Radio Show for August 20, 2021
Special Holidays
National Bacon Lover’s Day, August 20
BACON LOVERS UNITE!!
Bacon is one of the oldest processed meats in history. Chinese began salting pork bellies as early as 1500 BC. The Romans’ version consisted of boiled salted pig shoulder browned and seasoned with pepper sauce.
More than half of all American homes keep bacon on hand at all times. The average American consumes 18 pounds of bacon a year, and… it is said to cure hangovers.
The first meal on the Moon was bacon!
The world record for eating bacon was Matt Stonie (known as Megatoad) on Feb. 22, 2015 who in Daytona, Florida ate 182 slices of bacon in 5 minutes. He beat the previous record held by Mark (The Human Vacuum) Lyle.
The origin of the phrase “bringing home the bacon”….in the 12th century when a church in England offered a side of bacon to any man who could swear before the church that he had not fought with his wife for a year and a day. Any man who could “bring home the bacon” was highly respected in his community.
National Radio Day…August 20
We are arriving to you on all frequencies for National Radio Day!!! This is when we recognize this great invention and celebrate the news, information, music and stories carried across the airwaves.
Nicola Tesla came up with an early design long before Marconi. And though Marconi and Hertz helped to create the radio it was inventor Lee de Forest who brought ‘public radio broadcasting’ to the front. He transmitted the first public radio broadcast which featured the voices of opera stars from the Metropolitan Opera House in NYC in 1910.
His company De Forest’s Radio Telephone Company went on to manufacture the first commercial radios which could pick up a signal from miles away.
WWJ is considered the first commercial “all news” radio station in the U.S. It began broadcasting on August 20, 1920 in Detroit, Michigan and is still broadcasting today.
World Mosquito Day…August 20
World Mosquito Day is commemorating British doctor Sir Ronald Ross’ discovery in 1897 that female mosquitos transmit malaria between humans.
Did you know?
*Mosquitos have been around since the Jurassic period…that makes them about 210 million years old.
*There are more than 3,000 species and only a couple hundred feed on human blood and about 175 species of that group are found in the United States.
*West Virginia has the fewest species, about 26. Texas has the most at 85, Florida has 80.
*They are drawn to people drinking beer.
*The average mosquito lives less than two months.
*Humans are not the first blood choice. They usually prefer horses, cattle and birds.
Birthdays…August 20
Sylvester McCoy..August 20, 1943
McCoy is a Scottish actor and is best known for playing the seventh incarnation of ‘Doctor Who’.
McCoy was born in Scotland to an Irish Mother. His father was English and was killed in action in WW2 a couple of months before Sylvester was born.
Once McCoy finished school he moved to London and worked in the insurance industry for five years. He then joined an experimental theatre troupe and worked as a stuntman and became part of a roadshow. He put a fork and nails up his nose, stuck ferrets down his trousers and set his head on fire.
He got a small role in the 1979 film “Dracula” opposite Laurence Olivier and Donald Pleasence and he also sang with the Welsh National Opera in ”A Midsummer Night’s Dream”…recorded for BBC.
McCoy became the seventh ‘Doctor Who’ after taking over the lead role in 1987 from Colin Baker, and remained on the series till 1989.
Sylvester was the second choice to play the role of Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” Trilogy. He did play the “Wizard Radagast the Brown” in 2011 in the continuing “The Hobbit” film series starting with “An Unexpected Journey”.
Wizard Radagast was “the friend of all birds and beasts” and associate of Gandalf the Great. This wizard had the ability to change shapes and colors as he sported a bird’s nest on his head and spoke the language of birds and creatures.
McCoy starred in 25 films, several television shows (including BBC presentations) as well as short films, and “Dr. Who” audio dramas.
H.P. Lovecraft…August 20, 1890-1937
Lovecraft was an American writer of weird, science, fantasy and horror fiction.
Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born in his family home in Providence, RI. His Mother’s family was of substantial means as they were involved in business ventures.
When Lovecraft was 3 his father had a psychotic episode and was institutionalized in Butler Hospital in Providence. It is said he was “doing and saying strange things at times” for a year before he was committed. He spent five years at Butler then passed away. Lovecraft then resided in the family home with his mother, maternal aunts and grandparents.
His grandfather (Whipple Phillips) “became the center of his entire universe” he said. At three he was already proficient at reading and writing and was encouraged to have an appreciation of literature, especially classical literature and English poetry.
The Whipple’s business suffered a catastrophic failure, his family’s wealth was reduced, and he died soon after due to a stroke.
Lovecraft called this time ‘one of the darkest of his life’. He was removed from high school for long periods for what he termed “near breakdowns” and had conflicts with teachers, however, he excelled in chemistry and physics.
Lovecraft’s earliest known literary works were written at the age of seven, mainly poems. After high school he said he had a nervous collapse and was “prey to intense headaches, insomnia and weakness which prevented his continuous application to do anything”. He said that he could hardly bear to see or speak to anyone.
He began writing essays for the United Amateur Press Association. Influenced by Edgar Allan Poe he wrote and published stories that focused on his interpretation of humanities’ place in the universe.
Lovecraft got married, moved to New York and joined an author’s club, which later became the ‘Lovecraft Club’. The members introduced him to the publication “Weird Tales” a horror fiction pulp magazine. Throughout his adult life, Lovecraft was never able to support himself from earnings as an author. He was virtually unknown and almost exclusively published in pulp magazines before his death. He remained active as a writer until his death at the age of 46.
The H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and Cthulhu Con is now going on at the Columbus Theatre in Providence, Rhode Island. This event was founded in 1995 and celebrates the Cosmic Horror and Weird Tales of the author. It is an exhibition of works by independent filmmakers, book signings and musical performances.
Short list of Lovecraft movie adaptations
*Dagon..2001..director Stuart Gordon
*The Call of Cthulhu..2005..director Andrew Leman
*Re-Animator..1985..director Stuart Gordon, starred, starred Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott
*The Color Out of Space…There were two…first version was in 2010…directed by Huan Vu, German (Black and White). Another version in Color in 2019..directed by Richard Stanley (Island of Dr. Moreau) starred Nicolas Cage, Tommy Chung
*The Dunwich Horror…1970…director Daniel Haller (who also directed “Die, Monster Die” which was adapted from Lovecraft’s The color Out of Space) “Dunwich” starred Dean Stockwell, Sandra Dee and Ed Begley
*In The Mouth Of Madness (pays tribute to the work of H.P. Lovecraft)..1994, director John Carpenter, starred Sam Neill
Amy Adams..August 20, 1974
Amy Lou Adams is an American actress and producer. Amy was born in Italy, her father was stationed with the US Army in Vicenza, Italy. She is the middle of seven children. The family settled in Colorado when she was eight. After leaving the army her father sang professionally in nightclubs and restaurants.
After her parents divorced the children remained with their mother who became a professional bodybuilder. Amy has compared her early years as being a scrappy tough kid as she fought frequently with other children.
Amy was not academically inclined in high school but was interested in the creative arts and sang in the school choir, had ambitions of becoming a ballerina, disliked high school and kept to herself. She did not go to college and realized she was not gifted enough to be a professional ballerina, found musical theatre more to her taste. One of her first stage roles was in a community theatre production of “Annie”.
She continued performing in dinner theatres for some time till she attended a local audition for “Drop Dead Gorgeous” which turned out to be her first major feature film. It was filmed locally so she was able to continue “Brigadoon” on stage while working on the movie. She was encouraged by actress Kirstie Alley from the film to pursue a film career so she moved to Los Angeles.
After several small films and guest roles in television series like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Charmed” she co-starred in Spielberg’s “Catch Me if You Can” with Leonardo DiCaprio. It failed to boost her career so she took a year off to take acting classes.
In time Amy starred in several successful films. She has done close to 50 films and has been nominated for an AA award 6 times. She attracts little gossip and strives to keep a work-life balance with her actor- painter husband and child in Beverly Hills, and describes her life as pretty ‘low key’.
She works with underprivileged students as part of NYC’s Ghetto Film School and “Variety” honored Amy for her work with them.
Short List of Amy Adams films
*Drop Dead Gorgeous…1999..director Michael Patrick Jann, co-starred Kirsten Dunst, Denise Richards, Ellen Barkin, Kirstie Alley
*Catch Me If You Can…2002..director Steven Spielberg, co-starred Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Martin Sheen, film nominated for two Oscars
*Night at the Musesum: Battle of the Smithsonian…2009..director Shawn Levy, co-starred Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson
*The Master..2012..director Paul Thomas Anderson, co-starred Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix, Laura Dern, film nominated for 3 AA awards
*American Hustle…2013..director David O’ Russell, co-starred Christian Bale, Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, film nominated for 10 Oscars including Best Picture
*Big Eyes..2014..director Tim Burton, co-starred Christoph Waltz and Margaret D. H. Keane (the original artist portrayed by Adams)
*Arrival…2016..director Denis Villeneuve (also directed “Bladerunner 2049” and upcoming “Dune”) co-starred Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, film nominated for 8 AA awards including Best Picture and won one for Sound Editing
Honorable Mentions
Ray Wise..August 20, 1947
Ray has been an American actor in over 50 films best known for his role as Leland Palmer in “Twin Peaks”, also “Swamp Thing”, “One Missed Call”, “Robocop” and television series such as “Hart to Hart”, “The A-Team”, “Barnaby Jones”
Jack Teagarden..August 20, 1905-1964
Jack was an American jazz trombonist and singer, mainly in jazz, Dixieland, swing and big band music.
Andrew Garfield..August 20, 1983
Garfield is an American-British actor in over 20 films including ”The Amazing Spider Man”, “The Social Network”, “Under the Silver Lake”
Robert Plant..August 20, 1948
Plant is an English singer and songwriter, and lyricist, best known as the lead singer of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Plant was nominated for 17 Grammy Awards and won seven.
On This Day
Abominable Snowman released August 26, 1957
The director was Val Guest for Hammer Film Productions, written by Nigel Kneale who was the creator of the character scientist Professor Bernard Quatermass). “Abominable Snowman” stars Peter Cushing (Cushing’s first of 22 Hammer films) and Forrest Tucker (The Crawling Eye) A British scientist joins an American expedition to search the Himalayas for the legendary Yeti.
The film was shot in anamorphic wide screen format called Regalscope renamed “Hammerscope” by the production company. Val Guest’s view was that the Yeti should be kept largely off screen with just a few glimpses of hands and arms leaving the rest to the audience’s imagination.
In the United States the reviews were positive and it is now considered something of a minor classic. The release of the film was overshadowed somewhat by the success of Hammer’s “The Curse of Frankenstein” released the same year (with Christopher Lee).
Nasa Nellie…TBA
