Saturday, June 27, 2009

You might have looked at clouds from both sides but

I bet you've haven't seen them like this in a long time -



(It wasn't another sign of the apocalypse - it's an unusual cloud formation that sometimes occurs after a heavy thunderstorm.)


Here's your Today in History:
June 27 1844 -
Mormon leader Joseph Smith, along with his brother Hyrum, are shot and killed by a mob while in jail at Carthage, Illinois.



According to church legend, after Smith is shot a man raises a knife to decapitate him, but is thwarted by a thunderbolt from heaven. God was having an off day and the thunderbolt was meant to fry Smith's sorry ass body to a crisp.


Happy Birthday to You, the four-line ditty was written as a classroom greeting in 1893 by two Louisville teachers, Mildred J. Hill, an authority on Negro spirituals, and Dr. Patty Smith Hill, professor emeritus of education at Columbia University. The melody of the song Happy Birthday to You was composed by Mildred J. Hill, a schoolteacher born in Louisville, KY, on June 27, 1859. The song was first published in 1893, with the lyrics written by her sister, Patty Smith Hill, as "Good Morning To All."

So remember you can start to sing 'Happy Birthday' but don't finish it, the rights to the song are incredibly expensive. You may substitute any of the following for our purposes under "Fair Use":

* "Happy birthday to you, cha cha cha, happy birthday to you, cha cha cha"
*"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, you look like a monkey, and belong in a zoo!"
* "Happy birthday to you, you belong in a zoo, cause you look like a monkey and you smell like one too!"
* "Happy birthday to you, squashed tomatoes and stew, bread and butter in the gutter, happy birthday to you."
*"Happy birthday to you, you're one hundred and two, you smell like a monkey, and you eat like one too!"
* "Happy birthday to you, you were born in a loo, and since it's your birthday, I'll flush it for you!"
*"Happy Birthday to you, stick your head down the loo, don't waste it, just taste it, happy birthday to you"
*"Happy birthday to you, I went to the zoo, I saw a fat monkey, and it looked just like you!".
* "Happy birthday to you, you live in the zoo, you look like a monkey, and you smell like one too."
* "Happy birthday to you, you're one hundred and two, you smell like a monkey, and you look like one too!"


June 27, 1905 -
Battleship Potemkin uprising: Sailors from the Battleship Potemkin start a mutiny aboard the Battleship Potemkin, denouncing the crimes of autocracy, demanding liberty and an end to war. Sergei Eisenstein, wacky Russian film director, thinks he can make a summer comedy from the subject matter.



He unfortunately had no sense of humor and went on to create the classic silent film, The Battleship Potemkin, in spite of himself.


It's Bob Keeshan birthday. If you're of a certain age, you remember him very well.




June 27, 1928 -
On this day in 1928, Sylvia Beach invited James Joyce and Scott Fitzgerald to dinner at her apartment over her Paris Bookstore Shakespeare & Company. Fitzgerald became drunk (which is like stating, "The sun rose this morning):. He said he was such a fan of Joyce's that he would throw himself out the window to prove it.



Neither writer was having much success. Fitzgerald had just published The Great Gatsby, and it had not been selling well. Joyce's Ulysses wouldn't be published outside of Paris for another five years. Both men died 13 years later, less than a month apart, with no money and very few readers.

Such is life.


June 27, 1957 -
The brilliant film noir, Sweet Smell of Success, partially based on columnist Walter Winchell starring Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis was released on this date.



I'd hate to take a bite outta you. You're a cookie full of arsenic.


June 27, 1966 -
The first broadcast of Dark Shadows is aired on ABC-TV.



As a child Johnny Depp was so obsessed with Barnabas Collins that he wanted to be him and is reported to begin a film version of the series this summer.



And so it goes.

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