Our Modern Navy 1898

This wonderful book was published in 1898, while we were at war with Spain. It is a picture book of all the capital ships in the US Navy at the time. In the book are pieces on ships, sailors, and even a piece included here on war prizes. It is a great piece of Navy history from the end of the 19th century. I have added just a few of its many pages. I think the piece on war prizes is quite fascinating.

Lecturing in Malaysia at the Garden International School 2009 -2010

Talking with the students for an hour after the lecture was over.


It has been my pleasure to now have spoken several times at the Garden International School in KL Malaysia. The students are delightful and interested in everything. It has been a great joy to be there. The faculty there has enjoyed it as well and has written about in this wonderful note. They are wonderful there, I admire the teachers there so much. It is a great school!









I am here at the school after the lecture I did in 2009 called "America between the wars" A lecture that took into account the actions and activities of the USA during the period between the world wars. It was delight to have given that one and the one I more recently gave in March 2010. What I have enjoyed here was the fact that the kids would stay for an hour after the lecture and just ask question after question. It was great to hear their young minds soaking up the information. It was great fun for me and them. This picture was taken about an hour after the lecture and there were still this many kids there asking questions. I hope to speak there in again in 2011.

Spending a day in 2000 with the great Eddie Bracken 1915-2002...What a wonderful man he was.

Listening to Nat M. Wills on a cylinder
In his den with many of his posters of his movies and other programs he had done.
Eddie Bracken signed this picture for me in 2000 when I met him at his home in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. I had contacted him to make some recordings and he was very interested and happy to get involved. We spend several hours talking and listening to him reminisce about his past and the memories of his friends.

He told me that Bob Hope's brother was to be the best man at his wedding. However, when the day of the wedding came he was too drunk to make it! So much for a best man. Bracken was a performer from the time he was a child. He performed in early silents, and he said he made 2 Our Gang films.
He was also a well known star in radio...He was the voice of Henry Aldridge....In the days of radio that show started.............HENRY!!!!!! Henry Aldridge!....and he would answer "Coming mother" in a cracked voice as he said. It was a great success and he said he was known all over for his voice. He said that even one of his big fans was none other than Al Jolson.

His many stories I have to write down as they were wonderful.

He did many movies, Hail the In the 1940s, director Preston Sturges cast Bracken in two of his best-loved films, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, opposite Betty Hutton, and Hail the Conquering Hero. Based on the popularity of these films, Eddie Bracken was a household name during World War II.

He won an award from the Armed Services in WW2..As the best entertainer...He said that Bob Hope hated him for that! But it is true Eddie Bracken received the award...I saw it..It was massive!!!

His last movie of note wasHome Alone 2: Lost in New York..

When I saw him and listened to his many stories he signed this picture for me, It is from the movie Summer Stock. In this picture he appears with Judy Garland. He signed it...To Jack, Thanks for your visit....Eddie Bracken.

It was a great visit and I was saddened to hear of his passing two years later after a bad fall down his stairs.
As with many others who have passed through my life, I have learned a little from each....Bracken taught me much, and now when I see the Duncan Toy man in Home Alone 2, I always think of a great man and friend..

Why does food today taste different than that in the old days?

I have often pondered this question. Food and many dishes did taste different years ago. There are many reasons for this, first off refrigeration, Pasteurization, low fat, high sugar, additives, and cooking styles. One of the great crimes committed against us historically in the taste of foods, is what we put into it now.

I always laugh when I look at an old recipe in a new cooking book. It states right off we have replaced some ingredients with a more healthy option. Right there we have destroyed the taste of what once was.

It is like taking an old car and saying we have replaced its motor and replaced it with a new fuel efficient one that makes it run better..Then I do not know what that original car was like? That is historic robbery. I want to feel how it was, sense how it was, experience how it was.
Driving in a 2010 car gives me no idea of what driving a Model T Ford was like. I have driven a Model T Ford, so believe me it is nothing like a new car.

In that thought too, in the age before Pasteurization foods tasted different. Fats added flavor, cooking long had its joys too. Now everything is so slimmed down so we think and we are healthier, are we?

The use of Lard is wonderful, it adds so much flavor to foods. I look through cook books today and no one uses it for historic dishes...Why not? I am not advocating using lard every day, but I am willing to say is healthier than a good deal of the over processed junk we eat today is. The foods of the past will never taste as they did as we have a mania to not use the ingredients that were used in the past. So if you wish to experience the taste of the past, ask the preparer to use the ingredients that were used then. You find a pleasant surprise, it tastes better than its redesigned modern equivalent.

There are many restaurants that cater to the tastes of the past, and I have not seen any of them that use all original ingredients. So we are fooling ourselves as to what the past tasted like. Bacon fat, lard, butter, and much more were used as part of the meal. It is nothing like low fat oils. Lard will make a meal, and you will once again be surprised at how good it tastes.
That is what the past tasted like. Sadly we do not eat today, cause it is not looked at as healthy. Yet we as millions go into many dreadful fast food joints and think nothing of it. Am I missing something?

To close I am reminded of an encounter between Walter Lord and Rene Harris in the last years of her life. She was a major producer on Broadway and a survivor of the Titanic. Lord was working on a book on the disaster. She was living at this time in a small room and her days of glory were long over.
He decided to bring a tin of Caviar for her. She took one taste as said "You call that Caviar?" He wrote in his notes that probably Caviar tasted different before pasteurization, and that the Caviar of 1912 was a very different dish than what we know today.

The first biography of John Paul Jones. Analectic Magazine and Naval Chronicle July-November 1816

John Paul Jones
The Analectic Magazine and Naval Chronicle was an important magazine to express many of the issues of the day. It shared much of the recent history dealing with the war of 1812 and also dwelling into the days of the American revolution. Of course when this was published the revolution had been over for only 33 years.

So much of what they wrote about in this magazine was of relatively recent history. It is interesting to think that Franklin had been dead 26 years and Washington had been dead but 17 years when this was published. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Madison, John Jay, John Marshall, Aaron Burr, and many other revolutionaries were still very much alive. Of that group Madison was President when it was published and Monroe would be the 5th President after him.

This magazine and this issue was very important as it contained the first biography of John Paul Jones. He had written his memoirs, but this was the first as a biography. The author is unknown. The publisher was Moses Thomas of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Here is the front page from this most early biography
Some information on this publication

Philadelphia: Moses, Thomas, 1816. Life of John Paul Jones from Vol. VIII, Analectic Magazine and Naval Chronicle, July 1816, pp. 1-29. First published biography of John Paul Jones. [Published after Jones memoirs, but nine years before Sherburne's biography.) Includes a 7-page excerpt from Nathaniel Fanning's memoir, published in 1806, recounting Jones famous battle with the Serapis. Relates Jones words exchanged with the enemy not as "I have not yet begun to fight." Rather, in response to a demand that he strike his colors, Jones is quoted as resonding, "Ay, ay, we'll do that when we can fight no longer--but we shall see yours come down first. . . ." Letters of [John] Paul Jones from the November 1816 issue, pp. 399-401. 3 letters: to the Marquis de Nieuil, to Benjamin Franklin, and to Monseigneur de Sartine.

September 4, 1882 The day downtown Manhattan was lit for the first time by Thomas Edison's light bulb.

On September 4, 1882 Thomas Alva Edison pulled a switch at the world's first commercial DC electrical distribution plant and the area around Pearl Street in lower Manhattan lit up!
The Edison team had worked out this system through the year and finally on the 4th of September it was ready! It was no accident that the power station was on Pearl Street. It was right by Wall Street and near Edison's money man. J. P. Morgan.

Morgan was much of the money behind Edison's work. In fact Edison once wrote in one of his books about Morgan and his money saying,"His word was his collateral". Truer words were never said.

The streets and offices around Pearl and Wall Streets were lit by Edison's Bamboo filament light bulbs.
All the wiring was under ground. (IT STILL IS IN NYC). From the power produced by the Jumbo generators (named for the famous elephant), Edison and his team were able to light several blocks of lower Manhattan.

It was the beginning of a new age! It all started less than 130 years ago. Not that long ago when you think about it. Think of that each time you turn on your lights and the rest of your life.
This was a city that saw once a revolution that freed them from England. This next revolution, the electrical one, freed mankind from the bondage of darkness.

The Hotel Knickerbocker on Broadway and 42nd Street.

The Knickerbocker Hotel was built by the legendary millionaire John Jacob Astor the forth (1864-1912) in 1904. It was one of his many hotels in New York City. He built many and would have kept building, but he was on the Titanic and was not one of the survivors.
This was built in the heart of the theater district and home to many great singers and performers. This place was home to the great George M. Cohan (1878-1942) of Broadway fame.
It was also the home to the immortal operatic tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921). Another of the greats who lived there was the theatrical producer Charles Frohman (1860-1915). Sadly he would be lost in the Lusitania.
It was a hangout for many in theater. The bar downstairs was famous for not only coming up with the martini cocktail, but for having some of the finest foods ever.

The great operatic Contralto Ernestine Schumann Heink (1861-1936) She was 350 pounds of contralto and often ate her meals in the Knickerbocker. There is a great story about Caruso walking into the restaurant of the Knickerbocker and seeing Heink with a massive steak before her. He yelled "Madamme Heink are you going to eat that steak all alone?" She responded in her German-English, "No, mit potatos!"

Caruso ate most of his meals at the Knickerbocker till he and Cohan were moved out when the building was sold. It was made into an office building and all of its hotel items were moved elsewhere. One of the most famous pieces was moved to another hotel in NYC. But that will be another story.
Caruso sang from his suite in the Knickerbocker to everyone on Broadway to celebrate the end of WWI. I got to meet two people who saw that event. Helen Hayes who was there said it was the highlight of her life. It must have been something!

Today the Knickerbocker building is condos and stores. It has recently been sold, so perhaps by 2020 there will be another hotel Knickerbocker. Just like a century ago.

Remembering my friend Ray Stone on the 65th anniversary of the battle of Iwo Jima

It was my honor to know Ray. He was a gentleman, singer, actor, and a survivor of the battle of Iwo Jima. Ray rarely talked about the event, but one day over some stingers, he let go of a little bit of his memory. Ray had been born on Dec 6, 1925. His father had a mandolin orchestra and Ray was surrounded with music from his childhood. That would play a part in his later life. But the war interrupted that.

Once Ray turned 18 in December of 1943, his path was like millions of other young men of the time. That was to join the military as the world was at war. He joined the marines in 1944. He then went through the months of indoctrination and basic training. Then he and hundreds of thousands of raw green troops went on their way. Of course none of them knew where they were going. The war in Europe was closing down, but the war in the Pacific was steaming. The Japanese were entrenched on many islands and were known to fight to the last man. So it was known that fighting them would be a living hell.

Ray said that in late 1944 he was on his way to the Pacific. He was transferred from ship to ship. Finally they knew something was up in early 1945, as he and a few hundred other very unlucky souls were loaded onto a large landing craft and sailed across the ocean. There were hundreds of these massive landing crafts that were loaded with soldiers. These ships were all flat bottomed and rode the water terribly. Everyone was seasick on board. This ship and it's very sick passengers were on their way to Iwo Jima.

He said they landed and the front gate opened and all of them were feeling awful. but soon they were under a hail of bullets and everyone of them to a man forgot about being seasick. Now they were in a battle, not only to take this small island, but for their very survival. He said he saw so many of his comrades shot down. As he used to joke years later "They were trying to kill me!" It was no laughing matter as thousands of men on both sides were killed.

He recalled the two flag raising's on the mountains. He said there were big cheers each time. I had never been aware of that till he told me about the flags. The photo I had always known was of the second flag raising. Each was important, but the first flag raising and those who were involved seemed to have been overshadowed by the second. Ray was eventually shot and crawled under a tank and was in great pain. His Sargent told him to get out from there but as he was barking his order he was shot and killed.
Ray was finally taken in and recovered from his wounds. He returned to the marines and even served again as a Drill Sargent in the Korean war. The marine flag always flew at his house.

Ray had a spectacular career after this. He worked on Broadway, toured in Summer stock. Sang with the Easternaires in the Music man all over the country. In later years he married his lovely bride Mickie. It was my pleasure to know and perform with this man for many years.
Mickie told me of a incident that happened in 1995. She and Ray were touring in Washington and Virginia. They were on a bus doing tours. They found themselves in Arlington and in the shadow of the monument honoring the second flag raising of Iwo Jima. Everyone filed by, but Ray, who had never seen it before was transfixed. It had been 50 years since he saw that scene.
The bus driver started honking the horn and yelled out his window "hey get in the bus old man". Mickie glared at the driver and said "Shut up....he was there"
There was just a silence after that, and a feeling of respect. Then Ray got on the bus with the quiet dignity that always was his and was left with his thoughts.

It was my joy to know him many years and learn a lot from him. He was always concerned about Mickie as he knew that she would survive him. But this was not case. Mickie sadly left this world in 2000. Ray existed six more years.

I recall my last conversation with him. I was to meet him in March of 2006. In December of 2005 I called Ray to wish him the best on his 80th birthday. In his typical humor he said to me..."Jack, you want to know something....80 sucks!" We laughed and then he died 2 weeks later. Never got to see him that coming March. But today as I read about Iwo Jima, I think of my friend, and remember.....









Back in the days when we performed together. From left to right Me, Bill Farrazanno (top) John Murray, and Ray
The monument