George Mendonsa was on leave from his destroyer and in Times Square when victory over Japan was announced. He grabbed what he thought was a nurse, kissing her as Life photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt snapped the shutter on his camera. It became on of the images associated with the elation a nation felt as the Second World War came to a close. Mendonsa died after a fall at his assisted living facility at the age of 95. Married for 70 years, Mendonsa wasn’t kissing his wife in the famous photograph.
A story in the New York Post noted that it was “Greta Zimmer Friedman, a dental assistant in a nurse’s uniform who’d never met Mendonsa when he suddenly locked lips with her at the Crossroads of the World.” The couple were reunited several years ago at the exact spot where the impromptu kiss took place. Friedman died of natural causes in 2016 at age 92.
Quick Takes:
When it’s 1964 and you happen to see Ringo Starr in the other car and he snaps your picture, you naturally recreate the same shot 5 decades later. Fans of The Beatles may age, but we’re still cool! Got any old group photos you might want to revisit with those who were in em?
Two key questions to ask yourself about your digital brand. Who is your customer? Are you focused on serving them? Radio shop talk that applies to all of us. Via Jacobs Media.
Google is coming to a library near you, to teach tech for free.
Podcast Recommendation: Gilbert Gottfried interviews John Astin. An interesting listen.
On This Date in History:
1945, US 5th Fleet launches invasion of Iwo Jima against the Japanese with 30,000 US Marines.
1958, Carl Perkins leaves Sun Records for Columbia Records, taking his Blue Suede Shoes with him.
1963, “The Feminine Mystique” by Betty Friedan, widely credited as the start of second-wave feminism, is published.
1964, A British company ships ½ ton of Beatle wigs to the US. An American reporter later asked John Lennon, “How do you feel about teenagers imitating you with Beatle wigs?” John replied “They’re not imitating us because we don’t wear Beatle wigs.”
1968, “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” debuts on NET (now PBS).
1973, “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree” single released by Dawn featuring Tony Orlando. It will be overplayed on every Top 40 radio station and become song of the year.
Happy Birthday to: Lee Marvin, 1924 (d. 1987); Smokey Robinson, 1940; Lou Christie, 1943; Jeff Daniels, 1955; Seal, 1963
Much More Music:
1966, Lou Christie is at No.1 with ‘Lightnin Strikes’. Bernadette Carroll, Peggy Santiglia and Denise Ferri of The Delicates provided backup vocals. (Video)
1972, Harry Nilsson started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with his version of the Badfinger song ‘Without You.’ His vocal was recorded in a single take earning the artist his second Grammy Award. Best known for his hit “Everybody’s Talkin’” and for composing such hits as Three Dog Night‘s “One“, Nilsson heard Badfinger’s recording of the tune at a party, and mistook it for a Beatles song. After realising it wasn’t, he decided to record his own version for Nilsson Schmilsson in 1971. (Video)
1977, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band was the second group fronted by the British artist responsible for “Do Wah Diddy Diddy” and “The Mighty Quinn”. They scored a No.1 with their version of the Bruce Springsteen song “Blinded By The Light.” The Earth Band’s version features several changed lyrics. The most prominent change is in the chorus, where Springsteen’s “cut loose like a deuce” is replaced with “revved up like a deuce.” Springsteen himself has said that it was not until Manfred Mann’s lyrical rewrite was mistaken for a “feminine hygiene product” that the tune became popular. (Video)
Today’s Quote Worth Re-quoting: “If your dreams don’t inspire and motivate you, then you need more powerful dreams.” ~Ranal Currie
We leave you with this 1972 release from the Staple Singers. “I’ll Take You There” was part of the Be Altitude: Respect Yourself LP, the introduction being lifted from “The Liquidator“, a 1969 reggae hit by the Harry J Allstars. In fact, the entire song, written in the key of C, contains but two chords, C and F. A large portion of the song is set aside for Mavis‘ sisters Cleotha and Yvonne and their father “Pops” to seemingly perform solos on their respective instruments. In reality, these solos (and all music in the song) were recorded by the famed Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. (Video)
