TODAY 4-16-21 IS:

1. National Day of the Mushroom
   1. A day to celebrate your favorite shrooms. Some may be psychedelic, some poisonous, some medicinal and most are just really great in your Beef Stroganoff or on your pizza. White Button, Crimini, Portabella, Shiitake, Oyster, Beech, Maitake, or Enoki mushrooms are the edibles which….are only a few of over 14,000 varieties.
   2. Mushrooms (also called toadstools) is a fungus and grows in a dark and damp area. However there are over 30 species  of mushrooms that actually GLOW in the dark…people have been known to use these fungi to light their way through the woods.
   3. Mushrooms first entered the culinary scene in the 19th century when French chefs first started to use them.
   4. A single Portabella mushroom can contain more potassium than a banana. Mushrooms are made up of around 90% water and is in many cuisines considered the “meat” of the vegetable world.
   5. One who collects mushrooms to eat from the wild is called a Mycophagist….(My cough a gist)

2. Save the Elephant Day also called… World Elephant Day
   1. Save the Elephant Day is a day to call attention to the plight of our beloved Pachyderms. Their numbers are dwindling and their very survival is at risk.  Young and old, we all love elephants, unfortunately in their native environment their very survival as a species is at risk due to shrinking habitat and poaching.
   2. They are the world’s largest land animal as well as some of the smartest and most compassionate animals on the planet; they can grieve lost family members.
   3. Elephants can recognize themselves in the mirror…like humans, apes and dolphins. They can weigh up to 260 pounds at birth.  The adult African bush elephant can weigh up to 14,000 pounds.  They can spend 16 hours a day eating.

1. Famous elephants…

1941. Barbar (children’s books) who grew up to be the king of the forest after his education by humans in the big city. Dumbo character of Disney’s film 1941.  Horton…Dr. Seuss character.  The Oliphaunts that are beasts from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth.

1942. Famous People’s Birthdays:

      1. Charlie Chaplin 1889-1977 
      2. English comic actor, filmmaker and composer who rose to fame in the silent film era. Became famous for “The Tramp” character.
      3. Charlie was born in South London to music hall entertainers. His father left the family when Charles was young.  His Mother did occasional dressmaking and sent him to a workhouse twice by the age of nine.   When he was 14 his Mother was committed to a mental asylum leaving him and his brother to live with their father who was an alcoholic.
      4. He was encouraged to pursue a stage career when he was young by his Mother. He joined a clog dancing troupe and toured music halls.  He worked hard and was popular with audiences.  By 13 he abandoned education and registered with a theatrical agency.  He was a considered an accomplished comedic performer by age 18.  By 19 he joined Fred Karno’s prestigious comedy company and became one of his best performers, which brought him to American music halls.
      5. Regarding his early work in film and his character The Tramp…Chaplin said…”I wanted everything to be a contradiction…the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small, the shoes large. The moment I was dressed the clothes and the makeup made me the person he was”.
      6. Charlie starred in over 32 films and directed 15 films.
         1936. Modern Times 1936..directed and composed music
         1937. The Great Dictator 1940…directed and screenplay
         1938. The Kid 1921..directed and screenplay
         1939. City Lights..
               1. 1931…directed and composed music
         1940. The Gold Rush..1926…directed
         1941. Limelight 1952..
               1. directed, story by, composed music
         1942. Charlie the Composer..
               1. As a child he taught himself how to play the piano, violin and cello. He could not read sheet music and needed the help of professionals when creating his scores in later years. 
               2. He produced 3 popular songs…”Smile” for Modern Times…”Terry’s Theme” for Limelight and “This is My Song”. He won an AA for best original score for Limelight in ’73.

       

      8. Charlie Chaplin quotes

       

      1. You will never find rainbows if you’re looking down.
      2. Life is a beautiful magnificent thing, even to a jellyfish….(from a scene from Limelight)
      3. A day without laughter is a day wasted.
      9. Fun Facts…
         1. a Russian astronomer name a minor planet after Chaplin…”3626 Chaplin”
      10. Thieves’ grave robbed Chaplin’s body in 1978 and held for ransom of $600,000. His widow tapped the phone lines and led police to the suspects.  They recovered the body  (the robbers had buried him in a cornfield) and was reburied in a concrete grave.

      Yesterday I was on the Ron Segal show and we discussed how to really increase family wealth.  There are so many ways to do that with a HECM.  Take some cash, tax free, and buy another property as a rental property.  Depending on the amount of cash available, you now own a rental property with no payments; no payments on both properties and now have extra income from the rent and equity growing on both!

      ********************

      1. Robert Ryan 1909-1973
         1. An American stage, film and television actor who most often portrayed hardened cops and ruthless villains.

       

      1. Robert was born into a wealthy family who owned a real estate firm. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1932 where he held the school’s heavyweight boxing title for four years as well as lettering in football and track.  After graduation he found employment as a stoker (fireman) on a ship that traveled to Africa, was a WPA worker, and a ranch hand in Montana.  After returning home he modeled clothes for a department store and decided to become an actor.

       

      1. He joined a little theater group in 1937 and enrolled in the Max Reinhardt Workshop in Hollywood and earned 75 dollars a week for a studio contract with Paramount Pictures.

       

      1. Ryan began starring in several films starring with Pat O’Brian, Richard Denning, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. After he served in the Marines (where he also took up painting) he got roles in many westerns and film noir films through RKO and MGM along with Randolph Scott, Robert Mitcham, Gloria Graham,  James Mason,  Robert Young and James Stewart (to name a few).

       

      1. In the early 50’s he premiered in several television productions such as Screen Directors Playhouse, Alcoa Theatre, and Zane Grey Theatre. In the 60’s He worked with Richard Burton, directors John Frankenheimer and Nicholas Ray.

       

      1947. Robert starred in about 50 films. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Crossfire 1947.

       

      1. Movies:
         1. The Set Up…1949
         2. Crossfire…1947
      • Bad Day at Black Rock…1955
      1. The Dirty Dozen…1967
      2. Flying Leathernecks…195
      3. The Racket…1951
         1. Henry Mancini 1924-1994
            1. American composer, conductor, pianist and flutist. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film.
            2. Henry Mancini was born to Italian immigrants in the Little Italy neighborhood near Pittsburgh. His father was a steel worker   and an amateur musician.  At eight Henry began learning the piccolo and was inspired to pursue film music composition after hearing the score to Cecil B. DeMille’s film The Crusades in 1935 against his father’s wishes for him to become a teacher.

          

         1. He later studied piano and orchestral arrangement under a Pittsburgh concert pianist. Mancini began to produce arrangements for the Stanley Theatre bands and even for Benny Goodman.  After discharged from the Army he entered the music industryand, became a pianist and arranger for the Glenn  Miller orchestra.  In 1952 he joined the Universal International’s music dept. and contributed music to over 100 movies…most notably Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Creature Walks Among Us. It Came From Outer Space, Tarantula, This Island Earth.

         He was given no screen credit for most of the Universal monster movies.

         1. The Glenn Miller Story (for which he received his first AA nomination), The Benny Goodman Story and Orson Welles’ Touch Of Evil.

          

         1. He left Universal to work as an independent in 1958 and scored the T.V.

          

         1. series Peter Gunn for Blake Edwards and they continued to collaborate on 30 films:  Days of Wine and Roses, Experiment in Terror, the Pink Panther, The Party, The Great Race etc.

          

         1. Worked with others and did Charade, Hatari (the Baby Elephant Walk), The Glass Menagerie, Oklahoma Crude, Frenzy (Hitchcock). Scored many TV movies such as The Thorn Birds, and wrote many TV themes such as Mr. Lucky, NBC  Mystery Movie, Remington Steele, Newhart and Late Night with David Letterman, and was featured many times on the Lawrence Welk Show. 

          

         1. He recorded over 90 albums and was a concert performer of over 50 engagements a year resulting in over 600 symphony performances during his lifetime.

          

         20. He was nominated for 72 Grammy Awards and won 20.

          

         1. Nominated for 18 AA Awards and won four.
            1. AA Best Original Musical Victor/Victoria..83’
         2. AA Best Original Song Victor/Victoria..83’
         3. AA Best Original Song Days of Wine and Roses..63’
         4. AA Best Original Song Moon River..62’

          

         BIRTHDAY HONORABLE MENTIONS

         Peter Ustinov..1921-2004

         Edie Adams…1927-2008 (Ernie Kovacs show)

         Barry Nelson…1917-2007..actor

         Herbie Mann…1930-2003..jazz musician

         Sadie Sink…

         2002…Stranger Things

      • The Longest Day…1962
      • Captain Nemo and the Underwater City..1969
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