Hopefully, you started celebrating during the weekend

October 26, 899 -
Alfred the Great, King of the Anglo-Saxons, died (probably from severe hemorrhoids) on this date,



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, 1940 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Good Night Elmer, directed by Chuck Jones and starring Elmer Fudd, was released on this date.



Arthur Q. Bryan didn't voice Elmer in this short, as Elmer did not have any dialogue. Mel Blanc provided the weeping and bawling heard at the end.


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.



In her book This N' That, Bette Davis said she had a lot of control over how her makeup should be done for the film. She imagined the older Jane as someone who would never wash her face, just put on another layer of makeup. When her daughter, Barbara Merrill, first saw her in full "Jane" makeup, she said, "Oh, mother, this time you've gone too far."


October 26, 1967 -
A gentle and yet still relevant Cold War comedy, The Mouse that Roared, directed by Jack Arnold, and starring Peter Sellers, Jean Seberg, and William Hartnell, opened in the US 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 show never won high ratings but it lasted six seasons on NBC because it appealed to the desirable (for advertisers) educated 18-49 year old demographic.


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, 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.


Word of the Day.


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.


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

And say ‘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, 1941 -
The Looney Tunes short, Robinson Crusoe Jr., directed by Norman McCabe and starring Porky Pig, was released on this date.



The short seldom airs on US television, due to it's outdated racial stereotypes .


October 25, 1941 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Rookie Revue, directed by Friz Freleng, was released on this date.



This cartoon rarely airs on American television due to heavy wartime references (even though this isn't a World War II cartoon, being released before the U.S. officially entered the conflict, and has no racial or ethnic stereotypes).


October 25, 1947 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Doggone Cats, directed by Arthur Davis and starring Sylvester the Cat, was released on this date.



This one of the only two shorts featuring Sylvester to be directed by Arthur Davis. The other is Catch as Cats Can.


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 classical Sci-Fi flim The Amazing Colossal Man from American International Pictures. directed by Bert I. Gordon, and starring Glenn Langan, Cathy Downs, William Hudson, and Larry Thor, opened on this date.




Despite the obvious similarities between Glenn Manning's accident and the origin story of The Incredible Hulk, both of which involve men who receive size-altering mutations as a result of exposure to atomic blasts, this movie predates the Hulk's comic debut by nearly five years.


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.



It is unknown who did the voice of the Alpha 60 computer. The voice of Alpha 60 was performed by a man with a mechanical voice box replacing his cancer-damaged larynx who wanted to remain anonymous.


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.



For a post-marriage bath scene with Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Harris startled everyone by strutting onto the set completely nude with a large erection.


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



Marvel Comics allowed the show to use the character Spider-Man for free. To commemorate the partnership between Marvel and the Children's Television Workshop, Marvel published a special series called Spidey Super Stories, easy-to-read adventures of Spider-Man that occasionally featured members of the Short Circus. A shortened version of the comic, featuring only characters from the Marvel Universe, appeared in the Electric Company's spin-off magazine.


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.



Influential comedy writer Danny Simon used to read this script to his classes as an example of excellent writing.


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.


Another album from the discount bin at The ACME Record Shoppe today.


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, two years after Elena’s death, Tanzler removed her body from the mausoleum, carted it through the cemetery after dark on a toy wagon, and transported it to his home. There, with the aid of some home embalming, he lived with Hoyos’ preserved corpse until October 1940. That’s when Elena’s sister, Florinda, heard rumors that Tanzler (now calling himself Von Cosel) was sleeping beside her sister’s disinterred body. When she confronted him at his home, the ghastly truth was revealed. Von Cosel was never charged with a crime - the statute of limitations on grave robbing had expired. Elena Hoyos was eventually reburied in a secret location to prevent further tampering. Separated from his “love,” Von Cosel created a life-sized effigy of Elena using a death mask and lived with it until his own death in 1952.

(This story is even more disturbing than you think - I’ve omitted some of the more unsavory details out of consideration for readers with a 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.


Before you go - not that we're counting:

but there are 6 days until Halloween. Make sure you have enough apples and razor blades,



there are 9 days until the general election. You may have to save some of those razor blades for yourself.



There are 32 days until Thanksgiving. Hopefully we still have a government so we can celebrate something.



and 40 days until the start of Hanukkah. Please do not put any razor blades in the potato latkes, they just don't go.



and 61 days until Christmas. If you care about the whole naughty /nice list, maybe you want to forget about the apples and razor blades.



And so it goes

The first name of mine is Ferd

Have you seen the bologna that has the olives in it? Who's that for? 'I like my bologna like a martini. With an olive.' 'I'll have the bologna sandwich - dirty.'. - Jim Gaffigan



It's National Bologna Day



Just don't ask how they make it.


October 24, 1942 -
The Looney Tunes short, The Daffy Duckaroo, directed by Norman McCabe and starring Daffy Duck, was released on this date.



This is the final Daffy Duck short to be directed by Norman McCabe.


October 24, 1962 -
A taut thriller with the underlying theme of an afternoon tea party gone horribly wrong - The Manchurian Candidate, premiered on this date.



Frank Sinatra broke the little finger of his right hand on the desk in the fight sequence with Henry Silva. Due to on-going filming commitments, he could not rest or bandage his hand properly, causing the injury to heal incorrectly. It caused him chronic discomfort for the rest of his life.


October 24, 1969 -
The original version of Brokeback Mountain, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, premiered on this date.



Paul Newman's charity for children with serious medical conditions is named Hole in the Wall Camp after Butch's gang.


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.



This episode's guest star Nancy Walker and the preceding episode's guest star John Schuck each landed regular roles on the following year's popular NBC Mystery Movie series McMillan & Wife.


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.)



The feature length pilot episode, The Marcus Nelson Murders, was a direct contrast to the regular show. The pilot was filmed extensively around New York, giving the production a more gritty look. Also, most of the supporting characters consisted of corrupt police officers and politicians.


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.

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


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, however, has mankind learned how to start fires quickly and easily.

In 1680, Irish scientist Robert Boyle experimented with phosphorus, a substance capable of igniting spontaneously under certain conditions. Such was his reward for a lifetime spent rubbing phosphorus against things to see what would happen.

In 1827, seizing upon an earlier discovery with a zeal usually reserved for Irish real estate, an Englishman named John Walker began selling what he called friction lights. They were essentially matches, except that they were rather temperamental and could burst into flame with a little friction. Walker, however, declined to patent his invention, apparently believing that the ability to start a fire should not be monopolized.



A variation on this firestarter was introduced in England in 1828 by Samuel Jones. Called the Promethean, it consisted of a glass tube containing sulphuric acid, wrapped in paper treated with chemicals. To ignite the Promethean, one broke the glass tube, releasing the acid and triggering the chemical reaction. Charles Darwin reportedly carried some on his voyage aboard the Beagle. Dentists loved it, but the public remained wary.



German manufacturers began producing phosphorus matches in the 1830s. Like so many other inventions of the era, however, these could be dangerously unpredictable. They could ignite unexpectedly, sometimes with explosive enthusiasm, spreading fire where it was least welcome. 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 an improved method of manufacturing friction matches. Phillips's design included a clever way of packaging the matches to prevent accidental ignition. The matches became associated with the name Locofocos, a term that would soon find its way into American political history.


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.



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