Old Time Radio Mystery/Crime/Adventure Shows - An Overview

Proving that the 21st century's obsession with crime drama (CSI, Law & Order, etc.) isn't anything new, in excess of 50 radio shows of the '40s/'50s centered on solving crimes. 

The majority of these shows featured police or detectives solving the usual sorts of crime: murder, robbery, fraud.  However, reflecting the events of those tumultuous decades, many shows also revolve around saving the world from such period baddies as gangsters, commies, juvenile delinquents, boxing match fixers, cattle rustlers, counterfeiters, horse racing scams, foreign spies, sabautage, and black marketeers. A few shows - foreshadowing events to come - even involve saving various beloved family members from the devastation of drugs.

While the shows shared many basic similarities - hard-boiled heroes, perky female secretaries, dangerous dames, thugs with ubiquitous Jersey accents, and musical scores heavy on the organ - I've decided they fall into several fairly distinct categories.  Here's hoping the list below helps direct folks to series that will suit their particular penchant in larceny!

1. Police Procedurals.  These shows featured realistic radio patrol car broadcasts, suspect interviews, officer small talk, and other authentic (or at least faux authentic) elements.  Examples include Dragnet, Gangbusters, Johnny Madero/Pier 23, Call the Police, Calling All Detectives, Bulldog Drummond, The Man from Homocide, and 21st Precinct. 
2. Crime Procedurals. Still other shows, such as Perry Mason and Mr. District Attorney, examined crime from the perspective of the courtroom.
3. True Crime Narratives. These shows retold authentic crime stories in the past tense, with emphasis on the clues that led to the eventual arrest of the wrongdoers.  (Recall this was back in the 1950s, the "good old days," when justice always prevailed, so the bad guys always get their come-uppance in the end.)  Examples include:  Black Museum, Adventures of Scotland Yard, and Tales of the FBI. 
4. Spy/espionage shows. Though many shows included episodes related to spying and espionage, a few shows made this their modus operandi, to include Cloak & Dagger, FBI in Peace and War, and I Was a Communist for the FBI.
5. Adventure dramas.  Many series involved a cast of regular characters getting into adventures, sometimes related to crime or spying but not always.  The main element was adventure - sunken treasure, voodoo curses, foreign spies - and if the writers could figure out a way to involve an exotic setting, so much the better.  Examples include: Bold Venture, Adventures of Rocky Jordan, The Man Called X/Ken Thurston, Adventures of Leonidas Witherall, Escape, Danger Dr. Danfield, Dangerous Assignment, I Love Adventure, Adventures of Frank Race, etc.
6. Suspense dramas.  Other series involved crime and spying but their primary element was danger/suspense, often with a soupcon of the supernatural to thicken the sauce.  Examples include Adventures by Morse, The Shadow, Boris Karloff Presents, Lights Out, Suspense, The Whistler, The Whisperer, Quiet Please, etc.
7. Crime series/anthologies. Many series specialized in crime but featured no particular detective.  The element connecting them would be that they were all by a particular author (ex: Carter Brown Mysteries), or that they all featured great detectives from fiction (ex: Crime Club), or that they all came from tomes in a fictional murder bookstore (ex: Crime Classics).  Other examples of his genre include: I Love a Mystery, Murder Clinic, and Murder by Experts.
8. Detective dramas.  Still others series were what I'd call true "detective shows," featuring a repeating character (usually with one or more sidekicks) whose main occupation is solving crimes: examples include Sherlock Holmes, Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, Candy Madsen, Box 13/Dan Holiday, Mathew Slade PI, Michael Shayne, Philo Vance, Richard Diamond, Rogue's Gallery/Richard Rogue, Casebook of Gregory Hood, Boston Blackie, Adventures of the Falcon, Broadway is My Beat, Let George Do It/George Valentine, and Yours Truly Johnny Dollar.  Having said that, not all of these crimesolvers were PIs, police officers or investigators.  Some detective shows featured photographers (Casey, Crime Photographer), writers (Box 13/Dan Holiday),  and even magicians (Blackstone the Magic Detective)! 

Hope you'll join me as I focus on my personal favorite, detective dramas, in my next few blog entries.

Why I Love Old Radio Shows

I'm a big fan of old radio detective shows and dramatizations from the '40s and '50s.  Here's a list of some of the things that I love about these programs:

1. Convenience.  Unlike TV, you can listen to radio without having to be tied to a TV screen - means you can do manual labor and listen at the same time.  Especially great for walking/jogging, housework, and working out at the gym.
2. Access.  Radio is portable - you can listen to it anywhere with laptop or ipod access.  No laser/flatscreen/HDTV television or cable/fiber/DVR required.
3. Commercials!  Rather than an annoyance, the commercials are actually part of the fun.  I especially love the commercials that are trying to persuade you to buy items that we take for granted now (canned soup vs. homemade soup; disposable glass jars vs. returnable).  And those catchy jingles ...!  ("Rinso white! Rinso white! Your happy little wash-day song!")
4. History Lessons.  Many of the shows include interludes in which the announcers, sponsors or stars interrupt the show in order to discuss the ongoing war effort, bond drives, blood drives, paper drives, rationing, the need for female workers, the dangers of espionage/black markets/spying, etc.  Really makes you appreciate the effort that WWII was not just for the soldiers, but for all Americans.  (Also just how widespread was our fear of communists!)
5. Civics Lessons.  What amazed me when I began listening is the number of commercial announcements given over to overt government propoganda: the advantages of democracy over other forms of government, the importance of state's rights, the history of each state, the roles of various government officials and offices ....  Strange to imagine a time when our government felt it necessary to convince us of the advantages of democracy.
6. Public Service Announcements.  You have to love the announcements aimed at informing us citizens of the perils of fast driving, the necessity of supporting our farmers, and the importance of attending church every Sunday. 
7. Stargazing.  Many of the dramatizations feature Hollywood stars that later went on to become great - it's fun to listen to them "earning their chops" on radio!
8. Catch a Matinee. Many shows - particularly the Lux Radio Hour, Campbell Playhouse, and Academy Award Theater - specialized in adapting the most popular (and still famous) movies into radio dramatizations, often voiced by the same stars that played the roles in the movies.  Some of my favorites include Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Rebecca, It Happened One Night, and The Ghost & Mrs. Muir.  (By the way, if you liked the Bogey/Bacall duo, catch them in Bold Venture, a radio show in which they sailed from port to port in search of adventure.)
9. Too Busy to Read?  Other series like the Hallmark Playhouse and NBC University Theater specialized in adapting the most popular (and still famous) books into radio dramatizations.  If you somehow never got around to plowing your way through such classics as Arrowsmith, The Last of the Mohicans, Of Mice and Men, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Sons and Lovers, Don Quixote, or Treasure Island, trying listening to them in dramatized form - SO much more interesting, and done in 1hr or less!
10. Catch a Play.  Series such as Great Plays specialized in dramatizing the works of Shakespeare, Moliere, Marlowe, O'Neill, Miller, Shaw, Wilde, Williams, and the Greek dramatists.  Let your brain invent the costumes and the sets and you'll never have to worry about budget constraints ... or tiny glasses of wine that cost $14 and have to be consumed in 4 minutes!
11. That Organ Music!  Outside of baseball games and church, organ music has pretty much vanished.  Such a shame, because there's nothing like the swell of organ music to make sure you don't sleep through the exciting parts.  Soooo dramatic!
12. Affordable Fun.  Thanks to sites like The Internet Archive and Old Radio World, you can listen to literally thousands of old radio shows for free, or download them to your ipod/MP3 player for the same low price (that's free, in case you weren't paying attention the first time).
13. I'll Take My Crime Hardboiled, Please.  Enjoy crime the way writers like Hammett and Cain intended it be enjoyed - hardboiled. Many of the shows have a noiry edge (rainy streets, cheating dames), and some episodes are as beautifully written as the classics.  Of course, sometimes they are classics: all the Sherlock Holmes stories were eventually adapted for radio, as were the exploits of other favorite literary detectives to include Hercule Poirot, Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, The Falcon, and Nero Wolfe.
14. Christmas!  Those old radio guys knew how to celebrate the season! Lux Radio Theater dramatized such holiday classics as It's a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street; Campbell's Playhouse snagged the great Lionel Barrymore for their annual production of A Christmas Carol; and every serial had regular Christmas episodes, of course. But I especially enjoy the Christmas broadcasts (often called "Command Performances") intended for the troops serving overseas: it's great to listen to the masters of big band perform, interspersed with comedy by Hope & Crosby, and of course those moral-boosting patriotic messages from a parade of starlets.  Guaranteed to add some white and blue to your Christmas red!

15+ Literary Mashups: What happens when you mash together works of classic literature?

Inspired by the latest trend in fiction, mashing together characters and plots from different genres,  I've tried my hand at mashing together works of classic literature.  I would definitely read some of these!

1. Crime & Prejudice (Crime and Punishment + Pride and Prejudice).  Raskolnikov struggles mightily with guilt over the terrible things he has said about Elizabeth Bennett, but she forgives him after finding out he owns a really big estate in Siberia.
2. Love in the Time of Oedipus the King (Love in the Time of Cholera + Oedipus the King).  In the end you find out Oedipus dreamed the whole thing.
3. The Old Man and Moby Dick (The Old Man and the Sea + Moby Dick).  After 84 days of nothing, Santiago catches a really, really big fish.
4. Gone With The Karazamovs (Gone with the Wind + Brothers Karazamov).  Rhett and Scarlett debate such weighty issues as God, free will, and morality, eventually resolving that in a world without God, everything - to include stealing your sister's beau, seducing your best friend's husband, and dancing with handsome strangers days after the death of your husband - is permitted.
5. The Grapes of Wuthering Heights (Grapes of Wrath + Wuthering Heights).  Two classic tales of great depression in one.
6. The Scarlet Letter of Courage. (The Scarlet Letter + The Red Badge of Courage).  Whether the A stands for Adultery or Ashamed, the ending remains just as unsatisfactory.
7. A Farewell to Lolita (A Farewell to Arms + Lolita).  Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Humbert Humbert makes some bad choices and ends up being carted off to jail for statutory rape.
8. Call of the Mockingbird (Call of the Wild + To Kill A Mockingbird). In which two great literary themes - "you shouldn't kill defenseless things" and "only the strong survive" - finally come together, culminating in an unforgettable final scene in which Boo Radley and his pet wolf lope off into the sunset.
9. A Connecticut Yankee in 1984 (A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court + 1984).  After a blow to the head, Hank Morgan (industrialist extraordinaire) time-travels to 1984 and finds himself right at home, establishing a power-sharing sharing agreement with Big Brother wherein they agree to use technology to inspire fear and obedience in the superstitious masses.
10. Hamlet the Obscure (Hamlet + Jude the Obscure).  Poor Hamlet just wants to be left alone to become a scholar, but his scheming family has other plans.  (Ophelia comes to a bad end in this version too.)
11. The Decline and Fall of Walden (The Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire + Walden Pond).  Walden slips irrevocably into ruin as a result of Thoreau's lethargy towards current affairs brought on by his adoption of Enlightenment as the official state religion.
12. On the Road with Faust (On the Road + Faust).  It's all fun and games until the devil shows up demanding his due. 
13. Gulliver's Odyssey (Gulliver's Travels + The Odyssey).  This one's a natural!
14. Thus Spoke Huckleberry Finn (Thus Spoke Zarathustra + The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn).  In which Mark Twain's eponymous hero shares such gems of Buddhist wisdom as: "What's the use you learning to do right, when it's troublesome to do right and ain't no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same?" 
15.  Waiting for Gatsby (Waiting for Godot + The Great Gatsby).  Everyone keeps partying but nothing ever actually happens.
16. Portrait of the Artist as Frankenstein (Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man + Frankenstein).  The novel traces the intellectual and religio-philosophical awakening of young Frankenstein as he begins to question and rebel against the Catholic conventions in which he has been raised. Eventually he leaves for abroad to pursue his calling as an artist.
17. Tess of Animal Farm (Tess of the D'Urbervilles + Animal Farm).  Pretty much the same plot as Tess of the D'Urbervilles, except all the major characters are represented by animals.  All of the male characters are pigs.
18. Are You There, God? It's Me, Dracula. (Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret + Dracula).  As if being a teen wasn't hard enough.

A Thousand Words: Flower Bower

SOURCE: http://photohito.com/uploads/photo2/user1698/50e8f523e8e30e0fda3bcb7baaeb668c/50e8f523e8e30e0fda3bcb7baaeb668c_l.jpg

9 Theme Restaurants Waiting to Happen

I figure the 1980s was probably the height of the theme restaurant fad, but notice that plenty of novelty restaurants - The Rainforest Cafe, ESPN Zone, Hard Rock Cafe, Outbacks, Medieval Times, Hooters, Planet Hollywood, Mars 2021, etc. - are still doing a roaring business. 

Following are some novelty restaurant ideas that I think would be huge hits.  Anyone have any venture capital just sitting around?

1. Piranhas.  With it's Amazonian decor, indiginous music soundtrack, and menu of exotic dishes (hippo burgers! curried caiman! leafcutter ant salad!), such a restaurant would be an instant hit.  And that's before the restaurant's primary novelty attraction: a big tank of piranhas.  Guests would be encouraged to dump their leftovers into the tank and watch the fish swarm to consume them.  It's the next big thing in recycling!
2. Excaliburgers.  My foray into the fast food business.  Restaurants would have a "Knights of the Round Table" theme, complete with actual round tables, each with one "king" chair, padded in red velvet so as to hide the bloodstains generated by the hundreds of thousands of children that will immediately break out into fistfights over who gets to sit in them.  Want a scabbard of fries with that?
3. Ringside.  My entry into the "sports bar" category.  Watch actual boxing matches from the comfort of your own ringside table, because nothing adds "savory" to food like spattering body fluids.  
4. The Minuteman Diner.  A place for true American patriots to indulge in honest, American food like pizza, tacos, chili, lasagna, fried rice, and more.
5. The Titanic Dining Room.  Everyone else has capitalized on this famous disaster: why not the restaurant industry?  Patrons would be treated to an evening of opulant dining in an exact replica of the Titanic dining room, ordering from menus matching those offered to Titanic guests during their (brief) cruise and listening to music of the era performed by a live orchestra.  To add even more verissimilitude, the sound system will pipe in actual (replicated) transmissions from the Titanic's fateful last day, so patrons can viscerally experience the drama of the event while relaxing over their deliciously chilled iceburg lettuce salads. 
6. Northern Lights.  My foray into the coffee bar category.  The restaurants would be decorated to resemble northern hunting lodges, complete with snowshoes, endangered caribou antlers, cuddly polar bears pelts, and photos of baby seal hunts on the walls. But the real attraction would be overhead, as a laser display replicates the northern lights in all their eerie neon splendor.  Of course, laser displays require smoke upon which to project, so smoking would not merely be encouraged but actually required.  Oh - and all the drinks would be secretly laced with "5 Hour Energy."  I figure the combination of caffeine, nicotine, and 5 Hour Energy boost are sure to guaratee a devoted (and highly addicted) customer base.
7. Hippyland.  Get your '60s on at this theme restaurant featuring groovy decor, an even groovier soundtrack, and a menu featuring such period favorites as Yellow Submarine Tuna Sandwiches, Psychadelic Salmon, and Magic Mushrooms.  All food served on genuine hemp tablewear, because it's recycleable, man.  Go ahead, give peas a chance.
8. Custard's Last Stand.  The next big craze in ice cream (and political correctness) - egg custard served in cake cones shaped like pistol holsters.  The store would specialize in flavors inspired by Native American agriculture - pumpkin custard, sweet potato custard, etc.  Naturally, the decor would include artists' renditions of the fateful battle, because what could be more politically correct than celebrating one the few times Native Americans whooped the asses of their invaders? 
9. Knockers.  Kind of a Hooters knock-off, but the large-breasted waitresses all wear pink outfits to express their support for breast cancer awareness.  Similarly, all the decor is pink, the table service is pink, and much of the food is pink.  Women who have actually suffered from breast cancer receive a complimentary slice of pink cake while the waitstaff gathers around the table to sing (with all the enthusiasm they usually bring to "Happy Birthday") "She's a Pink Warrior."  Hamburgers would be ordered by cup size rather than by weight in ounces ("I'm starving - better bring me a double-D!"), with mini "nippleburgers" available for the kids.   Naturally, 5% of each vastly overpriced meal would be donated to breast cancer charities. Finally, a restaurant with something to appeal to the whole family!

Movies Watched Backwards

Ever wondered what your favorite movie would look like if you watched it backwards?  Here are some of my favorites from a new perspective:

1. Godzilla become a movie about a compassionate monster that emerges from the sea to rebuilds devastated communities, then returns to his watery home until humanity once again requires his services.
2. 10 Little Indians/And Then There Were None becomes a story about a beautiful but desolate island that is gradually overrun by tourists.
3. The Sound of Music becomes a story about a much-abused stepmother who makes the courageous decision to abandon her cold husband and cruel stepchildren in order to pursue her true vocation as a nun
4. Miss Congeniality becomes a story about a former beauty queen who suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as the result of an explosion at a pageant, tragically sinking into despair, bitterness, and slovenliness.
5. King Kong becomes the tale of a large ape who comes to regret his decadent lifestyle in the city and decides to return to a more peaceful existence on a beautiful tropical island.
6. Sleeping Beauty becomes the tale of a prince who tragically kills the woman he loves by kissing her, until and ugly and much maligned witch brings her back to life.
7. Zorro becomes a movie about a man who etches the letter 'N' into a variety of surfaces.  Oh, wait - that's if you watch it sideways.

Greatest Poems About War

Poetry is meant to evoke mood and emotion, which is perhaps why - next to love - so many of the most eloquent poems are about war.  In honor of Memorial Day, I have compiled the following list of some of the most evocative poems about war, and war's aftermath.

1. In Flanders Fields, Lt. Col. John McCrae.  If there's a poem that expresses more succinctly, or more viscerally, the simultaneous tragedy and nobility of war, I've never encountered it.  This poem is responsible for the indelible association of poppies with celebrations of remembrance, and also  responsible for some of the most moving imagery in modern poetry:  Take up our quarrel with the foe:/ To you from failing hands we throw/ The torch; be yours to hold it high./ If ye break faith with us who die/ We shall not sleep, though poppies grow/ In Flanders fields.
2. Battle Hymn of the Republic, Julia Ward Howe.  Since time immemorial soldiers have derived comfort from the conviction that they were fighting on the side of God (or gods, as the case may be).  To my mind, no poem expresses the power and glory of this conviction better that this hymn composed during the American Civil War.  While I love the imagery of I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps, and the glorious conviction of He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:, it's a particular line in the final verse of the hymn that makes me want to actually take up arms and go off to join the fight: As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,/ While God is marching on! 
3. Destruction of Sennacherib, George Gordon Byron.  Heard this for the first time when a college history teacher of mine read it aloud, and the opening couplet - The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,/ And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold; - still has the power to raise goosebumps on my arms.  What a simile! What imagery!  But the poem may be better known for the more sober lines that follow, a reminder of the ghastly cost of war: And there lay the rider distorted and pale,/  With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail:/ And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,/ The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.
4. Charge of the Light Brigade, Alfred, Lord Tennyson.  Theirs not to make reply,/  Theirs not to reason why,/  Theirs but to do and die:/  Into the valley of Death.  Rarely has any poet done a finer job of capturing in verse both the courage and horror of soldiers staltwartly marching into a battle against impossible odds, fully aware that they will not survive.
5. The Soldier, Rupert Brooke.  Though Brooke's "war sonnets," composed in the early years of the first World War, are considered by some to be naively patriotic, that's precisely what I love about them.  Whatever your politics, surely we can all get behind the notion that warriors deserve to believe that they are risking their lives for something that is worth dying for, and no one does it better than Rupert, as the opening lines of this verse attest: If I should die, think only this of me:/ That there's some corner of a foreign field/ That is for ever England.
6. Paul Revere's Ride, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  Next to most of the verses here, Longfellow's contribution must appear a bit simplistic and idealized.  But given that the events retold have themselves become simplified and idealized, you could argue that Longfellow perfectly captures the essence of the famous events leading up to the first battle of the American War for Independence.  That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light,/ The fate of a nation was riding that night;/ And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight,/ Kindled the land into flame with its heat.
7. Dulce et Decorum Est, Wilfred Owen.  Unlike Rupert Brooke, Owen was under no illusions about the glories of the first World War.  This poem, in which he describes the gruesome death of a soldier by poison gas (If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood/ Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs), is as brutally realistic - and horrific - as Brooke's poems are sentimental.  The title, which translates (roughly) as "It is good and right to die for your country," is entirely ironic. 
8. Gunga Din, Rudyard Kipling.  Also from the "realism school of war poetry" comes this tale of a native water boy who gives his life to save a British officer.  Though the poem is perhaps best known for it's final lines (Tho' I've belted you an' flayed you,/  By the livin' Gawd that made you,/ You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!), the poem also stands as a testiment to the courage of all the men who, despite being despised for their race, fought and died alongside the men who disdained them.
9. The Iliad, Homer.  A story so thrilling - and themes so immortal - that two thousand years later it's still as relevant as the day Homer first set the events of the Trojan War to verse.
10. Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln.  Not technically considered a poem, but anyone who's thrilled to the alliteration of four score and seven years ago, or felt their hearts break upon the dolorous vowels of we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground, or felt their pulse quicken at the rising momentum of of the people, by the people, for the people, intuitively comprehends that the 144 words of the Gettysburg Address are poetry at its finest and most effecting.

Inspirational Poems

If you are looking for inspiration, poetry offers more bang for the buck than a Norman Vincent Peale seminar. Just ask Abraham Lincoln, who made glorious use of alliteration, consonance and assonance in his Gettysburg Address ("Four score and seven years ago ..." - don't you love those dolorious oooor sounds offset by the sibilant s's?). Or Martin Luther King Jr., who made history-altering use of repetition ("I have a dream!"). Or Shakespeare's fictional Henry V, whose rousing speech combining repetition and alliteration ("We few, we happy few, we band of brothers ...") coaxed the ridiculously outnumbered and overmatched English forces onto the field at Agincourt.

I once read a book on brain science that would seem to explain our almost primitive emotional response to the repetition of sounds and phrases.  Turns out our brain's ability to recognize such patterns was the foundation upon which we evolved language.  And in its more primitive form, we still celebrate our visceral attraction to patterns of sound, rhythm, and rhyme through our love of poetry, music, and dance.  (What other explanation could there possibly be for the success of Sir Mix-a-lot's Baby Got Back?)

All of which is my way of introducing the notion that when you need a boost of inspiration, confidence, or courage, nothing serves like a few measures of well-crafted verse.  Below are some favorite examples I've collected over the years.  When I need a little motivation, encouragement, or courage to make a change in my life, these are some of the standards that I turn to.

1. The Road Less Travelled, Robert Frost.  Is there anyone in the western world that isn't familiar with this poem?  Well, there's a reason.  There comes a time in everyone's life when we contemplate choosing a "path less travelled" - pursuing a dream, for instance - and this poem feels like a beloved grandfather patting you on the back and telling you: "Go ahead, child: you won't regret it." Pure, uncomplicated reassurance.
2. If, Rudyard Kipling.  You don't have to be a boy to be inspired by this sagacious advice from a father to his son on the subject of how to live a worthwhile life.  This paeon to the virtues of hard work, tolerance, tenacity, modesty, and moral courage reminds us all that what makes us great isn't the things that happen to us, but how we choose to react to the things that happen to us. 
3. Phenomenal Woman, Maya Angelou.  With apologies to all you phenomenal men out there (hey, I included If for you), this celebration of femininity is just the ticket for women who feel insecure about the way they look or interact with the world, reminding us that while beauty may be sexy, confidence is a thousand times sexier.
4. Not In Vain, Emily Dickinson.  For all those people who have laid in bed in the morning looking for a reason to get up, this sweet little verse reminds us that even our smallest actions may have worthy consequences. (Just in case you've somehow missed any of the 1000 showings of It's A Wonderful Life on television over the years.)
5. Be Strong, Maltbie Davenport Babcock.  If you aren't in the mood for Emily Dickinson's coddling, let Ms. Babcock whip you into shape with this fierce and unforgiving call to action.  She isn't going to let you forget that "It matters not how deep entrenched the wrong,/ How hard the battle goes, the day, how long./ Faint not, fight on!"
6. Invictus, William Earnest Henry.  Can't be coincidence that this is also the title of a movie that explores the struggle over apartheid in South Africa.  My head is bloody, but unbowed ... these words from the poem could be written on Nelson Mandela's memorial one day.  But my favorite lines comes later, because there comes a time when all of us need to be reminded: I am the master of my fate:/ I am the captain of my soul.

12 Famous Tragic/ Melodramatic Poems

The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work which exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions.  For this reason, melodramatic poetry tends to be especially beloved by teenagers and women in the throes of bad romantic relationships.  This is somewhat unfair, however, as most of the poems listed below are wholly satisfying as both stories and examples of verse.  Read them and see if you don't agree.

1. The Wreck of the Hesperus, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  This thoroughly melodramatic narrative poem relates the story of a ship wrecked in a storm.  Alas, the skipper of the vessel is too proud to heed the warnings of the Crusty Old Sailor, who sagely advises him to "Put into yonder port/for I fear a hurricane."  Not only does the skipper laugh scornfully, but he decides to take his beautiful young daughter along as well.  (Hubris, anyone?)  Note to skipper: Everyone knows you ignore the advice of Crusty Old Sailors at your peril! 
2. The Highwayman, Alfred Noyes.  You have to appreciate the way-over-the-top pathos of this tale of a lass awaiting the return of her dashing lover who, alas, also happens to be a ruthless highwayman with a price on his head.  (Some women just can't resist the bad boys, can they?)  Every time I read the poem I keep hoping that she's going to shout "Hey, the soldiers are coming to get you!" (or words to that effect) rather than killing herself.  But she never does. 
3. Annabelle Lee, Edgar Allen Poe.  This deservedly famous poem is so romantic and tragic that has been known to reduce whole middle school classes to sniffling tears.  Supposedly a semi-autobiographic account of the untimely death of Poe's own young wife of tuberculosis, the story may draw you in, but it's the gorgeous language (that assonance! that consonance! that alliteration!) that will keep you reaching for the box of tissues.   
4. O Captain! My Captain!, Walt Whitman. Yes, it's that poem from the movie Dead Poet's Society.  More to the point, it's a tribute to Abraham Lincoln penned shortly after his assassination, and it works as an eloquently affecting paeon or homage to anyone who you have admired or looked up to. I dare you to read it aloud and not get at least a little teary. 
5. The Ballad of John Henry, author unknown.  Some say John Henry's a folktale, others argue that the legend stems from the feats of a real man, possibly a slave who worked laying down railroad track in the late 1800s.  Whatever the origin, the basic story is always the same, as is the outcome: John Henry challenges a steam drill to a contest, wins, but dies of exhaustion promptly afterwards, his life cut short by his superhuman effort.  One of a long, long lineage of literary ludditia (think Terminator I, II, III and/or IV) devoted to the contention that technology is soulless and evil. 
6. Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. "Water, water, everywhere/Nor any drop to drink." Before it became a metaphor for pretty much everything, this was one of a great many affecting lines in this tale of ship doomed to slow death.  And in case you weren't paying attention earlier: always heed the advice of Crusty Old Sailors!
7. The Ballad of Reading Gaol, Oscar Wilde.  Oscar Wilde took as his inspiration for this long, georgeously tragic ode the true story of a man who was hanged for the murder of his wife.  Many, many dazzling stanzas, the most famous of which is surely Wilde's haunting lament, repeated several times: "Yet each man kills the thing he loves,/By each let this be heard,/Some do it with a bitter look,/Some with a flattering word,/The coward does it with a kiss,/The brave man with a sword."
8. Lady of Shalott, Alfred, Lord Tennyson. "Out flew the web and floated wide;/The mirror cracked from side to side;/'The curse has come upon me!' cried/The Lady of Shalott."  Making the eponymous Lady of Shallot neither the first nor the last maiden to be lured to her doom by the charms of that chivalric rogue, Sir Lancelot.  (Some men just can't keep it in their fauld, if you know what I mean ....)
9. Charge of the Light Brigade, Alfred Lord Tennyson. If you like your tragedy served up with a side of valor, you can't do better than this ode to the disastrous charge of British cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War: "Theirs not to make reply;/Theirs not reason why;/Theirs but to do or die:/Into the valley of Death."  (It's the "into the valley of Death" part that chokes me up every time.)
10. The Raven, Edgar Allen Poe.  On the other hand, if you like your tragedy served up with a side of creepy, Poe's The Raven is just the ticket, combining a dark and story night, the recent death of the narrator's true love, a perseverating raven, and a meter/rhyme scheme that would make a rap star swoon into one truly eerie tale.  Definitely don't read this one in the dark.
11. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, Gordon Lightfoot.  Doesn't get much more tragic or melodramatic than this true tale of the sinking of the freighter Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior.  By all means read the lyrics, but you'll want to listen to the song that goes with the lyrics to fully appreciate the gleefully unapologetic pathos of the tale.


12. Bonnie Barbara Allen, author unknown. And finally, the grand-daddy of them all, a ballad that for the past 300 years has reminded us to be careful what we say to the people we love, lest they are taken away from us before we have a chance to repent of the cruel things we say.  All the more tragic and melodramatic because it's true.

A Thousand Words: Happiness is a way of travel, not a destination

SOURCE: http://ny-image0.etsy.com/il_430xN.39722240.jpg

Greatest Poems About Love

Does anyone else get overwhelmed by the courtly, hyperbolic nature of most love poetry?  I'm reminded of a scene in Shakespeare in Love, in which Elizabeth I scornfully suggests that no poet can ever capture the "truth and essence" of love.  Have to agree with Liz on that one ... altogether too many so-called "love poems" elevate the beloved to such absurd levels of beauty, virtue, and perfection that the result may make for beautiful verse but bears little relevance to actual people or the actual "truth and essence of love".

Happily, Elizabeth I ends up recanting her skepticism, and the poems listed below have gone a long way towards causing me to recant mine.  This list may not include some of the most famous poetry about love, but it does contain some of the most sincere poetry about love. 

1. My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose, Robert Burns.  I love this poem for its artlessness; you don't have to have an advanced degreee in literature (though an understanding of colloquial Scottish language and spelling is useful) to understand that the narrator intends to be faithful until the seas go dry, until rocks melt in the sun, until the end of time. My heart especially flutters at the part where he vows to come again, "tho' it ware ten thousand mile." It would take a heartless woman indeed not to be moved by so simple yet genuine an appeal.
2. How Do I Love Thee (aka Sonnets from the Portuguese, 43), Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Since the 1800s people have swooned over the romantic story of how sickly, middle-aged Elizabeth Barrett was swept off her feet by the devotion of the dashing, younger Robert Browning.  Perhaps it takes a great love story to produce great love poetry like this glorious verse.  "I love thee with the breath/ smiles, tears of all my life!" Barrett says, and  I can't imagine a sentence that does a better job of expressing the joyful abandon of pledging your heart and life to another soul. 
3. My Mistress's Eyes (aka Sonnet 130), William Shakespeare.  The charm of this timeless sonnet is the way that it dares to mock the inherent hyperbole of "courtly love."  While admitting his lover's eyes are nothing like the sun, that her skin is dun rather than the white of snow, and that her lips bear no resemblence to the rosy red of coral, "... yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare/ As any she belied with false compare."  As novel as it must to be have one's cheeks compared to roses, Will shrewdly divines that true love isn't about flattery, but about understanding. 
4. The Great Lover, Rupert Brooke.  Though the first couple of stanzas of this poem can be a bit dense, they're worth wading through to get to the glorious stanzas in the middle, where Rupert begins to list the things he has loved:  "White plates and cups, clean-gleaming,/ Ringed with blue lines; and feathery, faery dust;/ Wet roofs, beneath the lamp-light; the strong crust/ Of friendly bread; and many-tasting food;/ Rainbows; and the blue bitter smoke of wood;/ And radiant raindrops couching in cool flowers;/ And flowers themselves, that sway through sunny hours,/ Dreaming of moths that drink them under the moon;/ Then, the cool kindliness of sheets, that soon/ Smooth away trouble; and the rough male kiss/ Of blankets; grainy wood; live hair that is/ Shining and free; blue-massing clouds; the keen/ Unpassioned beauty of a great machine;/ The benison of hot water; furs to touch;/ The good smell of old clothes; and other such/ The comfortable smell of friendly fingers,/ Hair's fragrance, and the musty reek that lingers/ About dead leaves and last year's ferns..."  Only a man who possesses a true understanding of love could compose so passionate a list!
5. The Passionate Shepherd to His Love, Christopher Marlowe.  This one used to make me a little self-conscious, because everything to do with shepherds and shepherding has become so irrevocably associated with the silliest sort of pastoral romanticism.  But even Marie Antoinette hasn't been able to entirely stamp out my affection for this wonderfully earnest little poem in which the narrator pleas: "Come live with me and be my love,/ and we will all the pleasures prove ...".  Simply the best marriage proposal ever.
6. Let Me Not to The Marriage of True Minds (aka Sonnet 116), William Shakespeare.  Another entry from the Bard, who must have known a thing or two about love in order to pen these lines about the unwavering nature of true love.  What are our traditional Christian wedding vows ("... for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health," etc.), after all, but a dramatically less elegant paraphrasing of the Bard's immortal sentiment: "...love is not love/ Which alters when it alteration finds"?
7. Annabelle Lee, Edgar Allen Poe.  What Romeo and Juliet is to drama, Annabelle Lee is to poetry ... truly, the "truth and essence of love" distilled, intensified, and dispensed straight from the soul of the poet.  Yes, Edgar does engage in a fair amount of hyperbole ("The angels, not half so happy in heaven,/ Went envying her and me"), but you don't have possess an advanced knowledge the details of the tragic death of Poe's own beloved to appreciate that there's absolutely nothing extravagant or false about the grief that drips from every line of this devastating lament. 

BOY SCOUT TRIVIA

1. President Theodore Roosevelt was the first honorary vice president of BSA
2. First Boys Life magazine was published in 1912
3. First World Jamboree was in 1920
4. Cub Scouting (i.e., boy scouting for younger boys) was started in 1930. The first Cub Scout ranks were Wolf, Bear & Lion. (Lion rank was changed to Webelos rank in 1967.)
5. "Den Mothers" were first authorized to run cub scout dens in 1936. But it wasn't until 1976 that they were allowed to become Cubmasters and Assistant Cubmasters
6. The first Blue & Gold banquet was held in 1943
7. The actual birthday of scouting in the United States is February 8, 1910.
8. "Cub Scouting" was called "Cubbing" before 1945
9. Separate cub books for Wolf, Bear & Lion ranks were first issued in 1930
10. The first official Pinewood Derby was run in 1955
11. National Summertime Award was created in 1964 to encourage year-round Cub Scouting
12. The first Cub Scout promise was "to be square." After 1971, it was changed to "to help other people."
13. Tiger Cub dens were created in 1982 to provide a scouting program for boys 1st graders.
14. The Scouting for Food national Good Turn project was introduced in 1988
15. In Baden Powell's original Scouting for Boys handbook, scouts were divided into Wolf Cubs, Scouts, and Rovers
16. Baden-Powell was in favor of including girls in his scouting program, but was pressured into excluding them by the Victorian Establishment of his time, who were afraid that scouting would "coarsen" young woman.
17. Scouting is now in all but five countries in the world: China, Cuba, Manymar (formerly Burma), North Korea and Turkmenistan
18. In England, Tiger Scouts are known as Beaver Scouts
19. Once boy scouting was established in the United States, it quickly absorbed other organizations for boys such as the Woodcraft Indians, Boy Pioneers, Boy Ranges and Sons of Daniel Boone
20. Norman Rockwell, the man who painted so many wonderful images of boy scouts, was himself a boy scout
21. Since its founding, Cub Scouting has enrolled over 50 million boys

Cub Scout Skit #6: The Three Ghosts of Scouting

THE THREE GHOSTS OF SCOUTING

CAST

• Narrator
• Ben Scrooge. A kid who thinks scouting is dorky; grungy plaid shirt, baseball hat turned backwards
• Adam. Ebeneezer’s friend; also a cub scout; scout uniform
• Ghost of Scouting Past. Scout uniform, old fashioned scout hat, gauze cape
• Ghost of Scouting Present. Scout uniform, Webelos hat, gauze cape
• Ghost of Scouting Future. Scout uniform, tinfoil hat with satellite dish, gauze cape, tinfoil backpack “jet pack”
• Baden-Powell [non-speaking role]. Scout uniform, pith helmet
• Junior Military Officers [non-speaking role]. Scout uniform, cloth military hat
• William Boyce. Overcoat & scarf
• Scout. Scout uniform, old fashioned scout hat

PROPS
Compass
Binoculars

NARRATOR. The skit you are about to witness is called The Three Ghosts of Scouting. The main character is Ben Scrooge, the great-great-great-great-great-great grandson of Ebeneezer Scrooge, who also had what you might call a “ghost problem”. The setting is the Ben’s bedroom, which is a pig pen except for a huge 75” television hanging on one wall.

[BEN enters, looking ticked off. Addresses the audience.]

BEN. This ticks me off! I was just at my friend Adam’s house to ask him to come over and watch America’s Laziest Animal Videos with me, but he says he can’t come over because he’s going to some cub scout meeting this evening! Something called “Join Scouting Night.” I mean, who in their right mind would want to join scouting? First, they have to wear those dorky uniforms. Then they spend all their time earning patches instead of watching television all day like I do. And they march in parades and collect food for people in need … I mean, how lame can you get? I can’t believe he’d rather be in cub scouts than hang out with me!

[GHOST OF ADAM enters]

ADAM [using voice that is sonorous & spooky]. Ebeneezer Scrooge!

BEN. I hate that name!  Hey, Adam, is that you? I thought you were supposed to be your stupid cub scout meeting this evening! What are you doing here?

ADAM. Adam is at his cub scout meeting. I am the ghost of Adam, and I’ve come to talk to you about your attitude towards scouting.

BEN. How can you be a ghost if Ben’s not dead?

ADAM. I have no idea – you’d have to ask the writers. All I know is that I’m supposed to come and warn you that you are about to be haunted by three ghosts. Their purpose will be to teach you about the true purpose and meaning of scouting.

BEN. Do I have to? I mean, I was right in the middle of a really good Gilligan’s Island rerun …

ADAM [in a more normal tone of voice]. Give me a break! Gilligan’s Island will be in reruns forever, but this is a “one night only” offer. So expect the first ghost when the bell tolls 6.

BEN. 6 is bad for me … that’s when America’s Stupidest Home Videos comes on. Can’t we do it at 8? No … that’s when America’s Ugliest Crooks comes on. How about 9?

ADAM. Expect the first ghost when the bell tolls 6!

[GHOST OF ADAM glides offstage.]

BEN. Okay, this sucks. Or maybe I was just imagining the whole thing? I mean, it wouldn’t be the first time I’d had a hallucination after sucking down 3 chili cheese dogs and a Super Big Gulp slurpee at the 7-11. Talk about brain freeze!

[GHOST OF SCOUTING PAST enters from behind.]

GHOST PAST. Ebenezer Scrooge!

BEN. Ack! Wish you guys would stop sneaking up on me like that! And stop calling me Ebeneezer too – my name is Ben, okay? Ben! Who are you supposed to be?

GHOST PAST. I am the Ghost of Scouting Past.

BEN. So much for the slurpee theory. Well, I guess you might as well tell me why you’re here. But if it’s to improve my attitude towards scouting, fat chance. I still think the whole thing’s pointless and dorky.

GHOST PAST. Do you? Well, then … what do you think about that gentleman over there? 

[Points to Baden-Powell, who appears to be instructing several junior military types. Among other things, he points to a compass he is holding & then in different directions, clearly teaching them how to use a compass to navigate. Then he borrows a pair of binoculars, points to something off on the horizon, & hands the glasses to each officer in turn so that they can locate the object too. Pantomime continues as BEN and GHOST OF SCOUTING PAST talk.]

BEN. The one wearing the old fashioned military uniform? Looks like he’s trying to teach that other military guys how to do something.

GHOST PAST. The year is 1907, and that’s General Baden-Powell, an English military general and a big hero in his country. The men with him are military scouts. One of Baden-Powell’s jobs is to train military scouts, but he’s having a hard time of it. He’s discovered that most young boys entering the military don’t seem to have any scouting skills at all.

BEN. What do you mean, scouting skills?

GHOST PAST. Well, in the military, scouts are critical to preserving the safety of their whole unit. They have to be able to locate passable routes and sources of food and water. They need to be able to find the enemy and alert their unit to where they are so that they aren’t ambushed. This means that scouts need to be able to be physically strong, mentally alert, and possess skills such as navigating by compass, building fires, tying knots, and surviving in the wilderness. Without competent scouts, an army can perish.

BEN. Okay – I guess that’s kind of cool. But you’re talking about military scouts, not boy scouts.

GHOST PAST. Funny you should mention that, because an interesting thing happened when General Baden-Powell got back to England. Turns out young boys had found his manual on military scouting and were training themselves to be military scouts! They thought that learning to camp & tie knots & navigate sounded cool too. So Baden-Powell wrote a scout training manual that was more appropriate for boys, and eventually the boys formed themselves into groups and began calling themselves boy scouts.

BEN. No kidding? Boy scouts were originally … like … junior military scouts?

GHOST PAST. No kidding.

BEN. But all this happened in England. Why did boy scouts end up in America?

GHOST PAST. What do you see over there, Ebenezer Scrooge?

BEN. I see an old guy stumbling around like he can’t see where he’s going.

GHOST PAST. The year is now 1910 and that gentleman is William Boyce, an American businessman visiting London on business. Watch as the past unfolds …

[BOYCE enters, waving arms through the air as if he can’t see where he’s going]

BOYCE. Confound this fog! They told me that London fogs could be thick, but this is ridiculous! I have no idea where I am, nor any idea of which way I should be going! We certainly don't have fogs like these back in Chicago, where I come from!

[SCOUT enters, approaches BOYCE.]

SCOUT. Good evening, sir! You seem to be a little lost. Can I help you find your destination?

BOYCE. Goodness me -- what are you? You seem to be a boy, but you’re wearing a military uniform.

SCOUT. I'm a Boy Scout, sir. It would be my privilege to assist you.

BOYCE. Boy Scout, eh? I never heard of such a thing back in America! But I certainly do need some assistance. Tell you what – if you can get me back to my hotel, I’ll give you a dollar.

SCOUT. I’ll be glad to help you sir, but I won’t accept your money. Scouts don’t require any reward for doing good deeds.

BOYCE. Boy scouts … what a great idea! You know, I think I’m going to have to start one of these boy scout organizations as soon as I get back to the United States!

[BOYCE & SCOUT exit.]

GHOST PAST. And that’s exactly what William Boyce did – returned to the United States and founded the Boy Scouts of America. We’ve come a long way since 1910, but today’s scout uniforms are still modeled after military uniforms, and the activities and patches that scouts earn are still geared towards teaching scouting skills like camping, physical fitness, orienteering, how to use tools and administer first aid.

BEN. Okay, okay. I get it. I guess the uniforms and patches aren’t as dorky as I thought. But I still wouldn’t have turned down that guy’s dollar. I mean, that was enough money to buy a soda AND pork rinds!

GHOST PAST [sighing]. Clearly you’re going to need another ghost … I’ve done all I can!

[GHOST PAST glides offstage.]

BEN. Well, I am definitely having a weird night! Maybe Mom’s right – maybe I shouldn’t have watched that 72 hour non-stop Spook-a-Thon on the Horror Channel. Though I have to admit that while I remember seeing ghost dogs, ghost horses, ghost dollhouses, ghost cars, ghost hospitals, ghost witches, ghost pirates, ghost soldiers, ghost zombies, and ghostbusters, I don’t ever remember seeing anything about ghost scouts.

[GHOST OF SCOUTING PRESENT enters from behind.]

GHOST PRESENT [sonorous & spooky]. Ebenezer Scrooge!

BEN. Ack! You guys have GOT to stop doing that to me!

GHOST PRESENT. Scaring you? Sorry, bub, but it’s in our ghost contract that we have to scare people.

BEN. No, I mean you have GOT to stop calling me Ebeneezer! For the last time, I hate that name!

GHOST PRESENT. Fine! Have it your way, Ben. Can we move this along? Busy night, lots of people still to haunt ….

BEN. I know, I know -- you’re here to tell me more about scouting and show me why it’s cool, right?

GHOST PRESENT [sarcastic]. The Ghost of Scouting Past warned me that you had an attitude. Let me ask you a question: what sorts of people do you look up to in your life? Who are your heroes?

BEN. That’s easy. Steven Spielberg, man – he’s a genius! Made those Indiana Jones movies, and then went on to produce Anamaniacs and those American Tale movies, Back to the Future, Men in Black, Jurassic Park … did you see those dinosaurs? I’ve watched every movie and television show he made about 50 times.

GHOST PRESENT. I can believe it. But here’s something I bet you don’t know – Steven Spielberg’s a boy scout.

BEN. No way!

GHOST PRESENT. Way.

BEN. Okay – well, how about Walt Disney? I’ve watched those movies about 50 times too!

GHOST PRESENT. Scout.

BEN. No way! Okay, well, what about my favorite baseball player, Hank Aaron?

GHOST PRESENT. Scout.

BEN. President Bush? President Clinton? President Ford? President Kennedy?

GHOST PRESENT. Scout, scout, scout, scout. You got any more for me?

BEN. Neil Armstrong, the first guy to set foot on the moon?

GHOST PRESENT. Please, that’s an easy one! He explored the most perilous and unknown territory in human history. Of course he started off as a boy scout. In fact, over half of U.S. astronauts started off as boy scouts.

BEN. Well … geez! That’s kind of impressive! All those guys are really boy scouts?

GHOST PRESENT. Darn tootin’.

BEN. Okay – I’m just wondering here … don’t think I’m really interested or anything … but what do scouts actually do at these meetings that they go to?

GHOST PRESENT. Learn scouting skills. Play games. Sing songs. Tell corny jokes. By the way, did you hear the one about the scout who kept spinning around in one place?

BEN. Definitely not.

GHOST PRESENT. He wanted to do a good turn. Get it?

BEN. Guess you weren’t kidding about the corny jokes.

GHOST PRESENT. If you think that’s corny, you should see the skits.

BEN. I guess that sounds kind of fun. Maybe I was wrong about scouting. I suppose I should thank you for dropping by, Ghost of Scouting Present.

GHOST PRESENT. No trouble, I was on my way to Join Scouting Night anyway. See you there?

BEN. I don’t know – I haven’t decided.

[GHOST OF SCOUTING PRESENT glides offstage. GHOST OF SCOUTING FUTURE glides on from behind]

GHOST FUTURE [excited, not spooky]. Ebeneezer Scrooge!

BEN. If one more ghost calls me Ebenezeer Scrooge I swear I’m going pound him!

GHOST FUTURE. You can’t pound ghosts, you doofus. We’re transparent. Anyway, I’m Ghost of …

BEN. … Scouting Future. Yeah, yeah, I know. Well? What have you got for me? Not long ago I though scouting was lame, but since then I’ve learned a lot of interesting stuff about it. I suppose you’re going to show me something that’s going to change my mind for good?

GHOST FUTURE. Are you kidding? I’m way too busy to sit around and argue with a stiff like you! Come on, we’ll be late!

BEN. Late for what?

GHOST FUTURE. Jet packing, of course! Today our troop’s off to the beach to jet pack across the ocean and camp on the most recently formed Hawaiian island. There’s about 200 of them now, you know.

BEN. Jet packs?

GHOST FUTURE. No – Hawaiian islands! Are you coming, or are you going to spend the rest of your life watching television?

[GHOST FUTURE races offstage. Ben looks towards audience.]

BEN. I give up – that has to be about the coolest thing I ever heard of! Scouting is awesome! Wait for me!

[ADAM reappears, catching BEN’s attention before he can race offstage.]

BEN. Adam, is that you? Or is it just the ghost of you?

[Pokes Adam to determine if he’s solid. Adam, indignant, shoves him in return.]

ADAM. Stop poking me! What are you talking about? Of course it’s me.

BEN. Shoot! Does that mean that Join Scouting Night is over?

ADAM. No, it’s still going on. I’m just taking a walk while they talk to the parents.

BEN. You’ve got to take me to Join Scouting Night! I want to be a cub scout too!

ADAM. Are you sure? I thought you thought scouting was kind of dorky.

BEN. Turns out I was way wrong. Sorry about that.

ADAM. Okay then, if you’re sure. Let’s go ….!


NARRATOR. I hope everyone in this room now has a clearer understanding of where scouting has come from, and how far it's come over the past 94 years. This Blue & Gold Banquet celebrates the 94th birthday of scouting. In other words, it’s been 94 years since William Boyce started the Boy Scouts of America. So when I say go, let's all yell "Happy Birthday Scouting!