James Cleveland “Jesse” Owens was a well-known American track and field athlete who specialized in sprints and long jumps. As an undergraduate at Ohio State University, he known as “The Buckeye Bullet," setting three world records and tied a fourth at the Big Ten Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan. On May 5, 1935, Owens, jumped 26’ 8½" setting a world record that held until 1951. Owen’s impressive performance at the 1936 Berlin Olympics discredited Hitler’s master race theory. His record win of 4 gold medals stood for 48 years, confirming that individual excellence, not race or national origin, distinguishes one individual from another. | |
What happened this week in 1935? Jesse Owens set a long jump world record.
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Previews and reviews of Spare A Dime applaud our singers and songs. "Aside from being pitch perfect in every way, these performers really connected with their characters. I had goose bumps during every single song..." "The songwriting was excellent...each tune had a memorable melody, thoughtful lyrics, and real emotional integrity" Read the full article from Rock on Philly here. "An impressive collaboration between a diverse array of artists and community members..." "...the ideal of what education should be." Read the full article from Hidden City here. "The work has this blend of despondency and ambition that touches the soul." "...a lesson that...sparing a dime and sharing one’s time serve the same function – the fostering of hope." Read the full article from the South Philly Review here. What happened this week in 1935? "Your Hit Parade" began its radio broadcasts. Even though Spare A Dime's performances for the 2013 Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts are complete, we'll be continuing our daily blog posts throughout the festival – and beyond, to May 6, the anniversary of the founding of the Works Progress Administration. Today, our history Sunday post is particularly appropriate for a musical blog! On April 20, 1935, "Your Hit Parade" began its radio broadcasts. Every Saturday night, the show reviewed the top 15 songs of the week, both by song purchase data (including sales of records and sheet music) and by audience surveys. The earliest format involved a presentation of the top 15 songs. The show popularized the idea of a countdown to the top three finalists and featured a performance of the number one song as a finale. Since the show was sponsored by Lucky Strike cigarettes, songs not on the top fifteen list (including past favorites and popular standards) were performed as "Lucky Strike Extras." The show stayed on the radio until 1950 when it moved to television for an additional nine year run. Spare A Dime completes its run with standing ovations every night. The paradigm of Spare A Dime finds parallels of place and time, the mystery of history repeating, and we hope you'll see true Liberty finds unity of purpose in community. Rise or fall, we'll always be together, indivisibly. A big shout out and our deepest gratitude to the fantastic cast, musicians, and crew of Spare A Dime, and to all of the project's community participants. You define the very essence of the power of art to transform lives. Thank you. Spare A Dime's projected sets unite city residents, past and present. Illustrations by artist Steve Teare animated by designer Gerardo McGarity-Alegrett create projected backdrops for Spare A Dime singers, while photographic replicas by city residents create visual counterparts to audio stories. We call this corner store our dimestore, where the character of The Merchant sings Pocket of Blues, a song describing the Great Depression. The Builder later joins her here to sing a duet, Change in the Making – look for a WPA poster to appear in the window!
Join us for Spare A Dime on April 18, 19, and 20, 2013! Get your tickets today! Community members step into the shoes of their 1930s counterparts. As visual counterparts to the audio stories played in-between each song of the Spare A Dime cycle, COSACOSA constituents from around the city recreated the historical photos on which each character is based. Above, William Hilton, master craftsman and builder from North Philadelphia's Nicetown-Tioga neighborhood, recreates the historical stance of The Builder from Spare A Dime (before the founding of the Works Progress Administration, of course). Check back tomorrow to see his recreation of the post-WPA image of The Builder. And get your tickets to Spare A Dime today at www.pifa.org/events/10!
What happened this week in 1935? RADAR was patented.
Early radar systems could locate aircraft from a distance of 8 miles; by the start of World War II that range had increased twelve-fold. Radar proved to be a important tool for the British Royal Air Force to defend against attacks from the German Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain. After the attack of Pearl Harbor in 1941, Watson-Watt helped the United States develop its own radar defenses. A direct descendent of James Watt, creator of the steam engine, Watson-Watt literally was a born inventor.
PIFA 2013 launched today with the theme "Where will you #timetravel2?" The 15 minute mini-musical "Flash of Time" plays nightly through the festival at the Kimmel Center. Check out Spare A Dime vocalist Julian Coleman at the front of the top platform!
We'll finish up our artist posts this week with profiles of our Chorus of Liberty members. Then, follow us next week as we begin to build our set at the historic Bok Tech Theater and start tech and dress rehearsals! Click here to get your tickets to Spare A Dime today! What happened this week in 1935? A gyroscope-controlled rocket traveling faster than the speed of sound reached a record altitude of 7,500 feet. American scientist Robert H. Goddard, Ph.D. (1882-1945) is considered the father of modern rocketry. From his early patents for staged rockets using liquid propellants, to his design of the Bazooka rocket launcher during World War I, Goddard was at the forefront of rocket science. When in 1920, the Smithsonian Institution published his writings describing flights to the moon, the press publicly derided his ideas. Goddard eventually left the public eye and his post at Clark University to continue his work, in silence, in Roswell, New Mexico. Supported by Charles Lindbergh and the Guggenheim family, Goddard worked alone with his wife Esther as secretary, photographer, and lab assistant. In March of 1935, Goddard successfully launched a liquid propellant rocket that broke the speed of sound at 700 miles per hour. Later that month, on March 28, 1935, his rocket, stabilized and controlled by a gyroscope, reached an altitude of 7,500 feet. Its instrument package was even safely returned to the launch site via a parachute recovery system Goddard designed. Goddard's rockets became bigger and flew higher. Ten years later, by the end of World War II, the United States government established the White Sands Proving Grounds at Roswell; in 1945, missiles reached heights of over 40 miles. Though Goddard died that year, he prescienctly predicted, "I feel we are going to enter a new era, it is just a matter of imagination how far we can go with rockets. I think it is fair to say you haven’t seen anything yet ... It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow.” NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland was established in honor of this physicist-pioneer in 1959. Check out the greatest hits of 1935. This week on the Spare A Dime blog, we'll be featuring members of the jazz ensemble accompanying our vocalists. But first, let's get in the mood of the era with a list of the top artists and songs from 1935! How many do you know? Louis Armstrong: I'm In The Mood For Love, You Are My Lucky Star Fred Astaire: Cheek To Cheek, No Strings, The Piccolino, Top Hat, White Tie and Tails Gene Autry: Ole Faithful, Tumbling Tumbleweeds Boswell Sisters: The Object of my Affection Al Bowlly and the Ray Noble Orchestra: Blue Moon Cab Calloway: Keep That Hi-De-Hi in Your Soul (pictured above) The Carter Family: Can The Circle Be Broken Tom Coakley and his Palace Hotel Orchestra: East of the Sun, West of the Moon Bing Crosby: I Wished The Moon, It's Easy To Remember, Red Sails in the Sunset, Soon Bob Crosby and his Orchestra: In a Little Gypsy's Tea Room Xavier Cugat: Begin the Beguine, The Lady In Red The Dorsey Brothers: Chasing Shadows, Lullaby of Broadway Tommy Dorsey: On Treasure Island Eddie Duchin: Cheek To Cheek, I Won't Dance, Lovely To Look At, You Are My Lucky Star Irene Dunne: Lovely To Look at Nelson Eddie: Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life Duke Ellington: In a Sentimental Mood Sleepy John Estes: Stop That Thing Ruth Etting: Life Is A Song George Formby: Fanlight Fanny Benny Goodman: Blue Moon, King Porter Stomp Glen Gray: Blue Moon, When I Grow Too Old To Dream Richard Himber and his Orchestra: Just One Of Those Things Little Jack Little: I'm In The Mood For Love Guy Lombardo: I'm Sittin' High on a Hill Top, Red Sails In The Sunset, What's The Reason Jimmy Lunceford: Rhythm Is Our Business Ethel Merman: I Get A Kick Out Of You Patsy Montana and the Prairie Ramblers: I Want To Be A Cowboy's Sweetheart Carmen Miranda: Sonho de Papel Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra: And Then Some Ray Noble: Isle of Capri, Let's Swing It, Paris in the Spring Cole Porter: You're The Top Leo Reisman: I Got Plenty O' Nuttin', It Ain't Neccessarily So Riley-Farley Orchestra: The Music Goes Round and Round Ballew Smith: Roll Along, Prairie Moon Shirley Temple: On The Good Ship Lollipop Fats Waller: A Little Bit Independent, I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself A Letter, Lulu's Back In Town, Truckin' Western Brothers: We're Frightfully BBC Victor Young: She's a Latin From Manhattan |
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