Writer of Pop Culture

1978 – Robin & Pam & Mork & Mindy

“My Favorite Orkan” was a Happy Days episode where an unknown Robin Williams played Mork from the planet Ork who attempted to take Richie Cunningham back to his planet as an Earth specimen. By the end of the episode, Fonzie saved the day. It was a goofy episode, but Williams turned out to be a hit. Garry Marshall quickly worked up a script for a new show to feature this alien.

For the new show, Mork was sent to Earth to observe human behavior in 1978. He lands in Boulder, Colorado where he meet Mindy McConnell (Pam Dawber). Mindy mistakes Mork for a priest and is taken back when he reveals the truth to her, but she quickly warms up to him and allows him to move into her attic. Every episode featured wacky situations and lots of space for Williams to work on his improv skills. However, this arrangement doesn’t sit well with Mindy’s father (Conrad Janis) but Grandma Cora (Elizabeth Kerr) is hip on the idea.

During its first season, Mork & Mindy was very popular ranking as high as the #3 spot on the charts. Kids everywhere were greeting each other saying “Na-nu, na-nu” and wearing rainbow-striped suspenders. Mork and Mindy was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.

However, ratings for the show began to drop during season 2. New characters were added to help remedy the decline, but it didn’t really work. ABC agreed to a 4th season and with new changes including special guests, Mork and Mindy’s wedding and the bizarre birth of their first child, Mearth, Portrayed by Jonathan Winters. (Orkans age backwards!)

On Ork, by the end of season 4, it fell down as far as #60 and the show was cancelled. By then though, Robin Williams became a household name and was soon booked for movies. In 1982, Hanna-Barbera created a cartoon based on the Mork & Mindy TV show.

1814 – The Star-Spangled Banner

In 1814, America was at war with Britain. Baltimore was the nation’s third-largest city and it was there that British warships planned an attack in hopes of neutralizing Fort McHenry which protected the city’s harbor entrance.

It was about 6:30 a.m. on September 13 when the attacks of 2,000 shells and 800 rockets began being fired at the fortress. The attacks lasted for 24 hours. Above the scene flew a 42-foot by 30-foot American flag which caught the attention of Francis Scott Key who witnessed the attack from a ship in the harbor. This event gave him the inspiration to write the poem, “Defence of Fort M’Henry” on this day in 1814.

Later, the words were set to the song, “The Anacreontic Song” which was written by John Stafford Smith in 1776. The song had been used as a club anthem of the Anacreontic Society, an amateur men’s music club in London. The new combo became known as “The Star-Spangled Banner” and in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson named the song the national anthem of all of the U.S. armed forces. Then in 1931, as an Act of Congress, the song became America’s national anthem.