June 27, 1949 -
Guardian of the Safety of the World, private citizen-scientist Captain Video and his Video Rangers, premiered on the Dumont Network on this date.
During the Vietnam War, American soldiers who were taken as Prisoners of War by the North Vietnamese were often interrogated and asked whom the American military leaders were. Reportedly, several POWs would respond with "Captain Video." The North Vietnamese interrogators, not being familiar with American culture, accepted this answer. This allowed the POWs to escape possible torture and avoid giving the identities of the real military leaders.
June 27, 1957 -
... I'd hate to take a bite outta you. You're a cookie full of arsenic.
The brilliant film-noir, Sweet Smell of Success, partially based on columnist Walter Winchell starring Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis was released on this date.
Ernest Lehman's original novella was first published in Cosmopolitan magazine in 1950, whose editors refused to print a story with the word "smell" in the title. For this publication, the title was changed to Tell Me About It Tomorrow, although it reverted to Lehman's original title when published in book form. Lehman took some comfort from the fact that his original title was a term which entered the language.
June 27, 1964 -
Peter & Gordon's A World Without Love - written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney - goes to #1 in the US, on this date.
This song found its way to Peter Asher when Paul McCartney was living in the Asher household at 57 Wimpole Street in London during his time dating Jane Asher. He played the song for Peter while in his bedroom. It went on to be the biggest hit John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote that was not released by The Beatles. It became the first and biggest hit for Peter & Gordon.
June 27, 1966 -
The first broadcast of Dark Shadows aired on ABC-TV on this date.
Due to the grueling five-shows-a-week schedule, the expense and the difficulty of video editing in those days, most scenes were shot in a single take. Actors and actresses routinely flubbed their lines and searched for the teleprompter, set pieces collapsed, props malfunctioned, crew members walked into shots, microphones and secondary cameras got in the way, and it all wound up being preserved, because the production team figured each episode would only be seen one time.
June 27, 1973 -
Roger Moore stepped into the role of James Bond with Live and Let Die, released in the US on this date.
Sean Connery turned down the then astronomical sum of $5.5 million (close to $32 million in 2019 dollars) to play James Bond for a seventh time. Connery gave Roger Moore his personal seal of approval for inheriting his role, calling him "an ideal Bond".
June 27, 1997 -
Paramount Pictures backed John Woo effort to create a film with more hammier acting that William Shatner/ Ricardo Montalban in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, when it put Face/Off, starring John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen, and Gina Gershon into general release on this date.
Originally Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone were in mind to play the lead roles. When John Woo was brought in to direct, he decided that John Travolta and Nicolas Cage would be more suited to the roles.
June 27, 2008 -
The Disney/ Pixer Academy Award winning animation film, WALL-E went into general release on this date.
WALL-E stands for: Waste Allocation Load Lifter: Earth Class. EVE stands for: Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator.
Word of the Day
Today in History:
June 27, 363 -
The Roman Emperor Julian died on this date from grievous wounds he sustained in battle.
I believe this is the third day in a row I got to reference sodomy. (I continue to scare the children and horses in the street but as long as I do it in the privacy of my own home, it's not illegal.)
June 27 1844 -
Mormon leader Joseph Smith, along with his brother Hyrum, were shot and killed by a mob while in jail at Carthage, Illinois.
Happy Birthday to You, the four-line ditty was written as a classroom greeting in 1893 by two Louisville teachers, Mildred J. Hill (born in Louisville, KY, on June 27, 1859) an authority on Negro spirituals and Dr. Patty Smith Hill, professor emeritus of education at Columbia University.
Music publisher Warner/Chappell will no longer be allowed to collect licensing royalties on those who sing "Happy Birthday" in public and had pay back $14 million to those who have paid for licensing in the past.
June 27, 1894 -
Leaving at about 11 o'clock in the morning, Annie Londonderry (actually Annie Cohen Kopchovsky) set off from the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Hill to settle a bet between two Boston business men, as to whether or not a woman could circumnavigate the world with a bicycle.
While she originally only packed a change of clothes and a pearl-handled revolver, she returned home 15 months later, to the day, ended up seeing Chicago, New York, Paris, Marseilles, Alexandria, Colombo, Singapore, Saigon, Hong Kong, Shanghai and San Francisco. She also become a global celebrity in the process.
June 27, 1905 -
Sailors from the Battleship Potemkin start a mutiny aboard the Battleship Potemkin, on this date, denouncing the crimes of autocracy, demanding liberty and an end to war.
Sergei Eisenstein, wacky Russian film director, thought he could make a summer comedy from the subject matter.
He unfortunately had no sense of humor and went on to create the classic silent film, The Battleship Potemkin, in spite of himself.
It's Bob Keeshan's birthday.
If you're of a certain age, you remember him very well.
June 27, 1928 -
Sylvia Beach invited James Joyce and F. Scott Fitzgerald to dinner at her apartment over her Paris Bookstore Shakespeare and Company on this date. Fitzgerald became drunk (which is like stating, the sun rose this morning). He said he was such a fan of Joyce's that he would throw himself out the window to prove it.
Such are the vagaries of life.
June 27, 1964 -
Ernest Borgnine and Ethel Merman (the woman who learned love at the hands of Ernest Borgnine) were married on this date.
Truly, such are the vagaries of life
And so it goes.
1 comment:
God was having an off day, indeed
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