The year was 1972.
Richard Nixon had recently been re-elected for his second term in the White House. Here in Canada, Pierre Trudeau had become Prime Minister again. The war in Vietnam was still raging, although peace negotiations were in progress. Germany was still divided and the Soviet Union still existed. The Beatles had broken up two years before, but all four members were still alive. And Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift were still decades away from being unleashed upon an unsuspecting populace.
1972 was a Leap Year that began on a Saturday. And within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), it was the longest year in history, as two leap-seconds were added -- one on January 1, the other on December 31 -- an event which has not since been repeated. (Anyone who is curious about Coordinated Universal Time and what it all means, you read about it here.)
December 8, 1972 (Friday)
Dr. Mahmoud Hamshari, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) representative in France, was fatally wounded by a bomb, planted near his telephone by agents of Israel's Mossad, in retaliation for his suspected role in the 1972 massacre at the Munich Winter Olympics. After the explosive had been placed while Hamshari was absent, a Mossad agent posing as a journalist telephoned him and asked enough questions to confirm his identity. The bomb was then detonated by remote control, possibly by a signal through the telephone line, making Hamshari the second target in the Mossad's "Operation Wrath of God."
United Airlines Flight 553 Boeing 737 from Washington to Chicago crashed at 2:29 p.m. while attempting to land at Chicago's Midway Airport during an ice storm. 43 of the 61 people aboard were killed, as were two people in a house at 3722 W. 70th Place. The dead included Dorothy Hunt (a CIA employee and the wife of Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt), CBS News reporter Michelle Clark, and Illinois Congressman George W. Collins. Hunt was revealed to have been carrying $10,000 in her purse when the plane crashed, leading some to allege that she was supplying the Watergate defendants with money for legal expenses.
Meanwhile, in the fabled northern land known as Canada, in the southeastern Ontario town of Cornwall, I slid headfirst out of a vagina with no clothes on into the freshly-shaven crotch of a screaming woman.
This monumental event occurred at approximately 8:30 a.m. at the Cornwall General Hospital. I weighed 9 lbs., 2-1/2 oz., hence the aforementioned screaming. I was the firstborn child to my parents, who had been married nearly 16 months when I came along. At the time, my father was a truck driver, and my mother, until she went on maternity leave, worked in the packing department at MCA Records. Mom couldn't recall what the weather was like that day, but she does remember that there was already snow on the ground.
In record stores, Marvin Gaye's twelfth studio album, Trouble Man, was released.
Following the success of his previous album, What's Going On, Gaye won creative control of his music, as well as a renewed $1 million contract, making him the most profitable R&B artist of all time. After the success of Isaac Hayes' soundtrack to Shaft and Curtis Mayfield's for Superfly, Gaye was offered the chance to compose a film soundtrack of his own, one for the blaxploitation crime thriller, Trouble Man. Gaye not only composed and produced the film's soundtrack but its musical score as well.
The title track was released as a single, and its success bolstered the album into the Billboard Top 200 albums, where it peaked at #12. The album would be Gaye's first and only soundtrack and film score.
On TV, ABC's Friday night line-up that season consisted of returning shows like The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, Room 222, and The Odd Couple. NBC aired new episodes of The Brian Keith Show, the anthology series Ghost Story, Banyon (starring Robert Forster), and, of course... Sanford and Son.
For any readers too young to be familiar with the show, Sanford and Son was a half-hour sitcom that starred comedian Redd Foxx as Fred Sanford, a bigoted and cantankerous old junk dealer who ran a junk and antique dealership with his son, Lamont (Demond Wilson), who was usually a peacemaker and more conscientious. At times, both characters would involve themselves in schemes. Based on the BBC sitcom Steptoe & Son, the show was adapted by Norman Lear and was considered NBC's answer to All in the Family.
The series debuted in January 1972 as a mid-season replacement for the cancelled The D.A., and as such, the first season only ran for 14 episodes. But the show returned for a second, full season in September.
I never saw the show as a kid, although I had heard of it in later years when I became familiar with Redd Foxx. It wasn't until 1992 or so, when Atlanta's TBS (later Peachtree TV) became available through our local cable provider, that I had the opportunity to finally see the show. It aired in syndicated re-runs from Monday to Friday at 7:30 p.m., and my best friend and I would watch it every day.
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Episode 26 (or #2.12), which originally aired on December 8, 1972, was titled "A Guest in the Yard," directed by Jack Shea and written by Ilunga Adell. Fred and Lamont discover a homeless man named Gus (Liam Dunn) sleeping in a bathtub in their yard. When they try to kick him out, he continuously manipulates them into letting him stay. Once they realize they're being played for suckers, Fred tries to forcibly eject him from the premises. But Gus pretends to injure himself then threatens to sue the Sanfords unless they tend to his every need.
This was one of several episodes of Sanford and Son written by Ilunga Adell, then a 20 year-old alumnus of Joseph Papp's Public Theater. While the plot itself is a good one, offering a humorous variation on the old "Man Who Came to Dinner" premise, the dialogue is hit-and miss. Some lines offer solid laughs, while others warrant a mild chuckle at best. One of my favorites is the following exchange between Fred and Lamont:
And that's the day I was born.
Dr. Mahmoud Hamshari, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) representative in France, was fatally wounded by a bomb, planted near his telephone by agents of Israel's Mossad, in retaliation for his suspected role in the 1972 massacre at the Munich Winter Olympics. After the explosive had been placed while Hamshari was absent, a Mossad agent posing as a journalist telephoned him and asked enough questions to confirm his identity. The bomb was then detonated by remote control, possibly by a signal through the telephone line, making Hamshari the second target in the Mossad's "Operation Wrath of God."
United Airlines Flight 553 Boeing 737 from Washington to Chicago crashed at 2:29 p.m. while attempting to land at Chicago's Midway Airport during an ice storm. 43 of the 61 people aboard were killed, as were two people in a house at 3722 W. 70th Place. The dead included Dorothy Hunt (a CIA employee and the wife of Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt), CBS News reporter Michelle Clark, and Illinois Congressman George W. Collins. Hunt was revealed to have been carrying $10,000 in her purse when the plane crashed, leading some to allege that she was supplying the Watergate defendants with money for legal expenses.
Meanwhile, in the fabled northern land known as Canada, in the southeastern Ontario town of Cornwall, I slid headfirst out of a vagina with no clothes on into the freshly-shaven crotch of a screaming woman.
This monumental event occurred at approximately 8:30 a.m. at the Cornwall General Hospital. I weighed 9 lbs., 2-1/2 oz., hence the aforementioned screaming. I was the firstborn child to my parents, who had been married nearly 16 months when I came along. At the time, my father was a truck driver, and my mother, until she went on maternity leave, worked in the packing department at MCA Records. Mom couldn't recall what the weather was like that day, but she does remember that there was already snow on the ground.
In record stores, Marvin Gaye's twelfth studio album, Trouble Man, was released.
Following the success of his previous album, What's Going On, Gaye won creative control of his music, as well as a renewed $1 million contract, making him the most profitable R&B artist of all time. After the success of Isaac Hayes' soundtrack to Shaft and Curtis Mayfield's for Superfly, Gaye was offered the chance to compose a film soundtrack of his own, one for the blaxploitation crime thriller, Trouble Man. Gaye not only composed and produced the film's soundtrack but its musical score as well.
The title track was released as a single, and its success bolstered the album into the Billboard Top 200 albums, where it peaked at #12. The album would be Gaye's first and only soundtrack and film score.
On TV, ABC's Friday night line-up that season consisted of returning shows like The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, Room 222, and The Odd Couple. NBC aired new episodes of The Brian Keith Show, the anthology series Ghost Story, Banyon (starring Robert Forster), and, of course... Sanford and Son.
For any readers too young to be familiar with the show, Sanford and Son was a half-hour sitcom that starred comedian Redd Foxx as Fred Sanford, a bigoted and cantankerous old junk dealer who ran a junk and antique dealership with his son, Lamont (Demond Wilson), who was usually a peacemaker and more conscientious. At times, both characters would involve themselves in schemes. Based on the BBC sitcom Steptoe & Son, the show was adapted by Norman Lear and was considered NBC's answer to All in the Family.
The series debuted in January 1972 as a mid-season replacement for the cancelled The D.A., and as such, the first season only ran for 14 episodes. But the show returned for a second, full season in September.
I never saw the show as a kid, although I had heard of it in later years when I became familiar with Redd Foxx. It wasn't until 1992 or so, when Atlanta's TBS (later Peachtree TV) became available through our local cable provider, that I had the opportunity to finally see the show. It aired in syndicated re-runs from Monday to Friday at 7:30 p.m., and my best friend and I would watch it every day.
.jpg)
Episode 26 (or #2.12), which originally aired on December 8, 1972, was titled "A Guest in the Yard," directed by Jack Shea and written by Ilunga Adell. Fred and Lamont discover a homeless man named Gus (Liam Dunn) sleeping in a bathtub in their yard. When they try to kick him out, he continuously manipulates them into letting him stay. Once they realize they're being played for suckers, Fred tries to forcibly eject him from the premises. But Gus pretends to injure himself then threatens to sue the Sanfords unless they tend to his every need.
This was one of several episodes of Sanford and Son written by Ilunga Adell, then a 20 year-old alumnus of Joseph Papp's Public Theater. While the plot itself is a good one, offering a humorous variation on the old "Man Who Came to Dinner" premise, the dialogue is hit-and miss. Some lines offer solid laughs, while others warrant a mild chuckle at best. One of my favorites is the following exchange between Fred and Lamont:
Little gems like these, along with expert delivery by the cast, make up for some of the weaker dialogue and the one-liners that don't quite work. "A Guest in the Yard" remains an enjoyable episode, with a solid plot, enough laughs to keep it afloat, and a satisfying resolution to the entire situation.LAMONT: Wait a minute, Pop. You think this dude [Gus] is serious about killing himself?FRED: I don't know, Lamont. It's not my affair.LAMONT: How would you like to pick up the paper tomorrow and read about how this guy killed himself because we kicked him out of our junkyard?FRED: Well, I won't read the paper tomorrow.LAMONT: What's it going to cost to extend ourselves a little, Pop? Haven't you ever heard of the Good Samaritan?FRED: You know I don't like them Japanese movies.
And that's the day I was born.
Ah Sandford and son it was so funny, who could forget Fred and all his friends especially Grady. This was a great series in it's time unfortunately it is a series that rarely airs these days and when it does it is heavily censored due to it's content. This was a gem in the pre politically correct days.
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