I was researching events from 1977 the other day, about geniuses who passed on that year; specifically, three whose first names still suffice – Bing, Groucho and Elvis. The fourth genius was Charlie, but that is such a common name that Chaplin probably needs to be added.
In that perusing I came across other interesting occurrences from 1977, which, if you’re like me, you may have forgotten or even missed all together. So I’ll take you back.
Speaking of those famous deaths, one of the year’s most unusual stories was about someone who didn’t die, but probably should have. Roy Sullivan was a forest ranger who was struck by lightning in 1977 and lived to tell about it. In fact he had lived to tell about being struck by lightning seven times during his life.
The first time it happened was in 1942, when he was in a fire lookout tower. He was hit in the leg and lost the nail on his big toe. 35 years later, while fishing, Sullivan was struck for the seventh time, and suffered burns on his arms and chest. Sullivan died in 1983 at the age of 71, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Then there was the case of Melchor and Victoria Javier, from the Phillipines. It all began when they ordered a $1,000 bank draft from Mellon bank in Pittsburgh, to be sent to them in Manila. Mellon more than complied when they accidentally added three zeros to the draft, and the Javiers received a check for $1,000,000 instead of $1,000. Thrilled with their windfall, the Javiers immediately began spending the money. They paid $433,000 for a 160-acre California lot; spent $37,333 gambling; $42,000 for gifts to relatives and friends; $20,000 for family medical expenses; $80,000 for legal fees; $8,000 household expenses; $120,000 “miscellaneous expenditures.” The balance they deposited in savings accounts.
When surprised bank executives discovered the error, they sought to recover the money, but the Javiers refused to return the overpayment, insisting they had spent most of it. The bank sued, but it is still unresolved. Down in Florida’s Dade County voters had passed a human-rights ordinance that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. In response to this, a former orange juice promoter and beauty queen named Anita Bryant felt called to lead a campaign to repeal the ordinance. The campaign was based on “Christian beliefs regarding the sinfulness of homosexuality,” and the perceived threat of “homosexual recruitment” of children.
Those concerns inspired the name of Bryant’s political organization, “Save our Children,” which called for opposition to gay rights, and gave birth to the religious right. Phrases like, “As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children,” and “If gays are granted rights, next we’ll have to give rights to prostitutes, and to people who sleep with St. Bernards, and to nail biters,” were common in Bryant’s campaign speeches. (Having actually slept with a St. Bernard myself, I take strong exception to her comment. My best friend when I was a kid had a beautiful St. Bernard named Nick, and he used to go with us when we camped out. I guess the scars from those traumatic nights must have caused me some permanent damage I don’t yet know about. But I agree with her about the nail biters. There’s no place in a decent society for them.)
It was pearls of wisdom like these, and other personal attacks on homosexuals that drew tens of thousands of new recruits into the movement. Rev. Jerry Falwell also came to Miami to help. But it was Bryant herself, who first led fundamentalist Christians into politics. And on June 7, 1977, her campaign led to a repeal of the anti-discrimination ordinance by a margin of 69 to 31 percent.
The following day, Bryant stated, “In victory, we shall not be vindictive. We shall continue to seek help and change for homosexuals, whose sick and sad values belie the word ‘gay’ which they pathetically use to cover their unhappy lives.” Soon however, the fallout from her activism had a devastating effect on Bryant’s entertainment career. And her contract with the Florida Citrus Commission lapsed in 1979, because of the negative publicity resulting in boycotts of Florida orange juice.
Bryant’s marriage to husband Bob Green ended in 1980 (I know I’m missing a good St. Bernard line here) and 10 years later she married her second husband, Charlie Hobson Dry. They tried to re-establish her career in a series of small venues, but success has been elusive, and they have left behind them a series of unpaid employees and creditors. They filed for bankruptcy in Arkansas in 1997 and in Tennessee in 2001.