Sometimes, it doesn't pay to know certain things

Do you have anything else to do today? Perhaps you should do it.

Today is Dead Duck Day, an annual event celebrated at the Natural History Museum in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It's the anniversary of the first known observation of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck.



Now that you know, you may go about your business


Today is National Donut Day. The holiday began as a fundraiser for the Salvation Army in 1938. It is celebrated annually on the first Friday of June, and honors all the female volunteers who served donuts to soldiers behind the front lines during World War I.



(And if you hurry maybe Ben will be working at your local drive thru.)



To celebrate Donut Day 2026, a few donut shops are offering a free donut deal. Celebrate at Krispy Kreme with a free donut of any variety, or at Dunkin' Donuts which is offering a free donut with the purchase of any beverage.


It's also National Moonshine Day. Moonshine traditionally is an illegally distilled spirit. Mostly made from a corn mash, moonshine is a distilled whiskey that is typically produced by an individual illegally without a permit. Also known as white lightning, mountain dew, homebrew, hillbilly pop, rotgut and too many more to list here.



The X’s on the moonshine jugs symbol represents the number of times a batch was run through the still. If marked XXX, the moonshine is pure alcohol.


June 5, 1939 -
The Wizard of Oz was test screened on this date.



(Bunkies, the video is a joke - the screening though, did occur on this date.)


June 5, 1956 -
Elvis Presley appeared on Milton Berle's TV show on this date. His undulating hip movements during the song Hound Dog cause quite a national controversy. (Once again kids - place one hand upon the screen and the other upon your 'afflicted' region. Feel the healing powers of St. Elvis emanate throughout your body.)



Elvis' pelvis and Uncle Miltie's 'special gift' - American virginity was never the same again.


June 5, 1954 -
The Looney Tunes short, Little Boy Boo, directed by Bob McKimson, starring Foghorn Leghorn, debuted on this date.



Widow hen not only breaks the fourth wall, she addresses Foghorn by his proper name, Mr. Leghorn.


June 5, 1961 -
Roy Orbison's record Running Scared reached the number one position on the charts, on this date.



This was the last song Roy Orbison ever sung live. His final performance was on December 4, 1988, just two days before his sudden passing, at a Cleveland-area venue. As was his usual habit, Orbison closed the show with Running Scared.


June 5, 1964 -
David Bowie's first ever release was Liza Jane/Louie Louie Go Home on this date, under the name of Davie Jones with The King-Bees.



Despite promoting the single on the television shows Juke Box Jury, Ready Steady Go! and The Beat Room, and receiving good radio coverage, the single sold poorly and the band was subsequently dropped from the label Vocalion Pop. He later changed his name to Bowie to avoid confusion with Monkee Davy Jones.


June 5, 1968 –
The mystery film, Jigsaw, directed by James Goldstone, and starring, Bradford Dillman, Harry Guardino, Michael J. Pollard, Susan Saint James, Hope Lange, and Diana Hyland, opened on this date. (This was a remake of the film Mirage, released in 1965.)



This was originally planned to be a television movie. However due to content NBC refused to run it so Universal gave it a theatrical release instead. NBC wound up broadcasting it in 1969.


June 5, 1983 -
U2 played an intimate yet energetic concert, in the rain, at the Red Rocks amphitheater in Colorado, on this date.



It is later released as a concert film called Under a Blood Red Sky.


June 5, 1998 -
Peter Weir's underrated film, The Truman Show (often credited with predicting the reality television phenomenon,) starring Jim Carrey, Laura Linney and Ed Harris, premiered on this date.



According to a 2008 New York Times article, psychologists in Britain and the U.S. reported a number of people experiencing "Truman Syndrome" or "the Truman Show delusion," the belief that they are the unwitting star of their own reality TV show.


June 5, 2018 -
Ocean's 8, directed by Gary Ross and starring Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway and Rihanna premiered on this date.



Both Rihanna and Cate Blanchett have actually served as Chairs for the annual Met Gala, the function played by Anne Hathaway's character in the movie.


Another unimportant moment in history


Today in History:
June 5, c470/469BC - (this is an approximate date. Literally, calendar makers, as well as most of the citizens of ancient Greece were engaged in their favorite past time- vigorous sodomy.)
Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.

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Socrates was born in Athens, on this date. He served as an infantryman during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. A sophist (teacher of philosophy), he claimed not to know anything for certain (including the fact that hemlock was poison) and used the interrogatory method for teaching. He was a major critic of popular belief in Athens and was the protagonist of Plato’s dialogues. He left no written works.


June 5, 1878 -
José Doroteo Arango Arámbula (aka Pancho Villa), one of the most famous generals of the Mexican Revolution (or notorious bandit - history is very fickle that way) was born on this date.



Pancho Villa was also responsible for a raid on Columbus, New Mexico in 1916, which was the first attack on U.S. soil since 1812.


June 5, 1895 -
All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes



William Lawrence Boyd (aka Hopalong Cassidy,) American icon and actor was born on this date.


June 5, 1938 -
The first machine in history to produce intelligible speech-like sounds was exhibited by Homer Dudley, Richard Riesz, and Stanley Watkins. Called “Pedro, the Voder,” it is put on display to the public at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on this date.



In addition to human voices, it can imitate the sound of various farm animals.


June 5, 1967 -
The Six Day War erupted in the Middle East as Israel, convinced an Arab attack was imminent, raided Egyptian and Syrian military targets on this date.



I have enough problems with the Chinese government that I don't need any trouble with the entire Middle East by commenting on this fracas.


June 5, 1968 -
Seconds after Senator Robert F. Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan in a Los Angeles hotel, witnesses wrestle the assassin to the ground and grab his smoking .22-caliber revolver, on this date.



Sirhan later claims to have been acting unconsciously, the result of hypnotic brainwashing, possibly under the orders of a dog named Harvey in Long Island.


June 5, 1975 -
... Come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!...



During the Wish You Were Here recording sessions on this date, Syd Barrett just happens to wander into Abbey Road studio while Pink Floyd were mixing Shine On You Crazy Diamond, a song written about Barrett. At first, none of Syd's former bandmates recognizes the fat, bald lunatic who was compulsively brushing his teeth.



When someone tried to break the ice by asking Syd how he had put on so much weight, he maniacally replied, "I've got a very large fridge in the kitchen, and I've been eating a lot of pork chops!" This would be the last time any of the Pink Floyd members saw him.


June 5, 1976 -
Located in the eastern part of Idaho, between Fremont and Madison counties, the Teton Dam, an earthen dam on the Teton River suffered a catastrophic failure while it was being filled for the first time, on this date.



The collapse of the dam resulted in the deaths of eleven people and 16,000 livestock. The dam cost about $100 million to build and the federal government paid over $300 million in claims related to its failure. Total damage estimates have ranged up to $2 billion. The dam has never been rebuilt.


June 5, 1981 –
The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that five people in Los Angeles, California, had a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems,

in what turns out to be the first recognized cases of AIDS.


June 5, 1998 -
Reuters and ABC News both erroneously reported the death of Bob Hope, after Arizona congressman Bob Stump announced the comedian's demise on the floor of the U.S. Congress.

This was a tremendous surprise to Bob Hope himself, who was eating breakfast at the time.

Oops.



And so it goes.

Sweet dreams are made of cheese

Happy National Cheese Day! National Cheese Day should not be to be confused with other popular cheese related holidays like Grilled Cheese Day, Cheesecake Day, or Mac and Cheese Day.



Cheese dishes can be found on every continent served savory, sweet, melted, deep fried, and even chilled in ice cream. This household staple can still satisfy any craving after thousands of years.


June 4, 1938 -
Another extremely funny Warner Bros. Cartoon, Porky the Fireman, was released on this date.



The director, Frank Tashlin, is one of the few directors to successfully make the transition from animation to live-action, noted especially for his work with Jerry Lewis. Tashlin never made a picture that couldn’t be slotted firmly into the genre of comedy.


June 4, 1942 -
William Wyler' adaptation of Jan Struther wartime novel, Mrs Miniver, starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon (the second of their eighth movies pairings,) premiered in New York City on this date.



After first-choice Norma Shearer rejected the title role (as she refused to play a mother), Greer Garson was cast. Although she didn't want the part either, she was contractually bound to take it and won the Academy Award for her performance.


June 4, 1947 -
The Looney Tunes short, Along Came Daffy, directed by Friz Freleng, starring Daffy Duck, debuted on this date.



There has been debate about whether one of the men, specifically the red-haired one, is an official depiction of Yosemite Sam. Some evidence suggests that he is a "clone" of Yosemite Sam, as he usually keeps his name or similar traits in different settings. The hillbilly in this cartoon lacks a black mask and bears a gray hat instead of Sam's usual yellow hat.


June 4, 1949 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Bowery Bugs, directed by Arthur Davis, starring Bugs Bunny, debuted on this date.



A real-life Steve Brodie claimed that he jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge in 1886 and survived. Even though the newspapers enthusiastically reported his story, there is no evidence that it actually happened. The fact that his name was used in this cartoon means that it caricatured an already-deceased celebrity, as Steve Brody died on January 31, 1901, about 15 years after allegedly jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge.


June 4, 1953 -
Joseph L. Mankiewicz's adaptation of William Shakespeare's classic tragedy, Julius Caesar, starring Marlon Brando and just about every middle aged British actor opened in general release on this date.



This movie was shot in just 35 days, using some of the sets from Quo Vadis, which were dismantled, flown from Rome to Hollywood, and then reassembled for this film. Producer John Houseman confirmed that it was never intended that the movie be shot in color, as he and director Joseph L. Mankiewicz wanted it to have the urgency of a newsreel, not to look like a costume epic.


June 4, 1955 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Tweety's Circus, directed by Friz Freleng, starring Syvester and Tweety Bird, debuted on this date.



Tweety actually flies in this short, for a brief moment. He usually is shown walking or running from Sylvester.


June 4, 1960 -
The Looney Tunes short, Rabbit's Feat, directed by Chuck Jones, starring Bugs Bunny and Wile E. Coyote, debuted on this date.



Wile E. Coyote speaks out loud here, which he does not do when pursuing his other nemesis, the Roadrunner.


June 4, 1963 -
The Nutty Professor, arguably Jerry Lewis' best directorial effort, was released on this date.



According to one of the trailers for this film, "We don't care if you blab about the beginning of this picture; nor do we care if you give away the ending; but we do care if you reveal the middle. In fact, Jerry Lewis urges you to see this picture from the beginning, on penalty of losing your popcorn privileges." This spoofs Alfred Hitchcock's dictum that Psycho had to be seen from the beginning and his insistence that no latecomers be seated ("not even the [theatre] manager's brother").


June 4, 1965 -
The Rolling Stones release Satisfaction on this date.



On May 6, 1965, The Rolling Stones played to about 3,000 people at Jack Russell Stadium in Clearwater, Florida while on their first US tour. According to an article in the St. Petersburg Times, about 200 young fans got in an altercation with a line of police officers at the show, and The Stones made it through just four songs as chaos ensued. That night, Keith Richards woke up in his hotel room with the guitar riff and lyric "Can't get no satisfaction" in his head. He recorded it on a portable tape deck, went back to sleep, and brought it to the studio that week. The tape contained his guitar riff followed by the sounds of him snoring.


June 4, 1982 -
Paramount released the epic Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (which should have been titled, Battle of the Outrageous Toups) opened on this date.



Producer Harve Bennett viewed all the episodes of Star Trek and chose Star Trek: Space Seed as the best candidate for a sequel. Spock even remarks in the script that this would be interesting to return in a hundred years or so to see what type of civilization had grown there. This is the first time a feature film was made as a sequel to a specific television series episode.

On the same day, Paramount also released the horror classic, Poltergeist.



During all the horrors that proceeded while filming Poltergeist, only one scene really scared Heather O'Rourke: that in which she had to hold on to the headboard while a wind machine blew toys into the closet behind her. The young actress fell apart. Producer Steven Spielberg stopped everything, took her in his arms, and said that she would not have to do that scene again.


June 4, 1983 -
The comedy-drama film Chan Is Missing, directed by Wayne Wang, and starring Wood Moy and Marc Hayashi, opened on this date.



Wood Moy, who plays Jo, is rather short while Marc Hayashi, who plays Steve, his son, is comparatively tall. This created a "Mutt and Jeff" duo that added to the comedy elements of the film.


June 4, 1983 -
The Police started a four week run at No.1 in the UK with a cut from their album Synchronicity, Every Breath You Take, (the group's fifth and final No.1 single,) on this date.



Sting wrote this at the same desk in Jamaica where Ian Fleming wrote his James Bond novels. By this time, the band was at the peak of their popularity and often traveled to exotic locales so they could work more effectively. Sting was also exerting more control, taking less input from his bandmates when it came time to record his songs. Synchronicity ended up being the fifth and final Police studio album, as it was clear they could no longer work together. Every Breath You Take was the first single from the album.


June 4, 1984 -
Bruce Springsteen released his seventh studio album, Born in the USA on this date.



This is one of the most misinterpreted songs ever. Most people thought it was a patriotic song about American pride, when it actually cast a shameful eye on how America treated its Vietnam veterans. Springsteen considers it one of his best songs, but it bothers him that it is so widely misinterpreted. With the rollicking rhythm, enthusiastic chorus, and patriotic album cover, it is easy to think this has more to do with American pride than Vietnam shame.


Another little known Monopoly card


Today in History:
June 4, 1070 -
Roquefort cheese was accidentally discovered in a cave near Roquefort, France, when a shepherd found a lunch he had forgotten several days before, chasing after a pretty girl.



Remember, this is an estimated date - history doesn't normally record the spoiled luncheon choices hungry shepherds have. This was a very brave (or very hungry) shepherd.



Also, how do they know he was chasing a pretty girl. Maybe he was chasing another virile and strapping youth. Maybe it was a fetching sheep with a come-hither look. What business is it of yours anyway? (Apparently it concerned King Charles VI of France enough. He granted a monopoly for the ripening of Roquefort cheese to the people of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon as they had been doing for centuries, on this date in 1411.)


Modern Freemasonry was officially organized in London on June 4, 1717.

The Freemasons are not a secret society of assassins. They do not have Cesare Borgia's head preserved in an urn filled with grappa. They were not responsible for the French Revolution. They did not kidnap Anastasia Romanov. They are not in control of the Hale-Bopp comet. They did not invent horseradish.

They were masters of masonry, however, and they ushered in a golden age of making things out of rocks.



Freemasons first appeared in England and Scotland in the 1300s, not long after the first appearance of the Loch Ness Monster but well before the advent of crop circles. Most laborers of the era were villains and therefore prohibited from travel; since most stone masonry projects (such as cathedrals, churches, and big piles of rocks) required specialized training and large numbers of workers, however, stonemasons were permitted to travel freely. They became known as Freemasons; their curious lunchboxes - naturally - came to be known as mason jars.



Whenever the Freemasons arrived in town to start work on a new project, they set up a common area where they could meet one another, receive their pay, eat, train apprentices, rest, and get roaring drunk. These came to be known as lodges.



As the centuries passed, the Freemasons did less and less work with rocks and more and more drinking at lodges. Today, the Freemasons are a friendly social organization with a secret handshake and are therefore believed to be responsible for selling out the governments of the world to an invading extraterrestrial army..


June 4, 1783 -
The Montgolfier brothers publicly demonstrate their unmanned Montgolfière (hot air balloon) on this date.



The first untethered flight was recorded by the brothers later that year on November 21, 1783 in Paris, France.


June 4, 1798 -
Giacomo Girolamo Casanova de Seingalt, Venetian adventurer, syphilis sufferer and author, died in relative obscurity as the librarian of Count Waldstein of Bohemia on this date. The Count often ignored him at meals and failed to introduce him to important visiting guests. More over, Casanova, the testy outsider, was thoroughly disliked by most of the other inhabitants of the Castle of Dux. Casanova’s only friends seemed to be his fox terriers.



In despair, Casanova considered suicide, but instead decided that he must live on to record his memoirs, which he did until his death.



His main book Histoire de ma vie (History of My Life), part autobiography and part memoir, is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century. His last words are said to have been “I have lived as a philosopher and I die as a Christian.”


June 4, 1937 -
Sylvan Goldman ran a successful chain of grocery stores, where customers could carry hand baskets while they shopped. By 1937, when he was a major owner of the Humpty-Dumpty supermarket chain, he invented the shopping cart. He got the idea from a wooden folding chair. He designed the cart by putting a basket on the seat, another below and wheels on the legs. He and a mechanic, Fred Young put one together with a metal frame, and wire baskets.



On this date, Goldman placed an advertisement in the Oklahoma City papers, showing a woman exhausted by the weight of her shopping basket. “It’s new – It’s sensational. No more baskets to carry,” the ad said, referring to the new shopping cart.



On this date, Goldman placed an advertisement in the Oklahoma City papers, showing a woman exhausted by the weight of her shopping basket. “It’s new – It’s sensational. No more baskets to carry,” the ad said, referring to the new shopping cart.



Unfortunately, the customers didn’t want to use the carts. Young men thought they would appear weak; young women felt the carts were unfashionable; and older people didn’t want to appear helpless. So, Goldman hired models of all ages and both sexes to push the things around the store, pretending they were shopping.


June 4, 1946 -
President Truman signed into law, the America’s National School Lunch Program of 1946 on this date. The bill was enacted in no small part to WWII.

By mid 1945, America had just come out of a huge, resource-depleting war. So why on Earth would they be handing out free food for school kids? After all, it’s no secret that food rationing in Britain continued until nine years after the war. This is due to the fact that, the government realized by giving the children free meals, they would have a healthier draft pool if they ever needed it again.

Your tax dollars at work.


June 4, 1974 -
Ten Cent Beer Night was an ill-fated promotion held by the Cleveland Indians during a game against the Texas Rangers at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, on this date. Cleveland sold an estimated 60,000 cups of beer to the 25,134 in attendance.



Most sober fans departed early, leaving an increasingly drunk and unruly mob behind. Continued degradation of the game culminated in a riot in the ninth inning when fans rushed the field. The Indians’ security force of 50 was grossly outnumbered by more than 25,000 drunken fans. Players were forced to protect themselves with bats while retreating from the field. Twelve fans were arrested as nearly two dozen additional police cars responded to the stadium.


June 4, 1989 -
Today is the 37th anniversary of what became known as the "June Fourth Incident" in China. Tiananmen Square protests were ended in the typical manner of a totalitarian regime - with the People's Liberation Army soldiers and tanks, massacring the people they are supposed to serve.



Amnesty International estimated anywhere from 1,000 to 3,000 Chinese democracy advocates were killed on this day. The Chinese government puts the death toll at 241. Public commemoration of the incident is officially banned. However, the residents of Hong Kong have held an annual vigil on the anniversary of the crackdown, even after Hong Kong reverted to Chinese administration.

Once again, I'm not making any friends with the Chinese government.



And so it goes.

Have an egg or two

The American Egg Board has declared that it is National Egg Day today.







If you've been to the supermarket lately, you undoubtedly have noticed that egg prices have once again fluctated, because of 'rising gas prices'. Please direct your comments to the Egg Board, I've tried best to keep prices down.


Today is also the Memorial to Broken Dolls Day (Ningyo Kuyo) in Japan. (I've also seen the date as being celebrated on the first Sunday in June.)



On this day each year, children bring their broken dolls to Buddhist shrines for funeral rituals. After the ceremony, the dolls are buried and enshrined.



This temple should be located on the Island of Misfit Toys.


June 3, 1939 -
The Looney Tunes short, Polar Pals, directed by Bob Clampett, starring Porky Pig, debuted on this date.



There is visible snow falling on the opening credits sequence, including the "Starring Porky" title card.


June 3, 1939 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Believe It or Else, directed by Tex Avery, starring Elmer Fudd/ Egghead, debuted on this date.



This cartoon marks the final time that Elmer Fudd was voiced by Danny Webb.


June 3, 1944 -
The Looney Tunes short, Angel Puss, directed by Chuck Jones, debuted on this date. Because the film contains stereotypical portrayals of African-Americans, it is among the group of controversial cartoons known to animation buffs as the Censored Eleven.



This cartoon will probably never air on television again, and only non-Warner Bros. licensed public domain video tapes will probably ever have these cartoons on them.


June 3, 1955 -
The Billy Wilder comedy, The Seven Year Itch, opened on this date.



Billy Wilder preferred shooting in black and white, but Marilyn Monroe's contract with Fox called for all of her movies to be shot in color. Monroe always thought that she looked far more attractive and glamorous in color than in black and white.


June 3, 1956 -
The town of Santa Cruz, California, just seventy miles from San Francisco, banned rock-and-roll at public gatherings, calling the music “detrimental to both the health and morals of our youth and community," on this date.



Santa Cruz authorities cited a concert the previous night by the local band Chuck Higgins and his Orchestra, that produced a crowd of several hundred teenagers “engaged in suggestive, stimulating and tantalizing motions induced by the provocative rhythms” by the all African-American band. It's been all downhill ever since.


June 3, 1958 -
The 50s drive-in movie, The Fiend Without A Face, directed by Arthur Crabtree and starring Marshall Thompson, Kynaston Reeves, Michael Balfour, and Kim Parker, slithered into theatres on this date.



A publicity stunt went somewhat wrong in New York City. The Rialto Theater in Times Square featured a sidewalk promotion for the film--one of the prop brain creatures was displayed in a cage on the sidewalk outside the theater, wired for sound and motion. However, the crowd it attracted grew so large that they were snarling pedestrian and vehicle traffic, and the police demanded that it be removed.


June 3, 1961 -
The Looney Tunes short, Lickety-Splat, directed by Chuck Jones, starring Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, debuted on this date.



This Road Runner cartoon is unique in that it features a single prominent gag that runs through most of the cartoon; in this case, the dart bombs.


June 3, 1964 -
The Rolling Stones taped their U.S. (national) television debut on the ABC series The Hollywood Palace, hosted by Dean Martin, on this date.



The Stones’ first television appearance stateside was a June 2nd interview on The Les Crane Show (shown locally in New York City.)


June 3, 1967 -
Aretha Franklin's cover of the Otis Reading song Respect hits #1 in America, one this date.



Franklin's cover is by far the best-known version, but this was an important song for Otis Redding. It was just his second Top 40 hit, following I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now), and it helped establish Redding on mainstream radio. Otis also performed the song at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967; this was a defining performance for the singer, who died in a plane crash six months later.


June 3, 1967 -
The Doors release a truncated version of Light My Fire as a single, trimming it from an album-awesome 6:50 to a radio-friendly 2:52.



This became The Doors' signature song. Included on their first album, it was a huge hit and launched them to stardom. Before it was released, The Doors were an underground band popular in the Los Angeles area, but Light My Fire got the attention of a mass audience.


June 3, 1969 -
The last episode of the original Star Trek series (Turnabout Intruder) aired on NBC-TV, on this date.



This episode was originally scheduled for broadcast on March 28, 1969. Special network coverage of the death of Dwight D.Eisenhower pre-empted it, and it didn't air until June 3.


June 3, 1972 -
The Staple Singers' song, I'll Take You There, hits #1 as the group makes a successful transition from gospel to secular music.



This was the first of two #1 hits for the Staple Singers, the other is Let's Do It Again. The Staple Singers were among the first groups to move from gospel to inspirational soul music. Said lead singer Mavis Staples: "When we heard Dr. Martin Luther King preach, we said, 'If he can preach this, we can sing it.'"


June 03, 1977 -
Bob Marley and the Wailers' ninth studio album, Exodus, was released on this date.



In 1999, Time magazine named Exodus the best album of the 20th century.


June 3, 1983 -
Warner Bros. Pictures comedy, The Man with Two Brains, directed by Carl Reiner and starring Steve Martin, Kathleen Turner, and David Warner.



Kathleen Turner said she used a body double for a sex scene in this movie: "I was seriously offended by the scene in which my character is about to have her ass rubbed. I did not think that was funny at all. I told them to get someone else's ass to rub."


June 3, 1988 -
Penny Marshall's iconic film about growing up, Big, starring Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, and Robert Loggia, premiered on this date.



Penny Marshall became the first female director to ever direct a movie that grossed more than $100 million at the box office with this movie.


June 03, 1989 –
The Fine Young Cannibals second studio album, The Raw & The Cooked, started a seven-week run at No.1 on the Billboard charts on this date.



Fine Young Cannibals rose from the ashes of the UK band The Beat. Sometimes called The English Beat to distinguish them from the Paul Collins' band, The Beat, had a number of UK Singles hits including a cover of Smokey Robinson's Tears Of A Clown, Mirror in the Bathroom, and Too Nice To Talk To. When the band broke up in 1983, guitarists David Steele and Andy Cox went on to form FYC with a new vocalist, Roland Gift, whom they carefully chose after eight months of listening to cassettes.


Another episode of ACME's Little Known Animal Facts


Today In History:
June 3, 1791 -
The French Assembly passes a resolution bringing decapitation to the common criminal: "Every person condemned to the death penalty shall have his head severed."



So it wasn't just for the rich anymore.

(I'm still hoping that we go back to the old 1% rule. Beheading only for those who can well afford them. And if asked, I could quickly come up with a list.)


June 3, 1888 -
Casey at the Bat, subtitled A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888, by Ernest Thayer, was published in the San Francisco Examiner on this date.



The things you have to do to get kids to read poetry now-a-days.


June 3, 1906 -
Josephine Baker, dancer, singer, bisexual Parisian nightclub owner and Resistance fighter, was born on this date.



During World War II, Baker became active in undercover work for the French Resistance movement. Josephine Baker died in France in 1975 and was buried in Paris. She was the first American born woman to be buried with full French Military Honors.


June 3, 1937 -
Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (who was the Duke of Windsor and had previously been King Edward VIII,) married 'the woman he loved', Bessie Wallis Warfield Spencer Simpson (who became the Duchess of Windsor and was previously known as maîtresse-en-titre of King Edward VIII,) on this date, at the Château de Candé, in Monts, France, after her second divorce became final.



Later that year, the couple toured Nazi Germany, not the greatest optics for the former King of England. During the Second World War, Edward was at first stationed with the British Military Mission to France, but after private accusations that he was a Nazi sympathiser, he was appointed Governor of the Bahamas. After the war, Edward spent the rest of his louche life in traveling the world; their official residence was in France. He and Wallis remained married until his death in 1972.

Such is romance upon the royals


June 3, 1943 -
Three days after a sailor had been badly injured in a brawl with a group of Hispanics, a mob of 60 servicemen leaves the Los Angeles Naval Reserve Armory bludgeoned anybody wearing a zoot suit.



The first two victims were a couple of boys, aged 12 and 13, who were just sitting in the Carmen Theater watching a movie. Thus began the famous week-long Zoot Suit Riot.


June 3, 1948 -
Edward Brown Jr., a former navy pilot, opened the first Fly-In Drive-In Theater, in Farmingdale, NJ, on this date. There was room for 500 cars and 25 airplanes.

The planes landed at an airfield next to the Drive-In, then they would taxi to the last row which was set up for planes.

When the movies were over Mr. Brown provided a jeep to tow the planes back to the airfield.


June 3, 1955 -
Barbara Graham, a convicted murderer, was executed in the gas chamber along with two accomplices on this date.



Susan Hayward won an Academy Award for playing Graham in the movie I Want to Live!


June 3, 1965 -
The first American astronaut to make a spacewalk was Major Edward White II, when he spent 20 minutes outside the Gemini 4 capsule during Earth orbit at an altitude of 120 miles. A tether and 25 foot airline were wrapped in gold tape to form a single,thick cord. He used a hand-held 7.5 pound oxygen jet propulsion gun to maneuver. The launch had taken place a few hours earlier on the same day.



During the remainder of the flight, pilot White and his crewmate commander James McDivitt completed 12 scientific and medical experiments. The total time in orbit was almost 98 hours, making 62 orbits. Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei A. Leonov, had made the first ever spacewalk for 10 minutes about three months earlier.


June 3, 1967 -
Billie Joe McAllister jumps off the Tallahatchee Bridge on this date (It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty delta day,) according to the Bobbie Gentry song Ode To Billie Joe.



Gentry was familiar with the Tallahatchie Bridge since she was born and raised in Mississippi , where she grew up in a home without electricity. She learned to sing in church and her family got her a piano to nurture her musical talents. At age 13, she moved with her mother to Palm Springs, California, and in the ensuing years performed locally, taking the stage name Bobbie Gentry (her birth name: Roberta Lee Streeter - she chose the name after seeing the 1952 film, Ruby Gentry, starring Jennifer Jones and Charlton Heston).


June 3, 1968 -
Valerie Solanas, author of the SCUM Manifesto, arrived at the art studio of Andy Warhol on this date and shot him three times in the torso. Warhol barely survived the attempt on his life. Solanas was later jailed and institutionalized.



Doctors finish the job Solanas attempted several years later in a NY hospital when they botch a gall bladder operation in 1987. Solanas died a year after that in a skid row hotel in San Francisco in 1988, purportedly still working on a sequel to her previous book.


June 3, 1989 -
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini died after 11 days in a hospital, recovering from surgery to stop internal hemorrhaging, on this date.



Khomeini became ill when he realized that through a very bad translation, 73 virgins were not waiting for him but 73 raisins.


June 3, 1992 -
Arkansas governor Bill Clinton, campaigning for US president, makes an appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show, where he plays the Elvis Presley hit Heartbreak Hotel on the saxophone, on this date.



This performance ultimately solidified Clinton’s popularity with minority and young voters. It’s a moment in time that exemplifies the virtue of knowing your audience. Clinton knew his audience was young and urban, so he decided to give a performance he knew would resonate with them.


June 3, 2015 -
Godzilla, 61, nuclear accident survivor, Pacific Islander, Tokyo Bay illegal immigrant has officially been given Japanese citizenship and has been named ambassador at large of the busy Shinjuku ward of Tokyo.



It's always heartwarming to see how other countries deal with their immigrant situations.



And so it goes.