Jan 26, 2011: Geographically, the state of Israel is a little island within a sea of Arab influence and that Arab influence filters through into the music of Israeli dance. Arab originated music is regularly played during sessions either in its original form or rerecorded by Israeli artists (and vice versa, no doubt). So, as dancers await the next dance session of Jan 27, 2011, we should indicate significant events occurring throughout the Arab world starting on Dec 18th, 2010 which no doubt will ultimately affect even the very insular aspects of Israeli dance music.
The beginning of the Arab Spring starts out as an attempt to democratize and liberalize the political processes in that part of the world. The beginning demonstrations start in December, 2010 in Tunisia and it would turn out that Tunisia, of all the countries affected, would have the best results. Varied reasons - such as French colonial practices while that country held sway in Tunis - have been indicated as to why this country prevailed. However, except for Tunisia, most observers see these attempts of change to have ultimately failed throughout the region. One country which certainly has not been bettered by the Arab Spring movement would have its first demonstrations on Jan 26th, 2011
The Assad family had for many years ruled over Syria. Starting with Ali Sulayman al-Assad, a leader of the Alawites - a Shiite minority within the country - the Assad family has held power in post WWII Syria. No doubt resentment over this had been building over the years and it exploded in Damascas during this January day. As opposed to Tunisia's leaders, Ali Sulayman's grandson Bashar al-Assad was not at all accomodating to the wishes of the protestors. His cruel use of force split the country into armed camps and opened the country to what we now call Islamic terrorism in the guise of Isis. All of this starts on this day, January 26, 2011, in Damascas, Syria.
Jan 30, 2011: Inevitably, any year brings the deaths of many famous people. Sometimes the death rings a bell, other times it passes with little notice. Probably most Israeli dancers would not take notice of this death but there is one local dancer who probably felt a loss of both the talent and the remembrance of times past. John Barry Prendergast dies on Jan 30, 2011. This is not the name that is signalled around the world. Most know him as John Barry, he of the music of many of the early James Bond movies. Prendergast is the son of a family that ran several early movie houses in England and he gets his start in music by playing the organ during, or perhaps before, the featured movie. He becomes a master musician in the piano and trumpet and besides this organ playing, he specializes in jazz music which is popular when he is in his teens. He continues his music study in the British army and creates a jazz band after being discharged, the John Barry Seven - by this point he has dropped his last name - that gains some fame and recognition during the late 1950's. He regularly appears on the BBC and slowly begins to write music for various movies most notably "The L shaped room". When Monty Norman has difficulty in creating a theme for the first James Bond movie, Dr No, Barry steps in to recompose (although he would indicate that this was his creation) Norman's music. This iconic theme is without doubt among the top five most recognizable pieces of music ever written. After the composition of several Bond music themes, Barry becomes a leading movie composer for many of the popular movies of the 70's through the 90's.
Other deaths during the year include Elizabeth Taylor, Amy Winehouse, Christipher Hitchins and Steve Jobs and this is a very incomplete list. But, one death, indicated somewhat below, is looked at as the seminal event of the year as will be reported below.
Feb 6, 2011: It seems as if sports fans break down into two competing camps: Green Bay Packer pros and cons; Put us into the pro column. The Packers and the Bears are the two relics of the American Professional football association which was one of the forerunners of the NFL starting in the the 1920's. The Packers even precede this as they were started in 1919 under the sponsorship of the Indian Packing company of Green Bay - You can see how this origin would lead to the nickname of the Packers - and played an independent schedule until entering the APFA. The Indian packing company by this point had been bought by Acme packing and for a short duration Acme was the organizer and supporter of the team. After a year or two, it is said that Acme wanted to end this relationship and the team became a publically owned enterprise where many of the then residents of Green Bay became stock holders and these stock holdings have been passed down by these families through the years. Like all teams, they have their ups and downs but Green Bay holds the record for having 13 championships, 4 as Superbowls and another 9 before the NFL combined with the AFL.
In the 1960's Green Bay dominated football through the aegis of their coach Vince Lombardi. Championships were so frequent that the city was nicknamed Titletown. Lombardi's teams would be in 6 championship games losing only in 1960 to the Philadelphia Eagles. There are several local dancers who remember that game very vividly - the picture of Chuck Bednarik tackling and immobilizing a fallen Jim Taylor as time ran out will forever be an image to remember - and it is the last time that the Eagles were league champions.
The Packers are a team with a history of great players but they equally known for their great coaches. One of the founders of the team in 1919 was Curly Lambeau who early on was the effective team president while also functioning as coach and player. In the late 50's, 60's the aforementioned Vince Lombardi became an icon in American culture. Mike McCarthy is the present coach of the team and in the 2010-2011 season led the team to the championship of the National conference. Feb 6, 2011 would see the Packers beat the American conference champions Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25 to take the football crown with their quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, being named the game MVP.
Since many local dancers are not native to the United States, football to them is an acquired passion. But, native Americans generally are very interested. The game of Feb 6th was at night and would conflict with Don's Sunday night session so we suppose that attendance was down but we wouldn't know: we were at a Super Bowl party cheering on the Packers.
March 23, 2011: This country holds elections for President every four years including 2012. Go through our history and you will notice that originally the design was that electors nominated by the powers that be of each state - the entire set of electors was called the Electoral college - would decide this process. This was at a time when Senators were appointed by the Governors of each state. Eventually Senators joined Representatives in standing for election by popular vote. But the Electoral college remains except at this point the electors of each state are nominated by the winner of the popular vote for each candidate. Over the years the process of setting up what is now in essence 50 separate elections has been extended. Examples of this abound: It is said that Abraham Lincoln was not considered as a presidential candidate until giving a major speech on Feb 27, 1860. When Franklin Roosevelt announced his frst run for President he did so on January 23, 1932. 28 years later John Kennedy announces his presidential campaign on Jan 2, 1960. By time we get to 2008, Barack Obama announces his intention to run for the presidency on Feb 10, 2007. Notice the 2007, fully a year and a half ahead of the Election.
So, it should be no surprise that 2011 was a year for various Republican announcements to such effect. We note March 23, 2011 as this is the date that Fred S. Karger, a California republican activist, announces his intention to run for the Republican nomination for President in 2012. Karger, being a gay activist and advocate, didn't really have much of a chance but he would be in the lead of an eventual 11 candidates who competed on the national level. Note: There were many more who participated in one or two state primaries but we're not counting them.
Throughout the rest of the year we would see the likes of Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, Herman Cain and Rick Santorum take temporary leads in polls and primary election results only to be superceded by Milt Romney who had previously been a governor of Massachusetts. In spite of the Romney campaign's hopes due to dubious polling, Romney lost rather substantially to the incumbent, Barack Obama, in Nov 2012
April 29, 2011: In one way this is the typical story of Boy meets Girl, Girl and Boy find each other attractive, Girl becomes very willing and hoping but Boy has other things to do and, finally, Girl manages to win Boy back by enticing him. The atypical part of this is that the Boy is third in line for the English Crown and his mother is the late Princess Diana. April 29, 2011 marks the couples marriage in a relatively small event involving an entire country and watched by the entire world.
Kate Middleton and Prince William meet in college and are attracted to each other and why not. She's attractive and a go-getter as are her parents who had started a small business which eventually became very successful. He is the Grandson of the present Queen of England and the son of the King in Waiting, Prince Charles. His parents wedding was also a television event for all the world to see in July 1981. However, by 2007 William is pursuing a military career and also pursuing other women. Kate responds by dating other young military officers. Possible because of jealousy, William rethinks his position and he and Kate reconcile. As both progress through their twenties, it's clear that a royal wedding is on the horizon.
Friday, April 29, 2011 the wedding occurs for all to see. England goes wild in a frenzy of monarchy fever. This spreads to many countries including the US which means that there will be many viewers (generally female) who will stay up on Thursday night watching the ceremonies.
We are pleased to report that the marriage has remained stable and seems an icon to marital bliss. While William still awaits an occupancy to the throne, he and Kate are the proud parents of a little boy and girl.
May 1, 2011: The May 1st Sunday session was held at the Klein JCC as usual. Most of the attendees dance unaware of the rumors spreading in Washington. No doubt, if Don was aware of the rumors, that session's repertoire would have been more celebratory. He, and the other dancers, would only find out what was happening as they left late in the evening. Halfway around the world the most hated man in the US - perhaps the world - had come to a fitting end.
How does one become the most hated individual in the United States. It must be a horrendous act committed to be in this position. This act must intrude into the American Psyche for this to occur. This is, after all, a large country and many negative, perhaps evil, events occur throughout the country every day. How and why could this type of focus be directed on one man?
Well, in this case, go back to Mohammed Bin Laden who runs a construction company in Saudi Arabia. It is estimated that his construction company is worth billions with some estimates indicating a total net worth of 30 billion dollars. Bin Laden takes full advantage of Islam's allowance of multiple marriages and his tenth wife produces a son from their union. Mohammed and this wife eventually divorce and the wife and child go to live with one of Bin Laden's associates. Several other children are born into this new union and the son grows up in a family of multiple half siblings. When Mohammed Bin Laden leaves his estate, the boy inherits millions and uses this to fund a lifestyle which includes college.
On Christmas day 1979, the USSR decides to invade and take-over the country of Afghanistan which abuts the southern soviet border. This is not going to be as easy a process as the Soviets expect as a call goes out to the entire Moslem world to supply fighters against this invasion. One such resistance fighter is the son in question, Osama Bin Laden. He shows a remarkable ability to manage the disparate forces that make up the resistance. His Bin Laden name facilitates his ability to get funding and support from western sources including the CIA. Of course his wealth also allows him to self fund some of the resistance activities he's involved with.
Although it will take ten years, the Soviets are expelled from Afghanistan. Bin Laden, now matured beyond his years, returns to Saudi Arabia. But a new threat is raised - the Iraqi (Sadden Hussein) invasion of Kuwait which threatens the Saudi regime. The Saudi response is to invite western armed forces, including the US, into the country as Saudi Arabia provides a base for a counterattack. Osama Bin Laden feels that this non moslem presence in Arabia violates some rules governing Islamic practices and through his father's contacts forcefully mentions this to Saudi officials. Their response is to expel him, in essence, and he returns to Afghanistan where he uses his own money and organizational experience, while also securing the services of several of his compatriots in the Afghan resistance, to create Al Qaeda which will become the world's leading Terrorist organization. It is interesting to note that apparently Al Qaeda is translated as "our base" making this similar to the mafia usage of "Cosa Noestra" - our thing - to describe their activities.
On September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda achieves a singular success, one played out on TV throughout this country and the world. The damage and the loss is inconceivable and places this attack on the scale of Pearl Harbor some sixty years before. But, the US responds and long before this date in 2011 Bin Laden has lost his base of support in Afghanistan. He is figuratively not on the run. It turns out that he is confined to a mansion in Islamabad, a city in Pakistan. Satellite photos indicate a tall man living within these confines who limits himself to evening walks between and within the buildings of the estate. Other information points to this location being Bin Laden's hideout. Early on May 2nd Pakistani time (Early afternoon of May 1st on the US East coast) the US strikes back and the result is Bin Laden's death. His burial is at sea to preclude any terrorist memorial site from developing. Retribution, promised after the 9/11 attack, has finally been exacted. Obama makes the announcement on Sunday night as crowds gather in New York and Washington celebrating. No doubt this sentiment is shared by all of the Israeli dancers at the May 1st session that night.
June 24,2011: The Second Continental Congress was organized to begin meeting on May 10, 1775. Philadephia was a natural meeting place as Pennsylvania was situated in the middle of the original 13 colonies. Events were already moving toward armed rebellion against England who at that time ruled the original 13 colonies. During July, 1775 (note 1775 and not 1776) this Continental Congress became almost the de facto political leader in the movement towards independence. In that month this Congress started to plan and implement the Continental army and secure its funding. Efforts for the rest of 1775 took two tracks: One attempting to speak as one voice and compromise with the British, the other making contacts with other countries generally in Europe if independence proved to be the only course. In early 1776 this Congress asked the individual colonies to create or reset legitimate state governments so that all the colonies could be aptly represented in Philadelphia. By June 1776 a list of grievances against British rule was developed and by the beginning of July 1776 (July 2nd) a document was created which we know today to be the Declaration of Independence. July 4th sees the public printing of the document in a Philadelphia printing shop. After the printing, copies of the document were sent to the various colonies and locations up and down the then exising British ruled areas along the Eastern seaboard of what would become the United States. It is said that on July 6 the declaration was first published in a newspaper and the first public reading, by public cryer, of the document probably occurred in Philadelphia on July 8th. It would seem that later on one could pick many dates between May 10, 1775 and July 8th, 1776 as a date celebrating independence but our forefathers picked the day of the actual printing, July 4th, as the day to celebrate. 2011 would mark the 235th anniversary of that date.
In Philadelphia Independence day is taken seriously and the city closes the Ben Franklin parkway to provide the location for celebrating the colonial events all those many years ago. In 2011, the city designated June 24th through July 4th to hold various celebrations.
On Monday, July 4th, the city held the annual Party on the Parkway which includes ear shattering fireworks and a big concert. The stars of this concert are known for their musical presence in Philadelphia but nationally are known through late night TV. Jimmy Fallon at the time was host of the Late Show on NBC starting at 12:35 Eastern time although subsequently he has been promoted to the Tonight show which starts at 11:35. His band, the Roots, is from and resides in Philadelphia making it up as commuters to New York to accompany Fallon on his show. The Roots were the featured performers on the Parkway is night, July 4th, 2011, as Philadelphia celebrated another anniversary of the printing of the Declaration of Independence.
July 8, 2011: On January 31, 1958 the US entered the space race against the USSR with the successful launch of Explorer 1. This was 4 months or so after the USSR had started the race with the launch of Sputnik in October, 1957. Until about 1965 (perhaps 1966) the US remained behind the Soviets in this exploration of space. It was clear as early as 1958 that this would eventually extend to manned flight and in 1959 Nasa announced and introduced Astronaut group 1 which we know informally as the Mercury 7 astronauts. US manned space flight starts with the sub orbital trip by Alan Shepard on May 5, 1961. Nine months later, on Feb 20, 1962, the US launched John Glenn into orbit. The Mercury program would end mid 1963 after 6 successful launches with the last extending 34 hours and inaugurating 24/7 TV coverage for that day. Bolstered by a new Astronaut class of 9 test pilots, the Gemini program starts mid 1964 and by 1965 a regular schedule of manned launches are occurring. Gemini, as opposed to Mercury, had two astronauts in the capsule. In a two year span 12 Gemini launches occur and by the end of this program, given that the launches are practicing rendevous and docking procedures, the US has now caught up, some would say surpassed, the Soviet space program. And, by the end of the Gemini program, various astronaut classes have been picked adding to the program's manpower.
Even as the last Gemini flight is scheduled, the US lauches the Apollo program designed to launch three astronauts at a time. This program is more than just the creation of a capsule. The booster rocket is the massive Saturn V which is probably still the most powerful rocket ever created. The Saturn V is made up of five Saturn I's and the Saturn Is are initially used for second stage rocket support.
This will be a program of great accomplishment and great grief. Early-on a malfunction occurs during a static test of the capsule and three astronauts perish in the flames. This causes a nine month delay in the program. By the end of the program, somewhat frequent and common space flight to the moon had been accomplished with the first moon landing being on July 20th, 1969 by Apollo 11. The last moon flight, Apollo 17, occurred in December 1972.
Having beaten the Soviets substantially in this race, the US is at a quandary as to what to preceed with as Apollo ends. The NASA agency has ample manpower to pursue what it wants given budgetary constraints. An interim program is conceived designated, aptly, as Skylab. Using an empty Saturn I booster, 3 groups of astronauts use the Saturn I as a lab to conduct experiments in space with 3 month or longer missions. By early 1974 Skylab is done.
Starting April 1981, Nasa launches the space shuttle program. Launched as a rocket but recovered and landed like a glider, the space shuttle would be the main US program for the next 30 years. There were 6 shuttles in all used in this program. One only was for testing reentry leaving 5 shuttles for missions. Two shuttles were destroyed over the years: Challenger in 1987 and Columbia in 2003 and the Space Shuttle program had 3 operational shuttles when this program was ended. While the shuttle program was active an additional space program was started: The International Space station which was and is populated by astronauts from all over the world. After a while the shuttle's main mission was to resupply the ISS. However, on July 8th, 2011, is the last space shuttle mission and fittlingly it is to resupply the ISS. The shuttle program ended with this flight and the shuttles can be seen around the country today as Nasa has donated these vehicles to various museums.
July 31, 2011: Although one would think otherwise, it's rare that the US Government ends the fiscal year in the black. The individual states don't have this option but the US government and its bonds supporting its debt are major factors in the global bond market. The last time that the US government was able to decrease debt was in the late 1990's when the Government ran surpluses to the point that issuance of 30 year bonds was suspended for a while. Then came the Bush administration! The US debt went from 5 Trillion to 10 trillion during the two George Bush administrations. Having left the economy in shambles additional debt had to be created to keep the US economy from going into a depression and during the period 2008/2009 multiple stimulus packages were initiated further increasing debt.
Debt was never envisioned in the constitution and the practice of creating debt limits on the fly - in this case by consent of Congress to increase the debt limit - became the norm. Understand that the debt is in essence created when Congree passes a budget or legislates a program. Putting the program is action first and then worrying about legitimizing the deficit spending would seem backwards but that's what has become the norm in the US government. And on Sunday, July 31st, 2011, another debt limit extension is needed or technically the US is in default. This time though there is congressional opposition to authorizing this. Interestingly enough, the same politicians who had no problem in authorizing the spending during the Bush administration are the same politicians who question this debt limit extension. Although a very contrived agreement is eventually reached, it is not without some pain as the US technically defaults and its Bond rating is lowered. As a result the first week of August, 2011 sees the Dow Jones Industrial average plunge wiping out the gains accumulated year to date. On one session that week the market loses over 5% of its value. Although the market would recover these losses by the end of October, the market roller coaster ride would unsettle many an investor.
August 23, 2011: The east coast of the United States is not the west coast in many, many ways. Let's just deal with geography on this one. Essentially the country is flat as you move west except for what we call the Allegheny mountains. These mountains are relatively small compared with the Tetons and Rockies that you encounter at Denver and beyond. Geologists would tell you that this means the East is less suscepable to Earthquakes (and intensity of such) than what you would experience out west. Our earth is made up of plates and these plate move. As plates collide with force onto other plates the results are mountain ranges: The higher, the more intense the pressure exerted by one plate onto another. If you want to determine which area of the world experiences the most intense quakes look to the average heights of the mountains nearest the point of plate contacts.
This is all very well and good in theory but when a quake hits, the question is more of how to escape the shaking than of what was the probability that such a quake could happen. On the east coast, and throughout the Philadelphia area, a very noticeable shaking occured in the afternoon of August 23rd. At first it seemed as if a freight train was coming down the block - quakes are generally accompanied by these types of sounds. If you weren't already aware that something was coming, your pet would have already gone crazy as animal's hearing is set for these types of sounds. While in the midst of the shaking, you would have gotten the feeling that the shaking would never end but in the scheme of things the shaking was of a short duration. This apparently was the first time in decades that a noticeable earthquake had hit and affected the entire East Coast. Later that day the epicenter was pinpointed in Virginia.
Sept 25, 2011: The next entry in our list should be the Sept 25th session at the Klein JCC. This is a bittersweet event to many of the older local Israeli dancers. In the 70's this JCC, located close to Bustleton and Red Lion roads in Northeast Philadelphia, offered adult education classes in Israeli dance. Sharon Polsky got her first real exposure to such at one of those classes before migrating to the University city area and the sessions at the U of P. Rob Malerman began offering Sunday night Israeli dance sessions in 1988. Malerman was able to elevate these Sunday sessions into what many considered as events starting in 1988 and during the '90s it was not uncommon for these events to have a hundred or more attendees. Malerman also started a tradition of bringing in choreographers to teach their dances during that session's time period. This live choreography petered out over the years but was revived for one Sunday in Nov '2010 when Roberto Haddon visited this and two other sessions over a three day period on his visit to Philadlephia. When Rob Malerman stopped running the Sunday session in 2000 there was a small hiatus until another Rob, Rob Markowitz, took up the slack. On Nov 15th, 2009, Don began acting as the administrator of this Sunday session.
But all the DJ's mentioned are dependent on the ability to rent this dance location at a reasonable cost. Unfortunately, due to their own tight budget constraints, the Klein JCC could not afford to keep the necessary security maintained at a reasonable rental price. The result: Sept 25,2001 would be the last Sunday Israeli dance session at the Klein JCC.
After a short break, Sunday night dancing was resurrected at Congregation Or Ami for a few years but in 2014 this was cancelled. At the present time there is no Sunday night Israeli dance sessions.
Sept 28, 2011: Baseball is an interesting sport. It always has had the most games played in a season and, unlike other sports, no time limit for a game applies. In the US, forms of baseball may have been played since the early 1800's. Even without knowing the history of the sport in detail, we feel confident in stating that the worst team in terms of winning percentage in the history of the sport being played professionally was the Worchester Ruby Legs (Worchester is a suburb of Boston) who existed in the early 1880's. Supposedly the 1883 season saw this team win one game for every six that it lost through its 80 or so game season. By 1884 the team in some way was relocated to Philadelphia where for 6 seasons it was known as the Philadelphia Quakers before reverting to its more modern name of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Those familiar with Philadelphia vernacular know that natives use the term Philly to describe the city. Use a PH to replace the F and you can see that the team was named both for a generic young female horse and for the city. It's perhaps the most unique nickname for a sports team. Unfortunately that uniqueness was not transferred to the play on the field. The Phils are in the record book (or at least as reported in the Guiness Book Of World Superlatives) as the team with the most losses during the 20th century. Throughout the 1900's there were only 5 appearances in the World Series for this team with only the one win in 1980 (and a win that will never be forgotten by those who watched that series). But the irony of it all was that the 1980 team was not the best Philly team of that era. The 1977 team, with quite a few of the same players that would be on the championship team of 1980, ended with a 101-61 record but lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL playoffs. The 101 wins was a team record
On this date in 2011 the Phils ended the season with a 102-60 record. This broke the win record established by the 1977 team. This also was the best record in the major leagues for the 2011 season. But another similarity to the '77 team would occur as the Phils lost to the San Francisco Giants in the 2011 NL finals ending the team's bid to appear in the World Series. No one suspected it at the time but it has been all downhill in the intervening years (as this is written at the end of 2015). The Phils ended the 2015 season with the worst record in Baseball again showing that it's a lot easier and faster going down than heading up.
Oct 3, 2011: Depending on whom you might ask this country for many years was either a leader or lagger as far as health insurance. Critics and proponents would cite the same examples to make their case. Always there would be comparisons to the other industrial countries and how they handled medical insurance for their citizens. There could be no question though that for the period 1990 to 2009 health insurance inflation greatly outstripped national inflation. In 2009 Congress and the Obama administration came up with a unique plan combining aspects of the national plans of other countries with the aspects of the American market.
Since the bill's passage, and especially since certain aspects of it went into effect, lawsuits had made their way through the American court system. Various lower courts had given contradictory rulings and, in this country, this gets the third branch of government, The Supreme Count, involved. The court opens annually on the first Monday of October and the duration of the session lasts through the Spring of the next year. October 3rd, 2011 was the opening of the 2011-2012 session and promised to be the session that the Supreme Court ruled on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare.
In the normal functioning of the court, the court must make clear that it will rule on a case and as mentioned previously the contradictory rulings from lower courts by this point made it almost a certainty that the Supreme Court would hear arguments about health care during this session. So, it should come as no surprise that between March 26 and March 28, 2012, under the full name of the National Federation of Independent Business, et al. v. Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, et al.; Department of Health and Human Services, et al. v. Florida, et al.; Florida, et al. v. Department of Health and Human Services, et al. arguments pro and con about Obamacare (ACA) were heard by the court. The result was announced on June 28, 2012 with the law approved (with changes to the Medicaid component of the law) by a 5 to 4 decision
Nov 3, 2011: An event occurs in England on this day that ties into two events exactly 50 years back. Let's start backwards! The BBC televises the romantic drama, Anna Karenina, on the evening of Nov 3, 1961. The woman playing the lead is relatively well known both in England and across the Atlantic. Claire Bloom had been cast by Charlie Chaplin in "Limelight" in 1952 and this immediately made her a star on an international scale. She also would be a regular on the stages of London and New York. Perhaps more interesting to her fans was her choices of men. This is someone who had a long passionate romance with Richard Burton and marriages to both Philip Roth, the writer, and Rod Steiger, the actor.
Her leading man for this evening's entertainment on the BBC is looking for his own "Limelight". Already known by insiders as a stage presence, he does not have the public recognition of his co-star. It's felt that he just needs that one special role for a break out. Not that he hasn't had various and sundry acting parts. His previous exposure on BBC was the British remake of Rod Serling's "Requiem For a Heavyweight". He was a frequent actor on London's stage and he had also been in a few movies. Perhaps you saw him in "Another Time, Another Place" costarring with Lana Turner. Or his appearance in "Action Of the Tiger". And he also had a large role in "Darby McGill and the Little People" although at 6'2" we assume he did not play one of the little people. Of course if you saw him in any of these, he did not act under his birth name of Thomas Connery. In the credits you would see that he had dropped his first name for his more Scottish sounding middle name.
By coincidence, a new production company had been formed earlier in 1961 (some indicate that this occurred in 1960) to try to film the novels authored by a well known British reporter and columnist. These novels had been coming out on an annual basis and many in the British government considered themselves as fans. These novels' popularity had even skipped over the Atlantic Ocean as President John Kennedy was reported to be an avid reader. But, by the standards of the day, these novels seem to be unfilmable given the sex and violence. However, even given this probability of failure, an announcement this day in 1961 - the same Nov 3rd, 1961 - tells the movie-going public that "Dr No", the sixth in the series of books by Ian Fleming concerning the secret agent James Bond, would start filming in Jamaica in early January 1962 (although pre-preduction activities would already be occurring there) starring our actor in question, Sean Connery.
And this takes us to another announcement on this day in 2011. Apparently the film announced fifty years ago was somewhat successful as the same production company announces the beginning of the filming of the 23rd such Bond movie in the series, "SkyFall". Sean Connery had long since conceded the role of James Bond to younger actors and this film will star Daniel Craig in his third exposure to playing Bond. And, one more irrelevant fact for those interested: Since the Nov 3,1961 announcement, nine men have been or become the President Of The United States. In that time only six men have played James Bond in the twenty four Bond movies (not counting the parody of Casino Royale created in the '60s) as this is written.
Dec 1, 2011: The name Ballys brings back a lot of memories for people. For some it is playing video games. For others it is being in a casino of that name. And for many it is a name that conjures up their daily exercise routine. In essence this all comes down to a decision by a video and gaming company in 1983 to buy several fitness enterprises. No doubt the thinking was that video games and fitness in someway could be amalgamated. Hindsight proves this not to be the case. By the middle nineties there is a split as the video and gaming companies spin off the same fitness companies bought a decade before. This new spinned off company becomes Bally Fitness and it is reported that at its height it had 440 fitness centers operating across the nation. But, over the years there will be financial troubles that cause at least one bankruptsy. On Nov 18th, 2011 a joint announcement by Ballys and LA Fitness announce that 171 Ballys fitness centers will convert to LA Fitness centers on Dec 1. Ballys has quite a presence in the Philadelphia area and all the fitness centers in this area, not to mention all the Ballys in Pa., effect the switch at that time.
Dec 31,2011: let's note that for a few years now the city has rung in the New Year with a fireworks display over the waterfront and Penn's Landing that has been accompanied to piped in music. For the New Year's eve 2012 event, on Dec 31st 2011, the city did this twice - first at 6PM and then at 12PM as the new year arrived.
As far as we know the event is free to the public but if you were not going to view this in person, KYW radio 1060 as it usually does would simulcast the music for both performances. This is the norm for KYW newsradio and we've discussed the uniqueness of the call letters in one of our scripts. But since becoming a radio station broadcasting "all the news, all the time" in 1965, the station has become the station of record for Philadlephia and this simulcast is just business as usual for KYW newsradio.
Jan 14, 2012: From a hindsight point of view, the time period indicated here was perhaps the most robust period for the local Philadelphia dancers. During 2011 the Cherry Hill group, then under the leadership of Naomi, performed three times at senior centers in what was then called the Cherry Hill field trips. Wilmington performed at the Arden fair on Labor day Saturday 2011. Germantown held a surprise birthday party for Grant who is its session leader, held several after dance brunches at various restaurants in their area, and a Germantown dancer (and he also dances at many other locations) John Frank led a group of Germantown dancers over the river to attend several Cherry Hill sessions. Sharon Polsky held an oldies dance sometime during April'11. And, this web site also kicked in sponsoring a party during Don's May 26th session honoring the author Ian Fleming (in what this website calls Ian Fleming day) in addition to supplying the goodies for the annual Homage To Scorpio festival which occurred at various sessions during mid-November.
But Don was busy himself adding on to events. There were several additional partner workshops through this time period. Additionally, On March 31, 2011 Aura Lipski who operates the Aussie Israeli dance websites (which this website uses to determine choreographer and music info for the individual dances) made an appearance at Don's Thursday session. Several birthday parties augmented Don's schedule including the aforementioned Ian Fleming/Homage to Scorpio events in addition to an Israeli dance birthday party at the Germantown Cricket Club for Jackie. In addition Don ran workshop/marathon sessions during Labor day weekend and on Christmas eve.
Perhaps given the events of the last year, Don made the move into staging events during the January Martin Luther King weekend which has become a new tradition for the local Israeli dancers. The MLK'12 workshop marathon featured afternoon dance workshops on both Saturday and Sunday with each night featuring a marathon for the dancers to dance the night away. Among the guest instructors that weekend was Mitch Ginsburgh who had been a quasi regular to Don's session over the last several years or so. In 2011 he choreographed several dances but the one with the most staying power, at least in the Philadlephia area, was Op. Op is a very strenuous dance - an upbeat dance with great movement and plenty of action. Mitch showed the dance both days and Don continues to play it to the present time on an irregular basis.
Jan 25, 2012: On Jan 25th, Gabrielle (Gabby) Giffords, representative of Arizona, appeared on the floor of the US house of Representatives to formally submit her letter of resignation. Giffords was helped by several of her colleagues in doing this as only a year before - on Jan 8, 2011 - she had been shot in the head during an assassination attempt leaving her semi-paralysed. Prior to the assassination attempt, Giffords was very popular in her district both from a policy and personal standpoint.
Giffords had also had a kind of fairy tale marriage in 2007 to the astronaut Mark Kelly. Kelly and his twin, Scott Kelly, had been part of several crews of the Space Shuttle making trips into space (and Scott Kelly during 2015 spent most of the year aboard the International Space Station). So, this marraige combined the aura of an astronaut with the glamour of a smart, goodlooking female US representative.
Giffords also has indicated that she considers herself to be Jewish although she is a product of a mixed marriage. Her father's side has the same roots as Gwyneth Paltrow and it is said that these two women are distint cousins. One doesn't know if this religious preference was the cause of the shooting, but the Giffords' assassination attempt was one of the earliest instances of the spate of gun attacks in recent years.