Archive for March 12th, 2012

WHEN THERE WAS REAL COMEDY ON TV!

Red Skelton

The Red Skelton Show was largely associated with the CBS television
network for fifteen years. but the series began (1951) and ended (1971)
on NBC, The show received three Emmy Awards for Skelton as best
comedian and the program as best comedy show during its initial
season and an award for comedy writing in 1961.   

posted by Bob Karm in Awards,Comedy,DEBUT,HISTORY,TV and have No Comments

THE START OF THE COLD WAR ON THIS DAY IN 1947

TRUMAN DOCTRINE

harrytrumandoctrine

The Truman Doctrine was a policy set forth by President Harry S. Truman
in a speech delivered on March 12, 1947 stating that the U.S. would support
Greece and Turkey with financial and military air to prevent their falling to
communism, which would have had grave consequences thought the region.

The policy won the support of Republicans who controlled Congress and
involved sending $400 million, but no military forces, to the region

.

posted by Bob Karm in ANNIVERSARY,DEBUT,Fincncial,Government,HISTORY,MILITARY,POLITICAL,WAR and have No Comments

THE ‘’SLINKY’’ STORY!

Slinky_ad_1946
1946

slinky beani
1950s

Slinky was invented and developed by naval mechanical engineer Richard James
in 1943. While stationed at the William Cramp and Sons shipyards in Philadelphia,
James was developing springs that could support and stabilize sensitive instruments aboard ships traveling in rough seas, when he accidentally knocked one of the
springs from a shelf, and watched as it "stepped" in a series of splits, first to a 
stack of books, to a tabletop, and to the floor, where it re-coiled itself upright.

James and his wife thought the springs would make great toys and with a
$500 loan, the couple formed James Industries (originally James Spring &
Wire Company),and had 400 Slinky unites made by a local machine shop,
hand wrapped each in yellow paper, and priced them at $1 a piece and
sold the entire inventory at Gimbels department store in Philadelphia
within ninety minutes. The toy was introduced at the American Toy
Fair in 1946.

 
james and son slinky

Slinky inventor Richard James and his son Thomas play
with
the toys on the stairs in the family home (1945). 

 

posted by Bob Karm in CHILDREN,HISTORY,MAGAZINES,Toys and have No Comments

FIRST ‘FIRESIDE CHAT’ ON THIS DAY IN 1933

fdrfirstfireside 

President Franklin Roosevelt began making the informal addresses to the nation called ‘Fireside Chat’
on Sunday March 12, 1933, during the Great Depression.

fireside chat in paper

PNP254338

posted by Bob Karm in ANNIVERSARY,DEBUT,Government,HISTORY,NEWSPAPER,POLITICAL,RADIO and have No Comments

THE NUMBER-TWO SINGLE IN 1955

McGuire Sisters-Sincerely

mcguire Sisters

posted by Bob Karm in Billboard #1,HISTORY,MUSIC and have No Comments