April 15th is not only known to be the dreaded day that your income tax returns are due, but it’s also known (on a happier note) in the sports world as Jackie Robinson Day.
April 15, 1947 was the day that Jackie Robinson made his major league debut as a Brooklyn Dodger (now known as the Los Angeles Dodgers). He was the first black major league baseball player of the modern era.
I had the opportunity to visit the Dodger stadium on April 9, 2011 while on a Mystery Tour of Los Angeles and the highlight of the tour was a behind the scenes look at the ballpark from a point of view that many people don’t get to see.
The tour started at the top deck level so we could take in an overall view of the stadium, it took us into the Vin Scully press box, through the hallways that feed the different box suites and down to the field and dugout area. The last part of the tour took us through some more corridors past a framed number 42 jersey, the number worn by famed player Jackie Robinson and to a very large wall of Dodger player names. Jackie’s name was right in the middle.
The Mickey Mouse Club and Beach Blanket Bingo had one thing in common, Annette Funicello starred in both and in my opinion, made them what they were.
I grew up watching both, first the Mickey Mouse Club when I was in my youth and then the Beach Blanket Bingo series in my teens.
Rather than me rehash what’s already out there online, I’ve included links to some interesting sites about Annette:
This is a video from Annette Funicello’s website and is titled: “Annette’s Story: A Hollywood legend’s struggles with multiple sclerosis”. http://www.ctvnews.ca/video?playlistId=1.985726
Back when I was in my youth, someone (probably my mom) had shown me and my siblings this Origami Fortune Teller toy that had us kids thoroughly entertained. I call it an Origami Fortune Teller for lack of a better name, because I honestly don’t remember what it was called, so during my research, that was one of the many names I found. Wikipedia calls it a Paper Fortune Teller, Cootie Catcher, Chatterbox, Salt Cellar & Whirlybird.
So what is this Origami Fortune Teller you ask? In basic terms, it’s a square piece of paper that’s folded into the shape shown below.
In researching this, I found site after site showing how to fold, how to use and how to design the Origami Fortune Teller. It’s funny to see that this simple, kid craft has survived from my childhood as well as the 85 years since it’s inception back in 1928 and is still going strong.
The following video shows one of the ways to use the Origami Fortune Teller:
I actually started this post about a week ago and I was just about ready to go public with it this past Monday, March 10, 2013, but just as I was putting the finishing touches on it, I lost the whole posting, so I had to start from scratch again. It could have been because I was trying to change the look of my blog (okay, it was directly related to my fiddling with the blog). Bummer! : |
During the 60′s through 80′s and probably 90′s too, I figure that I probably watched the majority of programming on television at one time or another, just because when using an aerial antenna on your roof, you don’t get a lot of channels, certainly not like the hundreds of channels that are available today on cable, satellite and fiber optic.
Anyway, it’s fun to look back on some of those old shows on reruns and compare what those actors, actresses and singers look like today. I must say, some of them have aged better than others.
Boy George – Singer / Songwriter – Karma Chameleon
Barbara Eden – Actress – I Dream of Jennie
Ron Howard – Actor – Opie Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show
David McCallum – Actor – Man From U.N.C.L.E. & currently on N.C.I.S.
Diana Rigg – Actress – The Avengers
Audrey Hepburn – Actress – Breakfast at Tiffany’s – My Fair Lady
Julie Andrews – Actress – The Sound of Music
Olivia Newton John – Singer / Actress – Grease – Also past owner of Koala Blue a clothes store
James Taylor – Singer / Songwriter – Fire and Rain, You’ve Got a Friend
Joan Rivers – Comedian
Robert Wagner – Actor – It Takes a Thief
John Travolta – Actor – Welcome Back Kotter, Grease, Saturday Night Fever
Arnold Schwarzenegger – Body Builder, Actor, Governor – Terminator, Total Recall, True Lies
Sylvester Stallon – Actor – Rocky, Rambo, Cliff hanger
What do Bobby Vee, Selena, A Taste of Honey, Snoop Dogg, the Wii Music Video characters (and more), have in common?
They all performed their own version of the 1960′s song, “Sukiyaki”, originally sung in Japanese by Kyu Sakamoto. Granted, Snoop Dogg didn’t actually sing the full song, but parts of it were incorporated into one of his own songs and sung by his back-up singers.
Back in the 1960′s, we had an old wood cabinet that had a record player built into it. I remember it had a pull out drawer which the turntable sat on. I couldn’t find a photo of the player we had, but it was similar to the photo below.
Anyway, I use to play 45 and 33 rpm records on this record player all the time, it was our primary stereo back then (hmm, I don’t even know if it was stereo). I had the 45 rpm version of “Sukiyaki” which I played over and over again, till I wore the grooves off the vinyl disk. At the time, I had no idea that this song would hit the coveted number one spot on the United States Billboard Hot 100 in June of 1963. It still remains the only Japanese-language song to ever reach the number one position on the Billboard Pop Charts in the United States.
Kyu Sakamoto was born Hisashi Oshima on November 10, 1941. He was a Japanese singer and actor, best known outside of Japan for his international hit song “Sukiyaki”, which was sung in Japanese and sold over 13 million copies. Actually, “Sukiyaki” was not the original name of the song that he performed in Japan, but, “Ue O Muite Aruko” or “I Look Up When I Walk”, which was written by Rokusuke Ei and Hachidai Nakamura. Louis Benjamin which was the owner of a British record company, Pye Records, changed the name due to concerns that English speakers would have trouble pronouncing it or remembering it. The name “Sukiyaki” is used to describe a Japanese dish that usually consists of beef. It is referred to as “Beef Hot Pot” or “Beef Stew”. The “Sukiyaki” name has no actual connection to the song.
Sakamoto died on August 12, 1985 on a domestic flight from Tokyo International Airport to Oasaka International Airport. Just 12 minutes into the flight, the plane suffered mechanical failures and 32 minutes later crashed into Mount Takamagahara in Ueno, Gunma Prefecture, 62 miles from Tokyo.
A Taste of Honey performs “Sukiyaki” on the TV program Solid Gold, 1980-81 season:
Dutch-Indonesian Blue Diamonnds perform Sukiyak in 1963
Singing group “4 P.M.”, live performance of Sukiyaki
Latin singer Selena sings Sukiyaki in Spanish
Bobby Vee Sings Sukiyaki
Wii Music Video of Sukiyaki (someone has way too much time)
April 15th is not only known to be the dreaded day that your income tax returns are due, but it’s also known (on a happier note) in the sports world as Jackie Robinson Day. 
