It was one week after I was born, and today was the day my mother and I were finally due to be released from hospital. However, the city was hit with a heavy snowstorm that day and the hospital felt it best for us to remain until it had passed, thus delaying our homecoming for at least another day.
Elsewhere, in the world outside the hospital I had yet to see, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) was established as a specialized agency of the United Nations. This program would coordinate the U.N.'s environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices. The program was created by a vote of 112-0 of the U.N. General Assembly.
On the other side of the world, the Commonwealth of Australia Conciliation and Arbitration Commission issued a decision ordaining equal pay for women.
Released into record stores today was Piledriver, the fifth album by British rock band Status Quo.
After their previous two albums had suffered from relatively poor sales, Status Quo departed from Pye Records. They subsequently had their major breakthrough when they signed with the heavy rock and progressive label Vertigo. Their first album for that label was Piledriver, which they chose to self-produce. The album heralded a heavier sound for the band (before then, they had dabbled in both pop psychedelia and a hard rock/boogie sound) and became the stylistic template for all of their future albums until the mid-'70s.
Only one single was released from the album, "Paper Plane." The song peaked at #8 on the UK singles charts. It would be the first of 33 consecutive Top 40 hits for the band. Piledriver itself peaked at #5 on the UK album charts, spending 37 weeks there.
Standout tracks for me, aside from the aforementioned "Paper Plane," were "A Year" and "Big Fat Mama."
On television tonight, much of the three major networks' regular primetime programming did not air, substituted instead by reruns or various TV specials, old and new.
On CBS, The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour was a repeat episode, which was followed by the broadcast of a movie, 1967's The Ambushers, starring Dean Martin as super-sleuth Matt Helm.
ABC aired encore presentations of two animated Christmas specials. This was followed by a brand-new comedy/musical special, Love Is... Barbara Eden. IMDb's description of the show is as follows: "The subject is Love and Barbara Eden is the star of an hour of song, comedy, and romance looking at the many kinds of Love in music." Robert Goulet, Charley Pride, and Tim Conway also starred.
At 10 p.m. on ABC was the broadcast of John Lennon & Yoko Ono Present One-to-One Concert. Recorded at Madison Square Garden in New York City on August 30, this was a benefit concert for the Willowbrook Institution for Retarded Children, organized by Lennon, Yoko, and Geraldo Rivera. There were two concerts performed that day, one in the afternoon and one in the evening, both of which were edited into a single, hour-long television special. The show featured performances by Roberta Flack, Stevie Wonder, Melanie, Sha-Na-Na, and, of course, John & Yoko themselves.
Only NBC's Friday night primetime line-up remained unchanged, with new episodes of Sanford & Son, The Brian Keith Show, Ghost Story, and Banyon.
Sanford & Son, episode 27 (or #2.13), was entitled, "Fred & Carol & Fred & Donna," written by Lloyd Garver and Ken Hecht and directed by Rick Edelstein.
In this episode, Fred begins two-timing his fiancée, Donna (Lynn Hamilton), with an attractive door-to-door saleswoman, Carol (Kim Hamilton), but then pays for his mistake when he accidentally invites them both over for dinner on the same evening.
Not a consistently funny episode, though it does have its moments. Most of the laughs come from watching Fred squirm throughout the dinner, attempting some fancy "juggling" in order to avoid a total catastrophe, while Lamont watches the entire proceedings with amusement. There are also a few funny lines, such as during Fred's flirting with Carol, and some amusing verbal exchanges between Fred and Lamont. My favorite of these occurs when Lamont chastises his father for his two-timing ways:
Finally, on late-night TV, Johnny Carson's guests on The Tonight Show were singer/actor Sammy Davis, Jr., actress and comedian Sandy Duncan (currently the star of her own CBS sitcom, The Sandy Duncan Show), veteran comic actor Mickey Rooney, and musical guest Melanie.
Elsewhere, in the world outside the hospital I had yet to see, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) was established as a specialized agency of the United Nations. This program would coordinate the U.N.'s environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices. The program was created by a vote of 112-0 of the U.N. General Assembly.
On the other side of the world, the Commonwealth of Australia Conciliation and Arbitration Commission issued a decision ordaining equal pay for women.
* * *
Released into record stores today was Piledriver, the fifth album by British rock band Status Quo.
After their previous two albums had suffered from relatively poor sales, Status Quo departed from Pye Records. They subsequently had their major breakthrough when they signed with the heavy rock and progressive label Vertigo. Their first album for that label was Piledriver, which they chose to self-produce. The album heralded a heavier sound for the band (before then, they had dabbled in both pop psychedelia and a hard rock/boogie sound) and became the stylistic template for all of their future albums until the mid-'70s.
Only one single was released from the album, "Paper Plane." The song peaked at #8 on the UK singles charts. It would be the first of 33 consecutive Top 40 hits for the band. Piledriver itself peaked at #5 on the UK album charts, spending 37 weeks there.
Standout tracks for me, aside from the aforementioned "Paper Plane," were "A Year" and "Big Fat Mama."
* * *
On television tonight, much of the three major networks' regular primetime programming did not air, substituted instead by reruns or various TV specials, old and new.
On CBS, The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour was a repeat episode, which was followed by the broadcast of a movie, 1967's The Ambushers, starring Dean Martin as super-sleuth Matt Helm.
ABC aired encore presentations of two animated Christmas specials. This was followed by a brand-new comedy/musical special, Love Is... Barbara Eden. IMDb's description of the show is as follows: "The subject is Love and Barbara Eden is the star of an hour of song, comedy, and romance looking at the many kinds of Love in music." Robert Goulet, Charley Pride, and Tim Conway also starred.
At 10 p.m. on ABC was the broadcast of John Lennon & Yoko Ono Present One-to-One Concert. Recorded at Madison Square Garden in New York City on August 30, this was a benefit concert for the Willowbrook Institution for Retarded Children, organized by Lennon, Yoko, and Geraldo Rivera. There were two concerts performed that day, one in the afternoon and one in the evening, both of which were edited into a single, hour-long television special. The show featured performances by Roberta Flack, Stevie Wonder, Melanie, Sha-Na-Na, and, of course, John & Yoko themselves.
Only NBC's Friday night primetime line-up remained unchanged, with new episodes of Sanford & Son, The Brian Keith Show, Ghost Story, and Banyon.
Sanford & Son, episode 27 (or #2.13), was entitled, "Fred & Carol & Fred & Donna," written by Lloyd Garver and Ken Hecht and directed by Rick Edelstein.
In this episode, Fred begins two-timing his fiancée, Donna (Lynn Hamilton), with an attractive door-to-door saleswoman, Carol (Kim Hamilton), but then pays for his mistake when he accidentally invites them both over for dinner on the same evening.
Not a consistently funny episode, though it does have its moments. Most of the laughs come from watching Fred squirm throughout the dinner, attempting some fancy "juggling" in order to avoid a total catastrophe, while Lamont watches the entire proceedings with amusement. There are also a few funny lines, such as during Fred's flirting with Carol, and some amusing verbal exchanges between Fred and Lamont. My favorite of these occurs when Lamont chastises his father for his two-timing ways:
This was not Lynn Hamilton's first appearance as "Nurse Donna" and, in spite of Fred's behavior this episode, it would not be her last. Donna first appeared during the first season episode "The Barracuda" (which is what Lamont derisively called) and throughout the early run of the run of the series, Lamont was openly hostile, even ambivalent, towards her, as he saw Donna as a threat to his personal relationship and business partnership with his father. He also saw her and Fred as trying to "smear his mother's memory" and tried to break them up on more than one occasion (this episode being one of them). As the series progressed, however, Lamont began to warm up to Donna, becoming close friends in the care of the aging Fred, and they would often serve as the dual foil to many of his later antics and schemes.FRED: Listen, Lamont, I'm not married. I still gotta sow some wild oats.LAMONT: Pop, at your age, you ain't got no wild oats. You got Shredded Wheat.
Finally, on late-night TV, Johnny Carson's guests on The Tonight Show were singer/actor Sammy Davis, Jr., actress and comedian Sandy Duncan (currently the star of her own CBS sitcom, The Sandy Duncan Show), veteran comic actor Mickey Rooney, and musical guest Melanie.
* * *
That night, my father went to bed anxiously awaiting the time -- which would be very soon now -- when he would finally have his wife and infant son at home with him where they belonged.
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