The struggle to get the B-29’s bugs worked out, and into production and service, was nicknamed “The Battle of Kansas”. The B-29 program, not the Manhattan Project, was the highest-budget military program in the US during the war.
Glen Campbell phoned Jim Webb asking for a ‘place’ or ‘geographical’ song to follow up his hit “By The Time I Get To Phoenix.” Webb delivered what he regarded and labeled as an incomplete version of a song he was currently writing, and was surprised to encounter Campbell a few weeks later who told him he’d recorded it. In response to Webb’s assertion that ‘it’s not finished’ Campbell replied: 'It is now!" That “unfinished song” was Campbell’s next hit “Wichita Lineman.” And Wichita is still in Kansas, and the Wichita lineman is still on the line.
Richard Harris’ overwrought recording of Jimmy Webb’s “MacArthur Park”, his only venture into the music biz, is primarily responsible for its selection by Dave Barry’s readers as the Worst Song of All Time. The cake is still out in the rain, getting a bit moldy by now …
Cool trivia! BTW, trivia players, I just started a Happy Songs game. I hope you’ll contribute! https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=860477
In play: Glen Campbell performed Mason Williams’ popular instrumental song, Classical Gas, with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra. Originally named “Classical Gasoline”, the song was envisioned to be “fuel” for the classical guitar repertoire. The title was later shortened by a music copyist.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4Ga67EDrKI
Note: another Happy Song for me!
Speaking of songs and gasoline, here are the lyrics to the Colonel Bogey March as sung by Bart Simpson (I may have slightly mis-remembered the words) :
Comet, it makes your teeth turn green,
Comet, it tastes like gasoline—
Comet, it makes you vomit,
So buy some Comet
And vomit,
Today.
“The Colonel Bogey March” became popular due to its use in the film Bridge Over the River Kwai. The British POW’s whistle it as they are marched into the labor camp, and again while building the bridge. Colonel Bogey was a mythical golfer, the imaginary “standard opponent” of the Colonel Bogey scoring system, and by Edwardian times the Colonel had been adopted by the golfing world as the presiding spirit of the course.
John Philip Sousa, called the King Marches, was not a Colonel although he was (and still is! :D) a US Marine. He wrote many marches in his life, and he served two stints in the Marines, from 1868 (at the age of 13!) to 1875, and then from 1880 to 1892. Sousa’s “King Cotton” and “The Fairest of the Fair” marches were written, respectively, for the Cotton States and International Exposition of 1895, and the Boston Food Fair of 1908.
Schuyler Colfax was one of the lesser-known Vice-Presidents (I know, that’s a pretty low bar). A Republican, he had been a strong opponent of slavery, and as Speaker of the House he voted for the 13th Amendment , breaking the tradition that the Speaker normally doesn’t vote.
He served as Vice-President under Grant, elected in 1868. Colfax assumed that Grant would only serve one term, so he started telling his supporters that he would only serve one term as well, to clear his path to his own nomination as President. Then Grant changed his mind and decided to run again, and by that time Henry Wilson was discreetly campaigning for the Veep spot. Colfax lost the nomination for Veep at the Republican convention of 1872, and retired from politics.
His reputation was clouded by the Credit-Mobilier scandal, and he was strongly suspected of having taken bribes prior to votes necessary for the construction of the Union Pacific when he had been in Congress. Since he was no longer holding any office, Congress took no action against him.
The original Union Pacific Railroad company was incorporated as part of an act of Congress on July 1, 1862 entitled the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862. The color scheme utilized on UP locomotives is the oldest still in use by a major railroad. The yellow color is called Armour Yellow as it is was the color used by the Armour Meat Company.
The Armour Meat Company employed the young Dale Carnegie who, representing the South Omaha sales region, became the company’s highest-selling salesman, an experience he drew on in his best-selling book, How to Win Friends and Influence People.
The Green Bay Packers, the only publicly-owned team in the NFL, are so named because founder Curly Lambeau got money for their first uniforms from the Indian Packing Company, local meat purveyors and his employer at the time.
The Indian Motorcycle Company’s first factory was built in 1901 in Springfield MA, and in 1902 the first Indian motorcycle retail sale was made. In 1903 a new land speed record of 56 MPH was achieved on an Indian.
Indian’s most popular models were the Scout, made from 1920 to 1946, and the Chief, made from 1922 until 1953, when the Indian Motocrycle Manufacturing Company went bankrupt. Various organizations tried to perpetuate the Indian brand name in subsequent years, with limited success.
Actress Mary Badham, now 65 years old, was 10 years old when she played Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, daughter to Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). That movie was the film debuts of Robert Duvall (then aged 31) and William Windom (39).
Robert Duvall has received seven Academy Award nominations; four for Best Supporting Actor, and three for Best Actor. He won the Best Actor award in 1983 for his performance in Tender Mercies, in which he portrayed Mac Sledge, a recovering alcoholic country music singer.
Duvall was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of US Marine Corps fighter pilot Lt. Col. Wilbur “Bull” Meechum in The Great Santini (1979).
“Good morning, sports fans!”, his character would say.
Duvall has been nominated for seven Academy Awards. He won Best Actor for his performance in Tender Mercies (1983], as Railer13 shared.
In 1983 Duvall was the only American actor nominated for the Best Actor Oscar; his competition were Britons Michael Caine (who had co-starred with Duvall in the 1976 The Eagle Has Landed), Tom Conti, Tom Courtenay and Albert Finney. During an interview before the Oscar ceremony, Duvall offended some Britons by complaining about “the Limey syndrome,” claiming “the attitude with a lot of people in Hollywood is that what they do in England is somehow better than what we do here.” Duvall, who was presented with the Oscar by country music star Dolly Parton, said of winning the award, “It was a nice feeling, knowing I was the home-crowd favorite.”
Way to go, sports fan.
‘Hello, Dolly!’ is the title song from the 1964 musical of the same name. It was recorded by Louis Armstrong and released as a single. The song rose to #1 on the charts, making the 62-year-old Armstrong the oldest act to top the US charts. Songs by The Beatles had held the #1 slot for the previous 14 weeks.
The song finished #3 for the year on the Billboard Top 100, behind ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ and ‘She Loves You’ by The Beatles, and ahead of ‘Oh, Pretty Woman’ by Roy Orbison.
The title role of Dolly Levi in the 1983 West End revival of Hello Dolly! was played by Danny La Rue, who served in the British Royal Navy as a young man before he became known for his exceptional skills as a female impersonator.
According to the Bible, the Tribe of **Levi **is one of the tribes of Israel, traditionally descended from Levi, son of Jacob. The Tribe of Levi served particular religious duties for the Israelites and had political responsibilities as well. When Joshua led the Israelites into the land of Canaan the Levites were the only Israelite tribe that received cities but were not allowed to be landowners because “the Lord God of Israel is their inheritance, as he said to them” (Joshua 13:33)
According to Gary Larson, Ernie the Fork and Bob the Spoon ended up in an old silverware drawer. Only their roommate who shared their squalid apartment with them in their early days, Mac the Knife, went on to fame and fortune