A "shout-out" to some members of our family!
In the movie "North To Alaska" Sam (John Wayne) and George (Stewart Granger) strike gold in Alaska. George sends Sam to Seattle to bring George's fiance back to Alaska. Sam finds she is already married, and returns instead with Angel (Capucine). Sam, after trying to get George and Angel together, finally romances Angel, who, in the meantime, is busy fighting off the advances of George's younger brother, Billy (Fabian- a rock star of the time). Frankie (Ernie Kovacs who had a very funny TV show at the time) is a con man trying to steal the partner's gold claim.
Almost everything I learned about the world I learned from watching John Wayne movies! (tongue-in-cheek)
Alaska was purched by the United States through the efforts of Abram Lincoln's Secretary of State, William Seward. it was at the time referred to as Seward's Folly." According to Wikipedia:
Seward's most famous achievement as Secretary of State was his successful acquisition of Alaska from Russia. On March 30, 1867, he completed negotiations for the territory, which involved the purchase of 586,412 square miles (1,518,800 km²) of territory (more than twice the size of Texas) for $7,200,000, or approximately 2 cents per acre. The purchase of this frontier land was alternately mocked by the public as "Seward's Folly", "Seward's Icebox", and Andrew Johnson's "polar bear garden". Currently, Alaska celebrates the purchase on Seward's Day, the last Monday of March.
(To read more about the movie click on the title for a link)
