“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome,
and dangerous, leading to the most amazing view.
May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.”
Edward Abbey
Shine On
Category Archives: November
Honoring Our Veterans
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget
that the highest appreciation is not to utter words,
but to live by them.”
John F. Kennedy
Today, November 11th is Veterans Day. It was originally set as a U.S. legal holiday to honor Armistice Day – the end of World War I, which officially took place on November 11, 1918.
President Woodrow Wilson honored the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations.”
In 1954, Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, struck out the word “Armistice” and inserted the word “Veterans.” With the approval of this legislation on June 1, 1954, November 11 became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.
Veterans Day may be officially celebrated once a year to thank our American veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good. But, I like to believe that we should celebrate daily in honoring our veterans.
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And Loving It
“It was a special show that became a cult classic.”
Don Adams
Barbara Feldon tied up with Don Adams
Would you believe… Get Smart has turned 50?
This year marks the 50th Anniversary of this Emmy-winning show created by comedy legends Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, starring Don Adams as Maxwell Smart.
Get Smart was an instant hit, thanks to the writing and delivering of some of the most famous quotes in TV history.
Catch phrases like, “sorry about that, Chief”, “the old (such-and-such) trick”, “And … loving it”, “I asked you not to tell me that”, “missed it by that much,” and “would you believe” became pop culture staples in the 1960s and are still used commonly today.
The show was inspired by the success of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. series. Talent Associates commissioned Mel Brooks and Buck Henry to write a script about a bungling James Bond-like hero. Brooks described the premise for the show they created in an October 1965 Time magazine article:
- “I was sick of looking at all those nice sensible situation comedies. They were such distortions of life. If a maid ever took over my house like Hazel, I’d set her hair on fire. I wanted to do a crazy, unreal comic-strip kind of thing about something besides a family. No one had ever done a show about an idiot before. I decided to be the first.”
In my opinion, one of the best comedies to come out of the 60s was Get Smart. I’m lucky to have access to MeTV Network that shows Get Smart episodes each week. And, I still find myself laughing out loud at the humor from Get Smart, and loving it.
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Beatle Memorabilia
“Music is everybody’s possession. It’s only
publishers who think that people own it.”
John Lennon
John Lennon with his 1962 Gibson guitar.
Back in 1964 when The Beatles first were introduced to American’s by their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, I can remember my father’s comment:
“These guys won’t last a week. No one will remember them or their music.”
My father couldn’t have misspoken more about any one event. In fact, The Beatles appearance that night was so historic and unforgettable, most people still remember exactly where they were that night.
So when I heard that this weekend a guitar once owned by John Lennon sold for $2.41 million, it didn’t surprise me.
Lennon’s 1962 Gibson guitar was used on many of the Beatles’ early hits like Love Me Do, I Want to Hold Your Hand and She Loves You. It went missing in the UK in the early 60s and somehow found its way to San Diego.
In true Lennon style, half of the proceeds from the sale of the guitar will go toward the Spirit Foundation, a charitable organization that he and his widow, Yoko Ono, created.
It’s comforting to know that even after Lennon’s tragic death the passion and love continues for Beatle memorabilia.
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A First Novel
“I had every detail clear in my mind about Gone With The Wind
before I sat down to the typewriter.”
Margaret Mitchell
She only had one book published while she was alive, but that work alone won her the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
She was born Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell on November 8, 1900 in Atlanta, Georgia and she wrote the bestselling novel, Gone with the Wind.
As most of us know, the novel was adapted into the iconic 1939 film starring Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara and Clark Gable as Rhett Butler.
Margaret Mitchell was an Atlanta housewife, a former newspaper woman, when she showed a suitcase full of manuscript to a talent scout for the Macmillan Company in 1935. The 1,037 page manuscript of the South made her an international writer.
The fame which came with her book brought her an estimated $1,000,000 in book royalties, movie payments and other allied returns in less than four years, but disrupted her way of living. She said one day, in a fit of exasperation as she left for a mountain hideaway from the throngs which besieged her by telephone, telegraph and in person, that she had determined never to write another word as long as she lived.
When asked about her ambitions at the height of the fame of Gone With the Wind she said that she hoped to put on weight, become “fat and amiable,” grow old gracefully.
Unfortunately, Mitchell would not grow old. At just 49 years of age, she was struck by a speeding automobile in Atlanta with her husband, John Marsh, while on her way to see the movie A Canterbury Tale on the evening of August 11, 1949. She died at Grady Hospital five days later without fully regaining consciousness.
In 1996, eighty years after it was written her romance novella, Lost Laysen, was published and became a New York Times Best Seller. The book was discovered after her boyfriend Henry Love Angel died in 1945 and years later his family came across some letters she had written to Henry. She wrote the book when she was just fifteen years old but it would become her second only book to be published.
Like most prolific writers, critics greeted Gone With The Wind not all in praise, although much of it was lavish. But, Miss Mitchell wrote a book which cannot be denied was the most phenomenal best seller ever written by an unknown author of a first novel.
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Chronicles of a Blogaholic 