october 24

Flashback Friday: Death Valley Hits 134.4°F 1913

Posted on July 10, 2020

Death Valley Record Image — Photo Credit: Ken Lund
History & Headlines
Wikimedia

This was going to be a post on the highest recorded heat level, listed in the Guinness (Book) of World Records. Supposedly, one-hundred and seven years ago, today, Death Valley got up to 134.4℉. I read Wikipedia, I read Guinness and I read History & Headlines. If it made it into Guinness, someone must have thought it was legitimate. Well, after taking a dive into Weather Underground‘s investigation of this record (this is a very long read), posted by weather historian Christopher Burt on October 24, 2016, I’m not so sure this event ever happened.

I have contacted Guinness for a challenge. We shall see how this plays out. ~Vic

This entry was posted in History, Thoughts and tagged 1913, 2016, amazing weather, christopher burt, death valley, flashback, flashback friday, Flashback Fridays, greenland ranch, guinness book of world records, heat record, history and headlines, investigation, july 10, ken lund, october 24, oscar denton, recorded heat, weather historian, weather record, wikimedia, wikimedia commons.

Tune Tuesday: Eddie Fisher 1954

Posted on February 12, 2019 Updated on May 5, 2020

Eddie Fisher Image One — Image Credit: 7digital.com

Sixty-five years ago, today, the #1 song on Billboard (pre-hot 100 era) was Oh! My Pa-Pa (O Mein Papa) performed by Eddie Fisher. A lamentation, sung by a young woman grieving the loss of her clown-father, the song was written by Swiss composer Paul Burkhard in 1939 for the musical Der schwarze Hecht (The Black Pike). Reproduced and re-issued in 1950 as Das Feuerwerk (The Firework), the musical was made into a German film, Fireworks, in 1954 starring Lilli Palmer.

Translated, and adapted, into English by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons, Fisher and Hugo Winterhalter’s orchestra recorded the song in December 1953 at Webster Hall in New York City.

Eddie Fisher Image Two — Image Credit: 45cat.com

Trumpeter Eddie Calvert had a #1 with an instrumental version of the song in the UK at the very same time Fisher’s version was the #1 in the US.

On March 8, 1967, television audiences were treated to a version of the song by Jim Nabors, in character as Gomer Pyle, in the Season 3 episode (#85) “Sing a Song of Papa”. On October 24, 1991, Krusty the Clown sang the song as O mein Papa on The Simpsons in the Season 3 episode Like Father, Like Clown, a twist on the young woman’s sorrow over her father.

This song has been covered by many other artists, including The Everly Brothers, Connie Francis, Ray Anthony (last surviving member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra), The Bobbettes, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Björk (as “Pabbi minn”).