I just happened to notice

It was a rainy overcast day on this date last year as well. But fear not, we are only 30 days away until the start of summer.



Hopefully, you'll be able to make some vacation plans this year.


May 22, 1931 -
The Pre-code adaptation of the classic tale Trilby, Svengali, starring John Barrymore, Marian Marsh, and Donald Crisp, premiered in the US on this date.



In this film, John Barrymore became one of the first actors to wear contact lenses in motion pictures. The lenses were one of the earliest versions of hard contacts. Although clumsy and uncomfortable to wear, the lenses added a supernatural element to his performance.


May 22, 1937 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Clean Pastures, directed by Friz Freleng, debuted on this date. The short is notable for, not just being a member of the infamous Censored Eleven shorts due to its outdated depictions of African-Americans, but was also a problem with the Hays Office when it was created and released in the 1930s.



Because of the racial stereotypes used against black people throughout the short, it prompted United Artists to withhold it from syndication within the United States in 1968 and has not been aired on television since.


May 22, 1940 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Sniffles Takes a Trip, directed by Chuck Jones, starring Sniffles debuted on this date.



This cartoon is possibly a nod to Aesop's fable, The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, where two mice visit the countryside and the city, only to end up going through so many dangers while being in the city. The country mouse concludes he would rather live the countryside than the city, due to better safety, and the city mouse concludes he would rather live in the city than the countryside, as there is barely anything to do over there, and he couldn't stand being in an empty area.


May 22, 1947 -
David Lean's classic, Great Expectations, premiered in NYC on this date.



Charles Dickens wrote a much harsher ending to the novel for its original publication, in which Pip and Estella remain apart. He was forced to substitute the more famous ending when it was published as a book later on, because the first one upset his readers. This appears to be the only time he ever changed the ending to one of his novels.


May 22, 1948 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Bone Sweet Bone, directed by Arthur Davis, debuted on this date.



Both dogs break the fourth wall in their own unique way.


May 22, 1954 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Claws for Alarm, directed by Chuck Jones, starring Porky Pig and Sylvester, debuted on this date.



This is the second of three cartoons teaming Porky and Sylvester, continuing his nonspeaking role as Porky's cat in a spooky setting, where only Sylvester is aware of the danger the pair are in.


May 22, 1961 -
Ernie K Doe went to No.1 on the US singles chart with Mother In Law, on this date.



The song was written and produced by Allen Toussaint who also played the piano solo.


May 22, 1965 -
The Beatles single, Ticket to Ride hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts on this date.



Most Americans at the time, concluded the "ticket" was from British Railways, and "ride" was the town of Ryde on the Isle of Wight. McCartney confessed to his biographer Barry Miles that they were partly right. Paul had a cousin who ran a bar in Ryde and he and John had visited them there. Paul later mentioned that although the song was primarily about a girl riding out of the life of the narrator, they were conscious of the potential for a double meaning.


May 22, 1967 -

Today was the first day a soft spoken man slipped into your home and made himself more comfortable, on WQED Pittsburgh. But don't let his demeanor fool you, he was the power behind the throne of a kingdom where most of the royalty were mere "puppets".


(This is an excerpt from the first national episode from 1968; not the local first episode, which is not available.)

Guests on the show were often surprised to find that although Rogers was just as gentle and patient in life as he was on television, he was nevertheless a perfectionist who did not allow "shoddy" ad-libbing. He believed that children were thoughtful people who deserved programming as good as anything produced for adults on television.


May 22, 1971 -
The Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers album, with a working zipper on the cover, hits #1 in the US, on this date.



Andy Warhol designed the Sticky Fingers album cover. Before he started working on it, Mick Jagger send Warhol a note warning that a complicated design could cause nasty production delays, but nonetheless giving him total creative control. The artist responded with a cover that contained an actual working zipper, which of course was a production nightmare. The cover, however, was one of the most memorable ever made. It showed a man wearing very tight jeans behind that working zipper - many folks assumed this was Mick Jagger, but it was actually Joe Dallesandro, a actor and Warhol cohort.

Dallesandro appeared on the cover of the April 15, 1971 issue of Rolling Stone magazine; the album was released on April 23.


May 22, 1974 -
There is no real explanation - perhaps gambling debts - can explain the pairing of Julie Andrews and Jackie Gleason in the TV special, Julie Andrews & Jackie Gleason: How Sweet It Is, which air on ABC TV on this date.



This special was produced specifically for the American market (with Jackie Gleason's famous catchphrase making up half the title). Because Gleason was not as well known in England at the time, the program was re-titled Julie Andrews and Jackie Gleason...Together when it was shown on British television three months after its US broadcast.


May 22, 1980 -
Namco released the phenomenally popular arcade game, Pac-man (known as Puck-man), in Japan on this day.



An instantaneous hit, Pac-man is still considered a landmark in video gaming history.


May 22, 1985 -
14th James Bond film (if you are counting them in a certain way), A View to a Kill, starring Roger Moore (in his last appearance as James Bond), Grace Jones, and Christopher Walken, premiered in San Francisco, on this date.



Roger Moore said that he decided to end his run as James Bond when he realized that Tanya Roberts' mother was younger than he was. However, producer Albert R. Broccoli said he wanted a younger actor for the next movie, The Living Daylights, and would not have kept Moore as Bond anyway.


May 22, 1992 -
For 30 years, the man most of America went to bed with every night, finally got tired of having to try to satisfy so many people and decided to retire. Johnny Carson, known for his sharp wit, impeccable timing, and understated charm, made his final appearance on The Tonight Show on this date.



Johnny Carson's departure marked the end of a cultural era. Carson helped define late-night television, and his influence is still felt in the genre today. The Tonight Show was a fixture on NBC through the administrations of seven U.S. Presidents: John Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush.



May 22, 1995 -
The cast of the TV series, Laverne and Shirley somehow put their personal animosity with each other aside and reunited to appear on The Laverne & Shirley Reunion on ABC TV on this date.



Watching the special, may leave you not so much basking in the glow of fond memories as much as start asking yourself, Did I really watch this many episodes of Laverne & Shirley?


May 22, 2001 -
NBC aired the final episode of Third Rock From The Sun, The Thing That Would Not Die on this date.



The pilot was originally shot for ABC, but they didn't put it on their fall schedule. NBC took a look and liked what they saw.


May 22, 2019 -
The biographical film Rocketman, starring Taron Egerton as Elton John, debuts in the UK, on this date.



The BBC's film critic Mark Kermode praised Rocketman for taking risks in its portrayal of Elton John, in stark contrast to Bohemian Rhapsody, which was widely criticized for being a sanitized, family-friendly version of his friend Freddie Mercury.


Another unimportant moment in history


Today in History:
May 22, 337 -
Emperor Constantine died on this date. Although quite dead, his embalmed corpse continues to act as head of state, receiving state dignitaries and daily reports from ministers as if nothing had changed. Constantine's macabre leadership continues through winter.



Sometimes, it's good to be the King, even after you're dead.


May 22, 987 -
Louis V le Faineant, known as the Lazy, king of France (all of 20 years old,) was allegedly poisoned by his mother, on this date. It was reported that he fell off his horse during a hunting accident the day before.

Kids, when your mother tells you to clean up your room - do it!


May 22, 1813 -
One of the most controversial personalities of the nineteenth century, Richard Wagner was born on this date. Wagner wrote some of its most controversial music. Hitler is said for most of his life to have kept only three books on his nightstand: Wagner's autobiography, Machiavelli's The Prince, and Young Aryan Youth, lederhosen around their ankles, sitting in a tub of Chocolate Pudding. (How Hitler ended up with Wagner's nightstand is a question best left alone.)



Wagner considered it his life's mission to create a new and purely German music, in German, about Germany, for Germans, and is therefore best known for having scored the helicopter scene in Apocalypse Now.


May 22, 1856 -
Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner was beaten unconscious with a cane on the Senate floor by South Carolina’s Preston Brooks on this date.



Brooks, a pro-slavery Democrat, attacked Senator Sumner, a Republican abolitionist from Massachusetts, so badly that he was unable to resume his duties for three years. Brooks resigned from his seat but was re-elected.

And you thought, things were contentious in the Senate now-a-days.


May 22, 1906 -
The Wright Brothers, Orville and Wilbur, were granted a U.S. patent for their “new and useful improvements in Flying Machines.” (US No. 821,393)

It is the first airplane patent in the U.S.


May 22, 1907 -
Laurence Kerr Olivier, director, producer and one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th Century, was born on this date.



Interestingly, Olivier is buried alongside some of the people he has portrayed in theatre and film, for example King Henry V, General John Burgoyne and Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding.


May 22, 1939 -
Italy and Germany allied themselves with the Pact of Steel on this day, forming the basis for the Axis powers, which would later include Japan.



Despite the fact that the two became allies, Hitler and Mussolini still did not trust each other, so the pact was a very uneasy alliance even after the Tripartite Agreement Pact in 1940, when Japan joined.


May 22, 1962 -
A bomb, placed by Thomas G. Doty in the lavatory of Continental Airlines Flight 11 (a Boeing 707-124 ), carrying 45 passengers and crew, exploded, tearing the airliner apart. This had the unfortunate distinction of being the very first sabotage of a commercial jet airliner in the world.



Wreckage rained down from south of Cincinnati to Unionville, Missouri where the major sections of the aircraft crashed. One passenger managed to survive that terrible night but died early the next morning from his injuries. He was 27 year old Takehiko Nakano, an engineer from Illinois.


May 22, 1962 -
The first revolving restaurant in the U.S., La Ronde, opened in 1961 in Honolulu, atop the Ala Moana Building. La Ronde was soon followed by the Space Needle, built for the 1962 Worlds Fair in Seattle.



The Top of the Needle restaurant, which opened on this date, was the world's oldest revolving restaurant until it closed in September 2017 as part of the landmark’s renovation project. The space reopened in 2021 as the Loupe Lounge, a cocktail lounge.


May 22, 1964 -
Lyndon B. Johnson formally outlined his goal to create a "Great Society" through social reform during commencement exercises at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, on this day.



Two main goals of the Great Society social reforms were the elimination of poverty and of racial injustice. The most long-lasting programs of the Great Society include Medicaid and Medicare.


May 22, 1969 -
The lunar module of Apollo 10 (named Snoopy, with Thomas P. Stafford and Eugene A. Cernan aboard) separated from the command module, on this date, (named Charlie Brown piloted by John W. Young) and flew to within nine miles of the Moon's surface in a dress rehearsal for the first lunar landing.



Later that day, a disaster was averted after the Lunar Module separated from the descent stage began to roll violently due to the crew accidentally duplicating commands into the flight computer. Quick action by the crew saved them from crashing into the Moon (on live TV, no less.)


With this being the start of the Memorial Day Weekend , some of you bunkies will be on the road this weekend. Your old pal wants to remind you, once again:

(also hit the road before 2pm or after 9 pm today.)



And so it goes.

Let's all have a nice cuppa

Today is International Tea Day. Tea Day first got its start in 2004 when it was celebrated in New Delhi. It grew over the years and by 2019 the day was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly.



Drinking tea is less likely to produce a ‘caffeine crash’ than drinking coffee. This is because the high levels of antioxidants in tea slow the absorption of caffeine, which results in a gentler increase of caffeine in your system and a longer period of alertness with no crash at the end. So remember to have a cuppa.


May 21, 1940 -
The Looney Tunes short, Injun Trouble, directed by Bob Clampett, starring Porky Pig, debuted on this date. This cartoon no longer appears on American television because of racial stereotyping of Native-Americans



This short was later remade in color as Wagon Heels, also directed by Bob Clampett.


May 21, 1949 -
The Looney Tunes short, Curtain Razor, directed by Friz Freleng, starring Porky Pig, debuted on this date.



The short is similar in concept to Hamateur Night directed by Tex Avery ten years prior, since both shorts are centered on a series of comical stage act-based gags that frequently get rejected via the form of a trap door


May 21, 1955 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Past Perfumance, directed by Chuck Jones, starring Pepé Le Pew, debuted on this date.



It is the last Pepé Le Pew cartoon to be produced before the studio's brief shutdown in 1953, and the last Chuck Jones-directed pre-shutdown cartoon in release order.


May 21, 1969 -
MGM released the science fiction B-movie The Green Slime to U.S. theaters on this date.



This was the first film ever to be featured on the TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000. An edited version of the film appeared on the show's never-aired pilot episode.


May 21, 1971 -
Regarded as one of the landmark recordings in pop music history, and one of the greatest albums of the 20th century, Marvin Gaye's eleventh studio album What's Going On, was released on this date.



The What's Going On album takes on many issues, including the environment (Mercy Mercy Me) and poverty (Inner City Blues). It was the first album Gaye released that sold a lot of copies. Until then, like most Motown artists, he had lots of hit singles but album sales were secondary.


May 21, 1980 -
George Lucas didn't have enough money (the first time). He produces a sequel to his highly successful Star Wars, which somehow is Part V (don't ask or someone will go to great lengths to explain it all to you.)



The Empire Strikes Back premiered on this date.



The film contains, arguably the most shocking revelation - right next to what Rosebud was or Who actually is Keyser Söze?


May 21, 1982 -
The ingeniously crafted comedy Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, a unique blend of parody, homage, and technical wizardry that paid loving tribute to the film noir genre of the 1940s opened on this date. Directed and co-written by Carl Reiner, and starring Steve Martin, Rachel Ward, and Carl Reiner, the film is particularly remarkable for the way it seamlessly integrates clips from classic noir films of the '40s and '50s.



The film began as a very different project. Originally, Steve Martin and Carl Reiner had conceived it as a ‘30s-era satire titled Depression. However, after Reiner experimented with incorporating archival footage of a 1930s actor into one scene, he and Martin realized the comic and cinematic potential of building the entire film around that concept.


May 21, 1983 -
David Bowie, with guitar work courtesy of Stevie Ray Vaughan reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart with Let’s Dance, which stayed on top for one week.



On the surface, this song is about dancing with a lover, but according to Nile Rodgers, there's a deeper meaning. He told Mojo: "When David wrote those lyrics, he was talking about the dance that people do in life; the conceptual dance of not being honest. He sings, 'put on your red shoes and dance the blues.' Like you're pretending to be happy but you're sad."


May 21, 1987 -
The series, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd (a show a good friend of our worked on,) starred Blair Brown premiered on NBC-TV on this date.



The series takes place in New York City. But for the first two seasons, except for some exterior scenes, it was filmed in Los Angeles. Most of the cast and writers, including Blair Brown, actually lived in New York City. When the show moved to Lifetime from NBC, production was moved to New York City.


May 21, 1990 -
The final episode of Newhart aired on CBS, bringing the show to a close after eight successful seasons. Bob Newhart played Dick Loudon, a Vermont innkeeper, in this quirky sitcom. But what truly made TV history was the final scene of the series.



After the 7th season, Bob Newhart decided the 8th season would be the final season for the show. When he told his wife Ginny Newhart of his decision, she suggested that for the final episode, his character should wake up in bed next to Suzanne Pleshette, and that the series should be a dream.


May 21, 1992 -
Bette Midler appeared as the last scheduled guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, on this date. Carson had already announced his retirement, and this was the penultimate episode before his final farewell the next day. (This was the apex of TV. It hasn't gotten any better than this.)



What made this episode so unforgettable was its deep emotional resonance. Bette Midler turned what was supposed to be a talk-show appearance into a moving tribute. She and Johnny shared warm banter, heartfelt appreciation. Then, in a moment of pure television magic, sang One for My Baby (and One More for the Road) directly to him, with Carson sitting just a few feet away, visibly moved. Her performance was so powerful and poignant that it became instantly iconic. Bette Midler won an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program for this appearance. The award underscored how singular the moment was.


May 21, 2011 -
Adele went to No.1 on the US singles chart with Rolling In The Deep, on this date, taken from her second studio album, 21.



Adele credits her producer Paul Epworth for coaxing a mighty performance out of her on this track. "There's notes in that song I never even knew I could hit," she said."



This was covered by Aretha Franklin on her 2014 album, Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics. The Queen of Soul was a fan of Adele's 21 album. She said: "I absolutely loved her CD. In addition to being a great singer, she's a great writer, a deep, heavy writer. She doesn't write the usual or the norm."


Another little known Monopoly card


Today in History:
May 21, 427BC (Obviously is date is merely a best guess; the classical Greeks, at the time, were too busy improving the art of sodomy to bother with perfecting the calendar.)



The Greek philosopher Plato was born on this date.


It was on this date in 1471 that King Henry VI of England was murdered in the Tower of London, concluding Part III of his reign.



Edward IV assumed the throne as the world eagerly awaited Richard III and the dramatic conclusion of the War of the Roses.


May 21, 1805 -
A pharmacist’s apprentice, Friedrich Sertürner, discovered the valuable properties contained in opium. He named its active ingredient “morphium” after the Greek god of dreams, and later renamed it morphine.



This lifelong pharmacist in Paderborn, Germany was the first person to isolate an alkaloid as an active ingredient from a medicinal plant. When other chemists did not believe the initial report of Sertürner’s discovery of morphine he resorted to public experimentation on himself and three friends to prove that the substance he had isolated was indeed the one which was responsible for the actions of opium. By 1820 chemists had isolated other medically important substances such as quinine, strychnine and caffeine.


May 21, 1881 -
Clara Barton and Adolphus Solomons found the American National Red Cross, on this date, to provide humanitarian aid to victims of wars and natural disasters as part of the International Federation of Red Cross Societies.



Barton remained with the Red Cross until 1904, attending national and international meetings, aiding with disasters, helping the homeless and poor, and writing about her life and the Red Cross.


May 21, 1904 -
... This is so nice, it must be illegal.







Thomas Wright (Fats) Waller, jazz pianist, organist, composer and entertainer, was born on this date.


May 21, 1917 -
One of the World's Greatest Actors, Raymond Burr was born on this date.



In celebration, may I suggest purchasing a small container of the fabulous nipple rouge bearing this man's name. This year, 'Ripened Fig'.


May 21, 1924 -
Two Chicago teenagers interrupted their vigorous daily sodomy practice and attempted to commit the perfect crime just for the thrill of it.



Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb kidnapped 14-year-old Bobby Franks, bludgeoned him to death in a rented car, and then dumped Franks' body in a distant drainage ditch.

They didn't get away with it.


May 21,1927 -
Charles Lindbergh, American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, racist, Neo-Nazi, Isolationist and serial philanderer became the first man to fly alone across the Atlantic Ocean, on this date.



Exactly five years later Amelia Earhart became the first woman to do it, on this day as well.



This was an impressive step for feminism, and she did it without a bathroom break.


May 21, 1952 -
Mr. T was born in the ghetto, on this date.



And his mama cried.


May 21, 1972 -
A deranged Australian geologist took a hammer on this date, to Michelangelo's Pieta, shouting "I am Jesus Christ -- risen from the dead!"



Laszlo Toth was never charged with any crime, instead receiving a free trip to an Italian insane asylum. Toth's name is later adopted by comedian and former SNL regular Don Novello (Father Guido Sarducci) for a long series of pranks by mail.

Everybody's a critic.


May 21, 2011 –
Radio broadcaster/preacher Harold Camping predicted that the world would end on this day. As far as we can tell, it didn’t.



Ever since then, today has been known as Rapture Day, (so you may want to party like it's 1999.)



And so it goes.

Powerball is up to $113 million

Today is National Be a Millionaire Day. It's the day to celebrate the desire to win the lottery and go tell your boss where they can stick it. Sources say that the word Millionaire was coined by Lord Byron sometime in 1816 but I believe he was too busy sleeping with anything that moved to worry about becoming a millionaire.



Remember, most millionaires are not celebrating this day; they are waiting to celebrate Be A Billionaire Day.


May 20, 1891 -
The first public demonstration of a prototype Kinetoscope was given to an invited audience of from the National Federation of Women’s Clubs at Edison’s laboratory on this date.



A three second 'film' directed, produced by, and starring William Dickson was used for the demonstration. It is purportedly, the second 'film' ever made in the USA


May 20, 1944 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Russian Rhapsody (a propaganda short during World War II,) directed by Bob Clampett, debuted on this date.



In the early 1940s Walt Disney was developing a feature film based on Roald Dahl's book Gremlin Lore, and asked the other studios to refrain from producing Gremlin films. While most of the studios complied, Warner Bros. already had two cartoons too far into production - Falling Hare and this cartoon. As a compromise, Leon Schlesinger retitled the cartoons to remove any reference to gremlins. The original title was Gremlins From the Kremlin.


May 20, 1950 -
The Merrie Melodies short, His Bitter Half, directed by Friz Freleng, starring Daffy Duck, debuted on this date.



Wentworth Duck bears a striking resemblance to the little yellow duck from Ain't That Ducky, which was directed by Friz Freleng five years earlier, albeit not the same character.


May 20, 1961 -
The Looney Tunes short, The Abominable Snow Rabbit, directed by Chuck Jones, starring Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, debuted on this date.



This was the final short film featuring Daffy Duck to be directed by Chuck Jones during the era of the original animation studio Warner Bros. Cartoon Studios. Jones was fired from the studio in 1962, when his bosses discovered that he had violated his exclusive contract by writing screenplays for the rival studio UPA.


May 20, 1967 -
BBC disc jockey Kenny Everett gave the official preview of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the radio show Where It's At, broadcast on the BBC Light Program on this date.



He was unable to play the final track A Day in the Life, which the BBC had banned a day earlier due to drug references, especially the line 'I'd love to turn you on'.


May 20, 1967 -
The Young Rascals' (later to be known just as the Rascals,) had their second No. 1 hit Groovin' in America, on this date.



This was the second of three #1 hits for The Rascals, after Good Lovin' and before People Got to Be Free.


May 20, 1982 -
The last episode of the series Barney Miller aired on this date.



The producers were approached during the run of the series about doing a feature film based on the show using the regular cast members. The film was never made.


May 20, 1993 -
The last episode of the series Cheers aired on this date.



One of the last scenes shows Sam straightening a photograph on the side of the bar. The picture is of Geronimo. This is an homage to the late Nicholas Colasanto, who played "Coach" Ernie Pantusso from 1982-1985. The picture held special meaning to Colasanto who hung it in his dressing room. When he died in 1985, the picture was moved to the bar in his memory.



May 20, 1996 -
NBC aired the final episode of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on this date.



The show was actually cancelled during its fourth season, with The Philadelphia Story serving as the finale. The overwhelming response, with viewers writing in by the truckload to NBC and Will Smith, convinced the network to go back on this decision, allowing it to run for what became two more seasons.


May 20, 2000 -
Director Wong Kar-Wai's lush, visually stunning fever dream of a movie, In the Mood for Love (Faa Yeung Nin Wa), starring Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung premiered at Cannes Film festival, on this date.



Filming took fifteen months, due in part to Kar-Wai Wong's improvisational and perfectionist nature. Cinematographer Christopher Doyle, who had been forced to turn down several other projects because of this lengthy production, finally left to honor a prior commitment and was replaced by Ping Bin Lee and Pun-Leung Kwan. Doyle would later do the same thing on 2046, which proved to be his final collaboration with Wong (as of 2022).


May 20, 2015 -
Dave said his final goodnight when Late Night With David Letterman aired the last new episode (episode no. 4,261 - the 6,028th episode on late night television,) on this date.



For weeks, just about every writer on staff prepped for what would be said by 10 different celebrities, delivering one line a piece about “Things I’ve Always Wanted to Say to Dave.” One writer explained the origins behind a joke in which Letterman’s son Harry keeps asking, “Why does Daddy have to go to prison?” The segment producers had to work extensively to make sure Peyton Manning’s schedule was entirely cleared, they had to rewrite a joke for Julia Louis-Dreyfus at the last minute, and agonized over whether Tina Fey, who previously joked she’d never have to wear a dress again on a talk show, would actually wear a dress to the finale.


Another episode of ACME's Little Known Animal Facts


Today in History:
May 20, 1498 -
Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama was the first European to reach India by sea on this date. He accomplished this amazing feat by actually taking the correct route and not traveling to the Caribbean, for the tropical drinks and cheap but potent ganja, instead.



His trip helped set up a very profitable trade route for Portugal, which helped it become the foremost exploring power in the early 1500s.


Honore de Balzac was born in France on May 20, 1799 (or May 19th.) The exact date could not be determined as all of France had just started on a drinking binge that has only recently just ended. Balzac created a vast body of literature that he called La Comédie Humaine (A Vast Body of Literature).



It consisted of dozens of novels, short stories, and plays interwoven with many of the same characters, places, events, horses, etc. One of his most popular characters was the brilliant and big-hearted Dr. Bianchon. It is rumored that Balzac’s dying words were, “If Bianchon were here, he would save me!”

The anecdote is probably apocryphal, as Balzac didn’t speak English.


May 20 1867 -
Queen Victoria laid the foundation stones in the Royal Albert Hall on this date.

Two thoughts immediately came to mind:
a.) Who thought she would do it in the road?
b.) Wow, is it true that Keith Richards was there?


May 20, 1873 –
Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent (#139121) for blue jeans with copper rivets.



19 years later, George Sampson patents the clothes dryer.



It's just that simple.


May 20, 1921 -
Noble Prize winner, Marie Curie visited the White House on this date.



She did not ask to visit any broom closets with the president.


May 20, 1927 -
Charles Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, N.Y., at 7:40 AM aboard the Spirit of St. Louis on his historic solo flight to France, on this date.



He completed the 33-hour, 30-minute flight and landed at Le Bourget Airport, Paris on the evening of May 21.


May 20, 1932 -
Amelia Earhart took off for Ireland from Habor Grace, Newfoundland on this date, becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.



She would later land her plane in Ireland after a thirteen-hour, thirty-minute flight from Canada rather than in her intended destination, France.


May 20, 1946 -
Cherilyn Sarkisian, pop singer-songwriter, Academy Award, Grammy Award, Emmy Award, three Golden Globe Awards and a People's Choice Award winner was born on this date.













Wig manufacturer's everywhere celebrate this day as an international holiday.

(Probably coincidentally, but I like to think not, the Supreme Court struck down, 6-3, a Colorado constitutional amendment banning laws that protect homosexuals from discrimination on this date in 1996.)


May 20, 1956 -
The first hydrogen bomb to be dropped from the air was exploded over the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific (Operation Redwing), but it was a much earlier (July 1, 1946,) non-aerial atomic detonation that originally inspired the bikini swimsuit.



According to the U.S. Department of Energy, $90 million has been appropriated by Congress "to be used by the Bikinians to clean up their atoll" since 1990. How embarrassing must it have been for the guy who had to call the Bikinians and tell them we had soiled their atoll—that we wanted to help them clean their filthy atoll?

(Which isn't to say it'd be a cakewalk being called a Bikinian.)


May 20, 1960 -
Music DJ Alan Freed, originator of the term "Rock and Roll," was indicted in New York in the Payola scandal of the day.



Freed had accepted $30,650 from five record companies to play their records, although to be fair "pay for play" was the accepted practice up to that point. (Dick Clark did it but somehow didn't get penalized - another benefit from his pact with the devil.)


May 20, 1989 -
The Chinese government imposed martial law on Beijing on this date, in response to student-led protests that had brought millions of people onto the streets.

The demonstrations continued, however, until the brutal military crackdown on June 3 and 4 in Tiananmen Square, in which thousands of Chinese dissidents were killed by the Chinese military. In a June 9 speech, Deng Xiaoping announced that the government had suppressed a "counterrevolutionary rebellion" in which the "dregs of society" had tried to "establish a bourgeois republic entirely dependent on the West."

I'm still not winning any friends with the Chinese Government.


May 20, 1989 -
Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next..





Gilda Radner, Emmy Award winning American comedienne and actress, best known for her five years as part of the original cast of the NBC comedy series Saturday Night Live, died at 42 of ovarian cancer on this date.



And so it goes.