The Academy Awards
The Academy Awards began as the brainchild of Louis B. Mayer. On January 11, 1927, the MGM studio chief invited 36 people to his home for dinner to discuss the creation of an organization to benefit the film industry.
The attendees included some of the biggest names in the industry including, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Cecil B. DeMille and Sid Grauman. Three months after that dinner, the State of California granted the Academy a charter as a non-profit organization.
The first actual awards were officially presented at a black-tie dinner at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on May 16, 1929. The rest, as they say, is history.
Tomorrow night people all over the world will be watching the 84 award show that will be broadcast from the Kodak Theater in Hollywood – directly across the street from the Hollywood Roosevelt.
Over the years we’ve seen many changes in the film industry. Too often art has given way to formulaic. Fortunately, there are always a few surprise films that stand out among the rest and this year’s surprise is Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris. A sweet story, a good ensemble, a wonderful soundtrack and Paris. What more could we ask for in a movie?
Enjoy a cut from the soundtrack by Stephane Wrembel – Bistro Fada:
Wagging the Dog
Eric Holder is up to his ears with each new revelation about the DOJ’s “Fast and Furious” gun running tracking operation. Just as Darrell Issa is about to subpoena Holder, we have a surprise distraction in the form of an Iranian terror plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador – on US soil.
Okay, let’s get this straight. We’re supposed to believe the Iranian Revolutionary Guard would seek out Mexican drug runners to carry out an assassination in the US? I dunno, the story sounds a little thin. Besides, why is this suddenly news? Manssor Arbabsiar was arrested on September 29. If it was such a big deal wouldn’t they have made an announcement at the time?
Anyway, what comes to mind is the Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro movie, Wag the Dog. It’s about a Washington spin doctor who hires a Hollywood film producer to produce a fake war in order to distract the world from a presidential sex scandal days before the election. It’s a fun diversion that makes you think about all the political events taking place today. If you have a chance, watch it.
Inside Fort Knox
In 1933, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order which outlawed the private ownership of gold coins, gold bullion and gold certificates by American citizens, forcing them to sell these to the privately owned, Federal Reserve. In exchange for the peoples gold, the bankers printed lots of paper money and told the American people “it was as good as gold.”
Anyway, as a result of the confiscation, the Federal Reserve holdings went from $4 billion to $12 billion in four years. That’s a lot of gold that needed a place to be stored, so they built a massive depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky.
But gold isn’t the only thing being stored in Fort Knox. According to a 1993 news story from the Louisville Courier Journal:
Fort Knox Vaults Harbor Millions In Opium, Morphine — Stockpile Held For Emergencies
By Gardiner Harris
The glittering vaults of gold at Fort Knox and West Point, N.Y., harbor a deep secret: enough black opium and white morphine to satisfy the legal needs of the entire nation for a year.
Since 1955 the drugs have been part of the nation’s strategic reserves and were intended to tide the country over if foreign opium supplies were cut off in an emergency.
With the end of the Cold War, the huge stores of narcotics no longer make much sense, Defense Department officials say.But Congress won’t let the department sell the drugs. So officials are investing another $7 million to preserve the unneeded drug stores, making the sale of the $23 million worth of narcotics even more unlikely and difficult.
The Defense Department has had better luck selling some of the other commodities stored in the bullion depositories.
On June 11, 1993, the agency sold 932,806 carats of diamonds for $77 million. Another 500,000 carats of natural diamonds will be offered for sale Sept. 24 in large lots. The diamonds vary in size from very small to 10-carat gems.
The Defense Logistics Agency, which is charged with stockpiling strategic materials, contracts with the U.S. Mint to store the most precious in the depositories. Since Treasury officials don’t offer tours of the gold vaults, the drugs have been secret for years.
Mint officials refused to discuss the drugs, referring all questions to the Defense Logistics Agency. Bob O’Brien, deputy administrator of the agency’s Defense National Stockpile Center, confirmed that the drugs were stored in the vaults – next to 147 million troy ounces of gold in Fort Knox and another 60 million troy ounces of gold at West Point.
Although the stockpile of narcotics is designed to tide the country over in the event foreign opium supplies are cut off, an extended interruption is now unlikely. U.S. drug companies once bought nearly all of their opium from India and Turkey. But a new method of opium production developed in the early 1970s led Australia, Hungary, France and Yugoslavia to get into the business of exporting concentrated poppy straw. Commerce with all these widely dispersed nations would have to be interrupted before the agency’s stockpile would be needed.
And if a nuclear war did stop trade, the devastation would make the drug stockpile difficult to use anyway. The opium and morphine would have to be transported out of the depositories to drug manufacturers for further processing and then distributed to hospitals – an almost impossible task in a country devastated by nuclear weapons.
Glenn Flood, a Department of Defense policy spokesman, acknowledged that the huge stores of narcotics don’t make sense anymore. But the government might be stuck with the drugs for years to come.
The agency has 68,269 pounds of opium and morphine stored at Fort Knox and West Point, an amount that could satisfy the nation’s legal needs for about a year, according to the latest figures by the United Nations International Narcotics Control Board.
Federal law precludes the agency from selling anything out of its stockpile in quantities that would hurt domestic producers, Offenbacker said. And the government has more than enough morphine to hurt domestic manufacturers of the drug if it were all dumped on the market.
The agency could have sold its opium before it was processed into morphine. The sales might have depressed the world opium market, but since there are no domestic producers of opium, no American company would have been hurt.
Instead, the agency contracted with the NORAMCO company of Delaware to convert the remaining opium into morphine sulphate. The conversion means the agency will have to hold onto the drugs for years or destroy them and lose the multimillion-dollar investment.
Officials said they don’t have a choice. Without Congress’ authorization to sell the drugs, the agency decided it had to convert its aging opium into morphine or the opium would have become useless, Offenbacker said.
Dirty Old Men
Last year, actor Morgan Freeman and his wife, Myrna Colley-Lee divorced after 26 years together. It was a nasty divorce and Ms. Colley-Lee is planning to write a tell-all book.
From LiveLeak:
If you recall 72-year-old Morgan Freeman was accused of having a decade-long affair with his 27-year-old step-granddaughter E’Dena Hines. That means she was 17 and he was 62. Hines is the granddaughter of Morgan’s first wife, Jeanette Adair Bradshaw, and the National Enquirer also claimed that it was Morgan’s affair with E’Dena that lead to the split with his second wife Myrna. Now the tabloid claims Morgan is ready to start a family with E’Dena.
Maybe they can double date with Woody Allen and Soon-Yi.
Drink More Beer
Today is the beginning of the world’s biggest beer festival in Munich, Germany. For 16 days millions of people from all over the world will cram into a 42 hectare site to eat, drink, and be very merry.
Beeronomics
US President Obama might want to take a lesson from the Bavarians on job creation. From the Montreal Gazette:
Across the country, the economic impact of beer is enormous, with breweries responsible for 30,000-plus jobs. When you add in supply industry jobs, retail positions and hospitality employment attributed to the industry, beer becomes responsible for more than half a million jobs in Germany, generating a value-added impact of $18.7 billion, according to a 2009 Ernst & Young report.
Anyway, this is the time of year my brother starts reminiscing about the time he and a couple of his friends went to the great beer festival in Munich. For some reason all I can picture is Chevy Chase doing the ‘schuhplattler’ in the 1985 movie, European Vacation:
2011 Gumball 3000
The first big rally this year is the Gumball 3000. This race doesn’t simply run from one end of a continent to the other, it often covers multiple continents. This year’s race goes from London to Istanbul in 7 days…
…via Paris…Barcelona…Cannes Film Festival…The Monaco Grand Prix…Venice…Belgrade…Sofia and finally – Istanbul – incorporating the Cannes Film Festival and the Monaco Grand Prix.
More than 300 participants in 120 cars will leave London on May 26, and, hopefully, will arrive in Istanbul on June 1st.
In the past there have been accidents that have cost lives and destroyed quite a few cars. Expectations to cover hundreds of miles in too few hours, too much partying and not enough sleep and you have the perfect storm for a possible disaster. Speeding tickets have become status symbols.
Aston Martins, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, as well as American muscle cars compete in the grueling race that attracts everyone from rock stars to royalty. Btw, The entry fee for this year’s event is £25,000 or $40,505 US.
——————— The Rat Race
Cannonball World Run 2011
This is the race I’ve always wanted to enter. Instead of racing for some silly trophy, there is a suitcase full of cash at the end!
Since I’ve driven cross-country so many times I have a pretty good lay of the land – as they say. I’ve managed to talk my way out of many speeding tickets, some I’ve gotten within 30 minutes of each other.
Anyway, drivers will meet in Central Park in New York on Saturday, September 3, 2011. They’ll be handed ‘Mission Packs’ along with a key. The key will be needed to open a hidden locker somewhere on the West Coast. The pack will also contain clues to specific routes and check points across the country.
According to a news release:
Their task is to crack the code given out at each morning’s check point and collect the five numeric codes which will then match up to a zip code. The sixth clue will release the actual address of that zip code and where the hidden locker holding the cash prize actually is.
The trick is, don’t get arrested by the cops, don’t speed, don’t get lost, don’t upset the local inhabitants and amidst all of this, beat off the competition to reach the cash first.
They’ll also need to survive a barrage of infamous full on Cannonball parties. A challenge in itself. Each night will see the ‘Cannonball Cash Seekers’ stay at a luxury hotel where the legendary cannonball parties take place. This ain’t no picnic time. The food is delicious, and the accommodation is gorgeous. It’s all about reaching out with your ability to ‘get down and wild’ with the other competitors. It’s all about having fun, letting off steam and bonding. And there is also a gut- churning track day to be enjoyed at one of America’s premier race tracks.
The 7 day race begins Saturday, September 3 in New York and ends in California on Friday, September 9, 2011 The entry fee is $8995 US.
Rumor has it that George Clooney and Guy Ritchie are doing a remake of the 1981 Burt Reynolds film, Cannonball Run. Will George and Guy show up during the race? Will they be IN the race? Guess we’ll have to wait and see.
In the meantime, enjoy Queen – Another One Bites the Dust:
“Our stewardesses know their way around the world better than most people know their way around the block.”
Pan American World Airways was the premier flag carrier of the US. It’s humble beginnings in 1927 began as an air mail and passenger service that operated between Key West and Havana.
The first flights to Europe from Norfolk, via Bermuda and the Azores, began in 1937 using a fleet of seaplanes. The “clippers” are the flying boats that were made famous in early travel posters for the company.
Moving into Asia
1935 was an historic year, not only for the airline but for the world. After negotiating rights to land at Pearl Harbor, Midway Island, Wake Island Guan and Manila, Pan Am won a government contract to fly mail from San Francisco to the islands and Canton, China.
The first commercial flight carrying mail from San Francisco to Manila was launched amid massive media fanfare on November 22, 1935. The five-leg, 8,000-mile flight arrived in the Philippine capital one week later, on November 29, and returned to San Francisco on December 6, cutting the time of travel over that by steamship by more than a full month.
The first passenger flight over this route left San Francisco a year later. Sending a letter airmail at the time cost 25 cents. Flying as a passenger was a different story. Round trip airfare from San Francisco to Hong Kong was $1,710 in 1837. Today that same trip would cost $26,376!
747 to London
Pan Am’s 747′s were the most fun to fly on. The spacious jetliner typically had 58 first-class seats and 304 economy seats.
On a trip from London to New York my husband and our dear friends, the Blairs, flew Pan Am after spending a fun week in England.
On the trip from JFK to London we flew Air India. There were 5 people in first class. the four of us sat on the port side of the plane and one Indian man sat on the other side of the cabin. I don’t know what the man had eaten before he got onto the plane, but we had to sit with a blanket over our faces the entire trip because he passed noxious gas the entire flight.
We chose Pan Am for the return trip home and were glad we did. As we made our way onto the plane, the flight attendant asked us if we wanted to make a ‘reservation’ to have dinner in the upper deck lounge of the 747. You bet we did.
As I recall, there were only 6 or 8 seats configured like a dining room on the upper deck. We sat in 2 seats on each side of a table – facing each other, just like a restaurant.
It was a memorable meal – to say the least. Our dinner started with vodka and caviar. After a couple of vodka shots and a tasty salad, the hostess wheeled an entire prime rib roast down the isle on a cart. The flight attendant carved the meat to order and it was perfectly cooked. Once we all had all been served, the flight attendant pushed the cart, with the remaining roast, down the short isle, when suddenly the cart tipped over and the roast went flying down the stairs. Thank goodness no one was standing near the stairs on the lower deck.
As dinner continued, I looked across the table at my friend Susan and each time she would try to eat her peas, they would roll off her fork, onto the floor. Guess she had one too many vodka shooters. Anyway, it was a meal none of us would ever forget.
Sadly, Pan Am ceased operations on December 4, 1991. There were many reasons, the economy, competition, terrorist attacks on the US flag carrier. It was a kinder, gentler time that we can only reminisce about – until now.
Pan Am is making a comeback – sort of. ABC has officially ordered a pilot called Pan Am, a prime-time celebration of stewardess life in the 1960′s. According to the Hollywood Reporter:
The show will be based on the experiences of executive producer Nancy Hult Ganis, who was a flight attendant on the airline for seven years.
So far, Christina Ricci is in talks to play a lead role and Australian actress Margot Robbie will make her American debut as one of the sexy stewardesses.
Back to Southfork
The hit TV series, Dallas, is coming back to our TV screens – via cable network, TNT.
The popular TV show was the single reason people all over the world knew where Dallas, Texas, USA was.
In the late 70′s my husband and I went to England with two of our dearest friends who were from Texas. One evening we were having dinner at a London restaurant and were talking to an English couple who asked us where we were from. I told them I was from Los Angeles and they knew exactly where the California city was located on the map. When my friend, Susan told them she was from Ft. Worth, Texas they drew blank and said they had never heard of it.
Who knew that just a couple of years later, In 1980, 83 million people around the world would tune in to see “who shot J.R” - the most watched “non-finale” show in history.
Anyway, the gray-haired bunch will include Larry Hagman 79, Patrick Duffy 62, and Linda Gray 71, playing their original roles as JR, Bobby, and Sue Ellen Ewing. No word yet if Victoria Principal, Charlene Tilton or Steve Kanaly will return.
Texas Music
Nowhere but Texas could you have a hit song that’s actually a super bowl commercial for a grocery store, H-E-B. We call it Hebe. Enjoy Jack Ingram singing “You Can’t Spell Texas Without H-E-B:
Time to Bring Out the Holiday Movies
This is the weekend we put away the autumn/Thanksgiving decorations and put out the Christmas decorations. It now goes from relaxed to hectic. Last minute gifts to get in the mail before the dreaded cut-off date to guarantee delivery by the 24th! Picking up stocking stuffers for the family – dogs included.
The weather has been cold at night and in the 60′s during the day. No snow below 4,000 feet in San Diego so we do the next best thing. We watch Christmas movies! Yep, this year we start with White Christmas.
Enjoy Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Vera Ellen and Danny Kaye singing Snow:
The USO Christmas Tour
The USO has been around since 1941, yet most people don’t know that it’s a private, non-profit organization. FDR gave his blessing to the group with the mission to boost the morale of U.S. military men and women by providing a “home away from home.” A place to go for dances and social events, for movies and music, for a quiet place to talk or write a letter home, or for a free cup of coffee and an egg.
Even though there are USO canteens throughout the world, the hallmark of the organization has always been the Camp Show – where Hollywood celebrities and entertainers take a little bit of “home” on the road.
Last week I was making a music CD of popular songs from Word War II for my dad and had the opportunity to listen to some great big band music from the 40′s. Lately Pop has been reminiscing about his time in England during the war. He has some great stories and many fond memories – even the sound of the V-2 rockets whizzing by and exploding. Not all memories were good. Pop gets a sad look in his eyes when he says “So many people were killed. So many.”
Anyway, my dad still talks about the USO and how great everyone associated with the organization was when they brought a little bit of America with them on tour. Bob Hope recruited all the stars from Hollywood to join him - including everyone’s favorite trio, the Andrews Sisters.
Enjoy the girls singing Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B from the 1941 movie, Buck Privates:
