America’s 250th birthday is mere days away and as we honor men and women from long, long ago the current heat wave should remind us that Willis H. Carrier, the inventor of modern air conditioning, is truly the lion of the hour.
In 1902 Carrier invented the first electrical air conditioning unit. Thirteen years later, he founded Carrier Corporation which specialized in heating, ventilation and air conditioning, the HVAC we all take for granted. Continue reading
Filed under Neglected History, opinion
Previously, Balladeer’s Blog has covered several American privateer vessels of the Revolutionary War. As our 250th birthday approaches, I’ll take a look at one of our privateer ships from the War of 1812.
THE CHASSEUR – This vessel was granted its Letter of Marque to prey on British shipping and take prizes on February 23rd, 1813. The Chasseur had 16 cannon and a crew of 160.
From July 1813 to Christmas of that year, William Wade captained this ship as it ran through the British blockade the previous month and was looking for prey in the West Indies come July. The Chasseur seized between 6-11 British vessels during this cruise. Continue reading
Filed under Neglected History
RONALD THE GHOUL, real name Jerry Sandford, hosted the WVEC Norfolk and Hampton, Virginia version of Shock Theater on Friday nights at 11:30.
Sandford’s character Ronald was sort of an homage to the macabre yet comical Roland Zacherley, who went simply by Roland before changing to Zacherley the Cool Ghoul.
Jerry Sandford’s Shock Theater had its own Maurice the Cool Ghoul (Frank Van), who was a beatnik ghoul and wore a monster mask in the show’s early years but then donned a beret and a goatee to enhance his beatnik image. Completing Ronald’s supporting cast was Vicki McKee as the beauty to Ronald and Maurice’s beasts.
When Sandford left the U.S. Navy, he became a radio announcer on WVEC Radio in the Norfolk-Hampton area in 1957. During 1959 he moved over to WVEC Television, hosting the children’s program Bungles the Clown Monday through Friday and taking to the airwaves as Ronald on Fridays at 11:30pm. Continue reading
Filed under Bad and weird movies, Movie Hosts
Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog starts July with this current events roundup.
MOTHER OF DAUGHTER KILLED BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT DARES DEMOCRATS TO LOOK HER IN THE EYE AND EXPLAIN WHY THEY FEEL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN HER LATE DAUGHTER. More HERE. Jessica Gorman also pointed out that President Trump’s political allies are the only ones who care about preventing what happened to her daughter from happening to anyone else, saying “I don’t understand why it is only the Republican side that cares about our American children,”. Yes, the Democrat motto remains “Illegal immigrants uber alles.”
ODDBALL DAY YESTERDAY NEWS-WISE ESPECIALLY WITH BOTH SIDES FEELING SMACKED BY THE SUPREME COURT, SO HERE ARE SOME FLASHBACKS TO LIGHTEN THE MOOD.
Back in 2017 when rational people were first getting fully exposed to the deranged anti-Donald Trump hysteria from Democrats I made a blog post joking about how obsessive their Trump hatred was. When they removed video of Trump in a harmless cameo in Home Alone 2 I facetiously said they would soon “ADD Trump to old media”, as in this scene from M*A*S*H.
RADAR: Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Blake’s plane … was shot down by Donald Trump … over the Sea of Japan … it spun in … there were no survivors.
I also mentioned the new Democrat attempt at a joke book:
Q: Why did the chicken cross the road? A: To get away from Trump.
Q: Why does a fireman wear red suspenders? A: As a clear rebuke to the Trump administration. Continue reading
Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at another college whose teams have a more inventive name than the overused Eagles, Tigers, Bulldogs and Wildcats.
DRAKE STATE TECHNICAL COLLEGE Continue reading
Filed under Cool names and cool logos
CAVALCADE OF AMERICA (1952-1955) – This terrific 30-minute anthology series dramatized real-life events in U.S. history from the Revolutionary War onward. Sometimes fictional works appropriate for the series would be presented as well. Even if you don’t want to watch the show you can just pick out historical names below and look them up online.
STANDOUT EPISODES: 1952-1953
POOR RICHARD – Benjamin Franklin and John Adams surreptitiously delay pretended negotiations with General William Howe for an America surrender just to help buy time for General George Washington’s withdrawal from New York. Starring Dabbs Greer, Alan Napier and Henry Brandon.
ALL’S WELL WITH LYDIA – Lydia Darragh, a Quaker widow living in Philadelphia, obtains information about an imminent British attack and risks her life to get that information to General Washington. Thus prepared, Washington and his troops manage to hold on against the Redcoats at White Marsh from December 5th-8th, 1777. Howe, Cornwallis and their Hessian ally Knyphausen are forced to retreat back to Philadelphia. Ruth Warrick of Citizen Kane plays Lydia. With Reginald Denny.
THE MAN WHO TOOK A CHANCE – Inventor and entrepreneur Eli Whitney (Richard Denning) pioneers interchangeable parts in muskets to keep Americans armed and ready against any European encroachment long after the Revolutionary War. Continue reading
Filed under Forgotten Television, Neglected History
GEORGE C. ADAMS – As part of Balladeer’s Blog’s seasonal posts headed into America’s 250th birthday I recently reviewed the 1970s miniseries The Adams Chronicles – Part One HERE and Part Two HERE. Those two blog posts were so popular I decided to do another Adams, but one who stands out not for nation-defining political accomplishments but for college football.
George Caspar Adams was born on April 24th, 1863. His father was John Quincy Adams the Second and his mother was Frances Crowninshield-Adams, as in the Crowninshield ancestors of the Washington Post‘s Ben Bradlee.
In 1882 George graduated from the Adams Academy, which was founded by America’s 2nd President John Adams. From there he entered Harvard University, graduating in 1886. Despite the high brow reputation of most Adamses, George made the Harvard Crimson football team, playing Halfback on Offense and Rushing End on Defense. Continue reading
Filed under Neglected History
Start your Monday with a current events roundup from Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog.
HAVING DRIVEN MOST REASONABLE PEOPLE OUT OF THEIR POLITICAL PARTY, DEMOCRATS NOW BATTLE OVER WHO CAN BE THE MOST HATEFUL TOWARD AMERICAN CITIZENS. Mamdani and his fellow hatemongers are on the march.
EVEN DEMOCRAT JAMES CARVILLE ADMITS IT MAY BE TIME FOR A SCHIZM IN THE DEMOCRAT PARTY OVER THE UNHINGED MAMDANI WING ACCELERATING THE DEPARTURE OF RATIONAL PEOPLE FROM THE PARTY. He says “I can’t be in the same party” and more.
IN DEMOCRAT-HELD MINNESOTA, A SCHOOL BOARD WORKER CALLS FOR HAVING DOGS URINATE ON THE GRAVES OF WHITE CHRISTIANS. Do you get the feeling that James Carville’s far too late?
DEMOCRATS CONTINUE TO HATEMONGER ABOUT CELEBRATING AMERICA’S 250th BIRTHDAY IN TEN STATES. More HERE.
TWO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS SENTENCED TO OVER SIX YEARS FOR ATM TARGETING CONSPIRACY TIED TO TREN DE ARAGUA. Yet the top priority for Democrats remains keeping criminals like this in the country.
PRESIDENT TRUMP PRAISED FOR HIS PROGRESS IN ENDING CORRUPTION IN THE BIDDING FOR GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS. Another reason why America’s most corrupt and compromised political figures hate Trump. Continue reading
With America’s 250th birthday fast approaching, Balladeer’s Blog has been looking at national history using 50-year milestones. Previously I did 1826, and 1876, and 1926. This time it’s 1976.
1976
U.S. President: Gerald Ford Vice President: Nelson Rockefeller Speaker of the House: Carl Albert Chief Justice: Warren Burger
Number of Senators: 100 Number of House Representatives: 435 Number of Supreme Court Justices: 9
JANUARY
1st – The ROSE BOWL GAME was played between the UCLA Bruins from the Pacific 8 (Pac 8) Conference and the Ohio State Buckeyes from the Big Ten Conference. A 3-0 Buckeyes lead at Halftime turned into a 23-10 Bruins victory in the end.
Also the 1st – The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia is moved from Independence Hall to its own pavilion to accommodate tourism for America’s 200th Anniversary year.
4th – The musical comedy Home Sweet Homer, an adaptation of The Odyssey, does so poorly it opens AND closes on Broadway this same night. Continue reading
Filed under Neglected History, opinion
FROM JUNE 7th, 2016:
Obama at his most presidential
Vaclav Klaus once made this remark which nicely captures the weak, inept and crooked little man named Barack Obama as well as the shallow, mindless, unquestioning supporters of this Hollow Man.
That quote: “The danger to America is not Barack Obama, but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. Continue reading
Filed under Neglected History, opinion
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