Wear Purple today in Solidarity

Today marks the observance of International Women’s Day, celebrating the achievements of inspiring women around the world. (This year, International Women’s Day asks everyone to  #PressforProgress.)





The earliest Women’s Day observance was held on February 28, 1909, in New York; it was organized by the Socialist Party of America in remembrance of the 1908 strike of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. An annual "international women's day" was first organized by the German socialist and theorist Clara Zetkin along with 100 delegates from 17 countries in March 1911.


March 8, 1933 -
The quintessential backstage musical, 42nd Street, premiered in New York City on this date.



The film was so financially successful that it save Warner Bros. from bankruptcy.


March 8, 1959 -
The apex of the golden age of Television was achieved on this date when The Incredible Jewel Robbery aired. Groucho, Chico and Harpo made their final TV appearance together.



It was all down hill from here.


March 8, 1964 -
The first of three film adaptions of Richard Matheson novel, I am Legend, The Last Man on Earth, starring Vincent Price, premiered on this date.



The script was written in part by Richard Matheson, but he was dissatisfied with the result and was therefore credited as Logan Swanson. Richard Matheson as felt Vincent Price was miscast as Robert Morgan.


March 8, 1967 -
Mad Monster Party was released by Embassy Pictures for Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc on this date.



With the exception of Baron Boris Von Frankenstein, Allen Swift voiced every male character in this film.


March 8, 1974 -
All good things must come to an end - the last episode The Brady Bunch series, The Hair-Brained Scheme aired on ABC-TV on this date.



When Bobby can't sell any of his hair tonic he says he's going to give up. Carol tells him winners never quit. She mentions a man by the name of Carl Mahakian, saying no one had ever heard of him because he quit. In reality, Carl Mahakian was the series' post-production coordinator.


March 8, 1991 -
The highest grossing independent film of 1991, New Jack City, directed by Mario Van Peebles was released on this date.



Mario Van Peebles had formed a friendship with Clint Eastwood when the pair made Heartbreak Ridge. When Van Peebles took the New Jack City screenplay to Warner Bros., the studio was interested in the material, but weren't keen on having an unknown as the director/lead actor. Eastwood personally vouched for Van Peebles and told Warner Brothers to "give the kid a shot". The success of the film launched Van Peebles's directing career.


March 8, 1996 -
The film that put the Coen Bros. into the mainstream consciousness, Fargo, went into limited release on this date.



Joel Coen had Frances McDormand and John Carroll Lynch conceive a back-story for their characters to get the feel of them. They decided that Norm and Marge met while working on the police force, and when they were married, they had to choose which one had to quit. Since Marge was a better officer, Norm quit and took up painting.


Let's see what's happening on a typical city street, shall we?


Today in History:
March 8, 1941 -
Sherwood Anderson and his fourth wife, Eleanor, were enjoying a well deserved vacation on a ocean liner bound from from New York to Valparaiso, Chile. During a cocktail party on the ship, Anderson was enjoying his olive from a well chilled martini: it would be his last.

Anderson soon became very ill and he and his wife had to disembarked at Colon in Panama and headed to a local hospital. He died in agony, two days later on this date. An autopsy revealed that he had accidentally swallowed a small piece of a toothpick (presumably in the martini olive), which had perforated his colon and caused a fatal case of peritonitis.

Not a great way to go.


March 8, 1950 -
Marshal Voroshilov announced the existence of the Soviet atomic bomb on this date.

This baffled the western powers, who were sure they had left the secret somewhere safe.



33 years later, on this date, the ever swift President Ronald Reagan gets around to calling the Soviets, "an evil empire."


March 8, 1968 -
The Soviet submarine, K-129, sank in the Pacific Ocean, killing all 97 crew members aboard. Later in the year a U.S. submarine secretly retrieves an encryption machine, codebooks, and nuclear warheads from the Soviet vessel.



A further bold attempt is made in 1974 to bring up the entire submarine using the CIA ship Glomar Explorer, built by Howard Hughes. That mission supposedly fails, and was made public by the Los Angeles Times to the great embarrassment of the Agency.


March 8, 1999 -
Joseph Paul "Joe" DiMaggio passed away in his Florida home on this date in 1999.



We actually know where he's gone? And since he's been dead for 19 years, we should take our lonely eyes off of him. It still gives me the creeps.



And so it goes.


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