WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:02.000 The American Dish 00:02.000 --> 00:04.000 The American Dish 00:04.000 --> 00:06.000 The American Dish 00:06.000 --> 00:08.000 The American Dish 00:08.000 --> 00:10.000 The American Dish 00:10.000 --> 00:12.000 The American Dish 00:12.000 --> 00:14.000 The American Dish 00:14.000 --> 00:16.000 The American Dish 00:16.000 --> 00:18.000 Chowder is not an American dish. 00:18.000 --> 00:20.000 But baseball is an American game. 00:20.000 --> 00:22.000 You can find a famous popular song 00:22.000 --> 00:24.000 in Nikolai's opera, 00:24.000 --> 00:26.000 The Merry Wives of Windsor. 00:26.000 --> 00:28.000 Can you imagine that? 00:28.000 --> 00:30.000 I'm going to come back with you once more 00:30.000 --> 00:32.000 to spread the good tidings that things are not what they seem. 00:32.000 --> 00:34.000 Yes, friends, we're going to present a series of 00:34.000 --> 00:36.000 odd facts and unusual news stories 00:36.000 --> 00:38.000 in just a moment or two. 00:38.000 --> 01:00.000 Here it is. 01:38.000 --> 01:52.000 The American Dish 01:52.000 --> 02:04.000 The American Dish 02:04.000 --> 02:11.000 Well, here we are, and here's our first tidbit of ideology. 02:12.680 --> 02:17.260 It's another of our origin of words. When you dig into a steaming bowl of Boston or 02:17.260 --> 02:21.440 Coney Island clam chowder, you probably think that you're partaking of a genuine American 02:21.440 --> 02:25.840 dish, or maybe that it might have come over on the Mayflower, but you're wrong, yes sir. 02:25.840 --> 02:30.280 Chowder was originated by the fisherfolk of Brittany on the coast of France. All the villagers 02:30.280 --> 02:33.880 used to bring their contributions for the common cauldron, to which of course various 02:33.880 --> 02:38.360 kinds of fish and bivalves were added. The name of the cauldron itself gave the dish 02:38.360 --> 02:45.360 its name, C-H-A-U-D-I-E-R-E, chow-jare. And when the early American settlers learned to 02:46.280 --> 02:51.720 concoct this robust delicacy, they called it as best they could, chowder. Can you imagine 02:51.720 --> 02:57.720 that? Well, how well do you know your Bible? Do you remember this passage? 02:57.720 --> 03:04.120 For thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy, I 03:04.120 --> 03:10.040 dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, 03:10.040 --> 03:15.520 to receive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. 03:15.520 --> 03:20.360 That is the fifteenth verse of the fifty-seventh chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah. 03:20.360 --> 03:26.360 And within that brief quotation the word eternity is used the only time in the entire Bible. 03:26.360 --> 03:32.600 For thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity. Yes, the word eternity 03:32.600 --> 03:38.440 is used only once in both the Old and New Testaments. Can you imagine that? 03:38.440 --> 03:42.200 You know, every once in a while a sympathetic reporter will pick up a news yarn that is 03:42.200 --> 03:46.160 bound to warm the hearts of those who read and run. Here's a quaint touch to the annals 03:46.160 --> 03:52.520 of coincidence. It began in Cambridge, Ohio on September 6, 1938. Truck driver Edward 03:52.520 --> 03:56.320 Rohr was preparing to make his daily run when his wife rushed to him from another part of 03:56.320 --> 03:57.320 their room. 03:57.320 --> 03:58.320 Ed, Ed! 03:58.320 --> 03:59.320 What's the matter, dear? 03:59.320 --> 04:02.320 Look, a note from Eugene. He's run away. 04:02.320 --> 04:08.320 What? Let me see. Because I don't want to go to school. 04:08.320 --> 04:13.600 Where could he have gone? Why did he go? Oh, my poor boy. Ed, what in the world will 04:13.600 --> 04:16.000 he do? He's only sixteen years old. 04:16.000 --> 04:22.000 Well, he'll come back soon, honey. Yeah, of course he will. He'll get tired. 04:22.000 --> 04:27.520 He'll get tired pretty soon. He'll come on back home. Maybe tomorrow. Oh, don't cry, 04:27.520 --> 04:30.840 honey. Gene will be all right. He'll come back. 04:30.840 --> 04:34.880 But sixteen-year-old Eugene Rohr didn't come back. For four days and four nights, Edward 04:34.880 --> 04:38.680 Rohr and his wife sat in dismal silence, waiting for some word from the boy who had left home 04:38.680 --> 04:43.280 because he didn't want to go to school. But Ed Rohr couldn't lay off from his work. He 04:43.280 --> 04:47.500 must still go on earning the family's income. So on the night of September 10th, as he headed 04:47.500 --> 04:52.640 homeward on the dark highway, he thought sadly of his runaway son. On one lonely stretch 04:52.640 --> 04:56.160 of the winding ribbon of the pavement, the headlights of his truck picked out the shabby 04:56.160 --> 05:01.960 figure of a thumbing hitchhiker. Ed Rohr thought again of his son somewhere in America, probably 05:01.960 --> 05:07.840 thumbing his way along some unknown highway, just as this lad was doing. Ed Rohr pulled 05:07.840 --> 05:14.840 his truck up to an island stop. You going into Cambridge? 05:14.840 --> 05:20.480 Yeah, sure. Hop in. Golly. 05:20.480 --> 05:23.560 Gene. Hello, Pa. 05:23.560 --> 05:29.960 Gene, what do you know about that? Say, where have you been? What was the idea of running 05:29.960 --> 05:32.920 away like that? Don't you know you've had your mother and me worried to death for the 05:32.920 --> 05:36.880 last four days? Don't ask me any questions, Pa. Just, well, 05:36.880 --> 05:42.040 take me home, will you? Yeah, sure I will. Gosh, but your Ma will 05:42.040 --> 05:49.320 be glad to see you. And Ed Rohr took his son back home. Maybe 05:49.320 --> 05:52.800 the myriads of unexpressed prayers in that mother's heart had nothing to do with the 05:52.800 --> 05:57.180 father picking up his own boy on that lonely black highway that night. Maybe it was just 05:57.180 --> 06:04.180 a coincidence. But on the other hand, maybe not. Who knows? 06:04.180 --> 06:14.560 Play ball! Play ball, the watchword of the great American 06:14.560 --> 06:20.040 game, baseball. But is it the great American game? Well, let's see. When the early settlers 06:20.040 --> 06:24.760 in America came to the New World, they brought with them two ancient English games, cricket 06:24.760 --> 06:29.320 and rounders. From these games, young boys developed a sort of embryonic forerunner of 06:29.320 --> 06:33.780 baseball in which the teams composed of a catcher and a pitcher took turns at hitting 06:33.780 --> 06:38.160 the ball. The team hitting the ball the greater number of times in a specified number of tries 06:38.160 --> 06:44.360 at bat was declared the winner. In 1839, a group of young men in Cooperstown, New York, 06:44.360 --> 06:48.640 assembled for a session of this rather crudely organized sport. Among them was a young fellow 06:48.640 --> 06:52.040 named Abner Doubleday. Wait, boys, I have an idea. 06:52.040 --> 06:54.700 Yeah, what is it? We've been playing this rather silly game 06:54.700 --> 06:57.480 for some time. Silly? Why, Abner, I thought you enjoyed it. 06:57.480 --> 07:01.920 Well, I do, Alex. Or rather, I did enjoy it, but I think I found a better game. 07:01.920 --> 07:05.240 Yeah, what do you tell us? Well, here's the way it goes. Look, I fetched 07:05.240 --> 07:07.960 this flat slab of stone with me. Well, what's that for? 07:07.960 --> 07:11.880 Well, my idea is to place this stone about 50 feet away from where we stand to hit the 07:11.880 --> 07:17.800 ball. And after we make a hit, we'll run for the stone. And then the pitcher or catcher 07:17.800 --> 07:22.800 can try to touch the runner or throw the ball at him and try to hit him with the ball. And 07:22.800 --> 07:27.560 if the runner is touched by the pitcher or catcher or hit by the ball, his team is out 07:27.560 --> 07:32.120 and the other team tries the same procedure. Well, what do you think of it? 07:32.120 --> 07:38.080 Well, what do we call this stone? It doesn't sound right to call it just a stone or a slab. 07:38.080 --> 07:43.360 Oh, I've thought of that too. Let's call it a base. 07:43.360 --> 07:48.040 And so this 20-year-old lad can be credited with the origin of the great American game. 07:48.040 --> 07:52.320 Originally, the game was called One Old Cat. Then when two bases were included, it was 07:52.320 --> 07:57.160 called Two Old Cat. Finally, when a friend of Abner Doubleday, Alexander Cartwright, a 07:57.160 --> 08:01.480 student of draftsmanship, became dissatisfied with the haphazard placing of the bases, he 08:01.480 --> 08:06.280 laid out what he called a baseball square, placing all bases 90 feet apart. And to this 08:06.280 --> 08:10.680 day, that is the exact measurement of the official baseball diamond. 08:10.680 --> 08:15.000 I think you'll find it interesting too that Abner Doubleday can be credited with two firsts 08:15.000 --> 08:20.120 in history. Not only did he create the game of baseball, but as a graduate of West Point, 08:20.120 --> 08:23.880 he found himself second in command of Fort Sumter at the outset of the American Civil 08:23.880 --> 08:30.920 War and distinguished himself as the man who fired the first shot in its defense in 1861. 08:30.920 --> 08:35.120 Today the plot of ground where Abner Doubleday and his teammates first played baseball in 08:35.120 --> 08:41.040 Cooperstown, New York is called Doubleday Field. So I imagine it's still proper to call 08:41.040 --> 08:49.080 baseball a great American game. Say, do you have any idea what the word kangaroo, K-A-N-G-A-R-O-O 08:49.080 --> 08:50.080 means? 08:50.080 --> 08:53.160 That's silly, Lindsay. It's the name of an animal. 08:53.160 --> 08:56.280 Well, quite right. It is now, but do you know what it means? 08:56.280 --> 08:57.280 I don't understand. 08:57.280 --> 09:01.200 And that's right. The little girl is correct. And your old Professor Quizzlepuss awards 09:01.200 --> 09:04.360 her the handsome first prize of a last week's Map of the World. 09:04.360 --> 09:07.000 Say, what is this? Come on, Lindsay, what's this all about? 09:07.000 --> 09:11.560 Well, all right. I'll break down and tell you. You were absolutely right when you said 09:11.560 --> 09:18.840 the meaning of the word kangaroo is I don't understand. It was in 1770 when Captain James 09:18.840 --> 09:24.160 Cook, the noted explorer, was traveling through Australia that he first saw one of the peculiar 09:24.160 --> 09:28.880 native animals, the female of which carries her young around in a pouch. He turned to 09:28.880 --> 09:33.400 one of the native men in his party and asked him what the name of the animal was. The native 09:33.400 --> 09:40.160 replied, kangaroo, which actually means I don't understand. Poor Captain Cook thought 09:40.160 --> 09:44.840 it was the name of the animal and it has remained the name of the animal as far as we're concerned 09:44.840 --> 09:48.760 ever since. Can you imagine that? 09:48.760 --> 09:53.440 Well now, I guess it's about time for our musical auditing for this session. You know, 09:53.440 --> 09:58.440 it often happens that the composer of a modern popular song will inadvertently set down a 09:58.440 --> 10:04.200 melody that is quite reminiscent of an older piece of music, often from the classics. I 10:04.200 --> 10:07.760 want you to listen as the orchestra plays just a few bars from Otto Nicolai's famous 10:07.760 --> 10:10.760 opera, The Merry Wives of Windsor. 10:10.760 --> 10:28.480 I wonder whether or not you picked out from that little melody the foundation for one 10:28.480 --> 10:33.760 of our best beloved popular ballads of a few years back. You want another try? Okay, listen 10:33.760 --> 10:34.760 again. 10:34.760 --> 10:52.760 Not yet? Well, all right then, listen to this. 10:52.760 --> 11:07.760 Marquita, Marquita, I still hear you calling me back to your arms once again. I still feel 11:07.760 --> 11:21.760 the spell of your last kiss upon me. Since then life has been all in vain. 11:21.760 --> 11:26.360 You'd better without you, Marquita, 11:26.360 --> 11:32.360 It's daytime to lonely and bored. 11:32.860 --> 11:35.960 My poor heart is broken, 11:35.960 --> 11:39.160 I want you, Marquita, 11:39.160 --> 11:45.160 I need you, Marquita, I do. 11:45.660 --> 11:48.860 Marquita, Marquita, 11:48.860 --> 11:52.960 I still hear you calling me back 11:52.960 --> 11:57.960 To your arms once again. 11:58.460 --> 12:04.960 I still feel the spell of your last kiss upon me, 12:04.960 --> 12:10.960 Since then life has been all in vain. 12:11.460 --> 12:17.460 All has been sadness without you, Marquita, 12:17.460 --> 12:23.460 It's daytime to lonely and bored. 12:23.960 --> 12:26.960 My poor heart is broken, 12:26.960 --> 12:30.460 I want you, Marquita, 12:30.460 --> 12:37.960 I need you, Marquita, I do. 12:38.460 --> 12:42.960 Yes, that was Marquita composed by that able veteran of motion pictures Victor Schertzinger 12:42.960 --> 12:46.760 and the melodic pattern of that breezy little passage from The Merry Wives of Windsor 12:46.760 --> 12:49.560 and the first part of the melody of Marquita are identical. 12:49.560 --> 12:50.760 Can you imagine that? 12:50.760 --> 12:52.960 Well, it's time to close our book of oddities again, 12:52.960 --> 12:57.560 but we'll be back soon once more on this same station with another edition of Can You Imagine That? 12:57.560 --> 13:20.560 Until then, this is Lindsay McHenry saying goodbye now. 14:27.560 --> 14:31.560 Thank you for watching!