Sixty-two years ago today the film North by Northwest premiered at the United Artists Theatre in Chicago. Exactly how you are not supposed to have a favorite child, you are also not supposed to have a favorite Hitchcock film, but if we are sitting next to each other in a dark theater and no one could hear me and I will swear on Thelma Ritter’s grave I never said it, I might just whisper “this is my favorite.” Then again, the same could be said if we were watching Rear Window, or The Trouble With Harry, or Lifeboat, or, or, or…

"Hurricane" - CBS Radio Mystery Theater - July 1, 1974

Plot:  A couple take refuge from a storm in a secluded beach house, only to find themselves in the company of two strangers.

Seventy-three years ago today, the film Easter Parade premiered. Why at the end of June? I am not sure. Still, it went on to be the highest grossing musical of 1948 and the second-highest grossing MGM musical of the 1940s.

Today is the 104th birthday of the singer Lena Horne. The world is a better place because she was in it and still feels the loss that she has left.

Today is the 121st birthday of the pilot and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. He wrote The Little Prince, a copy of which was given to me by a very good friend. His inscription is included below. The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

Stonewall is seen as the birth of the LGBT rights movement. But there were pickets, protests, even riots, in the years before June 28, 1969.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://waldina.com/2021/06/28/riots-sit-ins-demonstrations-protests-and-celebrations/

"The Swing Years and Beyond" October 18, 2008 (partial show: hours 3-5)

The Swing Years and Beyond was a radio program on KUOW, an NPR station from Seattle. It began in 1968 and was hosted by then-KUOW program Director Don Wirtz before he handed the reins to Bill Snoopy who became the first to hold the position long term. In 1979 Cynthia Doyon took over the hosting duties, and in 2003 Amanda Wilde hosted until the last show on February 25, 2017.

There is a generation of Seattle residents that spent at least some of their Saturday nights listening to a thoughtfully curated playlist of music from the 1920s to the 1950s. I was able to connect with Amanda Wilde and offered to make one of her shows available for fans to download. Then, my scouring of the internet turned up two other shows available and have added them here.

"Yesterday's Murder" - CBS Radio Mystery Theater - June 27, 1974

Plot:  Determined to change her fate, a woman is granted the chance to go back in time to set her life in order.

"The Swing Years and Beyond" October 4, 2008 

The Swing Years and Beyond was a radio program on KUOW, an NPR station from Seattle. It began in 1968 and was hosted by then-KUOW program Director Don Wirtz before he handed the reins to Bill Snoopy who became the first to hold the position long term. In 1979 Cynthia Doyon took over the hosting duties, and in 2003 Amanda Wilde hosted until the last show on February 25, 2017.

There is a generation of Seattle residents that spent at least some of their Saturday nights listening to a thoughtfully curated playlist of music from the 1920s to the 1950s. I was able to connect with Amanda Wilde and offered to make one of her shows available for fans to download. Then, my scouring of the internet turned up two other shows available and have added them here.

Today is the 117th birthday of the actor Peter Lorre. He was in some of the very best classic movies of all time. If he is in the film, you are guaranteed to be scared. The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.