Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Begin hoarding your Twinkies (again)

Hostess Brands Inc. is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as soon as this week, a move that would mark the second significant court restructuring for the Twinkies and Wonder Bread baker in the past several years.



Don't worry about the freshness, the little yellow cakes will remain soft and fluffy forever.


January 11, 1958 -
Lloyd Bridges starred as Mike Nelson, not the janitor trapped on a satellite, forced to watch cheesy movies (and mad scientists probed his mind) but a trouble shooting ex-Navy frogman on Sea Hunt on CBS-TV. The show ran for four years.



Lloyd Bridges decided to leave the show after four seasons because the producers wanted to emphasize cops-and-robbers plots while Bridges wanted to focus more on environmental themes.


January 11, 1966 -
The children's adventure-series Daktari, debuted on CBS TV on this date.



Erin Moran's (you remember Joanie from Happy Days) first major role was as "Jenny Jones" on Daktari. She played a seven-year-old orphan (although Erin was actually only five-years-old at the time) who was given a home by Dr. Tracy.


January 11, 1971 -
Mary Jane Blige, eight-time Grammy Award-winning and Golden Globe-nominated American R&B singer-songwriter rapper, record producer, and actress, was born on this date.




Today in History -
Harry Gordon Selfridge was born on January 11, 1864. Though American-born, he is best known as the founder of the British store Selfridge and Co., Ltd (think Macy's, for those of you unfamiliar with the store). He receives little or no attention here in the United States. His name does not appear in any textbooks, he is not honored with any holidays, his image does not appear on any currency, and his biography has never aired on A&E. And yet Mr. Selfridge's philosophy has had more impact on western civilization than a dozen Aristotles.

His great maxim is uttered carelessly by a million voices every day, is enshrined in the halls of commerce and government alike, and has permeated our culture to the point where it has become a cliche. Like most successful ideas, we can hardly imagine that his concept was ever new or controversial; we must strain our imaginations to conceive a world unilluminated by his wisdom.

It was Mr. Selfridge's philosophy that "the customer is always right."

Mr. Selfridge's birthday should be celebrated throughout western civilization as a holiday of emancipation, no less significant than the signing of the Magna Carta, the drafting of the U.S. Constitution, or the invention of microwave popcorn.


January 11, 1878 -
Milk was first delivered in bottles by milkman Alexander Campbell, in New York on this date.



Previously, one had to keep a cow in a spare room of their apartment making taking out the trash a mandatory daily occurrence.


January 11, 1940 -
The classic newspaper comedy, His Girl Friday, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, premiered in New York on this date.



One of the first, if not the first, films to have characters talk over the lines of other characters, for a more realistic sound. Prior to this, movie characters completed their lines before the next lines were started.


January 11, 1943 -
President Franklin D. Roosevelt flew to Morocco for a top-secret meeting with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He had not flown since 1932, when he traveled from Albany, New York, to Chicago to accept his nomination at the Democratic national convention.

No U.S. president had previously flown while in office because the Secret Service regarded flying as a dangerous mode of transport.


Did you know?
Francis Julius Bellamy, a Baptist minister from New York wrote the bulk of the Pledge of Allegiance back in 1891.

You never know, this might come up.



And so it goes

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