SING OUT SWEET LAND (1970) John Wayne

[Richard M Roberts]

How's this for our 250th American Anniversary Celebration, an all-star NBC special from 1970, hosted and produced by John Wayne, celebrating our country and our country's history with an all-star cast. Talk about a blast of 1970's TV nostalgia, but where else will you ever see Bing Crosby playing Mark Twain having a conversation with Roscoe Lee Browne as Frederick Douglass, or Bob Hope entertaining the troops at Valley Forge, Dean Martin inventing the Cotton Gin, Canadians Lorne Greene and William Shatner playing two of the Fathers of our Country, or Lucille Ball as the Statue of Liberty. And many, many other stars as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L3XxI6MK8Y

As far as other words to commemorate our Bicentennial and a half, I'll leave you with these from Findley Peter Dunne's Mr. Dooley said more than a century ago:

"This Country-----while one of the worst in the World-----is about as good as the next----if it tain't a shade better".

Happy Fourth of July.

RICHARD M ROBERTS