Do I Have to Wear a Trench Coat?

Sharon Tate Moody compares the interviewing techniques of two TV detectives:

The first is Sgt. Joe Friday. The stone-faced lead character of the "Dragnet" series never veered from his approach. "All we want are the facts, ma'am," he would say, not cracking a grin or blinking an eye.

Then there was Columbo. He was a fumbler interested in the quirkiest of things about unsuspecting persons of interest, sidestepping his way to what he really was after. I also think he was a closet genealogist. He was forever talking about his cousins and revealing things about his family - things such as his father having been a tail gunner on a beer truck during Prohibition and his grandfather being 40 years old when he began wearing dentures.

Columbo's approach might work well for you when interviewing reluctant relatives. [Link]

David Wilson? Meet David Wilson

Meeting David Wilson premieres April 11 on MSNBC.

David Wilson, a 28-year-old African-American journalist, journeys into his family’s past to find answers to America’s racial divide. Along the way he meets another David Wilson, the descendant of his family’s slave master. This discovery leads to a momentous encounter between these two men of the same name but whose ancestors were on the opposite sides of freedom. Through DNA testing, David determines his African roots and returns to his native land. [Link]

Life Imitates a 1960s Sitcom

Tampa, Florida, issued a promissory note to storekeeper Thomas Pugh Kennedy on June 21, 1861, in the amount of $299.58.

Kennedy's great-granddaughter says the city never made good on its loan. Now, Joan Kennedy Biddle and her family are suing to collect the payment plus 8 percent annual interest.

The total bill: $22.7-million.

Biddle wouldn't give specifics on why she decided to sue now, using as evidence a piece of paper that has been handed down as an heirloom for generations.

"This thing has been in the family since the date on the note, and it has never been repaid," said Biddle, 77. "My daddy told me, and I certainly believe him." [Link]

The relevant case law comes from an episode of The Andy Griffith Show.

Andy is forced to evict Frank Myers from his home only to later discover that he holds a century-old bond that is originally believed to be worth $349,119.27. Since the Mayberry treasury holds just over $10,000, the mayor and town council scramble to keep Frank happy by renovating his run-down home. Later, the bond is discovered to be worthless because it was paid for with Confederate currency.

Bare Naked Genealogy

Leland Meitzler spotted this ad for the Australian version of Who Do You Think You Are? Whether it's safe for work may depend on your boss's eyesight.

Genealogue Challenge #113

Character actor Allan Melvin died Thursday in Los Angeles. In keeping with a recurring theme of these challenges, he made eight appearances on The Andy Griffith Show in eight different roles.

Where were his paternal grandparents married?

Genealogue Challenge #98

No one has taken up my last challenge yet. I'll try not to take it personally.

I remember Sterling Holloway from his guest roles on The Andy Griffith Show and Gilligan's Island, but the younger set will know him as the voice of Disney's Winnie the Pooh.

What was the full name of his maternal grandmother's undertaker?

Genealogue Challenge #78

I'm 97.3% sure I've figured out this one.

The character of Floyd Lawson on The Andy Griffith Show was first played (in just one episode) by actor Walter Baldwin.

Who were his parents?

Who Do You Think You Are Fooling?

At least one scene in one episode of the BBC genealogy show Who Do You Think You Are? was staged. The featured celebrity, Carol Vorderman, was unaware of the manipulation.

Vorderman wanted to know where a photo of her great-grandfather was taken and was shown asking passers-by in Prestatyn for help.

Finally, shop assistant Dawn Farrell identified it as Bodnant Gardens in the Conwy Valley.

But Dawn revealed: "A man told me Carol was going to come into the shop with a photo and ask me about it. He said, 'She is going to show you a photo - could you tell her it is Bodnant?' [Link]

Genealogue Challenge #62

Which of Molly (Simon) Theobald's grandchildren had a memorable role on The Andy Griffith Show?

Genealogue Challenge #56

Have you guessed yet that I'm a fan of The Andy Griffith Show? This challenge concerns the actor who played the habitually drunk Otis Campbell.

What were the names of his sisters' husbands?

Genealogue Challenge #54

Frances Bavier is best known for her role as Aunt Bee on The Andy Griffith Show.

When did her mother die and in what city was she buried?

They Can't Give Brides Away in Sweden

A priest in Stockholm has refused to honor a bride's request to be given away by her father.

"This symbolizes that the father is the owner of the daughter and that he is giving her away to her new owner," said Rev Eva Brunne, diocesan dean and assistant to Bishop of Stockholm Caroline Krook.

Brunne told The Local that the tradition of giving away a woman was un-Swedish. Traditionally, Swedish couples walk down the aisle to the altar together.

The practice of being given away "only came into our church in the seventies and eighties through American TV shows," she said. [Link]

[Thanks, Nancy!]

Genealogue Challenge #24

Inventor Philo T. Farnsworth transmitted his first television image 80 years ago last Friday.

1. Find the doctor who signed his father's death certificate.
2. Find the doctor's undertaker.
3. How did the undertaker die?

Update: Just to be clear, you'll have to find records of three deaths: Philo's father, Philo's father's doctor, and Philo's father's doctor's undertaker. The third of these men died in an unusual way.

Genealogue Challenge #21

Natalie Schafer is best known for her role as Lovey Howell on Gilligan's Island.

On what date did her parents marry?

Extra credit: Who was her maternal grandfather?

DNA: Could It Happen to You?

Last night's Colbert Report was all about DNA. We learned that "DNA was invented back in the 1950s, and it's responsible for cool stuff like hair color and arms." Who knew? Here's Stephen's interview with Dr. Spencer Wells of the Genographic Project:

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So Funny She Forgot to Laugh

A new television program in Germany invites celebrities to trace their family histories. The first episode demonstrated why some Germans are reluctant to delve into their pasts.

The actress Mariele Millowitsch, 51, was the first guest on Auf der Spur meiner Ahnen (On the Trail of My Ancestors). Cameras filmed her as, for the first time, she watched footage of her actor father Willy performing comic routines for an audience of Nazi officers.

Miss Millowitsch appeared uncomfortable, protesting that her father must have been doing his best to earn a living, rather than performing out of any ideological conviction. [Link]

Genealogy Blogger to Appear on PBS

Genealogy blogger George Geder is featured in an article in today's Santa Fe New Mexican, and will appear on next week's episode of History Detectives.

George Geder said the story began when a total stranger, Angelo Scarloto of Etters, Pa., bought a vintage photograph at an antique shop.

It depicts 26 men in their 50s or older, wearing medals from the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal association of Union soldiers. Two men are black; the other 24 are white.

Civil War buff Scarloto “was curious about that because, given the tenor of the times, he thought it unusual for these two African Americans to be in this photograph,” Geder said. [Link]

If I ever appear on PBS, I hope it's on This Old House. I'm going to name my first child Norm, even if it's a girl.

Roots a Risky Venture

I remember Roots as an amazing television event. But Fred Silverman and other ABC executives had serious reservations about broadcasting the miniseries back in 1977.

Convinced that "Roots" would be a ratings disaster at best and, at worst, might inflame blacks and start riots across the country, the ABC chieftain decided to run off the entire program over one week ... to get it out of the way before sweeps began.

"We were terrified when we put it on the air," says Brandon Stoddard, then the ABC executive most directly involved in the miniseries. Stoddard says some Southern states would not even show the program for fear of inciting riots. [Link]

When Ancestors Attack

Is it too much to hope that When Ancestors Attack will become a regular segment on The Colbert Report? Maybe they can also have a segment called "Better Know a Census Enumeration District."

The First Animated Genealogist?

Tonight's episode of King of the Hill features a genealogist—perhaps the first in animated television history.

An heirless Bill becomes despondent when alley talk turns to what the guys will pass down to their sons. After Bill meets with a genealogist to find his relatives, everyone with the Dauterive last name which the "genealogist" searched on the Internet is invited to his house for a party. But when his cousin Gilbert is the only one to show, Bill learns that they are the last of the Dauterive line. [Link]

The scare quotes around "genealogist" are appropriate. The guy has a sign outside his office that reads GENEOLOGIST.