What's Happening Episode: The Hospital Stay

"What's Happening" was a comedy series which ran from 1976 until the spring of 1979 on the ABC network. Just a basic overview for those who weren't/aren't familiar with "What's Happening:" the sitcom was set in Los Angeles and involved three black teenage guys: Roger, called Raj by many, Freddie, who was better known to friends as "Rerun," from his need to "rerun" failed school classes, and Dwayne. In addition there was Raj's younger sister, Dee, and Raj's and Dee's mother, Mabel, who did not stay with the show for the final (third) season. There was also Shirley, the outspoken and tough waitress at the local soda shop where the guys liked to hang out.

 

This episode first aired in January 1977.

 

Cast for this episode:

 

Ernest Thomas as Roger "Raj" Thomas 

Danielle Spencer as Dee Thomas

Mabel King as Mabel Thomas (Roger and Dee's mother, aka, "Mama")

Fred Berry as "Rerun" (Freddie Stubbs)

Haywood Nelson as Dwayne Nelson

Shirley Hemphill as Shirley Wilson 

Mel Stewart* as Spike Gibbs

Hope Clarke as Elizabeth Duncan 

Judy Pace as the nurse

Raj has water on the knee and he has to go into the hosptial for treatment. He is put into a room with a grouchy older man, Mr. Johnny Gibbs, who has a broken hip and who spends most of his time listening to his radio by using an earphone. (Note: Unlike today, a single earphone was the most common way to listen to a radio privately back then.) Mr. Gibbs complains when Raj or Raj's visitors talk and he firmly tells the nurse he won't accept any flowers from his daughter. It doesn't take long to for us to tell that Mr. Gibbs is one angry man. Enter Raj's 10 year old sister, Dee. When Mr. Gibbs yells and treats her rudely, Dee gives a dose of similar right back to him. When Raj is released and prepares to leave the hospital, Dee is able to talk with Mr. Gibbs in a calm way. He says to her that he can tell she's not afraid of him with all of his bellowing and grumbling and that only she and his daughter have ever been able to stand up to him. Dee asks about his daughter only to find out that he hasn't spoken to her for over 12 years. When Dee asks why, Mr. Gibbs tells her, "Because she married a white man." Dee asks Mr. Gibbs why such a thing would anger him so much, a question he finds difficult to answer except to say, "Those kinds of marriages never work out." Mr. Gibbs also tells her he was a baseball player many years before, and that he was known for stealing bases with his spikes flying, and that thousands of kids knew him as "Spike." Just before leaving Dee leans down and kisses Mr. Gibbs on the head. This brings a smile to Spike's old bearded face, before he goes back to his scowl. Out in the hospital corridor, Raj, Dee and their mother learn from the nurse that Mr. Gibbs is not just being treated for a broken hip, and the nurse's sad look tells them Mr. Gibbs may well be in a battle for his life. 

 

The guys try to find Johnny Gibbs in a baseball book, but without success, but Mrs. Thomas has brought home a baseball book from the library which has information on "Spike" Gibbs, including a photo. She explains that Spike and other black baseball players couldn't play in the major leagues because they were not allowed until 1947, when Jackie Robinson played for the (then) Brooklyn Dodgers; thus, breaking the so called "color barrier." Black players had to play in Negro leagues and Spike played for the Homestead Grays. The little discussion brings Dee to remark that this might be why Spike doesn't like white people and she explains further how Spike doesn't speak to his daughter because she married a white man. Mrs. Thomas gives us all a quick lesson by telling Dee and the guys, "Spike may have his reasons for being bitter, but I always say, if you gotta be mad at somebody, it should for something they did to you, not for the color they're wrapped in." The guys, with the help of Dee's information about Spike's daughter, Elizabeth, decide to contact her and try to get her to go see her father in the hospital. When the guys meet Spike's daughter, at first she is more than a little reluctant to go to see her father, as she thinks he only has a broken hip. After the guys explain that her father is really very sick, she has a change of heart. 

 

Three weeks later Elizabeth comes to the house and tells the guys she went to see her father. She also tells them he has now passed away, but that he left Dee and Raj his radio. Dee comes down the steps from the upstairs just in time to hear about Spike's passing. She tells Elizabeth that her dad will be fine, "He can't get hurt sliding into a cloud."   

 

* Mel Stewart was not an uncommon face on television back many years ago. A few years before this episode was made, he appeared several times in the highly popular comedy series "All in the Family," playing Henry Jefferson, the brother of the Bunker's neighbor George Jefferson (played by the great Sherman Hemsley).   

     

Photo is of the first season DVD release by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures, 2004.

WORD HISTORY: 

Rail (Verb)-English has more than one word of this spelling; this is one of the verb forms, often coupled with 'against,' and meaning, "to complain loudly against something or someone." The origins of this word are very unclear, and there is an initial assumption that it is likely a word of imitative beginnings going back to Latin "ragere," which meant "to roar, to neigh," which then spawned "ragulare," meaning, "to bray." Latin also had "rugire," meaning "to bellow," seemingly linked to Greek words for "sound, noise," and further to Greek words pertaining to "roaring and howling." French got the word as "railler" ("to joke, to mock or make fun of"), but seemingly not directly from Latin, but rather either from Portuguese or Provençal "ralhar," meaning, "chide, scold, scoff, mock." English borrowed the word in the mid 1400s (it seems French had only had the word less than a hundred years at that point).

The Former Confederacy & Modern American Politics, Part Eighteen

As Ronald Reagan's time in office drew near its end, his vice president, George H. W. Bush, made his own run for the presidency. While Bush was born and raised in New England, and his wife, Barbara, was born in New York City, they had made their permanent residence in Texas for several decades, and raised their family there (future president, George W. Bush, however, was actually born in Connecticut). Hardcore conservatives were uneasy about Bush, as he had opposed Reagan in the early primaries in 1980, and the term, "voodoo economics," about Reagan's economic plans, was used by George Bush in that primary campaign against Reagan. One of the major controversies for Bush was his role in "Iran-Contra." * Bush's defense was that he "was out of the loop;" and that he hadn't known about the illegal diversion of funds from the sale of weapons to Iran to Nicaragua. Since Reagan was then president, the main focus of investigation into the affair was to determine his role in it, as well as that of the active participants, and the independent counsel investigating the matter later admitted that Bush was not given the scrutiny he should have had. (More on this in the next part)

No question about it, racial issues were the initial matters that pulled Southerners into the Republican column over the decades, but another major issue to develop was over abortion. With religious fundamentalism so prominent in many parts of the South, and with Roman Catholicism having many adherents in Louisiana and Florida, the more Southerners who switched to the Republican Party, the more socially conservative the party had to become, and the more diminished social conservatism became in the Democratic Party. While this isn't always easily proven, politicians of whatever political party will say a lot of things just to get votes, or to mute criticism, even though their personal feelings may well be indifferent to a particular subject, or perhaps even on the other side of an issue. It's always been my feeling that Reagan announced conservative positions on some issues, because he and his advisers felt he had to do so, not because he necessarily agreed with a particular position, or that he was passionate about his "announced position." We saw that he would mention abortion in some speeches, but he never terribly pursued the issue in his policies. Still, fundamentalist religious people, led by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, both from former Confederate state, Virginia, never abandoned Reagan. On the other hand, Robertson actually entered the 1988 Republican presidential race, which included Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, besides then Vice President George Bush. Bush had been more to the pro-choice side of the abortion issue, and, over time, he and his family had generally supported family planning, an issue that was highly controversial in the United States in Bush's younger days, as contraception was illegal in many states and the promotion and mailing of contraceptive literature or devices was long against the national law (Comstock Law), and Catholicism and some Protestant fundamentalists were against contraception. Even sex education was not always supported by some. In the Republican primaries, George Bush, who had, at least nominally, gotten on board the anti-abortion wagon while serving under Reagan, had to declare his opposition without hesitation. Lee Atwater, who was born in Georgia, and who lived much of his life in South Carolina, was Bush's campaign manager. Bush easily won the Republican nomination, and he ran well in the former Confederate states, even though Pat Robertson remained in the race until mid May. To shore up his conservative credentials, and to appeal to the young conservatives of the 1980s, Bush chose Dan Quayle a senator from Indiana as his running mate. While a controversial pick, in that Quayle did not have much experience, he was very socially conservative.
   
On the Democratic side, Senator Al Gore of Tennessee dropped out of the race in April, although he won primaries in North Carolina and Tennessee. Jesse Jackson, of South Carolina, won primaries and caucuses in: Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas (a primary and caucus state, where he split with Dukakis. Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts, won only in Florida (and split in Texas) in the South, but he won a large number of states in the northern and western parts of the country to clinch the nomination. In an effort to appeal to Southerners, Dukakis chose Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas as his running mate.

In the general election campaign, Republicans tagged Dukakis, who was the governor of Massachusetts, as a "liberal," a word that had been so besmirched by conservatives during the 1980s, that some Democrats tried to avoid it, giving Republicans the glee of pointing out what they came to refer to as, "the 'L' word." Democrats took many a swipe at Dan Quayle for his inexperience and that, if the Bush-Quayle team were elected, that Quayle could turn out to be president. Bush appealed to the growing conservative element in the Republican Party by trying to assure doubters about his commitment to not raising taxes by saying, "Read my lips... no new taxes." There were other aspects to the 1988 campaign, but there is no point in going into detail, as Dukakis was very unlikely to carry southern states, and in the November vote, that proved to be the case, as Bush swept the states of the former Confederacy by wide margins. In total, Bush received about 53 1/2% of the national vote, to 45 1/2% for Dukakis. In the all important Electoral College, Bush won in a landslide, 446 to 111, and 1 for Bentsen, as one Democratic elector in West Virginia (a state carried by Dukakis/Bentsen) abandoned his pledge to support the Democratic candidate, and chose to vote for Bentsen for president.

In the U.S. Senate races in former Confederate states, Democrats captured a Republican seat in Virginia, while Republicans won Democratic seats in Florida and Mississippi. Overall, Democrats gained one seat nationally. In the House of Representatives in former Confederate states, Republicans gained 2 seats in Florida, making the delegation 10 Democrats and 9 Republicans; Democrats gained a seat in Georgia, making that delegation 9 Democrats and 1 Republican; in Texas, Democrats gained 2 seats to make the delegation 19 Democrats and 8 Republicans. Nationally, Democrats netted a 2 seat gain. Only North Carolina had a 1988 election for governor in the former Confederate states, and Republicans held that governorship. 

* I covered the basics of "Iran-Contra" in Part Seventeen" of this series. This is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-former-confederacy-modern-american_12.html

WORD HISTORY: 
Abort-This compound word, the second part of which is related to Latin-derived words borrowed by English, "origin," "original" and "originate," and now almost always used as a verb, but once used somewhat more commonly as a noun, goes back to Indo European "heri," which had the notion, "to spring forth, to arise:" thus by extension, "to come into existence, to be born." This gave Latin "oriri," with the same meanings. The "ab" part of the word is related to words of the Germanic languages meaning "off" and "of" (including these two English words) through Indo European "apo," which meant "away from, off (from)." The combined terms gave Latin "aboriri," meaning, "to miscarry, to end a pregnancy, to disappear." Its participle was "abortus," which was borrowed by English as "abort" in the mid 1500s.

It's About Coalitions, Not Purity, Part Forty-Nine

On election day 2008, financially battered Americans, fearful that the nation, and the world, might be entering into a new era of economic depression, sent a very clear message, as Barack Obama won the presidency and Democrats made gains in both the US Senate and the House of Representatives. Barack Obama won about 53% of the popular vote to John McCain's 45 3/4%, but in the Electoral College, Obama won 365 votes to McCain's 173. Various exit polls showed Obama did well among many demographic groups, with Senator McCain, in major categories, only winning voters 65 and over by a single digit margin, and in the broader category of white voters, he won by about 10 points.*   

In the U.S. Senate, a strong Democratic tide prevailed as the Democrats gained eight seats, although one of those seats, in Minnesota, was not a definite gain until several months later, as the race was so close.** In the House of Representatives, twelve Republican members of the House retired prior to the election and all twelve seats were won by Democrats, as Democrats gained 21 seats overall and increased their majority. 

When Barack Obama took office in January 2009, the racist and bigoted segment among white voters, many of whom seemingly shifted over to the Republicans from the Democrats,*** helped to form a floor of support under the GOP and to offer a resistance to Obama, and often to Democrats, in general. Certainly not all opponents of Obama were (or are) racists or bigots, but a certain element "joined" the Tea Party, where they could "hide out," in my opinion, criticize the "black Muslim guy" in the White House, as some viewed Obama, but still claim, "I'm not a racist, I just care about deficits, freedom, the price of tea and can't we go back to 1773?" The Tea Party was not truly a political party, but rather a conservative-libertarian political movement that became an activist wing, and thus, an important part of the Republican Party coalition. The Tea Party members waved teabags and some wore colonial and early American garb, which gives you some idea of the century they likely preferred to modern times. Of course, they also just as likely forgot about the drawbacks of the 1700s, like no Internet... well, that might not be a good example. Now in 2017, you barely hear the name "Tea Party" anymore, as the racist elements have now come out more into the open by marching with the Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups, as we now have a president who sees some "good people" in these groups. For about 4 or 5 years, beginning in 2009, the Tea Party was highly visible and it proved to be troublesome for both Democrats and for the more traditional Republicans. If there was much "organization" to the Tea Party, it was represented by the financial support of the Koch political organization and former member of Congress, Dick Armey. Traditional Republicans need to look at the Kochs and Armey for their support and courting of the disruptive forces to oppose Obama, but which then helped to bring Donald Trump and company to take over the Republican Party, a force which now threatens the very nation; however, this was not done without the inadvertent help of Democrats. Next... Economic stimulus, Wall Street bankers and Obama administers health care to the GOP and helps it back to its feet...  

* The demographic exit polls I looked over were all similar, with minor differences in some categories, but in no case did I see major discrepancies that showed, for example, McCain winning by a few points in a particular category in most polls, but with another poll or two showing Obama as winning that category. One of the close categories was for "men," where "essentially" Obama and McCain split the vote, although some polls showed a slight tilt to one candidate or the other.

** Senator Arlen Spector of Pennsylvania, a Republican, switched to the Democratic Party in the spring of 2009 (the new Senate was first seated in January of 2009). In the late summer of 2009, Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, a Democrat, died. A temporary Democratic replacement was named, until a special election produced a Republican election victory in early 2010.

*** I told a little about one of these "converts" in Part 48 of this series. Here is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/11/its-about-coalitions-not-purity-part.html     

WORD HISTORY:
Garb-The ultimate origin of this word is uncertain. It is related to "gear," a word from Germanic. "Garb" goes back to the Old Germanic verb, "garwijanan," which meant, "to prepare, to make ready;" thus also the more specific, "to equip (make ready) for battle." This produced Germanic "garwa," meaning, "ready, finished." The verb also produced Germanic "garwi," a noun for, "clothing, military wear (gear, equipment)." This was borrowed by Italian from one of the Old High German dialects of the Alps region, which had, "garawe," meaning, "mode of dress, adorned attire." The Italian form, "garbo," meaning, "stylishness, elegance," seemingly from the notion of "well adorned (well prepared) form of attire." This was borrowed by French as "garbe" ("graceful appearance/bearing"), and this was borrowed by English in the second half of the 1500s, and the shift in meaning to, "type or mode of dress/attire," came in the 1600s. It is related to German "gerben" (to prepare hides for wear or use by tanning), Low German "garven" (same meaning as German). Other related forms in the Germanic languages came to mean "to make;" thus also, "to do," from the original notion of "to make ready, to prepare." Its relationship to "gear" goes back to the same Old Germanic form and the forms that generally meant "equipment, military arms, clothing," which later broadened a good deal in the English meaning to, "saddles, harnesses for horses and pack animals," then also, "parts for ships," and "mechanical parts for machinery," as well as, "equipment to do various activities, like fishing and physical sports."