Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Today is America Recycles Day.

We should all be celebrating this every day, although today is also known as National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day today.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, today's a good day to make some room in the frig ( I actual made room for the 'frozen corpse' coming to our house this weekend to thaw out.).



Which made me think about this old George Carlin routine.  I hope everybody get to be their family's ice box man.


I could not let the day pass without recognizing that it is also National Bundt Cake Day.



We are rolling around the floor in our house at the mention of this, (Hey we need something to keep our spirits up!)


I guess I need someone to explain to me the concept of  holiday long-form commercials in England



It's a wonderful commercial and James Corden is now the busiest man in show business; I just can't imagine Americans sitting for more than a minute for a commercial.


November 15, 1935 -
...  So now I tell you how we fly to America. The first time we started we got-a half way there when we run out a gasoline, and we gotta go back. Then I take-a twice as much gasoline. This time we're just about to land, maybe three feet, when what do you think: we run out of gasoline again. And-a back-a we go again to get-a more gas. This time I take-a plenty gas. Well, we get-a half way over, when what do you think happens: we forgot-a the airplane. So, we gotta sit down and we talk it over. Then I get-a the great idea. We no take-a gasoline, we no take-a the airplane. We take steamship, and that, friends, is how we fly across the ocean.

The Marx Brother's first film made without Zeppo, A Night at the Opera, premiered on this date.



In exasperation after several attempts to have Groucho Marx read one of his lines in the manner director Sam Wood had requested, Wood exclaimed, "I guess you just can't make an actor out of clay." Groucho Marx instantly responded, "Nor a director out of Wood."


November 15, 1940 -
The film that introduced Abbott and Costello to movie audiences, One Night in the Tropics, opened on this date.



Although billed as Bud Abbott and Lou Costello's debut film, it was actually their debut as a team; Costello had appeared, unbilled, in bit parts and worked as a stuntman on several films in the mid- and late 1920s. It was, however, Abbott's film debut.


November 15, 1945 -
The beautifully lyrical, Les Enfants du Paradis, opened in the US on this date.



This involved building the largest studio set in the then history of French cinema - the quarter mile of street frontage, reproduced in scrupulous detail, representing the Boulevard du Crime, the theater district of Paris in the 1830s and 40s. This would have been a daunting prospect at the best of times but in Vichy France, when all artisans, transport, materials, costumes and film stock were all in short supply, it was a miraculous achievement.


November 15, 1956 -
Elvis Presley's first movie, Love Me Tender, premiered at New York's Paramount Theater on this date.



The footage of Elvis Presley singing Love Me Tender at the end was shot after preview audiences reacted badly to his character's fate. This new footage created a continuity error, as Elvis had dyed his hair black by the time of the additional shooting, while in the movie his hair color was closer to blonde.


Today in History:
November 15, 1539 -
The Bishop of Glastonbury, Richard Whiting, was hung, drawn and quartered on this date, at Glastonbury Tor after being convicted of treason (on a trumped up charge) of remaining loyal to Rome.

The Abbot's head was stuck on a spike above his abbey gateway for all to see, and his quarters, boiled in pitch, were displayed at neighboring monasteries.

Here's a fact to impress your friends with:

One interpretation of the children's nursery rhyme Little Jack Horner relates it to Jack Horner, steward to the Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, Richard Whiting. Supposedly, the abbot sent Horner to London to present a pie to Henry VIII with the deeds to 12 manors inside. During the journey, Horner opened the pie and took the deed to Mells (it being the real 'plum' of the twelve manors), which was indeed acquired by the family at that time, although they claim that it was purchased legitimately.


November 15, 1660 -
Asser Levy (one of the first Jewish citizens to come to New Amsterdam) became the first kosher butcher licensed in NYC (New Amsterdam) on this date.

Later that day, a Mrs.Yetta Abromowicz is the first customer to ask how fresh the chicken was.


Today in 1864 -
Union General William T. Sherman began his March to the Sea and burnt Atlanta on this date.



Meanwhile in another part of Atlanta, Rhett rescues Scarlett, Melanie and her brand new baby from Aunt Pittypat's Peachtree Street home before the conflagration began.



Rhett declared his love for Scarlett but she rebuffed him.



But that's a another story.


November 15, 1887 -
American artist Georgia O'Keeffe was born on this date.



Ms. O'Keeffe is best known for her colorful paintings of desert flowers -



that don't look like vaginas.


November 15, 1904 -
A patent (US patent No. 775,134) was granted to King C. Gillette for a safety 'razor' on this date.

Production on the razors began in 1903 when he sold a total of 51 razors and 168 blades. The following year, 90,884 razors and 123,648 blades were sold, thanks in part to Gillette's low prices, automated manufacturing techniques, and good advertising


November 15, 1922 -
The 1912 Nobel Prize winner in Medicine, Dr. Alexis Carrel announced his discovered of white corpuscles in the blood on this date.



Remember, there is constant warfare between the red and white corpuscles.


November 15, 1939 -
Perhaps because it was the depth of the Great Depression, the perversion of Washington D.C., knew no bounds -

President Roosevelt, slowly but deliberately rose from his wheelchair and laid the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., in front a group of horrified dignitaries, on this date


November 15, 1940 -
The Queens–Midtown Tunnel linking Manhattan and Queens opened to traffic on this date.

Some of those first drivers have just made it out to Mattatuck by now.


November 15, 1959 -
In Holcomb, Kansas, Richard Hickock and Perry Smith brutally killed four members of the Herbert Clutter Family on this date.



This crime was memorably recounted by Truman Capote in his famous non-fiction story, In Cold Blood.


November 15, 1969 -
The first Wendy's fast-food restaurant was opened by Dave Thomas in Columbus, Ohio on this date.



Today, the restaurant has locations around the globe and is one of the largest hamburger fast food chains in the world.


November 15, 1970
-
Things that didn't teach you in school: The Soviet moon rover, Lunokhod 1 lands on the Moon on this date. (Yes kids, the video is a simulation.)



Lunokhod was the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on another celestial body.



And so it goes.


2 comments:

Jim Haas said...

Curiously, Dave Thomas worked for KFC before founding Wendy's. Also, he was helped enormously by then-Governor James (Jimmy) Rhodes, who was an early investor and major stockholder in Wendy's. When I worked in Columbus, rumors were rampant that Rhodes and his cronies bought land on which Wendy's franchises were later built, a scheme akin to insider trading. Sometimes it's good to be governor.

Kevin said...

I knew about Dave's work with KFC. He has credited his success in part to the Colonel. But it did not know about this land scheme - very interesting.