Leap Day

Today marks my fifteenth leap day. They started when I was two. Every four years since then, these 366-day-years have meant very little to me. No offense to those Leapers who enjoy the celebration. But then, Leap Year is an important plot element in Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance.

Gilbert & Sullivan's operettas are one of my guilty pleasures. Some have been lucky enough to be present when I extemporaneously break out into a piece from the HMS Pinafore or the Mikado. (my rendition of Poor Little Buttercup is sensational)

For those not familiar with Pirate's libretto, the main character, Frederic, is apprenticed to pirates until his 21st birthday. Unfortunately for ol'Freddy, his birthday was February 29. With a birthday every four years, he won't reach 21 until well into his eighties. They just don't write plot twists like that anymore!

Ireland's St. Bridget is also associated with Leap Day. Legend has it that she went to St. Patrick complaining that a woman never gets the chance to pick the man she wants. So Paddy agreed that one day every four years, women could ask men to marry. Traditionally this became Leap Day.

In one of life's strange twists, the St. Bridget tradition morphed with a holiday in Al Capp's Lil Abner. One of my favorite Sunday comics, the crazy colorful characters first attracted me. In later years, the satire caused my chuckles.

The "homeliest gal in the hills" was Sadie Hawkins. Her father, a Dogpatch dignitary, fearful of her living forever with him started Sadie Hawkins day. On this day, women who could chase down a husband could get married. Al Capp's yearly Sadie Hawkins' comic strip fell in November. Somehow these two traditions melded together and February 29 has become a bachelor's bane.

With its connection to an operetta, an Irish saint and a comic strip, I have convinced myself that February 29 has become one of my most-liked days. I'm a leaper! Wouldn't you like to be a leaper too? as ever - BB

"Then I can write a washing bill in Babylonic cuneiform/And tell you ev'ry detail of Carataucus's uniform/In short, in matters vegetable, animal and mineral/I am the very model of a modern Major-General." - from The Major-General's song from Pirates of Penzance

I Knew That!

Aside from the appeal of acquiring arcane knowledge, I get a kick providing little known facts related to everyday things. I truly delight in the light gleaming from people's eyes when they are told a detail they don't know about something they do know.

Take the sticker that gives the expected city and highway mileage shown on new cars. We've all seen them, but did you know it has a name? It's a Monroney Sticker; named for Oklahoma senator, Mike Monroney. He sponsored the 1958 Auto Disclosure Act which initiated the sticker's use. Information required on the sticker has changed over the years, but the name remains the same.

Others include the name of the movie playing at the drive-in during the Flintstone's opening credits, what a tittle is and where the terms upper and lower case relating to letters derive.

My all time favorite is the Wilhelm scream. I'm sure you have all heard it, but few realize this ubiquitous movie/TV sound effect. (I know at least one blog follower who does - a nod to my buddy, Christian.)

Originally used in the 1952 movie, Distant Drums, the scream didn't get it's name until the 1953 film, The Charge at Feather River. Film historians believe this was the third time that sound effect was used.

For decades, film editors used the scream, but it took Star Wars to make it a cult classic. Lucas repeatedly used it throughout the entire series, as did Speilberg in Raiders. For me, true delight rises from the fact that one of my that guys - "you know that guy he played..." has a close connection to the Wilhelm scream.

Sheb Wooley is that guy. This trivia gem has so many facets where do I start? Though a country-western singer, his biggest hit was the novelty pop song The Purple People Eater, which he wrote as well as performed. Sheb acted in many movies among them, High Noon, Giant, The Outlaw Josey Wales and many TV shows including Rawhide with Clint Eastwood.

As if that isn't enough, he wrote the theme song to the TV classic Hee-Haw. Yes, it was he who vocalized the iconic Wilhelm scream. I can't believe more children aren't named Sheb. It works for both boys and girls. As ever - BB


"I said Mr Purple People Eater, what's your line?/He said eating purple people, and it sure is fine/But that's not the reason that I came to land/I wanna get a job in a rock 'n roll band" - The Purple People Eater

What Can You Get for a Nickel?

Not much these days! Until the early 50s you could make a phone call for a nickel. (in some rural areas the five-cent call lasted up to the early 70s). Remember pay phones? They have gone the way of  typewriters and animal sacrifices.

Even a Luddite like me doesn't use a typewriter any more. As for animal sacrifices, sure they are anachronistic, but until the oracle gets one of those swipe machines for my debit card, it's the only option I have.

Back to the nickel - old slang for the nickel was a jitney piece. It took some etymological sleuthing to find out why. Best guess is that the word comes from one of two French sources. Jeton in French means a small metal disk; jeter means to throw or discard.

Today, a jitney is a small passenger bus that takes people around Atlantic City. The AC jitneys are the only privately funded public transportation system in the United States. Their history is a story of entrepreneurship.

In 1915, Atlantic City's trolley system went on strike. Two clever fellows decided to chauffeur people around town in their private cars for a nickel, or to coin a phrase (ooh that one hurt) a jitney piece. The concept caught on as cars required no rails and no public funding. By 1917, AC began issuing jitney licenses, and the system still exists.

Throughout the Depression, jitneys surfaced in cities across the nation. Out of work men who owned cars could make some money shuttling anyone with a nickel around town. Most of these ceased with the end of the depression. A handful kept operating as illegal cabs and the term, jitney is still used to denote illegal taxis in some American cities. Other than Pittsburgh, I'm not sure what cities. I always knew them as gypsy cabs until I came to Baltimore where they call them hacks.

The Hill is a predominantly African-American section of Pittsburgh. Up through the 70s, cabs would not go into that neighborhood. Some denizens filled that void illegally using their cars. Playwright August Wilson wrote a play in his Pittsburgh Cycle entitled  Jitney which centers around one of these illegal taxis.

During the 11 years I lived in Atlantic City, I rode jitneys on a daily basis. They were colorful as well as convenient. Many were owned by Greeks who would decorate the inside and blare Entekhno music. As owner/operators, they make more money the more passengers they take. A ride to work on a Jitney racing to beat out competitors to the next stop would get my heart beating faster than a strong cup of coffee. - as ever BB

"Make a pledge and mischief is nigh" - one of three inscriptions on the temple at Delphi