A Brief History On July 24, 1983, Major League Baseball experienced a strange incident that caused a furor on the field, in corporate offices, and in the homes of baseball fans all over the country when George Brett of the Kansas City Royals blasted a homerun and then had it taken away! Stunned and outraged, Brett just about had a meltdown on the spot while the Yankee Stadium crowd roared its approval. Referred to as “The Pine Tar Incident,” the decision to take away Brett’s homer went down in baseball lore as one wacky, weird, and wonderful incident, and here…
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A Brief History On July 23, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln finally found a replacement for General George B. McClellan as General-in-Chief of the Union Army when he appointed General Henry W. Halleck. Lincoln had spent the previous 4 months as de facto head of the Army himself until he found another commander, having earlier relieved McClellan of such duty. Digging Deeper During the Civil War the US Army (or Union Army if you prefer) had a total of 4 men assigned as General-in-Chief, more or less akin to today’s designation as Chief of Staff of the Army as the top…
A Brief History On July 22, 1932, Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. died in Hollywood, California, ending a wonderful career in entertainment, known especially for being the creator of The Ziegfeld Follies. Flo, as he was called, was a German-American (father’s side) though his mother was Belgian. Ziegfeld is one of many great German-American entertainers, and here we list 10 notable examples of Great German-American Entertainers. (See our July 22, 2014 article, German-Speaking Actresses in English-Speaking Roles, Part 1.) Digging Deeper 1. Flo Ziegfeld, Impressario and Producer. A Broadway legend, Ziegfeld is famous for his Follies and also for producing Show Boat. A member of The American Theater Hall of…
A Brief History On July 21, 2017, the major motion picture, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, makes its debut in theaters for fans of the European science fiction comic series Valerian and Laureline. Although based on the Franco-Belgian comics, the film is entertaining enough that people totally unfamiliar with the comics will quickly identify with the main characters and enjoy the movie. Digging Deeper The main two words you can say about the film (which we previewed on July 19, 2017) are simply “Eye Candy.” Vivid and detailed, the screen is almost always filled with an incredible array of objects and “people,” many…
A Brief History On July 20, 2017, we eagerly await the mass release of the major motion picture, Dunkirk, the story of the evacuation of over 300,000 British troops from the Dunkirk beach in France in 1940. The Germans had pushed British and French forces into a pocket around Dunkirk on the English Channel, and it seemed these forces would be killed or captured with no hope of survival. A miracle was needed. On Monday, July 17, 2017, we were privileged to see an advance screening of this historical war film. Digging Deeper The film, Dunkirk, shows us that miracle in incredible fashion, taking…