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HISTORY: unwrapped – December 2006

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December 29, 2006 – A Plan That Misfired

Adolph Hitler was confident that the Berlin Olympic Games of 1936 would showcase the superiority of the blond-haired, blue-eyed Aryan race to the whole world. Jesse Owens, an American black athlete, proved Nazi propaganda wrong about the inferiority of ethnic Africans. Owens won four gold medals in track and field events, setting Olympic records in three of the events. He became the first American in Olympic Track and Field to win four gold medals in a single Olympics. By the end of the Games, even German fans were cheering for this black American who proved Hitler wrong. Much was made over Hitler not shaking Owens’ hand, but the German leader did stand up and wave to him. Owens later remarked that when he returned to the United States, he wasn’t invited to the White House to shake the president’s hand.

December 28, 2006 – Bankrupting Your Friends

Monopoly is one of the most played board games in the world. The game is named after the economic concept of monopoly, the domination of a market by a single seller. The game is supposed to have originated with Lizzie Magie who invented the Landlord’s Game and had it patented in 1904. Other shortened versions of the game spread becoming known as “Auction Monopoly.” The property names were replaced by street names from the cities where the players lived. By the 1920s, the game was known simply as “Monopoly” and was played much as it is today.

In 1934, Charles Darrow was unemployed like countless others during the height of the Depression. He showed his Monopoly game to Parker Brothers who rejected it. Darrow began making sets of Monopoly by hand with the help of his wife and son and distributed the game himself. He sold 5,000 of the handmade sets but couldn’t keep up with the demand. Parker Brothers changed its mind by accepting Darrow’s game and promoted him as the game’s sole inventor. In 1983 a trademark suit was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court which brought to light the game’s history—a different history than the one promoted by Parker Brothers. The game continues to be localized for cities and countries in which it is played all over the world. The most exclusive Monopoly set created was priced at two million dollars. A San Francisco jeweler made the board from 23 carat gold and rubies and sapphires are set in the chimneys of the solid gold houses and hotels. The dice have 42 cut diamonds in place of the black spots. Whatever version of Monopoly you play, cardboard or gold, it remains one of the favorite board games of all time.

December 27, 2006 – A Boy Named Sue

Johnny Cash had a large repertoire of songs—everything from “Matthew 24 is Knocking at the Door” to “Burning Ring of Fire.” The one song that brings the most laughter to the listener is “A Boy Named Sue.” The lyrics are those of the multi-talented Shel Silverstein (1930–1999), author of The Giving Tree, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Falling Up, and other award-winning children’s books. In addition to books, Silverstein wrote dozens of clever songs. You might remember “The Unicorn” by the Irish Rovers and “Cover of the Rollin’ Stone” by Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show. But it was Cash who made “A Boy Named Sue” memorable when he recorded it on February 24, 1969 at San Quentin Prison before a live but incarcerated audience. Cash hadn’t had the chance to learn the lyrics before he began to belt it out to his demanding audience. He was reading the words as he sang it. If you listen closely, you can hear the shouts of approval from the appreciative crowd of convicts, many of whom could tell stories of their own about abandonment and abuse. Cash commented that it was the most cleverly written song that he had ever heard. The song is about a boy who grows up angry at his father, not only for leaving his family but for naming him Sue. After the boy grows up, he sees his father in a bar and gets in a fight with him because his father gave him a girl’s name. When his father explains that he named him Sue to make sure he would grow up tough, the son embraces his father but still detests his name.

Now to the title of this article. There really was a boy named Sue. Sue Hicks, the City Attorney of Dayton, Tennessee, was the person who arrested John Scopes in the famous Scopes “Monkey Trial” of 1925 that pitted the state of Tennessee against the ACLU and the teaching of evolution in public schools. Maybe Shel (Sheldon) Silverstein got the inspiration for “ A Boy Named Sue” from his own life. His parents called him “Shelly.”

December 26, 2006 – Leadville's Ice Palace

The town of Leadville, Colorado was in the doldrums. Its glory days as a silver-mining center were ending. In an effort to keep their city alive, the citizens decided to stage a winter carnival. Workmen worked day and night using 5,000 tons of ice to build an ice palace for the carnival. On New Year’s Day, 1896, the town turned out for the grand opening. The huge ice palace covering three acres had been completed costing more than $40,000. The towers that flanked the entrance were 90 feet high. The inside contained a 16,000-square-foot ice rink, dance floor, curling rink, restaurant, gaming room and other activity areas. It was illuminated with a dazzling array of electric lights and adorned with gleaming search lights with wonderful prismatic colors illuminating the walls of ice outside.

One woman viewing the fireworks reflecting off the palace walls looked away saying that it was “too unearthly a vision” to gaze upon. By the end of March, the vision was melting away. The thousands of visitors coming from far and wide had spent very little money, but the townspeople felt it had all been worthwhile.

December 25, 2005 – Handel’s Messiah

Beethoven called George Frederic Handel the greatest composer who ever lived. Handel was born in Germany in 1685, the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach was born only 50 miles away. His father had hoped he would study law, but Handel chose music. At 17, he was appointed organist of the Calvinist Cathedral and a year later left for Hamburg where he played the violin and harpsichord in the opera house. Handel accepted an invitation to Italy where his operas were performed. He also wrote music for the church and the royal court. Like the musician Bach, Handel suffered with cataracts in his old age and underwent crude surgery without anesthesia. Bach would die from infection brought on by the use of un-sterile instruments. If Handel received any improvement in his sight as a result of this surgery, it was minimal at best. After undergoing two more operations, Handel was left totally blind. His Messiah is one of his most recognized works. In the mid 1700s, Handel was at a low point in his career and in poor health. After wandering the streets one night, he returned to his room where an envelope was waiting for him. The man who wrote the text to his operas had delivered the envelope. The pages were full of scripture. Handel tried to sleep, but the words kept returning to him. Finally, he set to work, often going without sleep or food, and in 24 days, his magnificent work was completed. In London, King George II was so moved during the “Hallelujah Chorus” that he rose to his feet—a custom that continues. Handel exclaimed of his composition, “I do believe I have seen all of Heaven before me, and the great God Himself.”

December 22, 2006 – The Real Saint Nick

A child named Nicholas was born in A.D. 280 in Lycia, Asia Minor, which is present-day Turkey. His wealthy parents raised him to be a devout Christian, and even as a child, Nicholas avoided worldly pursuits, spending time studying the scriptures. His parents died in an epidemic while he was still young. Nicholas used his inheritance to assist the needy and sick. He dedicated his life to serving God.

One story or legend is told about Nicholas coming to the rescue of a man with three daughters. The bankrupt nobleman hoped to marry off his daughters before the creditors took them away. But the father did not have money for the girls’ dowries. No one would consider marrying his daughters without a dowry. Nicholas tossed a bag of gold for each girl through an open window. The bags are said to have landed in stockings or shoes left by the fire to dry. Nicholas saved the nobleman’s daughters from the ruthless creditors, and our custom of hanging stockings or putting out shoes to wait for a visit from Saint Nicholas began.

December 21, 2006 – It's a Wonderful Movie

Most children grew up knowing of Bert and Ernie from “Sesame Street.” But before there were Muppets, there were Bert and Ernie—the policeman and cab driver—from the Frank Capra Production of It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed and a full stable of character actors. The movie is memorable today because the company that originally produced the movie went bankrupt. The rights to the film passed from one corporation to the next until in 1974 no one remembered to renew its copyright. After 28 years of languishing on the shelf of some corporation, it went into the public domain. This meant that any television station could show the movie any time it wanted and didn’t have to pay anyone any royalties. So for nearly 20 years, It’s a Wonderful Life appeared on hundreds of public and commercial stations every Christmas. There were even It’s a Wonderful Life marathons where it played consecutively throughout the day. When families got together for the holidays, and there wasn’t much to do after catching up with the family news, the kids would plop themselves down with their parents in front of the TV and watch whatever was on, which was mostly It’s a Wonderful Life. The movie that got lost in the morass of financial ruin is now on almost every film critic’s “10 greatest films ever made” list. So why have the ubiquitous showings of the movie nearly disappeared during Christmas? Republic Pictures re-acquired the rights to the film in 1993. Now it costs money to show it. There’s no need to wait until Christmas to watch It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s available on DVD. Still, the best time to watch it is at Christmas just when the sun sets and the snow begins to fall and glisten in the moonlight. Having a fire going also helps to set the mood. For some fun trivia, go to http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038650/trivia. For an almost scene-by-scene recounting of It’s a Wonderful Life, visit the “Greatest Films” website http://www.filmsite.org/itsa2.html

If you would like to read a delightful book about It’s A Wonderful Life, American Vision offers It’s a Wonderful Life: A Memory Book.

December 20, 2006 – More Than a Preacher

Charles Spurgeon was a nineteenth-century British Baptist preacher. Spurgeon preached his first sermon at the age of 16. He became pastor of a small Baptist church and after preaching three months on probation, he was called to pastor London’s New Park Street Chapel when he was only twenty years old. It took just a few months for his gift of preaching to make him famous. The congregation soon outgrew its building. Spurgeon often preached to audiences of more than 10,000—this was before microphones and amplifiers. At twenty-two, Spurgeon was the most popular preacher of his day. His church moved into a newly constructed building that held 6,000 for services. The Metropolitan Tabernacle was the first modern “megachurch.” Spurgeon has been called the “Prince of Preachers” by many regardless of their denomination affiliation. His sermons were published weekly and at his death at age 57, he had preached nearly 3,600 sermons and published forty-nine volumes of commentaries, sayings, anecdotes, illustrations, and devotions.  

Spurgeon‘s influence was felt around the world through his sermons that were published each week. God used Spurgeon to spread the gospel throughout the world. In addition to preaching, Spurgeon was an author, editor of a monthly magazine, founder and director of Pastor’s College, and the organizer of two orphanages and other institutions. His personal estate at the time of his death was quite small. Spurgeon had used his substantial annual income to advance the gospel and help the needy. The man lived as he preached: putting his Saviour above all else.

December 19, 2006 – To God Be the Glory

American hymn writer and poetess, Fanny Crosby, wrote over 9,000 hymns in her lifetime. She lost her sight when only six weeks old but never complained about her blindness. Crosby’s father died when she was only a year old. She was raised by her grandmother while her mother worked as a maid to support them. These two women grounded Crosby in the Christian principles that would remain with her for the rest of her life. She attended the New York School for the Blind, and later joined the faculty teaching English and history. Crosby married a blind fellow teacher and musician. Their only daughter died in infancy. Crosby began writing poetry from the time she was eight, and published her first work at age 24. In 1863, she wrote her first hymn for a composer and over the years, continued to write for other composers. Crosby was well known and met many famous people, including presidents and generals. She played at President Grant’s funeral. She became a popular public speaker later in life. Before her death in 1915, Crosby had written the words to some of the most memorable hymns of the American church. They included “Jesus Our Blessed Redeemer,” “Blessed Assurance,” “Near the Cross,” and “To God Be the Glory.” Many see more clearly because of Fanny Crosby.

December 18, 2006 – The Gentle Revolutionaries

Women were not recognized by the government as Revolutionaries or spies during the War for Independence, and they certainly were not admitted to the armed forces as soldiers. The only way for them to join the service was to disguise themselves as men. Deborah Sampson of Massachusetts had been an indentured servant for ten years, helping with housework and working in the fields. During the winter, when her work slowed down, she was able to attend school. When her servitude ended, she was hired as a teacher. In 1782 at the age of 21, Sampson enlisted in the Continental Army as a man. She was tall for a woman and performed her duties well, so she raised no suspicions. Rumors circulated back home about Sampson’s military activities, and she was excommunicated from the Baptist church because of a strong suspicion that she was “dressing in man’s clothes and enlisting as a soldier in the army.”

When Sampson was wounded in the leg in a battle near Tarrytown, she tended her own wounds so that her gender would not be discovered. As a result, her leg never healed properly. However, when she was later hospitalized for fever in Philadelphia, the physician attending her discovered that she was a woman and made discreet arrangements that ended her military career. After being honorably discharged from the army, Sampson gave lecture tours in which she wore her uniform and told of her experiences. When Sampson died, her husband was granted a military pension for her services.

December 15, 2006 – Building a Great Museum

The Smithsonian Institution enjoys worldwide fame but little is known about the man whose money built the museum. Scientist James Smithson, a British citizen who never traveled to America, left his estate to the people of the United States to found an institution for research and education. His reason for providing for such a facility in a new country on another continent remains a mystery. It has been said that he hated the British monarchy system and liked the United States’ revolutionary spirit.  His fortune helped build the largest museum complex in the world, which includes 16 museums, four research centers, the National Zoo, the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, the Smithsonian magazine and numerous other offices and activities. Smithson finally made the trip to the United States when his remains were moved to a tomb at the Smithsonian in 1904.

December 14 , 2006 – Failure of the American Dream Car

In 1947, Preston Tucker boastfully proclaimed that he would introduce the first completely new car in fifty years. With the announcement of the forthcoming Tucker ’48, he captured the public’s imagination. Its sleek body lines are still considered classic by today’s standards. Tucker’s automotive creation didn’t use a clutch and transmission that were standard on other cars. The Tucker had disc brakes and automatic transmission that gave a much smoother ride. It also was designed with a padded dashboard and ‘uncrushable’ front passenger seat. The headlights automatically dimmed with the approach of another car. It had many innovative safety features that included a third headlight, directed by the steering wheel, improving night vision. It could reach a cruising speed of 100 mph and could get 35 mpg. With a purchase price of $1800, orders for the Tucker reached 300,000. Preston Tucker was riding high after his announcement. Millions of dollars in funding and sponsorships poured in for the project. But Tucker wasn’t actually producing the cars, and the US government investigated the former racing car engineer for possible fraud. Only a few cars were in various stages of assembly at the end of 1948. Most of the investors’ money was gone. Tucker was forced into liquidation after being found guilty of committing fraud. He was acquitted upon appeal, but his dream car was not to be. Only 50 Tucker ’48s were produced, and they cost $510,000. A few of the dream cars are running today, and its sleek lines still make heads turn.

December 13, 2006 – Meeting the Final Judge

Clarence Darrow is remembered as the lawyer who defended teaching evolution in the 1925 case that became known as the “Monkey” Trial. A year earlier, Darrow saved two wealthy students, accused of kidnapping and murder, from the death penalty by arguing that they were products of their environment. When asked how he would sum up his life, Darrow quoted the Bible, a book he had publicly ridiculed most of his life. He then said, “I have lived a life without purpose, without meaning, without direction. I don’t know where I came from. And I don’t know what I’m doing here. And worst of all, I don’t know what’s going to happen to me when I punch out of here.” Darrow’s accomplishments would give him no assurance and comfort when he stood before the Judge of the universe in the only courtroom that mattered.

December 12, 2006 – Rewriting History

D.W. Griffith directed the 1915 epic-making silent film masterpiece The Birth of a Nation, based on the play by Thomas Dixon called The Clansman. The purpose of the film was to rewrite the history of the South and the Civil War. The title The Clansman was changed to The Birth of a Nation to give the film broader appeal. President Woodrow Wilson, a former classmate of Dixon's, praised the Ku Klux Klan in his writings and is extensively quoted throughout the film. The Birth of a Nation was the first film shown in the White House. In time, the film shaped Americans racial attitudes. School children were taken to see the movie to learn history. More than 200 million people saw the film, and the revival of the Ku Klux Klan may have resulted from the racial attitudes and fears that were shaped by the movie.

December 11, 2006 – A Sweet Legacy

Thousands of children and adults have benefited from the generosity of Milton Hershey. Hershey only completed the fourth grade due to the family’s frequent moves which interrupted his education. After serving a four-year apprenticeship with a candy-maker, he failed with three candy making businesses before starting a caramel candy company, which became a huge success. The Hershey Chocolate Company was created in 1894 to make the chocolate coating for the caramels. In 1900, Hershey sold the caramel factory and perfected his formula for milk chocolate. In 1903, he began construction on a factory that would become the world’s largest chocolate manufacturing plant. The Hershey mansion now serves as the headquarters for the Hershey Foods Corporation. With his success came a sense of moral responsibility and benevolence. With the construction of the model town for his employees, Hershey provided inexpensive public transportation, a school system, recreational and cultural opportunities. He didn’t want the typical look of a factory town with row houses. Hershey built brick homes with manicured lawns along tree-lined streets. He founded a school that nurtures more than 1100 needy boys and girls in grades K-12. The trust that supports the school is now worth 6 billion dollars. Another Hershey foundation supports a museum, gardens, a theater and archives. Hershey’s legacy has survived a changing world. His deeds are his monument and an inspiration to anyone who is blessed with financial success.  

December 8, 2006 – Botched Bibles

Several English Bibles published in the seventeenth century get their nicknames because of typographic errors. The so-called Murderer’s Bible misprints “murderers” instead of the correct word “murmurers” in Jude 16. Mark 7:27 was made to read: “Let the children first be killed” (instead of “filled”). The Wife-Hater Bible tells a man to hate his own wife: “If any man come to me, and hate not his father . . . yea, and his own wife also.” Of course, “wife” should read “life.” The first edition of the King James Bible correctly has Matthew 26:36 stating, “Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane…” The second printing reads, “Then cometh Judas with them unto a place called Gethsemane.” The Adulterer’s or Wicked Bible, a 1631 King James Version, leaves out an essential “not” and commands “Thou shalt commit adultery.” King Charles fined the printer Robert Barker the enormous sum of £300 and took away his license to print Bibles. An Oxford edition of 1717 was known as the Vinegar Bible because the chapter heading to Luke 20 had “Vinegar” for “Vineyard” in the title “The Parable of the Vineyard.” A 1716 KJV Bible made a common typographical mistake by transposing letters.  Instead of John 8:11 reading, “Go, and sin no more,” it read, “Go and sin on more.” The Printer’s Bible laments that “printers” (not “princes”) “have persecuted me without cause” (Ps. 119:161). Considering how these botched Bibles got their name, the Psalm might not be too far off.

December 7, 2006 – George Washington's Bible

Using celebrities to endorse products is common practice today. Find some famous sports or movie stars, put them in front of a camera, and watch them do their magic with the new product. Before radio and television, the only way to communicate was through oratory and print media. Then there’s the issue of what’s worth pitching and how to pay for it. In colonial America, British law prohibited Bibles from being printed without permission of the crown. Editions of the Bible in the Indian and German languages were permitted, but English translations were verboten. All printing had to take place in England. This all changed after the success of the War for Independence. In 1791, the year the Bill of Rights was adopted and ratified, John Brown’s Self-Interpreting Bible was published in New York. Editions of Brown’s Bible had sold well in England. It was only natural to bring its publication to America. Brown, a Scottish Presbyterian minister, selected portions from several well-known commentaries, including those of Matthew Henry’s multi-volume set, to help the general reader better understand the text.

Funds were raised for the project through private “subscriptions” (contributions), and the names of the subscribers were listed alphabetically at the beginning of the volume, along with their occupation and the town where they lived. They came from all walks of life: shoemaker, baker, tailor, butcher, minister, lawyer, and many others. The name heading the list is “GEORGE WASHINGTON, Esq. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.” The prestige of Washington’s name associated with the Bible’s publication was a fat endorsement that was sure to attract other subscribes and buyers. Also listed as “subscribers” are Henry Knox (Secretary of War), Alexander Hamilton (Secretary of the Treasury), and John Jay (Chief Justice of the Supreme Court), and numerous other notable founders. The Frontispiece offers a perspective on how the Constitution was viewed in light of the Bible. There is an engraving of a female figure holding an open Bible illuminating another female the Constitution rolled up in her hand. Between them stands a woman holding a pole with a Liberty Cap. In the background, the façade of a building includes these words: “Sacred to Liberty, Justice, and Peace.”

December 6 , 2006 – The Bible or the Bayonet

Robert Winthrop, descendant of famous Pilgrim & Governor John Winthrop, made this profound statement:

All societies of men must be governed in some way or other. The less they may have of stringent State Government, the more they must have of individual self-government . . . Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled, . . . either by the word of God, or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible, or by the bayonet. It may do for other countries and other governments to talk about the State supporting religion. Here, under our own free institutions, it is Religion which must support the State.

Winthrop recognized that enacting more laws or raising taxes is not the answer. Lives and ultimately society can be transformed only by the Gospel.

December 5, 2006 – The Alaskan Highway

The bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941 spurred construction of the Alaskan Highway. Alaska was perceived as vulnerable to a Japanese invasion, and the highway was built as a supply route. The 1,523-mile-road was completed in 1942. Regiments of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed the highway. Civilian engineers and equipment were trucked thousands of miles north. Construction workers learned to heed the white spots on fellow workers faces warning of frostbite. When a vehicle broke down or became stuck in the mire, the driver often had to walk miles to get to shelter. Some lost fingers or worse from the cold temperatures. Three of the regiments sent north were all black regiments. Some military leaders didn’t think that these regiments were up to the task, but the black regiments built the Alaskan portion of the highway, which was the most difficult. One black regiment built a bridge in record time. Instead of completing the bridge within the given five days, the men did it in three, using just basic tools since the heavy construction equipment was not available to them. Workers battled mud and mosquitoes, endured bitter cold, ice, and snow, bridged raging rivers, cut through dense sub-arctic forests, and conquered mountain tops. The construction feat performed in 8 months and 12 days was one of the boldest homeland security measures ever undertaken and reflects the true American spirit.

December 4, 2006 – For the Love of Peanuts

It is a mystery as to why no one has ever done a full-length film of George Washington Carver. The story of this great scientist is extraordinary. He was born in 1864 in Missouri on the farm of an elderly white couple, Moses and Susan Carver. While yet an infant, George and his mother were kidnapped by Confederate night-raiders. Moses tried to locate George and his mother after the war, but he was only able to find George and traded a horse to get him back. After enduring resistance in securing an education in a segregated world, Carver entered Simpson College in Iowa. He studied piano and art since the college offered no science classes. He transferred to another college and earned a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Science degree in bacterial botany and agriculture. Carver became the first black faculty member of Iowa College.

Carver served as Director of Agriculture at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama where his teaching career established him as a world class scientist. Carver remained on the faculty until his death. He gained fame but no fortune in the development of multiple uses for ordinary and everyday foods like the peanut and sweet potato. His work attracted Franklin Roosevelt, Henry Ford, and Thomas Edison. While George Washington Carver was deeply attracted to his scientific work, it was his devotion to Jesus Christ that sets him apart from many in the scientific field.

December 1, 2006 – Not a Ghost of a Chance

Harry Houdini's real name was Ehrich Weiss (1874–1926). He changed it to Houdini as a tribute to French illusionist Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, adding an “I” to the name to make it his own. While Houdini is best known as a physical magician for escapes from straight jackets while suspended in midair and an illusionist, he is also famous for exposing fake mediums and spiritualists. When his beloved mother died, Houdini became interested in the possibility of being able to contact her in the spirit world. Because of his knowledge as an illusionist, he recognized the techniques that mediums used to fool people into believing that they had special powers to contact the dearly departed. Houdini became a one-man crusader against these charlatans who used grief to bilk family members out of their money. Houdini was such a well known public figure that he had to attend seances in disguise so as not to be discovered. Houdini was a good friend of Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930), creator of the famous fictional character Sherlock Holmes. Doyle believed that Houdini had magical powers, that his escapes were accomplished supernaturally. Doyle devoted a chapter of his book The Edge of the Unknown to a detailed argument that Houdini had genuine psychic power.In fact, Doyle believed almost any story that claimed that supernatural powers were at work. He insisted that fairies actually existed. He wrote a book called The Coming of the Fairies (1921) that supposedly chronicled their existence, and even included photographs to prove it! In reality, he had been duped by two teenage girls who staged the whole thing. Even so, Doyle went to his grave believing that fairies were real. Ironically, Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes character was the epitome of rationality and would have dismissed the obviously staged evidence as fraudulent. But Doyle wanted to believe so much that he put his usually rational mind in neutral.