Put this on your TO DO list

Halloween is in 10 days. Although much of the world's situation is rather dire, I feel I should urge readers to begin purchasing those candies filled with poison.

(If you find yourself in a pinch though, a few Canadian pennies will do in a pinch. Loose change is at a premium nowadays.)


October 21, 1937 -
The great screwball comedy, The Awful Truth, starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne, premiered on this date.



When Leo McCarey received his Best Director Oscar for the film, he reportedly said that he got it for the wrong film, a clear reference to his fondness for Make Way for Tomorrow, which he made the same year.


October 21, 1939 -
The Merrie Melodies short, The Good Egg, directed by Chuck Jones, was released on this date.



This is the first Chuck Jones-directed cartoon to feature an ACME product (in this case, an ACME Toaster).


October 21, 1942 -
The first of three movie musicals in which Judy Garland and Gene Kelly starred in, For Me and My Gal, premiered in New York City on this date.



This was the first film in which Judy Garland had her name billed before the title, which showed her growing importance and stature at MGM.


October 21, 1949 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Bye, Bye Bluebeard , directed by Arthur Davis and starring Porky Pig, was released on this date.



Among the items in the medicine cabinet are "Frizby Mixtur(e)" (after Friz Freleng), "Maltese Minestrone" (after Michael Maltese), "Ted Pierce's Medicine" (after Tedd Pierce), "Dr. Foster's Panace[a]" (after Warren Foster), "McKink's Solution" (after Robert McKimson) and "Jones Laxitive" (after Chuck Jones).


October 21, 1950 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Stooge for a Mouse, directed by Friz Freleng and starring Sylvester the Cat and Mike the Bulldog, was released on this date.



Remade in 1957 as Bugsy and Mugsy, with Bugs in the mouse's place and many of the same gags reused.


October 21, 1954 -
The episode of Climax!, an anthology series - broadcast live, on this evening was the first time James Bond (Barry Nelson) appeared on-screen in Casino Royale, and more than half a century later Bond is still making movies.



The program was thought to be lost for decades until it resurfaced in 1981 when film collector and airlines executive Jim Shoenberger discovered a 16mm kinescope print of it among some old cans of film.


October 12, 1959 -
The Looney Tunes short, What's My Lion?, directed by Bob McKimson and starring Elmer Fudd, was released on this date.



The final Elmer Fudd cartoon directed by Robert McKimson.


October 21, 1964 -
Possibly the most fully realized movie musical, My Fair Lady premiered at the Criterion Theater in New York, on this date.



When Audrey Hepburn (Eliza Doolittle) was first informed that her voice wasn't strong enough and that she would have to be dubbed, she walked out. She returned the next day and, in a typically graceful Hepburn gesture, apologized to everybody for her "wicked behavior".


October 21, 1972 -
Chuck Berry lands his only #1 hit on Billboard's Hot 100 with the single My Ding-a-Ling, on this date.



While many rock critics dismiss this song as a senseless novelty ditty, Berry is quite proud of the song. He told Rolling Stone in 2010 that he wanted to be a comedian at one point, and enjoys getting a laugh. He added that the song was originally about a ring sliding onto a finger (as a metaphor for sex), but he toned it down and recorded it as Little Girl Sing Ting-A-Ling in 1968. In 1972 he turned it into Ding-a-Ling, earning him a #1 hit and a check for $200,000.


October 21, 1975 -
Asylum Records released Tom Waits' third studio album, Nighthawks at the Diner, on this date.



The album has been generally well received by critics, and is considered by some to be the best album of his early career.


October 21, 1977 -
Meat Loaf released the landmark album Bat Out Of Hell, on this date.



The album, written by Jim Steinman and produced by Todd Rundgren, became one of the most popular albums of the '70s, eventually selling over 14 million copies in America.


October 21, 1980 -
Originally written for the Ramones, but kept for himself, Bruce Springsteen's single, Hungry Heart was released on this date. It would become Springsteen's first Top 10 hit as a performer.



When Springsteen met Joey Ramone in Asbury Park, New Jersey, Ramone asked Bruce to write a song for his band, The Ramones. Springsteen wrote Hungry Heart that night but decided to keep it on the advice of his producer and manager, Jon Landau.


Another episode of ACME's Little Known Animal Facts.


Today in History:
October 21, 1805 -
The Battle of Trafalgar was a historic sea battle fought on this date, between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy - the battle, it self, was the most decisive British victory of the Napoleonic Wars and was a pivotal naval battle of the 19th century.



Admiral Lord Nelson was mortally wounded during the battle, becoming and remaining Britain's greatest naval war hero.



Nelson's body was placed in cask of brandy, mixed with camphor and myrrh, and returned to England for a spectacular funeral. An enduring rumor has evolved that the sailors aboard ship kept taking a sip from Nelson's liquory tomb hence the phrase 'Nelson's blood' came into use for rum.


October 21, 1837 -
It's another banner day for the relations between the United States and the Native American tribes. During the Second Seminole War (1835-1842), under a flag of truce during peace talks, U.S. troops under Gen. Thomas S. Jesup violated a truce and captured Indian Seminole Chief Osceola in Florida and sent him and several other leaders to prison, where the chief later died of malaria.

Osceola's capture by deceit caused a national uproar. General Jesup and the administration were condemned.

Makes you proud to be an American.


October 21, 1869 -
The first shipment of fresh oysters came West overland from Baltimore via refrigerated train cars on this date.

Fresh cases of E-coli poisoning, Salmonella and Hepatitis A were soon on the menu across the US.


October 21, 1879 -
Using a filament of carbonized thread, Thomas Alva Edison demonstrated the incandescent electric lamp on this date (or some other date, as previously mentioned.)



That invention was the fruit of study, hard work (of people other that Edison,) and years of persistent experimentation (of people other than Edison,) rendering it entirely inappropriate for discussion here.

More worthy of our attention is Alfred Nobel, the founder of the Nobel Prize, born on this date in 1833.

Mr Nobel is interesting because his fortune was founded in large part on the commercial success of something he invented in 1866: Dynamite.



Dynamite proved so lucrative for Mr Nobel that he was able to spend most of the rest of his life blowing things up in the interests of world peace. World peace was not achieved in his lifetime, however, so he endowed a foundation with millions of dollars to give prizes to the men and women of future generations who helped bring the world closer to peace by blowing things up.


In 1943, Ignacio "Nacho" Anaya, the maître d' of the Victory Club in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, prepared the first plate of crunchy, spicy nachos for Texas women who were on a shopping trip.



To honor his ingenious creation, we celebrate by eating his delicious gut busting cheesy dish on this date.


There were days I could barely struggle into a size 46 or 48, months of larges and XXLs, and endless rounds of leggings with the elastic at the waist stretched to its limit and beyond - topped with the fashion equivalent of a tea cozy. And always black, because I was in mourning for my slimmer self.

Carrie Fisher, actress and writer was born on this date. You can't say anything bad or funny about her that she hasn't already said better herself.


October 21, 1959 -
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opened in New York City on this date.



The structure faced harsh criticism when it opened in 1959. One critic dismissed it as "a war between architecture and painting, in which both come out badly maimed." Another called it "an indigestible hot cross bun." NYC Parks Commissioner Robert Moses snapped that it looked like "an inverted oatmeal dish."


October 21, 1973 -
John Paul Getty III's ear was cut off by his kidnappers and sent to a newspaper in Rome; It doesn't arrive until November 8.

So much for the Italians getting the trains to run on time.


October 21, 1992 -
A day after her Erotica album was released, Madonna's erotic-book Sex went on sale in the nation's bookstores on this date. Everything about it is shocking: the $50 price, the Mylar wrapping, the metal covers, and especially the images inside.



Shirley Booth, 94, Emmy, Oscar and Tony award winning actress accidentally flipped through the book and promptly dropped dead on this date as well.


October 21, 2015 -
Today is the day that Dr Emmett Brown takes Marty and his girlfriend Jennifer to the future to prevent their kids from "ruining their lives", back to the future



Trivia like this can be exciting but let's all calm down. (Wow, I'm so old.)



And so it goes

Measure the girth of the chef and you can rate his restaurant

Today is International Chefs Day. celebrated every October 20 to honor the culinary profession, recognize the creative contributions of chefs.



Founded in 2004 by the late Chef Dr. Bill Gallagher through the World Association of Chefs Societies (Worldchefs), a primary goal is to teach kids about nutrition, balanced diets, and the joy of cooking. So remember to kiss the cook!


October 20, 1918 -
Rarely seen now, but one of Charlie Chaplin's most popular films at it time, Shoulder Arms, was released on this date.



Chaplin's fellow director, Ernst Lubitsch, once said that this was the best film depiction of World War I.


October 20, 1934 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Rhythm in the Bow, directed by Ben Hardaway, was released on this date.



This short is the final Merrie Melodies short produced in black-and-white.


October 20, 1934 -
The Looney Tunes short, Buddy the Woodsman, directed by Jack King and starring Buddy, was released on this date.



Networks now usually edits the scene of the Chinese cook announcing dinnertime in broken English/Chinese gibberish.


October 20, 1939 -
The ninth Marx Brothers film, At the Circus, premiered on this date.



The Marx Brothers had been out of favor at MGM since the sudden death in 1936 of their producer and benefactor Irving Thalberg during the production of A Day at the Races. So in the middle of the production of this film, longtime Thalberg rival Louis B. Mayer removed songwriters Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg from this film and reassigned them to the "prestige" MGM production The Wizard of Oz.


October 20, 1945 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Peck Up Your Troubles, directed by Friz Freleng, and starring Sylvester the Cat, was released on this date.



One of the few times Sylvester actually is heard meowing like a cat, if only for a moment.


October 20, 1951 -
The Merrie Melodies short, A Bear for Punishment, directed by Chuck Jones was released on this date.



This is the last Three Bears cartoon in the golden age of animation.


October 20, 1955 -
Harry Belafonte, advocate for civil rights and humanitarian causes, recorded the famous Day-O (Banana Boat Song) on this date.





This song was first recorded in 1952 by Edric Conner, a musician from Trinidad who sang it with his band The Carribeans as Day De Light. The song re-emerged in 1956 when the folk singer Bob Gibson taught the song to the folk trio The Tarriers (Alan Arkin was a member of the trio,) after hearing it on a trip to Jamaica. Once The Terriers recorded it, the Calypso Craze took off in America, and Belafonte capitalized on the trend: According to BMI, the Calypso album was the first to sell over 1 million copies.



(Now try getting the song out of your head today.)


October 20, 1957 -
Walter Cronkite's documentary series, The Twentieth Century, premiered on CBS-TV on this date, with Churchill, Man of the Century.



The program presented filmed reports on news and cultural events that were important for the development of the 20th century.


October 20, 1962 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Mother Was a Rooster, directed by Bob McKimson and starring Foghorn Leghorn and Barnyard Dawg, was released on this date.



Barnyard Dawg first breaks the fourth wall as he steals the ostrich egg and then continues to narrate the action.


October 20, 1973 -
One of the rare ballad for The Rolling Stones, Angie became a #1 hit on this date.



Keith Richards wrote this song in Switzerland after the Exile on Main St. album had been approved by the record company, but before it was released. Angie was one of the first songs The Stones recorded for Goat's Head Soup, which they first attempted in Jamaica at the Dynamic Sounds studio in Kingston. They got very little done at these sessions, arriving nightly with armed escort and locking the doors until they were done for the day. Much of the album was done at sessions in Los Angeles and London under more hospitable conditions.


October 20, 1976 -
The Led Zeppelin concert documentary The Song Remains The Same, directed by Peter Clifton and Joe Massot premiered in London and New York, with the band attending the New York opening.



For their three New York performances, the band members wore exactly the same clothes to facilitate seamless editing of the film, except for John Paul Jones who wore three different sets of attire on each of these nights, which created continuity problems.


October 20, 1979 -
Bob Dylan performed his first and only time on Saturday Night Live, on this date. The songs he performed were Gotta Serve Somebody, When You Gonna Wake Up, and I Believe in You.



Dylan debuted I Believe in You when he was on Saturday Night Live that evening. The first time he played it during a full concert was on November 1, 1979, in San Francisco. Since then, he's played it live more than 250 times.


October 20, 1980 -
U2 released their debut album, Boy, produced by Steve Lillywhite, on this date.



It doesn't yield any hits but I Will Follow becomes one of their most popular songs.


October 20, 1985 -
The first of two reunion films, I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later, starring Barbara Eden, Wayne Rogers, and Bill Daly aired on NBC on this date. Larry Hagman was unavailable to reprise his role as Tony Nelson reportedly because he was too busy filming his CBS series Dallas at the time.



At first, Barbara Eden said no to NBC executives about reprising her role as Jeannie: "I had no intention of playing Jeannie again. It's a super-high risk to repeat something done well in the first place. And the series is still running in syndication". She later explained: "I read the script, and it was fun - and before I knew it, I was doing it. And I don't have any regrets".


October 20, 1991 -
Exactly six years after the broadcast of I Dream of Jeannie... Fifteen Years Later, I Still Dream of Jeannie, airs on NBC on this date., Barbara Eden, and Bill Daly once again reprise their roles. Once again, Larry Hagman was unavailable to reprise his role of Tony Nelson, as he had just completed a 14½ season run on Dallas and was taking a vacation with his family.



Bill Daily openly admitted that he disliked the reunion movies, due to faulting the scripts and the absence of Larry Hagman.


Today's moment of Zen.


Today in History:
October 20, 480 BC - (Sometimes the world changes in a day)
The Athenian fleet, under the command of Themistocles, defeated the Persians in the Naval Battle of Salamis on this date. And please get your minds out of the gutter, Salamis is the name a place.

Though the Persians armies scored a major victory over Athens only weeks prior, this decisive naval victory, coupled with the losses the Persians suffered in the Battle of Thermopylae forced Persian forces to withdraw from Greece.



That victory will arguably lead to the rise of Greece as a global power and the eventual dissemination of Greek philosophies and ideals, such as democracy, throughout the western world. And as always, there was much roasted lamb consumed and much sodomy engaged in that night.


October 20, 1720 –
Caribbean pirate Calico Jack Rackham, one of the first pirates to use the “Jolly Roger”, was captured by the Royal Navy, on this date.



While the majority of pirate crews used designs that had a depiction of full human skeletons using some weapon, Calico Jack promoted an iconic pirate flag design that today represents a synonym for a naval piracy - black flag with white human skull and two white crossed swords beneath it.


October 20, 1818 -

Canada and the United States in the "Convention of 1818", established the 49th Parallel as their mutual boundary (known as the International Border) for most of its length from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky mountains.



The International Boundary is commonly referred to as the world's longest undefended border, but this is true only in the military sense, as civilian law enforcement is present. But we're keeping an eye on those sneaky Canadians and their cheese curd fries.

There are some 150 people who live in the Northwest Angle, MN, a spot of land that is separated from the rest of the USA by Lake of the Woods.



Students who live in the Northwest Angle go to school in Warroad, MN, the Angle Inlet School (the only surviving one room school,) and have to cross the international border on their way to and from school each day. It must suck to get a full body cavity search every day before school.



Thank you neighbors from the north for your kind words. Now keep to your side of the parallel!


October 20, 1930 -
Death row murderer William Kogut committed suicide in San Quentin prison with MacGyver like ingenuity, on this date.

He tore the red spots from a deck of playing cards, at the time the red dye used on the pack of cards was made from nitrocellulose, saturated them with water, and jammed them into a length of steel pipe from his bed frame. Kogut placed the bomb on the heater and waited for science to take it's course.

I wonder if he went to a specialized High School.


October 20, 1944 -
Gen. Douglas MacArthur stepped ashore at Leyte in the Philippines, 2 1/2 years after he'd said, "I shall return," on this date.



He landed with Sergio Osmena, the president-in-exile, Gen’l. Carlos Romulo, who later served as foreign minister and a boatload of press and photographers to record the event.


October 20, 1947 -
Chaired by J. Parnell Thomas (one of the committee's members was Richard M. Nixon), The House Un-American Activities Committee began its investigation into Communist infiltration of Hollywood.



The resulting hysteria results in the creation of a blacklist in the film industry, preventing certain individuals from working in the business for years.


October 20, 1967 -
Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin reported that on this date they had captured a purported Sasquatch on film at Bluff Creek, California. This came to be known as the Patterson-Gimlin film, which is purported to be the best evidence of Bigfoot by many advocates.



If only that had named their film - Bigfoot: I want to grab you by your nether regions, perhaps it would have done better box office in it's opening weekend.



Many years later, Bob Heironimus, an acquaintance of Patterson's, claimed that he had worn an ape costume for the making of the film. Organizations such as Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization have suggested that that Heironimus himself is a fraud.


October 20, 1973 -
The Saturday Night Massacre: Richard Nixon fired Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus when they each refuse to fire special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox on this date.



Who was the man who finally fired Cox: Robert Bork -

it's that evil beard.


October 20, 1977 -
En route to a gig at Louisiana State University, Lynyrd Skynyrd band members Ronnie Van Zandt and Steve Gaines were killed when their private plane runs out of fuel and crashes into a swamp in Gillsburg, Mississippi. Their record company MCA withdraws the flame-filled cover art for their ironically-named Street Survivors album



Drunken frat boys everywhere cry out in their mournful lamentations, "Play 'Freebird' man".



And so it goes

Keep your gin up!

Several sources, including the eponymously named Facebook page, lists today as International Gin and Tonic Day. Some cite April 9th as the date, although that is usually seen as National Gin and Tonic Day. I'm up for celebrating on both dates.

(But don't confuse it with World Gin Day which always falls on the second Saturday of June.)



So lift your glass and toast the late queen by drinking your G and T and make the room begin to spin.


October 19, 1935 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Little Dutch Plate, directed by Friz Freleng, was released on this date.



Holland produced many collectibles tchotckies at the time, including the famous blue Delft ware seen in both the wall tiles and the figurine plates.


October 19, 1935 -
The Looney Tunes short, Hollywood Capers, directed by Jack King and starring Beans the Cat, was released on this date.



This film stars Beans in the character's second solo cartoon; Porky also makes a cameo..


October 19, 1946 -
The Merrie Melodies short, The Mouse-Merized Cat, directed by Bob McKimson was released on this date.



Much like Frank Tashlin's Tale of Two Mice (1945), in this cartoon both Babbit and Catstello are recast as mice wanting to get cheese while avoiding a cat, and has Catstello turning against Babbit in the end. McKimson finished work on that cartoon.


October 19, 1963 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Mad as a Mars Hare, directed by Chuck Jones and starring Bugs Bunny and Marvin the Martian, was released on this date.



This was the final cartoon completed by Chuck Jones prior to his firing in 1962.


October 19, 1966 -
The first pairing of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau (they went on to work together in 11 additional films), The Fortune Cookie, premiered on this date.



This was director Billy Wilder's second film in a row in which one of his lead actors suffered a heart attack. In his preceding film, Kiss Me, Stupid, Peter Sellers' health problem forced Wilder to replace him with Ray Walston. In this film, Walter Matthau suffered his attack midway through production, but shooting was postponed until he recovered. His drastic weight loss from scene to scene is noticeable.


October 19, 1973 -
Columbia Pictures released Sydney Pollack's romantic drama, The Way We Were, written by Arthur Laurents and starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford, on this date.



Despite their differences, Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford had a deep respect for each other and worked well together. They were both opposite in many ways, just like their characters, and they used those differences to the benefit of the film.


October 19, 1973 -
David Bowie released his seventh album Pin Ups, which features supermodel Twiggy on the front cover, is released on this date.



The album is a collection of cover versions of some of the singer’s favourite songs, including tracks by Pink Floyd, The Pretty Things, The Who, The Yardbirds and The Kinks.


October 19, 1974 –
Billy Preston's single, Nothing from Nothing went to No. #1 on the Billboard Charts, on this date.



The B-side of the single was another song Preston wrote with his songwriting partner Bruce Fisher: You Are So Beautiful, which was later a hit for Joe Cocker.


October 19, 1977 -
Richard Brooks' somewhat lurid look at the 70s dating scene, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, starring Diane Keaton, Tuesday Weld, William Atherton, and Richard Gere, premiered in Los Angeles on this date



Diane Keaton's contract explicitly prohibited the manufacture of any production photograph stills from any "sexually suggestive" frames from the film's print.


October 19, 1984 -
One of the greatest concert movies, the Talking Heads film Stop Making Sense, directed by Jonathon Demme opens in the US on this date.



Jonathan Demme wanted to shoot additional performance footage on a soundstage made to recreate the Pantages Theater. The band vetoed this idea because they thought the lack of audience response would have hindered the energy of their performance.



Everyone here at the home office enjoyed the re-release of the newly restored version of the film.


October 19, 1985 -
The A-ha single Take On Me went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart, making them the first Norwegian group to achieve a No. 1 hit in America.



The song's success might be attributed to its distinctive music video - which features the band in a pencil-sketch rotoscoping animation.


October 19, 1990 –
Kevin Costner's directorial debut, Dances with Wolves, starring himself, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, and Rodney Grant, premiered in Washington D.C. on this date.



Kevin Costner's daughter Annie Costner, playing Stands With A Fist as a child, is seen running away from the Pawnee party that killed her family in the dream sequence. She looks back over each shoulder as she runs because Costner told her to look over her right shoulder and she didn't know her right from her left - she was only 6 years old at the time.


October 19, 1983 -
Pearl Jam's second studio album, Vs., was released in the US, on this date.



The album sold over 7 million copies just in America and holds up as one of their best.


Word of the Day.


Today in History:
October 19, 202 BC - (it's quite silly to think that this is the exact date: Julius Caesar will not be working on his calendar for more than a century. The scribes and historians of the day would have been too involved with the celebratory orgies to note the proper date.)
Battle of Zama: Hannibal Barca and the Carthaginian army are defeated by Roman legions under Scipio Africanus, ending Second Punic War and the advancement of Rome as a major world force.



But what the hell do you care.


October 19, 1879 (I've also seen the date as 10/21/79, 10/22/79, 10/25/79 or 11/03/79 - I'm guessing geniuses can't be bothered when they're filing other people patents under their name every 12 minutes or crushing their competition with false and scurrilous rumors.) -
Thomas A. Edison successfully demonstrates the electric light.



Unfortunately, it took several years to straighten out his first electric bill.


October 19, 1890 -
My favorite self-circumcising, Muslim passing, male brothel habitué, Late-Victorian pornographer and international man of mystery Richard Francis Burton, explorer, British consul, translator, died on this date.



His wife, Lady Burton, spent several years burning most of his unpublished notes (he had been working on translating the book The Perfumed Garden and its controversy chapters concerning homosexual sex positions - I kid you not,) before published a (highly sanitized) biography of her late husband.


October 19, 1901 -
Alberto Santos-Dumont successfully circled the Eiffel Tower in his Santos-Dumont No. 6 dirigible within a half hour and won a 100,000 franc prize.



An initial ruling said that he failed by 40 seconds because the race wasn’t finished until he touched ground. A 2nd vote granted him the win.

This proved the airship maneuverable and parking was very bad in Paris at the turn of the previous century even for dirigibles.


In the midst of the First World War, Salvation Army volunteers in France found themselves stymied by inadequate supplies and ovens for baking. Unable to prepare the cakes and and pies they so badly wanted to bake for the troops, they came up with the novel idea of frying rather than baking the dough.

Two Salvation Army volunteers (Ensign Stella Young and Adjutant Helen Purviance) came up with the idea of providing doughnuts. This resulted in the appearance of the world's first fried donut on a WWI front on October 19, 1917.



The donut should not be confused with the bagel, despite their physical resemblance. The bagel is boiled and baked, whereas the donut is fried (but sometimes baked.)



Bagels are found in varieties such as onion, garlic, salt, poppy-seed, and sesame-seed, and are frequently consumed with cheese and fish.

Donuts are found in varieties such as glazed, chocolate, chocolate-frosted, strawberry-frosted, powdered, jelly-filled, and sprinkled.

They are rarely eaten with cheese or fish, but they do go exceptionally well with coffee (or tea).


October 19, 1953 -
After Julius La Rosa had finished singing Manhattan on Arthur Godfrey Time, the host (and general scum bag) Arthur Godfrey fired him on the air, announcing, "that was Julie's swan song with us."



Unaware the firing was coming (or what the phrase "swan song" meant), La Rosa tearfully met with Godfrey after the broadcast and thanked him for giving him his "break."


October 19, 1971 -
Look magazine ceased publication with its issue on this date, the victim of a $5 million loss in revenues in 1970, a slack economy, and rising postal rates.

Circulation was at 6.5 million when it closed.


October 19, 1982 -
Maverick carmaker John DeLorean was arrested in Los Angeles with $24 million dollars worth of cocaine in his suitcase on this date.



The case was later thrown out of court when a judge rules that the FBI sting operation constituted entrapment.


October 19, 1987 -
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 22 percent dropping to 1739 making it the 2nd largest percentage drop in history in a single day, This was known as "Black Monday" and signaled other markets around the world to drop during October by 20 percent.



Many believed that some of the automatic computerized sell programs used by large financial institutions may have contributed to the fall as they are triggered automatically when certain events / figures occur in the markets and after this date more safeguards were put in place to stop a similar thing happening in the future.



And so it goes