Of course this wasn't filmed in NYC

Bissell has an interesting way to promote their new Symphony All-in-One cleaner



If this were filmed in NYC, the rats would have eaten the food on the floor before he finished tucking in his napkin.


September is the ninth month of the year, which is why its name is derived from the Latin Septem, meaning seven. (We have previously addressed this problem last month; see August, the Sixth Month.)  In Slovakia, September is "the time when the goats rut," and in Russia, September is "the gloomy month or the month of dirt,"  (the anticipation of this month could explain much of Mr. Putin's recent behavior.) The Basque refer to it as "ear month," and the Congolese, "sánza ya libwá" (Ninth month), the Irish called it "the month of plenty", and the Estonian, "September."



September is Great American Breakfast Month, Internet Safety Month (remember always use protection while surfing the net), National Pleasure Your Mate Month (again - protection), Cable TV Month (except for Comcast subscribers) and Pediculosis Prevention Month (I beg you, don't look it up), as well as Metaphysical Awareness Month and Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.



So remember, if you notice someone with their thumbs up their ass, they may just be celebrating.

Since September ends with an 'r',



join The Walrus and The Carpenter in their discussion of cabbages and kings (Dare to eat an oyster today.)


While you're enjoying your last hot dog and ice cold beer of the summer today, let's remember that there is actual a point to Labor Day -



to celebrate the economic and social contributions of workers.


It's Emma M. Nutt Day, the first woman telephone operator, hired in 1878. She was hired personally by Alexander Graham Bell. A few hours after Emma started work her sister Stella Nutt became the world's second female telephone operator.

She loved the job, and worked at it for 33 years. Emma, reportedly, was able to remember every single phone number in the New England Telephone Company directory.

She apparently had no life.


September 1, 1902 -
Le Voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon),written and directed by Georges Méliès, assisted by his brother Gaston, considered to be the first science fiction movie, was released on this date.



It is loosely based on two popular novels of the time: From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne and The First Men in the Moon by H. G. Wells.


September 1, 1939 -
Mary Jean Tomlin, Academy Award nominated, Tony, Emmy, and Grammy Award winning actress, comedian, writer and producer was born on this date.








One of her first "professional" gigs was as a waitress in Howard Johnson's on Broadway near Times Square. Her comments to customers and staff heard over the eatery's microphone attracted her first big-city audience.


September 1, 1938 -
Frank Capra bounced back from the disastrous reviews of Lost Horizon, released the previous year, with You Can't Take It with You, which opened in NYC on this date.



Shortly before filming began, Lionel Barrymore lost the use of his legs to crippling arthritis and a hip injury. To accommodate him, the script was altered so that his character had a sprained ankle, and Barrymore did the film on crutches. Barrymore would receive injections every hour to help relieve the pain of his arthritis.


September 1, 1947 -
The screwball comedy, which won Sidney Sheldon an won an Academy Award for the screenplay, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, opened nationwide on this date.



Myrna Loy and Shirley Temple play sisters in the film yet Myrna Loy was more than 20 years older that Shirley Temple.


September 1, 1972 -
David Bowie released John, I'm only Dancing in the U.K. on this date.



The official video features dancers from Lindsay Kemp's mime troupe (Kemp trained both Bowie and Kate Bush in dance). Top of the Pops banned the video as they considered it too provocative.


Today in History:
September 1, 1854 -
Engelbert Humperdinck was born on this date,



No, that that one,



this one, the German opera composer.


September 1, 1897 -
The first subway in North America was opened in Boston on this date. Trolley car grid-lock and street congestion on main thoroughfares motivated the Massachusetts Legislature to authorize the construction of the subway.



The "cut and cover" method of construction was used, with a deep trench dug or "cut" on Tremont Street, and a steel structure built around it and then filled in or "covered up." The Budapest Subway, and the later Paris Metro, were visited by the Boston subway designers.


September 1, 1914 –
The last passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, died in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo on this date. There are various reasons for the extinction of the passenger pigeon - the main one unfortunately was they tasted so damn good broasted.



Her body was frozen into a block of ice and sent to the Smithsonian Institution, where it was skinned and mounted. Currently, Martha (named after Martha Washington) is in the museum's archived collection, and is once again on temporary display (celebrating the 100th anniversary of her demise.)


September 1, 1923 -
The worst earthquake in Japan's history hit the Kanto Plain between Tokyo and Yokohama with a magnitude of 7.9 on the Richter scale. The earthquake and subsequent fires killed nearly 140,000 people and destroyed most of both cities.



The fires started because the earthquake occurred at noon, when charcoal cooking stoves were in use.

People, please stop using your hibatchis in your rice paper houses.


September 1, 1939 -
Germany, ever eager to start their Second World War Tour, began, it at 5:30AM on this date when German troops invade Poland.



Hitler was so happy that day, he orders extermination of mentally ill on this day as well.


And so it goes.