The Chanukkah miracle would be only one spelling of Hanukkah

It's the Fifth Night of Hanukkah



Unless you lay off all this fried food, you may have to begin considering your own pair of Kevin James' fat pants.


December 10, 1948 -
Another Preston Sturges Champagne cocktail laced with strychnine, Unfaithfully Yours, opened in the US on this date.



At one point the detective mentions "that Italian guy". He is referring to Arturo Toscanini, one of the world's most famous conductors, who at that time led the NBC Symphony Orchestra in weekly concerts on radio.


December 10, 1967 -
Julie Andrews!!!

Peter Cook and Dudley Moore in their first starring comedy, Bedazzled, opened in the US on this date.



Although Raquel Welch is featured in most of the promotional material for this film, her character is only on screen for roughly no more than 7 minutes.


December 10, 1974 -
Pull the string! Pull The String!!!



Ed Wood Jr., either the world's greatest visionary director or the worst filmmaker of all time, suffered a fatal heart attack on this date. At the time of his death, the industry newspaper, Variety, failed to run his obituary.


December 10, 1974 –
The classic disaster movie, Towering Inferno, opened in NYC on this date.



Steve McQueen was married to actress Ali MacGraw at the time. Right before filming the dangerous and climactic scene in the Promenade Room, he told everyone, "If anything happens to me, Ali gets my pickup truck."


December 10, 1982 -
A paean to B movies, It Came from Hollywood, opened in the US on this date. (Do yourself a favor;  find some time today to watch the whole film if you haven't seen it.)



Sadly this was never released on DVD. Paramount had planned to release the film on DVD in 2002. Due to copyright issues with several of the clips featured in the film, the release was ultimately canceled.


December 10, 1984 –
On a very cold night in NYC, 31 years ago, Francis Ford Coppola's Cotton Club opened in NYC. I can remember waiting on line to see the film on the opening day.



Pulitzer-Prize winning novelist William Kennedy was brought in to do a quick draft on the script to polish it. He ended up doing over 20 drafts.


It been 31 years since Do They Know It's Christmas, the charity single by the all-star group Band Aid, was released.





As of the last check, The Band Aid/ Live Aid initiatives have raised over $200 million dollars. Not bad for basically a very crappy tune.


Today's Holiday special: Guess the theme?


Today in History:
December 10, 1520 -
The heretic Martin Luther burnt the papal bull (Exsurge Domine), on this date, issued by Leo X, demanding an end to his heresies. Luther had published 95 points against the practice of granting indulgences, and the Catholic Church only had 94 points in favor of them.

Although technically he was the winner, Luther was subsequently excommunicated.

Luther went away mad and started his own religion.


December 10, 1848 -
Napoleon III, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte), was elected president of France. By 1852, he dismantled the Republic and replaced it with the Second Empire of France, with himself as emperor.



This is what comes from being a Napoleon - give them an inch and they're declaring themselves emperor.


December 10, 1936 -
Edward VIII, signed the letter of abdication to the English throne (which took effect on the next day,) to marry the twice divorced, horsey faced (and possibly transvestite)  - the woman he loved on this date.



Many in the government are secretly relieved, fearing they may have bet against Mrs. Simpson when she ran at the Royal Ascot.


December 10, 1958 -
Krishna Venta (born Francis Herman Pencovic) died in Chatsworth, California in a suicide bombing when two disgruntled former followers (Peter Duma Kamenoff and Ralph Muller) who, although never offering any documentary evidence to support their claims, charged that Venta had both mishandled cult funds and been intimate with their wives.

Venta's remains are only ever identified through dental records.

This is what comes from the laying on of hands with cult members' wives.


December 10, 1967 -
Soul singer Otis Redding plus four members of the Bar-Kays were killed when his airplane crashes into Lake Monona near Madison, Wisconsin on this date.



So, poor Otis was laid out all over the dock of the bay.


December 10, 1993 -
Adolf Hitler was baptized by proxy into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in their London temple on this date. Mormons also continued to vicariously baptism victims of the Holocaust over the strenuous objections of various Jewish groups such as the Simon Wiesenthal Center (even Simon Wiesenthal has had a baptism performed for himself after his death.)

There's nothing worse than finding out you've become a Mormon by proxy (especially if you're already dead and in heaven.)


Before you go - here's an early preview of the Christmas ham -



The Muppets released a funny video with Miss Piggy touring the White House holiday decorations



And so it goes.