The Smithsonian Museum purports to have an inappropriate woodcutting of a very young Milton Berle making a rude gesture to either Martha Washington or Dolley Madison concerning how he'd like them to service his ice cream cone.
June 7, 1958 -
The Everly Brothers record All I Have to Do Is Dream topped the charts on this date.
The song has also featured on several notable lists of the best songs or singles of all time, including Q's 1001 best songs ever in 2003. It was named one of the "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll" by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2004.
June 7, 1969 -
Tommy James & the Shondells released Crystal Blue Persuasion on this date.
While many people believed the song was about a type of very high grade LSD circulating on the West Coast at the time, Tommy James has mentioned that the song was a reference to the Book of Revelations from the Bible.
Talk about cosmic convergence - it's Dean Martin's,
Tom Jones'
and Prince's birthday today.
Think of the number of children conceived listening to their music.
Today in History (it's not a rainbow and lollipop's day):
June 7, 1494 -
Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Tordesillas (which divides the New World between the two countries. Hence, the Brazilians speak Portuguese rather than Spanish). In the volatile, war-torn world in which we live, many historical documents have become required reading. Not this one. You will never be standing at a cocktail party where someone says, "It's all because of that damn Treaty of Tordesillas."
You already know more about that treaty than most people alive today. You may now forget it ever existed. It has no relevance to your life.
June 7, 1502 -
Ugo Buoncompagni was born on this date. He became Pope Gregory XIII in 1572 and remained the Pope until 1585. He is best known for reforming the Julian calendar, which is why it's now Gregorian instead of Julian.
(For some reason that I can't quite figure out - I think I've mentioned Pope Gregory XIII on these pages more than any human being.)
June 7, 1692 -
At 11:43 am, a catastrophic earthquake struck Port Royal, Jamaica, then known as "the richest and wickedest city in the world." Buildings are shaken apart and ships in harbor hurled onto busy streets.
In just three minutes, the temblor takes out 70% of the population, killing 1,600 and seriously injuring 3,000 others.
June 7, 1892 -
Homer Plessy, a shoemaker of mixed race from Louisiana, was arrested for refusing to move from a designated "white" seat on a train, on this date.
His arrest and subsequent trial (Plessy v. Ferguson) led to the landmark "separate but equal" decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1896, which permitted segregation.
June 7, 1893 -
Co-incidentally or not, when traveling by train across South Africa, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was asked to leave the first-class compartment - for which he had a ticket - because another passenger complained of having to ride with a colored person.
He refused to move and authorities were called to force him and his luggage to disembark in Maritzburg. This was Gandhi's first act of disobedience.
June 7, 1937 -
While filming Saratoga, Jean Harlow was hospitalized with uremic poisoning and kidney failure, a result of the scarlet fever she had suffered during childhood.
In the days before dialysis and kidney transplants, nothing could be done and Harlow died on this date. She was 26.
(Most of you probably have not idea who the hell Jean Harlow was?)
June 7, 1954 -
Despondent over court-ordered estrogen treatments to cure his homosexuality, Alan Turing commits suicide by consuming an apple laced with cyanide. (His inspiration - Snow White, his favorite movie.)
Turing is considered the founder of modern computing, a pioneer in the field of Artificial Intelligence, and a crucial member of the team that cracked Germany's Enigma cipher in World War II.
So, apparently an apple a day does keep the doctor away - permanently.
June 7, 1965 -
You have to be smart to play a dumb blonde over and over again and keep the audience's attention without extraordinary physical equipment.
The anything but dumb blonde, Judy Holliday (born Judith Tuvim, who reportedly had an IQ of over 170) died from the breast cancer that had plagued her for over five years, on this date. She was 43.
June 7, 1967 -
Her 'troubles' did not end with her death as her executrix, Lillian Hellman, bitterly but unsuccessfully contested the final bequest of her estate to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. foundation and her ashes remained unclaimed in various places, including her attorney Paul O'Dwyer's filing cabinet, for approximately 17 years.
June 7, 1982 -
In an effort to defray its $500,000 annual upkeep costs, Priscilla Presley opened Graceland to the public only five years after Elvis died in an upstairs bathroom. The bathroom is kept off-limits to tourists.
And so it goes.
Before I let you go - you must immediately take yourself to the website Sad animal fact and spend some time checking out the very funny drawings
No comments:
Post a Comment