HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC – VOA’s radio magazine in SpecialEnglish.
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This is Doug Johnson. On our program today:
We play music by Pink Floyd …
Report about the death of an American football hero.
And tell about an American artist who painted Native Americans ofthe Old West.
George Catlin Exhibit
HOST:
The Smithsonian Institution’s Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C.has opened an exhibition of four-hundred paintings and other objectsby American artist George Catlin. Shep O’Neal tells us about him.
ANNCR:
George Catlin was born in the eastern state of Pennsylvania inseventeen-ninety-six. He went to school to learn to be a lawyer. Buthe always wanted to be an artist. He soon quit the legal professionand became a painter.
In the early eighteen-twenties,George Catlin saw a delegation of American Indians on their way toWashington, D.C. He was extremely interested in them. He decided topaint as many of the tribes of Native Americans as he could find.
From about eighteen-thirty to eighteen-thirty-six, George Catlintraveled deep into areas of the country where few white people hadever been. He traveled thousands of kilometers and painted almosteverything he saw. He painted pictures of the land. He painted men,women, children, clothing and animals. He painted religiousceremonies, dances and ball games. He often painted as many as threepictures a day.
George Catlin visited as many as fifty different tribes ofAmerican Indians. His paintings show a people and culture that werevery difficult for many white people of the time to accept. Hispaintings show an intelligent people who had a highly developedculture. Few white people understood this.
George Catlin displayed hispaintings for several years. He took them to Britain and France. Buthe was never very successful. Late in his life he was forced to sellhis Indian paintings. Later, they were given to the SmithsonianInstitution.
Elizabeth Broun [pronounced brune] is the director of theSmithsonian American Art Museum. She says Catlin’s paintings add toour understanding of Native Americans. She also says they showCatlin’s deep feelings for the rich culture of the tribes hevisited.
If you have a computer and can link with the Internet’s WorldWide Web you can find more information about George Catlin and hispaintings. Type the letters N-M-A-A in a search. Or type the lettersC-A-T-L-I-N. Enjoy the paintings.
Johnny Unitas
HOST:
One of the best American football players of all time died of aheart attack earlier this month in Baltimore, Maryland. He wassixty-nine years old. His name was Johnny Unitas. Mary Tillotsontells us about him.
ANNCR:
Johnny Unitas was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He playedfootball in college at the University of Louisville. The expertssaid he was too small to play the game professionally. But he provedthem wrong. Johnny Unitas played professional football for eighteenyears, seventeen of them with the Baltimore Colts.
Unitas was a quarterback. That is the leader of the team’soffense. The quarterback tells the other players what to do eachtime their team has the ball. He receives the ball as the two teamsline up facing each other. Then the quarterback either hands theball to another player, throws it to another player or runs with theball himself.
Johnny Unitas was the first quarterback to throw the ball formore than forty-thousand yards. He set twenty-two National FootballLeague records. These include most passes attempted and completed,most yards gained passing, most touchdown passes and most yearsleading the league in touchdown passes. He completed at least onetouchdown pass in forty-seven games without interruption betweennineteen-fifty-six and nineteen-sixty.
Johnny Unitas led the Baltimore Colts to the National FootballLeague championship three times. He also led the team to a SuperBowl victory in nineteen-seventy-one. He was named most valuableplayer three times. Unitas also was chosen as a member of theProfessional Football Hall of Fame. He retired from football afterthe nineteen-seventy-three season.
Johnny Unitas has been called the greatest quarterback of alltime. But people said he was much more than that. More thantwo-thousand people attended his funeral in Baltimore, Maryland lastweek. Family members and friends talked about his life and his loveof football. Football fans said they wanted to honor the man whobrought sports excellence to their city and who always treatedeveryone like they were his friends.
Pink Floyd
HOST:
Our VOA listener question this week comes from Iran. Arash Abediasks about the rock group Pink Floyd.
Pink Floyd is a British rock band famous for its use ofelectronics and special effects. It began recording in thenineteen-sixties. Yet its music continues to be extremely popularall over the world.
The group took its name from thefirst names of two American blues musicians, Pink Anderson and FloydCouncil. At first, the band played rock, and rhythm and blues music.But it quickly began to experiment with electronic sounds, and usedlights in its stage performances.
Its first real international hit album was “Dark Side of theMoon” in nineteen-seventy-three. It is still one of the most popularrock albums around the world. Here is a song from that album,”Money.”
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Another extremely popular album by Pink Floyd is “The Wall.” Thesongs are about the kinds of walls modern people build aroundthemselves for survival. One of the hits from “The Wall” is thissong, “Another Brick in the Wall.”
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Pink Floyd was named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame innineteen-ninety-six. The group released a greatest hits album lastyear called “Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd.” We leave you now withthe title song from that album, “Echoes.”
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HOST:
This is Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. And Ihope you will join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC – VOA’sradio magazine in Special English.
This AMERICAN MOSAIC program was written by Nancy Steinbach andPaul Thompson. Our studio engineer was Audrius Reegus. And ourproducer was Caty Weaver.