Let your worries melt away.

You didn't hear this from me but today's holiday is a huge conspiracy perpetrated by the Big Sugar Syndication. (I wonder if the Trump organization bought into Domino Sugar.)





It's National Lollipop Day; but don’t go too overboard on the sugary treats. (Last time I checked; it's about 251 licks to get to the center of a tootsie pop.)


July 20, 1935 -
The Looney Tunes short, Buddy Steps Out, directed by Jack King, and starring Buddy, was released on this date.



This is the only short that credits Chuck Jones as the animator as "Chas. Jones" instead of "Charles Jones" or "Charles M. Jones"


July 20, 1940 -
The Merrie Melodies short, The Egg Collector, directed by Chuck Jones, and starring Sniffles was released on this date.



Egg collecting was very popular during the Victoria era, particularly among the upper class of Britain and Europe.


July 15, 1946 -
The Looney Tunes short, The Great Piggy Bank Robbery, directed by Bob Clampett, and starring Daffy Duck, was released on this date.



When Duck Twacy takes a street car to the gangsters' hideout, the conductor is a thinly-disguised Porky Pig dressed in a driver's uniform and a handlebar mustache.


July 20, 1950 -
Fred Zimmermann's film about wounded WWII veterans, The Men, starring Marlon Brando (in his first feature film), Teresa Wright and Everett Sloane, premiered on this date.



According to Marlon Brando, this film role classified him as 1-A to the Army and he reported for induction during the Korean War. He was, however, denied on grounds of having problems with authority and his bizarre answers to a questionnaire by the psychiatrist, thus making him unsuitable for service.


July 15, 1957 -
The Looney Tunes short, Tabasco Road, directed by Bob McKimson, and starring Speedy Gonzales, was released on this date.



The title Tabasco Road is a pun on Tobacco Road, a 1932 novel by Erskine Caldwell.


July 20, 1963 -
Jan and Dean's single Surf City, co-written by Brian Wilson (who doesn't know how to surf,) hits #1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.



Brian Wilson was working with a few different artists at the time, including the girl group The Honeys. He was extremely productive during this period, emulating Phil Spector as he focused on production and songwriting. Surf City was his first #1 hit, coming a year before The Beach Boys would top the charts with I Get Around.


July 20, 1965 -
Bob Dylan releases the classic Like A Rolling Stone on this date.



This was the only song on the album produced by Tom Wilson, who produced Dylan's second album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. Wilson had been a jazz producer and was brought in to replace John Hammond. Wilson invited keyboard player Al Kooper to the session, and Al produced the famous organ riff that drove the song. This was the last song Wilson worked on with Dylan, as Bob Johnston took over production duties.


July 20, 1965 -
The Lovin' Spoonful released their hit Do You Believe In Magic? on this date.



The Lovin' Spoonful played regularly at a famous club called The Night Owl Cafe. John Sebastian was quoted as saying: "We were playing pretty steadily for the local people from Greenwich Village who were part of the jazz scene or part of the kind of downtown 'in crowd.' They were 'finger poppers,' guys who played chess, 'beatniks.' But there was this one particular night as we were playing, I looked out in the audience and saw this beautiful 16-year-old girl just dancing the night away. And I remember Zal and I just elbowed each other the entire night because to us that young girl symbolized the fact that our audience was changing, that maybe they had finally found us. I wrote 'Do You Believe In Magic' the next day."


July 20, 1970 -
Richard and Karen Carpenters appear on The Dating Game, where they perform (They Long To Be) Close To You and each select from three suitors (and not each other,) on this date.



Karen Carpenter appeared on segment 1 and she was the girl interviewing the three bachelors. Richard on segment 2 as one of the three bachelors. Richard won the date in his game. They never actually go on their dates


July 20, 1984 -
20th Century Fox releases the comedy film Revenge of the Nerds, starring Robert Carradine and Anthony Edwards on this date.



Lambda Lambda Lambda - the fraternity depicted in the film, would end up becoming the name of a fraternity in real life. It was founded at the University of Connecticut in 2006


July 20, 1986 -
The Alex Cox biography Sid and Nancy, starring Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb, premiered in London, on this date.



Gary Oldman lived on a diet of steamed fish and melon to lose enough weight to play the emaciated, heroin-addicted Sid, and was hospitalized when he went too far and became malnourished.


July 20, 1990 -
In one of the late (good) performances of Marlon Brando, the TriStar Pictures' The Freshman, directed by Andrew Bergman and co-starring Matthew Broderick, Bruno Kirby, Penelope Ann Miller, and Frank Whaley, premiered on this date.



Matthew Broderick had no idea that Marlon Brando was going to use the walnuts as a prop in the scene where they discuss his job. While waiting for the scene to be shot, Brando cracked the walnuts just enough so they would be easy to break, and then used them in the scene to help generate a more genuine response from Broderick.


July 20, 2001 -
Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi) written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki was released in Japan on this date. (The film went on to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2003, making it the first (and, to date, only) hand-drawn and non-English-language animated film to win that award.)



In order to animate the scene where Chihiro force feeds Haku the medicine in his dragon form, Hayao Miyazaki had his animators study a dog's mouth as they fed it treats while a veterinarian held its lower jaw.


July 20, 2007 -
The musical version of John Waters 1988 cult classic film (and the 2002 Broadway musical of the same name,) Hairspray, directed by Adam Shankman and starring John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Queen Latifah, Zac Efron, and Nikki Blonsky premiered on this date.



The film brought together John Travolta who starred in Grease, and Michelle Pfeiffer who starred in Grease 2. One day, while the cast was waiting between takes, Travolta began singing Summer Nights. Co-stars Amanda Bynes and Zac Efron were so excited that they immediately began sending text messages to their friends about what was happening.


Word of the Day


Today in History:
July 20, 911 -
Rollo, the leader of the marauding Vikings, sweeping through Europe, laid siege of to the city of Chartres, on this date. This would be totally of no importance except the king of France, Charles the Senseless, (who was not so senseless in this instance,) negotiated a peace treaty with them. He granted them an area of France that would become Normandy.



Rollo is the great-great-great-grandfather of William the Conqueror. Through William, he is an ancestor of the present-day British royal family, as well as an ancestor of all current European monarchs and a great many pretenders to abolished European thrones. So who knew that a chocolate covered caramel would play such an important part of European history.


July 20, 1402 -
At the Battle of Angora, Tamerlane led his huge army of Taters against the Ottomans (or Ottomen). Tamerlane captured the Sultan (Head Ottoman), and this is why we call some sweaters Angoras to this day.

Angora, however, is now called Ankara.

(Co-incidentally in 1991, on this date President Bush, visiting Turkey, was cheered by thousands of people in Ankara.)


July 20, 1801 -
According to legend, a 1,235 pound cheese ball was pressed at the farm of Elisha Brown Jr. and taken to Washington D.C. by a horse-driven wagon.

He presented it as a gift to President Thomas Jefferson at the White House on this date.



(Or it could have been given to him on January 1st, 1802; I don't know, I wasn't there.)


July 20, 1903 -
The Ford Motor Company took its first order for a two-cylinder Model A car on July 15th 1903 and shipped the car on this date.

In early July of 1903, Ford’s cash balance was just $223.65 and it was doubtful if payroll could be fulfilled long enough to complete the existing works-in-progress. A Chicago dentist named Ernst Pfenning bought the car for $850. His purchase and two other orders that week, kept the Ford Motor Company in business.


July 20, 1938 -
I get tetchy with myself when I forget. I also get tetchy when directors ask you for take after take after take after take for no apparent reason. I've heard Maggie Smith gets tetchy for the same reason..



English actress Diana Rigg, was born on this date, in Doncaster, England.



English actress Diana Rigg, was born on this date, in Doncaster, England.



as was, Natalie Zacharenko (Natalie Wood), on this date, except in San Francisco.


July 20, 1944 -
In an attempt on Hitler's life, a time bomb explodes in the situation room of the Wolf's Lair, killing four Nazi officers but only wounding the Fuhrer. After his close call, Hitler becomes even more paranoid. A massive purge is to follow, resulting in the execution of thousands of officers.



Hollywood's favorite 'frequently married little person (not Mickey Rooney)' starred in a film version of the event.


July 20, 1951 -
In Jerusalem at the al-Aqsa Mosque, King Abdullah of Jordan was shot three times in the head and chest by Mustapha Shukri Usho, a Palestinian opposed to peace with Israel.



Abdullah died on the spot.


July 20, 1968 -
The first International Special Olympics Summer Games were held on this date, a joint venture between the Kennedy Foundation and the Chicago Park District.



The first games were held at Soldier Field in Chicago, and more than 150 countries worldwide sent more than 1,000 athletes competed.


July 20, 1969 -
57years ago today, in a live transmission from the Moon, viewed by 720 million people around the world, Neil Armstrong stepped foot onto the Moon. It was a brave thing to do (and unfortunately caused Buzz Aldrin to have his post-Apollo 11 period of alcoholism and depression.)



It was also the first mission to bring back samples from a foreign planetary body — the samples dated back 3.7 billion years.



And whatever you do, don't ask Buzz if it was faked.


July 20, 1973 -
In Hong Kong, martial artist Bruce Lee fell into a coma and died of cerebral edema on this date. He had been experiencing brain problems beginning in May, which included sporadic loss of consciousness (I've always hated when that happens.)



Lee's death happened shortly before the release of Enter the Dragon, his most successful film.


July 20, 1976 -
Hank Aaron, considered one of the greatest players in Major League Baseball history, hit his last home run (#755) off the California Angels' Dick Drago at Milwaukee County Stadium, on this date.

He is perhaps most famous for breaking the record for career home runs, which he held until Barry Bonds topped him on September 23, 2006. (Aaron did it without being on the juice, that's all I'm saying.)


July 20, 1976 -
The US spacecraft Viking 1 was the first craft ever to land on Mars on this date. It holds the record for having the second longest mission on Mars' surface: 6 years and 116 days.



NASA terminated communications with the craft on August 17, 1980. So technically, it's still there (unless the martians have stripped the craft and have it up on blocks.)


July 20, 1994 -
O.J. Simpson offered a $500,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the Real Killers on this date. To this day progress remains elusive, although Simpson now has to limit his search within the boundaries of hell.



And so it goes.

Sip happens—grab a Daiquiri!

Today is National Daiquiri Day.



It's just about the middle of the summer, so it more than appropriate to celebrate (although it might have been fun to celebrate it on July 11 - see my note on sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia.)


It's also Flitch of Bacon day. Every year on this day, since about 1104, any married couple who could prove they had been faithful and loving to one another for one year was awarded half a pig, known as a flitch of bacon.



(The average weight of a side of pork is about 100 lbs. I want to know if the couple is supposed to bring home the side of pork themselves.)


July 19, 1941 -
MGM released the Hanna/ Barbera cartoon, The Midnight Snack, starring Tom and Jerry, on this date.



William Hanna and Joseph Barbera originally had the cat named Jasper and the mouse was Jinx, in 1940's Puss Gets the Boot cartoon. This is the first cartoon with their names, Tom Cat and Jerry Mouse.


July 15, 1941 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Inki and the Lion, directed by Chuck Jones, and starring Inki, was released on this date. This short is seldom shown on TV due to it's offensive depiction of Black people.



Due to this cartoon becoming a surprise hit with moviegoers at the time of its 1941 release, Jones directed three more Inki cartoons, Inki and the Minah Bird, Inki at the Circus, and Caveman Inki, before the character was retired for good in 1950.


July 19, 1950 -
The Walt Disney adventure film, Treasure Island, directed by Byron Haskin, and starring Bobby Driscoll, Robert Newton, Basil Sydney, and Finlay Currie, was released on this date.



The featured performance of Robert Newton as Long John Silver is so iconic that it is thought by many to be the origin of today's stereotypical "Arrrrr"-laced pirate patois.


July 19, 1960 -
The initial pilot for what would become The Dick Van Dyke Show, Head of the Family, premiered on this date.



Carl Reiner has said that he let this pilot sit for about a year after it didn't sell, and then he showed it to Sheldon Leonard who told him he liked it and it had potential, but it "needs better actors, including you!"


July 19, 1965 -
The Beatles released the single, Help (B-side I'm Down), ahead of the release of the album of the same name, on this date.



The song runs just 2:18, but packs in 267 words, making it one of the most lyrically dense hits of the era. It starts and ends on a vocal, and there are two vocal lines running throughout the song, as John Lennon sings lead while George Harrison and Paul McCartney do backgrounds, singing some of the same phrases either before or after Lennon. There are only a few seconds in the song where somebody isn't singing.


July 19, 1967 -
The Warner Bros. drama, Up the Down Staircase, directed by Robert Mulligan, and starring Sandy Dennis, Patrick Bedford, Eileen Heckart, and Jean Stapleton, was released on this date.



The U.S. State Department submitted this film to the 1967 Moscow Film Festival, in order to contradict Soviet propaganda, which implied that all American schools were racially segregated.


July 19, 1972 -
The Paramount Pictures drama, The Man, directed by Joseph Sargent, (screenplay, written by Rod Serling,) and starring James Earl Jones, Martin Balsam, Burgess Meredith, Lew Ayres, William Windom, and Barbara Rush, was released on this date.



James Earl Jones was interviewed about portraying a fictional black U.S. president a few days before Barack Obama was sworn in as President. Jones said that he had misgivings about the film, mostly because they were blindsided when the project (which was planned and budgeted as a TV movie) was released in theaters, and he wished that they'd had more time and resources to make a stronger final film.


July 19, 1985 -
Tri-Star Pictures released the drama, The Legend of Billie Jean, starring Helen Slater and Christian Slater, in the US on this date. Pat Benatar, who sang the film's theme song Invincible, famously called the film, "one of the worst movies ever made."



Christian Slater stated in an interview that while filming this movie he thought he was fated to marry Helen Slater because their last names were the same.


July 19, 1986 -
Genesis had their first (and only) #1 Hot 100 hit as Invisible Touch tops the chart, on this date.



The Invisible Touch album marked Genesis' complete transformation from complex, theatrical music (starting when Peter Gabriel was lead singer) to condensed pop songs. They lost some fans along the way, but gained many more.


July 19, 1995 -
Amy Heckerling's comic adaptation of Jane Austin's novel Emma, Clueless, starring Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, Paul Rudd, Dan Hedaya, and Brittany Murphy, premiered in US theatres on this date.



Alicia Silverstone (Cher) actually did not know how to correctly pronounce "Haitians" in the classroom scene. Director Amy Heckerling told the crew not to correct her because she liked it so much and wanted it to be in the film.


July 19, 1996 -
Danny Boyle’s brilliant adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s equally celebrated novel, Trainspotting, starring Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle and Kelly MacDonald premiered on this date.



Kelly Macdonald, in her naiveté, invited her mother and brother to the set while filming her sex scene with Ewan McGregor.


Another album from the discount bin at The ACME Record Shoppe


Today in history:
July 19, 1692 -
Five Salem witches were hanged for the crime of witchcraft on this date, based primarily on the accusations of little girls who were bewitched.

Eventually, the village executed a total of 20 witches.

Those were some nasty little girls.


July 19, 1848 -
The women’s movement was born during the pioneering Women’s Rights Convention of Seneca Falls, New York, on this date.



Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the two-day meeting during which they used the language of the Declaration of Independence to stake their claim to the rights they felt women were entitled to as American citizens. Stanton also introduced to the 300 men and women in attendance a radical idea for inclusion in the group’s declaration—the demand for a woman’s right to vote, “suffrage”. At that time, no women were allowed to vote anywhere on the planet, and many women, in fact, objected to the idea, thinking it was impossible.



Additionally, bloomers were introduced to the feminists gathered by Amelia Jenks Bloomer, according to fashion legend, who donned a pair at the conference where all the ladies were in dresses.


July 19, 1870 -
France attempted to declare war on Russia. Due to a typographical error, however, France inadvertently declared war on Prussia on this date and caused the Franco-Prussian War. This eventually led to the creation of Germany, which led to World War I, World War II, and the Volkswagen.



Moral: always proofread.


July 19, 1919 -
Raymonde de Laroche, the first woman to pilot a plane in 1909 and first woman to receive a pilot's license, died in an plane crash at Le Crotoy airport in France, on this date.

Raymonde de Laroche had miraculously survived three serious crashes before the fourth one claimed her.


July 19, 1937 -
The Nazis opened Entartete Kunst, the Degenerate Art show, in Munich on this date. The traveling exhibition offers up Expressionism for ridicule, carefully arranged by (offensive) subject.



The German youth were not admitted, lest they become tainted.


July 19, 1941 -
Prime Minister Winston Churchill launched his "V for Victory" campaign in Europe on this date.



The BBC World Service began regular broadcasting throughout Europe with the opening four notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, which in Morse Code spell V for "Victory."


July 19, 1950 -
Australian Ben Carlin, with his wife, Elinore, set out from Montreal in an amphibious jeep; the craft took to the water off Nova Scotia and crossed the entire Atlantic Ocean, making landfall at the Canary Islands after a stop in the Azores.



The Carlin’s continued their journey by land, eventually stopping in England and going to Malmo, Sweden. Carlin tried to interest British auto manufacturers in his heavily modified vehicle, but there were no takers.


July 19, 1952 -
Keep watching the skies.



During a series of UFO sightings in Washington, D.C. occurring over July 13-29, unidentified objects are picked up on D.C.'s National Airport radar system. Sightings in the region are so extensive the Air Force was prompted to hold a press conference. Conveniently, these were all "radar mirages" resulting from "temperature inversions."


July 19, 1966 -
Frank Sinatra married Mia Farrow in Las Vegas on this date.

Ava Gardner's famous comment on the union: Hah! I always knew Frank would end up in bed with a little boy!

Ouch.


July 19, 1969 -
John Fairfax, after an amazing 180 days alone at sea, became the first person to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. (When Fairfax was asked what he did for a living, he would usually answer, "I'm a professional adventurer. I not only enjoy it, I try to make money off it.")



Two year later he rowed across the Pacific with his then-girlfriend Sylvia Cook; the trip took them 361 days. They became the first people to accomplish that feat.


July 19, 1984 -
I stand before you to proclaim tonight, America is a land where dreams can come true for all of us.



42 years ago today, U.S. Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York won the Democratic nomination for vice president at the party's convention in San Francisco.



Co-incidentally, as previously mentioned, the first women's rights convention, organized by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, was held in Seneca Falls, NY on this date in 1848.



And so it goes.

Suddenly every meal feels historic

Today is National Caviar Day. Although it is high in sodium and cholesterol, caviar is rich in calcium and phosphorus, as well as protein, selenium, iron, magnesium, and Vitamins B12 and B6.

>

While it's normal to wash down the briny fish roe with champagne or iced vodka;

why not down shots of iced Bombay Sapphire. (Bacardi Limited, owner of the brand, knows how to reach me.)


July 18, 1936 -
The Merrie Melodies short, I Love to Singa, directed by Tex Avery, was released on this date.



Owl Jolson's first words, "Hullo, Strangah!" was the catchphrase of a character called Schlepperman who appeared on Jack Benny's radio show in the 1930s. Jack himself is parodied in the form of Jack Bunny, the host of the amateur show.


July 18, 1959 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Tweet and Lovely, directed by Tex Avery, and starring Sylvester and Tweety Bird, was released on this date.



While Tweety is bathing, Sylvester looks at him (with binoculars, as Tweety sings in his birdhouse's bathtub & discovers the spying cat,) his remark is not the normal "Ooh, I tawt I taw a putty tat!" This time he says "Ooh, I tawt I taw a peeping tom cat.".


July 18, 1964 -
The Rolling Stones score their first American hit when their cover of Buddy Holly's Not Fade Away peaks at #48 on the Hot 100.



At the time, The Rolling Stones weren't talking to each other so Gene Pitney, who knew the group through their manager Andrew Oldham, claimed it was his birthday. He asked them all to drink a water glass full of cognac to celebrate, and the result was this memorable cover of a Crickets B-side. Phil Spector is credited with playing maracas on the record but in fact he was playing an empty cognac bottle with a 50 cent piece.


July 18, 1964 –
Stan Getz & Astud Gilberto international hit The Girl From Ipanema went to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts, on this date. You may all slow dance while listening to this.



Stan Getz recorded the Getz/Gilberto album with João Gilberto, who is considered the father of Bossa Nova. In the studio, they convinced his wife Astrud, who had never sung a recorded note, to sing the English lyrics. The original choice as vocalist was Sarah Vaughan, but when Gilberto heard the English translation, he decided that Astrud should sing it. Her subtle vocal added a nuance to the song that worked surprisingly well with the music.


July 18, 1980 -
Closer, the second and final album from Joy Division, was released on this date, just two months after the suicide of founding member and singer Ian Curtis.



Despite or perhaps because of the tragedy surrounding Joy Division, the band has had an indelible effect on the post-punk music scene, which later morphed into the 1980s gothic rock, industrial and alternative rock genres inspiring bands such as The Sisters of Mercy and The Jesus and Mary Chain. Joy Division songs remain a firm favorite on the indie and goth circuits, and an be still heard in clubs and on the radio throughout the world.


July 18, 1980 -
Billy Joel held the top position of both the US albums and singles charts, on this date. His album Glass Houses contained his first and biggest No.1 hit, It's Still Rock 'n' Roll to Me.



In this song, Billy Joel was making a comment on musical styles and trends. At the end of the disco era, the music press began touting the New Wave sound, which included bands like The Police and The Cars. Joel thought that this new sound was just a variation on power-pop that had been around since the '60s. He didn't have a problem with the music, just the way it was being categorized. "I like it, but it's not particularly new," he said.


July 18, 1986 -
A Minnesota local news crew, KARE 11's chopper pilot Max Messmer and photographer Tom Empey, captured unbelievable footage of a tornado moving through the Twin Cities area, on this date.



The video, which was shown live during the 5 p.m. news, (which was the first time a tornado was broadcast live in the U.S.,) soon went global -- giving viewers a rare look at a twister from an above-ground vantage point.


July 18, 2008 -
Warner Bros. released the Christopher Nolan superhero film The Dark Knight, starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine and Heath Ledger, in US theaters, on this date.



In preparation for his role as The Joker, Heath Ledger hid away in a motel room for about six weeks. During this extended stay of seclusion, Ledger delved deep into the psychology of the character. He devoted himself to developing The Joker's every tic, namely the voice and that sadistic-sounding laugh (for the voice, Ledger's goal was to create a tone that didn't echo the work Jack Nicholson did in his 1989 performance as the Joker). Ledger's interpretation of The Joker's appearance was primarily based on the chaotic, disheveled look of punk rocker Sid Vicious combined with the psychotic mannerisms of Malcolm McDowell's character, Alex De Large, from A Clockwork Orange


July 18, 2008 -
Universal Pictures finally released it much planned ABBA jukebox musical, Mamma Mia! starring Christine Baranski, Pierce Brosnan, Dominic Cooper, Colin Firth, Amanda Seyfried, Stellan Skarsgård, Meryl Streep and Julie Walters in the US on this date.



Stellan Skarsgård on why he flashed his behind: "We decided I should be cooking on the boat. I thought I should have an apron on. The director (Phyllida Lloyd) did not know I would be naked under there, and have those butt tattoos. So when the camera rolled, I turned around right in front of it. The cameraman jumped and screamed, while Phyllida keeled over laughing."

Don't forget to tune into The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour today


Today in History:
July 18, 64 -
Most of imperial Rome was burned to the ground because Emperor Nero had been playing the fiddle. This resulted in the persecution of Christians, many of whom were believed to have encouraged him.



You know how those early Christians love their city burning, fiddle playing, crazed Emperors.



Yes, I'm aware that Nero wasn't even in Rome at the time of the fire. At this time, I do not believe even the stringent libel laws in England cover this.


July 18, 1870 -
At the end of Vatican I, Catholic popes are proclaimed infallible by chapter four of the papal bull Pastor Aeternus. The pope's declarations on matters of faith are protected from error by the Holy Spirit. In a nutshell: whatever he says about the scripture, goes.



This is an interesting doctrine, considering how often St. Peter is himself contradicted by the Gospels.


July 18, 1913 -
Richard "Red" Skelton, was born in Vincennes, Ind., on this date. During a career that stretched through medicine shows, vaudeville, motion pictures, radio and television, the gentle Skelton created a host of characters from the silent tramp Freddie the Freeloader to the Mean Widdle Kid, who coined the catch phrase, "I dood it!"



In a People Magazine interview late in his life, Skelton admitted that he fudged his officially accepted birth year, but did not elaborate. The year 1910 is sometimes given instead of 1913, but Skelton's biographer Arthur Marx claims that the comedian told close associates he was really born in 1906.


July 18, 1918 -
I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.



Today is the 108th anniversary of the birth of Nelson Mandela.


July 18, 1925 -
Today marks the 101th anniversary of the publication of Adolf Hitler's best-selling political memoir, Mein Kampf (or, in English, "I'm Crazy and I'm Gonna Kill You"). The book remains extremely popular with genocidal sociopaths and is therefore experiencing a renaissance of sales.

The book's original title was Four-and-a-Half Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity, and Cowardice.



Taking him at his word and assuming the little lance-corporal really had struggled against lies, stupidity, and cowardice for 54 months, one has to ask, in light of his later activities, if maybe lies, stupidity, and cowardice aren't so bad.


July 18, 1929 -
It's Screamin' Jay Hawkins Birthday.



Remember, get naked and dance around the house, just do it.


July 18, 1936 -
After Carl Mayer approached his uncle Oscar with the idea of driving a giant hot dog through Chicago streets, the first Oscar Mayer Wienermobile rolled out of General Body Company’s factory on this date.



The Wienermobile started as a smallish 13-foot affair (Carl Mayer drove around with his head sticking through a hole in the roof)


July 18, 1939 -
Hunter Stockton Thompson was born on this date.



He was once considered, armed, and dangerous. Now he is no more than soot on the window sills of his and his neighbors homes. Dr. Thompson founded the Gonzo school of journalism in the 1970s; graduates from that school can today be seen every night on cable news.

Dr. Thompson inspired the character "Uncle Duke" in the comic strip Doonesbury, by former Canadian Prime Minister Gary Trudeau.

(Uncle Duke first appeared in Doonesbury was on July 8, 1974.) Several movies have been made about Dr. Thompson's life and work and psychotic episodes. He is perhaps the only American journalist to have been played on-screen by both -



Bill Murray



and Johnny Depp.


July 18, 1947 -
British seized the Exodus 1947 ship of Jewish immigrants to Palestine on this date. The British Royal Navy intercepted the ship President Warfield, which had been renamed Exodus by its passengers, forcing the 4,000 Jewish would-be immigrants aboard back to Displaced Person camps in Germany.



Britain was still the ruling power in Palestine, which was being wracked by conflict resulting from Jewish national aspirations. The return of the Jewish immigrants, many of them survivors of Nazi persecution, heightened anti-British sentiment among Jews in Palestine and elsewhere.


On July 18, 1947, President Harry Truman signed the Presidential Succession Act. The original act of 1792 had placed the Senate president pro tempore and Speaker of the House in the line of succession, but in 1886 Congress had removed them.



The 1947 law reinserted those officials, but placed the Speaker ahead of the president pro tempore.

So now you now.


July 18, 1950 -
Ridiculous yachts and private planes and big limousines won't make people enjoy life more, and it sends out terrible messages to the people who work for them. It would be so much better if that money was spent in Africa - and it's about getting a balance.



British music entrepreneur and recently returned space jockey Richard Branson was born on this date. It doesn't suck to be Richard Branson.


July 18, 1966 -
In Los Angeles, the beaten corpse of Bobby Fuller was found sprawled across the front seat of his mother's Oldsmobile. Fuller, whose band The Bobby Fuller Four released the hit I Fought The Law, was found to have died from "forced inhalation of gasoline."



Technically, Fuller died from huffing... although circumstances point to murder.


July 18, 1969 -
Driving home from a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Senator Ted Kennedy's car goes over the side of Dike Bridge and flips over into a pond. Kennedy manages to free himself from the automobile, but his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned.

(Once again - don't hitch a ride with a Kennedy.)



For some reason, Kennedy told no one about the accident for at least an hour, and waited until the following morning to notify local police.


July 18, 1976 -
Romanian Nadia Comaneci became the first gymnast to receive a perfect-ten score in 1976 Olympic competition.



In 2000, Comaneci was named as one of the athletes of the century by the Laureus World Sports Academy.


July 18, 1988 -
People think I'm not polite. But, what I have to say to people seems so unnecessary. I can't be forced. I'd rather just be what I feel. Even when I sing I try to imagine I'm all alone, there's nobody out there listening. I play with the notes, with the feeling. Each time the song is different for me.



Rock and Roll performer/ heroin addict Nico wiped out on her bicycle on Ibiza and died from a brain hemorrhage on this day - that, combined with a lack of medical treatment.


July 18, 1992 -
A picture of Les Horribles Cernettes was taken, which became the first ever photo posted to the World Wide Web, on this date.

Les Horribles Cernettes, or The Horrible CERN Girls, was an all-female parody-pop group, self-labelled as “the one and only high energy rock band”, formed by CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) employees and who performed at CERN events. The group was photographed at the CERN Hardronic Festival, by Silvano de Gennaro, an analyst in the Computer Science department at CERN, who also wrote additional songs for the groups.



And so it goes.