Suspicious minds are talking

It's Felt Hat Day



Remember, you can leave your hat on.


September 15, 1949 -
A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty 'Hi-Yo Silver!

The Lone Ranger, the masked hero rode onto the fledgling ABC network for the first time on this date



In the early 50s, The Lone Ranger was so popular with the TV audience, that ABC, for a short period of time , ran the show on late Friday nights for those who missed the earlier Thursday 7:30 PM broadcast.


September 15, 1965 -
This was an incredibly busy day in TV History:



The Big Valley



and Green Acres premiered on this date.


Danger Will Robinson, danger. Dr. Smith is trying to manipulate your reproductive organs!



The Robinson Family gets Lost in Space for the first time on CBS-TV on this date.


And last, but not least, the first American television drama to feature an African-American actor in a lead role, I Spy, starring Bill Cosby and Roger Culp, premiered on NBC-TV on this date.



Bill Cosby's character, Alexander Scott, was originally intended to be an older mentor to Robert Culp's trainee agent, Kelly Robinson. Executive producer Sheldon Leonard cast Cosby in the role after seeing one of his routines (Scott was originally intended to be a Caucasian). Due to this casting change, the writers thought an occasional reference to Cosby's race would be a necessity, given the tumult of the times.


September 15, 1971 -
Just one more thing...

The first episode of the Columbo series premiered on NBC-TV on this date.



Columbo's first name is never explicitly revealed in the series. However, when Columbo flashes his badge in the episode "Dead Weight" (Season 1 Episode 3), the name 'Frank' can clearly be seen on his ID.


September 15, 1986 –
Los Angeles law firm McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak first opened their doors to television viewer when LA Law premiered on NBC-TV on this date.



Viewers could tell the tone of the episode by the way the show's theme song began: if it began with the saxophone, the episode would have a lighter tone. If it began with the strings, the episode had a dark edge to it.

Today in History:
September 15, 1776 -
The British, led by General Howe, occupied Manhattan, capturing Kip's Bay, on this date.

Outraged by the rents, discouraged by the lack of parking and homesick for bubble and squeak and spotted dick, however, they left shortly afterwards, leaving only drunken journalists behind.


September 15, 1830 -
British MP William Huskisson was chatting amiably with the Duke of Wellington at the grand opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, when all at once the right honorable gentleman distinguished himself for posterity by becoming the first human being in history to be run over by a train.

Apparently, Mr. Huskisson number was up.

(The Duke of Wellington, on the other hand, is remembered for his Beef.)


September 15, 1864 -
Thirty-four years later, on this date, another hardy British soul, the explorer John Speke, distinguished himself by becoming the first European to see Africa's Lake Victoria, and then accidentally shoots and kills himself while hunting partridges.

(conveniently, the day before he was to debate his finding with his famous exploration partner, Richard Burton - no, not that Richard Burton, the famous self circumciser and translator of 1001 Arabian Nights.)


September 15, 1885 -

P.T. Barnum's prize elephant Jumbo is struck dead by a freight train in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. It takes 150 men to haul the carcass up an embankment, from whence it is taken to a taxidermist. The stuffed Jumbo becomes a featured attraction in Barnum's circus.

Goodbye Jumbo.


September 15, 1890 -
It's the birthday of Agatha Christie (Vanessa Redgrave), born in Devon, England. She was a Red Cross nurse during World War I. She started reading detective novels because she found they took her mind off her troubles (her hushand couldn't help sleeping with other women) and soon after, started writing her own.



Her big breakthrough book was her novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, which came out in 1926. It was the same year in which Christie had a fight with her husband, fled her own home, and was missing for ten days. There was a nationwide search. It was on the front pages of all the papers. And when she finally turned up, she was famous and all of her books were best-sellers.




September 15, 1928 -
Scottish bacteriologist and noted slob Alexander Fleming accidentally discovered that the mold penicillin had an antibiotic effect, on this date. Had he cleaned his laboratory every night and put all his things away like a good little boy, he never would have discovered penicillin, and half of us would be dead right now.



As I am deathly allergic to penicillin, his discovery has done little for me but I pass this along to you all.


September 15, 1954 -
In front of thousands of spectating New Yorkers at 51st and Lexington, Marilyn Monroe performs the now-famous skirt blowing scene during filming for The Seven Year Itch. The event basically boils down to a publicity stunt, as the whole thing gets reshot later on a Hollywood soundstage.



Unfortunately, this event is the final straw in the Monroe - Dimaggio marriage and it soon comes undone.


September 15, 1972 -

Indictments are brought against the seven Watergate conspirators: James McCord, Frank Sturgis, Bernard L. Barker, Eugenio R. Martinez, Virgilio R. Gonzales, E. Howard Hunt (noted spy, novelist and possible Kennedy assassin, rumored to have been the man on the grassy knoll) and G. Gordon Liddy (noted rat connoisseur).



And so it goes