Sorry to tell you but ...

A quick check of the calendar :





It's the half way point of summer today and there are 141 days until Christmas


Happy National Root Beer Float Day - also known as the “Black Cow,” the root beer float got its start in Cripple Creek, Colorado, in a mining camp. Frank J. Wisner the owner of Cripple Creek Brewing, gets the credit for inventing the Black Cow in August of 1893.



Which means, you know, we get to play that song.

Callooh! Callay! (Adding alcohol to your Black Cow, is between you and your god.)


August 6, 1926 -
One of John Barrymore's classic silent movies, Don Juan, co-starring a young Mary Astor, opened in NYC on this date.



Don Juan plants 191 kisses on various females during the course of the film, an average of one every 53 seconds.


August 06, 1932-
The Merrie Melodies short, I Love a Parade, directed by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, was released on this date.



Look closely, there is a Mickey Mouse and Pluto character in the parade at the beginning.


August 6, 1938 -
... ... In this corner, at 203 and one-third pounds, the most magnificent marvelous multiple monstrous mad mauling mass of meaty muscles ever to master, modify, mat, make mince-meat, and mangle many menacing monsters from Manitoba to Minneapolis!



An early pairing of this comedy duo, Porky and Daffy, directed by Bob Clampett, was released on this date.


August 6, 1949 -
The Looney Tunes short, The Grey Hounded Hare, directed by Bob McKimson, and starring Bugs Bunny, was released on this date.



A tethered, angry racing dog, eager to chase Bugs, ends up digging himself underground. Bugs offers an aside to the audience: "Hey, this kid's gonna leave his race down that hole!" This was a rare bit of sexual innuendo in a cartoon from director Bob McKimson.


August 06, 1955-
The Merrie Melodies short, Jumpin' Jupiter, directed by Chuck Jones, Porky Pig and Sylvester the Cat was released on this date.



This cartoon marks the final pairing of Porky Pig and Sylvester in Chuck Jones' Porky and Sylvester horror trilogy in the classic era, which started with Scaredy Cat and Claws for Alarm.


August 06, 1958-
The Merrie Melodies short, Weasel While You Work, directed by Bob McKimson, Foghorn Leghorn and the Barnyard Dawg was released on this date.



The Dog's exclamation, "I'll moider da bum," was originally coined by boxer "Two Ton" Tony Galento, when predicting the outcome of a fight. The phrase came into common usage as a comical way to express certain, overwhelming victory.


August 6, 1960 -
Chubby Checker performs his version of The Twist on American Bandstand starting a worldwide dance craze. The song soon reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart—and then, again, for a second time in 1962, making it the only song to hit No. 1 twice.



This started a dance craze that got so popular because it was so easy to do. Even the severely rhythm-challenged could do The Twist (Chubby Checker explained it as "like putting out a cigarette with both feet and coming out of a shower and wiping your bottom with a towel to the beat"). This helped bridge a generation gap, since both kids and adults could do it.


August 6, 1965 -
The Beatles released their fifth album, Help! — the soundtrack to their second film, on this date.



Originally, the album cover showed The Beatles spelling out the word "Help" using the semaphore system of communicating with flags, which was usually used by ships. The photographer, Robert Freeman, didn't like the pose because it looked unbalanced, so he had them hold the flags in a way that looked good, but spelled N-U-J-V. Only those who understood semaphore noticed.


August 6, 1965 -
The clasic exploitation film, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, directed by Russ Meyer and starring Tura Satana, Haji, Lori Williams, Susan Bernard, Stuart Lancaster, Paul Trinka, Dennis Busch, Ray Barlow, and Mickey Foxx, was released on this date.



Although the film did make a profit, it was not a big hit when it was originally released. Since then, however, it has gone on to become a cult film and has been shown at several film festivals and art house theaters.


August 6, 1982 -
Alan Parker's rock-musical interpretation of the classical album, Pink Floyd The Wall, premiered in NYC on this date.



Many of the extras in the Run Like Hell and Waiting for the Worms sequences were actual neo-Nazis cast for realism. Gerald Scarfe became frightened that things were getting out of control when, on one day during filming, several of them showed up with the double-hammer insignia shaved into the sides of their heads. Later, a fascist group did spring up in the late 1980s dubbed the "Hammerskins" with this logo as their insignia, much to the dismay of Scarfe, Parker and Waters, whose intentions were to make the portrayal anti-fascist.


August 6, 1993 -
Sheryl Crow releases her first album, Tuesday Night Music Club on this date. It takes about a year to catch on, but eventually sells over 7 million copies.



Tuesday Night Music Club was Crow's first album, released when she was 31. It took nearly a year for the album to catch on as Crow toured small theaters while she built an audience. She got a lot of exposure in 1994 when she opened for the Eagles on their reunion tour and played Woodstock II. All I Wanna Do was her breakthrough hit, reaching #2 in America on October 8, 1994, 14 months after the album was released.


August 6, 1994 -
Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories single, Stay (I Missed You), from the original movie soundtrack to Reality Bites, went to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.



Lisa Loeb's friend, Ethan Hawke, brought it to the attention of Ben Stiller, who saw Loeb perform and used her song in his movie. It was a huge break for Loeb, who did not have a record deal at the time. When she found out the song was going on the soundtrack, she knew it was the end of her temp work - she had a gig with the consulting firm Ernst & Young at the time).


August 6, 2015 -
This show isn't ending. This is just a pause in the conversation ...



Jon Stewart gave up his very reluctant mantle as the 'most trusted man on television' when he hosted his final episode (of his more than a decade long career) on Comedy Central's The Daily Show, on this date.


Another little known Monopoly card


Today in History:
August 6 is noted historically as the official end of the Holy Roman Empire, which collapsed on that date in 1806 as Emperor Francis II abdicated.

As always, please note, the Holy Roman Empire was not holy, roman or an empire (per se).

Discuss amongst yourselves.


August 6, 1890 –
At Auburn Prison in New York, murderer William Kemmler became the first person to be executed by electric chair on this date.



The first shock of electricity did not kill Kemmler, and a second shock was required. The second jolt lasted until the smell of burning flesh filled the room, about four minutes. As soon as his charred body stopped smoldering, Kemmler was pronounced dead.

It was not a pretty sight.


August 6, 1911 -
The secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.

Lucille Ball, film and television executive, actress and comedian, was born on this date.





A comment from a member of the preview audience of Follow the Fleet about bit-player Ball: "You might give the tall gum chewing blonde more parts and see if she can't make the grade - a good gamble."


August 6, 1926 -
Gertrude Ederle becomes first woman to swim the English Channel. Before setting out from Cap Griz-Nez, France, at 7:09 a.m., Ederle coated her body with layers of lard and petroleum jelly to insulate her from the cold waters.



Only five men had been able to swim the English Channel before Ederle. The best time had been 16 hours, 33 minutes by an Italian-born Argentine, Enrique Tiraboschi. Ederle walked up the beach at Dover, England after 14 hours and 39 minutes. The first person to greet her was a British immigration officer who requested a passport from "the bleary-eyed, waterlogged teenager."

That man's name is no longer remembered but truly he is the spiritual grandfather of the TSA.


August 6, 1930 -
NY state Supreme Court Judge Joseph Force Crater (infamously known in New York tabloids for his alleged corruption and frequent affairs with showgirls,) dined at a West 45th Street steakhouse with a group of friends. Crater had earlier withdrawn $5,150 from a pair of bank accounts. He was last seen at 9:15 p.m., climbing into the cab. Judge Crater was never seen again.



Evidence in 2005 suggested that several men killed the judge and buried him under the Coney Island Boardwalk in Brooklyn.


August 6, 1945 -
The first atomic bomb used in combat was dropped on Hiroshima by the Enola Gay, piloted by Col. Paul Tibbets, on this date.



President Truman ordered the use of the first nuclear bomb, which the military referred to as "Little Boy." Harry had been vice president for only 82 days when President Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945 and didn't even know of the existence of the 9,600 pound bomb until he was told about it upon his assumption of the presidency.



In minutes the massive blast and the firestorm it produced destroyed the majority of the city and killed 66,000 people instantly and a total of as many as 166,000 died over a period of months from the nuclear fallout (a third of Hiroshima's population.)


August 6, 1965 -
One of the crowning achievements of the civil rights movement, The Voting Rights Act, was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson, 60 years ago on this date.



One of it key aims was to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the 15th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.


August 6, 1991 -
On December 25, 1990, Tim Berners-Lee (not Al Gore,) successfully connected an http client with an Internet server, thus inventing the World Wide Web.



Less than a year later, on this day, the first website built was at CERN within the border of France, and was first put online.



And so it goes.

For your amusement and most generous alms.

August 5, 1922 -
The silent-film classic, Blood and Sand, starring Rudolph Valentino and Lila Lee, was released on this date.



The film's editor was Dorothy Arzner, who would later go on to become Hollywood's first female director. Arzner impressed the producers by cannily interspersing stock bull-fighting footage with shots of Rudolph Valentino to make it look like the actor was actually in the ring with real bulls. This was quite a progressive technique in its day.


August 5, 1939 -
The Looney Tunes short, Wise Quacks, directed by Bob Clampett, and starring Porky PigDaffy Duck, was released on this date.



This was the first cartoon to not have WARNER BROS. in a banner. This would continue after Hare-um Scare-um.


August 5 1944 -
The Looney Tunes short, From Hand to Mouse, directed by Chuck Jones, was released on this date.



The unnamed mouse from this cartoon bears a strong physical resemblance to the later redesign of Chuck Jones' mice duo Hubie and Bertie, although both characters would not receive this redesign until Roughly Squeaking two years later.


August 05, 1950-
The Merrie Melodies short, Golden Yeggs, directed by Friz Freleng, and starring Porky Pig and Daffy Duck was released on this date.



This is the first of only two shorts (along with Rocky's next appearance in 1953's Catty Cornered where Rocky is the antagonist to a character other than Bugs Bunny.


August 5, 1953 -
Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr got busy in the surf and someone may have gotten a horse head telegram delivered to their bedroom - From Here to Eternity, also starring Montgomery Cliff, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra, and Ernest Borgnine, premiered in NYC on this date.



Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra and author James Jones were very close during the filming, frequently embarking on monumental drinking binges. Clift coached Sinatra on how to play Maggio during their more sober moments, for which Sinatra was eternally grateful.


August 5, 1955 -
Alfred Hitchcock's surprisingly light comedic touch is on full display in, To Catch A Thief, starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, when it opened in NYC on this date.



While working on this film in the French Riviera, Grace Kelly met Prince Rainier of Monaco. It wasn't love at first sight for Kelly, but the prince initiated a long correspondence, which led to their marriage in 1956. Afterward, she became Princess Grace of Monaco, and retired from acting.


August 5, 1960 -
The camp horror classic, The Little Shop of Horrors, directed and produced by Roger Corman, and starring Jonathan Haze, Jackie Joseph, Mel Welles, Dick Miller, and Jack Nicholson, was released on this date.



The film was shot on a budget of $22,500 to $28,000 (nearly $300,000 in 2024), with interiors being shot about two days, utilizing sets that had been left standing from A Bucket of Blood.


August 5, 1966 -
Based of the TV series, Doctor Who, the sequel to the film, Dr. Who and the Daleks, Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., starring Peter Cushing, Roberta Tovey, Jill Curzon, and Bernard Cribbins, premiered on this date.



The rebel hideout in 2150 is prominently identified as Embankment station on the London Underground's Bakerloo and Northern Lines. There had actually been a station called Embankment once, but it was renamed Charing Cross from 1915; thus Embankment was a suitable name for a fictional station. However, in 1976, 10 years after the movie was released, reality conformed to fiction when the station, now served by the Bakerloo and Northern Lines among others, was given back its original name of Embankment.


August 5, 1966 -
This was a big day in Beatles history:
The Beatles released their Revolver album in UK on this date.



and they also released Yellow Submarine and Eleanor Rigby as a double A single in UK. A lot of kids weekly allowance must have flown out the door on this date.


August 5, 1967 -
Pink Floyd released their debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, on which most songs were penned by Syd Barrett, on this date.



Two tracks on the album are credited to the band collectively and one track was written by Roger Waters. The studio album borrows its name from the title of chapter seven of Kenneth Grahame's 1908 novel The Wind in the Willows, which refers to the nature god Pan, who plays his pan pipes at dawn.


August 5, 1976 -
NBC aired a very bizarre TV special celebrating the the 15th anniversary of the Beach Boys, It's OK, directed by Gary Weis and starring the Beach Boys on this date.



The special featured cameos by John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Paul and Linda McCartney and Van Dyke Parks.


August 5, 1978 -
The Rolling Stones had their eighth US No.1 hit with the single Miss You, on this date.



The song was written by Mick Jagger after jamming with keyboardist Billy Preston during rehearsals for forthcoming club dates the Stones were playing.


August 5, 1998 -
The American spin-off of the British series Whose Line Is It Anyway?, hosted by Drew Carey and starring Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, and Wayne Brady, premiered on ABC-TV, on this date.



The Whose line crew was such a well-oiled machine that they could shoot 9 to 12 episodes on a single weekend. Shooting a whole season took only three or four weekends every year. The cast revealed it was one of the reasons they were so great together and had great relationships with each other, because they didn't have to spend that much time together.


Another episode of ACME's Little Known Animal Facts


Today in History:
August 5, 1861 -
Folks, please note: The US government established the first income tax on US citizens on this date (Abraham Lincoln was president at the time.) The Revenue Act of 1862 established a tax of 3 percent on incomes of more than $800 Dollars.



The tax, which was used for financial aid during the Civil War, was rescinded in 1872.


August 5, 1884 –
The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty was laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor on this date.

Children and horses were kept indoors on that day for fear of offending their delicate nature.


August 5, 1914 -
The first electric traffic signal, based on a design by James Hoge, was installed on this date.

The system of red and green lights, indicating stop and go, was installed in Cleveland, Ohio, on the corner of East 105th Street and Euclid Avenue. Lost in the miasma of time is the name of the person that first ran the red light.


August 5, 1924 –
The comic strip, Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray, debuted the Chicago Tribune on this date.

Apparently there is no deep, dark meaning behind the fact that Annie has no pupils; that was just the style of the artist. All of the characters in the Little Orphan Annie comic strip had no pupils; it wasn't just Annie. Even her dog Sandy had no pupils.

Now you know.


August 5, 1926 -
Harry Houdini stayed in a coffin, submerged in the swimming pool of New York's Hotel Shelton for one hour and a half, on this date.

Note: He currently has exceeded his own record substantially.


On August 4, 1955, Carmen Miranda suffered a heart attack during a segment of the live TV show The Jimmy Durante Show, although she did not realize it. After completing a dance number, she fell to her knees, and Durante instinctively told the band to "stop da music!".



He helped Miranda up to her feet as she laughed "I'm all out of breath!". "Dat's OK, honey, I'll take yer lines", Durante replied. Miranda laughed again and quickly pulled herself together, finishing the show. At the end of the broadcast, she smiled and waved, then exited the stage. She died later that night, on August 5, 1955, after suffering a second heart attack at her home in Beverly Hills.



As with all great performers - the show had to go on.


August 5, 1957 –
American Bandstand, a local Philadelphia show dedicated to the teenage "baby-boomers" by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, hosted by Dick Clark, debuted nationally on the ABC television network on this date.



Please be careful, Zombie Mr. Clark still roams the nation in search of brains to feast upon.

August 5, 1962 -
64 years ago today, a very unhappy Marilyn Monroe (Norma J. Mortenson) died of natural causes, aggravated by sleeping pills, in her Brentwood home.



Unless she was murdered.


August 5, 1981 -
As dementia continued to take its karma toll, President Ronald Reagan began firing 11,359 air-traffic controllers striking in violation of his order for them to return to work on this date.



The executive action, regarded as extreme by many, significantly slows air travel for months.


Feel free to sing Happy Birthday, unencumbered by the whole copyright issue thing, to the Curiosity Rover parked on Mars, at the moment.



NASA has programmed the Curiosity Rover to sing itself Happy Birthday every year, on the anniversary of it’s landing date on Mars at 10:32 p.m. PDT on August 5, 2012.



And so it goes.

Never trust your dog to guard your sandwich

It's St. Sithney Day. He is the patron saint of mad dogs.

Make of this what you wish:



A Breton folk story, states that God asked Sithney to be the patron saint of girls seeking husbands, but Sithney said he would rather be the patron saint of mad dogs and get some rest.

(And you thought there were no Jewish comedians as saints.)


Barack Obama is 65 years old today and still happily retired and married.



I'm hoping the former president is enjoying his summer. (His play list came out last week.)


August 4, 1942 –
The Paramount Picture film, Holiday Inn, directed by Mark Sandrich and starring Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby was released in theaters on this date. Kemmons Wilson, who founded the Holiday Inn motel chain in 1952, named it after this movie.



Strangely enough, White Christmas was not expected to be a hit song. During filming, it was thought that Bing Crosby's song, Be Careful, It's My Heart, would be the movie's big hit. When Crosby first heard the song, he was not impressed by it. After Irving Berlin played the song on the piano during rehearsals, Crosby said in a bland voice, "I don't think we'll have any problem with that one, Irv."


August 4, 1954 -
Douglas Sirk's first Technicolor gift for film goers, Magnificent Obsession, was released on this date.



Rock Hudson never knew that Jane Wyman had served as an FBI informer under the code name T-10, providing the names of actors within the motion picture industry whom they believed to be communist sympathizers.


August 04, 1956-
The Merrie Melodies short, Rocket-bye Baby, directed by Chuck Jones, was released on this date.



One of the few Looney Tunes where Mel Blanc doesn't do any voices. Instead, Daws Butler, famous for the voices of Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound and other characters in the Hanna-Barbera library, and June Foray, most famous as the voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel, provided the vocal content of the film. No recurring characters were used. As Blanc's contract stated that he receive sole credit for voice work, no actors are credited.


August 4, 1957 -
The Everly Brothers appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show for the second time, (Dan Dailey was subbing for Ed Sullivan, at the time - no word on whether or not Ed was nursing a severe hangover at the time,) on this date.



They performed the same song they played from their June 30th appearance, Bye, Bye Love and then sang Doll Baby.


August 4, 1958 –
The Billboard Hot 100 was published for the first time on this date. The first number-one song of the Hot 100 was Poor Little Fool by Ricky Nelson.



The song was written by 17-year-old Sharon Sheeley when she was still attending high school in Newport Beach, California. Female songwriters were rare at the time, and when the song climbed to #1 in the US, she became the first woman to compose an American chart-topper on her own.


August 4, 1972 -
The blaxploitation classic Super Fly, directed by Gordon Parks Jr. and starring Ron O'Neal, premiered in the US on this date. The soundtrack by Curtis Mayfield became a soul music landmark.



All the music in the movie was done by Curtis Mayfield. This film is one of only a few films where the soundtrack grossed more than the film itself.


Today's moment of Zen


Today in History:
August 4, 1693 -
Oh, great day in the morning (this day should be a great religious and national holiday),



Blind Benedictine Dom Perignon invents champagne on this date.



He has been quoted as saying, "Come quickly, brothers, I'm drinking stars!" upon tasting his accidental brew.


August 4, 1790 -
US Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton urged the Congress that ten boats for the collection of revenue needed to be built. This was to stop smuggling, especially of coffee, which was hampering trade. Congress passed the Tariff Act on this date.



The Coast Guard was born as the Revenue Cutter Service. The Coast Guard was empowered to board and inspect any vessel in US waters and any US boat anywhere in the world.


August 4, 1792 -



Percy Bysshe Shelley, one of England's greatest Romantic poets was born on this date. He died in a tragic boating accident (along with two others) before the age of 30, but he gave us many masterpieces, including Ozymandias, Music, When Soft Voices Die and Ode To The West Wind.

The fish eaten bodies were washed ashore at Viareggio, where, in the presence of his friend Lord Byron, he was burned on the beach - his heart was given to his wife, Mary Shelley, who carried it with her in a silken shroud everywhere she went for the rest of her life.



All I can say is that I'm glad it was just his heart.


August 4, 1884 -
Thomas Stevens wearily arrived in Boston on this date, 104 days after leaving San Francisco (April 22, 1884,) completing the first bicycle trip (on a penny-farthing) to cross the US.



He later continued around world (two years, nine months) on a trip financed with articles for Outing and the Wheelman magazines. The bicycle part of his journey around the world ended on December 17, 1886, when he reached Yokohama, Japan. Stevens returned by steamer to San Francisco, on January 3, 1887.

It’s important to note that some areas were inaccessible to Stevens during his journey so he had to get around them via boat or train, but he did bike through everything he could.


August 4, 1892 -
Someone took an axe and killed Lizzie Borden's millionaire parents: Andrew receives 10 whacks and Abby 14. Based on strong circumstantial evidence, Sunday school teacher Lizzie was later tried for the murders.



She was acquitted of the murders by an all-male jury.


August 4, 1901 -
Louis Armstrong (medicinal marijuana and laxative enthusiast) always stated that his birthday was on the Fourth of July, a date that has been noted in many biographies.







During the 1980's, Louis Armstrong's baptismal certificate was discovered in the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in New Orleans, showing his actual birth date was August 4th, 1901.


August 4, 1914 -
The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime - British foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey



Britain and Belgium declared war after German troops entered Belgium. The United States proclaimed its neutrality (more on all of this later.)


August 4, 1922 -
All 13 million telephones in North America went silent for one minute at sunset during the funeral services of Alexander Graham Bell on this date. Bell was buried in a coffin built by his lab staff in a tomb carved into the solid rock of Beinn Bhreagh Mountain on his estate in Nova Scotia, Canada.



To commemorate his pioneering contributions to telecommunications technology, AT&T and the Bell System suspends service at their switchboards and switching stations across Canada and the United States.


August 4, 1930 -
Michael Cullen was a grocer's grocer. He started working for The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A & P) at 18 and worked there for 17 years. He then went to work for Kroger Stores for 11 years but he had a dream.

Cullen leased a vacant garage at the corner of 171st Street and Jamaica Avenue in Queens, just a few blocks from a busy shopping district. On August 4, 1930, King Kullen Grocery Company opened the doors to the world's first supermarket.



We will be going to a King Kullen this weekend, so I can check out how they are celebrating the holiday.


August 4, 1964 -
Vietcong torpedo boats launched an unprovoked attack against the U.S.S. Maddox, while the destroyer was patrolling the Gulf of Tonkin. The only problem was - it may all have been a hoax.



Regardless, the Congress responded by passing the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, authorizing President Johnson "to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression."



And so it goes.