When fireflies write love letters in the dark.

According to the Gregorian calendar, July is the seventh month. On the Roman calendar, it was the fifth month and it was called 'Quintilis', meaning 'fifth'. Julius Caesar gave the month 31 days in 46 B.C.

Being a dictator he could. Luckily for us he didn't authorize the constant changing of underpants or most of the glory that was Rome may never have been built, due the high laundry bills. The Roman Senate named it 'Julius', in honor of Caesar because - well, he was a dictator.



July is usually the hottest month of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. July is one of the winter months in the Southern Hemisphere. The climate is mild in most of the Southern Hemisphere, with the exception of the COLD Antarctica, and the cold, rainy part of South America.

During July, when there isn't much rain, the grass often loses it's greenness. Some flowers are abundant in July, because they strive on the heat. Also, insects are abundant as well - life is striving in July (in the Northern Hemisphere anyway)!

Independence Day is observed in the United States on July 4. On that day in 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. In France, a similar holiday, Bastille Day, occurs on July 14 (although they did not adopt the Declaration of Independence.) Several other countries celebrate national independence in July. Independence Day is celebrated in Venezuela on July 5; in Argentina, July 9; in Belgium, July 21; and in Peru, July 28.

In my home, July 12th is a national holiday.

July is chock-a-block of celebrations.

The Ruby is the gem for July.



The water lily is the flower for the month of July.



Here are some of the causes recognized in July:

Fireworks Safety Month

Kids, don't play with your illegal fireworks, remember use only ACME brand fireworks!



Baked Bean Month
Ah, the musical fruit. And yet, I once again restrained myself - I didn't go with the Mel Brooks clip.



maybe extreme tennis isn't your thing.



Remember, if you're in a national park, the bears are not like Yogi, don't let them into your car.

July is National Hot Dog Month - National Hot Dog Day is July 23.



National Hot Dog Day is July 23. Remember don't look too closely into the bit end of your hot dog

Smart Irrigation Month
Wait a minute, maybe they didn't mean this type of irrigation.

National Hyperhidrosis Education Month
For those not in the know, it's excessive sweating.

Peach Month (There seems to be some confusion on whether National Peach Month is in July or August.
So Dammit, dare to eat the peach!!!)

Read An Almanac Month



Which is what I celebrate all the time. (One of our favorite Bunkies suggested reading, Poor H. Allen Smith's Almanac, which is a fun read, in fact.)


July 01, 1933 -
The Looney Tunes short, Beau Bosko, directed by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising and starring Bosko was released on this date.



The title and the cartoon are a play on the 1924 book Beau Geste and its multiple film adaptations.


July 1, 1953 -
The Howard Hawk musical comedy, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, starring Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe premiered in Atlantic City on this date.



According to Marni Nixon, the studio initially wanted Marilyn Monroe's entire voice dubbed, as they thought her voice was silly. Nixon thought that was "awful", as she felt Monroe's voice suited her persona so beautifully. Nixon told The New York Times in March 2007 that she ended up only dubbing the operatic "no, no, nos" at the beginning of the song and the phrase "these rocks don't lose their shape".


July 1, 1956 -
TV critic John Crosby panned the following performer's performance, calling it an 'unspeakable, untalented and vulgar young entertainer.'



Elvis Presley appeared on NBC- TV's The Steve Allen Show and performed Hound Dog, to a live Hound Dog.


July 1, 1956 -
Columbia Pictures released the classic sci-fi movie, Earth vs The Flying Saucers, featuring special effects by Ray Harryhausen, on this date.



The supposed satellite launches are actually stock footage of Viking rockets, high-altitude probes that were the predecessors of the Vanguard, intended to be the first satellite launcher. The later shots of rockets crashing at takeoff are really German V-2s, since none of the first 12 Vikings ever failed. Ironically, the 13th Viking, now called Vanguard, blew up on the launch pad, just like in the movie.


July 1, 1965 -
Paramount Pictures released the film The Sons of Katie Elder, starring John Wayne and Dean Martin on this date.



The gun battle was loosely based on the real-life story of the five Marlow brothers. These were five brothers whose parents had established a homestead in Oklahoma territory, The father was a doctor and the sons raised horses that they sold to the army. Four of the brothers were falsely accused of horse theft, were arrested and brought to Graham, Texas. The remaining brother arrived in hope of proving their innocence, but he was arrested too. After several attempts by a mob to lynch them, they were chained together and were being transported to Weatherford, Texas for trial. At Dry Creek, at the edge of the town of Graham, the mob attacked them. The brothers took the deputies' guns and a battle ensued, much as was portrayed in this film. Two of the brothers were killed. The others escaped. One was later poisoned and then shot in an attempt to make it seem he was shot avoiding capture. The killer was himself charged with murder. In 1891, during the trial of members of the mob, the judge had high praise for the Marlows for their courage and boldness, saying that it would be remembered in story and song. The remaining two brothers moved to Colorado and became well-respected lawmen.


July 1, 1967 -
The Association's song Windy (not to be confused with The Beach Boy's song, Wendy,) hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on this date. It was the Association's second No. 1 hit, following Cherish in 1966.



Although the writer of the song, Ruthann Friedman never revealed the identity of Windy, she said that he was another singer/songwriter, and not "a freewheeling Haight Ashbury Hippy" as often reported. Friedman said about the song: "I have heard so many different permutations of what the song was about. Here is the TRUTH. I was sitting on my bed - the apartment on the first floor of David Crosby's house in Beverly Glenn - and there was a fellow who came to visit and was sitting there staring at me as if he was going to suck the life out of me. So I started to fantasize about what kind of a guy I would like to be with, and that was Windy - a guy (fantasy). The song took about 20 minutes to write."


July 1, 1968 -
The Band released their debut album, Music from Big Pink, on this date.



The album title came from the big pink house in upstate New York they rented and used as a recording studio. The Band was Bob Dylan's backup band, and they moved there to be near Dylan while he was recovering from a motorcycle accident. Dylan offered to help with this album, but The Band refused because they wanted to make a mark on their own.


July 1, 1981 -
S.O.B., Blake Edwards' comedic poke in Hollywood's eye, starring Julie Andrews, Richard Mulligan, Robert Preston, Larry Hagman, Robert Vaughn, Robert Webber, Loretta Swit, Shelley Winters, and William Holden was released by Paramount Picture on this date.



This was the final theatrical movie of William Holden. Shortly after completing this movie, according to the coroners report, apparently tripped on a throw rug in his bedroom and fell, cutting his head open on the edge of an nightstand, striking it so hard the corner created a hole in the wall. Though there was a working telephone within reach, the number of blood soaked tissues found suggest he didn't understand the severity of his injury due to his high alcohol blood content and didn't call for help. He subsequently bled to death. His body wasn't discovered for several days.


July 1, 1982 -
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five release the early rap classic The Message, on this date. It's the first hip-hop hit with lyrics about struggle in the inner city.



Unlike many early hip-hop hits, like Sugarhill Gang's Rapper's Delight or Kurtis Blow's The Breaks, which turned on thumping, up-tempo disco tracks, composers Ed "Duke Bootee" Fletcher and MC Melle Mel based The Message on a slow groove and a reverberated synthesizer hook. Fletcher admitted later, he'd been moved to write something in the spirit of Zapp's More Bounce To The Ounce or Tom Tom Club's Genius Of Love, both of which utilized synthesizer hooks over an amped-up funk bass.


Another episode of ACME's Lilttle Known Animal Facts


Today in History:
As always, your friends from the ACME Corp would like to salute our friends in Canada on Canada Day.



Canada is the second-largest nation in the world. It is not part of the United States – (it’s the U.S.‘ nicer sister, not dissing Mexico, the U.S.’ feistier sister.)

A little jewel sitting at the top of the continent.



In the 155 years of their nationhood, Canadians have given the world paint rollers, snowmobiles, electric organs, green ink, toboggans, snow blowers, plexiglass, and the push-up bra.



Canada has about the same population as California, but fewer Scientologists.

Residents of Churchill, Canada, leave their cars unlocked to offer an escape for pedestrians who might encounter Polar Bears.

Today is the 43rd anniversary of the Canadian national anthem, ‘Like America, But Colder.’





Canada’s leading export to the United States is Canadians. Dan Aykroyd, who happens to have been born exactly 70 years ago today, is one.



Pamela Anderson is another, and was also born today, although she’s younger (most of her is north of 40, but some parts are significantly younger). Not to give away here age but she was born on the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Canadian nation. Local news reports referred to her as a “Centennial Baby“, at the time.



Other Canadian exports: Bryan Adams, Paul Anka, Alexander Graham Bell, Raymond Burr (of nipple rouge fame), John Candy, Jim Carrey, Celine Dion, Michael J. Fox, John Kenneth Galbraith, Lorne Greene, Peter Jennings, kd lang, Marshall McLuhan, Joni Mitchell (I believe that she’s doing better), Alice Munro, Catherine O’Hara,



Mike Myers, Oscar Peterson, William Shatner, Alex Trebek, Shania Twain, Neil Young and of course everyone’s favorite Canadian Zen Buddhist, the late Leonard Cohen.



So bunkies remember, when your neighbor has a party, you don't ask why, you pick up a case of Labatt Blue's and a couple of rib-eye steaks.


July 1, 1200 -
Another bar bet winner - Sunglasses were invented in China on this date. Ancient documents describe the use of flat panes of smoky quartz sunglasses by judges in ancient Chinese courts to conceal their facial expressions while questioning witnesses.

(Historians know the date because of stringent anti-orgy laws enacted at the time by the Chinese, making record keeping and inventing a breeze.)


July 1, 1874 -
After many delays and set-backs, the Philadelphia Zoo, the first zoological gardens in the United States opens to the public on the grounds of Solitude, the last estate in the area owned by the Penn family, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.



It was originally chartered by the Pennsylvania state legislature on March 21, 1859 as the Zoological Society of Philadelphia whose core purpose is to oversee “the purchase and collection of living wild and other animals” and “for the instruction and recreation of the people.”


July 1, 1893 -
President Grover Cleveland underwent a secret oral surgery aboard the yacht Oneida for a cancerous growth in his upper palate on this date.



The cancer operation remained a secret until July 1, 1917, when the doctor who performed the operation revealed the story.


July 1, 1912 -
Drama critic Harriet Quimby took a passenger up in her new Blériot monoplane from Boston to fly over Dorchester Bay at the Harvard-Boston Aviation Meet. As she descended for landing, the plane went into a dive and, without seat belts, she and her passenger were thrown out into the shallow water of the bay, where they struck the muddy bottom and were crushed to death.



Quimby was the first American to receive a pilot's license (1911) and was the first woman to solo across the English Channel (1912).

Kids, put on the damn seat belt.


July 1, 1961 -
The Honorable Diana Spencer, a direct descendant of Charles II, was born on this date. She married the Prince of Wales, Charles, in 1981 while more than 750 million people watched. Diana was 20 and her husband was 33 years old at the time.



She was killed in a car crash in 1997 when she was just 36 years old. Her televised funeral gathered 2.5 billion viewers.

Such are the vagaries of life.


July 1, 1979 -
The Sony Corporation revolutionized the music industry on this date when the first Walkman was sold. The Walkman, the first portable personal audio cassette player, allowed people to take music with them anywhere.



The first sale - a blue-and-silver model (TPS-L2), was made in Japan.

Bonus points - in the U.S., it was first marketed as the Soundabout.



And so it goes.

Today is a great day to celebrate

Today is National Ice Cream Soda day. Remember to pour the soda over the ice cream (you get a thicker ice cream soda foam.)



If you added a little Kahlua in first, even better.


June 30, 1945 -
A sequel to 1942's A Tale of Two Kitties, this Looney Tunes short, Tale of Two Mice, directed by Frank Tashin and starring Babbit and Catstello, was released on this date.



This marks the second appearance of Babbit and Catstello as features in Warner Bros. cartoons. It is the middle appearance of three cartoons where they feature (although they make a cameo appearance in a fourth), between 1942-1946.


June 30, 1951 -
The Merrie Melodies short, French Rarebit, directed by Bob McKimson and starring Bug Bunny, was released on this date.



The stuffing for Louisiana Back-Bay Bayou Bunny Bordelaise a la Antoine is hot sauce, chili peppers, bay leaf, bay rum, hot mustard, horse radish, mule radish and a dash of Tabasco sauce.


June 30, 1962 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Zoom at the Top, directed by Chuck Jones and starring Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, was released on this date.



The Acme icicle maker is similar to the early snow making machines in use at studios, including Warner Bros.


June 30, 1971 -
Paramount Pictures' musical, Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, directed by Mel Stuart (and written by Roald Dahl, based on his novel), starring Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson, Peter Ostrum, Roy Kinnear, Denise Nickerson, Leonard Stone, Julie Dawn Cole, Paris Themmen, and Dodo Denney, opened in the US, on this date.



After reading the script, Gene Wilder said he would take the role of Willy Wonka under one condition: that he would be allowed to limp and then suddenly somersault in the scene when he first meets the children. When director Mel Stuart asked why, Wilder replied that having Wonka do this meant that "from that time on, no one will know if I'm lying or telling the truth." Stuart asked, "If I say no, you won't do the picture?" Wilder said, "I'm afraid that's the truth."


June 30, 1971 -
Mike Michols' very adult drama, Carnal Knowledge, written by Jules Feiffer and starring Jack Nicholson, Candice Bergen, Art Garfunkel, Ann-Margret, Rita Moreno, and Cynthia O'Neal, opened on this date.



Mr. Jenkins, a theater manager in Albany, Georgia was convicted of obscenity-related charges in 1972 for showing the film in his establishment, due to its frank depictions of sex and nudity, with police seizing the print of the film and the Georgia Supreme Court upholding the conviction. The U.S. Supreme Court later struck down the conviction in the 1974 Jenkins v. Georgia case, ruling that the movie was not obscene, and the law that was used to convict the manager was unconstitutional. As a result, Avco Embassy re-released the film to theaters using the tagline "The United States Supreme Court has ruled that 'Carnal Knowledge' is not obscene. See it now!".


June 30, 1972 -
The sci-fi film Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, the third sequel in the Planet of the Apes oeuvre, directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Roddy McDowall, was released in U.S. theatres on this date.



In the film (set in 1991), the apes were enslaved after a plague brought back from space wiped out all of the Earth's cats and dogs a decade earlier before the events portrayed. In 1978, six years after the film's release, there was a worldwide pandemic of canine papillomavirus (a disease not known until then) that killed several thousands of dogs.

(To celebrate the premiere of the film, the world added a leap second to UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) time system for the first time.)


June 30, 1979 -
Anita Ward single, Ring My Bell, started a two week run at No.1 on the Billboard chart, on this date. (This was her only charting hit.)



This was one of the first hit songs to feature a synthesized drum. The hook was the synthesized drum of Frederick Knight, which produced a sound that became copied by many other disco records. Carl Marsh is also credited for his synthesizer work on the album.


June 30, 1989 -
The quasi-biographical drama film about Jerry Lee Lewis, Great Balls of Fire! directed by Jim McBride and starring Dennis Quaid, Winona Ryder, John Doe, Alec Baldwin, and Mojo Nixon premiered in the US on this date.



Jerry Lee Lewis hates the film and the book from which the film was based, but praises Quaid's performance.


June 30, 1989 -
One of Spike Lee's big early films, Do The Right Thing, went into limited release in the US on this date.



The key scene when Danny Aiello and John Turturro talk alone, approximately midway through the film, was partly improvised. The scripted scene ended as the character Smiley approached the window. Everything after that, until the end of the scene, was completely ad-libbed.


June 30, 1995 -
Ron Howards' film about the ill-fated 13th Apollo mission bound for the moon, Apollo 13, premiered on this date.



Ron Howard stated that, after the first test preview of the film, one of the comment cards indicated "total disdain"; the audience member had written that it was a "typical Hollywood" ending and that the crew would never have survived.


June 30, 2006 –
The 20th Century Fox comedy, The Devil Wears Prada, starring (the lousy actress) Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci and Adrian Grenier, premiered on this date.



The only contact production had with Vogue was Jess Gonchor, the production designer, who snuck into their offices to get a look at Anna Wintour's office. He was able to re-create it so authentically that it is said that Anna redecorated hers immediately after the movie came out. The devil herself just announced that she was stepping down from being editor-in-chief of Vogue the other day.


Today's moment of Zen


Today in History:
June 30, 1520 -
... And as the gloom begins to fall ...

After witnessing the murder of Montezuma II (or committing the murders themselves,) the Conquistadors, led by Hernan Cortes, did what any red-blooded Spaniard would do and looted Tenochtitlan, the ancient Mexican capital of the Aztec empire on this date. The retreating Spaniards were attacked by an angry Aztec mob. Tied down by armor and treasure, they are no match for the natives and nearly half of Hernan Cortes' men lose their lives.


June 30, 1837 -
England outlawed the use of the pillory on this date.

That still left the British Navy the three things they loved the most - the lash, sodomy and rum.


June 30, 1859 -
Charles Blondin (Jean François Gravelet,) a French acrobat became the first person to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope on this date. Blondin walked a 1,100 feet long rope that was 160 feet above the water.



The entire walk from bank to bank to bank took 23 minutes, and Blondin immediately announced an encore performance to take place on the Fourth of July (which he gave and survived.)


June 30, 1882 -
Charles Guiteau, the assassin of President Garfield, was hanged on this date.



Tickets for the event went for as much as $300. Proving once again, give the people what they want and they'll show up.


June 30, 1894 -
Under a cloudless sky and as part of a pageant which delighted tens of thousands of people, the new Tower-Bridge, which deserves to be reckoned among the greatest engineering triumphs of the Victorian age, was declared open for traffic by land and water... - The Times of London, July 2, 1894



One of London's most iconic symbols, The Tower Bridge was officially opened on this date by The Prince of Wales (Teddy, the future King Edward VII, took time out of his unofficial profession of Royal Whore Monger, to officiate on this date.)


June 30, 1908 -
An explosion near the Tunguska River in Siberia on this date, incinerated some 300 sq. km. that encircled the impact of an estimated 60 meter diameter stony meteorite. It flattened some 40,000 trees over 900 sq. miles and caused damage equivalent to a 15-megaton hydrogen bomb.



The explosion in Siberia, which knocked down trees in a 30-mile radius and struck people unconscious some 40 miles away, is believed by some scientists to be caused by a falling fragment from a meteorite.


June 30, 1934 -
Acting on behalf of the Fuhrer, SS troops around Germany arrested hundreds of loyal SA stormtroopers under the charge of treason in order to eliminate the group.



One squad descends on a Bavarian resort, where it interrupts a contingent of SA men engaged  in homosexual festivities. Lieutenant Edmund Heines was caught in bed with a teenaged boy, and shot to death on the spot. The rest were taken into custody. Hitler sacrificed Ernst Rohm (his pal and head of the SA stormtroopers) rather than lose the support of the  military. He personally confronted Rohm in a jail cell and left a single shot pistol in the cell. Ten minutes later, Rohm had killed himself (unless he didn't, in which case, he was  executed at point blank range by Hitler's goons - reports are sketchy.)



Nobody ruins a good lederhosen and sodomy party in like Hitler's goons. (Not that I'm comparing the two situations but I have a feeling that after the Wagner uprising, Russia is about to experience their own Night of the Long Knives.


June 30, 1936 -
It's the 90th anniversary of publication of Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind on this date.



Despite spending 10 years of her life working on the tome, Mitchell didn’t really have much intention of publishing it. When a “friend” heard that she was considering writing a book (though in fact, it had been written), she said something to the effect of, “Imagine, you writing a book!” Annoyed, Mitchell took her massive manuscript to a Macmillan editor the next day. She later regretted the act and sent the editor a telegram saying, “Have changed my mind. Send manuscript back.”



It had been extensively promoted, chosen as the July selection by the Book-of-the-Month Club, and so gushed about in pre-publication reviews -- "Gone With the Wind is very possibly the greatest American novel," said Publisher's Weekly -- that it was certain to sell, though few predicted the sustained, record-breaking numbers. Though she had been eager and active for her fame, Mitchell too was caught off guard.


June 30, 1953 -
The first Corvette rolled off the production line on this date. The car only came in white with a black top and red interior. Optional features included a curtain instead of roll-up windows and interior door handles.



300 cars were made the first year and sold for $3,498.


June 30, 1966 -
28 people, including Betty Friedan, attending the Third National Conference of State Commissions on the Status of Women, in Washington D.C., founded the National Organization for Women, on this date.



They were inspired by the failure of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and frustrated that they were unable to issue a resolution that recommended the EEOC carry out its legal mandate to end sex discrimination in employment. Betty Friedan served as its first president (1966 - 1970).


June 30, 1974 -
Alberta Williams King, mother of Martin Luther King Jr., was assassinated, along with church deacon, Edward Boykin, in their church on this date. The 69-year-old former schoolteacher was shot by Marcus Wayne Chenault as she sat at the organ of the Ebenezer Baptist Church.



Although Chenault’s lawyers pleaded insanity—the young man repeatedly said he was on a mission to kill all Christians — he was given a death sentence. This was later reduced to life in prison, in part at the insistence of King family members who opposed the death penalty. He died in prison of a stroke in 1995.


Tomorrow is Canada Day, and ACME, in an effort to fulfill its legal obligation to broadcast a quota of Canadian content, er... I mean, to honor our sister of the north:
June 30, 1987 -
The Royal Canadian Mint introduced the $1 coin, affectionately known as the Loonie, on this date.



It bears images of a common loon, a bird which is common and well known in Canada, on the reverse, and of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse. It is produced by the Royal Canadian Mint at its facility in Winnipeg.

(This will be on the test.)


June 30, 1997 -
Hong Kong was acquired by Britain in 1842, when it was ceded in perpetuity by China as a base for Britain's trading ventures. Under the First Convention of Peking, signed in 1860, the tip of the Kowloon peninsula and Stonecutters' Island were ceded to Britain.

In 1898, China granted Britain a 99-year lease for a much larger stretch of land north of Kowloon and a large number of islands, known collectively as the New Territories.

The lease ran out on this date, in 1997. The handover ceremony occurred on the following day. Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the PRC.



And so it goes.

Turning it out as quickly as possible

June 29, 1940 -
According to the Batman Canon: two gangsters working for Tony Zucco rubbed out a circus highwire team known as the Flying Graysons, leaving their son Dick (Robin) an orphan on this date.



Lucky for Dick, a rugged virile older man, Bruce Wayne was there to give him the care and attention a strapping young man in snug fitting swimming trunks and tights needs.


June 29, 1946 -
The Looney Tunes short, Acrobatty Bunny, directed by Bob McKimson and starring Bugs Bunny, was released on this date.



This is the first Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by Robert McKimson.


June 27, 1963 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Banty Raids, directed by Bob McKimson, and starring Foghorn Leghorn and the Barnyard Dawg, was released on this date.



This cartoon marked the last "classic-era" short starring Foghorn Leghorn and Barnyard Dawg.


June 29, 1968 -
Tip-Toe Thru The Tulips With Me by Tiny Tim (Herbert Khaury) peaks at #17 on this date.



Proof positive, people did massive amounts of drugs in the '60s.


June 29, 1979 -
United Artists releases the eleventh film in the James Bond franchise, Moonraker, directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Roger Moore in his fourth outing as James Bond, in the US on this date.



The cost for this movie was $30 million, nearly as much as the first eight films combined, without taking into account inflation.


June 29, 1979 –
Ivan Reitman's directorial debut, Meatballs, featuring Bill Murray, in his first starring role, premiered in the US on this date.



Additional scenes had to be shot after the initial filming ended. During the time off, Chris Makepeace had entered puberty and had the beginnings of a mustache. Bill Murray decided that it had to go so he took Makepeace over to a sink, lathered him up with soap and shaved off his mustache. So Makepeace received his first ever shave from Murray.


June 29, 1984 -
One of the original gross out comedies of the 80s, Bachelor Party, opened on this date.




Kelly McGillis and Paul Reiser were considered for the lead roles early in production, but were replaced due to lack of chemistry between them.


June 29, 1984 -
After a failed attempt shooting a studio video for Dancing In The Dark, Bruce Springsteen performs the song live at his concert in St. Paul, Minnesota, on this date.



Directed by Brian DePalma, the video was filmed during Springsteen's concert at the St. Paul Civic Center in Minnesota on June 29, 1984. Courteney Cox, who was planted in the audience, got the role of the adoring fan in the front row who gets to dance on stage with Bruce. Springsteen performed the song midway through the show, so by that time he was good and sweaty and the crowd was worked into a frenzy. To get the shots, Springsteen did the song twice, with DePalma repositioning his cameras after the first take.


June 29, 1988 -
The John Landis blockbuster film, Coming To America, starring Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, James Earl Jones, John Amos and a plethora of stars in funny cameo roles, opened on this date.



After the make-up and clothing was applied for the Jewish character Saul, Eddie Murphy wanted to test the make-up and costume out. He got a golf cart and drove from one studio department to another in Paramount Studios. He would get out of the cart and say in his regular voice, "Hi. I'm Eddie Murphy." No one believed him.


June 29, 1995 -
Ringo Starr appeared in his first-ever TV commercial (in the US), for Pizza Hut, (featuring the newly reformed Monkees, on this date.



It seems like a strange product for Ringo to hawk; the rocker has been a vegetarian since 1965, and has allergies to onions, garlic, and several spices, which have prevented him from eating pizza.


June 29, 2001 -
Steven Spielberg's take on a film originally conceived by Stanley Kubrick, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, starring Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law and Frances O'Connor, went into general release in the US on this date.



Stanley Kubrick worked on the project for two decades before his death, but along the way, he decided to ask Steven Spielberg to direct, saying it was "closer to his sensibilities". The two collaborated for several years, resulting in Kubrick giving Spielberg a complete story treatment and lots of conceptual art for the movie prior to his death, which Spielberg used to write his own scenario.


June 29, 2007 -
Brad Bird's brilliant film, Ratatouille, starring the voice work of Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Janeane Garofalo, Peter O'Toole, Brad Garrett, and Brian Dennehy premiered in the US on this date.



Pet rats were kept at the studio in the hallway for more than a year so that the animators could study the movement of their fur, noses, ears, paws, and tails.


Word of the Day


Today in History:
June 29, 1613 -
The Globe Theater, William Shakespeare's original theatrical venue, burns to the ground on this date. According to one of the few surviving documents of the event, no one was hurt except a man who put out his burning breeches with a bottle of ale.



It must have not been a very good bottle of ale.


Canada Day is soon upon bunkies, so here's some history about our neighbor to the north -
June 29, 1864 -
The worst railway disaster in Canada's history killed 99 people and injured 100 more on this date, when a train, which had been carrying many German and Polish immigrants, failed to stop at an open bridge (the Beloeil Bridge) and plunged into the the Richelieu River near Quebec.



It must have not been a very good bottle of ale.


Canada Day is soon upon bunkies, so here's some history about our neighbor to the north -
June 29, 1864 -
The worst railway disaster in Canada's history killed 99 people and injured 100 more on this date, when a train, which had been carrying many German and Polish immigrants, failed to stop at an open bridge (the Beloeil Bridge) and plunged into the the Richelieu River near Quebec.

She was one of the few physicians (general practitioner and obstetrician) allowed to practice medicine in the Japanese Internment Camps during World War II. The San Francisco Examiner named her one of the "Most Distinguished Women of 1970". After a long career, Togasaki passed away in 1992 at age 95.


June 29, 1954 -
By a vote of four to one, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission decides not to reinstate access to classified information to Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “father of the atomic bomb.” The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 required consideration of “the character, associations, and loyalty” of the individuals engaged in the work of the Commission. Substantial defects of character along with imprudent and dangerous associations, particularly with known subversives who place the interests of foreign powers above those of the United States, are considered reasons for disqualification.



The Commission thought that his associations with known Communists lasted too long to be justified as merely the intermittent and accidental revival of earlier friendships. Almost 70 years later, the United States Department of Energy has reversed the decision, stating the trial was a “flawed process that violated the Commission’s own regulations.”


June 29, 1956 -
Marilyn Monroe married playwright Arthur Miller in a civil ceremony on this date. Only two witnesses and a photographer attended the civil ceremony.

The bride, who wore a sweater and a creased skirt, had said she would not care for a Grace Kelly-style white wedding. She converted to Judaism before the wedding and had a second, religious ceremony on July 1. Their marriage lasted five years.


June 29, 1967 -
Actress Jayne Mansfield may or may not have been decapitated in a car crash, when her convertible collides with a parked tractor-trailer. To downplay the supposed gruesome death, sources spread the falsehood that only her wig flew off in the accident.



Her three children survived in the back seat of the 1966 Buick Electra. Daughter Mariska Hargitay was 3 years old at the time and began her film career at 19.(Please do yourself a favor and check out Mariska Hargitay's documentary, My Mom Jayne, on HBO


June 29, 1971 -
When Soyuz 11 disengaged from the Salyut space station, cosmonauts Georgi Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev were killed by a faulty pressurization valve on this date.



All the oxygen leaks out of the Soyuz cabin before Patsayev could close the valve by hand, and the crew was asphyxiated.

I hate when that happens.


June 29, 1978 -
The body of Bob Crane was discovered in bed with an electric cord wrapped around his neck and his head smashed in, on this date.



When Scottsdale police searched the apartment belonging to the former star of television's Hogan's Heroes, they discovered a video camera and a large library of amateur porn starring Crane and a parade of random women. (Parade of Random Women - still a great name for an indie band.) No one has every been convicted of his murder.


June 29, 1992 -
Mohammed Boudiaf was assassinated by one of his own bodyguards less than six months after becoming President of Algeria. A former hero in the war of independence, Boudiaf had been chosen by the Islamic Salvation Front to serve as figurehead for their regime. More than 100,000 Algerians would later die in political bloodshed in the following decade.

(Please note - this was probably not a good business motto to choice a protection agency - We will not kill you within the first six months or your money back.)


June 29, 2007 -
In January 2007, Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone - a touch screen smartphone with an iPod, camera and Web-browsing capabilities—at the Macworld convention in San Francisco.



When it went on sale in the United States on this date amidst huge hype, thousands of customers lined up at Apple stores across the country to be among the first to purchase an iPhone. The 4GB phone retailed for $499 and the 8GB model debuted at $599.



And so it goes.