Barry Bishop from Bethesda, Maryland: “I climbed to the top of Mt.
Everest”
In the decade following the first
ascent of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953, few attempts and even
fewer successes took place. Bishop, a
scientist and photographer for National
Geographic, was part of the first American team to scale the peak in May. Bishop, at the time of this show, is one of
only twelve men to have reached the summit.
Today, more than five thousand people have accomplished the feat, some
multiple times. Not mentioned on the
show is that Bishop lost all his toes to frostbite during the expedition. His later career was spent in academic
pursuits.
Ulysses L. Baxter from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: “I pushed a peanut
up Pikes Peak with my nose”
Baxter, a wannabe rockabilly singer,
performed the publicity stunt to draw attention to his music career. Bill Williams accomplished this unusual feat
in 1929, and Baxter’s manager thought duplicating the stunt would generate media
interest. The grueling, physically
draining eight-day, 13-mile ascent certainly captured headlines for a brief
time, but it failed to translate into attention for Baxter’s career. The infamous peanut is today on display in a
Pikes Peak museum. Baxter performs
“Jambalaya” (1952) with “Norman Paris and the Peanut Pushers.”
Special guest Michel de la Vega: “I’m going to balance Betsy
Palmer on the tip of this sword”
The French
magician returns to perform a new trick.
He still does not understand much English, so Garry answers on his
behalf. He appears to hypnotize Betsy,
and balances her first on the tips of three large swords, later removing two of
them.
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