619     October 11, 1965 
Betsy, Bill, Bess, Henry

Francois Baschet from Paris, France is standing in front of a sculpture of his own design: “This sculpture can be played as a musical instrument”                 
Baschet and his brother Bernard, an engineer, worked together to create many “sound sculptures” and other experimental musical instruments.  Arguably their best known instrument is the crystal baschet, an organ played by sliding wet fingers along glass rods.  Specs Powell from Norman Paris’ band plays “Night and Day” (1932) on a version of this instrument, backed by Paris and drummer Tony Rongo on other Baschet creations. Francois also invented an inflatable guitar.  Today the Baschet Sound Structures Association carries on the legacy of the brothers, provides educational resources and promotes continued experimentation in sound creation.   

Ted Erikson from Chicago, Illinois: “I swam the English Channel last month…I swam across and back again (in 30 hours)”
Erikson was not the first to cross both ways, but he shattered the record of Antonio Abertondo, the first man to do it back in 1961, by more than thirteen hours.  In 1981, his son Jon would become the first person to do a three-way crossing.  Ted would become something of an open water swimming legend, and was still actively swimming into his nineties.   

Special guest Peter Falk challenges the panel to identify famous personalities by their baby pictures, mostly their own.  Steve describes Falk as “one of our most important young actors” and praises his TV series The Trials of O’Brien (1965-66).  Despite a busy movie career that included two early Oscar nominations, Falk’s best-known role remains the rumpled TV detective Columbo, whom he would begin playing in 1968 and would continue to play, on and off, through 2003.  One of Falk’s earliest film roles (Steve mistakenly calls it his debut) was in Murder, Inc. (1960) costarring with Henry Morgan.  See also E674 .