Astonish, Bewilder and Stupefy

Here's your chance to be a history detective!

2012-01-03T07:58:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of a Ghost Army soldier named Keith Shaw Williams. It was taken during the war by Bob Boyajian. Shaw was in his late 30's, and had earned acclaim as a watercolorist and etcher before the war.

The question for all you history detectives is: when and where was this photo taken. Let me stat by saying that I don't know the answer, except for the obvious fact that it was during or shortly after World War II.

I found two clues in the photograph that helped me narrow down the when question to a few months. Can you spot them? (One is pretty obvious--in fact, it's what inspired me to do this post!). But the photo is chock full of other details that might offer clues as well. There's the writing on the window, the architectural style of the building, the uniform, all the items in the picture-- perhaps one of them holds the key! I thought it would be fun to put it out there to see if all of us together an decipher more than I've been able to on my own. (You should be able to click on the photo once or twice and get the full resolution version.)

All thoughts and comments welcome, and I'll update as we learn more.

Thanks, Jules!

2012-01-01T05:38:00.000-08:00

The reason we celebrate New Year's today has to do with Julius Caesar...and his efforts to deal with the pernicious consequences of a peculiar form of corruption:

Men who stole time itself.

The early Romans used the moon as a measure of the months. That led to a 12-month year that came up short, with only 355 days. To keep the seasons straight, the custom of occasionally adding extra weeks and months began. But the potential for mischief was too great a temptation. Corrupt public officials began to manipulate the calendar to prolong their terms in office and shorten the terms of hated rivals. In essence they were stealing time to further their own political purposes.By 46 BC, the Roman year was a full two months off.

That's when Julius Caesar took charge. He mandated a new solar calendar, making the year 365 days long. He changed New Years Day from March 1 to January 1, and added an extra day every four years. Opponents grumbled that Caesar, not content with ruling the earth, was now trying to command the heavens above.

Caesar might never have cleaned up the calendar if it hadn’t been for his most famous lover: the beguiling Cleopatra. She introuced him to the Egyptian astronomer Sosigenes, who explained the idea of a calendar based on the sun, then traveled to Rome to help the emperor put it into effect.

To bring the calendar back on track, Caesar added two extra months to the year 46 B.C.—sticking them in between November and December. The result was a year like no one had ever seen before—445 days long. In Rome this forever became known as “The Year of Confusion,” even though, as Caesar himself was quick to point out, it was actually the year the confusion came to an end.

Here's a song for the day.

Happy New Year.

This story is adapted from The Greatest Stories Never Told.

A Ghost Army Happy New Year Greeting!

2011-12-29T17:37:00.000-08:00

A brief New Year video for your enjoyment!
Thanks for your support in 2011. Please consider making year-end tax deductible donation to finish the film in 2012.

But for Button

2011-12-05T07:29:00.000-08:00

307 years ago today came an altercation that could have altered music history and deprived us of an inspiring holiday favorite.

It was a Friday evening in Hamburg, December 5, 1704. A boisterous crowd was gathering around two angry young men dueling with swords in the bustling marketplace. One was a composer and music critic of some renown named Johann Mattheson. The other was a hotheaded nineteen-year-old who played second violin (and occasionally harpsichord) for the local opera company.

His name was George Frederick Handel.

The two friends had become increasingly irritated with each other. The breaking point seems utterly ridiculous in retrospect: a silly argument over who should be sitting at the harpsichord during the finale of Mattheson’s opera Cleopatra. That led to a fistfight right in front of audience, and that in turn led to the duel.

Egged on by the crowd, Mattheson saw his opening and lunged at Handel with his rapier. But instead of piercing the young man, the tip caught on a large metal button and snapped in two. “No harm came of the encounter and we were soon reconciled again."

A fortunate outcome for music lovers.

Handel wen ton to become a fabulously successful composer in England. But by 1741 he was depressed and bankrupt, his music no longer in vogue. The future King of Prussia wrote to a friend: “Handel’s great days are over, his inspiration is exhausted.” The 56-year-old composer was suffering from rheumatism and the effects of a recent stroke. It was at this point that he wrote what would becomes his best known work, Messiah, in just three short weeks, finishing it, appropriately enough, on a Sunday. (Thus proving an inspiration to aging artists everywhere!)

Every Christmas, the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah is performed by all manner of choirs and around the globe. Millions have thrilled to its thunderously triumphant strains. But for a button, it never would have come to pass.

(This story is from my book The Greatest Music Stories Never Told)

Marlene Dietrich and the Ghost Army

2011-11-20T05:27:00.000-08:00

Marlene Dietrich performed for the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, (aka The Ghost Army), on November 20, 1944. The performance took place at the seminary in Luxembourg City where many of the dception troops were housed at the time. She appeared on a stage tricked out by Ghost Army artists for the “Blarney Breakdown” amateur show that the men had put on for themselves three weeks before. (Blarney was a sometimes used code-name of the unit that stuck as an internal nickname.)

How and why the men of the Ghost Army rated their own private show from such a big star remains a mystery. The seminary was not far from Eagle Tac, the forward headquarters of General Omar Bradley’s 12^th US Army Group, so it is possible that Major. Ralph Ingersoll (an officer in Bradley’s “Special Plans” branch who was instrumental in Ghost Army ops, and had been a famous journalist and author in civilian life) pulled some strings to make it happen.

“Dietrich showed up and gave the boys a big thrill with her musical saw,” laughed Ghost Army veteran Bill Sayles years later. “She was surrounded by all these officer guys who were escorting her wherever she had to go. And she was the queen of the day, let me tell you.”

The German-American actress was an indefagitable USO performer who did two extended tours in Europe, often performing close to the front in spite of the fact that if she was captured, the NAZI’s likely would have executed her as a traitor. “Marlene was undeniably one of the most sincere of the famous stars who gave their services for the men of the armed forces” wrote one member of the Ghost Army.

One of the numbers Dietrich performed was “ Lili Marlene,” a song with a fascinating history.

In 1941, a German Army radio station in Belgrade sent out a soldier to scrounge for more records to play for the troops. He brought back a dusty box of discards he found in the basement of a Vienna radio station. One of them was “Song of a Young Sentry,” recorded by Lale Anderson. A sentimental song about a soldier missing his girl, it was a complete flop when released in Germany two years before, selling only 700 copies. But Lt. Karl-Heinz Reintgen, the director of the station, was desperate for more music, so he put it on the air anyway.

German soldiers in North Africa began writing in by the thousands demanding that the obscure song be played more often. They didn’t know the title, so they referred to it by the name of the soldier’s girl-friend.

Lili Marlene.

But it wasn’t only the German soldiers who liked it. British soldiers fighting the Germans in North Africa also fell in love with the song, even though most didn’t know the words. The radio station started playing it every night just before sign-of, and many officers claim the firing diminished at that hour so soldiers on both sides could hear to the song.

It’s popularity kept spreading, and Lili Marlene went from the discard box to becoming the soldiers’ favorite song of World War II. Translated into many languages, it was the one thing that united millions locked in mortal combat. As one German wrote: “Soliders can die, but an evening without ‘Lili Marlene’ is unthinkable.”

Learn more about the Ghost Army at ghostarmy.org

A visual history of the unit, Artists of Deception, is now available on Amazon.

The Lili Marlene story is from The Greatest Music Stories Never Told

Season of Ghosts

2011-10-23T16:17:00.000-07:00

The coming of Halloween seems a good time to write about Ghosts...

I engaged in a very successful collaboration this summer with Liz Sayles who is a) a very talented illustrator, b) the co-curator of the Ghost Army exhibit that has been running in Suffern NY and c) the daughter of Ghost Army veteran Bill Sayles. Liz and I created a 48 page book called Artists of Deception that is a visual history of The Ghost Army featuring more than 200 paintings, sketches, photographs, maps and artifacts pertaining to the Ghost Army. There's also some good history on the unit, including some tantalizing information about the person who claims to have thought up the idea!

The book was made possible through the generosity of Bill Sheridan at Sothebys and Carl Capasso at Spire Fine Art Printing. It is meant to be companion piece to our traveling exhibit, as well as the upcoming documentary. Thanks to Liz, and the great job the folks at Spire did, it looks absolutely amazing.

We're making the book available through Amazon.com, please check it out, its pretty cool if I do say so myself!!

Ben Franklin: Storm tracker.

2011-08-28T10:59:00.000-07:00

Reading the Facebook traffic about the affects of Hurricane Irene up and down the coast reminded me of a storm that piqued Ben Franklin's interest a few centuries ago, and provided a landmark moment in weather forecasting. The story is recounted in my book The Greatest Science Stories Never Told.

On October 21, 1743, Franklin hoped to see a lunar eclipse that was supposed to take place at 8:30 p.m. But by late afternoon a northeast wind began to blow, and a violent storm blanketed Philadelphia for the next twenty-four hours.

The storm was a big one, and newspapers from different cities reported the damage up and down the coast. When Franklin read one of the Boston papers, however, it wasn’t the storm damage that caught his eye—it was an account of the eclipse. He checked with his brother, who lived in Boston, and confirmed that the storm didn’t reach Boston until at least an hour after the eclipse.

Franklin was dumbfounded.

He and most other people believed that the big storms known as nor’easters traveled from northeast to southwest, since that’s the direction the wind blew. Now he knew that the storms traveled in the exact opposite direction. Armed with this information, he went on to develop theories about storm tracks and pressure systems that proved remarkably accurate.

More than 150 years later, geographer William Morris Davis wrote that Franklin’s keen-eyed observations “began the science of weather prediction.”

Ecape from New Orleans

2011-08-27T07:17:00.000-07:00

Six years ago today, we evacuated New Orleans in advance of Hurricane Katrina. A few days after we got back home I wrote up an account of our Katrina experience, and here it is.

--
So there we were, washing down some spicy barbecued shrimp with a Turbo Dog beer at a restaurant on Chartres Street in New Orleans’ French Quarter. Little did we know that 24 hours later we would be fleeing the city, part of a monumental traffic jam of cars trying to leave New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina bore down on the Big Easy.

My wife and son and I arrived in New Orleans on Friday afternoon, laden with suitcases full of our daughter Bobbie’s stuff. Our daughter was already there, taking part in a weeklong Tulane pre-orientation program called the NOLA Experience. She had spent the week camping near Baton Rouge, learning the basics of Cajun cooking, touring the city by bike, and taking part in numerous other Big Easy experiences. On the last night of the orientation, a Friday, she attended a Ravens football game at the Super Dome, where she told us air conditioning was so cold she had to wear a jacket.

Friday night the storm seemed to be somebody else’s problem. People knew it was there, but expected it to land off in Florida someplace, and prove only a minor inconvenience at the most. The next morning, things had changed dramatically. The forecasts were dire and the newscasts talked of a possible evacuation. We arrived at Tulane around 10 AM, amid thousand of other students and parents trying to move in. Bedlam. We had no sooner unpacked all of Bobbie’s belongings in her third floor dorm room when word came that Tulane was going to shut down because of the incoming storm. All the students would have to evacuate by 5 PM, and it was recommended that everyone leave town.

Imagine the situation from Bobbie’s point of view. This is the only college she really wanted to attend, and the only college she applied to. She has a developed a deep love of Louisiana Culture and New Orleans. Finally, after point toward this moment for two years, she’s finally there. And now, before the college experience that she’s been dreaming of can even start, she has to leave. I was and remain amazed at the resiliency she has shown through this whole experience

What to do? We checked the airport—the flights out were all packed. We came to a quick decision that we should hit the road in our rental car, and listening to the news reports, it became clear that the wisest course would be to leave immediately. We talked about where we had friends that could put us up, and eventually decided on Houston as a destination. We called friends there (Henry and Doe Florsheim). “Houston, we have a problem,” I said. (Actually I didn’t think of that line until later, but I wish I had said it.) They generously offered us shelter in their home.

We grabbed an early lunch and sent Bobbie back to her room to pack a bag. (At this point Tulane was planning to reopen in three days, so she only brought a few things, leaving everything else she owns—even her journal going back to 6th grade—in her 3rd floor room, where we hope it still sits.) Then we all headed to the French Quarter where we checked out of the Place D’Armes hotel. (The sign on the lobby desk noted that any car left in the elevator garage would be inaccessible once the electricity went out—I’ll bet many are there still) and grabbed some Café Dumond café au lait for the road. We headed west on I-10 at about 2 PM.

The drive from New Orleans to Houston usually takes 5-6 hours. It took us more than 13 hours. Traffic on I-10 was bumper to bumper, with everyone trying to flee the city, and we crawled along at 5 MPH for the first three hours. Then we got diverted off of I-10 West (the road we wanted to stay on) and onto I-55 North toward Jackson Mississippi. We were directed into the “Contra Flow” lanes…headed north on what is usually the southbound side. We couldn’t get off…the Louisiana Highway Patrol was preventing us (and thousands of other cars) from going anywhere but north. The staties wouldn’t even talk when we tried to ask how to get back on the road to Houston; they just kept waving us north. People were cutting across the median in order to break free of the highway. Eventually, about 20 miles south of the Mississippi line, we were able to get off and make our way on smaller roads back to Baton Rouge, and eventually back onto I-10 West. But it took us 7 hours to get from New Orleans to Baton Rouge…usually a 90-minute drive.

Things eased a bit after that, but traffic continued to be extremely heavy, and sometimes slowed down to a crawl. It was an odyssey that I will long remember. Hour after hour of driving through the night, across Louisiana to Lake Charles (with oil refineries lit up like Christmas trees) through Beaumont, and finally into Houston. The kids were stoic. We discovered that the van had a Sirius Satellite radio, and we discovered the joys of having 184 stations of music and talk—we listened to all of them. One news report was particularly memorable. The Governor of Louisiana was exhorting people to pray in order to reduce the size of the hurricane. “Pray it down” she told Louisianans, and that became the mantra for our trip.

I remember at one point, probably about 2:30 AM, with everyone else dozing as we approached Houston, I suddenly began wondering if this sudden drive to Houston was horrible overreaction that I would seem silly in the morning.

We pulled into our friends’ street at about 3:30 AM. Somehow they managed to be gracious even at that hour, welcoming us into their home, leading us to our rooms, fixing food for our daughter, and staying up to chat with the exhausted, wired family that had dropped in out of the sky.

We arrived home late Monday night, safe and sound. As events unfolded, we thanked our stars that we got out while the getting was good. Everything we’ve gone through pales to what has happened to those people in New Orleans who have lost everything, or have had to cope with the terrible conditions there, and our hearts go out to them. But it has still been an emotional rollercoaster for our daughter.
On Thursday Tulane made the inevitable announcement: the first semester would be cancelled. We know it was coming, but still Bobbie was in tears. We hugged, and I told her that I believed she would be back there soon. “I believe it too” she said. She spends a lot of time every day Instant Messaging other Tulane students, and monitoring Tulane-related blogs, and is doing some volunteer work for the Red Cross. She remains fiercely committed to the college and the city, and while she will probably attend classes locally this fall, Tulane is her school, and she can’t wait to get back there.

2011 Addendum: Of course she did go back, after spending a semester at Tufts, and graduated in 2009, staying an extra year to get her masters in linguistics in 2010.

My Date with Linda

2011-07-21T07:31:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, on a Thursday afternoon, I drove down to the studios of WGBH Radio, esconsed myself in radio studio, put on a pair of headphones, and had a lovely conversation with Linda Wertheimer from NPR. I knew Linda very slightly when I was an intern at NPR more than three decades ago (!) and I have always liked her, both on and off the air. We had a fun time chatting. Linda seemed to really enjoy thye stories--our interview was frequently punctuated by her freq2uent laughter. A portion of that interview (with careful editing to hide a hideous memory lapse I suffered in the middle) aired on NPR's Weekend Edition.

Here's a link to the story.

The following sunday, Linda read a charming letter from a listener about the story, and the Scotish Chieftan behind "Hail to the Chief."

You can find that here.

As long as I am burnishing my creds by posting links to public radio interviews, here's a fun one I did yesterday with Mark Lynch at WICN in Worcester. Mark was a delight, and I loved the comment he made at the beginning of the interview: "You sort of have to be a stone not to enjoy this book. If you can't find something fun in this book, you really are a lost cause!" Here, here!

The Secret Life of Doc Pomus

2011-06-27T08:13:00.000-07:00

Today is the birthday of singer and songwriter Doc Pomus, born Jerry Felder on June 27, 1925.

When Felder heard a record by the great blues artist Big Joe Turner, he decided that he too wanted to be a blues singer. The fact that he was a white Jewish kid from New York wasn’t going to stand in his way of getting into what was almost exclusively an African-American genre. At age 16, he started performing in blues clubs under the name Doc Pomus.

Doc started songwriting to make money between gigs, and the songwriting eventually proved more lucrative than the blues singing. He teamed up with composer Mort Shuman and their partnership resulted in such hit songs as “Teenager in Love,” “This Magic Moment, and “Viva Las Vegas.”

But there was one song that was much more personal, more searing, than all the rest.

He wrote the lyrics late one night on the back of an old wedding invitation, recalling the day three years earlier that he married Broadway actress Willi Burke. It was a joyful occasion, but there was one moment tinged with a taste of the bittersweet. It was the moment after the band started struck up a tune, when the bride and groom traditionally have the first dance.

As a child, Doc Pomus had been crippled by polio. He could walk only with great difficulty. As a blues singer, he had to hang on his crutches while singing. Dancing was out of the question. At his wedding, he urged Willi to dance with the other guests. He could only watch, with mixed emotions, as she twirled across the floor without him.

It was with that memory in mind that Doc scrawled a set of lyrics revealing his most vulnerable inner self. The heartfelt plea of a man who couldn’t dance to the beloved bride just out of his reach…

Don't forget who's taking you home

And in whose arms you're gonna be

So darling, save the last dance for me.

Just one of the stories in my new book The Greatest Music Stories Never Told, now available where books are sold.

Upcoming Events

2011-06-07T11:37:00.000-07:00

Mynew book, The Greatest Music Stories Never Told, went on sale today. I'm doing numerous radio interviews over the next two weeks, and there are upcoming events that I want to let people know about.

On Saturday, June 11, I will be appearing at the Tatnuck Bookstore in Westborough MA from 1-3, signing copies of and chatting with people who stop by. This is a free event.

On Tuesday, June 14, I will be speaking at the National Press Club at 6:30 PM. Reservations are required and may be made at opus@press.org or by calling 202-662-7523. This event is free for NPC members and there is a $5.00 charge for non-members.

I hope to see you there!

Coffee and Beer and Business

2011-06-07T11:17:00.000-07:00

Marilyn and I saw an excellent production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying on Broadway Saturday night with our good friends the Mayers. The show stars Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame, as well as John Laroquette from Night court.

One of the great numbers in the show (not performed in the movie version) is the song "Coffee Break," an ode to coffee addiction.

Here's some of the lyrics from Coffee Break

If I can't take my coffee break,
something inside me dies."

If I can't make three daily trips
Where shining shrine
Benignly drips
And taste cardboard between my lips,
Something within me dies.

Compare that to this Johan Sebastian Bach's "Coffee Cantata," nearly 300 years old.

If I can't drink my bowl of coffee three times daily,
then in my torment,
I will shrivel up like a piece of roast goat.

Same thought, right? I can only imagine Frank Loesser was paying a little tribute to JSB.

The fascinating story of "The Coffee Cantata" is covered in my forthcoming book, The Greatest Music Stories Never Told. The mini-comedic-opera mocks people in authority trying to ban coffee for various reasons--it used to be a far more controversial drink than it is today.

One leader who failed to heed the lessons of the Coffee Cantata was King Frederick the Great of Prussia. In 1777, Frederick issued rules to restrict coffee drinking, even hiring a corps of sniffers to smoke out stockpiles of roasted coffee beans. He issued this explanation to his subjects:

It is disgusting to notice the increase in the quantity of coffee used by my subjects, and the amount of money that goes out of the country in consequence. Everybody is using coffee. If possible, this must be prevented. My people must drink beer. Many battles have been fought and won by soldiers nourished on beer; and the King does not believe that coffee-drinking soldiers can be depended upon to endure hardship or to beat his enemies.

So there!

Kickstarting the Ghost Army

2011-05-31T14:07:00.000-07:00

We’ve just launched an online fundraising campaign for The Ghost Army on the arts funding site Kickstarter.com. You can check it out here:

The goal is to raise $18,000 between Memorial Day and July 4^th. Please help by contributing an spreading the word any way you can...it's going to take a lot of donors and a lot of good karma to reach our goal.

Today in History: Riot of Spring

2011-05-29T01:00:00.000-07:00

The curtain went up at 8:45 PM. Thursday, May 29, 1913. The conductor waved his baton and the orchestra began to play. The angry shouts and jeers began moments later. Fistfights broke out among audience members. Some stalked out of the hall in outrage. One bejeweled socialite spit in the face of the man sitting next to her. Two concertgoers got so worked up they reportedly fought a duel the next day.

Not just another night at the ballet.

The occasion was the world premiere production of Rite of Spring, at the Théatre des Champs-Elysées in Paris. The avant-garde ballet, composed by Igor Stravinsky and choreographed by the famed dancer Vaslav Nijinsky ignited an audience response rare in the dignified the world of classical music:

Angry mayhem.

The subject matter was controversial: a pagan ritual in which a virgin dances herself to death. Stravinsky’s dissonant music was jarring to many ears. “To say that much of it is hideous as sound is a mild description,” wrote the Musical Times of London. Nijinsky’s radical choreography looked to some like aimless movement. The audience that opening night took sides immediately, and a war of sorts broke out in the aisles. One observer said the music was drowned out by “the disjointed ravings of a mob of angry men and women.” Another said the theatre seemed “shaken by an earthquake.”

Times change. Today Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring is hailed as one of the great masterpieces of 20^th century music, a break with the past that signaled a new era. And it hardly ever provokes audience members to riot any more.

Flagrant Fidelity

2011-05-21T09:32:00.000-07:00

THE FOLLOWING IS A TRANSCRIPT OF REMARKS MADE AT A PRESS CONFERENCE BY AUTHOR AND FILMMAKER RICK BEYER.

Beyer: Thank you very much, thank you. I have a statement to make, and I will not be taking any questions.

I stand before you today to publicly confess that I have let down my family, my community, and my country. I have engaged in behavior inconsistent with the high standards set by political leaders and cultural icons both here and abroad. I have decided that the public interest can best be served by my making a complete and public admission of the ways in which I have failed to live up to society's expectations. Therefore I am here to confirm the secret I have tried for so long to keep the world from knowing:

I am a monogamist. Over the past two decades, I have committed numerous flagrant acts of fidelity.

(Gasps, Whistles.)

While it is painful and humiliating to recount specifics of my shocking behavior, I feel I have no choice but to catalog the many ways I have failed to meet society's expectations.

I have failed to have sex with any interns. I have failed to come on to employees, spouses of employees, or children of employees. I have failed to screw around with someone making a documentary about me. I have failed to set up housekeeping with a pair of porn stars. I have failed to acquire a mistress, force myself on a housekeeper, pay for sex with a prostitute, post beefcake photos on the internet, or father one single child out of wedlock. Not even one!

I take no pride in this litany of failure. I contemplate with regret the legions of hardbodies, pretty young things, and the occasional cabana boy who will remain forever unboffed—at least by me. What was I thinking, depriving them of the priceless opportunity to sample the sexual prowess of a bespectacled, middle-aged, married guy? How selfish can one man be? Now we all must pay the price.

Where did I go wrong? It began before I got married. I was young and naive, and faithfulness just felt so good I couldn’t stop. I could have ended it any time—at least that’s what I thought—but I never did. And that is why I am here today.

I want to take time apologize to my agent, my editor, my publicist, and my loyal readers. Once upon a time I was filled with lofty aspirations. Once upon a time you could believe in me. But now, as a result of my inexplicable actions, no one can take me seriously as a public figure ever again. Because of my thoughtlessness, I will never get the chance to stage an “apology tour” that takes me on Oprah and The View. None of those books I autographed is ever going to be worth more than it is now. It pains me to have disappointed all of you in this way.

Worst of all is the knowledge that I have let let down my wife Marilyn and my children, Bobbie and Andy. To tem I say this: I am sorry if my failure to do anything that would attract the slightest attention of paparazzi and gossip columnists has pained you in any way. I never meant to hurt you by depriving you of tabloid attention.

All I can ask now is for the media to respect our privacy, so we can try to let the healing begin.

Thank you very much.

The Musical Inspired by Watergate

2011-05-17T03:40:00.000-07:00

This Day in History: On May 17, 1973, the US Senate began hearings into the Watergate break-in. Weeks of testimony revealed the cover-up being conducted by the White House, and ultimately resulted in the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

Millions of Americans were gluded to their television sets. In Bridgehampton, NY, one of the people watching the hearings found himself disgusted by all the lying and deception, and yearning for something different. “God, truth!” exclaimed Michael Bennett to himself. “Would I like to see some truth in life!”

Bennett sought truth by getting together with a group of friends and friends-of-friends, a home-grown group therapy session that started at midnight one night and lasted until dawn. All of them were Broadway dancers, and they poured out the unvarnished truth about their lives, their insecurities, passions, and fears.

The truth proved to be pretty popular.

A reel-to-reel tape recorder was rolling that night, and the stories it recorded became the basis for one of the most successful Broadway musicals of all time, a smash hit inspired by Watergate that made the usually anonymous dancers the stars of the show.

A Chorus Line.

That's one of the stories from the forthcoming book The Greatest Stories Never Told, which hits bookstores three weeks from today!

Playing it by Ear

2011-04-11T09:04:00.000-07:00

Two hundred and forty years ago today, a fourteen-year old Wolfgang Mozart demonstrated his astonishing musical abilities with an impressive feat that had nothing to do with composing or even performing.

It had to do with listening.

It was Easter week of 1770. Shortly after arriving in Rome, the young prodigy and his father hurried to the Sistine Chapel to hear the papal choir perform the “Miserere mei, Deus.” (That’s Latin for “Have Mercy on Me, God.”)

They were taking advantage of a rare opportunity.Written by Gregorio Allegri, the “Miserere” was only performed that one week of the entire year, and only in the Sistine Chapel. Its soaring vocals were considered to be uniquely mysterious and spiritual, and the Vatican considered the music close to sacred. Only three copies were known to exist, and it was forbidden on pain of excommunication to copy or publish them.

That night, the fourteen-year-old Mozart wrote out the entire piece. From memory. It was a complex work with nine voices, sometimes singing together, sometimes in counterpoint, and he had never heard it before. Nevertheless, after one listening, he managed to untwine the different voices and get every note down on paper.

Wanting to see if his copy was correct, he hid the score in his hat and attended again the next day. Astoundingly, the piece needed only minor corrections.

Word got back to the pope about what Mozart had done. Instead of being excommunicated, he was praised for his brilliance. After all, he wasn’t just anybody—he was Mozart!

Dance Fever

2011-04-05T08:09:00.000-07:00

Ninety-eight years ago today, a headline in the New York Times blared out: “MAYOR OUT TO STOP 'TEA AND TANGO’ NOW.” New York City, like the rest of the country, was caught in a tempest over the tango, and Mayor William Gaynor was trying to ban the dance! It’s one of the crazy-but-true stories in my forthcoming book, The Greatest Music Stories Never Told.

Born in the slums of Buenos Aires, the dramatic dance swept across Europe and America in 1913. “Go where you will, it is impossible to escape it” opined a Nebraska newspaper. Tango teas and tango classes became all the rage. New Orleans’ French quarter became known as the “Tango Belt” because of all the new dance halls. In Atlantic City the trolley company introduced a “Tango Car” for those determined to dance their way to and from work.

The dance took the country by storm, dividing America into two opposing camps: those caught up in its passion, and those determined to stamp it out.

Cleveland and Baltimore banned the tango. Boston stationed policemen at dance halls to take down tangoers. Harvard University prohibited any member of the track team from doing the tango, declaring that the dance “does not tend to make outdoor athletes.” Evangelist Bob Jones said New Yorkers were tangoing themselves to “the brink of hell,” and added “the only difference between Manhattan and hell is that Manhattan is surrounded by water.” (An opinion still widely held in many parts of the country!)

On the other hand, Pittsburgh teachers went on strike when forbidden to tango. Dancers at a church social in Connecticut rioted when told the tango was a no-no. A soloist at an Atlantic City church choir was told to choose between the tango and the choir. She left the choir.

America’s tango fever eventually subsided, but it proved to be a preview of things to come: culture wars over jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, hip-hop and other music and dance crazes feared as threats to our way of life. Still, we keep going.

Meeting Susan Stamberg

2011-04-05T07:35:00.000-07:00

One of the hosts of Morning Edition mentioned that Susan Stamberg started at NPR 40 years ago today. So, let me trot out the story of the day I met her.

In the Spring of 1977, when I was a junior at Dartmouth, I was an intern at NPR. It was a much smaller, less well-known institution then, with a growing journalistic reputation but probably one-tenth of the listeners it has today. I myself had barely heard of them—I stole the idea of interning there from my college friend Neil McCarthy.

Interns probably don’t get on the air these days, but this was a happier, simpler time, and the place was shorthanded. My supervisor, David Molpus, sent me out to cover a speech by economic guru E. F. Schumacher, author of Small is Beautiful. The next day, working with one of the talented editors at NPR—it might have been Smoky Baer—I put together a three minute story on the thrust of his remarks, using sound clips from the speech. I wrote a lead-in for Susan Stamberg to read, the last words of which were: “NPR’s Rick Beyer has more.” She would read the intro, then my report would play.

I was in the control room as the time for the story arrived. I couldn’t believe it. My voice, my words, were about to go live nationwide on "All Things Considered" for the first time. Susan read the lead in, in her comfortable, authoritative style. “NPR’s Rick Beyer has more.” The moment the story started playing, her mic was shut off. Without missing a beat she looked up at the director in the control room and said (in a much different voice:) “Who the hell is Rick Beyer?”

Happy Anniversary, Susan!

Katie's Lament

2011-03-31T05:59:00.000-07:00

Baseball's opening day offers the perfect opportunity to tell yet another tale from the forthcoming book, The Greatest Music Stories Never Told. As Jack Norworth told the story, it happened on the subway. Norworth was a 29-year-old vaudeville actor, a veteran of Ziegfeld’s Follies who got his start doing blackface comedy. Riding a New York City subway one day in 1908, he saw a sign advertising baseball at the Polo Grounds, home to the New York Giants.

Not a baseball fan—he had never attended a Major League game—Norworth was nonetheless inspired to write a song about a baseball-mad young lady named Katie Casey. He dashed off the lyrics on the back of an envelope in about 15 minutes. The song describes how Katie “had the fever, and had it bad,” how she saw all the home games, knew all the players by name, and wasn’t afraid to call the umpires wrong. Forgettable stuff, for the most part.
The verses, that is. The chorus is a different story.

In the song, Katie’s beau offers to take her to see a show, but Katie has something else in mind. “I’ll tell you what you can do,” she says. Today, more than 100 years after the song was written, nobody remembers Katie Casey, but almost everybody in America can sing the words of Katie’s plea:

“Take me out to the ball game…”


Courtesy: Library of Congress

Code of the Service

2011-03-30T06:55:00.000-07:00

Courtesy: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum

Thirty years ago today, seconds after this photo was taken, President Ronald Reagan took a bullet in the chest. What was it that saved his life? A movie he made more than forty years earlier.

In 1939, Reagan made a film called Code of the Secret Service. It was one of a series of movies in which he played a tough-guy Secret Service agent named Brass Bancroft. It wasn’t one of Reagan’s more memorable pictures. He said more than once that it was the worst film he ever made. But he ended up being very glad he made it.

The film captured the imagination of a ten-year old boy in Miami, Florida. “I made my Dad take me to that move quite a few times,” recalled Jerry Parr. He vowed that when he grew up, he would become a Secret Service agent himself. And so he did.

Forty-two years later, on March 30, 1981, Secret Service agent Jerry Parr was part of the detail guarding President Reagan when assassin John Hinckley opened fire. It was Parr who braved the hail of bullets to tackle Reagan and push him into the waiting car, which sped off toward the White House. And it was Parr who saw Reagan coughing up blood, and made the split-second decision to head straight for the hospital. Unbeknownst to either of them, a ricocheting bullet had sliced into Reagan’s chest, causing massive internal bleeding. Parr’s decision to seek immediate medical care saved the President’s life.

Brass Bancroft could have done no better.

Adapted from The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told.

Lesson’s from Van Halen’s dressing room.

2011-03-30T06:41:00.000-07:00

Thirty-one years ago today came the rock concert that raised brown M&Ms to legendary status.

When rock stars go on tour, they are famous for making extreme demands simply because they can. One of the most excessive examples comes from the band Van Halen, with lead singer David Lee Roth. Halfway down page 40 of the 53 page contract, it specified that the band’s dressing rooms must be supplied with M&Ms, but that there must be “ABSOLUTELY NO BROWN ONES!”

So if Van Halen was coming to town, some flunky had to carefully remove all the brown ones from the M&M bowl. Or worse, the venue would feel the wrath of Roth if they didn’t. He supposedly caused thousands of dollars of damage at one concert venue upon being served brown M&Ms.

A ridiculous example of superstar arrogance, right?

Not exactly. The Van Halen tour was huge for it’s day, ten trailer trucks of equipment, with myriad technical needs that filled dozens of pages in the contract. The brown M&Ms clause served as a canary in the coal mine, an easy way to see if the promoter was really prepared for the band. “If I saw a brown M&Ms in that bowl,” said Roth, “they didn’t read the contract. Guaranteed you’d run into a problem.”

And that’s exactly what happened on March 30, 1980, in Pueblo Colorado. When Van Halen got to the dressing room, the brown M&Ms hadn’t been separated out. The band duly trashed the place. Press reports said the tantrum caused eighty-five thousand dollars worth of damage. But what they left out was that almost all of that damage actually resulted from the promoter failing to comprehend the weight of the stage, which destroyed the University of Southern Colorado’s new basketball floor. Says Roth: “Who am I to get in the way of a good rumor.”

Today, instead of being considered a sign of rockstar ego gone mad, the brown M&M test is not only emulated by other musicians, but also cited by business consultants around the world. A lesson learned at the school of rock.

And that's just one of many incredible-but-true music tales in my new book, The Greatest Music Stories Never Told, coming out in June.

The Symphony That Helped Sink a Dictator

2011-03-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

Marcos Perez Jimenez

On March 28, 1957, Six thousand people crowded the hall in Caracas to see composer Aaron Copland conduct the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra. They were performing Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait,” in which a narrator reads the stirring words of Lincoln along with Copland’s powerful music. One of those in attendance was Venezuela’s military dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez, whose regime was notorious for its brutality.

A fiery actress named Juana Sujo spoke a translation of Lincoln’s words to the hushed crowd. The piece ends with the final words of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” As Sujo spoke the translation, “del pueblo, por el pueblo y para el pueblo,” the crowd leaped to its feet and cheered so wildly that Copland couldn’t hear the orchestra play the final few bars of the music.

A New York Times reviewer said the piece had a “magical impact” on the audience. The impact on dictator Jiménez was particularly powerful. The thundering crowd’s full-throated roar was the first public protest against his military dictatorship. Copland was told later that his piece had, in effect, started the revolution. Less than nine months later the dictator was out, and Venezuela had a new birth of freedom—thanks in some small part to a night at the symphony.

The Man Who Inspired Houdini

2011-03-24T11:21:00.000-07:00

In October 1856, master magician Jean-Eugene Robert-Houdin came out of retirement for a command performance unlike that any before or since. The audience was a gathering of 60 Arab chieftains in the French colony of Algeria, and the purpose was to prevent a rebellion.

Local "holy men" trying to provoke an uprising against French rule were using tricks to convince their followers that they had supernatural powers. The French hit upon a unique way to undermine their efforts, but it required the help of the man regarded as the finest magician in Europe.

The audience was skeptical, even contemptuous. What could this Frenchman possibly do that compared with their own holy men, who could eat fire and stab themselves without injury? But the old magician rose to the occasion. He asked one member of the audience to shoot him—“Aim straight at my heart” he said. Then he caught the bullet with his hand. He made another member of the audience disappear, and stripped the strength away from a third man. The crowd was seized with fear, and cries of “Satan” were heard. Robert-Houdin had showed himself to be a true sorcerer

But then he did the unthinkable. He sent out translators to explain how his tricks were done. The chieftains realized their holy men possessed no magic—they were simply performing tricks of their own. The threat of rebellion evaporated—as if by magic.

Years after Robert-Houdin’s death, his legend so captivated an up-and-coming magician named Eric Weiss that he changed his name—to Harry Houdini. After achieving fame and fortune of his own, Houdini became disenchanted with the man who had inspired him, and wrote a book entitled “The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin.”

From The Greatest Stories Never Told

Killed By His Own Conducting

2011-03-22T04:55:00.000-07:00

Music can be a dicey business. Nothing demonstrates that more dramatically than the ultimate fate of Jean Baptiste Lully, one of the first great conductors of classical music. Some claim that he practically invented the job. Whether or not that is true, he can claim another distinction.

On this day in 1697, he became the only man ever killed by his own conducting.

In those days, orchestras were generally smaller than they are now and might be led by a violinist tapping out the time with his foot or an organist giving cues with one of his hands. Only occasionally was there a musical director who stood in front of the orchestra to keep time.

Lully was the court composer to King Louis XIV in France. A bit of a control freak, he liked to lead the orchestra with a six-foot staff that he beat upon the ground to keep time. On January 8, 1687, he was conducting a hymn to honor the king’s recovery from illness.

Beating the floor furiously with the heavy staff, Lully got carried away and slammed it down on his own foot. His toe throbbing with pain, Lully insisted on continuing the performance. The injury proved severe. Gangrene and blood poisoning set in, but he refused to allow the toe to be amputated. Two months later, Lully was gone.

And that's just one of many incredible-but-true music tales in my new book, The Greatest Music Stories Never Told, coming out in June.

Click here to hear Lully's best known piece, March of the Turks.

Third time's the charm!

2011-03-13T01:00:00.000-08:00

Today marks the birthday of the late Russian poet Sergei Mikhalkov, who may be the only man in history given the chance to write lyrics to his country’s national anthem not once, not twice, but three different times . . . over the course of 60 years!

In 1944, Soviet leader Josef Stalin picked him to co-write lyrics to a brand new national anthem by Alexander Alexandrov. In the 1970s he was called on to write another set lyrics that dropped any mention of Stalin. And in 2000, at the age of 87, he picked up his pen once again to write yet another set of lyrics dropping all references to Lenin and the Soviet Union and singing the praises of Mother Russia. Mikhalkov died in August 2009.

And that, believe it or not, is just a part of the complicated history of Russia and the Soviet Union's national anthems. It is a striking fact that in the last 100 years, the Russians have had more national anthems than even the most patriotic citizen could reasonably be expected to keep track of. The full story is in my forthcoming book, The Greatest Music Stories Never Told.

Ghosts and Hobgoblins

2011-03-08T14:23:00.000-08:00

News today from the Hollywood Reporter that author Michael Chabon and his wife Ayelet Waldman are working on a drama project for HBO about "a group of magicians and con men who use their skills at deception to battle Hitler and his forces during WWII."

That sounds more than a little like The Ghost Army, the World War II deception unit that I am busy making a documentary film about. But is the incipient HBO project based on the exploits of the real-life deceivers who used inflatable tanks, sound trucks, and performance art to deceive the Germans?

I have no idea. But you can bet I am watching with interest.

It certainly could be true. "Hobgoblin" isn't exactly another word for "ghost", but pretty close. While The Ghost Army was not filled with "magicians and con men" in the literal sense (i.e. criminals and vaudevillians) it certain engaged in creating visual illusions and conning the Germans on a large scale. Ralph Ingersoll, the journalist/author turned intelligence officer who claimed credit for dreaming up the idea of The Ghost Army, and helped direct their efforts, referred to them as "My con artists."

On the other hand, the drama could be about British deception efforts that included an actual magician, Jasper Maskelayne. Or, and this may be most likely of all, it could be about a completely fictional unit (a la Inglourious Basterds or The Dirty Dozen) that weaves elements of different real-life WWII deception efforts into the writer's story.

All of this is simply speculation. Over the years many people have said to me: "This story would make a wonderful movie!" I agree wholeheartedly, and if that is what they are doing, I think that's great. My ear is to the ground, hoping to learn more and figure out what opportunities this project might offer for the documentary about what the real deceivers did.

Happy Birthday Rock 'n' Roll

2011-03-05T01:00:00.000-08:00

Rock in Roll was born here in March of 1951.

Hard to believe, but Rock ‘n’ Roll turns sixty today. What was once the brash musical expression of a new generation is now almost old enough for Social Security. The song that many music historians call the very first rock ‘n’ roll hit was recorded on this day, March 5, back in 1951. It's one of the stories told in my forthcoming book, The Greatest Music Stories Never Told.

Ike Turner had a Mississippi blues band called the Kings of Rhythm when he got a call from a struggling 28-year-old Memphis record producer named Sam Phillips. Phillips invited the band to record some songs. He didn't have to ask twice. Turner and his band tied their gear on the roof of an old Chrysler and headed out from Clarksdale, Mississippi, to Memphis.

Needing more material for their recording session, Turner and his band mates wrote a new song en-route. It was about the hot new car they all envied—the Oldsmobile Rocket 88. With its souped up V-8 engine and streamlined design, it was the hottest thing on the road.

In Memphis they recorded several songs, getting paid $25 for each one. On “Rocket 88,” Phillips suggested saxophonist Jackie Brentson sing the lead, while Ike Turner banged away on the piano.

The fruit of their efforts was a rollicking, high-energy song that Phillips sold to Chess Records. Credited to Jackie Brentson and the Delta Cats, the song spent five weeks at number one on the R&B charts and proved to have great crossover appeal for white audiences as well. It helped put Sam Phillips on the map, and paved the way for his founding of Sun Records and the discovery of Elvis Presley.

Thanks to the Rocket, rock ‘n’ roll was ready to blast off.

Saved by a Song!

2011-02-28T04:00:00.000-08:00

On this day in 1844, President John Tyler’s life was saved by a song….one of the stories in my forthcoming book, The Greatest Music Stories Never Told.

Tyler was one of hundreds of Washington VIPs who crowded aboard the warship Princeton to see a demonstration of the biggest naval gun in the world. After the fearsome cannon was fired twice, the delighted crowd repaired below decks for a sumptuous feast. Toasts were drunk, and guests began to break out in impromptu song. Then came the announcement: the big gun would be fired one more time. Many hurried up to the deck to get a good view of it.

President Tyler had his foot on the ladder to climb up to the deck when he heard his son-in-law start to sing a military song. It would be rude to leave in the middle of it, so he paused.

That’s what saved his life.

Before the song was done, the cannon fired once again. Catastrophe! The gun’s breech exploded, sending jagged junks of hot iron flying into the crowd on the ship’s deck. Secretary of State Abel Upshur and Secretary of the Navy Thomas Gilmer were both killed, as were four others.

“It is incredible,” said abolitionist James Birney, no friend of Tyler's, “that a jolly military song should have delivered this man from crippling injury or sudden death.”

For President Tyler, something to sing about.

Has Rick Beyer Gone Twitter Crazy???

2011-02-24T14:05:00.000-08:00

It could be. You'll have to decide for yourself.

I’m trying to figure out the best way to use social media, both to keep in touch with folks and as a way of interacting with people interested in my ongoing projects. So I’ve decided that instead of having one Twitter feed, I’m going to have three, Each one is different, but there will be some overlap.

Ghostarmy23 will continue to be the twitter account relating to the Ghost Army film project.

Musicstories11 is a new account for people interested inmy forthcoming book The Greatest Music Stories Never Told , and quirky stories from the pages of music history

Rickbeyertalks will be for everything else: general history observations, updates on what I’m doing, happenings in Lexington, etc.

I plan to retweet GhostArmy and music tweets onto my rickbeyertalks page, so that’s the one place you cam get everything.

See what you think. Comments welcome.

State Dinner At Mount Vernon

2011-02-06T08:53:00.000-08:00

Last week's NYT obituary of Rene Verdon, White House chef under the Kennedys, brought to mind Letitia Baldrige's stories about the first State Dinner ever held at historic Mount Vernon. She described it to me in detail during a 2007 interview. The dinner was a gala affair on a warm July evening in 1961. 138 guests dined in unsurpassed elegance on the sloping lawn overlooking the Potomac.

This was the first time a state dinner had ever been held away from the White House. As Jackie Kennedy's social secretary, Baldrige (seen below with Jackie) played a key role in putting it all together. The guest of honor was the president of Pakistan, Ayub Khan. “Pakistan was our newest ally, and an important ally,” she recalled. So the Kennedys said, "We've got to do something very special for Ayub Khan. And they racked their brains and finally it was Jackie's idea, let's have the state dinner at Mount Vernon.”

Easier said than done. Baldrige had just four weeks to plan the dinner. Among the many challenges was the fact that Mount Vernon lacked a working kitchen.

“When you think of entertaining and cooking the dinner, that's enough of a challenge," said Baldrige, "but think about having the food prepared in the White House kitchens and then having them trucked from Washington, D.C. up to Mount Vernon and then having warming ovens there and having refrigeration and bringing in all kinds of mechanical electrical things. It was an unbelievable logistical problem.”

A memorable crisis arose the afternoon of the dinner involving White House Chef Rene Verdon, the secret service, and mosquitoes. Baldrige describes it in the clip below:

That evening, guests traveled up the Potomac on a fleet of four boats, including the President’s Yacht.

They were driven by limousine to the house, where Francis Beirne, Head Regent for Mount Vernon, presented President Khan with a bust of George Washington. Then came a military drill by the US Army‘s Colonial Color Guard and Fife and Drum Corps.

"And then they fired their muskets at a military command and fired them right at the faces of the press standing there, which caused first of all a bit of shock. And finally the New York Times correspondent in the back row raised a white handkerchief in surrender, and that caused everybody to laugh. "

The dinner was held in an elegant 30 by 50 foot tent decorated by Tiffanies of New York. 22 White House butlers served the guests a gourmet meal. Verdon and his team qhipped up avocado and crabmeat mimosa as an appetizer, while the main course was oulet Chasseur—hunter style chicken.

The lavish feast was not without its critics. “Of course there was controversy.” Said Baldrige. “Angry articles, headlined, you know, "French grandeur at the White House dinner. What's happened to America?"

Still, Baldige remembers it as a great success: "We venerated history; the regents of Mount Vernon were thrilled; Jackie was thrilled, very important to me. And the president was thrilled."

Nearly 50 years later, the dinner is remembered as a glittering example of the Kennedy style.

Photos courtesy of the JFK Library; Dinner program courtesy of Historic Mt. Vernon; Manchester-Union Leader headline courtesy Manchester Union-Leader.

42 Days

2010-12-30T16:49:00.000-08:00

The very first Liberty Ship, the Patrick Henry, was launched 69 years ago today. More than 200 Liberty ships were sunk during World War II. One was the SS Roger B. Taney, torpedoed in the South Atlantic on Feb. 7, 1943. My dad's collateral cousin, nineteen-year-old Don Zubrod, was the ship’s purser—a glorified clerk. When the torpedo hit, the explosion seemed to lift the ship out of the water. As fire spread across the decks, Zubrod and other surviving crewmen scrambled into lifeboats. Moments later the German submarine U-160 sunk the ship with a second torpedo.

Twenty-nine men were packed into one lifeboat just over 20 feet long, with minimal food and water. They spent an astonishing 42 days at sea, sailing more than 2,500 miles before being picked up off the coast of Brazil. It remains one of the longest open-boat voyages in history. The 6 foot 2 inch Zubrod, who weighed 140 pounds the day the torpedo hit, was down to just 85 pounds when he was rescued. He still has vivid memories of his six weeks in a cramped lifeboat:

“The lifeboat had two 10-gallon wooden kegs for water. We went four or five days at a time with the water ration down to 4 ounces a day: an ounce at dawn, an ounce at noon, and two ounces at night. When it did rain, we would fold the sail down to catch it, and funnel the water back down into those casks. Food consisted of baker’s chocolate, some biscuits—not many—and malted milk tablets. There was no fishing gear.
“The gunner’s mate from the Navy armed guard was in our boat. His name was Sam Lopresti, and he had been a goalie for the Chicago Blackhawks. He was built like an ox. One day, at high noon, everybody’s dozing. He catches my eye and puts his finger to his mouth, to indicate silence. He had lashed his sheath knife to a boat hook, and in one lunge he goes down into the water and comes up with a 35- to 40-pound dolphin. I’m sitting there looking at this thing dying, worrying about it kicking the bottom out of the boat.
“When we started to cut up the fish, they said there’s plenty of blood. I drank a cup of it. I guess I was in worse shape than I thought. We cooked the fish in a bucket with rags and kerosene. Everybody got one or two pieces. Then we hung up the skeleton, it must have been about five feet long, and chewed on the bones, got some of the marrow in them. That was the only real meal we had in 42 days.
“The thought of cannibalism did flash through people’s minds. If anybody passed away, would we do anything about it? Luckily, it never came to that.
“After we were rescued, we ended up in a hospital in Santos, Brazil. I woke up from a nap one day, and three beautiful ladies were sitting on my bed. They all had cigarettes, candy, and other stuff. We all got kissed by them. Every whorehouse in town had sent a representative down! That was the last thing on our minds . . .”

Sam Lopresti, who died in 1984, still holds the National Hockey League record for most saves in one game: 80 against the Boston Bruins on March 9, 1941, two years before the sinking. Don Zubrod, who passed away several years ago , later met and befriended the U-boat captain who sank his ship.

My Guys

2010-12-26T07:58:00.000-08:00

I don't recall exactly how it started, but for years I have collected toy soldiers in a very low key way. This activity (I don't pursue it vigorously enough to justify calling it a hobby) combines my love of history with a nostalgia for untold boyhood hours spent playing with small plastic army guys.

Most of the figures I collect are hand-painted, lead soldiers perhaps 1.5 inches high. There are a number of companies that make marvelously detailed figures. I have purchased them in many places: London, Moscow, Normandy, New Orleans, San Antonio to name a few. There are figures representing Rev War, Civil War, Spanish American War, World War II, and more. Other types of figures have also made it into the collection, such as this year's Christmas gift from my sister Mary, miniatures of the Terra Cotta warriors buried with Chinese emperor Quin Shi. I have about 85 soldiers arranged on top of a bookshelf in my studio. They are in rough chronological order from left to right.

On Christmas, I forbid myself to do any work or read email or texts. After I re-arranged the soldiers to add the Terra Cotta warriors, I decided it would be fun to take some pictures of them. With the help of Iphoto, I have set the results to an appropriate piece of music. Yes, this is what passes for "taking some time off" in my crazy life.

Enjoy...

Al Albrecht

2010-12-15T06:36:00.000-08:00

We lost another Ghost Army veteran yesterday. Al Albrecht died at the age of 86 after a battle with pancreatic cancer at the Milwaukee Veteran's Hospital.

Al was a veteran of the sonic unit, and worked tirelessly over the last decade to preserve and tell the story that had been kept secret so long. I interviewed Al for the film five years ago, and saw him at a screening a few months ago, when he was still in full vigor, enthusiastically answering questions from the audience of 300 or so that came to the event. He's a wonderful presence in the film. Here's a link to a soundclip from Al on the Ghost Army website.

One of the last things that Al did was attend a special screening (arranged by his family) of the rough cut of "The Ghost Army" at the veteran's hospital two weeks ago. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel did a lovely article on Al and the unit that ran the day afterward.

I'm thinking this morning of the way Al described the Ghost Army's impact: "Can you picture the German commander, after he was preparing to defend himself, and perhaps attack over I our direction, going over there and finding nothing…but maybe a lot of tank tracks. Cuz we were gone. "

And now he's gone too.

Albert "Al" Raymond Albrecht Jr., resident of Milwaukee, WI for 52 years was born to eternal life on December 14 at the age of 86 after a battle with pancreatic cancer at the Milwaukee Veteran's Hospital. In 1948, he married the love of his life, Doris (nee Grenier) who he met and married in their hometown of Two Rivers WI. They were very much in love and inseparable for 62 years.

Al was a loving father to Debbie (Dale) Pawlowski, Karen (Rick) Skibba, Bonnie (Jeff) Koeberl, Bruce (Cindy), Dale (Wanda), and adopted daughter Judy Walker. He was also a doting Grandpa to Jason, Michael, Kristy, Nick, Melissa, Matthew, Ashlee, Jeff, Angie, and Sherman and proud Great Grandfather of Nathan, Eva, and Jordan. He left behind his brother Roger (Joyce) Albrecht and sister Charlene (John) Steinhauer and was preceded in death by his brother Reverend Lyle (Judy) Albrecht. He is also survived by many other relatives and friends.

He served bravely in World War II in a unit that was kept secret for 50 years after the war. This unit, referred to as the "Ghost Army," masqueraded through parts of Europe with the task of deceiving the Germans purely through appearance and sound, without any attack and risking their own lives while saving the lives of many others. He was honored for his service and for his tireless efforts to tell the story of these brave men through documentaries, reunions, and numerous presentations. For those who couldn't make it to the Ghost Army movie showing, here is the story that was written by the Milwaukee Journal: Here is a link to the article. Also view pictures in the photo gallery: http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/110920359.html

Al, a devout Lutheran, was very active in Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church where he held many different board and committee positions including as elder and deacon. He was very active in the community, including organizing the neighborhood watch. He worked enthusiastically as a salesman selling motor homes, building materials, appliances, and industrial roofing until he was 84 years old. He loved to sell and meet people and was often asked to come out of retirement since customers always asked for him by name.

Throughout his life, he has taken in others and selflessly gave of himself to anyone who needed help. He was a true hero and leader by example to this county and his family, community, and church. Join us to celebrate his life on Saturday, December 18, public showing from 10 a.m. to noon, services at noon, lunch after burial services, at Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church, 6840 North 107th Street, Milwaukee, WI 53224. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Ned Harris Events

2010-12-07T17:39:00.001-08:00

Ghost Army artist Ned Harris continues to be very active well into his eighties. He's got some exciting stuff going on. Here's two announcements he sent me. (Click on them to make them larger.)

"My People Must Drink Beer"

2010-10-21T12:57:00.001-07:00

Just came across this amusing 223 year old rant about coffee from the King of Prussia.

It is disgusting to notice the increase in the quantity of coffee used by my subjects, and the amount of money that goes out of the country in consequence. Everybody is using coffee. If possible, this must be prevented. My people must drink beer. His majesty was brought up on beer, and so were his ancestors, and his officers. Many battles have been fought and won by soldiers nourished on beer; and the King does not believe that coffee-drinking soldiers can be depended upon to endure hardship or to beat his enemies in case of the occurrence of another war.

--Frederick The Great, King of Prussia, September 13, 1777

Gosh, golly, what would he think of the Starbucks phenomenon. Especially a Starbucks on a military base. Yowser!

Armia Duchów

2010-10-05T07:41:00.000-07:00

Things keep happening on The Ghost ARmy. I just finished a revised rough cut of thefilm and sent it off to American Experience at WGBH. And Newsweek Poland has just done an article about the unit and the film. I can't really tell what it says, except that it mentions me and Monty Python in the first paragraph. That's good,right?

Six Degrees of the Ghost Army

2010-08-11T14:48:00.000-07:00

What does the Ghost Army have to do with The Who? Or Dentyne? Or Marilyn Monroe? Lots, as it turns out. Find out here.

Fort Knox Tanks

2010-08-04T07:55:00.000-07:00

In the spring of 1944, a team of Ghost Army soldiers from the 3132 Signal Company took a portable audio studio down to the Army proving ground at Fort Knox Kentucky. Working with experts from Bell Labs, they spent three weeks recording sounds of tanks and trucks for use in sonic deception.

And that's my excuse today for posting some tremendous color pictures of tanks at For Knox taken in June 1942 by Alfred Palmer. These photos are from the Library of Congress photo archive, where there are many more.

Disappearing Act

2010-07-30T06:02:00.000-07:00

Before they were a part of the Ghost Army, the men of the 603rd Camouflage Engineers helped make an aircraft factory disappear. Check out Photos and article on the Ghost Army website, written and researched by John Chen, Dartmouth '11, who is interning on the project this summer.

New Ghost Army Auction "Guard Duty" by Harold Laynor

2010-07-29T07:23:00.001-07:00

We have another Harold Laynor painting up for auction, and it is a beauty. A 9" x 12" watercolor called Guard Duty, very vivid coloration, a cool piece. The painting has been appraised at $4000, but you have a rare chance to get it for less here. The money goes to the Ghost Army film project and the Laynor Foundation Museum. Time is running out, though...the auction ends Sunday night around 8 PM.

Go to the Ebay Auction page.

Tango

2010-07-25T17:38:00.001-07:00

Just wrote a story for the new "Greatest Music Stories" book about the tango craze that hit the US in 1913. “Like a storm, it sweeps everything before it” wrote the Lincoln Daily Star on October 5, 1913. “Go where you will, it is impossible to get away from it.” In Boston, a policeman and a matron were assigned to every public dance hall to prevent dancers from tangoing.

New Auction

2010-07-12T05:44:00.001-07:00

The Ebay auction of Harold Laynor's painting "After the Battle" has begun. Here's a link to the auction.

The auction ends on Sunday evening July 18th.

This is a chance to own a piece of Ghost Army history in the form of a wonderful painting depicting soldiers after the Battle of the Bulge.

The proceeds will benefit both the film and the Laynor Foundation Museum.

Please bid with gusto, and pass the word of the auction alongto any and all who might be interested.

Tunguska 102

2010-06-30T12:58:00.000-07:00

Today is the 102nd Anniversary of the Tunguska Event, the mysterious explosion that leveled 800 square miles of trees in Siberia without leaving a crater or much evidence about what caused it. In honor of this anniversary, a couple of videos!

Many scientists believe an asteroid airburst caused the explosion. The video above is a simulation of such an airburst done by Brown University Planetary Geologist Peter Schulz on the NASA Ames Vertical Gun Range last summer. (Picture of the Vertical Gun below) He fired a glass projectile the size of a ball bearing into a sheet of mylar (off camera) at fifteen thousand miles per hour. This causes it to explode in mid-air, simulating what happens when a meteor breaks up in the atmosphere. The fireball streaks down to the surface, but the damage is caused by the shockwave from the midair explosion. The toothpicks stand in for the trees in the Tunguska. The video is shot with a Phantom high speed camera.

The video below is another simulation of an airburst, done by physicist Mark Boslough on the "Red Storm" Super Computer at Sandia Labs.

Both of these appeared in the program Expedition Apocalypse, the National Geographic Channel "Naked Science episode" that I produced for Veriscope Pictures last year. An alternate theory that we explored in our program is that the explosion came not from the sky but from the ground below, in an event that Cornell scientist Jason Phipps Morgan has labelled a "Verneshot" Here's a picture of Jason I took flying in to Siberia on the helicopter.

A year ago today I was on my way to the wilds of Siberia, where we spent ten days following Jason as well as the team from the University of Bologna (above) as they scoured the Taiga for evidence as to the cause of the Tunguska event. To get from the Italians' base camp at Lake Cheko to Jason's camp near the epicenter, we had to bushwhack through the swamps, and I wouldn't want to post a Tunguska item without a link to the famous "Death March" video.

Space Shuttle Discovery Timelapse

2010-06-18T08:49:00.000-07:00

I've had the opportunity to make some pretty cool timelapse videos, but none quite like this, which was brought to my attention by my friend Jerry Fritz. You have to wait for the commercial to finish.

NYT Humor

2010-06-11T09:20:00.000-07:00

Found in the New York Times, December 24, 1905. The (apocryphal?) story of an official at the Bureau of Printing and Engraving who tried to pay a hotel bill with a brand new 20 dollar silver certificate.

The clerk looked at it and then passed it back,
"What's the matter," inquired the guest.
"I can't take that," replied the clerk coldly, "I don't think its good."
"Not good!" exclaimed the official. "Not good! Why man, it's good. I made it myself."
"Yes," said the clerk, "so I thought."

Sunday Night Time Change

2010-06-04T11:48:00.000-07:00

I just received word that the program "How Summer Changed the World" will appear Sunday night at 9 PM and not 10 PM. Since that falls right in the middle of the Celtics Lakers game, I, for one, will be using the Tivo to watch myself later!

Discovery Appearance Sunday June 6th

2010-06-01T13:16:00.001-07:00

You can see me dispensing pearls of history wisdom Sunday night on the Discovery Channel. Producer Lee Robinson of Jupiter Entertainment interviewed me back in December at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, NY, about how summer inspired various discoveries and inventions, ranging from the earliest known measurement of the earth’s circumference (done on the summer solstice) to the invention of the bicycle (actually inspired by a serious dearth of summer weather in 1816) to the serendipitous discovery of penicillin by a scientists who neglected to clean up his lab before he went on summer vacation. It was quite a lengthy interview (about 3 hours) and I believe that I will pop-up in the show a number of times—we’ll see!

Irv Stempel

2010-05-26T11:42:00.000-07:00

Yet another death in the Ghost Army family. Irv Stempel, one of the camoufleurs in the 603rd Camouflage Engineers, passed away in Florida last night. His daughter, Stefanie Bristol, emailed me with the news.

Along with Victor Dowd, who passed away last week, Stempel was part of the very first contingent of the Ghost Army to cross over into France, flying in to Omaha Beach eight days after D-Day. "And the thing I remember very vividly" says Bernie Mason, , "is that one of the men in my platoon, Irv Stempel, when the plane landed, he sat down, rested his back against one of the wheels of the plane, and jotted off a quick v-mail, handed it to the pilot to take back to England so he'd be able to mail it back to his family." Irv is in the center of this photo of the 4th Platoon, D Company. (Victor Dowd is behind him with his tie tucked in).

Bernie emailed me this morning. “It looks like my platoon is falling apart,” he wrote.

Stempel told tales of his Ghost Army days with a twinkle in his eye. “I never had water in my canteen.” he liked to say. “It started out with Calvados and it went to champagne. And that’s how we survived the war.

Lights! Camera! Me!

2010-05-24T12:34:00.000-07:00

I was both surprised and delighted a couple of weeks ago when a television production company in Los Angeles approached me about the possibility of co-hosting a new History series entitled “Decoded.” OK, to be honest, I laughed out loud at first. I don't usually think of myself as an on-camera reporter, but truthfully I have done a ton of TV and radio interviews, so I got to thinking, "why not?"

The producer who called said they were looking for a combination of Indiana Jones and the Tom Hanks character from The DaVinci Code. Yeah, yeah, that's me! (Hah!) She urged me to send in a demo tape, talking about myself and what I do. Although we were on vacation in New Orleans, I put together a little piece one morning in our B&B, and sent it off. Not super slick, perhaps, especially in the audio department, but not bad under the circumstances. Here it is, for your viewing enjoyment.

The phone hasn’t rung yet, and since I know they are casting a wide net, I don’t really expect it to. Still, it is great fun even to be in consideration for something like that.

And I'm ready for that close-up any time, Mr. DeMille.

Victor Dowd

2010-05-19T10:37:00.000-07:00

It is my sad duty to report that Ghost Army veteran Victor Dowd passed away this week at age 89. Victor was a sergeant in Company D the 603rd Camouflage Engineers, the visual deception arm of the Ghost Army.

Victor was a wonderfully engaging storyteller who shared with us many tales of his Ghost Army experiences. He was part of the first contingent of the Ghost Army to land in France in June of 1944, and he never forgot the moment he learned he was headed to France:

I broke the news this morning to Bernie Mason, who served with him in Company D, and his anguished words brought tears to my eyes: “He was such a great kid.” They were boys, just boys, and now they’re boys in old men’s clothes. One by one they are leaving us. And I feel the weight of the responsibility to make sure their story is properly remembered.

Victor was a talented artist who filled his wartime notebooks with carefully rendered sketches. "I did hundreds of drawings. It isn't as though we weren't busy. But you have to realize, no matter how busy a soldier is, there's always down time. Soldiers are playing cards, they're shooting craps, they're playing solitaire if they’re all alone, they’re reading. And I drew. I just developed the habit, and I don't think it’s ever left me." His wartime drawings included bombed out buildings, refugee children, and girls in a brothel outside of Paris.

He had a wide and varied art career after the war. He did some comic books with Stan Lee (creator of Spiderman) at Marvel Comics. Eventually he got into advertising illustration. He illustrated 20 books, and also spent 15 years as a fashion illustrator. "So my whole life has been drawing. And it’s been a good one.”

Goodbye, Victor.

Here’s a link to a brief obituary.

First Shot Award

2010-05-05T08:08:00.000-07:00

Being nominated for a prestigious award, then losing out in the medal competition, is something you can view two ways. You can be pleased at what you accomplished, or disappointed that you didn't do better. While my natural inclination is to go with the latter, I'm going to strike the more optimistic note.

First Shot: The Day the Revolution Began, the film I wrote and directed for the Lexington Historical Society, was honored with a Finalist Certificate at the 2010 New York Festivals Film and Television Awards.

Competition at this years festival was very stiff, with entries from thirty-five countries around the globe. One of the films that beat us out for a medal in our category was a film for the London Science Museum filled with special effects and starring academy award winner Sir Ben Kingsley. (It also ended up being a Grand Trophy Winner for best Humanities film.) I have to admit that we didn't have the budget or star power they did, although I hasten to add that Timothy John Smith did a FABULOUS job as John Adams, and I'm going to say right now that if a casting session ever comes down to Tim Smith vs. Ben Kingsley....uh, I'll get back to you on that.

Kudos to Director of Photography Richard Klug, Narrator Marilyn Rea Beyer, Composer Matt Mariano, hair and makeup artist Joe Rossi, the Lexington Historical Society, The Lexington Minute Men, the 10th Regiment of Foot and all the other people who helped make this film a success.

der Gummiarmee

2010-04-21T13:17:00.000-07:00

Spiegel Online has just posted a story about The Ghost Army on their website. It mentions the film, and also features a video and a number of photos I provided, as well as frequent links to the Ghost Army website.

I took great delight in the title of the article: Aufmarsch der Gumiarmee. (Deployment of the Rubber Army). It reminded me of a scene in The Longest Day that was a big hit when I watched with my children. The German officers are amazewd to discover the Allies have been dropping dummy parachutists (gummipoppen) to deceive them. And they just keep repeating that word gummipoppen...

Gummi humor aside, my hope is that the article will help me make connections to explore the German perspective on The Ghost Army. I have already contacted the German military history professor quoted in the article, and I also plan to watch their comments board pretty carefully. The author of the article says that they usually get at least a million hits on an article like this, so my fingers are crossed that there will be some interesting and useful response

"In Their Own Words"

2010-04-17T10:42:00.000-07:00

Very excited about this year's performance of "In Their Own Words" Sunday night at 8. New lighting plot, a couple of new cast members, and a brand new wig for me--what could be better! If you're in the area, come on out to hear the rebels and redcoats tell their story. The family-friendly program takes place at 8:00 P.M. at Pilgrim Congregational Church at 55 Coolidge Ave., in Lexington. There is plenty of parking, and it is quite near the Hancock-Clarke House, where Paul Revere’s arrival in Lexington will be re-enacted at 11:30 P.M. that same night. Tickets are $7 for adults, $ for children, and will be available at the door. For more information call 781–862–1703 or go to www.lexingtonhistory.org

TUnguska doc to air on Thursday Night

2010-04-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

The Tunguska documentary airs on National Geographic Channel Thursday night at 8 ET. The network gave it the wonderfully breathless title Expedition Apocalypse . If you like mysterious explosions and trekking Siberia in the summer, this is the snow for you. Swamps, mosquitoes, and bears, oh my!

Thanks to all the scientists who patiently explained their work (sometimes over and over). A shout-out to Director of Photography Extraordinaire Scott Simper, who made the Tunguska trek with me. He won't be watching unless they have cable on Mount Everest--that's where he s now! All hail editor Jon Neuberger who slaved many an hour over a hot stove (I mean an Avid) putting it all together. Thanks also to Bill Lattanzi for his important contributions, and to Dan Levitt at Veriscope Pictures for giving us all the opportunity work on this project. And my greatest appreciation to the many other wonderful people (including Aspasia Daskalopoulou and Kevin Young) and who worked to make this film a reality.

Top Secret Rosies

2010-03-30T14:01:00.000-07:00

As you might imagine, documentaries about top-secret World War II units have a way of catching my eye. Here's an interesting one I came across today, thanks to a twitter from the World War II Museu m.

Top Secret Rosies is the story of six women mathematicians who worked round-the-clock on the ENIAC computer creating ballistics tables that proved crucial to Allied success. I especially love the tagline: "In war, math be the most secret weapon of all." Best of luck to filmmaker LeAnn Erickson.

Interviewing World War II Veterans

2010-03-29T06:20:00.001-07:00

Interesting Boston Globe article on efforts to document the experiences of WWII veterans.

The article says that WWII veterans are dying at a rate of 800 a day. In the four years since I began interviewing Ghost Army veterans, one interviewee has passed away, one has gotten Parkinson's, one has kind of gone off the radar screen, and a couple have moved into nursing homes. The youngest man in the unit is now 85, and a number are over 90. And Because many men who served in visual deception arm of the Ghost Army the unit were older than the average draftee, a smaller percentage are still living.

Ghost Army Activities

2010-03-19T08:26:00.001-07:00

Ann Arbor Screening

I expected maybe 75 or 100 people to attend a screening of the Ghost Army rough cut this week at the University of Michigan's Hatcher Graduate Library. Instead, I watched in astonishment as more than 300 people crowded in for a chance to see the film. Library staff feverishly set up chairs until they ran out, and it was SRO for the screening. There were high school students, college students, faculty and residents--a real mix. My initial anxiety: "Will anyone show up?" was replaced with "Will they start leaving before its over?"

I needn't have worried. Audience response was tremendous, people seemed to really enjoy the film. One of the librarians reported that a teenage girl sitting next to her was texting her friends that they should come and check it out!

Three veterans of the unit, Al Albrecht, Joe Spence, and Mike Demerath came in from Wisconsin and Pennsylvania with their families to attend the screening, and to see the exhibit that is up for the next six weeks at the library. The exhibit uses many of the photos and pieces of art that I have gathered over the last few years, and is beautifully laid out. Worth a visit if you're in the area, and best of all its free! More pictures of the screening and the exhibit can be found at the Ghost Army website.

Thanks to Karen Jordan and her team at the library for doing a wonderful job on both the exhibit, and the screening. Working with them was a tremendous pleasure, which I hope to repeat some time.

Auction

Our online auctions of two wartime sketches by Ghost Army artist George Vander Sluis were a great success. We raised more than $2500 for the film. My thanks goes to the Vander Sluis family, which donated the sketches, and to Bob Gaffney, the victorious bidder in both auctions, for generously supporting the film.

Two Days Left in Auction!

2010-03-16T04:57:00.001-07:00

There are just two days left in the Ebay auction of a second signed wartime sketch by Ghost Army artist George Vander Sluis. Entitled “’Sak as ‘Sophie Tucker’ entertaining the boys,” it is a sketch of fellow Ghost Army artist, Norman Sakowitz, in drag. It was likely sketched during the unit’s time in Luxembourg City, where they staged amateur theatricals to pass the time. It captures some of the spirit of a unit always in the impersonation business!

The auction ends Thursday night, so act now to own a piece of Ghost ARmy histroy.

Ghost Army Anniversary

2010-03-12T03:27:00.000-08:00

Today is the 65th anniversary of the Ghost Army's darkest day. On this day in 1945, two men were killed and 15 others wounded by German artillery in the final moments of a deception mission near Saarlautern Germany. I'd like to take a moment to remember the dead, Capt. Thomas Wells and Sgt. George Peddle, who remind us that the Ghost Army was not just fun and games

Just a week later the unit would commence its most successful mission, Operation Viersen, which deceived the Germans about where the 9th Army would be crossing the Rhine River.

It is perhaps ppropriate that on this anniversary we get a wonderful article(the first of two parts) on The Ghost Army by Nancy Mattoon in the Book Patrol blog Even I learned some stuff reading it! Cant wait to see Part 2.

BTW, we have another signed original Vander Sluis drawing done during World War II up for Auction on Ebay. CHeck it out!

Original Ghost Army Sketch offered for auction

2010-03-01T13:44:00.000-08:00

An original pen-and-ink by Ghost Army artist George Vander Sluis is now being offered for auction on E-Bay to benefit the documentary film "The Ghost Army."

Click here to go to the auction.

This is a signed original sketch of Luxembourg City done in 1944. It was donated by the family of the artist. The 8 by 10 artwork is on ecru paper. Nicely matted with acid free materials, it is unframed, and fits into a standard 11 by 14 frame. (The sketch comes with a brief bio of George Vander Sluis, and a letter of authenticity from Jeff Vander Sluis, George's son.)

The auction will last seven days. Please bid early and often! The winner will make a donation either by credit card (via Paypal) or ebay and receive a receipt allowing them to deduct the purchase (minus $200) from their taxes.

I am not going to put the second sketch ('Sak as Sophie Tucker entertaining the Boys') up for auction until I see how this one works out.

Let the bidding begin!

Ghost Army Rough Cut 1.0

2010-02-20T06:47:00.001-08:00

As of last night at about 7:40 PM, there exists in the world a completed rough cut of the Ghost Army film from beginning to end! Huzzah! Thee is still a great deal of work left to be done, and I've no doubt that the film will change substantially in the weeks and months to come, but nevertheless, I treasure the moment!

Still More Vander Sluis

2010-02-19T09:56:00.000-08:00

Janet Carolyn Freeman sent me some scans from the August 1944 issue of Yank Magazine that contains five sketches of the Normandy town of Trevieres by Ghost Army artist George Vander Sluis. (Janet is the daughter of another Ghost Army veteran, Harold Dahl.) Two of the sketches appear below.

I found these paticularly interesting for two reasons. First off is the fact that we are about to auction off two George Vander Sluis sketches to benefit The Ghost Army documentary, and I've been highlighting some of his work on the blog. And secondly, an entire segment of the documentary takes place in Trevieres, which was one of the first towns that the Ghost Army saw after arriving in France. A number of Ghost Army artists sketched or painted the bombed out church in Trevieres, which Marilyn and I visited a couple of years ago.

Both George Vander Sluis and Harold Dahl are now deceased. George's son Jeff says the family does not know where the originals of these sketches are--perhaps there is a Yank Magazine archive in some Indiana Jones warehouse some place. It would be interesting to know what happened to them.

More on the auction early next week.

Ghost ARmy Passing

2010-02-18T17:31:00.001-08:00

I note the passing of Duvol Bryan Jennings of Marshall Arkansas, who, according to his obituary, served in the Ghost Army. Mr. Jennings was 92, and operated a Dairy farm. I do not know in which part of the 23rd he served. Sadly, I did not come across Mr. Jennings in my researches until I read his obituary.

Two Original Ghost Army Drawings up for Auction

2010-02-09T06:32:00.000-08:00

The family of artist George Vander Sluis has generously donated two of his wartime sketches for an auction to raise funds for the documentary film The Ghost Army – a unique chance for you to own a piece of WWII Ghost Army history.

The two signed 8 x 10 pencil sketches are nicely matted (unframed), each with brief bio of Vander Sluis, and a letter of authenticity from Jeff Vander Sluis, George’s son.

The auction will likely take place online. (Trying to work out the best approach. Suggestions welcome.) Expect details in a couple of weeks. Know someone who might be interested? Please forward this note or send me the person’s email, and I’ll put them on the announcement list. Thanks!

One sketch is a lovely view of Luxembourg’s Old City, where the Ghost Army spent several chilly months. It is dated October 1, 1944. The view from that spot is almost identical today to what it was 65 years ago. (Although the scan of this sketch above is grayscale, both sketches are on ecru paper.)

The other, “Sak as ‘Sophie Tucker’ entertaining the boys,” is a humorous sketch of fellow Ghost Army artist, Norman Sakowitz, in drag. It may have been sketched during the unit’s time in Luxembourg City, where they sometimes staged amateur theatricals to pass the time between missions. It captures some of the spirit of the unit that was always in the impersonation business!

Born in 1915, Vander Sluis was a WPA artist before the war. After serving in the 603rd Camouflage Engineers (the Ghost Army’s visual deception arm) he spent 35 years as an art professor at Syracuse University. His work has been shown at numerous exhibitions, and he became quite well known.

In the 1960's he painted designs on old barns in upstate New York to encourage barn preservation. That effort reported in the New York Times, and according to son Jeff, eventually landed George on the TV game show "To Tell the Truth." He also designed several stamps for the USPS. Vander Sluis died in 1984.

(For previous posts on Vander Sluis see here and here.)

Questions? Please feel free to email rick@ghostarmy.org

From the "Nothing's Changed" Department...

2010-02-04T12:33:00.000-08:00

Copy from an 1852 ad in the New York Times: “Light as an alderman’s responsibility to his constituents, elastic as a politican’s conscience and soft as the honied words of a hope-ful candidate on election day are the Zephyr Under-Vests of Ray and Adams, No. 591 Broadway.” Now that's writing!

Grandfather's Clock

2010-01-26T13:02:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder they call 'em "Grandfather Clocks." The answer isn't exactly blowing in the wind, instead it has to do with a song written in 1876. While researching this topic today for my new book, The Greatest Music Stories Never Told, I came across this wonderful 1905 recording of the song by the Edison Male Quartet. I found it at UCSD's Cylinder Preservation an Digitization Project, which has created a digital library of more than 8000 recordings made made on wax cylinders in the early 20th century.

Listen here

Bastogne

2010-01-20T08:49:00.000-08:00

While doing photo research for The Ghost Army, I found this photo of Bastogne, famed as a focal point in the Battle of the Bulge, December, 1944.

Having visited Bastogne in 2008, I recognized the spot as the main town square. Rummaging among my digital photos from that trip, I found this companion piece.

It is the same set of buildings facing the square, from a slightly different angle. The tall yellow building almost all the way over to the left in the color photo is the building on the corner just slightly left of center in the black and white photo above.

The Germans surrounded Bastogne, and demanded the surrender of the besieged American troops. General Anthony McAuliffe, acting commander of the 101st Airbonre, responded with a now-famous one word reply: "Nuts!" Today on the same square seen in both pictures above, you can visit "Cafe Le Nuts."

When are those kids going to learn to spell???

2010-01-18T12:09:00.000-08:00

A newspaper in Indianapolis complained the day after Christmas about how holiday-themed student activities are at least partially to blame for the chronic spelling woes of America's students. Not just at Christmastime, but around Thanksgiving, President's Day, and other holidays.

"The Children are kept so busy learning poems and songs for these occasions and the teachers are so busy hunting up proper material that somehow there is but little time for teaching such an ordinary study as spelling."

Please note carefully the date of the article from the Indianapolis Sentinel: December 26, 1894

I guess the good-old-days had all the same problems we do. If we looked hard enough, I'm sure we could even find some 1890's equivalent of "sexting."

How a single vote can make all the difference

2010-01-18T07:08:00.000-08:00

The forecast is for snow tomorrow, and despite the searing glare of national attention, turnout is expected to be low in the special U.S. Senate race. Which is why it is important once again to tell the story of the 1842 election in which the vote of a small town Indiana resident had reverberations that were felt across the nation…and can still be felt today.

On a sweltering summer afternoon in 1842, Henry Shoemaker was tolling as a hired hand on a farm in Indiana's DeKalb County. Something was nagging at him as he worked, something he was supposed to do, an obligation he had neglected. But what was it? Suddenly, as he later testified, it came to him: this was election day, and he had forgotten to vote. Which was a problem, because he had personally promised his vote to one of the candidates running for state representative, a Democrat named Madison Marsh.

Henry Shoemaker might be forgiven if he considered ducking out on his civic duty, forgotten until the last minute. His was Just one vote, after all, and the polling place was 12 long miles away in Kendallville. But there is no evidence he entertained such thoughts even for a moment. Apparently his vote, or his promise, or perhaps both, were very important to him. So he stopped what he was doing, saddled up a horse and headed off to cast his ballot.

By taking this simple action, he changed the course of history,

When Shoemaker got to the polling place, there was a bit of confusion. (That sort of thing didn’t start with Butterfly ballots in Palm Beach County.) For some reason they didn't have a ticket with all the names of the candidates Shoemaker wanted to vote for. So he took out his knife and cut out names from four different tickets in order to cast his vote. He folded them all together, and put them in the ballot box.

When the votes were counted, the inspector at the polling place threw out Shoemaker’s improvised ticket. Madison Marsh and his opponent Enos Beall, a candidate of the Whig party, wound up dead even at 360 votes apiece. Marsh promptly appealed the decision to throw out Shoemaker’s vote. After numerous hearings and lengthy testimony, the vote was allowed. So Madison Marsh was elected ... by one vote.

At that time, US Senators were elected by state legislators. In January of 1843, Marsh and his fellow Indiana lawmakers convened for just such an election. This too was a very close race. After much maneuvering, Marsh changed his vote on the 6th ballot, thus electing Democrat Edward Hannegan to the United States Senate ... by one vote.

Fast forward to 1846. Relations with Mexico have badly deteriorated. A sharply divided US Senate is debating whether or not to declare war. Democrats are in the majority, and they agree to vote as a unit. But which way will they go? When they caucus, they find themselves pretty much deadlocked. Senator Hannegan is absent. When he is sent for, he casts his vote in favor of war. The Senate declaration of war leads to a US invasion of Mexico. One of the results of that war is that California changes hands from Mexico to the United States. All because of one vote.

If Shoemaker had failed to vote, the race between Marsh and Beall would have wound up a tie, and neither would have been seated until there was a re-election. With one less Democrat in the legislature, Hannegan would have failed in his bid to become Senator, and a Whig would have won instead. Without Hannegan's vote in the Senate, a declaration of war might well have failed to pass. California might still be part of Mexico.

An intriguing set of what ifs.

Henry Shoemaker, of course, had no idea of the course of events he was setting in motion that summer day when he saddled up his horse and rode off toward Kendallville. None of us knows what impact our vote will have. History must decide that years hence. But each vote counts--even if it doesn't end up starting a war. And if you wish to have some hand in your destiny, and the destiny of this nation, the best way you can do that is to make time today to cast

…your one vote.

Franklin, Jefferson, and Beyer

2010-01-13T12:24:00.000-08:00

Researching the glass armonica, the unusual musical instrument invented by Ben Franklin, I came across the following tidbit concerning a Parisian doctor named Beyer (relation status: unknown) and the good Dr. Franklin.

In the winter of 1784/85, a Parisian physician named Beyer approached Franklin with an idea for constructing a kind of glass xylophone, played by means of mechanical hammers controlled by a keyboard. Franklin must have been intrigued by the idea, and gave Beyer his endorsement. Beyer presented a prototype to the Académie des Sciences in the spring of 1785, and received an enthusiastic reception. He then reminded Franklin of his promise to give a name to what the inventor had been calling simply 'the instrument'. Ever frugal, Franklin found a use for his formerly abandoned name, christened it the 'glasschord', and purchased one to take home with him to Philadelphia. Jefferson saw the instrument a week before Franklin left France and found it charming. Its tone was exceptionally sweet, he said, and Jefferson only regretted that its three-octave range was too short.*

Beyers, acoustic, science and music--a long standing tradition!

*This material is from The Glass Armonica website.

Normandy Timeline

2010-01-11T12:58:00.000-08:00

I just came across a fabulous timeline of the Battle of Normandy on the American Battle Monuments Commission website. A terrific WWII resource!

The Menace of Mechanical Music

2010-01-04T14:03:00.000-08:00

I am hard at work on my next book, "The Greatest Music Stories Never Told," and so some of my posts in the coming months will consist of gems turned up in research.

Today's entry is of that character. It is a rant, a raging rearguard action against the dangers of recorded music. It begins like this:

SWEEPING across the country with the speed of a transient fashion in slang or Panama hats, political war cries or popular novels, comes now the mechanical device to sing for us a song or play for us a piano, in substitute for human skill, intelligence, and soul.

So begins this stemwinder of an angry rant, 104 years old, by a man more famous for his marches than his missives: John Philip Sousa. It's great fun to read, both wildly anachronistic and strangely preiscent. As Elijah Wald writes in his book How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'N Roll, "We have long lived in the world Sousa dreaded."

Check it out here.

Vander Sluis REdux

2010-01-03T04:27:00.001-08:00

Two more pictures of George Vander Sluis, courtesy of his son Jeff.

This is George painting the mural mentioned in the post below.

This is George in his workshop, later in life.

George Vander Sluis

2009-12-29T08:00:00.001-08:00

This is a mural for the US Post Office in Rifle, Colorado, done by Ghost Army artist George Vander Sluis. What makes it especially interesting is that it was completed in 1942, shortly before he served in the unit. I don't have too many examples of pre-war work by Ghost Army artists, but Vander Sluis, who was born in 1915, had already started teaching art by the time he joined the Army.

Vander Sluis served in the 603rd Camouflage Engineers, the visual deception arm of The Ghost Army. His son Jeff has been kind enough to share some of his wartime artworks, including the evocative work at right, which is one of my favorites. He also painted a wonderful watercolor of Luxembourg City which is on the Ghost Army website

Vander Sluis went on to spend more than 35 years as an art professor at Syracuse University. His work has been shown at numerous exhbitions, and he became quite well known in the Syracuse area. In the 1960's he began painting designs on barns in upstate New York as a way to encourage barn preservation, an effort that was written up in the New York Times, and which, according to Jeff, eventually landed him on the television show "To Tell the Truth." He also designed several stamps for the USPS. George Vander Sluis died in 1984.

The Greatest Stories Never Told

2009-12-28T07:21:00.000-08:00

This video came up on a Google alert for "The Greatest Stories Never Told." Not my work, but truly a fresh perspective on a familiar event. Hats off to Director/Creator Tim Rogg

Science News Review

2009-12-06T06:59:00.000-08:00

A twitter length review from the magazine Science News: "True stories
about scientists show that the path to innovation is rarely
straight-forward." I'll take it!

WBZ Interview

2009-12-01T18:46:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday I spent a fun-filled hour with Jordan Rich on WBZ-Radio Here is the interview in its entirety. More than enough Rick Beyer for anyone!

NOTE: if this movie does not appear and you are in Explorer, it is due to a recent change in the way Explorer displays (or does not display) Quicktime video. We are currently coding a solution, but in the meantime, you may want to try another browser.

Otto's Dream

2009-11-20T09:47:00.000-08:00

An experiment in storytelling...let me know what you think!

Sunday Radio Alert

2009-11-20T06:47:00.000-08:00

Earlybirds and night-owls, this Sunday is your chance to hear me spinning tails from my latest book The Greatest Science Stories Never Told.

Sunday morning at 6 AM ET I will be appearing on Boston Sunday Review, on WBZ-FM with Mat Schaffer. Sunday Night at 11 PM ET I will be appearing on The Jordan Rich Show on WBZ-AM. It's a "BZ" day--get it? Of course you do. Mat and Jordan are two old friends, I've been on both shows several times, and it is always great fun. Lucky for me, Mat's show is taped the day before so I don't actually have to burnt the candle at both ends. If you aren't in the Boston area you can listen in to both shows online. Jordan's show is a call in--so please do!

Civil War Correspondents Memorial

2009-11-06T05:27:00.000-08:00

Evan Haning at WTOP Radio in Washington DC sent me some very cool photographs of an intriguing and little-known Civil War monument in Gathland Park just outside Burkittsville, MD.

It is the Civil War Correspondents Memorial, ereceted in 1896 by a man named George Alfred Townsend on an estate he bought there. It commemorates 157 artists and reporters who covered the Civil War. Townsend was himself a Civil War reporter (many consider him the youngest correspondet covering the war) who wrote under the pen-name "Gath, derived from adding an "h" to his initials. Townsend later became a successful novelist, and eventually grew rich enough to buy a large tract of land in 1884 and start building a baronial estate in the area known as Crampton's Grap. The memorial is one of many buildings he designed and had built. His former estate is now a Maryland State Park.

Evan says that Townsend built a huge house and many other buildings on the site, including a tomb that was supposed to be his final resting place, but apparently he ran out of money in the process. Obviously this monument was something he felt was pretty important, and given that the Civil War in many ways gave birth to modern war-reporting, it is fitting to remember the folks who made it happen. I was tickled to find out about it. The park isn't terribly far from the Antietam battlefield, and definitely seems worth checking out to anyone visiting the area.

Lo and Behold

2009-11-03T08:47:00.000-08:00

Mega Publisher HarperCollins has 21 new titles coming out today including books by Barbara Kingsolver, Walter Isaacson, Bill Bryson, Bon Jovi, and yes, Rick Beyer. The Greatest Science Stories Never Told is officially on-sale.

Yay!

I'm a few days late with this story, but last week marked the 40th anniversary of the first transmission sent across the internet, a story told in the new book. The date was October 29th, 1969. Programmers at UCLA prepared to log onto a computer at Stanford. (The two universities were he first nodes on ARPANET, which eventually morphed into the internet.) Internet pioneer Len Kleinrock actually re-enacted the moment for me when I visited him at UCLA a few years ago. As we stood next to the IMP (Internet Message Processor) that was the first computer on the Internet, he recalled what happened:

Charlie Klein with a headset and a microphone, connected over this network, with a voice line to the fellow at the other end. Charlie typed the L, said, “Did you get the L?” The other guy said, “I got the L.” He typed the o. “Did you get the o?” “I got the o.” He typed in the g. Crash. So the first message on the Internet was lo . . . as in “Lo and Behold.”

Science Stories Preview

2009-10-28T06:32:00.000-07:00

Harper Collins is offering a preview of the new book, you can browse through to read the introduction and the first few stories.

Also, there are a couple of days left to register to win a free copy at goodreads.com. To find out more, click here.

Book Talk Thursday 10/22 at Newton Free Library

2009-10-21T18:29:00.001-07:00

At the Library - Newton, Massachusetts - Newton TAB

Posted using ShareThis

Smoki and Dick Redux

2009-10-20T12:17:00.000-07:00

I did the first interview for the new book today, with Smoki Bacon and Dick Concannon--the fourth time I've had the delightful experience of being on their show, The Literati Scene. As usual we taped at the Swan Cafe at the Park Plaza Hotel, and had lunch afterwards with the other guests. And as usual, it was a fascinating and electic collection:

Robin Abrahams, who writes the "Miss Conduct" column for the Boston Globe (being interviewed by Smoki in the picture above.)

Mystery writer Toni Kelner

Linda Nathan, educator and author, founding princial of the Boston Arts Academy, and author of The Hardest Questions Aren’t on the Test: Lessons from an Innovative Urban School.

James Schwartz, author of In Pursuit of the Gene

Our lunchtime conversation ranged over everything from Smoki's experiences working at Bolt, Beranek and Newman in the 1950's to Afghanistan/Vietnam analogies. The interview will air in a few weeks, I'll post details in the appropriate places when I know them!

Fade to Black

2009-10-17T14:23:00.000-07:00

With The Greatest Science Stories Never Told coming out in a few short weeks, I thought I would highlight a few stories from the book in the coming days.

The bewhiskered fellow at left is named Louis Aimé Augustin Le Princ, and he might have earned everlasting fame as the inventor of the movie camera, if he hadn’t disappeared into thin air after getting on board the 2:42 train to Paris.

Le Prince was actually making movies well before Thomas Edison or the Lumière Brothers had a working a camera. by 1890 had worked out all the basics for a system to shoot and project film. Knowing that he was in a race against time with other inventors, he decided to head to New York to exhibit his invention. But first he went back to France to take care of some business and visit his brother in Dijon. On September 16, 1890, he left for Paris, waving good-bye to his brother as the train pulled out of the station.

He was never seen again.

Foul play? Suicide? A bizarre accident? Le Prince’s family suspected foul play, but never laid their hands any proof. Others have theorized that he might have committed suicide. In 2003, an 1890 photo of a drowned man resembling Le Prince turned up in the Paris Police archives. Mysterious tragedy continued to dog the family: two years after testifying in the Edison patent case, Le Prince’s son was found shot dead on Long Island.

The very earliest film that we know about is a short film made by Le Prince in October of 1888. It takes place in the garden of Le Prince’s in-laws, in a town called Roundhay, a suburb of Leeds, England. Don’t blink—its only two seconds long.

Its quite an amazing artifact, the two second film-clip that is the grandaddy of 'em all. It is one of an array of “forgotten firsts” covered in the new book —like the first photograph (not taken by DaGuerre) the first telephone (not invented by Alexander Graham Bel)l, the first light bulb (also not invented by Edison) and...well, you get the idea.

When I found the film, I also came upon an utterly bizarre and completely delightful parody of it that you can see here:

Let me know what you think: about Louis LePrince, the film, or the parody.

And remember: history is too much fun to leave to historians.

Random Thoughts on Obama's Nobel

2009-10-09T08:32:00.000-07:00

1) Congratulations Mr. President!
2) This would be a really good opportunity to flex that humility muscle.
3) Here's a sign, for anyone paying attention, at just how deeply angry and disgusted the rest of the world has been at the attitude of the US government over the last decade or three.
4) "Take that, Bill and Hill!!" (Oops, mistake, see 2)
5) Instead of being cynical about Obama's approach, or this gobb-smacking surprise, perhaps we can all hope and pray that the new tone Obama is setting will help our troubled world move towards solving some of the vexing problems that face it. If it isn't too hard.
6) Media play of the Letterman scandal is now officially over.
7) Round the clock monitoring of Glenn Beck's blood pressure should begin immediately and continue for at least the next month.
8 ) Don't get all pouty, Al, you still get to keep yours.
9) Next stop: Physics and Chemistry. Go for that mega-rare trifecta!
10) I earnestly hope the rest of your day goes just as well, Mr. President, although I secretly suspect it peaked before you woke up.
--

Science Serendipity

2009-10-07T12:07:00.000-07:00

'Tis the season of Nobel Prizes being announced, and it has me thinking about the role of serendipity in science.

Take Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson. All they were really trying to do was locate the source of the hiss in their radio telescope because it seemed to be interfering with their observations. They did everything from the pigeon droppings to taking the whole thing apart, cleaning every piece, and putting it back together. Eventually they stumbled on the fact that the hiss didn't originate in the telescope--it was coming from space, and was itself proof of the Big Bang theory.

Voila, Nobel.

Or there's Alexander Fleming, who neglected to clean up his lab when he went on vacation, and returned to find mold growing in his petrie dishes. He was throwing a bunch of them out when he came across one dish where the mold had killed the bacteria he was growing. That proved interesting enough that he wanted to examine it in more detail. The result was the discovery of penicillin, and yes, another Nobel Prize.

While we're on this subject, it is astonishing the number of inventions that were stumbled upon by accident. Teflon, velcro, the X-ray, safety glass, and saccharin to name just a few.

As Fleming himself put it, "One sometimes finds what one is not looking for."

For anyone looking for more on these and little-known tales of discovery and invention , please check out my forthcoming book

Facebook Page

2009-10-02T05:29:00.000-07:00

I've just launched a Facebook page for The Greatest Stories Never Told series. There's a quiz based on the forthcoming science book. I'm still a bit of a neophyte on this Facebook biz, so I would appreciate any feedback you have to offer.

Check it out here.

Song of Siberia

2009-10-01T13:02:00.000-07:00

I awoke on the floor of a rough-hewn cabin, sandwiched in with seven other sleeping bodies. My hands were swollen with dozens of mosquito bites. The door was barricaded to protect us from the predatory bear circling outside. Just another morning in Siberia, at the site of the cataclysmic yet mystifying Tunguska explosion of 1908.

I made this trip in July, but haven't had a change to write about it until now. Cameraman Scott Simper, translator David Burghardt and I went to document the efforts of several scientific teams investigating the Tunguska blast of 1908. It was an amazing journey just to get there, traveling across 12 time zones on a dizzying array of flights, the last of an hour-long ride sprawled on top of luggage and equipment in a Soviet era MI-8 helicopter.

When it dropped us off at Lake Cheko, and flew off into the distance, we were truly alone.

After several days scientists studying the Lake for clues, we set off on a 10 kilometer hike to Mount Stoikovich, near the epicenter of the Tunguska blast.What looked easy on the map turned into an exhausting eight hour bushwack that took us into numerous swamps (ice cold water up to our knees) through nearly impenetrable thickets, across raging rivers and over spongy peat bogs.

When we arrived we discovered that a Siberian brown bear, a close relation to the grizzly, was terrorizing the camp, tearing up tents and trying to get into the food. We all crammed into two cabins built by Russian scientist Leonid Kulik on his early expeditions in the 1920’s. The only problem was balancing the urgency of a nighttime call of nature with the fear of bear. Fear won, at least until dawn.

Many people have asked about the bugs, and yes they were awful. The billions of hungry mosquitoes fill the air with a constant whine I refer to as the Song of Siberia, and conduct a never-ending effort to eat you alive. Hence the "Bug Shirts" that we wore, with a netted hood built in.

On one occasion cameraman Scott Simper slapped the back of an exposed hand and then plucked off the corpses of 22 mosquitoes he had killed with the single swipe, a personal record.

For all it’s harshness, Siberia is full of beauty and mystery. There are still traces of the mysterious explosion that blew down all the trees 100 years ago (like the upended tree above, with its roots sticking in the air.) In early July it never really gets dark, and the noctilucent clouds over Lake Cheko at 2 AM, with the fog rushing in off the Kimchu river, is a sight to remember.

Down at Churgim Falls, the river cuts through hundreds of feet of basalt lava, exposing millions of years of geology and creating a spectacular view. So it was with some regret that I watched the helicopter coming in ten days later. I was glad to be heading home, but sorry to leave this remote wilderness that few will ever be lucky enough to visit.

The Pres and I

2009-09-09T13:50:00.001-07:00

A savvy online shopper points out that The History Channel is marketing Barrack and I together.

How come he always gets top billing?

http://shop.history.com/detail.php?p=83383&v=history_subject_us-history&pagemax=all

The Greatest Science Stories Never Told

2009-08-23T17:45:00.000-07:00

Here's a sneak peak the final cover for my forthcoming book, "The Greatest Science Stories Never Told." The color scheme has gone through a few changes, and I am delighted with the final result.

So what kind of stories will you find behind that cover? Envision, if you can, a flatcar full of trumpeters, all playing the same note as their train rolls past the station. Or a 20 year-old mathematician desperately pouring all his ideas out on paper the night before the duel that will end his career and his life. Or the researcher who awakes from a dream that could win him the Nobel Prize--except for the fact that he can't remember one bit of it.

Those are three scenes from stories in the book, which focuses on inventions and discoveries, and covers the gamut from Archimedes to Zamboni. As we get closer to publication, I will share a few stories and photos from the book in this space.

All Deliberate Speed

2009-06-10T15:49:00.000-07:00

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s comment that July 13th may be too soon to begin confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor led me to wonder how long it took to confirm some of the distinguished figures who have sat on the court.

John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was confirmed two days after his nomination. Chief Justice John Marshall, perhaps the most important and controversial figure in Supreme Court History, was confirmed 15 day after his nomination by lame-duck president John Adams. Former President William Howard Taft was confirmed as Chief Justice the same day he got the nod (no need, apparently, to delve into his extensive record as a public servant), while more recently, Warren Burger was confirmed 10 days after he was appointed by Richard Nixon. Then there’s Oliver Wendell Holmes—2 days; Felix Frankfurter—12 days; William O. Douglas—15 days.

Virtually all of these appointments took place without any kind of hearings, and every single one of them took place without the spectacle of the nominee being grilled by a Senate committee. (That particular piece of political Kabuki began with Lyndon Johnson’s attempt to elevate Abe Fortas from Associate Justice to Chief Justice.)

No one would argue that politics was less contentious at the time of these appointments. Nor do I think you can make much of a case that the trial by fire that nominees of both parties have faced in modern times has led to judges of superior breadth and intellect. Maybe the old way is worth reconsidering.

Movie Poster

2009-06-01T12:40:00.000-07:00

The Day The Revolution Began--Last Shoot Day

2009-05-03T08:53:00.000-07:00

Tuesday April 28th was the last shoot day on “The Day The Revolution Began,” a film for the Lexington Historical Society which tells the story of the events leading up to the Battle of Lexington on April 19th, 1775. We were hoping for good weather, and what we got was the one day this month that the mercury shot into the 90’s. It was beautiful shooting weather, but a bit tough on the folks sweating it out in colonial attire. Nonetheless, they all showed true grit working through the heat—especially when it came to the big fire scene!

The first scene of the day was a re-enactment of a 1769 spinning bee that took place just off Lexington Green, where women were making homespun as part of the boycott of British imports. 45 women attended the original bee, but we made do with about a dozen. We had five “real” spinners (and one weaver) up front, then another group of “pretend” spinners behind them. The spinners up front brought their own wheels, and then we decked out the scene with some fabulous spinning wheels and spinning accoutrement that Elaine Doran dug out of the Lexington Historical Society vault. Director of Photography Richard Klug ounted the dolly and we got rolling.

(FYI, all pictures here are courtesy of the talented Harry Forsdick. Thanks Harry!)

After shooting sequences with Reverend Jonas Clarke and Captain John Parker (above), came the big fire scene. On December 13, 1773, three days before the Boston Tea party, the people of Lexington burned all their tea in a common bonfire, and approved a stirring resolution that declared “We shall be ready to Sacrifice our Estates, and everything dear in Life, Yea & Life itself, in Support of the Common Cause.”

Ever since we started working on the film I’ve been looking forward to shooting this scene—and worrying about how to pull it off.

The planning for this shot ended up being a model of community co-operation. The Lexington Conservation Commission cheerfully allowed us to build the fire and shoot the scene on the Chiesa Farm Conservation land, a wonderful piece of property that has been used as farmland for centuries, and retains much of its colonial look. (Special thanks to John Chiesa for his help in picking a great spot for the fire.) The two Boy Scout Troops in Lexington (Troops 160 and 119) volunteered to build the bonfire, while the Lexington Fire Department graciously agreed to monitor the fire and put it out. And Peet's Coffee and Tea generously donated ten pounds of loose tea for our colonists to throw on the fire.

When we arrived on the scene, the Boy Scouts had built a huge pyre that reached to the sky, and looked big enough to do a human sacrifice scene in an Indiana Jones movie. We gently suggested it was a bit large, and they enthusiastically went to work downsizing it. The wind was picking up, and when the firemen arrived, they told us that the National Weather Service had issued a “Red Flag” warning that conditions were ripe for explosive growth of brush fires.

We were very glad they were on hand.

Since the scene was supposed to take place in December, our brave re-enactors bundled up in greatcoats, mufflers, and blankets. The Boy Scouts lit the fire and it went up in a flash (they are Boy Scouts, after all.) The fire was still pretty big, and it got so hot that the re-enactors had trouble standing close enough for us to do the shots. “Get closer,” I would shout. “We can’t, it’s singing our eyebrows!” they would yell back. The winds swirled embers toward the camera, and grass near the pyre began to burn. I have to say the calmest people out there were the firemen, who kept saying “It’s not a problem.”

We got our shot, and then the firemen used the occasion to demonstrate brush firefighting techniques to the Boy Scouts, letting them using the hoses etc. As I said, a model of community co-operation, and everybody benefited. (Special kudos to the Boy Scouts, who came back the next day and cleaned up the fire debris!)

In the evening (not having done enough already) we shot the arrival of Paul Revere at the Hancock Clarke House, including a wonderful interior shot with Reverend Jonas Clarke, Paul Revere, William Dawes, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Mrs Clarke, Dolly Quincy, and several Clark children.

Thanks to all the re-enactors for their patience and commitment, especially Peter Meek, who performed admirably while struggling with some kind of bug or food poisoning that sapped his energy but not his spirit. Thanks also to the East Village Condo Association; the Lexington Fire Department; The Lexington Police Department; The Lexington Conservation Commission; The National Lancers; Troops 119 and 160; Peet's Coffee and Tea; and my terrific crew, for making this day a success.

Note: The film, which will serve as an orientation to visitors to Lexington, will be completed by early June.

Ben Folds Presents University A cappella on NPR

2009-04-26T15:55:00.000-07:00

NPR did an interview tonight with Ben Folds on his new "Ben Folds Presents University a cappella" CD. This is the CD that features college a cappella groups doing covers of Folds' songs. One of the groups on the CD is the CU Bufoons, of which Andy Beyer is a member. The Buffoons didnt make it into the NPR piece, but it does provide an overview of why Folds took on the project, as well as cuts from some of the other groups.

Here's a link.

A Glorious Evening for "In Their Own Words"

2009-04-21T08:05:00.001-07:00

The Lexington Historical Society’s annual production of “In Their Own Words” was a stunning success Sunday night—at least for the people who got in!

We changed to a larger venue this year, Pilgrim Church, and made a concerted effort to attract people from outside Lexington to come and hear our story. More than 300 people packed the church, and we had to turn away another 30 or 40. I have to say we were astounded by the turnout. We were all so proud that so many people wanted to hear the real story, told in the actual words of 28 men and women who were there.

The show was very well received, we were showered with positive comments. (These pictures are from the run-through right before the actual performance.) The cast did an excellent job, (thanks in part to the wonderful direction from Marilyn Rea Beyer.)

Best story of the night: Tom Fortmann was so persuasive as Reverend Jonas Clarke that someone from a local church approached him afterward to suggest that that he apply for their open position as minister.(Sadly, Tom is not a man of the cloth, so this opportunity will have to go unpursued.)

The real minister in the cast was Reverend Judy Brain, who made her debut as the narrator.
In a last minute cast substitution, Sam Doran performed admirably as a Redcoat alongside the inimitable Lincoln Clark, and that consumate British officer, Paul O’Shaughnessy, Commander of the 10th Regiment of Foot. (Special thanks to Mike Coppe, who, while coping with a family crisis, took the time to make sure Sam was outfitted for the show. )

Ben Cohen took the stage as Paul Revere. Richard Thorne, John Dennis, and I were militiamen. (John drew a notable gasp from the crowd when he told the story of Jonas Parker being bayoneted on the green. I got a decent laugh on my "And then....I ran away" line.) Carla Fortmann, Jane Morse, and Marsha Baker reprised their roles as the women of Lexington.

Drum rolls by Jordan Blackington and traditional tunes on dulcimer by Gail Rundlett punctuated the performance. Elaine and Guy Doran as well as the Bennett-Rosenberg (or is it Rosenberg-Bennett?) families contributed mightily as well. And we can't forget Peet's Coffee & Tea, which supplied the Java for the psot-performance mingle. HUZZAH!

Facing Failure

2009-04-13T15:20:00.000-07:00

I spent some time working on a History Channel project concerning The Civil War, and it has left me pondering what Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee can teach us about dealing with failure.

Grant, of course, was a famous failure. After graduating from West Point and serving in the US Army during the war against Mexico, his life became one long litany of failure. He was forced to resign his commission in disgrace because of heavy drinking. He failed as a storekeeper, a farmer, and a tanner. At one point he was penniless and nearly homeless.

Then, of course, the Civil War broke out, and the trajectory of Grant’s life took as dramatic a turn as one can imagine. It turned out that commanding an army in combat was the one thing that Grant could do extraordinarily well. “I can’t spare this man” Lincoln told a visitor who advised that he fire Grant. “He fights.” Eventually he became the commander of the entire US Army, the man who won the war.

Grant teaches us that no matter how we fail, no matter how many times we fail, be it once, or twice, or ten times, that we still have the potential to succeed at something else Grant could have given himself up to the comfort of the bottle, something he enjoyed from time to time. He could have withdrawn from the world and lived out his days as an angry, bitter man. Instead, he showed us that under the right set of circumstances, accumulated failures can be overcome and success can be achieved.

Lee, of course, is a different story. He, in fact, was a success from the very beginning. After graduating number two in his class at West Point, he also served with distinction in the Mexican War. He so demonstrated his talent during his years in the military that when the Civil War broke out, both sides wanted him as an army commander, He went with the Confederacy and won a series of extraordinary victories against larger and better equipped armies. He became known as “Mars Robert, “ (Mars being the god of war) and was viewed then (as he is now) as a military genius.

Yet Lee failed. He failed to win the war in the south. And while others might be loath to blame the loss on him, he certainly was willing to heap blame on himself. After the battle of Gettysburg, he greeted the battered survivors of Pickett’s charge with the words. ”Its all my fault.” Following the battle he asked to be relieved of command because he felt inadequate to the task.

Lee shows us that the manner in which one deals with failure can lend a certain grace. He continued to lead the Army of Northern Virginia for two years through terribly difficult circumstances. He went on to become a college president, and worked hard to lead his fellow southerners in reconciling with the north.

One thing Lee and Grant shared—one wonders if each saw it in the other—was an unwillingness to let failure define them. Each man in his own way was a master at putting past failures, or fear of failure, completely out of his mind, and moving forward as best he could, one step at a time. Good lessons for us all.

Landed

2009-03-28T12:09:00.001-07:00

Some exciting news regarding my son Andy Beyer, CU Boulder student, musician, and Youtube throat singing sensation. Andy is a member of the CU Buffoons, the all-male a cappella group at CU Boulder, and they are featured on a new album conceived and produced by Indie Rocker Ben Folds. The album is called Ben Folds Presents:University a Cappella! and is currently available for pre-order at Amazon.com.

Intrigued to discover the wealth of college a cappella groups (more than a thousand in the US alone), and further surprised to discover how many of them were covering his songs, Folds decided produce an album gathering the best of these performances. He solicited demos and got more than 250. He picked 15 groups to record, and then travelled the country doing so. The album is being released by Epic Records April 28th, and also features a couple of Folds' own a cappella renditions of his work.

Congratulations to Andy and the Buffoons, and Kudos to Ben Folds for doing this. Mu understanding is that some or allof the proceeds will go to charity, but I haven't seen any details.

Here's the story from Ben Folds' website

Here's a news story on the Buffoons participation from ColoradoDaily.com

Here are the Buffoons in the studio from last November. Andy is hard to see, in the back, third or fourth from the left, partially obscured.

If you want to see/hear Ben doing the song, here's a link.

More Buffoons Videos here.

One man's demimonde is another man's Demi Moore

2009-03-28T11:45:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine (Thanks Ned!) gave me a clipping (actual paper!) from a New York Times article on documentarymaker Michel Auder. It contains the following description of his lifestyle: "Jaunts to Paris and Morocco, sex, drugs and bonhomie with members of the avant-garde, the jet set and the demi-monde."

My first thought: "Clearly I got into documentary filmmaking at the wrong time.:

My second thought "Hey, that's a pretty good description of my life--as long as you keep in mind that the drug in question is lipitor, the sex is monogamous, and I get my demi-monde mixed up with my demi-tasse; which one do I have an espresso from? Oh yes, and I've never been to Morocco, though I can recall being on the phone at 3 AM trying to speak bad French to someone in Rabat negotiating on behalf of my camera crew, which was being refused permission to shoot in Casablanca. How gloriously glamorous!"

My third thought: "What does this Auder fellow have that I lack." A perusal of the article made it clear: a "seductive, half-mumbled French accent" and an "uncontrollable appetetite for sex (and) heroin." Oh, and he's "subtle and canny." Ah, well, back to the salt mines for me.