November 16, 42 BC -
Tiberius Claudius Nero was born on this date. He was the Emperor of Rome from 14 to 37 AD. He was not the Nero who fiddled while Rome burned (nor did he riddle while foam churned.)and nor was he the crippled, seemingly dimwitted Claudius (Derek Jacobi.) John the Baptist and Jesus were put to death during his reign, as well as many whose deaths didn't result in the creation of a religion.
November 16, 1906 -
Opera star Enrico Caruso is charged with an indecent act committed in the monkey house of New York's Central Park Zoo. He pinched the bottom of a woman described as "pretty and plump", causing outrage amongst New York high society. Caruso claimed a monkey pinched the lady's bottom. You know what I think - Caruso pinched the monkey's bottom and the fat lady was jealous. And you don't even want to know what the monkey was doing to hmself at the time.
November 16, 1952 -
Lucy first holds a football for Charlie Brown in the Peanuts cartoon strip. What was often left out of the cartoon strip by newspaper editors was the last panel were Charlie Brown beating the living daylights out of Lucy for pulling that stunt.
November 16, 1957 -
Serial killer Ed Gein kills his final victim, Bernice Worden, a storeclerk in her 50's. Her decapitated body is later found outdoors hanging from a block and tackle, gutted. Some parts were unaccounted for.
"Mother, no, no. So much blood!!!"
November 16, 1981 -
Actor William Holden dies after a fall, hitting his head on a table. He is too drunk to telephone for assistance; instead he dies alone, bleeding to death trying to treat his wound with kleenex. If it wasn't so sad, it would sound like the end of a classic film noir.
Years later, Suzanne Vega references his ignominious death in her song, "Tom's Diner".
39 more shopping days until Christmas, 36 more shopping days until Hanukkah.
And so it goes.
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