On the radio (for the first time)

August 20, 1920 -
The first commercial radio station begins operating in Detroit, Michigan with call sign 8MK (Now WWJ (Newsradio 950) ). (8MK went on the air without a license on this date. I understand that KDKA went on the air in Pittsburgh as the world’s first commercially licensed station on November 2, 1920.)



The radio station was started by The Detroit News newspaper and is now owned and run by CBS.



To celebrate the event, National Radio Day, UNESCO formally announced the formation of International Radio Day in February of 2012 (celebrated February 13th), after a suggestion put forward by Spain to celebrate this important means of communication. In some parts of the world, radio still remains an important lifeline to the outside world.


August 20, 1941 -
William Wyler's pitch-perfect adaptation of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes, starring Bette Davis, premiered on this date.



Bette Davis and William Wyler fought a great deal during filming. Disagreements ranged from Davis's interpretation of the character (Wyler thought she should be more sympathetic) to the appearance of the house (Davis thought it was far too opulent for a family struggling financially), to her appearance (Wyler thought her white makeup made her look like a Kabuki performer.) Davis eventually walked out of production, but returned when she heard rumors she was going to be replaced by Katharine Hepburn or Miriam Hopkins.


August 20, 1942 -
An almost forgotten comedy from Columbia Pictures, Talk of The Town, directed by George Stevens starring Cary Grant, Jean Arthur and Ronald Colman, premiered on this date.



This was the first time since the silent era that Ronald Colman was billed below another male lead.


August 20, 1944 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Dog Gone South, directed by Chuck Jones, and starring Charlie Dog, was released on this date.



This cartoon marks the second and final classic appearance of Colonel Shuffle.


August 20, 1955 -
The Merrie Melodies short, A Kiddies Kitty, directed by Friz Freleng, and starring Sylvester the Cat, was released on this date.



Sylvester's only lines of dialogue in this short is saying, "Yeah" four times.


August 20, 1960 -
The Looney Tunes short, Mice Follies, directed by Bob McKimson, was released on this date.



This cartoon was the third of three parodies of The Honeymooners, following The Honey-Mousers and Cheese It, the Cat!


August 20, 1969 -
The horror film, What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? directed by Lee H. Katzin and starring Geraldine Page, Ruth Gordon, Rosemary Forsyth, Robert Fuller and Mildred Dunnock, opened on this date.



The third film in Robert Aldrich's loose trilogy of psycho-biddy films (a subgenre of horror films featuring older women going insane), following What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte. Aldrich was the producer of this film, but unlike the previous two films, he did not also direct it.


August 20, 1972 -
Stax Records commemorates the seventh anniversary of the 1965 Watts riots with a star-studded benefit concert at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, on this date. More than 100,000 fans show up to hear Isaac Hayes, The Bar-Kays, The Staple Singers, and Kim Weston, among others, perform at what becomes known as Black Woodstock.



Among the artists who were scheduled to appear at the concert but couldn't due to various reasons were Little Milton, The Emotions, Johnnie Taylor and Luther Ingram. In fact, Ingram's performance was actually performed on a sound stage a few weeks later with various crowd shots interspersed throughout his performance and the other acts were filmed at various locations in Los Angeles in the weeks following the concert.


August 20, 1977 -
The Emotions hit #1 in the US with the single Best Of My Love for the first of five weeks, on this date. (Two years earlier, the Eagles hit #1 with a song with the same title.)



Songwriter Maurice White sued Mariah Carey and C+C Music Factory for plagiarizing this song for Mariah's 1991 #1 hit Emotions (C+C produced the song for Mariah). Said White, "Sampling is one thing, but she took the whole song." The lawsuit was settled out of court.


August 20, 1988 -
Steve Winwood's single Roll With It when to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.



The song was Winwood's biggest solo hit in the US, spending four weeks at #1 and also topped the pop chart in his native Britain. The album of the same title also topped the US albums chart.


August 20, 1991 -
Spin Doctors release their debut album, Pocket Full of Kryptonite on this date.



The album went on to sell over 5 million copies thanks to the hits Little Miss Can't Be Wrong and Two Princes.


Another little known Monopoly card


Today in History:
August 20, 1865 -
In the great tradition of the American presidency, President Andrew Johnson rouses himself from an alcoholic stupor,

and formally declared the Civil War over (months after Lee's surrender at Appomattox.)


August 20, 1885 -
Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta, The Mikado opened at the Fifth Street Theatre in New York on this date.



The production originally opened on March 14, 1885, in London, where it ran at the Savoy Theatre for 672 performances.


August 20, 1896 -
A patent application was filed (US Patent No. 597,062) by brothers John and Charles J. Erickson & Alexander E. Keith for the rotary dial telephone on this date.



The dial telephone made it possible for people to dial phone numbers on their own thereby making the communication process easier and more efficient. The patent issued January 11, 1898.



There is another clear, bright line on how old you are - have you ever had to dial a phone?


August 20, 1940 -
As the Battle of Britain, the aerial conflict between the Royal Air Force and the German Luftwaffe, reached its apex, Winston Churchill give another of his famous rousing speeches, on this date. Paying tribute to the fortitude of the Royal Air Force, he coined one of his most famous lines, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."



Churchill used the example of the success of the RAF to promote confidence in the British war effort, stressing that it was better equipped for modern warfare than in the Great War with the numerical strength of the army, the naval command of the sea and scientific superiority in weaponry and intelligence.


August 20, 1940 -
Soviet Professional Leon Trotsky liked his job, but the strain was wearing on him — dictatorial burnout. In the summer of 1940 he finally used some of the vacation time he'd accumulated to head down to Mexico and think through his options.



On this date, in Mexico City, Trotsky met with one of Stalin's human resources representatives, who suggested he take an early retirement.



The suggestion was accompanied by several persuasive blows to the head with an axe, which seriously impeded Trotsky's growth potential. Sadly, he died the next day before he could sue for damages.


August 20, 1948 -
... ... You feel quite distant by playing at huge stadiums year after year, where you only can see a great darkness in front of you....



Robert Anthony Plant CBE, button phobia rock singer and songwriter, was born on this date.


August 20, 1977 -
NASA bizarrely decided to go into the record business. Scientists, not quite understanding the record industry, press only one record but make it out of gold, believing that the unaffordable price will boost profit. The record is nearly unlistenable except for the recording of the Chuck Berry song, Johnny B Goode. NASA decided to hide this costly blunder by including the recording in the payload of the space probe Voyager 2, launched on this date, on a mission to Jupiter and beyond. (This will confused the aliens when they realize that NASA launched Voyager 1 on September 5, 1977.)



The contents of the record were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan of Cornell University. Dr. Sagan and his associates assembled 115 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind, and thunder, and animal sounds, including the songs of birds and whales. To this they added musical selections from different cultures and eras, and spoken greetings from Earthlings in fifty-five languages, and printed messages from President Jimmy Carter and U.N. Secretary-General (and ex-Nazi) Kurt Waldheim. Remember these facts when the aliens come to invade the planet. It passed Jupiter in the summer of 1979, and is still traveling, probably right out of our solar system.

In a memorable Saturday Night Live segment, it was announced by Steve Martin that the first message from extraterrestrials was being received. Once decoded, the message stated, "Send more Chuck Berry."


August 20, 1986 -
US Postal worker Patrick Sherrill shot and killed 14 coworkers, and then himself, on this date.

The shooting, which happened in Edmond, Oklahoma, is generally accepted as the event that spawned the "going postal" phrase.


August 20, 1989 -
The two Menendez brothers, Lyle and Erik, shot their parents to death on this date and then went to the movies to establish an alibi. They called 911 when they returned home from the movies to report the murders.



Though they weren't initially suspected, the two brothers ultimately were convicted and sentenced to life in prison. And shockingly, we have lived long enough to see that they may be released from prison soon.


On August 20, 1991, the Estonian parliament declared independence from the Soviet Union.

The next day, Latvia declared its independence from the Soviet Union and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev declared he was back in full control after a 60-hour coup by old-school Communists finally crumbled.



Full control of exactly what?


Today's brief quiz: What did Vincenzo Peruggia steal on August 21, 1911?

a. The Shroud of Turin
b. Home plate
c. The Mona Lisa
d. documents from Mar-a-Lago
e. The Hope Diamond

Bonus: what was his day job? (Answer tomorrow)



And so it goes.

You can't buy happiness, but you can buy ice cream

Today is National Soft Serve Ice Cream Day. Soft Serve Ice Cream has been around since the 1930s. There are conflicting reports of the origins of the dessert. In 1934, Tom Carvel, the founder of eponymous ice cream brand and franchise, had to sell melting ice cream on a parking lot because his ice cream truck had a flat tire. He noticed that people were delighted with soft frozen dessert and concluded that it was a potentially good business idea.



Dairy Queen also claims to have invented soft ice cream as an experiment. Owners J.F. McCullough and his son, Alex, decided to find out if customers preferred ice cream before it was completely frozen, which was how they liked it best.



Just in case this comes up in conversation - an average dairy cow can produce enough milk in her lifetime to make a little over 9,000 gallons of ice cream.

So now you know.


August 19, 1932 -
The Marx Brothers' fourth movie, Horse Feathers, went into general release on this date.



Although the present running time is very close to that of the original, there are still a few bits and pieces and lines of dialogue missing, due to re-editing in 1935 in order to bring the film up to Production Code standards. Apparently the only surviving material also contained some splices which lop off lines of dialogue and bits of action, particularly in the sequence in Thelma Todd's apartment involving the blocks of ice. Another brief gag was cut from the speakeasy scene, in which Harpo stood up on the bar and bowled beer bottles with a grapefruit.


August 19, 1944 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Birdy and the Beast, directed by Bob Clampett, and starring Tweety Bird, was released on this date.



This is the first time Tweety was given his official name, as with his previous short, A Tale of Two Kitties, he was originally referred to as Orson in model sheets.


August 19, 1949 -
The first filmed recording of CBS color television was made in Washington D.C. using a U.S. Navy-designed Berndt-Maurer camera on this date.



The next week, on August 25, RCA announced their Dot Sequential color system which is the one we used today. CBS was making color with a system that used a spinning red, blue and green color wheel on the cameras and receivers, so the CBS system was mechanical where the RCA system was all electronic.


August 19, 1961 -
The Looney Tunes short, The Pied Piper of Guadalupe, directed by Friz Freleng, and starring Speedy Gonzales, was released on this date.



The final Looney Tunes short starring Pepe Le Pew.


August 19, 1964 -
The Beatles first US tour began in San Francisco, California with their concert at the Cow Palace.



They played ten songs to a crowd of over 17,000. The Beatles returned there for another concert in 1965.


August 19, 1969 -
David Crosby, Steven Stills, Joni Mitchell, and the Jefferson Airplane appeared on the Dick Cavett Show, giving a first-hand account of the Woodstock festival that took place over the weekend.



Jefferson Airplane’s performance of We Can Be Together marked the first time the word “fuck” was uttered on live US television.


August 19, 1969 -
The film adaptation of Arlo Guthrie's song Alice's Restaurant, directed by Arthur Penn and starring Arlo Guthrie, Pat Quinn, James Broderick, Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, and William Obanhein, opened on this date



After discovering that the character Officer Obie was modeled after him, actual Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Sheriff William Obanhein demanded that he play the role himself. His reason: "If anyone is going to make a fool out of me, it might as well be me!"


August 19, 1972 -
NBC-TV presented The Midnight Special for the first time on this date.



John Denver hosted the first episode of the show with guests including: Mama Cass, The Everly Brothers, The Isley Brothers, Harry Chapin, Linda Ronstadt and Argent. Helen Reddy was also a musical guest on the show, but did not host this first episode.


August 19, 1972 -
One of Al Green's most popular releases, I'm Still in Love with You, spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Charts, starting on this date. It would eventually go on to sell over one million copies.



Rev. Al Green remembered the I'm Still in Love with You album cover in his 2000 autobiography, Take Me to the River: "In my white turtleneck, white patent leather shoes with the stacked heels and just a touch of diamond and gold, I was as cool and in control as the music between that cover."


August 19, 1973 -
The martial-arts classic, Enter the Dragon: The Deadly Three, directed by Robert Clouse and starring Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Ahna Capri, Bob Wall, Shih Kien, and Jim Kelly, opened in Los Angeles on this date, (a month after Lee's death.)



Shih Kien was a close friend of Bruce Lee's father since they both worked in Cantonese Opera business. Kien worked as a makeup artist and Bruce's father as an actor. Their relationship was so close that Bruce addressed Kien as "uncle" and Kien called Bruce "nephew". During a break, Bruce got a premonition and said to Kien, "Uncle, I feel that you will live longer than me." Surprised to hear that, Kien then replied, "Nephew, don't force yourself too hard. You are overworking yourself." Bruce died one week before Enter the Dragon was released in Hong Kong.


August 19, 1981 -
Sidney Lumet's crime drama, Prince of the City, starring Treat Williams and Jerry Orbach premiered on this date in NYC.



Brian De Palma who had originally been slated to direct, had worked on the script for over a year before being replaced by Sidney Lumet. Sidney Lumet agreed to direct under two conditions: he wanted an unknown actor to play Leuci and he wanted the running time to be at least three hours long. Treat Williams was unknown at the time but the final cut was edited down to 2 hours and 47 minutes.


August 19, 1988 -
Orion Pictures released Jonathan Demme's gangster comedy, Married to the Mob, starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Modine, Dean Stockwell, and Alec Baldwin, on this date in the US.



Matthew Modine initially didn't think that there was anything funny about the script. According to Modine, he was depressed while making this film because of his rough experience making Full Metal Jacket.


Another episode of ACME's Little Known Animal Facts.


Today in History:
August 19, 1601 -
The end of the 16th century was dominated by the personality of Michael the Brave. He became Voivode of Wallachia in 1593, joined the Christian League - an anti-Ottoman coalition initiated by the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire and he succeeded, following heavy battles (Calugareni, Giurgiu) to actually regain the independence of his country.



In 1599-1600 he united for the first time in history all the territories inhabited by Romanians, proclaiming himself "prince of Wallachia, Transylvania and the whole of Moldavia." The domestic situation was very complex, the neighboring great-powers - the Ottoman Empire, Poland, the Hapsburg Empire - were hostile and joined forces to overthrow him; so this union was short-lived as Michael the Brave was assassinated in 1601 on this date.

This bit of historical fluff was totally unnecessary but the next time you want to shut up some snooty blowhard, ask them to name their favorite Voivode of the sixteenth century.


August 19, 1812 -
The first major naval encounter of the War of 1812 took place between the USS Constitution, commanded by Captain Isaac Hull, and the British HMS Guerriere, commanded by Captain Dacres, about 750 miles out of Boston. The two ships were both rated as frigates and carried similar armaments. After a frenzied 55-minute battle that left 101 dead, Guerriere rolled helplessly in the water, smashed beyond salvage. Dacre struck his colors and surrendered to Hull's boarding party. In contrast, Constitution suffered little damage and only 14 casualties.



While the victory of the Constitution militarily was a modest success, its political effect was substantial. It solidified support from New England for the war effort and countered the poor war news coming from the Canadian front.


August 19, 1902 -
Progress might have been alright once, but it has gone on too long.



Ogden Nash, an American poet known for his comic and playful verse, was born on this date.


August 19, 1934 -
The All-American Soap Box Derby, the first official soap box derby, took place for the first time in Dayton, Ohio.



The race is usually held annually with the World Championship race held every July.


August 19, 1934 -
Adolf Hitler won absolute power when 89.9% of the German electorate consolidates the positions of President and Chancellor into a single office, occupied by him (amazing, given the fact that Hitler was not officially a German citizen.)



Years after the war, many Germans swear that they voted for another candidate but the 'whole hanging voter' thing got in the way.


August 19, 1936 -
Federico Garcia Lorca retired from his position as Spain's most celebrated poet (and playwright) in order to become a gravedigger.



This proved to have been a poor career move: his Fascist supervisors were so displeased with his work that they shot him to death after he had dug only one grave on this date.


August 19, 1946 -
Bubba has made it to 80 today!



William Jefferson Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III) 42nd President of the United States of America was born on this date.


August 19, 1960 -
The Soviet Union convicted U2 pilot Francis Gary Powers of espionage on this date, sentencing him to three years in prison and seven years of hard labor.



All because he didn't jab himself with the poison needle; another example of our faulty military training.


August 19, 1960 -
The Soviet Union launched Sputnik V into orbit on this date. On board are two dogs (Belka and Strelka,) along with two unnamed rats and 40 mice. The menagerie was recovered safely the next day from the landing capsule.



The two rats were later appointed wardens of gulags in Siberia. Belka entered politics and nearly became Soviet Premier in the late 60s, unfortunately he developed mange and had to retire from public life. Strelka enjoyed a long career on Russian TV, appearing in such classics as, I Love Lenin and 14's Company. Scandal ruined his later career when doctored photos appeared of Strelka humping the leg of Gore Vidal.


August 19, 1977 -
Why should I care about posterity? What's posterity ever done for me?



One of the world's leading commentator on the human condition, Julius Marx gave up the ghost on this date.


August 19, 2018 -
If it wasn't so horrifyingly grotesque, it would be funny -



Indicted co-conspirator Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump's lawyer claims in interview with NBC Chuck Todd that "truth isn't truth," on this date.



And so it goes.

Some things just don't have a connection

August 18, 1937 -
Following on from the success of Toyota Industries the son of the original founder Sakichi Toyoda of Toyota Industries, Kiichiro Toyoda, founded the Toyota Motor Company in Japan, on this date.



but what the hell do you care. Today is National Bad Poetry Day in the United States.



There's a very fun website will generate on command a great deal of very bad poetry here.


August 18, 1962 -
The Looney Tunes short, Louvre Come Back to Me!, directed by Chuck Jones, and starring Peppy Le Pew, was released on this date.



The final Looney Tunes short starring Pepe Le Pew.


August 18, 1969 –
Playing on the unscheduled fourth day, Jimi Hendrix’s version of The Star-Spangled Banner at Woodstock was considered by some, at the time, to be controversial and disrespectful. Of about 500,000 people who were there over the weekend, only about 30,000 were left, and many of them remember waking up to this song.



He had been playing this version for about a year, beginning as part of a guitar solo he played during Purple Haze. When he played southern states in the US, he was often warned not to play it because the locals made threats against him, but Jimi always played it anyway.


August 18, 1969 -
The mockumentary comedy, Take the Money and Run, directed by Woody Allen, and starring Woody Allen, Janet Margolin, and Louise Lasser, opened on this date.



Woody Allen later said he was not nervous about his first day but was so excited about shooting on location in San Quentin prison that he cut his nose shaving that morning. The mishap can be seen in the prison scene in the movie. He and his team found the inmates there to be very friendly and cooperative. The prison authorities also eagerly welcomed the production but issued a warning: cast and crew were always to be accompanied by guards and if taken hostage, the gates would not be opened to secure their release.


August 18, 1979 -
Chic's single Good Times was their second single to go to No.1 on the Billboard Charts, on this date. The song has become one of the most sampled tunes in music history, most notably in hip hop music.



Nile Rodgers of Chic knew that his song was a block party favorite, but he didn't hear the single Rapper's Delight until he was in a club and the DJ played it. He vigorously objected to the use of his song as the track for another, and threatened legal action. Rather than fight it, Sugarhill Records settled with Chic and awarded them full composer credit, so Bernard Edwards and Rodgers are listed as the only songwriters on Rapper's Delight. With no lawsuit, there was no precedent set for sampling, and artists began incorporating tracks from other songs with impunity throughout the '80s. It was Gilbert O' Sullivan whose 1991 lawsuit against Biz Markie finally established the legal ruling that samples must be cleared.


August 18, 1986 -
Mercury Records released Bon Jovi's third studio album, Slippery When Wet on this date.



The album was going to be called Wanted Dead Or Alive (another song on the album) and show the band on the cover dressed as cowboys. After doing the photo shoot with photographer Mark Weiss, the band decided they were taking it too seriously, changed the title to Slippery When Wet, and found a Jersey girl with ample boobs to wear a wet T-shirt for the cover. That shoot was also with Weiss, this time at Bradley Beach in New Jersey. (The cover with the girl was used on Japanese versions of the album.)  

It looked like they had a winner, but Bon Jovi's record label got cold feet, worried that retail chains wouldn't stock it. They needed a new cover quickly, so Jon Bon Jovi went to Weiss' studio where they wet down a garbage bag and wrote "Slippery When Wet" on it.


August 18 1989 -
Columbia Pictures released Brian DePalma's memorable war drama, Casualties of War, starring Michael J. Fox, Sean Penn, John C. Reilly, and John Leguizamo, in the US on this date.



Brian De Palma said that he had been trying to make this film since 1969 when he first read the Casualties Of War article in The New Yorker. But with the Vietnam War still going on, there was no way that was going to happen, even for many years after it ended. However, in the 1980s, following the success of Vietnam War films Platoon and Full Metal Jacket, and his own gangster hit The Untouchables, studio bosses at Paramount gave him the green light to start developing the project.


August 18, 1993 -
Woody Allen reunited with one of his favorite actress, Diane Keaton when Sony Pictures released Manhattan Murder Mystery in the US on this date.



Manhattan Murder Mystery was actually the generic working title during production--Woody Allen films usually have generic titles during production like "Woody Allen Fall Project"--but since no new title could be thought of, Allen decided to leave that as the title.


August 18, 1995 -
New Line Cinema releases the fantasy film Mortal Kombat (based on the popular video game), directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and starring Christopher Lambert, Robin Shou, Linden Ashby, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Bridgette Wilson, and Talisa Soto, in the US, on this date.



The locations in Thailand were so remote they were only accessible by boat. Cast, crew and equipment had to be transported by long canoes. An outhouse was built in a secluded area near the set so that the crew didn't have to make constant trips to and from the mainland.


August 18, 2001 –
Alicia Keys' single, Fallin’ reached No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.



This was the first single from Keys, who was 20 years old when it was released, but had started writing the song three years earlier. A prodigy who signed with Columbia records when she was 16, Keys wrote the song while she was at the label. Her Columbia album never materialized, as she never clicked with their vision. When she was 18, she left for J Records, a new label founded by Clive Davis. Under Davis, she was given more creative freedom, which worked out very well. Fallin' was a huge hit and validated Davis' strategy.


Today's moment of Zen.


Today in History:
August 18, 1227 -
Genghis Khan died in his sleep, after a fall from his horse on this date. His old age and drinking probably contributed to his death.



(or perhap a Tangut princess, to avenge her people and prevent her rape, castrated him with a knife hidden inside her - ouch), which the Mongols manage to keep secret for some time. Recently, it was just announced.


August 18, 1503 -
... In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed — they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock....



Pope Alexander VI (a Borgia) died on this date. He was the father of seven illegitimate children, and during his reign chose as his lover the lovely sixteen year old Guilia Farnese. He is said to have uttered the last words "Wait a minute" before expiring. (Interesting aside - before the pope could be properly buried, his corpse bloated then exploded. Share that at the dinner table tonight.)


August 18, 1590 -
Sent to England to get supplies three years prior, John White finally returns to Roanoke Island and discovers his colony "strongly enclosed with a high palisade of great trees, with [curtain walls] and [bastions] -- very fort-like."



There is no sign of the settlers or where they may have gone, but carved in the bark of one of the trees is the word CROATOAN.

Luckily, REDRUM wasn't carved in the trees, because that would have been scary.


August 18, 1868 -
French astronomer Pierre Jules César Janssen discovers Helium, while analyzing the chromosphere of the sun during a total solar eclipse in Guntur, India, on this date.



Because helium was found in the Sun before it was found on Earth, its name comes from the Greek word for Sun, helios. It marks the first discovery of an “extraterrestrial” element, since helium hadn’t yet been discovered on Earth.


August 18, 1903 -
German engineer Karl Jatho allegedly flies a motorized gliding airplane four months before the Wright Brothers make their first flight, on this date.

The plane, equipped with a single-cylinder 10 horsepower Buchet engine and a two-blade pusher propeller, allegedly makes several short flights over distances of up to 200ft (60m) at altitudes of up to 10ft (3m). But who's to say I wasn't there, where you?


August 18, 1905 -
Roald Amundsen and his crew of six aboard Gjøe, a converted herring boat, made contact with the US Coast Guard cutter Bear which confirmed their crossing the Northwest Passage following a 26-month journey, on this date.



but what the hell do you care.


August 18, 1920 -
When Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment to the Constitution on this date, all American women were guaranteed the right of to vote.



It appeared that the amendment might fail by one vote in the Tennessee house, but 24 year-old Harry Burn surprised observers by casting the deciding vote for ratification. At the time of his vote, Burns had in his pocket a letter he had received from his mother urging him, "Don't forget to be a good boy" and "vote for suffrage."


August 18, 1936 -
Robert Redford, American actor was born on this date.



He was the founder of the Sundance Film Festival, which he named after his character from the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He set up the Sundance Film Institute in Utah for independent filmmakers and in 1997 announced the creation of Sundance Cinemas, a venture with a major distributor to set up a chain of theaters for the screening of independent films.


August 18, 1940 -
King George VI felt bad that his brother the Duke of Windsor hadn't really found work after resigning from his previous job, as King Edward VIII of England (but that's another story,) and had him installed as Governor of the Bahamas, on this date.



Edward continued as governor of the Bahamas until 1945. Afterward, he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives essentially in retirement, waiting for death.

Not a particularly happy ending for a fairy tale.


August 18, 1955-
Pete Seeger testifies before the House Un-American Activities Committee, where he is asked if he has performed for communists.



Seger replies: "I have sung for Americans of every political persuasion, and I am proud that I never refuse to sing to an audience, no matter what religion or color of their skin, or situation in life. I have sung in hobo jungles, and I have sung for the Rockefellers, and I am proud that I have never refused to sing for anybody."


August 18, 1957 -
Denis Colin Leary, actor, comedian, writer, and director was born on this date.



He established the Leary Firefighters Foundation. When 9/11 happened, his foundation went into action and was hailed as "the second-quickest charity" to get money into the hands of grieving families. One auction alone raised $600,000.


August 18, 1958 -
... Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. ...



Lolita, a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, first written in English and published in 1955 in Paris, later translated by the author into Russian, was finally published on this date in New York. The novel is both internationally famous for its innovative style and infamous for its controversial subject: the book's narrator and protagonist, Humbert Humbert, becoming sexually obsessed with a 12-year-old girl named Dolores Haze.


August 18, 1963 -
James Meredith graduated with a political science degree from the University of Mississippi on this date; he was the first African-American to do so.

He continued on to earn a law degree from Columbia University in 1968.


August 18, 1999 -
A giant black rainbow encircled the Earth, sucking all oxygen from the atmosphere. The air returns shortly thereafter, but only after millions die from asphyxiation. On the bright side, the survivors go on to build a Utopian civilization.



It all happens precisely as predicted in the 1950s by Criswell, the TV psychic immortalized in the movie Plan 9 from Outer Space. If you don't remember this happening, fear not, our new alien Overlords deemed you too stupid to handle this terrifying information and had you anally probed to erase your memory.



It's much too complicated to explain to the likes of most of you.



And so it goes.