Here's a song some members of the Kinzinger Family probably haven't heard.

At the end of last November, I wrote a post about 10 things I'd like to see the Republican Party like to address going forward after the 2020 presidential election. One of these things was a distancing from Donald Trump. It isn't something that I think is greatly needed but not something I had great hope in happening. After the attacks in Washington, I hoped this would be the last straw for those aligning themselves with Trump. This happened with some Republicans but clearly not most Republicans.

One person who did not only distant himself from Trump but actually spoke out against him was Adam Kinzinger, a U.S. congressman from my home state of Illinois. Kinzinger was one of 10 Republican members of Congress to vote to impeach Trump earlier this year. Standing up to the highest-ranking member of your party takes guts and earned Kinzinger a great deal of respect in my opinion. It would be no surprise to hear that not everyone in the Republican Party holds my opinion about Kinzinger. It turns out that not everyone in Kinzinger's own family agrees with me.

Earlier this year Kinzinger received a letter signed by 11 of his family members denouncing the congressman. Here are some quotes from the letter.

"Oh my, what a disappointment you are to us and to God! We were once so proud of your accomplishments! Instead, you go against your Christian principles and join the 'devil’s army' "

"You won’t convince us otherwise with your horrible, rude accusations of President Trump! (To embrace a party that believes in abortion and socialism is the ultimate sin.)"

"It is now most embarrassing to us that we are related to you. You have embarrassed the Kinzinger family name,"

"We are thoroughly disgusted with you!! And, oh by the way, we are calling for your removal from office," 

This letter from Kinzinger's family members was written about 6 months ago just a few days after the capitol was stormed. I meant to write about this months ago as I thought there were some valued lessons to be learned from this incident. 6 months later I will just let the music and lyrics of Susan Ashton make my point.

https://open.spotify.com/track/5StYBDRxi6AdNgjtjMo7T2?si=bd2647ddcf3547af

Agree to Disagree

Standing on this battlefield of strong opinion
Among the verbal brush and briar
Plenty of weaponry and ammunition
We say ready aim fire.

So you argue points of logic until I'm put in my place
And I argue my convictions until I'm blue in the face but.

We just keep on going round in circles
Lost, found, life is such a mystery
We search and we find opposing answers
Maybe we should just agree to disagree.

Can we meet on neutral ground?
For surrender
And carve a path for restitution
Because my love for you is surely strong enough
To find some kind of resolution.

Cause we can have our differences
And that won't change the way I feel
About you and about me and about God
And His whole deal but.

We just keep on going round in circles
Lost, found, life is such a mystery
We search and we find opposing answers
Maybe we should just agree to disagree.

Cause we are getting nowhere fast
When the concrete and the supernatural clash
So we will stand at other ends with all this stuff
But can't we find a common thread in love.

And in our thirsting quest for knowledge
Maybe one day we will find
That I finally see it your way
Or you finally see it mine.

We just keep on going round in circles
Lost, found, life is such a mystery
We search and we find opposing answers
Maybe we should just agree to disagree...

A Lifelong Dream

 Ever since I was a boy, I have had a dream.  It is a typical boyhood dream, but nevertheless, it was my dream .  I wanted to work for a baseball team, specifically  for the Chicago White Sox as their starting third baseman.  It turns out I was not much of a ball player.  I wasn't even a starter on my little league teams. Over the years I modified that dream somewhat.  I dreamed of perhaps being a broadcaster, that way if a job at 3rd base ever opened up I'd be ready to take over.  

A few years ago my brother had a Confirmation party for his daughter at the party suites of a local minor league team.  He shared the suite with a neighbor whose daughter had also been confirmed that day and is the operations manager at the ball park.  My brother introduced me as a guy who is passionate about baseball and whose dream job would be to work at a ball park.  He didn't mention the part about 3rd base probably because there's not a lot of rookies in their 50's.   His friend mentioned the possibility of a job  an usher.  I thought that might be a good job to consider for the next summer.  The next summer was 2020 and there was this little thing called Covid, maybe you heard of it, and since there was no season there was no where to ush.  

Eventually things got a little bit back to normal ,and by April of this year, I was back to working my pre covid jobs as a substitute teacher and  cashier/usher at a local movie theatre.  Last week the school year ended and on one of my last days at school my wife called me and said she had a crazy idea.  I love crazy ideas, so I was all ears.

"The Kane County Cougars need concessions worker this summer, you and I should get jobs there." she told me.  I told her that was not a crazy idea at all and we both  applied that day. When I was applying, I saw they were also hiring 15 year old's with a work permit.  My 15 year old daughter was also looking for work. so she applied as well.  In short order, we all received emails from the Cougars and  were scheduled for interviews.  Lucy's school year ends a week later than the district Amy and I work at so we scheduled the interview for the day after her (Lucy's) school ended.  When the interviewer saw that we were all in the same family he took us all in together.

Lucy, had never been interviewed for a job before but it became obvious to Amy and I pretty early in the process that we were all going to be hired.  It wasn't until we were leaving and the interviewer said very clearly that we'd all been hired that Lucy realized it.  She was ecstatic and couldn't believe it was that easy to get a job.  Amy and I will be working as cashiers and Lucy will be working in the picnic area.  As we will only be working home games, it still gives Amy and Lucy quite a bit of vacation time this Summer and I will be able to work out my schedule at the theatre so I can work both jobs.  

I have always kind of felt bad for people who work concessions at the ball park as they can't enjoy the game as they are helping others to do the same thing.  As I prepare for this job, I look forward to going to the ball park every day and being part of the festivities.  Even if a third base position doesn't open up sharing this job experience with my wife and daughter make it a dream job.  

The views expressed on this website/weblog are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.

Going to my First Indy 500

When I think Indy, I have to admit that I am much more prone to think of Dr. Henry Walton Jones Jr. or a movie or music project without the backing of a studio or a record label long before I think of the State capital of Indiana (which is less than 4 hours drive from me) or the motor sport or the 500 mile race that happens most every Memorial Day.

That may be about to change as I am going to attend my first Indiapolis (Indy) 500 this weekend.  I used to know quite a bit about Indy Car driving when I was in middle school and AJ Foyt won his 4th Indy 500 (The first of only 3 drivers to complete that feat).  That was pushing 45 years ago, and for all intents and purposes I am a newbie notbe when it comes to motor sports these days. That being said, here's a few drivers I will have my eyes on as they blur past me on Sunday.

Simona De Silvestro of Paretta Autosport

The Paretta car was the last to qualify this past Saturday in the 33 car field.  

Last Years Winner: Takuma Sato

Going to the Indianapolis 500 For The First Time.

Episode 3 of the Dave Out Loud Podcast: Indy 500 Edition

Last 5 Next 10 Schools Out Edition

 Today is the last day of my school year.  This means no more substitute teaching until August and time to start thinking about Summer.  Specifically summer vacations. summer jobs and summer reading.  Before I get too far involved in that it's probably a good time to recount the last 5 books I read.  

Last 5 Books

Hondo by Louis L'Amour

Why I chose this book: Having gone 56  years without reading a single  Louis L'Amour book, Hondo is the 4th I've read this year. I had recently watched the filn version of this book and wanted to see how it stacked up

Type: Book (read myself)

How Obtained: Borrowed from local library

Rating: Loved

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Children's Classics

Why I chose this book: I chose this book because I like to read at least one Jane Austen book a year.  It turns out I accidentally chose the children's version and did not realize it until I was halfway through it.

Type: Audio Book through my phone

How Obtained: I borrowed this book  from my library using the Hoopla app.  This is how it took me awhile to figure out I was "reading" an abridged children's version.

Rating:Liked only becuase it was a shortened version of this amazing book.

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Why I chose this book: After mistakenly listening to the children's version.  I wanted to listen to the unabridged version

Type: Audio Book though my phone

How Obtained: I borrowed this book from my library using the Hoopla App

Rating: Loved

For The Love of Mike - Mike Royko

Why I chose this book: I saw this book on the shelves at my local library and remembered with fondness all the newspaper columns I had read of Royko's.  So I decided to read this second anthology of his best columns that were published after his death in 1997

Type: Book (read myself) 

How Obtained: Borrowed from local library

Rating: Between liked and loved. 

Just Mercy - Bryan Stevenson

Why I chose this book: One of the blogs on my blogroll, Andy Unedited had a post called The Fruit-Tree Structure  that used the book Just Mercy as an example of that way of organizing a non-fiction book.  As I read that post I remembered that I gave that book to my wife for Christmas in 2019 shortly after we had seen the film adaptation of it.

 

Type: Book (read myself) 

How Obtained: Previously purchased for wife as a Christmas present.

Rating: Loved.

2021 Book Stats as of 5/25/21

When I read 5 books in 72 days I tried to put it off as a little deceptive.  Unfortunately I followed that with 5 books read in 73 days which is almost exactly the same.  If this keep us I will only complete 25.43 books by the end of the year.  Summer is when my reading usually picks up in the summer so  when I finish 5 more books I will hopefully have a more optimistic report.  

10 Books I'm  Reading or Planning to Read Soon

In my inaugural next 10 list I mentioned that the list would fluctuate beyond just crossing out the books I had read previously.  It turns out I was right. I finished 3 books from the list although I did "read" one twice. Looking at those that remain only a few will be on my current list.

Farmer Boy - Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Unaborted Socrates - Peter Kreeft

41 A Portait of My Father - George W. Bush

News of The World - Paulette Jiles

The Zookeeper's Wife - Diane Ackerman

World of Wonders- Aimee Nezhukumatathil

In The Year of The Boar and Jackie Robinson - Bette Bao Lord

The Magician's Nephew - C.S. Lewis

Schulz and Peanuts - David Michaelis

Concise Theology - JI Packer

White Sox Leading Major Leagues

The White Sox have been playing pretty good of late.  But I did not realize until this morning that they were as of games ending 5/16/2021, the best team in baseball.  The Sox started the season started the season 1-3 but finished April with a respectful 14-11. So far in May the Whiite Sox have gone 10-4 including winning 8 of their last 10 games. This chart of the Top 16 teams in the major leagues shows which teams along with the White Sox are playing .500 ball or better almost 2 months into the season.  

Rank	Team	Winning Pct.	MLB Power Ranking	LW Power	Division Ranking	Wild Card	Last 10	Streak
1	Chicago White Sox	.615	1	3	ALC 1	------------	8-2	W1
2	San Francisco Giants	.600	6	2	NLW 1	------------	6-4	W1
3	Boston Red Sox	.595	2	1	ALE 1	------------	6-4	L1
3	Oakland A's	.595	9	5	ALW 1	------------	6-4	W1
5	Houston Astros	.585	4	10	ALW 2	ALWC 1	8-2	W6
5	San Diego Padres	,585	5	4	NLW 2	NLWC 1	7-3	W3
7	Toronto Blue Jays	.564	10	9	ALE 2	ALWC 2	7-3	W2
8	St. Louis Cardinals	.561	8	6	NLC 1	------------	5-5	L3
9	Cleveland Indians	.553	12	15	ALC 2	1/2 GB ALWC	6-4	L3
10	L.A. Dodgers	.550	3	7	NLW 3	NLWC 2	5-5	L1
10	New York Yankees	.550	7	8	ALE 3	1/2 GB ALWC	6-4	L1
12	Tampa Bay Rays	.548	13	12	ALE 4	1/2 GB ALWC	6-4	W4
13	New York Mets	.529	11	11	NLE 1	------------	7-3	L3
14	Milwaukee Brewers	.512	14	14	NLC 2	1.5 GB NLWC	4-6	W1
14	Philadelphia Phillies	.512	16	13	NLE 2	1.5 GB NLWC	5-5	L2
14	Seattle Mariners	.512	21	19	ALW 3	2 GB ALWC	4-6	W2

The Best 82 I ever bowled

In April my blogging efforts are almost entirely spent on the A to Z challenge. This doesn't mean I don't have other content that I am pursuing.  I just don't usually have the time, inclination or energy to get into it.      On one of the last Friday's in March  Amy, myself  and the girls went bowling.  I wrote a draft of this the next day but all thing A to Z kept me from completing it until now.  

About 25 to 30 years ago I decided I would try to bowl in every state. When Amy and I got married, she embraced that and quite often when we were in a new state for the first time we  woud bowl  I'm not an especially good bowler, even though it used to be one of my favorite things to do . I used to bowl somewhere between 80 and 120 a game.  If I broke 100 I'd consider it a good game.  Over the last 10 years, 100 has become more of a rarity.  I have my own ball, but lately when we have bowled it's been at the spur of the moment, and I have not brought my ball.  My ball is probably a little too heavy for me now, but when I found out we were going bowling I decided to bring it.  

I did not start well.  I ended getting1 pin down in the first frame. two more in the second frame and then 2 straight gutter balls in the third frame.

At this same point all of my family members were bowling better than me, and my wife was suggesting that I switch to a lighter ball.  I decided that better or worse I would stick with my ball.  I knew though, that something needed to be done and on the next frame I decided to go with the Fred Flintstone approach.

  

  I generally do this novelty move once each time I bowl and always have fun with it and also a bit of success.  I have bowled many a strike with the "twinkletoes" approach. However, this was not the case on this occasion.  I guttered to the left, mustered what was left of my pride and attempted the maneuver again only to gutter to the right. 

3 pins in 4 frames, quite the auspicious start,  So, when in the 5th frame when I got 7 pins down on the first roll it more than doubled my previous score even though I guttered the 2nd ball.

. In the 6th frame, faced with the prospect of my lowest score ever, things began to get a little better.  I changed my approach and instead of bowling in stride I stopped at the line and then sent the ball down the lane.   I got a strike and followed that up with a spare in the 7th or 8th.  I knocked down pins in all of my first rolls during the 2nd half of the game.  As I started the 10th frame.  I had gained 59 points since the Flintstone debacle in the 4th frame,  I was the last to bowl in our party and I had already caught up with my daughters and was just a few pins behind Amy.  (Nobody was especially bowling well, but we were all enjoying our selves)

I was able to get a spare in the 10th frame and followed it up with a strike to end the game.  It was a definite tale of two halves. I had a score of 10 entering the 6th frame and bowled 72  (88% of my  total score)  in the latter half to finish with a normally measly 82.  But as I said in the title it was the best 82 I ever bowled.  

I'm glad I got  the ball rolling on post A to Z blogging.  I may still have a little more A to Z aftermath in the near future, but it's good to be back to abnormal.  

Avengers: Endgame Cast Sings "We Didn't Start the Fire"

The A to Z challenge is finally over and back at HSD I am finished blogging every day for the month of April.  Yesterday in my  A to Z reflections post, I quoted from We Didn't Start The Fire to show how many people mentioned in the song were alive in 1921.  Today I am sharing this parody of WDSTF about Avenger's Endgame.  Excelsior!

1921 A Musical Review: A to Z Reflection Post

1921 seems like a long time ago.  And in a way, it was.  Spending the month looking back at it through the lens of people who were alive then has given me the perspective that 1921 is still visible in our rear view mirror.  

Every morning on my way to work I listen to music from one or two artists and every few weeks I change up those artists.  Consequently, I have heard Billy Joel's. We Didn't Start the Fire many times in the past few weeks.  This was at the same time I was participating in the A to Z challenge and I was surprised as to how many people mentioned in the song, I had featured in my 1921 theme.  I have included the lyrics below wit links to all the people mentioned by both Joel and myself.  I have also placed in bold anyone in the song who was alive in 1921 but not mentioned in my posts.

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio
Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe

Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, "The King and I", and "The Catcher in the Rye"
Eisenhower, Vaccine, England's got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana, goodbye

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning, since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it

Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc
Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron
Dien Bien Phu falls, "Rock Around the Clock"

Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland
Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Krushchev
Princess Grace, Peyton Place, Trouble in the Suez

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning, since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it

Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, "Bridge on the River Kwai"
Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkweather homicide, children of thalidomide

Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, space monkey, mafia
Hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go
U2, Syngman Rhee, Payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning, since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it

Hemingway, Eichmann, "Stranger in a Strange Land"
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion
"Lawrence of Arabia", British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson
Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex
JFK – blown away, what else do I have to say?

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning, since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan

"Wheel of Fortune", Sally Ride, heavy metal suicide
Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shore, China's under martial law
Rock and roller, cola wars, I can't take it anymore

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning, since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
It will still burn on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on

 I knew I was going to mention more than 26 people alive in 1921. That being said, I was very surprised when I tabulated that I had mentioned 69 people and 1 stuffed bear that were around  in 1921.  

At the first mention of each these people, I always included how many years they had lived before 1921 and after 1921.  On average these people lived 30 years before 1921 and 48 years after.  This means my average subject was born in 1891 and died in1969. In 1891 there were 44 states in the U.S. 

During the challenge I tried to include material from my other blogs, both new material and previously published material on the people I was profiling.  I also tried when possible to include people living in 1921 who were still alive in 2021.  I started with Al Jaffee on my first post, Prince Phillip passed away during the challenge before I got to Q for Queen's Consort.  I discovered today that I had already included someone years ago in the A to Z challenge who is currently living.  In 2015 I participated in the A to Z challenge from, Crazy Uncle Dave's Sports Blog and my theme was White Sox Home Run Hitters.  For E I wrote about Eddie Robinson. At the time Eddie was 94 years old and the 21st oldest living major leaguer.  Since then, Eddie has become the oldest living major leaguer.  He was born December 15, 1920.  That means I began the A to Z challenge with someone from 1921 who is still alive and I get to end the challenge the same way.  

I really enjoyed participating in the challenge again this year.  I have my theme all set for next year but first I'm going back to the simpler non a to z blogging lifestyle.  I am looking forward to the a to z road trip after a little rest.  Working for a century can do that to you.  

Z is for Zero,

                                                                                

                                                                                Zero Mostel
 

                                                                                Years lived before 1921: Six

                                                                                Years lived after 1921: Fifty Six

When I think of Zero Mostel, I think of Tevye from Fiddler On The Roof. I never saw him on Broadway and he was not in the motion picture version.  However I listened to the Broadway album many times as a kid and now own it on c.d.  He put his stamp on that role more than any other actor ever had.  

 Born Samuel Joel Mostel, he received the moniker Zero when performing  in the New York night club, cafe society because "he was a guy starting with nothing.  

Besides being a night club comic, he worked on the stage, in movies, and on television.  This career was derailed somewhat in the 40's and 50's as he was blacklisted in Hollywood before there even was a blacklist.  In 1952 he was officially blacklisted by the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and called to testify in front of HUAC in 1955.  His testimony is very reminiscent of Jim Carey's character's testimony in The Majestic.  One highlight is when he refers to his former employer 20th Century Fox as 19th Century Fox because of (in his opinion) their antiquated views.

By reading this it is pretty easy to infer that Zero Mostel was a little odd.  So it didn't surprise me that his 3 Tony awards were in odd years.  In 1961 He won best actor in a play for Rhinoceros.  In 1963 he won his first Best Actor in a Musical Tony for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Forum, and In 1965 he won his secon Best Actor in a Musical Tony for his career defining role in Fiddle on the Roof.  

Speaking of Broadway, Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder starred together in Mel Brook's movie The Producers which years later became a Broadway smash.  Mostel and Wilder reunited in the famous Electric Company segment Letter Man with Wilder voicing the title hero and Mostel in the role of the evil Spellbinder.  

Mostel also appeared on Sesame Street and the Muppet Show.  He is the only guest star on The Muppet Show who passed away before their episode could be aired.  Mostel is one of at least 3 of my a to z profiles who hosted The Muppet Show, the other two are Peter Ustinov and Ethel Merman.  Now that the A to Z challenge is over, I may watch all 3 of those episodes on the Disney Plus App with the extra time coming my way. 

So that's it 1921 A to Z has come to an end.  I wonder what anybody might say about it 100 years from now.

A To  Z Extra

Some of my Faavorite Electric Company Segments  at Dave Out Loud. This of course includes Mostel as the Spellbinder. 

   After you've looked at the additional content on my other blogs head back to The A to Z challenge and  continue exploring.  

Some of my favorite Electric Company segments

Letter Man

Speedy Reader

 

 Fargo North, Decoder

   Spiderman

Doctor Knows Best

                                                            Robert Young

                                                            Years lived before 1921:Fourteen 

                                                            Years lived after 1921: Seventy-Seven

When I first encountered Robert Young he was playing  The titular role of Marcus Welby on primetime and Jim Anderson on Father Knows Best in reruns.  Back then there was very little I knew about him.

I did not know he had originated the Father Know's Best Role on radio in the 1940's before reprising it on T.V.  I did not know he had played opposite John Gielgud and Peter Lorre in Alfred Hitchcock's Secret Agent.  I did not know he was in one of my wife's favorite movies, The Enchanted Cottage. (To be fair at this point, I was a kid and did not have a wife.)

Discovering these facets of Young has been a delight.  He has quite a filmography and I hope to continue to make future discoveries of his stage,  film, radio and television career  that spanned nearly sixty years.

For more a to z challenge click here.  

 

X= X eX WhitesoX

 

X is a very versatile letter.  It also sidelines as a Roman Numeral.  So for todays installment I give you 10 White Sox Players from the 1919 World Series. The owner of the White Sox was Charles Comiskey and his nick name was the Old Roman.  So if you're the kind who needs the X justified, I believe I just did.

In 1919 several White Sox players conspired to throw the World Series.  In 1921 These players were acquitted in a Chicago court room of any wrong doing.  However Judge Kennesaw "Mountain" Landis imposed a lifetime ban on 8 of the players.  Infamously referred to as the Black Sox or the 8 Men Out.

Two of these players, Shoeless Joe Jackson and George Daniel "Buck" Weaver maintained their innocence for the rest of their lives.  Two players from the 1919 World Series who were not removed from baseball, Ray Schalk and Eddie Collins (who both served as player/managers for the White Sox)   would eventually be elected into the Hall of Fame. 

                                                                Dirty Sox

Fred McMullin (Utility Infielder)Years Lived before 1921: Thirty

                                                      Years lived after 1921:Fifty Two

Eddie Cicotte (Pitcher) Years lived before 1921: Thirty Seven

                                      Years lived after 1921: Forty Eight

Lefty Williams (Pitcher) Years lived before 1921: Twenty Eight

                                         Years lived after 1921: Thirty Eight

Happy Felsch (Center Fielder ) Years lived before 1921: Thirty

                                                   Years lived after 1921: Forty Three

Chick Gandil  (First Baseman) Years lived before 1921: Thirty Three

                                                  Years lived after 1921: Forty Nine

Swede Risberg (Shortstop) Years lived before 1921: Thirty Eight

                                            Years lived after 1921:Fifty Four

Clean Sox

Eddie Collins (Second Baseman) Years lived before 1921: Thirty Four

                                                       Years lived after 1921: Thirty

Ray Schalk (Catcher) Years lived before 1921: Twenty Nine

                                    Years lived after 1921: Forty Nine

Questionable Sox

Shoeless Joe Jackson (Outfielder) Years lived before 1921: Thirty Four

                                                       Years lived after 1921: Thirty

Buck Weaver (Third Baseman) Years lived before 1921: Thirty One

                                                   Years lived after 1921: Thirty Five

For more a to z challenge click here.  

Why Sidewalks should have Spell Check.

 This is part of Wordless Wednesday.  I'll Be back a little later today for my 1921 X in this years A to Z Challenge.  Click here to see whose lives we've already looked at this April.

W is for Waltons

'

The Walton's is a 1970's CBS program about a family  of 7 children their parents and paternal grandparents living in rural Virginia during the depression. Earl Hamner who wrote and narrated the show  and was the person that the character Johm Boy Walton was based on was born in 1923 so would not qualify for this list.  However the actors who portrayed the grandparents Will Geer, and Ellen Corby were alive in 1921 .  

Ellen Corby

Years lived before 1921: Ten 

Years lived after 1921: Seventy-eight

Will Geer

Years lived before 1921: Nineteen

Years lived after 1921: Fifty-seven

Fun fact: Both Geer and Corby were involved in two iconic Christmas programs.  Geer was in the season 2 Christmas episode of 8 is enough where he plays a man who steals all the Bradford's Christmas gifts and tries to pass himself off as Santa Claus co Nicolas.  In It's a Wonderful Life Corby character  is kissed by Jimmy Stewart after only asking for $7.50 during the run on the Building & Loan.  They both were veteran character actors but their portrayal of Zeke and Esther Walton stands out as the role of their lifetimes.  

For more a to z challenge click here.  

V is for Venn

                                                            John Venn

                                                            Years lived before 1921: Eighty-seven

                                                            Years lived after 1921:two

John Venn was a mathematician, logician and philosopher who is best remembered for his Venn diagram. V can be a difficult letter to fill some years but this year was an exception.  I did not want to leave out  former White Sox owner, Bill Veeck nor  actor Abe Vigoda from the challenge, so I created this Venn diagram that shows what they have in common and what is different about them.

 

                                                        Bill Veeck

                                                        Years lived before 1921: Seven

                                                        Years lived after 1921: Sixty-five

                                                    Abe Vigoda

                                                    Years lived before 1921:Zero

                                                    Years lived after 1921:Ninety Five

Well, It's Venn fun bit it's time to run.  For more a to z challenge click here.

Dave Out Loud Podcast #2

 The 2nd edition of the Dave Out Loud Podcast has just dropped.  My wife Amy and myself talk movies just in time for the Academy Awards.

Peter Ustinov on Disney Plus

Peter Ustinov

Years lived before 1921:Zero.

Years lived after 1921:Eighty-three

Peter Ustinov's acting career extend over 60 years between his first and final movie appearance.  He received two Oscars for best supporting actor in the 1960's.  Today I'd like to focus instead on what we can see of Mr. Ustinov's career on the Disney Plus app.  He stars in the 1968 film Blackbeard's Ghost as Blackbeard the pirate.  He costars in the 1976 Disney film The Treasure of Matecumbe as Dr. Ewing T. Snodgrass. He also appears in one of my favorite Disney cartoons and twice with the Muppets.

                                                                        

Ustinov provided the voice for Prince John

Robin Hood 1973

Ustinov and Fozzie The Bear tell a joke

S1 E 12 The Muppet Show

Peter and Miss Piggy

Great Muppet Caper 1981

The episode of the Muppet Show that features Ustinov is definitely worth watching.  Ustinov plays a number of diverse characters and does very many different accents even doing a pretty good Kermit impression at the end of the show.  Kermit also sings "It's not easy being green" in this episode which was his signature song before the Rainbow Connection from The Muppet movie.

For more A to Z challenge click here.

T is for Thomas and Tesla

Nikola Tesla

Years lived before 1921: Sixty-five

Years Lived after 1921:Twenty-two

Thomas Alva Edison

Years lived before 1921: Seventy-four

Years lived after 1921: Ten

When I decided on people who were living in 1921 as my topic for this year's A to Z challenge, I set a few criteria on deciding exactly who those people would be.  The first of those was that I wasn't going to write about anyone if I was not familiar with them before deciding on the theme.  If you google born in 1921 or died in 1921 or even married in 1921 you come into contact with "famous" people that you have oxymorincally never heard of or only have the vaguest inclination of. I was going to do my best to steer clear of such folks.  Another criterion was to double up and triple up when plausible to feature as many people as I could.

With the letter T those two criteria became some what juxtapostionally opposed. I of course have heard of Thomas Edison and know quite a bit about him.  He's even appeared in this blog a number of times. I have heard of Nikola Tesla but besides Charlotte Nevins Purcell, who my daughter wrote about last week, Tesla is probably the person I know least about.  

Instead of just regurgitating Wikipedia, I think I will instead make a promise to you, the reading public. In order to juggle my 2 jobs, my other myriad responsibilities, and the a to z challenge, I have pretty much given up recreational reading in the month of April.  When the challenge comes to an end, I will find and read a  biography on Tesla. There is also  a movie I have been meaning to see called The Current War which is a period piece featuring Edison, Tesla and George Westinghouse. My promise is after reading a book and seeing the film, I'll write a more informed post on Edison and Tesla.

I think it's a pretty bright idea.  For more of the a to z challenge click here.  

S is for Stewart

  

                                                                Jimmy Stewart

                                                                Years lived before 1921: Thirteen

                                                                Years lived after 1932:Seventy-Six

Jimmy Stewart is probably my favorite actor.  This should not be too surprising as It's A Wonderful Life is my favorite film. Stewart played many original characters in his films but was also in a great deal of bio-pics.  Today we are going to look at 3 of those films as all of the titular subjects were also alive in 1921.

Film 1: The Stratton Story (1949)

                                                                Years lived before 1921: Seven

                                                                Years lived after 1921: Sixty-one

Monty Stratton was a pitcher with the the Chicago White Sox in the 1930's. He lost a leg due to a hunting accident.  He learned to pitch while using his prosthetic leg and had a comeback in the minor leagues but never did get back to the big leagues.   

Film 2: The Glenn Miller Story (1954)

                                                               

                                                               

                                                                            Glenn Miller

                                                               

                                                                Years lived before 1921: Seventeen

                                                                Years lives after 1921: Twenty-three

Glenn Miller was a big band musician and bandleader in the swing era of the 1930's and 1940's before his aircraft disappeared over the English Channel in late 1944.

Fun Fact: June Allyson portrayed both the wife of Glenn Miller in this picture and Monty Stratton in the Stratton story.  She played Stewart's wife in 3 different films.

Film 3: Spirit of St. Louis (1957)

                                                                            Charles Lindbergh 

                                                                            Years Lived Before 1921:19

                                                                            Years lived after 1921: 53

In 1927, Charles Lindbergh made the first solo nonstop flight from New York to Paris in an airplane built for that purpose called the Spirit of St. Louis.  The film tells the story of this event.

A To Z Easter Eggs

 A to Z Archives: S is for Stewart at HSD. We go back 6 years ago today when I wrote about Mr. Stewart in my 2nd go round of the a to z challenge.  For more of the 2021 rendition of the challenge click here.