Marriage is like a game of chess except the board is flowing water, the pieces are made of smoke, and no move you make will have any effect on the outcome.
Jerry Seinfeld, who said that, is happily married with three kids. Happy Birthday Jerry! He’s 69 today.
Today is the day that, in 1913, a Swedish engineer named Gideon Sundback, living in Hoboken, NJ, patented the modern zipper under the name, “Hookless No. 2.” Preachers called it “the Devil’s fingers” because it eased the process of removing clothing. Now, of course, we’re more worried about the preacher’s fingers.
Here’s how the zipper figures into the aging process: First you forget names. Next you forget faces. Then you forget to zip up your fly. And, last, you forget to zip down your fly. I’m in stage three. Several years ago, one of my students came up to me after class, and she whispered “You’re fly is down.” I whispered back: “Thank you. Next time tell me before class.”
When the deep purple falls over sleepy garden walls
And the stars begin to twinkle in the night
In the mist of my memory, you wander on back to me
Breathing my name with a sigh
In the still of the night once again I hold you tight
Though you’ve gone, your love lives on when moonlight beams
And as long as my heart will beat, sweet lover, we’ll always meet
Here in my deep purple dreams
Here’s April Stevens singing Deep Purple with her brother Nick Tempo. It’s worth a listen, both as time-travel and a good very-oldie.
April’s “talking” the lyrics came about by accident. Nick hadn’t yet learned the words the first time they performed it, so April whispered them to him as he was singing. The effect was terrific and they kept it in. They used the technique in later songs as well.
Deep Purple hit the top of the charts on Nov. 16, 1963. A week later JFK was shot and the country’s interest in music fell off for a time. But the song sold a million copies, and April and Nick won a Grammy for it. They never reached No. 1 again, as the “British invasion” soon took over.
Get this: In 1959, she released a song called “Teach Me Tiger” that her NYT obit described as “sultry,” but that’s a whopper of an understatement. It’s over-the-top sexy. (Marilyn Monroe recorded a sexy version too.) The lyrics include lines like “Take my lips, they belong to you, But teach me first, teach me what to do. . . ” Did they have stuff like that in 1959? Hear it for yourself:
But I haven’t gotten to the “get this” yet. On April 6, 1983, the astronauts aboard space shuttle Challenger requested the song as their wake-up call. NASA obliged the crew, and April was invited to watch their landing.
April Stevens (born Caroline LoTempio) passed away on the 17th of April, at age 93, leaving behind her husband of 38 years, her brother and duet partner Nick, four step-children, six grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren. As the song says, though she’s gone, her love lives on like moonlight beams.
The shortstop for the World Champion 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates, Dick Groat, passed away at age 92 in a Pittsburgh hospital on Thursday. He was a terrific player who may still get into the Hall of Fame via the Veterans Committee since he compares favorably to a number of players who are in, e.g., Luis Aparicio, Nellie Fox, and teammate Bill Mazeroski. Speaking of Maz, it was his historic homer that won the 1960 WS vs the Yankees, but Pittsburgh was trailing 7-4 in the 7th inning and it was Groat’s base hit that ignited a key 5-run rally. 1960 was a great year for Groat: he won the batting crown with a .325 average, and was named NL MVP.
Groat again beat the Yanks in the WS in 1964 with the Cardinals, and was an All-Star eight times in his 14-year career. His lifetime average was .286, with 2,138 hits. Just nine days before he died he was notified that he was voted into the Pirates Hall of Fame.
Groat was a sensational basketball player at Duke, setting the NCAA scoring record in the ’51-’52 season, and he was named UPI Player of the Year. His jersey number (10) was the first to be retired by Duke, and it retired no other number for 28 years. He is in the College Basketball Hall of Fame.
Groat was planning on a two-sport pro career and played 26 games for the then-Ft. Wayne Pistons of the NBA in 1952 until he enlisted in the army. He was the Pistons’ first-round draft pick. When he was discharged, however, Branch Rickey adamantly insisted he play only baseball, so as not to risk injury.
When his playing days were over, Groat spent 40 years as the color analyst for the Pitt Panthers basketball broadcasts. He is survived by three daughters, six grandchildren, eleven great-grandchildren, and millions of appreciative Pirate fans who remember 1960.
Much of the cluing in the puzzle today was very sharp. At 47D, the clue was “F words?,” and the answer was SEE ME. Wait, what? It’s from when a teacher hands back your failing (F) paper, and writes “See me” on the top. Ouch! Cutely, it was right next to 42D: “Philosophy associated with beaches,” which was NUDISM. Get it? SEE ME next to NUDISM.
At 1D, “One of three in many baseball fields,” turned out to be a very creative clue for ACRE. I had no idea the area of a typical MLB ballfield is close to 3 acres.
At 5A, “Target for a certain mallet” was CRAB CLAW. Yum!
“Cry of amazement” was WOWIE ZOWIE, right atop ALL SMILES (“Outwardly very happy”), and symmetrical with WHAT A TREAT! (“I’m so enjoying this!”). That pretty much sums up how we feel when reading Owl Chatter, amirite? See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 