15 January marks the debut of the television series, ‘HAPPY DAYS’ in 1974, which would remain on the air for 10 years. The program centered on the life and love of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, high school …
Arts
Many Languages, One Message
22 December marks the date on which author Nikolai Ostrovsky died in 1936. At 10 years old he began his working life, laboring in a railroad station and at a timber yard. Later he …
Sabor! Sabor!
It was on this date, 23 November, in 1964 that Cal Tjader completed the recording of his most successful album, ‘Soul Sauce’. Its title track, a Dizzy Gillespie cover Tjader had been toying with for …
Verboten?
It was on 20 September, 1932, that the German film, ‘Madchen in Uniform’ opened in American theaters. The film was directed by Leontine Sagan, a Jewish theater director, and depicted romantic feelings in an all …
Lonesome Traveler
5 September, marks the date that the book, ‘On the Road’ was published in 1957. The book was the result of numerous cross country travels by Kerouac, who kept notebooks in which he recorded the …
One Day This War is Going to End
It was on 15 August, in 1979, that the film ‘Apocalypse Now’ made its debut to the American movie-going public. The film, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, focuses on an Army Captain, played by Martin …
Drip…Drip…Drip
On 8 August, 1949, an article appeared in LIFE magazine titled, “Jackson Pollock. Is he the greatest living painter in the United States?” thrusting the artist to stardom. Pollock was born in Cody, Wyoming, in …
Fear and Loathing in Louisville
18 July marks the birthday of Hunter S. Thompson in 1937. Thompson would be known as a pioneer in what was termed, ‘gonzo journalism’, which in part was typified by colorful anecdotes, often involving the …
Satchmo
6 July marks that day that Louis Armstrong died in 1971. Armstrong was born into a poor family in New Orleans, Louisiana. His grandfather had been a slave. At age 11, Armstrong dropped out of …
In the Shadow of the Bomb
It was on 19 June, 1953, that Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (images of whom are seen above in a memorial in Havana) were executed for espionage. Ethel and Julius were both born into Jewish immigrant …