You can thank me later as you're walking around today humming this.
September 26, 1945 -
Secretly, I wanted to look like Jimi Hendrix, but I could never quite pull it off.
Bryan Ferry (the Lord of Louche) lead singer of the group Roxy Music and solo artist, was born on this date.
September 26, 1962 -
The cult film Carnival of Souls, premiered on this date
Upon release in 1962 the film was a failure in the box office, but its subsequent airings on late night television helped to gain it a strong cult following. Today it is regarded as a landmark in psychological horror.
September 26, 1580 -
Francis Drake returned to Plymouth, England, on this date, ending a three-and-a-half year journey around the world.
It was nearly four more centuries, however, before The Beverly Hillbillies premiered on CBS-TV (on this day in 1962).
The lengthy lapse between these watershed events has never been explained.
September 26, 1964 -
S. S. Minnow started it's three hour tour (and lasted 98 shows) when Gilligan’s Island premiered on CBS-TV, on this date.
The ship's name, S. S. Minnow, was not named for the fish but rather for Newton Minow, head of the FCC in 1961. Minow was the one who called television "America's vast wasteland". Sherwood Schwartz did not care for Minow so he named the soon-to-be shipwrecked ship after him, though he later said that Minow actually enjoyed the joke and that the two eventually exchanged regular friendly correspondence.
September 26, 1968 -
(The real) Hawaii Five-O premiered on CBS TV on this date.
Jack Lord was asked at the last minute to read for the part of McGarrett. He read for it on Wednesday, flew to Hawaii on Friday, and was in front of the cameras the following Monday.
September 26, 1969 -
An unsuspecting American public is forced to deal with the vaguely incestuous family comedy series The Brady Bunch which premiered on ABC-TV on this date. Remember, the Bradys were so good, clean and wholesome that didn't even go to the bathroom (you never saw the toilet.)
A scene in the pilot makes it clear Mike's first wife had died, making him a widower, but the status of Carol's first marriage was kept a secret. Creator, Sherwood Schwartz maintains Carol was divorced from her first husband, but nothing about it was mentioned on the series. At that time, divorce was a subject matter that was still considered largely taboo for television, particularly a series aimed at family audiences.
September 26, 1975 -
Great Scott! Twentieth Century Fox released upon an unsuspecting nation, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when it premiered in Los Angeles on this date.
When the film first opened, it had a traditional release, playing afternoon and early evening screenings. It bombed. Meat Loaf said he attended an opening week performance with director Jim Sharman in the Midwest where the theater was empty except for them.
Today in History:
September 26, 1895 (he may have been born in 1901 - who knows) -
George Raft was an American film actor who was most closely identified with his portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s, was born on this date. George may have achieved an unenviable place in Hollywood folklore as the actor who turned down some of the best roles in screen history, most notably High Sierra, The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca and Double Indemnity.
Also, George Raft also gave more actresses and bit players 'the clap' than any other actor during the 30s.
What a wonderful way to be remembered.
September 26, 1687 -
Troops laid siege to Athens led by Venetian general Francesco Morosini rained cannon fire down on the Acropolis and the Turkish soldiers garrisoned inside. One cannonball penetrated the Parthenon, which happened to serve as the Turks' gunpowder magazine.
Oops, sh*t happens.
September 26, 1937 -
The Empress of the Blues, Bessie Smith, sustains grave injuries in a traffic accident on US Highway 61 on this date. She is taken to a colored hospital in Clarksdale, Mississippi and her arm amputated. Smith died later that day from blood loss.
According to legend, Bessie had been refused treatment by a closer, whites-only hospital.
September 26, 1960 -
John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon faced off in the first televised presidential debate. Nixon had been recuperating from illness yet refused to wear makeup for the camera, looking haggard and gray.
Radio viewers gave positive opinions for Nixon's performance but so many people saw the debate televised that Kennedy gained the lead in the polls, ultimately winning the election.
Remember what I said about Checkers, his kids' dog.
September 26, 1969 -
The Beatles release the Abbey Road album in London, on this date.
It was their 13th album in the U.K. It was also their last album together as a group.
September 26, 1983 -
The Soviet Union's early warning system wrongly signaled the launch of a US Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile. Lt. Col. Stanislav Petrov, in charge of the system, decided the alarm was false and did not launch a retaliatory strike. (Please thank Col. Petrov in your prayers tonight for saving the world.)
Because of military secrecy and international policy, Petrov's actions were kept secret until 1998. In 2004 the San-Francisco-based Association of World Citizens presented Petrov a World Citizen Award.
And so it goes
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