Coffee first. Schemes later.

Today is National Coffee Day. If you love coffee (I don't), there are a bunch of places you can score free or very low cost cups of joe!

If you're passing by a McDonalds, Krispy Kreme, or Dunkin Donuts today and see what their special deal for the day is. Starbucks is once again not really participating this year - Screw them. (Sunday is International Coffee Day. The inclusion of alcohol in your coffee to celebrate is between you and your maker.)


For those of you not near your church bulletin, today is the feast of St. Michael the Archangel. It's also known in England as Michaelmas Day. St. Michael is the patron saint of the sea and maritime lands, of ships and boatmen, of horses and horsemen. He was the Angel who hurled Lucifer down from Heaven for his offenses against God.

There’s a legend concerning Lucifer falling into a blackberry bush after being expelled from Heaven by St. Michael and spitting on the blackberries to make them bitter so that they cannot be picked after Michaelmas.

So kids, unless you want a mouthful of Satan's saliva, don't eat those blackberries tomorrow (unless you're into that.)


September 29, 1934 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Shake Your Powder Puff , directed by Friz Freleng, was released on this date.



This is the first Warner Brothers short to conclude with the "That's All, Folks!" gag. The antagonistic dog shouts the soon-to-be-familiar line before getting a pumpkin in the face.


September 29, 1948 -
Laurence Olivier's powerful interpretation of Shakespeare's melancholy Dane, Hamlet premiered in New York City on this day.



This is the only movie version of Hamlet that entirely omits the characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Laurence Olivier was severely criticized for leaving them out of the movie, as they provide many opportunities for Hamlet to behave in a sarcastically humorous way toward them, and many felt that Olivier probably would have played these moments brilliantly. However, Olivier did retain a few of Guildenstern's lines ("put your discourse into some frame", et cetera) and gave them to Polonius.


September 29, 1953 -
The family comedy Make Room for Daddy, starring Danny Thomas, premiered on ABC TV on this date.



Danny Thomas was forced against his will to have Jean Hagen as his television wife. He could not stand her attitude, or what he considered her slovenly appearance. During one rehearsal, he is said to have have shouted, "For God's sake, Jean, put on a little lipstick." She left after the third season, and at the beginning of the fourth season, to assure that she could not come back, he had her character die.


September 29, 1954 -
The movie musical A Star Is Born, (the fourth version of the film, fifth, if you count What Price Hollywood) starring Judy Garland and James Mason, had its world premiere at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood on this date.



George Cukor offered Marlon Brando the role of Norman Maine on the set of Julius Caesar. "Why would you come to me?" asked Brando. "I'm in the prime of my life... If you're looking around for some actor to play an alcoholic has-been, he's sitting right over there"- pointing at his costar James Mason, who got the part.


September 29, 1954 -
United Artist released the Joseph L, Mankiewicz film, The Barefoot Contessa, starring Ava Gardner and Humphrey Bogart on this date. (If you haven't seen this movie, seek it out!)



Joseph L. Mankiewicz wanted James Mason, whom he had just directed in Julius Caesar, for the part of the nobleman. MGM executive Nicholas Schenck, who had had a vehement disagreement with the director, would not release Mason for the film. According to Mankiewicz, he ended up with Rossano Brazzi, "who cannot act, cannot be sensual . . . could hardly speak English . . . " Ironically, Rosemary Matthews, who was hired to help Brazzi with his English, and Mankiewicz later married.


September 29, 1955 -
The only film Charles Laughton directed, The Night of the Hunter opened in New York City on this date.



At their initial meeting, Lillian Gish asked Charles Laughton why he wanted her for the part and he replied, "When I first went to the movies, they sat in their seats straight and leaned forward. Now they slump down, with their heads back, and eat candy and popcorn. I want them to sit up straight again."


September 29, 1956 -
The Looney Tunes short, Deduce, You Say , directed by Chuck Jones and starring Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, was released on this date.



The sign inside of Henry the Eight's Fifth advertising "Selzer's Water" is a nod to producer Eddie Selzer.


September 29, 1959 -
One of the first series that featured the lives of American teenagers, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, starring Dwayne Hickman, Bob Denver and Tuesday Weld premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



The pilot for this series was the first professional acting job for Bob Denver, who had been a grade school teacher and postal worker before joining the cast. Denver's sister was a casting agent's secretary, and had his name added to the audition candidates for the role of Maynard G. Krebs.


September 29, 1960 -
We were all welcomed into the Douglas household when My Three Sons, starring another of TV favorite alcoholic dads, Fred McMurray, premiered on ABC on this date.



The show was originally going to be named The Fred MacMurray Show, but Fred MacMurray didn't like the idea.


September 29, 1963 -
My Favorite Martian, starring Ray Walston and Bill Bixby premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



Ray Walston admitted later that he regretted taking the role of Uncle Martin. He took it for the money, and felt that it prevented him from getting substantial roles for many years. He enjoyed working with Bill Bixby, and they became lifelong friends.


September 29, 1967 -
Gerry Anderson's supermarionation take on superheroes, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons premiered on this date in the UK.



The face and voice of Captain Scarlet were both based on Cary Grant. In fact, Captain Scarlet's voice artist, Francis Matthews was chosen to voice the character based on the fact he could do a Cary Grant impression. In fact series creator Gerry Anderson came close to moving heaven and earth to get Matthews who had been either uninterested or unavailable.


September 29, 1969 -
Paramount Television's anthology comedy series Love, American Style, premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



This series had more direct and indirect spin-offs than any other American television series. The following series can trace their roots back to this show: Barefoot in the Park, Wait Till Your Father Gets Home, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Blansky's Beauties, Mork & Mindy, Out of the Blue, Joanie Loves Chachi and possibly others.


September 29, 1985 -
The Sci-Fi anthology series created by Steven Spielberg, Amazing Stories, premieres on NBC-TV on this date.



Four directors who worked on the series, all of whom are best known as film directors, later won the Academy Award for Best Director: Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, and Robert Zemeckis.


September 29, 1986 -
American got to met the people who worked at the Sugarbaker & Associates design company went the CBS-TV series Designing Women, starring Dixie Carter, Delta Burke, Annie Potts, Jean Smart, and Meshach Taylor, premiered on this date.



According to creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason during the 2006 Designing Women Reunion the character of Anthony played by Meshach Taylor was supposed to be a one off. But fans loved the character of Anthony so much that he was offered a full time role on the show. He joined the main cast officially for the second season in 1987.


September 29, 1987 -
We all were forced to endure the trials and tribulations of some very oblivious baby boomers, when thirtysomething, starring Ken Olin, Mel Harris, Melanie Mayron, Timothy Busfield, Patricia Wettig, Peter Horton, and Polly Draper, premiered on ABC TV on this date.



The word "thirtysomething" was added to the Oxford English Dictionary as a direct result of its popular usage from this series.


September 29, 1991 -
MTV debuts Nirvana's video for their single Smells Like Teen Spirit on this date, giving most Americans their first look at the band. A little over a month later, the song is #1 on the Hot 100.



The girls who played the cheerleaders in the video were originally supposed to be very fat and unattractive (Cobain's idea). The director, Samuel Bayer, did not like this idea, but still allowed the cheerleaders to have "sleeve" tattoos and the symbol for anarchy on their shirts. He says he recruited them from a local strip club, which helps explain their unorthodox cheers. For a while, MTV refused to air the video. When they finally did, it was on their alternative show 120 Minutes. When the song became a hit, the video went into hot rotation.


Today's moment of Zen.


Today in History:
September 29, 1399 -
... For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings...



Richard II was deposed on this date, which only served him right for having posed in the first place. He was succeeded by Henry IV Part I.


September 29, 1513 -
Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean, on this date (although he may have discovered it four days earlier - I'm not sure what the Spanish Navy's stance was on the the whole rum ... question.)

How something that covers roughly a third of the earth's surface could have been lost for so long is a question that stumps historians to this day.


It's Miguel de Cervantes' birthday today. Born in 1547, Cervantes is best known as the author of Don Quixote, a cunning satire on mental illness. The work is an epic treatment of the perennial question: "Wouldn't the world be better off if we were all crazy?"

The answer from the novel is a qualified yes: the story supports the premise, but its length and lucidity suggest that the author himself was not crazy, which rather contradicts the premise.



Ever since the publication of Don Quixote, the idea of improving the world through mental illness has taken root in the popular culture of the West. From the Good Soldier Švejk and Prince Myshkin to Chauncey Gardiner, Elwood P. Dowd, and Forrest Gump, Western readers and filmgoers have a galaxy of benevolent lunatics to show them the way to a better, purer existence. Grand mal seizures, delirium tremens, and hallucinations are merely the price of admission to their wistful world of blissful ignorance.



The sane and hard-working do not come off nearly so well in film or literature. In fact, sane and hard-working people seldom even appear in film or literature. No one wants to read about them, or spend good money to watch them go about their plodding lives, because most of us are surrounded by sane and hard-working people already and know what they're like - they're just like us, only less so.



Early to bed and early to rise may make a man healthy, and wealthy, and wise, but it won't do a goddamn thing for his Nielsens. In fact, if you're healthy, wealthy, wise, and well-rested, you're only going to piss the rest of us off. Lighten up, slack off, drink up, and spend plenty of quality time with imaginary friends.



That's the real road to happiness - or at least to our acceptance, without which you have no right to be happy.


September 29, 1957 -
An explosion at the Chelyabinsk-40 complex, a Soviet nuclear fuel processing plant, irradiated the nearby city of Kyshtym with strontium-90, cesium-137 and plutonium on this date.



This accident releases twice the radioactivity of the Chernobyl incident.

Oops


September 29, 1976 -
At his birthday party, musician Jerry Lee Lewis accidentally shoots his bass player Norman Owens twice in the chest, trying to open a soft drink bottle with a .357 magnum. Owens survived and files a lawsuit.

Now don't you wish you were at that party !!!


September 29, 1988 -
Stacy Allison was one of several female mountaineers who took part in a competition to see who could be the first to climb Mount Everest.



After harsh weather conditions forced the other participants to turn around midway through their climb, Allison surprised many (including herself) by reaching the peak of 29,000 feet, being the first American woman to do so on this date.


September 29, 1988 -
The Space Shuttle Discovery, (STS - 26) lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral to launch a communications satellite, on this date.



This is the first manned space mission since the space shuttle Challenger disaster two and a half years ago.


September 29, 1989 -
Zsa Zsa Gabor, a person famous for no apparent reason and with no visible means of support (It's too weird to think that Zsa Zsa and her sisters were the original Kardashians, without the sex tapes), was convicted of slapping a Beverly Hills police officer on this date.



Gabor later complains that she was denied a jury of her peers, saying "It was not my class of people, There was not a producer, a press agent, a director, an actor."



And so it goes

Life is too short to drink cheap beer.

Munich is smack dab in the middle of Oktoberfest season and here in the US we celebrate National Beer Drinking Day Today. It's a wonderful reminder to enjoy the world’s most popular adult beverage.



Today is also St. Wenceslaus' Day, patron saint of brew masters, named after Wenceslas I the Duke of Bohemia (commemorated in the song, Good King Wenceslas,) who was martyred on this date.

As I'm sure you will remember that New Prague, Minnesota is home the second-oldest family owned brewery in the U.S. (Schell's)

and nearby New Ulm, Minnesota is home to St. Wenceslaus church.

Proving most of logic is circular in nature, so please enjoy the day.


Today is World Rabies Day. It is celebrated on September 28 to commemorate the date of the death in 1895 of Dr Louis Pasteur. The day aims to raise awareness about the impact of rabies on humans and animals, provide information and advice on how to prevent the disease.



In 1895, nine-year-old Joseph Meister was the first person to be inoculated against rabies. The inoculation was carried out by Dr Louis Pasteur.


September 28, 1940 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Stage Fright, directed by Chuck Jones, was released on this date.



The tough bird in this short reappeared in The Bird Came C.O.D..


September 28, 1946 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Fair and Worm-er, directed by Chuck Jones, was released on this date.



The skunk character looks (and hops) like an early Pepe Le Pew. The worm likewise sounds like an early version of the voice of fellow cast mate Tweetie Bird.


September 28, 1949 -
The first of the 12 films Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis made, My Friend Irma, premiered in New York City on this date.



Alfred Newman's ubiquitous theme "Street Scene", closely associated with every New York-themed film produced at Fox during his tenure as musical director at that studio, turns up in the opening of this film and its sequel, My Friend Irma Goes West.


September 28, 1957 -
The Looney Tunes short, Greedy for Tweety, directed by Friz Freleng and starring Tweety Bird and Sylvester the Cat, was released on this date.



Sylvester's carefully constructed Rube Goldberg-like contraption is reminiscent of the many D-I-Y schemes launched by fellow cast member Wile E. Coyote.


September 28, 1961 -
Viewers got to spend time with the Baxter's and their wise-cracking maid when Hazel premiered on CBS-TV on this date



The house where Hazel and the Baxters lived was also used as the home of Gidget Lawrence and her father on the 1965 TV sitcom Gidget. It also served as the home of teenager Ann-Margret and her father (Paul Lynde) in the 1963 musical Bye-Bye Birdie. Two decades later, the house appeared in the movie franchise Lethal Weapon, as the home of Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover). The house is located on Blondie Street, a residential neighborhood set at Warner Ranch in Burbank. The same faux block also included the Bewitched home, the Father Knows Best, The Partridge family home, the Nelson house on I Dream of Jeannie and the Donna Reed Show home. The 1998 movie Pleasantville used the entire block for its version of an idealized TV neighborhood.


September 28, 1963 -
Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales cartoon debuts on CBS-TV on this date.



Whenever Phineas J. Whoopee goes to an overloaded closet for his 3-Dimensional Blackboard, assorted items cascade out and bury him. This running gag was probably inspired by a similar gag from the classic radio comedy Fibber McGee and Molly.


September 28, 1963 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Aqua Duck, directed by Bob McKimson, and starring Daffy Duck, was released on this date.



Final Daffy Duck cartoon directed by Robert McKimson in the classic era until Moby Duck with Speedy Gonzales in the DePatie-Freleng era.


September 28, 1967 -
Gladys Knight & the Pips' single, (written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for Motown Records,) I Heard It Through the Grapevine was released on this date.



Along with Papa Was A Rollin' Stone, Barrett Strong considers this the best song he wrote with Norman Whitfield. Other hits they wrote together include Ain't Too Proud To Beg, Just My Imagination, and Money (That's What I Want).


September 28, 1968 -
The Beatles' single, Hey Jude, went to number one on the Billboard Charts and stayed there for nine weeks. (Listen how the song starts with one instrument and the record ends with with 50 instruments playing.)



In a 2018 interview with GQ, Paul McCartney talked about how he came up with the idea for this song: "John and his wife Cynthia had divorced, and I felt a bit sorry for their son, who was now a child of a divorce. I was driving out to see the son and Cynthia one day and I was thinking about the boy whose name was Julian - Julian Lennon, and I started this idea, 'Hey Jules, don't make it bad, it's gonna be OK.' It was like a reassurance song."


September 28, 1980 -
Billions and billions of brilliant moments on TV are about to be aired - Carl Sagan's 13 part Cosmos premiered on PBS.



In many episodes we see a photo of Earth showing Africa in the upper left. That is the 'Blue Marble' photo taken in 1972 by Apollo 7 astronauts on their way to the moon. It is one of the most famous of all space photos, and for 30 years was the only full sunlight shot of Earth.


September 28, 1987 -
Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered on CBS-TV with the episode Encounter at Farpoint on this date.



The original version of the Starfleet uniform was very uncomfortable for the actors and actresses, leading to a change of design from one-piece to a two-piece outfit in season three. Although the new uniforms were easier to wear, the jackets had a tendency to "ride up" when the actors and actresses were sitting down. Patrick Stewart got into the habit of straightening his jacket with a sharp downward tug as he stood up, an action that became known among the cast and crew as "The Picard Maneuver" (from a tactical maneuver mentioned in the show). Leonard Nimoy previously used this maneuver towards the end of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan .


September 28, 1994 -
Tim Burton's love letter to the early career of Edward D. Wood, Jr., Ed Wood premiered on this date.



Tim Burton said that he was drawn to the story because of the similarities between Edward D. Wood Jr.'s relationship with Bela Lugosi and his own friendship with Vincent Price late in the actor's life.


September 28, 2012 -
The Universal musical comedy film, Pitch Perfect (my daughters favorite film,) starring Anna Kendrick, Skylar Astin, Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow, Adam DeVine, Ben Platt, John Michael Higgins, and Elizabeth Banks, premiered on this date in the US.



Brittany Snow said that Rebel Wilson improvised most of her lines and would go on 20-minute tangents that would have the whole cast and crew in stitches.


September 28, 2013 -
Miley Cyrus' single Wrecking Ball went to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.



This song was written for Beyoncé, but when it was finished, MoZella suggested she send the demo to Miley Cyrus, deeming her a better fit. MoZella had been working on some other songs for Cyrus, so she was albe to get her ear. When Cyrus heard it, she loved the song.


Word of the Day


Today in History:
September 28, 48 BC -
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus was not having a great day.

After the First Triumvirate of Rome (between Pompey, Julius Caesar, and Marcus Licinius Crassus) had fallen apart, the Roman Civil War had not been going well for Pompey. Following a catastrophic defeat to Caesar at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC, he fled to Egypt, where he had been a protector and ally to the royal family. Upon landing, the Roman general and politician was murdered on the orders of the boy-king, Ptolemy XIII. Pompey's head was severed and sent to Caesar as an offering.



Ptolemy, reading the global tea leaves as much as 11 year olds can, thought to gain favor with Caesar, by killing Pompey. Ptolemy had misjudged the Roman sense of honor completely. Caesar demanded the assassins be executed, and had Pompey's head cremated with honor. Ptolemy was later deposed in favor of his sister, Cleopatra.


British history began on September 28, 1066, with the Norman invasion of England. The Normans were a group of Franks who'd grown weary of being so Frank. Their decision to become Normans cost them their Frankness, so they joined together and invaded England under the leadership of William (or, in Norman, "Norman") the Conqueror.



Prior to this invasion, Britain had been occupied mostly by Angles, Saxons, and large stones (who had never properly appreciated cricket, fog, or Kipling and had therefore been unable to invent England.) William (Norman) the Conqueror realized that, if it was ever going to amount to anything, what England really needed was a Great King, preferably someone very much like himself.



Appropriate arrangements were made.


September 28, 1850 -
The United States Navy abolished the practice of flogging. Among the crimes for which this was the penalty are: stealing poultry from the coop (12 lashes), being lousy (six), stealing a wig (12), and being naked on the spar deck (nine).

I believe nine lashes for being naked merely aroused most of the men.


September 28, 1891 -
“The disfranchisement of a single legal elector by fraud or intimidation is a crime too grave to be regarded lightly.”



We've brought this up before but it bears repeating - Benjamin Harrison was the first president to have electric lights in the White House, but he was terrified of turning them on himself. Afraid of electrocution, he made his servants do it. Harrison spent the rest of his time at the White House with the lights on in his bedroom at night.


September 28, 1902 -
It's the birthday of Ed Sullivan, born in New York City on this date. He was writing a gossip column for the New York Daily News called "Little Old New York," moonlighting now and then as a master of ceremonies at variety shows and benefits. He was emceeing a dance contest when somebody asked him if he'd like to try hosting a show on this new thing called television.



The Ed Sullivan Show premiered live on CBS in 1948, and within a few years about 50 million people watched it every Sunday night. It was like vaudeville. It had opera singers, ventriloquists and magicians and pandas on roller skates and big stars. Ed Sullivan said, "Open big, have a good comedy act, put in something for children, and keep the show clean."



He was a shy, awkward man, but he loved performers. He personally chose every guest for his show. He was one of the first hosts to invite black performers, including Jackie Robinson, Duke Ellington, Richard Pryor and James Brown, on his show.



Ed Sullivan: the last television host who tried to appeal to everyone in America.


September 28, 1918 -
After the Liberty Loan parade in Philadelphia on this date, thousands of people became infected with the Spanish Flu, causing the death of more than 12,000 in the city.



Soon, the city was in crisis. Hospitals overflowed and bodies piled up in morgues. Philadelphia had the highest death rate of any major American city during the pandemic. Nearly 14,000 people died in six weeks, one death every five minutes; more than 17,500 died in six months.


September 28, 1920 -
A Cook County grand jury indicts the White Sox players paid to throw the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds on this date.



Even though they are found not guilty, Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis bans them all from professional baseball for life.


September 28, 1924 -
Two U.S. Army planes landed in Seattle, Washington, completing the first round-the-world flight in 175 days, on this date. The flight had begun from Seattle on April 6th with four aircraft named "Seattle, Chicago, Boston, and New Orleans."



The Seattle experienced technical difficulties and crashed in dense fog into a mountainside near Port Moller on the Alaska Peninsula (the crew miraculously survived). The Boston came down while crossing the Atlantic (the crew was rescued.) The Chicago flown by (Lt. Lowell Smith (pilot) and 1st Lt. Leslie Arnold) and the New Orleans flown by (Lt. Erik Nelson (pilot) and Lt. Jack Harding) completed the journey.


September 28, 1963 -
Roy Lichtenstein’s pop art work Whaam!, depicting in comic-book style a US jet shooting down an enemy fighter, was exhibited for the first time on this date.



In time, it will become one of the best known examples of pop art.


September 28, 1964 -
I actually was class clown, but I don't know how that happened because I've never been considered an outwardly funny person-as the people in this room will attest..



Janeane Garofalo, comedian, actress and writer was born on this date.


September 28, 1978 -
A nun at the Vatican discovered the lifeless body of Pope John Paul I, formerly Albino Luciani, in bed. The pontiff had been on the job only 33 days before unexpectedly dying in his sleep, after having taken some sort of pills with dinner.



The church refused to grant an autopsy.

See Godfather III for further explanations.


September 28, 1989 -
Former Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos died in Waikiki, Hawaii, after three years in exile on this date. He was in ill health and awaiting US charges on looting funds from his country.

His wife kept the cadaver in a refrigerated coffin for years.

(Wow, this is the second time in about a week that I've mentioned the Popsicle ex-dictator.)


September 28, 2008 -
The world's first private spaceship went into orbit, on this date, when the Falcon 1 was launched by SpaceX, a company founded by Elon Musk, cartoon super villian.



The entire launch was broadcast live from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.



And so it goes

Happy Birthday, maybe

Google is celebrating it's 'official' 28th birthday, despite the the fact that it has listed six other dates for it's start.

The interesting fact is that September 27 isn't the search giant's birthday. The selection of September 27 as Google's birthday seems to be a one of convenience than the actual date when the company was founded. Google celebrated September 7 (the day when the company was incorporated) as its birthday till 2005.


September 27, 1933 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Bosko's Mechanical Man, directed by Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising, was released on this date.



The newspaper Bosko reads is called The Daily Bugle, coincidentally the same name later used for the fictional newspaper where Spider-Man/Peter Parker works.


September 27, 1941 -
The Merrie Melodies short, The Brave Little Bat, directed by Chuck Jones, and starring Sniffles, was released on this date.



This is also the final Sniffles cartoon with the Disney-esque cutesy direction and slow pacing. Beginning with The Unbearable Bear, the Sniffles cartoons are faster-paced and more comedic in tone, due to director Chuck Jones moving out of his Disney-esque phase in the early-to-mid-1940s.


September 27, 1947 -
Delmer Daves' stylish noir-thriller, Dark Passage, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, opened on this date.



Humphrey Bogart's complete uncovered face is not seen clearly until 62 minutes into the movie, when his character finally removes his bandages and looks into a mirror. All previous scenes with the character are either shown from his point of view or have his face obscured with shadows or bandages. Warner Brothers studio head Jack L. Warner was not pleased to discover that the face of one of his biggest stars, was not seen for the first half of the movie. But by the time Warner knew this, the film was too far along to be changed.


September 27, 1952 -
The Merrie Melodies short, The EGGcited Rooster, directed by Bob McKimson and starring Foghorn Leghorn and Henery Hawk, was released on this date.



This cartoon rarely airs in the United States due to Henery Hawk pretending to be a Native American and trying to scalp Foghorn.


September 27, 1954 -
Steve Allen sat down at his piano, took his local New York City late night program, the Tonight Show nationally on NBC, on this date.



Steve Allen's high-energy wit and appreciation for the emerging medium lent itself to spontaneous, original humor. He put cameras on the street and tried to find unscripted comedy in random interviews with passersby. He was a comedy adventurer, jumping into vats of funny stuff like Jell-O, or dressing up in a suit of tea bags and lowering himself into a giant cup of hot water.



September 27, 1958 -
The Merrie Melodies short, A Bird in a Bonnet, directed by Friz Freleng and starring Tweety Bird and Sylvester the Cat, was released on this date.



Sylvester does not talk in this short until the very end when he grabs Tweety through the open sunroof door in the taxi.


September 27, 1961 -
The science fiction film The Day the Sky Exploded (also known as Death Comes from Space and Death From Outer Space), directed by Paolo Heusch and starring Paul Hubschmid and Fiorella Mari, is released to US theaters.



Though the Americans and British among others had been making science fiction films earlier in the Fifties, this 1958 Italian co production is considered the first entry by that country into the sci fi genre.


September 27, 1964 -
The Beach Boys appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time on this date.



They also performed the song I Get Around that evening. The song was released as a double A-side single in May 1964 with Don't Worry Baby. It is considered one of the best ever single releases along with Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever by The Beatles and Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog by Elvis Presley.


September 27, 1973 -
Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert premiered on this date on ABC-TV, featuring The Rolling Stones first American television performance in over four years.



Unlike TV music shows, such as American Bandstand, performances on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert were not lip-synched in a studio. Instead, the series featured raw, full-length performances in a live concert or club setting.


September 27, 1975 -
The documentary film by Albert and David Maysles, Grey Gardens, premiered in the New York Film Festival on this date.



Edith Bouvier Beale was the sister of Jacqueline Kennedy's father, John V. "Blackjack" Bouvier. As a child, Jaqueline spent a great deal of time with her aunt and cousin Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale at Grey Gardens and considered "Big Edie" her favorite aunt throughout her lifetime.


September 27, 1976 -
The TV drama Dawn: Portrait of A Teenage Runaway, starring Eve Plumb premiered on NBC-TV, on this date.



Eve Plumb has said in interviews that to this day she still "gets crap" from hardcore Brady Bunch fans who didn't like that she did this movie instead of doing the Brady Bunch Variety Hour; where a "fake Jan" had to take her place.


September 27, 1980 -
Kurtis Blow becomes the first rapper to perform on national television when he does The Breaks on Soul Train.



The Breaks was the first rap song to sell over 500,000 copies, earning a certified Gold record. Rapper's Delight, released a year earlier, certainly sold a lot more (as Kurtis attests), but that song was released on the independent label Sugar Hill Records, which apparently never sent it to the RIAA for certification. Kurtis Blow was signed to Mercury Records, a major label that followed the standards and used their Gold records for promotion. When Kurtis signed with Mercury in early 1980, he became the first rapper signed to a major label. His self-titled debut album (with The Breaks) was the first rap record released on a major label.


September 27, 1987 –
The Dolly Parton Variety Show premiered on ABC-TV on this date



The series, starring Dolly Parton, was an attempt to revive the variety show genre and was promoted as a more creative venture for Parton compared to her 1976 syndicated show of the same name.


September 27, 1991 -
The very short-lived series (it only aired for eight episodes,) Princesses, starring Julie Hagerty, Fran Drescher, and Twiggy premiered on CBS TV, on this date.



Even in the face of bottom five Nielsen ratings, universally-scathing reviews, behind-the-scenes problems, affiliate defections, and the general apathy of Fran Drescher and CBS programming head Jeff Sagansky, the producers actually considered recasting Julie Hagerty's part (following her departure). Before they managed to get very far, CBS saved them the trouble by canceling the series.


September 27, 1994 -
RCA Records released the debut album of The Dave Matthews Band, Under The Table and Dreaming, on this date.



In 1994 the band signed to RCA Records and recorded their first album, with the superstar producer Steve Lillywhite, known for his work with Peter Gabriel and U2.


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


Today in History:
September 27, 1777 -

Lancaster, Pennsylvania became the capital of the United States, for one day after the Second Continental Congress evacuates Philadelphia to avoid invading British forces. There were not enough accommodations within the city to even properly house the representatives in Congress and with the city of Philadelphia located just a 2-3 day march away, the representatives also felt they were still at risk. Within three days the Representives of the Continental Congress had settled in York, Pennsylvania and remained there for months until the British finally abandoned Philadelphia.



This was not the first time the Continental Congress had fled Philadelphia during the Revolution. The prior winter, in December of 1776, as the British Army was getting too close to Philadelphia for comfort, the Continental Congress left Philadelphia and for a time Baltimore served as the Capital of the United States.


September 27, 1854 -
The first great disaster involving an ocean liner in the Atlantic occurred when the steamship Arctic sank in foggy weather after colliding with the iron bow of the Vesta on this date. When Captain Luce of the Arctic orders women and children into the lifeboats, the crewmen rebel and take the boats for themselves.



Of 435 on board, only 85 survived -- and none of them women or children. It is the first major ocean liner disaster in the Atlantic. The Arctic disaster shattered high Victorian notions of how men were supposed to respond under duress.


Today is the 123th anniversary of the completion by Albert Einstein of his paper, Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?, introducing the equation E=MC², on this date.



Before this, E equaled just about anything you wanted it to equal. Just think what the atomic bomb would have been like if E = grapes seeds or the real content of Schrödinger's box.


September 27, 1903 -
The Southern Railway freight train, known as the Fast Mail (or “Old 97”), jumped the tracks and crashed at the Stillhouse Trestle outside Danville, Virginia, killing eleven people, on this date.



The accident became a public sensation, drawing thousands of spectators to the scene and inspiring a series of musical ballads. The most popular version of the ballad became a hit on the country music charts in 1924.


September 27, 1937 -
The last known Balinese tiger, which was an adult female, was killed in SumbarKima, West Bali, on this date. However, sightings of this subspecies still persisted for years later, up to the 1940s, but were never proven.



Being the first subspecies of tigers to go extinct, Bali tigers were never held in captivity and never displayed in a public zoo. In addition, they were never captured on film or motion picture alive. Strangely, body parts such as skulls, skins, and bones, are preserved in museums today.


September 27, 1938 -
RMS Queen Elizabeth was launched by Queen Elizabeth (after a couple of G and T's) at the John Brown and Company yard in Clydebank, Scotland.



She (the ship and not her majesty) was the largest passenger liner ever built and named to honor Queen Elizabeth, wife of King George VI of England and mother to Queen Elizabeth II.


September 27, 1940 -
Japan, Germany and Italy, signed the Tripartite Pact in Berlin on this date. The pact saw the formation of the World War II Axis powers, an opponent group against the Allies.



The Axis alliance bizarrely hoped to persuade the US against joining the Allies during the war, but failed. In 1940, Hungary was forced by Germany to became the fourth country to sign the Pact, allying themselves with the Axis powers.


September 27, 1951 -
Marvin Lee Aday, singer songwriter was born on this date.



Despite his famous moniker, Marvin doesn't like to eat meatloaf.


September 27, 1959 -
Typhoon Vera, otherwise known as the Isewan Typhoon, killed 4,464 people on the Japanese island of Honshu and injured 40,000 more. 1.5 million were made homeless.



The severe storm conditions of Typhoon Vera caused the most of destruction and loss of life of any tropical cyclone in Japanese history.


September 27, 1962 –
Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring, documenting the environmental harm caused by the indiscriminate use of DDT, a pesticide used by soldiers during WW II, was published on this date. The book inspired an environmental movement and the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.



Silent Spring has been featured in many lists of the best nonfiction books of the twentieth century. It was fifth in the Modern Library List of Best 20th-Century Nonfiction and number 78 in the National Review's 100 best non-fiction books of the 20th century.


September 27, 1986 -
The most balloons released simultaneously was 1,429,643 on this date, in Cleveland, Ohio. The event was called "Balloonfest '86" and was organized by the United Way of Greater Cleveland.



The goal was to break the Guinness World Record for the most balloons released simultaneously, which was previously held by Disneyland. Soon after the balloons were released, the weather unexpectedly changed, and strong winds that were not expected pushed the balloons back down to earth. Instead of floating away, the balloons fell, covering the city and nearby Lake Erie, and may or may not have led to the death of two boaters. The people from The Guinness Book did not recognize the accomplishment.


September 27, 2008 -
Chinese astronaut, Zhai Zhigang, aboard Shenzhou 7, became the first person from China to walk in space on this date.



Zhia would immediately return to his space craft when he realized that he could not get a good wi-fi connection in space.



And so it goes