Question: True or false? “Sam the Snowman” on TV’s timeless Christmas classic, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” is voiced by a guy who got in trouble at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston back in 1930 for climbing the ivy-covered walls of that school’s then all-female dormitory, Pemberton Hall.
Answer: You could say that’s true. The voice of “Sam” is Burl Ives, a popular 1950s and ‘60s singer and banjoist from near Newton who attended nearby Eastern Illinois Teachers College but later admitted he never “enjoyed the classroom” and dropped out as a junior to pursue Broadway. The school has fully forgiven Ives for his legendary antics that he later consigned as “vintage college immaturity.” The art facilities center at EIU in 1990 was named Burl Ives Studio Hall. Ives died in 1995 at age 89 and is buried near Newton.
Blinded by the light: Neon signs of past and present in Central Illinois
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The Tropics in Lincoln, once a mainstay of Route 66 travelers, drew travelers with its theme.
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A reproduction neon sign is shown in the Route 66 Hall of Fame and Museum, Pontiac.
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A neon sign will be repaired as part of the plans to restore the Princess Theatre.
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Kaylee Ballinger, 10, left, and Kelsey Schmidt, 12, ride their bicycles past the neon Palms Grill cafe sign April 24, 2007, in Atlanta.
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An International Harvester neon clock in OEM Tractor Parts, Chenoa.
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Super Sign Service employees Joe Remington, left, and Dale Gray, work on placing the neon tubes inside the steel letters BHS, outside the north entrance to Bloomington High School.
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The neon signs for Mona's and Capponi's Italian Restaurants in Toluca.
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Two custom neon signs adorn the front entrance of Arcadia: America's Playable Arcade Museum in downtown McLean on Dec. 21, 2012.
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Chad Kletz of Super Sign Service replaces the neon letter L in the The Castle Theatre sign at 209 E. Washington St., Bloomington, while working with fellow sign man Joe Remington on Dec. 31, 2014. The neon sign had burned out recently and was repaired in the company's Bloomington shop.
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Workers from Prairie Signs Incorporated use a construction crane to hold a new sign in place at Home Sweet Home Ministries, Bloomington, on Jan. 24, 2013. The old neon sign sits on a trailer.
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Daddios, 527 N. Main St., Bloomington
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Lost items sit beneath the neon lights of the Gibson City's Harvest Moon Drive-In concession stand June 19, 2008.
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Gibson City's Harvest Moon Drive-In owner Mike Harroun has change and a plastic bag for a customer as a God Bless America neon sign hangs on the little pay station building to the drive-in June 19, 2008.
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Normal Theatre, 209 W. North St., Normal
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Retro-series clocks with neon lighting are sold at Personality, 504 Guido Circle, Bloomington, on Oct. 28, 2003.
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Cadillac Jack's Cantina and Grill; 1507 S. Main St., Bloomington
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A neon sign beckons customers to visit Outpost Books, 618 N. Main St., Bloomington.
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A worker applies a new coat of paint to the bright red neon sign that blazes atop the tower of the State Farm Insurance building on Oct. 10, 2013, in downtown Bloomington.
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The now-closed CVS store, 201 N. Center St., in downtown Bloomington.
