August 16, 1948: Babe Ruth died...

We remember that Babe Ruth died this week in 1948.

As a baseball fan, I will always associate 3 numbers with Babe Ruth:

a) 714 career home runs, a record that was broken by Hank Aaron in 1974;

b) 60 in 1927, a season record broken in 1961 by Roger Maris.  We should point out that Maris did it in a 162 game season versus 154 in 1927; and,

c) He was 3-0 as a pitcher in The World Series.    Ruth was an outstanding pitcher.

The Babe was 53 when he died.  

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We remember Eydie Gorme (1928-2013)

Edith Garmezano was born in New York on this day in 1928.  Her parents were Sephardic Jews and that’s why she spoke Spanish.  She died in 2013 days before her 85th birthday.

In 1964, Eydie Gorme revived her career with Trio Los Panchos and an LP of Spanish songs.

And this is where my parents and thousands of other Cuban parents come in!

In those early days in the US, my parents found tropical relief in cold Wisconsin winters by listening to all of those Spanish ballads that Eydie Gorme recorded.

I can remember listening to her LP (that’s what we had before CD or MP3 files) over and over again. My mom really loved them. It was the romantic music that she and my dad dance to in Cuba.

Frankly, I learned to love it too.

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

August 1977 and we remember another anniversary of Elvis' death!

It was August 16, 1977 and I was driving home from a night class.  Like everybody else, I was shocked to hear of Elvis' death.  He was only 42.

Elvis came to Baltimore in mid-1977.    I recall speaking to a lady who went to the concert.  She said that Elvis looked terrible and overweight.   Her words were "awful and fat".

She added  that this is not the Elvis that she remembered in Las Vegas a few years before.

We know now that Elvis was not taking care of himself and allegedly taking drugs.

There were many chapters in the Elvis story, from the young rocker to the big concerts of the 1970's.    Please give me his earlier material, such as "I want you, I need you, I love you".

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Karoline Leavitt putting motherhood over being a press secretary. Democrats running away from Hasan Piker. WNBA still trying to decide what the W stands for. Kiss on Times Square 1945.

 

Karoline Leavitt putting motherhood over being a press secretary.  Democrats running away from Hasan Piker.  WNBA still trying to decide what the W stands for.  Kiss on Times Square 1945.

Mom's choice

Mom's choice:

Karoline Leavitt put her kids first, and that's something to celebrate. 

Click to read:

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/08/mom-s-choice/

August 15, 1965: The Beatles at Shea Stadium

Can you ask your mother or grandmother about The Beatles on Shea Stadium many years ago?   Over 50,000 people showed up at this open concert, including a lot of teen girls who adored The Beatles.

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

Happy # 80 Jimmy Webb, one of my very favorite songwriters!

This week, we wish a happy birthday to Jimmy Webb, who was born on this day in 1946.  He was also the man who wrote "Up, Up and Away", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman", "Galveston" and "MacArthur Park".

His songs were recorded by The 5th Dimension, Glen Campbell, Art Garfunkel and Richard Harris.

You can learn more about Jimmy Webb at his website.

"McArthur Park" was one of the greatest songs ever written.  We posted something about that song last year: 1968: McArthur Park, Richard Harris and Jimmy Webb

He is a great songwriter.

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1945: The most famous kiss of the century

(My new American Thinker post)

Back in mid-August 1945, President Truman announced the end of the Pacific War:

In what later became known as Victory Day, an official announcement of Japan's unconditional surrender to the Allies is made public to the world on August 14, 1945. Japan formally surrendered in writing two weeks later, on September 2, 1945. 

Even though Japan's War Council, urged by Emperor Hirohito, had already submitted a declaration of surrender to the Allies, via ambassadors, on August 10, fighting continued between the Japanese and the Soviets in Manchuria and between the Japanese and the United States in the South Pacific.

And then the kissing started.

According to a story by Eliza Berman:

Alfred Eisenstaedt's photograph of a sailor kissing a woman in Times Square, after news broke of the Japanese surrender in World War II, has lived a storied life since it was taken on August 15, 1945. Often called "The Kiss," it became the iconic image of celebration at war's end, a black-and-white bookend separating an era of darkness from the beginning of a time of peace. It has also in recent years received a sort of #metoo infamy, after the woman in the photo said that the kiss was nonconsensual.

But "The Kiss" was not the only photograph taken that day, nor was Eisenstaedt the only photographer navigating the boisterous New York City festivities. Another LIFE photographer, William C. Shrout, brought a different set of negatives back to the office that day, with his own perspective on the people's response to peace.

While Shrout's photos have much in common with Eisenstaedt's—kisses abounded that day—they capture one thing that Eisenstaedt couldn't easily have captured: images of Eisenstaedt himself. In one photo, Eisenstaedt kisses a reporter, his camera slung over his shoulder, in a pose not unlike that of the famous kiss he photographed that day. In another, he and that women walk toward Shrout, bright smiles on their faces.

Shrout's images of a host of other anonymous embraces help put that famous kiss in context. And Shrout's images of the man behind that photo remind us that, even if a photojournalist is meant to be an impartial witness to history, he is also a part of the history he is witnessing.

I guess that's why that song "It's Been a Long, Long Time" was so popular: "Kiss me one, kiss me twice and kiss me once again..."

My mother remembers the LIFE magazine cover.  She was a 16-year-old young woman in Cuba and always checking the LIFE issues that made their way to the island.  And then she said the girls in that little Cuban town thought the whole thing was so romantic.  Who knew that a bunch of Cuban teenage girls would say that?

Before the wokes, we could drop a couple of atomic bombs, celebrate victory, and kiss the first girl within sight.  It's too bad our kids are learning something else in school.

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

Let's meet Nilda Cepero, Cuban American author & poet

Guest: Nilda Cepero, artist, author & poet........we discussed her poetry, books and music.......Nilda was born in Cuba and came to the US with her parents......

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

Listen to "Let's meet Nilda Cepero, Cuban American author & poet" on Spreaker.

WNBA not sure about the W plus Karoline's choice

 

Another week and the WNBA is still wondering what the W means.  I thought that W meant women,  Karoline Leavitt chooses to care for her kids and some people are freaking out.  Michigan polls show Rogers leading, Happy # 81 Steve Martin.