The one-mile Chain of Rocks Bridge was supposed to be built straight across the river with five trusses and ten spans, each forty feet wide, connecting Madison, Ill. with the north portion of St. Louis, Mo. However, protests from riverboat captains detailing the likely treacherous conditions navigating the massive concrete piers and the water-intake towers convinced builders to change the plans, and the bridge was built with a bend. Construction finished behind schedule in 1929 but with only single worker killed (ten had been predicted by the chief engineer).
The Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center is located in downtown Madison, Wisconsin, on the shore of Lake Monona. The convention center was originally proposed and designed by architect (and Wisconsin native) Frank Lloyd Wright in 1938, but was rejected by the county board that year (and subsequent proposals by Wright were rejected repeatedly over the next decades).
The proposed project was revisited in 1990, and the convention center was finally completed in 1997, nearly sixty years after Wright initially designed it.
Art Garfunkel majored in architecture and was a fan of Wright. The album Bridge Over Troubled Water, the last the duo recorded together, featured the song “So Long Frank Lloyd Wright” after the pair saw one of his San Francisco houses in 1969.
The song has been interpreted as a goodbye due to repeats of the phrase ‘so long’ following the reminiscence ‘I’ve never laughed so long”. If one listens carefully, one can hear a music producer replying to Garfunkel. The voices were recorded separately on this which also was a new change for the pair and reflected their different ambitions.
The song has some Brazilian influences. The album immediately sold well, has remained one of the most popular over the passage of time, and the namesake song often usually the best of Simon and Garfunkel’s career.
“Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge” was written by Benjamin Britten in 1937. One of his earliest works (Op. 10), it put Britten on the musical map. Bridge was a UK composer and Britten’s teacher.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a 2008 American fantasy drama film, directed by David Fincher. The movie, based on a 1922 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, stars Brad Pitt as a man who ages in reverse throughout his life. The film garnered 13 Academy Award nominations, winning three.
Ross Geller’s young son in the NBC sitcom Friends was named Benjamin, usually referred to as “Ben.” The boy’s grandfather, played by Elliot Gould, once forgot he existed.
Singer/actress Barbra Streisand has been married twice: to actor Elliott Gould (from 1963 until 1971) and actor James Brolin (from 1998 on). In between her marriages to Gould and Brolin, she was in long-term relationships with hair stylist Jon Peters (who later became a producer and film executive), and film composer and producer Richard Baskin.
As noted, Elliott Gould played the father of Ross and Monica on the sitcom Friends. His wife on the show was played by Christina Pickles. Chandler’s mother was played by Morgan Fairchild, and his father was played by Kathleen Turner. Joey’s parents were played by Brenda Vaccaro and Robert Costanzo. Phoebe’s biological parents were played by Teri Garr and Bob Balaban. And Rachel’s parents were played by Marlo Thomas and Ron Leibman.
In 1891, Dr. Alexander John Chandler, the first veterinary surgeon in Arizona Territory, settled on a ranch south of Mesa (today, about 8 miles away), studying irrigation engineering. By 1900, he had acquired 18,000 acres of land, and began drawing up plans for a townsite on what was then known as the Chandler Ranch.
The townsite office opened on May 16, 1912.
Chandler High School was established in 1914.
The town of Chandler AZ incorporated on Feb. 16, 1920, and the good doctor was chosen as the president of the first Town Council and the town’s first mayor.
The surname “Chandler” comes from the word “chandler”, which originally was the person in charge of the candles in a medieval house or office. Eventually the word came to mean someone who made and sold candles; and from there morphed into a term to denote someone who sells ships’ stores and provisions – including the candles used in the lanterns for below-decks lighting.
This a type of name known as an “occupational surname” in which the name originally described a person’s occupation, e.g., John the Baker or James the Miller.
In September of 1981, NFL All-Pro wide receiver John Jefferson refused to play for his team, the San Diego Chargers, during a contract dispute. Three weeks into the season, the Chargers traded Jefferson to the Green Bay Packers for wide receiver Aundra Thompson, plus several draft choices.
One week later, the Chargers traded Thompson again, along with several draft choices, to the New Orleans Saints for another wide receiver, Wes Chandler.
The San Diego Chargers, after a move in early 2017, are now known as the Los Angeles Chargers. The franchise was originally founded in Los Angeles, playing in the inaugural American Football League season in 1960. The Chargers won the Western Division of the AFL, and, with the best record, were prepared to host the first AFL championship game. But with a season average attendance of less than 10,000, and knowing that the game was to be played in the huge Los Angeles Coliseum, AFL and ABC television officials worried about the optics of huge numbers of empty seats. The game was moved to Houston, where the Chargers lost to the Oilers 10-3.
The first Dodge Charger was a concept show car in 1964.
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From 1966 to 1967 the 1st generation Dodge Charger was a two-door fastback with four bucket seats.
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From 1968 to 1970 the 2nd generation Dodge Charger was a two-door sedan with a rear bench seat.
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From 1971 to 1974 the 3rd generation Dodge Charger had a layout similar to the 2nd generation.
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From 1975 to 1978 the 4th generation Dodge Charger was restyled to move the Charger into the growing personal luxury car market segment.
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From 1982 to 1987 the 5th generation Dodge Charger was a front-wheel drive subcompact two-door hatchback coupe. To date this is the only front wheel drive Dodge Charger.
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In 1999 the Dodge Charger R/T concept car was a four-door sport sedan that hid the rear doors so they were not obvious.
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From 2006 to 2010 the 6th generation Dodge Charger returned after a 20 year absence as a four-door sedan that held little resemblance to the 1999 concept.
For the premier of the movie Dodge City, Warner Bros. chartered a special 16-car train that transported at least 36 reporters to Dodge City, KS, for the film’s premiere. Along the way an unscheduled stop was made in Pasadena so that Olivia de Havilland could leave the train and report for work on Gone with the Wind . The studio also sent a Technicolor crew to film the premiere, which was attended by Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. and over 70,000 visitors that had come to the city to celebrate.
Dodge City, KS, now has a population of about 27k, making it the 14th largest city in the state. Established in 1871, it was named after nearby Fort Dodge, which was established to protect travelers on the nearby Santa Fe Trail. Agriculture is the heart of its economy, as two large meat-packing plants are located close to the city, as well as manufacturers of farm equipment. The Boot Hill Museum contains a large number of artifacts dating to the early days of the community, and Front Street is a partial reconstruction of the original town.
Fort Dodge, Kansas was named for General Grenville M. Dodge, who was a pioneer in the field of military intelligence during the Civil War.
In 1866, Dodge retired from the U.S. Army, and became the chief engineer for the Union Pacific Railroad, playing an important role in the development of the Transcontinental Railroad. Dodge was also elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1866, serving one term as a congressman, representing Iowa.
Fred Grandy, who played “Gopher” on The Love Boat, represented Iowa as a Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives for four terms, from 1987-1995.
