Browsing: Arts & Entertainment

A Brief History On March 24, 1944, the hard work of 600 American and British POW’s was ready to pay off, and 200 of them were ready to escape from Stalag Luft III! Digging Deeper Stalag Luft III operated as a prisoner of war camp run by the German Luftwaffe to hold allied aviators (officers) that had been shot down and captured.  Having been opened in 1943, the camp held almost 11,000 allied airmen, mostly American with about a quarter of the total British and some 900 from other allied air forces. Determined to escape, 600 of the inmates worked…

A Brief History On March 21, 1952, disc jockey Alan Freed (inventor of the term “rock and roll”) and record store owner Leo Mintz staged the first rock concert in Cleveland, Ohio! Digging Deeper At the time, our country was divided by race, with African-Americans who served the country during World War II expecting to achieve something more like equality than the segregation and discriminatory treatment of the day. With major civil rights milestones such as integration of the armed forces in 1948 and landmark events such as Brown v. Board of Education and the Rosa Parks led bus boycott…

A Brief History On March 19, 1987, under fire for sex and financial irregularities the star of one of television’s most popular evangelist Christian shows resigned! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find Jim Bakker, star of The PTL Club in hot water for allegedly raping a show secretary, Jessica Hahn, and paying her $279,000 in hush money. If that was not cracked enough, questions quickly were raised about other aspects of misuse of charitable donations and fraudulent fund raising.  Bakker and his wife, famously over-made up Tammy Faye Bakker had been living like royalty, spending millions of dollars on an…

A Brief History The United States Senate approved the observance of a National Rosie the Riveter Day on March 21 in 2017.  Americans celebrate Women’s History Month in March and frequently hold up the example of Rosie the Riveter as emblematic of great American women, but who was the real woman behind the propaganda poster? Over the years many characters in popular culture and our everyday life get to be so familiar they almost become part of the background.  Many of these people or characters or their real personae are nearly anonymous despite their fame, a contradiction addressed here. Digging…

A Brief History Earlier today, we covered a notable incident during World War II that later inspired a major motion picture.  Here we present another of our popular companion lists for this entry… Digging Deeper 10. Das Boot (1981) Perhaps the best submarine movie ever made, the perspective of a U-Boat crew is captured with realism not found in prior war movies prior.  The miserable conditions on the boat and the prospect of drowning are ever-present.  In German with English subtitles gives the best feel for what the crew is saying, but the film is also available in dubbed English…