Castle Bravo
The decision to carry out the Bravo test under the prevailing winds was made by Dr. Alvin C. Graves, the Scientific Director of Operation Castle. Graves had total authority over detonating the weapon, above that of the military commander of Operation Castle. Graves appears in the widely available film of the earlier 1952 test "Ivy Mike", which examines the last-minute fallout decisions. The narrator, the western actor Reed Hadley, is filmed aboard the control ship in that film, showing the final conference. Hadley points out that 20,000 people live in the potential area of the fallout. He asks the control panel scientist if the test can be aborted and is told "yes", but it would ruin all their preparations in setting up timed measuring instruments. In Mike, the fallout correctly landed north of the inhabited area but, in the 1954 Bravo test, there was a large amount of wind shear, and the wind that was blowing north the day before the test steadily veered towards the east.
Castle Jazz Band
The band was a cooperative venture that never paid its members. It was led by banjoist Monte Ballou. The first recordings took place March 28 and April 16, 1944, and their first issue was limited to 200 copies. Wartime and employment difficulties ensured the band would not record again until 1947, but this recording was more widely distributed and garnered the nationwide attention of jazz fans and garnered critical acclaim. Ballou changed from guitar to banjo for the 1947 recording, and this, plus a change from string bass to tuba, had a significant effect on the band's sound. The most famous lineup was formed in 1948, and played music at the Jantzen Beach Amusement Park in Portland, dressed as various characters. They were regulars at the Rathskeller Cafe in 1948, and then moved to a more upscale location, the Sportsman Club, where they were a draw not only locally, but also from the traditional jazz fanbase in San Francisco. Their heyday was from 1949 to 1951. This time period included being a featured group at the 1949 Dixieland Jubilee concert, and a series of recordings on the Castle Records label that began in 1944. Trumpet player Don Kinch claimed one of these records, "Floating Down the Old Green River" sold more than a million copies. George Bruns left in 1950 to join the Turk Murphy band, and was replaced by initially by George Phillips (who had worked and recorded in the earlier edition of the band), and then by Rod Levitt.