with his family, looking for a new
beginning during the great depression's "Dust Bowl", somehow began my
fascination with them.
  
That
old truck "matured" , and it began to
take on a new meaning as the years passed...and leave it up to good old American
ingenuity to turn them into what now...patrols our
highways....
...bringing
us needed goods to every city and state.
I
have to admit, I've always been fascinated with strange looking things...and
over time, those "trucks" .....well....run
the gambit from, "What were they thinking", to
"that's pretty
cool."
I
kinda miss that when I see creations like the following motoring optic delights
that have graced our highways and byways over the
years.
They
were so simple, yet told the story of what they were all
about...
And
so....let's take a look at some of the more "creative" usages of
what Gottlieb
Daimler invented in
1896.
  And My favorite....when I actually met the "Captain of this Ship", "Little Oscar" when I was a teenager working at Treasure Island Foods in Chicago  
So...when
you get stuck in traffic behind one of these
babies.....
...or
one that looks like this....
Don't
lose your "cool"...and have some respect for a piece of "Americana" they all
represent.
Think
of Gottieb
Daimler, and this song !
Dick
Arendt
_________________________________
The
Man Who Should Have Been
"The
First"
With
Spring training now behind us, Major League's million dollar players have begun
the 2016 Baseball season...
...and
the smell of the popcorn, hot dogs, and beer brought back those days as a kid
when Baseball meant Spring ... the playground, and the joy of walking to Wrigley
Field in Chicago as often as the profits from my "Kook-Aid" stand would allow me
to go !
It
didn't matter what the temperature was; that the vines in Wrigley Field were
still brown awaiting nature's green birth, and it certainly didn't matter if it
was a school day....
Nope...it
was every kid's National Holiday...it was Opening Day !
I
was just 9 years old in 1956 when "Mosie", my fellow baseball
fanatic friend, and I, decided to "divert" our path from Our Lady of Mt. Carmel
grade school, down Belmont Avenue to Clark Street...turn right and eventually
visit our shrine, Wrigley Field.
Our
Cubs were going to win it all that year!
It
didn't matter that they'd finished 6th out of an 8 team National League Division
in 1955....
We were convinced....Wait
'til next year......was here
!
And
why were we so confident ?
The
Cubs had landed one of the greatest baseball players we'd ever seen....a man who
had led the New York Giants to winning pennants, and was actually on that great
Giants team of 1951 when Bobby Thomson hit "the shot heard 'round the world"
as the Giants won a playoff game against the crosstown Brooklyn
Dodgers.
We
had a guy named Monte Irvin !
 It didn't matter that 1956 would be his last season in major league baseball....because when you're nine years old, players never get old...they're ageless !
The
Cubs finished in last place that year losing 94 games in their 154 game
schedule, but "Mosie" and I got to see a man who would become one of the
greatest "unsung" players of all time...
...and
that's what this bit of history is all about...the man who should have been what
Jackie Robinson eventually became....
"The
First"
History
has a habit of forgetting some of its true heroes, and Monte Irvin certainly was one of those who was
never properly credited with the accolades he always deserved...until
1973.
His
story starts back in the early 1930s in Orange, New Jersey; when, in an attempt
to keep this black kid out of trouble, his parents got him interested in
sports.
A natural athlete in high
school, starring in four sports and even setting the state's record in the
javelin throw, he received a full football scholarship to the University of Michigan, but had to turn it
down...
Monte couldn't afford to
move to Ann Arbor.
Instead,
he chose to enter the world of semi-pro baseball, playing for a local team,
the Orange
Triangles.
There,
Monte caught the eyes of scouts from Lincoln University and after saving the
money from his meager Orange Triangles income, could finally afford attending
college, receiving a second athletic scholarship..for football.
Monte
was a star...had a mind of his own, and had some difficulty with his football
coach, who eventually dropped him from the Lincoln University team...which also
meant the end of his scholarship.
Confused
about his future, he went back to New Jersey and signed with the Newark Eagles of the Negro League in 1938.
 And that...is where the REAL STORY of Monte Irvin begins !
After
two years with the Newark Eagles, hitting .422 and .396 in 1940 and 1941, he left the Eagles for a
short stint in the Mexican League, batting .397, in his first
year, hitting 20 home runs in just 63 games, and
eventually was named the League's Most Valuable Player.
The
World was at war in the early 1940s and Monte served his country from 1943 to
1945, then returned to the Eagles, hitting .401 in a season that ended with the Eagles
defeating the Kansas City Monarchs in the 7th game of the Negro World
Series.
About
that time, a man named Branch
Rickey from the Brooklyn Dodgers
began to see that these men of a different race, were pretty good
ballplayers...that the world of the all-white major leagues was ready for
change.
Branch
Rickey
And
who was the first man Branch Rickey approached to "break
the
color
line?"
Monte
Irvin
...but...as
previously stated....history deals some a bad
break...and Monte Irvin was one of
those victims.
First,
Monte felt that, after being in the army, he needed to get in better
shape...
and...
Second,
Newark Eagles business manager...
Effa
Manley
...demanded compensation
for his release.
That...Mr.
Rickey refused !
Rickey
was known to be a shrewd businessman....
...and
he "covered himself" by also holding secret negotiations with another Negro
baseball player...
...this
time, without having to pay compensation to anyone.
The
name of that "2nd
choice"....
Jackie
Robinson
Monte Irvin was the real
valued commodity...not Robinson !
If it
weren't for $$$$$...history would have changed as a
result.
Years
later, Irvin made this comment:
"... from a purely
business standpoint, Mrs Manley felt that Branch Rickey was obligated to
compensate her for my contract. That position probably delayed my entry into the
major leagues ... Mrs. Manley told Rickey that he had
taken Don
Newcombe for no money, but
she wasn't going to let him take me without some compensation. Furthermore, if
he tried to do it, she would sue and fight him in court ... Rickey contacted
her to say he was no longer
interested ".
Monte Irvin would then
play in the Puerto Rican Winter League in 1945 and 1946, winning MVP honors in
both years; played two additional years there, and spent the winters of 1948 and
1949 in Cuba.
By
then Jackie Robinson had made his 1947 debut with the Brooklyn
Dodgers.
 Jackie was a star...and...well...he was..."The First" black man to break the Major League color barrier on the field....
But...it
didn't take long before the name of Monte Irvin would make a mark in the baseball
world.
The
Giants came calling in 1949 and offered him a $5,000
contract.
Playing a short time in the minor leagues in 1949 and 1950...hitting .510 in just 18 games, Monte Irvin got to "the bigs" in 1950.
He
was not just a great hitter, he was a great influence on those who would follow
him, and it was a man named Leo Durocher, who realized that Monte Irvin was just as valuable off the field, as he
was on it.
In 1951, then Giants Manager Leo
Durocher...
Leo
Durocher
... approached Monte
to keep an eye on a new kid who
had just joined the team...to "big brother him"....'to mentor him"...in the
early years.
Monte
was happy to do so...
...and
that kid's name was Willie
Mays...
Willie
Mays
...who
would eventually become one of the greatest...if not THE greatest, baseball
player I ever had the honor of watching on a baseball
diamond.
Mays
later said of Monte Irvin...
"In my time, when I was coming up, you had to have
some kind of guidance. And Monte was like my brother... I couldn't go anywhere
without him, especially on the road... It was just a treat to be around him. I
didn't understand life in New York until I
met Monte. He knew everything about what was going on and he protected me
dearly."
...and
in typical Monte Irvin fashion, Monte replied...
"I did that for two
years and in the third year he started showing me
around."
Monte remained with
the New York Giants for the next 5 years before being traded to the Chicago Cubs in 1956 at the age of 30....his last full year in
professional baseball.
...and being a
"diehard" Cub fan...that allows us "Windy City" folks to claim him as one of our
own as well...if only for a short time.
After
years of professional baseball, Monte
Irvin would finally "hang up his
spikes" in 1957 following numerous back problems.
But...baseball
soon learned it required the presence of Monte
Irvin.
He
would later become a scout for the New York Mets in 1967 and 1968 until Baseball Commissioner Bowie
Kuhn would name him a Public
Relations Specialist, a position in which he served until
1984.
Monte
Irvin with Bowie
Kuhn
In
1972 Monte Irvin was named to the Mexican Professional
Baseball Hall of Fame.
1973 would bring Monte Irvin the greatest honor bestowed on any American
professional baseball player. He was named to the National Baseball Hall of
Fame.
On
June 26, 2010, the San Francisco Giants retired his
number.
Monte Irvin passed away on January 11, 2016 at the age of 96.
He
may not have been the first black player to set foot on a "white" filled
diamond, but he was...
"THE
FIRST"
BLACK EXECUTIVE IN MAJOR LEAGUE
BASEBALL
Since
1997 on April 15th of each baseball
season...
...all
players of all major league teams proudly display the number 42 on the backs of their
uniforms...
  ...a tribute to Jackie Robinson.
But...perhaps
another day will come when the number 20 will also be displayed on their
backs...
..for
the man who should have been "the first"
!
You
did good, Monte Irvin....all true
baseball fans owe you so much for the contributions you made to the game we call
our "national pastime".
PLAY
BALL !
Dick
Arendt
________________________________
Another Historical Treasure   The Nevada State Museum relocated from Lorenzi Park and opened on the Springs Preserve property in October 2011. The two-level, 70,000-square-foot building is now closer to the Strip (about 15 minutes) and is twice the size of its old location. According to a museum tour guide, visitors to the museum have stayed as short as 15 minutes and as long as nine hours. The museum features a 13,000-square-foot gallery with permanent exhibits, a research library, a gift shop, lecture rooms and a banquet hall, complete with a spacious outdoor balcony overlooking the Springs Preserve and the Strip. It is divided into two sections -- its permanent fixtures and a rotating exhibit, which changes every few months.
The
museum's permanent exhibit takes you through Nevada's geology, fossil and desert
wildlife, as well as mining and railroad
history.
 
One
section of note covers the Great Basin (the desert covering central and Northern
Nevada, and parts of Utah, California, Oregon and Wyoming) from dusk to
dawn.
It
features low level dusk-like lighting and the sounds
of desert animals (as well as specimens) -- like the great horned owl, cougar
and Mojave rattlesnake -- to set the mood.
 It's a whole new level of Vegas nightlife! Another standout is the skeletal replica of Nevada's state fossil, the ichthyosaur.  This reptile swam in the seas of Central Nevada 225 million years ago and measured 48 feet long. Nearby, you can view real fossil bones and take a closer peek at other fossil findings with a magnifying glass -- it's science class all over again.  Speaking of school, for those who loved learning about the Oregon Trail, the museum also offers an interactive travel game by testing your surviving skills in Old Nevada. The game is part of a larger section on Nevada settlers, highlighted by a nearby covered wagon and makeshift campfire. Walk inside a nearby cave and learn about the importance of mining to early settlers -- even see examples of fluorescent minerals. Outside the cave, you can explore the tools and technology of the mining profession and learn how precious metals like silver, gold and copper are formed.  From there you will learn about the boom time of the railway, the formation of the Nevada government and the construction of Hoover Dam. The museum also offers extensive teachings and interactive exhibits on early Native American inhabitants of Nevada.
As
you learn about the state's history in more modern times, you'll see an
interactive Nevada nuclear test site section, World War II history, the "real"
truth about Bugsy Siegel and the Flamingo hotel, a Las Vegas timeline from 1905
to today and much more.
The
museum even showcases items sealed in the home of Las Vegas mogul Howard Hughes
after his death in 1976, like Grape Nuts cereal boxes, a brown sugar package and
other household staples.
Old
slot machines, neon signs, and trinkets like a $25,000 poker chip from the old
Dunes hotel (imploded in 1994) will make you nostalgic for vintage
Vegas.
  At the entrance to the museum you can stand next to a 1911 Desert Love Buggy, considered one of the most popular cars to cruise Fremont Street.  Used mainly for promotional purposes, it made its first appearance in a parade in 1939, with its last one in 1994.
Another
fantastic piece of vintage Vegas is one of the most brilliant displays of
showgirl costumes through the ages.
Lining a large pink sequined wall, the costumes and headpieces are encased behind oval cut-out glass windows. It's rare visitors get to see such elaborate, colorful costumes up close.  On the other half of the exhibit space, the "changing" gallery rotates every three to four months and includes a variety of Nevada art work. If you're a real history buff, the museum includes a research library.   You'll find Northern and Southern Nevada periodicals from 1905 to present day. The research library also includes files of all Nevada births, marriages and deaths from the early 1900s. After you're finished, there's an extensive gift shop with all sorts of fun trinkets, art, jewelry, stuffed animals and more.
The Nevada State Museum is located inside Springs
Preserve.
Monday:
10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Thursday: 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM Friday: 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM Saturday: 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM Sunday: 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
(702)
486-5205
Admission
to the Nevada State Museum is included with paid
admission to the Spring Preserve.
$18.95 for adults, $17.05 for seniors 65 and older, students 18 and
older and $10.95 for children 5-17 years old. Children 5 and younger are
free.
___________________________
Our
Entertainment Editor
Remembers
a Las Vegas Legend
Darwin
Lamb
April 20, 1932 – January 24,
2016
by
Norm
Johnson
A wonderful friend of mine,
and a lot of history, has left this land he loved so much for a special place,
on what I figure is a“Big Ranch in the
Sky.”
Darwin
Lamb, the last of the iconic
family that included Senator Floyd
Lamb, and Sheriff Ralph
Lamb, passed away on January 24th
at his ranch in Cedar City,
Utah.
I first met Darwin (83) in
1967 when I was working for the Mint
Hotel as its public relations
director.
At that time he was a member
of the Clark County
Commission, and I was working on an idea
I had for an off-road race.
I knew he was a cowboy and
that he probably would be the “Go-to-Guy” to help me, should I need
permits for the race, etc.
Oh,
the name of the race?
“The Del Webb Mint 400 Off-Road
Rally.”
After sending off two guys
and a news photographer to race from Las
Vegas to Lake
Tahoe (our sister hotel
the Sahara
Tahoe) in 1967, and getting all
kinds of national publicity for the stunt, I talked to Darwin in the coffee shop
of the hotel one day.
He
loved the idea of making it a real race with a bunch of jeeps and dune buggies
competing.
Everyone
that knows anything about off-road racing knows the rest of that story—it’s one
of the biggest and most important races of its kind in the world to this
day.
The
big thing was he would help push it through, and he wanted to race in
it!
After Bill
Bennett, General Manager of the Mint
Hotel...
...approved
of the idea, I sat up a meeting with Darwin.
The
date of the race was set for April,
1968.
Darwin suggested we go talk
to the owner of the local American
Motors dealership, Herb
Biddulph, where they sold the good
old World War II
Jeep.
Darwin called and sat up a
meeting. After about 30 minutes Lamb had convinced the owner
to LOAN him a new jeep so he could
race in the Mint 400, and to provide some AMC cars as official vehicles
for the race.
Darwin
had a roll-bar built on the Jeep and some other alterations to prepare it for
the race.
I
had a red jeep loaned to me which I used to get around town and to help
publicize the race.
Of
course, Herb had no idea what an off-road race could do to a Jeep, or what
Darwin was doing to it.
The
race was a huge success, and Darwin, who crashed a couple of times, had to
return the jeep to the dealership.
Needless to say it was pretty
much destroyed. But, Darwin was so proud of the fact that he went further
than Indy 500 champion Parnelli
Jones, who destroyed his
Bronco.
I
think it was eventually sold as junk.
Over
the years we would get together for various events, or just to sit down and
enjoy telling stories over a glass of booze at his ranch like restaurant out on
the edge of town.
Clark
Bingham, who at the time was married
to one of the Lamb daughters, and I, had formed an off-road racing
team.
We had
a Class one unlimited race
buggy built to compete in, not
only the Mint 400, but the famous Baja races.
The Lambs had an annual
tradition of rounding up wild Mustang
Horses on a range outside
of Alamo, where the Lamb ranch was
located, and where the Lamb family was raised. It was a working ranch
too.
Clark
convinced Darwin to go to his brothers and ask if we could bring one of our dune
buggies to the round-up.
“We could outrun the horses and
bring them across the valley quicker and deliver the herd to the wranglers on
their horses, and they would finish up the job with fresh horses,” was
how Bingham sold the idea.
Permission
was granted.
But Ralph Lamb remained skeptical of
course.
We
eventually proved to the Sheriff that it was a good
idea.
That
was the plan.
It
worked for a while, but we did end up getting a couple flat tires, then we
crashed in a hidden gully, and by the time nightfall approached Clark and I were
beat.
It
was more work than racing in the Mint 400.
Every
night Ralph would have a truck deliver a catered dinner for the group. We sat
around a campfire and I listened to some of the wildest stories I had ever
heard.
We
did this for a couple of years.
For
a kid from the City to participate in something like a round-up, and to hear
those stories, was a very special treat. And now those stories are gone
forever.
The
last time I talked to Darwin was just after his brother, Ralph, was buried.
We
said we would get together for a dinner soon.
I
was planning on going to Utah next month.
Now
I only have some wonderful memories of a great guy, who lived the life of a
cowboy and did it good!
He
is survived by his beautiful wife, Mavourneen, and children Tommy, Ocey, Marion,
and a number of grand-kids. Farewell old friend.
Have
a great ride.
___________________________
Our
Entertainment Contributor Tells a Story of "Old
Vegas"
 From Norm Johnson
In 1967 I was a sports
columnist for the Las Vegas
Sun, and a story I wrote about Moe
Dalitz and
his PGA golf tournament at
the Desert Inn
Hotel, had gotten me
blackballed from his two Strip Hotels and the
tournament.
But, Hank Greenspun stood up for my story when
Dalitz, who supposedly knew a few guys back east who sometimes hurt people,
called him to complain.
I was offered the job by
Greenspun personally in late 1965, after three years as an award winning sports
writer in Los
Angeles.
When I walked into his office to accept the job, he said to me: “Just make sure every story you write is honest and substantiated by at least two sources.”
In March 1967, those words
became very important for me.
I had written a story dealing with one of the most powerful hotel owners in Las Vegas: Moe Dalitz, who owned not only the Desert Inn, but the Stardust Hotel, and the world famous Tournament of Champions PGA golf tournament. 
Moe
Dalitz
The Desert Inn, and its lush
golf course lined by expensive homes, had been the site of
the Damon Runyon $100,000
Tournament of Champions for 14
years.
It
was a benefit for the Damon Runyon Cancer Foundation, and was limited to members
of the Professional Golf Association (PGA) who had won a tournament during the
prior season leading up to the April tournament.
The defending champion
for the 15th tournament
was Arnold
Palmer.
It
had also been carried on national TV for a number of years, and was locally
televised each year.
That
was, I had learned, going to be a different story in
1967.
“T of C Golf TV Blackout
Here,” was the headline on the front
page of the sports section on Saturday, March 18,
1967.
My source, who was very
close to the owner, stated that, “Moe, himself, personally told the
big-wigs at ABC-TV in New
York, during contract negotiations in
1966, that he was losing money by allowing the local telecast and wanted it
blacked out.”
It
became a big story.
Here’s
what happened:
I began by calling a contact
at our local ABC station, KSHO-TV, who had telecast it the
year previously. A station spokesman told me that on Friday, March 10, they
were informed by New York that the station would not be permitted to carry the
tournament in April.
“We
had fully expected to carry it again this year.” The spokesman added that they
were trying to contact someone at the Desert Inn to see if they could get them
to change their minds, “But once those guys had set their mind on something,
it’s pretty hard to get them to change. Besides, who do you talk to over
there?”
Tuesday
afternoon, March 14, I made a call to a big-wig friend of mine at ABC-TV in New
York. He verified that it was Dalitz who had actually made the statement credited
to him.
“He said he was tired
of losing money and wanted it blacked out. We would love to feed it to the
station, but until someone at the hotel tells us different, we’ll have to
blackout the Las Vegas area.”
Saturday
afternoon, after the story broke in the morning Sun, Hank received a call from
the Desert Inn.
The person on the other
end of the phone was screaming at Greenspun.
My desk was just outside Hanks office.
Suddenly Ruthe
Deskin, who had the title of
Assistant to the Publisher, was waving at me, and pointing for me to get into
Hank’s office.
Hank
Greenspun
Greenspun
was holding the phone away from his ear as I walked in, and signaled for me to
sit down.
“Well listen Moe, I have Johnson in the office right now and are you telling me that the story he wrote was not truthful?”
The
phone went quiet for what felt like an hour to me but probably was a couple of
seconds.
“Well, no, but why did he have to
write about it in the first place?” he
screamed.
I
remember Hank looking at me and sorta hunching his shoulder and
smiling.
“Because the people of our city need to know Moe, that’s why!”
“Well, that guy
is blackballed from covering the tournament, and
I’m telling security that he’s not even allowed to set foot on any of my
properties,” he yelled at
Greenspun.
Hank
finally responded when Moe stopped screaming to catch a breath of air, “Well, Moe, if you
really feel that way, the Sun will not cover your damn tournament at all. Now
that’s my final answer. You can take it or change your mind about
Johnson!”
Another
long pause and he soon replied in a more calmer, but still loud voice, “Well, alright, he can
cover the damn tournament, but he can’t come into the hotel. He’ll have to enter
the golf course from the outside gate.”
Greenspun
looked at me, smiled and replied, “Alright. The Sun and the sports
department will cover the tournament and Johnson will not go inside the
hotel.”
In a subsequent page one
story, it was learned that Howard
Hughes was in the process of
purchasing the Desert Inn, and I believe he didn’t want the tournament played on
his golf course.
It
was announced that the tournament would move to the Stardust Hotel and its
smaller par 70 golf course, located on Desert Inn Road about two miles from the
Strip.
That
meant that all future records would forever carry an asterisk, just like
baseball had to do after they added more games to the
schedule.
On
Tuesday, March 21, I again took on the powers-to-be at the Desert Inn in my
column, with approval from the boss of course.
I
had gotten hold of the actual attendance records from 1966, which turned out to
be 39,036 paid admissions.
With an admission
price averaging six-bucks, I figured the total take was about $234,216 in cold hard cash, plus
income from the booze, food, and hotel rooms.
That didn’t even touch
the gambling side.
I
also noted that over the 14 previous years the fund had received only a small
portion of the total revenue taken in by the
tournament.
The
figure I was told by my source amounted to about
$500,000.
Mr. Dalitz didn’t like
that column either, which was no surprise to me or
Hank.
Once
again guess who called the boss?
Greenspun again stood up to
Dalitz.
The one good thing, however, was
that this time I didn’t have to sit and listen to him yelling at my
boss.
As
promised, I never stepped into either of the hotels until I was eventually
informed by an executive at the Stardust that it was
alright.
And...that does not even
begin to tell the story about the famous “Lottery like $$$$$
pool,” where certain invited
guests, etc., would gather inside a room at the D.I. the night before the
tournament was to start, and bid a lot of money on the various champions who
they thought would win the tournament.
I remember that
singer Frankie
Laine won the “pool,” that
year.
I believe Laine won the darn tournament three years in a
row.
The
publicity picture that went out across the world was of huge mountain of silver
dollars being wheeled into the casino by two showgirls, escorted by a hotel
executive and a couple of security guards, in a silver painted
wheelbarrow.
In
those days silver dollars were the coin used in slot machines, for tips, and
anything else under five dollars. I personally liked the fifty-cent coin for a
tip.
Remember,
I worked for Hank Greenspun!
I loved the guy!
Wow!
This was just one story from the great ol’ days of Las
Vegas.
-----------------
Read more about Moe
Dalitz
Read
more about Hank Greenspun
_____________________________
You've decided to buy a
home here because you enjoy the lights of Las Vegas, the daily sunshine, the
entertainment, and in all likelihood, the gaming enjoyed previously as a
tourist.
..so much
so....
...that
you've decided to make it the perfect retirement
atmosphere.
But...
Did ya
know...
How Henderson got its
Name?
This
town many of us now call "home" is currently the 2nd largest populated city in
the state of Nevada. In 2013, the estimated population exceeded 270,800..and it
continues to grow on a daily basis.
And
best of all, it has been named as one of the safest cities in the United
States.
In 2011 Forbes magazine rated Henderson as the
second safest city in the country; and in 2014, according to the "FBI
Uniform Crime Report", was named as one of the top 10 "Safest Cities in the
United States".
But
those who have resided in the Las Vegas valley for years often smile when the
subject of "Henderson" comes up in conversation, using these words from an old
TV commercial to explain its growth..
"You've come a long
way, baby"
The
year was 1941 and our nation was preparing for war; and
included in that preparation was the need for materials to preserve its
strength.
Airplane engines,
their frames, as well as incendiary munitions, had to be built...and one key
ingredient in doing so...was...magnesium.
Why
magnesium?
...because magnesium strengthens aluminum.
...and
a project completed a few years prior to 1941...Hoover Dam, was the perfect
place to build a plant to provide it.
Why
that location?
...because
the power of the dam could be used to separate the metal from its ore by electrolysis.
A
man named Fred D. Gibson, an engineer, was sent to England to learn the
secret of creating "the miracle metal"
(aluminum).
Fred
D. Gibson was the grandfather of subsequent three term Mayor of Henderson, James Gibson (1997 to 2009).
And...on September 15, 1941, a ground
breaking ceremony took place establishing the " Basic Magnesium
Incorporated" company...
Basic
Magnesium Incorporated Ground Breaking
... with
13,000 SEGREGATED workers...residing in a small "tent city" near the
plant.
Tent
City
Between its construction through the conclusion of the war, "Basic Magnesium Incorporated" produced more than 166 million tons of magnesium for the war effort.
At
one time the crew of the "Enola Gay", the plane which
was subsequently designated to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, visited the
plant.
Enola
Gay Crew at Basic Magnesium plant
(the sign says "from Basic Magnesium to Berlin")
When
World War II concluded in August, 1945, the need for a "war effort" no longer
existed, and with the production of magnesium no longer necessary, the majority
of the 13,000 original employees moved from the area, leaving the "tent city" in
a state of decline.
The
school district was reduced by two-thirds, and over half of the homes in the
town site became vacant.
In 1947 the US Asset Management
Administration even offered this unofficially named community called "Henderson" for
sale as WAR SURPLUS
PROPERTY.
The
small town seemed doomed until the Nevada legislature sent a delegation to
evaluate the possibility of the state's purchasing "Basic Magnesium
Incorporated" and within days of the visit...
...the
Nevada legislature UNANIMOUSLY voted to approve a bill giving the Colorado River
Commission of Nevada the authority to purchase the industrial
plants.
It
was on March 27, 1946 that then Governor Vail
Pittman...
Nevada
Governor Vail M. Pittman
(1945-1951)
...signed
the bill, saving Henderson from being sold as war
surplus.
The
town of "Henderson" was officially incorporated on April 16, 1953, and on May 23, 1953, it elected its
first mayor, Dr. James
French.
James
French
First
Mayor of Henderson, Nevada
(1953-1957)
Its
population at that time was 7,410 and its boundaries included a mere 13 square
miles...compared to today's 94 square miles.
and...the
small town was finally officially named
"Henderson"
in
honor of....
Senator
Charles B. Henderson
(1918-1921)
Charles
B. Henderson moved to Nevada
with his parents in 1876 and attended public schools in Elko,
receiving his law degree from the University of Michigan in 1895.
He
served as a First Lieutenant in Teddy Roosevelt's "Rough Riders" during the
Spanish-American War.
Returning
to Elko, he was the district attorney of Elko County from 1901 to 1905 when he
was elected and served in the Nevada assembly from 1905 to
1907.
In
1907 he was appointed a regent of the University of Nevada, and served in that
position until 1917.
Mr.
Henderson was appointed to the US Senate on January 12, 1918 to fill the vacancy
of Senator Francis Newlands, who had died in office, and was elected in his own
rite that same year, serving until 1921, when he was defeated for
reelection.
He
remained active in political activities, serving as a member of the board of
directors of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which in elected him as
Chairman in 1941, resigning in 1947.
He
then entered the private sector as the president and director of the Elko
Telephone & Telegraph Company and also served as a a director for the
Western Pacific Railroad.
He
died on November 8, 1954 at the age of 81.
But...the
City of Henderson's record historic growth was the result of a
tragedy...
...a
tragedy known as the PEPCON explosion.
In
1988 the "Pacific
Engineering & Production Company of Nevada" (PEPCON), a rocket fuel factory...suddenly
caught fire...
...and
the resulting explosion spewed rocket fuel, smoke, and toxic fumes
over Henderson, sending shockwaves throughout the city as well as parts of the
Las Vegas valley...
PEPCON
Explosion
(May
4, 1988)
...even
causing minor earthquakes, some of which were recorded over 3.0 on the Richter
Scale.
Two
people were killed and 372 additional people were
injured.
The
result of this tragedy...is the evolution of how we see Henderson today....from
a city built on industrial development to commercial
development.
And
now you know, not just the name of the individual for whom our hometown is
named, but the important contribution it made in the annals of US
history.
Dick
Arendt
______________________________
Those
Who Left Us
October
thru December
2015
October
Kevin
Corcoran
October 6th...Age
66
(American
Actor....best known in Walt Disney productions "Spin & Marty", "Old Yeller".
"Polyanna", "Swiss Family Robinson"...and as "Moochie" the
Mousketeer)
Billy
Joe Royal
October
6th...Age 73
(American
Singer...best known for his hit" Down in the
Boondocks")
Dean
Chance
October
11th...Age 74
(Major
League pitcher for 11 years....winner of the Cy Young Award in 1964...pitched a
No-hitter in 1967)
Joan
Leslie
October
12th...Age 90
(American
Actress with roles in such films as "HIgh Sierra", "Sargeant York", but best
known as in the role as "Mary", the wife of George M. Cohan, in "Yankee Doodle
Dandy")
Marianne Dickerson
October 14th...Age
54
(American
Silver Medalist long distance runner in the 1983 World Marathon Championship in
Helsinki, Finland)
Cory
Wells
October 20th...Age
74
(Co-founder
and continuing member of the American rock group
"Three
Dog Night")
Marty
Ingels
October
21st...Age 79
(American
actor...best known for his TV series "I'm Dickens, He's Fenster" and his many
cartoon voice overs ...married to actress Shirley Jones for 38 years before his
death)
Maureen
O'Hara
August
24th...Age 95
(American
actress best known for her roles in Christmas favorite "Miracle on 34th Street",
"The Long Gray Line", and "The Quiet Man")
Al
Molinaro
October
30th...Age 96
(American
Actor...best known as "Al Delvecchio" on the TV series "Happy Days" and as
"Murray the Cop" on the TV series "The Odd Couple"....recommended an unknown
comic named "Robin Williams" to play the part of an alien named "Mork from
Ork")
November
Fred
Thompson
November
1st...Age 73
(A
man who had "done it all"...American actor who starred in the TV series "Law
& Order"...U.S. Senator from Tennessee from 1994 to
2003)
Melissa Mathison
November
4th...Age 65
(First
wife of Harrison Ford...best known for writing the screenplays for "The Black
Stallion" and "ET: The Extra-Terrestrial"...coined the phrase "ET Phone
Home")
Charlie
Dick
November
8th...Age 81
(husband
of the late Country & Pop singer, Patsy Cline ...1963....whose life and
death was dramatized in the film "Sweet Dreams")
Nick
Bockwinkel
November
14th...Age 80
(former
American Wrestling Association Champion...best known for ending Verne Gagne's 7
year reign at champ at the age of 40 in 1980)
December
George
T. "Joe" Sakato
December
2nd...Age 94
(Congressional Medal
of Honor....Private George T. Sakato distinguished himself by extraordinary
heroism in action on 29 October 1944, on hill 617 in the vicinity of
Biffontaine, France. After his platoon had virtually destroyed two enemy defense
lines, during which he personally killed five enemy soldiers and captured four,
his unit was pinned down by heavy enemy fire. Disregarding the enemy fire,
Private Sakato made a one-man rush that encouraged his platoon to charge and
destroy the enemy strong point. While his platoon was reorganizing, he proved to
be the inspiration of his squad in halting a counter-attack on the left flank
during which his squad leader was killed. Taking charge of the squad, he
continued his relentless tactics, using an enemy rifle and P-38
pistol to stop an
organized enemy attack. During this entire action, he killed 12 and wounded two,
personally captured four and assisted his platoon in taking 34 prisoners.
By continuously ignoring enemy fire,
and by his gallant courage and fighting spirit, he turned impending defeat into
victory and helped his platoon complete its mission. Private Sakato's
extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest
traditions of military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and
the United States Army.)
 December 4th...Age 85 (American actor....nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 1985 in the film "Jagged Edge....but probably best known for playing "Mr. MacMillan, Tom Hanks boss in "Big" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF7-rz9nIn4  December 7th...Age 90 (American actor....best known for playing "Dr. Rudy Wells" on the TV shows "Six MIllion Dollar Man" and "The Bionic Woman") https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPSNUx885zg  December 8th...Age 91 (Country & Western singer of the 1950s and was a rockabilly pioneer singer) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_mZ2fLXnCc 
Patricia
Elliott
December 20th...Age
77(American Actress....best known as "Renee Buchannan" on the ABC Soap Opera, "One Life to Live"...winner of Tony Award for her portrayal of "Countess Charlotte Malcom" in the Sondheim musical "A Little Night Music) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGWCYFHqMh4  December 20th...Age 81 (American actress...best known as "Peg Nagy" in the 2013 Oscar nominated film "Nebraska) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V2MYSQ4h_4  December 27th...Age 83) (Perhaps the most beloved and comedica Harlem Globetrotter who ever played on that team) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avhuivS03Iw  December 30th..Age 85
(Chicago
Bears "#81"...elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1982 and the College
Football Hall of Fame in 1985...member of the NFL 1960s All Decade Team..member
of the NFL 1954 Cleveland Browns and 1963 Chicago Bears NFL championship
teams)
Wayne
Rogers
December
31st...Age 82
("Trapper
John" on the TV series "Mash" and subsequently a financial contributor on FOX
Business Network)
Natalie
Cole
December
31st...Age 65
(American
singer....Grammy Award winner...daughter of the late Nat King
Cole)
_________________________________
Those
Who Left Us
July
thru September
2015
July
Ralph
Lamb
July
3rd...Age 88
(Sheriff
of Clark County, Nevada from 1961-1978...made famous by the TV Show
"Vegas")
Diana
Douglas
July
3rd...Age 92
(American
actress...first wife of Kirk Douglas and mother of Michael Douglas....best known
for her roles in TV's "Days of Our Lives" and movie, ""Planes Trains &
Automobiles")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC
Amanda
Peterson
July
5th...Age 43
(American actress
best known for her film performance with a young Patrick Dempsey in 1987's
"Can't Buy Me Love")
Jerry
Weintraub
July
6th...Age 77
(American
talent agent, concert promoter, film producer and former Chairman and CEO of
United Artists)
Ken
Stabler
July
8th...Age 69
("The
Snake"...Quarterback of the 1977 Oakland Raiders Super Bowl
Champions)
Michael Masser
July
9th...Age 74
(American
songwriter...wrote "Saving All My Love for You" and "The Greatest Love of All"
for Whitney Houston, "Touch Me in the Morning" and "It's My Turn" for Diana
Ross, "If Ever You're in My Arms Again" for Peabo Brice, and "A Long and Lasting
Love" for Crystal Gayle)
Omar
Sharif
July
10th...Age 83
(Egyptian
actor...most notable for his starring role in "Dr. Zhivago" and as Nicky
Arnstein in "Funny GIrl")
Roger
Rees
July
10th...Age 71
(Welsh-American
actor best known for his role as Robin Colcord in the TV series "Cheers" and The
Sheriff of Rottingham in "Robin Hood: Men in
Tights")
Alex
Rocco
July
18th...Age 79
(American
Actor...best known for his roles as "Moe Greene" in "The Godfather" and in the
TV show "Facts of Life")
George
Coe
July
18th...Age 86
(American
Actor....seen in numerous films..."Kramer vs Kramer"...and countless television
shows...an original member of "Saturday Night
Live")
Theodore
Bikel
July
20th...Age 91
(Austrian-American
Actor who is best known for playing he role of "Tevye" in "Fiddler on the
Roof"...winning 9 Toni Awards in over 2,000 performances....also nominated for
an Academy Award in 1958 for Best Supporting Actor in the film "The Defiant
Ones")
Lynn
Anderson
July
30th...Age 67
(American
Country singer best known for her hit "I Never Promised You a Rose
Garden")
Rowdy
Roddy Piper
July
31st...Age 61
(Canadian
Professional Wrestler....WWE, NWA, and WCW Hall of
Fame)
Billy
Pierce
July
31st...Age 88
(beloved
Chicago White Sox pitcher, member of the 1959 "Go Go White Sox", winners of the
American League pennant...number #19 retired by the Chicago White
Sox)
Cilla
Black
August
1st...Age 72
(British
Pop Singer of the 60s...best known for her hit "You're My World"
)
Louise
Suggs
August
7th...Age 91
(American
Golfer...winning 58 professional tournaments including 11 majors....one of the
founders of the LPGA in 1950...inducted into the LPGA World Tour Hall of Fame in
1967 and World Golf Hall of Fame in 1979_
Frank
Gifford
August
9th...Age 84
(NFL
Hall of Fame inducted in 1977...old #16...Broadcaster during the early days of
NFL Monday Night Football....married to Kathie Lee Gifford for almost 29
years)
Julian
Bond
August
15th...Age 75
(American
Civil Rights Leader and former president of the
NCCAP)
Yvonne
Craig
August
17th...Age 78
(American
actress best known as the original Batgirl on the TV series "Batman"...also
co-starred with Elvis Presley in "It Happened at the World's Fair" and "KIssin'
Cousins")
Bud Yorkin
August
18th...Age 89
(With
Norman Lear, he produced successful 70s television shows "All in the Family",
"Maude", "Good Times" and "Sanford & Son"....also produced "What's
Happening" after he split with Lear...in 2002 was elected to the Television Hall
of Fame)
Melody
Patterson
August
20th...Age 66
("Wrangler
Jane" on the TV show "F Troop")
Wes
Craven
August
30th...Age 76
(Film
producer...mostly known for his horror films "A Nightmare on Elm
Street"...introducing a character named Freddy Kruger to the world of horror
movies)
September
Dean
Jones
September
1st...Age 84
(starred
in many Disney films..."The Love Bug"..."That Darn Cat"..."The Ugly
Dachshund"...and the title role in the 1962 sitcom "Ensign
O'Toole")
Judy
Carne
September
3rd...Age 76
(Best
remembered for her starring role in Rowan and Martin's Tevisvision Show
"Laugh-In" in the late 1960s....the "Sock it to Me" girl...first wife of Burt
Reynolds)
Jean
Darling
September
4th...Age 93
(Silent
screen era actress one of the few remaining members of the "Our Gang"
comedies)
Martin Milner
September
6th...Age 83
(American
actor...best remembered for his roles in a number of television series that
included "Route 66" and "Adam 12")
Dickie
Moore
September
7th...Age 89
(One
of the last members of the "Our Gang" and "Little Rascals" comedy
series...starred in over 100 films in later life that included "Sergeant York",
the original 1933 adaptation of "Oliver Twist"...married to actress Jane Powell
at the time of his death)
Merv
Adelson
September
8th...Age 85
(TV
Mogul whose firm, Lorimar Productions, was of the most successful companies in
television history....his most successful TV shows included "Dallas", "The
Waltons", "Perfect Strangers", and "Eight is Enough"...third husband of Barbara
Walters)
Joaquin
Andujar
September
8th...Age 62
(Major
League pitcher most known for his role as a star pitcher for the St. Louis
Cardinals in the 1982 World Series....named to 4 All-Star teams...the top "Wins"
winner of the National League in 1984)
John
Connell
September
10th...Age 91
(American
actor best known for starring in the TV Soap Opera "Young Dr.
Malone")
Moses
Malone
September
13th...Age 60
(Originally
undrafted he played 21 years in professional basketball for a number of
teams....made 12 consecutive appearances in NBA All-Star games...member of the
1983 NBA Champion Philadelphia Sixers...elected to the National Basketball Hall
of Fame in 2001)
Jack
Larson
September
20th...Age 87
(American
Actor...best known as "Jimmy Olsen" on the original TV series "The Adventures of
Superman")
Yogi Berra
September
22nd...Age 90
(Played
his entire 19 years of professional baseball with the New York Yankees...named
to the American League All-Star Team 15 times....3 time American League Most
Valuable Player....catcher in the only World Series Perfect Game pitched by Don
Larsen in 1956...Manager of the Yankees and Mets...elected to the Baseball Hall
of Fame in 1972...will be forever remembered for his "Yogisms"...most notably It
Ain't Over Til it's Over")
Catherine
Coulson
September
28th...Age 71
(American
film actress...best known for being "The Log Lady" on the TV series "Twin
Peaks")
Frankie
Ford
September
28th...Age 76
(Early
50s Rock n Roll recording artist best known for
his
song "Sea Cruise")
_____________________________
Those
Who Left Us
April
thru June
2015
April
Cynthia
Lennon
April
1st...Age 75
(Former
wife of John Lennon and mother of Julian Lennon)
Sarah
Brady
April
3rd...Age 73
(Gun
Control activist and passionate supporter of The Brady Law signed into law by
President Clinton in 1993..wife of James Brady, press secretary to President
Reagan and shot during assassination attempt in 1981)
Julie
Wilson
April
5th...Age 90
(Cabaret
singer best known for her appearances at the St. Regis Hotel in
Manhattan)
Richard
Dysart
April
5th...Age 86
(American
actor..."Leland" on TV show "LA Law")
Ray
Charles
April
6th...Age 96)
(American
musician, songwriter and singer...organizer of the "Ray Charles Singers"...best
known for his singing the theme song to the TV show, "Three's Company" with
singer Julia Rinker Miller)
James
Best
April
6th...Age 88
(Ameican
actor...best known as the bumbling Sheriff Roscoe Coltrane on the TV show "Dukes
of Hazzard")
Percy
Sledge
April
14th...Age 74
(American
Singer....best known for his 1966 hit "When A Man Loves A Woman"...the first
gold record released by Atlantic Records)
Francis
Cardinal George
April
17th...Age 78)
(Archbishop
of Chicago 1997- 2014 and President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops
2007-2010)
Mary
Doyle Keefe
April
21st...Age 92
(American
model who posed for Norman Rockwell's
"Rosie
the Riveter" during World War II)
Wally
Lester
April
21st....Age 73
(Singer
and member of "The Skyliners" a 1950s group best remembered for the song "Since
I Don't Have You")
Sawyer
Sweeten
April
23rd...Age 19
(Suicide....best
known as one of the twin boys on the TV show "Everybody Loves
Raymond")
Jayne
Meadows
April
26th...Age 95
(American
actress...wife of the late Steve Allen...sister of of the late Audrey Meadows of
"Honeymooners" TV show)
Suzanne
Crouch
April
27th...Age 52
(American
actress best known as "Tracy Partridge"of the "Partridge Family" TV
show)
Verne
Gagne
April
27th...Age 89
(16
time World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion...holds the record for the longest
combined reign as a world champion...one of only 6 men to be elected by the WWE,
WCW, and Professional Halls of Fame)
Gene
Fullmer
April
27th...Age 83)
(American
Boxer known as "The Cyclone" becoming the World Middleweight Boxing Champion on
January 2, 1957 defeating Suger Ray Robinson)
Calvin
Peete
April
29th...Age 71
(American Golfer....lead
the PGA in driving accuracy for 10 straight years from 1981-1990....inducted
into the African American Ethics Sports Hall of Fame in
2002)
Dan
Walker
April
29th....Age 92
(Governor
of Illinois from 1973 to 1977....first beating the "machine candidate" in the
Democartic primary and then defeating the incumbent Republican Governor by
walking the entire state of Illinois walking 1,197 mies....the 2nd of 4 Illinois
Governors to be convicted of federal crimes, serving 18 months in
prison)
Jean
Nidetch
April
29th...Age 91
(Founder
of Weight Watchers in 1963)
Ben
E. King
April
30th...Age 76
(American
singer...once a member of "The Drifters" before embarking on a solo career in
1960...best known for his hits "Stand By Me" and "Spanish
Harlem")
May
Grace Lee
Whitney
May 1st...Age 85 (American actress and singer best known for the role of "Janice Rand" on the original "StarTrek" television series) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVcug6X0OgY  May 6th...Age 92 (Former US Speaker of the House from 1987-89, resigning due to ethics violations scandal ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3eOKWRllIY  May 8th...Age 83 (Second wife of Tonight Show Host, Johnny Carson...divorced after supposed affair with football star, Frank Gifford)  May 9th...Age 94 (American Actress best known for her role as Dustin Hoffman's mother, Mrs. Braddock in "The Graduate" and Roz in the movie, "9 to 5" ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em_VA19Holc 
B.B.
King
May 14th...Age 89(Born Riley B. King, he bacame one of the greatest guitarists of all time with his guitar named "Lucille"...elected to the "Blues Hall of Fame" (1980) and the "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame" (1987)....recipient of the "Presidential Medal of Freedom" (2006) by President George H. Bush) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXsusJ787sU 
John
Stephenson
May 15th...Age
91(American Actor....roles on numerous TV series which included "Perry Mason", "The Beverly Hillbillies", "Bonanza"....most recently noted for voice overs...most famous role as "Mr. Slate" on "The Flinstones") https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlVnSCGH7xs  May 15th...Age 70 (Kicker on the undefeated 1972 NFL Miami Dolphins...one of the best in the NFL...but sadly will be remembered in the 1973 Super Bowl in one of the biggest bloopers in NFL history) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9enWbbLIHrk  May 23rd...Age 86 (American Mathematician....killed with his wife on the New Jersey turmpike in a taxi cab accident....winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1994...the man on whose life and struggle with schizophrenia was based in the academy award winning movie "A Beautiful Mind") https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trn1aO8h9Uo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=188X5xOa2Mg  May 23rd...Age 86 (American actress...wife of actor/comedian Jerry Stiller for 61 years....mother of actor/comedian Ben Stiller...numerous TV roles) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMc9StTwbRw  May 29th...Age 89
(One the greatest
American tennis Champions...won 3 Wimbleton Titles in the same day and ranked #1
in the world in 1951)
Betsy
Palmer
May 29th...Age
88
(American actress...best
known for her being on "I've Got a Secret" panel
1958-1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdFp2ydGQxg
June
Vincent
Bugliosi
June
6th...Age 80
(Prosecuting
Attorney at the Charles Manson...Tate-Labianca murders in August,
1969...co-author of the book "Helter Skelter")
Christopher
Lee
June
7th...Age 93
(British
Actor....best known for his roles in "Dracula" and "Saruman" in the "The Lord of
the Rings")
Ron
Moody
June
11th...Age 91)
(British
Actor....best known for the role of "Fagan" in the movie "Oliver" in which he
won a Golden Globe Award in 1968 for Best Actor in a
musical/comedy)
Monica
Lewis
June
12th...Age 93
(American
Singer....best known as the voice of "Chiquita Banana"....and song "Put the
Blame on Mame")
Blaze
Starr
June
15th...Age 83
(Notable
American stripper who was involved with Governor Earl Long of
Louisiana....subject of the movie "Blaze" in 1989 starring Paul Neuman as
Governor Long)
Kirk
Kerkorian
June
15th...Age 98
(Called
the "father of the mega-resort"....one of the most important figures in shaping
the history of Las Vegas in building The International Hotel (now the Westgate),
the MGM Grand Hotel (now Bally's), and the MGM Grand)
Jeralean
Talley
June
16th...Age 116
(the
world's oldest living person on the date of her death)
James
Horner
June
22nd...Age 61
(composer
who wrote the scores of the 2 top grossing movies of all time "Titanic" and
"Avatar"...killed in a plane crash while in his private
plane)
Dick
Van Patten
June
23rd...Age 86
(American
motion picture and television actor....best known as patriarch "Tom Bradford" on
the TV series "Eight is Enough")
Patrick
Macnee
June
25th...Age 93)
(English
American actor best known for his role as "John Steed" in the TV show "The
Avengers" which aired
1961-1969)
Jack
Carter
June
28th...Age 93
(American
comedian...the first host of "The Cavalcade of Stars" television
show...recommending that Jackie Gleason replace him...appeared on numerous
Friar's Club roasts)
__________________________
Those Who Left Us
January thru
March
2015
 January 
Donna
Douglas
January
1st...Age 82
(Elly
May on The Beverly Hillbillies)
Mario
Cuomo
January
1st...Age 82
(Former
3 Term Governor of New York)
Little
Jimmy Dickens
January
2nd...Age 94
(American
Country & Western Singer...achieving success in 1949 with hit song,
"Hillbilly Fever" and most notably in 1965 with his #1 hit, "May the Bird of
Paradise Fly Up Your Nose")
Edward
M. Brooke
January
3rd...Age 95
(First
Post Reconstruction Black Elected to the US
Senate...Republican...Massachusetts)
Stuart
Scott
January
4th...Age 49
(ESPN
anchor...most notably on Sport Center Show)
Rod
Taylor
January
7th....Age 84
(Actor..."The
Birds" and "The Time Machine)
Anita Ekberg
January
11th...Age 83
(Actress..."The
Dolce Vita")
Layne Tom,
Jr.
January
14th...Age 87
(Pictured
far right....#1 Son of Charlie Chan in Charlie Chan
movies)
Ernie
Banks
January
23rd...Age 83
("Mr.
Cub"...Chicago Cubs Hall of Famer)
Joe
Franklin
January
24th...Age 88
(TV
Radio Personality and early pioneer of the TV Talk
Show)
Rod McKuen
January
29th...Age 81
(Poet/Songwriter...Nominated
for Oscar in 1969 for hit song "Jean)
Geraldine McEwan
January
30th...Age 82
(Actress...Best
known for her playing "Miss Marble"in the late
2000s)
Taylor
Negron
January
30th...Age 57
(American
actor whose face you've seen a thousand times...but never knew his name....most
notable role as the delivery boy in "Fast Times at Ridgemont
High")
Lizabeth
Scott
January
31st...Age 92
(American
Actress..."The Strange Love of Martha Ivers")
February
Mary
Healy
February 3rd...Age
96
(American Actress...Wife
of Peter Lind Hayes)
Billy
Casper
February 7th...Age
83
(American Pro
Golfer....Winner of US Open in 1959 and 1966 and Masters in
1970)
Jerry
Tarkanian
February 11th...Age
84
( "Tark the Shark"...UNLV
Basketball Coach 1989-90 NCAA "Runnin' Rebels"
Camps...)
Bob
Simon
February 11th...Age
73
(CBS News
Correspondent...."60 Minutes"...killed in a car
accident)
Gary
Owens
February 12th...Age
80
(American DJ & Voice
Actor....Best known for being the announcer on Rowan & Martin's
"Laugh-In")
Louis
Jourdan
February 14th...Age
93
(French Actor...best
known for his role in "Gigi")
Lesley
Gore
February 16th...Age
68
(Pop Singer of the early
'60s)
Leonard Nimoy
February 27th...Age
83
(American Actor...."Dr.
Spock on "Star Treck")
March
Minnie
Minoso
March 1st...Age
90
(one of the most beloved
members of the Chicago White Sox....playing in 5 decades...1949 to 1980...career
lifetime batting average of .298...but as of now...still not in the Baseball
Hall of Fame)
Eugene
Patton
March 9th...Age
82
("Gene Gene..The Dancing
Machine"---regular on "The Gong Show")
Windell
Middlebrooks
(March 9th...Age
36)
(Star of Miller Life
commercials as the ranting delivery man)
Al
Rosen
(March 13th...Age
91)
(Major League baseball
player with the Cleveland Indians for 10 years and eventual top front office
executive for the New York Yankee, Houston Astros, and San Francisco
Giants...the only baseball player to win both the Most Valuable Player Award and
Top Executive Award)
Jim
Doherty
(March 14th...Age
74)
(Hall of Fame Harness
Racing Trainer and Driver winning in excess of
$3,000,000)
Chuck
Bednarik
(March 21st...Age
89)
(one of the most
devastating tacklers in NFL history...known primarily for "The Hit" against
fellow NFL Hall of Famer Frank Gifford)
Nick
Peters
(March 23rd...Age
75)
(Baseball writer known as
"The Greek" who covered the San Francisco Giants for 47 years...never missing a
Giants opening day from 1958-2008...writing 5 books about the Giants...the
Giants interview room is named in his honor)
Oleg
Bryzhak
(March 24th..,.Age
54)
(German Opera star...on
board ill-fated Germanwings Airlines Flight 9525 in French
Alps)
Maria
Radner
(March 24th...Age
34)
(Internationally known
German Opera Star...on board ill-fated Germanwings Airlines Flight 9525 in
French Alps)
____________________________
.
|
Danny Thomas.
Dad always carried me on his shoulders when I was little.
From Dave Nall...of...Wilmington, North Carolina...to...Anthem Opinions
Wonderful job of research, Dick!
Always an appropriate piece!
The Cosby Show, even though in real life he is a sleaze bag!