July 4, 2025 • 39 mins
Morgan White Jr. Filled In On NightSide:
We celebrate Independence Day to commemorate the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Did you know its actual signing wasn’t until August? Get the facts on The Fourth, as Morgan chatted with City View Trolley Tour Guide Jack Harte!
Now you can leave feedback as you listen to WBZ NewsRadio on the FREE iHeart Radio app! Just click on the microphone icon in the app, and be sure to set WBZ NewsRadio as your #1 preset!
We celebrate Independence Day to commemorate the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Did you know its actual signing wasn’t until August? Get the facts on The Fourth, as Morgan chatted with City View Trolley Tour Guide Jack Harte!
Now you can leave feedback as you listen to WBZ NewsRadio on the FREE iHeart Radio app! Just click on the microphone icon in the app, and be sure to set WBZ NewsRadio as your #1 preset!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Boston's new radio AERL. Thank you, thank you very much.
And you heard this gentleman about three or four minutes
ago telling you about a compromised vehicle. I love it
when he says that he has a job over at
traffic telling you about the highways and the byways if
(00:22):
they've been compromised. And during the day he drives a
tour bus through Boston and he lets people know that
over there, that's where this happened. Way over there, that's
where that happened. And he will take tips. I know
(00:44):
that was mentioned in the President's big beautiful Bill about tipping.
Jack will take tips.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
To have a basket out right now while I'm on
the radio right here, set them along.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Yeah, well, you know who would love to come by
and leave it. But I'm not going to say a word.
I am going to officially introduce Jack Hart. Whenever I
have a holiday around a broadcast, I try to bring
Jack on to add some historical flavor to the commentary.
And tonight it's no different because we should have celebrated
(01:22):
this day either two days ago or two weeks from now.
And Jack, if you want to explain what I just
said and why that is the case about either the
second of July or a couple of weeks from now.
To the people who are not up on their history.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Well, yeah, the fourth of July being into oh hello,
by the way, it's jack hi. The fourth of July
being the fourth of July. You know, it's a little
bit on the r but prairie side, you know. The
they they they finished the the Committee of five there
(02:05):
finished writing the Declaration of Independence on uh really the
the like the thirtieth of June, the first, and then
it went through a couple of days of editing and things,
and it was trying to sort of finished on the second,
and everybody agreed on it on the second. And but
but I guess every you know it it in those days,
(02:26):
people were moving around on very slow vehicles, and there
were there were no cell phones.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
There was you know, there were no.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
They didn't even have fax machines. I don't even have facts.
Can you imagine that? You know?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
So the uh and you know, and broadcasting was standing
on a roof and yelling, you know they and uh
so so you know so it so it was it's
the whole thing. Everybody agreed on the thing. Actually on
July second. And in the reality of life, it's it's
really even into September that all the signatures were were achieved.
(03:01):
But everybody agree, everybody agreed on it. Within the everybody
was pretty much in accordance with it, all fifty six
signers within within the within the couple.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Of weeks time. But you know, we pick a day.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
It's just like we talk about evacuation Day that on
March seventeenth, the British, you know, left Boston. They left
Boston over the course of a week or so. You know,
you know, it too that long to move that many bodies.
It did take that long to move that many bodies.
And you know, so inas much as the fourth of
July being the fourth of July, it's it's like pick
a day, you know, it's you know, and so that's
(03:35):
what we did. We picked July fourth, and it sounds nicer,
I think, and on July fourth sounds nicer than July second,
you know, happy July second, not as fun, you know,
I agree, July fourth it's one syllable, July fourth, it's
three syllables a July fourth. It's you know, and it's
fourth is forward motion. Fourth is forward motion. So I
(03:58):
think it all worked out for the best. May the
fourth be with you. That's been there, I say it
butchered since the Star Wars movie, exactly right, exactly right,
so the uh so you know, at any rate, So
that's why it's July fourth, and uh you know, let's
you know, people talk about Christmas. If you know, if there,
(04:20):
if there was actually an historical event that can actually
be called Christmas, it was probably in August. But you know,
sometimes it just works out better if you move things
around a little.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
It's who does your pr That's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
And you know they were doing as much pr and
and and and story spinning, uh and so forth as
as even modern day people. That was kind of Sam
Adams's whole job was was sort of spinning, spinning a
situation into something different.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
You know.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
And I've got a question since you brought it up.
It's it's off topic, right. No one has ever answered
this question to my satisfaction. Why the heck is part
of his face on a Sam Adams label?
Speaker 3 (05:05):
The the the picture of Sam Adams on that label
is a composite.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
I think of several people.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
It looks like Paul.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
It looks a little bit like Paul Revere, but not
exactly like Paul Revere, you know. I mean, there's the picture,
the most famous picture of Paul Revere is the one
where he's holding the sort of pewter mugg and he
looks a little bit like Bob Hope, you know, the
and so that's you know. But but Sam Adams is
a is a composite and because Sam himself sam himself,
(05:34):
you know, there's there's the statue of Samuel Adams in
front of Fanuel Hall and and it has him as
this sort of tall, robust, you know figure. And so
he was. He was a brilliant man, but he was
completely in his head. And he was belonged to a
sort of a uh a neo Puritanical group that was
(05:57):
not as exclusionary as the earlier Puritans. But he was
strictly by the Bible, had no decoration, it was not
appearance was not important to him. So he was kind
of short and stout and messy with kind of a
big red face.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
He really was. He really was.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
When they were going down to the Continental Congress, you know,
the second Continental Congress, to put all this together, uh,
he and he and John Hancock were going down together.
They were very good friends. And but but they were
going to ride down in John's cat, which would have
been very nice, and.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Uh, and but.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
John kind of took a look at Sam one day,
and and and then Sam gets a knock at the
door a couple of days later, and a guy comes
in starts measuring the dickens out of his body, and
somebody else comes and starts measuring his head. Somebody else
comes and starts measuring his feet, And a couple of
days later, a steamer trunk shows up with a whole
with several suits of clothing for Sam, because John didn't
(06:53):
want to be.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Seen in public with him the way that he otherwise dressed.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Well, I've got we're focusing on the fourth of July,
and I know it's a little late, but there's still
two hours, well an hour and forty eight minutes left
to call it today, the fourth of July. And this
story I know you know, and I'm setting you up
you are, so you can like I did earlier talking
(07:22):
about the second of July, I know you know the story,
and I want you to share this story with the
Besy night Side listeners. Now. Granted, I'm about to take
a break. So I'm going to give you the break
to compose yourself and tell the story about the two
(07:42):
presidents who both died, if I'm not mistaken. July fourth,
eighteen twenty six six. Yeah, I think you know the
two presidents I'm speaking about. And one of them said
they each knew the other was sick. I had ridden sick,
and one that is so and so still alive because
(08:07):
he wanted to outlive him. And that's the way these
two were.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Yeah, well it was it was something similar to that,
and I will tell the exact quote.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Okay, well we will come back. We will wait till
we come back. If you want to call in six one, seven, two, five, four, ten, thirty, eight, eight,
eight nine to nineteen thirty and Jack, we already have
a caller on hold. Fantastic, But I want to do
this story before I kind of wandered, and anyone who
(08:38):
wants to join one call run hold. Do so. Time
and temperature ten point fifteen seventy two degrees.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Morgan here, I'm filling in for Dan. Dan. We'll be
back on the fourteenth of July next week. Bradley. Bradley,
Jay will be here Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. I'll be here Thursday, Friday,
and the following Monday, the fourteenth of July. Halfway through
the month, Dan, we'll be back. Now. My guests between
(09:19):
now and midnight will be Jack Hart Hi with an
E at the end of his name, and Jack tell
the story that we teased about, and then we'll take
phone calls. The uh.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Well, you talked about two presidents dying on the same day,
the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and it
was John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. They had been you know,
they had an interesting relationship over the course of time.
They were they were very close friends in the days
(09:49):
leading up to the declaration of Independence and kind of
became rivals, and that became rivals once they became presidents.
By the time they the election of eighteen hundred, they
had been well. They differed in philosophy as to whether
(10:10):
John Adams was very much for centralized government. He wanted
a big sort of federal government, whereas Jefferson was more
interested in sort of smaller state run government, you know,
sort of decentralized power. So that was a big drift
between them. But also I think they had a little
(10:30):
bit of, you know, some ego stuff going on. Jefferson
was a number of years younger, seven or eight years
younger than Adams, but they had, you know, they had
a basic rivalry in general. But then after they had
both been president for a while and by the time
they were both in their well by the time Jefferson
was in his late sixties and maybe Adams was in
(10:55):
his mid seventies or so, they finally made up again degree,
you know, and I think they kept up a correspondence,
but both were sick at the same time.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
They both knew each other was sick.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
And what it was was that and Jefferson had actually
died earlier in the day and and his was his
last words were, no doctor, I think that will be enough,
you know, or you know, however he would have tone.
So but of course there was no way to get
word to John Adams by you know, quickly enough. So
(11:29):
several hours later, and so Jefferson was about eighty three
and Adams was just about ninety, I think, and he
was dying. He and several hours later he actually died.
What he said was Jefferson lives and thinking that his
you know, sort of frenem me as he's been they've
(11:50):
also been got a good word, were thinking that he
would still at least carry on the memory of that time.
There was some of the last of that era you know,
of course by that time. So yeah, those are the
two who Now, those are the two who they did
die on the same day. And it's you know, not
you know, it's it's interesting because in many instances, like
(12:12):
for instance, in South Boston and the old one, when
South Boston was still largely an Irish neighborhood and things,
oftentimes there would be a spike in deaths after, you know,
a few days after Saint Patrick's Day or another community's
different religious communities and things, a spike after one of
the big holidays, after Easter or you know, you know,
(12:33):
so it's it's almost as if perhaps they they clung
on to, you know, just to get to that fiftieth
anniversary mark and you know, and then finally kicked it.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
You know, Well now that we've I told people you're
here for history. Yeah, and that's just one of many
historical references that go through the July fourth holiday. Yeah,
we here in America celebrate let me take the call.
(13:04):
Who was the first to call from Groveland, Florence Lawrence,
Hello Florence.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
Hello Florence, good evening, Happy fourth Morgan and Nancy, thank
you and happy.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
For jacky fourth of July to Florence.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
Yeah. And since you're talking about history, I think I
might have already told you I have on my father's
side and this is back in the eighteen hundreds in
my ancestry. Plus I heard about it in the family
(13:48):
that we are related to Franklin Pierce, who was the
fourteenth president. I mentioned it on Danbray so.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Before.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
Yeah, and Dan had somebody call in that wanted to
get in touch with me and was going to call back.
And then the person didn't call back, and Dan let
me know and he believed it might have been someone related. Okay, okay,
(14:28):
And yeah, so something else I wanted to mention. You know, ships,
the tall ships, the beautiful ships, that's what I love. Okay,
I have a love for the old ships, sailing ships.
(14:50):
And I was gonna say, and my ancestry, I have
my great great grandfather, second great grandfather. I found out.
I never knew why I loved the ships so much,
(15:13):
but my second great grandfather was a sea captain from
Nova Scotia, and and that kind of blooming away because
I said to the person doing you know, reading my
(15:35):
ancestry infro to me, wow, you know, evidently that might
be where my love of the ships came from. You know, yeah,
it's the possibility. Yeah, I wanted to see what you
thought of that, Jack.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
I think that's entirely I think that's entirely possible. I
think that we you know, we we are influenced by
the things that have come down to us, you know.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
Through history, well, the family, the genes in our family,
you know, yeah, yeah, And have you live checked that
out yourself? Check history?
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I have not.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
I have not checked out too deeply. One of my brothers,
my brother, my only brother. I have the four sisters
and a brother. But so my brother has done a
little bit of checking on it, and a couple of
cousins have over the course of time. And you know, mostly,
you know, most of my relatives coming over here were
you know, scallow wags, uh and so forth, you know,
(16:44):
coming in. So you know, that's I guess that's why
that's that's what happened to me.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
But you know, so did any Yeah, did any come
from what? Perhaps Ireland?
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Oh yeah, they they they they all they were all
from Ireland. Yeah, three of them came over from Three
of my grandparents came over directly from Ireland and my grandmother.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Okay, her father.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Got out of.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Ireland somehow or another through Scotland. Were not exactly sure why,
but I ended up in Prince Edwin Island and my
grandmother grew up, as you know, growing potatoes up in Pei.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
And came in.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Yeah, because it's fabulous when you go checking and you're
astonished by what you find out, it's amazing, just amazing, imagine. Yeah, yeah,
I loved it. And the person one to keep going said, though,
(17:46):
we can go back now to the seventeen hundreds, and
I said, wait a minute. I got to try and
you know, get myself acclimated to what I've very heard. Sure,
you know, think about it and wow, yeah you know.
So yeah, it's you know, it's it's and it's all
(18:11):
very real. You know when you've heard about it, it's
I mean, it's a true fact. Absolutely did yell, They're
in our history, you know, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
It all comes down to you and it all Yeah,
that's these these where we all came from somewhere and
they were all real people who you know, our ancestors
were all real people, whether they were fascinating people, whether
it was you know, the King of England or or
you know, or a ditch digger.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Right now, Florence than Florence. I hate to do it,
but I've got a quick news hit to take, so
I have to wave goodbye.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
Yes, yes, I know.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Thank you for being the first call. I was a
pleasure Forlorence.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
Yes, and thank you for letting me know that Jack
would be on.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Thank you, no, no problem. Right now you're getting and
when we come back, Jack, I'm going to tell you
a little bit about my grandfather because he had an
unusual job in his day. We're talking the nineteen twenties,
and I'll tell you about that after these messages and
news Here on Nightside time and temperature ten thirty it's
(19:20):
going down sixty nine degrees. It's night Side with Dan
Ray on Boston's news radio. I stepped on his line.
Welcome back. Jack cart and I are just reminiscing about
Fourth of July stories and if you missed us talking
(19:41):
about presidents who died on the same day, look it up.
July fourth, eighteen twenty six might surprise you if you
hadn't already heard the story. But now you and I
Jack are going to San Francisco and speak to David. David,
Happy fourth of July.
Speaker 5 (20:00):
Right, Thank you, Morgan, send to you and send to
all your listeners as total Americans. And before I go,
I got a question for you, anyhow. First I want
to say hello to Morgan White Junior, and Jack Hart
and Nancy and uh uh Gregg and uh Tony and
(20:21):
Ohio and Glenn and uh right, and anyhow, what I
do I want to say was, uh, you know Abigail
Adams was married to John Adams, and uh yes, and
uh he was our first John was our first vice
(20:42):
president and our second president. That made Abagail Adams our
first second lady and our second first lady.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
I don't think anyone ever thought of that.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
Well, yeah, it's a little poetry there, and let me
throw it at the adjective the third in Okay, Okay, John,
John and I have a Yeah, we're third cousins.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
I have heard that.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
I have read that. Well, that's part of history. And
and then this is such a great show. And Morgan,
next week you have an author to Tonuda. Yes, yeah,
she's she was one of my favorites.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
That's tomorrow, not next week, that's tomorrow, tomorrow.
Speaker 5 (21:25):
Excuse me. Yeah, she was one of my favorites, and
I kind of had a crush on her for a
couple of years. But she was just a great comedian
and I like the way she put men in her place.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
So I was, uh, should be that's going to be
the first hour tomorrow, Judy Juda Okay, no, no, not Judy,
she's fast on. I was thinking again, but that discussion
will be at nine o'clock and tomorrow is my last
nine o'clock hour.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
Yeah, I know, on the twelfth.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
And until further notice, I'll start at ten and end
at twelve.
Speaker 5 (22:01):
Sony, I'm more than you want that question.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Let's hear it.
Speaker 5 (22:05):
Well, you saw the first Godfather movie, right, Okay? Remember
the very first scene in the movie where the Godfather
was playing with a kitty cat? Yes, what was the
cat's name?
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Brando?
Speaker 5 (22:19):
Exactly, very good man.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
I mentioned that last night when I was on with Joyce.
Speaker 5 (22:28):
I did hear you last night, but I, uh yeah,
I found the cat in the parking lot of the
studio and the director Coppola decided to put it in
the movie. So but it throve the sound man crazy
because it was purring so much. And and uh, that's
what And I really can't wait to uh to listen
(22:50):
and talk with Bradley Jay on Monday.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Well you have a good time. He's he's back in
the fold.
Speaker 5 (22:57):
Yes. Uh. His guest is.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Peter, oh, Peter, yeah, yes, yeah.
Speaker 5 (23:09):
What was He was an amazing performer. He's all over
the stage. And somebody did a study on him how
much he traveled on stage and they said, as it's
like twenty five miles on one show. Yeah, well, I
don't know how they figure that out.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
But I don't know, I don't know if that's accurate.
It might have been twenty five miles a month, or
I can't.
Speaker 5 (23:33):
See it was twenty five miles a show. Yeah, he
was all over the place all the time.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
I reserve agreeing with that.
Speaker 5 (23:43):
Yeah, okay, I want to ask you, yeah, because that's
like a that's like a marathon. Yes, it is twenty
six point two, right.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
But well, you know a mile is five hundred and
eighty feet. Yeah, you multiply that times twenty five. That's
a lot of in one one two hour show. That's
a lot of moving around.
Speaker 5 (24:12):
Yeah. Do you know that he was married to Say
don't know why?
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Yes, I did.
Speaker 5 (24:17):
Yep, they separated in nineteen seventy nine. I mean, thank
you so much for taking my call on you too, Jack,
very well. I just wanted to throw in maya two
cents worth for the holiday.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
You're very welcome. David.
Speaker 5 (24:30):
I'll probably call you tomorrow light.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Yeah, and tomorrow is a different show, so you're allowed
to call back.
Speaker 5 (24:37):
Yeah, sure enough. Okay, buddy, God bless shaw.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
God bless you too, David.
Speaker 5 (24:41):
Bye bye, Thank you boy.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
All right, anyone else you want to share some history
you know about the fourth of July in any way,
shape or form, give us a call six one, seven, two, five, four,
ten thirty or eight eight eight nine to nineteen thirty
and Jack, I got about four minutes before I have
to take another break. Do you have another tidbit to share?
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Let's see, tidbits just went out of my head there
thinking about Fay Dunaway and Peter Wolf.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Yeah, they were big items. I think they lived over
in you know, the Potential Center. It's big tall building,
the Prudential Building. There are a couple of apartment complexes
over there, and they lived in one of those apartment complexes.
And every now and then you'd see a photo of
the two of them on the heralds not necessarily the globe,
(25:36):
but the Herald would show a photo of them. They
would they would yep, yep, all right. So I have
another July fourth story, speaking of the potential. A lot
of people used to go before after feed we passed on.
(26:02):
The concert on the Esplanade wasn't super duper popular, and
a lot of people would go up to the skywalk
and bring binoculars or telescope and check out the fireworks.
But they had to stop it because too many people
(26:22):
were doing that. Yeah, do you recall the hub ub
no pun intended over that happening?
Speaker 3 (26:30):
I do, I do the and it was it was
just I do. It was, But then all things kind
of change. I think it was in nineteen seventy six,
I think it was, and that's when Ugar kind of
took over. Yes, the production I had some and you know,
(26:50):
someone I was just communicating with somebody who was up
on the Prudential Tower in those days as well, and
you know, and talked about that because that's where we
used to do traffic reports.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Frump there right.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
But back in the nineteen eighties I worked at City Hall.
I worked in one of the Mayor's offices, and there
was a there were two fireworks in nineteen two sets
of fireworks in nineteen eighty three. One was the typical
one of the fourth over the over the Charles River,
but the other one was on the second over Boston Harbor,
(27:22):
and there was a there was a photographer coming in
to do some tourism photographs, photography and so the and
I was a driver in one of the mayor's one
of the mayor's offices, but they needed a security person
up there. So somebody in the communications office knew that
I liked photography and arranged it so I could be
(27:44):
the security person up there. And this photographer taught me
a few things about photographing fireworks. So on the second
of July I was up on the roof of City
Hall with a Myke camera clamped to a lightning lot
of all things well, I got not only great pictures
(28:05):
of the fireworks, but looking back many years later, I've
also got great pictures of the Central Artery and the
old North Church and a number of other things Boston
and nineteen eighty three from the roof of City Hall
and kind of a fascinating group of photographs.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
And in a similar story, there were a couple of
years and I forget how I heard about it, but
I went over to the Museum of Science and they normally,
you know, they're hours and around seven thirty eight o'clock. Yep,
So the parking lot wasn't crowded. And the two years
(28:44):
I went up there, perfect view, perfect circumstance. But then
all of a sudden, somebody told somebody, who told somebody,
who told somebody, and you had a traffic jam up there. Ye, people,
and you and I when we were at eleven seventy
(29:09):
Soldi's Field Road. The cafeteria up there had a deck
and that was a good place to watch the fireworks,
and I never did that. I did that on a
couple of occasions, and I was on the air for
one of them. Yeah, but you know, I run up
(29:32):
there or take the elevator one floor and watched during
a newscast and had to run back down six minutes later.
But it was nice to see it from that viewpoint.
And now I'm at the time to take a break
So if you're out there you have a story you
(29:52):
want to share about the Fourth of July around or
through a political individual or your own person observations six one, seven, two, five, four,
ten thirty or eight eight, eight, nine, two, nine, ten thirty,
give us a call. Please time at temperature ten forty
five sixty nine degrees.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ in Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Dan Ray's off. He'll be back on the fourteenth of July,
which means he's off all next week. If you haven't
heard the news, Bradley Jay is back within the folds
of WBZ broadcast Thursday. He'll be here filling in for
Nightside on Monday and Tuesday, on Wednesday as well, I
Morgan Mike Junior will be here next Thursday and Friday,
(30:43):
and as well my own show, The Morgan Show on
Saturday nights. And up for another roughly hour and ten minutes,
Jack Hartndeyer trying to keep you interested in facts about
the Fourth of July, through politics, through just everyday circumstances.
(31:05):
And I know people listening right now are leaving the
esunaut very very slowly. How was it tonight you're listening
on the radio, give us a call, give us your
opinion of how the evening's entertainment went. Did you go
(31:26):
ooh and I every time there was a burst of
a firework over your head. And I know some people
listening right now are Nightside fans, and Jack, I don't
think you heard me when I first got on the
air at eight seven, eighth eight whatever, and I said,
I want all the people listening right now tonight Side
(31:50):
on the counter three to yell out Nightside. And I'm
wondering how many people actually did. So you knew you
weren't alone out there among of one hundred thousand people. Sure. Absolutely,
And I have a story if you don't have another
one handy that might kill about three or four minutes.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
If you want, I've got I've got plenty of stuff.
But I know you wanted to talk about one of
your relatives, about your grandfather.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Oh yeah, thank you for reminding me. My grandfather worked
on the ocean liner the SS United States. He was
a steward and he divorced my grandmother when my mother
(32:41):
and my aunt were like eight, nine, ten years old.
And he would bring home periodically and little things from
the ship like silverware, or a towel or whatever, because
if you're a steward, you have access to those things.
(33:02):
Not a lot, but just to to share with his family. Sure,
and it reminded me of a story. My grandmother had it.
And I've told this story in the year before she
had it. What is it that ability beyond normal everyday circumstances,
(33:31):
A second sight? Oh, kind of an eerie thing. I see.
She definitely had it, and she impressed me a lot
of times with what she could do that involved me
and telling me what I did, what I did that.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Night, I see. But she had eyes on the back
of her head.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Yes, I see. And he told her I'll be getting
in Thursday. As an example, he got in Wednesday. My
grandmother just had a feeling. He's in Boston now, and
(34:20):
I forget what they call it now. It used to
be the National Theater in between Stremont Street crossing Clarington
and Berkeley. In that block that was a National Theater.
It's some sort of hoopy do thing now. But anyway,
(34:41):
she walked. They lived on Northampton Street, Northampton and Mass
Avenue and then West Springfield, all about another seven blocks
to the theater. She didn't know she just had a feeling.
She walked those seventy eight nine blocks get to the
(35:05):
ticket taker. Ticket taker said that'll be fifty cents or
whatever it was in that era. And my grandmother said,
I'm just here to get my husband. And the ticket
taker must have seen the situation in the past. Lady,
go right ahead. She goes in, goes up to the balcony.
(35:32):
In those days, they let you sit in the balcony,
went right to the seat where he was. Did not know,
had no idea he'd be sitting in the fifth row
of five seats in Jimmy, that was his name. Time
(35:53):
to come home. He was there with another woman, and
I mean, what could he do? He was bagged. Yeah,
he got up and walked out with my grandmother. Wow,
what happened to and and I guess the young lady
watched the second film? But he said the popcord? Who
(36:16):
told you I was here? And she said, no one.
And he just shook his head because he knew my
grandmother had that sixth sense.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Isn't that crazy?
Speaker 1 (36:29):
And that and that is a true story because my
mother verified it. Yeah that happened. Wow. Wow.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
I think that people have certain connections to each other.
And yeah, and they and the and they just have
a have a knowledge and a connection and and just
have an idea as to what's going on with somebody remotely.
Think it's just I think that's how how people end
up and you know, connected to each other because they
have that sort of feeling.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
Well, I've never had it with anyone else, that the
power that my grandmother displayed. And I'll tell you a
real quick story since we only have about a minute
and a half before I have to take a hoose break,
There'll be a perfect amount of time for this. The
(37:16):
night my grandmother passed away in our home, we had
made the living room her bedroom, I see, so she
wouldn't have to go upstairs anymore. Yeah, she's passed away.
We call the police and the ambulance people, and we
(37:38):
have a front door and a screen door, and we
let the door, oh stay open, so the police could
come and go and the ambulance people could come and go.
We had a burglar alarm on the door, and the
(37:58):
burglar alarm kept beeping because the door is open. And Jack,
I'm the witness this actually happened. The police officer was
trying to shut the alarm off because it was an
(38:19):
annoying noise. He said, what's the code. I gave the code.
He pushed the number in didn't turn off the alarm.
They tried everything, including pulling the wires.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
No kidna, it wouldn't shut it off.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
And eventually it just went and faded out. No, kidd
and I just knew that was my grandmother saying goodbye. Absolutely,
I just knew. There's no way anybody these years later
(38:58):
that was nineteen ninety six or seven. You can't convince
me that wasn't the case.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Oh absolutely not.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
No, that uh yeah, that that was definitely your That
was definitely if your grandmother had that kind of ability
to hear and see things, then she could get that
thing to ring.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
All right, people, we've got another hour to go. I've
got some more Fourth of July stories. I hope you
do too. Give me a call, Give Jack a call.
We're here waiting six one, seven, two, five, four ten
thirty or eight eight, eight nine, two nine ten thirty.
Time and temperature here on night side ten fifty eight
sixty nine degrees
Boston's new radio AERL. Thank you, thank you very much.
And you heard this gentleman about three or four minutes
ago telling you about a compromised vehicle. I love it
when he says that he has a job over at
traffic telling you about the highways and the byways if
(00:22):
they've been compromised. And during the day he drives a
tour bus through Boston and he lets people know that
over there, that's where this happened. Way over there, that's
where that happened. And he will take tips. I know
(00:44):
that was mentioned in the President's big beautiful Bill about tipping.
Jack will take tips.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
To have a basket out right now while I'm on
the radio right here, set them along.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Yeah, well, you know who would love to come by
and leave it. But I'm not going to say a word.
I am going to officially introduce Jack Hart. Whenever I
have a holiday around a broadcast, I try to bring
Jack on to add some historical flavor to the commentary.
And tonight it's no different because we should have celebrated
(01:22):
this day either two days ago or two weeks from now.
And Jack, if you want to explain what I just
said and why that is the case about either the
second of July or a couple of weeks from now.
To the people who are not up on their history.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Well, yeah, the fourth of July being into oh hello,
by the way, it's jack hi. The fourth of July
being the fourth of July. You know, it's a little
bit on the r but prairie side, you know. The
they they they finished the the Committee of five there
(02:05):
finished writing the Declaration of Independence on uh really the
the like the thirtieth of June, the first, and then
it went through a couple of days of editing and things,
and it was trying to sort of finished on the second,
and everybody agreed on it on the second. And but
but I guess every you know it it in those days,
(02:26):
people were moving around on very slow vehicles, and there
were there were no cell phones.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
There was you know, there were no.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
They didn't even have fax machines. I don't even have facts.
Can you imagine that? You know?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
So the uh and you know, and broadcasting was standing
on a roof and yelling, you know they and uh
so so you know so it so it was it's
the whole thing. Everybody agreed on the thing. Actually on
July second. And in the reality of life, it's it's
really even into September that all the signatures were were achieved.
(03:01):
But everybody agree, everybody agreed on it. Within the everybody
was pretty much in accordance with it, all fifty six
signers within within the within the couple.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Of weeks time. But you know, we pick a day.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
It's just like we talk about evacuation Day that on
March seventeenth, the British, you know, left Boston. They left
Boston over the course of a week or so. You know,
you know, it too that long to move that many bodies.
It did take that long to move that many bodies.
And you know, so inas much as the fourth of
July being the fourth of July, it's it's like pick
a day, you know, it's you know, and so that's
(03:35):
what we did. We picked July fourth, and it sounds nicer,
I think, and on July fourth sounds nicer than July second,
you know, happy July second, not as fun, you know,
I agree, July fourth it's one syllable, July fourth, it's
three syllables a July fourth. It's you know, and it's
fourth is forward motion. Fourth is forward motion. So I
(03:58):
think it all worked out for the best. May the
fourth be with you. That's been there, I say it
butchered since the Star Wars movie, exactly right, exactly right,
so the uh so you know, at any rate, So
that's why it's July fourth, and uh you know, let's
you know, people talk about Christmas. If you know, if there,
(04:20):
if there was actually an historical event that can actually
be called Christmas, it was probably in August. But you know,
sometimes it just works out better if you move things
around a little.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
It's who does your pr That's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
And you know they were doing as much pr and
and and and story spinning, uh and so forth as
as even modern day people. That was kind of Sam
Adams's whole job was was sort of spinning, spinning a
situation into something different.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
You know.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
And I've got a question since you brought it up.
It's it's off topic, right. No one has ever answered
this question to my satisfaction. Why the heck is part
of his face on a Sam Adams label?
Speaker 3 (05:05):
The the the picture of Sam Adams on that label
is a composite.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
I think of several people.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
It looks like Paul.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
It looks a little bit like Paul Revere, but not
exactly like Paul Revere, you know. I mean, there's the picture,
the most famous picture of Paul Revere is the one
where he's holding the sort of pewter mugg and he
looks a little bit like Bob Hope, you know, the
and so that's you know. But but Sam Adams is
a is a composite and because Sam himself sam himself,
(05:34):
you know, there's there's the statue of Samuel Adams in
front of Fanuel Hall and and it has him as
this sort of tall, robust, you know figure. And so
he was. He was a brilliant man, but he was
completely in his head. And he was belonged to a
sort of a uh a neo Puritanical group that was
(05:57):
not as exclusionary as the earlier Puritans. But he was
strictly by the Bible, had no decoration, it was not
appearance was not important to him. So he was kind
of short and stout and messy with kind of a
big red face.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
He really was. He really was.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
When they were going down to the Continental Congress, you know,
the second Continental Congress, to put all this together, uh,
he and he and John Hancock were going down together.
They were very good friends. And but but they were
going to ride down in John's cat, which would have
been very nice, and.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Uh, and but.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
John kind of took a look at Sam one day,
and and and then Sam gets a knock at the
door a couple of days later, and a guy comes
in starts measuring the dickens out of his body, and
somebody else comes and starts measuring his head. Somebody else
comes and starts measuring his feet, And a couple of
days later, a steamer trunk shows up with a whole
with several suits of clothing for Sam, because John didn't
(06:53):
want to be.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Seen in public with him the way that he otherwise dressed.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Well, I've got we're focusing on the fourth of July,
and I know it's a little late, but there's still
two hours, well an hour and forty eight minutes left
to call it today, the fourth of July. And this
story I know you know, and I'm setting you up
you are, so you can like I did earlier talking
(07:22):
about the second of July, I know you know the story,
and I want you to share this story with the
Besy night Side listeners. Now. Granted, I'm about to take
a break. So I'm going to give you the break
to compose yourself and tell the story about the two
(07:42):
presidents who both died, if I'm not mistaken. July fourth,
eighteen twenty six six. Yeah, I think you know the
two presidents I'm speaking about. And one of them said
they each knew the other was sick. I had ridden sick,
and one that is so and so still alive because
(08:07):
he wanted to outlive him. And that's the way these
two were.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Yeah, well it was it was something similar to that,
and I will tell the exact quote.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Okay, well we will come back. We will wait till
we come back. If you want to call in six one, seven, two, five, four, ten, thirty, eight, eight,
eight nine to nineteen thirty and Jack, we already have
a caller on hold. Fantastic, But I want to do
this story before I kind of wandered, and anyone who
(08:38):
wants to join one call run hold. Do so. Time
and temperature ten point fifteen seventy two degrees.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Morgan here, I'm filling in for Dan. Dan. We'll be
back on the fourteenth of July next week. Bradley. Bradley,
Jay will be here Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. I'll be here Thursday, Friday,
and the following Monday, the fourteenth of July. Halfway through
the month, Dan, we'll be back. Now. My guests between
(09:19):
now and midnight will be Jack Hart Hi with an
E at the end of his name, and Jack tell
the story that we teased about, and then we'll take
phone calls. The uh.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Well, you talked about two presidents dying on the same day,
the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and it
was John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. They had been you know,
they had an interesting relationship over the course of time.
They were they were very close friends in the days
(09:49):
leading up to the declaration of Independence and kind of
became rivals, and that became rivals once they became presidents.
By the time they the election of eighteen hundred, they
had been well. They differed in philosophy as to whether
(10:10):
John Adams was very much for centralized government. He wanted
a big sort of federal government, whereas Jefferson was more
interested in sort of smaller state run government, you know,
sort of decentralized power. So that was a big drift
between them. But also I think they had a little
(10:30):
bit of, you know, some ego stuff going on. Jefferson
was a number of years younger, seven or eight years
younger than Adams, but they had, you know, they had
a basic rivalry in general. But then after they had
both been president for a while and by the time
they were both in their well by the time Jefferson
was in his late sixties and maybe Adams was in
(10:55):
his mid seventies or so, they finally made up again degree,
you know, and I think they kept up a correspondence,
but both were sick at the same time.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
They both knew each other was sick.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
And what it was was that and Jefferson had actually
died earlier in the day and and his was his
last words were, no doctor, I think that will be enough,
you know, or you know, however he would have tone.
So but of course there was no way to get
word to John Adams by you know, quickly enough. So
(11:29):
several hours later, and so Jefferson was about eighty three
and Adams was just about ninety, I think, and he
was dying. He and several hours later he actually died.
What he said was Jefferson lives and thinking that his
you know, sort of frenem me as he's been they've
(11:50):
also been got a good word, were thinking that he
would still at least carry on the memory of that time.
There was some of the last of that era you know,
of course by that time. So yeah, those are the
two who Now, those are the two who they did
die on the same day. And it's you know, not
you know, it's it's interesting because in many instances, like
(12:12):
for instance, in South Boston and the old one, when
South Boston was still largely an Irish neighborhood and things,
oftentimes there would be a spike in deaths after, you know,
a few days after Saint Patrick's Day or another community's
different religious communities and things, a spike after one of
the big holidays, after Easter or you know, you know,
(12:33):
so it's it's almost as if perhaps they they clung
on to, you know, just to get to that fiftieth
anniversary mark and you know, and then finally kicked it.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
You know, Well now that we've I told people you're
here for history. Yeah, and that's just one of many
historical references that go through the July fourth holiday. Yeah,
we here in America celebrate let me take the call.
(13:04):
Who was the first to call from Groveland, Florence Lawrence,
Hello Florence.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
Hello Florence, good evening, Happy fourth Morgan and Nancy, thank
you and happy.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
For jacky fourth of July to Florence.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
Yeah. And since you're talking about history, I think I
might have already told you I have on my father's
side and this is back in the eighteen hundreds in
my ancestry. Plus I heard about it in the family
(13:48):
that we are related to Franklin Pierce, who was the
fourteenth president. I mentioned it on Danbray so.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Before.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
Yeah, and Dan had somebody call in that wanted to
get in touch with me and was going to call back.
And then the person didn't call back, and Dan let
me know and he believed it might have been someone related. Okay, okay,
(14:28):
And yeah, so something else I wanted to mention. You know, ships,
the tall ships, the beautiful ships, that's what I love. Okay,
I have a love for the old ships, sailing ships.
(14:50):
And I was gonna say, and my ancestry, I have
my great great grandfather, second great grandfather. I found out.
I never knew why I loved the ships so much,
(15:13):
but my second great grandfather was a sea captain from
Nova Scotia, and and that kind of blooming away because
I said to the person doing you know, reading my
(15:35):
ancestry infro to me, wow, you know, evidently that might
be where my love of the ships came from. You know, yeah,
it's the possibility. Yeah, I wanted to see what you
thought of that, Jack.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
I think that's entirely I think that's entirely possible. I
think that we you know, we we are influenced by
the things that have come down to us, you know.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
Through history, well, the family, the genes in our family,
you know, yeah, yeah, And have you live checked that
out yourself? Check history?
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I have not.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
I have not checked out too deeply. One of my brothers,
my brother, my only brother. I have the four sisters
and a brother. But so my brother has done a
little bit of checking on it, and a couple of
cousins have over the course of time. And you know, mostly,
you know, most of my relatives coming over here were
you know, scallow wags, uh and so forth, you know,
(16:44):
coming in. So you know, that's I guess that's why
that's that's what happened to me.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
But you know, so did any Yeah, did any come
from what? Perhaps Ireland?
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Oh yeah, they they they they all they were all
from Ireland. Yeah, three of them came over from Three
of my grandparents came over directly from Ireland and my grandmother.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Okay, her father.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Got out of.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Ireland somehow or another through Scotland. Were not exactly sure why,
but I ended up in Prince Edwin Island and my
grandmother grew up, as you know, growing potatoes up in Pei.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
And came in.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Yeah, because it's fabulous when you go checking and you're
astonished by what you find out, it's amazing, just amazing, imagine. Yeah, yeah,
I loved it. And the person one to keep going said, though,
(17:46):
we can go back now to the seventeen hundreds, and
I said, wait a minute. I got to try and
you know, get myself acclimated to what I've very heard. Sure,
you know, think about it and wow, yeah you know.
So yeah, it's you know, it's it's and it's all
(18:11):
very real. You know when you've heard about it, it's
I mean, it's a true fact. Absolutely did yell, They're
in our history, you know, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
It all comes down to you and it all Yeah,
that's these these where we all came from somewhere and
they were all real people who you know, our ancestors
were all real people, whether they were fascinating people, whether
it was you know, the King of England or or
you know, or a ditch digger.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Right now, Florence than Florence. I hate to do it,
but I've got a quick news hit to take, so
I have to wave goodbye.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
Yes, yes, I know.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Thank you for being the first call. I was a
pleasure Forlorence.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
Yes, and thank you for letting me know that Jack
would be on.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Thank you, no, no problem. Right now you're getting and
when we come back, Jack, I'm going to tell you
a little bit about my grandfather because he had an
unusual job in his day. We're talking the nineteen twenties,
and I'll tell you about that after these messages and
news Here on Nightside time and temperature ten thirty it's
(19:20):
going down sixty nine degrees. It's night Side with Dan
Ray on Boston's news radio. I stepped on his line.
Welcome back. Jack cart and I are just reminiscing about
Fourth of July stories and if you missed us talking
(19:41):
about presidents who died on the same day, look it up.
July fourth, eighteen twenty six might surprise you if you
hadn't already heard the story. But now you and I
Jack are going to San Francisco and speak to David. David,
Happy fourth of July.
Speaker 5 (20:00):
Right, Thank you, Morgan, send to you and send to
all your listeners as total Americans. And before I go,
I got a question for you, anyhow. First I want
to say hello to Morgan White Junior, and Jack Hart
and Nancy and uh uh Gregg and uh Tony and
(20:21):
Ohio and Glenn and uh right, and anyhow, what I
do I want to say was, uh, you know Abigail
Adams was married to John Adams, and uh yes, and
uh he was our first John was our first vice
(20:42):
president and our second president. That made Abagail Adams our
first second lady and our second first lady.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
I don't think anyone ever thought of that.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
Well, yeah, it's a little poetry there, and let me
throw it at the adjective the third in Okay, Okay, John,
John and I have a Yeah, we're third cousins.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
I have heard that.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
I have read that. Well, that's part of history. And
and then this is such a great show. And Morgan,
next week you have an author to Tonuda. Yes, yeah,
she's she was one of my favorites.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
That's tomorrow, not next week, that's tomorrow, tomorrow.
Speaker 5 (21:25):
Excuse me. Yeah, she was one of my favorites, and
I kind of had a crush on her for a
couple of years. But she was just a great comedian
and I like the way she put men in her place.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
So I was, uh, should be that's going to be
the first hour tomorrow, Judy Juda Okay, no, no, not Judy,
she's fast on. I was thinking again, but that discussion
will be at nine o'clock and tomorrow is my last
nine o'clock hour.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
Yeah, I know, on the twelfth.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
And until further notice, I'll start at ten and end
at twelve.
Speaker 5 (22:01):
Sony, I'm more than you want that question.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Let's hear it.
Speaker 5 (22:05):
Well, you saw the first Godfather movie, right, Okay? Remember
the very first scene in the movie where the Godfather
was playing with a kitty cat? Yes, what was the
cat's name?
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Brando?
Speaker 5 (22:19):
Exactly, very good man.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
I mentioned that last night when I was on with Joyce.
Speaker 5 (22:28):
I did hear you last night, but I, uh yeah,
I found the cat in the parking lot of the
studio and the director Coppola decided to put it in
the movie. So but it throve the sound man crazy
because it was purring so much. And and uh, that's
what And I really can't wait to uh to listen
(22:50):
and talk with Bradley Jay on Monday.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Well you have a good time. He's he's back in
the fold.
Speaker 5 (22:57):
Yes. Uh. His guest is.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Peter, oh, Peter, yeah, yes, yeah.
Speaker 5 (23:09):
What was He was an amazing performer. He's all over
the stage. And somebody did a study on him how
much he traveled on stage and they said, as it's
like twenty five miles on one show. Yeah, well, I
don't know how they figure that out.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
But I don't know, I don't know if that's accurate.
It might have been twenty five miles a month, or
I can't.
Speaker 5 (23:33):
See it was twenty five miles a show. Yeah, he
was all over the place all the time.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
I reserve agreeing with that.
Speaker 5 (23:43):
Yeah, okay, I want to ask you, yeah, because that's
like a that's like a marathon. Yes, it is twenty
six point two, right.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
But well, you know a mile is five hundred and
eighty feet. Yeah, you multiply that times twenty five. That's
a lot of in one one two hour show. That's
a lot of moving around.
Speaker 5 (24:12):
Yeah. Do you know that he was married to Say
don't know why?
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Yes, I did.
Speaker 5 (24:17):
Yep, they separated in nineteen seventy nine. I mean, thank
you so much for taking my call on you too, Jack,
very well. I just wanted to throw in maya two
cents worth for the holiday.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
You're very welcome. David.
Speaker 5 (24:30):
I'll probably call you tomorrow light.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Yeah, and tomorrow is a different show, so you're allowed
to call back.
Speaker 5 (24:37):
Yeah, sure enough. Okay, buddy, God bless shaw.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
God bless you too, David.
Speaker 5 (24:41):
Bye bye, Thank you boy.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
All right, anyone else you want to share some history
you know about the fourth of July in any way,
shape or form, give us a call six one, seven, two, five, four,
ten thirty or eight eight eight nine to nineteen thirty
and Jack, I got about four minutes before I have
to take another break. Do you have another tidbit to share?
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Let's see, tidbits just went out of my head there
thinking about Fay Dunaway and Peter Wolf.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Yeah, they were big items. I think they lived over
in you know, the Potential Center. It's big tall building,
the Prudential Building. There are a couple of apartment complexes
over there, and they lived in one of those apartment complexes.
And every now and then you'd see a photo of
the two of them on the heralds not necessarily the globe,
(25:36):
but the Herald would show a photo of them. They
would they would yep, yep, all right. So I have
another July fourth story, speaking of the potential. A lot
of people used to go before after feed we passed on.
(26:02):
The concert on the Esplanade wasn't super duper popular, and
a lot of people would go up to the skywalk
and bring binoculars or telescope and check out the fireworks.
But they had to stop it because too many people
(26:22):
were doing that. Yeah, do you recall the hub ub
no pun intended over that happening?
Speaker 3 (26:30):
I do, I do the and it was it was
just I do. It was, But then all things kind
of change. I think it was in nineteen seventy six,
I think it was, and that's when Ugar kind of
took over. Yes, the production I had some and you know,
(26:50):
someone I was just communicating with somebody who was up
on the Prudential Tower in those days as well, and
you know, and talked about that because that's where we
used to do traffic reports.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Frump there right.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
But back in the nineteen eighties I worked at City Hall.
I worked in one of the Mayor's offices, and there
was a there were two fireworks in nineteen two sets
of fireworks in nineteen eighty three. One was the typical
one of the fourth over the over the Charles River,
but the other one was on the second over Boston Harbor,
(27:22):
and there was a there was a photographer coming in
to do some tourism photographs, photography and so the and
I was a driver in one of the mayor's one
of the mayor's offices, but they needed a security person
up there. So somebody in the communications office knew that
I liked photography and arranged it so I could be
(27:44):
the security person up there. And this photographer taught me
a few things about photographing fireworks. So on the second
of July I was up on the roof of City
Hall with a Myke camera clamped to a lightning lot
of all things well, I got not only great pictures
(28:05):
of the fireworks, but looking back many years later, I've
also got great pictures of the Central Artery and the
old North Church and a number of other things Boston
and nineteen eighty three from the roof of City Hall
and kind of a fascinating group of photographs.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
And in a similar story, there were a couple of
years and I forget how I heard about it, but
I went over to the Museum of Science and they normally,
you know, they're hours and around seven thirty eight o'clock. Yep,
So the parking lot wasn't crowded. And the two years
(28:44):
I went up there, perfect view, perfect circumstance. But then
all of a sudden, somebody told somebody, who told somebody,
who told somebody, and you had a traffic jam up there. Ye, people,
and you and I when we were at eleven seventy
(29:09):
Soldi's Field Road. The cafeteria up there had a deck
and that was a good place to watch the fireworks,
and I never did that. I did that on a
couple of occasions, and I was on the air for
one of them. Yeah, but you know, I run up
(29:32):
there or take the elevator one floor and watched during
a newscast and had to run back down six minutes later.
But it was nice to see it from that viewpoint.
And now I'm at the time to take a break
So if you're out there you have a story you
(29:52):
want to share about the Fourth of July around or
through a political individual or your own person observations six one, seven, two, five, four,
ten thirty or eight eight, eight, nine, two, nine, ten thirty,
give us a call. Please time at temperature ten forty
five sixty nine degrees.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ in Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Dan Ray's off. He'll be back on the fourteenth of July,
which means he's off all next week. If you haven't
heard the news, Bradley Jay is back within the folds
of WBZ broadcast Thursday. He'll be here filling in for
Nightside on Monday and Tuesday, on Wednesday as well, I
Morgan Mike Junior will be here next Thursday and Friday,
(30:43):
and as well my own show, The Morgan Show on
Saturday nights. And up for another roughly hour and ten minutes,
Jack Hartndeyer trying to keep you interested in facts about
the Fourth of July, through politics, through just everyday circumstances.
(31:05):
And I know people listening right now are leaving the
esunaut very very slowly. How was it tonight you're listening
on the radio, give us a call, give us your
opinion of how the evening's entertainment went. Did you go
(31:26):
ooh and I every time there was a burst of
a firework over your head. And I know some people
listening right now are Nightside fans, and Jack, I don't
think you heard me when I first got on the
air at eight seven, eighth eight whatever, and I said,
I want all the people listening right now tonight Side
(31:50):
on the counter three to yell out Nightside. And I'm
wondering how many people actually did. So you knew you
weren't alone out there among of one hundred thousand people. Sure. Absolutely,
And I have a story if you don't have another
one handy that might kill about three or four minutes.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
If you want, I've got I've got plenty of stuff.
But I know you wanted to talk about one of
your relatives, about your grandfather.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Oh yeah, thank you for reminding me. My grandfather worked
on the ocean liner the SS United States. He was
a steward and he divorced my grandmother when my mother
(32:41):
and my aunt were like eight, nine, ten years old.
And he would bring home periodically and little things from
the ship like silverware, or a towel or whatever, because
if you're a steward, you have access to those things.
(33:02):
Not a lot, but just to to share with his family. Sure,
and it reminded me of a story. My grandmother had it.
And I've told this story in the year before she
had it. What is it that ability beyond normal everyday circumstances,
(33:31):
A second sight? Oh, kind of an eerie thing. I see.
She definitely had it, and she impressed me a lot
of times with what she could do that involved me
and telling me what I did, what I did that.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Night, I see. But she had eyes on the back
of her head.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Yes, I see. And he told her I'll be getting
in Thursday. As an example, he got in Wednesday. My
grandmother just had a feeling. He's in Boston now, and
(34:20):
I forget what they call it now. It used to
be the National Theater in between Stremont Street crossing Clarington
and Berkeley. In that block that was a National Theater.
It's some sort of hoopy do thing now. But anyway,
(34:41):
she walked. They lived on Northampton Street, Northampton and Mass
Avenue and then West Springfield, all about another seven blocks
to the theater. She didn't know she just had a feeling.
She walked those seventy eight nine blocks get to the
(35:05):
ticket taker. Ticket taker said that'll be fifty cents or
whatever it was in that era. And my grandmother said,
I'm just here to get my husband. And the ticket
taker must have seen the situation in the past. Lady,
go right ahead. She goes in, goes up to the balcony.
(35:32):
In those days, they let you sit in the balcony,
went right to the seat where he was. Did not know,
had no idea he'd be sitting in the fifth row
of five seats in Jimmy, that was his name. Time
(35:53):
to come home. He was there with another woman, and
I mean, what could he do? He was bagged. Yeah,
he got up and walked out with my grandmother. Wow,
what happened to and and I guess the young lady
watched the second film? But he said the popcord? Who
(36:16):
told you I was here? And she said, no one.
And he just shook his head because he knew my
grandmother had that sixth sense.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Isn't that crazy?
Speaker 1 (36:29):
And that and that is a true story because my
mother verified it. Yeah that happened. Wow. Wow.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
I think that people have certain connections to each other.
And yeah, and they and the and they just have
a have a knowledge and a connection and and just
have an idea as to what's going on with somebody remotely.
Think it's just I think that's how how people end
up and you know, connected to each other because they
have that sort of feeling.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
Well, I've never had it with anyone else, that the
power that my grandmother displayed. And I'll tell you a
real quick story since we only have about a minute
and a half before I have to take a hoose break,
There'll be a perfect amount of time for this. The
(37:16):
night my grandmother passed away in our home, we had
made the living room her bedroom, I see, so she
wouldn't have to go upstairs anymore. Yeah, she's passed away.
We call the police and the ambulance people, and we
(37:38):
have a front door and a screen door, and we
let the door, oh stay open, so the police could
come and go and the ambulance people could come and go.
We had a burglar alarm on the door, and the
(37:58):
burglar alarm kept beeping because the door is open. And Jack,
I'm the witness this actually happened. The police officer was
trying to shut the alarm off because it was an
(38:19):
annoying noise. He said, what's the code. I gave the code.
He pushed the number in didn't turn off the alarm.
They tried everything, including pulling the wires.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
No kidna, it wouldn't shut it off.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
And eventually it just went and faded out. No, kidd
and I just knew that was my grandmother saying goodbye. Absolutely,
I just knew. There's no way anybody these years later
(38:58):
that was nineteen ninety six or seven. You can't convince
me that wasn't the case.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Oh absolutely not.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
No, that uh yeah, that that was definitely your That
was definitely if your grandmother had that kind of ability
to hear and see things, then she could get that
thing to ring.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
All right, people, we've got another hour to go. I've
got some more Fourth of July stories. I hope you
do too. Give me a call, Give Jack a call.
We're here waiting six one, seven, two, five, four ten
thirty or eight eight, eight nine, two nine ten thirty.
Time and temperature here on night side ten fifty eight
sixty nine degrees
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