If this week hadn't been liver damaging enough with all the news from Washington, driving you to drink, several sources, including the eponymously named Facebook page, lists today as International Gin and Tonic Day. Some cite April 9th as the date. I'm up for celebrating on both dates. (But don't confuse it with World Gin Day which always falls on the second Saturday of June.)
So celebrate the day with the British Royal Family by drinking your G and T and make the room begin to spin.
October 19, 1966 -
The first pairing of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau (who went on to work together in 11 additional films), The Fortune Cookie, premiered on this date.
Walter Matthau had never worked with a director as precise as Billy Wilder, particularly when it came to the script. Although the director allowed the actors to rehearse as much as they wanted and to make suggestions, he insisted they stick closely to the script.On the third day of filming, Wilder gave Matthau a direction with which he disagreed. Instead of arguing, Matthau said, "You speak kind of funny, Billy - are you from out of town."
October 19, 1973 -
Columbia Pictures released Sydney Pollack's romantic drama, The Way We Were, written by Arthur Laurents and starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford, on this date.
Despite their differences, Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford had a deep respect for each other and worked well together. They were both opposite in many ways, just like their characters, and they used those differences to the benefit of the film.
October 19, 1977 -
Richard Brooks' somewhat lurid look at the 70s dating scene, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, starring Diane Keaton, Tuesday Weld, William Atherton, and Richard Gere, premiered in Los Angeles on this date
Director Richard Brooks interviewed around 600 women who had read the film's source novel. This was so as to connect with the film's "magical key" which was the popularity of the book which had become a best seller. Brooks used the meetings for insight and feedback in preparation to make the picture.
October 19, 1985 -
The Norwegian band a-Ha, who went from total unknowns to chart-topping pop stars when the song Take On Me, hit #1 on the Billboard pop chart on this day.
A-ha were a Norwegian trio formed by Morten Harket (vocals), Pal Waaktaar (guitar) and Mags Furuholmen (keyboards). They moved to London in January 1983 and signed to Warners later in the year. Furuholmen chose their name as it was a simple exclamation known all over the world.
Today in History:
October 19, 202 BC - (it's quite silly to think that this is the exact date: Julius Caesar will not be working on his calendar for more than a century. The scribes and historians of the day would have been too involved with the celebratory orgies to note the proper date.)
Battle of Zama: Hannibal Barca and the Carthaginian army are defeated by Roman legions under Scipio Africanus, ending Second Punic War and the advancement of Rome as a major world force.
But what the hell do you care.
October 19, 1879 (I've also seen the date as 10/21/79, 10/22/79, 10/25/79 or 11/03/79 - I'm guessing geniuses can't be bothered when they're filing other people patents under their name every 12 minutes or crushing their competition with false and scurrilous rumors.) - Thomas A. Edison successfully demonstrates the electric light.
Unfortunately, it took several years to straighten out his first electric bill.
October 19, 1890 -
My favorite self-circumcising, Muslim passing, male brothel habitué, Late-Victorian pornographer and international man of mystery Richard Francis Burton, explorer, British consul, translator, died on this date.
(Kids, ask your folks if you can watch this video.)
His wife, Lady Burton, spent several years burning most of his unpublished notes (he had been working on translating the book The Perfumed Garden and its controversy chapters concerning homosexual sex positions - I kid you not,) before published a (highly sanitized) biography of her late husband.
October 19, 1901 -
Alberto Santos-Dumont successfully circled the Eiffel Tower in his Santos-Dumont No. 6 dirigible within a half hour and won a 100,000 franc prize.
An initial ruling said that he failed by 40 seconds because the race wasn’t finished until he touched ground. A 2nd vote granted him the win.
In the midst of the First World War, Salvation Army volunteers in France found themselves stymied by inadequate supplies and ovens for baking. Unable to prepare the cakes and and pies they so badly wanted to bake for the troops, they came up with the novel idea of frying rather than baking the dough.
The donut should not be confused with the bagel, despite their physical resemblance. The bagel is boiled and baked, whereas the donut is fried (but sometimes baked.)
Bagels are found in varieties such as onion, garlic, salt, poppy-seed, and sesame-seed, and are frequently consumed with cheese and fish.
Donuts are found in varieties such as glazed, chocolate, chocolate-frosted, strawberry-frosted, powdered, jelly-filled, and sprinkled.
They are rarely consumed with cheese or fish, but they go pretty damn well with coffee (or tea.)
October 19, 1953 -
After Julius La Rosa had finished singing Manhattan on Arthur Godfrey Time, the host (and general scum bag) Arthur Godfrey fired him on the air, announcing, "that was Julie's swan song with us."
Unaware the firing was coming (or what the phrase "swan song" meant), La Rosa tearfully met with Godfrey after the broadcast and thanked him for giving him his "break."
October 19, 1982 -
Maverick carmaker John DeLorean was arrested in Los Angeles with $24 million dollars worth of cocaine in his suitcase on this date.
The case was later thrown out of court when a judge rules that the FBI sting operation constituted entrapment.
October 19, 1987 -
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 22% (508 points), in what has become know as Black Monday.
$500 billion in market capitalization was evaporated from the Dow Jones stock index, making the drop the largest percentage-wise decline ever.
And so it goes
Before you go - Puddles Pity Party seems to be back on track, posting new videos each week. This week's was the Lizzo song Juice, but with Puddle's own unique spin.
I suppose now clowns everywhere will be singing this clown-positive anthem
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