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Equipment Leasing
Senior Funding Manager
Portsmouth, NH
If you have a minimum of 4 years experience in Credit and Funding in the Leasing industry we'd like to speak with you. For more information, please contact Rick at rhenderson@directcapital.com
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Tuesday, December 27th, 2005
Headlines---
Classified Ads---Asset Management
Top Stories--December 19-23
American Leasing "Broker/Lessor" list
Message from the Publisher
Cartoon---
Still Free Shipping
Classified Ads-Help Wanted
News Briefs---
You May Have Missed--
Sports Briefs---
California Nuts Briefs----
"Gimme that Wine"
Calendar Events
Today's Top Event in History
This Day in American History
American Football Poem
######## surrounding the article denotes it is a "press release"
Classified Ads---Asset Management
Austin, TX .
20+ years exper. lease/finance. P & L responsibility, strong credit & collection management, re-marketing& accounting. Computers, construction, auto & transportation. Both commercial/ consumer portfolios.
Email: kmalone@austin.rr.com
Bloomfield Township, MI .
15+ yrs experience asset management and credit analyst.
Leadership and training skills. Audited returns, max residual, lease end and resale negotiator.
E-mail: cmcozzolino@msn.com
Chicago, IL.
MBA, 15+ years exp. Long history of success in maximizing residual position through outstanding negotiation skills & lease contract management. Third party re-marketing, forecasting etc...
email: jgambla@aol.com
Hartford, CT.
7yrs exp structuring US Leveraged & Single Investor leases w/ pre-paid deferred rents, 467 loans & early buyouts. Engineer rv guarantees, synthetic leases, economic capital models & securitizations.
E-mail: lease_structuring@yahoo.com
Princeton, NJ.
Asset management/credit/collection
20+ years experience in equipment financing.Last five years in Asset Management including remarketing, end of lease negotiations, equipment and market evaluations
E-mail: bgaffrey@earthlink.net
Sausalito, Ca
Sr. Corp. officer, presently serving as consultant, fin. service background, M&A, fund raising, great workout expertise, references
Email: nywb@aol.com
Sonoma, CA
20+ years managing/ maximizing residual values, exp. computers/ hi-tech mfg. Excellent negotiation skills. Outstanding 3rd party contacts/buyers. Created deal winning structures-established residual values.
Email: dfeltman@yahoo.com
Wilton, CT.
18 years exp. in IT and High Tech leasing industry. Residual forecasting, workouts, off-lease sales, mid-term restructures, auctions, all aspects of remarketing and equipment management.
Email: charrer@hotmail.com
For a full listing of all "job wanted" ads, please go to:
http://216.66.242.252/AL/LeasingNews/JobPostings.htm
To place a free "job wanted" ad, please go to:
http://216.66.242.252/AL/LeasingNews/PostingForm.asp
[headlines]
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Top Stories--December 19-23
These are the top ten stories most "opened" by readers last week.
(1) January 3rd -Leasing News Person of the Year
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/December%202005/12-23-05.htm#person
(2) IFC Credit Corporation Renews $75 Million Credit Facility
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/December%202005/12-23-05.htm#ifc
(3) CMC Hanson BK Dismissed
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/December%202005/12-19-05.htm#cmc
(4) Cartoon---Marlin Leasing Hq.
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/December%202005/12-19-05.htm#toon
(5) Archives-December 19, 2000
---Rumors/Advice from Steve Reid
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/December%202005/12-19-05.htm#archive
( 6 ) Cartoon---Marlin Accounting Office
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/December%202005/12-21-05.htm#toon
(7) Classified Ads---Senior Management
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/December%202005/12-23-05.htm#ads
(8) Leasing Software Companies
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/December%202005/12-21-05.htm#soft
(9) Sales make it Happen (part II)
---Dealing with Hidden Issues
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/December%202005/12-21-05.htm#sales
(10) Serenity Prayer Placard
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/December%202005/12-23-05.htm#placard
[headlines]
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American Leasing Joins "Broker/Lessor" list
"Broker/Lessor" List
Third Column: YES - Year Company Started | YELB - Years in equipment Leasing Business
A - City Business License | B- State License | C - Certified Leasing Professional |
D - State(s) sales/use tax license |
E - Named as "lessor" on 50% or more of lease contract signed. |
Rank |
Name
City, State
Contact
Website
Leasing Association |
YES
YELB
(see above for meaning) |
# of Empl. |
Geographic Area |
Minimum
Dollar
Amount |
Service Organization |
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D |
|
3 |
|
1974
35 |
4 |
Silicon Valley, California primary, S.F. Bay Area secondary |
$10,000 Average $25,000 to $125,000 |
Salvation Army, many community organizations |
Y |
Y |
N |
Y |
Y |
The full list is located here:
http://www.leasingnews.org/Brokers/broker_Lessor.htm
[headlines]
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Message from the Publisher
We are planning an edition Wednesday, which always includes our "Sales makes it Happen," and a December 30 th , where we will list the top stories of the year, as determined by how many readers have "opened" the article to read it.
Tuesday, January 3rd , we will announce the Leasing News Person of the Year for 2005, along with a full "funder" list.
Eventually we will get all the lists more up-to-date, as we have with back office, books, portals, software, and the several others.
We have written to many "decision makers," trying to get them to submit the information to make the list more accurate, but come the first of the year, we are going to print them anyway without the full information, as we have done in other "lists."
I personally think it will be very controversial as we have turned down those who said they were "super brokers" and those who claimed to be "funders." In reality, they are "discounters" and go to others more on a "non-recourse" basis than servicing their own portfolio and deciding on the credit.
Another criterion is a "clean" Better Business Bureau report.
Also look to the first of the year for a new "bar" addition to our web site. We want to make known more items on our "site map," such as all our "lists."
Many readers may have also noticed the new edition feature, "Calendar Events." This came from an idea from a reader who told us Microsoft and even printed calendars no longer indicate certain holidays or celebrations. While many may not be interested, just as in our baseball and American football poems (football on the internet is soccer), we hope the readership will grow.
I would like to take this time to reminiscence, which is a publisher prerogative. First, I appreciate all the readers who have wished my son Dash a Merry Christmas. Whatever political viewpoint we all my have, it is important to support our men and women in the military, especially during the holidays.
Above is perhaps my favorite picture of my son Dashiell with me. It is five years old now, from when he graduated from US Naval School in Great Lakes, Chicago. He continued his education in the US Navy, and then served six months in the waters off of Kuwait, inspecting vessels primarily, and also supporting other ships in naval operations. Now he is in the riverine unit, based out of Norfolk, Virginia.
I wrote about starting in the leasing business on December, 2004, the last day I also took our lab Sammie to the office. He passed away over a year ago.
It was this day in 1972 that I actually moved in at 2175 De la Cruz Blvd., Santa Clara, California. The landlord was Frank Sanchez, who had a microfilm business in the building. He became a very close friend, to die of lung cancer from smoking cigarettes, exactly around the time my wife also died of the lung cancer, also from smoking cigarettes.
In December, 1972, I used an advance on a commission from Harold McAfee, Triple C Leasing, and rented an office in Santa Clara, California. "Mac" was surprised. I was a commissioned salesman, basically living off the advances. It was a two room office and I first subleased the second office to an attorney, when he left, then a vendor whose main office was in Oakland, building business enough to hire a part-time secretary. Eventually we had all the offices, except for one, on the second floor of this small building for eighteen years, until we outgrew it, and moved into our own building.
In 1971, I was going to work for KCBS radio as the news editor, but two weeks before I was about to start, my friend, Jim Simon, the news director, had accepted to become news director at the Chicago radio station, a larger market. I waited for a replacement, and when he was hired, he brought along a friend for the news editor job. I had counted on it, was told I was going to get it, and found myself out of work for over six weeks, maybe longer. After many months of free lance, part-time work, my wife and I decided it was time I had some money, to get out of the "musical chairs" news business. To make a long story short, I eventually decided to try "automobile leasing." I told the car dealership sales manager I would work for free. I started cold calling in Santa Clara Valley. My friends wanted me to come to San Francisco, but I thought this was where the growth was going to be.
In the first few months, it was pretty tough, as I spent all my time cold calling. While I eventually found some car leases, most of the people I was calling on were more interested in equipment.
One of the reasons why I like to push the free classified ads at Leasing News. I remember the days we only had "gumbo" soup in the closet. There were a few lunches where I would go into a Denny's type restaurant, order tea, and put the catsup in the water for soup and eat the crackers. Or I would eat tomatoes and vegetables that were on sale at stands on the road in Santa Clara County, once a large agricultural area. At home, we would visit friends for dinner as they had no idea of our condition, and I used the credit cards for milk and baby food. We would drive to my parents' house in San Rafael, California, and not only eat there, but get a "care package." I certainly was determined to make money and never be broke again.
The move to an office was daring in its day in December, 1971. You see our Christmas tree in San Bruno was given to us by friends, the Griffiths, and my parents, friends, and relatives supplied most of the gifts to our kids, two and three years old at the time.
I brought my old desk and typewriter from home. My late wife and I went to Levitz and with a Levitz finance, which later turned out to be GE, picked out a sofa, two chairs, and coffee table. It was a very big deal in those days. A gamble. No one knew how nuts I was.
I told my late wife I would buy her a house because I was going to make a lot of money in equipment leasing. She had wanted a house since we got married in 1968. It was the most important thing to her, she said. She was an accountant (she did Harrah's daily P&L when she lived in Nevada, delivering it to him in person every morning). She always managed our money, and rarely did I ever even know what was in the bank account. She had faith in me, she said.
I had been driving my old 1961 Porsche S-90, which needed a paint job, working out of an answering service. No cell telephones in those days. No car telephones in those days. I couldn't even afford a copier for the first year, as I remember, and then the first one made "wet copies." No Federal Express, as I would drive the application to Triple C Leasing in San Rafael. Later "Mac" would allow me to drive them directly to Security Pacific Bank in San Mateo, where the loan officer there was making the decisions whether to accept or reject a lease. I left after Triple C Leasing hired a credit manager, who kept turning down my deals. I wanted to keep my vendors happy, and the referrals I was getting from bankers, so I went to Duane Russell in San Francisco, or Jack Mancinelli in San Mateo, or Studebaker-Worthington in Novato (Bill Grohe remembers the contact name, a good friend of his, and later deals to Bill) and Tiger Leasing in Redwood City, CIT in Kansas City, Russ Rickards at CenVal in Oakland, Rick Wilbur at company that went through Budget Financial in Los Angeles, to Jay Coles in San Francisco at Foothill, and later directly to banks in a discounting arrangement as a lessors. Most often, with a full set of financials, too. There was no "application only" for any size lease. I found the other companies accepting the deals, and the commissions were larger. Then I made a connection at Wells Fargo and was one of the first to start discounting with the auto dealer center, also keeping the residual at the end. It was then I decided to start "American Leasing" in 1974.
In those days, we walked the streets, knocking on doors. While considered the hard way today, we wanted to get to know our customers with the idea of generating repeat business. My goal was to always go after repeat business and to work the radius an hour from the office, not go after the big dollar leases or business out of my immediate area.
I can't remember anyone ever kicking me out or even being rude when I was cold calling. Of course, I didn't get to see the person making the decision on the first visit, although sometimes it worked. But I got a business card and started a telephone follow up systems with 3x5 cards along with a master sheet, calling the receptionist and trying to reach the decision maker. One of the vendors who I met along the way showed me how he trained his salesmen to make calls.
He told me to set goals. My first was $2,000 a day. The third month I had $80,000 in leases signed, mostly all under $10,000. My goal went to $5,000 a day in six months. In a year, I had doubled that.
This was 1972.
I worked trade shows, auctions, and even spoke at all the service clubs in two counties who wanted to hear about leasing (most of the questions at the time concerned vehicles, as equipment leasing was not very well known at the time.) The owner of the building, Frank Sanchez, and I became very good friends (he later died of lung cancer from smoking cigarettes as did my late wife.) He let me use his UPS shipping, even showed up one late Christmas eve to give me a high power bulb that had burnt out so I could video my kids Christmas discovering presents under the tree in the morning---you needed high powered lights in those days to shoot indoors and he was in the microfilm business. I called him and he never gave it a second thought to meet at his office so I could use my video camera with a connection to the VHS recorder. He was that kind of guy. )
The first year and a half, I took the train back and forth, leaving my old car in the train parking lot. It was safe in those days, old and battered. I parked it around the block so when I walked the industrial park, or signed leases, no one ever saw what I drove.
When we had saved enough money to move, it was to an apartment in Santa Clara, California, where we even bought a television set (we never had one while we were first married.). I also had become president of the Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce, primarily because I brought in the most members, had this idea to establish a convention bureau financed by a hotel tax, and after going through three managers, convinced the board to appoint the secretary as manager---Betty Hangs retired last year after 30 years in the position, and they named the successful convention center, next to Great America, after her.)
1974--That's me in the middle.
Jim Kalinski who started out as general manager with the incentive to become a general partner, which he did.
Jim in 1977. As one of the perks, he attended all the leasing conferences for American Leasing. He once came home from playing golf for the first time, I think at the conference in Hawaii, with a trophy that he was most proud of, telling the office how well he did, and was going to take up the sport, as he won "The Highest Score."
1982-First male president of Credit Women International, with outgoing president Jenny Lindell presenting him the gavel. He is the former president of Credit Grantors of Santa Clara Valley. American Leasing was "hot" with two other San Francisco Bay Area branches.
My wife died in 1989 and it changed many things. Jim Kalinski left in the early 1990's to go into business for himself. I left the bank I was one of the founders, got out of the wine business, out of the stock market, and was busy in community activities and had help with good people operating the company. Eventually I met the lady I am with today and started to enjoy life more, actually taking time off.
In May, 2005, American Leasing downsized from 15 offices in Santa Clara, California, to four in Los Gatos, California, about five to seven minutes from home, an area I have lived for over 30 years and enjoy the communities very much. At one time we had two branches of American Leasing plus Santa Clara. Through the ups and downs we survived. Now I enjoy a small office with less responsibilities, and write Leasing News, originally started as another one of my hobbies.
Kit Menkin
[headlines]
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[headlines]
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Classified Ads---Help Wanted
Equipment Finance & Leasing Representative
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Job opening in New England
In this position, you will develop and maintain relationships with lease brokers, leasing companies, equipment vendors and direct lessees throughout New England. Must be knowledgeable in indirect/third party transactions ranging from $15K and up and have in-market experience. Please apply on-line at www.mandtbank.com and view posting 5245.
At M&T Bank, we provide an exciting and challenging work environment where performance and innovative thinking are encouraged and rewarded at every level.
With over 700 branches, your career can travel as far as you want to take it!
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Job opening in
Baltimore/Virginia Region
In this position, you will develop and maintain relationships with lease brokers, leasing companies, equipment vendors and direct lessees throughout Baltimore/Virginia Region. Must be knowledgeable in indirect/third party transactions ranging from $15K and up and have in-market experience. Please apply on-line at www.mandtbank.com and view posting 5245
At M&T Bank, we provide an exciting and challenging work environment where performance and innovative thinking are encouraged and rewarded at every level.
With over 700 branches, your career can travel as far as you want to take it!
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Sales Professionals :
Outstanding opportunities for Equipment Finance Leasing professionals with middle market leasing sales backgrounds, an existing or established book of business, and at least 2 plus years experience. Fast paced environment. NYC, Long Island, Westchester and National areas available. Lease teams welcome.
Sales Manager :
Seeking a top NYC based sales manager to become part of an excellent executive team. The job would include recruiting salespeople and supervising up to 20.
Credit Analysts :
Seeking Credit Analysts with at least 2-4 years experience. NYC location
EOE
E-Mail : sdibella@icbny.com
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Senior Funding Manager
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Equipment Leasing
Senior Funding Manager
Portsmouth, NH
If you have a minimum of 4 years experience in Credit and Funding in the Leasing industry we'd like to speak with you. For more information, please contact Rick at rhenderson@directcapital.com
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[headlines]
---------------------------------------------------------------
News Briefs----
Holiday retail spending up 8.7 pct: report
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2005-12-27T0223
15Z_01_DIT708550_RTRUKOC_0_US-RETAIL-HOLIDAY-STUDY.xml&rpc=22
The Day after Christmas, Shoppers Take a Holiday
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/27/business/27shop.html
Michigan's Job No. 1: Recovery
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/27/business/27state.html
Little Caesars founder has fingers in many pies
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/story/
42BA9D4E66489E13862570E10037E6A9?OpenDocument
Entitlements Consume More Federal Spending
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/12/26/national/w211127S75.DTL
'Whoopie explosion' has bakery scrambling
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/13486305.htm
Brazil and Mexico in 2006
http://www.absnet.net/include/showfreearticle.asp?file=/headlines/2.htm
Airlines see potential in travel by immigrants
http://www.usatoday.com/money/biztravel/2005-12-26-ethnic-air-usat_x.htm
[headlines]
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You May Have Missed
A son journeys into his father's musical heart to trace the rhythms of a quiet virtuoso-Gordon Jenkins, arranger for Sinatra and many others
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/26/DDGIQGCDG91.DTL
[headlines]
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Sports Briefs----
Turn out the lights
The party's over for 'Monday Night Football' on ABC after a 36-year run as the show that became a part of pop culture moves to ESPN in 2006
http://www.boston.com/sports/football/articles/2005/12/26/turn_out_the_lights/
For Testaverde, One More Memory and a Milestone; for the Jets, One More Loss
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/27/sports/football/27jets.ready.html
Bears clinch division title with defeat of Packers
Team's 1st playoff berth since '01 season
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/
chi-0512260190dec26,1,2002872.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Patriots 31, Jets 21
http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2005/12/27/
patriots_beat_new_york_jets_31_21/
Mora apologizes for outburst
"If I offended anyone, I apologize," coach says
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/falcons/1205/27mora.html
[headlines]
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California News Briefs---
Gov. Schwarzenegger's name removed from Austrian soccer stadium
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20051226-0624-austria-schwarzenegger.html
Schwarzenegger backlash in Austria...
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/12/26/news/austria.php
[headlines]
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"Gimme that Wine"
NAPA COUNTY
Wine country casualties
Grape-eating bears killed as vineyards' territory expands
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/12/26/BEARS.TMP
New Zealand Hawke's Bay's wine country is growing
http://www.hbtoday.co.nz/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3665707&thesection=
localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=
France pins medal on wine dealer
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/22/WIGDGGB6HT1.DTL
www.winezap.com
http://www.wine-searcher.com/
If you want to know if you got a value for your wine, or what the wine price is today, go to www.winezap.com Type in the vintage (year) and name of the producer with wine type or geographic area, such as 1995 Chateau Lynch Bages Pauillac. Even 1995 Lynch Bages will work, or 1999 Viader
[headlines]
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Calendar Events This Day
Fruitcake Day
Originally a popular gift that could be stored through the winter or enjoyed when soaked with plum brandy or rum or whiskey. It was actually outlawed in England when it become too alcoholic.
History of the Fruitcake
http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Cakes/Fruitcake.htm
Collin Street Bakery, Corsicanna, Texas, is the oldest recorded Fruitcake baking company in the United States, still going strong, too.
http://www.collinstreet.com/pages/about_us
[headlines]
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Today's Top Event in History
1983- the recession of the early 1980s took a toll on another one of the nation's landmark companies, U.S. Steel. The long-standing industrial heavyweight announced that it would slash its steel making capacity by roughly 20 percent, as well as take a whopping $1.2 billion pre-tax write-off for the year. The write-off marked the biggest pre-tax charge in the steel industry, as U.S. Steel nudged past Bethlehem Steel, who, earlier that year, had taken a $930 million write-off. Along with this rather ignominious distinction, U.S. Steel's moves also brought a fresh round of lay- offs for 4,600 workers. All told, the plant closings and write-offs impacted 15,400 U.S Steel employees, as 10,800 workers who were previously laid-off had now permanently lost their jobs.
[headlines]
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This Day in American History
1784-In Baltimore, at its first General Conference held this side of the Atlantic, Francis Asbury, 39, was ordained the first bishop of the Methodist Church in America.
1846- The rag-tag army of volunteers known as Doniphan's Thousand, led by Colonel Alexander W. Doniphan, wins a major victory in the war with Mexico with the occupation of El Paso.Born in Kentucky in 1808, Doniphan moved to Missouri in 1830 to practice law. But the tall redheaded man was not satisfied with fighting only courtroom battles, and he volunteered as a brigadier general in the Missouri militia. When war between Mexico and the U.S. erupted in 1846, the men of the 1st Missouri Mounted Volunteers elected Doniphan their colonel, and marched south to join General Stephen Kearny's army in New Mexico. Since they were not professional military men, Doniphan's troops cared little for the traditional spit-and-polish of the regular troops, and reportedly looked more like tramps than soldiers. Likewise, Doniphan was a casual officer who led more by example than by strict discipline. Nonetheless, Doniphan's Thousand proved to be a surprisingly effective force in the war with Mexico.
In December, Doniphan led 500 of his men and a large wagon train of supplies south to join General John E. Wool in his planned invasion of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Before he had a chance to meet up with Wool's larger force near the city of Chihuahua, Doniphan encountered an army of 1,200 Mexican soldiers about 30 miles north of El Paso, Texas. Although his opponents had twice the number of soldiers, Doniphan led his men to victory, and with the path to El Paso now largely undefended was able to occupy the city two days later. When nearing the Mexican border, Doniphan learned that General Wool's forces had broken off their invasion of Chihuahua because the army's wheeled vehicles had proved unworkable in the desert landscape. But rather than turn back, Doniphan reassembled his army to its full force of about 1,000 men and was allowed to proceed with the invasion unassisted. Once again grossly outnumbered-the Mexican army was four times the size of Doniphan's-the Missouri troops were still able to quickly break through the defensive lines and occupy Chihuahua City. By mid- summer 1847, Doniphan's victorious army reached the Gulf Coast, where they were picked up by ships and taken to New Orleans for discharge. By then, the focus of the battle had shifted to General Winfield Scott's campaign to take Mexico City. In September of that year, Scott's troops ended the war by successfully occupying Mexico City, and for the first time in U.S. history an American flag flew over a foreign capital. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed early in 1848, gave the U.S. the vast western territory stretching from Texas to the Pacific and north to Oregon.
1864-The broken and defeated Confederate Army of Tennessee finishes crossing the Tennessee River as General John Bell Hood's force retreats into Mississippi.
The last half of 1864 was a disaster for the army. In May, Union General William T. Sherman began his drive on Atlanta from Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Confederate army was commanded then by Joseph Johnston, who responded to Sherman's flanking maneuvers by retreating slightly each time. From May to July, Johnston slowly backed into Atlanta, exchanging territory for time. When the troops reached Atlanta, Confederate President Jefferson Davis replaced Johnston with the offensive minded Hood. Hood immediately attacked Sherman three times in late July, losing each time. His offensive capabilities spent, Hood endured a month long siege of Atlanta. In early September, Hood was finally forced to relinquish the city to Sherman. Hood hung around to try cutting into Sherman's supply lines but then retreated into Alabama. In November, Hood tried to draw Sherman from the deep South by moving towards Nashville, Tennessee. In response, Sherman dispatched part of his army back to Tennessee while taking the rest on his devastating march across Georgia, during which the Yankees destroyed nearly everything in their path. Hood moved north and fought two battles that were disastrous for the Confederates. At Franklin on November 30, Confederate attacks on entrenched Union soldiers resulted in ghastly casualties and the loss of six of the army's finest generals. On December 15 and 16, the Confederates were crushed by the Yankees in front of Nashville. The dwindling numbers of participating soldiers tell the sad story of the Rebel army. In May, some 65,000 Confederates faced Sherman in northern Georgia. On September 20, after Atlanta fell, Hood's force numbered 40,403. After crossing the Tennessee River, Hood reported 18,708 officers and enlisted men, a figure that another Confederate general, Pierre Beauregard, thought was significantly inflated. The Confederate Army of Tennessee was no longer a viable fighting force.
1879-Birthday of trumpet player Geary "Bunk" Johnson
http://www.redhotjazz.com/bunk.html
http://user.tninet.se/~rrr043f/forum19.htm
http://www.weijts.scarlet.nl/bj.htm
http://isbn.nu/0876636857/price/2.html
Second day of Kawanzaa, kujichaguilia or self-determination
http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/
1892-Biddle University (now Johnson C. Smith) defeats Livingstone College, in first intercollegiate football game between historically Black colleges.
1896 - Birthday of American novelist/essayist, Louis Bromfield, Mansfield, Ohio.
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/bromfiel.htm
1899-American Christian temperance leader Carry Nation, 53, raided and wrecked her first saloon in Medicine Lodge, KA. She went on similar rampages in Wichita and Topeka, and in other cities in Iowa and Illinois as well.
(Lower part of http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/dec27.html )
1906 - Birthday of Andreas Feininger, American photographer & writer on photographic technique, noted for his nature & cityscape photographs.
http://pathfinder.com/photo/gallery/arts/life/cap09.htm
(http://dizzy.library.arizona.edu/branches/ccp/collection/collection.html )
1907-Birthday of pianist Eddie Wilcox, Method, NC
http://search.eb.com/blackhistory/micro/360/57.html
1919-Birthday of Mitchell "Booty" Wood, Weedowee, AL
http://www.theiceberg.com/artist/27125/booty_wood/
http://shopping.yahoo.com/shop?d=product&id=1921116848
1926-Birthday of Lee Salk, American child psychologist Lee Salk was born at New York, NY. He became well known for proving the calming effect of a mother's heartbeat on a newborn infant. Salk's warning during the 1970's that women should not abandon full-time childrearing was met with wide opposition, especially from working mothers. He died May 2, 1992, at New York, NY.
1927- "Show Boat," one of the most influential works in the history of the American musical theatre, premiered in New York. "Show Boat" was adapted by Jerome Kern from the Edna Ferber novel of life on a Mississippi show boat in the 19th century. "Show Boat" was a new kind of musical -- one in which the musical elements sprang naturally from the storyline and in which the music aided the dialogue and lyrics in projecting the plot. Among the songs in this classic work are "Ol' Man River," "Can't Help Lovin' That Man" and "Why Do I Love You?"
1932- At the height of the Great Depression, thousands turn out for the opening of Radio City Music Hall, a magnificent Art Deco theater in New York City. Radio City Music Hall was designed as a palace for the people, a place of beauty where ordinary people could see high- quality entertainment. Since its 1932 opening, more than 300 million people have gone to Radio City to enjoy movies, stage shows, concerts, and special events. Radio City Music Hall was the brainchild of the billionaire John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who decided to make the theater the cornerstone of the Rockefeller Complex he was building on a formerly derelict neighborhood in midtown Manhattan. The theater was built in partnership with the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and designed by Donald Deskey. The result was an Art Deco masterpiece of elegance and grace constructed out of a diverse variety of materials, including aluminum, gold foil, marble, permatex, glass, and cork. Geometric ornamentation is found throughout the theater, as is Deskey's central theme of the "Progress of Man." The famous Great Stage, measuring 60 feet wide and 100 feet wide, resembles a setting sun. Its sophisticated system of hydraulic-powered elevators allowed spectacular effects in staging, and many of its original mechanisms are still in use today. In its first four decades, Radio City Music Hall alternated as a first-run movie theater and a site for gala stage shows. More than 700 films have premiered at Radio City Music Hall since 1933. In the late 1970s, the theater changed its format and began staging concerts by popular music artists. The Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, which debuted in 1933, draws more than a million people annually. The show features the high-kicking Rockettes, a precision dance troupe that has been a staple at Radio City since the
1930s. Today, Radio City Music Hall remains the largest indoor theater in the world.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/dec27.html
1939 - On CBS radio, "The Glenn Miller Show", also known as "Music that Satisfies", began. The bi-weekly, 15-minute, show was sponsored by Chesterfield cigarettes. It aired for nearly three years.
1941-African-American Dr. Charles Richard Drew, pioneer of blood plasma research, established the first blood bank in New York City.
1943 The film "The Song of Bernadette" was released by 20th Century Fox. It told the true story of 14_year_old French Catholic peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous, who experienced 18 visions of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes, France in 1858.
1945-World bank established, first subscribed by 21 countries, whose subscription amounted to $7,173 million. The first loan was made on May 9,1947, to France---a 30-year loan of $250 million at 3.25% and of $150 at 3 percent.
1946 - For the first time since 1938, the American team won the Davis Cup at a competition held in Melbourne, Australia.
1947-Woody Herman Band records "Four Brothers," "Early Autumn," Stan Getz becomes a milestone. Name the four brothers in this set in 1947: Zoot Sims, Herbie Steward on tenor, Serge Chaloff (baritone sax). No, Jimmy Giuffre did the arrangement. Herschal Evans, no., he played with Count Basie in the '30's) Not Al Cohn this year (1948). Go here, if you don't know, and listen to the tune:
http://www.tuxjunction.net/fourbrothers.htm
1947-Preimier of "Howdy Dowdy" on TV. The first popular children's show was brought to TV by Bob Smith and was one of the first regular NBC shows to be shown in color. The show was set in the circus town of Doodyville, populated by people and puppets. Children sat in the bleachers " Peanut Gallery" and participated in activities such as songs and stories. Human characters were Buffalo Bob ( Bob Smith, the silent clown, Clarabell ( Bob Keeshan, Bobby Nicholson and Lew Anderson), storekeeper Corenlius Cobb ( Nicholson), Chief Thunderthud ( Bill LeCornec), Princess Summerfall Winterspring ( Judy Tyler and Linda Marsh ) Bison Bill ( Ted Brown) and wrestler Ugly Sam (Dayton Allen), Puppet costars included Howdy Doody, Phineas T. Bluster, Dilly Dally, Flub-a-Dub, Captain Scuttlebutt, Double Doody and Heidi Doody. The filmed adventures of Gumby were also featured in the final episode, Clarabell broke his long silence to say, "Goodbye, Kids."
1948-Top Hits
Buttons and Bows - Dinah Shore
On a Slow Boat to China - The Kay Kaiser Orchestra (vocal: Harry Babbitt & Gloria Wood)
My Darlin, My Darling - Jo Stafford
1949-In Cincinnati, Ohio, the Evangelical Theological Society was organized. A conservative fellowship of North American theologians and Bible scholars, ETS promotes theological discussion and exploration within the context of a firm belief in the truthfulness of the Bible.
1951- The Crosley car was put into use by the U.S. Postal Service in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was the first right-hand-drive car designed specifically for mail delivery. The Crosley put the driver on the mailbox-side of the car, and changed mail delivery forever.
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/1229/
http://home.earthlink.net/~mherman/specs.html#1951
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/1229/super.html
http://www.ggw.org/~cac/SS-Cobras.html
http://www.ggw.org/~cac/SS-Cobras.html
& Gordon MacRae
A Heart Full of Love (For a Handful of Kisses) - Eddy Arnold
1956-Top Hits
Singing the Blues - Guy Mitchell
A Rose and a Baby Ruth - George Hamilton IV
Garden of Eden - Joe Valino
Singing the Blues - Marty Robbins
1964-Top Hits
I Feel Fine - The Beatles
She's a Woman - The Beatles
Goin' Out of My Head - Little Anthony & The Imperials
Once a Day - Connie Smith
1970- "Hello Dolly" closed on Broadway after a then-record run of 2,844 performances. The musical, starring Carol Channing, had opened at the St. James Theatre on January 16th, 1964. The title song was a million-selling record for Louis Armstrong, and the musical's producer gave the tune exclusively to Lyndon Johnson for use in his 1964 presidential campaign.
1972---Top Hits
Me and Mrs. Jones - Billy Paul
You Ought to Be with Me - Al Green
Clair - Gilbert O'Sullivan
Got the All Overs for You (All Over Me) - Freddie Hart & The Heartbeats
1975 - For the second time in their career, the Staple Singers hit #1 on the pop music charts with "Let's Do It Again". The song, the theme from the movie soundtrack of the same title, was the group's last hit. On June 3, 1972, "I'll Take You There" was The Staple Singers' first number one hit.
1980---Top Hits
(Just Like) Starting Over - John Lennon
Love on the Rocks - Neil Diamond
Hungry Heart - Bruce Springsteen
That's All That Matters - Mickey Gilley
1983- the recession of the early 1980s took a toll on another one of the nation's landmark companies, U.S. Steel. The long-standing industrial heavyweight announced that it would slash its steel making capacity by roughly 20 percent, as well as take a whopping $1.2 billion pre-tax write-off for the year. The write-off marked the biggest pre-tax charge in the steel industry, as U.S. Steel nudged past Bethlehem Steel, who, earlier that year, had taken a $930 million write-off. Along with this rather ignominious distinction, U.S. Steel's moves also brought a fresh round of lay- offs for 4,600 workers. All told, the plant closings and write-offs impacted 15,400 U.S Steel employees, as 10,800 workers who were previously laid-off had now permanently lost their jobs.
1988---Top Hits
Every Rose Has Its Thorn - Poison
My Prerogative - Bobby Brown
Two Hearts - Phil Collins
When You Say Nothing at All - Keith Whitley
1990- San Francisco became the first city to adopt regulations regarding video display terminals in the workplace. A new law required workers to perform fifteen minutes of alternate work for every two hours spent at a video terminal. The measure was adopted in response to the vision problems and repetitive motion injuries sustained by thousands of workers in the 1980s. The measure gave companies with fifteen or more employees two years to provide antiglare screens and ergonomically correct furniture, or face a $500 per day fine.
1992- "The Bodyguard" soundtrack set a single-week record for sales in the U-S with just over one-million copies.
*** (no, Herschal Evans played with Count Basie in the '30's.)
[headlines]
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American Football Poem
Walter Payton
How come Walter Payton
or "Sweetness" as we all knew him,
could not get a liver,
when he needed one.
He needed to keep on living
But drunk, old, Mickey Mantle
Jumped straight to the top of the donors list
And his liver was saturated in liquor
For the past couple of decades.
Nights of liquor stupor
At first, because he lost so much weight
People said it was "aids"
But he told the truth and said
"his liver was killing him."
But Walter Payton, just kept quiet
Did good, won the respect of everyone
Played as hard as anyone could
And was loved by those near and far
But he is dead now
Maybe it was the liver that gave out
Maybe he just gave up
Maybe he knew it was his time to die
Before he got old
And did it his way
His style
Nothing special
Just a simple death
And fitting ending to a simple life
Where a transplanted liver
slightly smaller than
A football
Would have made all the difference
For the rest of us.
Oscar Mireles
[headlines]
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