The original Star Trek series ran from September of 1966, to June of 1969. The show was not a monumental success, but it did finish 52nd in the Nielsen ratings in its first season. Television Magazine noted that both Star Trek and Mission: Impossible were “examples of marginal shows that got tapped for a second season”
(It should also be noted that Television Magazine, which was founded in 1944, ceased publication in September of 1968.)
Mission Impossible, the TV series, was another Desilu production, as was Star Trek as noted earlier.
Leonard Nimoy was a regular on both.
The instantly recognizable theme for Mission Impossible was composed by Lalo Schifrin who had once arranged music for the famous bandleader Xavier Cugat. Desi Arnaz, on guitar, was a member of Cugat’s band.
Leonard Nimoy admitted, many years after Star Trek was cancelled by NBC in 1969 after three seasons, that he was a recovering alcoholic.
In his autobiography I Am Not Spock, Leonard Nimoy wrote that he based the Vulcan salute on the Priestly Blessing performed by Jewish Kohanim with both hands, thumb to thumb in this same position, representing the Hebrew letter Shin (ש), which has three upward strokes similar to the position of the thumb and fingers in the gesture. Nimoy wrote that when he was a child, his grandfather took him to an Orthodox synagogue, where he saw the blessing performed and was impressed by it.
Dr. Benjamin Spock (1903-1998) was an American pediatrician whose 1946 book * The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care* became one of the best-selling books in history. The main premise of the book to mothers is that “you know more than you think you do.” Spock wrote a total of 14 books, mostly on the various topics of parenting.
Spock won an Olympic gold medal in rowing in 1924 while attending Yale University.
The Harvard–Yale Regatta or Yale-Harvard Boat Race (often abbreviated The Race) is an annual rowing race between the men’s heavyweight rowing crews of Harvard University and Yale University. First contested in 1852, it has been held annually since 1859 except during major wars fought by the United States. The Race is America’s oldest collegiate athletic competition, pre-dating The Game (Harvard-Yale football) by 23 years.
The Boston Marathon is always held on Patriots’ Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was inspired by the success of the first marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics.The Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest annual marathon and ranks as one of the world’s best-known road racing events, with a course that runs from Hopkinton in southern Middlesex County to Copley Square in Boston.
Patriots’ Day, commemorating the battles of Lexington and Concord, is a state holiday in both Massachusetts and Maine, which was a part of Massachusetts until the Compromise of 1820 and its separate admittance into the Union. The only other state which used to be part of another following independence is West Virginia.
While the September 11th observance of Patriot Day is not an official federal holiday, the flag of the United States is flown at half-mast at the White House and on all U.S. government buildings and establishments throughout the world, in memory of the people killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks…
The first four designated federal holidays were created in 1870, when Congress granted paid time off to federal workers in the District of Columbia for New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.
Joanne Fluke and Leslie Meier both wrote cozy mysteries, with every book title ending in “Murder.” While Flukes are culinary mysteries, with titles mostly based on baked goods, and Meier’s are mostly named after holidays or places, their 20th mystery in their series are almost identically titled: The Christmas Caramel Murder (Fluke) and The Christmas Carol Murder (Meier).
The Android mobile operating system used baked goods and candy-themed code names for its different releases, in alphabetical order from 2009’s “Cupcake” to 2018’s “Pie”. Google announced this August that due to feedback stating that “the names weren’t always understood by everyone in the global community”, 2019’s Android Q (unofficially dubbed “Queen Cake”) would be named Android 10.
In the United States, the Android OS can be found on about half of all smartphones, with the Apple iOS on the other half. Worldwide, however, Android controls 85% of the smartphone market.
The term “android,” as referring to an artificial life form, particularly one with a human-like appearance, has been traced by the Oxford English Dictionary back to 1728, when English writer Ephraim Chambers, in his Cyclopaedia, used the word to decribe an automaton which had allegedly been created by St. Albertus Magnus.
“Time Has Come Today,” the 1966 hit song written by Willie & Joseph Chambers and recorded by The Chambers Brothers, clocked in at 11:06 on the album version.
The song has been described as psychedelic rock, psychedelic soul and acid rock, and features a fuzz guitar twinned with a clean one. Various other effects were employed in its recording and production, including the alternate striking of two cow bells producing a “tick-tock” sound, warped throughout most of the song by reverb, echo and changes in tempo. It quotes several bars from “The Little Drummer Boy” at 5:40 in the long version.
Interpolation, quoting musical passages in other songs, has been used in many songs, including Summer Rain by Johnny Rivers, and Don’t Call us (We’ll Call You) by Jerry Corbetta and Sugarloaf, both of which quote Beatles passages.
The title of Joan Baez’s tribute to Bob Dylan “Winds of the Old Days” is obviously a reference to “Blowing in the Wind.” The lyrics refer to Dylan as “our blue-eyed son,” a reference to his “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall,” and “ghosts of Johanna will follow you there,” referring to the song she believes Dylan wrote for her (he’s never confirmed or denied it) Visions of Johanna.
Blowin’ in the Wind was recorded by Dylan in 1962 and released in 1963. It was first covered by The Chad Mitchell Trio, but their record company delayed release of the album containing it because the song included the word death, so the trio lost out to Peter, Paul and Mary, who were represented by Dylan’s manager, Albert Grossman.
Peter, Paul and Mary‘s single sold a phenomenal 300,000 copies in the first week of release and made the song world-famous.
Tom Paxton auditioned for the Chad Mitchell Trio via publisher Milt Okun in 1960. He initially received the part, but his voice did not blend well enough with those of the group members. However, after singing his song “The Marvelous Toy” for Okun, he became the first writer signed to Milt’s music publishing company, Cherry Lane Music Publishing. As compensation for not signing him, The Chad Mitchell Trio became the first group to cover Paxton’s The Marvelous Toy." It was a huge success, and later recorded by John Denver, Peter, Paul and Mary and a lot of other singers.
Peter, Paul, and Mary’s song, I Dig Rock and Roll Music, references several then current groups, including the Beatles, the Mamas and the Papas, and Donovan.