Count the memories, not the calories.

It's National Junk Food Day. (What did I say yesterday about lollipops being involved in a huge conspiracy!)



It doesn't really matter what you eat - at some point, you'll be dead.


July 21, 1943 -
Twentieth Century Fox's musical spectacular, Stormy Weather, starring Lena Horne, Bill Robinson, Cab Calloway, Katherine Dunham, Fats Waller, Fayard Nicholas, Harold Nicholas, Ada Brown, and Dooley Wilson, premiered in the US on this date.



Two musical numbers were deleted from the release print: Good-for-Nothin' Joe (music by Rube Bloom, lyrics by Ted Koehler), sung by Lena Horne, who already was identified with this torch song via her 1941 Victor recording as the vocalist with Charlie Barnet and His Orchestra; and Alfred the Moocher, a parody by Cab Calloway of his trademark Minnie the Moocher (music and lyrics by Calloway, Irving Mills and Clarence Gaskill). The Alfred being spoofed likely is renowned film composer and music director Alfred Newman.


July 21, 1956 -
The Looney Tunes short, Barbary-Coast Bunny, directed by Chuck Jones, and starring Bugs Bunny, was released on this date.



This is one of a few cartoons where Bugs Bunny does not munch a carrot.


July 21, 1962 -
The Looney Tunes short, The Slick Chick, directed by Robert McKimson, and starring Foghorn Leghorn, was released on this date.



Mr. Cackle mentions Dennis the Menace when comparing the destructive Junior with that character in one scene, referencing the comic strip character of the same name by Hank Ketcham and the 1959 live-action television series it inspired.


July 21, 1965 -
The Warner Bros. horrow film, I Saw What You Did, directed by William Castle, and starring Joan Crawford, John Ireland, and Leif Erickson, was released on this date.



Joan Crawford was approached for this film one month after she left Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte, due to an "ailment" that prevented her from working (which is believed to have actually been sick of working with her arch enemy Bette Davis). Therefore, William Castle requested that Crawford's doctors sign a statement attesting that she was completely well before giving her the role.


July 21, 1971 -
Carole King's single from the Tapestry album, It's Too Late, hits #1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.



In the You're So Vain vein, this song was rumored to be about James Taylor, who was good friends with King and played on the Tapestry album. In early 1971, Taylor and King toured together with King the opening act. Many people tended to think that this song was about a short romance between the two. King never confirmed these rumors, and Taylor later dated and married Carly Simon.


July 21, 1977 -
Despite protests, The Sex Pistols made their first appearance on the UK music show Top Of The Pops where they lip-synched to their third single, Pretty Vacant (which was released three weeks prior); The performance helped push the song up the charts to No.7.



The Sex Pistols would probably not have been invited if the BBC had realized the title is to be interpreted as "pretty va-cunt." The Pistols had already seen their debut single, God Save The Queen, banned by the BBC as well as by independent UK radio. Their debut album was also banned, and in December 1976, they caused a furor by swearing overtly on an independent television news program, egged on by interviewer Bill Grundy.


July 21, 1979 –
Robert Palmer released a cover version of the Moon Martin song, Bad Case Of Loving You, on this date.



Known by most as "Doctor, Doctor," this is one of many songs in the blues/rock tradition that compares the singers' love to a medical condition. Apparently, Palmer got hooked on whatever the doctor prescribed, as by 1985 he was Addicted To Love.


July 21, 1989 -
Orion Pictures' comedy UHF, (written by and) starring Weird Al Yankovic, David Bowe, Fran Drescher, Victoria Jackson, Kevin McCarthy, Michael Richards, Gedde Watanabe, Kevin McCarthy, Anthony Geary, Emo Philips and Trinidad Silva premiered in US theatres on this date. The soundtrack features many of Yankovic's signature song parodies, as well as a few of his original songs.



Real fish were attached to the "Wheel of Fish." They were bought at a local fish market early one morning. The set designer began attaching them to the wheel around 6 am, making sure the wheel spun smoothly. Filming started at 4:30 pm, on a hot summer day, in a building that wasn't air-conditioned, filled with hot studio lights and over 100 extras.


July 21, 1990 -
Roger Waters staged an over-sized version of Pink Floyd's The Wall near the Berlin Wall, on this date, to celebrate the actual wall's fall several months earlier.



Shot on Potsdamer Platz, the no man's land between East and West Germany, the producers didn't know if the area would be filled with mines - no one did. Before setting up, they did a sweep of the area and found a slew of munitions and a previously unknown Nazi S.S. bunker, the very same as Hitler had lived his last days in as seen in the movie Downfall.


July 21, 2014 -
Marvel Studios and Disney Studios megahit, Guardians of the Galaxy (now known as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1,) starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper and a boatload of other people, premiered in Los Angeles on this date.



Chris Pratt apparently stole his Star-Lord costume from the set, for the sole purpose of having it available so he could show up in costume to visit sick children in the hospital, who might want to meet Star-Lord.


Today's moment of Zen


Today in History:
July 21, 365 -
It was not a good day in Ole Alexandria:



It was not a good day in Ole Alexandria


July 21, 1730 -
Holland established the death penalty for acts of sodomy on this date.

I've often said, this is what comes from trolls and the lack of proper lubricant.


July 21, 1897-
On the former site of the Millbank Penitentiary, London's Tate Gallery (now Tate Britain) was officially opened in London by the future Edward VII, then Prince of Wales on this date.



The art gallery was partially paid for by Henry Tate’s sugar fortune, to house the art collection he donated to the National Gallery several years earlier.


July 21, 1899 -
Ernest Hemingway was born on this date. He was young at the time of his birth. It was fine to be young.

He drove an ambulance in World War I. It wasn’t called World War I then. It was just called the war. It was one of those times when people shot at each other. When people were shooting at each other, they didn’t have time to worry about what to call it. It was only afterward that they needed to call it something.

"What should we call that time when we were shooting at each other?"

"Let's call it the Great War."

"Good."

It was a good ambulance. It was long with a red and white sign. It had flashing lights and a siren that went "wee-ooo, wee-ooo." He liked that.



After the war he lived in Paris. A lot of Americans lived in Paris after the war, but only a few of them had ever driven an ambulance. In the 30s he went to Spain. He was a journalist. They were having a war.

They called it the Spanish Civil War. It was started by an Evil Stooge named General Franco on July 18, 1936. It was a test drive to see whether or not they should have World War II. They had fascists and socialists and anarchists. They even drank sangria. People shot at each other.



(General Franco finally gave up power on July 19, 1974, because he was sick. Maybe he had always been sick. It’s sometimes hard to understand sickness. Maybe we’re not meant to understand it.)

Later Hemingway lived in Cuba. He liked to fish. He liked to drink. He thought all men should fish. He wrote stories about fishing. Finally he blew his brains out at his home in Idaho. It was July 2, 1961.

He had written a lot of books, but now he was dead.


July 21, 1918 -
The German submarine, U-156, attacked Orleans, Massachusetts, hitting the Perth Amboy, a 120-foot steel tugboat and four barges and striking the beach with shells. The five vessels carried a total of 32 people, including four women and five children.



Miraculously, although several people were injured, no one was killed, This was the only time the continental United States was shelled during World War I.


July 21, 1919 -
The Wingfoot Air Express (owned by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company) caught fire and crashed into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building in Chicago, 13 people were killed. This was the worst Airship disaster in the USA until the Zeppelin Airship, Hindenburg crashed in 1937.



Of the 13 who died: one was a crew member, two were passengers whilst the remaining 10 were bank employees in the building below.


July 21, 1924 -
Mainly, I thought of Barney as a kid. You can always look into the faces of kids and see what they're thinking, if they're happy or sad. That's what I tried to do with Barney..



Jesse Donald Knotts, actor, comedian and master Mick Jagger impersonator was born on this date.


July 21, 1925 -
The so-called "Monkey Trial" ended in Dayton, Tenn., with John T. Scopes convicted of violating state law for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.



Scopes was found guilty and was fined $100. The conviction was later overturned on the technicality that the judge had set the fine rather than the jury.


July 21, 1951 -
I used to think that the worst thing in life was to end up alone. It's not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel alone.



Robin McLaurim Williams, actor and comedian, was born on this date (or was it 1952.)


July 21, 1969 -
Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin blast off from the Moon after twenty-one and a half hours on the surface and return to the command module piloted by Michael Collins on this date.



The lunar module’s lower section, left behind, has a plaque mounted upon it, reading, “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”



While all of the world is celebrating the success of the Apollo 11 mission; a little remembered incident also occurred 54 years ago this week, the Soviets nearly landed an unmanned vehicle on the Moon first, Luna 15.

The five-ton Soviet station (Luna 15 was launched on Sunday, July 13) approached the Moon on July 17 - three days before the now-airborne Apollo 11 - and entered near-lunar orbit. But then, the unforeseen happened. For some reason, the spacecraft became stuck in orbit, allowing Apollo 11 to sneak past.



As the first men on the Moon prepared to launch from the lunar surface, astronomers at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Manchester heard commands being sent up to Luna 15 from Moscow. The Soviet spacecraft was beginning its 52nd orbit and preparing to descend towards the surface … it wasn’t until this moment the English astronomers realized the craft was designed to land. They tracked the spacecraft in real time as it sped towards the surface, listened as it gained speed and finally crashed right into Mare Crisium, the Sea of Crises, about two hours before Armstrong and Aldrin we set to leave the lunar surface.



“I say, this has really been drama of the highest order,” remarked one Jodrell Bank astronomer when it was all over.“I say, this has really been drama of the highest order,” remarked one Jodrell Bank astronomer when it was all over.


July 21, 1972 -
In Milwaukee, George Carlin was arrested for obscenity and disorderly conduct for performing his "Seven Dirty Words" routine on a Summerfest stage in Milwaukee. (Tits is still the funniest.)



He was released after posting $150 bail.


July 21, 2011 –
NASA’s Space Shuttle program ends with the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-135 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on this date.



After 135 flights in 30 years, the space shuttles were now history. NASA estimated with the landing of the Atlantis' flight over, the five shuttle orbiters would together have traveled 537,114,016 miles in orbit. Three hundred and thirty-five astronauts have flown on them; 14 died when the shuttles Columbia and Challenger were lost.


July 21, 2023 -
To me, life is a gift, and it's a blessing to just be alive. And each person should learn what a gift it is to be alive no matter how tough things get.







Anthony Dominick Benedetto, the last great saloon singer died on this date



And so it goes.

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.