Happy New Year

I wish all readers of Bruce's Journal a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year.  Whether you are a regular reader or just found one entry through a search engine, I thank you for stopping by and hope that reading my thoughts have benefited you in some way.

Cool Bobby B - Facebook Friend of the Day

Above is a photo of Cool Bobby B with his biggest fan Alan Berman.  It is a shame that Doo Wop music is no longer heard on terrestrial radio, but since I have SiriusXM I make it my business to hear at least part of Bobby's show on 50s on 5 Sunday nights at 9 PM.  Bobby is also heard on WLNG from Eastern Long Island on Tuesday nights.

You can find more information about Bobby at:

• List of radio stations that carry his syndicated show
• Wikipedia entry
• Doo Wop Stop Web Site

You can make a request by phoning 1-800-DOOWOPP

A Double Dose of NJIT Basketball on ESPN3

ESPN3 is a TV station that can be accessed on a laptop, desktop or smartphone.  Both the NJIT men's and women's basketball teams were scheduled at 7 PM tonight to appear on ESPN3.  The mens team lost to Villanova 70-60 in a game where they were close most of the time.  They are now 0-15 against Big East teams in the 7 years that NJIT has been in Division I.  Your team still loses whether it is by one point or 50 points.  The women lost to St. Johns 55-37.

Summary of Men's Game

Sinister Pop Art at the Whitney Museum Today

We decided to be "culture vultures" today by taken our annual trip to the Whitney Museum on Madison Avenue at 75th Street. They had an interesting exhibit called Sinister Pop which featured some of the counterculture pop art of the 1960s and 70s including artists such as Andy Warhol.  There were a few funny pictures of Richard Nixon including one portraying him in a negative fashion and encouraging people to vote for George McGovern.  This exhibit on the second floor will be shown until March 31, 2013.

Wade Guyton and Richard Artsschwagel were featured in other exhibits in the museum.  It is nice to do something different once in a while.

Visited the Paley Center Today

Karen and I visited the Paley Center on West 52nd Street as we do a few times a year.  There was a photographic and video exhibition for the 50th anniversary of the Rolling Stones.  There were numerous photographs on the wall in addition to a television monitor showing 10 television appearances of the Stones.

From there we went upstairs to the library to view some old shows.  Since Karen is very much into Alfred Hitchcock we viewed 3 episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents which was on the air in the late 1950s and early 1960s.  We also saw one episode of All in the Family and one of One Day at A Time.

Car 54 Where are You by Martin Grams

Regular readers of Bruce’s Journal should know that for 50 years I have been a big fan of Car 54 Where are You that originally aired from 1961-63 on NBC.  I recently reported on an excellent web site on the show that lead me to this book which is the definitive volume on this show.

Grams, M. (2009). Car 54 where are you?. Albany, GA: BearManor Media.

It tells a lot about how Nat Hiken conceived the series.  Most police shows back then demonstrate the excellent work that officers do in fighting and preventing crime.  Hiken saw the need to demonstrate that policeman are people too with lives away from their jobs.  He was quoted as saying “I want to show that cops are human beings.  They’re regular guys underpaid  for what they do. And have human failings and problems.“  The working title for the show was “The Snow Whites” since back then the tops of police cars were white.  Back then two-tone cars were popular.  My dad had a 1957 Chevy Bel Air with a black body and white top.

The show was filmed in the Bronx with a red car  since in the early 1960s police cars were green.  This way Car 54 would not be mistaken for a real police car.  Reaction to the show was mixed.  For example the New York Times wrote an editorial praising the show for its humanizing police officers.  There was some criticism of the show’s portrayal as police officers as clowns.

One can not argue with success as the show garnered very high ratings in the two seasons that it was on the air.  Until I read this book, I did not know the reason that the show was only on the air for two years.  The author reports  that according to Fred Gwynne (the actor who played Officer Muldoon) Nat Hiken was under great stress to write, produce, and direct the series.  He just couldn’t handle that and sadly pulled the plug on the series.  Hiken was a heavy smoker and sadly passed away in 1968 at age 54.  I thank him for the two seasons and 60 episodes of the series.

The author provides a synopsis of the 60 episodes and an appendix of unused plot suggestions and outlines.  He provides biographical information on most of the cast members and much minutiae about the series.  No book is perfect, I would have liked to see more information about cast members Beatrice Pons, Hank Garrett and Charlotte Rae.   I must commend Martin Grams for providing a lengthy bibliography of sources he used to write this book.  It is highly recommended for Car 54 fans who saw the show in the 1960s or those who found it in later years.

College Basketball at the Barclays Center

We really wanting to see a sports event at Batclays Center after seeing Bob Dylan in concert there in November.  Since the price of professional basketball tickets is prohibitively high, we wanted to economize and pick college basketball.  There was a tripleheader there today:

• Hofstra vs Tulane - 3:00 PM
• Manhattan vs South Carolina - 5:30 PM
• LIU Brooklyn vs Seton Hall - 8:00 PM

Since we have seen games at the Mack Arena on the Hofstra campus for many years we decided to come for game 1.  The two schools were tied at 30-30 at half time, but Tulane scored 20 unanswered points at the beginning of the second half.  Tulane coasted to an 83-62 victory.  Game Summary

We stayed for the first half of the second game which ended with South Carolina winning 63-56.

Seton Hall beat LIU Brooklyn in the third game 89-58