He was a wise man who invented beer

(Not to be confused with National Beer Day, celebrated annually on April 7th.) International Beer Day, founded in 2007, is a global celebration of the second most popular beverage in the world: Beer!





International Beer Day festivities usually takes place in pubs, clubs, bars, restaurants, breweries, backyards and anywhere else you can enjoy a cold one; this year, enjoy responsibly at home. (Hey International Beer Consortium, you can contact my lawyers about my commission.)


August 5, 1922 -
The silent-film classic, Blood and Sand, starring Rudolph Valentino and Lila Lee, was released on this date.



Rudolph Valentino wanted George Fitzmaurice to direct this film, but the studio forced him to work with the less highly regarded Fred Niblo instead.


August 5, 1953 -
Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr got busy in the surf and someone may have gotten a horse head telegram delivered to their bedroom - From Here to Eternity, also starring Montgomery Cliff, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra, and Ernest Borgnine, premiered in NYC on this date.



Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra and author James Jones were very close during the filming, frequently embarking on monumental drinking binges. Clift coached Sinatra on how to play Maggio during their more sober moments, for which Sinatra was eternally grateful.


August 5, 1955 -
Alfred Hitchcock's surprisingly light comedic touch is on full display in, To Catch A Thief, starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, when it opened in NYC on this date.



Of all the films Alfred Hitchcock made for Paramount Pictures, this is the only one the studio retained the rights to. All the other films, including Rear Window, Vertigo, and Psycho, were sold back to the director himself and later sold in turn by his daughter, Patricia Hitchcock O'Connell, to Universal in 1983, three years after his passing.


August 5, 1966 -
This was a big day in Beatles history:
The Beatles released their Revolver album in UK on this date.



and they also released Yellow Submarine and Eleanor Rigby as a double A single in UK. A lot of kids weekly allowance must have flown out the door on this date.


August 5, 1976 -
NBC aired a very bizarre TV special celebrating the the 15th anniversary of the Beach Boys, It's OK, directed by Gary Weis and starring the Beach Boys on this date.



The special featured cameos by John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Paul and Linda McCartney and Van Dyke Parks.


August 5, 1978 -
The Rolling Stones had their eighth US No.1 hit with the single Miss You, on this date.



The song was written by Mick Jagger after jamming with keyboardist Billy Preston during rehearsals for forthcoming club dates the Stones were playing.


August 5, 1998 -
The American spin-off of the British series Whose Line Is It Anyway?, hosted by Drew Carey and starring Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, and Wayne Brady, premiered on ABC-TV, on this date.



The Whose line crew was such a well-oiled machine that they could shoot 9 to 12 episodes on a single weekend. Shooting a whole season took only three or four weekends every year. The cast revealed it was one of the reasons they were so great together and had great relationships with each other, because they didn't have to spend that much time together.


Another unimportant moment in history


Today in History:
August 5, 1861 -
Folks, please note: The US government established the first income tax on US citizens on this date (Abraham Lincoln was president at the time.) The Revenue Act of 1862 established a tax of 3 percent on incomes of more than $800 Dollars.



The tax, which was used for financial aid during the Civil War, was rescinded in 1872.


August 5, 1884 –
The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty was laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor on this date.

Children and horses were kept indoors on that day for fear of offending their delicate nature.


August 5, 1914 -
The first electric traffic signal, based on a design by James Hoge, was installed on this date.

The system of red and green lights, indicating stop and go, was installed in Cleveland, Ohio, on the corner of East 105th Street and Euclid Avenue. Lost in the miasma of time is the name of the person that first ran the red light.


August 5, 1924 –
The comic strip, Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray, debuted the Chicago Tribune on this date.

Apparently there is no deep, dark meaning behind the fact that Annie has no pupils; that was just the style of the artist. All of the characters in the Little Orphan Annie comic strip had no pupils; it wasn't just Annie. Even her dog Sandy had no pupils.

Now you know.


August 5, 1926 -
Harry Houdini stayed in a coffin, submerged in the swimming pool of New York's Hotel Shelton for one hour and a half, on this date.

Note: He currently has exceeded his own record substantially.


On August 4, 1955, Carmen Miranda suffered a heart attack during a segment of the live TV show The Jimmy Durante Show, although she did not realize it. After completing a dance number, she fell to her knees, and Durante instinctively told the band to "stop da music!".

He helped Miranda up to her feet as she laughed "I'm all out of breath!". "Dat's OK, honey, I'll take yer lines", Durante replied. Miranda laughed again and quickly pulled herself together, finishing the show. At the end of the broadcast, she smiled and waved, then exited the stage. She died later that night, on August 5, 1955, after suffering a second heart attack at her home in Beverly Hills.



As with all great performers - the show had to go on.


August 5, 1957 –
American Bandstand, a local Philadelphia show dedicated to the teenage "baby-boomers" by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, hosted by Dick Clark, debuted nationally on the ABC television network on this date.



Please be careful, Zombie Mr. Clark still roams the nation in search of brains to feast upon.

August 5, 1962 -
60 years ago today, a very unhappy Marilyn Monroe (Norma J. Mortenson) died of natural causes, aggravated by sleeping pills, in her Brentwood home.



Unless she was murdered.


August 5, 1981 -
As dementia continued to take its karma toll, President Ronald Reagan began firing 11,359 air-traffic controllers striking in violation of his order for them to return to work on this date.



The executive action, regarded as extreme by many, significantly slows air travel for months.


Feel free to sing Happy Birthday, unencumbered by the whole copyright issue thing, to the Curiosity Rover parked on Mars, at the moment.



NASA has programmed the Curiosity Rover to sing itself Happy Birthday every year, on the anniversary of it’s landing date on Mars at 10:32 p.m. PDT on August 5, 2012.



And so it goes.