I know, what the hell do you care!

Alfred the Great, King of the Anglo-Saxons, died (probably from severe hemorrhoids) on this date in 899,



but that has nothing to do with the fact that today we celebrate National Pumpkin Day and Howl at the Moon Day today.



So don't make us wait - howl at the moon, preferably while eating pumpkin pie.


October 26, 1959 -
A gentle and yet still relevant Cold War comedy, The Mouse that Roared, opened in the US on this date.



While filming, Peter Sellers was acting on stage in the comedy Brouhaha, which also dealt with a mythical kingdom whose ruler develops an outlandish plot to secure U.S. aid. Five days a week, he had to be at the studio at 6:30 a.m. for makeup and wardrobe, then get himself to the theatre by 7 p.m. During location shooting, a driver picked him up at the theatre after the performance and he slept in the car on the way to the film shoot.


October 26, 1962 -
The Crawford - Davis horror camp classic, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? opened in NYC on this date.



Early on, Bette Davis made the decision to create her own makeup for Jane. "What I had in mind no professional makeup man would have dared to put on me," said Davis. "One told me he was afraid that if he did what I wanted, he might never work again. Jane looked like many women one sees on Hollywood Boulevard. In fact author Henry Farrell patterned the character of Jane after these women. One would presume by the way they looked that they once were actresses, and were now unemployed. I felt Jane never washed her face, just added another layer of makeup each day." Davis' garish makeup made her look something akin to a grotesque version of an aging Mary Pickford gone to seed, and she loved it. She took pride when Farrell visited the set one day and exclaimed, "My God, you look just exactly as I pictured Baby Jane." The outrageousness of Davis' appearance caused some concern for Aldrich and the producers, who feared it might be too over-the-top. However, as time went on, they came to see that Davis' instincts for the character were right.


October 26, 1967 -
An excellent (though almost forgotten) thriller from the 60s, Wait Until Dark, premiered on this date.



In an interview, Alan Arkin talked about the Oscar nominations he received for his early major film roles (The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming and The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter). When asked if he was surprised that he was overlooked for Wait Until Dark, his second movie, he replied: "You don't get nominated for being mean to Audrey Hepburn!"


October 26, 1970 -
Elton John released his first hit single Your Song, on this date.



This was one of the first songs John wrote with Bernie Taupin. They met after a record company gave John some of Taupin's lyrics to work with. Eventually, they both moved into John's parents' house, where they started working together.


October 26, 1972 -
Ringo Starr and singer Lulu appear in non-speaking cameos on the Monty Python's Flying Circus episode Mr And Mrs Brian Norris' Ford Popular on this date.



The tramp (Michael Palin) enters and sits between them and begins his introduction, in David Frost style: “Hello, good evening, welcome … It’s …” a cue for the closing titles of the program to run. While Lulu gets up and storms off stage in a huff, Ringo (still not uttering a single word) becomes involved in a fight with the tramp.


October 26, 1982 -
TV's longest dream sequence, St. Elsewhere, premiered on NBC-TV on this date.



The writers of this show shared a building and a copy machine at MTM with the writers from Hill Street Blues. Whenever they needed inspiration, they would look at a script from Hill Street Blues and that always pushed them to do better.


October 26, 1984 -
James Cameron's sci-fi classic, The Terminator starring the occasionally nude Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton premiered in the US on this date.



One afternoon during a break in filming, Arnold Schwarzenegger went into a restaurant in downtown L.A. to get some lunch and realized all too late that he was still in Terminator makeup - with a missing eye, exposed jawbone and burned flesh.


October 26, 2000 -
The short-lived sitcom Cursed (aka The Weber Show), starring Steven Weber, debuts on NBC on this date.



Originally, the show was focused on Steven Weber's character being the most cursed man on earth. When that didn't work, NBC decided to revamp the show into a more general sitcom and renamed it The Weber Show.


October 26, 2001 -
Richard Kelly's cult classic film, Donnie Darko, starring Jake Gyllenhaal went into limited release in US theaters on this date.



Writer and director Richard Kelly came up with the idea for the future blobs while watching football. John Madden used to use a "telestrator", where he'd diagram a paused video to show where the players were about to go moments before letting the tape roll. Kelly watched this while high, and started to think about what would happen, hypothetically, if "someone upstairs" was doing that to humans. Fittingly enough, Donnie first notices the future blobs while watching football.


Another posting from the ACME Employment Agency


Today in History:
October 26, 1440 -
Gilles de Rais, French marshal and (alleged) depraved killer of 140 children, was strangled then thrown onto slow fire on this date.



A brilliant young French knight, he was believed to either have cracked over the torture and death of his true love, Jeanne d'Arc, the Maid of Orleans or some theorists consider Gilles the victim of a plot to acquire his lands.


On this date, in 1825, New York City becomes a World Port with the opening of the Erie Canal; a river waterway between Hudson River and Lake Erie opened.



It cut through 363 miles of wilderness and measured 40 feet wide and 4 feet deep. It had 18 aqueducts and 83 locks and rose 568 feet from the Hudson River to Lake Erie.



Toll receipts paid back the $7.5 million construction cost within ten years. (This will all be on the test.)


October 26, 1881 -
Wyatt Earp, his two brothers and Doc Holliday showed up at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, to disarm the Clanton and McLaury boys, who were in violation of a ban on carrying guns in the city limits.



This became the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Billy Clanton and Tom and Frank McLowery were killed; Earp's brothers were wounded. “OK” probably referred to two families, Ormsby & Kimberly, who owned the nearby corral.


October 26, 1944 -
Freemason and Vice President Harry S Truman publicly denies (yet again) ever having been a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

Unfortunately for him, while never an active member, he did pay the $10 membership dues in 1922 in order to get backing for a judgeship he was seeking back in Missouri.

I can't even imagine the feeding frenzy that would have go on today.


October 26, 1965 -
Queen Elizabeth decorated The Beatles with the Order of the British Empire, at Buckingham Palace, on this date.



The Beatles, ever polite, allowed Her Majesty to add chintz curtains and tufted sofas in their living rooms. (According to an account by John Lennon the group smoked dope in one of the palace bathrooms to calm their nerves.)


October 26, 1970 -
Doonesbury, the comic strip by Gary Trudeau, premiered in 28 newspapers across the U.S. on this date.

The strip is still going strong: a new strip occasionally published on Sundays.

Who knew? (Who reads newspapers anymore?)


October 26, 1979 -
Kim Jae Kyu, director of South Korea's central intelligence agency, "accidentally" shot President Park Chung Hee to death, also killing Park's bodyguard. Park had been president (dictator, effectively) since 1961. Kim was executed the following May for his attempted coup d'etat. (I hate when someone in my cabinet tries to assassinate me.)



In 2005 at the New York Film Festival, the film, The President's Last Bang, recounted the events.


October 26, 1984 -
19-year-old John McCollum shot and killed himself while listening to Ozzy Osbourne records on this date. One year later, McCollum's parents file suit against Ozzy and CBS Records, alleging that the song Suicide Solution from the album Blizzard of Ozz contributed to their son's death.



Except that the song's subject was quite plainly alcohol addiction. The trial court dismissed the McCollum's complaint. (Please, only watch the video once, with adult supervision. And for heaven's sake, don't try to play it backwards!)


October 26, 1991 -
A sudden wind uprooted a 485-pound umbrella, part of an outdoor 'art project' installed by Christo, in the Tejon Pass north of Los Angeles and struck Lori Keevil-Matthews, 33 years old, of Camarillo, California, crushing her to death against a boulder.



That must really suck being killed by an old Hollies song.



And so it goes

These wounds I had on Crispin's day

It's Saints Crispin and Crispinian Day.

They are the patron saints of cobblers, tanners and leather workers.



So remember, if you're walking through the West Village this morning and come upon a gimlet-eyed Leather Daddy walking home, wish him a Happy St. Crispin's Day!


October 25, 1928 -
Carl Theodor Dreyer silent masterpiece The Passion of Joan of Arc starring the amazing Marie Falconetti, premiered in Paris on this date.



The film was considered lost for many years. In 1978 an almost complete print was found in the estate of an Italian priest who had organized screenings in mental hospitals.


October 25, 1957 -
One of Frank Sinatra's best movie performances, Pal Joey was released on this date.



Columbia Pictures head Harry Cohn suggested Marlene Dietrich for the role of Vera Simpson. Dietrich turned down the part but suggested her friend Frank Sinatra for the role of Joey after Gene Kelly was denied the part. Cohn suggested Jack Lemmon before Sinatra was eventually cast.


October 25, 1957 -
The greatest 50s Drive-in movie, The Amazing Colossal Man, opened in NYC on this date.



American International Pictures released this in a double feature with Cat Girl.
 

October 25, 1964 -
The Rolling Stones made their first of an eventual six appearances throughout the 1960s on the Ed Sullivan Show, on this date.



The audience shrieks continued right through their song and for a while afterward. Sullivan had to ask the audience to calm down so he could move on with the act.


October 25, 1965 -
Jean-Luc Godard's take on Sci-Fi Film Noir, Alphaville, opened in NYC on this date.



Despite the fact that the film is a work of science fiction and supposed to be in a city of the future, all the sets were existing locations in Paris in 1965, and all the weapons are conventional firearms.


October 25, 1967 -
The Lerner and Loewe take on the the Arthurian legend, Camelot, starring Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero, premiered on this date.



During one rocky period in the film's production, David Hemmings came to collect Richard Harris from his house in the Hollywood Hills. When he arrived, he found Harris on a balcony above the swimming pool. "I'm going to jump", Harris announced. "You can't do that", Hemmings protested. "There's no water in the pool". Harris replied, "I don't give a fuck. I fucking hate Warner Brothers and fucking Hollywood, the people here are all fucking arseholes". Hemmings climbed out on to the balcony. "Are you sure you really want to do this?" Harris' face fell, and he said "No, I don't. Let's have a drink." Harris and Hemmings became life-long friends.


October 25, 1971 -
The PBS children's show The Electric Company premiered on this date.



Judy Graubart was the first cast member to appear in the first skit of the first episode. She, as well as Skip Hinnant and Morgan Freeman were the last cast members to appear in the final skit of the final episode.


October 25, 1975 -
Quite arguably the funniest episode ever broadcast on network TV, The Mary Tyler Moore Show - Chuckles Bites the Dust first aired on this date.



This episode culminates in a funeral for a clown that becomes a celebration of his life and career. There is an annual festival of clowns known as the Funeral of Grimaldi, in celebration of the life of Joseph Grimaldi, a renowned 19th-century clown


October 25, 1975 -
Paul Simon released his fourth solo album, Still Crazy After All These Years on this date.



On the second episode of Saturday Night Live, Simon hosted the show, which he opened by singing Still Crazy alone on stage. This was the song's debut, as the album was released a week later. When Simon returned to the show on November 20, 1976, he once again opened with a performance of this song, this time in a turkey costume (it was the weekend before Thanksgiving)!




During this performance, he stops in mid song, and then is followed backstage griping to producer Lorne Michaels about making him wear the costume. In fact, it was Paul's idea to do this, including the walk-off; he wanted to show he had a sense of humor and didn't take himself as seriously as most people thought.


October 25, 1978 -
The independently produced horror film Halloween, directed by John Carpenter and starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis, premiered in the US on this date.



In the documentary short, 'Halloween' Unmasked 2000, it was revealed that the crew had chosen two masks for Michael Myers to decide on. The first was a Don Post Emmett Kelly smiling clown mask that they put frizzy red hair on. This was an homage to how he killed his sister, Judith, in a clown costume. They tested it out and it appeared very demented and creepy. The other mask was a 1975 Captain James T. Kirk mask that was purchased for around a dollar. It had the eyebrows and sideburns ripped off, the face was painted fish belly white, and the hair was spray painted brown, and the eyes were opened up more. They tested out the Kirk mask and the crew decided that it was much more creepy because it was emotionless. This became the Michael Myers mask.


October 25, 1982 -
Bob Newhart's second successful-sitcom Newhart, premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



The show was videotaped in the first season, but later episodes were filmed. It was Bob Newhart's idea to begin using film from season two onward in order to give the show a more realistic look.


October 25, 1986 -
For the first time in the Billboard Chart's history, the top three positions are all held by solo female artists: No. 1 was Cyndi Lauper's single True Colors,



Lauper's good friend Gregory Natal had recently died of AIDS when Lauper heard the demo of the song. She was thinking of Natal when she came up with her approach to the vocal, particularly the soft, whispering sections. "I realized it had to be a voice that whispers to you," she told 60 Minutes. ">A voice that's almost childlike so it will speak to the softest, most gentle part of a human being. It's a voice whispering to you, telling you it's going to be OK."



the No. 2 spot was Tina Turner's single Typical Male,



and the third spot was Janet Jackson's single, Nasty.


Today's moment of Zen


Today in History -
It's 1415, as it has been often said, times were hard - the only way to tell who the king was in England was looking for the person with the least amount of crap on him. The wastrel son of a usurping King led a ragtag army into another sovereign nation on this date.



After giving a stirring speech, the outnumbered army beats the far superior and well fortified army and wins the decisive Battle of Agincourt on this day. More than one hundred years later, either William Shakespeare or a bunch of other people wrote a slew of Henry plays


It's now 1854, this time. The British want to maintain their naval superiority of the globe and continue to enjoy the fruits of buggery on the open seas. The Russian Tsar (or Czar, as most monarchs are to busy to get a proper education, so they could barely figure out what type of monarch they are) decided that the Russian naval needed to get into a little of those high seas hijinks, began moving his army towards Turkey, hoping for a Russian port in the black sea. Thus, I'm sorry to report, sodomy is one of the underlying causes of The Crimean War.



It typical British fashion, on the morning of October 25, 1854, the English were winning the Battle of Balaclava (not Baklava, the delicious Greek pastry wars, to be described at a future date, but the goofy hat war with the ear flaps) when Lord Cardigan (yes, of sweater fame) received his order to attack the Russians fortifications.



Unfortunately for the Light Brigade, the Russian army was also on the other side of the valley that they were charging towards. The brigade was decimated by the heavy Russian guns, suffering 40 percent casualties.



It was later revealed that the order was the result of Alfred Lord Tennyson needing a new hit poem and not intentional.


October 25, 1881 -
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso, the Spanish-born doodler and noted womanizer (considered the most influential artist of the 20th century) was born on this date.



I wonder if his paintings are still worth anything?


October 25, 1920 -
On a fine October day in 1920, King Alexander of Greece (cousin of my favorite Greek itinerant sailor - Philippos) was walking in the gardens of the royal palace in Athens. The young monarch was walking with his favorite dog when they were attacked by a pair of wild monkeys (once again, I can't make this stuff up.) Alexander attempted to drive the monkeys away from his dog but was bit during the scuffle.



The incident proved fatal for both parties. King Alexander suffered an infection and died from sepsis on this date and the monkey was destroyed when the Greek people sought revenge for the regicide. His father, the former King Constantine I (Philip's uncle) was called back into service to be king until his disastrous actions in the Greco-Turkish War.



Winston Churchill said, 'It is perhaps no exaggeration to remark that a quarter of a million people died from this monkey bite.'

Once again, sometimes it stinks to be the king.


October 25, 1931 -
In every home there is a heartbreak



This story is truly not for the faint of heart.

Elena Hoyos, a pretty and vivacious 21 year old Cuban-American girl died from tuberculosis in Florida on this date. While this is sad, it wouldn't be noteworthy other than for her middle aged neighbor with a strange infatuation with Elena. Carl Tanzler (also known as Carl von Cosel), German-born radiologist became obsessed with his young neighbor. Not only did Mr. Tanzler attempted to treat and cure Hoyos with a variety of medicines, as well as x-ray and electrical equipment, that were brought to the Hoyos' home but Tanzler showered Hoyos with gifts of jewelry and clothing, and allegedly professed his love to her.



In April, 1933, Tanzler removed Hoyos' body from the mausoleum, carted it through the cemetery after dark on a toy wagon, and transported it to his home. Carl, with a little help from some home embalming, lived with Hoyos' corpse until October, 1940, when Elena's sister Florinda heard rumors of Tanzler (now known as Von Cosel) sleeping with the disinterred body of her sister, and confronted Tanzler at his home, where Hoyos' body was eventually discovered. Von Cosel was not charged with a crime because the statute of limitations on grave robbing had expired. Elena Hoyos was eventually buried at a secret location. Von Cosel, separated from his love, used a death mask to create a life-sized dummy of her, and lived with it until his death in 1952.

(This story is even more disturbing then you think, I've left some of the very unsavory details out for those readers with a more delicate nature.)


October 25, 1938 -
The Archbishop of Dubuque, the Most Reverend Francis J.L. Beckman, denounces the newfangled Swing music

-- the latest craze -- as nothing more than "a degenerated musical system... turned loose to gnaw away the moral fiber of young people" on this date.



Its cannibalistic rhythms are said to lead one down the "primrose path to Hell." One can only imagine that Dr. Tanzler listened to swing music.


October 25, 1955 -
Sadako Sasaki was a Japanese girl who lived near Hiroshima, Japan. She was only two years old when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. As she grew up, Sadako was a strong, courageous and athletic girl. In 1954, at age eleven, she became dizzy and fell to the ground. Sadako was diagnosed with leukemia, the "atom bomb disease".

While in the hospital, a friend gave her a golden paper crane and retold the story about the paper cranes (one who folded 1,000 cranes was granted a wish.) She may or may not have completed her goal in August of 1955, reports vary, and continued to fold cranes.



During her time in the hospital her condition progressively worsened. Around mid-October her left leg became swollen and turned purple. After her family urged her to eat something, Sadako requested tea on rice and remarked "It's good." Those were her last words. With her family around her, Sadako died on the morning of October 25, 1955 at the age of 12.


October 25, 1957 -
In chair number four of the barber shop at the Park Sheraton hotel in Manhattan, Mafia don Albert Anastasia, the Lord High Executioner of Murder Inc., was shot five times by the Gallo Brothers, under orders from Carlo Gambino.

The barber shop is now a Starbucks - such are the vagaries of life.


October 25, 1983 -
In order to maintain an uninterrupted supply of nutmeg to satisfy global demand, the United States of America invaded the Caribbean island of Grenada.



The invasion was rationalized as a rescue mission for the American medical students at the local school. A good friend of mine was at the school at the time and was widely quoted in the media.


October 25, 1991 -
On the way back from a Huey Lewis concert, rock promoter Bill Graham was killed when his helicopter hits high-voltage power lines in Vallejo, California on this date.



So, he died because he had to listen to Hip To Be Square.



And so it goes

It's the Festival of Lights

Today is Diwali, , one of the biggest and brightest of all the Hindu celebrations.

An ancient festival celebrating the triumph of light over dark and good over evil; the day is also significant in other religions including Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism.



Diwali is derived from the Sanskrit word, “deepawali”, meaning “row of lights”. The day is also the beginning of the Hindu New Year.


It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words, like 'What about lunch?'. - A. A. Milne



Bologna is a deli meat for people with eyes.



Just don't ask how they make it.


October 24, 1962 -
A taut thriller with the underlying theme of an afternoon tea party gone horribly wrong - The Manchurian Candidate, starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Angela Lansbury, Janet Leigh, and Henry Silva, premiered on this date.



The topic of this movie was considered politically so highly sensitive, it was censored and prohibited just before its theatrical release in many of the former "Iron Curtain" countries, such as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria - and even in neutral countries such as Finland and Sweden. The theatrical premiere for most of those countries was held after the collapse of Soviet Union in 1993.


October 24, 1969 -
The original version of Brokeback Mountain, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Katharine Ross, premiered on this date.



Katharine Ross enjoyed shooting the silent, bicycle riding sequence best, because it was handled by the film crew's second unit rather than the director. She said, "Any day away from George Roy Hill was a good one." This was after she had been scolded and banned from the set by Hill for operating a camera, even though cinematographer Conrad Hall, who Ross was dating, invited her to do it. Hall wasn't punished by Hill for letting her.


October 24, 1970 -
One of the greatest character actresses, Nancy Walker, made her first appearance in one of her most famous roles, Ida Morgenstern, in the The Mary Tyler Moore Show episode Support Your Local Mother on this date.



James L. Brooks and Allan Burns won an Emmy for "outstanding writing achievement in comedy" for this episode.


October 24, 1971 -
Don McLean's second album, American Pie, is released by United Artists Records, on this date.



The album reached number 1 within two weeks of release and was certified gold within six months, spending almost a year on the Billboard album charts.


October 24, 1973 -
The series about bald, dapper, New York City policeman, Kojak, starring Telly Savalas, premiered on CBS-TV on this date. (Here's a gimme piece of trivial - Telly was Jennifer Aniston's godfather.)



Telly Savalas is seen throughout the series both sucking on his lollipop and smoking. In real life, Telly Savalas was trying to quit smoking. The lollipop was used to cut back on smoking. His character Kojak even admitted once that he smoked too much and sucked on lollipops every day except on Sundays.


October 24, 2004 -
Reprise Records released the third studio album from My Chemical Romance, The Black Parade, on this date.



The concept of the album is "The Patient", who dies of cancer at an early age. According to lead singer Gerald Way, death comes in the form of your most powerful memory, and for "The Patient" that memory is a parade he went to with his father, which explains the album title. Throughout the album, you can kind of see into the mind of someone in a lot of pain. The previous My Chemical Romance album, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, dealt with demons, and this seems to be a continuing trend, but in a more mature way.


October 24, 2006 -
Taylor Swift released her self-titled debut studio album, on this date. Swift was 16 years old at the time of the album's release.



The album went on the top the Country Albums Chart for 24 non-consecutive weeks selling over seven million copies. The album also became the longest-charting album on the Billboard 200 of the 2000s decade, remaining on the chart for 277 weeks in total.


Word of the Day


Today in History:
October 24, 1601 -
Tycho Brahe, nobleman, astronomer and alchemist, died from politeness on this date. He was fabulously wealthy and had a dwarf court jester sit under the table at dinner to amuse him. Tycho lost his nose in a duel and had a metal one made which he famously wore for the rest of his life. He also had a pet moose, who died from a drunken fall (I can't make this stuff up.)



Brahe went to a party at a friend's house and drank heavily, bound by the etiquette of the day, Tycho couldn't leave the table until his host did -not even to go to the bathroom. When he finally left the table he found he could not go; his bladder was blocked from waiting too long. He lingered for days in utter agony for days until he died on this date.



Traditionally it's believed he died from urine poisoning. Recent analysis of hair taken from his remains shows that he must have ingested a large dose of mercury about 20 hours before his death, possibly as a medicine for his illness or perhaps he was poisoned - some believe by his famous student Johannes Kepler, who worked for him at the time and was appointed his successor as imperial mathematician.


October 24, 1836 -
(Please follow along on your flow charts - this will be on the test) Mankind was not fully mankind until it learned how to set things on fire. That happened a long time ago and enabled such hallmarks of early civilization as cooked meat, heated homes, and flaming heretics. Only in the past few hundred years has mankind learned how to start fires quickly and easily.

In 1680, Irish scientist Robert Boyle discovered that rubbing phosphorus and sulphur together caused them to burst into flames. Such was his reward for a lifetime spent rubbing phosphorus against things to see what would happen.

In 1827, seizing upon the Irish invention with a zeal usually reserved for Irish real estate, an Englishman named John Walker invented "sulphuretted peroxide strikeables," which were like matches except they were three feet long and as likely to explode as ignite.

A variation on this firestarter was introduced in England in 1828, patented by Samuel Jones. It was called the Promethean, and consisted of a glass bulb of sulphuric acid. The bulb was coated with potassium chlorate, sugar, and gum, then wrapped in paper. To ignite the Promethean, one broke the glass bulb against one's teeth. Dentists loved it, but the public remained wary.



Germans began manufacturing small phosphorus matches in Germany in 1832. Like so many other German inventions, however, these tended to ignite with a series of explosions that spread fire about one's feet. They also exploded when stepped on. This dampened their popularity among the arson-averse public.

Finally, on this date, a patent was issued in the United States to Alonzo D. Phillips for the manufacture of friction matches and called them Locofocos.


October 24, 1901 -
Anna Edson Taylor, a 63-year-old widow, was the first woman to go safely over Niagara Falls in a barrel. The barrel was four and a half feet high and three feet across. Ms. Taylor went over Niagara Falls and dropped 175 feet.



She made the attempt for the cash award offered, which she put toward the loan on her Texas ranch and help her make a fortune touring the world. Although the stunt did indeed receive international attention, Taylor reaped a few financial rewards but died in poverty after twenty years as a Niagara street vendor.


October 24, 1929 -
The stock market began a catastrophic collapse and this day became know as Black Thursday nearly 13 million shares traded hands and stock prices plummeted.



This ultimately led to the Great Depression. Scientists around the world desperately sought a cure for the millions of Depressed peoples on every continent. Researchers from the National Socialist Society eventually demonstrated that the people of Germany, Italy and Spain were Depressed because their trains didn't run on time, and fascism was invented to address this shortcoming.



Having resolved their train schedules, however, fascists discovered that many people were still unhappy. This was found to have been the result of Socialism (remember, National Socialist are not Socialists i.e. Communist), which was incompatible with fascism, and persons who failed to become happy were subsequently shot.



This caused the Spanish Civil War, which was so successful it inspired World War II, after which everyone felt much better.


October 24, 1931 -
The George Washington Bridge opens to public traffic, linking New York City with New Jersey. The bridge became a famous New York landmark and has been featured in many movies and TV shows. The toll to cross the bridge was to be temporary -- just to cover costs.



But it costs and costs and costs when you have to keep repairing and painting a bridge that big -- so, the bridge toll continues. And the bridge is still being painted. But there are no traffic studies today


October 24, 1945 -
The UN officially came into existence on this date, upon the ratification of their Charter by the five permanent members of the Security Council — the US, the UK, France, the Soviet Union and the Republic of China—and by a majority of the other 46 signatory countries.



The first meetings of the General Assembly, with 51 nations represented,[a] and the Security Council took place in London beginning in January 1946. Debates began at once, covering topical issues such as the presence of Russian troops in Iranian Azerbaijan, British forces in Greece and within days the first veto was cast. British diplomat Gladwyn Jebb served as acting secretary-general.


October 24, 1947 -
In a very UN-American fashion, Neo-Nazi and American Isolationist Walt Disney testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee on this date.



Disney named employees he believes to be Communists, ranting about how Communists were infiltrating the unions he has to deal with, and how "Commie groups began smear campaigns against [him]."


October 24, 1946 -
The V-2 rocket (which was a spoil of war, but that's another story...) was launched from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, on this date. It carried a 35-millimeter motion picture camera that captured a new frame every second and a half. The rocket soared to an altitude of about 65 miles before falling back to Earth.



Both the rocket and the camera were destroyed after crashing into the Earth at a speed of about 340 miles per hour. But the film survived because it was protected inside a steel case. The film was grainy, black and white, and low resolution, providing more symbolic value than actual, but the picture was a significant start to America’s space program.


October 24, 1960 -
At the Soviet Union's Baykonur space facility, an R-16 ballistic missile exploded on the launch pad, incinerating 165 people on this date.



Included among the dead was Field Marshall Mitrofan Nedelin, whose death is covered up as having occurred in a plane crash.


October 24, 2008 -
Stock exchanges around the world experience the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices. The day became known as Bloody Friday



It brought the financial institutions everywhere to their knees and much more led to investors losing billions of dollars of their investment, some their entire life's savings.


October 24, 2016 -
The singer Bobby Vee died age 73. Vee was best know for his No. 1 hit Take Good Care of My Baby in the summer of 1961. He had 38 chart hits, ten of which reached the Top 20.



Unfortunately Vee's career began in the midst of tragedy.



On February 3, 1959 - The Day the Music Died - when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper, were killed in an airplane. Vee then 15 years old, and a hastily assembled band of Fargo schoolboys calling themselves the Shadows volunteered for and were given the unenviable job of filling in for Holly and his band at their next gig. Their performance was a success, setting in motion a chain of events that led to Vee's career as a popular singer.



And so it goes

Let joy reign supreme!

I'm sure that you thought that all the excitement of the day was because it's the anniversary of the Byzantine Empress Irene attending the final session of the second church council at Nicaea, Bithynia [now Iznik, a city in Anatolia (now part of Turkey)] on this date. The council formally revived the adoration of icons and reunited the Eastern church with that of Rome.

or the Feast day of St. John of Capistrano, patron saint of jurists,

and that all of the swallows are leaving Capistrano. But no, while you weren't looking, it's Mole Day once again. Mole Day is celebrated annually on October 23 from 6:02 AM until 6:02 PM - Mole Day commemorates Avogadro's Number (6.02 x 10^23), which is a basic measuring unit in chemistry.





Mole Day was created as a way to foster interest in chemistry. Schools throughout the United States and around the world celebrate Mole Day with various activities related to chemistry and/or moles.



Don't tell anybody that you celebrated this day.


Today is also TV Talk Show Host Day. We celebrate and honor all TV Talk Show hosts (strange how so many of them are coming to an end this year.)



This very special day is celebrated on the birth date of legendary night time talk show host Johnny Carson. Carson is considered the "King of Late Night Television". He hosted The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992 for a record 29 years, 7 months, 21 days (4,531 episodes - David Letterman did a total of 6,028, counting his 1982-93 run at NBC in addition to his CBS tenure.)



While this day is celebrated on Johnny Carson's birth date, it is intended to show appreciation to all Television talk show hosts, daytime and nighttime.







Celebrate today, by staying up all day and night and watch talk shows (until you pass out.)


October 23, 1939 -
Raoul Walsh's crime-thriller, The Roaring Twenties, starring James Cagney, Priscilla Lane, Humphrey Bogart, and Gladys George, premiered on this date.



This marked the end of James Cagney's cycle of gangster films for Warner Bros. Cagney wanted to diversify his roles: he would not play a gangster again until White Heat, ten years later.


October 23, 1941 -
Walt Disney studios release their fourth animated film, Dumbo on this date.



The first Walt Disney movie for Sterling Holloway (the Stork) and Verna Felton (the Elephant Matriarch). Both would become regulars in Disney animated films over the next 35 years.


October 23, 1952 -
Limelight, directed, written, produced and starring Charlie Chaplin and Claire Bloom with appearance by Buster Keaton premiered in NYC on this date.



Charles Chaplin sailed to London for the London premiere on October 16,1952, but his re-entry permit was revoked after he left because of accusations that he was tied to the Communist party - a common charge in the "Red Scare" era in the US in the 1950s made against those--especially in the arts--who raised questions or objections to American foreign or domestic policies. After showings of Limelight in New York and other East Coast cities, an anti-Chaplin frenzy whipped up by ultra-conservative politicians and organizations caused cancellation of showings in other cities.


October 23, 1961 –
The Dion song Runaround Sue hit No. #1 on the Billboard Charts, on this date.



In the liner notes of Dion's box set King Of The New York Streets, he wrote: "It came about by partying in a schoolyard. We were jamming, hitting tops of boxes. I gave everyone parts like the horn parts we'd hear in the Apollo Theater and it became a jam that we kept up for 45 minutes. I came up with all kinds of stuff. But when I actually wrote the song and brought it into the studio to record it, well, her name wasn't actually Sue. It was about, you know, some girl who loved to be worshiped but as soon as you want a commitment and express your love for her, she's gone. So the song was a reaction to that kind of woman."


October 23, 1972 -
Al Green's fifth studio album, I'm Still in Love with You (on the Hi Record Label) was released on this date.



Al Green mentioned the I'm Still in Love with You album cover in his 2000 autobiography, Take Me to the River: "In my white turtleneck, white patent leather shoes with the stacked heels and just a touch of diamond and gold, I was as cool and in control as the music between that cover."


October 23, 1992 -
The first feature length debut of a Quentin Tarantino film, Reservoir Dogs opened in the US on this date.



The film's budget was so low that many of the actors were asked to simply bring their own clothing as wardrobe; most notably Chris Penn's track jacket. The signature black suits were provided for free by the designer, based on her love for the American crime film genre. Steve Buscemi wore his own black jeans instead of suit pants, and Michael Madsen wore a jacket and pants that came from two different suits.


October 23, 2006 -
Ironically one of Amy Winehouse's most famous songs Rehab, from her second studio album, Back to Black, was released on this date.



On August 14, 2007, Winehouse entered The Causeway Retreat, a rehab center in Essex, England, with her new husband (and fellow addict), Blake Fielder. Addiction specialists know that admitting a couple to rehab together is a bad idea, but The Causeway was not an ethical institution: it was shut down amid a host of violations in 2010.


October 23, 2018 -
Bryan Singer's bio-pix about Freddie Mercury, Bohemian Rhapsody, starring Rami Malek, premiered in London on this date.



The Queen band-mates credited Paul Prenter (Freddie Mercury's personal assistant) with facilitating the rock star's drug use and hard-partying lifestyle. He ultimately became Mercury's self-appointed personal manager, refusing interviews and "annoying" Queen with unchecked, self-centered influence on Mercury's decision-making.


Another book from the back shelves of The ACME Library


Today in History:
October 23, 42 BC -
While it is not the Ides of March - today was a very bad day for Brutus.

Marcus Junius Brutus, one of the lead assassins of Julius Casear, and his army are decisively defeated by Mark Antony and Octavian in the Second Battle of Philippe, on this date.

Brutus didn't take the loss well and committed suicide.

His last words were allegedly Yes, we must escape, but this time with our hands, not our feet. (I believe they really were, Ouch, that really hurts except in Latin, of course.)


According to James Ussher, the venerable 17th century Archbishop of Armagh, and Dr John Lightfoot of Cambridge, it was at exactly 9:00 a.m. on the chilly autumn morning of October 23, 4004 BC, that God created the world.



9:00 A.M. on a Tuesday - exactly? (Where didn't appear to enter into their consideration.) This strikes me as monumental. If the world was created at 9:00 AM Greenwich Time, it would have been 5:00 AM Eastern Time, meaning the world was technically created earlier in the Old World than it was in the New. What's worse, Hawaii, the Midway Islands, Samoa, and other points west would have been created the day before.



It's conceivable, I suppose, that Ussher and Lightfoot (which sounds like either a rock group, law firm, or television action series) could have been mistaken in their calculations, but if we start questioning men of God, where will it end? Sooner or later we'll start questioning God himself, which couldn't possibly lead anywhere good. No, it's either blind obedience to God or the Hell with us all.

Just ask theTaliban.



Anyway, this would make this old earth just 6017 years old on October 23 (according to Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum and others.)



But then again, the voice of reason keeps rearing it's ugly head.


October 23, 1910 -
In Fort Wayne, Indiana, Blanche S. Scott became the first woman to undertake a solo airplane flight on this date, reaching an altitude of twelve feet.



Early in the year, Scott was the second woman, after Alice Huyler Ramsey, to drive an automobile across the United States and the first driving westwards from New York City to San Francisco, California.


October 23,1935 -
Gangsters Dutch Schultz, Abe Landau, Otto Berman and Bernard "Lulu" Rosencrantz were fatally shot at a saloon in Newark, New Jersey in what will become known as The Chophouse Massacre.



Remember kids, crime doesn't pay (except perhaps for Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese.)


October 23, 1959 -
Alfred Matthew Yankovic, Grammy Award winning singer, musician, actor, satirist, parodist, songwriter, music producer, accordionist, and television producer, was born on this date.



And you just thought he was some nerdy guy who sang some funny songs.


October 23, 1987 -
United States Senate rejected the Supreme Court nomination of Robert H. Bork on a 58-to-42 vote. Ostensibly this was because he admitted to smoking marijuana as a youth, which would be the wrong reason. He should have been rejected for his dealings in the Saturday Night Massacre (with evil chin hair.)



Some have since argued that Bork was the target of a smear campaign, and they began using his last name as a verb, saying that they wanted to prevent future nominees from getting "borked." The word "bork" was added to Webster's dictionary, defined as, "[Seeking] to obstruct a political appointment or selection, also to attack a political opponent viciously." Robert Bork said, "My name became a verb, and I regard that as one form of immortality."

The chip on Mr. Bork's shoulder made the one on Clarence Thomas' very small indeed. BTW, Mr. Thomas was sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice on this date in 1991.


October 23, 1995 -
The murderer of the Pop Star singer Selena, and president of her fan club, Yolanda Saldivar, was found guilty in Houston of her slaying on this date.

It helped that case tremendously that with her last breathe, Selena was able to say, "Hey, the big fat ugly embezzling head of my fan club just shot me in the back."

Very lucky break for the prosecution.


Before you go - here's a strange holiday treat, a mashup of Led Zeppelin and Christmas -







And so it goes

Remember they're not SCREAMING, they're merely CELEBRATING

Today is INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK Day. It is the day that campaigns for the removal of the caps lock button from standard QWERTY keyboards (or for the moving of the button), due to people continually accidentally pressing the button when they mean to use other keys.

There’s also a tendency for people to ‘shout’ (either intentionally or accidentally) by using capital letters when typing, especially online. International Caps Lock Day was created in 2000 by Derek Arnold of Iowa.

Feel free to seek him out and blame him.


October 22, 1942 -
The biggest box office hit of Bette Davis' career, Now, Voyager opened in NYC on this date.



The film is remembered for the scene in which Paul Henreid places two cigarettes in his mouth, lights them and then passes one to Bette Davis. This wasn't an original idea, a similar exchange occurred ten years earlier between Ruth Chatterton and George Brent in The Rich Are Always with Us, which happens to have Bette Davis in it. Director Rapper subsequently called Henreid "a liar" for claiming he thought of it, and the director pointed out it had been done in a D. W. Griffith film in 1917.


October 22, 1948 -
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger technicolor fever dream about the world of ballet, The Red Shoes, starring Moira Shearer and Anton Walbrook, opened in New York City on this date. Little girls and boys were forever ensnared in it's magical, evil web.



The film went massively over budget and the Rank Company, which financed it and was to release it, had little faith in its commercial potential. It tried to bury the film by not giving it a premiere (backer J. Arthur Rank walked out of its first performance) and by just letting it quietly show at late screenings at a cinema in London. Rank wasn't even prepared to strike a print for the American market. Slowly, however, audiences started to pick up on the film, and Rank realized that it might have potential to be a breakout hit after all. Indeed, when an initial print was made for the US, it played at an off-Broadway theater for an unprecedented 110 weeks. That was enough to convince Universal to take up the distribution rights for the US, which it did in 1951.


October 22, 1949 -
The second film in director John Ford's Cavalry Trilogy, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, premiered on this date.



Although several reviewers praised John Wayne's portrayal, the general critical consensus was not in favor of his trying something new and expanding his range. Wayne recalled rather bitterly that he never got the credit he deserved for the picture, so he just went back to "re-acting" for the rest of his career.


October 22, 1955 -
Quatermass II, the sequel to The Quatermass Experiment, a British science fiction serial, premiered on BBC Television, on this date.



Reginald Tate, from the original series, was cast again as Quatermass but died shortly before filming. André Morell was offered Quatermass but was attached to another project so John Robinson was cast at the eleventh hour.


October 22, 1965 -
The Beatles recorded the song Nowhere Man for their influential album Rubber Soul on this date.



Natalie Merchant performed this at the 2001 special, Come Together: A Night For John Lennon's Words And Music. She did a mellow version, as the show was also a tribute to victims of the terrorist attacks on America.
 

October 22, 1965 -
The Rolling Stones released the single Get Off My Cloud on this date in the U.K.



The B-side of this single was I'm Free, which remained obscure until it was revived by The Soup Dragons in 1990.


October 22, 1966 -
The Supremes became the first female music group to attain a No. 1 selling album, The Supremes A’ Go-Go, a Motown LP, on this date.



Additional songs recorded for the album, but not included were: Tom Jones It's Not Unusual, The Miracles Mickey's Monkey, Stevie Wonder Uptight (Everything's Alright), Marvin Gaye Can I Get a Witness, Martha and the Vandellas In My Lonely Room, and The Rolling Stones (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction.


October 22, 1971 -
Peter Bogdanovich's break out film, The Last Picture Show opened on this date.



Cloris Leachman's last scene in the movie was printed on the first take without any previous rehearsals. She wanted to rehearse the scene, but director Peter Bogdanovich thought it would ruin the scene if it was rehearsed. After she completed the take, she said to him, "I can do better." He replied, "No, you can't; you just won the Oscar." Ultimately his sense of direction paid off, as Leachman won the Academy Award for her performance.


October 22, 1976 -
Bob Seger releases his ninth studio album (and his first studio album to credit the Silver Bullet Band,) Night Moves, on this date. It is his first studio album to make an impact outside of Michigan.



The phrase "night moves" has a number of meanings, which made it an intriguing song title. It could mean "putting the moves on" a girl in the back seat of a car, but Seger says it also relates to the impromptu parties he and has buddies threw in the fields of Ann Arbor, Michigan, where they would turn on the headlights and dance their "night moves." They called these gatherings "grassers."


October 22, 2012 -
Taylor Swift released her fourth album, Red on this date. The first single is the No. 1 We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, a kiss-off to an ex she refuses to name (according to my daughters, think Jake Gyllenhaal.)



The video was shot in one continuous take with no edits and features Swift in five different outfits, which required some very quick costume changes by the singer. "All modesty had to go out the window," Swift said to MTV News about her five furiously fast outfit switches. "All my clothes were put together with Velcro and snaps so that I could have three different outfits layered on top of each other."

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


(I'm working on a project this weekend, so unfortunately it may be abbreviated postings for the next couple of days.) Today in History:
October 22, 1797 -
In 1785, J.P. Blanchard threw a dog wearing a rudimentary parachute out of a hot-air balloon. History does not divulge the outcome of this experiment. Mr. Blanchard may simply have been a disgruntled cat person.

There lived at that time a swindler by the name of Andre-Jacques Garnerin, who traveled around France offering (for a fee from his spectators) to ascend into the sky in a hot-air balloon and leap to the earth in a parachute. Strangely enough, his balloon never managed to get off the ground. Refunds were never offered.

One day an angry spectator brought Garnerin's con to the attention of the local authorities, who promptly arrested him. He was given a choice: he could either get his balloon to fly and make the promised jump or he could go directly to jail.

And so, one early evening 225 years ago today, Garnerin's balloon rose 3000 feet into the evening air above Paris.

Then it exploded.



Fortunately, Garnerin was already in his parachute and survived the landing. The suddenly successful showman didn't die his inevitable horrible aviation-related death for a full quarter-century later.


It was on this day in 1836 that Sam Houston was sworn in as the first president of the Republic of Texas. Texas had become an independent nation after winning its independence from Mexico, and would not be incorporated into the United States as a state until 1845.

There are some who insist to this day that Texas was never properly admitted into the Union because, like everything else, its admission had been Unconstitutional. (We will leave this conversation to Mr. Cruz.)


October 22, 1844 -
The 'Second Coming' failed to occur on this date, for the Seventh Day Adventists, led by Bible scientist William Miller. The Millerites were expecting the End Times to accompany the appearance of Jesus Christ, so that didn't happen either.



Oops, I guess Mr. Miller has some explaining to do.


The Gare Montparnasse, one of the six large terminus train stations of Paris, became famous for a derailment on October 22, 1895 of the Granville-Paris Express that overran the buffer stop. The engine careened across almost 100 ft off the station concourse, crashed through a two foot thick wall, shot across a terrace and sailed out of the station, plummeting onto the Place de Rennes more than 30 feet below, where it stood on its nose.

All on board the train survived, five sustaining injuries: two passengers, the fireman and two crew members; however, one woman on the street below was killed by falling masonry. The accident was caused by a faulty Westinghouse brake and the engine drivers who were trying to make up for lost time. The conductor incurred a 25 franc penalty and the engine driver a 50 franc penalty; he was also sent to prison for two months.



Do you think the passengers got their money back?


October 22, 1907 -
President Theodore Roosevelt visited The Hermitage, in Nashville, Tennessee, home of the late President Andrew Jackson on this date.

Years later, Maxwell House claimed that Roosevelt had praised a cup of its coffee during this visit by saying it was "good to the last drop."


October 22, 1918 -
The cities of Baltimore and Washington ran out of coffins during the Spanish Influenza epidemic on this date.

This puts much of the recent pandemic in perspective.


October 22, 1934 -
Here's another story of your tax dollars at work:

FBI agents, led by the ambitious Melvin Purvis and local Ohio authorities captured and killed Public enemy No. 1, Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd, in a shoot out on this day. Or so the official story goes. But as many of you loyal readers know the 'authorized' version and actual facts of events can differ wildly.



Chester Smith, a retired East Liverpool Police Captain, the sharpshooter who claimed that he shot Floyd first, stated in a 1979 interview, that after he had (deliberately) wounded, but not killed, Floyd.

"I knew Purvis couldn't hit him, so I dropped him with two shots from my .32 Winchester rifle."

Smith claims that he then disarmed Floyd, and that Melvin Purvis, the agent in charge, ran up and ordered: "Back away from that man. I want to talk to him." Purvis questioned him briefly and then ordered him shot at point-blank range, telling agent Herman Hollis to "Fire into him." The interviewer asked if there was a coverup by the FBI, and Smith responded: "Sure was, because they didn't want it to get out that he'd been killed that way."

This account is extremely controversial. If true, Purvis effectively executed Floyd without benefit of judge or jury.



Floyd's body was quickly embalmed and shipped to Oklahoma. His funeral was attended by between twenty and forty thousand people. It remains the largest funeral in Oklahoma history.


October 22, 1962 -
President John F. Kennedy appeared on television, on this date, to inform Americans of the existence of Soviet missiles in Cuba.



The President demanded their removal and announced a naval "quarantine" of Cuba. A little more than a year later, the nation was safe but the president was dead.


October 22, 2008 -
India launched the unmanned Chandrayaan-1 lunar probe on this date. It was India's first lunar exploration mission.



The mission ended early, after just 312 days, but largely succeeded in its objectives.



And so it goes