The Church vs. The Culture:Who's Influencing Whom? Pt.1
Join Apostle J.E. Bowser and Pastor Darius Conrad as they discuss the opposition and resistance the End-Time assembly contends with daily.
Michael Gerson Lectures on Polarization, Confirmation Bias, and Dehumanization
November 8, 2018 | Lecture on polarization, confirmation bias, and dehumanization by Michael Gerson, columnist and author of “Trump and the Evangelical Temptation”
No-Name Chorale ~ NNC & Friends (Fall 2019)
This concert was presented by the No-Name Chorale with guest choirs from Triad High School, Southwestern Illinois College (SWIC), and Belleville West Hight School on Thursday, October 24, 2019 at St. Paul UCC in Belleville, IL.
We are a project based ensemble dedicated to sharing the joy of choral singing with each other and the greater St. Louis community. Like our Facebook page @nonamechorale for updates on future projects and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. You can also learn more about us at our website, nonamechorale.com.
Program Notes
Confession: I’ve always been jealous of singers that get to experience being in a great men’s choir – a single entity that combines the fun and camaraderie of a sports team with the artistry of excellent choral music. I guess I got to have a taste of it as a founding member of The Acafellaz, Illinois State University’s premiere modern a cappella group which is still going strong in its 21st year, but that group only had six singers and never really tapped into the broader range of traditional repertoire. So, our spring 2019 concert, Songs for the People, was my chance to exorcise those negative emotions and create the experience I had wanted all these years!
After the success of SFTP, I submitted recordings from that concert and others from the past three years for consideration as a performing choir at the 2019 Fall Convention of the Illinois Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association (IL-ACDA). From a large pool of applicants, No-Name Chorale was chosen by a panel of choral professionals to present the convention’s final 30-minute concert to a mixed crowd of convention attendees and general audience members. It’s a wonderful opportunity to share NNC with a broader audience and we are honored to represent St. Louis and the Metro East at this prestigious event.
The songs you’ll hear this evening are all glee club classics – some old, some instant. Founded in 1858, 1859, & 1861, the Harvard, Michigan, and Yale Glee Clubs are the oldest collegiate choirs in the United States and for the past 150 years they’ve been shaping the traditions and repertoire associated with the modern men’s choir. Much of tonight’s concert was either arranged by members of those ensembles, commissioned by them, or made popular through live performances and recordings.
I love these songs because they speak to us directly, in a musical language we can all understand and enjoy. The title of our program, Songs for the People, comes from the first piece I chose. Its poetry conveys my deepest hope for No-Name Chorale - “Let me make the songs for the people...songs to thrill the hearts of men with more abundant life.”
Thank you all for choosing to spend your evening with us as we seek to create another experience worth sharing!
~Andy Jensen, NNC Artistic Director
Program
Triad High School’s Voicemale
Linda Remiger-Bruce, conductor
Diana Umali, pianist
The Coast of High Barbary (0:21)
arr. Richard Ewer
I’m Bound Away (3:35)
arr. Donald Moore
Unchained Melody (6:53)
arr. Mark Brymer
~~~
SWIC Chamber Singers
Andy Jensen, director
Paddington (Regent’s Canal) (10:51)
by Bob Chilcott (b. 1955)
Jesse Sarabia, baritone
Whitley Foehner, soprano
Wanting Memories (13:43)
by Ysaÿe Barnwell
When Daffodils Begin to Peer (17:59)
Matthew Harris (b. 1956)
~~~
Belleville West High School Bass Choir
Jeannine Moeller, conductor
Soon Ah Will Be Done (20:32)
Arr. William Dawson
Will the Circle Be Unbroken (24:10)
arr. J. David Moore
Blue Moon (26:36)
arr. Anne Raugh & Deke Sharon
~~~
No-Name Chorale
Andy Jensen, conductor
Diana Umali, pianist
Brothers, Sing On! (29:08)
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Songs for the People (31:22)
Jonathan Kolm (b. 1977)
The Pasture (36:41)
Randall Thompson (1899-1984)
Loch Lomond (40:23)
arr. Jonathan Quick (b. 1970)
Chip Belpedio, soloist
Pirate Song (46:20)
Tim Jones (b. 1971)
Ride the Chariot (50:57)
arr. W.H. Smith (1908-1944)
Nathan Brown, soloist
Breaching the Emberhold - Critical Role RPG Show: Episode 6
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The party continues to wind its way ever downward, far below Kraghammer. Covering more ground in the endless night of the Underdark, Vox Machina eventually reaches a massive cavern, spires of jagged obsidian stretching out for miles before them. The group quietly passes through the fields of stone, making their way toward the Duergar Fortress, Emberhold, looming in the dim light of the caverns many magma flows. With a little dash of gnomic daring do, the group is able to sneak in through a secret entrance, and at long last find the one they have traveled so far to find: Lady Kima of Vord.
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Concept Artwork for 'The Silver Legacy’ movie created by Jessica Mae Stover (jessicastover.com) and Greg Martin (artofgregmartin.com).
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Attack on the Duergar Warcamp - Critical Role RPG Show: Episode 4
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The Vox Machina form a tentative alliance with an Illithid outcast named Clarota, deep inside the caverns under Kraghammer. They learn of the creature's people and their subjugation to a mysterious being known only as Kvarn, as well as the haggard mind flayer's expulsion from the hive. Now cut off from the Elder Brain, Clarota burns with hatred for this Kvarn, and wishes to free the Illithid race from the usurping entity. In order to do so, the Vox Machina must proceed further into the deep, and reach the center of Clarota’s hive. But in order for the heroes of Emon to reach the Illithid city in the belly of Khaloor, they must get past the first flayer they encountered, as well as its small army of Duergar.
The heroes devise a plan, and fly themselves down to the center of the enemey’s war camp, to chance a risky assassination attempt on a creature that could easily break their will with a glance.
A very special thanks to @CRTranscript and all the #critters for closed captions!
Concept Artwork for 'The Silver Legacy’ movie created by Jessica Mae Stover (jessicastover.com) and Greg Martin (artofgregmartin.com).
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Arrival at Kraghammer - Critical Role RPG Show: Episode 1
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Our story begins as Vox Machina, the heroes of Emon, arrive at the cavernous underground city of Kraghammer. After wiping out a grave threat to Emon’s emperor, Sovereign Uriel Tal'Dorei III, the band of adventurers has been sent on a journey by Arcanist, Allura Vysoren to find Lady Kima of Vord, a Halfling Paladin of Bahamut, who was drawn to Kraghammer upon learning of a great evil resting beneath it. The party get their bearings in the sprawling, dwarven city, meet a few of its more colorful denizens, and learn that the dwarves have been dealing with unnatural creatures spilling out of the mines in recent months. The mine’s overseer, Nostoc Greyspine, barely finishes explaining their troubles, when a pack of goblins and ogres come spilling out of the mine’s entrance, pursued by something far worse.
Concept Artwork for 'The Silver Legacy’ movie created by Jessica Mae Stover (jessicastover.com) and Greg Martin (artofgregmartin.com).
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Art by Kit Buss (
Thanks to @CRTranscript and all the #critters for closed captions!
God Created Beer by Sir Gotatele
This is a little awesome tune created by my good buddy Gotatele (Neil Oratz) at the world's most awesome musicians website jamplay.com I hope you like it! I sure do!
To have really lived, you must have almost died. To those who have fought for it, freedom has a flavor the protected will never know. ~ Unknown
THE USE OF ANY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL IS USED UNDER THE GUIDELINES OF FAIR USE IN TITLE 17 § 107 OF THE UNITED STATES CODE. SUCH MATERIAL REMAINS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE ORIGINAL HOLDER AND IS USED HERE FOR THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION, COMPARISON, AND CRITICISM ONLY.
NO INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT IS INTENDED
I mostly Like The Heavy Thick Sounding Music (Ted Nugent METALLICA, MEGADETH, KISS, BLACK SABBATH, OZZY, VAN HALEN, LED ZEPPELIN, PINK FLOYD, NIRVANA, NICKLEBACK, ZZ TOP, AC/DC, BAD COMPANY, PAUL RODGERS, THE WHO, , ROLLING STONES, PUNK, HEAVY METAL, AND ALL THE OTHER KINDS OF METAL, SCREAMO IS HARD TO FIGURE THE LYRICS THOUGH) But I Like And Can Do Softer Stuff Too! (The Cars, Grateful Dead, Farmer Phil Band, Peter Frampton, Queen, The Police, Sting, Lights Journey Tribute, Free, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Stryper, The Steve Miller Band, Steve Vai, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Black Oak Arkansas, Jim Dandy, Sammy Hagar, David Lee Roth, Jethro Tull, Foreigner, Aerosmith, Beatles, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Starz, Angel, Eagles, REO Speedwagon, Heart, Loverboy, Styx, Bob Seger, Garth Brooks, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Freley, Peter Criss, Eric Carr, Dweezil Zappa, Moon Unit Zappa, Frank Zappa, Foghat, Doobie Brothers,Kansas, Journey, Boston (The Band), Brad Delp, Damn Yankees, Kid Rock, Dobie Grey, Uncle Kracker, The Temptations, Frankkie Valli & The Four Seasons, Paul Revere & The Raiders,Even Cheech & Chong. All Of This And Much More Have Influenced Me.
This Song Is Just One Of My Favorites alone with so many other tunes by bands like Black Sabbath,Foriegner, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Outlaws, Black Oak Arkansas, The Doors, Jim Morrison, Kansas, KISS, Aerosmith, Foghat, Dick Manitoba And The Dictators, Starz, Angel, The Cars, Van Halen, Grand Funk Railroad, Boston, Brad Delp, Tom Scholtz, Rock On, Pat Travers, Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter, The Who, Rodger Daltry, Pete Townsend, John Bonham, Jimi Page, Robert Plant, Ozzy,Mostly Hard Stuff
Thank you to my dear family Tracy DeCrocker (My Awesome wife),Meredith (Mom), John DeCrocker (Dad), Patrick Green (my awesome rockin'son),Gabriel DeCrocker (my awesome rockin' son), Michelle Gianan,Jeff DeCrocker (My Awesome Brother), Thetwo Ofus, Brittany, Aubrey Nicole (daughter),Jamie, Marc, Josh, Patty, JerriLynn DeCrocker (My Rockin' Sister), Larry, Julie, Kara (my rockin' Niece), Danielle
The Sword of Damocles: C.S. Lewis, Cambridge, and the Cold War
A Lunch and Learn lecture
By Clark Moreland
The Department of Literature and Languages
The University of Texas of the Permian Basin
October 12, 2017
Suspense: Stand-In / Dead of Night / Phobia
The program's heyday was in the early 1950s, when radio actor, producer and director Elliott Lewis took over (still during the Wilcox/Autolite run). Here the material reached new levels of sophistication. The writing was taut, and the casting, which had always been a strong point of the series (featuring such film stars as Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Henry Fonda, Humphrey Bogart, Judy Garland, Ronald Colman, Marlene Dietrich, Eve McVeagh, Lena Horne, and Cary Grant), took an unexpected turn when Lewis expanded the repertory to include many of radio's famous drama and comedy stars — often playing against type — such as Jack Benny. Jim and Marian Jordan of Fibber McGee and Molly were heard in the episode, Backseat Driver, which originally aired February 3, 1949.
The highest production values enhanced Suspense, and many of the shows retain their power to grip and entertain. At the time he took over Suspense, Lewis was familiar to radio fans for playing Frankie Remley, the wastrel guitar-playing sidekick to Phil Harris in The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show. On the May 10, 1951 Suspense, Lewis reversed the roles with Death on My Hands: A bandleader (Harris) is horrified when an autograph-seeking fan accidentally shoots herself and dies in his hotel room, and a vocalist (Faye) tries to help him as the townfolk call for vigilante justice against him.
With the rise of television and the departures of Lewis and Autolite, subsequent producers (Antony Ellis, William N. Robson and others) struggled to maintain the series despite shrinking budgets, the availability of fewer name actors, and listenership decline. To save money, the program frequently used scripts first broadcast by another noteworthy CBS anthology, Escape. In addition to these tales of exotic adventure, Suspense expanded its repertoire to include more science fiction and supernatural content. By the end of its run, the series was remaking scripts from the long-canceled program The Mysterious Traveler. A time travel tale like Robert Arthur's The Man Who Went Back to Save Lincoln or a thriller about a death ray-wielding mad scientist would alternate with more run-of-the-mill crime dramas.
The Great Gildersleeve: Gildy the Athlete / Dinner with Peavey / Gildy Raises Christmas Money
Premiering on August 31, 1941, The Great Gildersleeve moved the title character from the McGees' Wistful Vista to Summerfield, where Gildersleeve now oversaw his late brother-in-law's estate and took on the rearing of his orphaned niece and nephew, Marjorie (originally played by Lurene Tuttle and followed by Louise Erickson and Mary Lee Robb) and Leroy Forester (Walter Tetley). The household also included a cook named Birdie. Curiously, while Gildersleeve had occasionally spoken of his (never-present) wife in some Fibber episodes, in his own series the character was a confirmed bachelor.
In a striking forerunner to such later television hits as Bachelor Father and Family Affair, both of which are centered on well-to-do uncles taking in their deceased siblings' children, Gildersleeve was a bachelor raising two children while, at first, administering a girdle manufacturing company (If you want a better corset, of course, it's a Gildersleeve) and then for the bulk of the show's run, serving as Summerfield's water commissioner, between time with the ladies and nights with the boys. The Great Gildersleeve may have been the first broadcast show to be centered on a single parent balancing child-rearing, work, and a social life, done with taste and genuine wit, often at the expense of Gildersleeve's now slightly understated pomposity.
Many of the original episodes were co-written by John Whedon, father of Tom Whedon (who wrote The Golden Girls), and grandfather of Deadwood scripter Zack Whedon and Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog).
The key to the show was Peary, whose booming voice and facility with moans, groans, laughs, shudders and inflection was as close to body language and facial suggestion as a voice could get. Peary was so effective, and Gildersleeve became so familiar a character, that he was referenced and satirized periodically in other comedies and in a few cartoons.
The Great Gildersleeve: Leroy's School Play / Tom Sawyer Raft / Fiscal Report Due
Premiering on August 31, 1941, The Great Gildersleeve moved the title character from the McGees' Wistful Vista to Summerfield, where Gildersleeve now oversaw his late brother-in-law's estate and took on the rearing of his orphaned niece and nephew, Marjorie (originally played by Lurene Tuttle and followed by Louise Erickson and Mary Lee Robb) and Leroy Forester (Walter Tetley). The household also included a cook named Birdie. Curiously, while Gildersleeve had occasionally spoken of his (never-present) wife in some Fibber episodes, in his own series the character was a confirmed bachelor.
In a striking forerunner to such later television hits as Bachelor Father and Family Affair, both of which are centered on well-to-do uncles taking in their deceased siblings' children, Gildersleeve was a bachelor raising two children while, at first, administering a girdle manufacturing company (If you want a better corset, of course, it's a Gildersleeve) and then for the bulk of the show's run, serving as Summerfield's water commissioner, between time with the ladies and nights with the boys. The Great Gildersleeve may have been the first broadcast show to be centered on a single parent balancing child-rearing, work, and a social life, done with taste and genuine wit, often at the expense of Gildersleeve's now slightly understated pomposity.
Many of the original episodes were co-written by John Whedon, father of Tom Whedon (who wrote The Golden Girls), and grandfather of Deadwood scripter Zack Whedon and Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog).
The key to the show was Peary, whose booming voice and facility with moans, groans, laughs, shudders and inflection was as close to body language and facial suggestion as a voice could get. Peary was so effective, and Gildersleeve became so familiar a character, that he was referenced and satirized periodically in other comedies and in a few cartoons.
The Great Gildersleeve: French Visitor / Dinner with Katherine / Dinner with the Thompsons
Premiering on August 31, 1941, The Great Gildersleeve moved the title character from the McGees' Wistful Vista to Summerfield, where Gildersleeve now oversaw his late brother-in-law's estate and took on the rearing of his orphaned niece and nephew, Marjorie (originally played by Lurene Tuttle and followed by Louise Erickson and Mary Lee Robb) and Leroy Forester (Walter Tetley). The household also included a cook named Birdie. Curiously, while Gildersleeve had occasionally spoken of his (never-present) wife in some Fibber episodes, in his own series the character was a confirmed bachelor.
In a striking forerunner to such later television hits as Bachelor Father and Family Affair, both of which are centered on well-to-do uncles taking in their deceased siblings' children, Gildersleeve was a bachelor raising two children while, at first, administering a girdle manufacturing company (If you want a better corset, of course, it's a Gildersleeve) and then for the bulk of the show's run, serving as Summerfield's water commissioner, between time with the ladies and nights with the boys. The Great Gildersleeve may have been the first broadcast show to be centered on a single parent balancing child-rearing, work, and a social life, done with taste and genuine wit, often at the expense of Gildersleeve's now slightly understated pomposity.
Many of the original episodes were co-written by John Whedon, father of Tom Whedon (who wrote The Golden Girls), and grandfather of Deadwood scripter Zack Whedon and Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog).
The key to the show was Peary, whose booming voice and facility with moans, groans, laughs, shudders and inflection was as close to body language and facial suggestion as a voice could get. Peary was so effective, and Gildersleeve became so familiar a character, that he was referenced and satirized periodically in other comedies and in a few cartoons.
The Great Gildersleeve: Labor Trouble / New Secretary / An Evening with a Good Book
The Great Gildersleeve (1941--1957), initially written by Leonard Lewis Levinson, was one of broadcast history's earliest spin-off programs. Built around Throckmorton Philharmonic Gildersleeve, a character who had been a staple on the classic radio situation comedy Fibber McGee and Molly, first introduced on Oct. 3, 1939, ep. #216. The Great Gildersleeve enjoyed its greatest success in the 1940s. Actor Harold Peary played the character during its transition from the parent show into the spin-off and later in a quartet of feature films released at the height of the show's popularity.
On Fibber McGee and Molly, Peary's Gildersleeve was a pompous windbag who became a consistent McGee nemesis. You're a haa-aa-aa-aard man, McGee! became a Gildersleeve catchphrase. The character was given several conflicting first names on Fibber McGee and Molly, and on one episode his middle name was revealed as Philharmonic. Gildy admits as much at the end of Gildersleeve's Diary on the Fibber McGee and Molly series (Oct. 22, 1940).
He soon became so popular that Kraft Foods—looking primarily to promote its Parkay margarine spread — sponsored a new series with Peary's Gildersleeve as the central, slightly softened and slightly befuddled focus of a lively new family.
Premiering on August 31, 1941, The Great Gildersleeve moved the title character from the McGees' Wistful Vista to Summerfield, where Gildersleeve now oversaw his late brother-in-law's estate and took on the rearing of his orphaned niece and nephew, Marjorie (originally played by Lurene Tuttle and followed by Louise Erickson and Mary Lee Robb) and Leroy Forester (Walter Tetley). The household also included a cook named Birdie. Curiously, while Gildersleeve had occasionally spoken of his (never-present) wife in some Fibber episodes, in his own series the character was a confirmed bachelor.
In a striking forerunner to such later television hits as Bachelor Father and Family Affair, both of which are centered on well-to-do uncles taking in their deceased siblings' children, Gildersleeve was a bachelor raising two children while, at first, administering a girdle manufacturing company (If you want a better corset, of course, it's a Gildersleeve) and then for the bulk of the show's run, serving as Summerfield's water commissioner, between time with the ladies and nights with the boys. The Great Gildersleeve may have been the first broadcast show to be centered on a single parent balancing child-rearing, work, and a social life, done with taste and genuine wit, often at the expense of Gildersleeve's now slightly understated pomposity.
Many of the original episodes were co-written by John Whedon, father of Tom Whedon (who wrote The Golden Girls), and grandfather of Deadwood scripter Zack Whedon and Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog).
The key to the show was Peary, whose booming voice and facility with moans, groans, laughs, shudders and inflection was as close to body language and facial suggestion as a voice could get. Peary was so effective, and Gildersleeve became so familiar a character, that he was referenced and satirized periodically in other comedies and in a few cartoons.
Calling All Cars: Alibi / Broken Xylophone / Manila Envelopes
The radio show Calling All Cars hired LAPD radio dispacher Jesse Rosenquist to be the voice of the dispatcher. Rosenquist was already famous because home radios could tune into early police radio frequencies. As the first police radio dispatcher presented to the public ear, his was the voice that actors went to when called upon for a radio dispatcher role.
The iconic television series Dragnet, with LAPD Detective Joe Friday as the primary character, was the first major media representation of the department. Real LAPD operations inspired Jack Webb to create the series and close cooperation with department officers let him make it as realistic as possible, including authentic police equipment and sound recording on-site at the police station.
Due to Dragnet's popularity, LAPD Chief Parker became, after J. Edgar Hoover, the most well known and respected law enforcement official in the nation. In the 1960s, when the LAPD under Chief Thomas Reddin expanded its community relations division and began efforts to reach out to the African-American community, Dragnet followed suit with more emphasis on internal affairs and community policing than solving crimes, the show's previous mainstay.
Several prominent representations of the LAPD and its officers in television and film include Adam-12, Blue Streak, Blue Thunder, Boomtown, The Closer, Colors, Crash, Columbo, Dark Blue, Die Hard, End of Watch, Heat, Hollywood Homicide, Hunter, Internal Affairs, Jackie Brown, L.A. Confidential, Lakeview Terrace, Law & Order: Los Angeles, Life, Numb3rs, The Shield, Southland, Speed, Street Kings, SWAT, Training Day and the Lethal Weapon, Rush Hour and Terminator film series. The LAPD is also featured in the video games Midnight Club II, Midnight Club: Los Angeles, L.A. Noire and Call of Juarez: The Cartel.
The LAPD has also been the subject of numerous novels. Elizabeth Linington used the department as her backdrop in three different series written under three different names, perhaps the most popular being those novel featuring Det. Lt. Luis Mendoza, who was introduced in the Edgar-nominated Case Pending. Joseph Wambaugh, the son of a Pittsburgh policeman, spent fourteen years in the department, using his background to write novels with authentic fictional depictions of life in the LAPD. Wambaugh also created the Emmy-winning TV anthology series Police Story. Wambaugh was also a major influence on James Ellroy, who wrote several novels about the Department set during the 1940s and 1950s, the most famous of which are probably The Black Dahlia, fictionalizing the LAPD's most famous cold case, and L.A. Confidential, which was made into a film of the same name. Both the novel and the film chronicled mass-murder and corruption inside and outside the force during the Parker era. Critic Roger Ebert indicates that the film's characters (from the 1950s) represent the choices ahead for the LAPD: assisting Hollywood limelight, aggressive policing with relaxed ethics, and a straight arrow approach.
The Great Gildersleeve: Gildy the Executive / Substitute Secretary / Gildy Tries to Fire Bessie
Aiding and abetting the periodically frantic life in the Gildersleeve home was family cook and housekeeper Birdie Lee Coggins (Lillian Randolph). Although in the first season, under writer Levinson, Birdie was often portrayed as saliently less than bright, she slowly developed as the real brains and caretaker of the household under writers John Whedon, Sam Moore and Andy White. In many of the later episodes Gildersleeve has to acknowledge Birdie's commonsense approach to some of his predicaments. By the early 1950s, Birdie was heavily depended on by the rest of the family in fulfilling many of the functions of the household matriarch, whether it be giving sound advice to an adolescent Leroy or tending Marjorie's children.
By the late 1940s, Marjorie slowly matures to a young woman of marrying age. During the 9th season (September 1949-June 1950) Marjorie meets and marries (May 10) Walter Bronco Thompson (Richard Crenna), star football player at the local college. The event was popular enough that Look devoted five pages in its May 23, 1950 issue to the wedding. After living in the same household for a few years with their twin babies Ronnie and Linda, the newlyweds move next door to keep the expanding Gildersleeve clan close together.
Leroy, aged 10--11 during most of the 1940s, is the all-American boy who grudgingly practices his piano lessons, gets bad report cards, fights with his friends and cannot remember to not slam the door. Although he is loyal to his Uncle Mort, he is always the first to deflate his ego with a well-placed Ha!!! or What a character! Beginning in the Spring of 1949, he finds himself in junior high and is at last allowed to grow up, establishing relationships with the girls in the Bullard home across the street. From an awkward adolescent who hangs his head, kicks the ground and giggles whenever Brenda Knickerbocker comes near, he transforms himself overnight (November 28, 1951) into a more mature young man when Babs Winthrop (both girls played by Barbara Whiting) approaches him about studying together. From then on, he branches out with interests in driving, playing the drums and dreaming of a musical career.