If you've ever watched Clark Griswold try to decorate his house in Christmas Vacation (or any number of other holiday movie mishaps), that probably doesn't come as much of a surprise. So please, be careful when you're decking the halls, especial using tinsel.
Tinsel was first invented in 1610 in Germany and was once made of real silver, making it far from the chintzy throwaway decoration it is now. It also has an edgy history. The U.S. government once banned tinsel because it contained lead and could contribute to lead poisoning. But never fear; now it's made of plastic, not silver or lead. However, you should still use caution if you have pets or small children, since it's still harmful if swallowed.
December 16, 1938 -MGM released its film version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, on this date.
Lionel Barrymore was originally set to play Scrooge, but had to back out due to illness. Barrymore instead suggested his friend Reginald Owen take over the role. Barrymore did not perform the radio version of A Christmas Carol in 1938 so that it would not interfere with the success of the picture, and he appeared in a special trailer for it called A Fireside Chat with Lionel Barrymore.
December 16, 1951 -
NBC-TV debuted Dragnet in a special preview on Chesterfield Sound Off Time on this date. (The show began officially on January 3, 1952.)
The series opener ran in real time, and it contained several clock-on-the-wall shots to keep track of time. The story starts with the police frantically trying to meet a 26-minute deadline to satisfy the demands of a terrorist. The show ran for 26 minutes, excluding commercials.
December 16, 1959 -
20th Century Fox releases the Jules Verne science fiction classic, Journey to the Center of the Earth, starring Pat Boone, James Mason and Arlene Dahl,on this date.
James Mason replaced an ailing Clifton Webb in the part of Professor Lindenbrook before filming began. Alexander Scourby started shooting at Carlsbad Caverns in the Count Saknussemm role, but the producers were unhappy with him and he was replaced with Thayer David.
December 16, 1962 -
David Lean's epic (in ever sense of the word) bio-pix of T. E. Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia, starring Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins and Omar Sharif premiered in the US in NYC on this date.
The first time Peter O'Toole tried riding a camel, blood oozed from his jeans. "This is a very delicate Irish arse", he warned his instructor. He finally mastered his camel-riding technique by adding a layer of sponge rubber under the saddle to ease his bruised backside...a practical innovation quickly adopted by the actual Bedouin tribesmen acting as extras during the desert location filming. O'Toole was nicknamed "ab al-'Isfanjah" ("father of the sponge") by the Bedouin. .
December 16, 1965 -
One of the classic cold war thrillers, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, starring Richard Burton, premiered in the US on this date.
In a 2016 article for The Guardian, John le Carré revealed fond memories of the shoot: "The director (Martin Ritt) and I got along fine. I enjoyed an amiable relationship with the screenwriter (Paul Dehn), who as a former instructor in the black arts at a British spy school during World War II, turned out to know much more about espionage than I did. No great liberties were taken with my story, although I no longer see that as a criterion, and my only job was to provide the odd grace note to the screenplay while befriending Richard Burton and keeping a beady eye on his alcohol consumption." Although he recalled "open hostility" between Burton and Producer and Director Martin Ritt, he believed this "fed Burton's sense of alienation, and gave force to his performance."
December 16, 1971 -
Don McLean's eight-minute-plus version of American Pie was released and became one of the longest songs to ever hit the pop charts.
If you prefer the clip with Don singing in it, here you go.
Kids, use the song as the Cliff Notes (Shmoop, if you prefer) for what happened during the 60s (do they still print Cliff Notes?)
December 16, 1972 -
Soul singer Billy Paul's single, Me and Mrs. Jones hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts on this date.
The song was written by Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and Carey Gilbert. Kenny Gamble explained to National Public Radio in 2008 that he and Huff got the idea for the song from trips to a little bar downstairs in the Schubert Building, which was where their record company was located. Said Gamble: "This guy used to come into the bar every day - little guy that looked like a judge. We're songwriters, so we're always thinking about a song. The next day he came in again, and every day after he'd come in, this girl would come in 10-15 minutes after he'd get there, and they'd sit in the same booth, then go to the jukebox and play the same songs. We said, 'That's me and Mrs. Jones.' Then, when they'd get ready to leave, he would go his way and she would go hers. It could have been his daughter, his niece, anybody, but we created a story that there was some kind of romantic connection between these people, so we went upstairs to our office and wrote the song."
December 16, 1975 -
The groundbreaking sitcom (for it's time) One Day At A Time starring Bonnie Franklin, Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli premiered on this date.
In the original pilot, Ann (Bonnie Franklin) had only one daughter (Mackenzie Phillips). Executives weren't happy with the results; a new pilot was shot with Valerie Bertinelli added as the second daughter. Mackenzie Phillips (Julie) and Valerie Bertinelli (Barbara) were actually the same age. Phillips was taller and wiry, while Bertinelli was round-faced and looked like the younger of the two, so Phillips was cast as the older sister.
December 16, 1977 -
Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta, went into general release on this date.
Oh John, what a long strange trip it's been since that polyester shirt.
Production had to be briefly halted so that John Travolta could attend the funeral of his girlfriend Diana Hyland. The couple had earlier appeared in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, their only ever joint venture. It was Hyland who encouraged Travolta to take the role of Tony Manero.
The movie was originally called Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night, the title of the New York Magazine article that inspired it. The film's title was ultimately shortened to Saturday Night, as a direct reference to the fact that Tony (John Travolta) and his friends inhabited 2001 Odyssey on Saturday nights. However, when The Bee Gees submitted the soundtrack, one of the songs, Night Fever, was thought to embody the film's spirit better than the original. Director John Badham added the word "Saturday" and it replaced the original title.
Our final guest programmer
Today in History:
December 16, 1773 -
The Boston Tea Party took place 246 years ago today.
I equally deplores the ecologically disastrous precedent set by these hotheaded young good-for-nothings, and their demeaning depiction of Native Americans as savage, tea-hating polluters. Also please do not confuse the Tea Party with Tea Baggers - two very different things although men wearing short skirts figure prominently in both of them.
December 16, 1950 -
President Harry S. Truman declares a state of emergency, after Chinese troops enter the fight with communist North Korea in the Korean War.
What the hell were we thinking?
December 16, 1965 -
NASA was in a piss-proud mood. Days before, Gemini 6 (Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra, space cowboys aboard) and Gemini 7 (Frank Borman and Jim Lovell, rocket men aboard) had successfully rendezvoused in space. Just before Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra were about to re-enter Earth's atmosphere, on this date, they radioed Mission Control with their startling sighting:
Wally and Tom do something even more startling; they break out in a chorus of Jingle Bells, accompanying themselves with a small harmonica and tiny small bells. The pair become the first men to perform Christmas carols from space. NASA, of course, was not amused having to pay the ASCAP fees.
December 16, 1985 -
What were you doing 34 years ago - I left work, cut through a parking garage in the middle of the block and walked passed the limos in front of Sparks Steak House on the next block on this date.
John and Paul are long gone but I, occasionally, get to visit my old office.
And so it goes.
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