Saturday, April 6, 2013

Reason enough to get up this morning

April 6, 1930 -
Hostess Twinkies were invented by bakery executive James Dewar on this date.



Hang tight, the new owner of Hostess Brands Inc's snack cakes hopes to have Twinkies back on U.S. store shelves by this summer.


April 6, 1936 -
Flash Gordon: The Planet of Peril, a film serial which tells the story of three people from Earth who travel to the planet Mongo to fight the evil Emperor Ming the Merciless, premiered on this date.



Despite its large budget of $360,000, this serial utilized many sets from other Universal films, such as the laboratory and crypt set from Bride of Frankenstein, the castle interiors from Dracula's Daughter, the idol from The Mummy and the opera house interiors from The Phantom of the Opera. In addition, the outer walls of Ming's castle were actually the cathedral walls from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.


April 6, 1946 -
Another in the series of Daffy/ Porky cartoons, Daffy Doodles, premiered on this date.



This cartoon is the first full-length cartoon that animator Robert McKimson directed.


April 6, 1953 -
Universal Pictures releases the science fiction comedy film Abbott and Costello Go To Mars,  starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello on this date.



 A very young Harry Shearer appears as one of the boys seen near the beginning of the film.  Miss Sweden of 1950, Anita Ekberg, makes an early career appearance as one of the guards on the planet Venus.


Today in History:
April 6, 1327 -
Francesco Petrarch, former priest and foot fetisher, met Laura de Sade (the wife of Count Hugues de Sade, an ancestor of the Marquis de Sade) in a church at Avignon on this date, and was inspired for the rest of his life. He wrote his finest poems about her beauty and loveliness.



This event has been taken to mark the beginning of the Renaissance.

Now you know.


April 6, 1570 -
Raffaello Sanzio (Raphael) was an Italian master painter and architect of the Florentine school in High Renaissance, celebrated for the perfection and grace of his paintings. To celebrate his upcoming 37th birthday, Raphael got together with his girlfriend, Margherita and made hot monkey love. As is often the case, too much of a good thing can kill you.



So, on Good Friday, April 6, 1570, attempted to get out of bed after a night of excessive sex, Raphael fell into a fever. And not telling his doctors that this was its cause, given it was Good Friday, was given the wrong cure, which killed him.


April 6, 1868 -
To celebrate the 38th anniversary of the founding of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Joseph Smith Jr. and the 8th anniversary of the the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by Joseph Smith III (Joe Jr.'s son), Mormon prophet Brigham Young marries 23-year-old Ann Eliza Webb on this date.

This is Young's 27th wife, 18 of which are still married to him.

All I can say is - it's hard enough to keep one woman moderately happy - imagine the amount of energy it takes to keep 18 women amused.


April 6, 1896 -
The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, were held in Athens, Greece starting on this date. These games were the first modern Olympic Games and the first Games since Roman emperor Theodosius I banned the Ancient Olympic Games in 393.



They were held between Monday, April 6 and Wednesday, April 15, 1896. Europeans were so enthusiastic about the revival of the Olympics, they didn't notice until four years later that the Summer Games were held in early spring.


On this day in 1917, the United States formally declared war against Germany and entered World War I. At the time, the war had been going on in Europe for three years, but there was no real immediate threat to the United States.



Up until then, Woodrow Wilson had been opposed to the war. His campaign for president in 1916 included the slogan, "He kept us out of the war," though Wilson never used that phrase himself.


April 6, 1925 -
First in-flight film was shown on an airplane (Imperial Airline) on a flight from London to Paris on this date.



The film was, The Lost World, the first science-fiction film (with early examples of stop-motion special effects) about prehistoric dinosaurs in a remote South American jungle. Given the plane’s wood frame and fabric hull, the actual film stock, which was extremely flammable, poses a significant danger on the flight.


April 6, 1971 -
The Rolling Stones helf a party in Cannes to unveil the launching of Rolling Stone Records on this date. The record label was created to promote the hits of The Rolling Stones. The famous Stones trademark, the lips logo, became widely used.

Brown Sugar was the first hit by the Rolling Stones on the new label, followed by Wild Horses and Tumbling Dice.


April 6, 1994 -
The Rwandan Genocide began, on this date, with the assassination of Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana.



It lasted a little more than 100 days, but claimed over 800,000 lives.


April 6, 1998 -
Wendy O. Williams
, former porn star and singer for The Plasmatics, killed herself with a gun near her Connecticut home on this date.



Please crank this up to 11 in her honor.

Kids, if you try this at home - don't blame me if sh*t happens.



And so it goes

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