Leasing News

Marlin Stock hits $10.75 a share
by Christopher Menkin

Leasing News readers have noticed the rise in Marlin Business Service stock. It is true that Leasing News recommended buying the stock at its low last year, but normally does not get into giving investment advice, but here it was only common sense that indicated this was a bargain price at the time.

A filing was posted on Marlin’s Investor Relation section regarding Red Mountain, a major player. (1)

The filing updated the stockholdings of the Red Mountain groups controlled by William Mesdag. They acquired a few shares in Dec. 2009 and 250,300 shares on Jan. 4, 2010, increasing the Mesdag holdings to over 1 million shares (8% of the company). The total volume on Jan. 4 was an unusually high 600,000+, so there was at least one other large transaction. In the week from Jan. 4 to Jan.11, MRLN rose from under $8 a share to $10.75.

Perhaps it is time to view how the publically held leasing companies are doing on the various stock exchanges (This does not include bank holding companies:)

CIT GROUP, INC(NYSE: CIT)
Last Trade: 33.55
Prev Close: 33.79
Open: 33.15
Day's Range: 32.36 - 35.00
52wk Range: 24.83 - 35.00
Volume: 4,707,866

(Back from the dead, with new directors. Wall Street talk former Merrill Lynch & Co Inc Chief Executive John Thain may take over the current ex-Merrill Lynch Jeffrey Peak. When BofA took over Merrill, they let him go. Prior he spent almost 25 years at Goldman Sachs Group Inc where he became No. 2. If CIT sticks to its commercial success, it will rise to regain to its leadership position in the financial community. )

GATX
G A T X CP (NYSE: GMT)
Last Trade: 28.61
Prev Close: 29.36
Open: 29.20
Bid: N/A
Day's Range: 28.50 - 29.40
52wk Range: 13.63 - 31.29
Volume: 517,862

(Around a long time with strong assets.)

GEN ELECTRIC CO(NYSE: GE)
Last Trade: 16.77
Prev Close: 16.76
Open: 16.58
Day's Range: 16.57 - 16.83
52wk Range: 5.87 - 17.52
Volume: 64,622,722

(The financial arm is the largest in the leasing and finance industry.)

Marlin Business Services Corp.(NasdaqGS: MRLN)
Last Trade: 10.50
Prev Close: 10.75
Open: 10.51
Day's Range: 10.47 - 10.82
52wk Range: 2.53 - 10.82
Volume: 19,682

(source: marlinleasing.com/investor relations)

MicroFinancial Incorporated (NasdaqGM: MFI)
Last Trade: 3.20
Prev Close: 3.14
Open: 3.19
Day's Range: 3.15 - 3.20
52wk Range: 1.55 - 3.98
Volume: 2,340

(Its subsidiary TimePayment has grown under Mark Sullivan, ex-Wells Fargo champ; not only has the bottom line change and revenue, but so has their BBB report!!!)

Chesswood Income Fund (Pawnee Corp.)
(Canadian monetary, www.tmx.com)
Last Trade: 4.1
Previous Close: 4.06
Day's Range: 4.05 - 4.1
52 week range: 1.5 - 4.49
Volume: 20,800

(Note: Chesswood is a group of companies, in which Pawnee is its American “partner.” Reportedly sales are fantastic at the leasing company as this is their marketplace.)

Resource America, Inc.(NasdaqGS: REXI)
(LEAF Corp; Leaf Specialty Group)
Last Trade: 3.81
Prev Close: 3.94
Open: 3.89
Day's Range: 3.80 - 3.90
52wk Range: 2.68 - 6.86
Volume: 26,546

February 15, 2008 SEC Filing:
http://www.snl.com/irweblinkx/doc.aspx?IID=4089372&DID=7344379
*
In last public filings of NetBank Business Finance with 70 employees
$19.8 million in March, 2007, according to financial filings with the SEC before the sale (in thousands of dollars:)
Monthly
March 2006 $19,693
April, 2006 $21,150
May, 2006 $17,963
June, 2006 $19,410
July, 2006 $13,366
August, 2006 $12,686
September, 2006 $13,123
October, 2006 $13,464
November, 2006 $17,437
December, 2006 $13,428
January, 2007 $14,284
February, 2007 $17,909
March, 2007 $19,756

In the latest SEC filing, LEAF Corporation stated it had cut back to 300 employees with further employee and overhead cuts to be made. LEAF Specialty Group is reportedly for sale or will be closed down by the end of March, the latest.

(1) Red Mountain Investor Relations Filing:
http://www.snl.com/Cache/c8821667.html

www.scoreassist.com

The average American credit score is 692 (November,2009)

* 775-850 - Excellent - This represents the best score range and best financing terms. The dividing number is 750 as anything above this means you're a very low risk. Only 13% of the nation's population has scores above 800.

* 685-774 - Very Good - Qualifies a person for favorable financing. 58% of Americans have credit scores above 700

* 675-699 - Good - A score in this range will usually qualify for most loans. This range typically represents a consumer with no late mortgage payments and no more than one day late payment on consumer credit.

* 620-674 - Sub-prime - May still qualify, but will pay higher interest. A score above 650 will most likely qualify you for a loan or a lease. For many credit grantors, 620 is considered the bottom dividing line between good and risky credit.

* 560-619 - Risky - Will have trouble obtaining a loan. Nearly 20% of the U.S. population has a credit score under 620. Fall below that and you are likely to be labeled a high risk for a lease, loan, or line of credit.

* 514-559 - Very Risky - Need to work on improving your rating.

* 350-514---Bad

www.scoreassist.com provides a free 2010 credit report and scores, plus assists in:

"Reading and Understanding Your Credit Report
Controlling & Improving Your Credit
Real Time Disputes Of Negative Items"

The "Free trial" is good for five days, and if you do not cancel during that period, you will be charged. The premium program is $29.95 a month and $19.95 a month for basic.

Josh Payseno, Vice President of Sales, states most users are members from eight to eleven months as they go “live” on the internet to their creditors to clean up credit, correct mistakes, and also learn how they can improve their score themselves direct. There are no other hidden charges or promises.

There are several credit programs depending on the members preference.

www.scoreassist.com

Sales Make it Happen

by Gerry Egan

“Egan's Quick Summary Financial Form”

I take a great deal of pride in the whole Distance Learning program of the National Association of Equipment Leasing Brokers (NAELB.) I'm proud to have been, a number of years ago, as a Board Member and then President, one of the early drivers of the idea that the association could use technology and the internet to leverage a commitment to education, and to improved professionalism among the members, by reaching out to more of the members more frequently, and in more different ways. It's been very gratifying to see that subsequent Boards of Directors held onto and nurtured that idea. When they were able to launch the Distance Learning program last year, I was honored to be chosen to produce and present its first three segments.

You were right about one thing from the start, Kit. You said the Quick Summary form I described in the Distance Learning video was a great sales tool and everyone would want to see it. I've had many, many great comments on the program overall, but, just as you predicted, virtually everyone who's called or written to me has wanted to talk about that form and how to use it.

I didn't invent the form. I just took something that most salespeople considered a credit tool or credit function and I turned it into a very powerful and effective sales tool for myself. To create the one I use, I simply asked some of my underwriters for copies of what they used internally to summarize financial statements. A lot of callers have seemed surprised that my underwriters would be willing to share that. Kit, they were thrilled to! You can imagine how eager they were to have me interested in something that might save them from a lot of wasted effort! What I found was that ninety percent of the various forms I got were the same. I took that sameness as a guide and created what I use.

Some of the folks that have called me or written to me have confided that they don't feel confident asking for this kind of information because they don't have a good understanding of it themselves. Neither did I, I tell them. I'm not an accountant and, as I've told many people, and with all due respect to my friends in that very honorable profession, I have no interest in becoming an accountant —or a credit analyst, either, for that matter!

I realized, though, that it was in my own best interest for protecting my valuable selling time to be able to do a quick financial statement summary early in the sales process, so I set out to gain some confidence in doing so and found it in two different sources. First, when my underwriters realized I was serious about it, they became incredibly helpful teachers. Since they would eventually be passing judgment on the statements I got, you can be sure that I took their lessons to heart.

Equally helpful to me, though, was a book called: The Guide to Understanding Financial Statements by S. B. Costales & Geza Szurovy; published by McGraw-Hill, Inc. This book broke reading a financial statement down into easily understood sections and many years later I still find myself referring to it regularly.

I very much appreciate Leasing News for its support during the launching of my most recent online video sales training module for NAELB's Distance Learning program, and for the nice introduction Kit Menkin wrote for it on the NAELB web site.

Kit has asked me several times to make the form available to Leasing News readers,

but to do it properly, I felt it needed a specific introduction. So in addition to downloading the form I use, interested readers of Leasing News can view a brief tutorial on using and preparing the Quick Summary Form. All I ask is that anyone who finds it helpful send me a brief e-mail telling me about it. This is an exclusive and for a short time. You can find the form and the tutorial at this link:

http://www.ForEquipmentLeasing.com/RWST/html/quick_summary.html

I hope some of them will find it helpful.

Gerry Egan
Mail: GerryEgan@LearnLeasing.com
WebSite: www.LearnLeasing.com

Gerry Egan since 1981 has been involved in Equipment Leasing training, education, and has written many articles. He is unique in his consulting profession as " We broker leases, hold our own leases and discount leases to local banks in addition to managing and servicing the leasing programs for a couple of small banks."

About Gerry Egan: http://forequipmentleasing.com/Joomla/content/view/25/45/

Connect to “new” Business People

The site is effectively an online match making service that connects business people for networking purposes instead of for dating.

Most business and social networks do a great job at maintaining your existing network and reacquainting you with people you’ve lost touch with. They however are not particularly good for making new business contacts. ZoMexa.com is a new business networking service that does just that. Where other services introduce you to people you already know, ZoMexa.com specializes in introducing you to people you don’t know, but should.

ZoMexa.com’s proprietary matching algorithm connects our members to each other based on overlapping search criteria.

“Once we’ve made a match, we email both parties privately and gauge if there is mutual interest, “ said founder Mike Springer. “If there is, we take the next step of making mutual introductions. There’s also no searchable database, so the system is entirely private. ZoMexa.com offers a great solution to people who want to discretely find their next job, top level connections or new clients privately and efficiently, and it’s free.

“If any of this is of interest to you, then I ask that you please take about five minutes of your time to signup. Once your membership is approved, you will be able to create your own search criteria which will from that point on do the work of finding the professional contacts that you really should know.

“At the moment our goal at ZoMexa.com is to build the membership of the site. Again, the site is in beta, but increased membership will make the site's value all that much greater for the site itself and for you if you join. It is free to join. I hope you will.”

www.ZoMexa.com

New Hires---Promotions

Kay Berry has joined Franklin Capital Network, St. Louis, Missouri as senior marketing manager. She brings over 28 years of experience in the factoring industry holding various senior level positions. In 2001, Ms. Berry received the Small Business Association Financial Advocate of the Year Award representing Missouri. She is also currently on the board of the St Louis Chapter of the Risk Management Association.

Laird Boulden will be joining on February 1, 2009,CapitalSource, Chevy Chase, Maryland. He previously served as president Tygris Asset Finance. Prior held senior executive roles at the Citizens Banks/Royal Bank of Scotland and Heller Financial, where he founded/co-founded their respective equipment finance groups.

Steve Pittman named Vice President of Sales, International Decision Systems, Minneapolis, Minnesota.His previous experience includes Director of Sales, Eastern Region for GXS, Inc, a leading B2B e-commerce and integration services provider and Senior Account Executive with SAP America where he was in the President’s Club and in the top 2% of Account Executives. Prior to this, he was Regional Vice President for PeopleSoft, Regional Manager positions for Siebel Systems and Oracle Corporation. Mr. Pittman holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Mississippi State University.

Wayne Woolley named Vice President and Credit Manager of Pawnee Leasing Corporation, Fort Collins, Colorado.

He takes the position as Credit Manager Jerry Reeves retired after ten years with Pawnee. Mr. Woolley previously was with Chrysler Financial 10 years in various senior credit management capacities.

More about Mr. Woolley here:
http://www.pawneeleasing.com/wayne.asp

#### Press Release #############################

Salesman Sends Commissions to Foreign Bank Account

Failed to disclose to IRS the existence of his bank accounts in Bahamas and Grenada

Los Angeles – A Huntington Beach man pleaded guilty to filing a false individual income tax return for tax year 2001, in violation of Title 26, United States Code section 7206(1), sending his commission to bank accounts outside the United States.

Dimitri Maraletos, 59, of Huntington Beach, California, admitted that he failed to state on his 2000, 2001, and 2002 tax returns that he had an interest in accounts maintained outside the United States. Maraletos pleaded guilty before United States District Judge James V. Selna.

According to his plea agreement, between the years 2000 and 2002, Maraletos solicited persons to invest in a company known as Imperial Consolidated Group. He received commissions from ICG from sales that were deposited by ICG into accounts of Altadena Enterprises Ltd. ad Watertown Management Incorporated, which were companies that Maraletos formed and controlled. One of the bank accounts was in the name Altadena Enterprises, Ltd. and maintained at Leadenhall Bank & Trust Company Limited located at Hassau, Bahamas; the other account Maraletos had an interest in was located at Imperium Bank, Ltd in Grenada.

The Internal Revenue Service requires on Form 1040 (Individual Income Tax Return), Schedule B, Part iii, Line 7a, that every taxpayer answer “Yes” or “No” as to their interest in or signature authority over a financial account in a foreign country. Maraletos failed to disclose the foreign bank accounts into which his commission earnings from ICG had been deposited.

Maraletos is scheduled to be sentenced on April 26, 2010, before Judge Selna.

The investigation of Maraletos is being conducted by IRS – Criminal Investigation’s Los Angeles Field Office in cooperation with the United States Attorney’s office for the Central District of California.

((Please Click on Bulletin Board to learn more information))
(Leasing News provides this ad “gratis” as a means
to help support the growth of Lease Police)

#### Press Release #############################

CIT Names Three New Directors
Completes Reconstitution of Board of Directors

NEW YORK--CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT), a leading provider of financing to small businesses and middle market companies, announced that Gerald Rosenfeld, Anthony P. Terracciano and Laura S. Unger have been appointed to the Company’s Board of Directors. CIT also announced that the Honorable Christopher H. Shays and Lois M. Van Deusen have resigned from the Board.

“The appointment of these three outstanding individuals completes the reconstitution of our Board of Directors”

As contemplated by the Company’s Plan of Reorganization, CIT’s Board now consists of 13 Directors including seven new independent Directors appointed since CIT emerged from bankruptcy, five incumbent independent Directors and Jeffrey M. Peek, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, who will be leaving CIT on January 15, 2010. The search for a new CEO continues to progress and, once appointed, this individual will also serve on the Board.

“The appointment of these three outstanding individuals completes the reconstitution of our Board of Directors,” said Mr. Peek. “Their depth of experience and reputations in the banking, regulatory and financial services arenas will benefit CIT as it moves forward and continues to serve the small and middle market sectors of the economy. I want to thank Christopher and Lois for their many contributions to the Board and their dedicated service to CIT. Their extraordinary efforts were instrumental to CIT’s successful restructuring.”

Newly Appointed Independent Directors

Gerald Rosenfeld, 63, currently serves as Deputy Chairman of Rothschild North America, and previously served as its Chief Executive Officer for eight years. Prior to joining Rothschild he was President of G Rosenfeld & Co LLC, an investment banking firm he founded in 1998. Previously, he was Head of Investment Banking and a member of the Management Committee of Lazard Freres & Co LLC since 1992. Prior to Lazard, Mr. Rosenfeld held significant management positions at Bankers Trust Company, Salomon Inc. and its Salomon Brothers subsidiary and McKinsey & Company. Prior to joining McKinsey, Mr. Rosenfeld was a member of the faculty of the City College of New York, New York University and the University of Maryland.

Anthony P. Terracciano, 71, has served as Chairman of the Board of SLM Corp. since January 2008. Prior to SLM Corp., Mr. Terracciano served as Chairman of the Board of Riggs Corporation, which was sold to The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., from 2004 to 2005, as Chairman of the Board of Dime Bancorporation, which was sold to Washington Mutual, Inc., from 1999 to 2002, and as Vice Chairman of American Water Works, NJ, from 1997 to 2003. Prior to 2000, he served as President of First Union Corp. and was the Chief Executive Officer, President, and Chairman at First Fidelity Bancorp. Prior to First Fidelity, he served as the President and Chief Operating Officer at Mellon Bank Corp. and spent the first 23 years of his career at Chase Manhattan Bank Corporation, where he rose to Vice Chairman of Wholesale Banking and Investment Banking.

Laura S. Unger, 49, a former Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is a private consultant, advising clients on securities, legal, regulatory, and policy matters. She has also served as the Independent Consultant to JPMorgan for the Global Analyst Conflict Settlement since 2003. She served as the regulatory expert for CNBC from 2002 to 2003. Prior to CNBC, she served as Commissioner of the SEC from November 1997 to February 2002, including Acting Chairperson of the SEC from February to August 2001. Before being appointed to the SEC, Ms. Unger served as Counsel to the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. Prior to working on Capitol Hill, she was an attorney with the Enforcement Division of the SEC.

Individuals interested in receiving future updates on CIT via e-mail can register at http://newsalerts.cit.com

About CIT
CIT (NYSE: CIT) is a bank holding company with more than $60 billion in finance and leasing assets that provides financial products and advisory services to small and middle market businesses. Operating in more than 50 countries across 30 industries, CIT provides an unparalleled combination of relationship, intellectual and financial capital to its customers worldwide. CIT maintains leadership positions in small business and middle market lending, retail finance, aerospace, equipment and rail leasing, and vendor finance. Founded in 1908 and headquartered in New York City, CIT is a member of the Fortune 500. www.cit.com

### Press Release ############################

Veteran Leasing Attorney Opens Iowa Office

West Des Moines, Iowa--Michael Witt, former Managing Counsel at Wells Fargo & Co and Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Advanta Leasing Corporation, has opened a legal office to specialize in small equipment lease brokers and lessors, as well as community banks.

"Having practiced in-house with equipment finance companies for more than twenty years," he said, "I know how expensive outside lawyers can be. I believe there is a widespread demand in this niche market for outside lawyers who can deliver first-in-class work product at substantially lower prices."

The private law practice will focus exclusively on equipment leasing and finance.

Mr. Witt is licensed to practice law in Iowa, Pennsylvania and New Jersey and is able to provide document and general counseling services on a nationwide basis.

The firm offers a variety of services, including, among others: conducting litigation audits on existing lease and loan document forms; drafting and updating document forms; negotiating and documenting individual transactions; negotiating and documenting vendor and other third-party programs; law and regulatory compliance audits and counseling; product development risk counseling.

For more information or an interview, please contact Mr. Witt at 515-868-1067 or email: witt-law@live.com
Web: www.witt-law.com

##### Press Release #######################

   1733- James Oglethorpe and 130 English colonists arrive at Charleston, SC
http://georgiahistory.i-found-it.net/georgiahistory1.html
http://www.virtualmuseumofhistory.com/internationalhall/worldleaders/
JAMESOGLETHORPE.COM/
http://ourgeorgiahistory.com/people/oglethorpe.html
http://www.cviog.uga.edu/Projects/jeo300/savanna1.htm
    1794-Congress authorizes an “act making an alteration in the flag of the United States... that from and after the first day of May,1795, the Flag of the United States be fifteen stripes, alternated red and white; and that the union be fifteen stars, white, in a blue field. The change was made so that Vermont and Kentucky would be represented on the flag. A law passed on April 4, 1818, reduced the number of stripes to 13 to represent the original 13 states, as in the first American flag, and provided one star for each state. A new star was to be added on the Fourth of July following the admission of each new state.
    1807- Birthday of Union General Napoleon Bonaparte Buford, born in Woodford, Kentucky. Buford held many commands in the west and was a hero at the Battle of Belmont early in the war. Buford attended West Point and graduated in 1827, sixth out of 38 in his class. After a stint with the frontier military, he was given leave to study law at Harvard. He taught at West Point before leaving the service to become a businessman. He was an engineer and banker in Illinois during the 1840s and 1850s. When the war began, the 54-year-old Buford raised his own regiment, the 27th Illinois. He was commissioned as a colonel, and his unit was sent to Cairo, Illinois, and placed in General Ulysses S. Grant's army. On November 7, 1861, Grant attacked a Confederate camp at Belmont, Missouri, and quickly drove the Rebels away. But Grant's men became preoccupied with plundering the area, and a Confederate counterattack nearly turned to disaster for the Yankees. Buford's regiment was nearly cut off from the main Union force. He rallied his men and they fought their way out of the Confederate trap. Buford was commended for his bravery After Belmont, Buford participated in the capture of Island No. 10, a Confederate stronghold in the Mississippi River, and Buford was left in command after its capture. Buford and his regiment fought at Corinth in October 1862, but the colonel fell seriously ill from sunstroke. He left field command and sat on the court martial of General Fitz John Porter in Washington. Buford returned to the west and was promoted to Brigadier General in charge of the District of Eastern Arkansas. He remained there for the remainder of the war, although his main military action came in chasing off Confederate raiders in the area. Buford generated controversy in his dealings with black troops. He had drawn earlier criticism for not helping refugee slaves, and now he proclaimed his preference for commanding white troops. He justified it by saying that black troops were not as well trained and they were more likely to fall prey to drawn attention from southern bushwhackers. It was also true that Confederate soldiers went out of their way to attack units with Black soldiers, killing all wounded men on the field and shooting prisoners. Buford silenced some of the criticism by implementing programs for freed slaves in Arkansas that generally succeeded in taking care of their immediate needs. Poor health forced his resignation in March 1865, just before the end of the war. He was brevetted to major general following his retirement. He worked in a variety of businesses after the war and died in Chicago in 1883. Napoleon Bonaparte Buford was the older half-brother of John Buford, a Union General who commanded the Union force that first engaged the Confederates.
    1808-Birthday of Salmon Portland Chase, American statesman, born at Cornish, NH. US senator, secretary of the treasury and chief justice of the Supreme Court. Salmon P. Chase spent much of his life fighting slavery ( he was popularly known as “attorney general for runaway Negroes.”) He was one of the founders of the Republican Party and his hopes for becoming a candidate for president of the US in 1856 and 1860 were dashed because his unconcealed antislavery view3s made him unacceptable. Died at New York, NY, May 7, 1873.
    1832- President Andrew Jackson wrote Vice President Martin Van Buren expressing his opposition to South Carolina's defiance of federal authority. South Carolinians agreed and planned to use armed force to prevent duty collection in the state after February 1, 1833. The Nullification Crisis of 1832-1833 was resolved without bloodshed in March 1833. Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, who left the vice presidency at the end of 1832 to serve South Carolina in the Senate, drafted a reduced tariff agreement that pacified South Carolina while allowing the Federal government to stand firm.
( lower half of: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/jan13.html)
    1834-Birthday of Horatio Alger, American clergyman and author of more than 100 popular books for boys ( some 20 million copies sold). Honesty, frugality and hard work assured that the heroes of his books would find success, wealth and fame. Born at Revere, MA, he died at Natick, MA, July 18,1899.
    1846 - President James Polk dispatched General Zachary Taylor and 4,000 troops to the Texas Border as war with Mexico loomed. Mexico had severed relations with the United States in March 1845, shortly after the U.S. annexation of Texas
    1847—“ Capitulation of Cahuenga" ended all organized resistance to American rule in California as Los Angeles surrendered officially this date. All “rebels” were pardoned by Gen. Kearny.
On January 14, California was controlled by the United States military.
http://www.aztecclub.com/campo/CapCahuenga.htm
http://www.militarymuseum.org/Cahuenga.html
http://www.campodecahuenga.com/
    1850-Birthday of Charlotte R. Ray, the first black lawyer in the United States who was also a woman and certified as the first woman admitted to practice in Washington, D.C., many say because she signed the application C.R. Ray without using her first name. By 1878, in the face of overwhelming sexual and racial prejudice when not even black men would consult her, she returned to teaching in Brooklyn, NY. Died January 4,1911 at the age of 61 from acute bronchitis.
http://www.womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_ray_charlotte.htm
http://www.law.howard.edu/alumni/legalgiants/huslgiantoct2k.htm
http://www.stanford.edu/group/WLHP/papers/CharlotteRay.pdf
    1864 - Composer Stephen Foster was found critically ill in his hotel room three days earlier, and on this date, died in Bellevue Hospital, New York, at age 37. He only had 35 cents in his pocket, along with a little slip of paper on which he had written, "Dear friends and gentle hearts." While never a great composer, Foster wrote many of the popular songs of the era which remained a part of Americana for more than a century, including Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair, Oh! Susanna, My Old Kentucky Home, and Old Folks at Home, also known as Swanee River.Many of his songs - including "Oh! Susanna," "Camptown Races" and "Old Black Joe" - are written in black dialect. Foster gained much of his knowledge of blacks through his early experience in traveling minstrel shows. He became a heavy drinker, suffered from tuberculosis, and lapsed into obscurity. His last song, Beautiful Dreamer, which he penned just a few days before his death, joined his earlier classics
    1869-First Convention of the Colored National Labor Union, the first Black labor convention.
http://www.uwm.edu/Course/448-440/national.htm
http://www.africana.com/Articles/tt_631.htm
http://www.afscme.org/about/aframlink.htm
    1873-P.B.S. Pinchback ends service as first black governor of Louisiana.
http://www.africana.com/Articles/tt_1153.htm
http://www.sec.state.la.us/46.htm
http://www.huarchivesnet.howard.edu/9911huarnet/pbs1.htm
http://www.gnocdc.org/orleans/11/73/snapshot.html
http://66.216.8.84/CreoleCulture/famouscreoles/Pinchback/pinchback.htm
    1884-Grand entertainer Sophie Tucker was born in Poland. She was known as "The Last of the Red Hot Mamas" and her career in stage, film, cabaret, radio, TV and recording lasted more than 60 years, beginning with an appearance at her father's cafe in Hartford, Connecticut in 1905. Tucker's most famous songs were "Some of These Days," recorded in 1926, and "My Yiddish Momma," cut two years later. Sophie Tucker died in 1966.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/jan13.html
    1885-Birthday of Alfred Carl Fuller, founder of the Fuller Brush Company, born at Kings County, NS, Canada. In 1906 the young brush salesman went into business on his own, making brushes at a bench between the furnace and the coal bin in his sister's basement. Died at Hartford, CT, Dec. 4, 1973.
    1886 - A great blizzard struck the state of Kansas without warning. The storm claimed 50 to 100 lives, and eighty percent of the cattle in the state.
    1888 - The mercury plunged to 65 degrees below zero at Fort Keough, located near Miles City MT. The reading stood as a record for the continental U.S. for sixty-six years
    1892 - An Atlantic coast storm produced a record 18.6 inches of snow at Norfolk, VA, including 17.7 inches in 24 hours. The storm also produced 9.5 inches of snow at Raleigh NC, and brought snow to northern Florida for the first time in 35 years.
    1909-Birthday of trombonist Quentin “Butter” Jackson, born Springfield, OH. With Duke Ellington from 1948 to 1959.
    1910-Radio pioneer and electron tube inventor Lee de Forest arranged the world's first radio broadcast to the public at New York, NY. He succeeded in broadcasting the voice of Enrico Caruso along with other stars of the Metropolitan Opera to several receiving locations in the city where listeners with earphones marveled at wireless music form the air. Though only a few were equipped to listen, it was the first broadcast to reach the public and the beginning of a new era in which wireless radio communication became almost universal.
    1912-Delta Sigma Theta, sorority, founded on the campus of Howard University.
http://www.deltasigmatheta.org/history/index.htm
    1912 - The temperature at Oakland, MD, plunged to 40 degrees below zero to establish a state record.
    1926-Birthday of arranger/trombonist Melba Liston, Kansas City, MO, Died April 23, 1999
http://hardbop.tripod.com/liston.html
http://elvispelvis.com/melbaliston.htm
http://www.jazzreview.com/articledetails.cfm?ID=438
    1926-Birthday of Gwen Verdon, born Culver City, Los Angeles, CA. One of Broadway's premier female dances and actresses, many of her most successful roles were choreographed by her husband Bob Fosse. She won Tony Awards for Can-Can, Daman Yankees, New Girl in Town and Redhead. She also acted in movies, including Cocoon and the film adaptation of Damn Yankees. She starred in the original Broadway production, which my mother and father took me to see and I will never forget her performance, especially being a Brooklyn Dodger fan.
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0893862/
http://www.povonline.com/cols/COL317.htm
    1929-Birthday of guitarist Joe Pass
http://www.riffinteractive.com/expguitar/JoePass1.htm
http://www.classicjazzguitar.com/albums/artists_albums.jsp?artist=55
http://www.gould68.freeserve.co.uk/JoePass.html
    1930 - The comic strip "Mickey Mouse" debuted in American newspapers, with Floyd Gottfredson as its ghost writer.
    1933 - Making her first professional basketball appearance, Babe (Mildred) Didrikson scored nine points as the Brooklyn Yankees defeated the Long Island Ducklings.
    1936- Baptist clergyman B.B. McKinney, 50, wrote the words and tune to the gospel song, "Wherever He Leads, I'll Go," a few days before the opening of a Sunday School convention in Alabama.
    1938 - For Victor Records, singer Allan Jones recorded "The Donkey Serenade", which became the song most often associated with him. Allan also sang and acted in several Marx Brothers films including: "A Night at the Opera", "A Day at the Races". The film that made him a star was the operetta, "Firefly" with Jeanette MacDonald. Singer Jack Jones is the son of Allan and his actress wife, Irene Hervey ("The Count of Monte Cristo", "Play Misty for Me"). .
    1941 - The four Modernaires came to sang with the Glenn Miller Band on a full time basis. In 1946, they had a ‘solo' hit with "To Each His Own".
    1941-Charlie Spivak records with own band first time. Okey label.
    1942 - Henry Ford patented the plastic automobile, which decreased the weight of a car by 30%.
    1949---Top Hits
Buttons and Bows - Dinah Shore
On a Slow Boat to China - The Kay Kyser Orchestra (vocal: Harry Babbitt & Gloria Wood)
A Little Bird Told Me - Evelyn Knight
I Love You So Much It Hurts - Jimmy Wakely
    1953-Don Barksdale becomes the first Black person to play in an NBA All-Star Game.
http://sports.insidebayarea.com/top50.asp?story=Don_Barksdale
http://thisweek.kqed.org/segments/390/
    1955 - Chase National Bank (founded in 1877) and the Bank of Manhattan Company (founded in 1799 as a water company) agreed to merge, becoming the second largest bank in the U.S.
    1957 - The Wham-O Company developed the first plastic Frisbee. The most popular theory as to how this flying disc came to be dates back to the 1920s when Yale students invented a game of catch by tossing around metal pie tins from the Frisbee Baking Company in nearby Bridgeport, Connecticut. They would frequently shout “Frisbieeeee” to warn passersby of the oncoming pie plate. Building inspector Fred Morrison puttered with and refined a plastic flying disc that he sold to WHAM-O (for $1 million) on this day in 1955. The disc was introduced to the consumer market in 1957 as the Pluto Platter (the name inspired by the U.S. obsession with UFOs). Wham-O changed the name to Frisbee in 1958, upon hearing the Yale pie-tin story. (Mattel now owns the rights to Frisbee, which has become an American icon.)
    1957 - For Victor Records in Hollywood, California, Elvis Presley recorded "All Shook Up" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin"; which became Elvis' ninth consecutive gold record.
    1957---Top Hits
Singing the Blues - Guy Mitchell
The Banana Boat Song - The Tarriers
Moonlight Gambler - Frankie Laine
Singing the Blues - Marty Robbins
    1961 - In the first round of the Los Angeles Open golf tournament, golfing great Arnie Palmer scored an embarrassing 12 strokes on one hole.
    1962 - Singer Chubby Checker set a record, literally, with the hit, "The Twist". The song reached the #1 position for an unprecedented second time -- in two years. "The Twist" was also number one on September 26, 1960. The song, widely considered one of the most successful singles of all time, was on the Top 100 charts for 39 weeks, longer than any other single except "Red Red Wine" by UB40. When an early recording of "The Twist" by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters became the top dance song on Dick Clark's American Bandstand but failed to get much radio play, Clark suggested that a new artist should record a cover. Singer Ernest Evans of Cameo Records recorded the song and changed his name to Chubby Checker as a takeoff on Fats Domino. The song hit the charts in 1960 when it became immensely popular with teenagers, but adults started buying the record in 1962, after Chubby Checker sang "The Twist" on Ed Sullivan's October 22 show.
    1962-First Operation Farm Gate missions flown .
In the first Farm Gate combat missions, T-28 fighter-bombers are flown in support of a South Vietnamese outpost under Viet Cong attack.
By the end of the month, U.S. Air Force pilots had flown 229 Farm Gate sorties. Operation Farm Gate was initially designed to provide advisory support to assist the South Vietnamese Air Force in increasing its capability. The 4400th Combat Crew Training Squadron arrived at Bien Hoa Airfield in November 1961 and began training South Vietnamese Air Force personnel with older, propeller-driven aircraft. In December, President John F. Kennedy expanded Farm Gate to include limited combat missions by the U.S. Air Force pilots in support of South Vietnamese ground forces. By late 1962, communist activity and combat intensity had increased so much that President Kennedy ordered a further expansion of Farm Gate. In early 1963, additional aircraft arrived and new detachments were established at Pleiku and Soc Trang. In early 1964, Farm Gate was upgraded again with the arrival of more modern aircraft. In October 1965, another squadron of A-1E aircraft was established at Bien Hoa. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara approved the replacement of South Vietnamese markings on Farm Gate aircraft with regular U.S. Air Force markings. By this point in the war, the Farm Gate squadrons were flying 80 percent of all missions in support of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). With the build up of U.S. combat forces in South Vietnam and the increase in U.S. Air Force presence there, the role of the Farm Gate program gradually decreased in significance. The Farm Gate squadrons were moved to Thailand in 1967, and from there they launched missions against the North Vietnamese in Laos.
    1962-Center Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors set an NBA regular season record by scoring 73 points in a game against Chicago. Chamberlain had scored 78 points in the previous December, but that game had gone into three overtime periods.
    1962--- Chubby Checker's "The Twist" hits #1 for the second time.
    1964 - Capitol released in the United States The Beatles' single I Want to Hold Your Hand/I Saw Her Standing There .
    1965---Top Hits
I Feel Fine - The Beatles
She's a Woman - The Beatles
Love Potion Number Nine - The Searchers
Once a Day - Connie Smith
    1965-After the NBA All-Star game in which San Francisco Warriors center Wilt Chamberlain scored 20 points and grabbed 16 rebounds, the Warriors shocked the basketball world by announcing that they were trading Chamberlain to the Philadelphia 76ers for three minor leaguers and !150,000.
    1966 - On "Bewitched," Elizabeth Montgomery's character, Samantha, gave birth to her first child, Tabitha. The witch's daughter could wiggle her nose with her finger and cause problems for daddy, Darin, just like mom.
    1967 -- The Dead, Junior Wells' Chicago Blues Band, & the Doors at the Fillmore, San Francisco, California.
    1968-Against the advice of Columbia Records executives, Johnny Cash visits Folsom State Prison in California to record a live album. The resulting LP, "Live At Folsom Prison" would become one of Johnny's biggest selling records, reaching #1 on the Country album chart and #13 on the Hot 200. It also produced one of his most memorable hit singles, "Folsom Prison Blues". In 2003, "Live at Folsom Prison" was certified Triple Platinum by the RIAA for sales of over three million and was ranked #88 on Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
    1968-- Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love" enters the pop charts.
    1968-Dr. K.C. Pollack of the University of Florida audio lab reports tests have found that the noise generated at rock & roll concerts is harmful to teenage ears.
    1968-In a game between the Minnesota North Stars and the Oakland Seals, Minnesota rookie center Bill Masterton was checked into the boards and fell heavily on his head. He suffered massive brain damage and died two days later, the only fatality in NHL history.
    1973--- Carly Simon's album No Secrets hits #1.
    1973- Eric Clapton came back from his three-year heroin addiction problem with a concert at the Rainbow club in London. Clapton, helped and encouraged by Pete Townshend of the Who, was back on the album charts in 1974 with "461 Ocean Boulevard."
    1972-Nixon announces additional troop withdrawals President Nixon announces that 70,000 U.S. troops will leave South Vietnam over the next three months, reducing U.S. troop strength there by May 1 to 69,000 troops. Since taking office, Nixon had withdrawn more than 400,000 American troops from Vietnam. With the reduction in total troop strength, U.S. combat deaths were down to less than 10 per week. However, Nixon still came under heavy criticism from those who charged that he was pulling out troops but, by turning to the use of air power instead of ground troops, was continuing the U.S. involvement in Vietnam rather than disengaging from the war. The last American troops would be withdrawn in March 1973 under the provisions of the Paris Peace Accords.
    1972- The Beach Boys' "Surfin'" is getting airplay in Los Angeles and enters Billboard, moving up the Hot 100 chart at #118.
    1973 - Carly Simon's "No Secrets" was the #1 album in the U.S. for the first of five weeks. The tracks: "The Right Thing to Do", "The Carter Family", "You're So Vain", "His Friends are More Than Fond of Robin", "(We Have) No Secrets", "Embrace Me You Child", "Waited So Long", "It Was So Easy", "Night Owl" and "When You Close Your Eyes".
    1973---Top Hits
Me and Mrs. Jones - Billy Paul
Clair - Gilbert O'Sullivan
You're So Vain - Carly Simon
She's Got to Be a Saint - Ray Price
    1974-A Gallup poll on religious worship showed that fewer Protestants and Roman Catholics were attending weekly services than ten years earlier, but that attendance at Jewish worship services had increased over the same period.
    1974- 37 people were injured in a melee outside the Tower Records store in Los Angeles after the crowd discovered that singer Steve Miller was not going to be at a post-concert party at the store. The organizers forgot to invite him. Miller's single and album "The Joker" were riding high on the charts at the time.
    1974 - Super Bowl VIII (at Houston): Miami Dolphins 24, Minnesota Vikings 7. The Dolphins win their second straight Super Bowl. Fran Tarkenton and the Vikings are the victims. MVP: Dolphins' RB Larry Csonka; Larry Csonka's 145 yards rushing to claim their second straight championship. . Tickets: $15.00
http://images.nfl.com/history/images/0113.jpg.
    1976 - Sarah Caldwell, The Divine Miss Sarah, founder of the highly successful and artistically marvelous Boston Opera Company, the second woman in the history of the New York Philharmonic to conduct its orchestra (1975) became the first woman to conduct an opera at the Metropolitan, Verdi's La Traviata . Devoted to her Boston Opera company and opera in general, she uses off-beat methods to draw customers by using stage innovations which included such things as motorcycles and circus acts. She was born 03-05-24.
http://www2.worldbook.com/features/whm/html/whm068.html
http://www.smithsonianassociates.org/programs/cassettes/caldwell.HTM
    1978-Elvis Presley's version of Paul Anka's "My Way" goes gold in five months after the King's death. Earlier, it had become one of Presley's 78 Top Twenty-five hits.
    1980 - The Grateful Dead, Beach Boys and Jefferson Starship are the featured acts at a benefit concert for the people of Kampuchea, held at the Oakland Coliseum.
    1981---Top Hits
(Just Like) Starting Over - John Lennon
Love on the Rocks - Neil Diamond
Hungry Heart - Bruce Springsteen
I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink - Merle Haggard
    1982 - Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737, attempted to take off from Washington's National Airport in one of the worst blizzards in history. Ice had built up on the wings of the jetliner as it waited its turn to take off, preventing it from gaining altitude. After crashing into the 14th Street Bridge, the plane fell into the Potomac River. 74 of the 79 people on the aircraft were killed in the accident. Four people on the bridge were killed.
    1982 - The worst Louisiana rainstorm in more than 100 years came to an end. More than 18 inches fell at Vinton, LA, during the three day storm. Flooding was widespread, and property damage was estimated at 100 to 200 million dollars. President Reagan visited the state and declared ten parishes in northeastern Lousiana disaster areas
    1984 - Wayne Gretzky extended his consecutive scoring streak to 45 games, but the Edmonton Oilers winning streak ended at an unlucky 13 when Gretzky and company lost to the Buffalo Sabres 3-1.
    1985-While not a date in American history, Otto Bucher of Switzerland became the oldest golfer to record a hole-in-one when he aced the 12 th hole at a golf course in Spain. Burcher was 99 years old.
    1986 - NCAA member schools voted overwhelmingly in convention to adopt Proposition 48, a controversial attempt to raise the academic performance of student-athletes. Prop 48 required incoming freshmen to score 700 or more on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) or 15 on the American College Testing (ACT) exam or graduate from high school with a 2.0 grade point average in order to be eligible for athletics during freshman year.
    1986 - For the first time in about 10 years, "The Wall Street Journal" broke with tradition and printed a real, honest-to-goodness picture on its front page. The story was about artist O. Winston Link and featured one of his works.
    1988 - A fast moving cold front ushered arctic cold into the north central and northeastern U.S. Mason City IA reported a wind chill reading of 51 degrees below zero, and Greenville ME reported a wind chill of 63 degrees below zero. Winds along the cold front gusted to 63 mph at Rochester NY, and a thunderstorm along the cold front produced wind gusts to 62 mph at Buffalo NY, along with snow and sleet.
    1989 - Half a dozen cities in the northeastern U.S. reported record low temperatures for the date, including Elkins, WV, with a reading of 13 degrees below zero. Watertown NY was the cold spot in the nation with a morning low of 37 degrees below zero
    1989---Top Hits
Every Rose Has Its Thorn - Poison
My Prerogative - Bobby Brown
Two Hearts - Phil Collins
Hold Me - K.T. Oslin
    1990 - A winter storm in the southwestern U.S. produced more than a twelve inches of snow in the mountains of California and Nevada. In northern California, Huntington Lake was buried under 40 inches of snow, and up to 20 inches was reported in northeastern Nevada. Heavy rain soaked some of the lower elevations of California. Gibraltar Dam CA was drenched with 5.33 inches of rain in two days.
    1992 - United States serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer pleaded guilty but insane to the murders of 15 young men and boys. He had kept parts of his victim in his refrigerator, and also claimed to be a cannibal. He was later murdered in by an inmate who said, “ God had told me to do this.”
    1994-- GTE, in the midst of a massive restructuring program designed to "streamline" its operations for the dawning "multimedia age." announced that it was taking a $1.8 billion pretax charge for the fourth quarter of 1993 and, in the process, planned to slash its staff by some 17,000 jobs. GTE chairman Charles R. Lee declared the moves necessary for the company's future, noting that without a "competitive structure" GTE would likely "blow up." However, this logic didn't mollify GTE's primary union, the Communications Workers of America, which derided the lay-offs as "yet another example of a highly profitable company eliminating...the people who helped build the company and created its technology to further enhance the bottom line."
    1996-The Medals of Honor were awarded to African-American servicemen for service in World War II by President William Jefferson Clinton at a ceremony in the White House, Washington, DC. None of the 1.7 million African-Americans who served in World War II had received a Medal of Honor despite the many documented cases of bravery that were presented to officials of the armed forces. Of the seven servicemen who received the medal at the ceremony, the only one still alive was Vernon Baker, a 77-year-old retired career Army officer. Medals were awarded posthumously to staff Sergeant Edward A. Carter, J., of Los Angeles, First Lieutenant Charles L. Thomas of Detroit, Private George Watson of Birmingham, AL, First Lieutenant John R. Fox of Boston, Private First Class Willy F. James, Jr., of Kansas City, KS, and Staff Sergeant Ruben Rivers of Tecumseh, OK.
    1998 -- Baltimore and Minnesota combine to set an NFL record with three kickoff return touchdowns in the same game, all in the first quarter of the Vikings' 38-28 victory. Corey Harris and Patrick Johnson score for the Ravens while David Palmer turns the trick for Minnesota. Vikings kicker Gary Anderson sets an NFL record when he converts his 34th consecutive field goal.
    1999-“The Sopranos” TV Premiere. The thinking viewer's mob drama,” The Sopranos” features James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano, who's panic attacks drive him to seek out a psychiatrist ( Lorraine Bracco). The HBO drama revolves around Tony's home and crime lives. TV Guide has named the series one of the greatest TV shows of all time.
http://www.hbo.com/sopranos/
    2000 - Microsoft chairman Bill Gates announced that he would be stepping down as Microsoft chief executive and handing over the reins to longtime friend and company president Steve Ballmer. Gates assumed the title of ‘chief software architect'.

While he never won a Superbowl, losing in 1985 to the 49ers, Dan Marino just joined as head of football operations and is considered the most prolific passer in NFL history, holding league records with 61,361 yards passing and 420 touchdown passes

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