Where's SJ Answer, or American Folktale & Skywatch

The two winners of the Guess Where SJ Is contest are Rach, and Uncommonly Common. Both will be winning the Dixfield University (Corner Store) gift card prize! Thank you for all participating.

Now onto the answer. Yes, I was standing at the foot of the Paul Bunyan statue in Rumford at the Information Center. While visiting the Information Center I learned why we have a Paul Bunyon statue, and how he grow up here in Maine. What follows is the Paul Bunyon story according to the Information Center.

"As the legend goes, Paul Bunyon was born in Bangor, Maine. At the time of his birth, not only one stork brought Paul to his parents but also it took five very large storks. He did not have a normal size crable because he was so large, his first bed happened to be a lumber wagon that was pulled by a team of horses. To rock Paul to sleep, his father would drive the wagon up to the top of Maine and back home again.

When he was just a few days old, he could cry loud, so loud that he scared all of the fish out of the rivers and streams in the entire agea. The frogs that lived in the ponds nearby began wearing earmuffs in the morning when Paul would scream so loudly for his breakfast afraid they might go deaf. The cows had a large order to fill as it took the milk from 24 cows to keep his bottle filled and his mother had to give him ten barrels of porridge every two hours to keep his stomach from growling and knocking the house down.

When he was only a week old, he could wear his father's clothing. When he was three weeks old, he rolled around during his nap and tore down the timeber on four square miles of timberland. His parents could not handle all the destruction that their young Paul was causing, so they built a raft and floated it just off the coast of Maine. However, this was not a great idea. He rolled over on the raft and caused a 75-foot tidal wave in the Bay of Fundy. The British Navy had to come to the resuce to awaken Paul from hi nap. It took every cannon on the entire fleet and seven hours of firing their cannons to awaken him. Paul woke up and stepped off his raft but accidently sank four war ships.

After this, his parents decided that Maine and the entire easter coast were just too small for Paul, so they moved to Minnesote."

So that is the tall tale about the childhood of Paul Bunyan growing up in Maine. This last picture is my Skywatch Friday picture.

Enjoy ~SJ

Local Man Creates Memoriable Music

I like little bits of trivia, and here is one that my fellow RVB's might find especially interesting. Are you familiar with the tunes "Some Day My Prince Will Come," or how about "Whistle While You Work", or "Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf?". I'm sure that you are all already humming them away in your head. Interestingly enough, the composure of all three of these songs, and many more, just happens to be a Rumford, Maine native. Frank Churchill, born in Rumford in 1901 went on to become one of the founding fathers of Disney music. Here is what Steve Huey had to say about Churchill on All Music 

"Composer Frank Churchill is best known for his work on many of Walt Disney's early animated classics, contributing some of the best-loved songs in the company's catalog. Churchill was born in Rumford, ME, on October 20, 1901, and attended college in California. A pianist as well as a composer, he initially made his living by performing in movie theaters and on radio, also spending some time in Mexico. He was hired by Walt Disney in the early '30s following the departure of house composer Carl Stalling, and began composing music for the company's Silly Symphonies animated shorts. In 1933, Churchill composed "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" for the Three Little PigsAnn Ronell). The song struck a chord in the midst of the Great Depression, and became the Disney company's first hit, selling loads of sheet music and inspiring numerous recordings. Churchill's success helped change the company's thinking about the way music was used in its cartoons, setting them on a road where popular songs became an important part of the overall business plan. Over the next few years, Churchill continued to compose songs and instrumental music for the short (with additional lyrics by Silly Symphonies cartoons, and although he didn't yet duplicate the success of "Who's Afraid," several tunes were at least recorded by outside orchestras. Churchill was next paired with lyricist Larry Morey to work on music for Disney's first full-length feature, 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; Disney's stipulation was that, much like the Silly Symphonies, the songs were not simply to be showcased -- they had to stem naturally from the characters, or be integrated into the story. Churchill and Morey's groundbreaking work included the classics "Heigh Ho," "Whistle While You Work," "Someday My Prince Will Come," and "I'm Wishing," four of the eight songs used in the movie and the 25 written for it overall. Additionally, Churchill co-composed the instrumental score with Leigh Harline and Paul J. Smith, and it earned an Oscar nomination. Churchill subsequently worked on the much-delayed Peter Pan before switching over to Dumbo, which was released in 1941. Churchill co-wrote most of the songs with lyricist Ned Washington, including the Oscar-nominated "Baby Mine" and the bizarre "Pink Elephants on Parade," and his instrumental score, co-written with Oliver Wallace, won the Oscar for Best Score. Churchill reteamed with Larry Morey for 1942's acclaimed Bambi, which featured "Little April Shower" and the Oscar-nominated "Love Is a Song," among others; plus, his score with Edward Plumb earned yet another Oscar nomination. Sadly, after completing work on Bambi, Churchill committed suicide in Castaic, CA, on May 14, 1942; he was buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery, near Hollywood."

Enjoy ~SJ