Yo, Ho, Blow the man down

Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. The holiday is a parody holiday invented in 1995 by John Baur (Ol' Chumbucket) and Mark Summers (Cap'n Slappy), of Corvallis, Oregon, who proclaimed September 19 each year as the day when everyone in the world should talk like a pirate.





Nothing says Piracy (or the British Navy) more than Rum, The Lash and Sodomy. So remember: keep plenty of rum, leather belts and ACME's Bung Balm handy today.



And don't forget kids, you can now spend thousand of dollars to become an actual pirate.


September 19, 1931 -
Paramount released the Marx Brother's third film, Monkey Business , co-starring Thelma Todd, on this date.



Early in the movie, The Marx Brothers - playing stowaways concealed in barrels - harmonize unseen while performing the popular song Sweet Adeline' which is traditionally performed with four singers. It is debated whether Harpo Marx' singing voice was used in the soundtrack. There is also an unconfirmed rumor that he provided the puppet master's voice in the Punch and Judy show.


September 19, 1936 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Toytown Hall, directed by Friz Freleng, was released on this date.



This is the first Merrie Melodies cartoon in which Carl Stalling gets musical credit onscreen.


September 19, 1952 (there is some controversy surrounding this date) –
Emperor Hirohito's favorite television program, The Adventures of Superman, premiered, in syndication, on this date.



John Hamilton, who played Perry White, had trouble remembering his lines. The solution was to film him sitting at his desk, with the desk littered with papers--including the script--so he could glance down to be prompted for his next line.


September 19, 1953 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Zipping Along, directed by Chuck Jones, and starring Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, was released on this date.



This is the first Roadrunner cartoon in which the coyote speaks. He shouts "Yeow!" when caught in the mousetraps and mimics the Roadrunner's "Beep beep!" at the end.


September 19, 1955 -
The Producer's Showcase presentation of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, starring Eva Marie Saint, Frank Sinatra and Paul Newman premiered on NBC-TV, on this date.



In 2002, Paul Newman once again appeared in a production of Our Town - this time in the role of the Stage Manager - at the Westport County Playhouse, where his wife, Joanne Woodward, was the artistic director. In 2003, this production transferred to Broadway's Booth Theatre, marking the first time Newman had performed on a Broadway stage in almost 40 years.


September 19, 1970 -
We got to meet the staff of WJM when The Mary Tyler Moore Show, (the greatest sitcom every produced,) starring Mary Tyler Moore, Ed Asner, Gavin MacLeod, Ted Knight, Cloris Leachman, and Valerie Harper premiered on CBS TV on this date.



The lyrics to the theme song were rewritten after the first season. The first season's theme song emphasized Mary's challenge of being independent, such as with the line, "You might just make it after all." However, with the series showing that Mary has become obviously successful in her own life, the lyrics reflected that change of tone such as with the line, "You're going to make it after all."


September 19, 1970 -
Reprise Records released Neil Young's third studio album, After the Gold Rush, on this date.



The album produced no major hits when it first came out and received a very negative review from Rolling Stone. Now, the album was seen as kicking off Young’s solo career, and was re-considered a few years later as one of the finest albums of the 1970s by Rolling Stone.


September 19, 1975 -
The British sitcom Fawlty Towers, created by John Cleese, and starring John Cleese, Connie Booth, Prunella Scales, and Andrew Sachs, premiered on BBC2 on this date.



John Cleese (Basil Fawlty) and Connie Booth (Polly Sherman) were really husband and wife when they created and wrote the scripts for the first series. By the beginning of filming for the second season their marriage had fallen apart and they had divorced.


September 19, 1981 -
Despite the fact that Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel had barely spoken to each other in ten year, they reunited on this date to raise funds to renovate Central Park and performed in front of 500,000 people in New York City.



The concert was so successful, the duo decided to embark on a year-long world tour. During the tour, tensions mounted between the pair and they split again after it was completed.


September 19, 1986 -
David Lynch's profoundly unsettling neo-noir classic, Blue Velvet, premiered on this date, (after I saw the movie, I had to go out and have a drink. I know that doesn't seem like a shock.)



Isabella Rossellini actually was naked under her velvet robe when she did the "ritualistic rape scene", a fact that Dennis Hopper was not aware of until the cameras started rolling and his co-star opened her legs for him to kneel between. This scene was the very first time the two of them ever worked together.


September 19, 1990 -
Martin Scorsese's crime drama bio-pix, Goodfellas, (based on Nicholas Pileggi's book, Wise Guy,) starring Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco and Paul Sorvino, premiered in the US on this date.



Martin Scorsese first got wind of Nicholas Pileggi's book Wiseguy when he was handed the galley proofs. Although Scorsese had sworn off making another gangster movie, he immediately cold-called the writer and told him; "I've been waiting for this book my entire life." Pileggi replied; "I've been waiting for this phone call my entire life."


September 19, 1994 -
We got to meet the staff of the emergency room of Cook County General Hospital when, ER, starring Anthony Edwards, George Clooney, Sherry Stringfield, Noah Wyle, and Eriq La Salle, premiered on NBC TV on this date



Although mostly shot at Warner Brother's Burbank soundstages, the cast and crew usually would make at least two trips to Chicago each season, to shoot realistic exterior scenes for several episodes, which include many familiar Chicago landmarks. These scenes are normally shot on early Sunday mornings to avoid disrupting traffic.


September 19, 1997,
Curtis Hanson's crime drama, L.A. Confidential, starring Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, David Strathairn, Kim Basinger, and Danny DeVito, premiered in the US on this date.



The novelist, James Ellroy describes the character of Bud White as the biggest cop on the Los Angeles force. Noting that he wasn't even six foot, Russell Crowe decided to move into an apartment so small that he had to duck to get into the doorways, and could barely stand up. Crowe said this worked in making him feel like a "giant" by the time he came to the set to shoot.


September 19, 2005 -
The comedy series, How I Met Your Mother, starring, Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris, Alyson Hannigan, and Cristin Milioti premiered on CBS TV, on this date.



The husbands of three of the main actors have appeared on the show, each time as the significant other of another main actor. Alyson Hannigan's husband Alexis Denisof plays Robin's co-anchor Sandy Rivers; Cobie Smulders' husband Taran Killam plays Blauman, who might have a crush on Ted; and Neil Patrick Harris' husband David Burtka plays Lily's ex Scooter.

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


Today in History:
September 19, 1692 -
Giles Corey was accused of witchcraft in 1692. This put him in a difficult spot. If he pleaded guilty, he'd be burned alive at the stake. If he pleaded not guilty, he'd have to take a lie-detector test.

The state-of-the-art lie detector of 1692 wasn't any less accurate than today's models, but it was significantly rougher on its subjects. It was called "dunking." The tightly bound subject would be dunked repeatedly into a pond or lake until the truth emerged.



One of the primary symptoms of demonic possession was immunity to water, so those who survived the process were rewarded with a warm, dry burning at the stake. Those who drowned, on the other hand, were clearly innocent and received a favorable ruling.



Giles Corey wasn't eager to be burned at the stake, but he wasn't keen on posthumous vindication, either. A plea of guilty meant the stake; a plea of not-guilty meant drowning (or the stake, depending on the results of the lie-detector test). Mr. Corey therefore did what any reasonable person might have done: he claimed his Fifth Amendment rights under the Constitution and said nothing.

This was a foolish and costly blunder, as the Constitution had not yet been written.



Baffled by the accused refusal to enter a plea, the court pressed him for an answer. Literally. Giles Corey became the first, last, and only American ever to have been pressed to death by his own government, on this date in history.


September 19, 1876 -
Melville Bissell received the patent (No. 182,346) for his invention, a carpet sweeper with revolving brushes which picked up the dust and dirt and deposited it inside the sweeper housing.

It depended on the rotation of the wheels to drive the sweeping mechanism and only removed debris from the uppermost regions of the carpet nap


September 19, 1881 -
The 20th President of the United States, James A. Garfield, (shot by assassin Charles J. Guiteau,) died from his wounds on this date.



Psst - Guiteau didn't kill the President, his doctors did. Several inserted their unsterilized fingers into the wound to probe for the bullet, and one doctor punctured Garfield's liver in doing so. Garfield's doctors had turned a three-inch-deep, harmless wound into a twenty-inch-long contaminated gash stretching from his ribs to his groin and oozing more pus each day. He lingered for eighty days, wasting away from his robust 210 pounds to a mere 130 pounds.



Alexander Graham Bell had made several unsuccessful attempts to remove the assassin’s bullet with a new metal detection device.


September 19, 1931 -
Adolf Hitler's 23-year-old half niece, Geli Raubal, was found dead in her uncle's Munich apartment from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest on this date.

Some allege that she and Adolf had a sexual relationship, which involved Geli urinating on him. Hitler conveniently happens to be out of town at the time of the shooting.

Oh that Hitler, what a wacky Fuhrer.


September 19, 1934 -
Bruno Hauptmann was arrested for the kidnap-murder of the Lindbergh baby on this date.



We aren't sure if he did it, but he did have $11,000 of the ransom money.

So they fried him two years later.


September 19, 1957 -
The U.S. conducted its first underground nuclear test, code-named Rainier, in the Nevada desert on this date. This caused a major disturbance in the natural order of the fragile desert eco-system,



ultimately resulting in Las Vegas,



and enormous spiders



and oversized seafood.


September 19, 1959 -
In a Cold War setback, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was annoyed to learn that he would not be permitted to visit Disneyland, due to concerns for his personal safety.



This mean, most of the cold war could have been prevented, if we let that fat bald premier ride Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.


September 19, 1961 -
Betty (Estelle Parsons) and Barney (James Earl Jones) Hill were picked up near Indian Head, New Hampshire and anally probed by five beings in a flying saucer. The couple later describes the craft as being "banana-like, with pointed tips and windows."



Anyway, that's what Barney told Betty what happened.


September 19, 1991 -
A body was found frozen in a glacier in the Alps between Austria and Italy. A German tourist found the body and called the Austrian police. They tried to free the body from the ice with a jackhammer. It was only when an anthropologist showed up to examine the body that they realized it was a very, very old corpse - 5,300 years old, in fact - of a man between 25 and 35 years old. He was five feet, two inches tall, with hair about three inches long. He had tattoos. He wore an unlined fur robe, a woven grass cape, and size six shoes stuffed with grass for warmth.



He came to be called Ötzi the Iceman, and what made him such a remarkable discovery for anthropologists was the fact that he died while he was out walking on an ordinary day wearing ordinary clothing. He carried a copper axe and a fur quiver for his arrows, the only quiver from the Neolithic period that has ever been found. His arrows had sharp flint points and feathers that were affixed at an angle that would cause the arrows to spin. And he carried mushrooms in his bag that scientists speculate were used for medicine.

It was not until ten years later that a forensics expert noticed in an x-ray that the Iceman had an arrowhead lodged in his back. He had been murdered.



Who murdered the Iceman? Stay tuned to CSI Austria on your local CBS networks.


September 19, 1995 -
The New York Times and the Washington Post published the Unabomber's rambling, 35,000-word anti-technology screed, Industrial Society And Its Future, on this date.

In exchange, he promises to halt his bombing campaign.



And so it goes

Tried to amend my carnivorous habit

Today is National Cheeseburger Day. As with most things, many people and restaurants are claiming the cheeseburgers' origin, going as far back as 1926, when a sloppy 16 year old Lionel Sternberger, while working at his father’s Pasadena, California sandwich shop, dropped a slice of cheese on a burger he was cooking. Although I should not scoff, the sloppy Alexander Fleming, accidentially discovered Penicillin when he didn't wash up his lab before going on vacation.





But remember, according to a 2022 study from Tulane University, if Americans swapped one serving of beef per day for chicken, their diets' greenhouse gas emissions would fall by an average of 48 percent and water-use impact by 30 percent. (I'm just saying.)


September 18, 1933 -
The Looney Tunes short, Bosko's Picture Show, directed by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, starring Bosko, was released on this date.



This is the last Looney Tunes short produced by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising for Leon Schlesinger Productions and Warner Bros. The duo moved on to produce cartoons for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the first of which were released in the following year.


September 18, 1937 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Dog Daze, directed by Friz Freleng, was released on this date.



The dogs first shown in the exhibition booths are labeled Bulldog, Wolf Hound, Scottie, and Ralph Wolfe. The latter name (without the "e") reappeared as a character name 16 years later in the Warner Brothers cartoon Don't Give Up the Sheep, the first Ralph Wolf/Sam Sheepdog pairing.


September 18, 1943 -
The Merrie Melodies short, A Corny Concerto, directed by Bob Clamplett, and starring Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd and Daffy Duck(?),was released on this date.



The identity of the black duckling in this short has prompted much debate among cartoon fans as to whether or not it is, in fact, Daffy Duck. Supporters of the idea claim it is Daffy due to the character's similar color design (such as the white band around the neck), while naysayers say that if it was supposed to be Daffy then it would have been made more clear in his appearance or by having him speak.


September 18, 1951 -
The film version of Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize winning play, A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Elia Kazan and starring Marion Brando, Vivien Leigh, and Kim Hunter, premiered in Los Angeles on this date.



Although Vivien Leigh initially thought Marlon Brando to be affected, and he thought her to be impossibly stuffy and prim, both soon became friends and the cast worked together smoothly.


September 18, 1951 -
20th Century Fox premiered the science fiction classic, The Day the Earth Stood Still, directed by Robert Wise and starring Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal, in New York, on this date.



One of the reasons Michael Rennie was cast as Klaatu was that he was generally unknown to American audiences, and would be more readily accepted as an "alien" than a more recognizable actor. Studio head Darryl F. Zanuck had shown the script to Spencer Tracy, who was eager to play the role. Producer Julian Blaustein objected, saying that the audience would have numerous expectations about the character upon seeing an actor of such repute emerging from the flying saucer. Blaustein knew that Zanuck had the ultimate control, and if he insisted, Blaustein would either have to resign, or make the movie in an unsatisfactory way. Fortunately, Zanuck agreed, and Rennie was cast instead.


September 18, 1957 -
The western series, Wagon Train, starring Ward Bond Robert Horton, John McIntire, Robert Fuller, Michael Burns, Frank McGrath, Terry Wilson, and Scott Miller originally premiered on NBC TV on this date, then moved to ABC TV in it's sixth season.



Ward Bond (Major Seth Adams) and Robert Horton (Flint McCullough) did not get along on the set. According to Horton, Bond spread rumors about his sexuality. The two men settled their differences two days before Bond died. Although it was not publicly disclosed at the time, Ward Bond was already in terrible health when the series began. He was ill with high blood pressure, and had been ordered to reduce his workload. However, he continued to drink heavily while working on the series.


September 18, 1960 -
Teen heart-throb Tab Hunter was at the peak of his career when his comedy series, The Tab Hunter Show, premiered on NBC-TV on this date.



The Tab Hunter Show seemed like an update of The Bob Cummings Show, aimed at a younger audience. Both featured an artist (Bob a photographer, Tab a cartoonist) whose work had them constantly surrounded by beautiful young women. The biggest difference was Hunter was much younger.


September 18, 1963 -
The show that taught elderly men, twin cousins might be lured into immoral acts with the purchase of grilled sausages - The Patty Duke Show, premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



For most of the scenes featuring Patty and Cathy, Rita Walter played "the back of either Patty's or Cathy's head", as appropriate. She can also be seen in several episodes as a background character.


September 18, 1964 -
The most normal family's ever presented on US television, The Addams Family premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



Carolyn Jones and John Astin decided to give Gomez and Morticia "a grand romance" as an antidote to the virtually asexual parents then common in television shows.


September 18, 1965 -
Kleenex stock rose precipitously as I Dream of Jeannie premiered on this date.



While filming the first 12 episodes of season 1, Barbara Eden was pregnant with her son, Matthew Ansara. Her pregnancy was disguised by filming her in close-up or with a copious veil covering her front. Barbara Eden has said that wearing all the extra veils made her feel like a walking tent.


September 18, 1965 -
Mel Brooks and Buck Henry started their fight to keep the world safe from KAOS when Get Smart premiered on NBC-TV on this date.



When Don Adams was negotiating his salary, he had his choice between more money per week and no ownership stake in the show, or less money per week and part ownership. Adams chose the ownership deal and never regretted it considering the series' durable popularity in syndication gave him a regular income even as he struggled with being typecast by it.


September 18, 1968 -
The film musical Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand premiered in NYC.



Barbra Streisand and Omar Sharif had an affair that lasted for the duration of the production. Director William Wyler, who knew about the affair, tried to channel their real-life chemistry into their performances. Streisand had also enjoyed a liaison with Sydney Chaplin, who portrayed Nick on stage. Both affairs would contribute to the end of her marriage to Elliott Gould.


September 18, 1971 -
The fifth studio album by the Who, Who's Next, reached No. 1 of the Billboard Charts in the U.K. on this date.



In an interview with Billboard magazine in February 2010, Pete Townshend discussed how he feels now that 40 years on this and other Who songs take on a deeper meaning. He explained that when he wrote the band's classic tunes, "The music there was about living in the present and losing yourself in the moment. Now that has changed. Boomers kind of hang on to that as a memory. When I go back and listen to those songs, the Who songs in particular of the late '60s and early 70s, there was an aspiration in my writing to attune to the fact that what I could feel in he audience was - I won't say religious - but there was certainly a spiritual component to what people wanted their music to contain. There's definitely a higher call for the music now which is almost religious. U2, for example, are hugely successful with songs about inner longing for freedom, ideas."


September 18, 1976 –
Wild Cherry's single Play That Funky Music went to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.



This was going to be the B-side of Wild Cherry's cover of the Commodores' I Feel Sanctified. When they heard it, the owners of their record label suggested that the B-side become the A-side. The song sold over two million copies, but was Wild Cherry's only hit.


September 18, 1978 -
We first started living on the air in Cincinnati when WKRP in Cincinnati, premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



The show was videotaped instead of filmed because the rights to rock songs were cheaper for a taped show than for a filmed show.


September 18, 1987 -
Pet bunnies felt a cold breeze on their neck when Fatal Attraction, starring Michael Douglas and Glenn Close, opened on this date.



Glenn Close still has the knife she used in the movie hanging in her kitchen, stating: "It's beautiful, made of wood and paper. It's a work of art! And it's nice for our guests to see it. It lets them know they can't stay forever."


September 18, 1989 -
The science fiction series Alien Nation, starring Gary Graham, and Eric Pierpoint, premiered on the FOX network on this date.



The fledgling Fox Network first year on the air resulted in a cash crunch that forced the cancellation of this series after its first season, despite a season-ending cliffhanger. The never-produced second season opener was adapted as a novel and a comic book, and the series itself was later revived as a series of TV movies beginning with Alien Nation: Dark Horizon in 1994.


September 18, 1994 -
Ken Burn's series about America's favorite past time Baseball, premiered on PBS on this date.



When working on the original series of films the producer wondered if they should keep in the statement that the Red Sox would never again win the world series, they decided to keep it in, despite this being the favorite team of filmmaker Ken Burns. Then in 2004, the team won the world series. As a result, Burns decided to add a "tenth inning", updating things in a number of ways, including the strike and permanent resolution, the steroids scandal and other aspects of recent baseball history.


Another unimportant moment in history


Today in History:
ACME would like to issue a Trigger Warning - all children and those with delicate natures should turn away from their computer screens as we discuss the bizarre deviant sexual behavior on the part of our founding fathers:

On September 18, 1793, President George Washington laid the foundation stone for the U.S. Capitol. According to numerous sources, President Washington "laid the stone in a Masonic ceremony... preceded by a parade and followed by celebration and feasting."

The 1792 competition for the design of the Capitol had been won by an amateur architect, and the building was therefore burned by the British before it could be completed. Congress had moved into the building on November 22, 1800, but managed to escape the fire.


September 18, 1851 -
The New York Times published its first edition on this date. The newspaper, initially called the New-York Daily Times, was founded by Henry Jarvis Raymond, a politician and journalist.

It cost one penny per copy and was published six days per week, changing to seven days in 1861. Its name was changed to the New York Times in 1857.


September 18, 1932 -
24-year-old starlet Peg Entwistle dove head first from the letter "H" of the HOLLYWOODLAND sign in Los Angeles. She is the first person to commit suicide at the landmark.



Her body was discovered in the brush at the base of the hill two days later, and pronounced dead. When police examined her belongings, in her purse they found a note that read:

"I am afraid, I am a coward. I am sorry for everything. If I had done this a long time ago, it would have saved a lot of pain. P.E."



Two days later, in an ironic twist, Entwistle's uncle opened a letter addressed to her from the Beverly Hills Playhouse; it was mailed the day before she jumped. In it was an offer for her to play the lead role in a stage production—in which her character would commit suicide in the final act.


September 18, 1958 -
Bank of America sent out 60,000 “BankAmericards” to their customers in Fresno, California, on this date.



These cards, later renamed 'VISA' were the first nationally licensed credit card program.


September 18, 1961 -
Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary-General of the UN, was killed in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) on this date. He was flying to negotiate a cease-fire in the Congo.



Hammarskjold was the son of a former Swedish prime minister. In 1953, he was elected to the top UN post and in 1957 was reelected. During his second term, he initiated and directed the United Nation's vigorous role in the Belgian Congo.

Strangely enough, for many years, I worked in an office building that bears his name.


September 18, 1970 -
Jimi Hendrix died in his sleep, in London, from of a barbiturate overdose when chunks of his vomited tuna sandwich wound up in his lungs, causing him to choke, on this date. He was 27 years old.



At least his family could take comfort that he did not choke on someone else's vomit.

Once again I must remind you that Cass Elliot did not choke to death on a ham sandwich. It is an urban myth born out of a quickly discarded speculation by the coroner, who noted a part eaten ham sandwich and figured she may have choked to death. In fact, she died of heart failure.

So cut it out.


September 18, 1975 -
The burst of the Thompson gun stopped ringing in her ears on this date.



Fugitive kipnapped newspaper heiress, then zealot compatriot, Patricia Hearst and three other comrades, Wendy Yoshimura, William and Emily Harris were arrested and arraigned, ending one of the longest manhunts in American history.


September 18, 1977 -
NASA's unmanned space probe Voyager 1 snapped the first photograph of the Moon and the Earth in the same frame while on its mission to study the Solar System and its boundaries. At the time, Voyager 1 was 7.25 million miles (11.66 million kilometers) from Earth.

Voyager 1 continues its mission today and still is in communication with NASA scientists.


September 18, 1981 -
The Guinness Book of World Records verified on this date, that the West Edmonton Mall parking lot, which can hold 20,000 cars, is the largest parking lot in the world.

Interestingly enough, the mall has held other records, too: At one time or another it’s been the World’s Largest Shopping Mall (48 city blocks), the World’s Largest Indoor Amusement Park and the World’s Largest Indoor Water Park (which includes the World’s Largest Indoor Lake and the World’s Largest Indoor Wave Pool).


September 18, 1992 -
Two weeks after being outed in the New York weekly QW, attorney John Schlafly admitted in an interview with the San Francisco Examiner that he enjoys the love that dare not speak it's name. This causes a certain amount of consternation for his mother, archconservative gay rights opponent Phyllis Schlafly.

The Schlafly family never fulfilled their obligation as good Christians to present their rebellious son to the town elders and have him stoned to death as instructed in Deut. 21:18. Now that Schlafly has met her maker, she'll find out what's in store for her.


September 18, 1994 -
Vitas Gerulaitis was killed in his sleep the previous night in the guest cottage of a friend's Long Island estate. His body was discovered on this date. The professional tennis player died from carbon monoxide poisoning, caused by a faulty propane swimming-pool heater.

How many more people must die from killer swimming pools?


September 18, 2025 - Jimmy Kimmel became the latest martyr in the fight for First Admendment rights, on this date.



You know that we're in serious trouble.


Before you go - Happy Anniversary Angie and Eliot -

Hope you're having a lovely day


One more thing - If you find yourself in Westport CT. next Saturday, look for me meandering the streets one more time at the Slice of Saugatuck event - (it benefits the Homes with Hope’s Gillespie Food Pantry.)

The Chamber of Commerce has donated almost $65,000 to the food pantry over the years.



And so it goes

An update from ACME

There are 44 days until Halloween,



71 days until Thanksgiving -



There are 27 days until Canadian Thanksgiving, but we'll talk about that next month -



99 days until Christmas -



And 47 days until the General Election. Make sure that you have registered: Voting is one of your only obligations as a citizen -



While yesterday was the deadline to register, there's is still time to change your rankings on the Naughty/ Nice list. Make your plans accordingly.


September 17, 1932 -
The Looney Tunes short, Ride Him, Bosko!, directed by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising starring Bosko, was released on this date.



Although the short ends with a cliffhanger, it is continued in Bosko's Parlor Pranks", a Happy Harmonies short produced after Harman and Ising had taken Bosko to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where Bosko eventually gets to rescue Honey from the crazy gunmen.


September 17, 1955 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Speedy Gonzales , directed by Friz Freleng, and Speedy Gonzales and Sylvester the Cat, was released on this date.



Although this is the second appearance of Speedy Gonzales (His first outing was in Cat-Tails for Two), he was redesigned after his debut, and this is the first appearance of Speedy as he is known today.


September 17, 1956 -
Vincente Minnelli's brilliant bio-pix, Lust for Life, opened in NYC on this date.



A very young Michael Douglas and his brother ran screaming from the theater during the scene where Van Gogh severs his own ear because they believed their father, Kirk Douglas, had actually harmed himself.


September 17, 1961 -
William Faulkner's favorite TV show, Car 54 Where are You?, premiered on NBC-TV, on this date.



For the black-and-white location shots, the green parts of the normally black, white, and green patrol cars were painted red so as not to confuse the neighborhood people.


September 17, 1963 -
David Janssen started running when ABC-TV premiered The Fugitive, on this date.



Richard Kimble was originally fleeing his hometown in Wisconsin, until the producers discovered that Wisconsin did not execute murderers. The locale was quickly changed to Indiana.


September 17, 1964 -
United Artists released the third James Bond thriller (in the UK,) Goldfinger, starring Sean Connery, on this date.



Sean Connery never traveled to the United States to film this movie. Every scene in which he appears to be in the U.S. was filmed at Pinewood Studios outside London. This explains why Bond flips a light switch down to discover the golden corpse of Jill, as British light switches are generally turned on by flicking them down instead of up. According to director Guy Hamilton, Cec Linder (Felix) was the only main actor in the Miami sequence who was actually there. Connery, Gert Fröbe, Shirley Eaton, Margaret Nolan, and Austin Wallis, who played Goldfinger's card victim, all filmed their parts when filming started in Britain, with rear projections used, and in the case of Fröbe and Wallis, stand-ins used for the long shots.


September 17, 1964 -
Dick York started out as Durwood, I mean, Darrin as Bewitched premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



The show had an unusual amount of roles played by more than one person: two Darrins, two Gladys Kravitzes, two Louise Tates, two of Darrin's father. Dick York left the show in 1969 due to health problems; his role of Darrin was taken over by Dick Sargent. When Alice Pearce died, her role of Mrs. Kravitz was taken over by Sandra Gould.


September 17, 1965 -
CBS-TV premiered Hogan's Heroes, the first and perhaps only sitcom based in a German prisoner-of-war camp on this date.



Early in production planning, it was decided to make it always be winter, with snow on the ground, and frost on the windows. This was to prevent problems with continuity, and to allow the episodes to be shown in any order (it also makes prison life seem bleaker, and being winter adds even more of a menace whenever Klink or Schultz are being threatened with being sent to the Russian front). Since much of the filming was done in the summer, the cast members had to wear coats and act cold, even when the temperature was over 90 degrees Fahrenheit.


September 17, 1965 -

Artemus Gordon and the frequently bare-chested James T. West boarded their specially outfitted train for the first time when Wild, Wild, West premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



Robert Conrad has stated that the very tight pants he wore on the show often split open during action scenes. This is especially obvious in several wide angle shots of fight scenes in which Conrad's period incorrect Jockey shorts are clearly visible.


September 17, 1966 –
Wilson Pickett's cover of Chris Kenner's song, Land of 1000 Dances, went to No. 1 on the US Billboard Charts on this date.



Dances mentioned in Kenner's version are: The Pony, Mashed Potato, Alligator, Twist, Watusi, The Yo-Yo, Sweet Pea, Fly, Hand Jive, Slop, Chicken, Bop, Fish, Slow Twist, Tango, and the Popeye. Pickett's version mentions The Pony, Mashed Potato, Alligator, Twist, Watusi, and the Jerk.


September 17, 1966 -
The first mission from the IMF team from Mission Impossible premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



Greg Morris and Peter Lupus were the only original cast members to remain on the show throughout the entire run, although Lupus was replaced by Sam Elliott for approximately half of the episodes in season five.


September 17, 1967 -
The Doors appear on The Ed Sullivan Show on this date and things did not go as smoothly as the producers may have hoped.



The band had been asked by producer Bob Precht of The Ed Sullivan Show, to alter the lyrics of the song, Light My Fire, so as to eliminate the phrase “we couldn’t get much higher.” The band agreed to change the lyrics but come show time, Jim Morrison sang the lyrics as originally written. As a result, The Doors were banned from ever again appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show.


September 17, 1968 -
The TV series Julia premiered on this date, starring Diahann Carroll (as a nurse with a young son whose husband was killed in Vietnam), Lloyd Nolan, and Marc Copage. Carroll was the first African-American woman to star in a non-servant role in a TV series.



Diahann Carroll said in interview that the show ended when she asked to be let out of her television contract, having grown tired of the controversy surrounding the show from its inception.


September 17, 1969 -
The TV comedy sereis based of the 1963 film with the same name, The Courtdhip of Eddie's Father, starring Bill Bixby, Brandon Cruz, and Miyoshi Umeki premiered on ABC TV, on this date.



In real life, Bill Bixby became a surrogate father to Brandon Cruz, who came from a broken home, and Bixby took him in.


September 17, 1969 -
The adventure/drama television series Then Came Bronson, starring Michael Parks, premiered on NBC-TV on this date.



At the hill climb, several people are wearing "Viewfinders" jackets. The Viewfinders is a club for stunt men and people in the film industry


September 17, 1969 -
It was everyone's first day at Walt Whitman High School, when ABC TV premiered Room 222 starring Lloyd Haynes, Denise Nicholas, Michael Constantine, and Karen Valentine, aired on this date.



This was the first of three long-running sitcom franchises created or developed by James L. Brooks that are currently the property of 20th Television, the other two are The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Simpsons. The shows from the first season included a laugh track. However, by the second season the laugh track was gone to help emphasize that the show was a drama, rather than a comedy.


September 17, 1972 -
We got to meet the staff of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital for the first time (on TV) when M*A*S*H, premiered on CBS TV on this date. The series was on TV for 11 years, the Korea War only lasted three years - you figure it out.



Jamie Farr and Alan Alda were the only two main cast members to have actually served in the U.S. Army in South Korea. Both of them did their tours of duty after the 1953 cease fire. Farr was drafted, serving in Japan at Camp Drake before eventually touring and performing throughout South Korea with friend Red Skelton. Alda voluntarily joined the Army Reserve after graduating from Fordham, and completed the minimum six-month tour of duty as a gunnery officer.


September 17, 1982 -
Zoetrope Studios' film Hammett, directed by Wim Wenders and executive produced by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Frederic Forrest, Peter Boyle, Marilu Henner, and Roy Kinnear, debuted in the US, on this date.



When director Wim Wenders completed his work, the company Orion was so dissatisfied, that the Zoetrope studio was ordered to re-write and re-shoot nearly the whole movie. Two different versions were produced, but only the second released. According to Wenders the first version, which was finished, is lost.


September 17, 1991 -
ABC-TV introduced us the the Taylor family and the cast and crew of Tool Time when Home Improvement premiered on this date.



Originally, Frances Fisher was cast as Jill Taylor. During the filming of the pilot, audiences reacted poorly, saying that she made the character of Jill whiney and desperate. She was replaced with Patricia Richardson four days before the pilot episode was taped.


September 17, 2011 -
Adele made everyone weep copious amount of tears with her single Someone Like You that it hits no. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.



Adele had boundless resources at her disposal, but all this song needed was two people, two days, and a studio with a grand piano. She wrote and recorded it at Harmony Studios in Los Angeles with Dan Wilson of the band Semisonic, whose co-writing credits include Not Ready To Make Nice with Dixie Chicks and Hidden Away with Josh Groban. The demo they recorded at the end of their second day (with Wilson on piano) ended up being so good that Adele decided to use it as the actual recording. She tried recording it with a band and a full orchestra, but couldn't beat that demo.


Another little known Monopoly card


Today in History:
On July 4, 1776, the American colonies told Britain to kiss their hairy American asses. This occurred during the Revolutionary War, during which the Redcoats were coming, a shot was heard 'round the world', and Paul Revere could see the whites of their eyes and knew that their taxes were too high.



The complexities of war demanded organization between the states, so they established Articles of Confederation, which in turn created a Continental Congress. This Congress was adequate to see them through the war, but by the late 1780s it became clear that both the Continental Congress and the Articles of Confederation sucked.



Even way back then Americans didn't want anything to do with anything that sucked (unless it meant a substantial discount, which in this case it did not).

The Continental Congress tried to fix the Articles of Confederation in 1786. The Congress still sucked, of course, and so they failed.

In the spring of 1787 the states sent new delegates to a new convention designed to produce a government that wouldn't be so awful.



On September 17, 1787, the Constitutional Convention voted its approval of a new Constitution, which they immediately ran out to have printed.

The Continental Congress acted with its usual efficiency, and by July 2 of the following year, the Constitution had become the law of the land. The last act of the Continental Congress was to schedule federal elections for their replacements.



Today is Constitution Day in the U.S. Celebrate by refusing to allow soldiers to be billeted in your home.


September 17, 1778 -
The United States signed its first treaty with a Native American tribe, the Delaware Nation, on this date.

Within a year the Delaware Indians were expressing grievances about the treaty. A delegation of Delawares visited Philadelphia in 1779 to explain their dissatisfaction to the Continental Congress, but nothing changed and peace between the United States and the Delaware Indians collapsed. (The day should be called Lies the White Man told Us day.)


September 17, 1859 -

The San Francisco Call Bulletin published a notice on an inside page announcing that our old pal Joshua Norton, formerly a prominent businessman, had proclaimed himself Norton I, “Emperor of these United States and Protector of Mexico.” He annexed the whole of the US and suspended the Constitution. His Majesty remained on the job until his death in 1880.



The successor to Emperor Norton I has still yet to be anointed. I am still consulting attorneys about this matter, as we speak.


September 17, 1908 -
Thomas E. Selfridge becomes the world's first airplane fatality when the Wright Flyer, a craft he's co-piloting with Orville Wright for the U.S. Army, crashed near Fort Meyer, Virginia on this date.

An untested propeller ripped apart the plane's structure, causing it to nosedive from an altitude of 75 feet.

Orville walks away unscathed and Wilber never quite trusted his brother again, as he was supposed to fly in the plane with his brother. And yet despite the tragic mishap, the War Department awarded the contract for the first military aircraft to Wright.

If you can, please seek out the Karpeles Manuscript Library branch (according to Wikipedia, the world's largest private holding of important original documents and manuscripts), located in Santa Barbara, CA. The museum has several items of correspondence between the Wright Brothers and the War Department on display, including the first contract for the Wright Flyer.


September 17, 1935 -
Len Koenecke was an outfielder with the Brooklyn Dodgers for most of 1935, but near the end of the season he was released for “behavior and erratic play.” The Dodger left St. Louis by passenger plane, but was ordered off in Detroit because of intoxication. Len chartered a three-seater plane for Buffalo that included both the pilot and the co-pilot.

The ballplayer began to play with the airplane controls, and would not stop when ordered. Koenecke and the pilot’s pal were soon fighting on the floor. Knowing that it was either him or us, the pilot grabbed a fire extinguisher and while still flying the plane he continued to whack on the offender’s head hard enough to knock him out. When the pilot finally landed near Toronto, Koenecke was dead at the age of 31.



So kids, please remain in you seat until the plane comes to a complete stop or the pilot may have to kill you.


September 17, 1939 -
The Soviet Union invaded Poland, to fulfill its end of the secret protocols contained in the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact. They partition the country along pre-decided lines.



As you well know the last laugh will be on the Russian, when Hitler turns on them.


September 17, 1978 -
The Camp David Peace Accords, a set of agreements between Egypt and Israel was signed on this date. The agreements were the culmination of years of negotiations for peace in the Middle East. Acting as a peace broker, President Jimmy Carter convinced Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to reach a compromise in their disputes.



It is a little sadder knowing Mr. Carter is no longer with us.



And so it goes