National Biscuit Company's (Nabisco) Oreo® cookies went on sale for the first time on this date.
The brand's competitor, Sunshine's Hydrox®, had debuted in 1908. (Hydrox has completely disappeared as a brand but secretly exists as 'cookie crumbs' for yogurt flavorings and an ingredient in piecrust.)
March 6, 1942 -
Ernst Lubitsch World War II comedy, To Be or Not to Be, starring Jack Benny, Carole Lombard and Robert Stack premiered on this date.
When Jack Benny's father went to see this movie, he was outraged at the sight of his son in a Nazi uniform in the first scene and even stormed out of the theater. Jack convinced his father that it was satire, and he agreed to sit through all of it.
March 6, 1998 -
The Coen Bros. off-kilter take on a Raymond Chandler detective story, The Big Lebowski, opened on this date.
In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, John Goodman stated that The Dude referring to The Big Lebowski as a "human paraquat" was one of the only improvised lines to make it into the final film. Virtually every other line, including every 'man' and 'dude,' was scripted.
Today in History:
Michelangelo Buonarotti was born on this date in 1475. He painted and sculpted so much that it began to become embarrassing for other people, so they finally decided it was time to stop procrastinating and start the Renaissance.
So they did.
On March 6, 1619, Cyrano de Bergerac was born. Mr. de Bergerac was a brilliant French satirist and playwright, a rapier wit, and, from all contemporary accounts, an accomplished musician, an enthralling conversationalist, and a charming ladies' man.
He was unfortunately best known for his nose.
Dr. John Greenwood, George Washington's personal dentist, constructed the first 'dental foot engine' on this date in 1790.
March 6, 1836 -
... Davy, Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier.
The Alamo was seized by General Santa Ana - 3,000 versus 147, it wasn't much of a fair fight. The holdouts suffered unnecessary deaths, disobeying direct orders by remaining, and losing their arms and cannon to the Mexicans. Davy - Pioneer, Patriot, Soldier, Trapper, Explorer, State Legislator, Congressman was one of the last holdouts to die on this day.
(The Mexican army managed to lose over 600 men.) Remember the Alamo.
March 6, 1869 -
Dmitri Mendeleev presented the first periodic table to the Russian Chemical Society on this date in a presentation entitled “The Dependence between the Properties of the Atomic Weights of the Elements”. He left gaps in his charts and predicted the addition of three more elements in the near future.
Mendeleev's predictions were right, and he is credited with writing the first periodic table.
March 6, 1899-
Friedrich Bayer and Co. patented their eponymous painkiller, Bayer aspirin in Berlin on this day. The main ingredient of aspirin, acetylsalicylic acid, had been used since ancient times, though Bayer's company was the first to offer it in a convenient and stable pill form.
It quickly gained popularity, and at one time was the most used painkiller in the world.
March 6, 1918 -
In January 1918, US naval collier (a ship the transports,) Cyclops was assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service and sailed to Brazilian waters to fuel British ships in the South Atlantic.
March 6, 1965 -
... Remember, you're fighting for this woman's honor, which is probably more than she ever did!
Groucho was often cruel to her on-screen but when the cameras stopped rolling, he had nothing but nice things to say about her, calling her a “wonderful woman.”
March 6, 1970 -
In Greenwich Village, a townhouse at 18 West 11th St.exploded on this date. SDS Weathermen members Diana Oughton, Ted Gold and Terry Robbins were killed at the site where a bomb was being manufactured.
March 6, 1970 -
The Beatles released Let it Be in UK on this date. Paul McCartney wrote this song supposedly after he had a dream about his mother who died when he was 14.
Since Let It Be was The Beatles last album, it made an appropriate statement about leaving problems behind and moving on in life.
John Lennon hated the song because of it's apparent Christian overtones. He made the comment before recording it, "And now we'd like to do Hark The Angels Come."
The Beatles were so busy arguing with each other that Aretha Franklin was able to release a cover version of the song on her album This Girl's In Love With You (as well as Eleanor Rigby), before The Beatles version came out.
March 6, 1981 -
After 19 years presenting the CBS Evening News, Uncle Walter Cronkite, the most trusted man in America, signs off for the last time.
Jon Stewart must carry that weight now.
And so it goes.
No comments:
Post a Comment