Leasing News

Irwin Resolved to Raise Capital to Stay Alive
by Christopher Menkin

Once the darling of leasing, Irwin Union Bank, Columbus, Indiana lease receivables have gone from $582,310,000 June 30, 2008 to $9,814,000 June 30, 2009, according to their FDIC financial filings.

Irwin last year closed their vendor leasing division, then announced it was getting out of equipment leasing. As noted in the beginning, their lease receivables have diminished, evidently from the sale of portfolio's.

Recently they sold three branches to First Financial Bank, located in the Indiana Communities of Carmel, Greensburg and Shelbyville.

Total other loans and leases have gone from 12,947 591,718,000 to 12,947,000 with a * next to the latest numbers. According to the FDIC Definition (* Note: Other loans and leases category items may not total for TFR Reporters due to reporting differences. (Some reporting requirements are different from those of the FFIEC Call reports.)

The FDIC has filed a cease and desist order regarding bank capitalization. Details of this action follow some basic financial numbers from their FDIC financial filings:

Irwin Union Bank from June 30, 2008 to June 30, 2009 has gone from 939 employees to 482 (before the sale of three branches) with assets from $5.28 billion to $2.83 billion. Restructed leases from $10,088,000 to 39,741,000. Real estate loans from $3.5 billion to $1.89 billion with the largest drop in 1-4 family residual loans $1.6 billion to $480.1 million. Net operating income -$78,299,000 to -$142,689,000. Second-quarter loss of $57 million, compared with a loss of $107 million.

Regulators and bank followers are predicting Irwin will go the way of Corvus, which cost the FDIC $1.7 billion in its best sale arrangement. In this case, there do not seem to be many takers. The bottom line is shareholders may wind up with nothing if the FDIC closes the bank and sells its deposits and assets to another bank. Thus adding the board's problem in trying to raise capital.

The Cease and Desist requires Irwin and its holding company to achieve certain designated capital levels and reduce reliance on certain types of deposits by Sept. 30. With the latest news, loss of commercial and consumer lending, the bank has been relying more and more on broker deposits, which the banking regulators are not happy with.

Irwin Financial has been ordered achieve and maintain a consolidated total risk-based capital ratio of at least 11%. Irwin Union Bank must achieve and maintain a total risk-based capital ratio of at least 12%. The companies must reduce aggregate wholesale deposits by 33% from Aug. 17 levels by Sept. 30, and by 50% from Aug. 17 levels by Dec. 31. These will be very tough numbers to meet.

As to the asterisk in the financial statement, both the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the Indiana Department of Financial Institutions find issue with the timing of the recognition of certain loan losses. They are requiring Irwin Union Bank to submit amended consolidated reports of condition and income for the three months ended June 30 to the FDIC consistent with the Chicago Reserve Bank's view of the timing of these losses.

The regulators also warned the bank they may no longer be eligible to receive deposits from Indiana public entities unless they are insured by the FDIC. Reportedly these are "an important source" of liquidity for the banking unit.

Leasing News "The List"---August

Here is abbreviated August Listing, for full listing, to:

http://www.leasingnews.org/list_chron_new.htm

August Abbreviated:

Puget Sound Leasing, Bellevue, Washington (08/09) Files Third complaint (08/09) Second complaint filed. The original complaint outlined the alleged deception in the sale of Puget Sound Leasing (PSL), the second brought it further (1), and the third comes from the hiring of a leasing expert who found what the first two overlooked, as well as a continuation of the first two, plus new evidence that the Secords started moving assets soon after the original complaint was made. http://leasingnews.org/archives/August%202009/08-31-09.htm#Third_Amended

Triad Leasing & Financial, Inc., Boise, Idaho (08/09) Files Chapter 11 BK.

El Camino Resources International Leasing and Financing, Chatsworth, A (08/09) sold to CHG-MERIDIAN Group Weingarten, Germany. http://leasingnews.org/archives/August%202009/08-28-09.htm#CHG_MERIDIAN

Blue Bridge Financial, LLC, Williamsburg, New York (08/09) John Gallo, who was president of M&C Leasing, West Seneca, New York, who sold his company to Evans Bank Hamburg, New York, and was involved in the running of the division, has resigned from Evans Bank several months ago to open his own company with his son Brian Gallo

IFC Credit, Morton Grove, Illinois (08/09) Former CEO and CFO personally served. http://leasingnews.org/archives/August%202009/08-24-09.htm#IFC

Pioneer Capital Corporation, Addison, Texas (08/09)John Boettigheimer, former president of Pioneer Capital Corporation, Addison, Texas is back in the leasing and finance business, announcing the formation of Centra Leasing, Inc., Plano, Texas.

Marquette Business Credit Inc. (08/09) Closes Minneapolis branch, continues downsizing.

OneWorld Leasing (08/09) OneWorld Business Finance, members report business off.

MericapCredit, Lisle, Illinois (08/09) Sold assets to Main Street Bank, Kingwood, Texas, closing down. http://leasingnews.org/archives/August%202009/08-21-09.htm#MericapCredit

Churchill Group/Churchill Leasing, Jericho, NY (08/09) Closes its door.

Evans National Bank (08/09) "The direct financing lease portfolio declined $14.5 million to $40.9 million at the end of the 2009 second quarter as the Company ceased lease originations in the second quarter of 2009. As it was the Company's intent as of June 30, 2009, to sell the portfolio, the lease portfolio was classified as held-for-sale and marked to its market value of $40.9 million. The market value is based on preliminary bids from marketing efforts."

Marlin Leasing, Mount Laurel, NY (08/09) Second quarter net income of $555,000 compared to $1.7 million for the previous year. For the six month ending, it is $467,000 compared to the previous year of $3,059,000

Alphabetical listing:
http://www.leasingnews.org/list_alpha_new.htm

Fernando's View
By Fernando F. Croce

New releases for lovers of period romances ("Bright Star") and of smart-alecky animated movies ("Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs") hit theaters, while DVD watchers will want to see Seth Rogen's dark side in "Observe and Report" before settling down with a couple of classics.

In Theaters:

Bright Star (Apparition): Director Jane Campion ("The Piano," "Portrait of a Lady") has always been interested in strong-willed women trying to express themselves in rigid societies, and she's in good form in this lovingly crafted, delicately sensitive romance. Set in 1818, it charts the relationship between the young, great British poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and his next-door neighbor, Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish). Though she has considers herself too practical for his poetry, Fanny gradually warms up to the sickly Keats, whose letters to his beloved soon grow as passionate as the best of his poems. You don't have to be a fan of period dramas to be moved by Campion's tastefully modulated film, and keep an eye on Oscar time for Cornish's graceful performance.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Sony): A rare animated feature from neither Pixar nor Disney, this kid's comedy-adventure holds its own in the 3-D arena. Inspired by the popular children's book, the movie is set on a small island-town that's saved from ruin by Dr. Lockwood (voiced by Bill Hader), whose latest invention causes food to literally fall from the skies. As burgers rain from clouds and ice cream comes in blizzards, the place becomes the center of a media storm, affecting such other characters as the town mayor (Bruce Campbell) and a young, perky weathergirl (Anna Faris). But will these strange events bring the townspeople together, or tear them apart? While not as artful as "Up," this is a colorful and often hilarious, family-friendly treat.

New on DVD:

Netflix tip: Make connections with other Netflix customers. Not only is it a great place to make new friends, but it also helps with recommendations and expanding your taste in movies.

Observe and Report (Warner Bros.): With more laughs and more bite than this year's earlier box-office hit "Paul Bart: Mall Cop," the latest Seth Rogen vehicle proves to be a savory mix of comedy and action. Rogen ("Knocked Up") stars as Ronnie, the head of security at Forest Ridge Mall. Bursting with dreams about fighting crime, he's frustrated to deal only with petty shoplifters and unruly skateboarders. When his dream girl Brandi (Anna Faris) has a brush with a criminal, Ronnie seizes the opportunity to act on his fantasies, with disastrous results. Directed by Jody Hill and delightfully played by Rogen and Faris, the film finds a surprisingly dark undercurrent of anger in its protagonist, though that shouldn't interfere with audiences looking for a hearty chuckle.

Throne of Blood (Criterion): For anyone who wants to check out "Macbeth" but secretly wishes Shakespeare's verse had just a bit more action, this 1957 classic from the revered Japanese director Akira Kurosawa ("The Seven Samurai," "Ran") is not to be missed. Moving the story to the medieval Japan of warlords and fearsome leaders, the movie tells the tale of generals Washizu (the great Toshiro Mifune) and Miki (Minoru Chiaki), whose lives take an increasingly treacherous turn after a meeting in the forest with an old seer. Washizu is entrusted with a powerful position by his master, but with his ambitious wife (Isuzu Yamada) whispering in his ear, it's not too long before his dark side takes over. A stylized, chilling, and terrifically exciting film.

The Paul Newman Tribute Collection (Fox): When Paul Newman passed away close to a year ago, there was a feeling of one of our last remaining screen-legends disappearing. Fans of this legendary performers will definitely want to check out this 13-film boxed set, which includes classics as well as films still waiting to be rediscovered. See Newman at his most iconic in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "The Hustler," but also see him displaying his underused comic talents in "Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys" and "What a Way to Go!" and co-starring alongside his wife Joanne Woodward in "The Long Hot Summer" and "From the Terrace." No less rewardingly, see Newman's superb late-career performances in "Buffalo Bill and the Indians" and "The Verdict."

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First Steps to Ending the Crisis in Sales Management

Summary: Easing and ending the crisis in sales management will require unwavering commitment to change from senior managers and specific steps for developing sales leaders.

There are at least four steps senior managers can take today to ease the crisis in sales management:

1) Develop a strategic objective that commits time and resources to developing and enhancing the capabilities of front-line sales leaders.

2) Stop the automatic practice of promoting great salespeople to the position of sales manager.

3) Stop using sales managers to sell to and supervise important customers, unless extraordinary circumstances require their involvement.

4) Develop a modern position description of the sales manager that emphasizes leadership and mandates the development of their teams and themselves.

Unless senior management develops and ensures execution of a strategic objective that provides for development of front-line sales leaders who are capable of leading their teams in any economy, the crisis in sales management will not end anytime soon.

To be credible to the sales managers, and to the rest of the organization, the strategic objective must be sponsored by the senior-most managers, and it must be specific in its timeline for implementation. Only then will the people targeted for sales management and others in the organization take it seriously.

The second step senior managers can take to end the crisis in sales management is to stop the disastrous practice of promoting great salespeople to the position of sales manager. What the psychological profiling experts have told us for years is that when a great salesperson is promoted to sales manager, three things usually occur:

1) The company loses a great salesperson
2) The company gains a mediocre or terrible sales manager
3) The company's customers suffer in the transition

I will add a fourth result of this common and defective practice: The sales superstar who fails as a sales manager in the eyes of his superiors and his team, exits from the company at the first opportunity.

Senior managers can avoid these unfortunate results by first determining whether or not the salesperson under consideration for a promotion to sales manager possesses the aptitude required for management. Once it is determined that the salesperson can perform the duties of a sales manager, the next step is to determine "if" he or she will perform the duties. Ability without desire will result in a bad promotion decision.

The third step senior managers can take to end the crisis in sales management is to stop encouraging or allowing sales managers to play frontline, active roles in selling to and managing key customers. Too many sales managers today are "managers" in name only. Their real function is to act as their company's primary sales point with important customers.

As sales managers continue to perform sales duties, they do not have time to perform management functions. Worse, the sales team is robbed of the chance for high-level sales experience and the successes to be gained from interaction with the company's most important customers. The best and brightest sales team members recognize this and plan their exit, seeking employers who are willing to help them gain experience and grow as professionals.

A fourth step senior managers can take to end the crisis in sales management is to precisely and unambiguously delineate the specific duties, responsibilities and accountabilities of the company's "sales leaders."

First, the term "manager" should give way to the term "leader." We observe, far too often, that senior executives require their sales managers to perform administrative work and attend endless meetings. Administrative functions are best left to administrative staff.

Front-line sales leaders should instead be focused on coaching the best performance possible from their teams. They should also be focused on continually improving the company's sales organization.

If it is true that the primary work of mangers is setting objectives for individuals and teams, organizing priorities and work to be done, communicating and motivating, measuring performance and developing people, including themselves, sales leaders must be selected, encouraged and trained to do this important management work.

Steve Chriest, CEO

Steve Chriest is the former president of a successful national leasing company.

Steve is a regular contributor to executive-level publications such as Customer Think and Customer Management IQ. Steve recently completed his first book, Selling The E-Suite, The Proven System For Reaching and Selling Senior Executives, in which he translates his experiences as a CEO into a practical guide for selling to senior executives. Steve can be reached at: schriest@selling-up.com.

New Hires---Promotions

Murray Derraugh named principal of the Canadian region for the Alta Group, Lake Tahoe, Nevada. He is the senior vice president of Swandel & Associates, has more than 25 years of management experience in both the manufacturing and the financial services sectors. Derraugh worked in both sales and credit for more than seven years at National Leasing and at a MasterCard affiliate before joining Swandel. Currently, he also leads the Canadian Lease Education On-line (CLEO) program for CFLA.

Brent Mathews has joined Boston Financial Funding, Boston, Massachusetts, as a National Business Development Manager and will be originating asset based loans from $100,000 to $1.5MM. With 14 years of experience in leadership, business and senior lending originations in the US Army, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, GE Capital and CIT Group, respectively, most recently worked at KCP Advisory Group advising companies on their senior debt needs. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia, with a BS in Engineering and an MBA from the University of Virginia's Darden School.

Hugh Swandel named managing principal of the Canadian region for the Alta Group, Lake Tahoe, Nevada. He serves on the board of the National Equipment Finance Association (NEFA) and the Canadian Finance & Leasing Association (CFLA), and is active in the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) in the United States. Before launching Swandel & Associates in 2001, he served as president and chief operation officer of Electronic Financial Group (EFG). EFG was a Canadian company that built and launched a multi lending web-based credit system. He began his career in 1989 after earning an honors arts degree in history and political science from the University of Winnipeg, and an honors business degree from the University of Manitoba. Swandel also held a variety of executive positions during 10 years with National Leasing Group, a privately held Canadian lessor.

Maureen Ventola was named Territory Manager by Lattitude Leasing, Marlton, New Jersey. She "...brings more than two decades of sales and account management experience to Latitude, and is a former principal of A.M. Financial."

Anthony Zambon Strategic Sales Director to manage PayNet's Canadian sales and marketing efforts. He was Chief Sales Officer and Vice President of Operations at CIT Vendor Finance Canada. Prior positions included senior roles at GE Capital Vendor Finance Canada as Industry Manager and National Sales Manager. He is a graduate of Concordia University and has more than 20 years in the industry, including being a member of the Canadian Finance and Leasing Association (CFLA) sitting on the Small Ticket Funders Committee.

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

Blue Dog Collation Co-Founder 2009 Legislator of Year

WASHINGTON, D.C., Leading small business advocate Rep. John Tanner (D-TN) has been named the 2009 Legislator of the Year by the International Franchise Association.

"We are pleased to award this honor to Congressman Tanner for his work on behalf of the small business community," said IFA Chairwoman Dina Dwyer-Owens. "His long history of championing fiscal discipline in federal spending and pro-growth economic policies is in line with the philosophy of the franchise business community."

IFA presented the award today to Congressman Tanner during its 10th Annual Public Affairs Conference Sept. 14-15 in Washington, D.C. The two-day conference brings over 450 franchisors, franchisees and suppliers to Washington to lobby Congress on issues important to franchising such as health care reform, access to credit and labor policies.

Dwyer-Owens said that through his work on the House Ways and Means Committee and as co-founder of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of moderate to conservative U.S, House Democrats, as well as being a Hampton Inn franchise owner, Tanner understands the importance of franchising to the U.S. economy.

"There are more than 900,000 franchised establishments in the U.S. that are responsible for creating 21 million American jobs and generating $2.3 trillion in economic output," Dwyer-Owens said. "But the tight credit market is hampering their ability to create new, sustainable jobs. By putting in place policies that promote lending, policy makers can help franchise businesses provide better jobs that help the economy recover at a faster pace."

Congressman John Tanner has represented Tennessee's 8th District in West and Middle Tennessee since 1989, and currently serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, where he chairs the Social Security Subcommittee, and the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Legislators from all NATO-member nations elected Tanner in November 2008 to serve as President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the alliance's legislative branch.

Tanner served as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy from 1968-1972, after which he received an honorable discharge. He entered the Tennessee Army National Guard in 1972 and retired in 2000 at the rank of Colonel. Congressman Tanner earned a Bachelor's Degree in business administration in 1966 from the University of Tennessee and a law degree from the University of Tennessee School of Law in 1968.

The IFA Legislator of the Year is presented annually to a member of Congress who has promoted legislation that protects, enhances and promotes franchising. The IFA's Public Affairs Conference is supported by ADP Small Business Services, a founding sponsor.

About the International Franchise Association
The International Franchise Association, the world's oldest and largest organization representing franchising, is the preeminent voice and acknowledged leader for the industry worldwide. Approaching a half-century of service with a growing membership of nearly 1,300 franchise systems, 10,000-plus franchisees and more than 500 firms that supply goods and services to the industry, IFA protects, enhances and promotes franchising by advancing the values of integrity, respect, trust, commitment to excellence, honesty and diversity. For more information, visit the IFA Web site at www.franchise.org.

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

    1502 - Christopher Columbus landed at Costa Rica on his 4th & last voyage. He would retire a very wealthy man.
    1634-The first religious leader in the American colonies who was a woman was Anne Hutchinson, born Anne Marbury in England. She and her family arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony this day. She organized groups of women who met at her house and led them in the discussion of secular and theological questions. She taught that each person could attain understanding in matters of faith and therefore owed no obedience to church law. Her influence became so great that in November, 1687, she was brought to trial in Cambridge for undermining the authority of the colony's Puritan ministers. Banished from the colony, she was given a safe haven in Roger William's settlement ( the future Providence, RI() along with 70 followers. In 1642, she moved to the wilderness near what is now Pelham Bay, NY, where she and her family were killed by Native Americans.
    1769-The first harpsichord piano was made by john Harris. It was called a spinet and was described in the Boston Gazette this day. I that only three or four octaves. Each jack was provided with a little spur of goose-quill that plucked the thin wire to cause vibration. It became very popular in many
New England homes and churches.
    1790-The first loan taken out by the US was negotiated and secured by Alexander Hamilton.. After beginning negotiations with the Bank of New York and the Bank of North America on Sept 18, 1789, Hamilton obtained the sum of $191,608.81 from the two banks in what became known as the Temporary Loan of 1789. The loan was obtained without authority of law and was used to pay the salaries of the president, senators, representatives and officers of the first Congress. Repayment was completed on June 8,1790. He leased his office furniture and gas Dictaphone ( this was before
electricity) from Charlie Lester.
    1793- President George Washington laid the Capitol cornerstone at Washington, DC, in a Masonic ceremony. That event was the first and last recorded occasion at which the stone with its engraved silver plate was seen. In 1958, during the extension of the east front of the Capitol, an unsuccessful effort was made to find it.
    1830- In a widely celebrated race, the first locomotive build in America, the Tom Thumb, lost to a horse in a famous race. Mechanical difficulties plagued the steam engine over the nine-mile course between Riley's Tavern and Baltimore, Maryland, and a boiler leak prevented the locomotive from finishing the race. In the early days of trains, engines were nicknamed "Iron Horse." People in the 19^th century were opposed to change, and inventions took thirty to forty years before they were put in place, even though labor saving devices. Industries were also intertwined with company owned stores, houses, other retail businesses. The attitude at the time of this race
was steam locomotive would never replace the horse, which was faster, more mobile, and " user friendly." Why do we need a “rail road?”
    1850- After long debates and failure to pass the omnibus bill, Congress passed Fugitive Slave Law as part of the compromise of 1850 in separate bills. It was supposed to cool down the growing differences between those opposing slavery and those that owned slaves, but according to historians, the bill was instrumental in dividing the sides as but did not as the law had slave catchers were only paid for slaves they caught: Northerners did not enforce their part of the Fugitive Slave Law; They did not catch or return any run-away slaves; This angered the South. Reason the North turned against Slavery: They saw slaves captured - (men, women, and children);They were chained and marched through the streets this angered northerners and turned them against slavery; People in the north did not like immigrants; They said that they lost jobs to these foreigners. They even started political parties against immigrants. People in the north did not want slaves or immigrants in their part of the country as it cost them jobs.
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0813116.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2951.html
    1851 - "The New York Times" began publishing “All the News That's Fit to Print.” The "Times" now owns other media, such radio, TV, cable and the Internet. Their edition on September 11, 2002, was one of the best ever. Perhaps the most well written newspaper in the United States.
    1863- Battle of Chickamauga, Tenn (near Chattanooga) begins; Union retreat
http://www2.cr.nps.gov/abpp/battles/ga004.htm
http://ngeorgia.com/history/chickam.html
http://www.dean.usma.edu/history/dhistorymaps/AcivilwarPages/acwL42.htm
    1889-Hull House Opens. This settlement house was founded in Chicago by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. It soon became the heart of one of the country's most influential social reform movements, offering a mix of cultural and education programs to new immigrants.
    1891- “White Woman” Harriet Maxwell Converse was made a chief of the Six Nations Tribe at the Tonawanda Reservation, NY. She was given the name Ga-is-wa-noh, which means “The Watcher.” She had been adopted as a member of the Seneca tribe in 1884 in appreciation of her efforts on behalf of the tribe.
    1895- Booker T. Washington delivered his famous "Atlanta Compromise" speech at the opening of the Cotton States and International Exhibition in Atlanta, Georgia. Washington, the founder and president of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, was the first African-American man ever to address a racially-mixed Southern audience. He used the occasion to advocate a moderate approach to race relations in the New South.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/sep18.html
    1905-Birthday of Agnes DeMille, dancer, choreographer for ballet and Broadway shows such as Oklahoma, born at New York, NY. DeMille died at New York, NY. Oct 7, 1993.
http://kennedy-center.org/programs/specialevents/honors/history
/honoree/demille.html
    1905- Greta Garbo birthday, Swedish-American actor of the almost perfect face, and one of the great stars of cinema. She made 24 films in Hollywood and was nominated for Academy Awards four times. She was finally awarded a special Academy award in 1954 "for her unforgettable screen performances." Although she retired in 1941 to live in seclusion in New York, the papparzi continued to chase her and the gossip newspapers printed photos of her when she was in her 70s and 80s - even while swimming. She hated making movies and condemned their superficialities as well as the burden of being portrayed a beautiful thing rather than a human being. Greta Gustafsson left school at 14 to work after her father died. A film director saw her, admired her beauty and gave her a small part in a movie. She then studied at the Royal Dramatic Theater School in Stockholm for two years where she met Mauritz Stiller, the foremost Swedish film director of his time who renamed her Garbo. When he went to the United States to work for MGM, he took her along. Garbo's fame soon eclipsed his. One of the few stars who were able to move from silent films to talkies, she made The Torrent (1926), Flesh and the Devil (1927), Love (1927), A Woman of Affairs (1929), and Wild Orchids (1929). Garbo starred in "talkies" for the next 14 years before walking away from movies, some say because her box office draw was dwindling, others because she was aging and didn't want the world to watch the process. Others noted her hatred of the Hollywood superficiality. The Hollywood publicists blared "Garbo Talks!" as she starred in her first talkie, Anna Christie (1930), followed by Mata Hari (1932), Grand Hotel (1932), Queen Christina (1933), Anna Karenina (1935), Camille (1936), and Ninotchka (1939). She died in New York City on April 15, 1990. Yes, she was a lesbian rather than a bi-sexual. Ironically, Marlene Dietrich who was brought to the U.S. as a rival to Garbo was a bi-sexual who, in private life, also played the rival to several of Garbo's women lovers. "I said I wanted to be left alone, not I want to be alone. There is a great difference," Garbo explained about the misquote that is universally attributed to her.
http://www.bombshells.com/gallery/garbo/
http://www.lynnpdesign.com/classicmovies/garbo/
    1910- birthday of Samuel “Sam” Bankhead, baseball player and manager born at Empire, AL. Bankhead starred for several teams in the Negro Leagues from 1930 to 1950., In 1951, he became organized baseball's first black manager handling the Farnham team in the Provincial League. Died at Pittsburgh, PA, July 24, 1976.
    1914- Mrs. Frank Leslie, aka Baroness de Bazus, aka Miriam Florence Folline Leslie, died and her amazing will changes the course of history in the U.S. She bequeathed $2 million to Carrie Chapman Catt personally to get woman's suffrage approved in the U.S.! After legal battles that seemed to go on forever and caused Catt to remark that the money seemed to be more of a curse than a boon, Catt received about $900,000 - the rest eaten up by legal fees by family members trying to break the will.Catt put it all - every cent - into the Leslie publicity bureau which sent suffrage material to newspapers, magazines, and activists in a snow of information that turned a stalled movement into an avalanche of pressure. Would U.S. women gotten the vote without Leslie's money? Eventually, but history (read correctly) showed that even with the tremendous amount of pressure exerted by women, the results came down to ONE VOTE in the Tennessee legislature. Had that one vote not been cast for suffrage, the entire movement would have been stopped because a number of states were poised to rescind their favorable vote. One must remember that lifting any restrictions on women's freedom breaks one of the oldest of all prejudices reinforced by almost every religion, that of men have the right and duty to keep women, by force if necessary, as subservient slaves. Most sources simply state the donation by a Mrs. Frank Leslie and one is left to surmise that it was the will of pampered wife who didn't even lay claim to her own name and used HIS money for HER causes. But nothing could be further from the truth. Miriam changed her name to Frank legally after she was left a widow with bankrupt businesses. Through shrewd business dealings, she rebuilt what was left of her husband's publishing empire into the fortune.
http://www.undelete.org/library/library010-part1.html
http://www.undelete.org/library/library010-part4.html
http://fancyephemera.com/bsmdoll2.html#MRSFRANKLESLIE
http://www.thegavel.net/2014.html
    1927- the Columbia Broadcasting System was launched in the United States. Many of the radio network's programs originated at station WOR in New York. My late father Lawrence Menkin the late 1940's was station manager of WOR radio, and then worked for WOR-TV in the 1949 and early 1950's introducing “Harlem Detective,” “Hands of Murder,” and “One Man Theater.” He then went to work for DuMont TV, introducing these shows there, plus a new one, he is best known for, “Captain Video and the Space Rangers.” By the way, NBC was the first network. “The Tiffany Network,” as CBS was called, broadcast an opera, "The King's Henchman", as its first program. William S. Paley put the network together, purchasing a chain of 16 failing radio stations. The controlling interest cost between $250,000 and $450,000. The following year, the 27-year-old Paley became President of CBS. It only took one more year for him to profit 2.35 million dollars as the network grew to over 70 stations.
    1938-Birthday of drummer Walter “Popee” Lastie, New Orleans, LA. Best known for playing drums with Fats Domino, but his family well-known in musical circles in New Orleans. Walter "Popee" Lastie died in New Orleans, LA. at the age of 42.
http://publications.neworleans.com/no_magazine/34.1
2.34-MusicRhthym.html
http://www.wandarouzan.com/html/the_band.html
    1939-Birthday of former teen idol-singer-actor Frankie Avalon (Venus),
Philadelphia, PA.
    1939-Saxophonist Steve Marcus Birthday
http://shopping.yahoo.com/shop?d=product&id=1927
006985&clink=dmmu.artist&a=b
    1940- Will Bradley records “Scrub Me, Mama, with a Boogie Beat,” ( sequel to Beat Me, Daddy recorded four months earlier.
    1944-Birthday of singer and songwriter Michael Franks, born in La Jolla, California. His pop-jazz tunes have been recorded by such artists as the Carpenters, Melissa Manchester and Manhattan Transfer. Franks's own albums have been moderately popular, and usually feature well-known backing musicians. For instance, he was aided on his 1976 LP "The Art of Tea" by the Crusaders. In the late 1960's, Franks spent some time at the University of Montreal, where he obtained a master's degree in contemporary culture. While in Canada, he opened shows for Gordon Lightfoot and played with the groups Carnival and Lighthouse.
    1944--JACKSON, ARTHUR J. Medal of Honor Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps, 3d Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division. Place and date: Island of Peleliu in the Palau group, 18 September 1944. Entered service at: Oregon. Born: 18 October 1924, Cleveland Ohio. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the 3d Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on the Island of Peleliu in the Palau group, 18 September 1944. Boldly taking the initiative when his platoon's left flank advance was held up by the fire of Japanese troops concealed in strongly fortified positions, Pfc. Jackson unhesitatingly proceeded forward of our lines and, courageously defying the heavy barrages, charged a large pillbox housing approximately 35 enemy soldiers. Pouring his automatic fire into the opening of the fixed installation to trap the occupying troops, he hurled white phosphorus grenades and explosive charges brought up by a fellow marine, demolishing the pillbox and killing all of the enemy. Advancing alone under the continuous fire from other hostile emplacements, he employed similar means to smash 2 smaller positions in the immediate vicinity. Determined to crush the entire pocket of resistance although harassed on all sides by the shattering blasts of Japanese weapons and covered only by small rifle parties, he stormed 1 gun position after another, dealing death and destruction to the savagely fighting enemy in his inexorable drive against the remaining defenses, and succeeded in wiping out a total of 12 pillboxes and 50 Japanese soldiers. Stouthearted and indomitable despite the terrific odds. Pfc. Jackson resolutely maintained control of the platoon's left flank movement throughout his valiant 1-man assault and, by his cool decision and relentless fighting spirit during a critical situation, contributed essentially to the complete annihilation of the enemy in the southern sector of the island. His gallant initiative and heroic conduct in the face of extreme peril reflect the highest credit upon Pfc. Jackson and the U.S. Naval Service.
    1944--OHNSON, OSCAR G. Medal of Honor Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company B, 363d Infantry, 91st Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Scarperia, Italy, 16-18 September 1944. Entered service at: Foster City, Mich. Birth: Foster City, Mich. G.O. No.: 58, 19 July 1945. Citation: (then Pfc.) He practically single-handed protected the left flank of his company's position in the offensive to break the German's gothic line. Company B was the extreme left assault unit of the corps. The advance was stopped by heavy fire from Monticelli Ridge, and the company took cover behind an embankment. Sgt. Johnson, a mortar gunner, having expended his ammunition, assumed the duties of a rifleman. As leader of a squad of 7 men he was ordered to establish a combat post 50 yards to the left of the company to cover its exposed flank. Repeated enemy counterattacks, supported by artillery, mortar, and machinegun fire from the high ground to his front, had by the afternoon of 16 September killed or wounded all his men. Collecting weapons and ammunition from his fallen comrades, in the face of hostile fire, he held his exposed position and inflicted heavy casualties upon the enemy, who several times came close enough to throw hand grenades. On the night of 1617 September, the enemy launched his heaviest attack on Company B, putting his greatest pressure against the lone defender of the left flank. In spite of mortar fire which crashed about him and machinegun bullets which whipped the crest of his shallow trench, Sgt. Johnson stood erect and repulsed the attack with grenades and small arms fire. He remained awake and on the alert throughout the night, frustrating all attempts at infiltration. On 17 September, 25 German soldiers surrendered to him. Two men, sent to reinforce him that afternoon, were caught in a devastating mortar and artillery barrage. With no thought of his own safety, Sgt. Johnson rushed to the shell hole where they lay half buried and seriously wounded, covered their position by his fire, and assisted a Medical Corpsman in rendering aid. That night he secured their removal to the rear and remained on watch until his company was relieved. Five companies of a German paratroop regiment had been repeatedly committed to the attack on Company B without success. Twenty dead Germans were found in front of his position. By his heroic stand and utter disregard for personal safety, Sgt. Johnson was in a large measure responsible for defeating the enemy's attempts to turn the exposed left flank.
    1947- the US Air Force was officially established. Although its heritage dates back to 1907 when the Army first established military aviation, the US Air Force became a separate military service on this date. Responsible for providing an Air Force that is capable, in conjunction with the other armed forces, of preserving the peace and security of the US, the department is separately organized under the Secretary of the Air Force and operates under the authority, direction and control of the Secretary of Defense.
    1948 - "The Original Amateur Hour" returned to radio on ABC, two years after the passing of the program's originator and host, Major Bowes. Bowes brought new star talent into living rooms for 13 years. Ted Mack, the new host, had also started a TV run with "The Original Amateur Hour" on the DuMont network in January of 1948.
    1949- Montreal-born jazz pianist Oscar Peterson made a sensational debut at Carnegie Hall as a surprise guest at a Jazz at the Philharmonic concert. The producer of Jazz at the Philharmonic, Norman Granz, had planted Peterson in the audience and had him come on stage midway through the event. Granz became Peterson's manager, an association that was to last 30 years.
    1949- Montreal-born jazz pianist Oscar Peterson made a sensational debut at Carnegie Hall as a surprise guest at a Jazz at the Philharmonic concert. The producer of Jazz at the Philharmonic, Norman Granz, had planted Peterson in the audience and had him come on stage midway through the event. Granz became Peterson's manager, an association that was to last 30 years.
    !950- “The Speidel Show” premiered, and became one of my favorite television
shows. Ventriloquist Paul Winchell was featured with his dummies, Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smith,, on this NBC comedy-variety series which ran for four years. Dorothy Claire, Hilda Vaughn and Jimmy Blame also made appearances on the show, which included the quiz segment “What's My Name?” Winchell later hosted a variety of programs such as “Circus Time,” “The Paul Winchell Show,” “CartoOnieS,” “Winchell and Mahoney Time” and “Runaround.” The Jerry Mahoney puppet was very popular and I had one, actually appearing in school shows with a comedy routine when I was
eight and nine years old.
    1952---Top Hits
Wish You Were Here - Eddie Fisher
Auf Wiedersehn, Sweetheart - Vera Lynn
Half as Much - Rosemary Clooney
Jambalaya (On the Bayou) - Hank Williams
    1955 - What had been "The Toast of the Town" on CBS Television (since 1948) became "The Ed Sullivan Show". This “rilly big shew” remained a mainstay of Sunday night television until June 6,
    1961-15 year old English actress Hayley Mills sees her US debut recording "Let's Get Together" enter the Billboard charts, where it will reach #8.
    1961-Bobby Vee scores his third US top ten hit and his only number one with "Take Good Care Of My Baby."
    1971- Sullivan was a newspaper columnist/critic before and during the early years of this pioneering TV show. It was one of the most popular, introducing many stars including Elvis Presley, the
Beatles, and the home town boy of Port Chester, New York was not only famous, but
powerful, as if you appeared on his show, your career was sure to take off.
    1957 - "The Big Record", hosted by ‘the singing rage', Miss Patti Page, debuted on CBS-TV. "The Big Record" was a live musical showcase featuring established artists singing their big songs. "The Big Record" lasted one big season.
    1957-“Wagon Train,” premiered on television. My father Lawrence Menkin wrote many of the
epos ides, plus contributed stories and “treatments” on the growth of the characters. This was a popular Western on both NBC and ABC, airing for eight years with its last telecast September 5, 1965. The series was about a journey along the wagon trial from Missouri to California. Each Week the travelers encountered new surroundings and interacted with different guest stars. Ward Bond played wagon master Major Seth Adams until his death in 1960. He was replaced by John McIntire as Chris Hale. and other regulars were Robert Horton as scout Flint McCullough, Frank McGrath as cook, Charlie Wooster, Terry Will as Bill Hawks, Danny(Scott) Miller as scout Luke Shannon, Michael Burns as Baraby West, a teen passenger and Robert Fuller as scout Cooper.
    1960-On his twenty-first birthday, Frankie Avalon is given $600,000 that he earned as a minor.
    1960---Top Hits
It's Now or Never - Elvis Presley
The Twist - Chubby Checker
My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own - Connie Francis
Alabam - Cowboy Copas
    1963- "The Outer Limits" premiers on TV. You may be getting tired of this inclusion, however, my father Lawrence Menkin wrote several of the episodes and provided story lines for others.
http://www.theouterlimits.com/noflash/episode.html.
He came to Hollywood right after the War, didn't like it, did some movie work for Barbara Streisand, didn't like it, went back to New York City, where he was very well known locally, left for Hollywood TV in 1955 and stayed very active for ten years, the basically retired and taught at San Francisco State College and had his own actors/comedy workshop, while he worked on books (that were
never published ).
    1964- “The Addams Family” premiered on TV. Charles Addams' quirky New Yorker cartoon creations were brought to life in this ABC sitcom about a family full of oddballs. John Astin played lawyer Gomez Addams, with Carolyn Jones as his morbid wife Morticia, Ken Weatherwax as son Pugsley, Lisa Loring as daughter Wednesday, Jackie Coogan as Uncle Fester, Ted Cassidy as both Lurch, the butler, and Thing, a disembodied hand, Blossom Rock as Grandmama and Felix Silla as Cousin Itt. Although the last episode aired Sept 2,1966, The Addams Family movie was released in 1991, starring Anjelica Huston as Morticia, Raul Julia as Gomez, Christopher Lloyd as Uncle Fester, Jimmy Workman as Pugsley and Christina Ricci as Wednesday.
    1965-Priemer of TV Show “ Get Smart,” a spay-thriller spoof appearing on both NBC (1965-69) and CBS (1969-70.) Don Adams starred ass bumbling CONTROL Agent 86, Maxwell Smart. His mission was thwart the evildoings of the KAOS organization. Agent Smart was usually successful with the held of his friends, Barbara Feldon as Agent 99 ( whom Smart eventually married), Edward Platt as the Chief, Robert Karvelas as Agent Larrabee, Dick Gautier as Hymie the Robot and David Ketchum as Agent 13. Gimmicks included agents in garbage cans that you did not see, the “Cone of Silence” so no one could wire tape the conversations, a telephone in the sole of a shoe ( way before wireless the size of a cigarette pack) and no one was shot or killed ( remember, it was a comedy ).
    1965 - Larry Hagman (Captain Tony Nelson) and Barbara Eden (Jeannie) starred in the first episode of "I Dream of Jeannie" on NBC-TV. Capt. Nelson had been forced to make a parachute landing on a desert island. He happened upon an old bottle that had washed up on the shore. He popped the top and - bingo! Out popped Jeannie, a 2000-year-old, very pretty genie. Jeannie took to Tony and started making weekly magic that lasted until September 1, 1970.
    1966 - Herb Alpert's European tour culminated in a performance before Princess Grace and the royal family in Monaco. From Washington to the Riviera, it seemed that no place was out of place for Alpert's ‘Ameriachi' sound.
    1967- the popular soap opera “Love Is a Many Splendored Thing” premiered. It was created by veteran writer lrna Phillips, airing on CBS for five years. It was based on the 1955 film starring William Holden and Jennifer Jones. line Phillips left the show after the network nixed interracial romance in favor of political storylines. David Birney, Leslie Charleson, Bibi Besch and Donna Mills have all appeared on the show.
    1968---Top Hits
People Got to Be Free - The Rascals
Harper Valley P.T.A. - Jeannie C. Riley
1,2,3, Red Light - 1910 Fruitgum Co.
Mama Tried - Merle Haggard
    1969- Tiny Tim announced his engagement to Vicki Budinger at the New Jersey State Fair. The falsetto-voiced singer said he was so moved, he shed a tear and put it into an envelope that he kept in his ukulele. The wedding took place live on Johnny Carson's "Tonight" show.
    1970- Jimi Hendrix, rock music's most innovative guitarist in the late 1960's, was found dead in a London apartment at the age of 27. He had left the message "I need help bad, man" on his manager Chas Chandler's answering machine. The coroner said Hendrix choked on his own vomit after barbiturate intoxication. A month earlier, Hendrix had performed his last concert at the Isle of Wight Pop Festival. Hendrix, born in Seattle, Washington, had first gained fame in Britain in early 1967 when "Hey Joe" by the Jimi Hendrix Experience reached number six on the British chart. He did not perform in the US until June that year, at the Monterrey Pop Festival. He ended his appearance by burning his guitar. Hendrix's guitar heroics and flamboyant stage antics soon made him a superstar. But Hendrix, who considered himself more a musician than a showman, began ridding himself of his stage theatrics in 1968, concentrating on his music. He also appeared and did an album with the Canadian born great jazz composer/arranger Gil Evans. The Hendrix Experience fell apart in 1969, and Hendrix followed that group with Band of Gypsies, which stayed together for only a few months. His "Purple Haze" and "Foxy Lady" became anthems for a generation at war in Vietnam.
    1970-After scoring 12 US number one hits with The Supremes, Diana Ross has her first solo US chart topper with "Ain't No Mountain High Enough".
    1971- Pink Floyd became the first rock group to play at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. They performed "Atom Heart Mother," which had been released as an album the previous year.
    1971-Birthday of Lance Armstrong, cyclist, national and world champion, two time Olympic champion, five time winner of the Tour de France, born Piano, TX.
    1975 - Publishing heiress Patricia Hearst was rescued/captured by the FBI in San Francisco, CA. She had been kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army on Feb 4, 1974, but had apparently fallen in with her captors and had participated in a bank holdup. Hearst was convicted of bank robbery on Mar 20,     1976. On Feb 1, 1979, her sentence was commuted to time served by President Jimmy Carter, but her conviction stood. On Jan 20, 2001, outgoing President Bill Clinton granted Patricia Hearst a full pardon.
    1976-Boston's "More Than A Feeling" is released in the US, where it will reach #5.
    1976---Top Hits
Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry
I'd Really Love to See You Tonight - England Dan & John Ford Coley
A Fifth of Beethoven - Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band
I Don't Want to Have to Marry You - Jim Ed Brown/Helen Cornelius
    1977 - The Voyager I spacecraft (launched on Sep 5, 1977 from cape Canaveral, FL) snapped the first photograph showing the earth and moon together. (As of Feb 17, 1998, Voyager I is further away from Earth than any other man-made object.)
    1984---Top Hits
What's Love Got to Do with It - Tina Turner
Missing You - John Waite
She Bop - Cyndi Lauper
You're Getting to Me Again - Jim Glaser
    1993 - Garth Brooks' "In Pieces" debuted at #1 in the U.S. on both the "Billboard" "Hot 200" and Country LP charts. The album has sold over 8 million copies.
    1995- Shania (sha-NYE'-ah) Twain won in five of the seven categories in which she was nominated at the Canadian Country Music Awards in Hamilton. The Timmins, Ontario, singer took the honors for female vocalist of the year, as well as best single and video for "Any Man of Mine" and album of the year for "The Woman in Me." Twain and her producer-husband Mutt Lange won for song of the year - "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under."
    1996- Tupac Shakur's video "I Ain't Mad," which depicts the rapper being shot as he leaves a nightclub, premiered on MTV five days after he died of gunshot wounds in a Las Vegas hospital. The video was made about a month before Shakur was gunned down in a drive-by shooting on the Las Vegas strip.
    1996- Pitcher Roger Clemens of the Boston Red Sox tied his own record for most strikeouts in a 9-inning game when he struck out 20 Detroit Tigers in a 4-0 Red Sox victory. Clemens set the record on April 29, 1986, against the Seattle Mariners.
    1997-The Rolling Stones played a small Chicago club as a prelude to their "Bridges to Babylon" world tour. Those who were lucky enough to get into the Double Door paid just $7.
    1999 -Slammin' Sammy Sosa becomes the first player in major league history to hit 60 homers twice. The Cub outfielder hits his milestone round-tripper off of Brewer hurler Jason Bere.
    1634-The first religious leader in the American colonies who was a woman was Anne Hutchinson, born Anne Marbury in England. She and her family arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony this day. She organized groups of women who met at her house and led them in the discussion of secular and theological questions. She taught that each person could attain understanding in matters of faith and therefore owed no obedience to church law. Her influence became so great that in November, 1687, she was brought to trial in Cambridge for undermining the authority of the colony's Puritan ministers. Banished from the colony, she was given a safe haven in Roger William's settlement ( the future Providence, RI() along with 70 followers. In 1642, she moved to the wilderness near what is now Pelham Bay, NY, where she and her family were killed by Native Americans.
    1769-The first harpsichord piano was made by john Harris. It was called a spinet and was described in the Boston Gazette this day. I that only three or four octaves. Each jack was provided with a little spur of goose-quill that plucked the thin wire to cause vibration. It became very popular in many
New England homes and churches.
    1790-The first loan taken out by the US was negotiated and secured by Alexander Hamilton.. After beginning negotiations with the Bank of New York and the Bank of North America on Sept 18, 1789, Hamilton obtained the sum of $191,608.81 from the two banks in what became known as the Temporary Loan of 1789. The loan was obtained without authority of law and was used to pay the salaries of the president, senators, representatives and officers of the first Congress. Repayment was completed on June 8,1790. He leased his office furniture and gas Dictaphone ( this was before
electricity) from Charlie Lester.
    1793- President George Washington laid the Capitol cornerstone at Washington, DC, in a Masonic ceremony. That event was the first and last recorded occasion at which the stone with its engraved silver plate was seen. In 1958, during the extension of the east front of the Capitol, an unsuccessful effort was made to find it.
    1830- In a widely celebrated race, the first locomotive build in America, the Tom Thumb, lost to a horse in a famous race. Mechanical difficulties plagued the steam engine over the nine-mile course between Riley's Tavern and Baltimore, Maryland, and a boiler leak prevented the locomotive from finishing the race. In the early days of trains, engines were nicknamed "Iron Horse." People in the 19^th century were opposed to change, and inventions took thirty to forty years before they were put in place, even though labor saving devices. Industries were also intertwined with company owned stores, houses, other retail businesses. The attitude at the time of this race
was steam locomotive would never replace the horse, which was faster, more mobile, and " user friendly." Why do we need a “rail road?”
    1850- After long debates and failure to pass the omnibus bill, Congress passed Fugitive Slave Law as part of the compromise of 1850 in separate bills. It was supposed to cool down the growing differences between those opposing slavery and those that owned slaves, but according to historians, the bill was instrumental in dividing the sides as but did not as the law had slave catchers were only paid for slaves they caught: Northerners did not enforce their part of the Fugitive Slave Law; They did not catch or return any run-away slaves; This angered the South. Reason the North turned against Slavery: They saw slaves captured - (men, women, and children);They were chained and marched through the streets this angered northerners and turned them against slavery; People in the north did not like immigrants; They said that they lost jobs to these foreigners. They even started political parties against immigrants. People in the north did not want slaves or immigrants in their part of the country as it cost them jobs.
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0813116.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2951.html
    1851 - "The New York Times" began publishing “All the News That's Fit to Print.” The "Times" now owns other media, such radio, TV, cable and the Internet. Their edition on September 11, 2002, was one of the best ever. Perhaps the most well written newspaper in the United States.
    1863- Battle of Chickamauga, Tenn (near Chattanooga) begins; Union retreat
http://www2.cr.nps.gov/abpp/battles/ga004.htm
http://ngeorgia.com/history/chickam.html
http://www.dean.usma.edu/history/dhistorymaps/AcivilwarPages/acwL42.htm
    1889-Hull House Opens. This settlement house was founded in Chicago by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. It soon became the heart of one of the country's most influential social reform movements, offering a mix of cultural and education programs to new immigrants.
    1891- “White Woman” Harriet Maxwell Converse was made a chief of the Six Nations Tribe at the Tonawanda Reservation, NY. She was given the name Ga-is-wa-noh, which means “The Watcher.” She had been adopted as a member of the Seneca tribe in 1884 in appreciation of her efforts on behalf of the tribe.
    1895- Booker T. Washington delivered his famous "Atlanta Compromise" speech at the opening of the Cotton States and International Exhibition in Atlanta, Georgia. Washington, the founder and president of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, was the first African-American man ever to address a racially-mixed Southern audience. He used the occasion to advocate a moderate approach to race relations in the New South.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/sep18.html
    1905-Birthday of Agnes DeMille, dancer, choreographer for ballet and Broadway shows such as Oklahoma, born at New York, NY. DeMille died at New York, NY. Oct 7, 1993.
http://kennedy-center.org/programs/specialevents/honors/history/
honoree/demille.html
    1905- Greta Garbo birthday, Swedish-American actor of the almost perfect face, and one of the great stars of cinema. She made 24 films in Hollywood and was nominated for Academy Awards four times. She was finally awarded a special Academy award in 1954 "for her unforgettable screen performances." Although she retired in 1941 to live in seclusion in New York, the papparzi continued to chase her and the gossip newspapers printed photos of her when she was in her 70s and 80s - even while swimming. She hated making movies and condemned their superficialities as well as the burden of being portrayed a beautiful thing rather than a human being. Greta Gustafsson left school at 14 to work after her father died. A film director saw her, admired her beauty and gave her a small part in a movie. She then studied at the Royal Dramatic Theater School in Stockholm for two years where she met Mauritz Stiller, the foremost Swedish film director of his time who renamed her Garbo. When he went to the United States to work for MGM, he took her along. Garbo's fame soon eclipsed his. One of the few stars who were able to move from silent films to talkies, she made The Torrent (1926), Flesh and the Devil (1927), Love (1927), A Woman of Affairs (1929), and Wild Orchids (1929). Garbo starred in "talkies" for the next 14 years before walking away from movies, some say because her box office draw was dwindling, others because she was aging and didn't want the world to watch the process. Others noted her hatred of the Hollywood superficiality. The Hollywood publicists blared "Garbo Talks!" as she starred in her first talkie, Anna Christie (1930), followed by Mata Hari (1932), Grand Hotel (1932), Queen Christina (1933), Anna Karenina (1935), Camille (1936), and Ninotchka (1939). She died in New York City on April 15, 1990. Yes, she was a lesbian rather than a bi-sexual. Ironically, Marlene Dietrich who was brought to the U.S. as a rival to Garbo was a bi-sexual who, in private life, also played the rival to several of Garbo's women lovers. "I said I wanted to be left alone, not I want to be alone. There is a great difference," Garbo explained about the misquote that is universally attributed to her.
http://www.bombshells.com/gallery/garbo/
http://www.lynnpdesign.com/classicmovies/garbo/
    1910- birthday of Samuel “Sam” Bankhead, baseball player and manager born at Empire, AL. Bankhead starred for several teams in the Negro Leagues from 1930 to 1950., In 1951, he became organized baseball's first black manager handling the Farnham team in the Provincial League. Died at Pittsburgh, PA, July 24, 1976.
    1914- Mrs. Frank Leslie, aka Baroness de Bazus, aka Miriam Florence Folline Leslie, died and her amazing will changes the course of history in the U.S. She bequeathed $2 million to Carrie Chapman Catt personally to get woman's suffrage approved in the U.S.! After legal battles that seemed to go on forever and caused Catt to remark that the money seemed to be more of a curse than a boon, Catt received about $900,000 - the rest eaten up by legal fees by family members trying to break the will.Catt put it all - every cent - into the Leslie publicity bureau which sent suffrage material to newspapers, magazines, and activists in a snow of information that turned a stalled movement into an avalanche of pressure. Would U.S. women gotten the vote without Leslie's money? Eventually, but history (read correctly) showed that even with the tremendous amount of pressure exerted by women, the results came down to ONE VOTE in the Tennessee legislature. Had that one vote not been cast for suffrage, the entire movement would have been stopped because a number of states were poised to rescind their favorable vote. One must remember that lifting any restrictions on women's freedom breaks one of the oldest of all prejudices reinforced by almost every religion, that of men have the right and duty to keep women, by force if necessary, as subservient slaves. Most sources simply state the donation by a Mrs. Frank Leslie and one is left to surmise that it was the will of pampered wife who didn't even lay claim to her own name and used HIS money for HER causes. But nothing could be further from the truth. Miriam changed her name to Frank legally after she was left a widow with bankrupt businesses. Through shrewd business dealings, she rebuilt what was left of her husband's publishing empire into the fortune.
http://www.undelete.org/library/library010-part1.html
http://www.undelete.org/library/library010-part4.html
http://fancyephemera.com/bsmdoll2.html#MRSFRANKLESLIE
http://www.thegavel.net/2014.html
    1927- the Columbia Broadcasting System was launched in the United States. Many of the radio network's programs originated at station WOR in New York. My late father Lawrence Menkin the late 1940's was station manager of WOR radio, and then worked for WOR-TV in the 1949 and early 1950's introducing “Harlem Detective,” “Hands of Murder,” and “One Man Theater.” He then went to work for DuMont TV, introducing these shows there, plus a new one, he is best known for, “Captain Video and the Space Rangers.” By the way, NBC was the first network. “The Tiffany Network,” as CBS was called, broadcast an opera, "The King's Henchman", as its first program. William S. Paley put the network together, purchasing a chain of 16 failing radio stations. The controlling interest cost between $250,000 and $450,000. The following year, the 27-year-old Paley became President of CBS. It only took one more year for him to profit 2.35 million dollars as the network grew to over 70 stations.
    1938-Birthday of drummer Walter “Popee” Lastie, New Orleans, LA. Best known for playing drums with Fats Domino, but his family well-known in musical circles in New Orleans. Walter "Popee" Lastie died in New Orleans, LA. at the age of 42.
http://publications.neworleans.com/no_magazine/34.12.34-MusicRhthym.html
http://www.wandarouzan.com/html/the_band.html
    1939-Birthday of former teen idol-singer-actor Frankie Avalon (Venus),
Philadelphia, PA.
    1939-Saxophonist Steve Marcus Birthday
http://shopping.yahoo.com/shop?d=product&id=19
27006985&clink=dmmu.artist&a=b
    1940- Will Bradley records “Scrub Me, Mama, with a Boogie Beat,” ( sequel to Beat Me, Daddy recorded four months earlier.
    1944-Birthday of singer and songwriter Michael Franks, born in La Jolla, California. His pop-jazz tunes have been recorded by such artists as the Carpenters, Melissa Manchester and Manhattan Transfer. Franks's own albums have been moderately popular, and usually feature well-known backing musicians. For instance, he was aided on his 1976 LP "The Art of Tea" by the Crusaders. In the late 1960's, Franks spent some time at the University of Montreal, where he obtained a master's degree in contemporary culture. While in Canada, he opened shows for Gordon Lightfoot and played with the groups Carnival and Lighthouse.
    1947- the US Air Force was officially established. Although its heritage dates back to 1907 when the Army first established military aviation, the US Air Force became a separate military service on this date. Responsible for providing an Air Force that is capable, in conjunction with the other armed forces, of preserving the peace and security of the US, the department is separately organized under the Secretary of the Air Force and operates under the authority, direction and control of the Secretary of Defense.
    1948 - "The Original Amateur Hour" returned to radio on ABC, two years after the passing of the program's originator and host, Major Bowes. Bowes brought new star talent into living rooms for 13 years. Ted Mack, the new host, had also started a TV run with "The Original Amateur Hour" on the DuMont network in January of 1948.
    1949- Montreal-born jazz pianist Oscar Peterson made a sensational debut at Carnegie Hall as a surprise guest at a Jazz at the Philharmonic concert. The producer of Jazz at the Philharmonic, Norman Granz, had planted Peterson in the audience and had him come on stage midway through the event. Granz became Peterson's manager, an association that was to last 30 years.
    1949- Montreal-born jazz pianist Oscar Peterson made a sensational debut at Carnegie Hall as a surprise guest at a Jazz at the Philharmonic concert. The producer of Jazz at the Philharmonic, Norman Granz, had planted Peterson in the audience and had him come on stage midway through the event. Granz became Peterson's manager, an association that was to last 30 years.
    !950- “The Speidel Show” premiered, and became one of my favorite television
shows. Ventriloquist Paul Winchell was featured with his dummies, Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smith,, on this NBC comedy-variety series which ran for four years. Dorothy Claire, Hilda Vaughn and Jimmy Blame also made appearances on the show, which included the quiz segment “What's My Name?” Winchell later hosted a variety of programs such as “Circus Time,” “The Paul Winchell Show,” “CartoOnieS,” “Winchell and Mahoney Time” and “Runaround.” The Jerry Mahoney puppet was very popular and I had one, actually appearing in school shows with a comedy routine when I was
eight and nine years old.
    1952---Top Hits
Wish You Were Here - Eddie Fisher
Auf Wiedersehn, Sweetheart - Vera Lynn
Half as Much - Rosemary Clooney
Jambalaya (On the Bayou) - Hank Williams
    1955 - What had been "The Toast of the Town" on CBS Television (since 1948) became "The Ed Sullivan Show". This “rilly big shew” remained a mainstay of Sunday night television until June 6,
    1971- Sullivan was a newspaper columnist/critic before and during the early years of this pioneering TV show. It was one of the most popular, introducing many stars including Elvis Presley, the
Beatles, and the home town boy of Port Chester, New York was not only famous, but powerful, as if you appeared on his show, your career was sure to take off.
    1957 - "The Big Record", hosted by ‘the singing rage', Miss Patti Page, debuted on CBS-TV. "The Big Record" was a live musical showcase featuring established artists singing their big songs. "The Big Record" lasted one big season.
    1957-“Wagon Train,” premiered on television. My father Lawrence Menkin wrote many of the epos ides, plus contributed stories and “treatments” on the growth of the characters. This was a popular Western on both NBC and ABC, airing for eight years with its last telecast September 5, 1965. The series was about a journey along the wagon trial from Missouri to California. Each Week the travelers encountered new surroundings and interacted with different guest stars. Ward Bond played wagon master Major Seth Adams until his death in 1960. He was replaced by John McIntire as Chris Hale. and other regulars were Robert Horton as scout Flint McCullough, Frank McGrath as cook, Charlie Wooster, Terry Will as Bill Hawks, Danny(Scott) Miller as scout Luke Shannon, Michael Burns as Baraby West, a teen passenger and Robert Fuller as scout Cooper.
    1960---Top Hits
It's Now or Never - Elvis Presley
The Twist - Chubby Checker
My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own - Connie Francis
Alabam - Cowboy Copas
    1963- "The Outer Limits" premiers on TV. You may be getting tired of this inclusion, however, my father Lawrence Menkin wrote several of the episodes and provided story lines for others.
http://www.theouterlimits.com/noflash/episode.html.
He came to Hollywood right after the War, didn't like it, did some movie work for Barbara Streisand, didn't like it, went back
to New York City, where he was very well known locally, left for Hollywood TV in 1955 and stayed very active for ten years, the basically retired and taught at San Francisco State College and had his own actors/comedy workshop, while he worked on books (that were never published ).
    1964- “The Addams Family” premiered on TV. Charles Addams' quirky New Yorker cartoon creations were brought to life in this ABC sitcom about a family full of oddballs. John Astin played lawyer Gomez Addams, with Carolyn Jones as his morbid wife Morticia, Ken Weatherwax as son Pugsley, Lisa Loring as daughter Wednesday, Jackie Coogan as Uncle Fester, Ted Cassidy as both Lurch, the butler, and Thing, a disembodied hand, Blossom Rock as Grandmama and Felix Silla as Cousin Itt. Although the last episode aired Sept 2,1966, The Addams Family movie was released in 1991, starring Anjelica Huston as Morticia, Raul Julia as Gomez, Christopher Lloyd as Uncle Fester, Jimmy Workman as Pugsley and Christina Ricci as Wednesday.
    1965-Priemer of TV Show “ Get Smart,” a spay-thriller spoof appearing on both NBC (1965-69) and CBS (1969-70.) Don Adams starred ass bumbling CONTROL Agent 86, Maxwell Smart. His mission was thwart the evildoings of the KAOS organization. Agent Smart was usually successful with the held of his friends, Barbara Feldon as Agent 99 ( whom Smart eventually married), Edward Platt as the Chief, Robert Karvelas as Agent Larrabee, Dick Gautier as Hymie the Robot and David Ketchum as Agent 13. Gimmicks included agents in garbage cans that you did not see, the “Cone of Silence” so no one could wire tape the conversations, a telephone in the sole of a shoe ( way before wireless the size of a cigarette pack) and no one was shot or killed ( remember, it was a comedy ).
    1965 - Larry Hagman (Captain Tony Nelson) and Barbara Eden (Jeannie) starred in the first episode of "I Dream of Jeannie" on NBC-TV. Capt. Nelson had been forced to make a parachute landing on a desert island. He happened upon an old bottle that had washed up on the shore. He popped the top and - bingo! Out popped Jeannie, a 2000-year-old, very pretty genie. Jeannie took to Tony and started making weekly magic that lasted until September 1, 1970.
    1966 - Herb Alpert's European tour culminated in a performance before Princess Grace and the royal family in Monaco. From Washington to the Riviera, it seemed that no place was out of place for Alpert's ‘Ameriachi' sound.
    1967- the popular soap opera “Love Is a Many Splendored Thing” premiered. It was created by veteran writer lrna Phillips, airing on CBS for five years. It was based on the 1955 film starring William Holden and Jennifer Jones. line Phillips left the show after the network nixed interracial romance in favor of political storylines. David Birney, Leslie Charleson, Bibi Besch and Donna Mills have all appeared on the show.
    1968---Top Hits
People Got to Be Free - The Rascals
Harper Valley P.T.A. - Jeannie C. Riley
1,2,3, Red Light - 1910 Fruitgum Co.
Mama Tried - Merle Haggard
    1969- Tiny Tim announced his engagement to Vicki Budinger at the New Jersey State Fair. The falsetto-voiced singer said he was so moved, he shed a tear and put it into an envelope that he kept in his ukulele. The wedding took place live on Johnny Carson's "Tonight" show.
    1970- Jimi Hendrix, rock music's most innovative guitarist in the late 1960's, was found dead in a London apartment at the age of 27. He had left the message "I need help bad, man" on his manager Chas Chandler's answering machine. The coroner said Hendrix choked on his own vomit after barbiturate intoxication. A month earlier, Hendrix had performed his last concert at the Isle of Wight Pop Festival. Hendrix, born in Seattle, Washington, had first gained fame in Britain in early 1967 when "Hey Joe" by the Jimi Hendrix Experience reached number six on the British chart. He did not perform in the US until June that year, at the Monterrey Pop Festival. He ended his appearance by burning his guitar. Hendrix's guitar heroics and flamboyant stage antics soon made him a superstar. But Hendrix, who considered himself more a musician than a showman, began ridding himself of his stage theatrics in 1968, concentrating on his music. He also appeared and did an album with the Canadian born great jazz composer/arranger Gil Evans. The Hendrix Experience fell apart in 1969, and Hendrix followed that group with Band of Gypsies, which stayed together for only a few months. His "Purple Haze" and "Foxy Lady" became anthems for a generation at war in Vietnam.
    1971- Pink Floyd became the first rock group to play at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. They performed "Atom Heart Mother," which had been released as an album the previous year.
    1971-Birthday of Lance Armstrong, cyclist, national and world champion, two time Olympic champion, five time winner of the Tour de France, born Piano, TX.
    1975 - Publishing heiress Patricia Hearst was rescued/captured by the FBI in San Francisco, CA. She had been kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army on Feb 4, 1974, but had apparently fallen in with her captors and had participated in a bank holdup. Hearst was convicted of bank robbery on Mar 20,     1976. On Feb 1, 1979, her sentence was commuted to time served by President Jimmy Carter, but her conviction stood. On Jan 20, 2001, outgoing President Bill Clinton granted Patricia Hearst a full pardon.
    1976---Top Hits
Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry
I'd Really Love to See You Tonight - England Dan & John Ford Coley
A Fifth of Beethoven - Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band
I Don't Want to Have to Marry You - Jim Ed Brown/Helen Cornelius
    1977 - The Voyager I spacecraft (launched on Sep 5, 1977 from cape Canaveral, FL) snapped the first photograph showing the earth and moon together. (As of Feb 17, 1998, Voyager I is further away from Earth than any other man-made object.)
    1984---Top Hits
What's Love Got to Do with It - Tina Turner
Missing You - John Waite
She Bop - Cyndi Lauper
You're Getting to Me Again - Jim Glaser
    1993 - Garth Brooks' "In Pieces" debuted at #1 in the U.S. on both the "Billboard" "Hot 200" and Country LP charts. The album has sold over 8 million copies.
    1995- Shania (sha-NYE'-ah) Twain won in five of the seven categories in which she was nominated at the Canadian Country Music Awards in Hamilton. The Timmins, Ontario, singer took the honors for female vocalist of the year, as well as best single and video for "Any Man of Mine" and album of the year for "The Woman in Me." Twain and her producer-husband Mutt Lange won for song of the year - "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under."
    1996- Tupac Shakur's video "I Ain't Mad," which depicts the rapper being shot as he leaves a nightclub, premiered on MTV five days after he died of gunshot wounds in a Las Vegas hospital. The video was made about a month before Shakur was gunned down in a drive-by shooting on the Las Vegas strip.
    1996- Pitcher Roger Clemens of the Boston Red Sox tied his own record for most strikeouts in a 9-inning game when he struck out 20 Detroit Tigers in a 4-0 Red Sox victory. Clemens set the record on April 29, 1986, against the Seattle Mariners.
    1997-The Rolling Stones played a small Chicago club as a prelude to their "Bridges to Babylon" world tour. Those who were lucky enough to get into the Double Door paid just $7.
    1999 -Slammin' Sammy Sosa becomes the first player in major league history to hit 60 homers twice. The Cub outfielder hits his milestone rou
nd-tripper off of Brewer hurler Jason Bere.

The Crowd at the Ball Game
by William Carlos Williams -

The crowd at the ball game
is moved uniformly
by a spirit of uselessness
which delights them-

all the exciting detail
of the chase

and the escape, the error
the flash of genius-

all to no end save beauty
the eternal-

So in detail they, the crowd,
are beautiful

for this to be warned against

saluted and defied-
It is alive, venomous

it smiles grimly
its words cut-

The flashy female with her
mother, gets it-

The Jew gets it straight- it
is deadly, terrifying-

It is the Inquisition, the
Revolution

It is beauty itself
that lives

day by day in them
idly-

This is
the power of their faces

It is summer, it is the solstice
the crowd is

cheering, the crowd is laughing
in detail

permanently, seriously
without thought

The object is to insert the numbers in the boxes to satisfy only one condition: each row, column and 3x3 box must contain the digits 1 through 9 exactly once. What could be simpler?

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