Tweak their nipples instead
Frank Capra was born on May 18, 1897, and Jimmy Stewart was born on May 20, 1908. Without them we would not have had such American classics as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Mr. Smith Goes Back to Washington, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Again, Mr. Smith Is Still in Washington, Mr. Smith Feels Your Pain, Mr. Smith is Really Very Serious about Term Limits and Mr. Smith Drops Dead in Senate Chamber.
The duo also gave us It's a Wonderful Life with its own magnificent sequels: It's a Really Wonderful Life, It Just Doesn't Get Any Better Than Life and Life Is Just So Damn Good I Don't Know Whether to Take a Dump or Go Blind.
Today in History
On May 18, 1843, Joseph Smith made a specific prophecy -
"I prophesy in the name of the Lord God of Israel, unless the United States redress the wrongs committed upon the Saints in the state of Missouri and punish the crimes committed by her officers that in a few years the government will be utterly overthrown and wasted, and there will not be so much as a potsherd left."
Ominously, Smith's prophesy is proven true. By the Great Depression of 1888, most potsherds are only found in museums and the value of broken pottery plummets to near valuelessness.May 18, 1936 -
Tokyo gangster Kichizo Ishida is accidentally strangled by his mistress during a session of rough sex. Ishida had been a "gasper," someone who enjoys the sexual effects of asphyxiation. The woman, Sada Abe, indulged him by wrapping her pink kimono belt around his neck. After her lover's death, Abe cuts off Ishida's penis and scrotum with a meat cleaver and carries them around until she is finally arrested, three days later. 40 years later, a taboo breaking film, In the Realm of the Senses, is released, retelling the events of the sordid tale.
Makes a great first date movie.
May 18, 1955 -
The Superstar Asian actor, Chow Yun-Fat, was born on this date.
He deserves to be much better known.
May 18, 1980 -
The body of Ian Curtis, lead singer of dirge band Joy Division, is discovered hanging in the kitchen by his wife. Curtis killed himself on the eve of Joy Division's U.S. tour.
His surviving bandmates go on to form New Order.
May 18, 1980 -
After a 5.1 magnitude earthquake in Washington state, 57 people are killed in an avalanche of volcanic mud in the eruption of Mount St. Helens.
The volcano spews out 200 million cubic yards of of pumice, ash, and debris which covers 24 square miles of the valley below.
And so it goes
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