Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: This episode of Norm Nathan's Vault of silliness debuts on October 29, 2025, which is the 29th anniversary of Norm's passing, which was on October 29, 1996. In keeping with that theme, how about a dumb birthday game from October 29, 1994? I don't plan these things. Sometimes the universe works in mysterious ways. Keep saying those signs, big guy. I've got three recent examples to share on Patreon. Soon there was a wild one that you cannot explain coincidence. And truthfully, most of these you can't anyway. So if you're interested in reading about them and other posts I've made, let your fingers do the walking over to Patreon, check them out and I'll thank you here in advance.
Thank you. The title of this episode will be two Betty's, a Brinkley and a McKinley. I use the B29 Superfortress as a thumbnail because of all the 29 references I mentioned earlier. And because, of course, Norm is always the bomb.
So the players, John and I don't know Betty from Amsterdam, New York, who will from here on in be known as Greenie, Addie and Everett. Betty from Fishkill, New York, Brian McKinley producing and playing in studio, and Jack Hart from Traffic. The birthdays, Richard Dreyfuss, Kate Jackson, Winona Ryder, Melba Moore and Bill Maudlin. And we get three events. In what year did Gimbals department store sell the first ballpoint pen for the princely sum of $12.95? What was the year that Black Tuesday, the stock market crash that began the Great Depression occur in? And in what year did the Huntley Brinkley Report debut on the television episode 259? Two Betty's, a Brinkley and a McKinley broadcast its way to your ears in three, two and one.
[00:01:59] Speaker B: Good morning. Good morning. We're all set to go, eh? You too? I'm ready. Okay, we also. We have Betty.
We have two Betty's in New York. This is which Betty?
[00:02:09] Speaker C: This is Betty from Amsterdam.
[00:02:11] Speaker B: Okay. This is the Betty from Amsterdam, New York. And we have Addie from Everett.
[00:02:17] Speaker C: Good morning, Norman.
[00:02:18] Speaker B: Good morning. It's nice to hear your voice again, Addie from Everett.
[00:02:22] Speaker C: Well, it's always a pleasure to hear you.
[00:02:26] Speaker B: Oh, thank you. We have another Betty, also from New York. Now, where are you in New York, Betty?
[00:02:31] Speaker C: I'm from Fiskill. It's in the Hudson Valley.
[00:02:34] Speaker B: Oh, fish kill. Oh, yeah, that's the way you pronounce it. Fish kill.
[00:02:38] Speaker C: Yes, that's exactly the way it's spelled. It's A Dutch name.
[00:02:42] Speaker B: Okay. Fish Kill. It's in the. Where is it?
[00:02:45] Speaker C: In Hudson Valley.
[00:02:48] Speaker B: Are you anywhere near Amsterdam at all? Or.
[00:02:50] Speaker C: Or I don't think that we're that close.
What do you think, Betty?
No, we're not.
You're away.
I'm up toward Fonda. Well, utica is about 60 miles from us. No, I'm not even near Albany.
No, it's.
It's in Dutchess County.
Oh, you're way down. Right.
[00:03:15] Speaker B: Okay. It's kind of. I hope we won't get too confused of the fact that we have two Betties.
[00:03:20] Speaker C: Well, if you want, you can call me Greenie.
[00:03:23] Speaker B: Greenie?
[00:03:24] Speaker C: Yeah, that's my last name. Green.
[00:03:26] Speaker B: Okay, we'll call you Greenie then.
[00:03:27] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:03:28] Speaker B: Okay. And we have Brian, who's with us, of course, our producer. Big time producer.
[00:03:34] Speaker D: I was gonna say what a small world, but I guess not since they're like millions of miles apart. So it seems.
[00:03:39] Speaker B: And New York State is a lot bigger than Massachusetts area, but perhaps we can get them together and they'll be friends for the rest of their lives and just liking each other a lot.
[00:03:50] Speaker D: The Betty twins.
[00:03:51] Speaker B: That'd be just sad.
We also have, of course, Jack Hart. Hi. I haven't had a chance to talk to you all. I. I don't know. They haven't had a chance, but I haven't talked to you the entire night. I know.
[00:04:01] Speaker E: I feel snubbed.
[00:04:03] Speaker B: Oh, gee.
Okay. Well, we'll. We'll talk a lot now. Okay.
[00:04:07] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:04:08] Speaker B: What would you like to talk about?
[00:04:09] Speaker E: Anything in particular?
[00:04:09] Speaker B: Oh, let's see. What the we talk about. I want to talk about something like traffic. Sure. We can talk about traffic. We can talk about the weather. We can talk about news. We can talk about anything you like to talk about.
[00:04:19] Speaker D: Oh, there you go. You can talk.
[00:04:20] Speaker B: Yeah, maybe. Maybe we won't talk at all.
Okay. Today's the birthday of Richard Dreyfuss. The actor from Brooklyn, New York, won an Oscar in 1977 for Best Actor and the Goodbye Girl, Neil Simon's play and movie. Marsha Mason was in the movie and the play. He was seen as in Nuts, as Barbra Streisand's attorney. Anybody ever see that movie?
[00:04:49] Speaker E: Yes, I did. You know, I thought from the trailers and things that it was going to be a wacky, zany, you know, riotous left best.
But it turned out to be kind.
[00:04:58] Speaker B: Of a dark movie.
Yeah. Was it fun? Did you. Not fun. But did you enjoy it? Was it a good movie? It was.
[00:05:05] Speaker E: It was. It was kind of riveting. You know, it's kind of movie.
[00:05:07] Speaker B: When you.
[00:05:07] Speaker E: You. You finished watching it, if you're watching it with some friends or something, you kind of sit there for a minute just not saying anything. It was just kind of shocking.
[00:05:16] Speaker B: Did you speak of movies, did you happen to see Pulp? What was. What's the whole. Fiction. Pulp Fiction. Yeah. Did anybody see that? Not yet.
[00:05:25] Speaker E: Not me.
[00:05:26] Speaker B: Yeah, I saw it and I fell asleep in the middle of it. Now, that's gotten some great reviews and I thought, this has got to be crazy movie. They had some good acting in it. I thought the acting was fine, but I couldn't understand.
A lot of people called it a comedy and it didn't seem. It seemed very violent to me and not terribly funny, and I feel so bad.
[00:05:48] Speaker D: So you fell asleep halfway through it?
[00:05:50] Speaker B: Halfway through it. About halfway or two thirds the way through it.
[00:05:54] Speaker D: So what did you think up until then? It wasn't all. It was cracked up?
[00:05:57] Speaker B: No, it wasn't. I didn't find it real. I thought the acting was quite good.
[00:06:01] Speaker E: Well, from what I understand, however, it does have a.
[00:06:05] Speaker B: A.
[00:06:06] Speaker E: A little known, but probably one of my favorite Chuck Berry songs in it.
[00:06:10] Speaker B: Now, which one is that?
[00:06:11] Speaker E: You never can tell. Apparently a scene where John Travolta and Uma Thurman are dancing.
[00:06:18] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, that was a nice scene that did. I mean, the individual scenes were kind of fun, but I couldn't put the whole movie together to make any kind of sense. Let's see, who was it? John Travol and another big name.
I saw the movie and I'm asking you who was in it? That doesn't make any sense, does it?
[00:06:35] Speaker D: Pulp Fiction was Uma Thurman. Uma Thurman?
Is it Samuel Jackson? Was that the. His partner in there?
[00:06:45] Speaker B: No, there was another guy.
Yeah. Strong character.
Pump fiction.
[00:06:54] Speaker D: I don't know. I haven't seen it recent. Well, it was Samuel Jackson who played his partner.
[00:06:59] Speaker B: The. Yeah, but there was somebody.
[00:07:01] Speaker D: There was someone else bigger than.
[00:07:02] Speaker B: Somebody better than. I'm looking it up right now.
[00:07:05] Speaker D: He's looking it up right now.
[00:07:06] Speaker B: Yeah, See, before I go on the air, the lovely Marilyn Girling prepares a sheet which lists all the things that I. She thinks I may want to know.
And I'm looking through that.
[00:07:19] Speaker D: Oh, it wasn't. Oh, Bruce Willis.
[00:07:21] Speaker B: Bruce Willis. Of course, Bruce Willis. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:07:24] Speaker D: She just tapped me in the shoulder at the lovely.
[00:07:27] Speaker B: The lovely Marilyn girl. They told it to you? Yeah, Bruce Willis. And he was. He was fine. He was a boxer and I don't know Anyway, I. I did fall asleep. I. I went to the 10. 10 movie. And it's 10. It started 10 after 10 at night.
[00:07:43] Speaker D: There you go then.
[00:07:44] Speaker B: And I went alone. The first time I've ever been to a movie alone. I think since I can't remember the last time. I hate to go to movies alone. Yeah, I don't think I've ever been to. Yeah, never alone. And I. I suddenly I woke up. All the lights were on in the theater. There was nobody there.
[00:08:00] Speaker D: The guys. The usher's shining the flashlight in your face.
[00:08:04] Speaker B: Didn't even wake me up. I don't know how. How long I'd been asleep.
[00:08:07] Speaker E: And you had a blanket over.
[00:08:08] Speaker B: You popped on his lap. Yeah.
[00:08:10] Speaker E: And they.
[00:08:11] Speaker B: The one of the. They were singing a lullaby to me.
No, there was nobody there, including the usher. And as I went out the door, the usher, you know, looking very bedraggled, said, is there anybody else still in there?
He was the only person I saw in the entire theater.
[00:08:25] Speaker D: They're waiting for you.
[00:08:26] Speaker B: And I said, no, I know. I was ashamed to tell him I. I'd fallen asleep and. How long has the movie been over?
He allowed to say, three days ago, as a matter of fact. But I felt rested on the way home. I really felt pretty good.
[00:08:38] Speaker E: Well, you see, you got your money's worth then.
[00:08:43] Speaker B: But anyway, that's what I thought of Pulp Fiction.
Anyway, we're getting back to Richard Dreyfuss. We mentioned the fact that he was in Goodbye Girl, which he won Oscar for. That's 1977. So remember that if you're figuring his age nuts as a movie that Jack liked. Gave it one thumbs up.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Always lost in Yonkers Stakeout.
And another stakeout. Okay, Richie as well. What's that? American Graffiti. American Graffiti, that's right.
[00:09:18] Speaker D: He was in Jaws.
[00:09:19] Speaker B: Jaws also, yes, he was in Jaws. Moon over Parador, Moon over paradise, the movie I liked. That was right. He played a. He played a lookalike. Dictator. Yeah.
[00:09:29] Speaker D: And what About Bob was a good movie.
[00:09:32] Speaker B: What about Bob? Yes, yes. He was also in the Romance of Shellac with an industrial film he had done for a. As it was a hardware convention, as a matter of fact. Al Dreyfus, Illinois, in his. His honor.
[00:09:45] Speaker D: He was there.
[00:09:45] Speaker B: He was there.
Okay, John, what do you think? Richard Dreyfus, how old do you think?
52.
John says, Never mind the bad jokes. Just let's get on with this thing. Why not? Okay, Greeny, what do you think?
[00:10:00] Speaker C: I'll say 56.
[00:10:02] Speaker B: Okay, 56. And Andy.
[00:10:05] Speaker C: Well, I'm gonna speed right along and say 55.
[00:10:09] Speaker B: 55.
Okay. And Betty up there in Fish Kill, New York.
[00:10:15] Speaker C: I'll say 54.
[00:10:16] Speaker B: 54. And what do you think, Brian?
[00:10:20] Speaker D: Well, the first thing that popped into my little pea brain was 57, so I think he's a little older. 57.
[00:10:25] Speaker B: 57. Okay. And Jack?
[00:10:27] Speaker E: 47.
[00:10:29] Speaker B: 47 is correct.
Oh, everybody did. You. You sound like you really knew that.
[00:10:35] Speaker E: No, but I knew he wasn't in his 50s because he played a teenager in 72.
[00:10:39] Speaker D: There you go.
I just seen him on Entertainment Tonight. He was all gray and losing his hair and kind of heavy. And I'm thinking, jeez, he's gonna be at least 55.
[00:10:49] Speaker B: He looks older than he is. That's true. But he is 47 years old. I checked it as you know, I check it with 17 sources and then I call. I call Brooklyn, New York for the local clerk who keeps birth records.
[00:11:03] Speaker D: You must have checked it with Jack because he's got.
[00:11:06] Speaker B: Well, Jack obviously did the same checking I did. Yes, I did. Okay. Kate Jackson from Birmingham, Alabama, appeared as Sabrina on ABC's Charlie's Angels and with Bruce Boxleitner in Scarecrow and Mrs. King.
Also TV's Short Lived Baby boom.
She once considered a career as a professional tennis player.
She appeared in the TV horror films Killer Bees, Death Cruise and Satan's School for Girls.
Isn't that a terrible lineup? Doesn't that sound like a horror thing? I guess that's the point of it. They were horror things. Those were all done in the 70s, if that'll help you track down her age.
Oh, she had a modified mastectomy. I didn't realize that. In 1989 it said she's cured of her breast cancer. I hope that's so. That's encouraging, Kate. Jack's a very attractive lady.
Writes me love letters all the time in a way. Yeah.
Yeah. It's really pitiful.
[00:12:12] Speaker E: She was also in the Rookies.
[00:12:16] Speaker B: Yeah, she was, yeah.
[00:12:17] Speaker E: So I mean, just.
[00:12:18] Speaker D: That's because that goes back whose wife she was. Whose wife?
[00:12:21] Speaker E: Danko's wife.
[00:12:22] Speaker D: Danko's wife, yeah.
[00:12:23] Speaker B: Okay, Jack, you said we'll start with you then, big guy. Okay. Jackson, how old do you think Danko's wife.
[00:12:29] Speaker E: Let me see. That show had to be on in the early 60s. 70s. So that's 20 years ago.
[00:12:35] Speaker B: And the other. And those other horror films were in the 70s.
Those are all TV shows.
[00:12:41] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:12:41] Speaker E: And yes, you played a college student in that.
Which one of the movies there that you mentioned?
[00:12:50] Speaker B: Satan. School for Girls. School for girls.
[00:12:53] Speaker E: Yeah, I learned you had learned how to walk with a book on your head and make nasty faces and noises.
[00:13:02] Speaker B: And was stabbed to death by a person who took a three foot ruler. A yardstick actually, by a very fancy fountain pen. Yeah, I think it was a fountain pen now, but I think. I think you're right. With a big feather on it.
48. 40. 48.
Your addiction is excellent.
[00:13:28] Speaker E: That's what I've heard.
[00:13:28] Speaker B: 48. Brian, what do you say?
[00:13:32] Speaker D: 45.
[00:13:33] Speaker B: And Betty?
[00:13:35] Speaker C: 46.
[00:13:36] Speaker B: 46. Addie?
[00:13:38] Speaker C: 43.
[00:13:40] Speaker B: 43.
Okay. And Greenie, that Betty from Amsterdam.
[00:13:46] Speaker C: I'll go along with 48.
[00:13:48] Speaker B: Okay. And John?
49. 49. Okay. Betty from Fishgill.
I said it. 46 is the correct age. Yeah. How about Winona Ryder?
She was. Did you know she was born Winona Horowitz in Winona, Minnesota?
[00:14:09] Speaker E: Is that right?
[00:14:10] Speaker B: Was she named after the town in Minnesota or was the town named after her?
Or maybe neither. Maybe neither.
Because apparently her real first name is Winona.
[00:14:22] Speaker E: Winona.
[00:14:23] Speaker B: Winona. When day is done, you'll hear my call Winona will meet beside the waterfall I dread.
Anyway, her films include Bram Stoker's Dracula.
As Minna, she was in Beetlejuice, Mermaids, Edward Scissors, Scissorhands and Age of Innocence.
Winona Ryder.
Okay, let's start with you, Addie. How old do you think Winona Ryder is?
[00:14:58] Speaker C: Oh, 36.
[00:15:02] Speaker B: What's that? Please.
[00:15:02] Speaker C: We'll keep her young.
[00:15:04] Speaker B: Okay. And John, what do you think? I have no idea who she is, but I'll say 34. 34.
Okay. Brian, what do you say? She's a youngin.
[00:15:15] Speaker D: She's 24.
[00:15:16] Speaker B: 24.
Okay. And Greeny?
[00:15:20] Speaker C: Also 29.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: 29. And what did you say, Jack?
[00:15:24] Speaker E: I'll go with 24.
[00:15:25] Speaker B: 24 also. And Betty?
[00:15:28] Speaker C: Oh, I think 25.
[00:15:32] Speaker B: Okay. She.
[00:15:33] Speaker C: Maybe she took the rider from the trucks.
[00:15:37] Speaker B: Well, she may have taken the last name from the trucks, but I wondered. Ah, never mind. Anyway, Melba Moore. You know Melba Moore? Yeah, she's peachy.
She co hosted a musical variety show with her husband, Clifton Davis.
No.
In 1972.
It was a five week summer replacement for the Carol Burnett Show.
She's an actress and a singer. I. I remember her more as a singer than as an actress.
[00:16:08] Speaker D: Wasn't she just recently? Oh, she might have. Well, might not be true. But it was in the Inquirer, so if I read it there, it has to be true. And she's broke now or something. She's down and out and she's she.
[00:16:18] Speaker E: Was at one point, from what I understand.
[00:16:21] Speaker D: Was that recently or was that just.
[00:16:23] Speaker B: A few years ago?
[00:16:24] Speaker D: And it was in the Inquirer. So, like I said, you don't know how much is.
[00:16:28] Speaker E: Apparently it was true.
[00:16:29] Speaker B: She was down in her life. Yeah. Actually, the Inquirer is much more accurate than it really is. No, it really is. I mean, I know it's got a reputation as a. Some of those others I wouldn't trust.
[00:16:39] Speaker D: The other ones like the Weekly World News, where Weekly World News.
[00:16:41] Speaker E: You'd be surprised at some of the stories that are true in there.
[00:16:45] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree that.
[00:16:46] Speaker E: I get that in the sun every week.
[00:16:48] Speaker B: Well, let's see. The sun is Rudolph, Rupert Murdoch newspaper. And the Inquirer actually, apparently is fairly accurate most of the time. Much of the time they're very sensational.
[00:17:01] Speaker E: But the Weekly World News is actually from the National Enquirer. It's when they went to the color, they had all the black and white presses and they said, what are we.
[00:17:09] Speaker B: Going to do with them?
[00:17:10] Speaker E: They came up with the Weekly World News.
[00:17:12] Speaker B: Is that right? They're owned by the same people? Yep.
Son of a gun. Son of a gun. Okay, Melba Moore.
Let's see. We'll start with Betty up in Fishkill, New York. How old do you think Melba Moore is?
[00:17:24] Speaker C: I saw her a long time ago in a state on stage with Al Green.
I think she's about 51.
[00:17:42] Speaker B: 51. Okay. And Greenie, what do you think?
[00:17:48] Speaker C: I'll go along with it. 51.
[00:17:51] Speaker B: 51.
Okay. Brian?
[00:17:55] Speaker D: I think she's 49.
[00:18:00] Speaker B: Okay. And John, I would say 52.
And Jack, 55.
And what do you think, Addie?
[00:18:11] Speaker C: 53.
[00:18:13] Speaker B: Okay. 49 is correct.
Oh. So Brian and Jack, two members of our very own staff.
And if this doesn't look kind of fishy, and it's not really, it's all legitimate, but Brian and Jack both have two apiece, and one one by Betty.
And the rest of you, just ready to break out.
Bill Malden. Remember Bill Malden, M A U L D I N.
Created G I S. Willie and Joe and.
Yeah, he was a World War II cartoonist.
Yeah, that's right.
[00:18:51] Speaker D: Created the cartoon strip or the actual figure?
[00:18:55] Speaker B: No, no, he. He created the Willie and Joe, and he did them, I think, for Stars and Stripes. I think the army newspaper back in World War II. Correct. Okay. Why don't you go ahead first, then Big John. How old do you think Bill Malden is? Oh, Jesus. He's gonna be 74. 74. Okay. And the greenie I'll go with 78.
Addie.
[00:19:23] Speaker C: Get ready.
[00:19:23] Speaker B: Jack.
[00:19:24] Speaker C: 76.
[00:19:25] Speaker E: Oh, that. That's the spirit.
[00:19:26] Speaker B: Thank you. Now, you don't seem to have the heart for it today, Jack. You've kind of just gone through the motion.
Betty, what do you think?
[00:19:36] Speaker C: I'll say 77.
[00:19:38] Speaker B: Brian.
[00:19:40] Speaker D: I have no idea who he is, so I'll say 75.
[00:19:44] Speaker B: I guess he wouldn't be known by younger people today because he hasn't.
His characters haven't been around for a while, Jack.
[00:19:51] Speaker E: Then what's he doing now?
[00:19:55] Speaker B: 81. 81. Okay. He's obviously retired. According to all your ages, he's probably on Social Security and whatever pension plan he got. He's 73.
Wow. So I think John. John.
Close. John.
[00:20:11] Speaker E: And.
[00:20:12] Speaker B: Yeah, John came the closest to that.
John has broken out into the scoring column. Hello there.
[00:20:19] Speaker C: They did a movie of those two characters also.
[00:20:23] Speaker B: They were very popular at one point. Yeah. Yes.
[00:20:26] Speaker C: And every so often, it shows up on a Sunday afternoon.
[00:20:30] Speaker B: Yeah. Another. Another character that was popular around that time was the sad sack. Remember that?
[00:20:35] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:20:35] Speaker B: I don't remember who did the sad. Sad. That wasn't Bill Malden who did that one. I don't think.
There was an army patch that was put out by the Sad sack, too, that I had in my possession at one time. Yeah, it was very popular in the retired army people.
And it was also. It was also your general comic strip that was in the major newspapers for quite some time.
[00:21:03] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:21:04] Speaker B: How about some events?
Sure. Okay, I'll give you the event, and you tell me what year it happened. Okay. Like Gimbel's department stores sold the first ballpoint pen.
I know that sounds kind of silly, but if you're very young, you don't remember the time we used to have ink wells and dipping. You know, the pen points in there and little girls.
Teacher. I broke my ben penpo. Can I have another pinpoint, please? Please.
[00:21:31] Speaker D: And I have to hear these stories. I know. And you used to walk to school with no shoes and, you know, blah, blah, blah.
[00:21:36] Speaker B: Oh, that was easy. The Snow is about 12ft above our heads, and we walk 19 miles each way.
But everybody knows that.
[00:21:44] Speaker E: Do you know that actually at one point in a teacher's contract, it was her responsibility to. To carve the nib on each student's pen to his or her own liking.
[00:21:55] Speaker B: Is that right?
I didn't know that either. Franklin did that.
[00:22:00] Speaker E: Carved his own nib.
[00:22:02] Speaker C: How did you do that?
[00:22:04] Speaker E: The pen knife, I would guess.
[00:22:05] Speaker B: Yeah, but I mean, a nib device.
[00:22:09] Speaker C: What was the nib made of a feather.
[00:22:13] Speaker E: Feather.
[00:22:14] Speaker D: I think we'll start doing that when we give our pens away. Yeah, Your own exclusive nib on.
[00:22:19] Speaker B: Yeah. But the first ballpoint pen that was a gimbal sole was sold for 12.95. That was expensive.
[00:22:27] Speaker D: 12.95.
[00:22:28] Speaker B: Wow. Yeah, well, I mean, that was a whole new thing, you know, and then mass production, and we all have pens, and now you can pick up the one I got to pick.
You pick up 10 of them for about 80 cents or, I don't know, maybe less or whatever.
[00:22:42] Speaker E: At one point, it was a baseball point. It was that big.
[00:22:46] Speaker B: Before that, it says inkwells caused problems for teachers all over the country.
And remember, you used to make.
What do they call. What colors? Things where you, you know, you'd write with the ink and it would blotter. Blotter. Why can't I think of the word blotter? Yeah, you'd make blah. You'd make blotters, too.
You know, a little. They'd be a little figurines you would attach to the blotter and all that kind of stuff.
[00:23:13] Speaker C: I remember the teacher mixing the ink up with the powder.
[00:23:17] Speaker B: Oh, boy, you are an old son of a kind. Wow. We. Are you old.
[00:23:22] Speaker E: Oh, I remember ink before it was wet.
[00:23:25] Speaker B: I remember ink before it was wet.
[00:23:28] Speaker C: I can remember getting my hair dipped in the inkwell.
[00:23:31] Speaker B: Did they do that? Did you have pigtails and they dunked them.
[00:23:34] Speaker C: Long hair.
[00:23:35] Speaker B: Long hair. And they dunked it in the ink well.
Yeah, that's right. Because there'd be the girl sitting in front of you, and the ink well was right behind you or on your desk. Yeah.
[00:23:45] Speaker C: That was a sign that the boy liked you.
[00:23:47] Speaker B: That's right. That's right. Did you ever wash it out of your hair, Betty?
[00:23:50] Speaker C: Try to get India ink out.
That's still there to use back there. No, it's not there now.
[00:23:57] Speaker E: When I was in grammar school, we still had the ink well itself in the desk.
[00:24:01] Speaker C: Yeah, that's weird.
[00:24:02] Speaker E: But of course, we didn't have the ink.
[00:24:04] Speaker D: Yeah, actually, I did, too. Going to grammar school, we had the little.
[00:24:08] Speaker E: Yeah, yeah, That's a great place for throwing, like straw.
[00:24:12] Speaker C: Thank you.
You didn't get to use a pen with the ink until you're in the fourth.
[00:24:18] Speaker B: Right. Wow. Did you. Did you have penmanship, too? Remember the ups and downs and the circles? Do you think if nobody had ever had penmanship that the writing quality of. Of the entire world would be the slightest bit different?
Do you think our writing actually got improved because we took penmanship and usually, usually was taught by some teacher he hated. And it was the most boring class.
[00:24:42] Speaker E: I think it had a psychological effect on students and gave them. And created great angst and strife in this world.
[00:24:49] Speaker B: I think so. And I think anybody who ever thought penmanship ought to be beaten within an inch of their lives.
[00:24:54] Speaker E: Well, there was a man recently in Charlestown, back in like 1922 or something. He had received an award from the Palmer Company, the Palmer Method Company for his excellent penmanship. Then they discovered that he was left handed and took it away. And only recently did they try to.
[00:25:10] Speaker B: Give it back to give him, you.
[00:25:11] Speaker E: Know, give him this award, but he refused it.
[00:25:15] Speaker B: Why did they take it away? Because he was.
[00:25:17] Speaker D: Jeez, what a.
[00:25:18] Speaker B: Because.
[00:25:19] Speaker D: Because they.
[00:25:19] Speaker B: You couldn't be left handed back then.
[00:25:21] Speaker D: I'm from Charlestown and I'm left handed.
[00:25:23] Speaker E: Wow.
[00:25:24] Speaker B: Oh, you know what would happen you, that you would. You would smear your. Well your fist with it.
[00:25:28] Speaker E: Smear your ink.
[00:25:29] Speaker B: You're pulling up the wrong angle.
[00:25:30] Speaker D: You know, I'm, you know, I'm kind of a young and now, but growing up in grammar school, they try to. I was writing with my left hand. They try to take it away and, and try to teach me how to.
[00:25:39] Speaker B: Write with my right hand.
[00:25:40] Speaker E: For some reason.
[00:25:41] Speaker D: I don't know. I guess that was like a big deal growing up.
[00:25:43] Speaker B: Oh my God.
[00:25:43] Speaker D: You're left handed. You can't be left handed.
[00:25:45] Speaker B: You have to be right handed.
[00:25:46] Speaker E: Well, the word left actually relates to a. To a word in some foreign language meaning evil.
[00:25:54] Speaker B: That's true. Okay.
That's correct. Well, we're not up in your funkoag.
Let's. Okay, now we'll figure out the year for whatever it is we're talking about the ballpoint pen sold at Gimbel's, apparently one of the first places to sell a Ballpoint pen for 12.95. Can you imagine that? You get a quite a good pen today for that.
Anyway, let's see. We haven't started with you, Brian. What do you think it would be? Me?
[00:26:25] Speaker D: I have no idea. I'd say 1925.
[00:26:30] Speaker B: I don't know. 1925, you would say, hey, did they.
[00:26:34] Speaker D: Have Nintendo back then? Because that's all. I know, I know what year they made Nintendo.
[00:26:39] Speaker B: No, that was the year the wheel was invented.
Before that, we used to just drag stuff along the ground.
[00:26:45] Speaker D: Did you still have dinosaurs back in those days?
[00:26:47] Speaker B: No, they didn't come along for a couple of years.
John, what do you. What year do you think the ballpoint.
[00:26:53] Speaker C: 1919.
[00:26:54] Speaker B: 1919.
Okay.
Eddie?
[00:27:00] Speaker C: 1946.
[00:27:04] Speaker B: 1946.
And Jack. 1938. 1938.
And Betty.
[00:27:14] Speaker C: I'd say 1938 also.
[00:27:16] Speaker B: Also. What do you think, Greeny?
[00:27:19] Speaker C: 1947.
[00:27:21] Speaker B: 1947. Okay. Betty and Addie were the closest. It was 1945.
[00:27:30] Speaker C: I was debating between 45, 46.
[00:27:33] Speaker B: Okay, well, so, Addie, actually, you said 46, so you're the closest.
You're there up there on a scoreboard, too, which means anybody can win. This was. This was also a big day on the stock market.
On October 29, the New York stock market collapsed, wiping out thousands of investors, leading to the Great Depression.
It was known as Black Tuesday. Evangeline Adams predicted many things, including Lindbergh's flight and how long it would take. And she predicted the crash, but she didn't believe it herself and lost 100. I don't know what the point of this is. And lost $100,000.
But that was Black Tuesday. Happened on. It obviously happened on Tuesday, since that's why they called it Black Tuesday.
And it began the Great Depression.
And panic set in. Oh, let's see. I remember being so unhappy about this, I threw myself on the floor and missed. It was just one of those kind of days where nothing seemed to go right. You hit the ceiling.
No, I didn't do that, John. No, no, it didn't happen that way at all. Judge, you're too young to have been there. If anybody misses this one, they're crazy.
I know it. This is. Okay, we'll start with you, John. 29. 1929. Betty. Greeny.
[00:29:04] Speaker C: What?
The crash.
[00:29:06] Speaker B: Yeah. Black Tuesday. The beginning of the Great Depression. And the stock market.
1929.
Addie.
[00:29:13] Speaker C: 29.
[00:29:14] Speaker B: 29.
Betty.
[00:29:16] Speaker C: 29.
[00:29:18] Speaker B: Brian.
[00:29:19] Speaker D: Oh, well, gee, what do I. What am I gonna say?
Would it be 1929, perhaps?
[00:29:26] Speaker B: What do you think, Jack? Are you gonna go along with this wild stab of Brian's 53?
[00:29:32] Speaker E: 79.
[00:29:34] Speaker B: 29. Okay, so that means we have winners all the way through. Wasn't. That was a good question?
It was a trick question. That's right. Okay, let's see. So we have John. John now has two correct answers. However, Jack and Brian have three.
Betty has two also.
And one apiece by Greeny and Addie. And here's the very last one. Now we'll see who.
I know you want this game to go on forever and ever.
[00:30:02] Speaker C: I should have two. Norman, I got the pet.
[00:30:05] Speaker B: Oh, I'm sorry. You do have two. Yeah, absolutely. You would have two. Get on them.
[00:30:10] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:30:10] Speaker B: No, you're absolutely right.
[00:30:11] Speaker C: You want to bring me the tears here.
[00:30:14] Speaker B: I really do. Because you look so sensuous when you cry.
[00:30:18] Speaker C: It isn't often I even get one.
[00:30:20] Speaker B: No, that's right, you did get two. That's true. Okay, the Huntley Brinkley Report began. Let me tell you what it replaced. The Camel News Caravan. You remember the early days of television?
At quarter to seven, a quarter to eight, 7:45, they used to have this 50 minute newscast with John Cameron Swayze.
And he talked kind of staccato like John Cameron Swayze hopscotching the news for headlines. You know, at the end he would do a whole bunch of headline stories like that on NBC tv. Anyway, they replaced Swayze and of course they went a half hour.
I don't think they ever were on longer than a half hour. He was only 15 minutes.
The show ran for almost 14 years.
So if you know, in the Huntley Brinkley Report ended, just count back 14 years to when it began.
And that's how jazz came up to Mississippi, to Chicago.
We'll start with you, Jack. What do you think? What. What year was that?
[00:31:20] Speaker E: 1900 and 56.
[00:31:26] Speaker B: 1956.
And Brian?
[00:31:32] Speaker D: Well, for the sake of. I don't know, I'll go along with Jack and say 1956.
[00:31:41] Speaker B: Okay, Betty.
[00:31:43] Speaker C: 1952.
[00:31:45] Speaker B: 1952.
You remember that year because it's the year you and I went to the senior prom together.
[00:31:53] Speaker C: I remember.
Remember what color dress I wore?
[00:31:57] Speaker B: Yes, I do.
It was a wild yellow.
[00:32:04] Speaker C: If I wore yellow, it would be.
[00:32:06] Speaker B: Wild purplish stripes and a maroon belt.
[00:32:12] Speaker C: That was it.
[00:32:13] Speaker B: Yeah. And you looked.
Well, you look kind of silly.
[00:32:19] Speaker C: Was that the dress with the crepe paper roses on it? Yeah.
[00:32:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:24] Speaker D: And how did you get to the prom in those old days anyway?
[00:32:28] Speaker B: How do we get to the prom.
[00:32:29] Speaker D: In the olden days?
[00:32:30] Speaker B: Well, like everybody did. Yeah. Horse. And we are. We actually. We hired a big carriage and the three couples chipped in and being as.
[00:32:39] Speaker E: The wheel hadn't been invented, they had to drag the carriage.
[00:32:41] Speaker B: That's right. Yeah. The horses had a tough time with that dragging that thing along.
[00:32:45] Speaker C: My date took me on a travoy.
[00:32:48] Speaker B: On a what?
[00:32:49] Speaker C: Travoy.
[00:32:50] Speaker E: Did your parents know about.
[00:32:51] Speaker C: Yeah, you know, those things that the Indians dragged behind the horse.
[00:32:56] Speaker B: Oh, that's called a travoy. Yeah, that was called a drag.
[00:33:02] Speaker C: No, no, he wasn't gay.
Wow.
[00:33:06] Speaker B: Dynamite.
[00:33:07] Speaker E: He wore the dress.
[00:33:11] Speaker B: Are we going to be serious or are we going to joke through this and then show up badly on the statewide tests?
Eddie. Anyway, the Huntley Brinkley report. What year do you think that began?
[00:33:23] Speaker C: 57.
[00:33:24] Speaker B: 1957.
Okay.
And let's see, Greeny, I'll say 1956. 1956.
And Big John, I would say in 1954. 1954. 1956 is correct. It was that. That was the year ran till 1969 is the way I figure out. 1970. I remember in 1970, kids, it ran 14 years. You remember it?
[00:33:56] Speaker E: Yeah, I remember. And then somebody used to do an imitation of David Brinkley working in a. Working in a Howard Johnson's with the 28 flavors.
[00:34:08] Speaker B: We've got chocolate, we've got vanilla and we've got strawberry.
Right. In fact, in fact I remember going to Washington D.C. he worked out of Washington and Chet Huntley worked out of New York.
And in Washington you turn on the radio down there and every newscaster seems. Sounded like Brinkley. They all talked that way in the news today.
[00:34:36] Speaker D: That way.
[00:34:37] Speaker B: He still talks the same way. And he seems as though he's imitating himself. Yeah, and I'm not, I'm doing it very badly. But you watch him on the Sunday morning show and it's not that, that he's him. He's imitating somebody. Why he's imitating himself.
It doesn't sound like anybody would know him. Naturally talk that way.
It's funny. We've seen him. Well, at least I have seen him age. From a young boy.
Correct. Back in 1956 when it all began to. Now he's a kind of a doddering white haired guy except he's still pretty hip. You know, he just, he just looks old, but he talks young.
I don't know what that means. I have no idea what any of that means. Okay, let's tally up the score just to see who's won.
And I believe it's Jack and Brian. Let me see, Brian has four and Jack has four.
No prizes. No prizes again.
[00:35:32] Speaker D: You don't get those pens with a little nick. What is it?
Well, that's why I had to go with Jack in case, you know, he's pretty good with guessing. So I said, well, if he guesses correctly, he'll win.
[00:35:45] Speaker B: Well, he. Yeah, sometimes I don't think it's really a guess. He actually figures these things out. He's.
[00:35:50] Speaker D: I have no clue.
[00:35:51] Speaker E: I saw somewhere recently that, that what's his name, that Huntley. Chet Huntley died, I think in 72.
So I figured he was probably still alive when the Chet Huntley. When the Huntley Brinkley Report was on the Air and, you know, subtract 14.
[00:36:07] Speaker C: Good guess.
[00:36:08] Speaker B: Jack gets the facts.
[00:36:10] Speaker E: You bet.
[00:36:10] Speaker B: Over the. Over the newsletter, you know.
[00:36:14] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:36:16] Speaker B: So Jack and Brian both have four correct answers and everybody else has two. So everybody else did. Did. Well, it's four correct answers. Congratulations, everyone. Four people. Yeah, I got two correct ones. I feel honest.
[00:36:30] Speaker C: Haven't been in the company of such brilliant men.
[00:36:33] Speaker B: You know, we ought to do. That's right.
[00:36:34] Speaker E: I just.
[00:36:35] Speaker D: I just ride on the coattails of Jack. Whatever he says, I go.
[00:36:37] Speaker B: Yeah, ditto for me.
What we ought to do is challenge it, you know. You know, we have softball teams and stuff. We challenge other radio stations who are part of the league. Maybe we could do this with the dumbrete game. We could challenge other stations.
[00:36:54] Speaker E: The trivia team. Sure.
[00:36:56] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, we'll challenge WRKO and their silly team, you know, see if they can. And beat them.
[00:37:04] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:37:06] Speaker B: Bring in hdh. Crush it. Yeah, we'll kill them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, anyway, I want to thank you all for playing the game. John, thank you very much. Good with you. God bless you. Take care.
And Greenie, or as we know, Betty from Amsterdam, New York.
Yes.
[00:37:24] Speaker C: Being on the game and it's always nice talking with you.
[00:37:27] Speaker B: It's always nice talking.
[00:37:28] Speaker C: And I was glad to meet you, too, Betty from Fishkill. It was nice to meet you, Betty from Amsterdam. Okay.
[00:37:34] Speaker B: Oh, that's so sweet. That is so sweet.
[00:37:37] Speaker C: They just had a pen pal club.
[00:37:38] Speaker B: They could do that too. And thank you, Betty from Fishkill.
[00:37:42] Speaker C: Thank you for allowing me to be on the game tonight. I really enjoyed it.
[00:37:46] Speaker B: Now, is that fish gill or fish kill?
[00:37:49] Speaker C: Fish kill in the. You see, this is, you know, where Roosevelt lived.
[00:37:57] Speaker E: Sure.
[00:37:58] Speaker C: Okay. It's that area. And there are a lot of Dutch names around here.
[00:38:03] Speaker E: Fish kill is a kill.
[00:38:04] Speaker C: Refers to river.
[00:38:07] Speaker B: Oh.
[00:38:07] Speaker C: Kilt is a river. And so it's the river of the fish, I guess.
[00:38:14] Speaker B: Which is where this should be. You know, the birds, I guess. Hey, thank you, Betty. Thank you for the explanation on all of that stuff. Now just get out of here.
[00:38:23] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:38:24] Speaker B: Take care. Thank you.
[00:38:25] Speaker C: Good night.
[00:38:26] Speaker B: And Addie, always a pleasure.
[00:38:28] Speaker C: Oh, definitely.
Good night.
[00:38:31] Speaker B: Now she's nibbling on my earlobe.
Can you take. The nerve of some people.
Okay. And Jack.
[00:38:42] Speaker E: Yeah?
[00:38:43] Speaker B: I guess we'll be looking for a report from you in about 15 minutes.
[00:38:46] Speaker E: Yes, indeed.
[00:38:48] Speaker B: Okay, take care. Alrighty. And thank you very much. Brian, you can go back to the control room. Yeah. I can't believe produce the rest of.
[00:38:55] Speaker D: This program made a respectable showing up on the tote board.
[00:38:58] Speaker B: Oh, you did. Yes, you did. You and Jack just. Oh my. I'm just so proud of you.
[00:39:03] Speaker D: Oozing brains tonight.
[00:39:05] Speaker B: That sounds awful.
[00:39:08] Speaker A: Thank you to everyone who listens, likes and shares. I always hope you enjoy these as much as I love producing them. See y' all next week. Closing the vault and leaving this world a little sillier than we found it. 4. Talking about wacky, zany, riotous laugh fests. Norm falling asleep during Pulp Fiction. As if I recall, I drifted off a little bit too. He and I think, were the only two people didn't really like that movie. Waking up from a nap and feeling well rested. The romance of Shellac Checking local birth records.
Satan's School for Girls. Kate Jackson's love letters to Norm. The National Enquirer. Star magazine. The Weekly World news. The Sun. G.I. willie and G.I. joe. The army newspaper. Stars and Stripes 76. That's the spirit.
The sad carving. Your own nib. Bic pens, inkwells, blotters, feather pens, India ink. And Norm philosophizing about penmanship.
The Palmer Company throwing yourself on the floor in despair and missing sensuous tears.
Hopscotching the news, angst and strife.
Jazz coming up. The Mississippi.
Wild yellow dresses with purple stripes, a maroon belt, silver slippers and crepe paper roses.
Dragging the Travoy.
Baskin Robbins imitating yourself. Doddering white haired hip guys.
The great dumb birthday game. Radio challenge, earlobe nibbling. Norm's executive assistant, the lovely Marilyn Goralnick. And the following brilliant company men. The evil Charlestown left hander Brian McKinley. That fountain of information, Jack the Fax Heart. And the man who looks old but talks young. Norm Nathan. I'm Tony Nesbit.
[00:41:08] Speaker B: Winona. When day is done, you'll hear my call. Winona will meet beside the waterfall.
I dread that. Anyway.
