from Bruce
Anecdotes
Mishaps
• Honor Blackman starred on The Avengers for a couple of years, then left the TV series in order to star as the character Pussy Galore in the James Bond movie Goldfinger. While she was on a promotional tour for the movie, she appeared on KGO-TV, where an interviewer told her, “I’ve covered topless bathing suits, bottomless bathing suits, and now I’ve got Pussy Galore!”
• Julia Child is my kind of cook — very good, but slightly frazzled. One day, while she was cooking on TV, some of the ingredients fell to the floor. She told her TV audience, “If this happens, just scoop it back. Remember, you are alone in the kitchen, and nobody can see you.”
Money
• Jack Paar and Ed Sullivan used to compete for the same guests. Mr. Sullivan paid anywhere from $5,000 to $7,500 for an appearance, while Mr. Paar’s Tonight Show could afford to pay only $320. In an attempt to keep performers from appearing with Mr. Paar, Mr. Sullivan announced that anyone who appeared on The Tonight Show would be paid only $320 for appearing on his show. Of course, many entertainers canceled their appearances on Mr. Paar’s show. However, one entertainer who remained loyal to Mr. Paar was comedian Joey Bishop, who joked on The Tonight Show, “I have one gripe. You told me Sullivan paid only $80. I thought this was the big money.”
• In November of 2007 Hollywood writers went on strike. Why? Ken Levine gave an answer in a column that he wrote for the Toronto Star. He pointed out that he had recently received a check from American Airlines, which had been showing episodes that he had written for Becker, Cheers, and M*A*S*H and that he had directed for Dharma & Greg, Everybody Loves Raymond, and Frasier. He estimates, based on number of years and on number of flights, that American Airlines has shown these episodes 10,000 times. So how much was Mr. Levine’s check for? Nineteen cents.
• In the early days of radio, singers often did not know how much to charge. Because they charged usually by the size of the audience at concerts — a smaller fee at smaller concert halls, and a larger fee at larger concert halls — they thought that they should charge a lot because of the vast size of the radio audience. Opera singer Harold Williams was once asked by Stanton Jefferies what he would charge for a radio broadcast. He said 100 guineas. Mr. Jefferies replied, “We had in mind seven guineas.” (Of course, the radio audience did not pay admission the way the audience at a concert hall would.)
• When Wah Ming Chang and Gene Warren decided to close their firm Project Unlimited, which had created special effects for such television series as Star Trek and such movies as The Time Machine, they advertised an auction of the models and costumes they had created. Bidding was fierce as sci-fi fans acquired memorabilia of their favorite shows, so Mr. Chang and Mr. Warren went to the back and dug through the trash bins to find worn-out puppets and other items that they had been about to throw out, but which collectors eagerly purchased.
• When she was a young woman, Oprah Winfrey entered a beauty contest that she did not expect to win. However, the judges found her answers to their questions original and interesting. For example, the final question asked of the three finalists was, “What would you do if you had one million dollars?” The first two finalists gave unoriginal, uninteresting answers — one would use the money to help her family, and the other would use it to help the poor. Ms. Winfrey’s answer was, “If I had a million dollars, I’d be a spending fool!” She won.
• Charles Correll and Freeman Gosden created and played the roles of Amos ’n’ Andy. Early in their career, they were asked to come to a meeting to discuss a radio program that they might star in. Mr. Correll and Mr. Gosden discussed how much to ask for their salary ahead of time, and they decided that they would be lucky to get $10 a week apiece. Therefore, when they were asked what salary they wanted — and then quickly were offered $125 a week — they sputtered, “Ten — ten — tentatively, yes.”
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© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
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Presenting
Michael Egan
U.S.A. took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: "Need Someone"
Album: THE SECOND COMING
Artist: Maze
Record Company: Aldora Britain Records
Record Company Location: Rothley, UK
Info:
“AB Records is an e-zine and record label that promotes the music and work of authentic independent or underground artists from all around the world. Originally established in 2013, they revamped themselves in 2018 with a brand new approach. Their first weekly compilation, aptly titled 'THE SECOND COMING,’ was released in late 2019. They now also release original singles, EPs and charity projects.”
Price: £0.50 GBP for 10-track album
Genre: Rock. Pop. Various.
Links:
THE SECOND COMING
Maze UK on YouTube
Aldora Britain Records on Bandcamp
Aldora Britain Records on YouTube
MODS OF YOUR GENERATION on YouTube
Other Links:
Bruce’s Music Recommendations: FREE pdfs
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
David Bruce's Blog #2
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David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has over 140 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
New Venture
Michael Egan
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
Predator & the baseball game
Of course, he lied. (And of course, he and his waste-of-space enabler were filmed doing the chop.) Is he even capable of telling the truth about ANYTHING???
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Had more trick or treaters than the last 3 years combined - lots of multi-generational family units with little kids.
Ran out of candy towards the end, but rather than close up shop, we opted to become 'those raisin people' (the scourge of all true candy seekers), and since soda had been on sale, we offered a choice of a Coke or a box of raisins.
Coke won, big time.
But the kid who wanted the raisins really wanted raisins, so he got 2 boxes.
Rock Hall of Fame
Cleveland
Taylor Swift serenaded Carole King, former U.S. President Barack Obama praised rapper JAY-Z, and Paul McCartney paid tribute to the Foo Fighters on Saturday at a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony that also honored Tina Turner and The Go-Gos.
Obama, speaking via video, called 23-time Grammy winner JAY-Z "the embodiment of the American Dream" for his rise from a poor New York neighborhood to a billionaire songwriter, record executive and businessman.
Swift opened the show with a pop version of "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" while Jennifer Hudson sang "A Natural Woman" in honor of the singer-songwriter King, 79, who led the audience in a singalong of her hit "You've Got a Friend."
Christina Aguilera led a medley of Turner's biggest hits. The "Simply the Best" singer, who now lives quietly in Switzerland, was unable to attend Saturday's ceremony but sent thanks by video.
Turner was first given the honor in 1991 with her former husband Ike Turner but on Saturday she was celebrated for her even bigger solo career in the 1980s and 1990s.
Cleveland
Weekend Box Office
‘Dune’
After a record-breaking start, October’s box office closed out quietly this weekend with “Dune” repeating at number one and two prominent genre newcomers, “ Last Night in Soho ” and “Antlers,” stumbling.
“Halloween Kills,” in its third weekend, placed second with $8.5 million. The penultimate film in this modern trilogy has now grossed $115.1 million globally.
One of the brighter spots of the weekend was “ The French Dispatch,” also distributed by Searchlight, which expanded after a limited debut and made $2.8 million from only 788 total locations. In 10 days of release, it’s made $4.6 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. “Dune,” $15.5 million.
2. “Halloween Kills,” $8.5 million.
3. “No Time To Die,” $7.8 million.
4. “My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission,” $6.4 million.
5. “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” $5.8 million.
6. “Antlers,” $4.2 million.
7. “Last Night in Soho,” $4.2 million.
8. “Ron’s Gone Wrong,” $3.8 million.
9. “The Addams Family 2,” $3.3 million.
10. “The French Dispatch,” $2.8 million.
‘Dune’
Broadcast Milestone
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry’s broadcast of its 5,000th Saturday show attracted a host of big country music stars to its historic venue.
Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Darius Rucker, Vince Gill, Chris Young and a half-dozen others lined up to celebrate the nearly century-old country music program.
The radio broadcast was carried by WSM radio, the same station that it debuted on as the “Barn Dance” program in 1925, The Tennessean reported.
Bill Anderson, a 60-year Opry veteran, kicked off the show with the Roy Acuff tune “Wabash Cannonball.”
Singer Vince Gill played an acoustic guitar he said was once owned by Opry star Sam McGee. Gill said McGee first played the famed radio program in 1926, months before the barn dance program became known as the Grand Ole Opry.
Grand Ole Opry
House For Sale
'Elm Street'
A Los Angeles home that was featured in the 1984 horror classic "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is up for sale.
The film, which featured the terrifying Freddy Krueger as the dream villain with knives on his fingers, was set in Ohio. But the actual home used in the filming is on North Genesee Avenue in Los Angeles.
The home is listed for $3.25 million.
The 1919 Dutch Colonial has three bedrooms and four bathrooms. It features stunning amenities including a pool and guest house.
Anyone with the guts to buy it might also have to get used to a Hollywood bus tour passing by now and then.
'Elm Street'
Golden AR-15
New 'Moonies'
Wearing his signature crown of gleaming bullets and with a gold AR-15 often strapped to his chest, the 42-year-old Pastor Sean Moon is a bizarre religious leader.
Sean Moon is the founder of the Pennsylvania-based The World Peace and Unification Sanctuary Church, also known as the Rod of Iron Ministries.
He is the son of Reverend Sun Myung Moon, the self-proclaimed Messiah who founded the controversial Unification Church, widely described as a cult. (Its followers are the so-called Moonies.)
On October 9, Moon took to the stage at his church's annual "Freedom Festival," which brought together a medley of far-right figures and gun enthusiasts at the Kahr Arms headquarters in Greeley, Pennsylvania.
Sean Moon and his mother, Hak Ja Han, are embroiled in a court case over the leadership of the Unification Church and its associated businesses. Moon does not mince his words about his mother- he now frequently refers to her as the "Whore of Babylon."
New 'Moonies'
Newly Named Human Species
Homo bodoensis
Scientists have named a new species that may have been the direct ancestor of modern humans.
The newly proposed species, Homo bodoensis — which lived more than half a million years ago in Africa — may help to untangle how human lineages moved and interacted across the globe.
Although modern humans, Homo sapiens, are the only surviving human lineage, other human species once roamed Earth. For example, scientists recently discovered that the Indonesian island Flores was once home to the extinct species Homo floresiensis, often known as "the hobbit" for its miniature body.
Deciding whether a set of ancient human fossils belongs to one species or another is often a challenging problem open to heated debate. For instance, some researchers suggest that skeletal differences between modern humans and Neanderthals mean they were different species. However, other scientists argue that because there is recent abundant genetic evidence that modern humans and Neanderthals once interbred and had fertile, viable offspring, Neanderthals should not be considered a single species.
In the new study, researchers analyzed human fossils dating from about 774,000 to 129,000 years ago (once known as the Middle Pleistocene and now renamed the Chibanian). Previous work suggested modern humans arose during this time in Africa, while Neanderthals emerged in Eurasia. However, much about this key chapter in human evolution remains poorly understood — a problem paleoanthropologists call "the muddle in the middle."
Homo bodoensis
Mummy Could Change History
Egypt
A mummy discovered in a vast burial ground of Egypt's pharaohs could change how ancient history is understood
A new analysis of an ancient Egyptian mummy suggests that advanced mummification techniques were used 1,000 years earlier than previously believed, rewriting the understood history of ancient Egyptian funerary practices.
The discovery centers around a mummy, known as Khuwy, believed to have been a high-ranking nobleman. He was excavated at the necropolis, a vast ancient burial ground of Egyptian pharaohs and royals near Cairo, in 2019.
Scientists now believe that Khuwy is much older than previously thought, dating back to Egypt's Old Kingdom, which would make him one of the oldest Egyptian mummies ever to be discovered, The Observer reported.
The Old Kingdom spanned 2,700 to 2,200 B.C.E and was known as the "Age of the Pyramid Builders."
Egypt
Socially Distance
Honeybees
Honeybees use social distancing when their hive comes under threat from parasites, researchers have discovered.
A study, led by an international team involving ethologists from UCL, found that honeybee colonies respond to an infestation from a harmful mite by modifying the use of space and the interactions between nestmates to increase the social distance between young and old bees.
Researchers said they believed the bees had evolved to socially distance to reduce the risk of infection spreading within their colony.
Bees are not the first animal to be observed practising social distancing: baboons are less likely to clean individuals with gastrointestinal infections, and ants infected with a pathogenic fungus relegate themselves to the suburbs of anthill society.
Researchers evaluated if the presence of a particular mite resulted in changes in social organisation, that could reduce the spread of the parasite in the hive.
Honeybees
Ancient Wooden Mayan Canoe Unearthed
Mexico
Archaeologists have discovered a wooden Mayan canoe in southern Mexico, believed to be over 1,000 years old.
Measuring over 5ft (1.6m), it was found almost completely intact, submerged in a freshwater pool near the ruined Mayan city of Chichen Itza.
Mexico's antiquities institute (Inah) says it may have been used to extract water or deposit ritual offers.
The rare find came during construction work on a new tourist railway known as the Maya Train.
In a statement, the Inah said archaeologists had also discovered ceramics, a ritual knife and painted murals of hands on a rockface in the pool, known as a cenote.
Mexico
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