Professor Walter's History Lessons

Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!

The classic A Charlie Brown Christmas was the first Peanuts animated television special. It became an instant Christmas classic, winning both an Emmy and a Peabody award. Done on a shoestring budget, it became a holiday staple which has been shown every year since its initial release in 1965. It also defined the classic theme song for all Peanuts specials thereafter, when Vince Guaraldi's classic jazz music became the Peanuts theme song.

Charles Shultz, creator of Peanuts, was not a fan of jazz and objected to Guaraldi's song in the original production. Despite Shultz's personal opinion, Guaraldi's song would become synonymous with Peanuts and with Charlie Brown.

-Professor Walter

A shining star in The Wizard of Oz

The cast of the 1939 classic film "The Wizard of Oz" contained many singers and extras. There were those in costume as well as those working behind the scenes. And there was the star, Terry. She was born in 1933 during the Great Depression and took to acting early, with stars such as Shirley Temple in 1934's "Bright Eyes." Terry's big break would come in The Wizard of Oz where her performance was so perfect that she is cemented in the national psyche.

At the time of The Wizard of Oz, Terry commanded a salary of $125 per week, more than most of the actors in the film and of most Americans at the time. Many on the set felt this unfair, as Terry was younger and "less-traditional" than the others. Despite this Terry retained her salary and performed well, even after an on-set accident broke her foot, requiring two weeks of recovery at Judy Garland's home.

Terry continued to make films up until her death in 1945 at the age of eleven, yet nothing would ever compare to her stellar performance in The Wizard of Oz; as Toto, Dorothy's dog.

-Professor Walter

The Navy's Great Recruiter

Between October 11, 1962 and August 31, 1966 the television airwaves were graced with the American Comedy McHale's Navy. The show told the story of a small group of seamen who are led by Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale played by Ernest Borgnine. Borgnine was a Navy veteran serving prior to and during WWII. In the role of McHale he found himself doing the things he couldn't do in the real Navy such as water skiing behind a PT Boat.

As Borgnine would later recount* two years into the show he was called by the Pentagon and asked to come have lunch with the Secretary of the Navy's Office. Borgnine asked why he was called in for the lunch and the response was, “You know something? You’re the greatest recruiter we’ve ever had."

-Professor Walter

*Read the full interview article with Ernest Borgnine by Jim Kushlan at http://www.americanwii.com.

Popeye, savior of the spinach industry

On January 17th 1929 the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Strip introduced the United States to their new hero, Popeye. Created by Elzie Grisler Segar, Popeye would overtake the strip and become it's titular character.  In 1932 there was a change made to Popeye that would have significant economic impacts, he started to consume spinach for strength.

Popeye became linked with the green leafy vegetable in the minds of millions of people.  The result was a significant in crease in spinach consumption which some equate to saving the spinach industry.  A 2010 study linked an increase in vegetable consumption to watching Popeye.  The spinach industry took notice and has erected statues to the famous sailor in Crystal City, Texas, Chester Illinois, and Alma, Arkansas which has claimed itself the spinach capital of the world.

So, why was spinach the vegetable of choice for Popeye?  Spinach was chosen for it's high iron content which, while high, isn't that high.  The choice of spinach was based on a study gauging the amount of iron in spinach.  In the study the decimal point was accidentally placed one off so that spinach appeared to have ten times the amount of iron is actually does.  While the error was discovered in the 1930s it wasn't well known until a 1981 publication brought it to the public's attention.

-Professor Walter

 

 

Dr. William Moulton Marston's Great Creation

Dr. William Moulton Marston was a Harvard educated teacher with a Ph.D in Psychology. A creative man with many achievements to his name, one of his most famous is the lie detector, which utilized another invention of his: the systolic blood pressure test. The idea for the lie detector came when his wife noted that when she got mad or excited her blood pressure increased.

These inventions contributed to the medical industry and have helped millions, but they led to yet another creation. On October 25, 1940, he was interviewed by former student Olive Byrne for an article called "Don't Laugh at the Comics," in Family Circle magazine, where he spoke of the great potential he saw in comic books. The article caught the eye of comic publisher Max Gaines who hired Marston as an educational consultant for National Periodicals and All-American Publications.  Those two companies would merge to become DC Comics.

He decided to create his own comic character, and with his wife's guidance decided that it would be a woman.  In a 1943 episode of The American Scholar, Martson wrote about the character.

Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don't want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman.

Wonder Woman was born as that strong female hero.  And her weapon of choice? The Lasso of Truth -- which is startlingly similar to his lie detector.

-Professor Walter

A tale of a little fish who wanted to be eaten

In 1961 Tom Rogers, of the Leo Burnett Agency, created a tuna icon that would last for decades.  His name was, Charlie the Tuna.  The concept was to create an marketing icon who wanted to be caught by the StarKist company.  He was a hipster tuna with Greek fisherman's hat and glasses who believed he had such good taste he would be perfect for a can of tuna.  Alas, he would be rejected in the form of a note on a fish hook stating, "Sorry Charlie".  A voice over would explain that they weren't looking for tuna with good taste, but instead looking for tuna that tastes good.  

Charlie appeared in over 85 advertisements until the campaign was retired in the 1980s.  In 1999 he was brought back and has retained the role of spokesfish for StarKist until this day.

Many consumers have commented that it is creepy that Charlie would be so upset that a company refused to capture him, cut him into small chunks and then seal him in a can for human consumption.

-Professor Walter

Looks like we picked a bad day to start a show

On November 23, 1963 Great Britain was introduced to an eccentric time traveller known as The Doctor and his time travelling machine the TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space).  Over the course of the next three decades, Doctor Who and its stars would become sensations in Great Britain and build a cult following throughout the world.  But the premier episode was seen by few due to a lone assassin.

On November 22, 1963, at 1:00pm President John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead, struck down by the gun of Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas.  The following day the world mourned, and the televisions were filled with programming related to the late president and the new President, Lyndon B. Johnson.  The first episode was buried in the news of the assassination.  Fortunately, it was replayed the following week, before the second episode aired, and the rest is history.

The show would see unexpected popularity that only waned as it came toward its cancellation in 1989.  A TV movie was released in 1996 as an attempted back door pilot to resurrect the series, but it failed.  In 2005 the series was successfully re-launched and has continued to be a staple sci-fi program for the world to this day.

-Professor Walter

From humble origins great heroes are born

Animated programs come from many sources, from a sitcom based on the Honeymooners (The Flintstones) to a show born as a small skit on a variety comedy program (The Simpsons).  Some have more commercial origins, as is the case with Underdog.  The famous canine, who graced over 100 episodes and a full length feature motion picture, was born not out of the traditional sources, but instead came from a breakfast cereal.  In 1959 the Dancer Fitzgerald Sample advertising agency in New York handled the General Mills account.  They developed a collection of animated shows to promote cereal.  One of them was Underdog.  

W. Watts Biggers, Chet Stover, Treadwell D. Covington and artist Joe Harris worked together to create the new series.  When Underdog became a success they left to form Total Television to continue creating the show, utilizing Gamma Studios in Mexico to produce the animation.  The show's success outlasted General Mills's support when they stopped being the primary sponsor in 1969, although General Mills did retain the rights to the series until the mid-90s.  But Underdog's popularity stayed strong.  Even though the show ceased production in 1973, in 2007 Underdog returned, this time to the big screen in a live action adaptation which generally garnered poor reviews.  No word yet on when Underdog's next big return is planned.

-Professor Walter

Bridging the gap between now and the future

During the 19th century and at the dawn of the 20th century, the world was astounded by the impact of the industrial revolution, as well as fearful of the growing threat of genuine world conflicts.  As with all advances, there was a genuine fear of the future and it was up to the imagination of great minds to help bridge the gap.  Authors such as Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Edgar Rice Burroughs laid the foundation of many innovations to come much.  Without their creative stories it is questionable weather people would have been able to look past the present into the future and what would come.  This early group of visionaries laid the foundation of submarines and space travel.  Then in August of 1928 a new creation appeared that helped to drive America to outer space.  It was then that "Armageddon 2419 A.D." by Phillip Francis Nowlan was published in Amazing Stories, telling the tale of Anthony Rogers, a World War I veteran who was exposed to radioactive gases and rendered asleep for 492 years.  Thus the world met Buck Rogers who could become a part of America, spanning comic books, panels, radio shows, TV shows and movies.

The technology used in the programming advanced with the pace of the real world, updating to keep the story interesting and to maintain the vision of the future as being a technologically advanced place.  But the 1957 launch of Sputnik changed much of that.  America had lost the first leap into space against the Soviet Union.  Quick to counter, match, and then eventually exceed the Soviets, America launched into a public relations blitz to prove to ourselves that we could, and would, be the best in the world and beyond.  Buck Rogers was cited, giving examples of technology we could soon look forward to, which helped to maintain hope after repeated failures in our early space missions.

While our early hopes of matching Buck Rogers innovations such as the flying belts have yet to materialize, we were and still are the only country to land men on the moon.  Today, as fears of terrorist attacks and global warming grip the earth, it is easy to see why we are looking to the past again for the innovations to give us hope.  The Star Trek transporter and a mission to Mars seem possible within our life times.  What tales will help guide the next generation of explorers?  Will it be Buck Rogers, the crew of the starship Enterprise, or something else?

-Professor Walter

 

 

Not quite ready to embrace change

In the early days of television radio programs ruled the air while television sets remained a novelty.  RCA decided to jump into the fray in 1936 with their first television broadcast.  The program featured Eddie Albert.  His role?  A commercial, for RCA's New York City radio stations. 

Within a decade the decline of radio shows had begun and by the twenty year mark television was the undisputed winner.  Yet, for RCA, it all began with a commercial to promote radio.  Albert would go on to become one of the most recognizable faces on television playing Oliver Wendell Douglas opposite Eva Gabor as Lisa Douglas in, the still popular Green Acres.

-Professor Walter