As a result, bakers started placing thirteen items (e.g., buns) in a dozen, hence the term “baker’s dozen.”
September 17, 1949 -
Little Rural Riding Hood, the last of Tex Avery's variations on Little Red Riding Hood, premiered on this date.
Because of budget restraints, animation of this cartoon is reused from Swing Shift Cinderella. The singing voice of Imogene Lynn was included with the reused section of Swing Shift Cinderella.
September 17, 1956 -
Vincente Minnelli's brilliant bio-pix, Lust for Life, opened in NYC on this date.
A very young Michael Douglas and his brother ran screaming from the theater during the scene where Van Gogh severs his own ear because they believed their father, Kirk Douglas, had actually harmed himself.
September 17, 1961 -
William Faulkner's favorite TV show, Car 54 Where are You?, premiered on NBC-TV, on this date.
For the black-and-white location shots, the green parts of the normally black, white, and green patrol cars were painted red so as not to confuse the neighborhood people.
September 17, 1963 -
David Janssen started running when ABC-TV premiered The Fugitive, on this date.
Richard Kimble was originally fleeing his hometown in Wisconsin, until the producers discovered that Wisconsin did not execute murderers. The locale was quickly changed to Indiana.
September 17, 1964 -
United Artists released the third James Bond thriller (in the UK,) Goldfinger, starring Sean Connery, on this date.
Sean Connery never travelled to the United States to film this movie. Every scene in which he appears to be in the U.S. was filmed at Pinewood Studios outside London. This explains why Bond flips a light switch down to discover the golden corpse of Jill, as British light switches are generally turned on by flicking them down instead of up.
September 17, 1964 -
Dick York started out as Durwood, I mean, Darrin as Bewitched premieres on ABC-TV on this date.
(sorry about the colorized version)
When it became clear that Dick York could not continue with the series, William Asher considered canceling it, not only because of York's departure, but because he and Elizabeth Montgomery wanted to move on. However, the ratings were still high enough that the network wanted the show to go on. Dick Sargent was brought in to replace York, but there was still one problem: how to explain why Darrin looked and sounded different. Many people working on the show came up with ideas, but Asher thought the viewers understood this was an actor playing a role, so he decided that the best explanation was no explanation.
September 17, 1965 -
CBS-TV premiered Hogan's Heroes, the first and perhaps only sitcom based in a German prisoner-of-war camp on this date.
Early in production planning, it was decided to make it always be winter, with snow on the ground, and frost on the windows. This was to prevent problems with continuity, and to allow the episodes to be shown in any order. Since much of the filming was done in the summer, the cast members had to wear coats and act cold, even when the temperature was over 90° F.
September 17, 1965 -
Artemus Gordon and the frequently bare-chested James T. West boarded their specially outfitted train for the first time when Wild, Wild, West premiered on ABC-TV on this date.
Robert Conrad has stated that the very tight pants he wore on the show often split open during action scenes. This is especially obvious in several wide angle shots of fight scenes in which Conrad's period incorrect Jockey shorts are clearly visible.
September 17, 1967 -
The first mission from the IMF team from Mission Impossible premiered on CBS-TV on this date.
Greg Morris and Peter Lupus were the only original cast members to remain on the show throughout the entire run, although Lupus was replaced by Sam Elliott for approximately half of the episodes in season five.
September 17, 1967 -
The Doors appear on The Ed Sullivan Show on this date and things did not go as smoothly as the producers may have hoped.
The band had been asked by producer Bob Precht of The Ed Sullivan Show, to alter the lyrics of the song, Light My Fire, so as to eliminate the phrase “we couldn’t get much higher.” The band agreed to change the lyrics but come show time, Jim Morrison sang the lyrics as originally written. As a result, The Doors were banned from ever again appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show.
September 17, 1972 -
M*A*S*H, premiered on CBS TV on this date.
Jamie Farr and Alan Alda were the only two main cast members to have actually served in the U.S. Army in South Korea. Both of them did their tours of duty after the 1953 cease fire. Farr was drafted, serving in Japan at Camp Drake before eventually touring and performing throughout South Korea with friend Red Skelton. Alda voluntarily joined the Army Reserve after graduating from Fordham, and completed the minimum six-month tour of duty as a gunnery officer.
September 17, 1991 -
ABC-TV introduced us the the Taylor family and the cast and crew of Tool Time when Home Improvement premiered on this date.
There is a running gag regarding the Taylors' neighbor, Wilson; his face is always concealed from about the nose down (except in one episode where the top half of his face is covered with papier mache). In most episodes, Wilson was being shot from behind a fence. In later episodes, where he got out more often, camera shots, actor movements, and prop placements were carefully orchestrated so as not to reveal his full face. In fact, during all the curtain calls for the show, except the series finale curtain call, where his entire face was shown, actor Earl Hindman, who played Wilson, would bring a miniature picket fence to hold in front of his face.
Today's moment of Zen
Today in History:
On July 4, 1776, the American colonies told Britain to kiss their hairy American asses. This occurred during the Revolutionary War, during which the Redcoats were coming, a shot was heard 'round the world' and Paul Revere could see the whites of their eyes and knew that their taxes were too high.
The complexities of war demanded organization between the states, so they established Articles of Confederation, which in turn created a Continental Congress. This Congress was adequate to see them through the war, but by the late 1780s it became clear that both the Continental Congress and the Articles of Confederation sucked.
Even way back then Americans didn't want anything to do with anything that sucked (unless it meant a substantial discount, which in this case it did not).
The Continental Congress tried to fix the Articles of Confederation in 1786. The Congress still sucked, of course, and so they failed.
In the spring of 1787 the states sent new delegates to a new convention designed to produce a government that wouldn't be so awful.
On September 17, 1787, the Constitutional Convention voted its approval of a new Constitution, which they immediately ran out to have printed.
The Continental Congress acted with its usual efficiency, and by July 2 of the following year, the Constitution had become the law of the land. The last act of the Continental Congress was to schedule federal elections for their replacements.
Today is Constitution Day in the U.S. Celebrate by refusing to allow soldiers to be billeted in your home.
September 17, 1778 -
The United States signed its first treaty with a Native American tribe, the Delaware Nation.
September 17, 1859 -
The San Francisco Call Bulletin published a notice on an inside page announcing that our old pal Joshua Norton, formerly a prominent businessman, had proclaimed himself Norton I, “Emperor of these United States and Protector of Mexico.” He annexed the whole of the US and suspended the Constitution. His Majesty remained on the job until his death in 1880.
September 17, 1908 -
Thomas E. Selfridge becomes the world's first airplane fatality when the Wright Flyer, a craft he's co-piloting with Orville Wright for the U.S. Army, crashed near Fort Meyer, Virginia on this date.
September 17, 1935 -
Len Koenecke was an outfielder with the Brooklyn Dodgers for most of 1935, but near the end of the season he was released for “behavior and erratic play.” The Dodger left St. Louis by passenger plane, but was ordered off in Detroit because of intoxication. Len chartered a three-seater plane for Buffalo that included both the pilot and the co-pilot.
September 17, 1939 -
The Soviet Union invaded Poland, to fulfill its end of the secret protocols contained in the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact. They partition the country along pre-decided lines.
As you well know the last laugh will be on the Russian, when Hitler turns on them.
September 17, 1978 -
The Camp David Peace Accords, a set of agreements between Egypt and Israel was signed on this date. The agreements were the culmination of years of negotiations for peace in the Middle East. Acting as a peace broker, President Jimmy Carter convinced Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to reach a compromise in their disputes.
Mr. Carter is still alive and kicking.
And so it goes
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