Capitol Hill Blue Forums Hot Topics & Breaking News The RoundTable Round Table For Wednesday, June 27th, 2007

“Hey kids ... what time is it? It’s Howdy Doody time!” The year was 1947 and the peanut gallery surrounded Buffalo Bob Smith, Phineus T. Bluster, Indian Princess Summer-Fall-Winter-Spring, Judy, Flubadub and a clown who didn’t talk named, Clarabell. The clown could make noise with a horn, like Harpo Marx, and could spray seltzer water. But that was it. Clarabell was Bob Keeshan in disguise, a man who was born on this day in 1927.

Two years later, Clarabell got restless. He wanted to talk. So, despite what Buffalo Bob and an NBC players contract said, Clarabell was determined to talk -- even silently. As relations between the clown and the star of the show (Buffalo Bob, not Howdy) got even more tense, Clarabell mouthed the words “Bye Kids” at the close of a Howdy Doody show and was fired on the spot.

Clarabell was out of a job until getting the big payback in 1955. Clarabell -- now back to being Bob Keeshan -- signed on with CBS for the only network children’s show to be broadcast on a daily basis. That show, Captain Kangaroo, became an integral part of American culture for two decades. Keeshan introduced us to Grandfather Clock, Mr. Green Jeans, Bunny Rabbit, Mr. Moose and many other characters who taught kids a lesson. The phrase, “And be sure to say ‘please’ ... and ‘thank you’!” was just one of many. Captain Kangaroo became the model for truly excellent children’s television which led the way to Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, Sesame Street and others.

Bob Keeshan died on January 23, 2004.





Today In History~

1787 - Edward Gibbon completed The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.







1884 - Lawrence Corcoran pitched his third no-hit baseball game, leading Chicago to a 6-0 win over Providence. Corcoran set a baseball record for no-hitters for the feat.

1885 - Chichester Bell and Charles S. Tainter applied for a patent for the gramophone. The patent was granted on May 4, 1886.







1949 - Captain Video and His Video Rangers premiered on the Dumont Television Network. Captain Video was initially played by Richard Coogan. The voice of radio’s Green Hornet, Al Hodge, replaced Coogan in 1951. Don Hastings played the roll of the ranger until the series ended in 1955. Maybe, if you check the basement or the attic, you’ll find your Captain Video decoder ring. Now’s the time to use it, kids!

1955 - The first Wide Wide World was broadcast on NBC-TV. Dave Garroway, of the Today show, was the program host.







1958 - After nearly three years on NBC-TV, Matinee Theatre was seen for the final time. And a good thing, too. Critics called the show one of the most successful failures in theatrical history.

1959 - West Side Story, with music by Leonard Bernstein, closed after 732 performances on Broadway. The show remains one of the brightest highlights in the history of the Great White Way.







1962 - Two albums of melancholy music by Jackie Gleason received gold record honors. Music, Martinis and Memories and Music for Lovers Only got the gold. Both were issued by Capitol Records in Hollywood.

1963 - Brenda Lee inked a new recording contract with Decca Records. She was guaranteed one million dollars over the following 20 years.







1964 - Ernest Borgnine and Ethel Merman were married. It did not turn out to be one of Hollywood’s most enduring marriages. The couple broke up 38 days later.

1969 - New York City police, attempting to serve a search warrant, charged into the well-known gay hangout, the Stonewall Inn. Events quickly got out of hand. Police ejected customers, managers, bouncers. Everyone got booted outside onto the sidewalk. The crowd became increasingly unruly and someone threw a bottle at the police. The plain-clothes police team was trapped inside the bar for over two hours before the the NYPD Tactical Patrol Force arrived and drove the mob from in front of the Stonewall. Police arrested and jailed many of the chanting gays. For the next few nights, the Stonewall Inn became the focal point of gay protests. The gay community began to organize and form committees to bring about change. Many feel that the Gay Liberation Movement had its beginnings with the Stonewall Inn Riots. (See 1999 below.)







1970 - The Jackson 5: Marlon, Tito, Jackie, Randy and Michael, jumped to number one on the music charts with The Love You Save. The song stayed at the top of the charts for two weeks. It was the third of four number one hits in a row for the group. The other three were I Want You Back, ABC and I’ll Be There. In 15 years (from 1969 to 1984), The Jackson 5/Jacksons had 23 hits, scored two platinum singles (Enjoy Yourself and Shake Your Body [Down to the Ground]) and one gold record (State of Shock).

1971 - Promoter Bill Graham closed the Fillmore East in New York City. It was a spin-off of San Francisco’s legendary rock ’n’ roll palace, Fillmore West (closed several days later). The Allman Brothers and J. Geils Band were among those performing on the final night. The New York City landmark and its San Francisco sister hosted just about every major rock group of the 1960s.







1972 - Bobby Hull signed a 10-year hockey contract for $2,500,000, as he became a player and coach of the Winnipeg Jets of the World Hockey Association.

1975 - Sonny and Cher (Bono) called it quits as husband and wife. They were divorced soon after their CBS-TV variety show was canceled. Sonny went on to become mayor of Palm Springs and then a U.S. Congressman from California. (He was killed Jan. 5, 1998 in a skiing accident.) Cher married rocker Gregg Alman just days after saying “bye-bye” to Sonny. She continued her recording career and became an Academy Award-winning actress.







1980 - The the National Anthem Act, making O Canada Canada's national anthem, was unanimously accepted by the House of Commons and the Senate. Royal assent was also given this day. O Canada, written by Calixa Lavallee and Adolphe-Basile Routhier, was officially proclaimed Canada's national anthem on July 1, 1980.

1981 - Hi Infidelity, by REO Speedwagon, was replaced at number one by the LP, Mistaken Identity, by singer Kim Carnes. Hi Infidelity had been number one on the album charts for 14 weeks.







1984 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that individual colleges could make their own TV package deals. The National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) contracts with ABC, CBS and Turner Broadcasting were said to violate federal anti-trust laws.

1984 - The Federal Communications Commission moved to deregulate U.S. commercial TV by lifting most programming requirements and ending day-part restrictions on advertising.


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1987 - After spending a decade with NBC News, Linda Ellerbee gave her last, “And so it goes.” NBC had tried to encourage Ellerbee to take a 40 percent cut in pay. And so she went. She wrote a most interesting book on her broadcasting career titled And So It Goes.

1988 - Mike Tyson quickly retained his undisputed world heavyweight title by knocking out Michael Spinks in the first round. Fight fans at Atlantic City Convention Hall had paid big bucks (up to $1,500) to see this one. The match, touted in advance as “Once and for All” was all over in 91 seconds. No report on how many people blinked at the wrong time.



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1992 - Michael Jackson kicked off the Dangerous Tour in Munich, Germany. 70,000 fans saw Jackson, with a helmet on and a fake rocket pack on his back, appear to fly off stage (or, maybe he really did). The tour would continue through November 11 stopping in some 42 cities.

1999 - Juli Inkster won the LPGA Championship in Wilmington, Delaware. She was the second woman to win the modern Grand Slam in the LPGA. Of the eight players who have won the four major championships of their era, no one took as long as Inkster: 16 seasons from the time she won the Dinah Shore as a rookie [1984] to her victory in the LPGA Championship as a 39-year-old mother.

1999 - Sporting leather thongs, feather boas and political banners, gays and lesbians took to streets around the world in festive pride parades. The 29th annual Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Parade and Celebration took place in San Francisco, New York, Berlin, Manila and many other cities. Among the organizations taking part were the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a gay veterans group, an antique auto club for gays and Roman Catholics in favor of gay rights. The pride marches commemorate the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, when patrons of a gay bar in Greenwich Village (New York) fought back against a police raid. The bar, the Stonewall Inn, is now on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. (See 1969 above.)



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Gay Pride parade. West Hollywood, CA
{Thanks for the contribution, Phil! }



Quote For The Day~

Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.
Franklin D. Roosevelt


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Chuckle For The Day~

Joe and Edna were both patients in a mental hospital. One day while they
were walking past the hospital swimming pool, Joe suddenly jumped into the
deep end. He sank to the bottom of the pool and stayed there. Edna promptly jumped in to save him. She swam to the bottom and pulled Joe out.

When the director of Nursing became aware of Edna's heroic act, she considered her to be mentally stable. When she went to tell Edna the news she said, "Edna, I have good news and bad news. The good news is you're being discharged; since you were able to rationally respond to a crisis by jumping in and saving the life of another patient, I have concluded that your act displays sound mindedness. The bad news is that Joe, the patient you saved, hung himself in his bathroom with the belt to his robe right after you saved him. I am sorry, but he's dead."

Edna replied, "He didn't hang himself, I put him there to dry. How soon can I go home?"


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Picture For The Day~


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Red River, North Dakota




Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature.


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