Use whatever soda floats your boat

Today is National Ice Cream Soda day. Remember to pour the soda over the ice cream (you get a thicker ice cream soda foam.)



If you added a little Kahlua in first, even better.

(Hey, everything ain't for the kids.)


June 3, 1971 -
Paramount Pictures' musical, Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, directed by Mel Stuart (and written by Roald Dahl, based on his novel), starring Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson, Peter Ostrum, Roy Kinnear, Denise Nickerson, Leonard Stone, Julie Dawn Cole, Paris Themmen, and Dodo Denney, opened in the US, on this date.



After reading the script, Gene Wilder said he would take the role of Willy Wonka under one condition: that he would be allowed to limp and then suddenly somersault in the scene when he first meets the children. When director Mel Stuart asked why, Wilder replied that having Wonka do this meant that "from that time on, no one will know if I'm lying or telling the truth." Stuart asked, "If I say no, you won't do the picture?" Wilder said, "I'm afraid that's the truth."


June 30, 1971 -
Mike Michols' very adult drama, Carnal Knowledge, written by Jules Feiffer and starring Jack Nicholson, Candice Bergen, Art Garfunkel, Ann-Margret, Rita Moreno, and Cynthia O'Neal, opened on this date.



Mr. Jenkins, a theater manager in Albany, Georgia was convicted of obscenity-related charges in 1972 for showing the film in his establishment, due to its frank depictions of sex and nudity, with police seizing the print of the film and the Georgia Supreme Court upholding the conviction. The U.S. Supreme Court later struck down the conviction in the 1974 Jenkins v. Georgia case, ruling that the movie was not obscene, and the law that was used to convict the manager was unconstitutional. As a result, Avco Embassy re-released the film to theaters using the tagline "The United States Supreme Court has ruled that 'Carnal Knowledge' is not obscene. See it now!".


June 30, 1972 -
The sci-fi film Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, the third sequel in the Planet of the Apes oeuvre, directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Roddy McDowall, was released in U.S. theatres on this date.



The majority of the outdoor scenes were shot in and around the University of California, Irvine campus, which was designed by futurist architect William L. Pereira, and was only six years old at the time of filming. Much of the production centered around the Social Science complex, which was designed by A.C. Martin & Associates and was still under construction during filming. Careful use of camera angles and editing made a handful of buildings and exteriors feel more like action spread across an entire city. Some exteriors, and all of indoor sets were all filmed at the Fox backlot in Century City, Los Angeles.

(To celebrate the premiere of the film, the world added a leap second to UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) time system for the first time.)


June 30, 1979 -
Anita Ward single, Ring My Bell, started a two week run at No.1 on the Billboard chart, on this date. (This was her only charting hit.)



This was one of the first hit songs to feature a synthesized drum. The hook was the synthesized drum of Frederick Knight, which produced a sound that became copied by many other disco records. Carl Marsh is also credited for his synthesizer work on the album.


June 30, 1989 -
One of Spike Lee's big early films, Do The Right Thing, went into limited release in the US on this date.



Spike Lee originally wanted Robert De Niro for the role of Sal Fragione. But De Niro turned down the part, saying that it was too similar to many of the parts he had played in the past. In the end, the part went to Danny Aiello. De Niro's photo is one of the pictures that appear on Sal's "Wall of Fame."


June 30, 1989 -
The quasi-biographical drama film about Jerry Lee Lewis, Great Balls of Fire! directed by Jim McBride and starring Dennis Quaid, Winona Ryder, John Doe, Alec Baldwin, and Mojo Nixon premiered in the US on this date.



Jerry Lee Lewis hates the film and the book from which the film was based, but praises Quaid's performance.


June 30, 1995 -
Ron Howards' film about the ill-fated 13th Apollo mission bound for the moon, Apollo 13, premiered on this date.



Bill Paxton, Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon were all very proud of the fact that they weren't sick on the so-called Vomit Comet - the plane used to simulate zero gravity. The cameramen weren't so lucky.


June 30, 2006 –
The 20th Century Fox comedy, The Devil Wears Prada, starring (the lousy actress) Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci and Adrian Grenier, premiered on this date.



The only contact production had with Vogue was Jess Gonchor, the production designer, who snuck into their offices to get a look at Anna Wintour's office. He was able to re-create it so authentically that it is said that Anna redecorated hers immediately after the movie came out. The devil herself just announced that she was stepping down from being editor-in-chief of Vogue the other day.


Word of the Day


Today in History:
June 30, 1520 -
... And as the gloom begins to fall ...

After witnessing the murder of Montezuma II (or committing the murders themselves,) the Conquistadors, led by Hernan Cortes, did what any red-blooded Spaniard would do and looted Tenochtitlan, the ancient Mexican capital of the Aztec empire on this date. The retreating Spaniards were attacked by an angry Aztec mob. Tied down by armor and treasure, they are no match for the natives and nearly half of Hernan Cortes' men lose their lives.


June 30, 1837 -
England outlawed the use of the pillory on this date.

That still left the British Navy the three things they loved the most - the lash, sodomy and rum.


June 30, 1859 -
Charles Blondin (Jean François Gravelet,) a French acrobat became the first person to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope on this date. Blondin walked a 1,100 feet long rope that was 160 feet above the water.



The entire walk from bank to bank to bank took 23 minutes, and Blondin immediately announced an encore performance to take place on the Fourth of July (which he gave and survived.)


June 30, 1882 -
Charles Guiteau, the assassin of President Garfield, was hanged on this date.



Tickets for the event went for as much as $300. Proving once again, give the people what they want and they'll show up.


June 30, 1894 -
Under a cloudless sky and as part of a pageant which delighted tens of thousands of people, the new Tower-Bridge, which deserves to be reckoned among the greatest engineering triumphs of the Victorian age, was declared open for traffic by land and water... - The Times of London, July 2, 1894



One of London's most iconic symbols, The Tower Bridge was officially opened on this date by The Prince of Wales (Teddy, the future King Edward VII, took time out of his unofficial profession of Royal Whore Monger, to officiate on this date.)


June 30, 1908 -
An explosion near the Tunguska River in Siberia on this date, incinerated some 300 sq. km. that encircled the impact of an estimated 60 meter diameter stony meteorite. It flattened some 40,000 trees over 900 sq. miles and caused damage equivalent to a 15-megaton hydrogen bomb.



The explosion in Siberia, which knocked down trees in a 30-mile radius and struck people unconscious some 40 miles away, is believed by some scientists to be caused by a falling fragment from a meteorite.


June 30, 1934 -
Acting on behalf of the Fuhrer, SS troops around Germany arrested hundreds of loyal SA stormtroopers under the charge of treason in order to eliminate the group.



One squad descends on a Bavarian resort, where it interrupts a contingent of SA men engaged in homosexual festivities. Lieutenant Edmund Heines was caught in bed with a teenaged boy, and shot to death on the spot. The rest were taken into custody. Hitler sacrificed Ernst Rohm (his pal and head of the SA stormtroopers) rather than lose the support of the military. He personally confronted Rohm in a jail cell and left a single shot pistol in the cell. Ten minutes later, Rohm had killed himself (unless he didn't, in which case, he was executed at point blank range by Hitler's goons - reports are sketchy.)



Nobody ruins a good lederhosen and sodomy party in like Hitler's goons. (Not that I'm comparing the two situations but I have a feeling that after the Wagner uprising, Russia is about to experience their own Night of the Long Knives.


June 30, 1936 -
It's the 89th anniversary of publication of Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind on this date.



Despite spending 10 years of her life working on the tome, Mitchell didn’t really have much intention of publishing it. When a “friend” heard that she was considering writing a book (though in fact, it had been written), she said something to the effect of, “Imagine, you writing a book!” Annoyed, Mitchell took her massive manuscript to a Macmillan editor the next day. She later regretted the act and sent the editor a telegram saying, “Have changed my mind. Send manuscript back.”



It had been extensively promoted, chosen as the July selection by the Book-of-the-Month Club, and so gushed about in pre-publication reviews -- "Gone With the Wind is very possibly the greatest American novel," said Publisher's Weekly -- that it was certain to sell, though few predicted the sustained, record-breaking numbers. Though she had been eager and active for her fame, Mitchell too was caught off guard.


June 30, 1953 -
The first Corvette rolled off the production line on this date. The car only came in white with a black top and red interior. Optional features included a curtain instead of roll-up windows and interior door handles.



300 cars were made the first year and sold for $3,498.


June 30, 1966 -
28 people, including Betty Friedan, attending the Third National Conference of State Commissions on the Status of Women, in Washington D.C., founded the National Organization for Women, on this date.



They were inspired by the failure of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and frustrated that they were unable to issue a resolution that recommended the EEOC carry out its legal mandate to end sex discrimination in employment. Betty Friedan served as its first president (1966 - 1970).


June 30, 1974 -
Alberta Williams King, mother of Martin Luther King Jr., was assassinated, along with church deacon, Edward Boykin, in their church on this date. The 69-year-old former schoolteacher was shot by Marcus Wayne Chenault as she sat at the organ of the Ebenezer Baptist Church.



Although Chenault’s lawyers pleaded insanity—the young man repeatedly said he was on a mission to kill all Christians — he was given a death sentence. This was later reduced to life in prison, in part at the insistence of King family members who opposed the death penalty. He died in prison of a stroke in 1995.


Tomorrow is Canada Day, and ACME, in an effort to fulfill its legal obligation to broadcast a quota of Canadian content, er... I mean, to honor our sister of the north:
June 30, 1987 -
The Royal Canadian Mint introduced the $1 coin, affectionately known as the Loonie, on this date.



It bears images of a common loon, a bird which is common and well known in Canada, on the reverse, and of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse. It is produced by the Royal Canadian Mint at its facility in Winnipeg.

(This will be on the test.)


June 30, 1997 -
Hong Kong was acquired by Britain in 1842, when it was ceded in perpetuity by China as a base for Britain's trading ventures. Under the First Convention of Peking, signed in 1860, the tip of the Kowloon peninsula and Stonecutters' Island were ceded to Britain.

In 1898, China granted Britain a 99-year lease for a much larger stretch of land north of Kowloon and a large number of islands, known collectively as the New Territories.

The lease ran out on this date, in 1997. The handover ceremony occurred on the following day. Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the PRC.



And so it goes.

I nearly forgot to mention this

Today is the NYC 55th annual Gay Pride parade, (rain or shine)

making it's way in some direction (they've changed the route yet again) this afternoon, actually commemorates the Stonewall riots, which launched the gay-rights movement.



The official theme for 2025 is "Rise Up: Pride in Protest." According to the NYC Pride official website, this year’s theme reflects the origins of the Pride movement, which was grounded in protest. As the LGBTQIA+ faces increasing hostility, the theme is a “powerful call to action for our communities and allies to rally and march in defiant celebration, advocacy and solidarity." The Grand Marshals for the 2025 Pride March include former White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre; drag artist and former City Council candidate Marti Gould Cummings; disc jockey Lina Bradford, known as DJ Lina; politician and nonprofit executive Elisa Crespo. Again this year WABC NY will be covering the parade live from Noon until 3 PM. It will be bright and sunny today; remember to keep hydrated.



And do not forget the fireworks over the Hudson River.


June 29, 1940 -
According to the Batman Canon: two gangsters working for Tony Zucco rubbed out a circus highwire team known as the Flying Graysons, leaving their son Dick (Robin) an orphan on this date.



Lucky for Dick, a rugged virile older man, Bruce Wayne was there to give him the care and attention a strapping young man in snug fitting swimming trunks and tights needs.


June 29, 1968 -
Tip-Toe Thru The Tulips With Me by Tiny Tim (Herbert Khaury) peaks at #17 on this date.



Proof positive, people did massive amounts of drugs in the '60s.


June 29, 1979 -
United Artists releases the eleventh film in the James Bond franchise, Moonraker, directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Roger Moore in his fourth outing as James Bond, in the US on this date.



The cost for this movie was $30 million, nearly as much as the first eight films combined, without taking into account inflation.


June 29, 1979 –
Ivan Reitman's directorial debut, Meatballs, featuring Bill Murray, in his first starring role, premiered in the US on this date.



Additional scenes had to be shot after the initial filming ended. During the time off, Chris Makepeace had entered puberty and had the beginnings of a mustache. Bill Murray decided that it had to go so he took Makepeace over to a sink, lathered him up with soap and shaved off his mustache. So Makepeace received his first ever shave from Murray.


June 29, 1984 -
One of the original gross out comedies of the 80s, Bachelor Party, opened on this date.



Jim Carrey, Howie Mandel and Tim Robbins were considered for the role of Rick. Julia Louis-Dreyfus was considered for the role of Debbie.


June 29, 1984 -
After a failed attempt shooting a studio video for Dancing In The Dark, Bruce Springsteen performs the song live at his concert in St. Paul, Minnesota, on this date.



Directed by Brian DePalma, the video was filmed during Springsteen's concert at the St. Paul Civic Center in Minnesota on June 29, 1984. Courteney Cox, who was planted in the audience, got the role of the adoring fan in the front row who gets to dance on stage with Bruce. Springsteen performed the song midway through the show, so by that time he was good and sweaty and the crowd was worked into a frenzy. To get the shots, Springsteen did the song twice, with DePalma repositioning his cameras after the first take.


June 29, 1988 -
The John Landis blockbuster film, Coming To America, starring Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, James Earl Jones, John Amos and a plethora of stars in funny cameo roles, opened on this date.



After the make-up and clothing was applied for the Jewish character Saul, Eddie Murphy wanted to test the make-up and costume out. He got a golf cart and drove from one studio department to another in Paramount Studios. He would get out of the cart and say in his regular voice, "Hi. I'm Eddie Murphy." No one believed him.


June 29, 1995 -
Ringo Starr appeared in his first-ever TV commercial (in the US), for Pizza Hut, (featuring the newly reformed Monkees, on this date.



It seems like a strange product for Ringo to hawk; the rocker has been a vegetarian since 1965, and has allergies to onions, garlic, and several spices, which have prevented him from eating pizza.


June 29, 2001 -
Steven Spielberg's take on a film originally conceived by Stanley Kubrick, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, starring Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law and Frances O'Connor, went into general release in the US on this date.



Stanley Kubrick worked on the project for two decades before his death, but along the way, he decided to ask Steven Spielberg to direct, saying it was "closer to his sensibilities". The two collaborated for several years, resulting in Kubrick giving Spielberg a complete story treatment and lots of conceptual art for the movie prior to his death, which Spielberg used to write his own scenario.


June 29, 2007 -
Brad Bird's brilliant film, Ratatouille, starring the voice work of Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Janeane Garofalo, Peter O'Toole, Brad Garrett, and Brian Dennehy premiered in the US on this date.



Pet rats were kept at the studio in the hallway for more than a year so that the animators could study the movement of their fur, noses, ears, paws, and tails.


Another book from the back shelves of The ACME Library


Today in History:
June 29, 1613 -
The Globe Theater, William Shakespeare's original theatrical venue, burns to the ground on this date. According to one of the few surviving documents of the event, no one was hurt except a man who put out his burning breeches with a bottle of ale.



It must have not been a very good bottle of ale.


Canada Day is soon upon bunkies, so here's some history about our neighbor to the north -
June 29, 1864 -
The worst railway disaster in Canada's history killed 99 people and injured 100 more on this date, when a train, which had been carrying many German and Polish immigrants, failed to stop at an open bridge (the Beloeil Bridge) and plunged into the the Richelieu River near Quebec.



The engineer, who was new to his job, claimed that he did not see the signal. The St-Hilaire train disaster is still considered Canada's worst train crash in history.


June 29, 1897 –
Kazue Togasaki was born on this date. She and her family survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, volunteering (at age 9) to translate for many Asian immigrants to the doctors treating them. She went on to become one of the earliest women with Japanese ancestry to earn a medical degree in the United States.

She was one of the few physicians (general practitioner and obstetrician) allowed to practice medicine in the Japanese Internment Camps during World War II. The San Francisco Examiner named her one of the "Most Distinguished Women of 1970". After a long career, Togasaki passed away in 1992 at age 95.


June 29, 1954 -
By a vote of four to one, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission decides not to reinstate access to classified information to Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “father of the atomic bomb.” The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 required consideration of “the character, associations, and loyalty” of the individuals engaged in the work of the Commission. Substantial defects of character along with imprudent and dangerous associations, particularly with known subversives who place the interests of foreign powers above those of the United States, are considered reasons for disqualification.



The Commission thought that his associations with known Communists lasted too long to be justified as merely the intermittent and accidental revival of earlier friendships. Almost 70 years later, the United States Department of Energy has reversed the decision, stating the trial was a “flawed process that violated the Commission’s own regulations.”


June 29, 1956 -
Marilyn Monroe married playwright Arthur Miller in a civil ceremony on this date. Only two witnesses and a photographer attended the civil ceremony.

The bride, who wore a sweater and a creased skirt, had said she would not care for a Grace Kelly-style white wedding. She converted to Judaism before the wedding and had a second, religious ceremony on July 1. Their marriage lasted five years.


June 29, 1967 -
Actress Jayne Mansfield may or may not have been decapitated in a car crash, when her convertible collides with a parked tractor-trailer. To downplay the supposed gruesome death, sources spread the falsehood that only her wig flew off in the accident.



Her three children survived in the back seat of the 1966 Buick Electra. Daughter Mariska Hargitay was 3 years old at the time and began her film career at 19.(Please do yourself a favor and check out Mariska Hargitay's new documentary, My Mom Jayne, on HBO


June 29, 1971 -
When Soyuz 11 disengaged from the Salyut space station, cosmonauts Georgi Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev were killed by a faulty pressurization valve on this date.



All the oxygen leaks out of the Soyuz cabin before Patsayev could close the valve by hand, and the crew was asphyxiated.

I hate when that happens.


June 29, 1978 -
The body of Bob Crane was discovered in bed with an electric cord wrapped around his neck and his head smashed in, on this date.



When Scottsdale police searched the apartment belonging to the former star of television's Hogan's Heroes, they discovered a video camera and a large library of amateur porn starring Crane and a parade of random women. (Parade of Random Women - still a great name for an indie band.) No one has every been convicted of his murder.


June 29, 1992 -
Mohammed Boudiaf was assassinated by one of his own bodyguards less than six months after becoming President of Algeria. A former hero in the war of independence, Boudiaf had been chosen by the Islamic Salvation Front to serve as figurehead for their regime. More than 100,000 Algerians would later die in political bloodshed in the following decade.

(Please note - this was probably not a good business motto to choice a protection agency - We will not kill you within the first six months or your money back.)


June 29, 2007 -
In January 2007, Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone - a touch screen smartphone with an iPod, camera and Web-browsing capabilities—at the Macworld convention in San Francisco.



When it went on sale in the United States on this date amidst huge hype, thousands of customers lined up at Apple stores across the country to be among the first to purchase an iPhone. The 4GB phone retailed for $499 and the 8GB model debuted at $599.



And so it goes.

Today is Paul Bunyan Day

Paul Bunyan is a larger-than-life folk hero who embodies frontier vitality. He is a symbol of might, the willingness to work hard, and the resolve to overcome all obstacles.



He was popularized by newspapermen across the country in 1910 and has been a part of the American culture ever since.


June 28, 1944 -
Universal Pictures released Robert Siodmak's obscure film noir, Christmas Holiday starring Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly, on this date.



Screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz changed the setting from a Paris brothel to a nightclub in New Orleans and the main character was changed from a prostitute to a more ambiguous nightclub singer and hostess, when adapting the 1939 novel of the same name by W. Somerset Maugham, due to the Hays Code.


June 28, 1951 -
A TV version of the popular radio program Amos 'N' Andy premiered on CBS on this date.



If you have the time, watch the documentary posted above so you can understand what the show is about.



If you have the time, watch the documentary posted above so you can understand what the show is about.


June 28, 1956 -
The film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical, The King and I premiered in New York City, on this date.



Yul Brynner is the only actor to have played a lead role in a Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II production both on the stage and on the screen, winning a Tony and an Oscar, respectively. He also played the role on the small screen in the Anna and the King TV series.


June 28, 1975 -
David Bowie released the song, Fame, featuring John Lennon on backing vocals, on this date. It become Bowie's first #1 hit in the US.



John Lennon helped write this song - he came up with the title and also sang the background Fame parts in the high voice. They started working on the song when Bowie invited Lennon to the studio, and Lennon played rhythm guitar on a jam session that resulted in this track. Bowie met Lennon less than a year earlier at a party thrown by Elizabeth Taylor. Lennon was one of Bowie's idols, and they became good friends.


June 28, 1985 -
Hard to believe now but Hollywood employed some of the Brat Pack again when Joel Schumacher's St. Elmo's Fire, starring Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, and Mare Winningham, premiered on this date.



Much like her character, Demi Moore (Jules) had a drug problem when she was cast in the film. One day, director Joel Schumacher actually demanded that she leave the set because she was really high. Moore had to go through rehab and promise to stay clean in order to play a character with a drug problem. Moore revealed in an auto-biography later that she had a cocaine problem and was using an eighth of an ounce of the drug every two days. She went to treatment for 15 days and then had a counselor with her while shooting the film.


June 28, 1996 -
Tom Shadyac's remake of the Jerry Lewis classic, The Nutty Professor, starring Eddie Murphy (in just about ever role,) Jada Pinkett, James Coburn, Larry Miller, Dave Chappelle and John Ales, went into general release in the US on this date.



The family scene was nearly cut out of the final film due to lack of relevance with the film's plot. However, the Klump family turned out to be one of the most popular elements of the film, so much that the Klumps got a greatly expanded presence in the sequel, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps.


June 28, 2003 -
Gore Verbinski's Disney moneymaking blockbuster, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, starring Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, and Jonathan Pryce, premiered at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, on this date.



Keira Knightley claimed she was so sure she was going to get fired after a few days work on this film, she only packed a few things to go with her to start filming.

Don't forget to tune in to The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour today


Today in History:
June 28, 1778 -
It was a hot day in New Jersey on this date. Temperatures reportedly reached 96 degrees in the shade. Possibly invented historical character, Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley, "Molly Pitcher," wife of an American artilleryman, carried water to the soldiers during the Revolutionary War Battle of Monmouth, N.J. and, supposedly, took her husband's place at his cannon after he was overcome with heat.



According to myth she was presented to General George Washington after the battle.


June 28, 1820 -
Robert Gibbon Johnson proved that tomatoes were not poisonous when he ate two homegrown tomatoes in front of a horrified crowd on the steps of the courthouse in Salem, New Jersey (some sites place the date of Mr Johnson's demonstration in September of 1820.)



At the time in the US, tomatoes were believed to be poisonous because of their relationship with some wild plants of the nightshade family that produce toxic berries.

This is what passed for entertainment in New Jersey - the current democratic machine of southern New Jersey hadn't been formed yet.


June 28, 1902 -
Today is the birthday of the nefarious American philosopher John Dillinger, born in 1902. (He is also believed to have been born on June 22, 1903.)



At the age of twenty, a precocious young Dillinger attempted to illustrate the transient nature of material goods by depriving a stranger of his automobile. When a warrant was issued for his arrest by Indiana police — disinclined to accept Dillinger's delicate epistemological point—the young man cleverly joined the Navy to demonstrate the redemptive powers of patriotism.

Philosophers have historically encountered resistance from the military, and Dillinger was no exception. He fled the service, returned home, got married, and robbed a grocer. The robbery went awry and Dillinger went to jail for nine years.



Jail hardened Dillinger and made him a very bitter man. Upon his release, he began robbing banks almost immediately. He quickly became Public Enemy Number One, which enabled him to be shot to death by the FBI outside the Biograph movie theatre in Chicago. As previously mentioned, it is widely rumored (though hotly denied) that pug-ugly transvestite FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover ordered Dillinger's famously well-endowed member detached from his corpse and pickled—for his private files.



His philosophy, however, endures to this day and is practiced widely and successfully by various tax authorities around the world.



And I have no idea if Hoover did with his trophy.


Jun 28 1905 -
At 5:30 a.m. on this date, a murderer named Henri Languille lost his head on the guillotine in Orleans. Dr. Jacques Beaurieux, an official witness to the execution, picks up the freshly-severed head of Languille just after it drops into the guillotine basket (don't worry, he's an official - the French just don't let anybody pick up freshly severed heads) and shouts the man's name three times. According to the doctor's report: "Languille's eyes very definitely fixed themselves on mine and the pupils focused themselves. ... I was dealing with undeniably living eyes which were looking at me."

Again, if I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, the French they are a funny race.


June 28 1914 -
Archduck Franz Ferdinand was having an extremely bad day.

He was touring Serbia with his wife, the Mallard Sophie. The purpose of his tour was to get Serbia to calm down, it having become extremely irritable for reasons known only to itself, possibly having to do with Austria's occupation of the region. (Either that or gas.)



During their tour, Nedjelko Cabrinovic tosses a grenade into the automobile carrying Archduck Franz Ferdinand and wife Sofia. But Ferdinand knocks the bomb away with his arm and his driver speeds away from the would-be assassin. The driver was naturally addled and the Archduck and Mallard Sophie became lost and stopped to ask for directions from a young boy on the side of the road (and as most men know this is a no-no - if you are lost, never ask for directions). The conversation went something like this:

"Say, lad, I'm the Austrian Archduck Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Habsburg throne and this is my wife, the Mallard Sophie. We seem to be lost. If we don't find our way back I might never have the chance to take the Austrian throne and continue the ruthless and relentless persecution of the Serbian peoples. Could you give us a hand?"



The boy was Gavrilo Princip and he had just started World War I. The war ended exactly five years later, on June 28, 1919, with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles is best known for having caused the Second World War.



Gavrilo Princip died of tuberculosis in his jail cell. After his death, the following graffiti was discovered on the wall:

Our ghosts will walk through Vienna, wander through castle and scare the lords!


Happy Birthday Mel Brooks



I'm so happy to once again note that it's always a good day to know that Mel is still around.


June 28, 1969 -
In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn, a Mafia run bar in Greenwich Village, the gay community fought back against routine police harassment that persecuted sexual minorities. Police raided the bar this time because it had refused to pay an increase in bribery. This incident is regarded by many as history's first major protest on behalf of equal rights for the LGBT community.



34 years later, on June 26, 2003, the US Supreme Court, in Lawrence v. Texas, struck down a Texas sodomy law and proclaimed that gay Americans have a right to private sexual relations. 44 years later (on June 26, 2013) the Supreme Court overturned DOMA and just two years after that, the court legalized marriage for same-sex couples, nationwide.



Part of the original Stonewall Inn Bar has been converted into a National Monument Vistor Center. 55 years after the riots, the center opens today.


June 28, 1975 -
Rod Serling (b.1924), iconoclastic writer and director of the TV series Twilight Zone and Night Gallery, died on this date.


Serling, a decorated World War II veteran suffered from PTSD and insomnia throughout his life. His wartime experiences led him to become an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War.


June 28 1997 -
Mike Tyson was disqualified from a championship boxing bout after biting off a large portion of Evander Holyfield's ear.



Tyson was later banned from boxing and fined $3 million for the incident.

Don't worry about Mike, he's now selling little ear shaped CBD gummies.


And on a personal note:

Happy Birthday Angie



And so it goes.

Evil doers of the world. Beware!

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.



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, 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.



For more than a year and a half the characters of Dark Shadows used almost every possible phrase to refer to Barnabas Collins ("He's not alive!" "He's one of the undead." "He walks at night but he ain't alive.") It wasn't until the 410th episode that the word "vampire" was actually used on the show.


June 27, 1971 -
After only three years in business, rock promoter Bill Graham closed the "Church of Rock and Roll", the Fillmore East in New York (on Second Avenue near East 6th Street,) on this date.



The final concert was billed as three acts (The Allman Brothers Band, The J. Geils Band, Albert King) and special surprise guests (Edgar Winter's White Trash, Mountain, The Beach Boys, Country Joe McDonald) in an invitation-only performance.


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.



Nicolas Cage and John Travolta spent two weeks together before filming to learn how to play each other. They decided on specific gestures and vocal cadences for each character that could be mimicked.


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.


Another unimportant moment in history


Today in History:
June 27, 363 -
The Roman Emperor Julian died on this date from grievous wounds he sustained in battle.

With his death, so ended the revival of Paganism (and state sanctioned, rigorous devotion to sodomy) in Rome.


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.

According to church legend, after Smith was shot a man raises a knife to decapitate him, but was thwarted by a thunderbolt from heaven. God was having an off day and the thunderbolt was meant to fry Smith's body to a crisp.


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.

You no longer have to substitute any of the following for our purposes under "Fair Use".


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.

Neither writer was having much success. Fitzgerald had just published The Great Gatsby and it had not been selling well. Joyce's Ulysses wouldn't be published outside of Paris for another five years. Both men died 13 years later, less than a month apart, with no money and very few readers.

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.

The marriage lasted 38 days.



Truly, such are the vagaries of life



And so it goes.

Huzzah!

It may not seem possible, But for about 1.1 million students (and their exhausted families) the 2024/ 2025 school year is finally over.

(Enjoy what you can of summer - the 2025/ 2026 school year is scheduled to begin 70 days from today, on September 4, 2025. But who knows?)


June 26, 1919 -
106 years ago today, The New York Daily News started publishing the print edition.



The paper was originally known as the Illustrated Daily News. And its first subscriber wasn't a New Yorker — it was a Boston shoe manufacturer named Louis Coolidge.


The Cyclone roller coaster opened on this date in 1927. The roller coaster opened in Coney Island and is still available to induce vomiting today, (it's great to know that the ride is still open).



It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991 and was made an historic New York City landmark in 1988.


June 26, 1925 -
Charlie Chaplin's classic comedy, The Gold Rush, premiered at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, on this date.



Location filming proved problematic, so Charles Chaplin shot the entire film on the backlot and stages of his Hollywood studio, including an elaborate reconstruction of the Klondike. His leisurely approach to film-making - and multiple takes - did not suit the demands of location filming. One of the problems was that the crew could not make the cabin look like it was being moved by the wind convincingly on location. Eventually, Chaplin's cinematographer, Roland Totheroh, convinced him that it would be more practical to shoot the sequence with miniature models with his firm assurances that it could be shot convincingly.


June 26, 1964 -
The Beatles third studio album, A Hard Day's Night was first released in the United States by United Artists Records on this date and on July 10, 1964 in the UK by Parlophone.



In contrast to the band's first two albums, all thirteen tracks were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, showcasing the development of the duo's songwriting talents.


June 26, 1965 -
The Byrds went to No.1 on the US singles chart with their version of Bob Dylan's Mr Tambourine Man. (Only Roger McGuinn from the band played on the song, the drummer Hal Blaine who played on the track also played on Bridge Over Troubled Water.)



The Byrds version is based on Bob Dylan's demo of the song that he recorded during sessions for his 1964 album Another Side of Bob Dylan (Dylan's version was not yet released when The Byrds recorded it). It was The Byrds' manager, Jim Dickson, who brought in the demo and asked them to record it - the group refused at first because they thought it didn't have any hit potential. When The Byrds did record it, they took some lyrics out and added a 12-string guitar lead.


June 26, 1981 -
The Columbia Pictures' comedy, Stripes, directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Warren Oates, P. J. Soles, Sean Young, and John Candy opened in the US on this date.



According to Ivan Reitman, during the scene where the recruits receive their basic training haircuts he did not tell the actors that real Army barbers would be shaving their heads until the scene was shot. He lined all of the actors up and shot the scene as scripted to get their genuine reactions to their heads being shaved. John Candy became depressed after the scene was shot. This is why you see him picking up his hair and looking sad when he walks out of the barber shop. Since Bill Murray and Harold Ramis were bigger names at that point than the rest of the cast, they were required to cut their hair shorter, but not to shave their entire heads.


June 26, 1987 -
The truly silly yet likeable Mel Brooks film, Spaceballs, starring Mel Brooks, John Candy, Rick Moranis, Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga, Dick Van Patten, and Joan Rivers went into general release on this date.



The Millennium Falcon from the Star Wars saga makes a cameo appearance in this movie. Take a close look at the exterior shot of the Space Diner, and it can be spotted parked there among the other space vehicles. George Lucas got a chance to read the screenplay before production began, and loved it so much that he decided to have his special effects company, Industrial Light & Magic, help make this movie. (Keep your fingers crossed - Spaceballs 2 is scheduled for release in 2027. )


June 26, 1999 -
Pearl Jam score their biggest Hot 100 hit when Last Kiss, a cover of a song from the '60s originally recorded by J. Frank Wilson & The Cavaliers, reaches #2, held off the top spot by Jennifer Lopez' first single, If You Had My Love.



This was originally a hit for J. Frank Wilson & The Cavaliers in 1964. Eddie Vedder came across this song when he found the record in an antiques store in Seattle before a show. He bought it and stayed up all night listening to it. He took it to the band and they played it throughout the summer of their 1998 tour.


Another ACME Safety Film


Today in History:
June 26, 1284 -
The town of Hamelin had a large rat infestation. A weirdly dressed minstrel promised to help them get rid of their rats. The townsmen in turn promised to pay him for the removal of the rats. The man accepted and thus played a musical pipe to lure the rats with a song into the Weser River, where all of them drowned. Despite his success, the people reneged on their promise and refused to pay the rat-catcher. Pied Piper extracting his revenge, luring 130 children of Hamelin away on this date.



People, let this be a lesson to us all - please pay your exterminator bill promptly.


Richard III made himself King of England on this date in 1483 by killing everyone else who wanted to be king.



It seemed a clever stratagem at the time, especially for a hunchback, but his reign came to a bloody end just two years later as a result of his making a fiscally irresponsible bid on a horse. (To all of you Richard rehabilitators, this is a joke. Please, no e-mails.)


June 26, 1498 -
The toothbrush (as we know it) was patented in China during the Hongzhi Emperor's reign. The toothbrush used hog bristles (or horse hair - again, please, no e-mails), at that time.



Hog bristle brushes remained the best until the invention of nylon. I completely understand the slight gagging feeling you're experiencing this morning. We were able to ascertain this date through the diligent work of ancient Chinese chronologists, who were not plagued by the distraction of the massive amount of sodomy that was rampant throughout Western Europe, where they were going through a touch of Renaissance at the time.


Francisco Pizarro conquered the entire Peruvian Empire of the Incas with a handful of soldiers only to have those soldiers turn on and kill him on June 26, 1541. He was stabbed in the throat, then fell to the floor where he was stabbed repeatedly. Pizarro (who now was maybe as old as 70 years, and at least 62, remember, the problem with calendars: sodomy), collapsed on the floor, alone, painted a cross in his own blood and cried for Jesus Christ. He then cried out: Come to me my faithful sword, companion of all my deeds.

Mr. Pizarro was a bit of a drama queen.


Abner Doubleday was born on this date in 1819. A forgotten footnote in his life is the fact that he aimed the cannon that fired the first return shot in answer to the Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, starting the Civil War.



Mr. Doubleday is incorrectly credited with the invention of baseball, without which Americans would have nothing to watch between waits in line for more beer.


June 26, 1819 -
W.K. Clarkson of New York received a patent for what was then called a velocipede (even though Denis Johnson of London had patented his velocipede in December 1818.)







Unfortunately, the patent record was destroyed by fire, so the actual design is not known.


June 26, 1870 -
The day after Leon Day, Congress declared Christmas a federal holiday,

to the great relief of Americans who'd been forced to flee to Canada every December.


June 26, 1926 -
Ernest Hemingway hung around Europe with several of his friends after WWI. He used to drive an ambulance. It had a horn. The horn went beep - beep. It was a good sound. Hemingway and his friend wrote some novels in between, drinking, whore mongering and general lollygagging. Typewriters made a sound - clackity -clack. It was a good sound. Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises was published on this date. It is a good date to publish.





All in all it was a damn good novel. Isn’t it pretty to think so?


June 26, 1956 -
Chris Isaak, actor and singer was born on this date.







With 13 studio albums, he’s been called the Roy Orbison of the 90s and is often also compared to Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, and Duane Eddy.


June 26, 1959 -
In a ceremony presided over by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Queen Elizabeth II, the St. Lawrence Seaway was officially opened, creating a navigational channel from the Atlantic Ocean to all the Great Lakes.



The seaway, made up of a system of canals, locks, and dredged waterways, extends a distance of nearly 2,500 miles, from the Atlantic Ocean through the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Duluth, Minnesota, on Lake Superior.

(Great bar bet winner for tonight: Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, was probably conceived in Canada on this royal visit.)


June 26, 1963 -
President John F. Kennedy stood before the Berlin Wall and announced to a quarter of a million Germans that he was a jelly donut, in his famous "I am a jelly donut" ("ich bin ein jelly donut") speech.



Although embarrassing, this was considered an improvement over Eisenhower's infamous "I am a well-endowed fruit bat" speech on a golf course in Costa Rica.


June 26, 1968 -
Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones ....

Pope Paul VI declares that the bones of Apostle and first Pope, Saint Peter, found underneath St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, were authentic. The bones are now housed in containers near where they were found, but some of them are clearly those of domesticated animals.



Oh well ... another mystery of the church best left unexplained.


June 26, 1976 -
The CN Tower in Toronto, Canada, was the world's tallest free-standing structure at the time, at 1,815 feet (553 meters,) opened for tourists on this date.



It now is third, behind the Tokyo Skytree in Japan and an observation tower in China. Burj Khalifa skyscraper in the United Arab Emirates is currently the world's tallest building (with floors from the ground up.)


June 26, 1974 -
At 8:01 am in the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio, cashier Sharon Buchanan scanned a package of Wrigley’s chewing gum with a bar code printed on it.



This was the first product ever logged under the new Universal Product Code (UPC) computerized product recognition system. It's been all downhill ever since.


June 26th 1977 -
St. Elvis played his last ever concert at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, Indiana on this date. Elvis was not long for this world; he was very over-weight and seemed ill, but he wanted to silence the press and make his loyal fans happy.



He played in front of an excess of 18,000 fans as they watched his last and most historic performance. Elvis would be gone in less that two months.

Remember - one hand on the screen - the other upon your afflicted area


June 26, 1990 -
The Irish Republican Army bombed the Carlton Club on this date, an exclusive conservative gentleman's cabal in London.



(It is a well known fact that Margaret Thatcher was denoted an "honorary man" in order to become a member. It is not clear what surgical modifications, if any, were necessary.)



And so it goes.