Regardless of whether tonight’s Iowa Caucuses are won by Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum or Ron Paul, one thing is for sure – the victor won’t be a Rhode Island resident. Again.
No Rhode Islander has been picked for the national ticket of one of the two major political parties since the Democratic Party’s establishment in 1828 and the Republican Party’s creation in 1856, said Chris Barnett, spokesman for Secretary of State Ralph Mollis.
The last Rhode Island resident to make the ballot was Richard Walton, who was the Citizens Party’s vice-presidential nominee in 1984. Walton and his running mate, Sonia Johnson, won 240 votes in Rhode Island against the Reagan-Bush and Mondale-Ferraro tickets.
“As anyone who receives email from the R.I. Green Party forum knows, the Warwick resident is still politically active,” Barnett added.
In an ode to the dying art of the hammer-throw, The New York Times offers this surprising bit of local trivia (emphasis mine):
In the United States, the hammer may be the least heralded sport in track and field. Throwers are often banished to fields away from the main arena because officials fear lawsuits and worry the weights will pock their carefully manicured fields. In Eugene, the site of the United States outdoor track and field championships Thursday through Sunday, the hammer throw field is closer, adjacent to the track where the fans pack the stands.
Decades ago, in the glory days of track and field, the hammer was more popular in the United States, with more than 20 states fielding high school teams in the discipline. Now only Rhode Island carries the hammer as a high school sport.
I wonder what the reason for that is? Might explain why Mayor Taveras took that photo at 38 Studios.
(photo: British Olympic Association, via Wikipedia)
“Ernie D,” as he was known – shades of Pauly D? – was NBA Rookie of the Year in 1974 after a stellar season with the Buffalo Braves. (They’re now the LA Clippers.)
DiGregorio was born in North Providence and attended PC. He “helped revolutionize the concept of the fast-break offense,” according to his biography on the website of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame (which apparently exists). But his career mostly fizzled out after that first year, and he retired in 1981.
While writing about the Film & TV Office yesterday, I wondered whether it was really true that the hip 1956 musical “High Society” was filmed in Newport, as opposed to being set there but filmed in Hollywood.
Steven Feinberg, the office’s executive director, wrote in to tell me that indeed it is. Not only that, he said, but the late state Rep. Paul Crowley‘s father actually let MGM’s crew use his station wagon to secure the camera as they drove down Bellvue Avenue to film the opening sequence.
“High Society” was a remake of “The Philadelphia Story” with Cole Porter supplying the music, and featured an all-star cast including Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and Louis Armstrong. It’s not the only toe-tapping flick set in 1950s Newport, either; the classic “Jazz on a Summer’s Day” documents the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival.
And Feinberg’s e-mail gives me a good excuse to post the opening sequence he described – dig that Satchmo style:
January 3rd, 2012 at 12:32 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
Regardless of whether tonight’s Iowa Caucuses are won by Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum or Ron Paul, one thing is for sure – the victor won’t be a Rhode Island resident. Again.
