The bridge between winter and summer

The month of May takes its name from Maia, the Greek goddess of growth and the mother of Hermes. Fittingly, May marks the height of spring’s renewal. It’s the fifth month in both the Gregorian and Julian calendars—a surprisingly consistent detail in the ever-shifting world of timekeeping.

Curiously, May carries an old superstition: it's considered an unlucky month for weddings. This belief is partly tied to the ill-fated marriages of Mary, Queen of Scots, who wed in May with tragic results. On the other hand, May seems to smile on U.S. presidents—none have died in this month, and two, Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy, were born in May.



Spring is in full bloom. Tender blossoms exude their sweet fragrance as winter's bitter frosts recede. The warming air and diaphanous mists incite the passions and thoughts turn naturally to the ardor of spring - to love, rebirth, renewal, and salad.



You may not have known it, but in the United States, May is National Salad Month. By an astonishing coincidence, the second full week of May is National Herb Week. It's a time to celebrate the verdure of the earth with verdure on a plate. Or in a bowl—salad is just that versatile!



Carnivorous readers disinclined to celebrate National Salad Month can choose from any of the following celebrations, all of which last the entire month of May:

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
National Smile Month
Digestive Diseases Awareness Month
National Barbeque Month
National Bike Month
National Egg Month
National Hamburger Month
More Than Just a Pretty Face Month


(Oops, I nearly forgot,) the First Friday in May appears to be No Pants Day.

If you are interested in recognizing the celebration of No Pants Day, then you should express yourself and go sans trousers today, always observed on the first Friday of May (because the US has to be difficult, it is also celebrated in January, which makes no sense.) Regular U.S. mail service and parking enforcement are still in place as this ridiculous day is not a U.S. national holiday.



No Pants Day, is believed to have been started by a group of students at the University of Texas who thought leaving the pants at home on the first Friday in May would be a fun way to end the semester. A winter spin-off was created called No Pants Subway Ride.


May 1, 1941 -

A young filmmaker, obsessed with his debut project, reportedly drank over 30 cups of coffee a day, pushing himself into caffeine poisoning. Switching to tea in hopes the brewing time would slow him down, he undermined the plan by having an assistant make it—so efficiently that he drank so much his skin reportedly changed color.



The once universally praised movie seems to have lost a little bit of it's glow, bizarrely slipping one notch below Pattington 2 on the Rotten Tomatoes rating scale - down from a 100% score to a mere 99%.



Orson Welles’ innovative film, Citizen Kane, a film about a man's unnatural love for his sled, opened in New York City, 80 years ago on this date.



Film making was never the same.


May 1, 1943 -
The Looney Tunes short, The Wise Quacking Duck, directed by Bob Clampett, and starring Daffy Duck, debuted on this date.



When dressed as a fortune teller, Daffy is imitating comedian Jerry Colonna. He even begins with one of Colonna's signature lines: "Greetings, Gate. Let's osculate."


May 1, 1948-
The Merrie Melodies short, Nothing but the Tooth, directed by Arthur Davis, and starring Porky Pig, debuted on this date. This short is seldom aired on TV due to racial stereotyping of Native Americans.



A billboard placed by Warren & Foster (a reference to Warren Foster) is shown in the scene where the Native gifts Porky Pig a feather headdress.


May 1, 1954 -
The Looney Tunes short, No Parking Hare, directed by Robert McKimson, and starring Bugs Bunny, debuted on this date.



The product supplier of choice, Acme, is used by the construction worker.


May 1, 1957 -
The first film Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn made in color, Desk Set, premiered on this date.



This is the eighth of the nine films they starred in together. They did not make another film together (Spencer Tracey's last,) until nearly ten years later.


May 1, 1966 -
James Brown performed on the Ed Sullivan Show for the first time on this date.



Unlike most solo acts, he brings his own band, which allows him to provide the full James Brown experience, including the cape bit where he drops to his knees but is soon revived.



The Supremes also appeared on the show that evening. Besides performing the song, More, they also sang their hit, Love Is Like An Itch In My Heart.


May 1, 1972 –
The Eagles' first single, Take It Easy, written by Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey, was released on this date.



The Eagles played this live long before they recorded it. It was one of the songs they played when they were doing four sets a night at a club in Aspen, Colorado. By the time they recorded it, the song had more of a country feel.


May 1, 1974 -
The Columbia Pctures comedy The Lords of Flatbush, directed by Martin Davidson and Stephen F. Verona, and starring Sylvester Stallone, Perry King, Paul Mace, Henry Winkler, and Susan Blakely, opened in New York City on this date.



When Sylvester Stallone was making Rocky, the producers showed the studio this film so they could see who Stallone was. The studio mistook Perry King for Stallone and was excited about him playing Rocky. When the producers pointed out that the guy playing Stanley was really Stallone, the studio's excitement faded.


May 1, 1976 -
The seventh studio album from Led Zeppelin, Presence went to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.



Robert Plant and his wife were in a car crash while on holiday in Greece which broke Plant's ankle. Instead of touring the US, Plant and Jimmy Page wrote material for Presence, then recorded it at Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany with Plant in a wheelchair. Plant got so excited while recording this that he fell and re-injured his ankle, similarly to the one of the album's song's namesake, Achilles. Achilles Last Stand was both an acknowledgment of Plant's broken ankle as well as to the mystic location in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco which inspired the lyrics.


May 1, 1978 -
The bio-pix Wilde, (about the Irish writer Oscar Wilde,) directed by Brian Gilbert, and starring Stephen Fry, Jude Law, Vanessa Redgrave, Jennifer Ehle, Gemma Jones, Judy Parfitt, Michael Sheen, Zoë Wanamaker, and Tom Wilkinson opened in the US on this date.



Stephen Fry admits he was nervous about the love scenes with his co-stars. He remarked that Jude Law, Michael Sheen, and Ioan Gruffudd were quick to put him at ease.


May 1, 1983 -
Viewers had the pleasure of watching aliens unhinge their jaws and swallow mice when V (the miniseries), starring Marc Singer, Faye Grant, Jane Badler, Michael Durrell, Peter Nelson, and David Packer, premiered on NBC TV on this date.



The series was intended as a literal retelling of the Nazi takeover of various countries, and the resistance movement against them. However, because of the popularity of the Star Wars saga and other science fiction hits, as well as the belief among network executives that U.S. citizens would not believe a fascist takeover, the network executives had the producers change it to a science fiction miniseries. Other ideas were also discussed, but discarded.


May 1, 1998 -
The under-rated adaptation of the Victor Hugo's classic novel, Les Misérables, directed by Bille August and starring Liam Neeson, Geoffrey Rush, Uma Thurman, and Claire Danes opened in the US on this date.



This version concentrates on the story of Valjean and Javert, with less emphasis on the romance between Cosette and Marius. Thénardier, a key character in the novel, appears in just one scene; his daughter, Eponine, is only seen in the background.


May 1, 1999 -
The Nickelodeon animated series, SpongeBob SquarePants, created by Stephen Hillenburg, debuts on this date.



The show's creator, Stephen Hillenburg, was a marine biologist. When he pitched the show to Nickelodeon, he brought a fish tank into the boardroom, and explained what was living inside. He then placed a cartoon drawing of SpongeBob into the tank and said "This is SpongeBob, the star of your new show."


Another unimportant moment in history


Today in History:
Please rise, (or not.) Or take a knee, (or not.)



May 1 is recognized as May Day pretty much everywhere but the United States, Canada, and South Africa. Modern May Day celebrations throughout the world typically feature huge outdoor gatherings of people, brightly colored signs and banners, and a whole lot of tear gas.



The holiday has its root in the American labor movement of the 1880s, specifically the Haymarket tragedy of 1886. Depending on whom you ask, the Haymarket tragedy was either caused by overzealous cops with way too many guns, or overzealous anarchists with way too many bombs (i.e., one).

Actually, it no longer matters whom you ask, because all eyewitnesses would give you pretty much the same answer (i.e., none—they're dead).



Either way, nervous, well-armed cops and edgy, bomb-throwing anarchists are not a combination one encounters often in the annals of the Nobel Peace Prize. As a result, Americans ignore May Day and instead celebrate Labor Day, which features plenty of beer and barbecues and very little tear gas.



Call it complacency if you like, but when it comes to steak, we know exactly what we’re doing.


May 1, 1776 -
The Illuminati, modeled on the Freemasons, and formed to promote logic, science, and reason as opposed to any kind of tradition or dogma, was founded on this date.



The group was almost immediately outlawed when people got the idea that it was trying to infiltrate governments, and has been a staple of conspiracy theorists ever since.

But don't tell anyone you heard it from me.


May 1, 1851 –
Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace at Hyde Park in London, on this date. It was the first in a series of World's Fairs, exhibitions of culture and industry that became popular in the 19th century.



The Great Exhibition had 13,500 exhibitions and constituted at its time the largest assembly of people collected together for one purpose. Included was Britain’s first public toilets (“monkey closets”). Over 800,000 excited people spent a penny there.


May 1, 1888 -
Nikola Tesla received several patents relating to the alternating current (AC) synchronous motor, alternating current (AC) transmission, induction magnetic motor, and an electricity distribution system on this date. (US Nos. 381,968-70; 382,279-82)

He would later sell the rights to his rotating field motor to George Westinghouse.


May 1, 1915 -
A thoughtful German government took out advertisements warning anyone on ships flying British flags that they did so at their own risk.

That very day, the ocean liner Lusitania left New York, flying a British flag.



They bought their tickets, they took their chances.


May 1, 1930 -
The on again/ off again planet Pluto was officially named on this date. The name was suggest by an eleven year-old girl named Venetia Burney from Oxford, England.



The name was selected from three suggestions by a unanimous vote of the members of the Lowell Observatory. The other two possible names were “Cronus” and “Minerva.”

Hang on Venetia, it still may be a planet.


May 1, 1931 -

The Empire State Building in New York City was dedicated by President Hoover from the White House in Washington DC where he pressed a button that switched on the lights. The 102 story skyscraper, at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 34th Street in New York City, was the first higher than 1,250 feet. (I can see it just down the street from my apartment.)



Excavation had begun in January 1930, construction commenced in two months later, and its cornerstone was laid in September 1930. The steel framework rose at a rate of 4-1/2 stories per week. The building's construction was completed in a phenomenal one year and 45 days.





It reigned as the world's tallest skyscraper until 1954, but it still remains an icon for all things New York.


May 1, 1947 –
Unfortunately, Evelyn McHale leapt to her death from the observation deck of the Empire State Building and landed on a limousine, on this date.

A photography student named Robert Wiles took a picture of McHale minutes after her death. The photograph was published in Life magazine and the picture has left her known as 'The Most Beautiful Suicide'.


May 1, 1969 -
Fred Rogers, host of the longtime children's television landmark Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, appeared in Washington before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications, on this date, to express his disagreement with a proposal by President Richard Nixon to cut federal funding for public broadcasting from $20 million to $10 million.



More than forty years later, Fred Rogers’ compelling words about the power of television to help children grow up, dealing sensibly and humanely with others even when they are feeling angry, still resonate in living rooms, school rooms, and neighborhoods nationwide.


May 1, 2003 -
President Bush announced that "major combat operations in Iraq" were over in a speech (commonly known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech) on the USS Abraham Lincoln on this day.



The speech sparked a lot of controversy in the following months as guerrilla operations continued in Iraq as the vast majority of casualties, both military and civilian, occurred after the speech..



Coincidentally, on May 1, 2011, exactly eight years after the speech, President Barack Obama announced that U.S. Navy SEALs had killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.



And so it goes.

The best words in the best order

Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day.

In 2002, as part of New York City’s National Poetry Month celebration, the Office of the Mayor, in partnership with the New York City Departments of Cultural Affairs and Education, initiated Poem in Your Pocket Day, a time for New York City residents to select a poem, carry it with them, and share it with others throughout the day.

(Please share yours.)


Today is Walpurgisnacht (Walpurgis Night or Beltane Eve.) It is celebrated in most of Northern Europe the night of April 30 to May 1.



Legend has it, this night was the last chance for witches and various demons to stir up trouble before Spring reawakened the land.


April 30, 1938 -
Bugs Bunny first appeared, so to speak, in the cartoon short Porky's Hare Hunt, released on this date. This short was co-directed by Cal Dalton and Ben Hardaway.



The cartoon had an almost identical theme to a 1937 cartoon, Porky's Duck Hunt, directed by Tex Avery and introducing Daffy Duck. Following the general plot of this earlier film, the short cast Porky Pig as a hunter against an equally nutty prey more interested in driving his hunter insane than running away. But instead of a black duck, his current prey was a tiny, white rabbit. Bugs Bunny introduces himself with the expression "Jiggers, fellers," and Mel Blanc gave the rabbit a voice and laugh that he would later use to voice Woody Woodpecker. In this cartoon, he also quoted Groucho Marx for the first time (from the movie Duck Soup): "Of course, you know, this means war!"


April 30, 1943 -
The classic RKO Pictures horror film, I Walked With a Zombie, directed by Jacques Tourneur, produced by Val Lewton, and staring James Ellison, Frances Dee, and Tom Conway, went into general release on this date.



Interesting coincidence - not only does this film's plot resemble Jane Eyre, but the character Mrs. Rand in I Walked With a Zombie and Mrs. Fairfax in the film Jane Eyre are both portrayed by Edith Barrett.


April 30, 1948 -
Universal Pictures' comedy The Noose Hangs High, directed by Charles Barton and starring Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Cathy Downs, and Joseph Calleia, opened on this date.



A & C's famous Mudder-Fodder routine is performed in this film, but strangely, Lou performs it with Leon Errol instead of Abbott. This could be an early reflection of the known animosity that the team was starting to feel toward each other.


April 30, 1948 -
Frank Capra's political drama State of the Union, starring Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Adolphe Menjou, Van Johnson, and Angela Lansbury, premiered in the US on this date.



Adolphe Menjou was an ultra-right-wing political conservative who had eagerly co-operated with the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), named names of persons he considered to be Communists and was a strong proponent of "blacklisting" those whose political beliefs he didn't share. Katharine Hepburn was decidedly more liberal and had been an outspoken critic of the blacklist. Menjou had made several comments accusing Hepburn of being a Communist sympathizer, and possibly a Communist herself, which angered Hepburn and her co-star/romantic partner Spencer Tracy. Frank Capra was so concerned about the tension that he closed the set to the press.


April 30, 1950 -
The film-noir classic, DOA, starring Edmond O'Brien, was released on this date. (Stick around for the whole movie.)



When Frank Bigelow registers at the Allison Hotel in Los Angeles, the name directly above his is Russell Rouse, one of the film's writers. Also on the register is director of photography Ernest Laszlo and assistant director Marty Moss.


April 30, 1952 -
Mr. Potato Head® became the first toy to be advertised on television on this date.



Over one million kits were sold in the first year. Mrs. Horned Melon or Mr. Cherimoya didn't sell so well.


April 30, 1958 -
The Looney Tunes short, Ready.. Set.. Zoom!, directed by Chuck Jones, and starring Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, debuted on this date.



This is the first Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote cartoon with Wile E.'s evil face with the fangs and the sinister grin.


April 30, 1962 -
Tony Richardson's contribution to British kitchen sink dramas, A Taste of Honey, starring Rita Tushingham, Dora Bryan, Murray Melvin, and Paul Danquah, opened in the US on this date.



Morrissey is a huge fan of this film and many lyrics from The Smiths's songs are inspired by this film. Listen to 'This night has opened my eyes' and 'Reel around the fountain'.


April 30, 1966 -
The Young Rascals' single Good Lovin' went to No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard singles chart, on this date.



According to Rolling Stone magazine, The Young Rascals were surprised by the success of this track. Felix Cavaliere admitted, "We weren't too pleased with our performance. It was a shock to us when it went to the top of the charts."


April 30, 1975 -
Detectives David Starsky and Kenneth 'Hutch' Hutchinson, began to patrol the streets of Bay City (Los Angeles), when Starsky and Hutch debuted on ABC TV on this date. Even though the US broadcasts claims that it's not Los Angeles but "Bay City", the very first street sign they stop in front of in this pilot clearly reads "Los Angeles", 7 minutes into the show. This is why in many foreign markets, it takes place in Los Angeles, where it is evidently filmed.



On numerous occasions, Paul Michael Glaser has talked about how much he hated the car, as well as playing Starsky, and that he had campaigned to be released from his contract. He said, at the time, that he would have refused to continue with the series, had it not been canceled. Like many TV actors at the time, wanted to become a film director, however his attempts at directing Starsky & Hutch were unfruitful due to too many artsy shots that did not fit in tune with the series, the way it had originally been conceived.


April 30, 1977 –
Marvin Gaye's single Got to Give It Up went to No. 1 on the R&B charts, on this date.



By the mid-'70s, Gaye and his labelmates at Motown were feeling the pressure to record dance-floor friendly hits as disco was on the rise. Gaye resisted until he had an idea to parody the genre. Got to Give It Up was originally titled Dancing Lady as a response to Johnnie Taylor's Disco Lady.


April 30, 1997 -
Ellen DeGeneres' character came out of the closet on the sitcom Ellen on this date.



The show was the highest rated episode the series ever aired, with over 42 million viewers and won an Emmy for writing. Nonetheless, DeGeneres and her show quickly garnered criticism for being "too gay"; the series was canceled after one more season and DeGeneres and guest star Laura Dern faced career backlashes.


Another little known Monopoly card


Today in History:
April 30, 1789 -
George Washington was inaugurated and took office in New York as the first president of the United States on this date. He took his oath of office on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street and spoke the words “So help me God,” which all future US presidents have repeated.



Please note: The oath as prescribed by the Constitution makes no mention of God, or of the Bible.


April 30, 1803 -
The United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803, more than doubling the size of the nation. The price paid was fairly steep, 50 million francs ($262 million dollars in today's currency, roughly 4 cents an acre, for the 828,000 square miles.).



In addition to the city of New Orleans and western Louisiana, the purchase included Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska; most of North and South Dakota; parts of Minnesota, New Mexico Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado (portions of Texas were included for ordering before 1804). President Jefferson had hoped to pay for the acquisition using beads, but the people of New Orleans already had so many beads they held a party each year to give them away.


April 30, 1900 —
John Luther “Casey” Jones was born on March 14, 1863, in southeast Missouri. While he was still a small child, his family moved to Cayce, Kentucky, which is how he got his nickname. As a boy, he liked trains - he really liked trains. In 1878, at the age of 15, he went to work for the Mobile and Ohio Railroad as an apprentice telegrapher. By 1890, “Casey” had reached the pinnacle of the railroad profession as a crack locomotive engineer on the Illinois Central Railroad.



In 1899, Jones was given a regular passenger run on the Cannonball route, which ran between Chicago and New Orleans. On April 29, 1900, Jones was in Memphis, Tennessee, having arrived from the northbound Cannonball, when he agreed to take the southbound Cannonball because the scheduled engineer had called in sick. He left Memphis at 12:50 a.m., 95 minutes behind schedule, but made up almost an hour between Memphis and Grenada, Mississippi, nearly 100 miles away. By Durant, 55 miles farther down the line, they were almost on time.



At Durant, Jones received orders to “saw by” two freights that had taken the siding in Vaughan. The two freights were too large to fit entirely into the siding, leaving one end on the main line. If the “sawing” maneuver had been done correctly, the freights would have allowed the approaching train to pass the first switch, and then the trains on the siding would move past the other switch. However, an air hose on one of the freight trains burst, applying the brakes on the freight cars behind the break and leaving them immobile on the main line. Meanwhile, Jones was traveling at excessive speed, possibly up to 70 miles per hour, and did not have enough time to brake. When a collision seemed imminent, Casey told his fireman, Sim Webb, to jump for it, but Jones rode the engine into the cars and was killed. It is believed that, because Jones stayed to slow the train, he saved the passengers from injury and possible death (Casey himself was the only fatality of the collision).



Popular legend holds that when Jones’s body was pulled from the wreckage of his train, his hands were still firmly latched onto the whistle cord and the brake.


April 30, 1900 -
Another file from: Thing my teachers never told me - A group of American businessmen, led by Samuel Dole (of pineapple fame,) had overthrown the traditional monarchy of Hawaii several years earlier and operated the island themselves, occasionally clashing diplomatically with the US.



The US Congress finally got around to lend a legitimacy to the coup by American citizens by passing the Hawaiian Organic Act on this date. The provisional government finally allowed Hawaii to become a US territory after receiving a guarantee that they would not be punished for the coup.

And that bunkies is how the US stole Hawaii.


April 30, 1904 -
At 1:06 p.m. President Theodore Roosevelt officially opened the St. Louis World’s Fair commemorating the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase. Although the Fair was originally scheduled to open in 1903, the opening was delayed for a year while the elaborate fairgrounds were completed. Visitors were awed by 142 miles of exhibits shown in palatial buildings like Festival Hall the centerpiece of the fair boasting an auditorium seating 3,500. Cass Gilbert designed the art museum in Foret park, the only building left over from the fair.



Other wonders seen at the St. Louis World’s Fair were the Liberty Bell, the largest pipe organ in the world, the introduction of ice cream cones, the invention of iced-tea, and the fair popularization of the hot dog with prepared mustard. The fair lasted 7 months and inspired the phrase "Meet Me in St. Louis."


April 30, 1939 -
On a very hot New York Sunday, The 1939 World's Fair had its grand opening, with 200,000 people in attendance. The April 30 date coincided with the anniversary of George Washington's inauguration as President in New York City. Although many of the pavilions and other facilities were not quite ready for this opening, it was put on with pomp and great celebration.



President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave the opening day address, and as a reflection of the wide range of technological innovation on parade at the fair, his speech was not only broadcast over the various radio networks but also was televised. NBC used the event to inaugurate regularly scheduled television broadcasts in New York City over their station W2XBS (now WNBC). An estimated 1,000 people viewed the Roosevelt telecast from about 200 television sets scattered throughout the New York area.



Little remembered but equally important, the View-Master was introduced at the World's Fair that day.



Don't worry about those storm clouds overhead (it's just World War II).


April 30, 1943 -
The British submarine HMS Seraph dropped ‘the man who never was,' a dead man the British planted with false invasion plans (which indicated the Allies would not invade Sicily,) into the Mediterranean off the coast of Spain on this date.



German agents discovered the body of a non-existent RAF major, bought the ruse and were unprepared for the actual attack on that island.


April 30, 1945 -
Holed up in a bunker under the Reich Chancellery headquarters in Berlin (conveniently called the Fuehrerbunker), blushing bride Eva Braun had a hankering for Almond Roca. Finding none available, she decide to chew a cyanide capsule and commit suicide instead (she was impulsive.) Distraught honeymooner Adolf Hitler, never one to go it alone, decides to commit suicide himself by swallowing a cyanide capsule and (to gilt the lily) shoot himself in the head (he was having a very bad day for an Evil Bastard.)



Soon after, Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allied forces, ending Hitler's dreams of a "1,000-year" Reich.

Guess that didn't work out for him.


April 30, 1975 -
With the coded message: The temperature in Saigon is 105 degrees and rising,” and the wistful strains of White Christmas played on the radio, the capital of South Vietnam - Saigon, fell on this date. Communist forces gains control of Saigon. The fall of the city was preceded by the evacuation of almost all the American civilian and military personnel in Saigon, along with tens of thousands of South Vietnamese civilians. The evacuation culminated in Operation Frequent Wind, the largest helicopter evacuation in history.



The Vietnam War formally ends with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Duong Van Minh.

This was a really big Oops for America.


Before you go -

(It's the fourth anniversary of Mrs. Dr. Caligari rushing me to the hospital for emergency surgery. It's been a long strange trip and hopefully all my surgeries are behind me.

All in all, it's pretty nice to be here, for another year at least. (Not quite sure if Mrs. Dr. Caligari would do the same again, but I digress ...)



And so it goes.

The hidden language of the soul

Today is International Dance Day.

The date was chosen in commemoration of the death of the greatly influential dancer, choreographer and innovator Jean-Georges Noverre (1727-1810).







The goals of Dance Day are to increase the awareness of the importance of dance among the general public, as well as to persuade governments all over the world to provide a proper place for dance in all systems of education.


Today is also the feast of St. Catherine of Siena, the co-patron saint of Italy. The Renaissance was tough on women, Catherine's older sister and younger sisters died in 1463 (she had 22 other siblings, although, at that point, who could tell who was alive or died or the neighbor's cat.) Catherine's father did what any other father would do - tried to make the teenage Catherine marry her sister's widow.

It didn't matter to anyone, save Catherine, that her brother-in-law was a filthy, lascivious old man. Catherine fasted until her father relented and let her enter a nunnery. While fasting, she, like our old pal Teresa of Avila, was pierced by God's shaft of 'pure love,', (is this what comes from anorexia in the Middle Ages?).

Though, supposedly illiterate, Catherine famously corresponded with the leading church figures (both men and women) of her day. In fact, Catherine is one of the few women Saints who are thought of, as holding doctorates. She is one of the church most famous bulimics, disgorging everything she ate for the next 17 years, except the Eucharist she received every day.



She, of course, is the patron saint of bulimics and anorexics, the sick (in general), nurses, firemen and sexual temptation (there is a connection between the two, but I'm not going there.)

As is always the case, when saints die, people clamor after their body parts. She is scattered over most of Italy; her head and one of her fingers are resting in Siena and a major part of her is beneath the main altar at Santa Maria Sopra Minerva Church in Rome.


One last thing, But wait, today is also National Shrimp Scampi Day



Don't forget to add a few red pepper flakes (we had shrimp earlier in the week; maybe we'll have to wait a few days to have our scampi.)


April 29, 1953 –
In the first 3D television broadcast, an episode of Space Patrol was shown on Los Angeles ABC affiliate KECA-TV.

Viewers needed special 3D glasses for proper viewing. Of course most viewers didn't have 3D glasses handy, so "while the show aired, it appeared to be a blurry mess."


April 29, 1964 -
The Toho Studios released their first cross-over monster movie Mosura tai Gojira (Godzilla vs. the Thing (Mothra)) in Japan on this date. This is the first Godzilla film without newly-shot American footage added for the American release.



1964 was the only year when Toho released two Godzilla movies in the same year. Right after this film, Toho began working on Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, which premiered that December.


April 29, 1967 -
Aretha Franklin's classic version of Otis Redding's Respect was released on this date. Franklin's version is so definitive that most people assume she was the first to record the song.



It was Aretha's idea to cover this song. She came up with the arrangement, added the "sock it to me" lines, and played piano on the track. Her sister Carolyn, who sang backup on the album, also helped work up the song.


April 29, 1979 -
ABC TV cancelled the series Battlestar Galactica earlier in the month, making the episode that aired on this date, The Hand of God, the last episode of the series.



Apollo reveals that the Galactica was launched "over 500 yahren ago." According to BattlestarWiki, fans have established a "yahren" (equivalent to a Colonial year) as being equivalent to approximately 250 Earth days, or a little more than 2/3 of an Earth year. That still makes Galactica an extremely old ship at over 340 Earth years old. In terms of Earth history, it would be like continuing to use a warship from about 1680 A.D.


April 29, 1983 -
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's horror film The Hunger, directed by Tony Scott and starring Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie and Susan Sarandon, opened in the US on this date.



According to The Hollywood Reporter, this film was originally given an "X" rating by the MPAA. This delayed the release for nearly three months while several cuts had to be made to receive an "R" rating - including the love scene between Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon.


April 29, 1983 -
Martha Coolidge's Rom-Com about a girl from the valley, Valley Girl, starring Nicolas Cage, Deborah Foreman, Michelle Meyrink, Elizabeth Daily, Cameron Dye and Michael Bowen premiered in the US on this date.



The producers of this film approached Frank Zappa about making a film based on his hit single Valley Girl (released May 1982), but he refused, leading the producers to make the film without his involvement. Zappa later sued them but lost the case.


April 29, 2005 –
Buena Vista releases a somewhat confusing (for the uninformed) but amusing version of Douglas Adams classic sci-fi classic, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, starring Martin Freeman, Sam Rockwell, Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel and the voices of Stephen Fry and Alan Rickman on this date.



The producers have stated that this movie was not a literal translation of the books (just as the books were not a literal translation of the original radio show), but all of the new ideas and characters came from Douglas Adams. The hired writer simply came aboard to improve structure and make the screenplay more coherent.


April 29, 2016 -
Jimmy Fallon and Paul Rudd do a shot-for-shot remake of the Styx video for Too Much Time On My Hands on this date.



The video has special memories for many in Generation X, as it was in heavy rotation when MTV went on the air in 1981. Rock revisionists have questioned the coolness of the band, but to those who grew up watching them on MTV, they will always be undeniably awesome.


Another episode of ACME's Little Known Animal Facts


Today in History:
April 29, 1852 -
The first edition of Roget’s Thesaurus was published (distributed, circulated, printed) on this date.



Dr. Peter Mark Roget (1779-1869) was a London physician of French-Swiss ancestry who began to collect and organize English words to improve his public speaking.


April 29, 1901 -
Train robber and one of the last of the Old West outlaws, Thomas "Black Jack" Ketchum was unsuccessfully hanged in Clayton, New Mexico on this date.



The executioner's poor choice of rope and Ketchum's recent increase in weight combine to produce a gruesome decapitation in the gallows.

Thomas "Black Jack" Ketchum was the only person ever hanged in Clayton, New Mexico. He was also the only man ever hanged for train robbery in the entire state, a law that was later found to be unconstitutional. But, a little too late for poor Black Jack.


April 29, 1939 -
The Bronx-Whitestone Bridge connecting the Bronx and Queens opened for traffic on this date.



The primary reason for its construction was to provide access to the 1939-40 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows.


April 29, 1945 -
Adolf Hitler married Eva Braun on this date (the Allies sent the Fuhrer a wedding gift via liberating Dachau.) The very next day she killed herself. So did he. This demonstrates the importance of not rushing into marriage. You've got to take your time, get to know the other person, and really think it through. Especially if the other person happens to be an Evil Bastard at the head of a hellish genocidal war machine on the brink of defeat.

But it's not enough just making sure your intended isn't a war-criminal-in-training. The sad truth is that if you plan to marry a human being you're in for a pretty bumpy road no matter what—which isn't to say it would be all roses if you married something other than a human.



So maybe Adolf and Eva were doomed anyway. Who knows? I'm only saying they should have given it a little more thought. Bunker marriages have a notorious failure rate.


April 29, 1961 -
ABC's Wide World of Sports, debuted on this date. Rather than focus on one sport, it presented a variety of athletic events in one show. Each week, Wide World of Sports transported the viewer across the United States and around the world.





In addition to presenting races, bouts, and meets (often live via satellite), Wide World of Sports revolutionized sports coverage by including "up close and personal" features on athletes. The show's rallying cry, "The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat," not only became one of the most familiar catchphrases on TV but captured the essence of athletic competition.


April 29, 1968 -
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, the rock musical opened on this date. Hair tells the story of the "Tribe", a group of politically active, long-haired "Hippies of the Age of Aquarius" fighting against conscription to the Vietnam War and living a bohemian life together in New York City. They struggle to balance their young lives, loves and the sexual revolution with their pacifist rebellion against the war and the conservative impulses of their parents and society.



It was also a way for middle class America to see nudity on the stage without going to a strip club or porno house.


April 29, 1976 –
After a gig in Memphis, Bruce Springsteen took a cab to Graceland and proceeds to climb over the wall in an attempt to meet Elvis.

He is apprehended and escorted off the premises by guards who inform him that Elvis is not in the building, anyway. Even the Boss needed the healing powers of The King.


April 29, 1992 -
Rioting erupts in after Rodney King's assailants are acquitted by a jury. The looting and destruction began in South Central L.A. and quickly radiates outward.



By the time things are under control, 51 people were dead, 1093 buildings were damaged or destroyed (764 retail stores were owned by Koreans) and the city has sustained $1.5 billion in property damage.


It's the 15th anniversary for His Royal Highness Prince William Arthur Philip Louis of Wales, Duke of Cambridge, the once and future king of England and Catherine, (nee Katherine Middleton), Duchess of Cambridge. The couple are probably going to be spending home with their kids, just like any other millionaire future monarch and his consort would be.



Remember, crystal gifts,

the tradition gifts for an 15th anniversary. (It's good to know, whether or not you're a monarchist, that Kate and Charles seems to be doing better.)



And so it goes.