The problem with books is that they end.

Today is Read a Book Day, which should not be confused with National Book Lovers Day, celebrated on August 9th.



I've just recently read Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War by Mark Harris.


September 6, 1925 -
The silent-film The Phantom of the Opera, starring, Lon Chaney (who considered it his crowning achievement) premiered in NYC on this date.



Lon Chaney's horrific, self-applied make-up was kept secret right up until the film's premiere. Not a single photograph of Chaney as The Phantom was published in a newspaper or magazine or seen anywhere before the film opened in theaters. Universal Pictures wanted The Phantom's face to be a complete surprise when his mask was ripped off.


September 6, 1936 -
The classic screwball comedy, My Man Godfrey, premiered on this date.



William Powell suggested his ex-wife Carole Lombard for the leading role with the explanation that his real -life romance with her had been much the same as it was for the characters of Godfrey and Irene.


September 6, 1944 -
Billy Wilder's film-noir classic, Double Indemnity, starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson, opened in NYC on this date.



The blonde wig that Barbara Stanwyck is wearing throughout the movie was the idea of Billy Wilder. A month into shooting Wilder suddenly realized how bad it looked, but by then it was too late to re-shoot the earlier scenes. To rationalize this mistake, in later interviews Wilder claimed that the bad-looking wig was intentional.


September 6, 1958 -
Steve McQueen debuted in the western series, Wanted: Dead or Alive, on CBS-TV on this date.



After getting offered the chance to star in The Magnificent Seven, McQueen found out that the only way he could do the film, which was being shot simultaneously with Wanted: Dead or Alive, was to fake an accident or illness and get a medical leave from the series. According to his first wife, Neile, McQueen accomplished this feat by "faking" a car crash in which he merely crashed his car into a tree, receiving minor cuts, muscle pulls, and bruises, and getting his medical leave. The series' production went on temporary hiatus while McQueen filmed The Magnificent Seven.


September 6, 1967 -
One of the seminal documentaries of the 60s, Don't Look Back directed by D. A. Pennebaker was released in NYC on this date.



The scene where Donovan visits Dylan in his hotel was generally viewed as Dylan putting the young singer-songwriter in his place when he grabs the guitar and performs It's All Over Now, Baby Blue. But a 2015 Criterion Collection remaster, with improved sound, revealed that Donovan actually requested Dylan play that song for him. That gave the entire scene a new meaning and revealed Dylan and Donovan as more friends than rivals.


September 6, 1975 -
After 13 Top 40 hits, Glen Campbell finally had his first No.1 hit with his song, Rhinestone Cowboy, on this date.



The song had a lot of meaning for Glen Campbell, and one he would call "maybe the best song I've ever sung." It came at a time when his career had gone flat: His popular TV show had been canceled, acting gigs dried up, and he hadn't had a hit since 1971. The story of the faded star who perseveres in the song held a lot of meaning for Campbell.


September 6, 1984 -
Milos Forman's adaptation of Peter Shaffer's play, Amadeus, starring Tom Hulce, F. Murray Abraham, and Elizabeth Berridge premieres in Los Angeles on this date



Tom Hulce only knew how to play the guitar before shooting. Milos Forman said they could cheat it, but it would be good if he learned how to play the piano. Hulce spent six hours a day for six months learning how to play the piano, and every Mozart symphony that was in the film.


September 6, 1986 –
Bananarama's cover of the Shocking Blue single, Venus hit no. 1 on this date



Bananarama's version was produced by the team of Stock, Aitken and Waterman, who worked on hits by Rick Astley (Never Gonna Give You Up), Dead or Alive (You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)) and Kylie Minogue (I Should Be So Lucky).


Today's moment of Zen


Today in History:
September 6, 1776 -
America's first submersible, David Bushnell's egg-shaped Turtle, piloted by Erza Lee (after Ezra Bushnell, David's brother, the submarine's initial captain, died the night before) unsuccessfully attacked the British-vessel HMS Eagle in New York harbor on this date.



The bomb was released into the water and resulted in a frightening explosion. While the American Turtle failed to destroy its target, the British recognized the threat and moved the fleet. Royal Navy logged and reported from this period make no mention of this incident, and it is possible that the Turtle's attack may be more submarine legend than historical event.


September 6, 1803 -
British scientist John Dalton (born on September 6, 1766,) begins using symbols to represent the atoms of different elements, which he considered to be the smallest parts of matter.

The idea of atoms was already known at the time, but not widely accepted. Dalton's theory of atoms was based on actual observation. Before this, ideas about atoms were based more on philosophy.


September 6, 1901 -
While shaking hands at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, President William McKinley was shot twice in the abdomen at point-blank range with a .32 caliber revolver, on this date. He, unintentionally, became the first President to ride in an automobile as a motorized ambulance takes him to a hospital.



The assassin, an anarchist by the name of Leon Frank Czolgosz, concealed his gun within a handkerchief, actually was a lone gunman (for once). McKinley died a week later and became the third American president assassinated.


September 6, 1916 -
Clarence Saunders opened the Piggly Wiggly® grocery store (the first self-service market,) at 79 Jefferson Street in Memphis, Tennessee, 105 years ago on this date. Piggly Wiggly's introduction of self-service grocery shopping truly revolutionized the grocery industry.



There were shopping baskets, open shelves and no clerks to shop for the customer – all unheard of at the time. There are still more than 600 Piggly Wiggly stores in the US today.


Although there can be no royalty in the United States, one young woman, is crowned each year as Miss America. The first such coronation was held for Margaret Gorman, on September 6, 1921.

Miss America reigns for one year, at which point she must retire-unless she removes her clothing, in which case she's deposed. (Or is that denuded?)


September 6, 1951 -
During a drinking party in Mexico City, author William S. Burroughs instructed his wife Joan Vollmer to balance a glass of gin on her head. He then takes careful aim with his new .38 pistol, and unintentionally blows her brains out in front of their friends. The Mexican authorities later charge Burroughs with criminal imprudence.

So kids remember, when a drunken Beat drug addict writer asks you to play "William Tell" - Just Say No!!!


September 6, 1966 -
Parliamentary messenger Demetrios Tsafendas assassinated Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, considered to be the primary architect of Apartheid, by stabbing him in his chest on the floor of the South African legislature.



While Verwoerd died shortly thereafter, Apartheid tenaciously clung to life until 1994.


September 6, 1976 -
Years after their well-publicized break-up, Frank Sinatra privately orchestrated a surprise appearance of Dean Martin on Jerry Lewis' annual Labor Day telethon for the MDA. The two privately reconciled and maintained a relationship throughout the rest of their lives.



If only Sinatra could have knock off broads and booze long enough to deal with the whole Monkey Pox situation.


September 6, 1997 -
Princess Diana's funeral was held on this date. Over a million people lined the streets and the world-wide TV audience for the funeral ceremonies was estimated at over two billion.



Elton John sung a new version of his hit single Candle In The Wind at the funeral. The new version, which replaced "Goodbye Norma Jean" with "Goodbye England's Rose," became the best-selling single of all time. Diana was buried on an island at her ancestral home at Althorp.



Before you go: Kids, if it gives you any comfort, there are only 110 days until Christmas -



Remember, you have time, make good choices



And so it goes.

Work is no disgrace; the disgrace is idleness

We here at ACME hope that you're enjoying your last hot dog and ice cold beer of the summer today, (hopefully you're using ACME Split Buns to slip your ACME Snappy Weinie - The Almost 100% all beef frank (but hey don't ask what the other stuff in it is) - in our well buttered Split Buns and feel the difference,) but let's remember that there is actual a point to Labor Day -



to celebrate the economic and social contributions of workers. Keep in mind, the first minimum wage was established in the USA in 1938 –



for all of 25 cents per hour (adjusted for inflation, that would be worth $4.19 today.)



And please, don't make John Waters unhappy - starting tomorrow, don't wear white


Today is National Cheese Pizza Day.



While you do not have to don tight fitting polyester pants and strut down 86th Street in Bensonhurst to celebrate, please remember that you have to fold your pizza in half to eat it, and for god's sake, don't use a fork and a knife.


Although it may seem like a cruel holiday to celebrate once again this year, September 5th is Be Late For Something Day. So forget the calendar and be late for something, except school.



Remember that things can go on without you, and maybe it’s not all quite as important as you thought; after all, you need some ‘me time’!


September 5, 1916 -
D. W. Griffith classic silent-film masterpiece, Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages, premiered on this date.



After filming wrapped, the Los Angeles Fire Department cited the Babylonian set as a fire hazard and ordered it to be torn down. D.W. Griffith discovered that he had run out of money and, therefore, was unable to finance its demolition. The set stood derelict and crumbling for nearly four years, until it was finally taken down in 1919. By then it had fallen apart enough for it to be dismantled at a sufficiently lower cost.


September 5, 1927 -
Walt Disney's Trolley Troubles, first appearance of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons, premiered on this date.



Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks worked for Universal Pictures on this cartoon. Universal showed their appreciation for the two for making Oswald a star by threatening to cut their salaries. As a result, the two walked...and soon created Mickey Mouse and the rest is history.


September 5, 1976 –
The first regularly scheduled episode of The Muppet Show, starring guest host Joel Grey, premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



Kermit the Frog and Waldorf are the only characters to appear in all 120 episodes of the series.


September 5, 1981 -
Soft Cell's single Tainted Love was at No.1 on the UK singles chart on this date.



This is a cover of a 1964 song by the American soul singer Gloria Jones, whose original version was released as the B-side of her single My Bad Boy's Comin' Home. A club DJ named Richard Searling picked up a copy in Philadelphia and in 1973 started playing it in his sets at Va Va's, a popular club in Bolton, England that was very influential on the UK northern soul circuit. The song found new life, and Jones recorded a new version in 1976 that was released on her album Vixen.


Word of the Day


Today in History:
September 5, 1638 -
King Louis XIV of France was born on this date.

The new taxation was an attempt to modernize his citizens from what he felt were archaic traditions. On several occasions he cut off the beards of noblemen himself. Beards were still allowed for clergy, monks and peasants.


September 5, 1877 -
The great Sioux Chief Crazy Horse, a cousin of Kicking Bear, was fatally bayoneted at age 36 by a soldier at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, on this date.



His final resting place remains unknown.


September 5, 1882 -
The first Labor Day parade in the United States was held on this date in New York. Except it was not held on a Monday but a Tuesday. And it wasn't really a parade but a protest.

Matthew Maguire, secretary of a machinists and blacksmiths local union, pushed for the idea with the New York Central Labor Union as a way to promote the adoption of the 8-hour work day.


September 5, 1921 -
Undiscovered actress Virginia Rappe somehow ruptures her bladder during actor-comedian Fatty Arbuckle's party at the Saint Francis Hotel in San Francisco, on this date.



Three days later, the feverish woman is checked into a maternity hospital, where she dies from peritonitis. Arbuckle is tried for her murder but ultimately acquitted of any wrongdoing by a jury, his brilliant film acting career was destroyed. He had been one of the most popular (and highest-paid) film comedians of the silent era, second only to Chaplin.


September 5, 1930 -
Charles Creighton and James Hargis completed the drive from New York City to Los Angeles and back to New York City all in reverse gear, on this date.

The trip took 42 days in their 1929 Ford Model A.


September 5, 1942 -
If you do not have an absolutely clear vision of something, where you can follow the light to the end of the tunnel, then it doesn't matter whether you're bold or cowardly, or whether you're stupid or intelligent. Doesn't get you anywhere.



Werner Herzog, German actor, director, producer, and screenwriter was born on this date.


September 5, 1946 -
Farrokh Bulsara, British musician, singer and songwriter, was born on this date.



Freddie Mercury has been called one of Rock's greatest performers of all time.


September 5, 1972 -
Five Palestinians armed with machine guns sneak into the Olympic Village in Munich. There they take nine Israeli athletes hostage, killing two others in the process, on this date.



Later, they demand safe passage out of the country and the release of 200 Palestinians from prison in Israel. Ultimately, none of the athletes made it out alive.


September 5, 1975 -
Manson Family member Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme almost assassinated President Gerald Ford with a .45 automatic in Sacramento, California on this date.



But Fromme was tackled by a Secret Service agent before she can remember to rack a round into the firing chamber.


September 5, 1990 -
In his testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, LAPD chief Daryl Gates opined: "Casual drug users should be taken out and shot."

Note to self: remember not to invite Mr. Gates to any social events. What a minute, he's dead.

New note to self: remember not to invite Zombie Gates to any social events.


September 5, 1991 -
Disgraced children's television star Pee-wee Herman returned to the public eye for the first time after his masturbation arrest, appearing on the MTV Video Music Awards.



He opens with the line: "Heard any good jokes lately?"


September 5, 1997 -
We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.



Newly minted saint and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa, born Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, died at 87 after a heart attack on this date.


September 5, 2003 -
It wasn't so happy at the happiest place in the world on this date, when Marcelo Torres, 22, was killed and 10 others injured when the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad coaster, at Disneyland, jumped the tracks in Frontierland.

Did they get their money back?



And so it goes.

Perhaps there is such a thing as too much fiber

Pandas basically only eat bamboo, which also happens to be incredibly hard to digest. Please don't try this at home.



That means that they must eat about 30 pounds of the stuff each day to get enough nutrients—defecating about four-fifths of what they eat (and even what they do digest is not especially easy on their gastrointestinal system).

So now you know.


September 4, 1936 -
The George Stevens' helmed sixth Astaire and Rogers film, Swing Time, co-starring Helen Broderick, Victor Moore, Betty Furness, and Eric Blore, went into limited release in the US on this date.



The film originally began with a musical number, It's Not in the Cards, which was cut due the film's length and because the number was judged as not very good. Only a bit remains in the final version. The music is also used in the background during the first few scenes.


September 4, 1942 -
Warner Brothers reunited most of the cast of The Maltese Falcon for John Huston's war drama, Across the Pacific, which premiered on this date.



Across the Pacific may be the title but the narrative never actually gets there. It starts in New York City (Governors Island), moves to Canada, back to New York, and continues south along the US coast (North Atlantic Ocean) to the Caribbean Sea, where it ends at or near Balboa, Panama, still some 40 miles short of the Pacific.


September 4, 1951 –
The first national live television broadcast in the U.S. took place when President Harry Truman's speech at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco, California was transmitted to broadcast stations in local markets across the country.



It has been estimated that more than 40 million people saw the president open the Peace Treaty Conference; it was the largest single television audience to date.


September 4, 1953 -
The science fiction film Project Moonbase, based on a story by Robert A. Heinlein and directed by Richard Talmadge was released in the US on this date.



This movie and Cat-Women of the Moon were made using the some of the same sets and costumes. The two films were then released within one day of each other.


September 4, 1970 -
The Rolling Stones release their second live concert album Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!: The Rolling Stones in Concert, on this date. It was recorded in New York City and Baltimore in November 1969.



The album is often considered by critics as one of the greatest live albums ever made.


September 4, 1971 -
Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey by Paul and Linda McCartney topped the charts on this date.



Linda McCartney is credited as a co-writer on this song with Paul. She sang background and contributed some of the vocal ideas, but how much she actually wrote on the song is questionable. Paul had some incentive to credit her as a songwriter: under a deal he signed with The Beatles, songs he wrote until 1973 were owned by Northern Songs publishing and Maclen Music. By splitting the credits with his wife, he could keep half the royalties in the family. The publishers brought a lawsuit against Paul for this practice, which was settled out of court.


September 4, 1972 -
The game show The Price is Right, featuring the host Bob Barker, premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



The final three pricing games played on Bob Barker's final show ('Double Prices', 'Bonus Game', and 'Any Number') were the first three games played on his first show, but in reverse order. On Decades week on the season 44 premiere in September 2015 the games were replayed in the same order as the show's premiere on September 4th 1972, and on June 26th 2023 the final show in the Bob Barker studio 33 to air, the games were again played in the reverse order.


September 4, 1976 –
One of the biggest disco hits of the era, You Should Be Dancing by the Bee Gees reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts on this date. (Along with Jive Talkin', this is one of two Bee Gees songs on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack that had already been released.)



You Should Be Dancing was included on the soundtrack along with five other songs performed by the Bee Gees (plus another they wrote: If I Can't Have You by Yvonne Elliman). The album sold over 15 million copies in the US, marking the Bee Gees as a disco act when their earlier output was more charitably classified as blue-eyed soul.


September 4, 2007 -
The Bob Dylan "biographical" movie, I'm Not There: Suppositions On A Film Concerning Dylan, premieres at the Venice Film Festival on this date.



Todd Haynes needed to get approval from Bob Dylan to use his music, since (unlike in his Velvet Goldmine where David Bowie did not give his permission for his music) he felt the film would not work without it. At the encouragement of Dylan's manager, Haynes wrote a one-page summary of his concept and the characters, which Dylan approved. It took another 6 years to get the film made due to funding difficulties.


Another book from the back shelves of The ACME Library


Today in History:
September 4, 1781 -
Captain Rivera y Moncada (good friend of Uncle Porky) on the behest of the Mexican Provincial Governor, Felipe de Neve, led eleven Mexican Pobladores and their families, 46 settlers in all, established Our Pueblo by the River of Our Lady of the Angels of Uncle Porky near the the river they had seen 11 years earlier - (El Rio de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula.)



Los Angeles was founded on this date.


September 4, 1882 -
Thomas Edison displayed the first practical electrical lighting system on this date.



He successfully turned on the lights in a one square mile area of New York City (NY's Pearl Street Station). This is considered by many as the day that began the electrical age.


September 4, 1885 -
The world's first cafeteria, The Exchange Buffet, catering to an exclusively male clientele, opens in New York at 7 New Street, on this date.

And if you hurry, there's still some of the original luncheon special available.


September 4, 1886 -
Geronimo was a prominent Native American leader of the Chiricahua Apache who warred against the encroachment of the United States on his tribal lands and people for over 25 years.  While outnumbered, Geronimo fought against both Mexican and United States troops and became famous for his daring exploits and numerous escapes from capture from 1858 to 1886.



At the end of his military career, he led a small band of 38 men, women, and children. They evaded 5,000 U.S. troops (one fourth of the army at the time) and many units of the Mexican army for a year. His band was one of the last major forces of independent Indian warriors who refused to acknowledge the United States Government in the American West. This came to an end on this date, when Geronimo surrendered to United States Army General Nelson A. Miles at Skeleton Canyon, Arizona.

Dubya's grandpappy, the anti-Indiana Jones, somehow figures into this story (you knew he would). In 1918, certain remains of Geronimo were apparently stolen in a grave robbery. Three members of the Yale secret society of Skull and Bones served as Army volunteers at Fort Sill during World War I; one of those three members was Prescott Bush; father of the forty-first President of the United States, George Bush, grandfather of the forty-third President of the United States, George W. Bush. They reportedly stole Geronimo's skull, some bones, and other items, including Geronimo's prized silver bridle, from the Apache Indian Prisoner of War Cemetery.



The stolen items were alleged to have been taken to the society's tomb-like headquarters on the Yale University campus, and are supposedly used in rituals practiced by the group, one of which is said to be kissing the skull of Geronimo as an initiation.  (But I've said too much already.)


September 4, 1888 -
Remember, You press the button, we do the rest.



George Eastman received patent #388,850 for the first roll-film camera and registered "Kodak" on this date.


September 4, 1949 –
A riot broke out in Peekskill, New York after Paul Robeson (with support from Pete Seeger, Woodie Guthrie, Howard Fast, and others) was slated to perform at a venue there. The Peekskill Riots, as they came to be known, would leave one hundred and fifty people injured, several of them seriously, in what was the most serious American grass-roots confrontation of the Cold War era.



These events foreshadowed the anti-Communist witch hunt which was to begin under the leadership of Senator Joe McCarthy in the following year, using the hysteria stirred up by fear of the ‘Red Menace’ to persecute Democrats, intellectuals and Hollywood figures. Paul Robeson, for his part, had his passport withdrawn.


September 4, 1957 -
Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas, in a vain attempt to take a stand against segregation, used the US reserve militia troops to stop nine black students from entering a high school in Little Rock on this date.



Faubus was in violation of a federal desegregation order and President Dwight Eisenhower, roused from his afternoon nap, sent the US military to escort the black children into the school.

You must know that you are on the wrong side of history if your first name is Orval.


September 4, 1972 -
American swimmer Mark Spitz became the first athlete to win seven Olympic gold medals on this date .



For his all of his effort, he is forced to walk around in a damp Speedo for years - the constant tinea cruris was horrible. You would have thought he would have become the spokesperson for ACME Medicated Groin Powder.


September 4, 1976 -
George W Bush was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine for driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.10 percent. He pays the $150 fine and has his driving privileges suspended for a month.

Years later, during Bush's 2000 campaign for President, a WPXT-TV reporter from Portland, Maine uncovers the arrest record just one week prior to election day. It is also revealed that Bush's V.P. candidate, Dick Cheney, had arrests for drunken driving in 1962 and 1963.


September 4, 1998 -
The Internet search engine, Google, was founded by two PhD students at Stanford University in California, Sergey Brin and Larry Page on this date.



Today, more than one million servers worldwide are used to power Google, which processes more than one billion search requests per day.  And all of those requests and e-mails goes straight to the NSA - hope you didn't search about that rectal itch you had.


September 4, 2006 -
“Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin was killed by a stingray’s barb piercing his chest and heart. He was snorkeling in shallow water at the Great Barrier Reef, filming some scenes for a segment in a television show

A similar incident in Florida a month later in which a man survived a stingray barb through the heart showed that Irwin may have caused his own death by removing the barb.



And so it goes

... all he left us was alone

The Temptations sing, It was the 3rd of September, that day I'll always remember in their song Papa Was A Rollin' Stone.



This was written by the Motown songwriters Barrett Strong and Norman Whitfield, and produced by Whitfield. It was first recorded by The Undisputed Truth, but Whitfield also had The Temptations record it, with much greater success.


September 3, 1964 -
The Animals charted No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with their hit The House Of The Rising Sun, on this date.



The melody is a traditional English ballad, but the song became popular as an African-American folk song. It was recorded by Texas Alexander in the 1920s, then by a number of other artists including Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, Josh White and later Nina Simone. It was her version The Animals first heard. No one can claim rights to the song, meaning it can be recorded and sold royalty-free. Many bands covered the song after it became a hit for The Animals.


September 3, 1973 -
The Rolling Stones released their hit, Angie, on this date.



The big rumor about this song is that it was written about David Bowie's wife, Angela, who wrote in her autobiography that she once walked in on Bowie and Mick Jagger in bed together - a story Jagger denies. According to the rumor, Jagger wrote this song to appease her, but it was Jagger's bandmate Keith Richards who wrote most of the song. Jagger had this to say about it: "People began to say that song was written about David Bowie's wife but the truth is that Keith wrote the title. He said, 'Angie,' and I think it was to do with his daughter. She's called Angela. And then I just wrote the rest of it."


September 3, 1982 -
Amy Heckerling's coming of age teen comedy (written by Cameron Crowe), Fast Times at Ridgemont High, went into general release on this date.



For his masturbation scene, Judge Reinhold brought a large dildo to work with, unbeknown to the rest of the cast. Phoebe Cates' look of horror and disgust is very real.


September 3, 1983 -
One of the songs that defined MTV in the 80s, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by the Eurythmics, gave them their only US chart topper.



In 1978, Squeeze had a UK hit with Take Me I'm Yours, which features the line "Dreams are made of this" in the chorus.



Marilyn Manson recorded the song in 1995, giving a much darker tone to the song.



(In Manson's auto-biography, he related to this song by mentioning that he met people who wanted to be abused by him; and who wanted to use him as well.)


September 3, 1982 -
Culture Club released their third single, Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?, is released in the UK, on this date.



The four members of Culture Club wrote the songs for their first album Kissing To Be Clever together, with singer Boy George coming up with the lyrics. On this song, he later admitted that he wrote the lyrics about his relationship with their drummer Jon Moss. They had an affair for about six years that was kept hidden from the public, and George often felt hurt and emotional.


September 3, 2006 -
Justin Timberlake (featuring Timbaland) song SexyBack hit No.1 in the UK on this date.



Timberlake wrote this song with his producers, Timbaland and Nate "Danja" Hills. This team also worked on Timberlake's Cry Me A River and produced Nelly Furtado's Promiscuous, which features a cameo by Timberlake in the video.

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


Today in History:
On September 3, 301, during an epic game of hide-and-seek, St. Marinus the Stonemason ran up Mount Titano in Italy to hide from the Roman Emperor Diocletian.

It was a good hiding spot and he was never found.



He started his own country to pass the time,



and Most Serene Republic of San Marino survives to this day.


On September 3, 1189, Richard Lionheart, an enthusiastic french speaking sodomite (which was technical illegal in England,) was crowned King of England on this date.

The son of Henry II (no relation to Rocky II) and Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard spent most of his ten-year reign abroad. For two of these years he was imprisoned by the Holy Roman Emperor, who was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an emperor, but a nasty little man just the same.



When Richard finally returned to English soil he discovered there had been Intrigues, some of which involved his brothers. He therefore crossed the Channel and defeated France before dying from an arrow wound to the neck inflicted by an 11 year old boy.



He had only produced one son, and the most crushing defeat of Richard's tragic life was his discovery that the child was a little bastard.


September 3, 1838 -
Frederick Douglass escaped slavery disguised as a sailor on this date. Later he wrote about his experiences in a book called The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass, the title of which may have diminished the effectiveness of his disguise.



(Publishers thought the original title The Narrative Life of a Muscular and Barechested Black Guy Wearing Snug Fitting Sailor Pants with No Underwear would have limited appeal outside certain fetishist circles.)


September 3, 1856 -
Happy Skyscaper Day - Form follows function



It's the birth anniversary of Louis H. Sullivan, often called the 'father of modern skyscrapers'.


September 3, 1928 –
In San Francisco, Philo Farnsworth demonstrates a television system featuring his Image Dissector camera tube to the press for the first time.



The system delivered 20 pictures per second, enough to convince the eye it was looking at motion rather than a series of stills. The San Francisco Chronicle lauded the achievement under the headline: “S.F. Man’s Invention to Revolutionize Television,” and the story was picked up by wire services and papers nationwide. (By 1938, three-fourths of all patents dealing with television were by Farnsworth.)


September 3, 1935 -
Sir Malcolm Campbell became the first person to drive a car more than 300 miles per hour on this date.



Campbell achieved a speed of 301.337 miles per hour at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats. It was also the first time traffic cop adds "Wow!" to the usual "Do you know how fast you were going?"


September 3, 1939 -
Germany continued its invasion of Poland even though Britain had asked it very nicely to stop. This upset the British sensibility. They declared war on Germany. France followed suit six hours later quickly joined by Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada, making this the official launch of World War II in Europe on this date.



The King’s Speech of George VI (portrayed in the 2010 film The King's Speech,) was broadcast to the people of Britain upon that country’s Declaration of War against Germany. Unprepared to become king, he accepted the role suddenly and reluctantly after his brother took a wife and abdicated the throne. A stutterer from the age of 8, it was almost impossible for him to pronounce the letter ‘k’, but thanks to a last-ditch speech therapist, Australian Lionel Logue (who was in the room during this radio broadcast), King George met the moment and offered great solace to the British people during a terrifying time—a feat that few thought him capable of, due to his years of stuttering.



At the mercy of his greatest weakness—public speaking—he conquered the task with great dignity, after practicing with Logue, who taught him where to pause and breathe during the speech. You can detect one of the techniques used to overcome the stutter, when he uses a very brief “a-” before some of the more difficult words.


September 3, 1965 -
Carlos Irwin Estévez, actor, recovering substance abuser and noted former panderer is another year older today.



Say what you want about Charlie; he seems to know how to live on his own terms and makes it work.


September 3, 1976 -
The unmanned spacecraft Viking 2, the second mission to Mars, landed at Utopia Planitia on the planet and begins transmitting pictures and soil analyses, on this date.



The lander houses instruments to examine the physical and magnetic properties of the soil, analyze the atmosphere and weather patterns of Mars, and to seek out evidence of the presence of life, be it past or present. It took 16,000 pictures in 1,281 days before its batteries died.


September 3, 2004 -
A siege on a Russian school ended with more than 300 people dead, many of them children. The school had been taken hostage by Chechen terrorists on September 1st.



To bring an end to the hostage situation, the Russian military (purportedly under direct order from President Vladimir Putin, who was able to use the crisis to consolidate more power for the Russian Presidency) stormed the school with explosives. 334 hostages died and several hundred others were injured or missing.



And so it goes

There is only one cure for gray hair.

Today is National Beheading Day, one of the long list of make believe holidays that litter the internet. I'm sorry to say that the board of directors of ACME have rejected the suggestion to become the main corporate sponsor.



So remember to wish your friends and neighbors Happy National Beheading Day. Enjoy the odd look they give you.


September 2, 1937 -
Selznick International Pictures' romantic adventure film, The Prisoner of Zenda, directed by John Cromwell (and an uncredited W. S. Van Dyke,) and starring Ronald Colman, Madeleine Carroll, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., C. Aubrey Smith, Raymond Massey, Mary Astor, and David Niven premiered in the US on this date.



Director John Cromwell was not happy with his cast. In memos to David O. Selznick he said that Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and David Niven were "overindulged and lazy." Ronald Colman "never knows his lines. I don't know which one of them annoys me most. Also, both Colman and Carroll insist they have a 'bad side' to be avoided by the camera, but it's the same 'bad side.' Shooting them face-to-face is all but impossible."


September 2, 1949 -
Carol Reed's adaptation of Graham Greene's post war thriller, The Third Man, starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard, and Orson Welles, premiered in London of this date.

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A huge fan of the film, Martin Scorsese wrote a major thesis on it whilst in film school. He got a B+ for it, his tutor remarking "Forget it, it's just a thriller".


September 2, 1950 -
And the gentleman wins the Rock of Gibraltar! And that's not all. The gentleman also wins six hundred gallons of genuine Niagara Falls. ...

Here is one of my favorite non Bug Bunny Looney Tunes; the classic Daffy/ Porky outing, The Ducksters, was released on this date.



On the game show Porky Pig wins:
1. The Rocky Mountains
2. A 17 - Jewel half Nelson
3. The La Brea Tar Pits
4. The Rock of Gibraltar
5. 600 gallons of genuine Niagara Falls
6. $26,000,000.03

The identification of the Ajax Broadcasting Company was an unusual name for Warner Bros.; Ajax was a name more commonly used by rival studio Disney, whereas Warner Bros. would more commonly use Acme Corporation in its later productions.


September 2, 1965 -
The Rolling Stones appeared on the British TV show Ready Steady Go! on this date.



The boys all joined in a parody of Sonny and Cher's I Got You Babe.

Oh those scalawags!


September 2, 1995 -
On the shores of Lake Eerie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio the doors of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum were officially opened, promoting Rock and Roll history through art, exhibits, preserves, and collector’s items.





Since the cutting of the ribbon, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum has hosted over eight million visitors and 50,000 of them were students and teachers.


September 2, 2005 –
If you ever need the definition of 'deer in the headlights' moment, just watch Mike Meyers in this clip.



On NBC’s Concert for Hurricane Relief, Kanye West stated that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people”. The comment went out live on the US east coast, but was cut from a taped version seen on the west coast.


September 2, 2006 -
Stephen Frears brilliant portrayal of the royal family's reaction to the death of Princess Diana, The Queen, starring Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen, and James Cromwell premiered at the Venice Film Festival on this date.



Helen Mirren arranged for the actors and actresses playing members of the Royal family, specifically James Cromwell, Sylvia Syms, and Alex Jennings, to spend a lot of time together off camera. This was done so that they would feel comfortable with each other like a real family.


Another unimportant moment in history


Today in History -
Pheidippides of Athens sets out on his famous run that inspired the Marathon on this date in 490 BC

(we'll catch up with this fool-hearty soul later and why the marathon is a little more than two mile longer than the re-introduced 1896 marathon.)


September 2, 31BC (you know the drill - drunken orgy going calendar makers, drinking from lead cups lead to inaccurate dates.) -
The Naval Battle of Actium in the Ionian Sea, between Roman leader Octavian and the alliance of Roman Mark Antony and Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, occurred on this date. Octavian soundly defeated Antony's fleet which was burned and 5000 of his men were killed. The rivals battled for control of the Roman Empire at Actium, where Cleopatra, seeing Antony's navy being outmaneuvered by Octavian's, ordered her 60 ships to turn about and flee to safety.



Antony's reaction has baffled historians for ages. When he saw Cleopatra leaving, Antony immediately left his command ship and followed her with 40 of his own ships following. Some have attributed Antony's rash departure to being caught off guard when his lover decided to leave him. Others have argued that Antony and Cleopatra had always secretly planned for him to steal away with her once her ships had the opportunity to break free.


September 2, 1666 -
Thomas Farrinor forgot to put out his oven at the end of his shift, on this date.



Unfortunately, the resulting fire cost him his job as official baker to King Charles II of England and started the Great Fire of London. (Quite surprisingly, only six people 'officially' were declared dead because of the fire. To remember the fire, the city of London erected a monument. Six people have committed suicide by jumping off of it, and two have fallen accidentally to their deaths. You might hear this fun fact repeated on tours or forums: more people have died from falling off the monument than died in the fire.



But it's not true - more like several hundred and quite possibly several thousand; very poor people likely died in the fire, burnt so beyond recognition (and not on the 'official radar') that their remains were not counted.

On the plus side, it burned out of control and destroyed four-fifths of London, thereby ending the Black Plague.


Lydia Kamekeha Liliuokalani was born on this date in 1838.

Upon the death of her brother in 1891, she became sovereign Queen of Hawaii. This was considered posing by the American colonials of Hawaii, who reminded her that monarchy was unconstitutional in the United States.



She reminded them that Hawaii was not part of the United States. This was more than unconstitutional: it was cheeky.



She was immediately deposed, then wrote wrote Aloha Oe and retired; spending the rest of her life, unsuccessfully suing the United States for illegally ceasing her island nation.



(And you wonder why the former president may have hesitated showing his birth certificate.)


September 2, 1901 -
Twelve days before the assassination of President William McKinley, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt offered the advice, "Speak softly and carry a big stick," in a speech at the Minnesota State Fair on this date.



Roosevelt described his style of foreign policy as "the exercise of intelligent forethought and of decisive action sufficiently far in advance of any likely crisis."


USS Shenandoah was the first of four United States Navy rigid airships. She was built from 1922 to 1923 at Lakehurst Naval Air Station, and first flew in September, 1923. She developed the Navy's experience with rigid airships, even making the first crossing of the North American continent by airship.

On September 2, 1925, Shenandoah departed Lakehurst on a promotional flight to the Midwest which would include flyovers of 40 cities and visits to state fairs. Testing of a new mooring mast at Dearborn, Michigan was included in the schedule.



While passing through an area of thunderstorms and turbulence over Ohio early in the morning of the 3rd, the airship was torn apart and crashed in several pieces near Caldwell, Ohio. Shenandoah's commanding officer, Commander Zachary Lansdowne and 13 other officers and men were killed.


September 2, 1930 -
Capt. Dieudonne Costes and Lt. Maurice Bellonte arrived in Valley Stream, N.Y. from Paris (3,852 miles) in 37 hours and 18 minutes, aboard the Question Mark - the first non-stop westbound fixed wing aircraft flight between Europe and America.



The flight was a commemorative return visit of Lindberg's historical flight to Paris in 1927.


Russ Columbo, was an American singer, violinist and actor, most famous for his signature tune, Prisoner of Love and the legend surrounding his early death.



On September 2, 1934, Columbo was shot under peculiar circumstances by his longtime friend, photographer Lansing Brown. Columbo was visiting him at the studio one day. In lighting a cigarette, Brown lit the match by striking it against the wooden stock of an antique French dueling pistol. The flame set off a long-forgotten charge in the gun, and a lead pistol ball was fired. The pistol ball ricocheted off a nearby table and hit Columbo in the left eye, killing him almost instantly.



Columbo's death was ruled an accident, and Brown exonerated from blame. His funeral mass was attended by numerous Hollywood luminaries, including Bing Crosby and Columbo's fiancée Carole Lombard.

Literally, with friends like this, who needs enemies.


September 2, 1945 -
In front of an assembled group of Allied sailors and officers, General Douglas MacArthur signed documents during the surrender ceremony aboard the USS Missouri on this date.



The unconditional surrender of the Japanese to the Allies officially ended the Second World War six years and a day since it began in Poland back in 1939. (Remember, those original Hitler World Tour T-Shirts are still quite valuable.)


September 2, 1969 -
Six weeks after landing men on the Moon, America's first automatic teller machine (ATM), at the time called the Docuteller, made its public debut on this date, dispensing cash to customers at Chemical Bank in Rockville Center, New York.

It marked the first time reusable, magnetically coded cards were used to withdraw cash. Today there are well over 3 million ATMs around the world, with one for approximately every 3,000 people.


Before your go - Bunkies, be careful out there -

And so it goes

Keep calm and welcome September.

September is the ninth month of the year, which is why its name is derived from the Latin Septem, meaning seven.

(We have previously addressed this problem last month; see August, the Sixth Month.) On the French Revolutionary calendar, September is known as Vendémiaire (vintage,) and in Dutch, September is "the begining of autumn", Hertmaand. The Basque refer to it as "ear month," and the Congolese, "sánza ya libwá" (Ninth month), the Irish called it "the month of plenty", and the Samoan call it, "September."



September is:
California Wine Month
National Chicken Month
Cable TV Month
National Home Furnishings Month
National Prime Beef Month
Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.



So remember, your doctor has a finger, you have a rectum - you figure it out.

Since it September 1, if you need to, you'd better hurry to catch the 11 am train,





The Hogwarts Express, that makes a run between London, King's Cross Station Platform 9¾ and Hogsmeade Station, if you need to get back to school.

Another thing about September, today is the start of the season when oysters are fit to eat (when months names contain an "R")



Let us give thanks to that first brave person who ate a raw oyster.

One more thing - For those of you reading this in Los Angeles,

Happy Chicken Boy Day!


It's Emma M. Nutt Day, the first woman telephone operator, hired in 1878. She was hired personally by Alexander Graham Bell. A few hours after Emma started work her sister Stella Nutt went into the family business and became the world's second female telephone operator.

Emma loved the job, and worked at it for 33 years. She, reportedly, was able to remember every single phone number in the New England Telephone Company directory.



She apparently had no life.


September 1, 1902 -
Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon), written and directed by Georges Méliès, assisted by his brother Gaston, considered to be the first science fiction movie, was released on this date.



After finishing work on the film, Georges Méliès intended to release it in America and thereby make lots of money. Unfortunately, Thomas A. Edison's film technicians had already secretly made copies of the film, which was shown across the USA within weeks. Melies never made any money from the film's American showings, and went broke several years later (while Edison, of course, made a fortune on the film.)

Damn that Edison!


September 1, 1938 -
Frank Capra bounced back from the disastrous reviews of Lost Horizon, released the previous year, with You Can't Take It with You, which opened in NYC on this date.



Shortly before filming began, Lionel Barrymore lost the use of his legs to crippling arthritis and a hip injury. To accommodate him, the script was altered so that his character had a sprained ankle, and Barrymore did the film on crutches. Barrymore would receive injections every hour to help relieve the pain of his arthritis.


September 1, 1947 -
The screwball comedy, in which Myrna Loy and Shirley Temple play sisters in the film, (even though Myrna Loy was more than 20 years older that Shirley Temple), The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, opened nationwide on this date.



There are a couple of in joke references to Shirley Temple in the film. When Cary Grant is sitting with Shirley in the soda shop, the waitress serves him a "Shirley Temple" drink. Later, when Shirley is in her room, packing her suitcase, she takes a Shirley Temple doll off the mantle over her fireplace.


September 1, 1948 -
Paramount released the Anatole Litvak noir classic, Sorry Wrong Number, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster, on this date.



Barbara Stanwyck found that sustaining that level of emotion all week long and then going home on the weekend was a draining experience. "Five days I was handling it, starting the next day's work where I'd picked up, sustaining it all, and then I had two whole days to relax and not to worry about the character, and I tell you it was strange," said Stanwyck. "It was really hard to pump myself up on Monday morning to try to feel that desperate tension."


September 1, 1972 -
David Bowie released John, I'm only Dancing in the U.K. on this date.



This was the follow-up single to Bowie's British breakthrough Starman. He'd previously charted with Space Oddity back in 1969, but had been unable to follow it up.


Another ACME Safety Film


Today in History:
September 1, 1854 -
Engelbert Humperdinck was born on this date,



No, not that one,



this one, the German opera composer.


September 1, 1897 -
The first subway in North America was opened in Boston on this date. Trolley car grid-lock and street congestion on main thoroughfares motivated the Massachusetts Legislature to authorize the construction of the subway. (Either that, or their unnatural love of dank, urine drenched underground stations.)



The "cut and cover" method of construction was used, with a deep trench dug or "cut" on Tremont Street, and a steel structure built around it and then filled in or "covered up." The Boston subway designers visited the Budapest Subway, and the later Paris Metro.


September 1, 1904 -
Helen Keller with the tireless assistance of teacher Annie Mansfield Sullivan, graduated cum laude from Radcliffe College at age 24.

Helen Keller was the first non-seeing, non-hearing person to enroll in an institution for higher learning - and then to graduate with a degree.


September 1, 1914 –
The last passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, died in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo on this date.

There are various reasons for the extinction of the passenger pigeon - the main one unfortunately was they tasted so damn good broasted.



Her body was frozen into a block of ice and sent to the Smithsonian Institution, where it was skinned and mounted.



Martha (named after Martha Washington) is in the museum's archived collection, and was on display a few years ago.


September 1, 1923 -
The worst earthquake in Japan's history hit the Kanto Plain between Tokyo and Yokohama with a magnitude of 7.9 on the Richter scale. The earthquake and subsequent fires killed nearly 140,000 people and destroyed most of both cities.



The fires started because the earthquake occurred at noon, when charcoal cooking stoves were in use.



People, please stop using your hibachis in your rice paper houses.


September 1, 1932 -
I've been beating myself up with some of the decisions I've made. It's just been bad course management. ...



New York City Mayor James Walker who had been the Mayor since being elected in 1926 was forced to resign following charges of graft and corruption in his administration on this date.


September 1, 1939 -
Germany, itching to start their Second World War Tour (the Foreign Minister of Germany, Joachim von Ribbentrop was seen running around Europe in the Tour T-Shirt, months earlier,) kicked it off at 5:30 AM on this date.



Hitler was so happy that day, he orders extermination of the mentally ill in Germany and Austria on this day as well.


September 1, 1939 -
Mary Jean Tomlin, Academy Award nominated, Tony, Emmy, and Grammy Award winning actress, comedian, writer and producer was born on this date.



One of her first "professional" gigs was as a waitress in Howard Johnson's on Broadway near Times Square. Her comments to customers and staff heard over the eatery's microphone attracted her first big-city audience.


September 1, 1961 -
TWA Flight 529, a Lockheed Constellation L-049 propliner, crashed shortly after takeoff from Midway Airport in Chicago, killing all 73 passengers and 5 crew members on board.



At the time, it was the deadliest single plane disaster in US history.


September 1, 1972 -
The anti-American and anti-Semitic (towards the end of his life) Bobby Fischer became the World Chess Champion in Reykjavik, Iceland, defeating Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union on this date.



He had become the youngest United States Junior Chess Champion at 13 years old followed by the US championship at age 14 and many consider him to be one of the greatest natural talent Chess Players ever.



And so it goes