EXTRA! Read About it and the Beat goes on...12/19/2011 By Jerry Pritikin

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il (or Fill in the Blank) is DEAD!


This year, many dictators died, and a few of them not from natural causes. Arab Spring has sprung! Kadafi's is gone, Bin Laden done in,and Egypt's Hosni Mubarak resigning and facing charges, Civil war possibilities in Syria. The usual hot spots that seldom cool down with familiar sounding names. Tonight's announcement that North Korea's Leader Kim Jong is dead, followed by world stock markets in a downward response. What's next? We wonder who will their followers follow next?

I remember when Stalin died March 5th 1953 and regularly schedule television programs were interrupted. Just that week, On the cover of "Popular Science Magazine" was a story Why Stalin will live until he's 150 Years Old! Inside, the article reported Russia had developied a new mechanical heart that made that possible. Ike was President and anti-Communist, Richard Nixon was Vice President. He was a heart beat away from becoming President several time, thankfully Ike recovered from heart problems in time preventing that from "ever" happening(until 1968). The Big question back then was "What will happen now?" Churchill was the only one left from WWll "Big 3." . The Korean War was still on,and and the Cold war was getting hotter! Somehow, We survived despite the news!


I remember 2 things about the beginning of the Korean War in 1950. it started June 25th, I was listening to the radio baseball game of the week when a news bulletin broke-in about a place called Korea. and later that week's headlines and a city called Seoul . World War ll, the war to end all wars, ended just 5 years earlier.


The only Peace in "MY TIME" is when my TV and computer are off...

In this day of instant news via TV broadcast news and the www. They keep bombarding us with "breaking news" stories and the latest scandals in sports,politics and Hollywood, and the latest B.S. news poll. I have been lucky, I never paid attention to political polls since Gallop's tabbed Dewey our "next" president in 1948. So in this Season, that songs are bringing us good cheer, and wishes of Peace on Earth... there's nothing new in the news except the names in the news, replacing familiar names in the news always... and the beat goes on (Thank you Vanila Fudge)

ON THIS DATE APRIL 12,1945 BY JERRY PRITIKIN

I was 8 years old, and I stayed home from Hibbard Grammar School in Chicago earlier that day. I was listening to an afternoon kids serial radio program, when they interrupted with a special announcement, "President Roosevelt is Dead, Truman becomes President!". We were living at 4839 N. Troy Street, and I was home alone . I remember running outside and yelling...Truman's President!. I stopped a few of our neighbors, and they didn't want to believe me. Then I ran through the alley, to my parents best friends, the Waldman's, over on Albany Street to their 3rd floor apartment. Rose, answered the door, and I kept saying Truman's President, she did not believe me, too. We went into the front room, and she turned on their console wooden RCA Victor radio... and the reception had a lot of static, and after a few moments ,the announcer repeated that the President had died and Truman was now the President... it was just after 5 o'clock Chicago time. I remember thinking to myself... that the next day was Friday the 13th. That evening, the Tribune had a bold Headline FDR DIES, and his picture was bordered in black. A little more than a week later, I recall that the Terminal Theater on Lawrence Avenue had the FOX Newsreel of President Roosevelt's Funeral... and for the next 6 months kept repeating it, I believe it was Lowell Thomas Voice. FDR was loved in our house, we used to listen to his fireside chats. Less then 4 weeks later, the war in Europe was over, and it was sad that FDR did not live to see the end of it. At a future posting, I will write about the year 1945, and the profound effect it had on me...

On this Date...April 12,1945 FDR Dies...

I was 8 years old, and I stayed home from Hibbard Grammar School in Chicago earlier that day. I was listening to an afternoon kids serial radio program, when they interrupted with a special announcement, "President Roosevelt is Dead, Truman becomes President!". We were living at 4839 N. Troy Street, and I was home alone . I remember running outside and yelling...Truman's President!. I stopped a few of our neighbors, and they didn't want to believe me. Then I ran through the alley, to my parents best friends, the Waldman's, over on Albany Street to their 3rd floor apartment. Rose, answered the door, and I kept saying Truman's President, she did not believe me, too. We went into the front room, and she turned on their console wooden RCA Victor radio... and the reception had a lot of static, and after a few moments ,the announcer repeated that the President had died and Truman was now the President... it was just after 5 o'clock Chicago time. I remember thinking to myself... that the next day was Friday the 13th. That evening, the Tribune had a bold Headline FDR DIES, and his picture was bordered in black. A little more than a week later, I recall that the Terminal Theater on Lawrence Avenue had the FOX Newsreel of President Roosevelt's Funeral... and for the next 6 months kept repeating it, I believe it was Lowell Thomas Voice. FDR was loved in our house, we used to listen to his fireside chats. Less then 4 weeks later, the war in Europe was over, and it was sad that FDR did not live to see the end of it. At a future posting, I will write about the year 1945, and the profound effect it had on me...