Tong-il Han from Korea: “American servicemen found me in Korea
when I was 11 years old…They passed the hat to raise money for my musical
education”
Han, a
pianist, is the 1965 winner of the Leventritt Competition, a prestigious
international contest for classical piano and violin. The Leventritt Competition ran from 1941
until 1981 and set such high standards that they would sometimes simply not
award a top prize if they didn’t find it warranted. Han, only 23 here, left Korea in 1954 in the
company of General Samuel E Anderson, who had arranged a performance tour of US
Air Force bases in Japan. Those shows,
plus scholarships he earned in the US, helped finance Han’s education. Here, Han performs Chopin’s Etude Op. 10 ,No. 8 in F major (1829).
Steven Sherko, the Harbormaster of Egg Harbor City, New Jersey:
“Our city does not have a harbor”
From 1849
until 1925, the town had a namesake harbor on the Mullica River, but when the
railroad came through, the town focus became the train station, and over time,
the harbor became swampland. The
harbormaster position is retained as an historical curiosity. Sherko ran unopposed for the $25-a-year
position that has no office and no responsibilities whatsoever. In 1996, the town would officially make the
position honorary, and even remove the $25 annual salary.
Special guest Vivian Vance tests the
panel’s ability to give and take directions.
One panelist gives instructions to another to pantomime a common
activity (“give someone a shoe shine,” “shoot pool,” “be Groucho Marx”), and
the person receiving the directions has to guess what it is they’re being
directed to do. Vance is a friend of the show with nothing to promote.
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