It does seem like anything goes

(Just returned home for a hot shower and a shave. Sorry for the delay in posting.)

Other things to occupy your mind with other than COVID-19 - the items a well dressed man needed in olden days is exhausting.



In the Victorian era, men with moustaches used special cups. Pragmatically called “moustache cups”, these specially-made mugs had guards on them which prevented a man’s moustache from dipping into their warm cup of tea!


The most popular campfire treat is recognized each year on August 10th during National S’mores Day. In 1927, Girl Scouts troop leader Loretta Scott Crew wrote a recipe for "Some Mores," and published it in Tramping and Trailing With the Girl Scouts, an official Girl Scouts publication, though the exact origin of S'mores is unknown.

This delicious, gooey treat is loved by millions across the United States.

Speaking of roasting something over an open fire; Today is the feast of St. Lawrence. St. Lawrence was said to have been martyred on an iron outdoor stove on this date in 258 AD. During his torture, Lawrence cried out "I' m already done on this side and it is time to turn me over."

He is, of course, the patron saint of comedians and chefs.



Interesting aside: the Perseid Meteor Shower has been known for years as the Tears of Saint Lawrence because they usually occur every year in mid-August, on or near Saint Lawrence's feast day.



This year the event peaks on the night of August 11th/12th.


August 10, 1950 -
Billy Wilder's caustic, black-hearted masterpiece, Sunset Boulevard premiered in New York City, on this date.



Unlike the character she played, Gloria Swanson had accepted the fact that the movies didn't want her anymore and had moved to New York, where she worked on radio and, later, television. Although she had long before ruled out the possibility of a movie comeback, she was nevertheless highly intrigued when she got the offer to play the lead.


August 10, 1960 -
The Rat Pack's summer vacation home movie, Ocean's Eleven, premiered on this date.



Sammy Davis Jr. was forced to stay at a "colored only" hotel during the filming because Las Vegas would not allow blacks to stay at the major hotels despite his appearing with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and the others at the Sands Hotel. He was only allowed to stay at the major hotels after Frank Sinatra confronted the casino owners on his behalf, therefore breaking Vegas' unofficial color barrier.


August 10, 1962 -
While not the worst film ever made - it is the sickest. The Brain That Wouldn't Die, premiered on this date. (Watch it now.)



This was the first movie watched by Michael J. Nelson after Joel Hodgson had left in the previous episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.


August 10, 1970 -
Frank Perry's proto-independent film, Diary of a Mad Housewife, written by Eleanor Perry and starring Carrie Snodgrass, Frank Langella, and Richard Benjamin premiered on this date.



According to Carrie Snodgress, actor Richard Benjamin insisted that he and Carrie not have any interaction off-screen in order to have their onscreen tensions be more believable and authentic.


August 10, 1984 -
United Artists released John Milius jingoistic war film Red Dawn, starring Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Charlie Sheen, and Jennifer Grey, on this date. It's was the first film to be released in the US with a Motion Picture Association of America PG-13 rating.



"Red Dawn" was the given code name of the military operation in Iraq that captured Saddam Hussein on December 13, 2003. Writer and director John Milius felt honored by that.


Today's Word of the Day


Today in History:
August 10, 1628 -
The 228-foot Swedish warship Vasa, built by Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus to assist in his war with Poland, capsized and sank in Stockholm harbor on her maiden voyage because the ballast was insufficient to counterweight the 64 guns. The Vasa was the most expensive and richly ornamented warship of its time in Sweden. Twenty-five men and women drowned when the ship sank.



The ship remains submerged until it is raised in 1961 to become a tourist attraction.



Please note that the ABBA museum is across the street from the Vasa museum in Stockholm.  I can think of no finer outing.


August 10, 1846 -
In 1826, James Smithson, a British scientist, drew up his last will and testament, naming his nephew as beneficiary. Smithson stipulated that, should the nephew die without heirs (as he did in 1835), the estate should go “to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.”



The motivation behind Smithson’s bequest remain mysterious. He had never traveled to the U.S. and seems to have had no correspondence with anyone there. An Act of Congress signed by President James K. Polk established The Smithsonian Institution, on this date, as a trust to administer the generous bequest of James Smithson in an amount over $500,000.


August 10, 1921 -
Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio at his summer home on the Canadian island of Campobello, New Brunswick on this date. Mrs. Roosevelt acted as her partially paralyzed husband’s eyes and ears by traveling, observing and reporting her observations to him.



As First Lady, an author and newspaper columnist and, later, a delegate to the United Nations, Eleanor Roosevelt labored tirelessly for the poor and disadvantaged. In the words of historian John Kenneth Galbraith, she showed "more than any other person of her time, that an American could truly be a world citizen."


August 10, 1937 -
The world's first electric guitar patent #2,089,171 was awarded to Electro String Corporation on this date.

Inventor G.D. Beauchamp, who teamed up with Adolph Rickenbacher from the Electro String Instrument Corporation in Los Angeles, was awarded the patent for his guitar, the Rickenbacker Frying Pan.


August 10, 1966 -
Last words of James French, sent to the Electric Chair by the state of Oklahoma: "How about this for a headline for tomorrow's paper? FRENCH FRIES."

There is nothing quite like a dying man who gives good copy.


August 10, 1968 -
According to the strip below, Snoopy's birthday is August 10.

There had, however, been no reference to this in previous years and it did not become an annual feature of the strip, (in fact, there are some references to Snoopy's birthday being August 28.)


August 10, 1969 -
Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were brutally murdered in their Los Feliz, California home by followers of Charles Manson.



Some of the victims' blood was used to smear the words 'HELTER SKELTER' on the refrigerator door.


August 10, 1977 -
Postal employee and avid dog listener David Berkowitz was arrested in Yonkers, N.Y. on this date, accused of being the "Son of Sam" gunman responsible for six random slayings and seven woundings. Berkowitz is currently serving six consecutive terms of 25 years to life in state prison.



So much for the rantings of the neighbor's dog.


August 10, 1996 -
Heated by the sun, power lines began to sag in Oregon. Somehow this triggered a series of failures which cascaded throughout the Western states. Over seven million people lost electrical service in Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Montana and Texas.

It was probably the worst power outage in US history.



And so it goes.



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