What Makes Flamingos Pink?

by Bill McLain

  THE WORD DETECTIVE

  http://www.word-detective.com/

  Scroll down the page and click on “Here” under “Looking for back issues?” You’ll see hundreds of words and phrases such as balderdash, gandy dancer, gizmo, pig in a poke, honkytonk, scapegoat, the full monty, spitting image, and yahoo. Just click on any word or phrase to find out how the phrase originated and what it means.

  CITY SLANG

  http://www.slanguage.com/

  This site lists local slang expressions used in various cities around the world. For example, you can find out what “gone richter,” “orange crush,” “the five,” and “the boo” mean in Los Angeles, and what “brownie,” “egg cream,” and “oner niner” mean in New York. The site covers most major U.S. cities plus 18 foreign cities.

  THE QUOTATIONS PAGE

  http://www.starlingtech.com/quotes/

  A nice page for lovers of quotations. It includes quotes of the day, motivational quotes, and quotation links. It also lets you search for a particular quotation.

  10

  Entertainment

  What is the origin of the term “Oscar” for the Academy Awards? (It’s easier to say than Algernon.)

  The official name of the statuette given out at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awards is the Academy Award of Merit. The origin of the nickname Oscar is still not known for sure, but there are a number of stories as to how it came about.

  One version is that famed actress Bette Davis told someone that the buttocks on the statuette looked like the buttocks of her husband, Oscar.

  The most popular story is that Margaret Herrick, a librarian and later executive director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, said that the statuette looked like her uncle Oscar. The Academy staff began calling the award Oscar.

  After the sixth Academy Awards presentation in 1934, a Hollywood reporter, who had heard the Academy staff using the nickname, mentioned the name “Oscar” when reporting on Katharine Hepburn’s award for best actress. It wasn’t until five years later that the Academy started using the nickname officially.

  The Oscar statuette was designed by Cedric Gibbons who had George Stanley sculpt it. It is the figure of a knight, holding a sword and standing on a reel of film. It was originally solid bronze but after a few years the statuettes were made of an alloy called britannia, which gave the statuettes a smooth finish. Because of a shortage of metals during World War II, the Oscar was made of plaster during that time. When the war was over, anyone who had a plaster Oscar was allowed to redeem it for a gold-plated one.

  Today’s statuette is 13½ inches high and weighs 8½ pounds. The base is metal, although from 1928 to 1945 the statuette stood on a base of Belgian black marble.

  FACTOIDS

  The person who has won the most Oscars is not known for being an actor but was someone who has brought joy to children of all ages, Walt Disney. During his lifetime, Walt Disney won 26 Oscars and 6 special Academy Awards. He was also only one of two presenters who opened the envelope to find out that he had won the Oscar (the other was composer Irving Berlin).

  After his death, James Dean was nominated twice for best actor, once for East of Eden in 1955 and once for Giant in 1956. He did not win either time.

  In 1941 Orson Welles was nominated for best producer, director, actor, and screenwriter. He only won best screenwriter, along with his collaborator, Herman J. Mankiewicz.

  The Oscar is only one of the awards given out by the Academy. Awards for special achievements may be a scroll, a medal, or any other design. In 1937 a wooden Oscar statuette with a movable jaw was presented to ventriloquist Edgar Bergen for his creation of Charlie McCarthy. Walt Disney received an Oscar and seven miniature statuettes in 1938 when he was honored for his film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

  DID YOU KNOW?

  If you’ve ever watched the Academy Awards on television, you may have seen someone presenting the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award to a “creative producer who has been responsible for a consistently high quality of motion picture production.”

  Have you ever wondered who on earth Irving G. Thalberg was?

  Thalberg, nicknamed “the boy wonder,” was one of the most creative producers in Hollywood. However, since he died young, most people outside of the film industry know very little about him.

  When he was only 21, Thalberg became head of production at Universal Studios. Four years later he was vice-president and head of production for MGM, which became Hollywood’s most prestigious studio. Thalberg helped grind out a series of critical and financial movie successes such as The Big House, Trader Horn, Grand Hotel, The Merry Widow, Mutiny on the Bounty, and The Good Earth. He also produced Tarzan the Ape Man starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O’Sullivan.

  Thalberg was about to create his own studio when he died of pneumonia at age 37.

  The award that bears his name has been won by top filmmakers in the 20th century, including Darryl F. Zanuck, Hal Wallis, Walt Disney, Cecil B. DeMille, Ingmar Bergman, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas. Darryl F. Zanuck was the only producer to win the award more than once. He won it three times.

  Thalberg was respected not only for his filmmaking, but also because he was considered one of the most polite people in Hollywood. He would listen to anyone’s opinion and was so modest that his name did not appear on any of his films except the last one he produced, The Good Earth.

  As the modest boy wonder once said, “Credit you give yourself is not worth having.”

  Why don’t television sets have a Channel 1? (It’s all because of an argument about the air waves.)

  In the 1930s, virtually all radio was AM, which took up only a small part of the available radio spectrum. Most companies wanted to use the rest of the spectrum for FM.

  However, David Sarnoff, president of RCA, had a different idea. He wanted the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to allocate part of the spectrum to 12 television channels, which would provide three networks to every part of the country.

  The FCC was reluctant, because each television station would eat up to 30 times as much spectrum as a single FM channel. The FCC chairman thought the spectrum should be for radio, which the majority of Americans enjoyed, rather than for television, which only the very rich could afford at the time.

  Sarnoff tried to force the FCC’s speedy approval by demonstrating television at the 1939 World’s Fair, hoping it would see the value of allocating room for 12 television channels. Rather than win over the FCC, Sarnoff’s brash act angered the chairman, who promptly assigned RCA’s proposed television Channel 1 to FM radio.

  Today Channel 1 is devoted to FM mobile services such as two-way radios for taxicabs. The other channels were never renumbered, and the original 12 television channels are still numbered 2 through 13. Today there are 68 broadcast television channels, numbered 2 through 69, but still no Channel 1.

  FACTOIDS

  Prior to 1920, radio was used mainly for maritime, military, and commercial uses. No one considered using it for entertainment. In 1915, David Sarnoff proposed his idea for a “radio music box” to his superiors at the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America. They turned it down. In 1920, he presented the idea to the newly formed Radio Corporation of America (RCA), which agreed to provide the money. Commercial radio was born.

  The first licensed radio station in the United States was KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

  Scotland’s John Logie Baird gave the first public demonstration of television in 1926, using a scanning system patented in 1884. Baird also adopted the word television, coined by Constantin Perskyi in 1900.

  David Sarnoff joined with General Electric and Westing-house to create the first national radio network, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). It was the first company in the United States created solely to operate a network of radio stations.

  There are more television sets in China than anywhere in the world. Over 227 million households have a
television set.

  DID YOU KNOW?

  There are so many inventions that led to television as we know it that it’s extremely difficult to answer the question, “Who invented television?”

  John Logie Baird was the first to transmit a picture by wireless in 1923, and gave his first public demonstration in 1926. Charles Francis Jenkins, who invented the movie projector, broadcast a 10-minute film in 1925, just two months after Baird’s demonstration. Jenkins called his invention “radiovision.”

  If anyone deserves the title of “television’s inventor,” it is probably Philo T. Farnsworth. In 1957 he appeared on the popular television show I’ve Got a Secret. His secret was simple. “I invented electronic television—when I was fourteen years old.”

  With some financial backing, Farnsworth started building his machine. When the device was finished in 1927, he sent his first televised image, a dollar sign, to impress investors. He was just 21 years old.

  His innovative design divided the picture into lines of light and shade, and a fast-moving electromagnetic field scanned the picture line by line. That same year he applied for a patent, but it took another 14 years before commercial broadcasting began. However, Farnsworth believed he would eventually make a fortune with his invention.

  Unfortunately, World War II broke out in 1941, and in April 1942, all television broadcasting was banned by the government. By the time commercial broadcasting resumed after the war, Farnsworth’s patent had run out, and television was in the public domain. Not only did he fail to amass a fortune but his name was not even mentioned as television’s inventor. Disheartened, he spent the last 20 years of his life studying nuclear fusion, which he thought could solve the world’s energy problems.

  Although he did not become rich, Farnsworth contributed a great deal to society. He held more than 300 patents. He also invented the first cold cathode ray tube and the first electron microscope. He used radio waves to find direction, later known as radar, and developed a black light for seeing at night, used in World War II.

  Recognition of his achievements did not come until long after his death. There is now a statue of him in Washington, D.C., and in 1983 the United States Postal Service issued a stamp bearing his portrait.

  The next time you turn your television set on, pause a moment to thank a 14-year-old boy who dreamed the impossible but made it happen.

  What are the job definitions for all the credits you see at the end of a movie? (Is a gaffer the best boy or not?)

  When a movie is over, if you stay to watch all of the credits at the end you’ll be there for quite some time. Rather than describe each of these credits, it’s better to cover those that most people wonder about.

  Gaffer: the head electrician in charge of all lighting personnel. In the early days of film, producers had to rely on natural light. Stages had canvas roofs that could be opened and closed to allow varying degrees of sunlight to fall on the sound stage. Gaffing hooks, traditionally used for landing large fish, were used to move the canvas back and forth. The person responsible for setting the proper amount of light on the stage became known as the gaffer.

  Best boy: there are two best boys, one for lighting and one for the grips. The grip is a crew member who works with the camera and electric department to set up and move equipment such as cranes and dollies. One best boy is second in command to the gaffer and the other best boy is second in command to the key grip.

  Key grip: the person in charge of everyone who moves anything (grips). Grips move scenery and cameras, set up and take down scaffolding, etc. In live theater they are called stage hands.

  Foley artist: the person who creates sounds that cannot be recorded during the filming. Sounds that are later added to the film might be footsteps, creaking doors, thunder, or breaking glass. In radio, they were called sound effects men.

  Property master: this person, who is in charge of the prop department, is responsible for obtaining any object that an actor will come in contact with during the film.

  Anything that an actor can move is a prop, whether it is a plate, a weapon, or a broom. If the object is never moved, such as a picture hanging on the wall, it is a decoration. For instance, a lamp on a table is a decoration. If an actor is supposed to pick it up and throw it, then it’s a prop.

  FACTOIDS

  The second assistant cameraman is a fancy title for the person who holds the clapboard. The film’s title, director, take number, and other information is written on the board. In earlier days, it was written in chalk, but today most clapboards are electronic. The top of the board is slapped shut when filming starts. The sound of the clapboard is later used to synchronize the sound track, while the image is used to synchronize the film track.

  Color film was initially viewed as a ploy to attract audiences into the theater. It was often loud, too bright, and unrealistic. Its only purpose was the novelty of being different from black-and-white film. Eventually color became more natural in appearance and was used artistically.

  The director of photography does not run the camera, he simply supervises the camera work. He is often called the cinematographer. The person operating the camera is called the “second cameraman.”

  The credit “craft services” has nothing to do with building models or any other type of craft. This is the group that provides beverages and snacks to the cast and crew throughout the day.

  DID YOU KNOW?

  There are always people who predict the end of the movie industry. When television first became popular, many people said that it would be the death of film. Yet given more freedom and with newer technology, movies became better than ever.

  Today many filmmakers are predicting that film will be obsolete in just a few years and will be replaced by digital media. Some people think that a link of computers, digital video disks, satellites, and television will eventually sound the death knell for movies.

  How accurate are these predictions? As Sam Goldwyn once said, “Never make forecasts, especially about the future.” In 1922, Thomas Edison said, “I believe that the motion picture will revolutionize our educational system and in a few years will supplant the use of textbooks.” Over 25 years ago, some people predicted that the only way movies could compete with television was to be three-dimensional.

  It seems that prophets and futurists have been trying to kill off the movie industry for years. However, there’s a very good chance that movies are going to be around for a long time to come.

  Who said, “Badges? We ain’t got no badges. We don’t need no badges. I don’t have to show you any stinking badges!”

  This quote is from the film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. In the film, a band of Mexican bandits approaches Humphrey Bogart and his companions (Walter Huston and Tim Holt) claiming to be federales, or Mexican police. When Bogart asks to see their badges, the head of the band says:

  “Badges? We ain’t got no badges. We don’t need no badges. I don’t have to show you any stinking badges!”

  This quote has been satirized in a number of films. Perhaps the most well known is Mel Brooks’s Blazing Saddles.

  In the film, set in Mexico in the 1920s, Bogart, Tim Holt, and Walter Huston are three impoverished Americans who happen to meet in Tampico, Mexico. They decide to prospect for gold in the Sierra Madre. Houston warns them that greed for gold can change even an honest man.

  They find gold and start mining it. As they get more and more gold, they gradually begin to change. Once friends, they now mistrust one another. Bogart initially just wants his “fair share,” but in the ensuing weeks this reasonable desire becomes an obsession to get all of the gold. It is a transformation brought about by greed and paranoid fear.

  Perhaps the most memorable scene is near the end of the film. Mexican bandits steal the mules loaded with bags of gold dust. The bandits slice open the bags with a knife, reach into them, and think the bags are filled with nothing but sand. They ride off in disgust, as the gold dust trickles to the ground from the open bags. A win
d kicks up and the gold dust is blown back into the mountains from where it came.

  FACTOIDS

  The Treasure of the Sierra Madre was awarded an Oscar for best picture in 1949 and a Golden Globe for best picture of 1948.

  John Huston not only had a cameo spot in the film but he also wrote and directed it. He won two Oscars: best screenplay and best director. His father, Walter Huston, won an Oscar for best supporting actor.

  The film regularly appears on various “Greatest 100 films of all time” lists.

  A small Mexican boy selling lottery tickets in the first part of the film was played by Robert Blake, who later played Little Beaver in the Red Ryder shows and as an adult became a star of both television (Baretta) and film.

  DID YOU KNOW?

  In the film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, three men are hunting day and night for a treasure that lies buried on the other side of the next hill. They sought gold, but the true treasure of the Sierra Madre is the native culture, the Huichol. These Indians have lived in the isolated Sierra Madre for centuries and offer the world the wisdom of the ancients.

  The Huichol have been separated from the modern world by the rugged Sierra Madre. They call themselves “the healers” and perform rituals that they believe heal the Earth and keep all of nature in balance. A key ceremony is the sacrifice of a white-tailed deer, the blood of which nourishes the earth.

  Although the Huichol were isolated from civilization for centuries, the modern world invaded their realm in the 1970s. Because the Mexican government wanted to integrate all cultures into the mainstream of society, schools, clinics, and government agencies intruded on the land of the Huichol. Ranchers wanted to graze their cattle on the grassy plateaus of the Huichol land. Missionaries wanted to convert the “pagans.” Tourists and government officials started arriving. In spite of all this, the Huichol clung to their ancient ways.