Remembering The Passed

Remembering Charlotte Rae, Adm. Alene Duerk, Lincoln Brower, Steve Ditko

Charlotte Rae was the brilliant television comedienne, best known for her roles on Diff’rent Strokes (1978-1986) and The Facts of Life (1979-1988). However she created one of the most brilliant characters in the annals of television for a brief run as Sylvia Schnauzer in Car 54, Where Are You? (1961-1963). Adm. Alene Duerk became the first female admiral in the U.S. Navy in 1972. Lincoln Brower was a leader in the study and conservation of monarch butterflies. He documented their migration patterns to Southwestern Mexico and helped saved the forests that shelter the butterfly. Steve Ditko was the reclusive artist who created Spider-Man for Marvel Comics.

Remembering Stan Mikita, Shinobu Hashimoto

Stan Mikita was the great center for the Chicago Blackhawks for 22 years. Pound for pound one of the greatest hockey players ever, Mikita led the Blackhawks to the 1961 Stanley Cup and still holds many team records. He is also credited with developing the curved hockey stick, which is the standard in the game today. Shinobu Hashimoto was the Japanese screenwriter who worked with Akira Kurosawa. Their collaboration led to two of the greatest movies ever made Rashomon (1951) and Seven Samurai (1954).

Remembering Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin came from gospel roots in Detroit and went on to become one of the great voices of our generation. She was dubbed “The Queen of Soul” but she mastered many other vocal idioms including jazz, rock and pop. She was a masterful interpreter of songs by the greatest songwriters of the 20th Century from Irving Berlin to Lennon/McCartney, but her iconic and soulful interpretations of Otis Redding’s “Respect” and the King/Goffin song “Natural Woman” will go down in musical history. Her style has been a profound influence on singers ever since.

Remembering Burton Richter

Burton Richter was awarded one-half of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physics along with Samuel Ting for their discovery of the subatomic J/psi particle. Dr. Burton worked at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and it was there in November of 1974 that he identified a new heavy particle, almost simultaneously with Dr. Ting who was working separately on the East Coast. Their paper, published together, was a breakthrough in particle physics and was dubbed the “November Revolution.”

Remembering Adrian Cronauer, Dr. Milton Edgerton, Frank Ramsey, Eloise Saperstein Berkley

As the Vietnam War intensified in 1965, Adrian Cronauer was the Armed Forces Network disc jockey who was known for his sign-on “Good Morning, Vietnam!” He was memorably portrayed by Robin Williams in the 1987 movie of the same name. Dr. Milton Edgerton was one of the country’s top plastic surgeons, who performed the first transsexual surgery in 1966 at the Johns Hopkins Gender Identity Clinic. Frank Ramsey was a star forward in the early 1950’s at the University of Kentucky under Adolph Rupp and helped create the role of the sixth man for Red Auerbach with the Boston Celtics. Eloise Saperstein Berkley was the daughter of Harlem Globetrotters founder Abe Saperstein. She ran the team after his death in 1966 and carried on his tradition of philanthropy and charity.

Remembering Reinhard Hardegan, Tab Hunter, Eugene Pitt

During World War II, Reinhard Hardegen was the commander of U123, a German U-Boat that stalked the east coast of the United States in 1942. Hardegan was probably the last surviving U-Boat Commander and may have been the first German military officer to see the American mainland in the War. Tab Hunter was the 1950’s heartthrob who starred in the movie version of “Damn Yankees” (1958). His autobiography Tab Hunter Confidential (2005) is one of the best accounts of Hollywood in the 1950’s and Hunter’s difficulties as a closeted gay actor. Eugene Pitt was the founder and lead singer of the Jive Five best known for their 1961 Doo-wop hit “My True Story”.

Remembering Harlan Ellison, Dan Ingram, Yosh Kawano, Sarkis Tashjian

Harlan Ellison was the prolific, but irascible writer, responsible for some of the most familiar short stories and screenplays of the last generation. His work, including memorable episodes of Star Trek, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and Outer Limits, was primarily in the science fiction genre, but he eschewed the label of science fiction writer. At a time when AM radio was in its heyday, Dan Ingram was one of the country’s most popular disc jockeys in the 1960’s and 1970’s, working out of New York City. Yosh Kawano was the Chicago Cubs clubhouse man for over sixty years and became one of the most familiar faces in baseball. Sarkis Tashjian was the colorful café owner in whose food emporium was a haven for generations in Evanston Illinois.

Remembering Claude Lanzmann, Joe Jackson, Alan Longmuir

Claude Lanzmann was the French filmmaker who made the hstoric documentary film about the Holocaust, Shoah. The 1986 movie ran nine and one half hours and is generally considered to be greatest documentary film ever produced regarding the Nazi atrocities during World War II. Joe Jackson was the patriarch of the Jackson family that included Michael, Janet and Tito. His stern parenting methods and stage management brought the family international fame, but at a tremendous personal cost to the children. Alan Longmuir was bassist and founding member of The Bay City Rollers, the Scottish pop-rock group that sold over 100 million records in the 1970’s

Understanding the Chemistry of the Brain

Dr. Arvid Carlsson was awarded the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, along with Dr. Eric Kendel and Dr. Paul Greengard, for his discovery that dopamine was a neurotransmitter in the brain. Dr. Carlsson demonstrated that dopamine was present in the basal ganglia of the brain, and that when the chemical was depleted, or its action blocked, symptoms resembling Parkinson’s disease occurred. By restoring dopamine levels with a precursor, L-dopa, the symptoms disappeared and thus was borne the first treatment for Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Carlsson also figured prominently in the discovery of certain antidepressants and beta-blockers.

Remembering D.J. Fontana, Anne Donovan, Matt “Guitar” Murphy, Walter Bahr

When he was just becoming popular, Elvis Presley discovered D.J. Fontana, who became his reliable drummer. Fontana is heard on most of Presley’s early hits on the singer’s way to superstardom. Anne Donovan was one of the most successful women’s basketball players of all-time. She won a college championship at Old Dominion, two Olympic Gold Medals, and coached the Seattle Storm to the WNBA title. Matt “Guitar” Murphy was one of the country’s top blues guitarists, but he found greater fame being featured in the 1980 movie “The Blues Brothers.” Walter Bahr was a top American soccer player during the 1940’s and 1950’s. He was the last surviving member of the US team that pulled off a hug upset against England in the 1950 World Cup.