SANDY KOZEL
10
Mar
THESE PAST EVENTS MADE TODAY’S HISTORY
posted by Bob Karm in ANNIVERSARY,Assassination,Broadway,DEATH,HISTORY,INVENTION,Inventor,Leaders,Murder,Telephone and have No Comments
09
Mar
GLOBAL ICON MADE ITS DEBUT ON THIS DAY
On March 9, 1959, the first Barbie doll went on display at the
American Toy Fair in New York City.
Eleven inches tall, with a waterfall of blond hair, Barbie was
the first mass-produced toy doll in the United States with
adult features.
The woman behind Barbie was Ruth Handler (below) who
co-founded Mattel, Inc. with her husband in 1945.
After seeing her young daughter ignore her baby dolls to
play make-believe with paper dolls of adult women,
Handler realized there was an important niche in the market
for a toy that allowed little girls to imagine the future.
Barbie creator Ruth Handler (1916 – 2002) with some of
Barbie and Mattel products (1961).
09
Mar
REMEMBERING WHEN RED WAS ON RADIO
Army Private Skelton in 1944.
Red Skelton’s radio career started on Rudy Vallee’s Royal
Gelatin Hour before joining NBC’s 1939 variety series
Avalon Time.
Broadcast from Chicago, Avalon Time featured country
singer Red Foley and Red Skelton’s wife and gag writer,
Edna Stillwell.
Red Skelton was drafted into the Army in March 1944, but
returned to NBC in December of 1945, with the same
sponsor and timeslot.
The Red Skelton Show ran on radio until May 1953. Red
Skelton starred in his own television program from 1951
to 1971.
Richard Bernard Skelton (July 18, 1913 – September 17, 1997)
Portraits of Clowns by Red Skelton.
09
Mar
LITTER PROGRAM BEGAN ON THIS DAY
On March 9, 1985, the first-ever Adopt-a-Highway sign was
erected on Texas’s Highway 69. The highway was adopted
by the Tyler Civitan Club, which committed to picking up
trash along a designated two-mile stretch of the road.
The Adopt-a-Highway program really began the year before,
when James Evans, an engineer for the Texas Department
of Transportation, noticed litter blowing out of the back of
a pickup truck he was following in Tyler, Texas.
Concerned about the increasing cost to the government
of keeping roadways clean, Evans soon began asking
community groups to volunteer to pick up trash along
designated sections of local highways.
Evans got no takers for his idea; however, Billy Black,
the public information officer for the Tyler District of the
Texas Department of Transportation, took up the cause
and organized the first official Adopt-a-Highway program,
which included training and equipment for volunteers.
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