I had a Whale of a Party - 50th Anniversary of a Happy Event

I have shared some posts in the past about something that makes me laugh for years now. I share in this post about a video about an exploding whale that always brings me to a rolling laugh every time I think about it. Here is a link where I wrote a blog post about it. 

About a week ago, Princess Three told us on a video chat that this week it would be the 50th anniversary of the exploding whale news story! She said they were going to have a virtual party celebrating and sent me a link to the party! 

I got busy and forgot to look at the link. Today, I was working on a project and realized it was Thursday and remembered that it was the anniversary today! 

I looked it up online and found that they were having the virtual meeting / interviews at 7 p.m. pacific time. I asked to get a link to the party and was able to run to the store before hand and pick up some sushi.

As I was checking out at the supermarket, I laughed when I got the total for my groceries, yes it was $111 dollars! I posted yesterday about my 111 moments this week and I have had many of them this week and today, the total was 111, there was 11111 on my receipt, I found a penny on the street next to my garbage cans after the trash men came, there was a penny at the store when I got the $111 total. The sushi has 111 on it, and there were several more 111's today. My sister sent a text about 111's and we don't text all that often so it was just another "in God we trust" and 111 day. 

I ate sushi and blueberries while watching the original cameraman and newscaster talk about the event and how it has "blown up" over the years. 

My favorite part of the video meeting was when they talked about how the boss at the station hired a small four seat plane to fly them in and after the whale blew up, they were covered with smelly pink shiny bits of blood and blubber. They were in such a hurry to get back and weren't all that excited to get into a plane smelling like rotting whale to fly back home, that they left the sound clip for the video in the trunk of the rental car. 

They had to find someone driving towards them and meet them off the highway to pick up the sound clip so they could run the story the next day! 

Looking back, I think they wish they had purchased the rights to the video as they could have for $10,000. A week after they chose not to buy the clip, a news show paid $35,000 for a one time use of the video. Now, they could have sold merchandise etc. It is a world wide video and people stop him daily mentioning the video. 

He got paid $105 for the clip and the sound guy made $117. They have gotten a few trips to events over the years but the 50th reunion was canceled due to Covid. 

The Oregon historical Society have a section on this event and hosted the event. I guess the reporter Paul Linnman has never made any more money on this event. The reporter said one of his sons came home last week cursing the event as people recite the "blubbering" line to them. I can see how being famous for a silly story for 50 years when you are a serious reporter could be a bit annoying. He says he can't go a full day without someone mentioning something about the story.

He wrote a book about the event but said he couldn't just write about that, he said he put other stories within the book every other chapter. He said his agent tried to get publishers to publish the book on a large scale but they wanted him to take out the other "feels good" stories and only talk about the whale, but he felt he wanted to include something of substance. So, I think he self published with a local company. 

It is very amazing that this one story could last and grow in favoritism for 50 years. I just know it has brought me so much joy over the years. I am grateful for it as it has brought me many hours of laughing over the years. Just today, I have chuckled over it just thinking about it many times today. 

I think it was a great day! So glad Princess Three heard about the meeting so I could enjoy watching the new digitized 4K video! 

Have a blessed day!