It's good to be back home

July 6, 1928 -
The first true sound picture, Lights of New York, (Jolson's 1927 The Jazz Singer was basically part-silent film part-sound film) previewed in New York on this date.



Originally approved for production as a 2-reeler. Albert Warner approved expanding it to a 57-minute feature despite an untested director. Its $75,000 cost returned $2 million to the studio.


July 6, 1933 -
MGM's Pre-Code musical comedy short, Nertsery Rhymes, featuring Ted Healy and His Stooges premiered this date. This was one of five short films the comedy team made for the studio and the first film appearance of The Three Stooges.



This is the first short featuring Curley as the third Stooge since Shemp left due to Ted Healy's abrasiveness, bad temper and heavy drinking


July 6, 1945 -
The Abbott and Costello film, The Naughty Nineties (featuring longest recorded version of their "Who's on First" routine,) directed by Jean Yarbrough was released on this date.



The laughter that can be heard faintly in the background during the "Who's on First" routine belongs to the film crew and director Jean Yarbrough. After numerous re-takes trying to eliminate it, Yarbrough just couldn't get the crew - or himself - to stop laughing during the routine, no matter how many times they heard it. So he just gave up and left the giggling in.


July 6, 1964 -
The Beatles' film Hard Day's Night premieres in London, on this date.



During the opening sequence of the group running, George stumbles and falls, with Ringo falling over him in turn. This wasn't intended and George ripped the suit he was wearing, but he quickly recovered, laughed, and continued running, it was decided to retain the shot in the movie.


July 6, 1967 -
Pink Floyd made their first appearance on the BBC music show Top Of The Pops to promote their new single See Emily Play, on this date. Like many television programs from the '60s, the videotape master was erased for re-use and the performance was assumed to be lost.



A badly damaged home video recording recovered by the British Film Institute of this show was given a public screening in London in January 2010.


July 6, 1972 -
Some cat was layin' down some rock 'n' roll lotta soul ...

David Bowie scandalized British home viewers on this date, while performing Starman on the TV show, Top Of The Pops, by singing with his arm draped around the shoulder of guitarist Mick Ronson – this was the moment Bowie became a star.



This was the last song written for The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, supposedly because nobody had heard a potential single on the album. It became Bowie's first UK hit in three years. His only previous chart entry had been Space Oddity in 1969.


July 6, 1979 -
The B-52s, a New Wave band based in Athens, Georgia, released Planet Claire on this date.



The song samples the Peter Gunn Theme, which Henry Mancini wrote for the 1958 TV series. Mancini has a writer credit on Planet Claire along with every member of The B-52s.


July 6, 1988 -
MTV refused to play Neil Young's video for This Note's For You, citing a policy against videos that mention products, on this date.



The video is a parody of various ad campaigns, with lyrics mentioning Coke, Pepsi, Miller and Bud. Forced to admit they were refusing to air an excellent video to protect their sponsors, MTV went into damage control mode and agreed to air the video.



They made it into an event, debuting the video on August 21 as part of a 30-minute special about the controversy. Then they awarded it Video of the Year at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards. Young showed up to accept it.


Another job posting from The ACME Employment Agency


Today in History:
July 6, 1415 -
Jan Hus was burned at the stake for various heresies by the Council of Constance.



Among other things, Hus had incited the citizens of Prague to protest against Antipope John XXIII and his policy of granting indulgences.

Those Antipopes are so moody.


July 6, 1535 -
Thomas More, the patron saint of politicians, was beheaded in England for treason, on this date. He got a little off the top for refusing to renounce the Catholic church in favor of King Henry VIII's Church of England.



More's sentence to death by hanging was commuted to beheading (what a lucky duck.) He was canonized by the Catholic Church in 1935.


July 6, 1919 -
The British airship R.34 landed in New York at Roosevelt Field on this date. (There's no word what was on sale at the Mall.)



It completed the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by an airship. It had left Firth of Forth, Scotland, 108 hours earlier and there was no beverage cart service throughout the entire flight!


July 6, 1921 -
Several members of the Chicago White Sox went on trial for throwing the 1919 World Series, on this date. The White Sox players despised their owner Charles Comiskey. He was notoriously stingy. He would offer bonuses for performance and then take them back at the last minute. Gamblers knew that the players were frustrated and angry and offered several of them money to throw the World Series. The night before the series began, a Sox pitcher found $10,000 under the pillow in his hotel bedroom. The next day his first pitch landed between the batter's shoulder blades. The Sox lost the series to the Cincinnati Reds 5 to 3.



Many journalists knew right away that the series had been fixed. One of the accused players, one of the most tragic figures, was Shoeless Joe Jackson, who admitted to taking money, but during the series he didn't make a single error. He also hit the only home run of the series. All of the White Sox players were acquitted for lack of evidence, but the commissioner of baseball banned them from the game for the rest of their lives.

None of the gamblers was ever punished.


July 6 1944 -
Fire broke out at a matinee performance of the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Baily Circus, in Hartford, Connecticut, burning 168 people to death, and injuring an additional 250. The main tent had been waterproofed with wax thinned by gasoline. Said one of the Flying Wallendas, "I can never look down at a crowd again without smelling the flames and the burning flesh."



I believe with thoughts like this, even I would give up showbiz.



Among notable survivors, beside the Flying Wallendas, were Eunice Groark, first female lieutenant governor of Connecticut and Charles Nelson Reilly.


July 6, 1944 -
Lieutenant Jackie Robinson (yes that Jackie) while riding a civilian bus from Camp Hood, Texas, refused to give up his seat to a white man.



Lt. Robinson was court marshaled for refusing the order of a civilian bus driver to move to the back of the bus. He was acquitted of the charges.


July 6, 1945 -
The Joint Chiefs of Staff approve Operation OVERCAST, intended to "exploit ... chosen rare minds whose continuing intellectual productivity we wish to use," on this date. The directive authorizes the immigration of up to 350 German and Austrian specialists, primarily experts in rocketry.



Operation OVERCAST is later renamed Operation PAPERCLIP. This is how we got the 'Good Germans' to work on our space program.


July 6, 1957 -
It was 65 years ago today ... it was on this date that the 16 year old John Lennon met the 15 year old Paul McCartney for the first time.



In the afternoon, John Lennon's band the Quarrymen were playing at the garden fete of St Peter's Church, Woolton, Liverpool and Paul McCartney heard them. McCartney impressed Lennon when he showed John and Eric Griffiths how to tune their guitars, something they'd been paying someone else to do for them.


Louis Armstrong, an essential influence on jazz, and pot and Swiss Kriss (herbal laxative) enthusiast,



died on this date, in 1971.

I do not wish to imply that the supernal Mr Armstrong died in some freak pot/ laxative accident.



And so it goes.

Today's a travel day for us

Hope you all had a great time last night and all got home safely from where ever you were celebrating.

But remember don't try to light any unexploded fireworks you might find along the road; you don't know where it's been and you don't know what you could pick up.


July 5, 1954 -
Elvis Presley recorded his first commercial song, That’s All Right (Mama) on this date. The song, which hadn't been rehearsed by Elvis, was recorded at Sun Records by Sam Phillips (who is commonly credited for discovering him.)



The following evening, Blue Moon of Kentucky was recorded as the B side. That’s All Right (Mama) was played on Memphis, Tennessee's own WHBQ radio program Red, Hot and Blue just two days after it was recorded and became Elvis' first hit.

You know what to do.


July 5, 1956 -
MGM released boxer Rocky Grazaiano's film biography, Somebody Up There Likes Me, starring Paul Newman and Pier Angeli on this date.



Originally, the movie was to be filmed on-location in New York City in Technicolor with James Dean in the lead role. However, after James Dean's death, it was decided the film should be in black and white, and filmed on studio sets. Director Robert Wise felt the sets looked very fake, and only used them for night scenes, while filming the daytime scenes on-location.


July 5, 1965 -
Motown President Berry Gordy, Jr. appears on the popular TV show To Tell The Truth on this date.



The Supremes performed Baby Love and Back In My Arms Again during his segment.


July 5, 1989 -
The pilot for Seinfeld, called The Seinfeld Chronicles (Good News, Bad News) aired on NBC on this date.



Julia Louis-Dreyfus did not appear in this pilot episode. In fact, she was unaware that the episode existed until it was released as part of the DVD box set in 2004.


It's the 24th anniversary of the destruction of earth by invading alien armies known as the X-ists on July 5, 1998.



Although the world did not end in 1998 (unless this is an elaborate alternate universe), 24 years on, the pipe and the slack of Bob still comfort me.


Today's moment of Zen


(Today is also be an abbreviated posting.)
Today in History:
July 5, 1794 -
Sylvester Graham was born in Suffield, Connecticut, on this date. He was ordained in 1826 as a Presbyterian minister. He was an early advocate of dietary reform in United States most notable for his emphasis on vegetarianism, and the temperance movement, as well as sexual and dietary habits.

Graham believed that a firm, crusty bread made of coarsely ground whole-wheat flour was more nutritious and healthy. He correctly argued that chemical additives in bread that make it whiter in color and more commercially appealing also made it unwholesome.

Graham was also inspired by the temperance movement and preached that a vegetarian diet was a cure for alcoholism, and, more importantly, sexual urges. The main thrust of his teachings was to curb lust. While alcohol had useful medicinal qualities, it should never be abused by social drinking. For Graham, an unhealthy diet stimulated excessive sexual desire which irritated the body and caused disease. While Graham developed a significant following known as Grahamites, known for stuffing Graham crackers in their mouths when the urge came over them (as opposed to Sodomites known for stuffing ... oh never mind.) He was also ridiculed by the media and the public for his unwavering zealotry.



According to newspaper records, many women fainted at his lectures when he aired opinions both on sexual relations and the wearing of corsets. Whether their fainting was due to the subject matter or the tight corsets they wore is still debated.


July 5, 1801 -
Admiral David Glasgow Farragut, born on this date, was the first senior officer of the U.S. Navy during the American Civil War. He was the first rear admiral, vice admiral, and full admiral of the Navy. He is remembered in popular culture for his possibly apocryphal order at the Battle of Mobile Bay, usually paraphrased: "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!".



If you have the time go out and see him, he's in Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York. (I guess that's only convenient if you're near the Bronx.)

If you're not in the Bronx,

you can check out his Memorial statue in Madison Square Park in Manhattan.


July 5, 1852 -
Frederick Douglass was invited to address the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society in his hometown, Rochester, New York. Whatever the expectations of his audience on that 76th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Douglass used the occasion not to celebrate the nation’s triumphs but to remind all of its continuing enslavement of millions of people.



It was biting oratory, in which the speaker told his audience, "This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn." And he asked them, "Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day?"


July 5, 1865 -
Booth led boldly with his big bass drum - (Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)



The Salvation Army began with the efforts of two founders, William Booth and Catherine Booth, to bring salvation to the poor, the hungry, the homeless, and the destitute. On this date, William Booth established The Christian Mission in London, England, which would later be called as The Salvation Army in 1878. The name was changed to The Salvation Army (apparently by the request of an initial member; the Christian Mission's mission-statement originally called the organization a 'volunteer army', and the speaker felt that he wasn't strictly a 'volunteer') and a quasi-military outlook was adopted.



When William Booth became known as the General, Catherine was known as the “Mother of The Salvation Army.” William preached to the poor, and Catherine spoke to the wealthy, gaining financial support for their demanding work. She also ministered, which was a revolutionary act at the time. From the beginning it was already clearly stated in the Foundation Deed of the Christian Mission, that women had the same rights to preach as men. Together the Booths worked tirelessly to help others and brought a spiritual and practical message of rejuvenation. As William said, “The three ‘S's’ best expressed the way in which the Army administered to the 'down and outs': first, soup; second, soap; and finally, salvation".


The memorable "Spam" was rebranded on July 5, 1937, when the product, whose original name was far less memorable (Hormel Spiced Ham), began to lose market share.



The name was chosen from multiple entries in a naming contest. A Hormel official once stated that the original meaning of the name Spam was "Shoulder of Pork and hAM". According to writer Marguerite Patten in Spam – The Cookbook, the name was suggested by Kenneth Daigneau, an actor and the brother of a Hormel vice president. At one time, the official explanation may have been that the name was a syllabic abbreviation of "SPiced hAM", but on their official website, Hormel denies this and states that "SPAM is just that. SPAM." The fact that the originator was given a $100 prize for coming up with the name, however, still appears on the site's SPAM FAQs.



Other varieties of Spam include Spam Less Sodium, Spam Garlic, Spam and Cheese, Spam with Bacon (Hormel bacon), Spam Spread, Spam Lite (containing pork and chicken), Spam Golden Honey Grail, Spam Hot and Spicy (with Tabasco sauce), Spam Hickory Smoked and Spam Oven Roasted Turkey - the latter is a halal food, meaning that it is allowed under Islamic law, and is especially popular in Muslim markets.


July 5, 1942 -
Psst, do you want to know a secret?



Ian Fleming graduated from a training school for spies in Canada on this date.

But you didn't hear it from me.


July 5, 1946 -
The bikini bathing suit, was created by Louis Réard, a French automotive engineer who was running his mother's lingerie business, made its debut during a fashion show at the Molitor Pool in Paris on this date.



A famous nude dancer, Micheline Bernardin, modeled the two-piece outfit at the show.

Réard, hoping to capitalize on the notoriety, named his new two-piece, atom-sized swimsuit after the Bikini Atoll Island Nuclear test site.


July 5, 1958 -
I'm killing time while I wait for life to shower me with meaning and happiness.

Bill Watterson, cartoonist and the author of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes cartoon series, was born on this date.


July 5, 1975 -
31-year-old Arthur Ashe beat 22-year-old Jimmy Conners in four sets at Wimbledon on this date, winning the fourth set 6-4. With his win, Arthur Ashe became the first African-American to win the tennis singles title.



Ashe won 51 tournaments in his career, and the US Open home court was named after him in 1997.


Happy Birthday Augie Iannuzzi, wherever you are!



And so it goes.

Remember the reason for the BBQ today

July 4, 1776 -
The Continental Congress approved adoption of the amended Declaration of Independence, prepared by Thomas Jefferson and signed by John Hancock - President of the Continental Congress - and Charles Thomson, Congress secretary (among others,) without dissent.



However, the New York delegation abstained as directed by the New York Provisional Congress. The United States was very busy for the next couple of years and didn't get around to commemorating Independence Day until 1796.

Another thing your teachers never told you -
Mary Katherine Goddard, who was working as printer at the time, voluntarily inscribed her full name on the document, making her the only woman who 'signed' the Declaration of Independence. Congress fled Philadelphia and settled temporarily in Baltimore. When they needed somebody to print the Declaration, Goddard was the person to help.



Those who signed it knew they were taking a risk that amounted to treason against the British empire if their side lost. At the bottom of the document is written "Baltimore, in Maryland: Printed by Mary Katherine Goddard."


July 4, 1964 -
The Beach Boys' song I Get Around topped the charts and stayed there for 2 weeks on this date.



This was released as a double A-side single in May 1964 with Don't Worry Baby. It is considered one of the best ever single releases along with Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever by The Beatles and Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog by Elvis Presley.

July 4, 1966 -
The Lovin' Spoonful release their song Summer in the City on this date.



The song was a collaboration between John Sebastian, The Lovin Spoonful's bassist Steve Boone, and the frontman's brother (and non-group member) Mark Sebastian. Mark was 15 years old when he wrote a poem that John used as the basis for the song - John especially liked the part that went, "But at night there's a different world."


July 4, 1966 -
The Beatles played two shows at Rizal Memorial Football Stadium, Manila, in the Philippines to over 80,000 fans, on this date. The Beatles did not appear at a palace reception hosted by President Marcos' family, who were not informed that the Beatles had previously declined their invitation.



The Philippine media misrepresent this as a deliberate snub and when Brian Epstein tries to make a televised statement, his comments are disrupted by static. The next day, as The Beatles make their way to the airport they were greeted by angry mobs, the Philippine government had retaliated by refusing police protection for The Beatles. These events were the final nail in the coffin for the Beatles continuing to tour.


July 4, 1970 -
Casey Kasem's American Top 40 debuts on station KDEO in El Cajon/San Diego, California on this date.



The concept of playing the 40 most popular songs from a national chart was a new one, and no one was sure of the success of the show at the time.


July 4, 1974 -
Steely Dan (Walter Becker and Donald Fagan) give up live performing after a show on this date in Santa Monica so they can focus on their studio work.



They don't tour again until 1993.


July 4, 1992 –
Sir Mix-A-Lot's great patriotic song, Baby Got Back, hit No. 1 on this date and remained there for a month.



The video was directed by Adam Bernstein, who also did Hey Ladies for Beastie Boys and Love Shack for The B-52's. According to Bernstein, casting the video was one of the strangest experiences of his professional life. Since it was the butts they were interested in, he and his crew took photos of the applicants' fundamentals, which they sent to Sir Mix-A-Lot for evaluation.


Word of the Day

Please rise, or at least read, ACME's annual salute to our nation's birthday.


Today in History:
July 4, 1804 -
The first 4th of July celebration west of the Mississippi River was held, when Lewis and Clark's expedition team stopped in Kansas to throw the party on this date.

They fired the expedition canon and the men on the team got an extra ration of whiskey to celebrate the day.


July 4, 1826 -
Frienemies Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, both lay dying in there respective homes on this date. Jefferson, the nation's third president, deeply in debt at age 83, died at one o'clock in the afternoon and correctly surmised that Adams had outlived him. John Adams, the second president died at age 90 in Braintree, Mass, just a few hours after Jefferson. Adams' last words were, Thomas Jefferson still survives.



It was exactly 50 years to the day after the Declaration of Independence was adopted.


July 4, 1831 -
James Monroe, fifth President of the United States, died in New York City at age 73 on this date.



This made him the third ex-President to die on Independence Day.

How patriotic.


July 4, 1850 -
President Zachary Taylor stood hatless in the sun for hours listening to long-winded speeches. He returned to the White House and attempted to cool off by eating cherries, cucumbers and drinking iced milk. Severe stomach cramps followed.



It is likely that Taylor's own physicians inadvertently killed him with a whole series of debilitating treatments. The cur lingered on until he unpatriotically died on July 9th.


July 4, 1862 -
Charles Dodgson, an Oxford mathematician and nude child photographer, told little Alice Liddell on a boat trip the fairy tale he had dreamed up for her called Alice's Adventures Underground on this date. We assume he had his pants on at the time.



Three year later, to the day, the first edition of Alice in Wonderland was published under Dodgson's pen name, Lewis Carroll.


July 4, 1884 -
The Statue of Liberty was presented to the United States in ceremonies at Paris, France, on this date. The 225-ton, 152-foot statue was a gift from France in commemoration of 100 years of American independence. The French, always the comedians, presented the gift eight years late of the centennial celebration and left the shipping and handling costs to the United States.



Created by the French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, the statue was installed on Bedloe Island (now Liberty Island) in New York harbor in 1885. It was dedicated on October 28, 1886.


July 4, 1898 -
The French passenger liner La Bourgogne, sank within an hour after a collision with the British ship Cromartyshire, in dense fog, 60 miles south of Sable Island near Nova Scotia, in the Atlantic, on this date. Only 165 of the 711 passengers survived.

While there are no deaths on the British ship, only one woman of the more than 300 women and children listed as passengers aboard the La Bourgogne, was among the survivors. The remainder were mostly the crew, along with a few men from steerage. After a brief and horrifying inquiry, the French maritime authorities heard stories of the officers vainly trying to maintain order (only 3 of the 18 officers survived) and of the crew members using knives, boat hooks, oars and whatever else came to hand, against the passengers for places in the few lifeboats that survived the collision. Even more shocking, once the boats were in the water, the brave French crew beat off and stabbed swimming passengers who had tried to clamber aboard.



The authorities refused to hold a proper investigation and the entire incident was hushed up to avoid an international scandal.

Once again, the stellar principle of 'Woman and Children first' at work.


July 4, 1916 -
Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs opened a stand at Brooklyn’s Coney Island and (according to highly specious legend) held an eating contest as a publicity stunt that became an annual event on this date.

Not to be too indelicate but some of the corpses of the first patrons have just about finished digesting that meal.


July 4, 1931 -
27 years after they began a relationship, Irish author James Joyce finally married Nora Barnacle on this date. Joyce had refused to marry Nora for several decades, as he had lost his Catholic faith.

They finally married for “testamentary reasons” at Kensington register office in London. Their grown child Lucia attended their wedding.


July 4, 2006 -
The shuttle Discovery lifted-off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on this date, bound for the International Space Station with seven astronauts aboard.



This was the second space shuttle to launch after the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003.



And so it goes.

Happy National Fried Clam Day

It's National Fried Clam Day today. Unlike most of these so called 'holidays', this one is actually based on an event. The story goes that Lawrence “Chubby” Woodman of Essex, Massachusetts was the first person to make deep fried clams, in 1916. As one if Woodman’s specialties was making potato chips, he already had the vats and oil, so frying the clams was not a far stretch. Especially in Massachusetts, which is on the eastern coast of the US, where clam digging is especially popular.



This event is noted to have taken place on July 3, one day prior to American Independence Day, so Chubby and his wife, Bessie, decided to set up a stall to sell them to the people of their community. They were an instant hit and grew in popularity from that time. The rest, as they say is history.


July 3, 1944 -
Billy Wilder's film noir classic, Double Indemnity, starring Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck premiered in Baltimore, Maryland, on this date.



Author James M. Cain later admitted that if he had come up with some of the solutions to the plot that screenwriters Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler did, he would have employed them in his original novel.


July 3, 1951 -
An under-appreciated Hitchcock classic, Strangers on a Train, was released on this date.



Alfred Hitchcock and Robert Walker worked out an elaborate series of gestures and physical appearance to suggest the homosexuality and seductiveness of Bruno's character while bypassing censor objections.


July 3, 1962 -
John Frankenheimer's biography of Robert Stroud, Birdman of Alcatraz, starring the amazing Burt Lancaster, premiered on this date.



Due to this popular movie, the real Robert Stroud became one of the most famous inmates of the federal prison at Alcatraz, second only to mob boss Al Capone.


July 3, 1973 -
At the Hammersmith Odeon in London, after 182 Ziggy Stardust concert performances, David Bowie appears as Ziggy Stardust for the last time, explaining: "Not only is this the last show of the tour, but it's the last show that we'll ever do." Many take this to mean Bowie was retiring from music altogether, though Bowie just means he is retiring Stardust.



Only his guitarist Mick Ronson knew about the announcement, which came as a complete shock not only to the audience but the rest of Bowie's band and crew. This show is later made into a movie directed by D.A. Pennebaker called Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars.


July 3, 1985 -
Universal released Robert Zemeckis' sci-fi comedy Back To The Future, starring Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson and Crispin Glover on this date.



Apparently, Ronald Reagan was amused by Doc Brown's disbelief that an actor like him could become President, so much so that he had the projectionist stop and replay the scene.


July 3, 1996 -
One of the great summer popcorn movies, Independence Day, was released on this date.



According to producer/co-writer Dean Devlin, the U.S. military had agreed to support the film by allowing the crew to film at military bases, consulting the actors who have military roles, etc. However, after learning of the Area 51 references in the script, they withdrew their support.


Another book from the back shelves of The ACME Library


Today in History:
Siriusly - The Dog Days of Summer begin today. (That's an inside joke for astronomers.)

The following is provided for the benefit of non-astronomers.

Sirius is the name of the brightest star in the night-time sky (the brightest star in the day-time sky is called "the sun"), and it's known as the dog star because it's located in the constellation Canis Major - or, in English, Major Dog. The hottest days of the year in the northern hemisphere happen to coincide with the period during which Sirius rises with our own Sun, and ancient man therefore concluded that Sirius was contributing to the heat.

Like most men, they were wrong, but like most modern idiots, we continue to cherish their timeless wisdom anyway. Plus, having "Dog Days" of summer is a great boon to advertising copywriters, whose creativity is surely the driving force behind western civilization.


Joyeux anniversaire au Québec, vous ne cherchez pas un jour plus de 400.

On this date in 1608, the very manly French explorer Samuel de Champlain invented Quebec. Since then, the French Canadians have been even more obnoxious than the French themselves.


July 3, 1844 -
Museums and collectors, wanting the rare penguin-like Great Auks' skin and eggs, hunted the bird to extinction on this date. The last pair of known birds was found in Iceland by three hunters, Jón Brandsson, Sigurður Ísleifsson and Ketill Ketilsson.

The birds, which were incubating eggs, were strangled by Brandsson and Sigurour while Ketilsson smashed the eggs. There was one more reported sighting of a lone Auk in Newfoundland in 1852, which some scientists accept as the last sighting.

(Wow, would I hate to be the relatives of these three guys.)


July 3, 1863 -
The long three day Battle of Gettysburg ended on this date, marking the bloodiest battle the country had yet seen.



The fighting in the small Pennsylvania town marked a pivotal point in the Civil War and although both sides losses were essentially equal, helped turn the outcome toward the Union forces.


July 3, 1940 -
(Things your teacher never told you)
Following the German invasion and occupation of France, French warships fled to the port of Mers-el-Kebir in Algeria. Britain gave the french Vichy government the options of the following for it's French Navy:

1. Join British naval forces in the fight against Germany.
2. Hand the ships over to British crews.
3. Disarm the French Navy Ships.
4. Scuttle the ships.



The French refused, so Britain fearing the French Ships would be used by the Germans to help with an invasion of England circled the port with British Warships and opened fire on the French fleet, killing 1,250 French sailors, damaging the battleship Dunkerque and destroying the Bretagne and the Provence.


July 3, 1962 -
Happy Birthday Tom Cruise (Mapother IV), who turns 60 today.



Word to the wise: with the seventh film in the franchise opening in 2023, the mission is probably not impossible.


July 3, 1965 -
Roy Rogers' horse, Trigger, died at 25 on this date. His mounted body (bunkies, the preferred term is 'mounted'; stuffed is more like the plush toy on your bed.) was placed on display at Rogers' Museum in Victorville, Ca. (It then moved to a Roy Rogers' museum in Branson, Missouri.)



Trigger was not alone; Buttermilk (Dale Evans' horse) and Bullet (the Rogers' German Shepherd) were displayed alongside. (The Branson musuem closed in 2010 and Trigger, Buttermilk and Bullet were then residing in the lobby of the RFD-TV building -- just across the street from the former Branson museum. The former TV stars were shuffled around to various exhibitions by the TV station until a few years ago. RFD-TV acquired Don Imus' Ranch in New Mexico, making it a luxury resort and giving Trigger, Buttermilk and Bullet their new home.)


On July 3, 1969, Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones drowned in his own swimming pool on this date.



Although he was the first Rolling Stone to do so, Mr Jones is just one of millions of people to have drowned in their own swimming pools. As a public service I have therefore chosen to help American readers prepare for the long holiday weekend with some advice on how not to drown in one's pool:

1. The easiest way not to drown in your own pool is not to have one. Readers without pools may enhance their safety further by consulting the previous articles, "How Not to Kill Yourself: Don't throw your toaster into your bathtub!" and "How to cross the street without being run over."

2. If you insist upon owning a pool, don't swim, walk, or nap in its vicinity.

3. Pools don't drown people: water does. A drained pool is a safe pool. In troubling times like these, it's also worth noting that empty pools may be put to good use as bunkers or bomb shelters.

4. Avoid the use of electronic equipment while swimming. Today's multi-tasking professionals may feel inclined to save time by checking their email or drafting a Powerpoint presentation while taking a few laps, but this can prove ruinous for one's telecommunications equipment and, in the case of desktop computers or mainframes, not much better for one's own health.

5. Wait at least 45 minutes before swimming after the ingestion of mind-altering substances.

6. Don't be a rock star. Scientific research has proven that rock stars are seven times more likely than the general population to drown in swimming pools, bathtubs, or pools of their own vomit.

7. Do not attempt to convert the water in your pool to Jell-O. Jell-O is just as deadly as chlorinated water when ingested by the lungs, but far more likely to attract insects and vermin. It is one thing to drown in your own pool: it is quite another to drown in your own pool and then be devoured by maggots.

8. Avoid poisonous snakes.


July 3, 1971 -
Kids, apparently even bathtubs are not safe for rock stars.

Jim Morrison was found dead of an apparent heart attack in his Paris apartment bathtub on this date.



That's what he wants us to think, anyway.


July 3, 1986 -
President Ronald Reagan presided over a gala ceremony in New York Harbor that saw the relighting of the renovated Statue of Liberty.



The restoration efforts, led under the direction of Lee Iacocca, cost $87 million dollars.


July 3, 1987 -
British millionaire Richard Branson and Swedish-born Per Lindstrand, the balloon's designer, became the first hot-air balloon travelers to cross the Atlantic on this date.



The two men were forced to jump into the sea as their craft went down off the coast of Scotland. Let's hope his intergalactic flights go a tad better.



And so it goes.

Don't let them tell you otherwise

Basically, everything you learned was a lie; today is actually Independence Day - The US Continental Congress declared independence from Great Britain on this day (in 1776);



the formal Declaration of Independence was approved two days later on July 4.


July 2, 1946 -
Orson Welles first attempt at restarting his Hollywood career, The Stranger, starring Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, and Orson Welles premiered in Los Angeles, on this date. (This was the first mainstream American movie to feature footage of Nazi concentration camps following World War II.)



Knowing Orson Welles' reputation for long exposition scenes, International Pictures gave editor Ernest J. Nims the freedom to cut any sequences from the film he felt were unnecessary. To Welles' disgust, Nims ended up cutting almost 30 minutes of Welles' final version, including 19 minutes from the film's opening. The footage is believed lost, as even the original negatives have gone missing.


July 2, 1958 -
The Michael Curtiz, musical drama, King Creole (based on the Harold Robbins novel, A Stone for Danny Fisher,) starring Elvis, Carolyn Jones and Walter Matthau premiered in the US on this date.



James Dean was at one point in the running for the role that, several years later, would be played by Elvis Presley. At this stage, the film was to be a gritty urban drama. Following Dean's death and the casting of Elvis, it was retooled to suit the King.


July 2, 1959 -
Ed Wood's greatest opus (not counting Glen or Glenda), Plan 9 from Outer Space, opened on this date.



Bela Lugosi appears in footage shot just before his death, but with no script in mind. Edward D. Wood Jr. wrote the script to accommodate all the footage shot in a cemetery and outside Tor Johnson's house in the new production. Lugosi was doubled by Tom Mason, Wood's wife's chiropractor, who was significantly taller than Lugosi, and played the part with a cape covering his face.


July 2, 1966 -
The title track of Frank Sinatra's comeback album, Strangers in the Night reached the number one spot (on this date) on the Billboard charts and marked his return to the top of the pop charts in the mid-'60s.



Sinatra knocked The Beatles down a peg when this song hit #1 in the US and pushed Paperback Writer to #2. After one week, the group reclaimed their spot at the top. A month earlier, Strangers in the Night dominated the UK chart for three weeks before The Beatles' song took over.


July 2, 1971 -
Gordon Parks' classic crime-drama Shaft, starring Richard Roundtree, premiered on this date.



One of only three films MGM released in 1971 that made a profit, and it helped save the studio from bankruptcy.


July 2, 1980 -
The David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker smash comedy, Airplane!, starring Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty premiered in the US on this date.



The doctor role was Leslie Nielsen's first comedic part. He later said he was delighted to get the offer, fearing that he was getting too old for anything but "elderly grandfather" parts.


July 2, 1997 -
Columbia Pictures released the science fiction comedy film Men in Black, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and starring Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Linda Fiorentino, Vincent D’Onofrio and Rip Torn, on this date.



Vincent D'Onofrio researched his role as Edgar by watching a lot of bug documentaries. In order to achieve his character's distinctive walk, he put on knee braces so he couldn't bend his legs, and taped up his ankles.

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


Today in History -
One day in the second half of the ninth century, a poor young woman on her way to the market dropped her basket of eggs, breaking all of them.

The young woman knelt on the ground beside the fallen basket and began to weep.

The local bishop had been out for his morning stroll and happened to see the entire episode. He attempted to console the woman, but she was having none of it. Without the eggs, she had nothing to sell at market. Nothing to sell meant no money to sustain her family. Being unable to sustain her family meant, well, what it usually means: degradation, illness, and eventually death. Soothing words from a bishop weren't much help.

The bishop then prayed for her pain to be eased. When he was done praying, the woman looked into her basket and saw that all of the eggs had been made whole.

"Wot's all that about, then?" she asked.

"Tis a sign of God's grace and compassion," the bishop said. "I am but his -"

"God fixed me eggs, what?"

"All things are possible with God," the bishop began, but the poor young woman interrupted again.

"All-powerful God? All-knowing God? I work meself to death eight days to the week, and when he finally comes through with a miracle - it's fixin' me eggs? What about a floor for me hut? What about clothes for me young-uns? What about -"

It is probably not necessary to record the full text of the woman's stirring solecism.

That great religious leader was St. Swithun, who died on this date, in 862. It is his feast day in Norway today, (his feast day in England is celebrated on the 15th of July and his name is spelled 'St. Swithin'.) He was the Bishop of Winchester and royal counselor to kings Egbert and Aethelwulf.

(Yes - that's a holy relic from the good bishop)

History tells us very little about St Swithun, besides the fact that he died when he did, which is why I bring him up: someone ought to invent a life for the guy. Maybe he was raised by a lame wolverine. Maybe he was kidnapped by the last secret sect of the Knights Templar. Maybe he met three witches in the forest and they hailed him as the Thane of Cawdor. Or maybe he fell in love with the beautiful red-headed daughter of a rival landowner and they had a tempestuous love affair before tragedy struck her down and Swithun turned to religion for consolation. Who knows? Nobody.

So make up a St Swithun you can live with.


141 years ago today, Charles J. Guiteau stood up in the lobby of the B&O Railroad Depot in Washington, DC, and yelled, "I am a stalwart and Arthur is President now!" (Maybe it would have sounded less crazy if he said it in Latin - Ego sum a stalwart quod Arthur est Praesieo iam! All future Presidential assassins should take up Latin. ) The event might have passed without notice had Guiteau not been shooting President James Garfield at the time.



A wounded President Garfield lingered for 11 weeks, during which time surgeons attempted to find the bullet which had lodged in his back. The state-of-the-art technology for removing foreign objects from the body was at that time the hand. Dozens of physicians, nurses, and curious hangers-on probed Garfield's wound with their fingers in search of the bullet that had struck him. The inevitable infection of his wound killed him.



Charles Guiteau was hanged on June 30, 1882.


July 2, 1900 -
Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin's airship LZ-1, took the first zeppelin flight over Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany.



"LZ" stood for Luftschiff Zeppelin, or "Airship Zeppelin"


July 2, 1937 -
Attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the globe in an airplane, Amelia Earhart disappeared over the Pacific with her drunken navigator, Fred Noonan, on this date. (Apparently drunkenness is a prerequisite to fly with aviation heroes.)



She still holds the record for a spouse going out for a carton of milk and not returning.


July 2, 1947 -
An object speculated to be a UFO crashes near Roswell, New Mexico on this date, though the United States Air Force claims it is a weather balloon.



I love a good 'faked' alien footage. It's World UFO Day today. So remember to Keep Watching The Skies!


61 years ago today Ernest Hemingway blew his brains out at his home in Ketchum, Idaho. Hemingway was a writer. He was also a man. He knew things about being a man. He also knew things about trying to be a man.



He wrote about them, those things. He wrote love stories and stories about fishermen and soldiers. He liked to write. And in the end he blew his brains out. Maybe that means something. Maybe it doesn't. Either way, don't bother asking for whom the bell tolled.

It wasn't for you.


On this date in 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, prohibiting racial discrimination.



The way one of our former President was treated by Congress is proof that America has remained a paragon of racial harmony to this very day.


July 2, 1982 -
Larry Walters, a truck driver, using 45 helium filled weather balloons to lift him and his lawn chair three miles high on this date. He later was barely able to control his descent using a BB gun shooting holes in balloons when he accidentally dropped his pellet gun overboard. Walters then slowly descended back down to the ground.



He landed in a residential neighborhood in Long Beach where got tangled in some power lines, causing a 20 minute power blackout. Walters was able to climb to the ground.



And so it goes.

The Summer looks out from her brazen tower ...

According to the Gregorian calendar, July is the seventh month. On the Roman calendar, it was the fifth month and it was called 'Quintilis', meaning 'fifth'. Julius Caesar gave the month 31 days in 46 B.C.

Being a dictator he could. Luckily for us he didn't authorize the constant changing of underpants or most of the glory that was Rome may never have been built, due the high laundry bills. The Roman Senate named it 'Julius', in honor of Caesar because - well, he was a dictator.



July is usually the hottest month of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. July is one of the winter months in the Southern Hemisphere. The climate is mild in most of the Southern Hemisphere, with the exception of the COLD Antarctica, and the cold, rainy part of South America.

During July, when there isn't much rain, the grass often loses it's greenness. Some flowers are abundant in July, because they strive on the heat. Also, insects are abundant as well - life is striving in July (in the Northern Hemisphere anyway)!

Independence Day is observed in the United States on July 4. On that day in 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. In France, a similar holiday, Bastille Day, occurs on July 14 (although they did not adopt the Declaration of Independence.) Several other countries celebrate national independence in July. Independence Day is celebrated in Venezuela on July 5; in Argentina, July 9; in Belgium, July 21; and in Peru, July 28.

In my home, July 12th is a national holiday.

July is chock-a-block of celebrations.

The Ruby is the gem for July.

The water lily is the flower for the month of July.


Here are some of the causes recognized in July:

Fireworks Safety Month

Kids, don't play with your illegal fireworks, remember use only ACME brand fireworks!
Baked Bean Month
Ah, the musical fruit. And yet, I once again restrained myself - I didn't go with the Mel Brooks clip.

July is National Tennis Month.
hopefully the fate of Wimbledon doesn't come down to this

Hitchhiking Month
Remember, people who pick up hitchhikers are usually homicidal maniacs

July is National Hot Dog Month - National Hot Dog Day is July 23.
Remember don't look too closely into the bit end of your hot dog

Smart Irrigation Month
Wait a minute, maybe they didn't mean this type of irrigation.

National Hyperhidrosis Education Month
For those not in the know, it's excessive sweating.

Peach Month (There seems to be some confusion on whether National Peach Month is in July or August.
So Dammit, dare to eat the peach!!!)

Read An Almanac Month
Which is what I celebrate all the time. (One of our favorite Bunkies suggested reading, Poor H. Allen Smith's Almanac, which is a fun read, in fact.)


July 1, 1953 -
The Howard Hawk musical comedy, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, starring Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe premiered in Atlantic City on this date.



This was Jane Russell's only film with Marilyn Monroe. They got along well. According to Russell's 1985 autobiography, she called Monroe "Blondie" and was often the only person on the set who could coax Monroe out of her trailer to begin the day's filming.


July 1, 1956 -
TV critic John Crosby panned the following performer's performance, calling it an 'unspeakable, untalented and vulgar young entertainer.'



Elvis Presley appeared on NBC- TV's The Steve Allen Show and performed Hound Dog, to a live Hound Dog.


July 1, 1956 -
Columbia Pictures released the classic sci-fi movie, Earth vs The Flying Saucers, featuring special effects by Ray Harryhausen, on this date.



The supposed satellite launches are actually stock footage of Viking rockets, high-altitude probes that were the predecessors of the Vanguard, intended to be the first satellite launcher. The later shots of rockets crashing at takeoff are really German V-2s, since none of the first 12 Vikings ever failed. Ironically, the 13th Viking, now called Vanguard, blew up on the launch pad, just like in the movie.


July 1, 1965 -
Paramount Pictures released the film The Sons of Katie Elder, starring John Wayne and Dean Martin on this date.



Earl Holliman was quoted as saying, "When you look at it and think of John Wayne who was 65 or so at the time [Wayne was nearly 58 during filming] and Dean Martin and me and Michael Anderson Jr. looked about 16 [Anderson was aged 21 during filming], all playing brothers, you said to yourself, 'What kind of woman was this Katie Elder?'."


July 1, 1967 -
The Association's song Windy (not to be confused with The Beach Boy's song, Wendy,) hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on this date. It was the Association's second No. 1 hit, following Cherish in 1966.



Although the writer of the song, Ruthann Friedman never revealed the identity of Windy, she said that he was another singer/songwriter, and not "a freewheeling Haight Ashbury Hippy" as often reported. Friedman said about the song: "I have heard so many different permutations of what the song was about. Here is the TRUTH. I was sitting on my bed - the apartment on the first floor of David Crosby's house in Beverly Glenn - and there was a fellow who came to visit and was sitting there staring at me as if he was going to suck the life out of me. So I started to fantasize about what kind of a guy I would like to be with, and that was Windy - a guy (fantasy). The song took about 20 minutes to write."


July 1, 1968 -
The Band releasd their debut album, Music from Big Pink, on this date.



The album title came from the big pink house in upstate New York they rented and used as a recording studio. The Band was Bob Dylan's backup band, and they moved there to be near Dylan while he was recovering from a motorcycle accident. Dylan offered to help with this album, but The Band refused because they wanted to make a mark on their own.


July 1, 1982 -
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five release the early rap classic The Message, on this date. It's the first hip-hop hit with lyrics about struggle in the inner city.



Unlike many early hip-hop hits, like Sugarhill Gang's Rapper's Delight or Kurtis Blow's The Breaks, which turned on thumping, up-tempo disco tracks, composers Ed "Duke Bootee" Fletcher and MC Melle Mel based The Message on a slow groove and a reverberated synthesizer hook. Fletcher admitted later, he'd been moved to write something in the spirit of Zapp's More Bounce To The Ounce or Tom Tom Club's Genius Of Love, both of which utilized synthesizer hooks over an amped-up funk bass.


Another unimportant moment in history


Today in History:
As always, your friends from the ACME Corp would like to salute our friends in Canada on Canada Day.



Canada is the second-largest nation in the world. It is not part of the United States – (it’s the U.S.‘ nicer sister, not dissing Mexico, the U.S.’ feistier sister.)

A little jewel sitting at the top of the continent.



In the 155 years of their nationhood, Canadians have given the world paint rollers, snowmobiles, electric organs, green ink, toboggans, snow blowers, plexiglass, and the push-up bra.



Canada has about the same population as California, but fewer Scientologists.

Residents of Churchill, Canada, leave their cars unlocked to offer an escape for pedestrians who might encounter Polar Bears.

Today is the 42th anniversary of the Canadian national anthem, ‘Like America, But Colder.’





Canada’s leading export to the United States is Canadians. Dan Aykroyd, who happens to have been born exactly 69 years ago today, is one.



Pamela Anderson is another, and was also born today, although she’s younger (most of her is north of 40, but some parts are significantly younger). Not to give away here age but she was born on the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Canadian nation. Local news reports referred to her as a “Centennial Baby“, at the time.



Other Canadian exports: Bryan Adams, Paul Anka, Alexander Graham Bell, Raymond Burr (of nipple rouge fame), John Candy, Jim Carrey, Celine Dion, Michael J. Fox, John Kenneth Galbraith, Lorne Greene, Peter Jennings, kd lang, Marshall McLuhan, Joni Mitchell (I believe that she’s doing better), Alice Munro, Catherine O’Hara,



Mike Myers, Oscar Peterson, William Shatner, Alex Trebek, Shania Twain, Neil Young and of course everyone’s favorite Canadian Zen Buddhist, the late Leonard Cohen.



So bunkies remember, when your neighbor has a party, you don't ask why, you pick up a case of Labatt Blue's and a couple of rib-eye steaks.


July 1, 1200 -
Another bar bet winner - Sunglasses were invented in China on this date. Ancient documents describe the use of flat panes of smoky quartz sunglasses by judges in ancient Chinese courts to conceal their facial expressions while questioning witnesses.

(Historians know the date because of stringent anti-orgy laws enacted at the time by the Chinese, making record keeping and inventing a breeze.)


July 1, 1874 -
After many delays and set-backs, the Philadelphia Zoo, the first zoological gardens in the United States opens to the public on the grounds of Solitude, the last estate in the area owned by the Penn family, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.



It was originally chartered by the Pennsylvania state legislature on March 21, 1859 as the Zoological Society of Philadelphia whose core purpose is to oversee “the purchase and collection of living wild and other animals” and “for the instruction and recreation of the people.”


July 1, 1893 -
President Grover Cleveland underwent a secret oral surgery aboard the yacht Oneida for a cancerous growth in his upper palate on this date.



The cancer operation remained a secret until July 1, 1917, when the doctor who performed the operation revealed the story.


July 1, 1912 -
Drama critic Harriet Quimby took a passenger up in her new Blériot monoplane from Boston to fly over Dorchester Bay at the Harvard-Boston Aviation Meet. As she descended for landing, the plane went into a dive and, without seat belts, she and her passenger were thrown out into the shallow water of the bay, where they struck the muddy bottom and were crushed to death.



Quimby was the first American to receive a pilot's license (1911) and was the first woman to solo across the English Channel (1912).

Kids, put on the damn seat belt.


July 1, 1961 -
The Honorable Diana Spencer, a direct descendant of Charles II, was born on this date. She married the Prince of Wales, Charles, in 1981 while more than 750 million people watched. Diana was 20 and her husband was 33 years old at the time.



She was killed in a car crash in 1997 when she was just 36 years old. Her televised funeral gathered 2.5 billion viewers.

Such are the vagaries of life.


July 1, 1979 -
The Sony Corporation revolutionized the music industry on this date when the first Walkman was sold. The Walkman, the first portable personal audio cassette player, allowed people to take music with them anywhere.



The first sale - a blue-and-silver model (TPS-L2), was made in Japan.

Bonus points - in the U.S., it was first marketed as the Soundabout.


Before you go - Enjoy the Fourth of July Weekend

Remember, Drink til you drop, and don't drive!
Why not just stay home. It's so much easier to crawl to bed that way.



And so it goes.