Criss-cross, criss-cross

July 3, 1951 -
An under-appreciated Hitchcock classic, Strangers on a Train, was released on this date.



This is the movie that determined the location of Carol Burnett's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1951, she was working as an usher when this movie was playing at the Warner Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. A couple arrived late, and Burnett, having already seen this movie, advised them that it was a wonderful movie that should be seen from the beginning. The manager of the theater very rudely fired her for this. Many years later, when Carol Burnett was asked where she would like to have her star placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, she requested that it be placed in front of that theater.


July 3, 1962 -
John Frankenheimer's biography of Robert Stroud, Birdman of Alcatraz, starring the amazing Burt Lancaster, premiered on this date.



During shooting a difference of opinion arose between Burt Lancaster and John Frankenheimer about camera placement. According to Kirk Douglas, Lancaster physically picked the director up and carried him across the room, placing him down and emphatically stating, "That's where the camera goes!" Despite this incident and problems that had arisen on their earlier film The Young Savages, the two worked together again in Seven Days in May and The Train.


July 3, 1985 -
Universal released Robert Zemeckis' sci fi comedy Back to the Future, starring Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson and Crispin Glover on this date.



When this movie was previewed for a test audience, Industrial Light and Magic had not completed the final DeLorean-in-flight shot, and the last several minutes of the movie were previewed in black and white. It didn't matter, as the audience roared in approval of the final scene anyway.


July 3, 1996 -
One of the great summer popcorn movies, Independence Day, was released on this date.



Director Roland Emmerich was notified one day that Robert Loggia was very upset and refusing to leave his trailer. Several days earlier, producer Dean Devlin accidentally suggested to Loggia that he watch Airplane! for inspiration when he actually intended to suggest Airport. Not familiar with either film, Loggia rented Airplane! and after watching it thought that he had unknowingly been participating in the production of a "spoof" movie.


We're starting our road trip today


Today in History:
Siriusly - The Dog Days of Summer begin today. (That's an inside joke for astronomers )

The following is provided for the benefit of non-astronomers.

Sirius is the name of the brightest star in the night-time sky (the brightest star in the day-time sky is called "the sun"), and it's known as the dog star because it's located in the constellation Canis Major - or, in English, Major Dog. The hottest days of the year in the northern hemisphere happen to coincide with the period during which Sirius rises with our own Sun, and ancient man therefore concluded that Sirius was contributing to the heat.

Like most men, they were wrong, but like most modern idiots, we continue to cherish their timeless wisdom anyway. Plus, having "Dog Days" of summer is a great boon to advertising copywriters, whose creativity is surely the driving force behind western civilization.


Joyeux anniversaire au Québec, vous ne cherchez pas un jour plus de 400.

On this date in 1608, the very manly French explorer Samuel de Champlain invented Quebec. Since then, the French Canadians have been even more obnoxious than the French themselves.


July 3, 1844 -
Museums and collectors, wanting the rare penguin-like Great Auks' skin and eggs, hunted the bird to extinction on this date. The last pair of known birds was found in Iceland by three hunters, Jón Brandsson, Sigurður Ísleifsson and Ketill Ketilsson.

The birds, which were incubating eggs, were strangled by Brandsson and Sigurour while Ketilsson smashed the eggs. There was one more reported sighting of a lone Auk in Newfoundland in 1852, which some scientists accept as the last sighting.

(Wow, would I hate to be the relatives of these three guys.)


July 3, 1863 -
The long three day Battle of Gettysburg ended on this date, marking the bloodiest battle the country had yet seen.



The fighting in the small Pennsylvania town marked a pivotal point in the Civil War and although both sides losses were essentially equal, helped turn the outcome toward the Union forces.


July 3, 1962 -
Happy Birthday Tom Cruise (Mapother IV), who turns 57 today.



Let's all hope people stop wanting to see Tommy beaten to death.


July 3, 1965 -
Roy Rogers' horse, Trigger, died at 25 on this date.  His mounted body (bunkies, the preferred term is 'mounted'; stuffed is more like the plush toy on your bed.) was placed on display at Rogers' Museum in Victorville, Ca. (It then moved to a Roy Rogers' musuem in Branson, Missouri.)



Trigger was not alone; Buttermilk (Dale Evans' horse) and Bullet (the Rogers' German Shepherd) were displayed alongside. (The Branson musuem closed in 2010 and Trigger, Buttermilk and Bullet were then residing in the lobby of the RFD-TV building -- just across the street from the former Branson museum. The former TV stars were shuffled around to various exhibitions by the TV station until this past year. RFD-TV acquired Don Imus' Ranch in New Mexico, making it a luxury resort and giving Trigger, Buttermilk and Bullet their new home.)




On July 3, 1969, Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones drowned in his own swimming pool on this date.



Although he was the first Rolling Stone to do so, Mr Jones is just one of millions of people to have drowned in their own swimming pools. As a public service I have therefore chosen to help American readers prepare for the long holiday weekend with some advice on how not to drown in one's pool:

1. The easiest way not to drown in your own pool is not to have one. Readers without pools may enhance their safety further by consulting the previous articles, "How Not to Kill Yourself: Don't place your Head in an Oven!" and "How Not to Fall Down an Elevator Shaft."

2. If you insist upon owning a pool, don't swim in it, walk by it, or nap in its vicinity.

3. Pools don't drown people: water does. A drained pool is a safe pool. In troubling times like these, it's also worth noting that empty pools may be put to good use as bunkers or bomb shelters.

4. Avoid the use of electronic equipment while swimming. Today's multi-tasking professionals may feel inclined to save time by checking their email or drafting a Powerpoint presentation while taking a few laps, but this can prove ruinous for one's telecommunications equipment and, in the case of desktop computers or mainframes, not much better for one's own health.

5. Wait at least 45 minutes before swimming after the ingestion of mind-altering substances.

6. Don't be a rock star. Scientific research has proven that rock stars are seven times more likely than the general population to drown in swimming pools, bathtubs, or pools of their own vomit.

7. Do not attempt to convert the water in your pool to Jell-O. Jell-O is just as deadly as chlorinated water when ingested by the lungs, but far more likely to attract insects and vermin. It is one thing to drown in your own pool: it is quite another to drown in your own pool and then be devoured by maggots.

8. Avoid poisonous snakes.


July 3, 1971 -
Jim Morrison was found dead of an apparent heart attack in his Paris apartment bathtub on this date.



That's what he wants us to think, anyway.


July 3, 1986 -
President Ronald Reagan presided over a gala ceremony in New York Harbor that saw the relighting of the renovated Statue of Liberty.



The restoration efforts, led under the direction of Lee Iacocca, cost $87 million dollars.


July 3, 1987 -
British millionaire Richard Branson and Swedish-born Per Lindstrand, the balloon's designer, became the first hot-air balloon travelers to cross the Atlantic on this date.



The two men were forced to jump into the sea as their craft went down off the coast of Scotland.  Let's hope his intergalactic flights go a tad better.



And so it goes.


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