There's a plethera of celebrations

It is Toothache Day,



Bathtub Day and



Bagels and Lox Day today.



I'm not quite sure why?


February 9, 1933 -
Based on the Mae West play Diamond Lil, She Done Him Wrong, opened in general release on this date. This was one of the last films to be made before the introduction of the Production Code.



Mae West was signed by Paramount in 1931 to make a film adaptation of her stage play. They then spent the next two years trying to figure out a way of getting the material past the censors. The battle over Diamond Lil led to the head of the Production Board, James Wingate, quitting and being replaced by the much more hardline Joseph Breen who was prompted to set up a fairly stringent and moral Production Code.


February 9, 1971 -
All in the Family aired what TV scholars believe to be the first positive portrayal of a gay issue on American television on this date.



Guest stars Anthony Geary and Philip Carey both went on to play long running roles on popular ABC Soap Operas. Geary as Luke Spencer on General Hospital, and Carey as Asa Buchannan on One Life to Live.


February 9, 1976 -
Paul Simon's song, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, hits number 1 on this date.



Paul Simon has never gotten around to listing the other ways to leave but poking around the internet, I have discovered the other 45 ways:

6. Break down and start cryin’, Bryan
7. Pretend that you’re gay, Jay
8. Leave her on a whim, Jim
9. Kick her in the leg, Greg
10. Get on your bike, Mike
11. Tell her she’s fake, Jake
12. Just say no, Joe
13. Introduce her to Larry, Barry
14. Buy her a cat, Matt
15. Push her in a gorge, George
16. Dig her a grave, Dave
17. Don’t give her a chance, Lance
18. Tie a note to a brick, Nick
19. Tell her she’s odd, Todd
20. Find someone new, Lou
21. Get really cross, Ross
22. Cut the bitch loose, Bruce
23. Call her a knob, Rob
24. Just make sure you’re gone, Don
25. Pretend that you’re dead, Fred
26. Set off your “bitch detector”, Hector
27. Abandon her in a field, Neil
28. Say you don’t give a damn, Sam
29. Throw her stuff in the bin, Finn
30. Change the locks and keys, Rhys
31. Make her feel small, Paul
32. Tell the news at ten, Ben
33. Just slay ‘em, Graham
34. Pretend that you’re deaf, Jeff
35. Take all of her cash, Ash
36. Make her pay every bill, Phil
37. Don’t be a coward, Howard
38. Tell her she’s foul, Raul
39. Don’t say you’re sorry, Cory
40. Be her long-lost pal, Al
41. Tell her she’s an own-goal, Noel
42. Step on her feet, Pete
43. Say her voice hurts your teeth, Keith
44. Do it for a lark, Mark
45. Call her a skank, Frank
46. Push her out a tree, Svee
47. Feed her to a shark, Mark
48. Harvest her kidney, Sydney
49. Make her all porous, Boris
50. Feed her some ricin, Tyson

Next up - 50 ways to Love your Liver or 50 ways to lose your luggage


February 9, 1997 -
The Fox cartoon series The Simpsons became the longest-running animated series in cartoon history when it aired it's 167th episode on this date.




"I can't believe we've been annoying people for this long," executive producer and show creator Matt Groening told the Associated Press.


Today in History -
On February 9, 772, Adrian I was elected pope. His election was won largely due to strong Frank support. (This Gaelic support system was the precursor to French support, which remains anything but Frank.)

Adrian worked closely with Charlemagne, also known as Carolus Magnus (Big Chuck), the inventor of France.

So now you know.


William Henry Harrison was born on February 9, 1773. Mr. Harrison was the ninth president of the United States.



He died after 32 days in office, although historians are quick to point out that it has never been adequately proven that he was alive prior to his inauguration.


February 9, 1825 -
John Quincy Adams became the Sixth U.S. President, despite losing the popular vote.  Adams was elected by the House of Representatives on this date after the Electoral College could not arrive at a majority.



His appointment was largely due to the influence of Henry Clay (then Speaker of the House and also a candidate for the presidency in 1824), whom Adams later appointed as his Secretary of State.


The Great Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky died on February 9, 1881.

He died of natural causes in Moscow, and over 40,000 mourners turned out for his funeral but what the hell do you care, you didn't read him anyway.


February 9, 1894 -
Chocoholics everywhere rejoice!



Milton Hershey founded the Hershey Chocolate Company (just in time for Valentine's Day) and began experimenting with a process mastered by the Swiss - mixing milk with chocolate on this date.


February 9, 1909 -
The first federal law prohibiting the importation of opium was enacted, The Opium Exclusion Act of 1909 on this date.

It is aimed not particularly at the ravages the drug was having on American society but as a discriminatory act against  the Chinese (note: white people weren't using opium in large quantities at the time.)


February 9, 1942 -
The former French cruise ship Normandie, launched in 1935, burned in New York Harbor during its conversion to an Allied trip transport ship on this date.



It was once regarded as most elegant ocean liner ever built. In 1947, the remaining wreckage was cut up for scrap.


February 9, 1950 -
Senator Joseph McCarthy announced he has a list of 205 State Department employees who were Communist Party members on this date.



He did not mention that J. Edgar Hoover liked to wear garters and pumps.


February 9, 1964 -
The Beatles made their first live American television appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on this date. Approximately 74 million viewers (about half of the American population) watched the group perform on the show.



If you listen very quietly, you can still hear those little girls screaming at the Ed Sullivan Theatre.
After May, David Letterman will no longer hear their siren singing call to him.



And so it goes.