Mao Zedong as cult figure in Chinese propaganda poster
Mao Zedong (Tse-Tung) (1893-1976) was a Chinese Communist leader noted for his 1949 establishment of the People’s Republic of China. He led the PRC until his death. Chairman Mao “cast himself as a revolutionary leader but whose conduct and attitudes reminded one of China’s emperors.” Through disastrous economic policies and periodic purges of his political enemies, Mao was responsible for the unnecessary deaths of millions of Chinese citizens.
To shore up his power base of poor peasants, Mao targeted wealthy capitalists as enemies. In 1951, the Chinese government trained tens of thousands of workers to spy upon their fellow citizens. Workers informed on bosses, wives on husbands, and children on parents, mostly in an attempt to protect themselves from government reprisals. The media joined in on the attack, making accusations. Many people were arrested, a few killed, most fined, and some imprisoned. All were terrified and humiliated. There were at least 200 to 300,000 suicides. So many people jumped to their deaths from Shanghai skyscrapers that they got the nickname “parachutes.”
Then, in January 1958, Mao Zedong launched his economic growth plan, “The Great Leap Forward.” Farm workers were organized into people’s communes. All private food production was banned. Livestock and farm implements became property of the commune.
Mao then ordered the implementation of new agricultural techniques – untested and unscientific. The program was ill-managed and corrupt. Food production began to decline. Then, compounded by drought in some areas and floods in others, the production of wheat dropped dangerously low. The result: a food shortage so severe that millions of peasants starved to death. Mao acknowledged the deaths by occasionally abstaining from eating meat. (2)
(1) MacFarquhar, Roderick and Schoenhals, Michael. Mao’s Last Revolution. Boston: Harvard University Press, 2006.
(2) Li Zhi-Sui. The Private Life of Chairman Mao. New York: Random House, Inc., 1994.
A photograph of Ronald Reagan as a young child. He is standing between his mother and older brother, Neil. Notice his Dutchboy haircut, from which he got the nickname, "Dutch."
This is an excerpt from a CNN.com transcript, “A Look at Reagan’s Early Years,” which aired June 10, 2004, five days after the death of Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States. Reagan died at the age of 93, after suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease for more than a decade:
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was born in an apartment above a bank in this small town. Tampico, Illinois, known for beautiful farm country and great pie. Life here hasn’t changed much.
Ronald was the second son born to Nell and Jack Reagan, the first, Neil, was born two years earlier. Mary Ellen Goldson’s father delivered Ronald in this room.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ronald got the name Dutch because when he was born, his father said, he looks just like a Dutchman. He was a big baby, chubby.
PHILLIPS: They would become childhood playmates.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But it was fun with the ghost stories and the hide & go seek, cops & robbers. That was a lot of fun.
PHILLIPS: Ronald Reagan’s young life was centered on his mother, Nell. He adored her, and she was his moral guide. Dorothy Carlson remembers that bond.
DOROTHY CARLSON, REAGAN’S CHILDHOOD FRIEND: He had good Christian values, had a good Christian upbringing. His mother was a wonderful woman, and he attended Sunday school and church regularly. And living in a small town where everyone is friendly and knows everybody, I think it makes a difference in city living. And you have more of a care and concern for people, and I don’t think he ever forgot it.
KAGAN: Nell also passed to Dutch her love of the dramatic. Reagan would recall [that] he felt [that] performing was his mother’s first love. Nell taught her son [that] God had a plan for him. She taught him how to dream, and to expect those dreams to come true.
Ronald Reagan stands on the diving board in the Little 19 (Illinois private colleges) swim meet held at St. Viator in this March 22, 1930 file photo.
LOU CANNON, REAGAN BIOGRAPHER: I think that Reagan’s mother was the key to his development, to his maturation, to his successes as an adult human being.
PHILLIPS: Reagan’s paternal ancestors hailed from Tiperary, Ireland. His father, Jack, a shoe salesman, was a staunch Irish- Catholic Democrat, who hated bigotry and racism, supported working people and taught his sons the same. He was also an alcoholic.
CANNON: If you’re the child of an alcoholic, you see things you don’t want to remember, and you certainly don’t want to tell anybody. Its main impact on Reagan was to create a kind of inward part of him that was a very, very important part of his character.
PHILLIPS: But it was Nell Reagan who would teach her son tolerance.
CANNON: The biggest thing that you did was that she taught Reagan and his brother to come to terms with the alcoholism of his father, which was very, very hard on Reagan.
PHILLIPS: Also hard on young Dutch was his nomadic boyhood. The family moved often through several small towns in Illinois before settling in Dixon, a prodominantly working class farm town of 8,000 people.
CANNON: In these first four, five, six years, they moved all the time, and so Reagan didn’t have — form these friendships that you form with other children if you grow up in the same place.
PHILLIPS: Reagan was just nine years old when the family moved to Dixon. He thought Dixon was heaven, and liked to describe his childhood as a rare Huck Finn/Tom Sawyer existence, simple life, simple times.
In his seven years as a lifeguard, Ronald Reagan saved 77 lives and a set of false teeth. (1931 photo)
Dutch was a short, skinny shy kid who wore thick, horn-rimmed glasses and was only an average student. But as he reached his teens, a summer job would become a defining experience in his life, forever changing his self-image.
(on camera): Ronald Reagan was 15 years old when he became a lifeguard here at Lowell Park on the Rock River. And as the story goes, when his shift was up and swimmers didn’t want to get out, he would toss pebbles from here and yell “River Rat!!!” But that’s not the only way to get swimmers out of the water. In seven summers as a lifeguard, he would go on to save 77 lives [and notched a mark on a wooden log for every life he saved, he said in an interview].
(voice-over): Helen Lotten remembers something else Reagan saved.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One time while he was a lifeguard, a man came up to him that had been swimming and he said, ‘Will you please dive in? I’ve lost my false teeth.’ He said, ‘I dove in and I can’t find them.’ So Dutch dove in several times, and he got them, he got them and he gave them to him, and the man was so pleased he gave him $10. And he [Reagan] said, ‘That was the first time I was ever paid for doing anything.’
PHILLIPS: Ronald Reagan loved being a lifeguard. He would recall his days on Rock River with great pride.
Biographer Edmund Morris said in an interview that being a lifeguard left Reagan with a lifelong desire to save people.
Ronald Reagan in a cowboy hat, circa 1976
In the last years of his life, Ronald Reagan, while suffering from the debilitating mental effects of Alzheimer’s, had the same “slow, unstoppable energy” of his youth. He remained active in these post-presidency years, taking walks through parks near his California home and on beaches, playing golf regularly, riding horses, and visiting his office in nearby Century City. (1) At his home, he would tirelessly rake leaves from the pool for hours, not knowing that the leaves were secretly being replenished by the Secret Service men. (2)
(1) Wikipedia. Ronald Reagan.
(2) Morris, Edmund. Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan. New York: Random House, Inc., 1999.
Here is part 5 0f 5 of the 1996 A & E “Biography” series on Eva Peron, “Evita: The Woman Behind the Myth.” Halfway through the tape, you will get an eyeful of Evita.
William Shakespeare as we have come to know him in Martin Droeshout's 1623 engraving for the First Folio
Today is William Shakespeare’s 445th birthday. In honor of the occasion, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley wants us all to celebrate by using the Bard’s words, declaring that today is “Talk Like Shakespeare Day.” The official website offers some suggestions as to how you can talk like Shakespeare:
Instead of you, say thou. Instead of y’all, say thee.
Rhymed couplets are all the rage.
Men are Sirrah, ladies are Mistress, and your friends are all called Cousin.
Instead of cursing, try calling your tormenters jackanapes or canker-blossoms or poisonous bunch-back’d toads.
Don’t waste time saying “it,” just use the letter
“t” (’tis, t’will, I’ll do’t).
Use verse for lovers, prose for ruffians, songs for clowns.
When in doubt, add the letters “eth” to the end of verbs (he runneth, he trippeth, he falleth).
To add weight to your opinions, try starting them with methinks, mayhaps, in sooth or wherefore.
When wooing ladies: try comparing her to a summer’s day. If that fails, say “Get thee to a nunnery!”
When wooing lads: try dressing up like a man. If that fails, throw him in the Tower, banish his friends and claim the throne.
This newly-discovered painting, known as the Cobbe, purports to be a portrait of William Shakespeare (reported in March, 2009)
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) also made his mark upon our vocabulary and many common expressions had their origin in his plays. The following is a smattering:
"Ophelia" by John Everett Millais. Hamlet was in love with Ophelia, whose death by drowning may have been a suicide. In the play, Hamlet's mother, Queen Gertrude, laments her death, strewing her grave with flowers, and saying: Sweets to the sweet: farewell!I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;I thought thy bride-bed to have deck'd, sweet maid,And not have strew'd thy grave.
“Hamlet”
in my mind’s eye
to the manner born
the primrose path
it smells to heaven
there’s the rub
the dog will have his day
method in his madness
neither a borrower nor a lender be
“Othello”
the green-eyed monster
who steals my purse steals trash
a foregone conclusion
wear my heart on my sleeve
Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth, Edwin Booth, and Junius Booth, Jr. appear in a production of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar," 1864. Although Shakespeare did not coin the word assassin, which means hash eater, the first recorded use of the word assassination occurred in his play, "Macbeth." Assassin John Wilkes Booth was a skilled and popular Shakespearean actor.
“Julius Caesar”
it was Greek to me
a dish fit for the gods
masters of their fates
the dogs of war
“1 Henry IV”
give the devil his due
the better part of valor is discretion
“2 Henry IV”
he has eaten me out of house and home
the weaker vessel
“Macbeth”
the milk of human kindness
a sorry sight
“As You Like It”
that was laid on with a trowel
too much of a good thing
“Romeo and Juliet”
what’s in a name?
a fool’s paradise
wild goose chase
“King Lear”
the wheel is come full circle
Leslie Howard as Romeo and Norma Shearer as Juliet in the 1936 film, "Romeo and Juliet." Romeo had been hiding in the garden when Juliet came out on the balcony and began her famous soliloquoy: "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?"
“Anthony and Cleopatra”
my salad days
“The Merry Wives of Windsor”
throw cold water on it
“Love’s Labor Lost”
out of the question
play fast and loose
“The Merchant of Venice“
my own flesh and blood
“Richard II”
a spotless reputation
“The Comedy of Errors”
something in the wind
“The Tempest”
we are such stuff as dreams are made on
“Troilus and Cressida”
good riddance
“The Comedy of Errors”
neither rhyme nor reason
“The Merry Wives of Windsor”
what the dickens
Readers: For more “Talk Like Shakespeare Today” posts, click here.
Elvis Presley (1935-1977) in August 1969, the beginning of his Las Vegas concert years
From 1969 to 1977 were Elvis’ concert years. When performing in Las Vegas, he stayed at the International (now Hilton) Hotel, occupying the penthouse suite, room 3000. The suite was located on the 30th floor and stretched across the entire top floor.
Elvis was not alone in this sprawling suite. From the beginning of his stardom, Elvis had been accompanied by a core group of hangers-on that came to be known as the “Memphis Mafia.” By the seventies, Elvis was spending day and night with his party animal buddies, cousins from Memphis and Army buddies whose common bond was service to “the King” and who hung around him for the money, clothes, cars, and leftover girls. What began in the fifties as a group of a few guys following in Elvis’ wake had swelled into a greedy crowd.
As Elvis’ fame spread and his addiction to prescription drugs deepened, Elvis became ever more sealed off from the real world and exceedingly dependent upon the Memphis Mafia. According to Patrick Humphries, these men “acted as Elvis’ bodyguards, babysitters, drug procurers, girl-getters, mates and carbuyers.” Elvis was emotionally unstable and dangerous to himself and others, especially when there were guns lying around.
Elvis after a Las Vegas Concert, with Linda Thompson, March 21, 1976. He would then die of an apparent drug overdose in August, 1977.
Actress, songwriter, and former Miss Tennessee USA Linda Thompson dated Elvis during those days. In an interview with Andrew Hearn, she recounts a frightening incident when Elvis got a little trigger happy:
I’d just happened to have come out of the shower at the Las Vegas Hilton, the presidential suite, and he [Elvis] was lying on the sofa. In those days, they had these huge bull’s eye advertisements. Vegas came alive when Elvis was there and they had these billboards, posters, and placards. So he had one of these enormous bull’s eye things in the suite and he decided that he would just shoot for the target. It was a kind of cardboard cut-out of his name with this bull’s eye…like hit the mark, come see Elvis…whatever. So, Elvis pulled out his gun and shot at the bull’s eye and the bullet went through the wall, which was adjacent to my bathroom. It went through the wall, then through the toilet paper holder, which was metal, out through a mirrored door and shattererd it. I was standing at the sink and I heard ting, ting, and the sound of glass breaking. I felt the air behind my leg. When I looked down, there was a bullet hole in the door behind me. I opened that door and there was another shattered glass door and a bullet lying there.
I knew exactly what was happening. James Caughley came in and said, “Linda, are you okay?” and I said, Yeah, what the ____ was that?” and he said that it was just Elvis having a little target practice.” (1)
These shootings were common occurrences. Elvis had a stockpile of weapons and liked to shoot things. He once shot his car when it wouldn’t start. He shot up small appliances, and, on occasion, large ones. He shot at chandeliers and light switches. But what he became well-known for was shooting at the TV every time the singer Robert Goulet came on a program, as some claim.
Why did Elvis shoot out the TV set when Goulet appeared? Did he hate Goulet as a person or a singer, or both?
It is believed that Elvis hated Robert Goulet, best known for his portrayal of the dashing Prince Lancelot in the Broadway musical production of “Camelot” in 1960. Some say Elvis despised Robert Goulet because he didn’t sing with feeling. Others blame the bad blood on a letter Elvis received when he was in the Army in Germany (1958-1960). His hometown girlfriend, Anita Wood (see previous post, “The Elvis Sandwich“) had written him a letter, telling her how she was doing. She was, at the time, performing with Buddy Hackett and Robert Goulet. She stupidly allowed Robert Goulet to write a postscript at the bottom of her letter to Elvis in which Goulet told Elvis not to worry about Anita as he was looking after her. Elvis became green with jealousy and was incensed with Goulet. (2)
Or was Elvis resentful of Goulet because Goulet was his rival on the music scene when Elvis returned home from Germany? After all, after Goulet’s triumph in “Camelot,” he was called the next great matinee idol. In 1961, the New York Daily News Magazine called Goulet “just the man to help stamp out rock ‘n’ roll.” Judy Garland described the suave Goulet as a living 8-by-10 glossy. He had blue bedroom eyes, and female fans would toss him their room keys during his concerts.
Yet even another possibility exists for Elvis’ dislike of Goulet. On May 25, 1965, Goulet mangled the lyrics to “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Muhammed Ali-Sonny Liston heavyweight championship fight. He replaced the lyrics “dawn’s early light” with “dawn’s early night” and “gave proof through the night” with “gave proof through the fight.” Although Goulet had been born in Massachusetts, his parentage was French-Canadian, and people were outraged that he didn’t know the words of the United States National Anthem. His gaffe was widely reported and he never lived the incident down.
Robert Goulet (1933-2007) had heard about Elvis shooting out TVs whenever he saw him singing on a television program. Goulet insisted, though, that Elvis bore him no ill will and was actually his friend. He dismissed the assertion that Elvis shot out the TV only when he came on it to sing. He claimed that Elvis shot the TV when other singers like Mel Torme and Frank Sinatra came on. Goulet did not think he was the select target.
On August 14, 2004, right in the middle of Elvis week, Goulet was in Memphis, Tennessee, Elvis’ hometown and the site of Graceland, Elvis’ home, and sat down for an interview with Christopher Blank of the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper:
“The 70-year-old entertainer Robert Goulet is in Memphis to play King Arthur in “Camelot” at the Orpheum Theater through Sunday. Since it’s Elvis Week, we asked Goulet about his part in a well-known anecdote about Elvis: The king of rock and roll was known to aim a gun at his television when he saw something there that displeased him.
THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL: And now I’ve got to ask you what my colleagues say is going to be the hardest question.
GOULET: I’m not Jewish. I’m not gay.
CA: No, those are easy.
GOULET: (Laughs.)
CA: You know Memphis is an Elvis town and you factor into a local legend.
GOULET: When he shot the television set? He also shot 50 other people. They told me that he had about a hundred sets in the basement. And he’d shoot the ___ thing out – you know he was on pills and he didn’t know quite what he was doing and he’d BANG! and they’d look at each other and say, “Get another set!” They mention me all the time. I don’t know why. I remember once we sat together backstage for two hours. And he was a charming, delightful, delightful man. And at one point I said, “That’s a beautiful ring you have there.” He said “You like it?” I said, “It’s beautiful!”
He took it off his hand and put it on mine. He gave me his ring. And years later all the jewelry I had in my house – I trust everybody. I was brought up to believe that you cannot steal, cheat or lie and I’ve been stolen from, cheated or lied to all of my life. And so jewelry – who needs it? But this one was something special to me and it’s gone.
CA: Somebody took it?
GOULET: I hired a guy to take care of my house when I was gone. I’m so naive it’s ridiculous. ‘Cause, you know, when we hire people today we do a background check. I didn’t do that. . . . I was in Dallas doing something and I got a call from LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department). “We have a Stutz Blackhawk, silver, with gold trim with RGG license plate?” I said “You have it? How do you have it?” “Well, we saw this guy going through Watts driving this car with the window open throwing out hundred dollar bills.” He had taken all my jewelry and everything else I had of import and taken my car and driven it down to L.A. But all my good stuff is just gone, finished. It’s all part of dying.
CA: So tell me a little more about the Elvis connection. We write so much about Elvis here. What was your reaction when you heard he’d shot the TV?
GOULET: The point is I knew he was not himself so therefore it wasn’t anything to do with me. He shot out Mel Torme. He shot out Frank. But I get all the credit.”
(2) West, Sonny. Elvis: Still Taking Care of Business. Chicago: Triumph Books, 2007.
Private Presley with his first public girlfriend, Anita Wood from Memphis
Anita Wood and Elvis got to know each other in Memphis, Elvis’ hometown, and were close friends from 1957-1962. She wrote to him in Germany where he was stationed with the U.S. Army. Years later she was interviewed about her relationship with Elvis, and recalled:
“He called me Little because I was very small at the time, tiny. ‘Little girl, go fix me a sandwich, peanut butter and jelly sandwich.’ Now, you know, back when I fixed a sandwich for him, we mixed up the peanut butter and banana together. We didn’t put it [the sandwich] in butter and put it in a skillet. We just put [the mixture] on white bread. But…the other day, this man was fixing a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that Elvis liked and they sliced the bananas in thick slices and put it in this butter and cooked it…so he [Elvis] may have started liking that later. But when I was dating him [1957-1962], he liked just a plain old-fashioned mashed banana [sandwich].”
The Elvis Sandwich (sometimes simply “The Elvis”) is a fried sandwich consisting of peanut butter, bananas, and sometimes bacon. It was supposedly one of Elvis Presley’s favorite foods.
The Elvis Sandwich appears open-faced before it is closed and fried.
The Elvis Sandwich is simple to make. This recipe comes from his cook:
Toast two slices of soft white bread in a toaster. Spread peanut butter on one slice, slice banana on top of the peanut butter, and cover with the other piece of toast. Fry the sandwich in a hot skillet with melted butter.
Elvis Presley joined the U.S. Army in March 25, 1958, completing his basic training at Fort Hood, Texas, and serving in Germany.
Elvis was an expert at Kenpo Karate. His Karate name was Tiger.
On a flight from L.A. to Washington, D.C., on Dec. 21, 1970, Elvis wrote this letter to President Richard M. Nixon:
Mr. President:
First I would like to introduce myself. I am Elvis Presley and admire you and Have Great Respect for your office. I talked to Vice President Agnew in Palm Springs a week ago and expressed my concern for our country. The Drug Culture, The Hippie Elements, the SDS, Black Panthers, etc do not consider me as their enemy or as they call it The Establishment. I call it America and I Love it. Sir I can and will be of any Service that I can to help the country out. I have no concerns or motives other than helping the country out. So I wish not to be given a title or an appointed position, I can and will do more good if I were made a Federal Agent at Large, and I will help out by doing it my way through my communications with people of all ages.
December 21, 1970 letter from Elvis to President Nixon
First and Foremost I am an entertainer but all I need is the Federal credentials. I am on the Plane with Sen. George Murphy and We have been discussing the problems that our country is faced with. Sir I am Staying at the Washington hotel [sic] Room 505-506-507. I have 2 men who work with me by the name of Jerry Schilling and Sonny West. I am registered under the name of Jon Burrows. I will be here for as long as it takes to get the credentials of a Federal Agent. I have done in depth study of Drug Abuse and Communist Brainwashing Techniques and I am right in the middle of the whole thing, where I can and will do the most good. I am Glad to help just so long as it is kept very Private. You can have your staff or whomever call me anytime today tonight or Tomorrow. I was nominated the coming year one of America’s Ten Most outstanding young men. That will be in January 18 in my Home Town of Memphis Tenn. I am sending you the short autobiography about myself so you can better understand this approach. I would love to meet you just to say hello if you’re not too busy.Respectfully,
Elvis Presley
When he landed in Washington, Elvis checked into the Hotel Washington across the street from the White House. He then delivered the letter to the White House. A 12:30 meeting was hurriedly scheduled for Elvis to meet President Nixon in the Oval Office.
President Richard Nixon received Elvis Presley in the Oval Office, Dec. 21, 1970
At the meeting, Elvis made his pitch to the president to help him in his “drug drive” and to restore respect for the American flag. But what Elvis really wanted was a badge. Elvis had an abiding respect for law enforcement officials and had an extensive badge collection from his travels across the U.S. Elvis had become inflamed with the desire to be deputized by the federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD). This obsession was the whole purpose for his spur-of-the-moment, cross-country flight to Washington, D.C.
Badge presented to Elvis Presley deputizing him as a special agent of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs
After lunch in the White House mess and a tour of the White House, Elvis was presented with the BNDD badge by BNDD deputy director John Finlator at White House aide Bud Krogh’s office. Finlator promised to send along additional credentials.
A planned auction of more than 1,000 items from the former home of the King of Pop Michael Jackson has been cancelled.
Nearly 1,400 items from the singer’s Neverland Ranch in California were due to be auctioned off by Julien’s Auctions next week and the proceeds given to Michael Jackson. But Jackson’s production company sued the auction house to stop the sale. Jackson’s attorneys argued that Jackson had not been allowed to preview the sale items and retrieve personal memorabilia as promised in the contract with Julien’s. A last-minute settlement means Jackson’s belongings will now be returned to him. In response, Jackson has dropped the lawsuit against the auction house.
A public preview of the collection had already begun in Los Angeles. Although the auction has since been halted, the exhibition of Jackson’s possessions will continue through the end of next week. The items included in the public exhibit include Jackson’s famous crystal-encrusted white glove, a golden throne, crown, and the gates to the Neverland Ranch topped by a British coat-of-arms. Neverland, Jackson’s sprawling estate for many years (named after the mythical home of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys who never grew up), originally included a zoo and theme park. Jackson left Neverland in 2005, after he was acquitted of child abuse charges in a high-profile court case. Pressing financial problems forced him to sell part-ownership of the property last year.
A five-volume, 900-page catalog of Jacksoniana is available for browsing online (juliensauctions .com).
Readers, for more on this blog on Michael Jackson, click here.
In a previous post, “The Strange Case of Patty Hearst: Part 1,” I wrote about the kidnapping of wealthy media heiress Patty Hearst by the Symbionese Liberation Army and her participation in their robbery of the Hibernia Bank in San Francisco on April 15, 1974. When the attorney general viewed a videotape of the bank robbery, identifying Patty as one of the five robbers, he issued a warrant for her arrest as a material witness. What Patty’s parents and all of America wanted to know: had this well-brought-up young lady really crossed over and joined her captors in their radical notion of justice? Or was Patty brainwashed and acting in fear of her life?
A month later, SLA members William and Emily Harris walked into Mel’s Sporting Goods in Englewood, California, to buy supplies for their safe house. While Emily paid at the register, William shoplifted some socks. A security guard noticed and attempted to arrest William Harris by placing a handcuff on his left wrist. They struggled and a .38-caliber handgun fell from William Harris’ waistband. Patty Hearst, on armed lookout from across the street in a red Volkswagen van, produced a semi-automatic rifle and started shooting out the store’s overhead sign. Shots cracked the concrete and shattered the window, and one of them ricocheted and slashed the forehead of the owner, Mrs. Huett. Everyone inside Mel’s took cover and William and Emily made their getaway with Patty behind the wheel of the van. They soon abandoned the van and took refuge in their safehouse at 1466 54th Street in Los Angeles.
From a parking ticket found inside the glove box of the abandoned van, the L.A.P.D. was able to locate the safe house. The next day, May 17, 400 L.A.P.D. officers along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, California Highway Patrol, and Los Angeles Fire Department surrounded the neighborhood. They descended upon the hideout and conducted a live televised raid. It was one of the largest shootouts in police history with a reported total of over 9,000 rounds being fired by both the police and the SLA members who chose not to surrender. Six members of the SLA were killed, probably as a result of a combination of multiple gunshot wounds, smoke inhalation from the burning house, and burns. Among the dead was the SLA’s leader, Donald DeFreeze, an African American ex-convict who called himself General Field Marshal Cinque and Willie Wolfe, who was reported to be Patricia Hearst’s lover and called himself Cujo. Patty Hearst was not in the house during the siege. She and several other fugitives had seen the news coverage of the Mel’s Sporting Goods incident on TV the night before and fled.
Patty and the others remained on the run for over a year, crisscrossing the country and surviving by conducting small thefts. Authorities following the trail of SLA member Kathleen Soliah were eventually lead to the Harrises and Patty. On April 21, 1975, Kathleen Soliah (nee Sara Jane Olson) had robbed a bank in Carmichael, California, during which a mother of four was murdered and a young pregnant bank teller was kicked in the belly and later had a miscarriage. Patty had been Kathleen Soliah’s getaway driver.
1975 photo of Patty Hearst, handcuffed, in custody
Patty was finally arrested on September 18, 1975 at her apartment in the outer Mission District of San Francisco. As she was led away, Patty gave a clenched fist salute and listed her occupation on police papers as “urban guerrilla.” Patty Hearst’s mother, Catherine, expressed confidence that her daughter would not face imprisonment: “I don’t believe Patty’s legal problems are that serious. After all, she’s primarily a kidnap victim. She never went off and did anything of her own free will.”
Patty Hearst was brought to trial in 1976, represented by famed attorney F. Lee Bailey. (Read about the trial here.) Despite her claim that she had been tortured, raped, and brainwashed into submission by the SLA, the jury found it hard to believe her. She was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to seven years in prison. After serving two years, President Jimmy Carter commuted her sentence. She married her bodyguard Bernard Shaw. In 2001, she received a full pardon from President Bill Clinton.
Patty Hearst with French bulldog Shann's Legally Blonde, winner of the 2008 "Best of Opposite Sex," Westminster Kennel Club
She now lives with her husband and two children, Gillian and Lydia. She raises French bulldogs that win red ribbons at Westminster Kennel Club competitions.
The iconic castle from “Sleeping Beauty,” by artist Eyvind Earle for Disney
Up until the release of Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” in 1959, the Disney characters were normally drawn first for a film and then the background was drawn later to complement the characters. But this process was reversed in 1951 – causing some hard feelings – when Walt Disney Studios hired the new background painter, Eyvind Earle.
Tom Oreb's early drawing of Sleeping Beauty, influenced by Audrey Hepburn
Walt Disney wanted the setting to have a very Renaissance Germanic look and Earle’s style fit the bill. The problem was that, when Earle joined the studio, the characters for “Sleeping Beauty” had already been drawn. Soft and round in the Disney tradition, the characters clashed with Earle’s stylized angular backgrounds. Though it was unusual to take style direction from a background painter, that’s what the character artists were forced to do. They had to go back to the drawing board and reconceive all the characters in a style that suited Earle’s design.
Although Sleeping Beauty would have blonde hair in the film, character stylist Tom Oreb based the princess’ original design on the physical geometry of brunette Audrey Hepburn.
Audrey Hepburn
“The qualities of that actress’ slender, willowy physicality lend themselves beautifully to the design environment of the film,” said Disney historian Jeff Kurtti.
drawing of Sleeping Beauty by Marc Davis, redesigned for use in 1959 film
Originally,” said Disney animator Ron Dias, “Sleeping Beauty looked a lot like Audrey Hepburn; she was softer, rounder, more like the ‘designy’ Disney girl. Back at the drawing board, Marc Davis redesigned her. She became very angular, moving with more fluidity and elegance, but her design had a harder line. The edges of her dress became squarer, pointed even, and the back of her head came almost to a point rather than round and cuddly like the other Disney girls. It had to be done to complement the background.”
Click below to see Helene Stanley perform in the Disney Studio as the live action model for Sleeping Beauty as Disney artists sketch away. This video was part of the premiere of the Disneyland TV show.
In my two previous posts, “Elvis the Pelvis” and “Elvis: Too Sexy for His Shirt,” I wrote about Elvis Presley and the TV appearances that made him a star. His hip-gyrating performance of “Hound Dog” on NBC’s June 5, 1956, “The Milton Berle Show,” created a huge new fan base and a storm of controversy. Moral crusaders tried to keep him off the air. Critics in the press labeled his performances “vulgar” and “obscene.” Elvis was dubbed, “Elvis the Pelvis.” Top-rated TV host Ed Sullivan vowed, “I wouldn’t have Presley on my show at any time,” as he considered Elvis unsuitable for family viewing.
In a New York radio interview, Elvis said, in his defense,
“Rock and roll music, if you like it, and you feel it, you can’t help but move to it. That’s what happens to me. I have to move around. I can’t stand still. I’ve tried it, and I can’t do it.”
As they say in show business, all publicity is good publicity. The Berle show drew such high ratings that comedian Steve Allen, not a fan of rock ‘n’ roll, rushed to book Elvis for “The Steve Allen Show” for July 1, 1956. “The Steve Allen Show” ran on NBC opposite its chief rival, “The Ed Sullivan Show” on Sunday nights. It was Steve’s aim to defeat Ed in the TV ratings game.
Steve wasn’t about to let Elvis strut suggestively on his program. He decided to introduce a “new Elvis,” one the whole family could love. He costumed Elvis in a top hat and tails and had him sing “Hound Dog” to a basset hound. With its sad eyes and droopy ears, the hound dog severely upstaged Elvis who was reduced to minimal movement.
Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis, and Ed Sullivan
Elvis was reportedly angry with his treatment on Steve’s show, but the ratings were phenomenal. Elvis’ manager, the ruthless Colonel Tom Parker, was able to sign Elvis for three engagements on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Ed offered Elvis the unprecedented amount of $50,000 for the three shows.
Ed Sullivan was asked to explain why he’d reversed his opinion of Elvis:
“What I said then was off the reports I’d heard. I hadn’t even seen the guy. Seeing the kinescopes, I don’t know what the fuss was all about. For instance, the business about rubbing the thighs. He rubbed one hand on his hip to dry off the perspiration from playing his guitar.”
Presley’s first Ed Sullivan appearance (September 9, 1956) was seen by some 55–60 million viewers, one out of every three Americans. On the third Sullivan show on January 6, 1957, Elvis sang only slow paced ballads and a gospel song. Nevertheless, for the first time, Elvis was shown to the television audience only ‘from the waist up.’ The conventional wisdom has been that Elvis was “cropped” at the request of TV host Sullivan to please network censors by hiding Elvis’ hip movements. However, this was Elvis’ third appearance on the show and Elvis’ first two appearances hadn’t been censored. He had been shown full-bodied both times before. It is more likely that Elvis’ notoriously greedy manager, Colonel Tom Parker, and not network censors or Ed Sullivan, who ordered that Elvis be shot from the waist up to generate publicity.
Italian-born actor Rudolph Valentino in the 1921 silent film, "The Sheik"
In spite of any misgivings about the controversial nature of his performing style, Ed Sullivan declared at the end of the third appearance that Presley was “a real decent, fine boy” and that they had never had “a pleasanter experience” on the show.
Below is a clip from Elvis’ 3rd appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” January 6, 1957, – the official “Waist-Up Appearance” in which Elvis sings, “Too Much.” One biographer has suggested that Elvis’ spangled vest, heavily made-up eyes, and hair falling in his face made Elvis resemble the smoldering silent film idol Rudolph Valentino as he appeared in “The Sheik.” What do you think?
Elvis in “Harum Scarum” (1965)
Whew! Waist-up or full-bodied, Elvis proves he’s got what it takes.
If Elvis really did want to dress up like Valentino in “The Sheik,” then, in 1965, he got his wish when he was cast as Johnny Tyronne in his nineteenth movie, “Harum Scarum.” Elvis’ wife, Priscilla Presley, recalls in her memoirs that Elvis liked the exotic Arab costumes so much that, after wrapping up filming for the day, Elvis wore his full make-up and costumes home from the movie set.
Elvis performing "Hound Dog" ("The Milton Berle Show," June 5, 1956)
In my last post, “Elvis the Pelvis,” I wrote about Elvis’ sensational and controversial performance on “The Milton Berle Show” (NBC) on June 5, 1956, when he sang “Hound Dog.” His playful yet sensual rendition of the blues number – his hips gyrated provocatively – rocketed Elvis to fame while also unleashing a floodgate of criticism. Elvis was too sexy for prime time TV, some said.
Ed Sullivan, host of “The Ed Sullivan Show,” CBS’ long-running (1948-1971), top-rated Sunday night variety show. Ed is shown with the little lovable Italian mouse puppet, Topo Gigio, that made more than fifty Sullivan appearances. On the show, Topo Gigio greeted Ed with a sugary "Hello Eddie!" and ended his weekly visits by crooning to the host, "Eddie, Keesa me goo'night!"
At the time, TV variety and comedy shows were the rage and “The Ed Sullivan Show” (CBS) was the #1 show on TV. The host of the top-rated Sunday night show was Ed Sullivan, nicknamed “Old Stone Face” for his deadpan delivery. But Ed Sullivan made up for what he lacked in personality in instinct. He had a knack for spotting talent and promoting it. Many entertainers who began on his program became household names. But Ed was a family-minded man. Elvis Presley may have been the flavor of the day, the month, or even the year, but Ed let it be known that he didn’t consider Elvis family entertainment and that he would never allow Elvis to appear on his show.
But TV ratings are hard to ignore for TV hosts. This was 1956, the infancy of TV programming. While only 0.5% of U.S. households had a television set in 1946, 55.7% had one in 1954. ABC existed but only began to air programs like “Leave it to Beaver” in the mid-1950s. The only two TV networks were NBC and CBS. In 1956, NBC offered Steve Allen a new, prime time Sunday night aimed at dethroning CBS’ top-rated “Ed Sullivan Show.” It was NBC’s aim for Steve Allen to defeat Ed Sullivan in the ratings.
Comedian Steve Allen’s personal distaste for rock and roll didn’t cloud his business sense. He needed a ratings boost and Elvis was hot stuff. Steve had seen Elvis on another TV show, didn’t catch his name, but was enchanted by his gangly, country-boy charm. He sent a memo to his staff to find out who the entertainer was and book him for “The Steve Allen Show.” They booked Elvis for a July 1, 1956, performance on “The Steve Allen Show,” three weeks after Elvis’ performance on “The Milton Berle Show.” From the time of the memo to the date Elvis performed on “The Steve Allen Show,” Steve’s show outperformed Ed Sullivan’s in the ratings game.
Writing in Hi, Ho, Steverino!, Steve Allen recalls:
Elvis singing "Hound Dog" ("The Steve Allen Show," July 1, 1956)
When I booked Elvis, I naturally had no interest in just presenting him vaudeville-style and letting him do his spot as he might in concert. Instead we worked him into the comedy fabric of our program. I asked him to sing “Hound Dog” (which he had recorded just the day before) dressed in a classy Fred Astaire wardrobe–white tie and tails–and surrounded him with graceful Greek columns and hanging draperies that would have been suitable for Sir Laurence Olivier reciting Shakespeare.
For added laughs, I had him sing the number to a sad-faced basset hound that sat on a low column and also wore a little top hat. We certainly didn’t inhibit Elvis’ then-notorious pelvic gyrations, but I think the fact that he had on formal evening attire made him, purely on his own, slightly alter his presentation.
Elvis Presley with his manager, the notorious "Colonel Parker"
“Inasmuch as Elvis later made appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, I’ve often been asked why I didn’t make the same arrangements with him myself. Here’s the reason: Before we even left the studio the night Elvis appeared on our show, Ed telephoned Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, backstage at our own theatre. So desperate was he to make the booking, in fact, that he broke what had until that moment been a $7,500 price ceiling on star-guests, offering the Colonel $10,000 per shot. Parker told Sullivan he’d get back to him, walked over to us, shared the news of Sullivan’s offer, and said, ‘I feel a sense a loyalty to you fellows because you booked Elvis first, when we needed the booking; so if you’ll meet Sullivan’s terms we’ll be happy to continue to work on your program.’
“I thanked him for his frankness but told him I thought he should accept Ed’s offer. The reason, primarily, was that I didn’t think it reasonable to continue to have to construct sketches and comic gimmicks in which Presley, a noncomic, could appear. Ed’s program, having a vaudeville-variety format, was a more appropriate showcase for Elvis’ type of performance.
“For his own part, Elvis had a terrific time with us and lent himself willingly to our brand of craziness. He was an easy-going, likeable, and accommodating performer. He quickly become the biggest star in the country; but when I ran into him from time-to-time over the years it was clear that he had never let his enormous success go to his head.”
Elvis Presley (1935-1977) The King of Rock 'n' Roll
With the release of his first record album in April, 1956, Elvis Presley began to receive lucrative offers for TV, Las Vegas, and movie appearances. On April 1, he made a screen test for Paramount Pictures and would go on to make the picture, “Love Me Tender.” On April 3, he sang “Heartbreak Hotel” on NBC-TV’s “The Milton Berle Show,” and received rave reviews, causing Berle’s TV rival, Ed Sullivan, to sit up and take notice.
On April 23, he went to Las Vegas, where he was scheduled to perform until May 6, but his show was such a flop with the middle-aged audiences that his manager, Colonel Parker, cut the run from four weeks to two. While there, though, Elvis stopped by the Sands Hotel and saw Freddie Bell and the Bellboys live. It was a game-changing moment. He heard them sing Leiber and Stoller’s blues song “Hound Dog” and loved their version of it. With Freddie’s blessing, Elvis added “Hound Dog” to his live performances.
Then, on June 5, Elvis made Rock-n-Roll History and catapulted to superstardom. It was his second appearance on “The Milton Berle Show.” Backed up by the Jordanaires, he performed “Hound Dog” before a studio and TV audience. His sensual rendition of the bluesy song both electrified and stunned the nation. At the beginning of the number, Elvis gave it a standard, upbeat tempo. Then, halfway through the number, he slowed down the beat to a crawl, swiveling his hips in time to the music, and driving the studio audience wild with his raw sex appeal. Some critics likened Elvis’ performance to a striptease. The next day, he was referred to as “Elvis the Pelvis” and an international campaign began to keep him off the airwaves.
Watch the clip below. June 5, 1956. “The Milton Berle Show.” Elvis Presley sings “Hound Dog.”
Before they took off on their World Tour in June of 1966, the Beatles had put the finishing touches on their new album, “Revolver.” Click below to hear the song that would prove prescient of the “Fab Four’s” horrible experience in Manila – “Taxman.”
Monday, July 4, 1966
Manila, the Philippines, the second stop for the Beatles on their 1966 World Tour
The Manila Hotel
The Beatles: (l. to r.) George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, John Lennon. ca. 1966
Manila, The Philippines:
Early in the morning, Tony Barrow, the Beatles’ publicist, and Vic Lewis, their booking agent, were awakened by sharp raps on the door of their suite. Two grim-looking men in military uniforms saluted and introduced themselves as the official reception committee from Malacañang Palace, the residence of President Ferdinand and First Lady Imelda Marcos.* They’d come to make final arrangements for the Beatles’ visit to the Palace for a luncheon hosted by the First Lady. (1)
Dictator Ferdinand Marcos with wife Imelda at his 1965 inauguration in the Philippines.
Neither Barrow nor Lewis knew what they were talking about. No one had told them that the Beatles were expected to make a presidential visit. The Beatles – John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr – were sleeping, they explained, and couldn’t be disturbed. The band had just flown in from an exhausting concert in Tokyo. The “Fab Four” needed their rest, as they were schedule to give both afternoon and evening concerts in Manila that very day. Barrow and Lewis promised to pass along the request to Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ manager.
“This is not a request,” insisted the two men, one, a general, and the other, a commander, in the Philippine Army.
First Lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos was a former beauty queen. Here she models a traditional gown. She regarded herself as a goddess and was used to having her way. 1963
Fashion icon Imelda Marcos descends from a flight with her son Bong Bong. Undated photo
That afternoon, the Beatles performed their hits songs to an audience of 35,000. Afterwards, Tony Barrow and others in the Beatle’s entourage filed into Brian Epstein‘s suite to watch coverage of the concert on the evening news. They were pleased to discover that every channel featured scenes of screaming, swooning fans caught up in Beatlemania. However, Channel 5, one of the country’s major networks, ran additional footage not seen on the other channels. The scene showed the First Lady at the Palace with her disappointed luncheon guests, 200 children. The voice-over said, “The children began to arrive at ten. They waited until two….The place cards for the Beatles at the lunch table were removed.” Imelda Marcos was very mad as she and her guests filed into the grand dining room without their guests of honor. The spin was that the Beatles had deliberately snubbed the President and Mrs. Marcos by not showing up.
Brian Epstein went into full damage control mode. He issued a hastily written apology to the First Couple and called an interview with Channel 5 in his hotel suite, in which he professed complete ignorance of the invitation and praised the Marcoses. An hour later, the interview was broadcast but Brian’s appearance was blacked-out by static interference. That’s when everyone started to get nervous.
ticket stubs to the Beatles July 4, 1966 concerts in Manila
Worry soon turned to panic. After their evening show, the Beatles noticed that their police escort had disappeared. When their car pulled up to the Manila Hotel, the gates were locked against them. While they sat their in the idling car, wondering how they were going to get up to their suite, several dozen “organized troublemakers” attacked their car, banging on the windows, rocking it back and forth, and shouting threats in several languages. Vic Lewis shouted at the driver: “Drive on! Go through the people and smash the gates down!” The driver obeyed. At the entrance, everyone in the Beatles’ entourage ran into the hotel with the angry mob snapping at their heels.
Shortly, an official appeared at Vic Lewis’ suite demanding payment of local taxes. Lewis produced a contract stating that someone else – the promoter – had that responsibility, not the Beatles. This was brushed aside. Until all taxes were paid, said the taxman, no one in the Beatles party was being allowed to leave the country. When the man left, Lewis found Barrow. “We’ve got to get out of here – now.” He called the bell hop for help with the luggage.
The manager told Lewis that no one would be coming to help. “The whole hotel is going on strike. They think you’ve insulted President Marcos.” Bomb and death threats were telephoned to the deluged British Embassy and to the four Beatles’ hotel suite.
The next morning, Paul had seen the newspaper headlines blaring BEATLES SNUB PRESIDENT. The Beatles had known nothing of the invitation. “Oh, dear,” he thought. “We’ll just say we’re sorry.” About then “things started to get really weird,” recalled Ringo. He and John were hanging out in their bathrobes when a roadie popped his head in their room and shouted, “Come on! Get out of bed! Get packed – we’re getting out of here.”
Everyone in the entourage grabbed amplifiers and suitcases and made for the main elevators, but they were turned off. They had to take the service lift down. The halls were dark and lined with staff who shouted at them in Spanish and English. It was very frightening. When they got downstairs to check out, the front desk was deserted. Even their cars were gone. Someone managed to get a Town Car and everyone squeezed in and made for the airport.
But the airport route was sabotaged. Soldiers were stationed at intersections and roads were closed. Finally, they found a back road that led to the airport. The airport was deserted. “The atmosphere was scary,” remembered Tony Barrow, “as if a bomb was due to go off.” Once the Beatles got on the escalator, the power was shut off. As the Beatles moved through the terminal, little bands of demonstrators appeared, grabbing at them and trying to hit them.
Mobs rough up the Beatles at the Manila airport. John Lennon is at upper corner, right. July 6, 1966
They checked in for their flight as quickly as possible then were herded into a lounge “where an abusive crowd and police with guns had also gathered.” The cops began to shove the Beatles back and forth. It was impossible to tell the thugs from the military police. According to Ringo, “they started spitting at us, spitting on us.” The Beatles hid among a group of nuns and monks huddled by an alcove. Other members of their entourage, though, were kicked and beaten.
Finally, everyone was allowed to run across the tarmac to the plane. Vic Lewis felt sure he’d get a bullet in the back. The Beatles were terrified they’d be killed before they entered the safety of the airplane. Paul said, “When we got on the plane, we were all kissing the seats. It was feeling as if we’d found sanctuary. We had definitely been in a foreign country where all the rules had changed and they carried guns. So we weren’t too gung-ho about it at all.” Ringo remembered being afraid of going to jail. Ferdinand Marcos was a dictator (who, in a few years, would declare martial law in the Philippines.)
Everyone was poised for the plane to take off when the authorities came back on board and detained Tony Barrow for thiry minutes. For the plane to be allowed to take off with the Beatles on it, Tony was forced to pay a “leaving Manila tax” that amounted to the full amount of money the Beatles had made in their concerts before 80,000 fans.
Once the plane lifted off and everyone was safely in the air, all the anger of the past 24 hours boiled over. The Beatles blamed Brian for the debacle. He’d obviously received the invitation in Japan, ignoring it or misleading the Philippine authorities.
Beatlemania. October 1965, London, England, UK. Policemen struggle to restrain young Beatles fans outside Buckingham Palace as The Beatles receive their MBEs (Member of the British Empire) in 1965.
By the time the Beatles had landed in India, they had made a command decision. This would be their last tour. They were never going to go on another tour again. Never again, swore John, was he going to risk his life for a stadium filled with screaming 13-year-old girls.
Brian said, “Sorry, lads, we have got something fixed up for Shea Stadium. If we cancel it you are going to lose a million dollars.” So they played New York’s Shea Stadium later that summer. It was the first stop on their U.S. tour, their final tour as the Beatles.
He wasn’t the first person to scale the garden wall of Buckingham Palace. The year before, three German tourists had done it. While there had been others who’d breached Palace security, Michael Fagan was to become one of the most infamous.
1982 Buckingham Palace Intruder Michael Fagan
It was 7:15 a.m. on July 9, 1982. Michael Fagan, 31, had been up all night, drinking whisky, and wandering London’s dark streets, brooding. He had just been released from the psychiatric ward at Brixton Prison. The judge had sent him there after he slashed his wrists with a broken bottle during his court hearing on charges that he stabbed his teenage stepson in the neck with a screwdriver. (1)
Fagan was discouraged. He was broke and faced a mountain of debt. His wife was unfaithful. There were problems with his kids and even his mum. The voices in his head told him to go and tell the Queen how unhappy he was and she would help. The voices told him he could do it. These were the same voices that before had talked him into climbing the towers of the bridges across the Thames River and to strip off his clothes and dive into the Grand Union Canal.
A guard at Buckingham Palace
It was 7:15 on the morning of July 9, 1982 when Fagan, unshaven and dressed in jeans and a dirty t-shirt, gathered up his courage, climbed over the black iron fence of Buckingham Palace, and dropped down on the grounds of the royal residence. No guards noticed. He found an open window and crawled in. But the Queen wasn’t in that room, it held only an old stamp collection (King George V’s $20 million stamp collection). Fagan was not a thief. He wanted only to find the Queen. An alarm was tripped twice, but the policeman at the palace sub-station thought it was malfunctioning and turned it off both times.
Fagan then went back out into the courtyard and spied a 55 foot drainpipe that lead to the second floor. “I climbed it in seconds,” he proudly told interviewers later. “I was a Prince of the Earth.” He pulled back some wire meant to keep pigeons away and crawled in a window. He found himself in the office of Vice Admiral Sir Peter Ashmore, the man responsible for the Queen’s security. He took off his sandals and socks and proceeded to explore the Palace barefoot with dirty hands.
Princess Elizabeth, age 9 or 10, comforts her corgi Dookie, 1936
This wasn’t the first time Fagan had broken into the Palace. Only the month before, he’d had a practice run. He’d entered through an unlocked window on the roof and wandered about for a half hour. He viewed the royal portraits and rested on the thrones before entering the Postroom, where he drank half a bottle of California white wine before leaving.
On this, his second, visit to the Palace, Fagan was on a mission. He had to find the Queen. He wandered the corridors in search of her, and, on the way, cutting his hand on a glass ashtray. When he spied some dog dishes on the floor, he knew the Queen was near. She was never far from her precious dogs (See previous post, “Queen Elizabeth’s Corgis and Dorgis.”) He passed a housemaid who said, “Good morning,” then entered the Queen’s bedroom.
The Queen awoke to find a strange man sitting on the edge of her bed, cradling a broken ashtray and dripping blood on her bed linens. She kept calm and picked up the phone, asking the operator to summon the police. The operator did call the police but they didn’t come. She pushed the button for a chambermaid yet no one appeared. The armed guard regularly stationed at the Queen’s bedroom door was not at his post; he had taken her dogs out for a walk. Meanwhile, Fagan talked away, still sitting on her bed. He wanted to talk about love but the Queen didn’t. He thought it a coincidence that both he and the Queen had four children. Fagan wanted a cigarette. Again, the Queen called the palace switchboard yet no one responded.
After the Queen had spent ten minutes with the mentally disturbed, bleeding intruder, a chambermaid entered the Queen’s quarters and exclaimed, “Bloody hell, ma’am! What’s he doing in there?” The chambermaid then ran out and woke up a footman who then seized the intruder. The police arrived twelve minutes after the Queen’s first call.
When the public learned of this incident, they were outraged at the lapse of security around their Queen. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher personally apologized to the Queen and measures were immediately taken to strengthen palace security.
Nevertheless, a 1999 report by the Royal Protection Squad stated that, in the six years previous, at least 6,000 mentally-ill persons had visited British royal residences or written to the royal family. Most of the mentally-disturbed people are harmless, the report stated, but the police guarding royalty are still trained to handle the few intruders who do indeed pose a danger.
A man protests at Buckingham Palace, insisting upon his right to appear in public naked
Over the years, the Royals have attracted unwanted attention from, among others, a group of lesbian anti-nuclear demonstrators who scaled the walls with ladders, and an American paraglider who landed on the roof as a stunt.
(1) Erickson, Carolly. Lilibet: An Intimate Portrait of Elizabeth II. (New York: St. Martin’s, 2004)
For more on Queen Elizabeth II, look in the left column under “Categories – People – Queen Elizabeth II.” I’ve written many posts on the Queen; I hope you enjoy them!
For more on Insane Asylums, scroll to the very bottom of “Categories – The Insane Asylum.”
It is believed that Elvis hated Robert Goulet, best known for his portrayal of the dashing Prince Lancelot in the Broadway musical production of “Camelot” in 1960. Some say Elvis despised Robert Goulet because he didn’t sing with feeling. Others blame the bad blood on a letter Elvis received when he was in the Army in Germany (1958-1960). His hometown girlfriend, Anita Wood (see previous post, “
GOULET: When he shot the television set? He also shot 50 other people. They told me that he had about a hundred sets in the basement. And he’d shoot the ___ thing out – you know he was on pills and he didn’t know quite what he was doing and he’d BANG! and they’d look at each other and say, “Get another set!” They mention me all the time. I don’t know why. I remember once we sat together backstage for two hours. And he was a charming, delightful, delightful man. And at one point I said, “That’s a beautiful ring you have there.” He said “You like it?” I said, “It’s beautiful!”
A public preview of the collection had already begun in Los Angeles. Although the auction has since been halted, the exhibition of Jackson’s possessions will continue through the end of next week. The items included in the public exhibit include Jackson’s famous crystal-encrusted white glove, a golden throne, crown, and the gates to the Neverland Ranch topped by a British coat-of-arms. Neverland, Jackson’s sprawling estate for many years (named after the mythical home of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys who never grew up), originally included a zoo and theme park. Jackson left Neverland in 2005, after he was acquitted of child abuse charges in a high-profile court case. Pressing financial problems forced him to sell part-ownership of the property last year.
In a previous post, “
From a parking ticket found inside the glove box of the abandoned van, the L.A.P.D. was able to locate the safe house. The next day, May 17, 
nights. It was Steve’s aim to defeat Ed in the TV ratings game.
Lisa's History Room 
