And yet Pat Boone still lives

February 3, 1959 -
The Day the Music Died:



A small plane carrying The Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson), Buddy Holly and Richie Valens crashes near Mason City, Iowa, while en route to a show in Fargo, North Dakota. Richardson had developed a case of the flu during the tour (erroneously thought to have been caused by riding on the unheated bus) and asked one of Holly's bandmates, Waylon Jennings, for his seat on the plane; Jennings agreed to give up the seat. According to an account by Jennings years later, when Holly heard about this, his reply to Jennings was, "Well, I hope your ole bus freezes up!" to which Jennings replied, "Well, I hope your damn plane crashes!" This exchange of words, though made in jest at the time, haunted Jennings for many years afterward.



Dion DiMucci of Dion & The Belmonts, who was the fourth headliner on the tour, was approached to join the flight as well; however, the price of $36 was too much. Dion had heard his parents argue for years over the $36 rent for their apartment and could not bring himself to pay an entire month's rent for a short plane ride.


February 3, 1951 -
Another great Sylvester cartoon, Canned Feud, premiered on this date.



This cartoon is particularly violent for the series and for a Sylvester cartoon in particular.


February 3, 1956 -
It's Nathan Lane's birthday







Pound for pound, one of the funniest guest on a talk show.


February 3, 1945 -
Walt Disney's The Three Caballeros, premiered in the US, on the date.



The film was produced as part of the studio's contribution to the Good Neighbor policy towards South America


Today in History:
February 3, 1468 -
About 600 years ago a child was born in the city of Mainz, in what is today Germany. His name was Johannes Gutenberg. He worked as a goldsmith and gem cutter until finally converting a wine press into a printing press.



He printed 200 copies of the Bible and gradually went broke. He died on this date.

Lesser known to history is the name of Edgar Weasle-Puck, the Englishman who developed a printing press at around the same time as Gutenberg. Instead of printing Bibles, however, Weasle-Puck ran off 500 copies of Lewde & Graffical Engravingf of Perfonf Not Wearing Any Clothef. He made a small fortune, changed his name, purchased an Earldom, and moved to southern France, where he spent the rest of his days eagerly awaiting the invention of the lower-case "s."


February 3, 1882 -

P.T. Barnum purchased the elephant Jumbo on this date. He kept him for three years until the animal's skull is crushed by a train.

After his death, Jumbo's skeleton was donated to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The elephant's heart was sold to Cornell University. Jumbo's hide was stuffed by William J. Critchley and Carl Akeley, both of Ward's Natural Science, and the mounted specimen traveled with Barnum's circus for a number of years.

In 1889, Barnum donated the stuffed Jumbo to Tufts University, where it was displayed until destroyed by a fire in 1975, coincidentally a fate that befell many of Barnum's exhibits during his own lifetime. The great elephant's ashes are kept in a 14-ounce Peter Pan Crunchy Peanut Butter jar in the office of the Tufts athletic director.

I could not make this up if I wanted to do so.


February 3, 1913 -
In one of the blackest days in U.S. history, the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified on this date. This amendment created the income tax.

Although, Mitt Romney knows next to nothing about how it affects the very poor.


The United States broke diplomatic relations with Germany on February 3, 1917. The Germans were very upset by this and tried to make America jealous by flirting with Mexico. Britain overheard Germany's sweet talk and told America everything she'd heard. Unfortunately for Germany, however, it didn't make America jealous. It made America angry. A few months later the United States declared war on Germany.

(Less than two years later, World War I ended with Germany's defeat. This made Germany upset again, and they spent the next two decades planning how they'd get even. Eventually this led to World War II, which also ended with Germany's defeat. Germany remains upset to this day, but, having been deprived of an army, poses no serious threat to anyone but France.)


February 3, 1927 -
As for why he has not been more widely celebrated, I think he is just way too dangerous – I met him once and saw it in his eyes. Do I believe in his claims about black magic and the occult? Yes, of course I do. - Harmony Korine







Kenneth Anger, American underground avant-garde film-maker, author of the book Hollywood Babylon and professional Dan Rather impersonator, was spawned on this date.


February 3, 1944 -
Robert Stevenson's classic presentation of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, was released on this date. (Look for Elizabeth Taylor in an uncredited role in the film.)



Orson Welles did enough work behind the scenes that the production company offered him a producer credit, which he turned down. Welles's official reason for this is a belief that a person who is not directing the film shouldn't be "just" a producer.


February 3, 1971 -
New York Police Officer Frank Serpico is shot during a drug bust in Brooklyn and survives to later testify against police corruption.



Many believe the incident proves that NYPD officers tried to kill him.



And so it goes