4 Non Blondes - What's Up
(I Just) Died In Your Arms - Cutting Crew
Somebody's Watching Me - Rockwell
Bette Davis Eyes - Kim Carnes
Bette Davis Eyes was originally recorded in a 1920s jazz style by Jackie DeShannon on her 1975 album New Arrangement. DeShannon wrote the song with the songwriter Donna Weiss. According to DeShannon, she got the idea after watching the 1942 Bette Davis movie Now Voyager. It was Donna Weiss who submitted the demo to Carnes, who along with her band and producer Val Garay, came up with the hit arrangement for the song.
September 25, 1943 -
An excellent Merrie Melodies cartoon, A Corny Concerto was released on this date.
A parody of Disney's 1940 feature Fantasia, the film uses two of Johann Strauss II's best known waltzes, Tales from the Vienna Woods and The Blue Danube, adapted by the cartoon unit's music director, Carl Stalling and orchestrated by its arranger and later, Stalling's successor, Milt Franklyn.
September 25, 1961 -
One of the greatest sports movies of all time, The Hustler, premiered on this date.
Paul Newman had never held a pool cue before he landed the role of Fast Eddie Felson. He took out the dining room table from his home and installed a pool table so he could spend every waking hour practicing and polishing up his skills.
September 25, 1964 -
The series Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., starring Jim Nabors (who was not married to Rock Hudson) premiered on CBS-TV on this date.
Frank Sutton, whose best-known role was as Gunnery Sgt. Vince Carter in this series, could not pass the US Marine Corps physical during World War II, and ended up serving in the U.S. Army. During his service he distinguished himself by taking part in 14 assault landings, including Leyte, Luzon, Bataan and Corregidor.
September 25, 1965 -
The Beatles Cartoon Show premiered on ABC-TV on this date. It racked up a 13 score (or 52 share), then unheard of in daytime television.
After the end of the series, Al Brodax and George Dunning would continue with Beatles animation by creating the animated feature Yellow Submarine.
September 25, 1970 -
Everybody was implored to 'Get Happy' when The Partridge Family first aired on this date.
Originally, the show was to star the real-life musical family The Cowsills. However, they backed out when the producers decided to have Shirley Jones take over the role of the mother from the group's actual matriarch, Barbara Cowsill.
September 25, 1975 -
Pink Floyd's ninth studio album Wish You Were Here, goes No. 1 om the Billboard Album Charts on this date.
During the final mixing sessions of this song in June of 1975, Syd Barrett wandered into the studios, ready to help out. He was fat, bald, and as crazy as they remembered, but they let him stay for a while. David Gilmour didn't recognize him at first - they hadn't seen him in years. When someone tried to break the ice by asking Syd how he had put on so much weight, he maniacally replied, "I've got a very large fridge in the kitchen, and I've been eating a lot of pork chops!" That was the last time any of the Pink Floyd members have seen him.
September 25, 1997 -
We got our first peek into the fashion world when Veronica's Closet first opened, starring Kirstie Alley, Kathy Najimy, Dan Cortese, Wallace Langham, Darryl Mitchell, and Robert Prosky, on ABC, on this date.
The show was known to poke fun at Kirstie Alley's struggle to maintain her weight. In the first episode. after receiving some bad news, she yells for Josh, and he brings her an enormous amount of food to calm her down.
September 25, 1987 -
20th Century Fox releases the Rob Reiner directed film, The Princess Bride, starring Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Christopher Guest, Robin Wright and Peter Falk, in limited release, on this date.
When asked what his favorite thing about making this film was, André the Giant replied, without skipping a beat, "Nobody looks at me." He felt treated as an equal, without people staring at him because of his grand height.
Today in History -
On this day in 1789, Congress proposed twelve amendments to the Constitution of the United States. Habeas Corpus Luteum and Freedom from Unreasonably Surging Seashores were ultimately rejected but the other ten passed and have come to be known as the "Bill of Rights."
In honor of this important anniversary, I have chosen to celebrate my favorite amendment, in the hopes that it may also soon be yours. I am speaking of the Ninth Amendment.
Like that of Beethoven, the Constitution's Ninth is the standard against which all others must be measured. Unlike Beethoven's, it doesn't climax with a resounding choral tribute to Joy (but that could be fixed).
Here is the Ninth amendment: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."
This important amendment should not be neglected just because of some awkwardly placed commas.
Under the First Amendment, for example, I have been given the right to say any stupid thing that pops into my head. (This should not be confused with the responsibility of doing so, which is reserved to journalists. Donald Trump seems confused about this.) This is an enumerated right. My right not to have to listen to anyone else's idiotic opinion is not enumerated, but it's just as important.
In the Second Amendment, in order to preserve peace and order in the state, I have been granted the right to stockpile dangerous weapons. Unenumerated but no less important is my right not to be caught in the crossfire while you fire off a couple of clips at a Sunday School picnic. (The NRA generally seems to have missed this subtle point.)
Under the Eighth Amendment, I have the right not to be drawn and quartered, boiled in pitch, burned at the stake, or forced to see the movie Cats. But this does not overrule my right to be entertained.
Let us all take a moment to give thanks to the Ninth Amendment, which preserves us not only from the tyranny of government, but the far more dangerous tyranny of one another.
September 25, 1890 -
The "1890 Manifesto", sometimes simply called "The Manifesto", was a statement which officially ceased the practice of plural marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).
Announced by church president Wilford Woodruff on this date, the Manifesto was a dramatic turning point in The Mormons renounced the practice of polygamy after six decades in exchange for statehood for Utah. This was a great day in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as many of the church leaders are finally able to sleep with both eyes closed.
September 25, 1919 -
President Woodrow Wilson became seriously ill and collapsed after a speech to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on this date. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards, he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924.
Remarkably, Wilson was, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His second wife, Edith, would continually tell people for the next five years that the President was in the bathroom and couldn't be disturbed. This was, as of 2020, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment and a large supply of TP at the White House was seen as important.
September 25, 1956 -
Transatlantic Telephone Cable System 1 (TAT-1) was inaugurated on with a three-way telephone conversation between New York, Ottawa, and London. Many distinguished guests participated in this first official call over the new circuit, the first Atlantic cable of its generation.
Before TAT-1, voice was carried across the Atlantic on unreliable and expensive radio channels. Text messaging was carried on submarine telegraph cables (the technology of the previous 90 years) which were reliable, but slow and expensive. The call was nearly ruined when the President of AT&T, Frederick Kappel, asked Dr. Charles Hill, the Postmaster General of England, if he had Prince Albert in a can?
September 25, 1980 -
John Bonham, drummer for the seminal rock band, Led Zeppelin, actually did choke to death in his sleep on a regurgitated ham sandwich on this date.
The coroner's report concludes that it was his own vomit and no one else's.
September 25, 1981 -
Sandra Day O'Connor became the first female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court when she was sworn in as the 102nd justice on this date.
She had been nominated the previous July by President Ronald Reagan. (One of my faithful readers was one of her law clerks.)
And so it goes
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