Paternal grandfather McKinley Green, “Pop”

Though married to my grandmother Agatha (Walker) c. 1932, McKinley Green was NOT living with her or my father in 1940,.

mckinley greenSome months ago, this fellow named Jack, who worked with my paternal grandfather, sent me something on Facebook:

Roger, I have an old Binghamton [NY] Sun Newspaper dated May 23, 1959 that has a story about WNBF-TV-AM-FM and their move to the Sheraton Inn. They show pictures of the staff and a brief story about each. Here’s one on your Grandfather, Mac.

“McKinley Green, Maintenance – A World War I veteran, McKinley hails from Bloomsburg, Pa., and now lives at (yes, they actually posted his home address) He has a 32 year old son who is a World War II veteran. McKinley is a member of the WNBF Employees Club and of the Elks. His Wife belongs to the Order of the Eastern Star.

Thanks, Jack. I’ve not done as much searching on Pop, which is what we always called him, than I did with other branches of my family.

Some of what I found in a quick Ancestry.com search.

Military registration card:
Name: McKinley Green
Address: Bloomsburg, Penna.
Date of birth: Nov. 2, 1895
What’s your present trade: laborer
By whom employed: Tide Water Pipe Co
Married or single: Single
Race: colored
He was tall, medium build with brown eyes and black hair, according to the document of 6/2/17 (2 June 1917)

I never knew his birth date, and he never wanted to celebrate his natal anniversary.

Yet the 1910 US Census tells a slightly different story:
Name: Mckinley Green
Age in 1910: 14
Birth Year: abt 1896
Birthplace: Pennsylvania
Home in 1910: Bloomsburg Ward 3, Columbia, Pennsylvania
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Relation to Head of House: Son (Child)
Marital Status: Single
Father’s name: John Green
Father’s Birthplace: Maryland
Mother’s Birthplace: Maryland
Household Members:
Name Age
John Green 47
Mckinley Green 14
Dewey Green 9
Wilbur Green 7

I wonder what happened with his mother?

And the 1940 Census tells another variation:
Name: Mckinley Green
Age: 43
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1897
Gender: Male
Race: White
Birthplace: Pennsylvania
Marital Status: Married
Relation to Head of House: Lodger
Home in 1940: Binghamton, Broome, New York
Inferred Residence in 1935: Binghamton, Broome, New York
Residence in 1935: Same Place
Resident on farm in 1935: No
Sheet Number: 81A
Occupation: Laborer
Attended School or College: No
Highest Grade Completed: Elementary school, 6th grade
Hours Worked Week Prior to Census: 40
Class of Worker: Wage or salary worker in private work
Weeks Worked in 1939: 52
Income: 508
Income Other Sources: No

They got the race wrong, and the year is fuzzy, but this was my grandfather. Though married to my grandmother Agatha (Walker) c. 1932, he was NOT living with her or my future father, Leslie, in 1940, but in a lodging house with about 45 other people. Agatha and Les were residing with HER parents, as they were in 1930.

By the end of 1953, Mac and Agatha were living upstairs at 5 Gaines Street, Binghamton, NY, while I, with my father and my pregnant mother, were living downstairs.

The more I know, the less I understand…

Q is for queen playing: Helen Mirren

The Audience was not the first time Helen Mirren has played QEII

Helen-Mirren-The-Audience-on-Broadway-largeOur local cinema of choice, The Spectrum, did something different for them; they showed a series of recorded plays from National Theatre Live!, the “groundbreaking project to broadcast the best of British theatre live from the London stage to cinemas across the UK and around the world.”

It IS essentially a filmed play, but because of the camerawork, and perhaps the unseen audience, it felt more like being AT a play than merely watching one on screen. “National Theatre Live launched in June 2009 with a broadcast of the… production of Phèdre with Helen Mirren.”

My first NTL experience was seeing Helen Mirren playing Queen Elizabeth II in The Audience, a role for which she would eventually gain her first Tony award for the Broadway adaptation. Indeed, The Wife and I saw this production shortly after the Tony win, in early July 2015.

Why else did this theater magic work? The “butler” in the play announced certain information, like a fire marshal might before the play. There were costume changes just off-stage. There was an intermission, during which we learned about the various costumes.

Perhaps my favorite part was at the end, listening to Helen Mirren being interviewed by director Stephen Daldry, recorded during her run of the American production in 2015. We learn that while the play is mostly the same when it comes to her meeting with most of the Prime Ministers, the writers kept putting in current references when the current PM, David Cameron, has his audience with the Queen. She also shared a tale about a time when Bill and Hillary Clinton were present, and she, teasingly, really directed a snarky line about the US Presidency right at the 42nd occupant.

Of course, The Audience was not the first time Helen Mirren has played QEII. She won an Oscar for playing the title role in the 2006 movie, The Queen. She has also played the title character in the TV miniseries Elizabeth I (2005); The Queen (voice) in The Prince of Egypt (1998); The Snow Queen (voice) in The Snow Queen (1995); and Queen Charlotte in The Madness of King George (1994). Coincidentally, she was born at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital in West London in 1945.

abc 17 (1)
ABC Wednesday – Round 17

October rambling #2: absquatulate

I have a stuffed lion with a wild mane which I named Lenny.

librarian.skeleton
The office move is mostly complete, but the inner offices are chaos. The recovery goes well, so now I’m trying to catch up on everything that got put on hold.

How Propaganda Works.

The Rise and Impact of Digital Amnesia.

Re: Hassan v. City of New York lawsuit against the NYPD over its surveillance program targeting Muslims. Plus the dreadful Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Greenland Is Melting Away.

MIT Technology Review: Why Self-Driving Cars Must Be Programmed to Kill.

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci

There are No Innocent Black People.

Buck Rogers and the Copyright Trolls.

Plus The Orwell estate is cracking down on people who dare to use the number “1984” without permission.

Pope Francis has NOT endorsed Bernie Sanders for President.

The 1,657 TV shows that spent less time on the air than the Hillary Clinton Benghazi hearing.

Pastor, former Arkansas governor, and current Republican candidate Mike Huckabee Suggests Poor People Should Be Sold Into Slavery For Stealing.

The Atlantic has a LOT of interesting videos on various topics, among them ‘Don’t Sneak’: A Father’s Command to His Gay Son in the 1950s.

Say “no” more often. You’ll be happier and healthier.

6 Phrases With Surprisingly Racist Origins.

Jim Crow-Era Travel Guides for Black Families Now Online Through Schomburg. Hey, I wrote about this.

Arthur does some Internet Wading: Truth and facts. I almost picked items 2 and 3 myself for this feature in my blog.

There’s an online petition to Congress to end Daylight Saving Time, which I signed, because DST makes no sense.

Happy 600th Anniversary of The Battle of Agincourt.

Cole slaw killed Ogden Nash.

I still need to see more films with Maureen O’Hara, the lovely actress who died recently at the age of 95.

Albany basketball legend Luther “Ticky” Burden died.

Marty Ingels, R.I.P. I watched I’m Dickens, He’s Fenster the year it was on. And Al Molinaro died, who I watched on The Odd Couple and Happy Days.

‘First Lady of Jazz,’ Lee Shaw, dies at 89. I talked with her a couple times during breaks in her sets. She was a wonderfully gracious, and an amazingly talented musician.

This month marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the passing of Leonard Bernstein. True: I have a stuffed lion with a wild mane which I named Lenny, in honor of the composer and conductor.

The Beatles “Revolution” Original Video, Remastered, New Audio Mix. My FAVORITE iteration of this song. Also, A Day In The Life.

LISTEN NOW, before it disappears. First Listen: Bob Dylan, ‘The Cutting Edge 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series Vol. 12’.

There’s a reason so many people love ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow.’

K-Chuck Radio: The Rocshire Memories. Featuring a song by Eddie Munster.

The three times Nasreddin was called upon to speak in public.

The word absquatulate came out of an odd fad in America in the 1830s for making playful words that sounded vaguely Latin. My spell checker recognizes it, too, Dan!

Now I Know: The Epidemic That Saved Lives and Winnie the Pooh-Poohed and Cattaxtrophy.

Advice From the Creator of Calvin and Hobbes; Comic by Zen Pencils. Words by Bill Watterson, art by Gavin Aung Than.

About comic book inking.

Ken Levine mentions Oscar Levant, confuses readers, comes up with a list of some people you might want to know.

Bob and Ray, and Dave Garroway, plugging the new show called TODAY.
hymns
GOOGLE ALERT (me)

The TWCQT gang reflects on which penciler/inker teams have had the most impact on them.

Alan David Doane Remembering His Mom on Her 90th Birthday.

GOOGLE ALERT (not me)

Would-be Bond: The naked truth. “Enter New Zealander Roger Green – ex-All Blacks rugby union player, ex-sheep farmer, and party animal.”

Colonial Heights (VA) mourns loss of Roger Green of the Chamber of Commerce. “Green had been battling Urachal cancer, a rare form of bladder cancer, for several months. He was 64 years old.”

Halloween 2015

There’s only one thing you’ve never done but are guaranteed to do.

scary
From JEOPARDY! Show #7149 – Thursday, October 15, 2015. HALLOWEEN COSTUME IDEAS
*Dye some gauze in black tea for an aged look & wrap yourself up as this guy whom Abbott & Costello met in a 1955 film
*Why not dress up as this Barrie character, the boy who would not grow up
*Roll up the sleeves of a blue denim workshirt, put a red bandana in your hair & you can be this feminist WWII icon
*A costume for 2: this double-crossing pair from Mad magazine, one in black & one in white, created by Antonio Prohias
*If the guys are gangsters, wear fringed dresses & be these ’20s gals found in a Fitzgerald title

Answers below
octopus pie
Arthur’s Halloween stuff, some crossover with Stuff you may not have known about Halloween.

JibJab Halloween cards.

Some seasonal GIFs

Pumpkin recipes.

Zombie pancake.

Vegan Halloween Candy List.

Calvin and Hobbes’ tips for trick-or-treating.

minion.halloween
You should just read about 90% of the October posts from SamuraiFrog.

Halloween, by the numbers. For you Census geeks.

Jaquandor’s musical Something for Thursday (Halloween edition).

Steve Bissette: How To Design The Perfect Horror Cover.

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe – Read by Christopher Walken.

5 Great Outdoor Halloween Ideas.

There’s only one thing you’ve never done but are guaranteed to do.

pumpkin.scary
JEOPARDY! responses
The Mummy
Peter Pan
Rosie the Riveter
Spy vs. Spy
Flappers

Music Throwback Saturday: Sweet Inspiration

The song Sweet Inspiration was the biggest hit for the group The Sweet Inspirations.

Sweet_Inspirations“The Sweet Inspirations were an American R&B girl group founded by Emily “Cissy” Houston (née Drinkard), mother of Whitney Houston, and sister of Lee Warrick (herself the mother of well-known sisters Dee Dee and Dionne Warwick).

“The group sang backup for many stars, including Solomon Burke, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, and Esther Phillips… [They] provided the backup vocals for Van Morrison on his classic hit ‘Brown Eyed Girl’…In 1967, the group did backing vocals for the Jimi Hendrix single “Burning of the Midnight Lamp” which was later featured on the album Electric Ladyland in 1968. They also backed Dusty Springfield on her album Dusty in Memphis.

“In 1969… The Sweet Inspirations also began recording and touring with Elvis Presley as both background singers and his warm-up act, as well as doing occasional ‘live’ dates with Aretha Franklin.”

In the midst of this work for others, the group managed to put out some albums in their own right. The song Sweet Inspiration was the biggest hit for the group, going to #18 on the pop charts and #5 on the soul charts.

Cissy Houston left the group in 1969, but various iterations of the group are still performing.

LISTEN to Sweet Inspiration by the Sweet Inspirations, and by the New Zealand group The Yandell Sisters.

Ramblin' with Roger
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