It may come up in conversation

Jingle Bells was written for Thanksgiving, not Christmas. Composer James Lord Pierpont wrote the song in the 1850s to play for his Boston Sunday school class during Thanksgiving as a way to commemorate the famed Medford sleigh races.



Kids and adults loved the song and eventually changed the lyrics to fit Christmas.


December 4, 1937 -
Another great early Bob Clampett/ Chuck Jones (rarely seen) B &W Looney Tunes, Porky's Hero Agency, premiered on this date.



The line of people turned to stone include many of the Looney Tunes/ Merry Melodies animators including Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones.


December 4, 1942 -
Henry King directed the swashbuckler, The Black Swan, starring Tyrone Power, Maureen O'Hara, Thomas Mitchell, George Sanders, Anthony Quinn, and George Zucco which premiered in the US on this date.



To help out the war effort, the actors tried hard to keep the number of takes low so as to conserve film. Roughly 30 of the scenes were done in one take.


December 4, 1965 –
The Byrds song Turn! Turn! Turn! reached no. 1 on the Billboard charts on this date.



This was written by Pete Seeger, an influential folk singer and activist. He recorded it before The Byrds covered it as a follow-up to their hit Mr. Tambourine Man. When The Byrds started working on this song, Roger McGuinn and David Crosby devised a new arrangement of Seeger's original, but it took the band over 50 tries to get the sound right.


December 4, 1971 –
The Sly and the Family Stone song, Family Affair, reached no. 1 on the Billboard charts on this date.



Sly Stone's manager told Rolling Stone that Family Affair was the story of Sly's own life, which was being cut up by the factions that surrounded him in his stardom.


December 4, 1981 -
Falcon Crest premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



Jane Wyman and Lorenzo Lamas were the only actors that were part of the main cast through out the entire series. Lorenzo Lamas was the only actor who appeared in all 227 episodes.


The Word of the Day


Today in History:
December 4, 1783 -
At Fraunces Tavern in New York City on this date, General George Washington formally bids his officers farewell.

Many of his subordinates were quite emotional until they realized that George stuck them with the check.


Our old friend, Francisco Franco was born 125 years ago today.

Franco graduated from the Spanish military academy at Toledo and became the youngest major in the Spanish army at the age of 23. By the age of 34 he was a general, and by 41 he was Commander of the Spanish Army.

Eager for war but lacking an enemy, the ambitious young Spanish commander-in-chief declared war on Spain in 1936 and defeated her in just three years.

The war was so successful and exciting, it inspired World War II, and Franco's rise to power foreshadowed the ascension of other evil bastards in Europe.

After his victory Franco named himself Generalisimo (villainous bastard) to better distinguish himself from the Fuhrer (maniacal bastard) in Germany and Il Duce (vicious bastard) in Italy.

Franco ran the country until shortly after his death in 1975.

The General, heroically, remains dead.


The Panama Pacific International Exposition was the 1915 worlds fair held in San Francisco, California. Taking over three years to construct, the fair had great economic implications for the city that had been almost destroyed by the great earthquake and fire of 1906. The exposition was a tremendous success, and did much to boost the morale of the entire Bay Area and to help get San Francisco back up on its feet.



Architects and designers went all-out for the design of the fair's buildings. There never before had been a fair whose architectural focus had been so all-encompassing. 76 city blocks had been cleared or filled to set the stage for the exposition, and its final size was 635 acres, which allowed for the hundreds of buildings that were built. The spectacular palaces, courts, state and foreign buildings at the fair were made of a temporary plaster-like material, designed to only last for the duration of the fair.



The fair ran from February 20th until December 4th, 1915 - and was widely considered to be a great success.


December 4, 1954 -

The first Burger King, originally called Insta Burger King, was opened in Jacksonville, Florida on this date.



Not to be gross but many of those first patrons still have their first burgers lodged deep within their digestive system.


December 4, 1955 -
Cassandra Wilson, jazz vocalist extraordinaire, songwriter, and producer, was born on this date.

I Wished on the Moon




Skylark




What A Little Moonlight Can Do




December 4, 1971 -
It was a lovely evening Switzerland's Montreux Casino on Lovely Lake Geneva when it caught fire and the group Deep Purple composed their big hit Smoke on the Water by the glow of the burning casino.



Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention had been recording at the casino's studio when a fan started the blaze with a flare gun, but the group was unharmed.



A bizarre coincidence: On this date in 1993, Frank Zappa lost his battle with prostate cancer



And so it goes

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