Inspiring but overwhelming

Today is International Archives Day. Don't worry about how to celebrate the holiday correctly, the various Congressional, Senate and Independent committees already has all the information you might need. So you can just go about your business; They're already on the case.







Take it from your doctor and check out Archives.gov (or Archive.org); just about everything you may want, will find it's way there.


June 9, 1934 -
92 years ago today, an American legend made his first appearance on the silver screen. The Silly Symphony short The Wise Little Hen premiered; it star, resplendent in his trademark sailor jacket and cap. Since then, he has appeared in over 450 films in more than 200 languages, held lead roles in dozens of television serials and hundreds of specials, and has been featured in books and magazines in every language.



He is, of course, the world's favorite lazy, hot-headed, bare-assed mallard: Donald Fauntleroy Duck. He has done all of this without wearing pants - I know it is long past the time anyone would want to see me on the silver screen sans pants.


June 9, 1945 -
The last appearance of a 'nude' Tweety and before his famous pairing with Sylvester, A Gruesome Twosome, premiered in the US on this date.



Tweety rides on the back of a classic Vaudeville style horse in a salute to the popular radio drama The Lone Ranger.


June 9, 1946 -
The first car commercial on television for Chevrolet aired on this date. The live ad was the start of the car company's sponsorship of a series of variety shows that aired in four cities on the DuMont network.


(This is obviously not the actual commercial.)
The ad marked Chevrolet's first regular sponsorship of programs on network TV.


June 9, 1947 -
Another of Orson Welles' (The patron saint of Independent film makers) mangled studio films The Lady from Shanghai was released on this date.



Orson Welles' original rough cut of this picture ran 155 minutes (the released version ran 92 minutes). Numerous cuts made by Columbia Pictures executives included a shortening of the famous "funhouse" finale.


June 9, 1962 -
The thriller, Experiment in Terror, directed by Blake Edwards and starring Glenn Ford, Lee Remick, Stefanie Powers and Ross Martin, opened on this date.



Blake Edwards was a fan of Alfred Hitchcock as evidenced by his homage to his filmmaking such as in the telephonic terror of Dial M for Murder, the unhinged cross-dressing antagonist like in Psycho, urban backdrop like in Vertigo, and beautiful blonde in danger of Psycho and innumerable others.


June 9, 1978 -
The Rolling Stones' 14th British and 16th American studio album, Some Girls, was released on this date.



The album cover was a parody of a newspaper ad for wigs, but the women wearing the wigs were celebrities like Raquel Welch, Lucille Ball, and Farrah Fawcett. They had to remove the famous women when faced with a lawsuit.


June 9, 1989 -
William Shatner was at the helm when Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, starring all the other folks from the original TV series, premiered in the US on this date. (It has been said that this was the worst Star Trek film and 'nearly sank the franchise.')



George Takei has said that he originally turned down this film because he did not want to be directed by William Shatner, with whom he has had a longstanding feud. But Shatner convinced Takei to reprise his role. According to George Takei, despite studio pressure to complete the film on time, William Shatner maintained a creative and enthusiastic atmosphere on set. "I have enormous admiration for his ability to block that kind of pressure from seeping on to the set." Moreover, Takei acknowledged, "despite our sometimes strained personal history, I found working with Bill (Shatner) as a director to be surprisingly pleasant."


June 9, 1993 -
The Tina Turner bio-pix, What's Love Got To Do With It, starring Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne, premiered in the US on this date.



Angela Bassett lip-synched all of the songs in this movie; Tina Turner sang all the tracks herself. Bassett herself admitted that she can act and dance, but isn't much of a singer. Laurence Fishburne actually sang Ike Turner's parts.


June 9, 1997 -
The FOX series Married... with Children was abruptly cancelled and a hastily shot episode was aired, How to Marry a Moron (Part 2), (which was designated as the season finale.) Five weeks later, Chicago Shoe Exchange was aired on this date, out of production order and also widely considered the final episode.



With this episode, Ed O'Neill was the only cast member to appear in every episode of Married... with Children. Amanda Bearse does not appear in this episode.


June 9, 2007 -
Rihanna's Umbrella, with a guest verse from her label boss Jay-Z, reaches #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on this date, where it stays for seven weeks.



Jay-Z, who runs Rihanna's record label Roc-A-Fella Records, performs a somewhat gratuitous rap at the beginning of the song emphasizing his wealth and business success. His presence on the song made it much more marketable even if it didn't advance the storyline.


Today's moment of Zen.


Today in History:
June 9, 68 -
Rather than suffer a Senate-imposed death by flogging, Nero implored his secretary Epaphroditus to slit his throat. The freedman complies, giving the condemned emperor a quick death on this date, just as centurions arrive at the villa to haul him away.

As Nero's four faithful servants prepared his funeral pyre, the Emperor gasped out with his last breath: Qualis artifex Pereo, (How great an Artist dies here.) You certainly can't get help like that anymore even on Mad Men.



Administrative Professionals Day, former known as Secretaries Day, always falls on the last week of April. I believe it should occur on June 9th


June 9, 1870 -
Charles Dickens dropped dead at his chair at the dinner table in his home in London on this date. He died from a stroke, or apoplexy as it was called then. This must have put a dent in the dinner conversation at the time.



He was 58 years old. In the months before he died, he must have already suffered a stroke? He spoke in his letters of weakness and deadness on the left side and of not being able to pick up things with his left hand.



Being the ever prolific writer, Mr. Dickens still manages to write three more short stories, a humorous monograph and a recipe for rum punch while on the way to his burial.


June 9, 1891 -
He may have hair upon his chest
but, sister, so has Lassie.







One of the most sophisticated American, and Peru, Indiana's favorite son, Cole Porter, was born on this date.


June 9, 1902 -
Joe Horn and Frank Hardart open the Horn and Hardart Automat Restaurant, the first restaurant with vending machine service, at 818 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.





If you are of a certain age, you used to call them Horny and Hardon.


June 9, 1909 -
Starting out from a rainy Manhattan, New York on this date, Alice Huyler Ramsey, a 22-year-old New Jersey mother, drove with three of her girlfriends (who didn't know how to drive a car) to San Francisco, California. The trip took 59 days and when she and her companions arrived in California on August 7th, Ramsey (and her companions) became the first woman to drive across the United States.



She made the 3,800-mile journey in a Maxwell automobile. The Maxwell company was the precursor to the Chrysler Group. She was named the “Woman Motorist of the Century” by AAA in 1960. She repeated the trip another 30 times — in shorter periods of time — before her death on September 10, 1983, at the age of 96.


June 9, 1930 -
Jake Lingle, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, was shot dead gangland-style at the Illinois Central train station underpass, during rush hour. Dozens of people witness the murder, and the Leo Vincent Brothers were caught four months later after an intensive manhunt.



Lingle was allegedly killed over a $100,000 gambling debt owed to Al Capone.

Bunkies, how many times do we have to go over this - don't borrow money unless you can pay the vig?


June 9, 1946 -
Bhumibol Adulyadej (known as Rama IX ) came to the throne in Thailand, upon the death of his brother, King Ananda Mahidol, on this date in 1946. (Just don't ask who shot his brother - it's a crime. As a matter of fact, don't say anything negative about the King - it's a crime.)



King Rama IX of Thailand passed away almost five years ago, leaving the former Queen Elizabeth II of England as the longest living reigning monarch in history, at the time.


June 9, 1954 -
Have you left no sense of decency?

During Senate-Army hearings, Sen Joseph McCarthy charged that one of Joseph Welch's attorneys had ties to a Communist organization.



As an amazed television audience looked on, Welch responded with the immortal lines that ultimately ended McCarthy's career. At that point, the Senate gallery erupted in applause for the only brave soul to have finally stood up in the committee hearings against the “Red Scare” witch hunt that had paralyzed the nation’s psyche.


June 9, 1980 -
In the midst of a cocaine binge, comedian Richard Pryor attempts suicide by dousing himself with rum and setting it ablaze. The self-immolation attempt goes haywire when the flaming man leapt from his apartment window and ran down the street, screaming in agony.



Pryor barely survives the incident, and only after six weeks of intensive care and three skin graft surgeries.


June 9, 1992 -
Talk about having a lousy day...
Entertainer Ben Vereen was critically injured when he was struck by a van while walking along the Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu, California. The driver, producer/composer David Foster, was not charged.



Some hours earlier, Vereen had run into a tree while driving his own car. He blames that mishap for the later accident. He said, "I had hit my head on the steering wheel but felt fine. Later that evening as I was walking in Malibu, I had [a] stroke as a result of that accident." Vereen says he then stumbled into the roadway and was hit by the van.



And so it goes.

And yes -

as my children knew as their first spoken phrase - a bone dry Bombay Sapphire Martini, straight up, olives !

Today is National Name Your Poison Day. As described on many websites, "... National Name Your Poison Day is observed each year on June 8. Over the years, bartenders have been known to use the phrase, “name your poison,” when asking patrons what they would like to drink. This observation celebrates that phrase and is a day to commemorates making a choice or a decision."



I do not wished to be embalmed. I hope they just douse me with a strong drink or two before they cremate me. Drink enough and you'll agree with me. Apparently you will become quite artistic and see lots of things once you drink enough Bombay Sapphire.


June 8, 1935 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Into Your Dance, directed by Friz Freleng, debuted on this date.



Many networks airing this short, remove the scene of a blackface minstrel group performing Go Into Your Dance as the crowd enters the show.


June 8, 1940 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Tom Thumb in Trouble, directed by Chuck Jones, debuted on this date.



This is the final cartoon in which Shepperd Strudwick provided a voice. All cartoons Strudwick worked on were directed by Chuck Jones.


June 8, 1940 -
The Looney Tunes short, The Chewin' Bruin, directed by Bob Clampett, and starring Porky Pig, was released on this date.



The muskrats that the bear hunter were quietly scaring with his rifle, escape and dig in holes in the nearby fallen log that spell out GOODBYE, MR CHIPS.


June 8, 1946 -
The Looney Tunes short, Kitty Kornered, directed by Bob Clampett and featuring the first pairing of Porky Pig and Sylvester, was released on this date.



The goldfish couple are shown sleeping in the same bed. At the time, such a portrayal was pushing the censorship envelope. The Hayes Code required twin beds for spouses, even in a cartoon.


June 8, 1950 -
The Asphalt Jungle, the superb film noir directed by John Huston, was released on this date.



During the production, Walter Huston came to Hollywood for his son John Huston's 44th birthday party. Two days later, with John at his side, the legendary actor of stage and screen died of heart failure at age 66.


June 8, 1957 -
The Looney Tunes short, Steal Wool, directed by Chuck Jones and starring Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog, was released on this date.



This is the fourth animated short film by Warner Bros. Cartoons to feature Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog as the main characters. This is also their last appearance in the 1950s, as they would make their next appearance in 1960.


June 8, 1963 -
The Crystals' Da Doo Ron Ron peaked at No.3 on the US singles chart. Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich wrote this song.



Phil Spector produced this song, marking his first real "Wall of Sound" production. He had a massive hit a few years earlier with To Know Him Is To Love Him by The Teddy Bears, but Da Doo Ron Ron provided the template for his unique studio sound that he would replicate on classic songs like Be My Baby.


June 8, 1963 -
The Looney Tunes short, Hare-Breadth Hurry, directed by Chuck Jones and starring Bugs Bunny and Wile E. Coyote, was released on this date.



This is the final pairing between Bugs and Wile E. Coyote in the classic era.


June 8, 1968 -
The Rolling Stones released Jumpin' Jack Flash on this date.



This was intended for Beggar's Banquet, but they left it off the album and released it as a single because The Stones were very pleased with the results. One year later on this date, founding member Brian Jones quit (some say 'pushed out') The Rolling Stones.



He died a month later, at age 27.


June 8, 1974 -
Dolly Parton's single I Will Always Love You went to No.1 on the US country charts on this date.



Elvis Presley let it be known that he wanted to cover the song. Parton was interested until Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, told her that it was standard procedure for the songwriter to sign over half of the publishing rights to any song Elvis recorded. Parton refused.



I Will Always Love You later became a worldwide No.1 hit for Whitney Houston in 1992 when featured in The Bodyguard.


June 8, 1983 -
John Landis' mega-hit comedy Trading Places, starring Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliott, and Jamie Lee Curtis premiered in the US on this date.



In 2010, as part of the Wall Street Transparency and Accountability Act, which was to regulate financial markets, a rule was included which barred anyone from using secret inside information to corner markets, similar to what the Duke brothers tried to do in the movie. Since the movie inspired this rule, it has since become known as the Eddie Murphy Rule.


June 8, 1984 -
Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!



Ivan Reitman's comedy - horror film, Ghostbusters, premiered on this date.



In the middle of the film's initial release, to keep interest going, Ivan Reitman ran a trailer that was basically the commercial the Ghostbusters used in the movie, but the 555 number was replaced with a 1-800 number, allowing people to actually call in. Callers got a recorded message of Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd saying something to the effect of "Hi. We're out catching ghosts right now." They got 1,000 calls per hour, 24 hours a day, for six weeks.


June 8, 1985 –
The Tears for Fears song Everybody Wants to Rule the World became the group's highest-charting single when it reached No. #1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.



This song is about the quest for power, and how it can have unfortunate consequences. In an interview with Mix magazine, the band's producer Chris Hughes explained that they spent months working on Shout, and near the end of the sessions, Roland Orzabal came into the studio and played two simple chords on his acoustic guitar, which became the basis for the song. Said Hughes: "'Everybody Wants to Rule the World' was so simple and went down so quickly, it was effortless, really. In fact, as a piece of recording history, it's bland as hell." The song has been covered by a diverse group of people - Patti Smith, Lorde and the jazz group, The Bad Plus are among the artists to cover this song. Weezer included it on their 2019 covers collection known as The Teal Album.



And amazingly, they have performed the song again nearly 40 years later.


June 8, 1996 -
The Fugees' reworking of Killing Me Softly, featuring lead vocals by Lauryn Hill, goes to #1 in the UK, on this date, where it becomes the top-selling single of 1996.



The Fugees wanted to change the lyrics and make it a song about poverty and drug abuse in the inner city with the title Killing Him Softly, but the songwriting team of Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel refused.


Word of the Day.


Today in History:
June 8, 632 -
According to tradition, the prophet Mohammed died on this date. He was the founder of Islam, and his death was the first in a long chain of events that ultimately resulted in the Treaty of Tordesillas. Whether he is at this very moment reclining on a soft couch somewhere in Paradise, being serviced by a high-bosomed virgin with dark eyes or consuming a handful of raisins is debatable.

And if you think I'm going to post a picture of the Prophet, you've got another thing coming.


June 8, 1810 -
Robert Schumann, the great composer during the Romantic period, was born on this date. Schumann was able to create a large amount of work while battling the twin demons of bi-polar disease and dementia brought on by mercury poisoning related to the treatment of syphilis, contracted in his teens.



For the last two years of his life, after an attempted suicide, Robert Schumann was confined to a mental institution at his own request.

You may now impress your friends with this info.


June 8 1869 -
Ives W. McGaffey of Chicago patented his sweeping machine (patent # 91,145,) the first suction vacuum cleaner, on this date.

This suggests that Chicago was famous for sucking long before the emergence of the Cubs.


June 8, 1906 -
Pres. Theodore Roosevelt signed the American Antiquities Act, first proposed in 1882. It was used to set aside American resources by executive order.



Roosevelt had urged the passage of the Antiquities Act to allow the president to designate areas of scientific, historic or archeological significance as national monuments without the approval of Congress.


June 8, 1928 -
On May 31, 1928, Charles Kingsford Smith, Charles Ulm, Harry Lyon and James Warner left Oakland California in a Fokker VIIb-3m, called the Southern Cross, to attempt the first flight across the Pacific.



Flying via Hawaii and Fiji, they reach Brisbane, Australia 7,389 miles away, nine days later, on this date.


June 8, 1933 -
Certain key structural areas of the late, great Joan Alexandra Molinsky, comic and actress, were born on this date.



Unfortunately, some of her 'newer' parts have outlived her.


Nancy Sinatra was born on this date - it would be impolite to say how old she is.



Her boots must be made for endurance walking


June 8, 1978 -
Naomi James broke the solo round-the-world sailing record by two days with her 53 ft yacht Express Crusader when she crossed the finish line in Dartmouth taking 272 days to complete the record. She also became the first woman to sail solo around the globe via Cape Horn - the classic "Clipper Route".



In 1979 Naomi was given the title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of her achievement. Naomi gave up sailing in 1982 after winning the Round Britain Race with her husband Rob James. In 1983 Rob fell overboard whilst sailing to Salcombe from Plymouth and drowned, their daughter was born ten days after the tragedy.


June 8, 1982 -
President Ronald Reagan became the first US chief executive to address the two houses of British Parliament on this day.



His assistants became slightly concerned about the President's faculties when Reagan mentioned to them, that he believed that scene went well but he could be more convincing in the next take. He also mentioned to them that he'd be having dinner with Hedy Lamarr at the Trocadero.



And so it goes.

Now that you know - try stopping yourself

When you're reading – even silently – the muscles of your mouth, tongue and larynx activate. This process is called 'subvocalisation'. We're essentially still sounding out the words in our heads to decode them, even when we're not speaking them out loud.


June 7, 1941 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt, directed by Friz Freleng, starring Bugs Bunny, debuted on this date.



Due to pressure from Warner Bros., this cartoon was one of 11 pulled from rotation by the Cartoon Network for its 2001 "June Bugs" marathon, which was to show the complete chronology of Bugs Bunny cartoons. This is in addition to the "Censored 11" that have been withheld from distribution since 1968. The reason given was its purportedly offensive depiction of Native Americans.


June 7, 1946 -
The final installment in the Sherlock Holmes series, Dressed to Kill, directed by Roy William Neill and starring Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce and Patricia Morrison, opened on this date.



Irene Adler, mentioned by Dr. Watson, was a fictional character in the Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A former opera singer and actress, she was featured in the short story A Scandal in Bohemia to which Watson referred. But she was never incorporated into any of the plots of the films in the series.


June 7, 1952 -
The Looney Tunes short, The Hasty Hare, directed by Chuck Jones, starring Bugs Bunny and Marvin the Martian, debuted on this date.



The science professor's note of resignation reads: SHALOMAR OBSERVATORY I resign! When I begin to see things like this, it's time to take up turkey farming. I. Frisby DIRECTOR.


June 7, 1958 -
The Everly Brothers song All I Have to Do Is Dream topped the charts on this date.



Chet Atkins played tremolo-style guitar chords on the song, providing an interesting musical backing to the Everly Brothers' unique vocal harmonies.


June 7, 1969 -
Tommy James and the Shondells released Crystal Blue Persuasion on this date.



The lyrics, "It's a new vibration," are about James becoming Christian, but many listeners had their own interpretation. He explained: "Of course, everybody thinks if they don't understand what you're talking about it must be about drugs. But it wasn't. We were going through a real interesting time back then, and a very wonderful time. Everybody in the band, by the way, became Christian. And we're very proud of it. And 'Crystal Blue Persuasion' was sort of our way of saying that in a kind of pop record way."


June 7, 1969 -
The Johnny Cash Show, a summer replacement for ABC's Hollywood Palace variety program, premiered on this date, with performances by Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell.



Dylan, who met Cash at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival, was making his first public performance since the Woody Guthrie benefit in January 1968. He performed I Threw It All Away and Living the Blues. Cash and Dylan also played Girl From the North Country, which they’d recently recorded for Dylan’s country-flavored LP Nashville Skyline. The show also featured Cash singing Folsom Prison Blues, and Dylan’s It Ain’t Me Babe as a duet with wife June Carter Cash. Joni Mitchell sang her hit Both Sides Now.


Talk about cosmic convergence -
it's Dean Martin's,



Tom Jones'



and Prince's birthday today.



Think of the number of children conceived listening to their music.


June 7, 1974 –
The Kinks were hosts on The Midnight Special on this date.



Bunkies this was music on TV before MTV.


June 7, 1975 –
Sony releases Betamax videocassette recorder, the first home video format, in Japan, on this date. The recorder goes on sale to the public for $995.00.



Almost a year to the day later, JVC will introduce a competing format called the Video Home System (VHS). VHS will ultimately surpass the Betamax format in terms of popularity, partly due to its longer recording length and partly due to maneuvering on the part of Sony to corner the home video market.


June 7, 1975 -
Elton John's ninth studio album Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboys, went to No. 1 on the US album chart, on this date. It's the first album ever to enter the US chart at No. 1. (where it stayed for seven weeks).



Captain Fantastic' is a concept album that gives an autobiographical glimpse at the struggles John (Captain Fantastic) and Taupin (the Brown Dirt Cowboy) had in the early years of their musical careers in London.


June 7, 1985 -
The movie Perfect, starring John Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis, premiered in the US, on this date.



Even though the film was a major box-office failure and temporarily derailed John Travolta's A-list career, he claims he doesn't regret doing it, mostly due to his friendships with the cast and the chance to work again with James Bridges. .


June 7, 1991 -
Spike Lee's controversial film (at the time), Jungle Fever, starring Wesley Snipes, Annabella Sciorra, Spike Lee, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Samuel L. Jackson, Queen Latifah, John Turturro, and Anthony Quinn went into general release in the US on this date.



Samuel L. Jackson had just undergone treatment for drug addiction, and had only two weeks from his discharge from rehab to the start of filming. Jackson has gone on record as saying that Gator's ravaged look was not make-up, but actually the result of Jackson's own detoxification.


June 7, 1991 –
The Castle Rock film which revived the career of Jack Palance, City Slickers, directed by Ron Underwood and also starring Billy Crystal, Danial Stern and Bruno Kirby premiered on this date.



The story that Billy Crystal tells about his "best day" of going to a Yankee game with his father is a true story from his childhood. He notes at one point that, "I still have the program." Not only does he really still have it, but he got Mickey Mantle to autograph it twice: once at the game that day and once again some 20 years later on a talk show they were both guests on.


Another album from the discount bin at The ACME Record Shoppe


Today in History (sometimes it doesn't pay to get out of bed): June 7, 1494 -
Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Tordesillas (which divides the New World between the two countries. Hence, the Brazilians speak Portuguese rather than Spanish). In the volatile, war-torn world in which we live, many historical documents have become required reading. Not this one. You will never be standing at a cocktail party where someone says, "It's all because of that damn Treaty of Tordesillas."

No one will ever blame the failures of the Middle East Peace Process or the brinkmanship in South Asia on the harsh conditions of the Treaty of Tordesillas. You'll never see your favorite pundit toss off the "Treaty of Tordesillas" in an ironic and off-handed way. You won't hear Noam Chomsky cite it as a cause or effect of American imperialism. It will never attract the directorial eye of Michael Moore or Oliver Stone.



You already know more about that treaty than most people alive today. You may now forget it ever existed. It has no relevance to your life.


June 7, 1502 -
Ugo Buoncompagni was born on this date. He became Pope Gregory XIII in 1572 and remained the Pope until 1585. He is best known for reforming the Julian calendar, which is why it's now Gregorian instead of Julian.



Had he reformed the calendar before becoming Pope, it would be the Ugian Calendar. That would have been a calendar worth having.

(For some reason that I can't quite figure out - I think I've mentioned Pope Gregory XIII in these pages more than any human being, except perhaps Mata Hari, whom I keep getting the date of her execution wrong.)


June 7, 1692 -
At 11:43 am, a catastrophic earthquake struck Port Royal, Jamaica, then known as "the richest and wickedest city in the world." Buildings are shaken apart and ships in harbor hurled onto busy streets.



In just three minutes, the temblor takes out 70% of the population, killing 1,600 and seriously injuring 3,000 others.


It was a beautiful weekend back in 1786, it's nice to know that the first day ice cream was sold in the US, on this date.



The Smithsonian Museum purports to have an inappropriate woodcutting of a very young Bernie Sanders making a rude gesture to either Martha Washington or Dolley Madison concerning how Alexander Hamilton cut ahead of him on line and how he'd fix those damn banks some day in the future.


June 7, 1892 -
Homer Plessy, a shoemaker of mixed race from Louisiana, was arrested for refusing to move from a designated "white" seat on a train, on this date.



His arrest and subsequent trial (Plessy v. Ferguson) led to the landmark "separate but equal" decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1896, which permitted segregation.


June 7, 1893 -
Co-incidentally or not, when traveling by train across South Africa, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was asked to leave the first-class compartment - for which he had a ticket - because another passenger complained of having to ride with a colored person.



He refused to move and authorities were called to force him and his luggage to disembark in Maritzburg. This was Gandhi's first act of disobedience.


June 7, 1937 -
While filming Saratoga, Jean Harlow was hospitalized with uremic poisoning and kidney failure, a result of the scarlet fever she had suffered during childhood.



In the days before dialysis and kidney transplants, nothing could be done and Harlow died on this date. She was 26.

(Most of you probably have not idea who the hell Jean Harlow was?)


June 7, 1954 -
Despondent over court-ordered estrogen treatments to cure his homosexuality, Alan Turing committed suicide by consuming an apple laced with cyanide. (His inspiration - Snow White, his favorite movie.)



Turing is considered the founder of modern computing, a pioneer in the field of Artificial Intelligence, and a crucial member of the team that cracked Germany's Enigma cipher in World War II.



So, apparently an apple a day does keep the doctor away - permanently.


June 7, 1965 -
I suppose that if I could have quit, I would have, because in those days I never wanted to be an actress, the acting was something to do while I waited for a chance to study writing and directing. But I guess I was just meant to be an actress. Because, here I am..



The anything but dumb blonde, Judy Holliday (born Judith Tuvim, who reportedly had an IQ of over 170) died from the breast cancer that had plagued her for over five years, on this date. She was 43.


June 7, 1967 -
There's a hell of a distance between wise-cracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wise-cracking is simply calisthenics with words.

Dorothy Rothschild Parker, writer, poet, critic and screen writer, outlived many of her drinking buddies from the Algonquin Round Table, died of a heart attack at the age of 73 on this date.



Her 'troubles' did not end with her death as her executrix, Lillian Hellman, bitterly but unsuccessfully contested the final bequest of her estate to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. foundation and her ashes remained unclaimed in various places, including her attorney Paul O'Dwyer's filing cabinet, for approximately 17 years.


June 7, 1982 -
In an effort to defray its $500,000 annual upkeep costs, Priscilla Presley opened Graceland to the public only five years after Elvis died in an upstairs bathroom. The bathroom is kept off-limits to tourists.



Think of how much they could take in at the gate if you could sit on the King's final throne? (Hope all the kerfuffle over the estate will be resolved soon.)



And so it goes.