Bad Man Otto Wood: This Date in History

[donbosco]

In that episode with Sammy Davis Jr., the neighbors, The Jefferson's, had a son named, IIRC, Lionel. And Lionel said in describing Archie Bunker to the Sammy Davis, Jr., "Oh Archie isn't a bad sort. He wouldn't burn a cross in your front yard. But if someone else did, he'd roast marshmallows over it."

ETA: Actual dialog as found on IMDB:
Lionel: He's not a bad guy Mr. Davis. I mean like, he'd never burn a cross on your yard.
Sammy Davis, Jr.: No, but if he saw one burning, he's liable to toast a marshmallow on it.

Lionel was played by Mike Evans who was born in Salisbury, NC. He got out young though and his family moved to Los Angeles. He died young at 57 in 2006. He did attend Palmer Memorial Institute in Sedalia before moving west. PMI has a very interesting story all of its own as an elite AFAM prep school outside of Greensboro.

Mike Evans (actor) - Wikipedia


Palmer Memorial Institute is now a museum and a state historic site:

Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum | NC Historic Sites

Founded in 1902 by Dr. Charlotte Hawkins Brown, Palmer Memorial Institute transformed the lives of more than 2,000 African American students.

historicsites.nc.gov

 

[donbosco]

I have a cousin my same age who lived in New Jersey. Neither one of us were allowed to have comic books, except once a year. Every summer he would come south and spend two weeks at our grandparents home. Not only did this home have a stash of comics that were absolutely off limits the other 50 weeks of the year, but those two weeks during the summer were the only time either of us were allowed to buy comics. So both of us would save money all year anticipation of his summer trip South. And we would gorge on comics the entire two weeks. Re-reading old ones and buying a few new ones to expand the existing cache. As well worn as all those comics were, I bet none of them would be worth even face value today, even if they hadn't been thrown away decades ago.

I had Yankee cousins in New Jersey who seemed to live in Comic Book Paradise...they always had so many issues of so many different series both Marvel and DC and even Charlton. I lived for trips to the big town of Siler City and Teague's Coffee Shop where my Aunt Lila would let me purchase comics (remember 80-page Giants!). When I started buying they were 12 cents but those 80-pagers were a quarter.

 

[grimes70]

1942 American industrialist Henry Ford patented plastic automobile construction.

 

[05C40]

1942 American industrialist Henry Ford patented plastic automobile construction.

"One word, . . ., UHMWPE, also know as, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene.

 

[grimes70]

1932 Racing Hall of Fame jockey Eddie Arcaro wins his 1st race at Agua Caliente racetrack in Tijuana, Mexico - aged 16 years

Eddie Arcaro (born Feb. 19, 1916, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.—died Nov. 14, 1997, Miami, Florida) was an American jockey who was the first to ride five Kentucky Derby winners and two U.S. Triple Crown champions (winners of the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes). In 31 years of riding Thoroughbreds (1931–61), he won 549 stakes events, a total of 4,779 races, and more than $30,000,000 in purses. On Feb. 20, 1958, at Santa Anita Race Track in California, he became the third jockey (after Sir Gordon Richards and Johnny Longden) to achieve 4,000 victories.

Arcaro won the Kentucky Derby five times (1938, 1941, 1945, 1948, 1952), the Preakness six times (1941, 1948, 1950–51, 1955, 1957), and the Belmont six times (1941–42, 1945, 1948, 1952, 1955). He rode Whirlaway to Triple Crown honours in 1941, and Citation in 1948. He established a record of $645,145 earned by one horse (Citation) in a single season. In 1960–61, at the end of his career, Arcaro teamed with the horse Kelso to win several major stakes. After his retirement, he became a television sports commentator.

 

[Icky Mettle]

Lionel was played by Mike Evans who was born in Salisbury, NC. He got out young though and his family moved to Los Angeles. He died young at 57 in 2006. He did attend Palmer Memorial Institute in Sedalia before moving west. PMI has a very interesting story all of its own as an elite AFAM prep school outside of Greensboro.

Mike Evans (actor) - Wikipedia


Palmer Memorial Institute is now a museum and a state historic site:

Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum | NC Historic Sites

Founded in 1902 by Dr. Charlotte Hawkins Brown, Palmer Memorial Institute transformed the lives of more than 2,000 African American students.

historicsites.nc.gov

Interestingly, Lionel’s love interest and eventual wife on The Jeffersons, Helen, was played by Berlinda Tolbert, who was born and raised in Charlotte and attended the NC School of the Arts. She actually grew up a few blocks from where I grew up, though in a different era. She lives in Charlotte now and is active in the community.

 

[grimes70]

Fiery hot molasses floods the streets of Boston on January 15, 1919, killing 21 people and injuring scores of others. The molasses burst from a huge tank at the United States Industrial Alcohol Company building in the heart of the city.

The United States Industrial Alcohol building was located on Commercial Street near North End Park in Boston. It was close to lunch time on January 15 and Boston was experiencing some unseasonably warm weather as workers were loading freight-train cars within the large building. Next to the workers was a 58-foot-high tank filled with 2.5 million gallons of crude molasses.

Suddenly, the bolts holding the bottom of the tank exploded, shooting out like bullets, and the hot molasses rushed out. An eight-foot-high wave of molasses swept away the freight cars and caved in the building’s doors and windows. The few workers in the building’s cellar had no chance as the liquid poured down and overwhelmed them.


Smashed vehicles and debris sitting in a puddle of molasses on Commercial Street on January 16, 1919, the day after a giant tank in Boston's North End collapsed, sending a wave of more than two million gallons of molasses. The tank was 58 feet high and 98 feet in diameter. It was used to store molasses which eventually was shipped to a distillery in Cambridge.

 

[lawtig02]

Fiery hot molasses floods the streets of Boston on January 15, 1919, killing 21 people and injuring scores of others. The molasses burst from a huge tank at the United States Industrial Alcohol Company building in the heart of the city.

The United States Industrial Alcohol building was located on Commercial Street near North End Park in Boston. It was close to lunch time on January 15 and Boston was experiencing some unseasonably warm weather as workers were loading freight-train cars within the large building. Next to the workers was a 58-foot-high tank filled with 2.5 million gallons of crude molasses.

Suddenly, the bolts holding the bottom of the tank exploded, shooting out like bullets, and the hot molasses rushed out. An eight-foot-high wave of molasses swept away the freight cars and caved in the building’s doors and windows. The few workers in the building’s cellar had no chance as the liquid poured down and overwhelmed them.


Smashed vehicles and debris sitting in a puddle of molasses on Commercial Street on January 16, 1919, the day after a giant tank in Boston's North End collapsed, sending a wave of more than two million gallons of molasses. The tank was 58 feet high and 98 feet in diameter. It was used to store molasses which eventually was shipped to a distillery in Cambridge.

Sweet Jesus. The human tragedy was terrible, but can you imagine the ants???

 

[farce©]

On January 16 1919, Congress ratified the 18th Amendment to make alcohol illegal, ushering in the Prohibition era. The dry spell lasted until 1933, when the amendment was repealed.

 

[donbosco]

The Rest of the Story...

"On May 26, 1908, North Carolina voters approved a prohibition on the sale of alcoholic beverages statewide. North Carolina was the first state in the nation to approve such a measure, and did so by the wide margin of 62 to 38 percent."

North Carolina Voters Approve Prohibition

www.dncr.nc.gov

 

[donbosco]

More on Prohibition in NC (which began 12 years "early").

"What a leading farmer says:
"In the Hopewell section we notice a great benefit since Charlotte has been under Prohibition. Parties who usually come home intoxicated now come home sober. We can send our hands to town without the fear of them coming home drunk and running the mules to death."

Anti-Saloon League of Charlotte, N.C. It Helps Business and Is a Blessing. What Leading Business Men, Bankers, Farmers, Laborers and Others Say about Prohibition in Charlotte, N.C.

 

[grimes70]

1547 Ivan the Terrible was crowned “tsar and grand prince of all Russia.”

Ivan the Terrible (born August 25, 1530, Kolomenskoye, near Moscow [Russia]—died March 18, 1584, Moscow) was the grand prince of Moscow (1533–84) and the first to be proclaimed tsar of Russia (from 1547). His reign saw the completion of the construction of a centrally administered Russian state and the creation of an empire that included non-Slav states. Ivan engaged in prolonged and largely unsuccessful wars against Sweden and Poland, and, in seeking to impose military discipline and a centralized administration, he instituted a reign of terror against the hereditary nobility.

 

[farce©]

More on Prohibition in NC (which began 12 years "early").

"What a leading farmer says:
"In the Hopewell section we notice a great benefit since Charlotte has been under Prohibition. Parties who usually come home intoxicated now come home sober. We can send our hands to town without the fear of them coming home drunk and running the mules to death."

Anti-Saloon League of Charlotte, N.C. It Helps Business and Is a Blessing. What Leading Business Men, Bankers, Farmers, Laborers and Others Say about Prohibition in Charlotte, N.C.

That pamphlet is interesting, with the “leading citizens” promoting the increased prosperity of Charlotte since prohibition took effect. That should be contrasted to the prosperity Charlotte has experienced since “liquor by the drink” became available in 1978.

 

[lawtig02]

That pamphlet is interesting, with the “leading citizens” promoting the increased prosperity of Charlotte since prohibition took effect. That should be contrasted to the prosperity Charlotte has experienced since “liquor by the drink” became available in 1978.

Haha! South End would not exist without liquor by the drink. However, for anyone who has tried to find parking there on a weekend, it's TBD whether that's a good thing or not.

 

[donbosco]

Carolina and State were scheduled for a 9 pm tip in Chapel Hill on January 16, 1991 but the launch of the U.S. and Coalition forces attack on Iraq, dubbed Desert Storm, led UNC and NCSU officials to postpone the game. Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990, requiring but 2 days to occupy that country. A United Nations resolution gave Hussein until January 15, 1991 to renounce their conquest and withdraw their troops from Kuwait. When that did not happen Operation Desert Storm was initiated.



President George H.W. Bush spoke on television at 9:00 pm, announcing the opening of air attacks on Iraq. Bombardment, backed by a 42 nation coalition, began immediately. The 9:05 scheduled game was postponed by 8:00 pm. State was 8-3 and Carolina 13-1 (ranked #5). Both teams were 2-0 in league play. And it was Carolina/State. Tar Heel star Pete Chilcutt’s brother was a Marine and preparing to deploy. Team Captains Rick Fox and King Rice spoke to the Press in support of the postponement and expressed their concern for their teammate and his family. Coach Smith said the action made the game “inconsequential.” Carolina and State went on to play back-to-back, in Raleigh on February 6 (the Wolfpack won at home) and the next night Carolina took a win at home. That year UNC finished in 2nd place in the ACC (10-4) and won the conference tournament and lost to a Roy Williams-led Kansas team in the Final Four.



There was great concern on campus and around the country and world on that January night. Constant war had yet to become the norm. CNN brought the 42-day aerial attack on Baghdad into our homes 24-7. This conflict was the first Video Game War. Concomitantly, the processing of our sensibilities and the packaging of violence as ordinary was only a-borning. And the world was as yet intolerant of authoritarians taking territory by the Right of their Might. The numbness is pervasive of late.

 

[sringwal]

I remember listening to those two games on the radio. I am still angry that we didn’t get the sweep.

 

[donbosco]

I remember listening to those two games on the radio. I am still angry that we didn’t get the sweep.

Lost the first in a close one in Reynolds then crushed them at home 24 hours later.

 

[sringwal]

I believe there was a big snow storm those days.

 

[nycfan]

Carolina and State were scheduled for a 9 pm tip in Chapel Hill on January 16, 1991 but the launch of the U.S. and Coalition forces attack on Iraq, dubbed Desert Storm, led UNC and NCSU officials to postpone the game. Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990, requiring but 2 days to occupy that country. A United Nations resolution gave Hussein until January 15, 1991 to renounce their conquest and withdraw their troops from Kuwait. When that did not happen Operation Desert Storm was initiated.



President George H.W. Bush spoke on television at 9:00 pm, announcing the opening of air attacks on Iraq. Bombardment, backed by a 42 nation coalition, began immediately. The 9:05 scheduled game was postponed by 8:00 pm. State was 8-3 and Carolina 13-1 (ranked #5). Both teams were 2-0 in league play. And it was Carolina/State. Tar Heel star Pete Chilcutt’s brother was a Marine and preparing to deploy. Team Captains Rick Fox and King Rice spoke to the Press in support of the postponement and expressed their concern for their teammate and his family. Coach Smith said the action made the game “inconsequential.” Carolina and State went on to play back-to-back, in Raleigh on February 6 (the Wolfpack won at home) and the next night Carolina took a win at home. That year UNC finished in 2nd place in the ACC (10-4) and won the conference tournament and lost to a Roy Williams-led Kansas team in the Final Four.



There was great concern on campus and around the country and world on that January night. Constant war had yet to become the norm. CNN brought the 42-day aerial attack on Baghdad into our homes 24-7. This conflict was the first Video Game War. Concomitantly, the processing of our sensibilities and the packaging of violence as ordinary was only a-borning. And the world was as yet intolerant of authoritarians taking territory by the Right of their Might. The numbness is pervasive of late.

I was in my car heading up to the game from our apartment when they announced it was officially postponed on the radio.

The postponement led to a back-to-back home and home tilt with State later in the season with the same referee crew. As a result, some mouthing off that Corchiani did at the refs the first night carried over to the start of the second game and Paparro (I think it was) called a technical foul on Corch in like the first minute or two of the game.

 

[nycfan]

I remember listening to those two games on the radio. I am still angry that we didn’t get the sweep.

We were lucky to nearly come back and beat State in the first game in Raleigh.