I owe it all to little chocolate donuts.

Hey once again in NYC (and other parts of the country) everyone will be celebrating (the 78th anniversary of) National Donut Day today.



The holiday began as a fundraiser for the Salvation Army in 1938. It is celebrated annually on the first Friday of June, and honors all the female volunteers who served donuts to soldiers behind the front lines during World War I.



To celebrate Donut Day 2016, a few donut shops are offering a free donut deal. Celebrate at Krispy Kreme with a free donut of any variety, or at Dunkin' Donuts which is offering a free donut with the purchase of any beverage.



And in Madison Square Park, Entenmann's will be handing out free Entenmann’s donuts and coffee.


Today is also the (Ningyo Kuyo) Memorial to Broken Dolls Day in Japan.

On this day each year, children bring their broken dolls to Buddhist shrines for funeral rituals. After the ceremony, the dolls are buried and enshrined.

This temple should be located on the Island of Misfit Toys.


The American Egg Board has declared that it is National Egg Day today.





I understand that the Egg Board is actually financing the Koch brothers (but you didn't hear that from me.)


June 3, 1948 -
Edward Brown Jr., a former navy pilot, opened the first Fly-In Drive-In Theater, in Farmingdale, NJ, on this date. There was room for 500 cars and 25 airplanes.

The planes landed at an airfield next to the Drive-In, then they would taxi to the last row which was set up for planes.

When the movies were over Mr. Brown provided a jeep to tow the planes back to the airfield.


June 3, 1955 -
The Billy Wilder comedy, The Seven Year Itch, opened on this date.



After seeing Walter Matthau's screen-test performance in the part of Richard Sherman, Billy Wilder believed he had found his lead man. However, 20th Century-Fox was unwilling to take the risk on a newcomer. That's when Wilder next turned his sights on the actor who had originated the role on Broadway, Tom Ewell.


June 3, 1964 -
The Rolling Stones made their U.S. (national) television debut on the ABC series The Hollywood Palace, hosted by Dean Martin, on this date.



The Stones’ first television appearance stateside was a June 2nd interview on The Les Crane Show (shown locally in New York City.)


June 3, 1969 -
The last episode of the original Star Trek (Turnabout Intruder) aired on NBC-TV, on this date.



This episode was originally scheduled for broadcast on March 28, 1969. Special network coverage of the death of Dwight D.Eisenhower pre-empted it, and it didn't air until June 3.


Today In History:
June 3, 1791 -
The French Assembly passes a resolution bringing decapitation to the common criminal: "Every person condemned to the death penalty shall have his head severed."

So it wasn't just for the rich anymore.

(I'm still hoping that we go back to the old 1% rule.  Beheading only for those who can well afford them)


June 3, 1888 -
Casey at the Bat, subtitled A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888, by Ernest Thayer, was published in the San Francisco Examiner on this date.



The things you have to do to get kids to read poetry now-a-days.


June 3, 1906 -
Josephine Baker, dancer, singer, bisexual Parisian nightclub owner and Resistance fighter, was born on this date.



During World War II, Baker became active in undercover work for the French Resistance movement. Josephine Baker died in France in 1975 and was buried in Paris. She was the first American born woman to be buried with full French Military Honors.


June 3, 1943 -
Three days after a sailor had been badly injured in a brawl with a group of Hispanics, a mob of 60 servicemen leaves the Los Angeles Naval Reserve Armory and bludgeons anybody wearing a zoot suit.



The first two victims are a couple of boys, aged 12 and 13, who were just sitting in the Carmen Theater watching a movie. Thus begins the famous week-long Zoot Suit Riot.


June 3, 1965 -
The first American astronaut to make a spacewalk was Major Edward White II, when he spent 20 minutes outside the Gemini 4 capsule during Earth orbit at an altitude of 120 miles. A tether and 25 foot airline were wrapped in gold tape to form a single,thick cord. He used a hand-held 7.5 pound oxygen jet propulsion gun to maneuver. The launch had taken place a few hours earlier on the same day.



During the remainder of the flight, pilot White and his crewmate commander James McDivitt completed 12 scientific and medical experiments. The total time in orbit was almost 98 hours, making 62 orbits. Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei A. Leonov, had made the first ever spacewalk for 10 minutes about three months earlier.


June 3, 1955 -
Barbara Graham, a convicted murderer, was executed in the gas chamber along with two accomplices on this date.



Susan Hayward won an Academy Award for playing Graham in the movie I Want to Live!


June 3, 1968 -
Valerie Solanas, author of the SCUM Manifesto, arrived at the art studio of Andy Warhol on this date and shot him three times in the torso. Warhol barely survived the attempt on his life. Solanas was later jailed and institutionalized.



Doctors finish the job Solanas attempted several years later in a NY hospital when they botch a gall bladder operation in 1987. Solanas died a year after that in a skid row hotel in San Francisco in 1988, purportedly still working on a sequel to her previous book .


June 3, 1989 -
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini died after 11 days in a hospital, recovering from surgery to stop internal hemorrhaging, on this date.

Khomeini became ill when he realized that through a very bad translation, 73 virgins were not waiting for him but 73 raisins.



And so it goes.