Leave about a half hour after everyone finishes with dessert.
Today is the 38th annual World Hello Day. (I'm still hoping that the people in charge would reconsider my 'Say Hello to Kevin and give him 10 bucks day' idea.) Anyone can participate in World Hello Day simply by greeting ten people.
This demonstrates the importance of personal communication for preserving peace. World Hello Day was begun in response to the conflict between Egypt and Israel in the Fall of 1973. Since then, World Hello Day has been observed by people in 180 countries.
November 21, 1931 -
James Whale classic retelling of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, premiered on this date.
The method of animating the creature is never discussed in Mary Shelley's novel. In the book, Frankenstein, narrating, refuses to divulge how he did it so no one can re-create his actions. However, the use of lightning to resurrect the monster has become the accepted methodology and appears in virtually every Frankenstein movie since.
November 21, 1942 -
Babbit and Catstello, take-offs on Bud Abbott and Lou Costello try to catch Tweety bird (in his first appearance) in A Tale of Two Kitties, premiered on this date.
Catstello tells the audience "If the Hays office would only let me, I'd give him the bird alright." This is a double entendre acknowledging that the Hays Code, which set the guidelines for content allowed in a motion picture, would never have allowed a movie character to "give the bird"
November 21, 1946 -
One of the greatest films about vets returning home after WWII, The Best Years of Our Lives, premiered in NYC on this date.
Harold Russell was first discovered by William Wyler when he saw an army training film called Diary of a Sergeant that Russell had appeared in about the rehabilitation of wounded servicemen.
November 21, 1976 -
Ok everybody, "...Gonna Fly Now, Flying High Now..."
Rocky, premiered in NYC on this date.
Although Sylvester Stallone famously wrote the first draft of the script in 3 days, it went through nine sizable rewrites before it was purchased by Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff. Originally, Stallone's much darker script depicted Mickey (Burgess Meredith) as a bitter old racist, and the film ended with Rocky throwing the fight after realizing he did not want to be part of the professional boxing world.
Today in History:
November 21, 1694 -
Jean Francois Voltaire (Francois Marie Arouet) was born on this date.
Voltaire is best known for having said things. Here are some of the witty things he said:
"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."
"To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered."
"Anything too stupid to be said is sung."
"God created sex. Priests created marriage."
"It is an infantile superstition of the human spirit that virginity would be thought a virtue and not the barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge."
"He was unhappy only when he thought: and that is true of the majority of mankind."
"People who believe in absurdities will eventually commit atrocities."
And most significantly:
"A witty saying proves nothing."
November 21, 1921 -
U.S. President Warren G. Harding signed the Wills Campbell Act, which prohibited the medical prescription of beer and liquor on this date.
He was killed - probably by his wife - two years later and nobody seemed to mind (remember, this was the genius who lost the White House China in a poker game.)
Enough said.
November 21, 1964 -
The upper deck of The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge opened to traffic on this date (at the time it was the world's longest suspension bridge).
And it still takes forever to get to Jersey through Staten Island.
November 21, 1973 -
A gap of 18 1/2 minutes is revealed in one of the Watergate tapes, a conversation between Richard M. Nixon and Bob Haldeman. The erasure is blamed on an accident by Nixon's private secretary Rose Mary Woods, but scientific analysis determines the erasures to be deliberate. Later, Chief of Staff Alexander Haig blames the erasure on "some sinister force".
Forensic experts worked on Haldeman's notebook to see if they could find the imprint of any notes he may have taken that day but later destroyed. (The experts had inconclusive results.)
November 21, 1980 -
The third deadliest hotel fire in history occurs at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, caused by faulty wiring; 84 people died. Helicopters were used to rescue stranded guests from the top floors.
No more pu-pu platters with charcoal grills in the suites.
November 21, 1997 -
Lead singer of INXS Michael Hutchence was found hanged in his hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton in Sydney Australia on this date. Police have denied that his death was due to Autoerotic Asphyxiation.
The fact that his pants were around his ankles and copies of the magazines "Hot Chicks in Tubs of Pudding" were scattered around the room, did not enter into it.
33 more shopping days until Christmas, 16 more shopping days until Hanukkah, Black Friday is just 2 days away and the world may just be over in 29 days.
And so it goes
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