Too much good whiskey is barely enough

As you know, I'm an inveterate Gin man, through and through but I would have a difficult time deciding whether or not to celebrate International Whisk(e)y Day today or World Whisky Day which is celebrated on May 16th, the third Wednesday in May, this year.



International Whisk(e)y Day uses the parenthesis to indicate support of Scottish, Canadian, and Japanese whiskies (no e) as well as Irish and American whiskeys (with an e). World Whisky Day takes place on the third Saturday in May each year.


March 27, 1952 -
Singin' in the Rain, the apex of movie musicals, premiered in New York on this date.



Gene Kelly was a taskmaster with Debbie Reynolds, who had never danced to this degree before rehearsals started. Fred Astaire, who was in an adjacent dance studio, found her crying under a piano and reassured her that all of her hard work was worth the effort.


March 27, 1965 -
The day after Diana Ross' 21st birthday, the Supremes song Stop! In the Name of Love became their fourth consecutive No. 1 hit on the Billboard charts on this date.



This was written by the Motown songwriting team Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland (Holland/Dozier/Holland). Dozier got the idea for the title after an argument with his girlfriend (she caught him cheating).


March 27, 1967 –
A new British act first appeared on the radio when The Who debuted with their first single I Can’t Explain, on this date.



Pete Townshend wrote this song when he was 18 years old. He described it as being about a guy who "can't tell his girlfriend he loves her because he's taken too many Dexedrine tablets."

Ah, young love!


March 27, 1973 -
Marlon Brando declined the Academy Award for Best Actor for his career-reviving performance in The Godfather on this date. The Native American actress Sacheen Littlefeather attended the ceremony in Brando's place, stating that the actor "very regretfully" could not accept the award, as he was protesting Hollywood's portrayal of Native Americans in film.



Brando was the second actor to ever turn down the Oscar, the first being George C. Scott, who declined his Best Actor Oscar for his role in Patton.


March 27, 1981 -
Michael Mann's first theatrical film, Thief, starring James Caan and Tuesday Weld, premiered on this date.



James Caan made sure to speak slowly and clearly and tried to avoid using contractions in his words. He decided that Frank would do this so he would save time by never having to repeat himself.


March 27, 1987 -
U2 played a rooftop concert in Los Angeles to film their video for Where The Streets Have No Name, on this date.



In 1985, Bono visited Ethiopia after performing at Live Aid. Many assumed this song is about that trip, since the streets there really don't have names, just numbers. The song is actually about Ireland. In Ireland (and Northern Ireland), many cities are divided: rich/poor, Catholic/Protestant, etc. By knowing which street a person lives on you can tell their religion, wealth and beliefs: it's where the streets have no name.


March 27, 1989 –
Simply Red released their remake of the great song by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, If You Don’t Know Me By Now, on this date.



The song was written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, who were architects of the Philadelphia Soul sound. They credit their marital problems with allowing them to write such a heart-rending song.


March 27, 1992 -
Ron Shelton's sleeper hit, White Men Can't Jump starring Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson, and Rosie Perez premiered on this date.



Writer and director Ron Shelton wrote the first thirty-seven pages in one night until things came to a complete halt. "It was written very fast, " he explains. "I was trying to figure out what Gloria's thing was. It had to be so unconnected from the guys. Because that's big for me, to make sure that the women aren't defined in terms of the guy business." After he heard someone discussing a friend's aspiration to get on Jeopardy!, the final piece was in place. "There's no logic to it -- it's sort of the Hollywood dream."


March 27, 1994 –
The CBS TV movie The Corpse Had a Familiar Face starring, Elizabeth Montgomery, Dennis Farina, Yaphet Kotto, and Audra Lindley, first aired on this date.



The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize winner Edna Buchanan's career at The Miami Herald.


Another unimportant moment in history


Today in History:
March 27, 30 -



A small time official in a backwater province of the Roman empire gains immortality for practicing good hygiene.



Pontius Pilate washed his hands and sealed the fate of Jesus.


March 27, 1790 -
Englishman Harvey Kennedy officially patented the shoestring on this date.

Kennedy was not the first to invent shoelaces; however, his version of the shoestring included the aglet, a metal or plastic sheath that protects the ends of the laces. The aglet prevents the shoestrings from unraveling, making the process of threading the laces through the eyelets much easier. Needless to say, shoelaces with aglets were a hit.


March 27, 1866 -
The patent for a urinal (US Patent No. #53,488) was granted to Dr. Andrew Rankin, on this date.

Men everywhere stand up and cheer.


March 27, 1912 -
Washington DC is in the middle of it's annual celebration of National Cherry Blossom Festival (forget about people practicing some sort of social distancing,) commemorating the gift of Japanese cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo City to the city of Washington on this date.

The gift of 3,020 trees to the United States government were planted along Washington's Potomac River.

In a ceremony on this date, First Lady Helen Herron Taft and the Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted two Yoshina cherry trees on the northern bank of the Potomac Tidal Basin, near the Jefferson Memorial.



The gift nearly set off an international incident when the first set of trees sent by the Japanese government, in 1910, were discovered to be infested with harmful insects and disease. All of the trees had to be destroyed. After much apologizing on both sides, the Japanese government sent the new gift of the current trees. The seawall surrounding the tidal basin needs to be repaired and at least 150 of the trees will have to be removed to complete the restoration. New trees will be replanted once the repairs are completed in 2027.


March 27, 1945 -
Don't cry for me Argentina.



Argentina declared war on Nazi Germany, a tad late in the game, on this date. Of course, this was just a silly charade for the benefit of the world community. Argentina would be a quiet ally of Germany for the duration of the war, even welcoming many Nazi and SS leaders to emigrate there in the aftermath.


March 27, 1958 -
Nikita Khrushchev assumed control of the Soviet Union when he took over as premier (Evil Bastard, new style) of the country, five years after the death of Joseph Stalin on this date. Unlike most of the early Soviet leaders, who were all members of the Russian middle class, Khrushchev actually came from the working class (a very polite way of saying, he was as poor as dirt). His father was a coal miner, and his grandfather had been a serf. Khrushchev worked his way up through the ranks of the party until he became a close ally of Joseph Stalin, and during the mass executions of 1930s, when Stalin purged the party of all his suspected political enemies, Khrushchev was one of only three provincial secretaries to survive.

So upon Stalin's death in 1953, when Khrushchev began to work behind the scenes to take control of the party, there was no reason to believe he wouldn't just continue Stalin's reign of terror. But instead, on February 25, 1956, Khrushchev gave a four-hour speech to the 20th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party, viciously attacking Stalin's legacy and abuses of power, detailing all the innocent people Stalin had imprisoned, tortured, and murdered during his reign. The night Khrushchev gave the speech, no one knew exactly what he was planning to say. Witnesses said later that some members of the audience fainted from the shock of hearing Stalin criticized. Several audience members committed suicide a few days later. Many went insane having to endure a four hour speech by a semi literate politburo member.



The speech was never officially announced to the public (for fear of the mass suicides - think Monty Python's WWII 'funny' joke), and Khrushchev never admitted to having made it, but word of the speech immediately began to leak out to intellectual circles and the foreign press. It was a bombshell, and it helped bolster Khrushchev's power at home and abroad. He became the premier two years later, on this day in 1958.


March 27, 1963 -
It's the birthday of the noted filmmaker, crack addict and foot fetisher Quentin Tarantino, born in Knoxville, Tennessee on this date. He was diagnosed as hyperactive as a kid, and didn't get along with his classmates or his teachers. His parents had to tie a pork chop around his neck to get the dog to play with him. The only things that calmed him down were comic books, movies and continually swallowing wristwatches. From the time when he was a toddler, his mother let him watch whatever movies he wanted. He watched everything from kung fu movies to French art house films (perhaps a little too much kung fu movies, some might argue).



He started taking acting classes (obviously failing those courses), and in his spare time he rewrote screenplays of movies he'd already seen from memory. Instead of going to film school, he got a job at video rental store that had one of the largest video collections in Southern California. Several other aspiring filmmakers worked there, and they would watch movies all day at work, discussing camera angles and dialogue. He spent five years working at the video store, writing screenplays, but he wasn't getting anywhere in his career.



He finally got a break when he met an actor who knew another actor who knew Harvey Keitel, and Keitel agreed to look at one of Tarantino's scripts. Keitel was impressed enough to volunteer to help Tarantino produce the film, and to act in it himself. The result was Reservoir Dogs, which made Tarantino internationally famous. His next film, Pulp Fiction, won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1994, and it went on to win an Academy Award for best screenplay.

Beside having won another Academy Award for screenwriting in 2013, and toe sucking, these days, Tarantino has scrapped what he referred to as his 'final film', The Movie Critic. We'll see what his next film will be and whether or not it's his 'final film'.

So by all means, please slap his mother or father if you come across them today and blame them for the state of today's cinema.


March 27, 1964 -
On Good Friday at 5:36 pm, Valdez, Alaska, in Prince William Sound was rocked by an 9.2 earthquake, the largest ever recorded in North America. It lasted 4 minutes and was followed by tsunamis and fires and 131 people were killed.



Much of Crescent City, Ca., was demolished and 12 people were killed by a resulting tsunami.


March 27, 1998 -
The US Food and Drug Administration approved the drug Viagra (Sildenafil citrate), made by Pfizer, saying it helped about two-thirds of impotent men improve their sexual function. Viagra's effects were shown to last 8-12 hours (but remember if your erection last more than 4 hours, after calling your friends, please seek medical assistance.)



Pfizer had originally tested the compound UK 92,480 as a drug for angina and found that male volunteers were getting frequent erections - don't ask . They renamed it Viagra and sought sales approval.



And so it goes.

Eat your greens bunkies

It's National Spinach Day. Not only does spinach provide iron, it’s also an excellent source of vitamin K, vitamin A, and vitamin C — not to mention manganese and magnesium!



Probably tastes even better if it's fresh and not canned. I'm just saying ....

If you don't like spinach - how about brain? Your brain is constantly eating itself. This process is called phagocytosis, where cells envelop and consume smaller cells or molecules to remove them from the system.



Don’t worry! Phagocytosis isn't harmful, but actually helps preserve your grey matter.



(I guess this is why zombies like brains.)


March 26, 1942 -
The Bulleteers, part of the Fleischer Superman animated series, was released on this date.



The line from Mr. Mayor which was "We won't be intimidated by criminal threats!" was used by Cartoon Network's Toonami block in their promos and became a phrase associated with the block, even in its later, Adult Swim days.


March 26, 1953 -
One of Martin Scorsese's favorite films, Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu (the original title, Ugetsu Monogatari,) starring Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyo and Kinuyo Tanaka, premiered in Japan on this date.



The stories of Akinari Ueda were not the only literary sources that the movie's scriptwriters drew upon. They also was inspired by the comic story How He Got the Legion of Honor by Guy de Maupassant for the subplot involving Tôbee's fanatical desire to become a samurai.


March 26, 1969 -
The TV movie which launched the Marcus Welby M.D, series, A Matter of Humanities, starring Robert Young, James Brolin, Anne Baxter, Susan Strasberg, Lew Ayres, and Tom Bosley, premiered on ABC TV on this date.



Tom Bosley's appearance was a last minute emergency replacement for an actor who had been involved in a car accident. Bosley was filming the Eyes segment of the Night Gallery pilot film at Universal, and when delays came up during the filming of that, the producer of the Welby pilot asked if he could borrow Bosley for two hours to do the scene. Bosley was able to do it without losing any time on the Night Gallery pilot.


March 26, 1971 -
Balding, middle-aged, and portly (hey I better watch out, that's starting to describe me) - the Cannon pilot with William Conrad premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



Frank Cannon was originally a policeman, but he quit the force after the tragic death of his wife and infant son in an automobile accident. The tragedy drove Cannon to become a top private investigator.


March 26, 1977 -
Hall & Oates have their first of six chart-toppers when their single Rich Girl hits No. #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, on this date.



In an interview with American Songwriter, Daryl Hall revealed that the guy he wrote this song about is named Victor Walker. He says Walker came to their apartment acting very strange, and Daryl realized that he could get away with it, since his father would pay to make his problems go away. Hall says that Walker knows the song is about him.


March 26, 1977 -
Less Than Zero, the debut single from Elvis Costello, was released by the newly formed Stiff Records in London, England on this date.



The song is a scathing attack on Oswald Mosley, a politician who was popular in England at the time. Mosley, who died in 1980, was the leader of the British Union of Fascists.


March 26, 1987 -
Nike begins airing a commercial using the Beatles song Revolution, marking the first time an original version of a Beatles song is used in an ad.



The commercials caused a huge backlash from Beatles fans who felt that Nike was disrespecting the legacy of John Lennon, who likely would have objected to its use, but the ad campaign, called "Revolution in Motion," was successful, helping Nike expand their market by featuring ordinary joggers, gym rats and cyclists. "We're trying to promote the concept of revolutionary changes in the fitness movement and show how Nike parallels those changes with product development," the company stated. "Because of this 'revolution,' we were able to draw a strong correlation with the music and the lyrics in the Beatles song."


March 26, 1989 -
The science fiction series, Quantum Leap, starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell, premiered on NBC-TV on this date.



Scott Bakula was the first actor cast, and thus was asked to read with actors under consideration for the role of Al Calavicci. Bakula immediately felt a connection with Dean Stockwell during his audition, and lobbied the producers to cast him as Al Calavicci.


March 26, 1994 –
Soundgarden's fourth studio album Superunknown, debuted on the Album chart at #1 on this date.



The band is named after a sculpture in Seattle called Soundgarden, and longtime speculation was that one of the songs from the album got its name from another Seattle sculpture called Black Sun by the artist Isamu Noguchi. (The piece is located in Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill. It looks kind of like a huge, black doughnut and is aimed so you can see the Space Needle through the middle of it.) Superunknown was Soundgarden's breakthrough album, earning the band international recognition


March 26, 1995 -
The pilot short for Johnny Bravo aired on Cartoon Network on this date.



According to creator Van Partible, Johnny Bravo's name originated from The Brady Bunch episode Adios, Johnny Bravo, where Greg was nicknamed "the next Johnny Bravo". The name was also derived from Partible's middle name, Giovanni Bravo, which is also an Italian name for Johnny.


March 26, 2005 -
The BBC revived the Dr. Who series on this date, which hadn't aired since the end of the 26th season in 1989, with the episode Rose, starring Christopher Eccleston as the new incarnation of the doctor and Billie Piper as Rose his new traveling companion.



Executive Producer Russell T. Davies stated that he chose to have Christopher Eccleston depict a new incarnation of the Doctor so he could have a fresh start for both the new viewers and the story lines he wanted to implant in the series, and because Eccelston was a good friend of his who wanted to help Doctor Who gain momentum to become successful again.


Another little known Monopoly card


Today in History:
March 26, 1199 - 
All seemed right with the medieval world. Richard the Lionheart was taking an evening stroll around the castle perimeter without his chain mail, inspecting the progress of soldiers attempting to destroy the fortress in which he had taken refuge. Arrows were occasionally fired from the castle walls, but these were given little attention.

One defender in particular was a source of great amusement to the king: a man standing on the walls, crossbow in one hand, the other clutching a frying pan, which he had been using all day as a shield to beat off missiles (this is what passed for amusement in 1199). He deliberately aimed an arrow at the king, which Richard applauded. However, another arrow then struck him in the left shoulder near the neck. He attempted to pull it out in the privacy of his tent, but failed; a surgeon—called a “butcher” by Roger of Hoveden, a 12th-century English chronicler - removed it, “carelessly mangling” the king’s arm in the process. The wound, however, quickly became gangrenous.

Accordingly, Richard asked to have the crossbowman brought before him - the man proved to be a boy. The boy claimed that Richard had slain his father and two brothers, and that he had struck down Richard in vengeance. Expecting to be executed, the boy instead received mercy: Richard, as a last act of grace, forgave him, saying, “Live on, and by my bounty behold the light of day,” before ordering that he be freed and sent away with 100 shillings. Richard then set his affairs in order, bequeathing his territories to his brother John and his jewels to his nephew Otto.



Richard died on Tuesday, April 6, 1199, in the arms of his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine; it was later said that “as the day was closing, he ended his earthly day.” His death was later described as “the Lion [that] by the Ant was slain.” His final act of chivalry proved pointless: as soon as Richard was dead, his most infamous mercenary captain, Mercadier, had the boy who fired the fatal arrow flayed alive and then hanged.

So much for pardons.


March 26, 1812 –
A political cartoon in the Boston Gazette, created by Elkanah Tisdale, coined the term “gerrymander” (named after Governor Elbridge Gerry) to describe oddly shaped electoral districts designed to help incumbents win re-election.

On February 11, 1812, Gerry, governor of Massachusetts, signed legislation that created an oddly shaped voting district with its southern tip in Chelsea, then heading east to Marblehead, and north along the Merrimack River towns to Salisbury. In March, artist Gilbert Stuart stopped by the office of the Boston Gazette and noticed the new map of the new Essex district hanging on the office wall. He was struck by its peculiar shape, and turned to editor Benjamin Russel, an ardent Federalist, he said “There, that will do for a Salamander.” “Better say a Gerrymander” replied the editor Benjamin Russel, punning on the name of Governor Gerry.


March 26, 1827 -
German composer Ludwig Van Beethoven died in Vienna on this date. He had been deaf for the later part of his life, but said on his death bed "I shall hear in heaven."



I wonder what the first thing that he heard in heaven?


March 26, 1830 -
Joseph Smith published The Book of Mormon on this date, after translating it from golden plates turned over by the angel Moroni.



Smith maintained that the text contained in the tablets were written in Reformed Egyptian which he read by means of two magic stones from the Old Testament, the Urim and Thummim.


March 26, 1845 -
Drs. Horace Harrell Day and William H. Shecut receive U.S. patent No. 3,965 for an adhesive medicated plaster,



It took a few more innovations but it would be reformulated into the modern day 'Band Aid'.


March 26, 1920 -
I regretted my lost youth when I only envy the delights of losing it. Youth is like having a big plate of candy. Sentimentalists think they want to be in the pure, simple state they were in before they ate the candy. They don't. They just want the fun of eating it all over again. The matron doesn't want to repeat her girlhood—she wants to repeat her honeymoon. I don't want to repeat my innocence. I want the pleasure of losing it again. - F. Scott Fitzgerald 

 I don't know why I bother bringing this up but F. Scott Fitzgerald's first novel was published on this date, bringing his talents into the spotlight.



The novel This Side of Paradise immediately launching 23-year-old F. Scott Fitzgerald to fame and fortune.

But what do you care, you don't read anything, anyway.


March 26, 1931 -
My folks came to U.S. as immigrants, aliens, and became citizens. I was born in Boston, a citizen, went to Hollywood and became an alien.



There is some cosmic force far greater than any of us can understand - Leonard Nimoy was born four day after William Shatner.


March 26, 1953 -
Dr. Jonas Salk announced he had a vaccine for polio, on this date. Following Salk's discovery, a nationwide inoculation campaign began in 1955.



By 1957, the number of new polio cases dropped from 58 thousand to under six thousand.


March 26, 2233 - (There is some controversy surrounding this date)
James Tiberius Kirk will be born to Winona and George Samuel Kirk, Sr. in a small farming community in Riverside, Iowa. As the Captain will be quoted in the future, "I'm from Iowa, I only work in outer space."



Although born on Earth, he was apparently raised, at least for a time, on Tarsus IV, where he was one of only nine surviving witnesses to the massacre of 4,000 colonists because of utilitarian extermination by Kodos the Executioner so that the colony could survive a devastating famine.



And so it goes

You could try to go to church once in a while

It's the Feast of the Annunciation, which is not a holy day of obligation, (now a days known as The Solemnity of the Annunciation),



I'm not even going to try to explain this one to you.



While you're in church this afternoon, ask one of the old lady in the back saying her decades of rosary to explain it to you. (This is for extra credit,) today is also the feast of St. Dismas, the patron of undertakers and prisoners.

Dismas was the repentant thief crucified with Christ. (You can impress the old lady saying her rosaries with that fact.)


Happy National Little Red Wagon Day. The last Wednesday in March has been observed as National Little Red Wagon Day since 2016.



The holiday, which celebrates the little red wagons invented by Radio Flyer founder Antonio Pasin, was first marked in 2016 as part of the company's celebration of its 100th anniversary.


March 25, 1932 -
Olympic gold medal swimmer Johnny Weismuller first stripped down to his leopard skin loin cloth - Tarzan the Ape Man premiered in NYC on this date.



Tarzan's distinctive call was either created by sound recordist Douglas Shearer from various sounds, or it was indeed Johnny Weissmuller doing the yell himself. Co-star Maureen O'Sullivan insisted throughout her life that it was Weissmuller doing the yell without any technical assistance.


March 25, 1955 -
Richard Brooks's adaptation of Evan Hunter's novel, Blackboard Jungle, starring Glenn Ford, Sidney Poitier, Vic Morrow, Anne Francis, and Louis Calhern, premieres in the US on this date.



The original novel was based on author Evan Hunter's own experiences as a teacher in New York City's tough South Bronx area. Hunter (who found fame as crime writer Ed McBain) said, "I thought I was going to give these kids who want to be motor mechanics Shakespeare and they were going to appreciate it and they weren't buying it. I went home in tears night after night."


March 25, 1967 –
The Turtles song Happy Together hit No. #1 on the Billboard charts on this date.





Despite what the title implies, this is not a song about a couple in love. According to Gary Bonner, who wrote the song with Alan Gordon, the song is about unrequited love. Our desperate singer wants the girl to "imagine how the world could be so very fine," proposing what would happen "if I should call you up." The line in the fadeout, "How is the weather?" is when he realizes they will never be more than passing acquaintances, as he resorts to small talk to keep from bursting into tears.


March 25, 1968 -
The 58th and final episode of The Monkees, Mijacogeo (also known as The Frodis Caper,) aired on this date.



The four Monkees were each paid $450 per episode, raised to $750 for the second season. They received standard royalty rates for their recordings (and publishing, when they wrote the songs), but received virtually nothing for their merchandising. Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones sued Columbia Pictures in the late 1970s, but had to settle for a payment of only $10,000.


March 25, 1972 -
America's first single, A Horse With No Name, rides to No. #1 on the Billboard Charts, on this date.



America was formed in England by sons of US servicemen who were stationed there. Lead singer Dewey Bunnell wrote this when he was 19. Although the song is commonly misinterpreted about being on drugs, it is not: Bunnell based the images in the lyrics on things he saw while visiting the US.


March 25, 1972 -
ABC-TV aired the final episode of Bewitched, The Truth, Nothing But the Truth, So Help Me, Sam on this date.



Running for eight seasons, this was the longest-running of the so-called "fantasy sitcoms" that dominated the airwaves in the mid 1960s (for example, The Addams Family, I Dream of Jeannie, The Munsters, et cetera), as well as the last surviving example of the genre when it went off the air in 1972 (a year after All in the Family ushered in a new era of reality sitcoms).


March 25, 1973 -
The Carpenters' single I Won't Last a Day Without You became their ninth No. 1 hit on the easy listening charts on this date.



Paul Williams wrote this with Roger Nichols - it was the third hit they wrote for the Carpenters, after We've Only Just Begun and Rainy Days And Mondays.


March 25, 1975 -
Linda Ronstadt releases cover of the Everly Brothers' 1960 song When Will I Be Loved as a single on this date. Her version peaked at #2 on the Hot 100, and became her first #1 hit on the Country chart.



According to Rolling Stone, Phil Everly wrote this in his car, parked outside an A&W root beer stand. He took inspiration from his on-again, off-again romance with Jackie Ertel-Bleyer, the stepdaughter of Cadence Records founder, Archie Bleyer. Phil and Jackie got married in 1963 and divorced in 1972.


March 25, 1982 –
The police drama Cagney & Lacey premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



The screenplay for the pilot was originally written in the 1970s for a feature film that never materialized. After the success of Charlie's Angels, producer Barney Rosenzweig shopped an edited version of the screenplay as a possible television series. It took many years for the script to be produced, because the networks felt that there was no audience for a realistic show about female detectives.


March 25, 1986 -
We all got to meet Cousin Balki for the first time when Perfect Strangers, Knock Knock, Who's There? premiered on ABC TV on this date.



The producers originally developed the series to air in 1985. But Bronson Pinchot was already committed to Sara. When that series was cancelled, the producers quickly hired Pinchot and continued developing their series to air in 1986.


March 25, 1988 -
Pedro Almodóvar film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, starring Carmen Maura and Antonio Banderas was released in Spain on this date.



Pepa Marcos (the character played by Carmen Maura) lives on Calle Montalbán, which is two blocks away from Calle Antonio Maura, named after Carmen Maura's great-great-uncle (a five-time prime minister of Spain)


March 25, 2004 -
Showtime airs the final episode of The Chris Isaak Show, Suspicion, on this date.



Unfortunately, the entire series remains unreleased to DVD due to music licensing costs.


March 25, 2015 -
James Corden seemed to need to supplement his income from his Late Late Show gig, by driving singers around Los Angeles and pesters them until they sing along with him, their own hits on the radio.



Mariah Carey appears to be duped by James Corden for the first installment of Carpool Karaoke, on this date.


Another episode of ACME's Little Know Animal Facts


Today in History:
Anne Brontë was baptized on March 25, 1820. She and her sisters Charlotte and Emily were avid writers. Women were not supposed to write books at the time because novels were still being written in the formal style, and it was feared that women would corrupt that classic form with their penchant for multiple climaxes. The Brontës therefore wrote under the pseudonyms Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell.

Charlotte got to be Currer, which made the other girls jealous, because Currer was the handsome and swarthy sailor: Ellis was the stuttering librarian, and Acton was the simpleminded shepherd.


March 25, 1821 - (Για τους Έλληνες φίλους μου)
Today is the traditional date of the start of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire on this day, which had been occupying and ruling it since the mid-1400s, (though the war actually began February 22, 1821.) The date was chosen in the early years of Greece's sovereignty so that it falls on the day of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, strengthening the ties between the Greek Orthodox Church and the newly-found state.



The war for independence lasted nine years, and was only settled after significant intervention.



The Greek people were so exuberant that they proclaimed the country a republic on this day in 1924, and officially deposed King George II (of Greece) and stripped of his Greek nationality, and sent him packing. (As if I needed to remind you, our favorite itinerant Greek sailor, the late Philip Mountbatten was related to all the modern Kings of Greece as well as most of the remaining royal houses of Europe.)


March 25, 1911 -
It's the 115th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire, the largest industrial disaster in the history of the city of New York, causing the death of 148 garment workers who either died from the fire or jumped to their deaths. It was the worst workplace disaster in New York City until September 11th, 2001.



The fire led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, which fought for better working conditions for sweatshop workers in that industry.


March 25, 1915 -
During submarine maneuvers off Honolulu, Hawaii, USS F-4 (SS-23) sank on this day. Despite all efforts of naval authorities, all 25 of the crew members were lost.

This was the first major submarine disaster. An investigation board will later speculate that the lead lining around the vessel’s battery tank had corroded, leading to a leak that caused the crew to loose control during a submerged run.


March 25, 1942 -
The late great Aretha Louise Franklin (The Queen of Soul,) born in Memphis, Tennessee, on this date, was a singer, songwriter and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings, Franklin is adept at jazz, blues, R&B and gospel music.









Franklin has won eighteen Grammy Awards in total during her nearly half-century long career and holds the record for most Best Female R&B Vocal Performance awards with eleven to her name.


March 25, 1947 -
Reginald Kenneth Dwight, singer-songwriter, composer and pianist was born on this date as well.









In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him as the most successful male solo artist on "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists"


March 25, 1965 -
Today was the end of a march by 25,000 civil rights supporters from Selma to Montgomery, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after four days and nights on the road under the protection of Army troops and federalized Alabama National Guardsmen. They were refused permission to give a petition to Governor Wallace which said: "We have come not only five days and 50 miles but we have come from three centuries of suffering and hardship. We have come to you, the Governor of Alabama, to declare that we must have our freedom NOW. We must have the right to vote; we must have equal protection of the law and an end to police brutality."



During the rally that followed the refusal by the Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated "We are not about to turn around. We, are on the move now. Yes, we are on the move and no wave of racism can stop us."


March 25, 1967 -
As part of Operation Green Mist, the U.S. Army detonated explosive warheads containing the deadly sarin nerve agent at Upper Waiakea Forest Reserve on the big island of Hawaii.

The open-air tests are kept secret for more than 30 years.

Oops.


March 25, 1969 -
During their honeymoon, John Lennon and Yoko Ono started their first Bed-In for Peace at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel on this date.



They'd married five days earlier at the British-owned Rock of Gibraltar in Spain.


March 25, 1975 -
King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was assassinated by his nephew during a reception at Ri'Assa Palace on this date.



The nephew was beheaded the following June: his head was displayed on a spike as a warning for all to see.

Kids don't let this happen to you - remember to immediately pass the Baba ghanoush when dining with your family.


March 25 1990 -
An intentionally set fire at the Happy Land Social Club in NYC killed 87 by smoke inhalation, on this date.



At the time, the fire set by a jealous ex-boyfriend, held the record for a mass murder in the U.S. (until, of course the World Trade Center disaster.)



And so it goes.