Thursday, May 7, 2020

Bless you

Other things to occupy your mind with other than COVID-19 - How's you're breathing been during this spring?



The steroid Pregnisone, commonly prescribed for asthma, can cause psychosis.


May 7,  1937 -
Leo McCarey's forgotten tearjerker, Make Way for Tomorrow, starring Victor Moore, Beulah Bondi, Fay Bainter, and Thomas Mitchell premiered in Hollywood on this date.



Orson Welles was quoted as saying that the film "would make a stone cry".  John Ford, Frank Capra and Jean Renoir were big admirers of the film.


May 7, 1966 –
The Mamas and the Papas song Monday, Monday reached no. #1 on the Billboard charts (their only no. #1 hit) on this date.



While awaiting the release of California Dreamin',  band member Denny Doherty was prodding songwriter John Phillips to come up with some new material. Phillips said he would come back in the morning with "A song with universal appeal." Ignoring the sarcastic comments from the group members, Phillips came up with Monday, Monday. It's about the lousy feeling that comes with the end of the weekend and beginning of another workweek.


May 7, 1977 -
Hotel California topped the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on this date.



Glenn Frey compared this song to an episode of The Twilight Zone, where it jumps from one scene to the next and doesn't necessarily make sense. He said the success of the song comes from the audience creating stories in their minds based on the images.


May 7, 1987 -
Shelly Long made her last appearance as a regular on the NBC series Cheers, on this date.



To keep Shelley Long's departure from the series under wraps, three endings were shot. The aired ending, which had Diane leaving and promising to return in six months, and two additional endings. One had Sam and Diane getting married, and a third ending that the producers have not disclosed to this date.


May 7, 1988 –
Terence Trent D’Arby second single from his album Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby, Wishing Well reached no. #1 on the Billboard charts on this date.



D'Arby caught on right away in England with his first single, If You Let Me Stay. As a 25-year-old American (he's from New York) with a very distinctive look, he played very well on British music showcases like The Tube.


May 7, 2005 –
Gwen Stefani third single from her debut album, Love. Angel. Music. Baby, Hollaback Girl reached No. #1 on the Billboard charts on this date. (When my daughters were younger, they thought it hysterical to run around the house singing, 'My shit is bananas'.)



At the beginning of the video, Stefani says, "Get in really close. Aww, super kawaii" as she takes a picture of her backup dancers. "Kawaii" is a Japanese word for "cute." Stefani is a big fan of alternative Japanese popular culture, especially of the crazily dressed teenage girls from the area near Harajuku station in Tokyo.


Today's ACME PSA


Today in History:
May 7, 399 BC (according to Plato) -
... Socrates, what is truth?' 'Socrates, what is beauty?' Never once did any of you guys say 'Socrates, hemlock is poisonous.' Thanks a lot, you guys ...



Greek authorities forced philosopher Socrates to end his life by drinking a potion containing hemlock for his teaching methods which aroused skepticism and impiety in his students.



Those must have been some parties, if you get condemned to death afterward.


May 7, 1895 -
In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrated to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention - the first in the world radio receiver.

Unfortunately, since no one had invented regularly scheduled broadcasts, the demonstration was a confusing affair.


May 7, 1901 -
The general consensus seems to be that I don't act at all.



Gary Cooper, one of Hollywood's original boytoy, iconic actor and womanizer, was born on this date.


May 7, 1915 -
A very minor league Archduck and his wife got themselves killed in the Balkans. Before you you say conflagration, half the world was at war. On February 4, 1915, Germany declared the seas around the British Isles a war zone and any Allied ships in the area would be sunk without warning. King George V's government chose to ignore the warnings, as they were written in German. This seems odd, as George spoke German, his grandfather was German (Prince Albert) and his first cousin was Kaiser Wilhelm II.



Anyway, a German submarine, U-20, sank the Lusitania, killing 1200, on this date. There were no star-crossed young lovers aboard, however, so instead of making a movie about it, the U.S. had to enter World War I.


May 7, 1920 -
With much fanfare the Treaty of Moscow was signed on this date. Soviet Russia recognized the independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia.

No one bothered to tell Lenin and the Soviets invade the country six months later.


May 7, 1937 -
The Hindenburg wreckage still lies smoldering having crashed and burned in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing thirty-six yesterday.



The good news was, it provided a really cool cover for Led Zeppelin's first album and a fairly good basis for a novel by E. L. Doctorow.


May 7, 1954 -
In what was seen as a shocking turn of events in the West, French forces were overrun at Dien Bien Phu, on this date. Many in the West had considered the Viet Cong as a minor threat.



This marked the end of French involvement in Vietnam, and the beginning of serious US involvement in the war.

In some sort of bizarre irony, On May 7, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford officially announced that the Vietnam Era had ended.


May 7, 2000 -
Vladimir Putin became the president of Russia (for the first time) on this date.

Putin served eight years as president, and is credited with bringing Russia back from the brink of economic collapse.  Now that the Mueller Report has confirmed Russian interference in the 2016 election of an American President near the end of his second time around, how will history treat him. (I used to make fun of this anniversary by posting funny memes, but given some of the news coming out of Russia concerning COVID-19, they only have my sympathy and concerns.)


And so it goes


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