America’s 250th birthday is coming up in July, so over the next few months Balladeer’s Blog will take a look at various anniversary years. Last month I did 1826, so this time it’s 1876. Next will be 1926 and 1976.
Centennial Mirror
1876
U.S. President: Ulysses S. Grant Vice President: Vacant. Henry Wilson had died on Nov 22nd, 1875 and the 25th Amendment requiring a new Vice President to fill any such vacancy would not be passed until 1967. Speaker of the House: Michael C. Kerr Chief Justice: Morrison R. Waite
Number of Senators: 76 Number of House Representatives: 293 Number of Supreme Court Justices: 9
JANUARY
12th – Future writer Jack London is born.
13th – Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, noted for his anti-slavery position even before the U.S. Civil War, passes away.
26th – The Northampton Bank in Massachusetts is robbed of $1,600,000 (worth $49,400,000 here in 2026), the largest such robbery in U.S. history at the time. The robbery was planned by America’s “King of the Bank Robbers” George Leonidas Leslie. George Leslie was involved in an astonishing EIGHTY PERCENT of U.S. bank robberies from 1869-1878.
After this caper, Leslie broke ties with accomplices Thomas Dunlap and Robert Scott over their gratuitous use of violence since George preferred bloodless affairs.
FEBRUARY
Exact Date Unknown – The first issue of the satirical publication The Harvard Lampoon is nailed to a tree on campus.
2nd – The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs is formed. Significantly, the organization replaced the National Association of Baseball Players, setting the stage for owner and management abuse of players. Continue reading
CAPTAIN VICTORY 
Powers: Captain Victory (No relation to the Jack Kirby character of that name) could fly and had massive super strength. The upper limits of his flying abilities and his strength were never established before the character disappeared. 
LIGHTNING GIRL 
LEMMINGS: DEAD IN CONCERT (1973) – This is not a review of the original, legendary National Lampoon stage version of Lemmings from January of 1973. Instead, it’s a review of the filmed special of a live performance of the slightly reworked stage show. 
The accompanying documentary about the multi-day event, filmed while it was happening, captured the experience for subsequent generations whether we wanted to see it or not. I’m KIDDING! If you had or have siblings, parents, grandparents, etc. from the 60s generation it’s possible that – like happened to me – they shared the documentary with you so many times you felt like you’d seen Woodstock more often than Charlton Heston’s character in Omega Man. 
TARGET (1958) – This syndicated 30-minute suspense anthology series was hosted by the one and only Adolphe Menjou. It was a Ziv production and ran for 38-41 episodes, depending on which online source you go by. 
When we left off last time, Medea’s Aunt Circe had informed her that in order to stop the vendetta the Furies were waging against her, Jason, Orpheus and the rest of the Argonauts Medea must be purified from the taint of betraying her father and killing her brother through rites performed by Orpheus and the Meliae – the ash-tree nymphs who nursed the infant Zagreus (in this Orphic version).
ATTACK OF THE BEAST CREATURES (1983)- Category: A neglected bad movie classic that deserves a Plan 9-sized cult following. 
DR. DEATH (195?-195?) – Ted Knight, famous for his roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Too Close for Comfort is among the surprising names who worked in the American folk art of Movie Hosting. Yes, just as Tim Conway played Ghoulardi’s sidekick and Gary Busey was Mazeppa’s sidekick; just as Pat Sajak wrote for Nashville’s Phantom of the Opry, Bill O’Reilly for Uncle Ted and Tom Snyder for Bob Hersh’s Movie Host the Advisor, Ted Knight is in the mix as well. 
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