It's not what's under the tree that matters,

it's who gathered around it.

It's the first day of Christmas.

As always, we here at ACME want to help spread hope, peace, joy, and other marketing buzzwords









Hopefully you haven't overeaten this Christmas, but if you have, perhaps you'll get a visit from -



(Remember, it isn't really Christmas until you hear his Hidey Ho.)

Your Christmas gifts are starting to arrive (we'll be keeping a count.)

(Remember, we are going to count this as a unit and not as two individual gifts.)


December 25, 1962 –
Robert Mulligan's adaptation of Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, starring Gregory Peck and Mary Badham opened on this date.



The watch used in the film was a prop, but Harper Lee gave Gregory Peck her father's watch after the film was completed, because he reminded her so much of him.


December 25, 1967 -
The Monkees gave their fans a treat with their episode The Christmas Show when it first aired on this date.



Butch Patrick, who plays Melvin, is better known to audiences as Eddie Munster from The Munsters, a show, which had finished its run in 1966, the year The Monkees started.


December 25, 1968 -
CBS gave their viewers a two-fer treat when A Beverly Hillbilly’s Christmas at Hooterville first aired on this date



The episode includes the entire Clampett clan along with Mr. Drucker and Miss Hathaway, but also features multiple characters from the Beverly Hillbillies spin-off shows Green Acres and Petitcoat Junction.


December 25, 1973 -
George Roy Hill mega-hit of the holiday season, The Sting, starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Robert Shaw, opened in US theatres on this date.



Paul Newman had been advised to avoid doing comedy films, because he didn't have the light touch needed to play comedy. Part of the reason Newman wanted to play Henry Gondorff was to prove that he could play comedy as well as drama.


December 25, 1973 -
Slade, Suzi Quatro and 10cc are among the performers on the BBC Top Of The Pops Christmas special, which first premiered on this date.



The show's dancers do a routine with dogs to Gilbert O'Sullivan's Get Down, leading to rumors that the "bad dog baby" in the song was Sullivan's misbehaving pooch (it isn't). Despite the line, this song is not about an actual dog, although it has long been rumored to be. Gilbert O'Sullivan says it's about "an overzealous lady," not a poorly trained pooch.


December 25, 1976-
The fifth Christmas themed episode of The Bob Newhart Show, Making Up Is the Thing to Do, premiered on CBS TV on this date.



This episode's title is also based on the Neil Sedaka pop hit, Breaking Up Is Hard To Do.


December 25, 1990 -
Francis Ford Coppola's much maligned sequel, The Godfather III starring everyone you would expect (except Robert Duvell, who couldn't come to an agreement about his salary,) went into general release on this date.



Francis Ford Coppola once admitted that he was still unhappy over the final result because of lack of time to write the script. According to him, he had wanted $6 million for the writer, producer, and director fee and 6 months to write the script. Instead, the studio gave him only $1 million in fees and only 6 weeks to work on the script (in order to meet the Christmas 1990 release date). He also regretted that the character of Tom Hagen had to be written out of the script because the studio refused to meet Robert Duvall's financial demands. According to Coppola, with Hagen gone, an essential character and counterpart for Michael Corleone was missing from the movie.


December 25, 1992 -
Richard Attenborough epic bio pix about the the world famous comedian Chaplin, starring Robert Downey Jr., Marisa Tomei, Dan Aykroyd, Penelope Ann Miller, and Kevin Kline went into limited release in the United States (the anniversary of Chaplin's death) on this date.



Geraldine Chaplin recalled that when she first saw Robert Downey, Jr. in full costume, she was so awestruck on how much he resembled her late father that she needed a moment to collect her thoughts to even speak.


December 25, 1999 -
The Sci-Fi parody (of Star Trek), Galaxy Quest, Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell, and Daryl Mitchell premiered in the U.S. on this date.



Director Dean Parisot and star Tim Allen have revealed in interviews that the original tone of the film was much darker, with more scenes of violence. After test screenings, the film was recut to emphasize the comedy and obtain a PG rating.


December 25, 2009 -
Guy Ritchie's twist on the iconic Victorian detective, Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law went into general release in the U.S. on this date.



Although Irene Adler plays a large role in the movie (and works of fiction by "Baker Street irregulars"), she only appears in one Arthur Conan Doyle story, A Scandal in Bohemia, briefly referenced in the movie. Holmes retains the portrait of Irene Adler acquired for his services in that story and also once refers to her as "the woman" as he does in the latter story.


December 25, 2013 -
The Martin Scorsese drama The Wolf of Wall Street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, and Matthew McConaughey premiered in US theatres on this date.



Matthew McConaughey's scenes were shot on the second week of filming. The chest beating and humming performed by him was improvised and actually a warm-up rite that he performs before acting. When Leonardo DiCaprio saw it while filming, the brief shot of him looking away uneasily from the camera was actually him looking at Martin Scorsese for approval. DiCaprio encouraged them to include it in their scene and later claimed it "set the tone" for the rest of the film.


Once you woke up this morning, you knew where you stood on Santa's list.

Once again, we here at ACME once again want to wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday by sharing this Christmas poem:

Let us all be Noticers today.

Let us notice our children’s gifts rather than their flaws.

Let us notice what our spouse does right, not what he or she did wrong.

Let us notice the sacrifices our parents made, rather than all the times they messed up.

Let us notice how hard people are working not how quickly they are providing service.

Let us notice where our love and kindness is needed, rather than spew criticism and scrutiny where it is not needed.

Let us be Noticers. Love others right where they are. Love others just as they are. Someone is just waiting for us to notice what’s blooming or wilting inside that could use a little undivided attention.

… The one who notices and responds with empathy can create a ripple effect. Because compassion spreads . . . compassion is contagious!”

“… finding Glimmers of Goodness within a day is possible – even when you are irritated, annoyed, or frustrated. Try taking each not-so-pleasant experience or feeling and thanking it for its hidden gifts.

Thank you, growing older. It is in finding another gray hair and another laugh line that I appreciate the gift of another day.

Thank you, pang of guilt. It is in wishing that I did things differently that I appreciate the opportunity of Second chances.

Thank you, disappointment. It is in experiencing letdown that I appreciate the fact that I had the courage to try.

Thank you, daily challenge. It is looking straight into the face of sorrow, struggle, fear, frustration, heartache, and worry that I appreciate the fact that I keep showing up. And I will keep showing up.

Because even on the hardest days, even in the most challenging moments, I can see tiny glimmers of goodness if I look closely for them.”

Enjoy the day bunkies!

It's the anticipation that kills you

Do you hear what I hear?

Christmas is but a day away.

Although the ACME phone banks are closed, believe me, ACME factories are hard at work.

So, were you naughty or nice?



Oh Jimmy, what have you done indeed. Don't worry bunkies, at this point, Santa knows the score.


December 24, 1940 -
George Cukor's classic film-comedy The Philadelphia Story, starring Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, and Jimmy Stewart premiered on this date.



The film was shot in eight weeks, and required no retakes. During the scene where James Stewart hiccups when drunk, you can see Cary Grant looking down and grinning. Since the hiccup wasn't scripted, Grant was on the verge of breaking out laughing and had to compose himself quickly. Stewart (apparently spontaneously) thought of hiccuping in the drunk scene, without telling Grant. When he began hiccuping, Grant turned to Stewart, saying, "Excuse me." The scene required only one take.


December 24, 1951 -
Gian Carlo Menotti's one act opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors premiered on this date. It has become a Christmas classic.



The one surviving kinescope of this first production was thought to have been lost forever, accidentally destroyed by someone at NBC after it had been screened for an executive, but another copy was discovered at the Museum of Radio and Television, in New York.


December 24, 1953 -
Jack Webb's series Dragnet aired a special episode, The Big Little Jesus on this date.



The episode was network television's first half-hour color film. It was the only color show of the series. Those of you with very sharp eyes can tell with some prompting that this is not the color episode.

Sorry about that.


December 24, 1970 -
The Walt Disney Studio released the animated musical The Aristocats, featuring voices of Phil Harris, Eva Gabor, Hermione Baddeley, Sterling Holloway, and Scatman Crothers, on this date.



Initially, Thomas O'Malley was supposed to be drawn with stripes, to resemble a tabby cat. However, as director Wolfgang Reitherman learned during the production of The Jungle Book when animation on Shere Khan was being done, animating stripes is difficult, time-consuming and expensive, so the idea was abandoned.


December 24, 1977 -
The Bee Gees started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with How Deep Is Your Love, the group's 4th US No. 1.



The Bee Gees wrote this for the American singer Yvonne Elliman. Robert Stigwood, who produced the movie Saturday Night Fever, insisted the Bee Gees perform it themselves for the soundtrack. Elliman did sing If I Can't Have You, which was written by The Bee Gees and included on the soundtrack.


December 24, 1994 -
Pearl Jam's third studio album Vitalogy went to No.1 position on the US album charts on this date.



The Vitalogy album was released as a vinyl record two weeks before it was issued on CD. Vinyl was completely outdated and not yet retro-cool, but many people still had record players and Pearl Jam liked the imperfect sound, with the scratches and blips providing a different listening experience each time.


Let your friends at ACME be the port in the storm from all of the activities in your home tonight


Today in History:
December 24, 1818 -
The classic Christmas carol, Silent Night, was first performed on this date.



At St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorff, Austria, Franz Gruber, composed on his guitar the melody for Silent Night. The music was combined with the words from Joseph Mohr's poem, Stille Nacht.


December 24, 1826 -
On hearing that their Christmas celebrations had to be alcohol-free, several West Point cadets smuggled in a few jugs of whiskey. Their private party got out of hand, and the ensuing melee became known as The "Eggnog Riot", (the 'Whiskey Rebellion' had already been taken ).



Shots were fired, and an artillery unit had to be called in to calm things down. Among the participants was future President of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis.


December 24, 1871 -
Our old pal Joe Green's opera Aida premiered on this date. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Aida was commissioned to celebrate the opening of the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo and Joe, who had to take the stage name Giuseppe Verdi because no one would take a composer named Joe Green seriously, got paid 150,000 francs for the master work.



The opera was met with great acclaim, and was soon mounted at major opera houses throughout Italy.


December 24, 1865 -
Southern white folks united together to form a service organization wherein they consort with other southern white folks on this date.



Members participate in festive cruciform fire ceremonies and lively negro butcherings.



By the 1920s membership in the Ku Klux Klan reaches an astonishing two million.


December 24, 1867 -
This was the first time that the R.H. Macy's department store in New York City remained open until midnight to catch last-minute shoppers.



Things never change.


December 24, 1914 -
World War I was only months old on Christmas Eve 1914 when an extraordinary unofficial truce occurred in many places along the Western Front. "We were all moved and felt quite melancholy," wrote one German soldier, "each of us taken up with his own thoughts of home." German and English troops, often less than one hundred yards from each other, set aside warfare to trade Christmas greetings and sing familiar carols in two languages (If you remember correctly, most of the major players in this war were more than just on a first name basis - they were all related to a minor German prince who happened to be married to his cousin, the Queen of England.)



The truce, probably observed by two-thirds of the British and German troops, ended with the holiday, but reasserted the basic decency of ordinary men like these British and German soldiers caught up in war.


December 24, 1954 -
Rock musician Johnny Ace plays a little .45 calibre solitaire (Russian Roulette) at City Auditorium in Houston after a concert.



Blammo.



He thought it would impress his girlfriend - perhaps it did.


December 24, 1955 –
NORAD tracked Santa for the first time in what will become an annual Christmas Eve tradition,

thanks to a misprinted phone number in a Sear’s retail catalogue, on this date.



For the first several years, it was run by the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Center. (Psst bunkies don't worry - Even though the ex-president believed that NORAD was part of the deep state, NORAD continues to track Santa's progress.)


December 24, 1968 -
Apollo VIII astronauts read passages from the Old Testament Book of Genesis and transmitting a message to all mankind calling for 'peace on earth', during a Christmas Eve television broadcast. The three astronauts, James A. Lovell, William Anders and Frank Borman (our friend with the messy space suit,) had reached the Moon.



They would orbit the moon ten times, paving the way for the first Earthling to walk on the lunar surface some seven months down the road.


December 24, 1985 -
Fidel Castro announced that he has given up cigars on this date.

Perhaps now that he is singing with the choir of angels, Castro will intercede on your behalf with Santa.


You'd better hurry up and finish your shopping before I start explaining how the War of 1812 was resolved by the Treaty of Ghenet on this date in 1814 and yet the Battle of New Orleans took place on January 8, 1815, after the treaty was signed.

While your wrapping your gifts, here's some Sinatra on the digital Victrola to put you in that holiday mood



And so it goes.

A donation in your name has been made

(I;m sorry but an unedited version of this published earlier) Festivus for the rest of us



As not to embarrass yourself tonight at your Festivus family gathering, here are the four tenets of the holiday:



The Festivus Pole: During Festivus, an unadorned aluminum pole is displayed. The pole was chosen apparently in opposition to the commercialization of highly decorated Christmas trees, because it is "very low-maintenance," and also because the holiday's patron, Frank Costanza, "find[s] tinsel distracting."

Festivus Dinner: The Festivus dinner menu is flexible, but it should consist of filling, non-holiday comfort food (no turkey, duck, goose, or ham). The televised dinner featured what may have been meatloaf or spaghetti in a red sauce. (Presumably, an entree in a red sauce is more festive.) Kruger took a flask out from his jacket and took a swig; so one might interpret that drinking is optional.



The Airing of Grievances: At the Festivus dinner, each participant tells friends and family of all the instances where they disappointed him or her that year.

The Feats of Strength: The head of the family tests his or her strength against one participant of the head's choosing. Festivus is not considered over until the head of the family has been pinned to the ground. A participant is allowed to decline to attempt to pin the head of the family only if they have something better to do instead.

Don't forgot to keep your eye out for the Festivus Miracle. A Festivus Miracle is a frequent if unimpressive miracle. Carrying in all the groceries into the house for Festivus Dinner without tripping or dropping one of the bags could be considered a Festivus Miracle.

A Healthy and Happy Festivus to you and your family.


December 23, 1942 -
The Noel Coward-David Lean War time drama, In Which We Serve, premiered in the US on this date.



After about three weeks of shooting, Noël Coward realized that (a) David Lean knew a lot more about filmmaking than he did, and (b) he didn't care much for the long hours. So Coward effectively handed the directorial reins over to his partner at that point.


December 23, 1954 -
Walt Disney's live-action film, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, premiered on this date.



In 1969, Captain Nemo's pipe organ, which had been on display in Disneyland, was redressed and now resides in the ballroom of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion. A duplicate was constructed for the ballroom of Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom Haunted Mansion, which opened in 1971, and over a decade later another duplicate was built for Tokyo Disneyland.



The climactic squid battle on the Nautilus was originally shot with a serene sunset and a calm sea. Director Richard Fleischer was troubled by the look of it because the cams and gears that operated the squid could easily be seen, making it look obviously fake. Walt Disney visited the set one day and Fleischer told him about the problem. Disney came up with the idea of having the squid battle take place during a fierce storm (another story is that it was actually screenwriter Earl Felton who came up with the idea). The scene was reshot that way and is considered by many to be the highlight of the film.


December 23, 1956 -
Alfred Hitchcock's classic quasi-docudrama, The Wrong Man, starring Henry Fonda, Anthony Quayle and Vera Miles, opened in Los Angeles, on this date.



This movie is one of Martin Scorsese's favorite Alfred Hitchcock movies, and was an influence on Scorese's Taxi Driver.


December 23, 1964 -
The Beach Boys made their first appearance on ABC-TV’s musical variety series Shindig!, on this date



The performance was tape on December 14th. Besides Dance, Dance, Dance, the band went on to perform Little Saint Nick, Monster Mash, Papa Oom Mow Mow, Johnny B. Goode,and We Three Kings of Orient Are. (Only hours before the show airs, Brian Wilson unfortunately suffered his first nervous breakdown on a flight from Los Angeles to Houston, in front of his horrified family.)


December 23, 1989 –
Phil Collins single Another Day In Paradise started a four week run at No. 1 on the US singles, on this date. Taken from his No. 1 album >…But Seriously, the song was written to bring attention to the problem of homelessness.



Collins told The New York Times how the song came together: “It was begun at the piano. I started playing and put it down on a tape so I wouldn’t forget it. Then I decided to see what would happen when I started singing. When I began, the words just came out, ‘She calls out to the man on the street.’ I didn’t set out to write a song about the homeless. Those were just the words I happened to sing. It was only then that I decided that was what the song would be about."


Please feel free to scream really loud


Today in History:
December 23, 1690 -
Royal British astronomer John Flamsteed made the first sighting of Uranus by an astronomer on this date. Unfortunately, he didn't know what he was looking at, and classified it as a star: so yes, he didn't know Uranus from a star (I couldn't help myself.)

The 7th planet – Uranus – was 'officially' discovered on March 13, 1781, once again, completely by accident. British astronomer William Herschel was performing a survey of all the stars that were of magnitude 8 (too faint to see with the eye – or brighter.) He noticed an object that moved in front of the star background over time, clearly demonstrating it was closer to us than the distant stars. At first he thought he had found a comet, but later realized this object was a new planet in orbit around the Sun.


December 23, 1750 -
Benjamin Franklin was severely shocked while electrocuting a turkey on this date. Franklin believed electrocuting the turkey would make it more tender.

Lost in the annals of history is the crime the fowl committed.


December 23, 1823 -
The famous poem A Visit From St. Nicholas was first published on this date. It begins, Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house / Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse ....



Fourteen years after its first publication, an editor attributed the poem to a wealthy professor of classical literature named Clement Clarke Moore.



In the last few years, new evidence has come out that a Revolutionary War major named Henry Livingston Jr. may have been the actual author of The Night Before Christmas.



His family has letters describing his recitation of the poem before it was originally published, and literary scholars have found many similarities between his work and The Night Before Christmas. He was also three quarters Dutch, and many of the details in the poem, including names of the reindeer, have Dutch origins.


December 23, 1888 -
After an argument with fellow painter Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh took a razor and removes a portion of his left ear. Their quarrel regarded the prostitutes in Arles who seemed to prefer Gauguin over Van Gogh; the painter delivered his ear a startled prostitute. She fainted.



Some women get very emotional when they receive that special gift.


December 23, 1938 -
The Coelacanth is one of the oldest living fish, and was thought to have gone extinct some 60 million years before Museum curator Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer discovered the fish among the catch of a local angler, Captain Hendrick Goosen who caught one off the coast of South Africa on this date.



Since that time, more than 200 Coelacanths have been caught. It is one of the textbook examples of a "living fossil."


December 23, 1947 -
The transistor was successfully demonstrated on at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey, on this date.



Bell Labs is the research arm of American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T). The three individuals credited with the invention of the transistor were William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain.


December 23, 1948 -
Japanese Premier Tojo and six others were hanged by the War Crimes Commission at Sugamo Prison, Tokyo, for the crime of starting an aggressive war on this date.



Now, that's not a necktie you want for Christmas.


December 23, 1954 -
The first successful kidney transplant between living patients were undertaken was performed by Dr. Joseph E. Murray at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston on this date.



Murray and his assistants removed one of Robert Herrick's kidneys and grafted it into his twin brother, Richard, who was dying of kidney failure. Richard Herrick made a successful recovery and lived another eight years.


December 23, 1968 -
On the first day of the first flight ever by astronauts to orbit the Moon, Apollo 8 commander Frank Borman suffers from the first documented case of motion sickness. Previous astronauts had reported nothing -- partly because their ships were too small for them to move around a lot and get queasy, partly because they kept their mouths shut for fear they'd never fly again.

There is nothing worse than barfing into your own spacesuit.

Oh, wait a minute, yes there is - barfing into someone else's spacesuit.


December 23, 1972 –
Franco Harris of the Pittsburgh Steelers grabbed a deflected pass from quarterback Terry Bradshaw to score a touchdown, winning the game for the Steelers 13-7 over the Oakland Raiders, on this date.



The NFL’s Immaculate Reception, as it has become to be known, is one of the most famous plays in the history of American football.


December 23, 1986 -
Piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager (no relation to Chuck Yeager), the Rutan Voyager became the first aircraft to fly around the world without stopping or refueling, landing at California's Edwards Air Force Base after a nine-day trip on this date.



They covered 24,986 miles, more than doubling the old distance record set by a Boeing B-52 bomber in 1962 — a world record that remains unchallenged today.


December 23, 1985 -
In a Lutheran school playground, James Vance and Raymond Belknap acted upon a drunken suicide pact forged while listening to Stained Class by Judas Priest. Belknap shot a 12 gauge shotgun under his chin, dying instantly, and Vance followed, but survived with a severely disfigured face. He later dies from painkillers on Thanksgiving three years later. Both kids' parents file suit against the band, but a judge ultimately rejects their subliminal message theory.



I believe anyone would kill themselves being forced to listen to Judas Priest, but that's just me.


December 23, 2009 -
The man who triggered a major alert by falsely claiming that his son was adrift in a helium balloon has been sentenced to ninety days in jail, and his wife to twenty, on this date. Richard Heene, and his wife Mayumi, said in October that their son had been carried off by the balloon.



The boy was eventually found hiding at home. Heene apologised to rescue workers and the community in the Colorado courtroom. The judge ordered four years of supervised probation for the couple and banned them from receiving any form of financial benefit from the case.

And so it goes

I can't even imagine

According to The Guinness Book of World Records (now known as Guinness World Records), on November 24, 1950, officials at the newly built Northgate Center light the world's tallest Christmas tree. At an amazing 212-foot-tall, as of this year, the record still stands.

The L.A. Times, citing a 1950 Life magazine article and the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index inflation calculator, reported the tree cost $19,000 at the time and $185,000 when adjusted.


December 22, 1932 -
Universal Pictures released the horror film The Mummy, directed by Karl Freund and starring Boris Karloff on this date.



The discovery of Pharaoh Tutankahmen's tomb and the alleged curse it contained inspired Universal to make this film. In fact, when Howard Carter (funded by Lord Carnarvon) opened the sarcophagus of King Tut in 1925, screenwriter John L. Balderston was present as a reporter for the New York World.


December 22, 1944 -
The Mummy's Curse, the follow-up film to The Mummy's Ghost was released by Universal Pictures on this date.



The famous sequence in which Princess Ananka (Virginia Christine) rises from the dead in the swamp is slightly undercranked - a process that speeds up the action - which gives an eerie, unreal quality to her movements. The trick is given away by the overly fast movements of the branches around her.


December 22, 1948 -
The film version of Maxwell Anderson's play (Joan of Lorraine,) Joan of Arc, starring Ingrid Bergman opened in Los Angeles on this date.



According to some biographies of Ingrid Bergman, Howard Hughes saved her from possible injury during a visit to the set when she fell off her horse. He caught her, but rather awkwardly, with one hand firmly on her crotch.

Shades of the president ...


December 22 1958 -
The song by Dave Seville and The Chipmunks, The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late), hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts, on this date, and stayed there for four weeks.  (Sorry about the ear worm.)



The song, written and performed by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. (a.k.a. David Seville) who varied the tape speeds to produce high-pitched chipmunk voices, went on to win three Grammy Awards.


December 22, 1959 -
Joseph L. Mankiewicz' film version of Tennesse Williams' strange one act play (about rape, incest, homosexuality, and cannibalism - I know that was probably a huge selling point,) Suddenly, Last Summer, premiered on this date.



In Catherine Holly's climactic monologue, Elizabeth Taylor (who had recently been widowed) used the emotions of her husband's death in order to create the acclaimed performance. However, she was only able to do one take as she could not stop crying after completing the first.


December 22, 1965 -
David Lean's Russian epic, Dr Zhivago, starring Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Tom Courtenay, Rod Steiger, Alec Guinness, Ralph Richardson, Siobhán McKenna, and Rita Tushingham, premiered in the US, on this date.



The movie was torn apart by critics when first released. Newsweek, in particular, made comments about "hack-job sets" and "pallid photography". Director David Lean was so deeply affected by these criticisms (despite the popularity of the movie with the general public) that he swore he would never make another movie. Thanks in part to MGM's extreme marketing campaign and strong word of mouth, this movie became an spectacular success at the box-office and the second highest grossing movie of 1965, behind The Sound of Music.


December 22, 1975 -
A beautiful study of love and madness (and the razor's edge between them), L'histoire d'Adele H, opened in the US on this date.



Initially planned as a grand-scale spectacular drama with Jeanne Moreau to play the lead, then Catherine Deneuve (then having an affair with François Truffaut) was considered for the role. The film took 7 years to be made, and finally Truffaut decided on Isabelle Adjani whom he noticed on a TV broadcast of the Comédie Française.


December 22, 1975 -
Archie Bunker's "little girl" Gloria gave birth to a son, Joseph Michael Stivic, on CBS's All in the Family, on this date.



The birth occurred in the second part of a two-part episode, The Baby, which begins with Edith and Archie (Jean Stapleton and Carroll O'Connor) beating Mike and Gloria (Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers) to the hospital — with Archie, who had been scheduled to appear in a skit at his lodge, arriving in black face.


December 22, 2000 -
Joel and Ethan Coen's purported adaptation of The Odyssey, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, starring George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, Chris Thomas King, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and Charles Durning, premiered in the US on this date.



George Clooney, upon reading the script did not immediately understand his character and so sent the script to his uncle Jack, a tobacco farmer who lived in Kentucky, and asked him to read the entire script into a tape recorder. Unknown to Clooney, in his recording, Jack, a devout Baptist, omitted all instances of the words "damn" and "hell" from the Coens' script, which only became known to Clooney after the directors pointed this out to him in the middle of shooting. Jack had never been on a plane before flying in for the premiere.


Today's holiday special - Celebrate the music, not the man.


Today in History:
December 22, 1879 -
It's Stalin's birthday (again)! Hey, when you're a dictator, you get to celebrate your birthday on more than one day. Unfortunately, the proper way to celebrate - oppress, torture and murder millions of your fellow country men - is frowned upon.



So smack someone upside the head for no reason.


December 22, 1894 -
Claude Debussy's symphonic poem for orchestra Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (L. 86), known in English as Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, was first performed in Paris on this date.



It is considered a turning point in the history of Western art music. Please feel proud as punch for knowing that - offer yourself a Peppermint Patty.


December 22, 1937 -
The Lincoln Tunnel was originally proposed in the late 1920s and early 1930s as the Midtown Hudson Tunnel. The tubes of the Lincoln Tunnel were constructed in stages between 1934 and 1957. The center tube of the Lincoln Tunnel was opened to traffic today, charging 50¢ per passenger car.



Some of those cars are still trying to get through the tunnel.


December 22, 1940 -
Strange death of the day - Author Nathanael West and his wife, Eileen McKenney, died in an auto accident on this date.

Distraught over hearing of his friend's F. Scott Fitzgerald's death (who passed away a few days earlier of a massive heart attack,) he crashed his car after ignoring a stop sign.


December 22, 1955 -
The corpse of Evita Peron was stolen by anti-Peronistas on this date. For 26 years, her corpse makes a world-wind turn before it's returned for burial in Buenos Aires.

30 years later (to the day), Madonna's Like a Virgin single goes #1 for weeks.



Make of the coincidence what you will.


December 22, 1971 -
The renown international aid group Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) was founded by Bernard Kouchner and a group of journalists in Paris on this date. One of their first missions after its formation in Paris was to Afghanistan in 1980.



Doctors Without Borders was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999, and within the past two years coordinated more than 30,000 personnel — mostly volunteer medical professionals — to treat the poor and war-ravaged population in 70 countries.


December 22, 1977 -
File this under: Yes Virginia, there are Christmas miracles.
Thomas Helms, a 27-year-old artist from Hawaii, climbed to the edge of the observation deck on the eighty-sixth floor of the Empire State Building, and jumped, intending to kill himself on the streets 1000s of feet below.

But the winds blew him onto a narrow ledge on the 85th floor. Helms suffered no major injuries but was knocked unconscious for half-an-hour - adequate time for an emergency crew to bring him safely inside. He is only one of two people who have jumped from the observation deck of the Empire State Building, intending to commit suicide, and survived. The other being Elvita Adams, who survived her attempt in 1979.


December 22, 1984 -
Bernhard Goetz shot four teenage boys on the NYC subway after one of them asks him for money.



Again, this practice is frowned upon, so instead, smack someone upside the head.


December 22, 2001 -
Richard Reid attempted to blow up an American Airlines transatlantic flight by igniting a plastic explosive concealed in his shoe. Other passengers beat the living daylights out of him.



They knew - they smacked him upside the head.


Before you go - I had a chance to check across the pond and I saw yet another advert for Christmas that was worth a view:



You might have thought this Pandore jewelry oedipalesque commercial was directed by Wes Anderson but it's actually created by his frequent collaborator Roman Coppola.

And so it goes

It's been a festival of lights, but mostly, a festival of fried potatoes.

A final reason Hanukkah feels better than Christmas -

No pine needles to vacuum.

You've probably run out of gifts at this point, wrap your family's fresh laundry as the gift that shows you've done the laundry. At this point, look up a local oil recycler - it will do better for everyone as a biofuel.


(Sorry, I nearly forgot)

Ok bunkies, today is the fourth and last Sunday of the Advent season. The day is called the Fourth Sunday of Advent, sorry no fancy french or latin name.

The fourth candle is often called the Angel candle. It represents the messengers who announced the birth of the Messiah.

Go talk to the old ladies in the back of the church about your new found knowledge.


It's only two days away - please begin writing

your list of family grievances, in earnest.


The Winter Solstice in Northern Hemisphere will be at 10:03 AM (EST), the shortest amount of daylight of the year and the longest night.

It's officially the first day of Winter and one of the oldest known holidays in human history.

Anthropologists believe that solstice celebrations go back at least 30,000 years, before humans even began farming on a large scale. The stone circles of Stonehenge were arranged to receive the first rays of midwinter sun.



It is therefore a good time to do things you wouldn't want the sun to hear about. The Pagans, for example, wisely celebrate their Yule holiday on the Winter Solstice.



Ancient peoples believed that because daylight was waning, it might go away forever, so they lit huge bonfires to tempt the sun to come back. The tradition of decorating our houses and our trees with lights at this time of year is passed down from those ancient bonfires.

In Ancient Rome, the winter solstice was celebrated with the festival of Saturnalia,



during which all business transactions and even war were suspended, and slaves were waited upon by their masters.

Hey, Get Naked, Paint Yourself Blue and Dance around the Fir Tree. It's party time!!!


Acme would like to bring you, once again, this new Christmas classic, Dear Satan, from the folks at Anomaly London. It's popularity may have something to do with the fact that Sir Patrick Stewart narrated their video.



So kids, remember, two letters transposed and literally, Bob's yer uncle.


December 21, 1914 -
The first feature-length silent film comedy, Tillie's Punctured Romance, starring Marie Dressler, Charlie Chaplin and Mabel Normand, was released on this date.



This film marked the last time that Charles Chaplin would be directed by someone other than himself.


December 21, 1932 -
The movie musical Flying Down to Rio premiered on this date.



Originally conceived by RKO as a vehicle for Dolores del Rio, this film is most notable for its star-making pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. In supporting roles, the two relative unknowns smoked up the screen in a dance number called The Carioca. It generated such a positive response from critics and fans that they were eventually reunited in nine subsequent films.


December 21, 1937 -
The first feature-length color and sound cartoon, Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, premiered on this date.



The animation took over two years and a then astronomical $1.5 million to create. Disney had to mortgage his house to pay for the film's production.


December 21, 1940 -
Another classic Porky Pig cartoon, The Timid Toreador, premiered on this date.



Bob Clampett was briefly sick during this time period, leaving two Porky Pig cartoons (The Timid Toreador and Porky's Snooze Reel) unfinished, Leon Schlesinger told Norman McCabe to complete the directorial duties—hence the co-director credit under their main titles.


December 21, 1959 -
The Orpheus legend set in Rio de Janeiro (with the fabulous music by Luiz Bonfa and Antonio Carlos Jobim,) Black Orpheus, premiered in the US on this date.

(Don't forget to turn on the closed captioning)

Although the film won the Palme d'Or at Cannes and the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, ironically it is not terribly well regarded in its native Brazil where some object to the depiction of their country as being a non-stop party.


December 21, 1963 -
The Doctor Who story arc The Daleks, the second story of Season One, first aired on the BBC on this date.



The episodes mark the first appearance of the Doctor’s mortal enemies, the Daleks, a race of genetically engineered mutants who abhor all other races.


December 21, 1969 -
Diana Ross and the Supremes make their final television appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, on this date.



The song they sang, Someday We'll Be Together, would become the last of their 12 number one singles.


If you need to, just set the house on fire with your menorah to send the relatives home


Today in History -
The pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock on December 21, 1620 or some other day, the pilgrims were too busy depriving themselves of luxuries like accurate calendars (Their stepping ashore onto a large rock that later became known as the Plymouth Rock probably is a myth.) Their boat was the Mayflower.

They wore black and white clothes with big shiny buckles.



The crew of the ship did not have enough beer to get to Virginia and back to England so they dropped the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock to preserve their beer stock.


December 21, 1879 -
Josif Djugashvili was born in the Gori District of Tiflis Province in Georgia, Imperial Russia, on this date.



(or December 18th or the 22nd. When you're an evil bastard dictator, you get to choose your own birthday).


December 21, 1898 -
Radium, which existed since the world was young, was minding it own business when French local busybodies and known chemists Pierre and Marie Curie isolated radium; one of the first radioactive elements to be discovered. They won a joint Nobel prize for their work, and Marie Curie went on to win another for her contributions to chemistry.



Marie Curie died of aplastic anemia as a result of overexposure to radium, which probably showed her not to play with radioactive elements.


December 21, 1940 -
F. Scott Fitzgerald, died of a heart attack at Sheilah Graham's apartment on this date. He was 44 and believed he had died a failure.



And yet, into the 21st century, millions of copies of his works have continued to be sold.


December 21, 1945 -
World War II General George Patton died in a car accident in Heidelberg, Germany on this date.



Patton was investigating the theft of Nazi gold by US Army men at the time. My grandfather was convinced that it was a conspiracy and he (Patton) was killed by the men he was investigating.

My grandfather was a small time numbers runner but that's another story ...


December 21, 1968 -
Apollo 8 was the second manned mission of the Apollo space program, in which Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders became the first humans to leave Earth orbit and to orbit around the Moon.



The spacecraft entered into orbit around the moon on December 24th. They were the first men to ever view the Earth in its entirety, with them taking photos of our planet whilst on board the spacecraft and sending them back to television stations back home. They landed back on Earth on December 27th.

A year later Apollo 11 would be the first manned spacecraft to land on the Moon.


December 21, 1970 -
Paranoid, alcoholic President Richard Nixon met with prescription drug addict Elvis Presley at the White House to discuss The King's becoming a special drug enforcement agent



He presented Nixon with a pistol, and received a special DEA badge in return.


December 21, 2012 -
We're still here!



The Mayan "long count" calendar is based on great cycles of 5125 years; apparently, the world has not ended. But the calendar may just have been off by 9 years, or so.

And so it goes

So much fun-ukah to celebrate Chanukah

It's the Seventh night of Hanukkah.

By now you may be suffering from an acute case of Cibophobia –



It's an irrational fear of greasy food.

Fear not, you only have another day to go.


Tomorrow is the Winter's Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.



The winter solstice is the "shortest" day of the year and marks the start of the winter period. This is because the tilt of the Earth’s axis is least aligned with the Sun, providing us with the least daylight of the year. After December 21, the nights will begin to get shorter as our planet rotates towards the Sun.


December 20, 1939 -
The Paramount Pictures animated version of Gulliver's Travels directed by Dave Fleischer, premiered in NYC on this date.



The film was the first American animated feature from a studio other than Disney. After viewing it, Walt Disney reportedly said, "We can do better than that with our second-string animators."


December 20, 1946 -
The Frank Capra film It's A Wonderful Life had a preview showing for charity at New York City's Globe Theatre, a day before its official premiere.



Due to a clerical error at NTA's copyright office, the copyright wasn't renewed when it expired in 1974. The film became public domain, meaning anyone who could obtain a print could broadcast it without paying royalties. Local stations aired it dozens of times between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. In the 1990's, after a series of court battles, NTA's successor, Republic Pictures, re-acquired the rights to the film because they owned the source material (The Greatest Gift) and the film's score, which were still copyrighted. (So Bunkies that means after years of being able to stream it for you - it's pay walls all over the internet.)



It not that I dislike the film (I like it a great deal,) but the next time you get a chance to watch the film, notice what a truly strange little film it really is.


December 20, 1950 -
Henry Koster's adaptation of Mary Chase's Broadway play, Harvey, starring Jimmy Stewart premiered in NYC on this date.



Though Jimmy Stewart's character, Elwood P. Dowd, may certainly be referred to as an alcoholic, only at one time in the entire picture is he seen taking a drink. This is because the Hollywood Production Code at the time would not allow him to be shown getting drunk on film.


December 20, 1961 -
Columbia Pictures releases the science fiction film Mysterious Island, directed by Cy Endfield and featuring the stop-motion animation of Ray Harryhausen, on this date.



Although produced by different studios, it is obvious that the exterior design of the "Nautilus" submarine as seen in the film was heavily influenced by Harper Goff's "half crocodile/half shark" Nautilus design in Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, especially with respect to the sub's top spar and rounded "eye" windows. In the original Jules Verne novels of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Mysterious Island, the Nautilus is described as being rather plain, basically a cigar-shaped steel tube with very little outside detailing.


December 20, 1963 -
Jean-Luc Godard's first big bugdet film, Contempt, starring Brigitte Bardot, Michel Piccoli, Jack Palance, Fritz Lang, and Giorgia Moll, opened in Paris on this date.



Filming was frequently interrupted by chasing off members of the paparazzi who were desperate to take photos of Brigitte Bardot, then one of the biggest stars in the world. Producer Joseph E. Levine insisted on the Brigitte Bardot nude scene that opens the film, realizing that it was the only way he could sell a film that he hated.


December 20, 1967 -
Mike Nichols' seminal 60s film, The Graduate, starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, premiered on this date.



None of the older characters are called by their first name in the film. Only the younger characters of Benjamin, Elaine, and Carl are addressed by their first name, thus increasing the sense of a generation gap.


December 20, 1969 -
Peter, Paul & Mary's cover of the John Denver song, Leaving on a Jet Plane, reached #1 on the Billboard Charts, on this date. The song turned out to be Peter, Paul and Mary's biggest (and final) hit.



This was written by a very young John Denver, who was then a member of the Chad Mitchell Trio before beginning his solo career in the 1970s. Denver wrote this in 1967 during a layover at Washington airport, "Not so much from feeling that way for someone, but from the longing of having someone to love."


December 20, 1971 -
Hal Ashby's very dark comedy, Harold and Maude, starring Ruth Gordon and Burt Cort, premiered on this date. The film was not a commercial success when it opened but is now seen as one of the most influential films of the 1970s.



In all shots of Ruth Gordon (Maude) driving the hearse it is being towed because she never learned how to drive a car.


December 20, 1971 -
The Rolling Stones' first anthology album Hot Rocks 1964-1971 was released on this date. The album remains one of their all-time best sellers.



While the emphasis is on the hits, Hot Rocks also includes several iconic album tracks such as Play With Fire, Under My Thumb, and Gimme Shelter.


December 20, 1974 -
Arguably the greatest sequel ever made, Godfather II, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, and Robert De Niro, premiered in the US on this date.



Francis Ford Coppola had a horrible time directing The Godfather and asked to pick a different director for the sequel, while taking the title of producer for himself. He chose Martin Scorsese, who the film executives rejected. Thus, Coppola agreed to direct the film, with a few conditions: the sequel be interconnected with the first film with the intention of later showing them together; that he be allowed to direct his own script of The Conversation; that he be allowed to direct a production for the San Francisco Opera; and that he be allowed to write the screenplay for The Great Gatsby, all prior to production of the sequel for a Christmas 1974 release.


December 20, 1979 -
Bob Fosse’s semi-autobiographical film All that Jazz, starring Roy Scheider, Ann Reinking, Jessica Lange and Ben Vereen, opened in the US on this date.



Richard Dreyfuss was originally cast in the role of Joe Gideon but left the production during the rehearsal stage, citing a lack of confidence in the production. He later admitted that he made a mistake in passing up the chance to work with Bob Fosse.


December 20, 1986 –
The Bangles' hit Walk Like An Egyptian went to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard charts on this date.



The songwriter Liam Sternberg wrote this. He got the idea when he was on a ferry boat and saw people struggling to keep their balance. The way they held out their arms and jerked around made it look like they were doing Egyptian movements, and if the boat moved suddenly, they would all topple over.


December 20, 2002 -
Martin Scorsese take on the notorious Five Points district of Lower Manhattan during the mid 19th century, Gangs of New York, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis and Cameron Diaz, was released on this date.



To simulate Bill the Butcher's fake eye, Daniel Day-Lewis had his own eyeball covered in prosthetic glass. Day-Lewis learned to tap his fake eye with the tip of a knife without blinking.

Another holiday edition of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour today.


Today in History
December 20, 1803 -
France finalized the Louisiana Purchase and transferred authority over the region to the United States, as a Christmas gift for Thomas Jefferson on this date.



The wisdom of this purchase was not fully appreciated at first but after Mardi Gras, it was warmly embraced.

(It was not for nothing that Thomas Jefferson collected beads.)


December 20, 1879 -
Thomas Edison privately demonstrated light bulb to a rapt audience on this date at Menlo Park, N.J. (He apparently showed off his light bulb so frequently that there is no general concensus on when he actually first show it to unsuspecting folks.)



Unfortunately, it took 27 of his assistants to lift the entire shed and turn it around to screw in the bulb and many believe the light would never take off.


December 20, 1892 -
According to Jules Verne, on October 2nd, Phileas Fogg stepped out of the Explorers Club in London, England and decides to take a little trip.



Due to the incompetence and laziness of most of the transit workers around the world, he finally completed his trip on this date.


Adolf Hitler was released from prison on December 20, 1924, after serving less than a year against a five-year treason sentence. Hitler became a prolific author while in prison, where he penned the infamous political autobiography Mein Kampf. (How I Intend to Enslave or Kill Millions of People Immediately Upon My Release.)

He also outlined a series of children’s books which have sadly been lost to history as a result of his having chosen upon his release to pursue a path of demonic world conquest instead of pedagogical literature. One can only wonder what sort of success Hitler would have experienced with titles such as:

Usurpers are looking to take over the Haberdashery Industry,

Straight to the Internment Camp with you, Little Monkey/i>,

Did you order this from Katz Del?.

December 20, 1938 -
Vladimir Zworykin receives a patent for the Iconoscope (U.S. patent No. 2,141,059), an early television camera tube, 15 years after filing his application.

The tube is part of the first electronic television system.


December 20, 1941 -
The Flying Tigers, American pilots in China, entered combat against the Japanese over Kunming on this date.



The group, formed 12 days after Pearl Harbor, was a great morale booster, as it posted numerous tactical victories when the news in the U.S. was filled with little more than stories of defeat at the hands of the Japanese forces.


December 20, 1957 -
A trigger warning - you are about to see Elvis in his skivvies.

Elvis receives orders from the draft board to serve in the United States Army, which to his credit he does without complaint.


December 20, 1997 -
Sotheby's auctioned off the loincloth worn by Kirk Douglas in the 1960 film Spartacus for $2,990 on this date.

You can't get those at Robert Hall, aisle five.


December 20, 2007 -
Elizabeth II turned 81 years and 243 days old on this date and surpassed Queen Victoria as the oldest UK monarch.

Buckingham palace had the time calculated down to the hour, though no major celebrations were held to mark the occasion. About five years ago, the Queen became the longest reigning sovereign and Prince Charles had to continue to bide his time for another 15 years.

Before you go - Fruit cake can last a lifetime



Fruitcake: you either love it or hate it, (I happen to like a well made fruitcake.) But did you know that when stored properly, it can last for years and sometimes indefinitely? The oldest fruitcake was 114 years old and had been passed down from generation to generation.

And so it goes