A friendly reminder

I'm not sure where you are, but the snow is very bad here in the Doctor's lair.

Please, if you don't have to go outside, stay indoors, crack out a bottle (or two of wine) and watch some movies. 


January 23, 1948 -
John Huston's classic film, Treasure of Sierra Madre, starring Humphrey Bogart opens in NYC on this date.



John Huston stated that working with his father on this picture and his dad's subsequent Oscar win were among the favorite moments of his life.


January 23, 1950 -
Richard Dean Anderson, actor and love god of Patty and Selma Bouvier, was born on this date.



I shudder to think how Patty and Selma celebrate the day.


January 23, 1975 -
Barney Miller, a TV series set in a New York City police station in Greenwich Village, premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



Two of the props used on the police station set were the chalkboard used to show whether the policemen were on-duty or off-duty and the scarred cell door. When the show ended, the chalkboard and cell door were donated to the Smithsonian Television Museum.


January 23, 1977 -
The twelve-hour miniseries Roots premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



The show was programmed by ABC to air on several consecutive nights in prime time. It was considered a revolutionary approach to programming a mini-series, since most minis were aired once or twice a week over several weeks' time. It was revealed years later that the reason the network did this was so that they get the show "out of the way" in a hurry because they felt, nobody would watch the story if it aired over a longer period of time.


January 23, 1983 -
The A-Team starring George Peppard, Dirk Benedict and Mr. T premiered on NBC-TV on this date.



According to Stephen J. Cannell, the writers had a running gag where they would stage these horrific car crashes, but the people would come out unscathed. They would do this to test the limits of realism on purpose.


Today in History:
January 23, 1849 -
The idea of winning a doctor's degree gradually assumed the aspect of a great moral struggle, and the moral fight possessed immense attraction for me.



English-born Elizabeth Blackwell, becomes the first woman to receive an American medical degree, graduated at the top of her class from the medical school of Hobart College, Geneva, NY on this date.


January 23, 1897 -
Elva Zona Heaster was found dead in Greenbrier County, West Virginia on this date. Authorities originally thought Heaster had died of natural causes, but her mother later claimed that Elva's ghost visited her and told her otherwise, leading to her widowed husband's arrest and conviction.

It was one of the few times in American legal history that the testimony of a ghost was taken into account at trial.


January 23, 1931  -
While touring in the Netherlands, the prima ballerina Anna Pavlova's train had a slight accident, derailing and being delayed for 12 hours. She went outside dressed only in pajamas and a light scarf to see what was happening. As a result of this she caught a cold, which developed into pneumonia.



She died three weeks later on this date. At the end, she asked to hold her Dying Swan costume. Her last words were, "Play that last measure very softly."

 So kids, once again, your mother was right - it's cold outside, put on a sweater.


January 23, 1978 -
Terry Kath of band Chicago accidentally killed himself on this date while pretending to play Russian Roulette in Woodland Hills.



The circumstances of his death gave him the dubious distinction of being one of the first celebrities to be nominated for a Darwin Award.

Moral: Remember guns don't kill - however one bullet in the chamber is a killer.


And so it goes.