From the Revolutionary War to the present, the American Flag has thrilled patriotic hearts.   Ever since June 14, 1777, when it was adopted by Congress, the flag has been the visual representation of our country.   It has changed over the years, as new states have been added, but after 200 years we’re still cheering for the Red, White, and Blue and rallying round it and waving its Stars and Stripes as lustily and as teary-eyed  as ever.

The Flag has had quite a history.  It has been to Iwo Jima, Mt. Everest, Ground Zero, and even the Moon.  Like the nation, the flag has had its sorrows, lying in state on the caskets of presidents and soldiers, and suffering indignities at the hands of ungrateful domestic protesters and angry foreigners.

In this program, we’ll check out the legend that the Stars and Stripes were born in the parlor of Betsy Ross’s home in Philadephia and follow the tracks of the Mary Pickersgill version that flew over Ft. McHenry in Baltimore in 1814, was immortalized in Francis Scott Key’s “Star Spangled Banner”, and eventually ended up in the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of American History.  We’ll sing our nation’s national anthem and some other great songs about the flag and hear stories about the composers, and we’ll see how the flag has fared in other artistic media.   A great program for those patriotic holidays!

 

 

Snakker du norsk?  May 17 is Syttende Mai, Norway’s Independence Day.  All over Norway the people pour into the streets, the children parade, the bands march, the dignitaries orate, and everyone sings “Ja, vi elsker dette landet”, the Norwegian national anthem.  Here’s a program to help us all celebrate!

Norway is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, with its rugged mountains, wandering coastlines, and spectacular fjords.  It is home to a number of ethnic delights for us to check out, including lefse, lutefisk, and smalahove to eat and reindeer to race.  We’ll cruise up and down some of those wonderful fjords and follow the famous Norwegian explorers of a century ago to the far north and far south.  Norway is a monarchy, so we’ll have some royals to look in on, along with the Hardanger fiddles and rosemaling.

Minnesota, especially, owes a debt to the hardy Norwegian pioneers who helped settle it.  Minnesota has, to this day, more people who speak the Norwegian language than any other place on the continent.  We’ll visit the Hjemkomst Museum in Moorhead for a look at a full-size replica of a Viking ship and another replica of a Norwegian church, and see what else Norway has sent to America.  Tusen takk!

P. T. Barnum:  The Greatest Showman on Earth

P. T. Barnum was one of the most flamboyant personalities of his age, first with his museums, then with the famous Barnum and Bailey Circus.  As a showman he was without equal, bringing to America such figures as General Tom Thumb, Chang and Eng Bunker, the original Siamese Twins, and Jenny Lind, the “Swedish Nightingale.”  The crowds also came to see the Fiji Mermaid, the Cardiff Giant, and the Aztec Children, and followed the sign that said, “This Way to the Egress”, realizing they’d been had and coming back for more.  This program follows the up and down career of the man who invented the phrase, “The Greatest Show on Earth.”

 

9-11:  America Under Attack

Ten years ago, early on the morning of September 11, 2001, nineteen men boarded flights in the eastern United States, commandeered the airplanes, and turned them into guided missiles that hit the Pentagon and brought down the Twin Towers in New York and brought a new reality to our country.  Out of the tragedy came numerous accounts of heroism that showed America’s fighting spirit.  A sensitive treatment of a timely topic.

 

Roy Rogers:  King of the Cowboys

100 years ago this November 5, young Leonard Slye was born, destined to become the greatest cowboy star of them all.  Roy Rogers thrilled generations of young and old, first as the lead singer of the Sons of the Pioneers, and later, with his movie and life sweetheart, Dale Evans, the Queen of the West, in those good old rock ‘em, sock ‘em westerns.  Hero to the kids, and, behind the scenes, to his own family, Roy never let us down.

 

 

Jamaica:  Island in the Sun

Where does one begin with Jamaica?  With the sunshine, waving palm trees, and north shore resorts?  With the ladies balancing baskets on their heads through the open air markets?  With the pirates who swaggered up and down the streets of old Port Royal in the 1600′s?   I spent a couple of years in Jamaica as a young college student, collecting music, folklore, and personal experiences.  I was never able to convince my Jamaican friends that, just because I had a $30 Chevy, it didn’t mean that I was rich.  I don’t suppose I could have convinced them, either, that, even though they may not have had a penny, their island made them rich as kings.

 

The Sioux Uprising of 1862

In a last ditch effort to reclaim lands lost to the relentless tide of white settlers, the Dakota Sioux, on August 18, 1862, struck savagely at settlers and settlements along the Minnesota River Valley, beginning a war that did not end  before Sand Creek, Little Big Horn, and Wounded Knee passed into the pages of history.  Hundreds died in surprise raids.  Others were captives for months in Indian camps, saved by Indians friendly to the whites.  In the end, the Sioux, friendly or not, were exiled to barren lands in South Dakota.  We’ll look at the conflict through the eyes of white captives and Dakota warriors, and the cameras of the day.

 

Mother’s Day

Ancient Rome, Julia Ward Howe, and Anna Jarvis all had the same idea, to honor mothers with a special day, for which, in modern times, we set aside the second Sunday in May.  Here’s a program to honor the mothers among us.  We will see how mothers have influenced the course of history, join in singing some of those good old songs about Mother, and take a look at how mothers have been celebrated in music and other fine arts.

 

Brazil:  Our American Neighbor

Brazil is the fifth largest nation in the world, a country of vast proportions, sharing its borders with 10 of the 12 South American countries.  It possesses multiple climates, beautiful scenery, and a diverse population of birds and amphibians.  In its forests are primitive tribes that have as yet had no contact with the outside world.  It is the land of Rio de Janeiro, the mighty Amazon River, and the yearly Carnival.  We’ll go see what it’s all about.

 

Old Ireland:  Lilting Songs and Blarney Stones

Here’s a great St. Patrick’s Day program:  Take a tour of famed Blarney Castle, with it’s Cromwellian history, dungeon, “Witches Kitchen”, “Wishing Steps”, and “Murder Hole.”  Imagine yourself dangling upside down to kiss the famous Blarney Stone!  Then join me in singing a selection of those delightful Irish songs, like, “My Wild Irish Rose”, “When Irish Eyes are Smiling”, “Danny Boy”, “It’s a Long Way To Tipperary”, and “Rose of Tralee.”

 

 

Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg

November 19 marks the 147^th anniversary of the Gettysburg address, one of the greatest in American History.  In this program, with the help of documents, stories, and photographs from the 1860’s, we explore the Battle of Gettysburg, from the circumstances that led to it, to its conclusion with Pickett’s famous charge.  We’ll follow Abraham Lincoln to Gettysburg, where he had been invited to follow the two hour speech of noted orator Edward Everett with a few remarks in dedication of the new cemetery.  I’ll be in period costume for this one, to give the address in person!

 

The U. S. Capitol:  Hallowed Halls of Democracy

Few public buildings have a history as rich and fraught with significance as the U.S. Capitol Building.  The ghosts of famous names from the past look down from the walls and stalk the halls:  statesmen, power brokers, inquisitors, and pioneers, fresh from the wilderness.  The building itself, since the laying of its cornerstone in 1793, has undergone as many changes as the country it represents, its inhabitants serving as the voice of a people engaged in the work of building a nation.  Come, and we’ll walk the halls with the ghosts.

 

The Statue of Liberty:  Beacon of Hope

In 1886, America celebrated the unveiling of “Liberty Enlightening the World,” or, as we know it, the Statue of Liberty.  Since then, from its pedestal in New York Harbor, the statue has welcomed millions of immigrants to a new world and freedom.  We follow the statute’s fascinating story, from its conception by sculptor Frederic Bartholdi to its construction in France and its final home on Bedloe’s Island in New York.

 

Norman Rockwell and Patriotism

Great for Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, or Veterans’ Day!  Another in our series of  programs about the American illustrator, Norman Rockwell, this program combines selections from Rockwell paintings about soldiers and the American spirit with the patriotic music that has stirred our hearts through the course of our 200 year history.  Music for the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force, mothers, and the girls left behind.

 

The Discovery of King Tutankhamen’s Tomb

“Everywhere the glint of gold!” was the description of archaeologist Howard Carter, as he peered into the darkness of the tomb of King Tutankhamen, the first person to do so in over 3,000 years.  Politics and principle, professional rivalry and personalities clashed in the glare of gold and the dust of history.  We explore the tomb and its mysteries through the eyes of Carter and his photographer, and supplement the nearly century-old story of the unearthing of the tomb with the latest discoveries about King Tutankhamen, his tomb, and his death.

 

Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley

Buffalo Bill was the flamboyant scout who put together his “Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders” toward the end of the nineteenth century.  But it was his discovery of Phoebe Moses, the little girl from Darke County, Ohio, who became Annie Oakley, the star of his show, that helped him take his show across America and before the kings and queens of Europe.  This program features the music of Irving Berlin’s “Annie, Get Your Gun” and actual photographs of the grounds, performers, and action from Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.

 

The White House:  America’s First Home

Since 1800, when John and Abigail Adams moved in, the White House has been the home of our presidents.  Through the years it has been rebuilt, rearranged, remodeled, and redecorated, while history has unfolded in and around it.  We’ll look at historical views of the White House, its grounds, and its various additions, and share stories of its inhabitants through its two centuries of existence.

 

The Raid on the Northfield Bank:  The James-Younger Gang Meets Its Match

The most notorious gang of bank robbers in the entire 1800’s rode into the small town of Northfield, Minnesota, on September 7, 1876, intending to empty the contents of the bank’s safe into their own pockets, only to meet with a stunning and decisive defeat.  Hear the thrilling story of the origins of the gang, their plans for the robbery, and how the citizens of Northfield rose to the occasion.  Pictures of the town, bank, robbers, and citizens.

 

The Raid on the Northfield Bank, Part Two:  Capture at Madelia

Follow the remnants of the wounded and decimated James-Younger gang as they flee the scene of their defeat at Northfield and straggle through rain and the Big Woods of southern Minnesota in an attempt to evade the largest manhunt in the nation’s history.  Two weeks after the robbery, an alert farm boy spots the remaining gang members, who are surrounded in the woods northwest of Madelia.  Seven brave volunteers answer the call to flush the robbers from their hiding place, and the James-Younger gang is no more.  Pictures of the posse, the capture site, and Stillwater Prison, and many others.

 

The Tin Lizzie:  Mr. Ford’s Model T

2008 marked the 100^th anniversary of the Model T Ford.  Hear how Henry Ford revolutionized automobile production, putting auto ownership within the reach of ordinary folks and transforming American society in the process.  See how the Ford operation grew, and how the nation embraced the “Tin Lizzie.”  Pictures of early autos, creative uses of the Model T, and modern restorations.

 

Under the Big Top in 1898

Who doesn’t love a circus?  When my great great uncle Jimmy McIndoo joined it for the 1898 season as the giant “Boy Wonder,” the Forepaugh Sells Circus rivaled the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey for the title “Greatest Show On Earth,” traveling by rail with hundreds of performers and roustabouts to cities all across the country.  Watch the raising of the big top, the parade of elephants and circus wagons, the trapeze artists, the trained sea lions, the strong lady, and the poster wars of the circus advance teams.  See the side show with its giants, midgets, and other amazing sights, hear stories of the high diver’s tragedy and the tent blowdown at Sioux City, and go behind the scenes for a glimpse of everyday life with the circus family.

 

Fort Snelling:  Outpost on the Mississippi

Travel back in time for a visit to Minnesota’s first military installation, built at the juncture of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers in order to establish the nation’s presence in the northern reaches of the Louisiana Purchase.  View the barracks, shops, guardhouse, store, and fortifications of the outpost, and hear the Fort’s history through the years.  Learn what it was like in 1828 in the Commandant’s kitchen, the blacksmith’s shop, the commissary department, the sutler’s store, and the guardhouse.   Watch the soldiers raise the flag, practice drills, and fire the post cannon.

 

Lincoln Takes The Stage

Abraham Lincoln was a president for the ages.  What led him to seek the office, and how was he uniquely prepared to lead the country during its most turbulent times?  In this program we explore Lincoln’s roots in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, first as a pioneer child growing up on the American frontier, and later as he struck out on his own, trying his hand at surveying, shopkeeping, and riverboating, then learning his trade as a prairie lawyer at New Salem, Illinois, before entering the rough and tumble world of (what was then) western politics.

 

Yellowstone Then and Now

Our nation’s first national park was still young when lecturer John L. Stoddard visited Yellowstone in the 1890’s.  We review the history and development of the Park, comparing Mr. Stoddard’s stories and photographs with stories and photographs from visits a century later.  See pictures of geysers, waterfalls, mud pots, and canyons, and buffalo, grizzlies, beavers, and wolves.  Hear how Jim Bridger, the old mountain man, was laughed to scorn when he told of seeing glass mountains, petrified forests, and boiling lakes, even though, for once, he was telling the truth!

 

The Wit and Wisdom of Norman Rockwell:   Children and Growing Up

Everyone remembers those wonderful Saturday Evening Post covers illustrated by the great artist Norman Rockwell.  Rockwell was not only a skilled illustrator, but a keen observer of human nature and a marvelous teller of stories.  In this program, we look at Rockwell’s history, his development as an artist, his illustrative techniques, and the visual stories he tells about children growing up, exploring their world, challenging limits, and perplexing adults.  A delightful montage of illustrations spanning five decades of Rockwell’s work for the Saturday Evening Post, Boys’ Life Magazine, and other publications.

 

A Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving

Music and Rockwell!  Here’s another program from my favorite illustrator, Norman Rockwell, who, in his fifty or more years of painting, did numerous illustrations celebrating what we in America have to be thankful for.  This program combines another series of great Rockwell illustrations with old favorite songs that express our appreciation for blessings like family, friends, and country.  Sing along with “That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine”, “This Old House”, “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come”, “Keep On The Sunny Side”, “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You”, and more!

 

Thanksgiving in America

From our starting point at President Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union speech and Norman Rockwell’s subsequent series of wonderful illustrations, the “Four Freedoms”, we trace the history of Thanksgiving, from Pilgrim beginnings through the annual Presidential pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkey.  After a look at some familiar holiday sights and traditions, we’ll finish with a trip to New York City for the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, from its modest start in 1924 through the huge extravaganza that it is today.

 

A Charles Dickens Christmas

One of the best-beloved stories of Christmas was published in 1843 by English author Charles Dickens.  Weaving a masterful tale of miserly Ebenezer Scrooge with the ghost of his old partner, Marley, and his shivering clerk, Bob Cratchit, Dickens spirits us on a memorable visit to the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Future.  We follow through scenes taken from old prints and theatrical performances, stopping to look in a few Victorian windows along the way, and finishing with my favorite chapter, the heart-warming story of “The Cratchits’ Christmas” and Tiny Tim’s wish, “God bless us, every one!”

 

The Music of Christmas

Did you ever wonder where some of those wonderful Christmas songs came from?  They came from the hearts and minds of a wide range of travelers, Tin Pan Alley writers, ministers, and just plain ordinary folks, who, by putting their thoughts, feelings, and experiences into words and music, have blessed us through the centuries.  In this program we’ll explore some of the best Christmas songs, and, of course, sing them, too.

 

Toys and Games

Some of our fondest childhood hours were spent with dolls, puzzles, wagons, and roller skates.  There was magic under the Christmas tree, in the shape of Jacob’s Ladders, Authors card games, Tinkertoys, and a host of other toys and games popular in years gone by.  This program takes us back to explore the histories of those childhood artifacts.  Remember Monopoly, Erector Sets, Viewmasters, Lionel trains, Raggedy Ann dolls, Slinkies, Mr. Potato Head, Dionne Quintuplet paper dolls, and Red Ryder BB guns?  How about a stroll through the halls of the Queen’s own Doll House?  Be prepared to talk about your favorite toy!

 

Pearl Harbor:  The Day That Will Live In Infamy

“Tora, Tora, Tora!”  Japanese Air Commander Fuchida’s coded message sent hundreds of fighters and torpedo bombers in a sneak attack against an American Pacific Fleet lying, unsuspecting, at anchor at the U.S. Naval Base on Oahu, Hawaii.  By the time the attack was finished, 2,400 were dead, dozens of ships destroyed, and America was at war.   Your residents will likely remember exactly where they were when they heard the news.

One hundred years ago this April 15, the mighty Titanic quietly slipped beneath the waves, taking with it 1500 passengers and crew.  Only 700 souls were saved.

Born in the shipyards of Belfast, Ireland, and built for the White Star Line’s transatlantic passenger trade, the Titanic was the largest liner afloat when she took on passengers for her maiden voyage in April, 1912.  They came from all over Europe to share the adventure of the first voyage on the huge vessel, emigrants looking for a new home in America, men with business in New York and San Francisco, and wealthy travelers returning from European vacations.  With the friends who came to show them on board they poked around the ship, marveling at the paneled opulence of the first class cabins or the stolid functionality of the third class.  They checked out the gymnasium, with its odd camel-riding machine, and the libraries, smoking rooms, and barber shops.  On deck they strolled past the twenty lifeboats suspended from their gleaming new davits, seemingly unnecessary appendages on a ship as technologically up to date as the Titanic. 

Most wouldn’t have seen much of John Jacob Astor IV, reputed to be the wealthiest man in the world, who boarded, with his scandalously young bride, from the train specially chartered for passengers of his class.   Also there for the trip was Benjamin Guggenheim, the rich industrialist, with his man servant, and Archibald Butts, special envoy of the President of the United States, returning from a secret diplomatic mission.  J. Bruce Ismay, proud president of the White Star Lines came along for the trip, as did the Titanic’s chief designer and builder, Thomas Andrews.  Not on board was J. Pierpont Morgan, who under a layer of parent companies was the real owner of the Titanic.  He had at the last minute and for unexplained reasons canceled his ticket.  The Slade brothers, who had signed on for the voyage as workers, partied too long at a Southampton pub and missed the boat.

Leaving its Southampton berth on April 10, 1912, the Titanic made preliminary stops at Cherbourg, France, and Queenstown, Ireland, then headed for New York.  It never arrived.

This program takes an extended and detailed look at the Titanic, its staterooms, cabins, engines, passenger amenities, and other facilities.  We’ll explore the ship room by room, checking the contents of the storerooms and the boilers in the hold.  We’ll laugh with the passengers at a few silly predictions of disaster, and settle in comfortably for the week long voyage, knowing that Captain Smith and his crew have been through “Iceberg Alley” many times before.

But, in the late hours of Sunday, April 14, our trip is interrupted by a soft thump that most of the passengers do not even notice or remark upon.   The ship has struck an iceberg, opening cracks between the steel hull plate, and within minutes the Captain and crew sound the alarm, knowing that the ship cannot long stay afloat.

Then begin the desperate attempts to save as many passengers as possible before the doomed ship sank to her final resting place.  We’ll watch as the passengers abandon the ship, and hear stories of valiant, selfless deeds, and others perhaps more questionable.   Within two hours the ship is gone, leaving 700 stunned survivors in the lifeboats.  For a time the night was filled with the cries of men dying of hypothermia in the frigid Atlantic waters, but before long all was silent.  We’ll follow the rescue and recovery efforts and learn who survived and who did not.

We’ll wait with the friends and loved ones as the surviving passengers leave the rescue ship Carpathia, watching those whose loved ones did not appear turn silently away.  We’ll sit in on the formal investigations on both sides of the Atlantic attempting to find, officially or unofficially, the culprits responsible for the disaster.  Finally, we’ll update the story with an account of the 1985 discovery of the Titanic two and a half miles below the waves, and see what we can of the once proud ship’s sad remains.

 

 

Once there were over 200,000 one room country schoolhouses dotting the landscape of America.  A very few of them are still open, many are dozing vacantly in some township corner, shedding chimney bricks and wooden shingles on the way to eventual destruction, but most are gone, swallowed by adjacent cornfields.

But what visions those doddering buildings evoke!  Merry children swinging tin pail lunch buckets down the lane, the bell in the tiny tower calling the scholars in, lessons with Dick and Jane or Alice and Jerry, tug o’ war at recess, and a flood of others.

Here is a program that remembers it all, from the littlest scholars in the front row to the big eighth graders in the back, from the tiny cloakroom where sat the stone water jar and the shared dipper to the blackboard with its cursive writing chart adorning the front wall, flanked by imposing portraits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

There would be a stove in the middle, herding its flock of small, middle-sized, and large desks, each with its back on the front and its front on the back.  There would be swings in the yard, and, if you had an understanding local school board, a slide, teeter-totters, or even a merry-go-round!

In the summer there would be Annie Over and Pom Pom Pollaway, and in the winter Fox and Geese.  Cool water would gush from the pump in the yard.

School buses were superfluous and unheard of.  It was a two mile walk to school, with the usual temperamental bull in the pasture shortcut.  What Grandpa said about walking to school two miles, up hill both ways, in the snow, is true, and I have the pictures to prove it!  What he said about the outhouse and the Sears catalog in the winter is true, too.

We learned our penmanship from the Palmer Method, our vocabulary from Dick, Jane, and Sally, and our geography from the pull-down map that, if you incautiously let go at the wrong point, flailed wildly on its pivots until its spring was satisfied.

Teachers were nice young girls of 18 or 20 who had passed the teacher certification exam.  They boarded with the nearest family, got paid princely sums like $38 per month, and lived by rules like “no bobbing one’s hair” and “no marrying.”  Report cards told it like it was.  Miscreants sat in the corner, wrote corrective sentences 100 times on the blackboard, or got from the teacher the same thing they were going to get from Dad when they got home.  (I have the picture to prove that one, too.)

This program is great for getting Grandma to reminisce with the grandkids, or the grandkids to beg for stories from Grandpa.   Better yet, find a way to have the youngsters and the oldsters together to experience it, and be sure to leave plenty of time for stories afterward, for stories there will be.

 

 

What a part of American life was the railroad!  Huge engines steaming down the tracks, hauling freight and passengers to destinations in every corner of the country.  That day is nearly gone, and few persons today have a chance to experience the romance of the railroad.

The story of the railroad, however, has been preserved in the music of the rails.  There are songs about every part of the railroad experience, and they tell a fascinating story.

There’s John Henry, the steel driving man, who went head to head with a steam drill, beat it, and laid down his hammer and died.  There’s Casey Jones, the engineer who met his doom when a brake failure kept the cars of an oncoming train from clearing the track.  There’s the Wabash Cannonball, the mythical train whose whistle made the lonesome hoboes cry.

“Big Rock Candy Mountain” tells about the hard lot of the hobo as he rode the rails from town to town, looking for work.  Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” is the lament of a penitentiary inmate who hears the whistle of a train outside the walls of his prison.  “The Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home” says goodbye to one of the first great country singers.

We’ll ride the entire length of the Illinois Central, from Chicago down to New Orleans, watching through the window as the country goes by, in “City of New Orleans”, take a “Sentimental Journey” with all those servicemen and women coming home from the war, and let the rocking and rolling of the train car lull us to sleep with “Morningtown Ride.”

Included with the music are pictures of the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, famous engines from history, the Big Bend Tunnel, where John Henry met his fate, train wrecks, and the people who sang the songs about them.

 

Engine Whistles includes these songs, with singalong words on the screen

Wabash Cannonball

I’ve Been Working on the Railroad

Casey Jones

The Wreck of the Old 97

The Big Rock Candy Mountain

King of the Road

Chattanooga Choo Choo

Morningtown Ride

Sentimental Journey

Five Hundred Miles

Folsom Prison Blues

City of New Orleans

The Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home

John Henry