Little Egypt Heritage Articles Stories of Southern Illinois (c) Bill Oliver 20 July 2003 Vol 2 Issue: #27 ISBN: pending Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen of Little Egypt, My friend, Gene, asked how I could write about so many different things. "Writing is no trouble; yo just jot down ideas as they occur to you. The jotting is simplicity itself — it is the occurring which is difficult." [Stephan Leacock] This week seems no different. However, it does disturb me just a bit to think that this week all has taken place in my life time — it is history of which I have been involved. <G> When I was but nine the telephone began to be called an "ameche". A radio personality, who debuted on-screen in a 1933 "short subject", made a most memorable performance in 1939 as the famed inventor in the movie "The Story of Alexander Graham Bell". Thus, a surname became part of our language. Don Ameche was active, both on network radio as well as on-screen. Don Ameche had a brother named Jim. Jim Ameche was a radio personality also. Jim was the first Jack Armstrong; All American Boy. Jack Armstrong's was a high school student whose adventures were world wide. His friends, Betty and Billy [Fairfield], accompanied him on these safari's, which was most convenient due to the fact that their Uncle Jim furnished the air transportation. Jim Ameche played this role from the first broadcast [31st of July 1933] through 1938. It was a long lasting series, with its final broadcast on the 28th of June 1951, by which time I was still a year and a few days older than the program, but never could match the preposterous situations [errr, adventures] ever portrayed in [children's] radio thriller hours [dinner time in my home]. It is odd what one remembers. For instance, I don't remember any specific adventure, but I do remember the voice of the announcer introducing the show with "Jack ARMSTRONG! -- ALL AMERICAN BOY!" He did commercials with a capella quintet in the background called "The Norsemen". Well, from "wave the flag" for Hudson High School to "Eagle ... you're go for a landing" and "The Eagle has landed!" Thirty years ago, on my birthday, three men were launched into space. On that wild trip the visited a celestial being and accomplished a safe return to terra firma on Mother Earth. So from fictional Jack Armstrong to real life adventurer, Neil Armstrong. Today is the anniversary of the first landing on the moon and with a daughter and three grandchildren, we visited the Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio, named for this first man to set his footprints on the surface there. The children were most impressed with the walk way which gave them the illusions of the vastness of outer space. A fantastic job all done with mirrors. We certainly held onto the five year old fearless "All American Girl" for she was climbing over the railing wanting to know how far down it was. We did safely reach the other end without messing up any of the illusion. Neil Armstrong traded his bicycle in for flying lessons at the early age of sixteen. When I saw that plane on display in the museum, I remembered back to those days when my then closest friend, Sonny Davis, was learning to fly. Neil Armstrong being a tad older than myself has probably retired by now, but where his space colleague from Ohio, John Glenn, turned to politics, he turned to industry and became the Chairman of the Board of AIL [electronics] Systems, Inc. After serving as a naval aviator, Neil Armstrong served as an engineer, a test pilot, an astronaut, an administrator with NACA/NASA. His experience with flying over 200 different models of aircraft included the famed X-15. As an astronaut, Armstrong performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space. As the commander for Apollo 11, he was first to land a craft on the moon and the first to set foot on that surface. For all his achievements, Neil Armstrong has been decorated by seventeen countries. He and John Glenn were at the memorial to honor the Wright Brothers this weekend. e-la-di-e-das-di ha-wi nv-wa-do-hi-ya nv-wa-to-hi-ya-da. (May you walk in peace and harmony) Wado, Bill -=- Other sites worth visiting: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/SOIL http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ILMASSAC http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/state/BillsArticles/LittleEgypt/intro.html