You know that we're in serious trouble.
Today is National Cheeseburger Day. As with most things, many people and restaurants are claiming the cheeseburgers' origin, going as far back as 1926, when a sloppy 16 year old Lionel Sternberger, while working at his father’s Pasadena, California sandwich shop, dropped a slice of cheese on a burger he was cooking. Although I should not scoff, the sloppy Alexander Fleming, accidentially discovered Penicillin when he didn't wash up his lab before going on vacation.
But remember, according to a 2022 study from Tulane University, if Americans swapped one serving of beef per day for chicken, their diets' greenhouse gas emissions would fall by an average of 48 percent and water-use impact by 30 percent. (I'm just saying.)
September 18, 1951 -
The film version of Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize winning play, A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Elia Kazan and starring Marion Brando, Vivien Leigh, and Kim Hunter, premiered in Los Angeles on this date.
Although Vivien Leigh initially thought Marlon Brando to be affected, and he thought her to be impossibly stuffy and prim, both soon became friends and the cast worked together smoothly.
September 18, 1951 -
20th Century Fox premiered the science fiction classic, The Day the Earth Stood Still, directed by Robert Wise and starring Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal, in New York, on this date.
One of the reasons Michael Rennie was cast as Klaatu was that he was generally unknown to American audiences, and would be more readily accepted as an "alien" than a more recognizable actor. Studio head Darryl F. Zanuck had shown the script to Spencer Tracy, who was eager to play the role. Producer Julian Blaustein objected, saying that the audience would have numerous expectations about the character upon seeing an actor of such repute emerging from the flying saucer. Blaustein knew that Zanuck had the ultimate control, and if he insisted, Blaustein would either have to resign, or make the movie in an unsatisfactory way. Fortunately, Zanuck agreed, and Rennie was cast instead.
September 18, 1957 -
The western series, Wagon Train, starring Ward Bond Robert Horton, John McIntire, Robert Fuller, Michael Burns, Frank McGrath, Terry Wilson, and Scott Miller originally premiered on NBC TV on this date, then moved to ABC TV in it's sixth season.
Ward Bond (Major Seth Adams) and Robert Horton (Flint McCullough) did not get along on the set. According to Horton, Bond spread rumors about his sexuality. The two men settled their differences two days before Bond died. Although it was not publicly disclosed at the time, Ward Bond was already in terrible health when the series began. He was ill with high blood pressure, and had been ordered to reduce his workload. However, he continued to drink heavily while working on the series.
September 18, 1960 -
Teen heart-throb Tab Hunter was at the peak of his career when his comedy series, The Tab Hunter Show, premiered on NBC-TV on this date.
The Tab Hunter Show seemed like an update of The Bob Cummings Show, aimed at a younger audience. Both featured an artist (Bob a photographer, Tab a cartoonist) whose work had them constantly surrounded by beautiful young women. The biggest difference was Hunter was much younger.
September 18, 1963 -
The show that taught elderly men, twin cousins might be lured into immoral acts with the purchase of grilled sausages - The Patty Duke Show, premiered on ABC-TV on this date.
Patty Duke was only sixteen when production began, and thus it was decided to film the show in New York City at the Chelsea Studios in Manhattan. New York's child labor laws were more liberal than California's--especially that state's Coogan Law (named after child actor Jackie Coogan), which regulated the working conditions of child actors. Filming in New York City allowed Duke to work more hours per day, an advantage since she pretty much carried the show. Duke turned eighteen during filming of the final season, and although the season started in New York City, the whole production was moved to Hollywood by season's end much to the chagrin of Duke, who wished to stay in New York City. Nevertheless, the setting of the series remained the same Brooklyn Heights neighborhood it had always been.
September 18, 1964 -
The most normal family's ever presented on US television, The Addams Family premiered on ABC-TV on this date.
Carolyn Jones and John Astin decided to give Gomez and Morticia "a grand romance" as an antidote to the virtually asexual parents then common in television shows.
September 18, 1965 -
Kleenex stock rose precipitously as I Dream of Jeannie premiered on this date.
While filming the first 12 episodes of season 1, Barbara Eden was pregnant with her son, Matthew Ansara. Her pregnancy was disguised by filming her in close-up or with a copious veil covering her front. Barbara Eden has said that wearing all the extra veils made her feel like a walking tent.
September 18, 1965 -
Mel Brooks and Buck Henry started their fight to keep the world safe from KAOS when Get Smart premiered on NBC-TV on this date.
When Don Adams was negotiating his salary, he had his choice between more money per week and no ownership stake in the show, or less money per week and part ownership. Adams chose the ownership deal and never regretted it considering the series' durable popularity in syndication gave him a regular income even as he struggled with being typecast by it.
September 18, 1968 -
The film musical Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand premiered in NYC.
Barbra Streisand and Omar Sharif had an affair that lasted for the duration of the production. Director William Wyler, who knew about the affair, tried to channel their real-life chemistry into their performances. Streisand had also enjoyed a liaison with Sydney Chaplin, who portrayed Nick on stage. Both affairs would contribute to the end of her marriage to Elliott Gould.
September 18, 1971 -
The fifth studio album by the Who, Who's Next, reached No. 1 of the Billboard Charts in the U.K. on this date.
In an interview with Billboard magazine in February 2010, Pete Townshend discussed how he feels now that 40 years on this and other Who songs take on a deeper meaning. He explained that when he wrote the band's classic tunes, "The music there was about living in the present and losing yourself in the moment. Now that has changed. Boomers kind of hang on to that as a memory. When I go back and listen to those songs, the Who songs in particular of the late '60s and early 70s, there was an aspiration in my writing to attune to the fact that what I could feel in he audience was - I won't say religious - but there was certainly a spiritual component to what people wanted their music to contain. There's definitely a higher call for the music now which is almost religious. U2, for example, are hugely successful with songs about inner longing for freedom, ideas."
September 18, 1976 –
Wild Cherry's single Play That Funky Music went to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.
This was going to be the B-side of Wild Cherry's cover of the Commodores' I Feel Sanctified. When they heard it, the owners of their record label suggested that the B-side become the A-side. The song sold over two million copies, but was Wild Cherry's only hit.
September 18, 1978 -
We first started living on the air in Cincinnati when WKRP in Cincinnati, premiered on CBS-TV on this date.
The show was videotaped instead of filmed because the rights to rock songs were cheaper for a taped show than for a filmed show.
September 18, 1987 -
Pet bunnies felt a cold breeze on their neck when Fatal Attraction, starring Michael Douglas and Glenn Close, opened on this date.
Glenn Close still has the knife she used in the movie hanging in her kitchen, stating: "It's beautiful, made of wood and paper. It's a work of art! And it's nice for our guests to see it. It lets them know they can't stay forever."
September 18, 1989 -
The science fiction series Alien Nation, starring Gary Graham, and Eric Pierpoint, premiered on the FOX network on this date.
The fledgling Fox Network first year on the air resulted in a cash crunch that forced the cancellation of this series after its first season, despite a season-ending cliffhanger. The never-produced second season opener was adapted as a novel and a comic book, and the series itself was later revived as a series of TV movies beginning with Alien Nation: Dark Horizon in 1994.
September 18, 1994 -
Ken Burn's series about America's favorite past time Baseball, premiered on PBS on this date.
When working on the original series of films the producer wondered if they should keep in the statement that the Red Sox would never again win the world series, they decided to keep it in, despite this being the favorite team of filmmaker Ken Burns. Then in 2004, the team won the world series. As a result, Burns decided to add a "tenth inning", updating things in a number of ways, including the strike and permanent resolution, the steroids scandal and other aspects of recent baseball history.
Another ACME Safety Film
Today in History:
ACME would like to issue a Trigger Warning - all children and those with delicate natures should turn away from their computer screens as we discuss the bizarre deviant sexual behavior on the part of our founding fathers:
On September 18, 1793, President George Washington laid the foundation stone for the U.S. Capitol. According to numerous sources, President Washington "laid the stone in a Masonic ceremony... preceded by a parade and followed by celebration and feasting."
September 18, 1851 -
The New York Times published its first edition on this date. The newspaper, initially called the New-York Daily Times, was founded by Henry Jarvis Raymond, a politician and journalist.
It cost one penny per copy and was published six days per week, changing to seven days in 1861. Its name was changed to the New York Times in 1857.
September 18, 1932 -
24-year-old starlet Peg Entwistle dove head first from the letter "H" of the HOLLYWOODLAND sign in Los Angeles. She is the first person to commit suicide at the landmark.
Her body was discovered in the brush at the base of the hill two days later, and pronounced dead. When police examined her belongings, in her purse they found a note that read:
"I am afraid, I am a coward. I am sorry for everything. If I had done this a long time ago, it would have saved a lot of pain. P.E."
Two days later, in an ironic twist, Entwistle's uncle opened a letter addressed to her from the Beverly Hills Playhouse; it was mailed the day before she jumped. In it was an offer for her to play the lead role in a stage production—in which her character would commit suicide in the final act.
September 18, 1958 -
Bank of America sent out 60,000 “BankAmericards” to their customers in Fresno, California, on this date.
These cards, later renamed 'VISA' were the first nationally licensed credit card program.
September 18, 1961 -
Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary-General of the UN, was killed in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) on this date. He was flying to negotiate a cease-fire in the Congo.
Hammarskjold was the son of a former Swedish prime minister. In 1953, he was elected to the top UN post and in 1957 was reelected. During his second term, he initiated and directed the United Nation's vigorous role in the Belgian Congo.
Strangely enough, for many years, I worked in an office building that bears his name.
September 18, 1970 -
Jimi Hendrix died in his sleep, in London, from of a barbiturate overdose when chunks of his vomited tuna sandwich wound up in his lungs, causing him to choke, on this date. He was 27 years old.
At least his family could take comfort that he did not choke on someone else's vomit.
Once again I must remind you that Cass Elliot did not choke to death on a ham sandwich. It is an urban myth born out of a quickly discarded speculation by the coroner, who noted a part eaten ham sandwich and figured she may have choked to death. In fact, she died of heart failure.
So cut it out.
September 18, 1975 -
The burst of the Thompson gun stopped ringing in her ears on this date.
Fugitive kipnapped newspaper heiress, then zealot compatriot, Patricia Hearst and three other comrades, Wendy Yoshimura, William and Emily Harris were arrested and arraigned, ending one of the longest manhunts in American history.
September 18, 1977 -
NASA's unmanned space probe Voyager 1 snapped the first photograph of the Moon and the Earth in the same frame while on its mission to study the Solar System and its boundaries. At the time, Voyager 1 was 7.25 million miles (11.66 million kilometers) from Earth.
September 18, 1981 -
The Guinness Book of World Records verified on this date, that the West Edmonton Mall parking lot, which can hold 20,000 cars, is the largest parking lot in the world.
September 18, 1992 -
Two weeks after being outed in the New York weekly QW, attorney John Schlafly admitted in an interview with the San Francisco Examiner that he enjoys the love that dare not speak it's name. This causes a certain amount of consternation for his mother, archconservative gay rights opponent Phyllis Schlafly.
September 18, 1994 -
Vitas Gerulaitis was killed in his sleep the previous night in the guest cottage of a friend's Long Island estate. His body was discovered on this date. The professional tennis player died from carbon monoxide poisoning, caused by a faulty propane swimming-pool heater.
Before you go - Happy Anniversary Angie and Eliot -
And so it goes
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