Week of March 29, 1983
A jury in the Groucho Marx estate case returns a
verdict in favor of the bank, which sued Erwin
Fleming - Groucho’s companion and secretary.
The Bank of American sued Fleming for $428,000,
claiming that she got that amount in money, stocks
and property by browbeating and coercing the
comedian. A lawyer representing the bank said
she was more than a classic goldigger - “She was
totally vulgar.” She was his companion and
secretary from 1971 until his death at 86 in 1977.
The issue in the civil suit was whether Fleming
wrongfully took money and gifts from the superstar
comedian during his final years.
Teamsters President Roy L. Williams is sentenced to 55 years in prison and fined
$29,000 for his part in a conspiracy to bribe former U.S. Sen. Howard Cannon of
Nevada. The judge told him “Mr. Williams, you sold the working man out. You
were willing to take the working man’s pension and use it. Yes use it four your
own aggrandizement.” The union maintains his innocence and will appeal.
The nation’s unemployment rate edges down to 10.3%, a .1 drop from January’s
and February’s 10.4%.
The Soviet Union criticizes President Reagan’s proposal for an interim
agreement limiting medium-range missiles in Europe, calling it a negotiating ploy
to pacify public opposition to the planned deployment of such weapons by NATO.
A formal response by the Kremlin is due in a few days.
Challenger makes its inaugural flight -
Space shuttle Challenger soars into orbit
after being delayed for weeks. It’s debut
had been set for late January, but fuel
leaks sprung in all three of its main
engines and in a fourth brought in as a
replacement. On board, mission
commander Paul Weitz, Karol Bobko,
mission specialist; Story Musgrave, a
medical doctor and Donald Peterson - an engineer. The crew is set to deploy the
world’s largest communications satellite and execute the first U.S. space walk in
nearly a decade. The satellite is intended to revolutionize space communications
by relaying messages between Earth and as many as 26 orbiting satellites.
Week of March 29, 1983
The United States announces that it is granting political asylum to Hu Na, the 19-
year-old Chinese tennis star who defected to the United States last summer. She
was taking part in a tennis tournament last summer when she decided to defect.
A gallon of gas goes up 5 cents this week due to a federal excise tax increase.
Ave price is now $1.11.
For the first time in 30 years, Adolph Coors Co of Golden, Colo,
puts a new beer on the market. Its “Golden Lager” goes on the
shelves in five test markets this week. The company says the new
beer is positioned “smack up against Budweiser,” the leader in
the premium segment which also includes such products as Miller
High Life, Schlitz, Olympia and others.
Hot videos on MTV - “Bad To The Bone -
George Thorogood . Features Bo Diddley
and a cameo by Willie Mosconi. Also hot -
“Do You Really Want To Hurt Me” but MTV
isn’t showing the original video, because it’s
too controversial. The one you see is a
Culture Club performance video from the British TV show
“Top of the Pops.” The original shows Boy George
serenading a jury wearing minstrel black face.
Bestsellers -
The Delta Star - Joseph Wambaugh
The Little Drummer Girl - John Le Carre
Lonesome Gods - Louis L’Amour
Space - James A. Michener
Banker - Dick Francis
Master of the Game - Sidney Sheldon
The Valley of Horses - Jean Auel
In Search of excellence: Lessons From America’s Best Run
Companies - Thomas J. Peters
Blue Highways - William Least Heat Moon
Megatrends” Ten New Directions Transforming Our Lives - John
Naisbitt
Living, Loving and Learning - Leo Buscaglia
Jane Fonda’s Workout Book - Jane Fonda
Mary Ellen’s Help Yourself Diet - Mary E. Pinkham
Life Extension - Durk Pearsons and Sandy Shaw
Week of March 29, 1983
Nude pictures of Brooke Shields (now 17),
standing and sitting in a bathtub when she was 10
years-old may be republished - rules the New York
state appeals court, but not in pornographic
magazines. Photographer Garry Gross says the
pictures may be used in posters, but he hasn’t
decided.
Passing - Lorraine Collett Petersen, (90) the original
Sun-Maid Raisin Girl in Fresno, Calif. She has
adorned the famous red boxes since 1915. San
Francisco artist Fanny Scafford produced the
portrait, for which Mrs Petersen received nothing but her usual weekly salary of
$15.00.
Passing - Gloria Swanson (84) - the silent movie queen who became a symbol of
Hollywood’s golden years.
Dorothy Fulheim (90) - who may be the
nation’s oldest full-time TV reporter, signs
another three-year contract with WEWS-TV
in Cleveland.
Actor Ted Knight, who plays anchorman Ted
Baxter on “Mary Tyler Moore” gives his
WJM-TV blue blazer to the television hall of
the Smithsonian Institution. The blazer joins
other artifacts such as the chairs used by
Archie and Edith Bunker and the leather
jacket worn by the Fonz.
TV ratings -
The Thorn Birds - 39.5
60 Minutes - 26.6
Dallas - 25.1
Dynasty - 24.6
Fall Guy - 24.3
Love Boat - 24.0
Movie - Intimate Agony - 23.5
The A Team - 20.5
Magnum, PI - 20.4
Week of March 29, 1983
Simon & Simon - 20.3
The Mississippi - 20.0
Three’s Company - 19.6
Hart to Hart - 19.0
That’s Incredible - 18.6
Movie - The Other Women - 18.5
Real People - 18.5
Little House - new Beginning - 18.3
Dukes of Hazzard - 17.7
9 to 5 - 17.6
Hill Street Blues - 17.3
Someday, You’ll Find Her Charlie
Brown - 17.2
20/20 - 16.9
One Day At A Time - 16.8
Alice - 16.6
Happy days - 16.6
Diff’rent Strokes - 16.5
Benson - 16.3
High Performance - 16.3
Silver Spoons - 16.2
Tuesday Night Television -
CBS - Ace Crawford, Private Eye, Gun Shy, Movie-”High Anxiety”
NBC - The A Team, Remington Steele
ABC - Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, The Thorn Birds
PBS - Nova, American Playhouse, What Price Health Care?
ESPN - Sportscenter, USFL Football - Oakland Invaders and Denver Gold
HBO - Movie-Escape From New York, La Cage Aux Folles II
The A Team - a two-hour adventure. Reporter Amy Cullen persuades the team to
search for her friend who has disappeared without a trace in the hills above
Acapulco.
The Thorn Birds - Part III.
The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson -
Placido Domingo guests.
Week of March 29, 1983
Pop music this week in 1983 -
Billie Jean - Michael Jackson
Do You Really Want To Hurt Me -
Culture Club
Hungry Like The Wolf - Duran
Duran
Mr. Roboto - Styx
You Are - Lionel Ritchie
We’ve Got Tonight - Kenny Rogers
& Sheena Easton
One on One - Daryl Hall & John
Oates
Separate Ways - Journey
Twilight Zone - Golden Earring
Der Kommissar - After The Fire
All Right - Christopher Cross
I Know There’s Something Going On - Frida
Fall In Love With Me - Earth, Wind & Fire
I’ve Got a Rock N’ Roll Heart - Eric Clapton
Change of Heart - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Poison Arrow - ABC
Whirly Girl - Oxo
Lies - Thompson Twins
Come On Eileen - Dexys Midnight Runners
Beat It - Michael Jackson
Top Albums -
Thriller - Michael Jackson
H2O - Men at Work
Frontiers - Journey
Rio - Duran Duran
Lionel Ritchie - Lionel Ritchie
Toto IV - Toto
Pyromania - Def Leppard
Kilroy Was Here - Styx
The Distance - Bob Seger & The
Silver Bullet Band
Business As Usual - Men At Work
More albums -
The Art of Falling Apart - Soft Cell
On the One - The Dazz Band
Week of March 29, 1983
Side Kicks - The Thompson Twins
Trouble In Paradise - Randy Newman
We’ve Got Tonight - Kenny Rogers
Powerlight - Earth, Wind & Fire
At the movies -
Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life -
Graham Chapman, John Cleese , Terry
Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
Spring Break - David Knell, Perry Lang, Paul
Land, Steve Bassett
The Year of Living Dangerously - Mel
Gibson, Sigourney Weaver, Bill Kerr, Michael Murphy, Linda Hunt
Betrayal - Jeremy Irons, Ben Kingsley, Patricia Hodge
10 to Midnight (forget what’s legal... do what’s right )
- Charles Bronson, Lisa Elbacher, Andrew Stevens,
Gene Davis, Geoffrey Lewis, Wilford Brimley
King of Comedy - Robert DeNiro, Jerry Lewis, Tony
Randall, Diahnne Abbott, Dandra Bernhard
Walt Disney’s The Sword in the Stone
48 Hours - Nick Nolte, Eddie Murphy, Annette O’Toole
Britannia Hospital - Leonard Rossiter, Graham
Crowden
Tender Mercies - Robert Duvall, Tess Harper, Betty
Buckley, Wilford Brimley
Gandhi - Ben Kinglsey, Candice Bergen, Edward Fox, John Gielgud, Trevor
Howard, Martin Sheen
The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton’s classic novel about youth ) - C Thomas Howell,
Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Diane Lane, Emilio
Estevez, Tom Cruise, Leif Garrett
E.T. - The Extraterrestrial - Dee Wallace, Peter Coyote, Henry Thomas
Tootsie - Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Charles
Durning
Savannah Smiles - Mark Miller, Donovan Scott, Bridgette Anderson, Michael
Parks, Carol Wayne, Peter Graves
Tough Enough - Dennis Quaid, Stan Shaw, Carlene Watkins, Pam Grier,
Warren Oates
Max Dugan Returns - Marsha Mason, Jason Robards, Donald Sutherland
High Road To China - Tom Selleck, Bess Armstrong
Week of March 29, 1983