Half a millennium before Christopher Columbus “discovered” America, Viking chief Leif Eriksson of Greenland landed on the Island of Newfoundland around 1,000 AD. The Vikings under Leif Eriksson settled Newfoundland as well as discovering and settling Labrador further north in Canada.
It's National Daiquiri Day.
It's just about the middle of the summer, so it more than appropriate to celebrate.
Today is Flitch of Bacon day. Every year on this day, since about 1104, any married couple who could prove they had been faithful and loving to one another for one year was awarded half a pig, known as a flitch of bacon.
(I want to know how that couple is going to bring home that side of pork.)
July 19, 1941 -
MGM released the Hanna/ Barbera cartoon, The Midnight Snack, starring Tom and Jerry, on this date.
William Hanna and Joseph Barbera originally had the cat named Jasper and the mouse was Jinx, in 1940's Puss Gets the Boot cartoon. This is the first cartoon with their names, Tom Cat and Jerry Mouse.
July 19, 1960 -
The initial pilot for what would become The Dick Van Dyke Show, Head of the Family, premiered on this date.
Carl Reiner has said that he let this pilot sit for about a year after it didn't sell, and then he showed it to Sheldon Leonard who told him he liked it and it had potential, but it "needs better actors, including you!"
July 19, 1965 -
The Beatles released the single, Help (B-side I'm Down), ahead of the release of the album of the same name, on this date.
The Beatles banged out a music video for this song (four others were shot the same day) so they could distribute it to television stations in lieu of personal appearances. In typical Beatles fashion, it is an irreverent clip, with Ringo Starr using an umbrella to protect from fake snow.
July 19, 1980 -
Billy Joel's hit, It's Still Rock and Roll to Me, topped the charts on this date.
Around the time of the release of the song, Billy Joel was often portrayed in the music press as a provider of middle-of-the-road dreck. Popular artists are often targets for journalist derision, but while most of these artists choose to ignore it, Joel responded in this song. The lines, "It doesn't matter what they say in the papers, 'cause it's always been the same old scene" and "There's a new band in town, but you can't get the sound from a story in a magazine," were specifically written to attack the press that was bringing him down. While you can read all you want about a singer or band, the only way you'll really know what they sound like is by listening.
July 19, 1986 -
Genesis had their first (and only) #1 Hot 100 hit as Invisible Touch tops the chart, on this date.
The Invisible Touch album marked Genesis' complete transformation from complex, theatrical music (starting when Peter Gabriel was lead singer) to condensed pop songs. They lost some fans along the way, but gained many more.
July 19, 1995 -
Amy Heckerling's comic adaptation of Jane Austin's novel Emma, Clueless, starring Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, Paul Rudd, Dan Hedaya, and Brittany Murphy, premiered in US theatres on this date.
During the game of "Suck and Blow," the cast was unable to sustain the breath to make a real credit card pass from mouth to mouth; a prop card made of cardboard was substituted that still did not work. Holes were drilled into it to make it easier, and when this failed also, the whole cast's lips were heavily coated in chapstick to force the card to stick.
July 19, 1996 -
Danny Boyle’s brilliant adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s equally celebrated novel, Trainspotting, starring Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle and Kelly MacDonald premiered on this date.
Kelly Macdonald got the part when the production crew were handing out flyers across Glasgow, for anyone eager to audition. When Danny Boyle first laid eyes on her, with a plain hairdo, in a corridor surrounded by many glamorous girls, he knew she was the one. He wanted someone unknown, so no-one would guess a 19-year-old is playing a schoolgirl. Macdonald still has the promotional flyer at home.
Discover a book you may have missed
Today in history:
July 19, 1692 -
Five Salem witches were hanged for the crime of witchcraft on this date, based primarily on the accusations of little girls who were bewitched.
Those were some nasty little girls.
July 19, 1870 -
France attempted to declare war on Russia. Due to a typographical error, however, France inadvertently declared war on Prussia on this date and caused the Franco-Prussian War. This eventually led to the creation of Germany, which led to World War I, World War II, and the Volkswagen.
Moral: always proofread.
July 19, 1919 -
Raymonde de Laroche, the first woman to pilot a plane in 1909 and first woman to receive a pilot's license, died in an plane crash at Le Crotoy airport in France, on this date.
Raymonde de Laroche had miraculously survived three serious crashes before the fourth one claimed her.
July 19, 1937 -
The Nazis opened Entartete Kunst, the Degenerate Art show, in Munich on this date. The traveling exhibition offers up Expressionism for ridicule, carefully arranged by (offensive) subject.
The German youth were not admitted, lest they become tainted.
July 19, 1941 -
Prime Minister Winston Churchill launched his "V for Victory" campaign in Europe on this date.
The BBC World Service began regular broadcasting throughout Europe with the opening four notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, which in Morse Code spell V for "Victory."
July 19, 1950 -
Australian Ben Carlin, with his wife, Elinore, set out from Montreal in an amphibious jeep; the craft took to the water off Nova Scotia and crossed the entire Atlantic Ocean, making landfall at the Canary Islands after a stop in the Azores.
The Carlin’s continued their journey by land, eventually stopping in England and going to Malmo, Sweden. Carlin tried to interest British auto manufacturers in his heavily modified vehicle, but there were no takers.
July 19, 1952 -
Keep watching the skies.
During a series of UFO sightings in Washington, D.C. occurring over July 13-29, unidentified objects are picked up on D.C.'s National Airport radar system. Sightings in the region are so extensive the Air Force was prompted to hold a press conference. Conveniently, these were all "radar mirages" resulting from "temperature inversions."
July 19, 1966 -
Frank Sinatra married Mia Farrow in Las Vegas on this date.
Ouch.
July 19, 1969 -
John Fairfax, after an amazing 180 days alone at sea, became the first person to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. (When Fairfax was asked what he did for a living, he would usually answer, "I'm a professional adventurer. I not only enjoy it, I try to make money off it.")
Two year later he rowed across the Pacific with his then-girlfriend Sylvia Cook; the trip took them 361 days. They became the first people to accomplish that feat.
July 19, 1984 -
I stand before you to proclaim tonight, America is a land where dreams can come true for all of us.
36 years ago today, U.S. Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York won the Democratic nomination for vice president at the party's convention in San Francisco. (Co-incidentally, the first women's rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, NY on this date in 1848.)
And so it goes.
185
No comments:
Post a Comment