You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy dessert

Today is National Banana Split Day, observed annually on this date



A 23-year-old apprentice pharmacist at Tassel’s Pharmacy in Latrobe, Pennsylvania created the first banana split in 1904. David Evans Strickler enjoyed inventing sundaes at the store’s soda fountain. His first “banana-based triple ice cream sundae” sold for 10 cents, double the cost of all the other sundaes. But wait, Ernest R. Hazard claimed that he invented the banana split in 1907. He owned a restaurant in Wilmington, Ohio, and he hoped that a new ice cream treat would attract students from Wilmington College.



Walgreens had a hand in spreading the word – the early drug stores, operated by Charles Rudolph Walgreens in the Chicago area, is often credited with spreading the banana split’s popularity to a national level. The store had promoted the banana split as their signature dessert, which attracted customers who might have otherwise been simply satisfied with having their prescriptions filled at other drug stores in the neighborhood.


August 25, 1949 -
Vincente Minnelli adaptation of Gustave Flaubert's novel, Madame Bovary, starring Jennifer Jones, James Mason, Van Heflin, and Louis Jourdan, opened in New York City on this date.



The Breen Office opposed the film, saying that it had too many controversies and innuendo; everything from the make-up to the kissing scenes had to be slightly toned down to appease the censors.


August 25, 1962 -
Little Eva's record The Loco-Motion topped the charts on this date.



Gerry Goffin had actually had this song idea in the back of his mind for a couple of years, but had never found the right moment to bring it out. When he sat down to write it at last, he defended it to his wife and song writing partner, Carole King: "This is going to sound stupid, but what the hell."


August 25, 1972 -
American International Pictures released another film in the blaxploitation vein, Blacula, starring William Marshall, on this date.



While the film was in its production stages, William Marshall worked with the producers to make sure his character had some dignity. His character's name was changed from Andrew Brown to Mamuwalde and received a background story about his being an African prince who had been turned into a vampire.


August 25, 1975 -
Bruce Springsteen's third album Born to Run was released on this date.



The stunning success of Born To Run was tempered by the fine print on Springsteen's contract with his manager, Mike Appel, which gave Appel a degree of control over who Bruce worked with. They sued each other in 1976, and it wasn't until the middle of 1977 that Springsteen could return to the studio on his own terms. When he did, it was with a pile of songs that were more glum than his previous work, a reflection on his personal struggles and time he spent with local friends listening to their concerns. He named the album Darkness On The Edge Of Town, and chose songs that fit the mood. It's nuanced and well-crafted, and made with no concern for hit potential. The album held up as a milestone in his discography, and many of the songs remained concert favorites throughout his career.


August 25, 1979 -
The TV pilot movie for the series Hart to Hart, starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



The initial choice for the role of Jonathan Hart was Cary Grant. However, Grant (who was seventy-five years old at the time) had retired from acting in 1966. Actresses considered for the role of Jennifer Hart included Michele Carey, Suzanne Pleshette and Lindsay Wagner.


August 25, 1986 -
WEA Records released Paul Simon's award-winning Graceland album on this date.



At first, Simon considered the word "Graceland" a placeholder title until he could come up with something better - maybe something that had to do with Africa. After a while, he realized the title wasn't going away, and he got comfortable with it. Said Simon: "I couldn't replace it. I thought, Maybe I'm supposed to go to Graceland. Maybe I'm supposed to go on a trip and see what I'm writing about, and I did."


August 25, 1988 -
One of the best documentary films ever produced, Miramax released The Thin Blue Line, directed by Errol Morris, on this date.



The film rejected by the Oscars for Best Documentary category in 1989 because it was considered to be a fictional film due to its scripted content.


August 25, 1994 –
ABC TV introduced everyone to Angela Chase and the students at Liberty High School when My So-Called Life starring, Claire Danes, Jared Leto and Wilson Cruz, premiered on this date.



Before Claire Danes auditioned for the role of Angela Chase, a then-unknown Alicia Silverstone was the favorite for the role. Casting director Linda Lowy said that the “decision got tough” when the crew realized they would be choosing a 13-year-old over Silverstone, who was 16 and “emancipated,” meaning she could work longer hours.


Another ACME Safety Film


Today in History:
The Council of Nicaea ended on August 25, 325, resulting in the Nicene Creed. This established the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, which proved that the Father and Son were not two, but three and therefore one. This controversial creed alienated many math teachers from the church.



Its repercussions eventually caused a Schism, which caused Infidels, which caused considerable bloodshed and ultimately resulted in more Political Philosophy.


August 25, 1718 -
French colonists, led by Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur De Bienville, established the Louisiana settlement and fortress of Nouvelle Orleans.



In honor of the Big Easy, Laissez les bons temps rouler.


August 25, 1830 -
The 'Tom Thumb' steam locomotive, designed by Peter Cooper, ran the famous first race between a locomotive and a horse-drawn vehicle, over a nine mile stretch, between Relay and Baltimore, Maryland. The locomotive was off to a promising start, but broke down, and the horse won .



Strangely enough on this date in 1875, Captain Matthew Webb became the first person to swim across the English Channel,



traveling from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in less than 22 hours.


August 25, 1835 -
The New York Sun published stunning revelations that Sir John Hershel, having built a new super powerful telescope, had observed little men living on the surface of the moon.



The stories, now generally believed to be false, brought the paper record circulation.


August 25, 1900 -



No, Nietzsche is dead, on this date.



God finds this very amusing.


August 25, 1901 -
Clara Maass, a 25 year old army nurse, volunteered for an experiment to prove that the mosquito carries yellow fever.

Unfortunately for her, the experiment proved successful and Maass died. Her death roused public sentiment and put an end to yellow fever experiments on humans.


August 25, 1916 -
It's the 106th anniversary of the creation of the US National Park Service today.



If you're in NYC, you don't have to leave the city; just take the ferry in lower Manhattan and visit Governors Island.


August 25, 1925 -
The Sleeping Car Porters' Union was established by A. Philip Randolph, a political malcontent who'd been agitating for reform ever since his ejection from the Wide Awake Car Porters' Union.



Mr. Randolph was the principle organizer for the March on Washington in 1963.


August 25, 1944 -
The City of Paris, occupied since June 1940, was liberated from German occupation by Free French Forces under General Jacques LeClerc and his 2nd Tank division on this date (Charles De Gaulle might beg to differ.)



Although ordered by Adolf Hitler to leave Paris a smoldering ruin, Paris' military governor Major General Dietrich von Cholitz lied to his superiors and left the city's landmarks intact.



I bet Hitler wasn't a happy camper today.


It's the birthday of Declan Patrick MacManus, one of the most prolific musicians of the late 20th Century.









In addition to recordings as "Elvis Costello" (often backed by The Attractions), he has recorded music as "Declan MacManus", "Napoleon Dynamite and The Royal Guard", "The Coward Brothers" (with T-Bone Burnett), "Nick Lowe and His Sound", "The Emotional Toothpaste" and "The Imposter".


August 25, 1967 –
George Lincoln Rockwell, the leader of the American Nazi Party, was relieved of his duties by means of the usual Nazi method: he was shot to bloody hell on this date.

Former party member John Patler was later convicted of the killing.


August 25, 1970 -
Elton John, a virtual unknown, started the first night of a six night engagement at the Troubadour Club in Los Angeles on this date, making his first American public appearance.



After the first night, Robert Hilburn, music critic for the Los Angeles Times, wrote: “Tuesday night at the Troubadour was just the beginning. He’s going to be one of rock’s biggest and most important stars.” And as Hilburn predicted, in 1990 Rolling Stone magazine declared these shows to be among the 20 most important concerts in the history of Rock ‘n’ Roll.



And so it goes.

Making Waffles Today

August 24, 1869 -
Today is National Waffle Day.

It the anniversary of Cornelius Swarthout (of Troy, New York) receiving the first U.S. patent for a stovetop Waffle Iron (U.S. patent No. 94,043).


August 24, 1937 -
William Wyler's crime-drama film, Dead End, premiered in NYC on this date.



William Wyler originally wanted to film on location on the streets of New York, but producer Samuel Goldwyn insisted that the movie be made in the studio. Art director Richard Day was assigned to design the sets and made one of the most convincing and elaborate sets in film history.


August 24, 1966 -
One of the quintessential films of the 60s, Alfie, opened in the US on this date.



Several well-known actors (including Richard Harris, Laurence Harvey, James Booth, and Anthony Newley) turned down the title role, due to the then taboo subject matter of abortion. Despite having played Alfie on Broadway, Terence Stamp categorically declined to reprise the role on film, thus giving his good friend, and then roommate Michael Caine, the breakthrough role of his career.


August 24, 1966 -
The (still surprising good) sci-fi film, Fantastic Voyage, premiered on this date.



Medical schools, at least as late as the 1980s, showed clips from this movie to illustrate various concepts in human anatomy, physiology, and especially immunology.


August 24, 1968 -
The Rascals' song People Got to Be Free topped the charts on this date.



Felix Cavaliere claimed that he had to fight for this song, since Jerry Wexler at Atlantic Records was worried that a message song would hurt the Rascals' career. Cavaliere prevailed and the song became the group's biggest hit.


August 24, 1979 -
NBC-TV introduced the girls of Eastland School, an all-girls boarding school in Peekskill, New York, to audiences when The Facts of Life premiered on this date.



The pilot Rough Housing may have been the very first children's program on network television to discuss gender confusion and sexual identity crises among youth; as well as anti-gay bullying among teenagers.


August 24, 1988 -
The Joan Micklin Silver romantic comedy, Crossing Delancey, starring Amy Irving, Peter Riegert, and Sylvia Miles, premiered on this date.



Amy Irving and Jeroen Krabbé were both "married" to Barbra Streisand in other films: Irving in Yentl and Krabbé in The Prince of Tides. Both films were also directed by Streisand.


August 24, 1994 -
Singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley's sole album Grace was released on this date.



The song Grace was the album's first single, and it was also released as a video. Buckley performed the song for a long time before he recorded it, and an early demo appears on an album he made with Gary Lucas that was released posthumously called Songs to No One 1991-1992. Lucas and Buckley were part of a project called Gods & Monsters when they wrote this song; they also collaborated on the Grace track Mojo Pin.


Another job posting from The ACME Employment Agency


Today in History:
August 24, 79 –
Pliny the Elder, who was not as old as his father, Pliny the Dead, witnessed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum being fired by Mount Vesuvius on this date. Vesuvius, ever the vengeful volcano god buried those happening Roman vacation spots, apparently to punish the debauchery that made the towns famous. Tens of thousands of people perished only to have plaster casts made centuries later of the hollows their bodies once occupied.



Once again, People, this is what happens when a city goes on the cheap and starts sacrificing any old whore rather than a proper virgin. One ever so faithful reader suggests that you skip visiting Pompeii and visit Ercolano (Herculaneum) instead. It is not so crowded and there are some cool little bars near the ruins where you can enjoy views of the bay of Naples and Vesuvius.


August 24, 1572 -
Troops loyal to the French crown alongside Catholic civilians massacre the Protestant Huguenots of Paris, estimates range between 20,000 and 100,000 deaths. At news of this carnage of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, a gleeful Pope Gregory XIII ordered celebrations and a medal to be struck.



Sometimes, you just have to be embarrassed to be a Catholic.


August 24, 1680 -
Colonel Thomas Blood, Irish adventurer who stole the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London in 1671, died on this date.



Captured after the theft, he insisted on seeing King Charles II, who had a reputation for liking bold scoundrels. Charles not only pardoned him, but granted Blood Irish lands worth £500 a year!


August 24, 1814 -
The White House and other public buildings in the District of Columbia were torched by the invading British army on this date.



The President's wife, Dolley Madison and Paul Jennings, her husband's enslaved manservant, are torn away from Mrs. Madison's ice cream and candy making duties to save a couple of chairs,



and an unfinished portrait of some dead Virginian Slave holder, Masonite and dope smoker.


August 24, 1853 -
It is believed that the original potato chip recipe was created by chef George Crum, at Moon's Lake House near Saratoga Springs, New York, on this date.



He was fed up with a customer (the popular myth wrongly identifies him as Cornelius Vanderbilt) who continued to send his fried potatoes back, claiming that they were too thick and soggy. Crum decided to slice the potatoes so thin that they couldn't be eaten with a fork, nor fried normally in a pan, so he decided to stir-fry the potato slices. Against Crum's expectation, the guest was ecstatic about the new chips. They became a regular item on the lodge's menu under the name Saratoga Chips. They soon became popular throughout New York and New England.

You don't want to know how Crum got the vinegar flavor for that damn chip.


August 24, 1932 -
Amelia Earhart flew from Los Angeles to Newark, becoming the first woman to complete a non-stop, transcontinental flight on this date.

She completed the journey in 19 hours and five minutes.


August 24, 1958 -
Red China commenced the shelling of the islands of Quemoy and Matsu, which hold one-third of Chiang Kai Shek's troops, on this date. The United States threatens nuclear retaliation for this, but the American people do not support the stance.



A very strange compromise is worked out, permitting China to shell the islands on odd dates and Chiang Kai Shek's troops to resupply the islands on even dates.


August 24, 1959 -
Three days after Hawaiian statehood,



Hiram L. Fong was sworn in as the first Chinese-American U.S. senator while Daniel K. Inouye was sworn in as the first Japanese-American U.S. representative.


August 24, 1968 –
France exploded its first hydrogen bomb, thus becoming the world's fifth nuclear power.



The Germans break out in an ever slight sweat. (The 1998 film Godzilla uses this particular test as the basis for the monster Godzilla, an infant green iguana mutated by the fallout from the blast.)



Another reason to hate the French.


August 24, 1989 -
Pete Rose was suspended from baseball for life for gambling on this date.



Unfortunately, Pete may never get into the Hall of Fame but the Cincinnati Reds did put up a statue of him outside the stadium a couple of years ago.


August 24, 2006 -
The planet Pluto was reclassified as a "dwarf planet" by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) on this date. Pluto's status was changed due to the IAU's new rules for an object qualifying as a planet.



The other planets have been picking on Pluto ever since.



(Damn you, Neil deGrasse Tyson!)



And so it goes.

They both had to get out of the country.

August 23, 1940 -
Preston Sturges' Oscar winning satire on political corruption, The Great McGinty, premiered on this date.



On August 19, 1939, Paramount issued a check to contract writer Preston Sturges to buy the story and screenplay of this movie, in the amount of $10. Sturges promised to sell the script for that amount if he could direct. The studio took him up on it and the film was a hit and won an Academy Award for the screenplay, probably making it the cheapest Oscar-winning script in history.


August 23, 1946 -
Howard Hawks' noir classic, The Big Sleep, starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and Dorothy Malone, premiered in NYC on this date.



According to Lauren Bacall, production was such fun that they got a memo from Jack L. Warner saying, "Word has reached me that you are having fun on the set. This must stop."


August 23, 1957 -
20th Century Fox released its film adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway novel, The Sun Also Rises, on this date.



Upon seeing it for the first time, Ernest Hemingway walked out after the first 25 minutes. He criticized most aspects of the film heavily, and said the only good thing about the film was Errol Flynn's performance. If Hemingway walked out after 25 minutes claiming Flynn's performance was the only good thing, he couldn't have seen it as Errol didn't appear until 54 minutes in.


August 23, 1969 -
The Rolling Stones hit, Honky Tonk Women reached number one on the pop-singles charts on this date.



Lead guitarist Brian Jones was a founding member of the group and was considered their leader in their early years. Unfortunately, drug abuse made him pretty much worthless by 1969, and when The Stones finished recording Honky Tonk Women on June 8, 1969, they drove to his house and fired him. The single was released July 3, 1969, the same day Jones was found dead in his swimming pool.


August 23, 1985 -
The Toho Studio and New World Pictures released the heavily re-edited American version of The Return of Godzilla (a sequel of the original Gojira movie), Godzilla 1985 (a sequel of the American Godzilla, King of the Monsters) starring the great Raymond Burr, Ken Tanaka, and Yasuko Sawaguchi, on this date.



Raymond Burr reprised his character as the journalist Steve Martin for the American version of this film. However, since Steve Martin was the name of a popular comedian, he is referred to on screen as "Steve" or "Mr. Martin."


August 23, 1985 -
Atlantic Releasing Corp releases the comedy film Teen Wolf, directed by Rod Daniel and starred Michael J. Fox, on this date.



Michael J. Fox's fame rose steadily while filming, due to the increasing success of Family Ties. By the end of production, Fox needed more security than he did at the beginning.


August 23, 1996 -
One of the most bizarre films ever made (starring Marlon Brando) The Island of Dr. Moreau, was released on this date.



The original director, Richard Stanley, had spent four years developing the project, only to be fired after four days. When Val Kilmer encountered Richard Stanley during the wrap party, he apologized for costing the director his job. Marlon Brando later offered to compensate Stanley. To his regret, he didn't take it.

Today's moment of Zen


Today in History:
August 23, 1305 -
Scottish patriot William Wallace (Mel Gibson) was persuaded to take an early retirement on this date.



According to one eyewitness: "He was hung in a noose, and afterwards let down half-living; next his genitals were cut off and his bowels torn out and burned in a fire; then and not till then his head was cut off and his trunk cut into four pieces. At this point he was given a gold watch, and a humorous card that we had all signed."


August 23, 1912 –
I didn't want to be a dancer. I just did it to work my way through college. But I was always an athlete and gymnast, so it came naturally..



Eugene Curran, dancer, actor, singer, film director, producer and choreographer was born on this date.


August 23, 1914 -
Japan declared war on Germany on this date.

Much confusion and embarrassment ensues about 25 years later when this point is brought up at a meeting of the Axis powers.


August 23, 1926 -
Rudolph Valentino died from peritonitis and severe pleurisy, on this date, following an emergency appendectomy. His death caused a worldwide frenzy among his fans, sales of the Sheik condoms soared.



Thing is, he probably would have survived if the surgeons weren’t so freaked out by the fact that "Valentino" was their patient. They were so terrified of operating on such a world famous person, that they procrastinated for several hours, dramatically worsening his condition.

Sometime it sucked to be Valentino.


August 23, 1927 -
Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, convicted of murder in 1921, were executed in Boston in spite of worldwide protests, on this date.



Their guilt is still disputed.


August 23, 1939 -
Joachim von Ribbentrop and Josef Stalin signed a non-aggression pact, allowing Germany to attack Poland and the USSR to invade Finland without fears of reprisal on this date. Three years later, the Battle of Stalingrad began. (The Battle of Stalingrad was fought by Germans and Russians, in case the irony was lost on you.)



Moral: secret wartime pacts with evil conquering bastards aren't any more reliable in the real world than they are in a game of Risk.


August 23, 1942 -
The Battle of Stalingrad began on this date, which many historians think of as the turning point of World War II. Hitler had already conquered all of Europe except for England, Switzerland and Monaco and he began the invasion of Russia in the summer of 1941 with an army of four million men. The Germans reached Stalingrad on this day in 1942 and flew more than 2,000 bombing raids in just the first day of the battle. They hit oil storage tanks that flowed into the river and caught fire and laid siege to the city. It went on for months.



It's been called the most terrible battle the world has ever known, and in the end the Russians won, thanks to the approach of winter. The German troops were not prepared for fighting in below zero weather.

By February of 1943, all the German soldiers had surrendered or been killed, the first defeat of Hitler's army.


August 23, 1944 -
At 10.30 am on this date, an American Liberator Bomber 42-50291 took off from Warton on a routine test flight. A huge explosion, thought to have been sparked by a bolt of lightning, tore the huge plane apart and parts of the fuselage hit the Holy Trinity Church of England School in Freckleton, England.

61 people were killed in the Freckleton Air Disaster, 38 were children; it was the greatest loss of civilian life outside London during the Second World War.


August 23, 1944 -
Romanian Prime Minister Ion Antonescu was dismissed by King Michael (another cousin of both Queen Elizabeth and her late itinerant sailor husband Philip Mountbatten), paving the way for Romania to abandon the Axis in favor of the Allies.

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King Michael organized a coup against the pro-Nazi dictator, Marshal Ion Antonescu, but was double-crossed by Joseph Stalin and betrayed by the Allies who ceded the country to the Russians at the Yalta summit in 1945.


August 23, 1966 -
Once again ... No, no, don't leave. There's a beautiful Earth out tonight.

Lunar Orbiter 1, the first American spacecraft to orbit the Moon (launched August 10, 1966,) took the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon.


August 23, 1968 -
The Youth International Party designated Pigasus as their choice of candidate for U.S. President on this date. The boar hog was introduced at a press conference outside the Chicago Civic Center, with the slogan "They nominate a President and he eats the people. We nominate a President and the people eat him."



The gathering is broken up shortly thereafter when the Chicago PD took into custody the Yippie organizers and their pig.


August 23, 2012 -
An 80 something grandmother, Cecilia Gimenez, took it upon herself to restore a fresco of Jesus called Ecce Homo painted by Elias Garcia Martinez at the Sanctuary of Mercy Church near Zaragoza, Spain.



Unfortunately her attempt at restoration did not turn out the way she hoped and the fresco was turned into an image almost resembling a hairy monkey. The woman hoped that it could be further restored by professionals and had gone into it with good intentions.

And you all know what is paved with good intentions.



And so it goes.

This may be on the test

August 22, 408 -
Flavius Stilicho, West Roman field leader was executed for his failure to decisively deal with Alaric, leader of the Visigoths.

Many historians argue that the death of Stilicho was the main catalyst leading to the Vandals sack of Rome in 410.

But you don't care.


August 22, 1929 -
Walt Disney released the animated short film The Skeleton Dance (The first of Disney's Silly Symphony series,) animated by Ub Iwerks, on this date.



Worried that he would be too dependent on Mickey, Walt Disney wanted to diversify. Carl W. Stalling came up with the idea of producing "musical novelties" (which would later become Silly Symphonies). He even came up with the idea of the dancing skeletons for the first of the series (as a child he had seen an ad in The American Boy magazine for a dancing skeleton and the image stuck with him).


August 22, 1930 -
W.C. Fields' classic short, The Golf Specialist, premiered on this date.



The picture of Bellweather on the wanted poster shows W.C. Fields in costume for his "Fatal Glass of Beer" sketch. It obviously is taken from a stage presentation of the well-tried routine, as the comedian would not film it until 1933.


August 22, 1946 -
The last of Alfred Hitchcock's wartime thrillers, Notorious, premiered on this date.



After filming had ended, Cary Grant kept the famous UNICA key. A few years later he gave the key to his great friend and co-star Ingrid Bergman, saying that the key had given him luck and hoped it would do the same for her. Many years later, at a tribute to director Alfred Hitchcock, Bergman went off-script and presented the key to him, to his surprise and delight.


August 22, 1970 -
Bread's single Make It With You from their album, On the Waters, went to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.



When group leader David Gates returned home to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where his mother was throwing a big reception party to celebrate the return of the young chart-conquering hero, the newspaper, television and radio press turned up, hoping to play up the whole "local boy does good" PR angle. In a widely circulated interview, Mrs. Gates proudly told the world just how pleased as punch she was with her son's recent success. She then also told them - in complete candor - that she just couldn't understand why he had to call his new hit record, "Naked With You."


August 22, 1972 -
The movie that introduced Monty Python and its seminal brand of comedy to American audiences, And Now for Something Completely Different, premiered in the U.S. on this date.



This movie was filmed between the first and second seasons of Monty Python's Flying Circus. It contains several sketches that had been written for the second season, but not yet performed, including the Hungarian Phrasebook sketch.


August 22, 1981 -
Duran Duran had their breakthrough hit in Britain when their single Girls On Film, hits #5 in the UK, on this date. It does not chart on its US release, but surges in popularity after its music video goes into heavy rotation on MTV.



(Kids, ask your folks if you're allowed to watch this video)

This song is best known for its video, which was the first extended video ever made and was quite racy. Simon Le Bon has said in interviews that the controversy over the song's notoriously raunchy music video eclipsed the song's message of fashion model exploitation. The video was directed by Lol Creme and Kevin Godley, who were the leaders of the group 10cc and also recorded as Godley & Creme.


August 22, 1986 -
Rob Reiner adaptation of the novella by Stephen King, Stand By Me, starring Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell, and Kiefer Sutherland premiered in US Theatres on this date.



River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Wil Wheaton and Jerry O'Connell got into a lot of mischief in the hotel they were staying in during filming. This included throwing all the poolside furniture into the pool, Wheaton fixing video games in the lobby so they could play them for free and Phoenix (spurred on by the other boys) unknowingly covering Kiefer Sutherland's car in mud, only discovering whose car it was when Sutherland confronted a scared and nervous Phoenix about it later.


August 22, 1990 -
Allan Moyle's teen comedy-drama, Pump Up the Volume, starring Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis, premiered on this date.



Allan Moyle described the movie's protagonist and central character of Mark Hunter (played by Christian Slater) as an amalgam of Lenny Bruce and Holden Caulfield.


August 22, 2020 -
 Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion single WAP, goes to the top of the charts on this date. The song has the destinction of being the most sexually explicit song ever to top the Billboard Charts.



(Kids, check with your folks if you're allowed to listen to this song.)

The Colin Tilley directed video finds Cardi and Megan exploring a luxurious mansion that features some of their celebrity friends dancing behind certain doors. They are, in order of appearance, Kylie Jenner, Normani, Rosalía, Mulatto, Sukihana and Rubi Rose.


Word of the Day


Today in History:
August 22, 565 -
St. Columba, the man credited with introducing Christianity to Scotland, reported seeing a monster in Loch Ness on this date.

St. Columba made the sign of the cross and told the monster, "you will go no further," and it fled. There was no written report on how many drams of whiskey the saint had downed before his encounter.


August 22, 1485 -
At the Battle of Bosworth, England's King Richard III was terminated for having made a fiscally irresponsible bid on a horse.



For evermore, kingdoms went for a great deal more than small pieces of hardware.


August 22, 1770 -
Captain James Cook claimed Australia for the British crown when he landed on a small island off the coast of Queensland.

This must have come as a great shock to the indigenous inhabitants there. But then again, they didn't have a flag.


August 22, 1776 -
George Washington asked the Continental Congress for permission to burn New York City, to stop the city from being used to quarter troops arriving via the British fleet. It is declined, but his soldiers set 1/4th of the town ablaze on September 21.

There are still many in the government that would like to enact Washington's plan right now.


August 22, 1849 -
In the first air raid in history, Austria launched 200 pilotless balloons (these were not those 99 luftballons Nena sang about,) each attached with 30-pound bombs, against the city of Venice on this date.

The bombs don’t cause much damage (luftballoons indeed.) These unmanned balloons were also the first drones. But on this August day, exactly a hundred years later,

Japan dedicated the town of Hiroshima as a shrine of peace after a single nuclear bomb killed 130,000 people


It's Claude Debussy's birthday (You may feel piss proud of yourself for just listening.)



You may go back about your business


August 22, 1851 -
The American schooner America was allowed, through special dispensation of Queen Victoria, to enter the annual Royal Yacht Squadron's Regatta. The America won the race, beating out 15 competitors and the trophy was renamed the America's Cup after the yacht.



The race was a 53-mile (85-kilometer) regatta at the Isle of Wight. The Cup is the oldest trophy awarded in international sports.


August 22, 1864 -
12 nations sign the first Geneva Convention specifically calling for the protection of the wounded during times of active warfare on this date. This leads directly to formation of the Red Cross.



In 1882, U.S. President Chester Arthur signed the treaty, making the U.S. the 32nd nation to do so.


August 22, 1893 -
Tell him I was too fucking busy-- or vice versa.





Dorothy Parker was born in New York City, to Henry and Eliza Rothschild (... My God, no, dear! We'd never even heard of those Rothschilds ....) on this date.



Her birth was two months premature, allowing her to say that it was the last time she was early for anything. She was quoted, when discussing her early years, "All those writers who write about their childhood! Gentle God, if I wrote about mine you wouldn’t sit in the same room with me."



While she was a successful writer, she was just plain lousy at committing suicide. Dorothy Parker attempted suicide four times herself before succumbing to a heart attack in 1967.


August 22, 1902 -
President Theodore Roosevelt became the first U.S. chief executive to ride in an automobile (a purple-lined Columbia Electric Victoria) in Hartford, Ct. on this date. The police detail covering the event rode bicycles.

I'm sure he had a bully time, but the truth is a year earlier William McKinley rode in a car, although it was the electric ambulance that took him to the hospital after he was shot.


August 22, 1906 -
The Victor Talking Machine Company of Camden, New Jersey, manufactured its first Victrola record player on this date.

The devices, including the hand cranked unit and horn cabinet would sell for $200.


August 22, 1920 -
The late great Ray Bradbury, science fiction writer whose works include The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451, was born on this date.



Though considered by many to be the greatest science-fiction writer of the of the 20th century, he suffers from a fear of flying and driving. He has never learned to drive, and did not fly in an airplane until October 1982.


August 22, 1938 -
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, one of Hollywood's most famous dancing duos, appeared on the cover of Life Magazine.

There were on the cover to promote their current film, Carefree. The film is often remembered as the film in which Astaire and Rogers shared their first long on-screen kiss.


August 22, 1939 -
The first U.S. patent (US Patent #2170531 A) was issued for a disposable whipped cream aerosol container on this date.

Julius S. Kahn's patent was titled "An Apparatus for Mixing a Liquid with a Gas" and was specifically concerned with making whipped cream, using a ordinary soda bottle.

And so Whippets were born - I've got nothing else to say.


August 22, 1962 -
A group called the OAS (Secret Army Organization in English) plotted an assassination attempt on President Charles De Gaulle, who they believed had betrayed France by giving up Algeria (in northern Africa) to Algerian nationalists.





Frederick Forsyth dramatized the events of that August in his best-selling novel The Day of the Jackal, later made into a film.


August 22, 1973 -
Henry Kissinger, German-born American bureaucrat, succeeded William Rogers as Secretary of State under President Richard Nixon, on this date.

Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize in the same year, (he's also considered a war criminal by others.) He continued in office until 1977.



(I really don't care about the man but it gave me an excuse to play a clip of Gilda Radner and John Belushi.)


Before you go,

the Autumnal Equinox occurs in 31 days.



And so it goes.

Things you probably didn't want to know (part 4)

One of the earliest known vacuum cleaners was so large that it had to be hauled from house to house via a horse-drawn carriage.



Its giant hoses were popped through the windows of customers, and a gas-powered motor generated the suction that pulled the dirt and debris into a glass container where onlookers could gawk at the volume of filth coming from their neighbors' homes. And unfortuneately, the device left a big pile of horse manure in front of your house.


August 21, 1942 -
Walt Disney decided too many children were sleeping too well and released the animated classic Bambi on this date.



No matter how skilled the animator, the Disney cartoonists simply could not draw Bambi's father's antlers accurately. This was because of the very complicated perspectives required. To get around the problem, a plaster cast was made of some real antlers which was then filmed at all angles. This footage was then rotoscoped onto animation cels.


August 21, 1952 -
The classic John Ford film, The Quiet Man was released on this date.



In the scene where John Wayne discovers Maureen O'Hara in his cottage, the wind whipped her hair so ferociously around her face she kept squinting. John Ford screamed at her in the strongest language to open her eyes. "What would a bald-headed son of a bitch know about hair lashing across his eyeballs," she shot back.


August 21, 1965 -
The protest song Eve of Destruction, written by P. F. Sloan, was released by Barry McGuire, on this date.



This was originally recorded by The Turtles, who released it on their first album earlier in 1965. The Turtles did not release it as a single, and McGuire's version became the hit. As management problems and personnel changes plagued The Turtles, they finally decided to release this as a single in 1970, shortly before they broke up. It was their last song to chart, reaching #100.


August 21, 1965 -
The Lovin' Spoonful's released their first no. 1 hit, Do You Believe In Magic on this date.



The song was written by John Sebastian, who formed The Lovin' Spoonful with his friend, Zal Yanovsky. Sebastian and Yanovsky were in a group called The Mugwumps, and made a name for themselves playing clubs in Greenwich Village. When the other Mugwumps - Mama Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty - moved to California and formed The Mamas And The Papas, they formed the band and Sebastian began focusing on songwriting. The Lovin' Spoonful started playing electric instruments to get away from the folk music sound and attract a younger contemporary rock audience.


August 21, 1965 -
Out of Our Heads, the third British and fourth American studio album by the Rolling Stones went No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.



In America, London Records released the first version of Out Of Our Heads on July 30, 1965. The UK version, issued by Decca Records, came out two months later, on September 24, and featured some significant differences in the tracklisting.


August 21, 1979 -
Gary Numan released his hit Cars from his album The Pleasure Principle, on this date.



This was Numan's only hit in the US, but he has had many others in England, where he has a large cult following. Numan specializes in electronic music, and was an influence on artists like Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails.


August 21, 1981 -
John Landis' classic comedy horror film, An American Werewolf in London, starring David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, and Griffin Dunne, premiered in the US on this date.



David Naughton, then known as Dr. Pepper's star of the "I'm A Pepper" commercials, was let go by Dr. Pepper because of his nude scenes in this film.


August 21, 1987 -
The low-budget film, directed by Emile Ardolino, Dirty Dancing, starring Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Cynthia Rhodes, and Jerry Orbach, premiered in the US on this date.



Relations between the two main stars varied throughout production. They had already had trouble getting along in their previous project, Red Dawn, and worked things out enough to have an extremely positive screen-test. Still, that initial cooperation soon faded, and they were quickly "facing off" before every scene. There was concern among the production staff that the animosity between the two stars would endanger the filming of the love scenes. To address this, Eleanor Bergstein and Emile Ardolino forced the stars to re-watch their initial screen-tests, the ones with the "breathtaking" chemistry. This had the desired effect, and Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey were able to return to the film with renewed energy and enthusiasm.


August 21, 1991 -
The Coen Brothers take on 30s Hollywood, Barton Fink, starring John Turturro, John Goodman, Judy Davis, Michael Lerner, John Mahoney, and Jon Polito went into general release on this date.



The parts played by John Turturro, John Goodman, Jon Polito and Steve Buscemi were all written with them in mind.


Another book from the back shelves of The ACME Library


Today in History:
August 21, 1614 -
Erzsebet Bathory, ruler of Transylvania, died at 54, on this date. She had sought immortality by killing young virgins and bathing in their blood (or so they say.) It apparently didn't work.



Now that Elizabeth Arden's in Union Square is closed, I wonder who is still offering this service and where are they finding enough virgins.


August 21, 1888 -
William Seward Burroughs of St. Louis, Missouri (grandfather of Beat Generation writer William S. Burroughs) was granted four patents for the first successful “Calculating-Machine,” sometimes referred to as an “adding and listing machine.” (US No. 388,116-388,119)

One year after making his first patent application on January 10, 1885, he incorporated his business as the American Arithmometer Corporation, with an investment of $100,000.


August 21, 1906 (or 1905?) -
Happy Birthday Friz



Isadore 'Friz' Freleng, one of the original tenants of Warner Bros. Termite Terrace, was born on this date.


August 21, 1911 -
Pablo Picasso was having a very bad day.

His so called friend, French poet Guillaume Apollinaire, who had once called for the Louvre to be "burnt down," came under suspicion when the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Lourve on this day; he was arrested and put in jail. Apollinaire, as all bad French dadaist poets would do, ratted out his friend Pablo Picasso, who was also brought in for questioning, but both were later exonerated.

Very nice guy.



At the time, the painting was believed to be lost forever, and it would be two years before the real thief was discovered. Louvre employee Vincenzo Peruggia stole it by entering the building during regular hours, hiding in a broom closet and walking out with it hidden under his coat after the museum had closed. Peruggia was an Italian patriot who believed da Vinci's painting should be returned to Italy for display in an Italian museum.



Peruggia may have also been motivated by a friend who sold copies of the painting, which would skyrocket in value after the theft of the original. After having kept the painting in his apartment for two years, Peruggia grew impatient and was finally caught when he attempted to sell it to the directors of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence; it was exhibited all over Italy and returned to the Louvre in 1913. Peruggia was hailed for his patriotism in Italy and only served a few months in jail for the crime.


August 21, 1912 -
Arthur R. Eldred was the first person to have achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest in the Boy Scouts of America.

A few weeks after becoming the first Eagle Scout, Eldred helped to save another Scout from drowning and was awarded the Bronze Honor Medal for his actions.


August 21, 1959 -
Hawaii became the 50th state to enter the Union when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the order, granting the stolen island nation, Hawaii statehood on this date.



Several bills for Hawaii had been presented to the US Congress, in 1919, 1935, 1947 and 1950, but none had passed until this day in 1959. (Nixon gleefully looking on.  He was ensuring that little Barry Obama would be born on U.S. soil.  Nixon was at the heart a many a conspiracy.)


August 21, 1965 -
Gemini 5, the 11th crewed American spaceflight, was launched with L. Gordon Cooper Jr. and Charles Conrad Jr., on this date.



Gemini 5 doubled the U.S. space-flight record of the Gemini 4 mission to eight days, the length of time it would take to fly to the Moon, land and return.


August 21, 1983 -
Longtime political opponent of Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, former Philippine senator Benigno S. Aquino Jr. was not having a very good day. As Benigno stepped off a airplane at the Manila airport (ending his three years of self-imposed exile in the US,) he was assassinated on this date.



He was returning home to run in the Philippine's next election. These kind of things tend to put people off of travel.


August 21, 1986 -
1,700 people were killed in Cameroon when Lake Nyos emitted a huge cloud of fast-moving fog, quickly enveloping the villages of Nyos, Kam, Cha and Subum on this date.



The lethal mist, consisting mainly of carbon dioxide and water vapor, displaces the oxygen in the low-lying zones, killing thousands of cattle and even more birds and wild animals. One eyewitness later describes the landscape as being "littered with human remains and animal carcasses."

That would have ruined a vacation.



And so it goes.

No static at all

August 20, 1920 -
The first commercial radio station begins operating in Detroit, Michigan with call sign 8MK (Now WWJ (Newsradio 950) ).



The radio station was started by The Detroit News newspaper and is now owned and run by CBS.



To celebrate the event, National Radio Day, UNESCO formally announced the formation of International Radio Day in February of 2012 (celebrated February 13th), after a suggestion put forward by Spain to celebrate this important means of communication. In some parts of the world, radio still remains an important lifeline to the outside world.


August 20, 1941 -
William Wyler's pitch-perfect adaptation of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes, starring Bette Davis, premiered on this date.



Bette Davis had legendary make-up artist Perc Westmore devise a white mask-like effect for her face to emphasize Regina's coldness. William Wyler hated it, likening it to a Kabuki mask.


August 20, 1942 -
An almost forgotten comedy from Columbia Pictures, Talk of The Town, directed by George Stevens starring Cary Grant, Jean Arthur and Ronald Colman, premiered on this date.



Cary Grant and Ronald Colman were both paid at least $100,000 for their work in the film. Jean Arthur, who was in Harry Cohn's dog house and just coming off suspension, was only paid $50,000.


August 20, 1972 -
Stax Records commemorates the seventh anniversary of the 1965 Watts riots with a star-studded benefit concert at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, on this date. More than 100,000 fans show up to hear Isaac Hayes, The Bar-Kays, The Staple Singers, and Kim Weston, among others, perform at what becomes known as Black Woodstock.



Among the artists who were scheduled to appear at the concert but couldn't due to various reasons were Little Milton, The Emotions, Johnnie Taylor and Luther Ingram. In fact, Ingram's performance was actually performed on a sound stage a few weeks later with various crowd shots interspersed throughout his performance and the other acts were filmed at various locations in Los Angeles in the weeks following the concert.


August 20, 1977 -
The Emotions hit #1 in the US with the single Best Of My Love for the first of five weeks, on this date. (Two years earlier, the Eagles hit #1 with a song with the same title.)



Songwriter Maurice White sued Mariah Carey and C+C Music Factory for plagiarizing this song for Mariah's 1991 #1 hit Emotions (C+C produced the song for Mariah). Said White, "Sampling is one thing, but she took the whole song." The lawsuit was settled out of court.


August 20, 1988 -
Steve Winwood's single Roll With It when to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.



The song was Winwood's biggest solo hit in the US, spending four weeks at #1 and also topped the pop chart in his native Britain. The album of the same title also topped the US albums chart.


August 20, 1991 -
Spin Doctors release their debut album, Pocket Full of Kryptonite on this date.



The album went on to sell over 5 million copies thanks to the hits Little Miss Can't Be Wrong and Two Princes.

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


Today in History:
August 20, 1865 -
In the great tradition of the American presidency, President Andrew Johnson rouses himself from an alcoholic stupor,

and formally declared the Civil War over (months after Lee's surrender at Appomattox.)


August 20, 1885 -
Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta, The Mikado opened at the Fifth Street Theatre in New York on this date.



The production originally opened on March 14, 1885, in London, where it ran at the Savoy Theatre for 672 performances.


August 20, 1896 -
A patent application was filed (US Patent No. 597,062) by brothers John and Charles J. Erickson & Alexander E. Keith for the rotary dial telephone on this date.



The dial telephone made it possible for people to dial phone numbers on their own thereby making the communication process easier and more efficient. The patent issued January 11, 1898.



There is another clear, bright line on how old you are - have you ever had to dial a phone?


August 20, 1940 -
Soviet Professional Leon Trotsky liked his job, but the strain was wearing on him — dictatorial burnout. In the summer of 1940 he finally used some of the vacation time he'd accumulated to head down to Mexico and think through his options.



On this date, in Mexico City, Trotsky met with one of Stalin's human resources representatives, who suggested he take an early retirement.



The suggestion was accompanied by several persuasive blows to the head with an axe, which seriously impeded Trotsky's growth potential. Sadly, he died the next day before he could sue for damages.


August 20, 1948 -
... You have to ask these questions: who pays the piper, and what is valuable in this life?



Robert Anthony Plant CBE, button phobia rock singer and songwriter, was born on this date.


August 20, 1977 -
NASA bizarrely decided to go into the record business. Scientists, not quite understanding the record industry, press only one record but make it out of gold, believing that the unaffordable price will boost profit. The record is nearly unlistenable except for the recording of the Chuck Berry song, Johnny B Goode. NASA decided to hide this costly blunder by including the recording in the payload of the space probe Voyager 2, launched on this date, on a mission to Jupiter and beyond. (This will confused the aliens when they realize that NASA launched Voyager 1 on September 5, 1977.)



The contents of the record were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan of Cornell University. Dr. Sagan and his associates assembled 115 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind, and thunder, and animal sounds, including the songs of birds and whales. To this they added musical selections from different cultures and eras, and spoken greetings from Earthlings in fifty-five languages, and printed messages from President Jimmy Carter and U.N. Secretary-General (and ex-Nazi) Kurt Waldheim. Remember these facts when the aliens come to invade the planet. It passed Jupiter in the summer of 1979, and is still traveling, probably right out of our solar system.

In a memorable Saturday Night Live segment, it was announced by Steve Martin that the first message from extraterrestrials was being received. Once decoded, the message stated, "Send more Chuck Berry."


August 20, 1986 -
US Postal worker Patrick Sherrill shot and killed 14 coworkers, and then himself, on this date.

The shooting, which happened in Edmond, Oklahoma, is generally accepted as the event that spawned the "going postal" phrase.


August 20, 1989 -
The two Menendez brothers, Lyle and Erik, shot their parents to death on this date and then went to the movies to establish an alibi. They called 911 when they returned home from the movies to report the murders.



Though they weren't initially suspected, the two brothers ultimately were convicted and sentenced to life in prison.


On August 20, 1991, the Estonian parliament declared independence from the Soviet Union.

The next day, Latvia declared its independence from the Soviet Union and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev declared he was back in full control after a 60-hour coup by old-school Communists finally crumbled.



Full control of exactly what?


Today's brief quiz: What did Vincenzo Peruggia steal on August 21, 1911?

a. The Shroud of Turin
b. Home plate
c. The Mona Lisa
d. documents from Mar-a-Lago
e. The Hope Diamond

Bonus: what was his day job? (Answer tomorrow)



And so it goes.