Amongst other things, he is the patron saint of children and was known for his generosity. He's also known as the patron saint of sailors, fishermen, merchants, the falsely accused, prostitutes (Huh), repentant thieves, pharmacists and broadcasters.
The biggest gift he ever gave was to a poor man and his three daughters. The man had no dowry to pay for his daughters and was worried that if they never married they would have no choice but to become prostitutes. Hearing this, Saint Nicholas visited the poor man at night and anonymously threw three purses filled with gold through his window. Because of this, he became the patron saint of pawnbrokers. Traditionally, three golden baubles are hung in the window of pawn shops to represent the three purses of money.
So now you know.
December 6, 1940 -
MGM released the 10th Marx Brothers film, Go West, on this date.
Winston Churchill was informed of Rudolf Hess' capture in Scotland just before he was about to see a private screening of this film. Spurning a more detailed briefing, Churchill famously commented, "Well, Hess or no Hess, I'm off to see The Marx Brothers".
December 6, 1964 -
One of the first neurotic holiday Christmas specials, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, premiered on this date
Original puppets of Santa and young Rudolph from the 1964 production went on tour in November 2007. When purchased by their new owner, both were in poor condition - Santa had mold under his beard and half of his mustache was gone, while Rudolph's nose was gone. The owner took them to stop-motion animation studio Screen Novelties International, who restored them "as a labor of love" for expenses only-$4000. The puppets originally cost $5000 each in 1964.
December 6, 1969 –
The group Steam hit No. 1 on the Billboard Charts with their song Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye on this date.
The song's lead singer Gary DeCarlo was asked not to reveal that it was him on the record, since there was a different singer performing it at live appearances. He says that his manager Paul Leka and record man Bob Reno placated him by promising to get him a hit as a solo artist, but that never happened.
December 6, 1990 -
Twentieth Century Fox production of Tim Burton's Edward Scisshorhands, starring Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest and Vincent Price (in his last role,) premiered in Los Angeles on this date.
The idea for the movie was inspired by a drawing Tim Burton had done when he was a teenager. The drawing depicted a thin, solemn man with long, sharp blades for fingers. Burton stated that he was often alone and had trouble retaining friendships. "I get the feeling people just got this urge to want to leave me alone for some reason, I don't know exactly why."
December 6, 1991 –
Nicholas Meyer's contribution to the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, starring, well you know who was in it, premiered in the US on this date.
Nicholas Meyer met with Gene Roddenberry following a rough cut screening, to fulfill Roddenberry's role as creative consultant. Roddenberry, who was in failing health at the time, was bound to a wheelchair, and had to be hooked up to an oxygen tank. Despite his frailty, Roddenberry demanded certain cuts to the film and, according to Meyer, engaged him in a heated argument. Roddenberry died several days after the meeting, and Meyer has expressed deep regret over his behavior in the meeting, not realizing just how sick Roddenberry really was at the time.
December 6, 2005 –
The more frank remake of Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, Brokeback Mountain, directed by Ang Lee and starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, premiered in NYC on this date.
Writer Annie Proulx sent both Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger an original, autographed copy of her story. When she signed the copy to Jake she wrote "To Jake..." but when she signed the copy she had intended to give to Heath she signed it "To Ennis". After writing out her personal message, she realized what she had done, and decided to let it be. At a private screening at Arclight in Hollywood, California, she reflected that Heath Ledger really was Ennis. She left the signed copy that way, because she had felt the actor embodied Ennis in every way she had imagined him.
And he carries a sack
Today in History:
December 6, 1768 -
The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (Latin for “British Encyclopaedia”) is published under the title “Encyclopedia Britannica, or, A dictionary of arts and sciences, compiled upon a new plan.”
The series will eventually become the oldest continuously published English-language encyclopedia. The first edition is published in one hundred installments, which will later be bound into three volumes.
December 6, 1877 -
Thomas Edison records his own recitation of “Mary had a Little Lamb” onto a cylinder wrapped with tin foil using his newly completed prototype hand-cranked phonograph at his Menlo Park Laboratory.
For all intents and purposes, it is the first recording of a human voice. (The clip is from a re-recording in 1927. The original 1877 recording was not saved and no longer exists.)
December 6, 1896 -
Ira Gershwin, lyricist (and major writer of the American Song Book) was born on this date.
The Man That Got Away -
They Can't Take That Away From Me -
But Not For Me -
How Long Has This Been Going On -
If you're of an age, it part of the music you hear in your head as you walk down the street.
December 6, 1917 -
On the morning of December 6, the munitions ship Mont Blanc exploded in Halifax harbor after being struck by another ship, the Norwegian ship Imo.
It is the largest explosion before the atomic age. The ship was carrying 200 tons of TNT, 61 tons of gun cotton, 35 tons of Benzyl, and 2,300 tons of picric acid; the explosion destroys 325 acres of the city, leaving 1,900 people dead and injuring over 9,000.
A nicer remembrance of the days tragic events is the official Boston Christmas tree lighting, which sits in Boston Common, which occurred last night. The tree is a gift from the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and has been sent every year since the 1970s. It is in recognition of the swift and sustained relief effort the people of Boston put together to aid Halifax after the explosion. (Nova Scotia doesn't complain anymore about the cost of their very generous gift - after all told the tree ends up costing the Nova Scotian government more than a quarter million dollars. The amount of positive international press Nova Scotia garners for its very magnanimous gift is priceless.)
December 6, 1955 -
N.Y. psychologist Dr. Joyce Brothers won the top prize on the TV quiz show The $64,000 Question by correctly answering questions on boxing .
Dr. Joyce Brothers is the only person to win both The $64,000 Question and The $64,000 Challenge.
December 6, 1957 –
It wasn't a good day for the space program. A Vanguard rocket (TV3) carrying the first US satellite blew up on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on this date.
It rose about four feet and collapsed. Its fuel tanks rupture as it fell against its firing structure, and the rocket topples to the ground on the northeast, ocean side of the structure in a roaring, rolling ball of flame.
Oops.
December 6, 1960 -
Domino's Pizza was founded by Thomas S. Monaghan on this date.
And the pizza still sucks.
December 6, 1969 -
A concert by the Rolling Stones at Altamont ends in the death of a fan at the hands of the Hells Angels, who were hired for security. He was a fat hippie anyway. (Pleased to meet you, hope you guessed my name...)
(Contrary to a popular urban legend, Sympathy for the Devil was not playing while Meredith Hunter was being stabbed, rather, the song was Under My Thumb.)
December 6, 1973 -
House minority leader Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the first unelected Vice President, succeeding US Vice President Spiro T. Agnew (under President Richard M. Nixon.)
Agnew, the only VP to resign in disgrace, resigned on October 10, and pleaded no contest to one charge of income tax invasion in return for the dropping of all other charges, and was fined $10,000 and given three year's probation .
December 6, 1989 -
Andy, Opie, make Aunt Bee another Rum Toddy.
Frances Bavier - "Aunt Bee" on The Andy Griffith show died of heart failure on this date.
December 6, 2002 –
Winona Ryder whose six-day shoplifting trial drew national attention and stirred tabloid frenzy, was found guilty on November 7, 2002, of grand theft and vandalism in a New York City courtroom.
And so it goes.
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