BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: AMERICANA

Never count the teeth of a comb; if you do, they will all break out.

AMERICAN PROVERB

EDWIN BOOTH ON A STORMY NIGHT IN MARCH 1865

" One stormy night in March 1865, the famous American
actor, stood on the platform of the Jersey City 
railroad station. He had just finished a successful
run of Hamlet at the New York Winter Garden, and he
was now on his way to visit his sister in Philadelphia.
   Railroad tickets were then sold on the open platform,
which was dangerously crowded that night as people
milled around the conductor trying to buying sleeping-
car space.
    Suddenly, a young man standing beside Booth was
violently jostled and losing his footing, plunged to
the tracks, falling into the space between two cars.
At that very moment, the cars started to move; the
train was getting underway.
    Horror-stricken,Booth threw himself down on the
platform, leaned far over the stone edge and with 
the strength born of desperate urgency, grasped the
terrified young man under the arms and pulled him to
safety.
     Saved from certain death beneath the crushing
wheels of the train, the shaken young man now
overwhelmed the rescuer with thanks. Then, looking
at him closely, he asked Booth if he was not the
famous actor.
      Booth acknowledged that he was, and the man
smiled with pleasure.
       It's a great honor to meet you, sir. And may
I introduce myself. My name is Lincoln -- Robert
Lincoln. I am the son of the President.
       A few minutes later the two men parted,
young Robert profuse in his thanks, and Booth
understandably elated that he had rescued the
President's son.

Doug Storer, Encyclopedia of Amazing but True Facts.
New York: New American Library, 1980)
**
JUNETEETH

"'Juneteenth' marks the 1865 date when a Union officer,
arriving in Galveston, brought news that the slaves 
were free. In 1981, Juneteenth was not well known outside 
Texas; a search of the New York Times database from 1885 through 1980 doesn't yield a single reference.

Laura Lippman.  My Life as a Villainess (NY: William
Morrow, 2020)
**
A BRIEF HISTORY OF DRIVE-IN MOVIES, or The HOLLINGSHEAD CHRONICLES

Many people hear stories of their grandparents going 
to the drive-in theater for a Friday night hangout, 
but do you know the history of the classic movie experience?

Though there were drive-ins as early as the 1910s, 
the first patented drive-in was opened on June 6,1933 
by Richard Hollingshead in New Jersey. He created it 
as a solution for people unable to comfortably fit 
into smaller movie theater seats after creating a mini 
drive-in for his mother. Appealing to families, 
Hollingshead advertised his drive-in as a place 
where “The whole family is welcome, regardless 
of how noisy the children are.”

The success of Hollingshead’s drive-in caused more 
and more drive-ins to appear in every state in the 
country and spread internationally as well. 
Drive-ins gained immense popularity 20 years later 
during the 1950s and ‘60s with the Baby Boomer 
generation. There were over 4,000 drive-ins 
throughout the U.S., and most were in rural 
areas. They maintained popularity as both a 
space for families to spend time with each 
other as well as an affordable date night option.

from THE NEW YORK FILM ACADEMY WEBSITE
**

WILMA RUDOLPH

Wilma Glodean Rudolph (June 23, 1940 – 
November 12, 1994) 
was an American sprinter, who became a 
world-record-holding Olympic champion 
and international sports icon in track 
and field following her successes in 
the 1956 and 1960 Olympic Games. Rudolph 
competed in the 200-meter dash and won 
a bronze medal in the 4 × 100-meter relay 
at the 1956 Summer Olympics at Melbourne, 
Australia. She also won three gold medals, 
in the 100- and 200-meter individual events 
and the 4 x 100-meter relay at the 1960 
Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy.[3] 
Rudolph was acclaimed the fastest woman 
in the world in the 1960s and became 
the first American woman to win three 
gold medals in a single Olympic Games.
 
FROM WIKIPEDIA"
**
ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF THE WORD "TYCOON"

In 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry sailed with four 
armed ships to Edo, to see about opening up trade 
between the UnitedStates and Japan. He negotiated
 with a Shogun, who had been given the title 
"taikun," meaning Prince.

The following is from NPR'S CODE SWITCH WEBSITE: 

Perry's negotiations were eventually successful. 
He and the Japanese would sign the Treaty of Kanagawa 
in 1854. The treaty ended Japanese isolation and 
guaranteed a "permanent friendship" between the 
two nations. Perry would return to the United States 
in 1855. Upon his return, Congress voted to grant 
Perry a $20,000 reward for his successful work in 
Japan. Perry went on to publish an account of 
the expedition titled Narrative of the Expedition 
of an American Squadron the China Seas and Japan.

As for the word "taikun": It quickly became "tycoon" 
in English when Perry brought the word back with him
to the United States, first appearing in print in 1857. 
Among the fans of the word were two of President Abraham Lincoln's most trusted aides — John Hay and John Nicolay.
 The pair often referred to Lincoln as "the Tycoon" and references to "the Tycoon" appear frequently in Hay's 
diaries.

"The Tycoon is in fine whack," Hay wrote in a letter 
in 1863. "I have rarely seen him more serene & busy. 
He is managing this war, the draft, foreign relations, 
and planning a reconstruction..."


from CODE SWITCH: WORD WATCH
The History Of How A Shogun's Boast Made Lincoln A 'Tycoon'
Code Switch by LAKSHMI GANDHI
October 14, 201310:14 AM ET

**

ABOUT THE N. Y. GIANTS’ MANAGER JOHN McGRAW

“A good part of  McGraw’s popularity in New York came from saloon attendance. He truly believed he was an Irish brawler, but won no fights until he discovered the Lambs, a club for actors on West 44th Street. There he found a great truth: tenors can’t fight. In the bar well after closing hours, an actor named William Boyd, while complaining on behalf of the cleaning women aboutMcGraw’s language, hit McGraw over the head with a water pitcher. Down went McGraw. A musical comedy star, John C. Slavit and Winfield Liggitt, a retired naval officer who loved actors, got McGraw home toBroadway at 109th Street at 8 A.M.’

“I was born eight dollars short.” Wilson Mizner

**

WAKING UP IN THE MORNING
THINKING ABOUT BILLY THE KID

Out of the blue it comes to me,
What Pat Garrett sd
About Billy the Kid,
That Billy "Dranked and laughed,
Rode and laughed,
Talked and laughed,
And killed and laughed."
Damn it!
Today's Tuesday,
That's exactly what I want to do.

Louis Phillips