Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/The-Secrets-of-the-Frisbee.mp3 Author Kevin Shortsleeve Air Date 1/11/2002 The Frisbee Transcript Today, we celebrate the Frisbee, that sublime, colorful and somewhat mysterious flying disc. The ancient origins of the Frisbee are lost in the annals of history, though no doubt, it was a child who first discovered that flat wood chips […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Johnny-Marks.mp3 Author Kevin Shortsleeve Air Date 12/13/2001 Johnny Marks Transcript Christmas music, as we know it, would not be the same were it not for songwriter, Johnny Marks. His Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and other Christmas hits have become the audio equivalent to Christmas stockings and candy canes. Born […]
With the holidays approaching, Kevin Shortsleeve has been looking at toys and some of the unlikely origins of our favorite playthings.
Today is the birthday of C. S. Lewis, and Kevin Shortsleeve has some thoughts about this famous British author.
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Thanksgiving-Games-.mp3 Author Kevin Shortsleeve Air Date 11/22/2001 Thanksgiving Games Transcript As a child, Thanksgiving was the one day in the year when my entire family would play games together. On other holidays, we were together, but with a family as large as mine, – eight children two parents – and […]
The ancient Middle East has often been called the “cradle of Western civilization.” It gave us our first writings for children, as Kevin Shortsleeve explains.
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Halloweens-Romantic-History.mp3 Author Kevin Shortsleeve Air Date 10/30/2001 A Romantic Halloween Transcript Thousands of years ago, on dark November nights, Druids built bonfires among the moors and windswept hills of the British Isles. On these eerie evenings, the ancient precursor to Halloween, the Celtic God of the Dead, Samhain was said […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/The-Monster-Mash.mp3 Author Kevin Shortsleeve Air Date 10/25/2001 The Monster Mash Transcript Much like Christmas, Halloween has it’s own set of songs that reflect the stories and themes of the holiday. You might call them Halloween Carols. Haunted House, by Jumpin’ Gene Simmons, Spooky, by the Classic’s Four, Moondance by Van […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Carl-Stalling-Pioneer-Animator-.mp3 Author Kevin Shortsleeve Air Date 10/09/2001 Carl Stalling Transcript One of the great unsung heroes of Warner Brothers cartoons was composer, Carl Stalling. In the early 1920s, Stalling met Walt Disney at a theatre in Kansas City where Stalling was employed as a piano accompanist for silent films. At […]
Listen to the Recess! Clip https://recess.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/Buster-Keaton.mp3 Author Kevin Shortsleeve Air Date 10/4/2001 Buster Keaton Transcript In the early days of cinema, when the only sound that came with a movie was provided by a live piano player, Buster Keaton’s films played to the amusement of all ages. For children, Keaton tumbled and crashed through rip-roaring […]