In 1982, Gene Siskel (1946-1999) and Roger Ebert (1942-2013) syndicated their local Chicago PBS show that they had started in 1977, “Sneak Previews.” Their new show was called “At the Movies” from 1982–1986, and then “Siskel & Ebert” from 1986–1999, when Gene Siskel died. The original name of their local show was “Opening Soon at a Theater Near You” from 1975–1977. Siskel & Ebert, were American film critics known for their partnership on television lasting twenty-four years. Originally, they were well-known film critics writing for Chicago newspapers, Siskel for the Chicago Tribune, and Ebert for the rival Chicago Sun-Times. Known for their sharp and biting wit, intense professional rivalry, heated arguments, and their “Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down” summations, this duo became a sensation in American popular culture in the last half of the twentieth century. Siskel started writing for the Chicago Tribune in 1969, becoming its film critic soon after. Ebert joined the Chicago Sun-Times in 1966, and started writing about film for the paper in 1967. In 1975, Ebert became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for criticism. Siskel and Ebert started their professional collaboration on the local Chicago PBS station WTTW. I remember that show and liked it a lot. I got all my movie information from them. They were nominated for various awards including Daytime Emmy Awards as well as several Primetime Emmy Awards, including one for Outstanding Information Series. After Siskel’s death of terminal brain cancer in 1999, Ebert tried to continue with a series of rotating guest hosts, but finally ended up with Richard Roeper (1959-). Siskel and Ebert’s reviewing style has been described as a form of midwestern populist criticism. They tended to sensationalize film criticism in an easygoing, relatable way. Together, they are credited with forming contemporary film criticism with their common man style. They were also known for their intense debate, often drawing sharp criticisms of each other. As Roger Ebert said, “They had a meaningless hate, but a deep love for each other.” Siskel and Ebert also advocated for up-and-coming filmmakers. In 1990, they interviewed Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg on a special titled “The Future of the Movies.” Quite often they appeared together on late-night talk shows and other day time talk shows. They would not guest star in movies. However, they appeared as themselves on SNL three times in the 1980s. I liked their shows and comments about movies. Did you like Siskel and Ebert?
The 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders
On September 28, 1982, 12-year-old Mary Kellerman was hospitalized after consuming a capsule of Extra Strength Tylenol. She died the next day. On September 29, six other individuals consumed contaminated Tylenol, including Adam Janus (27), Stanley Janus (25), and Theresa Janus (20), who each took a Tylenol capsule from a single bottle. Mary McFarland (31), Paula Prince (35), and Mary Reiner (27) would ultimately die from consuming the pills also. Thus, seven people in the Arlington Heights suburb of the Chicago area died after ingesting capsules laced with potassium cyanide. These Chicago Tylenol murders resulted from drug tampering in the Chicago metropolitan area in the fall of 1982. The victims consumed Tylenol-branded acetaminophen capsules that had been laced with potassium cyanide. Seven people died in the original poisonings, and there were several more deaths in subsequent copycat crimes. The police hypothesis was that someone had taken bottles off the shelves in local Chicago area stores, placed potassium cyanide in some of the capsules, and then placed the packages back on the store shelves to be purchased by unknowing customers. In addition to the five bottles that led to the victims’ deaths, a few other contaminated bottles were later discovered in the Chicago area. There were many copycat attacks involving Tylenol, other over-the-counter medications, and other products that took place around the United States immediately following the Chicago deaths. However, no suspect has ever been charged or convicted of the poisonings, but New York City resident James William Lewis was convicted of extortion for sending a letter to Tylenol’s manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson, that took responsibility for the deaths and demanded $1 million to stop them. These incidents led to reforms in the packaging of over-the-counter drugs and to federal anti-tampering laws. I know that it was scary because no one knew how many Tylenol bottles were affected. Finally, the recall expanded to all Tylenol bottles in the Chicago area, making it one of the largest pharmaceutical recalls ever. A multi-agency investigation found that the tampered pills had been sold or on the shelves in a variety of stores in the Chicago area. To reassure the public, Johnson & Johnson, the manufacturer of Tylenol, distributed warnings to hospitals and distributors, and halted Tylenol production and advertising. A nationwide recall of Tylenol products was issued on October 5, 1982 of an estimated 31 million bottles of Tylenol, with a retail value of over a hundred million dollars. The company also advertised in the national media for individuals not to consume any of its products that contained acetaminophen, after it was determined that only these capsules had been tampered with. Johnson & Johnson also offered to exchange all Tylenol capsules already purchased by the public for solid tablets. Johnson & Johnson, whose headquarters are in New Brunswick, NJ, near Carteret, NJ, where I grew up, received positive coverage for its handling of the crisis. Candy sales were down that 1982 Halloween in the Chicago area. What do you remember about the Tylenol scare?
Late Night with David Letterman made its debut on NBC in 1982
In 1982, “Late Night with David Letterman” debuted, a show that appeared after the Johnny Carson Show. In New York, it started at 12:30 AM, since he was taking over for Tom Synder (1936-2007). Tom Synder would be on “The Late, Late, Show,” on CBS in the 1990s. The first guest for Letterman was Bill Murray, one of Letterman’s most recurrent guests, guesting on his later CBS show’s celebration of his 30th anniversary in late-night television, which aired January 31, 2012, and on the final CBS show, which aired May 20, 2015. David Letterman hosted late-night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with February 1, 1982, with “Late Night with David Letterman” on NBC, and ending with the May 20, 2015, broadcast of the “Late Show with David Letterman” on CBS. In total, Letterman hosted 6,080 episodes of Late Night and Late Show, surpassing his friend and mentor Johnny Carson as the longest-serving late-night talk show host in American television history. Letterman’s CBS “The Late Show” got its main competitor from NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” which Jay Leno hosted for 22 years from 1992 to 2014. In 1993 and 1994, “The Late Show” consistently gained higher ratings than “The Tonight Show.” But in 1995, ratings dipped and Leno’s show consistently beat Letterman in the ratings from the time that Hugh Grant came on Leno’s show after Grant’s arrest for soliciting a prostitute. Leno typically attracted about five million nightly viewers between 1999 and 2009. The “Late Show” lost nearly half its audience during its competition with Leno, attracting 7.1 million viewers nightly in its 1993–94 season and about 3.8 million per night as of Leno’s departure in 2009. Letterman’s shows have garnered both critical and industry praise, receiving 67 Emmy Award nominations, winning 12 times in his first 20 years in late night television. From 1993 to 2009, Letterman ranked higher than Leno in the annual Harris Poll of Nation’s Favorite TV Personality 12 times. Letterman received the 2012 Kennedy Center Honors Medallion. In 2002, Letterman’s contract with CBS neared expiration, ABC offered him the time slot for the long-running news program “Nightline” with Ted Koppel. However, Letterman stayed at CBS. The final episode of Late Show with David Letterman in 2015 was watched by nearly 14 million viewers in the United States, also the highest-rated program on network television that night, beating out all prime-time shows. David Letterman was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1947. According to the Ball State Daily News, he originally wanted to attend Indiana University, but his grades were not good enough, so he instead attended Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. A self-described average student, Letterman later endowed a scholarship for what he called “C students” at Ball State. Letterman began his broadcasting career as an announcer and newscaster at the college’s student-run radio station WBST. Soon after graduating from Ball State in 1969, Letterman began his career as a radio talk show host on WNTS and on Indianapolis television station WLWI as an anchor and weatherman. Letterman’s comedic career took hold in the 1970s at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles. Letterman’s brand of dry, sarcastic humor caught the attention of scouts for “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,” and he was soon a regular guest on the show. That is how he ended up on the Late Show. In 1992, Johnny Carson retired, and many fans, and Carson himself, believed that Letterman would become the new host of “The Tonight Show.” When NBC instead gave the job to Jay Leno, Letterman departed NBC to host his own late-night show on CBS, opposite “The Tonight Show” at 11:30 p.m., called the “Late Show with David Letterman.” The new show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was taped at the historic Ed Sullivan Theater, in New York City, where Ed Sullivan broadcast his TV variety series from 1948 to 1971. Did you like David Letterman?
The “Tonight Show with Johnny Carson”
“The Tonight Show,” a late-night talk show began broadcasting on NBC TV in 1954. Following Steve Allen (1954–1957) and Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992) began to host this show for thirty years in 1962. Back then, there was no late-night shows after the late evening news at 11:30 PM Eastern time on any other network. Thus, the “Tonight Show” is the world’s longest-running talk show, and the longest-running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States. On NBC, only the “Today Show (1952)” and “Meet the Press (1947)” have been on TV longer. Up until 1972, the “Tonight Show” was taped in New York City. From 1973 to 2014, it was taped in Burbank, California. Johnny Carson (1925-2005) was the king of late-night television for thirty years until his retirement in 1992. In 1982, he was celebrating his twentieth year as the host of the “Tonight Show.” I would watch the “Tonight Show” when I got home late on Wednesday and Friday nights from work at Montgomery Ward. I liked the way he questioned guests and his quick wit. He always smoked cigarettes as he was interviewing people. Johnny Carson (1925–2005) received six Primetime Emmy Awards, the Television Academy’s 1980 Governor’s Award, and a 1985 Peabody Award. He was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987, awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992, and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1993. Carson was born in Iowa, but grew up in Nebraska, so that his midwestern charm made him and his TV show popular in the Midwest time zone that was only at 10:30 PM. During World War II, Carson served in the United States Navy. After the war he took advantage of the GI bill to get a BA degree in radio and speech at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. In 1953, he joined the comic “Red Skelton Show” as a writer. Carson then moved to New York City to host ABC’s “Who Do You Trust? (1957–1962).” There he met his future sidekick and straight man, Ed McMahon (1923-2009). Then in 1962, Skitch Henderson (1918-2005) was installed as the maestro of the NBC Orchestra for the “Tonight Show.” Ed McMahon’s famous introduction, “Heeeeere’s Johnny!!!” was followed by a brief monologue by Carson. Paul Anka wrote “The Tonight Show’s” theme song, “Johnny’s Theme.” On May 1, 1972, “The Tonight Show” moved from 30 Rockefeller Plaza to the NBC Studios in Burbank, California, because of the studio’s proximity to celebrities. Although Carson’s work schedule became more abbreviated, “The Tonight Show” remained so successful that his compensation from NBC continued to rise. By the mid-1970s, he had become the highest-paid personality on television, earning about $4 million a year. Carson became an American institution, a household word, and the most widely quoted American. He was married four times, with three sons from his first marriage. On February 27, 1982, Carson was arrested for drunk driving near Beverly Hills. He was an Eisenhower Republican, but Frank Sinatra asked him to be the MC at Regan’s inaugural. Carson endowed the University of Nebraska with the Johnny Carson School of Theater and Film. He was good friends with Carl Sagan, Buddy Rich, and John McEnroe. What do you remember about Johnny Carson?
Getting Cable TV in 1982
Sometime during 1982 we got Comcast cable in our house in Matteson, IL. I believe that it became available in our neighborhood. This is when I grew to like C-SPAN and the Sports channel ESPN with its many sports talk shows and Australian football, which was much like Gaelic Irish football. ESPN had no rights to most American sporting events. The movie channels were nice, but I began to realize that there were a lot of bad movies. Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fiber-optic cables. An antenna was no longer needed. This contrasts with broadcast television, in which the television signal is transmitted over-the-air by radio waves and received by a television antenna, or satellite television, with a satellite dish on the roof. Analog television was standard in the 20th century, but since the 2000s, cable systems have been upgraded to digital cable operation. A cable channel is a television network available via cable television only. Cable television began in the United States as a commercial business in the 1950s. At the outset, cable systems only served smaller communities without television stations of their own, since they could not receive signals from stations in cities because of distance or hilly terrain. Only about 8% of Americans in 1978 had cable TV. However, by 1988, 53% of all American households were using cable and it further increased to 62% in 1994. During the 1980s, United States regulations, not unlike public, educational, and government access stations, created the beginning of cable-originated live television programming. As cable penetration increased, numerous cable-only TV stations were launched, many with their own news bureaus that could provide more immediate and more localized content than that provided by the nearest network newscast. This evolved into today’s many cable-only broadcasts of diverse programming, including cable-only produced television movies. Cable specialty channels started with channels oriented to show movies and large sporting or performance events, then diversified further, as narrowcasting became common. By the late 1980s, cable-only signals outnumbered broadcast signals on cable systems, some of which had expanded beyond 35 channels. By the 1990s, tiers became common, with customers able to subscribe to different tiers to obtain different selections of additional channels above the basic selection. By subscribing to additional tiers, customers could get specialty channels, movie channels, and foreign channels. Large cable companies used addressable descramblers to limit access to premium channels for customers not subscribing to higher tiers. During the 1990s, the pressure to accommodate the growing array of offerings resulted in digital transmission that made more efficient use of the VHF signal capacity. The digital television transition in the United States has put all signals, broadcast, and cable, into digital form, rendering analog cable television service a rarity, found in an ever-dwindling number of markets. Cable television is mostly available in North America, Europe, Australia, Asia, and South America, but has had little success in Africa, as it is not cost-effective to lay cables in sparsely populated areas. Where I live now, I have nearly a thousand channels available on my Astound RCN cable network, even if I not do subscribe to all of them. Do you have cable network TV?
The immediate family of Mary Ginsbach Klein, Margaret’s mother
Nicholas Ginsbach (1884-1933) was one of the younger children of the Nicholas Ginsbach (1848-1926) family, with the same name as his father. The older Nicholas was the grandfather of Mary Ginsbach, while the younger Nicholas was the father of Mary Ginsbach Klein. The younger Nicholas died in White Lake, SD, at the young age of 49 during the Great Depression in 1933. He would have been 5 years old when his mother died in western Iowa, near unincorporated Seney, Plymouth County. He moved with his father, named Nicholas also, and two sisters, Kate, and Clara, to White Lake, SD, in 1895. There, he grew up and married Barbara Strauss (1892-1966) in White Lake, in April 21, 1914, in the same St. Peter’s Church as his sister Clara. He was 30 and Barbara was 22. Nicholas and Barbara had 6 children. Mary Ginsbach Klein (1915-1999) married Peter Klein and they had 7 children, Margaret’s family. Mark Ginsbach (1917-1992) married Irene Horstmeyer and they had three girls. Elisabeth Ginsbach Peppmuller (1942-) married Ron Peppmuller and they had three children. Darlene Ginsbach Holiday (1946-) married James Holiday and they had two children. Rhona Ginsbach Walz (1954-) married Richard Walz and they had three children. Raymond Ginsbach (1919-2003) married Betty Alder Sampson Ginsbach, and they had three children, Russell Sampson, Mike Sampson, and John Ginsbach. Robert Ginsbach (1924-1964) married Billy Rhodes Ginsbach and they had two children, Todd Ginsbach, and Tammi Ginsbach. Frank Ginsbach (1928-2017) married Darleen Ann Fritz Ginsbach. They had two children. Cynthia Ginsbach Gray married William Gray, and Frank Nicholas Ginsbach, Jr married Jerri Lynn Wynn. They each also had two children. Mildred, the youngest (1930-1930), died at childbirth. On her mother’s side, Margaret had 4 uncles and 10 first cousins. Do you have the same name as your father or mother?
The Barbara Straus (1892-1966) family, Margaret’s grandmother
Barbara Straus Ginsbach (1892-1966) died at the age of 74. She married Nick Ginsbach on April 21, 1914 at St. Peter’s Church in White Lake, SD, at the age of 22. Her father, Stephen Straus was also born in Luxembourg in 1851. He immigrated to the USA with his family in 1855 to live in Port Washington, Wisconsin. Then they moved to Bellechester, Minnesota, another Luxembourg community, where his parents are buried. Stephen had at least 3 brothers, Mike, Henry, and Nick. Stephen then moved to Frankfort, SD, where he married Magdelen Majerus (1858-1941) on May 28, 1888. She was born in Brooklyn, NY, but may have Luxembourg roots. Barbara Straus had two sisters: Anna Straus Steichen (1894-1974) who died at the age of 80. She had married Frank Steichen (1897-1975) who died at the age of 78. They had no children. The Steichen family was from Luxembourg also. Martha Straus (1897-1992) died at the age of 95. Margaret knew her as “Aunt Martha from White Lake.” She never married. She spent most of her life in White Lake, SD. Margaret knew her grandmother from White Lake also, who came to visit their family in Dell Rapids. Frank Straus (1905-1972) died at the age of 67. He married Vernice Glissendorf (1897-1964) in 1950, but they had no children. He spent most of his life in White Lake, SD, also. Did you know that there were so many Americans from Luxembourg?
The pioneering Ginsbach family in White Lake, SD
The oldest child of Frank Ginsbach and Catherine Walter Ginsbach Termes was Nicholas Ginsbach (1848-1926), the grandfather of Mary Ginsbach Klein, the great-grandfather of Margaret. In 1873, Nicholas married Mary Zeimet, while his sister Mary Ginsbach would marry John Zeimet in 1876, the brother of Mary Zeimet. These Zeimet siblings were also born in Luxembourg. Nine children were born to Nicholas Ginsbach and Mary Zeimet Ginsbach before she died in childbirth in 1889 with her infant baby May. Nicholas then married Bertha Dittman in 1890, but she died 4 years later in 1894. Then one year later, in 1895, he took a train with his 3 youngest children, Kate (13), Nicholas (11), Margaret’s grandfather, and Clara (8) to White Lake, SD. This older Nicholas Ginsbach had seven children. Frank Ginsbach (1874-1973), died in Dell Rapids, SD at the age of 99. He married Susan Frantzen (1875-1947) in Alton, Iowa, in 1900. They had 4 children, Peter, Francis, Coletta, and Prema (Elsinger). He was the oldest in the family and got the farm after his father left for White Lake, SD, in 1895. Michael Ginsbach (1875-1958) died in Dell Rapids at the age of 83. He married Addie Steffen (1881-1964). They had 7 children, Bernard, Clara (Profesi), Lawrence, Charles, Anthony, Mary Agnes (Geraets), and Martin. Mathias Ginsbach (1877-1950) died near the Alamo, Texas, at the age of 73. He married Elizabeth Luken. They had 2 sons. John and Glen. They moved to Texas in 1920. John Ginsbach (1878-1929)died near White Lake, SD, at the age of 51, in 1929, of a lightning strike with 2 horses. He never married, but moved to White Lake, SD, to be with his father in 1906. Kate Ginsbach Krell (1882-1979) died in Plankinton, SD, at the age of 97. She married Peter Krell (1882-1944) in 1904. They had 5 children, Harry, Clarence, Caroline (Hoffman), Agnes (Lenocher), and Margaret (Doran). Nicholas Ginsbach (1884-1933) (father of Frank and Mary Ginsbach Klein) died in White Lake, SD, at the age of 47. He was one of the younger ones in this family. He moved with his father and two sisters Kate and Clara to White Lake, SD, in 1895, when he was 11 years old. There he grew up and married Barbara Strauss (1892-1966) in White Lake, in 1914, in the same Church as his sister Clara, St. Peters. They had 6 children, Mary, Margaret’s mother, Mark, Raymond, Robert, Frank, and Mildred. Clara Ginsbach (1886-1973) died in White Lake, SD, at the age of 88. She married Ed Moeller (1886-1949) in 1914, at St. Peter’s Church in White Lake, SD. They had 5 boys, Sylvester, Edward, Cecil, John, and Albert. May (1889-1889) died at childbirth with her mother. Do you know anyone named Ginsbach?
The Luxembourg immigrants of the Ginsbach family
Mary Ginsbach Klein, Margaret’s mother, can trace her family back to Nicolas Ginsbach who was born in 1779. He was the great-great grandfather of Mary Ginsbach Klein, the mother of Margaret. Nicholas Ginsbach had a son named Francis Ginsbach (1811-1859), born on the German-Luxembourg border, near the Mosel River, the great grandfather of Mary Ginsbach. He married Catherine Walter, who was born in 1818. Frank, his wife Catherine, with their three sons, came to the USA via New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1851. They moved to the Luxembourg community at St. Donatus, Iowa, in Jackson County, just south of Dubuque, Iowa, on the Mississippi River. The three sons born in Luxembourg were Nicholas Ginsbach (1848-1926), who was Mary Ginsbach’s grandfather, John Ginsbach (1849-1935), who married Anna Batszler, in 1881, and had 7 children, Frank, Mary, Margaret (Oswald), Henry, Julia, Albert, and Myrtle (Marx), before he died in Watertown, SD, and Peter Ginsbach (1850-1894), who married Olgatha Szitnick, in 1880. Peter had 6 girls, Catherine (Cramer), Anna (Johns), Lena (Johnson), Mary, Clara (Jones), and Emma (Cramer). He died in Chico, California. Four more children were born to this family of Francis and Catherine, Margaret’s great grandfather, in St. Donatus, Iowa. Henry Ginsbach (1852-1938) married Elizabeth Delperdang in 1877. They had 12 children, Kate (Bailey), Nicholas, Margaret (Hueble), Adam, Marie (Hall), John, Charles, a WW I veteran, Rose (Pirrung), Henry, Anna (Stover), Benedict, and Agnes (Feller) who died in Sioux Falls, SD. Mary Ginsbach Zeimet (1854-1940), married John Zeimet. They had 8 children but 3 of their children died as babies (Mathias, John, and another girl), Peter, Michael, Anna Katherine (Kirk), Anna Subelia (Merril), and Elizabeth (Retzloff). She died in Hot Springs, SD. Matthew Ginsbach (1856-1943), married Jane McBriar from Wisconsin, in 1884. They had 4 children, Earl, Francis, Clark, and Flossie (Brakke). He was the mayor of Hartford, SD, for two terms. Elizabeth Ginsbach Deutsch (1858-1928). She married Peter Deutsch and they 4 children, John, Peter, Theodore, and Elizabeth (Letcher). They moved to Oklahoma. Unfortunately, Frank Ginsbach, the father, drowned in the Mississippi River on Feb 11, 1859, when he fell through the ice with a team of horses. He was with his wife but she survived. Then Catherine Walter Ginsbach married Peter Termes, their hired man, 5 months later in 1859. Peter Termes served in the American Civil War. What do you know about Luxembourg settlements in the USA?
Margaret’s mother, Mary Ginsbach (1915-1999) from White Lake, SD
With all the attention on the Klein family, Margaret’s father’s family with a book about the Kleins, Good Soil, Black Earth, in 1981, I felt bad about her mother, Mary Ginsbach. Thus, I spent the summer of 1982 in Dell Rapids looking up the Ginsbach family, Margaret’s mother’s family. I got most of the information from Mary Ginsbach Klein (1915-1999). She had a lot of letters from her brother Frank Ginsbach, who had done some work on their genealogy. With a little help from this brother-sister combination, I was able to put together a little packet about the Ginsbach family. Guess what! The Ginsbach family was from Luxembourg also. I thought that they were from Dell Rapids, but they were from White Lake, South Dakota. White Lake is a city in western Aurora County, South Dakota, that had a population of 394 at the 2020 census. It does have a Catholic Church, St. Peters, within this half square mile town with 88 families. The median income for a family was $38,611. Dell Rapids is a metropolis compared to White Lake, with a population of 3,996 at the 2020 census within this two square mile area with 973 families, and the median family income at $49,536. White Lake Public Schools belong to White Lake School District with all three schools in the same building, the Elementary, the Junior High, and the High School. The city of White Lake was founded in 1882. Thus, there have been members of the Ginsbach family living there since 1895. Have you ever heard about White Lake, SD?
Gene Finnegan Remembers Living Eighty Wonderful Years 