John Huston's first directorial effort, The Maltese Falcon, premiered in NYC on this date.
Humphrey Bogart had to supply his own wardrobe. This was common practice at Warner Brothers as a way for the studio to save some money.
October 3, 1953 -
The final installment of the Looney Tunes "Hunting Trilogy", Duck! Rabbit, Duck!, premiered on this date.
Bugs Bunny stuck out four signs to lead Elmer Fudd to shoot Daffy Duck. In order they are:
1st GOAT SEASON OPEN;
2nd, DIRTY SKUNK SEASON;
3rd, PIGEON SEASON;
4th and last,
October 3, 1954 -
Another in the series of alcoholic actors playing model Dads, Father Knows Best, starring Robert Young premiered on this date.
Much like The Simpsons, Father Knows Best takes place in a town named Springfield, in an unnamed state.
October 3, 1955 -
Hey kids, remember Captain Kangaroo. Well, his show premiered on this date.
Most network shows were broadcast in color by the mid 1960s. CBS did not convert the Captain's early morning program to color until 1967.
October 3, 1955 -
If today wasn't special enough, The Mickey Mouse Club also premiered on this date.
Although the show was filmed and broadcast in black and white, all of the animated segments - the opening theme, Mickey's introductions and farewells, the Jiminy Cricket shorts, etc. - were filmed in color.
In the animated inserts, Walt Disney provided the voice of Mickey Mouse for the very last time. He retired from voicing the character during the production of Fun and Fancy Free in 1947, because he simply could not do the required falsetto anymore, and let sound effects man James MacDonald take over.
October 3, 1955 -
Considered one of his five 'lost films' (held up for years from re-release), Alfred Hitchcock's The Trouble with Harry, premiered on this date. This was Shirley MacLaine's film debut.
The film was Alfred Hitchcock's experiment to see how audiences would react to a non-star-driven film. He was of the opinion that oftentimes having a big star attached actually hindered the narrative flow and style of the story. He also developed the film to test how American audiences would react to a more subtle brand of humor than they were used to.
Octeber 3, 1960 -
Tony Richardson’s biting commentary of the collapsing British Empire, The Entertainer, starring Laurence Olivier, Albert Finney, Alan Bates, and Joan Plowright, opened in NYC on the date.
Laurence Olivier and Joan Plowright met during the stage production of The Entertainer. They were married in 1961, and remained married until Olivier's death in 1989.
October 3, 1960 -
Let grab down our fishin' poles and head down to the fishin' hole, The Andy Griffith Show premiered on this date.
Andy and Barney's squad car was a Ford Galaxie. The cars were supplied free of charge by a nearby Ford dealer, and whenever the newest model came out, it was sent to the studio, and the old one was returned to the dealer who re-painted it and sold it. Altogether, there were about ten different Ford Galaxies used throughout the run of the series.
October 3, 1961 -
The Dick Van Dyke Show premiered on this date. The show wasn't an immediate success but became a hit.
The Dick Van Dyke Show was one of the last shows to have its entire run filmed in black and white. The show was due to be shot in color after the fifth season, but never happened because of the cast and producers' decision to end the show after five seasons.
October 3, 1977 -
Elvis Presley's third and final television special, Elvis in Concert, was filmed by CBS in June 1977 and aired on this date, two months after Elvis' death. (This is the heavy, sweaty St. Elvis; the Elvis who died for our sins. Once again, those with afflictions, place one hand upon the afflicted area, be it yours or your neighbors, and the other on the screen. Soon, feel the soothing balm of his burning love wash over you.)
The telecast was mostly an edited version of two concert performances from Elvis' final tour. My Way was performed on a 3rd concert date on this tour. It became a best selling single following his death and was added as the last number before Can't Help Falling In Love.
October 3, 1986 -
The seventh collaboration between Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, Tough Guys was released on this date.
Filming was very difficult for the 71-year-old Burt Lancaster, as he had undergone a quadruple heart bypass operation two years earlier. There was some question as to whether he would even get insurance for this film. Huge cards were necessary on the set to help Lancaster's fading memory, and he also had problems to read those cards.
October 3, 2001 -
The french romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Amélie, starring Audrey Tautou, premiered in the US at the Aspen Film Festival on this date.
Whenever this film was shot on location, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and the crew would clean the area of debris, grime, trash and graffiti, so that the real settings would match the fantastic nature of the film. This was an especially difficult task when it came time to shoot at the huge train station.
Another failed ACME product
Today in History:
October 3, 1283 -
Dafydd ap Gruffudd was having a bad day. Besides having an unpronounceable name, he had gotten on the wrong side of King Edward I of England, for wanting to gain Welsh independence. On September 30th, Dafydd ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales, was condemned to death, the first person known to have been tried and executed for what from this time onwards would be described as high treason against the King. Edward ensured that Dafydd's death was to be slow and agonizing, and also historic; he became the first person in recorded history to have been hanged, drawn and quartered.
Apparently, Edward was quite pissed off.
October 3, 1648 -
The greatest build out was finally completed on this day in history - the Taj Mahal.
Imagine what the contractor got to hide in his final bill with 20,000 laborers, master builders, masons, calligraphers, etc., working 22 years for the grieving Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to complete the great mausoleum for the shah's beloved wife. Imagine what Trump would do with the bill.
October 3, 1728 -
Charles G Chevalier d'Eon de Beaumont, French duelist, diplomat, spy, soldier, Freemason and transvestite, was born on this date.
October 3, 1863 -
Sarah J. Hale, editor and founder of the Ladies' Magazine, continually annoyed President Lincoln until he declared the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day on this date.
George Washington had previously declared a Day of Thanksgiving on November 26 on this date.
But we'll talk more about Thanksgiving in November.
October 3, 1899 -
Tired parlour maids everywhere rejoiced,
J S Thurman patented the motor-driven vacuum cleaner (US patent #634,042) on this date.
October 3, 1906 -
Anticipating ABBA, SOS was adopted as warning signal by first conference on wireless telegraphy on this date.
Previously, people had to stand on the deck of their sinking ships and scream their heads off in hopes that someone would hear them.
October 3, 1922 -
Rebecca L. Felton became the first female senator in the US when she is appointed to the US Senate by Governor Thomas Hardwick of Georgia, on this date.
October 3, 1952 -
The United Kingdom successfully tests their first atomic bomb, Operation Hurricane, four hundred yards off the coast of the Monte Bello Islands off the Australian coast, becoming the world’s third nuclear power on this date. In order to test the potential threat of a bomb smuggled in a ship, the bomb was detonated inside the hull of the frigate HMS Plym.
Despite the explosion beginning in a ship and nine feet below the water line, the explosion created a crater twenty feet deep and a thousand feet across.
Oops, radiation still lingers around the test site like a bad chili and broccoli dinner farts.
October 3, 1962 -
Hey, Wally, are you a turtle? (Wally correctly answers the question)
The nine-hour mission on the Sigma 7 capsule was the longest to date for a U.S. flight and set the stage for the day-long final mission of the Mercury Program that followed.
October 3, 1964 -
According to noted food historian, Calvin Trilling, the first buffalo wings were served on this date. The wings were reported to have first been made in Buffalo, New York, by the Bellissimo family at the Anchor Bar.
They were served with blue cheese dressing and given away for free. The bar now sells the wings nationwide through its website.
October 3, 1990 -
East and West Germany were officially reunited on this date. The reunification of this once great nation was recognized as a clear sign that the Cold War was coming to an end, and was therefore celebrated not only in Germany, but throughout the world
- excepting certain corridors of France, Poland, and the Czech Republic, where the exuberance was strangely muted.
October 3, 1992 -
Sinead O'Connor was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. At the end of her a capella performance of the Bob Marley song War, Sinead produced a copy of a photograph of Pope John Paul II, which she ripped into pieces.
Time has proven Sinead dead right about her protest.
And so it goes.
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