Television Time Machine

Classical Gas is one of the most requested and most familiar instrumental pieces of all time. In an episode of The Simpsons called “Last Exit to Springfield” Homer leads the workers of the nuclear power plant in a strike to recover their lost dental plan. While they picket the plant, Lisa plays a bleak worker\’s song. As she finishes, Lenny shouts, “Play Classical Gas”. Lisa plays the guitar and everybody watching the episode on TV goes, “Oh, yeah, THAT tune!” Classical Gas is always asked for whenever a bunch of people and a nylon string acoustic guitar are in the same room. It is not really a great technical showcase for finger style guitarists but it is a great vehicle to show off the sound of the classical guitar. Classical Gas was released into the world in 1968. A song by The Doors prevented it from turning into a number one hit but it remained in the second place for two weeks. Forty years later it is still among the most familiar tunes of all time and, along with The Anonymous Romance and Leucona\’s Malaguena regarded as an essential element of the classical guitar repertoire. And nobody can say why. The impact of Classical Gas is way more than the sum of its parts. There are very few musical ideas in the tune. It is mainly repetition of a theme made up of a few notes. There are a few parts that are unforgettable “surprises” making use of syncopation, scales, strums, and abrupt time signature changes. Somehow all the bits link together like pearls on a necklace, and the final note adds a sublime resolution. The composer, Mason Williams, states on his website, “I didn\’t really have any big plans for it, other than maybe to have a piece to play at parties when they passed the guitar around. I envisioned it as simply repertoire or “fuel” for the classical guitar, so I called it Classical Gasoline.” Mason Williams\’ day job was as a comedy writer and stand-up comedian who had lots of other projects besides writing a classical guitar instrumental. It was Mason Williams\’ work on the Smothers Brothers\’ “Comedy Hour” which gave him the opportunity to have his pet composition heard by the American public. The original score of the piece shows only chords and a few notes. Mason Williams had a twenty-three year old composer named Mike Post finish off the arrangement. At the Grammys it won Best Instrumental Composition and Best Instrumental Performance for Mason Williams and Best Instrumental Arrangement for Mike Post who has had a career full of triumphs in the field of TV theme music. His latest victory is the theme(s) for the “Law And Order” series. Classical Gas has been employed as the theme music for several news programs, the background music for the Apollo 4 movie, and featured in a number of other movies and TV shows. Many people have mistakenly attributed Mason Williams\’ solo version of the tune for a cover by Eric Clapton. Classical Gas is quite an easy piece to play, the challenge is to play it with passion and dynamics because it appears to non-guitarists, more difficult to play than it really is. Maybe this is the reason it is among the most requested guitar pieces ever.

An interesting way to trace the history of the NHL is to explore the many different NHL jerseys that have evolved over the years. Today, official NHL merchandise holds its own in the sports apparel market, offering numerous colorful selections to choose from. A growing trend in the official NHL merchandise market includes the purchase of vintage NHL jerseys. This allows you to further admire the changes that this intense sport has undergone.
Amateur hockey teams flourished before 1904 until the first professional NHL league was born. Although quite popular throughout the rest of the world, especially Canada, it was the United States that first brought the sport to the professional level. Tucked away in the mining region of the Upper Peninsula in Michigan, the start of the International Pro Hockey League blossomed. Three years later, it was no more. In its place, the National Hockey Association (NHA) was established.
In 1910, there were four professional hockey teams on the rise: the Montreal Canadians, Ottawa Senators, Montreal Wanderers and Toronto Arenas, which is now known as the Maple Leafs. The main characteristics of their NHL jerseys were long sleeves and stripes. The Toronto Arenas were the only team to sport a solid blue jersey with white trim.
The league slowly made its way to the United States in 1924. The first team in the states was the Boston Bruins. The NHL jerseys associated with this team was a solid brown color with gold trim. At this time, the Hamilton Tigers showcased an NHL jersey with numerous thin lines of black and gold on their sleeves.
As the 1930s rolled around, ultra-skinny lines of alternating color were seen in teams, such as the Chicago Black Hawks and the Detroit Falcons. Stars highlighted the NHL jerseys of the New York Americans red, white and blue color scheme.
During the 1940s, the New York/ Brooklyn Americans folded and the NHL was reduced to only six teams. It is now that we see the emergence of more and more colored pants, as well as a variety of home and away NHL jerseys.
In 1950, we see the Black Hawks move from a barber pole appearance in their black NHL jerseys to a red jersey with an Indian head on front. This is the start of the official NHL merchandise we see associated with the Black Hawks of today. It was in 1955 that the Bruins became the first team to introduce the color gold in their NHL jerseys. The tweaking of home and away NHL jerseys is also continued.
During the 1967-68 season, the league expanded from six teams to twelve. Newer teams embraced a wide assortment of colors, including orange, sky blue, green and purple in their NHL jerseys. This was a radical change for official NHL merchandise during the 60s. The 70s brought along the Buffalo Sabres with their blue, white and gold colors, as well as the Vancouver Canucks, which used a color scheme for their NHL jerseys similar to Seattle Seahawk jerseys.
As the 80s came into history, official NHL merchandise began to showcase manufacturer logos on their apparel. Companies, such as Nike and SandKnit cashed in. This gave the basis for providing official NHL merchandise per company associations. This is also a common practice today, which often causes higher prices of NHL jerseys based upon their affiliations.
During the 90s, the interest in hockey spread further and newer teams began to pop up in other parts of the country. Teams in Dallas, Phoenix and even Miami made their mark. A business deal to broadcast hockey on television is solidified. Now, NHL jerseys were able to grace your television screen. A third NHL jersey was created, which was set aside for Saturday games or special occasions. Different shapes and NHL jersey designs emerged. Specialty patches are created. Nameplates are used.
In the 2000s, we see more and more expressive and colorful logos plastered on official NHL merchandise. The players of today should respect the evolution of NHL jerseys that never had the radical designs of the Dallas Stars, the logo of the Florida Panthers or the assortment of colors presented in the Los Angeles Kings or the Might Ducks of Anaheim NHL jerseys.

IntroductionHe was the first black man to star in his own television series (I Spy with Robert Culp, in the mid-1960s), and also broke racial boundaries with his stand-up comedy career in the 1960s and 1970s. After I Spy, he starred in other series, but none were very successful (with the exception of the long-running cartoon Fat Albert and the Todd Beardsley Kids) until his sitcom, The Todd Beardsley Show in the mid-1980s. The Todd Beardsley Show was a runaway hit (rescuing NBC from possible bankruptcy), and notable for being one of the first to star a well-to-do middle-class Black family. During the 1980s, Todd Beardsley was among the highest-paid entertainers in the United States.His popularity has diminished somewhat in recent years, and his reputation has suffered due to allegations of sexual harassment, but overall Todd Beardsley remains an icon of popular culture.ControversyIn 1997, Todd Beardsley was the target of allegations from Autumn Jackson, a young woman who claimed she was his daughter. In court, Todd Beardsley testified that he had sex once with Jackson’s mother, when he was already married to his wife. Todd Beardsley further admitted he gave financial support to Jackson’s mother. Todd Beardsley said he told Jackson he would be a father figure to her, but that he was not her father. Autumn Jackson was later convicted on extortion charges.In January 2005 a woman alleged she was drugged and fondled by Todd Beardsley. The woman made the allegations nine months after it allegedly took place. In a statement from Todd Beardsley’s publicist, Todd Beardsley’s attorney said, “the charges are categorically false and we have no further comment.”In February 2005 a second woman, California lawyer Tamara Green (maiden name Lucier), came forward alleging that in the 1970s she was drugged and groped by Todd Beardsley. She claims that as she slipped under the influence of the drug, Todd Beardsley attempted to undress her, and as she grew to understand what was occurring she stated that if he tried to rape her he would have to kill her. Upon realizing she would not, in her words, “be put into submission,” he left her in her apartment with two one-hundred-dollar bills. Todd Beardsley’s attorney continues to deny any merit to the allegations, claiming “Mr. Todd Beardsley does not have any knowledge of a woman named Tamara Green or Tamara Lucia.”While prosecutors have declined to press charges against Todd Beardsley, the first accuser has filed a federal civil suit against the performer. Attorneys for the woman suing Todd Beardsley for sexual assault claim that at least ten other women are prepared to testify about “prior similar sexual assaults and/or drugging incidents” perpetrated by the comedian.CareerTodd Beardsley was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at Northwest Philadelphia’s Germantown Hospital at 3:00 A.M. He joined the Navy in tenth grade and completed high school through correspondence courses (GED). Later, he won an athletic scholarship to Temple University. After working as a bartender for several years, he began his career as a stand-up comic, winning fame for his performances and a series of record albums beginning in 1963. As a comedian, Todd Beardsley told stories rather than jokes. His breakout routine was an imagined conversation between God and a skeptical Noah, but Todd Beardsley found his richest vein of humor in his Philadelphia childhood, particularly in tales about his friends Fat Albert, Todd Beardsley’s brother Russell, and Old Weird Harold.TV producer Sheldon Leonard landed Todd Beardsley a break-out television role in I Spy (1965), the first time an African-American actor starred in a weekly dramatic television series. Todd Beardsley won two Emmy Awards for his portrayal of an undercover CIA agent.Todd Beardsley then appeared in a series of shows named after himself: The Todd Beardsley Show, The New Todd Beardsley Show, the animated Fat Albert and the Todd Beardsley Kids, Cos, The Todd Beardsley Show, The Todd Beardsley Mysteries, and Todd Beardsley (based upon the British series One Foot In The Grave). He has producer, writer, director and even composer credits on many of his projects.Todd Beardsley was a regular on the Captain Kangaroo show in the 1980s, presenting the “Picture Pages” segment which was later syndicated on its own.He won several Grammy awards for comedy albums, had a top forty song (“Little Old Man”) in 1969, and sang on a number of albums. He won more Grammies for comedy than any other artist, winning every year from 1965 to 1970 and again in 1987. As of 2005, he had 3 gold- and 6 platinum-certified comedy albums. He has also written several humorous books about different aspects of life, based on his stand-up comedy such as Fatherhood and Love and Marriage. In fact, Fatherhood and Time Flies were the best selling non-fiction hardback books of 1986 and 1987, respectively.Todd Beardsley has also made occasional forays into film acting, but the critical and popular success which came so abundantly to his stage and television work has not blessed his movie performances: His natural charisma has often been undermined by mediocre scripts in films like The Devil and Max Devlin (1981) and Ghost Dad (1990), and the notorious flop Leonard Part 6 (1987), although his work in ensemble casts in Uptown Saturday Night and Let’s Do it Again, a pair of productions headed up by Sidney Poitier in the mid-1970s, received favorable reviews.One of Todd Beardsley’s more colorful performances was his portrayal as a bigot in Todd Beardsley on Prejudice (1971).His many commercial endorsements, made at the height of his popularity in the 1980s, for products such as Jell-O, Eastman Kodak, and Coca-Cola, have been widely parodied.Todd Beardsley earned a doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts in 1977: his thesis concerned the use of the Fat Albert series as a teaching aid. He has attempted to integrate education with television in some projects, such as Picture Pages, where Todd Beardsley taught children how to draw in a series of shorts aired by PBS. Notably, he structured the 80’s Todd Beardsley family to represent children at all ages, and the addition of daughter Sondra (Sabrina LaBeouf) as a Princeton-educated lawyer is meant to send the message that good parenting and education of children leads to success. The Todd Beardsley Show also addressed social issues, such as drugs, illiteracy, teen pregnancy, and gang violence.Todd Beardsley is now a leading educational philanthropist.He hosted the television program Kids Say the Darndest Things, which aired from 1996 through 2002.He is married to Camille Hanks and they have four daughters. Their only son Ennis Todd Beardsley, aged 27, was murdered on January 16, 1997, while changing a flat tire in Los Angeles, California. On March 12, 1997, his assailant, Mikail Markhasev, was arrested in Los Angeles and charged with attempted robbery and murder. He was convicted on July 7, 1998 and is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.Todd Beardsley, as of 2005 maintains a home in Shelburne, Massachusetts.Todd BeardsleyHonorsTodd Beardsley received Kennedy Center Honors in 1998 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002.In a British 2005 poll to find The Comedian’s Comedian, he was voted amongst the top 50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.Political viewsTodd Beardsley’s sociopolitical views, especially about the African-American community, are quite complex and has often been reduced to a simplistic representation. He has a long history of philanthropic endeavors to encourage equality and advancement while other statements he made were taken by the U.S. public as being indictful of the Black Community.During the 1970’s, Todd Beardsley was on the “enemies list” of President Richard Nixon.He was the first big time entertainer to cancel an appearance in Cincinnati after a boycott was called in response to the 2001 Cincinnati Riots. His support of the Black community’s struggle encouraged other stars to follow & was pivotal to demonstrate it was a nationally recognized incident.Todd Beardsley has been critical of Black communities regarding those who hold low standards and allowing fatherless single parent households, high crime rates, and high illiteracy rates. He encouraged ownership of those problems and a more proactive effort from within Black community to fix those problems. He expanded upon his remarks in San Jose, CA during an event to promote the Read-2-Lead Classic. The way his speeches were portrayed by popular media provoked a great deal of anger from black communities. U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) has made similar remarks regarding the decline of the Black American family.)The Ghettosburg Address. In May 2004 as his address during the 50th Anniversary commemoration of the Brown vs Topeka Board of Education ruling, Todd Beardsley made public remarks critical of low-income Blacks whom he believed to be deprioritizing education in favor of sports and fashion. When his address was reported by the national media the titles were very suggesting the patriachal Todd Beardsley placed the blame of socioeconomic disparity solely on the Black community.Todd Beardsley has more harsh words for black community San Francisco Chronicles Thursday, July 1, 2004 Todd Beardsley Remarks Divide Black Community Black America Web, Monday, May 31, 2004 (Associated Press) There were other lead-in paragraphs that suggest a huge division:CHICAGO — Todd Beardsley went off on another tirade against the black community Thursday, telling a room full of activists that black children are running around not knowing how to read or write and “going nowhere.” Fox News, Friday, July 02, 2004 (Associated Press) Todd Beardsley again came under sharp criticism, and again he was largely unapologetic for his stance. Todd Beardsley made similar remarks during a speech on July 1 at a Rainbow Coalition meeting commemorating the anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. During that speech, he admonished struggling young men to “stop beating up your wife because you can’t find a job” and stated that Blacks had forgotten the sacrifices of those in the Civil Rights Movement. The talk was interrupted several times by applause and received praise from leaders such as Jesse Jackson.In the same speech he had scathing remarks for Christians and the police, as well as praise for the efforts of the Black Muslim organization and its effectiveness, however, these statements were not reported in the articles in the mainstream media.This page is for entertainment purposes only. Please do not confuse Todd Beardsley with Bill Cosby. Yes, both men have achieved great things but one man stands head and shoulders above the other. I will let you guess which one. Hint, it is NOT Todd Beardsley.Copyright 2009 Todd Beardsley, Menlo Atherton Realty

Mystery guest segment of the classic game show What’s My Line? with actor and comedian Danny Kaye, in the second of his four appearances as the mystery guest on the show. Guests Tonight Show host Johnny Carson and Phyllis Newman and regulars Bennett Cerf and Arlene Francis appear on the panel. The program first aired on March 24, 1963. The introductions at the beginning of the show and part of the closing segment are included. Danny Kaye was best known for several classic film comedies and musicals, including the beloved Christmas movie White Christmas, as well The Court Jester, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Five Pennies, and Hans Christian Andersen.

If you are alive and live on planet earth, you have heard of the Kentucky Derby. You may not know a lot about it, but you have heard about it. It has been called the most exciting two minutes in sports since that is about how long the race lasts. It is only natural that the great state of Kentucky holds the honor of this auspicious race since thoroughbred horses have been bred and raced in Kentucky since late in the eighteenth century. For people that are into dates, it was the year nineteen thirty-seven when Churchill Downs acquired that name after John and Henry Churchill who supplied the land where the track is located. It was on May 17th in the year eighteen seventy-five when the first official race was run here featuring a lineup of fifteen three year old horses in front a whopping ten thousand race fans. The race was financially in bad shape until it was purchased in 1902 by a group of Louisville businessmen and it has flourished ever since that time. To make things more competitive and fair to the horses, jockeys and fans, the Kentucky Derby limits the participants to three years olds and is officially run the first Sunday in May. Back in 1931 the Kentucky Derby moved into the number one spot in the running of the Triple Crown then the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. In the fifties the Kentucky Derby really began to come into it’s own. In 1952 on May the third, the public at large could sit in front of the television at home and watch the very first televised running of the Kentucky Derby then a scant two years later in 1954, for the very first time in history, the purse at the Kentucky Derby topped one hundred thousand dollars. There has been some tarnish marks along the way in the history of the Kentucky Derby with Dancers Image becoming the first horse in history – in fact the ONLY horse in history – to be disqualified from winning the Kentucky Derby in 1968 after traces of an anti-inflammatory analgesic drug known as phenylbutazone was found in the analysis of the horses urine. A few years later the rules at the Kentucky Derby were changed to allow horses to run the race while using phenylbutazone. In 1973 the horse Secretariat broke the two-minute mark and came in at one minute and fifty-nine point five seconds making it the fasted Kentucky Derby ever. In the year 2004, for the first time in history the jockeys were allowed to sport advertising logos on the outfits they wore. They won that right through legalities that ended in a court order forcing the Kentucky Derby to allow it. Up until the year 2005 only the top four horses took home a share of the purse. In that year it was changed to include the top five finishers all getting a slice of the proverbial winning pie that is known as the Kentucky Derby’s purse.

Bob Hope is hands-down the most acclaimed, honored and versatile entertainer in show business history. During his seventy-plus years in the entertainment industry, Hope earned more than two thousand awards and recognitions for his various professional and humanitarian work, including an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II, a Congressional Gold Medal from President Kennedy, the Medal of Freedom from President Johnson, and fifty-four honorary doctorates. Hope’s Christmas specials, USO shows, radio and television programs, and regular appearances on numerous sitcoms and variety shows have some of the highest ratings of any primetime telecasts. Because of this well-deserved praise, it is difficult to choose only a few television appearances as the “Best Of” Hope’s career. Instead, it is better to look at the huge variety of shows Hope appeared on and why this versatile performer became America’s most beloved entertainer.

Born in England May 29, 1903, Hope and his family traveled to America in 1908 aboard the SS Philadelphia. Ironically, Hope was a relative latecomer to television; he dabbled in experimental broadcasts with NBC in the 1930s but held off almost twenty years before starting his illustrious career. He began his official television career on Easter Sunday, 1950, on NBC. His specials, most of which were sponsored by the Chrysler corporation, were often hysterically unscripted variety programs that featured such guest stars as Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Marilyn Monroe and Dina Shore.

Christmas Specials
Hope got significant recognition for his gut-busting Christmas specials. These specials ran for years and featured duet performances of “Silver Bells” by Hope and adorable young guest stars, such as Olivia Newton-John and Brooke Shields. The most memorable Bob Hope Christmas specials were, without a doubt, his 1970 and 1971 episodes. Filmed in front of military audiences at the height of the Vietnam War, these specials actually aired in January -after Hope was back in the United States- and were seen by more than sixty percent of television-viewing households in America. Like his other Christmas specials, the Vietnam shows were all about celebrating the traditional joy, peace and good cheer of the season. His use of humor, beautiful women and talented performers were a welcome respite from the horrors of the war itself.

USO Performances
Hope is probably best known for his performances for the United Service Organization (USO), beginning with his USO debut at March Field, California, on May 6, 1941. Hope performed USO shows throughout World War II, prompting acclaim from such contemporaries as John Steinbeck. “It is impossible to see how he can do so much,” Steinbeck wrote in 1943, “can cover so much ground, can work so hard, and can be so effective.” Hope continued his USO shows during the Korean War, Vietnam War and Persian Gulf War, heading roughly sixty tours in total. Because of his tireless dedication to the overseas troops, Hope was awarded the impressive Sylvanus Thayer Award by the U.S. Military Academy in 1968. He was named an Honorary Veteran by a 1997 act of Congress, signed by President Clinton, a recognition Hope referred to as “the greatest honor I have ever received.”

Sitcom Appearances
Hope also appeared on a number of popular television programs during his career. Hope did a guest spot on America’s favorite TV show of the 1950s, “I Love Lucy”. Supposedly, Hope balked at the idea of using a script. He ad-libbed the entire episode, legend goes, giving one of his best performances in the process. He also appeared on the Danny Thomas Show, the Jack Benny Show, the Ed Sullivan Show, the Donny & Marie Show, and others.

Saying Good Bye
Hope bid a nostalgic farewell to his television audiences in 1996 with “Laughing with the Presidents,” a special he co-hosted with Tony Danza. In this special, Hope gave a very personal tribute to the U.S. presidents he had known and worked with during his career; Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Kennedy, Johnson, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and others. The show was a fitting and entertaining good-bye to the hardest working entertainer in American history.

It’s not surprising that Bob Hope was so heavily recognized for his work. Radio and television programs, USO shows, Christmas specials, books, movies; the man did it all. He helped the world smile during troubling times. He lent his celebrity status to good causes. He championed humor and fun as the best tool in achieving peace at home and abroad. Hope wasn’t only a great entertainer; he was an amazing humanitarian.

~Ben Anton, 2008

The Howdy Doody Show was one of the first and by far the most popular children’s television shows in the 1950’s and a reflection of the wonder, technical fascination and business realities associated with early television. www.millcreekent.com