Herbert Eugene Caen (April 3, 1916 – February 1, 1997) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning San Francisco journalist whose daily column of local goings-on, social and political happenings, local anecdotes, and insider gossip—often poking fun, but rarely if ever hostile or ill-willed -- appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle for almost sixty years, except during a relatively short stint at the San Francisco Examiner. His name was a household word throughout the San Francisco Bay Area for decades; his funeral was one of the best-attended in San Francisco history,^{[citation needed]} and republications of his old columns remain a prominent Chronicle feature many years after his death.^{[citation needed]}

Born in Sacramento, Caen came to prominence with his It's News to Me column, which first appeared July 5, 1938 in the San Francisco Chronicle. Except for 1950 to 1958 (when he wrote for the San Francisco Examiner) he remained with the Chronicle his entire life. Caen called his work "three-dot journalism" in reference to the ellipses which separated his column's short items. (His son Christopher's publishing company is Ellipsis Media.) He had a considerable influence on pop culture, particularly its language. He coined the term beatnik in a 1958 column and popularized hippie during San Francisco's 1967 Summer of Love. He was interviewed in Jack O'Connell's 1968 film Revolution. He also playfully popularized many other (if more obscure) concepts and terms, such as Frisbeetarianism.

Coordinates: 49°10′59″N 0°22′10″W / 49.1831°N 0.3694°W / 49.1831; -0.3694

Caen (French pronunciation: [kɑ̃]; Norman: Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located 15 km (9.3 mi) inland from the English Channel.

Caen is known for its historical buildings built during the reign of William the Conqueror, who was buried there, and for the Battle for Caen—heavy fighting that took place in and around Caen during the Battle of Normandy in 1944, destroying much of the city.

Two hours north-west of Paris, and connected to the south of England by the Caen-(Ouistreham)-Portsmouth ferry route, Caen is located in the centre of its northern region, over which it is a centre of political, economic and cultural power.

As the city of William the Conqueror, the city has a long and complex history. In the Second World War, it was a key site of the Battle of Normandy. The city has preserved the memory by erecting a memorial for peace.

Daniel Irvin "Dan" Rather, Jr. (born October 31, 1931) is an American journalist and the former news anchor for the CBS Evening News. He is now managing editor and anchor of the television news magazine Dan Rather Reports on the cable channel HDNet. Rather was anchor of the CBS Evening News for 24 years, from March 9, 1981, to March 9, 2005. He also contributed to CBS's 60 Minutes. Rather became embroiled in controversy about a disputed news report involving President Bush's Vietnam-era service in the National Guard and subsequently left CBS Evening News in 2005, and he left the network altogether after 43 years in 2006.

Daniel Irvin Rather, Jr. (/ˈræðər/) was born on October 31, 1931, in Wharton County, Texas, the son of Daniel Irvin Rather, Sr., and the former Byrl Veda Page. The Rathers moved to Houston, and Dan attended Love Elementary School and Hamilton Middle School. He graduated in 1949 from John H. Reagan High School in Houston. In 1953, he received a bachelor's degree in journalism from Sam Houston State University where he was editor of the school newspaper, The Houstonian. At Sam Houston, he was a member of the Caballeros – the founding organization of the currently active Epsilon Psi chapter of the Sigma Chi fraternity. After obtaining his undergraduate degree, Rather briefly attended South Texas College of Law in Houston, which later awarded him an honorary Juris Doctor in 1990. In 1954, Rather enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, but was soon discharged because of having had rheumatic fever as a child .

Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".

In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America. His January 16, 1938 concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most important jazz or popular music concert in history: jazz's 'coming out' party to the world of 'respectable' music."

Goodman's bands launched the careers of many major names in jazz, and during an era of segregation, he also led one of the first well-known racially-integrated jazz groups. Goodman continued to perform to nearly the end of his life, including exploring his interest in classical music.

Goodman was born in Chicago, the ninth of twelve children of poor Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire, who lived in the Maxwell Street neighborhood. His father was David Goodman, a tailor from Warsaw; his mother was Dora Grisinsky (from Kaunas, Lithuania). His parents met in Baltimore, Maryland, and moved to Chicago before Benny was born.

Phyllis Diller (born July 17, 1917) is an American actress and comedian. She created a stage persona of a wild-haired, eccentrically dressed housewife who makes self-deprecating jokes about her age and appearance, her terrible cooking, and a husband named "Fang", while pretending to smoke from a long cigarette holder. Diller's signature is her unusual laugh.

Diller was born Phyllis Ada Driver in Lima, Ohio, the daughter of Frances Ada (née Romshe) and Perry Marcus Driver, an an insurance agent. She has German and Irish ancestry (the surname "Driver" had been changed from "Treiber" several generations back). Her mother was about twenty years younger than her father. Diller was raised a Methodist. Diller attended Lima's Central High School, then studied for three years at Sherwood Music Conservatory in Chicago, Illinois. She then transferred to Bluffton College in Bluffton, Ohio, where she met fellow "Lima-ite" and classmate Hugh Downs.^{[citation needed]}

Diller was a housewife, mother, and advertising copywriter. During World War II, Diller lived in Ypsilanti, Michigan, while her husband worked at the historic Willow Run Bomber Plant. In the mid-1950s, she made appearances on The Jack Paar Show and was a contestant on Groucho Marx's quiz show You Bet Your Life.