Eat, Sleep, Cocktail, Repeat.

It's National Cocktail Day celebrated in the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK, (as opposed to World Cocktail Day enjoyed on the 13th of May,)

And no, some of you may think, 'Every day is National Cocktail Day in your house'. I need to give my liver a break once in a while.

Geez!


Today is also National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day - a day to enjoy this tasty combination of chocolate and fruit. Chocolate lovers who like raisins, find the combination simply irresistible. Kids find them irresistible, too.



Just make sure nobody owns a rabbit (or a guinea pig, believe me, we know from personal experience) at the home where you are enjoying those Raisinets (TM).


Stopping TB requires a government program that functions every day of the year, and that's hard in certain parts of the world. And partly it's because of who tuberculosis affects: It tends to affect the poor and disenfranchised most.. (My God! Let us hope we can at least do that.)



Today is World Tuberculosis Day, commemorating the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the cause of Tuberculosis, the TB bacillus.



(also it is supposed to remind people that we must step up efforts to end the global TB epidemic. A total of 10.7 million people fell ill with TB in 2024.)


March 24, 1939 -
... There's no doubt about it in my mind. Or perhaps I should say, in my imagination. For that's where crimes are conceived and where they're solved... in the imagination....

Twentieth Century Fox's released on this date, the first of 14 films based on Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional consulting detective Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles.



While not entirely passive, Watson's original role was mostly as an observer of Holmes and the chronicler of his cases. With this film a new tradition began where Watson enjoyed equal billing with Holmes. In Nigel Bruce's hands the character became a comedic foil and a bit of a bumbler. Later interpretations would vary, but the character remained greater than literature's original enigma.

Oh Watson, the needle!


March 24, 1939 -
William Wyler's adaptation of Emily Brontë's classic tragic romance, Wuthering Heights, starring Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier, premieres in Los Angeles on this date.



In one scene, William Wyler insisted that David Niven break down. When Niven told him his contract said he would never have to cry on-camera, Wyler didn't believe him. Niven got the contract and the "no crying" clause was in there.


March 24, 1946 -
The first cartoon to feature Sylvester the Cat, Life with Feathers, directed by Friz Freleng was released on this date.



Carefully rendered background details are shown, as was the norm for cartoons of this era. Lace doilies, wallpaper, baseboards, a radio, even the cookbook, are all drawn as these objects appeared at the time.


March 24, 1951 -
Scent-Imental Romeo, another funny Merrie Melodies short starring (the soon to be banned) Pepé Le Pew, was released on this date.



This is the only Golden Age Pepe Le Pew cartoon in which Pepe does not continue chasing the cat (nor catches her) in the end.


March 24, 1973 -
The O'Jays' single Love Train (considered to be one of the first disco songs,) went to No. #1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.



The song was written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, producers for the O'Jays. The team of Gamble & Huff would go on to write and produce over 170 gold and platinum records - and they also wrote Back Stabbers and For The Love Of Money, two more key songs in the O'Jays' career.



March 24, 1979 -
The Bee Gees's single, Tragedy started a two week run at No. 1 on the US singles chart, the group's eighth US No. 1, on this date. (Really sorry for the ear worm.)



The Gibb brothers wrote both Tragedy and Too Much Heaven (another American #1), in an afternoon off from making the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band movie in which they were starring. Then in the evening they wrote another American #1 single, Shadow Dancing for their brother Andy Gibb.


March 24, 1993 -
TV executives at ABC finally woke up and realized how ridiculous the Steven Bochco/ David E. Kelley series premise was and aired the final episode of Doogie Howser M.D. on this date.



Steven Bochco wanted to to finish the series and write a "final" season, as opposed to ABC's abrupt cancellation of the show in its fourth season. In it he would have depicted a season-long story arc in which Doogie becomes disillusioned with medicine and in the end, becomes a writer.


March 24, 1999 -
The Blue Pill or the Red Pill ???

The Wachowskis mega-hit science fiction classic, The Matrix, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantoliano premiered in Los Angeles, on this date.



The Wachowskis harbored their vision for five and a half years, working through fourteen drafts of the screenplay. Although most studio executives who read the script loved their ideas, they had extreme difficulty imagining how this would translate onto the screen. The Wachowskis then hired leading illustrators Steve Skroce and Geofrey Darrow, who created over 600 storyboards. Executives were reportedly sold immediately after seeing the bold vision on display, and green-lit the film.


March 24, 2005 -
NBC-TV allowed us to follow the goings on at Dunder Mifflin when The Office, starring Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, Mindy Kaling, and B.J. Novak premiered on this date.



John Krasinski and B.J. Novak went to high school together. They went to Newton South High School in Newton, Massachusetts, and they both graduated in 1997. They were even on the same little league baseball team.


Today's moment of Zen


Today in History:
March 24, 1401 -
Tamerlane conquered Damascus on this date. Tamerlane (Timur the Lane) was a descendant of Ghenghis Khan, and one of the greatest Tater leaders ever, expanding the Mongol empire from the Pacific to the Mediterranean.

Tamerlane is best remembered for having built pyramids out of human skulls, owing to a faulty understanding of architecture which no one ever had the courage to correct.

Feel free to bring this up at the next cocktail party you attend, perhaps tonight, while you are celebrating National Cocktail day.


March 24, 1603 -
Tudor Queen Elizabeth I, the "Virgin Queen," died on this date. She had reigned from 1558-1603 and claimed never to have had a date. Her last words were apparently, "All my possessions for one moment of life."



Scottish King James VI, son of Mary, Queen of Scots and great-grandson of Margaret Tudor, who was Henry VIII's oldest sister, became King James I of England in the union of the crowns.


March 24, 1874 -
Harry Houdini, Erik Weisz (Ehrich Weiss) magician, escape artist, performed his first trick when he escaped from his mother's womb in Budapest on this date.



He is still working on perfecting his final trick of coming back from the dead.


March 24, 1895 -
Arthur Murray, American dancer who founded dance schools, was born on this date.



He proved to millions of Americans that they have no innate sense of rhythm.


March 24, 1944 -
76 Allied officers escaped Stalag Luft 3 on this date. In 1949, Paul Brickall wrote The Great Escape. The story of Jackson Barrett Mahon, an American fighter pilot, and the Allied POW escape from Stalag Luft III in Germany during WW II.



The 1963 film The Great Escape starred Steve McQueen, directed by John Sturges, was based on the true story.


March 24, 1958 - (Please note, you are about to see Elvis, stripped to the waist, in his skivvies. Should you need healing of any sort, please press one of your sweaty hand upon the screen and the other ever dampening palm upon your afflicted region.)
Elvis Aron Presley entered the United States Army at Memphis, Tennessee (serial number 53 310 761), on this date, and then spent three days at the Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, Reception Station.

While in the army, Elvis met his future wife, Priscilla, at a party. He left active duty at Fort Dix, New Jersey, on March 5, 1960, and received his discharge from the Army Reserve on March 23, 1964.


March 24, 1975 -
Alex Mitchell, a 50-year-old bricklayer from King's Lynn, England, died laughing while watching an episode of The Goodies, featuring a Scotsman in a kilt attempting kung fu with his bagpipes on this date.



After 25 minutes of continuous laughter Mitchell finally slumped on the sofa and expired from heart failure. His widow later sent The Goodies a letter thanking them for making Mitchell's final moments so pleasant. (And the address where they can send her check.)


March 24, 1989 -
Cold Fusion was announced 37 years ago yesterday.



To celebrate this amazing advancement in energy, Captain Joseph Hazelwood downed, in rapid succession, five double vodka on the rocks and piloted the Exxon tanker Valdez.



He ran the Valdez into a well-charted reef at Prince William Sound, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil. An estimated 250,000 seabirds were killed.

Oops


On a personal note: Just a reminder, why not check out the VersoFest 26 website tickets are still available. Among the performers appearing will be Ani DiFrance, Wycleff Jean, Gina Gershon and David J.

More importantly, if you spot me working and let me know you're there because I told you to come - I'll buy you a beer, (or two.)


And so it goes.


And so it goes.

Don't cry over burnt toast

Oh, frabjous joy, it's Melba Toast Day.



The toast so named for the the Australian Opera singer Nellie Melba by her great admirer (and world famous French chef Auguste Escoffier.)



but folks, get a grip, it's just toast.


March 23, 1910 -
Akira Kurosawa, Japanese film director (Rashomon, The Seven Samurai, Ran), was born in Tokyo, Japan on this date.



Kurosawa worshiped legendary American director John Ford, his primary influence as a filmmaker. When the two met, Ford was uncommonly pleasant to the younger Japanese filmmaker and afterwards Kurosawa dressed in a similar fashion to Ford when on film sets.


March 23, 1946 -
The last Merrie Melodies title Frank Tashlin directed (before switching to become a live action director,) Hare Remover, starring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, opened on this date.



This was the second of only two Bugs Bunny cartoons directed by Frank Tashlin; the other being The Unruly Hare. Frank Tashlin is uncredited because he had left the studio before the short debuted, and Warner Bros. had a rule at the time that former employees couldn't be credited.


March 23, 1950 -
The nearly-forgotten B noir Anthony Mann film, Side Street, re-uniting actors Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell (who had appeared together in the 1948 film, They Live By Night,) premiered on this date.



Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell first appeared together in They Live by Night, filmed at RKO Pictures in 1947 but put on the shelf by new studio boss Howard Hughes. Former RKO Production Chief Dore Schary feared the picture would never be released, so he paired the actors again in Side Street at his new studio, M-G-M. Hughes learned of this and, wanting to beat Schary to the punch, finally released They Live by Night in the USA in November 1949, just a few months before Side Street opened nationwide.


March 23, 1963 –
Everyone get ready for a slow dance (remember to leave room for the Holy Spirit): Ruby and the Romantics' song Our Day Will Come hit No. #1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.



Dionne Warwick recorded the original demo of the song for songwriter Bob Hilliard and she told him how much she liked it. Dionne recalls, "It was written during that period of time when I met Bacharach and David. Bob Hilliard wrote the song also and he said: 'I've got a good little song here and there's a new group called 'Ruby and the Romantics' and will you do the demonstration record?' I said: 'Of course. I'd love to. And I did. And I told him then that it was a really pretty song." In 1982 Dionne Warwick included it as her only cover on her 1982 album Heartbreaker.


March 23, 1967 -
The Star Trek episode The Alternative Factor first airs on CBS TV on this date. Unfortunately, many fans consider this one of the worst episode of the Star Trek franchise.

In it, the Enterprise encounters a scientist with the ability to shift between universes who claims to be pursued by a monster. 



John Drew Barrymore was originally cast as Lazarus, but failed to show up for the shoot. The director Gerd Oswald decided to shoot scenes which didn't involve his character. On the second day, it was decided to either shut down production and scrap the episode overall or find a replacement. Rob Brown was dragged in to the set, right after he agreed to play the role.


March 23, 1973 -
Gene Roddenberry's TV-movie/unsold pilot Genesis II, starring Alex Cord, Ted Cassidy, Lynne Marta, Percy Rodriguez, Titos Vandis and Mariette Hartley, premiered on CBS TV on this date.



The science fiction justification for Lyra-a (Mariette Hartley) and other Tyranians having two navels is that they have redundant circulatory systems. However, Gene Roddenberry joked that the behind-the-scenes reason was to make up for the covered navels mandated by network and studio censors during the production of Star Trek.


March 23, 1974 -
You had one last time to Get Happy, when The Partridge Family aired the last episode of the series, ...---...(SOS), on this date



Shirley Jones presented George Chakiris, who guest stars in the episode, his Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for West Side Story.


March 23, 1982 -
The spin-off of the very successful series Happy Days, Joanie Loves Chachi, starring Erin Moran and Scott Baio premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



Nobody loved this musical disaster, and it was cancelled after 19 episodes.


March 23, 1990 –
Garry Marshall surprise comedy hit Pretty Woman (which at one time was called $3,000,) starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere premiered in US theatres on this date.



During the sex scene, Julia Roberts got so nervous a visible vein popped out of her forehead. Director Garry Marshall got into bed with Julia and Richard Gere. Marshall and Gere massaged her forehead until the vein disappeared. Julia also broke into hives and was given calamine lotion until they were finally able to shoot the scene.


March 23, 1999 -
Ricky Martin releases his single, Livin' La Vida Loca, onto an unsuspecting world, on this date. (Sorry for the earworm.)



Martin's first mainstream hit, this song took off after his triumphant performance of Cup Of Life at the 1999 Grammy Awards. He got a lot of media attention and expanded his fan base to an English speaking audience eager for songs they would Zumba to 10 years later. A notable supporter was Madonna, who did a duet with Martin called Be Careful (Cuidado Con Mi Corazón).


Word of the Day


Today in History:
March 23, 1369 -
Pedro the Cruel, King and tyrant of Castile and Leon, was murdered on this date. Enrique, the illegitimate son of Alfonso XI of Castile, killed his half brother Pedro I in the Castilian civil war and became King Enrique I the Bastard of Castile.

Once again, I must ask, what the hell were people thinking when they named their children.


March 23, 1534 -
Pope Clement VII declared that the marriage between Henry VIII of England and Catherine of Aragon was still valid, even though they'd been divorced the previous year and Henry had already married Anne Boleyn.

Henry decided to trump Clement with his extra I and invents his own religion and appointed himself as a more agreeable pope.


March 23, 1840 -
Englishman John William Draper becomes the first person to successfully photograph the Moon.

The image, a full moon, is a daguerreotype, precursor of the later photograph.


March 23, 1908 -
If you've earned a position, be proud of it. Don't hide it. I want to be recognized. When I hear people say, 'There's Joan Crawford!' I turn around and say, 'Hi! How are you!'



Joan Crawford, actress (both legitimate films and porn), executive and child beater was born on this date.


March 23, 1912 -
Wernher von Braun, German - born rocket pioneer who led the development of the V-2 rocket during World War II was born on this date.



He was deemed one of the The Good Germans we collected as a bonus prize at the end of the war.



Von Braun was said to be the preeminent rocket engineer of the 20th Century.


March 23, 1919 -
Benito Mussolini founded his own party in Italy on this date. He had tried all the other parties, but he was an awkward young man and had a hard time getting to know people. His Fasci di Combattimento ("Evil Fascist Bastards Party") was extremely popular, however, and even the cool kids came.



It got so crowded that the neighbors started complaining, which ended up starting a big fight, and the rest is history.


March 23, 1925 -
Tennessee Governor Austin Peay signs the Butler Act into law, making illegal the teaching in public school "any theory that denies the story of divine creation of man as taught in the Bible", on this date.



Teacher John Scopes couldn't think of anywhere else to teach evolution, so he ignored the ban and was later prosecuted in what became known as the Scopes Monkey Trial, which resulted in an Oscar for Spencer Tracy.


March 23, 1956 -
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan became an independent republic within the British Commonwealth (from 1947 until 1956, it was referred to as the Dominion of Pakistan,) on this date. Following the fighting in Pakistan and India in 1947, Muslims moved to Pakistan, creating a country where 96% of the population are Muslim.



Pakistan was the first modern nation to call itself an Islamic republic in conjunction with a largely secular constitution. Currently Pakistan has the world's sixth largest population.


March 23, 1961 -
Valentin Bondarenko was a young cosmonaut who had been doing routine medical tests in a pressure chamber as part of an isolation exercise, on this date. He removed some biosensors from his body and used a cotton ball moistened with alcohol to wash the sticky stuff off his skin.

He tossed the cotton ball aside and it landed on an electric hot plate, where it caught fire. Because the chamber's atmosphere was pure oxygen, the fire spread quickly. Bondarenko was removed from the chamber alive, but he died soon after of shock. Bondarenko's death was kept secret for 25 years. The fatal Apollo 1 disaster could have been averted if NASA had been aware of the accident


March 23, 1965 -
NASA launched Gemini III, nicknamed the “Molly Brown,” from Cape Canaveral on this date. It was the United State’s first maneuverable two-man mission. The mission was crewed by astronauts Virgil Ivan “Gus” Grissom and John W. Young.



The flight was the first for Young, who breaks quarantine regulations by smuggling a sandwich into orbit to share with Grissom. Before the end of the mission, Young would become the first man to eat a corned beef sandwich in space. Crumbs from the "weightless" sandwich scattered throughout the Gemini 3 spacecraft, posing a potential, if unintentional, flight safety risk. This rules violation caused NASA to clamp down on what astronauts could and could not carry into space.


March 23, 1989 -
A 1000-foot diameter asteroid (4581 Asclepius) misses the Earth by only 500,000 miles on this date.

Astronomers did not see it until it passed. To commemorate the event, today has become known as Near Miss Day.

Oops


March 23, 1997 -
Five dead bodies were found arranged in a cross formation at the burned Quebec home of Didier Queze. They were members of the Solar Temple cult who in 1994 to 1996 had totaled 69 suicides in Europe and North America.

Interestingly, in San Diego, The Heaven's Gate suicides (completely different set of nuts) leave 39 dead, all wearing NIKE shoes and many of the male members of the pact had previously voluntarily removed their members.



I believe this is the corollary to Thoreau's 'beware of all enterprises that require new clothes' - NEVER join a cult that requires you to remove your genitals.


Before I forgot - here are the answers to yesterday's quiz

On a personal note: If you want to see yourold pal Doc actually working, why not check out VersoFest 26 at the Westport Library, starting on March 26th. Among the performers appearing will be Ani DiFrance, Wycleff Jean, Gina Gershon and David J.

More importantly, if you spot me working and let me know you're there because I told you to come - I'll buy you a beer, (or two.)


And so it goes.

The driving forces of all nature

Today is World Water Day. Nearly two billion people are living without access to safe water, (and it could be a lot sooner than you think in this country.) World Water Day was first formally proposed in Agenda 21 of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.



So remember, after your morning coffee (or tea,) please remember to recycle your 'precious bodily fluids' and then wash your hands.


March 22, 1895 -
Auguste and Louis Lumiere may have first demonstrated motion pictures in Paris using celluloid film. Unless it was March 19, 1895, or December 28, 1894, or cellulite instead of celluloid. And it may have been in Milan, or Warsaw, and it's possible it wasn't Louis and Auguste Lumiere, but Max and Emil Skladanowsky.





The first motion picture shown on a screen is presented by Auguste and Louis Lumière during a private screening for the Société d’Encouragement à l’Industrie Nationale on this date in 1895.



An invited audience of 45 spectators at the Rue de Rennes in Paris, France, viewed the silent documentary film La Sortie des ouvriers de l’usine Lumière (Employees Leaving the Lumière Factory and Exiting the Factory), a film they shot especially for the occasion.


March 22, 1937 -
The biopix of the showman Florenz Ziegfeld, The Great Ziegfeld, starring William Powell, Luise Rainer, Myrna Loy and Frank Morgan premiered in Los Angeles on this date.



Billie Burke never really rated the film much despite taking a personal interest in the writing of the script. She went to great lengths to make sure that writer William Anthony McGuire never besmirched the good name of Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., hence the playing down of his infidelities.


March 22, 1947 -
Another glimpse into the 'early' pre-celebrity life of Bugs, the Merrie Melodies short, A Hare Grows In Manhattan, directed by Friz Freleng, premiered on this date.



The bulldog in this short, though not directly identified, is Hector the Bulldog, a bulldog who appeared in a number of Sylvester and Tweety cartoons starting in 1945.


March 22, 1963 -
The Beatles' first album, Please Please Me, was released in the UK on this date. The album went to the top of the UK charts in two months and remained there for 30 weeks.



Please Please Me has been ranked in the top 50 of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" by Rolling Stone. In the US, most of the songs on Please Please Me were first issued on Vee-Jay Records' Introducing... The Beatles in 1964 and subsequently on Capitol Records' The Early Beatles in 1965.


March 22, 1975 -
B.J. Thomas' single, (Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song, was the no. 1 hit on the Adult Billboard Chart on this date.



(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song was B. J. Thomas' second #1 hit, his other being Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head. The song is the longest-titled #1 charting song to date. He also scored many #1s on the Adult Contemporary and Country charts, being something of a cross-genre sensation. Still, this hit came after a long period of waning (though still considerable) popularity.


March 22, 1977 –
Yet another John Denver television special, Thank God I’m a Country Boy, premiered on ABC-TV, on this date.



John Denver had already earned his country cred with the crossover hit Take Me Home Country Roads in 1971. While that song was inspired by a longing to settle in West Virginia (neither he or the songwriters had actually ever visited the state), Thank God I’m a Country Boy literally hit closer to home as it was influenced by the singer's beloved Colorado, where he made his home in Aspen.


March 22, 1978 –
The seminal mockumentary about The Pre-Fab Four, The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash, directed by Eric Idle and Gary Weis and starring some people from Monty Python and some other people from SNL, premiered on NBC-TV on this date.



Neil Innes, Ricky Fataar and John Halsey regrouped in 1996 to record Archaeology, their satirical response to the Beatles' Anthology. It consisted of tunes not used in the movie, rearranged Innes solo songs and one song penned as a spoof of Free as a Bird. Eric Idle didn't take part; Dirk McQuickly, the album's press materials explained, had quit the music business to become a comedian.


March 22, 1980 -
The variety show The Tim Conway Show - Tim Conway’s second series with this title - produced by Joe Hamilton (husband of Carol Burnett), debuted on CBS on this date.



This happened to be one of the last variety shows produced. The concept, at this point, was mostly dated. Tim Conway himself stated that this was one of the reasons for the quick cancellation.


March 22, 1984 -
Queen filmed the video for I Want To Break Free at Limehouse Studio in London, England, on this date. Directed by David Mallet, it was a parody of the northern British soap opera Coronation Street with the band members dressed in drag.



The video for this song parodies a popular British television soap, Coronation Street. The opening sequence features all the band members in drag (Mercury as a housewife, Deacon as grandmother, Taylor as a schoolgirl, and May as a housewife). This confused many people who didn't catch the reference. Brian May was asked in an interview with Q magazine March 2011 whether each band member's character in the video was an accurate reflection of their personalities? He replied: "Of Course! Everybody thinks that was Freddie's idea because it looks like something that he would love to do but it actually came from Roger's girlfriend at the time, strangely enough. It was her idea to pastiche the Coronation Street women."


Another album from the discount bin atThe ACME Record Shoppe


Today in History:
March 22, 1622 -
A band led by the Brothers of Powhatan slaughtered 347 settlers near Jamestown, a quarter of the population, in the first Native American massacre of European settlers on this date.


>
Just think if those indigenous people had just followed the thought all the way through ....


March 22, 1687 -
Classical music and vanity do not mix, if fact, they can really kill you.

In early January of 1687, Jean-Baptiste de Lully, court music and gossip to King Louis XIV of France and notorious buggerer (but that's another story ...) was conducting a musical piece, beating time on the floor with a long staff. This was the common practice at the time before hand-held batons became the norm. He slammed his big toe.



The wound abscessed and eventually turned gangrenous. He refused to have his toe amputated (as he first started as a court dancer) because he could not bear the thought of disfigurement. The wound turned gangrenous and the infection spread, killing him three months later, on this date.


Two leading lights of twentieth century musical theatre were born on March 22: Stephen Sondheim (1930), best known for his work on Gypsy, West Side Story, Company and Sweeney Todd and Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948), best known for Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats and Phantom of the Opera.













By some mysterious natural process of compensation, March 22 is also the birthday of Marcel Marceau (1923),



best known for Actor Trapped in a Role.


March 22, 1931 -
Success is different for everyone; everybody defines it in their own way, and that's part of what we do in 'Close Up', finding what it was each person wanted to achieve and what their willingness to sacrifice for that was.



William Shatner, arguably the world's (or at least Canada's) greatest actor was born today on this date.


March 22, 1958 -
Michael Todd (nee Avrom Hirsch Goldbogen,) movie producer, (and one of the myriad of husband's of Elizabeth Taylor) and three other people were killed in the crash of Todd's private plane Lucky Liz, near Grants, New Mexico, on this date. In his autobiography, Eddie Fisher, who considered himself to be Todd's best friend (and another one of the myriad of husbands of Elizabeth Taylor,) stated that no fragments of Todd had been found, and that his coffin contained only his ring.



The Los Angeles Times reported in 1977 that Fisher's story was false - remains of Todd were indeed found and buried. His remains were desecrated by robbers, who broke into his coffin looking for the ring. The bag containing Todd's remains was found under a tree near his plot.

How big was that bag?


March 22, 1960 –
The first laser was patented (US Patent #2,929,922) by Arthur Schawlow and Charles Hard Townes under the title Masers and Maser Communications System.

There is no mention of whether or not drugs were involved in the creation of the laser or what album they were listening to at the time.


March 22, 1972 -
National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse recommended ending criminal penalties for possession of marijuana on this date.



Follow along (this may be on a different test) -
x As of November 2025, non-medical cannabis use is legalized in 24 states, 3 U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia, while 7 other states have decriminalized its use.


March 22, 1978 -
One of the Flying Wallendas, 73 year old Karl Wallenda, plunges to his death on a cable strung between two hotels in San Juan, PR on this date.



Oops!


March 22, 1987-
The Mobro 4000 left New York with over 3000 tons of garbage looking for a port to take it, on this date.



No one would take the trash, so after 162 days, the barge returned, still fully loaded, to NYC. It seems, garbage out, garbage in.


March 22, 2006 -
Back in 1767, Lord Robert Clive of the East India Company, the first British Governor of the Bengal Presidency, was given a gift of four Aldabra tortoises from the Seychelle Islands. Three soon died, but the fourth, named Addwaita, which means ‘one and only’ in Bengali, survived. He survived his master, who died in 1774. He was moved to a Calcutta zoo in 1875 and survived the end of the British empire.



Addwaita, much like the Energizer Bunny, kept going. He even survived the 20th Century. Finally as to all, Addwaita bought the reptilian ranch on this date.

Talk about live long and prosper.


Don't forget to check out today's quiz on the Russian Monarchy


Before you go - Today is the earliest day on which Easter Sunday (in the Roman Catholic faith) may occur,



not that it occurs on this date this year; Easter is April 5th this year. (and Orthodox Easter occurs on the 12th of April.)



And so it goes.