On This Date: Timothy Leary’s gubernatorial campaign song hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart

Former Harvard professor Timothy Leary became a worldwide celebrity in the 1960s, as the guru of LSD and other psychedelic drugs and coiner of the Hippie slogan: “Turn on, tune in, drop out.”

In 1969, Leary apparently figured that if actor Ronald Reagan could be elected Governor of California (which happened in 1966) then any celebrity could run for Governor. Besides, Leary loved publicity.

So, he threw his mushroom cap into the ring as a gubernatorial candidate, planning to run against Reagan in the 1970 election.

Leary came up with the tongue-in-cheek campaign slogan, “Come together, join the party,” and wanted a campaign song to go with it.

So, in June of 1969, while visiting John Lennon and Yoko Ono at their legendary Montreal “Bed-In,”  Leary asked Lennon to write one for him.

Lennon agreed. And, during the Montreal “Bed-In” days, in addition to writing and recording “Give Peace a Chance,” Lennon wrote an initial version of the song “Come Together.”

The melody was basically like the Beatles song we know today, but the original chorus was different. It went: “Come together, right now. Don’t come tomorrow. Don’t come alone.”

Lennon made a demo tape of the campaign song for Leary. Leary gave copies to local underground radio stations in California, and the song got some airplay.

But then, Leary’s campaign got derailed due to mounting legal troubles from a past marijuana bust, and he dropped out of the Governor’s race. (Lucky for Ronnie.)

So, Lennon took the song to his bandmates, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, when the Beatles were recording songs for the upcoming Abbey Road album. Together, they reworked it a bit and changed the lyrics to those we know today:

“Here come old flattop, he come groovin’ up slowly
He got ju-ju eyeballs, he one holy roller
He got hair down to his knees
Got to be a joker, he just do what he please
He wear no shoeshine, he got toe-jam football
He got monkey finger, he shoot Coca-Cola
He say, I know you, you know me
One thing I can tell you is you got to be free
Come together, right now, over me.”

The first line of the song (Lennon’s homage to a similar line from Chuck Berry’s 1956 rock hit, “You Can’t Catch Me”) and the chorus — “Come together, right now, over me” — became famous pop culture quotations.

The Beatles released the song “Come Together” in early October of 1970. It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart on November 29, 1969 — which is how, by a trippy route, those lines are the subject of today’s post on ThisDayinQuotes.com.

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“I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!”

We’ve heard a lot about angry voters this past year. Some media pundits make it sound like it’s a new phenomenon.

But, of course, it’s not.

In recent stories about angry voters — and in comments posted on websites by those angry voters — a common quote used is: “I'm mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

When a source is given for that quote, it’s usually cited as a line by actor Peter Finch from the movie Network, which premiered in New York City on November 27, 1976.

Finch does say something very close to that in the movie. But the commonly heard “I’m mad as hell” version is not his actual quote.

Network was written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Sidney Lumet. In addition to Peter Finch, the superb cast includes Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Robert Duvall, and Ned Beatty.

What Finch actually says in Network, as Howard Beale, “the mad prophet of the airwaves” is:

“I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!”

He says the line a number of times in the movie, using “I’m as mad as” and “take this” — not “I’m mad as” and “take it.”

You can watch the scene in which Finch first unleashes his frequently misquoted line on YouTube and read an excellent in-depth summary of Network on the AMC website.

If you didn’t know Network is a 1976 movie, you might think Finch’s famed, glorious rant in it is a commentary on today’s current events.

He starts out by saying:

“I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It’s a depression. Everybody’s out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel’s worth, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter.”

After warming up a bit more, Finch delivers his call to action:

“So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out, and yell, ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!’”

Now that you know what Finch REALLY said in the movie Network, I’ll be mad as hell if you misquote his famous line.

And, if you ever think I’ve misquoted something on this blog, please shoot me an email or contact me via Twitter and let me know.

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“For every creature of God is good.”

This year, Thanksgiving Day falls on Thursday, November 26th – which happens to be its anniversary.

Two-hundred and twenty years ago, President George Washington declared Thursday, November 26, 1789 to be our country’s first official national Thanksgiving Day holiday.

I am dedicating my Thanksgiving Day post on this blog to one of our family dogs, who died recently and unexpectedly at the age of six, from a genetic autoimmune problem that could not be fixed.

Her name was Boojie.

She was a beautiful, sweet-natured Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier.

My wife and I loved her dearly, and her passing left a hole in our hearts that is still sore.

I am not a religious person. But I do believe that we all can have feelings that might be called “spiritual” or “religious.”

I had a bond with our dog Boojie that gave me such feelings.

The word “thanksgiving” was popularized in English by the Bible, in which it is used many times.

For today’s post, I offer one of those quotations in remembrance of Boojie:

“For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving.”

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The “pearl of great price”: an allegory for people who don’t want to win the lottery

Every once in a while, there’s a news story about somebody who won millions in a lottery and ended up being miserable as a result.

I remember one from a few years ago that sounded like a Shakespearean tragedy.

It was about a Pennsylvania man, William “Bud” Post, who won $16 million in the state lottery. After he won, people came out of the woodwork to try to con him and take advantage of him. His brother hired a hit man to try to kill him, so he could inherit the money.

Over time, Bud’s money was drained away by bad investments. He got in trouble with the law for firing a shotgun at a debt collector and eventually went bankrupt. He died at age 66, after telling a reporter “I was much happier when I was broke.”

Somehow, such stories still don’t make me NOT want to win the lottery.

Back in high school, I had a similar reaction to reading John Steinbeck’s famous cautionary novel about sudden wealth, The Pearl.

The title of this tragic novel, first published on November 24, 1947, is thought to be inspired by a famous Bible quotation, Matthew 13:45-46. It’s from one the parables of Jesus, in which he says:

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.”

In Steinbeck’s novel, The Pearl, the son of a poor, but relatively happy Mexican pearl diver is stung by a scorpion. The pearl diver and his wife are too poor to pay a doctor for medical care and fear their son may die. But then the man finds a large, valuable pearl that makes him “wealthy.”

This saves his son’s life – in the short term. But it also makes him a target of con men and thieves. He gets in trouble with the law for killing one of them. Then, he takes his wife and son on the run to escape retribution. But in the end they are caught and the son is shot and killed. The pearl that originally had such great value ends up having a great price.

In a previous post here, I noted that, as a snotty high school kid, I wasn’t really moved by Thornton Wilder’s novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey. But today, as a 59-year-old married man, father and grandfather, I am.

I can say the same thing about Steinbeck’s novel The Pearl. I definitely appreciate it more now.

But I’d still kinda like to win the lottery.

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“He who destroys a good book kills reason itself.”

In the 1630s, England’s infamous “Star Chamber” – sort of a British version of the Spanish Inquisition – banned the printing or sale of “any seditious, scismaticall, or offensive Bookes or Pamphlets.”

The Star Chamber was abolished in 1641. But a few years later, the House of Commons passed a new book “licensing” law that was more about limiting free speech and creating monopolies for government-favored publishers than it was about protecting the rights of authors (or readers).

That made England’s great poet John Milton mad. So, he wrote what is now considered one of the great pleas for freedom of the press – titled Areopagitica; A Speech of Mr. John Milton For the Liberty of Unlicens’d Printing, To the Parlament [sic] of England.

November 23rd is the anniversary of Milton’s Areopagitica.

It was published on November 23, 1644 and is still quoted today. The most famous line is included in most books of literary and historical quotations:

“As good almost kill a man as kill a good book: who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God’s image; but he who destroys a good book kills reason itself.”

Milton’s eloquent words failed to persuade the Parliament to rescind its book “licensing” and censorship laws during his lifetime.

Of course, in the centuries since then, censorship of books has significantly decreased – but it has not disappeared.

In fact, during the first eight years of the 21st Century, the American Library Association (ALA) documented 3,736 attempts made to ban books from local libraries here in the United States.

Modern self-appointed censors aren’t just after what might generally be considered as “porn.” Targets of the self-righteous people and groups who want to ban books at their local libraries include many classics, such as:

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
1984 by George Orwell
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
The Call of the Wild by Jack London

To see more about books targeted by self-appointed censors, visit the “Banned & Challenged Books” section of the ALA’s website.

I think it would make John Milton angry.

Beatles Quiz: “You say you want a revolution?” Should you count John Lennon (a) out, (b) in, or (c) both?

If you answered (a) to the question in the header of this post, you would have been right – but only for the period between August 11, 1968 and November 22, 1968.

The famous Beatles song “Revolution” was written by John Lennon, after he watched the news about the student riots in Paris in May of 1968.

The well-known lyrics Lennon wrote for the song as it was originally released said:

“You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world…
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out.”

The first version of “Revolution,” with the “count me out” lyrics, was released on August 11, 1968. It was the B-side of the single record with “Hey Jude” on the A-side.

On November 22, 1968, the Beatles released their famed double album with the white cover, usually called The White Album. (The actual original title was The Beatles.)

On the album, “Revolution” was retitled “Revolution 1,” reflecting the fact that it used a slower musical take of the song that was actually recorded first, before the single version. In the final audio edit of “Revolution 1,” Lennon added the word “in” after “out,” so we hear:

“But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out — in!”

Why the change? Because after the single version of the song was released in August, Lennon received heavy flak from many radical leftist leaders and groups, who felt “Revolution” dissed their efforts to change the world – by violent revolution, if necessary.

Lennon agreed with many key positions of the leftists, such as their opposition to the Vietnam War and racism. So, after being criticized by them, he felt conflicted.

As noted in an excellent article about Lennon’s music by Jon Wiener, in the December 18, 2000 edition of The Nation, Lennon explained the “out — in” version this way: “I put both in because I wasn't sure.”

Then, in 1971, after the Beatles had broken up, Lennon wrote the song “Power to the People,” a phrase borrowed from the Black Panthers and other radical groups that actually did sometimes espouse violent revolution.

In the lyrics of that song, recorded by Lennon, Yoko Ono and The Plastic Ono Band, Lennon says:

“Say you want a revolution
We better get on right away...
A million workers working for nothing
You better give ‘em what they really own
We got to put you down
When we come into town
Singing power to the people
Power to the people.”

On the record jacket for “Power to the People,” there’s a picture of Lennon with his fist raised in a revolutionary-style power salute.

So, is the answer is to the Beatles quiz posed at the beginning of this post (a), (b) or (c)?

I’m not sure. You decide. Power to my readers!

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The great “Coffee, Tea or Me?” hoax

Back in the 1960s, when air travel was more pleasant and our culture was less politically correct, airline stewardesses were hot – at least in terms of their cultural image.

Most stewardesses were young and single. In the media, they were often portrayed as both desirable and attainable – as women who liked to party at the stops along their routes and fool around with pilots and lucky travelers.

The airlines themselves helped promote this image in the mid-Sixties with ads that featured beautiful stewardesses and taglines like “I’m Cheryl. Fly Me.”

Then, on November 21, 1967, the book Coffee, Tea or Me? was published.

Subtitled The Uninhibited Memoirs of Two Airline Stewardesses, this book solidified and further popularized the stereotypical image of fun-loving, sexually promiscuous stewardesses.

It also made the sexually provocative phrase “Coffee, Tea or Me?” a common, humorous saying.

Authorship of the book was credited to two stewardesses named Rachel Jones and Trudy Baker. When it was published, two young women using those names went on a heavily-covered media tour to promote it.

Soon, Coffee, Tea or Me? became a national and international best seller. Millions of copies were sold. Three sequels were published. In 1973, Coffee, Tea or Me? was made into a TV movie in 1973, starring Karen Valentine and Louise Lasser.

Years later, it was revealed that the book had actually been written by the prolific veteran author and ghostwriter, Donald Bain.

“Trudy Baker” and “Rachel Jones” did not exist. The women who went on the book tour were two former stewardesses hired by the publisher’s publicity agent to pose as Trudy and Rachel.

It was a supremely great hoax that generated a lot of money for Bain and a memorable phrase that’s still quoted today.

If you’re intrigued by this story, I encourage you to read Bain’s own account, by clicking this link.

It’s a real hoot. (Or, should I say, unreal?)

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Before Marilyn Monroe, “The Seven Year Itch” was a skin disease

On November 20, 1952, the play The Seven Year Itch by George Axelrod debuted on Broadway at the Fulton Theatre.

The play starred Tom Ewell, as a married man attracted to a gorgeous young neighbor, played by Vanessa Brown.

Ewell was also in the famous 1955 movie version of The Seven Year Itch, directed by Billy Wilder.

But, in the film, the object of his desire was Marilyn Monroe.

It was one of Monroe’s most memorable roles, and the scene in which her white dress blows upward as she stands on a subway grate has became an iconic cultural image.

The play and the movie were both big hits. Together, they popularized the term “seven year itch” in its marital and sexual sense – that being that previously faithful married people (especially husbands) tend to get an urge, or “itch,” to have an affair after seven years of marriage.

Playwright and screenwriter Axelrod gets credit for creating this current meaning. But he didn’t coin the phrase itself.

Before Axelrod’s play, the term “seven year itch” was a common slang name for a contagious and annoyingly long-lasting bacterial skin disease.

This older use of the term goes back at least to the mid-1800s and was still in the vernacular in the first half of the 20th century.

Thanks to modern antibiotics, the disease and its common name eventually faded away. Around that time, Axelrod’s play and the movie gave “seven year itch” a new life with a different meaning.

And, thanks to modern technology, you can now watch Marilyn Monroe’s famous subway grate scene online.

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The Gettysburg Address speech slam: Abe Lincoln's original version vs. Lord Buckley’s “hipster version”

On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered his moving “Gettysburg Address” at the dedication of the cemetery for soldiers who were killed in that bloody Civil War battle four months earlier.

The first sentence from Lincoln's brief address that day is one of his most famous quotations:

“Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

The last sentence contains the famous and oft-used phrase: “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

In honor of the anniversary of this famous speech, I’m posting Lincoln’s entire Gettysburg Address below.

And, in honor of one of my favorite hepcats from the 1950s – the amazing Lord Buckley – I’m posting his “hipster version” of the Gettysburg Address next to Lincoln’s original speech.

Prior to the 1950s, Richard Buckley (1906-1960) performed as a vaudeville style comedian. In the Fifties, he transformed himself into “Lord Buckley,” a unique performance artist who told stories and recited poems using the hipster slang of jazz musicians and beatniks.

And, now ladies and gentleman, cats and kitties, here – in a historic side-by-side performance of the original and hipster versions of the Gettysburg Address – I give you Abraham Lincoln and Lord Buckley...

Abraham Lincoln: Gettysburg Address - the original version	Lord Buckley: Gettysburg Address – the hipster version
“Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.	“Four big hits and seven licks ago, our before-daddies swung forth upon this sweet groovy land a swingin’, stompin’, jumpin’, blowin’, wailin’ new nation, hip to the cool groove of liberty and solid sent with the Ace lick dat all the studs, chicks, cats and kitties – red, white, or blue – is created level in front.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.	Now we are now hung with a king size main-day civil drag, soundin’ of whether that nation or any up there nation, is so hip and so solid sent can stay with it all the way.
We are met on a great battlefield of that war.	We’s here to dig this chop-beatin’ session on the site of the worst jazz blown in the entire issue – Gettys-mother-burg.
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.	We have stomped out here to turn on a small soil stash of the before-mentioned hassle site, as a final sweet sod pad for those who laid it down and left it there, so that this jumpin’ happy beat might blow forevermore.
It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.	And we all dig that this is the straightest lick ever dug.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate – we cannot consecrate – we cannot hallow – this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.	But diggin’ it harder from afar, we cannot take no wailin’ bows, we cannot mellow, we cannot put down the stamp of the Nazz on this sweet sod, ‘cause the strong non-stop studs, both diggin’ it and dug under it, who hassled here have mellowed it with such a wild mad beat that we can hear it, but we can't touch it.
The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.	Now the world cats will short dig nor long stash in their wigs what we is beatin’ our chops around here, but it never can successively shade what they vanced here.
It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us.	It is for us the swingin’ to pick up the dues of these fine studs who cut out here and fly it through to Endsville. It is hipper for us to be signifyin’ to the glorious gig that we can’t miss with all these bulgin’ eyes, that from all these A-stamp studs we double our love kick, to that righteous ride for which these cats hard sounded the last nth bong of the bell of the bell.
That from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”	That we here want it stuck up straight for all to dig that these departed studs shall not have split in vain; that this nation under the great swingin’ Nazz shall room up a whopper of endless Mardi Gras, and that the big law of you straights, by you studs, and for you kitties, shall not be scratched from the big race.” (NOTE: You can listen to Lord Buckley’s version by clicking this link and signing up for a free imeem.com account.)

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“Your eyes are full of hate.” In Ben-Hur, that’s good.

There’s a funny quote by screenwriter, playwright and novelist Gore Vidal that’s included in many books of quotations: “I’m all for bringing back the birch, but only between consenting adults.”

An even more famous quotation that may have been written by Vidal also has something to do with whipping.

It comes from the epic film, Ben-Hur, which had its world premiere in New York exactly fifty years ago today, on November 18, 1959.

I said may have been written by Vidal because there is some dispute about who wrote what in the final script for Ben-Hur.

Official credit was given to veteran screenwriter Karl Tunberg. However, at the request of the film’s director, William Wyler, several other writers did some extensive but uncredited rewriting on the script, including Vidal and the famous playwrights Maxwell Anderson and Christopher Fry.

If you’ve seen the movie, you probably know the quotation from Ben-Hur that is most often cited by movie buffs and quote books.

It’s in a scene in the galley of a Roman warship, where barechested Charlton Heston is chained with dozens of other sweating, near-naked slaves who row the ship.

The Roman naval commander, played by British actor Jack Hawkins, comes down into the galley to inspect the slaves.

He asks Heston, who he calls by his seat number – Forty-one – how long he’s been a galley slave. Heston answers in a grumpy tone that annoys Hawkins. So, Hawkins lashes him on the back with the multi-stranded whip he’s carrying.

Heston rears up and glares menacingly at Hawkins, with gritted teeth, but says nothing. Hawkins looks down at him and remarks: “You have the spirit to fight back, but the good sense to control it.”

Then Hawkins says:

“Your eyes are full of hate, Forty-one. That's good. Hate keeps a man alive.”

It’s not certain that Gore Vidal was the writer who contributed those famous lines to the script. It could have been Tunberg, Anderson or Fry.

But given Vidal’s sexual preference (he came out of the closet long before it was fashionable), and given his oft-quoted quip about mutual birch lashings by consenting adults, something tells me Gore would have a special flair for writing a scene that included sweaty, near-naked men and a whipping.

Would you buy a used car from a man who says “I’m not a crook”?

On November 17, 1973, during a televised press conference, President Richard M. Nixon said one of his most famous lines: “I’m not a crook.”

He said it at a time when he was still trying to stonewall the world on his connection to the Watergate break-in.

In his remarks that day, Nixon tried to make it sound like he welcomed the Watergate investigation. He said:

“I made my mistakes, but in all my years of public life, I have never profited, never profited from public service. I’ve earned every cent. And in all of my years of public life, I have never obstructed justice. And I think, too, that I can say that in my years of public life, that I welcome this kind of examination because people have got to know whether or not their President’s a crook. Well, I’m not a crook.”

The welcoming part was especially hard to believe, for a number of reasons.

One glaring one was that, just a few weeks earlier, Nixon had fired the Special Prosecutor assigned to investigate him, Archibald Cox, and abolished the Office of the Special Prosecutor, in the infamous “Saturday Night Massacre.”

After that, the dominoes kept falling for Nixon, eventually leading him to become the first U.S. president to resign, in August of 1974.

In retrospect, it’s ironic to note that one of the slogans used in Nixon’s 1968 presidential campaign was:

“The ‘I’ in Nixon stands for integrity.”

Today, the more remembered slogan is the one used against him during the 1972 presidential election, which is usually attributed to comedian Mort Sahl:

“Would you buy a used car from this man?”

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The day John Paul Jones planted the phrase “in harm’s way” into our language

In 1778, American Navy Captain John Paul Jones went to France, hoping to persuade the French government to give him a ship to use in the American colonies’ rebellion against the British.

Toward that end, he wrote a letter to Monsieur Le Ray de Chaumont, dated November 16, 1778. In it, he said:

       “I wish to have no Connection with any Ship that does not Sail fast
        for I intend to go in harm's way.”

His phrase “in harm’s way” has since become a common figure of speech, meaning “in the path of danger.”

Is is most often used to refer to men and women in the military, who are sent “in harm’s way” during wartime.

Not long after Jones wrote his letter to Chaumont, the French government gave him a frigate that he named the Bonhomme Richard.

On September 23, 1779, Jones and the crew of the Bonhomme Richard fought their famous battle off the coast of England against the British war ship Serapis.

At one point, the Bonhomme Richard seemed to be sinking. So, the captain of the Serapis asked Jones if he would surrender.

That’s when Jones supposedly gave his legendary reply: “I have not yet begun to fight.”

After lashing the Bonhomme Richard to the Serapis and fighting ferociously, the Americans won the battle and the crew of the Serapis surrendered to them.

In 1962, James Bassett’s bestselling World War II novel, Harm's Way, helped make this term taken from Jones’s letter more widely used than ever.

In 1965, the novel was made into an epic movie under the title In Harm's Way, further enhancing the use and recognition of the phrase.

I haven’t read the novel, but I have seen the movie. If you haven’t, you should.

In Harm’s Way is justifiably considered one of the greatest war movies ever made. It was produced and directed by Otto Preminger and stars John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, Patricia Neal, Tom Tryon, Paula Prentiss and Dana Andrews.

How Ron Popeil pitched “It slices! It dices!” into our language – and inspired Dan Aykroyd's classic "Bass-O-Matic" SNL sketch

Decades before the late Billy Mays started his pitchman career, Ron Popeil was pioneering the “As Seen on TV” product market.

Popeil, born in New York City in 1935, was the son of inventor Samuel Popeil, who created the Chop-O-Matic and it’s ultimately more famous relative, the Veg-O-Matic.

Ron started out selling these kitchen wonders and other gadgets invented by his father in live demonstrations at stores in the 1950s. He had a knack for it and sold thousands of units.

By 1960 the Popeil-coined name “Veg-O-Matic” was on its way to becoming a household word. And, on November 15, 1960, the family received a trademark registration for it.

To go along with the catchy name, Popeil used and popularized the catchy slogan: “It slices! It dices!”

Around that time, Popeil realized there was a huge potential for marketing his products on television. He created the Ronco company and developed TV “infomercial” versions of his product demonstrations. Some featured him doing the same kind of pitches he’d used in stores. Others were voiceover style demos.

In the 1960s and 1970s, spots featuring Popeil and other Ronco ads sold millions of dollars worth of products.

If you were around at the time, you may have bought something from Ronco, like Mr. Microphone, the Ronco Bottle and Jar Cutter, the Buttoneer, the Pocket Fisherman, the Smokeless Ashtray, the Salad Spinner, or the famed Veg-O-Matic.

I admit that I bought a few Ronco gadgets myself. I also admit that I can never think of the Veg-O-Matic without also thinking of one of the greatest Saturday Night Live faux ads, Dan Aykroyd’s 1976 “Bass-O-Matic” sketch. It’s a hilarious send-up of Popeil-style demo ads.

In addition to inspiring that classic spoof, Popeil’s pioneering TV ads led the way for other famous infomercial pitchmen like Billy Mays and Anthony "Sully" Sullivan.

Some of the products Ron Popeil and Ronco sold over the years may have been a little, er, dicey. But I respect Popeil’s genius as a marketer and as a coiner of product names and slogans.

You can read a good bio about Popeil on the Ronco website.

He’s also written an autobiography, humbly titled Ron Popeil: The Salesman of the Century. (Hey, he’s a pitchman.)

And, you can still buy the new, improved Ron Popeil Ronco Veg-O-Matic online.

As the description explains:

“The Ronco Veg-O-Matic is the one kitchen appliance you'll wonder how you ever did without! It slices, it dices, and so much more!”

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20 years ago today, Lee Atwater famously said Republicans have “a big tent.”

In the November 1989 election, the Democratic candidates beat the Republicans in two closely watched governors races in Virginia and New Jersey.

Political analysts speculated that the Republican party’s hard line plank against abortion played a key role and suggested that the 1989 election results could be a bad sign for Republicans in the 1990 election.

On November 14, 1989, reporters asked the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Lee Atwater, what he thought.

Atwater was a top GOP political strategist and advisor to Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. He was a master and pioneer of “wedge issue” politics. For example, his campaign team created the infamous “Willie Horton ad” that played a key role in Bush’s victory over Democrat Michael Dukakis in 1988.

When asked what less successful outcome of the November 1989 election meant for Republicans, Atwater gave an interesting answer that seemed to send a message to fellow Republicans and to voters.

“Our party is a big tent,” he said. “We can house many views on many issues. Abortion is no exception.”

Some sources say Atwater coined the political phrase “big tent” that day. But, while his use may be the most famous, the term had been used previously by both Republicans and Democrats.

Back in 1975, Democratic House Speaker Thomas “Tip” O’Neill told a reporter: “The Democratic Party is a big tent. We are widely diversified.”

During the 1980 presidential election, the Republican National Chairman at the time, Bill Brock, urged the party to embrace a “big tent” strategy. That year, Ronald Reagan won in a landslide over President Jimmy Carter and Republicans gained control of the Senate – the first time Republicans controlled one of the Houses of Congress since 1954.

Lee Atwater died from a brain tumor less than two years after making his own, more famous “big tent” remark.

Before he died, he said he regretted the divisive “wedge issue” style of politics he helped create. In an article published in the February 1991 issue Life magazine, Atwater wrote:

“My illness helped me to see that what was missing in society is what was missing in me: a little heart, a lot of brotherhood.”

Atwater died a month later. If he were still alive, I wonder what he would say about the current state of political “discourse” and the divisions within the Republican Party?

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For further reading and viewing, check out the book Bad Boy: The Life And Politics Of Lee Atwater by John Brady and the recent documentary about Atwater, Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story.

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Jefferson’s bloody “Tree of Liberty” quote still fertilizes freedom and fanaticism

One of the signs held by a gun-toting protester against the Democratic health care proposal earlier this year said “IT IS TIME TO WATER THE TREE OF LIBERTY!”

This is a shorthand reference to an oft-used and abused quotation by Thomas Jefferson:

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

Jefferson made this remark in a letter to Col. William Smith, dated November 13, 1787.

It was part of a what he said in the letter about Shays’s Rebellion, a brief uprising of poor farmers and revolutionary war veterans in western Massachusetts that reached a head that year.

They were mad as hell about the crushing taxes they were forced to pay and the laws that let the government confiscate their property if they couldn’t pay those taxes.

As a symbol of their protest, they designated certain trees as “liberty trees,” like those used during the Revolution to hang tax collectors working for the British Crown. They demanded changes in the tax laws, they had guns – and they were prepared to use them.

The Massachusetts state government reacted forcefully to put down this threat to their power, with encouragement from Founding Fathers like Samuel Adams. In the rebellion’s most significant “battle,” dozens of protesting farmers were killed or wounded by the state militia. Hundreds were eventually put in prison. Some were executed.

Thomas Jefferson was in Paris at the time. From that distance, he adopted a philosophical view of Shay’s Rebellion.

In his letter to Col. Smith, Jefferson did not justify the rebellion. In fact, he said it was “founded in ignorance.”

But then, Jefferson went on to say the part that people who are mad as hell about something love to quote:

“What country can preserve it's liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms...The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.”

Protesters against “Obamacare” are fans of Jefferson’s “tree of liberty” quote.

So was Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, who killed 168 people by blowing up the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City in 1995, as an anti-government “protest.” When arrested, McVeigh was wearing a t-shirt that had a picture of a tree of liberty dripping blood, and the words: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

Indeed, for over two centuries now, Jefferson’s “tree of liberty” quote has been used by various people who think it somehow justifies what they believe and do.

And, I expect it will be for years to come.

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For further reading and viewing, check out Shays's Rebellion: The American Revolution's Final Battle by Leonard L. Richards and the recent DVD A Little Rebellion. There’s also an interesting discussion of Jefferson’s “tree of liberty” quote on the American Creation blog.

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How "The Almighty Dollar" was created by God and Washington Irving

The Bible probably popularized the word almighty in English. If you do an online search in the Bible for “almighty,” you’ll find dozens of uses associated with God.

He is referred to as “Almighty God,” “God Almighty,” “Lord Almighty,” “Lord God Almighty” – and, for short, “the Almighty.”

The term “the almighty dollar” is not in the Bible.

That was coined by the American author Washington Irving (1783-1859), whose best known works include the short stories “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle.”

Irving used the phrase in a travel story he wrote about a steamboat trip he took in the Louisiana bayous in the 1830s.

The story, titled “The Creole Village,” was first published in the November 12, 1836 issue of Knickerbocker Magazine.

Irving – who was from New York City – was impressed by the comparatively laid back lifestyle of the Creole people and how unconcerned they seemed about making money.

He wrote:

“The inhabitants, moreover, have none of that eagerness for gain and rage for improvement which keep our people continually on the move...In a word, the almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion throughout our land, seems to have no genuine devotees in these peculiar villages; and unless some of its missionaries penetrate there, and erect banking houses and other pious shrines, there is no knowing how long the inhabitants may remain in their present state of contented poverty.”

Like many people who have plenty of money, Irving probably overestimated how content people were to be poor.

And, fifty years later, when “The Creole Village” was published in a book collecting Irving’s stories, called The Crayon Book (1887), he made it clear that he hadn’t meant any offense – to the almighty dollar, that is.

In a satirical footnote he added to the story in the book, Irving said:

“This phrase [the almighty dollar], used for the first time in this sketch, has since passed into current circulation, and by some has been questioned as savoring I fear, however, my prayer is of irreverence. The author, therefore, owes it to his orthodoxy to declare that no irreverence was intended even to the dollar itself; which he is aware is daily becoming more and more an object of worship.”

Or, going back to the Bible, as it’s said in Job 22:25, “Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver.”

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How “God Bless America” created a musical duel between Woody Guthrie and Irving Berlin

Irving Berlin was already a successful songwriter when he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1917, during Would War I. He’d written some big hits, like “Alexander's Ragtime Band” (1911).

When he was stationed at Camp Upton in Yaphank, New York, an officer at the base asked Berlin to write a show for the soldiers there to perform.

Berlin agreed and composed a musical he called Yip-Yip-Yaphank. He wrote a number of songs for it, including the now familiar song “Oh, How I Hate To Get Up in the Morning” and several other forgotten ones, like “Mandy” (a minstrel-style song performed by soldiers in drag and blackface).

Berlin also wrote “God Bless America” for the show. However, before the musical was performed in July 1918, he cut “God Bless America” from the song list.

Twenty years later, in 1938, as British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was trying to appease Hitler and prevent a second world war, Berlin received a request to compose a patriotic song that would be more peace-like than martial.

After a couple of false starts, he recalled his abandoned song from Yip-Yip-Yaphank. He made some edits to the lyrics and ended up with the song as we know it today:

“God bless America,
Land that I love,
Stand beside her and guide her
Through the night with a light from above.
From the mountains to the prairies,
To the oceans white with foam,
God bless America,
My home sweet home.”

Berlin gave his patriotic “peace song” to renowned American singer Kate Smith. She debuted it on her popular radio on November 11, 1938 – the 20th anniversary of Armistice Day, the commemoration of the agreement that ended World War I.

“God Bless America” became a huge hit, a signature song for Smith and the unofficial American national anthem.

But it rubbed activist-folksinger Woody Guthrie the wrong way.

Berlin and Smith lived the lifestyle of rich and famous celebrities. Guthrie was a poor man who knew from first hand experience that life in America wasn’t so sweet for most people in late 1930s – the height of the Great Depression.

He felt America needed an anthem for those common folk, instead of a mawkish one that just waved the flag. So, in 1940, Guthrie wrote a responding song he titled “God Blessed America.”

In the original lyrics, he ended the verses with the words “God blessed America for me.” But they had a sardonic twist.

For example, the original last verse said:

“One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple
By the Relief Office I saw my people,
As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if
God blessed America for me.”

Over the next few years, Guthrie reworked the lyrics. He gave the song a more positive spin, put a new ending on the verses and retitled the song to reflect this – calling it “This Land Is Your Land.”

Today it’s about as famous as “God Bless America” and almost everyone can sing the first verse:

“This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.”

For further listening, I highly recommend the new box set of Woody Guthrie's recordings, My Dusty Road.

For further reading, check out the books As Thousands Cheer: The Life Of Irving Berlin and Woody Guthrie: A Life.
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The Top 10 Quotes about and by U.S. Marines

November 10th is the 234th birthday of the United States Marines, which were established by the Second Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War, on November 10, 1775.

So, today, I’d like to salute the U.S. Marine Corps by listing the 10 most famous quotations about and by Marines.

1. “From the Halls of Montezuma,
       To the Shores of Tripoli;
       We fight our country's battles
       On the land as on the sea; [changed to “In the air, on land, and sea” in 1942]
       First to fight for right and freedom
       And to keep our honor clean;
       We are proud to claim the title
       Of United States Marine.”
              The Marines’ Hymn 
              Created in the mid-1800s by an anonymous writer
              Copyrighted by the United States Marine Corps on August 19, 1891
              (All three verses and the history of the song are posted here.)

2. “Semper Fidelis” (“Always Faithful”) 
              Official motto of the U.S. Marine Corps 
              Adopted in 1883              

3. “Come on, you sons of bitches! Do you want to live for ever?” 
              Attributed to Marine Gunnery Sgt. Dan Daly 
              Comment to his men at the Battle of Belleau Wood, June 1918

4. “Retreat, hell! We just got here.” 
              Attributed to Marine Captain Lloyd S. Williams 
              Reply to the Germans when asked to surrender at Belleau Wood, June 1916

5. “The Marines have landed, and the situation is well in hand.” 
              American journalist Richard Harding Davis 
              Cablegram announcing the Marines’ 1935 landing in Panama

6. “Gung ho.” 
              Motto adopted by Marine Lt. Col. Evans Fordyce Carlson and his “Raiders” 
              Popularized by articles about Carlson’s Raiders during World War II 
              In Chinese, the term means “work together”

7. “Uncommon valor was a common virtue.”
              U.S. Navy Admiral Chester W. Nimitz (1885-1966) 
              Communiqué sent on March 16, 1945  
              Announcing and saluting the victory of the U.S. Marines at Iwo Jima
              Engraved on the base of the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery

8. “We're looking for a few good men.” 
              U.S. Marines' recruiting slogan  
              Created around 1970 by adman Warren Pfaff (1929-2004) 
              Based on the 1776 poster headline: “Looking for a few good men to serve as Marines.”

9. “The Few, the Proud, the Marines.” 
              More recent Marine recruiting slogan  
              Voted into Madison Avenue’s Advertising Walk of Fame in 2007

10. “In space, no one can hear you scream – unless it’s the battle cry of the United States Marines!”
              Marine Sgt. Major Frank Bougus (played by R. Lee Ermey) 
              In the debut episode of the science fiction TV series Space: Above and Beyond (1995)

OK, that last one is not exactly a famous quote. But it’s a favorite of mine.

I’m a big fan of both the United States Marines and of Space: Above and Beyond, in which future Leathernecks fight to protect Earth from aliens.

If we ever do face a war with aliens, I expect the U.S. Marines will be there risking their lives for us on the front lines, as always.

Semper Fi...

For Churchill, “Business as usual” was defiant. For Martin Luther King, it was the thing to defy…

Many sources – including the venerable BBC – suggest that the phrase “business as usual” was created by Winston Churchill.

A page for students on the BBC website says: “Business as Usual: Phrase coined by Churchill to suggest how British society should react to the wartime situation.”

I love the BBC, but it’s wrong about that.

The phrase “business as usual” can be found in newspaper articles dating back to the early 1800s (as I’ve confirmed by searches in the great online resource, NewspaperArchive.com). The original usage was literal, as in “the banks were open for business as usual.”

But Churchill did give the phrase a famous new political meaning during World War I.

In a speech on November 9, 1914, he sent a message of defiance to the Germans and inspiration to the British people by saying:

“The British people have taken for themselves this motto – ‘Business carried on as usual during alterations on the map of Europe.’”

Churchill’s quote was remembered and reused in the same spirit during World War II.

In 1940 and 1941, when German planes were making devastating nightly bombing raids on London, shopkeepers put notices on their bombed shops that said “Business as Usual.” These signs were both a message of defiance and inspiration, echoing the intent of Churchill’s original speech.

Then, somehow, in the decades after World War II, the phrase took on a negative connotation that meant complacency and blind obedience to the status quo.

For example, in 1962, a statement by the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) condemned the typical college campus as “a place of commitment to business-as-usual.”

The following year, the phrase was used with a negative meaning by civil rights leader, Martin Luther King.

It was in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech on August 28, 1963 in Washington D.C. Referring to recent race riots, King said:

“Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.”

Today, “business as usual” is heard in both a positive and a negative sense, depending on the context.

You can either be happy that something is back to “business as usual” – or unhappy that it’s stuck in some boring or bad “business as usual” rut.

Linguistically, that’s not usual.

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NOTE: If you’re interested in the origins of famous quotations and phrases, check out my Quotation Bookstore.

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