Murder, and the responses to it

I wanted to write, briefly, about the December murder of Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare.

There is, today, the inability (the shocking inability), on the part of some--actually, it appears, on the part of more than some--to make moral distinctions. 

If there is distrust of, anger about, resentment toward the United States health care industry, that is one thing.  

To murder the CEO of America's largest health care company, because of that anger, is another.

The various perverse, hideous responses, in online videos and posts/reactions, to the shooting death of Mr. Thompson in Manhattan, have been breathtaking--the cold-hearted expressions of approval, the jokes, the justifying of the murder, the open admiration of the alleged gunman, Luigi Mangione. 

Merchandise has appeared online--t-shirts, for example, and mugs--in support of Mangione. Online selling platforms have, fortunately, been taking such merchandise off of their sites.

Today, Mangione was extradited from Pennsylvania to New York, to face charges in the December 4th killing.

As one who lived in Philadelphia for years (and who continues to follow press coverage about the city, and about the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania), I'll make note of comments made by Pennsylvania's Governor Josh Shapiro, in reaction to the abysmal online responses to the murder.  The Governor, as noted in a December 9th Philadelphia Inquirer story,

decried online comments celebrating the alleged killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as "deeply disturbing."

"Brian Thompson was a father to two. He was a husband and he was a friend to many, and yes, he was the CEO of a health insurance company in America," Shapiro said.

"We do not kill people in cold blood to resolve policy differences or express a viewpoint. I understand people have real frustration with our healthcare system, and I have worked to address that throughout my career, but I have no tolerance, nor should anyone, for one man using an illegal ghost gun to murder someone because he thinks his opinion matters most in a civil society."

Nominees

Hegseth and Kash Patel--just terrible nominees.

I hope Republican Senators will do what is right for the country.  

They didn't--thank heavens--go for Gaetz.  

In my previous post, I suggested that various Trump nominees were, notably, unqualified.

I am hopeful that, during their deliberations/assessments, enough Republican Senators will (at a minimum--there are now many nominees, all told) determine that Hegseth, Patel, Gabbard, and RFK, Jr. are not just unqualified choices, but are perilous ones, each in their own ways, and should not be handed the significant powers Trump would like them to have.

(A few changes have been made to the above, since its posting.)

The qualification

Matt Gaetz/Tulsi Gabbard/Robert F. Kennedy, Jr./etc.

In various instances, it appears that one of the key qualifications to be a Trump nominee is to be unqualified.

The S.S. United States: the beginning of the last chapter

The ocean liner S.S. United States--about which I have written many times, in this space--was scheduled to leave its decades-long berth on the Philadelphia waterfront this past week.

Yet the possibility of a "tropical disturbance" in the Gulf of Mexico, during this week's planned start of the towing from Philadelphia to its first destination, Alabama, caused a delay in the departure.

A new departure date for the ship has not, as of this writing, been announced.

The ship began carrying passengers in 1952, and was taken out of service in 1969.  It has been docked at Philadelphia's Pier 82 since 1996.  

Since 2011, it has been owned by the S.S. United States Conservancy, a group dedicated to its preservation, and to its history.

S.S. United States, on the Philadelphia waterfromt (Photo: copyright by Jenny Lynn) 

As I have previously written, there was a court decision concerning the ship this past June.  The landlord of the ship's berth had raised, significantly, the monthly rental fee for the berth; the landlord was also seeking to have the ship removed from the waterfront.

A Federal judge ruled, in June, that the rental fee--due to the terms of the docking contract--should not have been increased. The judge also decided, however, that the landlord had the right to terminate the rental agreement. 

As a result, the judge ordered the ship to vacate its berth by September 12th.  Delays were later permitted, to allow the Conservancy additional time to work out a plan for the ship's departure.

In that the Conservancy was unable to find a new home for the ship, two options remained: the ship could be sold for scrap, or it could be sunk, creating an artificial reef (and not just any artificial reef--but the world's largest; the ship, indeed--as I have noted previously--is more than 100 feet longer than the Titanic).

The latter option--that of sinking the ship--will now take place. 

The ship was recently purchased by Okaloosa County, in Florida, and the ship will ultimately be sunk in the Gulf of Mexico. It will first be towed to Mobile, Alabama, where it will be prepared for the sinking--which will include the removal of any materials on and within the ship that might prove environmentally harmful upon its sinking. 

This is what was supposed to have taken place on Thursday, November 14th and Friday, November 15th:

On Thursday, tugboats would have turned the ship around, at high tide (late in the morning), moving it from Pier 82, on the Philadelphia waterfront, to Pier 80.

On Friday, tugboats were to begin towing the ship to Alabama.  Because of the ship's height, and the need for it to pass safely underneath three area bridges--the Walt Whitman Bridge in Philadelphia, the Commodore Barry Bridge (in metropolitan Philadelphia), and the Delaware Memorial Bridge--the departure was to begin at low tide, just before 7:00 a.m.  The bridges were to be shut down during this period, as a precaution.

One recent article (published before the departure delay was announced) noted the following:

[Okaloosa] County officials say the estimated journey [to Alabama] will be about two weeks. According to officials, preparing the ship for deployment [as a reef] will take about 12 months, but the exact location in the Gulf of Mexico has not been set. They added that the ship will likely be deployed about 20 miles south of the Florida panhandle region in the Destin-Fort Walton Beach area.

Since the 1970s, hundreds of artificial reefs have been established in the Destin-Fort Walton Beach area, which is part of Okaloosa County.

Okaloosa County has allocated $10.1 million for the S.S. United States project.  $1 million of these funds, it has been reported, were designated for the purchase of the ship--and some $1 million will be set aside for the establishment of an S.S. United States museum in Okaloosa County, focusing upon the ship's history. The remaining funds will be spent on such matters as the lengthy preparatory process in Alabama, the transportation costs to move the ship first to Alabama, and then to Florida, and the logistical and engineering work necessary for the successful sinking of the ship.

It is indeed sad that the S.S. United States Conservancy was unable to find a new home for the ship--where it could have perhaps been refurbished, and repurposed (there had been hopes of turning the ship into a multi-use site--a hotel, shops, restaurants, a museum, etc.).  Yet despite the ultimate outcome, the Conservancy should be applauded--mightily--for its many efforts through the years to save the ship. 

It would have been especially sad had the ship been sold for scrap.  And while turning the ship into an artificial reef--where it will serve, for example, as an exploratory destination site for divers--is perhaps not the optimal outcome for such an historic ocean liner, one can at least find a certain solace (and even, one might suggest, a certain poetry) in the sinking.  

The sinking can be regarded, really, as a dignified burial at sea. 

For those who will visit Okaloosa County, after the deployment, and who may visit the future museum devoted to the ship, I suspect there will be, for many, a compelling feeling--perhaps an interesting sense of mystery, as well--in knowing that the ship is buried nearby, deep beneath the surface of the Gulf waters.

The presidential outcome

Am heartsick, about Tuesday's election.

The New York Times: "Trump, Vance and Allies Hurl Insults at Women as Race Ends"

From today's Times: 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/05/us/politics/trump-nancy-pelosi-liz-cheney-women.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Xk4.Dcu9.J0-xs_VVdjOl&smid=url-share

Kamala Harris

I am, for what it is worth, a strong supporter of Vice President Harris.

I believe Ms. Harris would be a unifying, sane, optimistic, and calm presence in the White House.  

She will also, I am confident, insure that America continues to make its indispensable presence felt, internationally, and will continue to support our allies, and our commitment to NATO.  I am confident that she will not give up on America's support for Ukraine, in its courageous fight against Vladimir Putin.

Donald Trump, on the other hand, would bring his rage, cruelty, his desire for vengeance, and his unyielding vitriol to the presidency. 

He would make America smaller, internationally. He would continue to find ways to gain the approval of dictators such as Putin--and would undoubtedly, and tragically, withdraw U.S. support for Ukraine.

If you have not already voted, I am hopeful you will cast your ballot for the Harris/Walz ticket.

The election-eve issue of The New Yorker

The cover is by the illustrator/cartoonist Barry Blitt, and is titled "Tightrope."

 

 

 

(Image © Barry Blitt, and The New Yorker)

The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 31: "The Next President Inherits a Remarkable Economy"

The economic indicators are good--more than good--yet this, granted, is not necessarily soothing to those who are not feeling the economy's significant improvements.  Inflation is down dramatically, gas prices are down--under $3 in my state, New Jersey--yet grocery and housing costs, of course, are still far too high.

Nonetheless, there was this headline, on October 31st, in The Wall Street Journal--by no means commonly regarded, in its orientation, as a "liberal" paper: 

"The Next President Inherits a Remarkable Economy"

The secondary headline read: "The high quality of recent economic growth should put a wind at the back of the White House’s next occupant."

Thursday's story, by Greg Ip, began this way:

"Whoever wins the White House next week will take office with no shortage of challenges, but at least one huge asset: an economy that is putting its peers to shame.

"With another solid performance in the third quarter, the U.S. has grown 2.7% over the past year. It is outrunning every other major developed economy, not to mention its own historical growth rate." 

The Vice President's speech at the Ellipse

Vice President Harris delivered a superb speech tonight--described beforehand as her closing argument of the campaign--at the Ellipse in Washington, with The White House in the distance, behind her.

At the end of her speech, the Vice President said the following:

Nearly 250 years ago, America was born when we wrested freedom from a petty tyrant.

Across the generations, Americans have preserved that freedom, expanded it, and in so doing proved to the world that a government of, by, and for the people is strong and can endure.

And those who came before us--the patriots at Normandy, and Selma, Seneca Falls, and Stonewall, on farmlands and factory floors.  They did not struggle, sacrifice and lay down their lives only to see us cede our fundamental freedoms.  They didn't do that, only to see us submit to the will of another petty tyrant.

These United States of America, we are not a vessel for the schemes of wannabe dictators.  The United States of America is the greatest idea humanity ever devised.  A nation big enough to encompass all our dreams, strong enough to withstand any fracture or fissure between us.  And fearless enough to imagine a future of possibilities.

So America, let us reach for that future. Let us fight for this beautiful country we love.  And in seven days, we have the power, each of you  has the power, to turn the page, and start writing the next chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told. 

Here is a video of the full speech:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaE6FhbWVxM

Three photographs

In my previous post, I referred to the three featured singers on Kay Kyser's network TV show, the College of Musical Knowledge, when the program began airing on NBC in 1949.

Here, below, is a photo of the three singers (from left to right):  Michael (Mike) Douglas, my mother, Sue Bennett, and Liza Palmer.

Michael Douglas, Sue Bennett, and Liza Palmer

The three pictures in this post were part of a group of photographs--publicity photos for Kay Kyser's program--which I purchased several years ago on ebay.  Later, I saw one of the pictures in a newspaper story, published in advance of Mr. Kyser's December 1, 1949 premiere broadcast--a picture in which Michael Douglas, standing on stage with Mr. Kyser, is wearing the same sport coat and bow-tie seen in the above image.  And so I am guessing that many (and perhaps all) of the photos I purchased are from November of 1949, when the program was in rehearsals for its December debut.

I believe all of the pictures were taken at New York City's International Theatre, at Columbus Circle, from which the Kay Kyser program was broadcast. The theatre--which through the years had been, alternately, a legitimate theatre, and a movie house--had, in 1949, been refurbished by NBC to accommodate television productions.  In late February of 1950, a few months after the Kay Kyser program went on the air, Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows would begin its broadcasts from the theatre as well.

(The meaning of the above picture--clearly taken in some off-stage area of the theatre--is the following: the clock, which the three singers are looking at, indicates it is just prior to 9:00--which was the time the hour-long Kay Kyser program was telecast each Thursday night. The implication of the photo is that the singers were about to go on-the-air.)

The second photograph, below--in which my mother and Liza Palmer, I will note, are wearing the same outfits as in the first photograph, above)--is one I have posted before.  It appeared in a January 1950 issue of TeleVision Guide magazine (the precurser to TV Guide), and featured (left to right) my mother; Merwyn Bogue, better known by his stage name, Ish Kabibble (Kay Kyser's longtime comedian/"stooge"--as well as a cornetist, and sometimes-vocalist, in the Kay Kyser Orchestra); and Liza Palmer. 

Sue Bennett, Merwyn Bogue, and Liza Palmer

The last photo, below, is of three of the show's other performers.  At the center of the picture is Ben Grauer, the show's announcer during its first season.  Mr. Grauer had for years been one of radio's best-known announcers, reporters, and commentators--and he then moved into television in its early years. In 1948, the year presidential conventions were first seen on TV, Mr. Grauer and John Cameron Swayze anchored the telecasts on NBC.  

In addition to his role as the announcer on the Kay Kyser TV show, he also appeared in sketches on the program--and engaged in on-air interplay with Mr. Kyser:

"How you Ben, Grauer?," Mr. Kyser would ask.

"Okay, Kyser," Mr. Grauer would reply.

In the photograph seen here, Mr. Grauer is flanked by two singers from the five-member vocal group, The Honeydreamers; the group was featured each week during the first season of Mr. Kyser's TV show. At the left of the photo is Sylvia Textor; Marion Bye is at the right side of the picture.

The vocal group was led by Ms. Textor's husband, singer and arranger Keith Textor. Marion Bye was married to another singer in the group, Bob Davis. 

Sylvia Textor, Ben Grauer, and Marion Bye

The fifth singer in The Honeydreamers was Lew Anderson--who, beginning in 1954, would play Clarabell the Clown on NBC's Howdy Doody Show. (Clarabell had previously been portrayed by Bob Keeshan--who would later become a television legend, as Captain Kangaroo--and by Bobby Nicholson.)  Mr. Anderson appeared as Clarabell until the Howdy Doody program went off the air in 1960. He never spoke on the program--until the show's final episode, in which he looked into the television camera and said, simply (and sadly), "Goodbye, kids."

When Liza Palmer left the Kay Kyser program in March of 1950, she was replaced, as a featured singer, by Sylvia Textor--who continued to sing, as well, with The Honeydreamers. 

Ms. Textor and The Honeydreamers, however, left the Kay Kyser show after the end of the program's first season.

(Pictures of NBC-TV's Kay Kyser's College of Musical Knowledge, © NBCUniversal, Inc.)

Commercials, and a March 1951 telecast of "Your Hit Parade"

I remember, in the 1960s, watching television programs whose sponsors figured prominently in the broadcasts--Kraft programs, for example, with Ed Herlihy as the announcer and product spokesman, and Hallmark-sponsored shows. 

On various shows, during the 1960s--and perhaps into the 1970s as well--you often heard that a certain program was "Brought to you by..." A sponsor--or multiple sponsors--would be mentioned.  

When watching television today, one rarely, if ever, knows what commercials will be seen during a given program.  

For many late 1940s and early 1950s TV shows, viewers knew, beforehand, which brands would be promoted during the shows--in that any number of early TV programs were sponsored by particular companies and products--shows such as the Kraft Television Theatre, the Philco Television Playhouse, the Texaco Star Theatre, the Colgate Comedy Hour, Inside U.S.A with Chevrolet, and others. There was also NBC's musical show Your Hit Parade (which I have written about frequently, here); it was known, more informally (for years, on radio, and then on television), as the Lucky Strike Hit Parade.

I recently came upon the following video, made from a kinescope, of the March 24, 1951 telecast of the Hit Parade.

The video is from the YouTube channel "Free the Kinescopes!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX0gZYAsXrc

The telecast took place the month after my mother, Sue Bennett, joined the program. She was, at the time, featured in the show's live production numbers for Lucky Strike, commercials which appeared near the middle of the program; they were referred to, behind-the-scenes, as the show's "extravaganza" commercials. The commercials aired only during the show's first season.

The commercials, each week, featured singers and dancers, and were, in essence, brief playlets.

The settings of the commercials changed each week--featuring, for example, seasonal subjects, holiday subjects, and the like.  The lyrics to a Lucky Strike song which was the focus of the commercials changed for each telecast. 

The commercial in the March 24, 1951 video referred--though, really, only minimally--to Easter.  Easter Sunday occurred the next day. 

The commercial begins at approximately 10 minutes and 50 seconds from the video's start; it lasts about 2 and 1/2 minutes.

There were several performers in the March 24th commercial. 

Singer Snooky Lanson introduced the commercial, speaking for about a minute about Lucky Strikes.

Snooky Lanson, March 1951 Lucky Strike commercial

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He concluded with: "And now neighbor, put on your Easter bonnet, and let's have a happy-go-lucky fling down Fifth Avenue, to the Fifth Avenue Parade."

Hit Parade dancer Bobby Trelease was dressed as the Easter bunny.  Dancer Lenny Claret appeared in top hat and tails.

My mother and singer Russell Arms were featured each week in the "extravaganza" commercials--and they were both also featured, at the time, in commercials on the weekly NBC Radio version of the show.

Liza Palmer, 1951 commercial

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A third performer was typically added to the TV show's extravaganza presentations.  I have a copy of a 1951 broadcast in which singer Betty Clooney was the third featured vocalist, and have seen at least a couple of broadcasts in which the third singer--as in this telecast--was Liza Palmer.  

My mother and Liza Palmer had performed together previously.  In December of 1949, when bandleader Kay Kyser's television show began airing on NBC, the program's featured male vocalist was Michael (Mike) Douglas, and its two featured female vocalists were Liza Palmer and my mother (Ms. Palmer, though, would leave the show in March of 1950). 

Ms. Palmer and Russell Arms had married in 1949.  The two were featured on a weekly ABC-TV quiz program, Chance of a Lifetime, which aired from 1950 to 1951.  The show's host was John Reed King; authors Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, in their well-known television encyclopedia, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present, note that singers Palmer and Arms provided musical clues to the show's contestants.

Ms. Palmer appeared as the first featured singer in the March 24th commercial.  Mr. Arms appeared as the second singer, portraying a press photographer.  My mother was the commercial's third singer.

Russell Arms, "photographing" Liza Palmer, 1951 commercial

 

 

 

 

 

Sue Bennett, 1951 commercial

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The extravaganza production numbers were not, to be sure, the only Lucky Strike commercials on the Hit Parade.  

The program's popular "Be Happy, Go Lucky" jingle (written by the show's orchestra leader Raymond Scott) was sung by a group of unseen vocalists, during the program's (pre-recorded, I am sure) introduction; the jingle was then played instrumentally, by the show's orchestra, as the introduction continued. 

Dorothy Collins in the Lucky Strike bull's-eye, March 1951

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was followed by a live Lucky Strike commercial featuring singer Dorothy Collins, who stood within the program's Lucky Strike "bull's-eye"; the bull's-eye was an enlarged likeness of the center of the Lucky Strike cigarette pack. Ms. Collins appeared again within the bull's-eye near the end of each telecast, speaking about Lucky Strike (and singing briefly, with off-camera vocalists, the conclusion to the "Be Happy, Go Lucky" jingle).   

The "Be Happy, Go Lucky" jingle was also heard during the mid-show extravaganza numbers, sung by off-camera vocalists.

Later in the 1950-1951 season, in addition to performing in the Lucky Strike commercials, my mother began singing in some of the show's regular musical production numbers.  

With the start of the 1951-1952 season, the extravaganza presentations were replaced by standard filmed commercials.  Dorothy Collins, Snooky Lanson, and Eileen Wilson remained the show's primary singing stars. With the new season, my mother became, officially, a featured singer on the program;  Russell Arms, likewise, sang regularly that season in the show's musical numbers. Eileen Wilson, and my mother, left the program at the close of the 1951-1952 season.

During the 1952-1953 season, Mr. Arms would become one of the Hit Parade's primary stars, along with Ms. Collins, Mr. Lanson, and newly-added singer June Valli. Ms. Valli was replaced, the following season, by singer Gisele MacKenzie. 

Ms. MacKenzie, Mr. Lanson, Ms. Collins, and Mr. Arms starred together, on the show, from 1953 until 1957. This foursome became, certainly, the best-remembered cast in the TV show's history.

(Images from 1951 Your Hit Parade commercial, © Lost Gold Entertainment, Inc.)