Memory Lane: The Day I Became Smalter Kitecronk

I was in sixth grade the year we moved to New Jersey from the Cleveland suburb of Maple Heights. The date was January 20, 1964, three weeks before The Beatles first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.

The real Kitecronk, I mean Cronkite

My memories of those first months are surprisingly sparse. My sixth grade teacher was Mr. Klein, a friendly young man of average height, slender of build. I remember little of what we studied except that for social studies we were asked to cut out political cartoons from the editorial page of our newspaper and explain what they meant. It was an interesting exercise in expanding our awareness of the broader world.

The classroom probably had 30 desks and chairs. Most were filled by other students whose names I would have to learn. (They only had to learn one, since they already knew each other.) A few weeks after my arrival a new student joined the class and was seated next to me. Now that I was no longer "the new kid" I spent the day trying to make her feel at home in this class of new faces. I talked to her as if I had been there all year. By day's end, however, I discovered that Diane had actually been part of the class all along. She'd only been out of school because of a surgery she'd undergone. 

The memory that came back to me the other day, leisurely drifting into my consciousness after lying dormant more than half a century, was the skit I was part of near the end of the school year. I don't recall auditions, or even rehearsals. In the segment I was part of I played the role of Smalter Kitecronk in an obvious parody of the television newscaster Walter Cronkite. Like the famous newsman, I wore a suit and tie along with a narrow mustache.

The Hillside School auditorium was crammed with students and parents that afternoon. It must have been a pretty big deal.

In the skit I was part of I sat at a table up on the stage facing the audience, reading the news like talking heads did on news shows before there were teleprompters. Seated next to me was another student, and the banter we exchanged was news show parody. 

Behind us there was a large map of the world affixed to a wall prop. Keep in mind that this was 1964, still the heart of the Cold War. I believe one of the news stories involved classmate Michael Beale as Nikita Khrushchev (if memory serves me well), who stood, took off his shoe and banged it on the podium. 

In my portion of the sketch I was asked a question about Russia. I stood, went to the map and said, "It's still Red." 

I then stuck a pushpin into Moscow, whereupon the map shouted, "Ouch!" 

So much for my early life in theater.  

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Related Links

The Khrushchev Shoe Banging Incident (Satire)

A Farce So Dark It Will Make You Laugh: The Death of Stalin (Movie Review)

The Beatles First U.S. Visit Documentary Will Make You Smile

This week I have been watching a 1991 documentary about The Beatles first U.S. tour, aptly titled, The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit. It begins with the Fab Four getting off a plane in New York and includes all the usual "moments" that we've seen briefly in other places, such as their Ed Sullivan Show appearances, screaming fans, traveling by train to DC and the performance there, press conferences and more.

The film was produced by Al and David Maysles, who produced 30 films including Gimme Shelter (1969 Rolling Stones tour that ended in tragedy at Altamont) and Grey Gardens, about the decay and decline of a once-wealthy mother and daughter in the Hamptons. There's nothing fancy about the films which almost seem like home movies, thus their effectiveness

A lot of the Beatles' success had to do with timing and serendipity. Events preceding the U.S. tour certainly helped set up their stunning reception. Did you know that on November 22, 1963 a young Mike Wallace did a news story on Beatlemania. It aired that morning and was scrapped for the evening news because of the much larger story that cast a dark shadow on everything, the assassination of JFK. 18 days later Walter Cromkite was looking for a positive story to add a lift to the evening's news and found this Mike Wallace bit. This and several other concurrent events helped put The Beatles in play.

When The Beatles finally arrived in early February, the Top 100 list peppered with Beatles hits. The film here shows Brian Epstein receiving a phone call that The Beatles owned the top three slots of the Top 10. It doesn't get much better than that. The Ed Sullivan shows were just icing on the cake, certifying their legendary stature.

In the first Ed Sullivan show they did three songs in their opening set: All My Loving, Till There Was You and She Loves You. The screaming girls in the audience were as important to the cameramen as the performers themselves.

Before introducing them later in the show Sullivan read part of a telegram to The Beatles from Elvis Presley and Colonel Tom Parker "wishing them tremendous success in our country." With a wave of the arm he turns as the curtain opens to I Want To Hold Your Hand. Screams erupt even before the arm gesture is complete and if you look close you can see the usually serious face is breaking into a grin. "This is just too over-the-top" one can imagine him thinking, all the while thinking of the ratings coup.

Once more we see the familiar camera closeups of girls ecstasy. Big smiles all around. Ed Sullivan can't contain himself. And even I couldn't remain indifferent.

Cigarets seem ubiquitous in this film. George smoking while the Beatles were being interviewed in a New York press conference. All of them smoking on the train. "Marlboro," John says, grinning.

Their easy-going charm, hamming it up in NY, hamming it up everywhere they go, certainly contributed to their fame.

I remember some of this footage from the Washington DC show. Despite the poor sound quality you could feel their energy, which no doubt was amplified by the fan energy. Look how small their sound equipment was. A few amps, speakers, drum kit and three guitars, skinny boys with tight slacks and Ringo on his pedestal. What a contrast to the McCartney shows several decades later with 25 million dollar laser light shows and SFX, or any Super Bowl Halftime Show for the last thirty years.

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Notes from the Washington DC show:
I Saw Her Standing There
Energy
Big bow after each song.
Ringo takes his turn singing I Wanna Be Your Man

Re-Arrange themselves on the stage.... "Thanks for buying this record."
She Loves You... More screams.
Compelling.
Four boys having a blast ......

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It was certainly a time of innocence. I borrowed it from the Duluth Public Library. If you can't find it elsewhere, you can read the reviews here, which will motivate you to try a little harder.

Three Books That Paint a Picture of Our Presidents and Our Post WW2 History

Over the past 20 years of listening to audiobooks while commuting, I have listened to three that were especially insightful with regard to the presidents who have served our country over the course of my lifetime, which bean in 1952.

The three books I want to highlight here are Walter Cronkite's A Reporter's Life, Alan Greenspan's The Age of Turbulence and Chris Whipple's The Gatekeeprs: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency.

I just finished reading the last of these three. Chris Whipple's book is an outstanding insider's view from the hottest hot seat inside the White House, the Chief of Staff, arguably the second most powerful person in the world. Whipple's book is a truly up close look at every Chief of Staff from Nixon's H.R. Haldeman, who literally defined the role, to Obama's series of CoS gatekeepers.

The audiobook I listened to ended at the end of the Obama administration, but offered advice to the incoming Washington outside Donald Trump. The most recent, updated version of the book has added a chapter about the chaos within the current Trump White House.

Whereas the last of these three books is all about the White House and the men who served the various presidents, the other two books each contain a memorable chapter describing the impressions each of these men had about the leaders who served our country.'

A Reporter's Life
Walter Cronkite began his life as a reporter in the late 30's. In the beginning he was on radio at a station that covered college football. In order to get a following they decided to cover Notre Dame because a large portion of the audience was Catholic. They did not have the money to go to the games, so they would follow the games on a newsfeed and pretend they were actually at the game, reporting live. Once in a while they would lose the news feed and make up plays on the fly until the game came back online, a truly original and early version of fake news.

Late in the book he described his first hand experiences and observations from interviewing the various presidents from Ike Eisenhower to Ronald Reagan. What I most remember is that Cronkite had assumed that Eisenhower was not a hands-on president but rather a chief executive who golfed every afternoon and was out of touch with the day to day operations of government. What he learned in a late 1970s 13 hour interview was that Dwight Eisenhower was exceedingly knowledgeable and in touch with every facet of his administration, answering in-depth and without notes every question Cronkite threw at him.

Cronkite described Jimmy Carter as the smartest president, yet not the best president. Carter had a brilliant mind but talked over peoples' heads and did not know how to connect with the public. Also, as a one-term governor with no Washington experience, he struggled to be effective. He easily showed that he was thorough, intelligent and grasped the various complexities of multiple issues, but he was unable to bring these ideas down to a layman's language. By way of contrast, Ronald Reagan truly was a great communicator. More about the contrasts between these two men further on.

The Age of Turbulence

Alan Greenspan's memoir, like Cronkite's, is about his own life journey, so only a chapter or two is devoted to Greenspan's intersections with presidents. Greenspan was head of the Federal Reserve for two decades with an astute knowledge of global economics. In the 50s he had been part of Ayn Rand's circle. His first Washington experience was in Nixon era. Reagan appointed him to head the Federal Reserve in 1984 and every four years he was re-appointed up through Bush 43.

The takeaways for me regarding presidents were that Ronald Reagan was not Mensa material but was very definitely wise in his ways. He created a bi-partisan think tank of advisors from both sides of the aisle and the public sector. I can't recall his observations on George H.W. Bush, but remember vividly his description of Bill Clinton. Clinton, he said, was very smart and when seeking advice from Greenspan he would listen closely and try to understand. Greenspan said that Clinton always made the right decision after each of these meetings.

The Gatekeepers

Chris Whipple begins his story with a meeting inside the White House. President Obama's incoming Chief of Staff and 16 of his predecessors meet to discuss the road ahead. That is, the former Chiefs of Staff give advice to the new kid on the block.

If you want a get an inside look at all the presidents from the past 50 years, this could be your best starting point. According to Whipple the Chief of Staff decision may be the most important decision a president can make.

Dwight Eisenhower was the first president to implement the role. His military background showed him that a president needs a gatekeeper who will keep distractions at bay, who will prioritize the president's responsibilities and delegate the rest. This person will have to be brutally honest, several of the former chiefs said, because everyone else in the White House is a yes-man. The courage to speak truth to power is an essential quality in a great chief.

Not all presidents wanted a gatekeeper, but in every instance this decision proved a bad one.

JFK was first to ignore this setup. Had he employed a Chief of Staff he would likely have avoided the Bay of Pigs and other disasters that occurred on his watch.

H.R. Haldeman exemplified what the Chief of Staff position was all about. He was one tough cookie. Unfortunately, Nixon paranoia and some loose cannons gained back door access and the fiasco that followed was inevitable. Whipple's access to released documents results in an eye-opening account of the Nixon years.

I can'r recall much of the Ford story other than by pardoning Nixon he damaged his re-election hopes.

Jimmy Carter had been a one-term governor before coming to Washington. His first mistake was having a friend with no Washington connections or experience to be his Chief. Carter handicapped himself by relying on his own acumen and not understanding how Washington worked. Whipple cites that Carter was extremely smart, but even the smartest man in the room can make bad decisions.

Reagan's successes and failures were directly related to his chiefs. Jim Baker served the first term, and did an outstanding job as gatekeeper. Reagan admitted he didn't understand how the missiles worked or many other things, but he surrounded himself with smart people and trusted them.

The first crisis to shake things a bit was getting shot by John Hinkley. I was in Mexico at the time and it was a very tense moment as the television kept playing the shooting over and over again with the only commentary being "No sabemos" in response to every question. The phrase means "We don't know."

What we do know is that Alexander Haig was a nutcase at that moment, acting as if he were practically next in line and in control of the world for its safekeeping. The team temporarily forgot the chain of command, and thankfully the Commander-in-Chief was going to making jokes about it all.

Reagan's reputation was tarnished in his second term by the Iran-Contra scandal and other issues that arose. Whipple lays the blame directly on the shoulders of Reagan selection of Donald Regan to replace Baker who needed to get a break from the weight of that responsibility.

George Bush Sr. followed. On his watch we had the fall of the Iron Curtain and also Operation Desert Storm, which liberated Kuwait.

Then came the Clinton years. Like Carter, his initial missteps were directly related to his chief selections. He went through several, and despite many positive features of his era, there were ample number of reasons his reign was pockmarked and the Chief role a revolving door.

Of course none of that compares to the chaos the ensued when George 43 came in. What a mess, and Whipple gives you a front row seat.

The book I read ended with Obama's watch. President Obama went through four Chiefs and found it difficult to get things accomplished due to a gridlocked Congress. But his Chiefs didn't always help things along.

Ultimately, these books are an insightful way to understand our history from a vantage point you don't normally have. All are in audiobook form if you listen to books while commuting or working out. I recommend all three.

Related Link
Another way of preserving our presidential history.
The Presidential Commemorative Smog Plates of Kim Abeles