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Archiver > ILJOHNSO > 2003-07 > 1058839959
From: Bill <>
Subject: [ILJOHNSO] Little Egypt Heritage, 20 Jul 2003, Vol 2 #27
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2003 22:12:40 -0400
Little Egypt Heritage Articles
Stories of Southern Illinois
(c) Bill Oliver
20 July 2003
Vol 2 Issue: #27
ISBN: pending
Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen of Little Egypt,
My friend, Gene, asked how I could write about so many
different things. "Writing is no trouble; yo just jot down
ideas as they occur to you. The jotting is simplicity
itself it is the occurring which is difficult." [Stephan
Leacock] This week seems no different. However, it does
disturb me just a bit to think that this week all has taken
place in my life time it is history of which I have been
involved. <G>
When I was but nine the telephone began to be called an
"ameche". A radio personality, who debuted on-screen in a
1933 "short subject", made a most memorable performance in
1939 as the famed inventor in the movie "The Story of
Alexander Graham Bell". Thus, a surname became part of our
language. Don Ameche was active, both on network radio as
well as on-screen.
Don Ameche had a brother named Jim. Jim Ameche was a radio
personality also. Jim was the first Jack Armstrong; All
American Boy. Jack Armstrong's was a high school student
whose adventures were world wide. His friends, Betty and
Billy [Fairfield], accompanied him on these safari's, which
was most convenient due to the fact that their Uncle Jim
furnished the air transportation. Jim Ameche played this
role from the first broadcast [31st of July 1933] through
1938. It was a long lasting series, with its final
broadcast on the 28th of June 1951, by which time I was
still a year and a few days older than the program, but
never could match the preposterous situations [errr,
adventures] ever portrayed in [children's] radio thriller
hours [dinner time in my home].
It is odd what one remembers. For instance, I don't
remember any specific adventure, but I do remember the voice
of the announcer introducing the show with "Jack ARMSTRONG!
-- ALL AMERICAN BOY!" He did commercials with a capella
quintet in the background called "The Norsemen".
Well, from "wave the flag" for Hudson High School to "Eagle
... you're go for a landing" and "The Eagle has landed!"
Thirty years ago, on my birthday, three men were launched
into space. On that wild trip the visited a celestial being
and accomplished a safe return to terra firma on Mother
Earth. So from fictional Jack Armstrong to real life
adventurer, Neil Armstrong. Today is the anniversary of the
first landing on the moon and with a daughter and three
grandchildren, we visited the Air and Space Museum in
Wapakoneta, Ohio, named for this first man to set his
footprints on the surface there.
The children were most impressed with the walk way which
gave them the illusions of the vastness of outer space. A
fantastic job all done with mirrors. We certainly held onto
the five year old fearless "All American Girl" for she was
climbing over the railing wanting to know how far down it
was. We did safely reach the other end without messing up
any of the illusion.
Neil Armstrong traded his bicycle in for flying lessons at
the early age of sixteen. When I saw that plane on display
in the museum, I remembered back to those days when my then
closest friend, Sonny Davis, was learning to fly.
Neil Armstrong being a tad older than myself has probably
retired by now, but where his space colleague from Ohio,
John Glenn, turned to politics, he turned to industry and
became the Chairman of the Board of AIL [electronics]
Systems, Inc. After serving as a naval aviator, Neil
Armstrong served as an engineer, a test pilot, an astronaut,
an administrator with NACA/NASA. His experience with flying
over 200 different models of aircraft included the famed
X-15. As an astronaut, Armstrong performed the first
successful docking of two vehicles in space. As the
commander for Apollo 11, he was first to land a craft on the
moon and the first to set foot on that surface.
For all his achievements, Neil Armstrong has been decorated
by seventeen countries. He and John Glenn were at the
memorial to honor the Wright Brothers this weekend.
e-la-di-e-das-di ha-wi nv-wa-do-hi-ya nv-wa-to-hi-ya-da.
(May you walk in peace and harmony)
Wado,
Bill
-=-
Other sites worth visiting:
http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/SOIL
http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ILMASSAC
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/state/BillsArticles/LittleEgypt/intro.html
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