You might need a better excuse

Dear Captain Francesco Schettino,
Saying that you 'tripped and fell' into the life boat while over 200 passengers were desperately waiting to board
theirs, doesn't sound too good

Perhaps you should try, 'I chased my dog onto a life boat while he was eating my homework.' It has a more
plausible ring.


January 19, 1942 -
The first of nine films to feature Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, Woman of the Year premiered on this date.



Katharine Hepburn wanted her first film with Spencer Tracy to go as smoothly as possible, so as a quasi-producer, she hired George Stevens, who she thought 'could talk about baseball' with Tracy.


January 19, 1949 -
Robert Palmer, blue-eyed soul singer, was born on this date.










January 19, 1952 -
In the first match-up between Wile E. Coyote and Bugs Bunny, Operation: Rabbit, premiered on this date.



Wile E. Coyote speaks for the first time (he describes himself as a "genius").


January 19,1953 -
68% of all television sets in the United States are tuned in to I Love Lucy to watch Lucy give birth to a baby boy - the same day Ball gave birth to her son, Desi Arnaz Junior.



All the while they couldn't say pregnant on TV or be seen sleeping in the same bed - it appears to be the second virgin birth. The audience for the program was larger than that watching the inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower the following day.


Today in History:
January 19, 1809 -
Edgar Allan Poe (d.1949), American writer, was born in Boston.



His best known stories include: Fall of the House of Usher and The Tell-Tale Heart. His most famous poems are The Raven and Annabel Lee.

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January 19, 1937 –
Bisexual, future germaphobe and aviator Howard Hughes designed and flew the plane Silver Bullet setting a landplane speed record and a transcontinental record of 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds,

flying from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey on this date.


January 19, 1957 -
Ernie Kovacs burst into the public consciousness with the comedy special, The Silent Show.



It was filmed for broadcast first, in color, on the NBC network in 1957. A second version of the show was created on videotape and broadcast November 10, 1961, on the ABC network.



Though both were broadcast in color, only B&W kinescopes of these shows survive, although an excerpt of the color show was aired as part of the NBC 50th Anniversary Special in 1976.


January 19, 1992 -
In Florida, the 64-year-old award-winning playwright Edward Albee was arrested on a Key Biscayne beach for indecent exposure. Charges were later dropped when it was determined that Albee had removed his swimming trunks only to rinse out the sand that was in them and had not done anything vulgar or immoral.

Thank goodness he didn’t try to touch his Tiny Alice.



And so it goes.