A Fall From Grace

After spending his youth traveling with vaudeville troupes and singing in California clubs, Roscoe Arbuckle became one of Mack Sennett’s Keystone Kops and a fabled Hollywood career began.  The rotund Arbuckle was surprisingly agile and adept at physical comedy despite his large size.  Sennett wisely paired him with the popular comedienne Mabel Normand.  Together, they took America by storm.  By the time Arbuckle left Sennett for Paramount Studios three years later, everyone’s favorite funny man was earning a weekly salary of $5,000.00 (almost $107,000 today).  Arbuckle soon became one of Hollywood’s biggest box office draws.  Then the unthinkable happened.   The public’s most loved film comedian, Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle fell from grace.

In 1921, Arbuckle signed a new contract with Paramount that would earn him $1,000,000 annually.  To celebrate his good fortune, he traveled to San Francisco’s posh St. Francis Hotel for a Labor Day weekend of partying.  Actress Virginia Rappe was just one of his many guests, but when she turned up dead, Arbuckle was vilified as a sadistic rapist and murderer—despite the fact that she died in a hospital one week later, days after Arbuckle returned to L.A.    

Suddenly, Arbuckle embodied everything that was wrong with Hollywood.  The press and the public condemned him.  Religious organizations and moralists demanded that the district attorney charge Arbuckle with murder.  They opted for manslaughter.  Arbuckle’s films were withdrawn from theaters across the nation and he became the first major movie star to be blacklisted.

His first two trials ended in hung juries requiring a third go-round.  When the third jury adjourned it took them five whole minutes to reach a unanimous decision of acquittal.  Most of that time was spent writing an apology to the defendant.  It read in part:      

“Acquittal is not enough for Roscoe Arbuckle.  We feel that a great injustice has been done him.  We feel also that that it was only our plain duty to give him this exoneration under the evidence for there not the slightest proof adduced to connect him in any way with the commission of a crime….The happening at the hotel was an unfortunate affair for which Arbuckle, so the evidence shows, was in no way responsible….Roscoe Arbuckle is entirely innocent and free from all blame.”

 

 

Arbuckle was now a free man, but life as he knew it was over.  His legal fees bankrupted him.  Former fans believed he was only freed due to a lack of evidence and his position in Hollywood.  Arbuckle remained a pariah for the rest of his years.  He died in his sleep on June 29, 1933—the cause of death sited as heart trouble, but those who knew him well believed his heart was simply broken. 

       

The Lonely One

As I sit here in my Midwest dwelling watching the snow pile up outside, I can’t help but think of one of my favorite vacation spots—Hawaii! 

Separated from the rest of us by the vast Pacific, the 50^th United State stands alone—literally.  But just what makes Hawaii so different?  It’s not the magnificent mountains or the tranquil trade winds or the tropical atmosphere.  Nah.  None of those.  It’s the Royalty.  Yes, that’s right—kings and queens.  Hawaii is the only state that was once ruled by a royal family starting with King Kamehameha the Great!

Born in 1758 on the Big Island, the infant king was originally named Paiea, meaning ‘Hard-Shelled Crab’.  He was the son of Keoua, a high chief, and Kekuiapoiwa, the daughter of King Alapai.  Legend tells us that he was born right after an appearance of Halley’s Comet.  This prompted the kahunas, or high priests, to predict that this child would grow to be the slayer of chiefs and sole ruler over the islands.  As a result, Alapai ordered the death of all male infants, but his grandson was secretly whisked away by the priests and quietly raised by a childless couple until he came of age.  Separated from his family, Paiea took the name Kamehameha, meaning, ‘The Lonely One’.

Eventually, Kamehameha came under the guidance of his uncle, Kalaniopu’u, who was Chief of the Big Island.  After his uncle’s death, he became second in command next to Kalaniopu’u’s son and heir, Kiwaloa.  When Kiwaloa was killed in a dispute, Kamehameha became King, but he didn’t stop there.  He continued attacking and conquering each of the islands one by one.  He even invaded Maui with cannons.  The battle that followed in Iao Valley is considered one of the bloodiest.  Fatalities were so high that the nearby waters were dammed up with bodies

By 1795, Kamehameha was the undisputed king of all the Hawaiian Islands except Kauai.  Determined to take over this last island, he launched war canoes from Oahu, but rough seas forced him back.  Later, he planned a raid from the Big Island, but ended up in Maui by mistake.  On his final attempt to take over, an unexpected outbreak of what was probably typhoid fever or cholera swept through his ranks killing many of his followers.  He then tried a new tactic—he offered his protection to the island and Kauai’s chief accepted.  Upon the chief’s death, several years later, Kauai finally became part of Kamehameha’s kingdom.

As king, Kamehameha had ultimate power, but to help him rule, he appointed a governor to each island.  He outlawed the common practice of human sacrifice and ensured that the local chiefs did not abuse the Hawaiian people.  It is said that King Kamehameha was a commanding figure—almost seven feet tall.  He reigned for 24 years until his death in 1819 at the age of 70.  Deeply mourned by his people, his remains were hidden in a secret cave somewhere on the Big Island.  The exact location is unknown and Hawaiian folklore says that the servants who buried him were killed to ensure the burial site would never be revealed. 

Each year on June 11^th, the state of Hawaii officially remembers by celebrating King Kamehameha Day.  A true warrior, he was not afraid to fight for what he believed in.  A wise and gentle ruler, he united the islands and for the first time brought peace and a sense of well-being to the Hawaiian people.

Got Soap?

Soap operas may be on the decline today, but they have been around for years.  So what is the fascination?  Well, where else can we find brothers shooting long lost brothers they never knew they had, or sisters sleeping with the same schizophrenic man?  Only in the soaps do long dead folks return from the grave with amnesia after having plastic surgery.  Let’s not forget multiple personalities who share the same body, hating each other the whole time.  Or how about multiple people who share the same identity?  It all happens in the soaps.

Let’s take ‘Artie’ for example.  He died.  We all saw him fall off of a cliff after being shot in the stomach, but no body was ever found.  A few years later, a handsome stranger comes to town.  He calls himself ‘Jack’.  Jack has amnesia and can’t remember anything before his arrival.  After months of memory-struggling and hypnosis, he finally remembers that he is really Artie and a plastic surgeon has altered his entire body—even his height!

Artie remarries his wife who had long given him up for dead and becomes a model father to their children.  Another few years pass and the original Artie returns.  Now we have two and must wait in agonizing suspense for the DNA results.  The tests eventually reveal that the old Artie is the real Artie who had been held prisoner for the last seven years in a deserted monastery turned spy control center for the bad guys.

The new Artie is devastated and goes back to being Jack.  Once again, he has amnesia since he wasn’t really Artie like he thought.  Several more years pass and after much adventure and searching, Jack discovers he is really Freddie whom everyone thought died as a boy.  In reality, however, we learn that his mother faked his death and secretly sent him away.  Why, you ask?  Because that is how life goes in the soaps.

Soap characters have been married, divorced, shipwrecked, shot, short-changed, near death, stranded in the desert, lost in the jungle, held prisoner , wrongfully tried and imprisoned for murder, married again and divorced again.  Soap citizens also catch all kinds of maladies:  hysterical blindness, hysterical deafness, hysterical paralysis, all in one afternoon.

Every soap has a hero; he always carries a gun.  He’s tough.  We root for him as he takes care of all the bad guys and hope he gets the girl.  We feel sorry for him when he has to arrest his own mother for murder—except she’s not really his mother, but a woman who kidnapped him as a child and raised him as her own.  His real mother is a wealthy woman who decided to have a sex change is now our hero’s partner.

The heroine is everything to everybody.  She works around-the-clock, is active in community service and is always involved with at least one man.  How does she find time to do it all?  She doesn’t sleep!  She’s never dozed off once in the last decade or two!

The villain is another soap staple.  Rich and powerful, handsome and always impeccably dressed, he never looks scuzzy, but will use his own recently discovered children to get what he wants.  He owns all the big businesses in the area and donates large sums of money to local charities so people will admire him, but we know better.

Then there are the children.  Children of the soaps grow faster than the speed of light.  My son and a soap baby were born within a few weeks of each other.  While my boy prepared to enter high school, the soap baby already had two failed marriages, fathered several children from different women and was shot nine times in the head only to survive after lying in a coma for months.

Even though interest is dwindling in these daily episodic adventures, there are still loyal fans out there who grow emotional when their favorite characters are in jeopardy.  After all, we see those familiar faces in our living rooms every day.

 

 

Big Stars and Baby Boomer Ads

Stars and celebrities have endorsed products for years. In the late 1920s, movie star Louise Brooks modeled for Maybelline, and--a few years later--so did Paulette Goddard and Joan Crawford, Al Jolson, Gary Cooper, Claudette Colbert and many other stars--in fact, two-thirds of Hollywood's top fifty stars--hawked cigarettes in print and on the radio before World War II.

Heck, Bette Davis showed off her General Electric appliances in 1933 in a three-minute long commercial that you can watch on YouTube.  That's her--very blonde--on the right.
But it was television that created the celebrity endorsements Boomers remember.

Like Dinah Shore singing "See the USA in your Chevrolet." (You can watch a full 90-second commercial from 1952 on YouTube.)
In fact, Dinah was so closely associated with Chevrolet that when her 15-minute TV show expanded to an hour in 1956 and stayed that way for seven years, it was called The Dinah Shore Chevy Show.
Those old commercials may look and sound a bit cheesy now, but in the mid-1950s they were state-of-the-art. The jingles and slogans stand out in our memories . . . and they worked! With or without celebrities, when products appeared on television--any products, from PlayDoh to convertibles--sales took off into the stratosphere.
Of course, fifty or sixty years later, the glimpses of very young or very old stars makes the vintage ads all the more interesting. Vaudeville comedians, glamorous sex symbols, sitcom stars back before "sitcom" was a word, and serious actors all took a turn selling shampoo, cars, food, and more on TV.
Back then, the host of a TV show didn't always cut to a commercial--they often held up the sponsor's product and told viewers how great it was. Or, like Jack Benny and Arthur Godfrey, they'd work a mention of the sponsor into their opening monologue or sign-off.
Here are links to some nearly-forgotten classic commercials;

• Lucy and Desi lit up their Philip Morris cigarettes at the end of their show, right in their TV living room. "The finest king-sized cigarette in America today: smooth, mild, and mellow, and easy on your throat."
• Lucy and Desi also filmed a 1957 Ford Skyline commercial for their I Love Lucy sponsor.
• Roy Rogers shilled for Jello, "the swellest dessert in the world." He even invited the viewers into his house to see all the neighborhood kids making Jello for him and Dale Evans. You can see that ad--which ends in a sing along with Roy, Dale, and the kids--by scrolling to "Jello" at the Internet Archive. 

• At the same site, you can watch Buster Keaton in a beer commercial (scroll to "Keaton"); Chico and Harpo Marx yuck it up for Prom Home Perms ("Prom"); or the Three Stooges clown for Simoniz ("Stoogies")
• Eddie Fisher's TV show, Coke Time with Eddie Fisher, left no doubt who his sponsor was. Fisher enjoyed a glass of Coke while rhapsodizing about how good it tasted. And by today's standards, it was a very small glass. In this 1954 complete show at the Internet Archive, Eddie's add comes about 10 minutes in, and he seems to be at Sardi's.
• Marilyn Monroe--yes, Marilyn!--and Jack Paar did an ad for Coca Cola too. 
• A 24-year-old Angie Dickinson sings while sitting in a Christmas sleigh for a Halo Shampoo Commercial.
• Mattel hired a young, pre-Brady Bunch Maureen McCormick for their 1964 Chatty Cathy ad. McCormick also filmed a Twist 'n' Turn Barbie commercial (pictured below). WHen Chatty Cathy was rereleased six years later, guess who got to be Chatty's voice, recording all the new phrases the doll would say? Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.
  

Remember when Art Linkletter's picture appeared on the money that came with your Life game? Now that was a unique gimmick! Linkletter advertised the game on his two shows (People Are Funny and House Party) on two different networks (NBC and CBS, respectively), so his name and picture went on the game's $100,000 bills. And he got some real cash as well.

We might share more in another post someday but first, here's a word from our sponsor:

Vickey Kall, who blogs over at Boomer Book of Christmas and other spots, loves writing about bygone days and pop culture. Her latest book,The Boomer Book of Christmas Memories , tells the hidden histories behind Baby Boomer traditions like aluminum trees, Green Bean Casseroles, the TV specials and songs of the 50s and 60s, and of course, all those wonderful toys--including Life games and Chatty Cathys.
The Boomer Book of Christmas Memories is available as both a print or eBook--both in full color.

Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Halloween

Once again, it’s that time for ghastly ghosts, ghoulish goblins and glowing jack-o-lanterns so I have put together a list of important stuff everyone should know before they go trick-or-treating:

• Halloween's origins date back 2,000 years ago to the ancient Celts who celebrated their new year on November 1st.  They believed that on the last night of the old year (October 31st), the dead returned to wreak havoc on earth.
• The first jack o'lanterns were carved out of turnips in Ireland.  It was Americans who decided that pumpkins worked better.
• During the eighth century, the Catholic Church designated November 1st All Saints Day and declare the night before All Hallow's Eve. 
• Trick-or-treating had its beginnings in ninth-century Europe.  Back then, it was called Souling.  People trudged from place to place begging for soul cakes (square pieces of bread made with currants.  The more soul cakes they collected, the more prayers they promised to say.
• The name jack o'lantern came from an Irish tale about a mean drunk named, (what else?) Stingy Jack who tricked the devil into climbing a tree. Jack then carved a cross on the tree trunk effectively trapping the devil out on a limb.  When Jack died, neither God nor the devil wanted him, so he was forced to roam the earth carrying a burning ember inside a hollowed out turnip to light his way.
• To protect your home from evil spirits on Halloween, walk around your house three times backwards in a counterclockwise direction before sunset--after all you can never be too sure.
• If you happen to see a spider on Halloween, pay close attention.  It could be the spirit of a loved one who is watching you.
• If the spirit is no one you know, you may scare the spider away by ringing a bell.
• All the single ladies, if you wish to see an image of your future mate in the mirror, wait until Halloween and then carefully peel an apple in front of it.  If the peel remains unbroken, your intended will appear in the mirror.  Sorry guys--it only works for girls.
• In ancient times, people disguised themselves after dark on Halloween to confuse the evil spirits.  Nowadays, they just confuse each other.

 So now that you know the important stuff--go out and have a.....

The Black Maria (pronounced ‘muh-ri-uh’)

On the grounds of his Menlo Park laboratory, inventor Thomas Alva Edison and his right-hand man, William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, designed America’s first motion picture studio.  While many believed that Dickson was really the brains behind the operation, Edison was still the boss after all and demanded his due credit.  They called their creation the Revolving Photograph Theater, or more formally, The Kinetograph Theater, when it opened in early 1893.  With a total cost of $637.67, the odd-looking building would not have won any architectural prize for beauty.  Wrapped in black tar paper on the outside, the austere structure’s interior was also painted black to ensure that filming resulted in the sharpest of images.  It was no wonder that Edison’s employees began calling the unwelcoming place ‘The Black Maria’—a contemporary term that referred to another inhospitable spot—a police paddy wagon.  

Lacking indoor lighting, sunlight was a crucial element in those early days of filmmaking so the studio’s hinged roof opened via a series of ropes, pulleys and weights.  The building itself even sat on heavy rollers allowing it to rotate and follow the sun’s movement throughout the day.  

All of the action occurred on a single stage and was captured by a Kinetograph (early camera) that rested on a nearby table. The table was mounted on tracks allowing limited camera movement.  Films were approximately 50 feet in length and ran for about one-half minute.  With Dickson acting as producer and often directing as well as manning the Kinetograph, subject matters included anything or anyone that might entice a spectator to take another look when visiting their favorite nickelodeon or peep show.  

Sports were highly favored.  Even boxing champion James J. Corbett took on his challenger Peter Courtney inside The Black Maria.  Corbett knocked Courtney out cold right in front of the camera on September 7, 1894.  Agile gymnasts, flexible wrestlers and quick-footed fencers also performed at the studio.  Even strongman Eugene Sandow, often referred to as ‘The Modern Hercules’ and the ‘Father of Modern Bodybuilding’, flexed his considerable muscles on film.  

Animals mimicking humans were another crowd pleaser.  Dancing bears, boxing cats and drum-beating elephants almost always brought spectators back for another peep.  Celebrated names also graced the laboratory grounds.  Wild West stars Buffalo Bill Cody and Annie Oakley both took aim and demonstrated their sharp-shooting skills complete with smoking guns.  And those that couldn’t shoot straight simply whirled their guns.  Rifle twirler Hadji Cheriff who was better known as Sheik Hadji Tahar, left the live stage long enough to perform part of his high-speed act at Edison’s studio. Exotic dancer Little Egypt, with her titillating hips, shimmied her way around the camera.  Even Ena Bertoldi, a female contortionist, happily twisted her limbs inside The Black Maria. 

Despite the wide assortment of subjects, it was a simple sneeze and an ordinary kiss that many spectators liked to see again and again.  When it was originally filmed, Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze (1894), the footage was only supposed to illustrate an article appearing in Harper’s Weekly.  The moving picture featured the mustachioed Fred Ott, Edison’s chief mechanic, as he inhaled a pinch of snuff, which resulted in a substantial sneeze.  As viewers experienced a good laugh, Edison had the film officially copyrighted.  

While Fred Ott caused giggles, stage actors Mae Irwin and John C. Rice set off some moral outrage—but that didn’t hamper ticket sales.  Re-enacting a scene from their hit play The Widow Jones, the pair engaged in what seemed a tender conversation resulting in a kiss that lasted a scandalous 15 seconds.  The film, so brazenly called The Kiss (1896), was condemned for such a lewd display.  Many declared it unfit for any decent citizen to view.  Some even thought the police should be summoned.  Of course, the negative buzz didn’t stop the paying patrons who just couldn’t help themselves despite, or perhaps because of, the ballyhoo.  

Eight years and hundreds of films later, America’s first movie studio had served its purpose.  Edison shut the place down opting for a modern filming facility in New York.  In 1903, he demolished the building, but the fledgling industry he launched there was about to soar.

 

 

Ch'a Ching!

According to Chinese legend, tea drinking began over 5,000 years ago.  It is believed that Emperor Shen Nung sampled the very first cup in 2737 B.C.  It seems that the Emperor thought water should always be boiled before drinking.  Supposedly during one of his travels, he and his posse stopped to rest.  As a faithful servant boiled water underneath a tree, several leaves fell into the pot.  The water turned a dark rich color and so intrigued the Emperor that he tasted it.  With royal backing, tea became a popular drink throughout China.

Credited as refreshing AND healing, the dark colored brew was known as ch’a and in 780 A.D. Chinese author and Buddhist monk, Lu Yu penned a three-volume masterpiece all about it.  Titled Ch’a Ching, Yu’s words became the definitive source on all things tea.  Proud of their fellow monk, other Buddhist holy men took their tea to Japan.  The Japanese, however, didn’t develop a taste for the drink until 1191 A.D. when Zenn Buddhist leader Yeisai brought seeds from a tea plant to Japan.  He too wrote a book about tea.  A shrewd salesman as well as a writer, Yeisai even ‘cured’ an ailing Shogun with his tea and then presented the Japanese leader with a copy of his book.  With a royal seal of approval, the book and the brew became instant hits.

It took a while longer for the Oriental drink to reach Europe.  The Portuguese first opened a trade route to the Far East and transported tea back to Lisbon where it was distributed by Dutch ships to the Baltic countries, as well as France and the Netherlands.  As more tea was imported, the price lowered and tea went from being an elite drink to a common brew enjoyed by all.  The Dutch even brought tea to their recently established colony, New Amsterdam—now New York.  Unwittingly, the colonists set the stage for a revolution, but it wasn’t until tea reached England that all the trouble began.

Believe it or not, England was the last to sip tea.  It wasn’t until after 1650 that tea was served at coffee houses throughout Great Britain along with coffee and chocolate.  King Charles II imposed a tea tax in 1660 and several years later, the crown outlawed the imported drink, but at the same time gave Britain’s East India company their very own tea monopoly.  By 1720, tea became a staple in the New World, but the tax issue embittered many of the settlers.  As taxes increased, the outraged colonists refused to drink English tea.  The whole debacle resulted in The Boston Tea Party when rebels dumped a shipload of tea into Boston Harbor, which eventually led to the American Revolution. 

Throughout the nineteenth century, tea remained a popular drink around the world.  In 1904, however, tea plantation owner Richard Blechynden gave the brew another twist.  That summer, he planned to pass out samples of his tea at the St. Louis World’s Fair, but the warm summer weather left him with few takers.  Desperate to drum up business, Blechynden cooled his tea with ice.  To everyone’s amazement, it was just as tasty cold.

Four years later, New York tea merchant Thomas Sullivan bagged tea leaves for the very first time.  The pre-measured sacks assured a good cup of tea with little effort.  The teabag soon became a staple in almost every home.  So the next time you sip some tea, you now know that you have something in common with both royalty and revolutionaries.