The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread

[RJDiogenes]

The boys also had the club's bouncer, Horst Fascher, looking out for them.

It's always good to be pals with the bouncer.

Come Eleven, Come Twelve (1974) (imdb.com)

Yeah, he's definitely more of an Andy at that point.

More of a brushy woods.

Okay, well maybe, I guess.

He's in good company with Davy Jones.

Maybe that's it. Some sort of a contract issue with Davy Jones.

Ah, but of course.

Found one of them:
Watch Saturday Night Live Clip: The Global Warming Christmas Special - NBC.com

That was funny. They did a great job with all those impressions. Too bad Asimov just stood there, though.

 

[The Old Mixer]

_______

50th Anniversary Viewing

_______

Adam-12
"L.A. International"
Originally aired March 12, 1974

Malloy, Reed, and Officer Woods are assigned airport duty at LAX. Calls include a closed-circuit camera catching a burglary from a car, an argument over a suitcase containing drugs, a fight between a soldier and another man over $300 in Japanese yen, a man using different credit cards to buy tickets, a runaway boy being brought back from Chicago, and a silent alarm at a toll gate resulting in the capture of a robber.

The officers head to the titular locale, identifiable by its distinctive Theme Building (as I've learned it's called). Woods is already embedded at the sub-station there, subbing at a desk, and the officers report to Sgt. Porter (Len Wayland), who reassigns them the designation Zebra-12, as with the last time they worked the airport. On a color(!) closed-circuit camera, Woods spots a burglar (Michael Bow) breaking into a parked vehicle, so the officers head out on their small motorcycles to intercept him at the under-construction exit road that he's headed for. They stop the car in front of the suspect vehicle to arrest the burglar as well as a driver, finding the stolen purse inside.

After Jim annoys Pete over a spelling error as Malloy fills out the report, the officers are assigned to distribute alert bulletins to the airline desks. Pete's flirting with a pretty young ticket agent named Jody Drake (Tina Cole) when they witness two men fighting over a large suitcase (Geoff Scott and John Rayner, I presume). Each insists that the other is a thief until Malloy starts to open the bag to verify whose contents are inside, at which point both men try to retract their complaints. The officers find it filled with bags of grass, and suddenly each man insists that the bag belongs to the other.

Malloy: I don't know what you guys are fightin' about. One of you's a pusher and the other one's a thief. We'll let the investigators sort it out.​

In the terminal, the officers come upon another fight, involving one man accusing another of taking money out of his wallet. Upon breaking it up, they find that the accuser is a Marine (Mike Warren) who'd been showing wallet photos to the accused, who identifies himself as electronics firm owner Preston Franklin (Jordan Rhodes). Malloy asks to see the money in Franklin's pockets, and one of them turns out to be filled with a wad of Japanese yen that don't match his story of traveling to Chicago.

The officers are subsequently flagged down by Ms. Drake, who alerts them to a repeat customer who's used credits cards under different names. They chase him down and find that a wallet he's dropped is full of cards under different names. At the station, Porter identifies the suspect as a Lester Harrison and gives the officers a little Webbian infodump about the nature of his bunco operation, which involves having an inside man in the card company's mailing department. He then assigns them to escort an 11-year-old runaway named Keith Wheatley (Scott Garrett) who's just been brought back from Chicago. The well-dressed young man matter-of-factly tells them of his previous attempts to go see his father, who's made to sound neglectful. At the station he's picked up by his mother (Eve Brent), who treats it all as an inconvenience and promises to send Keith off to a military school.

Afterward the officers are assigned to a 211 silent at a toll booth, which they bike out to, finding the suspect holding a gun on the clerk. They pursue him into a busy parking garage and end up going on foot to inspect the vehicles stuck in the exit traffic. A van driver's grimacing expression and eye motions cue them in that the suspect is holding a gun on her from behind a curtain, so Malloy motions for her to jump out and calls out the suspect.

Back at the station, Jody calls Pete to extend an invitation for the officers to join her for dinner at the Sky Room, hosted by the credit card company. Pete prods Jim to decline to attend.

_______

Ironside
"Riddle at 24,000"
Originally aired March 14, 1974

A medic helps Ironside with his investigation of a disguised murder. This is the only episode where Don Mitchell does not appear.

Apparently I accidentally deleted my recording of this one, so I'll have to come back to it when able. It's too bad, I was looking forward to cracking a joke about a noteworthy guest.

Riddle at 24,000 (1974) (imdb.com)

Spoiler

Hey, Lucy, I'm home!

This was the last regular episode for the season. A two-hour spinoff pilot will air as an Ironside installment in May.

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Yeah, but think about what it's like for them-- up in the sky, in a bubble, the blades blowing air away from them, making noise (which distracts the other senses). For them to smell it under those conditions, it would have to be some rip-roaring blaze.

Watching a WWII doc show, I was reminded of something relevant to this. Crews who were engaged in nighttime firebombing, which was done at the relatively low altitude of 5,000 feet, could smell burning flesh.

 

[RJDiogenes]

The officers head to the titular locale, identifiable by its distinctive Theme Building (as I've learned it's called).

Cool. I never heard that.

who reassigns them the designation Zebra-12

Damn. Demoted to the ass end of the alphabet. They even come after Starsky & Hutch now.

On a color(!) closed-circuit camera

I wonder if that's accurate. Was it shot on location?

the officers head out on their small motorcycles to intercept him

Putt putt putt....

They stop the car in front of the suspect vehicle to arrest the burglar as well as a driver, finding the stolen purse inside.

So in the massive LAX parking lot, this guy breaks into a car and steals a purse, then heads straight for the exit. That sounds targeted. There was probably an episode's worth of story there.

Jim annoys Pete over a spelling error as Malloy fills out the report

a pretty young ticket agent named Jody Drake (Tina Cole)

That sounds like the wife of the elder brother on My Three Sons.

Each insists that the other is a thief until Malloy starts to open the bag to verify whose contents are inside

Can he do that?

Malloy: I don't know what you guys are fightin' about. One of you's a pusher and the other one's a thief. We'll let the investigators sort it out.

Seems like there's a backstory there, too. The thief knew enough to intercept the pusher. Was the pusher coming or going?

Malloy asks to see the money in Franklin's pockets, and one of them turns out to be filled with a wad of Japanese yen that don't match his story of traveling to Chicago.

And presumably matches the Marine's point of origin.

Porter identifies the suspect as a Lester Harrison and gives the officers a little Webbian infodump about the nature of his bunco operation, which involves having an inside man in the card company's mailing department.

He's pretty sloppy for a guy with an elaborate bunco operation.

At the station he's picked up by his mother (Eve Brent), who treats it all as an inconvenience and promises to send Keith off to a military school.

I imagine the guys did not solicit such a promise.

Jody calls Pete to extend an invitation for the officers to join her for dinner at the Sky Room, hosted by the credit card company. Pete prods Jim to decline to attend.

It seems like this would be something they'd both be required to decline.

Riddle at 24,000 (1974) (imdb.com)

Spoiler

Hey, Lucy, I'm home!

Well, how about that. He did hardly any acting in those days. I wonder what led him to that part.

This was the last regular episode for the season. A two-hour spinoff pilot will air as an Ironside installment in May.

I feel like I know what that is, but I can't dredge it up.

Watching a WWII doc show, I was reminded of something relevant to this. Crews who were engaged in nighttime firebombing, which was done at the relatively low altitude of 5,000 feet, could smell burning flesh.

So much for bacon with my breakfast this morning. But, horrors aside, I think that fits the definition of rip-roaring blaze.

 

[The Old Mixer]

50 Years Ago This Week


March 18

• The Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), made up of Middle Eastern members of OPEC, formally ended the oil embargo declared by its members on October 17, 1973.
• The U.S. State Department announced that the U.S. and Britain would assist Egypt in clearing mines from the Suez Canal in order to reopen the waterway between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

March 19

• Republican U.S. Senator James L. Buckley became the first conservative Republican in Congress to call for the resignation of U.S. President Richard Nixon.
• Edward Platt, 58, American TV actor best known as "The Chief" on the television show Get Smart, died of a heart attack.

March 20

• In London, an attempt was made to kidnap Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth II. Ian Ball, later found by a court to be insane, drove his Ford Escort into the path of an automobile bringing Anne and her husband Mark Phillips back to Buckingham Palace after a charity event. Ball began firing a pistol and shot Anne's bodyguard Jim Beaton; chauffeur Alex Callender; and tabloid reporter Brian McConnell and police constable Michael Hills. A passing pedestrian, former boxer Ron Russell, punched Ball and led Anne to safety.
• Ugandan dictator Idi Amin ended the hijacking of an East African Airways airliner by talking to a gunman and his wife, and persuading them to surrender, while passengers watched. The Fokker Friendship plane had been carrying 33 other people in Kenya on a flight from Nairobi to Mombasa when the Ethiopian couple forced the pilot to fly to Kampala. A Dutch businessman aboard told reporters, "The president strode up to the cockpit of the plane and began talking with the Ethiopian at pistol point about an hour after we landed at Entebbe Airport. The gunman then threw his pistol from the plane onto the tarmac and he and his wife surrendered to the president," and added "Amin treated the hijackers like kings and seemed to be enjoying it."
• Chet Huntley, 62, American journalist and anchor of NBC's Huntley–Brinkley Report from 1956 to 1970, died of lung cancer.

March 22

• The foreign ministers of all seven nations bordering the Baltic Sea—the Soviet Union, West Germany, East Germany, Poland, Sweden, Denmark and Finland—signed a treaty banning the dumping of solid waste into the body of water common to all of them, and to strictly control pollution from DDT and mercury.

March 23

• Brigadier General Charles Arube of the Ugandan Army began a rebellion at the Malire Barracks in Kampala, in an attempt to overthrow the government of dictator Idi Amin. Arube, and Lieutenant Colonel Elly Aseni, sought as well to rid the Ugandan armed forces of foreign mercenary officers. Although Arube's rebels were able to kill the 30 guards inside the presidential palace and to trap General Amin, the group hesitated at entering the command post to arrest Amin. General Arube entered the palace alone and was shot to death by General Amin.
• Eight people were killed and six critically injured in a fire that began after a man threw a gasoline can and lighted fuse into a crowded bar in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Ernest James Burton Jr. walked to a police station and turned himself in, 23 minutes after starting the fire. Burton had attacked the Caboose Bar after being ejected earlier in the day.
• "The Wall of Sound", the largest concert sound system up to that time, made its debut at the Grateful Dead's concert at the Cow Palace, near San Francisco. Designed by the band's sound engineer, Owsley Stanley, the Wall of Sound was composed of 604 total speakers with a combined 26,400 watts of power.

Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:

1. "Dark Lady," Cher
2. "Seasons in the Sun," Terry Jacks
3. "Sunshine on My Shoulders," John Denver
4. "Boogie Down," Eddie Kendricks
5. "Mockingbird," Carly Simon & James Taylor
6. "Bennie and the Jets," Elton John
7. "Hooked on a Feeling," Blue Swede
8. "Jet," Paul McCartney & Wings
9. "Eres Tú (Touch the Wind)," Mocedades
10. "Jungle Boogie," Kool & The Gang
11. "Come and Get Your Love," Redbone
12. "Rock On," David Essex
13. "The Way We Were," Barbra Streisand
14. "The Lord's Prayer," Sister Janet Mead
15. "Trying to Hold On to My Woman," Lamont Dozier
16. "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)," MFSB feat. The Three Degrees
17. "My Sweet Lady," Cliff DeYoung
18. "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me," Gladys Knight & The Pips
19. "There Won't Be Anymore," Charlie Rich
20. "Mighty Love, Pt. 1," The Spinners
21. "Spiders & Snakes," Jim Stafford
22. "A Very Special Love Song," Charlie Rich
23. "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo," Rick Derringer
24. "Lookin' for a Love," Bobby Womack
25. "Sexy Mama," The Moments
26. "Love's Theme," Love Unlimited Orchestra
27. "Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)," Aretha Franklin
28. "Oh, My My," Ringo Starr

30. "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song," Jim Croce
31. "Love Song," Anne Murray
32. "Just Don't Want to Be Lonely," The Main Ingredient
33. "Touch a Hand, Make a Friend," The Staple Singers

35. "Put Your Hands Together," The O'Jays

40. "Let It Ride," Bachman-Turner Overdrive
41. "Last Time I Saw Him," Diana Ross
42. "I Love," Tom T. Hall
43. "Keep On Singing," Helen Reddy

45. "My Mistake (Was to Love You)," Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye
46. "I Like to Live the Love," B.B. King
47. "You're Sixteen," Ringo Starr
48. "Tubular Bells," Mike Oldfield

50. "The Loco-Motion," Grand Funk
51. "Piano Man," Billy Joel
52. "Let Me Be There," Olivia Newton-John

58. "Dancing Machine," Jackson 5

60. "She's Gone," Daryl Hall & John Oates

63. "Midnight at the Oasis," Maria Muldaur

66. "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long," Chicago

72. "The Show Must Go On," Three Dog Night

74. "Mighty Mighty," Earth, Wind & Fire

77. "Help Me," Joni Mitchell
78. "Oh Very Young," Cat Stevens

81. "The Payback, Pt. 1," James Brown
82. "Americans," Byron MacGregor

84. "You Make Me Feel Brand New," The Stylistics

88. "The Entertainer," Music from "The Sting" feat. Marvin Hamlisch on Piano
89. "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)," The Rolling Stones

94. "(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock," Bill Haley & His Comets

Leaving the chart:

• "Jolene," Dolly Parton (8 weeks)
• "Show and Tell," Al Wilson (22 weeks)

Recent and new on the chart:

"Mighty Mighty," Earth, Wind & Fire

(Mar. 9; #29 US; #4 R&B)

"Oh Very Young," Cat Stevens

(Mar. 16; #10 US; #2 AC; #51 UK)

"The Payback, Pt. 1," James Brown

(#26 US; #1 R&B)

"The Entertainer," Music from "The Sting" feat. Marvin Hamlisch on Piano

(#3 US; #1 AC; #25 UK)

"You Make Me Feel Brand New," The Stylistics

(#2 US; #6 AC; #5 R&B; #2 UK)


And new on the boob tube:

• Adam-12, "Clinic on Eighteenth Street" (season finale)
• Kung Fu, "The Nature of Evil"
• The Odd Couple, "One for the Bunny" (season finale)
• Emergency!, "Inventions" (season finale)

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Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki page for the month.

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I wonder if that's accurate. Was it shot on location?

The sub-station interior was probably a set, and the camera footage definitely seemed like TV fakery. But now that you mention it, the parts out in the terminals probably were location.

That sounds like the wife of the elder brother on My Three Sons.

She was, it seems, though I didn't recognize her. It looks like she had a recurring role on Hawaiian Eye before that; and had done four guest appearances as different characters in earlier seasons of MTS before joining the cast.

Can he do that?

Maybe. They were each claiming to be the victim of a theft; and there may be different search & seizure rules at play at the airport.

Seems like there's a backstory there, too. The thief knew enough to intercept the pusher. Was the pusher coming or going?

Coming, I think...I was under the impression that the bag had just been picked up.

And presumably matches the Marine's point of origin.

The Marine was trying to tell them what kind of money it was during the argument.

He's pretty sloppy for a guy with an elaborate bunco operation.

He wasn't counting on a member of the Douglas family!

I imagine the guys did not solicit such a promise.

They did not...they seemed non-vocally wary of her attitude and intentions, and were sympathetic to the kid.

It seems like this would be something they'd both be required to decline.

Now that you mention it...though Pete could come unofficially as Jody's date.

Well, how about that. He did hardly any acting in those days. I wonder what led him to that part.

I thought that seemed pretty novel. It looks like his guest roles were pretty sporadic...the only thing we would have seen him on here was Laugh-In. The only recurring role in his credits was a character on The Mothers-in-Law.

I feel like I know what that is, but I can't dredge it up.

It came up previously, but you hadn't heard of it then, IIRC.

So much for bacon with my breakfast this morning. But, horrors aside, I think that fits the definition of rip-roaring blaze.

Sorry about that. But if smells from a larger source can waft up into a bomber at 5,000 feet, then a house fire being smelled from a low-flying helicopter doesn't seem like such a stretch.

The thermal updrafts from the city-wide fires also proved to be a source of hazardous turbulence for the bombers. But the reason the Air Corps chose to resort to firebombing was because the jet stream turbulence over Japan was so bad that daylight precision bombing from higher altitudes was virtually impossible, they couldn't get the bombs on target.

Another grim factoid is that more people died from the conventional fire-bombing than from both atomic bombs.

 

[RJDiogenes]

The Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), made up of Middle Eastern members of OPEC, formally ended the oil embargo declared by its members on October 17, 1973.

They don't like Americans, but they like American money.

Republican U.S. Senator James L. Buckley became the first conservative Republican in Congress to call for the resignation of U.S. President Richard Nixon.

Tick tock....

Edward Platt, 58, American TV actor best known as "The Chief" on the television show Get Smart, died of a heart attack.

Sorry about that, Chief.

A passing pedestrian, former boxer Ron Russell, punched Ball and led Anne to safety.

Holy Toledo, Ohio. I hope he got a knighthood, a horse, and a castle with a moat, or whatever the hell you give to people who save the freakin' princess with their bare hands. Life is indeed stranger than fiction.

Ugandan dictator Idi Amin ended the hijacking of an East African Airways airliner by talking to a gunman and his wife, and persuading them to surrender, while passengers watched.

Stranger? Life is more mondo bizarro than fiction.

General Arube entered the palace alone and was shot to death by General Amin.

He was definitely a hands-on mass murderer.

"Mighty Mighty," Earth, Wind & Fire

They'll do better.

"Oh Very Young," Cat Stevens

Classic.

"The Payback, Pt. 1," James Brown

He's like the Energizer Bunny.

"The Entertainer," Music from "The Sting" feat. Marvin Hamlisch on Piano

I do like this, mainly because it reminds me of the movie.

"You Make Me Feel Brand New," The Stylistics

This is a goodie.

She was, it seems, though I didn't recognize her. It looks like she had a recurring role on Hawaiian Eye before that

That makes me wonder if it was really shot on location, as I'd assumed.

Maybe. They were each claiming to be the victim of a theft; and there may be different search & seizure rules at play at the airport.

Good point.

Coming, I think...I was under the impression that the bag had just been picked up.

So the thief was trying to beat the pusher to the baggage claim. Inside job!

The Marine was trying to tell them what kind of money it was during the argument.

That settles that.

He wasn't counting on a member of the Douglas family!

He's lucky it wasn't Uncle Charlie.

They did not...they seemed non-vocally wary of her attitude and intentions, and were sympathetic to the kid.

That's what I'd expect of them.

Now that you mention it...though Pete could come unofficially as Jody's date.

Probably true.

I thought that seemed pretty novel. It looks like his guest roles were pretty sporadic...the only thing we would have seen him on here was Laugh-In. The only recurring role in his credits was a character on The Mothers-in-Law.

Maybe something to do with friends behind the scenes or something.

It came up previously, but you hadn't heard of it then, IIRC.

That's what's tickling my memory, I guess.

Sorry about that.

Nah, I was just kidding. I have a stronger stomach than that at this point in my jaded existence.

But if smells from a larger source can waft up into a bomber at 5,000 feet, then a house fire being smelled from a low-flying helicopter doesn't seem like such a stretch.

Yeah, that makes sense. Still seems counterintuitive, though.

Another grim factoid is that more people died from the conventional fire-bombing than from both atomic bombs.

Actually, that's a factoid I was aware of from my own research into the necessity (or not) of using those bombs.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

"The Payback, Pt. 1," James Brown (#26 US; #1 R&B)

He's like the Energizer Bunny.

Best guess - there's about 12-14 people on that stage.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Tick tock....

T-minus 145 days and counting.

Holy Toledo, Ohio. I hope he got a knighthood, a horse, and a castle with a moat, or whatever the hell you give to people who save the freakin' princess with their bare hands. Life is indeed stranger than fiction.

I cut out the part where they noted that there was a British TV movie about it.

Stranger? Life is more mondo bizarro than fiction.

He was definitely a hands-on mass murderer.

He was one of those names that I used to hear coming up in my youth, but didn't know much about.

They'll do better.

Pretty funky debut hit, though.

Classic.

This is one of his less memorable hits to me.

He's like the Energizer Bunny.

He's actually getting close to the end of his original hitmaking run--only a couple more Top 40 singles after this, which will also be his last R&B chart-toppers, until he comes back with another Top 10 hit in 1985. "The Payback" was the title song of an album that was meant to be the soundtrack of a blaxploitation film, but was rejected by the producers, who reportedly "dismissed it as 'the same old James Brown stuff.'"

I do like this, mainly because it reminds me of the movie.

I thought you might make a Squigception for this. The film, which came out Christmas of '73 and was the 1974 Oscar darling, I'm hoping to catch during the hiatus season. The single is one that I distinctly remember being out and about when I was a kid.

I had to go back and look up my review of Butch & Sundance. Can you believe that came out five years ago, when I was the size of a cantaloupe?

This is a goodie.

Now this is the Stylistics!

That makes me wonder if it was really shot on location, as I'd assumed.

Going back to look, I think the interior of the sub-station was a location, but the insert shot of the security monitor was totally fake--perfect-quality color, with a little subtle panning thrown in to follow the burglar's movements.

So the thief was trying to beat the pusher to the baggage claim. Inside job!

One of them had a claim check, but there was no tag on the case to verify it against.

That settles that.

I get the impression that Pete was ahead of the situation.

He's lucky it wasn't Uncle Charlie.

Actually, that's a factoid I was aware of from my own research into the necessity (or not) of using those bombs.

Conventional historical wisdom is that an invasion of Japan would have been far worse for everybody.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Another grim factoid is that more people died from the conventional fire-bombing than from both atomic bombs.

Actually, that's a factoid I was aware of from my own research into the necessity (or not) of using those bombs.

Conventional historical wisdom is that an invasion of Japan would have been far worse for everybody.

If either one of you has ninety minutes or so to spare, this goes into pretty good detail about the proposed invasion of Japan, the number of casualties on both sides, and the decision to use the atomic bombs.

As a senior in high school back in 89, when our history class was covering WWII, we got together with the other two history classes and war gamed out and debated the various ways the United States could have achieved victory over Japan.

We came to the conclusion that the only way to do it without avoiding mass casualties on both sides was dropping the atomic bombs.

This is, of course, before a lot of the material regarding the invasion of Japan and the number of casualties, was declassified, as they're discussing here.

It might sound cruel coming from a bunch of 17-18 year olds, to come the conclusion to use atomic weapons, considering we'd just went through the eighties with Reagan and his Sabre rattling against the Soviet Union, but this was something we'd spent the better part of a day discussing.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I cut out the part where they noted that there was a British TV movie about it.

I looked him up and he doesn't even have his own Wiki page. There's a section on Princess Anne's Wiki page, and he was given a medal or something, but not much. I mean, he saved the Princess!

He was one of those names that I used to hear coming up in my youth, but didn't know much about.

He was a pretty scary lunatic.

This is one of his less memorable hits to me.

One of my faves, actually.

"The Payback" was the title song of an album that was meant to be the soundtrack of a blaxploitation film, but was rejected by the producers, who reportedly "dismissed it as 'the same old James Brown stuff.'"

How could they not know what they were getting?

I had to go back and look up my review of Butch & Sundance. Can you believe that came out five years ago, when I was the size of a cantaloupe?

I didn't see Butch & Sundance until sometime later, when it was on TV, but I actually saw The Sting in the theater near the end of its run, when it came to the little dollar theater in Columbian Square.

Now this is the Stylistics!

Yeah.

Going back to look, I think the interior of the sub-station was a location, but the insert shot of the security monitor was totally fake--perfect-quality color, with a little subtle panning thrown in to follow the burglar's movements.

Sorry, I changed lanes without signalling. I was talking about Hawaiian Eye. The fact that Tina Cole had a recurring role made me think it probably wasn't filmed on location-- but then it occurred to me later that there's no reason she wasn't living in Hawaii at the time.

Conventional historical wisdom is that an invasion of Japan would have been far worse for everybody.

And I'm in agreement with that. Also, in retrospect, in seems likely the use of the smaller weapons then prevented the use of larger weapons in the next ten to twenty years.

If either one of you has ninety minutes or so to spare, this goes into pretty good detail about the proposed invasion of Japan, the number of casualties on both sides, and the decision to use the atomic bombs.

That's a long video, but maybe I'll try to watch it in segments.

It might sound cruel coming from a bunch of 17-18 year olds, to come the conclusion to use atomic weapons, considering we'd just went through the eighties with Reagan and his Sabre rattling against the Soviet Union, but this was something we'd spent the better part of a day discussing.

Actually, I'm a little surprised. Kids usually try to relitigate history in favor of making themselves look superior.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

@RJDiogenes
One thing I brought up during the discussion was that the Soviet Union was planning to enter the war against Japan in October-November 1945 and had already begun shifting troops and materials to that effect.

Once that happened, it would have been a race to see who could reach Tokyo first, the allies coming up from the south, or the Soviets from the north.

There was a real possibility that we could have ended up with a divided Japan/Tokyo, much like Germany/Berlin.

If there was a chance to end the war before the Soviet invasion, the allies would have taken it.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Sorry, I changed lanes without signalling. I was talking about Hawaiian Eye.

Hawaiian Eye - Wikipedia

Hawaiian Eye was one of several ABC/Warner Bros. Television detective series of the era situated in different exotic locales. Others included Hollywood-based 77 Sunset Strip; Bourbon Street Beat, set in New Orleans; and Miami's Surfside 6. In reality, all were shot on the Warner Bros. backlot in Burbank, Calif. making it easy for characters—and sometimes whole scripts—to cross over.

 

[RJDiogenes]

@RJDiogenes
One thing I brought up during the discussion was that the Soviet Union was planning to enter the war against Japan in October-November 1945 and had already begun shifting troops and materials to that effect.

Once that happened, it would have been a race to see who could reach Tokyo first, the allies coming up from the south, or the Soviets from the north.

There was a real possibility that we could have ended up with a divided Japan/Tokyo, much like Germany/Berlin.

If there was a chance to end the war before the Soviet invasion, the allies would have taken it.

Yes, this is also a very good point. It's hard to imagine how that would have affected the outcome of the Cold War.

Hawaiian Eye - Wikipedia

That answers that. I had no idea these shows were part of their own little universe. I don't think I've ever even heard of Bourbon Street Beat.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I was watching a docu-show recently--and don't ask me what exactly it was--in which the narrative was putting forth that it wasn't the bombs that motivated Japan to surrender, it was the Soviets entering the Pacific War.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I was watching a docu-show recently--and don't ask me what exactly it was--in which the narrative was putting forth that it wasn't the bombs that motivated Japan to surrender, it was the Soviets entering the Pacific War.

The pressure was on them from all sides, as well as internally, but I'm more than a little skeptical of modern posers who think they know better than the guys who actually won the war.

 

[The Old Mixer]

50 Years Ago This Week


March 24

• The last of 120,000 Bangladesh prisoners of war who had been imprisoned in Pakistan were repatriated as a flight brought 206 Bengalis from Karachi in Pakistan to Dhaka in Pakistan.

March 26

• A group of peasant women in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand, India, surrounded individual trees to prevent loggers from felling them, giving rise to the Chipko movement and the practice of tree hugging as a means of environmental protection.
• In a much-anticipated boxing bout, challenger Ken Norton faced defending WBA and WBC champion George Foreman at the Poliedro de Caracas in Venezuela, with broadcast of the fight seen worldwide on closed-circuit television to paid customers. Norton, who had a record of 30 wins and 2 losses, went up against Foreman, who was unbeaten after 39 professional bouts. The fight itself was anticlimactic, with Norton being knocked down three times in the second round before referee Jimmy Rondeau called the fight and awarded Foreman a win by technical knockout (TKO).

March 27

• The Los Angeles district attorney dismisses a complaint filed against John Lennon by the waitress of the Troubadour club.

March 29

• At 20:47 UTC, the Mariner 10 space probe, launched from the U.S. on November 9, made the closest approach to the planet Mercury up to that time by an Earth spacecraft, coming within 437 miles (703 km) of the surface.

• The Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang was discovered at Xi'an, China.
• The United Kingdom restored the speed limit on its network of M-designated motorways to 70 miles per hour (110 km/h), after having reduced the maximum speed to 50 miles per hour (80 km/h) on December 8 because of the worldwide fuel shortage.
• A U.S. federal grand jury in Cleveland indicted eight members of the Ohio National Guard on civil rights violations for the May 4, 1970, shooting of 13 students at Kent State University, four of whom died of their wounds. Five of the defendants were charged with felonies. The indictments would all be dismissed on November 8 on a finding that the prosecution had failed to produce sufficient evidence to support charges.
• The Volkswagen Golf was launched in West Germany as a modern front-wheel drive hatchback with a goal of replace the iconic Volkswagen Beetle, holder of the world record for the car with the most units produced.

March 30

• The 2-hour pilot for the proposed Little House on the Prairie television series was broadcast on NBC after NBC executive Ed Friendly purchased the exclusive rights to adaptations of the series of eight "Little House" children's novels written by Laura Ingalls Wilder between 1932 and 1943. Actor Michael Landon starred in and directed the film that was part of NBC's Saturday Night at the Movies feature, while Melissa Gilbert narrated and portrayed Laura Ingalls. The pilot was the third highest-rated TV broadcast of the week of March 25 to 31 in the U.S., and would debut as a weekly TV series on September 11.

Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:

1. "Sunshine on My Shoulders," John Denver
2. "Hooked on a Feeling," Blue Swede
3. "Seasons in the Sun," Terry Jacks
4. "Bennie and the Jets," Elton John
5. "Dark Lady," Cher
6. "Mockingbird," Carly Simon & James Taylor
7. "Jet," Paul McCartney & Wings
8. "Come and Get Your Love," Redbone
9. "Eres Tú (Touch the Wind)," Mocedades
10. "The Lord's Prayer," Sister Janet Mead
11. "Boogie Down," Eddie Kendricks
12. "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)," MFSB feat. The Three Degrees
13. "Jungle Boogie," Kool & The Gang
14. "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me," Gladys Knight & The Pips
15. "Trying to Hold On to My Woman," Lamont Dozier
16. "Rock On," David Essex
17. "A Very Special Love Song," Charlie Rich
18. "There Won't Be Anymore," Charlie Rich
19. "Oh, My My," Ringo Starr
20. "Lookin' for a Love," Bobby Womack
21. "Mighty Love, Pt. 1," The Spinners
22. "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song," Jim Croce
23. "The Way We Were," Barbra Streisand
24. "My Sweet Lady," Cliff DeYoung
25. "Spiders & Snakes," Jim Stafford
26. "Just Don't Want to Be Lonely," The Main Ingredient
27. "Touch a Hand, Make a Friend," The Staple Singers
28. "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo," Rick Derringer
29. "Love's Theme," Love Unlimited Orchestra

31. "Sexy Mama," The Moments
32. "Let It Ride," Bachman-Turner Overdrive
33. "Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)," Aretha Franklin
34. "Tubular Bells," Mike Oldfield
35. "Keep On Singing," Helen Reddy

37. "My Mistake (Was to Love You)," Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye
38. "The Loco-Motion," Grand Funk

40. "Dancing Machine," Jackson 5
41. "Piano Man," Billy Joel
42. "Love Song," Anne Murray

46. "Put Your Hands Together," The O'Jays
47. "Last Time I Saw Him," Diana Ross

49. "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long," Chicago

55. "Midnight at the Oasis," Maria Muldaur
56. "The Show Must Go On," Three Dog Night

62. "Help Me," Joni Mitchell
63. "The Payback, Pt. 1," James Brown
64. "Mighty Mighty," Earth, Wind & Fire

68. "Oh Very Young," Cat Stevens

70. "You Make Me Feel Brand New," The Stylistics

72. "She's Gone," Daryl Hall & John Oates

78. "The Entertainer," Music from "The Sting" feat. Marvin Hamlisch on Piano

86. "(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock," Bill Haley & His Comets

96. "One Hell of a Woman," Mac Davis
97. "La Grange," ZZ Top

Leaving the chart:

• "Americans," Byron MacGregor (12 weeks; mistakenly listed a couple of weeks back)
• "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)," The Rolling Stones (11 weeks)
• "I Like to Live the Love," B.B. King (16 weeks)
• "I Love," Tom T. Hall (16 weeks)
• "Let Me Be There," Olivia Newton-John (19 weeks)
• "You're Sixteen," Ringo Starr (15 weeks)

New on the chart:

"La Grange," ZZ Top

(#41 US)

"One Hell of a Woman," Mac Davis

(#11 US; #20 AC)


And new on the boob tube:

• Kung Fu, "The Cenotaph (Part 1)"

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Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki page for the month and Mark Lewisohn's The Beatles Day by Day, with minor editing as needed.

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The pressure was on them from all sides, as well as internally, but I'm more than a little skeptical of modern posers who think they know better than the guys who actually won the war.

Revisionist historians, at least.

 

[Nerys Myk]

he pressure was on them from all sides, as well as internally, but I'm more than a little skeptical of modern posers who think they know better than the guys who actually won the war.

I don't think the study of history works in quite the way you think it does.

 

[RJDiogenes]

A group of peasant women in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand, India, surrounded individual trees to prevent loggers from felling them, giving rise to the Chipko movement and the practice of tree hugging as a means of environmental protection.

Cool. I didn't realize the phrase had a literal origin.

the Mariner 10 space probe, launched from the U.S. on November 9, made the closest approach to the planet Mercury up to that time by an Earth spacecraft

Interesting how they specify "Earth" spacecraft....

The Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang was discovered at Xi'an, China.

Now there's a work of incredible artistry.

The Volkswagen Golf was launched in West Germany as a modern front-wheel drive hatchback with a goal of replace the iconic Volkswagen Beetle, holder of the world record for the car with the most units produced.

"Everybody loves it. Let's replace it."

"La Grange," ZZ Top

I don't think I ever knew the name of this one. It used to be kind of a staple on WBCN, but it's more or less background music.

"One Hell of a Woman," Mac Davis

Meh. Mac Davis had a couple of good singles, but this isn't one of them.

Revisionist historians, at least.

Indeed.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Interesting how they specify "Earth" spacecraft....

Now that you mention it...

Now there's a work of incredible artistry.

I wasn't familiar with it, but from the picture I saw, it looked pretty impressive.

I don't think I ever knew the name of this one. It used to be kind of a staple on WBCN, but it's more or less background music.

Set off the ol' Squigometer, eh? Before the signature beards...this one was pretty familiar and has been on the album end of the shuffle for a while now.

Meh. Mac Davis had a couple of good singles, but this isn't one of them.

Now I thought this one was alright and was thinking of getting it.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

After the Troubadour Incident, John Lennon and Harry Nilsson decided to do something more positive than going out all night and spending their time engaging in wild benders. Since Harry's next album was due to RCA, it was decided that John would produce Harry's next album; discarding the songs that Harry had recorded the previous months and starting from scratch.
They decided that they and the principal musicians involved should rent a beach house close to Santa Monica, and the tracks for the album could be worked on in the daytime before heading to the studio each evening to record.
The house they chose to stay in had been built for film producer Louis B. Mayer and was currently owned by Peter Lawford. Lawford had often loaned the house to his brothers-in-law Robert and John F. Kennedy, and it was alledgedly where the President had some of his secret trysts with Marilyn Monroe. As Lennon and May Pang installed themselves in the master bedroom, he looked around and said, "So this is where they did it."
Lennon took ownership of the property on March 22, and shortly thereafter, Keith Moon, Ringo Starr, Klaus Voorman and Harry Nilsson were living there.
As they settled in, thoughts turned to what sort of album Harry should record. The initial idea of recording an album of songs by Allen Toussaint was rejected, as well as an album of rock and roll oldies; Lennon wary of revisiting an oldies project so soon after the collapse of the 'Rock 'N Roll' sessions with Producer Phil Spector still fresh in his mind.
A compromise was struck - songs that had been earmarked for Lennon's 'Rock 'N Roll' album, "Save The Last Dance For Me", "Loop De Loop" and "Rock Around The Clock" would be recorded, as well as Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" and Jimmy Cliff's "Many Rivers To Cross", favorites of John and Harry.
They then went through the tapes of the songs Harry had demoed and recorded the previous months, looking for suitable candidates for inclusion. They settled on "All My Life", "Black Sails", "Don't Forget Me", "Down By The Sea", "The Flying Saucer Song" and "Old Forgotten Soldier", as the best of the songs Harry had written. A Harry fragment "Mucho Mungo" was combined with a Lennon fragment "Mt. Elga" to create the medley "Mucho Mungo/Mt. Elga".
Recording on the album provisionally titled "Strange P*ssies" was set to begin March 28 at the Record Plant in Hollywood on March 28, the day after Lennon's final hearing for the Troubadour incident.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

The "Shack outside La Grange" is the Chicken Ranch. The brothel that was the inspiration for the Broadway play and the Burt Reynolds/Dolly Parton movie "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas". The movie is probably best remembered today for the song "I Will Always Love You" written by Dolly especially for the movie and later covered by Whitney Houston for the movie "The Bodyguard".