Now try to get that out of your head.
September 18, 1963-
The show that taught elderly men, twin cousins might be lured into immoral acts with the purchase of grilled sausages - The Patty Duke Show, premiered on ABC-TV on this date.
For most of the scenes featuring both Patty and Cathy, actress Rita Walter played "the back of either Patty's or Cathy's head", as appropriate. She can also be seen in several episodes as a background character.
September 18, 1964 -
The most normal family's ever presented on US televsion, The Addams Family premiered on ABC TV on this date.
Charles Addams never named his characters, but he had to come up with names for the characters on the TV show (it was one of the few contributions he made to the series). Within a week he decided on all of them - except for Mr. Addams, who almost wound up being called Repelli (for "repellent") instead of Gomez.
September 18, 1965 -
Kleenex stock rose precipitously as I Dream of Jeannie premiered on this date.
Barbara Eden was the first blonde to audition for the role of Jeannie; all the other actresses competing for the role had dark hair. Sidney Sheldon didn't originally want a blonde actress to play Jeannie (lest the show draw unfavorable comparisons to Bewitched.) However, none of the other actresses competing for the part were able to play the role the way he had written her.
September 18, 1965 -
Mel Brooks and Buck Henry started making the world safe from KAOS when Get Smart premiered on NBC-TV on this date.
It is rumored that Agent 99 was originally supposed to be named Agent 69 but NBC censors deemed it to be too "sexually suggestive". According to Barbara Feldon, this is not true. Her character was originally to be named Agent 100 "because she was 100 percent" but Buck Henry decided 99 sounded more feminine.
September 18, 1968 -
The film musical Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand premiered in NYC.
William Wyler was hired to replace Sidney Lumet as director. Lumet left the picture over differences with producer Ray Stark and star Barbra Streisand. Wyler originally declined the offer, because he was deaf in one ear and said he couldn't do a musical, but reconsidered after meeting Streisand.
September 18, 1978 -
We first started living on the air in Cincinnati when WKRP in Cincinnati, premiered on CBS-TV on this date.
If you look closely you can make out the names Johnny Fever used on air on the side of his coffee cup. The names read: Johnny Duke, Johnny Style, Johnny Cool, Johnny Sunshine and of course Johnny Fever.
September 18, 1987 -
Pet bunnies felt a cold breeze on their neck when Fatal Attraction, starring Michael Douglas and Glenn Close, opened on this date.
John Carpenter and Brian De Palma were offered the chance to direct but both backed out because they feared that the story was too similar to Play Misty for Me. De Palma also felt that Michael Douglas was not a good leading man. De Palma has since admitted he was wrong about Douglas. John Boorman was also offered the director's job but turned it down to do his personal wartime childhood memoir Hope and Glory.
September 18, 1994 -
Ken Burn's series about America's favorite past time Baseball, premiered on PBS on this date.
The series had an audience of 45 million viewers, which makes it the most watched program in Public Television history.
Today in History:
Once again, I must ask all children and those with delicate natures to turn away from their computer screens as we discuss the bizarre deviant sexual behavior on the part of our founding fathers:
On September 18, 1793, President George Washington laid the foundation stone for the U.S. Capitol. According to numerous sources, President Washington "laid the stone in a Masonic ceremony... preceded by a parade and followed by celebration and feasting."
The 1792 competition for the design of the Capitol had been won by an amateur architect, and the building was therefore burned by the British before it could be completed. Congress had moved into the building on November 22, 1800, but managed to escape the fire.
September 18, 1851 -
The New York Times published its first edition on this date. The newspaper, initially called the New-York Daily Times, was founded by Henry Jarvis Raymond, a politician and journalist.
It cost one penny per copy and was published six days per week, changing to seven days 1861. Its name was changed to the New York Times in 1857.
September 18, 1932 -
24-year-old starlet Peg Entwhistle dives head first from the letter "H" of the HOLLYWOODLAND sign in Los Angeles. She is the first person to commit suicide at the landmark.
Her body was discovered in the brush at the base of the hill two days later, and pronounced dead. When police examined her belongings, in her purse they found a note that read:
"I am afraid, I am a coward. I am sorry for everything. If I had done this a long time ago, it would have saved a lot of pain. P.E."
Two days later, in an ironic twist, Entwistle's uncle opened a letter addressed to her from the Beverly Hills Playhouse; it was mailed the day before she jumped. In it was an offer for her to play the lead role in a stage production—in which her character would commit suicide in the final act.
September 18, 1961 -
Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary-General of the UN, was killed in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia)on this date. He was flying to negotiate a cease-fire in the Congo.
Hammarskjold was the son of a former Swedish prime minister. In 1953, he was elected to the top UN post and in 1957 was reelected. During his second term, he initiated and directed the United Nation's vigorous role in the Belgian Congo.
Strangely enough, for the past 30 year, I have worked in an office in one of the building that bears his name.
September 18, 1970 -
Jimi Hendrix died in his sleep, in London, from of a barbituate overdose when chunks of his vomited tuna sandwich wound up in his lungs, causing him to choke, on this date. He was 27 years old.
At least his family could take comfort that he did not choke on someone else's vomit.
Once again I must remind you that Cass Elliot did not choke to death on a ham sandwich. It is an urban myth born out of a quickly discarded speculation by the coroner, who noted a part eaten ham sandwich and figured she may have choked to death. In fact, she died of heart failure.
So cut it out.
September 18, 1992 -
Two weeks after being outed in the New York weekly QW, attorney John Schlafly admits in an interview with the San Francisco Examiner that he enjoys the love that dare not speak it's name. This causes a certain amount of consternation for his mother, archconservative gay rights opponent Phyllis Schlafly.
The Schlafly family have yet to fulfill their obligation as good Christians to present their rebellious son to the town elders and have him stoned to death as instructed in Deut. 21:18.
September 18, 1994 -
Vitas Gerulaitis was killed in his sleep in the guest cottage of a friend's Long Island estate. The professional tennis player dies from carbon monoxide poisoning, caused by a faulty propane swimming-pool heater.
How many more people must die from killer swimming pools?
And so it goes
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