We've been experiencing technical difficulties

 (I was unable to get to a working computer to finish work on today's entry - a stub was inserted until I was able to update.)

September 30, 1938 -
RKO Studios released the eighth Marx Brothers film, Room Service, on this date.



This is the only film The Marx Brothers made with R-K-O. During salary negotiations with R-K-O, Zeppo Marx (who hadn't appeared with his brothers professionally in a while) represented The Marx Brothers, threatening to "rejoin the group if their demands weren't met!"


September 30, 1948 -
Howard Hawks released his iconic western, Red River, starring John Wayne and Montgomery Clift on this date.



John Wayne and Walter Brennan did not get along with Montgomery Clift, because of his outspoken political views (and the open secret in Hollywood that he was gay) and they stayed away from the young actor when not filming. Clift later turned down Dean Martin's role in Rio Bravo because he did not want to be reunited with those two actors.


September 30, 1952 -
The motion picture process Cinerama -- which employed three cameras, three projectors and a deeply curved viewing screen -- made its debut with the premiere of This Is Cinerama at the Broadway Theater in New York City on this date.



Cinerama technicians were working on the system right up to the last minute. The was no time for a trial run. It wasn't until the actual premiere in front of an audience that the entire presentation of this film, from start to finish, took place.


Today in History:
September 30, 1452 -
It's the anniversary of the printing of the Gutenberg Bible in Mainz, Germany on this date. It was the first book ever printed with movable type. What made Gutenberg's invention revolutionary was not that it allowed you to print letters on paper, but that you could print an infinite number of different pages from a small number of letter blocks simply by rearranging them.



The first section of the Bible came out on this day. He printed 180 copies on expensive Italian paper. It was designed to be used for public reading in the dining halls of monasteries. But within three decades there were print shops all over Europe, and Gutenberg's invention launched a revolution in education.

Today about four dozen copies of the Gutenberg Bible survive. One of the most recent copies to come on the market was auctioned in New York in 1987 and sold for more than $5 million.


September 30, 1630 -
Pilgrim John Billington, who arrived on the Mayflower, was hanged at Plymouth for killing John Newcomen with a musket on this date.

(this is not a picture of either John Billington or John Newcomen.  The wayback machine was in the shop for repairs.)

Billington was the first Englishman executed in New England.


September 30, 1927 -
Babe Ruth hit his 60th home run of the season, on this day.



(Mark McGwire was born on October 1, 1963, however, so this no longer matters to some. Although, the Bambino was only hopped up on booze.)


September 30, 1938 -
The Germans occupied the Sudetenland in late summer of 1938. This enraged the British and the English, who both feared for the loss of the Sudetenland's celebrated pea crops.



British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain flew to Germany to meet Hitler at Bertesgaden to discuss the situation, on this date.



Hitler assured him that there would be plenty of peas to go around, and Chamberlain returned to England with the famous proclamation of Peas in Our Time. World War II was therefore avoided and did not break out until some time later.


September 30, 1955 -
Teen idol James Dean was killed in a car accident that probably could have been avoided if he had had his car inspected and tuned up regularly, obeyed all posted highway signs, and driven only when alert and sober



(Remember kids, if you are going to drink til you drop, drop where you drink), on this date.


September 30, 1960 -
The first prime-time animated series aimed at adults, The Flintstones, premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



The four main characters (Fred and Wilma Flintstone and Barney and Betty Rubble) were based on the four main characters from The Honeymooners. Jackie Gleason came close to suing Hanna Barbera over The Flintstones' resemblance to The Honeymooners until friends pointed out to him that it might be bad for his image if he became known as 'the man who killed Fred Flintstone'.


September 30, 1982 -
Cheers, the comedy television series that ran eleven seasons from 1982 to 1993, premiered on this date.



The series was originally to have been set in Barstow, California, and Sam Malone was to originally to have been a retired football player. When Ted Danson was hired for the role, his character was rewritten to be a retired baseball player for the Boston Red Sox to match Danson's body type. (If you have a chance, check out a great article in GQ - an oral history of Cheers on it's 30th anniversary.)




And so it goes.

Oh Mr. Rogers!

This is presented without comment, (children, please look away.)

Go about your business, nothing to see here.


September 29, 1948 -
Laurence Olivier's powerful interpretation of Shakespeare's melancholy Dane, Hamlet premiered in New York Cuty on this day.



With this film, Laurence Olivier became the first person ever to direct themselves to a best actor or actress Oscar. Roberto Benigni in Life Is Beautiful is the only other actor to achieve this feat.


September 29, 1953 -
The family comedy Make Room for Daddy, starring Danny Thomas, premiered on ABC TV on this date.



Penny Parker beat a then-unknown actress named Mary Tyler Moore for the role of Terry. According to Danny Thomas, the only reason Parker got the part was because he felt Moore's nose looked different enough from his so that nobody would believe she was his daughter.


September 29, 1954 -
The movie musical A Star Is Born, (the third version of the film, fourth, if you count What Price Hollywood) starring Judy Garland and James Mason, had its world premiere at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood on this date.



Because the role of Norman Maine is that of a has-been actor, it was rejected by Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and Cary Grant (who at first accepted it) before being finally accepted by James Mason.


September 29, 1960 -
We were all welcomed into the Douglas household when My Three Sons, starring another of TV favorite alcoholic dads, Fred McMurray, premiered on ABC on this date.



At Fred MacMurray's insistence, all episodes were filmed out of sequence during the show's entire run using a technique now known as the MacMurray method. MacMurray would do all of his scenes in 65 nonconsecutive days.


September 29, 1963 -
My Favorite Martian, starring Ray Walston and Bill Bixby premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



I wonder if NASA is having Curiosity look up Uncle Martin's address?...


Today in History:
September 29, 1399 -
... For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings...



Richard II was deposed, on this date,which only served him right for having posed in the first place. He was succeeded by Henry IV Part I.


September 29, 1513 -
Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean, on this date (although he may have discovered it four days earlier - I'm not sure what the Spanish Navy's stance was on the the whole rum ... question.)



How something that covers roughly a third of the earth's surface could have been lost for so long is a question that stumps historians to this day.


It's Miguel de Cervantes' birthday today. Born in 1547, Cervantes is best known as the author of Don Quixote, a cunning satire on mental illness. The work is an epic treatment of the perennial question, "wouldn't the world be better off if we were all crazy?"

The answer from the novel is a qualified yes: the story supports the premise, but its length and lucidity suggest that the author himself was not crazy, which contradicts the premise.

Ever since the publication of Don Quixote, the idea of improving through world through mental illness has taken root in the popular culture of the west. From the good soldier Svjek and Prince Myshkin to Chauncy Gardener, Elwood P. Dowd and Forrest Gump, western readers and filmgoers have a galaxy of benevolent lunatics to show them the way to a better, purer existence. Grand mal seizures, delirium tremens, and hallucinations are merely the price of admission to their wistful world of blissful ignorance.



The sane and hard-working do not come off nearly so well in film or literature. In fact, sane and hard-working people seldom even appear in film or literature. No one wants to read about them, or spend good money to watch them go about their plodding lives, because most of us are surrounded by sane and hard-working people already and know what they're like—they're just like us, only less so.



Early to bed and early to rise may make a man healthy, and wealthy, and wise, but it won't do a goddam thing for his Nielsens. In fact, if you're healthy, wealthy, wise, and well-rested, you're only going to piss the rest of us off. Lighten up, slack off, drink up, and spend plenty of quality time with imaginary friends.



That's the real road to happiness—or at least our acceptance, without which you have no right to be happy.


September 29, 1955 -
The only film Charles Laughton directed, The Night of the Hunter opened in New York City on this date.



While the poor critical reviews are often cited as the reason Laughton never directed another feature, Laughton himself said that he much preferred directing in the theatre. In the theatre you could constantly change and amend the production - adding lines, changing lighting and sets - but with film once it was done it could never be changed.


September 29, 1957 -
An explosion at the Chelyabinsk-40 complex, a Soviet nuclear fuel processing plant, irradiates the nearby city of Kyshtym with strontium-90, cesium-137, and plutonium.

This accident releases twice the radioactivity of the Chernobyl incident.

Oops


September 29, 1976 -
At his birthday party, musician Jerry Lee Lewis accidentally shoots his bass player Norman Owens twice in the chest, trying to open a soft drink bottle with a .357 magnum. Owens survives and files a lawsuit.

Now don't you wish you were at that party !!!


September 29, 1989 -
Zsa Zsa Gabor, a person famous for no apparent reason and with no visible means of support (It's too weird to think that Zsa Zsa was once Paris Hilton's step-grandmother), was convicted of slapping a Beverly Hills police officer on this date.



Gabor later complains that she was denied a jury of her peers, saying "It was not my class of people, There was not a producer, a press agent, a director, an actor."



And so it goes.


Mazel Tov Cayne - hope your Bar Mitzvah goes well!

Just in case you need some help

There is a new search engine to help you find porn (I'm not going to link to it, you find it yourself.)  Apparently there was a dire need to help the large group of clueless 15 year old boys find porn on the internet.  I prefer the old fashion method of porn searching - stumbling blindly through the internet, beating the bushes, looking for porn (wait a minute, that didn't come out right.)


September 28, 1949 -
The first of the 12 films Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis made, My Friend Irma, premiered in New York City on this date.



If you care to compare, the film mirrors Abbott and Costello's first film outing.  They were both supporting characters in their first film outing, yet you could easily see the kernels of their starring comedic film personas emerging.


September 28, 1964 -
I guess I just prefer to see the dark side of things. The glass is always half empty. And cracked. And I just cut my lip on it. And chipped a tooth.



Janeane Garofalo, comedian, actress and writer was born on this date.


September 28, 1968 -
The Beatles'single, Hey Jude, went to number one on the Billboard Charts and stayed there for 9 weeks. (Listen how the song starts with one instrument and the record ends with with 50 instruments playing.)



This was the Beatles longest single, running 7:11 and at the time was the longest song ever released as a single. It was the first long song to get a lot of airplay, as radio stations still preferred short ones so they could play more of them. When this became a hit, stations learned that listeners would stick around if they liked the song, which paved the way for long songs like American Pie and Layla.



September 28, 1994 -
Tim Burton's love letter to the early career of Edward D. Wood, Jr., Ed Wood premiered on this date.



It has been estimated that the opening title/credit sequence cost more (in unadjusted dollars) than the entire budget of any of the real Edward D. Wood Jr.'s films.


Today in History -
British history began on September 28, 1066, with the Norman invasion of England. The Normans were a group of Franks who'd grown weary of being so Frank. Their decision to become Normans cost them their Frankness, so they joined together and invaded England under the leadership of William (or, in Norman, "Norman") the Conqueror.



Prior to this invasion, Britain had been occupied mostly by Angles, Saxons, and large stones (who had never properly appreciated cricket, fog, or Kipling and had therefore been unable to invent England.) William (Norman) the Conqueror realized that, if it was ever going to amount to anything, what England really needed was a Great King, preferably someone very much like himself.

Appropriate arrangements were made.


September 28, 1850 -
The United States Navy abolishes the practice of flogging. Among the crimes for which this was the penalty are: stealing poultry from the coop (12 lashes), being lousy (6), stealing a wig (12), and being naked on the spar deck (9).



I believe 9 lashes for being naked merely encouraged most of the men.


It's the birthday of Ed Sullivan, born in New York City (1902) on this date. He was writing a gossip column for the New York Daily News called "Little Old New York," moonlighting now and then as a master of ceremonies at variety shows and benefits. He was emceeing a dance contest when somebody asked him if he'd like to try hosting a show on this new thing called television.



The Ed Sullivan Show premiered live on CBS in 1948, and within a few years about 50 million people watched it every Sunday night. It was like vaudeville. It had opera singers, ventriloquists and magicians and pandas on roller skates and big stars. Ed Sullivan said, "Open big, have a good comedy act, put in something for children, and keep the show clean."



He was a shy, awkward man, but he loved performers. He personally chose every guest for his show. He was one of the first hosts to invite black performers, including Jackie Robinson, Duke Ellington, Richard Pryor and James Brown, on his show.



Ed Sullivan: the last television host who tried to appeal to everyone in America.


September 28, 1920 -
A Cook County grand jury indicts the  - the White Sox players paid to throw the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds.



Even though they are found not guilty, Commissioner Landis bans them all from professional baseball for life.


September 28, 1978 -
A nun at the Vatican discovers the lifeless body of Pope John Paul I, formerly Albino Luciani, in bed. The pontiff had been on the job only 33 days before unexpectedly dying in his sleep, after having taken some sort of pills with dinner.



The church refuses to grant an autopsy.

See Godfather III for further explanations.


September 28, 1989 -
Former Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos died in Waikiki, Hawaii, after three years in exile on this date. He was in ill health and awaiting US charges on looting funds from his country.

His wife keeps the cadaver in a refrigerated coffin for years.   (Wow, this is the second time in about a week that I've mentioned the popicle ex-dictator.)



And so it goes.

I try folks, I honestly try

Once again, I have traveled too far on the internet highway in search of things to present to you -



So remember, don't choke your colon, use Squatty Potty, (alright, I have to go rest for a bit until the feeling of intense immaturity goes away.)


September 27, 1947 -
Delmer Daves stylish noir-thriller, Dark Passage, opened on this date.



Humphrey Bogart's complete uncovered face is not seen clearly until 62 minutes into the movie, when his character finally removes his bandages and looks into a mirror. All previous scenes with the character are either shown from his point of view or have his face obscured with shadows or bandages.


September 27, 1951 -
Marvin Lee Aday, singer songwriter was born on this date.




September 27, 1964 -
The Beach Boys appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time on this date.



They performed  the song I Get Around that evening. The song was released as a double A-side single in May 1964 with Don't Worry Baby.  It is considered one of the best ever single releases along with Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever by The Beatles and Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog by Elvis Presley.


September 27, 1975 -
The documentary film by Albert and David Maysles, Grey Gardens, premiered in the New York Film Festival on this date.



The film was something of an accident, in the sense that the Maysles' came across Edith Bouvier Beale and Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale when involved in another project - a movie about (Jacqueline Kennedy's sister) Lee Radziwill's childhood. As part of research, the Maysles brothers were introduced to the Beales, and were captivated by their world. Deciding not to make the Radzwill film, they turned instead to the Beales. A year after first meeting the two women, began filming.


Today in History:
Today is the 106 year anniversary of the publication of Albert Einstein's paper "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?" in the Annalen der Physik, introducing the equation E=MC2.



Before this, E equaled just about anything you wanted it to equal. Just think what the atomic bomb would have been like if E = banana peels or dog turds.


September 27, 1854 -
The first great disaster involving an ocean liner in the Atlantic occurred when the steamship Arctic sinks in foggy weather after colliding with the iron bow of the Vesta on this date. When Captain Luce of the Arctic orders women and children into the lifeboats, the crewmen rebel and take the boats for themselves.

Of 435 on board, only 85 survive -- and none of them women or children. It is the first major ocean liner disaster in the Atlantic. The "Artic" disaster shattered high Victorian notions of how men were supposed to respond under duress.


September 27, 1959 -
Typhoon Vera, otherwise known as the Isewan Typhoon, killed 4,464 people on the Japanese island of Honshu and injured 40,000 more. 1.5 million were made homeless.



The severe storm conditions of Typhoon Vera caused the most of destruction and loss of life of any tropical cyclone in Japanese history.


September 27, 1964 -
The Warren Commission issued its final report on this date.



It's main conclusions was that President Kennedy had been assassinated and was probably dead.


September 27, 1972 -
Enema enthusiast, Gwyneth Paltrow, is celebrating her 40th birthday on this date.



She is probably not choking her colon. Huzzah! 



And so it goes

An unexpected result of this year's drought

I hope you're sitting folks - according to the National Pig Association in the UK “A world shortage of pork and bacon next year is now unavoidable.”



In the US, farmers predict pork prices will hit new highs in 2013 as farmers cut back on production due to soaring feed costs.  Begin freezing extra packages of bacon and a couple of spiral cut hams - we will get through this.


September 26, 1945 -
The older I get the less I know about women. They are completely infallible and totally impossible.



Bryan Ferry (the Lord of Louche) lead singer of the group Roxy Music and solo artist, was born on this date.


September 26, 1962 -
The cult film Carnival of Souls, premiered on this date



The Saltair that appears in the film actually burned down in the early '70s. In the early '80s another version of Saltair was rebuilt, although it was a much smaller design. Shortly after it was built, the Great Salt Lake rose and flooded it out. In 1993, the building was remodeled and reopened, now it's mainly used as a small venue for musical acts.


September 26, 1968 -
(The real) Hawaii Five-O premiered on CBS TV on this date.



Despite the attention that Hawaii Five-0 brought to Hawaiian state law enforcement, Hawaii is the only state that has no state police agency.


Today in History:
September 26, 1895 (he may have been born in 1901 - who knows) -
George Raft was an American film actor who was most closely identified with his portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s, was born on this date. George may have achieved an unenviable place in Hollywood folklore as the actor who turned down some of the best roles in screen history, most notably High Sierra, The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca and Double Indemnity.



Also, George Raft also gave more actresses and bit players 'the clap' than any other actor during the 30's. What a wonderful way to be remembered.


September 26, 1580 -
Francis Drake returned to Plymouth, England, on this date, ending a three-and-a-half year journey around the world.



It was nearly four more centuries, however, before The Beverly Hillbillies premiered on CBS-TV (on this day in 1962).



The lengthy lapse between these watershed events has never been explained.


September 26, 1687 -
Troops laying siege to Athens led by Venetian general Francesco Morosini rain cannon fire down on the Acropolis and the Turkish soldiers garrisoned inside. One cannonball penetrates the Parthenon, which happened to serve as the Turks' gunpowder magazine.



The roof, walls, and 16 columns are blown off by the resulting explosion.

Oops, sh*t happens.


September 26, 1937 -
The Empress of the Blues, Bessie Smith, sustains grave injuries in a traffic accident on US Highway 61 on this date. She is taken to a colored hospital in Clarksdale, Mississippi and her arm amputated. Smith dies later that day from blood loss.



According to legend, Bessie had been refused treatment by a closer, whites-only hospital.


September 26, 1960 -
Kennedy and Nixon face off in the first televised presidential debate. Nixon had been recuperating from illness yet refused to wear makeup for the camera, looking haggard and gray.



Radio viewers gave positive opinions for Nixon's performance but so many people saw the debate televised that Kennedy gained the lead in the polls, ultimately winning the election.

Remember what I said about Checkers, his kids' dog.


September 26, 1964 -
S. S. Minnow started it's three hour tour (and lasted 98 shows) when Gilligan’s Island premiered on CBS-TV, on this date.



The ship's name, S. S. Minnow, was not named for the fish but rather for Newton Minow, head of the FCC in 1961. Minow was the one who called television "America's vast wasteland". Sherwood Schwartz did not care for Minow so he named the soon-to-be shipwrecked ship after him, though he later said that Minow actually enjoyed the joke and that the two eventually exchanged regular friendly correspondence.


September 26, 1969 -
Beatles release the Abbey Road album in London, on this date.



It was their 13th album in the U.K. It was also their last album together as a group.


September 26, 1969 -
An unsuspecting American public is forced to deal with the vaguely incestuous family comedy series The Brady Bunch which premiered on ABC-TV on this date. Remember, the Bradys were so good, clean and wholesome that didn't even go to the bathroom (you never saw the toilet.)



When Florence Henderson, arrived to do her screen test, there was no one on staff to do her make-up, so she went over to the adjoining studio where Star Trek was filmed and she found herself seated in a make-up chair between William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, being made up for their day's work on Star Trek. Henderson recalls that both actors completely ignored her.



And so it goes

Today is National One-Hit Wonder Day.

Celebrate responsibly - listen to only one or two of them at a time.









I so hope that my daughters stop playing Rock Band, so I no longer ever have to hear Eye of the Tiger.


September 25, 1943 -
 The music goes around and around and it comes out here

An excellent Merrie Melodies cartoon, A Corny Concerto was released on this date.



It's the only cartoon in which Porky Pig hunts Bugs Bunny (unless you count Porky's Hare Hunt, the first cartoon to feature the rabbit character eventually known as Bugs).


September 25, 1961 -
One of the greatest sports movies of all time, The Hustler, premiered on this date.



When first approached to play the role of Fast Eddie Felsen, Paul Newman couldn't accept it because he was scheduled to begin filming Two for the Seesaw with Elizabeth Taylor. When Taylor was held up with the filming of Cleopatra, "Seesaw" was postponed and Paul was able to do this film.


September 25, 1964 -
The series Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., starring Jim Nabors (who was not married to Rock Hudson) premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



Although, the series has a military setting, and the Vietnam War was going on at the time it originally aired, the war itself is never discussed. Jim Nabors said that it was always difficult for him to watch the opening of the show because many of the men that he is seen marching with were killed in Vietnam. 


September 25, 1965 -
The Beatles Cartoon Show premiered on ABC-TV on this date. It racked up a 13 score (or 52 share), then unheard of in daytime television.



After the end of the series, Al Brodax and George Dunning would continue with Beatles animation ( the Beatles themselves did not care for the show) by creating the animated feature The Yellow Submarine.


September 25, 1970 -
Everybody was implored to 'Get Happy' when The Partridge Family on this date.



Originally, the show was to star the real life musical family The Cowsills. However, they backed out when the producers decided to have Shirley Jones take over the role of the mother from the group's actual matriarch, Barbara Cowsill.


Today in History -
On this day in 1789, Congress proposed twelve amendments to the Constitution of the United States. Habeas Corpus Christi and Freedom from Unreasonably Surging Seashores were ultimately rejected but the other ten passed and have come to be known as the "Bill of Rights."



In honor of this important anniversary, I have chosen to celebrate my favorite amendment, in the hopes that it may also soon be yours. I am speaking of the Ninth Amendment.

Like that of Beethoven, the Constitution's Ninth is the standard against which all others must be measured. Unlike Beethoven's, it doesn't climax with a resounding choral tribute to Joy (but that could be fixed).



Here is the ninth amendment: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

This important amendment should not be neglected just because of some awkwardly placed commas.

Under the first amendment, for example, I have been given the right to say any stupid thing that pops into my head. (This should not be confused with the responsibility of doing so, which is reserved to journalists. Glenn Beck seems confused about this.) This is an enumerated right. My right not to have to listen to anyone else's idiotic opinion is not enumerated, but it's just as important.

In the second amendment, in order to preserve peace and order in the state, I have been granted the right to stockpile dangerous weapons. Unenumerated but no less important is my right not to be caught in the crossfire while you fire off a couple of clips at a Sunday School picnic. (The NRA generally seems to have missed this subtle point.)

Under the eighth amendment, I have the right not to be drawn and quartered, boiled in pitch, burned at the stake, or belittled by a British producer on national television. But this does not overrule my right to be entertained.



Let us all take a moment to give thanks to the Ninth Amendment, which preserves us not only from the tyranny of government, but the far more dangerous tyranny of one another.


September 25, 1890 -
The "1890 Manifesto", sometimes simply called "The Manifesto", is a statement which officially ceased the practice of plural marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

Announced by church president Wilford Woodruff on this date, the Manifesto was a dramatic turning point in The Mormons renounced the practice of polygamy after six decades in exchange for statehood for Utah. This was a great day in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as many of the church leaders are finally able to sleep with both eyes closed.


September 25, 1919 -
President Woodrow Wilson became seriously ill and collapsed after a speech  today. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on this date, he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards, he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924.



Remarkably, Wilson was, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His second wife, Edith, would continually tell people for the next five years that the President was in the bathroom and couldn't be disturbed. This was, as of 2012, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment and a large supply of TP at the White House was seen as important.



September 25, 1980 -
John Bonham, drummer for the seminal rock band, Led Zeppelin, actually did choke to death in his sleep on a regurgitated ham sandwich on this date.



The coroner's report concludes that it was his own vomit and no one else's.


September 25, 1981 -
Sandra Day O'Connor became the first female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court when she was sworn in as the 102nd justice on this date.

She had been nominated the previous July by U.S. President Ronald Reagan. (One of my faithful reader was one of her law clerks.)


There are 90 days until Christmas (I'm sure many of you have failed the naughty/ nice test already. Maybe you still have time.)

If you are on the naughty list, you can always hope that the Mayans were right and there are only 86 more days left anyway.


And so it goes

Another movie cliche observed

A very clever mash-up video: There are Two Kinds of People



What kind of person are you?


September 24, 1938 -
One of the craziest cartoons Looney Tunes ever produced, Porky in Wackyland was released on this date.  You need to watch it a few times to really get everything that's going on in this one.



This cartoon set the bar for outlandishness in animation.


September 24, 1945 -
Michael Curtiz' tense film noir, Mildred Pierce, starring Joan Crawford and her enormous shoulder pads, was released on this date.



Joan Crawford had been under contract with Warner Brothers for two years before starring in this movie. To get the role, she had to submit to a screen test after years of flops at MGM - her previous studio - and turning down several scripts at Warner Brothers.


September 24, 1958 -
The Donna Reed Show premiered on ABC-TV on this date. Ladies (and some men), don't you always wears heels, pearls and chic frocks to do the housework?



The first season opening credits of The Munsters were an outrageous parody of the opening credits of The Donna Reed Show, which always began with Donna Reed lovingly passing out lunches to her departing family members as they left the house one by one. Yvonne De Carlo, as Lily Munster, did the same thing.


September 24, 1961-
Students of Great Comedy lined up around the block to enroll in Whatsamatta U when The Bullwinkle Show moved to primetime on NBC TV on this date.



Production budgets and time restraints were so tight that many times when actors flubbed a line and ad-libbed around it, it was included in the finished cartoon. In one infamous incident, announcer William Conrad couldn't finish the closing lines to the episode with the time limits. Producer Jay Ward then had Conrad read the script once again, and set fire to the bottom of the script as he read. Conrad quickly finished the lines before the flames reached his fingers.


September 24, 1964 -
We all visited 1313 Mockingbird Lane for the first time when The Munsters premieres on TV on this date.



The uncredited voice of The Raven was supplied by Mel Blanc. On the rare occasions Blanc was unavailable, the Raven's voice was supplied by Bob Hastings.


September 24, 1968 -
The TV show Mod Squad premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



Series creator Buddy Ruskin, a former Los Angeles police officer, used his experiences with a special L.A.P.D. youth squad as the basis for this show.


September 24, 1977 -
Everyone got to order their first drink from Isaac when The Love Boat set sail for the first time on ABC-TV on this date.



Two Princess cruise line ships were used in the series: The Island Princess and The Pacific Princess.


September 24, 1991 -
Nirvana's album Nevermind was released 21 years today on this date.



Look out Nevermind is now old enough to legal drink now.


Today in History:
Seprember 24, 1046 -
I was going to tell you that today is the feast day of St. Gerald Sagredo of Hungary.

During mass on this date, hordes of heathens, stormed his church, bundled him up and wheeled him to the top of  Gellert Hill, in Hungary (but you don't care.)  Those heathen hordes shoved the cart down the hill, then beat him to death on this date (but I'm sure it meaningless to you because there's no Feast of St. Gerald Sagredo festival in your neighborhood.)


September 24, 1896 -
... There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.



On this date in 1896, a young Minnesota woman gave birth to a depressive, witty young alcoholic named Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald.

The boy did badly in school and went to train for war in 1918. While training at Camp Sheridan in Alabama, he fell in love with Zelda Sayre, the mentally unstable daughter of an Alabama Supreme Court judge.



The war ended before Fitzgerald could be sent overseas and shot, however, so he went to New York to become rich and famous. He became neither, so Zelda broke off their engagement.

Fitzgerald then moved back to Minnesota. A year later he became a famous writer. He moved to Connecticut, Zelda married him, and they became drunken celebrity wrecks.

They spent a lot of time in Europe. This lasted until Zelda went mad and Fitzgerald died.



Fitzgerald is best remembered for having said the rich were different, even though Hemingway kept telling him to act like a man and strip down, grease himself up and get into a boxing ring.



Oh yeah, he also wrote several books.

... Show me a hero, and I'll write you a tragedy....


September 24, 1954 -
Steve Allen sat down at his piano and the Tonight Show premiered on NBC on this date.



Simply called Tonight, the show was a blend of comedy, interview and musical performance that set the basic template for future late-night television.


September 24, 1969 -
The trial of the "Chicago Eight" (later seven) began on this date. Demonstrations began outside the court house, with the Weatherman group proclaiming the "Days of Rage" in protest of the trial. The Chicago Eight staged demonstrations at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to protest the Vietnam War and its support by the top Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Hubert Humphrey. These anti-Vietnam War protests were some of the most violent in American history as the police and national guardsmen beat antiwar protesters, innocent bystanders and members of the press.



Five defendants (Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger and Rennie Davis) were convicted of crossing state lines to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention; the convictions were ultimately overturned.


September 24, 1970 -
Luna 16 was the first robotic probe to land on the Moon and return a sample to Earth. An automatic drilling rig was deployed and 101 grams of lunar soil was collected.

The samples were returned to Earth on this date and marked the first time lunar sampled were recovered by an unmanned spacecraft.


September 24, 1991 -
Theodor Seuss Geisel, an American writer and cartoonist best known for his classic children's books under the pen name Dr. Seuss, including The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, died on this date.



No greater tribute was given to the Doctor than when the Reverend Jesse Jackson appeared on SNL following his death.





And so it goes

A Modern Modest Proposal

Sarah Silverman has come up with a brilliant solution concerning the new voter id laws across the country:



I bet this is exactly what the people concerned about voter fraud wanted - 21 million disenfranchised voters with gun permits.


The BBC has released another episode of Misery Bear.  This time, it's all about his time in club land:



Oh poor Misery Bear, it's so much cheaper to drink at home.


September 23, 1949 -
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd, but when they said, "Sit down," I stood up







It's the birthday of the Boss.

If you are of a certain age, Bruce meant everything to you.


September 23, 1962 -
The Jetsons debuted on Sunday night's prime time lineup on this date.



The Jetsons only ran for only 24 episodes during the 1962-1963 TV season.

The youth of America want to know, "If they had a robotic maid, why didn't they have a robotic dog walker in the future?"


Today in History:
September 23, 480 BC -
It's the birthday of the Greek poet Euripides, born near Athens on this date.

Euripides has the greatest number of plays that have survived for the modern reader -19 of them—including Medea.

Remember -  Euripides, I ripa dos.


September 23, 63 BC -
Gaius Octavius Thurinus (Augustus Caesar) was born on this day. The first real Roman Emperor, Caesar introduced the famous Pax Romana. This was a political policy which stated that any country which did not object to being conquered by Rome would be conquered by Rome.



Countries not wishing to be conquered by Rome stood in violation of this policy, and were therefore invaded until they agreed to be conquered. This ensured peace throughout the world.


September 23, 1779 -
During the Revolutionary War, While on break from Led Zeppelin, the American navy under Scotsman John Paul Jones (Robert Stack), commanding from Bonhomme Richard, defeated and captured the British man-of-war Serapis on this date. Jones, chose to name the ship after Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard’s Almanac.



Fierce fighting ensued, and when Richard began to sink, Serapis commander Richard Pearson called over to ask if Richard would surrender and Jones responded, "I have not yet begun to fight!"--a response that would become a slogan of the U.S. Navy. Pearson surrendered and Jones took control of Serapis. Imagine the amount of Rum consumed (it was an American Ship, I'm sure there was no sodomy!)

The Bonhomie Richard sank two days after the battle.


September 23, 1939 -
Sigmund Freud was not having a good day. He had been suffering from the late stages of cancer of the jaw when he decided to commit suicide with the help of his personal physician, Max Schur on this date. The good doctor administered 21 mg of morphine -- a lethal dose, in three large doses of morphine in the space of several hours.



Sometimes 21 mg of morphine is just 21 mg of death.


September 23, 1944 -
Frank Capra's screwball comedy, Arsenic and Old Lace finally gets it US general release on this date. The film was based on a hit play and had to wait to be released until after it Broadway run had ended.



The film was shot between October 20 and December 16, 1941. During 1943, the film was shown to the Armed Forces overseas. but went unissued domestically until its Manhattan debut at the Strand Theatre on September 1, 1944, followed by the nationwide release on this date.


September 23, 1950 -
Congress passes the McCarran Act, also known as The Internal Security Act of 1950, overriding Harry Truman's veto. The act provides for severe restrictions on civil liberties, suspension of free speech, and placing of undesirable Americans in concentration camps.

Much of the Act has been repealed, but some portions remain intact.

So watch it, bub.


September 23, 1952 -
Responding to accusations that he diverted $18,000 in contributions into his pocket, Senator Richard M. Nixon rescues his candidacy for Vice President by insisting that he had never accepted any money.



Although Nixon does admit he accepted a cocker spaniel named Checkers for his daughter Tricia. The televised monologue rescues his political career.

Little is know about this political operative, Checkers. Recently unclassified FBI documents reveal that Checker advised Nixon not to shave just prior to his famous televised debate with Kennedy. Checkers was also recorded on his deathbed in late '68 advising Nixon's men about creating a list of enemies of the future President.


September 23, 1969 -
An article in the Northern Illinois University student newspaper The Northern Star propagated the rumor that "Paul is dead."

But if you play I'm so Tired from the White Album (and smoke an enormous amount of dope,) you hear the question Is Paul McCartney Dead?



And Revolution #9 implores, Turn me on dead man.



Well, sort of. Remember it's I buried Paul and not Strawberry Jam.


September 23, 1969 -
Marcus Welby MD, starring the not terribly sober Robert Young, premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



The exterior of Dr. Welby's office was the same building used as the Cleaver family home on Leave It to Beaver with only Welby's shingle as the new addition to the set.


September 23, 1970 -
The only American film Akira Kurosawa almost directed, Tora! Tora! Tora!, was released on this date. Akira Kurosawa agreed to direct the Japanese part of the film only because he was told that David Lean was to direct the American part. This was a lie, David Lean was never part of the project. When Kurosawa found out about this, he tried to get himself fired from the production - and succeeded.



Akira Kurosawa attempted to cast friends and business associates, including some high-level industrialists, in key roles in the film's Japanese segments as a quid-pro-quo for later funding of future films. Twentieth Century Fox was not amused by this, and finally, the breach became the cause for Kurosawa's dismissal from the project.


September 23, 1990 -
PBS premiered Ken Burns powerful 11 hour miniseries The Civil War on this date.





The documentary took six long years to make - two years longer than the actual war.



And so it goes

When autumn leaves start to fall

Today is the first day of autumn.



By happy coincidence, it's also the first day of fall.



Many people in the northern hemisphere are disturbed by the changes they see around them at about this time each year. It gets darker earlier, temperatures drop, leaves change color and die, and the Red Soxs tend to drop out of playoff contention.

There have been myths about the changing of the seasons as long as there have been children to lie to. Some primitive peoples believed that leaves changed color because Nature was pining for her abducted daughter; others blamed it on the seasonal absence of sunlight-fed chlorophyll, allowing xanthophyll, carotene, and antocyanin to determine leaf color. We may never know the truth.



The first day of autumn is sometimes also referred to as the Autumnal Equinox. Don't be alarmed by the title. It's just fall.



With courage and some heavy drinking, we can get through this thing.



September 22, 1957 -
The comedy-western series Maverick, premiered on ABC-TV on this date .



Producer Roy Huggins stated the writers' guiding principle for the Maverick series was his belief that, "In the traditional Western, the situation was always serious but never hopeless. In a 'Maverick' story, the situation is always hopeless but never serious."


September 22, 1958 -
The Private Eye series, Peter Gunn, starring Craig Stevens premiered on this date



The series was one of the first television shows to have its own original score and it was the first to feature modern jazz for a soundtrack.


September 22, 1964 -
Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin, who kept the world safe on The Man from U.N.C.L.E, made their first appearance on NBC-TV on this date.



In the original, unaired version of the pilot episode (shot in color), the Head of U.N.C.L.E. was called Mr. Allison, played by Will Kuluva. When the program finally aired it was shown entirely in black and white with Kulava's scenes re-shot, featuring Leo G. Carroll as Mr. Waverly.


September 22, 1994 -
You could get a cup of coffee at Central Perk for the first time when Friends, premiered on NBC-TV on this date.



When Matt LeBlanc auditioned for the role he only had $11 dollars to his name. When the cast got their paychecks, the first thing that Courteney Cox bought was a car. Matt LeBlanc bought a hot dinner.


Today in History:
September 22, 1761 -
George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz were crowned King and Queen of the Great Britain. Which is funny because George was not British. He was German. He had been Elector of Hanover. (Although he was the first King of England in a very long time that spoke English as his first language, if at all.)



But he ends his days, completely blind, increasingly deaf and totally insane locked up in Windsor Castle, with his son acting as Regent for the remainder of George III's life.

I've said it before - sometimes it's not so good to be King.


September 22, 1776 -
An American Captain was hanged as a spy with no trial by the British, under the orders of General William Howe, in New York City during the Revolutionary War. He was considered as one of the incendiaries of the burning of NYC.



Moments before his execution, he expressed regret that he couldn't be hanged more than once. This remark catapulted him to posthumous fame (but only after his death), and Nathan Hale is revered to this day.


September 22, 1869 -
Richard Wagner's opera Das Rheingold premieres in Munich on this date.



Beer drinkers around the world rejoice!!!


September 22, 1960 -
Joan Marie Larkin, singer/ musician extraordinaire was born on this date.



If you love Rock and Roll, you have to fucking love Joan


September 22, 1961 -
President John Kennedy took a break from hanging out with Frank Sinatra, shooting speed and having sex with Marilyn Monroe to sign a congressional act establishing the Peace Corps on this date.

The government-funded volunteer organization was created to fight hunger, disease, illiteracy, poverty, and lack of opportunity around the world.

Sometimes it good to be the President (and sometimes it sucks, as Mr. Kennedy would eventually find out.)


September 22, 1980 -
In a stunning blow to America's feminine hygiene, consumer products manufacturer Procter & Gamble initiates the largest tampon recall in history, pulling Rely Tampons from store shelves, starting on this date.



The action results from the ongoing Toxic Shock Syndrome controversy.

No comment.



And so it goes.


Before I let you go:   Many of you have been wondering, who will Homer Simpson vote for in this Presidential election?  Wonder no more:



I see a new career in cleaning out the suicide nets.

Word of the day

Cafuné (a Brazilian word with no direct English equivalent)
To tenderly running your fingers through a loved one's hair.



You may let that song softly caress the grey matter inside your skull as you walk around today.


Two giants of animation sharing the same birthday:

September 21, 1912 -
Chuck Jones, animator and director of Warner Brothers cartoons Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, was born on this date.




September 21, 1920 -
Jay Ward, cartoonist (Rocky & his Friends, Bullwinkle), was born on this date.




September 21, 1968 -
The police drama ADAM 12, premiered on NBC-TV on this date.



The dispatcher voice on the program was played by Shaaron Claridge. Claridge was a real L.A. dispatcher. Producer Jack Webb thought using a real dispatcher for the voiceovers would lend authenticity to the program. Webb did the same thing for his later series, Emergency!, casting a real-life emergency dispatcher to voice the role.


September 21, 1975 -
Sidney Lumet's amazing film, Dog Day Afternoon, starring Al Pacino and John Cazale, premiered on this date.



After the initial title sequence (Elton John, Amoreena) there is no background or incidental music on the soundtrack (the start of the Looney Tunes opening music is heard after the TV/phone interview, but it's cut-off after a few seconds, and also Uriah Heap's Easy Living is heard briefly through a hand-held radio.).


September 21, 1993 -
The police drama NYPD Blue, premiered on ABC-TV on this date.

Dennis Franz (Detective Andy Sipowicz) is the only cast member to stay with the series throughout its entire run and the only actor to appear in all 261 episodes.


Today in History:
September 21, 1327 -
Former King Edward II had a particularly painful end on this date.

Edward had been overthrown by his wife, Isabella and her lover, Roger Mortimer. Edward had pissed off Isabella royally for among other things, sleeping with men. Isabella and Mortimer had Edward II imprisoned, after his abdication in favor of his son, Edward III.



It was rumored that Edward had been killed by the insertion of a piece of copper into his rectum (later a red-hot iron rod, as in the supposed murder of Edmund Ironside - King Edmund II was murdered in a lavatory; stabbed in the bowels when he sat down to relieve himself). Murder in this manner would have appeared a natural death, as a metal tube would have been inserted into the anus first, thus allowing the iron rod to penetrate the entrails without leaving a burn on the buttocks.

As I have said in the past, sometimes it is NOT good to be the king.


September 21, 1897 -
The New York Sun ran its famous editorial that answered a question from 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon: ``Is there a Santa Claus? "on this date.



Obviously, times were different back then given that The New York Sun was printing an editorial about Christmas in September.


September 21, 1915 -
With a winning bid of  £6,600, Mr. Cecil Chubb purchases Stonehenge and 30 acres of land at auction. He donates the monument to the British state three years later.



He donated the monument because he could not reset Stonehenge correctly.


September 21, 1957 -
Perry Mason starring Raymond Burr premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



Godzilla, Perry Mason, Ironside, spokes model and owner of Raymond Burr Nipple Rouge - what couldn't he do?


September 21, 1975 -
Self-proclaimed revolutionary Sara Jane Moore attempted to kill President Gerald Ford as he walked from a San Francisco hotel on this date.



A bullet she fired slightly wounded a man in the crowd but once again President Ford walks away unscathed.


September 21, 1983 -
In a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, on this date, Interior Secretary James G. Watt jokingly described a special advisory panel as consisting of 'a black ... a woman, two Jews and a cripple.'

Although Watt apologized, he later resigned .



And so it goes.


Before I let you go:   Do you remember the 21st Night of September?



Happy last day of summer kids.

Things that give you pause

It takes about the same amount of computing to answer one Google Search query as all the computing done — in flight and on the ground — for the entire Apollo program.

So kids, have a little respect for the internet and stop trying to google naked photos of Emma Watson.


Here's another one (which I guess should have been subtitled things to do with your spare condoms.)



My thoughts are:

1.)  This guy is way too happy for fizzy soda.
2.) This should be mandatory viewing in Sex Ed classes, titled, "Don't believe his lies - Condoms Don't Break!"


September 20, 1946 -
The first Cannes film festival, the first great international cultural event of the post-war period, begins on this date. Among the selections that year were:

Caesar and Cleopatra directed by Gabriel Pascal




Anna and the King of Siam directed by John Cromwell



La Belle et La Bête directed by Jean Cocteau



Rhapsody in Blue directed by Irving Rapper



Roma Citta Aperta directed by Roberto Rossellini



The festival was France's response to the world's first international film festival in Venice, Italy, in 1932. By 1938, the Venice festival had become a Nazi propaganda tool, and France decided to hold a rival event focused strictly on film. Its planned 1939 debut was delayed when World War II broke out.


September 20, 1955 -
The Phil Silvers Show (originally broadcast as You'll Never Be Rich) premiered on CBS-TV on this date



Although the ratings were still good in the show's final season, it was canceled by CBS because they wanted to sell the reruns in syndication. At the time, it was believed that a series could not still be in production in order to do well in reruns. The reruns were sold to NBC and aired continuously in the sydication market for 40 years.


Today in History :
September 20, 1881 -
Chester Alan Arthur was sworn in as the 21st president of the United States following the death of James Garfield the previous day.



This is the first time the oath of office has been taken in the Vice President's Room of the Capitol. Two ex-presidents (Grant and Hayes) are present at the ceremony. (Also bar bet winner - it's the second time there were three Presidents within the same year; Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield then Chester A. Arthur.)


September 20, 1958 -
Rev. Martin Luther King was stabbed by Izola Curry, a deranged woman, during a book signing on 125th St. in Harlem on this date.



Dr. Aubre De Lambert Maynard successfully performed surgery on King who had a knife embedded in his sternum. Ms. Curry was found mentally incompetent to stand trial; ultimately, she was diagnosed a paranoid schizophrenic.


September 20, 1970 -
A jury in Miami, Florida finds vocalist Jim Morrison guilty of profanity and indecent exposure for whipping out his mojo at a Doors concert in Coconut Grove the previous year.

Oh you naughty Mr. Mojo Rising ...


September 20, 1973 -
A Beechcraft D-18 charter plane crashes into a tree near Natchitoches, Louisiana, killing singer/songwriter Jim Croce, his lead guitarist, and the entire flight crew.

I guess if he could have put time in a bottle, the first real thing he would have done would be chartering a different plane.


September 20, 1973 -
On the same day, in their so-called 'Battle of the Sexes,' tennis star Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, at the Houston Astrodome .



In recent years, a persistent urban legend has arisen, particularly on the Internet, that the rules were modified for the match so that Riggs had only one serve for King's two, and that King was allowed to hit into the doubles court area.

This is false: the match was played under the normal rules of tennis.


September 20, 1975 -
David Bowie's Fame single hits #1 for 2 weeks on this date.



The song was Bowie's first big hit in America, and also his first to do better in the US than the UK. He had a few UK hits before this, including Rebel Rebel,  Life On Mars and Diamond Dogs.


September 20, 1984 -
Despite his taste in loud, ugly sweaters, Bill Cosby's award winning show, The Cosby Show, premiered on NBC-TV on this date.



Nobody gave this sitcom much chance for success partly because it was on Thursday night against Magnum, P.I., a very popular CBS drama series at the time. The sitcom eventually became the number-one show on the air and routinely beat Magnum in the ratings. In one episode of the show, Cosby wore a Magnum baseball cap.


September 20, 1988 -
Greg Louganis won the gold medal in springboard diving at the Summer Olympics in Seoul, one day after he struck and injured his head on the board in the preliminary round.



His comeback earned him the title of ABC's Wide World of Sports "Athlete of the Year" for 1988.


And on a personal note:

Happy Birthday Angela and



Happy Anniversary John and Maria.





And so it goes